《Walker Of The Worlds》


 Chapter 1 - Lin Mu

    <h4>Chapter 1 - Lin Mu </h4>


    "Lin Mu, stopzing around we still have a lot of trees left to harvest in today¡¯s quota, we barely filled our quota yesterday and I don¡¯t want to anger the supervisor again, he will definitely cut our wages this time."


    Hearing the voice calling him, a youthful-looking boy of about 16 years of age and having short hair turned around towards the man that had just called him. Seeing the man¡¯s tense look, the boy gulped and answered;


    "I¡¯m notzing around uncle Yuan Tu, I¡¯m just trying to be careful not to damage the spirit apples while plucking them from the trees."


    The man named Yuan Tu, upon hearing the boy¡¯s reply, had a tint of annoyance in his eyes as he thought that the boy was merely giving excuses for his slow pace in harvesting the spirit apples from the trees. Remembering yesterday¡¯s scolding that he got from the supervisor for being the group leader of the slowest harvesting group out of a hundred this week, he knew that if his group did not exceed their quota that day they will definitely never be able to receive their bonus wages of that week.


    "Hasten your pace and stop giving excuses or you will be the one to bear the penalty that we¡¯ll receive for iplete work"


    Not giving the boy another chance to reply, the man walked away to another tree to work. The boy heard Yuan Tu¡¯s threat and quickened his pace of plucking the spirit apples from the tree. After that he ced them in his basket and then when the basket was full, he carefully transferred them to the wheelbarrow, which would then be sent to the main collection cart.


    Spirit apples were the main produce of the Northern town, which was rather lucrative and were sent to Wu Lim city, which was the main city. Wu Lim city had four satellite towns, each named ording to their locations and each having their own specialty. Spirit apples were very expensive formon peasants, with each apple costing a gold coin, which only the people from the city could afford to buy. While the peasants that harvested them only received four silver coins every day, it would take them nearly a whole month¡¯s wages to buy just one, thus they had to be careful not to damage, bruise or scratch the apples as this resulted in the spirit apples slowly losing their spirit qi making them lose value.


    Two hourster, Lin Mu had done four trips to the cart, emptying his basket along with the others. The wheelbarrow was nearly full when Yuan Tu walked towards the cart and emptied his basket that ended uppletely filling the wheelbarrow.


    Looking at the filled wheelbarrow, Yuan Tu took a breath of relief as the day¡¯s quota was finallypleted two hours before sundown, which gave them plenty of time to harvest more spirit apples that day. He thought that they may atst get their bonus wages this week. Thinking of this made a slight smile appear on Yuan Tu¡¯s face and he looked towards Lin Mu...


    "Looks like you finally picked up the pace, now that we have finished today¡¯s quota you can go and send the wheelbarrow to the main collecting cart, the rest of us will continue harvesting."


    Looking at the heavy-looking wheelbarrow Lin Mu furrowed his brows and knew that it will be difficult for him to move it all the way to the collecting cart and would take him at least 45 minutes toe back during which the rest of the 5 people of the group would be the only ones receiving the higher bonus pay, with him not having him much time to earn his.


    "Uncle Yuan Tu, this wheelbarrow is very heavy for me, can¡¯t you bring it to the main cart?"


    Yuan Tu had the greed of higher wages in his mind, and hence definitely did not want to waste his time in sending the wheelbarrow back.


    "Can¡¯t you just do as I asked Lin Mu? If you keep on shirking from hard work you¡¯ll never get strong, in the time you spent talking you could have very well been on your way to the collecting cart." Yuan Tu spoke, feeling annoyed.


    Looking at the annoyed look in Yuan Tu¡¯s eyes, Lin Mu knew it would be useless to argue any further and that he would just have to rush back as fast as possible so that he could work more. Having thought of that, Lin Mu started pushing the wheelbarrow towards the location of the collecting cart.


    5 minutester Lin Mu started getting tired and was about to slow down his pace when a stone came under the wheelbarrow making it start to tilt. Lin Mu was unable to handle the heavy wheelbarrow and lost control of it, making it fall with a loud noise.


    With a horrified expression on his face, Lin Mu was left standing, while the other workers heard the voice and gathered around, feeling shocked at the sight of a fallen wheelbarrow. All the spirit apples that were in it were now scattered around in the dirt, with many scratched and damaged.


    As more and more people gathered, the supervisor seeing themotion also came over to see what happened and why the peasants were not working. Seeing the supervisor approach made the people quiet down, and they gave way for the supervisor toe. Looking at the debacle in front of him, the supervisor Li Peng was shocked at first, but then anger started to seethe within him.


    "WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MESS? COME OUT NOW."


    The surrounding people did not want to get involved, thus they quickly pointed towards the frozen Lin Mu. Lin Mu was now even more horrified seeing the supervisor and started to fall in despair.


    "YOU IMBECILE DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, HOW BIG OF A LOSS YOU¡¯VE CAUSED, WHERE IS YOUR GROUP LEADER CALL HIM."


    The supervisor shouted with spittle flying all over, which only made the people quickly call over Yuan Tu quickly. Yuan Tu, who was already on his way to see what had happened, looked at the supervisor¡¯s now angry red face, and became pale with fear. He hesitated in approaching him.


    "LOOK WHAT YOUR GROUP MEMBER HAS DONE, A WHOLE WHEELBARROW¡¯S WORTH OF SPIRIT APPLES ARE NOW USELESS, THIS IS MORE THAN A 1000 GOLD COINS WORTH OF LOSS. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS, HOW WILL THIS LOSS BE COMPENSATED?"


    Upon hearing the supervisors shout aboutpensation, Yuan Tu became even more frightened, and his ears were already ringing from the shouting which made it even more difficult for him to talk.


    "I... I... I my lord not all apples are damaged. We can still sell the rest of them, please spare us just this once, we¡¯ll never make such a mistake ever again."


    Li Peng, now calmed down a little bit and nced at the spirit apples. He saw that some were indeed still redeemable, but the rest were still damaged apples that were worth at least 700 gold coins.


    With a stern expression he spoke, "Even if you exclude the apples that are undamaged the loss is still more than 700 gold coins, when the mayor hears about this he will not be happy, you cannot be spared."


    Li Peng thought about how topensate for the over 700 gold coins¡¯ worth of damage. He knew that he¡¯ll probably have to dock a whole month¡¯s wages from every peasant working here, but it still wouldn¡¯t be enough. At this point, he looked at Lin Mu.


    "Every peasant working here will lose one months¡¯ worth of wages inpensation for the loss and for the rest of it, as the boy caused this mistake, all his property will be seized and sold off to pay for it."


    Hearing the supervisor¡¯s order each and every person turned pale with despair and then started to feel angry against Lin Mu as it was his mistake which had just caused them to lose everything they worked for that entire month. Lin Mu now having heard the order had tears in his eyes as he knew he would be losing everything he had, even the house that his parents had left him when they diedst year.


    "Guards, seize this boy and his group leader, go to the boy¡¯s property and seize all valuables and the house, then throw the boy out of the town, then bring the group leader to the square for 10shes."


    One of the guards seized Lin Mu and others restrained Yuan Tu and then took them away for their punishments. Yuan Tu had a hateful look on his face as he looked at Lin Mu and gritted his teeth, swearing to have revenge on the kid. The other peasants also looked at Lin Mu with hateful gazes. Lin Mu tried to struggle but there was no way he would be able to overpower a guard having the strength of sixth stage of body tempering, he himself was only at the second stage of body tempering as he had never actually trained properly before with a tempering technique.


    The guards dragged Lin Mu to his house and ransacked the house, taking everything of value in there. Though there was not much there to begin with as most of the valuables had been sold off in exchange for medicine when Lin Mu¡¯s mother fell sick during thest years¡¯ gue. The only thing worth something was the house itself and thend that it was built on.


    Lin Mu watched as his whole world was ripped apart and started tearing up and sniffling. After checking that all valuables have been taken, the guard sealed the courtyard entrance of the house and went back to report to the supervisor, while one guard brought Lin Mu to the edge of the town and threw him away and then turned back to head to his post.


    Lin Mu lied there on the ground for hours before he got up, no longer crying. He had a dull look in his eyes and walked aimlessly out of the town towards the forest. After walking for an hour, he found himself in front of the apple tree he used to y at when he was a child. There was a small stream nearby where he would catch fish and y in the water with his friends. Now tired and exhausted, he sat below the tree with his back to the tree and fell asleep under the night sky and the moon hiding in the clouds.

 Chapter 2 - Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 2 - Awakening </h4>


    In space, millions of kilometers away from the world Lin Mu lived in, a grey orb of light was traveling at a great speed. It was as if it was fading in and out from reality itself, passing through obstacles, like asteroids, as if they were air.


    After an unknown amount of time, it approached a blue; eventually falling into its atmosphere. The ground was bing closer and closer, small continents expanded to a vast length, mountains rose to a great height. In the end, the grey orb collided with an insignificant tree; somehow only shaking it entirely. The orb then faded away, leaving behind a rusty grey ring embedded halfway through the trunk.


    In his sleep, Lin Mu found himself in a dark ce. He could not see anything at all. Strangely, he could feel his arms and legs, even touch them, but he still could not see them.


    "Where am I? Is this a dream? I¡¯ve never had a dream like this ever before."


    He walked around in the darkness for what could be a few minutes or possibly days; having no method to measure the time. Eventually, he woke up because of a sharp pain at the top of his head. Looking around, he found himself lying below a familiar apple tree, where a small apple had fallen beside him. The sky was slowly getting brighter, and the sun hidden below the horizon had not risen yet.


    "Huh, looks like this apple fell on my head and woke me up. That¡¯s strange though, this apple is still unripe; why did it fall?"


    Standing up, Lin Mu stretched his arms and looked up at the sky, estimating that it¡¯s likely around 5am. He went up to the small stream to drink some water and quenched his thirst. After quenching his thirst, he felt his stomach groan with hunger.


    "I have to find something to eat. It would be no use going back to the town as I don¡¯t have any money left, the guards took away thest of which I had. Guess I¡¯ll head back to the tree and get some apples."


    Walking back to the apple tree, Lin Mu looked for a ripe apple to eat. Spotting a few with his eyes, he began to climb the tree. Pulling himself up on a branch, Lin Mu then plucked some apples.


    While getting down, Lin Mu spotted a glint on the trunk of the tree. Getting closer to inspect what it was, he found a curved rusty metallic piece stuck to the bark. He tried pulling it out but it seemed it was not only stuck, but very stuck. Putting his whole strength into pulling it out, it finally worked with the consequence of falling off the tree from loss of bnce.


    Looking at the object in his hands, he found that it was actually a rusty grey ring like one could find in a flea market. The ring had a peculiar design, having five small spurs equidistant from each other rising from one side of the ring.


    "I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen this before here on the tree. Did someone put it there? I may as well keep it, maybe I can sell it in the townter on."


    Unaware of its origins, Lin Mu decided to put the ring on his right middle finger. As soon as he put on the ring, a chill went through him, followed by a warmth spreading from the ring to all over his body. As the warmth spread, Lin Mu felt energized and every cell in his body filled with strength. The processsted for 10 minutes, after which Lin Mu opened his eyes and analyzed his body.


    "What was that? I feel stronger, much more than ever before. Did I just break through to the 3rd stage of the body tempering realm!?"


    Wanting to test out his strength, Lin Mu found a rock the size of two fists. He put down the rock, and punched it with all his strength. Only a slight chip fell off the rock, leaving some cuts on Lin Mu¡¯s fist.


    "ARGHHH! DAMMNN, that hurt like hell! Why did I think this would be a good idea to test out my strength? But how did I break through and increase my strength, is it due to the ring? Could it be a treasure?"


    Observing the ring, Lin Mu still thought that it looked the same as before; a rusty grey colour except that the ring now fitted him more snugly, as if it was made for him.


    Lin Mu¡¯s stomach grumbled again, reminding him of his hunger. He had already plucked the apples from the tree, so he got some dried twigs and branches to cook the apples, knowing that eating them straight as they are, even if they are ripe, is not an option as they were very tart to eat. It would just leave him with his teeth hurting.


    Still, to cook the apples, Lin Mu required a pot; so he decided to go to his father¡¯s old hunting shack to find one. Perhaps he could also use it to solve his current homeless situation. He could not always sleep under a tree in the open sky, could he? Winter would be arriving in a month, thus he would definitely need a roof over his head and some warm clothes.


    Walking a few hundred meters towards the forest, Lin Mu found the old abandoned hunting shack. The shack was small and looked old and damaged by the elements.


    Walking in, Lin Mu saw a few pieces of furniture, a couple of nks used to sit and also used as a bed, a small table, and a shelf. At the edge, he saw a small stove built with stone, and beside it was a small pot. He ced the branches and twigs that he collected and started a fire. He added water to the pot and ced the apples in it, which he broke into chunks, after which he let it cook.


    10 minutester the apples were cooked and ptable, no longer as sour as before. Lin Mu let the pot cool down before eating the cooked apples. After filling his belly, he felt satisfied and focused his thoughts back on the mysterious ring.


    As Lin Mu focused on the ring, he felt a simr chill going through his body again and found his vision fading into darkness.

 Chapter 3 - The Mysterious Ring

    <h4>Chapter 3 - The Mysterious Ring </h4>


    Lin Mu found himself in a dark ce once again, but this time he can see his body clearly even though there was no source of light present there. Lin Mu, clearly having no idea how he ended up there, felt scared and couldn¡¯t help but ask himself if he was back in a dream.


    "How do I get out of here? Should I just wait till I wake up naturally? ...Since I¡¯m here, I may as well walk around and check this ce out."


    After being in the dark ce for a couple of minutes now, Lin Mu¡¯s eyes start to adapt to the darkness and could see things more clearly. Looking around in all directions, he found a pale glow of lightsing from one position and decided to walk towards it; trying to find out what it was. While walking towards the pale glow, Lin Mu observed some changes to the dark sky.


    "What are those faint streaks of light in the sky? I¡¯ve never heard of phenomena like this before, guess I¡¯m definitely in a dream."


    There were silver and grey faint streaks of light in the sky, which would fade away into darkness and then appear again. Thousands of them could be seen, as if they were dancing in a mysterious harmonic pattern. After a few minutes, Lin Mu reached the source of the pale glow that he observed from far. Finally seeing the object - he found it to be an altar, but it was made up of faint glowing runes and mysterious scripts which were floating in the air; forming the shape of an altar, not having a physical presence itself.


    "Those runes and scriptures look simr to the ones that were carved on the outside of the ancestral temple of Wu Lim city. But aren¡¯t they used by cultivators to make qi formations? Why would they appear in my dream?"


    Lin Mu still remembered when he visited Wu Lim city with his father during the New Year¡¯s festival two years ago. His father brought him to the ancestral temple to pay their respects, butmoners could not go inside the temple so they paid their obeisance from outside. He remembered his father finding him staring at the carvings on the ancestral temple. His father exined that those carvings were used to create qi formation by qi cultivators, which were used for various things such as fortifying, strengthening, offence, defence and many more.


    As Lin Mu approached the altar, the various runes and scriptures became more vibrant. Feeling an urge to touch it, Lin Mu ced his hand upon the altar and found it to be solid even though it had no physical body. A momentter he felt a sharp pain in his head, then felt a rush of information in his brain; mysterious chants filled his mind, creating an imprint in it.


    "The Nine Divine Heart Sutras, assimte the essence of the nine paths, understand a million hearts as one and ascend the path of the great cosmos."


    As soon as the chants stopped in his mind Lin Mu found himself back in the old hunting shack. For a moment, his eyes lost focus and he remembered where he was. Checking his body and finding everything normal, he tried to remember the chants that filled his mind; only able to remember one part of them. He tried to remember the rest of the chants but felt as if there was a fog obscuring his memories.


    "I can only remember the first part: The Calming Heart Sutra. Should I recite it? There should be no harm in trying..."


    Lin Mu started chanting the calming heart sutra. At first he felt nothing, but afterpleting the first chant he felt a calming wave spreading all over his body; as if all his worries were washed away. This incredible feelingsted a couple of minutes before fading away and the normal sense of self returned to Lin Mu.


    "What an incredible feeling. I felt as if I could sense every part of my body clearly, the blood flowing and the small waves of energy in my muscles. I need to try this again."


    Reciting the chant once again, Lin Mu felt the calming feeling washing over his body. This time he tried to sense the waves of energy that were moving in his muscles. As he focused on the waves of energy, they intensified and then he felt a great feeling of strength filling his body even more than this morning when he put on the mysterious ring.


    "Haha, I broke through to the fourth stage of body tempering! What luck, two breakthroughs in one day! This chant is definitely a body tempering technique, and sensing the simr wave of energy when I put on the ring, I guess that is where it originated. This ring is definitely a treasure, or could it be a spatial storage ring that qi cultivators use?"


    Now, Lin Mu did not want to sell the ring at all. Only a fool would let go of an opportunity like this which he knew would only bring benefit to him. As for whether the ring was a spatial storage ring, he could not verify it as he was not a qi cultivator yet; nor did he know how he ended up in the dark ce with the altar made of glowing runes and scriptures.


    Thinking that he may be able to fulfil his long-lost dream of bing a qi cultivator one day, he felt excitement he had not felt ever before and all the feelings of sadness and despair from yesterday¡¯s events washed away.


    "If I be a cultivator, I¡¯ll be able to buy back my house and I will no longer have to live with my head down! I¡¯ll be able to walk proudly with my head held high, and the townsmen will have to treat me with respect."


    Now knowing the direction in life that he was supposed to walk, Lin Mu was filled with determination. Still, he knew that if he wanted to be a qi cultivator he would need a lot of resources like herbs and fierce beast meat rich in vital energy. He could not hunt beasts which had rich vitality in the forest as he was not strong enough and would simply be courting death. He could trap smaller beasts, but they will only fill his belly and would not be of much use in tempering it.


    "I guess I¡¯ll just have to make some traps and catch some small fierce beasts like the ck horned rabbits and thorn tailed rats. Even though they don¡¯t sell for much, I can still exchange them in town. I¡¯ll need to start somewhere so I can save at least until I have enough coins to buy a weapon sturdy enough to kill stronger beasts."


    Lin Mu went in search of small animal trails where he could set up some traps. Upon finding one, he used the vines growing nearby and some slender, flexible trees to set up snare traps. Now he just had to wait until something was caught. Feeling hungry again, Lin Mu saw the position of the sun in the sky and felt that he had two hours until sunset. Walking back to the apple tree, he plucked a few more apples for his dinner as he doubted whether he would be able to catch anything in the traps; and even if he did, going to the forest at night time would be dangerous even in the outskirts. If a stronger, fiercer beast decided to wander off it could mean his death, so he thought it would be better to just eat the apples again.


    Walking back to the shack, he once again filled the pot with water, put the chunks of apples in them, and set it on the stone stove to cook. While waiting for the apples to cook, Lin Mu decided to chant the calming heart sutra once again. He felt the feeling of calmness spreading through his body, but did not feel the waves of energy that flowed through his muscles increasing; no matter how much he focused, they stayed the same.


    "Huh, I guess the calming heart sutra only helps if I have the necessary vital energy in my body. It only helped me break through because I had the surge of energy that was released from the ring in the morning. Now that it¡¯s depleted, I¡¯ll have to train and eat more food to slowly umte vital energy."


    Thinking about the mysterious ring, he lifted his right hand to look more closely at the ring and its peculiar design. As Lin Mu focused on the ring, he suddenly felt a force pulling his hand. Shocked at this, his right hand was pulled towards a direction forcing him to walk towards there. Finally, Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as his hand was pulled up in the air where a rift opened and his hand was pulled in.

 Chapter 4 - Spatial Disturbance

    <h4>Chapter 4 - Spatial Disturbance </h4>


    Tens of thousands of kilometres away from Wu Lim city stood a sky-piercing mountain surrounded by hundreds of smaller mountains. Hidden within a mystifying fog, a paradise exists filled with the cries of beasts, enchanting fragrance of spirit herbs, and dense clouds of spirit qi.


    On the smaller mountains one could see thousands of disciples moving about. Some were training on the fields, some selling precious materials, pills, and weapons in the market, and some silently cultivating in their pavilions.


    This ce was the biggest sect in the Great Zhou Empire, having millions of disciples and an area bigger than that of any country in the Empire. Even the Grand Capital being ten times smaller than it. It was also one of the only few sects in the Great Zhou Empire that had Dao Treading Realm elders cultivating within, and was also rumoured to have an Immortal Ascension stage ancestor living in seclusion.


    On the tallest peak of the sect stood an elegant pce decorated with auspicious statues, gilded gates, and beautiful ponds filled with charming carps dancing within them. This was the grand pce of the sect, where the sect patriarch and the top elders lived and pondered upon the matters of the sect.


    Within an enormous hall sat a middle-aged man d in a white Daoist robe. His long hair was held up with a silver pin, beard well groomed and straight. The man had a calm demeanour, yet his eyes held an imposing presence. Within his left hand he held a jade seal, while in his right he held a scroll. This man was engrossed in reading when the doors of the hall opened and a ck robed elder walked in.


    The ck-robed elder was old, having long white hair and a simrly long white beard; yet not a single wrinkle present on his face. The sleeves of his ck robe had gold etchings denoting his rank of a head elder. The elder walked towards the sect patriarch who was reading a scroll and waited for fifteen minutes until the patriarch finished reading it.


    Once the patriarch finished reading the scroll, he held up the jade seal and waves of intense spirit qi erupted from it. Then the patriarch pressed the jade seal upon the scroll, whereupon the waves stopped and on the scroll was left with a golden seal mark made of pure condensed qi.


    The Sect Patriarch rolled the scroll and ced it on a table beside him, where six more scrolls lied. Looking towards the ck-robed elder, he asked:


    "What did you have to report, elder Han? Something important I presume, otherwise you would have just sent the regr report with a disciple instead ofing in person."


    The ck robed elder named Han with a slight smile on his face replied,


    "The Patriarch is as perceptive as always... indeed I do have something to report, which I believe you may find intriguing. Themon reports are within the scroll, while I wanted to tell you about two matters. The first being the crown prince breaking through to the core condensation realm at the age of 20 years old, bing the youngest person to break through to the core condensation realm in all the countries of the Great Zhou Empire; of course not counting the core disciples of the top three sects. In celebration of this, the Emperor is organising a grand festival and has sent invitations to all the noble families and the top sects of the empire."


    With an unimpressed look, the patriarch spoke;


    "Hmm, that is indeed a cause for celebration for the emperor, especially after the first prince gave up his im to the title of the crown prince all those years ago; letting the second prince be the crown prince instead. Now that the second prince has achieved this, his position as the crown prince is more secure. I wonder what price the Empress paid to let her son reach the core condensation realm this fast."


    Elder Han gazed at the middle-aged patriarch thinking to himself ¡¯It¡¯s been over 30 years since he became the sect patriarch and yet he still has his youthful inquisitiveness left, it was a right decision the previous sect patriarch made in choosing him over the other candidates,¡¯ then spoke,


    "The disciples from the shadow pavilion reported that the empress had some dealings with the Rainbow Pill Sect. The exact nature of which is unknown. If you would like, I could ask the shadow pavilion disciples to investigate more into it. Also, there¡¯s going to be a tournament held during the festival for the youths to demonstrate their skills."


    The Sect Patriarch now looking slightly interested said,


    "Yes, ask the shadow pavilion to investigate more into it. Also, choose some suitable disciples and send an elder as the representative of our sect to take part in the festival as well as the tournament."


    Taking a momentary pause, the patriarch continued:


    "And the second matter, what about it?"


    Now Elder Han had a serious look in his eyes, and with a stern face replied,


    "The Star catching peak detected spatial disturbancesing from the Empire."


    Having a calm look, the patriarch replied,


    "That is indeed umon, but I don¡¯t understand how it¡¯s a cause for concern. Meteors fall every year randomly all over the empire. Even when the star catching formation is active, it can¡¯t attract all of them with the formation."


    Elder Han answered,


    "It would not matter if it was just a meteor, but we do not know what, or who, this was. It caused a spatial disturbance, but it never even touched the world boundary; just passing through it as if it did not even exist. We also could not detect where it fell."


    The Sect Patriarch now had a shocked look in his eyes as he knew what it meant if the world boundary was never breached yet there were still spatial disturbances detected. It would be fine if it was just a precious material or perhaps even a treasure, but if it was a person, then the situation would be a hundred times moreplex.


    "Elder Han, you know what this could mean, right? If it does turn out to be as serious as we¡¯re thinking, we will have to inform the other sects and the Emperor. Things have only be calm in recent years. We do not want the unrest this could bring or we would have to cancel a lot of our long-term ns." The Patriarch spoke.


    The ck-robed elder heard him with an understanding look and then continued,


    "That would be true, let¡¯s hope it does note to that. In the meantime, I¡¯ll ask some elders from the star catching peak to personally investigate the spatial disturbance, as we still do not know where it fell to."


    Just as Elder Han spoke this, he felt themunication jade hanging on his waist buzz. Holding it in his hand, he listened to the message and then spoke to the Patriarch.


    "The disciples at the star catching peak just detected another spatial disturbance. It was much fainter than previously and we don¡¯t know if it was caused by the same thing as before, but we now know that it came from the Northernnds."


    After listening to what Elder Han had to say, the sect patriarch pondered for a minute before answering,


    "Send an elder and some disciples to the Northernnds to investigate the disturbance. Also send a report about this to the external elders, located in all the regions, and ask them to keep an eye out for such a disturbance in their designated areas; in case the spatial disturbance in the Northernnds was an isted incident, and the actual anomaly that caused it is located somewhere else."


    Cupping his hands, Elder Han replied,


    "As youmand, Patriarch. Should I also issue amon mission to all the disciples of the sect to inform us about any spatial disturbance or anomaly they hear about or observe?"


    "Yes, do that too. We may find information about it from some mundane or obscure lead that a disciple may find while they are out of the sect."


    Still cupping his hands, Elder Han continued,


    "Maybe we should also inform our allied sects to keep an ear out for any rumours they may hear?"


    Now with a tired look the Sect Patriarch said,


    "No, don¡¯t inform them just yet. Not at least until we have some more substantial information about it. We must not muddy the waters when there is nothing to gain from it."


    Elder Han nodded and turned around to leave when the patriarch spoke once more with a gloomy tone:


    "Just in case, tell all the disciples that are going for investigation to leave a wisp of their qi in the Hall of souls, and issue all the disciples with two distress talismans: one amon distress talisman, while the other the sect alerting talisman. If ites to it, at least we will know what kind of situation we are up against."


    Elder Han had an understanding look in his eyes, knowing that if a situation as bad as they thought urs, these measures may be the only way of knowing it; as it could be likely that the disciples and the elders may never return.


    "As you wish, Patriarch. It will be done as you said."


    Elder Han strode out of the Hall towards the Missions pavilion to select which disciples to send for investigations, and also inform the star catching peak on how to proceed.


    As the doors of the great hall closed, the sect patriarch ced his hand upon his chin and closed his eyes to think of all possibilities that he could; for he knew that even the smallest of events could bring about a great change. Change could harm his sect, which he wished to avoid, so could keep his promise to the previous patriarch when he was appointed.

 Chapter 5 - Success And Failure

    <h4>Chapter 5 - Sess And Failure </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s hand was pulled into the rift. He felt as if it was dipped in water, yet it did not feel right; it was neither cold nor warm leaving him unable to tell what kind of substance it was. He moved his hand around, trying to pull it back out, but it felt like it was stuck. Lin Mu could move it around inside the rift with no restrictions, but could not pull it backwards.


    His mind was going crazy at not understanding the situation he was in. Never having seen or heard about such a thing, he thought his hand may be stuck there permanently if he did not pull it out quickly. He tried shouting for help, but was very far from the town and there were no people nearby. He could only hope that a hunter passes nearby and hears his cries.


    ¡¯How do I pull my hand out!? I can¡¯t just keep it like this, and it doesn¡¯t look like anyone wille help me anytime soon. I¡¯m much too far from the town and hunters don¡¯te to this section of the outskirts to hunt either, since there aren¡¯t any beasts worth their time here. I¡¯ll just have to keep trying.¡¯


    Lin Mu was unaware that if any other cultivator saw his condition, they would be even more shocked than him. The spatial rift that was swallowing his hand could have barely even been opened by a Dao shell realm cultivator with the help of a spirit treasure and all their strength. Yet, here he was not even a cultivator and had barely just reached the fourth stage of the body tempering realm.


    Neither did he know that tens of thousands of kilometres away from where he was, in the Sky Precepts sect, the star catching peak¡¯s disciples were in an uproar trying to find the location of the spatial disturbance they were detecting; since it had already been ten minutes after they detected it and it had not disappeared yet.


    Lin Mu kept on moving around his hand in the rift, struggling to pull it out, when he felt his fingers touch something; being the first time he felt something solid in the rift. He tried to touch the object again but could not find it. It had now been fifteen minutes since his hand had been stuck inside the spatial rift and now he could see that the rift was getting narrower as if it was closing. Getting even more worried, he thought if he did not pull his hand out now it may be severed.


    Frantically struggling, Lin Mu did all he could to try to save his hand when he felt his hand touch something once again. This time, he gripped the object firmly. As he held the object in his hand, he felt the hold of the spatial rift on his hand getting loose. Taking the initiative, he pulled violently onest time with all the strength of his body and finally his hand was pulled out.


    Looking at his hand, Lin Mu ensured that it was fine and not harmed at all. Scrunching his eyebrows, he looked at the source of his current trouble: the spatial rift, and found it to be closing. The ck tear in the spatial fabric slowly mended itself and closed, leaving no trace that it ever existed. Sighing with relief, Lin Mu slumped down on the ground and closed his eyes to rest; for this fifteen minute long struggle had thoroughly tired him out.


    Standing up after ten minutes, Lin Mu dragged himself back to the hunting shack to eat and then sleep. The sun had already started to set and it would not be long until it would be dark. Reaching the shack, Lin Mu picked up the pot that was cooking the apples and started to eat; gulping down everyst morsel in the pot. He lied down on the bench thinking about all the things he had experienced today.


    The day had been full of ups and downs. First, he found himself in a ck space where an ethereal altar existed, then received the Calming heart sutra which allowed him to break through to the fourth stage of the body tempering stage. He became excited over the prospect of him bing a cultivator and fulfilling his dreams, when he suddenly found his hand dragging him away and then being swallowed by a spatial rift.


    He then felt the terror of his hand getting stuck inside the rift and the potential of it getting severed until he felt an object inside it, up until he could finally pull his hand out. Speaking about the object, he did not find it in his hand when he pulled it out. It had somehow disappeared with him not understanding where it went. Pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind, he decided to sleep and deal with everything tomorrow.


    Sky Precepts Sect; Star Catching Peak:


    The Disciples were working tirelessly to find the location of the spatial disturbance. Even after fifteen minutes, they were not able to narrow down to an approximate location. There were twenty-five disciples sitting at their respective positions on the formation array, controlling it to trace the spatial disturbance; all with sweat on their foreheads after trying their hardest, especially after Elder Han personally asked them to do their best in finding the location. That, too, at the behest of the Sect Patriarch himself. All of the disciples were the cream of the crop in the sect, having been chosen for their position after rigorous tests.


    A grey robed disciple sat at the helm of the array. He had a crest sewed on the left side of his chest showing a mountain with a t disc above it and a meteor striking it. This was the crest of the Star Catching Peak. Every disciple had it sewed on their robes, with the head disciple having it in silver thread while all other disciples had it in ck thread.


    Suddenly, the formation array started to dim down, prompting all the disciples sitting on the array to put all their qi into the formation to make itst just a few minutes longer. s, itpletely vanished and the spatial fluctuations disappeared. The Head disciple took a lengthy sigh, looking at all the disciples who were now tired and drained of their qi. A junior disciple stood up from the array and walked toward the head disciple, cupped his hands in greeting, and said,


    "Senior Li Jing, we were unable to find even an approximate location of the spatial disturbance, please punish us for this failure."


    The head disciple having a look of disappointment, let out a sigh again and said,


    "You all are not at fault here. This was a very difficult task. Whatever the anomaly was, it could evade the world border. It¡¯s already a miracle we were even able to keep the formation active for fifteen minutes. I¡¯ll report everything to Elder Han myself, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll understand our circumstances."


    The other disciples also stood up and cupped their hands in gratitude to the head disciple Li Jing.


    Li Jing pulled out hismunication jade and contacted Elder Han about their failure in determining the location of the spatial disturbance and also informed him of the approximate area in which the disturbance may have originated.


    At this time Elder Han was in the mission pavilion, talking to the pavilion elder in-charge about issuing the new mission to the disciples and also to select suitable disciples who would be going to investigate the spatial anomaly. Elder Han felt themunication jade hanging on his waist buzz again.


    He held it and listened to the report from the Star catching peak¡¯s Head disciple Li Jing and his apology for not being able to find the exact location. Honestly, he was surprised they could even keep the formation active for as long as fifteen minutes and still be able to detect the fluctuations.


    Although all the disciples of the star catching peak were at core condensation, with the head disciple being at the peak of core condensation realm, controlling the star catching peak formation array for so long would havepletely drained all the disciples of qi. He told Li Jing not to worry about any punishment and told him that they did well. Even though the approximate area they narrowed down was still three-fourths the size of the northernnds, it would still reduce the time required to investigate the anomaly.


    Neither elder Han nor the star catching peak disciples knew that the formation stayed active for over fifteen minutes not because of the disciples effort but because the spatial rift that tore opensted for that long, otherwise they may have found nothing at all.


    Lin Mu,pletely oblivious to the machinations happening tens of thousands of kilometres away from him at the top tier sect of the Great Zhou Empire, was currently deep in sleep. As Lin Mu slipped into deep sleep, he once again found himself in a familiar dark space.


    "...Why am I here again?"

 Chapter 6 - Understanding The Mysteries Of The Ring

    <h4>Chapter 6 - Understanding The Mysteries Of The Ring </h4>


    Lin Mu looked around, but all he could see was darkness. He could not see his arms or legs either. This differed from when he went to the other dark ce where the altar existed. At least there he could see his body and even the sky had silver and grey streaks of light moving around, but here nothing existed; only emptiness.


    "Looks like I¡¯ll just have to wait till I wake up, same as yesterday."


    Lin Mu decided to just sit down and wait. While sitting, he felt the ground. It was a in t surface, possessing no bumps or grooves. Having no idea whether minutes went by or hours, Lin Mu eventually woke up. Somehow feeling well rested, he stretched and heard a grumbleing from his stomach. Knowing it must have been quitete in the morning, he stood up.


    Walking out of the shack, he looked up at the sun ring at the top of his head. He had indeed beente waking up, since it was already noon. Deciding to check on the snare traps he set yesterday, he walked towards the forest. Following the same animal trails as before, he found his traps. Out of the six that he set, two were never triggered, three were broken - probably by a bigger beast -, and thest one was the only one which was sessful.


    Lin Mu found a ck horned rabbit hanging upside down from the snare. Pulling on the snare, he found the rabbit to be still alive and moving. With familiarity he twisted the ck-horned rabbit¡¯s neck, careful not to cut himself on the horn, and ended its life. Before going back to the hunting shack, he reset the snares so that he could catch some more beasts till evening if he¡¯s lucky.


    "Now that I have caught a ck-horned rabbit, how am I going to skin it? I don¡¯t have a knife or de with me. I¡¯ll need to figure something out quickly or the meat will spoil fast if I don¡¯t drain the blood."


    While walking back to the hunting shack he picked up a fallen branch and broke it from one end so that there was a sharp edge left. Deciding to drain the blood near the stream and also pick up some apples, he instead changed directions and walked towards the stream.


    Reaching the stream, he knelt down at the edge of the water and used the sharp edge of the broken branch to stab the neck of the now dead ck horned rabbit, letting the blood drain in the water; careful not to stain the fur with blood.


    After no more blood came out from the neck of the rabbit, he pushed his fingers inside the hole and used both his hands to pull it apart. Slowly applying force he ripped away the pelt, turning it inside out in the process. In the end, he was left with a full pelt, leaving behind some fur on the rabbit¡¯s head and the bloodied, but hairless, body.


    Washing the pelt in the water, he left it aside to dry out while he gutted and cleaned the insides of the rabbit. Lin Mu walked to the apple tree and plucked some more apples, then picked up the skinned rabbit and its pelt and walked back to the hunting shack.


    He hung the pelt outside the shack from a nail and walked inside. Feeling a pang of his growing hunger, he lit the stove and skewered the raw rabbit over it with the same sharp branch he used before to roast it; then sat down to wait for it to cook.


    He looked at the ring on his right hand and thought about all the events that happened yesterday and wondered whether they urred because of the ring.


    "Seems like the idiom ¡¯misfortune apanies fortune¡¯ is indeed true. I was able to break through, but I also experienced the scary rift and almost got my hand severed... probably."


    Then he thought about the object he caught in his hand while it was in the rift, and how it disappeared when he pulled it out. As soon as he thought about that object, suddenly, a wooden slip appeared in his hand. Surprised about where the wooden slip came from, he got a simr texture feeling to that of the object in the rift and determined that it was most likely the same.


    "Is this the object I felt in the rift? How did it suddenly appear in my hand? The only way it would be possible is if this ring is a spatial storage ring."


    Lin Mu tried to understand how the ring worked. He thought of putting the wooden slip inside the ring and it once again disappeared. Now wanting to bring it back to his hand, he thought of it appearing in his hand and it did.


    "Yes! It¡¯s indeed a spatial storage ring. Can I store other things in it? I should try."


    Lin Mu tried storing various objects and then withdrawing them and found that he could do it effortlessly. Experimenting with the ring as if he had found a new toy, time passed quickly until the rabbit was finally cooked. Putting a stop to ying with the ring he started to eat the rabbit, feeling a much greater appetite than ever before. He finished the whole rabbit only leaving behind bones.


    With his hunger sated, he withdrew the wooden slip from before and opened it to take a look. But when he opened it, he found it to be nk with nothing written on it. Confused with this discovery, he flipped around the wooden slip but found nothing there either. Feeling the texture of the wooden slip, he found it to be of an exquisite quality, like the ones used by high officials and imperial schrs.


    Having satisfied most of his curiosity about the wooden slip, he stored it back in the ring. Now that there were only bones left of the rabbit, Lin Mu was able to easily break off the ck horn from the skull of the rabbit. He stored it in the ring, intending to sell it in the town along with the pelt. He would not get much for it, probably 40 or 50 copper coins, but he would be able to save up enough to buy a small knife or dagger so that he can hunt bigger beasts.


    It had been about four hours since he set up the snare traps. It would take him an hour to walk there and another toe back, but it should still leave him enough time toe back before bingpletely dark. Walking out of the shack, he stored the ck-horned rabbit¡¯s pelt in the ring and made his way towards the traps.


    Halfway to the traps, he felt a buzzinging from the ring and had a grim feeling of what was about toe. Cursing his luck that he was right, he felt his hand being dragged.


    "Not again... Nooooooo..."


    This time he was not dragged far, only a couple of feet before the fabric of space tore and a pitch dark rift appeared. As his hand was sucked inside, he braced his legs ready for whatever was toe. This time he got a significantly different feeling than before. Where before it felt like his hand entered still water, this time it felt like he had dipped it in a fast-flowing river. His hand felt the strong force, yet it stayed steady and did not move.


    "I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ll have to struggle before I will be able to pull my hand out, heck I don¡¯t even know if I¡¯ll be able to pull it out in the first ce."


    But before Lin Mu could start pulling his hand, he felt a rectangr object m into it. As soon as he felt the object, it got loose and he was able to easily pull it out. It had not even been a minute, and he could pull his hand so quick out this time.


    Thinking of the object that mmed his hand, a rectangr box, slightlyrger than the size of his palm, appeared in his hand.


    "As I thought, whenever I touch or hold something in the rift, it is stored in the ring. But it wasn¡¯t exactly the same with the wooden slip."


    "I wonder why?... I guess I¡¯ll figure it out eventually. Still, my understanding of the ring is better than before."


    Lin Mu looked at the closing rift and decided to test something. He picked a stone and a stick off the ground. He threw the stone inside the rift with the finesse of a toddler and held half of the stick inside the rift, and half outside. After a few seconds the rift closed, but right before itpletely closed the stick that he was holding was pushed out.


    "So if I¡¯m holding something, it would not be harmed. I guess that solves one of my fears. At least I won¡¯t have my hand severed if it¡¯s pulled into another rift."


    He looked around to see if the stone was anywhere but could not find it, convincing Lin Mu that it was lost in the rift. Now finally done with all that, he put his attention on the rectangr box he pulled out. It was made of brown wood and had a faint fragrance. There were three cauldrons and a peony carved on the lid of the box. He didn¡¯t know what kind of wood it was, but any fragrant wood was usually expensive. He thought he had seen the symbol of cauldrons and a peony before but could not remember where.


    "I can sell this box during next week¡¯s market when the traderse. It should sell for a good amount. If I¡¯m lucky, I may even be able to buy a sword or axe with the coins I get."


    Content with his thoughts, Lin Mu opened the lid of the box and found a small ss bottle ced in the box. He opened the ss bottle and smelled a powerful aroma of herbs wafting out of it. Tilting the bottle on his palm, three yellow pills fell out. The pills had swirls of different shades of yellow on its surface.


    Lin Mu¡¯s pupils went wide for he knew what he held in his hand.


    "These... These are alchemical pills!!! Aren¡¯t these used by qi cultivators, how did they end up in that rift!?"


    A new question popped in Lin Mu¡¯s mind: how did these things end up in the spatial rift, and how was the mysterious ring able to open them. Putting the pills back in the bottle, he stored it in the ring along with the wooden box.


    "I don¡¯t know what these pills do, if I can find out I¡¯ll be able to use them for my own cultivation."


    "I absolutely cannot reveal these to people. There will always be people who will be greedy and will want to snatch them from me. I must find out what these pills do without alerting others or exposing them."


    Feeling both excited and slightly worried about his prospects now, Lin Mu walked towards the traps to check for any prey that may have been caught.

 Chapter 7 - Onward To The Town

    <h4>Chapter 7 - Onward To The Town </h4>


    Lin Mu reached the trail where he had set up the traps. He checked the first three traps which were not triggered, then moved ahead to check the other traps when he heard the sound of leaves rustling and then a loud screech echoed. Lin Mu rushed to check and found it to be his trap which was triggered. The snare trap had caught a thorn tailed rat!


    Thorn tailed rats were the size of a person¡¯s arm, grey or ck in colour and had a characteristic ash coloured tail with short thorns made up of hardened skin on it. They were amon beast found nearly everywhere in the forest and made up the lower part of the food chain. Though they were low tiered beasts, the sharp thorns on their tails could give nasty cuts to anyone who was careless in handling them.


    Lin Mu picked up arge rock and slowly lowered the snare from which the squirming thorn tailed rat was hanging. Careful not to get hurt from the whipping tail of the rat, Lin Mu put his foot down on the tail and used the rock to crush the rat¡¯s skull. Picking up the carcass, Lin Mu went on to check the remaining traps. He found another trap which was not triggered, but thest trap was a surprise to Lin Mu.


    The trap and its surrounding area was utterly destroyed. Looking around, Lin Mu found therger trees to have w marks on them while the smaller, and thinner, trees were directly snapped at the base. There were paw prints which were muchrger than an adult males¡¯ hands everywhere. Darting his eyes around, Lin Mu searched for any beast that could be lurking; waiting to pounce on him. Not finding any signs of a beast, Lin Mu backed away and ran back to his shack.


    "That was terrifying! Those paw prints were definitely from a middle-tiered beast at least. What is a beast of that level doing here in the outskirts of the forest? They rarely wander this far out."


    Lin Mu thanked his stars, feeling lucky that he did not encounter a mid-tiered beast as that would most likely end in his demise. Lin Mu then headed back to the stream to skin the thorn tailed rat. He used his previous method of poking a hole with a sharp stick to drain the blood, and then ripped the skin from its carcass.


    The flesh of the thorn tailed rat was tough and had an unpleasant taste, so Lin Mu discarded it and only took the pelt. The pelt would not sell for much, at least not as much as the ck-horned rabbits. It could only be used to make some hard leather, unlike the ck-horned rabbit¡¯s pelt which could be used to make pouches or soft gloves.


    Lin Mu stored the pelt in the ring and walked back to the hunting shack to rest and eat his supper. He cooked the apples and ate them, while nning for the next day. Lin Mu decided that he would go to the town to sell the pelts and buy some rice, as he did not want to eat the sour apples for his every meal. He would also enquire when exactly the merchants would being next week, so that he could sell the fragrant wooden box.


    There was still the question of how he would find out more about the alchemical pills he found in the spatial rift. He could not exactly just show the pill to people, nor would describing the appearance of the pill to people work unless they themselves were cultivators or were of a prominent position.


    From what he knew, there were only a handful of qi cultivators in the Northern town; namely the town head, the captain, the two vice captains of the town¡¯s guard, and also the two top hunters of northern town - all of whom he could note in contact with. The only other way he could think of was to try his luck in Wu Lim city and find an itinerant cultivator who would be willing to trade for information; but even that would be expensive, not to mention the tax he would have to pay upon entering Wu Lim city.


    Thinking about all the expenses he would have to incur made him sigh with helplessness.


    "Selling the fragrant wood box is the only way of getting a significant amount of money for now. I hope I get a good enough price. Till then, I can only slowly umte money by selling the pelts I get from trapping some small, low-tier beasts."


    Having sorted his ns for tomorrow, Lin Mu decided to practice chanting the calming heart sutra. As he chanted the sutra, a calming feeling washed over his body and mind; making him able to sense the flow of blood in his veins and the faint waves of energy in his muscles. Focusing his mind on the waves of energy, he could feel them slowly increase and then decrease. Softly pulsating back and forth.


    Eventually, Lin Mu fell asleep and found himself back in the familiar dark ce.


    "Am I going toe to this ce every time I sleep now? What exactly is this ce? I may as well just explore and see if this ce has an end."


    Lin Mu started walking straight in a random direction while counting so he could get an idea of how much time he spends in this ce. He walked for a count of 15,000 before he got bored from it. Everywhere he looked was the same: dark. At one point he thought whether he was even moving or just walking in the same ce.


    The only other thing he noticed was that his thoughts were more clear than normal. He felt his mind being ¡¯less cluttered¡¯ than normal; his thoughts much faster than usual. And he did not know why. As he kept on walking, he felt his consciousness fade for a moment, and when it came back, he found himself awake.


    "I guess I should get ready to go to the town since it will take me an hour. I don¡¯t feel as hungry, so I¡¯ll just eat something in the town after I get some money. It would be good to eat something different from sour apples, even though I had the rabbit... but it did not have any spices on it so it tasted a little nd. I definitely need to buy some spices as well while I¡¯m there."


    Lin Mu walked towards the stream to wash up and then continued on towards the town. On the way, he saw some carriages on which armed men were sitting and a few which were walking along guarding it. Getting closer to the carriages, Lin Mu could see what was inside one of the carriages but not the rest as they were covered.


    "Beast corpses? Wait, those are steel back wolves! But they¡¯re mid-tiered beasts, average hunters would not be able to hunt those easily even if they¡¯re in a group since steel back wolves hunt in packs of twenty or more. That means they have a cultivator in their group."


    Lin Mu looked at all the hunters, but could not spot any particr person who looked like a qi cultivator. Even the hunters themselves were unfamiliar to him. If they were from the Northern town, he would be able to identify at least one person amongst them as most hunters were well known. That could only mean that they were from another town, or were from apletely different county. Looking at their weapons and armour, he leaned towards thetter.


    Lin Mu decided to talk to one of the hunters. He had walked just a little closer when one of the hunters shouted at him:


    "Don¡¯te closer kid, you¡¯ve no business here!"


    Lin Mu abruptly halted in ce and replied,


    "I just wanted to ask what hunter group are you all from, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen your group hunting in these parts."


    The hunter, with a hint of annoyance, answered,


    "Does it look like we¡¯re hunters to you, kid? We are the Crimson Fang mercenaries. Now move along before I make you."


    Walking away from mercenaries, Lin Mu furrowed his brows and wondered who would be able to employ a mercenary group toe to Northern town and hunt steel back wolves. It would be much cheaper to employ a local group of hunters, even though multiple groups of them would be required to hunt the wolves. It would still be cheaper than employing a whole mercenarypany. Unless it was something other than the steel back wolves they were hunting; something much stronger...


    As Lin Mu could not see into the other carriages, he could not verify his im. However, looking at the mercenaries which were guarding the covered carriages, who looked much stronger and had better weapons and armour than the mercenaries from thest carriage, he figured they were transporting something much more valuable than the steel back wolves¡¯ carcasses.


    Continuing on to his journey twenty minutester, he spotted the spirit apple orchards and along with it the hundreds of peasants that were harvesting the spirit apples. As he got closer, he spotted a familiar face looking at him. Looking at the person, Lin Mu¡¯s face became pale.

 Chapter 8 - Conflict

    <h4>Chapter 8 - Conflict </h4>


    Yuan Tu had been in pain for three days now; ever since he got flogged because of the spirit apples that were damaged by Lin Mu. Not only did he get physical punishment, but all the wages of the peasants for this month were cut topensate for the damages. He had been watched with eyes of dislike by a lot of the peasants because of that.


    "At least I did not have to pay it from my own savings, or worse having to use my property topensate for it. It was a saving grace that only Lin Mu had his property seized. Though, now, each and every peasant hates Lin Mu."


    The key harvest period for spirit apples was a major part of the peasant¡¯s earnings for the year. During this period most of the peasants, and even their children, would help out to earn more for their families. The Mayor allowed any willing person to be employed for the harvest, and at least one person from each family worked in the orchards during this period.


    Even though spirit apples grew all throughout the year, they were most abundant a few months before winter and usually started at the end of summer. It was one of the chief exports of Wu Lim city and brought arge revenue for the city mayor each year. But at present there were fewer people because of the gue that spreadst year, dying the process.


    The supervisor was under pressure from the city mayor to speed up the harvest andplete it before winteres, so that the spirit apples could be exported to other cities in the south. The supervisor, Li Peng, in turn put pressure on the peasants to hasten the speed of harvest; especially since from the incident three days ago he wanted no more idents.


    Yuan Tu was working in the orchards, along with his group, in the morning. They were assigned the area at the very end of the orchard along the transport road. He was working when he saw carriages and a lot of armed mening from the forest; not recognising either carriages nor the men having gone into the forest. The only other way for them toe to this part of the forest would be to go through the other route, which passes from inside the western part of the forest.


    The route from the western forest was dangerous, and the area was popted with mid-tier beasts. Even hunters would not take the risk if they could just use the safe route from Northern town. Yuan Tu looked at the men, trying to find anyone familiar when he spotted a boy walking behind the carriages. As soon as he saw him clearly, his eyes filled with hatred; as it was the same boy who was the reason for his punishment and suffering.


    Lin Mu hade close to the orchards when he heard the man who was ring at him shout,


    "HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE HERE LIN MU! AFTER ALL THAT YOU¡¯VE DONE!"


    Before Lin Mu could reply, the man spoke again,


    "After the supervisor confiscated your property, why would youe here! You¡¯re not wee to stay here anymore."


    By this time, the other nearby peasants had heard Yuan Tu¡¯s shouting and some hade to check what was happening. Lin Mu was getting nervous as more and more people gathered. He looked at their faces, and every person was looking at him with a repulsive look. Lin Mu gathered his courage to reply:


    "Uncle Yuan Tu, I¡¯m not here to stay. I¡¯m just visiting the town to sell and buy some things."


    Yuan Tu answered disparagingly,


    "What would you even sell after all your property was confiscated? And if you still have money, you shouldpensate us instead."


    The other peasants all agreed in a irritated melody:


    "Yeah! If you have anything to sell, you betterpensate us first!"


    Lin Mu did not even know what to reply, as he had no way topensate them, anyway. Looking at the silent Lin Mu, the peasants kept on rambling; knowing there was no practical chance that Lin Mu couldpensate them. They were simply venting their anger.


    Lin Mu decided to just walk away as he could not listen to the peasants anymore and wanted to do nothing with them. Lin Mu took a step back and turned around when someone grabbed his shoulder.


    "Where do you think you¡¯re going? Today we will settle our debts."


    Yuan Tu was gripping his shoulder hard. If Lin Mu had not broken through to the fourth stage of body tempering, his shoulder bones would be broken. Yuan Tu, who himself was in the fourth stage of the body tempering realm, was a little surprised seeing that Lin Mu was not hurt at all. Lin Mu squirmed and pushed away Yuan Tu¡¯s hand.


    "Let go of me Yuan Tu. I¡¯ve already paid by getting my property seized, you¡¯ve no right to stop me."


    Yuan Tu, now furious, rushed to hold him once again while shouting,


    "Grab this kid! He¡¯llpensate us with his bones and blood!"


    The other peasants, who were standing there, also attempted to catch Lin Mu. He had been surrounded at this point on three sides by the indignant peasants. Lin Mu started running around, while all the peasants chased him.


    By this time, the town¡¯s guards had noticed themotion and informed the supervisor: Li Peng.


    Hearing that the peasants were creating amotion and had stopped working even when they were already behind in terms ofpleting the harvest, Li Peng¡¯s face turned red with anger and he ran towards the location the guards had mentioned. The guards were following behind Li Peng, unable to keep up with his speed.


    Li Peng was in the eighth stage of the body tempering realm. If he could learn a qi cultivation technique, Li Peng would have already be a qi cultivator since the minimum level at which one could be one was the eighth stage of body tempering. Only at the eighth stage was the body strong and durable enough to handle spirit qi.


    If anyone attempted to use a qi cultivation technique before the eighth stage, they would, in the best case, cripple themselves or possibly end up dying.


    Lin Mu, and the peasants who were chasing him, heard a thundering voiceing from behind them.


    "STOP RIGHT THIS SECOND! WHAT IS THIS STUPIDITY!? WHY HAVE YOU IMBECILES ALL STOPPED WORKING!?"


    The thundering shout startled Lin Mu and the peasants, stopping them dead in their tracks. Turning around, they saw the supervisor sprinting towards them with the guards in tow. In a few seconds, Li Peng was right in front of them.


    "Exin to me right this instance why you are all not working before I sentence everyone to be flogged!"


    The peasants were frozen with fear and could not speak. Yuan Tu was gritting his teeth as he was the one who wanted to take revenge on Lin Mu the most, but now that the supervisor had shown up he did not know what would happen.


    The supervisor looked at the silent peasants with a grim look and said,


    "What¡¯re you waiting for, omens!? SPEAK!!!!"


    Before any peasant could utter a word, Lin Mu cried,


    "The peasants attacked me when I was passing by the orchard, I did nothing to provoke them."


    Looking at the boy, Li Peng found him to be familiar and then remembered him to be the same boy who caused the loss three days ago.


    Knowing that he could not let Lin Mu talk anymore, Yuan Tu spoke up:


    "He¡¯s lying, Sir Supervisor. He hase here with ill intentions. He has no reason to be here, yet here he is."


    With slight panic in his voice, Lin Mu shouted,


    "That¡¯spletely false, sir. I was just visiting the town to sell and buy some things. I had no intention to interact with these people. Yuan Tu was the first one to shout and attack me."


    "LIES!!!!" Yuan Tu yelled.


    "SILENCE!" The supervisor shouted, looking at them with an irritated face.


    Li Peng felt something wrong with their statements; someone was definitely lying. Thinking about the boy¡¯s situation, he did not think the boy would be courageous enough to attempt something like provoking these peasants. He switched his gaze over to Yuan Tu¡¯s eyes and found him staring at Lin Mu with eyes filled with animosity.


    Yuan Tu sensed the supervisor looking at him, thus averted his gaze from Lin Mu and said,


    "The boy is clearly lying, Sir. He says he is going to sell and buy things from the town, yet I don¡¯t see him carrying anything to sell and I don¡¯t think he has any money left after the punishment."


    With a sinister look in his eyes, Yuan Tu continued,


    "Sir Supervisor, I suspect he is here to take revenge by stealing the spirit apples from the orchard. I was just trying to stop him from attempting anything."


    At this point, Yuan Tu was just saying whatever that could get Lin Mu incriminated. Li Peng scanned the boy from top to bottom and indeed found him to be carrying nothing that could be sold. The dread within Lin Mu was increasing second by second, thus he did the only thing he could think of. He started to chant the Calming Heart Sutra in a silent voice.


    The fear and dread within Lin Mu was washed away by the calming waves, and his mind stilled; no stray thought arising. In Lin Mu¡¯s mind, minutes may have passed; yet for others it had been just a few seconds. With his mind free from fear, Lin Mu thought about how to find a solution to his current predicament. With lightning quick thoughts, he found a solution that may work if he yed his cards right.


    Lin Mu put his hand inside the empty, small money pouch that was tied to his waist and withdrew the ck-horned rabbit¡¯s horn from the ring. Pulling his hand out from the pouch, Lin Mu showed the small horn in his hand to the supervisor and spoke,


    "Sir, I wanted to sell this horn in the town, so that I could buy some grain or rice to eat."


    Looking at the small ck horn Lin Mu was holding, Yuan Tu was stumped, as he was sure that the boy was not carrying anything in the pouch. During the chase, his hand had also grazed the money pouch tied to his waist and he definitely felt nothing in it. The reason Yuan Tu was sure that he could incriminate Lin Mu was that he had felt like he had verified the boy had nothing to sell. This had put Yuan Tu in a quandary.


    Li Peng stayed silent while looking at the horn in Lin Mu¡¯s hand, then spoke...

 Chapter 9 - Resolution

    <h4>Chapter 9 - Resolution </h4>


    Li Peng had pondered over the matter, yet could not determine which party was speaking the truth. The small horn in the boy¡¯s hand meant that he was not lying and was intending to sell it, but the horn would not have enough value to be sold alone. In the matter of Yuan Tu, he had been wrong when he said the boy had nothing to sell. However, considering the value of the horn, he may have had ill intentions; as Yuan Tu was implying.


    The only other way he could determine the truth would be to have a witness verify their ims. But looking at the peasants, they all seemed like they would side with Yuan Tu. Li Peng had looked around and the only other people that would have witnessed the incident would be the mercenaries.


    He knew they were mercenaries from Zhou Hua city. The mayor had employed three mercenarypaniesst month forpleting some secret tasks that he was not informed about. This was probably the first grouping back afterpleting their task.


    Snapping out of his thoughts, Li Peng spoke,


    "Guards, call the mercenaries over here. They will testify about who is telling the truth."


    Hearing the decision the supervisor made, Yuan Tu felt uneasy.


    ¡¯If the mercenaries really witnessed everything and told the truth, I would be in much, much greater trouble. NO! I cannot be punished! All us peasants know Li Peng is an impartial man, and if he found out that I deliberately used Lin Mu of theft... the consequence would not be as simple as flogging.¡¯


    Even though the Supervisor had confiscated Lin Mu¡¯s property and thrown him out of the town, Lin Mu was not legally exiled from the town. Rather, it was Li Peng¡¯s method of ensuring that the other peasants would vent their displeasure from losing all their wages onto Lin Mu.


    Li Peng had thought the boy would stay away from the town long enough for the peasants¡¯ anger to fade or move to Eastern town. Eastern town was 8 hours away from Northern town if one walked there. The boy could have easily found work in its grain fields, since the peasants in Northern town would most likely avoid him. Yet, the boy hade back after 3 days and had even been noticed by the peasants. If the peasants had not seen him it would be fine, but now he had this problem to solve which was taking up the already limited harvest time they had left.


    Lin Mu was a little relieved that his method had worked, and the supervisor had not directly dered him guilty. He was still unsure whether the mercenaries would help him or not, though. Observing the mercenaries, one could tell they were unsociable kinds of people. He saw three mercenaries being brought over by the guards; one of them being the mercenary he had talked to before.


    The three mercenaries had a slight look of annoyance from being called over by the guards. They would have directly rejected them had it not been that they could not be rude, as they still had to pass the security checks in this town. Moreover, their employer was the very mayor of the city this town came under. And since it was a rather high-paying job, they would not like to lose it.


    The three mercenaries that were brought were all well-armed, but the man standing at the front of the trio was equipped in better quality armor than the other two; who was obviously the leader. The three mercenaries followed behind the guards and approached the Supervisor Li Peng.


    All the peasants turned their sights at the mercenaries along with Lin Mu. The lead mercenary nced his eyes over all the people that were standing around, finally settling his eyes on the well-dressed middle-aged man.


    The mercenary who had talked with Lin Mu, looked at him with a curious gaze. He had seen the whole incident, yet did not know what the boy had done that would invite the anger of all these peasants. From what he could see, the boy had barely spoken a sentence before the man standing opposite him started yelling and attacking him.


    Li Peng looked at the leading mercenary with a stern gaze before speaking,


    "You three mercenaries, tell us what happened here clearly between this boy and the peasants. You all should have witnessed it."


    The lead mercenary then replied,


    "We are from the crimson fang mercenarypany. We only do the work we are paid to do, and don¡¯t want to be involved in this matter."


    The lead mercenary clearly stated his stance. Mercenaries seldom involved themselves with matters betweenmoners and officials unless it directly involved them.


    Li Peng was unfazed by the mercenary¡¯s response, fully knowing the workings of a mercenarypany and their unwillingness in being involved in such matters. Knowing that he would not be able to convince them easily, Li Peng pulled out a small, metal te from his pocket and held it out for the trio of mercenaries to see.


    The leading mercenary was taken aback on seeing the metal te in the supervisor¡¯s hand. The te had the symbols of ¡¯Wu Lim¡¯ on it. This was the insignia of authority issued by the mayor of Wu Lim city to the officials. The presence of an official who bore the insignia meant that they could not reject them and now had to cooperate.


    Li Peng looking a little satisfied upon seeing the mercenary¡¯s upset expression, and dered,


    "You should know what this insignia means, now tell us what urred here honestly."


    The mercenary leading the trio spoke first,


    "We saw the boy walking on the road towards the town when this man standing opposite him started yelling at him. The boy said something to the man before turning away when the man held his shoulder."


    "The boy struggled and got free, but soon the other peasants gathered and started hurling abuses at him and then started chasing him around."


    Li Peng, still having a poker face, answered,


    "Hmm, is that so?"


    "Did anyone see what the boy was doing before this?"


    The mercenary who had spoken to Lin Mu before said,


    "The boy had approached our carriage before I stopped him. He asked us whether we were hunters and I told him we were from the crimson fang mercenarypany. I told the boy to stay away as he had no business being near the carriage."


    "This boy then walked behind us for about twenty minutes before we reached here, when the incident started."


    The supervisor nodded his head, thinking that his guess earlier may have been right.


    "So, you mean to say this man attacked the boy unprovoked?"


    "We could not clearly hear what he said, but it did look like the man attacked him unprovoked."


    Hearing the whole conversation, Yuan Tu¡¯s forehead was covered in a cold sweat from fear of what was about toe. Li Peng looked at Lin Mu for a moment before ring at Yuan Tu with a hint of anger in his eyes before dering....

 Chapter 10 - Conclusion

    <h4>Chapter 10 - Conclusion </h4>


    Yuan Tu had many thoughts about what would happen today, but being imprisoned was not one of them. Looking at the direction the day was heading, it seemed like that would be reality soon enough.


    Yuan Tu had been holding his breath in dread of the judgment that was about toe.


    Li Peng dered,


    "Yuan Tu. You have falsely used Lin Mu of theft, and have attacked him along with other peasants which were also incited by you. You have but one chance to speak in your defense."


    "I... I... I¡¯m innocent, Sir Supervisor. I was only trying to protect the mayor¡¯s property and not let the boy steal any spirit apples."


    "I yelled at him because he came back to the town when you exiled him Sir, and attacked him so he would learn his lesson and note back."


    Li Peng raised his eyebrows and stated,


    "I never said I exiled him, did I? I had him thrown out of the town, but he was not explicitly exiled. His punishment was for his property to be confiscated, and be thrown out of the town by the guards, not exile."


    "But... but Sir Supervisor, I thought you meant to exile the boy when you threw him out... I just assumed."


    With an amused tone, Li Peng spoke,


    "Oh? Since when can mere peasants assume the judgments of officials? Hmm, have you lost sight of your standing?"


    Yuan Tu¡¯s back was covered in a cold sweat, once again, upon hearing the supervisor¡¯s words. Yuan Tu could not speak, feeling as if there was a lump stuck inside his throat.


    Looking at the frozen face of Yuan Tu, Li Peng continued,


    "Well then that settles it, now hear your crime."


    "Yuan Tu was found to be guilty of falsely using Lin Mu of theft, inciting a crowd to attack Lin Mu, and dying the process of harvest - which was of the utmost importance."


    "I order Yuan Tu to receive twentyshes and to be imprisoned for a month."


    "Guards, take him away."


    Upon hearing the supervisor¡¯s orders, the guards promptly held Yuan Tu, who had a dumbstruck expression, and then pulled him away to receive his punishment.


    Lin Mu was a little surprised at hearing the supervisor¡¯s judgment. He had intended to only save himself from false usations, but did not expect for Yuan Tu to be punished instead. He turned to the three mercenaries, not knowing why they would change their stance so fast on seeing the te which Li Peng had shown them. Still, he was joyful that they had acted as the witnesses and told the truth.


    After dering his judgment, Li Peng shifted his gaze towards the peasants that were standing around. Gathering strength in his voice, the supervisor shouted,


    "WHAT ARE YOU ALL STILL DOING STANDING AROUND!? GET BACK TO WORK IF YOU DON¡¯T WANT TO BE PUNISHED AS WELL!"


    With frightful expressions the peasants rushed back to their work, no longer having any intention of bullying Lin Mu.


    "Tell the vige head to speed up the mercenary¡¯s security checks and let them pass; they¡¯re disturbing the work here." Li Peng said to a guard, who then dashed in the direction of the town to let the vige head know the supervisor¡¯s orders.


    The leader of the mercenary trio nodded his head in a gesture of thanks and walked away towards the mercenary caravan, thinking in his head that they at least got some benefit ining here and testifying.


    Once everyone was gone, the supervisor looked at the boy who was dressed in brown hemp robes with patches all over - showing the age of the garment. The boy had a skinny physique, seemingly because of ack of proper nutrition, and his hair short and messy.


    "Go away now, your presence will only further disturb the peasants working here."


    The supervisor spoke with a hint of impatience in his voice. Hearing Li Peng¡¯s voice, Lin Mu, who was looking at the mercenaries, turned back and cupped his hands in salute. Bowing his head, Lin Mu spoke,


    "Thank you, Sir Supervisor, for upholding justice and freeing me from false usations."


    Li Peng nodded his head in response and went back to his work, not wanting to linger here anymore. Seeing the supervisor walking away, Lin Mu thanked his stars for surviving this conflict. He took a moment to think before walking towards the trio of mercenaries.


    Seeing the boy approaching them, the mercenaries had puzzled expressions. Lin Mu faced the three mercenaries who were standing beside the carriage, which had the steel-back wolf carcasses in it.


    "Thank you for testifying and helping me prove my innocence, kind sirs."


    On hearing the boy¡¯s words, their puzzled expression resolved and the mercenary who had talked to Lin Mu before spoke.


    "We only did what was asked of us by that official, no need to thank us."


    The mercenary waved his hand, intending for Lin Mu to leave. Understanding the gesture, Lin Mu nodded his head and walked away. He did not want to waste any more time before selling the pelts and horn, as well as searching for information about the alchemical pills.


    Li Peng had reached his office and was sitting on a wooden chair, reading a ledger that was ced upon the desk. A sigh escaped his lips as he closed the ledger. Reaching for the teapot that was kept on the side table, he poured himself a cup. He downed the tea in one go. Finding it to be cold, he realized it had been sitting there since before he went to solve the conflict in the orchards.


    He massaged his forehead with his hand, feeling tired from work as another sigh escaped his lips. Thinking aboutpleting the harvest in time gave him a headache. ¡¯I wonder if I should have asked for people from other towns and viges to help out in harvesting. Even if we increase the work hours, we would be cutting it close to the deadline and that¡¯s hoping that there is no other ident.¡¯


    Thinking about the ident caused by the boy named Lin Mu made him feel even more helpless. The loss had been more than he expected. Once he received the actual invoice for the loss of the spirit apples, he had almost lost his temper. He had wanted to fine the peasants even more, but knew that he could not as some peasants may not have enough money left to survive the winter.


    The town could not afford anymore reduction in poption. The guest year had already hit them hard, making them lose around twenty percent of their entire poption to it. If any more people died, the harvest next year would be even poorer than this year¡¯s - as there would not be enough people to harvest.


    Li Peng pped his hands to call a servant. No sooner than a few seconds did the door open as a servant walked in and cupped his fist in greeting.


    "What do you need of this servant, Sir Supervisor?"


    "How is the harvest progressing?"


    "The peasants have been diligently working. The quota for today should bepleted almost certainly and may even exceed it by a little."


    Li Peng hummed in response before speaking,


    "Tell the other servants to set up torches in the orchards. The working hours will be extended by three hours from today so as to speed up the harvest."


    "It shall be done as you say. Anything else you require of this servant?"


    "What about the man Yuan Tu?"


    "I do not know sir. I¡¯ll call the guards, they¡¯ll know better."


    "Yes, do that." Li Peng said while closing his eyes, intending to rest them for a bit.


    The servant walked out of the office and returned ten minutester with two guards who had taken Yuan Tu away. The two guards greeted Li Peng and waited for his orders.


    "Has Yuan Tu been punished yet?"


    "Yes sir." Chimed the guards in unison.


    "Yuan Tu was given twentyshes as Sir ordered and then put in the jail, located in the basement of the guard barracks. Tomorrow, he¡¯ll be sent to the prison of Southern town along with the other criminals to serve his sentence."


    "That will be all." With his eyes still closed, Li Peng dismissed the guards.


    The two guards saluted the supervisor and then turned around to leave, but before they could step out the door Li Peng opened his eyes and spoke once more,


    "That boy, Lin Mu. What do you know about his strength?"


    The guards stopped in their tracks and turned back to reply upon hearing Li Peng¡¯s question.


    "When we seized the boy three days ago, he seemed to be in the second stage of the body tempering realm, Sir Supervisor."


    "And what of the man Yuan Tu?"


    "He should be in the fourth stage of the body tempering realm." The guards replied.


    Li Peng felt intrigued upon hearing this. A boy in the second stage of the body tempering realm could resist the attack of a man in the fourth stage of the body tempering realm. This was definitely umon, to say the least. Not to mention that he was able to run even when a whole mob of peasants was chasing him. If it was any other person of his level of training they would have probably been crippled by the mob, if not killed.


    Observing the intrigue in the supervisor¡¯s eyes, one guard hesitantly asked,


    "Should we keep an eye on this boy called Lin Mu, Sir?"


    "No, that would not be necessary. Alright, you¡¯re dismissed." Said Li Peng, upon hearing the guard¡¯s question.


    The door of the office closed as the guards and the servant went away, leaving behind Li Peng - who had one hand on his chin while he tapped the desk with the finger of his other hand, immersed in his thoughts.


    Lin Mu had just entered the Northern town,pletely unaware of the events that had happened, and that he had unknowingly piqued the interest of the supervisor Li Peng.

 Chapter 11 - Selling The Pelts And The Horn

    <h4>Chapter 11 - Selling The Pelts And The Horn </h4>


    Northern Town was one of the four satellite towns of Wu Lim city. Each town was named ording to the cardinal direction they were in, with respect to Wu Lim city. The different towns also had their different characteristics.


    The Northern town had spirit apple orchards, which were the chief export of Wu Lim city and reapedrge profits for the mayor each year.


    Eastern town had grain fields and was the major source of grain for the other three towns and Wu Lim city. Grains such as wheat, rice, and some millets were grown there. It also had thergest poption of all the four towns, with most of its townsmen being farmers.


    The Western town was originally a checkpoint for the raw materials brought by merchants and traders from the different counties, butter had be aplete trade center; with most of the townsmen catering to the needs of the merchants that came to do business.


    The Shuang Kingdom had an army base that was located in the Southern town. It was a veiled attempt to keep the Mayor of Wu Lim city in check and not let his influence get too strong, though officially the reason was to provide support to the Northern frontier in case of an invasion. The army base took up over sixty percent of the area of the southern town. Because of the army base, there were many cksmiths, taverns, inns, and courtesans in the Southern town, which all provided their services and entertainment to the soldiers.


    The first thing Lin Mu noticed upon entering the town was the unusually high amount of guards. Looking closer at the guards, one could see that they were not just from the town¡¯s guard but also from the city guard.


    ¡¯Why are there guards from Wu Lim city here? What could have made theme here?¡¯


    Lin Mu followed the road while checking out the various sights of the town. He was looking for a shop that would buy his pelts and the horn. He could not go to the shops he used to go before, as the shopkeepers would definitely decline buying them after the incident.


    He had to look for a shop he had not been to before. Thinking over it more, he instead decided to go to the tannery; and if they did not buy the pelts, then he would go search for other shops. Switching his path, he made his way to the tannery. The pungent smell of rotten flesh and carrion could be felt from far, and as one got closer you could also smell the odor of various chemicals mixed with it.


    Lin Mu covered his mouth and nose with his hand to prevent the vile stench of the tannery from making him vomit. Eventually, he reached the entrance of the tannery where hunters and trades could be seen standing. He saw a man writing down something in a register after talking to those hunters and traders.


    Lin Mu approached the clerk,


    "I would like to sell some pelts."


    The clerk who was busy writing in the register, turned his eyes up and looked at Lin Mu who had just spoken.


    "How many?"


    "Two pelts."


    The clerk raised his brows in question,


    "Just two? What kind of pelts are you looking to sell?"


    "One pelt of the ck horned rabbit and one of the Thorn tailed rat."


    The clerk¡¯s face had a look of annoyance after hearing what Lin Mu hade to sell.


    With an annoyed tone, he spoke,


    "Make trouble somewhere else boy, do not bother me. What use are the pelts that you are selling? We only buy pelts from bigger beasts, not one¡¯s such as that you are trying to sell."


    Some of the hunters who had heard the conversation startedughing.


    "Hahaha, look what people are calling pelts these days."


    "Those pelts are useless, boy. Come back when you have the pelt of a bigger beast."


    "Look at the boy, with how scrawny he is I doubt he can even hunt amon deer; not to mention a beast."


    Hearing the mocking tones the hunters made, Lin Mu felt embarrassed. Not wanting to bother trying to sell the pelts here, he decided to try his luck some ce else. As the stench of the tannery faded, Lin Mu felt better as he breathed in the fresh air. He wondered which shop would buy his pelts if the people at tannery said they were useless.


    He walked through the streets looking at shops such as tailors, shoemakers, and cksmiths. There were few cksmiths in Northern town and the ones he¡¯d been to before would not buy from him, so his choices were rather slim. He visited multiple shops, but all of them rejected him, not wanting to buy his pelts. All of them had the same response: that the pelts were not of much use and to look elsewhere.


    Eventually, it was afternoon, and Lin Mu heard his stomach rumble from hunger. He had expected that he would have sold the pelts before the afternoon and would be able to have a meal from the coins he would get, but luck was not in his favor today.


    Sweeping through the streets, he found an old sign hanging at the entrance of an alley that branched from the street. He went closer to check it out, but could not make out what was written on it. The sign was mottled and abused by the elements over the years it had hung there. The only thing barely visible on it was the pattern of an anvil.


    ¡¯I guess I can check out this ce, not like I have many other options left, anyway.¡¯


    Lin Mu entered the alley and looked around. Most of the shops were closed with their doors and windows barred, which undoubtedly had been for a long time; judging from the conditions. He finally found the shop, which had the same sign as that was hung on the entrance of the alley.


    The name on the sign read ¡¯Jing Wei¡¯s Emporium¡¯, and there were more patterns on the sign than just the anvil. There was a pattern of a dagger, a small flower, and a gauntlet along with the anvil. Lin Mu held the handle of the shop¡¯s door and pushed, but it did not budge. He put more force into it and the door moved with a loud creak.


    One could see the dust floating in the air, which induced a sneeze as they walked through it. Lin Mu looked at the wide array of objects in the shop. Some ced on the shelves, some hanging on the wall, and some just simplyying on the floor. There was dust on every object in the shop, thus Lin Mu thought about whether or not the shop even operated.


    There were so many different objects that Lin Mu wondered if this was simply a pawn shop. There were weapons like rusty old swords, spears, daggers, bows, random pieces of armors, books, dried herbs, boots, and a wide assortment of misceneous items such that it would probably take many days to go through them all.


    Another thing that made Lin Mu confused was that the shop was much bigger than it looked from the outside. He wondered if the other shops in the alley were as such. There was no shopkeeper or clerk at the counter that Lin Mu could talk to. He rang the small bell that was kept on the counter, but no one answered.


    Lin Mu tried ringing it a few times until he heard the voice of a womaning from a closed-door that was behind the counter.


    "Have some patience, I¡¯ming."


    As soon as he heard the voice, he withdrew the pelts and horn from the ring or it would be hard to exin to the shopkeeper where he got them from when he was not holding anything in his hands before. He watched the door, anticipating for it to open, but it was not until five minutester that it did.


    The door behind the counter opened and out walked a woman that looked to be in her early thirties. She was dressed in a blue robe and had a wooden hairpin holding up her hair in a bun. She was not outright beautiful, but had a subtle charm to her; her face had no wrinkles, but one could see a tinge of rouge on her cheeks.


    "What do you want?" the woman said in a rather curt tone.


    "I would like to sell some goods, do you buy them here?"


    Lin Mu asked as he was not even sure if the shop bought goods from people or just sold them, because if they did not then he would have wasted his timeing here.


    "Show me what you want to sell."


    Upon getting a positive response from the woman, Lin Mu felt a tinge of joy. At least someone was willing to buy from him, unlike the other shops; rejecting him straight away. Lin Mu ced the pelts on the counter towards one side and the small ck horn on the other.


    The woman eyed the items, flipping the pelts to see both the sides and checking for any damage, cuts, or stains. Then turned her gaze towards Lin Mu.


    "This is a rather weird way to skin a beast, but the pelts are fine and don¡¯t have any tears."


    A smile appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face upon hearing the woman¡¯s assessment, but then turned bitter on hearing her next words.


    "The pelts are small so they are not worth much, I can give you 20 copper coins for the ck-horned rabbit¡¯s pelt and 10 copper coins for the thorn tailed rat¡¯s."


    "Umm, and the horn?" Lin Mu asked upon not hearing a price for the horn.


    "Nothing."


    "Excuse me?"


    "The horn has no use, I won¡¯t buy it." The woman replied with a rather straight face.


    With a pleading tone, Lin Mu spoke,


    "But can¡¯t you make weapons with it? Or some other equipment?"


    "The effort in making it would not be enoughpared to how much such a piece of equipment would sell for."


    Taking a pause, she added,


    "Rather than selling it, you may as well just keep it as a small trinket. No one else would buy it, but seeing as you¡¯vee to this shop, I reckon you have tried to sell these things before."


    Lin Mu felt a slight pinch in his heart upon hearing the words of the woman. He nodded his head and said,


    "Okay, I ept the price. Also, if I bring more such pelts or goods, would you be willing to buy them?"


    Still having a straight face the woman replied,


    "I must see them first before deciding. But it would be better if you bring something more substantial than this."


    Lin Mu thought in his mind, ¡¯If I could, I would have sold them in the shops I had visited before and not in a ce such as this,¡¯ but did not show any change of expression on his face as he did not want the woman to get offended.


    The woman removed a pouch from the counter and counted 30 coins before cing them before Lin Mu, who picked them up and put them in the small pouch he had tied to his waist.


    He walked out of the old and dusty shop, closing the door upon his exit. Now that he had some coins, the first thing he wanted to do was to satisfy his hunger; thus he made his way towards the street where food stalls were located.


    Once Lin Mu was gone from the shop, the woman, who was still standing at the counter, heard an old voiceing from the door behind her.


    "Who was it, Ke¡¯er?"


    The woman replied but with a more affectionate voice this time,pletely unlike how she talked with Lin Mu,


    "Just some boy."

 Chapter 12 - Returning To The Shack

    <h4>Chapter 12 - Returning To The Shack </h4>


    Lin Mu could smell the tantalizing aromas arising from the various food stalls. The owners of the stalls roared out their prices, with many people standing around and sitting at the benches set up near the stalls; eating their food. There were various dishes being sold by the stands. There were buckwheat noodles, skewered barbecued meat, fried chicken drumsticks, big buns filled with meat, soups and vegetable filling, stir-fried rice, braised meat soup, and many more.


    There were also some teahouses along the street where people could be seen rxing and enjoying some tea with some light snacks. Lin Mu decided to buy some buns, as they would be cheap and very filling. He had to save some money to buy rice as well as some spices so that he would not have to eat the sour apples every day. He did not even have any salt with him to season anything he caught to eat, thus he especially wanted to buy a set of spices.


    Lin Mu walked up to a stall that was selling buns and spent 3 coppers coins to buy two meat-filled buns for his meal. He sat down on a bench nearby to eat the buns and take in the sights of the people in the town. He had been missing the town after three days, even though his days had been rtively exciting due to all the events that had happened ever since acquiring the mysterious rusty ring.


    After finishing the buns, he wanted to find out when the merchants would being to the town next week so that he could sell the fragrant wood box.


    ¡¯I should head to a teahouse to find out when the merchants would being next week.¡¯


    Most people liked to go to teahouses to drink some tea and gossip with the other patrons. It would be the best ce to find out information, as most people would answer questions rather easily and without any suspicion. If one was lucky one could even hear about events happening in the city, gossip about what schemes the officials were nning or which merchant was getting punished for cheating people. Such things people talked about to satisfy their need for entertainment and drama.


    Lin Mu walked into a rtively popr teahouse and looked around for an empty chair to sit. The ce was packed with people. Looking around for a moment, he found a table that had one empty chair left. He spent two copper coins to order a cup of tea for him from the waiter. There were three people already sitting on the table talking with each other.


    The people that were sitting on the table gave him a momentary nce before going back to talking amongst themselves. The waiter soon brought with him a tray on which there were four cups and a pot of tea. He ced a cup in front of each person and then poured them some tea before walking away to serve other patrons of the teahouse.


    The tea in the cup was steaming and gave off a faint fragrance that gave one a sense of calm. Lin Mu picked up the cup and blew at it before taking a sip of the light green liquid. Most of the patrons were talking with each other, while some sat in silence, some talking out loud and their voices could be heard on the other side of the teahouse; yet no one minded it.


    The people sitting on the table with Lin Mu were talking in a normal voice, and he was listening to all that they were saying. Most of it was just about how their days were going, how was their work or family; most topics being pretty mundane until he heard something that made his ears perk up.


    "Did you know that the city mayor was in an outrage yesterday?"


    "What? Why, what happened?"


    "Apparently the mayor lost something important and in a fit of rage broke and destroyed a lot of things in his mansion. All the servants and the officials in the mansion could hear it, and it was not until the mayor¡¯s wife went in to calm him down that he stopped."


    The third person who was sitting on the table opposite to Lin Mu then asked in a doubtful voice,


    "And how do you know this?"


    "My wife¡¯s brother works as a servant in the mayor¡¯s mansion so I can vouch that it¡¯s true."


    The man still had a doubtful look but allowed him to continue.


    "The lord must have lost something precious for him to break into a fit of rage, as he is a ratherposed man."


    "Did he just lose it somewhere or was it stolen? I think it was stolen, as if it was lost inside the mansion it would have been found."


    The three men conversed without giving a mind to how the surrounding tables were now also paying attention to them, as the information they revealed was a rather juicy piece of news. Not much gossip came out of the mayor¡¯s mansion, and now that some hade, everyone wanted to hear it. Even Lin Mu was listening attentively, without missing a word.


    "Is that why there are city guards in the town, because he got something stolen and ordered them to find it?"


    "That could be it, but they won¡¯t reveal the information so easily."


    One of the person¡¯s sitting on a table next to Lin Mu¡¯s spoke up,


    "Apparently the mayor also sent out a group of officials, along with a detachment of guards to the south yesterday evening."


    "Yesterday evening? That should be just after he had the outrage, could those two be rted?"


    The conversation continued about the topic until it eventually changed to something else. Lin Mu had finished his cup of tea when he finally decided to do what he came here for. He turned to the people sitting on the table and asked,


    "Does anyone know when the merchants wille next week?"


    The men paused for a moment to turn their attention towards Lin Mu and then answered,


    "They should being early this week, as the mayor has been buying a lot of rare materialstely, and will also sell the first shipment of the spirit apples."


    "I think they should be here in five days at least, if not earlier."


    Hearing the answer he wanted, Lin Mu was pleased and thanked the men for the information and stood up to go buy the supplies he wanted. He walked out onto the street and went towards a shop that sold grains. He spent 10 copper coins to buy a kilogram of rice before going to a shop that sold spices. He bought a set of spices that included ck pepper, cinnamon, cumin, cloves, allspice, nutmeg and salt. That was all he could buy for 10 copper coins, as he wanted to save the remaining 5 copper coins to buy a gourd to store water.


    He didn¡¯t want to keep on making trips to the stream from the hunting shack again and again just to get some water. He easily found a shop that sold sundries and bought a gourd from there. It was a littleter than 2 pm now, and he wanted to go back to the hunting shack before sundown so that he could check up on the traps he had set. At least he now had some rice to eat for dinner, and if he could find some bird nests in the forest, he¡¯ll be able to eat some eggs with it.


    He slung the sack containing the rice on his back for now, as he did not want to put it in the ring here and risk others seeing it. He walked out of the town gate towards the outskirts. He passed by the spirit apple orchards where the peasants were still working as hard as ever. The line of carriages that was standing along with the mercenaries was no longer there, already having crossed the town and headed towards Wu Lim city.


    Lin Mu kept his head down when he was passing by the orchards, as he did not want the peasants to notice him. Thankfully, no one noticed him and he was able to cross the orchards and onto the path leading to the forest.


    He had been walking for about half an hour when he felt the mysterious ring on his right-hand buzz. This time he knew what was going to happen, thus he was prepared and no longer surprised. He braced himself, but was not pulled anywhere this time. He looked around and saw no people except for him nearby.


    He then looked at the ring on his finger when a familiar feeling went through his body and he saw a rift open up in front of him. He did not feel a pull that was as strong as before on his hand. Still curious to know what he will find this time, he extended his hand inside the spatial rift. The spatial rift was as dark as ever and his hand felt like it had entered still water.


    He felt around but found nothing. Moving his hand around every corner of the spatial rift, he then found something hard and rough near the lower right corner of the rift. He touched it and tried to get a guess of its size but could not move his hand much, as it was already at the very edge of the rift. He willed for it to be stored into the ring and then pulled back his hand out of the spatial rift.


    The spatial rift closed as soon as he pulled his hand out. Lin Mu wanted to see what he had found this time, but waited till he reached the hunting shack - as he did not want the chance of a passing traveler to discover him. He reached the hunting shack in another half hour. Thinking about withdrawing the object he found in the spatial rift, it appeared in his hand.


    This time, though, the object was much bigger than he had imagined, and as soon as he felt the weight of the object in his hand it fell down with a loud thud; nearly crushing his toes. He looked at it and found it to be arge rock, nearly half as big as him. He was lucky that his legs were not close to the ce where the rock fell. Just an inch more and his toes would definitely be crushed.


    He looked at therge rock and found it to be nothing unusual. He touched it and examined all its sides, but found it to be just amon rock one could find anywhere; except for itsrge size. Still, he kept it back in the ring as he thought that since it came from the rift, it should be something special; just that he could not find what it was for now.

 Chapter 13 - Training

    <h4>Chapter 13 - Training </h4>


    In the Sky Precepts sect, Head elder Han was cultivating in his residence in silence when hismunication jade hummed. He opened his eyes and touched the jade to know what message he received. The message was from the head disciple of Star catching peak.


    ¡¯Hmm, more spatial disturbances were detected in the Northernnds and they appear every day. This is moremon than I thought. Even though spatial disturbances also ur naturally, they don¡¯t ur this often. We need to be faster in the investigation, we don¡¯t know how bad this could get.¡¯


    Done with his thoughts, Head elder Han stood up and walked out of his residence. Looking up in the sky, he took a step and disappeared from sight. A minuteter he appeared in front of the Mission pavilion.


    There were hundreds of disciples moving in and out of the Mission¡¯s pavilion. As soon as the disciples saw Head elder Han, they all cupped their hands in salute.


    "Greetings to the Head elder"


    "This disciple greets Head elder"


    "May the Head elder¡¯s cultivation be unobstructed and smooth."


    All the disciples erupted in praises and greetings trying to bootlick the Head elder and gain his favor. The Head elder was used to such urrences for decades now. In fact, the same thing would ur if any other high ranking elder would appear in public.


    Elder Han paid no attention to the disciples and walked into the Missions pavilion. Once inside, he made his way towards the location of the elder at the pavilion. He reached a hall, the door of which was already opened, and a young man looking to be in histe twenties was standing. He was simrly dressed in a ck robe but had the symbols for ¡¯Missions Pavilion¡¯ on the left side of his chest.


    The young man had a gentle smile on his face as he cupped his hands in greetings.


    "What brings you here, Head elder Han?"


    "How¡¯s the process for the mission to the northernnds going?" Elder Han said with a straight face.


    "The selection for the disciples has beenpleted and they will be departing for the Northernnds in a week."


    "Why do they still need a week?" Elder Han asked while raising an eyebrow.


    "Some of the selected disciples are in seclusion and should be out within the week. Considering the severity of the missions, I had to select some senior disciples who had been cultivating in seclusion for more than a year now." The young man calmly exined.


    Elder Han nodded his head in agreement and continued,


    "More spatial disturbances have been detected, the star catching peak reports one every day. Ask the disciples to be careful and more thorough in their investigation."


    The young man¡¯s smile stiffened upon hearing the news from elder Han.


    "Yes, I¡¯ll inform the disciples of this."


    Not wasting a moment more, Elder Han sped out of the Missions pavilion and disappeared in the blink of an eye. The young elder was left standing in the hall with a smile, which soon turned to a frown as soon as the Head elder disappeared.


    He turned his left palm upward, and a small disc appeared on it. The young man ced his finger on top of the disc which glowed and runes started floating around it, forming a small screen on which details of all the missions can be seen. Using his spirit sense, he made some changes to the mission, raising its danger level one level higher.


    After doing this, the young looking elder ced the disc away and closed the door of the hall with a wave of his hand. He had many more tasks to do, tasks which were very important, which he had dyed as soon as he detected the Head elder entering the Missions pavilion.


    Back in the outskirts of Northern town, Lin Mu was searching for some bird nests to snatch a couple of eggs for his dinner. He spent half an hour and found 4 small eggs the size of a quail¡¯s egg. After finding them, he no longer wanted to spend any more time searching for eggs and went back to the hunting shack.


    He ced the eggs in the pot to boil and withdrew the sack of rice he had put in his ring. He ced the sack in one corner and waited for the eggs to boil so that he could cook the rice. While he waited, he chanted the calming heart sutra and embraced the calm waves that spread throughout his body. Finishing the chant, he did not feel any increase in his strength.


    ¡¯How do I increase my strength with the calming heart sutra? Just chanting it no longer works, what else does it need more to work?¡¯


    While he thought about the calming heart sutra, the eggs were done boiling. Lin Mu removed the eggs from the pot and added some rice to let it cook. He pondered on what else he could do to make the calming sutra work.


    ¡¯I should do physical training and then try reciting the calming heart sutra and see if that¡¯s any better. Even though I don¡¯t have any physical training manual, just normal exercises should work too.¡¯


    The body tempering realm was considered to be the easiest realm in cultivation; not only because it was the first realm, but because it required little to no resources to progress. In fact, even amon peasant would reach the fourth stage of the body tempering realm by the age of 30 just by doing manualbour.


    Even if one did not have a training manual, the person could just exercise and train themself normally and they would reach higher stages. Though this was only until the 7th stage of the body tempering realm. Progressing any further, without a proper training manual, was not impossible but was exponentially more difficult.


    Having nned his next approach, Lin Mu waited for the rice to cook. As soon as the rice was cooked he ate it all, along with the 4 eggs he had boiled. With his stomach now filled and hunger sated, Lin Mu walked out to train.


    He first decided to do a run and then try other exercises. Lin Mu ran ap all the way to the apple tree, at the end of which he was gasping for his breath. He rested for a few minutes and then started to do push-ups. He did as many push-ups as he could until his arms felt sore and he could no more. Resting for a few more minutes he stood in a horse stance and practiced his punches. He performed rhythmic punches until his legs felt like jelly and he copsed.


    This was the most intense physical training Lin Mu had ever done. Fuelled with the desire to be a Qi cultivator, Lin Mu had solidified his resolve and had decided to push his body to its limits.


    Lin Mu forced himself to sit cross-legged and chanted the calming heart sutra. The experience that he had this time differedpletely from before. The calming waves were the same, but he still felt the aching of his muscles. In the pain of his muscles, he felt faint waves of energy flowing. As he kept on chanting the calming heart sutra, his mind was stilled and he was able to focus on the faint waves of energy.


    The more he focused, the more they intensified; until they reached a crescendo and dispersed all over his body! He felt his fatigue reducing and the waves of energy disappearing. A glint appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes.


    "Hahaha, this is indeed the right method to practice the calming heart sutra." Lin Mu shouted out loud.


    ¡¯If the calming heart sutra has such a profound effect even without a proper training manual, I can only imagine what kind of effect it would have with one.¡¯


    Lin Mu decided to wash up before going back to sleep in the hunting shack, as he was covered in sweat from all the training he did. Lin Mu removed his clothes and jumped into the stream nearby. The water was chilly and helped reduce the soreness of his muscles. Lin Mu also washed his clothes and wrung them out to remove as much water from them that he could.


    ¡¯I need to buy another set of clothes on my next trip to the town, I can¡¯t just make do with only one set.¡¯


    Adding a new task to his mental note, Lin Mu wore the slightly wet clothes and walked back to the hunting shack. By the time he reached the shack, his clothes werepletely dry. Having had a sessful day, Lin Mu was satisfied with himself and slipped into a deep sleep.


    Same as before, he found himself in the dark ce. Now used to the phenomenon, Lin Mu just spent his time in nning for the future until he woke up from sleep.

 Chapter 14 - Making A Small Fortune

    <h4>Chapter 14 - Making A Small Fortune </h4>


    After waking up, the first thing Lin Mu sensed was that the air was much colder than normal in the shack. He opened the door of the shack and felt a gust of chilly air hit his face. Looking around, he took a breath of relief at the absence of any snow in the surroundings.


    ¡¯It¡¯s good that it did not snow in the night, though the temperature has fallen even more. I probably have at most a month till winter sets in.¡¯


    Once winter came, it would be much more difficult for Lin Mu to catch beasts with traps. If he wanted to hunt beasts, he would have to go much deeper in the forest and that would be dangerous. Lin Mu had to get enough money within this one month to rent a ce so he could stay in the town, and have enough left to tide over the winter. If he could not, it would be harrowing to stay in the hunting shack since there was no way it could provide adequate protection from the cold.


    ¡¯I should go check the traps and see if there¡¯s anything caught in them. I hope there¡¯s no stronger beast near the traps like before.¡¯


    Lin Mu made his way towards the trails where he had set the snare traps, trying to make as little noise as possible. This time the heavens seemed to be happy with Lin Mu, as he found that the first snare had caught something.


    He walked closer to take a look and thanked the heavens on spotting what was caught in the snare ¡ª it was a Snow veiled hare.


    Snow veiled hares were quite a rare beast in the northern forests. Even though they were only low tiered beasts, having the strength equivalent to that of the 2nd stage body tempering realm, they were incredibly fast and could camouge in snow; not to mention they would onlye out once the snow was knee-deep.


    Finding one this early before winter was very unusual, even veteran hunters would only be able to catch one every few years. The wless white fur was prized by the women of affluent families in the city and would sell for a small fortune.


    Lin Mu grasped the squirming Snow veiled hare firmly, finding it a little difficult because of the strength of the beast. Lin Mu wanted to keep the Snow veiled hare in the ring and not skin the pelt by himself. He did not think he had the skills good enough to avoid damaging such a precious pelt, and he did not have the right tools either. He would rather just sell the whole beast alive.


    Lin Mu did not know whether he could actually keep the beast alive in the ring, as he had never tried that before. Not wanting to experiment it on the Snow veiled hare, he tied its limbs tightly with some vines he found nearby; coiling them multiple times around the limbs to make sure it does not snap them.


    He slung the beast on his back and went ahead to check on the other snares. The second snare was triggered and the noose of the snare was ripped, most likely from a bigger or stronger beast. He examined the footprints and found them to be hoof prints.


    ¡¯Seems like a deer passed through here. That¡¯s strange as well... they don¡¯t usually wander out here either.¡¯


    ¡¯First the Snow veiled hare, and now a deer. Is something scaring the low tiered beasts and animals here.¡¯


    ¡¯Wait, could it be the same beast that destroyed the surrounding area of my traps?¡¯


    Lin Mu did not want to go near that area, but his curiosity won in the end. Lin Mu silently approached the destroyed ce, keeping his eyes wide open and legs ready to run at the first sight of danger. The area looked the same as before, with broken trees lying around and w marks and paw prints everywhere.


    He examined further and there were no new beast tracks there either. The other beasts were most likely avoiding the area because of the scent of the beast which destroyed the area. He saw the path on which the beast retreated; deep towards the forest.


    Having satisfied his curiosity, Lin Mu checked upon the remaining four traps. Two of them were not triggered again, these were the same ones that were not triggered thest time he had checked. Thest two traps were sessful. There was a ck horned rabbit caught in one and in another a Thorn tailed rat.


    Lin Mu wanted to experiment whether he could keep beasts alive in the ring, thus these two would be his subjects. He held the ck horned rabbit and stored it in the ring. Lin Mu then pulled it out from the ring after 10 seconds.


    The ck horned rabbit was still alive and squirmed in his hands. He put the Rabbit back in the ring and waited for 5 minutes to see if it was still alive after that. 5 minutes passed and he withdrew the beast from his ring, this time it was dead.


    ¡¯Why did the rabbit die after 5 minutes and not before? Could there not be any air in the ring for the rabbit to breathe?¡¯


    Lin Mu did not know if he could store air into the ring. He tried imagining it; storing air into the ring. After that, he put the thorn tailed rat into the ring and once again waited 5 minutes to see if it would work. He pulled the thorn tailed rat out after 5 minutes and found it to be dead as well.


    ¡¯Guess I¡¯ll just have to make a trip to the town today to sell the Snow veiled hare. I should hurry then.¡¯


    Lin Mu ran to the stream to skin the beasts. Using the method he used before, Lin Mu swiftly skinned and cleaned the carcasses, storing the pelts in the ring. He reached the shack and set the ck horned rabbit¡¯s meat on the stove. Now that he had spices with him, Lin Mu generously sprinkled them on the meat. A few minutester, the aroma of the spices and the meat made his mouth water.


    Picking up the well-roasted rabbit from the stove, Lin Mu put it aside to cool down enough for him to be able to eat it. Once it cooled down, Lin Mu ravenously ate it; unable to control his hunger. Picking the bones clean, Lin Mu licked his fingers, which were covered in the oil from the rabbit.


    With his hunger sated, Lin Mu slung the Snow veiled rabbit on his back and ran towards the direction of Northern town. He ran in short bursts of speed, slowing down when he felt tired. Lin Mu did not feel as winded as he felt after yesterday¡¯s run. He reached the town in 40 minutes; much faster than before.


    Lin Mu looked at the sun and estimated it to be around 11 am, leaving him with more than enough time toplete his tasks and return to train. He rushed on the path passing by the orchards, avoiding the looks of everyone. He entered the town and made his way towards the tannery, as that would probably be the ce that will pay the most.


    Covering his nose and mouth to avoid the disgusting stenching from the tannery, Lin Mu entered through the gate and saw the same clerk as before standing there; writing in his register. He could feel the gazes of the people turn towards him as he got closer, and when they saw the beast that was slung on his back, some even gasped.


    The clerk saw him and scrunched his face in annoyance.


    "What do you want this time, kid? I told you we don¡¯t buy pelts of low tiered beasts."


    Before the clerk could continue talking, Lin Mu thrust the tied up Snow veiled hare forward.


    "This, I wish to sell it."


    The clerk¡¯s eyes went wide once he saw the Snow veiled hare. The clerk had not seen a Snow veiled hare in two years now as fewer hunters went out to hunt during the winter. He knew that the beast¡¯s pelt could be sold for a fortune, and if they auctioned it in Wu Lim city they could make even more.


    The clerk¡¯s eyes darted around and saw that the hunters were having the same ideas as him.


    "70 silver coins for the Snow veiled hare." The clerk loudly said, dousing any desire of the hunters to buy it from Lin Mu before he could.


    He could have offered less but did not want to take any chance and miss out on the opportunity here. ¡¯It¡¯s good that the boy did not kill and skin the beast himself, he definitely would have damaged it.¡¯


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up in joy upon hearing the price offered by the clerk.


    "I¡¯ll take it, give me the money."


    The clerk went inside the building for a minute and came back with a pouch. Passing it to Lin Mu, he asked him to count it as he took the Snow veiled hare from him. While Lin Mu counted the coins, the clerk checked the hare for any stains on its fur. Satisfied with the condition of the Snow veiled hare, he called for a servant to take it away to be skinned.


    After counting, Lin Mu pretended to put the coins in his own pouch but instead transferred them to the ring and gave the clerk¡¯s pouch back to him. Lin Mu turned around to leave the tannery, but as soon as he walked a few steps away from the gate he heard someone call him from the back.


    "Stop right there, brat."

 Chapter 15 - Chase

    <h4>Chapter 15 - Chase </h4>


    Lin Mu stopped in his tracks upon hearing the voice. He hoped that things would not progress as he was imagining them. He turned back to see four men standing behind him; he had seen them standing in the tannery when he was selling the Snow veiled hare.


    As many people were staring at Lin Mu when he was carrying the Snow veiled hare, he had not noticed that these four men had a greedy look in their eyes when he sold the Snow veiled hare for 70 silver coins.


    "Hey brat answer us, where did you find the Snow veiled hare?" said the man who had called Lin Mu.


    "And tell us truthfully or you¡¯ll have to face the consequences." Added another man.


    All four men looked rugged and gave off vibes that they were up to no good. Lin Mu had not seen these guys ever before, so did not know whether they were hunters. If they were hunters Lin Mu would not worry as much, as they would not do anything rash, but if they were not, then it would be a different situation.


    "I found and caught the Snow veiled hare in the western edge of the forest." Said Lin Mu lying through his teeth.


    Lin Mu did not want to expose the location of the hunting shack where he was living in. These men did not look like they were decent and would definitelye to Lin Mu if they did not find the Snow veiled hare. Not to mention all the secrets of the ring which he did not want others to find out about.


    "Is that so, huh? So you wouldn¡¯t mind showing us the ce yourself?" the man standing at the front asked with an evil smile on his face.


    The other men already looked like they were already getting impatient and would attack Lin Mu if he did not agree.


    "Uh, ok, I¡¯ll show you guys." Spoke Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu had no intention of following through with the intentions of the men. He would find a suitable opportunity and run away at the first sight of danger. Lin Mu even wondered that if he did not get an opportunity to run, he would just take them to the area which was destroyed by the unknown beast and try to hoodwink his way out from there.


    But before he could continue his train of thought, the man spoke again,


    "If you¡¯re sure of it, then you should have no problem handing over the silver coins you got from the clerk to us."


    "We¡¯ll give it back once we catch a Snow veiled hare and besides there are many thieves these days, the money will stay safe with us." Another man spoke with an obvious threat in his voice.


    Lin Mu now understood that these men never wanted to get the location of snow veiled hare but rather just wanted to get their hands on his money. Knowing that talking anymore would be useless, a n quickly formted within Lin Mu¡¯s mind. He would have to take a certain risk but would be able to save his money and get away from these men.


    Lin Mu took a few steps backward and in the blink of an eye broke into a sprint before those men could grab him.


    "Where are you going, BRAT? STOP!!!"


    "Catch him."


    Lin Mu put all his strength in running from the men. The training he did increased his endurance and allowed him to run for a longer time. Even still Lin Mu was only in the 4th stage of the body tempering realm and there was no way he could keep up this pace.


    The thieves who were after him were in a higher stage than him. Two of them were in the 5th stage of the body tempering realm and the other two in the 6th stage of the body tempering stage. The thieves would eventually catch up with Lin Mu, so he could only hope his n works.


    Lin Mu kept on running towards the main part of the town. Once he reached there, the presence of the guards should be able to dissuade the men from pursuing him. Halfway to the town Lin Mu¡¯s legs grew tired and revolted in pain but he kept on running; he realised that he had overestimated himself after yesterday¡¯s training.


    "That brat will not be able to run for much longer, speed up."


    "He¡¯s just a weak twerp, I¡¯ll show him a taste of what it¡¯s like to offend me."


    The thieves were yelling at the top of their voices, trying to intimidate Lin Mu. Then the worst thing that Lin Mu feared for happened. He started to lose feeling in his legs, and they had grown too sore after running for 10 minutes straight. Lin Mu was still 5 minutes away from the town, and the thieves had reduced the distance between them.


    In this desperate time, Lin Mu had a sudden moment of enlightenment. He chanted the Calming heart sutra, and its waves started to spread through his body. Even though his legs still felt sore and he was out of breath; Lin Mu was able to pull through and sped up once again putting more distance between him and the thieves.


    The thieves finally noticed that not only Lin Mu was not slowing down, he actually increased his speed.


    "How¡¯s this brat still running?"


    "Keep on running, he should be on hisst legs."


    Lin Mu finally entered the town, but he was still away from the area where there were more guards. There were some people around who noticed the madly running Lin Mu and then saw the men chasing him. Seeing the people around and no guards, Lin Mu started the next part of his n. Lin Mu pulled on the coin pouch tied to his waist and shouted with all his mouth.


    "THIEVES!!!"


    "THIEVES WANT TO STEAL MY MONEY HEEELP!"


    The People around heard Lin Mu¡¯s cries and became alert. Some people clutched their coin pouches while others pulled out their weapons.


    Thieves were not umon in the town but it was rare to see them trying to rob from people in broad daylight that too while chasing their victim through the open streets where people would notice.


    The Thieves chasing Lin Mu gritted their teeth in rage. They knew that even if they catch Lin Mu and get his money, they will have to leave the town or the guards would definitely imprison them. Now that even Wu Lim city¡¯s guards were here in the Northern town, the town¡¯s own guards seemed to be on edge, punishing crooks for the slightest grievance.


    "I¡¯m gonna split that brat¡¯s legs once I catch him." One of the thieves furiously spoke.


    Seeing that he had caught the notice of people and alerted them, Lin Mu did something that surprised the thieves. He threw his coin pouch in a small crowd of people and shouted,


    "LEAVE ME, I DON¡¯T WANT THE MONEY ANYMORE."


    The coin pouch hit one of the person standing in the crowd but did not hurt him and just plopped down, not exactly how a pouch heavy with coins would. The thieves gawked at this action of Lin Mu.


    "Haha, looks like that boy finally gave up."


    "That¡¯s a shame I was itching to break his bones."


    The thieves stopped chasing Lin Mu and went towards the crowd. The man that was hit with the pouch was now holding it in his hand and had a confused look on his face. The thieves approached the man holding the pouch and pulled out their daggers and clubs.


    "Give us the coin pouch and no one has to get hurt." The man leading the thieves spoke.


    To their surprise, the man straight up held out the coin pouch for them to take. The thieves had expected some resistance or negotiation, but this waspletely different.


    "Can¡¯t believe thieves have such low standards now." The man who was holding the coin pouch spoke with a hint of disdain in his voice.


    The thieves were a little confused by the man¡¯s statement but did not mind it as they had heard much worse before and did not want to get into a conflict if they were getting the easy way out.


    Once the leader of the thieves held the coin pouch in his hand and felt its weight, he understood the man¡¯s statement and his face fell. He peered into the coin pouch and found a meager sum of 5 copper coins in it.


    "GODDAMMIT, that brat fooled us."


    The other thieves looked at the leader with a puzzled look until he emptied the pouch in his hand and showed them the loot. All the thieves felt anger rise by a few notches at being fooled by Lin Mu, and their eyes turned red.


    By the time the thieves got the coin pouch, Lin Mu had already ran far ahead and reached an area where there were plenty of guards around. Though just as an extra precaution, he still kept on running and turned towards a deste alley. When he stopped to catch his breath and rest his legs, he found himself in front of a familiar shop.

 Chapter 16 - Shopping

    <h4>Chapter 16 - Shopping </h4>


    Lin Mu looked up and saw the familiar ¡¯Jing Wei¡¯s Emporium¡¯ written on the signboard. With his legs sore from all the running, Lin Mu wanted to plop down right then and there on the floor; but then decided against it. He pulled out the rolled-up pelts of the ck horned rabbit and Thorn tailed rat before walking into the shop.


    Everything was the same as yesterday: dust everywhere and no person at the counter. Wanting to rest, Lin Mu found an old stool in the corner and sat on it; not minding the dust on it. He rested his legs till they did not feel as sore as before and he could walk again normally.


    Lin Mu must have rested for more than 30 minutes, yet no one came to check on him. There seemed to be no sign of the woman from before.


    ¡¯It¡¯s been so long, yet no one is bothering to check the shop. Are they not afraid of getting anything stolen?¡¯


    ¡¯I guess no one evenes to the alley itself, not to mention this shop.¡¯


    Lin Mu wondered how the shop owner even survived considering the situation of the business. Pushing his thoughts aside, he walked up to the counter and rang the small bell kept on it. Unlike before, he did not even have to wait for 10 seconds before the woman walked out of the door behind the counter.


    "What are you here for today?" The woman questioned with an expressionless face.


    "I brought more pelts to sell." Lin Mu said with a little pep in his voice.


    The woman unrolled the pelts and checked them. Not finding anything wrong with them, she put them on the side and pulled out a coin pouch from under the counter.


    "I¡¯ll give you the same price as before: 30 coppers." The woman stated.


    "That¡¯s fine, but I also need a few more things," replied Lin Mu. He had originally thought of buying a weapon and some things from other shops, but decided to try his luck here instead; hoping to get a better deal.


    "What else do you need?"


    "I want two pouches, arge sack, and a weapon."


    The woman raised an eyebrow in question but did not speak. She walked out from behind the counter and went towards a shelf on the left. The woman gestured for Lin Mu to follow her, which he did.


    "Pick whatever sized pouch you want from here."


    Lin Mu eyed the haphazardly ced pouches on the shelf. They were mixed together and it was a little difficult to find the size he wanted. Lin Mu searched around and found two suitable pouches and asked for the price.


    "How much for these two pouches?"


    "10 coins for the smaller one and 15 for the bigger one." The woman said with a straight face to which Lin Mu nodded. She then moved again towards a corner where a pile of sacks was kept and gestured for Lin Mu to pick, clearly not wanting to touch the dusty sacks herself. Lin Mu picked a sack that was big enough to cover half of him if he stretched it out.


    "That sack will cost 25 copper coins."


    "I¡¯ll take it." said Lin Mu.


    The woman looked at Lin Mu and then spoke with a stern tone.


    "What kind of weapon do you want and how much is your budget?"


    The woman seemed to be questioning whether Lin Mu would be able to afford a weapon after paying for the sack and pouches. Lin Mu understood the woman¡¯s tone and put his right hand inside his robe and pulled out 15 silver coins, pretending as if they were kept in there all this while.


    ¡¯The boy clearly was not carrying those coins with him. I¡¯m sure of my senses. Seems there¡¯s more to him then I thought.¡¯ The woman said inwardly, concealing her shock.


    "I would like a suitable sword for hunting." Stated Lin Mu, unaware of the woman¡¯s thoughts.


    She went back to the counter, with Lin Mu following behind.


    "You don¡¯t have any specific idea of what kind of sword you want?" Asked the woman.


    "To be honest, I¡¯ve never used a sword before. That¡¯s why I asked you to suggest a suitable one." Replied Lin Mu with an embarrassed face.


    She was not bothered by the boy¡¯s embarrassment and spoke,


    "What stage of the body tempering realm are you at?"


    "I reached the fourth stage of body tempering recently," said Lin Mu.


    The woman stood and thought for a minute, after which she opened the door at the back of the counter and walked inside. The woman stayed inside for 10 minutes while Lin Mu waited patiently, fiddling with the coins in his hands.


    The door opened and out walked the woman along with an old man. The man looked ancient, and it seemed as if he already had one foot in the grave. The man had shoulder-length white hair and a long messy beard. His face was full of wrinkles, yet his eyes seemed to be full of vigor. He was dressed in a spotless white robe and was wearing a ck beaded bracelet on his left arm.


    The old man¡¯s gaze sent a chill down Lin Mu¡¯s spine and left him unable to breathe. Seconds felt like an eternity to him, and just when he was about to faint; Lin Mu felt a rumble in his mind. He felt as if thousands of monks were chanting in unison, their voices turning into an unyielding force in his mind. When the chants reached the highest volume, a stream of energy spread out from the ring on his right hand and spread throughout his body.


    All of this seemed as if it took a long time, but happened in an instant. Then, in the next moment, everything returned to normal. The old man¡¯s gaze no longer felt as imposing as before to Lin Mu. He took a deep breath and was about to speak when the old man interrupted him.


    "I¡¯m the owner of this shop, Jing Wei. You can call me Old man Jing." The man spoke with a hoarse voice.


    "I¡¯ve been told you want a sword that¡¯s suitable for you." The old man continued upon seeing the silence of the boy.


    "Yes, I want a sword that I can easily learn to use." Lin Mu spoke with a little difficulty, to which the old man nodded.


    "What¡¯s your dominant hand?" Jing Wei asked.


    "The right one."


    "Hmm, and you say you are at the fourth stage of body tempering, yes?" said the old man while stroking his beard.


    "Yes, I am." Answered Lin Mu, who was now feeling ufortable in the presence of the old man.


    Jing Wei turned his sight to the woman, which she understood and went back inside. She came back a minuteter with seven different swords in her hands. She ced them on the counter and then stood at the side, not speaking a single word the whole time.


    "Try lifting the first sword." Said the old man, pointing towards a sword.


    Lin Mu walked up to the counter and picked up the sword effortlessly. The sword was very mundane, not having any special features. Such a sword could be found anywhere in the world. Lin Mu felt the grip of the handle, finding it a little ufortable. The old man seemed to have noticed this and said,


    "Try the next one."


    Lin Mu picked up the next sword and felt as if the weight of the sword was not bnced. It seemed to be a little more on one side than the other. This also did not escape the old man¡¯s sight either, and he ordered Lin Mu to keep on trying the other swords. Lin Mu tried all the swords but did not feelfortable with any of them.


    As Lin Mu kept on trying the swords one after another, the old man¡¯s interest kept on increasing. Finally, he asked Lin Mu to stop and whispered something to the woman. The woman broke herposure and a surprised expression manifested on her usual deadpan face upon hearing what the old man whispered. Lin Mu did not notice this as he was engrossed in the sword in his hand.


    The woman walked up to a shelf far to the right and pulled off the sheet that was covering it. That was the only shelf that was covered with a sheet in the entire shop. From it, she took out a sword that waspletely wrapped with a cloth. She brought the sword to the old man and handed it to him.


    The old man unwrapped the sword and revealed it. It was a dull-silver colored short sword about the length of a forearm. Its handle was simple, made of wood, while its de was straight and double-edged with two short grooves on its sides. Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up upon seeing the simple yet elegant sword. But as soon as the old man held it by its handle, Lin Mu once again felt an imposing presence emanate out of him.


    For a moment there Lin Mu saw a giant standing behind the old man, holding a de that seemed to have gone through countless years of ughter; giving off an aura that could only be described as death. Sensing what was happening, the woman panicked a little and ced her hand on the shoulder of the old man. Jing Wei understood what he did and let out a sigh, after which the phenomenon disappeared.


    Lin Mu could not believe what he saw and wondered if he hallucinated all that due to still being tired from all the running he did today.

 Chapter 17 - First Sword

    <h4>Chapter 17 - First Sword </h4>


    Lin Mu was able to gather his wits eventually in the end, and wisely chose to ignore the phenomenon that had urred; not questioning the old man or the woman. He understood that there were some secrets that need not be exposed.


    If it was the Lin Mu of the past, he would have definitely questioned the old man; but now that he had experienced the wonders of the mysterious ring, he did not want to take any chance that may create needless conflict.


    After the phenomenon disappeared the old man scrutinized Lin Mu, but did not find anything suspicious with him except for having an unfocused gaze. Determining that Lin Mu did not seem to have noticed the phenomena, Jing Wei dropped his guard.


    "Come lift this sword, see how you feel." The old man said with an expectant gaze.


    The woman standing behind Jing Wei was looking on with bated breath, ready to act in case anything unusual happened. But it was all for naught as Lin Mu casually lifted the short sword. Seeing that nothing happened, the woman let out a sigh of relief.


    Holding the sword in his hand, Lin Mu felt as if it was the perfect sword for him. All the other swords he tried before were alwayscking in some aspect, yet this sword felt perfect. Even aplete novice like Lin Mu could tell the sword was unusual; that an expert craftsman had created it.


    The old man was closely observing Lin Mu¡¯s every action, and with his years of experience, he could tell that Lin Mu liked the sword.


    "Now try swinging the sword and tell me how it feels." Said Jing Wei.


    Lin Mu nodded to Jing Wei, as both the old man and the woman stepped back to give him some space. Lin Mu had never used a sword before, so the way he swung the sword was clumsy and full of ws, yet it still incited a glimmer of approval in the eyes of Jing Wei.


    Having tried the short sword a few times, Lin Mu liked it even more and had decided on buying it.


    "I would like to buy this sword," Lin Mu affirmed.


    "It will be fiftee..." Before the woman couldplete her sentence, the old man interrupted her and spoke.


    "The total cost is 30 silver coins." The old man had a teasing smile when he spoke.


    Lin Mu was stunned upon hearing the voice and then protested,


    "B-But I specified my budget was 15 silver coins."


    "The price includes the cost for other items, and also for appraising and choosing a suitable sword for you."


    "And you have more than 30 silver coins with you, don¡¯t you?" Jing Wei asked with a mocking tone, yet his face was expressionless.


    Listening to the old man¡¯s tone, Lin Mu was about to object but then swallowed his words upon seeing the man¡¯s face. He understood that he had seen something he should not have - the old man¡¯s aura, and this was the price he had to pay. Considering the quality of the sword, it was not that overbearing either; thus Lin Mu decided to grit his teeth and just pay for it.


    Same as before, Lin Mu pretended to pull out the silver coins from his robe and passed them to the woman. The woman then gave Lin Mu 30 copper coins back as change, which made him feel a little helpless. After putting the coins away, the woman also gave Lin Mu a sheath for the sword. The sheath was the same size as the sword, but did not match its style.


    "Why does the sheath not match it?" Lin Mu questioned the woman, to which the old man replied,


    "That short sword does not have its own sheath, it was always meant to be kept unsheathed."


    Seeing that Lin Mu was about to talk again, the old man continued,


    "Besides, that sheath will help you to hide the sword¡¯s appearance. You don¡¯t want any strong hunters or thieves to snatch it from you, right?"


    "Yes, that makes sense. Thank you for thinking ahead for me." Lin Mu replied after understanding Jing Wei¡¯s intentions.


    "Thank you too, miss..." Lin Mu said in a questioning manner.


    "My name is Duan Ke." Said the woman curtly.


    "Ah yes, thank you Miss Duan Ke." Replied Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu sheathed the sword and tied it to his waist. With the light weight and short length of the sword, it was easy for Lin Mu to carry it on his waist. Havingpleted the transaction, Lin Mu took the sack and pouches before walking out of the shop and headed towards an area where he could buy some sets of clothes and more food ingredients - since he had more money now.


    After Lin Mu had left the dusty old shop, the old man was still standing there, lost in his thoughts, when the woman named Duan Ke spoke:


    "Grandfather, why did you give your old sword to that boy?"


    "And you even did a proper appraisal for him, using the testing swords."


    Duan Ke seemed to have a little confusion and worry in her eyes as she asked Jing Wei. The old man stayed silent for a while, during which Duan Ke waited patiently. After an incense stick¡¯s worth of time, Jing Wei let out a sigh before answering.


    "You said that the boy was not carrying any coins on him when he came in, yet he was able to produce them when you questioned him. I would have taken it as you being mistaken, but I could not sense it either."


    Duan Ke was shocked upon hearing this. Even though her grandfather¡¯s cultivation base was sealed, his senses were not something to be taken lightly. Seeing Duan Ke¡¯s shock, Jing Wei continued,


    "The boy was also able to withstand a wisp of my aura without fainting."


    "At first, I only intended to probe him a bit and was going to withdraw the moment I felt the boy was unable to bear it; yet against all odds he withstood it, and somehow his strength even increased."


    The baffled Duan Ke then asked,


    "But grandfather, that still won¡¯t be enough for you to sell your old sword, which you used during your youth, for so cheap."


    The old man smiled a little upon hearing his granddaughter¡¯s words before speaking again.


    "It has been more than a decade since I sealed my cultivation base, yet my sword intent still leaked out. Commoners should not be able to sense it, only cultivators can."


    The woman was a little taken aback, but her confusion was not resolved,


    "Yes grandfather, the boy was unaffected by it. He did not show any response when your sword intent was leaked."


    "No, the boy not only sensed my sword intent, but he was also able to see its appearance as well. He wisely chose to pretend that nothing happened, but I know he saw it. His heart betrayed his fa?ade."


    "As for how that boy was able to pull the coins out of nothing, I don¡¯t know either. He does not have a spatial storage ring, or any other spatial storage treasure on him either."


    Duan Ke waspletely lost for words this time and did not know what to think of it. Seeing that his beloved granddaughter was lost in her thoughts, Jing Wei turned around to go back to rest but stopped in the doorway and spoke,


    "Keep an eye on that boy Ke¡¯er. The one thing I¡¯m sure of is that the boy has secrets, and we don¡¯t know if there is someone secretly backing him either."


    The old man left after saying these words to Duan Ke, who snapped out of her thoughts after hearing them.


    Lin Mu had just walked into a clothes shop,pletely unaware of the shocking conversation between a pair of grandfather and granddaughter. Lin Mu also did not know that neither Jing Wei nor Duan Ke were able to see the mysterious ring on his hand.


    Lin Mu was thinking of all the events that happened in the shop and the phenomena that he experienced there. First, the gaze of the old man which made him suffocate, and then the appearance of the sword-wielding giant were allpletely unimaginable to him.


    ¡¯I seem to be experiencing one shocking thing after another ever since I found the mysterious ring, and they only seem to be getting worse.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu inwardly.


    ¡¯The old man was not simple. He was surely a cultivator and way stronger than the ones I¡¯ve seen before.¡¯


    By the time Lin Mu finished his thoughts, he found himself on the street where a lot of clothes shops were located. He randomly chose and entered one of them, seeing a few people in the shop; but not overly crowded. A clerk soon spotted him and asked what he was looking for. Lin Mu only asked for four sets of clothes that were durable but did not mention anything specific.

 Chapter 18 - Four Vessels Restoration Pill

    <h4>Chapter 18 - Four Vessels Restoration Pill </h4>


    The clerk went to get the clothes for Lin Mu and returned after 5 minutes. He brought with him ten sets of clothes, all in different colours and patterns. The clerk then ced them in front of Lin Mu and asked him to choose.


    Lin Mu picked two different sets of ck clothes, a grey set of clothes, and one wless white robe that he particrly liked. He then paid the clerk 10 silver coins for the clothes before putting them in the sack. Lin Mu had now spent more than half of the coins he got from selling the Snow veiled hare and was left with 30 silver coins.


    The next thing he wanted to get was more cooking ingredients. He went to the same shop as before and bought more rice, oil, spices, and condiments that he could not before; spending 3 silver coins in the process.


    Lin Mu decided to get some lunch before heading back to the shack. He went to the street with all the restaurants and food stalls. While on his way, he saw somemotion happening in the middle of the road. Coming closer to check what was happening, he saw a carriage approaching the site; out of which a few mercenaries came out. He recognised them by the symbol on their armours: the crimson fang mercenaries he had met before.


    As the crowd parted to let the mercenaries approach, Lin Mu could finally see what themotion was about. He saw a mercenary that was heavily injured and was being carried by three other mercenaries who also had injuries. The heavily injured mercenary¡¯s leg was shredded, and pieces of shattered bone could be seen sticking out of it. The gruesome sight of which made Lin Mu¡¯s stomach churn.


    He then saw the mercenaries put the injured men into the carriage; probably to be taken away for treatment. The crowd soon dispersed after the carriage went away. Putting this matter to the back of his mind, Lin Mu continued walking and reached the food street whilst somehow maintaining an appetite. He chose a restaurant which was popr for its noodles and went inside.


    Lin Mu saw that it was rather crowded and most of the customers seemed to be other mercenaries that hade to the town today. He found an empty seat and sat down to order a bowl of noodles. While he was waiting for his food to arrive, he listened to the mercenaries talk.


    "Did you all see themotion out in the street?" said a mercenary sitting on the table beside Lin Mu.


    "Yeah, a team from the crimson fang mercenaries got injured in the forest. Apparently they got attacked by a spirit beast." Said another mercenary sitting at the same table.


    "Do they know what kind of spirit beast attacked them?" asked the first mercenary.


    "They could not tell exactly what type of spirit beast it was, except that it was arge bear. They were ambushed by the bear and spent all their efforts in trying to escape. Still, one of them ended up heavily injured." Answered the second mercenary.


    "It¡¯s a shame that the mercenary who got heavily injured will be permanently crippled. His leg is as good as gone now." Said the first mercenary with a sigh.


    "He could still be healed, but the price for that will be incredibly high. Only an alchemical pill will be able to save his leg now," another mercenary continued who was listening to the conversation.


    The two mercenaries turned to the man who spoke and asked,


    "What kind of alchemical pill can heal him? Don¡¯t the healing alchemical pills only work on qi cultivators? That mercenary was not a cultivator."


    "No, there are some higher-ranked alchemical pills that are effective onmon people as well. The mostmon pill would be the Four vessels restoration pill. It is easily recognised by its strong herbal aroma and the spiral patterns present on it." Answered the third mercenary.


    Upon hearing the mercenary¡¯s answer, Lin Mu¡¯s ears perked up and his eyes focused on him. The mercenary continued speaking,


    "Though getting the four vessels restoration pill would be next to impossible, even for the leader of the crimson fang mercenaries. The only ce you can get it from in this region would be from the Tri-cauldron peony sect, and I can¡¯t even tell what it would cost. For usmoners, it is a priceless pill."


    The two mercenaries were listening with great interest, as it was the first time they¡¯ve heard of such information. Desiring to know more, Lin Mu built up his courage and asked,


    "What cultivation levels does this pill work on, and what kind of injuries can it heal?"


    The third mercenary turned to look at Lin Mu, then answered,


    "From what I¡¯ve heard, it works on all cultivation levels up to the peak of the core condensation realm. That¡¯s why it¡¯s said to be so incredibly expensive. As for what kind of injuries it can heal, as long as no vital organ is destroyed it can heal all physical injuries and even reattach severed limbs."


    Lin Mu was shocked upon hearing the mercenary¡¯s answer.


    ¡¯If what this mercenary¡¯s saying is true, then this is incredible. The three pills I found in the spatial rift should be the four vessels restoration pill.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu inwardly.


    A bowl of noodles soon arrived after the conversation ended. Lin Mu ate the delicious noodles and then paid for it before leaving the restaurant. Today was a great day for Lin Mu, as he was even able to find out what the use of the alchemical pills was in addition to buying his first sword.


    An hourter he reached the hunting shack. Lin Mu had already stored the extra sets of clothes and all other items in the ring after he had gotten out of the town. He then went to check the traps for any beast that may have been caught in it. But this time his luck was not as good and all the traps were empty, thus he returned with nothing.


    Upon reaching the shack, Lin Mu felt the mysterious ring buzz and got ready for the spatial rift that was about to open. This time, he was looking forward to the opening of the spatial rift after finding out about the four vessels restoration pills. He was excited about what other valuable treasures he could find there.


    The spatial rift opened in front of Lin Mu, and it pulled in his hand. He spent a minute trying to find something in it until he touched something that seemed like a broken piece of wood. Pulling his hand out of the rift, Lin Mu then withdrew the item from the ring. He was a little puzzled upon seeing the item in his hand.


    "What is this, a broken part of a wooden fence?" thought Lin Mu.


    The item in Lin Mu¡¯s hand looked to be a part of a wooden fence, about half the length of his hand. It did not look like anything special after he scanned it over, so he put it back in the ring. He then unsheathed the short sword to practice with it. Lin Mu tried to mimic the exercises he had once seen the guards do.


    He practiced various attacking methods such as shing, cutting, chopping, stabbing and poking with the short sword. His movements were awkward, but he kept on doing it till he was dead tired and his arms felt sore. It reminded him of how he ran today and how the calming heart sutra helped reduce his fatigue.


    He suddenly remembered the imposing gaze of Jing Wei, and how a stream of energy had spread from the ring along with the thunderous chants in his mind which reduced the pressure from the old man¡¯s gaze. He recalled the thunderous chants and felt like they were the same as the calming heart sutra, yet different somehow.


    After he was done practicing with the sword, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged and chanted the calming heart sutra. The vital energy within his muscles intensified in waves, rising and falling in a harmony. Suddenly, he felt the vital energy overflowing into his skin. Every inch of his skin erupted with pain at that moment, and then he felt it all fade away.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes after he felt the changes in his body. He had sessfully broken through to the 5th stage of the body tempering realm and was now considered to be a mid-stage body tempering expert.


    The body tempering realm could be roughly divided into four parts:


    The early-stage wasposed of the 1st to 4th stage of the body tempering realm, and in it, a person would temper his muscles and toughen them.


    The mid-stage wasposed of the 5th to 7th stage of the body tempering realm, where one would temper their skin, increasing its resistance.


    Thete-stage wasposed of the 8th to 10th stage of the body tempering realm, and a person would temper their blood vessels. It was also this stage where a person could start to cultivate qi, as it was only now that their body was tough enough to handle it.


    The peak stage wasposed of the 11th to 13th stage of the body tempering realm, and in it, one would refine their bones and marrow. It was very rare for any person to reach this stage, as it was considered incredibly difficult. No one would attempt to train their body this far along, as they could just be a qi cultivator before this stage and would be much stronger than any expert at this stage.


    Most of the core disciples of top sects would only train up to the 10th stage of the body tempering realm, as even the best cultivation techniques only had a maximum requirement of the 10th stage.

 Chapter 19 - Danger And Harvest

    <h4>Chapter 19 - Danger And Harvest </h4>


    Lin Mu stood up and stretched his limbs, followed from which a series of cracks and pops could be heard from his body. The first thing Lin Mu felt different was now that he had broken through to the 5th stage of the body tempering realm, he did not feel as cold as before. With his skin¡¯s resistance increased, Lin Mu would be able to withstand the harsh climate with much greater ease.


    "I¡¯m one more step closer to bing a qi cultivator. Now I just have to keep up this pace and not falter." Lin Mu dered firmly.


    He then entered the hunting shack to cook some food. Now that he had plenty of condiments, the only things hecked were vegetables and meat. Lin Mu just hoped that he would be able to hunt a beast tomorrow.


    After eating dinner, Lin Mu lied down on the makeshift bed and slipped into a deep sleep. He found himself in the same ck space as before and just waited for his body to wake up naturally. Lin Mu woke up in the morning feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.


    He went to the stream to bathe, after which he washed the clothes he was wearing and then wore a new ck set of clothes. He then entered the forest to check the traps. Lin Mu checked all the traps and could only find one snare that had caught a ck-horned rabbit which he took and went back to skin and prepared for his breakfast.


    He roasted the rabbit and applied plenty of spices and condiments, which made his meal much more enjoyable. After his stomach was filled, Lin Mu felt like he had the energy tost the entire day now. As today would be the first time he would be hunting in the forest, Lin Mu felt both excited and agitated.


    He entered the forest and chose a different path than before this time. This path headed towards the north into the deeper parts of the forest, where stronger andrger beasts lived. Lin Mu still felt a little nervous, so he tried to make as little noise as possible; to not alert any of the beasts.


    Lin Mu had walked for an hour, during which he had seen many beasts; most of them being smaller beasts like the thorn tailed rats, with others beingrger herbivores such as the stone-hoofed deer - which he would not be able to chase after. He thought he was a little lucky that he did not encounter anyrger carnivorous beasts.


    He was searching for a suitable prey that he could kill, without putting himself in much danger. Another hourter, he found a beast that he could hunt. It was a hook winged swan that had caught his attention. It seemed like it was separated from its flock and was currently pecking at worms and bugs in the grass.


    Lin Mu approached the beast silently. Even though the beast was not that strong, being roughly around the 3rd stage of the body tempering stage, if it chose to fly away Lin Mu would not be able to do much.


    He sneaked behind the beast with his short sword drawn and approached it. But just as he was about to sh at the beast a bush behind Lin Mu rustled, rming the beast.


    The hook winged swan cried in surprise and unfurled its wings to take flight upon spotting Lin Mu behind it. Seeing that his prey was about to escape, Lin Mu shot forward with startling speed and stabbed the beast in the base of its neck. The beast screeched in pain and struggled as its life drained from its body.


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu came to his senses; as his instinctspletely controlled the entire process that happened before. Lin Mu quickly stored the carcass of the hook winged swan in the ring and turned around to check the bush where the sound came from. He knew that it was absolutely necessary to be aware of one¡¯s surroundings when they were hunting. One wrong step and they could be injured, or worse: killed.


    But before Lin Mu could even start moving towards the bush, he heard a loud squealing from it; finding arge boar charging out of it. The boar was tall enough to reach up to his waist and seemed extremely angry with its eyes crimson red. It was a mid-tiered beast called the Red-snouted boar. Its snout was red as one could tell from its name and they were highly territorial, even attacking beasts muchrger than them without blinking an eye.


    Adrenaline surged through Lin Mu¡¯s blood as he broke into a sprint, running away from the boar that was now chasing him. He knew that the Red-snouted boar was much stronger and faster than him, so he had to find a way to get rid of it quickly.


    He kept on running, but the Red-snouted boar only got closer and just when the beast was about to ram him... Lin Mu jumped and grasped a low-hanging branch to pull himself up on a short tree.


    The boar rammed into the trunk of the tree with a loud thud, making the entire tree shake. Seeing that its enemy had escaped on to the tree, the Red-snouted boar kept on ramming it; trying to break it down. Chips of wood flew every time the boar rammed into the tree with its tusks, digging deeper and deeper. Cold sweat appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s forehead because of the fear from the boar.


    His brain functioned at a lightning speed to find a solution to the current predicament, as it did not seem like the tree could stand much longer. Thinking quickly, Lin Mu promptly decided upon a n.


    "I only have one chance, so let¡¯s just hope this works or my cultivation journey would end before it could even begin." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    He stretched out his right hand over the edge and timed when the Red-snouted beast would m into the tree. Just when the beast was about to m into the half-broken tree, Lin Mu willed it and arge rock appeared in his hand. It was the same rock he had found in the spatial rift.


    Lin Mu pulled his hand away as soon as therge rock appeared, as he could not bear its weight; for the rock easily weighed more than a few hundred kilograms.


    As soon as he moved his hand, a sickening crunch could be heard since the rock crushed the skull of the Red-snouted boar. The beast did not scream, nor struggle, as its life was ended in an instant. Lin Mu waited for a minute to ensure that the beast was dead and would not miraculouslye back to life the next moment.


    He then climbed down to check the aftermath. Blood and brains could be seen sttered around the head of the beast, giving off a bloody stench. Lin Mu finally calmed down after checking the dead beast, and his adrenaline rush faded. He ced his hand on therge rock to store it back in the ring.


    ¡¯I could not identify what kind of rock it is, but at least I found a practical use for it,¡¯ thought Lin Mu with a chuckle.


    After therge rock was stored into the ring, Lin Mu could see the state of the Red-snouted boar. Its head was barely recognisable, having been crushed, with only its hard tusks surviving the impact. Lin Mu stored the carcass of the beast into the ring and ran in another direction, as other beasts would soon be attracted because of the fresh scent of blood. He did not want another dangerous encounter and felt like he had enough adventure for one day.


    Lin Mu reached the hunting shack 3 hourster. He then went towards the stream to skin the carcasses. Now that he had a de to skin and gut the beasts, things would be much easier for him.


    Lin Mu first took out the carcass of the Hook-winged swan and started removing the feathers while being careful of the small hooks located at the tips of the feathers.


    He removed all the feathers and stored them in the ring, as they could be used to make fletching. He would be able to sell them, along with the pelt and tusks of the Red-snouted boar, in the town. The next thing he did was to slit the throat of the boar to drain the blood. It was a little difficult for Lin Mu to lift the beast as it weighed over 100 kilograms.


    While the blood drained from the boar, he cut off the head of the hook winged swan and let its blood drain as well. After its blood was drained, he slit the belly and removed all the guts, keeping the heart and liver behind. He then washed and stored the carcass into the ring. He did the same for the Red-snouted boar too, except that he only threw away the stomach and intestines; keeping therge organs.


    Lin Mu felt a little tired afterpleting the task and wanted to rest. Now that he had the Red-snouted boar¡¯s carcass, its vital energy rich meat wouldst him for at least a week.


    He went to the shack to cook the hook winged swan¡¯s meat first, which he vored with spices. He rested while the meat was roasting. Lin Mu then gorged on the roasted swan beast and felt a warmth spreading from his stomach.


    This warmth was the vital energy stored in the beast¡¯s flesh. He did not feel this before from the ck-horned rabbit as its flesh had very little vital energy stored in it. After finishing his meal, he went outside to continue training his body and to practice with the sword.

 Chapter 20 - A New Martial Technique

    <h4>Chapter 20 - A New Martial Technique </h4>


    Lin Mu started with physical training first. He ran a fewps, did push-ups, sit-ups, and then practiced his punches while being in the horse stance. In the end, he practiced using the sword, following the methods which he had seen the guards use.


    Lin Mu trained for over 3 hours, after which he felt utterly tired and drained. He hurriedly sat down and chanted the calming heart sutra, after which he felt the calming waves spread over his body. This time he could feel the waves of energy not only in his muscles, but also on his skin. The waves increased until they reached a crescendo and then faded, only to repeat once again.


    After each repetition, he could feel the vital energy from the meat he had eaten being assimted. Thissted for over thirty minutes, after which all the vital energy he had obtained from eating the beast¡¯s meat had beenpletely absorbed. Lin Mu stopped after this as he felt like he was starving.


    He went inside and put some rice in the pot to cook, while he cut off a b of meat from the carcass of the boar. He rubbed spices into the fatty meat and skewered it on some sticks, waiting for the rice to cook so that he could ce it on the stove.


    ¡¯I should make arger stove to cook outside, I don¡¯t want to wait every time I¡¯m hungry,¡¯ thought Lin Mu.


    While waiting, he was adding wood to fuel the stove. He looked to the side and saw that his supply of wood was about to end.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll need to get more wood tomorrow. Though it would be better if I had an axe, I can still chop some thinner trees with my sword as well. I¡¯ll just take it as more sword practice,¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Soon enough the rice was cooked and Lin Mu could let the meat roast. The aroma of the rich and fatty meat made his mouth water and his stomach rumble with desire. After a brief wait, Lin Mu ravenously ate his dinner, by the end of which his mouth and fingers were covered in the oil from the meat.


    The more Lin Mu trained, the more he could feel his appetite increasing. In fact, the amount of food he ate in this one meal was double the amount he ate a week ago. Lin Mu felt a little surprised at this realisation and wondered how much he would be able to eat once he became a qi cultivator.


    He did not know much about the habits or life of cultivators, except that they were much stronger thanmoners and had a longer lifespan.


    An ordinary cultivator of the qi refining realm could live for 200 years, while fewmoners could survive past 100 years. Lin Mu did not even know how long cultivators of higher cultivation could live, but from what the legends say they can be immortals and live forever.


    After his meal, Lin Mu could once again feel thefortable warmth spreading from his stomach; restoring his energy. He once again sat down to chant the calming heart sutra until the vital energy from the meat waspletely absorbed. Lin Mu felt that this time he could only absorb about half of the total energy from the meat, with the rest still remaining in his body.


    ¡¯I guess without training, the effects of the calming heart sutra are not as good. But even so, the energy I absorbed now was already more than I obtained from the entire hook winged swan. The amount of vital energy in a mid tiered beast is simply iparable to low tiered beasts.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu as he understood the correct method of training.


    The sun had set a while ago and it was dark now. Even the crescent moon could not be seen, as it was hidden behind the clouds. Lin Mu looked up at the pitch-ck sky and pondered on some random thoughts. He used to enjoy gazing at the night sky ever since he was a child, but these days he just seemed to not have enough time to do it anymore.


    As he was gazing upwards, Lin Mu felt the mysterious ring buzz.


    "It iste this time. I wonder how the ring works. Does it just randomly open the spatial rifts, or is there a pattern to it?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    He had already extended his hand in anticipation of the spatial rift. But this time he felt an even greater force pulling his hand than when the rift opened for the first time. He was pulled towards the forest for over 600 meters, after which he finally came to a halt.


    "Damn, this is bad. I better keep all my senses alert for any danger." Lin Mu cursed as he unsheathed the sword with his left hand.


    Soon enough a spatial rift opened in front of him, and his hand was sucked in. Lin Mu frantically checked inside the rift to try to find whatever was in there so that he can get away from the forest as fast as possible.


    Fortunately, nothing dangerous urred, and he was able to find the item that was in the spatial rift five minutester. As soon as the object was stored in the ring, Lin Mu ran out of the forest at the fastest speed he could muster. After reaching the shack, he finally withdrew the item from the ring.


    The item that he had obtained this time was a small booklet that was torn and damaged, with most of its pages missing. Lin Mu opened the booklet and read its contents. The more Lin Mu read, the more excited he felt.


    "This... this... this is a martial technique!" Eximed Lin Mu.


    The booklet described a martial technique called the ¡¯Boulder Copsing Fist¡¯. It was a fist technique that was supposed to have immense force. Though the thing that caught Lin Mu¡¯s notice first was the requirements mentioned in the booklet.


    It said--- (No minimum cultivation required, can be practiced by persons of any level.)


    This meant that he would be able to learn and use this martial technique and would not need to wait until he became a cultivator. Though a major part of the booklet was missing, the introduction and the mnemonics for learning the martial technique werepletely present.


    The martial technique wasposed of a breathing technique and a physical training method, both of which had to be used together to master it. The martial technique described creating a clockwise spiral current of energy in the left hand and an anti-clockwise spiral of energy in the right hand.


    There was an iplete page describing thetter parts of the technique as well. But it was only vaguely instructed to increase the number of energy spirals, not enough to fully understand it. Lin Mu could only wonder how many pages the booklet could have had, and how many parts of the technique it was missing.


    The introduction did say that the might of the technique increases exponentially with each higher stage of the technique. If Lin Mu could learn the technique, he would not have to fear other experts of the body tempering realm as much and would be able to have a fighting chance against them.


    Lin Mu read the booklet over and over again in an effort to memorise it. He spent a long time trying to memorize it until he eventually fell asleep. He appeared in the dark ce again, but this time he had a purpose. He went over the parts that he had memorised in an effort to increase his understanding.


    Lin Mu had memorised about half of the breathing technique that was mentioned while the physical training method he could not. He woke up in the morning and felt like he hadpletely understood the part he had already memorised.


    Lin Mu went to the forest to chop some firewood and also to gather some tinder. He found some dried and dead trees that were thin and then used his short-sword to chop them down.


    At first, it took him multiple shes to cut the trees, but after cutting ten he got the gist of it and could then cut them in two shes.


    He checked the edge of the short swordter and found it to be as sharp as ever, with no w in it whatsoever.


    ¡¯It is indeed an excellent sword made by a master craftsman.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu then carried the wood over to the hunting shack and put it in a small shed attached to the side of the shack. He set some more meat to cook on the stove while he carried over somerge stones to make a bigger stove outside the shack. By the time he was done with the stove, the meat was already cooked and ready for him to eat.

 Chapter 21 - Hunting And Training

    <h4>Chapter 21 - Hunting And Training </h4>


    Lin Mu ate the roasted meat for his breakfast and became energised, ready to tackle the day¡¯s tasks. Lin Mu then went to check the traps as routine, but once again nothing was caught in the traps, neither were they triggered.


    ¡¯Seems like the number of beasts in the outskirts has finally started to decrease, it means winter is close now. I got to hunt more beasts and save up some money.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    The merchants would be arriving in the town the day after tomorrow, so Lin Mu wanted to umte as many pelts as he could till then. Lin Mu entered the deeper part of the forest after walking for an hour.


    He searched for beasts while keeping an eye out for danger. The first prey that Lin Mu found was a two-tailed wood lizard, which was sunbathing on a rock. Lin Mu was able to kill it with ease as it was a low tiered beast and was slower than Lin Mu.


    Two-tailed lizards were dark green in colour and had two tails. While they were slow, their defense was good because of their tough scales. But Lin Mu had no problem prating its defense due to his excellent short sword. Lin Mu stabbed it behind its neck and the beast was dead in seconds.


    Lin Mu stored the corpse in the ring and continued his hunt. Soon after he found a thorn tailed rat which nearly scratched him with its tail. He killed it and stored it in the ring.


    It took him another hour to find the next prey. This time it was a Red-crowned heron. There was a flock of Red-crowned herons at the edge of a pond. In order to not alert the entire flock, Lin Mu baited one of the Red-crowned herons with the flesh from the thorn tailed rat. He hid on the top of a tree while the beast came to eat the bait. Lin Mu jumped down with his sword drawn, and shed at the neck of the beast, severing its head in one stroke.


    Storing the corpse in the ring, Lin Mu waited to see if he could get another Red-Crowned heron with the same method, but s the flock was scared away by a beast¡¯s roar that came from deeper in the forest. The roar even surprised Lin Mu, as he had not heard such a loud roar before. He wondered what beast could roar like that.


    The roar had more impact on the beasts than he thought. He could not find any more beast after that as they all hid or retreated further away, after being scared by the roar. Seeing that he was not going to have luck hunting, Lin Mu went back to the hunting shack. On the way back he heard the roar once again, this time it was fainter, but it had the same effect none the less. He could see birds flying away overhead.


    ¡¯I hope the roar of that beast does not keep on scaring away the beasts or I would not be able to hunt.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu went to the stream to skin and prepare the beasts. He stored the feathers of the Red-crowned heron and the skin of the Two-tailed wood lizard. It took a little effort for him to skin the Two-tailed wood lizard because of the hard scales, but he was sessful in the end.


    Done with this task, Lin Mu was prepared to train. He followed his previous routine of training and then sat down to chant the calming heart sutra. He felt the vital energy that was still stored in his body being assimted. Lin Mu could feel his skin tingle as the energy waves spread through it.


    After all the energy was assimted, Lin Mu looked up at the sun and estimated that it was probably 2 pm. He removed the carcass of the Two-tailed wood lizard to cook on the bigger stove he had made outside the shack. He then cooked a pot of rice on the other stove.


    While his lunch was cooking Lin Mu took the booklet out of the ring and continued memorising it. Lin Mu wanted to memorise the physical training method of boulder copsing fist first so that he could practice it today. He was able to memorise the stances and the fist routines by the time lunch was cooked.


    Lin Mu ate his lunch with gusto while going over the contents of the booklet in his mind. After he was done eating lunch, Lin Mu stood up to practice the physical training method of the boulder copsing fist.


    The training methodprised various stances in which the practitioner had to perform the fist routines. Lin Mu practiced it all way until it was dark. He was sweaty and tired, so he went to the stream to take a bath and also wash the robes he was currently wearing.


    The water of the stream was chilly, but it soothed Lin Mu¡¯s sore muscles. After taking a bath, he changed into a new set of clothes and went back to the hunting shack to cook dinner. He took out the carcass of the Red-snouted boar and cut a leg from it. He then spit-roasted it on the bigger stove outside.


    Not to waste time, he continued reading and memorising the booklet. While he was engrossed in reading, Lin Mu heard a rustling sounding from the bushes nearby. He turned to check and saw a small silhouette escaping into the forest as soon as he stood up. He could not find anything there, so just thought it could be a small animal.


    Soon enough, the leg of the Red-snouted beast waspletely cooked. He tore a piece of tender meat and dipped it in some soy sauce before eating. Lin Mu could not even imagine himself being able to eat an entire leg of a boar by himself, a few weeks ago; but now here he was with his ever-increasing appetite.


    Lin Muid down on the bed and continued reading the booklet. By now he had memorised the physical training method and only needed to memorise the remaining half of the breathing technique.


    By the time he fell asleep Lin Mu had memorised all the contents of the booklet. In the dark ce in his sleep Lin Mu recalled the martial technique, improving his understanding of it. When Lin Mu woke up in the morning, he had memorised and understood the martial technique by heart.


    "Now that I¡¯m done with the booklet, I can finally start to learn it." Thought Lin Mu out loud with excitement in his voice.


    Lin Mu withdrew the carcass of the Red-crowned heron from his ring and cut it into small pieces to make stew from it. He put the pieces of meat into the pot and added spices and condiments to vour it. By the time it cooked, Lin Mu would try out what he had learned from the booklet until now.


    Lin Mu first started using the breathing technique until he got the rhythm for it, then took the proper stance mentioned in the booklet. Then he started performing the fist routine. He made multiple mistakes while practicing the martial technique. He always mismatched the breathing pattern and the fist technique while he changed stances.


    He could feel the vital energy within his body being agitated, but it could not find the proper path to flow. It got stuck whenever he messed up the technique. Eventually with time he started to make fewer and fewer mistakes.


    It had been two hours since Lin Mu had started practicing the martial technique. He had lost track of time as he immersed himself in training. He only stopped when he smelled the delicious aroma rising from the pot of stew. He then sat down to eat the stew. The meat was extremely tender and separated from bones with ease. Glistening drops of fat covered the meat as he ate it and drank the stew.


    The warmth spreading from his stomachforted Lin Mu. After eating he sat down cross-legged to chant the calming heart sutra and obtain the most benefits from the training he did. He felt the effects of the calming heart sutra spreading and by the time all the vital energy was assimted, Lin Mu felt like he was already near another breakthrough.


    Practicing with the boulder copsing fist martial technique seemed to have a greater effect than the method he was using before. Lin Mu decided to use this technique for training from now on. The next task on his list was to go hunting.


    Lin Mu had not heard any roar ever since yesterday, so he should be able to hunt today with no problem. He took a different path this time and headed more towards the north-western part of the forest. After two hours of walking, he reached a small clearing from where he could hear the cries of two different beasts.


    He approached silently, making sure not to alert the beasts. He climbed a tree and hid at the top to spy on the beasts. Once he got to the top of the tree, he could finally get a clear view of the beasts.


    ¡¯They seem to be in a stare-down?¡¯ Thought Lin Mu upon seeing the behaviour of the two beasts.


    The first beast was a ck panther who had a small tuft of yellow fur on the top of its head, while the other beast was an ape who had light brown fur and arms which were abnormally longpared to its body.


    Lin Mu did not know the names of these beasts, but they seemed to be very strong mid tiered beasts. He did not know why, but instead of escaping, Lin Mu¡¯s curiosity made him observe the beasts with interest. He wanted to know why these beasts were in conflict as they did not seem to bepeting for territory.


    Only when the ape beast moved a little did Lin Mu see what was hidden behind him. Upon seeing the object behind the ape, Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide.

 Chapter 22 - First Battle

    <h4>Chapter 22 - First Battle </h4>


    What Lin Mu saw behind the ape beast was a nt that was 2 feet tall. It was dark green in colour and had 6 leaves on its stalk. There was a purple-coloured fruit the size of a grape hanging from it. Lin Mu thought he was hallucinating at first when he saw faint wisps of smoke arising from the fruit.


    "Wait, that¡¯s not smoke, that¡¯s spirit qi!" spoke Lin Mu out loud, before mming his mouth shut upon remembering what kind of situation he was in.


    Thankfully, the beasts did not seem to notice when Lin Mu spoke out loud. The nt that the ape beast was guarding was a spirit herb and that too, one that had already borne fruit. The conflict between the two beasts seemed to be due to the spirit herb.


    Beasts had their own innate cultivation talent and did not have the need for cultivation techniques to enter the qi refining realm like humans. But beasts could still consume spirit herbs to increase their speed of cultivation.


    Because of this whenever a spirit herb or spirit fruit grew in the wild it was usually fought upon by multiple beasts and sometimes even humans if they discovered it.


    Lin Mu had seen some spirit herbs and spirit fruits before, but none of such high quality. The spirit apples which grew in the orchards of Northern town were of the lowest quality of spirit fruit and still cost one gold coin each, Lin Mu could not even imagine how expensive a spirit herb of this quality was worth.


    At this moment, wild thoughts were running in Lin Mu¡¯s mind. He was imagining all methods he could use to snatch the spirit herb and obtain it for his own use.


    ¡¯If I can obtain that spirit herb, I¡¯m sure I will enter the qi refining realm with the help of the calming heart sutra.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu kept on observing the beasts while formting ns for obtaining the spirit herb. Currently, the two beasts were growling at each other, trying to intimidate each other. The ape beast seems to have been guarding the spirit herb for some time, while the panther beast seemed to have just discovered it and was coveting it.


    After a couple of minutes, the panther beast could not take it anymore and made the first move. The panther beast pounced on the ape with its ws drawn. The ape beast howled loudly at the panther¡¯s approach and extended his arm to intercept the panther. The panther scratched the ape on the chest while the ape mmed the panther with its long arm on its side, which made the panther retreat.


    The panther was then circling the ape, looking for the next opportunity to strike. The ape was scratched on its chest and was bleeding from the wound, while the panther seemed to bepletely fine after the ape¡¯s retaliation. From this, one could assume that the panther was the stronger beast of the two, and the ape seemed to be at a disadvantage.


    This time the ape lunged forward with its arms stretched up and smashed them together on the back of the panther. A pain-filled cry came out of the panther¡¯s mouth, yet it kept its poise and sank its fangs into the knee of the ape. A sickening crunch could be heard as the panther ripped out the kneecap of the ape.


    The ape wailed in agony as its eyes turned bloodshot with rage. The beast lost all inhibitions and tangled together with the panther in a mindless fight.


    By the end of the fight, the ape beast had lost an eye, with multiple chunks of flesh ripped from its body, and was unable to move due to its injured knee. The panther beast was also heavily injured, having broken multiple ribs and a foreleg, which it was dragging along now.


    Both the beasts seemed to be at theirst breaths, but the panther was still faring better. The panther was crouching and looking for an opportunity to deliver the final blow. Lin Mu had witnessed the entire battle and was also waiting for an opportunity to strike.


    Observing that the ape would not be alive for much longer, Lin Mu approached from the blind spot of the panther. The ape was already blinded in one eye and had be weary due to blood loss. The panther saw the ape swaying and made its move. It tackled the ape to the ground and bit down on its throat.


    It held on tight while the ape was blindly raining blows on the panther. Grasping this opportunity, Lin Mu sprinted forward and reached the panther in a couple of breaths. The panther finally heard Lin Mu approaching and had let go of the ape¡¯s throat to get ready for him, but the ape gripped the limbs of the panther like a vice.


    The panther released a loud roar while trying to break free of the ape¡¯s grip. Lin Mu reached the side of the panther and shed the short sword at its neck, but missed and cut its back instead, as the beast shifted.


    The panther attacked Lin Mu with its hind limbs, which were free and nearly injured him, but Lin Mu could dodge it by sidestepping. The ape¡¯s grip on one forelimb of the panther weakened, and the panther pried it free.


    Lin Mu shed again andpletely missed as the panther was able to twist and turn to dodge his attack. Noticing that the panther was about to break free, Lin Mu held the short sword with both his hands and jumped at it, ignoring the idea of getting injured. The beast wed at Lin Mu in response which missed his torso and grazed his left arm leaving a shallow cut on it.


    Lin Mu put all his weight in and stabbed the panther all the way through its chest. Lin Mu then rolled away, escaping another strike of the panther, leaving the short sword stuck in the panther. Seeing that he was sessful in stabbing the panther beast, Lin Mu put distance between him and the panther.


    The panther wailed in anguish but could not do much to remove the sword. Now that the ape was dead and had let go of the panther it tried dragging itself towards Lin Mu in a final attempt to attack him, but was too weak and copsed after not even three steps.


    Lin Mu waited for 5 minutes before approaching the panther. He carefully poked the panther with a stick and checked whether it was still alive. Confirming that it was dead, Lin Mu pulled out the short sword from the chest of the beast. A stream of blood then started flowing from the hole in the panther¡¯s chest.


    Lin Mu put the corpse of the panther into the ring and did the same with the corpse of the ape as well. He then approached the spirit herb and plucked the fruit hanging from it. He was about to pull out the stalk from the ground as well when it withered in an instant and turned to dust. This surprised Lin Mu as he was not expecting this to happen.


    Lin Mu examined the small grape-sized purple fruit in his hand. No wisps of spirit qi could be seen rising from the fruit anymore after it was plucked from the stalk. Lin Mu stored the fruit in the ring and prepared to leave the forest.


    Lin Mu was lucky enough to not only acquire the fruit of the spirit herb today but was also able to obtain two corpses of possibly high tier beasts. He was lucky that the merchants would be arriving at the town tomorrow and he would be able to sell the corpses along with the box made of fragrant wood. He will definitely be making a lot of money tomorrow, which will hopefullyst him the entire winter.


    When Lin Mu reached the hunting shack 3 hourster, the first thing that came to his mind was to build a sled so that he would be able to carry the beast corpses to town. He could not let anyone see his usage of the ring, thus could only use this method.


    He chopped down some suitable trees and tied them with some tough vines to form a t sled. He then wove the vines together and attached them to the ends of a wooden pole he made from a sapling, to make a handle with which he could pull the sled.


    By the time he was done with all this, it was nighttime. Lin Mu had already set up some meat and rice to cook, so could eat as soon as he finished building the sled.


    After eating dinner, Lin Mu immersed himself in practicing the boulder copsing fist. He practiced all the way until midnight when his concentration finally broke, and he sat down to chant the calming heart sutra.


    With the practice that he did in the morning, Lin Mu already sensed that he was close to a breakthrough and thus was not surprised when he finally did, after assimting all the vital energy from the meat. He felt his skin tingle and itch when he broke through to the 6th stage of the body tempering stage.


    He was about to stand up when he felt the ring buzz and lost his bnce as a spatial rift appeared right where he was sitting.


    "Oh, F*ck." Cursed Lin Mu as he shifted to the side to prevent himself from falling into the rift.


    His arm waspletely sucked into the spatial rift, leaving him stuck in an awkward position on the ground. If another person was to see Lin Mu in this position, they would probably burst out inughter.

 Chapter 23 - Shocking The Merchants

    <h4>Chapter 23 - Shocking The Merchants </h4>


    Lin Mu searched around in the spatial rift, wanting to find whatever was in there so that he could stand up. It took him over 15 minutes, after which he was able to find the item. He pulled his hand out and withdrew the item from the ring. But upon seeing the item, Lin Mu became a little dumbfounded.


    "Is this just dirt?" Said Lin Mu, on seeing the clump of dirt in his hand.


    Lin Mu touched and smelled the clump of dirt and could not find anything special about it, but still stored it in the ring. He stood up and entered the hunting shack to sleep. As Lin Mu was already tired, he fell into a deep sleep within two minutes and entered the dark ce.


    Lin Mu appeared in the dark ce and looked around. He felt like it was a little different this time. Somehow the darkness seemed to have reduced a minuscule amount. He still could not see anything, but the ¡¯Darkness¡¯ did not seem as dark as before. It was hard to exin, but that¡¯s what he felt like.


    ¡¯Since I appear here every time I sleep, I should probably give this ce a name.¡¯


    ¡¯Hmm, I¡¯ll name this ce the Sleepscape.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu, and felt a little proud of his naming sense.


    Lin Mu then sat down to recall and practice the boulder copsing fist. He found out that now that he had memorised the entire martial technique, he could practice it here. Even though he could not feel the vital energy within his body, he could still improve his coordination between the fist routine and breathing technique.


    ¡¯If I practice here, I¡¯ll have twice the gains in half the time.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu as realisation dawned on him about the benefits of the Sleepscape.


    Others could only sleep and dream while Lin Mu could enter the Sleepscape to practice and still wake up feeling refreshed. Thus Lin Mu continued practising the technique until he woke up.


    Upon waking, Lin Mu set some meat on the stove to cook while he practiced the martial technique and see how much he had improved after practicing in the Sleepscape. He could see some improvement in his coordination, but his vital energy still had difficulty in finding the right path to flow.


    As soon as the breakfast was ready Lin Mu stopped to eat it and then sat down to chant the calming heart sutra. Lin Mu noticed that the rate of assimtion had increased, as before it took him 30 minutes topletely assimte the vital energy, but now it took him 25 minutes.


    ¡¯Looks like my assimtion rate increased after the breakthrough, or it could be that I can assimte more vital energy than before, perhaps. I¡¯ll have to test it out aftering back from the town.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu stored the sled he had made into the ring, as he would be walking most of the way to the town, and only when he is close enough will he use the sled to pull the corpses. He also withdrew the sack which he slung on his back and a coin pouch that he tied to his waist.


    Ensuring that everything was ready, Lin Mu set out on the path to the town. It was around 8 am right now, and most of the merchants should be reaching the town by noon. Lin Mu had plenty of time to do all the tasks today. If he is able to get a substantial amount of money, Lin Mu should be able to book a room in an inn for at least a month.


    Lin Mu was about one-quarter of the way away from the town when he finally saw some people on the path. He then waited for the people to go far enough for him to not be visible. Once there were no people nearby Lin Mu took out the sled and put the corpses on it.


    He then started to pull it along, when he suddenly got the idea that he should probably not let the beast corpses be exposed and cover them. The only thing that he had that could somewhat cover the beast corpses was therge sack that he had. So he covered them with the sack, leaving some parts of the corpses exposed but not so much that it would invite the people¡¯s interest.


    While walking he came in contact with some people, but they only paid him a momentary nce before turning away. Lin Mu reached the Northern town in 30 minutes, during which he saw some merchant carriages that were also entering the town.


    The view of the town hadpletely changed due to therge number of merchants who had set up their stalls and shops everywhere. There were a ton of people browsing and buying the goods the merchants had brought. While some hunters could be seen selling some beast materials to the merchants.


    Even the peasants working in the spirit apple orchards were given two days off, as this would be their only chance in buying whatever goods they needed from the merchants before winteres. Once winter officially starts, the next time the merchants would being to the town would be at the start of spring, next year.


    The trade route that the merchants followed was to enter the four towns and then head towards Wu Lim city where they would be selling off their most expensive goods and buying the shipments of spirit apples as well as some misceneous goods.


    Afterpleting their trades in the city they would all exit through the southern town and then head towards the various viges, towns, and cities towards the south. The things which attracted most merchants to Wu Lim city were the spirit apples and the asional rare spirit beast materials.


    Lin Mu took the road towards the town square where the bigger merchants set up their shops. He wanted to sell the beast corpses to a merchant who specialised in them. Also, if he wanted to sell the fragrant wood box, he will have to find a merchant who dabbled in luxury goods.


    He reached the town square 20 minutester as there were many people and carriages on the street which he had to carefully wade through. Lin Mu let his sight wander and saw a myriad of people and a cacophony of sounds.


    There were merchants and shopkeepers shouting out their wares, people bargaining with the merchants, and some people arguing with each other on who spotted the item first and had the right to buy it.


    One could see people from all walks of life in this square. Some were hunters with sinister appearances, some merchants who had cunning eyes, and of course some na?vemoners.


    Lin Mu¡¯s sight eventually stopped on a group of merchants who were surrounded by arge crowd of people. Their carriages were parked behind them and on the side, one could spot some live beasts in cages as well as beast corpses which were currently being skinned by some men.


    Lin Mu dragged the sled towards that group of merchants. He bumped into some people and had to also push some people aside so that he could pull the sled in order to reach the merchants.


    Once he reached the merchants, one of the young men that were skinning the beast corpses spotted him and gestured him to bring his sled there. The young man looked to be in his early twenties and was wearing a tough traveler¡¯s robe.


    "You¡¯re here to sell some beast corpses, I presume?" asked the young man to Lin Mu.


    "Yes, I have two beast corpses that I¡¯m looking to sell." Replied Lin Mu.


    The young man gazed at the sled and said,


    "We¡¯re currently only buyingrger beasts, so if you have any other smaller beast corpses, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll have to look elsewhere."


    Lin Mu nodded to the young man and turned the sled around to show him the beast corpses. But when he lifted the sack and exposed the corpses, the young man¡¯s eyes went wide and his jaw fell.


    "This... This is a long-armed Heimao ape, and that¡¯s a Yellow-tufted panther." Shouted the young man in shock.


    Hearing the young man¡¯s shout, the other merchants and the people standing around also turned their focus towards him and then towards the beast corpses. Surprise could be seen in the eyes of people who knew what those beasts were, and confusion in the eyes of those who didn¡¯t.


    The older merchant who seemed to be the leader of the group approached the sled to check on the beast¡¯s corpses. His experienced eyes scanned the corpses and then turned towards Lin Mu.


    "A long-armed Heimao ape corpse at the peak of the mid-tier and a Yellow-tufted panther corpse at the High-tier; you¡¯ve been very lucky, boy." Spoke the merchant.


    Lin Mu was a little confused when the young man was shocked, but when he heard the words of the older merchant, he finally understood his reaction. If not for the scenario where the two beasts had already heavily injured each other, there was no chance that Lin Mu could hunt them; even escaping from them would be pushing his luck.


    The other people who were watching were gossiping and muttering amongst themselves. The older merchant seeing the crowd¡¯s condition gestured towards a burly man that was skinning a beast corpse at the side. That burly man came close and dispersed the crowd. Some people in the crowd were unwilling at first, but then scattered under the threatening eyes of the burly man.


    Once most of the people dispersed and only the people who were actually trading with the merchants were left, the older merchant spoke,


    "Though the pelts of both the beasts are damaged, I can still pay you for their materials and the meat."


    Lin Mu nodded as he knew that the pelts were beyond saving and the beast corpses were only worth their materials.


    "Yes, I want to sell these beast corpses, so how much will you pay me for these?" asked Lin Mu.


    "2 gold coins for the long-armed Heimao ape and 4 gold coins for the Yellow-tufted panther." Stated the older merchant.


    This time it was Lin Mu¡¯s turn to be shocked.

 Chapter 24 - A Large Transaction

    <h4>Chapter 24 - A Large Transaction </h4>


    It was true that Lin Mu did not know what those two beasts were, and neither did he know how strong they were, but he never expected to get 6 gold coins total for both the beast corpses. Another point Lin Mu understood was that he was in extreme danger the whole time he was in the presence of the beasts.


    The one thing he did not have to worry about anymore was about affording a room at an inn. With the 6 gold coins he got, he would be able to easily spend the rest of the winter in the inn. A single gold coin is enough to rent a decent inn for an entire month.


    ¡¯I was pinning my hopes on the fragrant wood box to get enough money tost the winter, but these two corpses are already more than enough.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    The older merchant was staring at the shocked Lin Mu. Seeing that he was not answering, the merchant questioned,


    "So will you take the offer?"


    "YES, yes I¡¯ll take it." Said Lin Mu hurriedly after he snapped out upon hearing the merchant¡¯s question.


    The older merchant asked the young man standing at the side to take the beast corpses away while he took out 6 gold coins and passed them to Lin Mu, who took them with shaky hands. The older merchant smiled a little upon seeing Lin Mu¡¯s shaky hands.


    Lin Mu pretended to put the coins in his pouch, but he actually stored them in the ring. Lin Mu had never handled such arge amount of money, so he wanted to keep it safe and the safest ce would be the ring.


    Lin Mu was also grateful to the older merchant as he had dispersed the crowd before offering him the money or an incident such as the one with the snow veiled hare would have happened again today.


    Even though Lin Mu was stronger than before, being in the 6th stage of the body tempering realm, he still would not be able to defend himself against multiple people.


    Afterpleting the transaction, Lin Mu turned around to leave. Now he only needed to find a merchant that would buy the fragrant wood box. Lin Mu browsed around the square until he found a rich merchant who seemed like he would buy the box.


    The rich merchant was a middle-aged man wearing a long yellow robe and had his hair tucked in a hat. There were many items that were set for sale in the makeshift shop. Though most people were only watching them, never actually buying them.


    There were goods of different types- amulets, pendants, bracelets, earrings, bejeweled daggers and des, vases, and pots of exquisite quality along with a multitude of luxuries.


    Lin Mu approached the shop and looked around. Seeing all the items he felt like the merchant would probably ept the fragrant wood box.


    Lin Mu turned his gaze to the merchant, who was sitting and drinking a cup of tea in silence.


    "Sir Merchant, do you buy things here?" asked Lin Mu respectfully.


    The merchant, who was engrossed in enjoying his cup of tea, opened his eyes and gazed at Lin Mu.


    "Depending on the item, I may or may not buy it. But know this, that I only buy high-end or rare items." Answered the middle-aged merchant expressionlessly.


    Lin Mu pulled out the fragrant wood box from the sack, which he had withdrawn from the ring beforehand. He then presented it to the middle-aged merchant.


    The middle-aged merchant narrowed his eyes upon seeing the fragrant wood box.


    "A fragrant Agarwood box and hmm, what¡¯s this?" The middle-aged merchant muttered as he saw the pattern engraved on the box.


    The merchant seemed to have identified the pattern on the box, as his interest in the box rose.


    "How did you get this pill storage box from the Tri-cauldron peony sect?" asked the merchant.


    Lin Mu was a little surprised as the merchant was able to guess the use of the box with just one look. He also confirmed his suspicion that this box and the Four vessels restoration pills were indeed from the Tri-cauldron peony sect.


    "A man pawned it off to my father in exchange for some money." Answered Lin Mu.


    He had long thought of what excuse he was going to give, in case anyone asked.


    The middle-aged merchant had a slightly confused look upon hearing Lin Mu, but then had a change of expression, as if he had some kind of realisation.


    "Ah, you must¡¯ve gotten it afterst year¡¯s gue. Of course, the Tri-cauldron peony sect were the ones who supplied the cure for it." Said the merchant with an affirming tone.


    This was news to Lin Mu. He did not know that the Tri-cauldron peony sect supplied the medicine for curing the gue.


    The gue that spreadst year was devastating for the Northern and the Eastern town. Around thirty percent of the poption of both towns died due to it. It was not until a monthter, after it started to spread, that the mayor of Wu Lim city requested the sect for help. The medicine arrived two dayster, but it was alreadyte for Lin Mu¡¯s parents as they had long sumbed to the disease.


    Lin Mu pushed his thoughts aside for now and spoke,


    "Will you buy this box then?"


    "Let me test it first." Said the merchant as he took the box from Lin Mu¡¯s hands.


    The merchant tapped his finger on top of the pattern, and suddenly it lit up. Various runes appeared floating on the engraved pattern. Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as he saw the sight.


    The merchant noticed Lin Mu¡¯s shock as he said,


    "It seems you did not know that it had a preservation formation ced on it."


    Lin Mu nodded in affirmation to the merchant¡¯s words.


    "Of course you are not a cultivator, so there was no way you could know." Said the merchant to himself.


    "Wait, that means you are a cultivator?" asked Lin Mu curiously.


    "Yes, I am a cultivator indeed." The middle-aged merchant answered.


    The merchant then switched his gaze towards the box and stayed silent as if in thought. He had his hand under his chin as he spoke,


    "It¡¯s a fragrant agarwood pill storage box from the Tri-cauldron peony sect with a preservation formation ced on it. So for it, I¡¯ll give you a price of... hmm, a 100 gold coins."


    Lin Mu was too shocked to even express it. He even secretly pinched himself to ensure that he was not in a dream, heaven knows that he has not had a dream for a few days now; he could have just started to daydream without even realising it.


    Lin Mu was not the only person who was shocked upon hearing the price. While there was no one else at the shop, there were two men standing a little farther from him that also heard it. The two men were standing with their backs to Lin Mu. They did not turn around to look right away, instead they walked a little farther from the shop and then turned around to look.


    The day had been going amazing for Lin Mu. He already felt lucky upon getting 6 gold coins for the two beast corpses, but now that he was getting a 100 gold coins in exchange for the fragrant wood box, he was on top of the world.


    Understanding Lin Mu¡¯s eptance, the middle-aged merchant turned his left palm up and a small pouch appeared on it out of thin air. Lin Mu looked closer at the merchant¡¯s hand, and indeed there was a ring on the middle finger of the merchant. The merchant was also wearing a spatial storage ring.


    It was the first spatial storage ring he had seen, except for the one that he had. The ring that the merchant was wearing was vastly different from Lin Mu¡¯s. While Lin Mu¡¯s ring was a dull grey with five small protrusions on it, the merchant¡¯s was golden with a small blue gemstone embedded in it.


    After the small pouch appeared in the merchant¡¯s palm, he opened it and counted 100 gold coins before putting them on the counter. Lin Mu hastily picked them up and stored them in his own coin pouch.


    He could not store them in the ring right away as the amount was too much to hide and also the merchant in front of him was a cultivator, who could notice it.


    While this all happened the two men were closely watching the entire transaction. Greed could be seen igniting in the eyes of both men. The men seemed to have said something to each other before they disappeared in the crowd of people.


    While Lin Mu had wanted to prevent a simr situation as before, by hiding and being as secretive as he could be with the transactions, the thing that he feared still happened, and right now he did not even know that he was in danger.


    Done with the transaction, Lin Mu walked away from the merchant and went towards the deserted alley where Jing Wei¡¯s Emporium was located, as he still had other items he wanted to sell. While he was walking, he waspletely unaware that two men were following him from afar.

 Chapter 25 - Finding An Inn

    <h4>Chapter 25 - Finding An Inn </h4>


    Lin Mu was standing in front of Jing Wei¡¯s Emporium, staring at the shop.


    Before entering, he withdrew all the materials he was going to sell, as well as withdrawing a sufficient amount of money to be kept in the coin pouch.


    He currently had four materials he wanted to sell. They were the pelt and tusks of the Red-snouted boar, the pelt of the Two-tailed wood lizard, and the feathers of the Hook-winged swan.


    The gains from these materials would notpare to the number of coins he received from today¡¯s previous trades, but it will him some silvers at least. Because for Lin Mu every little copper counted.


    Once Lin Mu ensured that everything was ready, he took a deep breath and pushed open the door of the shop. The door was still hard to push and creaked loudly when it swung open.


    The shop was still the same as he had left it before, with the only exception being that the counter was clean from dust and the woman, Duan Ke, was already at the counter.


    Duan Ke was sitting at the counter while reading a book. She was wearing a light green dress today and her hair was tied in a bun with the help of an ornate hairpin in the shape of a por leaf.


    Duan Ke turned her sight away from the book and looked towards Lin Mu, who had just walked in. But as she looked at him closely, she felt that he looked different from before. Only when he came in front of her, could she perceive the reason.


    ¡¯He broke through to the 6th stage of the body tempering already? It has not even been a week since he was in the 4th stage of the body tempering realm.¡¯ Thought Duan Ke with a little surprise on her face.


    Lin Mu was thinking about what he was going to say to Duan Ke, so did not notice the slight surprise on her face. He stood in front of her and spoke in a friendly tone,


    "I¡¯m here to sell more materials."


    "Show me what you¡¯ve brought." Said Duan Ke curtly.


    Lin Mu opened the sack and pulled out the materials one by one. He first ced the bundle of feathers from the Hook-winged swan on one side, along with the tusks of the Red-snouted boar. Then took out the rolled-up pelts of the Red-snouted boar and the Two-tailed wood lizard.


    Duan Ke unrolled the pelts and inspected them. Finding nothing wrong with them, she ced them down and then inspected the tusks for cracks and counted the number of feathers.


    After she was done inspecting all the materials, Duan Ke turned her eyes towards Lin Mu and spoke,


    "I¡¯ll pay you 1 silver for the Two-tailed wood lizard¡¯s pelt, 5 silvers for the Red-snouted boar¡¯s pelt, 2 silvers and 50 coppers for the feathers of the Hook-winged swan and 2 silvers for the tusks of the Red-snouted boar."


    "That¡¯s fine for me, I ept." Said Lin Mu.


    "Do you want to buy something?" Asked Duan Ke with a questioning tone, as if she was displeased with Lin Mu for only selling and not buying anything.


    "Nothing right now." Said Lin Mu, oblivious to her tone.


    Seeing that Lin Mu was not looking to buy anything, Duan Ke took out a coin pouch from the counter and counted 10 silver and 50 copper coins before passing them to Lin Mu who took them.


    Lin Mu was about to turn around when Duan Ke spoke,


    "How¡¯s the sword treating you?"


    Lin Mu stopped upon hearing her and spoke,


    "The sword is excellent and has been a great help to me. It did not be even slightly dull after I chopped some trees with it." Said Lin Mu with an impressed tone.


    The corner of Duan Ke¡¯s mouth could be seen twitching after hearing that Lin Mu used the short sword to chop wood.


    ¡¯If grandfather was here, he would definitely teach him a lesson. Using his sword to chop wood, what disrespect.¡¯ Thought Duan Ke


    "You should buy an actual axe to chop wood then. It¡¯s not right to use the sword for that." Suggested Duan Ke.


    "Also, perhaps for skinning the pelts, you should also get a proper skinning knife. It would make the task much more efficient." Further spoke Duan Ke after seeing that Lin Mu was contemting on her previous suggestion.


    Lin Mu thought of Duan Ke¡¯s suggestions and indeed felt that he should get a chopping axe and a skinning knife. If not for their intended use as tools, they could be used as extra weapons in case of an emergency.


    "You¡¯re right, I¡¯ll get them both. Can you show me some?" asked Lin Mu.


    Duan Ke nodded and came out from behind the counter and went towards a shelf towards the right. She checked the top of the shelf and pulled out a short knife that was kept in a leather sheath. The knife was 10 centimeters long and had a curved de.


    After taking out the knife, she went towards the other corner of the shelf and picked up an axe that was hung on its side. The axe looked verymon and unassuming.


    She brought both items to the counter and showed them to Lin Mu, who checked them out. Finding them eptable, he spoke,


    "How much for them?"


    "A total of 5 silver coins, 2 for the axe, and 3 for the skinning knife." Said Duan Ke.


    Lin Mu was a little surprised that the knife cost more than the axe, but then understood that the knife was of a much higher quality than the axe.


    Lin Mu took out 5 silver coins from his pouch and passed them to Duan Ke, who promptly stored them in the counter. Lin Mu took the two tools and stored them in the empty sack.


    He then walked out of the shop and went towards the main street.


    After Lin Mu was gone, Duan Ke was still staring at the door for a while, until the door behind her opened and the old man Jing Wei walked out.


    "Was it the boy?" asked Jing Wei to Duan Ke.


    "Yes, it was that boy Lin Mu. He came to sell more materials." Answered Duan Ke.


    Jing Wei looked closely at his granddaughter¡¯s expression and asked,


    "Was something different with the boy?"


    "You were right before grandfather." Spoke Duan Ke.


    Jing Wei raised his brows in question.


    "The boy is in the 6th stage of the body tempering realm." Exined Duan Ke upon seeing her grandfather¡¯s questioning gaze.


    Jing Wei too was a little surprised, like Duan Ke upon knowing this.


    "The boy definitely has some secrets. There is no other way he could reach the 6th stage of the body tempering realm this fast. I¡¯m even thinking someone may be backing him." Said Jing Wei, after thinking a little.


    "Grandfather, if someone is backing him and is able to hide themselves from you, they must have a high level of cultivation. We need to find out and verify this, or it could be problematic for us." Said Duan Ke.


    "No, wait for a while. We have been hiding here for all these years now. If we expose ourselves this early, all our ns could go to waste." Said Jing Wei with a firm tone.


    Duan Ke was a little taken aback from her grandfather¡¯s reaction but did not question it.


    Back on the main street, Lin Mu was looking for an inn. He wanted to see if he could get a room in one of the inns. He knew that it could be a little difficult as the other hunters who did not have houses in the town must have already booked the inns beforehand for the winter.


    He reached the first inn and walked in through the door. There were already many people standing around in the lobby, most of them looked like they were merchants with some hunters andmon folk mixed in.


    Lin Mu went up to the person sitting at the front desk and asked,


    "Do you have rooms avable?"


    "No, sorry we are already booked for three days from today and if you were asking to stay for the duration of the winter then you¡¯ll have toe back three dayster to inquire." Said the person sitting at the desk in a practiced manner, as if he had already repeated the same sentence many times.


    Upon hearing the man¡¯s answer, Lin Mu walked out of the inn and went ahead to check the other inns on the street.


    He ended up checking all the inns in the street and got a simr answer. They either told him toe back in three days as the merchants had booked them all, or that they werepletely booked for the winter.


    ¡¯I guess I muste back three dayster then. Worse that could happen is that I can¡¯t find a room and I¡¯ll have to rent a small house instead. At least I have plenty of money now.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    Failing in his search for an inn, Lin Mu went back to the main square where all the merchants had set up their stalls and shops. He had left behind the sled that he had made, with the merchant who had bought the two beast corpses from him.


    He did not want to pull the sled around the town, so he thought to get itter on if he could not find a room today. He reached the square 10 minutester and talked to the young man who had taken the beast corpses with him.


    The young man pointed him towards the cages, at the side of which his handmade sled was kept. Lin Mu thanked the young man and started pulling the sled out of the town. Now that there was no weight on the sled, it was much easier for Lin Mu to pull it.


    He exited the town after 15 minutes, unaware that two men had followed him the entire time. They stayed far from him, so he did not notice them at all.


    He had to travel about halfway to the hunting shack before he could store the sled in the ring as there were more travelers and hunters who were going towards the town now than in the morning.


    When he finally reached a remote enough ce, he stored the sled in the ring. But this time there were two men who were hiding behind a knoll, who had seen the sled disappear.


    The two men were shocked but then remembered what they had seen before in the morning and understood that Lin Mu had a spatial storage treasure as well.


    The greed in their eyes was zing now. They were already thinking about how rich they were going to be after they kill Lin Mu and take away his belongings.


    The two men took out their weapons and held them in their hands before approaching Lin Mu.


    "Stop right there brat." Spoke one of the men.


    "Ah, not again." Was the only thought that Lin Mu had upon hearing the voice that came from behind him.

 Chapter 26 - First Kill

    <h4>Chapter 26 - First Kill </h4>


    Lin Mu quickly turned around to face the people that called him from behind. He saw two men standing before him, one of them was muscr and the other was thin but tall. The muscr one was holding a club in his hand and was wearing some light leather armour, while the tall one was holding an axe in his hand and was wearing rough hunting clothes.


    The one who had called Lin Mu was the muscr man. He was looking at Lin Mu with eyes that were dripping with greed. As soon as Lin Mu saw the man¡¯s look he understood that they were here to rob him.


    Lin Mu sighed inwardly with relief as he had already stored everything valuable on him, into the ring. So even if the men searched him, they will not find anything. Though Lin Mu did not know whether these men were somemon thieves that targeted him randomly or if they knew he had a lot of money with him.


    "What do you want?" Lin Mu asked with a neutral tone, not wanting to outright offend them.


    "Give us all your money and belongings brat." Said the muscr man with a rough ent.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes narrowed upon hearing the man¡¯s ent. He could not ce where he had heard it before, but it definitely was not from this region. That means the men probably came here with the merchants. It also did not seem like they belonged to a mercenary group, they were far too ill-equipped.


    Not wanting to argue with the men, Lin Mu took the coin pouch that only had a silver and few copper coins in it, and threw it to the men.


    "There take it, that¡¯s all I have." Said Lin Mu.


    The tall man picked it up and emptied it out. Both the men saw that the coin pouch had a meagre amount of money in it and knew that Lin Mu must have stored it all in a spatial treasure. The only thing they did not know was where Lin Mu had hidden the spatial treasure. They could not see him wearing any spatial treasure like a ring or bracelet.


    "Don¡¯t try to fool us you worthless brat, give us everything you have." Said the muscr man with a threatening tone.


    "We know you have a spatial treasure. So spill everything out, don¡¯t try to act smart." Added the tall man.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard the tall man¡¯s sentence, a mix of emotions could be seen colliding in his eyes. It would have been fine if they pestered him for his sword or money, he could have just run away like before, but now that they knew his secrets, there was no way Lin Mu could let this go.


    Lin Mu unsheathed his short sword and looked at the men with a fierce expression. The two men were a little taken aback by his sudden change from meek to fierce.


    "Oh, so you¡¯re gonna resist. Let¡¯s see if you can take this blow from daddy!" said the muscr man as he stepped forward to swing the club at Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu sidestepped to dodge the blow and swung the short sword at the muscr man¡¯s waist. The man saw the sh and dodged it easily.


    The tall man also joined the fight and swung the axe at Lin Mu¡¯s arm. Lin Mu was able to parry it with the short sword, but felt a strong shock that made his arm hurt. The tall man was stronger than Lin Mu and the muscr man. He was in the 7th stage of the body tempering realm.


    "Watch out second brother, this brat is in the 6th stage of the body tempering realm." Said the tall man to the muscr man.


    The muscr man was surprised on hearing that this boy, who was still wet behind the ears, was as strong as him, an adult who had been training for years.


    "So, you have confidence in your strength brat, that¡¯s why you¡¯re so arrogant. It¡¯s a shame that I will break it today." Taunted the muscr man.


    Both the men attacked together in an effort to swiftly finish Lin Mu, but he rolled away and all their weapons could hit was the earth.


    "Dammit, you slippery loach." Cursed the tall man.


    This time the two men approached Lin Mu from opposite sides, leaving him with a tiny area for movement. The tall man shed his axe first, which Lin Mu blocked with his short sword, but felt the impact of the blow in his wrist.


    The muscr man, seeing that Lin Mu was stuck defending against the tall man, attacked his head with the club. Lin Mu sensed the movement of the muscr man and quickly withdrew the skinning knife he had bought and threw it at the face of the tall man.


    The tall man had to move aside to dodge the skinning knife that was flying at him. He was surprised as he could not see where Lin Mu had pulled the knife from, thus could notpletely dodge the knife, and his ear was cut at the lobe.


    "You dare hurt first brother, brat." Shouted the muscr man while swinging the club.


    Lin Mu grasped the moment when the muscr man paused for a moment to look at the tall man and swiftly cut the club in the man¡¯s hand. The club¡¯s head was made of metal, but the handle was still made of wood.


    The muscr man was now unarmed, and only a piece of wood was left in his hand.


    ¡¯I can¡¯t keep on blocking the axe with my sword, his swinging force is much stronger than mine.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    Seeing that his club got cut, the muscr man was enraged even more. He dropped the piece of handle left in his hand and swung his fist at Lin Mu.


    This time Lin Mu could notpletely dodge the attack. He was hit by the muscr man¡¯s punch in the back and dropped his sword, which was blocking the tall man¡¯s axe.


    Lin Mu forcefully pushed back and did a side roll, so that the axe would not hit his head. But the muscr man was already ready to deliver the next blow and with the axe approaching him, Lin mu could not do much.


    "Hahaha, now he¡¯s done for." Said the muscr man.


    "DIE!!" shouted the tall man.


    Lin Mu thought that this was the end for him when suddenly his body turned blurry. The two men thought that they imagined this, but when the de of the axe was about to hit Lin Mu, it just passed through Lin Mu as if he was made of air.


    Simrly, the muscr man¡¯s punch too passed through his body unobstructed. Lin Mu could not think of anything at that moment and spun around to escape from between the men. In the same spinning motion, he seamlessly withdrew the wood chopping axe from his ring and buried it in the base of the muscr man¡¯s skull.


    Lin Mu left the axe stuck in the muscr man¡¯s skull and instead entered the stance of the boulder copsing fist. His breath melded with his movement and agitated the vital energy within his body.


    At that moment he reached a level of harmony and a small string of energy spun inside his right hand and formed a small spiral, which looked unstable and felt like it would dissipate any moment.


    The tall man was frozen at the sight of the bloodied axe, which was stuck in the head of his second brother. Lin Mu saw this and grasped this golden opportunity. He gathered every ounce of his strength and stuck the tall man at the very centre of his chest.


    The tall man felt his ribs crack and his breath was knocked out of his lungs. Lin Mu broke the stance and suppressed the pulsating pain in his right hand. He picked up the short sword that was lying on the ground, with his left arm and swiftly shed the neck of the tall man, decapitating him.


    Lin Mu was nowying down on the ground, exhausted. He did not know why, but after the attacks of the two men passed through him; he felt as if half of his energy reserves were drained and using the axe, and boulder copsing fist depleted the rest, leaving him with a bare smidgen of energy, which he used to decapitate the tall man.


    He was out of breath and his hand was throbbing with pain, leaving him unable to move. He waspletely unguarded, and anyone could kill him right now with no effort. Lin Mu must¡¯ve lied on the ground for more than an hour, as the sun in the sky had moved a significant distance.


    After he felt a slight reduction in his fatigue and some energy being recovered, Lin Mu stood up and finally saw the entirety of his handiwork. He saw the muscr man who had the wood chopping axe stuck in his head, lying dead behind him and the now-headless, tall man beside him.


    Lin Mu swallowed the sickening feeling that was rising from his throat and collected his wits. He first stored the short sword in the ring, not bothering to put it in the sheath. Then he pulled out the axe from the muscr man¡¯s head and left a pool of blood behind.


    An idea then came to his mind, and he stored the corpses of the men in his ring as well. He could not just leave them lying in the middle of the path and have someone discover them. He would be incriminated if someone was able to link these two men to him.


    He also searched for the skinning knife and found it lying a little farther than the decapitated head of the tall man. He picked up the head and stored it in the ring as well, along with the knife.


    Now the only evidence that was left behind was the pools of blood on the ground. He spent some time covering it with mud and soil. Once the blood was hidden beneath the dirt, he looked around for anyone spying on him.


    He confirmed that no one had witnessed him by checking any footprints around the area. He did not find any fresh footprints in an area of 100 meters. Knowing that he could only leave the rest to luck, Lin Mu broke into a sprint and ran all the way to the small stream beside the apple tree.


    Once he reached the stream, he washed up and changed out of the soiled clothes, which had traces of blood on them. He rested for a while, soaking his sore feet in the cold water and massaging his right hand, which was now aching less than before.


    He was incredibly hungry and felt like he could eat until his stomach would burst. Lin Mu stood up and walked to the hunting shack. Once at the hunting shack, Lin Mu took out the remaining meat of the Red-snouted boar and skewered it with a stick and hung it on therge stove outside the shack.


    While the meat roasted, he put some rice in the pot to cook. He sprinkled the spices on the roasting meat and watched it cook. Soon enough an intense aroma rose from the meat, which made it irresistible to Lin Mu.


    Ignoring the scalding heat, Lin Mu tore off an entire leg and devoured it like a barbarian.

 Chapter 27 - Progress In The Martial Technique

    <h4>Chapter 27 - Progress In The Martial Technique </h4>


    After Lin Mu was done eating he could not even believe, that he had eaten half of an entire boar by himself. He looked at his belly and found it to be stretched taut, but there was still no way that all that meat could fit inside there.


    Since he could not figure it out, he just dropped the thought. He had more important things to do for now. Lin Mu could feel a massive amount of energy being absorbed from the meat in his stomach.


    He sat down cross-legged to chant the calming heart sutra. He felt the energy being assimted in his muscles and in his skin. This time he could focus even deeper and could sense a slight trickle of energy permeating his blood vessels.


    ¡¯Is this the next tier of the body tempering realm? But isn¡¯t it only after reaching the 8th stage, that one can temper their blood vessels, so why can I feel them strengthening very slightly?¡¯ thought Lin Mu.


    The hypothesis that Lin Mu had in the morning about being able to assimte more vital energy, proved to be true. Even though he still had around forty percent of energy still being stored in the body, he still assimted more vital energy than ever before.


    It also took him around 45 minutes before he stopped chanting the calming heart sutra and could not assimte any more vital energy. He looked up at the sun and guessed it should be around 5 pm.


    Now that he hadpletely finished the entire boar, he needed to get more meat. Lin Mu wondered if he should not have sold the meat of the two beasts, those two beasts were much stronger than the Red-snouted boar and would have had an even greater amount of vital energy in them.


    Lin Mu first decided to check the traps and then go further into the forest, if he did not catch anything in them. He also needed to dispose of the two corpses of the men and what better way than to dump them in the forest and let the beasts deal with them.


    He reached the trail where he had set up the traps after 10 minutes. He checked the first three snares and found nothing caught in them. The next one he checked had a Thorn-tailed rat caught in it, which he could not eat. He broke the neck of the Thorn-tailed rat and kept it in the ring to use it as a bait.


    He then checked the remaining two traps and found them to be empty as well. Getting unsatisfactory results with the traps, Lin Mu decided to just abandon them and only check them for bait in the future.


    Lin Mu switched the path and walked deeper into the forest. He found arger trail where there were tracks ofrger beasts and dumped the dead bodies of the two men near it for the beasts to eat.


    He also checked their bodies for valuables and found 22 silversbined on both the men. He also took the light leather armour from the muscr man. He tried it on and found it to be too big for him. He could only tighten it and bind it roughly to be able to wear it. He still put it on as some protection is still better than none.


    Lin Mu searched for fresh tracks of beasts to hunt. It took him half an hour to find some hoof tracks. He guessed them to be of a juvenile Six-pronged stag that had probably been separated from its herd.


    Lin Mu followed the tracks for a few hundred meters, after which he found the juvenile Six-pronged stag grazing at some grass behind a thicket. He silently approached the beast, making sure not to step on any sticks and avoid making any noise. It was Lin Mu¡¯s luck that there was headwind blowing, which prevented the beast from smelling his scent.


    Once Lin Mu was a few steps away from the beast, he focused his strength on his legs and lunged at the beast who waspletely unaware. The short sword was able to sh the neck of the beast, who started to bleed profusely.


    Because of the intense pain, the beast instantly copsed on the ground, unable to run. Lin Mu quickly touched the beast and put it inside the ring, as he did not want the cries of the beast and the scent of the blood to attract other beasts.


    Done with his hunt, Lin Mu turned back, as the sun had already started to set. He reached the hunting shack after 50 minutes and then went towards the stream to skin and prepare the beast.


    He drained the remaining blood and then started to skin the juvenile Six-pronged stag. While he was skinning the beast with the new skinning knife he had bought, a thought appeared in his mind.


    When he had thrown the knife at the tall man, only the knife had appeared without its sheath. But now when he withdrew the knife to skin the beast, the knife appeared with its sheath.


    He was intrigued and wanted to test it out, so he stored the knife back in the ring and then withdrew it. The knife appeared in its sheath. He then tried it another time, this time only wanting to withdraw the knife and not the sheath. He seeded, and only the knife appeared in his hand.


    ¡¯It seems like I can control what I want to withdraw, even if the two objects are attached.¡¯ Lin Mu concluded.


    Amazed by this new discovery, Lin Mu continued his task of skinning the beast. After he was donepletely skinning the beast, he put the meat and other materials away in the ring.


    From the juvenile Six-pronged stag, he obtained its pelt and small undeveloped horns. Even though the beast was only a juvenile, it was still roughly in the 4th stage of the body tempering realm.


    ¡¯Humans and beasts simply cannot bepared. Even a juvenile is strong enough topare to an average adult man.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    After he was done with the beast, Lin Mu started to practice the boulder copsing fist. Since he had experienced some sess after using it during the fight, Lin Mu was optimistic in progressing further.


    Lin Mu stood in the stance, regted his breathing ording to the breathing technique, and then started to practice the fist routine. He felt like his coordination had indeed increased than before. Though he could not perform the same as he did during the fight. The vital energy in his body did get agitated, but it still got stuck and could not find the right path.


    He focused on the feeling he got during the fight, on the spiral of energy that had formed in his hand. Lin Mu continued practicing until it was midnight and stars were painted across the night sky. Eventually, after countless tries, he felt the same spiral of energy forming in his hand. As soon as the spiral formed in his hand, it stayed stable for a few breaths, before starting to dissipate.


    Sensing that the energy spiral was getting unstable, Lin Mu executed the technique and threw a punch. This time he could properly see with his eyes the effect of the technique. The punch that stuck the air generated, a small gust of wind that made the leaves on the tree four meters away from him shake and fall down.


    Lin Mu copsed on the ground after executing the technique, as he felt all the energy he had obtained from the previous meal depleted. He struggled to sit cross-legged but was able to sit and chant the calming heart sutra.


    Lin Mu finally felt the remaining vital energy that was stored in the body, assimting into his muscles and skin. After thirty minutes he hadpletely assimted all the energy and was hungry once more.


    He went back to the hunting shack to prepare his dinner. Lin Mu ate with gusto and replenished his stamina. After he was done eating, heid down on the wooden bed and soon fell asleep. Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape and continued his practice.


    After some time, he felt like he could not progress anymore as he needed to feel the vital energy within his body to be able to execute the technique. So Lin Mu decided to sit down and recall the memories of the fight. Lin Mu did not understand some aspects of the fight, thus wanted to analyse every part of it.


    In the Sleepscape, Lin Mu was able to clearly recall his memories. He went over them again and again, analysing his mistakes and finding possible solutions to them. In the end, he was able to understand all aspects of his fight except for one big mystery.


    Lin Mu could not understand how he was able to dodge the pincer attacks of the two men. He did not understand how the attacks simply passed through his body as if it was made of air.


    Now that he closely recalled it, he remembered that at that moment, a fuzzy feeling spread throughout his body. He felt as if a thin invisible sheet of some kind had wrapped his body in its entirety.


    The next thing that happened after it was that he felt a great drain on his energy. About half of his entire store was depleted. He could not find the reason for that, and in the end, reached the conclusion that it was rted to the mysterious ring. Somehow the ring had enabled him to dodge those attacks.


    ¡¯I wonder if I can replicate that again. If I can, it would be a major skill I can use in future battles that I¡¯ll have.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu, before he left the Sleepscape and woke up.


    Lin Mu stood up and the first thing he did was to set up some meat to cook on the stove. He found himself thinking more and more about food, as he trained each day. After he was done with that, he went outside to practice the boulder copsing fist.


    From the minor sess he had obtainedst night, he was able to build on that experience. He continued training until he was sweaty and tired. The breakfast was long ready for him to eat. Once he was done with the meal, he followed the routine and sat down to chant the calming heart sutra to assimte the vital energy.


    He could feel that he had progressed a little further in his training and was on his way to the 7th stage of the body tempering realm. Suddenly Lin Mu felt like he had forgotten something and remembered the reason why he had put himself in danger two days ago.


    He withdrew the purple grape-sized fruit and stared at it while thinking,


    "Should I eat it?"

 Chapter 28 - Rescue

    <h4>Chapter 28 - Rescue </h4>


    Lin Mu was contemting whether this would be the right time to eat the spirit fruit or if he should wait till he reaches the 7th stage of the body tempering realm.


    ¡¯The beasts were fighting to eat this fruit, and the ape beast was in the 7th stage. Maybe I should wait until I¡¯m at least at the 7th stage of the body tempering stage as well.¡¯ Though Lin Mu.


    He did not know what kind of effect the fruit would have on him, so Lin Mu felt like it would be better if he gets a little stronger before eating it. Lin Mu thus put the grape-sized purple fruit away.


    Lin Mu stood up and decided to go hunt some beasts in the forest. He needed more and more meat if he wanted to keep up with the requirements of his training. Hence he entered the forest and searched for some beasts.


    By the time Lin Mu returned to the hunting shack, it was already dark. He had been able to kill two beasts this time. One was a ck-horned rabbit, and another was a Red-snouted boar¡¯s piglet. These two beasts would not provide him with much meat, but shouldst for at least two meals.


    Lin Mu continued his practice with the Boulder copsing fist and found himself steadily improving at the end of the training session. He then ate his dinner and chanted the calming heart sutra. Soon after he finished chanted the calming heart sutra and was about to sleep, he felt a spatial rift about to open.


    The spatial rift opened just a few feet away from the hunting shack, thus he did not have to worry about entering the forest at night. Lin Mu searched inside the spatial rift and found a small pebble this time. He observed it closely but could not find anything peculiar about it.


    Lin Mu was utterly tired and went to sleep. In the Sleepscape he recalled today¡¯s training and analysed it and tried to identify his mistakes. He continued his practice in the Sleepscape and improved his coordination between the breathing technique and the fist routine.


    After waking up, he wanted to take a bath as he did not take one yesterday due to feeling toozy and tired. The water in the stream had be colder, a sign of the approaching winter. Lin Mu also picked some sour apples while he was there. He had an idea that he wanted to try out.


    In the hunting shack, he added the ck-horned rabbit¡¯s meat along with some spices and condiments. But this time he also chopped up one of the sour apples finely and added it to the stew. He trained while the stew got ready. A different aroma could be smelleding from the pot.


    The stew had a little tartness that bnced the spices and cut the excess fat in the meat. It tasted refreshing to Lin Mu, and he thought he should cook with this method more often.


    Lin Mu went to the forest again to hunt some beasts. While in the forest, he heard the sounds of fighting. He had taken his regr route, but this was the first time he had seen people on it. He followed the sounds and reached a clearing, which seemed like it was manmade. The trees were cleared in a radius.


    He hade here a couple of days ago and the trees were still there. He continued towards the source of the sound and reached it after a minute. Lin Mu peaked from behind a bush and saw a group of men fighting three steel-back wolves.


    There were four corpses of steel-back wolves lying on the ground, probably killed by the men. He took a closer look at their armour and spotted a symbol on each person. It was the symbol for ¡¯Fierce Blood¡¯ mercenaries.


    They were probably a part of the mercenary groups that hade to the town this week. There were five people fighting the steel-back wolves. Two of which were injured in multiple ces and were dripping blood as they fought.


    The remaining three mercenaries did not look to be injured, but one could see the numerous w marks and scratches on their armour. Lin Mu decided to stand back and not interfere in their fight. One of the basic etiquettes of hunters was to not get involved in other hunter¡¯s fights unless asked or if they were in immediate danger.


    Lin Mu could only guess that it was the same for mercenaries as well. He watched the mercenaries fight for 5 minutes, until another mercenary had gotten injured and was bleeding as well. They had also managed to kill one of the remaining steel-back wolves.


    But it still looked like the steel-back wolves had the upper hand and the mercenaries had be tired. Lin Mu could see that they were getting slow and making mistakes.


    "Keep it up brothers, we just have these two beasts left and then we can rest for the entire month." Spoke one of the mercenaries who was injured.


    "Dammit, I knew we should have retreated beforehand, now we don¡¯t even have enough stamina left for that." Comined the mercenary who had just gotten injured.


    "Shut it, you two, and focus on the beasts." Shouted the man who seemed to be their leader.


    While fighting, one of the mercenaries missed his step while dodging and fell down. Taking this opportunity, one of the wolves lunged at the fallen man.


    "NOOO! hold the beast back." Shouted the leader as he tried to block the beast but could not as the beast was much faster and the other steel-back wolf had also interrupted the mercenaries.


    The injured mercenary who had fallen was still reeling from the impact of falling and could not respond in time. All the mercenaries were tense and had already epted that they were going to lose one of their brothers-in-arms.


    But as they continued watching in shock, the steel-back wolf who was in mid-air was suddenly hit with an immense force and was knocked into a tree. When the mercenaries looked at the steel-back wolf that was knocked away, they found it to be missing a major part of its skull.


    The mercenaries who had fallen opened his eyes and found Lin Mu standing over him in a horse stance with his right arm extended. He could see the gory remains of the steel-back wolf stuck to his fist and his face.


    The other steel-back wolf was startled by the sudden demise of itspanion. The mercenaries took advantage of this and killed the beast with a coordinated pincer attack, which it could not dodge.


    All the mercenaries exhaled with relief, now that the danger had passed. After his nerves had calmed down, the leader turned to face the person who had saved theirpanion.


    The person in question was still standing in the horse stance and had his eyes closed. Lin Mu was currently trying to carve the feeling he got when he executed the boulder copsing fist into his mind. He had nearly been able to perfectly execute the technique just now, but it was stillcking in the proper utilization of vital energy. The spiral of energy that formed in his hand copsed before it could be released properly.


    Lin Mu heard someone calling him and opened his eyes.


    "Thank you for saving ourpanion boy." Said the leader of the group who was standing in front of Lin Mu.


    "Huh, ah yes, it¡¯s fine." Said Lin Mu awkwardly.


    Lin Mu was expecting them to be a little angry, but it waspletely different than he thought. Since Lin Mu was so focused on memorising the feeling of the martial technique, he did not realise that his face was bloodied and when he talked, some blood entered his mouth and made him spit it out in disgust.


    ~Ptui~ ¡¯That was disgusting.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    The leader of the mercenaries was also a little stunned by Lin Mu¡¯s awkward response and the subsequent act of spitting. The other mercenaries had also gathered to pick up and support their injuredpanion.


    They brought him towards Lin Mu and spoke,


    "We give our heartfelt thanks to you." Said the men in unison.


    "We would like to reward you for saving ourpanion." Said the Leader.


    Lin Mu was a little surprised by the mercenaries¡¯ offer and thought for a moment before answering,


    "Can I have the meat of the steel-back wolf?"


    "That¡¯s all?" questioned the leader with raised brows.


    "Yeah, that¡¯s not enough for the help you provided us. You at least have to take an entire beast corpse." Said the mercenary who was nearly killed by the beast.


    "No, right now I only have the need for beast meat." Replied Lin Mu while shaking his head.


    "But for a person of your standing, you deserve more than that." Said the leader.


    Lin Mu¡¯s brows were wrinkled in confusion of the leader¡¯s words. He did not understand what the leader meant by ¡¯A person of your standing¡¯.


    "Yes, as a disciple of a martial sect, you can rightfully demand more. We won¡¯t mind it." Said another mercenary.


    Lin Mu finally understood why the mercenaries were being so generous and courteous. They had mistaken him for a disciple of a martial sect. With the power, Lin Mu had disyed and his young age, it was no wonder they had mistakenly assumed he was a disciple of a martial sect. As even a person in the 8th stage of the body tempering realm would find it nearly impossible to split the tough skull of a steel-back wolf.


    "Okay then, I¡¯ll take as much meat as you can spare." Replied Lin Mu after thinking for a moment.


    Lin Mu thought that now that he had this free opportunity to get the meat of a strong beast, he may as well take it and not correct the mercenaries¡¯ assumption.

 Chapter 29 - Making An Acquaintance

    <h4>Chapter 29 - Making An Acquaintance </h4>


    On Hearing Lin Mu¡¯s answer, the Leader ordered two of the mercenaries to prepare the Steel-Back wolves. While the remaining two took care of their injuries. The leader of the mercenaries asked Lin Mu to wait for a little while and offered him a wine gourd, which he politely refused.


    While waiting for the mercenaries to finish their task, Lin Mu decided to ask the leader some questions and gather some information.


    "What mercenarypany are you from?" asked Lin Mu.


    "I¡¯m Yan Zhong from the Fierce Blood mercenarypany, and brother, may I ask what your name is?" said Yan Zhong.


    Lin Mu did not know if he should tell the man his real name or not. But then after a moment of thinking decided to tell him his real name. Even if he tried to somehow verify his identity as a disciple of a sect, it would not matter as his name was rathermon.


    "My name is Lin Mu."


    "Ah, so its brother Lin Mu. Please ept my formal greetings." Replied Yan Zhong with cupped hands.


    Lin Mu was once again surprised by the level of courtesy shown by Yan Zhong. In fact, this was the most courteous anyone has ever been to him. This reminded him of the prestige of a cultivator, that too of one that belonged to a sect, even if it was just a martial sect and not a cultivator sect.


    Martial sects were considered inferior to cultivation sects and many of them were usually subordinate to cultivation sects. Martial sects trained disciples in the body tempering realm and the most talented ones would go further on to join a cultivation sect. Many martial sects also trained elite soldiers for the armies of cities. The elite city guards of Wu Lim city were also trained by some martial sects.


    "What city are you people from?" asked Lin Mu.


    "We are from Xiangwei city in the south. It¡¯s arge city that has many mercenarypanies located in it." Answered Yan Zhong.


    Lin Mu had heard of Xiangwei city before. It wasrger than Wu Lim city and also more prosperous than it. It took one 15 days to reach it by carriage. Lin Mu then thought of the many mercenary groups that had entered the town and wondered about the reason.


    "Do you know why so many mercenary groups areing to the Northern town?" asked Lin Mu with a curious expression.


    "From what I know, the mayor of the Wu Lim city hasmissioned multiple mercenarypanies to hunt beasts for him." Replied Yan Zhong.


    "What kind of beasts?" Lin Mu asked, as he did not understand why the mayor would spend so much money on mercenarypanies when he could just order the hunters to do the same,


    "We were asked to hunt as many beasts as we can, the only requirement being that they should be above the 5th stage of the body tempering realm." Answered Yan Zhong with a thoughtful expression.


    That kind of answered Lin Mu¡¯s question asmon hunters would barely be able to hunt a single beast of the 7th stage of the body tempering realm. If the mayor wanted arge number of beasts, only mercenarypanies could hunt that many strong beasts.


    "So, you have been hunting here all this while?" said Lin Mu.


    "Yes, we have been hunting here for a week now, while the elite groups have been hunting in the deeper parts of the forest for more than a month now. We were divided into multiple groups depending on our strength and allotted different regions of the forest to hunt in." Yan Zhong borated.


    Lin Mu did not know that mercenaries have been hunting in the forest for more than a month. He wondered, why he did not see any when he was still living in the town. His mind then moved towards the steel-back wolves, how were they this far out in the forest. They lived much deeper than this.


    "How did youe upon steel-back wolves here?" asked Lin Mu.


    "We spotted this small pack, some distance from here. We were resting nearby when one of mypanions heard their howls. We went to check and identally alerted them." Replied Yan Zhong.


    "But, don¡¯t they live much deeper than this?" questioned Lin Mu.


    Yan Zhong also seemed a little confused and stayed silent for a minute before answering.


    "We heard from the other mercenary groups that a spirit beast has been scaring many fierce beasts away from their territories."


    Lin Mu had guessed that it was some strong fierce beast that had been scaring the other beasts, but did not think that it would be a spirit beast.


    "Do they know what kind of spirit beast it is?" asked Lin Mu.


    "No, they have not seen it yet, they have only heard its roars till now." Answered Yan Zhong.


    Lin Mu remembered the group of crimson fang mercenaries that were attacked by a spirit beast.


    "Could it be the same spirit beast that attacked the group of crimson fang mercenaries?" thought Lin Mu out loud.


    Yan Zhong¡¯s eyes widened upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words.


    "Oh, you know of that?" questioned Yan Zhong.


    "Ah, yes, I saw the injured mercenaries in the town a few days ago." Replied Lin Mu.


    At this time one of the other mercenaries came back and spoke,


    "The crimson fang mercenary, who was heavily injured, died two days ago."


    Lin Mu and Yan Zhong turned their heads towards the man who hade and sat down on the side. It was one of the mercenaries who was injured in the fight against the Steel-back wolves. He was now bandaged and looked a little better than before.


    "This is little Hao." Yan Zhong introduced the man to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu nodded and spoke,


    "He did have very severe injuries when I saw him."


    "Yes, the crimson fang mercenaries have been very pissed-off because of that. They have asked their elite teams to search and kill the spirit beast." Spoke Yan Zhong.


    "Did they have any luck in finding it?" asked Lin Mu.


    "No, they are still searching for it." Replied Yan Zhong.


    Lin Mu and the other two men soon fell silent, and he just waited for the beasts to be skinned. 10 minutester the mercenaries, who were asked to skin the beasts, brought the meat to Lin Mu. The men had removed the pelt and gutted the beasts. They had also chopped the meat into smaller parts, so that it could be carried with ease.


    The total weight of the meat of the three steel-back wolves added to a little over 80 kilograms. Lin Mu was in the 6th stage of the body tempering stage, so it was not that difficult for him to carry that much weight and he only had to carry the meat for some distance away before storing it in the ring.


    "Goodbye, Brother Lin Mu. May we meet again." Said Yan Zhong


    Lin Mu bade farewell to the entire group before returning to the hunting shack.


    ¡¯I obtained a lot of meat today, I can¡¯t wait to taste it. Not to mention the steel-back wolves are in the 7th stage of the body tempering realm, so they will be very rich in vital energy.¡¯ Lin Mu thought with excitement.


    There was still some time until the sunset, so Lin Mu decided to continue practicing the Boulder copsing fist. He had already had a little more progress and thus wanted to experience it again.


    Lin Mu stood in the stance and executed the martial technique. He kept on practicing until a few hours after sunset. By now, his punches were able to create short gusts of wind that made the surrounding leaves sway.


    After another hour of practice, he stopped to eat dinner. He had roasted the steel-back wolf meat, which was emanating an amazing aroma. He ate the meat and instantly felt the difference in vital energy,pared to the Red-snouted boar.


    The density of vital energy was almost twice that of the Red-snouted boar and made him feel stuffed, even though he had not even finished half of the meat that he had cooked. Understanding that he would not be able to finish it right away, Lin Mu sat cross-legged to chant the calming heart sutra.


    He only stopped when around seventy percent of the vital energy was assimted. Then he tried to finish eating the remaining portion of meat. Lin Mu ate it all and felt extremely bloated after that. He continued practicing the boulder copsing fist until midnight, when he felt the spatial rift about to open.


    Lin Mu stopped practicing and waited for the spatial rift to open. He moved a few feet away, and the rift opened in front of him. His hand was sucked inside it as always, and thus he started the search for today¡¯s item.


    He spent five minutes searching inside the spatial rift, after which he touched something which felt like cloth. Lin Mu pulled his hand out of the spatial rift and withdrew the item that he had found. The item this time was a piece of cloth, which looked ragged and damaged.


    Lin Mu had gotten used to finding items such as this in the spatial rift, thus did not mind it and stored it in the ring. He then entered the shack to lie down to sleep. Sleep was just more time for Lin Mu to improve upon the martial technique.


    ¡¯I think it would not be long until I would be able to perfectly execute the boulder copsing fist.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    ¡¯I should also be breaking through to the 7th stage of the body tempering realm soon, I feel like I¡¯m already half-way through the stage.¡¯ Pondered Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu would never have imagined that he would be progressing through the stages of the body tempering realm this fast. Even the people who have a training technique, take years to reach the 7th stage. He did not know how lucky he was to have the calming heart sutra.

 Chapter 30 - The Astonished Sky Precepts Sect

    <h4>Chapter 30 - The Astonished Sky Precepts Sect </h4>


    Sky Precepts sect, The Grand Pce.


    The patriarch of the Sky Precepts sect was sitting in the throne at the head of the grand hall. Tens of men and women were also currently present in the hall. Some were seated in front, on elegant chairs, and some in the back on modest cushions. While the rest were all standing at the very back against the wall, behind their respective head elders.


    This was the grand hall of the Sky precepts sect, where earth-shaking decisions were made every day. Every person who was currently present here had the authority to shake mountains and move seas.


    There were elderly as well as youthful men and women in this hall. Some people who were seated at the front looked youthful while some were elderly, making one question who was the older among them.


    The patriarch was wearing a in and wless white robe. He had his hair tied with the help of a in wooden hairpin and was currently listening to a ck-robed elder speaking. Even though the patriarch was sitting casually on the throne, no person in this hall would ever question his dignity.


    The ck-robed elder currently speaking was the head elder of the Armament Pavilion.


    "We have sessfully refined the Profundity carving shield and it will be deployed in the uing week." Said the Armament pavilion head elder.


    "Excellent, next report." Said the patriarch, not saying any excessive word.


    Another ck-robed elder stood up from a chair and walked in front of the patriarch before cupping his hand in greeting. This elder was none other than Head elder Han.


    "Greetings patriarch, all the preparation for the uing trials has been done and the spots will be allocated as before, with an elimination tournament." Said Head elder Han.


    "Hmm, try and see if you can increase a few more spots this time." Said the patriarch.


    "More spots patriarch? I¡¯ll see to it if it can be done, but I don¡¯t know if the trial grounds will be that amodating." Replied the head elder Han.


    ??The Second Grand elder has informed me that the formation of the trial ground is ready to amodate more disciples this year." Said the patriarch.


    Most of the people sitting in the hall were surprised upon hearing the patriarch¡¯s words, except for a few individuals. The Second Grand elder was in charge of all the trial grounds as well as the inheritance grounds of the sect. He was one of the three Dao treading realm experts of the sect. The second grand elder was a reclusive man, who considered his every word as gold. This was the first time he hadmunicated in a decade.


    Head elder Han bowed in eptance of the patriarch¡¯s words and spoke,


    "If the Second Grand elder has spoken, then it will be done."


    After Head elder Han was done speaking, he was about to turn around and return to the seat, when the patriarch spoke,


    "How¡¯s the investigation of the spatial disturbance going?" asked the patriarch with a in tone.


    Head elder Han stopped in his tracks and straightened his posture before speaking,


    "The disciples and elders who were assigned the mission have already departed from the sect, while the external elders who are located in their respective regions were informed of the matter as well." Said Head elder Han.


    "Has there been any more spatial disturbances?" the patriarch questioned.


    "Yes, the spatial disturbance has been detected every day, ever since the first incidence. The disciples at the star catching peak have been working hard at finding the source, but it is too short-lived andplex to trace." Replied the Head elder Han.


    The patriarch had his chin in his palm as he spoke,


    "You say it¡¯s tooplex to trace?"


    "Yes, at first the disciples were barely able to even detect a rough location of the spatial disturbance, and butter they could not determine the location. They then decided upon another route to identify it, by analysing its signature." Elder Han spoke before taking a pause.


    "But they could not identify even a single source which could barely resemble one percent of the signal." Said the Head elder Han.


    Except for a few people who knew what Head elder Han¡¯s words meant, the rest of the people looked on with questioning faces.


    "So you mean to say, it is ¡¯that¡¯." Said the Patriarch with ambiguity in his voice.


    "Yes, it is as you think patriarch, it is beyond the capability of the star catching grand formation to identify it. It... It most likely came from a higher world." Replied Head elder Han with slight dread in his voice.


    Astonishment could be seen in the eyes of every person located in this hall, except for the patriarch and Head elder Han. Most of the people had been informed of this matter a few days ago, but they certainly did not expect for it to be so severe.


    The patriarch closed his eyes and looked as if he was in deep thought. It was not until an hourter that he spoke, during which not a single person dared to speak, nor did the Head elder Han move from his position.


    "Increase the disciples involved in the investigation and also inform the Supreme Grand Elder and the First Grand Elder." Dered the patriarch with might in his voice.


    Back at the outskirts of the northern forest, Lin Mu was sleeping in the hunting shack, unaware of the chain of events that had been set off, ever since he obtained the mysterious ring.


    The sun was hiding behind the hills, and the air was chilly. One could hear the morning call of the birdsing from the forest. Lin Mu had just woken up from sleep and was currently cooking some meat for his breakfast.


    While the meal got ready, Lin Mu slipped into his routine and started his training for the day. He was getting better and more proficient with each training session. After he was done with his first training session of the day, Lin Mu ate his breakfast and then sat down to chant the calming heart sutra.


    He had learned from yesterday and had prepared a lesser amount. It was just enough for him to finish and assimte entirely. Lin Mu then prepared for today¡¯s hunt. He wanted to hunt some beasts today so that he could sell their materials tomorrow when he goes to the Northern town to inquire about a room at the inns.


    Lin Mu put on the leather armour he had taken from the corpse of the thief he had killed and tightened it until it fit him snuggly. He wiped his short sword clean and returned it to its sheath.


    Lin Mu had learned something from his first battle, and it was that he wanted more weapons. After analysing the battle multiple times, he came to the conclusion that one of the reasons he won, was that he had two extra tools that he used as weapons. He understood that if he did not have them, he would have lost, or worst died.


    This made him determined to buy more weapons the next time he visited the town, which was tomorrow. Lin Mu decided that he should check up on the traps he had set up to get some bait, which he could use.


    He wanted to make use of every opportunity he could get today, as it could be possible that once he was able to book a room to stay in for the winter tomorrow; he may not return here again for a long time.

 Chapter 31 - A Unique Beast

    <h4>Chapter 31 - A Unique Beast </h4>


    With the idea of getting some bait, Lin Mu went towards the traps and checked them for any beasts that may have been caught in them. He checked all six traps and was able to find two Thorn-tailed rats. He killed them and stored them in the ring to be used as baitter on.


    Lin Mu then changed his path and entered the deeper part of the forest. The forest seemed eerily silent today, and even the wind seemed to have stopped blowing. Lin Mu began his hunt for prey by first searching around clearings where some beasts lived.


    He checked multiple clearings, but could not find anything near them. He then decided to check around the ponds in the area where the beasts came to drink water. He was able to find some small bird beasts, but they were not worth the effort to catch, so he left them.


    Lin Mu had spent two hours searching for beasts but still could not find any. Coming to the conclusion that he may not be able to find them this way, he took out one of the Thorn-tailed rat corpses and slit its belly to spill its blood.


    He spread the blood around, letting its scent spread, and dropped the corpse on the ground. Lin Mu then hid behind arge rock and waited for a beast to appear. He had to wait for an hour before he saw the beast appear.


    The beast was arge ox with unnaturally long and sharp teeth. This was a Razor-maw Ox, a rather dangerous beast of the northern forest. It hadrge curved horns and its hooves were shiny as if made out of polished metal. Its blue and ck patterned fur made it stand out very easily.


    Lin Mu gulped his saliva upon seeing the beast. He knew that it would be a daunting task for him to hunt this beast. The Razor-maw Ox was the strongest beast he had tried hunting until now and was a high tier beast. It was stronger than the Steel-back wolves as well as the Yellow-tufted panther. Its strength was roughly equivalent to a 9th stage body tempering realm expert.


    Even a 10th stage body tempering realm expert would find it nearly impossible to hunt it alone, so there was little chance Lin Mu could kill this beast. The charging attack of the beast was enough to split trees in half and its hooves could crush rocks.


    Lin Mu wisely stayed silent and waited for the beast to eat the Thorn-tailed rat and leave. A few minutester he could no longer hear any noises, so he peeked to take a look. Once he confirmed that the beast had left, he came out from behind the rock.


    Lin Mu checked the direction the Razor-maw Ox had gone towards and went opposite to that, as he most definitely did not want to encounter it. He walked for a few minutes and found a good ce that was good for ambushing an unsuspecting beast.


    He once again slit the belly of a Thorn-tailed rat and let it bleed out on the ground. This time it did not take long for a beast to appear, after he had hidden behind arge tree. He peeked to take a look at the beast and found it to be a beast that resembled a coyote.


    The beastrgely resembled a normal coyote, except that it was pitch ck and had bone spurs covering his body. They extended from the top of his head along the spine, all the way towards the end of its tail. Lin Mu did not know the name of this beast as this was the first time he had seen it.


    He had never seen any hunter bring such a beast corpse to the town before.


    ¡¯This could be a rare beast, and I can probably get quite a bit of money from selling its materials.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu waited for the beast toe closer to eat the Thorn-tailed rat. The position of Lin Mu was perpendicr to the beast, giving him the advantage to strike first before the beast could react. He wanted to use the boulder copsing fist to kill the beast in a single strike.


    Lin Mu waited for the wolf toe to the right position and entered the stance for the boulder copsing fist. As soon as the beast was in the position, Lin Mu shot forward and executed the boulder copsing fist, punching the beast on the side of its head.


    The moment Lin Mu¡¯s fist connected to the beast¡¯s head, he could feel the intense recoil and pain travel along his hand. The beast¡¯s skull was tougher than the steel-back wolf and did not shatter. Lin Mu had expected to finish off the beast in one hit, but was surprised when he did not.


    The beast let out a yelp filled with pain but did not die and was only dazed as it fell to the ground. Seeing that the beast was stunned, Lin Mu unsheathed the short sword and chopped at the beast¡¯s neck. The de went through the flesh, only to be stopped by the beast¡¯s spine.


    Lin Mu drew back the sword and jumped back. He waited for the beast to die beforeing closer. Confirming that the beast was dead, Lin Mu stored it into the ring. He finally had something he could sell in the town tomorrow.


    Lin Mu then went back to the hunting shack, as the sky would turn dark in an hour. He did not skin the beast as he did not know which materials could be used from the beast. Lin Mu intended to keep the beast whole and let the person who bought it, prepare it. He would sell all the materials and keep the meat for himself.


    Lin Mu set some meat on therge stove outside the hunting shack to cook, while he continued his training. He practiced the boulder copsing fist until the meat was done cooking. He then sat down to eat the meat. While eating he felt like someone was watching him, so he looked around for them. He did not find any person but found a small four-legged silhouette standing near a bush.


    Lin Mu went closer to take a look, but the silhouette disappeared behind the bush when he came near it. After losing sight of the silhouette, Lin Mu went back to finish his dinner. After dinner, he continued his training until it was time for sleep.


    While he was about to sleep he had a thought,


    ¡¯Huh, the spatial rift hasn¡¯t opened today, is it not gonna appear today?¡¯ Thought Lin Mu with a slightly confused expression on his face.


    He lied down on the bed and waited for the spatial rift to open. He must¡¯ve waited for an hour before he eventually slipped into sleep, as it did not appear. Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape and continued his training. While he was training, he thought about the two unique beasts he had seen today.


    ¡¯I don¡¯t think the Razor-maw Ox beasts live in that part of the forest. They are high-tier beasts and, from what I¡¯ve heard from the hunters, they are found in the western part of the forest.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    ¡¯Even the coyote beast is somethingpletely new that I¡¯ve seen. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not native to this part of the forest either. Why are these beasts appearing in this part of the forest?¡¯ Lin Mu questioned himself.


    Understanding that nothing woulde out of pondering on these thoughts, Lin Mu pushed them to the back of his mind and continued his training. After a while, he suddenly felt a burst of pain in his head and then on his back.


    ¡¯Why is pain suddenly arising in my body?¡¯ Was thest thought Lin Mu had before his consciousness disappeared from the Sleepscape and he woke up.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and found himself lying on the ground, with his head stuck to the door of the hunting shack. His right hand was extended upward against the door and was currently being pulled towards it, but was being obstructed by the door.


    It took a moment before Lin Mu understood the situation.


    ¡¯The spatial rift! it opened while I was asleep.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    He struggled to open the door, as his head was stuck against it, and made it awkward for him to move his other arm. With a little effort, Lin Mu was able to move thetch, opening the door. As soon as the door was opened, his hand was pulled outside and his body along with it.


    He was able to clumsily stand and walk towards the location where the ring was pulling him to. Lin Mu had to walk along the edge of the forest for 100 meters before the spatial rift finally opened. When his hand entered the spatial rift, he felt that the rift differed from before.


    Lin Mu felt as if his hand was dipped in a flowing river. It was the same feeling that he got when he obtained the Four vessels restoration pills along with the fragrant agarwood box. He now felt excited at the idea of finding something valuable again.

 Chapter 32 - Spirit Stones

    <h4>Chapter 32 - Spirit Stones </h4>


    With excitement on his face, Lin Mu searched the spatial rift. He did not have to search for long as the object itself found him, or rather hit his hand. The object was quite hard and felt painful to him when it hit him. He pulled his hand out once the object was stored inside the ring.


    Lin Mu withdrew the object to examine it. The object this time was a pouch that seemed to be made out of high-quality beast leather. The texture and feel of the pouch made Lin Mu think that it was something only nobles or rich merchants would use.


    He opened the pouch to take a look inside. The first thing that caught his eyes was the glow that came from inside the pouch. As it was still nighttime and there was barely any light except for the stars, Lin Mu could not figure out what was inside the pouch as the glow covered the items inside it, making it hard to distinguish them.


    Lin Mu went back to the hunting shack and lit amp to illuminate the ce. Once there was sufficient light, Lin Mu poured the contents of the pouch on to the table that was inside the shack. Small stones started to pour out from the pouch and soon formed a pile on the table.


    The stones were translucent and were glowing with a pale white light. There were nearly a hundred of them in the pile, with each stone being the size of a fingernail. Lin Mu¡¯s gaze was locked onto the pile of glowing stones. He picked one up and felt afortable feelinging from his hand that was holding the stone.


    "This is... this is a spirit stone!" Eximed Lin Mu.


    "And... and there are so many of them." Thought Lin Mu out Loud.


    Lin Mu had once seen a spirit stone before. It was two years ago when he had visited the Wu Lim city to watch the annual martialpetition. The top three prizes of the martialpetition were spirit stones. One of the top hunters of the northern town had participated in it at that time and won the third prize.


    The third prize was a single spirit stone. The hunter who had won it back then showed it off to many people during the celebration party that was organised in the northern town. Lin Mu had the opportunity to observe it back then.


    That hunter who had won the third prize became a cultivator six monthster by obtaining a cultivation manual. Though no one knew where or from whom the hunter obtained the cultivation manual, as the hunter never answered those questions. That hunter is one of the only two hunters of the Northern town who are cultivators.


    There were numerous thoughts that were going through Lin Mu¡¯s head, so much so that he had to chant the calming heart sutra to forcibly calm himself down. Once he calmed down, Lin Mu systematically went through the multiple points he had thought of before.


    He first checked the pouch in which the spirit stones came, for any symbols or insignias which could tell where it came from or whom it belonged to. Lin Mu inspected the pouch inside out and could not find anything that could point to the ownership of the pouch.


    Second, he thought about the origin of the spirit stones.


    ¡¯The Four vessels restoration pills came from the Tri-cauldron peony sect, so could these spirit stones havee from there as well?¡¯ thought Lin Mu


    ¡¯The only other ce it coulde from would be Wu Lim city, only the rich families or the mayor could own such arge amount of spirit stones.¡¯ He thought next.


    Third, Lin Mu thought about the value of the spirit stones. He counted the spirit stones and found that there were 103 of them exactly. Even though he knew that there were at least a hundred of them, the sheer amount of them still shocked Lin Mu.


    Even in the martialpetition that Lin Mu watched, the first prize was only 5 spirit stones, which a person from the city had won. He could not imagine how many gold coins would be equivalent to the spirit stones he had now. The closest thing that couldpare to their value would perhaps be the- four vessels restoration pills.


    Fourth, Lin Mu thought about what would be the best way to utilize these spirit stones. The most obvious method would be to use them for his own cultivation, but for that, he would have to wait until he obtained a cultivation manual. The other straightforward method would be to sell them, but this method will definitely invite trouble on his head. Lin Mu directly discarded this thought.


    Lin Mu then took a deep breath and stored the spirit stones in the pouch before storing it in the ring.


    ¡¯Whatever I want to do with the spirit stones, first I¡¯ll have to be very careful. At the very least I need to reach the 8th stage of the body tempering realm before I think of anything further.¡¯ Concluded Lin Mu, ending his brainstorming session.


    Lin Mu took a look at the sky and saw that it was still dark. So he lied down on the bed and went back to sleep. Heter woke up three hourster when it was already bright outside. Lin Mu started his morning routine of training and eating breakfast.


    Today was the day that he had to go to the town to inquire about a room at the inn. Lin Mu hoped that he will be able to find a room to stay in for the winter so that he can stop worrying and focus on his training.


    After he was done with his morning routine, Lin Mu prepared for his trip to the town. He withdrew the sled he had made and put the corpse of the coyote beast on it and covered it with therge sack. He then started his trip to the town.


    The journey to the town was uneventful, and he did not see many people. After the merchants had left the town, the number of travellersing to the town had significantly decreased. When he passed by the spirit apple orchards, Lin Mu felt a little surprised as he sensed a familiar feelinging from the spirit apples.


    He tried to remember the feeling and found it to be of spirit qi. The spirit qi he had felt from the spirit stones was a little simr to the one that the spirit apples were giving off, the only difference being that it was much more concentrated in the spirit stones.


    ¡¯I wonder how the small purple spirit fruit I found wouldpare to the spirit stones.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu entered the town and observed the absence of the merchants. All the stalls and shops that were present three days ago were nowhere to be found. The aura of the town had returned back to how it was before.


    Lin Mu thought about where he should sell the corpse of the coyote beast. Now that the merchants had left the town, he would have to sell it to a shop in the town. He remembered the incident fromst time and decided against it.


    ¡¯If I try to sell it to a shop, many people will see it and some of them will definitely want to try to steal from me again.¡¯ Though Lin Mu.


    As he was thinking about this, Lin Mu had unknowingly reached the main street of the town. An idea suddenly stuck his mind, and he determined where he could sell the beast corpse.


    ¡¯That¡¯s it, I can sell it at Jing Wei¡¯s emporium. That woman and the old man will definitely not bother me, and I can also buy more weapons there.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    Thus he changed his path and walked towards the deste alley which housed the dusty shop. Once he reached the shop, Lin Mu put the sled to a side and then opened the door of the shop, which was still hard to open, and creaked loudly on opening.


    After the door was open, he picked up the beast corpse and walked inside the shop. He saw that there was no one at the counter, so he rang the small bell that was kept on it. Lin Mu waited for five minutes before the woman Duan Ke walked out of the door behind the counter.


    Duan Ke was dressed in a light pink dress and had a small hairpin in the shape of a lily in her hair. Seeing this, Lin Mu wondered how many types of hairpins she owned. Duan Ke looked at him the same as before, with her signature poker face.


    She walked up to the counter and asked,


    "What do you want today?"


    "I want to sell a beast corpse, I wonder if that¡¯s fine?" said Lin Mu with a polite smile on his face.


    "That¡¯s fine. Show me the corpse." Replied Duan Ke.


    Since Lin Mu had slung the corpse of the beast on his back, Duan Ke could not see it clearly. Lin Mu pulled the corpse from his back and put it on the counter. He then turned his eyes on Duan Ke¡¯s face and saw surprise on her face for the first time.

 Chapter 33 - Mutant Beast

    <h4>Chapter 33 - Mutant Beast </h4>


    Lin Mu had seen Duan Ke multiple times, but this was the first time he had seen her break herposure and show such a surprised expression. For this very reason, he felt that something was wrong or he may have done something wrong.


    "Is there something wrong?" Lin Mu asked cautiously.


    Duan Mu came to her senses and realised that she had shown a surprised expression. When she saw Lin Mu¡¯s concerned face, she understood that he had noticed it this time. She forcibly controlled her emotions and spoke,


    "How did you kill this high tier beast?" Duan Ke asked, trying to covertly justify the reason for her expression.


    If Lin Mu was first confused because of Duan Ke¡¯s expression, now he was confused due to her words.


    "What do you mean high tier beast?" questioned Lin Mu.


    "This beast, it¡¯s a high tier beast of at least 9th stage body tempering realm." Replied Duan Ke.


    Lin Mu¡¯s expression slowly changed from confusion to that of fear, once the words of Duan Ke sank in. He had avoided hunting a high tier beast, the Razor-maw Ox, which was also equivalent to a 9th stage body tempering realm expert. But somehow had ended up hunting and killing another beast of the same strength.


    Lin Mu could not understand how he was able to do this daunting task sessfully. He then remembered how the Steel-back wolf¡¯s skull was crushed in his one hit, but the coyote beast¡¯s didn¡¯t. But he still could not understand why the beast did not react when he attacked. If it really was a high-tier beast, it should have detected him the moment he exposed himself.


    The only reason he was able to kill the steel-back wolf back then, was because the beast was focused on the mercenaries, along with it being injured and exhausted. There was no way the same tactic would have worked on it, if it was in its optimum condition, not to mention a beast even stronger than it.


    Cold sweat covered Lin Mu¡¯s forehead and back. Duan Ke could see the dread and fear on Lin Mu¡¯s face.


    ¡¯Don¡¯t tell me this boy did not even know the strength of this beast before hunting it.¡¯ Thought Duan Ke.


    "Did you not know the strength of this beast beforehand?" asked Duan Ke.


    Lin Mu, who seemed to have be a mute, finally came to his senses upon hearing Duan Ke¡¯s question.


    "No, I don¡¯t even know the name of the beast." Replied Lin Mu.


    Duan Ke just kept on staring at the beast corpse after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s reply and did not speak anything. Seeing that she was not replying Lin Mu asked,


    "What... what¡¯s the name of the beast?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It does not have a name, at least not until now." Duan Ke spoke without moving her gaze from the beast corpse.


    "What do you mean, why does it not have a name?" asked Lin Mu, while wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.


    Duan Ke stayed silent for a minute before shifting her gaze from the beast corpse.


    "This beast... it¡¯s a mutant. This is not its natural form." Replied Duan Ke.


    "A mutant? What¡¯s that?" asked Lin Mu curiously.


    "Some beasts, if they consume ore in contact with certain substances, can change their nature and physique under the influence of that substance. Though more often than not, these beasts cannot reproduce and thus end up bing a unique specimen; the only member of their species." Exined Duan Ke.


    This waspletely new information to Lin Mu. He had never heard of such a thing, not even from his father, who was rather very knowledgeable about beasts and was also a hunter himself. Seeing that Lin Mu was engrossed in digesting the information she had just said, Duan Ke waited for a minute before speaking.


    "So, how did you defeat a beast that was much stronger than you?" Duan Ke asked.


    "The beast did not react as it should have. I ambushed it and was able to kill it in two moves." Exined Lin Mu.


    "Care to exin more?" replied Duan Ke.


    "I set some bait and waited for the beast. I was hiding the entire time and only attacked when the beast was in the right position and could not see me. My first hit stunned the beast, making it fall to the ground, and with the next attack I shed its neck." Lin Mu exined thoroughly.


    "Did the beast not finish its mutationpletely? But this aura, it¡¯s very simr to that ¡¯thing¡¯" muttered Duan Ke.


    "Umm, sorry what?" Lin Mu asked upon hearing Duan Ke mutter.


    Duan Ke stopped and looked at Lin Mu, before she spoke curtly,


    "It¡¯s nothing of your concern."


    Lin Mu was a little surprised with Duan Ke¡¯s curt tone, but did not mind it.


    "So you want to sell this beast corpse?" Duan Ke asked, changing the topic.


    "Ah no, not the entire beast. I want to keep the meat." Lin Mu replied.


    "Why didn¡¯t you prepare it beforeing here then?" Duan Ke asked with annoyance in her voice.


    "I... I did not know what parts of it can be sold. So... I kept it whole." Said Lin Mu embarrassingly.


    "Hmm, okay then. You cane to collect the money and the meat three hourster. And I¡¯m charging you extra for dissecting the corpse." Spoke Duan Ke with a straight face.


    Lin Mu was a little taken aback at thest part of the sentence, but nodded anyway and left the shop. He did not even ask how much money he would be getting, as he understood that the fierce woman was already annoyed with him.


    After Lin Mu left the shop, Duan Ke¡¯s eyes suddenly turned fierce. She waved her hand and numerous runes materialised on the door of the shop. If a person looked at the shop right now from the outside, they would only find a in wall. There was no sign of the shop ever existing in the deste alley.


    Duan Ke gestured with her hand and made the beast¡¯s corpse float. She walked through the door behind the counter, which automatically opened for her. The beast corpse floated behind her and followed her inside the door.


    Duan Ke entered a small room that was illuminated by amp hanging on the roof. There was no other entrance or exit to that room except for the one Duan Ke hade in from. She then snapped her fingers and themp illuminating the room was extinguished. But instead of turning dark, the room started to fade into a white background, Duan Ke disappearing along with it.


    Duan Ke soon appeared in what looked to be an enormous courtyard. There were borate ponds, rivers, streams, and fake mountains. Intricately designed bridges spanned over the rivers and streams. Beautiful and charming fishes could be seen swimming in the water.


    On the other end of the courtyard, one could see a manor that was adorned with exquisite decorations consisting of statues, paintings, and calligraphy. Just in front of the manor was a small pavilion surrounded by hundreds of spirit flowers, which were emanating a pleasant fragrance.


    An old man was currently sitting in the pavilion. He was drinking a cup of tea that was emitting an aroma that calmed one¡¯s senses. This old man was none other than the owner of Jing Wei¡¯s emporium, Jing Wei himself, and also the grandfather of Duan Ke.


    Duan Ke gently walked towards the pagoda and arrived behind Jing Wei. The old man was facing away from Duan Ke and was currently enjoying his cup of tea.


    "Grandfather" Duan Ke called out affectionately.


    The old man finished his cup of tea in one gulp and turned around to face his granddaughter.


    "You¡¯re back from the shop. Was it that boy Lin Mu again?" Jing Wei asked, as he enjoyed the taste of the tea with his eyes closed.


    "Yes, grandfather. He... he brought something unusual." Replied Duan Ke with a little uncertainty in her voice.


    Jing Wei opened his eyes upon hearing Duan Ke¡¯s words.


    "Why, what did he bring?" He asked with a reassuring tone.


    Duan Ke gestured with her fingers, and the corpse of the coyote beast came in front of her and rested on the ground. She pointed at the corpse and spoke,


    "This beast corpse."


    Jing Wei¡¯s gaze focused on the beast¡¯s corpse.


    "Hmm, a mutant. That too having a strength of a high tier beast." Jing Wei spoke to himself.


    "He killed this beast himself?" Jing Wei asked Duan Ke.


    "Yes, that¡¯s what he said, and it did not seem like he was lying either." Duan Ke replied.


    "It shouldn¡¯t be possible for him to kill this beast." Said Jing Wei.


    "That¡¯s not what¡¯s bothering me, grandfather. The beast did notplete its mutation, it could not react to the boy¡¯s attack in time." Exined Duan Ke.


    She then took a pause and continued,


    "This beast¡¯s aura, it¡¯s very simr to that ¡¯thing¡¯ fromst year."


    "I thought you cleared all of its traces back then, even the ones that could not be cleared by the disciples of Tri-cauldron peony sect." Jing Wei spoke with a questioning tone.


    "I did, but now this beast appeared. I think it probably mutated due to the influence of that ¡¯thing¡¯." Duan Ke spoke with a lost expression on her face.

 Chapter 34 - Booking A Room And Buying More Weapons

    <h4>Chapter 34 - Booking A Room And Buying More Weapons </h4>


    Duan Ke went silent, and Jing Wei was lost in thought as well. Both of them stayed the same for an incense sticks worth of time until Jing Wei spoke.


    "What did he want to do with the beast corpse?" asked Jing Wei.


    Duan Ke broke her silence and looked up at her grandfather.


    "He wants to sell the materials from the beast corpse and keep the meat for himself." Duan Ke replied.


    "Hmm, you can¡¯t give him the meat, we don¡¯t know what effect it could have. Besides, if it is as you say, we have to investigate further." Jing Wei spoke.


    "So what should I do grandfather?" Duan Ke asked.


    Jing Wei thought for a moment before replying,


    "Find a beast of equivalent strength and give its meat to him. As for the cost of the materials, you can decide that yourself."


    "Yes, grandfather. I¡¯ll do as you say." Duan Ke replied.


    Jing Wei turned back and walked towards the manor. As he reached the door of the manor he stopped and spoke,


    "Refine the beast corpse and use it to investigate any new traces that may turn up. We don¡¯t want a repeat ofst year¡¯s incident."


    Duan Ke did not speak and only nodded her head in eptance. Jing Wei had entered the manor and disappeared from her view. Knowing what she had to do, Duan Ke waved her hand to make the beast¡¯s corpse float. She then gestured and a small formation array appeared over the beast¡¯s corpse.


    Slowly mes bloomed on the corpse and the formation array started to turn.


    "Refine!" Duan Ke spoke out loud.


    The beast¡¯s corpse was being reduced to a pool of blood. Once the entire corpse turned to blood, Duan Ke threw four small stones the size of pearls, which started to revolve around the pool of blood. The stones spun faster and faster, making the pool of blood to swirl as well.


    After five minutes the four stones had stopped revolving and the pool of blood was converted into a small dark red marble. Duan Ke withdrew the four small stones and picked up the dark red marble floating in the air.


    Done with the refining process, Duan Ke snapped her fingers and appeared in the small room behind the shop. She walked out of the door and waved her hand to remove the formations ced on the shop¡¯s door. She then exited the shop and saw the crude-looking sled kept at the side. Ignoring the sled, she looked around for people. Seeing that there was no person nearby, she withdrew a paper talisman and tore it.


    As soon as the paper talisman was torn in half, Duan Ke turned translucent and eventually invisible. The Invisible Duan Ke withdrew a sword that floated in front of her. She jumped onto the sword and flew away towards the Northern forest.


    Duan Ke flew at such a speed, that if she was visible, she would only appear as a blur to the human eyes. She reached the depths of the forest in a couple of minutes. This was the region where spirit beasts were in abundance. No Hunters would ever dare toe this far, only a handful of cultivators would be able to survive in this region of the forest. One could hear the roars and howls of a myriad of beasts. The forest was dark and dense, sunlight could barely prate its canopy.


    Duan Ke hovered over the forest and sent out her spirit sense to search for a suitable beast of the 9th stage body tempering realm. It was but a secondter that she found one. She did not even descend on the ground and only gestured with her fingers, and a spirit qi dagger the size of palm was condensed in the air.


    She pointed to the location where the beast was located and the spirit qi dagger shot forward. No cries of the beasts could be heard the moment Duan Ke released the spirit qi dagger. It was as if they were all too frightened to utter a single sound. The spirit qi dagger returned after five seconds, and along with it the corpse of a beast that was around the same size as the coyote beast.


    Duan Ke waved her hand and the beast corpse was dissected in a second. She stored the meat in her spatial treasure and took out a wooden disc. The wooden disc had a circr groove at its center.


    Duan Ke then withdrew the dark red marble she had refined from the coyote beast¡¯s corpse and put it in the groove that was present on the wooden disc.


    Once the dark red marble was slotted into the wooden disc, it started to glow. The wooden disc floated from Duan Ke¡¯s hand and then flew towards a direction, with Duan Ke flying behind it.


    Lin Mu was unaware of all this and was currently checking out the inns in the town. He had inquired in nearly half of the inns and had still not found a single one to stay at. He was standing in front of another inn right now. This inn was located close to the exit of the town and was of a lower quality than the previous ones.


    "Let¡¯s see if I can find a room here." Lin Mu spoke to himself as he entered through the door of the inn.


    He walked up to the front desk and spoke to the clerk sitting there.


    "Do you have a room avable for the winter?" Lin Mu asked.


    The clerk looked towards Lin Mu with a polite smile on his face and replied,


    "Yes, we have a room avable. But you will need to pay in advance and then you¡¯ll be able to stay in that room in five days from today." The clerk replied.


    Lin Mu had expected for the clerk to reject, so he was a little joyful upon hearing his words. He did not mind that he would have to wait five days to stay in the room, nor that he would have to pay in advance.


    "I would like to book that room then, for the entire winter." Said Lin Mu with a pep in his voice.


    The clerk nodded and took out a register.


    "Please pay three gold coins and I¡¯ll add your name to the register." The clerk said.


    Lin Mu took out 3 gold coins which he had prepared beforehand and passed them to the clerk.


    "What¡¯s your name?" asked the clerk as he dipped a brush into the inkwell.


    "My name is Lin Mu."


    The clerk took out a small wooden te on which the name of the inn was carved. It spelled ¡¯Northwind inn¡¯. Lin Mu took the wooden te and stored it in his pouch.


    "Come back five dayster and show this to whoever is sitting here on the counter, they will take you to your room." The clerk exined.


    Lin Mu nodded to the clerk and turned around to leave the inn.


    ¡¯I should return to the shop, it¡¯s been around three and a half hours since I left it. Duan Ke said to return in three hours, so she should be ready now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu walked back to the shop and reached there in 10 minutes. He saw that his sled was still kept at the side of the shop.


    "Guess no one would even bother to steal such a crudely made sled." Lin Mu spoke to himself with a little mirth in his voice.


    He then opened the creaky door of the shop and entered the shop. He walked up to the counter and was about to ring the bell when the door of the shop opened. Lin Mu turned around to look and saw Duan Ke entering the shop.


    ¡¯Huh, why was she outside?¡¯ Lin Mu questioned himself.


    "I¡¯ll bring the meat, wait here." Duan Ke spoke to Lin Mu as she passed by him and entered the door behind the counter.


    She returned a minuteter with a sack that seemed like it waspletely full. She put the sack on the counter, gestured to Lin Mu, and spoke.


    "Here¡¯s you beast meat. As for the money..." But before she couldplete her sentence, Lin Mu interrupted her.


    "Umm, instead of coins, I want some weapons." Lin Mu spoke.


    "You want more weapons? Are you not satisfied with the short sword?" Duan Ke asked.


    "No, I like the short sword. I just want more weapons in case I lose the short sword in a fight or something. And I also want to learn to use more kinds of weapons." Lin Mu Exined.


    Duan Ke nodded and said, "As you wish, look around the shop and pick whatever you want. But if you want to get a proper appraisal, it will cost you extra."


    Lin Mu went around the shop and picked up whatever caught his fancy. In the end, he had chosen 12 items from the shop. He brought them all and ced them on the counter. The total weight of all the weapons was nothing to Lin Mu, now that he had reached the 6th stage of the body tempering realm.


    The weapons he had chosen were of multiple types. He had chosen a pair of battle gauntlets, a long sword, a slim and flexible sword, a normal broad sword, arge axe, a small hatchet, a buckler, arge shield, a spear, and three different types of daggers.


    Duan Ke was a little surprised by the varied choice of weapons but did not show it on her face.


    "Is that all?" Duan Ke asked.


    "Yes, how much would this all cost?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It should be around the same price as the cost of the materials of that beast." Duan Ke replied.


    Lin Mu nodded happily and piled all the weapons on therge shield before putting it on the sled outside the shop. He then carried out the sack of meat and left the shop. Duan Ke watched him leave.


    ¡¯He¡¯s a little dumb, isn¡¯t he? He didn¡¯t even ask how much the materials exactly cost.¡¯ Duan Ke spoke to herself before waving her hand and sealing the door with formations.


    She then entered the door behind the counter and left the shop.

 Chapter 35 - 8th Stage Of The Body Tempering Realm

    <h4>Chapter 35 - 8th Stage Of The Body Tempering Realm </h4>


    Duan Ke appeared in the borate andrge courtyard. She crossed the streams and rivers to reach the manor that was standing at the end of the courtyard. Her eyes looked around for her grandfather but could not find him nearby.


    Finding that her grandfather was not outside, she went up the steps of the manor and entered through therge twin doors. The inside of the manor was so luxuriously decorated that it would even put a king¡¯s pce to shame.


    Duan Ke walked towards the left and entered an enormous library. There were more books than one could count in the library, along with a multitude of scrolls, bamboo slips, and jade slips kept on different shelves.


    At the centre of the library, one could see a table and a few chairs. Unlike the rest of the manor, the table and chairs did not look luxurious or expensive, rather they looked very simple and could be found at anymoner¡¯s house. Duan Ke walked up to the table and saw her grandfather sitting at it on a chair.


    The old man was reading a book that looked like it would wither and break any moment. The book was old and damaged, yet the old man was able to flip its pages with no problem. Once Duan Ke came up to the side of her grandfather, Jing Wei spoke without moving his eyes from the book.


    "Did you find anything?"


    Duan Ke waved her hand in response to her grandfather¡¯s words, making twelve corpses appear. These corpses belonged to both fierce beasts as well as spirit beasts. Even though the corpses belonged to different types of beasts and had different physiologies, they all had one thing inmon. They were all pitch ck in colour and emitted an unnerving aura.


    Duan Ke then carefully withdrew a box that looked to be made of ss. In that box, a pitch-ck blob the size of an orange was kept. The pitch-ck blob was emitting an even greater unnerving aura, it was at least 10 times the intensity of the aura emitted by the strongest beast corpse.


    Jing Wei turned to look towards the ss box in Duan Ke¡¯s hand.


    "So, it was that ¡¯thing¡¯ indeed." Jing Wei said.


    "I found these twelve beasts in the northern forest. They were mostly spread around the deeper regions of the forest, but some of them were even present at the outer parts of the forest, with one wandering around near the edge of the forest." Duan Ke said.


    Duan Ke stayed silent and let her grandfather examine all the beast corpses. Jing Wei looked around at the corpses for half an hour, after which he finally came up to the ss box.


    "Where did you find this piece of that ¡¯Thing¡¯?" Jing Wei asked Duan Ke.


    "I found it near the centre of the northern forest. It was lying inside a small pond and had tainted the water." Duan Ke replied.


    "That pond was the source of the mutations then, no other traces anywhere?" Jing Wei questioned.


    "Yes, that¡¯s likely it. I could not find any more traces of it, only this." Duan Ke answered.


    Jing Wei nodded upon hearing Duan Ke¡¯s answer.


    "Destroy it." Jing Wei dered.


    Duan Ke did not speak a word before pointing to the ck blob inside the ss box, which then started to burn. It burned for a minute, after which not even ashes were left behind.


    Once the ck blob was destroyed he turned to his granddaughter and spoke,


    "Did that boye back?"


    "He came back just before me. I passed the meat of a 9th stage body tempering realm beast to him. Though he did not ask for money in exchange for the materials." Duan Ke replied and took a pause.


    Jing Wei raised his eyebrows in question.


    "He wanted more weapons in exchange for the materials. I let him choose some weapons from the shop. He picked arge variety of them." Duan Ke added.


    Jing Wei sat down on the chair and ced his hand on his chin. He thought for a minute before asking,


    "Did he not like the short sword?"


    "He liked the sword. He said he wanted the weapons in case he ever lost the short sword during a fight." Duan Ke replied.


    "And how did hee to that reasoning?" Jing Wei asked curiously.


    Duan Ke had a slight smile on her face as she spoke this sentence.


    "Your old short sword has tasted a man¡¯s blood once again, after decades."


    "Oh, so he had his first kill. That was faster than I thought, but still, it¡¯s good for him that he experienced it early on and even learned a lesson from it." Jing Wei spoke with nostalgia in his eyes.


    |


    |


    |


    Lin Mu was currently pulling the sled that had the weapons, and meat ced on it. It took him 20 minutes to exit the town before he could store everything in the ring. Once everything was stored in the ring, Lin Mu sprinted all the way to the hunting shack.


    Once he was at the shack, he withdrew all the new weapons he had bought. He wanted to wield all of them, to get a feel for them.


    ¡¯I need to practice them too now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he swung an axe.


    He practiced using the weapons for three hours until it was time for sunset. Even though Lin Mu did not have proper training methods for each of the weapons, he still tried whatever he had seen other people do before, whether it be the town guards or the hunters.


    Lin Mu then started practicing the boulder copsing fist before cooking the new beast meat he had got today. The aroma of the 9th stage body tempering beast meat was richer than the other meats he had eaten before. Once it waspletely cooked he ate it deliciously.


    Done with the meal, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged to chant the calming heart sutra. He could feel the dense, vital energy being spread from his stomach. The energy was slowly spreading over his body and assimting into his skin and muscles, with a minuscule amount assimting into his blood vessels.


    45 minutester the vital energy had not stooped being assimted and Lin Mu felt like his skin waspletely saturated with vital energy.


    ¡¯This is it my skin can¡¯t assimte any more vital energy, it¡¯s time for me to enter the 8th stage of the body tempering realm.¡¯ Lin Mu decided.


    Lin Mu focused on the small trickle of vital energy that was entering his blood vessels. The vital energy was giving off very faint waves. He focused on these very faint waves and tried to amplify them. He tried applying his experience from learning the Boulder copsing fist and willed for the vital energy to increase.


    He did not seed in the first try. Lin Mu repeated the same procedure over and over until finally, it was like a dam had broken. Arge surge of vital energy that was stored in his stomach surged out all at once and was assimted into his blood vessels. An electrifying feeling passed through his blood vessels and he broke through to the 8th stage of the body tempering realm.


    "Yes, finally sess!" Lin Mu eximed and jumped up in joy.


    The 8th stage of the body tempering realm was a bottleneck. After breaking through it, a qualitative changed happened in the body. The muscles that are tempered in the early stage of the body tempering realm be stronger and tougher, but they can¡¯t exert their full potential as they don¡¯t have the required supply of blood.


    A simr situation urs with the skin during the middle stage of the body tempering realm, but when a person finally enters the 8th stage of the body tempering realm, his vessels can finally provide the blood required to the muscles and skin.


    A person who enters thete stage of the body tempering realm can exert greater strength, has increased speed and agility.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s see what I can do.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu started sprinting and found that he could run twice as fast as before. He then withdrew therge rock from the ring and let it fall on the ground. He tried lifting it but could not; it was still too heavy for him. Lin Mu then tried pushing it and was able to push it with some effort.


    "At least I can push it now." Lin Mu thought out loud as he wiped the sweat on his brow.


    ¡¯Now to try the boulder copsing fist.¡¯ Thought Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu entered the horse stance and used the breathing technique. Once his breath harmonized he started the fist routine. As soon as he reached the perfect coordination, he executed the boulder copsing fist. A stream of energy entered his right arm and started spinning, forming a stable spiral. Lin Mu willed it and punched forward. A powerful gust of wind shot forward, shaking the trees and bushes. Leaves fell down from the trees and a whistling sound could be heard.


    Lin Mu had finally mastered the boulder copsing fist.

 Chapter 36 - Consuming The Spirit Fruit

    <h4>Chapter 36 - Consuming The Spirit Fruit </h4>


    After he executed the boulder copsing fist, the energy that was coursing through Lin Mu¡¯s body faded away and was reced by numbing fatigue. Lin Mu slumped down on the ground in exhaustion. He did not expect that a severe exhaustion of energy would be apanying the sessful use of the boulder copsing fist.


    ¡¯Why is the exhaustion of vital energy harsher than before?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered as heid down on the ground.


    Lin Mu thought that the exhaustion of energy was due to the boulder copsing fist not being mastered and losing energy in the process. He did not know that once he mastered it, the exhaustion would only increase.


    Before he mastered the martial technique, he was able to execute it twice. But now that he hadpletely mastered the martial technique, he was only able to use it once before being nearly incapacitated.


    ¡¯I will have to use the boulder copsing fist only in the situations when I¡¯m sure of my victory or when I have no other choice left.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Muid on the ground for half an hour before he was able to recover some part of his stamina. He then stood up and decided to hunt. He returnedter in the evening just before the sunset. He had been able to hunt a Hook-winged swan and a Six-pronged stag.


    Lin Mu would never have been able to catch up with an adult Six-pronged stag had it not been for the increase in his speed after reaching the 8th stage of the body tempering realm. He was able to outrun the Six-pronged stag with ease and swiftly ended its life with one swing of his short sword.


    Aftering back, he cleaned and prepared both of the beasts before eating some dinner. Lin Mu then continued his practice with the different weapons he had bought yesterday till midnight when the spatial rift finally opened. He found a torn piece of a silk ribbon in the spatial rift this time.


    Lin Mu examined the torn piece of silk but found it to be ordinary, so he kept it in the ring. He then went to sleep and entered the Sleepscape. In the Sleepscape he practiced the boulder copsing fist. Now that he had mastered the boulder copsing fist, he didn¡¯t find practicing it to be of much use, as he did not know where he could improve more.


    ¡¯The booklet mentioned that the advanced stages of the boulder copsing fist involved increasing the number of energy spirals when using the technique.¡¯ Lin Mu remembered.


    Lin Mu could not practice the martial technique fully in the Sleepscape, as he could not use the vital energy in his body. He could only practice the form and coordination.


    ¡¯I wish I could practice using the weapons at least.¡¯ Lin Muined to himself.


    Lin Mu had no more things he could do in the Sleepscape anymore, unless he could find a new technique to learn. After understanding that he couldn¡¯t do much about it, Lin Mu just sat down and thought about things that he can improve on. By the time he had woken up from sleep, Lin Mu had made an entire mental list of goals he wanted toplete.


    First of all, he wanted to be a qi cultivator. Second, he wanted to obtain enough money to buy back his property that was seized from him. Lastly, he wanted to explore and experience the world.


    Lin Mu¡¯s desire for exploring the world came from his mother, who used to tell him stories from the travelogues and books she had read. She told him of breath-taking ces, ferocious beasts, dazzling kingdoms, and beautiful princesses. Though the stories that caught Lin Mu¡¯s attention the most were the ones about immortal cultivators and their legends.


    All of his goals were linked andpleting one goal would beget others. Bing a cultivator would allow him to obtain a lot of money, which would allow him to buy his property back. He would be fulfilling his filial duty of taking care of his ancestral property and also the familial graves that were located there.


    Once Lin Mupleted these two goals, he would be free to wander and explore the world. He was looking forward to seeing the ces he had heard in the stories.


    After waking up, Lin Mu started preparing his breakfast and practiced the Boulder copsing fist. He tried forming two spirals while using the technique, but could not as the vital energy would dissipate as soon as he tried pulling another strand to form the second spiral.


    Lin Mu stopped practicing the martial technique after multiple failures and ate his breakfast. He chanted the calming heart sutra and assimted the vital energy as always. He could tell that the rate of absorption had gone up by at least twenty percent, and he could absorb even more vital energy.


    After he was done with the assimtion of vital energy, he practiced using the different weapons. While practicing Lin Mu came to the conclusion that he was morefortable with swords, daggers, and the spear. He practiced with the axes but found them to be awkward to use and the shields did not matter much, as all he could do with them was defend.


    While with the gauntlets, he found that he could use them in tandem with the boulder copsing fist. The gauntlets were made of tough and hardened leather that was studded and reinforced with metal tes. They were okay to wear during a fight, but Lin Mu couldn¡¯t bring himself to wear them all the time, like he was doing with the leather armour he had looted from the thief.


    While Lin Mu was training he was reminded of something now that he was in the 8th stage of the body tempering realm. He stopped and withdrew the grape-sized purple spirit fruit he had obtained by risking his life. As soon as he withdrew it, he could feel the dense spirit qi stored in it. The spirit qi was much denser than the spirit apples and wasparable with the spirit stones.


    ¡¯It should be fine for me to eat it now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu had been waiting to enter the 8th stage of the body tempering realm so that he could be a cultivator. Even though he would need a cultivation manual to be an official cultivator, he could still eat a spirit fruit now.


    Lin Mu made up his mind and proceeded ahead. He took a deep breath and popped the small fruit into his mouth. He bit the fruit in his mouth and felt a pleasant sweetness spreading in his mouth. After savouring the fruit for a moment, he swallowed it. Since the fruit was only the size of a grape, it was gone in one bite and gulp.


    For the first minute after eating the fruit, Lin Mu did not feel anything, making him think whether he was mistaken, and it was a fake spirit fruit that he just ate. But after a minute passed, it was time for him to be in agony.


    A scorching pain rose from his stomach and spread through his body. It coursed through his blood vessels, muscles, and skin until it reached the bones and touched his marrow. That was when he screamed out in pain.


    "AAGHHHH!"


    Lin Mu¡¯s agony filled scream echoed through the forest, scaring the birds into flying away. The spirit qi spread into what Lin Mu thought were his blood vessels until he determined they were something elsepletely. These vessels were simr to blood vessels and were located along with them side by side, with some spreading away from them as well.


    Lin Mu finally understood what these vessels were. They were none other than the spirit meridians he had heard about from the stories and other people. The pain coursed through his meridians and reached his abdomen where it settled for a moment before rising up again, forming a cycle.


    Lin Mu was too exhausted to even scream now. He was covered in sweat from head to toe and his grey clothes were drenched wet. After a few minutes of agony, he could sense the vital energy that was stored in his body multiplying. The spirit qi from the fruit was being absorbed by his body and used as a fuel to generate vital energy.


    At this point, Lin Mu was finally able to gather some of his will and chanted the calming heart sutra. Inside the mysterious ring, there existed the ethereal altar that was made of mystical runes. The altar had been glowing ever since Lin Mu had eaten the spirit fruit and was bing brighter and brighter by the minute.


    When Lin Mu chanted the calming heart sutra, the ethereal altar started resonating and gave out its own pulses of energy. Suddenly Lin Mu could heart thundering chants of a thousand monks in his head. The esoteric chants were iprehensible to Lin Mu, yet he could somehow understand their underlying meaning.


    Under the influence of the thunderous chanting, the rampaging spirit qi was finally tamed and stabilised. The spirit qi stopped being unruly and settled down in Lin Mu¡¯s abdomen. He felt that the ce it settled down was two inches above his navel and felt like it was intangible. Lin Mu was able to determine that the ce was his dantian.

 Chapter 37 - A Shocking Series Of Events

    <h4>Chapter 37 - A Shocking Series Of Events </h4>


    The grueling process was finallypleted after an hour, at the end of which Lin Mu could not maintain his consciousness anymore and was pulled into the Sleepscape.


    Once he was in the Sleepscape, he could not feel the fatigue and was free. Though as soon as he entered the Sleepscape he was in for another storm. Currently, the Sleepscape was undergoing a great upheaval.


    The ethereal altar within the mysterious ring was still pulsating with energy. This time the energy was rising from the ring and reaching the Sleepscape. The Sleepscape was no longer dark, instead a dazzling blue sky had reced the pitch-ck sky and grass had sprouted on the ground.


    Lin Mu was left in awe upon witnessing all the events. The grass was spreading around from where Lin Mu was standing, and so was the blue sky. Lin Mu started walking towards the front as he saw a sapling grow into a tree within the blink of an eye.


    He got closer and examined it, as he found it to be rather familiar. It was but a momentter that he understood why. This was the very same apple tree he had been ying around since he was a child, had fallen asleep under when he left the town, and found the mysterious ring on.


    The same tree had somehow grown in the Sleepscape. He went ahead and touched the trunk. The rough bark of the tree felt real, and so did the rustling of the leaves. Lin Mu walked around the tree and tried to get a measure of the ce.


    He touched the grass and tried pulling it out. The grass was pulled out but soon disappeared from his hand. Even the ce from where the grass was pulled out from returned back to as it was before.


    "Huh, so I can¡¯t change the environment here." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    As he wandered and explored, he figured out the characteristics of the Sleepscape. He found that the radius of the entire Sleepscape was roughly around 200 meters. If he kept on walking ahead, he would just end up in front of the apple tree. He took the apple tree as the centre and mapped the ce in multiple directions, but found the result to be the same.


    ¡¯I end up in the same ce after walking straight. So this ce should be a circle, ah no, a sphere to be more urate.¡¯ Lin Mu concluded.


    Only after he had explored the entire ce, did he realise the biggest distinction that existed between the Sleepscape and the actual world. He looked up and noticed the absence of the sun in the sky. There were no clouds in the sky either, yet somehow the sky was still blue.


    ¡¯Will there be night in here?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    The only way he could figure out if the night would fall, would be to just wait and observe. Lin Mu waited and waited, but still could not see the day turn into night. Eventually, his consciousness disappeared from the Sleepscape and returned to his body.


    Lin Mu woke up in a daze and looked around to check his whereabouts. He was still at the same ce he had passed out from exhaustion. He looked at the half-moon that was staring him in the face and broke out in a lightugh.


    "Things just get more and more exciting for me, don¡¯t they?" Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    He tried to stand up and found that his entire body felt sore. Lin Mu was drenched in sweat before and felt sticky, so he wanted to clean up. He stumbled down to the stream and took a bath that feltfortable to him, even though the water was icy cold, a sign of the approaching winter. While bathing, his gaze wandered to the apple tree.


    ¡¯So it¡¯s still there. I guess the tree in the Sleepscape is just a replica.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    After he was done bathing, he walked up to the apple tree just to verify his ims. He touched the tree and plucked some leaves and apples. Unlike before, these did not disappear and stayed with him.


    After he had verified his ims, Lin Mu walked back to the hunting shack. He was no longer stumbling like before, even though he still felt sore. After he reached the hunting shack, he set some meat to cook on the stove as he was starving.


    While he waited Lin Mu tried to remember the distinct sensations, he experienced after eating the purple spirit fruit. He was able to remember the different paths the spirit qi had taken, which helped him figure out the pathways of his meridians.


    He focused on his abdomen and sensed the faint wisps of spirit qi floating inside his dantian. Lin Mu tried to see If he could control them or not. In the early attempts, Lin Mu could not even make the wisps of spirit qi twitch, butter on, he was able tomand them to move within his dantian.


    Only now was he able to understand the size of his dantian. If he considered the wisps of spirit qi as locks of hair then his dantian was roughlyparable to the size of the hunting shack. Lin Mu did not know if this was considered asrge or small, as he had no one else topare it with. Neither did he have proper information about the subject.


    His dinner was ready while he was ying around with the spirit qi. As Lin Mu felt like he was starving before, he ate his dinner with gusto and devoured all the meat he had prepared. After he was done with the dinner he followed his usual routine and started chanting the calming heart sutra to assimte the vital energy.


    It was now time that Lin Mu experienced the next shock of the day. The vital energy that was absorbed from his stomach assimted entirely within ten minutes. The process which used to take him 45 minutes now only took him 10. Only when all the vital energy was absorbed did he figure out the reason for it.


    Lin Mu¡¯s blood vessels had expanded a little bit and had be way tougher than before. He examined the density of vital energy within his body and found it to be nearly twice as dense as before.


    "I... I... I¡¯m in the 9th stage of the body tempering realm! That too at the very peak!" Lin Mu eximed out loud.


    The vital energy in his blood vessels was saturated to the very limit. Signaling his imminent progress to the 10th stage of the body tempering realm. He didn¡¯t know how long it would it take for him to enter the 10th stage, but he knew that he will surely be entering it.


    Before Lin Mu ate the spirit fruit, the only expectation he had was to enter the 9th stage of the body tempering realm and never higher than that, as he would focus on finding a cultivation manual. But now that he was already in it and was even close to the 10th stage, he could not believe his fortune.


    An hourter Lin Mu calmed down and was able to think straight again.


    ¡¯I can try and see if the calming heart sutra can help me control the spirit qi wisps.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Acting on his thoughts, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged to chant the calming heart sutra and focused on his dantian. The calming heart sutra helped him focus and gain rity. After a few more failures, Lin Mu was able to pull out a single wisp of spirit qi out of his dantian.


    But as soon as Lin Mu pulled the wisp of spirit qi out, he lost control and the wisp travelled into his right arm and was sucked by the ring. The mysterious ring hummed and before Lin Mu could think of anything, he disappeared from the shack.


    When Lin Mu¡¯s vision returned, he found himself staring at a dark sky that was filled with flickering streaks of silver and grey colour. In the far distance, he could see a familiar glow.


    ¡¯I¡¯m back in the ring?¡¯ Lin Mu questioned himself.


    He walked towards the glowing light and reached the ethereal altar that was made out of mystical runes. The altar was thrumming with power, as if it was beckoning Lin Mu toe and touch it. Lin Mu responded to the altar¡¯s yearning and walked closer. As he progressed step by step, Lin Mu could see the altar glow more and more as if it was responding to Lin Mu¡¯s presence.


    Soon Lin Mu was in the very front of the altar, which had turned nearly corporeal due to the intense glow it was emitting. But as soon as Lin Mu touched the altar, it stopped pulsating and became silent. In the very next moment, it glowed with an even more intense light and a cacophony of chants sounded within Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Sharpen thy will as a de, y your mortal bindings and be unyielding in the face of worldly tribtions - Behold the Severing Heart Sutra."

 Chapter 38 - Testing The New Skills

    <h4>Chapter 38 - Testing The New Skills </h4>


    The second part of the Nine divine heart sutras was finally unlocked. The esoteric chants of the Severing heart sutra were currently being carved in Lin Mu¡¯s mind. As the chants resounded within his head, a sharp stabbing pain apanied them.


    For Lin Mu, it was as if every passing second was equal to a day. When the entire process wasplete Lin Mu could not figure out how much time had passed, for the intense pain had robbed him of his sense of time.


    When the pain subsided, Lin Mu could see that the ethereal altar had dimmed down considerably. It was still pulsing, but not as intensely as before. He once again felt like he needed to touch the altar, and that¡¯s what he did.


    Lin Mu had braced for the next bout of pain that could be arriving, but it did not. Instead, a very gentle stream of energy was released from the altar that travelled to the mysterious ring and then to Lin Mu¡¯s head. Once the energy entered his head, additional new information appeared in his mind.


    There were only two things that were transmitted to him, and these two were skills. They were called ¡¯Flicker¡¯ and ¡¯Blink¡¯. Lin Mu understood that the mysterious ring had transmitted the information about these skills to him and had told him that these were some of the innate skills that originated from itself.


    "Why would I receive these skills only now and not before? Could it be because of spirit qi?" Lin Mu wondered.


    After receiving the skills, the ring hummed again, expelling Lin Mu into the hunting shack. He looked around and confirmed his location. Lin Mu had experienced too many shocks today, thus he sat down to chant the calming heart sutra again to get his thoughts in order.


    After half an hour, Lin Mu was able to make the heads and tails of the entire situation.


    "I unlocked the Severing heart sutra, and the ring imparted the two skills called Flicker and Blink to me." Lin Mu concluded in one sentence.


    The first thing Lin Mu wanted to test was the Severing heart sutra. He wanted to see how itpared to the calming heart sutra and if it could help him in his cultivation. So, in order to test it, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged and began chanting the severing heart sutra.


    The chants of the severing heart sutra were different from the calming heart sutra. While the calming heart sutra made one feel tranquil, the severing heart sutra made one empty.


    The closest way Lin Mu could describe his feelings was as, nothing. He feltpletely devoid of everything. He did not feel any desire, nor did he feel any emotions. He focused on the vital energy within his body and found it to be the same as before. It did not enhance his perception as it did with the calming hear sutra.


    Lin Mu then tried sensing the spirit qi within his dantian. Before he was able to control a single wisp of spirit qi with the help of the calming heart sutra, but he could not exactly measure how much spirit qi he had in his dantian. But once he used the severing heart sutra, he found that he only had around five percent of his dantian filled with spirit qi.


    He tried to count the number of spirit qi wisps he had and estimated them to be around 100. He could not get an exact number as the spirit qi mixed and melded together.


    ¡¯If only five percent of my dantian is filled then, it means that I can store nearly 2000 wisps of spirit qi.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    After this, he tried to control a wisp of spirit qi and was able to do it sessfully. He tried going further and controlled the spirit qi to move towards the meridians. He willed it, and the wisp of spirit qi entered the first meridian.


    Getting the spirit qi into the meridians was the hard part for Lin Mu. Now that it was in the meridians, it only had one path to follow. Soon under the control of Lin Mu, the wisp of spirit qipleted its firstplete cirction cycle.


    After Lin Mu sessfullypleted the first cycle of qi cirction, he could feel his body¡¯s pores open, as a tiny amount of energy was absorbed from the air and refined into a new wisp of spirit qi that settled down in his dantian.


    ¡¯Is this how a person is supposed to cultivate?¡¯ Lin Mu questioned himself.


    Lin Mu did not know, but what he had just aplished would have shocked any other cultivator if they knew about it. He had sessfully refined spirit qi without the use of a cultivation manual. Even though it was a minuscule amount and was notparable to the efficiency of an actual cultivation manual, this single feat of his was still earth shaking.


    Lin Mu stopped chanting the severing heart sutra and stood up. Once the effects of the sutra wore off, all his emotions returned. Only now did he understand how disturbing it felt to be devoid of emotions.


    ¡¯This feeling, or the absence of it, is unexinable.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself with a perplexed expression on his face.


    The next thing Lin Mu wanted to test was the two new skills he was imparted by the ring. He instinctively knew how to use these skills. The first skill Lin Mu tested was the skill called ??Flicker¡¯.


    He knew how to use it but did not know what it actually did. He would have to experience it himself, to understand it. Thus Lin Mu took a deep breath and triggered the skill. Automatically a small wisp of spirit qi rose from his dantian and entered the ring.


    After the spirit qi was consumed by the ring nothing happened, which made Lin Mu confused about whether he was making a mistake or not. He tried again and another wisp of spirit qi was consumed, with no results. He tried again and again with no sign of sess until he noticed his hands when he used the skill.


    Lin Mu observed that whenever he used Flicker, his hands would turn blurry for a moment. To test his hypothesis, he tried it again and indeed found it to be true. In hister attempts, he found that not only were his hands turning blurry, but his entire body was also turning blurry.


    A stroke of insight struck Lin Mu, and he remembered his first fight with the two thieves. A simr thing had happened then, and the attacks of the two men had passed through his body as if it was made of air.


    "So it was this skill that saved my life then." Lin Mu eximed.


    He wanted to test the skill out further, so he held the table with his hand while he used Flicker. As soon as he used the skill Lin Mu¡¯s hand passed through the table as if it were air. Lin Mu was awestruck and stared at his hand. He tested it out with many things and found it to work the same.


    But while testing, he also found the limitations of the skill. The skill only turned his body immaterial for a second, after which it solidified. While it was possible for his hand to pass through thinner objects such as the table, it could not pass through the wall of the shack, or of course the ground itself. A handful of soil and small stones could fall through his hands when he used the skill, but he could not push his hand through the earth.


    ¡¯But if the limitation of the skill depends on the thickness of the objects, how was I able to dodge the axe of that thief?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered with a puzzled look.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit and understood that there may be more factors that influenced the skill. He withdrew the short sword and held it in his hand while he used Flicker. He had expected it to fall through his hand, but it did not. He then held it t against his left hand and swung at it. This time it passed through his left hand but was still held in his right hand.


    ¡¯So the thickness of an object, as well as the speed at which my body moves through it, decides whether the skill would work or not.¡¯ Lin Mu concluded and felt proud of himself inwardly.


    At only this point did he notice that he had depleted nearly all of the spirit qi in his dantian. This also gave him an idea of how many times he could use the skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯. He consumed one wisp of spirit qi to use the skill once, thus could use it at least a hundred times before stopping.


    ¡¯Guess I¡¯ll have to test the second skill tomorrow then.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    After all the experiments, Lin Mu had once again be tired and sleepy. Heid down on the bed and fell asleep. This time though, Lin Mu did not enter the Sleepscape but instead fell asleep normally.

 Chapter 39 - First Cultivation Session

    <h4>Chapter 39 - First Cultivation Session </h4>


    When Lin Mu woke up, it was already the afternoon. He felt much better as this was the first time he had slept normally in a long time. He stretched to relieve the stiffness and walked out of the hunting shack.


    The bright sunlight blinded him for a moment, making him cover his eyes. A momentter, when his eyes got used to the brightness, he was able to see the difference in his vision. Everything he looked at, whether it be trees, clouds, flowers, or the grass, looked vivid to him. Lin Mu also found out that he could look at faraway objects much more clearly now.


    "Is this the effect of spirit qi? It enhanced my vision too. Wait, that¡¯s not it. My sense of smell is enhanced as well." Lin Mu spoke out loud.


    Lin Mu was able to smell the fragrance of flowers that were far away in the forest. He could even smell the very faint smell of the grass beneath his feet. It was apletely surreal experience for him.


    Lin Mu then started his morning routine, but instead of training, he sat down to sense his dantian. He saw that nearly half of his spirit qi has been restored.


    ¡¯A part of my spirit qi is restored every time I sleep, it seems.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu wanted to restore as much spirit qi as he could before he tested out the second skill he got from the ring. Thus he sat down and chanted the severing heart sutra. The loss of all emotions made Lin Mu feel empty, but it also made his perception sharper.


    His consciousness entered his dantian and took control of a wisp of spirit qi. Lin Mu guided it into the meridians and circted it ording to the path he had discovered. The first cycle waspleted in two minutes. The single wisp that he had circted had be more refined, and another wisp of spirit qi had been absorbed from the air and condensed into his dantian.


    ¡¯So not only does circting the spirit qi condense more wisps, but it also refines the previously existing spirit qi.¡¯ Understood Lin Mu.


    In the qi refining realm, a cultivator primarily increases the amount of spirit qi they have and then refine it to make it more pure and condensed. The qi refining realm is divided into four stages- early-stage, mid-stage,te-stage, and peak-stage.


    In the early stage of the qi refining realm, a cultivator condenses spirit qi and fills up half of their dantian. In the mid-stage, their entire dantian is filled with wisps of spirit qi. In thete stage, a cultivator starts to refine the spirit qi wisps into liquid form, while in the peak stage they wouldpletely fill their dantian with liquid spirit qi.


    Lin Mupleted multiple cirction cycles and found out that the more he circted, the faster he got. An hour after he started, his efficiency had nearly doubled. He continued cultivating for another hour, after which he hadpletely recovered his spirit qi and had actually exceeded it by a small amount.


    Lin Mu stopped at this point and let out a breath of foul qi, ending his first proper cultivation session. He could feel his improvement and understood that this was the path he had to follow.


    Lin Mu heard his stomach rumble and went to eat his breakfast. After eating breakfast, he chanted the calming heart sutra and assimted the vital energy from the meat he had eaten. Another thing he noticed was that in addition to vital energy, a minuscule amount of qi was also being absorbed into his body.


    ¡¯Does beast meat have spirit qi in it too? Or is it because I¡¯m eating the meat of a 9th stage body tempering beast?¡¯ Lin Mu pondered.


    Now that he had eaten his breakfast and his qi was replenished, Lin Mu was ready to test out the second skill he had obtained from the ring.


    The second skill was called ¡¯Blink¡¯. Lin Mu triggered the skill and in an instant, ten percent of his entire qi reserve was consumed, but nothing happened. He looked at his body to see if there was a change or not, but could not deduce anything.


    Lin Mu used the skill again, consuming another ten percent of his qi. This time he focused on his body to see if there was anything different. He could not sense anything different from his body again.


    He used the skill for the third time but focused on the environment. In this attempt, he was sessful and found out that his vision turned hazy for a moment when the skill was triggered.


    ¡¯Why did my vision turn hazy? But it did not do that when I looked at my body, though.¡¯ Lin Mu questioned himself.


    In the quest to find out the function of the skill, Lin Mu used it multiple times until his entire dantian was empty and exhaustion filled his body. He stopped as he was out of qi and rested for an hour. Lin Mu chanted the severing heart sutra once again to cultivate more qi, but discovered that the vital energy in his body was being converted to spirit qi.


    He focused deeper and sensed that the ratio of conversion between vital energy and spirit qi was highly unequal. It took arge amount of vital energy to produce a single wisp of spirit qi. Around half of Lin Mu¡¯s vital energy was depleted before it stopped being consumed.


    ¡¯This means that once I deplete my spirit qi, my vital energy will be consumed to produce it.¡¯ Lin Mu learned.


    For Cultivators who were in the qi refining realm, it was difficult to recover spirit qi once it was entirely depleted. They needed at least a single wisp to be able to produce more spirit qi. Thus in order to recover spirit qi, a cultivator¡¯s body would consume its own vital energy to replenish it. Only when a cultivator entered the core condensation realm, could he freely absorb spirit qi from the air.

 Chapter 40 - Discovery

    <h4>Chapter 40 - Discovery </h4>


    Upon gaining knowledge about the aspects of spirit qi, Lin Mu was enlightened. He understood that he cannot deplete his entire store of spirit qi or it will debilitate him in a battle. Now that he had some spirit qi in his dantian, Lin Mu continued chanting the severing heart sutra and circted the spirit qi.


    After two hours, Lin Mu had nearly replenished his spirit qi up to the previous capacity. He opened his eyes and saw the darkness had descended. The sky had turned ck, with the clouds hiding the stars and the moon.


    "It¡¯s already night, and I did not even notice. Is this what the legends mean when they say ¡¯time is but dust to cultivators, can¡¯t notice it until it settles down.¡¯" Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    Lin Mu stood up and felt his stomach groan with hunger. He had consumed half of his vital energy to regenerate spirit qi, thus he was feeling quite ravenous. He took out the remaining portion of the 9th stage body tempering beast¡¯s meat and thered it with spices and condiments. Then he set it on the big stove outside the shack and let it roast.


    In fifteen minutes the meat was ready, and Lin Mu could not hold back anymore. He ate it like a beast and did not even notice when he had consumed all the meat. There were no bones in the meat, thus it was very easy for him to eat the meat.


    Once he was done with his meal, he sat down to assimte the vital energy within it. While he was chanting the calming heart sutra, Lin Mu heard a rustling sounding from behind him. The sound came from far, yet it was as if he had heard it right beside him. Spirit qi had enhanced his hearing as well.


    Lin Mu stopped mid-way and opened his eyes. He snapped back in a sh and red at the source of the sound. He was able to see much better in the dark due to spirit qi and observed that there was a silhouette of a small four-legged beast standing amongst the bushes. He rushed forward, but the beast had noticed him the moment he had turned around and had run away.


    ¡¯If it ran away due to me looking at it, then it should not be a strong beast.¡¯ Lin Mu figured.


    Pushing the disturbance to the back of his mind, Lin Mu continued chanting the calming heart sutra. His speed of assimting vital energy had increased by arge margin ever since he broke through to the 9th stage of the body tempering realm, thus he was done after 15 minutes.


    All the vital energy that he had depleted was replenished, and the total capacity was also increased by a small amount. It would not take him much longer to break through to the 10th stage of the body tempering realm.


    By now the clouds had been blown away by the wind, and Lin Mu could see the half-moon in the sky. He observed its position and estimated that it should be around 8 pm.


    ¡¯I didn¡¯t get the chance to go hunting today and I¡¯ve finished the 9th stage body tempering beast¡¯s meat as well. I still have the steel-back wolf¡¯s meat left so I can eat that, but I¡¯ll have toplete testing the skills before it¡¯s finished too.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu wanted to gain aplete understanding of his skills before he enters the forest, as he wanted to be prepared for any unexpected situation. He had already be slightly paranoid ever since he saw the Razor-maw Ox and killed the coyote beast. He knew that he would not be this fortunate every time. If he encountered a spirit beast by any chance, it was likely that it would spell doom for him.


    Lin Mu withdrew his short sword and started practicing with it. After the short sword, he practiced with the other weapons he had bought as well. He practiced all the way until midnight when he suddenly remembered something.


    ¡¯The spatial rift, it has been more than a day. Why has it not opened yet? This has not happened before.¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Ever since Lin Mu obtained the mysterious ring, the spatial rift has opened every day. Sure, it opened at different times, but it was never more than a day. Lin Mu was confused and did not know the reason for this.


    ¡¯Could it be? Is it because of spirit qi, that the condition for it to open changed?¡¯ Lin Mu questioned.


    As Lin Mu thought about the spatial rift, he lifted his right hand and observed the ring on his middle finger. But as he was observing it, he noticed a small ck dot hovering in front of him. Lin Mu was surprised and focused his attention on it.


    When Lin Mu focused on it, the small dot started expanding. But along with the expansion of the dot, Lin Mu¡¯s spirit qi was also being consumed. When almost five wisps of sprit qi were consumed, the small ck dot had turned into a spatial rift.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes were wide open, as he saw the newly formed spatial rift. He noticed the difference this time, though. Unlike before his hand was not pulled towards the spatial rift, neither was it sucked into it. He did not feel anypulsion to touch it either.


    ¡¯Why is it different this time?¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he approached the spatial rift.


    Lin Mu put his hand inside the spatial rift and searched around for whatever object that was hiding inside the spatial rift. He had searched for nearly 10 minutes when the spatial rift started to destabilise. After the rift started shrinking Lin Mu pulled his hand back in defeat. For the first time ever, he was unsessful in finding anything inside the spatial rift.


    ¡¯The spatial rift has never closed like this before. It only closed when I found the object hiding inside it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Reeling from his failure, Lin Mu was about to return to his practice, when he saw another ck dot floating in the distance. The ck dot was hard to spot due to the flickering of the mes from the stove. Thus Lin Mu picked up a burning branch and used it as a torch.


    He walked towards the flickering ck dot with the torch in his hand and gasped.


    "Can it be?" Lin Mu whispered as he extended his right hand towards the ck dot.


    Lin Mu¡¯s guess was right, as the ck dot started expanding into a spatial rift. Another five wisps of his spirit qi were also consumed in the process. He put his hand inside the rift and tried finding something inside it again. Five minutester his hand touched something small, and the item was stored in the ring.


    Lin Mu pulled his hand out and observed the spatial rift. Usually, the spatial rift would stay open until he found something and then immediately close. But right now the spatial rift was still stable and showed no signs of closing. Lin Mu decided to wait and see, for how much time would it stay open.


    It was not until five minutester that the spatial rift started to close up.


    ¡¯It seems that the spatial rift will now stay open for around ten minutes, whether I find something in it or not.¡¯ Lin Mu assumed.


    After the spatial rift had closed Lin Mu withdrew the object he had found inside the rift. The object he had found was a small nail that looked very mundane and normal. Observing that it was another useless item, Lin Mu stored it back into the ring.


    ¡¯I seem to be finding more and more useless items.¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he continued practicing with the weapons.


    While practicing he had moved a little farther away from where he had started. Lin Mu was thrusting the spear when he saw another ck dot in front of him. He was surprised by this and got closer. By now, Lin Mu had gotten an idea about how to open the spatial rift after doing it twice.


    But he did not open the spatial rift as his attention was pulled towards another ck dot that was floating to his right. An idea struck his mind, and he pulled out a branch from the ring and lit it up. With the help of the light from the burning branch, Lin Mu searched around for more ck dots in the surroundings.


    Lin Mu must have scoured a radius of around 100 meters, within which he found seven floating ck dots. He could actually see more of them in the distance but did not bother checking them as he had already understood the situation well.


    ¡¯So the ring now allows me to see the spots where I can open spatial rifts. Though it does not seem like I will be able to find objects hidden in every spatial rift.¡¯ Lin Mu concluded.


    Lin Mu had the idea of opening every spatial rift he could find, but then rejected that idea as it would require him to consume his spirit qi. Right now Lin Mu¡¯s first priority was to gain an understanding of the new skills, and for doing that, having sufficient spirit qi was a must.


    While Lin Mu had discovered another new function of his ring, the disciples of the Star catching peak of the sky precepts sect were currently in shock once again.

 Chapter 41 - Success With The Second Skill

    <h4>Chapter 41 - Sess With The Second Skill </h4>


    In the Star catching peak, disciples could be seen rushing around with anxiety on their faces. They had detected multiple spatial disturbances a little while ago and were currently trying to pinpoint its location.


    A ck-robed elder with the insignia of star catching peak embroidered on their chest could be seen standing at the head of arge formation array. A hundred other disciples could also be seen sitting in their respective positions on the formation array.


    Sweat could be seen on the faces of all the disciples, and even the ck-robed elder seemed to be distressed.


    "Elder Feng the disciples can¡¯t hold on much longer. We need to ask the other elders to support the formation." The Head disciple who was sitting near the ck-robed elder spoke.


    A hint of annoyance along with helplessness could be seen on the ck-robed elder¡¯s face upon hearing the head disciple¡¯s words. The ck-robed elder faced towards the head disciple and spoke,


    "You think I don¡¯t know that? I would have already contacted the other elders if it was possible."


    The head disciple was not the least bit bothered by the ck-robed elder¡¯s chiding and still had a staunch look on his face. Elder Feng noticed this and let out a long sigh.


    "The other elders are currently in the trial grounds and cannot be contacted. Themunication jades don¡¯t work across different spatial nes. Though I have contacted an elder to enter the trial grounds and personally inform the other elders of our peak." Elder Feng revealed.


    The head disciple nodded in eptance and returned his attention towards the formation array while muttering,


    ¡¯Let¡¯s hope they are able to return before we lose the trace of the spatial disturbance."


    The ck-robed elder heard the head disciple¡¯s mutterings and let out another sigh.


    Back at the hunting shack, Lin Mu was currently lying down on the bed. He was waiting to fall asleep and enter the Sleepscape. He had a few ideas that he wanted to try out in the Sleepscape, now that he had spirit qi.


    A few minutester Lin Mu fell asleep and appeared in the Sleepscape. The sight of the blue sky, green flowing grass, and the apple tree in the distance made Lin Mu feel a sense of belonging. He walked up to the tree and observed that it was different than before.


    An apple could actually be seen hanging from one of the branches. The apple¡¯s colour was a mix of red and green, with green being the more prominent. The fruit looked juicy and sulent to Lin Mu¡¯s eyes, making him desire to pluck it.


    Lin Mu jumped up and easily plucked the apple, the height of the tree no longer a restriction to him. But as soon as Lin Mu had the apple in his hand, it disappeared. Thinking that it was probably returned to where it was, Lin Mu looked at the ce from where the apple previously hung.


    ¡¯It¡¯s not there? Where did it go?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Thest time Lin Mu hade to the Sleepscape, he had tested out its characteristics. The main thing that he found out was that any change he made to this ce would automatically be restored to the state it was before. Seeing that the apple did not return to the tree, he wondered if there was something he missed.


    Lin Mu remembered how the items from spatial rifts would be automatically stored in the ring when he touched them and wondered if it was the same in this case too. He thus willed the apple to be withdrawn from the ring, and it appeared in his hand.


    "Seems like I was right." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    Lin Mu studied the apple and did not find anything wrong with it. He then tried to eat it, but the moment he took a bite out of it, the apple disappeared and was then restored to its original form in his hand.


    ¡¯So I can¡¯t eat it. Maybe it¡¯s only because I¡¯m in the Sleepscape, and I¡¯ll need to be awake to eat it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "But wait, if the apple can be stored in the ring, can I withdraw other items as well?" Lin Mu spected.


    Desiring to verify his hypothesis, Lin Mu willed for his short-sword to appear in his hand. In the next moment, the short sword had materialised in his hand. Excited at this discovery, Lin Mu tried the same with the other items from the ring.


    "I can now practice in the Sleepscape as well." Lin Mu said with an optimistic tone.


    Thus Lin Mu continued his weapons practice in the Sleepscape. He practiced all the way until he felt mentally tired and wanted to sleep normally. When Lin Mu thought this, his body faded away from the Sleepscape but did not appear in the actual world. Lin Mu was now sleeping normally. He had just discovered another function of the Sleepscape.


    A few hourster, the sun had risen, and Lin Mu had just woken up. He was feeling refreshed and clearly remembered the practice he had done in the Sleepscape.


    ¡¯I now have more time to practice and improve my weapon skill.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He then stood up and prepared his breakfast. He had consumed the 9th stage body tempering realm beast¡¯s meat and was now using the steel-back wolf meat as it was the next better option. While the meat cooked, he tried whether he could withdraw the apple from the Sleepscape.


    Lin Mu willed it, and indeed the apple appeared in his hand. He then brought it close to his mouth and took a bite. The rich juices from the apple spread in his mouth, giving rise to a sweet and sour taste. He savored the taste and then felt a warmth spread from his abdomen.


    Lin Mu was surprised by the warmth as he could tell it was spirit qi.


    ¡¯Is that tree in the Sleepscape a spirit apple tree?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    He then finished the entire spirit apple and sat down to chant the severing heart sutra. He guided the spirit qi through his meridians into the dantian. Once all the spirit qi was stored into his dantian, Lin Mu estimated that he had obtained nearly twenty wisps of spirit qi from the fruit.


    Lin Mu was delighted by this result and figured that if he could get more of these spirit apples from the Sleepscape, he could very well use them to recover his spirit qi if it was everpletely depleted. The only problem in this equation was that Lin Mu did not know if or how long it would take for another spirit apple to be formed in the Sleepscape.


    It had been around fifteen minutes, the meat was now fully cooked and emitted a delicious aroma. Lin Mu ate the roast meat and then sat down to assimte the vital energy. With his improved speed of assimtion, he hadpleted the entire process within 10 minutes.


    Lin Mu then looked within his dantian and sensed the spirit qi present within it. He found that the quantity of spirit qi had increased to nearly 150 wisps. His dantian was now at 7.5 percent of its total capacity. This was the result of the spirit qi from his yesterday¡¯s cultivation sessionbined with the spirit apple he ate today.


    "I should continue testing out the second skill ¡¯Blink¡¯" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu stood up and triggered the skill. He focused all his attention on his body for any change that would be happening. He found that his body did turn blurry for a moment when the skill was used, but could not find the reason for it.


    Lin Mu continued using the skill multiple times and in different conditions. After ten more tries, he had nearly depleted all of his spirit qi, thus he sat down and chanted the severing heart sutra to refine more spirit qi.


    Three hourster, Lin Mu had restored all of his spirit qi. He had a capacity of 150 spirit qi wisps and could use ¡¯Blink¡¯ fourteen times before needing to rest and replenish it back again. By now the sun had reached the top of Lin Mu¡¯s head, showing that it was noontime.


    "I¡¯ll try it a few more times before eating lunch." Lin Mu decided.


    Lin Mu had to try it a few more times until he learned a bit more about the skill. He found out that his body only turned blurry when he was out in the open and not in a restricted space like the hunting shack. But if he used the skill in the hunting shack with its door open, his body still turned blurry.


    It was not until the 23rd try that Lin Mu was able to sessfully use the skill. When Lin Mu used the skill in that attempt, he gazed at a location a few meters away from him and found himself suddenly appearing there.


    Because of the sudden movement Lin Mu lost his orientation and fell down, but he did not wince in pain but ratherughed out loud.


    "Hahaha, I¡¯ve got it." Lin Mu eximed.

 Chapter 42 - Full Potential Of The Boulder Collapsing Fist

    <h4>Chapter 42 - Full Potential Of The Boulder Copsing Fist </h4>


    Lin Mu could be seen disappearing from one ce to another. He would fade from one location and materialize a few meters away from the previous location. ¡¯Blink¡¯ the second skill that Lin Mu had obtained allowed him to teleport over short distances.


    He discovered that he could teleport up to a maximum distance of 10 meters in a single use of the skill. He also learned that he could only teleport to a ce that he was able to see with his eyes. For example, he could not teleport to a ce behind him, but if he turned his neck and gazed at the location, he could teleport there.


    Another Limitation he discovered was that if there was arge object present between Lin Mu and the location he wanted to teleport to, he could not teleport. He needed to have a clear sight of the location he wanted to teleport to. Otherwise, the skill would fail to activate, even though the spirit qi would still be consumed.


    Lin Mu had to unwittingly stop as he had nearly run out of spirit qi. He had been enjoying the feeling of using the skill as it was the fastest Lin Mu had ever moved.


    "I shouldn¡¯t get carried away, I still need to check out some things." Lin Mu said to himself.


    Lin Mu prepared some meat to cook and cultivated until it got ready. He had learned that the more he depleted his spirit qi the faster he could cultivate and recover it. Sleeping also helped him recover some spirit qi passively, but the process was slow as only half of his qi was replenished after eight hours of sleep. Thuspared to actively cultivating spirit qi, it was inefficient.


    Lin Mu also found that the maximum amount of spirit qi he could recover by sleeping was the total amount he had when he actively cultivated. He could not exceed it and had to actively cultivate if he wanted to increase the total capacity.


    Soon his lunch was ready, and Lin Mu started eating it. While eating he had the idea about testing out the strength of the boulder copsing fist. It was mentioned in the booklet that boulder copsing fist waspatible with many energies and they could also be freelybined.


    Lin Mu wanted to see the true might of the martial technique once hebined vital energy along with spirit qi. Though he was a little apprehensive as the martial technique wouldpletely drain his vital energy in one use, he did not know if it would be the same with spirit qi.


    A few minutester, Lin Mu was done with his lunch and was ready to test out the capabilities of boulder copsing fist.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s see how this goes.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu stood in the horse stance and harmonized his breathing with the fist technique. But instead of vital energy, he controlled the spirit qi to form an energy spiral in his right arm. He carefully guided the spirit qi from his dantian into the meridians of his right arm and let it swirl.


    Soon a vortex was formed, but the spirit qi did not stop being absorbed. Once the spiral was created Lin Mu did not need to consciously guide the spirit qi, as it moved into his right arm automatically. It was only when he had consumed half of his entire store that the spirit qi spiral stabilised.


    Lin Mu then braced himself and executed the technique.


    "Boulder copsing fist!"


    ~Whoosh


    A strong jet of air was shot forward and a sharp whistling sound could be heard, which hurt one¡¯s ears. The jet of air stuck a tree that was in front of Lin Mu with a huge impact. The bark that covered it was directly stripped away, and a shallow fist imprint was left on the tree¡¯s bare trunk. The tree started swaying as the jet of air split into two and impacted more trees, making them shake as well.


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and rxed his body. He was shocked by the effect of the boulder copsing fist.


    "If it¡¯s already this strong when I just hit the air, what would happen if I directly hit a person with it?" Lin Mu wondered.


    ¡¯And what if Ibine spirit qi with vital energy, how strong it would be then?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    The thought aboutbining spirit qi with vital energy kept on repeating in Lin Mu¡¯s mind. He had only tested the technique on air, but not on a solid object yet. He wanted to witness the power of the entire potential of the technique, as he did not know if he would ever fall into a dire situation where this technique would be his only way out.


    Lin Mu could no longer hold himself back and wanted to try out the technique that instant. But as he wanted to test the true potential of the technique, he had to find a suitable target to test it on. He could not test it on a person or on a beast, thus he decided to find arge boulder.


    "What better way to test the martial technique, rather than to see if it actually lives up to its name." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.


    Lin Mu walked to the small stream, as he knew that there was a boulder located a short distance away from it. He reached the spot 10 minutester, after which he checked the surroundings for any people or beasts that could disturb him. He especially did not want to expose the technique to other people.


    Once Lin Mu confirmed that there was no person nearby, he stood in front of the boulder which towered over him, being more than three meters tall. He then entered the horse stance and harmonized his breathing with the fist technique.


    Now came the hard part. Lin Mu had tobine the spirit qi with the vital energy. He had not done this before, so did not know if he would be sessful in the first try.


    Lin Mu first allowed the vital energy within his body to form an energy spiral within his left arm. He chose his left arm, as it was his non-dominant arm, and would not bother him too much if it was injured. He knew that he would get slightly injured whenever he used it on a person or a beast. Though he would soon recover in a few hours after that.


    Soon most of his vital energy had started spinning within his left arm. He then guided the spirit qi through the meridians into his left arm. He had originally thought that it would be a difficult process and he would not seed in the first try. But reality showed him that he was wrong, as the spirit qi merged with the vital energy with ease and assimted into the energy spiral.


    Lin Mu observed that the energy spiral within his arm had started to undergo a certain kind of metamorphosis. The energy spiral was getting more and more condensed. Soon, from a gaseous form, the energy spiral had turned into a liquid form.


    Lin Mu could sense the raw power that was stored within the liquid energy spiral. It waspletely unlike he had ever felt before. When the energy spiral finally stabilised, Lin Mu had depleted all of his vital energy as well as his spirit qi.


    He knew he only had this one chance, thus he took a deep breath and executed the technique.


    "Boulder copsing fist!"


    ~phew ~~~~~KABOOOM!!


    This time there was no whistling sound, no jet of air, only raw power that was shot forward. The moment Lin Mu¡¯s fist connected with the surface of the boulder, the energy spiral within his left arm transferred into it.


    It was as if the world had turned still, but in the next instant, the boulder that was in front of Lin Mu disappeared along with arge exploding sound. The sound of the explosion spread through the sky and could be heard far away. The boulder had turned into small stone fragments and had pelted the entire area that was behind it.


    The impact of the stone fragments broke the trees that were close directly, while those that were far had been embedded with the fragments. Some unrecognisable masses of meat could also be seen lying around; these were the unfortunate birds and small animals that had borne the impact of the fragments.


    The noise of the exploding boulder had drowned out the sounds of the forest as it continued echoing.


    A few kilometers away, deep in the forest, a group of people were currently fighting a spirit beast that looked like an oversized pangolin. They were moving with great agility, and their every attack had immense power within it. One could clearly tell that all of them were qi cultivators from an elite mercenary team.


    They were engrossed in fighting the spirit beast when suddenly the sound of an explosion echoed from afar. The sound of the explosion made the mercenaries as well as the spirit beast wary. The spirit beast halted for a moment, as if it had sensed something terrifying. The pangolin spirit beast could not bear it and curled up, rolling away with extreme speed, leaving the mercenaries behind.


    "What was that sound, why did it scare the spirit beast away?" one of the men asked.


    "It was not just the sound, there was spirit qi contained within it; extremely strong spirit qi." A woman that was wielding a whip spoke.


    "Estimating the distance the sound travelled, and the spirit qi that was contained within it, I would say it was a cultivator at the peak of the qi refining realm; if not the core condensation realm." Spoke a man that looked to be the leader of the team.


    "Should we investigate it, leader?" Another man asked.


    "No, it is not our job. Leave it." The leader spoke with apprehension in his eyes.


    Back at the site of the explosion, Lin Mu was writhing on the ground, holding his left arm. The noise of the explosion had not only suppressed the sounds of the forest, but it had also drowned out the screams of Lin Mu.

 Chapter 43 - Injury

    <h4>Chapter 43 - Injury </h4>


    It was not until a minuteter that Lin Mu¡¯s screams became audible. By now the echoing sound of the explosion had faded away and the forest had be silent once again. Clearly the explosion had scared most of the beasts of the forest, thus one could not hear any more sounds.


    Lin Mu was screaming in pain, but he could still think. His left hand was severely injured, with his fingers broken and his arm bones popping out of his elbow. Blood could be seen dripping out of hiscerated flesh.


    The force exerted by thebination of vital energy and spirit Qi was too much for his body to handle, which resulted in his current predicament.


    Lin Mu forcefully gained a semnce of his sanity and instinctively withdrew the bottle that contained the Four vessels restoration pills. He then used his mouth to pull open the cork and popped a single pill into his mouth.


    As soon as the Four vessels restoration pill touched Lin Mu¡¯s tongue, it melted and was swallowed by him. When the liquefied pill entered his stomach, a cooling feeling spread all over his body relieving him of his anguish.


    The pain faded away as if it was never there. The flesh of Lin Mu¡¯s left hand started wiggling and itching. The bones that were popping out of his elbow were slowly being pulled back into their correct ce.


    Lin Mu¡¯s fingers that were broken in multiple ces were also being mended. His flesh that was torn and cut slowly started healing. After ten minutes, Lin Mu¡¯s hand waspletely healed and as good as new.


    "Heavens! I can never do that again. I don¡¯t want to feel that kind of pain ever again." Lin Mu said out loud.


    If another person saw Lin Mu right now, they would see that he was drenched in sweat and was panting heavily.


    ¡¯The effect of the Four vessels restoration pill is even more amazing than I guessed it would be.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Suddenly, Lin Mu felt a scorching feeling spreading throughout his blood vessels and meridians.


    "Aargh! What is this? Why has the pain not stopped?" Lin Mu shouted.


    Lin Mu felt as if his blood vessels and meridians were being scraped and pulled apart. This scorching feelingsted for a few minutes, after which afortable warmth reced it.


    Lin Mu could sense spirit Qi flowing through his meridians. He sat down and chanted the severing heart sutra so that he could clearly sense the condition of his body. Lin Mu peered into his dantian and found out that his depleted spirit Qi was replenished, and even increased by arge amount.


    Lin Mu observed his spirit Qi and estimated it to be around 500 wisps.


    ¡¯My spirit Qi increased by such an enormous amount. This is definitely the effect of the Four vessels restoration pill.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    ¡¯But the man in the restaurant never mentioned that the pill also has the effect of increasing one¡¯s cultivation.¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Pushing the unwanted thoughts to the back of his mind, Lin Mu instead chose to just take joy in the benefit that he had just gained. He then walked back to the hunting shack, as he had depleted the vital energy within his body.


    Lin Mu reached the hunting shack after ten minutes and withdrew arge amount of beast meat, which he then set on the stove to cook. He was feeling very tired so did not even bother to season the meat with spices.


    After the beast meat was cooked, Lin Mu first ate it slowly and then increased his speed as he gained more of his vital energy back. All the meat was soon consumed by Lin Mu and was being digested by his body.


    Lin Mu had sat down to chant the calming heart sutra, so that he could restore his vital energy. While he was assimting the vital energy, Lin Mu finally saw the changes within his blood vessels. They had expanded and looked much more tough than before.


    ¡¯Did I break through to the 10th stage of the body tempering realm as well?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    Only after Lin Mu hadpleted assimting all the vital energy from the beast meat, did he confirm that he had entered the 10th stage of the body tempering realm.


    "So not only did the Four vessels restoration pill increase my spirit Qi, but it also pushed me into the 10th stage." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Now that Lin Mu was back to his optimum condition, or rather one could say better than before, he finally pondered on his previous misfortune.


    Lin Mu understood that he had managed to obtain benefits through his misfortune and that he was incredibly lucky to have the four vessels restoration pills with him. If he did not find them in the spatial rift that day, he may not have been alive today.


    "I can¡¯t use thebination of vital energy and spirit Qi again. At least not until I can figure out a solution for it." Lin Mu concluded.


    ¡¯Even the normal form of the boulder copsing fist is very strong for me to use in most situations.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    After Lin Mu had organized his thoughts, his attention was pulled towards the ck dots that were floating around.


    ¡¯Since I have more than enough spirit Qi, I may as well open and check all these spatial rifts.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu then stood up and walked towards a ck dot that was a few feet away from him. He reached out with his right hand, as the ck dot expanded into a spatial rift. He put his hand inside the rift and tried to find something.


    Lin Mu¡¯s first attempt resulted in failure, as he did not find anything inside the spatial rift. He did not lose hope and went towards another spatial rift. This time he found something inside the spatial rift.


    Lin Mu withdrew the item from his spatial ring and found it to be a small broken piece of metal. It seemed like it was part of something bigger, but could not be determined what.


    Lin Mu checked all the ck dots in his surroundings and only stopped when he could not find any more of them. He had opened a total of 17 spatial rifts that had used up around a hundred wisps of spirit qi.


    Lin Mu discovered that some of the spatial rifts took more than 5 wisps of spirit Qi to open. After he had checked all the spatial rifts he was left with eight objects. Although all of them were useless to Lin Mu, some of them looked interesting to him.


    The most peculiar item he had found in a spatial rift was a fully preserved bolster.

 Chapter 44 - Black Crack

    <h4>Chapter 44 - ck Crack </h4>


    Lin Mu was currently in the Sleepscape practicing with his short sword. He had decided that while he was in the actual world, he would cultivate and train his skills, and once he entered the Sleepscape, he would train with the weapons. This was the most optimal way, he figured out, that made the best use of his time.


    The first thing Lin Mu checked was the spirit apple tree in the Sleepscape. He scanned it and saw that another spirit apple growing on one of the branches. But this spirit apple was still small and did not look ready, thus Lin Mu left it on the tree to ripen.


    His practice with the weapons was going well for Lin Mu, but he still thought it wascking something. He felt like he needed a proper weapons manual or a teacher who could teach him the proper way to use the weapons.


    ¡¯Perhaps I can buy the manuals from Jing Wei¡¯s emporium. Though they will probably be expensive.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    After Lin Mu felt mentally tired, he thought about leaving the Sleepscape and left it. He had understood that if he left the Sleepscape, he will just sleep normally. While Lin Mu is in the Sleepscape, he does not feel physically tired, but if he trains for a while in there he will be mentally tired.


    A few hourster, Lin Mu woke up feeling refreshed. He lifted his head from the soft andfortable bolster which he had found yesterday. Although at first he thought all the items he found were useless, butter, while he was about to sleep, he figured that he could at least use the bolster as it was originally intended to.


    The bolster was one of the best quality items Lin Mu had found in the spatial rifts. It was soft, white coloured and its cloth seemed as if it was made from high quality silk of the easternnds. Using the bolster as a pillow to rest his head on, made his sleep even better.


    After Lin Mu woke up, he cooked his breakfast and cultivated using the severing heart sutra. By the time the breakfast was ready, his spirit Qi had increased by 25 wisps for a total of 525 wisps. Yesterday, Lin Mu was only able to restore his spirit Qi back to its previous amount and could not cultivate it further on.


    Lin Mu ate his breakfast and then sat down again to chant the calming heart sutra. While assimting the vital energy, he sensed that the ability of his body to store vital energy had increased by arge amount.


    He could not even estimate how much vital energy he would have to absorb and assimte, in order to progress to the next stage of the body tempering realm.


    Although it was no longer necessary for Lin Mu to continue training in the body tempering realm, because he was already considered a cultivator; he still wanted to continue training it, while he could as vital energy was still usable for the boulder copsing fist.


    But he would not be using thebination of vital energy and spirit Qi anytime soon, though.


    ¡¯I should go hunt some beasts. Now that I¡¯m in the 10th stage of the body tempering realm and also a cultivator, I should be able to hunt some high tier beasts with little problems. As long as I take some precautions, of course.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu then walked towards the trail where he had set up some traps. He got some thorn tailed rats from the snares, which he would be using as bait now. After this he changed his route and walked towards the deeper parts of the forest.


    While he was on the way to the depths of the forest, Lin Mu observed that the poption of animals and beasts seemed to have returned.


    In the past few hunting trips Lin Mu had taken to the forest, he had a little difficulty hunting due to theck of prey. The poption of the beasts was reduced because of some unknown reason, but now it seemed to be back to normal.


    "If there was something scaring the beasts, it seems to be gone now." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu started searching for some beasts to hunt once he reached a suitable ce. He wanted to hunt mid tier beasts if not high tier, as the meat of any beasts lower than that would not fill his belly. Also, hunting higher tier beasts would only yield him more money in the form of beast materials.


    Soon enough, Lin Mu found his first prey, which was a stone hoofed deer. He had seen some stone hoofed deers before, but did not dare hunt them as they lived in herds. If he somehow spooked the entire herd, they would mercilessly trample him beneath their hooves that were as hard as stones.


    But now that he was in the 10th stage of the body tempering realm, along with being a cultivator, it would be very easy for him.


    Lin Mu chose a beast that was rtively far from the herd and silently approached it. When he was only two meters away from the beast, he withdrew the spear from the ring.


    Lin Mu stimted the spirit Qi in his dantian and guided it into the meridians within his legs. Once the spirit Qi reached his legs, it boosted the strength of his leg muscles, thus improving his speed.


    Lin Mu gathered strength within his legs and shot forward. He aimed the tip of the spear at the head of the beast. With the increased strength from the spirit Qi, Lin Mu easily ended the life of the stone hoofed deer.


    In the next instant, he touched the corpse of the beast and stored it in the ring, so that the scent of the blood does not spread.


    Lin Mu looked around and found that the beast herd was not alerted.


    ¡¯I may as well hunt more of them.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Thirty minutes minutester, Lin Mu had hunted three more stone hoofed deers. But when he was about to hunt the fifth one, the other beasts finally saw him and ran away.


    ¡¯The four pelts should me at least a gold coin.¡¯ Lin Mu guessed.


    Now that the stone hoofed deers had run away, Lin Mu started his search for the next prey. It took him an hour before he was able to find his next prey.


    The prey this time was a beast that looked like a lynx. It had three tails with a small horn sprouting from the middle of its forehead. This was the first time Lin Mu had seen this type of beast and thus did not know its name.


    Lin Mu saw how easily the lynx beast killed a Red snouted boar, thus he estimated it to be at the 8th stage of the body tempering realm. Lin Mu followed the beast for a while until he was sure that it was the right location for him to hunt it. He did not want the beast to run away, even though he doubted the beast would do that.


    Lin Mu reached a narrow, small path that funneled towards a cave. He guessed that this was most likely the den of the beast. Lin Mu pulled out the spear and strengthened his legs with spirit Qi. He then pounced on the lynx beast and managed to stab it in the leg.


    The lynx beast had smelled his scent thus was able to avoid getting stabbed in the head. The beast cried out in pain and retreated. Lin Mu approached the beast and attacked once again. This time Lin Mu missed the beast, but did not mind it. He instead left the spear stuck in the ground and rolled to the side of the beast.


    As soon as he was at the side of the beast Lin Mu withdrew the short sword and stabbed it in the beast¡¯s ribs. The short sword passed through the ribs and pierced the heart of the beast, killing it.


    ~phew


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.


    Lin Mu continued his search for more beasts and only stopped after four hours. He had hunted three mid tier beasts and two high tier beasts in this time span. Lin Mu peeked through the canopy of the forest and spotted the sun. He guessed it to be around 3 pm.


    Lin Mu returned to the hunting shack. He then went towards the stream, so that he could dissect and prepare the beasts. He was done in an hour and walked back to the hunting shack, after storing the carcasses and materials in the ring.


    While he was walking back, he noticed the ck dots that had returned. He counted seven of them just on the way back, and once he reached the shack; he saw even more of them floating around. In fact, he found that their numbers had nearly doubled.


    "Let¡¯s see what I find today." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.


    Lin Mu opened every spatial rift one by one and searched for the items hidden within. After three hours he had searched all the spatial rifts. He counted that he had opened 28 spatial rifts today. Though he actually only obtained three items from all of them!


    ¡¯Why are there so few items today?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    The three items he found were- an old shoe, a broken staff and a roof tile. All of them seemed useless to Lin Mu again. While he was examining the three items, he felt that the air had suddenly changed direction.


    He looked around and saw that the wind was moving towards one direction, as it was carrying dried leaves and dust along with it.


    Lin Mu curiously looked further and suddenly saw the leaves and dust swirling around something. He went to check and found that the leaves and dust were swirling around a ck crack that was about the length of his palm.


    "What is this now?" Lin Mu said out loud.

 Chapter 45 - Gaze Of The Golden Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 45 - Gaze Of The Golden Eyes </h4>


    Lin Mu was circling the ck crack with curiosity. It waspletely unlike anything he had seen before. The wind which brought along leaves and dust spun around the ck crack and then disappeared after a few seconds, depositing the leaves and dust below it.


    Lin Mu watched the ck crack for thirty minutes and observed that a few gusts of wind woulde every few seconds and disappear after swirling around the ck crack a few times. After 30 minutes he saw that a small pile of dust and leaves was created below the ck crack.


    ¡¯This is rather peculiar.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu then searched the surrounding area to see if there are any more ck cracks. He searched a radius of 200 meters yet could not find any more of them. He was intrigued by the ck crack and was lost in thought.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll wait and observe this ck crack for some more time. I want to gain a certain level of understanding before I try to do anything to it.¡¯ Lin Mu decided.


    Lin Mu then returned to the hunting shack and sat down to chant the severing heart sutra. Lin Mu cultivated for four hours, during which he first restored the spirit Qi that he had depleted in opening the spatial rifts and then increased his overall store of spirit Qi.


    At the end of his cultivation session, Lin Mu measured the spirit Qi within his dantian and estimated that it had increased to around 600 wisps.


    Lin Mu then cooked some meat for his dinner and ate it. While eating his dinner, Lin Mu once again saw the small four-legged silhouette spying on him from the bushes.


    Determined to catch the silhouette this time, Lin Mu strengthened his legs with spirit Qi and shot towards the small silhouette. It only took Lin Mu three seconds to cross a distance of 100 meters, yet to his surprise, the small silhouette seemed to react much faster than him and disappeared into the forest.


    "That beast is very fast for its size. Though it doesn¡¯t look very strong." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu then returned back to the shack to continue eating his dinner. After he was done with that, he sat down and chanted the calming heart sutra. This time it only took him ten minutes to assimte all the vital energy from the beast meat, even though he had increased the meal¡¯s portion.


    Lin Mu did not feel much difference in the vital energy within his body. It was as if he had finally reached a bottleneck and would need a long time to progress any further.


    After Lin Mu was done assimting vital energy, he thought about how he could increase his proficiency with the new skills. Although he knew how to use them instinctively, he still won¡¯t be able to use them at the right time during a battle.


    ¡¯I need to make a training regimen, to increase the proficiency of my skills.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "The primary use for the first skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯ is to dodge attacks. So I need to somehow simte attacks." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    After tackling some ideas, Lin Mu finally decided upon a method he could use to train the skill. The first thing he needed to improve upon was to get the timing of the activation right. As the skill onlysted for a second, it was absolutely necessary that Lin Mu triggers it at the right moment.


    The idea Lin Mu thought upon was that he could make a few swinging dummies that would simte attacks by mming into him. He would then have to avoid them by activating the skill at the right time.


    After figuring out what he was going to do tomorrow, Lin Mu felt tired and decided to sleep. Heid down on the bed and rested his head on the soft bolster.


    ¡¯This bolster is proving to be pretty useful.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    After a few minutes, Lin Mu fell asleep and entered the Sleepscape. When Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape, he was facing the spirit apple tree. He observed the spirit apple hanging on it and saw that it had fully grown.


    ¡¯So it takes around two days for a single spirit apple to mature.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu jumped up and plucked the spirit apple, storing it into the ring. He then withdrew his weapons and started his training. He trained with the ten weapons he had bought. He left out the two shields, as he would need a partner to practice using them.


    "Wait, I can use the swinging dummies for practicing with the shields." Lin Mu spoke out loud.


    Lin Mu continued his practice for a few hours until he felt mentally tired. He was just about to leave the Sleepscape and enter normal sleep when his gaze wandered over to the spirit apple tree.


    Lin Mu walked over and saw that another spirit apple had already started growing on one of the branches. The spirit apple waspletely green and quarter the size of a fully grown spirit apple.


    ¡¯That was fast.¡¯ Lin Mu said with raised eyebrows.


    After this Lin Mu thought about leaving the Sleepscape and slept normally. In the morning Lin Mu was woken up by a chilly wind that had risen out of nowhere. He rose from the bed and saw that the door of the hunting shack waspletely open and the wind was blowing in from it.


    "Did I forget to close itst night?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Lin Mu stood up and walked outside to a frosty morning. Although it was not snowing yet, the temperature had fallen a few notches and the dew on the grass was frozen.


    ¡¯I guess winter will be here any day now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Just as Lin Mu was about to turn around to cook his breakfast, he saw a sight that left his jaw wide open. An enormous pile of leaves and dust along with some small twigs and feathers could be seen below the ck crack.


    The pile was two meters tall and around four meters in diameter. It was almost touching the floating ck crack too.


    ¡¯How did the pile increase so much in just one night?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    Lin Mu first set some meat to cook before going to check the ck crack. He observed the floating ck crack and saw that it was the same size as before. It did not change its location either.


    As he was looking at the ck crack, Lin Mu noticed that he could not see any ck dots nearby.


    ¡¯Where did all the ck dots go?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    By now the breakfast was ready, thus Lin Mu went back to eat it first. After finishing the breakfast, Lin Mu assimted the vital energy and then went on to search for the ck dots.


    Lin Mu searched around a radius of 200 meters and did not find any ck dots. Thinking that they had just not regenerated again, Lin Mu walked towards a direction in a straight line. He kept searching for the ck dots, yet could not find one, even after walking for a thousand meters.


    "Is it because of the ck crack that all the ck dots disappeared?" Lin Mu pondered.


    Wanting to investigate further, Lin Mu walked up to the floating ck crack. He got a simr feeling to that of a ck dot, from the ck crack. He understood that it was the ring telling him that he can expand the ck crack into a spatial rift.


    Lin Mu moved the pile of dust and leaves from below the ck crack and extended his right hand. Then the spirit Qi started draining from his dantian but didn¡¯t stop after 10 wisps like normal.


    "What¡¯s happening?" said Lin Mu with confusion.


    Ten wisps, twenty wisps, fifty wisps, hundred wisps, two hundred wisps, the spirit Qi kept on being consumed. With every wisp of spirit Qi that was consumed, Lin Mu got more and more nervous.


    When five hundred wisps of spirit Qi were depleted, the mysterious ring shone and the ck crack suddenly started expanding. The sound of air being torn could be heard by Lin Mu. It was a shocking sound for him and hurt his ears a little.


    The ck crack kept expanding and was soon five times bigger than Lin Mu in size. Unlike the spatial rifts, which were about one meter in diameter and circr or oval in shape; the expanded ck crack was of an irregr shape and could be described as a hole in a broken window.


    Suddenly a massive suction force came from the expanded ck crack and sucked Lin Mu inside it, along with a ton of dirt and debris from the surrounding.


    "NOOOOOOO!!!" Screamed Lin Mu, as the expanded ck crack swallowed him.


    Lin Mu fainted and woke up after an unknown amount of time. He stood up and looked around, trying to get a sense of things.


    "Where am I? What is this?" Lin Mu questioned himself in confusion.


    Lin Mu looked at the floor and saw that it seemed to be made out of a certain kind of translucent substance. He looked up and saw silvery grey streaks of light flickering in the sky. If one could call it ¡¯sky¡¯ as the rest of it was pitch ck.


    Even below his feet, he could still see the silvery grey streaks of light through the translucent floor.


    ¡¯Those streaks of light look simr to the ones I saw inside the ring. But these ones are much smaller.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu looked ahead of him and saw countless white pirs of different thicknesses crisscrossed across the entire area.


    The thinnest ones were smaller than a hair, and the thickest ones were as thick as a hundred menbined. Lin Mu touched the pirs and found them to be soft at first, but then the pirs turned translucent and his hand passed through them.


    Lin Mu withdrew his hand in rm and saw that the pirs returned to solid after a few moments.


    "Bizarre." was the only word that came to Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    Lin Mu continued forward on the path and observed that the white pirs only got more dense andplex as he walked further.


    While walking, he suddenly felt a gaze on him and looked around for the source but could not find it. A frightening idea abruptly struck him, and his face turned pale.


    With great courage and dread, he looked up, only to find ten golden yellow eyes staring at him. The ten eyes were of different sizes, but even the smallest was thrice as big as Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu swallowed his saliva as he cursed the heavens.


    "F*CK."

 Chapter 46 - The Void Weaver Spider

    <h4>Chapter 46 - The Void Weaver Spider </h4>


    Lin Mu felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest, because of the immense fear he was feeling. He could not bring himself to stop staring at the ten golden yellow eyes. The fear had rendered him frozen and unable to move at all.


    Lin Mu was stuck in a limbo and only snapped out of it when he heard the voice. The voice seemed ancient and rumbled inside of his head.


    "You¡¯ve been staring for an awful long time, human." The creature said.


    "You... You... You what are you?" Lin Mu asked while stuttering.


    "Hmm, you¡¯re the one who came here, and you ask me what I am." The creature replied.


    "I... I... I don¡¯t know, what you are and I don¡¯t know how I came here either." Lin Mu said.


    "There is no chance that you don¡¯t know how you came here. Especially you, a human who¡¯s barely a cultivator. Even celestials would not daree here." The creature spoke with an emotionless tone.


    Lin Mu could sense the crushing raw power emanating from the creature above him. Knowing that there was no use hiding anything from a being this powerful, Lin Mu decided to tell theplete story.


    "I came here through some kind of spatial rift. It originally appeared as a ck crack and sucked me in, when it expandedter on." Lin Mu answered.


    Upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s answer, the creature hummed, as if it was thinking. After a couple of minutes, the voice spoke again.


    "The most likely reason for your arrival here seems to be an artifact. That too an immensely strong artifact, as only those would be able to open a spatial rift to the Grand Void." The creature said.


    Upon hearing the creature¡¯s words, Lin Mu subconsciously stared at the mysterious ring on his right hand and then the mysterious ring buzzed, as if it reciprocated with his thoughts. This action of Lin Mu¡¯s did not go unnoticed. The ten golden yellow eyes were studying Lin Mu¡¯s every move.


    "Ah, so I was right. That ring on your right hand seems to be the real cause." The creature spoke but then suddenly stopped.


    "What is this? Such pure and strong spatial energy." The creature muttered.


    Suddenly Lin Mu felt as if the pressure on his body was doubled and a stabbing pain arose in his head. He felt as if he was being covered with some kind of veil. But when the veil reached the mysterious ring, it reacted violently and a burst of qi repelled the veil. When the veil waspletely repelled, the pressure on Lin Mu disappeared and the pain stopped as well.


    "Oh, it¡¯s much stronger than I thought and it¡¯s even bound to your soul." The creature said.


    Lin Mu was lost at the creature¡¯s words and did not understand what they meant.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu ask.


    "Seems like you had a fortunate encounter. That ring you¡¯re wearing, it¡¯s a very strong artifact. The likes of which I¡¯ve never seen before." The creature answered.


    "Yes I know that, it¡¯s a magical artifact." Lin Mu naively answered.


    "Hahaha, perhaps you¡¯re the only person, who would call it a magical artifact. It¡¯s much more than that. Just the pure spatial energy its emanating is enough to make millions of cultivators covet it." The creature said.


    "However the ring had been bound to your soul and cannot be removed or transferred to another person. It¡¯s likely that even if you die, the ring will just disappear and search for another owner." The creature continued.


    Perhaps because Lin Mu had talked with the creature for a while, he no longer felt as terrified as before and had calmed down. Curiosity arose in his mind and he asked what was bugging him the most.


    "What are you? I don¡¯t know of any creature like you that looks like ten floating eyes." Lin Mu asked.


    "You can¡¯t even see me? Ah, you have not refined your spirit sense yet." The creature replied.


    After listening to the creature¡¯s words, Lin Mu was finally able to see its true form as it revealed itself to him. The creature¡¯s body was the size of a mountain and the ten golden eyes were located on its head. Lin Mu had to turn his head from one side to another to get aplete view of the creature.


    The more Lin Mu looked, the greater the shock he received. After observing for a minute, Lin Mu was able to perceive that the creature was a humongous spider. It had eight legs that were so long that he could not see where they ended. Its entire body was bony white, except for its ten eyes that shined likenterns.


    "I am what you humans call, a Void Weaver Spider." The creature answered.


    "My name is Lin Mu."


    An awkward silence descended when Lin Mu cut in and gave out his name. Both of them stayed silent until Lin Mu spoke again after he could not bear the silence.


    "Can you tell me how to get back to my home?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I can, but what can you give me in exchange?" The Void weaver spider replied.


    Lin Mu was at a loss for words upon hearing the Void weaver spider¡¯s answer. He did not know what he could offer to the spider. He did have a lot of stuff in his ring but he did not think it would be worth anything to the spider.


    "I don¡¯t know what to offer you. I have some pills and spirit stones if you would ept them." Lin Mu said.


    "Those things are only of use to humans, not to beings like me." The Void weaver spider replied.


    "Then can you tell me what would be eptable?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, we can make a deal. What I want is the ring or more specifically the spatial energy from that ring." The void weaver spider answered.


    "But you said that the ring is bound to me, so how will you take the spatial energy?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It¡¯s simple, I¡¯ll live inside the ring and absorb the energy there." The void weaver spider answered.


    Lin Mu was stumped, as he did not even know if the ring had enough space to fit the mountain sized body of the void weaver spider.


    "I don¡¯t think you will fit in the ring, besides there is no air in the ring so you¡¯ll suffocate." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hahaha, do you think I need air to live. Beside there¡¯s no air here either, normally." The Void Weaver spider spoke with a chuckle.


    Lin Mu felt weird upon hearing such an enormous beingughing and chuckling. It just felt unbing to him.


    "But how am I able to breath here then?" Lin Mu asked with raised brows.


    "What you¡¯re breathing is the air that leaked in from the spatial crack. I don¡¯t think it¡¯llst long, so you better make your decision quick." The Void weaver spider answered teasingly.


    The Void weaver spider¡¯s revtion made Lin Mu even tenser. He didn¡¯t think he would be running out of time.


    "Ok I ept, but how will your huge body enter the ring?" Lin Mu asked.


    "My body will not be leaving this ce, my duty here is not over yet." The void weaver spider answered enigmatically.


    Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion, but did not question further when he saw what the Void weaver spider did. A fissure appeared between the eyes of the void weaver spider and from within it, a small orb shot down. The orb gently descended and then floated in front of Lin Mu. The orb then faded away and left behind a tiny spider. The spider was small enough to fit on the tip of a pinkie finger.


    "Now, before we leave let me tell you some things. That ring is a unique artifact and if you don¡¯t hide it you will be courting death. The ring has been emanating spatial energy, which can be sensed by high level cultivators." The tiny Void weaver spider spoke.


    "Huh, but no one has been able to see the ring until now. Not even cultivators, you¡¯re the first to be able to see it." Lin Mu answered.


    "Is that so? Hmm, so the ring can mask its presence, but it seems to be limited by your own cultivation. Anyway you won¡¯t have to worry about it as I¡¯ll be restricting any spatial energy that leaks from the ring." The tiny spider confidently answered.


    "Oh, and before we leave. Here¡¯s a gift for you." The tiny void weaver spider spoke.


    "What gif..." before Lin Mu couldplete his sentence a vast energy doused him. The energy was released by the main body of the void weaver spider. The energy seemed as if it covered Lin Mu and formed an invisible shell on his body.


    "What was that?" Lin Mu asked while gasping.


    "Something to keep you safe. It will warn any strong beings thate near you, at least for a while during which I hope you get strong enough to handle them yourself." The tiny Void weaver spider answered.


    "Now, allow me inside the ring."

 Chapter 47 - Upheaval

    <h4>Chapter 47 - Upheaval </h4>


    When Lin Mu opened the Spatial crack that lead into the Grand void, the entire cultivation world of the Great Zhou Empire was thrown into upheaval. From the top sects to the myriad of kingdoms, every cultivator that was at the nascent soul stage and above was able to sense it.


    Sky precepts sect, Star catching peak.


    Arge pool of blood could be seen, within which hundreds of disciples were lying on the ground; their life or death unknown. The seven orifices of all the disciples could be seen bleeding profusely. The blood from all their bodies had umted to form therge blood pool. This ce was the formation array of the star catching peak.


    For the past two days, the disciples of the star catching peak had been trying to trace the location of the multiple spatial disturbance that had risen. The spatial disturbances had been increasing in frequency because of which the elders of the peak had called in more disciples to help operate the formation array.


    But the elders did not know that their actions of calling more disciples would soon lead them to their deaths. Two ck-robed elders could be seen standing at the head of the formation array. They too were bleeding from their seven orifices, but they were conscious and were currently gritting their teeth in anger.


    "The Star catching peak can¡¯t bear such an enormous loss." The ck-robed elder named Feng said to the other ck-robed elder.


    "We had no idea this would be happening Elder Feng. We only increased the number of disciples because we were ordered to do so. The sect patriarch will definitely understand." The other ck-robed elder replied.


    "You haven¡¯t seen the patriarch when he gets desperate, Elder Geng. He will me the peak for our inability to find out that a hidden cultivator was about to ascend." Elder Feng spoke with sorrow in his voice.


    "But we don¡¯t know for sure that it was a cultivator that ascended, and not just another anomaly." Elder Geng replied.


    "There is no other cause for a bacsh as bad as this. The peak has old records which especially warn that the Star catching formation is to be shut down whenever a cultivator is about to ascend. The other warning stated that if that was not done, there be a loss of life due to the bacsh, and even the formation array will be destroyed." Elder Feng Exined with cold eyes.


    The other ck-robed elder did not speak further and just held his silence in understanding. Elder Feng looked at Elder Geng who was staring in the distance and let out a sigh.


    "Besides it¡¯s not just us who sensed it. The entire cultivation world will soon know that another cultivator from our world has ascended to be an immortal, after thousands of years." Elder Feng Said.


    An hour ago,


    In the grand pce of the Sky precepts sect, a meeting was currently underway. Tens of ck-robed elders could be seen sitting on the chairs located along the hall. The sect patriarch was sitting on the head of the hall on a luxurious throne. The patriarch seemed to be lost in thought and was hearing the elders discuss the affairs of the sect.


    "The arrangements for the trial grounds areplete and the disciples have been allocated their spots." An elder spoke after reading a scroll in his head.


    "The emergency request for assistance that was issued by the Star catching peak has also been fulfilled." Head Elder Han spoke.


    The sect patriarch raised his head upon hearing the report of Head Elder Han. He had been hearing a lot of reports from the star catching peak every day and had be interested in the whole situation involving the spatial disturbances.


    "Did the Star catching peak have any sess in narrowing down the location of the spatial rift?" A purple-robed elder that was sitting at the right side of the sect patriarch asked.


    "Yes, first Supreme elder. They had been sessful in narrowing the location down to three Northern Kingdoms; they are the ck Dawn kingdom, the Eastern Ming dynasty, and the Shuang Qian kingdom." Head elder Feng replied respectfully.


    The purple-robed elder was the first Supreme elder of the sky precepts. He was one of the three Dao Treading realm experts of the sect, and his authority was second only to the sect patriarch.


    "Any updates about the crown prince?" The sect patriarch asked.


    Elder Han was just about to reply to the sect patriarch, when a wave of spatial energy spread over the entire Great Zhou Empire. Every person sitting in the hall became extremely alert and a grim expression could be seen on the faces of the sect patriarch and the first Supreme elder.


    "Patriarch!" Elder Han eximed.


    The sect patriarch stood up and a regal aura started emanating from his body. He waved his hand in the air, making a formation materialize in the air. The patriarch observed the formation on which the runes were jumping and changing every second.


    "Seal the Sect and alert every disciple of the sect. A hidden expert is currently ascending, and there will be an upheaval in the Heavenly Dao. Order all elders to stop their seclusion. We will be having an emergency meeting." The Sect patriarch ordered.


    "Also send help to the Star catching peak, they have suffered the bacsh." The patriarch continued after pausing for a moment.


    Horror could be seen in the eyes of Head elder Han once he realized the implications of the patriarch¡¯s words. He then hurried out of the hall and flew away towards the Star catching peak. Not a single sound could be heard in the hall as all the remaining elders were silent. Even the First supreme elder was lost in thought.


    In the Rainbow pill sect,


    In arge garden, there were millions of flowers blooming and swaying with the wind. In the sky, one could see clouds of spirit qi floating gently. In the center of the garden there existed a small perg, within which an old man was currently sitting. The old man was holding a pill with his left hand and controlling a pill furnace with the right.


    Suddenly a spatial wave covered the Rainbow pill sect and reacted with a formation. An extremelyrge formation array was revealed, which covered the entirety of the Rainbow pill sect. As soon as the formation array appeared, sounds of explosions could be hearding from the many peaks of the sect.


    The old man sitting in the enormous garden dropped what he was doing in a moment¡¯s notice and stood up before mming his palm in the Ground.


    "SUPPRESS!!!" the old man shouted, after which the formation array calmed down and the sounds of the explosions also stopped.


    Tens of lights can be seen flying towards therge garden, beforending in front of the old man. The lights faded away and revealed the many elders of the sect that had just arrived. A man came forward from the group and was about to speak to the old man, but was interrupted.


    "I already know. Don¡¯t waste time and start repairing the stabilization formation." The old man ordered.


    "YES ANCESTOR." All the elders replied in unison, before flying away.


    Situations simr to the Sky precepts sect and the Rainbow pill sect could be seen in all the top sects as well as themon sects of the Great Zhou Empire.


    In the Tri-Cauldron Peony sect,


    Thousands of disciples could be seen standing in arge field. They had been called to address the phenomena that had just urred. A few men could be seen standing on therge tform in front of the field. All the disciples were facing the tform and were waiting for the announcement.


    One of the persons standing on the tform came forward.


    "Like you all must have seen, the security level of the sect was increased an hour ago. The reason for that is a unique phenomenon that was sensed by the elders of the sect. The phenomenon may be dangerous to all the disciples, thus everyone is ordered to stay within the confines of the sect, until further instructions are given." The man standing on the tform ordered.


    Some sounds of protest could be hearding from the disciples, but they were soon quelled after an elder standing on the tform exerted some pressure, silencing all the disciples.


    Wu Lim City, The City Mayor¡¯s mansion,


    Located deep below the mansion was a hidden cave. Only one person in the entire city knew that such a cave existed below the mansion, and that person was the city mayor. Expansive tunnels could be seen spreading from the cave, leading to unknown paths.


    Within the cave, arge blood pool was situated. Multiple troughs connected to the blood pool, supplying more blood to the pool. If one looked at the roof of the cave, they would see thousands of inscriptions carved into the stone. The inscriptions spread from the roof all the way to the walls and finally submerged into the blood pool.


    Inside the Blood pool, an emaciated man was currently sitting cross-legged with only his head exposed above the blood. An eerie aura was floating around the emaciated man. Suddenly the emaciated man showed a pained look and coughed out blood. The sound of the coughing echoed inside the cave and spread out in all the tunnels.


    A man dressed in luxurious clothes soon appeared from one of the tunnels. The man had an anxious look on his face, upon hearing the coughing sound. He hurried towards the blood pool and looked at the face of the emaciated man.


    "Elder brother!" The Luxuriously dressed man spoke.

 Chapter 48 - Returning From The Grand Void

    <h4>Chapter 48 - Returning From The Grand Void </h4>


    The emaciated man opened his eyes with great difficulty and looked at the luxuriously dressed man, who had called out to him.


    "I¡¯m fine, Wu Xun. I just received some bacsh because I overexerted my senses." The emaciated man said.


    This luxuriously dressed man was none other than Wu Lim city¡¯s mayor, Wu Xun who was anxiously looking at the emaciated man¡¯s body. He was looking at the grievous wounds that were present on the torso of the emaciated man. The wounds seemed to be trying to heal but were being corroded by a ck substance.


    "But Elder brother, why are you exerting yourself when you¡¯re still not healed?" Wu Xun asked.


    The emaciated man¡¯s eyes wandered over to the inscriptions that were carved all over the cave and then went towards the troughs that were carrying blood. He stared at the troughs for a bit and then scrunched his brows.


    "You need to increases the blood sacrifices, we may need to make some changes to our n soon." The emaciated man spoke.


    "Yes brother, I have alreadymissioned more mercenaries to hunt the spirit beasts. But why do we need to make changes at this stage? It will set our progress back by months." Wu Xun asked.


    "Our progress has already been set back by months now. What I sensed just now was someone ascending." The emaciated man answered with a grim tone.


    A shocked expression could be seen on Wu Xun¡¯s face upon hearing his brother¡¯s words. He clenched his fists before asking,


    "How did no one know of this? At least the top sects should have known if someone was about to ascend after thousands of years."


    "Whoever it was, they were able to hide themselves very well. To escape the eyes and ears of the top sects, they must have been nning this for an extremely long time." The emaciated man answered.


    Wu Xun held his chin and thought for a moment before speaking,


    "To hide for this long, could they be from the forbidden continent?"


    "I doubt it. If they were, we would have been informed by the n and our n would have also be much easier. Rather, I have my suspicions on the Eastern Ming dynasty. They have long been opposed to the rule of the Great Zhou Empire and have begun moving against them in the shadows." The emaciated man answered.


    Wu Xun nodded his head in eptance and was about to bid farewell when his brother interrupted him.


    "And Wu Xun, spirit beasts are no longer enough if we want to speed up the pace of our n. I need cultivators." The emaciated man spoke with an emotionless tone.


    A vicious glint could be seen sparking in Wu Xun¡¯s eyes as he said,


    "It will be done."


    Back in the Grand Void, Lin Mu was listening to the Void Weaver spider speak.


    "How will we be leaving this ce?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The same way you came in here." The tiny Void Weaver spider answered.


    Lin Mu then lifted his right hand and was about to put the tiny Void Weaver spider inside the ring, when it spoke again.


    "Wait, I¡¯ll enter the ring once we reach the exit. That way I can ensure that we reach the same location you came from and prevent you from getting lost."


    Lin Mu nodded his head in eptance and walked back on the path he came, along with the tiny Void Weaver spider floating beside him. While walking he thought about the giant white pirs and how this ce did not seem to have an actual ground.


    "Umm, what are those white pirs? If you don¡¯t mind me asking." Lin Mu questioned.


    "Those are my threads, we are inside my nest." The tiny Void Weaver spider curtly answered.


    Lin Mu was awed at the sheer size of the threads.


    ¡¯If those are just threads, then how big is the entire web? I can¡¯t even imagine.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu was looking all around the space, trying to get a feel for the ce. He could notprehend the existence of a ce like this. His attention was then pulled towards the slivery grey streaks of light that flickered all around the ce.


    "Senior, what are those streaks of light? I¡¯ve seen them before, but they were much bigger and brighter." Lin Mu asked.


    "Those are the strands of chaotic spatial energy. When there is a sufficiently high density of spatial energy present in a location, it will condense into streaks such as those. I guess you¡¯ve seen them in your ring before?" The tiny Void Weaver spider replied.


    "Yes senior, but how did you know." Lin Mu said.


    "As I said before, I sensed the pure spatial energy being emitted from the ring." The tiny Void Weaver spider answered.


    Soon Lin Mu and the tiny Void Weaver spider reached the location where Lin Mu first arrived.


    "Now, stand back." The tiny Void Weaver spider ordered.


    Lin Mu promptly obeyed its words and moved to stand behind it. Numerous threads materialized in front of the tiny Void Weaver spider and attached to the space in front of it. The threads then pulled back, and the space started stretching. After a certain limit, the space could no longer be stretched and was suddenly torn apart.


    A White crack was created that expanded into arge opening. The tiny Void Weaver spider floated in front of Lin Mu, then spoke,


    "Put me in the ring and then walk through the portal. Though be warned that the journey will be a little rough."


    Lin Mu gulped after hearing the tiny Void Weaver Spider¡¯s words and lifted his hand to put it inside the ring. The tiny Void Weaver spider lowered itself into Lin Mu¡¯s palm and then disappeared into the ring, but not before saying, "You can call me Senior Xukong from now on."


    After storing the tiny Void Weaver spider inside the ring, Lin Mu gritted his teeth and jumped into the white portal. For a moment Lin Mu could see millions of stars, gxies, ands shing by his side, but soon he fell unconscious.


    After an unknown amount of time, arge spatial rift appeared near the hunting shack and spat Lin Mu out. He let out a groan as he was awakened by the pain caused by falling on the ground. Lin Mu opened his eyes, but then suddenly closed them because of the bright light shining on them.


    He squinted his eyes and then slowly opened them after they had adapted to the brightness. Lin Mu stood up and looked around. Once he spotted the hunting shack, he let out a sigh of relief.


    Till the veryst second, Lin Mu was doubtful whether he will return to his home or not, but now that he was finally here, he felt as if arge burden was lifted off his back.


    "Hmm, this is certainly not what I expected." Xukong¡¯s spoke inside Lin Mu¡¯s head.


    Lin Mu was surprised for a second, but then recognized the voice.


    "What do you mean by that senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.


    "This is a very low-level world. How did youe upon the ring in such a backward ce?" Xukong replied with confusion in his voice.


    "A low-level world? Does that mean there are more worlds than just this?" Lin Mu questioned with wonder in his voice.


    "Indeed, there are countless other worlds and multiple realms in this cosmos." Xukong replied.


    "But what did you mean by a low-level world?" Lin Mu probed.


    "Depending on certain factors such as the density of qi, the progress of cultivators, the heavenlyws, and the Grand Dao; a world can be divided into different levels." Xukong exined.


    Upon hearing senior Xukong¡¯s exnation, hundreds of questions appeared inside Lin Mu¡¯s mind. But before he could ask them, it was as if senior Xukong was able to read Lin Mu¡¯s mind because he interrupted him before that.


    "I can¡¯t tell you what the different levels of worlds or what the heavenlyws are. The restrictions of this world will not allow you to understand them." Xukong spoke.


    "How is that possible?" Lin Mu asked while tilting his head.


    "Let me demonstrate it." Xukong replied.


    Suddenly Lin Mu heard some words in his mind. He could hear the words clearly but realized that he did not understand them and neither could he remember them after that one moment. Sensing the immense confusion in Lin Mu¡¯s mind, senior Xukong spoke again,


    "This is what I meant. The restrictions on this world will simply not allow those words to exist. That is unless of course, you have a high enough cultivation to ignore the restrictions of this world."


    "So, how strong would I have to be, before I would be able to do that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Possibly the highest cultivation realm that exists in this world. From what I can assume, you would have to reach the Immortal ascension realm or at least the Dao treading realm before you can even think of doing that." Xukong answered.


    Immense confusion could be seen on Lin Mu¡¯s face as he asked,


    "Umm, what are those two realms?"


    Lin Mu could hear a loud sigh as Senior Xukong spoke with a helpless tone,


    "Seems like you have a lot to learn."

 Chapter 49 - Gaining A Teacher

    <h4>Chapter 49 - Gaining A Teacher </h4>


    Xukong never expected that the boy who had the fortune of obtaining such a powerful artifact barely had any knowledge about the cultivation world. Xukong wondered how the boy managed to even enter the Qi refining realm.


    "Tell me Lin Mu, what do you know about the cultivation realms?" Xukong asked.


    Lin Mu was unfazed by senior Xukong¡¯s words and answered to the best of his ability.


    "I know that the cultivation realms start with the Qi refining realm and the next realm after this is the Core condensation realm. As for the cultivation realms above this, I don¡¯t know, as the strongest cultivator in this region is of the Core condensation realm." Lin Mu answered.


    Xukong was a little disappointed and sad upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words. He did not think that such a great treasure would be lost in a backward ce like this. But he knew that since the artifact had chosen the boy, the only way for him to take advantage of the ring was to ensure that the boy stayed alive.


    ¡¯If I want to keep absorbing the spatial energy for a long time, I must teach this boy. If I don¡¯t, he¡¯ll easily sumb to the ruthless cultivation world and die before I¡¯m even able to ovee my bottleneck.¡¯ Xukong deeply thought.


    After thinking for a while, Xukong had begun nning out how he would be teaching Lin Mu. The one good thing that came out of Lin Mu being uninformed about the cultivation world is that he won¡¯t have any biases. This is one of the disadvantages of a low-level cultivation world. Most of the cultivators end up following certain concepts that are wrong or are only applicable to that world.


    "Lin Mu, would you be willing to learn about the world of cultivation?" Xukong asked.


    Senior Xukong¡¯s words surprised Lin Mu and rendered him speechless. Joy bloomed on Lin Mu¡¯s face after heprehended what it would mean if he learned from senior Xukong. He knew that his biggest drawback was that he knew next to nothing about the cultivation world, and all that he knew was figured out by stumbling and struggling. If he got a proper teacher, everything would be much easier and his progress would improve by leaps and bounds.


    "YES! Senior, please teach me." Lin Mu eximed.


    "Let me inform you before this, I won¡¯t be able to give you any qi cultivation technique nor any martial techniques. The ones that I know are ipatible with humans or are only usable if you have a high enough cultivation." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu was not bothered by Senior Xukong¡¯s words and epted him wholeheartedly.


    "It does not matter, senior Xukong. I¡¯m still grateful that you are willing to teach me." Lin Mu respectfully replied.


    Xukong inwardly chucked at the boy¡¯s response and thought that he may be able to mold the boy into a peerless cultivator.


    "I have some conditions that you will need to absolutely follow if you are to learn from me." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded to show his eptance and listened to senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    "First, you need to strictly follow my words and ignore whatever others tell you about cultivation if I disagree with them. People in this world simply don¡¯t know about many aspects of cultivation.


    Second, the world of cultivation is ruthless. Thus you will have to be ruthless as well if you want to survive.


    Third, I want you to be patient and steady. Cultivation itself is going against the heavens, thus you need to know when to progress and when to retreat. Countless people have lost themselves to their cultivation because they could not judge well." Xukong spoke with an authoritative voice.


    Lin Mu carefully listened to senior Xukong¡¯s each and every word. He pondered over them and made sure that he understood everything before speaking.


    "I understand and ept all of your conditions senior Xukong." Lin Mu answered with a firm voice.


    Xukong inwardly nodded and was content with Lin Mu¡¯s decisiveness.


    "Now for your first lesson, I¡¯ll teach you about the cultivation realms." Xukong said.


    Xukong then exined to Lin Mu about the different cultivations realms. The Cultivation realms started from the Qi refining realm in which a cultivator would refine and store spirit qi within their dantian. They would refine spirit qi by the use of a cultivation technique.


    The second realm was the Core condensation realm. In the Core condensation realm, a cultivator would further refine the liquid spirit qi within their dantian and condense it into a solid core. This solidified core was also known as the golden elixir or the gold core. In order to progress further in the Core condensation realm, a cultivator would have to increase the size of their core.


    The cultivation realms that came after that were the Nascent Soul realm, Dao shell realm, Dao treading realm, and finally the immortal ascension realm. Xukong did not exin these cultivation realms in detail as they would only be a hindrance to Lin Mu and would impede his cultivation.


    After Lin Mu finished listening to senior Xukong¡¯s words he felt enlightened. He also asked some questions such as how to progress in the Qi refining realm. Xukong was unsure what Lin Mu meant by that.


    "Your cultivation technique should already have an exnation about it." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu was confused as he did get any exnation when received the Nine divine heart sutras from the ring. He was also confused about how the technique did not exin which meridians to be used for circting the spirit qi.


    The meridian pathway that he was using right now was devised by himself and was not learned from a manual. Lin Mu wondered if he had made a mistake when choosing the meridian pathways.


    "But senior, I did not get any exnation about that when the ring imparted me my cultivation technique." Lin Mu replied.


    "Imparted by the ring? Is it a legacy artifact?" Xukong inwardly spoke.


    "What cultivation technique are you practicing?" Xukong inquired.


    "It¡¯s called the Nine divine heart sutras. Though I only know the first two parts of it." Lin Mu answered.


    "Demonstrate it for me." Xukong said.


    Nodding in answer, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged and chanted the calming heart sutra. After this, he chanted the severing heart sutra. Xukong was impassive at first, but as Lin Mu continued chanting, confusion appeared in his mind, which then turned into shock.


    ¡¯Aura of the Buddhist path and the Sword path? Two different cultivation paths in one technique. How is this possible?¡¯ Xukong inwardly thought.


    In order to resolve his thoughts, Xukong asked Lin Mu about the meridian pathways that he was using. Lin Mu then exined that he had figured out the meridian pathways on his own when he ate the grape-sized purple spirit fruit.


    ¡¯The boy was able to sessfully able to figure out the meridian pathways on his own. Though he may be ignorant of the ways of the cultivation world, but he can be considered a genius to be able to do this.


    Unknowingly, this boy hasprehended the path of primordials. If those old monsters ever learned of this, I wonder if they will start another war just to ept him as a disciple.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    ¡¯Though eating an unknown spirit fruit was a reckless decision that he made. It was lucky that he survived and did not implode.¡¯ Xukong further thought.


    Lin Mu was getting nervous as senior Xukong had not replied to him in a while, and he was starting to wonder if he had indeed made a mistake.


    "I don¡¯t think the nine divine sutras is a cultivation technique, or rather it¡¯s not a full-fledged cultivation technique." Xukong said.


    "Then what kind of technique is it?" Lin Mu impatiently asked.


    "My best guess is that it is an auxiliary cultivation technique. Auxiliary cultivation techniques are supportive techniques and usually help in covering the ws and drawbacks of an actual cultivation technique." Xukong exined.


    "As you said, the calming heart sutra enhances your perception, while the severing heart sutra stills your mind, suppressing your emotions in the process. Both of these are helpful for cultivators who practice overbearing cultivation techniques." Xukong borated.


    Lin Mu was at a loss upon hearing senior Xukong¡¯s exnation.


    "Then do I need to obtain a new cultivation technique?" Lin Mu questioned with a heavy heart.


    "No, rather you should continue practicing as you are right now. You won¡¯t understand it right now, but the method you are using right now will be advantageous to you in the future, even though your progress may be slow right now." Xukong replied.


    Wanting to confirm if the ring was indeed a legacy artifact, Xukong asked him a few more questions.


    "What else did you obtain from the ring?" Xukong asked.


    After hearing senior Xukong¡¯s question, Lin Mu went on to exin about the two skills he received from the ring after he broke through to the Qi refining realm and also the rings¡¯ ability to open spatial rifts. He then told him, how he found the booklet for the boulder copsing fist and many other items from the spatial rifts.


    ¡¯This boy is just filled with surprises.¡¯ Xukong thought with a chuckle.

 Chapter 50 - Refining The Spirit Sense

    <h4>Chapter 50 - Refining The Spirit Sense </h4>


    Xukong was impressed by the skills that Lin Mu had received from the ring. Just the two skills ¡¯Flicker¡¯ and ¡¯Blink¡¯ were already enough for any person in this world to be powerful in their own right.


    Although the two skills seemed simple, but they actually were not. Those two skills employed the high-level concepts from the spatialws. A cultivator could onlyprehend the preliminaryws once they reached the Dao treading realm and formed a Dao embryo.


    But it was nearly impossible for a cultivator toprehend even a sliver of spatialws, as they were one of the mostplex and top-level Daos.


    By now Xukong had an idea of how the mysterious ring worked. The ring worked as a conduit and a catalyst that helped Lin Mu manipte the spatialws. He also felt that the ring was sentient and was tailoring the skills ording to Lin Mu¡¯s caliber.


    As for the ability to open spatial rifts, Xukong only understood it when he started absorbing the pure spatial energy from the ring. For an artifact that could produce such pure spatial energy, it was a child¡¯s y to exploit the weak points in the space. It was even easier for the ring to tap into a teleportation channel and hijack it.


    When Lin Mu was telling senior Xukong about how some spatial rifts felt different from others, he exined why.


    The spatial rifts which felt like still water were just gates into the lesser void. But the ones which felt like a flowing river were actually teleportation channels created by teleportation formations.


    Teleportation formations were used for long-distance movement and transportation. Objects as well as people could be moved a long distance within a short time with the help of such formations.


    Though the ones that Lin Mu essed were minor teleportation formations used for transporting objects. when Lin Mu essed the two before he had basically stolen the four vessels restoration pills and the spirit stones from someone unknown.


    The good thing was the person who used the formation to send the items would not know that they were stolen either.


    "Will the person whose items I tooke after me?" Lin Mu asked with a wary tone.


    "That would be impossible. While sending items through teleportation formations is a safe method, it is not wless. Any ident or disturbance in the spatial channel would cause the object to be lost in the void." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu felt relieved that he won¡¯t have to keep looking over his back for the owner of the itemsing back for payback.


    "Demonstrate the two skills you got from the ring for me. I want to see your proficiency in it." Xukong ordered.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and demonstrated the first skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯. He first executed it while standing normally and then showed its ability to turn his body immaterial. He held his short sword and demonstrated his control over the technique.


    "Next one." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and used the second skill ¡¯Blink¡¯. He disappeared from the ce he was standing and then appeared in a location 10 meters away from there.


    "Enough." Xukong said.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu promptly responded.


    Xukong went silent for a minute as he thought and then spoke again.


    "You will need to increase your uracy while using Flicker. If you are to use it for dodging strikes, you will need to judge the exact moment to use the skill or you will just hurt yourself." Xukong spoke and then took a pause.


    "As for the second skill Blink, you are highly inefficient in its use. You will need to understand the skill¡¯s true potential and from what I can see, you can only teleport to a location in your field of vision. This is the first w you need to amend." Xukong chided.


    Lin Mu already knew that he had to learn to judge the timing of the activation of Flicker, but did not expect that he was this bad with the second skill Blink.


    "How can I resolve the w, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The reason you can¡¯t teleport to a location behind you is that you haven¡¯t learned one of the most basic abilities of a cultivator. You haven¡¯t refined your spirit sense." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu had heard about spirit sense before when senior Xukong asked him if he could see his body. senior Xukong then mentioned that he could not see it as he did not have spirit sense.


    "You can think of spirit sense as an additional organ. You can use it to touch and feel your environment. You can ¡¯see¡¯ without actually seeing, with the help of spirit sense. Though I do not me you for not knowing how to use it. You would have innately understood it if you were using an orthodox cultivation technique, but your unique situation changes things a bit." Xukong said.


    Xukong waited until Lin Mu fully understood his words and then continued.


    "Now I want you to listen to my words with yourplete attention.


    First, close your eyes and focus on the spirit Qi within your dantian.


    Now guide a wisp of spirit qi to leave your body and let it float around your body." After speaking till here, Xukong stopped and let Lin Mu practice.


    It took Lin Mu a few tries before he grasped it and was able to control spirit Qi to hover around his body. After a few minutes, Lin Mu found it to be as easy as lifting his finger. While he was practicing Senior Xukong was observing Lin Mu¡¯s closely, and once he found that he had learned this step, he continued his exnation.


    "Slowly extend that wisp of spirit qi as far as you can, then stop and hold it when you can¡¯t push it any further. After that revolve that wisp of spirit qi in a circle around your body." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu extended the wisp of spirit qi and stopped after it reached a distance of one meter. He then let the wisp rotate around his body. It took Lin Mu half an hour after which, he felt that his connection with the wisp had stabilized and did not take much of his effort to control it.


    Xukong inwardly nodded after seeing Lin Mu¡¯s minor sess.


    ¡¯He already has an advantage in terms of refining his spirit sense. It seems that I made the right decision about not telling him to wait till he liquefied his spirit qi.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    ¡¯Though if I did, it would take him a long time, especially since his dantian is already twice the size of a normal cultivator and I don¡¯t think it has stopped expanding either.¡¯ Xukong contemted.


    Xukong then taught Lin Mu the next step in refining his spirit sense.


    "Now, maintain your connection with that wisp of spirit qi and guide another wisp out of your dantian. Once you have it hovering outside your body, repeat the steps you had followed before, but at the very end I want you to link the two wisps of spirit qi together." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu was able to replicate the process, but when it was the moment to link the two wisps of spirit qi, he was overwhelmed and lost control. The two wisps of spirit qi disappeared into the air, leaving Lin Mu breathless.


    "Rest for a bit and try again." Xukong consoled.


    Suddenly Lin Mu felt his stomach rumble and remembered that he had not eaten for a while now. Actually, ever since he returned from the Grand Void, he could not tell what the time was. When he looked at the sun, he saw that it was lower than it was before he left, prompting him to think that he had spent an entire day in the Grand Void.


    Lin Mu then withdrew the beast meat from the ring and set it to cook on the stove. Senior Xukong saw the sizeable amount that he cooked but did not mind it at first. Only when senior Xukong saw that he could actually finish it all, did he became surprised.


    ¡¯It seems that his abnormally high appetite is linked with the growth of his dantian. I wonder if he knows about this.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    "Lin Mu, do you eat the same quantity of food every time?" Xukong curiously asked.


    "No senior, I used to eat a normal quantity of food back when I was in the 2nd stage of the body tempering realm. But ever since I found the ring and progressed to higher stages, my appetite has kept on growing." Lin Mu exined.


    ¡¯Hmm, so my suspicion was correct. The ring has been subtly changing his constitution as well.¡¯ Xukong confirmed.


    After Lin Mu was done with his meal, he assimted the vital energy and restarted his training. This time he was able to link the two wisps of spirit qi together. After linking, the two wisps turned into a small thread of spirit qi.


    "Now that you¡¯ve understood these steps, what you have to do next is to keep adding more and more wisps of spirit qi until they form a long thread that connects to your body." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu was overwhelmed when he heard senior Xukong¡¯s words, but then reinforced his resolve. Determination shed in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes as he drowned himself in the process.


    The sky had turned dark, and the moon was peeking from behind the clouds. Lin Mu was currently drenched with sweat, but instead of looking tired, tion could be seen on his face. After countless tries and ten hours, Lin Mu had finally seeded in linking all the wisps of spirit qi.


    The spirit qi no longer looked like a thin thread; it had instead turned into a tendril. Lin Mu had just aplished another feat that would even shock the top sects!

 Chapter 51 - Sudden Enlightenment

    <h4>Chapter 51 - Sudden Enlightenment </h4>


    Xukong was happy with the progress Lin Mu had done in the past day. Not only was he able to freely manipte the wisps of spirit qi and link them, but he was also able topletely connect them into a tendril of spirit sense.


    ¡¯The boy has talent in Spirit qi control, but I can¡¯t tell if it is innate or if this is the work of the ring as well.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    Lin Mu was sitting on the ground cross-legged and was using his newly refined spirit sense to feel his environment. The new sensations felt novel to Lin Mu. He felt that he was able to see in a 360-degree angle with the help of the spirit sense.


    Lin Mu wanted to test the second skill Blink and see if he could teleport to a location outside his field of vision, but decided against it as he had exhausted nearly all of his spirit qi. Every time he failed during the process of refining the spirit sense, he would lose the wisps of spirit qi that he was manipting.


    The spirit sense tendril that he had refined was one meter long and was refined by linking twenty wisps of spirit qi. Over the multiple attempts, Lin Mu had lost nearly five hundred wisps of spirit qi, leaving him with a meager 35 wisps of spirit qi in his dantian.


    ¡¯I need to replenish my spirit qi and I also need to eat something, I¡¯m starving.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "You can continue your practice tomorrow, for now, you need to rest." Xukong ordered.


    "Yes, senior." Lin Mu responded.


    Lin Mu cooked some dinner for himself, ate it, and thenid down on the bed. He rested his head on the soft bolster and slipped into a deep sleep. Perhaps because Lin Mu was extremely exhausted both physically and mentally, he did not appear inside the Sleepscape and just slept normally.


    While Lin Mu was sleeping, Xukong was continually absorbing the spatial energy within the ring.


    ¡¯There seems to be no end to the spatial energy in here. I had originally thought it would be depleted after I absorbed it and would take some time to be replenished. But the ring seems to be producing it at a much higher rate than I can absorb.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    ¡¯Although the boy has talent, he is stillcking in resources. Without resources, it would be extremely difficult for him to progress in his cultivation. I need to figure out a way so that he can gain some resources. Till then, I guess he¡¯ll have to depend on the forest.¡¯ Xukong pondered.


    Several hours passed, and the sun rose up in the sky. Lin Mu woke up and stretched his body, but found that it was surprisingly not stiff. He felt refreshed and his body felt as if it was new.


    Lin Mu started his morning routine and cooked some beast meat. While the meat cooked, he sat down to cultivate and replenish his spirit qi. His body had already replenished a hundred wisps of spirit qi while he slept, thus he had a sufficientlyrge amount of spirit qi to start cultivation.


    Although Lin Mu only cultivated for 15 minutes, he found out that the speed of absorbing spirit qi had increased again and he was able to absorb 50 wisps of spirit qi.


    "How did my speed of absorption increase again?" Lin Mu muttered to himself, but senior Xukong heard him.


    "That would be because of your spirit sense. Spirit sense not only allows you to sense your surroundings, but it also has other effects as well. One of them being an increase in sensitivity to spirit qi." Xukong spoke.


    "What are the other functions and effects of spirit qi then, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Spirit qi is highly versatile and is used in things such as controlling spirit weapons and tools, creating formations and refining alchemical pills." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu¡¯s had heard about spirit weapons before. He knew that they were much stronger than normal weapons and even had some special effects. He wondered if he should obtain one somehow. While Lin Mu was lost in his thoughts, his breakfast was ready.


    He then finished his breakfast and assimted the vital energy. When he was about to start cultivating, he noticed that the ck dots had returned. He was able to spot several of them in the area.


    "Senior, the ck dots have returned." Lin Mu spoke.


    "ck dots? Ah, you mean the spatial gates. Hmm, I can sense them too, but there are far too many of them here." Xukong replied.


    "Too many? But I see them wherever I go. Is this abnormal?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Yes, those ck dots you see are actually the weak points that exist in the space. Normally they should be rare, but it seems that the mere presence of your ring is enough to destabilize the space." Xukong answered.


    Having satisfied his curiosity, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged to replenish his spirit qi. He cultivated for two hours and was able to replenish his spirit qi up to his previous levels. Lin Mu slowly extended the tendril of spirit sense and analyzed the surrounding area.


    He could sense each and every de of grass and the tiny insects that were crawling on it. If Lin Mu used the severing heart sutra and focused even more, he could observe the specs of dust floating in the air.


    Lin Mu tried to sense the area underground beneath him and found that he was only able to probe a few inches in. If he tried to go any deeper his spirit sense was just blocked, as if there was an iron wall in front of it. Stumped at this problem, Lin Mu decided to ask senior Xukong for guidance.


    "Your spirit sense won¡¯t be able to pierce through solid objects for now. You will have to increase its range and strengthen it further to be able to do that. Right now you should just focus on increasing its range and leave the rest for the future." Xukong advised.


    Lin Mu nodded and decided to finally test out Blink. He stood up and extended his spirit sense behind him. He locked on to a location and activated the skill. In the next instant, Lin Mu disappeared from his previous location and appeared in the location he had chosen.


    "Well done." Xukongmended.


    "Thank you senior, it is all due to your guidance." Lin Mu politely acknowledged.


    He then continued to test out Blink in different manners. Since the range of Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense was only one meter, he was only able to teleport that far behind. If he wanted to increase the distance of teleportation, he would have to increase the range of his spirit sense.


    While using spirit sense, he found out that he could actually teleport in mid-air. But it was only possible if he used his spirit sense and not by just using his eyes. Lin Mu could think of multiple situations where he could use this method for an ambush.


    Suddenly, Lin Mu remembered that tomorrow would be the day when he had to return to the town. It had been five days since he had booked the room at the inn. So he will have to return tomorrow.


    "Senior, I will be returning to the town tomorrow, to live in a room at the inn." Lin Mu said to senior Xukong.


    When Xukong first saw that Lin Mu was living in an old and mottled shack, he did not think much of it. For a being such as him, who has lived for countless years, he had seen people from all walks of life. Also, because he was a beast himself, he could not be bothered with humans and had a different mind-set.


    "Why have you been living here in that shack and not in a human town?" Xukong finally asked.


    Lin Mu then went on to narrate the story of how he was punished and his house was seized. Xukong silently listened to the story and let Lin Mu speak. Only after Lin Mu had finished speaking did Xukong respond.


    "So I guess you want to buy back your property?" Xukong asked.


    "Yes senior, and once I do that, I¡¯ll pay my respects at the grave of my parents and ancestors, before leaving the town to start my journey." Lin Mu answered with determination in his voice.


    "Good. A true cultivator can only progress when he experiences the worldly tribtions. Your choice of leaving the town behind and journeying will only bring you benefits in the long run." Xukong spoke with a sagely voice.


    Lin Mu was lost in thought after listening to senior Xukong¡¯s words. He then remembered the esoteric chants that he heard while receiving the severing heart sutra. A sudden wave of enlightenment spread in his mind and he was washed away in it.


    Seeing that Lin Mu had closed his eyes and seemed to be lost in his thoughts, Xukong called out for him. But suddenly rm bells started ringing within his mind and he became apprehensive. Then Xukong saw a blinding glow appear in front of his eyes and felt a feeling he had not felt for millenniums, Terror.

 Chapter 52 - The Day Of The Fallen

    <h4>Chapter 52 - The Day Of The Fallen </h4>


    The altar within the mysterious ring was currently glowing with a blinding light. A peculiar energy was being emitted by the altar, which was leaking out of the ring. Even the barrier created by Xukong could not stop it. The energy was so strong that it had spread out in an area of hundred kilometers.


    Xukong, who was inside the ring and also the closest to the altar, was bearing the full brunt of the impact. The feeling of terror filled every speck of his body and paralyzed him. Especially since his current body was only an avatar and did not have the cultivation base of the main body, he felt much worse than normal.


    ¡¯What is this aura? Even those old monsters would note close to this level.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    A minuteter, the aura changed from being cold and overwhelming to sharp and deadly. Xukong now felt as if he was in the presence of a peerless sword immortal. He had to use every bit of his will to resist the sharp aura, otherwise he felt as if his soul would be severed in an instant.


    In the Northern town, there was arge courtyard that was hidden from the eyes of mortals. Within this courtyard, a manor existed, in the front of which a beautiful garden full of fragrant spirit flowers was spread. In this garden, two people were currently sitting inside a perg.


    These two were none other than the pair of grandfather and granddaughter, Jing Wei and Duan Ke. Jing Wei was drinking a cup of aromatic tea while Duan Ke was reading a jade scroll. Suddenly both of them felt as if freezing water was poured over them and they dropped the items in their hands. The elegant cup fell from Jing Wei¡¯s hand and shattered, while the jade scroll dropped on the table and made a clinking sound.


    Once the freezing feeling passed, it morphed into a sharp and deadly aura. They felt as if thousands of swords were pointed at them and would be cutting them into a million pieces in the next instant. This overwhelming feelingsted for a minute, after which it disappeared.


    Duan Ke copsed on the ground and was left breathless. Blood could be seen dripping out of the edge of her lips. Jing Wei was no good either. He was able to hold on to the table and plopped down onto a chair.


    "Grand... father... what... was... that?" Duan Ke uttered between her breaths.


    Jing Wei stayed silent for five minutes before he was able to gather his wits. He let out a breath of foul qi and spoke,


    "That was sword intent. A hidden cultivator ascended two days ago, and now this; I don¡¯t even know what to make of this anymore."


    "That was sword intent! Is there even a single expert in any of the top sects that can have such an overbearing sword intent?" Duan Ke eximed out loud.


    "No, I¡¯m afraid not. Even the sword intent of the previous ancestor of the Centennial Sword sect cannotpare to this." Jing Wei said.


    In Wu Lim city, a shocking phenomenon could be witnessed. Themoners saw one cultivator after another copsing on the ground. Some could even be seen bleeding from the seven orifices.


    Inside the mayor¡¯s mansion, Wu Xun was also struggling to stand. He could not understand what was happening right now either.


    After the overwhelming aura vanished, he immediately popped a pill into his mouth and rushed through a hidden entrance. Heter appeared inside a cave deep underground. Wu Xun walked into the cave with the blood pool and saw that the inscriptions carved into the roof and the walls had crumbled into dust.


    Wu Xun walked over to the blood pool with an anxious expression and saw his elder brother sitting there safely. Seeing that his elder brother was fine, he let out a breath of relief.


    "If you are fine, then everything will be fine." Wu Xun muttered.


    This day wouldter be called as the day of the fallen.


    Back at the hunting shack, Lin Mu was still sitting on the ground cross-legged. A tranquil expression could be seen on his face,pletely unaware of the phenomenon that had happened. The day had turned into night when Lin Mu finally woke up.


    "So there¡¯s more to Severing heart sutra than just enhanced spirit qi control." Lin Mu muttered.


    "You¡¯re finally awake." Xukong spoke.


    "How long was I out for?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Look around. You¡¯ve been in a state of enlightenment for the past twelve hours." Xukong informed.


    Lin Mu looked at the sky and found that it was indeedte. He had not expected that time would pass so fast. For him, it was only a few minutes. While for others, hours had gone by.


    "What did you gain from your enlightenment?" Xukong curiously asked.


    This question had been picking at Xukong¡¯s mind ever since the overwhelming aura had disappeared. He wondered what kind of concept could it be, that it would cause such a massive impact. From the aura that he experienced, Xukong could tell that it was simr to sword intent yet different. One thing was sure though, that it was rted to the sword path.


    Lin Mu thought for a moment and recalled all that he had learned.


    "The severing heart sutra, it¡¯s not as simple as it appears. It has numerous methods of application, and I¡¯ve only been using one. It also has different stages ofprehension from what I understood." Lin Mu answered.


    ¡¯Hmm, so that aura was from Lin Mu gaining enlightenment about the severing heart sutra. I already knew that it was rted to the sword path, but now I¡¯m sure it¡¯s some kind of immortal inheritance.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    "So, what are these different stages ofprehension that you¡¯ve understood?" Xukong questioned.


    "The stage I¡¯m in right now is the second stage of externalprehension. But this is for the severing heart sutra only. For the calming heart sutra, I¡¯m still in the first stage of externalprehension." Lin Mu answered.


    "In the first stage of externalprehension, I¡¯m only able to use the nine divine heart sutras on myself. While in the second stage of externalprehension, I¡¯m able to use it on others as well. As for the stages beyond this, I will only know them when I progress further." Lin Mu further exined.


    Seeing that senior Xukong was not speaking anymore, Lin Mu just decided to continue training. He estimated it to be midnight, thus he first cooked some dinner and ate it. Then he cultivated for a while and then decided to sleep.


    Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape in front of the spirit apple tree. He saw that there wasn¡¯t only one spirit apple on the tree, but rather three of them. Two of those apples were ripe and one was still growing.


    "Wait, two spirit apples? Oh no! I think I spent much longer in the Grand Void than I thought." Lin Mu eximed.


    "Well, I¡¯ve already paid for the room in advance, so it shouldn¡¯t cause much of a problem for me." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    Lin Mu then plucked the two spirit apples and stored them in the ring.


    ¡¯Can I bring out senior Xukong in the Sleepscape?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    When he was in the real world, senior Xukong had informed him that he will not be able toe out of the ring, as the world¡¯s restrictions would not allow him to exist there. To test this out, Lin Mu actually tried it and indeed found it to be true. No matter how much effort he put, he could not pull out senior Xukong from the ring.


    To satisfy his curiosity Lin Mu willed it and the tiny body of senior Xukong appeared on his hand.


    Xukong seemed dumbstruck when he suddenly found himself in a different ce. He saw that he was on Lin Mu¡¯s hand, and the ce that they were in seemed unnatural. He did not speak and looked around for a bit before speaking.


    "Where are we?" Xukong asked.


    "In my Sleepscape, Senior." Lin Mu informed.


    "Your Sleepscape?" Xukong muttered.


    Lin Mu then realized that in all that happened, he hadpletely forgotten to tell senior Xukong about the Sleepscape. Even yesterday because he was extremely tired, he did not enter the Sleepscape. Thus he did not get the chance to speak about it beforehand.


    Seeing that Senior Xukong was waiting for his exnation, Lin Mu described the circumstances behind the Sleepscape and what its characteristics were. He told him how it was originally a dark and gloomy ce and how itter turned into this. He told him about the spirit apple tree and the size of the entire location.


    Xukong digested the entire information and searched his own memories, as well as his bloodline memories for an answer to this enigma of a ce. After a few minutes of searching, he was able to reach a conclusion.


    ¡¯For a ce that exists within a person, can amodate my avatar and seems to be able to support some rudimentaryws, there¡¯s only one answer thates to my mind.¡¯ Xukong concluded.


    "A Garden Of Karma." Xukong uttered.

 Chapter 53 - The Garden Of Karma

    <h4>Chapter 53 - The Garden Of Karma </h4>


    Lin Mu became interested in what senior Xukong had just spoken. However, he could perceive that senior Xukong was still in thoughts, thus he did not interrupt him and waited till he was done.


    But Lin Mu did not expect that he would get no answer even after thirty minutes, thus he returned Senior Xukong to the ring and started practicing with his weapons.


    After nearly four hours, Lin Mu heard the voice of senior Xukong in his mind prompting to bring him out of the ring. He heeded senior Xukong¡¯s words and brought him out of the ring.


    After being brought out of the ring senior Xukong floated up from his hand and flew away at great speed, only to return after ten seconds.


    Xukong had heard about the characteristics of the Sleepscape from Lin Mu¡¯s mouth, but he still wanted to see it with his own eyes. After observing the entire ce, he came to the conclusion that this ce was indeed a ¡¯Garden of karma¡¯. Though it had some differencespared to the information, he had in his memories.


    The biggest difference was in the rudimentaryws. From the information he had in his memories, he knew that a Garden of karma was a fully stable spatial realm with its own Daows. But in the case of Lin Mu, there wasn¡¯t even a sun in the sky and there was no night either. And from the ability of the space to return to its initial conditions, he could tell that this ce was not fully developed yet.


    Though the fact that strengthened his belief in this being a Garden of karma was the spirit apple tree that was growing in the middle of the Sleepscape. It was the only thing in this ce that allowed ¡¯change¡¯, the change being able to pick its fruits.


    "What do you know about Sleepscape, Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.


    "This ce that you call Sleepscape is actually a spatial realm called as Garden of Karma. It was difficult for me to identify it because of its rarity and also because of its characteristics being different from the ones I know." Xukong answered.


    "Why is this ce different?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, even the information I have in my memories is notplete. It is not known whether the creation of a Garden of Karma is linked to a person¡¯s physique or something else. Even the existence of a single Garden of Karma is incredibly rare, such that there are known records of only four people in the entire cosmos." Xukong replied with uncertainty in his voice.


    "Because there have only been four owners in the past, the information about the Garden of karma is very limited. Even the past owners had differences between the characteristics of their respective Gardens of karma. But I can say one thing for sure, your Garden of Karma is not developed yet. And even after it is developed, it will still keep on growing. For example, you are not able to use vital energy here, but you should be able to use spirit qi." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu felt a little happy that there were other people who had a simr condition to him before. He felt that he may be able to resolve a lot of his questions if he got to know them. He also tried guiding the spirit qi and found that he was indeed able to control spirit qi in the Sleepscape now.


    "These people who had a Garden of karma, where are they?" Lin Mu asked with a hint of anticipation on his face.


    "Three of them died before I was born and the one that I knew of also died some years ago." Xukong answered.


    Disappointment could be seen on Lin Mu¡¯s face after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s answer. However, he was able to snap out of it and returned to his weapons practice. Senior Xukong stayed there, floating in the air. He was observing Lin Mu¡¯s weapon skills.


    Xukong saw that Lin Mu was using multiple weapons instead of focusing on one weapon, thus was intrigued by this. He had seen some experts use multiple weapons before but those experts were much much stronger than Lin Mu.


    "Why do you use multiple weapons instead of focusing on only one?" Xukong curiously asked.


    Lin Mu stopped his spear thrust mid-way and turned around to answer senior Xukong.


    "I prefer using multiple weapons, as I want to be ready if there everes a situation where I¡¯ve lost all my weapons and I don¡¯t have a choice. I want to be able to use any weapon that¡¯s avable in that situation." Lin Mu answered.


    "If you are going to follow this path, then you need to learn from a proper weapons manual that teaches the use of multiple weapons." Xukong advised.


    "I know that senior. I¡¯ve been intending to buy a weapons manual once I return to the town." Lin Mu answered.


    Senior Xukong hummed in approval and spoke,


    "You probably won¡¯t be able to find a Spirit weapon manual in that town though I expect."


    "Spirit weapon manual? But I will first need a spirit weapon before that, senior." Lin Mu replied with slight confusion.


    "You already have one. Your short sword is a spirit weapon. Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t know that." Xukong spoke with a puzzled voice.


    Lin Mu was shocked by this revtion. He never expected that the short sword he had been using all this time had been a spirit weapon.


    "I... I did not know that. But I don¡¯t think a spirit weapon should so cheap that it is worth less than even a gold coin." Lin Mu said with an embarrassed face.


    Seeing that senior Xukong did not understand him, Lin Mu exined to him how he bought the short sword from the old store and how he was suspecting that the owner and his granddaughter were cultivators.


    "Hmm, I don¡¯t know why that old man gave you the short sword for cheap, but I can tell that he is definitely a cultivator." Xukong said.


    ¡¯Everything will be revealed when we get to the town, anyway.¡¯ Xukong said inwardly.


    "How do I use a spirit weapon then, senior?" Lin Mu asked with excitement on his face.


    "Use it the same way you strengthen your body with qi. Spirit weapons are conductive to spirit qi, thus you will be able to guide it into it the same way you do with your body." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu withdrew the short sword and held it in his hand. He guided a wisp of spirit qi from his dantian and guided it into his hand, and from his hand he let it flow into the short sword. He had thought there may be a slight difficulty in doing this but did not expect the short sword to freely ept his spirit qi.


    As soon as spirit qi entered the short sword, it hummed and a faint glow could be seen in it. A few runes appeared on the de and soon faded away. Lin Mu then shed at the air and could see a faint outline cutting out in the air. Senior Xukong saw this and spoke,


    "Hmm, surprisingly that short sword is a high-grade spirit weapon." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu looked at senior Xukong with a question expression, which he understood and exined.


    "Spirit weapons are divided into four grades depending on their quality. They are- low grade, mid-grade, high grade, and top-grade spirit weapon."


    "That old man was very generous if he gave you a high-grade spirit weapon. He even sealed it so that other cultivators won¡¯t be able to detect it. But now that you¡¯ve activated the short sword and released the seal, you¡¯ll need to be careful." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu could not help but wonder why that old man would give him such a precious item.


    "Also, you won¡¯t be able to use the full potential of the short sword yet. If you want to be able to fly with it, you will have to reach the core condensation realm or at the very least the peak of the qi refining realm. You will also need to refine your spirit sense to a much higher level as well, as you need spirit sense for the moreplex control of spirit weapons." Xukong borated.


    Lin Mu felt ted at the aspect of flying. He had heard the stories of immortals who would fly using their swords, clouds, beast, and countless other items. Being able to fly was one of the dreams that everyone had as a child.


    When he shed using the short sword, he had only used a single wisp of spirit qi. Back then, he was able to feel that it was not the limit and he can actually amplify the strength of the short sword even more. To test out the maximum power of the short sword he withdrew therge heavy rock that he had found in the spatial rift.


    Lin Mu had tested the rock before and knew that the rock was unusually strong and hard. It would be the perfect target to test the power of the short sword on. He thus channeled spirit qi into the short sword and kept on doing it, till he felt that he was going to lose control over it. Once it was filled with 200 wisps of spirit qi, Lin Mu raised the de and shed the rock with all his might.


    In the next moment, the de passed through the rock with ease, as if a hot knife through butter. The part that was cut fell down, revealing a smooth surface at the site of the cut.

 Chapter 54 - Teachings About The Void

    <h4>Chapter 54 - Teachings About The Void </h4>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath when he saw the oue of his sh. He had expected it to cut a certain part of the rock. But did not think the sword would end up smoothly cleaving through the rock. He looked closer at the cut and found that the surface was smooth and shiny.


    Lin Mu then rxed and let the spirit qi return back to his dantian. He sensed that he had consumed fifty wisps out of the 200 that he had reinforced the short sword with.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll be able to use four strikes of equal to this strength after amplifying the short sword to the maximum once.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    While Lin Mu was focused on the short sword, Senior Xukong¡¯s focus was on therge rock. Xukong felt a little confused at therge rock. He was able to identify the material it was made out of.


    ¡¯Why is there such arge chunk of Heavy depths Iron ore here? It shouldn¡¯t be present in this world.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    "Where did you get this Heavy depths iron ore from Lin Mu?" Xukong questioned.


    Lin Mu stopped his thoughts upon listening to senior Xukong question and turned towards him.


    "Heavy depths Iron ore? You mean thisrge rock?" Lin Mu counter asked.


    "Yes, that¡¯s what it is called." Xukong answered.


    "Oh, I found it in a spatial rift. Is it something rare and special?" Lin Mu spoke.


    ¡¯Is there a copsed oceanic world somewhere nearby?¡¯ Xukong pondered to himself.


    "Not specifically. Except for it being heavy and hard, there isn¡¯t much special about it. Although it is not rare, but such arge chunk is usually only formed is special conditions. In a world such as this, only smaller chunks of it would be found." Xukong answered.


    Heavy depths iron was a type of metal that was formed under the heavy pressure of arge water body. It could be found in any world that had seas or ocean, but the size of its ore would depend on the size of the ocean. The chunk of ore that Lin Mu found was toorge for it to belong to this world. The only ce it could be formed would be in an oceanic world.


    Oceanic worlds wererges that had nearly nondmass and werepletely covered with water. Such worlds were dominated by monstrous Aquatic beasts and were often uninhabitable for cultivators. However, oceanic worlds also had magical treasures and unique materials that were only found within them. Thus they were the targets of manyrge cultivator sects and organizations.


    Since Lin Mu was able to find such arge chunk of Heavy depths iron ore, it meant that there was quite likely a copsed oceanic world nearby this world. It also meant that there were precious treasures that were lost in the void, waiting to be found. And if someone was able to find the original location of the oceanic world, they may even be able to find something priceless, a world essence crystal.


    Stopping his train of thought Xukong, saw that Lin Mu was asking him something.


    "Senior is this Heavy depths Iron ore useful for making weapons or armors and can it be sold?" Lin Mu asked with expectation on his face.


    "It is unsuitable for making weapons and armor because of its properties. It would be fine if it was just hard and heavy, but because it also obstructs the flow of spirit qi, it is not used to make them. Instead, it is used in the construction of defensive fortifications for castles and forts, so you can sell it." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up with the glint of gold. Now that he had the support of senior Xukong, he would not have to be as cautious as before and would be able to ask him for advice. The quicker he bought back his house, the quicker he would be able to start his journey into the cultivation world.


    While Lin Mu was thinking about his future prospects, Xukong was thinking about the situation of this world. He was wondering if there were more copsed worlds near Lin Mu¡¯s world. He thought of a way to confirm his doubts.


    "What other items have you found in the spatial rifts? Show me all of them." Xukong ordered.


    Realization dawned on Lin Mu¡¯s mind. If therge rock which looked useless was precious, then who knows what other things he found were rare and perhaps priceless. Lin Mu hurriedly started taking out one item after the other from the ring. Soon enough there were five piles of items lying haphazardly on the ground inside of the Sleepscape.


    Lin Mu had separated the items which he found useful, such as the booklet which contained the martial technique ¡¯boulder copsing fist¡¯ and the four vessels restoration pills in different piles and useless items like the old shoe and clump of soil into a different pile.


    Senior Xukong closely scrutinized every item and then came to float in front of Lin Mu. He then instructed Lin Mu to separate the items into two different piles from the five piles. Senior Xukong then came to float in front of a pile and spoke,


    "This is garbage."


    "This is useful." Xukong said after floating over to the other pile.


    Lin Mu looked at the garbage pile and sure enough, most of the items he thought were useless were just that, useless. But he was a little surprised looking at the pile of useful items. There were some items which he did not think would be useful.


    For example, the clump of soil that he had found was now in the pile of useful items and the small shard of metal was too. Lin Mu could not understand the reasoning behind this, thus he asked senior Xukong.


    "That clump of soil is not what you think it is. It is actually the dried blood of a spirit beast. While that metal shard is quite possibly part of an immortal tool. Even though it¡¯s only a small shard, it is still linked to the immortal tool and you may be able to find it with the help of it." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was shocked upon hearing about an immortal tool. He could tell that it was something that was above spirit weapons and was much stronger than them. But he could not help but wonder how these items ended up in the spatial rifts.


    "Senior there is one thing I could not understand. How do these items end up inside of spatial rifts?" Lin Mu asked apprehensively.


    "There are many reasons for that. But the mostmon reasons are either the destruction of a spatial treasure or the copse of a world. Depending on the reason, the item will be lost in a differentyer of the void." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu had heard the two words Grand Void and lesser void from senior Xukong before, but could not understand the difference between them. Thus he asked him to exin.


    "Senior, could you exin to me about the void?" Lin Mu asked.


    "While you will not understand the actual characteristics of the void, I¡¯ll give you a simplified exnation. The Void can be broadly divided into fouryers- the lesser void, the great void, the greater void, and the Grand void." Xukong spoke and took a pause until he was sure that Lin Mu had digested this information.


    "The lesser void is a ce that exists parallel to the real world and is separate for each of the worlds. The great void is theyer which contains minor worlds and spatial dimensions, your Sleepscape could be considered as an example of a spatial dimension.


    While the Greater Void contains all the worlds in a specific realm. Finally, the Grand Void is theyer that separates the different major realms and contains all theyers below it. Also, every higheryer in the void contains multiples of theyer below it. For example, the great void has multipleyers of the lesser void contained within it." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was a little overwhelmed by all the information that senior Xukong had just spoken. It took him a few minutes before he was able to analyze and integrate all the information into his mind. He also felt minuscule at the immensity of the entire universe. He could not even imagine the sheer size of the worlds that existed, not to speak of entire realms.


    Xukong saw that Lin Mu was astounded at his exnation, thus he spoke,


    "Don¡¯t be overwhelmed by my exnation. Even if you don¡¯t understand it right now, it won¡¯t matter. You will eventually understand it in the future."


    Lin Mu felt a little better after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s encouraging words. His attention was then redirected towards the useful pile of items. There were some items in it that he knew were useful, but he could not tell what their use could be. One such item was the high-quality wooden slip he had found.


    Lin Mu picked up the wooden slip from the pile and showed it to senior Xukong while asking,


    "Senior, what it this wooden slip, why is there nothing written in it?"


    Xukong looked at the exquisite wooden slip in Lin Mu¡¯s hand and let out a chuckle before speaking,


    "That is the most useful item out of all of them, its worth exceeds all the itemsbined. That wooden slip is a Legacy treasure."

 Chapter 55 - Legacy Of The Lost Immortal

    <h4>Chapter 55 - Legacy Of The Lost Immortal </h4>


    Xukong himself was a little surprised upon finding a legacy treasure in the pile of random items. He was getting more and more interested in this world. He could not tell what the legacy treasure would contain, but he was sure that the legacy treasure was not from this world.


    The craftsmanship of the legacy treasure belonged to a higher realm and with howplex the formations ced on it were, Xukong knew that it contained aplete legacy. The only question remaining was that whether it will deem Lin Mu worthy of it.


    While senior Xukong was in his thoughts, Lin Mu was staring at the wooden slip, trying to figure out how to use it. He even tried observing it with his spirit sense, but was unable to find anything. Finally, giving up after a few tries, Lin Mu turned to senior Xukong for answers.


    "What does this wooden slip contain?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Every legacy treasure is different. Some contain the entire inheritance of an expert while some may only contain minor inheritances. Some contain martial techniques or cultivation techniques while others may contain the life experiences of a cultivator." Xukong answered.


    "Now then, to activate the legacy treasure you need to put a drop of your blood on it." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu followed senior Xukong¡¯s words and used the short sword to prick his finger. He then let a drop of blood fall on the wooden slip. As soon as the blood touched the wooden slip, it was absorbed and numerous runes appeared.


    The runes spread from the wooden slip on to Lin Mu¡¯s hands and then onto his chest. Unbeknownst to Lin Mu, an obscure pattern was formed on his abdomen which then sunk in and disappeared. A few secondster the runes disappeared, and a connection was formed between Lin Mu and the wooden slip.


    Lin Mu then opened the wooden slip and saw words appearing on it. The entire wooden slip when opened was fifty centimeters long and was made of twenty five individual wooden strips. Lin Mu started reading the words one by one.


    "I was called as the Lost Immortal and this is my final legacy.


    This legacy that I am leaving behind was the work of my life. I suffered many setbacks in my life, some because of my enemies, some due to my miscalctions, and some due to the heaven¡¯s will.


    While I was staunch and stable in the early part of my life,ter on, after suffering one misfortune after another I developed heart demons.


    I could be considered to have had below-average talent in cultivation, and all that I had was gained through sheer dedication and hard work. The heart demon I developed was because of a problem that usually belonged to the mortals, starvation.


    In the tens of thousands of years that I lived, I often found myself in conditions where I was heavily injured, stripped of qi, and trapped in deadly situations.


    While themoners think that immortals don¡¯t know the sufferings of mortals they are wrong. They think that immortals no longer feel hungry, nor do they need to breathe. While this is correct to a certain extent, it is only so when you are in an optimum condition. Even immortals when they deplete their qi and vital energy need to eat in order to survive.


    For cultivators who have lived as long as me, all have gone through simr situations such as mine. But their suffering cannot bepared to mine. They may have been in one, two, five, or even ten situations, but it still would notpare to mine.


    While most would not survive after their luck ran out, I do not know whether it was my fortune or misfortune that I have survived one hundred and seven such tribtions.


    I often thought if it would have been better if I perished early on and did not suffer these tribtions. But every time I did that, my heart demon grew.


    Slowly, over the years, I developed an obsession. I would no longer suffer the tribtion of starvation ever again. I knew that the heavens were against me and would pit me against a grim tribtion again, thus my obsession grew.


    Eventually, all I could think of was my obsession and my progress in cultivation plummeted. I knew that this could not go on any longer, so I started my journey to find a solution. I journeyed through countless worlds and a multitude of realms.


    I researched techniques that would help me in relieving starvation forever. I observed beasts that were known for their hunger, their ability to devour, and beasts that were long-lived and seldom ate. I hunted down unique races that did not consume material food as sustenance but rather obscure types of energies.


    I found some beasts that were once thought to be myths and legends. I even discovered beasts that were never seen before. I went after creatures that were a hundred times stronger than me and came out alive. My obsession was now somehow fuelling my strength.


    I now knew what I had to do, I was going to create a technique that would absolve one of their hunger. I gathered precious materials and unique treasures while using the knowledge that I had gained to forge my creation.


    But s, I failed. I was stillcking.


    I began my journey again and wandered the universe. It was during this time that I was given the title ¡¯Lost Immortal¡¯. I had long forgotten my own name in my obsession, thus I just epted it.


    After a few years, I had an epiphany and my cultivation started growing once again.


    But with the growth of my cultivation, the heaven¡¯s fury returned as well. I survived more of those cursed conditions and let my heart demon grew. I did not know why, but my heart demon never harmed me even though it had existed for a long time. Others would have suffered a qi deviation or a Dao copse, but miraculously I did not.


    More years passed and I could feel that I was slipping into insanity, one year at a time. I knew that once I waspletely drowned in insanity, I would never resolve my obsession. Thus I staked all I had and revisited all the ces I had been to, just to gain any small smidgen of inspiration I could grasp.


    This time, I could not find some of the beasts that I had originally discovered, but I was still able to find the beasts such as The Golden roc, The Taotie, The Realm eater worm, The Sky swallowing wolf, The Immortal Kun Peng, and many more. I stripped their secrets and gained an understanding of their physiology and cultivation.


    By now I was at the very edge of insanity and knew that I would fall into its abyss as soon as I lost control, even for a moment.


    Knowing that I had no time left, I ended my research and started to reforge my creation.


    I never intended toe out of this alive, thus I used everything I had, including my very life.


    I ignited my Daows with my obsession and used the mes to temper all the precious materials I had gathered. I spent years working on it, yet I still felt that I was far from perfect.


    Then suddenly, I was enlightened when I heard a voice in my mind. It was my heart demon; it had finally awakened.


    It knew what I wanted, thus my heart demon offered me a solution which I dly epted, for I knew I had nothing to lose. I sacrificed my cultivation base and my body, using them as the metal, and fused it into my creation. Then finally, using my soul as thest ember, I let my heart demon perfect my creation.


    Even at the very end, I knew that while my creation was perfect; it was still iplete. Of course, unless a person cultivated it, it will be deemed iplete. Thus, with myst wisp of consciousness, I finished my legacy and sealed the technique I had created into this wooden slip.


    I recorded my life¡¯s experiences and tribtions for my inheritor to learn and as a final gift or you could say myst wish; I want my inheritor to name this technique after learning it. I hope that you will not suffer the tribtions that I did and are able to benefit from my experiences."


    After an hour, Lin Mu hadpleted reading the entire wooden slip. As soon as he read thest word, all the words written on the wooden slip faded away and new words appeared on the wooden slip.


    Lin Mu read these words and found that these words were describing the unique technique that the Lost Immortal had created. He read them and was slowly lost in them. Unknown to him, senior Xukong was closely observing him.


    Xukong felt that everything was normal at the start, but after a while, he saw tearsing out of Lin Mu¡¯s eyes. He tried calling out to him but received no answer, as if he was lost in enlightenment.


    ¡¯What kind of legacy did he receive?¡¯ Xukong thought.

 Chapter 56 - Returning To The Northwind Inn

    <h4>Chapter 56 - Returning To The Northwind Inn </h4>


    Lin Mu had been reading the wooden slip for the past few hours, but still had not finished it. Senior Xukong had tried calling out to him multiple times, but he never responded, thus senior Xukong gave up and waited for him to normalize.


    In the blink of an eye, it was morning, and the sun had risen. Lin Mu was shaken from his trance after his consciousness disappeared from the Sleepscape and returned to his body. He slowly opened his eyes in a daze and looked around. After seeing that he had returned to the hunting shack, Lin Mu took a deep breath.


    "That was a really unique experience." Lin Mu muttered as he remembered the information recorded in the wooden slip.


    After Lin Mu had finished reading the introduction, he saw the technique that was created by the Lost immortal. It took him a long time to read it, and he still could not understand it. The technique wasplex, veryplex; so much so that he could not even identify some of the words that were mentioned in it.


    After the technique, the next thing that was recorded in the wooden slip was the life experiences of the Lost immortal. When Lin Mu read them he felt as if he was there and was experiencing them firsthand. He could not tell if it was an illusion or not, but everything that he saw looked extremely real.


    ¡¯Guess, I¡¯ll have to ask senior Xukong for an exnation.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu then called out to senior Xukong and received a reply instantly.


    Xukong had been a little worried after seeing that Lin Mu was in a trance. He knew it was due to the legacy treasure, but could not tell if it was good or not. When Xukong had told Lin Mu about the legacy treasures, he had left out some information. Some Legacy treasures had powerful seals on them, which when released would bind to the first person who came in contact with it.


    While this was fine, if the Legacy contained was suitable for that person, but if it was not so, this would be extremely troublesome. Xukong had observed and scanned the wooden slip before allowing Lin Mu to use it; but when he saw that Lin Mu was stuck in a trance and could not respond, he became wary.


    The only reason Xukong could not find the cause for this would be if the legacy treasure was created by someone from the higher realms. Another reason why he easily let Lin Mu use the legacy treasure was that he was sure that there wasn¡¯t much chance that it could be difficult for him.


    While Xukong was thinking of possible scenarios, Lin Mu suddenly disappeared and his vision turned ck for a moment. Then he felt the familiar spatial energy in his surroundings and realized that he had returned to the ring. A few secondster, he sensed Lin Mu¡¯s voice and responded to it.


    "What did you gain from the Legacy treasure, Lin Mu?" Xukong asked.


    Lin Mu then started to exin everything that he had found out from the wooden slip. He told him about the Lost immortal and how he created the nameless technique. He told him about the technique itself, how it was veryplex, and about the words, he was unable to read. Finally, he told him about the life experiences of the Lost Immortal that were recorded in the wooden slip.


    The first thing that shocked Xukong was the circumstances of the Lost Immortal. He was able to identify the reason for his misfortunes and the unending streak of tribtions. The person titled as the Lost Immortal actually had a special type of physique called as the ¡¯Broken Fate physique¡¯.


    It was an extremely rare physique and could be ranked along with the people who were the owners of the Garden of Karma. Though its rarity did not mean that the physique was beneficial to its bearer. Rather, the person who was born with this physique would suffer endless misfortunes and tribtions. They would then perish and be removed from the wheel of fate. This was the reason this physique was named as the ¡¯Broken Fate physique¡¯.


    Xukong could not tell how an expert like the Lost Immortal, who had traveled countless worlds, did not identify his own physique. He should have been knowledgeable enough to identify it. It was only when Lin Mu was telling Xukong about the mythical beasts that the Lost Immortal encountered, that he understood the reason for his ignorance towards his physique.


    The mythical beast that caught Xukong¡¯s attention was the ¡¯Realm eater worm¡¯.


    ¡¯It¡¯s impossible that the Lost Immortal encountered a Realm eater worm. Their n was eradicated millions of years ago and thest of their bloodlines were also extinguished by the heavenly Dao for umting unforgivable amounts of negative karma.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    "Unless the Lost Immortal encountered the Realm eater worms before their extinction." Xukong muttered.


    ¡¯This would exin why he did not know about his physique. He was probably one of the earliest owners of the Broken Fate physique. There simply was no information about this physique back then.¡¯ Xukong inferred.


    Xukong was also wary about the nameless technique that was created by the Lost Immortal. He could not tell what effect the technique would have on Lin Mu, as it was deemed iplete by its creator himself. Considering the state in which the Lost Immortal created the technique, Xukong had all the reasons to be wary of it.


    But Xukong would not be prohibiting Lin Mu from learning the technique. He will only exin to Lin Mu what he thought about the technique and leave the final decision up to him. If he wanted Lin Mu to be a peerless cultivator, he could not keep on interfering in his life. It was up to Lin Mu, to decipher his fate and wade through his karma.


    Lin Mu then asked senior Xukong about the words which he was unable to understand. He felt that the words were from a differentnguage and did not seem to belong there. After exining to senior Xukong, he got the reply that while senior Xukong knew whatnguage the words belonged to, he would not be able to tell him what the words meant, until he drew them.


    Lin Mu thus tried to draw them on the ground, but found that he could not. It was as if his mind went nk as soon as he thought of drawing them.


    "Hmm, it¡¯s the world¡¯s restrictions prohibiting you from drawing them. Wait till tonight when you return to the Sleepscape. There you should be able to draw them with no problems." Xukong told Lin Mu.


    "But whatnguage are these words from, Senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It¡¯s not exactly anguage but rather a different script of writing. Those words are most likely from the Dao script. It is a universal script that everynguage can use and can be understood by all intelligent races." Xukong answered.


    "It is also necessary for many things such as making formations, forging spirit weapons, refining alchemical pills, and of course creation of various techniques." Xukong further exined.


    Lin Mu¡¯s curiosity in learning the Dao script was ignited, hence he asked senior Xukong to teach him about it. Senior Xukong epted Lin Mu¡¯s request and told him that he would teach him some lessons every day. Then he reminded Lin Mu what he was supposed to be doing today.


    ¡¯Oh no! I need to get to the town soon.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu skipped his breakfast and started storing everything that he thought to be of use. Before leaving, he made sure he had everything onest time. He then started his journey back to the town. But for Lin Mu, who had be a cultivator, such distance was a stone¡¯s throw away.


    Lin Mu strengthened his legs with spirit qi and broke into a sprint. His speed was iparable than before, and within five minutes he was already at the town. Some people spotted him running towards the town, but all they could see was a trail of dust.


    Before entering the town, he saw the peasants working in the spirit apple orchards. This made him reminisce about the time when he was still weak and was working in the orchards. Although it had only been a few weeks, he still felt as if ages had gone by.


    Pushing his thoughts to the back, Lin Mu continued on to the inn. Because the Northwind inn was close to the entrance of the town, it did not take him much time to reach it. When Lin Mu was standing outside the inn¡¯s entrance, he heard the sounds of someone arguing and shouting,ing from inside the inn.


    He walked in and found a group of ten hunters arguing with the three people at the desk. Lin Mu identified one of the three people at the desk as the clerk who had booked the room for him. But he could not tell who the other two were. He also identified the ten hunters rather easily. These ten hunters belonged to one of the two hunter groups in the town, whose leader was a cultivator.


    The Leader of the hunter group was a man called Gan Ma. He was a cultivator, thus had some influence in the town. Lin Mu had seen the man before and also had heard about him. Gan Ma was a rather crude man, who was selfish and ruthless. He would often forcefully take over good hunting areas frommon hunters, and if they resisted, all that waited for them was a harsh beating.


    Lin Mu¡¯s father especially did not like Gan Mu and had warned him to stay away from the man. Who knew that Lin Mu would have to defy his father¡¯s warning today.


    Suddenly the clerk who had booked the room for Lin Mu spotted him and pointed at him while shouting, "There he is, that¡¯s the boy who booked thest room."

 Chapter 57 - A Small Conflict

    <h4>Chapter 57 - A Small Conflict </h4>


    Lin Mu would have never expected that he would be facing such a scenario just because he was one dayte. There were currently thirteen pairs of eyes staring at him, some with helplessness and others with anger.


    At first, he could not figure out why these people were looking at him with such eyes, but as soon as they all started speaking, he knew he was in another troubling situation. The ten hunters soon surrounded him in three directions.


    "Boy, give up the room that you booked." One of the hunters spoke.


    "Yeah, since you did note yesterday to im it, you don¡¯t need it anymore." A short hunter spoke.


    Confusion could be seen on Lin Mu¡¯s face as he could not understand why these hunters were speaking to him like that. Only when the clerk came forward and exined did he understand.


    "These hunters want the room that you booked. They came today for a room but I told them we did not have any avable, they said they were willing to pay double and asked if any rooms were unupied. They then saw that one room was still unupied, thus they forced me to give it to them." The clerk hurriedly spoke.


    "Take your refund and leave, brat." The hunter in front of Lin Mu ordered.


    An annoyed expression could be seen on Lin Mu¡¯s face. There was no chance that he was going to ept these hunter¡¯s orders. He had booked the room well ahead and had also paid in advance. These men had no right to order him.


    "These men are paying double the price right, so I¡¯ll just pay triple." Lin Mu said smugly.


    Right now Lin Mu had plenty of gold coins, so he was not worried. He would be able to earn those back rather easily once he starts hunting again.


    Upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words, the hunters became confused at first but then became angrier. But the man who was with the clerk looked happy instead. Looking closer at the man¡¯s clothing, which seemed to be of higher quality than that of amoner, Lin Mu guessed that he was the owner of this inn.


    "You think you can just disrespect us like that." The short hunter spoke with fire in his eyes.


    Looking at the short man¡¯s expression, Lin Mu guessed that he was the one who wanted the room while others were just here to back him up. The Hunters belonging to Gan Ma¡¯s group were well-known bullies. They submitted to the strong while oppressing the weak.


    If it was the Lin Mu of the past, he would have never dared to go against these men. But with the strength that he had right now, the only person who could give him trouble would be Gan Mu himself.


    Suddenly one of the hunters seemed to have recognized Lin Mu as he pointed at him and whispered in the ear of hispanion, who then told the rest of the hunters.


    "So, you¡¯re the boy who had his property seized by the supervisor of the orchard." Said the hunter standing in front of Lin Mu.


    "Weren¡¯t you also banished from the town?" another hunter added.


    "No wonder he was willing to pay triple the cost for the room. The money doesn¡¯t belong to him, he stole it." Said the short hunter, straight away using Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu saw the situation turning worse and worse by the second. Thus he spoke up.


    "I wasn¡¯t banished, I was only thrown out of the town. These are the words of the supervisor himself. And I didn¡¯t steal the money, I made it by hunting beasts." Lin Mu countered.


    "As if a scrawny brat like you could kill beasts that would be worth that much." A long-faced hunter spoke.


    "Don¡¯t listen to him, he¡¯s only lying to save his skin. Catch him, we¡¯ll hand him off to the guards." The hunter in front of Lin Mu spoke.


    "Search him for the coins too. He¡¯s definitely has them on his body." The short man spoke with greed in his eyes.


    Seeing that there was no chance that this situation will be resolved. Lin Mu readied himself for a fight. He could sense their strength and found them to be much weakerpared to him. The strongest hunter was in the 8th stage of the body tempering realm.


    While Lin Mu could sense the hunter¡¯s strength, they could not do the same as he was a cultivator now. Because they did not sense Lin Mu¡¯s strength, they made the mistake of thinking that he was much weaker than them.


    The first to approach Lin Mu were the three hunters on his left. One of them tried to grab his arm, but Lin Mu was able to push him away effortlessly. Then the four hunters on the right lunged at him and grabbed his shoulder and wrist.


    Lin Mu used his left hand, which was free, and smashed it on the hands of the men that were holding his shoulder and hand. A snapping could be heard as the arms of the four men were broken in one hit.


    "Aaargh" The four hunters on the right shouted in pain.


    "Careful, he¡¯s been hiding his strength somehow. Use all your force." The leading hunter shouted.


    Lin Mu did not want to straightaway kill the men in the town, as it was prohibited. Thus he did not use his sword or the spirit qi to strengthen his body. All he had used was just his body¡¯s raw strength.


    The hunters did not hold back a bit and drew their weapons. Two of them were using swords, three were using axes, and two were using maces, leaving behind the four with broken hands. All of them attacked Lin Mu together, but he was able to dodge it with his superior speed.


    Lin Mu flitted between their bodies and rained blows upon them. The short hunter managed to slip behind Lin Mu and shed with his axe at Lin Mu¡¯s back. Lin Mu saw this with his spirit sense and reacted. He moved his right fist back without even seeing and mmed it on the side of the axe.


    ~Klink~ Crack crack crack~


    A cracking sound could be heard, as the de of the axe shattered into pieces. The hunters were now shocked and fear could be seen in the eyes of the leading hunter as he guessed Lin Mu¡¯s strength.


    "Run, leave him, he¡¯s a cultivator." The leader of the hunters shouted.


    Fear spread to all of the hunters, and in the next second, they ran away. Lin Mu did not bother to stop them and let them leave, as he knew that if he used any more force, he may just kill them. While he may be able to get off scot-free, even if the guards found out that he killed the hunters in self-defense; what he did not want was Gan Ma to target him. Especially not before he was able to find out his cultivation base.


    If Gan Ma was weaker than him, it would not be a problem, but if he was stronger, then Lin Mu will have to n for it. Though Lin Mu was sure that he will be able to escape with the help of the two skills he got from the ring.


    Once the hunters left the inn, Lin Mu walked up to the desk and spoke.


    "Now that they¡¯re gone, I don¡¯t need to pay any more money right." Lin Mu spoke with a little chuckle.


    After witnessing Lin Mu¡¯s strength, the owner did not want to antagonize him, as he thought it would not end well for him. The owner gulped and spoke,


    "Yes, yes. You don¡¯t have to pay anything. You already paid in advance, please go on in." The owner spoke and gestured to the clerk.


    The clerk then guided Lin Mu up the stairs and into a corridor. He walked all the way to the end and stood in front of a door. He then took out a small key out of his pocket and opened the door, while gesturing with his hand.


    "This is the room you booked, sir." The clerk spoke respectfully.


    Lin Mu was not surprised by the sudden respectful attitude of the clerk. Cultivators were considered to be abovemoners and thus were feared and respected. This was the first instance where Lin Mu felt the prestige of a cultivator.


    "Please inform me if you need anything." The clerk said.


    Lin Mu nodded and spoke.


    "Is there a kitchen here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "If you¡¯re asking about food, then you don¡¯t have to worry, as breakfast and dinner will be provided to you free of charge." The clerk answered.


    "What if I want to cook it on my own?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The clerk seemed confused by Lin Mu¡¯s question but did not probe further.


    "Ah yes, you can use the kitchen if you want. I¡¯ll notify the cook beforehand." The clerk answered.


    Lin Mu did not want to eat normal food anymore as it would not be of much use to him and even if he did eat it, the small portion would not satisfy his enormous appetite.


    He could have also given the meat to the cook to prepare, but he did not want to take the risk of someone stealing parts from it. Even a small portion of high tier beast meat would sell for a few silvers in the town.


    While Lin Mu was settling in the inn, the hunters had reached their leader¡¯s house.

 Chapter 58 - Xukongs First Test

    <h4>Chapter 58 - Xukong''s First Test </h4>


    Near the western exit of town, there existed an open ground. Many tents were currently pitched in that open ground. On some of the tents, banners or tes bearing the symbols of mercenary groups could be seen. While the other tents were just normal tents used by hunters.


    The mercenaries could be seen sitting outside the tents, doing chores. Some were sharpening their weapons, some were taking an inventory while others were just talking to each other. Suddenly the mercenaries heard amotioning from the site where hunters had their tents set up.


    Some of the mercenaries stood up and walked there to check. Upon reaching there, they saw a couple of broken tents as well as hunters that were currently being beaten. They looked at the aggressors and saw that they did not seem to care much as they continued their one-sided fight.


    "We already told you to leave once, why don¡¯t you listen?" A short hunter said as he punched the face of a man lying on the ground.


    "Do you dare to disrespect Gan Ma again? A long-faced man spoke as he stepped on the hand of another hunter lying on the ground.


    These hunters were none other than the same hunters who had fought with Lin Mu before. Since they were unable to get a room at the inn, they had no choice but to pitch a tent with the other hunters at the western exit of the town.


    Most of the hunters were not natives of Northern town. They usually came from the subordinate viges and lived at inns for the most part as they could not buy houses in the town. There were two reasons for this, the first being that there were few empty houses left in the town and the houses were expensive to buy as well.


    Especially for hunters who barely made a few gold coins a year, it was impossible to buy a house. Though it was not like every hunter stayed at the inn during the winter. The hunters that came from the viges would return there during the winter and only return during the spring.


    "Damn it, how did that kid be a cultivator?" The short hunter shouted as he punched an unconscious hunter.


    He then stood up and then kicked the unconscious man onest time before leaving him. A couple of other hunters came by and picked up the unconscious man before taking him away.


    "Don¡¯t think too much. Leader Gan Ma will take care of him soon." The long-faced hunter replied.


    "I want to kill that kid with my own hands. Even leader took years to be a cultivator, who even taught him?" The short hunter spoke with frustration on his face.


    A buff hunter that was standing at the side spoke,


    "There aren¡¯t many cultivators in the town. It¡¯s definitely not someone from the town, thus it could only be someone from the mercenarypanies."


    "God dammed mercenaries, putting their noses where they don¡¯t belong. First, they take our hunting grounds, then our inns, and now they try to change our power structure. Trash like that brat should stay trash forever and know their ce." The short man said.


    Suddenly sounds of weapons being drawn can be heard.


    "Try and say that again." A burly mercenary spoke with a rough voice.


    The hunters became rmed as they saw mercenaries standing behind them. One of the hunters with a long face came forward and passed a small pouch to the mercenary while whispering something to him. After hearing the hunter, the mercenary took the pouch and retreated along with the rest of them.


    The hunter who had spoken with the mercenary came back and pped the head of the short hunter.


    "Watch your mouth. Look around before you wag your tongue. You nearly got us in trouble." The long-faced hunter spoke.


    The short hunter did not protest and just stayed silent. While the rest of the hunters set up the tent.


    Back at the Northwind inn, Lin Mu was looking around the room. The room was at least ten times bigger than the hunting shack. There were four beds, a table, and four chairs in the room. On the right of the room, there were two windows, through which one could see the street below.


    Lin Mu had not expected for the room to be this big. The room was clearly made for amodating four people, but right now he had upied it all by himself.


    ¡¯No wonder the hunters wanted this room, it is big enough for four of them.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu was bothered by the attitude of the Inn¡¯s staff, but understood that it was something that they had to do. Gan Ma¡¯s hunters were forceful bullies, and if they had not given in, they probably would have done something worse to the staff.


    "Gan Ma would probablye after me soon. I need to get a measure of his cultivation before that." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Hmm, so this is the ce you will be staying at." Xukong spoke inside Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu replied.


    "Seems like you will have to return to the forest every time you want to train your skills though." Xukong said.


    "That I will have to do indeed. I can¡¯t reveal them here, of course." Lin Mu spoke.


    "And this man Gan Ma, I want you to eliminate him. This will be your first test." Xukong ordered.


    Lin Mu was a little taken aback by senior Xukong¡¯s words, but then he further exined.


    "You need to learn to eliminate a problem from the very roots. If you don¡¯t, they will onlye to trouble you in the future." Xukong spoke with a stern tone.


    Lin Mu nodded and epted senior Xukong¡¯s test. He then left the room and went downstairs towards the desk. He went up to the clerk and asked where the kitchen was.


    "Follow me, please." The clerk spoke.


    Lin Mu then followed the clerk to the back of the inn from where they exited out into the yard. The kitchen of the inn was located in a small shed in the yard behind the inn. He took him to the shed where a fat and squat man was chopping some meat.


    "Fatty Yuan, this sir will be using the kitchen to cook their food. Please ensure that he has whatever he needs." The clerk spoke to the cook.


    The cook named Fatty Yuan did not speak and only grunted in response. The clerk was unnerved by this and looked at Lin Mu¡¯s face. Seeing that Lin Mu did not mind the cook¡¯s dismissive attitude, he took a breath of relief. He then left Lin Mu and went back to his work.


    "Use whatever you want here." Fatty Yuan spoke curtly before resuming his work.


    Lin Mu could not withdraw the meat from his ring, thus he just used the ingredients that were already there and cooked some breakfast for himself. Although it did not fill him up, it was enough for him tost awhile. He would have to withdraw the meat beforeing to the inn next time.


    After Lin Mu finished his breakfast, he left the inn and headed towards Jing Wei¡¯s emporium. He wanted to sell all the materials he had umted during these few days and also try to find a weapon manual.


    Lin Mu looked around the town and observed that the people have started to wear thicker and warmer clothes. He himself had no need for such clothes as his body would resist the cold and keep his body at normal temperature.


    A few minutester he had reached the deste alley. Lin Mu walked up to the shop and withdrew all the materials he had. Unknowingly, he had umted a ratherrge amount of materials. A problem now presented to Lin Mu. He could not justify bringing so many materials at once to the shop, as he would not be able to show how he carried them here.


    Even the sled that Lin Mu made would not be enough to carry so many materials. He thus withdrew only half of the materials and ced the rest of them back into the ring. He then ced the sled at the side of the shop and opened the door of the shop.


    Surprisingly, the door still felt hard to open, even though Lin Mu was much stronger than before. He did not mind this and picked up some of the items before walking in. He ced the items at the empty counter and went back to get the rest of them. After he had brought all of the items inside, he ringed the small bell kept on the counter.


    A few minutester Duan Ke walked out from the door behind the counter. She looked at the counter that was overflowing with beast materials and became annoyed. There were 21 beast pelts, beast horns, feathers, and many more bones lying on the counter.


    Duan Ke then inwardly sighed.

 Chapter 59 - Getting A Weapons Manual

    <h4>Chapter 59 - Getting A Weapons Manual </h4>


    Duan Ke had certainly not expected for Lin Mu to bring so many beast materials within a week. It seemed to her that Lin Mu had outdone himself this time, as looking at the materials she could tell that most of them were from high-tier beasts.


    "I assume you are here to sell these materials?" Duan Ke spoke.


    "And also to buy some things." Lin Mu hurriedly added.


    After a few transactions, Lin Mu had understood that Duan Ke did not like it if he only sold and did not buy anything. Looking at her expression he could at least tell that she was probably not having a good day, thus he did not want to piss her off even more.


    Lin Mu was indeed right about Duan Ke not having a good day. She had been searching for clues about the sword intent that was released two days ago. Her grandfather was also doing his best in scanning the library for any evidence of a hidden cultivator. Her grandfather¡¯s library had an enormous amount of materials, so much so that it couldpare to that of the top sects.


    If there was any clue about the hidden cultivator that ascended or the overbearing sword intent, it would be present in the library. There was no chance that a cultivator who had the aptitude of being able to ascend or having peerless sword intent would be able to hide every track of themselves. They must have had outstanding talent when they were younger, thus there should be some records of them.


    Duan Ke felt a little better that Lin Mu would be buying something as well, hence her expression eased a bit. She went ahead and started checking the beast materials. Some of the materials were a little damaged, but most of them were fine.


    After confirming the quality of the materials, Duan Ke calcted their value. There were some mid-tier beast materials mixed in, along with high-tier ones. Thus she took a few minutes. Five minutester she had finished her calctions and concluded it to be 27 gold, 59 silver, and 11 copper coins.


    To be honest, Duan Ke was a little surprised at Lin Mu¡¯s pace of making money. A month ago he had only 20 copper coins, and now he was making gold coins instead. She was also shocked by the growth of his strength. Just by looking at him, she could tell that he was already at the 9th stage of the body tempering realm at the very least.


    "Your total would be 27 gold, 59 silver, and 11 copper coins." Duan Ke spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded at this price, as he had already estimated it to be around this value.


    "I would like to buy a weapons training manual for a sword." Lin Mu said.


    "Very well, go to the fourth shelf from the right and pick out whatever one that you like." Duan Ke replied.


    Lin Mu nodded and turned to the right and went towards the shelf. While he was looking at the old booklets and scrolls, senior Xukong spoke in his mind.


    "Don¡¯t waste your effort here. None of these manuals are worth your time, you should instead ask that woman for a better one. She is hiding a lot of secrets, there are concealing and illusory formations ced all around this shop." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu had suspected that Jing Wei and Duan Ke were cultivators, but now senior Xukong¡¯s words had just confirmed it. He wondered what their cultivation base could be.


    "Do you know what their cultivation level is, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked silently.


    "I would have to use my spirit sense to do that, but if I did, they would be rmed and will know that I¡¯m here. But from the formations, I can tell that at least one of them is a very high-level cultivator." Xukong answered.


    "If you¡¯re this curious, why don¡¯t you try sensing it yourself?" Xukong spoke with a chuckle, as if he was looking forward to something fun.


    Lin Mu felt a little strange upon hearing senior Xukong¡¯s tone, but did not think much of it. He returned to the counter and saw that Duan Ke was taking the materials to the back of the shop. Duan Ke saw that Lin Mu had returned, hence assumed that he had chosen a manual.


    "Show me the manual that you want to buy." Duan Ke spoke.


    "Oh, I don¡¯t want those weapon manuals, I want the ones better than that." Lin Mu spoke as he used his spirit sense to probe Duan Ke¡¯s cultivation base.


    But Lin Mu was unsessful in finding her cultivation base. He felt as if there was a barrier stopping his spirit sense from getting close to her. Duan Ke was shocked by this but did not show it on her face.


    "Is that so, please wait here for a bit then." Duan Ke replied.


    Duan Ke then picked up thest of the materials all at once with ease and went into the door behind the counter. Lin Mu asked senior Xukong about the barrier that was surrounding Duan Ke.


    "That was the effect of a defensive spirit tool. It was protecting her from spirit sense probes." Xukong spoke.


    "Then what would her cultivation base be?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, just from her ability to use spirit tools, you can assume that she¡¯s above the Qi refining realm. As in order to use spirit tools, you have to be at the core condensation realm at the very minimum." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu gulped and became a little nervous as just Duan Ke was strong enough to defeat him alone. Who knows how strong her grandfather Jing Wei was. From senior Xukong¡¯s information, he already got that Jing Wei was the stronger one of the two and was the person who had set up these formations.


    Five minutester, Duan Ke walked out of the door with Jing Wei behind her. They came to stand at the counter when Jing Wei spoke.


    "So, my granddaughter says you don¡¯t like the weapons manuals here and want better quality ones." Jing Wei spoke with an amused tone.


    Lin Mu nodded and spoke, "Yes, Owner Jing Wei."


    "Then let me see how strong you¡¯ve be." Jing Wei spoke with a stern tone.


    Before Lin Mu could say anything in reply, he felt a pricking pain in his head which he guessed to be Jing Wei¡¯s spirit sense. But in the next moment, he felt like a veil covered his body entirely and the pain in his head stopped.


    Lin Mu then saw the pair of grandfather and granddaughter in front of him and became terrified. The condition of those two did not look good, their faces were drained of blood and became pale. Sweat could be seen on their foreheads, while Duan Ke was straight up shivering with fear.


    A few secondster senior Xukong chuckled in his mind once again. Suddenly, Jing Wei grasped the ck-beaded bracelet on his wrist and broke it apart. In the next moment, he could see that Jing Wei and Duan Ke seemed to be free from whatever that was bothering them.


    "Humph, and I was just starting to have fun." Xukong muttered.


    The veil that Lin Mu felt was covering his body, slowly vanished. He then heard Jing Wei spoke.


    "Okay, you satisfy my conditions. Now take this and please leave." Jing Wei hurriedly spoke.


    A coin pouch appeared on the counter along with a booklet. This surprised Lin Mu, as Jing Wei had just used a spatial treasure. They had been concealing their capabilities all this time, but now they suddenly dropped all pretenses and revealed that they were a cultivator by using a spatial treasure.


    Lin Mu took the coin pouch and booklet. He then turned around and left the old shop swiftly, as he felt like that was the right thing to do at that time. He touched the sled that was kept to the side and stored it in the ring.


    Lin Mu walked out of the alley and left the old shop behind. He suddenly felt a fluctuation in qi, which made him turn around. Upon turning around, Lin Mu saw that the alley in which the old shop was located had vanished.


    "How?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "That was the concealing formation being activated. And it¡¯s a high grade concealing formation as well." Xukong spoke.


    "A high grade concealing formation?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It¡¯s strong enough to hide a ce from the senses of a Dao shell realm cultivator." Xukong exined before Lin Mu could continue his question.


    "Let¡¯s return to the forest. You should take a look at the weapons manual that the old man gave you." Xukong said.


    "Yes, senior." Lin Mu responded.


    After Lin Mu left the town, he thought about senior Xukong¡¯s strange behavior as well as the terrified pair of Grandfather and granddaughter. He wondered if he should ask senior Xukong or not, as it was picking at his mind.


    While Lin Mu was out, he had no idea that what just happened in the shop had now terrified Jing Wei for a lifetime.

 Chapter 60 - The Terrified Jing Wei And Duan Ke

    <h4>Chapter 60 - The Terrified Jing Wei And Duan Ke </h4>


    Fifteen minutes ago, when Lin Mu had asked Duan Ke for a better quality weapons manual, she had actually not minded it. She would be open to selling him a higher quality manual if he was willing to pay the price for it.


    But when Duan Ke felt her defensive spirit tool activate, she understood his underlying meaning. He did not just want amon weapons manual that¡¯s for body tempering realm experts, instead what he wanted was a weapons manual that¡¯s intended for a Qi refining realm cultivator.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense had shocked Duan Ke, as she had never expected for him to be a cultivator this fast. It was only a month ago when he was in the 4th stage of the body tempering realm, and now he seemed to be a Qi refining realm cultivator. From what she observed, Duan Ke could tell that Lin Mu was at the 9th stage of the body tempering realm when he became a Qi refining realm expert.


    Pushing all these thoughts to the back of her mind, Duan Ke decided to inform her grandfather first. She picked up the materials from the counter and walked to the back of the shop. She then blew out themp that was hanging from the ceiling and appeared in the enormous courtyard.


    She stored the materials in her storage ring and went to the manor. Once inside the manor, Duan Ke looked for her grandfather who was currently in the massive library. She quickly found him standing near a shelf, reading from a book.


    Jing Wei sensed his granddaughter¡¯s unease when she appeared in the library. At first, he thought that it was because she had found some clues, but when she spoke; it was not something he had expected.


    "Grandfather, that boy Lin Mu came to sell beast materials and now he¡¯s asking for a high-grade weapons manual." Duan Ke spoke.


    Jing Wei stopped reading the book he was holding and put it back onto the shelf before turning around.


    "Hmm, so why does he think we have those manuals?" Jing Wei asked while stroking his beard.


    "He has refined his spirit sense now. He tried to sense my cultivation base." Duan Ke replied.


    "What stage?" Jing Wei shortly questioned.


    "The 9th stage of the body tempering realm at least." Duan Ke answered.


    "If he has the guts to ask you and even try to tantly sense your cultivation base, I guess we can test him." Jing Wei spoke with an amused expression.


    Jing Wei then left the manor and walked towards the entrance of the shop. Duan Ke was walking along with her grandfather, thinking about Lin Mu. She was wondering what kind of fortunate encounter he had, that allowed him to be a cultivator this fast.


    Soon they reached the entrance of the shop and appeared in the back room. Duan Ke opened the door and entered the shop with Jing Wei behind her. Jing Wei silently gestured to Duan Ke and asked her to stand back, as he was intending to deal with this situation.


    "So, my granddaughter says you don¡¯t like the weapons manuals here and want better quality ones." Jing Wei spoke with an amused tone.


    Lin Mu nodded and spoke, "Yes, Owner Jing Wei."


    "Then let me see how strong you¡¯ve be." Jing Wei spoke with a stern tone.


    Jing Wei had intended to gauge Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation base at first, thus he used his spirit sense. Jing Wei¡¯s own cultivation base was sealed, and hence he could not use his techniques or skills. Thus the method he had chosen to test Lin Mu was to directly exert pressure on Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    Jing Wei easily sensed Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation base, which was at the early stage of the Qi refining realm.


    ¡¯He¡¯s progressed rather fast. He is already halfway through to the mid-stage of the qi refining realm.¡¯ Jing Wei thought.


    Jing Wei then used his spirit sense and touched Lin Mu¡¯s head. He then saw Lin Mu slightly wince in pain, but in the next moment, he heard a thundering harrumph in his head. Suddenly a veil-like barrier covered Lin Mu and an imposing presence spread out from his body.


    Jing Wei could even see the presence materializing. Bit by bit, the pressure was getting heavier. He was able to resist it but he did not think Duan Ke would be able it bear it for much longer. The presence got even denser and had nowpletely upied his vision.


    Neither Jing Wei nor Duan Ke could see anything anymore except for an empty ck void in front of them. The shop and Lin Mu had disappeared from their vision. Suddenly Jing Wei saw a colossal figure appear in front of him. The figure was hidden in darkness, and only a faint silhouette of it could be observed.


    Ten giant golden yellow eyes opened on the colossal silhouette. As soon as Jing Wei¡¯s eyes met those ten eyes, he experienced what true terror felt like. It was as if the presence wasmanding him to cease existing. He could not evene close to imagining the strength of the being who could exert such pressure just by the virtue of their presence.


    Jing Wei had fought against the invaders from the forbidden continent in the war that urred a thousand years ago. During that war, he had destroyed the shrines that were made by the invaders. The function of these shrines was to aid in summoning an evil beast from another realm.


    The invaders had oncee close to summoning the evil beast and were able to partially open a summoning portal to a different realm. Jing Wei along with other experts of his time went to stop the summoning. It was then that they experienced the strength of a being that was above the Immortal ascension realm.


    But even the full strength of that beast could note close to the mere presence of this being. In the past couple of days, he had sensed a cultivator ascending and had also experienced the peerless sword intent of a hidden expert. He had thought that these two incidents were already shocking enough, but he never thought that he was soon going to face a being that was even stronger than that.


    Duan Ke was in a worse condition than Jing Wei. There were no thoughts in her mind other than that of pure terror. She was shivering with fear and could not think of anything. She did not think of moving; she did not think of resisting; she did not think of dying. She had be a shell of her previous self that was only filled with terror now.


    Duan Ke and Jing Wei were both drenched with sweat. Although only a few seconds had passed in the actual world, both of them felt as if years had gone by. Jing Wei was trying to think of a way to get out of this situation. He had one solution that was bound to work, but he did not want to use it as it could only be used once.


    Jing Wei knew that he would not be able to survive this if it was the actual being, but this was just the presence of that being that was imprinted on Lin Mu. He could not think of any reason why such a tyrannically strong being chose Lin Mu, a boy who was rather unassuming.


    Suddenly Jing Wei heard a chuckle. It came from the colossal being that was in front of him. He could sense the ridicule in that chuckle and knew that he deserved it. He also understood that it was the final warning given by the being, thus he gritted his teeth and used the trump card he was trying to save.


    Jing Wei grasped the ck beaded bracelet that was on his left wrist and broke it apart. The ck beaded bracelet was a spirit tool that was made by an ancestor of his n. This ancestor was at the immortal ascension stage and had created the spirit tool, with the intention to be passed down as an heirloom.


    As soon as the ck beaded bracelet was broken, the floating figure of an old man appeared in front of Jing Wei. The old man looked simr to Jing Wei, but appeared to be slightly younger than Jing Wei. The figure was sitting cross-legged and had ced his palms at his navel. The left palm of the figure was kept on the right palm and was facing upwards.


    A small sphere was floating above the palms of the figure. The sphere was mostly blue with some green and brown parts on it. If one looked at it closely, it seemed like a. The figure raised his palms up to his chest along with the sphere. Then in the next moment, the figure moved his palms away and stretched out his arms. Suddenly he mmed his palms together in a praying gesture, with the small sphere stuck between the palms.


    The sphere started glowing and turned into smoke, after which light filled the surroundings and banished the darkness. The light soon disappeared and Jing Wei was able to see once again. He saw that he had returned to the shop and saw Lin Mu standing in front of him with a confused expression.


    Not wanting to spend any more time with the boy, Jing Wei swiftly took out a coin pouch along with a booklet. He did not even count how many coins he gave to the boy. He only knew that there were enough coins in the pouch for him to not return to the shop again.


    The booklet Jing Wei had given to Lin Mu was also a top-grade sword manual that was in his n for hundreds of years. Even he did not have the authority to practice the manual when he was in his n, and now that he was old, he had no reason to practice it.

 Chapter 61 - A Large Fortune

    <h4>Chapter 61 - A Large Fortune </h4>


    Lin Mu left the town and reached the forest after fifteen minutes. On the way to the forest, he had thought about asking senior Xukong what happened in the shop back there. He had finally made his mind up and was just waiting for the right moment to ask.


    Near the edge of the forest, Lin Mu withdrew the weapons manual he had just bought. He opened the manual and saw its title. Confusion appeared on his face upon seeing the title of the weapons manual.


    It was titled as the ¡¯Thousand Armament de Scripture¡¯. Lin Mu started reading the description and got even more confused. The manual did not even describe the use of a sword at first, instead it taught the use of multiple different weapons.


    Wanting to understand it clearly, Lin Mu sat down and read the booklet with full focus. It took him over two hours before he was able toplete reading the booklet. After finishing the entire booklet, he finally understood the title and the reason why it taught multiple different weapons.


    The manual first taught one to use multiple different weapons and only when they learned these, did it teach you how to use a sword. Itbined the essence of a thousand different weapons and refined them to form a sword art.


    Lin Mu let out a sigh after reading the manual. The teachings of the manual wereplex and would need a long time for him to learn. He did not even have most of the required weapons that were needed to learn from the manual.


    Seeing Lin Mu sigh, senior Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Is the weapons manual not to your liking?" Xukong asked.


    "No, it¡¯s not that. Please take a look senior." Lin Mu replied.


    Xukong scanned through the booklet and went silent for a minute before speaking.


    "The quality of the weapons manual is very high, but so is its difficulty in learning. Even the requirements for learning it are many." Xukong spoke.


    "Hmm, seems like you¡¯ll have to get all the weapons that are required for the manual. Though you could still attempt with the weapons, you already have." Xukong advised.


    Lin Mu nodded and decided to start practicing with the weapons that he already had. He will have to buy the rest of the weaponster in the town.


    Lin Mu then thought of checking the coins he had received from Jing Wei. He withdrew the coin pouch from the ring and took a look inside. The first strange thing he felt was that the weight of the pouch was very lesspared to the amount of coins present in it.


    The second thing he found strange was that all he could see inside the pouch were gold coins, there did not seem to be any silver or copper coins. To count how many coins were actually inside, Lin Mu poured out the contents of the pouch.


    The second he started emptying the pouch, he found the third strange thing. Coins kept on pouring out of the pouch non-stop. Lin Mu¡¯s mouth was wide open in shock at this magical sight. It was only a minuteter that the gold coins stoppeding out of the pouch.


    A small mountain of gold coins was currently present in front of Lin Mu. He could not make sense of this situation as it hadpletely blown his mind. Lin Mu had to use the calming heart sutra in order to pacify his mind.


    After he calmed down, Lin Mu started counting the gold coins. It took him thirty minutes before he was able to count all of the coins. The end total shocked him and also scared him a little bit. The total number of coins in that small mountain was 5000.


    This was thergest amount of money Lin Mu had ever seen in his life. This amount was something that was unimaginable to him. Even the pouch that contained these coins was a spatial storage tool. Just the cost of that coin pouch was probably equal to that of the gold coins, or perhaps even more.


    ¡¯But why would Jing Wei give me such arge fortune.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    The only reason Lin Mu could think of was senior Xukong. It was probably something caused by the influence of senior Xukong.


    "What did you do to Jing Wei, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I just had some fun," Xukong spoke with a nonchnt tone.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I scared him a little bit, or rather it was the ward that I ced on you." Xukong answered.


    "What ward? Oh, is that what you meant by the gift?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Yes. Before we left my nest, I ced a ward on you. It is basically my imprint that will warn any cultivator that is excessively stronger than you." Xukong spoke.


    "Though I think its effect may have been much more severe than I originally intended. It even made him waste a top grade defensive spirit tool. If he had endured for a little bit more, the pressure would have stopped by itself." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was at a loss for words now. He did not think that something that senior Xukong made as a mere ¡¯Warning¡¯ would end up terrifying Jing Wei.


    "What do you think Jing Wei¡¯s cultivation base was then, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "It was strange. Since I don¡¯t have my main body, I could not exactly tell what his cultivation base was as it seemed to sealed." Xukong answered with uncertainty.


    "Why would his cultivation base be sealed?" Lin Mu asked.


    "There could be many reasons for that. But even though his cultivation base was sealed, his spirit sense is still active. From what I could tell from the strength of his spirit sense, he must be at the Nascent Soul stage at the very least, if not higher." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu wondered why Jing Wei¡¯s cultivation base was sealed. He wondered if that was the reason they were living in a dpidated shop, were they perhaps hiding from someone?


    Lin Mu could think of only a handful of things that could threaten a strong cultivator in this region. Even in Wu Lim city, where cultivators were moremon, the strongest cultivators were only at the Core condensation realm.


    For Jing Wei, who was probably at the nascent soul stage, Wu Lim city was just a small pond filled with weak little fishes. If he were to take over the city, there was no way that the city mayor would be able to resist.


    Putting the thoughts about Jing Wei aside, Lin Mu thought about what he would do with these gold coins. He had more than enough gold to be able to buy his property back, which was one big load off his back. He will also be able to buy the weapons that will be required for learning the Thousand Armament de scripture.


    Though there was another obstacle that could potentially prevent Lin Mu from buying his property back. Someone was bound to ask him where he got the money, and they will definitely suspect that he stole it from somewhere. He would have to think of a solution for that before he went to get his property back.


    Lin Mu thus turned to senior Xukong for some advice.


    "Why are you thinking of hiding it, did you forget that cultivators are abovemoners? Why should they be questioning you? Instead, you should show them their ce." Xukong said with an imposing tone.


    Upon hearing senior Xukong¡¯s advice, the thoughts that were clouding Lin Mu¡¯s mind vanished. He realized that the best way to proceed was to be domineering and open. Even the incident with Gan Ma, he should just resolve it in a straightforward manner.


    Even though killing was prohibited in the town, that rule did notpletely apply to cultivators. Gan Ma had thrashedmoners before whoter died due to the injuries. But he was still able to get away with little to no problems.


    If cultivators had conflicts, they could resolve it amongst themselves, as long as they did not involvemoners. Once Lin Mu found out about the cultivation base of Gan Ma, depending on the level, he will either kill him in secret or in the city itself.


    With his newfound determination, Lin Mu started his cultivation session. Perhaps because the burden of filial piety was lifted from Lin Mu¡¯s mind, his cultivation speed had slightly increased. He cultivated for four hours before he stopped and gauged the quantity of spirit qi within his dantian.


    Lin Mu scanned his dantian and estimated that he had around 670 spirit qi wisps. Satisfied with this number, for now, he started to refine his spirit sense. Currently, his spirit sense was limited to a range of one meter, whichrgely restrained his sensing capabilities along with the range of the second skill ¡¯Blink¡¯.


    Lin Mu continued refining his spirit sense till the night and only broke his concentration because he heard a faint roaring from the forest. If it was just the roar of a normal beast it would not bother him, but this roar contained a slight amount of spirit qi within.


    "A spirit Beast." Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 62 - Hunting The First Spirit Beast

    <h4>Chapter 62 - Hunting The First Spirit Beast </h4>


    Lin Mu stood up and spread his spirit sense, which had now grown to one and a half meters long. He had depleted nearly half of his spirit qi in increasing the range of his spirit sense.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll have to be a little careful as I only have half of my spirit qi stores left.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu focused on the sound and estimated the location of the spirit beast. He guessed that the beast shouldn¡¯t be much farther from his location. He was also wondering why the beast wandered this far out.


    Lin Mu entered the forest and swiftly moved through the trees. With his legs strengthened by spirit qi, he could run faster and made little sounds. The wind was blowing through the trees, rustling the leaves and masking the sounds of Lin Mu¡¯s steps.


    A few minutester Lin Mu reached the location which he had estimated as the site from where the roar came from. The w marks and damaged trees confirmed his assumption. Lin Mu, therefore, kept his sense alert for any sign of movement.


    He went closer and examined the w marks that were on the trees and the ground. The marks were thin but long, making him unable to identify the beast that could have caused it. Lin Mu was not much knowledgeable about spirit beasts, except for the moremon ones that the elite hunters killed and brought to the town.


    Lin Mu looked at the footprints on the ground and found them to be rather shallow. The distance between the footprints was also narrow, making him think that this was a small spirit beast. Still, the w marks made him wary of the beast.


    Lin Mu looked at a corner where most of the trees were damaged and found a small pool of blood along with another different set of footprints. This made him think that it was a fight between two beasts, but the other beast was probably weaker than the spirit beast.


    Lin Mu searched for any more tracks but could not find them. Suddenly he heard the sound of rustlinging from the trees. He looked up at the trees but could not find anything. He then probed with his spirit sense and found the perpetrator camouged in the tree.


    The beast was about the size of a dog and had thin and long limbs. Each of its limbs had two sharp ws that looked like hooks. The beast had no fur and the color of its skin was dark brown, this along with the darkness of the night made it easy for the beast to camouge.


    Lin Mu saw the bloodstains on the beast¡¯s ws and determined that it was probably this beast that attacked the other beast and also made the roaring sound. He was also able to sense the spirit qi hidden within the beast. He found out that the spirit qi was concentrated in one spot within the beast¡¯s torso.


    ¡¯That should be its beast core.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu braced himself and studied the beast¡¯s behavior. It seemed to be biding its time and waiting for the right moment to attack. Lin Mu guessed that while he had discovered the beast, it did not realize that.


    Wanting to take advantage of the beast¡¯s unawareness, Lin Mu formted a n. He turned around and looked in the other direction while extending his spirit sense towards his back. He then waited for the beast to react. Seemingly his n worked, and he did not have to wait long, as the beast could not resist attacking his unguarded back.


    The beast pounced from the tree towards Lin Mu¡¯s back with great speed. Its ws were extended and were aimed at his neck, intending to end him in one stroke. But as soon as the beast entered the range of Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense, he triggered the first skill Flicker.


    Lin Mu¡¯s body turned blurry and the beast simply passed through it. The beast fell on the ground five meters away and looked a little disoriented, as it had not expected this to happen. Lin Mu grasped this opportunity and used the second skill blink, teleporting to the side of the beast.


    He drew the short sword and strengthened it with his spirit qi before shing at the spirit beast¡¯s head. In the next second, the head was decapitated and the spirit beast was dead.


    ~Huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath that he did not even know he was holding in. He did not realize, but he was actually very nervous, as it was the very first spirit beast he had killed. He did not know how this entire thing would progress, thus he was nervous. Though in the end his confidence won over his anxiety and he sessfully hunted the spirit beast.


    Lin Mu touched the beast and stored its corpse into the ring. He then turned around and returned the way he came from. A few minutester he had left the forest and was currently at the edge of the small stream. He was cleaning and preparing the spirit beast he had just killed.


    Tonight Lin Mu wanted to taste what spirit beast meat tasted like. Though the beast he had hunted did not have much flesh and was rather bony. He cut open its ribs and found a small fingernail-sized brown marble in the center. This was the core of the spirit beast.


    While spirit beasts had the same cultivation levels such as humans, the one difference they had was that they had spirit cores instead of a dantian. The spirit cores were usually located near the heart of a spirit beast, though some beasts had them in other parts as well.


    There were also some rare beasts who had more than one spirit core. Spirit beasts of this kind were usually very strong and had a high level of cultivation.


    Spirit beast cores were very useful for a cultivator, as they could be used in several different things. They were used as ingredients for alchemical pills; they were used as a power source for formations, as well as aponent; they were used in the forging of spirit weapons and also for refining spirit tools.


    Though there was another use for a spirit beast core, a use that could potentially multiply the strength of a cultivator. Spirit beast cores could be used to refine something called as ¡¯Bloodline Essence¡¯. This Bloodline essence was unique to the beast it was made from.


    Bloodline essence could be assimted by cultivators to gain new abilities and skills. Depending on the type of beast, they would get abilities that were unique to the beast. Bloodline essence would also strengthen the physique of a cultivator.


    While there were multiple ways to refine Bloodline essence, using a spirit core was the mostmon method. Still, most cultivators would not assimte just any bloodline essence. They would usually wait and chose a Bloodline essence that was suitable for them andplimented their cultivation base.


    It was not as if there was a hundred percent chance that a cultivator would be able to assimte a Bloodline essence. A cultivator¡¯s body could also reject the bloodline essence because of many reasons such as the bloodline essence being ipatible with the cultivator, it being impure or unstable, it could also be because of the bloodline essence being too domineering and powerful. Also, if a cultivator was weak, he could also fail to absorb the bloodline essence.


    Though overall, there was always a certain percent chance of failure when assimting a Bloodline essence. Another reason why cultivators waited to get a suitable bloodline essence was that, once they assimted it, it would be very difficult for them to improve that bloodline.


    If a cultivator wanted to improve the bloodline they had assimted, they would have to find a higher grade bloodline that waspatible. Just finding apatible bloodline was also not enough, most of the time, as they still needed precious materials and rare herbs to help the process.


    The disciples of the sects had an advantage in this matter. Most of the sects had a repertoire of different bloodline essence along with their records. This made it convenient for the disciple to choose a bloodline essence.


    Lin Mu had soon finished preparing the spirit beast. He had separated the meat and the materials such as the skin and ws. He stored everything in the ring and started his journey back to the town. After fifteen minutes, Lin Mu was very close to the town. Ensuring that no one was seeing him, he withdrew arge sack and put the beast meat he had into it.


    He had put enough meat tost him for two meals, namely the dinner for now and the breakfast for tomorrow. Having done this, Lin Mu walked to the Northwind inn. As it was nighttime, there weren¡¯t many people out, except for the areas where the restaurant and eateries were located at.


    Lin Mu stepped into the inn and looked at the entry desk. There was a different clerk than morning sitting at the desk. He walked up to the clerk and showed him the small wooden te. The clerk seemed to already know him, thus he responded with respect and asked him if he wanted any assistance.


    Lin Mu just told him he wanted to use the kitchen, to which the clerk nodded and gestured him to follow him.

 Chapter 63 - A Letter

    <h4>Chapter 63 - A Letter </h4>


    Lin Mu followed the clerk to the kitchen located in the backyard. There he saw the cook fatty Yuan sitting to the side and drinking from a gourd. He was takingrge sips and already seemed to be drunk.


    After speaking some words with Lin Mu, the clerk bade him farewell and left. Lin Mu approached the cooking area and took out the meat from therge sack. He washed the meat and chopped it up. He then took some vegetables and spices that were kept to the side and chopped them up as well.


    Having done this, he took arge pot that was hanging from the wall and set it on the stove. Adding the meat along with the other ingredients, Lin Mu covered the pot. He saw that there were only embers left in the stove with no mes left, thus he added more wood and ignited the mes. He ced the bellows in front of the opening of the stove and started to blow air into the stove.


    Soon the fire was zing hot, and the pot started cooking. Lin Mu stopped blowing the bellows and sat down. He started chanting the severing heart sutra and recuperated the spirit qi he had consumed. While he was doing this, the cook fatty Yuan was watching him with hazy eyes.


    The cook¡¯s face was red, and he seemed to be murmuring to himself. Thirty minutester, a delicious aroma started arising from the pot. By now Lin Mu had replenished a small part of his spirit qi. Soon Lin Mu¡¯s stomach groaned after smelling the delicious aroma. Thus he stopped cultivating and stood up.


    Even the cook seemed to have be a little sober after smelling the aroma. What Lin Mu had cooked just now was the meat from the spirit beast he had killed. Because the spirit beast had little meat and was rather bony, Lin Mu chose to make a stew instead of the roast he usually made.


    Lin Mu removed the pot¡¯s lid and scooped out arge serving of stew into a bowl. He then sat down on the side and started eating the stew. The cook named Fatty Yuan stood up in a seemingly drunken stupor and walked up to the stew, while speaking to himself.


    "How can this kid cooking be better than mine?"


    The cook picked up a small tasting bowl and scooped up a small serving of the stew. Lin Mu did not react and waited. He wanted to see what the reaction ofmoner would be upon eating spirit beast meat.


    The cook brought the small bowl to his mouth and gulped down the savory and delightful stew. He enjoyed the taste of the stew for a moment and then turned extremely red in the next. His body started heating and he could not make a sense of it.


    "What... what is this?" The cook spoke.


    A small amount of blood started leaking out of the cook¡¯s nose and he fainted, seemingly due to the excess amount of energy raging through his body. Lin Mu was surprised by this. He did not expect that such a small serving would be enough to knock out amoner.


    Lin Mu sensed the cook¡¯s strength and ced him at the 6th stage of the body tempering realm. Wanting to gain a deeper understanding, Lin Mu used his spirit sense and observed the condition of the cook¡¯s body.


    He saw that the small amount of spirit qi that was present in the stew permeated the cook¡¯s body and was wandering randomly, without a direction. Lin Mu looked closer and tried to find the cook¡¯s meridians. He found them after a few seconds and studied the difference between them and his own.


    If the cook¡¯s meridians could bepared to the thickness of a hair, then Lin Mu¡¯s couldpare to that of a chopstick. The difference between the wideness of the meridians was astounding. Lin Mu decided to ask senior Xukong.


    "Your meridians should have been the same at first, but perhaps because of eating that purple spirit fruit they became wider." Xukong spoke.


    Xukong did not say theplete truth to Lin Mu, though. Just a spirit fruit would not have been enough to widen the meridians by such arge margin. It was rather the subtle effect of the mysterious ring which had actually been changing Lin Mu¡¯s constitution.


    Soon Lin Mu had emptied out the pot and had finished eating. He then sat down to chant the calming heart sutra and assimted the vital energy. He sensed the overflowing vital energy present in the stew that he had eaten. He also sensed that the spirit qi that was present in the beast meat was readily absorbed by his body without needing much effort.


    The spirit qi in the meat was enough for him to replenish his entire store. After assimting all the spirit qi, Lin Mu stood up and walked up to his room. He sat down on his bed and continued his cultivation session. He cultivated for a couple of hours until he felt tired and sleepy.


    Lin Mu soon fell asleep and appeared in the Sleepscape. It was finally time for Lin Mu to start practicing the Thousand Armament de scripture. There were many weapons that were described in the manual, and from those Lin Mu had a spear, axe, hatchet, and dagger, that he could practice with.


    He started with the spear as it seemed to be the easiest to him. The manual described simple moves and stances for each weapon. Though they seemed to be simple to practice, what they contained was the pure essence of that weapon.


    When Lin Mu started practicing, he found the process to be easy and simple, but the more he practiced, the more he became aware of the hiddenplexities of the spear. He would thrust and experience that he thrusted, yet it did not feel right to him.


    It was as if the manual was making him reveal his weaknesses. In a little while, Lin Mu was lost in the practice. He did not even realize as the hours passed by and morning came. His consciousness disappeared from the Sleepscape and returned to his body.


    Lin Mu slowly opened his eyes and looked at the unfamiliar ceiling above him. Standing up to stretch, Lin Mu flexed his body. He then heard a knock on his door, which prompted him to open it. It was the clerk who had knocked.


    "The breakfast is ready, sir, or would you prefer to cook yourself again?" The clerk asked.


    "Both." Lin Mu shortly answered.


    The clerk felt a little strange at Lin Mu???s answer but did not mind it for long and gestured Lin Mu to follow him. They went downstairs and walked to the left. They entered a small hall in which many people were currently sitting and eating their breakfast.


    The clerk brought Lin Mu to an empty table and let him sit, while he brought him some breakfast. The breakfast was rather simple, consisting of some steamed buns, light soup, and vegetables. Lin Mu finished the meal in a few minutes, yet did not feel the least bit satisfied.


    The Clerk was standing beside Lin Mu the entire time he was eating. The other patrons of the inn saw this and felt a little strange upon seeing the clerk standing beside Lin Mu. They wondered what could be the reason, but did not really mind it as much.


    Most of the patrons of the inn were hunters with some other people like merchants, travelers, and mercenaries mixed in. Just as Lin Mu was about to get up, he saw someone familiar walk in from the entrance of the hall.


    It was none other than the mercenary Yan Zhong from the Fierce Blood mercenarypany. Along with him, the rest of his team members also walked in. He spotted Lin Mu and approached him.


    "Greetings, Brother Lin Mu." Yan Zhong said.


    "Ah, hello." Lin Mu awkwardly replied.


    The other mercenaries also greeted Lin Mu next.


    "Are you done with your breakfast brother Lin Mu?" Yan Zhong asked.


    "No, not yet, I¡¯m going to make more for myself." Lin Mu answered.


    "Was the food here not to your liking?" the Yan Zhong asked.


    "Oh, that¡¯s not it, I¡¯m just used to something different." Lin Mu replied.


    Yan Zhong nodded in response and did not ask any further. Lin Mu left the mercenaries and walked to the kitchen to prepare the meat for himself. In the kitchen, the cook Fatty Yuan was cooking food and seemed to be very energetic.


    ¡¯Probably the effect of the stew from yesterday.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu took out the remaining meat from the sack and covered it with spices before setting it to roast in a y oven. The meat was cooked after fifteen minutes, thus Lin Mu did not have to wait long. After finishing his meal, Lin Mu left the inn and walked out of the town.


    While he was on the way to the forest Lin Mu spotted many ck dots appearing in the air. Though the one difference was that these ck dots seemed to be aligned in a curving line. Lin Mu became intrigued upon seeing this, thus he decided to check and open the spatial rift.


    Lin Mu looked around and ensured that there was no one watching him. He then extended his hand towards a ck dot and willed it to open. In the next moment, the spatial rift opened and Lin Mu inserted his hand inside.


    Once his hand went inside the spatial rift, Lin Mu sensed that it was not a normal spatial rift. It was instead a teleportation channel. Excited at the prospect of finding something valuable again, Lin Mu searched around for the object that was being transported.


    Fifteen minutester Lin Mu touched a small cylindrical object. After storing the object inside the ring, he pulled his hand out. Withdrawing the object from the ring, Lin Mu looked at it. The object in his hand was a rolled-up scroll, which had a wax seal ced on its opening.


    "A letter?" Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 64 - The Solemn Mercenaries

    <h4>Chapter 64 - The Solemn Mercenaries </h4>


    Lin Mu had not expected to find a letter in the teleportation channel. He had heard from senior Xukong that using a teleportation formation required spirit stones and sending even a small item required a sizable sum of spirit stones.


    He determined that the letter was definitely valuable, as the sender considered it worthy enough to be sent by the teleportation channel. Lin Mu looked at the wax seal on the letter and found it to be familiar.


    The wax seal on the letter depicted three cauldrons with a peony flower ced above it.


    "The Tri-cauldron Peony sect?" Lin Mu muttered.


    Suddenly something clicked in Lin Mu¡¯s mind, and he linked the events together. The four vessels restoration pill and the spirit stones, both of them were sent by the Tri-cauldron Peony sect. The only question left was why? Which would be answered once he opened the letter.


    Lin Mu was about to break the wax seal and open the letter when the voice of senior Xukong rang in his head.


    "Don¡¯t open the seal, it has an identification formation ced on it which would alert the sender and perhaps even the receiver. ce it in the ring, I¡¯ll open it." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu instantly stopped and heeded senior Xukong¡¯s words. He stored the letter in the ring and waited for senior Xukong to reply, and a minuteter he got it.


    "You can take it now." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu saw that the wax seal had been broken, and the letter could now be unrolled. He opened the letter and started reading it. The letter was addressed to the mayor of Wu Lim city, Wu Xun.


    It read,


    "Mayor Wu Xun, despite your incessant reports about the missing four vessels restoration pills, the peak master has rejected your demand for recement. He ispletely sure that the pills were sent and there is no conspiracy against you.


    As for your report that we sent a stone instead of the pills, they arepletely false and baseless. The peak master has warned that this is thest time he will tolerate this insolence, any further and the cooperation between us shall end forever.


    The Tri-cauldron peony sect has been true to its words and has always provided the best quality pills. Your usations paint us in a bad light and are uneptable.


    Since you have been doubtful about our services, we have decided to terminate our previous contract. We have returned the spirit stones you had remaining with us, as you should have noticed.


    The peak master has instructed that you should cease your incessant messages. If any more messengers are found to have contacted the sect with the same reports, they shall be executed and our cooperation shall directly end.


    Only contact us if you want tomission more pills or other services from the sect."


    Lin Mu was a little dumbfounded after reading the entire letter. He knew that only a very rich person would be able to buy the four vessels restoration pills, but he had not expected for that person to be the mayor of Wu Lim City.


    Lin Mu had also unknowingly created a conflict between the mayor and the Tri-cauldron peony sect. The result of this conflict also did not seem well to him. He could not imagine what would happen next. He had taken the one thing that would have prevented it from happening, the letter in his hands.


    Seemingly in a dilemma, Lin Mu asked senior Xukong for advice. Who ended up giving him a rather quick and short answer.


    "Don¡¯t bother." Xukong said.


    "It is not your ce to interfere. Let their destinies progress as it is, besides you don¡¯t have the capabilities to do so right now anyway, and if you do end uping in contact with them, it won¡¯t bid well for you." Xukong further exined.


    Lin Mu thought over his words and found them to be true. There was no chance that he will contact them, and if he does, it will probably end up harming him instead. He had unknowingly stolen two precious items from the mayor, so he should be hiding instead.


    Lin Mu then thought about the reason for which the mayor could have bought the Four vessels restoration pills for. The obvious reason would be to heal someone, but the question was who?


    From what he knew, the mayor did not have a big family, he only had a wife and two sons. This was something everyone knew and wasmon knowledge. If he bought such an expensive alchemical pill, then it should be for someone he cares about.


    If anyone from his family was injured it would be public news and there would have been an uproar. But still, Lin Mu had his doubts. There could be a chance that someone from his family was injured, and this information was deliberately hidden.


    The most likely person would be the eldest son of the mayor. Lin Mu did not know his name, but knew that he was part of the kingdom¡¯s army. If he got injured on a mission, perhaps that¡¯s why the mayor chose to hide it as it could be detrimental to him.


    He also thought if it could be the second son, but doubted it, as there was not much known about the second son, except that he was a reclusive schr who stayed cooped up at his own manor. People also did not know why he chose to live away from the mayor¡¯s manor instead of living together.


    Unknowingly Lin Mu had reached the forest while he was lost in his thoughts. Putting his thoughts to rest, Lin Mu started his cultivation session. He cultivated for four hours, after which he observed his dantian and found that his maximum capacity of spirit qi had reached 750 wisps.


    After this Lin Mu cooked some lunch and ate it. He then refined his spirit sense in an effort to increase its range. When it was night Lin Mu returned to the town and slept. While he was in the Sleepscape, he plucked the spirit apple that had matured. He had three spirit apples in his storage for emergencies now.


    Lin Mu practiced ording to the Thousand Armament des scripture and woke up in the morning. After eating his breakfast, Lin Mu decided to check out Jing Wei¡¯s emporium. But when he reached there, he found out that the alley it was located in was not there.


    "Senior Xukong is the alley still hidden by the concealing formation." Lin Mu asked.


    "No, it seems the protections have been increased. There seems to be a sealing formation ced on it as well now." Xukong spoke.


    Unable to find the shop, Lin Mu returned to his routine.


    Two weeks passed by in a sh, the temperature had fallen even more and light snowfall had also urred. In these two weeks, Lin Mu would wake up in the morning, eat, cultivate, refine his spirit sense, and train with the weapons manual.


    asionally he would go out to hunt if he got bored. He had also encountered two spirit beasts during his hunts, one of which he was able to hunt while the other he could not as there was a mercenary team already after it.


    Overnight, the town would be covered in a thinyer of snow, while in the afternoon it would melt and vanish. People were wondering when the first wave of frost will start, for they were thinking of the preparations needed before it.


    As soon as the frost wave hits, the entire demographic of the town changes. The hunters retreat to the town and the forest bes a forbidden area. The rivers and streams freeze overnight, while the animals and beast of the forest retreat to the depths.


    Only the strongest of fierce beasts and spirit beasts wander in the forest during this season, making it an extremely dangerous ce. Lin Mu saw that while the hunters had stopped going to the forest, the mercenaries were the same and were still hunting with no rest.


    Another week passed and the frost wave finally hit. The town was covered in ankle-deep snow and chilling winds blew. The people had stocked up on food and necessities, while the town head had officially designated the Northern forest as a forbidden area.


    It was on this day that tragedy struck. Lin Mu had just woken up and hade down to eat breakfast in the hall when he saw the solemn faces of the mercenaries sitting within.


    He saw the mercenary he was acquainted with, Yan Zhong, and approached him to inquire.


    "Brother Yan Zhong, what happened, why does everyone seem so tense?" Lin Mu asked.


    Yan Zhong who was lost in his thoughts looked up from his rice bowl and saw Lin Mu standing there.


    "Something terrible has happened, a truly fearsome spirit beast has appeared." Yan Zhong spoke.


    "But that¡¯s nothing new, spirit beasts be rather active during the winter and often wander around." Lin Mu replied.


    "This was much worse. Yesterday an Elite Team of mercenariesposed entirely of cultivators disappeared. It belonged to the Ashen cloak mercenarypany, which is considered as the strongest mercenarypany in this region." Yan Zhong spoke and took a pause as if it was hard for him to speak.


    Lin Mu felt a little lost seeing Yan Zhong like this. He wondered why the mercenaries would be so depressed at this because this was something that often urred in their line of business. It was only when Yan Zhong resumed speaking that he understood why.

 Chapter 65 - Reaching The Mid Stage Of The Qi Refining Realm

    <h4>Chapter 65 - Reaching The Mid Stage Of The Qi Refining Realm </h4>


    Yan Zhong took a deep breath before speaking again.


    "The elite team of the Ashen Cloak mercenarypany was not like the other elite teams. It was bigger, much bigger." Yan Zhong spoke.


    Lin Mu was getting tense upon hearing this, thus he gulped before asking.


    "How many were there in the team?"


    "Eighty mercenaries." Yan Zhong replied.


    "All cultivators?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Yes, all cultivators." Yan Zhong answered while nodding his head.


    Lin Mu went silent for a bit as he contemted about the situation.


    "How were they found?" Lin Mu asked.


    Lin Mu understood that the more he knew about the situation, the better it would be for him. He had been hunting spirit beasts in the forest all this time, but now that there was a strong and ferocious spirit beast on the prowl, he may have to change his ns.


    "The Ashen Cloak mercenaries sent out a search partyter at night when the elite team did not return. They searched the entire night but still could not find them. It was only around four hours ago that they found them, or rather their remains." Yan Zhong answered.


    "Remains? You mean there were no bodies?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, all that they found there was sttered blood and chunks of flesh along with the bits and pieces of their armor, which helped to identify them." Yan Zhong replied with a heavy voice.


    Lin Mu was shocked by this, as he could not think of any beast that could do this. Sure, a beast would be able to kill such arge number of mercenaries, but it certainly could not eat them all. Still, from Yan Zhong¡¯s words, he could sense the hint of truth and dread.


    If all that Yan Zhong said was true, then the Northern town had a huge problem at its hands. If such a beast wandered out of the forest, it would spell doom for the town.


    "Where were the remains exactly found?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "About Eight kilometers deep, in the northwestern side of the forest.??? Yan Zhong answered.


    Lin Mu secretly took a breath of relief, as it was still very far from the town. He knew about the area Yan Zhong had spoken about. The Northwestern part of the forest was essible from the western exit of the town. It was the same exit where the mercenaries and hunters had set up their camp.


    If one went further in the northwestern part of the forest, they would found mountains surrounded by ridges. It was a dangerous area that was very difficult to cross, as the mountains and ridges acted as a natural barrier. This not only prevented people from crossing it, but it also stopped the stronger spirit beasts from crossing over.


    The only way to cross this region was to travel through the frontier bridge or to use the smaller passes and tunnels. The frontier bridge was far towards the west, so the mercenaries had most likely used the smaller passes to cross this region.


    Lin Mu did not think they would take the risk of traveling through the tunnels, as they were notorious for copsing. Some beasts would also reside within them and use them as their nests or dens.


    "Do they have any idea what kind of beast it was?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They don¡¯t know much about the beast except that it is likely to be veryrge in size and has four limbs with sharp ws." Yan Zhong replied.


    Lin Mu could not do much with such a vague description, so just decided to look out for anyrge beast. There were far too many beasts that would fit this description, as the region beyond the mountains and ridges was filled with them.


    Lin Mu bid farewell to Yan Zhong and went to eat his breakfast. After quickly finishing his breakfast, he then went to the hunting shack. While Lin Mu was no longer living in the hunting shack, he still cultivated near it.


    It was the perfect location that was hidden and granted him privacy. Now that the winter had started it was even safer for him as not even the local hunters woulde near there. The only problem would be the beasts, but Lin Mu was strong enough to handle most of them, and if he encountered a stronger beast, he could just run away.


    The two skills that were imparted by the ring, not only allowed him to dodge strikes, it also gave him the ability to escape easily. Though that kind of situation has not urred yet, and Lin Mu was hoping to keep it that way.


    Another thing Lin Mu had done in these three weeks was to find out information about Gan Ma. He had not forgotten about the test that senior Xukong had given him and was intending toplete it as fast as possible.


    But Lin Mu had reached a wall in his search for Gan Ma, as he has somehow disappeared off the face of the earth. He had tried asking around, but the answers he got were all different. He had asked the hunters as well as the taverns which Gan Ma frequented, but to no avail.


    Lin Mu then tried finding the hunters who were part of his group, but found out that they had disappeared as well. Some people said that he had gone to the forest to hunt, but now that winter had started, he should have returned.


    Lin Mu also heard that Gan Ma had instead gone to Wu Lim city for some reason. He had thought about it but could not figure out any reason for it.


    The sun was hidden behind the clouds as the chilling wind blew. It was a littleter than noon when a change could be observed in Lin Mu. A faint wave of energy emanated from his body as it slowly disappeared.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes, which were glowing with joy. He had just reached the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm. He observed his dantian and saw that half of it was now filled with spirit qi. But the thing that surprised him was the actual quantity of the spirit qi wisps.


    Lin Mu counted the number of spirit qi wisps and found that instead of a 1000 wisps there were actually 1112 wisps of spirit qi in his dantian. Earlier when he had started cultivating, he had estimated the maximum capacity of his dantian to be of 2000 wisps, the half of which would be a 1000 wisps.


    Somehow along the way, the maximum capacity of Lin Mu¡¯s dantian had increased. He tried to sense the entirety of his dantian, but found that it seemed to be of the same size as before. Thinking that he may have just made a mistake back then, Lin Mu pushed this thought to the back of his mind.


    Xukong was closely observing Lin Mu¡¯s progress and knew exactly what was happening with him. He had already known that the ring was subtly affecting the growth of Lin Mu¡¯s physique, but did not know to what extent.


    Lin Mu breaking through to the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm had given him a measure. If Lin Mu kept on cultivating at this pace, Xukong estimated that when he reached thete stage of the qi refining realm, the maximum capacity of his dantian was likely to increase beyond 3000 spirit qi wisps.


    The increase in the size of his dantian would slow down Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation progress, but it would also increase his overall qi. Xukong guessed that when Lin Mu finally reaches the core condensation realm, he would probably have the same amount of spirit qi as that of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator.


    Lin Mu sensed the vital energy coursing through his body and saw that it had reached a breaking point. He estimated that he would probably break through to the 11th stage of the body tempering realm at any moment.


    Lin Mu focused on his spirit sense and spread it around. Over the three weeks, Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense had increased to a range of five meters. He had been cultivating and refining his spirit sense every day. Perhaps if he had not refined his spirit sense, Lin Mu would have reached the mid-stage of the qi refining much earlier.


    Even though Lin Mu knew that he could break through to the next stage faster by stopping his refining of spirit sense, he chose not to. He was determined to increase the range of his spirit qi to at least ten meters, which was also the maximum teleportation range of the second skill Blink.


    Senior Xukong had also told Lin Mu that, by stabilizing his pace of cultivation, he was only helping his future progress. His foundation would be more stable, as his body limatized to the increased amount of spirit qi.


    Lin Mu cultivated all the way to midnight and only stopped when his spirit qi was reduced to 200 wisps. After this, he returned to the town and went to the inn to eat his dinner. But while he was walking towards the inn, a pair of eyes were hidden in the darkness, watching him.

 Chapter 66 - Disappearance Of The Mercenaries

    <h4>Chapter 66 - Disappearance Of The Mercenaries </h4>


    Lin Mu stepped inside the inn, and the eyes that were watching him disappeared. Completely unaware of this urrence, Lin Mu went to eat dinner. After an hour he returned to his room and recuperated the remaining amount of spirit qi.


    After he was done Lin Mu lied down on the bed and entered the Sleepscape. As soon as he appeared in the Sleepscape, he saw the spirit apple tree in front of him. He looked at it and saw a change in it. There were three spirit apples hanging on it, one ripe and two unripe.


    Over the weeks, Lin Mu had been plucking the ripened spirit apples from the tree and had stored them in the ring. He had stockpiled a sufficient quantity of spirit apples and would be ready for most emergencies.


    Lin Mu could only think of one reason why the number of spirit apples had increased, him breaking through to the mid-stage of the Qi condensation realm. Senior Xukong had already told him that the garden of karma would develop along with its owner. Thus, with this knowledge, he only had more things to look forward to in the future.


    Lin Mu then started practicing with the Thousand Armament de scripture and engrossed himself in it. A few hourster he heard senior Xukong¡¯s voice in his mind, which prompted him to stop. He then let senior Xukong out of the ring.


    As soon as Xukong appeared in the Sleepscape, he flew away to observe it. He returned a few secondster, havingpleted his survey. He floated in front of Lin Mu and spoke.


    "So it has started developing a little now."


    "Yes it has, the number of spirit apples has grown by one." Lin Mu replied.


    "That¡¯s not all, its area has also increased by a minute amount." Xukong added.


    Lin Mu was a little surprised but understood. Senior Xukong¡¯s senses were much stronger than his and could even find microscopic changes that were hidden from him. He then sat down and waited for senior Xukong to start his lesson.


    Lin Mu had been learning Dao script from senior Xukong every day in the Sleepscape. Although he studied every day, it was still difficult for him to learn the Dao script. Senior Xukong had exined to him that Dao script was not just about reading the characters, the characters also contained more intent and meaning in them than he understood. Thus for him to learn even one character took him a long time.


    Until now he had barely learned seven characters, and even the understanding of those characters was still kind of shaky for him. He was able to read them and understood some part of its meaning, but the intent was still fuzzy. There were far too many variables that influenced the use of the Dao script, which was why it was so difficult for him to learn it.


    Senior Xukong had told him that Dao script was the only universal writing script that was could be understood by every species in the cosmos. Lin Mu was fascinated by this and asked senior Xukong how this was possible if there was no one to teach them.


    Senior Xukong exined that Dao script was actually not created by a person but was rather a natural creation of the Heavenly Dao. He told Lin Mu that any species would be able to read it once they reached a sufficiently high cultivation realm.


    Dao script was often present on natural treasures and precious materials. It was the imprint of the Dao itself, thus would enable a person to learn it if they spent a sufficient amount of timeprehending and learning it.


    Dao script¡¯s direct rtion to the Heavenly Dao was what made it so important in the construction of formations, refinement of alchemical pills, forging of spirit tools, and creation of techniques. It would still take Lin Mu a long time till he learned enough Dao script to learn from the legacy of the lost immortal.


    More time passed by and Lin Mu woke up. He stood up and looked out of the window. It was snowing outside, and the town was covered in a thick sheet of snow. Looking at the people walking outside, Lin Mu could estimate that the snow was at least six inches deep.


    While this kind of snow would not bother him, the same could not be said about themoners as they did not have the same resistance to cold and higher strength as him. A minuteter he saw the team of snow cleaners pass by.


    The snow cleaners were equipped with shoves and other equipment, which helped them clear out the snow from the streets. Though the most eye-catching were the snowploughs, which were pulled by horses. Although it could not cover the entire street, it still reduced the workload of the snow cleaners.


    Having watched enough, Lin Mu went down to cook and eat his breakfast. He walked into the hall and saw that it was surprisingly empty. Most of the mercenaries that should be present here at this time had disappeared to heaven knows where. The only people that were currently sitting there were the other hunters and regrs.


    A clerk saw Lin Mu and approached him.


    "Do you need anything, sir?" the clerk asked.


    Every clerk in the inn now knew about Lin Mu and also knew that he was a cultivator, thus they were always respectful and courteous to him. The other patrons of the inn used to be surprised at this, but had be pretty used to it by now.


    "Why is the hall so empty?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The mercenaries were called in for an emergency meeting after what happenedst night." The clerk answered.


    Lin Mu felt a depressing feeling rising from the pit of his stomach upon hearing the clerk¡¯s words.


    "What happenedst night?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You didn¡¯t hear? The entire town was in an uproarst night. Two teams of mercenaries disappeared from their campst night." The clerk replied.


    "Two teams? How many people were there in total?" Lin Mu impatiently questioned.


    "Around fifteen people." The clerk answered.


    "Did no one see them? There are hundreds of people in the camp." Lin Mu stated.


    "That¡¯s the reason why all the people are scared. They somehow disappeared in the midst of so many people and no one knows how or why. Another thing was that, out of the fifteen mercenaries, three were cultivators." The clerk replied.


    "People are scared, hence the town head has advised everyone to be careful and stay inside their homes as long as possible." The clerk added.


    Lin Mu was lost in thought after hearing this. An uneasy feeling kept on prodding Lin Mu¡¯s mind, as if it was warning him. He was also a little worried, as even cultivators had disappeared. If there was someone or something capable of doing this, they must be very strong.


    Lin Mu quickly finished his breakfast and left the inn. There was one big task that he was intending to do today. The task was none other than buying back his house. Two weeks ago he had gone to the town center and had asked the staff working there about his house. They had informed him that while he could indeed buy it back, he would still need to wait until the town head returned from Wu Lim city.


    Apparently, all the town heads were ordered by the mayor to present themselves at the city hall as soon as possible. The town head had thus been absent for the past two weeks. Even the workers at the town center felt strange when the town head did not return for so long.


    Now that Lin Mu knew that the town head had returned, he wanted to go there as fast as possible. The town center was located in the center of the town, as its name suggested. It was close to where the merchants had set up the market when they had visited the town a month ago.


    Lin Mu reached the town center after fifteen minutes and looked up at the tall building. It was the tallest building in the town and also the oldest. He walked in through the main door, at the sides of which two guards were standing.


    The guards looked at him and blocked his path. Lin Mu informed them of his purpose here, and they let him inside after asking him to leave his sword outside. He had already known about this, thus did not mind.


    Lin Mu walked up to a staffer that was working at a desk.


    "What are you here for?" The staffer asked.


    "I¡¯m here to buy back my confiscated property." Lin Mu spoke with determination.


    The staffer showed a surprised expression but soon became calm.


    "And what property is that?" The staffer questioned.


    Lin Mu then informed the staffer about his name and the location of the property.


    "Please wait here while I go inform the town head." The staffer spoke.


    The staffer then stood up from his seat and went up the stairs. Lin Mu had to wait thirty minutes before the staffer returned.


    "The town head has given his permission. You can im your property as long as you pay the fine of 1200 gold coins." The staffer informed.

 Chapter 67 - Buying The House Back

    <h4>Chapter 67 - Buying The House Back </h4>


    Lin Mu was dumbstruck by the price the staffer had just quoted. There was no chance that the fine could be this high. Even though the loss caused due to the damaged spirit apples was high, it was still less than a thousand gold coins.


    The price that the staffer had told Lin Mu was enough to buy apletely new house if that was possible. Ever since a restriction on the expansion of the towns was ced by the city mayor five years ago, the prices of houses and property had shot up.


    The mayor had instead ordered the town to increase the size of their respective specialty. The Northern town was ordered to expand their spirit apple orchards, the eastern their crop fields, the western their merchant site, and the south their army camp.


    Even though the order could be considered to be Draconian, no one dared to question the city mayor¡¯s words. This restriction was also the reason why hunters had a hard time saving money, as they would just end up spending it in the winters.


    Lin Mu could not just ept this and decided to ask the staffer.


    "Why is the fine so high? Even the actual price of the property is not this high." Lin Muined.


    "Due to undisclosed reasons, the city mayor has doubled all the taxes. This also includes the fines paid for crimes andw-breaking. The town head was also called for this specific reason by the city mayor." The staffer replied calmly.


    "But still, you can¡¯t just do this." Lin Mu protested.


    "There is nothing I can do. If you want your property back, pay the fine, otherwise, there are other people ready to buy it." The staffer exined.


    ¡¯I have to get it now or I won¡¯t be able to buy itter.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Because of the scarcity of houses, the cost of properties was already inted, yet there were still people who would be willing to buy it for such a high price. Lin Mu knew that if he waited too long, others may get to know of a vacant house and buy it. He was already lucky that no one had bought it yet in the past two months.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and decided to pay the price.


    "Fine. I¡¯ll take it." Lin Mu spoke through clenched teeth.


    Lin Mu then put his hand in the sack he was carrying on his back and withdrew the exact amount of coins. He then ced them on the counter and let the staffer see it. The reaction of the staffer was worth watching as Lin Mu saw his jaw drop.


    The staffer had frankly not expected this to happen. He had originally thought that Lin Mu would just be put-off by the fine and walk away. Even he himself had not expected for the fine to be so high. He could not think why the city mayor would double the taxes.


    But now that he had seen Lin Mu put out such arge amount of coins, he¡¯ll definitely have to inform the town head.


    Lin Mu saw the change in the staffer¡¯s expression and knew what he was thinking. He guessed that he may have some problems in the future, so decided to end it before they started.


    "Take care of those coins, you wouldn¡¯t want to get into trouble would you." Lin Mu said with a stern tone.


    And as Lin Mu said that, he grasped the edge of the desk and crushed it in his hands. The staffer saw this and immediately became silent. Lin Mu could even see the speck of fear in his eyes. Feeling a little satisfied, he took the deed of the property from the staffer, and walked away. It was good that there were few people in the hall, so no one noticed this.


    The staffer waited until Lin Mu walked away and watched his back. Once he was gone, the staffer gathered the coins in a pouch and walked upstairs to the town head¡¯s office. The staffer stood in front of a door and knocked.


    "Who is it?" A voice asked from behind the door.


    "It¡¯s me Kun Ming, town head." The staffer spoke.


    "Come in." the Town head replied.


    The staffer opened the door and walked into the office. The town head was sitting behind a desk and was drinking a cup of wine. The town head was old and his head was nearly bare. With a thin mustache and a small beard, he looked sly.


    The staffer walked up to the desk and ced the pouch on it. He looked up at the town head and waited for him to speak.


    "What¡¯s this?" The town head said as he looked at the pouch that was kept on the desk.


    "The fine sir. That boy Lin Mu paid it in full." Kun Ming answered.


    The town head looked a little surprised as he ced his cup down and picked up the pouch. He weighed it in his hand for a bit before pouring it out on the desk. A small pile of gold coins was soon formed on the desk.


    "I¡¯ve already counted it, sir. It¡¯s a total of 1200 gold coins." Kun Ming spoke.


    "And he paid it all at once?" The Town head asked.


    "Yes sir. It seemed he was ready for it somehow." Kun Ming replied.


    Aplex expression appeared on the face of the town head and he appeared to be thinking. Kun Ming seemed to understand the town head¡¯s thoughts, thus spoke.


    "That boy Lin Mu¡¯s a cultivator, sir. He gave me a little warning before he left." Kun Ming spoke.


    "Are you sure?" The town head asked.


    "Yes sir. He was able to crush my desk with little effort." Kun Ming answered.


    A perplexing expression appeared on the town head¡¯s face and he waved his hand, gesturing for Kun Ming to leave. After the staffer left the office, the town head opened a drawer and withdrew a sheet of paper. He picked up a brush from the side of the desk and started to write on the paper.


    ******


    Outside the town center, Lin Mu was walking towards the location of his house. His house was located towards the eastern part of the town. It was the most densely popted area in the town and was also the area with the most houses.


    Lin Mu reached his house in thirty minutes and stood in front of its gate. There was a lock on the gate along with a sheet of parchment that read ¡¯sealed¡¯. Lin Mu took out a small key that he got along with the deed and opened the lock.


    He then tore the parchment from the gate and walked in. Lin Mu¡¯s house consisted of a courtyard in which the living quarters were located, along with three bedrooms and a kitchen. It was an old-style house that wasmon in this region.


    There were some trees and nts in the yard, along with enough space for Lin Mu to practice his skills. He looked around with nostalgia in his eyes and felt somber. It had only been a little over two months, yet he felt as if years had gone by. The ce looked familiar to him, yet a little different, perhaps because he had gone through so many life-altering changes.


    Lin Mu saw the yard, which was littered with dead leaves and the dust that had settled on the doors. He opened the door to his room and saw the dust floating in the air. Looking around, he saw the nearly empty room.


    Most of the valuables had already been sold off when his mother had fallen sick during the guest year. Thus he did not have a lot of furniture in the house. There were only some beds, tables, and chairs. There wasn¡¯t anything else left.


    Though the most valuable thing to Lin Mu was the graves of his parents and those of his ancestors. He walked to the backyard of his house and kneeled at the graves. There were eight graves marked on thend. Two of them belonged to his parents, while the rest belonged to his grandparents and the ancestors that came before them.


    Lin Mu¡¯s family has always had only one child in each generation, thus there weren¡¯t many graves. Usually, the woman who married into the n would not have a grave in the cemetery, she would instead be sent back to her own n when she died. But because Lin Mu¡¯s mother was an orphan, she was buried in the n¡¯s cemetery.


    Lin Mu kneeled at the graves until it was sunset and prayed to his ancestor. In the end, he kowtowed to the graves, which represented the seven generations of his n onest time, and stood up. He walked out of the house and went to the Northwind inn.


    Lin Mu walked up to the clerk that was sitting at the desk and spoke.


    "I¡¯m checking out of the inn." He said.


    The clerk looked a little perplexed, but nodded. He asked Lin Mu to return the wooden te and then refunded two gold coins to him. Lin Mu took the coins and stored them in his pouch before leaving the inn behind.


    "Now it¡¯s time for you to properly cultivate." Xukong suddenly spoke.

 Chapter 68 - Seven Days Of Enlightenment

    <h4>Chapter 68 - Seven Days Of Enlightenment </h4>


    Lin Mu stopped in his tracks upon hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    "Now that your filial duty isplete, you can now focus on your cultivation. As for the test that I gave you, you canplete it whenever you can, as it seems like your target has disappeared." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded inwardly and agreed with senior Xukong¡¯s words. After paying his respects to his parents and ancestors, he was indeed feeling much lighter than before. An invisible burden was lifted from his mind, making him feel free.


    Lin Mu returned to his house and sat down in his room. Sitting down, he started his cultivation session. Chanting the severing heart sutra emptied his emotions, allowing him to sense things he would not be able to normally.


    Lin Mu could observe the difference in his sensitivity to spirit qi. It had increased by a little bit once again. He understood that the reason for it was the fulfillment of his filial duty, but he could not understand why.


    ¡¯Is this perhaps why the disciples of the cultivation sects are ordered to sever their ties to the secr world when entering the sects.¡¯ Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Senior Xukong seemed to have heard his muttering, as he spoke in his mind.


    "You are correct in this aspect. The secr ties of a cultivator weigh down on their mind, dampening the progress of their cultivation. Severing them is a necessity in order to be eligible to walk on the myriad paths of the Grand Dao." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was deeply affected by senior Xukong¡¯s words. It was as if there was something inside him that was resonating with his thoughts. He then thought about the feeling of liberation he experienced after fulfilling his filial duty and linked it with senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    Lin Mu felt that the feeling of liberation was a little simr to something he had felt before. Unknowingly as he went on this train of thought, he had stopped chanting the severing heart sutra. Instead of it, he had started chanting the calming heart sutra.


    What Lin Mu grasped now was the tranquillity offered by the calming heart sutra. He corrted it with the liberating feeling and the calmness that urred after that. Hours went by as Lin Mu pondered on his thoughts.


    Slowly but steadily, Lin Mu was sinking into a state of trance. His breath had harmonized, while his mind had stilled. A bout of enlightenment filled Lin Mu¡¯s entire being as the chants of a thousand monks filled his mind.


    Their esoteric and obscure chants started to make sense to him, and he started to grasp their meanings. His mind returned to the time when he first obtained the calming heart sutra. He started to remember the words he had seen imprinting in his mind, the same ones that he had forgotten.


    While Lin Mu was lost in his enlightenment, Xukong was experiencing a different scenario. He saw a blinding light arising from the altar that was located in the ring. He did not dare approach the altar and stayed where he was, as after hisst encounter, he did not want to suffer again.


    In a surprising revtion to Xukong, it wasn¡¯t a peerless sword intent that had risen from the altar. Instead, it was the soothing and tranquilizing Buddhist aura. He felt as if an eminent Buddhist monk was chanting the sacred scriptures while banishing foul demons of the mind.


    A simr effect was currently urring in the northern town as well. The waves of Buddhist aura that were spreading from Lin Mu¡¯s body had covered the entire town and had even spread beyond it.


    The residents of the town felt as if their struggles did not seem as awful as before. The earthly sufferings that a mortal suffered from, became gentle for the residents. The aggression and fights that weremon once, had be rare now.


    Tranquil expressions could be seen on the faces of the residents. Even the hunters and mercenaries who had recently suffered from losses came to terms with them. The mourning and eptance, which would take a person weeks or months, waspleted in a day.


    The Northern forest had also be silent. Last time it had been intimated into being silent by the peerless sword intent, but this time it had be silent because of the absolute tranquillity granted by the Buddhist aura.


    *****


    In an borate courtyard there existed a luxurious mansion. Two people were currently sitting in this mansion, recuperating from their injuries. These two people were none other than the pair of grandfather and granddaughter, Jing Wei and Duan Ke.


    While no physical injury could be seen on their bodies, their pale and weak appearance said otherwise. Both of them had suffered from internal injuries caused by the ward that was ced on Lin Mu by senior Xukong.


    They had been recovering from their injuries for a month now. Yet their injuries were only healed by fifty percent. Even though they were using a formation that assisted in healing, their rate of healing was still slow.


    Along with the physical injuries, they had also suffered from mental trauma, which was also inhibiting their cultivation base, which in turn restricted their speed of healing.


    During their encounter with Lin Mu a month ago, they had experienced the presence of a being so strong that its mere imprint had shaken their cultivation bases and had destabilized their foundations. There was also a high chance that they would end up developing mental demons because of it.


    Between the two of them, Jing Wei had borne the full brunt of the impact, in an effort to protect his granddaughter. His own cultivation base was sealed, thus he had ended up using the heirloom that was passed down in his n.


    In that situation, he had originally intended to break the seal on his cultivation base but knew that he did not have enough time to do that. Hence he was left with only one solution, which was to use the heirloom treasure.


    Jing Wei had also seen the partial appearance of the being that had put its imprint on Lin Mu. The ten golden yellow eyes that he had seen had terrified him to his very core. Those eyed looked at him as if he was worth less than dirt. Its mere gaze had made him aware of his own mortality.


    Having learned from this, he had chosen to distance himself from the boy named Lin Mu and thus had retreated into seclusion along with his granddaughter.


    Suddenly a wave of tranquillity spread over the courtyard and prated into the mansion. The waves covered the bodies of Jing Wei and Duan Ke, permeating into their minds. They felt as if a great burden of theirs was relieved and all their stress disappeared.


    The mental demons that were in the foetal stage were smothered. The waves of Buddhist aura culled their existence and brought forward peace in their minds. The wounds that were unable to heal had suddenly started healing at a great pace. With the assistance of the healing formation, Jing Wei and Duan Ke were soon returning to their optimum condition.


    *****


    Below the city mayor¡¯s manor in Wu Lim city, there existed arge cave. Inside this very cave, an emaciated man was sitting cross-legged in arge blood pool. The blood in the pool reached all the way up to his neck, leaving only his head exposed.


    Outside of the blood pool, fourrge troughs could be seen. These troughs were carrying more blood into the blood pool. The supply of the blood seemed to be endless, yet the blood pool never overflowed, making one think where it went.


    Currently, the emaciated man had an expression of pain on his face. He seemed to be trying his best to resist it, yet a few stray grunts still escaped his mouth. With each pain-filled grunt, the blood in the pool rippled.


    Suddenly the wave of tranquillity prated the cave and started to spread into it. The waves eventually reached the emaciated man and his expression became peaceful. The pain that had been bothering him all this while had now been banished.


    A few minutester the blood in the pool stared reducing at a visible pace and the flow of blood in the troughs increased ordingly, in order to keep a stable level of blood in the pool. A few minutester the blood in the pool stopped reducing and the flow of blood in the troughs also slowed down.


    Sometimeter, in the dim space of the cave, a pair of red eyes slowly opened and a peal of faintughter echoed.


    *****


    Back in the Northern Town, five days had passed since Lin Mu had entered the state of enlightenment. He had been sitting in the same posture without moving, which had caused a faintyer of dust to settle on his body.


    Xukong had been patiently waiting for Lin Mu to wake up from his trance. During this period even he had an eleration in the speed of his cultivation. Back when he had created this avatar, he had not given it any of his cultivation base. He had been intending to use this avatar to only absorb the absolutely pure and refined spatial energy present in the ring.


    Xukong¡¯s main body had long since exhausted its potential. He did not have any growth in his cultivation base for the past ten thousand years. His encounter with Lin Mu had renewed his hope, thus he had created this avatar to absorb the spatial energy and also to assist Lin Mu in the process.


    In the blink of an eye, another two days passed by and now it had been a week since Lin Mu had entered his trance. Finally, on the morning of the eighth day, Lin Mu opened his eyes.

 Chapter 69 - Awakening From The Trance

    <h4>Chapter 69 - Awakening From The Trance </h4>


    Upon opening, Lin Mu¡¯s eyes looked dull and empty, but slowly they lit-up and gained their vigor back. Lin Mu looked around and remembered where he was. He stood up and shook off the dust that had settled on his body.


    He opened the door of the room and walked outside. Lin Mu was feeling ufortable because of the dust, so decided to take a bath. He walked to the small well in the yard and drew up some water for a bath.


    A few minutester Lin Mu was refreshed, but then suddenly his stomach started groaning. A severe pang of hunger struck him, as he realized that he had probably not eaten for a while. He withdrew the beast meat from the ring and started to cook it.


    Meanwhile, in the ring, Xukong was engrossed in absorbing the spatial energy. His progress had been great, and he had increased his cultivation base by a significant amount. The effect of the Buddhist aura on him was much greater than he thought.


    Xukong¡¯s gains in these seven days were more than the entire month. He reckoned that if he was able to somehow maintain this pace, he¡¯ll probably be able to exceed his previous cultivation level in less than a million years.


    While a million years would be an unimaginable amount of time for most people, it was but a mere fraction of his lifespan. For beings of his standing, it was immensely difficult to progress in cultivation. Their pace could even be considered to be slower than that of a snail.


    Xukong still felt nice that his decision to start over by creating an avatar was correct. He wondered if that old monster knew an artifact like the ring existed, would he turn green with envy.


    *****


    A few thousand years ago, in the Grand Void.


    A colossal tform could be seen floating in the space. It was ck in color and its size was immeasurable. The borders of the tform could not be seen, making one wonder about its actual size.


    On this colossal tform, an old ruined temple existed. The walls of the temple were mottled and degraded. It seemed as if they would copse at any moment, yet it did not happen and they stood tall and unyielding. Hundreds of sky-piercing pirs held up the ceiling of the temple, which was glowing with a faint light.


    A giant figure was approaching the colossal tform from above. The figure soonnded on the tform and walked towards the temple. The figure had a pale white body, eight legs, and ten golden yellow eyes. This was none other than the Void Weaver spider, Xukong.


    Xukong walked towards the gate of the temple and entered through them. Even though Xukong¡¯s body was colossal, it had no problem passing through the gates, as they were even more massive. The inside of the temple looked simr to the outside, except for arge number of statues and sculptures ced inside of it.


    Some of the statues and sculptures looked lifelike while others looked esoteric, making one lose themselves in its origins. The statues were made of a variety of materials and depicted beasts, demons, devils, nts, ghosts, humans, gods, buddhas, immortals, and a myriad of weapons.


    The more Xukong walked forward, the more the number of statues increased. At a certain point, paintings also started appearing on the walls. The paintings were of various beings,ndscapes, and mystical things.


    Xukong kept on walking, and after an unknown amount of time, he finally reached the end of the temple. At the very end of the temple, a massive stone throne was erected. The throne was empty, yet a presence could be felt from it.


    Xukong looked up at the throne and spoke,


    "I¡¯m here, old monster."


    Xukong¡¯s deep voice echoed in the temple, making the statues shake. A faint silhouette appeared on the throne and then slowly materialized.


    A person was now sitting on the throne. Compared to the throne, the person could be considered to be tiny. The person was wearing long and pitch-ck robes, which had twinkling stars depicted on it. The stars would move and fade, thus making them look alive.


    The person was wearing a hood over their head and one could not see their face as it was hidden by darkness. The person gently lifted its head towards Xukong and spoke.


    "I see that."


    "My duty isplete." Xukong spoke.


    "Hmm, that could be said to be true and false." The hooded person replied.


    "Stop with your word games and speak straight with me." Xukong said with a hint of annoyance.


    "In terms of that ce your duty isplete, but overall it is not." The hooded person spoke.


    "Just tell me the new coordinates then." Xukong spoke with a sigh.


    A surge of qi was released from the hooded person, which was then absorbed by Xukong. Having heard the coordinates, Xukong turned around to leave.


    "Hmm, perhaps you should get a disciple." The hooded figure mysteriously spoke.


    Xukong stopped in his tracks and replied without turning around.


    "A disciple? As if I want that. Besides, how would I even get one, if I¡¯m stuck performing my duty." Xukong replied.


    "Teaching a disciple would help you learn. It will give you a new perspective of yourself and you may finally be able to exceed the limitations of your kind." The hooded person spoke.


    "I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll figure it out sometime." The hooded person added.


    Xukong did not reply and swiftly left the temple. The hooded person was still there, sitting on the massive throne in silence.


    "The time of upheaval is nigh, the heir of cosmos should be born soon." The hooded person muttered and then disappeared.


    *****


    Back at the northern town, Lin Mu had just finished eating. He had ravenously devoured all the meat that he had stored in the ring. He barely had any beast meat left, thus would have to hunt more today.


    Lin Mu wondered how much time had passed, considering the kind of hunger he just experienced. Not being able to estimate the time or the day, Lin Mu decided to ask senior Xukong.


    This time it was Xukong¡¯s turn to be woken from his reverie. Lin Mu spoke out in his mind, and Xukong heard it, which made him stop his cultivation session.


    "Senior Xukong, How many days has it been?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm, it should be a week since you entered your state of enlightenment, this is the eighth day." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu was a little shocked by this revtion. He had expected it to be a couple of days, but never a week.


    "So, what did you gain from the enlightenment? If you stayed in that state for such a long time, you should have some really great gains." Xukong spoke enthusiastically.


    Lin Mu nodded and spoke,


    "Yes senior, I ended up learning a lot of things. Myprehension of the calming heart sutra has also progressed to the next stage. It is now in the second stage of externalprehension."


    "You should test out the effects of both the calming heart sutra and severing heart sutra on other people now." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu agreed with senior Xukong¡¯s words. Originally he had been averse to the idea of testing out the severing heart sutra on other people, as he did not know how severe the effect would be. But now that the calming heart sutra was in the second stage of externalprehension as well, he should be able to use it on other people with no problem.


    Lin Mu then remembered the condition of his beast meat stock. Wanting to get enough meat for at least the dinner, he left the house for the forest. While walking on the streets, Lin Mu saw a few scenes that made him feel strange.


    He walked past a tavern that was usually boisterous even in the morning, yet today it was silent. The patrons within were sitting in silence, calmly drinking their choice of intoxicating liquid. He then passed the market and saw that it was also eerily silent. The people shopping were neither haggling nor arguing with the vendors.


    Everywhere he walked by, he witnessed simr scenes. He started to wonder if the city mayor had dered a ban on noise or something.


    "Umm senior, something seems wrong." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Indeed. These signs are very strange." Xukong said.


    ¡¯Seems like the Buddhist aura was much stronger than I thought, it was able to affect the entire town or perhaps even more.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    Lin Mu randomly chose a person for his experiment. He started to chant the calming heart sutra and let its effect spread to that person. Now that he was in the second stage of externalprehension, he inherently knew how to do this.


    Though a few momentster, Lin Mu could not see any change in the person. The person was still doing his previous task and was shopping. Unhindered by this failure, he tried using it on a variety of people. Yet in the end, the effects were the same, in that there were no effects.


    "What am I doing wrong?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 70 - Testing The Effects Of The Sutras

    <h4>Chapter 70 - Testing The Effects Of The Sutras </h4>


    Xukong was a little lost upon seeing that Lin Mu was unable to affect any people. He could not figure out the reason for that either. Even if they had been affected by the Buddhist aura, they should still show some signs.


    Understanding that this may not work, he decided to tell Lin Mu to try something else.


    "Try using the Severing heart sutra on them." Xukong said.


    "But senior..." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Trust me. I think the reason why they are not affected by the calming heart sutra is that they are already under its effects." Xukong spoke, interrupting his sentence.


    "Already under its effects? What do you mean senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "While you were gaining enlightenment, the aura of the Buddhist path was being released from you. At first, I didn¡¯t know its reach, but now that I¡¯ve seen these people, I can say that it was very strong." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu gently nodded and decided to go ahead. He took a deep breath and started chanting the severing heart sutra. He had chosen another man who seemed to be shopping. The effects of the severing heart sutra spread to the man and in an instant, the effects could be seen.


    The man¡¯s eyes turned dull and his face became expressionless. It was as if he was a puppet whose strings were cut off. The man was currently standing in front of a vegetable vendor and holding some vegetables.


    When the severing heart sutra affected him, he held onto the vegetables and just walked away without paying the vendor. The vendor noticed this and went after him to demand his payment.


    "Hey! You can¡¯t just walk away without paying." The vendor shouted.


    Seeing the vendor agitated, Lin Mu was a little surprised as the effect of the Buddhist aura had stopped. But a few secondster, the vendor became calm again. The man who had taken the vegetables was still walking away. He had not responded when the vendor called out to him.


    The vendor sighed seeing this and just went back to his shop without bothering to chase after the man.


    "Hmm... this is interesting." Xukong spoke.


    "Try using the calming heart sutra on that man now." Xukong ordered.


    Lin Mu nodded and started chanting the calming heart sutra. The effects of the calming heart sutra spread to the man and his expression changed. Instead of the expressionless face and the dull eyes, a tranquil look appeared on him. A certain glint of intelligence returned to his eyes along with the mor on his face.


    "The effects are rather quick and abrupt, other people may notice it." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That is true, but I think it¡¯s more of a question of practice. You just need more practice and then you should be able to control it better." Xukong advised.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu affirmed.


    Lin Mu then set out to test the other aspects of the two sutras. He tested out its duration and range. He found out that the range of the sutras was currently limited to a range of ten meters, while the duration of its effectiveness was fifteen minutes. Though, if he kept on chanting, the effects would continue on.


    Lin Mu also found out that the more he used the two sutras on other people, the more tired he got. This fatigue was not physical, but rather mental. If he continued using it despite his fatigue, a splitting headache would soon stop him.


    It took him four hours to test it all out, and he even had to change his "Test subjects" as he could not just randomly follow people for that long without raising suspicion. Also, the people who he tested the sutras on started to feel strange as their emotions were going haywire. Lin Mu did not want to push his luck and harm innocent people, hence he stopped his experiment.


    Lin Mu then walked out of the town and went towards the forest to hunt. He reached the forest after ten minutes and looked around for changes. The forest also felt a little calmer than normal. Though it was notpletely silent, the noise was lower than normal.


    "Did the effect spread to the forest as well?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    "It does seem like it, though I think the intensity was much less. The effect of the sutras on beasts should be different than humans. Most beasts have a distinct set of emotions than humans, thus you¡¯ll have to test out the specific effect yourself." Xukong replied.


    "I¡¯ll have to capture some beasts then." Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu walked into the forest and went towards the depths of the forest. He wanted to hunt some spirit beasts, or at least some high tier beasts, as he did not feel satiated by lower-tier beasts. He soon found a beast, but it was a mid-tier beast. Not wanting to waste the time, Lin Mu swiftly killed it and stored it in the ring.


    A few minutester, he encountered a high tier beast. The beast had grey and green spotted skin with short limbs. It was the size of a calf and looked like a mix between a leopard and a bull. The beast had a screeching voice that disoriented Lin Mu for a bit.


    While Lin Mu was disoriented, the beast pounced on him which he had to dodge by using the skill Flicker. After dodging, he twisted around and shed at the beast, killing it. He stored the corpse and continued his hunt.


    Lin Mu hunted four high tier beasts and nine mid-tier beasts over four hours, but he still could not find any spirit beasts. Only when the sun was about to set did he encounter a spirit beast. The spirit beast was the same kind of spirit beast that he had hunted before.


    The beast was hiding on the top of a tree and was stalking him. Lin Mu had to use his spirit sense to get its exact location. The beast was around four meters away from him. Having confirmed this, Lin Mu used the second skill Blink, and appeared on the branch. The beast seemed startled by this and could not react.


    Lin Mu stabbed his short sword through its back and ended its life. He then stored the corpse and decided to return to the town.


    ¡¯Increasing the range of my spirit sense was definitely a good decision.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    The sky had turned dark, and it had started snowing. The cries of the beasts had faded away, only to be reced by the silence of freezing snow.


    While on the way to the town, Lin Mu saw a small group of people standing on the side of the road. They were all wearing dark grey clothes and had their faces covered.

 Chapter 71 - An Unexpected Fight

    <h4>Chapter 71 - An Unexpected Fight </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at the six darkly dressed individuals who were standing a hundred meters away from him. They noticed him at the same moment Lin Mu noticed them. They tensed up and then ced their hands on the hilts of the swords they were carrying.


    It looked like the men were hiding something as they were trying to cover something behind them. Even Lin Mu became nervous upon seeing the men, as he could tell that something was definitely wrong.


    "I thought the routes were already blocked. What do we do now first brother?" One of the darkly dressed men spoke.


    "Dammit! those guys can¡¯t even do a single task correctly," Another man said.


    "Silence! It¡¯s just a kid, we¡¯ll take him as well. Master will be fine with some extra goods, anyway." The man named the first brother grimly spoke.


    The first person to react among the six was the man to the very right. He walked towards Lin Mu and then started running as he drew his sword from its sheath.


    "Focus and brace yourself. Use your spirit sense there may be cultivators." Xukong spoke in a firm tone.


    Lin Mu instinctively started chanting the calming heart sutra. His mind tranquilized and he could think clearly. The movement of the man approaching him slowed down by a notch and he could see the man¡¯s tracks.


    As soon as the man got in the range of Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense, he detected that the man was not a cultivator and was instead at the 9th stage of the body tempering realm. Felling assured Lin Mu drew his sword, set his hand straight, and entered a stance.


    Lin Mu bent to the side in an effort to dodge the man¡¯s de and barely scraped by.


    "That was close." Lin Mu muttered.


    "You¡¯re not gonna avoid the next one." The man spoke.


    The man approached Lin Mu again and shed at him, which he blocked with his short sword. Lin Mu then pushed back and deflected the sword.


    "How?" The man eximed upon seeing Lin Mu¡¯s strength.


    Lin Mu had an advantage over the man as he was already in the 10th stage of the body tempering realm, along with being a cultivator at the Mid-stage of the Qi refining realm.


    Thepanions of the man noticed this and were just about to warn him when...


    "AAARGH!!" the man shouted as he was stabbed through his heart.


    Lin Mu took advantage of the moment when the man was shocked and stabbed through his heart. The man copsed in the next moment, freeing Lin Mu¡¯s attention.


    "Fourth brother! No!" Shouted the darkly dressed man who had spoken the first time.


    "He¡¯s strong, we have to be careful. Fifth, sixth, pull his attention, third attack him from the back." First brother spoke.


    "Second brother, wait for the right moment to strike. This boy is not simple." First brother spoke again.


    The men named fifth and sixth advanced towards Lin Mu from the opposite side, while the man named third circled around Lin Mu. The remaining two men were ring at Lin Mu, looking out for an opportunity.


    Knowing that it will be difficult for him to go against three people at once, Lin Mu decided to split them up, beforehand. Lin Mu withdrew the hatchet from his ring and strengthened his arms with spirit qi.


    Seeing that a hatchet had appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s hand out of thin, the three approaching men were a little stunned. Grasping this chance, Lin Mu hurled the hatchet at the man named as the sixth brother with all his strength.


    A whirling sound could be heard as the hatched spun through the air and then buried itself in the chest of the man. Unable to utter even a single word, the man crashed to the ground; his life or death unknown.


    "RETREAT! He¡¯s a cultivator, he has a spatial treasure!" The second brother yelled.


    "Quick." First brother spoke, as he tensed his jaw.


    Now that the battle was tilting in his favor, Lin Mu did not want to slow down and let go of the lead. He instinctively chanted the severing heart sutra and targeted the two men, fifth and third brother.


    The two men slowed down as their eyes turned dull. Lin Mu ¡¯blinked¡¯ forward and appeared at the sides of the two men. Amplifying his short sword with spirit qi, Lin Mu shed through the two men in a single smooth stroke.


    The defenses of the two men could not resist the sharpness of a spirit weapon, thus they were split into halves.


    Horrified and furious at the development, the remaining two men shouted and sprinted towards Lin Mu. Rage burned in their eyes, as they regretted underestimating Lin Mu.


    The man named first brother reached Lin Mu in the next moment and struck him with his sword. Lin Mu sensed his cultivation and estimated it to be at the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm. Blocking the strike with a buckler, Lin Mu twisted to the side. Suddenly Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense detected somethinging at him from the back.


    Unable to dodge the iing object, Lin Mu ¡¯Flickered¡¯ and then the object passed through his back. He saw the object and found it to be a small dagger that was dripping with a ck liquid.


    "Careful! He has some mysterious martial techniques." The second brother warned.


    Lin Mu blinked to the back of the man named first brother and cut at it. Second brother noticed this and jumped forward to block it.


    "Dammit." Lin Mu cursed.


    Lin Mu stored the short sword in the ring and seamlessly withdrew the spear from it. Having lost the force from the short sword, second brother¡¯s sword went straight ahead, through which Lin Mu flickered and moved away.


    Then, using his legs as a pivot, Lin Mu twirled and pierced the spear through second brother¡¯s jaw. The spear entered at the base of his jaw and went straight through the top of its skull.


    "YOU!!!" First brother said with great rage in his voice.


    Not bothering with the man¡¯s words, Lin Mu lunged at him. The man¡¯s eyes red as he bit on his tongue and spit out some blood. Gesturing with his left hand, the man drew some pattern in the air. In the next moment, veins appeared on his face as his eyes turned red.


    "He¡¯s using a sacrificial technique, you need to end it quickly." Xukong spoke with urgency.


    Lin Mu blocked an attack with his short sword, which made him recoil in pain. The man¡¯s strength had nearly tripled as Lin Mu was barely able to dodge it.


    ¡¯I won¡¯t be able to win against him in a straight fight, I have to find some other way.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu then chopped at the man¡¯s arm, which he blocked with his own sword. But at this moment Lin Mu used the skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯ and the short sword passed through the man¡¯s sword. He then canceled the skill at the veryst moment, making a deep cut appeared on the man¡¯s arm and shoulder, making him wince with pain.


    Now, with his short sword stuck in the man¡¯s arm, Lin Mu was unable to withdraw it. Choosing to leave his sword behind, Lin Mu blinked to the back of the man.


    Entering the stance for the Boulder copsing fist, Lin Mu coiled his hand back. His breath melded with the stance, as the spirit qi formed a spiral in his hand. Putting all his bets on this final attack, Lin Mu executed it.


    "Boulder Copsing Fist!"


    ~whew~


    A whistling sound could be heard as a jet of air shot forward, which made the man¡¯s clothes flutter and tear. Then, a sickening sound could be heard as Lin Mu¡¯s fist made contact with his back.


    ~Crack... floosh~


    Lin Mu¡¯s fist broke through the man¡¯s back while turning his insides to mush. The fist then punctured through the chest and sprayed out the man¡¯s pulverized innards.


    The now-dead man was stuck standing on the ground, with Lin Mu elbow deep in him.


    Lin Mu then slowly withdrew his blood-drenched hand and sat down on the ground, breathless. Looking at what he had just done made him feel sick, but then the effects of the calming heart sutra resolved it for him.


    "That was horrifying." Lin Mu spoke.


    "You¡¯ll get used to it soon." Xukong spoke.


    "At least you kept your wits. Good job defeating those men, I can certainly see the improvement." Xukong then spoke with a chuckle.


    "It was all due to senior¡¯s guidance." Lin Mu politely replied.


    Senior Xukong had been giving him pointers whenever he trained, which had helped him improve. Although senior Xukong himself had apletely different fighting style, he was still experienced enough to give pointers to him. Perhaps if he ever started giving lectures to the public, even immortals would attend to take benefit of it.


    "Now won¡¯t you take a look at your spoils?" Xukong spoke


    "Ah yes!" Lin Mu replied as he stood up.


    The first thing Lin Mu did was to store the bodies inside the ring. After this, he went to the ce where the six men were originally standing. There was arge rock ced at this location which seemed to be hiding something.


    Lin Mu gazed at the rock and saw a small pool of blood near it. He looked behind it and saw something that shocked him.


    "Gan Ma!?"

 Chapter 72 - Conspiracy

    <h4>Chapter 72 - Conspiracy </h4>


    Lin Mu would have never expected that the man he was looking for the past few weeks would turn up in front of him, dead. Indeed, the dead body that he found behind the rock was none other than Gan Ma, the leader of the hunter group, and also one of the only five cultivators in the town.


    Lin Mu could not understand why he would turn up dead here. It was obvious that it was the six men that had killed Gan Ma and but the question was why?


    Lin Mu looked around and did not notice any specific signs of struggle, which made him think that Gan Ma was killed rather quickly. He checked Gan Ma¡¯s body and found that the only wound he had was on his neck. Though weirdly, it was bandaged, and it seemed as if it was done after his death.


    "Why would they bandage his neck after his death?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Check the other men, maybe you¡¯ll get some hints." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded and withdrew every dead body that he had stored in the ring and checked them. Out of the six people, two were cultivators while the rest of them were in the 9th stage of the body tempering realm. One of the cultivators was at the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm, while the other was at the early stage of the qi refining realm.


    In a small town like the Northern town, any cultivator was a big deal andmanded great respect. For two unknown cultivators to just appear randomly was extremely strange. Even the other four men that were in the 9th stage of the body tempering realm could be considered to be at the top levels of strength in the town.


    Lin Mu removed the cloth that was covering their faces and tried to identify them. He did not find any of them familiar, except for one person. It was the person named second brother that he found familiar. He could not ce his finger on where exactly he saw that person, but knew that he must be influential.


    Lin Mu also checked the bodies for other items and found many things on them. He took their swords and the thin chain mail armor that they were wearing under their clothes. He also found a set of throwing daggers on all of them. The total number of daggers was around 29.


    Lin Mu then found a small vial that was filled with a ck liquid that smelled sweet on the person called second brother.


    "Careful, that¡¯s the Pulse cutting poison." Xukong sternly warned.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as he hurriedly closed the small vial.


    "That was close, but why does it smell so pleasant?" Lin Mu asked.


    "So that people find it easy to drink, it¡¯s also sweet in taste. Though it does not have any effect unless it enters your body, either through a wound or your mouth." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu then remembered the small dagger that had nearly hit him before. That dagger seemed to be covered with a ck liquid too. He went to the ce where the dagger was lying and picked it up. He caught a whiff of the same sweet smell.


    "It¡¯s covered in the pulse cutting poison. I was luckily saved by my spirit sense and skills." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed, having a spirit sense is a big advantage for you." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu then thought to the two cultivators and how they did not seem to be using spirit sense.


    "Umm senior, why were the two men not using their spirit sense." Lin Mu questioned.


    "Oh, that¡¯s simply because they couldn¡¯t use it. They were not at the stage where they could refine it." Xukong answered.


    "But then how could I refine it? I was at the early stage of the Qi refining realm when I first started refining it." Lin Mu spoke with confusion on his face.


    "Well, you are a rare case. Most Qi refining realm cultivators can¡¯t start refining their spirit sense until they reach thete stage of the qi refining realm, at the very least. They are either restricted by their cultivation technique or they just don¡¯t have the sufficient talent to do it on their own." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded in eptance and continued checking the bodies. He found another ss vial that was filled with some kind of translucent powder. He did not open the vial this time, as he had already learned his lesson and did not think he would be lucky every time.


    "What is this senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm, this seems like Memory confounding powder. If someone inhales it, they will enter a confounded state and then lose their memories for up to an hour. The person affected by it will be incapacitated and will not respond to any stimulus, though it does not cause any physical harm other than that." Xukong replied.


    ¡¯Could this have been used to kill Gan Ma?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu had not found any signs of a struggle on Gan Ma, thus Lin Mu guessed that he did not resist much and was killed rather instantly. This hypothesis would work if the Memory Confounding powder was involved. The powder would incapacitate the victim while the killers would quickly slit their throat.


    Now that Gan Ma was dead, Lin Mu wondered if he could consider senior Xukong¡¯s first testplete.


    Senior Xukong seemed to have sensed Lin Mu¡¯s thoughts as he spoke in his mind. "You killed two cultivators, thus you can consider your first testplete, and anyway that man Gan Ma is already dead."


    Lin Mu was about to store the bodies back into the ring when he saw a small piece of paper that had fallen to the side. It was stained with blood and was lying near the ce where he had killed the first brother.


    Lin Mu picked it up and opened it to read what was written inside.


    "The town and the routes surrounding it will be blocked on ount of a wandering spirit beast tonight.


    Your orders are the same as before, capture the target but make sure that it does not lose too much blood. Master has specially told us to save the blood.


    Once you are done with the task, deposit the target at the same location as before and return to your posts.


    Though it should not happen, ensure that no one sees you. If someone does spot you, make sure that they don¡¯t live to tell the tale.


    Three other teams are out doing the same tasks as you, so remember to tell the password before you talk to them. If they don¡¯t say the password kill them, you have my permission."


    Lin Mu took a deep breath after reading the letter. He was shocked by the machinations that were happening.


    "Seems like someone was targeting Gan Ma specifically. Is that the reason why he had disappeared from the town, these past weeks?" Lin Mu thought out loud.


    "That¡¯s not all. ording to the letter, there are three more teams out there. You need to be careful, Lin Mu." Xukong advised.


    ¡¯Those fifteen mercenaries that disappeared from the campgrounds, could they too have been abducted by these men?¡¯ Xukong thought.


    Lin Mu then walked back to the town and halted near the entrance after seeing some people there. He saw a couple of townsmen that were trying to enter the town but were currently being blocked by the guards.


    "Halt! All entrances to the town and its roads are blocked. Where are youing from?" The guards spoke to the townsmen.


    "We were just returning from the fields." One of the townsmen replied.


    "Why are the roads closed?" Another townsman asked.


    The guards looked at the faces of the townsmen closely before answering.


    "A warning was issued on ount of a spirit beast. Someone spotted it wandering outside the forest." The guard spoke.


    The townsmen looked visibly shocked and scared upon hearing the guard¡¯s words.


    "We didn¡¯t know that, if we knew this we would have never gone out." The townsmen replied.


    One of the guards gestured to the other and then nodded.


    "Come with us, you need to show us your goods and let us examine them." The guard spoke.


    The townsmen did not protest and went ahead with the guard¡¯s orders. The guards examined the satchels that they were carrying and then let them through after examining them.


    Lin Mu was standing behind a tree in the darkness while watching all these events. After observing this, he was about to walk towards the entrance when senior Xukong spoke in his mind.


    "Stop! Don¡¯t go there, something seems wrong. Go a little farther away and climb up the wall instead." Xukong ordered with a stern tone.


    Lin Mu did not question senior Xukong¡¯s words and just obediently followed them. He walked a little distance from the entrance and found a suitable spot. He looked up at the tall wall and thought of a method to climb.


    Lin Mu gauged the wall¡¯s height and estimated it to be a little more than ten meters. He then found a tree that was close to the wall and climbed it. The branch on which Lin Mu was standing was about halfway at the height of the wall, yet it was a little too far from it horizontally.


    Lin Mu strengthened his legs and jumped towards the wall. While he was in mid-air, he extended his spirit sense and then used the second skill ¡¯Blink¡¯ to teleport to the top of the wall. After reaching the top of the wall, he spied the other side and saw a guard following townsmen.


    Lin Mu climbed down and followed the guard from afar. He suddenly saw a glint in the guard¡¯s hand and became alert.

 Chapter 73 - The Conspiracy Unfolds

    <h4>Chapter 73 - The Conspiracy Unfolds </h4>


    Lin Mu hid behind a wall and peeked out from the edge. He then saw the guard pull out a small metal contraption from his sleeves. Lin Mu could not see the contraption clearly except for the glint of light it reflected.


    Lin Mu walked around the wall and used the alleyways to get close to the guard. The guard was pointing the contraption towards the townsmen and stalking behind them. The townsmen werepletely unaware of the guard following behind them and were just conversing amongst themselves.


    The townsmen soon reached the residential district and entered their houses. The guard saw this and waited for thirty minutes before leaving. Lin Mu took a breath of relief and went back to follow the guard.


    The guard did not return to his post but instead went to a different location. He went towards the southern entrance which leads towards Wu Lim city and entered the guard¡¯s barracks there. Lin Mu could not enter the barracks without rousing suspicion, thus he just spied on it from the outside.


    Lin Mu stood there for an hour and gave up after seeing that no one came out of it anymore. He then returned to his house to rest. Twenty minutester, Lin Mu was sitting in his room while staring at the small piece of paper he had picked up.


    He was observing it against the light of amp and discovered that there was a small symbol written on the bottom of the paper. Lin Mu had not seen it before, as the symbol was covered with a splotch of blood. He tried to decipher it and could onlyprehend that the symbol looked like two cones intersecting.


    ¡¯What could this mean?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Rest for now. You¡¯ll probably find out something in the morning, such a conspiracy can¡¯t be hidden for long." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded and lied down on the bed. A minuteter, he appeared in the Sleepscape and started his daily practice. He had experienced the effects of the Thousand Armament de scripture today and felt that it was indeed a top-quality manual.


    Even though he had barely learned a part of the manual, he still felt that he had improved a lot. Right now, in order to improve more, he needed the rest of the weapons that were mentioned in the manual. He had asked in the weapon shops in the town and got the same answer from all of them. They did not have those weapons as they were either unpopr or expensive.


    If Lin Mu wanted those weapons, he would have to get them custom made or he would have to buy them from Wu Lim city. Lin Mu knew that even if he got them custom made, the weapons would probably not be of a good enough quality. Thus he had decided that he would head to the Wu Lim city sometimeter to buy the weapons. But for now, he would just have to do with the weapons he had.


    Lin Mu also had a few more reasons for which he wanted to visit the Wu Lim city. He wanted to see the cultivators that lived in the city and also to check out the shops that catered to the cultivators. He also wanted to experience the average life of a cultivator in the city, as he had no sample topare it with here.


    Senior Xukong had told him some stories of cultivators, how they were glorified and venerated, yet Lin Mu still wanted to see it for himself.


    After a few hours of practicing the Thousand Armament de scripture, Lin Mu learned more Dao script from senior Xukong. In the end, he plucked the two ripe spirit apples hanging on the tree and fell asleep.


    After his breakthrough to the Mid-stage of the Qi refining realm, the Sleepscape had undergone some development and the spirit apple tree now bore two apples instead of one every day. Lin Mu had also thought that he could also sell these spirit apples as a source of ie. Though he could not do it in the town, as it would be too suspicious and no one would actually be able to afford it.


    Lin Mu woke up in the morning to the sound of amotion.


    "What¡¯s going on so early?" Lin Mu groggily muttered.


    Lin Mu walked out of his room and into the courtyard. He could already hear the gaggle of noises outside on the street. He opened the gate and peeked outside. He saw arge group of people arguing with a few guards in the middle of the street.


    The people were all locals that lived in the neighborhood, and the guards were from the barracks at the eastern entrance. Lin Mu walked closed to listen to what was happening.


    "We can¡¯t live in peace if you don¡¯t do something." A man standing at the front shouted.


    "Yeah, what will we do if the beast enters the town somehow?" Anotherined.


    "Even the guards died and you¡¯re telling us to just stay calm." A woman protested.


    The guard lifted his hands and gestured for the people to calm down as he spoke,


    "People, please listen to me. We are doing all we can right now, but this is the town head¡¯s orders. All residents of the town are ordered to stay inside the residential district until further orders."


    Lin Mu felt confused by the people¡¯s words, thus he tapped a person¡¯s shoulder to talk to them.


    "What? Ah, Lin Mu, it¡¯s you! When did you return? I haven¡¯t seen you for months here." The man spoke.


    The man Lin Mu had chosen to speak to was a neighbor that lived a few houses away from his own.


    "I recently moved back here. Never mind that though, what¡¯s actually happening here?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh, you didn¡¯t hear? There was another spirit beast attack." The man spoke.


    "What do you mean another spirit beast attack?" Lin Mu asked.


    "A few scouts had spotted a spirit beast wandering out of the forest, thus the captain of the guards had ordered the closure of the town yesterday. Apparently, the second vice-captain himself led a team of guards to drive the beast away, but they did not return yet. Then another team was sent out to find them, which only lead to them finding a few pools of blood and remains of bodies." The neighbor spoke.


    ¡¯The vice-captain? Wait, was that person from yesterday the second vice-captain, maybe?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "So why are the people angry?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Some townsmen never returned after yesterday, so they are scared. The guards are also not doing much and have just been told to give us some orders." The neighbor replied.


    Lin Mu had an idea what happened, thus he nodded to his neighbor and walked away. The crowd too disappeared after the guards cated them.


    Lin Mu wanted to verify if the person called second brother and the vice-captain were the same. He had seen the other vice-captain before, so knew that it wasn¡¯t that person. He went to the town center to check for it.


    Lin Mu knew that as long as he greased the palm of a clerk, he should be able to get some information. It took him fifteen minutes to reach the town center, and upon reaching the town center he saw another crowd of people gathered around.


    But this time these were not the residents of the town, but rather the mercenaries. The crowd was not making much noise and was just standing there looking at the town center with anger in their eyes.


    Not wanting to bother the mercenaries, Lin Mu slipped into the building from the side. He saw the staffers working on their desks and the clerks running around doing their tasks and carrying rolls of papers.


    Lin Mu chose a clerk that passed by him and called out to him. The clerk stopped and looked at him with an annoyed face. In response, Lin Mu instantly pulled out a silver coin from the pouch.


    "Brother, may I have a moment of your time? I¡¯ll definitely make it worth your while." Lin Mu spoke.


    Lin Mu could see the shine of greed in the clerk¡¯s eyes and knew that he had him in his palm.


    "What would you like, brother?" The clerk spoke as he eyed the silver coin.


    Lin Mu passed the silver coin to the clerk and patted his back to gesture him to go to a corner. The clerk obediently followed and guided Lin Mu to a different room. There were some other clerks in the room who were working on their own tasks and did not pay attention to the two of them.


    "I would like some information about what¡¯s happening in the town." Lin Mu asked.


    "What do you mean by that brother? Everyone knows what happened, it was a beast attack." The clerk replied.


    "I... would like a few more details." Lin Mu spoke.


    The clerk thought for a moment before speaking again.


    "The truth is, we don¡¯t know what exactly happened." The clerk replied.

 Chapter 74 - Vigil

    <h4>Chapter 74 - Vigil </h4>


    Lin Mu felt strange about the clerk¡¯s words. He thought that he may be lying at first, but then looking at his face made him think differently. Though he thought he should listen to theplete story first.


    "The report about the spirit beast was given by a mercenary to the second vice-captain. The second vice-captain thus issued the order to close the town and the routes leading to it. Butter, when he didn¡¯t return, the other guards went to talk with the town head about the mercenary who gave the report. The town head told them that the mercenary who reported it disappeared too and they can¡¯t find him." The clerk exined.


    "Is that why mercenaries are standing outside the town center?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yeah, they¡¯re angry that more of their mercenaries disappeared and the town head is not responding to theirints." The clerk answered.


    "And what does the second vice-captain look like? Because I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen him before." Lin Mu asked his main question.


    The clerk did not seem like he minded Lin Mu¡¯s question and just spoke honestly.


    "Oh, let me just get the identity register. We have portraits of all the town¡¯s cultivators in it."


    "I didn¡¯t know there was an identity register for cultivators." Lin Mu said curiously.


    "Oh no, it¡¯s actually for all people that the town head considers important, there are other normal people in it too that are not cultivators." The clerk answered and then went away to get the register.


    ¡¯This is news to me. I didn¡¯t know that there was something like this.¡¯ Lin Mu spoke inwardly.


    "It is technically necessary. Every establishment needs to keep a record of important people." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "I guess the portrait will make it easier to identify the man than just by a vague description." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    The clerk soon returned with the register and showed it to Lin Mu. He flipped it to the page where it showed the second vice-captains portrait. Lin Mu saw the portrait and instantly recognized the man. The person that tried to kill him yesterday was the vice-captain.


    "Han Xu?" Lin Mu muttered the name written on the register.


    "Yes, that¡¯s the vice-captain¡¯s name." the clerk responded.


    Even afterpleting his main task, Lin Mu still felt curious about the situation, thus he decided to get more information.


    "I also heard that some guards and townsmen disappeared."


    The clerk did not straight away answer Lin Mu¡¯s query, but instead looked at his coin pouch. Lin Mu understood this and pulled out another silver coin before passing it to the clerk, who swiftly hid it in his sleeve.


    "We have some contradicting statements about that. Some people say that they saw the townsmen enter the town safely, while the guards say that they never returned. As for the guards, we don¡¯t know what happened, but the current theory is that they saw the beast and went after it only to never return." The clerk spoke.


    "That is strange." Lin Mu muttered.


    Having got his share of information, Lin Mu was ready to leave. He gave another silver coin to the clerk and then left the building. Upon leaving, he saw that the mercenaries were still standing there and were not budging at all.


    While leaving, Lin Mu felt a gaze at the back of his head and turned around but did not notice anyone specific. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he walked away. Half an hourter Lin Mu returned to his house.


    As soon as he entered his room and closed the door, senior Xukong spoke in his mind.


    "You were being followed. Though it seems they stopped before they entered the residential district."


    "Was that the gaze I felt on me?" Lin Mu asked


    "It seems like it, though they did not follow you all the way, they¡¯re wary of something." Xukong replied.


    "Could it be rted to the attacks? Because we know that three more teams of those men were out there and that the townsmen we say yesterday disappeared as well." Lin Mu spoke.


    "We¡¯ll have to wait and watch. Though I rmend that you focus on extending the range of your spirit sense as it will help you in sensing other people. The longer your range is, the easier it will be for you." Xukong advised.


    "Yes, senior." Lin Mu epted.


    Before starting his practice, Lin Mu decided to cook some food. Half an hourter he had eaten his food and was ready to start his cultivation session. But suddenly he heard someone knocking at the gate.


    Lin Mu walked out and opened the gate. Upon opening it, he found his neighbor standing outside the gate. It was the same neighbor he had talked to earlier in the morning.


    "Did you need something, Xiao Lu?" Lin Mu asked.


    Xiao Lu had been Lin Mu¡¯s neighbor for many years and was four years older than him. He used to live with his uncle, but he too died in the gue that happenedst year. Since then, he had been living alone as well.


    "How are you, Lin Mu? I heard you got your house seized from you some time ago." Xiao Lu spoke.


    Lin Mu had been dreading this moment for a long time, but he knew that it would being sometime soon. The gossipingdies of the neighborhood were never known for their secrecy.


    They should have probably seen that the house was no longer sealed, but they did not see Lin Mu, so must have thought someone else bought it. Also, since Lin Mu had secluded himself in the house for a week since he got it, there weren¡¯t many chances where others could have seen him. But now that he revealed himself in the morning, the entire neighborhood must have seen him.


    "Ah yes, I did, but I¡¯ve already paid off the fine and got it back." Lin Mu spoke with a straight face.


    Lin Mu did not want to talk with the man for long, as he wanted to return to his cultivation session.


    "Oh, I was told to inform you that the people in the neighborhood have decided to keep a vigil at night." Xiao Lu spoke.


    "But isn¡¯t that the guard¡¯s job?" Lin Mu replied.


    "They don¡¯t trust the guards anymore, they think they are lying. Even now the guards have only been told to guard the entrance of the residential district and not the insides. Thus the neighborhood had decided to do it themselves." Xiao Lu answered.


    "So they¡¯re not afraid anymore?" Lin Mu asked jokingly.


    "They are, that¡¯s why we are making teams of four people that will keep a vigil at night. Everyone has to participate, thus I¡¯m here to inform you." Xiao Lu answered.


    Lin Mu did not want to do this as it would interfere with his cultivation, but he did not think he really had a choice. He also did not feel good rejecting the people he had grown up with.


    "Just take it, I think you may be able to discover some things. You will have an excuse to wander in the night, also with the person following you today, I don¡¯t think they will leave you alone." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    ¡¯Yes senior.¡¯ Lin Mu spoke inwardly.


    "That¡¯s okay, but when will my turn be then?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The day after tomorrow. You¡¯ll be teaming with me and two other people." Xiao Lu answered.


    "Okay then." Lin Mu replied.


    Xiao Lu nodded and went away. Lin Mu returned to his room and closed the door. Not wanting to waste any more time, he sat down to cultivate.


    *****


    In Wu Lim city, at arge manor located near ake.


    A thin man was sitting at a desk and reading from a scroll. The man had a short beard and well-groomed hair. He was dressed like a schr and had the bearing of a cultured person.


    A woman was standing next to the desk with her head bowed. She was dressed in a long ck-robed that covered her body and hid her figure. Even her face was covered with a thin grey veil.


    The thin man read the scroll for a few minutes before putting it away and then rubbed his forehead as if he was stressed. He let out a long sigh before speaking,


    "Is that all you¡¯ve found?"


    "Yes, my lord. Though there are some more reports, but I didn¡¯t think they would be worth your time." The veiled woman spoke.


    The thin man let out another sigh before speaking.


    "You may as well tell me. This information was nearly useless as well."


    "Some townsmen have disappeared from the Northern town and a new cultivator has appeared as well." the veiled woman spoke.


    The thin man looked up at the woman with an annoyed look and spoke,


    "And you only report this to me now?"


    "But my lord, cultivators appear in other towns regrly, and also there are many mercenaries in Northern town right now. We don¡¯t know if they belong to some mercenary group." The veiled woman spoke with a pleading tone.

 Chapter 75 - Meeting An Old Enemy

    <h4>Chapter 75 - Meeting An Old Enemy </h4>


    The thin man stroked his chin a couple of times before speaking again.


    "How old did that cultivator look?" the thin man asked.


    The veiled woman gulped before replying,


    "He... he¡¯s young, probably sixteen or seventeen, but definitely younger than twenty."


    An irritated expression appeared on the man¡¯s face as he replied with a louder tone.


    "So you mean to say that our people could not differentiate between a cultivator belonging to a mercenary group and an itinerant cultivator? Do you think a cultivator of such a young age would join a mercenarypany, or do you think it is a high-level cultivator that has returned to his youth?"


    The veiled woman lowered her face even more and didn¡¯t speak.


    "Do you think a cultivator that has enough talent to be a cultivator at that age would be without a backing? GO!! I want every single thing there is to know about that cultivator." The thin man yelled.


    "Yes, my lord." The woman replied before disappearing.


    The thin man sighed to himself before standing up and walking up to a shelf and opening a drawer. He then pulled out a jade slip and looked at it for a moment before keeping back into the drawer and closing it.


    ~sigh~ "It is not the time yet." The man muttered before walking to a window and staring outside.


    "What are you nning father... "


    *****


    Lin Mu was practicing the Thousand Armament de scripture in the Sleepscape. He had nearlypleted the basics of the weapons he already had and now was progressing to the more advanced parts. Though right now, he felt as if he was being hindered. He understood that it was because of ack of weapons and that he would have to get them soon or this may be a w in his technique.


    The more he practiced, the more he understood how the techniques of different weapons fit together andplemented each other. He now grasped the ws of different weapons and how to ovee them with the use of another weapon.


    "You are doing well. The improvement is significant." Xukong praised.


    Xukong had been seeing Lin Mu practicing diligently every day. He thought about how the boy was hardworking, even though his innate talent in cultivation was low. He had chosen not to tell this to Lin Mu as he wanted to see if he could ovee this limitation by himself.


    Xukong had seen many experts over the millennia that he had lived. He had seen them rise, prosper, fall, and die. He had seen immensely talented and gifted people so much so that they were even venerated as the Heaven¡¯s ordained. But he had also seen those very people lose themselves to cultivation and then perish in the annals of time.


    Countless people have tried to go against the heavens, yet few have survived it. Even the ones that survived it shortly disappeared, though people still had some evidence that showed that they were alive.


    Xukong then remembered a memory from his past,


    *****


    Countless white pirs could be seen floating in the endless void, along with some distortions spread around. At the depths of these pirs, a colossal being was currently resting. The being had a pale white body, eight legs, and ten golden yellow eyes that glowed with an imposing light.


    This was none other than Xukong himself. Streaks of silvery grey lights could be seen floating around his body and the white pirs. These streaks of light would touch the white pirs and then be absorbed by them. One could even see the streaks traveling through the pirs and moving towards Xukong¡¯s body.


    Fine threads arose from Xukong¡¯s body that connected to the giant white pirs. The light streaks would transfer from the white pirs to the fine threads, which would then carry it to Xukong¡¯s body.


    With every Light streak that was absorbed, the distortions in the void slowly reduced. One could not tell how long it would take for each distortion to disappear, but time could not be measured in the void, thus making it more difficult. It could have been a second or a year, but the distortion finally disappeared.


    Xukong stayed in the same position, unmoving for a long time, until he sensed some disturbance in the distance. His perception spread in the surroundings and suppressed all the distortions. Even though the void was always silent, a different kind of eerie silence descended because of the pressure imposed by Xukong.


    "Hmm, this is quite unusual of you, Old monster," Xukong spoke.


    In response to Xukong¡¯s words, the space in front of him started swirling and an ash grey throne appeared. The throne was empty, yet a presence could still be felt from it. A voice could then be heard echoing.


    "Are you so bothered by my presence that I can¡¯t even visit you, Xukong?" The voice spoke.


    "Oh, you know what you¡¯ve done, old monster. You would nevere here unless it was something important and your other ves were unable to help you with it." Xukong replied with an annoyed voice.


    "They¡¯re not my ves, they have their own free will." The voice replied.


    "What kind of free will is that, where you only have two choices? Their karma is chained and will be until you choose so." Xukong spoke.


    "But this is what they¡¯ve chosen. I¡¯ve never interfered in their affairs." The voice replied.


    ~Tch~ "I don¡¯t even want to argue with you. Just tell me what you are here for." Xukong asked.


    "I¡¯m just here to tell you that I will be gone for a while, so take care of my ¡¯ves¡¯ for a while, will you." The voice answered.


    "Is there even any ce where your influence doesn¡¯t extend to? You should be able to observe everything on your own, unless..." Xukong spoke and then trailed off before suddenly bing agitated.


    "NOO! What has happened? What did you do!!!?" Xukong roared.


    "I wish I could tell you, but there are other machinations underway." The voice spoke before fading away.


    "STOP!" Xukong yelled, making countless threads appear.


    The threads moved at a blinding speed and tried to stop the ash grey throne, but s! The ash grey throne turned ethereal and then disappeared in a swirl of light.


    "DAMMIT!! Nothing good will evere out of this." Xukong protested.


    Soon the silence returned to the void, and Xukong became immovable once again.


    *****


    Xukong broke his trail of memories after hearing Lin Mu call out to him.


    "Senior, it¡¯s time for your lessons about Dao Script." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Ah yes, it is time," Xukong replied, before appearing in front of Lin Mu.


    Xukong then taught Lin Mu for a few hours before it was time for Lin Mu to sleep.


    "I should be able to start reading the lost immortal¡¯s memoirs soon." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Well, you do have the basics down, so you should be ready in about a month," Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded in appreciation of senior Xukong¡¯s words before going towards the spirit apple tree and plucking today¡¯s ripened spirit apples. He then fell asleep and disappeared from the Sleepscape.


    Lin Mu woke up in the morning and spent the rest of his day cultivating, as he wanted to be ready for tomorrow. It would be Lin Mu¡¯s turn to participate in the vigil tomorrow along with Xiao Lu. He was expecting to find some more clues at night time.


    In these two days, he had not gone out and had just cultivated on his own. He already had enough beast meat tost him for a week, thus he was not worried about it that much.


    Lin Mu was currently sitting down on his bed and was refining his spirit sense. He was sessful in increasing the range of his spirit sense by an additional half-meter, but still wanted to extend it for as long as he could.


    Though senior Xukong reminded him that he would have to ensure that he had replenished his entire store of spirit qi before leaving for the vigil. This meant that he won¡¯t be able to refine his spirit sense tomorrow, as every time he did that he would end up depleting nearly three-fourths of his qi stores.


    Lin Mu had just finished replenishing his qi and had ended his cultivation session for the day, when he heard someone knocking at the gate of the courtyard. He opened his eyes and stood up to open the gate.


    Lin Mu opened the gate only to find an unknown person standing at the gate.


    "Come on, it¡¯s time for the vigil." The person said.


    "Oh ok, where¡¯s Xiao Lu though?" Lin Mu asked.


    "He¡¯s already gone ahead. You werete, so I was asked toe to get you." The person replied.


    "Is that so?" Lin Mu spoke with a calm voice.


    Lin Mu then locked the gate before leaving with the person. They walked for five minutes before reaching their destination. The spot they were at was an open square that was located at the center of the residential district.


    Upon reaching there, he saw three people standing there. One of them was Xiao Lu, another person was a portly man whom Lin Mu had seen the day and thest person was none other than the person with whom Lin Mu had his first big conflict with, Yuan Tu.

 Chapter 76 - Starting The Night-Time Vigil

    <h4>Chapter 76 - Starting The Night-Time Vigil </h4>


    Lin Mu had not expected to meet his old enemy Yuan Tu here. In the past, he would have never expected that a man he called uncle would wrong him. While Yuan Tu was not his actual blood uncle, he was once friends with his father. They were not close friends, but were friends indeed.


    Lin Mu saw the look in Yuan Tu¡¯s eyes and understood that he was shocked to see him here too. Lin Mu then looked at his physical condition and saw that he had visibly thinned down. It seemed like he had not taken to prison well.


    Lin Mu was also wondering when Yuan Tu got out of prison. He had expected for him to stay in the prison for a longer time than this. He definitely did not expect that someone would be willing to bail him out. He did not know what it would cost to bail him out, but knew that it must be a high amount.


    Yuan Tu had not expected to see Lin Mu today at all. He knew that Lin Mu had no house to return to so, he should either be living at some inn or somewhere else. He would never have guessed that Lin Mu was actually able to pay the fine and get his house back.


    Yuan Tu had gotten out of prison recently and had returned to live at his house in the neighborhood. A couple of days ago some people came to inform him that a vigil was going to be held in view of the recent events that urred. The people from the neighborhood had also asked him about his absence, but he just told him that he was visiting some family members in the eastern town.


    Yuan Tu was frankly shocked upon hearing that some people had disappeared and a spirit beast had apparently attacked as well. Yuan Tu had seen a terrifying spirit beast before, a few years ago. An injured spirit beast had wandered out of the forest and had encountered some hunters.


    Out of a team of ten hunters, only three survived. With Yuan Tu being one of them, along with Lin Mu¡¯s father. Ever since then Yuan Tu gave up on being a hunter and just worked in the orchards. It was also because of this that he was promoted to the position of a team leader in the orchards.


    After the initial surprise faded from Yuan Tu¡¯s eyes, he scanned Lin Mu from top to bottom. He could see visible changes in the boy. He had somehow grown a little in the past month and was taller than before. He had also developed slight muscles, and even his face had a glow that was a stark difference from his previous dull look.


    Yuan Tu could not help but wonder what the boy had gone through in the past few weeks. He was angry that while he had to suffer all this time; the boy was actually doing much better than before. The one saving grace he had while he was in the prison was that Lin Mu would still be suffering out there being homeless and broke.


    But now that he had seen him again, he felt his rage reigniting. He felt like teaching him a lesson right then and there, but knew better to not act on it. He would bide his time and look for the right time. He just decided to not interact with him for now.


    Yuan Tu forcefully suppressed his rage and avoided looking at him as it helped him divert his thoughts. He looked at the boy¡¯s expression and reached a tacit understanding. Lin Mu saw the look that Yuan Tu gave him and knew what he was thinking.


    Seeing him avoid him just made it easier for him. Lin Mu was already a cultivator and was much stronger than before. He had nothing to fear from Yuan Tu. It didn¡¯t matter to him if Yuan Tu doesn¡¯t interact with him.


    While this silent interaction was happening, Xiao Lu witnessed the entire thing and knew that something was off.


    Xiao Lu knew that Yuan Tu and Lin Mu had a conflict, but he did not know the exact terms of it. He only knew that a week after Lin Mu¡¯s house was seized, Yuan Tu had disappeared as well. When he came back a couple of days ago, he just told everyone that he had gone to visit his family in eastern town for a bit.


    Once Lin Mu reached near the three people, the portly man nced at him and then spoke.


    "Now that we¡¯re all here, it¡¯s time for us to start the vigil."


    The portly man then pointed towards a wooden box that was kept near his feet and spoke,


    "Every one of you please pick a gong from the box. If you encounter anything suspicious remember to run first and then rm us all by ringing the gong. We don¡¯t want any untoward incidences." The portly man spoke with a serious tone.


    Everyone nodded at the portly man¡¯s words and then went forward to pick a gong and a small mallet. Lin Mu was thest person to pick a gong up. He looked at the gong and found it to be made of copper. He tapped on it and felt it tremble.


    After everyone picked up a gong, the portly man nodded while looking around.


    "Okay then, now that everyone has a gong, you can choose a direction and go towards it. Comb out your area and then gather at this square after every hour." The portly man spoke.


    Lin Mu chose to go to the northern direction where his house was located. He thought that if he was gonna do this, he may as well guard the area around his house. Senior Xukong also agreed with Lin Mu??s choice.


    "There¡¯s a higher chance that the person who was following you before would appear near your house. If you¡¯re lucky, you can encounter him there and get the information out of him." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    While Lin Mu had chosen to go towards the north, the man who brought him went to the west, Xiao Lu went to the east, and Yuan Tu chose to go towards the south, clearly not wanting to see him and staying as far from him as possible.


    The portly man did not go anywhere and chose to stay here and keep watch in the central area. This would also help him rally everyone and created amonmunication point. Everyone soon split up and walked towards their chosen areas.


    "Keep your spirit sense extended, so you can sense anything that happens," Xukong spoke to Lin Mu.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu first went towards the left-most street. He decided that he would go from the left to the right. He walked around and heard the silence of the night. The night was cold, but at least it was not snowing yet.


    While the snow would not bother him that much, he could not tell the same about the other people. Lin Mu had seen that everyone was wearing thicker and warmer clothes, hence he had chosen to do the same. If he did not do that, he would only be rousing unnecessary attention from people.


    He had just put on the leather armors he had gotten from the killers before. Putting on the multiple leather armors under his robes made it look as if he was wearing winter clothing. It would also help provide him some extra defense, just in case.


    This was the first time that he was actually seeing his neighborhood like this. It was usually boisterous during the day with the people meeting each other and thedies gossiping and arguing with each other. The children would run around ying with each other andughing.


    The silence of the night made him think about a lot of things he usually would not think of. While he had stayed alone in the hunting shack for a while now, this kind of silence still made him feel strange.


    "It¡¯s as if the forest is more alive than this ce." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    Xukong heard Lin Mu¡¯s words and felt a little surprised.


    ¡¯He can already sense it.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    "You are right, Lin Mu," Xukong spoke.


    "What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "What you are feeling right now is theck of ambient spirit qi. The reason you feel that the forest is more alive is because it is filled with vitality. While this ce does have more people, it stillcks the raw vitality and spirit qi." Xukong replied.


    "This also why most of the cultivators choose to live in ces rich in spirit qi. The cultivation sects are prosperous only because they are built onnds rich in spirit qi. This not only increases the progress of their disciples by multiple folds, it also helps temper their minds." Xukong added.


    "Is this why you want me to start my journey soon, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, it¡¯s part of the reason. Right now, since your cultivation is still low, it would not matter to you as much, but once it risester, you will feel the difference in the environment. You will be ufortable in a ce that¡¯scking in spirit qi." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu took senior Xukong¡¯s words seriously and cemented his resolve.


    *****


    Wu Lim city,


    Inside arge mansion situated beside ake, a thin and schrly man was rxing on a lounger in a library.


    The library was rather dark, with the only source of light being themp that was ced on a table. The thin and schrly man had his feet up on a lounger and was reading a book. He had a calm look on his face and seemed to be engrossed in the content of the book.


    A veiled woman appeared from the darkness and came to stand beside the man. She bowed her head and stood silently.


    The thin and schrly man let out a sigh and spoke without looking away from the book.


    "You have something for me I hope?"


    "Yes, my lord. It¡¯s about the new cultivator." The veiled woman replied.

 Chapter 77 - The Slumbering District

    <h4>Chapter 77 - The Slumbering District </h4>


    The thin and schrly man nodded and allowed the veiled woman to approach.


    "Go ahead." The thin man said.


    The veiled woman then produced a scroll in her hand, likely from a spatial treasure, and passed it to the thin man.


    "I¡¯ve taken the liberty topile all the intelligence we¡¯ve gathered, my lord. There are some parts you¡¯ll find rather, fascinating." The veiled woman spoke with a respectful tone.


    The thin man opened the scroll and started reading it with his full concentration. At first, the man¡¯s expression seemed rather disinterested, butter it became more interested until finally, it reached the peak of tion.


    "Hahaha!" The thin manughed out loud.


    "You¡¯ve done well, very well. Seems like we have an interesting contender here." The thin man spoke with a joyous tone.


    "How do we proceed, my lord? Do we bring him to you?" The veiled woman questioned.


    "We know that his senses are sharp and he¡¯s been able to detect our people before. We also don¡¯t know who¡¯s backing him, but considering his strength and talent, I would say it¡¯s someone strong."


    The man said and paused before continuing,


    "Don¡¯t approach him for now and just observe him. Try to get a clue about his backer, if it¡¯s someone from our ¡¯list¡¯, eliminate him. Otherwise, we may have a new pawn to y with." The thin man said.


    "My lord, we still have one of our men watching him. He still has the old orders and is following them. He may end up making contact with the boy, which may end in conflict." The Woman added.


    The thin man stroked his beard before speaking,


    "Hmm, this does make it a little difficult. Try to send a message as soon as possible and if something does happen, try to avoid further conflict. We¡¯llpensate himter."


    "As you wish, my lord." The veiled woman respectfully spoke and turned around.


    But just as she was about to leave, the thin man spoke up again.


    "Just in case, assign one of our higher corps members to him."


    The veiled woman seemed to be surprised, but it could not be seen from because of her veil.


    "Are you sure my lord? All three of our higher corps members are currently assigned to long-term missions. If we recall any one of them, then all of their progress may go to waste." The veiled woman asked with an unnerved voice.


    The veiled woman was rather shocked by her lord¡¯s words. She did not expect that her lord would ce such a big importance on that cultivator who was still a teen. She knew how much every higher corps member was worth. Each and every one of them was a Core condensation realm cultivator and was trained in reconnaissance and assassination.


    Even she herself, who was considered to be the closest person to her lord, couldn¡¯tpare in strength with the higher corps.


    "Yes, if he is what I think, then it would certainly be worth it." The thin man answered with determination in his voice.


    "Who should I assign then, my lord?" The woman asked.


    "Assign the second member of the higher corps. His character would suit this mission." The thin man ordered.


    "The second member of the higher corps is currently in the ck Dawn kingdom, my lord. I estimate it would take him ten days to reach the designated location." The veiled woman replied.


    "It may take a little longer than that, as the current mission is rather sensitive and he will need to sever all ties before returning." The veiled woman added with a little hesitation.


    "That¡¯s fine. Until he reaches there, you may personally oversee this assignment." The thin man spoke with a calm voice.


    "It will be done as you say, my lord." The woman replied respectfully before leaving.


    A few minutester, after the woman was gone, the thin man stood up and withdrew a jade slip out of a spatial treasure. He held it in his hand and let it activate. The jade slip shone for a bit and then buzzed.


    "I may have a new solution, elder brother." The thin man spoke.


    *****


    Back at the Northern town,


    Lin Mu was patrolling his neighborhood. So far he had not seen anything strange or unusual. He also had a doubt whether the townsmen who disappeared were taken by the darkly dressed men or someone else.


    He had seen the guard follow the townsmen who had entered the town all the way to their houses. He had also seen the guard withdraw a strange contraption from his sleeve.


    Because of the darkness, Lin Mu was not able to see what it was but could guess that it was something metallic, as it gave off a glint. He knew that it was not something a guard would carry and was specially made for an unknown reason. The guard was a definite suspect as he had disappearedter as well.


    ¡¯Perhaps I should have focused on that guard from the start.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    In the blink of an eye an hour went by and it was time for him to return back. He reached the square and saw that three people were already standing there. The only person who was missing was Xiao Lu.


    The portly man approached Lin Mu and spoke.


    "So did you find anything unusual?"


    Lin Mu shook his head as he replied,


    "No, everything seemed to be normal. All the houses are silent and everyone is sleeping. Except for a few stray dogs and cats, there¡¯s no one wandering out."


    "That¡¯s good. Now we only have to wait for Xiao Lu to return and report." The portly man spoke.


    Fifteen minutes passed by and there was no sign of Xiao Lu. The portly man seemed to be getting nervous now. Five more minutes passed and the portly man was just about to speak something when Lin Mu interrupted.


    "Ah, there hees." Lin Mu spoke.


    The three men looked around but could not see anyone there.


    "Where?" The three men asked in unison.


    Lin Mu then understood their confusion. The men could not see as far as him in the darkness, no wonder they were confused. He then pointed at an alley and everyone followed his finger.


    A few seconds after hearing the sounds of someone running, they could see the sprinting figure of Xiao Lu appearing from the alley with four dogs chasing him.


    "HELP!!!" He shouted


    The man who had brought Lin Mu went forward to help, but before he could even do anything the dogs stopped by themselves. They growled a little and then started yelping, in the next second they scampered away.


    Xiao Lu did not see this happen as he was still in a state of panic. He stopped when he couldn¡¯t hear the sounds of the dogs behind him. He looked at the people in front of him and asked,


    "What happened? Where did they go?"


    The rest of the three people along with Lin Mu were confused by this development.


    "That was strange, they weren¡¯t barking, only chasing." The man who had brought Lin Mu spoke.


    The portly man nodded before turning to Xiao Lu.


    "Why were they chasing you? Did you provoke them?" The portly man questioned.


    Xiao Lu shook his head as he answered,


    "No, not at all. They just randomly started chasing me when I was just about to return. I don???t know why."


    Lin Mu then realized something.


    "Wait, you were shouting all this time right, why didn¡¯t the residents wake up? And where¡¯s the gong?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I threw the gong at the dogs when they were chasing me. As for the residents, I didn¡¯t pay attention." Xiao Lu replied.


    The portly man seemed to have realized something, and his face turned pale.


    "Oh, no! Ring the rm quick, I fear something bad is happening." The portly man eximed.


    The other people hesitated and did not understand the portly man¡¯s nervousness, but Lin Mu started banging the gong without a second thought.


    "ALARM! ALARM! WAKE UP, EVERYONE!" Lin Mu shouted.


    Seeing Lin Mu shouting the other¡¯s started to do that as well.


    Then, the thing that they were dreading all this while happened. Not a single resident woke up nor responded. The four men were starting to gauge the seriousness of the situation by now. It had been five minutes, yet there were no results.


    ¡¯There¡¯s no use, they are probably under the effect of some kind of drug. Go and check out the houses yourself.¡¯ Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Let¡¯s go and check the houses ourselves." Lin Mu spoke authoritatively.


    Strangely enough, no one questioned him right now and just went with the flow. Even Yuan Tu did not oppose him or show any aversion right now.


    Lin Mu ran to the closest house and started banging on the door while shouting. But even then, no one responded. The other men tried the same thing, but to no avail.


    "We need to break down the door and look inside." The portly man spoke.


    Everyone tacitly nodded and agreed to the proposition. The men braced themselves to break the door and were just about to m, when Lin Mu ripped the door off of its hinges with ease. The four men were left with the jaws hanging upon seeing this feat.


    Lin Mu paid no attention to their shock and just rushed inside. He saw the pair of homeowners sleeping on their bed soundlessly. He went ahead and picked up the man that was sleeping and shook him hard.


    The four men entered the room and saw Lin Mu shaking the sleeping the man hard.


    "Why are they not waking up?"

 Chapter 78 - Capturing The Spy

    <h4>Chapter 78 - Capturing The Spy </h4>


    Lin Mu had shaken the poor man to his core, yet there was no physical response from him. The other people had also tried on their own and tested the man as well but got no response.


    "It¡¯s no use, lets go try the other houses." Lin Mu spoke.


    Lin Mu then went to the next house and broke down the door as well. He walked inside the house and found its sleeping residents. The others followed him inside and watched as he tried to wake them up.


    Lin Mu had checked that actually they were alive and not dead. They just seemed to be highly unconscious and unresponsive, while their breathing still continued.


    "Why is this happening?" Yuan Tu spoke out loud.


    Everyone heard his words and reciprocated with him, as they all were wondering about the reason for this phenomenon.


    "We need to keep on checking the houses, there are bound to be more people that are not affected by this." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, this can¡¯t just happen to the entire district. We are still awake so there should be more people." The portly man affirmed.


    The party of five went from house to house checking on people. At first, they would just break in through the front door butter understood that this was ineffective, as the people who were unconscious would not respond either way. In the end, they just decided to make as much noise as possible to alert anyone that was unaffected.


    They had wanted to inform the guards outside the district about this urrence, but then decided against it as they thought that staying together was the right decision at this time. Who knows what would happen if they were alone, thus they did not want to take the risk.


    It took them over two hours before they were even able to find a person that was unaffected by it. They were at a rather small house, which looked old. Its paint had faded away and the wooden frames of the windows and door seemed to be pretty weathered as well.


    As before, they knocked on the door hard and shortly got a response.


    "Who the hell is disturbing my sleep at this time?!!" A person shouted from inside the house.


    "Wake up! We have a huge problem. We are the people who are doing the night vigil." The portly man spoke.


    Some iprehensible grumbles could be hearding from behind the door. The door soon opened and an old man appeared from behind it. The old man seemed to be at least eighty years old and had a face full of wrinkles.


    "What do you want?" The old man groaned.


    "We are the night vigil team. We found that people in the district are unconscious and unresponsive." The portly man spoke.


    "Yes, we checked many houses and tried to wake people, but no one is responding. We even tried shaking them physically but they still did not respond, you¡¯re the first person we found that responded." Lin Mu exined.


    By now the old man had be woken enough to understand the current predicament. He asked for them to show them the unconscious people, which they dly did. After seeing the proof with his own eyes, the old man understood the graveness of the situation.


    "What do we do now then?" The old man asked.


    Everyone turned to look at Lin Mu subconsciously. Due to him taking the approach head-on, everyone had unknowingly epted him as the leader. Although his surprising strength may have yed a part in it as well, there weren¡¯t many people in the town who could just rip off doors that easily.


    "I rmend we go and inform the guards at this point. This is much bigger at this point and we don¡¯t know the implications of this. We are definitely gonna need a lot of people if we want to check every house." Lin Mu ordered.


    Everyone nodded without thinking much and started following Lin Mu. Half an hourter they had left the residential district and were at its exit. The guards should have been patrolling around here but they were nowhere to be found.


    "Where are the guards?" The men questioned together.


    ¡¯There seems to be more to this than we thought.¡¯ Xukong spoke.


    "I¡¯m going to go look for them and you guys try to see if the residents here can wake up." Lin Mu ordered.


    All the men nodded in response and went ahead to do their tasks. Lin Mu decided to directly go towards the guard barracks, that way if he encountered any guard on the way he¡¯ll inform them as well.


    Lin Mu started running at his full speed after he was at a sufficient distance from the men. He didn¡¯t want to reveal more of his capabilities than he had already done today. The streets were eerily silent and not even stray animals could be seen. Lin Mu was halfway to the barracks when he sensed some disturbance.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense was already extended and he waspletely alert, thus he was able to detect the presence that was hiding in the shadows hiding. Lin Mu probed the ce with his spirit sense and found the person that was hiding there.


    "Get ready" Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu instinctively withdrew the throwing daggers from his ring and threw two of them at the location he had detected the person at. A muffled grunt and clinking of metal could be heard after that.


    "Come out now, I know you are there." Lin Mu called out.


    Slowly a person came out of the darkness and revealed himself to Lin Mu. The person was dressed in dark blue clothes and was wearing a featureless mask with only two holes for eyes. He had a thin sword hung on his waist and was six feet tall.


    Lin Mu used his spirit sense to gauge the man¡¯s strength and discovered that he was a cultivator too. The man was at the Early stage of the Qi refining realm and didn¡¯t seem to have refined his spirit sense yet.


    When Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense probed the masked man cultivation, he seemed to have detected it as he flinched for a moment and became tense.


    "He¡¯s dressed differently. Does he belong to the same group of people or not?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "You can find that out soon enough. For now, you just need to get the information out of him, either by hook or by crook." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu then drew the short sword from its sheath and pointed it at the masked man before speaking,


    "Who are you and why have you been following me?"


    The Masked Man didn¡¯t speak but instead drew his own sword in response.


    "So you¡¯re not going to take the easy route." Said Lin Mu with a sharp tone.


    The man advanced first and shed, which Lin Mu easily dodged by sidestepping and responded with an attack of his own.


    ~shing~


    The masked man was able to block it but felt the weight of the strike on his de. He instantly understood the difference between their strengths. He was already shocked when he felt a spirit sense probe on him but when he actually felt the force of Lin Mu¡¯s attack, his suspicions were confirmed.


    The masked man was not one to give up easily though, he attacked again and missed. Lin Mu had an advantage in speed as well as strength. If he wanted to, he could have ended this fight instantly but he instead wanted to get the information out of the man first.


    Both of them exchanged blows one after the other. While all of the masked man¡¯s attacks missed, it was not the same for Lin Mu. Most of his attacks were blocked but some had nicked the masked man. He had multiple smaller cuts on his body; some on his hands, some on his torso, and some on his legs.


    After fighting for five minutes, Lin Mu decide that it was enough.


    "That¡¯s it, surrender now or I¡¯ll end you right now. You know that you have no chance against me." Lin Mu sternly spoke.


    The man did not heed Lin Mu¡¯s words and instead attacked again. Seeing that the man was uncooperative, Lin Mu decided to end it quickly.


    He channeled wisps of spirit qi into his short sword and shed at the masked man. The man tried to block it in turn but was unsessful as Lin Mu¡¯s de just cut through his own sword effortlessly. The de was just about to reach his neck when Lin Mu paused for a moment and punched with his other hand.


    The strengthened fistnded on the masked man¡¯s face and knocked him down to the ground. Lin Mu had not used his entire strength as he did not want to kill the man right away.


    Even if he wanted to kill the man, he would avoid attacking the face, as it would just end up crushing the man¡¯s skull and disfiguring him. Lin Mu would not be able to identify the man then and it would be difficult for him to further investigate.


    After being knocked on the ground the man became disoriented and could not respond. Lin Mu then ced the point of his short sword at the masked man¡¯s neck.


    "Surrender." Lin Mu ordered.


    Finding himself unarmed and at the edge of death, the man finally gave up.


    "Okay! I surrender."

 Chapter 79 - The Spys Perspective

    <h4>Chapter 79 - The Spy''s Perspective </h4>


    Three hours ago in the residential district of the Northern town.


    A man dressed in dark blue clothes and a featureless mask was hiding over the roof of a house and looking at a courtyard. He had been in that position for many hours now, but was still not bothered. He had stayed there all this time, unmoving and nearly invisible.


    Eventually, he saw an average-looking man approach the courtyard and then knock on its gates. A minuteter, he saw the door of the house inside the courtyard open. A Shorthaired boy around the age of fifteen walked out and opened the gate.


    Both of them talked for a couple of minutes before walking away. The man was leading while the boy followed behind him.


    Seeing that his target was moving, the masked man finally got a chance to stretch his tensed body. While it was normal for him to hide like this for an extended period of time, as it was part of his job, it still tired him out every time. He was a cultivator sure, but he was only at the early stage of the Qi refining realm and was not like the tireless core condensation experts who could work tirelessly for weeks.


    The masked man followed the pair until they reached the square that was located in the center of the residential district. He then saw them talk amongst themselves about the night vigil. They talked for about five minutes before they separated again and went in different directions.


    The masked man followed the boy towards the northern direction, which was the same way they originally came from. He saw the boy look a little lost in his thoughts while patrolling the streets. The expression on the boy¡¯s face actually reminded himself of his own situation many years ago.


    He too was once lost in the world and didn¡¯t know what to do. That was until he met his lord, who gave him the opportunity to be a cultivator. For this grace that his lord had bestowed upon him, he had chosen to serve him till his death.


    He would jump into the inferno of hell if his lord so asked him to do. He was his lord¡¯s de, and such was his duty. He along with his fellowrades all worked for the glory of his lord. They were all useless before; it was their fortune that they met their lord who had allowed them to be worthy.


    Unknowingly more time passed, and an hour had gone by. The masked man had seen the boy mutter something to himself multiple times over the time period. He had found this a little strange, but had just attributed this to the boy¡¯s entricities. He did not know why he had been ordered by his lord to watch this boy, but knew that all he had to do was to follow his orders.


    The masked man had observed the boy for over a week and had found out that the boy was much stronger than he looked. To him, if he was not informed beforehand, he would only think that the boy was an average Body Tempering realm expert. But beneath that facade of naivety, it hid a full-fledged Qi cultivator.


    The masked man could not figure out how the boy became a cultivator at such a young age. Even for him who had above average talent, it took him over a decade to be able to be a cultivator. It was a little shocking for him to see such a young cultivator in a small town like this.


    While there were Young cultivators like this in Wu Lim city as well, they all belonged to influential families and ns. For an orphan boy with an insignificant background like his, it should have been nearly impossible, but here he was existing and defying the odds.


    The masked man snapped out of his thoughts upon seeing that the boy was returning to the square. A few minutester they reached the square, and he saw the boy talk with the three men standing there. One of the men was missing, and they seemed to be waiting for him.


    After a while they started getting impatient, only to hear the boy speak out loud. The missing man had returned, but not without a pack of stray dogs chasing him. It was at this time that things started going haywire.


    The masked man saw that the chasing dogs were not barking. This was probably the most abnormal thing, as dogs always barked while chasing their prey. Yes prey, he had seen the look in the stray dog¡¯s eyes. They were fueled with blood lust and wanted to kill.


    The masked man suddenly realized the reason for the silent but murderous dogs. They had been poisoned with Beast Inciting powder. The Beast Inciting powder was used to provoke beasts and create a rampage. It was ouwed in the Shuang Qian kingdom, and its possession was punishable by death.


    The masked man could only think of a few people or organizations that could have ess to it. The Beast Inciting powder was not only expensive but also difficult to create. To use them on normal animals such as these stray dogs was only a waste.


    Then in the next moment, he saw something which he could not exin. The stray dogs halted before the five people and growled for a bit before yelping out as if they were scared by the most dangerous of predators.


    He had never seen this before, as no beast affected by the beast inciting powder would ever flinch. They would mindlessly chase down their prey and tear them to shreds. The urrence in front of him was simply unscientific.


    Though this was not the end of the bizarre situation. The men soon talked amongst themselves and figured out the strangeness of the current scenario. Then the masked man heard something which made him realize that in all this mess, he had failed to recognize a huge thing.


    While the stray dogs were barking and the man being chased was crying out for help, no one heard it. This was even more unusual than normal as all the residents of the town were rather anxious due to the recent string of disappearances and the spirit beast attacks.


    They should have woken up rather easily, but even in all this hubaloo, no one responded. The masked man then saw the men trying to alert the residents but to no avail. He even saw his ¡¯target¡¯ the boy pull out a door from its hinges without any hesitation revealing a part of his strength.


    Thirty more minutes passed by as the masked man saw the party of five people getting more and more anxious. They were searching for any resident that could be awakened. Even the masked man himself was worried because of this development.


    The masked man knew that he would have to inform his lord about this phenomenon. It was not easy to incapacitate so many people without leaving a witness, thus he knew that someone big was behind this act. His lord had many ns and liked to know everything that happened around, hence this was definitely something that he needed to inform his lord about.


    The masked man could not see what happened inside the house but could guess, and after hearing the conversation of the men he confirmed it. The people inside were alive but unconscious. Not just that house, but every house that the party of five men visited.


    The masked man knew about some substances and techniques that could be used to put someone in a deep sleep like this, but not on an extensive scale such as this. Doing it at such arge scale would require arge retinue of people, and to do it covertly would require even more immense influence and power.


    The masked man had thought that every person in the district was affected except for the five men, but he was soon proved wrong when they found another person. This person was an old man with a wrinkled face.


    The masked man was a little surprised by this, but soon discovered the reason. That old man was a warrior. While it may not be apparent to most people, he had grown up seeing warriors fight and had even joined an organization that vetted out people throughbat. He was able to sense the faint aura of a warrior on the old man.


    As the man was very old, the aura had faded away yet even now he had the disposition of a warrior; his gait was still there when he walked without any support. The masked man guessed that the old man was at the tenth stage of the body tempering realm at the very least. He judged that the old man must have fought in the war that happened a long time ago and was now disabled and weak.


    Because there was no other reason why there would not be a record of a tenth stage body tempering expert, as they were rather rare. Even the masked man himself was only at the eight stage of the body tempering realm. He knew how difficult it was to progress after that.


    But now that he knew that whatever that was affecting the residents did not affect people of that level, he could narrow down the suspects. He still didn¡¯t know why the five people of the night vigil were not affected though.


    After informing the old man, the party decided to go and inform the guards, but even that seemed to be unsessful as all the guards were absent. The masked man narrowed his brows and started to get a little nervous himself.


    He then saw his target separating himself from the party and going in the other direction. The masked man shifted in the shadows and continued stalking his target,pletely unknown to the fact that he was soon about to be caught.

 Chapter 80 - Old Warehouse

    <h4>Chapter 80 - Old Warehouse </h4>


    Lin Mu did not move his short sword from the neck of the masked man, even after he dered his surrender. He did not want the man to surprise him after letting his guard down.


    Lin Mu instead scanned every inch of the man¡¯s body for any hidden weapons or dangerous items. He had seen the darkly dressed men use poisons, thus he wanted to be extremely sure of his safety. After scanning the man with his spirit sense, Lin Mu found a few weapons hidden on his body.


    This included four daggers, one each hidden at the ankles and wrists along with a set of metal needles which seemed to be steeped in some kind of ck liquid; most likely to be poison. Lin Mu took away all of these weapons from the masked man before allowing him to sit up.


    "Now speak, who are you from, and why have you been following me?" Lin Mu questioned with a stern tone.


    The masked man seemed to hesitate a bit before speaking,


    "I am but my lord¡¯s tool and I was ordered by him to observe you."


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes upon hearing the masked man¡¯s words. It was a little surprising to him that it was actually someone else that was pulling the strings from the behind. He then thought of the simrities between the men who had tried to kill him before and this man.


    "Are you part of the same group of people that killed Gan Ma?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The masked man tilted his head slightly upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words, as if he was confused.


    ¡¯Isn¡¯t Gan Ma the second hunter who became a cultivator?¡¯ The masked man thought before speaking,


    "Gan Ma¡¯s dead?" The masked man asked.


    Lin Mu closely observed the masked man and could tell the genuine confusion in the man¡¯s voice.


    "You didn¡¯t know that, but know who he is?" Lin Mu asked.


    "We know who he is but ording to our intelligence he has been missing for nearly a month now." The masked man answered.


    "We? So you are with those men." Lin Mu uttered before straightening his de.


    Seeing that his target had assumed something wrongly, the masked man put up his hands in protest.


    "No, we are not who you think. Though if you allow me to contact my lord, I can find it out for you." The masked man replied.


    Lin Mu felt a little surprised at the masked man¡¯s words, but did not ept them right away. There were a few more questions he wanted the answers to.


    "Are your people behind what¡¯s happening in the district right now?" Lin Mu questioned with a grave expression.


    "No, we¡¯re not, but I can tell you that we wouldn¡¯t do something like this. Even my lord would like to find out more about this and why this happened. But let me tell you this: that whoever has done this is very influential and has a lot of resources." The masked man spoke.


    "Why do you say that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Whatever substance that is being used to induce the sleep into the district¡¯s residents, it is definitely expensive and difficult to get." The masked man answered.


    Lin Mu did not believe the masked man at first, but then he heard senior Xukong talk.


    "He¡¯s probably telling the truth. A substance that can incapacitate so many people at once is definitely hard toe by in a lower-level world like this." Xukong spoke.


    The masked man saw that Lin Mu¡¯s expression had turned dull for a moment. He didn¡¯t understand why, but after that, the boy nodded to himself and spoke.


    "Okay then, for now, I¡¯ll ept your answer, but I won¡¯t trust youpletely." Lin Mu said.


    The masked man thought to himself for a bit before speaking,


    "I have a little more information that may be helpful to you."


    "Go ahead" Lin Mu replied.


    "The dogs that were chasing that man, I know why they were not barking." The masked man answered.


    "And why¡¯s that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They were affected by a poison called as the Beast Inciting powder." The masked man answered.


    "It was probably an inferior version of that poison, seeing that it was able to affect normal animals," Xukong informed Lin Mu.


    "You know what it is, senior?" Lin Mu curiously asked.


    "Yes, it¡¯s a rather infamous poison and is known in most of the worlds. It does not directly harm the beasts, rather it just sends them into a mindless rage. If a normal animal is poisoned by it though, then they will just explode." Xukong exined.


    "Is this poison something that¡¯s easily avable?" Lin Mu asked out loud.


    To the masked man, it seemed as if the boy was asking him, but Lin Mu was actually asking both senior Xukong and the masked man.


    "Any qualified alchemist should be able to make an inferior version, even for a lower-level world like this. Though I can¡¯t tell about the restrictions that would ur in its acquisition." Xukong answered.


    "No, it is ouwed in the Shuang Qian kingdom as it can cause the beasts to rampage which can result in a beast wave. It is also very expensive and few people can acquire it, especially in this region." The masked man answered.


    "Why would someone use an expensive substance like it on mere stray dogs?" Lin Mu muttered.


    Suddenly a thought clicked in Lin Mu¡¯s mind as he formed an idea. The masked man saw the change of expression on Lin Mu¡¯s face and grasped that something was wrong.


    "Oh no! The ce where Xiao Lu came from, there¡¯s probably something there." Lin Mu eximed.


    "You can¡¯t leave the masked man here though," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu understood senior Xukong¡¯s words and knew that he would either have to make a choice between killing the masked man or to let him go.


    It was as if the masked man read Lin Mu¡¯s mind and instantly spoke,


    "I¡¯lle with you. Don¡¯t misunderstand me, but if something wrong is happening here, I have to report it to my lord."


    Lin Mu stared at the masked man for a few seconds before he lifted his short sword from his neck.


    "I¡¯ll trust you for now, but if you do anything suspicious, know that I¡¯ll kill you in the next moment." Lin Mu spoke with a grim tone.


    Lin Mu had not exposed all of his capabilities, thus was confident in being able to kill the masked man anytime that he wanted. With his two skills of Flicker and Blink, it would be a piece of cake.


    The masked man gently nodded and then stood up, intending to follow Lin Mu.


    Both of them then started running towards the residential district. With their full speed, they reached the residential district in five minutes. The masked man was having a hard time keeping up with Lin Mu, even after strengthening his legs with spirit qi.


    ¡¯With speed and spirit sense like this, the boy is rather talented. I can¡¯t even estimate his cultivation, is he perhaps in the peak stage of the Qi refining realm?¡¯ The masked man thought to himself.


    The masked man had only seen such speed and spirit sense in his seniorrades. He had also experienced spirit sense before, thus was able to tell when Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense probed him. It was also because of this he was shocked, as ording to the knowledge he had, spirit sense could only be refined when a cultivator reached the Peak stage of the Qi refining realm.


    What he didn¡¯t know was that Lin Mu¡¯s speed was not just because of his qi cultivation but also because of his Tenth stage of body tempering realm vitality. Him being able to refine spirit sense could also be attributed to his unique situation, in which he actually did not have a cultivation technique at all but was rather using an auxiliary cultivation technique unique to him.


    People of a lower-level world like this would never be able toprehend this, as they simply did not have the information or the capabilities. Even if someone told them that it was possible, they would just deny it.


    After reaching the square located at the center of the residential district, Lin Mu turned towards the Eastern direction and started running towards it. He kept an eye out for anything abnormal that stood out and also focused his senses.


    A minuteter they reached the end of the street and started looking around for any clues that may have been left behind.


    "Xiao Lu should have most likely encountered the stray dogs here." Lin Mu spoke while looking at the mud prints on the ground.


    The mud prints were of the stray dogs and were faintly visible in the darkness. He followed them and found out that they lead to an old warehouse. The warehouse was used by the local residents to store their surplus crops, but ever since the reduction in poption fromst year¡¯s gue, its use had be less.


    Lin Mu noticed a small hole at the base of a wall that was big enough for a dog to pass through. There were paw printsing out of the hole. Lin Mu found the side door of the warehouse and broke through it with ease.


    The masked man followed behind Lin Mu tensely. Even he was feeling the grimness of the situation. Lin Mu looked at the rtively empty warehouse that had a few crates, wooden boxes, and sacks lying around.


    Lin Mu suddenly squinted his nose as he smelt something,


    "Blood" Both Lin Mu and the masked man spoke out in unison.

 Chapter 81 - A Temporary Alliance

    <h4>Chapter 81 - A Temporary Alliance </h4>


    The pungent smell of the blood had scattered a little bit, but the sharp noses of Lin Mu and the masked man were able to detect them rather easily. They followed the stench and soon found the origin of it.


    They walked up to arge box that was partially covered with a tarp and checked it. The first thing they noticed was the bloodied paw prints nearby the box. The paw prints were simr to the stray dogs they had seen outside the warehouse.


    Lin Mu took a breath before lifting the tarp that was covering therge box. A wave of foul stench assaulted his nose as the tarp blocking it was lifted. Lin Mu wrinkled his nose in disgust and steeled his senses.


    Lin Mu went closer and looked at the source of the vile stench. It was a dead body that was lying inside the box. One of its arms was hanging out of the box and seemed to have been gnawed on, probably by the stray dogs.


    The dead body was wearing some mangled clothes along with leather Armour that was nearly shredded. Lin Mu looked at the face of the dead body and could not identify it, as it was someone unknown to him.


    "Why is this dead body here?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "It¡¯s a mercenary from the Crimson Fang mercenarypany." The masked man spoke.


    Lin Mu turned to look at the masked man and spoke.


    "How do you know this?"


    "I can tell that from the symbol. Even though it¡¯s damaged, I can still recognize it." The masked man answered.


    In response to Lin Mu¡¯s question, the masked man slightly lifted the dead body¡¯s arm and showed the damaged symbol that was present on the shredded armor. Since the leather armor was heavily damaged, the symbol of the Crimson Fang mercenarypany was only partially visible.


    Lin Mu looked at the symbol closely and recognized it, as he had also met some of the crimson fang mercenaries before. They all had the same symbol engraved on their armors. Though looking at the leather armor that this dead man was wearing, Lin Mu could tell that it was of higher quality. The armors that he had seen the other crimson fang mercenaries were of a lower quality than this.


    "Use your spirit sense," Xukong ordered.


    Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and scanned the body and found out a shocking thing.


    "He was a cultivator." Lin Mu spoke out loud.


    The masked man heard Lin Mu¡¯s words and did his own deduction. Coming to the same conclusion, he narrowed his eyes that were hidden behind the featureless mask.


    "An elite member of the Crimson Fang mercenary team." The masked man informed.


    "Could this be rted to the disappearance of the mercenaries? But there haven¡¯t been any new reports about crimson Fang mercenaries." Lin Mu muttered.


    "No, there have been more mercenaries disappearing, but because they are far from the town and separated, it takes a few days till someone discovers that they have gone missing." The masked man exined.


    Lin Mu looked at the masked man with a curious expression and asked,


    "How do you know of this?"


    "Our lord has been keeping an eye on the recent events. There are otherrades of mine that have been investigating this as well." The masked man spoke honestly.


    Lin Mu was rather surprised by the masked man¡¯s honesty. He did not know why he was telling him this, but there was probably some other reason behind it.


    "Why are you telling me this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Because it seems to me that our goals are the same, so it will be beneficial for both of us to cooperate." The masked man spoke.


    "But weren¡¯t you ordered to attack me?" Lin Mu asked in a nonchnt tone.


    "No, I was only ordered to observe you, I wasn¡¯t told to make contact." The masked man answered with a straight voice.


    "It seems like we have an alliance on our hands. Well, at least a temporary one." Xukong spoke with a chuckle.


    "You¡¯re fine with this senior?" Lin Mu spoke inside his mind.


    "I am, at least for now. Besides, you need to learn to cooperate with people, or more urately cultivators." Xukong Answered.


    "If you say so, senior." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu always felt strange when senior Xukong used his chuckling tone of voice. Since he had seen his real body, it just didn¡¯t sit well with him. It was as if an imposing being was behaving like a child.


    "Wait, there¡¯s something more here." The masked man spoke upon spotting something.


    The masked man then went towards another box that was kept at the side. This box had another box that was kept over it and was blocking its opening. He lifted the upper box and moved it to the side.


    Soon more bloody scent spread around. Though this time it was not foul and instead seemed like it was rather fresh. Lin Mu approached the box and saw what was lying inside it.


    It was another corpse of a man that seemed to be freshly killed. Lin Mu looked at the wounds and saw that they were bandaged.


    "They bandaged the wounds after death, the same as with Gan Ma." Lin Mu spoke.


    The masked man also looked at the strange corpse and tried to find any other wounds, but could not. The only wound the corpse had seemed to be in his chest and was covered with bandages. The masked man heard Lin Mu¡¯s words and went back to check the other corpse for wounds.


    Upon checking the corpse, he found out that the corpse actually didn¡¯t have any wounds that caused its death. Strangely enough, only the clothes and armor were destroyed. The cause of death was due to strangtion, as could be seen from the ligature marks on the neck. The cause of the bloody smell was actually because of the stray dogs.


    "You say you¡¯ve seen something simr before?" The masked man asked.


    "Yes, Gan Ma the hunter was also killed and then his wound was bandaged." Lin Mu replied.


    "You know the people that caused that?" The masked man questioned.


    "Yes, they saw that I discovered them and tried to kill me." Lin Mu answered.


    "And what happened to them after that?" The masked man asked, even though he already knew the answer.


    "What do you think? They are dead." Lin Mu answered with a calm tone and then heard senior Xukong speak something in his mind.


    "Repeat my words to him," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu softly hummed in response and agreed.


    The masked man was lost in thought for a moment as he seemed to have realized something.


    "Then you must have seen their faces." The masked man suddenly spoke.


    "Yes I did indeed, I also know the identity of one of the men." Lin Mu spoke with a straight expression.


    "Do you have some evidence too?" The masked man couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    The masked man was feeling a little excited as he knew that he had probably made a huge discovery. Hisrades had been investigating the recent events for a while but did not have much sess with it as the culprits were rather good at hiding their tracks.


    He had never thought that he would be able to discover something like this by chance.


    ¡¯I have to get the information and report it to the lord.¡¯ The masked man thought.


    "Can you tell me about their identities and also the evidence?" The masked man asked with slight anxiousness in his voice.


    "We got him," Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    Lin Mu was a little surprised by this as everything had gone ording to senior Xukong¡¯s n. Now he just had to do a little more, like senior had instructed.


    "I could, but I won¡¯t." Lin Mu replied to the masked man.


    The masked man felt his heart drop for a moment, but then calmed down. He understood that he had to do something in return and would not be able to get it easily.


    "Okay, what do you want in return?" The masked man asked.


    A sharp glint appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes, and even a slight smirk could be seen at the edge of his mouth.


    "I want to meet your lord." Lin Mu answered.


    "That won¡¯t be possible." The masked man replied straight away.


    The masked man knew how difficult it was to meet their lord. Even he himself had only met him three times until now. But even those three times were enough for him to develop undying loyalty and pledge his life to his lord.


    The masked man went silent and thought for a minute before continuing.


    "You can meet the lord¡¯s closest person, though. My lord is reclusive and does not meet people easily."


    "This is better than I thought. A person close to this ¡¯Lord¡¯ would work just fine." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu knew that senior Xukong was never intending to meet the lord straight away. He just wanted him to have an advantage in bargaining the terms of this alliance and thus wanted to meet someone in a higher position.


    The masked man was certainly a low-level person in his organization, thus he wanted someone who at least had some administrative authority. A person that was probably the right hand of this ¡¯Lord¡¯ would work perfectly for them.


    "That¡¯s fine with me. We are now..." Lin Mu spoke and extended his right hand.


    The masked man extended his right reciprocation and shook Lin Mu¡¯s hand.


    "Allies." Both men spoke in unison.

 Chapter 82 - The Culprits Arrive

    <h4>Chapter 82 - The Culprits Arrive </h4>


    After shaking hands, both of the men developed an understanding. Lin Mu returned all of the masked man¡¯s weapons except for the poisoned needles. The masked man also tacitly understood and did not ask for them either.


    "From the bandaged wounds, we can assume that this has been done by the same people who attacked you before. Now we only need to find some more clues here if we can." The masked man spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and went around to search for clues. It didn¡¯t take him long to find them either, as it was right in front of him. He looked at the first corpse and checked it. He soon found a small vial filled with some kind of colorless powder in it.


    The vial was hidden in the sleeve of the corpse and was dangling by its tassel. When the masked man turned the corpse a little, it must have gotten loose. Lin Mu picked up the vial and saw that its cap was actually a little loose and some of the powder had actually spilled out onto the sleeve of the corpse.


    The masked man saw the vial in Lin Mu¡¯s hand and suddenly eximed,


    "The Beast Inciting powder!"


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes narrowed upon hearing the masked man¡¯s words, and he looked at the small vial.


    "So this is what caused the stray dogs to attack Xiao Lu." Lin MU stated.


    "The stray dogs came in contact with the powder that was spilled onto the sleeves while eating the hand and probably went insane." The masked man deduced.


    Lin Mu nodded and then continued,


    "Now the question is, why did this person have this powder? I originally thought that the culprits spread the poison, but now it seems otherwise."


    "Still, it is not easy to get this poison. It is a mystery how this mercenary came upon it. Even an elite mercenary doesn¡¯t have the capabilities or the reach to obtain a poison such as this." The masked man spoke.


    "It¡¯s also a little strange that the attackers didn¡¯t search his corpse." The masked man added.


    "That is true, but we still don¡¯t know what their objective is." Lin Mu replied.


    "That¡¯s not all, Lin Mu, you¡¯re forgetting something." Xukong interrupted.


    "What senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The effect of the Beast Inciting powder is to send the beasts into a mindless rage, but when the stray dogs encountered you they ran away," Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu realized the meaning of senior Xukong¡¯s words and spoke to the masked man.


    "Was there an abnormality in the Beast Inciting powder or the stray dogs? Because they ran away after encountering me."


    The masked man felt confused upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words, but tried to think over it. He had not paid attention to the urrence at first, but now that he was remembering it, something like this shouldn¡¯t happen ording to his knowledge. Beasts affected by the Beast Inciting powder don¡¯t even fear death and plunge in headfirst into conflict, them being afraid of Lin Mu was extremely strange.


    "You are right, but I don¡¯t know what the abnormality could be." The masked man spoke.


    Lin Mu suddenly realized something as his eyes went wide,


    "It couldn¡¯t be because of your imprint, could it senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm, that should not be possible as the imprint is only detectable by cultivators or beasts of a higher cultivation," Xukong spoke and took a pause.


    "But if it was detected by the stray dogs then that vial of Beast Inciting powder is certainly abnormal. If it was also able to increase the sensing capabilities of a normal animal, then it¡¯s probably not simple." Xukong exined.


    After hearing senior Xukong¡¯s exnation, Lin Mu thought of something before looking at the masked man.


    "Do you know anyone that is more knowledgeable about this Beast Inciting powder?" Lin Mu asked.


    The masked man snapped out of his thoughts after hearing Lin Mu speak and looked up at him.


    "I myself don¡¯t know, but there should be someone myrades know." The masked man answered.


    "Well then, I would like to meet them as well." Lin Mu stated.


    "That can be arranged." The masked man simply replied.


    Lin Mu turned to look at the corpses and spoke.


    "Now that we have that behind us, what do we do with the corpses?" We can¡¯t leave them here."


    "Yes, that is a problem. I¡¯ll have to inform my superiors about this." The masked man spoke.


    "Though if these corpses are left here and the entire neighborhood is asleep, then I think that they may being here to collect them or do something else." Lin Mu replied after thinking for a bit.


    "Also, if the culprits find you, I doubt you will be able to fight against them alone." Lin Mu added.


    The masked man realized the severity of Lin Mu¡¯s words and understood that it will indeed be pretty difficult and may even result in his death. He then grasped a small ne on his neck with his hand for a second for a moment before releasing it.


    ¡¯Not now at least.¡¯ The masked man thought.


    But suddenly as if to prove Lin Mu¡¯s words, the main door of the warehouse suddenly opened. A group of eight men dressed in ck clothes walked in and saw both of them standing near the corpses.


    The men were covered from head to toe and could not be identified. They were all equipped with simr looking swords on their waists and seemed to have armor hidden beneath their clothes.


    The Eight men looked at the duo with wide eyes before one of the man shouted,


    "KILL! Don¡¯t let them escape."


    "Heaven¡¯s tongue, it really happened!" Lin Mu spoke with shock.


    "Focus now. You have to defeat them first." Xukong sternly warned.


    The masked man drew his sword and muttered to himself,


    "Shouldn¡¯t have hesitated."


    Lin Mu drew his short sword and extend his spirit sense. He quickly detected the strength of the eight men and informed the masked man.


    "Four of them are Spirit Qi cultivators, the rest are Body Tempering realm experts. Two of the cultivators are at the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm while the other two are at the early stage."


    The masked man narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the handle of the sword.


    "I¡¯ll have to reveal a few of my skills, I¡¯m afraid." Lin Mu spoke to senior Xukong.


    "It¡¯s fine. Better to kill them now and deal with the situationter. You can¡¯t hesitate in moments like these." Xukong advised.


    Lin Mu nodded and spoke, "So be it."


    In the next instant a fierce expression appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face, as he started chanting the severing heart sutra.


    All of the eight darkly dressed men were approaching the duo at once, so Lin Mu chose to target one of the mid-stage Qi refining realm cultivators. The masked man heard the strange chants that were being uttered by Lin Mu and felt a chill in his spine.


    Suddenly Lin Mu disappeared in front of the eyes of the eight men, surprising them. Even the masked man was rather surprised at this urrence, after he could not see Lin Mu beside him. The masked man then turned to face the attackers and saw Lin Mu standing behind them.


    Lin Mu triggered the second skill Blink and appeared right behind the eight men. He shed his short sword at the neck of the mid-stage Qi refining realm cultivator and instantly decapitated him. Because hispanion was under the effect of the Severing heart sutra, he didn¡¯t react fast enough.


    Taking this opportunity, Lin Mu strengthened the short sword with spirit qi wisps and waved his de again, severing the heads of the three Body tempering realm experts. Now there were only four attackers left, three qi cultivators and one measly body tempering realm expert.


    The first person to react was the masked man as he threw one of his daggers at an early stage qi cultivator and then shed at another. The early stage qi cultivator could not dodge in time as the dagger was buried in his throat, killing him.


    This reduced the number of attacker to only three, relieving most of the burden on the Duo. The remaining Mid stage qi refining realm cultivator finally reacted and cut at Lin Mu with his own sword while shouting curses at him.


    Lin Mu dodged the sudden attack by using the first skill Flicker and let the attack pass through him effortlessly. Spinning around, Lin Mu seamlessly withdrew a spear from his ring and impaled it into the one remaining body tempering realm expert.


    The masked man had also shed with the early stage qi refining realm cultivator and was crossing his sword with him. They exchanged a few blows and seem to be at nearly the same strength. Lin Mu was still fighting with the other cultivator and was dodging one cut after the other.


    Lin Mu¡¯s superior speed and agility were proving advantageous here.

 Chapter 83 - The Masked Mans Misunderstanding

    <h4>Chapter 83 - The Masked Man''s Misunderstanding </h4>


    Flitting around in the warehouse, Lin Mu dodged each and every blow. He nced at the masked man every few seconds to check how the fight was going. Seeing that the masked man would not be able to defeat his opponent quickly, Lin Mu decided to give him a little helping hand.


    The Fierce look reappeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face and sent a chill down the spine of the Mid-stage Qi refining realm cultivator that was fighting him. He then started chanting the Severing heart sutra again and targeted the early stage qi cultivator that was fighting the masked man.


    A dull look suddenly appeared on the face of the early stage qi cultivator as he faltered for a moment. Talking grasp of this opportunity, the masked man ended his life and aplished his task. Having done this, he looked at Lin Mu and his opponent.


    But he was shocked as soon as he looked at them. The Mid-stage Qi cultivator was no longer alive. Lin Mu had used this short time period when the cultivator was distracted by hispanion¡¯s death to split him in half.


    Lin Mu looked at the short sword in his hand and marveled at its effectiveness.


    ¡¯Truly an excellent specimen of a de.¡¯ He praised.


    Unlike Lin Mu, who was marveling at his de, the masked man was rather shocked and a little fearful at his disy. He was surprised at Lin Mu¡¯s sudden disappearance at the start but attributed to some kind of speed skill, but when he produced weapons out of thin air, he understood that the boy also had a spatial treasure.


    The masked man was no stranger to spatial treasures and had seen many of them, but in the case of Lin Mu, he was truly shocked. The first point was that how would he get a spatial treasure in such a backward ce, even in Wu Lim city only influential or rich people had spatial treasures.


    The second point which was more shocking was that the spatial treasure was unlike anything he had seen. The speed at which Lin Mu was able to withdraw a weapon was instant. Even the best spatial treasure he knew of couldn¡¯t do a feat like this. And even if he had the highest quality of spatial treasure, just the cost to get one forged would be sky-high.


    That¡¯s Right, the highest quality spatial treasures couldn¡¯t just be bought. There was a big demand for it, but no supply. One could onlymission an expert to forge a spatial treasure, and that too only top-grade spirit tool refiners could actually make spatial treasures.


    Even from them, only a master grade spirit tool refiner could do it, thus making a high-quality spatial treasure no small feat and would require months if not years of work.


    Just the basic ingredients required to forge a spatial treasure would be worth a huge fortune and needed a long time to gather. This reduced the supply of spatial treasures in the Great Zhou Empire. Besides, there were only a handful of master spirit tool refiners currently in the entire Great Zhou empire.


    This resulted in the highest quality spatial treasures being monopolized by the powerful sects and the nobles of the empire and the residing kingdoms. It was in fact considered a sign of authority and influence. If someone saw a person with a spatial tool of this quality anywhere, one would have to be careful with their words and had to avoid offending them.


    This entire thought train of the masked man led him to misunderstand Lin Mu¡¯s status and made him think that he was the disciple of a hidden expert or the heir of a Noble n.


    ¡¯This... this... I need to Inform the lord quickly. I can¡¯t let him make a mistake and offend someone he can¡¯t afford to.¡¯ The masked man thought.


    The masked man actually had a method of contacting his superiors rather quickly, but it was only meant for the most extreme of the extreme emergencies. Even the arrival and the attack of the culprits was not worth using it ording to him, but this demonstration of strength that Lin Mu had just donepletely turned his viewpoint and sent his caution reeling.


    Lin Mu was thinking that revealing his skills had put him at a disadvantage, but unknown to him, it had actually given him a huge advantage.


    After all the attackers were dead, Lin Mu used his spirit sense to scan their bodies for any hidden weapons and other dangers. Senior Xukong had informed him beforehand of certain tactics that cultivators used in order to eliminate their enemies even after their death.


    Lin Mu¡¯s caution turned out to be beneficial, as he did end up finding something dangerous. There were tiny packets of poison ced behind the face covers of the ck-clothed men, which would burst and spread to the person trying to uncover them.


    A simple yet effective mechanism made it so that the packets of poison did not break from impact and only burst when the face covers were pulled apart.


    Even the masked man was shocked by this as he eximed,


    "These are no normal cultivators, they are death warriors."


    Lin Mu turned his head and looked at the masked man with a little confusion.


    "What are death warriors?" he asked.


    The masked man gulped before speaking,


    "Death warriors are a special kind of warriors trained by certain ns and organizations formitting highly illegal acts. Just the mere existence of a death warrior is deemed forbidden in the Shuang Qian kingdom, as they don¡¯t have true identities and only live to die for their owners."


    "Is this true senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked in his mind.


    "It is indeed true, death warriors are a unique breed of warriors in many of the worlds. Though the standard may greatly vary. These dead men can barely even be considered cultivators not to say about true death warriors." Xukong spoke with disdain in his voice.


    Lin Mu was rather surprised, as this was the first time he had heard senior Xukong talk in such a disdainful tone. It was as if he felt offended by the mediocrity of these death warriors and did not deem them worthy of their title.


    Unwilling to question senior Xukong, Lin Mu just epted his words calmly. Lin Mu then carefully removed the packets of poison that were hidden in the face covers of the attackers. There was a small sp hidden near the back of the neck which when released would allow one to remove the face cover without breaking the poison packets.


    After removing the face covers of the eight men, Lin Mu tried to identify them. But he did not find anyone familiar and could not find anymon points between them either. They had no identification marks such as tattoos or brands either. Neither did they carry any piece of intelligence such as the letter Lin Mu obtainedst time.


    The masked man also observed the faces of the culprits and did not find them familiar. His eyes then went towards the swords of the eight culprits. He picked them and observed them closely. He then disassembled the handle of the sword and revealed the base of the sword.


    There were a few words carved on the base of the sword. They read: Xiangwei Jin Armaments.


    Lin Mu curiously looked at what the masked man was doing and paid attention to it. After the words that were carved on the base of the sword were revealed, he was a little surprised.


    "What is that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "This should be the marking of the manufacturer." The marked man replied.


    "Xiangwei Jin Armaments? Wait, are these from Xiangwei city?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They are indeed. They are from one of the biggest armament producers of Xiangwei." The masked man answered.


    "Then does this mean that the culprits are from Xiangwei city?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Not exactly. The Xiangwei Jin armaments produce so many weapons that they can be found all over the Shuang Qian kingdom. This won¡¯t help us much." The masked man replied while shaking his head.


    The masked man then stood up and spoke,


    "I need to immediately contact my superiors."


    "So you¡¯ll leave now?" Lin Mu asked.


    The masked man sighed before replying,


    "No, I have another method."


    "What?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    The masked man did not answer, but instead removed his ne from his neck and held it in his hand. The ne looked like a small and thin tube that was hollow. Its thickness was about the same as a chopstick.


    The man gently lifted the bask of his mask and revealed the bottom part of his face. He then brought the tube-shaped ne up to his lips and blew on it.


    No sound was produced after the masked man blew on the tube, but a small disk shaped hole opened on the tube and started spinning.


    The man kept on blowing on it for a few minutes without stopping. Only when he waspletely out of breath did he stop.

 Chapter 84 - A Friendly Offering

    <h4>Chapter 84 - A Friendly Offering </h4>


    The masked man seemedpletely out of breath and it was as if this little task took him more effort than the entire Battle that he had just gone through. The masked man could not bear it anymore and copsed down onto the ground while breathing heavily.


    ¡¯What happened to him?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu then extended his spirit sense and checked the condition of the masked man. When he saw the spirit qi of the masked man, he got shocked as it waspletely depleted. Not a single wisp of it was left remaining inside his dantian.


    "He¡¯s in a severe state of qi exhaustion," Xukong spoke.


    "How did he deplete it all, though? It didn¡¯t look like he used much of it during the Battle either." Lin Mu wondered.


    "Hmm, it seems like that small tube he¡¯s holding is not simple," Xukong replied.


    "Was that perhaps his method of contacting his superiors?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hey! Are you alright?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    The masked man did not reply and only continued to pant. It seems that the qi exhaustion was much severe than he thought.


    "Why is he so severely affected by this senior? When I had qi exhaustion before I was tired but not this bad." Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡¯Of course, you would not be tired. With how vastly that ring is modifying your constitution, it would be a feat to be that exhausted.¡¯ Xukong thought but did not express it.


    "You are at a higher stage of Body tempering realm than him, and you practically also have a superior method of cultivating qi. Your standards are greatly different, so you can¡¯t reallypare it." Xukong answered Lin Mu.


    Silently nodding to senior Xukong, Lin Mu decided to wait for the man to rest a bit.


    "You know, you can give the masked man one of your spirit apples. It will help him recover faster and you will also be able to observe its effects on him." Xukong suggested after waiting a minute.


    Lin Mu had eaten a couple of spirit apples that grew on the spirit apple tree that was inside the garden of karma. It tasted good to him and also helped him restore a small amount of spirit qi. Thest time he ate a spirit apple, it restored about twenty-five wisps of spirit qi for him.


    Senior Xukong had told him that it would not be the same for another person as everyone¡¯s constitutions varied and even their metabolism was different. Lin Mu had wanted to try feeding a spirit apple to a normal beast, but senior Xukong told him that it would not do much except for killing them, perhaps.


    Lin Mu would have to capture an eighth stage body tempering beast in order to be able to test it. But senior Xukong then told him that, for him to analyze a beast¡¯s constitution would be difficult, as their physiologies were vastly different than humans. He would have to have a higher cultivation level as well as better spirit sense to even attempt that.


    Now that Lin Mu had this chance to test it on a different person, he wanted to take it. As for whether the masked man would suspect where he got a spirit apple from, that would be rather useless as he had already revealed much more shocking secrets.


    Something as simple as this would not matter at all, besides there was an entire orchard of spirit apples in the Northern town, he may as well have bought it normally. He did have the sufficient capital for it.


    Having made up his mind, Lin Mu withdrew a spirit apple from his ring and put it towards the masked man. The masked man turned to look up and saw the spirit apple in Lin Mu¡¯s hand.


    "Go on, take it. It will help you restore your spirit qi." Lin Mu spoke.


    The man slightly nodded while panting and took the spirit apple from Lin Mu¡¯s hand. His mask was already lifted from his mouth, thus he did not have to make the effort again. He ced the spirit apple at his mouth and took a bite.


    The sweet and tangy juices from the spirit apple spread in his mouth and gave him a little taste of heaven. He chewed for a little bit before swallowing it. As soon as the morsel of the spirit apple reached his stomach, it instantly started releasing the spirit qi stored within it.


    The wisps of spirit qi started being absorbed from the masked man¡¯s stomach and were being pulled into his meridians. The spirit qi wisps traveled through the man¡¯s meridians while nourishing his body and relieving his fatigue bit by bit.


    Feeling the effects of the spirit apple taking ce, the masked man no longer hesitated and started devouring the rest of the spirit apple. Bite by bite, the entire spirit apple disappeared into the masked man¡¯s stomach. He did not even leave behind the core and ate it all without wasting anything.


    Soon the spirit qi wisps that were circting inside the masked man¡¯s meridians started settling inside his dantian. A few minutester the spirit qi had calmed down and the man¡¯s dantian was replenished with spirit qi once again.


    While all this was happening Lin Mu was closely observing the masked man¡¯s condition. Right from the moment when the masked man had taken the first bite of the spirit apple, Lin Mu had started studying it. His spirit sense was sensing every single wisp of spirit qi that spread inside the masked man¡¯s body.


    Lin Mu learned multiple things from this test. Firstly, he saw the difference between his own dantian and another person¡¯s dantian. The difference he found was extremely vast. He found out that the capacity of his dantian was nearly thrice that of the masked man¡¯s.


    The second thing he learned was the meridians of the masked man. He was able to learn the masked man¡¯s qi cycle pattern. Lin Mu knew that a cultivator¡¯s qi cycle pattern varied depending on the kind of the qi cultivation technique that cultivator was using. This meant that if Lin Mu was able to obtain the breathing technique of the masked man, he may be able to replicate his entire qi cultivation technique.


    The third thing he learned was the actual effect of the spirit apple itself. While a spirit apple was able to restore around 25 wisps of spirit qi for Lin Mu, it was much more different for the masked man. The spirit apple restored around 80 wisps of spirit qi for the masked man. This difference also surprised Lin Mu.


    Having learned all this, Lin Mu felt rather satisfied and did not think that he had wasted the spirit apple.


    The masked man also seemed to be a little surprised by the effect of the spirit apple. He sensed his dantian and found that his store of spirit qi had been replenished by eighty wisps. It had only been ten minutes, and he had restored such arge amount.


    If he cultivated normally, it would take him nearly two hours to replenish the same amount on his own. The effectiveness of this spirit apple was surprising to the masked man. He had eaten a spirit apple before and had experienced its effect.


    ¡¯This does not seem like a normal spirit apple. It has more than double the amount of spirit qi in it.¡¯ The masked man thought.


    The masked man then looked up at Lin Mu with a strange expression that was hidden beneath his mask.


    ~sigh~ ¡¯A person with such a distinguished identity as his was bound to be different. Even a normal spirit apple is so much more potent.¡¯ The masked man spoke to himself.


    "Thank you." The masked man said after taking a deep breath.


    "It¡¯s fine, the quicker you recover, the better it will be. We don¡¯t know if more of those men woulde." Lin Mu replied.


    The masked man remembered the severity of the current situation and nodded.


    "You¡¯re right. Though we may not have to worry as much, mypanions should be here soon." The masked man spoke while looking outside the warehouse.


    Lin Mu then looked at the strange tube-shaped ne hanging in the masked man¡¯s neck and thought about it.


    "Is that ne a spirit tool that¡¯s used to contact yourpanions?" Lin Mu curiously asked.


    The masked man turned around after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s question and sighed again.


    "No, it¡¯s not a spirit tool... Well, notpletely. But it does allow me to contact mypanions." The masked man answered.


    Seeing that the masked man was unwilling to exin further, Lin Mu did not probe either. But he did ask senior Xukong about it.


    "It may be some kind of primitive spirit tool, seeing as it did consume his entire store of spirit qi," Xukong answered.


    Hearing about a new term, the curiosity within Lin Mu was ignited once again. Xukong instantly understood this and started exining it before Lin Mu even had the chance to ask. Xukong was rather satisfied by the curiosity Lin Mu showed. It was good that he had a penchant for learning.


    "A primitive spirit tool can simply be considered to be an iplete spirit tool. While a primitive tool may have the structure of a spirit tool, it does not have the necessary formations and the qi circuits ced on it." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words and walked ahead to stand with the masked man. He joined the masked man in looking out of the door of the old warehouse.


    The night sky was lit up with the moon and the stars, spreading their luminance all across the town. Lin Mu soon observed a group of masked figures running across the roofs of the buildings.

 Chapter 85 - The Masked Mans Companions Arrive

    <h4>Chapter 85 - The Masked Man''s Companions Arrive </h4>


    Thirty minutes ago,


    Somewhere in a silent and decrepit alley located inside the Northern town. An individual dressed in dark blue clothes and a featureless masked knocked on the door of a shop. The individual knocked in a certain pattern and on different ces on the door.


    A minuteter the door silently opened, and the individual walked inside. The door immediately closed, revealing an old woman behind it. The old woman did not speak anything and just gestured for the masked individual to follow her. She brought him to another room inside the shop before closing down the door of that room as well.


    The old woman then looked at the masked individual and spoke,


    "Show me the crest."


    The masked individual then pulled out a small metallic te that was hexagonal in shape from their pocket. The masked individual handed the hexagonal metal te to the old woman, who quickly snatched it from him. After taking it, the old woman nced at it for a second before inserting it into a small opening that was hidden in the seam of the wall behind her.


    As soon as she inserted the hexagonal te, a clicking sound was heard and then the sound of gears moving could be heard. Soon a rectangr outline appeared on the wall. A wooden panel then shifted to reveal the passage behind it.


    The old woman then looked at the masked individual and spoke again.


    "They¡¯re waiting for you."


    The masked individual silently nodded before walking through the new opening in the wall. After the masked individual was gone, the wooden panel automatically shifted and closed the entrance of the passage.


    The masked individual walked for a few meters straight before reaching a staircase that descended deeper into the ground. The staircase was dark, unlike the dimly lit passage. Thus the masked individual picked up amp that was hanging on the wall and walked downstairs.


    The masked individual must have walked for five minutes before reaching the end of the staircase. One could only imagine how deep the stairs went into the ground. At the end of the staircase, there was another door. The masked individual held the handle of the door and pushed it open, revealing the brightly lit room behind it. Quickly closing the door, the individual walked inside.


    "You¡¯rete." A voice spoke inside the brightly lit room.


    The masked individual turned towards the source of the voice and replied,


    "I found a few more clues of those people."


    The voice of the masked individual was feminine and cold, making one feel the chill on their skin. The masked individual then removed their mask, which revealed a beautiful face that was marred by a scar that extended from the left temple to the chin.


    The masked individual was actually a woman.


    "And what kind of clues did you notice?" The voice asked.


    "Whoever they are, they have been going to the northern forest every day. I also found a few traces of blood on the route towards the northern forest." The unmasked woman replied.


    "Hmm, we¡¯ll investigate it then." The voice spoke as it got closer.


    Soon a man appeared in front of the woman. The man had short hair and was wearing dark blue clothes simr to that of the woman¡¯s. He had an average face that one did not find peculiar.


    "Any new information?" The woman asked.


    "Nothing in particr. Most of ourpanions are still out doing their task, while the rest returned an hour ago to report. You¡¯re the only one who waste." The man replied and took a pause.


    "Well not just you, Hei Wen has not returned yet either." The man added.


    "Why is hete? He¡¯s the most punctual of us all." The woman asked.


    "Hei Wen was assigned a tailing mission recently. He¡¯s been on it for a few days now." The man answered.


    "Tailing mission? Did they find a potential suspect?" The woman questioned.


    "We do not know. He was directly informed by the leader." The man answered.


    "We¡¯ll just have to wait for him then, I guess." The woman replied while walking towards a chair.


    "Perhaps." The masked man spoke with an uneasy voice.


    The woman noticed the man¡¯s unease but did not question it, rather choosing to rest on the chair for a bit. The man also sat down on a chair nearby and closed his eyes.


    A few minutes passed until a very high-pitched sound could be heard in the room. The pair of man and woman abruptly stood up with their eyes wide open. Five more people came out from a door that was to the left of the room.


    "Someone has triggered the emergency signal." They all spoke in unison.


    "Follow me." The short-haired man ordered.


    The man then lead the six people to a room that was situated across the hall. He pulled out a key from his pocket and opened the door. Inside this room multiple tables were ced and on these tables, tens of rectangr tes were kept.


    Currently, one of these rectangr tes seemed to be making the high-pitched sound. A disk-shaped opening had appeared on the rectangr te, and the circr te that was cut out from it was spinning rapidly.


    The circr te spun for about two minutes before stopping. Tense expressions could be seen on the faces of each and every person in the room.


    "Whose te is it?" One of the persons asked.


    The woman walked forward to check the name that was written below the rectangr te.


    "It¡¯s Hei Wen!" The woman eximed.


    "His target! Hei Wen is on a tailing mission, he must¡¯ve beenpromised." The short-haired man spoke.


    "Quick, we can still save him if we reach there now." The woman spoke.


    "But we don¡¯t have everyone here. Hei Wen signaled the highest level of emergency. It rung for two whole minutes. He must¡¯ve depleted all his spirit qi." One of the men spoke.


    "No, if he¡¯s out of spirit qi, we need to be even more quick or he won¡¯t survive for long." The woman protested.


    "That¡¯s it. We leave right this moment." The short-haired man dered.


    None of the people dared to question the short-haired man¡¯s words as they all got ready. A minuteter everyone was equipped with their featureless masks and had their swords at their backs. They started leaving the underground room one by one and reached the shop that was located at the top.


    The wooden panel in the wall opened, and all of the masked individuals walked out. The old woman that was sitting in the shop noticed this and came out to see them.


    "An emergency? Who?" The old woman asked with a grim voice.


    "Hei Wen." The short-haired man replied.


    "I¡¯ll inform the leader." The old woman said before walking aside and bringing out a cage that had a Grey pigeon perched within.


    "We¡¯ll leave first." The short-haired man uttered before leaving the shop along with the others.


    The old woman quickly wrote something on a small piece of paper before rolling it up and inserting it into a small tube that was tied to the pigeon¡¯s leg. She then picked up the pigeon and released it outside. The pigeon swiftly flew away to the south.


    *****


    The seven masked individuals were running across the roofs of the buildings silently. From their speed, one could tell that they were all qi cultivators. The seven masked individuals ran for about five minutes before they reached the residential district.


    "His target was located in the residential district, so he should be nearby." The short-haired man spoke before taking out a smallpass.


    Thepass did not have any markings and only had a pointer. The masked man looked at thepass for a second before turning towards the eastern direction.


    "We are in the range, follow me." The short-haired man ordered.


    They ran for two more minutes before an old warehouse appeared in front of them in the distance.


    "There he is!" The masked woman eximed.


    "But who¡¯s that person with him?" One of the masked men questioned.


    "We¡¯ll know soon. Get your weapons ready." The short-haired man spoke.


    *****


    Lin Mu was looking at the masked individuals that were running on the roofs of the buildings anding towards him. The masked man beside him noticed this as well and looked at them.


    "They¡¯re finally here." The masked man spoke while sighing with relief.


    Lin Mu watched as the seven masked individuals soon reached them with their weapons drawn. The masked individual that was standing at the front came forward and pointed at him with his sword.


    "Get away from him." The short-haired man spoke.


    The masked man that was standing beside Lin Mu suddenly felt rmed upon hearing the man¡¯s words and walked forward to stand in front of Lin Mu.


    "Lower your sword, captain. He means no harm." The masked man hurriedly informed.


    The short-haired man stared at him for a few seconds before speaking,


    "Fine. Now tell me why did you use the emergency signal when you arepletely fine here."


    "Come see." The masked man spoke shortly while gesturing to the other men.

 Chapter 86 - Reaching The Safe House

    <h4>Chapter 86 - Reaching The Safe House </h4>


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes upon seeing the forceful attitude of the masked man¡¯spanions. He felt a little annoyed having swords pointed at him, but did not mind it as he understood their caution. He then watched them as they walked inside the old warehouse.


    The masked man¡¯spanions seemed visibly shocked upon seeing the many corpses that were lying around in the warehouse. At least that¡¯s what Lin Mu was able to perceive from whatever he got from the masked individuals.


    A minuteter, the masked men seemed to have grasped the situation.


    "Are they the culprits?" The captain of the masked individuals asked.


    "Yes, they are." The masked man that was apanying Lin Mu informed.


    One of the masked man¡¯spanion was about to check one of the corpses when Lin Mu suddenly shouted,


    "Careful! There¡¯s poison on their bodies."


    The captain of the masked individuals turned towards the masked man in question.


    "They are death warriors." The masked man informed.


    An audible gasp could be hearding from one of the masked individuals. Lin Mu felt a little strange upon hearing the gasp and could swear that it was a woman¡¯s. The masked man who had been apanying Lin Mu sensed everyone¡¯s shock and then spoke.


    "Let me exin from the start."


    *****


    A few minutes passed as the masked man exined the entire series of events that happened. From Lin Mu detecting him and fighting him, to them finding the two mercenary corpses in the old warehouse and then the assault of the death warriors.


    During the entire exnation, all of the men kept silent and listened intently. A few more minutes passed and the exnation finally ended. After ending the exnation, the masked man gestured the captain of the masked individuals toe close to him.


    He then whispered something in his ears that made the captain¡¯s breathing audibly disturbed.


    "This boy is now considered as our ally." The captain of the masked individuals dered.


    None of the people protested as they all nodded in eptance. They all had heard the strength and the skills of the boy in front of them, thus they certainly did not want to fight him. Besides, having an additional ally that was this strong was only beneficial to them.


    "Now that we have this at our back, can you please tell me your names? I¡¯m getting confused at this point." Lin Mu asked in a friendly tone.


    "Yes, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Hei Wen." The masked man who had been apanying Lin Mu answered.


    "My name is Hei Bao." The captain of masked individuals who had short hair answered.


    "My name is Hei Shi." The masked woman replied.


    One by one, the rest of the masked men reported their names. Lin Mu was a little surprised upon hearing that all of their surnames were the same.


    "Why do you all have the same surname?" Lin Mu curiously asked.


    "We all took up the surname when we joined our lord." Hei Wen spoke.


    "We are called as the Hei Corps." Hei Bao added.


    "Is this all of you or are there more?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There are more of us, of course, but I can¡¯t tell you how many." Hei Bao answered.


    "That¡¯s fine. Now, what do we do about this situation?" Lin Mu replied while gesturing towards the multiple corpses.


    "We will take them away and have them looked at. The higher-ups should be able to find some Clues from them hopefully." Hei Bao replied.


    A few of the masked men started gathering the corpses together.


    "We still have a huge problem on our hands, though. The people from the neighborhood they¡¯re not awakening." Hei Wen spoke.


    "I think I know what happened to them." Hei Shi replied.


    "You do?" Lin Mu probed.


    "I don¡¯t know the exact cause for this, but I know that they should wake up after a few hours." Hei Shi answered.


    "How do you know this?" Hei Wen and Lin Mu questioned together.


    "I¡¯ve seen it happen before in another town." Hei Shi answered with a cold voice.


    Hei Wen and Hei Bao instantly understood Hei Shi¡¯s tone and did not ask further. Lin Mu too saw the hint of anger in her voice, hence did not ask to rify.


    "Though captain, we have found a major piece of evidence." Hei Wen spoke with a little enthusiasm in his voice.


    Hei Bao nodded and gestured for Hei Wen to stop.


    "Not here. We¡¯ll talk after getting to the safe house." Hei Bao spoke.


    "We need to transport these bodies quickly before the guardse here." One of the other masked men spoke.


    "Yes, we can¡¯t let them find out. The guards are involved in this too." Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "Is this true?" Hei Bao asked.


    "Unfortunately, it is. But it¡¯s better if we discuss itter." Hei Wen answered.


    "I would be willing to show you the proof as well." Lin Mu added.


    "Very well, we shall be leaving now then. Everyone grab a body... or whatever parts there are." Hei Bao ordered after looking at the dismembered and decapitated corpses.


    Lin Mu could have very well just stored all the corpses in his ring and made the work easier, but senior Xukong advised him to wait and not reveal this yet. While the Hei corps knew that he had a spatial storage treasure, they did not know the capacity of it.


    Lin Mu took up senior Xukong¡¯s advice and decided against storing the corpses in the ring. Besides, for cultivators such as them, bearing the weight of a corpse would be no trouble. It indeed proved to be true as everyone picked up a corpse and started running without any restraint on them.


    Hei Bao guided them towards the safe house while keeping an eye out for guards or any other people. They did end up seeing some guards rushing towards the residential district.


    While it was Lin Mu who had chosen to go inform the guards before, he had met and fought Hei Wen. Hence he did not reach the barracks and did not have the chance to inform the guards.


    "This is strange. I never informed the guards." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It must¡¯ve been yourpanions from the Night Vigil, probably." Hei Wen guessed.


    "I hope so." Lin Mu replied with an unsure tone.


    Fifteen minutester, Lin Mu and the rest of the Hei corps reached the Dark and decrepit Alley in which their safe house was located. Hei Bao seemed to be a little nervous upon reaching the safe house, and seemed to be looking around a lot while swiveling his neck.


    ¡¯Looks like he hasn¡¯t refined his spirit sense yet either.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu wanted to probe the Hei corps with his spirit sense to find out their cultivation bases but did not do that as it could be considered to be an offense. Wanting to maintain his allied rtions for now, he chooses to avoid that.


    Lin Mu then saw Hei Bao knocking on the door of a shop in a particr pattern. He himself had seen this shop before a long time ago, but had never bothered to go in and check what they sold. There was no signboard hanging over it either, thus it made it harder for one to know its purpose.


    After Hei Bao knocked on the door of the shop, it opened and the face of an old woman was revealed. She nced at everyone carrying corpses on their backs for a second before finally settling on Lin Mu¡¯s face. She just threw a questioning gaze on to Hei Bao and did not speak. Hei Bao just nodded in response.


    The old woman then gestured for everyone toe inside. Lin Mu and the rest walked in with Hei Bao leading them. Lin Mu then saw the inside of the old shop. While it was not explicitly dusty or dirty, the items kept in the room did seem to be mottled due to age.


    There were mostly paper scrolls, brushes, inkstones, inkwells, parchment paper, sheepskin, silk scrolls, and a variety of other materials that may be used in writing and literary arts present in the shop.


    Lin Mu was a little surprised by this shop. He did not think a shop like this ever existed in the northern town. Literary supplies like these weren¡¯t really needed as much in a small town like the Northern town.


    There were indeed other shops that sold writing materials in the town, but they did not sell them exclusively as this shop did, instead, they sold them in addition to other sundries.


    Especially for high-end supplies such as the silk scrolls and the inkstones, there was a very small demand. People preferred to use normal paper scrolls andmp ck for writing instead.


    The old woman then took them to another room at the side and took out a hexagonal metal te. She then inserted it into a small opening in the wall. Soon the wooden panel of the wall shifted, and an opening was revealed.


    The old woman went to another room and left them on their own. Hei Bao then picked amp with his free hand and took them to the actual safe house that was located at the bottom of the shop.

 Chapter 87 - Showing The Evidence

    <h4>Chapter 87 - Showing The Evidence </h4>


    Lin Mu and the rest of the Hei Corps were currently walking on the stairs that led to the entrance of the safe house. The stairs were dark, but themp that Hei Bao was holding helped to dispel the darkness, allowing them to watch their steps.


    "We must be at least fifty meters deep underground," Xukong spoke.


    "We are? How much time must¡¯ve been needed to build this passage!" Lin Mu internally eximed.


    "Use your spirit sense to check the walls, I¡¯m finding them to be a little strange," Xukong spoke.


    "Yes, Senior." Lin Mu responded.


    Lin Mu then used his spirit sense to probe the walls and found out the walls were a little hollow and there was an empty pocket behind the in wall. The brick walls of the passage seemed to have been addedter to make it look much more smoother. The actual walls of the passage were hidden behind these walls and seemed to be made out ofpletely solid rocks.


    "This ce does not seem dug out, senior. It¡¯s actually a cave." Lin Mu reported his findings.


    "Indeed, digging such a deep tunnel would have been immensely difficult, especially in a town. This cave should have existed here for a long time." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and continued following Hei Bao. Soon they reached the end of the staircase and came upon a door. The door was in and did not seem to have a lock or atch. Hei Bao pushed it open and walked inside. The others too walked in and then closed the door.


    The room was brightly lit up and Lin Mu felt a little ufortable after traveling in dim light for a while. A minuteter his eyes adjusted and he no longer felt any difort. He looked around in the room and found that its walls were also made up of bricks.


    There were three doors in the room, with one being the one they came from. The other two were located to the left and right of the entrance door. The room was a littlerge and seemed more like a hallway than an actual room. Except for a few chairs and a table ced in the room, it was rtively empty.


    "Let¡¯s go, we need to store these corpses in the storage or they will start decaying soon." Hei Bao spoke to everyone while gesturing them to follow.


    He then went towards the room that was at the left and swung open the door. Another room came into their sights, but this one was different. This room had weapons and other pieces of equipment set up on stands. In this room, he opened another door and showed them in.


    This was the room intended for storage. The room was much more colder than the other rooms and had stone walls, unlike the brick ones. There were a few misceneous items ced around the room, but nothing valuable.


    Hei Bao then ced down the corpse he was carrying to the side. The others too ced them down in a single file, allowing them to view them with ease. After everyone was done with this small task, Hei Bao looked at Lin Mu and spoke.


    "So what¡¯s this evidence you were speaking about earlier?" Hei Bao questioned.


    Lin Mu withdrew the small blood-stained letter he had obtained from his attackers and presented it to Hei Bao.


    "This is what I was talking about. I obtained this from the men who attacked me earlier." Lin Mu answered.


    Hei Bao looked at the message written on the letter and read it out loud for everyone to hear. Strained expressions appeared on everyone¡¯s face except for Lin Mu, after hearing the message that was written on the letter.


    "So it seems there are more of these death warriors out there." Hei Wen spoke.


    "Not exactly. The ones that I found were not death warriors." Lin Mu replied.


    Aplex expression could be seen on Hei Bao¡¯s face as he was lost in his thoughts for a minute.


    "How did you reach the conclusion that the men that attacked you previously and the ones you fought today are the same?" Hei Bao asked.


    "It was because of the way they dealt with the corpse. They tied their wounds after their death." Lin Mu answered.


    "Indeed, their target was Gan Ma the hunter before this." Hei Wen added.


    "You mean one of the two hunters that are cultivators?" Hei Shi asked.


    "Yes, that Gan Ma. Let me just show you." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu then withdrew Gan Ma¡¯s corpse from his ring and ced it on the ground for everyone to look at. Hei Bao nodded after looking at the corpse for a moment before speaking again.


    "You also said that the guards were involved in this. What did you mean by that?" Hei Bao questioned.


    "Yes, the vice-captain of the town¡¯s guards Han Xu was one of the persons that attacked me." Lin Mu answered.


    Seeing that the people were still a little reluctant, Lin Mu decided to just show them all of the corpses of the attackers. If Lin Mu withdrawing the corpse of Gan Ma did not move the Hei corps at the start, him bringing out six more corpses definitely shocked them.


    Before this only Hei Wen and Hei Bao knew about Lin Mu¡¯s spatial treasure, but now with him withdrawing the corpses, everyone here knew that he had a high-quality spatial treasure. Their looks towards him seemed to be filled with a mix of shock, awe, and fear.


    Lin Mu could understand the shock, but not the awe and fear.


    "It seems they fear your status," Xukong spoke.


    "My status?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They probably developed a misunderstanding after seeing you have a spatial treasure. They should be pretty rare in a low-level world like this after all." Xukong answered.


    "Use this misunderstanding to your advantage," Xukong added before going silent again.


    "As you wish, senior." Lin Mu responded in his mind.


    Though after seeing the condition of the corpses Lin Mu withdrew, the expressions of the people became more dreadful. Especially after seeing the corpse that had a huge hole in his chest, which was caused by Lin Mu using the boulder copsing fist.


    ¡¯What did this kid do to inflict such a huge hole. It was as if it exploded from the inside.¡¯ Hei Wen thought.


    The members of the Hei Corps had seen a lot of gruesome sights, but even for them, the level of carnage Lin Mu inflicted was a little too much to digest.


    ¡¯If what Hei Wen said is true, then this kid should already be at the Peak stage of the Qi refining realm.¡¯ Hei Bao thought as he swallowed his saliva.


    Forcibly calming himself down, Hei Bao spoke again.


    "Okay, so what more do we know? Does anyone else have something to add?" Hei Bao asked.


    Hei Shi then reported the clues that she had found outside the town, on the route towards the northern forest.


    "Umm... I think that was caused by me. That¡¯s the ce where I fought these men." Lin Mu Spoke with an awkward tone.


    A fallen expression could be seen on Hei Shi¡¯s face as she sighed but did not speak anything. The other members also reported their findings, but none of them were considered to be significant or useful for Hei Bao.


    Though Lin Mu caught onto some words that one of the members of Hei Corps had said. He had reported that a ck market shipment that was being smuggled recently disappeared. He said that the contents of it were likely to be some kind of prohibited substances.


    "Could it be the Memory Confounding poison?" Lin Mu muttered.


    Hei Shi who was standing beside Lin Mu, heard his words and spoke,


    "Wait, Memory confounding poison. Why do you think it is that?"


    "Oh, I found a vial on one of the attackers." Lin Mu replied casually while withdrawing the said vial from his ring.


    Everyone took a step back in sync upon seeing the vial in Lin Mu¡¯s hand.


    "Of course! The disappearance of them mercenaries from their camp. They were affected by the memory confounding poison." One of the men of the Hei corpse eximed.


    "Well, that solves some part of the mystery for us at least." Hei Bao spoke with a slightly relieved tone.


    "We should wait till the morning. The higher-ups should being soon." Hei Bao spoke.


    "Yeah, they should be able to find something on these corpses, something that we missed." Wei Shi added.


    Seeing that everyone was agreeing, Lin Mu went with the flow.


    "So what do I do now? I still want some answers from your superiors." Lin Mu spoke with a straight tone.


    "I already know that. After the higher-upse in the morning, I¡¯ll inform them of your request." Hei Bao replied.


    ¡¯Though I think the lord will be personally interested in you now.¡¯ Hei Bao spoke internally.


    Hei Bao then gestured for everyone to disperse. Hei Wen looked at Lin Mu and spoke,


    "Follow me. I¡¯ll show you a ce to rest."


    Lin Mu nodded and followed Hei Wen to another room.


    "Seems like someone is targeting the cultivators in the town." Lin Mu casually spoke while walking with Hei Wen.


    "We suspected that too initially, but seeing the evidence, I guess we confirmed it. Nearly all of the cultivators of northern town are gone now." Hei Wen replied.


    "Oh no, not all. There¡¯s still Old man Jing Wei." Lin Mu subconsciously spoke.


    "WHO?!!"

 Chapter 88 - Hei Wens Curiosity

    <h4>Chapter 88 - Hei Wen''s Curiosity </h4>


    The surprised shout of Hei Wen attracted the attention of a few people, including Hei Bao who was following from the back and was apparently heading towards the same location as them.


    "What did you say?" Hei Wen asked with a perplexed expression.


    Lin Mu had thought that the Hei Corpse must have known about old man Jing as well, since they had information about all of the cultivators that were in the town.


    By now Hei Bao had alsoe close and seemed to be interested in their conversation.


    "What happened here?" Hei Bao questioned.


    "Captain, I think we missed some intelligence about another cultivator that lives in the town and Lin Mu here knows about him." Hei Wen replied.


    Hei Wen was wondering if their intelligence collection ability had really fallen so far behind that even a kid knew more about things now.


    "What cultivator are you talking about?" Hei Bao asked again.


    "Old Man Jing." Lin Mu stated.


    Hei Bao¡¯s expression suddenly fell upon hearing the name, and cold sweat appeared on his forehead. Hei Wen saw the changes on Hei Bao¡¯s face and wondered if something wrong had happened.


    "Is there something wrong, captain?" Hei Wen asked with concern.


    "No, nothing. As for the cultivator Lin Mu¡¯s talking about, I know about it." Hei Bao answered after taking a deep breath.


    "You do?!" Hei Wen questioned in surprise.


    "Yes, I¡¯ve known about it and so does the lord as well." Hei Bao answered.


    "Why did we not know about this then?" Hei Wen asked curiously.


    "Well... He... He¡¯s in the same category as Lin Mu. We were strictly warned not to be involved him." Hei Bao answered while wiping the sweat off his brow.


    "We¡¯ve been having so many difficult scenariostely, don¡¯t you think that we should have been informed. Who knows if this cultivator could have been involved in it." Hei Wen protested.


    "I can guarantee that he¡¯s not." Lin Mu dered after hearing the conversation.


    ~sigh~ "Considering our current situation, I¡¯ll ask the leader to brief you about it in the morning when shees." Hei Bao spoke.


    Hei Wen still seemed dissatisfied, but then looked at the unwilling faces of Hei Bao and Lin Mu. Even if he could protest against his captain¡¯s orders a bit, he couldn¡¯t do the same for a person like Lin Mu. Hei Wen took a deep breath and calmed down before thinking for himself.


    ¡¯If this person called old Man Jing is in the same category as Lin Mu, then his status must be nothing to scoff at. While we still don¡¯t know Lin Mu¡¯s exact background, it does not seem the same for Old Man Jing. Captain Hei Bao seemed rather rmed, and he¡¯s unfazed by most things.¡¯ Hei Wen thought.


    Lin Mu saw that Hei Wen had gone still for a few seconds, thus understood that he must be thinking. He let him be for a minute before interrupting him.


    "Hei Wen?" Lin Mu called out.


    Hei Wen then snapped out from his thoughts and looked at Lin Mu.


    "Ah yes, let¡¯s go." Hei Wen replied.


    Hei Wen then guided Lin Mu to the room used for resting. The room was very simple and only had a few beds along with some chairs and tables. Lin Mu looked around the room and assessed it. The room had the same brick walls as before, but when Lin Mu used his spirit sense to probe them he found that the walls were free standing and did not have anything behind them.


    The back of the walls waspletely hollow and was unlike the passage where there was a rock wall behind the brick wall. The brick walls themselves were only about a foot thick. Lin Mu could not gauge how far back the rock walls must be as his spirit sense was dampened after traveling through a foot of solid wall.


    "Is this ce a cave?" Lin Mu muttered.


    Hei Wen was still a little involved in his thoughts thus could not hear what Lin Mu said properly.


    "Did you say something?" Hei Wen asked.


    "Oh no, nothing." Lin Mu answered, not wanting to bother with it for now.


    Hei Wen just nodded and gestured towards the beds.


    "You can take whichever bed you want for resting. The leader should be here in the morning, or if we¡¯re lucky before daybreak." Hei Wen answered.


    Lin Mu nodded and then thought for a second before asking,


    "What more can you tell me about this leader of yours?"


    "Honestly, I don¡¯t know much other than that she¡¯s a woman and is the closest person to our lord. You can ask her yourself in the morning when shees, until then just wait." Hei Wen asked while shrugging his shoulders.


    Lin Mu nodded and just picked a bed randomly to rest on. He did not choose to sleep but instead just decided to cultivate till the morning. He sat down cross-legged on the bed and started chanting the severing heart sutra.


    Over the few weeks, Lin Mu¡¯s control over his spirit Qi had increased, and now he could actually control it without the use of the severing heart sutra. But even so, chanting the severing heart sutra increased the efficiency by multiple times.


    By now Lin Mu had also understood what kind of effect the severing heart sutra had on other people. It would erase their emotions instantly, which caused them to enter a dazed state. People needed time to adapt to this emotionless state, thus they kind of ¡¯Shut down¡¯ when they were targeted by the severing heart sutra.


    Though Lin Mu still thought that there were more methods to use the severing heart sutra than just this. He just had to figure them out. Lin Mu also thought that he needed to increase his proficiency with the sutras more.


    He had also seen the effect of the Calming heart sutra on other people and knew that it was not as useful to use it on other people for now. It was just that he could not think of many situations that would warrant the use of the calming heart sutra.


    He knew what had happened to the town when he entered the enlightened state, hence knew what the full potential of the calming heart sutra could be like.


    While Lin Mu was chanting the severing heart sutra and cultivating, Hei Wen was observing him. He could hear some esoteric chants that wereing out of Lin Mu¡¯s lips and did not know what to make of it. The chants seemed mysterious to him, and he could not understand them at all. Instead, if he focused on the words that Lin Mu was chanting, Hei Wen himself started feeling very nervous.


    It was as if he was forbidden from hearing the chants and something bad would happen to him. But Hei Wen was curious and wanted to know more about Lin Mu. He wanted to provide his lord with as much information as he could. Thus decided to try anyway and started to listen to Lin Mu¡¯s chants with full focus while closing his eyes.


    At first, Hei Wen only felt ufortable, but soon the feeling started intensifying. Five minutester he no longer just felt ufortable, but instead felt as if there were needles poking on his skin. He gritted his teeth and continued focusing on the chants while bearing the pain from the illusory needles.


    Fifteen minutes passed and at this time, Hei Wen seemed to have lost himself in his mind. He was still feeling the needles on his skin, but could not open his eyes anymore. It was as if something had trapped him in his own mind. He tried to escape this state but could not.


    Thirty more minutes passed and by now Hei Wen felt as if he was going insane. He wanted to end this state and was cursing himself for choosing to do this. The feeling of needles on his skin had long since disappeared, but now there was something much more worse.


    Hei Wen¡¯s vision suddenly returned, and he could see again.


    "What is this?" Hei Wen said as he looked around.


    Hei Wen could tell that his eyes were actually still physically closed, and he was just imagining this. Though he was still hearing the esoteric chants in his ears as well. Hei Wen then saw a mystical fog appearing in front of him. The fog started moving in different ways and then congealed to form innumerable swords.


    The swords danced in the air and moved to form various images. Hei Wen could see some vague figures in these images, but could not tell who they were. He tried to get closer so that he could see it clearly, but this seemed to have annoyed the swords. The swords danced and formed an image of a man with unrecognizable features.


    This man formed by the sword images seemed to have noticed him and became angry. He then pointed at Hei Wen and shouted,


    "SEVER!"


    The swords that were dancing suddenly stopped and pointed at Hei Wen. Hei Wen saw this and got terrified.


    "No!NO!NOO! Stop this." He shouted but to no avail.


    The swords rushed towards him at the speed of light and split him into millions of pieces. These million pieces then were again split by the swords into billions of pieces. This kept on going till not even a single trace of Hei Wen was left behind.

 Chapter 89 - The Confused Hei Corps

    <h4>Chapter 89 - The Confused Hei Corps </h4>


    "Wake up! Hei Wen wake up!" Multiple voices shouted.


    Hei Wen¡¯s eyes suddenly opened wide, and he sat up straight. He looked around and saw all of hispanions surrounding him, while Hei Bao had his hands on his shoulders and was shaking him. Hei Wen¡¯s eyes were bloodshot and his nose was bleeding.


    *****


    Lin Mu was woken up by themotion that was happening in the room a while back. He had been cultivating the entire night and had been sitting in the same position. When he woke up, he saw one of the members of the Hei Corps trying to wake up Hei Wen, who had apparently fallen asleep on the bed near him.


    Hei Wen was not responding and was bleeding from his nose as well. Lin Mu did not know what happened and guessed the worst.


    ¡¯Was he perhaps affected by some kind of poison?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Hmm, that¡¯s difficult to say. Heavens know that you two came in contact with multiple poisonsst night, it could have been one of them." Xukong replied.


    By now, the frantic shouting of Hei Wen¡¯spanion had attracted the attention of other people as well. Even Hei Bao had reached there and had taken over the duty to try and wake Hei Wen up. Seeing that Hei Wen was still not responding to Hei Bao¡¯s and other attempts, Lin Mu decided to tell them.


    "He may be affected by some kind of poison. Perhaps the same one that affected the town¡¯s residents." Lin Mu stated.


    Hei Bao and the others listened to his words and turned around.


    "Yes, of course, they did tell us that before." Hei Shi spoke.


    "It could indeed be the same poison that¡¯s affecting the residents, but still, why is he bleeding from his nose?" Another member added.


    "Whatever it may be, at least he¡¯s still breathing. Let¡¯s try a few other methods, Hei Fen go and get some of the smelling salts." Hei Bao ordered one of hispanions.


    The man named Hei Fen instantly left the room and rushed to get the smelling salts. He returned a minuteter with a small vial of smelling salts in his hand. Hei Fen then handed the vial to Hei Bao, who popped its cork open and held it under the nose of Hei Wen, while the others shouted.


    Suddenly Hei Wen shot up and sat upright. The others looked at his blood-shot eyes, which had a hint of madness mixed in them. Hei Shi gulped and looked at the distressed expression of Hei Wen.


    "What happened to you, Hei Wen?" Hei Bao asked.


    Hei Wen did not speak for a minute as it took him a while to return to his senses and determine where he was.


    "I¡¯m... I¡¯m back? I¡¯M BACK!" Hei Wen eximed in relief.


    At this point, Hei Bao was getting seriously worried about Hei Wen¡¯s condition. He was really starting to think that Lin Mu¡¯s suggestion that Hei Wen got poisoned was true. Hei Bao nudged Hei Wen, prompting him to speak.


    "I... I was in a different ce. A nightmare perhaps." Hei Wen spoke between his breaths.


    Hei Bao saw that Hei Wen was not in the right condition to talk, thus let him rest.


    "Come talk to meter when you¡¯re fine. For now, just rest." Hei Bao ordered.


    Hei Wen just nodded and did not speak anything. Heid down back on the bed and thought about what he had experienced.


    ¡¯What was that? Was that just a dream? It certainly didn¡¯t feel like it. The pain, it was too real.¡¯ Hei Wen thought.


    ¡¯It only happened because I kept on listening to the esoteric chants that Lin Mu was uttering. I need to inform the captain and the leader about this. He is potentially much more dangerous than we think.¡¯ Hei Wen determined.


    The other members of the Hei corps except for Hei Shi had left the room along with Hei Bao. Hei Shi was currently standing beside Lin Mu and was talking to him.


    "This thing about Hei Wen, do you really think it was caused due to some kind of poison?" Hei Shi asked.


    "It seemed like it at first, but I don¡¯t know anymore. I thought he was also affected by the same kind of condition that the townsmen are suffering." Lin Mu replied.


    "It is somewhat simr to it, but the bleeding that happened does not match and neither does him awakening because of the smelling salts." Hei Shi spoke.


    "That¡¯s true. Oh yes, what¡¯s the time now? It should be nearly morning, I think." Lin Mu asked.


    Lin Mu actually could not tell the time, as he was rather lost in his cultivation. He had felt that he progressed a little in hisprehension of the Severing heart sutra somehow. He could feel that his sensitivity has been enhanced by a certain amount.


    "It will be morning in an hour, the sun has not risen yet." Hei Shi answered.


    "Has your leader not arrived yet?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "She should be arriving anytime now." Hei Shi answered.


    While talking with Hei Shi, Lin Mu could not help but look at the scar on her face. When he originally came to the safe house, everyone was still wearing their masks, thus he had not seen anyone¡¯s faces then. Only when he was disturbed by the frantic shouting of the people and stopped his cultivation session, did he see some of their faces.


    Though even now, except for Hei Wen, Hei Bao, and Hei Shi he still hadn¡¯t seen the other¡¯s faces. Hei Shi saw that Lin Mu kept on looking at her face and knew that it was because of the scar. She didn¡¯t mind it as she had alreadye to terms with it and was used to it. Though, wearing the mask still helped save her some time, as she didn¡¯t have to exin it to people every time.


    "I got it when I was around your age." Hei Shi spoke.


    Lin Mu snapped from his thought upon hearing Hei Shi speak.


    "Uh, got what?" Lin Mu awkwardly spoke.


    "The scar you¡¯ve been looking at." Hei Shi spoke in a slightly mocking tone.


    Lin Mu felt a little embarrassed at being caught, but did not deny it.


    "How did you get it then? If you don¡¯t mind me asking." Lin Mu probed.


    "My vige was attacked by some unknown people a long time ago. I was the only survivor." Hei Shi replied with an emotionless tone.


    "Oh, I¡¯m sorry." Lin Mu apologized in sympathy.


    "It doesn¡¯t matter now, it all happened a long time ago." Hei Shi replied while shaking her head.


    "At least I met the lord because of it." Hei Shi added with respect in her eyes.


    "Speaking of your lord, what kind of person is he?" Lin Mu asked curiously, while his eyes flickered with a strange gleam and his lips moved inaudibly.


    Hei Shi was looking away from Lin Mu¡¯s face currently, thus did not notice the look in his eyes. She just felt strangely calm and rxed, which made her wonder why.


    "Our lord is a benevolent person who helped us in our most desperate times. He pulled us from the depths of despair and gave us our current standing. He taught us to cultivate, and we pledged to join him in fulfilling his goals. We owe our lives to him." Hei Shi spoke in a deeply respectful tone that bordered on obsession.


    Hei Shi didn¡¯t even realize that what she was uttering in her current state. She just kept on uttering without stopping. Though most of what she spoke of was the praises of their ¡¯Lord¡¯.


    She only stopped when she was called by one of herpanions. She then nodded to Lin Mu absentmindedly and went to attend to herpanion.


    Only after she left the room, did she suddenly think,


    "Why did I just say all that? That isn¡¯t like me." Hei Shi thought with rm.


    After Hei Shi was gone from the room, Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    "You were right, senior. They seem abnormally obsessed with this ¡¯Lord¡¯ of theirs."


    "Hmm, at least your Calming heart sutra helped us in determining this. Though I would say you should stay alert when meeting the leader of their group." Xukong replied.


    Indeed, Lin Mu had just used the calming heart sutra to influence the mind of Hei Shi. Senior Xukong had just suggested him to try using it on people while asking them questions.


    Lin Mu had seen the effects of the Calming heart sutra before, but this was another addition method that Senior Xukong hade up with. Xukong had been analyzing the effects of the sutras every time Lin Mu used them and had concluded that they could be used to influence the mind of a person.


    Xukong knew that it won¡¯t be a hundred percent effective, but knew that if it was used in the right situation, while asking the right questions, it could be rather effective.


    The first attempt had proved that the calming heart sutra could be used in this method as well.

 Chapter 90 - The Leaders Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 90 - The Leader''s Arrival </h4>


    At a certain distance away from the Northern Town, a carriage was traveling at great speed. It was moving towards the town and seemed to being from the direction of Wu Lim City.


    The Carriage was being pulled by four ck stallions that looked robust and hearty. Every step of theirs made a loud clopping sound that traveled far. The carriage was lightly decorated, yet still looked elegant. A man dressed in the clothes of an official was sitting at its helm and was driving it.


    Four more men dressed in ck clothes andrge straw hats were following the carriage from behind. They were riding simr looking horses and seemed to be traveling at the same speed as the carriage so as to keep up with it.


    Inside the carriage, four more people were currently sitting. Except for one person, all of them seemed to be extremely alert, and they were wearing featureless masks. Out of the four persons, only one person was was a woman and she had a veil on her face that hid her features.


    This Woman was currently sitting in a meditative posture and seemed to be cultivating. The carriage driver that was sitting at the front of the carriage turned to the back and knocked on the front window of the carriage.


    One of the masked men sitting inside the carriage opened the window and looked at the carriage driver.


    "We¡¯re about to enter the town." The carriage driver said.


    "Anything abnormal?" The masked man asked.


    "Fortunately, nothing. Except for the absence of the snow today, everything seems normal." The carriage driver answered.


    The masked man nodded and closed the front window. The closed eyes of the veiled woman trembled for a moment before returning to normal.


    The carriage soon reached the southern entrance of the Northern town and was halted by the guards. The four men that were following behind it also stopped in tandem. The guard who stopped the carriage came forward and looked at the carriage.


    "All the people that are inside the carriage,e out and show us your faces." The guard ordered.


    The man who was the carriage driver paid no heed to his words and simply withdrew a small bronze te from his sleeves. He then held it out for the guards to see. The guard came close and used themp he was carrying to illuminate and observe the bronze te.


    The instant the guard saw the bronze te, he tensed up and cupped his hands in salute.


    "Greetings to the High officials. This lowly one could not recognize your magnificence thus made a mistake, please forgive this lowly guard." The guard spoke with the utmost respect while bowing his head.


    The other guards that were standing around too joined him and greeted them with a salute.


    "Greetings to the High officials!" The guards shouted in unison.


    A single knock came from inside the carriage and the driver understood it. The carriage driver then just gestured with his hand for the guards to clear the road. The guards instantly understood this and opened the gate. They then moved to the side and bowed their head while saluting.


    The carriage driver flicked the reins, and the carriage started moving again. The carriage moved at a slower speed than before, after entering the town, and continued on. While on their way, they saw multiple guards running around busily.


    The men inside the carriage seemed to have noticed the sound as they opened the windows to look outside. They saw the abnormal amount of guards and became conceded.


    "Is this what we are here for?" One of the masked spoke.


    The closed eyes of the woman sitting inside the carriage trembled once again as her lips gently moved.


    "Don¡¯t bother and just hurry for now." The veiled woman spoke with an indifferent tone.


    All the masked men immediately nodded, and the driver seemed to have heard this as well. The driver then cracked the whip in his hand, urging the horses to run. The carriage picked up speed and rushed through the streets.


    A couple of minutester, the carriage once again slowed down as it entered a narrow alley. The alley was just wide enough to let the carriage barely pass. The carriage then came to a halt in front of an old shop that did not have a sign board.


    The veiled woman sitting in the carriage opened her eyes and gestured to the masked men. The driver of the carriage jumped down from it and went to the side to open its door. One of the masked men first alighted from the carriage, looked around, and pointed with his hands to the exits of the alley. The other four ck-robed men that were following the carriage instantly understood the orders and split into two pairs and stood at the two ends of the alley, preventing anyone from entering.


    Everyone then alighted from the carriage, with the veiled woman being thest person. They then walked up to the door of the shop and knocked on it in a certain pattern. Unlike before, there was no dy in opening the door, as it instantly opened.


    The old woman who was in charge of the shop greeted the visitors by saluting with cupped hands and stood at the side as they walked inside. She did not speak anything, and the men did not expect anything either.


    The Veiled woman walked into the shop and looked around for a second before walking into the next room immediately. Two of the masked men stayed in the shop while the other two followed her. They smoothly opened the hidden entrance of the safe house and walked downstairs.


    They reached the bottom of the stairs soon and opened the door that was standing in their way. As soon as they opened it, a brightly lit room appeared in front of them. A few people were already waiting for them in two files.


    They were all standing as they looked at the woman and shouted in unison.


    "Greetings to the mistress!"

 Chapter 91 - Briefing The Leader

    <h4>Chapter 91 - Briefing The Leader </h4>


    Hei Bao inwardly sighed with relief upon seeing the veiled woman who had just entered the safe house.


    ¡¯Finally, she¡¯s here.¡¯ Hei Bao thought.


    Hei Bao had been extremely stressed ever sincest night¡¯s events. He had experienced one shock after the other and was bing more and more worried. Their investigations were not bearing fruit for a while, but now that they actually had some leads, it just seemed like a mountain fell on his mind.


    It started with the emergency signal called by Hei Wen, then the appearance of the culprit¡¯s corpses, after was that the surprise of Lin Mu¡¯s status and then finally the incident with Hei Wen this morning. Hei Bao felt that everything was urring too fast and it was beyond his capacity to handle the alone.


    Hei Bao walked forward and greeted the Veiled woman personally.


    "Greetings leader. We have been waiting for your arrival." Hei Bao spoke.


    "So what was the emergency for which you have summoned me here?" The Veiled woman coldly asked.


    Hei Bao took a deep breath before speaking again,


    "I¡¯m afraid we have more than one issue that needs to be addressed."


    "If you may please." Hei Bao added while gesturing towards the other room.


    The veiled woman did not speak anything, but simply followed Hei Bao¡¯s lead. Hei Bao brought her to the locked room, which he opened to let her inside. This was the same room where the tes which were used to send an emergency signal were kept in. These tes were very precious, thus were kept securely locked in this room, which also served as a meeting room for important matters.


    The room was fifteen meters long and ten meters wide in size. It had a tall ceiling, from which multiplemps were hanging. There were also some vents that were at top of the room, which supplied fresh air to it.


    On one side of the room, there were multiple tables on which the rectangr metal tes were kept. These tes hung from a stand each and had a circr cutout in it. This circr metal disk would start spinning whenever an emergency signal was triggered.


    The veiled woman looked towards the rectangr tes and quickly spotted the one te whose inner disk was not in the right ce. Hei Bao noticed this and quickly spoke,


    "It was Hei Wen who used the distress whistle to trigger the emergency signal."


    The veiled woman looked towards Hei Bao and continued following him to therge table that was kept on the other end of the room. She then sat down at its helm, on arge andfortable chair before speaking.


    "So is Hei Wen fine now?" The veiled woman asked.


    "He was when we originally returnedst night, but today in the morning there was an incident." Hei Bao answered.


    "What kind of an incident?" The Veiled woman questioned.


    Hei Bao took a deep breath and thought about everything for a second before starting his exnation. He knew that it was going to be long and winded, thus wanted to get all his thoughts in order first. The veiled woman waited patiently in silence, for she trusted her subordinates.


    Hei Bao then started exining all of the events of yesterday. His exnationsted for a good fifteen minutes and he added every minor thing during it as he didn¡¯t want to miss anything. He knew about his leader¡¯s capabilities, thus knew that the more thorough he was in his exnation, the more concise conclusion she would reach.


    After finishing his exnation, Hei Bao took another deep breath and stopped. The veiled woman also went silent and thought for five minutes before speaking again.


    "I would like to see the corpses of the culprits and also the evidence you had found."


    Hei Bao nodded and retrieved the blood-stained piece of paper from his pocket before passing it to the leader. She looked at the paper and read it quickly before analyzing it¡¯s every inch. She even smelt it for a moment just to get an urate judgment.


    "Let¡¯s go and see the corpses now." The Veiled woman ordered.


    "Yes, leader." Hei Bao replied politely.


    Hei Bao then guided the veiled woman to the storage room where the dead bodies of the culprits were stored. As soon as they reached the cold room, the woman approached the bodies. Hei Bao suddenly felt a certain wave pass through and understood that it was just the spirit sense probe of the veiled woman.


    The veiled woman did not touch any of the bodies, but instead just scanned them with her spirit sense. She seemed to have frowned for a moment, but it wasn¡¯t visible under her veil. A minuteter, she was done with the observations.


    "They are death warriors, low-level ones, but death warriors indeed." The veiled woman concluded.


    "We can also confirm that the town guards may be involved in this. From now on, all the town guards are to be closely investigated." The veiled woman added.


    "Leader, the boy named Lin Mu also wants to meet you." Hei Bao spoke with bated breath.


    "Yes, I want to meet this boy as well. The lord is especially interested in him." The veiled woman replied with a little interest in her voice.


    "Leader, I¡¯m afraid that we may be going beyond our limits with that boy. I can tell with a great surety that he is a category four party." Hei Bao seriously spoke.


    The Veiled woman¡¯s pupils widened underneath her veil.


    "That boy also knows about the other category four-party in the town; Old man Jing." Hei Bao added.


    If the veiled woman¡¯s shock was hidden because of her veil at first, now it waspletely revealed as even Hei Bao could hear her breath getting rough. He could swear that he even saw her tremble for a brief moment.


    "Do you have an estimate about his cultivation base?" The veiled woman questioned.


    "I did not dare confirm it myself, but Hei Wen is sure that it should be at the peak of the Qi refining realm as the boy has refined his spirit sense as well. We also witnessed the carnage he had caused. All the bodies that you see here are his handiwork." Hei Bao exined.


    "He... he... he has skills that are rather strange and terrifying, Hei Wen seemed to have experienced it and has be very disturbed because of it." He added.

 Chapter 92 - The Leader Meets Lin Mu

    <h4>Chapter 92 - The Leader Meets Lin Mu </h4>


    Fifteen minutes before the arrival of the leader.


    Hei Wen had taken a brief rest and was now feeling a bit better. Even still, the thoughts of the nightmare that urred before haunted him. He could even remember the pain of being cut to pieces by millions of swords, clearly.


    Hei Wen wondered what kind of cultivation technique or skill Lin Mu practiced that even his mere presence caused him to experience this kind of a bacsh. Just him hearing the esoteric chants was enough to defeat him.


    Though after experiencing this, Hei Wen did notpletely regret it.


    ¡¯At the very least, I¡¯ll be able to inform the Lord about this. That way he won¡¯t be at a disadvantage.¡¯ Hei Wen thought.


    With this thought in mind, Hei Wen went to find Hei Bao. Hei Bao had already asked him toe to meet with him after resting, so this just met his purpose. Hei Wen soon found Hei Bao in his personal room. He saw that the door was already open, thus he just walked in. Hei Bao was currently sitting on his desk while reading a report from a scroll in his hand.


    ¡¯Preparing for the arrival of the leader, I see.¡¯ Hei Wen inwardly said.


    Hei Bao noticed Hei Wen¡¯s footsteps, thus looked up to see him enter.


    "Are you feeling well now?" Hei Bao questioned.


    "Notpletely, but better than before at least." Hei Wen replied.


    "You should just rest more then. The leader won¡¯t mind your absence, I¡¯ll inform her of your condition." Hei Bao replied with concern.


    "Yes, I¡¯ll do that. But I need to tell you about what happened to me before that." Hei Wen interrupted.


    Hei Bao nodded in response and spoke,


    "Go on ahead then."


    Hei Wen then started to tell Hei Bao of what happened from the very start. How he saw Lin Mu speaking some esoteric chants and how he got curious and listened to them. He then told him what he felt after that and then how he was trapped in his mind and experienced the nightmare of being chopped into innumerable pieces by a million swords.


    Hei Wen also told Hei Bao, how he had also heard Lin Mu speak simr chats during the battle with the culprits, and how those chants seemed to have immobilized the culprits until they were killed by Lin Mu.


    The more Hei Bao heard, the more shocked and concerned he got. Hei Bao knew that there were as many cultivation techniques in the world as there were drops of water in an ocean. There weremon cultivation techniques that were simr to each other, and then there were cultivation techniques that werepletely unique.


    Hei Bao had heard rumors or more like legends about forbidden cultivation techniques that only a chosen few could cultivate. These cultivation techniques were highly attuned to their user and would cause a bacsh for others that tried using it.


    But even then, he had never heard of a cultivation technique that could harm another person if he was just in the presence of one. From the vivid descriptions and the expressions of Hei Wen, Hei Bao could tell that this was no mere exaggeration and was truly what he said it was.


    ¡¯If just his presence is this dangerous, then what would it be like when he actually attacks someone with his full strength.¡¯ Hei Bao thought.


    Hei Bao could tell that Lin Mu did not use his full strength during the previous battle either. He now understood how lucky they were that Lin Mu chose to join their side and was not their foe, well at least not now.


    ¡¯I can¡¯t let this happen though, who knows what kind of background that boy has. For all we know, his history could all have been faked and he must¡¯ve been trained by hidden experts.¡¯ Hei Bao thought.


    After Hei Wen was done with his exnation, a slight expression of relief could be seen on his face, as if a burden was lifted off of his mind. Though what he didn¡¯t know was that this burden had not disappeared, instead it had just transferred over to Hei Bao and had even increased in size.


    "Thank you for informing me of this, it was wise of you to do so. You should go and rest now, I¡¯ll take care of the rest." Hei Bao spoke.


    Hei Wen simply nodded and left the room to go and rest again.


    "The leader should be arriving soon. I better gather the others and wait at the entrance." Hei Bao muttered.


    Hei Bao stored the scroll that he was reading back into a drawer and then left the room as well.


    "Gather at the main hall Hei Corps, the leader should be arriving any minute." Hei Bao shouted out.


    *****


    Present time at the storage room inside the safe house.


    Hei Bao had just finished telling the veiled woman who was the leader of the Hei Corps about Lin Mu. After hearing his entire exnation, the veiled woman was fully shocked and could not help but praise their luck. Though she still could not tell whether it would turn to misfortune in the future or not.


    "We better take this one step at a time. The most basic thing would be to avoid conflict with this boy ¡¯Lin Mu¡¯ and to prevent any enmity." The Veiled Woman concluded.


    ¡¯Perhaps the lord should personally meet this boy.¡¯ The veiled woman thought.


    "As you say, leader." Hei Bao responded.


    The veiled woman then nodded and spoke again.


    "The others will go and try to gather more clues about the culprits. In the meantime, we should go and meet up with this Lin Mu."


    Hei Bao gestured for the veiled woman to follow and then led her to the room where Lin Mu was currently residing in. They reached the room in a minute and Hei Bao opened the door. He walked in first and looked for Lin Mu. He instantly spotted Lin Mu as he was still sitting in the same position on the bed.


    Lin Mu was not as focused on cultivating right now, thus was easily able to detect when the door of the room opened. His eyes snapped open, and he saw Hei Bao entering the room, with another person in tow. This person had a veil on their face that hid their features, but Lin Mu could tell that it was a woman.


    "The leader of the Hei corps," Lin Mu softly muttered.


    "Keep your spirit sense alert, she may try to probe you," Xukong ordered.


    "Yes, Senior." Lin Mu replied in his mind.


    Following senior Xukong¡¯s words, Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and kept it alert. In the next moment, Senior Xukong¡¯s words came true as he sensed the collision of another spirit sense with his own. This was his first time experiencing the spirit sense of another person except for senior Xukong, Duan Ke, and Old man Jing.


    Lin Mu saw the distance between them and estimated that the range of the spirit sense of the veiled woman should be a little less than ten meters, most probably at nine meters. Lin Mu could also observe the difference between the veiled woman¡¯s spirit sense and the other spirit senses he had experienced. It was much weaker than any of the other ones he had observed.


    Of the spirit senses he had experienced before, Senior Xukong¡¯s was the strongest, while Duan Ke¡¯s was the weakest. But even still, the veiled woman¡¯s spirit sense was at least ten times as weaker than that of Duan Ke¡¯s. Lin Mu even had the confidence that he would overtake the veiled woman in a few weeks¡¯ time.


    Simr to Lin Mu, the veiled woman had also thought of trying to estimate Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation base. But when she felt her spirit sense probe being blocked by Lin Mu¡¯s own, she instantly retracted it. She could feel the density of Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense and did not want to probe further, as it could end up offending him.


    ¡¯His spirit sense is already denser than mine, and his range should be wider than mine as well, he must just be restraining it.¡¯ The veiled woman thought.


    ¡¯He should be at the very peak of the Qi refining realm, the same as me. But his cultivation technique should be much stronger and superior.¡¯ The veiled woman pondered.


    Lin Mu could not have imagined that in the brief moment their spirit senses collided, the veiled woman would have thought of so many things and even had overestimated his cultivation by a long shot. He didn¡¯t mind the spirit probe the veiled woman used and was fine with it as she instantly withdrew it after meeting his.


    The veiled woman came close and stood in front of him.


    "Greetings, I¡¯m Lin Mu." Lin Mu greeted the veiled woman with cupped hands, as was the proper etiquette.


    In a surprise to him, the veiled woman actually reciprocated his greeting.


    "Greetings, fellow cultivator. My name is Hei Wan." The veiled woman replied respectfully.


    Hei Bao was also surprised by this, not because of how the veiled woman greeted Lin Mu respectfully, as it was already expected; but because of the tone of her voice. The leader who was always cold and straight with her tone had suddenly switched it for a mellow and genial tone that was bordering on the realm of sweet too!

 Chapter 93 - The Hei Corps Meet Old Man Jing

    <h4>Chapter 93 - The Hei Corps Meet Old Man Jing </h4>


    The Veiled woman named Hei Wan gestured Lin Mu to take a seat.


    "Please be at ease, we¡¯ll just talk casually." Hei Wan spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded and pulled a chair from the side to sit on. Hei Bao too slid a chair forward for Hei Wan to sit on, while he himself stood at the side. Lin Mu saw this and looked at Hei Bao, but he just shook his head. Understanding his intention, Lin Mu didn¡¯t question it.


    Hei Wan had many questions that she wanted to ask, but knew that she had to show some restraint and keep to herself, lest she ends up offending the cultivator in front of her. In her first non-verbal interaction with Lin Mu, she had already grasped a part of Lin Mu¡¯s personality and understood that he was rather mild and reserved. Compared to the other young and talented cultivators who were often arrogant and upturned, he was much more reasonable.


    Hei Wan could not help but think of the upbringing he must have received for him to be this humble. She had investigated and learned about the situation with Lin Mu¡¯s parents and knew that he was an orphan. She could only attribute Lin Mu¡¯s current standing to a hidden master.


    At this point, Hei Wan could only hope that whatever background Lin Mu had was either amicable or at the very least neutral with theirs. Hei Wan was already extremely wary when she heard that the boy in front of her knew about Old man Jing. She could still remember when she and her lord had their first run-in with Old man Jing a few years ago.


    *****


    A few years ago, in Wu Lim city.


    A thin man who had a schrly aura was sitting on a luxurious-looking chair and was listening to a person speak. He was sitting in a room that looked like a study and was illuminated by softly glowing lights. There were five more people in the room and all of them were dressed in dark blue robes. Of the five people, only one person was not wearing a mask and was instead wearing a veil.


    This person was none other than the leader of the Hei corps, Hei Wan and the schrly man sitting on the luxurious chair was the ¡¯Lord¡¯ that the Hei corps followed. If one could sense it, then they would find out that the four men who were wearing masks were all Core condensation realm cultivators. Such a lineup wasn¡¯t something that could be seen every day.


    Currently, one of the masked Core condensation realm experts was speaking.


    "We havepleted or initial reconnaissance of the ck dawn kingdom and the Easter Ming dynasty. Most of what we discovered was the same as before, but there were still some abnormalities that we detected." Said the man who was standing in front of the Lord.


    "We think that someone has been manipting and hiding their involvement. The recent conflict between the royal family of the ck dawn kingdom also seems to be their doing." Another masked man that was standing to the right spoke.


    The Lord stroked his beard a couple of times before replying,


    "That¡¯s fine. It is indeed as I expected. We will just need to continue monitoring it further then. For now, just assign a few of the lower members to keep an eye on the situation and if it gets moreplicated only then, will we interfere."


    The Lord then looked at the masked men and scanned them before speaking again,


    "Anything else of importance?"


    One of the Masked men seemed to be hesitating, and this was hidden behind the mask, yet the Lord detected it.


    "Do you have something to say?" The Lord asked in a calm voice.


    "I do, but I don¡¯t want to waste my Lord¡¯s time." The masked man answered respectfully.


    The Lord then waved his hand and spoke,


    "Go on ahead, we still have some time left."


    The masked man then cupped his hands in respect before speaking,


    "While returning from the Northern Frontier, this servant passed through the Northern town and took a halt for a brief amount of time. There I sensed something different. I felt as if the flow of spirit qi in the air was abnormal and seemed to be gathering towards a certain area."


    "Thus to investigate this, I went forward towards the area, which was an unassuming and abandoned alley. The first strange thing I found out was that there was no one in the alley, all of the shops in the alley seemed to be old and rundown." The masked man took a breath before continuing.


    "I then sensed the second strange thing, my spirit sense was blocked when I tried to probe the alley. It was as if there was a barrier set up there that was surrounding it. No matter what direction I tried, my spirit sense was always blocked. This Servant then decided to enter the alley himself to see what was the cause for this.


    As soon as I entered the alley, I could sense the concentrated spirit qi in the air. I looked around and concluded that there was an illusory formation ced on the area. Then suddenly, I felt as if I saw someone in the sky, but they then disappeared in the next second. And along with this, the formation that was covering the area also disappeared. A few secondster, the concentration of spirit qi in the air also returned to normal."


    The expression on the Lord¡¯s face was getting sharper by the second.


    "How did you leave the alley?" The lord asked with a cold tone.


    The other people in the room were currently a little shocked by the masked man¡¯s words, thus did not detect the faint aura that was rising from the Lord¡¯s body.


    The masked man, who was speaking, suddenly had a confused expression on his face after hearing his Lord¡¯s question.


    He was lost in his thoughts for a few seconds before speaking.


    "I... I... I don¡¯t know how? I can¡¯t remember when I left it either." The masked man uttered while stuttering


    An enraged aura suddenly burst out of the schrly man. An aura that was stronger than the aura¡¯s of all of the people herebined together.


    "YOU FOOL! You¡¯ve been under the effect of a confounding formation all this while and you did not realize it." The Lord shouted with fury bursting out of his eyes.


    The veiled woman who was standing to the side suddenly widened her eyes in realization.


    "The area had a confounding formation ced on it. What if you¡¯ve been followed all this while?" Hei Wan spoke out loud.


    It was at this time that the other members of the Hei corps realized the seriousness of their situation. Suddenly, as if to justify their fears, an imposing aura that was even stronger than the Lord¡¯s descended upon the room.


    "WHOO?" The Lord shouted as he struggled to bear the weight of the aura.


    The other people in the room were already unable to bear it as they all instantly copsed onto their knees. Then, in the next moment, the roof of the room was split apart as two people descended from the sky.


    The two people that descended into the room were an old man that looked ancient and had a long beard, along with a young woman that was wearing a green-colored Daoist robe and had a wooden hairpin in her hair that was in the shape of a por leaf.


    These two were none other than the pair of grandfather and granddaughter, Jing Wei and Duan Ke. The pair looked at the people in the room and finally settled their gazes onto the Lord.


    ~Humph~ "A group of measly Core Condensation realm cultivators." Duan Ke scoffed.


    "Seems like you were right, Ke¡¯er, I was overthinking this. They¡¯re not worth our time." Jing Wei spoke.


    "Should I finish them off?" Duan Ke asked without moving her petrifying gaze from the Lord.


    Jing Wei seemed to be thinking as he did not answer right away. Instead, a wave of imposing spirit qi emanated from him and spread around. A few secondster, he seemed to have reached a conclusion as he spoke,


    "No, leave them for now." Jing Wei spoke while looking at his granddaughter.


    He then turned back to the Lord and spoke in a grandiose tone.


    "This is your first andst warning. Do not interfere in our matters and don¡¯t intrude our territory either."


    Each and every person could feel these words being carved into their minds. They all then nodded their heads in eptance, albeit with difficulty.


    "Let¡¯s go, grandfather." Duan Ke spoke and then withdrew a spirit sword from her spatial treasure.


    The pair of grandfather and granddaughter were just about to jump on the spirit sword and leave, when the Lord gritted his teeth and spoke out.


    "May I have the names of your Excellencies?" The Lord asked while bowing his head.


    An annoyed look appeared on Duan Ke¡¯s face after being interrupted. She was just about to speak, when Jing Wei gestured to her and she settled down while letting out a harrumph.


    "You can call me Old Man Jing." Jing Wei answered in his hoarse voice.


    "This junior will forever remember the grace that the senior has shown me." The Lord spoke with a tone that was overflowing with awe and respect.


    The Members of the Hei corpse simply kowtowed on the ground, without being prompted to do so, they could not speak anything due to the imposing pressure, anyway. Jing Wei faintly nodded before mounting the spirit sword and flying away.


    But a moment after they left, Duan Ke¡¯s voice echoed again.


    "You better keep this to yourself." She spoke in a cold and menacing tone.

 Chapter 94 - End Of The Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 94 - End Of The Meeting </h4>


    A few minutes after Jing Wei and Duan Ke left, the people in the room were finally able to rx and take control of themselves.


    The Hei Corps could barely lift themselves up from the floor right now. They sat up from the kowtowing posture with the support of their arms and looked at the aftermath. They saw the rubble that was strewn around due to the copse of the roof and the book shelves that were fallen as well. But in the end, their gazes settled on one of theirrades.


    It was the same person who had reported about the abnormality and the same one who was also scolded by the lord. The person in question was currently stuck in the kowtowing posture. Unlike others who had lifted themselves, he was still stuck there.


    One of the masked men dragged himself to the man who was still kowtowing and spoke,


    "Hey! Are you fine?" He spoke.


    Suddenly the lord, who was bowing all this time, plopped down onto his throne.


    "It¡¯s no use. He¡¯s already dead." The Lord spoke with a tired tone.


    "Wha... what?" Everyone uttered in unison.


    The masked man who was near the kowtowing man shook him and saw him fall over onto the other side. The masked man who was kowtowing until now was bleeding from his eyes and mouth. His pupils had overturned into his skull and he was no longer breathing.


    The veiled woman gasped and looked over to the lord and calcted her words before speaking.


    "My Lord, were they?"


    "I fear yes." The lord shortly spoke while rubbing the bridge of his nose.


    The lord could already feel the headacheing. He hadn¡¯t thought that a routine mission would end up causing such a huge mess. He had lost one of his Core condensation realm cultivators and had also offended a hidden expert that was at the very least a Dao shell realm cultivator.


    The other masked men were finally able to lift themselves off the ground. They stood up shakily and looked over to their lord.


    "What was their cultivation?" One of the masked men asked.


    The other masked men also joined in on the question as they were curious too. They did not understand the meaning of the interaction between their leader and their lord.


    The Lord heard the question and sighed with dissatisfaction.


    ¡¯It was good that I chose Hei Wan to be the leader, even if she is weaker than them.¡¯ The Lord thought.


    "The old man was at least a Dao Shell realm cultivator, while the woman was probably a core condensation realm cultivator since she was able to fly using a spirit sword. Though she could be stronger than that too." Hei Wan answered for her Lord.


    Hei Wan could sense the growing dissatisfaction in her Lord, thus answered for him. She also wondered how they were going to approach this matter in the future.


    *****


    Lin Mu was looking at Hei Wan, trying to grasp her personality. The genial way she had talked to him had made him feel strange, thus he wanted to know a little more about her.


    "So you say these people have been abducting mercenaries?" Hei Wan asked.


    "I don¡¯t exactly know, but it does seem like it. They even had memory confounding poison with them." Lin Mu answered.


    Lin Mu then withdrew the small vial of memory confounding poison that he had stored in the ring. He then passed it to Hei Wan, who took it. She looked at it for a minute and seemed like she was using her spirit sense to determine its authenticity.


    "It is indeed, memory confounding poison." Hei Wan concluded.


    "They also found some Beast inciting powder on a mercenary." Hei Bao spoke up.


    Hei Wan¡¯s eyes narrowed upon hearing this.


    "You found it on a mercenary and not on a culprit?" She asked to confirm.


    "Yes, I found it on one of the dead mercenary¡¯s body. I actually wanted someone to look at it and find out where it came from." Lin Mu replied.


    "While I know a little about poisons, I¡¯m not really an expert in this. I¡¯ll have to ask someone else." Hei Wan spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded in understanding. He already knew that they would need an alchemist to take a look at it, as only the people capable of making it would be able to know what it was.


    "But even then, we still need to investigate its source." Hei Wan spoke and then turned towards Hei Bao.


    "Investigate the identity of the mercenary first and try to find out his associates." Hei Wan ordered.


    "Yes, leader." Hei Bao answered.


    Hei Wan and Lin Mu then talked about a multitude of topics. Lin Mu told her about his side of the story, and Hei Wan intently listened. While she already knew most of this, she still wanted to hear a firsthand ount.


    Hei Wan could feel goosebumps on her body upon imagining the scenes of Lin Mu fighting against the culprits. Her curiosity about Lin Mu¡¯s background was increasing by the minute. But she knew that asking it outright might be troublesome, thus she decided to wait for an opportune moment.


    Hei Wan and Lin Mu¡¯s conversationsted for over an hour, and they only stopped when one of the masked men that came with Hei Wan entered the room. Hei Wan looked at him and gestured with her hand for him to speak.


    "It looks like the residents are finally waking up. The town head has also issued a warning." The Masked man reported.


    Hei Wan nodded her head in response and turned to Lin Mu.


    "Seems like our conversation ends here. You can leave for now, we¡¯ll inform you when we find more about things." Hei Wan spoke.


    "Sure." Lin Mu answered.


    Hei Wan then turned to Hei Bao and spoke.


    "Give him an identity badge as well."


    "As youmand, leader." Hei Bao replied, and then gestured for Lin Mu to follow him.


    Lin Mu then exited the room along with Hei Bao and went to the room where the emergency signal tes were kept. After entering the room, his attention was instantly pulled towards the metal tes that were kept on stands.


    Hei Bao walked up to his desk and withdrew a hexagonal badge from it. He then handed it to Lin Mu and spoke.


    "This is an identity badge for our corps. You can use this to enter the safe house if you need to report something or if there¡¯s an emergency."


    "Thanks." Lin Mu replied and then looked towards the tes.


    "What are those?" Lin Mu asked.


    Hei Bao looked at where Lin Mu was pointing and saw that it was the emergency signal tes. He wondered if he should tell him about it or not but then decided to tell him. He had seen how the leader was very respectful with Lin Mu and already knew that they would probably be allies in the future.


    "They¡¯re used for emergencies. Whenever a member is in the most dire of emergencies they can use the whistle to rm us." Hei Bao answered.


    Lin Mu then remembered the small tube that was hanging on Hei Wen¡¯s ne. He had blown on it and called for help.


    "How does it work though?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Hei Bao had a confused look upon his face after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s question.


    "I actually don¡¯t know exactly how. Our Lord designed this and the only thing I know is that it makes a noise when a whistle is blown." Hei Bao replied.


    Lin Mu used his spirit sense to observe the metal tes and found out that they were actually of different thicknesses. Although the tes looked the same, there was a difference in the thickness and size.


    "This is rather innovative. Someone actually found a way to use earthen spirit metal without cing formations on it." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Earthen spirit metal?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It¡¯s amon type of spirit metal that¡¯s used in the manufacture of spirit tools and spirit weapons. Usually in order to use it, one needs to ce formations on it. But the way these are designed, they don¡¯t need any formations to work. These can actually be called as primitive spirit tools." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu¡¯s curiosity was ignited once again after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    "So does this mean senior knows how it works?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Yes, I can. These tes work due to a phenomenon called as qi resonance. When air is blown into an emergency whistle, it is also charged with spirit qi. This qi is absorbed by the whistle and is then released in the form of a certain type of wave.


    As long as the person using it is in the range of the te, the disk in the center of it will start resonating and will spin. And due to the difference in the dimensions of the te, the emergency whistles can be made uniquely for each individual." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu intently listened to senior Xukong¡¯s words and felt amazed at learning this.


    "Whoever this Lord is, we can safely assume that he is very smart. He used such an ingenious method that it would actually be appreciated in some of the higher worlds as well." Xukong praised.

 Chapter 95 - The Mercenaries Situation

    <h4>Chapter 95 - The Mercenaries'' Situation </h4>


    After hearing senior Xukong¡¯s praise about the Lord, Lin Mu understood that he must be careful with him. A person as smart as the Lord must be carefully dealt with.


    Hei Bao saw that Lin Mu was still staring at the metal tes, thus spoke out,


    "Are you fine?"


    Lin Mu snapped out of his thoughts and hurriedly spoke,


    "Ah yes. Let¡¯s go now."


    Hei Bao nodded and led Lin Mu out of the safe house. A few minutester they were standing in the shop upstairs. There, Hei Bao went to talk with the old woman and spoke to her about Lin Mu and their current situation. The Old Woman did not speak much and only nodded, before leaving the room to do her own tasks.


    Hei Bao showed Lin Mu off to the door and let him leave. Lin Mu stepped out of the door and saw the dim sunlight that was illuminating the town and the clouds that were trying to block it. There did not seem to be any snow today, and the previous day¡¯s snow had melted too. He let out a breath and saw it fog up.


    "Should I take a look around the town?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "I think you should; get an idea of what¡¯s actually happening. You may also need to talk with those people from the night vigil." Xukong advised.


    "Ah yes! The night vigil. I nearly forgot about them." Lin mu replied.


    Having decided what he was gonna do, Lin Mu chose a path and started walking on it. He first decided to go check on the mercenary camp as it was close by. The safe house was located in the western part of the town, thus this was the most obvious choice.


    Lin Mu saw some people while walking and observed that they seemed to be unnerved and some seemed to even be scared. Lin Mu spotted some familiar faces, but they were not the residents of the eastern part. He continued on and reached the mercenary camp.


    As soon as he got close to the mercenary camp, he could hear the increase in the noise. He crossed the exit and saw the mercenaries gathered up in an area. They all seemed to be shouting about something, and a tall and muscled mercenary seemed to be directing them.


    Lin Mu went to the group to try and listen to what was happening. He nced at the tall and muscled mercenary and could sense that he was different. He got even more closer and narrowed his eyes after hearing their shouts.


    "We won¡¯t stand this anymore! They did not listen to us when mercenaries disappeared, and now that it happened to their own townsmen, they¡¯re up in arms about it." The tall and muscled mercenary shouted.


    "YES!" The crowd shouted.


    "They did not give us answers first and now they suspect us, we won¡¯t bear this injustice!" The tall and muscled mercenary shouted.


    "YES WE WON¡¯T!" The crowd shouted again.


    Lin Mu was a little stunned after hearing the mercenary¡¯s shouts. He would have never thought that instead of doing a proper investigation, they were instead trying to pin it on the mercenaries.


    "Has the town head be senile?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "The machinations seem to be running deep. There¡¯s more to this than we think, but unless we look more into it, we won¡¯t know." Xukong replied.


    "Should we interfere in this though?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    "You¡¯re not directly involved in this, except for the part where you were attacked. I would say that you should just watch and wait, let these ¡¯Hei corps¡¯ do their part. Though the final decision is still up to you." Xukong advised.


    Lin Mu thought it over for a minute and then made up his mind.


    "We¡¯ll wait and watch, only if pushes to shove, will we act. Besides, I still need to cultivate." Lin Mu spoke.


    Lin Mu then turned around and was just about to walk away when he suddenly felt something.


    "Spirit sense!" Lin Mu whispered and turned around.


    The instant Lin Mu turned around, his eyes met the eyes of the mercenary that was directing the crowd. Their gazes shed and Lin Mu understood. He spread his spirit sense probe and started to observe everything more closely. Lin Mu found the source of spirit sense and determined it to be the mercenary. The leading mercenary showed momentary shock when Lin Mu did this.


    The leading mercenary then withdrew his spirit sense and nodded at Lin Mu before gesturing with his eyes. Lin Mu understood this and walked aside.


    "It seems like he wants to meet you," Xukong spoke.


    "Indeed, let¡¯s see what he has to say." Lin Mu replied and readied himself.


    While waiting for the mercenary, Lin Mu probed the other mercenaries in the crowd and discovered that there were two more cultivators in there. These cultivators were standing near the leading mercenary and did not detect anything when Lin Mu used his spirit sense to observe them.


    "Hmm, these two probably don¡¯t have spirit sense and haven¡¯t experienced it before either, I think." Lin Mu guessed.


    "Or they¡¯re good at hiding their expression," Xukong spoke.


    "It doesn¡¯t seem like it. Their cultivation was at the early stage of the Qi refining realm, unlike the other mercenary who is at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm." Lin Mu replied.


    "You will have to be careful, he may already know your cultivation base as well," Xukong advised.


    "Yes, senior. Though I feel confident that I can deal with it if things go sideways." Lin Mu spoke with determination.


    ¡¯Haha, at least his confidence is increasing well.¡¯ Xukong thought with mirth.


    Lin Mu waited for the mercenary and kept on listening to the shouts of the crowd.


    "My fellow mercenaries, even if we are from differentpanies, we need to unite. Our superiors are out there working hard and thus can¡¯t help us currently. We need to deal with this ourselves." The leading mercenary said before shouting onest time.


    "YES!" The crowd shouted in unison.


    The leading mercenary then left the area, and the crowd dispersed into smaller groups. The shouting had stopped, yet the mercenaries were still discussing amongst themselves in the groups. The leading mercenary spoke to the two other cultivators and then started walking towards Lin Mu¡¯s location.


    Lin Mu was standing a little distance from the crowd and was leaning against a tree. He watched as the three cultivator mercenaries approached him. Their expressions seem to be neutral and they were walking with an unhurried gait.


    The trio reached Lin Mu and stood in front of him.


    "Greetings fellow cultivator." The trio greeted with cupped hands.


    ¡¯I should have guessed this beforehand.¡¯ Lin Mu thought with a chuckle.


    "Greetings." Lin Mu responded.


    The three men then lowered their hands and a neutral yet amicable expression appeared on their faces.


    "I am Hong Luo from the Crimson fang mercenarypany. May I have the opportunity to know fellow cultivator¡¯s name?" The leading mercenary spoke.


    "I am Lin Mu."


    The two apanying cultivators had an irked expression upon hearing Lin Mu introduce himself in this way. But then the leading mercenary seemed to have secretly tapped them, after which they abruptly changed it back. This happened in nearly an instant, yet Lin Mu was able to detect it.


    "Why are you here, brother Lin Mu?" Hong Luo asked.


    "Oh, I was just passing by and heard some shouts, thus I came to look." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Ah yes. We are, you see, in a ratherplex predicament." Hong Luo replied.


    "What¡¯s exactly happening, though? I would like to know more." Lin Mu questioned.


    "I¡¯m sure brother Lin Mu must¡¯ve heard about the recent incidents of mercenaries disappearing." Hong Luo spoke.


    "I did indeed and something happened in the town as well, I reckon." Lin Mu replied.


    "Since you already know this, then its more simple to exin. The town head basically suspects that someone from the mercenaries is to me for the disappearances. They did not listen to us when the first incident happened and now when the townsmen disappeared, they have the audacity to me us." Hong Luo exined.


    "That is rather wrong of the town head." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu did actually feel that something was wrong with the town head. He seemed to be acting strangely and was taking absurd decisions.


    "Brother Lin Mu is on the same page as us, that makes me delighted." Hong Luo spoke, while the other two cultivators nodded.


    Lin Mu then realized that the two cultivators had not spoken anything yet.


    "And these two are?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Forgive me, I forgot to introduce them. These two are the Ming brothers and they are both mute, thus they can¡¯t speak. They are part of the Crimson fang mercenarypany as well." Hong Luo answered.


    "So what did you want from me?" Lin Mu asked the actual question that he¡¯s been meaning to do.


    Upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s question, Hong Lou¡¯s expression became serious.

 Chapter 96 - Hong Luos Request

    <h4>Chapter 96 - Hong Luo''s Request </h4>


    Hong Luo took a deep breath and thought for a moment before speaking.


    "Brother Lin Mu, as you can see, we don¡¯t have many cultivators left here. While we have many mercenaries in the Body tempering realm, there are only the three of us left here now." Hong Luo spoke.


    "Only three of you? Thest time I came here there were at least ten cultivators here. Where did everyone go?" Lin Mu interrupted.


    While Lin Mu had known that a few mercenaries that were also cultivators had disappeared, there were still at least ten cultivators remaining. Now that there were only three of them left here, it was a little surprising to him.


    "Another elite team of mercenaries had to leave for the mission in the Northern forest about a week ago. I was appointed to keep watch on the camp and to ry any message to the teams working in the forest, but as you can see the incident happened." Hong Luo spoke and sighed.


    "Then did you inform your superiors about this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, I did. But the problem is that the elite teams are hunting spirit beasts deep in the forest. Just reaching their location would maybe take around five days, and if we were to add the time required to find them, it would be increased even more."


    "I sent one of my junior cultivators to inform them about three days ago, but I fear that by the time they know about this, something worse could have happened." Hong Luo answered.


    Lin Mu was now starting to understand more about their current predicament.


    "Then what you require from me is help?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, we do." Hong Luo simply answered.


    "But why me?" Lin Mu curiously asked.


    Hong Luo and the other two sighed in helplessness upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words.


    "We tried asking the other cultivators in town before. But the two hunters that are cultivators have disappeared, and the only other remaining cultivators are the captain and the two vice-captains of the town guards. Obviously thetter are not going to help us." Hong Luo exined.


    Lin Mu thought over what Hong Luo had said until now and wondered how he should approach this. He didn¡¯t want to get involved as it would take up his time and will slow down his cultivation progress. Another reason was that with the conspiracy and machinations that were going on in the underbelly of the town, Lin Mu did not know what kind of powers he would face.


    While he had been able to fight against the culprits who were at the Mid-stage of the Qi refining realm and was confident that he would be able to hold himself against one at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm; he did not know if he will be able to do the same with a cultivator that was at the Core Condensation realm.


    "I think you can try helping them if they offer you proper benefits. Don¡¯t forget that you are stillcking in resources." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu knew that while he was able to cultivate on his own with little problems, he still needed certain resources that could help him. Even if he were to ignore resources that could directly help him in increasing his cultivation speed such as spirit pills and spirit stones, he would still require certain life-saving items like restoration and healing pills.


    Lin Mu had learned from senior Xukong that such healing and restoration pills were a big advantage that could turn the tide of a Battle in the blink of an eye. While he did have the Four vessels restoration pills, they were rather precious and it would be a huge waste to use them for anything other than life-threatening injuries.


    Finally, after thinking for five minutes, Lin Mu had made up his mind. While Lin Mu was thinking about his decision, Hong Luo and the others waited patiently for him and did not disturb him. They knew that it was a big decision and one would not just straight away ept their request.


    "I can help you, but I have a few conditions." Lin Mu said with a nutria tone.


    "Of course brother Lin Mu, you can speak your mind." Hong Luo responded amicably.


    "First, I want to know in what way I would be helping, and second, I want some resources in exchange." Lin Mu stated.


    "There are three things we want your help in brother Lin Mu. We want you to keep an eye on the mercenaries in the camp during the night and also watch out for any news you may hear about the incidents. While we can get some information on our end, it¡¯s still a tad difficult to get it from the town officials and guards, as they have been told to ignore us it seems." Hong Luo spoke and took a pause.


    "As for thest thing, I don¡¯t know if this would bepletely possible, but I need you to investigate this incident if you can. We have to manage the mercenaries here thus we can¡¯t do it ourselves and anyway we are not wee in the town." Hong Luo added.


    "And what about the resources?" Lin Mu asked with raised brows.


    "That would depend on what kind of resources brother Lin Mu requires. Though the thing is, you will only be able to get them after my superiors return, since we ourselves don¡¯t have them." Hong Luo replied.


    Lin Mu heard Hong Lou¡¯s words and started to think that perhaps he should reject his request. He didn¡¯t know when Hong Lou¡¯spanions would be returning, and if something happens to him before they returned, it would just defeat the main purpose in the first ce.


    Still, Lin Mu thought he should at least put forward his demand, and perhaps they coulde to some kind ofpromise or decision.


    "I would prefer it if you can give me healing and restorative pills." Lin Mu spoke.


    Hong Luo took a breath of relief after hearing what Lin Mu spoke.


    "If it¡¯s just healing and restorative pill, then I can ept this. We do have some of those pills that I can give you, but if you want more, you will have to wait as I said." Hong Luo replied with a calm tone.


    "You can ept this, I think. Remember, you can actually take the help of the Hei Corps and make it easier for yourself." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu thought about it and found it to be reasonable. It would align with his goals, and using the Hei corps would be shooting two birds with one arrow.


    "I ept." Lin Mu answered after deliberating.


    "Then I look forward to our cooperation." Hong Luo said as he extended his right hand forward.


    Lin Mu shook hands with Hong Luo and confirmed their cooperation.


    "Now then, let¡¯s go to my tent so that I can give you the pills that you require." Hong Luo said.


    Hong Luo then turned around and started walking towards the camp. The Ming brothers also walked along with him, while Lin Mu followed at the back.


    ¡¯He¡¯s rather trusting, isn¡¯t he.¡¯ Lin Mu inwardly spoke.


    "No, it¡¯s more like he has no other option rather than to trust you. He seems to be at the end of his line." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm, perhaps." Lin Mu muttered.


    They soon reached Hong Lou¡¯s tent. The tent was ratherrge and tall enough that anyone could stand and walk in without any obstruction. There were two mercenaries that were standing guard outside of the tent and kept an eye out for any person that passed by.


    Lin Mu used his spirit sense to probe their strength and discovered that they were actually at the tenth stage of the Body tempering realm! This was the second time Lin Mu was seeing a warrior that was at the tenth stage of the body tempering realm other than him. All the other people he had seen, even the ones who were Qi cultivators, were only at the eighth stage of the Body tempering realm.


    Lin Mu tried observing closer and found out that while there two were at the tenth stage of the body tempering realm, they were barely at the border of it. Lin Mu probed even deeper and could sense that there seemed to be some abnormalities in the vital energy that permeated their body.


    "This is rather strange, why is their vital energy like this?" Lin Mu inwardly spoke.


    "It seems they have forcibly raised their strength to the tenth stage of the body tempering realm by certain means." Xukong guessed.


    "They can do that? Doesn¡¯t a person need to train and consolidate vital energy properly in order to raise their straight?" Lin Mu curiously asked.


    "That is indeed true normally, but there are still certain methods by which they can raise it further. In the case of these two mercenaries, it¡¯s likely that their Innate talent was not enough, and they stalled at the ninth stage of the body tempering realm. They probably used some unorthodox technique or a resource to raise it in this way." Xukong answered.


    "What method do you think is the most likely, Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "In their case, seeing how unstable their vital energy is, I can conclude that it¡¯s a pill."

 Chapter 97 - Getting The Pills From Hong Luo

    <h4>Chapter 97 - Getting The Pills From Hong Luo </h4>


    This was new information to Lin Mu. He didn¡¯t think that a pill that could do something like this existed. But now that he knew this, he wondered how much it cost and what the side effects of such a pill could be.


    He had already seen the unstable vital energy of the mercenaries, thus knew that it was one of the side effects, but wanted to know if there were more.


    "What kind of pill do you think it is, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I can¡¯t exactly tell. There are far too many pills that would fit the description, and different worlds may have different names for the same kind of pill. Unless you see it with your own eyes, it will be impossible for me to tell for sure." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded upon hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words. It was reasonable that he couldn¡¯t know everything. He would just have to see it himself to know about it.


    ¡¯Perhaps I can ask Hong Luo.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    The four people then came to a halt in front of the tent. The two guards greeted Hong Luo before moving aside to let him enter the tent. Hong Luo lifted the curtain of the tent and entered inside while gesturing for the others to do the same.


    One by one, everyone lifted the curtain and entered the tent. Upon entering the tent, Lin Mu could see that while it looked big from the outside, the insides of it were rather cramped. There were far too many items kept in the tent to allow a person to move freely inside it without bumping into something.


    Lin Mu looked around and saw a multitude of items kept in the tent. He saw a bed that was kept on the other end of the tent, a little to the right side, and a set of table and chairs right next to it. Other than this, most of the tent was upied by trunks, chests, and sacks, some of which were haphazardly strewn about.


    Hong Luo turned around with an embarrassed expression on his face.


    "Forgive me, brother Lin Mu. The tent is a bit... untidy. After all the elite mercenaries went on the mission and the disappearances happened, I had to move all the precious items in the camp to here." Hong Luo exined.


    "It¡¯s fine, I understand." Lin Mu spoke while nodding.


    Lin Mu had seen his fair share of messy ces, thus he was not bothered by this much.


    "Let me find the pills for you then." Hong Luo spoke.


    He then turned around and went up to a chest that was ced upon another trunk. The chest had a small lock ced on it and looked sturdy as it was made out of some kind of metal, probably steel. Hong Luo then took out a small key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock on the chest and turned it around.


    The lock on the chest opened with a snap, and Hong Luo lifted the lid of the chest. Inside the crate, three ss bottles were kept. One of them was opaque and could not be seen through, while the other two were transparent.


    Hong Luo picked up the two transparent bottles and showed them to Lin Mu, who was standing behind him. He ced them on the table to let Lin Mu check them out. Lin Mu looked closer and saw that while the pills in both of the bottles seemed to be of a white color, the pills in one bottle were smaller than the other.


    The bigger pills were three in number while the smaller ones were five in number.


    Hong Luo pointed to the smaller pills and spoke,


    "These are the lesser wound restoration pills and can be used to heal minor wounds such as cuts and flesh wounds."


    Hong Luo then pointed to the bigger pills and spoke,


    "These are the internal replenishment pills. They can be used to heal minor internal injuries such as hemorrhage and shocks."


    Lin Mu then picked up the bottle with lesser wound restoration pills and opened its cap to smell them. There was no particr smell to the pills, and it seemed like they would only release their scent upon consuming them. He then picked up the bottle with the internal replenishment pills and opened its cap as well to smell them.


    This time he could smell a scent that was floral in nature while also having some hints of pungency. He ced the cap back onto the bottles and pretended to store them in his pouch, while actually storing them into the ring.


    Lin Mu now started to wonder about the origin of these pills. He knew that pills such as these could only be made by an alchemist, who were usually part of sects and were seldom independent or with other organizations. The reason for this was that in order to raise an alchemist, a great amount of resources were needed and if they wanted to progress their craft further, an even greater amount of precious materials and herbs would be needed.


    It also took a long time for a cultivator to be an alchemist, as they needed to learn a lot of knowledge; knowledge which was often monopolized by the cultivation sects. Lin Mu wondered if these pills were from the Tri-cauldron peony sect as well.


    "Where are these pills from?" Lin mu questioned.


    "I do not know that brother. These pills are often given to us by the mercenarypany for our use. They usually acquire these from the markets in Xiangwei city, thus these pills could be manufactured by any of the sects or other organizations." Hong Luo answered.


    Lin Mu then looked at thest bottle of pills in the Chest and spoke,


    "What kind of pills are those?"


    Hong Lou¡¯s brows furrowed upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s question, and aplex expression appeared on his face. He seemed to be deliberating on whether to tell Lin Mu or not. But in the end, he decided to go ahead and speak.


    "They¡¯re a special kind of pills that can forcibly increase the strength of a person that is still in the Body tempering realm." Hong Luo spoke.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard Hong Lou¡¯s words he knew he had hit the jackpot.


    "What¡¯s their name?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "They are called as vital spring pills." Hong Luo answered.


    "Is that how the two guards outside reached the Tenth stage of the Body tempering realm?" Lin Mu probed.


    "Ah, so brother Lin Mu noticed. It seems that your attainments in Spirit sense are higher than mine. Even I can¡¯t tell the difference between them and normal tenth stage Body tempering realm warriors. But of course, it was expected from a person of a standing such as yours, brother Lin Mu." Hong Luo replied.


    Lin Mu noticed the probing tone of Hong Luo but did not mind it and just let it pass. He did not want to put too much focus on it and just let the other party make assumptions of themselves. So far it had only helped him from what he could learn from his experience of meeting the Hei Corps.


    Seeing that Lin Mu did not speak further and did not react to his words in any way, Hong Luo confirmed his thoughts.


    "Well then Brother Lin Mu, I guess we¡¯ll see each other in the night. And if you¡¯re in the town, you now know what to do." Hong Luo said.


    "That I do, indeed." Lin Mu politely replied.


    Lin Mu then turned around and left the tent. A few mercenaries saw Lin Mu exit the tent and seemed to be shocked by this. They then walked away while speaking to each other in hushed voices.


    "Well, now that I have this, I¡¯ll have more advantages in a battle." Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    "That you do indeed, but still it¡¯s better if you never get any injuries in the first ce," Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu just nodded inwardly and reentered the town. His next destination was the southern side of the town. He wanted to see what was happening with the guards and also wanted to meet up with the members of the Night Vigil.


    Lin Mu reached the southern part of the town after five minutes and walked towards the barracks of the town guards. Upon reaching there, he saw a huge crowd of people gathered around the barracks. Lin Mu went closer and saw that these people were all the residents of the eastern part of the town. They were all the people who had been affected by the strange phenomenast night.


    Lin Mu saw that they seemed to have absolutely enraged expressions on their faces and were very close to exploding. They were gathered and were currently talking in whisperers, seemingly waiting for someone.


    Lin Mu stood at the very back and waited with them. He did not want to disturb them right now and first wanted to see how the situation would progress. A minuteter he saw the doors of the guard barracks open and out walked three people.


    Lin Mu craned his neck to look and saw that it was actually the captain and vice caption of the town guards themselves.

 Chapter 98 - The Vice-Captains Orders

    <h4>Chapter 98 - The Vice-Captain''s Orders </h4>


    Lin Mu had seen the captain of the town guards a few times before, thus knew what he looked like. But when looked at the vice-captain, he was surprised. This vice-captain was not the one that he knew. Of the two vice-captains, Lin Mu had killed one, and the other was alive, but this person was not the same one.


    "Who¡¯s this person?" Lin Mu muttered.


    The captain and vice-captain seem to be discussing amongst themselves when they were walking outside. When they finally came in front of the crowd, only did they stop. They scanned the crowd with their eyes and gauge it.


    Lin Mu knew that they may use spirit sense, thus he stood at a far enough distance such that it won¡¯t reach him. Though he himself wanted to use his spirit sense to observe the cultivation base of the two people.


    "Residents of Northern town." The captain spoke in a loud voice, which silenced the muttering crowd.


    "We have heard yourints and concerns. We have also done a preliminary investigation ofst night¡¯s incident. The Town head has also listened to it and has decided on a course of action..." The captain spoke and was then interrupted by the crowd.


    "What do you meanints and concerns! This is a threat to our life." People from the crowd shouted.


    "Yeah, we had to make our own night vigil because the town head didn¡¯t agree to assign guards."


    "You people only found out because of the night vigil. If they were not there who knows what would have happened."


    The crowd could no longer keep silent and everyone started shouting. The captain could be seen getting more and more tense with each passing moment. But it was now that Lin Mu saw something that pulled his attention.


    The vice-captain that was standing beside the caption was not getting tense. Instead, he seemed to be getting annoyed instead.


    "SILENCE!" The vice-captain shouted.


    "One more word and we shall arrest all who defy." The vice-captain dered.


    The crowd went silent for a moment from the vice captain¡¯s shout and then erupted in an even greater uproar.


    "You can¡¯t do that."


    "We are not in the wrong here, you are."


    The people from the crowd hooted.


    <i>~crack~</i>


    Suddenly a cracking sound was heard, as the vice-captain disappeared from his position.


    <i>~aaagh~</i>


    "MY ARMMM!!" shouted the man who had protested.


    The vice-captain was standing above him and had his leg ced on the man¡¯s arm. From the awkward angle, it was bent at, one could tell that it was broken, if not from the painful shouts of the man.


    "Anyone else?" The vice-captain spoke with a domineering voice.


    The people were stunned upon seeing this act. Soon fear reced their stunned expressions, and they stepped back a few steps.


    Even the captain of the guards seems to be shocked by the vice-captain¡¯s actions. He quickly came towards the vice-captain and spoke to him.


    "Why did you do this? This was too harsh." The captain said with concern.


    <i>~hmmph~</i>


    "These people will not understand unless we make an example." The vice-captain spoke after harrumphing loudly.


    The Vice-captain then lifted his leg from the injured man¡¯s arm and walked back. The captain too followed him.


    "Now listen to this with all your attention, because I¡¯m only going to say it once." The vice-captain spoke.


    The people in the crowd all gulped and listened with intent. The vice-captain nodded with a little satisfaction and looked at the captain with a smug look. The captain did not speak anything and just sighed.


    "From today onwards, no one is to leave their houses at night under any conditions. The guards will be patrolling at night and if anyone is found wandering out at night, they will be arrested on the spot." The vice-captain spoke.


    The vice-captain then took a pause and looked around in the crowd.


    "We suspect that the culprits ofst night¡¯s incident may be one of the townspeople, thus if we find anyone wandering out in the night they will be arrested without any excuses and sent to prison." The Vice-captain added.


    The people in the crowd became even more fearful after hearing the orders and gulped. After this, the captain came forward and ced his hand on the vice-captain¡¯s shoulder.


    "Fear not though, as long as everyone follows the orders they will all be safe." The captain spoke in an assuring tone.


    The crowd finally calmed down a little bit after hearing the captain, even though it wasn¡¯t as much because the injured man was still grunting in pain.


    "Also, the town head has ordered to meet all the people who were part of the night vigil. So all those that are already in the crowd shoulde forward now and the rest shall report hereter as well." The captain informed.


    "Now, disperse." The vice-captain ordered.


    The crowd quickly left, for the fear that the vice-captain stuck had in their hearts was still fresh. Lin Mu was feeling incredibly suspicious of all the words that the captain and vice-captain of the town guards spoke.


    Though the most suspicion he had was on the vice-captain. He did not know this person who had suddenly popped out of nowhere and had also be so domineering. The town guards had never behaved like this before. Sure, they were overbearing sometimes, but never as much as the vice-captain.


    Lin Mu was standing a little distance away from the crowd, so the captains had not seen him yet. He then stopped a random person who was walking by and spoke to him.


    "Brother, do you know who that vice-captain is?" Lin Mu asked the man.


    "That¡¯s the new vice-captain of the town guards. His name is Han Lei." The man answered.


    ¡¯Han Lei? Is he rted to the Han Xu somehow?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Why was the vice-captain reced though, and where is the other vice-captain as well?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    Lin Mu wanted to know what the people knew about Han Xu after he had killed him. He also wanted to know why the other vice-captain was reced, as he certainly seemed to be someone with a higher authority. Even the captain did not dare to stop him when he acted and just spoke a few measly words after he injured the man in the crowd.


    "Oh, you didn¡¯t hear? Vice-captain Han Xu disappeared after the spirit beast attack. Most people think that he was eaten. Because of this, the other vice-captain went to investigate the matter and got injured in the process as well. He was then promptly sent to Wu Lim city for treatment." The Man answered.


    "Then where is this Han Lei from?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Oh, he is former vice-captain Han Xu¡¯s elder brother, who came here from Wu Lim city as his recement." The man spoke.


    "Wait, doesn¡¯t this mean there should be an additional vice-captain then?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There is, but I don¡¯t know who it is. We haven¡¯t seen him yet." The man answered.


    Lin Mu nodded to the man¡¯s reply and thanked him before leaving.


    "This is extremely strange." Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    "Seems like the people behind the incident are making their move. The town head dering a curfew like this is probably due to their intentions." Xukong spected.


    "That seems like it senior. If they are able to order the town head, then this means that he is involved in it too. Han Lei being Han Xu¡¯s brother leaves little doubts as well." Lin Mu replied.


    "How should we approach this now? I¡¯m supposed to help Hong Luo at night and they have told all the members of night vigil to report as well. This seems extremely suspicious." Lin Mu asked.


    "Perhaps you should consult your new allies. The rest, I¡¯ll leave it up to you. You need to learn how to judge situations like these yourself and make your own decisions." Xukong spoke in a calm tone.


    Lin Mu did not mind senior Xukong¡¯s words and took them in a good stride. He knew that he was only doing to help him learn and grow.


    ¡¯Seems like I can¡¯t meet the Night vigil members for now. It would onlyplicate things further.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu decide to walk back to the safe house of the Hei corps instead of his own as there was a chance that some people may spot him in the residential district. He reached the safe house after thirty minutes and saw that the carriage was no longer there in the alley.


    Lin Mu knocked on the door and waited for it to open. It had been a little more than two hours since Lin Mu had left the safe house, thus the people in the safe house were not expecting him to return this fast. The door of the safe house was opened by the old woman who saw him and let him inside.

 Chapter 99 - Planning An Approach

    <h4>Chapter 99 - nning An ApproaChapter </h4>


    Upon walking inside, Lin Mu saw that there was someone else sitting in the shop. The man was dressed in the clothes of a high official and he had seen him before. It was one of the men that hade with the leader of the Hei corps, Hei Wan.


    Lin Mu nodded to him in greeting and saw him reciprocate as well. He then walked inside the other room under the guidance of the old woman. The old woman came to a stop in front of the wall and held out her hand.


    "The badge." The old woman spoke.


    Lin Mu withdrew the badge from the ring while putting his hand inside the pouch and handed the badge to the old woman. She looked at it for a moment, before inserting it into a small slot that was hidden in the seam of the wall.


    The wooden panel of the wall shifted and Lin Mu walked inside it. After stepping in, the panel closed back, and he started walking down the passageway, into the stairwell. He reached the entrance of the safe house a couple of minutester and opened the door.


    As soon as the door was open, he saw two people standing in front of the door. They seemed to be alert and ready to attack. But after seeing Lin Mu, they rxed and sat back down on their chairs.


    "I need to report something. Where¡¯s Hei Bao?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The man who was sitting in front of Lin Mu was one of the members of the Hei corps that Lin Mu had not met yet.


    ¡¯He¡¯s probably someone that came with Hei Wan.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "You can head on inside. The captain is having a meeting with the rest of the Hei corps." The man spoke.


    Lin Mu simply nodded and went to the room that was to the right. He opened the door and saw the ten members of Hei corps standing around Hei Bao and Hei Wan. They turned around to look and saw Lin Mu entering.


    "You¡¯re here already?" Hei Bao said.


    "I have a couple of things to report and I also would be needing your help with something." Lin Mu replied.


    "Go ahead." Hei Wan spoke in affirmation.


    "The town head has dered a strict curfew at night. The captain and new vice-captain of the town¡¯s guards dered to the residents." Lin Mu spoke.


    "We already know about the curfew." Hei Bao spoke.


    "That¡¯s not all, I learned a few more things. Apparently, this new vice captain is named Han Lei, he¡¯s Han Xu¡¯s brother. He¡¯s meant to be his recement." Lin Mu spoke with a serious tone.


    "Then that means..." Hei Shi spoke before she was interrupted.


    "The culprits are making their move. They are probably controlling the town head as well." Hei Bao postted.


    "This Han Lei is rather overbearing too. He broke the arm of a resident just to make an example out of it. The captain did not seem to stop him either and there¡¯s another new vice captain that we don¡¯t know of." Lin Mu added.


    Hei Wan turned towards Hei Bao after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s report and spoke,


    "Forget my previous order, from now on focus on the Vice captains and the town head as well. It¡¯s no doubt that they are part of the culprits. This curfew only helps them in their acts. Now they can just abduct people and say that they were arrested for wandering outside."


    "Yes, leader." Hei Bao responded.


    Hei Wan then turned back to Lin Mu and spoke again,


    "Now, what kind of help did you need from us?"


    "I went to the mercenary camp an hour ago and met their current leader. He¡¯s named Hong Luo and is also a peak stage qi refining realm cultivator. He has asked me for help." Lin Mu answered.


    "And what does he need help in particr?" Hei Wan questioned.


    "It¡¯s with regard to the disappearance of the mercenaries. He wants me to help investigate the matter and also to help him keep a watch during the night. But now that the town head has dered a curfew it would be difficult for me to go out, although that¡¯s not my main concern. The town head also wants to meet all the people who were part of the Night Vigil, thus one way or the other I¡¯m gonna have to meet him." Lin Mu exined.


    Hei Wan went silent for a minute and seemed to be thinking about it. The other members of the Hei corps also stayed silent, so as to not disturb their leader.


    "It should be no problem, I¡¯ll dispatch some of our members to keep watch on the mercenaries at night. It aligns with our goals, anyway. As for the investigation about the disappearance of mercenaries, we are already on it." Hei Wan spoke after thinking for a bit and then turned to face Hei Bao again.


    "I know what to do." Hei Bao spoke before Hei Wan could even speak.


    Hei Wan simply nodded in appreciation.


    "Now about this meeting with the Town Head, what are you going to do?" Hei Shi asked.


    "I¡¯m going to meet him right now. Better get it done as soon as I can. Dying it would be no use as they should already know about me because of the other people from the Night Vigil." Lin Mu replied.


    "That should be fine, but just in case have Hei Shi follow you. That should help avoid any untoward incidents." Hei Wan suggested.


    "I¡¯m fine with that." Lin Mu answered.


    "Okay then. Now everyone knows what to do, so get going." Hei Wan ordered.


    "Yes, leader!" All the members of the Hei corps replied in unison.


    Nodding in understanding, Lin Mu turned back to leave. Hei Shi too followed behind him and left the room, while the other members dispersed as well and went to prepare for their missions.


    Before walking out the door of the safe house, Hei Shi picked up her mask and put it on. She also brought an additional mask with her and handed it to Lin Mu.


    "What¡¯s this for?" Lin Mu asked although he knew why.


    "Have it just in case. You are an ally of the Hei corps now anyway, so you have the right to use it." Hei Shi answered.


    Lin Mu nodded and took the mask. He then opened the door of the safe house and walked up to the shop above it. The old woman who was watching the shop handed him the badge back before he left.


    "I¡¯ll take another route and keep on following you. If you find anything suspicious just signal me by putting your hand up with three fingers." Hei Shi informed.


    Lin Mu nodded in response but chuckled when he heard Senior Xukong speaking in his mind.


    "If you¡¯re the one who has trouble, I doubt she will be able to do much. You¡¯re already much stronger than her." Xukong spoke.


    "That is true." Lin Mu simply spoke before leaving the alley.


    "Now then, it¡¯s time to go to the guard barracks." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu went to the southern district and reached there after thirty minutes. Along the way, he saw many people discussing and gossiping about the town head¡¯s order. They were also talking about the vice captain and how he had injured the innocent man.


    ¡¯Seems like the people won¡¯t mind it if this vice captain disappears as well.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu was just about to enter the guard barracks when someone called out to him.


    "Lin Mu!" A voice called.


    Lin Mu turned back to see and saw that it was Lu Xiao who had called him.


    "Where did you gost night?" Lu Xiao asked.


    Lin Mu was dreading this moment for a while now, but now that it had finallye he had prepared his answer.


    "I couldn¡¯t find the guards and thought it was dangerous to head on alone, so I headed back. But when I came back I couldn¡¯t find any of you, so I went back to my house." Lin Mu spoke.


    While his excuse had multiple ws that could be picked out, Lin Mu didn¡¯t think that it would be as troublesome. No one had seen him after he left, so no one could verify his ims either.


    "Oh, okay then." Lu Xiao simply replied.


    "What happened with you guys¡¯st night?" Lin Mu asked.


    "We searched the houses as we had decided to and actually found a few more people that were awake. We informed them of the incident, but some of them disagreed with us and refused to leave their homes as they were scared." Lu Xiao replied.


    ¡¯That understandable. Most people would not think of leaving their homes after an unexined incident like this.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "What happened after that? I mean someone informed the guards, right? Did you guys find a guard?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Oh, we didn¡¯t just meet any guard, we met the new vice captain himself. Apparently, he was out on his patrol and was heading towards the residential district himself." Lu Xiao answered.

 Chapter 100 - Reporting To Han Lei

    <h4>Chapter 100 - Reporting To Han Lei </h4>


    Lin Mu was a little surprised upon hearing that it was Han Lei that the people from the night vigil met, but did not show it upon his face.


    "Patrolling? As if! We were right, he¡¯s most likey a part of the culprits." Lin Mu spoke inwardly.


    "The circumstances do point towards it. But still, you need more information." Xukong replied.


    ¡¯But if he already met the people of the Night Vigil, why didn¡¯t he take them then and there.¡¯ Lin Mu thought over for a moment.


    "Who else was with you when you met the new Vice captain,st night?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Oh, it was just me, Yuan Tu and Fu Lao, the old man who was leading the Night vigil. The rest of the newly awakened people were out looking for other people." Lu Xiao answered.


    ¡¯That makes sense. If it was just the three of them, then he should have be cautious since there were others still spread out.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "This Han Lei probably didn¡¯t want the news to be released in an uncontrolled manner. So he opted to instead release it by himself, in the morning." Xukong spoke.


    "Han Lei was going towards the residential district, this means that he was probably heading to that old warehouse as well. But we still don¡¯t know what¡¯s their purpose behind the dead mercenaries." Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    Lu Xiao looked at Lin Mu, who was thinking and seemed to be lost in thought. He did not mind it for a minute, but then started to feel strange when Lin Mu just stood still for over a minute.


    "Lin Mu? Are you fine?" Lu Xiao asked.


    "Ah yes. I am." Lin Mu hurriedly answered.


    "You need to stop doing that as often. Make sure that you have a normal expression when taking with me with other people around." Xukong chided.


    "Yes, senior. I¡¯ll take care not to." Lin Mu replied in an embarrassed tone.


    "I think we should head inside now." Lu Xiao suggested.


    Lin Mu simply nodded in affirmation and walked ahead towards the guard barracks. They were then stopped at the entrance of the barracks by two guards.


    "What are you two here for?" One of the guards questioned.


    "We¡¯re here to report to the Vice captain. We are the members of the night vigil." Lin Mu answered


    "You can go on inside, the vice captain has been waiting for you people." The guard replied.


    The guard then moved aside and allowed the two to enter the barracks. The second guard gestured for them to follow him inside. Under the guidance of the guard, the two swiftly reached the vice captain¡¯s chamber. They then came to a stop in front of the door of the chamber and the guard knocked on the door.


    "Who is it?" A voice called from inside the chamber.


    "I¡¯ve brought the people from the night vigil." The guard answered.


    "Come in." The voice said with an annoyed tone.


    The guard then opened the door and let the two inside. The guard then closed the door and returned back to his post. Lin Mu and Lu Xiao entered the room and looked around. The first thing they saw was the desk that was located right across the room and a man sitting behind it in a guard¡¯s armor.


    "I¡¯ve been waiting for you." Han Lei spoke.


    Lin Mu looked went closer and gazed at the face of Han Lei.


    ¡¯His facial features do match those of Han Xu.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "What did you want to talk to us about, vice captain? You didn¡¯t exin to usst night." Lu Xiao spoke.


    The expression that Han Lei had on his face became even more annoyed after hearing Lu Xiao¡¯s question.


    "The town head will speak to you about that. You don¡¯t need to speak unless you are asked to." Han Lei spoke curtly.


    Lin Mu¡¯s brows furrowed upon listening to Han Lei¡¯s words, and he too started to feel annoyed.


    "Now then, what are you two¡¯s names?" Han Lei questioned.


    "I¡¯m Lu Xiao."


    "My name is Lin Mu."


    The two of them responded. Han Lei seemed fine upon hearing Lu Xiao¡¯s name, but he seemed to be a little troubled after hearing Lin Mu speak his name.


    "So you are the one who disappearedst night. Care to tell me where you went?" Han Lei questioned.


    Lin Mu then gave Han Lei the same exnation he had given to Lu Xiao.


    "Huh, so you just got scared and ran away." Han Lei said with a demeaning tone.


    "Yes, I did." Lin Mu replied, not minding the tone of Han Lei.


    "Fine. Let¡¯s go, the others should already be done reporting at the town center. You two are the only ones that arete." Han Lei ordered.


    Lu Xiao felt a little strange upon hearing that the others were already done reporting at the town center before them, even though he had hurried here as soon as he heard about the orders.


    "Umm, how did the others reach the town center before us?" Lu Xiao asked with a meek tone.


    "Some of them were already here when we informer the residents, while the others were brought to the town centers by the guards. You two were the only ones that were at your homes." Han Lei spoke and nced at Lin Mu for a second before looking away.


    "He suspects something," Xukong spoke.


    "I know. I also want to gauge his cultivation base, but it will be problematic if I do it right now." Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    "Wait till you are in a crowded area and then use your spirit sense. Though it does not seem to me that this Han Lei has refined his spirit sense yet." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu silently nodded and continued walking along with Han Lei and Lu Xiao. They left the barracks and headed towards the town square. While on the way they passed many other people, but the crowd wasn¡¯trge enough for Lin Mu to use his spirit sense with little risk.


    They went past multiple people, but Lin Mu still could not find the right opportunity. Finally, when they were at the town square, Lin Mu got the chance to use his spirit sense. To his luck, the mercenaries had once again gathered in front of the town center, giving him the perfect opportunity.


    Lin Mu released his spirit sense probe and observed the cultivation base of Han Lei. To his surprise, he found out that Han Lei was at thete stage of the Qi refining realm. He was even at the ninth stage of the body tempering realm and was probably at the very cusp of it.


    Han Lei had be the first cultivator Lin Mu had met until now that was at such a high level of the body tempering realm.


    "He¡¯s stronger than his bother. Though it still should not matter as much." Lin Mu spoke inwardly.


    While Lin Mu was gauging Han Lei¡¯s cultivation base, he had suddenly be alert. Han Lei had felt the spirit sense probe and was now looking around, trying to find its source. But since he didn¡¯t have a spirit sense of his own, he could not pinpoint the location of the probe. Having the tens of mercenaries around didn¡¯t help him either.


    "These damned mercenaries, meddling where they don¡¯t belong." Han Lei cursed under his breath.


    Lin Mu and Lu Xiao too stopped after seeing Han Lei halt in his tracks. Lu Xiao Looked at Han Lei and then at Lin Mu.


    "What¡¯s he doing?" Lu Xiao whispered.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t answer but just shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he didn¡¯t know either. After looking around for a bit, Han Lei¡¯s gaze finally settled onto Lu Xiao and Lin Mu. He nced at the expressionless Lin Mu and the lost Lu Xiao and just grunted in response.


    "Come on, don¡¯t waste my time." Han Lei uttered.


    The Trio then passed by the mercenaries who were standing in front of the town center. The mercenaries gave way to them after seeing that it was the vice captain, but not before giving him mean looks.


    Soon they had entered the town center and were on their way towards the town head¡¯s office. They had to climb two floors before they reached the town head¡¯s office, which was located at the very top of the building.


    Lin Mu looked around and saw some luxurious vases and calligraphy scrolls hanging on the walls along the way and even more in the office itself. After entering the office, they saw that the town head wasn¡¯t present in the office.


    ¡¯This is rather decadent.¡¯ Lin Mu thought with unease.


    These kinds of luxuries were rather umon in the Northern town, so Lin Mu Was a little surprised on seeing them here. Wherever the town had presented himself to the public, he was always in in clothes, thus it gave a different impression to most of the people. But now that Lin Mu had seen this, he understood that there was more to the town head that was hidden to the eyes.


    "This is a rathermon thing which you will see in nearly all worlds. There is nock of people that pretend to be something else in front of others. They obtain more benefits by appearing weak and meek than being opulent. They will take advantage of the weak and suppress them while fulfilling their desires." Xukong spoke in a sagely tone.


    "But this... isn¡¯t this too much? Most of the town¡¯s residents can barely get by through the winter and whenever they ask for aid from the town head, he just says he does not have the resources." Lin Mu spoke frustratingly.


    "It is indeed as you say. But this is the true reality of this world." Xukong replied.


    "This... This is wrong!." Lin Mu muttered under his breath.


    But unlike before, Lin Mu¡¯s mutter was a little too loud and was heard by others as they turned around to look at him.


    Unknown to Lin Mu, something snapped in his mind, and the mysterious ring started humming.

 Chapter 101 - A Change

    <h4>Chapter 101 - A Change </h4>


    Xukong sensed the abnormality that was happening instantly. He could feel that a change had happened within Lin Mu¡¯s mind which he was not clear about. He could sense the mysterious ring responding to Lin Mu in someway.


    "What!?" Xukong suddenly eximed as he felt the environment within the mysterious ring change.


    Xukong could see that the mysterious ring had be active once again as a beam of light was being emanated by the ethereal altar. He rushed towards the ethereal altar to observe what exactly was happening with it.


    *****


    While this was happening in the mysterious ring, Lin Mu was clueless about it in the real world. Right now his mind seemed to have entered a strange state where he felt as if he couldn¡¯t think straight and a myriad of thoughts were going rushing through it. He didn¡¯t notice that the people in the office were staring at him either.


    "Lin Mu?" Lu Xiao called out but received no response.


    Then, the sound of a door opening could be heard, and footsteps approached them.


    "What did that boy say? This is wrong?" An approaching voice said.


    Lu Xiao and the vice captain saw the Town head entering from another room that was attached to the office. He came in and saw the three people standing in his office. The town head recognized the new vice captain, Han Lei, but did not know who the other two people were.


    Lin Mu had his head down the entire time, as if he was lost in thinking. The town head could not see Lin Mu¡¯s clearly, thus he came even closer.


    "Who¡¯s this, Han Lei?" The Town head questioned.


    The annoyed expression that Han Lei had on his face was still there and showed no signs of dissipating. He looked at the town head and spoke,


    "They are the remaining people from the Night Vigil." Han Lei spoke in a curt tone paying no heed to the status of the Town head.


    Lu Xiao was shocked upon seeing the manner in which Han Lei had spoken with the town head. All the people from the Northern town were usually respectful in talking with the town head and seldom did they behave like this. Even the Captain of the Town¡¯s guards was very respectful of the town head.


    The only other person who could speak with the Town head on the same level was the Supervisor of the Spirit apple orchards Li Peng, and even that was only because he was appointed by the mayor of Wu Lim city.


    The Town head paid no heed to Han Lei¡¯s tone and just looked at Lin Mu.


    "What was this boy saying again?" The town head asked as if he had not heard the previous words clearly.


    "He said something about this being wrong." Han Lei answered.


    The Town head stroked his beard a couple of times before speaking.


    "And what is this thing that¡¯s wrong?"


    "Everything..." Lin Mu lightly muttered in response.


    "Look at me and speak, boy. Do not disrespect me." The town head spoke in a grim tone.


    The Vice captain too was feeling furious after seeing Lin Mu act like this. He was already annoyed after being ordered to do such a measly task, and now even a kid like Lin Mu was ignoring his presence and was behaving insolently.


    <i>~Thwack~</i>


    "Look up, boy!" Han Lei shouted as he pped Lin Mu¡¯s back in anger.


    Han Lei had expected for Lin Mu to stumble ahead after getting hit, but in a surprise to him, he didn¡¯t react at all. Even when he had hit Lin Mu, Han Lei felt as if he had hit a stiff surface.


    ¡¯Is he... is he wearing armor beneath his clothes?¡¯ Han Lei thought.


    Lin Mu finally looked up and red at the eyes of the town head. But when the town head looked at his face and his eyes, rm bells rang through his mind. A furious expression could be seen on Lin Mu¡¯s face, and his eyes were bloodshot.


    "I SAID EVERYTHING!!!!" Lin Mu spat out.


    *****


    Back in the mysterious ring, Xukong was traveling at a great speed towards the glowing ethereal altar in the distance. The altar was currently glowing with a white light, and waves of energy could be felt emanating from it.


    "What is happening this time?" Xukong muttered.


    "Is he going to have another bout of enlightenment?" Xukong wondered.


    Soon Xukong reached the altar and saw the changes in it. The altar was no longer ethereal but had instead turned corporeal now, and even its size seemed to have increased. Large andplex runes could be seen rising from the altar and spreading around it.


    Xukong looked at the runes and for the first time, found himself stumped at them. He could not recognize these runes at all. In all the tens of millions of years that he had lived, Xukong had seen countless runes and even morenguages. He could say that he knew most of what there was to know about them.


    "What are these runes? Wait... No! This... this can¡¯t be!" Xukong shouted as he suddenly realized something.


    The runes had now stopped arising from the altar and were now moving around. Soon they had arranged themselves into multiple concentric formation arrays. The formation array was vast and theplexity of it could be seldom seen, even in the myriad of worlds.


    "A True Grand Formation Array!" Xukong uttered in shock.


    Xukong could not determine the function of this formation array as he could not read the runes at all. The characters which were used to write the runes were not from the Dao script and seemed to bepletely different.


    Unable to determine the use of the formation array, Xukong focused his attention on Lin Mu. He forced his own spirit sense to leave the mysterious ring and observed the outside world. In another surprise to Xukong, his spirit sense was easily able to leave the mysterious ring. He had expected a bacsh from the world¡¯s restrictions, but somehow it did not arrive.


    Suppressing his surprise for now, Xukong scanned Lin Mu¡¯s surroundings and got a grasp of the situation. While Xukong would roughly know what was in Lin Mu¡¯s environment, this was because of Lin Mu thinking about it in his mind and not because of his own spirit sense.


    Xukong refrained from using his spirit sense as he knew that it would cause a bacsh. This was the first time that Xukong was looking around in the world after arriving here.


    Xukong saw the changes in Lin Mu¡¯s expression, but could no longer see what was happening in his mind. It was as if a barrier had been erected around his mind, which shielded his thoughts and prevented him from observing them.


    In the next moment, Xukong could feel a violent presence arising within Lin Mu. The others around him could not feel it, but since Xukong was the closest he could.


    "Could it be? But it¡¯s not possible, he¡¯s not even at that stage now." Xukong spoke to himself.


    Xukong then directed his spirit sense towards Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian to observe the situation within it. His spirit sense passed through his abdomen and entered the dantian. At first, he felt a little obstruction upon entering, but his superior spirit sense was able to sessfully enter it.


    Xukong looked around the dantian, which had more than a thousand wisps of spirit qi floating around in it. These wisps of spirit qi seem to be moving in a haphazard manner, as if they were being scared by something.


    Then finally, in a corner of the dantian, Xukong saw it.


    There was a vague figure floating in the expanse, the spirit qi wisps were running away from it. Xukong observed closely and found that the figure was wearing somemoners clothes and its face was just a mass of shifting darkness.


    The mass of darkness would sometimes morph into a masculine face and sometimes into a feminine face. The presence of Xukong¡¯s spirit sense seemed to have disturbed the figure, and it awakened.


    <i>~Screech~</i>


    A piercing sound could suddenly be hearding from the figure¡¯s head. The sound was more close to a screech rather than a cry as it resounded in the dantian and affected the spirit qi wisps.


    The spirit Qi wisps that were once running away from the figure were now going towards it with blinding speed. The figure then started absorbing the spirit qi at an immense pace, and the spirit qi in the dantian started reducing at a visible rate.


    ¡¯Oh no... it is what I thought it was.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    The more the figure absorbed the spirit qi, the more its features became clear. The mass of darkness that faintly resembled masculine and feminine features was now changing to get more apparent. Soon the mass of darkness turned to be actual faces.


    One of the faces belonged to a rough and brawny looking man, while the other belonged to a gentle and motherly looking woman. Both the faces had certain features that resembled Lin Mu himself. The figure kept on absorbing the spirit qi, and the faces alternated between the man and woman.


    "Are these... Lin Mu¡¯s parents?"

 Chapter 102 - The Burning Heart Sutra

    <h4>Chapter 102 - The Burning Heart Sutra </h4>


    Xukong was a little shocked upon seeing the faces of Lin Mu¡¯s parents appearing on the dark figure¡¯s face.


    "Why did Lin Mu never speak to me about this?" Xukong questioned himself.


    ¡¯Has he been suppressing this in his mind all long, such that it has now turned into his Heart Demon?¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    Indeed, the figure that was alternating between the two faces was none other than a Heart Demon. A Heart Demon is the product of the cultivator¡¯s emotions, memories, and guilt. Theybine together and give birth to an entity that eventually bes a Heart Demon.


    A Heart Demon can gravely harm a cultivator if they don¡¯t deal with it or suppress it. Every cultivator that exists will one day develop a Heart Demon, the only difference is when. Even the most staunch, just, righteous, and willful of cultivators develop Heart Demons when they undergo their tribtions, not to say about the othermon or unorthodox cultivators.


    Though the reason why Xukong was so shocked was because Lin Mu was simply not at the cultivation stage where he could develop a Heart Demon. A Heart Demon also required arge quantity of spirit qi to be born, thus the earliest a cultivator could develop a heart demon was at the Core Condensation realm.


    Lin Mu developing one at the Mid-stage of the Qi refining realm simply did not make sense. This was apparent since looking at the heart demon, Xukong could tell that it was not fully developed and was thus forcibly absorbing the spirit qi in Lin Mu¡¯s dantian.


    "Even if it absorbs the entirety of Lin Mu¡¯s Spirit Qi stores, it still won¡¯t be able to live. Nevertheless, I have to do something." Xukong spoke inwardly.


    Xukong was just about to act when suddenly, his spirit sense was pushed back because of an immense pressure.


    "Wha... What?" Xukong spoke after recoiling.


    He looked around and saw that the True Grand Formation Array had activated. The runes on it started shifting and showed a myriad of changes. It was as if the workings of the heavens were hidden within the formation and gave one a slight nce into it.


    Xukong could not help but be lost within the mysteries of the True Grand Formation Array. A momentter he forcibly snapped out of his daze, as a chill went down his body.


    "This is truly fearsome. It can even pull someone like me into it." Xukong spoke with a little fear in his voice.


    ~screech~


    Xukong then heard a loud echoing screech and saw an oval mass appear over the formation array. The oval mass was making shrieking and crying noises which made one¡¯s ears hurt and hair stand on the end.


    The oval mass dissipated and revealed the heart demon that was hidden within. The heart demon was floating above the formation array and seemed to be greatly distressed. It seemed to have stabilized its form temporarily after absorbing the spirit qi from Lin Mu¡¯s dantian, but probably could not maintain it for much longer.


    "Why is the heart demon here?" Xukong questioned.


    The heart demon¡¯s movements were being restricted by something invisible which even Xukong could not determine. Suddenly the altar that was glowing with white light started to thrum with power. Even more intense waves of energy started being released from it. Xukong was just about to brace for its impact when he discovered that the energy waves never reached him.


    Xukong gazed at the altar and saw that the waves of energy were only targeting the heart demon. The energy waves would be released by the altar and then surround the heart demon into a certain kind of a shell.


    "The altar is sealing the Heart Demon? No! This is something else..." Xukong uttered.


    After the heart demon waspletely encased within the energy shell it started floating towards the altar. It came to a halt right above the beam of white light and was veiled within it.


    And then it happened...


    The entire environment within the ring changed. The beam of light that was being emanated by the altar was no longer white. Instead, it had turned into a crimson shade of red. The light kept on being intensified until finally; it became blood red.


    "This aura... how can it be here..." Xukong uttered in between breaths.


    A violent and oppressive aura spread inside the ring and made Xukong recoil.


    "There¡¯s no doubt... It is the aura of the Demonic Path!" Xukong stated before he was pushed back arge distance away.


    *****


    Back in the real world. A stream of memories were currently shing in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    A young teenage boy was standing in the door frame while crying. He was looking at a rough and brawny man that was currently sharpening a de with a whetstone.


    "Please don¡¯t go, father." The boy requested.


    "We don¡¯t have a choice, my son. I need to go hunt, we don¡¯t have any more money left." The man spoke.


    Evidently, the man and the boy were a pair of father and son.


    "But what if you fall sick like mother as well?" The boy spoke.


    "I just have to take that risk. The town head can¡¯t offer anyone aid, and this is the middle of the winter as well. I don¡¯t know what else to do, I have to buy medicine for your mother." The man spoke with determination in his eyes.


    The memories soon changed and a different scene appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    The boy was now standing over two graves alone. He fell on his knees and was kowtowing while crying.


    "Why... why did this happen? If we had waited for a few more days, the medicine would have arrived." The boy yelled.


    "What am I supposed to do, now that you two are gone?" The boy uttered between sobs.


    The boy stayed in that position for a while before standing up. He then walked out of the courtyard and saw the scenes outside. Many other people could be seen crying and mourning. The boy then understood that he wasn¡¯t the only one in this situation, and there were others in the same condition as well.


    These memories kept on reying in Lin Mu¡¯s mind over and over again. Each time he would think what if, it didn¡¯t happen? What if they did something different? Or what if they had chosen to wait? But every time he thought about each ¡¯What if?¡¯, the fury within Lin Mu¡¯s heart grew.


    He remembered the conditions in the past and then how the town head had rejected everyone¡¯s calls for aid. He would then recall all the luxuries that the Town head was enjoying and could not help but wonder, what it was all for?


    Lin Mu was unaware of the events happening within the mysterious ring. He did not even react when the spirit qi within his body started depleting rapidly. The only thing that mattered to him right now was his thoughts.


    It was then that he heard a voice call out to him. The voice asked him what was so wrong, to which he could barely reply and could only whisper.


    Lin Mu then heard someone p his back and yell at him. This did not help his condition much and only helped to infuriate him more.


    It was now that he looked up to re at the voice that was calling out to him. He wanted to give a fitting response to the person who was disturbing his thoughts, disturbing his memories.


    But when Lin Mu looked up, he saw the person who was currently the main target of his hate. It was the person he was pinning his previous sorrow and tragedy upon. He saw the Town Head standing in front of him looking at him with eyes that were intending to make him feel lowly.


    The fury in his heart was at its peak, when Lin Mu finally mustered enough will to yell out his answer,


    "I SAID EVERYTHING!!!!"


    And then, it was as if the fury within his heart could no longer be contained. Lin Mu heard something beckoning him, calling him toe to it. He chose to respond to it and saw everything slowdown. The movements of the Town head in front of him froze, and even the dust particles that were floating around in the air became still.


    It was as if the world itself had stopped.


    Lin Mu then felt it. Something was pulling on his mind. He let go of his inhibitions and let it happen.


    He found himself in a vast empty expanse. The ground was red, as if stained by blood and even the sky seemed to be filled with crimson red clouds. A momentter Lin Mu could even smell the metallic stench of blood.


    Then he saw them appear in the sky. Thousands of vague figures started appearing. They kept on increasing in number until finally they became uncountable and the sky was blotted out by them. The figures were but a dark red silhouette, though they all had different shapes and sizes.


    Some were as big as mountains while others were as small as bulls. Still, even the smallest silhouette was many times bigger than Lin Mu. Some silhouettes had multiple hands and legs, some had horns, some had tails, while others had wings. There were a myriadbinations of such, and these figures were surrounding Lin Mu.


    Then finally he heard them talk.


    Thundering chants started echoing in the vast expanse, as the voices of all the figures melded together into an inhuman, demonic voice.


    "Ignite thy heart as a furnace, let your rage fuel your strength and unleash rampage upon the worlds - Behold The Burning Heart Sutra."

 Chapter 103 - Kill...

    <h4>Chapter 103 - Kill... </h4>


    While Lin Mu was in this blood red vast expanse. Xukong was pondering on the scenario that was currently underway.


    ¡¯First the Buddhist path, then the Sword path, and now the Demonic path. There has never been a technique that couldbine so many cultivation paths into one, especially for pr opposites. The Demonic path opposes the first two paths. How can it exist stably alongside them?¡¯ Xukong pondered.


    Xukong was no longer worried about Lin Mu since the Heart Demon had perished. His concern was that the Heart Demon would harm Lin Mu, but the mysterious ring had taken care of that and had destroyed it somehow.


    Although there was an immense demonic aura spread in the mysterious ring, Xukong knew that it was the ring¡¯s doing and it was just helping Lin Mu. Xukong tried to observe the outside world with his spirit sense once again but found that it was nowpletely impossible to do so. Before, he could still do so even with the world¡¯s restrictions, albeit he would have had to bear the bacsh.


    But now the mysterious ring seemed to have locked itself down, preventing the spirit sense from leaving. Lin Mu¡¯s mind was also being shielded still, so Xukong didn¡¯t have any luck there either.


    "I¡¯ll just have to wait and watch," Xukong muttered to himself.


    *****


    The real world still seemed to be frozen and Lin Mu was standing in the Vast expanse in the Blood rednds, listening to the demonic amalgamation of voices talking. At first, he had felt strange upon hearing the voices.


    Lin Mu had thought that he should have felt scared or fearful upon hearing such voices, but strangely he did not. Instead, the more he listened to them, the more he feltfortable. The voices were first speaking in anguage that he could somehow understand even though he had never heard it.


    Butter it changed into violent chants. The chants were esoteric and Lin Mu could notprehend them, yet still somehow at the same time, he understood them. It was as if the chants resonated with his inner heart and made him understand them on a more intrinsic level.


    The chants were trying to invoke something within Lin Mu. He felt the rage that was at a breaking point, suddenly growing even more. It was as if a full container of water that was about to break suddenly increased in volume.


    Lin Mu subconsciously started repeating after the chants. The more he chanted, the more his rage grew, but at the same time made him feelfortable. It was providing him a strange kind of sce. It was telling him that it was his right to be furious and the target of his rage was wrong and anyone that opposed him was to be exterminated.


    Lin Mu kept on repeating the chants and felt them getting carved in his memories. They were getting clearer and clearer. Until eventually, the chants stopped and Lin Mu disappeared from the Blood red expanse.


    Lin Mu saw the Town Head standing in front of him, still frozen with a grim expression, and suddenly felt the time start flowing again. The specs of dust that were suspended in the air started swirling, and the fine breathing movements of the people in the room could be felt again. Even the faint heart beats could be heard loud and clear in his ears.


    An enraged smile filled with malice appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face as he now started chanting the Burning Heart sutra. Veins popped up all over his body, as his face turned red with rage. Then, without even hesitating, Lin Mu extended his hand and grasped the face of the Town head in front of him.


    The Town head and the Vice captain were too shocked to even respond, when Lin Mu¡¯s fingers dug into the face of the town head. But before he could even scream with pain, spirit qi strengthened Lin Mu¡¯s hand, and he exerted force.


    <i>~crack~ ~squelch~</i>


    A sickening crack and squelching sound could be heard as the town head¡¯s head turned to mush in Lin Mu¡¯s hand. The force of the grip was so strong that it sttered blood and brains all over the ce. Even on Lin Mu¡¯s face, one could see the stter of blood along with a few pieces of white brain matter on his forehead.


    Still, even in a condition like this, a malefic smile was blooming on his face.


    Lu Xiao, who was watching the entire incident with dread, had now copsed on the floor, his pants wet with his urine. He Had evidently been frightened enough to pee himself.


    Han Lei was barely able to take control of his wits as he recoiled in horror.


    "What... what... what have you done!?" Han Lei spoke with difficulty.


    Even though he himself was a cultivator, Han Lei had never experienced a scene like this before. The raw strength that Lin Mu showed was extremely horrifying to him. Even for a peak stage Qi refining realm cultivator, crushing a person¡¯s head in this manner was impossible, they would have to use a martial technique or a weapon to get the same effort.


    Though what shocked Han Lei, even more, was how easily the Town head was killed. He knew something that few people in this town knew. He knew that the Town head was a spirit qi cultivator as well, that too one at the Late stage of the qi refining realm. He had always hidden his cultivation from everyone in the town, thus barely anyone knew about his strength.


    The town head¡¯s cultivation was also why the captain and vice caption of the town¡¯s guards were so respectful of him. But seeing a person being killed like this made him doubt reality.


    Han Lei was suspicious of Lin Mu from the start, as he had heard that he had broken down doors with easest night. He had heard this from the other member¡¯s of the Night vigil but never expected for him to so strong as to instantly kill a cultivator.


    Suddenly the gears in his mind started moving at great speed as he connected the string of incidents.


    "You... you were the one who killed our men and also raided the old warehouse." Han Lei spoke in a stunned tone.


    Unfortunately for Han Lei, he had made a mistake when he said that. In his shock, he had given away his secrets and confirmed Lin Mu¡¯s conjectures. Though Han Lei was not the one to bepletely med for his mistake. Perhaps if it was someone else in his position and witnessed the same set of events, even they would respond in the same way.


    Though Han Lei having said that only sealed his fate in the hands of Lin Mu.


    "Ah... this only makes it easier for me." Lin Mu uttered in a hoarse voice.


    Han Lei drew his sword from his hilt and pointed it at Lin Mu.


    "Don¡¯t! Don¡¯t move." Han Lei spoke shakily.


    Lin Mu paid no heed to his words and simply withdrew his own sword from his hilt in response. He swung it towards Han Lei who blocked it with his own sword but found it almost impossible to do so. The force of Lin Mu¡¯s attack was nearly enough to blow his sword out of his hand.


    Knowing that he won¡¯t be able to handle this on his own, Han Lei started to think of possible solutions. His eyes then wandered towards the copsed Lu Xiao, as an idea popped into his mind. He strengthened his legs with spirit qi and lunged towards Lu Xiao.


    Lin Mu instantly followed him. He didn¡¯t even need to strengthen his legs with spirit qi as even his own raw strength was currently enough. But even still, he was a tad toote as Han Lei reached Lu Xiao and held him up in front of him as a shield.


    "Don¡¯t you dare move, or I¡¯ll kill your friend here." Han Lei spoke as he ced his sword at Lu Xiao¡¯s neck.


    "Wha..." was all Lu Xiao could utter before he zipped up his lips in fear.


    The chattering of his teeth could be heard as he shivered with utter terror. One could tell that this day would continue haunting him for years toe and would be his worst nightmare. That is, ¡¯if¡¯ he were to survive today.


    The smile on Lin Mu¡¯s face dulled a little upon seeing this as he spoke,


    "Futile effort..."


    Then, in the next instant, Lin Mu¡¯s body turned blurry for a moment as he disappeared from in front of Han Lei. Han Lei¡¯s eyes turned wide open upon seeing this phenomenon and then became forever stuck that way.


    A sword was now pierced through his head. It entered from the base of his neck and popped out through the top of his head. The tip of the de was just a few millimeters away from Lu Xiao¡¯s own head, but he was unaware as he could not see behind him.


    The now dead body of Han Lei slumped down on the ground, freeing Lu Xiao.

 Chapter 104 - Returning To His Senses

    <h4>Chapter 104 - Returning To His Senses </h4>


    A minute ago.


    Xukong had finally felt the barrier surrounding the mysterious ring disappear. He had been trying to contact Lin Mu¡¯s mind but was unsessful as the shield surrounding it was still present, but now that his spirit sense could leave the ring he could at least observe what was happening outside.


    As soon as Xukong¡¯s spirit sense left the ring he saw the Town head¡¯s skull getting crushed in Lin Mu¡¯s hand. He was surprised by this sudden development. But not because Lin Mu had killed someone, instead because of how quickly and effortlessly he had done it.


    Xukong then saw the expression on Lin Mu¡¯s face and the condition of his body. The malevolent smile on his face, apanied by the blood-shot eyes and the strained veins, only made him think of one thing.


    "Demonic Might! He¡¯s actually able to replicate the innate ability of the demon race." Xukong eximed.


    ¡¯Is this the new ability that he received from the ring? Is that why there was the aura of the Demonic path in the ring?¡¯ Xukong wondered.


    There were many more questions that were popping up in his mind, questions to which he could not find the answers to right now. But that was the least of his concerns. Xukong knew about the ability ¡¯Demonic Might¡¯ and knew the side effects that came with it.


    ¡¯Will he be able to bear them... No. He doesn¡¯t have enough spirit qi to even reach that point. He should be exhausted anytime now.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    Xukong next saw Han Lei revealing his secret and taking Lu Xiao hostage. He then saw Lin Mu blink and appear behind him, swiftly killing him.


    ¡¯This is a little strange. His senses should have be dull after using the ability, but they seem to be normal still. Is this ability not Demonic Might?¡¯ Xukong wondered.


    *****


    Lin Mu was standing over the dead body of Han Lei and the now unconscious Lu Xiao. Evidently, the entire ordeal had been extremely intense for Lu Xiao, and he had fainted due to the shock.


    Lin Mu pulled out the short sword that was still stuck in Han Lei¡¯s skull and sttered more blood on the floor. Even though he had killed both the people in the room, he still did not feel satisfied. He wanted more.


    Thefort that he felt while killing them was only temporary andsted for a few minutes before fading away. The rage within him was still seething and demanded more.


    Lin Mu looked over to the unconscious Lu Xiao.


    "It¡¯ll be a bother to exin this to him, and there are more people outside the building. Better just kill him and be done with this." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    Xukong heard Lin Mu¡¯s muttering and tried to warn Lin Mu, but was unsessful as the shield in his mind was still there.


    ¡¯It¡¯s the ability! It¡¯s clouding his mind and preventing me from talking to him.¡¯ Xukong understood.


    Lin Mu was just about to stab his de through Lu Xiao¡¯s heart when he suddenly stumbled back. His head felt like it was spinning and a wave of intense exhaustion washed over him. Lin Mu held on to the wall nearby and copsed onto the floor.


    "Wha... What¡¯s happening?" Lin Mu uttered before fainting.


    "Ah, so his spirit qi finally ran out. Just in time, or he would have justplicated the situation more and increased his own work." Xukong said with a relieved tone.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s see how long it takes for him to recover. I¡¯ll need to keep a lookout, though I don¡¯t know for how long I would be able to do that. The world¡¯s restrictions should be returning soon.¡¯ Xukong concluded.


    Xukong had realized that the reason why the world¡¯s restrictions were not affecting his spirit sense. It was because of the mysterious ring. His conjecture proved to be right when the environment within the mysterious ring started to revert to normal.


    The altar returned to an ethereal state, and the beam of light that was being emanated from it was also stopped. Even the True Grand Formation Array faded away as if it never existed. Xukong then felt the world¡¯s restrictions acting as his spirit sense was forced to retreat back into the ring.


    ¡¯We¡¯ll just have to leave it up to luck now. If someone discovers him, he¡¯ll just have to deal with it.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    Fortunately for Lin Mu, it seemed like people seldom came to the town head¡¯s office, as even after an hour, no one came to check up on them. Not even a clerk or staffer came to pay a visit. From this, one could tell that the mayor was either very reserved or was overbearing enough that the people avoided him.


    Lin Mu eventually woke up feeling fatigued. His body was aching and felt sore as if he had overexerted himself in training. He looked around and saw the aftermath of his fight. It was then that the memories came to him.


    All that he had previously done hit him like a tsunami.


    "How did I do this? And why would I even think of killing Lu Xiao?" Lin Mu spoke to himself with dread.


    "Finally, you¡¯re awake. All that has happened is due to the new ability that you obtained." Xukong answered.


    "A new ability? The Burning Heart Sutra!" Lin Mu recalled.


    "So it¡¯s called the Burning Heart Sutra. A fitting name for its effects, I must say." Xukong replied.


    "Do you know about it, senior?" Lin Mu asked with a desperate tone.


    Lin Mu had been feeling a little sick due to what he had done, and his mind was not in the right condition right now either. He was desperate for answers because although he could remember the chants for the Burning heart sutra, its effects were much more dangerous than he thought.


    When he had received the Calming heart sutra and the Severing heart sutra, nothing of such sort had urred. The effects of Burning heart sutra were the most impactful, or rather one could even say overbearing.


    Xukong knew what was going through Lin Mu¡¯s mind and knew that he would have to counsel him for a little bit soon. But for now, he needed to deal with this situation first. He may have forgotten that if someone discovered them here, they would be caught red handed.


    "I do know some things about it, but now¡¯s not the time. First, you need to deal with the scenario here. Anyone coulde here and discover you." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu then realized the severity of the situation and became even more stressed.


    ~sigh~


    "First you need to replenish your spirit qi. Eat the spirit apples that you have stored in the ring." Xukong suggested after sighing.


    Lin Mu heeded Senior Xukong¡¯s advice and withdrew three spirit apples from the ring and started eating them. In a couple of minutes, the spirit apples had disappeared down his stomach. He then started chanting the severing heart sutra and assimted the spirit qi that was being released into his stomach.


    Two minutester he had replenished a part of his spirit qi store and had obtained around a hundred wisps. Another big thing he noticed was that after using the severing heart sutra, a portion of his stress had disappeared.


    Lin Mu then informed senior Xukong about this effect and asked for more advice.


    "Hmm, it was expected. The Buddhist path and the Sword path are the opposites of the Demonic path, of course." Xukong said.


    "What are these paths you¡¯re talking about?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I¡¯ll exin them to youter. Just know that the Calming heart sutra and Severing heart sutra can most likely help you recover from the aftereffects of the Burning heart sutra." Xukong urged.


    Lin Mu nodded in understanding and tried chanting the calming heart sutra. In another surprise to him, the effect of the calming heart sutra was even better than the Severing heart sutra as he instantly felt better. His normal state of mind returned and his thoughts became sharp again.


    Lin Mu now started to think of possible solutions to his current situation. He had killed the Town head and the Han Lei, and there was no chance that this wouldn¡¯t be huge news for the town. Even if he hid their bodies and cleaned up the scene, there would still be people who would have seen him enter the town center.


    The staffers and the mercenaries had all seen them enter the building, so it would be incredibly suspicious if he left in front of them. There was another problem in front of him though, Lu Xiao. He was innocent and had witnessed him kill the two people, thus if he reported to others it would be difficult for him.


    ¡¯Is that why the previous me wanted to kill Lu Xiao? Just so that I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the extra load. Well, it may work, but I don¡¯t want to kill him just because of this.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "You do have something that can help you not only deal with this situation but also potentially turn it around in your favor," Xukong spoke.

 Chapter 105 - Finding A Solution

    <h4>Chapter 105 - Finding A Solution </h4>


    A glint of joy appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes upon hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    "What is it senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked with a bated breath.


    "You remember how the mercenaries disappeared?" Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu suddenly realized what senior Xukong was meaning and hurriedly replied.


    "Of course. The memory confounding powder!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "Indeed, if you use it correctly, you will not only be able to erase people¡¯s memories but also alter their perception by changing the scene," Xukong exined.


    "Yes, senior. This way I can also spare Lu Xiao by erasing his memories. But will this be effective though, as an hour has already passed?" Lin Mu said with concern.


    "It should be no problem in using it on Lu Xiao, as he¡¯s been unconscious the entire time. His memories will still be at that point. But in the case of the mercenaries and the staffers, the main function of the memory confounding powder would be to confuse them." Xukong exined.


    "So the crucial point would be to somehow change their perspectives. This will be a little difficult if I want to plot a good scheme." Lin Mu muttered.


    ¡¯Guess, for now, I¡¯ll just use it on Lu Xiao first.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu then thought about how to use the memory confounding poison and realized that he didn¡¯t know the specifics of it. Thus he turned to senior Xukong again.


    "How should I use the memory confounding powder, then senior? I mean, wouldn¡¯t it affect me as well?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You just need to cover your mouth and nose, to prevent it from being inhaled. As for how to use it, you just sprinkle a very minute amount as it is very potent. The amount you have in that vial is enough for more than five hundred people." Xukong answered.


    "Now then, to use it on Lu Xiao. You just need to partially open the cap of the vial and bring it close to his nose for a second. After that, just open his eyelids and see if his pupils are dted or not. If they are, then it means that it is working." Xukong instructed.


    Lin Mu thus listened to senior Xukong¡¯s instructions and withdrew the vial of the memory confounding powder. He cleaned his face of the blood and then used a piece of cloth to cover his mouth and nose. An idea then struck him and he withdrew the featureless mask he had received from Hei Shi. He then put it on his face as an extra precaution.


    "That¡¯s good. If pushes to shove, you will at least be able to hide your identity. Also, I would suggest you change your clothes as well." Xukong advised.


    Lin Mu understood the value of the advice and chose to follow it. He then opened the vial of the memory confounding powder and used it on Lu Xiao for a second. He then quickly closed the cap and opened Lu Xiao¡¯s eyelids to check upon him. Sure enough, his pupils became dted, and the effect had taken ce.


    Lin Mu then decided to clean up the office. He first put the bodies of the Town head and Han Lei in the ring. He now had a daunting task ahead of him. He had to clean the blood stter and small pieces of flesh that had spread around.


    Lin Mu had already cleaned the blood from his face when he changed his clothes, thus he had one less thing to do. He then took out some cloths from the ring and started cleaning the office. But to his misfortune the blood had already stained the wooden floor and the walls, thus making it impossible for him to clean it.


    "This won¡¯t work. I need help." Lin Mu muttered.


    "You can try asking that Hei Shi girl. She is supposed to be tailing you, isn¡¯t she?" Xukong spoke.


    "Oh yeah, that¡¯s true. But the problem would be to leave this ce." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm, you can try spreading the memory confounding powder from the window. It will affect more people, but it should be fine and would only add to the chaos." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu thought it over and decided to do it. He went to therge window that faced the street in front and opened it. He slightly peeked into it to make sure that no one saw him. He found out that there was an awning below the window that hid it from the people below, thus he could easily spread the memory confounding powder from there.


    Lin Mu thus checked the flow of wind first and then started to lightly sprinkle the memory confounding powder from the window. He couldn¡¯t tell if it was effective or not, but the sounds of the people below had reduced at least. He then spread some powder in the hallway outside the office as well. That way if someone went to the office they would be affected too.


    "Now to find Hei Shi. I don¡¯t know where she is, so it would be a little difficult." Said Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu then walked over to the balcony that was located over to the side and slid the door open. He looked around and made sure that no one was watching. The balcony was diagonal to the entrance of the building and was near the roof of another building near it.


    Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and then braced himself. Taking a deep breath, he jumped off the balcony and blinked over to the other roof. By teleporting himself, he avoided making any noise and safely reached it.


    Lin Muid low and looked around for Hei Shi. Finding her was turning out to be a hassle. She had told him to hold up three fingers in case of an emergency, but that would only work if she could see him. It was currently useless in this situation.


    ¡¯Don¡¯t tell me do I need to go to the safe house to request assistance?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    It was now that he observed a carriage approaching the town center from the other end of the street. He found the carriage familiar and then saw the man that was driving it. It was the same man he had greeted in the shop above the safe house; it was the same man who was dressed in the clothes of the high official.


    "I think I can do something now." Lin Mu said to himself.


    Lin Mu waited for the carriage to pass by the building and then blinked on to its roof. The roof of the carriage had raised ends, thus people could not see him. He crawled to the front and called out in a low voice to the driver.


    The driver did not seem to listen to him when he spoke a couple of times, thus he then used his spirit sense to alert him. Lin Mu had already known that the driver was a cultivator too. As soon as his spirit sense touched the driver he shivered and looked above him. There Lin Mu was showing his hand from above the carriage.


    "It¡¯s me, Lin Mu. We met in the morning." Lin Mu said.


    The driver narrowed his eyes in response.


    "Come down, once I turn into an alley." The carriage driver said.


    The driver then turned the carriage into the nearest alley and Lin Mu jumped down to his side.


    The driver turned to look at Lin Mu and spoke.


    "What are you doing out here? We were just about toe to get you?"


    Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion upon hearing this.


    "What do you meane to get me?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hei Shi did not see youe out of the town center for a thirty minutes, thus she came to report to us. The leader then told us to initiate a rescue mission." The driver answered.


    Just as the driverpleted his sentence the door of the carriage opened and out walked Hei Wan along with two more people.


    "Seems like we were worried for nothing." Hei Wan spoke.


    "How did youe out Hei Shi has been watching the entrance all this while?" Said Hei Bao, who was also in high-quality clothes right now without his mask.


    Thest person to walk out of the carriage was another person who was wearing a mask. They did not speak anything and just stood to the side. Lin Mu determined him to be the same man who hade to interrupt their meeting in the morning.


    "No, there¡¯s actually an even greater problem." Lin Mu spoke.


    "What kind of problem?" Hei Bao questioned.


    "It would be better if I show you in the carriage." Lin Mu spoke upon seeing a fewmoners entering the alley.


    All of them nodded and then entered the carriage, except for the driver who instead pretended to check the horses instead. After everyone entered the carriage and they closed the door. The windows of the carriage were already covered, thus there was no fear of anyone seeing in.


    "So can you show us now?" Hei Wan asked.


    Lin Mu nodded and withdrew the bodies of the Town head and Han Lei, much to the shock of everyone.

 Chapter 106 - Initiating The Plan

    <h4>Chapter 106 - Initiating The n </h4>


    The people in the carriage could not believe their eyes currently. All this time they had been worried that something had happened to Lin Mu. They were thinking that his identity had been found out, and that he had been caught or something.


    When Hei Shi reported to Hei Wan and Hei Bao, they had been prepared for the worst. But now that Lin Mu was right in front of them and had even shown them such a shocking thing, they could not help but gasp.


    "If this the Vice captain Han Lei, they who is the other person?" Hei Wan questioned.


    The Town head¡¯s skull waspletely crushed and was as good as gone. Thus it was no wonder that they were currently unable to recognize him. There was also the fact that he was differently dressed right now, as usually when he appeared in public he would be dressed in themoner¡¯s clothes and not in high-quality clothes like the ones he was in right now.


    "This is the Town head." Lin Mu answered with a straight face.


    "This is the Town head?... Wha.. What happened to him?" Hei Bao spoke, stuttering.


    "I-I... lost control over myself and killed them." Lin Mu answered.


    Lin Mu could not exactly exin why he did it, thus this was the closest manner in which he could exin it in. Though even after Lin Mu¡¯s exnation, their shock did not reduce even a little bit. Instead, it increased even more.


    ¡¯What kind of kid is he? Even if he¡¯s at the peak of the Qi refining realm, this isn¡¯t something that¡¯s easily aplished.¡¯ Hei Wan thought while looking at the nearly headless Town Head.


    "Lost control? But how..." Hei Bao was just about to ask further when suddenly Hei Wan tapped his arm.


    Hei Bao reeled his words back in and sealed his lips upon understanding Hei Wan¡¯s gesture. Hei Wan was even gesturing to Hei Bao with her eyes while thinking something.


    Lin Mu was still thinking of how to exin this further, thus did not notice their little interaction.


    "So... what exactly is the situation right now?" Hei Wan spoke after measuring her every word.


    "Let me exin then..." Lin Mu said and then started to exin everything that happened while omitting certain parts and altering some.


    Lin Mu told them about how he found out about their involvement and confirmed that they are part of the culprits. He also then told them a little about how he lost his self-control. He told them how he saw all the luxuries in the town head¡¯s office and how he had denied any aid to the peoplest year when they were suffering from the gue.


    Both Hei Wan and Hei Bao patiently listened to his exnation and did not interrupt him even once. Lin Mu was expecting them to ask him more questions or to rify his ims, but surprisingly they did not and just epted everything straight away.


    "Okay, so we just need a n to help turn this situation around." Hei Wan spoke after Lin Mu finished speaking.


    "Yes." Lin Mu responded.


    Silence descended in the carriage once again as everyone started to think of possible solutions and approaches to this scenario now. They thought for five minutes and then the first person to respond was the masked man who was silent all this while until now.


    "The memory confounding powder is already in effect, right? Then we only need to nt some kind of incriminating evidence in the town head¡¯s office. The others will just think that it was the work of the same people that were behind the mercenaries¡¯ disappearance." The masked man spoke.


    "That is indeed a valid method we could use, but we still need to figure out more. If they investigate it deeply, they will easily end up finding out that this was false." Han Wei spoke.


    "We need to make them think that it was the same people who are the actual culprits. This way not only will we expose them to the public, but the actual culprits will also be confused and may even start to suspect their own people if we¡¯re lucky." Hei Bao suggested.


    "Yes! I can do that. I still have the clothes that the culprits wore. I can just show myself to the public disguised as the culprits and then appear to the others as myself. I¡¯ll also be able to nt Lu Xiao in there and make it seem as if he was attacked by the culprits while escaping." Lin Mu exined.


    Hei Wan¡¯s eyes lit up upon hearing this, and the gears in her mind started working.


    "This could work." Hei Wan said while nodding.


    They then spent five more minutes discussing the more finer points of the n before separating. After the addition of a few more suggestions from Hei Wan and Hei Bao, the n was nowpletely formted.


    ording to the n Lin Mu was supposed to go first, thus he left the carriage and went away. The door of the carriage closed behind him and a serious expression appeared on Hei Wan and Hei Bao¡¯s face. Hei Wan suddenly slumped on the seat, as if relieved by something. Han Bao saw this but did not ask about it, instead, he spoke.


    "Do you really think this n will be sessful?" Hei Bao questioned.


    "It has to. We don¡¯t really have a choice after what he did..." Hei Wan replied.


    Hei Bao went silent for a moment before speaking again.


    "Why did you interrupt me before?" Hei Bao asked.


    "At first when I met him in the morning, I was expecting him to be like the other talented cultivators from the sects and the Nobel families. But talking with him made me think that he was humble and reserved."


    "But now... seeing this, I can¡¯t say the same. You saw the Town head¡¯s corpse. That is not something that can be done by just any cultivator, just the raw strength required would be massive. He even said that he only did this because he lost self-control. This only means that he¡¯s hiding much more than we thought." Hei Wan exined.


    "But he lost control due to a righteous cause." Hei Bao spoke.


    "Do you really think that? Were you not able to feel the change in his aura when he was exining to us? It was subtle, but I could still feel the killing intent that was hidden within it. That killing intent was strong, very strong.


    So strong that I¡¯ve only felt something like that once before." Hei Wan replied.


    ¡¯So that¡¯s why she felt relieved upon Lin Mu¡¯s departure.¡¯ Hei Bao thought to himself.


    "You mean when Old Man Jing came to the Lord¡¯s mansion?" Hei Bao asked.


    "Yes. His killing intent, while not exactly the same intensity as old man Jing, was still very oppressive. It felt as if a poisoned dagger hidden in the dark." Hei Wan answered.


    Hei Bao fell silent after hearing Hei Wan¡¯s answer and thought about it. Lin Mu was on his way back to the Town head¡¯s office and was unaware of the conversation that had just happened between Hei Wan and Hei Bao.


    Lin Mu was currently standing on the roof of a building and was waiting for the right moment to jump. The n they had decided upon was that, Hei Wan was going to act as a High official from the Wu Lim city, who hade to pay a visit.


    They would walk up to the office and discover Lu Xiao lying in the corridor. Then Lin Mu would show himself in the culprits¡¯ clothes and influence the mercenaries who due to the influence of the memory confounding powder would not be able to clearly remember it.


    And when the time woulde for it to be revealed, the Hei corps would manipte the perception of the people and make it seem as if it was the actual culprits who had done this. Lin Mu would also be cing the corpses of the Town Head and Han Lei back in the office.


    Lin Mu waited on the roof until he saw the carriage approach the town center. He then jumped from the roof and blinked to the balcony of the office. Once inside the office, he changed into the clothes of the previous culprits and ce down the bodies as they were before.


    Lin Mu then ced the unconscious Lu Xiao outside the office in the corridor, making it seem as if he was running away. He even inflicted some slight cuts on his body, just to make it seem more convincing. While this would hurt Lu Xiao a little bit right now, it wouldn¡¯t matter in the long run.


    After this was done, Lin Mu just waited in the corridor. A minuteter the sound of footsteps appeared, as a staffer guided Hei Wan and Hei Bao upstairs. They saw Lin Mu standing over Lu Xiao With a sword in his hand just about to kill him.


    "WHO ARE YOU?!" Shouted the staffer.


    "Stay behind, he¡¯s dangerous." Hei Bao ordered as he pretended toe forward.

 Chapter 107 - A Hidden Safe

    <h4>Chapter 107 - A Hidden Safe </h4>


    The staffer then saw the sword that was drenched with blood and the injured Lu Xiao. He realized the severity of the situation as fear appeared on his face.


    "I-I¡¯ll... go call the guards." The staffer said as he turned back to run downstairs, without even being prompted to.


    A few secondster the staffer was gone, as he shouted out for help.


    "Well, that was easy. Onto the next part then." Lin Mu spoke.


    The others nodded, and Lin Mu turned around to go out through another balcony that opened to the front of the town center. This balcony opened above the mercenaries that were standing outside the town center. This was also the very balcony that the mayor used for giving his announcements and orders to themon people.


    Lin Mu made sure that he made enough noise to attract attention. To do this, he mmed open the door of the balcony and walked onto it. The noise of the doors mming attracted the attention of the people as they looked up at the balcony.


    "Is the mayor going to do an announcement today?" Amoner said.


    "Huh, has he finally decided to see us?" A mercenary spoke with dull eyes. Evidently, he was under the effect of the memory confounding powder.


    "No! Who is that?" A few people shouted after seeing Lin Mu appear on the balcony disguised in the ck clothes of the culprits.


    People pointed at Lin Mu, and he noticed this.


    ¡¯At least they see me.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu then looked to the side and jumped onto the lower roof that was to the side. Then from there he ran forward and leaped on to the building that was next to him. Lin Mu would have taken this route before instead of leaving from the office, as this was much easier, but the people would have seen him.


    But now that very fact was helping him. Lin Mu ensured that he made mboyant moves so that the people remembered him here. It was now that Hei Bao appeared from on the balcony and looked at Lin Mu.


    "Catch him! He murdered the Town Head and the Vice Captain." Hei Bao shouted.


    The people who were not paying attention to Hei Bao were now definitely paying attention to him. Some of them had seen him enter the town center along with Hei Wan and knew that he was important seeing the respectful treatment they got from the staffers.


    Shocked expressions appeared on everyone¡¯s faces, which eventually changed to horror. It was only now that Hei Bao¡¯s words clicked into their minds.


    "WHAT! What did he say?" Someone shouted.


    "The town Head and the vice captain has been murdered!" Someone shouted while running away, intending to rm the rest of the people.


    Hei Bao then followed Lin Mu the same way he had gone by jumping down onto the lower roof and tailing after him. They passed over the roof of the buildings and houses, making people not able to track them.


    Unknown to the people, Lin Mu and Hei Bao had stopped after a few buildings, and Lin Mu had changed into different clothes. He would change into his normal clothes after he was inside the town center.


    "You need to get back to the town center now. Make sure no one sees you." Hei Bao spoke.


    "Yes." Said Lin Mu, while nodding his head.


    Lin Mu then got on to the ground in a separate alley and returned to the area where the town center was. He climbed back to the roof using the previous building where he had climbed onto the carriage from and then blinked onto the balcony of the town head¡¯s office.


    The crowd of people were still rmed and were no longer paying attention to the balcony, thus it was easy for him to enter back again. After entering the office, he quickly changed back into his normal clothes and peeked outside the room into the hallway.


    Lin Mu saw that some guards and Hei Wan were standing outside and had not checked the office yet. Lin Mu had spread the memory confounding powder outside the hallway, thus anyone approaching would be affected. He had already informed Hei Wan about this, thus he was not worried.


    Now he just had to pretend to hide in the other room that was attached to the office. Lin Mu opened the door and walked in, only to see that the room he had walked into was a bedroom. It was also luxuriously decorated simr to the office, with paintings and precious vases.


    There was arge bed at the other end of the room. It was covered with Veils on all four sides and had silk sheets and pillows ced on it. There were elegantly carved wardrobes and cupboards ced along the walls.


    Lin Mu knew that Hei Wan was dying for time as much as she could so that Lin Mu could return and check the office. The Return of Hei Bao was the signal that they had set for the guards to enter the office. Lin Mu still had a few minutes until they woulde in.


    During this time, he decided to look around the bedroom and get a better gauge of it. He wanted to see if there were any more pieces of evidence or clues kept in the room that would help them identify the culprits.


    But the problem was that Lin Mu could not mess up the room too much, or the guards may end up suspecting him. Though they still had another n to deal with it if it came to it. They were intending to pin everything on the culprits.


    Lin Mu started by checking the cupboards. There were some misceneous items kept in there, such as trinkets, paper scrolls, and brushes. He then checked the wardrobes and only found clothes kept in them. The clothes were luxurious and one could easily tell that they would be worth a small fortune alone.


    "What opulence! That greedy swine!" Lin Mu cursed with anger.


    Lin Mu did not notice that when he did this, a faint wave of demonic aura emanated from him and spread around the room and then quickly faded. Unknown to him, one of the ink paintings that were hanging on the wall had an additional character appear on it when the demonic aura touched it.


    While looking around the room, Lin Mu went past this painting and even gazed at it. But still, he could not tell any difference in it and just thought of it as the same as other ones. He had looked around the entire room but still could not find anything useful.


    "Are you forgetting again? Use your spirit sense!" Xukong chided.


    "Ah, yes senior." Lin Mu hastily replied.


    In all that had happened, Lin Mu¡¯s mind was too upied to think of using his spirit sense. He thus extended his spirit sense and started to scan the entire room again. But this time it was much faster.


    Eventually, he ended up finding something. There was a faint spirit qiing from behind the bed. Lin Mu went to it and pushed it aside. Although the bed was big and rather heavy, it was still nothingpared to Lin mu¡¯s strength.


    After pushing the bed aside, Lin Mu saw a safe that was hidden behind it. The safe seemed to be made of some kind of metal and had a small slot at its front, most likely for a key. It was this safe from which the spirit qi wasing from.


    "Where could the key be?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Lin Mu could have destroyed the safe, but doing so could prove problematic, thus he wanted to look for the key first. If he could not find it, then perhaps he could choose this method of opening it.


    Lin Mu had already checked the body of the Town Head, thus knew that he did not have it on his body. The only things he had on himself were a money pouch and a wooden seal. Lin Mu withdrew both of them and checked them.


    The pouch had around some gold and silver coins, but nothing else. While the seal was a wooden one that the Town head used to stamp documents and used as identity proof. Lin Mu held the seal and felt that it was much heavier than it should be.


    Lin Mu then probed it with his spirit sense and discovered that there was something hidden inside it. He pulled on the seal and it separated into two parts, revealing the item hidden within. This item was nothing else but the very key that he was looking for.


    It was a metal key that had a unique pattern engraved at the end of it. Lin Mu inserted the key into the key slot and turned it. A clicking sound was heard as the door of the safe unlocked. He pulled on it and moved it aside. Unlike a normal door, instead of swiveling to a side, the entire door detached from the safe.


    "That¡¯s a strange design." Lin Mu muttered.


    But when Lin Mu looked inside the safe, his eyes went wide with surprise.

 Chapter 108 - Gathering Clues

    <h4>Chapter 108 - Gathering Clues </h4>


    Lin Mu felt the dense spirit qi wafting out of the safe as soon as he removed the door. He looked inside and saw that the safe had twopartments. The upperpartment was the source of the spirit qi. He extended his hand and pulled out a small box that seemed to be leaking the spirit qi.


    Lin Mu opened the box and found three spirit stones kept inside it. These spirit stones seemed different from the ones that he already had. These spirit stones seemed to be filled with much more dense spirit qi than the other spirit stones.


    "Are these mid-quality spirit stones?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Yes, they are indeed mid-quality spirit stones. But they don¡¯t seem to be stable." Xukong replied.


    "They¡¯re not stable?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You see how there is the spirit qi that is being released out of the spirit stones, that should not happen. A proper mid-quality spirit stone should not release any spirit qi and should keep itpletely contained within it. These ones are damaged." Xukong answered.


    "What do I do with them then, senior? I mean won¡¯t they lose all of the spirit qi and be useless." Lin Mu asked.


    "You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Just put them in the ring, they won¡¯t leak any spirit qi in there." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu followed senior Xukong¡¯s advice and stored them in the ring. Then it came the turn for the next item, which had pulled his eyes the moment he had opened. This thing was shining and was very prominent to one¡¯s eyes, they were solid gold bars.


    The gold bars upied most of the upperpartment, and only a small part was taken up by the box that had the mid quality spirit stones. Lin Mu counted them and found there to be forty of these gold bars.


    Each of these gold bars was the thickness of a finger and was the size of a palm. There was a special pattern engraved on each of the gold bars. The engraving read: Shuang Qian. But after reading them, Lin Mu once again felt anger rising within him.


    "Where did the Town Head get all this gold? And these engravings they are of the name of this kingdom. Was he hiding all this wealth from everyone?" Lin Mu spoke with a grim tone.


    "Seems like it is indeed as you thought. But now is not the time for this, you can think about itter, for now, focus on your task." Xukong advised.


    Lin Mu chanted the calming heart sutra and dissipated his anger.


    "You are right senior." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu then checked the bottompartment of the safe and found that it was filled with documents, scrolls, letters, and some long books. Lin Mu decided to just store all of them into the ring for now and check themter, as he did not think he had much time left.


    Wanting to see if they wereing close, Lin Mu went back to the door and observed the hallway with his spirit sense. Confirming that there was no one outside he took another peek. In a surprise to him, there was no one outside in the hallway. Even the unconscious Lu Xiao seemed to have been taken somewhere.


    "Where did they go? Are they not going toe to check?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Seems like you have more time. You should also check the office as well." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded and decided to check the office thoroughly. He extended his spirit sense and scanner every inch of the office closely. There were many documents and items in the office, thus it was hard for him to determine which ones were useful.


    There were no traces of spirit qi in the office at least, though. Lin Mu did not find any hiddenpartments or such either, thus he just decided to check the more obvious ces. The first ce he checked was the Town Head¡¯s desk.


    There was a pyramidal pile of scrolls kept in a small stand on the desk, along with several ledgers and books. The scrolls were all already opened, thus Lin Mu took a quick nce at them. He found out that all of them were letters.


    Most of them were just normal report letters between the guards, the merchants, and the other important people of the town. Though there was one letter that caught his eye. This letter was addressed to a certain ¡¯Li Peng¡¯.


    "Li Peng? Isn¡¯t that the supervisor of the Spirit Apple orchards?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Storing all of the scrolls and documents into the ring, he decided to take a deeper lookter.


    ¡¯Perhaps the Hei corps would be useful in this matter.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    There were other ledgers which seemed to be used for keeping ounts. But Lin Mu was unable to understand these, as he had zero experience with things such as these. He just decided to keep them for now and let the Hei corps take a look.


    Lin Mu ransacked the entire office and found a few peculiar things. The first one was a long key which he did not know the use for. The second was a decorative Javelin that was ced on the wall behind the desk. The third and the final item was a pot of wine that seemed to be extremely fragrant.


    Lin Mu decided to keep these items in the ring as well. It was now that the sound of something falling came from behind him. He quickly turned around and saw a small stone lying on the floor. He picked it up and saw that it was actually wrapped with a cloth.


    Lin Mu opened the cloth and found that there was something written on it.


    "This is Hei Shi. In a couple of minutes, an entire guard squadron will be entering the town center. There will be more guards than we thought, so be careful."


    "Seems like something changed." Lin Mu spoke.


    "You must be ready for there to be cultivators within them. If they find out about you being a cultivator as well they may suspect you." Xukong replied.


    "Yes, Senior." Lin Mu responded.


    Lin Mu then restored the few things that were a little out of order in the office and then returned to the bedroom. He closed and locked the door of the safe and put the bed in front of it, blocking it. He thenid down against the wall and pretend to be unconscious.


    A minuteter, the sound of a door mming open came from the office. The sounds of multiple footsteps resounded within the room, spreading along with the shouts of the guards. Lin Mu heard the shouts of shock and horror, presumably because they noticed the dead bodies of the Town head and Han Lei.


    "SILENCE." A voice shouted.


    Lin Mu felt like he had heard this voice before, but could not exactly remember where. He thought that it belonged to the captain at first, but then rejected this thought as it was much more different and lower-pitched.


    A few secondster, the door of the bedroom also mmed open, and the guards entered the room.


    "Over here, we found the boy." Shouted the guard that had entered the bedroom.


    "He¡¯s unconscious as well." Another guard informed.


    Then, Lin Mu heard some different footsteps enter the bedroom. He felt that these were different than those of the guards because the noise made by their boots was different. If the guards were wearing thick leather boots, then this person seemed to be wearing fur boots instead.


    The footsteps came to Lin Mu¡¯s side and halted. Lin Mu used his spirit sense to observe the scene and was a little surprised to see the person who was standing beside him. This person was not a Guard instead, it was the supervisor Li Peng.


    ¡¯What is he doing here?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Li Peng scanned Lin Mu with his eyes and then turned to look at the guards.


    "Carry him out and treat his injuries. Also, call in high official Hei Wan. She will want to look at the scene." Li Peng ordered.


    "Yes, sir." The guards responded respectfully.


    The two guards then picked Lin Mu up and carried him downstairs towards the first floor of the town center. While on the way, Lin Mu was observing the entire time. He also saw Hei Wan standing alongside Hei Bao outside the Town Head¡¯s office.


    The guards halted near Hei Wan for a moment before speaking.


    "Sir supervisor invites madam inside." The guard respectfully spoke.


    Lin Mu could see that Hei Wan was looking at him, waiting for him to give a signal. Understanding this, Lin Mu decided to open his eyes.


    "Huh... Where am I?" Lin Mu muttered, pretending to wake up.


    The guards heard his voice and looked at the now awake Lin Mu. Hei Wan also looked at Lin Mu and signaled to him with her spirit sense. Lin Mu felt the spirit sense touch him and faintly nodded.


    "What happened to this Boy?" Hei Wan asked.

 Chapter 109 - Hei Wan Investigates

    <h4>Chapter 109 - Hei Wan Investigates </h4>


    The guards gulped for a moment before responding.


    "He was discovered hiding within the Town Head¡¯s bedroom, unconscious. The supervisor has ordered for us to take him to the healers so that he can be checked and treated for any injuries." One of the Guards respectfully spoke.


    "You won¡¯t be doing that. He doesn¡¯t have any injuries." Hei Wan spoke.


    The guards felt stressed upon hearing Hei Wan¡¯s words. They could not decide whose ordures to listen to the Supervisors or high official Hei Wan¡¯s.


    "But... But madam, we have been ordered." The second guard spoke after gathering a little bit of courage.


    Hei Wan¡¯s presence turned grim as she spoke again.


    "You dare defy my orders? Just do as I say. I¡¯ll question this boy myselfter." Hei Wan ordered.


    "Yes, Madam." The Guards responded with fear in their voice.


    The guards then put Lin Mu down on the side of a wall and guided Hei Wan inside the office. Lin Mu let out a sigh as he propped himself against the wall in a morefortable manner.


    ¡¯Seems like it¡¯s going ording to the n. Now I just have to wait.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "But what is Hei Wan¡¯s actual identity, such that she¡¯s actually able to exert her influence andmand the guards." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Inside the town head¡¯s office, Hei Wan was looking at the corpses that were lying on the ground. Although she had already seen them before, seeing them again was nothing less than impactful.


    ¡¯Lin Mu must¡¯ve been really enraged to crush the Town Head¡¯s skull like that. We need to investigate this in depth.¡¯ Hei Wan thought.


    "So this is the town head and the Vice captain Han Lei." Hei Wan spoke.


    "Yes, madam." The Guard replied.


    Hei Wan nodded and gestured for them to continue. The guard then brought her to the bedroom where the supervisor Li Peng and a few more guards were waiting for her. Li Peng looked at the face of Hei Wan that was hidden behind a veil and showed a mild smile.


    "Greetings, madam Hei Wan." Li Peng greeted respectfully while cupping his hands.


    "Greetings. So what is this that I¡¯m witnessing the first day I enter the Northern town." Hei Wan spoke in a cold tone.


    Sweat appeared on Li Pen¡¯s forehead upon hearing Hei Wan¡¯s words, and he seemed to have be a little rmed. He took a deep breath before speaking.


    "This was very unfortunate, but we don¡¯t know why it happened." Li Peng spoke.


    "Hmm, is that all you have to say? You don¡¯t have any potential suspects?" Hei Wan questioned.


    "No, madam. We still have to investigate to get an idea." Li Peng answered nervously.


    <i>~harrumph~</i>


    "Have you be dull aftering to the Northern Town, Li Peng? Do you even know why I¡¯m here?" Hei Wan questioned further, with a harrumph.


    "No... no. I thought you were just passing by." Li Peng spoke hurriedly.


    A sharp expression appeared in Hei Wan¡¯s face that was hidden by the veil, yet it could still be felt by Li Peng.


    "If I was passing through, where would I be going to from here? TO THE FOREST?" Hei Wan chided.


    "I¡¯m here to investigate the reports of the disappearances and other incidents that have recently happened, You buffoon." Hei Wan dered.


    "Ah yes, madam. This servant¡¯s mind has be muddled with age and could not think properly." Li Peng hurriedly apologized while bowing.


    <i>~Hmmphm~</i>


    "Can¡¯t you tell, the person who did this is most likely the same person who is responsible for the disappearances." Hei Wan spoke.


    "They are?" Li Peng asked, with a dumbfounded expression.


    Li Peng honestly had little idea of what had happened in the town these days. While he had known about the incidents and had asked the town head about it, the answer that he got from him waspletely different.


    The Town head had replied to him that the incident was a mere hoax and that the mercenaries were instead faking it, just so that they could getpensation. That they were just trying to scam out some benefits from the town while they were here. As for the disappearances of the previous vice captain, he just attributed it to a Spirit Beast attack.


    Li Peng himself was busy with tallying up the ounts and the ledgers of the spirit apple harvest. He had been spending the time after the harvest ended, cooped up in his office working on it. The mayor of Wu Lim city has been stressing on him more than usual this time and it made him feel likely the mayor was perhaps desperate for money. Though he could not find a reason for that.


    "You idiot, my subordinate Hei Bao chased after him and saw his appearance. Other people outside along with the guards saw it too. And by just asking a few questions to the mercenaries, I found out that some of them had seen a simr person in the camp before." Hei Wan Answered.


    Thest part of Hei Wan asking the mercenaries was a lie, but Hei Wan knew that Li Peng would not even dare to think about questioning her words. While Hei Wan did have the power to suppress the town head and the guards on her own, she could not do so without any valid reason.


    If the Mayor decided to look into her actions, she may end up in trouble, which would furtherer harm her lord¡¯s ns. But now that she had an excuse to act, she could do whatever she wanted with the excused for investigation.


    "So the reports about the mercenaries¡¯ disappearances are true?" Li Peng asked with genuine concern.


    Seeing the change in Li Peng¡¯s tone, Hei Wan knew that she had managed to convince the man and that he was now up for it.


    "Of course it was, I don¡¯t know what the captain, vice captain, and the town head have been doing these days, but it¡¯s certain that they have been cking off." Hei Wan answered.


    "Look around the office, you can clearly tell that the murderer was originally here to steal something. He probably had to kill the vice captain and town head because they probably discovered him, or that they had the item he wanted." Hei Wan exined.


    After hearing Hei Wan¡¯s words, realization dawned in Li Peng¡¯s mind. He took another look around the bedroom and the office and indeed found that certain things seemed to be missing, while others seemed to have been moved around.


    "Check the office and the bedroom. Find out what¡¯s missing and make a list." Li Peng ordered to the guards.


    "YES, SIR!" The guards responded in unison before scurrying to carry out Li Peng¡¯s orders.


    Hei Wan nodded in acknowledgment and allowed the guards to do their work. She then turned to Li Peng and looked at him.


    "What do we know about the boy?" Hei Wan questioned.


    "We found him unconscious and hiding in a corner of the bedroom. He was part of a night vigil that was organized by the residents of the eastern district. They were asked toe report to the town head." Li Peng answered.


    "Anything else, I should know?" Hei Wan reiterated.


    Li Peng gulped and took a deep breath, showing his hesitation. Hei Wan noticed this and wondered what it was about.


    "Go on, you can speak freely." Hei Wan spoke.


    "Forgive this servant for his insolence." Li Peng apologized in anticipation.


    "I know the boy. He¡¯s named Lin Mu, and I¡¯ve met him before once." Li Peng spoke.


    Hei Wan narrowed her eyes upon hearing Li Peng¡¯s words.


    ¡¯Li Peng has met Lin Mu before? But how? Lin Mu didn¡¯t tell us about that.¡¯ Hei Wan wondered.


    "So where and how did you meet Lin Mu?" Hei Wan asked.


    "This servant met the boy, Lin Mu, a little over two months ago. He was punished for causing losses in the orchard, and his property was seized inpensation. Later on, he had a conflict with a man named Yuan Tu, and I resolved the conflict." Li Peng answered.


    This information waspletely new to Hei Wan and made her wonder what other things about Lin Mu were hidden.


    "Exin to me in detail." Hei Wan ordered.


    Following Hei Wan¡¯s orders, Li Peng began to exin the string of events from the very start. How Lin Mu worked in the orchards, the ident, the conflict, him being kicked out of the town; him returning and getting in conflict with Yuan Tu, and finally Yuan Tu being punished.


    While Hei Wan showed nothing on her face, currently she was feeling very shocked internally. She had not expected for Lin Mu to be a normalmoner just two months ago.


    "How did he be such a strong cultivator in a short span of time?" Hei Wan muttered.


    ¡¯If this is true then, his background must be nothing to scoff at. Anyone that can allow amoner like him to progress so fast must be an incredible master. Just the resources required must be immense.¡¯ Hei Wan tough.


    Li Peng then gulped and spoke.


    "Does mistress also think that this boy, Lin Mu, is suspicious?" Li Peng asked.

 Chapter 110 - The Plan Succeeds

    <h4>Chapter 110 - The n Seeds </h4>


    At that moment after hearing Li Peng¡¯s question, Hei Wan was stunned, but she did not let him see that. To Li Peng, it only seemed like Hei Wan was thinking deeply. Hei Wan could not let Li Peng get suspicious of Lin Mu as it would lead to manyplications.


    Hei Wan thus thought for a minute before speaking. During this time, Li Peng patiently waited in silence without disturbing her.


    "I don¡¯t really think that he¡¯s that suspicious. Why do you think that?" Hei Wan spoke.


    "Lin Mu was able to survive the attack when even the vice captain and the town head could not. Also, he was hiding in the bedroom and somehow the culprit did not find him? I doubt that." Li Peng replied.


    "Your doubts are valid up to a certain point, but all you have right now is circumstantial evidence. That other man Lu Xiao was able to survive as well by running out. Though the culprit was very close to killing him and would have if we had note upon him." Hei Wan spoke.


    "Besides, didn¡¯t you say the boy is an orphan and was poor? Even if he was able to increase his strength, do you think it would be enough to defeat a cultivator like the vice captain Han Lei?" Hei Wan added.


    Li Peng thought for a few seconds before nodding.


    "Madam is right, we still don¡¯t have all the facts. It will be hasty of me to jump to conclusions." Li Peng replied.


    "I will be interrogating Lin Mu myself, so you don¡¯t need to worry, we¡¯ll get the facts. Oh! And also Lin Mu is awake now." Hei Wan spoke.


    Li Peng looked a little surprised upon hearing this.


    "He is awake? That¡¯s good we can ask him right away." Li Peng replied.


    "Not so fast. I think there are some problems with him. He didn¡¯t seem mentally fine when he woke up. Let him rest for a bit until then we¡¯ll check this ce." Hei Wan dered.


    "As the madam wishes." Li Peng responded with cupped hands.


    Li Peng then turned to look at the guards that were standing near him and gestured to them. One of the guards approached him and stood in front of him respectfully.


    "Reporting! We have an initial list of the items that currently seem to be missing." The guard reported.


    The Guard then started to list all the things that they had found out. This included the letters that were on the town head¡¯s desk, the decorative javelin, the town head¡¯s personal seal, and the ledgers.


    Li Peng and Hei Wan heard the report with their full attention as the gears within their minds started to turn and they started formting their theories. Soon the guard had finished reporting and then took his leave to continue his task.


    "It is indeed as you think, madam Hei Wan. The culprit stole a lot of documents and letters. His motive seemed to be rted to official matters, perhaps." Li Peng spoke.


    "I think that¡¯s not all. If he just wanted the documents, he could have done this when there was no one in the office. But instead, he chose to steal when there were four people in here, why would this be so." Hei Wan spoke.


    "Perhaps he was hiding here and was unwittingly discovered?" Li Peng replied.


    Hei Wan shook her head in response to Li Peng¡¯s words.


    "No, he left two people alive after murdering the town head and the vice captain. This does not seem like a mistake or an unwilling thing on his part. Think about what¡¯s been happening in the town these few days and alsost night¡¯s incident of the sleeping residents." Hei Wan replied.


    Li Peng thought for a minute with furred brows until when suddenly a shocked expression appeared on his face.


    "The culprit, he was here to make a statement!" Li Peng eximed.


    ¡¯Now he¡¯s right where we want him.¡¯ Hei Wan thought inwardly with a chuckle.


    "Exactly, the culprit was probably giving us a warning about not to interfere in their matters. It seems like it is an organization that is doing this and not just a few people." Hei Wan exined.


    "If it is indeed as you say then we need to inform the Mayor." Li Peng spoke in a nervous tone.


    "That¡¯s exactly why I¡¯m here. The culprit is clearly a cultivator and would have been too much for you people to handle. But now that I¡¯m here, I¡¯ll look over this matter personally, so you don¡¯t have to worry." Hei Wan replied.


    Li Peng still did not seempletely convinced as it could be seen on his face.


    "If you think that I don¡¯t have the strength of the manpower, don¡¯t worry. I brought six cultivators with me this time. We should be able to handle most that cane our way." Hei Wan added.


    Li Peng nodded in response and epted her words.


    "Now then, let¡¯s go and check up on Lin Mu. This should be bough time for him to gather his mental faculties." Hei Wan ordered.


    Li Peng and Hei Wan thus left the office and walked outside to where Lin Mu was sitting on the ground. As soon as Hei Wan saw Lin Mu, she extended her spirit sense and touched him two times. Lin Mu felt that and gently nodded in response.


    This was a signal that they had decided upon if things went ording to their n. If they were good, then Hei Wan would do it two times, if they were bad she would do it three times. And just in case everything went south, she would tap in four times.


    Thest signal meant that Lin Mu need to run away as soon as he got it. But fortunately, everything seems to have gone ording to n, and they did not need to worry as much. Hei Wan and Li Peng came to stand in front of Lin Mu, who also stood up in response.


    Hei Wan was the first one to speak as she wanted to lead this conversation so that she could keep it within the limits that they wanted.


    "How did youe here, Lin Mu?" Hei Wan questioned.


    Lin Mu looked at Li Peng who nodded and gestured him to answer. Li Peng internally felt a little hint of approval for Lin Mu.


    ¡¯At least the boy still knows how to respect.¡¯ Li Peng thought,


    Lin Mu did not know this, but his little gesture of doing this had already swayed the mind of Li Peng in his favor.


    "I-I was asked to report to the town head. We came here along with vice captain Han Lei." Lin Mu spoke.


    Lin Mu then took a pause, as if he was thinking something. A confused and perplexed expression soon appeared on his face.


    "I... I can¡¯t seem to remember what happened after we entered the building. I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t know what happened." Lin Mu exined.


    Aplex expression now dressed Li Peng¡¯s face after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s response.


    "What do you mean you can¡¯t remember?" Li Peng spoke.


    Just at this moment, as Li Peng spoke, the two guards that were standing at the doors suddenly stumbled onto the ground. Hei Wan and Li Peng instantly turned around to look.


    "What are you two doing?" Li Peng questioned.


    Dull and nk expressions could be seen on the two guards¡¯ faces, and soon more sounds came from inside the office. The loud noise of objects crashing came from inside the office along with the groans of the guards.


    Li Peng now felt extremely rmed and was just about to check when someone stopped him.


    "WAIT! There could be danger inside. Let me go first." Hei Bao spoke in urgency.


    Hei Wan also nodded in response and spoke,


    "Let Hei Bao go first, he¡¯s a cultivator."


    Li Peng nodded in understanding and let Hei Bao go ahead. Hei Bao opened the door of the office with his sword drawn. All four of them saw the scene inside the office and felt stunned. Nearly all of the guards seem to be lying on the ground along with a few items that were scattered around.


    One could tell that they had copsed on the ground, and whatever items they had in their hands had fallen along with them.


    Hei Bao checked up on the guards and found that they were awake. But when he tried to speak to them, he discovered that they did not respond and seemed to be in a strange kind of a daze. He tried this with nearly everyone, and the only person who seemed a little responsive was the Captain of the guards.


    "What is happening here?" Li Peng questioned.


    "We need to leave this ce right now. My best guess is that they¡¯ve been poisoned by something." Hei Wan answered.


    Hei Bao tried asking the guard captain who was still a little normal a few questions. But all he got in response was,


    "Where am I?" The captain spoke.

 Chapter 111 - Professions Of A Cultivator

    <h4>Chapter 111 - Professions Of A Cultivator </h4>


    The captain¡¯s reaction was thest straw that broke the camel¡¯s back, as after hearing his words Li Peng was utterly shocked. No longer could he keep hisposure as sweat started forming on his back and forehead.


    "This... This, what kind of poison is this?" Li Peng questioned.


    Seeing that the opportunity had appeared, Hei Wan decide to strike the iron while it was hot.


    "My best guess is that it¡¯s a poison called the memory confounding powder. It has a dyed effect and all that are affected by it enter a daze and lose their memory of around an hour." Hei Wan answered.


    The shocked expression was still there on Li Peng¡¯s face as heprehended Hei Wan¡¯s words.


    "Such a poison exists? And it can even affect cultivators. Truly fearsome!" Li Peng uttered.


    "You need to leave now. We won¡¯t be affected by the poison as our faces are covered, but you will be affected as well soon." Hei Wan spoke.


    "What should I do then? Even if I leave now won¡¯t I forget the events of the past one hour." Li Peng spoke.


    "I need you to write a document and stamp it with your personal seal. Once you lose your memories, we will be able to prove that what we were saying was true." Hei Wan ordered.


    Li Peng realized the importance of her words and immediately nodded.


    "Yes, I¡¯ll do as youmand, madam." Li Peng replied.


    He then picked up a piece of parchment and swiftly wrote a letter of trust and then stamped it with his personal seal. Once the letter was done, he handed it to Hei Wan, who took it and stored it in her sleeve.


    "Now we should be fine. I¡¯ll talk to Lin Mu, so you don¡¯t need to worry." Hei Wan spoke.


    A sigh of relief escaped Li Peng¡¯s lips as he heard Hei Wan¡¯s words.


    "We¡¯re lucky that madam Hei Wan is here. If you were not here, we would have been doomed." Li Peng spoke while walking away from the office along with Hei Wan.


    "It¡¯s not entirely your fault Li Peng, it¡¯s the Town Head, and the Guard captains fault. They have been taking things too lightly these days. They did not even inform the officials in the Wu Lim city. I only got to know of this because of a few merchants." Hei Wan replied.


    Now knowing that the n was nearlyplete, Hei Wan just waited for Li Peng to fall into a daze as well. Everything after that would be smooth sailing.


    A few minutester, Li Peng stumbled and fell down on a chair. Hei Wan called out to him a couple of times and confirmed that he was indeed under the effects of the memory confounding powder.


    "Should we proceed now, leader?" Hei Bao asked.


    "Yes, call Lin Mu. We are done here, I¡¯ll handle the rest myself." Hei Wan answered.


    Hei Bao nodded and then went to fetch Lin Mu, who was now waiting in a different room. Lu Xiao was ced in this room as well, along with a few guards and physicians. The physicians were done checking Lu Xiao, while the guards were just keeping an eye.


    Hei Bao entered the room and looked at Lin Mu. The guards spotted him and saluted him with cupped hands. He nodded to them and went towards Lin Mu.


    "Let¡¯s go." Hei Bao spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded and started following him. A minuteter they met up with Hei Wan.


    "Seems like the n was sessful." Lin Mu spoke with a little smile.


    "Indeed, most of it isplete. Now all that¡¯s left is for me to continue the investigation." Hei Wan replied.


    Lin Mu thought for a moment before deciding to ask her what had been in his mind for a while now.


    "What is your identity that you were able tomand the guards and even Li Peng?" Lin Mu question.


    "That-" Hei Bao was about to speak when Hei Wan interrupted.


    "It¡¯s fine. We can tell him." Hei Wan spoke to Hei Bao.


    She then turned to look at Lin Mu and spoke.


    "The identity I¡¯m assuming right now is actually my real identity. I am a high official from Wu Lim City and work under the mayor." Hei Wan answered.


    A slight trace of shock appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face, but he managed to suppress it.


    "I see. No wonder Li Peng seemed so easily convinced. He had already met you before." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, I¡¯ve met him twice before. He was appointed to his current position as a supervisor by the mayor himself because of a few merits that he obtained." Hei Wan exined.


    Lin Mu had not expected for Hei Wan to be a real official. He had originally thought that it was just a facade, and she had just set up a disguise that went deep. But the reality seemed to be rather different.


    "How do we proceed now from here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We now have direct ess to the investigation, so we will take care of it. You can go and keep a watch with the mercenaries if you want to. The curfew should be canceled today now that the town head is dead." Hei Wan replied.


    "Wait, how would the curfew be lifted? Won¡¯t they be even more alert now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No, all orders issued by an official are canceled upon their death, unless they are issued by a high official." Hei Wan answered.


    "Ah, I see. That makes it much more easy for us now. Okay, then I¡¯ll head off for now." Lin Mu replied and then turned around.


    A couple of minutester Lin Mu left the town center feeling happy. His day had started off on a bad note, and now it was finally on track to something good. After Lin Mu left, Hei Wan and Hei Bao got busy with their work. They had some culprits to catch.


    Outside, Lin Mu saw the guards taking care of the mercenaries and pedestrians that had fallen under the effect of the memory confounding powder. Lin Mu did a rough count and estimated that at least a hundred people were affected by the poison.


    "This is indeed rather strong and very useful." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Indeed, alchemical products such as there are always in demand because of this very reason." Xukong chimed in.


    "Hmm, perhaps I should try to acquire more of it, maybe." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    "You could do that, or perhaps even learn it yourself," Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu felt a little surprised by senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    "You mean, be an alchemist myself?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, if you have the talent that is. We don¡¯t know that yet." Xukong replied.


    "Talent? Can¡¯t I just learn it normally?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course you can learn it by hard work, but the problem is that if you don¡¯t have the necessary talent, it will take you many years to even learn to refine the most basic pills," Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and wondered if he had the talent.


    "I would need to get the required materials and study materials before that though, won¡¯t I?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not necessarily. If we just want to check for talent, we can do that once you reach the peak stage of the qi refining realm. Once you are at that stage, we will see if you can ignite a qi me." Xukong answered.


    "A qi me?" Lin Mu further asked.


    "It is the most basic requirements needed to refine an alchemical pill. Although external mes can also be used to refine the pills, checking if you can ignite a qi me is the fastest method to see if you have the talent to be an alchemist. The most important ability that an alchemist need is the control over the mes and heat." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu thought over it and wondered if he would have the talent or not. Xukong was able to guess what was going through Lin Mu¡¯s mind, thus he decided to talk again.


    "Don¡¯t be discouraged if you don¡¯t have the talent to be an alchemist. You can still try out the other professions of a cultivator." Xukong spoke.


    "What other professions of a cultivator are there, senior?" Lin Mu asked with curiosity in his eyes.


    "The other popr professions of a cultivator are Weapons forging, spirit tool refinement, formation creation, and beast taming. There are others as well, but they are not asmon." Xukong answered.


    "Of these, which is the easiest to learn?" Lin Mu asked.


    "There is no single answer to this. Depending on the talent and resources, some professions may be easier for certain cultivators and difficult for others. If you consider having no talent and the bare minimum resources, then I would say formation creation is the easiest to learn." Xukong answered.


    After hearing senior Xukong¡¯s answerer, ideas were already running in Lin Mu¡¯s mind and he was lost in them. Eventually, he reached his house while thinking about them.

 Chapter 112 - The Paths

    <h4>Chapter 112 - The ''Paths'' </h4>


    Lin Mu let out a sigh after reaching his house. He had been through a lot of events in the past twenty-fours hours and was now feeling mentally exhausted. He used to look forward to a little excitement, but this was way too much for him.


    "Let¡¯s rest for a bit. I still have three hours till sunset." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he opened the gate of his house.


    ~Sigh~


    He walked into the courtyard and let a tired sigh. He felt as if the exhaustion was rushing to him, now that he had stepped into his house. Lin Mu already had a few tasks charted out for the night, thus he wanted to cultivate and rest for a bit.


    Strangely for him, cultivation was pretty rxing and also helped in restoring his energy. Lin Mu was just about to open the door of his bedroom when he heard a rumble in his belly.


    ¡¯Oh, I¡¯vepletely forgotten to eat due to all the stuff that happened. Guess, I¡¯ll make something.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu thus went to the kitchen and cooked some spirit beast meat. Fifteen minutester he was done eating and was now sitting on his bed in a cross-legged position.


    "Finally..." Lin Mu muttered.


    He then started chanting the severing heart sutra and began his cultivation session. Lin Mu discovered that his speed of cultivation seemed to have increased by a little bit, a few percent perhaps.


    Ever since the morning when Hei Wen had that strange incident, Lin Mu felt as if hisprehension of the severing heart sutra had increased by a slight amount.


    Lin Mu cultivated for two hours, after which his spirit qi in his dantian was not onlypletely replenished but had actually increased. He tried measuring his spirit qi wisps and found out that he had a little over nine hundred wisps of spirit qi.


    Another thing he discovered was that originally ording to senior Xukong¡¯s words, his dantian¡¯s capacity should have been about a thousand wisps. But now that he had nine hundred wisps of spirit qi in his dantian, it was nowhere close to being filled. It was perhaps about sixty percent filled. Unable to understand the reason for this he decided to ask Senior Xukong.


    "Senior Xukong, my dantian¡¯s capacity seems to have increased somehow." Lin Mu spoke.


    Xukong was currently busy in his own cultivation as well. He had borne the full brunt of the impact of the Demonic path¡¯s aura, thus he had a few minor injuries. He had just finished healing them when he heard Lin Mu speaking.


    Xukong awakened from his trance but continued absorbing the extremely pure Spatial energy within the mysterious ring. If Lin Mu were to see him right now, he would see that his size had actually increased by a little bit as well. Before Xukong was about the size of the tip of a pinky finger, but now he was as big as the size of a tip of an index finger.


    "Oh, so you¡¯ve finally noticed," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu felt a little surprised upon knowing that Xukong had already known about this.


    "What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Your dantian¡¯s capacity has been increasing for a while now. I don¡¯t know the exact reason for it but it has been happening for a while now. Last time I checked, the capacity of your dantian was at about 1300 spirit qi wisps." Xukong answered.


    "1300 spirit qi wisps? But senior it seems to be even higher now. My dantian is only sixty percent filled." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh? Only sixty percent? It seems like your dantian¡¯s capacity has increased to about 1500 spirit qi wisps now. This is a good thing so you shouldn¡¯t worry." Xukong spoke.


    "But won¡¯t it take me longer to reach thete stage of the qi refining realm this way senior?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "It will indeed take you longer, but think of it in this way. You will have higher spirit qi reserves than other cultivators and would be able tost a long time in a battle. And of course, when you reach the next stage eventually, you will be even stronger." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu realized the benefits of this and nodded in response.


    "I see, senior." Lin Mu responded.


    Lin Mu estimated that he should still have about thirty minutes left till he would have to leave for the mercenary camp to help Hong Luo, thus he decided to ask Senior Xukong about a few more matters that had been bugging him for a while now.


    "Senior what exactly happened to me in the town head¡¯s office? You told me you would exin itter on." Lin Mu questioned.


    "Ah, yes. You awakened a new sutra from the Nine divine sutras right?" Xukong responded.


    "Yes Senior, The Burning Heart Sutra." Lin Mu spoke.


    "When you were obtaining the Burning Heart Sutra, I witnessed the changes that happened within the mysterious ring," Xukong replied.


    Xukong then went on to exin all the events that he had seen in the mysterious ring.


    He hid certain parts such as the face changing Heart Demon and the True Grand formation array as he knew that Lin Mu was not ready for them. The True Grand formation array was simply beyond his capacity to understand, while the Heart Demon was a sensitive topic that was very likely to disturb and hurt him mentally.


    Lin Mu patiently listened to senior Xukong¡¯s exnation. Five minutester the exnation was done and Lin Mu was feeling a little strange that so much had happened, unknown to him. Though the main part of his interest was the thing that senior Xukong spoke about, ¡¯The Demonic Path¡¯.


    "What is this Demonic Path, senior? Or rather what are these ¡¯Paths¡¯ that you¡¯ve spoken about before." Lin Mu questioned.


    "A path can be simplified as the amalgamation of an entire type of cultivation. It includes the heavenlyws that dictate the mortals as well as the immortals. As for the Demonic Path, it can be said to be abination of everything that a Demon would learn and experience during his cultivation." Xukong answered.


    He then saw the confused expression on Lin Mu¡¯s face and understood that he would need to exin this more deeply and perhaps with more examples.


    Xukong thus started his exnation.


    The three sutras that Lin Mu had obtained from the Nine Divine Heart sutras were all a representation of different ¡¯Paths¡¯.


    The Calming Heart sutra was the representation of the Buddhist path andbined its characteristics of peace, tranquility, mercy, and enlightenment.


    The Severing Heart Sutra was the representation of the Sword path andbined its characteristics of fierceness, unyielding demeanor, staunchness, righteousness, unwavering will, and supremacy.


    The Burning Heart Sutra was the representation of the Demonic path andbined its characteristic of violence, rage, strength, uninhibited will, and freedom.


    Xukong had first attributed the raw strength that Lin Mu had demonstrated while killing the town head to be Demonic Might. Demonic Might was an innate ability of the Demon race and increased the strength of the user while reducing their inhibitions and dulling their senses.


    But when Lin Mu demonstrated the skillful use of the Blink skill as well as his spirit sense, Xukong abandoned that thought. Only when he learned that Lin Mu had obtained the Burning heart sutra did he understand that this was something that was not Demonic Might yet belong to the Demonic path.


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    Lin Mu stayed silent after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s exnation and pondered on it for a few minutes.


    "What are Demons?" Lin Mu questioned after pondering on Senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    Lin Mu knew what the word ¡¯Demon¡¯ meant, he had even listened to the stories that were told by the elders when he was a little child. They were described to be evil and merciless creatures that would kill people heartlessly and eat them. In short, they were used to scaring children into behaving.


    "Demon is a general term for the creatures that belong to the Demon race. There are many different kinds of demons or you could say species of demons in the Demonic race. They are actually amon race in the myriad of worlds just like humans." Xukong answered.


    "Wait, so demons are real? But aren¡¯t they supposed to be evil and dangerous?" Lin Mu asked with confusion.


    "Yes, they do exist. Demons are just like any other intelligent race in this universe. The only difference is that they have a different culture and characteristics. While they are predisposed to violence and anger, they aren¡¯t inherently evil.


    They do looker widely different from humans though, having features such as scales, horns, wings, tails and such." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu suddenly remembered the vast red expanse that he was in before. The bloodynds that spanned across immeasurable distances and the red sky that made one dread their existence. He remembered the various beings that he had seen there. The very same beings that had taught him the Burning Heart sutra.


    While remembering this, Lin Mu unknowingly entered a daze. The beings started chanting the Burning Heart sutra in his memories and he too started chanting it along with them.


    The Mysterious ring on Lin Mu¡¯s hand started humming again and the ethereal altar within it became active again. The Aura of the Demonic path reappeared in the ring and also started emanating from Lin Mu¡¯s body.


    *****


    Far across the Northern Forest, beyond the frozen mountains, there existed a shrine.


    This shrine was hidden between a ring of mountains and seemed to be deste. A bell hung at the top of the shine that looked to be made of bronze yet was very rusted. One could tell that the bell had existed for yore and had weathered the tribtions of time.


    Suddenly the bell that hung at the top of this shrine started ringing. The sound of the bell echoed across the mountains and spread far and wide.


    Deep beneath the surface of the shrine, an ancient presence awakened.


    ~Sigh~


    "Soon..."

 Chapter 113 - Approval

    <h4>Chapter 113 - Approval </h4>


    Xukong had instantly felt the aura of the Demonic path and had rushed to the Ethereal altar to check. Though different from before, the aura of the Demonic path wouldn¡¯t even let him get close enough, not to say about checking the altar.


    "What is happening this time?" Xukong muttered.


    Xukong even tried talking to Lin Mu but received no response. Not having any other option left, he tried looking into his mind. He had expected to be blocked by a barrier likest time, but did not. Instead, his spirit sense was actually pulled in without his control.


    ¡¯This is rather strange.¡¯ Xukong thought as he observed his spirit sense probe being pulled in.


    Xukong could have resisted easily but did not, and allowed it to be dragged in. He wondered what exactly was happening inside Lin Mu¡¯s mind. A few secondster his spirit sense arrived within Lin Mu¡¯s mind and he started observing the changes.


    The environment started forming up from the ground up, as the vast expanse of the bloodiednds appeared in front of Xukong¡¯s vision. The nk sky then turned blood red as clouds of foul looking qi spread across the horizon.


    A lone Lin Mu then appeared in the middle of this expanse, and so did the numerous other figures. The said figures were mere silhouettes and had features such as scales, tails, feathers, and horns. Some were big, and some were small. But their most prominent feature was the aura that was emanated every time they spoke.


    The voices of the countless figures were melded together and turned into an amalgamation of Demonic chants. These demonic figures were chanting in an unknownnguage that Xukong could not understand, yet could still feel the tone.


    Lin Mu was there, standing still in the middle of all of the Demonic figures, absentmindedly. The only activity that can be sensed from him was the chants that wereing out of his lips. He seemed to be repeating after the Demonic figures.


    With every repetition of the chants, the aura from the Demonic figures would enter Lin Mu¡¯s body from his skin. Over time, a thinyer of red membrane had formed on Lin Mu¡¯s skin. It was as if his body was adapting to the Demonic aura.


    Xukong felt nothing but shock at this scene, as he knew exactly what was happening.


    "Will Of the Demonic Path!" Xukong eximed.


    "How?! Only the scions of the primordials can get its approval." Xukong uttered.


    He took a closer look at the Demonic figures and confirmed that they were indeed what he thought they were.


    ¡¯Even the Sages of Twilight were unsessful in gaining its approval, yet Lin Mu can. This is simply astounding.¡¯ Xukong marveled.


    "If the other wills awaken as well, then the heavens will be thrown into upheaval. I need to keep a close eye on this." Xukong muttered to himself.


    A few minutester the aura of the Demonic Path vanished and the scene within Lin Mu¡¯s mind disappeared as well. Xukong retracted his spirit sense and saw that the ethereal altar had calmed down as well.


    ¡¯Finally, it has ended. Now all that¡¯s left is to see what effect it had on Lin Mu.¡¯ Xukong concluded.


    He didn¡¯t have to wait long as Lin Mu awakened from his trance a minuteter. He opened his eyes as they shed for a second. If one could freeze that moment and look into Lin Mu¡¯s eyes, they would see an endless sea of Demons marching into oblivion, their aura towering into the sky, infecting the heavens.


    ~Haaaaa~


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he looked around.


    "Huh? What happened?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Xukong had already decided that he wouldn¡¯t tell Lin Mu the truth about what had exactly happened to him. It was too much for him and would only hurt him in the short term, considering his cultivation base. Gaining the approval of one of the ¡¯Wills¡¯ wasn¡¯t exactly good for a low leveled cultivator such as him. It was better that this was hidden for as long as possible.


    s, unknown to Lin Mu or Xukong, someone had already be aware of this event.


    "You had another bout of enlightenment. A short one, albeit." Xukong answered.


    "Ah, is that so senior? But wasn¡¯t that too fast, I just received the Burning Heart sutra?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Enlightenment and epiphanies are not something that can be asked for or known. They ur ording to the fate and the luck of a cultivator. Their workings are mysterious and are masked by the Grand Dao." Xukong spoke in an esoteric tone.


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    Lin Mu simply stayed silent and pondered over the meaning of senior Xukong¡¯s words. Five minutester he seemed to have understood it enough and was content. Lin Mu tried to see what level ofprehension he had for the Burning Heart sutra, but surprisingly found that it was still at the first stage of externalprehension.


    "It doesn¡¯t seem like I had much progress in itsprehension though, senior." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Of course, you can¡¯t expect to progress at the same rate you did for the other two sutras. You need to steadily and stablyprehend it. A great epiphany can only be looked up to, but it¡¯s your own effort that will guide you to it." Xukong answered in a sagely tone.


    "Yes, senior." Lin Mu responded in a respectful tone.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes wandered over to the windows and he realized that it was already the time for the sunset. The light had be dim and even the faint crescent moon could be seen in the distance, hiding within the Grey clouds.


    ¡¯I should head out now, I have to help Hong Luo.¡¯ Lin Mu remembered.


    Lin Mu stood up and stretched his body feeling refreshed and rxed. His cultivation of session had restored his spirit qi and the short bout of enlightenment had seemingly rxed his mind. His belly was satiated with spirit beast meat and his mind with determination.


    He checked and ensured that he had everything before he left the courtyard. Lin Mu had originally intended to go through the items and documents that he had gathered from the Town Head¡¯s office and bedroom, before talking with the Hei Corps. But now that he was alreadyte, he decided that he would have to do it tomorrow.


    Lin Mu entered the street and saw the people walking around like normal. They seemed to be a little scared and nervous still, but it was not as bad as he had expected them to be after hearing the news about the demise of the town head and Han Lei.


    "Seems like Hei Wan did a good job in managing the aftermath. The curfew is not active and even the people seem to be rtively calm." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It does indeed seem like that, but we still don¡¯t know what reaction the culprits will be having after knowing about it. You will need to be careful and alert tonight." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu simply nodded in response and made his way towards the Western district where the mercenary camp was located. On the way, he could see people discussing about the events of today and also about the ¡¯culprit¡¯.


    "Did you hear about the High official that hase to the town?" A random person spoke to another.


    "Yeah, she¡¯s apparently going to help solve the problems that have been guing the town." The Other person replied.


    "I wonder what the culprits were thinking of doing this, are they not afraid of retaliation from the Mayor?"


    "I don¡¯t think so. If they were afraid they would have not even thought of this, let alone doing it. And now that they¡¯ve killed the Vice captain and the Town head, this is nothing but a spit in the mayor¡¯s face."


    "There¡¯s no chance that the mayor will let this matter go. His prestige has been challenged."


    Lin Mu heard a multitude of people talk with each other during his journey. Nearly everyone was talking about the culprits, Hei Wan, or the mayor.


    "Seems like they think Hei Wan was intentionally sent by the Mayor." Lin Mu muttered.


    ¡¯This should work in our favor, I think. The culprits will now not only have to wonder if they have traitors in their midst but also about the wrath of the city Mayor.¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he reached the western district.


    As soon as he entered the district, he could see the difference. The number of guards patrolling the area had increased. Even in the residential district, he didn¡¯t see so many guards, but he attributed that to it still being early.


    ¡¯There should be More guards there at night.¡¯ Lin Mu guessed.


    He soon reached the Mercenary camp and saw that it was brightly lit with torches andmps. All the mercenaries seemed active and were discussing with each other. Small teams of mercenaries could be seen patrolling at regr intervals along the paths that ran between the tents. Even the number of mercenaries had increased by a lot.


    Lin Mu estimated that there should be more than three hundred mercenaries here at this point.


    "Did some mercenaries return from the Norther forest?" Lin Mu wondered.


    As he thought this, he suddenly saw a group of mercenaries sitting along with Hong Luo in the center of the camp. The mercenaries were well equipped, and Lin Mu could even see that Hong Luo seemed to be rather respectful to them.


    There were five mercenaries in that group, four men and a whip wielding woman.

 Chapter 114 - Eavesdropping

    <h4>Chapter 114 - Eavesdropping </h4>


    Lin Mu kept on walking and got closer, yet no one seemed to have paid him any mind. They seemed to be more engrossed in their own conversations. Only when he got close enough to listen to them did he understand why.


    "How are we to approach this now?" One of the men asked.


    "Hmm, we definitely cannot take the same route we took before. We were too passive, we already know what happened back then." Another man spoke.


    "Yes, the mayor has been unresponsive for a long time, but finally he¡¯s responding." A short man spoke while nodding.


    "Don¡¯t forget that the only reason he responded is because the town head and the vice captain died. If this is his reactive level, then heavens know what else he lets go by." A brawny man spoke with a little anger on his face.


    "I¡¯ve always felt that the mayor of the Wu Lim city was strange. The current events have only proved it for me." The whip wielding woman replied.


    Hong Luo, who had been silent all this while finally spoke,


    "Comrades, I know it has been tough for us, but now that you all are finally here, I believe we can get through this tribtion together."


    The serious looking mercenary who was sitting at the head of the group looked up at Hong Luo after he finished speaking.


    "You are right up to a certain point, but we still need to look out. If they can take away cultivators without anyone noticing then the culprits are very strong and no doubt are cultivators themselves." The serious looking man spoke.


    The people that were in his group all nodded in approval. One could tell from seeing this that this manmanded great respect and prestige in hispanions.


    "You don¡¯t need to worry leader Teng, I sought out help from a cultivator from the town as well." Hong Luo spoke.


    The gazes of everyone in the group turned a little sharp after hearing Hong Luo¡¯s words as they all turned to look at him. The Leader of the group Teng also did the same and looked at Hong Luo with an inquisitive look.


    "And what kind of cultivator is this person that you¡¯ve asked? Are you sure that person is trustable?" Leader Teng questioned.


    Hong Luo gulped after seeing the multiple pairs of eyes on his person and felt a little nervous. It was not just because these people were his colleagues, but rather the difference in their strengths and cultivation bases.


    Even though Hong Luo himself was at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm, the cultivation technique that he used was rather inferior and could notpare these people. While there were only two people in this group that could match his cultivation base, the others were nothing to scoff at.


    While out of five only two were at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm, the other three were at thete stage of the QI refining realm. Even if the two experts at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm did not fight with him, the other three were already enough to finish him off.


    "You don¡¯t need to worry, the person I¡¯m talking about is at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm as well." Hong Luo spoke.


    The five people seemed unimpressed by Hong Luo¡¯s words and keep on staring at him.


    "We already have two people, three including you, at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm here. What use would that new person be? And what kind of reward did you promise him, if it¡¯s too much then we will just be making losses." The short mercenary spoke.


    "It¡¯s not like that, the person that I¡¯ve sough help from is nomon cultivator. While they are a cultivator in the peak stage of the Qi refining realm, they are also only fifteen years old and they also have refined their spirit sense." Hong Luo replied.


    The change in the expressions of the mercenaries could be witnessed upon them hearing Hong Lou¡¯s words. Some of them had their jaws open in shock while the leader and the whip wielding woman had their eyes wide and their fingers clenched.


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    "What do you mean?" One of the mercenaries spoke in doubt of Hong Lou¡¯s words.


    "Yes, are you even sure about what you are saying, right?" Another mercenary added.


    "Yes, I¡¯m sure. I witnessed his spirit sense first hand and have met him. As for the rewards, he was rather reserved and humble. He did not demand anything overt and only asked for a few healing and restorative pills in exchange for his help in watching over the camp." Hong Luo Exined.


    The five mercenaries went silent for a minute after Herring Hong Lou¡¯s exnation.


    The Whip wielding woman could not hold back her curiosity any longer and spoke.


    "You do know that, if he is as you say he is, then we will have to bear responsibility. A cultivator of that age and talent is not found easily. There no chance that he¡¯s not the disciple of a top sect already or is under the tutge of one of the aristocratic ns."


    Hong Luo turned more serious upon hearing her words and thought over it for himself.


    "It should be fine, I think. I mean, he approved it himself and I doubt he doesn¡¯t have a senior keeping a watch over him, if he¡¯s away from the sect. I think that¡¯s just an added advantage that we have. If he does end up in trouble because of this, at least we know that the culprit won¡¯t be able to get away scot-free because of the Senior that will be keeping the watch." Hong Luo hypothesized.


    The leader who was in thought all this time finally roused from it and tuned to Hong Luo.


    "Let¡¯s hope it is as you think. Otherwise... imagine a cultivator that has the same talent as the crown prince of the Great Zhou empire falling here in this small town." Leader Teng spoke and then interrupted himself in the middle of his own words.


    If the five mercenaries were only shocked before then they were utterly terrified now. They had heard of the achievements of the crown prince of the Great Zhou Empire before. The crown prince was recently dered as the youngest person to have reached the Core formation realm at the age of twenty.


    Though people knew that this was only applicable in terms of the aristocratic ns and not the top sects themselves. It was a well known yet unproven fact that the top sects had a small army of disciples who were at the same as the crown prince.


    It was even said that all the core disciples of the top sects were actually much better than the crown prince and had better talent than him. There were even some hushed rumors that the actual record for the youngest cultivator was not even twenty years of age but rather actually seventeen. Still, it was unknown which cultivator or the disciple of a sect had the honor of bearing the said title.


    While this would seem like a small three years of difference to most people, they would not be able to believe the resources and the guidance that¡¯s needed to raise a cultivator of that level. Even a mere difference of months would be earth shaking not to say about three entire years.


    Lin Mu had long since halted in his steps upon hearing the words of these mercenaries. Their conversation was very informative and interesting to him, thus he chose not to interrupt and just watched from the distance.


    Even when the conversation drifted to Lin Mu himself, he stayed silent and kept on listening. He knew that once he came into the picture, the candid talk that was going on right now would easily disappear.


    Lin Mu stood there for an entire thirty minutes and within these thirty minutes, he got to hear more news about the world than he had in the past year. Some of the information widened his horizons while the others made him a little nervous and unsure.


    After confirming that the majority of the conversation had ended and it was the right time, Lin Mu chose to enter into the fray. His appearance was a little surprising to the mercenaries, especially to the leader and the Whip wielding woman.


    Lin Mu could instantly feel the spirit sense probes spreading over him. He quickly reacted with his own and stopped them before they coulde near him. This was rather a friendly warning than an actual threat, thus Lin Mu did not go all out.


    Yet even then, what Lin Mu did not know was that his little bout of enlightenment that he had gone through recently had changed his demeanor and aura. This reflected in his bearing and even in the temperance of his spirit qi.


    When the mercenaries felt Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense interacting with theirs, they felt chills going down their spines as cold sweat appeared on their faces.


    Upon seeing that no one was speaking anything, Lin Mu decided to go ahead and introduce himself.


    "Hello! I am Lin Mu."

 Chapter 115 - Helping Hong Luo

    <h4>Chapter 115 - Helping Hong Luo </h4>


    Lin Mu had spoken, yet no one seemed to be replying to him. He stood still in awkward silence for about ten seconds before someone responded. It was Hong Luo who seemed to be feeling strange and nervous too.


    "Greetings, brother Lin Mu. You are right on time." Hong Luo greeted.


    The other mercenaries except for Leader Teng and the whip wielding woman stood up after seeing Hong Luo initiate the greetings. They could not tell what had happened, but their current situation felt more stressful to them than when they actually fought deadly spirit beasts.


    Leader Teng forcefully tried to regain hisposure as he stood up and cupped his hands in greeting.


    "Greetings brother Lin Mu, my name is Teng Donghai, and this is my team." Leader Teng spoke.


    Everyone then started to introduce themselves to Lin Mu. One could tell that they were rather nervous and seemed to be paying extra attention to etiquette.


    "Greetings, I am Xiong An." Greeted the Brawny mercenary.


    "Greetings, I am Long Da." Greeted the mercenary with an axe on his back.


    "I¡¯m Yi Duyi." Said the short mercenary.


    "And I am Hao Xiao." Said the whip wielding woman.


    Having heard everyone¡¯s names, Lin Mu felt a little satisfied. At least for him, the awkward silence was a little painful. Having finished with the greetings, Hong Luo invited Lin Mu to sit along with them. He offered him his chair and asked a mercenary that was passing by to bring him another.


    Respectfully taking the offer, Lin Mu sat down and looked at the mercenaries, waiting for them to start. He had been observing their conversation, thus he wanted to know how they will be proceeding. This was a little off course for him, as originally he had expected that he would need to guard the camp by himself and the Hei Corps.


    While he would be guarding in person, the members of the Hei corps would be patrolling in silence by hiding in the distance. Lin Mu knew that they had more experience in matters such as these, thus did not worry about them not appearing. He had already been informed beforehand that they will send him a signal when they appear.


    Having received his chair, Hong Luo sat down to discuss the n.


    "So brother Lin Mu, we were just about to start with the n. Luckily for us, Leader Teng and his team returned early from their hunt, so we hopefully won¡¯t have to worry as much." Hong Luo spoke.


    The other mercenaries simply nodded in agreement, showing that they had already discussed them.


    Lin Mu was wondering, though, what did they know about the incident in the town. He wanted to know if they had any opinion on it and if they knew that it involved him. So thatter he knew how to make decisions in the future with them. While walking in the town he had heard people talking about all the other rted people, but somehow there was no mention of him.


    ¡¯Did Hei Wan hide my involvement somehow?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "Have you all heard about what happened in the town today?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Everyone¡¯s faces turned a little serious upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words.


    "Yes, we know what happened today. Though it was certainly very unexpected." Hong Luo replied.


    "Not just unexpected, it was outright strange I would say." Long Da spoke.


    "Indeed, no matter what, we still need to be alert. If they can kill the town head and the vice captain in the broad daylight, then there¡¯s no limit to them." Xiong An added.


    Lin Mu listened to the words of these mercenaries and confirmed that there seemed to be no information about his involvement or even Xiao Lu¡¯s anywhere.


    ¡¯This should make things a little easier.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "So what are we going to be doing tonight?" Lin Mu questioned after having confirmed his doubt.


    Leader Teng, who had been listening silently until now, spoke.


    "We already have themon mercenaries patrolling and have also told them to stay alert. Everyone has been assigned shifts so that the posts are always manned. This already covers most of the area of the camp, so what we¡¯re going to do is split the entire camp into seven regions."


    "One for each of us." Hao Xiao added.


    Lin Mu nodded in understanding. The n seemed fine and he couldn¡¯t tell how else they could improve it more, except for adding more cultivators. But right now, all they had was these many people. Suddenly Lin Mu realized that the two other mercenaries that were with Hong Luo in the morning seem to be nowhere nearby.


    "Where are the Ming brothers?" Lin Mu asked, turning to Hong Luo.


    "Oh, they¡¯re in the town. Earlier, one of the representatives of the new High official came to meet us. They wanted to ask a few questions, thus I talked with them. They also wanted some statements from the other mercenaries, so I sent them along with the Ming brothers." Hong Luo answered.


    Lin Mu felt a little strange upon hearing that Hong Luo had sent a pair of mute brothers on a task like this.


    "But aren¡¯t they mute?" Lin Mu asked with curiosity.


    "Yes, they are, of course. They are not there to talk, though. They have gone along as protection for the other mercenaries." Hong Luo replied.


    ¡¯That does make more sense.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Now then let¡¯s discuss the positions." Teng Xiaolian spoke.


    Everyone nodded and intently started to listen.


    They talked for an hour before everything was finished, and everyone separated. Lin Mu was assigned the position that was to the northwestern part of the camp. It was in a rtively safe area and had plenty of mercenaries patrolling.


    "Seems like they deliberately assigned you this position," Xukong spoke.


    "Yes, senior. Their misunderstanding is quite advantageous for us." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed. Falsehoods, deceit, illusions and schemes, these are perhaps some of the strongest weapons that can be used to fight an enemy without actually fighting them. You can defeat an enemy even before they know that you are their enemy." Xukong stated with a sagely tone.


    Lin Mu carefully listened to senior Xukong¡¯s words andprehended them. He could truly see the benefit in senior¡¯s words, thus wanted topletely understand them. Perhaps one day these would be his own weapons.


    "Though Senior after hearing the mercenaries¡¯ words, it seems like they think of me rather highly. I can¡¯t seem to understand theirparison. Is it really that big of a deal bing a Core Condensation realm cultivator at the age of twenty?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That is a good question. Considering the level of this world, I would say that it is indeed quite impressive reaching the Core condensation realm at the age of twenty. But, if you consider an average across the worlds, it is rathermon. In fact, it is not that umon for there to be people who reach the Nascent soul stage at that age." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu felt his horizons broaden upon hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    "When do you think I would reach the core condensation realm, senior?" Lin Mu curiously asked.


    "Well, that is up to you. The process itself is rather straightforward, thus all you need to do is cultivate with all your heart. But if I consider your current pace, I would say that you should reach the core condensation realm within two years." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu imagined the day that he would be reaching the realm and wondered what it would feel like.


    While Lin Mu was lost in his thoughts, strange sounds seemed to being from the side of the Forest. Most of the people were used to them, and even he himself was used to these sounds as they weremon.


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    But the sound that came just now was extremely strange and unnatural. It was as if someone was dragging a blunt rod over a wooden nk. It was gruff and seemed to be faint. Lin Mu instantly became alert and looked around, but saw that none of the mercenaries seemed to be aware of the sound.


    "They can¡¯t hear it. Your sensitivity to the sounds is higher because of your spirit sense." Xukong spoke.


    "I should investigate it, perhaps?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, wait for a while. It seems to being from far away in the forest. It won¡¯t be wise to go there right now." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded and then spoke,


    "Then I¡¯ll wait and see if the sound continues. If it does, I¡¯ll inform the others. Or if ites closer then I¡¯ll investigate it myself."


    Xukong did not speak anymore, and Lin Mu took this as a sign of understanding.


    Lin Mu did not have to wait long either as the sound only got more loud. It seemed to being closer and closer. Five minutester it had reached close enough that even the other mercenaries seemed to be able to hear it.


    Seeing that everyone was now alert, Lin Mu decided to act.


    "Sound the rm. We may have a potential problem." Lin Mu spoke to the other mercenaries.


    "Yes, sir." The mercenaries replied and ran away swiftly to inform the others.


    The mercenaries had already been informed about Lin Mu and were instructed to follow hismands, thus they did not hesitate one moment before acting on it.


    "Let¡¯s see what this is." Lin Mu muttered as he withdrew the short sword from its sheath.


    Lin Mu walked forward and stood near the edge of the forest, with other mercenaries standing at his back, all alert and ready to defend.


    The sound kept oning closer, and now Lin Mu could also hear something else along with it. It was the sounds of someone¡¯s footsteps. Soon a faint silhouette could be seen appraising from the trees. It seemed to be humanoid and seemed to be dragging something.


    The mercenaries threw some torches near the forest to illuminate it and see what the thing that was approaching was. Even though the rest of the mercenaries couldn¡¯t tell what it was, Lin Mu with his better eyesight already knew.


    It seemed to be a heavily injured man dragging arge shield on which another person was lying. The man had a broken spear on his back that would tap and drag on the shield as he pulled it. The man seemed to be struggling and stumbling to pull the shield and the man that wasid upon it.


    As they got close, Lin Mu could also see the person that was lying on the shield. It was also a man, but he was covered with a cloth. But from the limbs that were exposed from the sides, Lin Mu could tell for sure that it was a man.


    When the injured man finally came in the illuminated portion, Lin Mu finally recognized him.


    "ZHOU YE!"

 Chapter 116 - Zhou Ye

    <h4>Chapter 116 - Zhou Ye </h4>


    Lin Mu would have never expected that he would be seeing Zhou Ye here. Zhou Ye was none other than the second hunter who had be a cultivator in the Northern Town. He was also the person who had won the annual martial tournament in the Wu Lim cityst year.


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    It was also Zhou Ye, in whose hands Lin Mu had first seen a spirit stone in. Unlike Gan Ma, who was oppressive and disliked, Zhou Ye actually had a decent reputation in the town. While he didn¡¯t particrly help people or did anything beneficial for them, he didn¡¯t do anything to hurt them either.


    Because of his neutral reputation, most people in the town recognized him and did not mind him. He and his small team of hunters were also the more sought after rather than Gan Ma¡¯s. Though ever since the guest year, Zhou Ye¡¯s team of hunters had dwindled and now only two people were left. The other members had all sumbed to the guest year.


    Lin Mu had seen Zhou Ye a few times before, and even his father was acquainted with Zhou Ye, having cooperated in some hunts over the years. Though Lin Mu did not expect Zhou Ye to recognize him.


    Pushing his train of thoughts to the back of his mind, Lin Mu rushed to the injured man to provide him assistance.


    "CALL THE HEALERS!" Lin Mu shouted to the other mercenaries.


    A few of the mercenaries immediately turned around to carry out his orders, while the rest rushed along with him. But still, Lin Mu was much faster than them and reached the injured man in a couple of seconds.


    Zhou Ye too watched the people approaching him and the voice that had called out his name. His eyes were zed over and the immense fatigue within them could be felt from the distance. There were multiple injuries on the man¡¯s body, with the most prominent one being the Bone that was popping out of his left shoulder.


    One could easily tell that his left arm was broken and the humerus bone had popped out sideways from the shoulder. The man also had multiple gashes and wounds all over his body, along with arge w mark that extended from the man¡¯s forehead onto his face, covering the nose, lips, and chin and then extending to the chest and the left arm.


    Just from the distance between the five w marks, one could tell that whatever beast that inflicted it was massive in size and had five ws on one limb, perhaps. Looking at Zhou Ye made one wonder how that man had still survived with all these injuries. Most of the injuries had stopped bleeding, and the blood had dried over, which allowed the observer to know that the wounds were perhaps inflicted a day ago.


    Zhou Ye could not see clearly and only had one eye that was still open. The other one was too swollen to see from. Upon seeing that he had reached safety, a slight smile apanied by pain, dressed his face as his mind rxed in relief, making him copse.


    But just as he was about to hit the ground, Lin Mu appeared in a sh and held him up. He then gently turned him to the side andid him down. He did a preliminary check on his body and discovered the multiple grievous wounds.


    "Use your spirit sense and observer his internal condition." Xukong reminded Lin Mu.


    "Ah yes!" Lin Mu respond and hurriedly extended his spirit sense.


    The spirit sense tendril touched Zhou Yew¡¯s head and then scanned all over his body. Lin Mu discovered multiple internal injuries. Even though he had no knowledge about organs or injuries on them, he could still tell that they were injured because of the blood that was pooling inside his body. There were also many other bones in his body that were fractured and cracked.


    Eight of Zhou Yew¡¯s ribs were cracked, with one of them bending inward and was only a few millimeters away from piercing his heart. Lin Mu then used his spirit sense and tried to sense Zhou Ye¡¯s meridians, but was unable to sense them. Wanting to gain a cleared view, Lin Mu started chanting the severing heart sutra and then tried to sense them again.


    This time Lin Mu¡¯s mind was still and free from any distractions. His perception rose as a result and he was soon able to sense the extremely faint pulse of qi that was flowing through Zhou Ye¡¯s meridians. Even his meridians were damaged in multiple ces, and Lin Mu could tell that the spirit qi was being impeded.


    Lin Mu continued tracing the flow of qi and reached Zhou Ye¡¯s dantian. His dantian seemed to bepletely empty and dry of spirit qi. Faint cracks could even see in its surroundings. Though the thing that surprised Lin Mu was the size of his dantian.


    Compared to Lin Mu¡¯s own dantian, Zhou Ye¡¯s was about three times smaller. Because Zhou Ye was so injured and depleted of spirit qi, Lin Mu could not estimate his cultivation base.


    "What could his cultivation base be Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "He should have been at the peak stage of the qi refining realm." Xukong estimated.


    "What? But the size of hi dantian is so small. I thought he would at most be at thete stage of the Qi refining realm." Lin Mu replied.


    "The injuries to his meridians and dantian are not because of the beast or whatever that harmed him," Xukong spoke.


    "Then how else would he get them then?" Lin Mu impatiently asked.


    "He has probably consumed a potential igniting pill. It¡¯s a special kind of alchemical pill, that can provide a massive increase in strength and qi. It is supposed to be used in terms of emergencies and life and death situations. Though it has the side effect of reducing if not crippling the cultivation of the said individual." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu felt shocked that such a pill could exist. Now having learned of this, his attention was focused on how to save the man in front of him.


    "How do I help him, senior? Do I feed him the healing pills?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Feed him one each of the internal replenishment pill and lesser wound restoration pill. Then use your spirit qi and gently guide it into his meridians. ce your right hand on his abdomen and your hand left on his heart. This will create a small qi circuit that should help replenish his qi and also help in healing his injuries." Xukong exined.


    Following Senior Xukong¡¯s instructions, Lin Mu first fed Zhou Ye the two pills. The pills melted after entering his mouth and flowed down his throat. Lin Mu then ced his right hand on Zhou Ye¡¯s abdomen and his left on his heart.


    Then, while using his spirit sense to trace his meridians, Lin Mu started pushing his own spirit qi into Zhou Ye¡¯s meridians. At first, it was difficult for him, but soon under the effect of the two healing pills, Zhou Ye¡¯s body started responding.


    Lin Mu was sessful in inserting his spirit qi into Zhou Ye¡¯s meridians. Under the instructions of senior Xukong, he then guided the spirit qi in a special circuit.


    While Lin Mu was doing this, the other mercenaries that were apanying him checked up on the other person that was lying on the shield that was being dragged by Zhou Ye. They lifted the cloth that was covering it and then recoiled in shock.


    The person under the cloth did not have a head, as it had been decapitated rather gruesomely. One could tell that a very strong blow must have hit the man¡¯s jaw as it was separated from there. Five faint ws could even be seen extending from the base of the neck.


    One of the mercenaries lifted the man¡¯s arm and saw the symbol that was embroidered on the headless man¡¯s clothes.


    "It¡¯s an elite mercenary from the Ashen Cloak mercenarypany!" The mercenary shouted.


    The other mercenaries came close to take a look and confirmed the mercenary¡¯s im. The symbol, while caked in blood and mud, was still recognizable to them.


    By now, the other mercenaries had also reached the site. Hong Luo, Teng Xiaolian, and his team members were nearby as well. They were sprinting with urgency, and tense expressions could be seen on their faces.


    A minuteter they finally reached the location and saw Lin Mu sitting on the ground, with his hands on Zhou Ye¡¯s body. Xiong An and Long Da were about to approach Lin Mu to offer him help when Teng Xiaolian suddenly shouted.


    "NO! Don¡¯t disturb him."


    Xiong An and Long Da froze in their steps as they turned around and looked at their leader with an inquisitive look. Before Teng Xiaolian could speak anything, Hao Xiao suddenly spoke.


    "Look, he¡¯s using a healing technique." She eximed.


    Surprise appeared on the faces of the six people as they looked at Lin Mu with an even more intense gaze. And with these very gazes, they saw the injuries on the man healing at a visible rate. The faint trickles of blood that were flowing down from the gashes on Zhou Ye¡¯s body stopped bleeding.


    The smaller cuts and scratches twitched and slowly started to close up under the effects of the healing pills and Lin Mu¡¯s assistance. The swelling that was around Zhou Ye¡¯s left eye also started reducing at a visible rate until when itpletely disappeared and his eye was visible again.


    ~Gasp~


    "It can¡¯t be! A High-grade healing technique!" Hong Luo gasped in shock.

 Chapter 117 - Healing Zhou Ye

    <h4>Chapter 117 - Healing Zhou Ye </h4>


    As soon as Hong Luo spoke, a serious expression appeared on Teng Xiaolian¡¯s face. He looked at all the mercenaries who were looking at Lin Mu and furrowed his brows.


    "What are you all doing, staring? Get to work! Take away the body to a side and make room. Return to your posts we will handle it here." Teng Xiaolian ordered in a stern voice.


    Themon mercenaries snapped out of their daze upon hearing the orders and scrambled. Some of them took away the dead body that was on the shield and the others returned to their posts. Due to the rm, a majority of the mercenaries had gathered here, thus a lot of positions were left unmanned.


    This could have be dangerous if some enemy decided to take advantage of their current distraction. Teng Xiaolian ensured that all the mercenaries were far away before separating from the group.


    <i>~Haaah~</i>


    "This could have be risky. Hopefully, not many mercenaries noticed the process of healing." Teng Xiaolian spoke up after letting out a breath of relief.


    The members of his team and Hong Luo turned to him as realization dawned in their eyes.


    "Oh, heavens! We were so close tomitting a mistake." Long An spoke.


    "True. It was good that we were already surrounding Lin Mu and were covering most of the angles. So they should not have seen much." Hao Xiao spoke.


    "Still, we will have to talk with the ones who saw it. We cannot let them speak of this. We don¡¯t know what kind of background he has, but if he knows a High-grade healing technique, then there is no doubt he¡¯s from one of the top sects." Teng Xiaolian exined.


    The others understood the seriousness of the situation and nodded in response. They knew that while themon mercenaries won¡¯t have any thoughts about Lin Mu, but if they randomly spoke of this and some wrong people found out about it, it would get problematic.


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    There was nock of people who wouldn¡¯t do everything to get their hands on a High-grade Healing technique. But if they really were blind enough to attack Lin Mu and by any chance he got injured, they wouldn¡¯t be able to answer to the seniors of his sect.


    Because they themselves were cultivators, they knew how fearsome cultivation sects were, and it was just even more so for the top sects. For the top sects were the very beings that ran this Empire, even though there was an imperial family. Their influence and power were nothing to scoff at. Many had perished in their foolishness of challenging the top sects and many more will.


    Teng Xiaolian just didn¡¯t want for them to be one of them too. Even if they were not at fault directly, it would do them no harm to just be extra sure.


    Lin Mu waspletely focused on Zhou Ye, thus did not notice all that had happened around him. He had his eyes closed, thus did not know that there were such great changes in Zhou Ye¡¯s body. He was currently observing Zhou Ye¡¯s condition through his spirit sense and was channeling his spirit qi into his.


    Lin Mu could see that while the meridians and dantian did notpletely heal, the impediment to spirit Q¡¯s flow was at least reduced. It could flow much faster and efficiently now. This was also one of the reasons behind the quick healing of Zhou Ye.


    "That¡¯s enough," Xukong spoke up.


    "Huh, okay senior." Lin Mu replied as he opened his eyes.


    Since he was extremely focused on helping Zhou Ye, he was a little abrupt in waking up. He finally took a look at his work and was shocked.


    ¡¯What! How did he get healed so fast?¡¯ Lin Mu internally eximed.


    "I didn¡¯t expect this either." Xukong spoke with a little disbelief in his voice.


    Lin Mu felt a little storage upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s tone.


    "What do you mean, Senior? Was this not supposed to happen?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, not really. I think I underestimated the effectiveness of the method I showed you. For a world of this level, I should have guessed it." Xukong answered.


    "Is the technique you showed me something special?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It¡¯s a basic healing technique, but I guess for a world like this it should very rare. I doubt many people would know of a technique of the same quality." Xukong replied.


    It was at this time that Teng Xiaolian and Hong Luo approached Lin Mu along with the rest. While it seemed as if Lin Mu and Xukong had been talking for a few minutes, in reality barely ten seconds had passed. Their mentalmunication was much faster than talking normally.


    Lin Mu turned around and saw the mercenaries standing behind him.


    "That was amazing! Brother Lin Mu." Hong Luo praised.


    "Yes, I never would have guessed that I would get to witness a High-grade healing technique today." Yi Duyi who had stayed silent for the most part spoke up.


    "Brother Lin Mu¡¯s skills are indeed excellent. You were even able to pull someone back from their death like this." Hao Xiao spoke in a ttering tone.


    "Ah, thank you." Lin Mu replied a little awkwardly as he was not expecting for them to praise him so much.


    He then looked around and noticed the absence of the other mercenaries.


    "Where are the rest of the mercenaries?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You don¡¯t need to worry about your knowledge of high-grade healing technique leaking, brother Lin Mu. I sent the mercenaries away before they could see too much. I¡¯ll also talk to the others and make sure that they keep their lips shut." Teng Xiaolian replied, thinking that Lin Mu was worried about the mercenaries.


    Lin Mu did not respond and just stayed silent. But in reality, he was actually talking with senior Xukong.


    "It seems like I was right. It is indeed deemed as a high-grade healing technique in this world." Xukong spoke.


    "But senior, you said that this is a basic healing technique, then why is it a high-grade healing technique here?" Lin Mu curiously inquired.


    "While it is a basic healing technique, its intended use is not formoners or mortals. Instead, this is a basic healing technique for the physique of immortals." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu was a little dumbstruck on hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words. He had not thought that he would be using a technique that was intended for immortals here.


    "Also, it seems like these mercenaries are smart and tacitly understood what they should and should not see," Xukong spoke.


    "Yes, senior. This should make it easier for us." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu suddenly thought of something that made him a little excited.


    "Wait, senior if this is so effective in healing, can¡¯t I use it on myself?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, you cannot. The technique can only be used on others. Try thinking a bit more, can you imagine using it." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu listened to Senior Xukong¡¯s words and tried imagining. He reached the same conclusion and indeed found that it would not be possible. If he did it, it would be the same as a tap filling its own tank. There would be no difference.


    "Then senior, do you have other healing techniques that I can use?" Lin Mu asked with a little hope in his eyes.


    "No, the ones that I have, are not suitable for humans," Xukong answered.


    ¡¯Though there are other techniques I have that can help you in healing, but you are not ready yet.¡¯ Xukong inwardly said.


    Lin Mu nodded slightly and refocused his eyes on the people around him. They were looking at him patiently and were not speaking anything. Seeing that no one was asking him any questions, Lin Mu decided to speak to them.


    "What are we going to do now about Zhou Ye?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The mercenaries¡¯ brows furrowed in confusion upon hearing his words.


    "Zhou Ye? You know this person." Hong Luo asked first.


    "Yes, he¡¯s one of the two hunters in the town, that are also cultivators." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm, We¡¯ll wait for him to wake up and then ask him what happened. From the wounds on his body and the other corpse¡¯s I can deduce that it was a spirit beast that attacked them." Teng Xiaolian spoke.


    "The other corpse?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The other person that Zhou Ye was dragging on the shield was actually a headless corpse. We don¡¯t know who that person is exactly, but we do know that they belong to the elite team of the Ashen cloak mercenaries." Hong Luo answered this time.


    While Lin Mu was healing Zhou Ye, they had already received a preliminary report from the other mercenaries, thus knew about the corpse.


    "That means that the dead mercenary was a cultivator as well, doesn¡¯t it. But if that is so, then shouldn¡¯t they be in an elite team with other cultivators?" Lin Mu questioned after thinking for a bit.


    Teng Xiaolian and Hong Lou¡¯s expressions fell upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s question.


    "That¡¯s the thing we¡¯re dreading. The mercenaries in an elite team stay together, rarely do they separate." Hong Luo spoke.


    "But if that mercenary was killed, then that means..." Lin Mu trailed off.


    "The entire team probably met the same fate." Teng Xiaolian spoke with a grim tone.

 Chapter 118 - Repulsive Presence

    <h4>Chapter 118 - Repulsive Presence </h4>


    A mixture of fear and stress could be seen on the faces of everyone that was currently present there. It was not just because of the dead mercenary, but because of the mercenarypany that he belonged to. The Ashen Cloak mercenarypany was considered to be the strongest mercenarypany.


    Although it was not the biggest one, it did have thergest amount of cultivators in it than any other mercenarypany. Their elite teams were considered to be the best and had the highest sess rate than any other mercenarypany.


    They were also the only mercenarypany that actually had the backing of a Nascent soul realm cultivator. No one knew who this backer was, but they knew better than to offend them. Because of this, even the cultivation sects were respectful to them and actually employed them in certain matters.


    An elite team of mercenaries usually had around seven people, all of whom were cultivators. Some of them were even led personally by the higher-ups of the mercenarypany. These were people who were actually core condensation realm cultivators themselves.


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    Exactly because of this, everyone was afraid. Teng Xiaolian and his team knew that they perhaps had the same strength as that of this team. But if even this team had died, they could not help but imagine if the same would happen to them.


    But even still, they knew that they could not just let this go and would have to investigate it. The mercenaries had their own code of conduct, which they followed. They would help out theirrades if the need so arose and inform their higher-ups.


    Their current situation was already stressful, as most of the higher-ups were on missions, while the others would take a long time to respond. Thus all they could rely on right now was themselves.


    "We have to investigate this." Hao Xiao was the first one to break the silence.


    "Are you sure it would be wise?" Hong Luo spoke.


    Teng Xiaolian and the others gritted their teeth in hesitation. They knew that while they were afraid, if they didn¡¯t investigate this and went against their code, they would lose all their respect and reputation.


    For a mercenary, if there was something that was above money, it was their respect and reputation. For it was this very thing that allowed them to receive jobs. It was also because of this that they were trusted and employed. If they lost it, there would be nothing they could do.


    "We will wait till the morning and see if Zhou Ye wakes up. We will have to talk to him and get to know what exactly happened. Unless we do that there is no point in further discussing this." Teng Xiaolian spoke.


    After saying this, Teng Xiaolian looked around and made sure that everyone understood his words. Seeing that no one seem to be objecting, he nodded his head.


    Lin Mu could see the benefit in waiting till the morning, thus he had nothing to say. And besides this, he had not said that he was going to take part in their investigation. It was fine for him to save Zhou Ye, but he was not going to help them unless he got something in return.


    Teng Xiaolian looked at Hong Luo and then at Lin Mu. He let out a breath before speaking.


    "Brother Lin Mu, if ites to it, will you be willing to help us? Fear not, we will ensure that proper remuneration is paid to you."


    Hong Lou¡¯s eyes lit up a little bit, and he turned to Lin Mu as well.


    "Yes, brother Lin Mu, we need your help. We don¡¯t have many people and if you help us, I¡¯m sure the Ashen Cloak mercenarypany will rightfullypensate you for your effort." Hong Luo spoke.


    Lin Mu looked at the two men in silence and did not speak. Instead, he was talking with senior Xukong in his mind.


    "What do you think, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm, if they are willing to give you resources, you can indeed help them. But you should first get information from Zhou Ye first. He should awaken in the morning. While he won¡¯t be fully healed, he shouldn¡¯t have any problem talking." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu inwardly nodded before thinking of his response.


    "I would be willing to help, but only if it¡¯s something within my capabilities. Zhou Ye will wake up in the morning, we will decide after talking with him." Lin Mu replied to the two men.


    Neither Teng Xiaolian nor Hong Luo were dissatisfied with his answer and knew that it was eptable. In fact, Teng Xiaolian preferred that they do this in this way. He had not forgotten about Lin Mu¡¯s background, thus if it was indeed something extremely dangerous, he himself would reject Lin Mu¡¯s help.


    "That is eptable. Anyway, we don¡¯t have to wait long for the morning. The sun should be up in four more hours." Teng Xiaolian replied.


    "Hopefully, Zhou Ye would be awake by then." Hong Luo added.


    Everyone nodded in tacit understanding and decided to wait. The man in question Zhou Ye had already been taking by a couple of themon mercenaries to a tent so that he could rest and be taken care of.


    "Brother Lin Mu, you must have used up quite a lot of your spirit qi. I offer that you rest in a tent, we will handle your post and keep a lookout." Hong Luo suggested.


    Lin Mu thought for a second before deciding.


    "I will take you up on that." Lin Mu replied while nodding.


    Hong Luo gestured to nearby mercenaries that were standing guard and called them.


    "Guide brother Lin Mu to a proper tent for resting." He ordered.


    "Yes, sir!" The mercenaries replied.


    Then, under the guidance of the two mercenaries, Lin Mu reached a tent. The tent was asrge as Hong Lou¡¯s and he had no problem standing upright. There was a bed kept in the corner and amp hung in the center of the tent. The rest of the tent was empty unlike Hong Lou¡¯s which was littered with their valuable supplies.


    Lin Mu entered the tent and closed its p, while the two mercenaries who had escorted him stood guard outside its entrance. Lin Mu went ahead and sat down on the bed and let out a sigh.


    ~sigh~


    "I certainly did not expect that this would be happening tonight." Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu was in fact not tired at all. He had barely used a hundred wisps of spirit qi, thus was not as exhausted as the others had thought. But since Hong Luo had offered him this, he decided he may as well cultivate.


    "The workings of fate are hidden by the heaven¡¯s will. Most people would be in the same position." Xukong spoke in a mysterious tone.


    Lin Mu heard senior Xukong¡¯s words but did not respond. He was instead thinking of the injuries on the dead mercenary. While he had not seen it for much longer than a couple of seconds, he could still feel a strange feeling.


    "There was something strange with the dead mercenary Senior." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh? In what way?" Xukong questioned.


    "I can¡¯t exactly ce my finger on it. It¡¯s as if it¡¯s unnatural or perhaps abnormal, it makes me feel a little repulsed as well." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That is is indeed strange. You should perhaps take a closer look, maybe I can guess what it is." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu raised his brows in thought and then nodded.


    "Yes, Senior. Let¡¯s check it out." Lin Mu replied and then stood up.


    He opened the p of the tent and saw the two mercenaries turning to him.


    "Did you need anything, sir?" They respectfully asked.


    "Show me the way to the dead Ashen cloak mercenary." Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes, sir. Please follow us." They spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded and followed them to the tent where the body was ced in. He reached there in two minutes and saw that Teng Xiaolian was already there. He turned around and looked at Lin Mu, who was approaching.


    Seeing the look in Teng Xiaolian¡¯s face, Lin Mu knew that he was questioning his purpose ining here.


    "I¡¯m here to take a closer look. I wanted to see if I can find a clue or something." Lin Mu spoke before Teng Xiaolian could.


    He nodded his head and gestured for Lin Mu to follow him. Teng Xiaolian moved the p of the tent aside and walked in, with Lin Mu following behind him. A in wooden table was ced in the tent on which the dead body of the mercenary was ced.


    A sheet was covering the body, which was then lifted by Teng Xiaolian. As soon as the sheet was lifted, Lin Mu could finally see the body. The head of the body was decapitated by a strong attack, which left behind deep w marks in the neck. It was as if the beast pierced the man¡¯s and then forcefully pulled up the head, separating it.


    There were multiple grievous and gruesome injuries on the body, most of which were dripping with blood, though most of them had already stopped. Still, from the wetness of the blood and the fact, there was no stench, one could tell that the body was not that old.


    "He most likely died yesterday and probably took a lot of injuries before he was killed." Teng Xiaolian informed.


    Lin Mu went closer and used his spirit sense. As soon as his spirit sense touched the body, he could feel a faint presence hiding within it. A repulsive feeling arose within Lin Mu¡¯s heart as he felt it.


    "Senior..." Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    "I can feel it too, this is certainly not normal. Try probing deeper." Xukong spoke.


    Teng Xiaolian understood what Lin Mu was doing and did not interfere nor disturb him. He just patiently stood at the side.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense over the entire body and scanned it from the head to the toe. Only when it reached the dead man¡¯s abdomen did Lin Mu find something. It was as if there was a barrier ced on it and it was restricting him.


    Lin Mu pushed with his spirit sense and could not do it.


    "Use the severing heart sutra." Xukong suggested after feeling something.


    Lin Mu nodded and started chanting the severing heart sutra in a low voice. While chanting the severing heart sutra he tried to pierce the barrier again. This time he was halted for a moment before, with a pop, the barrier broke.


    ~Screech~


    Then suddenly, an inhuman screech sounded in the tent and spread outside it. Teng Xiaolian had to cover his ears. If one was to look at him right now, one would see that he was covered in sweat.


    The screechsted for five seconds before the repulsive presence started intensifying. In the next moment, a dark ck smoky aura that was visible to the eyes started emanating from the corpse. The aura formed an irregr figure in the air that had bone spurs and skulls embedded in its body.

 Chapter 119 - The Repulsive Being

    <h4>Chapter 119 - The Repulsive Being </h4>


    Teng Xiaolian had not been expecting to meet Lin Mu so fast just after separating. He had thought that the boy was most likely exhausted after using the High-grade healing technique. Even if the boy was at the Peak stage of the Qi refining realm, Teng Xiaolian knew of the exhaustion brought on by using any High-Grade technique.


    Healing techniques were even more intense and their spirit qi conception would depend on the person it was being used on. Seeing Zhou Ye¡¯s condition and how fast he was healed, Teng Xiaolian couldn¡¯t even imagine it.


    That¡¯s why, when he saw Lin Mu asking to check the corpse of the Ashen Cloak mercenary he was surprised.


    ¡¯He¡¯s rather dutiful, Hong Luo did good asking him for help. He¡¯s helping us with this even when he¡¯s tired.¡¯ Teng Xiaolian thought.


    Teng Xiaolian let Lin Mu enter and then saw him staring at the dead mercenary. He then informed him of the time of death. Lin Mu went close and became silent. Teng Xiaolian easily guessed that Lin Mu was just observing using his spirit sense.


    But when he saw a troubled expression appear on Lin Mu¡¯s face, he felt nervous. It was then that it happened. Strange and esoteric chants starteding out of Lin Mu¡¯s lips. Even though they were faint, due to the tent being enclosed and him being near, Teng Xiaolian was still able to hear them.


    It would be fine if he just heard them, but the chants were nothing but fine. Teng Xiaolian had been through many life-threatening situations, he¡¯s had deadly beast¡¯s re at him and des pointed at him by enemies.


    But this feeling that he got from these chants was just simply terrifying. It was as if countless des were pointed at his body and were just about to touch his skin. He felt his life hanging by his thread and thought that he would be dying the instant he tried to do anything.


    A couple of secondster the feeling got less intense and Teng Xiaolian was finally able to breathe. By now, his entire body was covered with cold sweat. He understood that whatever these chants were, they were not targeting him, but rather something else.


    ¡¯What terrifying killing intent! Even if it¡¯s not targeting me, just its mere presence is enough to freeze me.¡¯ Teng Xiaolian thought.


    The belief that he had in his heart about Lin Mu being the disciple of a top sect waspletely cemented now. If it was affirmed when he saw Lin Mu using the High-grade healing technique, now it was unshakable.


    In the words of a legendary cultivator, ¡¯He would pity the fool¡¯, who would mistake Lin Mu for anymon cultivator.


    But just as he was about toe out of his thoughts, Teng Xiaolian heard the most inhuman screech he had ever heard. He then saw the dark ck smoky aura rising from the corpse and forming an irregr figure that had bone spurs and skulls on its body.


    Just looking at the figure made Teng Xiaolian feel repulsed from the very bottom of the heart. Its presence was also something he had never felt before. It was as if a mixture of fear, loathing, and repulsion was formed in his heart.


    Another screech resounded, and he then saw Lin Mu extend his hand and catching the figure. But s, the figure faded away and disappeared into thin air. This entire ordeal was extremely shocking to Teng Xiaolian, and he didn¡¯t know what to make of it.


    *****


    Lin Mu stood in his ce with his hand still extended.


    "What was that senior?" Lin Mu questioned in a serious tone.


    "I... do not know. That is not something I¡¯ve ever heard of, or seen before. It also does not seem like a natural being, the repulsive feeling that you were feeling; it was not arising out of disgust. But rather from the imprint of this world that you have on your soul. It was telling you to get rid of that being, as it does not belong to this world." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu was a little surprised upon hearing that even senior Xukong did not know what kind of being that was. Just as he was about to speak again, he saw something that pulled his attention.


    A small ck dot had appeared at the ce where the figure had disappeared from.


    "Senior..." Lin Mu spoke.


    "So it is true. That is a being not of this world. That spatial point is just the proof of that, if it were not for your ring, we may have not even been able to know this." Xukong replied.


    "How should we proceed now? I doubt that being is weak, considering that it was able to enter this world." Lin Mu asked.


    "That is indeed true. We need to take a steady approach here. First, we get more information from Zhou Ye, only after that can we decide." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded and turned to face Teng Xiaolian, who was covered in sweat and looked to be nervous.


    "You saw that right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Y-Yes... Everything. Wh-what was that?" Teng Xiaolian asked while stuttering.


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    "I do not know either, but we need to be extremely careful. Inform the others, we will discuss this in the morning." Lin Mu replied.


    Before Teng Xiaolian could even reply, Lin Mu walked out of the tent and went towards his own. Teng Xiaolian was left standing there dumbly. But he did not mind it, for Teng Xiaolian could not even imagine the being that he had just seen and could judge that this matter had gone beyond anything that they could deal alone.


    Lin Mu entered his tent and sat down on the bed. He had decided to cultivate till the morning as even he felt that the uing days were going to be tough and distressing. He wanted to be as strong as he could be.


    He sat cross-legged and started chanting the severing heart sutra. Hours passed by in the blink of an eye, as Lin Mu was lost in his cultivation. By the time he woke up, it was already morning and the sunlight could be seen peeking through the edges of the tent.


    Lin Mu observed his dantian and saw that his spirit qi capacity had actually increased by fifty wisps. His dantian¡¯s current storage stood at around nine hundred and fifty wisps of spirit qi.


    ¡¯Only five hundred and fifty more to reach the next stage.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    It was now that someone called out to him.


    "Sir Lin Mu, leader Hong Luo is asking for you. He said that it is time." A mercenary called out.


    Lin Mu immediately stood up and walked out of the tent.


    "Take me to him." He ordered.


    The mercenary nodded and took him to a tent that was located at the very center of the camp. It was close to Hong Luo¡¯s tent and looked the same as Lin Mu¡¯s.


    "They¡¯re waiting inside for you, sir." Another mercenary that was guarding the entrance spoke.


    Lin Mu lifted the tent p and walked inside. Hong Luo and Teng Xiaolian with his team were standing there surrounding a bed on which Zhou Ye was lying. Lin Mu approached, and they all turned to look at him.


    "Zhou Ye is just about to awaken." Hong Luo spoke upon seeing him.


    Tense expressions could be seen on each and everyone¡¯s face here. Evidently, they had been informed by Teng Xiaolian ofst night¡¯s incident and they had also heard the inhuman screech, thus they had no doubts about believing it.


    Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and scanned Zhou Ye¡¯s body. Most of the major injuries had been healed, but the hidden seque would take a long time to heal. Zhou Ye seemed to be twitching and moving in his sleep. His body was covered in bandages and medicines had been applied to his body by the healers.


    "Use the technique I taught you once again, he should wake right up," Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded and stood beside Zhou Ye. The others made way for him tacitly and stood to the side. They then saw Lin Mu cing his hands on Zhou Ye¡¯s abdomen and heart. The next second, Zhou Ye opened his eyes and gasped.


    "Wh-Where am I?" Zhou Ye questioned.


    "You¡¯re at the mercenary camp of Northern Town, Zhou Ye. We found you injuredst night when you walked here from the forest." Hong Luo answered.


    Zhou Ye had a sh of realization as his memories soon came rushing back to him.


    ~Aaaah~


    He winced in pain as he held his head. The others let him be and waited for him to regain his mind. Ten minutes passed by and finally, Zhou Ye was starting to stabilize. He let out a breath of fatigue as he removed his hands from his head andid back on the bed in a more rxed manner.


    "Are you fine, now?" Hong Luo asked gently.


    "Y-Yes..." Zhou Ye replied.


    "What happened to you, can you tell us?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I-It¡¯s a long story..." Zhou Ye spoke.

 Chapter 120 - Zhou Yes Story- Part I

    <h4>Chapter 120 - Zhou Ye''s Story- Part I </h4>


    Zhou Ye took a deep breath before thinking for a bit. A few minutester he started speaking.


    "It started when my group of five went to hunt in the forest a month ago. We had heard that someone had found snow veiled hares and some high tier beasts in the forest nearby. We didn¡¯t want to really hunt spirit beasts at that time, so these beasts were a good opportunity to get some money before the winter got really intense.


    We were returning during the evening after a sessful hunt, and suddenly one of mypanions copsed. We went to check and discovered that he had stopped breathing. We were very surprised and became alert, but it was useless as we had already lost when we went to check up on ourpanion.


    Him copsing was a distraction and at that moment some ck-robed people ambushed us. I was able to escape into the depths of the forest, but mypanions were not so fortunate. I tried to return to the town a few times, but the ck-robed men were able to find me every time.


    At first, I thought they were just warriors that were at the high tier of the Body tempering realm, but then I realized how wrong I was. They actually had cultivators in their midst.


    I couldn¡¯t understand why they were even attacking us. Originally I had thought of them as bandits, but there was no chance a bandit in this region could be a cultivator. Any cultivator could easily get employed and won¡¯t have to resort to banditry, at least here.


    Then I realized that the problem seemed to be a lot more deeper than I thought. The ck-robed men blocked me at every point and didn¡¯t let me escape. Eventually, I was captured and was knocked unconscious.


    They took me to a hidden cave, and I didn¡¯t know its location as I was unconscious when I was taken there. I was shackled and chained in a prison there. But when I opened my eyes for the first time there, I discovered that I was not alone.


    There were many more people imprisoned there along with me. I even found some of mypanions there. They were heavily injured and were chained the same as me. But the most shocking thing for me was that there were actually mercenaries there as well."


    <i>~Gasp~</i>


    A collective gasp was heard in the tent as everyone except Lin Mu, and Teng Xiaolian was shocked. Teng Xiaolian had already seenst night¡¯s incident so was expecting there to be something strange and Lin Mu had already known of this. Though the information about there being a hidden prison in a cave was very interesting to him.


    ¡¯Seems like I¡¯ll need to speak to the Hei Corps soon.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Zhou Ye had taken a little break and was drinking water to moisten his parched throat. Evidently, him speaking this much was already taking its toll on him.


    "Are you fine? Do you want to rest more?" Hao Xiao asked gently.


    Zhou Ye shook his head in denial.


    "No, I¡¯m fine. I... I want to finish this first." Zhou Ye replied.


    "So, what happened next?" Hong Luo asked.


    Zhou Ye took another deep breath before continuing.


    "I stayed there for over two weeks and observed all that happened there. It was surprisingly calm, except for the mercenaries¡¯ attempts to escape. The ck-robed men actually did not torture us or hurt us, unless it was necessary. They even provided us with proper food and water. Going so far as to actually treat any injury that bled.


    While I was there I also saw that they took away a few people every day and brought more in. Nearly all of them were mercenaries and were all cultivators. There were some body tempering realm mercenaries too, but they were far and few in between.


    Eventually, I and a few other prisoners got talking and nned out some things. We tried to look for avenues of escape and concluded that the best opportunity would be when they actually released us from the prison to take us to wherever they did.


    One of the people that I met then was Dongfeng Zhao. He was a mercenary from the Ashen cloak mercenarypany and was the leader of one of their elite teams. He told me that he and his team were ambushed as well when they were hunting for spirit beasts in the northern forest.


    Dongfeng Zhao then told me that nearly all of the mercenaries that were there were elite mercenaries and had beenmissioned to hunt the spirit beasts by the mayor of the Wu Lim City. They had actually felt suspicious at the start when theirmunication with the other teams was slowed down, but when they were attacked and brought there, they finally understood.


    Someone was taking this opportunity to target all the mercenarypanies. Dongfeng Zhao guessed that it was probably someone wanting to eliminatepetition and reduce the influence of otherpanies. But after a few days, he rescinded his words and realized that this was more than that.


    The strengths of the ck-robed men were way more than necessary. More than ny percent of their people were cultivators and there was plenty of peak stage Qi refining realm cultivators as well. There was no chance that an entourage so strong would even need topete with the mercenarypanies when they can just set up their own faction with that strength."


    "Was someone taking revenge then? Or perhaps sabotaging?" Hong Luo questioned.


    "It does seem like that, it could be either of those or even both. In the end, the person that¡¯s suffering is the mercenaries and the mayor of the Wu Lim city." Long Da spoke.


    "Considering the strength of the ck-robed men, I would say that it¡¯s actually someone targeting the mayor of the Wu Lim city. Only he would be worthy of arge-scale scheme such as this.


    They¡¯re abducting the mercenaries and making the mayor have a loss. Since even if mercenaries die, the mayor still has to pay for their services, and beyond that, whatever need he had for therge amount of beasts won¡¯t be satisfied." Teng Xiaolian analyzed.


    Everyone went silent and pondered on this after hearing Teng Xiaolian¡¯s words. Even Lin Mu felt that they seemed to be viable and reasonable.


    ¡¯If there is indeed someone targeting the mayor, doing this would indeed harm his work, finances, and even reputation.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "It could be like that, but something still irks me, but I can¡¯t ce it where." Yi Duyi spoke.


    Others nodded in response, as they felt strange too.


    Zhou Ye had taken this time to rest for a little bit and was ready to speak once again.


    "Eventually the day came when we were to be transported somece else. That was about three days ago. We were blindfolded and taken out of the cave. Unlike me, who was blindfolded and couldn¡¯t see, Dongfeng Zhao could still observe his surroundings because of his spirit sense.


    He told me that they were actually taking us through a different route in the cave and not the one they hade from. In a surprise to us, it actually took them over two hours to get out of the cave. Because of therge number of twists and turns we took, none of us could tell in what direction we were going, neither where we hade from.


    When we finally got out of the cave, a dense canopy of trees greeted us. Due to the type of trees they were, I was able to guess that we were now in the northwestern part of the forest. Though I still did not know how far deep we were in there.


    While being transported, we halted to take a break. It was then that Dongfeng Zhao took the opportunity to check everything out. He confirmed that it was ten of those ck-robed men transporting us, while there were only four of us prisoners. It was me, Dongfeng Zhao, and two of his teammates.


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    We were keeping an eye out for an opportunity to escape when it happened..." Zhou Ye said and trailed off.


    Seeing the abrupt pause that Zhou Ye had taken, Lin Mu furred his brows but didn¡¯t disturb him and let him think it out. A few minutester he started speaking again.


    "We... we heard a loud roar. It was simply terrifying and was apanied by a strong wave of spirit qi. We instantly understood that it was a spirit beast... a strong one. But only when we saw it did we understand how wrong we were.


    It was nomon spirit beast that had discovered us but rather a Core condensation realm spirit beast."


    "WHAT!" They eximed in unison.


    "Yes, a core condensation realm spirit beast. It was a five meters tall bear. It had irregr ck and brown fur and had bone spursing out of its skin. Its ws were ten inches long and looked like knives more than ws. Its eyes were red, as if filled with pure anger.


    Its mere presence was enough to freeze us in our tracks, and when it came close, it just went from bad to worse. Before the ck-robed men could even do anything, the bear had split three of their men in halves with one swipe of its ws.


    Only after witnessing this did they start to retaliate, but s it was toote. The bear was out of their league. It massacred all of them with ease, leaving no chance for survival. The ck-robed men saw that they were losing, thus resorted to using us as Shields.


    Dongfeng Zhao took this opportunity and picked up a sword that had fallen to the ground nearby and freed him in a surprise to the ck-robed men. Eventually, we all got free, but the ck-robed men managed to kill two of Dongfeng Zhao¡¯s teammates in retaliation.


    Enraged he wanted to kill them but knew that he could not. In this time period, the two ck-robed men that were fighting off the bear were killed and it was nowing towards me. I was unable to dodge and was just about to be killed.


    But then Dongfeng Zhao pushed me aside and took the attack. The bear¡¯s ws pierced his neck and the bear then pulled them out, decapitating him in the process."

 Chapter 121 - Zhou Yes Story- Part II

    <h4>Chapter 121 - Zhou Ye''s Story- Part II </h4>


    Everyone that was standing there could feel goosebumps on their skin upon hearing the ount from Zhou Ye. They had never expected that something so bad could have happened. The entire story was full of ups and downs, which kept them on their toes.


    By now, Zhou Ye¡¯s face was pale and fear had appeared on it. One could tell that even recalling the event was stressful for him. At this point, he had frozen and could no longer speak. The others noticed his condition and knew that he had been pushed too much, perhaps.


    "Should we stop here for now?" Hao Xiao whispered to Teng Xiaolian.


    Teng Xiaolian furrowed his brows in response and looked at Zhou Ye.


    "We need to get this done with, there¡¯s too much that¡¯s hanging by a thin thread. If we don¡¯t get the information now, we may be toote." Teng Xiaolian spoke.


    Hong Luo too clenched his fist and looked between the terrified man and Teng Xiaolian.


    "But Leader Teng, maybe we..." Hong Luo was just about to speak when he was suddenly interrupted.


    Everyone¡¯s expression turned to that of a surprise from the tense one. They were suddenly feeling a wave of calmness spreading throughout their body. They then also heard the faint sounds that wereing from next to them.


    Everyone turned their gazes to the source of it and saw Lin Mu standing there with his eyes closed. He had an extremely tranquil expression on his face, which invoked a feeling of calmness in whoever that saw it. His lips were gently moving and faint chants wereing out of his mouth.


    Teng Xiaolian¡¯s¡¯ expression was then pulled towards Zhou Ye. The man who had been scared frozen from his thoughts had suddenly changed. The fear from his face had faded away and what reced it was peace. His arms and shoulders which had been tensed because of being clenched had rxed.


    Even his eyes which had gone dull due to the terror had regained their vigor. The breathing which was irregr andbored had harmonized and moved in a steady rhythm.


    Indeed, what Lin Mu was doing was nothing but chanting the calming heart sutra. He had long since reached the second stage of externalprehension, thus knew that he could use it on other people now. The current situation seemed the best for it to be used, and it also helped Zhou Ye heal on a mental level.


    In fact, when Lin Mu scanned Zhou Ye with his spirit sense, he discovered that his spirit qi flow had also improved. Evidently, the trauma from the incident had been hurting him on a mental level and had affected his cultivation as well.


    A minuteter Lin Mu stopped chanting the calming heart sutra and opened his eyes. He could then see the gazes of everyone on his face. But these gazes were not of shock or surprise, but rather of profound and deep respect.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know, but today he had buried a seed of respect and slight worship within these mercenaries.


    Xukong had been seeing this entire event closely and had not stopped Lin Mu from using the calming heart sutra. He let him follow his own choice, and apparently, this had been the right judgment. For when he saw the emotions hidden within the eyes of these mercenaries, he knew that Lin Mu had perhaps embarked on a new journey.


    ¡¯The Will of the Buddhist Path, its traces can already be seen. Is he going to gain its recognition as well?¡¯ Xukong thought.


    ¡¯Even if he gains its recognition, at least it won¡¯t be as problematic as the Will of the Demonic path. There should still be some monks that have the recognition of the will of the Buddhist path. If it reallyes to it, Lin Mu can take refuge with them.¡¯ Xukong pondered.


    Lin Mu did not mind the gazes but instead tenured to look at Zhou Ye.


    "Are you feeling better?" Lin Mu questioned with a calm tone.


    Zhou Ye who was now feeling refreshed and relived gently nodded his head.


    "Yes, thank you for... whatever that you did." Zhou Ye replied.


    "Now then, will you tell us the rest?" Lin Mu spoke.


    Zhou Ye nodded again and cleared his throat before speaking.


    "After Dongfeng Zhao was decapitated, I was terrified and tried my best to move to the side. I was lucky that the ck-robed men were closer to it than me now and were targeted first instead. The bear attacked them and effortlessly killed them as well.


    Finally, it was now my turn. There was no chance that I could escape, anyway. The beast was stronger, as well as faster than me. It was just about to end me with its ws when it happened.


    The bear suddenly froze and then roared. It scratched at its own body as if it was hurting it. Another roar, but this time one that was full of pain came out of its mouth as it cleaved out its own flesh. Chunks of flesh and ck blood sttered as the beast mutted itself.


    But instead of getting weaker, the beast instead seemed to be getting stronger. ck smoke came out of its body and reced its flesh that it had ripped out. Once the flesh was restored, bone spurs sprouted out of it and added to its gruesomeness.


    Fortunately, after this happened the beast seemed to be in a disoriented state of mind as it kept on struggling with itself and walked away. It even collided with the trees in its way and broke them down. Large trees that were thick enough for four grown men to hug were broken down like twigs by it.


    The sheer strength of the beast was astounding and was nothing like I had ever seen. After that, it took me a few minutes before I was able to gather my wits. After ensuring that I was safe for then, I grabbed Dongfeng Zhao¡¯s body and put it on a shield I picked up.


    I didn¡¯t want to leave the body of my benefactor who had saved me, to rot and be eaten by beasts, thus I carried it with me. I also scrounged some supplies from the ck-robed men as I knew that I would not be able to survive there without them.


    I was lucky enough to find some alchemical pills and food, which helped me through. I started my journey back and encountered more beasts on my way. It was fine when they were justmon beasts or even high tier beasts, but when I encountered spirit beasts, I couldn¡¯t help but escape.


    I avoided fighting them as much as I could, but still got injured. At the very end, when I couldn¡¯t do anything, I used the alchemical pill I had left as ast resort. I knew it was a potential igniting pill, but I still used it anyway, as I would not have had much of a chance at survival.


    After I took the pill, my memories became blurry. I don¡¯t remember what I did or how I eventually got here. But I know that all I had in my mind was to survive and reach the town. Eventually I did reach, and then thest thing I remember happened.


    I heard someone call my name."


    Zhou Ye looked at the people for a moment and smiled before closing his eyes. In the next second, he swooned and fell back on the bed.


    Hong Luo and Lin Mu rushed to check up on him and felt relieved after finding that he had just fallen asleep.


    "He¡¯s just tired. He pushed himself to speak that¡¯s why he fell unconscious." Hong Luo spoke.


    "We just have to let him rest now. He has done us a great favor by informing us." Teng Xiaolian spoke.


    The other mercenaries nodded in response as they understood how difficult it must have been to survive the ordeal he had been through.


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    "What do we do now, leader Teng? We definitely need to inform the higher-ups at the base, but we don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll be here in time." Long Da questioned with concern.


    Teng Xiaolian furrowed his brows and thought for a moment before speaking.


    "Send a messenger to the base and also one to the council. Tell them that the elite teams have been eliminated and to send help. Meanwhile, we need to talk with the mayor."


    "Yes, Leader." Long Da replied before leaving the tent in a hurry.


    Lin Mu was also thinking of what they were supposed to do now. When Zhou Ye had deceived the ck smokeing out of the Bear¡¯s body and healing its wounds, senior Xukong had spoken to him.


    "It is some kind of parasite that has infected the beast. Its most likely trying to take over its body and is thus making it harm itself. And it¡¯s nomon spirit parasite either, from what we¡¯ve seen I can say for sure that it¡¯s an invader." Xukong spoke.


    "An invader?"

 Chapter 122 - Invader

    <h4>Chapter 122 - Invader </h4>


    Hearing a new term had once again sparked Lin Mu¡¯s curiosity as he wondered what it meant. Lin Mu waited patiently for senior Xukong to exin it to him.


    "In a simplified manner, an invader is basically a being that enters a world that it¡¯s not allowed to. It does so to gain control of that world or to obtain its resources.


    You see, most worlds have an innate barrier present in them. There are created and operated by that world¡¯s will." Xukong spoke.


    "World¡¯s will? Senior, you mean each world is alive?" Lin Mu questioned while tilting his head.


    "Not exactly. While it may or may not have had life on its surface, every world can have a certain level of sentience. Not all worlds have it, though. Some worlds are simply too young to have developed it, while others lose it due to dying or being destroyed."


    "Every world slowly gains its consciousness and also starts to generate spirit qi. You could even say that spirit qi is formed when a world gains sentience or a world bes sentient when spirit qies into existence. It can be either of those reasons." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu felt intrigued upon hearing this new information. It had actually solved an important question that he had, but had never asked. The question was about the existence of spirit qi and how it came into being. Xukong¡¯s words had answered a part of that question.


    While Lin Mu now knew that spirit qi was created by a world, he didn¡¯t know how other energies or types of qi came into being. For example, he didn¡¯t know how spatial qi came into being or how it was created.


    While he wanted to ask further about this, he knew that now was not the time for it as there were other things at hand.


    "So about this ¡¯Invader¡¯ if it¡¯s restricted by the barrier, how does it still enter the world?" Lin Mu questioned.


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    "An invader can use various methods to enter a world. The mostmon method is to find a w in the world¡¯s barrier and enter through there. Another is to find a gate from which it can enter, this can be in the form of a teleportation formation or a spatial portal.


    From the way that the ck smoke disappeared, I can tell that it came through the second manner. The creature, whatever it may be, is a powerful being and knows how to manipte space. The Invader here is actually not its real body but perhaps an avatar." Xukong answered.


    Senior Xukong¡¯s mention of the avatar instantly reminded Lin Mu of his real body and how he had created a smaller avatar to apany Lin Mu.


    "Wait senior, does this mean that you are an invader too?" Lin Mu questioned with his brows raised.


    "In a broader sense, you can say that, but in my case, I would be a traveler instead.


    You see, the difference between an invader and a traveler is the permission of the world. Once a world reaches a high enough level and is well developed, its residents can leave it and travel to other worlds. Simrly, other beings can also travel to that world." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu, while having understood the meaning of the words, still felt confused.


    "How is it decided when a world is developed or not?" Lin Mu questioned again.


    "It depends on multiple factors. A world may simply be a higher world by gaining a massive amount of spirit qi, or its residents can be high leveled cultivators. A world can be said to have developed when its residents can freely leave it without danger and also return back." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu felt like he understood it a bit better, but had more questions appearing in his mind.


    "What realm does a cultivator need to reach in order to increase the level of a world senior? Like, do they need to be an Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator?" Lin Mu questioned again.


    "While an Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator can leave a world, it won¡¯t immediately elevate a world¡¯s status. Just a single cultivator won¡¯t be enough to increase its level. Instead, an entire group of cultivators over many generations need to reach that stage in order to elevate. And more than just that, there needs to be a countless amount of lower realm cultivators as well.


    Eventually, there woulde a time when the world would be a higher leveled world. A world can only be expected to increase in its level, but can never be made to." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu felt enlightened after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words and could feel the knots of doubt in his mind unraveling. The only thing that was left now was how they would proceed after this.


    "What should we do now senior?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a little lost.


    "Hmm, being a resident of this world, you do have an innate obligation to destroy or repel the invader. You must have felt it when you saw it; that¡¯s the world¡¯s willmanding you. But still, the final decision is up to you. While the world¡¯s will expect this of all its residents, it won¡¯t force them as it won¡¯t be possible for everyone to do that." Xukong answered.


    "But if you do choose to do so, your effort won¡¯t go in vain," Xukong added after taking a pause.


    "What...? Does this mean that I would gain some reward?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed, what you will gain is the recognition of the world itself. It will silently help you in things you wouldn¡¯t even know you needed help in. It can even improve your luck and allow you to gain untold fortunes." Xukong replied.


    ¡¯Heavens know that you need it. With the path you are walking on, you need all the help you can get and I don¡¯t think mine would be enough.¡¯ Xukong spoke inwardly.


    Lin Mu thought over senior Xukong¡¯s words but did not reply to him right away. His attention was instead pulled back to the people standing around him. While it seemed like Lin Mu had been talking with senior Xukong for a long time, in reality only a couple of minutes had passed by.


    With each progressing day, the speed of the mentalmunication between Xukong and Lin Mu had been increasing. While it was indeedpletely Dependent on Xukong¡¯s ability, Lin Mu had also helped increase the speed as he was getting more attuned with it and was also progressing in his cultivation.


    To others, it only seemed like Lin Mu was lost in thought and was thus busy. After they saw that Lin Mu had snapped out of it and was looking at them again, they became more alert.


    "What do you suggest, brother Lin Mu? What do we do now?" Hong Luo respectfully asked.


    Lin Mu turned his sight to him and spoke.


    "Leader Teng¡¯s words are right, you should send the emergency messages. In addition, I can perhaps help you contact the mayor." Lin Mu replied.


    "And how would you do that?" Teng Xiaolian questioned.


    "I¡¯m acquainted with the new high official that is administering the town, Hei Wan. I¡¯ll inform her, and perhaps we can arrange a meeting." Lin Mu answered.


    If it was before, Lin Mu would have avoided talking about anything about the members of the Hei corps. But now that Hei Wan was out in the open and even had a clean identity, there was no problem in him taking advantage of that fact.


    A slightly surprised expression appeared on everyone¡¯s face after hearing that Lin Mu was acquainted with Hei Wan.


    "Indeed, nothing canpare to brother Lin Mu¡¯s influence." Xiong An spoke in a ttering manner.


    Lin Mu paid no heed to his words and continued.


    "I¡¯ll warn you though, do not attempt to investigate this alone. I¡¯m afraid that we¡¯re dealing with something that¡¯s beyond us." Lin Mu spoke in a serious tone.


    Lin Mu had decidedly chosen not to tell the mercenaries about the ¡¯Invader¡¯. It was not that he didn¡¯t think that they wouldn¡¯t believe him, but rather that it may be problematic if it spreads. He wanted to talk with the Hei corps first, as he believed that they may have a better control over the situation.


    "I¡¯ll leave now and tell youter when we will have a meeting." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That¡¯s fine with me." Teng Xiaolian replied.


    The others also nodded in eptance and acknowledged his words.


    Lin Mu left the tent and turned towards the direction of the town. His walk soon turned into a sprint and he rushed towards the town center. With his speed, it didn¡¯t take him long to reach the town center as he was there in five minutes.


    Although what felt strange to him was instead that the number of people walking around was decreased. He had expected that people would be staring at him as he ran, but surprisingly there were barely any people outside. Even the number of guards seemed to have fallen.


    Only when he stood in front of the town center did he realize why.

 Chapter 123 - Reinforcements?

    <h4>Chapter 123 - Reinforcements? </h4>


    Currently, in front of the town center, an entire crowd of people was standing. Along the sides of the crowd, squads of guards were standing fully decked in their gear looking ready for anything.


    The crowd was standing in silence which was surprising to him as this hardly happened when such arge group of people gathered together. The people in the crowd seemed to be focused on the town center and seemed to be waiting for something.


    A few more people slowly added to the crowd as they reached there from the various parts of the town. Feeling confused at this development, Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around and started scanning the crowd.


    In a small surprise to him, he found the mute Ming brothers standing at the front of the crowd along with a few of the mercenaries they had taken with them. Not understanding what was happening he decided to go and talk with them.


    Lin Mu waded through the crowd and reached the front of it, right where the mercenaries were standing. The people grunted and chided in displeasure at being moved around but didn¡¯t do anything. Lin Mu didn¡¯t pay them any mind either.


    The Ming Brothers noticed him and felt a little surprised themselves. They poked a mercenary that was standing along with them to talk with Lin Mu. This mercenary evidently knew who Lin Mu was as he cupped his hands in greeting.


    "Greetings Sir Lin Mu." The mercenary greeted Lin Mu.


    The other mercenaries too did the same thing upon seeing theirpanion do so. This turned into a wave of greetings that spread among the ten or so mercenaries that were present there.


    There was no chance that the people standing in the crowd wouldn¡¯t notice this, especially when they were standing in silence all this while. The people also heard the sounds of greetings and wondered if it was someone important that had appeared.


    Knowing that this could turn problematic Lin Mu immediately gestured to the Ming brothers to silence the others. They having understood the implications of this, acted on it, and silenced the mercenaries.


    Lin Mu then came forward and stood in front of them.


    "What is happening here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The High official is going to announce their decision to the crowd." Said the mercenary who had been instructed by the Ming brothers.


    "And what is this decision?" Lin Mu questioned, guessing about the possibilities.


    The mercenary looked around and made sure that no one else was listening before speaking in a low voice.


    "After meeting with us and also hearing theints of themoners, the High officials have decided that they are going tounch a hunt for the beasts that have been attacking the people and also for the ck-robed culprits.


    rm bells rang in Lin Mu¡¯s mind as he realized the implications of this. It would have been fine if this was done when he had not known about the ¡¯Invader¡¯ but now it was a much more dangerous situation.


    If themoners were to find out about this iplete information they may be too agitated and start looking for the culprits themselves perhaps. While this may actually end up suppressing the activities of the culprits, it could also just trigger them to do something that could be direr.


    Lin Mu now knew that he would have to stop Hei Wan and inform her of the reality of the situation. Knowing that he perhaps didn¡¯t have much time he turned to the mercenaries.


    "Where are the high officials? Are they still in the town center or are they somewhere else?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, they should be in the town center. Their carriage is still standing to the side, so this is most likely." The mercenary answered.


    Lin Mu rushed towards the entrance of the town center and was about to be stopped by the guards that were standing there. Not wanting to waste any time exining to them, Lin Mu started chanting the severing heart sutra and targeted the two guards.


    The effect of the chant was rather instantaneous as the eyes of the guards became dull and they entered a daze. With this done, Lin Mu easily entered the town center and looked around for Hei Wan.


    He kept his spirit sense spread around so that he could find them as soon as they entered his range. Not sensing them on this floor, Lin Mu proceeded to the next. He already had an idea that she would most likely be in the office of the Town Head but didn¡¯t want to make a mistake based on this assumption.


    Lin Mu¡¯s decision turned out to be for the better as he actually found Hei Bao right there on the second floor. The man also noticed him due to the spirit sense probe and looked at him. Seeing the tense expression on Lin Mu¡¯s face Hei Bao instantly understood that a new development must have happened.


    Guessing his thoughts, Hei Bao spoke.


    "Leader is upstairs, let¡¯s go."


    Lin Mu nodded and followed him upstairs. Now that he was with Hei Bao no one dared to stop him and he easily reached the top floor. Lin Mu saw Hei Wan exit the office and it looked like she was just about to go towards the balcony from where the announcements were made.


    "Hei Wan wait!" Lin Mu shouted.


    Hei Wan immediately turned to the source of the sound and saw Lin Muing towards her along with Hei Bao. She stopped in her tracks and waited for the two people to reach her.


    "What happened?" Hei Wan questioned.


    Hei Bao too focused on Lin Mu as he too wanted to know.


    "We found Zhou Yest night at the mercenary camp." Lin Mu spoke.


    A tense expression also appeared on the faces of the two people as they recognized the name.


    "Let¡¯s talk in the office." Hei Wan suggested.


    The trio walked into the office and then started talking. Lin Mu narrated the events ofst night to Hei Wan and Hei Bao. He told them about the injured Zhou Ye and headless Ashen Cloak mercenary.


    He told them about the ¡¯repulsive being¡¯ that had risen from the corpse of the dead mercenary and how he knew what it was. Lin Mu then told them about the events of this morning and the story told by Zhou Ye.


    After Lin Mu had finished talking, the two of them stood in silence for a bit before speaking.


    "This ¡¯Thing¡¯ that you saw, do you know what it is?" Hei Wan questioned first.


    "Yes... It is an Invader." Lin Mu answered in a grim tone.


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    The eyes of Hei Wan and Hei Bao went wide as they heard the word. It seemed as if they already knew what it meant or what it entailed.


    "So, it is an Invader... " Hei Bao repeated in ponder.


    "You know what they are?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, we do. This... is not the first time we¡¯ve heard it either." Hei Wan answered.


    "What? Where have you heard it before?" Lin Mu asked.


    Hei Wan let out a sigh and thought for a moment before speaking.


    "Not many people are aware of the existence of the invaders. Perhaps at this moment, only the higher-ups of cultivation sects and some aristocrats know of their existence. Even we only know of this because or lord had once spoken to us about this." Hei Wan replied.


    "But if you know about the invaders then..." Lin Mu spoke and was interrupted.


    "Yes, we know what they do. This is not the first time they have appeared." Hei Bao spoke.


    "Not the first time? They¡¯ve appeared before?" Lin Mu questioned again.


    "Indeed, while we don¡¯t know the exact details of it we do know that they once appeared a long time ago. And also that when they appeared they brought with them immense destruction." Hei Wan answered.


    Lin Mu stayed silent after hearing her answer and pondered over it for a minute.


    "Then I reckon you know what you should tell the people and what not?" Lin Mu asked.


    Hei Wan nodded her head and spoke.


    "Now I do. Thank you for rushing here and informing me, or this could have be a big disaster. I¡¯ll keep the details to a minimum and change the search for the beasts to only a vigil. We will still search for the culprits though.


    I¡¯ve already asked for more reinforcements and they should being soon. So it will be fine if the culprits get agitated as well, we want them to do exactly that and reveal themselves." Hei Wan exined.


    "But are you sure that the reinforcements will be enough to handle them?" Lin Mu asked doubtfully.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t think there would be much difference if more of the Hei Corps came. If anything it could actually end up causing a disadvantage to themselves.


    "Yes, I¡¯m sure of it. After all, this time there is a core condensation realm expert among the reinforcements." Hei Wan replied with a little smile that was hidden by the veil.

 Chapter 124 - Announcement

    <h4>Chapter 124 - Announcement </h4>


    Lin Mu would have never expected that there was going to be a core condensation realm expert in the reinforcements. If this was true, then it was perhaps going to be much better than he thought. It would help safeguard from anything too drastic and hopefully would be enough to stop the culprits.


    "I see, that¡¯s a relief. It will definitely be better." Lin Mu spoke.


    Then Lin Mu wondered if there was one core condensation realm expert in the reinforcements, then was it possible to get more of them. He also wondered how many core condensation realm experts there were in the Hei corps.


    "Do you have more core condensation realm experts? We would most likely need themter if we are to deal with the ¡¯Invader¡¯." Lin Mu questioned.


    "I think so too. You don¡¯t have to worry, more of them will be called in when it¡¯s the right time. In all, we have three core condensation realm experts." Hei Wan answered, feeling a little proud.


    Having more than one core condensation realm expert was often a thing of pride for most ns and organizations. Even the rich ns in the Wu Lim city didn¡¯t have any core condensation realm experts in them. Perhaps only the mayor was the one who was a core condensation realm expert and also had some subordinates that were core condensation realm experts as well.


    As for the Nascent Soul realm experts, they were considered very rare. Barely any ns in the Shuang Qian kingdom had those in their families, except for perhaps the royal family. Any nascent soul realm expert was qualified enough to start a cultivation sect of his own, thus this showed the level of prestige theymanded.


    Feeling a little better after hearing Hei Wan¡¯s words, Lin Mu nodded.


    "Now then, it¡¯s time for me to address themoners." Hei Wan replied.


    Lin Mu nodded and let her continue on her way. He and Hei Bao followed behind Hei Wan and apanied her to the balcony. Upon reaching there, Lin Mu stayed behind and let Hei Bao stand with Hei Wan. It would not be good of him to stand with them and would only bring him unnecessary attention.


    "Don¡¯t be too expectant of the core condensation realm experts, Lin Mu." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "I shouldn¡¯t be?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a little confused.


    "No, you should not. Any invader that can sessfully enter a world is a strong being. They would have to be at the Nascent soul realm at the very least if not higher in order to even sense the spatial fluctuations. So you can imagine their strength.


    Even if they are restricted by the world¡¯s will, they are still not to be taken lightly. There¡¯re more chances than not that the core condensation realm experts wouldn¡¯t even stand a few seconds against it.


    In this case though, it¡¯s just an avatar. So it could be possible if you take the right precautions. Still, you need to be extremely prepared for anything that woulde your way." Xukong exined.


    A serious expression appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face as heprehended Senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    "Yes Senior, you are right. We definitely cannot take this lightly. I¡¯ll take your advice to my heart and prepare for the worst." Lin Mu spoke in a determined voice.


    Xukong inwardly nodded upon seeing this and let out a sigh.


    ¡¯While he is rather obedient, he still needs to learn a lot. I only hope that I¡¯ll have enough time to teach him.¡¯ Xukong inwardly spoke with a helpless tone.


    Right now, Hei Wan had just opened the doors of the balcony and had walked out. Hei Bao was standing next to her and was keeping a sharp look out on the people. Lin Mu understood the reason for this and knew that being vignt was for the best.


    ¡¯We can¡¯t ease up right now. Better to be as alert as possible.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    In ordance with his thoughts, Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and kept a vignt gaze. Hei Wan had now finally started to speak, and everyone¡¯s gazes were on her at this moment.


    "Residents of Northern town. I have heard yourints and plights. I know what has happened and now I am going to resolve it. You have suffered for far too long and it was our dishonor that it was not taken seriously."


    Hei Wan took a deep breath and looked at the expectant faces of themoners, feeling a little empathic, remembering her own memories from the past.


    "I have decided that we are going to hunt down the culprits that are responsible for the recent incidents. As for the beast that has been wreaking havoc, we are going to hunt it too and are forming an elite team of experts for it."


    By now, faint expressions of happiness had appeared on the faces of themoners.


    Lin Mu was listening to her words and felt that they were good and should enough to assuage the people¡¯s fears. Even the mercenaries who had been wronged and falsely used should be favorable to this.


    But just as Lin Mu was thinking of this, he suddenly detected something in the range of his spirit sense. It was traveling fast and was only five meters away from Hei Wan and Hei Bao. rm bells rang in his mind as he acted on instinct.


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    Lin Mu Blinked to the two people and withdrew therge tower shield from the ring. He immediately put it in front of them and held on. Two nging sounds were heard as something collided with the shield. Lin Mu now knew that those two objects were actually crossbow bolts, whose tips were glistening with a ck liquid.


    "ASSASSINS!" Lin Mu warned.


    Hei Bao and Hei Wan immediately entered a battle-ready stance as they too focused on their spirit sense. While this was happening Hei Bao was a little shocked, as he was not able to sense the bolts even when they had entered his range. They were simply too fast for that. Yet, Lin Mu had fortunately and blocked them.


    Lin Mu was still holding out the tower shield in front of him. He kept on holding it with his right hand and withdrew the mask which Hei Shi had given him before. He wore it quickly, to ensure that he won¡¯t be exposed.


    He knew that the culprits were close, and he wanted to make sure that they were kept unaware.


    It was now that Hei Wan spoke up.


    "THERE! On the roofs, there are two of them."

 Chapter 125 - Assassins

    <h4>Chapter 125 - Assassins </h4>


    Lin Mu and Hei Bao heard her words clearly, and their eyes went towards the direction of her finger. They spotted the two assassins and locked on to them.


    The two assassins had evidently realized that they had failed in their attempt to kill Hei Wan and Hei Bao, thus they had turned around to escape.


    "GUARDS PROTECT THE COMMONERS! MERCENARIES LOOK OUT FOR YOUR COMPANIONS!" Hei Wan shouted.


    The guards that were standing in two files at the sides of the crowd immediately became already and acted on the orders that were issued. They surrounded the crowd and made sure that they were covered from all sides.


    The crowd was panicking, but was still responsive enough to listen to the words of Hei Wan and the guards. The mercenaries on the other hand were used to danger, thus they did not panic, but instead withdrew their respective weapons and got ready to fight.


    "We have been waiting for this moment, brothers! Time to show those culprits what it means to challenge us." A mercenary from the group shouted.


    "YEAHHH!!" The mercenaries shouted in unison, having no fear on their faces.


    The culprits were on the other side of the square on top of the buildings. They were already a good distance away, thus it would be a little difficult for Lin Mu and Hei Bao to catch up with them. Still, they weren¡¯t going to let them go.


    "I¡¯ll take the one on the right, you go after the left." Lin Mu spoke.


    Hei Bao nodded in response and jumped down onto the lower roof from the balcony, just as he had done yesterday. Lin Mu too did the same and went after the assassins.


    Lin Mu strengthened his legs with spirit qi and increased his speed. He leaped down from the roof and started running through the streets in the direction of the culprits. He ran for a bit and once he was sure that he was away from the eyes of people; he blinked to the top of the roof of a building.


    Once he was up there, he could see the culprit in the distance clearly. The culprit was still pretty far from him and he had to catch up with him. Lin Mu observed that while the culprit was far, he wasn¡¯t as fast as him.


    Lin Mu was steadily catching up to him. The culprit was running on the ground and thus had not spotted Lin Mu yet, who was high up on the roofs. Lin Mu would leap from roof to roof and when some of them were too far apart, he would just use blink to teleport to the other side with ease.


    Lin Mu¡¯s regr use of ¡¯Blink¡¯ had made it easy for him to maneuver through the buildings. In a minute, Lin Mu had caught up with the culprit and was on the right of him, up on the roof of a house. By now they had crossed up the central area and had entered the residential area.


    Because the houses were rtively smaller in size than the buildings in the central area, the culprit finally saw Lin Mu. If the culprit¡¯s face was not covered with a cloth, one would have been able to see an absolutely stunned expression on his face.


    Lin Mu took this moment where the culprit was stunned and blinked right behind him. The culprit just became even more shocked when the person in front of him had disappeared in the blink of an eye into thin air.


    Lin Mu appeared behind the culprit and punched the man on his head. While the punch was not strengthened with spirit qi, Lin Mu¡¯s tenth stage body tempering realm strength was already enough to knock him out instantly.


    The culprit fell on the ground and scattered the dust on it.


    <i>~Haah~ </i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath after ensuring that the man was incapacitated, but still alive. Honestly, he was a little unsure of his strength and had held back. He was a little worried that if he used too much strength, he may just end up killing the man instead of knocking him out.


    Lin Mu then realized that he actually didn¡¯t have a rope to tie the man with.


    "Ugh, I need to remember to buy more things now." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He then took out some clothes and wrapped them around the man¡¯s hands and legs to tie him up. Now that he was done with this, another question came to his mind. It was about transporting the culprit. He could just wait there for the guards toe, but he was worried that the culprit¡¯spanions may find him, or perhaps the culprit would free himself.


    Not having any other idea, Lin Mu just decided to put the man in his ring temporarily. Though he knew that he couldn¡¯t keep him in there for long or the man would suffocate.


    "Try to store some air in your ring. I¡¯ll restrict it in a ce so that the man can breathe in it." Xukong chimed in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up, and he replied.


    "Yes, senior."


    Lin Mu had actually tried storing air in his ring before, but the problem that urred was that the air would just diffuse in the environment inside the ring. Even senior Xukong had been unable to grasp the size of the space inside the ring, thus one could only imagine the sheer massiveness of it.


    No matter how much air Lin Mu tried storing in the ring, it would just end up spreading and would be useless. His previous experiment of storing beasts had already made him understand the consequences. But now that senior Xukong was helping him personally, it shouldn¡¯t be much of a problem for him.


    Lin Mu willed it, and the air in his surroundings started to enter his ring. He could actually see the dust in the surroundings, moving towards him. A minuteter he reckoned that he should have stored a sufficient amount of air in the ring, though he still couldn¡¯t estimate the exact quantity of it.


    "Don¡¯t worry, this should be enough air for him to breathe for an hour at least," Xukong spoke.


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    "If you say so, Senior." Lin Mu respectfully replied.


    He then stored the unconscious culprit in the ring and started running towards the direction of the second culprit. Lin Mu of course wouldn¡¯t leave Hei Bao alone to deal with the culprit. He actually didn¡¯t even know if Hei Bao had caught up with the culprit or not.

 Chapter 126 - Suicidal Culprit

    <h4>Chapter 126 - Suicidal Culprit </h4>


    Lin Mu climbed up on the roofs again as he knew that it would be nearly impossible to spot Hei Bao and the culprit on the ground. He used blink to quickly reach the top and started running towards the location that he was expecting them to be.


    Lin Mu leaped from roof to roof and soon reached the area that he was expecting Hei Bao to be in. Though when he looked around, he couldn¡¯t spot him anywhere. He wondered if he had gone further or were they at the back instead.


    Lin Mu knew that he was faster than the Hei Bao and the culprit, thus the chance of them being ahead was much less. He turned to the back and ran towards there. A couple of minutester, he saw the two men on the ground fighting and knew that his guess was right.


    "Let¡¯s get this done with." Lin Mu muttered.


    He then jumped down from the roof and approached the fighting duo. Hei Bao and the culprit easily spotted him. No change of expression could be seen on the face of Hei Bao, but Lin Mu could tell that the culprit was getting tense now.


    Lin Mu had already sensed the cultivation of the culprit and knew that he was at the mid stage of the qi refining realm, the same as the one he had captured before. While Hei Bao was at the peak stage of the qi refining realm, he wasn¡¯t using all his strength as he wanted to catch the culprit and not kill him.


    Lin Mu was just about to act when the culprit did something he had not expected. The culprit withdrew a ck pill from his sleeve and moved his face cover aside.


    "NOO!!" Hei Bao shouted.


    He lunged forward to restrain the culprit, but before he could do so, the culprit had already popped the pill in his mouth and swallowed it. Lin Mu too rushed forward and stood next to the culprit. He wanted to save him but was toote as the ck pill¡¯s effect started and the culprit started convulsing.


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    "It¡¯s no use. You can¡¯t save him now." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu simply nodded and kept on staring at the culprit who was now lying still on the ground, no longer convulsing.


    "We were toote. I should have just taken the risk and restricted him from the very start." Hei Bao spoke in regret.


    He then turned to look at Lin Mu and looked around.


    "I take it you lost your culprit?" Hei Bao asked.


    "No." Lin Mu replied while shaking his head.


    He then withdrew the unconscious man from his ring andid him down.


    "What!? You put him in a spatial treasure! Is he even alive?" Hei Bao eximed.


    It wasmon knowledge that living creatures usually cannot be kept in spatial treasures unless they are specially made for storing them. If one was to store a person or a beast in spatial treasure, they would just die of suffocation, if not from other reasons such as being splinched due to insufficient space or dismembered due to unstable space.


    "Don¡¯t worry, he wasn¡¯t there for more than a minute. I was close by." Lin Mu replied, not wanting to reveal much.


    Hei Bao nodded in response and then checked up on the culprit.


    He frisked the culprit¡¯s body and removed a few things from there. Lin Mu had not known that the culprits wouldmit suicide before, or he would have done the same thing. He had already knocked the culprit unconscious and had restrained him thus was not as worried.


    Hei Bao retrieved a pill and a small crossbow from the sleeve of the culprit, along with a small vial of ck liquid and a quiver of bolts from the culprit¡¯s waist. He also took away the dagger that was hidden in the culprits¡¯ clothes.


    The crossbow that Hei Bao had removed from the culprit, seemed to be intricately crafted and lookedplex. While its size was small enough to hide within the wide sleeves of the culprit, its range and power were still sufficient to kill someone.


    The crossbow was made mostly from some kind of metal and was slightly shiny as if it was polished to perfection.


    "What kind of crossbow is this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Hei Bao furrowed his brows while staring at the crossbow in his hand.


    "This is a special crossbow made for assassinations. There aren¡¯t many people that can make this and it is rather expensive to make as well. I think I know where these crossbows may havee from." Hei Bao answered.


    "Oh? Where are they from?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Wen Dao armaments, in Xiangwei city. They are specialists in hidden weapons such as these. Their workshop isn¡¯t as big as the other major ones, but because of their unique weapons they are rather rich and powerful." Hei Bao answered.


    "So this means that if we inquire there, we may be able to get the identity of the culprits?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not exactly. They won¡¯t reveal the names of their customers that easily, they are rather strict about keeping the privacy of their patrons. It will be difficult in finding out clues from them. We will need to figure out something else." Hei Bao replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Alright. Let¡¯s return back for now." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, let¡¯s go." Hei Bao responded.


    He then picked up the unconscious culprit from the ground and slung it on his back, while Lin Mu stored the other culprit, which was dead now in his ring. They began their journey back and reached the town center after five minutes.


    The crowd had dispersed by now, evidently having been moved to safety by the guards. There was still a squad of town¡¯s guards protecting the square though. The mercenaries were also standing there, looking a little frustrated and lost.


    Lin Mu had heard their shouts of vigor before, thus could guess that they had perhaps been unsessful in their endeavor. He could also see the Ming brothers standing beside Hei Wan along with a couple of more people.


    One of these people was the driver of Hei Wan¡¯s carriage and the other two were men who hadrge straw hats on their head¡¯s which hid their face. Hei Wan was vigntly observing the area along with the other cultivators, looking ready for anything.


    They soon spotted Hei Bao and Lin Mu, who were approaching from the far. After they reached Hei Wan¡¯s position, Hei Bao put down the unconscious culprit that he was carrying on his back.


    "We were able to capture this one, the other is dead." Hei Bao informed.

 Chapter 127 - Identity Of The Culprits?

    <h4>Chapter 127 - Identity Of The Culprits? </h4>


    The people present there currently furrowed their brows upon hearing Hei Bao¡¯s words.


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    "We¡¯ll make do with him. Have you seen his face yet?" Hei Wan spoke.


    "No, not yet. If they are death warriors as well, they probably have poison hidden in their face covers. I just didn¡¯t want to take the risk there." Hei Bao replied.


    "That was wise. We can check it once we go inside." Hei Wan spoke while nodding her head.


    She turned around and walked in through the entrance of the town center. The others followed behind, and Lin Mu did the same. Hei Wan went to a different room this time instead of the office. They went to a room that was on the second floor.


    The room was mostly empty, except for a table and a few chairs. The walls were made of stone and had no windows. The eight people walked in through the singr entrance and closed the door upon entering.


    "ce him on the chair and lock him with the chains." Hei Wan ordered.


    There were some chains and shackles that were kept on the table. It seemed like to Lin Mu that Hei Wan had already expected this and had prepared this beforehand. The diver of the carriage and Hei Bao went ahead and restrained the culprit with the chains and shackles.


    After this was done, Hei Bao carefully removed the face cover of the culprit, revealing the poison sacs that were hidden within. If someone else had carelessly removed the face cover, they would have just exposed themselves to the poison and would probably die.


    Hei Bao put the cloth that had the poison sacs attached to in a separate corner of the room, away from others. He then removed the finalyer of the cover from the face of the culprit, revealing his face.


    Though in the end, the revtion turned out to be disappointing as none of the people could recognize the man that was the culprit.


    "Anyone know who this is?" Hei Wan asked and looked around.


    Everyone shook their heads, denying that they did not know. Lin Mu tried to remember if he had ever seen this person before, but could not. Hei Bao walked towards Lin Mu and gestured for him to follow him. While walking, he whispered to him.


    "We need to see the other corpse too."


    "Ah yes. I¡¯ll take it out." Lin Mu replied after reaching out of the room.


    Lin Mu took out the corpse and carried it with Hei Bao to the room. The Ming Brothers looked at the corpse with interest and confusion. Lin Mu could guess what they were thinking. They ced the corpse on the ground, and Hei Bao did the same process again.


    He removed the cloth with the poison sacs and revealed the face of the culprit. This time Lin Mu recognized the face as his brows furrowed.


    "I know this person." Lin Mu stated.


    Everyone turned to look at Lin Mu upon hearing his words.


    "Who is it?" Hei Wan questioned.


    "I don¡¯t know his name, but I know that he¡¯s one of the guards that had disappeared after the beast attack." Lin Mu answered.


    The dead culprit was none other than one of the guards he had seen at the entrance of the town the night he had killed the ck-robed men.


    Hei Wan turned to the two men that were wearing therge straw hats that covered their faces.


    "Investigate their identities and find some guards that may know more about this dead ¡¯guard¡¯." Hei Wan ordered.


    The two men nodded and immediately left the room to carry out their orders. Finally, Hei Wan turned to look at the Ming brothers.


    "You two know that it¡¯s best if this information is kept confidential for now, right?" Hei Wan spoke in a cold tone.


    The Ming brothers immediately felt cold sweat appear on their backs upon seeing the cold stare of Hei Wan. While they couldn¡¯t actually see her face because of the veil, they could still feel the hidden pressure and intent.


    They hurriedly nodded to show their acknowledgment.


    "Good, then. Call in your leader, I¡¯ll discuss this with him." Hei Wan spoke.


    A relieved expression appeared on the faces of the two mute brothers, as they felt better that their leader was now going to be here instead. They nodded and cupped their hands in respect before leaving as well.


    Once they were gone from the room and the door was closed, Hei Wan let out a sigh.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Now we can speak freely." Hei Bao spoke.


    "Yes. What else did you two find out then?" Hei Wan questioned.


    Hei Bao then showed her the two crossbows in response, along with the other items he had retrieved from the two culprits. While Hei Wan did not seem to be bothered by most of the items, she still furrowed her brows upon seeing the crossbows.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Wen Dao armaments. It would have been so much easier if it was someone else. Why did it have to be them?" Hei Wan spoke with a helpless tone.


    "Will your lord be able to do something, maybe?" Lin Mu asked.


    Hei Wan shook her head upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s question.


    "No, unfortunately not. While Wen Dao armaments are rather secretive about their customers¡¯ identities, it would have not been much of a problem getting it from them. But the problem now is that they¡¯ve gained the backing of cultivation sect recently." Hei Wan exined.


    Hei Bao tilted his head in confusion after hearing this as well.


    "This is news to me. When did this happen? They must have done something to gain the cultivation sect¡¯s favor." Hei Bao questioned.


    "I found out about it recently as well, it only happened about a week ago. Apparently, some disciples from some cultivation sects took fancy to their workshop and decided to take them under their wing." Hei Wan answered.


    "Just disciples? What kind of a sect are they from that they can just take an influential and powerful workshop like Wen Dao armament under their wing?" Hei Bao asked with shock on his face.


    "We don¡¯t know. But looking at the cultivation base of the disciples, I fear that they may be from one of the top sects, perhaps. The disciples all had a cultivation base at the core condensation realm." Hei Wan answered.


    "WHAT!?"

 Chapter 128 - Requesting For Weapons

    <h4>Chapter 128 - Requesting For Weapons </h4>


    Neither Hei Bao nor anyone else had expected these words toe out of Hei Wan¡¯s mouth. Core Condensation realm experts were already a rarity in this region. Even in Wen Dao armaments, there was only one Core condensation realm expert.


    This Revtion was too much for them and they could only imagine the kind of sect the said disciples must havee from. Even in the top sects, most disciples were at the qi refining realm. Only the inner sect disciples were at the core condensation realm, along with a few core disciples.


    "This means that... they are at the very least inner sect disciples." Hei Bao stated.


    Hei Wan shook her head helplessly in acknowledgment.


    "That is true, and seeing their numbers, I doubt they can be from anywhere except a top sect." Hei Wan spoke.


    Hei Bao then realized that they still didn¡¯t know how many disciples were there. He turned his eyes to Hei Bao in a questioning manner.


    "There were eleven disciples at the core condensation realm and fifteen at the peak stage of the qi refining realm." Hei Wan answered upon seeing the gaze of Hei Bao.


    At this point, even Lin Mu was left speechless and could not know what to make of this. It seemed to him that another one of their avenues had been blocked by misfortune. It was now that he heard the voice of senior Xukong again.


    "It doesn¡¯t matter to us as much for now. You need to focus on the Invader instead, that is what¡¯s going to be more problematic in the long run." Xukong advised.


    "Yes senior, you¡¯re right." Lin Mu replied while gently nodding his head to himself.


    He then looked at the faces of the people in the room and thought about what they should be doing next.


    <i>~Ahem~</i>


    Lin Mu coughed and pulled their attention towards himself.


    "Now then, we still need to focus on the current situation." Lin Mu reminded.


    Hei Bao and Hei Wan let out a breath and nodded their head in eptance.


    "You¡¯re right. We shouldn¡¯t be distracted by needless things for now." Hei Wan spoke.


    "So, when are the reinforcementsing?" Lin Mu questioned Hei Wan.


    "The majority of them should be here within a week, but the core condensation realm expert will take around ten days to reach." Hei Wan answered.


    Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion upon hearing her words.


    "Why is it taking him so long?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You see, the Core condensation expert was very far from us. We only sent the message to him four days ago. While he should have received the message by now, it will still take him a long time to reach here." Hei Wan answered.


    "What was his location before this?" Hei Bao asked, feeling strange.


    "The ck Dawn kingdom." Hei Wan answered.


    "Hmm, that makes sense. Crossing the borders and the counties would take that much time." Hei Bao replied.


    Lin Mu was not expecting that the core condensation realm expert would being from so far. He had heard of ck Dawn Kingdom before and knew that it was the neighboring kingdom of Shuang Qian Kingdom. It was located to the west of it and was nearly the same size as that of the Shuang Qian kingdom.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know much about the ck Dawn kingdom, except that it was a rather barren kingdom and didn¡¯t have much farnd. The onlymon thing between the Shuang Qian Kingdom and the ck Dawn kingdom was that the Northern Forest existed in both Kingdoms. It was thergest forest in the Northern Lands and spanned across the three frontier kingdoms.


    Lin Mu had only heard of some tidbits from the traveling merchants that had oncee to the northern town and had been to the ck Dawn kingdom before. He had heard from them that it took over two months to reach the ck Dawn kingdom from the Northern Town if they traveled by a carriage.


    ¡¯If that expert is able to reach here in ten days, then it¡¯s still rather quick.¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.


    "Well then, what should I do in that period?" Lin Mu asked.


    Hei Wan turned to Lin Mu and thought for a bit before speaking.


    "We¡¯ll be discussing this matter with the mercenaries first, we can do that as soon as they reach here. As for the rest and considering the matter of the ¡¯Invader¡¯ I think we can only proceed after all the reinforcements are here." Hei Wan answered.


    Lin Mu nodded after hearing her answer and thought it was reasonable. He didn¡¯t want them to rush in headfirst and make a mistake which they cannot afford.


    "You can do whatever you want in the meantime. We will contact you when we need your help. We are also going to assign people to help the mercenaries keep a watch on their camp, so you don¡¯t need to be bothered with it. As for the culprits, we will be interrogating this person and investigate further." Hei Wan exined.


    ¡¯That should give me enough time to cultivate till I reach thete stage of the qi refining realm, hopefully.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Seeing Lin Mu lost in thought, an idea appeared in Hei Wan¡¯s mind.


    "Do you perhaps need something from us? You¡¯ve helped us plenty until now, so we shouldpensate you." Hei Wan spoke.


    Lin Mu raised his brows upon hearing her words. He then thought over the things that he had been desiring: Weapons.


    He had tried buying them from the shops in the town but was unable to get them here. He had been told that he would need to get them from the Wu Lim City as they were rather unorthodox and were not popr enough in this area.


    "I do want something." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh? What do you want?" Hei Wan asked.


    "I want weapons." Lin Mu replied.


    "Well, that can be easily arranged. Just tell me what kind of weapons you want and we¡¯ll get them for you." Hei Wan spoke in an assuring tone.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t reply to her straightaway, but instead withdrew a roll of paper from his ring. This roll of paper had the list of the weapons that he needed for training with the ¡¯Thousand Armament de Scripture¡¯. He had long since made this list, as he had not been able to find them in any of the shops here.


    Lin Mu passed the roll of paper to Hei Wan, who promptly took it.


    Upon seeing the roll of paper, Hei Wan thought that perhaps Lin Mu wanted some specific type of weapon and that its design was written on the paper. But when she unrolled it and read it, she was stunned.


    It wasn¡¯t the design for a weapon on the roll of paper, but rather an entire list of weapons. She roughly nced over at them and realized that there were more than three hundred weapons on there. Some of them weremon weapons, while the others were unorthodox and rare.


    She couldn¡¯t imagine why Lin Mu would need these weapons. While themon and umon weapons were fine with her, but some of the weapons that were mentioned on the list were simply unheard of to her. She had never seen names such as these.


    Hei Bao approached Hei Wan and curiously peeked on the roll of paper that was in her hands.


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    "This... this is enough to equip a small army!" Hei Bao eximed.


    Hei Bao was rather shocked by this and didn¡¯t know how Lin Mu would even use them.


    ¡¯He couldn¡¯t possibly carry them all, could he? Even if he stored them in his high-grade spatial treasure, will he even have enough space for them?¡¯ Hei Bao thought.


    Hei Wan removed her eyes from the roll of paper in her hands and looked up at Lin Mu again.


    "Are you sure that you want these?" Hei Wan questioned.


    "Yes, I¡¯m sure. I want all of those weapons." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu was actually not expecting to get all of the weapons. He knew that getting all of them would be an expensive affair, thus he would be happy with even a quarter of the weapons.


    "Fine, then. I¡¯ll have them imported from the Wu Lim city. Though I don¡¯t know how much time it would take as some of them would probably have to be custom made." Hei Bao replied.


    ¡¯Wait, she¡¯s actually getting me all of them? That¡¯s makes it easy then.¡¯ Lin Mu inwardly spoke, feeling surprised.


    He suppressed his surprise and made sure that it was not disyed on his face before speaking again.


    "That¡¯s fine, I will wait for them. Thank you for the offer though." Lin Mu spoke in a grateful tone.


    Hei Wan simply nodded and gestured to one of the men with the straw hats. She handed the list to him and told him to get it ready. The man epted and left the room to carry out his given task.


    "I¡¯ll retreat for now then. I¡¯ll be at my house, so you know where to find me." Lin Mu stated before leaving the room as well.

 Chapter 129 - Giving The Seized Items To Hei Wan

    <h4>Chapter 129 - Giving The Seized Items To Hei Wan </h4>


    But just as Lin Mu had stepped out of the room, the voice of senior Xukong was heard in his head.


    "Didn¡¯t you want to give them the things you have taken from the mayor¡¯s office?" Xukong questioned.


    Lin Mu suddenly realized that he had forgotten about this in the situation and knew that he should do this before going. He thus turned around in that second, and the people inside the room witnessed this. Hei Bao had a confused expression as he saw him suddenly return.


    "Did you need anything else?" Hei Wan questioned.


    "Ah, yes. I forgot to give some things to you people." Lin Mu answered.


    Hei Wan tilted her head in a questioning manner, as she then saw Lin Mu withdrew multiple items from his spatial treasure and ced them on the ground and the table.


    There were scrolls, registers, ledgers, documents, and some random items in it. Though a shocked expression appeared on her face when she saw the golden shining bars in Lin Mu¡¯s hand.


    But that wasn¡¯t the end of it as Lin Mu kept on withdrawing one golden bar after the other until finally, a small pile of around forty gold bars was formed on the table.


    ~Gasp~


    "This... this..." Hei Bao stuttered upon seeing the pile of gold on the table.


    "Where did you get this? Wait, is this all from the town head¡¯s office?" Hei Wan questioned upon identifying some of the missing things from the office.


    Lin Mu nodded in response as he spoke.


    "Yes, I got all of these from the town head¡¯s office. I thought they would have clues, and it didn¡¯t seem right to trust anyone else at that time, so I just kept them with me."


    Hei Wan nodded as she understood his reasoning. Until now, they were notpletely sure about the identities of the culprits, thus knew that it would be best to remain cautious.


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    "That¡¯s fine, you did well." Hei Wan replied as she kept on looking at the items.


    Lin Mu then extended his hand toward the gold and picked up one of the bars. He pointed at the engraving on it and showed it to Hei Wan.


    "Do you know what this is?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling a bit uneasy.


    Hei Wan looked at it and instantly recognized the markings on the gold bars.


    "Yes, I know. These are the gold bars which are issued by the kingdom to various towns and cities for their financial needs." Hei Wan answered.


    The moment Lin Mu heard her answer, the suspicions within his mind were confirmed as he gritted his teeth and clenched his other hand. Faint traces of anger appeared in his eyes as his aura changed slightly.


    Both Hei Wan and Hei Bao noticed this change and knew that something had gone wrong. Hei Wan particrly felt the faint killing intent she had felt from Lin Mu before, emanating again.


    "Wha-what¡¯s wrong?" Hei Wan asked with concern.


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and silently chanted the calming heart sutra to suppress the rage that was rising from within him. He knew that this was not the right time, and he needed to be clear headed at this time.


    A few secondster the calming heart sutra showed its effects and Lin Mu returned to his normal self. He took a deep breath and looked at Hei Wan.


    "This gold is for the use of the town, right? So that the people can take benefit from it when they have problems. But the town head never did that here. The people have always suffered in the winters." Lin Mu answered in one breath.


    Hei Wan understood his words and knew what he was meaning.


    "I can swear on my lord, I¡¯ll get to the end of this and ensure that justice is done." Hei Wan replied in an assuring tone.


    Lin Mu simply nodded and just left the room. He thought that he shouldn¡¯t spend any more time here as it would just keep on bothering him. He could also see that Hei Wan was speaking from her heart and decided to trust her to deal with it.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what he would do if the matter was left up to him. He feared that he may end up doing something that he would perhapse to regretter. Thus he decided that it would be better for him to just focus on his cultivation.


    After Lin Mu was gone from the room, Hei Bao¡¯s brows furrowed with confusion. He turned to Hei Wan and looked at her. At this point, there was no one else except for the two of them left in the room.


    "He is not fine, is he?" Hei Bao asked.


    Hei Wan shook her head before speaking.


    "No... but he will be, I know it. Whatever he¡¯s dealing with right now, he needs to get through it himself. From the short time we have been acquainted, I¡¯ve understood one thing, and that is that he is a self-reliant person. He would function better if he deals with it himself." Hei Wan exined.


    "If you say so. I just hope that he recovers quickly and doesn¡¯t enter a dark ce. I... fear him." Hei Bao spoke with apprehension.


    Hei Wan¡¯s eyes went wide as she focused on Hei Bao.


    "You felt it too?!" Hei Wan questioned.


    "Do you mean the change in his aura?" Hei Bao counter questioned.


    "Yes. I thought it was just me, but now it seems like his aura has indeed changed. Before only I could feel it because it was faint, but now that you can too. That just means that his killing intent is growing stronger." Hei Wan answered.


    "He wasn¡¯t like this when we first met him, though. He only changed after he met the town head and killed him." Hei Bao spoke.


    "Hmm, that is true. That just means that I need to investigate this matter even more closely. After all, I¡¯ve given him my word." Hei Wan replied.


    Hei Bao then went silent for a bit and rubbed his chin, before speaking again.


    "Are you sure the lord will be fine with such arge expense? Just the sheer quantity of weapons in that list is troubling, not to mention that some of them will have to be custom made." Hei Bao questioned with a concerned tone.


    ~Sigh~


    Hei Wan let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead in fatigue.


    "The lord¡¯s letter arrived this morning. It was in response to the first report that I gave him about Lin Mu. He¡¯s ordered that everything is to be done to keep him on our side and to ensure that no enmity urs. The expense on the weapons is nothingpared to what he¡¯s willing to spend." Hei Wan answered.


    "But don¡¯t you find that it¡¯s strange he¡¯s asking for so many weapons? It¡¯s enough to equip a small army. What would he even do with so many of them?" Hei Bao asked, unable to suppress the doubts within his heart.


    "Whatever it may be, it¡¯s not our concern now. The Lord has given us our orders and they are to befriend Lin Mu and make him our ally. We will just do our best to satisfy the request." Hei Wan replied in a stern tone.


    Hei Bao noticed her strict tone and understood that he was now starting to perhaps bother her a lot more than he should. He thus decided to change the topic.


    "About our reinforcements, where are theying from? And about the core condensation realm expert, is the lord really willing to use them?" Hei Bao asked.


    ~Sigh~


    Hei Wan let out another sigh as she just decided to answer his queries. While she wanted nothing more than to just return to her work, she understood that Hei Bao had the right to ask her these questions, and it would be better if he was clear about their situation.


    "The reinforcements areing from our inactive members. They are all those who had been disguising themselves asmoners and a few other people from the corps. As for the core condensation realm expert, we were lucky that he was able toplete his mission early." Hei Wan took a brief pause and then continued.


    "We were originally unsure about the background of Lin Mu and had suspicions that he belonged to a sect. We also didn¡¯t know about the personality of Lin Mu, thus the Lord had chosen that person toe. He is the most experienced in interacting and dealing with disciples of cultivations sects, thus he was the best choice.??? Hei Wan exined.


    "Let¡¯s just hope everything goes well." Hei Bao spoke as he turned towards the unconscious culprit.


    A grim expression appeared on his face as he walked towards the culprit that was chained to the chair and spoke, "In the meantime... we can have some fun."


    He then firmly held the unconscious culprits¡¯ fingers and in a snap, bent them.


    "AAAAGHHH!!!!"


    The pain-filled shouts of the culprits thus echoed in the room, as he had a rude awakening.

 Chapter 130 - The Eleventh Stage Of The Body Tempering Realm

    <h4>Chapter 130 - The Eleventh Stage Of The Body Tempering Realm </h4>


    Lin Mu had left the town center and was now walking towards his house. He took in the sights and the sounds from the surroundings. Most of the streets had be rather empty except for the guards that would patrol at every few intervals.


    Lin Mu knew that this was due to the assassination. Hei Wan had already ordered the guards to take the people to safety, so they were most likely in their homes now. He knew that now that the matter had been resolved on a certain level, the people will most likely get the notice by evening.


    Lin Mu looked up at the sky and saw the sun, which was just about to reach the top of his head. He estimated that it should be eleven am right now and knew that he had plenty of daylight left. The days had finally started to get short, and the clouds were starting to get dense.


    There were three more months to the end of the winter, and in another month the sun would bepletely hidden till the start of spring. That would be the time when the cold would be the harshest and the snow the deepest.


    Lin Mu could still remember thest year¡¯s blizzards clearly. The snow was knee deep and people could not open their doors as the snow was piled up against their doors. Lin Mu knew that some people would start to run low on supplies and would have to ration them.


    He hoped that this time since Hei Wan was here and the town head was dead, the things would be different.


    "And if they are not, I will make them..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as another fluctuation in his aura appeared.


    Lin Mu kept on walking and eventually reached the residential district. He could now see some people here discussing with each other. He could hear them gossip about the incident from before and the announcement. Lin Mu understood that they seemed to be slightly more satisfied this time.


    ¡¯At least the people have hope this time.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Soon Lin Mu reached his house and saw someone standing in front of it. He looked at the man¡¯s attire and understood that it was a guard. But the suspicious thing was that he hadn¡¯t seen the guard before, and he seemed to be someone new.


    Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and was surprised to find out that the guard was actually a cultivator. He instantly became alert and ideas started to run in his mind.


    ¡¯Is he one of the culprits? Are they disguising as guards now?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered as he withdrew his sword and continued forwards silently.


    The guard was facing the other way thus he had not seen Lin Mu yet, and he had not even sensed it when Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense had probed him.


    ¡¯Hmm, it seems like he hasn¡¯t experience spirit sense before. He¡¯s also at the early stage of the qi refining realm, this will be easy. Seems like we will have another culprit to interrogate.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu looked around one more time and confirmed that no one was watching him. Once he was sure of that, he used blink and appeared right behind the guard. He then put up his short sword against the man¡¯s neck.


    "Don¡¯t even try to move. One move and I¡¯ll slice your neck. Now tell me who are you?" Lin Mu spoke in a threatening manner.


    The guard who had been carefree this entire time felt as if he was doused with cold water. He had not expected for someone to suddenly seize him. But then the next instant he recognized the voice and his eyes went wide.


    "Wait! Sir Lin Mu! It¡¯s me, Hei Ping!" The guard hurriedly spoke.


    Lin Mu tilted his head upon hearing the guard and then suddenly recognized the voice. Though he still didn¡¯t move as he was still feeling suspicious. The guard saw this and knew that Lin Mu was still wary of him.


    "Sir Lin Mu, I was assigned by leader Hei Wan to guard and serve you. If you needed anything, I was asked to be there for you. I was assigned the position of a guard so that it would be easier for us." The guard exined.


    Only after hearing the man¡¯s exnation did Lin Mu withdrew the sword from the man¡¯s neck. Lin Mu then remembered the man named Hei Ping¡¯s voice. He had seen him before, but because the man was wearing the mask, he could not recognize him. Hei Ping was one of the other members of the Hei Corps that had recently returned to the safe house.


    "Hmm, should have informed me before." Lin Mu spoke.


    Hei Ping took a deep breath and touched his neck, ensuring that it was safe.


    "That¡¯s what I was here for sir, to inform you." Hei Ping spoke in a helpless tone.


    "Okay then. So where are you going to stay?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Since I¡¯ve been assigned the duty of a guard, I¡¯ll be here most of the time. There are more of mypanions who will be patrolling the street and neighborhood too. But if you need anything, just call for me. I will also be informing you of any report thates from the leader." Hei Ping exined.


    "I understand, for now I¡¯m going to be resting inside." Lin Mu replied and then unlocked the gate of the courtyard.


    He then walked inside and entered the backyard. He came to stand in front of the graves that were situated there. He kneeled down and closed his eyes.


    "Father, Mother, please bless me with strength. I know the journey in front of me is long and is going to be difficult, but know this that I will prevail." Lin Mu muttered with determination.


    Lin Mu then stayed there in the same position for a couple of hours before he stood up and returned to the inside of the house. Unknown to Lin Mu, his aura that had be slightly unstable since the morning had finally be calm after visiting the graves of his parents.


    Lin Mu could feel his stomach rumble and then realized that he had not eaten anything for a while.


    "Hmm, I¡¯ll eat some food before cultivating." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He thus took out the spirit beast meat from his spatial ring and started to cook it in the kitchen. Twenty minutester the roast meat was ready and Lin Mu started devouring it. With his current appetite, it didn¡¯t take long for Lin Mu topletely finish it.


    Lin Mu then returned to his bedroom and sat down on his bed cross-legged to cultivate. But just five minutester, a surprised expression appeared on his face as he was awakened from his session. A wave of energy emanated from his body for a brief moment, and it almost seemed like one could see his bones shining through his flesh.


    "I broke through..." Lin Mu muttered.


    Indeed, Lin Mu had just broken through to the eleventh stage of the body tempering realm and had entered the peak tier of body tempering stage experts. His vital energy was flowing into his bones and was even touching his bone marrow.


    A refreshing feeling washed over his mind as he felt his entire body rx. It was as if his body¡¯s cells were exhrating in joy and had be extremely active. In fact, a minuteter, faint wisps of steam could be seen emanating from his body.


    "Wha-What!?" Lin Mu spoke with surprise.


    "FOCUS! Feel the vital energy within you and guide it on its path. Let it flow to your bones and wash your marrows." Xukong guided in a stern tone.


    Lin Mu did not speak and just followed the instructions. He continued chanting the calming heart sutra and focused on the flow of the vital energy. He could sense the vital energy that was filling his skin, muscles, and blood.


    This vital energy had been at an extremely saturated stage and was close to breaking out at any moment. Lin Mu¡¯s current situation just turned out to be the most suitable, thus it broke through. The vital energy from these threeyers started to seep into his bones.


    Even though the energy was flowing into his bones, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t actually feel any decrease in the energy from those threeyers. It was as if the energy was instantly reced the moment it flowed away.


    This cycle of replenishment and consumption continued for an hour until finally, Lin Mu felt as if his bones were saturated as well. He had just reached the peak of the eleventh stage of the body tempering realm in one attempt.


    <i>~Huuu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath and expelled a wisp of gray gas from his mouth. This gray gas traveled forward and touched the wooden wall of the room. But when it touched it, the wall suddenly started corroding.N?velDrama.Org owns all ? content.

 Chapter 131 - Late Stage Of The Qi Refining Realm

    <h4>Chapter 131 - Late Stage Of The Qi Refining Realm </h4>


    A sizzling sound was heard as the corrosion on the wall spread out for a few centimeters before stopping. Lin Mu heard the sound and felt shocked at this. He didn¡¯t know what had just happened and felt confused at that.


    He stood up and walked closer to inspect the wall and saw that a depression about half a centimeter was formed and it was about two inches in diameter. The gas that had touched the wall had dissipated and no traces of it could be seen.


    The only thing Lin Mu could sense on the wall was the shallow depression and nothing else.


    "What was that Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "..."


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    "Umm, Senior?" Lin Mu reiterated.


    "Hmm, I do not know exactly. It seems to be the impurities being expelled from your body, but they shouldn¡¯t be this corrosive." Xukong answered.


    "What¡¯s wrong here?" Lin Mu asked, feeling more confused.


    "You see, by tempering your body, not only do you increase its strength and toughness but also improve its quality. This improvement in quality is brought about by removing the impurities from your body." Xukong replied.


    "But how do these impurities appear in my body, though?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They are the result of you consuming sustenance. This can be in any form whether it be food or spirit qi. Everything has faint traces of impurities in them. These impurities slowly umte in your body over time and hide within it. For mortals, it does not matter as much, since their life span is not that long, but for cultivators, it is very important as it dictates the improvement in their cultivation and longevity." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu finally started to feel like he was understanding it on some level, but he was still confused about the vtility of the impurity that he had just expelled.


    "But senior are the impurities really as dangerous as the one from now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, while they can be threatening to a cultivator, that is only in terms of hampering and restricting their cultivation but not actually directly harming them. The gas that you expelled was spirit qi impurity, but it seemed to be corrosive. I do not know the reason for this, but know that it¡¯s only good for you since it¡¯s being expelled." Xukong answered.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu replied.


    After this, Lin Mu went back to sitting in a cross-legged position on the bed and continued his cultivation session. He closely observed his body and realized that he was already at the border of the twelfth stage of the body tempering realm.


    "Senior, I¡¯m already very close to the twelfth stage of the body tempering realm somehow." Lin Mu informed.


    "I think I can deduce the reason, perhaps. It seems to me that the impurity that you expelled may have been restricting your vital energy from breaking into the next stage. The vital energy within your body kept on being stockpiled and only now when it couldn¡¯t store anymore did it breakthrough and pushed you to the border of the twelfth stage of the body tempering realm. That impurity was quite likely the barrier that was restricting you." Xukong exined.


    "So does this mean that if I want to progress to the next stage, I¡¯ll need to expel more of those impurities?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, that¡¯s possible. This will also improve your spirit qi cultivation, in fact. You will soon notice the difference." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu inwardly nodded and focused on his cultivation session. He circted the spirit qi in his meridians andpleted a cycle. He then discovered that the speed of his cirction had increased by around thirty percent.


    It was as if there were invisible obstructions that he couldn¡¯t see before, and now that they were gone he felt free. The spirit qi in his dantian flowed into his meridians andpleted a cycle, returning back into the dantian. The cycle thus triggered the fine pores on his body to open up and absorb the ambient spirit qi.


    With each subsequent cycle, more and more spirit qi would be added to his dantian. Such was the way of cultivation. In the blink of an eye, it was time for sunset. Lin Mu could not even sense the passage of time, as he was too engrossed in his cultivation.


    He only woke up as he was feeling hungry again. In the past few days, he had been restricting his hunger and had been sustaining himself on qi, thus he did not feel hungry back then. But now that he was back to his normal routine, his hunger had returned as well.


    Lin Mu thus cooked more spirit beast meat and then ate it. After that, he would assimte the vital energy from it and once again return to cultivate. Only at midnight would he stop and sleep. Lin Mu had also not slept for the past few days, thus his lessons on the Dao script had fallen behind.


    Now that he finally had the chance to learn it again, he didn¡¯t want to let it go. He thusid down on the bed and fell asleep. His consciousness appeared in the Sleepscape, right in front of the spirit apple tree.


    Lin Mu looked up and saw twelve spirit apples hanging from the tree.


    "Looks like they will continue to umte if I don¡¯t pick them." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    He then walked towards the tree and plucked the twelve apples before storing them in the ring. After that was done, he called out to Senior Xukong for their lessons. He learned the Dao script from senior Xukong for the rest of the night and only stopped when it was time for him to wake up.


    Lin Mu repeated this cycle for six days and only paused it when he was called out. The Hei corps member that had been working as a guard outside, Hei Ping had called out to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu walked outside and talked to him. From his conversation, he learned about the current developments and progress in the investigation. He was informed that they had learned nearly no clues from the culprit they had captured.


    Since the culprit was a death warrior, he had kept all information to himself and had instead chosen to let himself die. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how he died, but could guess that it was most likely due to torture. He didn¡¯t mind that since he knew that they were deserving of it.


    Lin Mu was also informed that the first batch of reinforcements had reached the town and more would being soon.


    "So am I needed there now?" Lin Mu questioned Hei Ping at the end.


    "No. Leader has instead asked that you focus on your cultivation and not to bother with minor matters. She said that she will inform you when something important and deserving of your time happens." Hei Ping answered.


    After hearing the answered Lin Mu nodded his head and bid the man farewell.


    Lin Mu returned to his routine and continued his cultivation for three more days. On the fourth day, a wave of spirit qi spread out from his body. His eyes trembled, but he didn¡¯t open them. His chants were echoing in the room now, resonating with the waves of spirit qi.


    If one were to look inside Lin Mu¡¯s dantian at this time, they would see that it waspletely filled with wisps of spirit qi. There was no more space for additional wisps of spirit qi to enter. Right now, Lin Mu was at a very important point in his cultivation.


    He was at the very cusp of entering thete stage of the qi refining realm. In order to enter thete stage of the qi refining realm, a cultivator had topletely fill his dantian with the spirit qi and then needed to refine those wisps into a liquid form.


    As soon as the first drop of liquid spirit qi was produced, that cultivator would have sessfully entered the Late stage of the qi refining realm. But this very step was hard, since refining spirit qi wisps into liquid spirit qi was a vtile process.


    One small mistake and the spirit qi could go on a rampage through the cultivator¡¯s meridians, causing them harm and regressing their cultivation.


    Lin Mu was currently in a deeply focused state. He did not even need to chant the severing heart sutra consciously anymore, as it had be like a second nature to him. His lips would move automatically and the chants woulde out of them.


    With incredible focus, he circted more and more of spirit qi through his meridians. He kept on doing it until when finally it had reached a saturation point and his meridians could no longer amodate more sprite qi.


    It was at this point that he kept on pressuring the spirit qi and finally squeezed more in. Bit by bit he kept on adding, and the wisps of spirit qi became smaller and smaller. Eventually, they had be condensed enough to form a small globule.


    This small globule flowed through his meridians and finally reached Lin Mu¡¯s dantian. As soon as it dropped down into it, another wave of spirit qi spread from his body and spread out in the surroundings.


    But this time, the mysterious ring on Lin Mu¡¯s hand also started humming along with it. The waves of sprite qi started resonating with the humming of the ring and melded together. It was as if an esoteric harmony was being yed and minstrels were singing hymns.


    The harmony reached a crescendo, and Lin Mu¡¯s body disappeared from the room.

 Chapter 132 - The Third Skill Phase

    <h4>Chapter 132 - The Third Skill ''Phase'' </h4>


    When Lin Mu opened his eyes, he found himself in front of a glowing ethereal altar. It was releasing waves of energy that resonated with the waves of spirit qi from Lin Mu¡¯s body. Lin Mu could clearly feel the call of the altar within his mind.


    "Am I inside the ring?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    ¡¯Wait if I¡¯m here, shouldn¡¯t senior Xukong be here as well?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Senior Xukong!" Lin Mu called out.


    His voice didn¡¯t travel far, and it was as if it was dampened by some kind of a barrier. Lin Mu tried to call him out using his mental connection and found out that it was blocked as well.


    "Is this the doing of the altar?" Lin Mu muttered as he turned around to face it again.


    ¡¯Seems like I need to do what it¡¯s asking of me before I can do anything.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu thus walked to the altar and ced his hand on it like thest time he did when he came here. As soon as he did, his vision cked out and streaks of light started emitting from the altar. These streaks of light floated out of it and entered Lin Mu¡¯s head.


    At this moment, Lin Mu felt as if new memories were being etched in his mind. He could feel that this new information did not seem to be foreign and was instead assimted into his mind. It was as if he had known it all along.


    A few secondster, the process waspleted, and Lin Mu¡¯s vision returned. He lifted his hand from the altar and the altar dimmed down to its normal form. The runes on it also became faint and would flicker from moment to moment.


    Once this was done, Lin Mu could finally feel the mental connection between him and senior Xukong being restored. Knowing this, his eyes lit up.


    "Senior Xukong!" Lin Mu called out again.


    This time he finally received a response and soon saw an orb of gray light approaching from far. The orb of light came to a stop in front of him and faded away to reveal senior Xukong. When Lin Mu saw him, he felt a little surprised.


    "Senior Xukong, Wha-what happened to you?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I just increased in size," Xukong answered.


    If Xukong was small enough to fit on a fingertip before, now he was big enough to bepared to the size of a palm.


    "But how?" Lin Mu asked, feeling surprised.


    The drastic difference was surprising to Lin Mu. While he had seen senior Xukong¡¯s real body and knew how massive it was,pared to his previous tiny size, this was still big. In fact, Lin Mu didn¡¯t think he had ever seen a spider that was this big before in the real world.


    Xukong¡¯s current appearance could be described to be as having a pale and bony white body. His abdomen was bloated and was ten times as big as his head. Eight legs sprouted from his body and had ends that were sharp. There were no hairs on his legs or on his body, unlike other spiders, as it waspletely smooth. His head had Eight golden yellow eyes on it that glowed with an eerie light. His fangs were a centimeter long and were gray in color.


    Overall, if one were to see Xukong outside in the real world, they would be scared because of his form. But in addition to being scary, it also had a certain charm that was hard to exin. It was as if one was appreciating the beauty of a sword. While it was sharp and dangerous, it still had a mysterious sense of beauty hidden in its craftsmanship.


    Lin Mu then saw senior Xukong¡¯s head and saw the eight eyes on there.


    "Huh, senior did your number of eyes decrease?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Before since Xukong was very small in size, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t perceive the fifth pair of eyes on Xukong¡¯s head. They were the smallest pair and were hard to perceive with his small size. They were very apparent on his main body, but on his avatar, they were nearly invisible. Lin Mu had just thought that he wasn¡¯t able to see them because of their small size.


    "No, they¡¯ve been the same since I created this avatar. It¡¯s because my avatar doesn¡¯t have my cultivation base, that it does not have the fifth pair of eyes." Xukong answered.


    "So your number of eyes increases along with your cultivation?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, but not exactly. You see, beasts have different changes they go through when they progress in their cultivation. These changes are different depending on the beast and its cultivation base. For me it¡¯s my eyes, you could say. Though, I can¡¯t tell you when I¡¯ll be able to gain my fifth pair of eyes back as that realm is way beyond your scope of understanding." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t question it and simply epted senior Xukong¡¯s words as it is. He then felt as if his body was getting lighter. Lin Mu looked at his hands and saw that they were getting blurry.


    "Seems like you will have to return to the real world now. Your body has reached its limit here." Xukong spoke.


    "It has?" Lin Mu questioned, remembering his previous visits to the ring.


    "Yes, did you forget that this ce doesn¡¯t have a livable environment? Every time youe here, the ring helps to maintain your body¡¯s functions. But the thing is that it can only do it for so long before it will start hurting your body instead." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu went silent for a moment before asking,


    "Then will I be able to enter the ring on my own in the future?"


    "Yes, when your cultivation base reaches a strong enough level, you should be able to enter the ring at will," Xukong answered.


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    Just as Lin Mu heard Senior Xukong¡¯s words, his body faded away and reappeared in the real world. He looked around and saw the familiar walls and bed. He was currently standing on the floor in the same position, he was back in the ring. He had been transported in the same position.


    Lin Mu sat down on the bed and recalled the new memories that he had received from the altar. The new memories detailed the information about a new skill. It was the third skill Lin Mu had received from the ring and it was called ¡¯Phase¡¯.


    Unlike before, when Lin Mu had to stumble and experiment to understand the usage of the skills, this time he had senior Xukong to consult with. While Lin Mu had the instinctual knowledge of the activation of the skill, he still didn¡¯t know what the skill actually did.


    Lin Mu thus informed senior Xukong about the new skill that he had received.


    "Hmm, it seems like this skill ¡¯Phase¡¯ involves one of the basic maniption techniques of spatial energy. It allows you to temporarily dissociate your body, which can allow you to pass through objects." Xukong exined.


    Upon hearing senior Xukong¡¯s exnation, Lin Mu instantly linked it to the first skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯. Flicker also had a simr effect, as it allowed his body to pass through objects as well. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t understand the difference between the two skills.


    "Senior, is this skill simr to ¡¯Flicker¡¯?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, while they look simr, they are different on a fundamental level. Flicker actually allows your body to temporarily enter the lesser void. Thus, by virtue of this, you can dodge attacks and allow objects to pass through your body." Xukong took a pause and let Lin Mu digest this information before continuing.


    "The third skill that you received ¡¯Phase¡¯ allows you to dissociate your body¡¯s particles which allows you to pass through objects. You can imagine any object or item in this world to beposed of very small particles called as molecules."


    "These particles are bound together by an invisible force. While they appear to be together, they are instead separated from each other, having an empty space between them."


    "What this skill does is that it dissociates and aligns the particles of your body in such a manner that they pass through the gaps between the molecules of that object." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was lost in thought after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s exnation but was eventually able to understand.


    "It would be better if you just try the skill out first," Xukong suggested.


    "Yes, senior." Lin Mu responded while nodding.


    He stood up and then recalled the method of activation of the skill ¡¯Phase¡¯ and used it. In the next instant, around twenty wisps of his spirit qi were consumed, as his body turned blurry. It looked fuzzy in appearance and seemed as if it was vibrating at an unknown speed.


    Lin Mu ced his hand on the bed and watched it pass through with ease. It was a novel experience for him as he waved it around in the bed. Lin Mu also sensed that every second that his hand was inside the bed, a single wisp of spirit qi was being consumed.


    He removed his hand from the bed and noticed that while the skill was still active, the consumption of the spirit qi had stopped. Lin Mu walked towards the wall of his house and stood in front of it. He took a deep breath and walked forward, keeping his eyes closed in slight fear.


    The feeling of collision he was inherently expecting did not arrive and instead, he appeared outside the house.

 Chapter 133 - The Twelve Types Of Elemental Qi

    <h4>Chapter 133 - The Twelve Types Of Elemental Qi </h4>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and looked around and saw the backyard of his house. He could see the wall of the courtyard in the distance and the wall of the house itself behind him. He touched his body and ensured that everything was fine before taking a breath of relief.


    Although Lin Mu knew that he would be safe, he was still a little bit nervous about using this skill and passing through a wall. Since he had a hard time understanding senior Xukong¡¯s words, he didn¡¯t know how exactly it worked then, but now that he had actually done it, he understood it.


    The feeling of passing through the wall was strange to him. It was as if he was moving through a cloud of mist, such that while he felt the presence itself, but there was no obstruction and he was easily able to move through it.


    "That was strange, yet fine." Lin Mu muttered.


    ¡¯I should try it out a few more times.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He thus activated the skill once again and tried passing through other things. All of his attempts were sessful, as he found out that there was nothing here that he couldn¡¯t pass through.


    "If I use this while fighting, won¡¯t I be invulnerable as all hits will just pass through me?" Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    "Not exactly." Xukong interrupted Lin Mu¡¯s thoughts.


    "What do you mean senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "While you are able to pass through all the objects here, it won¡¯t be possible for everything. For example, attacks that are done with the help of spirit qi skills or techniques will still harm you. These attacks won¡¯t be unaffected by the skill ¡¯Phase¡¯. And even in terms of objects, if there are defensive formations or qi barriers ced on something you won¡¯t be able to pass through them either." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu thought for a few seconds after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s answer.


    "So does this mean that anything that has qi in it will be able to affect me? If so, then is there any way that it can be effective against it as well?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "In a broad sense, yes. Spirit qi is a force of nature that affects every object on an intrinsic level, thus you will still be affected. And of course, if yourprehension of spatial elemental qi reaches a high enough level you will be able to use it against qi attacks and defensive techniques as well." Xukong answered.


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    Lin Mu was lost in thought after hearing Xukong¡¯s words. The information was a lot for him, and it took him time toprehend it. As heprehended the information, more questions arose in his mind from them.


    His mind worked and churned out more doubts and questions that it needed answers to. Lin Mu¡¯s inherent curiosity couldn¡¯t help bute out.


    The thing that had interested Lin Mu¡¯s interest was the term that Senior Xukong had mentioned, ¡¯Spatial elemental qi¡¯. While he had heard about it before from his mouth, he was now interested to know more about it.


    "Senior, what is this ¡¯Spatial elemental qi¡¯ you were talking about?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Spatial elemental qi is one of the twelve types of elemental qi¡¯s in this universe," Xukong answered.


    "Elemental qis? Do they have different types? But then what type have I been using all this time?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, there are multiple types of Qi. While there are numerous types in the universe, those twelve are considered to be the main types, while all others are eitherbinations or derivations of those. The qi that you use does not have a type. It is the most basic attribute, less qi." Xukong answered.


    "What are the types of qi then?" Lin Mu questioned further.


    "The twelve different types of elemental qi are ssified into three categories; the five mortal, the four heavenly, and the three primordial. The Five mortal elements are: Fire, wood, earth, metal, and water. The four heavenly are: Wind, lightning, light, and darkness. And finally, the three primordial ones are: Space, Time, and Chaos."


    Lin Mu felt as if a new world was opened to him after hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s answered. This time he was able to understand the wordspletely andprehended them.


    "How do I increase my understanding of the spatial elemental qi then, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That is aplex thing to answer. With the abilities that your ring has imparted to you, you should be able to understand andprehend it, eventually. The more you use it and focus on its workings, the more you¡¯ll learn the intricacies and details of it.


    There are other ways to learn as well, of course, but they are going to be difficult for you, especially because you want toprehend more about the spatial elemental qi. If it were something from the five mortal or even the four heavenly elements, I would have been able to suggest you something, but for the three primordial elements, it is difficult.


    My ownprehension of the spatial elementes from my bloodline, and even then it took me countless years to master it." Xukong exined.


    "If you do want to increase yourprehension of them, you will need special techniques that allow you to do that, unique treasures, or perhaps just a stroke of luck," Xukong added at the end.


    Lin Mu was once again lost in his thoughts. Xukong had expected him to ask another question, but surprisingly he didn¡¯t.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu simply said.


    Xukong was a little surprised as he was ready to exin more to him further, but Lin Mu seemed to be satisfied for now.


    ¡¯I need to wait for it. When I get the opportunity I¡¯ll take it, being impatient will only do me harm.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Just as Lin Mu was about to return to his room, a voice called out to him.


    "Sir Lin Mu!" The voice spoke.


    Lin Mu walked to the gate of the courtyard and opened it. The voice that was calling out to him belonged to Hei Ping, who had been standing guard here for the past ten days. Lin Mu looked at his face and saw that he seemed to be slightly nervous.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu questioned the man.


    "I have a message. Leader Hei Wan has asked you toe to the safe house, the final person from the reinforcements has arrived." Hei Ping replied.


    Lin Mu instantly understood what he meant by ¡¯the final person¡¯. It was none other than the core condensation realm expert that they had been waiting for all this time. Now finally they could carry on with their n ahead.


    "I¡¯ll set out right away." Lin Mu answered.


    Lin Mu then returned to his room and changed his clothes, which he had been wearing for the past ten days. After doing that, he left the house and locked it before leaving for the safe house. This was the first time that Lin Mu was out of his house in ten days.


    The first thing that he noticed was that the people in the neighborhood actually seemed to be calm and happy. There was no sort of hidden nervousness and unease that was in them during this time of the year.


    "Seems like Hei Wan did well in aying their fears." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu continued walking and was able to see some mercenaries around as well. This was a new change, as the town head had falsely used them and shunned them before, which made them avoiding into the town. Even themon residents had be suspicious of them because of the town head¡¯s words, but now that Hei Wan had taken control, it seems to have gone to normal.


    Lin Mu reached the safe house after fifteen minutes and knocked on the door. The door was opened by the old woman that ran the shop. She looked at him for a moment before letting him inside. Lin Mu walked in and saw that unlike before, the shop waspletely empty and there was no one sitting in the front room.


    He followed the old woman to the other room and came to stand in front of the secret entrance. The old woman held out her hand to him, asking him for the identification badge. He gave it to her, and she opened the hidden entrance for him.


    Two minutester, Lin Mu was at the door of the safe house. He opened the door and instantly saw many people sitting in the room. They were dressed in different types of clothes, and some looked no different frommoners. There were also some that were dressed as mercenaries while others that were dressed as merchants.


    Overall, it was a mixed crowd of people and Lin Mu felt as if he had walked into the middle of a busy market. but as soon as he walked in though, tens of weapons were pointed at him by these people.

 Chapter 134 - Hei Yingjie

    <h4>Chapter 134 - Hei Yingjie </h4>


    Lin Mu became shocked upon seeing so many weapons pointed at him at once. Immediately, his spirit sense spared out scanning each and every person in the room, and along with it, he started chanting the severing heart sutra.


    The expression on his face became cold, and he stared at the people with sharp eyes. The people who had pulled out their weapons at Lin Mu felt as if cold water was poured on them. They had thought that an intruder had arrived, and they had pulled out their weapons in response. They had known that every person that was supposed to be here was already here, with the exception of two people: the leader and another ally.


    They knew what their leader looked like, thus they knew that the person that walked in wasn¡¯t her. The only remaining option was the ally that they had been informed of, but they highly doubted that this was the same person. They had been told that their new ally was a peak stage qi refining realm cultivator, thus they were sure that it wasn¡¯t a teenager that Lin Mu looked like.


    But when they saw the instantaneous response of Lin Mu and the feeling of being probed by the spirit sense, they knew that they had made a mistake. Additionally, upon that, a very cold and sharp feeling was washing over their bodies. They felt as if des were pointed at their necks and would sh them apart the second they made any movement.


    They could see that Lin Mu¡¯s lips were faintly moving, but they could not identify what he was saying. The chants of the severing heart sutra were very faint and could not be clearly heard by them. Even still, their effects were apparent as the three people that were in the front were affected, but the chants and their gazes became dull and they entered a daze.


    It was at this moment that the door of the meeting room opened and a voice shouted out from there.


    "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU IMBECILES DOING! PUT DOWN THOSE WEAPONS RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" The voice ordered in a furious yet slightly startled tone.


    Lin Mu and the rest heard the shout and turned to look at the source. The people had immediately reacted and lowered their weapons. Lin Mu saw that the person who was shouting was none other than Hei Bao, and there was another person following behind him, this person was Hei Shi.


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    Lin Mu unlike the others didn¡¯t lower his sword and kept it pointed at the people. He still didn¡¯t trust them, and even senior Xukong had asked him to maintain his stance and not back down. Thus heeding his advice Lin Mu stayed the same and stared at the people with the same cold gaze.


    He was still chanting the severing heart of sutra and had maintained it. The people in front of him finally realized that the cold and sharp feeling they had felt was not fading, and instead now that they had lowered their weapons, the feeling had intensified.


    They could not help but keep on staring at the figure of Lin Mu, who was standing in the door way. They now felt as if they were not staring at a person, but instead at a mountain; a mountain that was made of swords.


    A peerless sword intent was emanating from the mountain and held their souls hostage. It was as if they were now stuck in a mire of countless des that would mince them into oblivion.


    It was now that Hei Bao walked forward and cupped his hands.


    "Please forgive them, brother Lin Mu, for they¡¯ve made a grave mistake. I assure you on my life that I will take care of this and that you are properlypensated." Hei Bao spoke in a restful tone.


    He then turned to hispanions and shouted. "What are you doing there still standing?! APOLOGIZE!"


    Hei Bao¡¯spanions then stumbled and hurriedly cupped their hands before bowing and apologizing in unison.


    "Please forgive us senior!"


    Lin Mu had never expected this reaction. The most he had thought would happen was that they would just lower their weapons and return to normal. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know the effect that he was having on these people.


    He had reached thete stage of the refining realm very recently, and his aura was still slightly unstable. Thisbined with the effect of the severing heart sutra increased the effect of his aura by multiple folds.


    Seeing that the people in front of him were regretting their actions and even Hei Bao was apologizing, Lin Mu didn¡¯t take the offense to his heart. He stopped chanting the severing heart sutra and sheathed the short sword.


    "It is fine, I ept." Lin Mu spoke in a calm tone.


    <i>~Huuu~</i>


    Simultaneous breaths of relief could be heard as the unsettled hearts of the people in the room calmed down.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Seeing that the situation had turned normal, Hei Bao let out a sigh as he thanked the heavens for avoiding a big mistake.


    Hei Bao looked at Lin Mu and spoke, "Brother Lin Mu, pleasee with me we will talk inside. Hei Shi, take care of them."


    Lin Mu nodded and followed him to the meeting room. A few secondster he was gone and the door to the meeting room was locked behind them. The people in the room stared at his back until he was gone and then looked at each other.


    "Wha-what was that?" One of the persons that were dressed in the clothes of amoner spoke, building up a little courage.


    "Whatever it may be, just know that we have avoided a huge mistake. I doubt we will escape punishment though." Another person that was dressed as a mercenary spoke.


    "But how should have we known that the ally who captain Hei Bao was speaking about would just be a boy." Spoke a man that was dressed like a merchant.


    "Watch your tongue! You are lucky to just get a punishment. If the senior had not forgiven you, it wouldn¡¯t be unjust if some heads fell. People have been killed for far less than this before. Better know your ce." Hei Shi scolded in a stern tone.


    After hearing her words, everyone lowered their heads and went over some thoughts in their minds.


    *****


    Lin Mu had just walked into the meeting room. His eyes wandered over to the metal tes that were hung on stands to the side and then onto the person that was sitting on the table that was at the other end of the room.


    The person was facing away from Lin Mu, thus he could not see his face. There was a teapot, and some cups kept on the table, so it seemed that the person in question was drinking tea. Hei Bao walked forward and came to stand a little distance away from the man.


    "I¡¯ve brought brother Lin Mu, lieutenant." Hei Bao spoke.


    The man who Hei Bao had called as lieutenant stood up from the chair and turned around. Lin Mu finally got a look at the man¡¯s face. The man looked to be in histe forties and had a calm look on his face. He had long ck hair that was tied in a neat bun, the same way an aristocrat would do. He had a neat and trimmed mustache, but the rest of his face was clean shaven.


    He was wearing dark green robes that matched his visage and made Lin Mu think that he was a gentleman. He had no ornaments or jewelry on his body, and neither did he have any weapons on him. Lin Mu felt that this was strange, as he had not expected a member of the Hei corps to ever be without a weapon.


    The man cupped his hands, and a gentle smile appeared on his face, as he spoke.


    "Greetings, brother Lin Mu. I¡¯ve been looking forward to meeting you."


    Lin Mu instantly felt better upon seeing his mannerisms and demeanor. This only made him feel as if the person in front of him was an aristocrat, or perhaps even a noble.


    "Greetings, it is nice to meet you." Lin Mu responded in a respectful tone as well.


    The man then gestured with his hand towards a chair before speaking, "Come sit, I just made some fresh tea."


    Lin Mu took up on his invitation and pulled the chair opposite to him. Hei Bao did the same, and both of them sat down.


    "My name is Hei Yingjie and I am one of the lieutenants of the Hei corps working under my lord." He introduced himself.


    Hei Yingjie then ced a cup in front of Lin Mu and poured him some tea as the etiquette dictated.


    "Please," he gestured.


    Lin Mu thus picked up the cup and took a small sip. But when he did, he was surprised as a very faint trace of qi was absorbed by his body.

 Chapter 135 - The Reward Arrives

    <h4>Chapter 135 - The Reward Arrives </h4>


    Lin Mu had not expected that he would be getting to taste such an exquisite tea today. More so, it was a tea that was infused with spirit qi. He could only imagine such a luxury in the past, but now here he was experiencing it first hand.


    <i>~Haa~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath of satisfaction as he opened his eyes. He looked at the faint green tea in his cup and took another sip, this time finishing the cup in one go. Another wisp of gentle spirit qi was absorbed by his body and entered his dantian.


    This was strange to him as whenever he had consumed food rich in spirit qi, he had to consciously assimte it. If he did not, it won¡¯t be properly absorbed or would just dissipate. He was surprised but this effect of the tea.


    Hei Yingjie witnessed every change of expression on Lin Mu¡¯s face and could get a grasp on what he was thinking.


    "Ah, brother Lin Mu¡¯s likes my tea, it seems." Hei Yingjie spoke.


    Lin Mu looked at him and nodded.


    "Yes, I do. It is indeed quite exquisite." Lin Mu replied.


    "As it should be. This is the Frost leaf jasmine tea, and it is a native specialty of the snowy mountains of the ck Dawn kingdom. Even the cultivation sects have a hard time procuring this, I was lucky enough to encounter a tree on my journeys, thus was able to acquire it." Hei Yingjie exined.


    Lin Mu was rather surprised with this revtion and now wondered about the abilities of the man in front of him.


    "Then I thank you for your hospitality and for giving me this opportunity." Lin Mu spoke respectfully.


    "Hahaha, brother Lin Mu you don¡¯t have to stand in formality. This is nothing worthpared to your friendship." Hei Yingjie spoke in a ttering tone.


    Lin Mu was now starting to feel strange. The man¡¯s words and mannerisms with him seemed to be a little too overtly ttering for him. It seemed as if he wanted to be close to him at all costs.


    "It is not that he wants to establish a friendly rtion with you, but rather that he has to. Your earlier demeanor and acts until now have now helped you establish a dominant presence." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t respond to senior Xukong¡¯s statement, but instead just nodded. Hei Yingjie thought Lin Mu was nodding to him, thus he let out anotherugh, while in reality, Lin Mu had nodded in response to senior Xukong.


    "Now then, I hope you didn¡¯t face any difficulties these past days." Hei Yingjie spoke, wanting to continue the conversation.


    "Ah, no. None in particr." Lin Mu answered.


    "Oh, is that so? I thought I heard somemotion earlier outside. What was that about Hei Bao?" Hei Yingjie spoke and then turned to Hei Bao.


    Hei Bao felt cold sweat appearing on his back as soon as he heard Hei Yingjie¡¯s question.


    "Ourpanions made a mistake and pulled out their weapons at brother Lin Mu when he arrived." Hei Bao honestly answered.


    "Did they? Hmm, what should we do about this? What do you bother Lin Mu?" Hei Yingjie asked with the same gentle smile on his face.


    "I don¡¯t mind it. I already forgave them." Lin Mu answered, not wanting to draw out the matter.


    Hei Yingjie stoked the tea cup in his hands a couple of times before speaking.


    "If brother Lin Mu deems it, let it be. But still, make sure they know of brother Lin Mu¡¯s generousness." Hei Yingjie spoke.


    Hei Bao hurriedly nodded in response to Hei Yingjie¡¯s words.


    "As youmand, lieutenant." Hei Bao replied before leaving the room.


    After leaving the room, Hei Bao wiped the sweating off his forehead. He knew his subordinates had just escaped a dangerous situation.


    ¡¯If it were not for brother Lin Mu, heads would have rolled today. Who gave them the intel about him, anyway? Did they not describe his appearance?¡¯ Hei Bao thought.


    Back in the meeting room, Hei Yingjie had just poured Lin Mu another cup of tea, which Lin Mu dly epted, unaware of the thoughts of Hei Bao and how he had just spare the lives of multiple people.


    "Brother Lin Mu, I believe you requested certain weapons?" Hei Yingjie questioned.


    "Yes, I did. Hei Wan wanted to give me a reward." Lin Mu answered.


    "Of course, brother Lin Mu definitely deserves a reward for all the work he has done. You revealed a conspiracy which was hidden for heavens know how long." Hei Yingjie replied.


    "So what about it?" Lin Mu further asked.


    "Well, the shipment just arrived today and is waiting for you. Hei Wan should be here soon, she will take us to it." Hei Yingjie spoke with a light chuckle.


    "Where is she right now? Is she at the town center?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes she is, she just has some final adjustments that needed to be done before we start our n." Hei Yingjie replied.


    Lin Mu nodded at this reply and just continued to drink the tea. He had just finished another cup of tea when the door of the meeting room opened.


    "Forgive me, I¡¯ve been a littlete." Hei Wan spoke upon entering.


    Lin Mu and Hei Yingjie turned to look at her and then spoke in unison, "It is fine."


    Hei Wan approached the table and stood in front of them.


    "I believe we can leave now. Everything is set and done." Hei Wan spoke.


    "Good. We will take brother Lin Mu to get his reward first and then we will continue on to the briefing." Hei Yingjie replied while nodding.


    "Ah, we won¡¯t have to go out for the reward. I already had it put in the storage room." Hei Wan spoke.


    "That¡¯s better, lets get to it right away." Hei Yingjie spoke as he stood up.


    Lin Mu stood up along with him, and Hei Wan guided them to the storage room. This was a different storage room than the one Lin Mu had been to before and was much smaller. It was just past the room where he had rested before.


    Hei Wan opened the locked door and let them inside. Hei Yingjie and Lin Mu walked in to seerge boxes of weapons kept there. Lin Mu was a little stunned, even though he knew about the number of weapons he had ordered.


    ¡¯Finally, I can continue practicing the Thousand de armament scripture.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Go on, check them." Hei Yingjie spoke with a smile.


    Lin Mu nodded and proceeded ahead. There were around tenrge boxes kept in the room, which had individually packed weapons kept in them. Lin Mu opened the first box, and the first thing that came in front of his eyes was a pair of slim swords.


    They were sheathed, yet one could still see that they were thin. Lin Mu picked them up and unsheathed them. A pale, gleaming de appeared in his vision as he nced over its craftsmanship. He took a look around the room and made sure that there was enough space.


    Hei Yingjie and Hei Wan understood this immediately and took a few steps back to give him more space. Seeing that they were epting of this, Lin Mu held the sword and took a breath as he closed his eyes. He then shed out in front of him as a faint humming sound was heard.


    Even though there was nothing to be cut, the illusion of a cut still appeared in the air. What Lin Mu had just done was use his understanding of the Thousand armament de scripture to use the slim sword. While he had never used them before, he had been improving upon his understanding for the past month, thus only needed the new slim sword to progress it.


    His demonstration only proved to him that the reason he had reached a bottleneck in his practice was due to theck of the weapons and not because of his own effort. Feeling excited by this, he checked the other weapons in the box and tested out the ones that looked interesting to him.


    While most of the weapons in his list weremon ones, there were still some that had abstract designs and were considered to be unorthodox. One of such weapons was a long spear that had a scythe like de attached to it at the base of its point.


    Such types of weapons were rather unfamiliar to Lin Mu, thus he didn¡¯t try them out here. He had decided that he would check them all outter. In fact, he couldn¡¯t wait for night toe so that he could practice with them.


    Having decided on it, Lin Mu quickly started storing all of the weapons in his ring one by one. Although the speed of putting them in the ring was quick, it still took Lin Mu over fifteen minutes to store them all.


    In total, there were three hundred and seventeen weapons.


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    But while he was storing the weapons, the expressions of Hei Wan and Hei Yingjie were getting more and more serious. Hei Yingjie gulped and then turned to Hei Wan.


    "This... this is way beyond what we thought." He whispered.


    Hei Wan was now feeling a little nervous hearing the tone of her lieutenant. While he was stronger than her, she was still their leader because of her skills. She had faith in her subordinates and knew that they wouldn¡¯t act like this unless it was dead serious, especially her lieutenants.


    "What do you mean?" She questioned in a low voice, making sure to nce over to Lin Mu and ensure that he was not paying attention.

 Chapter 136 - Hei Yingjies Apprehension

    <h4>Chapter 136 - Hei Yingjie''s Apprehension </h4>


    Hei Yingjie took a deep breath and forcefully calmed down his expression. He then turned to look at Lin Mu, who had just opened thest box of weapons, and then back to Hei Wan.


    "We should talkter, it is not the appropriate time. Just know this that we may have to alter our ns again, so be ready for it." Hei Yingjie replied.


    Hei Wan didn¡¯t speak anything, but just simply nodded in response. She trusted her lieutenant¡¯s judgment and was willing to wait for his exnation. It was at this moment that Lin Mu finished putting thest weapon in his ring.


    A satisfied and expression appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face as he reveled in the fact that he could now continue his practice. He walked to Hei Wan and Hei Yingjie to discuss the n with them. He was wondering what they had decided and wanted to see their approach.


    "What do we do next?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Hei Yingjie nced at Hei Wan for a moment, which she understood and let him speak.


    "I had originally thought that we would be going somece else to get brother Lin Mu¡¯s reward, but now that it is already here, it¡¯s no longer necessary. The other members of the Hei corps have already been briefed, so we only have a few minor adjustments to make.


    Brother Lin Mu, you can head back to your house for now, it will take us some time to prepare everyone for the mission. Some people will be staying here to make sure that the culprits do not do anything in the town. While the others including me will be traveling to the Northern forest to continue our investigations there." Hei Yingjie exined.


    "So you don¡¯t need me right now?" Lin Mu confirmed one more time.


    "No, you can head on and prepare yourself as well. You can get familiar with the new weapons till then." Hei Wan suggested.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up, as he understood that they were just giving him time to prepare himself.


    "Ah well, thank you. I¡¯ll head off then." Lin Mu replied.


    He then left the room and returned to the front room of the safe house. This time, the people there all suddenly stood up in ceremony and greeted him.


    "Greetings senior, Lin Mu." They all spoke in unison.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how to respond, thus he just awkwardly nodded his head and left the safe house. A few minutester he had left the shop and was on his way back to his house.


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    Back at the safe house, Hei Wan, Hei Bao, and Hei Yingjie were in the meeting room. A serious expression was on Hei Yingjie¡¯s¡¯ face, and Hei Wan and Hei Bao looked nervous. Hei Bao didn¡¯t know what the matter was, thus was feeling even more nervous.


    Hei Yingjie¡¯s previous orders had already put him on the edge. Hei Wan looked at Hei Yingjie and waited for him to speak. Hei Yingjie took a deep breath before opening his eyes and looking at the two people.


    "On my way to the Northern Town, I took a brief halt at Wu Lim city to pay my respects to the lord." Hei Yingjie spoke.


    "I know that." Hei Wan spoke as she nodded in acknowledgment.


    "But that was not the only reason why I had gone there. Our Lord had sent me an extra message toe meet with him." Hei Yingjie added.


    A panicked expression appeared on Hei Wan¡¯s face as she tried to think of any reason on why her lord had not informed her first. Hei Yingjie noticed this and turned to her.


    "It is not what you think. He just had some apprehensions about our new ally. Thus he wanted to discuss some things with me. Our Lord wanted me to determine the capabilities of Lin Mu without alerting him or being too overt with it." Hei Yingjie spoke.


    "Is that why he approved the shipment of weapons so quickly?" Hei Bao realized.


    Hei Yingjie nodded as he spoke.


    "Yes, he had seen the reports about Lin Mu having a High-grade spatial treasure, thus devised this method to determine it. And from what I witnessed a few minutes ago, it is way beyond what our lord thought."


    "What do you mean? Was there a problem with Lin Mu¡¯s spatial treasure?" Hei Wan questioned as she started to link the strings together.


    "Yes. We know that the high grade spatial treasures have a great capacity to store items. But the number of weapons Lin Mu just stored would still be impossible to do. You may have not seen a true high grade spatial treasure before but I have. It is not even close to what Lin Mu has." Hei Yingjie answered.


    "You mean his spatial treasure is something more than that?" Hei Wan questioned with apprehension.


    "It is not that simple. You see, when a person uses a spatial treasure, some spatial energy fluctuations appear. While they are faint, they are still detectable by spirit sense if you are in the core condensation realm. For cultivators in the Nascent soul stage, it is even more easier to detect them.


    But when Lin Mu used his spatial treasure, there were no such spatial fluctuations that I could detect. There are only a few methods that can be used to hide such fluctuations. One is that a secondary concealing treasure was used, but for it to hide a high grade spatial treasures fluctuations would require that it is of the same grade, which is incredibly difficult to find even in the top sects.


    The second one would be that a Dao shell realm expert would personally restrict the fluctuations using his spirit sense. But here¡¯s the problem, the capacity of Lin Mu¡¯s spatial treasure is more than at least three high grade spatial treasuresbined. Even a Dao shell realm expert would only be able to restrict the fluctuations of a single high grade spatial treasure, any more and the restriction won¡¯t be stable enough." Hei Yingjie exined.


    Cold sweat had appeared on the bodies of both Hei Wan and Hei Bao by this time. The words of Hei Yingjie had been extremely shocking to them and werepletely beyond what they had known about.


    "Then this means..." Hei Wan spoke and trailed off.


    "Yes, either of those situations are deeply serious. If it¡¯s the first, then there¡¯s no doubt that he¡¯s a disciple of a top sect. But if it¡¯s the second then it¡¯s even more serious. If he has more than one high grade spatial treasures, as we¡¯ve seen, then it means that he has at least three Dao shell realm cultivators backing him. Or worse, a Dao treading realm cultivator." Hei Yingjie answered.


    "A Dao treading realm, cultivator?" Hei Bao asked with confusion.


    It was Hei Wan who answered this time instead of Hei Yingjie.


    "Dao treading realm is the next realm after the Dao shell realm." She spoke.


    "That... that¡¯s a realm beyond our understanding. Which sects even have them?" Hei Bao asked while stuttering.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Only the top ten cultivation sects have Dao treading realm experts. And they are either the supreme elders, sect patriarchs, or the ancestors themselves. This means that if Lin Mu has their backing, then he¡¯s most likely their personal disciple." Hei Wan exined.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    "Are you sure we should even be involving him, then? It is incredibly risky, I mean if anything happens to him, won¡¯t they juste for our lives." Hei Bao asked after gulping.


    "The lord did think of that, but we are confused as his past history doesn¡¯t match up. From all that we¡¯ve gathered, Lin Mu was just amon teenager and had no connection to any of the sects, not to mention top cultivation sects." Hei Wan replied.


    "No, there is something else you¡¯re forgetting." Hei Yingjie interrupted.


    "What?" Both Hei Wan and Hei Bao asked in unison.


    "The day of the fallen." Hei Yingjie answered in a grim voice.


    Both of their eyes went wide as they remembered the incident that happened some week ago. Cultivators all around in the Wu Lim city and its surroundings had fallen unconscious.


    "What could the rtion be between Lin Mu and the day of the fallen though?" Hei Bao questioned.


    "I was not here to experience the Day of the fallen, but the lord had some assumptions and described it to me. I was able to identify it and deduced that it was actually caused by an extremely intense sword intent. But for someone to have such a peerless intent would mean that they would be well known.


    I checked the records and there is no such cultivator in any of the sects. This led me to believe that it was hidden expert, perhaps. Though the problem still stands, we don¡¯t know their cultivation and unless we are able to determine it, it¡¯s going to be difficult for us to know how to proceed." Hei Yingjie exined.


    "So what do we do know?" Hei Bao asked, feeling tired.


    <i>~Sigh~ </i>


    "We wait."

 Chapter 137 - Preparations - I

    <h4>Chapter 137 - Preparations - I </h4>


    Lin Mu had just reached his house and was entering his room, unaware of the conversation that had just happened between Hei Yingjie, Hei Wan, and Hei Bao.


    He walked up to his bed and sat down on it cross-legged. What Lin Mu now wanted to do was to refine his spirit sense further. He had been thinking about it and realized that it was one of the ws that he had that he needed to improve.


    While Spirit sense overall was an important ability of his during a battle, he had also understood that it was equally important for using it with his skills. Currently, while he could teleport with the second skill ¡¯Blink¡¯ forward for up to ten meters, he could only teleport backwards for up to seven meters as that was the maximum range of his spirit sense.


    Lin Mu had gotten another realization when he used his newly acquired, third skill ¡¯Phase¡¯. He realized that he actually couldn¡¯t see anything when he was using the skill and moving through an object. The only way he could gain any semnce of perception was with the help of spirit sense.


    Then came the second problem with it. Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense could not prate effectively much farther into solid objects. Depending on its density and thickness of the object, the range of Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense could be limited to about half or even less than half of his actual range.


    Thus, if Lin Mu wanted to utilize the full potential of his new skill, he would have to refine his spirit sense and ensure that its range was as far as possible.


    Lin Mu was chanting the severing heart sutra and focusing on the inner space of his dantian. He could see the space that was nearlypletely filled with spirit qi wisps. If one were to look at it from far, they would think that it was a sea of clouds formed out of spirit qi wisps.


    Usually, spirit qi wisps were transparent or rather close to translucent. But here due to their sheer quantity they now appeared white and looked no different from clouds in the sky. Lin Mu focused deeper, and at the very bottom of this sea of clouds, there was a single drop floating.


    This single drop was the very first drop of liquefied spirit qi that Lin Mu had refined when he broke through to thete stage of the qi refining realm. If Lin Mu wanted to reach the next stage, he would have to refine more drops of spirit qi and fill his dantian up to half of its maximum capacity.


    As soon as it exceeded more than half of its capacity, Lin Mu have been said to have reached the peak stage of the qi refining realm.


    ~Sigh~


    "So am I supposed to refine my spirit sense with my spirit qi wisps or with the spirit qi drop now, senior?" Lin Mu questioned senior Xukong in his mind.


    "You can continue refining it the same way you have been until now. Do not touch that spirit qi drop for now and make sure that you never use it unless it is a dire situation. Because if you do and if it¡¯s the final drop of the liquid spirit qi remaining in your dantian, then you will regress back into the mid-stage of the qi refining realm." Xukong answered.


    "I should refine more spirit qi drops then, shouldn¡¯t I?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes you should, of course. But since it¡¯s your first time, it will take you some time. Better to further refine your spirit sense first." Xukong suggested.


    "Yes, Senior." Lin Mu inwardly nodded in response.


    He then started his process of refining the spirit sense. He drew out a single wisp of spirit qi from his dantian and into his meridians. From his meridians, he controlled that wisp to move towards the surface of his body and then let it exit it.


    The invisible wisp of spirit qi was now floating outside of Lin Mu¡¯s body. Lin Mu now directed his spirit sense tendril and tried to link it with it. The spirit qi wisp traveled from the very start of the tendril to the other end, but just as it was about to reach the very tip, the spirit sense tendril destabilized and dissipated.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he refocused his attention. This was a normal part of refining one¡¯s spirit sense and was something every cultivator would go through. Once the sprite sense tendril was dissipated, he would have topletely refine it from the start once again.


    But unlike before, the speed of refinement would be faster this time. The more times that Lin Mu repeated this, the more he improved and his speed of refinement increased. Reforming the spirit sense after dissipation up to its previous length was much easier in the subsequent attempts.


    Lin Mu repeated this process over and over again. Sometimes he would be sessful in increasing the length of his spirit sense by a small amount and other times he would fail and the spirit sense tendril would dissipate.


    Four hours passed by and Lin Mu had increased the length of his spirit sense by half a meter. But in exchange, his spirit qi stores were depleted by half. Lin Mu decided to take a break and restore his depleted spirit qi stores.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    Just as he was about to start his cultivation session, he heard his stomach rumble.


    ¡¯Guess I¡¯ll eat first.¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he stood up from the bed.


    He walked to the kitchen and prepared some of the spirit meat that was stored in his ring. It was now that he realized that he was soon going to run out of it. He took out all of it and estimated that it was enough for two more meals.


    "Just in time, too. It¡¯s good that I¡¯m going out to the Northern forest with the Hei Corps tomorrow, anyway. I¡¯ll take this opportunity to hunt some spirit beasts while I¡¯m out there." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    Fifteen minutester, his food was ready to eat. He finished the meal and returned to his room to assimte the vital energy and spirit qi.


    *****


    On the tallest peak of the sky precepts sect, within a golden pce, a white-robed man was sitting upon a throne. His eyes were closed, and he had his chin resting on his hand. If one was to look at this scene at this moment, they would think that what they were looking at was a painting.


    The man had his hair tied up with an elegant looking silver hairpin and had a short and well-groomed beard. With a serene aura surrounding him, he let out faint breaths. The breaths were silent, yet if one were to focus on them, one would realize that they were harmonized.


    It was as if they corresponded with the nomologicalws of heaven and earth themselves.


    The door of the great hall opened, and in walked a ck robed elder. This ck robed elder had faint gold etchings on the sleeves of his hand and had long white hair along with a simrly long beard. He was old, yet did not have a single wrinkle on his face.


    This old ck robed elder was none other than Head elder Han.


    He came to stand in front of the white robed man at a distance of two meters and cupped his hands in a salute. He did not speak anything and simply stayed silent for over thirty minutes. It was as if he did not dare disturb the serene scene that was in front of him.


    Another half an hour period passed by when finally the white robed man¡¯s lips moved.


    "What do you have to report Head elder Han?" The white robed man questioned.


    "Greetings patriarch, it seems you have progressed in yourprehension. Your talent is indeed impable and peerless amongst the billions of beings of this world." Head elder Han ttered him in ceremony.


    "Spare me the formalities Head Elder Han, you know that they don¡¯t matter to me. Now... tell me what you are here for." The patriarch of the sky precepts sect spoke without opening his eyes.


    "Patriarch, today I am here to report about our progress in the investigation and also the recent findings." Head elder Han replied.


    "Go ahead." The patriarch spoke.


    "After the ascension of the hidden expert, we continued our investigations into it. While we are still unable to gain any idea about the identity of the hidden expert, we did find out something else." Head elder Han spoke and took a pause.


    "We found out that another incident happened in one of the counties of the Shuang Qian kingdom of the Northernnds. At this moment we do not know if it is rted to the hidden expert, but it seemed too much of a coincidence for it to not be rted to it." Head elder Han continued.


    "Oh? What kind of incident was this that it could even bepared to the ascension of the hidden expert? And how was it that we did not detect this when it happened?" The patriarch questioned.


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    "Unlike the ascension of the hidden expert, there were no major spatial disturbances anywhere in the empire that happened during that period. Thus we were unable to detect it. And also, the condition of the Start catching peak is still not optimum. The new disciples are still being trained and will take some time to gain the necessary skills." Head elder Han spoke and let the patriarch ponder on it for a bit.


    "The incident, I¡¯m afraid, was caused by another hidden expert and this time it was the outburst of a peerless sword intent, strong enough to knock out nearly all cultivators in the entire county."


    Upon hearing these words, the patriarch¡¯s eyes opened.

 Chapter 138 - Preparations - II

    <h4>Chapter 138 - Preparations - II </h4>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and let out a breath. He had been refining his spirit sense for the entire day and now it was nighttime. He extended his spirit sense and saw that it had now reached a maximum range of eight meters.


    In this entire day, Lin Mu was able to increase its range by one whole meter. He also failed multiple times, which caused him to lose a certain amount of spirit qi. But he didn¡¯t falter and was able to replenish it rather fast.


    Now that he had reached thete stage of the qi refining realm, Lin Mu¡¯s speed of replenishing his spirit qi had increased two-fold. Previously it would take him over four hours to replenish the entirety of his dantian. But now it only took him two hours to do the same.


    Feeling satisfied and a little happy, Lin Mu stood up and walked to the window. He gazed at the sky outside and saw the waxing moon in the sky that was close to half its maximum size. Looking at the position of the moon, Lin Mu determined that the time right now was probably close to midnight.


    "Hmm, I should rest now, this was enough for today. I still have to resume my practice with the new weapons in the Sleepscape." Lin Mu muttered. to himself.


    He thus returned to his bed and sat down. Just as he was about toy his head on the pillow, he suddenly remembered something.


    "Wait, don¡¯t I have that bolster I got? I should use it, it¡¯s surprisingly better than this pillow." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    He then withdrew the white bolster from his ring and ced it down on the bed. He touched it andpared it with the pillow that was already there.


    ¡¯The bolster is indeed much better.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He pushed the other pillow aside andid his head down on the bolster to sleep. Lin Mu¡¯s choice trend out to be for the better, since it didn¡¯t even take him a minute to fall asleep. His consciousness faded for a moment and then appeared in the Sleepscape.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and saw that he was back in front of the spirit apple tree. He looked at it and saw that it had five more apples growing on it.


    "Oh? Did the number increase again?" Lin Mu spoke, feeling a little surprised.


    He walked forward and saw that out of five of the apples, two werepletely ripened and the other three were still raw. He plucked the two ripe ones and left the others hanging on the branch.


    "Seems like their number increases by one each time you progress in your realm." Xukong¡¯s voice came from behind Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu turned around in shock as he saw him floating behind him.


    "What? How did youe out senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It looks like your increase in cultivation is also increasing the development level of the Sleepscape. It actually allowed me to enter on my own here." Xukong answered.


    "Oh, that will be convenient. But wait, can youe here when I¡¯m awake?" Lin Mu questioned again.


    "No, I don¡¯t think so. The basic requirement is still that you should be here for me to ess it." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded in response to senior Xukong¡¯s words and began his training with the new weapons. He took out the booklet of the Thousand armament de Scripture and glossed over it once again before starting his practice.


    He withdrew the first weapon, which was a pair of slim swords. The swords were identical in shape and size and looked quite light. Lin Mu held each of them in his hands and executed the moves that were mentioned in the manual.


    Lin Mu practiced for around four hours, after which Senior Xukong interrupted him.


    "It is time for your Dao script lessons," Xukong spoke.


    "Ah yes, senior." Lin Mu replied hurriedly.


    He was too engrossed in his training and hadpletely forgotten about them. Lin Mu had already learned enough of the characters so that he could read the nameless technique that was created by the lost immortal.


    This lesson was thest one that he needed in order to be clear about the contents of the technique. An hourter Lin Mu was finally done and took a breath of relief.


    "You should be able to read the wooden slip now," Xukong spoke in a content tone.


    "Yes senior, I¡¯ve been waiting for it too." Lin Mu replied.


    He then took out the wooden slip from the ring and opened it to take a look. The twenty-five individual wooden strips glowed for a moment before the characters appeared on it. Unlike before, when Lin Mu was unable to read anything, this time he could clearly understand the words.


    While the entire technique was contained within those twenty-five strips, the sheer amount of information condensed within it was astonishing. With each character of Dao script that Lin Mu read, he was able to devise multiple meanings and could find multiple derivations.


    Bybining and utilizing these characters in aplex manner, one could exin a lot of information in a small space. The more Lin Mu read, the more his expression changed. Sometimes it was confused, and sometimes it was enlightened.


    Another hour passed by and Lin Mu had finally finished reading the entire technique. A perplexed expression now dressed his face as he looked to be bothered and troubled. Xukong saw this and wondered what had happened.


    "What¡¯s the problem? Were you unable to understand something?" Xukong questioned.


    Lin Mu gently shook his head in response and thought for a moment before speaking.


    "It¡¯s not that senior. I understand the technique in its entirety, but it doesn¡¯t seem to be of much use to me."


    "Oh, is that so? What does the technique describe, though?" Xukong asked.


    "The technique mentions a special method that allows one to eat as much as they want." Lin Mu answered.


    Now even Xukong was feeling perplexed upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words. While he had heard about the lost immortal¡¯s story and his objective behind making the technique, what Lin Mu had just said didn¡¯t seem fully right.


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    "Is that all it describes?" Xukong asked, wanting to gain a better understanding.


    "No, there are a few bits of information there that bother me. There are also some warnings on it." Lin Mu replied.


    "And what are they?" Xukong spoke.


    "The warning states that since it is an iplete technique and hasn¡¯t been cultivated ever before, the exact effects of it will be unknown. The technique says that it was made to ensure that its user would never starve, but it doesn¡¯t say how it will exactly do that, except for that fact that it will allow me to eat a lot more." Lin Mu exined.


    After hearing Lin Mu¡¯s exnation, Xukong could understand his apprehension a bit more. Xukong knew about the risks and dangers of cultivating an iplete or an unknown technique. He knew that whenever a new cultivation technique was made, it had to go through rigorous testing and trials.


    The creator of the technique would usually spend many years just testing out the aspects of the technique before even starting to cultivate it. Even when a technique had been sessfully created, there were still some hidden risks that wouldn¡¯t present themselves easily.


    Especially for a technique like this whose creator was dead and never had the chance to test it, the risks could be unbearable.


    "I understand you. There are indeed a lot of risks in practicing such a technique, especially when even its creator put warnings in its description." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and wondered what he should do now.


    "Still, whether you want to cultivate this technique or not, I¡¯ll leave this up to you. The final decision is yours to make." Xukong added after thinking for a bit.


    After hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words, Lin Mu felt a little content.


    "You¡¯re right, senior. I¡¯ve decided that I won¡¯t cultivate this technique right now. I will first learn more about it and gain more understanding of it. The lost immortal left his life¡¯s experiences in the wooden slip as well. I think I will definitely find some insights in there, that will help me judge and make the right decision." Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes, you should check the memoirs that are recorded in the wooden slip." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu nodded and went to sit against the spirit apple tree. He opened the wooden slip again, but this time flipped over to the other side. The wooden slip faintly glowed once again, and some new words appeared on the strips.


    The wooden slip had the nameless technique recorded on one of its sides and the memoirs on the other side. Lin Mu took a deep breath before he started reading the memoirs.


    The first part of the memoirs described the early life of the lost immortal. This was back when he was a mortal child. He was an orphan and didn¡¯t know who his parents were. Ever since he could remember, the lost immortal knew that he had always lived at an orphanage.


    The orphanage he lived at was located in a rundown building that was part of the slums. The orphanage was actually one of the many orphanages of the kingdom that the lost immortal had been born in and was located in the very capital of that kingdom.


    The divide between people was great and one could easily see this. The slums were poor and dirty, while the main city was well developed and luxurious.

 Chapter 139 - The Lost Immortals Memoir - I

    <h4>Chapter 139 - The Lost Immortal''s Memoir - I </h4>


    The Lost immortal lived in the orphanage till he was of eight years of age. At that time, the orphanage was shut down and nearly all the children living there were left with no choice but to leave. Only the very young children were able to get transferred to other orphanages.


    The lost immortal was one of the unfortunate ones that had to leave the orphanage. He didn¡¯t know what to do, thus he just begged on the streets. Years went by and when he was thirteen years of age, he identally offended one of the officials of the kingdom when he came in front of his carriage.


    He was punished with imprisonment and was beaten up harshly. His body was already weak and malnourished thus it was with great fortune or perhaps misfortune that he survived it. While in the prison, he was forced to work as a ve and did various jobs and tasks.


    One of the most dangerous tasks was the task of mining. Hundreds of prisoners would die every month, and it was nearly considered as a death sentence. The lost immortal was lucky to not get selected for the job since he was too weak and scrawny to do it.


    Even in the prison, he would have to bear the beatings of the guards and the other prisoners. He didn¡¯t fight back and just bore with it. He had seen what happened to others that fought back and anyway he was not strong enough to resist.


    More years passed by and the lost immortal was now seventeen. By now he had grown a lot and had surprisingly built up some muscle. Ironically, he was getting better food in the prison than he did when he was a beggar or back when he was at the orphanage.


    But with his better condition, the lost immortal came to the notice of the guards and was selected for the mining job. He had nearly given up hope at that time and knew that this would be the end for him. Still unable to resist, he was forced to do it.


    A monthter he was shifted to the mines and started working there. The conditions were worse than the prison there, and he had a tough time at the start. He would get small injuries such as cuts and scrapes every day.


    In just his first week, he had witnessed around a hundred prisoners die. Watching the process over and over had made him numb, and he became closer to a doll than a person. Eventually, a year passed by and there came a day when arge copse had happened in the mine.


    Something had destabilized the ceiling, and rocks had started falling from the top. All the prisoners ran towards the surface to escape their imminent death and pushed others in the process. The lost immortal was lucky enough to reach the halfway point when he suddenly saw arge boulder shifting from the walls of the tunnel.


    He saw that the boulder was about to hit an old man. He didn¡¯t know what happened to him, but he lunged forward and pushed the old man aside, saving his life in the process. But unfortunately for the lost immortal, his own leg got crushed under therge boulder.


    He was pinned and screamed in pain. The tunnels were still copsing, so no one paid any attention to him and neither tried to save him. All except the old man that he had saved. The old man looked to be eighty years old and was bald.


    Wrinkles covered his face and body, which was only entuated due to his thin stick-like body. The old man was at first stunned and couldn¡¯t move after being pushed down to the ground. But a little timeter, when the nearby people had moved away and the sounds of shouts had calmed down, he came to his sense.


    The old man couldn¡¯t believe that someone would be willing to save his dog of a life in a ce like this. And the person that saved him was even a young man that perhaps had some life ahead of him. Unable to bear the gratitude that was rising within his heart, the old man tried to pull out the lost immortal from under the rock.


    But it took him far longer as the lost immortal kept screaming in pain and the old man was not strong enough either. The copsing tunnel had finally stopped shaking, and the rocks had stopped falling. At the veryst moment, by a stroke of luck, another falling rock hit the boulder that was pinning the lost immortal and set him free.


    The old man pulled him out and dragged him to the surface after a rough two hours. By now, the lost immortal had screamed his throat hoarse and had passed out unconscious. The overseers of the mine didn¡¯t pay any heed to the injured and dead prisoners. For them, they were just expendable ves.


    Still, because the lost immortal was injured, he couldn¡¯t work and was most likely crippled for the rest of the life.


    The old man who he had saved took care of him in this period and gave him food. In a surprise to him, the old man underwent aplete change in theing few days.


    The old man no longer looked as haggard and even the wrinkles on his face reduced. The other prisoners paid no attention, so these changes went unnoticed for everyone except for the lost immortal. Every day the old man would change the bandages that he had on his leg and would give him a strange kind of treatment.


    It seemed like a massage, yet different. The old man would tap on certain ces on his leg and the pain that he had would decrease. During this period, the lost immortal never talked and even the old man didn¡¯t say anything.


    A few months passed by and finally, the lost immortal¡¯s leg waspletely healed. He was shocked, as he knew that this should have been impossible. The only people that could heal from injuries were the cultivators, and he knew for sure that he wasn¡¯t one.


    Finally, one day he made up his mind and spoke. He asked the old man if he was a cultivator and received the answer that he indeed was. Shock filled his body as he would have never expected this. To him, cultivators were people beyond his understanding and were people that belonged to the upper echelon of the world.


    He couldn¡¯t understand why a cultivator would be here as a prisoner. A cultivator would have been strong enough to escape the prison, anyway. The old man then told him of his story and how he was crippled and thrown in the prison.


    He was betrayed by his fellow disciples of the sect and was left to rot here. His fellow disciples then bribed the officials of this kingdom to put him in the prison. Unable to fully get over the betrayal, the old man lost his will and simply ved over the years at the mine.


    He stayed the same and had lost all hope in life simr to the Lost Immortal until he saved him. He thought that he now finally had a purpose in life again and which was to ensure that his savior was saved.


    It was this drive that allowed him to regain his talent as he found out that he was able to cultivate again. The injuries that had been restricting him had actually healed over the years, and it was only his own mental demons that had been restricting his cultivation.


    Released from his restriction, the old man had sworn to return and also help his savior. The old man finally asked the lost immortal a question he would have never expected. It was an opportunity he would have never imagined in a hundred years.


    The old man asked him if he would want to be a cultivator. To this question, the lost immortal didn¡¯t even spend a second waiting as he answered ¡¯YES¡¯ right away.


    And so the lost immortal¡¯s journey began.


    *****


    ~Sigh~


    Lin Mu let out a sigh as he finished reading the first entry that was recorded in the wooden slip.


    "Compared to the lost immortal, my struggles are barely worth considering." Lin Mu spoke to himself in a pitying tone.


    Xukong was a little surprised upon seeing the change in Lin Mu¡¯s tone, but knew that he had probably read something that had moved him.


    "So, what did you learn?" Xukong questioned.


    Lin Mu then exined what he had learned to Senior Xukong, who too went silent after hearing it all.


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    "You do not need topare yourself with the lost immortal or even anyone else. Your fate is yours to navigate through. The karma that you will sow will be yours to reap and deal with. If you go on this path, you will only lose yourself." Xukong spoke in a sagely tone after thinking for a minute.


    After hearing his words, Lin Mu pondered on them for a bit before speaking.


    "Yes senior."


    "You can read the records as much as you want, but ensure that you simply learn from them and do not think that everything will be simr for you. The workings of fate are hidden by the will of the heavens and are not easy to pry into.


    I have heard of such legacy records and memoirs before that have been left by cultivators before. Not all of their inheritors were fortunate enough, as they would often be mistaken with them and overestimate their own knowledge and wisdom.


    While the guidance provided in them is priceless, it will still be detrimental for you if you don¡¯t utilize them properly." Xukong added.


    Lin Mu simply nodded and pondered on.

 Chapter 140 - The Clothing Dilemma

    <h4>Chapter 140 - The Clothing Dilemma </h4>


    More time passed by and it was finally the time for the morning. Lin Mu opened his eyes and took a long stretch to rx his body. He had learned a lot of things in the Sleepscape and there was a lot more that was toe.


    But for now, he needed to go to the Hei corps and help them in their mission. Before leaving, he decided to eat and finish thest of the spirit beast meat, so that he could hunt moreter on. The taste of the meat was also getting a little old for him since it had been in the ring for a while now.


    Although things wouldn¡¯t rot inside the ring, there was still an inexplicable change in taste that he could perceive now. While it didn¡¯t bother him as much, he still felt better when the meat was fresh and new.


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    ¡¯I should still have some time left.¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he looked at the sun that was at the very edge of the horizon.


    He entered his kitchen and started preparing the meat. Lin Mu also realized that he was actually about to run out of the spices and condiments he had too.


    "Another thing to add to my list. I especially don¡¯t want to forget this. Eating in roasted meat in the forest would get pretty boring after a while." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Fifteen minutester, his meal was cooked, and he finished it in the next ten minutes. Another half an hourter, Lin Mu had assimted all the vital energy and was now ready to leave. He walked outside and looked at his house onest time before closing the gate of the courtyard and locking it.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how long they would be out in the forest, thus he just wanted to be sure beforehand. A few seconds after he locked the gate, a person called him out from behind. He recognized the voice and turned to see that it was none other than Hei Ping.


    "Sir Lin Mu, are you heading out now? It¡¯s still a little early though." Hei Ping asked.


    "Yes, but I still have some extra tasks I need to do. It¡¯s better for me toplete them now." Lin Mu replied.


    "As you wish, sir. Farewell." Hei Ping said as he cupped his hands.


    Lin Mu nodded and left to be on his way. He headed towards the marketce as he wanted to get the things on his list first. Not only did he need the spices and condiments again, even the clothes that he had were getting rather damaged.


    The multiple fights and the cleanup of blood he did beforehand had only made it worse for him. Right now he only had two pairs of clothes left for use. Lin Mu now knew that he would be getting injured and damaging his clothes in the future, thus wanted to get them right now.


    Just as he was thinking of this, an unusual question popped into his mind.


    "Senior, the cultivators that battle a lot, don¡¯t their clothes get damage?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Xukong who had been engrossed in his own cultivation was a little thrown off because of Lin Mu¡¯s question. Usually, the questions he asked were rted to cultivation and such, but this time it was rted to a much more mundane matter.


    "Yes, they do get damaged. So?" Xukong replied.


    "Then what do they do with their clothes? Do they just rece them?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They..." Xukong trailed off.


    Xukong now realized that he actually didn¡¯t know what they did. He himself was a beast thus had no use for human clothes, and getting injured just meant getting his own skin hurt. Beasts technically had no use for clothes, thus this question had stumped him.


    Beasts had their fur, feathers and scales which protected them from most of the things, thus they had no use for them. Only humans and other humanoid creatures needed to use clothes to cover themselves.


    Xukong tried to rememberer but realized that there were far too few cultivators that he knew of that were of a low level such as Lin Mu. The others that he knew of or was acquainted with were seldom, if never injured enough to get their clothes damaged.


    Some of them had peerless techniques to defend themselves, others had their Armour¡¯s, while some were skilled enough that their clothes were actually not made up of normal materials but rather from their understanding of thews which was then condensed into forming their clothes.


    That final method was simply something that was beyond most of the people in this world, thus he didn¡¯t even tell Lin Mu about it.


    "Senior?" Lin Mu questioned again upon seeing that he hadn¡¯t received any response.


    "Umm, actually I don¡¯t know?" Xukong admitted.


    "What? Really, you don¡¯t know? But why?" Lin Mu asked, feeling surprised.


    "I¡¯ve never had enough interactions withmon cultivators. The ones that I did know were never injured enough that their clothes would get damaged, or it was that their clothes were made of unique and strong materials that couldn¡¯t be harmed by normal means." Xukong answered honestly.


    "I see. I guess I¡¯ll just buy multiple sets and keep them with me." Lin Mu replied as he made up his mind.


    ¡¯I have plenty of money now, anyway. Even a couple of gold coins will be enough for me to buy a hundred sets of clothes.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he kept on walking.


    A few minutester he had reached the marketce and could see the residents of the town wandering around in warm and thick clothes. While Lin Mu himself was not wearing any warm clothes, the sheer number of armors he was wearing under his outer robe was enough to make it look as is he was.


    The first ce he went to was a vendor that sold the spices and condiments. He bought plenty of them for about twenty silver coins andpletely emptied out the stock of the small vendor. The man was extremely happy and even gave him some extra items asplimentary gifts.


    The vendor also sold some misceneous goods, thus Lin Mu actually able to get some items he had been missing over a few days. He got some rolls of rope, writing supplies, storage gourds, and barrels. The shop keeper packed the items into a sack and gave them to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu simply told the shopkeeper that he¡¯ll pass these items to his friends ande back as an excuse. The shop keeper didn¡¯t mind it at all and let him leave.


    Lin Mu slung the sack on his back and carried one of the barrels with his free hands. He had bought the barrels as he felt like sorting out the meat in them would be a better way to keep it. Lin Mu left the shop and walked into an empty alley where he stored all the things into his ring.


    He then returned to continue the process until he had stored all five of the barrels in his ring. Done with this task, he continued on to a clothing shop and walked inside. It seemed as if the shopkeeper had just opened the shop as well since the clerk was still wiping down the door and the counter.


    The clerk saw Lin Mu enter and weed him inside.


    "What would you like today?" The clerk asked.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit and wondered how he should frame his question.


    "Hmm, I would like clothes that are my size." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Very well, pleasee here so I can measure you." Another clerk spoke and took his measurements.


    After being done with it, the clerk then asked again.


    "What kind of clothes would you like and how many?"


    "Umm, bring me all of them. I would like... two hundred sets." Lin Mu answered.


    The clerk was left stunned and didn¡¯t know how to respond. He felt as if he had heard it wrong or something.


    "Did you say that right? You want two hundred sets?" The clerk repeated.


    "Yes, I do." Lin Mu affirmed.


    "Wait, let me talk with the shop owner first. I can¡¯t do such arge transaction on my own." The clerk spoke and left to get the shop owner while the other clerk looked after Lin Mu.


    The clerk scanned Lin Mu from top to bottom and took note of a few things. He saw the clothes that Lin Mu was wearing of were good quality and that he looked rather well built. The eyes of the clerk then went towards the short sword that Lin Mu had on his waist.


    The clerk then silently nodded in approval and waited for the other clerk to return with the shop owner. Two minutester the shop owner appeared and spoke to Lin Mu.


    "Are you sure you want that many clothes? It will cost a lot."


    "Yes, I¡¯m sure and the money is not a problem." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright, bring in the clothes." The owner ordered.


    The clerks then brought out all the clothes that they had in the shop that were of Lin Mu¡¯s size. They counted all of them and found out that they actually only had around 150 sets of clothes that were of his size.


    The shop owner tallied the cost and spoke to Lin Mu, "It¡¯ll cost you 1 gold, 9 silvers, and 20 copper coins."


    Lin Mu nonchntly nodded and took out slightly more than the specified amount from his pouch and passed it to the shop owner.


    The shop owner was actually doubting his eyes and had not expected that he would truly buy all of them.


    Lin Mu then liked at the shop owner and thought for a bit.


    "Can you deliver all these to the town center? I¡¯lle along."


    The shop owner and the clerks finally believed now.

 Chapter 141 - Embark

    <h4>Chapter 141 - Embark </h4>


    A strange scene could be witnessed in the Northern town today. A cart seemed to be carrying what seemed like arge number of clothes. Two men were transporting it, with one pushing and the other pulling it. Just a little distance from the cart, a teenage boy was walking.


    If it were not for it being winter and there being fewer people outside, there would have probably been arge crowd to witness this scene. The three people walked for a few minutes and soon reached the town center.


    The three came to a stop in front of the town center and looked at therge number of people there. The two men who were transporting the cart were the clerks of the clothes shop from Lin Mu had bought the clothes, while he himself was walking in front of it.


    The two clerks were rather shocked by therge number of people that were standing there in front of the town center. All of the people seemed to be armed and were mostly dressed in dark clothes. Some had their faces covered withrge straw hats, while others had them revealed.


    Most of them had average-looking faces and seemed to bemoners. But the unique aura that was arising from their group was anything butmon. Even the two clerks who were not cultivators could feel the vibe in the air.


    All the armed people also saw the three people approach the building and were staring at therge number of clothes. Some looked puzzled while others were indifferent. But soon their eyes went wide as they spotted the person that was walking in front of the cart.


    Their gazes turned serious as they stared at them with intent. The clerks who noticed this became nervous and wondered what was happening.


    "Hey, do you think we made a mistakeing here?" One of the clerks spoke.


    "I don¡¯t know, but I certainly don¡¯t like their gazes." The other responded.


    "Me too. It¡¯s as if they¡¯re going to cut us up." The first man spoke, feeling a little afraid.


    Suddenly they saw the armed people approaching them at a quick pace. They became even more nervous and were now holding their breaths. Formoners such as them, even normal warriors were too much to handle and they would not offend them.


    The people came to a halt in front of Lin Mu and looked at him.


    "Look, I think they¡¯re offended by him." The clerk spoke.


    "Maybe he did something wrong." The other clerk replied.


    But just as he spoke this, the armed people suddenly shouted out in unison.


    "Greetings, senior Lin Mu."


    Upon hearing the greeting, Lin Mu was once again stuck in an awkward situation. He didn¡¯t know how to respond, so just spoke whatever that came to his mind.


    "Greetings." He spoke, eliciting silence from them.


    "What did they say? Senior?" The clerk spoke, feeling confused.


    "Yeah, it seems like it. But why would they do so?" The other clerk responded.


    The armed people were none other than the reinforcements of the Hei Corps that had pointed their weapons at Lin Mu yesterday morning. They had turned even more zealous now and had responded more enthusiastically.


    "That was a little too much, don¡¯t you think senior?" Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    "It does indeed. But I can¡¯t really tell much about the human¡¯s habits or etiquettes. They vary a lot." Xukong spoke in an unsure tone.


    It was at this moment that one of the people came forward to Lin Mu.


    "Do you need help in taking this in senior?" The man respectfully spoke.


    Lin Mu snapped out of his thoughts as he spoke, "Ah yes! Please do take them inside."


    "You all heard what senior ordered! Now get on it." The man shouted.


    "YES!" Everyone in the group shouted.


    The clerks could only watch as therge entourage of people that were armed like a battalion of soldiers listen to Lin Mu¡¯s words and react fast. Within a minute, the entire cart was emptied, as all of the clothes were transported inside the town center.


    "It is done, senior." The man who had talked with Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh, thank you for your help." Lin Mu spoke and turned around.


    "Thank you for carrying them here." Lin Mu spoke to the two clerks and handed them a silver each.


    The clerks simply nodded their heads, unable to speak due to being overwhelmed by the events that had just happened in front of them. They then turned around and walked away.


    Lin Mu looked at the reinforcements one more time before walking into the town center. The man who seemed to be leading the reinforcements walked with Lin Mu and apanied him.


    "We ced the clothes in a separate room here." The man spoke as he led him there.


    He brought him to the room that was on the ground floor and left him there, knowing not to interfere anymore. After the man was gone, Lin Mu stored all of the newly bought clothes in his ring and felt satisfied.


    ¡¯I should now go check up on Hei Wan.¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he looked around for the man.


    He didn¡¯t have to look far as he was standing near the entrance.


    "Do you know where Hei Wan is?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Ah yes, senior. She¡¯s upstairs in the office. Let me escort you." The man replied.


    "No, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll go on my own." Lin Mu said, rejecting his offer.


    The man cupped his hands in farewell as Lin Mu went up the stairs. He soon reached the door of the office and found it to be open. There he saw Hei Wan and Hei Yingjie standing.


    "You¡¯re just in time. I was about to send a messenger to call for you." Hei Wan spoke upon seeing Lin Mu enter.


    "It¡¯s fine, I had some small tasks to take care of on the way." Lin Mu replied.


    "I guess we can start now. Hei Bao has already gone to talk with the mercenaries, and the reinforcements are ready downstairs." Hei Wan spoke.


    "So how are we going to proceed?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We¡¯ve talked with the hunter Zhou Ye and have gathered some more information. From this, we have an idea of the location of the cave where the culprits are hidden. Still, they may be moving around, so we are going to split into teams of ten people each. Each team will be assigned an area that they must search." Hei Yingjie exined.


    Lin Mu nodded in acknowledgments and tough for a bit before speaking.


    "What will I be doing then?"


    "You will be apanying me along with a few other members." Hei Yingjie answered.


    "That will be good. Though I also want to hunt some spirit beasts on the way, will that be fine?" Lin Mu replied.


    "It¡¯s no problem. We will have to kill some anyway, as it¡¯s likely we¡¯ll be attacked." Hei Yingjie replied.


    Lin Mu nodded in acknowledgment and then looked at Hei Wan.


    "Alright then, we leave right away." She spoke and walked towards the door.


    The three of them descended down the floors and exited the town center. The reinforcements were already ready, waiting for them. One of them called the carriage and the three of them entered it.


    While they traveled in the carriage, the others proceeded on foot. Though in a small surprise to Lin Mu, instead of going towards the western entrance, they were instead going towards the northern entrance.


    "Why are we going this way?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We will be going in from the northern part of the forest, Hei Bao and the mercenaries will be going from the North-Western part. That way we can meet in the middle and cover a wider distance." Hei Wan answered.


    "I see." Lin Mu spoke and went silent.


    "They seem wary," Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "You think so, senior?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes, the obvious choice would be to go to the northwestern part directly, but they seem to want to avoid it for some reason, I can¡¯t tell why," Xukong spoke


    Lin Mu thought over senior Xukong¡¯s words but didn¡¯t speak anything. He stayed in silence until they reached the edge of the forest. It only took them fifteen minutes to reach it, and not long after the reinforcements had reached there as well.


    The trio left the carriage and looked at the reinforcements.


    Hei Wan came forwards and cleared her throat before speaking.


    "You all have already been informed. Split into your teams and proceed."


    "YES LEADER!" They shouted in unison before rapidly rearranging themselves into multiple teams.


    A few minutester everyone had left except for eight people. Lin Mu guessed that these were the other eight members of his team.


    Hei Wan then turned to Hei Yingjie and Lin Mu.


    "I¡¯ll leave this up to you all now. Be safe and avoid any unnecessary danger." Hei Wan spoke with concern.


    Her eyes lingered on Lin Mu for a little longer than normal, which he sensed. He felt that it was a little strange, but didn¡¯t mind it too much.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll ensure that we are safe." Hei Yingjie responded.


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    Hei Wan cupped her hands in respect before entering the carriage and returning to the town. Lin Mu was a little surprised by her gesture, but not that she had left so quick. They had already known that Hei Wan will be taking care of the town while the rest were out investigating.


    One of the eight members of Hei corps came forward and spoke, "Should we leave now, Seniors?"


    "Yes, it is time. Let¡¯s embark." Hei Yingjie dered.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªEnd Of Volume 1¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

 Chapter 142 - Two Days Later

    <h4>Chapter 142 - Two Days Later </h4>


    It was a dull and bleak afternoon. The sun was hidden behind the clouds and a chilly breeze was blowing. The trees in the forest rustled and swayed with the wind. Traces of snow could be seen on the tops of trees and even some on the floor of the forest.


    A group of ten people was walking through a path in the Northern forest. These people were none other than Lin Mu, Hei Yingjie, and the other members of his team. It had been two days since they had started their journey.


    During these two days nothing significant happened, and they simply traveled. Still, on the second day, the winter had intensified and the temperature had fallen even more. Before, the snow would usually melt in the morning and could not be seen. But now traces of it could still be seen.


    Lin Mu knew that this was just the start and it would soon get worse. The first month of winter had just started, and there were three in total. Every month would just mean more hardships and lower temperatures. The final month was the worst and there would not be a single day during it that the snow was less than a foot deep.


    They didn¡¯t exactly know how long it will take for them to reach the location they were aiming for but knew that it should be within a traveling distance of four days at the maximum. Sure, it would take them more time to actually find it, but it should be within that traveling distance.


    <i>~Howl~</i>


    The team came to a halt as they heard a faint howling from the distance.


    "Wait, there¡¯s a spirit beast ahead." Hei Yingjie gestured and ordered everyone to stop as his spirit sense detected something.


    "I¡¯ll scout it out." One of the members offered.


    "Alright, but be careful. Retreat at the first sight of danger." Hei Yingjie replied but kept his spirit sense already nheless.


    The man nodded and then went ahead. He returned five minutester and seemed to be fine.


    "Well, what did you find?" Hei Yingjie questioned.


    "There¡¯s a small pack of steel back wolves ahead. It seems to have been separated from a bigger pack or is probably a hunting party. It¡¯s being led by a steel back wolf that has be a spirit beast." The man answered.


    Everyone took a breath of relief upon hearing the man¡¯s words.


    "This should be easy then. We can take them out." Lin Mu suggested.


    Lin Mu had been wanting to hunt there past two days but unfortunately, they had not encountered even a single spirit beast. They hade across some normal beasts, but most of them directly ran away upon seeing their group.


    Lin Mu wanted to hunt them for the meat since he was missing the taste, but since they had brought enough supplies with them, he just ate that. But now that he had obtained this opportunity, he wanted to take it.


    "Sure, we¡¯ll help you out." Hei Yingjie replied.


    Hei Yingjie was a little confused on why Lin Mu wanted to hunt the beasts but just attributed it to Lin Mu wanting to battle. He did not know that he was actually hunting them because he wanted to eat them. ording to him, with Lin Mu¡¯s status, he had no reason to hunt such beasts for that reason.


    The other members split out and formed an encirclement. The steel back wolves were currently grouped together in a small area and seemed to be resting. This had just made it easier for them to approach. They paid no heed to the direction of the wind, even though it was blowing towards the small pack.


    The steel back wolves would pick up their scent, but this was exactly what they noted. This way the pack would not run away and stay there until they reached there. Lin Mu withdrew his short sword and got ready.


    Since he couldn¡¯t use his skills in front of other people, he just decided to rely on his own strength. The pack of steel back wolves was now visible to them and seemed to be agitated. They were growling towards the approaching humans.


    Lin Mu looked closer and saw that there were only around twelve wolves in the pack. It was definitely much less than that of a proper steel back wolf pack, which usually numbered more than two hundred. Lin Mu also spotted the leader of this pack.


    It was a wolf that was one size bigger than the other wolves but didn¡¯t look much different than that. This was the second time Lin Mu was seeing a steel back wolf that was at the qi refining realm and had be a spirit beast. Thest time he had seen one was five years ago, when arge party of hunters had sessfully hunted one.


    He had been amazed at that time, seeing that a group of hunters could kill a spirit beast like that, but now here he was, about to hunt one himself. Lin Mu took a deep breath and calmed his excitement.


    <i>~Grrrrrr~</i>


    The leader of the pack growled at the approaching Lin Mu and bared its teeth at him. Lin Mu was about ten meters away from the leader, when it couldn¡¯t hold back anymore and sprinted towards him. Lin Mu already had his spirit sense extended, thus could perceive every movement of the wolf as soon as it got within his range.


    Lin Mu strengthened his legs and arms with spirit qi as he focused on the approaching wolf. Just as the wolf was about to leap at him, Lin Mu lunged ahead and leaned to the side. Both of them shed in a diagonal manner as they separated.


    <i>~Whine~</i>


    A wincing sound was heard as blood spilled from the body of the steel back wolf. Lin Mu had lunged and sessfully shed its belly apart. The wolf let out a few more sounds and struggled to move before it went silent.


    "That was easy." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he approached the now dead steel back wolf.


    He confirmed that it waspletely dead and then looked at the other members of the team. They were casually standing and had already killed four of the steel back wolves. The remainder of the pack had evidently decided to run away to save their lives.


    The members of the Hei Corps had also not stopped them and had only killed the ones that were moving towards Lin Mu. For them, killing a bunch of fierce beasts was child¡¯s y. Hei Yingjie came forward and stood near Lin Mu.


    "I guess we¡¯re having fresh meat for lunch today." Hei Yingjie spoke in a jovial manner.


    He then looked at his subordinates and spoke, "Prepare the carcasses, we¡¯ll take a break."


    "Yes, sir." They all spoke.


    Lin Mu also picked up the wolf that he had killed and started skinning it right then and there. Hei Yingjie saw this and was about to stop him, but then he noticed the look on Lin Mu¡¯s face. It was a look of hidden excitement.


    ¡¯It should be fine if he wants to do it himself.¡¯ Hei Yingjie thought and then went to sit under a tree.


    Hei Yingjie sat in a meditative and started cultivating. Some of the other members did the same while the rest went to prepare the carcasses. An hourter Lin Mu was done skinning the wolf and had stored the pelt and the other useful parts away in the ring.


    The others were also nearly done with their work. They then gathered the meat together and set up a few fire pits to cook them. In all, they had five beasts worth of meat. Even half of this would be enough for them to fill their bellies.


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    Lin Mu took out his spices and condiments and started to prepare his own meal. While he was open to sharing the food, he still preferred the meat that he had cooked himself and was up to his tastes. The others saw this but paid it no mind and just did their tasks.


    Soon a mouth-watering aroma was spreading from the ce where Lin Mu was cooking the spirit beast meat. While the others were also cooking, but the aroma could not bepared. By now Hei Yingjie had woken up and was also ready to eat.


    Some of the team members had started cutting apart portions and were distributing them. Hei Yingjie did not go to the others, but instead went to sit with Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu saw this and gave out a little smile. He cut a leg apart from the cooked wolf and offered it to Hie Yingjie before he could even ask.


    "Here." Lin Mu spoke as he offered.


    "Ah! Thank you brother Lin Mu. Eating food prepared by you will be an honor." Hei Yingjie spoke in a ttering manner.


    Lin Mu nodded and cut another leg for himself. Both of them started eating and in no time they had finished it. Hei Yingjie looked up and wondered what they were going to do with the rest of the cooked meat, but was then shocked.


    In the time that he had finished that one leg, Lin Mu had not only finished his own but had also devoured half of the cooked meat. Right now he was biting down on some ribs and was eating it with gusto, paying no heed to his demeanor.


    Hei Yingjie was shocked by this and felt as if his eyes were lying to him.


    "That boy¡¯s no less than a beast himself." He muttered to himself.

 Chapter 143 - Danger

    <h4>Chapter 143 - Danger </h4>


    <i>~Burp~</i>


    Lin Mu took a burp and then looked up at the shadow that was kind of covering his face. He saw that he had unknowingly created a small hill of bones.


    ¡¯Did my appetite increase even more? I didn¡¯t even realize it while eating.¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    He then looked up at the remaining amount of meat that was left on therge skewer. Lin Mu had eaten half of the spirit beast and only the upper torso and one of the legs of it was currently left. He touched his belly and figured that he had had enough food for now.


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    ¡¯I¡¯ll save the rest for dinner.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Even though he would not feel hungry for an entire day after eating a meal, he still liked to eat it as it was a habit for him. It just didn¡¯t feel right to him when he didn¡¯t. Anyways, he still got to absorb the vital energy and the spirit qi from the meat, so it worked in his favor.


    Lin Mu touched the meat and stored it in the ring. After that, he took out a gourd and poured out some water from it. He drank some to satisfy his thirst and used the rest to clean himself. In his process of eating he had evidently been a bit messy and had oily fingers and face.


    Lin Mu looked around and saw that the others were done eating as well and were cleaning up now. They wrapped the remaining meat and kept it for ater time.


    "Everyone ready?" Hei Yingjie asked as he looked around.


    "Yes senior!" They replied in unison.


    Nodding at them, he spoke again, "Let¡¯s continue then. We should probably reach our destination by tomorrow."


    They then started their journey again and proceeded deeper into the forest. They were going in a northwestern direction now and would probably meet the other team that was being led by Hei Bao soon.


    Eventually, the sky started to darken, and the snow had started to fall. Knowing that it would be more risky to proceed in the night, Hei Yingjie decided to stop for the night.


    "We will rest here for the night. We leave tomorrow at first light." Hei Yingjie ordered.


    Everyone acknowledged the orders and started setting up the tents. The tents were nothing fancy and were just simple canvas sheets that they propped up with some sticks. Since everyone was a cultivator, they would not be sleeping anyway and would just be cultivating through the night.


    They had already had some sleep on the previous day, thus did not need to sleep for theing two days at the very least. They could get by just by cultivating. A few minutester the tents were set up, and a fire was zing at the center.


    The tents were arranged in a circr manner, and there were five of them. Two people each to every tent. This way the fire would warm all tents and also provide some light. Two of the men stayed up to keep a watch during the night, while the others rested.


    Lin Mu noticed the manner in which they acted and the way they worked, it was almost habitual. It was as if they had done this many times and had been doing it for a while now.


    "They are just trained well. Anyone can learn well if given enough time." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Is that so? They looked quite different before though, but now that they are out here they seemed to be in apletely different character." Lin Mu replied.


    "It¡¯s just something they learned to hide. We do know that they were disguising asmoners for a few years now and only returned because they were called, so it¡¯s obvious why." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t reply but simply stayed silent as he thought over it.


    "But that man, Hei Yingjie, he¡¯s different," Xukong added.


    "How so?" Lin Mu asked.


    "He seems to be putting up a facade, a mask of some kind. He¡¯s hiding quite a lot beneath that, I presume. I can sense it." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm..."


    Lin Mu did not speak further and just took out the remaining spirit beast meat and started to eat it. He had just finished eating when he heard a faint noise. He immediately became alert and his spirit sense spread out.


    Lin Mu stood up and walked out of the tent, and just as he did, he saw that Hei Yingjie had walked out as well. Evidently, he had sensed it as well. They looked at each other and nodded in a tacit understanding. The two people that were guarding too saw them leave the tents.


    "What¡¯s the problem, Seniors?" They questioned.


    "Alert the other, we have arge group of beasts approaching us." Hei Yingjie ordered.


    The two immediately left to inform the others while Lin Mu looked at Hei Yingjie in confusion.


    "Arge group?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, they seem to the Steel back wolves that we killed in the afternoon. Looks like they brought the entire pack for revenge." Hei Yingjie spoke with a serious expression.


    ¡¯Did he observe that with his spirit sense? How long is his range?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "He¡¯s in the core condensation realm, so it won¡¯t be unusual for his spirit sense¡¯s range to be more than a hundred meters," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit and then spoke, "How far are they?"


    "They¡¯re around two hundred meters away and their numbers arerge." Hei Yingjie answered.


    ¡¯So his range is about two hundred meters.¡¯ Lin Mu grasped.


    "How many are there do you know?" Lin Mu questioned again as he tried to use his own spirit sense to see if any were nearby.


    "There¡¯s more than a hundred and they seem to be spread around. They¡¯re sneaking around us to ambush us." Hei Yingjie spoke.


    Lin Mu became even more alert after hearing Hei Yingjie¡¯s words and unsheathed his own short sword. He knew that if there were more than a hundred steel back wolves then this was probably the entirety of the pack.


    "This is going to be a difficult fight." Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 144 - The Beasts Attack

    <h4>Chapter 144 - The Beasts Attack </h4>


    "I¡¯m afraid it is not going to be that simple. I sense arge number of spirit bests in them as well. This is no normal pack." Hei Yingjie spoke as he looked at the rest of the members that were now gathered.


    "That¡¯s why they¡¯re taking revenge. Nomon pack of steel back wolves would dare to attack cultivators that easily." Lin Mu realized.


    "Everyone gets ready, we¡¯re going to have a tough night." Hei Yingjie ordered.


    "Yes senior!" They responded as they withdrew their respective weapons.


    Lin Mu then saw Hei Yingjie produce a saber in his hand. The saber had just appeared out of thin air into his hands.


    ¡¯So he has a spatial storage treasure as well.¡¯ Lin Mu thought and looked at the saber.


    The saber was slightly longer than a meter in length and was curved. It looked heavy and had a broad hilt. Its de was gray in color and gleamed under the mes of the bonfire.


    "It¡¯s a spirit weapon too, a low tier one though," Xukong informed.


    "Oh? Well, that is expected as he¡¯s a core condensation realm cultivator and the Hei Corps do seem to have good connections." Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    Just as he said this, Hei Yingjie¡¯s expression fell.


    "Careful, there¡¯s a core condensation beast leading them." He suddenly spoke up in an extremely grim tone.


    "A core condensation realm steel back wolf? Can they even reach that realm?" Lin Mu questioned as he felt confused.


    "It is indeed unusual. But there have been some reports of them reaching the core condensation realm before. But if one of them has, then that means it¡¯s the true leader of the pack and the pack has alsoe from the depths of the forest." Hei Yingjie spoke.


    Just as Hei Yingjie spoke, the bushes in the distance started rustling. The wind was not blowing, thus this meant that the wolves were close.


    "I¡¯ll handle the core condensation realm steel back wolf, while you all handle the rest. Form a circle, back to back." Hei Yingjie ordered.


    He then turned to Lin Mu and looked at him with a serious expression.


    "Brother Lin Mu, if anything happens to me or something unexpected happens, leave this ce and runway. I¡¯ll give you an opening." Hei Yingjie spoke.


    Lin Mu felt shocked that he would be willing to sacrifice himself like that.


    ¡¯Seems like they really don¡¯t want you to die now.¡¯ Xukong spoke with a chuckle.


    Lin Mu did not reply and just nodded simply. Hei Yingjie then turned to the forest and stood in a fighting stance. His saber wielding arm was pointed downwards in a diagonal angle towards the right and his left foot was forward.


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    Lin Mu took a deep breath and was ready to use the severing heart sutra. Soon the rustling sounds turned to growls as the wolves started appearing from the bushes. Some appeared from behind the trees and some from behind them.


    They hadpletely surrounded their team. They were now in the range of Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense, so Lin Mu could observe the closest ones easily. With the help of the light of the bonfire, he could also see in the distance vaguely and spot their figures.


    While he could not sense that far, Lin Mu could still tell from the sizes of their bodies, which cultivation realm they belonged to. There were currently twenty-four wolves surrounding them at the closest range and out of these thirteen were spirit beasts while the rest were normal fierce beasts.


    <i>~Howl~</i>


    A howl sounded from the distance and soon a steel back wolf that wasrger than any other appeared. Its fur was gray and had seven stripes extending from his forehead going all the way to its tail. These stripes split on its back into four more which went towards its four limbs all the way up to its ws.


    Its fangs were about two inches long and looked gruesome. The Alpha steel back wolf was about one and a half meters tall and looked like a giant among its kin. A strange wave of energy was emitted from its body and spread over to all the people.


    Lin Mu instantly sensed it and understood what it was.


    "Spirit sense! The beast has developed its spirit sense?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    "Of course, beasts can also develop their spirit sense. They can do so because they have an innate knowledge of it that¡¯s hidden within their bloodlines." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu wanted to observe the cultivation base of the Alpha steel back wolf, but could not since it was staying beyond the range of his spirit sense. Pushing these thoughts aside, Lin Mu just focused on the other steel back wolves that were in front of him.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t attack first, as that would mean that he would have to break their formation. No, he stayed there and waited for the wolves to make the first move. He knew that while he would be able to deal with the wolves with ease, the others may not be able to do the same.


    Lin Mu had checked their cultivation bases and knew that out of the eight members, three were at the mid-stage of the qi refining realm while the rest were at the early stage of the qi refining realm. For Lin Mu dealing with a peak stage qi refining realm beast or cultivator would still be easy, if he used his skills.


    A few secondster the group of steel back wolves lunged at them. Lin Mu dodged to the right and shed at the steel back wolf that had jumped at him. The wolf fell down dead, and Lin Mu spun around to sh two more wolves.


    The rest were also killing the other wolves and had already killed some. Lin Mu did a quick scan with his spirit sense and saw that out of the twenty-four wolves ten were already dead. He had killed two spirit beasts and one normal beast while the others had killed three spirit beasts and four normal beasts.


    They continued fighting and soon killed the rest of the steel back wolves. But they didn¡¯t get much respite after this as the next wave came nearly instantly and this one had even more wolves. This time there were around thirty wolves.


    Lin Mu took a look around and spotted Hei Yingjie fighting with the Alpha steel back wolf and three other wolves. He seemed to be fine for now and was putting up a good fight. There were already four other corpses of wolves lying around him.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t get to watch for long though as the next wave of steel back wolves attacked soon. Returning to the fight, Lin Mu kept on shing, chopping, and cutting. He didn¡¯t staypletely injured though, he still got a few minor cuts and grazes here and there while fighting.


    The other members were doing worse than him as they were getting deeper injuries. But since they had good teamwork, they were still able to push back the steel back wolves. Lin Mu would assist them whenever he could, but it was still getting difficult now.

 Chapter 145 - The Beasts Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 145 - The Beast''s Awakening </h4>


    They had been fighting for nearly Thirty minutes now. The injuries had piled on and the members of the Hei corps were getting tired. Even if they were cultivators, they were still fighting spirit beasts and were using their spirit qi.


    Although they were not using any qi skills, they were still using spirit qi to strengthen their body and amplify their attacks. Thus their spirit qi was still being consumed. In addition to this, their spirit qi was also being used to suppress their injuries.


    The team was severely out-manned and had only survived until now because of Lin Mu and Hei Yingjie. Lin Mu would assist them whenever they were in a pinch and Hei Yingjie would also spare a little attention to ughter a few stray steel back wolves in addition to the Alpha steel back wolf that he was fighting.


    Still, even Hei Yingjie had gotten some injuries now. The most severe being the one on his saber wielding arm. Arge bite wound could be seen, from which blood was dripping. It looked unusual for a wound as big as that, since the bleeding should have been severe.


    It was evident that Hei Yingjie was using some kind of unknown skill to suppress the wound from excessively bleeding. But even that was now taking its toll on him, as the Alpha steel back wolf was not backing down at all.


    Hei Yingjie had expected that the alpha steel back wolf would retreat once it saw that many of its kin were killed, but the reality turned out to be the opposite. Instead, the Alpha was now intensifying his attacks and was actually getting faster.


    Lin Mu had also borne some injuries, but he was still wellpared to others. He was especially lucky as he had been able to block two dangerous attacks to his torso. He was saved because of the multipleyers of leather armors he was wearing.


    While the leather armor only covered his chest and not the other parts of his body, it was still five of them being stacked on top of each other. This made them thick enough that they were able to stop a w attack of qi refining realm steel back wolf and the bite of another one.


    But as a result of that, Lin Mu¡¯s clothes were now torn in multiple ces and his outer robe waspletely gone. Now the shredded stack of leather armors on his body could be clearly seen.


    "We can¡¯t let this go on, the others won¡¯t be able tost long." Lin Mu shouted to Hei Yingjie.


    Lin Mu did a quick scan of the surroundings and observed that the number of steel back wolf corpses had reached more than seventy and yet they were stilling. Hei Yingjie also had sweat dripping down on his forehead now, as he swiftly nced around.


    ¡¯This is much worse than I thought. This steel back wolf is abnormally strong, it¡¯s as if it has the strength ofte stage of the core condensation realm even though it¡¯s clearly at the early stage.¡¯ Hei Yingjie thought.


    "If their numbers don¡¯t start reducing soon, we¡¯ll retreat. I¡¯ll try to make an opening." Hei Yingjie shouted.


    But as soon as he said this, the Alpha steel back wolf as if having understood his words started growling. It retreated a short distance, giving a slight chance for Hei Yingjie to rest. Taking this chance, he killed five more steel back wolves that were troubling the members of his team.


    Hei Yingjie refocused his attention on the Alpha steel back wolf and saw that it was acting strange. It had its limbs tensed up and was growling to itself as if in pain.


    <i>~HOWLLLLLL~</i>


    The Alpha steel back wolf suddenly raised its head and let out an ear piercing howl. Its body started trembling and veins bulged out of its skin. Its eyes turned red and saliva started dripping out of its mouth.


    Hei Yingjie couldn¡¯t tell what was happening and why it was doing this. Lin Mu instinctively turned around because of the ear-piercing howl.


    "What the hell was that?!" Lin Mu eximed and looked at the Alpha steel back wolf.


    Even the other steel back wolves seemed to be affected by the howl of the Alpha wolf and seemed to be startled. Some of the weaker ones even seemed to be scared and were whining in fear. Lin Mu looked at the conditions of the others and felt confused.


    "What¡¯s happening?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "The Beast, it has awakened its bloodline ability! You have to be extremely careful, you may have to run as Hei Yingjie may not be able to handle it!" Xukong spoke with urgency.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide with shock as he heard Senior Xukong¡¯s warning. He had heard about the bloodlines of the beasts and knew that they had their unique abilities. Not every beast had it, but all had to potential to awaken one.


    The steel back wolves were rtively low in the hierarchy of the beasts thus were not as likely to awaken it. But since this Alpha steel back wolf had reached the core condensation realm, it had awakened one.


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    "Do you know what ability it is senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, there are far too many simr abilities and it could have awakened any one from its bloodline. The range is too far wide. All you can do right now is closely observe." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu heard Senior Xukong¡¯s words and gritted his teeth.


    "Careful, it has awakened its bloodline ability!" Lin Mu shouted for everyone to hear.


    Hei Yingjie felt cold sweat appear on his back after he heard Lin Mu¡¯s warning. He knew of bloodline abilities but would have never expected that a steel back wolf would awaken one. He immediately retreated some distance away and locked his sight on the Alpha wolf.


    <i>~Howl~</i>


    The Alpha steel back wolf let out another howl and was now looking at Hei Yingjie. Its muscles that were bulging before had now reduced instead. While it was the same height as before, it was now slimmer. Whatever process it was going through hadpleted, and now it was ready.


    Hei Yingjie looked at the now changed Alpha steel back wolf. While one would think that its presence should have reduced now that it was smaller in size, it was not so. Instead, its presence and aura had multiplied and were now bigger than before.


    Hei Yingjie could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand. He had been in many life threatening situations before and was very experienced. He had not felt a feeling like this in a long time. Even when he was disguised deep into enemy territory, he never flinched. But now, here in front of a beast that had a lower cultivation base than him, he was feeling fear.


    ¡¯Something very unnatural is happening in the northern forest. First the bear beast and now this? Is the invader the cause of this too?¡¯ Hei Yingjie thought as he gripped his saber hard.


    Hei Yingjie then withdrew a pill from his storage treasure and popped it in his mouth. In the next second, under the effects of the pill that he had just eaten, the wounds on his body started to heal.


    Hei Yingjie looked dead in the eyes of the Alpha steel back wolf, before he spoke, "Run. I¡¯ll stop it."


    Lin Mu heard his words but did not react at that moment. He was too engrossed in fighting the foes that were currently in front of him. Still, even if Lin Mu had not heard the words didn¡¯t mean that the other members of the Hei Corps had not.


    While most of them were fighting and holding off the steel back wolves, some of them still heard the words of Hei Yingjie. Their expressions turned strained and they gritted their teeth in frustration. Frustration that they were weak and were now suffering under the attack of mere beasts.


    They looked at Lin Mu, who was fearlessly fighting against the steel back wolves without even flinching and then at theirpanions. They felt ashamed at the fear and doubt that they were feeling. They felt as if the resolve that they had while joining the Hei corps was no more.


    They felt as if they were disappointing their lord, who had helped them in their toughest times. Times in their life which they preferred to forget and were not proud of. It was in those times that their lord hade as a savior and saved them from destion.


    "I am incredibly sorry Senior, but I cannot obey your orders." One of the members spoke.


    Seeing that one of them had spoken up others made up their mind as well.


    "Me neither Senior. I shan¡¯t leave you here."


    "We came under the lord together and together we shall perish." Thest of them spoke together.


    In the few moments that Hei Yingjie had, he didn¡¯t know what to think of his subordinate¡¯s words. On one hand, he was frustrated that they were not listening to his orders and saving their lives, and on the other, he was proud and overwhelmed that they were willing to bet their lives on his.


    Hei Yingjie had not spent much time with these people and barely knew them. But the one thing they had inmon was that they were all dedicated to the same Lord. They were saved by the same person and for the same person shall they perish.


    ¡¯So be it.¡¯ Hie Yingjie thought.


    "I shall end it or end myself."

 Chapter 146 - Desperation

    <h4>Chapter 146 - Desperation </h4>


    Hei Yingjie did not let the alpha steel back wolf initiate the first attack. Instead, he sprinted forward and attacked first. He swung his saber with an intense speed and shed at the Alpha wolf.


    "Haa-!" Hei Yingjie shouted.


    The Alpha steel back wolf did not flinch from Hei Yingjie¡¯s approach but instead looked at him closely. It stared until the veryst moment when he was just a meter away from it. Then just when the attack was about to reach it, the Alpha steel back wolf disappeared.


    "Huh, What?!" Hei Yingjie eximed as he saw his foe disappeared.


    "Where did it go?" he spoke as he looked around.


    But just as he was about to move, Hei Yingjie suddenly felt danger from his back. His spirit sense immediately spread around and he saw what was approaching him. It was none other than the Alpha steel back wolf.


    The Alpha wolf had increased its speed exponentially and was nowing towards Hei Yingjie. Reacting at the veryst moment, Hei Yingjie leaped to the side to avoid the attack. The Alpha steel back wolf missed its target and flew ahead.


    Itnded on the ground and dug some trail marks as it exerted force to stop itself.


    <i>~Growl~</i>


    The Alpha steel back wolf turned around and growled at Hei Yingjie. Deep malice could be seen in its eyes and one could tell that it was incredibly infuriated. It lunged at Hei Yingjie once again, but this time he used his saber to block its attack.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    A loud nging sound was heard as the tough body of the Alpha steel back wolf hit the saber of Hei Yingjie. The man in question was pushed back several meters due to the force of impact and could not help but stabilize himself by digging in his feet into the ground.


    Lin Mu and the rest of the membered witnessed the encounter and were incredibly shocked by it. They had never expected the fight would turn direction in such a manner. Before, Hei Yingjie was at least able to keep up with the alpha steel back wolf.


    But now that the Alpha steel back wolf had awakened its bloodline ability, its strength had increased and it became hard topare it with that of Hei Yingjie. Its speed had already increased by a lot, while its strength had also increased due to its musclespressing.


    The Alpha wolf and Hei Yingjie kept on shing and exchanged blow by blow. Lin Mu was able to watch it in the few moments that he got between fighting the other steel back wolves. Their numbers seemed to have finally started reducing, and they had killed ten more of them.


    Lin Mu did another scan of the area and saw that the remaining amount of steel back wolves was around forty.


    "We have to end this quick, Hei Yingjie won¡¯t be able to hold it back for long." Lin Mu uttered.


    By now, he had heard the words of the other members of the Hei corps and knew that Hei Yingjie was going to force himself to end the fight. Lin Mu kept on fighting the steel back wolves and was trying to kill as many as he could so that he could then help Hei Yingjie.


    Lin Mu did not want to let Hei Yingjie die here. He felt as if a bad taste would be left behind in his mouth if he escaped and let Hei Yingjie die.


    "Dammit! I¡¯ll kill you all." Lin Mu cursed.


    Lin Mu now started chanting the severing heart sutra and targeted as many steel back wolves as he could. Before he was not using the severing heart sutra as he had to interrupt himself and help the other members. But now he was just focused on killing the beasts.


    The effects of the severing heart sutra took ce and three steel back wolves were now affected. Lin Mu¡¯s target range for the severing heart sutra had now increased to three from the previous two. His regr use of the sutra had increased his proficiency.


    The steel back wolves became dazed and were now slow to act. Lin Mu took this opportunity and quickly killed them.


    One...


    two...


    three...


    five...


    ten...


    Twenty???


    One by one the steel back wolves started dying under Lin Mu¡¯s de. Finally, the time arrived when no more wolves wereing forth to attack them. Lin Mu looked around and saw that only a couple of the steel back wolves were now left fighting.


    Most of them had fallen under his hands, while the rest had been handled by the members of the Hei corps. They were covered in injuries from head to the toe and were extremely exhausted. Everyone except for Lin Mu was now nearly out of spirit qi.


    "Aargh!!"


    Just as Lin Mu was looking around, the sound of a painful shout was heard. He looked to the side and saw that Hei Yingjie now had arge w wound that extended from his right shoulder over the abdomen all the way to the left side of his waist.


    The diagonal injury was caused by the Alpha steel back wolf and could be evidently seen as its ws were dripping with blood, Hei Yingjie¡¯s blood. Hei Yingjie flinched in pain and was knocked back. The Alpha steel back wolf took advantage of this vulnerability and lunged at him again.


    Hei Yingjie rolled to the side but dropped his saber in the process.


    "No!" Lin Mu shouted as he sprinted towards them.


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    The distance between them was now far though, as they had moved away while fighting. They were over a hundred meters away from each other. Lin Mu knew that he won¡¯t be able to reach Hei Yingjie before the wolf attacked him.


    Lin Mu gave up on hiding his skills and just decided to use them. He thought that it will be worth it even if he ended up exposing himself. Lin Mu thus used blink and moved forward ten meters in a second. During this period the alpha steel back wolf had attacked Hei Yingjie again.

 Chapter 147 - Spirit Control

    <h4>Chapter 147 - Spirit Control </h4>


    Hei Yingjie had barely scraped by and dodged the attack, but still endured a scratch from the beast¡¯s ws. Another wound opened on his arm and he had moved even more far from his saber. The Alpha steel back wolf got ready and braced for another attack.


    Lin Mu was getting more and more desperate by the second. Even while using the skill blink, he was still too far. He had already used Blink five times in a row, but the speed of the alpha steel back wolf was too high.


    Lin Mu feared that he would not be able to reach Hei Yingjie in time. Quickly thinking, he let ideas flow through his mind as he finally decided on one. He kept on using Blink to teleport forward and when he was within twenty meters of the alpha steel back wolf, he threw his short sword forward.


    <i>~Swoosh~</i>


    The short sword shot forward and soared through the air. In the blink of an eye, it was already near the Alpha steel back wolf. But just as it was about to hit it, the beast reacted with a monstrous agility and tilted to dodge the short sword.


    The short sword overshot and missed the alpha steel back wolf by mere inches.


    "NOOOOO!!!" Lin Mu yelled as his eyes turned bloodshot.


    The beast turned around and refocused its attention on its prey that was Hei Yingjie. By now, Hei Yingjie had be too injured to be able to move with his previous speed and could not react fast enough. He closed his eyes in eptance as his body became stiff.


    Lin Mu¡¯s shout was still echoing as he dreaded what was about toe. His emotions were a mixture of anger, frustration, guilt, and regret. He kept on watching as the Alpha steel back wolf was about to end the life of Hei Yingjie.


    But just as he was about to give up, a miracle happened.


    The short sword that had missed and had gone ahead, suddenly turned around. It was as if it had suddenlye alive and was now flying back. Everything happened in an instant and could not be exined in a short time.


    Just as the beast¡¯s fangs arrived at Hei Yingjie¡¯s neck, it stopped moving.


    Hei Yingjie opened his eyes once he sensed that his impending doom had somehow not arrived yet. He was expecting pain and suffering, but somehow it had stopped midway. His eyes opened to a sword tip being pointed at him.


    Hei Yingjie¡¯s eyes went wide as he flinched backwards. Only after moving a few inches to the back did he see what had happened. A short sword had pierced the head of the Alpha steel back wolf ande out of its mouth.


    It was this very short sword¡¯s tip that was pointed at him when he had opened his eyes.


    "Wha-What? What happened? How?" Hei Yingjie questioned as he felt incredibly confused.


    He had actually seen the short sword miss its target that was the alpha wolf, so he wondered how was it stuck in its skull now.


    Lin Mu was standing in his ce as if he was dumbstruck. He had clearly seen what had happened a few seconds ago.


    The short sword that had missed its target and was flying ahead, somehow turned back and pierced the head of the Alpha steel back wolf. Somehow the short sword had sensed the desperation within his heart and had responded.


    A strange new connection was formed between them, and the sword responded to his thoughts. At that moment, Lin Mu wanted nothing more than to kill the Alpha steel back wolf. Thus that was exactly what the short sword had done.


    It had fulfilled his most intense desire.


    A few more seconds passed as Lin Mu contemted. Suddenly an intense wave of exhaustion washed over him as felt his strength leave him.


    "Wha... What¡¯s... happening... to me?" Lin Mu muttered between breaths.


    Lin Mu could no longer hold on and copsed onto the ground.


    "You unconsciously used spirit control on your short sword. Your spirit qi has been exhausted greatly due to it and that¡¯s why you are feeling such a great fatigue." Xukong suddenly spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Spirit control?" Lin Mu questioned in his mind as heid down on the ground helplessly.


    "Remember what I told you about controlling and using spirit swords. Normally you would have refined your spirit sense to an extensive range and would have then used that to control a spirit sword. A spirit sword that¡¯s controlled in this manner can be used to attack or to fly."


    "But what you have done is much different than that. Since you don¡¯t have a spirit sense that¡¯s long enough, the short sword instead used its own ability to establish a connection forcibly. This resulted in it draining most of your spirit qi." Xukong exined


    Lin Mu was finally able to understand a part of what had happened. He would have been able topletely understand it, but his fatigue was making it difficult for him to think clearly. The exhaustion was forcing him to close his eyes, which he was barely able to resist.


    With great difficulty, Lin Mu propped himself with his hands and turned around to look at Hei Yingjie. The man was safe for now, but his injuries had worsened. Whatever pill and techniques that he was using to restrain his injuries were no longer having any effect.


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    Some of the members of the Hei corps were now approaching Hei Yingjie to check up on him, while the rest were rushing towards the copsed Lin Mu.


    "Seniors!" They shouted.


    Two of them pulled away Hei Yingjie from the Alpha steel back wolf, while two others checked on the beast. Once they ensured that it was dead, they let out breaths of relief.


    "The beast is dead!" They shouted with tion.


    The others then too shouted with joy after hearing their words.


    "YEAH! They did it!"


    The men that had approached Lin Mu took out a small ss bottle. They then opened its cap and took out a pill from it. The pill was white and looked very in.

 Chapter 148 - Spirit Qi Core

    <h4>Chapter 148 - Spirit Qi Core </h4>


    The man that was holding the pill kneeled down and held out the pill towards Lin Mu.


    "Here, take this pill, Senior. It¡¯s a healing pill." The man spoke.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t take the pill instantly, but instead looked at Hei Yingjie and saw that the others had given him a pill as well. Taking a breath of relief, Lin Mu took the pill from the man. He popped it in his mouth and swallowed it.


    It was surprisingly nd, and Lin Mu did not taste anything when he ate it. But when the pill was swallowed down into his stomach, he could feel a strange warmth radiating from it. The warmth soon turned into intense qi that was absorbed by his body.


    The medicinal effects were absorbed and Lin Mu¡¯s injuries started to visibly heal. Even the men that had given him the pill were shocked by the quick effect.


    "Does this pill work so fast?" One of the men asked.


    "I don¡¯t know either, the Leader gave us a few of these pills before we left. She didn¡¯t exin much but just said that they were healing pills." The man answered.


    Lin Mu moved with difficulty and sat in a cross legged position. He circted the remaining amount of spirit qi he had and assisted the effects of the healing pill. A few minutester he waspletely healed, but the exhaustion of spirit qi was still there.


    Lin Mu chanted the severing heart sutra and peered inside his dantian. He observed that he barely had fifty wisps of spirit qi left in his dantian from the previous 1500. The single drop of liquid spirit qi was also there at the very bottom of the dantian.


    Previously it was hard to spot due to the sea of spirit qi wisps, but now that his dantian was nearly empty it was rather easy to see it. It would slightly gleam every so often and look like a drop of morning dew.


    Lin Mu withdrew his attention from his dantian and opened his eyes. He saw that the men were no longer near him and were now cleaning up the battlefield. Some of the ones that were more injured had also taken some pills and were recuperating.


    They had put on bandages and could be seen piling the steel back wolf corpses in a corner. There was barely any space left to freely walk, since you would stumble on a random corpse. Lin Mu looked for Hei Yingjie but couldn¡¯t find him anywhere.


    ¡¯He¡¯s probably in a tent.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    His sight was then pulled towards the massive corpse of the Alpha steel back wolf. It was still lying where it was before, and his short sword was still stuck where it was in its skull. Evident the other people had not touched it or had tried to move it.


    "Senior Lin Mu!" One of the men shouted.


    Lin Mu turned his head to the side to look at the person calling out to him. It was the same man that had given him the healing pill. The man wasking towards him and came to a stop in front of him.


    "Senior Hei Yingjie is in the tent, if you¡¯re looking for him." The man spoke.


    "Alright, take me to him." Lin Mu replied.


    The man nodded and gestured for him to follow. He then brought him to the previous tent that Hei Yingjie was in. Lin Mu entered and saw the unconscious Hei Yingjie. He was still injured, unlike Lin Mu and his wounds were notpletely healed.


    Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and observed the condition of Hei Yingjie. He saw the internal injuries that numbered in the tens. There was blood pooled in his viscera and there were tiny clots that were hampering his cirction.


    Lin Mu then checked Hei Yingjie¡¯s meridians and saw that while they seemed to be fine for the most part. There were still some areas where there were cracks and fissures. The meridians were also rather dry and barely had any spirit qi circting through them.


    Lin Mu then checked Hei Yingjie¡¯s dantian and saw something different. There was no spirit qi wisps in his dantian, instead what was inside his dantian was a small sphere that was pale white. It was about the size of a pea and was suspended in the center of the dantian.


    ¡¯So this is the spirit qi core of a core condensation expert.¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he closely observed it.


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    "Oh? This is a rather small core." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "It¡¯s small? Is the core supposed to be bigger?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not always. The core of an early stage core condensation expert usually starts off like this. But from what we¡¯ve seen, Hei Yingjie was at the middle stage of the core condensation stage. His core should have been at least twice this size." Xukong answered.


    "Umm, did he regress perhaps?" Lin Mu suggested.


    "I thought so too, at first. But from what I see, it does not seem likely. Even if a core condensation realm cultivator¡¯s cultivation base regresses, the overall size of their core wouldn¡¯t decrease. It¡¯s just the density of the core that would decrease. Instead of a solid sphere that you can see right now, it would instead be translucent." Xukong exined.


    "That what happened to him?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I can¡¯t tell exactly. We need to observe the core of other core condensation realm cultivators. Only after seeing a few more samples will I be able to determine the problem." Xukong replied.


    "Ah! The Alpha steel back wolf. It¡¯s at the core condensation realm too, we can maybe check it." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Yes, we can do that. Although the results won¡¯t exactly be urate as it¡¯s a beast and not a human, I can still guess somethings from it." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu was about to turn around and go outside the tent when Xukong spoke again.


    "I think you should recuperate your spirit qi first. Also, this man¡¯s condition seems to be worsening."

 Chapter 149 - Qi Deviation

    <h4>Chapter 149 - Qi Deviation </h4>


    "What!?" Lin Mu spoke out loud.


    All this time, Lin Mu had been talking in his mind and the man that had brought him was standing at the side. But now that he had eximed, the man listened to it with wide eyes.


    "Is there a problem senior Lin Mu?" The man asked with concern.


    Lin Mu looked at Hei Yingjie again and saw that his face had be slightly pale. Without answering the man, Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and checked Hei Yingjie. What he saw had surprised him. The spirit qi that was faintly flowing was now raging.


    The spirit qi core that was within Hei Yingjie¡¯s dantian was now vibrating and leaking out wisps of spirit qi. Faint grunts were evening out of his mouth. It had only been a couple of minutes between Lin Mu checking him for the first time and now. The man that was stable before had suddenly worsened.


    "What happened to him in these few moments?" Lin Mu wondered.


    The man who had heard Lin Mu¡¯s words now understood the context. He too turned around and saw the change in Hei Yingjie¡¯s condition.


    "What¡¯s happening to senior Hei Yingjie?" He asked, feeling afraid.


    "It¡¯s bad, he¡¯s having a qi deviation." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu had heard about qi deviation from senior Xukong before, thus knew what it meant. He knew that when a cultivator¡¯s cultivation base became too unstable or underwent damage, it could lead to qi deviation.


    But what confused Lin Mu was the rapidness of it. Hei Yingjie while being injured was still rtively stable before.


    "Seems like you probing his dantian with your spirit sense probably triggered his defensive instincts. But because he was injured and unconscious, it resulted in this." Xukong spoke.


    "So it¡¯s my fault?" Lin Mu asked, feeling guilty.


    "No, do not me yourself. This should not have normally happened, I think this may be rted to why his spirit qi core is so small." Xukong replied in a stern voice.


    "Alright, what do I do to help him then?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "For something like this there are special alchemical pills, but we don¡¯t have that option right now. You can only try to stabilize the raging spirit qi for now." Xukong answered.


    "Do I use the same method I used on Zhou Ye?" Lin Mu asked, feeling nervous.


    "Yes, but it is still going to be difficult for you to do it alone. You will need the help of others, but first, you need to recuperate your own spirit qi quickly in order to help him." Xukong replied.


    Upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words, Lin Mu immediately thought of the spirit stones that he had. He had never used them and they were just lying in the ring. Using them would be the fastest way he could replenish his spirit qi.


    "Tell the others toe to help you. They will need to supplement you with their spirit qi as well. If they rotate and do it in turns, you should have enough to maintain the supply." Xukong added.


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    "Yes senior." Lin Mu replied in his mind and turned to the man who was with him.


    "Call everyone quick, Hei Yingjie¡¯s condition had gotten worse and now he is having a qi deviation. I¡¯ll need everyone¡¯s support to help him." Lin Mu spoke with urgency.


    The man¡¯s eyes went wide as cold sweat appeared on his forehead.


    "R-Right away senior." The man spoke and stumbled out of the tent.


    While the man went to gather the rest of them, Lin Mu sat down and took out the damaged mid-quality spirit stones he had gotten from the hidden safe that was in the town head¡¯s office. Since they were damaged and leaking out spirit qi anyway, Lin Mu decided to use them first.


    Lin Mu held one of them in his hands and then started to absorb the spirit qi from it. He started chanting the severing heart sutra and in an instant, the spirit qi started being absorbed from the spirit stone into his hands.


    The spirit qi entered through his palms and flowed into the meridians. It then traveled through the meridians and finally came to settle inside the Dantian. He kept on absorbing it for about a minute before the spirit stone crumbled in his hands.


    All the spirit qi from the spirit stone had been absorbed, thus the spirit stone turned into dust. Lin Mu observed his dantian and saw that he now had around seven hundred wisps of spirit qi in his dantian. The damaged mid quality spirit stone had provided him with nearly six hundred wisps of spirit qi.


    "The next one should be enough." Lin Mu muttered.


    And just as Lin Mu muttered that the p of the tent opened and in walked the man he had sent to call for the rest.


    "Everyone is ready, senior. What are your instructions?" The man spoke, feeling nervous.


    Everyone here was a cultivator, thus they knew how dangerous a qi deviation was. They were even more scared since it was happening to someone that was part of the higher corps and was a lieutenant in the Hei corps.


    "Tell them toe in one by one and inject their spirit qi into you. Once their spirit qi is depleted, another person should immediately rece them and the previous one should go recuperate." Xukong told Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu inwardly nodded and turned to the man.


    "I need them to supply me with spirit qi, while I help stabilize Hei Yingjie. They will switch after they run out." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, senior we understand!" The others shouted from the outside. Evidently, they had listened to his instructions.


    "I¡¯ll be the first them." The man that was in the tent spoke.


    "Alright, let me finish replenishing my spirit qi first." Lin Mu spoke.


    The man felt a little confused at Lin Mu¡¯s words as he thought that he needed them, as Lin Mu had no spirit qi of his own. But then his eyes went wide in shock as Lin Wu withdrew another mid quality spirit stone and started absorbing spirit qi from it.


    In a minute he was done and spoke,


    "Let¡¯s start."

 Chapter 150 - Helping Hei Yingjie

    <h4>Chapter 150 - Helping Hei Yingjie </h4>


    Lin Mu sat down beside Hei Yingjie and ced his hands on his heart and abdomen. The man who had chosen to help him first sat behind him and put his hands on his back with palms wide open.


    "I¡¯m starting, be ready." Lin Mu spoke onest time before starting.


    "As youmand, senior." The man replied and focused.


    Lin Mu guided out the spirit qi wisps from his dantian and channeled it through his meridians and out into his hands. He then pushed the spirit qi into Hei Yingjie¡¯s body and followed the method that senior Xukong had taught him.


    Lin Mu was also observing Hei Yingjie closely with the help of his spirit sense. He wanted to ensure that he wouldn¡¯t miss something and make a mistake. Soon his spirit qi started to flow through Hei Yingjie¡¯s meridians and merged with his own raging spirit qi.


    Lin Mu felt pressure on himself as his spirit qi started merging with Hei Yingjie. His spirit qi was very strong and threatened to destroy his. Lin Mu had to put all his focus into it by chanting the severing heart sutra.


    With great difficulty, Lin Mu was able toplete one cycle of cirction. But even then he could not see any difference in Hei Yingjie¡¯s condition. His spirit qi was still ranging and damaging his meridians.


    "Don¡¯t stop and continue doing it. He¡¯s at a higher cultivation realm than you, so it will take a while for his body to respond." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu silently nodded and repeated the same process. He would pour his spirit qi into Hei Yingjie¡¯s meridians and tried to slow down the raging spirit qi. For over ten cycles, Lin Mu did not see any results or a difference in Hei Yingjie¡¯s condition.


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    But when hepleted another twenty cycles, he finally saw the difference. The ranging spirit qi had finally slowed down by a tiny fraction.


    ¡¯Alright, now I just gotta keep this up.¡¯ Lin Mu thought with determination.


    Lin Mu sensed his dantian for a moment and observed that he had depleted nearly forty percent of his spirit qi in just this time. Knowing that he won¡¯t be able to keep this up and now needed support, he spoke up.


    "Nows the time. Inject your spirit qi into me." Lin Mu spoke.


    The man didn¡¯t say anything and simply started pouring his own spirit qi into Lin Mu. This man was also at the mid stage of the qi refining realm, thus had a maximum capacity of a thousand wisps of spirit qi. Currently, he only had seven hundred wisps of spirit qi as they hadn¡¯t had the proper time to recuperate.


    Still, this would be enough for Lin Mu. The man guided out the spirit qi wisps out of his dantian and injected it into Lin Mu¡¯s back. From there, the spirit qi flowed into Lin Mu¡¯s meridians and joined the spirit qi that was being channeled into Hei Yingjie.


    In this manner, Lin Mu was able to supplement his own spirit qi with the other man¡¯s. Lin Mupleted another thirty cycles and observed a little more improvement in Hei Yingjie¡¯s condition. But his spirit qi stores had also reduced to seven hundred spirit qi wisps.


    Even with the support of the man, the loss of spirit qi was still urring. Lin Mu did not move his eyes from Hei Yingjie and just used his spirit sense to observe the condition of the man that was supporting him. He observed his dantian and saw that he had barely a hundred wisps of spirit qi left.


    "Switch, get the next person." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I¡¯m here." Before that man could even get up, another one of the members of the team walked in.


    They switched and the process started again. This time Lin Mu was able tost for ten minutes before they had to switch again. They kept on rotating one by one and hours passed by. Lin Mu was now feeling incredibly tired.


    Even the members of the Hei Corps had be exhausted. Their speed of recuperating spirit qi was not as fast as Lin Mu, thus they could only make do with whatever they recovered. The sky was now starting to brighten up and the faint outline of the sun could be seen in the distance.


    Snow was already falling, so it would take a while before it got sufficiently bright. The clouds were thick and spread densely in the sky. Cold winds were blowing and from time to time the p of the tent would flutter.


    Hei Yingjie¡¯s condition had greatly improved and was very close to being stable. The raging spirit qi in his meridians had smoothed over, and his core was no longer leaking any spirit qi. Lin Mu continued helping him for another hour and only stopped when his own spirit qi had fallen below a hundred wisps.


    <i>~Huuuu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath and lifted his hands from Hei Yingjie¡¯s body. He was no longer grunting in pain, and the color of his face had returned to normal. Lin Mu did another check and observed his internal condition. While the qi deviation had been alleviated to a certain extent, it was still notpletely gone.


    For the rest, they would have to leave it up to Hei Yingjie. His internal injuries were still present and would need some more time before they could be healed. Though the injuries that he had on his skin had nowpletely healed as a result of Lin Mu¡¯s help.


    The members of the Hei corps that had been supporting him all this while were barely holding themselves together. When the person that was currently supporting Lin Mu saw that he had lifted his hands from Hei Yingjie¡¯s body, he knew that they were done.


    "It¡¯s fine now, we have done all we could. The rest is up to him." Lin Mu spoke as he stood up.


    Lin Mu left the tent and stretched his body. He had been sitting in the same position for a long time thus felt as if his body was all tensed up and there were knots in his muscles. Even with his eleventh stage body tempering realm physique, it was still harrowing for him to do such a task.


    Lin Mu had effectively used the equivalent of the spirit qi of four hundred qi refining realm cultivators. With eight people rotating in shifts for a total of over fifty rotations, the qi that he had used in this night was the most he had ever used.


    Lin Mu wanted nothing more than to sleep now and that¡¯s what he had decided to do. The other members of the team had seen him the instant he had walked out of the tent, thus understood that they were now done. Lin Mu looked around and saw that most of them were recuperating their spirit qi and were sitting cross-legged in a meditative pose.


    ~<i>Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead and thought for a bit.


    "I¡¯ll go to sleep now. Inform me if anything happens." Lin Mu spoke and entered his tent.


    He withdrew the soft white bolster from his ring and put it down on the bedroll before he fell asleep.

 Chapter 151 - The Calling

    <h4>Chapter 151 - The Calling </h4>


    Lin Mu did not enter the Sleepscape this time. He was far too tired, thus he directly entered a deep slumber.


    An unknown amount of timeter, he was woken up by a voice that was calling out to him. Lin Mu opened his eyes and felt that everything was blurry. He could hear that someone was calling to him but could not clearly hear what they were saying except for his name.


    Lin Mu tried to rub his eyes to clear his vision, but everything was still blurry. He was still sleepy and dazed, thus could not think clearly. He stood up and tried to look around. He saw a strange scene, everything was moving and the scenery would twist and turn.


    Sometimes it would melt, and sometimes it would shatter. The scenes were blurry but he could sometimes make out some things such as mountains, rivers,kes and oceans. Though in addition to these things, he also saw some strange spheres.


    These spheres were of different colors and had different patterns and designs. Some were green with blue parts, some were green and brown, some were yellow, some were red, some were gray, some were white and some were even ck.


    Lin Mu continued following the sound of the voice that was calling him and walked towards it. The more he walked, the farther he got. The scenery which mostly showed him the mountains and rivers before was now only showing him those strange spheres.


    The number of spheres could not be counted and were spread everywhere. No matter where he looked, he could see spheres of different kinds there. Lin Mu kept on moving, and slowly his vision was getting clearer. Eventually, he reached a point where some spheres seemedpletely clear to him while some were blurry.


    The voice contained to call Lin Mu, and it seemed to be guiding him towards a specific direction. Eventually, the voice got close and Lin Mu came to stand in front of a sphere that was covered in four colors. The four colors were spread around in the form of bands.


    These bands were of green, blue, yellow, and dark gray colors. The green band was at the center of the sphere and seemed to be the smallest in size and covered around ten percent of the sphere. The band that was just below it was blue in color and seemed to cover around forty percent of the sphere.


    The next band that was on top of the green band was gray in color and covered twenty percent of the sphere. The final band was below the blue band and covered the final remaining thirty percent of the sphere. Overall, the sphere looked like a ying ball to Lin Mu.


    But at the same time, he felt as if the sphere was different. Lin Mu felt as if the sphere was much bigger than him, much, much bigger. Even though it was only the size of a palm right now, Lin Mu still felt as if it was as big as a mountain.


    Lin Mu could not exin this storage feeling and felt conflicted. His perception was telling him that he was both small and big at the same time. Lin Mu now heard a strange noise. It was a whirring sound that sounded simr to a spinning fan.


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    "Lin Mu..." The voice called out to him.


    Lin Mu looked around and could not tell where this voice wasing from. Before it wasing from a specific direction, but now it was as if it wasing from all directions at once. It made Lin Mu feel disoriented and even more confused.


    "Lin Mu..." The voice called out again.


    Lin Mu¡¯s mind was finally starting to get a little clearer, and he could think further. Since he couldn¡¯t sense where the voice wasing from, Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and tried to observe. But in a surprise to him, he could notmand his spirit sense.


    It was as if his spirit sense was trapped in a box that was his head and could not get out, no matter how much he tried. Lin Mu kept on forcing and bashed on the box that was trapping his spirit sense. Ever since refining the spirit sense, he had gotten used to it and it had be like a new organ to him.


    His spirit sense being restricted was incredibly diforting to him and made him feel as if his freedom was being vited. He kept on bashing and bashing but could not break free. This was now starting to make him enraged.


    What Lin Mu did not notice in his anger was that the sphere in front of him was getting bigger. It was expanding little by little.


    "NO! I shall not be restrained!" Lin Mu shouted.


    Unknowingly Lin Mu started chanting the Burning heart sutra and the box that was trapping his spirit sense started to shake. Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense, which was in the form of a tendril previously started to slowly morph.


    It started to grow and elongated. Even its thickness increased, and now it looked more like a tentacle than a tendril. But the change did not stop here, the spirit sense kept on growing and soon turned into a massive whip.


    The whip was as thick as a tree and was the length of a few hundred meters. Under Lin Mu¡¯s incessant chants, the whip started moving. First, it started moving from side to side and then started spinning. Eventually, it had gathered enough momentum and with a thundering crack it mmer on to the wall of the box.


    <i>~Crumble~</i>


    The powerful whip faced little resistance as it shattered the box and made it crumble. But the whip did not stop as its momentum was far too great, it kept on going escaped Lin Mu¡¯s mind. It moved at a great speed and mmed into the first obstacle that it met.


    That obstacle was the four colored sphere that had been expanding and had now be the size of arge boulder. But unlike before the whip did not break this sphere, instead, it was attracted to it and was sucked into it, and along with it, Lin Mu was pulled in as well.

 Chapter 152 - A Dream?

    <h4>Chapter 152 - A Dream? </h4>


    As Lin Mu was sucked in, he realized why the sphere was expanding. In reality, it was not the sphere that was growing but Lin Mu himself that was shrinking. Only when he was being sucked did he feel the difference. His body felt as if it was being squeezed andpressed into a smaller size.


    Still, this did not feel painful to Lin Mu and only gave him difort. While being sucked, his vision once again became blurry and he felt as if he was moving too fast to see anything. He didn¡¯t know how much time passed but when he could see everything clearly, he had stopped moving.


    Lin Mu looked around and saw that he was standing on gray colored ground and everything around him was empty. From one horizon to the other, all he could see was graynds. The light was very dim and his surroundings could barely be seen.


    The only reason he could see the horizons was because of a strange glow that came from one of the horizons. This horizon would glow with seven different lights and would change around. The calling which Lin Mu was hearing from all directions was now calling him towards a particr distance again.


    It was calling him towards the direction of the horizon. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what to do except walking towards it and that¡¯s what he did. But something shocking happened once he did that.


    Lin Mu had expected that he would need to walk for a while to reach the source of the calling, but when he took a single step towards that direction the ground started shrinking. It was as if the horizon was folding and he was traveling forwards at a great speed.


    As soon as Lin Mu¡¯s foot touched the ground, he had reached apletely different ce. While the ground here was still gray, there were some other things here, such as some gray mountains. Though the most eye catching thing was the seven colored glow that wasing from it.


    Lin Mu looked at it and saw that the seven colored glow wasing from seven orbs of light that were floating above the mountains. These seven light orbs were arranged in a specific format. They were rotating in two circles, with two orbs in the outer circle and five in the inner.


    The two orbs in the outer server were of two different colors. One was purple and the other was azure. They would spin in a circr orbit and left behind a glowing trail. This glowing trial took the shape of a circle and half of it looked purple while the other half looked azure.


    The orbs in the inner circle were of five different colors. They were colored red, brown, yellow, blue and green. These five orbs too moved in a circr orbit and left behind a glowing trail of five colors that were respective to each orb.


    Lin Mu felt mesmerized by them and could feel that the calling wasing from there, but as soon as he took another step everything started crumbling into dust. The mountains in front of him, the ground beneath him and the sky above him.


    He did not understand what was happening, but soon saw the dust that made from the crumbling world forming into aplex pattern. This pattern had concentric circles with a pentagram and a oval in it. Along with these shapes, strange letters and characters were also written in it.


    This pattern shrank to the size of a palm and came to float in front of Lin Mu. Suddenly the pattern shone brightly and blinded Lin Mu. During this time when he was unable to see anything the pattern shrank even more and then imprinted itself on Lin Mu¡¯s forehead.


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    A momentter Lin Mu was able to see again and saw that the pattern had disappeared. Unknown to him, the pattern was currently sinking into his forehead and soon disappeared. He looked around and could not find it. Giving up on it he soon felt a strange tug on his body.


    The tug soon turned into a massive force and yanked him into himself. His body copsed into himself and reduced to a small point which eventually shrank into nothingness, leaving behind an empty void.


    When Lin Mu¡¯s opened his eyes again, he saw a canvas roof above him. He felt the soft bolster below his head and the bed roll below his body.


    "Am I back? So that was just a dream..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    *****


    A few minutes ago, just as Lin Mu had shattered the box that was trapping his spirit sense and was subsequently sucked into the four colored sphere, Xukong was silently cultivating inside the ring.


    He had engrossed himself in his cultivation and from time to time one of the silvery Grey streaks that were shining in the sky would break into a stream of particles and be absorbed by him. These silvery Grey streaks were incredibly pure and condensed masses of spatial attribute qi.


    After overseeing Lin Mu help Hei Yingjie, Xukong too wanted a little rest. And rest for him was nothing but cultivating. But he had never thought that he would suddenly sense the link between his avatar body and main body bing stronger all of a sudden.


    Xukong opened his eyes in shock as he sensed his main body.


    ¡¯What is happening, why did the link get so strong all of a sudden? It¡¯s almost as it...¡¯ Xukong thought and trailed off.


    Then his eyes opened even wide as he realized something.


    "It¡¯s almost as if the world¡¯s barrier does not exist!" Xukong spoke out loud.


    He sensed his main body and tried to see if he could use its cultivation base, but just before Xukong could dig deeper into it, the situation passed. His link to his main body returned to its weak state again.


    "What was that? Was that just a normal fluctuation in the void? Or... something more..."

 Chapter 153 - Disturbance In The World Barrier

    <h4>Chapter 153 - Disturbance In The World Barrier </h4>


    While Xukong was pondering about the phenomenon that had just happened, there was something else happing at the Sky precepts sect.


    At the star catching peak, in arge hall, disciples could be seen sitting in their respective positions on the formation. The formation was glowing and would sometimes show things on an ethereal screen that hung in the air. There were hundreds of disciples sitting on the formation with a majority being peak qi refining realm cultivators and some core condensation realm cultivators.


    In a separate hall from that, twenty Grey robed elders were sitting on a formation array simr to the disciples previously. Except this formation array was much moreplex than the other one and had multipleyers to it.


    These twenty Grey robed elders all had the design for star catching peak embroidered on the front of their robes and were the nascent soul realm elders of the star catching peak.


    If it were anywhere else, any of these twenty elders could make a sect of their own. Just this showed the power and reserves of the Sky precepts sect.


    At the head of this formation array sat another elder, but this elder was not a man but an old woman. She had faint wrinkles on her face and seemed to be in her mid fifties. She was dressed in a ck robe and simrly had the symbol of the star catching peak on her robes.


    The aura that emitted from her told one that she was higher than the other elders and was at the Dao shell realm. She was none other than the peak head of the star catching peak.


    All the elders and the disciples of the star catching peak were currently engrossed in operating the star catching formation array and were fully focused on it, except for the peak head. She was merely looking at the screen and did not participate.


    Just as she was looking at the screen, she felt someone¡¯s presence behind her.


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    "What brings you here head elder Han?" The peak head spoke in a calm voice.


    The person that was standing behind was none other than the ck robed elder Han. He had appeared behind her soundlessly, and it was not clear how he had reached there.


    "I¡¯ve juste to assess the progress of the new batch of disciples." Head elder Han spoke in a friendly tone.


    The peak head snorted lightly and turned to look at head elder Han.


    "If you were here for that you would have directly gone to see them and would not havee to the core chamber like this." The peak head spoke.


    "Ah Peak head Meili, you know the situation had not been welltely. So I just wondered how you were faring after the recent loss." Head elder Han replied.


    <i>~Hmph~</i>


    Peak head Meili did not respond and simply turned back to look at the screen that was showing a mass of characters that would switch and change around.


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    An awkward silence descended and head elder Han coughed to dispel it before speaking.


    "Well, it seems like I should head on to check on the disciples then."


    He was just about to leave when suddenly the formation array disappeared and the screen faded away as well.


    The twenty nascent soul realm elders that were sitting on the formation array all simultaneously opened their eyes, and so did the other disciples.


    "Oh! Seems like the disciples could no longer handle it." One of the nascent soul realm elders spoke.


    "Yes, they didst longer than before though." Another one spoke in a praising tone.


    A few secondster the formation started glowing again, and the screen appeared once again. But while the nascent soul realm elders were talking amongst themselves, the expressions on the faces of Head elder Han and Peak head Meili were of dread. They looked at each other for a moment and subtly nodded.


    Peak head Meili turned to the twenty elders and spoke.


    "Seems like we can give the new disciples a break for now. Let them return to their abodes, I need to go do something as well."


    The twenty elders stood up and cupped their hands in acknowledgment.


    "As youmand, Peak head." They all spoke in unison.


    Peak head Meili lightly nodded and left along with Head elder Han. They appeared outside the core room and soon moved to a secluded building that was located on a corner of the star catching peak. They moved at a blinding speed and reached there in less than a minute.


    After reaching there, peak elder Meili gestured in the air and a string of characters appeared. They arranged themselves in a formation and soon a barrier was formed around the building.


    "Now no one can hear us." Peak head Meili spoke.


    "That¡¯s good, we don¡¯t want anyone except for the two of us to know about this or it will lead to chaos." Head elder hand spoke in a serious tone.


    "So was it really what I think it was?" Peak head Meili questioned with apprehension.


    "Indeed, you should have read the old records. You know what this pertains." Head elder Han answered.


    "But if the World barrier really disappeared, why was it only for a few seconds? Back when the tragedy urred, the entire peak had shut down for months now. We could only repair the formation and get it functional, a little while ago." Peak elder Meili spoke in a doubtful tone.


    "Because this time it was not an expert undergoing ascension who broke through the world barrier. But rather something else that caused the world to lower its own barrier. This is all that I can deduce." Head elder Han spoke in an unsure tone.


    Peak head Meili suddenly had a change of expression, as if she had realized something. She withdrew a jade slip from her storage treasure and held it for a few moments and closed her eyes. She then opened her eyes, which had hints of fear in them.


    "So you figured it out? What did you see in the hidden records?" Head elder Han asked.


    "Invader... but not any invader, but an old one. The ancestors... they missed someone."


    "Or one survived..."

 Chapter 154 - Waking Up

    <h4>Chapter 154 - Waking Up </h4>


    Lin Mu touched his face and ensured that he really was in the real world and had woken up. He then sat up and touched his surroundings as well. Once he confirmed that everything was as he had known, he took a breath of relief.


    ¡¯So that really was a dream, a strange one at that. It was as if my spirit sense was really trapped.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    But just as he thought that, an idea popped into his mind. Acting on this idea, he released his spirit sense and extended it. As soon as he extended it though, he was shocked. He had a hidden feeling that what had happened in the dream was notpletely fake.


    And that¡¯s what it was. In Lin Mu¡¯s dream, he remembered that his spirit sense was hundreds of meters long and was incredibly strong. The same had happened here. Except that it was not exactly the same. While it had increased its range, it was only extended up to eighty meters, ten times of what it was before he went to sleep.


    "This is amazing! How is this possible though?" Lin Mu spoke out loud in surprise.


    But him extending his spirit sense had another effect.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    A strange sound was heard that was simr to how unsheathing a sword felt. A swooping sound was heard as a few people shouted out loud.


    "WATCH OUT!"


    "WHOA!"


    <i>~Rip~</i>


    A tearing sound was then heard as the canvas walls of the tent were torn and an object entered from it. It came to float in front of Lin Mu and hovered there while humming faintly. It was none other than Lin Mu¡¯s short sword. Somehow it hade flying to him.


    "What?..." Lin Mu spoke in shock as he saw the short sword floating.


    "Hold it, it¡¯s responding to you now." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu heeded his words and held on to the handle of the short sword. As soon as he held it, the short sword stopped thrumming and calmed down. Lin Mu looked at it from top to bottom and couldn¡¯t see any differences in it.


    Xukong saw this and knew what Lin Mu was thinking.


    "It¡¯s not a physical change. It just the spirit control link that it had established with you. While it responded before back when you didn¡¯t have a strong enough spirit sense, it was only acting on instinct. But now that your spirit sense is sufficiently strong, it will heed yourmands." Xukong exined.


    "Try connecting your spirit sense with it. You should be able to control it." Xukong added.


    Lin Mu did as he was asked and connected his spirit sense with the short sword. He thought that it would beplex at first, but it wasn¡¯t. Instead, it was as if it was instinctive, his spirit sense attached to the short sword, and Lin Mu felt as if it was now like a part of his body.


    Lin Mu let go of the short sword and it kept on floating in the air. He flicked his spirit sense and with it, the short sword moved. But in his amazement, Lin Mu had forgotten where he was. The small flick of spirit sense was toorge, and the short sword moved with a fast momentum.


    That small movement of spirit sense was amplified much more in the short sword and it shed out, destroying the canvas tent. The tent fell apart in two parts, and Lin Mu was revealed to the elements. Faint sunlight dappled his face as he looked at the members of Hei Corps that were staring at him with dumbfounded expressions.


    They were first scared by the short sword which had suddenly started flying and had barely missed their heads, and now it was a tent that had been split in half. They felt as if this was going to be a long and tough day.


    "The short sword... it¡¯s flying?" someone who had not noticed the short sword until now spoke.


    "It¡¯s a spirit sword! A high grade one at that." One of them eximed.


    But just as that man shouted that out loud, another one of the men pped him on the back of his head.


    "Watch what you say!" The man whispered to him.


    The man immediately zipped his lips and looked on over at Lin Mu. He had a nervous look on his face and was worried that he had offended Lin Mu. But to his relief, Lin Mu was instead focused on the short sword itself.


    Lin Mu was waving it around and trying to get a judgment of how much force he was supposed to apply. Since his spirit sense had grown much more stronger than before, about ten times. He was not ustomed to using it and was experiencing the problem.


    A few minutester he finally got a good grasp on it and could control the short sword freely like a third arm. But along with this, he realized another thing. With each passing second that Lin Mu used the short sword, one wisp of spirit qi was used.


    After sleeping and waking up, Lin Mu only had about six hundred wisps of spirit qi in his dantian. And now that he had used it for a couple of minutes, that amount had fallen to below a hundred wisps.


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    "You need to be careful with your spirit qi consumption. Cultivators usually don¡¯t have a spirit sense as strong as you in the qi refining realm, thus your consumption of spirit qi is much higher. You shouldn¡¯t use the full range of your spirit sense when it¡¯s not required, or you will deplete it fast."


    "In addition to this, there will be a spike in the consumption of spirit qi when you use your spirit sword to attack. So you need to be extremely sure when you strike. But once you reach the peak stage of the qi refining realm and have refined enough liquid spirit qi; you¡¯ll be able to use the spirit sword freely." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu felt even more amazed and understood much better now. But along with this, another idea popped into his mind and his eyes lit up with excitement.


    "Before you think of this, know that you still can¡¯t fly on the spirit sword. The consumption will be immense and you will drain all of it in a few seconds." Xukong spoke in a cold tone and broke the excitement of Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu felt as if water was spilled on his ns, but soon picked himself up as he remembered there were far too many things he needed to take care of for now. Lin Mu first decided to check up on Hei Yingjie. He had told the team members to inform him if anything happened and they hadn¡¯t, so it meant that everything was going well.


    Lin Mu went to the tent in which Hei Yingjie was resting and walked inside. He saw that he was still unconscious, but his condition seemed to be well from the outside. Lin Mu used his spirit sense and checked his internal condition and discovered that while the injuries had notpletely healed, they were still better than before.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "At least he¡¯s improving." Lin Mu muttered.


    After checking up on Hei Yingjie, he walked back outside and saw that the men were cleaning up the destroyed tent. One of them saw him and walked up to him.


    "Do you have any orders, senior?" The man asked. It was the same man who was the first in supporting Lin Mu in healing Hei Yingjie.


    "We need to inform the other team. I don¡¯t think we can continue the mission like this." Lin Mu spoke stating the problem.


    The man¡¯s expression fell, and he nodded.


    "That is true senior. With our strongest expert down, there isn¡¯t much we can¡¯t do. Before you woke up, we were discussing our course of action, but we didn¡¯t want to decided it without you. Now that Senior Hei Yingjie is injured, you¡¯re the one who¡¯s inmand." The man spoke.


    Only now did Lin Mu realized that he had never asked the man for his name. In fact, he had not asked anyone¡¯s names somehow.


    "Umm, what¡¯s your name?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Ah, my name is Xie Bohai." The man introduced himself.


    "Xie? Not Hei?" Lin Mu asked, feeling perplexed.


    "Oh yes, Senior. We did not take up the Hei name as we were to be the reserve force of the Hei Corps. Since we had to disguise and live a normal life for a long time, the Lord had decided that it was better this way." Xie Bohai exined.


    Lin Mu nodded in understanding and then took a look around at the rest of the members.


    "Xie Bohai, tell me how are the others? Have they recovered?" Lin Mu questioned with a straight expression.


    "Yes, Senior. All of us have recovered and are ready for any task you may deem necessary." Xie Bohai spoke in a respectful tone.


    "That¡¯s good. Now the first task is to inform the other team, do you have any suggestions?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if they had the means to contact others, but seeing their previous methods and them being resourceful, he was kind of expecting something.


    "Of course, Senior. We still have the locatingpasses. As long as we are close to them, we will be able to find them." Xie Bohai spoke.


    "Very good. How long will it take you to inform them then?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I¡¯ll dispatch two of our men right away. It shouldn¡¯t take more than a day or two at the most." Xie Bohai answered.


    "Yes, do that. Meanwhile, I have something to do." Lin Mu replied and then walked towards the copras of the alpha steel back wolf.

 Chapter 155 - The Beast Core

    <h4>Chapter 155 - The Beast Core </h4>


    Lin Mu came to stand in front of the Alpha steel back wolf and observed it. Therge stab wound in its skull was still dripping with blood as his short sword was only recently retrieved. There were other smaller wounds on its body, but they were no longer bleeding.


    Compared to Hei Yingjie, the Alpha steel back wolf was rtively unscathed. This made Lin Mu wonder why. Although Hei Yingjie was supposed to have a higher cultivation base than the beast, he still lost. He wondered if the Bloodline awakening was really that impressive.


    "It is indeed rather surprising that Hei Yingjie lost. From what I observed, it seemed to me as if his spirit qi stores were much lesser than they should have been. We¡¯ve already seen his core, so it¡¯s obvious that there is some problem that we don¡¯t know of." Xukong spoke.


    "We should get some idea after observing the Alpha steel back wolf¡¯s beast core." Lin Mu replied in his mind and then extended his spirit sense.


    Now that his spirit sense was ten times as stronger than before, Lin Mu had an easy time scanning the corpse. Lin Mu knew that when beasts reached the Core condensation realm, they would simrly form a spirit qi core, which was called as the beast core.


    Though there were some exceptions as well. There were some beasts that could form a core before they even reached the core condensation realm. The cores that were formed when they were in the qi refining realm were called as pseudo cores.


    Any beast that could form a pseudo core was considered to be exceptional and was often multiple times stronger than its normal counterpart. While this usually only happened with beasts that had high ranked bloodlines, sometimes normal beasts could also achieve this through a stroke of luck.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense pierced the Alpha steel back wolf¡¯s body and started scanning around for the beast core. Depending on the species of the beast, its core could be anywhere in the body. Though in most cases it was either in their head or their chest.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t have to search for long as he found the core easily. The core of the Alpha Steel back wolf was in its chest, right above its heart. Lin Mu observed it and found that it waspletely different from Hei Yingjie¡¯s core.


    Not only was it bigger in size, but its color was also different. While Hei Yingjie¡¯s core was of a white color, the Alpha steel back wolf¡¯s was of a Grey color and had a brown pattern on it that was simr to the one on its body. Wanting to observe it even better, Lin Mu used his short sword and swiftly dug out the core.


    Blood that was still warm spilled from the beast¡¯s chest and stained Lin Mu¡¯s clothes. He didn¡¯t mind it as he was still wearing the tatted clothes from yesterday and had the mind to throw them away, anyway. He pulled out the bloodied beast core and rubbed it on his clothes to clean it.


    The beast core slightly gleamed in the sunlight and seemed to be heavier than its size. Lin Mu guessed that the core was easily more than two hundred grams, even though it was only about the size of an olive. Hei Yingjie¡¯s core was even smaller and was the size of a pea.


    Lin Mu probed the beast core with his spirit sense and felt as if he was blocked.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    "The beast core has an immense amount of spirit qi condensed in it, of course your spirit sense can¡¯t prate it," Xukong spoke.


    "Not only that, but this beast has also awakened a bloodline ability. You see those patterns on the beast core, those are the mark of an awakened bloodline. Usually, if a beast core has marks such as those, it means that the beast that it belonged to had awakened a bloodline ability. Though there are certain exceptions to this." Xukong exined further.


    "So we know that something is definitely wrong with Hei Yingjie then?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, that is true. Unless we can observe a few more core condensation realm cultivators, this is all that we can do." Xukong answered.


    "Alright, now this is done, I want to check up on something more." Lin Mu spoke with a serious tone.


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    "Oh? What do you want to do?" Xukong asked, feeling strange.


    "I want to go and search for the clues on my own. Now that I have a stronger spirit sense, it should be rtively safe. And even if someone does find me, I¡¯m confident I can escape using my skills. If I stay with the Hei Corps, won¡¯t be able to freely use my skills and with Hei Yingjie out ofmission our protection is gone anyway." Lin Mu spoke and took a pause.


    <i>~Sigh~ </i>


    "This way at least this trip won¡¯t go to a waste. Hopefully, by the time the other team gets the news, I¡¯ll be back as well." Lin Mu continued in a tired tone.


    ¡¯Hmm, although his decision is risky, it¡¯s good that he¡¯s taking it. He needs to learn to take risks. Anyway if pushes to shove, I can temporarily help him hopefully.¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    "Fine, then. Though I don¡¯t think you can tell these people what you are going to do, can you?" Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit over it. It was indeed true that the Hei Corps may not be open to Lin Mu leaving on his own. They were now down one man and were overall weakened. Their morale was also lower than before.


    "I¡¯ll just have to make an excuse, I guess." Lin Mu spoke and then walked towards Xie Bohai.


    Xie Bohai had just finished telling his fellow members of Lin mu¡¯s orders and saw Lin Mu approach him.


    "Do you have any more orders, senior?" Xie Bohai questioned.


    "Yes... well, not exactly. I just want to inform you that I¡¯ll be cultivating on my own for two days." Lin Mu answered, cooking up a lie.

 Chapter 156 - A Cave

    <h4>Chapter 156 - A Cave </h4>


    Xie Bohai felt confused after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words. Lin Mu noticed this too and had a bad feeling, he wondered if he would buy it or not. But then he saw that Xie Bohai suddenly had a change of expression and his eyes made it seem as if he had just had a realization.


    "Ah, senior just had an epiphany. It is understandable that you would want to capitalize on it." Xie Bohai spoke in an enthusiastic tone.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu silently took a breath of relief. While he could still go off without considering the situation of the Hei corps, he would still not feel well doing that. Now that Xie Bohai had unknowingly given him a way out, Lin Mu jumped at it.


    And technically, Lin Mu did have a certain kind of epiphany. At least that¡¯s what he told himself.


    "Yes, that¡¯s exactly what I want to do. I would also like that you do not disturb me in that period." Lin Mu replied.


    "That will be fine, senior. I doubt any more beasts wille here because of the Alpha steel back wolf¡¯s scent. They should stay away for a few days at least." Xie Bohai added.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went slightly wide, but he controlled himself. What Xie Bohai had just spoken had taken off another burden off his back.


    "I¡¯ll be leaving after a while, I need to prepare for a bit." Lin Mu informed and then was just about to walk when another thought came to his mind.


    "Umm, can you also skin and butcher the alpha steel back wolf as well as some of the other wolves for me." Lin Mu asked.


    "Sure senior, it won¡¯t be a problem." Xie Bohai replied and then went to the carcass of the beast.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Seeing him walk away, Lin Mu let out another breath of relief. He then picked a tent and went inside. Since his tent was destroyed and all others were empty, it was easy for him to choose one.


    Lin Mu changed his soiled and tattered clothes and washed his face before sitting down on the bedroll. He then chanted the serving heart sutra and recuperated his depleted spirit qi.


    Four hourster he was done and opened his eyes. He walked outside and saw the meat that had been butchered and cut into pieces. It had been wrapped up in their pelts for convenience and was ready for Lin Mu to take.


    Lin Mu took onest look around the small camp and bid everyone farewell. He stored the meat in his ring and left the camp. He went towards the Northwestern direction and tried to see if he could find any clues. Lin Mu was also a little suspicious of the Alpha steel back wolf¡¯s attack and thus wanted to know more.


    s, all the tracks of the wolf pack had been covered due to the Snow that had fallenst night. It was still snowing, but it was light. The snow on the ground was about six inches deep, but Lin Mu didn¡¯t have much problem navigating through it.


    Lin Mu also left marks on trees so that he could find his way back. Although he was experienced with the forest, he was not so familiar with it that he could easily find his way back. The markings and his newly enhanced spirit sense would help him with that.


    Along the way, Lin Mu spotted some spirit beasts and some normal beasts, but did not sh with them. He didn¡¯t want to create too much of a ruckus and attract attention to himself. Who knows if the culprits were nearby or not.


    There were some times where he found the nests of beasts, and he had no choice but to go around them. This ended up extending his journey a little bit.


    Twelve hours had passed since Lin Mu had left the camp behind. The sun had already set, and the forest had be dark. It had also started to snow, and Lin Mu felt as if a storm would being soon. The winds were getting stronger as well.


    Lin Mu had walked far enough that he was now close to the mountains and the hills.


    ¡¯This should be far enough for now. I¡¯ll find a ce to rest.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He didn¡¯t have to look far, as with one sweep of his spirit sense he found a suitable ce. Not far from him, there was an opening that seemed to be a cave. It was just at the very edge of Lin Mu¡¯s spirit senses range, thus he could not clearly tell.


    But once he walked towards there for a bit, he confirmed that it was indeed a cave. A couple of minutester he was at the entrance of the cave. There were some big trees that were blocking the strong winds near the entrance of the cave, so it was a bit morefortable here.


    "I should be able to start a fire here with little problems." Lin Mu reckoned as he took out the wood from his ring.


    Lin Mu had plenty of wood stored in his ring from back when he was living at the hunting shack. He had kind of forgotten about it, but now it wasing to his use, anyway.


    A few minutester, a fire was zing inside the cave and illuminated its insides. Lin Mu had scanned the cave with his spirit sense and had determined that while the cave went deep, it was far too small for anything threatening to live in it.


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    The main area of the cave was about two meters tall and about four meters wide and it tapered down as one went deeper. After a certain point, it was less than a few inches wide. Lin Mu picked up a burning branch and went close to it.


    "Huh? It¡¯s actually a fissure." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu looked down and saw some traces of water near his feet.


    "Looks like it was created due to watering through it. It probably gets flooded when it rains and the wateres through the mountains." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded and returned to the fire. He wanted to cook and eat dinner.


    But just as he was taking out some meat from his ring, he heard it.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    It was a roar and not just any roar; it was one he had heard before a few months ago.

 Chapter 157 - The Roar

    <h4>Chapter 157 - The Roar </h4>


    Lin Mu mmed his palms onto his ears; the roar was just too loud. Unlike before when it was distant and was simply echoing, this time it sounded close, too close.


    "What... is... that...?" Lin Mu muttered as he struggled to handle himself.


    The thunderous roar was making him dizzy and he was now lying on the ground trying to stop the sound. He writhed on the ground in pain for about a minute, after which the noise stopped.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    "Haa... Haa... Haa... it... finally... stopped..." Lin Mu spoke as he tried to get a hold of himself.


    Five minutes passed, after which Lin Mu finally felt better. His head was no longer spinning and his heart beats had also calmed down.


    "I felt as if I was almost going to die there for a moment." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    "While the beast¡¯s roar was powerful, it wouldn¡¯t have been enough to kill you. At most you would have fallen unconscious, and then that would have stopped the noise." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu felt a little surprised upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words. Not because he said he would have been fine but because he knew that it was a beast¡¯s roar. Back when Lin Mu had heard the roar for the first time, senior Xukong had not been with him.


    "Do you know what beast that was senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, I can¡¯t tell just from the roar. But seems like you¡¯ve heard it before. Was it the same beast you talked about before?" Xukong questioned.


    "Yes, senior. Although I still want to know what kind of beast it is." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm, well from the power of the roar, I can tell that it¡¯s a peak qi refining realm beast if not higher. But it could also be because the beast¡¯s main ability may be its roar itself. I think it¡¯s thetter though, a core formation beast wouldn¡¯t roar like that for no reason and there doesn¡¯t seem to be anything going on here. It¡¯s too calm." Xukong replied.


    "Should we investigate then? The sound did seem like it came from nearby." Lin Mu asked.


    "You can, of course. Your skills should allow you to escape anyway, and I think the sound came from behind you." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu turned around when he heard that the sound came from behind him. He was a little astonished and wonder if that beast was in the cave or something.


    ¡¯There shouldn¡¯t be anything here, I already checked the cave.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Didn¡¯t you feel it? The sound was reverberating, it came from deeper in the cave." Xukong exined.


    "Deeper? The fissure! There¡¯s something behind it." Lin Mu eximed.


    He then walked up to the fissure and checked it. No sound could be heard directly, but when he put his ear up to the fissure, he could sense a faint throbbing sound. It was as if something was breathing far away.


    An idea popped up in Lin Mu¡¯s mind and he got ready. He took a deep breath and then walked towards the fissure. Instead of crashing into it, his body started passing through it as if it had turned immaterial. Lin Mu was using the third skill that he had obtained Phase.


    Lin Mu kept his spirit sense extended and made sure that there was nothing dangerous in front of him and continued walking. His spirit sense kept on depleting but he did not have to worry about that as he had rested and his dantian was already full.


    The fissure went on for a small distance and would change in size as he went on. Sometimes it would be smaller and sometimes it would be bigger. There were even points where it was just big enough for him to snuggly fit inside. When a ce like this arrive, Lin Mu would rest for a bit and catch his breath.


    Lin Mu walked for about two hundred meters through the long winding fissure. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t tell what direction he was facing anymore and could only depend on the fissure to find his way back when he had to. Lin Mu eventually reached the end and saw the opening.


    The ce he had arrived at was another cave, but this one was much wider than the one before. He looked up and estimated that the cave was almost eight meters high and about twenty meters wide. There was some water dripping from the roof of the cave, and stgmites and stctites could be seen spread around.


    This was Lin Mu¡¯s first time seeing such a big cave. While he had explored small caves that were in the hills nearby the town with his friends back when he was a child, this was still the biggest one. The temperature in the cave was chilly but it was still warmer than outside.


    "This cave must be quite deep in the mountains judging from the size of it," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu scanned the cave with his spirit sense and did not discover anything peculiar. He continued onward and noticed that the floor was sloping upwards. He felt a little confused but kept on walking and scanning with his spirit sense.


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    After walking for a hundred more meters, he noticed that this area was much drier than the one before. There was no water dripping from the roof and it even seemed to be a bit more warmer. The floor was now no longer sloping, but rather t.


    But just as Lin Mu took another step, his spirit sense detected something. He froze in ce and tried to observe more with his spirit sense, but it was difficult for him as it was at the very edge of its range. He went closer and could now feel the faint vibrations in the ground.


    Lin Mu kneeled down and ced his ear against the floor. Then he heard it, it was a heart beat, a powerful one at that, powerful enough to cause vibrations in the ground.


    "Careful Lin Mu, it seems I am wrong. This beast may be much bigger than we thought." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>

 Chapter 158 - A Sleeping Beast

    <h4>Chapter 158 - A Sleeping Beast </h4>


    Lin Mu nodded and swallowed his saliva as he kept his spirit sense alert. Just a meter more and then he could sense therge beast that was about eight meters away from him. He walked even closer and observed that the beast was sleeping on the ground and was curled up against a wall.


    Lin Mu felt afraid of going forward, but at the same time, his curiosity was forcing him to see the beast. Stuck in a dilemma he thought of possible solutions, until just a momentter it presented to himself.


    Lin Mu walked up to a wall and entered it. He then walked along the edge of the wall towards the beast. This way, even if the beast sensed him and attacked him, he would have enough time to escape into the wall.


    "Hmm, this seems a good method." Xukong praised.


    Lin Mu kept walking and shortly reached the location of the sleeping beast. The beast was sleeping and its body would gently move in a rhythm along with its breathing. Lin Mu was facing the beast¡¯s back thus could not see what it was clearly.


    But just from its back, Lin Mu could tell that the beast was big, very big. Even though the beast was sleeping on the ground, its body was still about two meters tall. Its fur was brown and there seemed to be some ck patches and spots on it.


    <i>~HRUF~</i>


    Lin Mu suddenly retreated into the wall. The beast had let out a sound and had shifted a little bit. Lin Mu feared that it may have woken up, thus he quickly retread back.


    A few minutester, no more sounds came, thus he walked there again. This time, he saw that the beast had changed its sleeping posture and now he could see its limbs. They were as thick as the trunks of a tree and long ws were growing from them.


    There were five ws on each limb, and they were all about twelve inches long. Lin Mu went a bit more close and then witnessed the front side of the beast. What he saw shocked him.


    The upper part of the beast was ck and there seemed to be bone spursing out from it at random ces.


    As soon as Lin Mu saw it, he recognized it.


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    "The bear beast! The same one that attacked Zhou Ye." Lin Mu whispered in shock.


    The beast moved a bit more, and now Lin Mu could see its head and upper torso clearly. Unlike its upper torso, its head was brown in color and seemed to be normal. There was a special pattern on it, though. The pattern started from its forehead and spread to its chin.


    The pattern looked like curved lines and edged out from the base of its eyes. From there it went to the beast¡¯s ears and then came down to its neck before finally reaching the center of its chest where it formed an inverted triangle.


    While Lin Mu was shocked by the beast¡¯s presence, Xukong was shocked because of somethingpletely else.


    "No... how can one of them be here? In a world such as this? This is... simply... impossible." Xukong Spike out in shock.


    In fact, Xukong was so shocked that Lin Mu could actually year his voice in his head and had clearly heard what he had said.


    "Senior, what happened?" Lin Mu questioned as a drop of sweat fell off of his forehead.


    "RETREAT QUICK!" Xukong spoke with urgency, yet his voice seemed to be fading away for some reason.


    "What?!" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I SAID RETREAT!" Xukong shouted out in Lin Mu¡¯s mind with a booming voice.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t take another prompt as he immediately merged into the wall and started running towards the fissure. He didn¡¯t stop or take a look back for even a moment as he ran all the way to the cave he hade from.


    He had even subconsciously used blink multiple times and only realized it after he had reached the cave and was in front of the fire. He slumped down onto the ground and tried to catch his breath.


    "What happened back there senior?" Lin Mu questioned but got no answer.


    "Senior?" he spoke again.


    "Senior?..." Lin Mu tried for the third time.


    It took him multiple tries over ten minutes before he felt a wave of energy pass over his body. It was a familiar wave of energy and he had felt it before. It was simr to being doused with water.


    ¡¯This is the same as back when senior put the ward on me.¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    A few momentster he could hear senior Xukong¡¯s voice again.


    "That was close... but I was able to stop the ward from activating," Xukong spoke in a tired tone.


    Lin Mu was rather surprised by this tone of voice and wondered what had happened to the ward.


    "The ward? Why would it activate it here? Isn¡¯t it only supposed to activate if it¡¯s someone way above my cultivation realm?" Lin Mu questioned, but then realized it a secondter.


    "No way... it can¡¯t be... can it?" Lin Mu questioned in fear.


    "Don¡¯t worry, the beast did not have a high enough cultivation base to activate it directly," Xukong spoke, alleviating his fear.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath of relief and calmed down, but immediately the next second senior Xukong spoke something that put him on the edge again.


    "Though that beast was once indeed strong, very strong." Xukong continued.


    ~<i>Gulp~</i>


    Lin Mu swelled his saliva as he tried to imagine what kind of beast could have made Senior Xukong so tense. Even old man Jing Wei who supposedly had a very high cultivation base didn¡¯t faze him. And then he also heard that senior Xukong had stopped the activation of the ward.


    "The beast... if it was in its normal condition, then it would be... above the Immortal Ascension realm." Xukong revealed.


    It was as if lightning had struck Lin Mu¡¯s mind as he suddenly felt dizzy again.

 Chapter 159 - The Great Slumber Bear

    <h4>Chapter 159 - The Great Slumber Bear </h4>


    Lin Mu could not begin to even imagine such a being. The strongest beast he had seen up until now was the Alpha steel back wolf, of course not including senior Xukong. But even then, looking at that bear beast it did not seem as if it was that strong.


    Now that Lin Mu thought about it, the aura that he could feeling off of it was weak. It almost seemed as if it was injured.


    "But still senior, why would the ward activate, if it¡¯s weak now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That is because of that beast¡¯s bloodline. That bear beast you saw there is something unique. Even for me, I have only seen a few of its kind before, and they are certainly not residents of a world such as this. A world like this cannot even handle the cultivation of one such as it, a juvenile." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu felt even more astonished as the situation was just getting more and more strange to him.


    "A juvenile? Does that mean..." Lin Mu spoke and trailed off as he realized it.


    "Yes, that bear beast... its a child," Xukong spoke, confirming his doubts.


    "But... but... if it¡¯s a child then is its cultivation really above the Immortal ascension realm?" Lin Mu questioned again.


    "Yes, even a child of its species can be above the immortal Ascension realm when its born. Though this one has been weakened too much." Xukong spoke in a slightly reminiscent tone.


    "What is the name of the beast?" Lin Mu finally asked, realizing that he still did not know about the beast¡¯s name.


    "That beast is called as the ¡¯Great Slumber Bear¡¯. It is a beast that can only be found in higher worlds and is immensely strong. So strong that even though this one does not have a high cultivation base, just its bloodline aura is enough to activate the ward I ced on you.


    And let me tell you, if the ward had activated back then, while it would have scared the beast away, it would have also depleted more than half of the ward¡¯s energy." Xukong answered.


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    Lin Mu felt a little terrified at this aspect. He had already heard from Senior Xukong that the ward was not permanent and would deplete its energy every time it was used. But senior Xukong had told him not to worry about it at that time and had told him that it would stillst a long time.


    But now that he heard there was something that could deplete more than half its energy, it just made him realize what a big waste that could be. Lin Mu then thought to the bloodline of the Great slumber bear. If just its bloodline was so strong, then what kind of bloodline ability did it have.


    But Xukong seemed to have read Lin Mu¡¯s thoughts as he started exining more about it before he even asked.


    "The Great Slumber bears are unique beast mostly due to their Bloodline ability. The bloodline ability is called as the ¡¯Well of Slumber¡¯. This ability allows them to increase their cultivation base just by sleeping. Simr to how the more water you pull out from a well, the more water you will obtain; the more the beast sleeps, the more its cultivation will increase." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu felt a bit dumbstruck at this bloodline ability. If anything, it felt a bit unfair to him.


    "It is indeed a beast that has been blessed by the heavens." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "It is not all good as you think, though. This ability also has a side effect, they cannot totally control when they sleep. It takes them many years to learn how to control the ability and only the adults of its species can fully understand it." Xukong said.


    Upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words, more thoughts went through Lin Mu¡¯s mind until a different thought came. Lin Mu wondered if there was anyone that had been able to acquire and assimte the bloodline ability of a Great slumber bear.


    "Senior, if its bloodline ability is this strong, then shouldn¡¯t there be other cultivators stronger than it that obtained it?" Lin Mu questioned with a strange glint in his eyes.


    Xukong had seen the strange glint that Lin Mu had right now in his eyes before and was now feeling a bit uneasy.


    "Yes, a lot of people have, but all of them died. That bloodline ability is not something that can be controlled by people easily. Even peerless cultivator and people who could have been said to have been blessed by heavens have perished." Xukong answered.


    "Why is it so? What¡¯s so dangerous about the ability, it seems rather straightforward to me." Lin Mu questioned further.


    "The reality is that the bloodline ability of beasts are not alwayspatible with humans and often present in ways that are harmful. Some abilities just take a long time to get used to and the side effects that its owner has in that period end up harming or killing them."


    "In case of the Great Slumber bear, the side effect is the uncontroble sleep. Once a cultivator assimtes the bloodline, it will immediately show its effects. The sleep that is induced is long... very long. So much so that the cultivator in question will die from starvation." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu once again felt perplexed at this. While he had heard that even immortals could starve from the legacy of the lost immortal. He couldn¡¯t tell how it would happen in this case, since they would instead be increasing their cultivation.


    "Starvation? But how? Won¡¯t they increase their cultivation instead?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Nothinges free and everything has a price. Although the Well of slumber ability allows one to increase their cultivation as they sleep, it also consumes their vital energy. Though it may not be immediate. First, the ability will consume the normal nutrients from their body, but after they are depleted, it will start using the vital energy of the body itself." Xukong answered.

 Chapter 160 - Lin Mus Idea

    <h4>Chapter 160 - Lin Mu''s Idea </h4>


    "Because the owner of the ability does not have control over it, they won¡¯t be able to wake up and if the ability does not stop on its own, then they will simply starve to death," Xukong added.


    Lin Mu felt enlightened at this and started to think further on the idea that he had had. The gears and cogs in his head moved and a stream of ideas passed through it until finally, he had another doubt.


    "You said that they end up sleeping for a long time, right? Then what was the longest time a cultivator has slept for and what was the shortest?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm... From what I know, the longest a cultivator was able to survive was about five hundred years while the shortest time in which one was able to wake up was six months." Xukong answered as he jogged his memories.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered as he now had a hand on his chin and was thinking deeply.


    Lin Mu hadpletely forgotten about the dangerous incident that had happened a short while ago and waspletely engrossed in his thoughts.


    He stayed like that for two hours and the fire in front of him crackled. Lin Mu had Even forgotten about his hunger and could not think of anything except for what was going through his mind.


    Finally, Lin Mu snapped out of his strange state and looked back at the end of the cave.


    "Senior Xukong, I havee to a decision. You said before that I need to forge my own path and learn to take risks; that time has nowe." Lin Mu dered as a determined expression appeared on his face.


    Xukong suddenly had a bad premonition and was actually dreading what Lin Mu was about to say. While he had indeed told Lin Mu to do that, this was proving to be rather unnerving to him, and couldn¡¯t tell why. In all the countless years that he had lived, this was one of the handfuls of situations when he had felt nervous.


    "And... what have you decided?" Xukong spoke in a calm tone that kind of seemed to be forced.


    "I will learn and cultivate the technique that was created by the Lost immortal." Lin Mu answered.


    Xukong suddenly connected the dots and links started forming in his mind. He then realized what Lin Mu was probably thinking and was getting at.


    "Don¡¯t tell me you..." Xukong muttered.


    "Yes, with the help of the lost immortal¡¯s technique I will resolve the ws of the ¡¯Well of Slumber¡¯." Lin Mu affirmed.


    After confirming Lin Mu¡¯s words, Xukong started doubting his own judgment. He wondered if he should stop Lin Mu right here and now, or should he let him proceed. But still, whatever he did, Xukong realized that they still did not know fully about the condition of the juvenile Great slumber bear.


    "Wait before you go ahead, we still don¡¯t know much about this beast. You saw it strange condition and we also know about the Invader. Unless we know theplete story, it will be immensely dangerous for us to proceed." Xukong spoke in an urgent tone.


    Hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words calmed Lin My down and enlightened him to the current situation.


    "I apologize Senior, I was getting ahead of myself. I still need to learn a lot." Lin Mu apologized.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t apologize because he thought he had wronged senior Xukong, but rather because he realized that he was close to making a mistake which could cost him rather dearly.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Xukong secretly sighed to himself and was relieved after hearing Lin Mu.


    ¡¯At least, he stopped fast enough.¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    Xukong stayed silent for a few seconds and thought over Lin Mu¡¯s idea. Now that he thought about it, the idea did seem to be possible. If the Lost immortal¡¯s technique worked as he had intended to, then Lin Mu should be able to ovee the ws of the Bloodline ability.


    While the side effects of the Well of Slumber were rather dangerous, its advantage was great as well. If Lin Mu could somehow get total control over the ability, his prospects would rise up to the heavens. He would have aplished what countless others had failed to do.


    "Senior, will the ward activate again if I go near the Great slumber bear?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, it should not activate in response to it anymore." Xukong replied.


    "Then I guess we can return to the other cave and then investigate further." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright, but you still have to be extremely careful. Not only are we dealing with an immensely strong beast but also an unknown Invader." Xukong responded with concern.


    Lin Mu simply nodded and walked towards the fissure that was at the end of the cave. He took a deep breath and then triggered the third skill Phase. He entered the wall and followed the fissure all the way to the other end of the cave.


    He soon appeared in the other cave and deactivated the skill. He calmly and carefully walked to the location of the Great slumber bear and avoided making any noise. Once Lin Mu was close enough and his spirit sense could detect its position, he stopped.


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    Lin Mu then walked towards the wall on the opposite side and entered it. He then continued his journey all the way along the wall until he arrived opposite to the Great slumber bear. He spread his spirit sense over the beast and ensured that it was still asleep.


    Once that was done, Lin Mu very carefully stepped out of the wall. Now he could finally look at the bear clearly. Although it was still dark in the cave, with the help of spirit sense, it wasn¡¯t much of an issue. Lin Mu could now see the most eye-catching part of the beast that was the inverted triangr pattern on its chest.


    Suddenly the bear trembled for a moment and let out a low growl. Lin Mu was about to retreat, but then saw something strange.


    ck smoke was rising from the Great slumber Bear¡¯s body.

 Chapter 161 - The Weakening Beast

    <h4>Chapter 161 - The Weakening Beast </h4>


    Lin Mu kept his eyes trained on the ck smoke and unsheathed the short sword from his back. He had seen the ck smoke before and had a guess of what it was. Thest time he had seen ck smoke such as this was when it rose from Dongfeng Zhao¡¯s dead body.


    Lin Mu¡¯s guess turned out to be true as the ck smoke umted into a ck mass that then turned into a figure that had bone spursing out of its body and had skulls present on it.


    "Invader!" Lin Mu muttered and entered an attack stance.


    Lin Mu did not know if this ck figure of the invader was dangerous or not. Thest time it had just disappeared and had not attacked him, but that could have only been because it was much weaker than this one.


    Looking at the ck figure of the invader, Lin Mu could feel the same repulsive feeling that he had felt before, except this time it was much stronger. It was as if there was something deep within his soul that wasmanding him to erase the presence that was in front of him.


    But Lin Mu did not act of thismand, he knew better than that. If by some chance he were to wake up the Great slumber bear, then it could spell his doom. Thus he wanted to wait and would only attack if the invader were to attack him first.


    Lin Mu kept on looking at the invader and was bracing for it to do something, but strangely nothing happened. Although this time the invader seemed to be much more stronger than before, it did not do anything. It did not even screech and made no sound.


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    The invader simply disappeared and left behind a small ck dot that only Lin Mu could see. It was the spatial point that was left behind. Lin Mu knew that even if he used the ring to open a spatial gate at that spatial point, it would not lead to the location of the invader.


    Senior Xukong had already told him that the invader¡¯s main body was most likely in a different world and even if he used the ring to open a gate, it would only lead to a location in the lesser void. The ck smoke that was released by the Great slumber bear was but a part of the invader¡¯s avatar in this world.


    But now a big question presented in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    ¡¯Why did the avatar of the invader leave the body of the great slumber Bear?¡¯


    Lin Mu could understand why it had happened in the case of Dongfeng Zhao since it was a dead body and the avatar of the invader could do nothing but leave it due to being forced by Lin Mu. But in this case, the great slumber bear was still alive and was also weakened enough. And from what Lin Mu could tell, the invader had be a parasite and had taken over a part of the beast¡¯s body.


    Lin Mu¡¯s gaze returned to the Great slumber bear and then he saw a change happening to it. The ck patches it had on its fur were starting to fade away. A minuteter they werepletely gone, and the raw and injured flesh beneath it was revealed.


    Evidently, the invaders¡¯ hostile takeover had injured the beast plenty. But Lin Mu could notice another thing. The injuries were actually not bleeding and seemed to be slowly healing.


    "What is happening?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "The great slumber bear, it¡¯s expelling the invader from its body. I should have expected this before, the bloodline of a great slumber bear is not something that can be easily challenged." Xukong suddenly spoke up.


    Lin Mu observed with his spirit sense and discovered that the aura of the great slumber bear was actually getting weaker. The minuscule waves of spirit qi that were emitted from its body had gotten even more weak than before.


    "It¡¯s cultivation... it¡¯s regressing?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed, in order to expel the invader from its body, the great slumber bear is sacrificing its cultivation base," Xukong answered.


    "But isn¡¯t this dangerous for it? I mean if it gets too weak won¡¯t other beasts attack it and kill it." Lin Mu presented his doubts.


    "That is true, but just the innate strength of the great slumber Bear¡¯s body is enough to defend against Core condensation beasts. Although it is sacrificing its cultivation, it is also saving itself, because if the invader takes over its body it will die, anyway.


    Besides, the Great slumber bear can easily recover its cultivation base back by using its bloodline ability. It is just a matter of decades and the beast will return to the peak of its strength back again." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu heard senior Xukong¡¯s words and kept on staring at the changes that were happening in the beast. Its wounds had healed after a few minutes and it had stopped twitching. Even while all this was happening, the great slumber bear had not woken up.


    "The beast does live up to its name, its slumber is indeed ¡¯great¡¯." Lin Mu spoke internally.


    Though the number of ck patches on the great slumber bear had reduced for now, there were still many bone spurs and ck fur left on the torso of the beast.


    "This does present an opportunity for you. Now, you just have to wait for the beast to expel the entirety of the invader from its body. Once that is done, it should be weak enough that you will be able to kill it." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu heard senior Xukong¡¯s words and indeed found them to be urate. Now all he had to do was to wait and watch. Once the beast became weak enough, that would be the opportunity to strike. Still, there was another question, and that was how long would this take.


    "How long would I need to wait senior Xukong?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "From the speed, it¡¯s expelling it and its current cultivation base, I would say at least a year," Xukong answered.

 Chapter 162 - Goals

    <h4>Chapter 162 - Goals </h4>


    Upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words, Lin Mu did not feel disappointed. If anything, he felt calm as this only meant that he had more time to prepare for it. Not to mention even if he killed the great slumber bear, he still did not know how he would obtain its bloodline.


    Lin Mu¡¯s guess turned out to be true as Senior Xukong soon continued his exnation.


    "The bloodline of the Great slumber bear is very strong; thus you will need to prepare beforehand. Usually, when a beast is killed for the purpose of obtaining its bloodline, it is stored in a special container. But you don¡¯t have that luxury, thus when you kill the Great slumber bear, you will have to assimte the bloodline right away.


    But the next problem that you will face after assimting the bloodline would be the activation of the ability ¡¯Well of slumber¡¯. If you do not prepare well and fall asleep, you will simply starve to death, thus during this time period you need to learn the technique of the lost immortal.


    But simply having the technique won¡¯t be enough. Assimting a bloodline is a tough task. You need a strong will and body to be able to sessfully do it. Especially in the case of an immensely strong bloodline of the great slumber bear, your body will need to be very strong.


    Thus for that, you will need to reach thepletion of the body tempering realm and saturate your body with the maximum amount of vital energy that you can." Xukong exined in detail.


    After hearing andprehend senior Xukong¡¯s words, Lin Mu started to formte his ns for the uing year.


    He now had a goal, which was to obtain the bloodline of the great slumber bear. In addition to this, there were some other goals he needed toplete. The first of which was to investigate the culprits, and the next was to increase his own cultivation.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu sighed at the multitude of tasks that he needed to do, but his eyes seemed to be glowing with determination. He was not appalled at this, but was rather looking forward to it. Lin Mu was also feeling that they were making little waste aftering all this way.


    "Seems like we will have to find the great slumber beast once again next time." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That won¡¯t be much of a problem. A great slumber bear, once it enters its sleeping phase, won¡¯t move from its location unless it is disturbed. This cave seems to be rather isted, and just the mere presence of the great slumber bear will repel most beasts.


    Also, considering its current condition and its recovery period, it¡¯s likely that it won¡¯t wake up for more than a year at least." Xukong replied.


    "That should make it easy for us. I¡¯ll have plenty of time too and should be able to prepare everything till then." Lin Mu said while nodding his head.


    Now that Lin Mu knew what to do next, he wanted to check out the rest of the cave. He continued on forward and entered the wall. Only when he was a sufficient distance away from the Great slumber Bear did hee out of the wall and deactivate the skill phase.


    Lin Mu kept his spirit sense alert and would scan the area that was in front of him every few seconds, ensuring that nothing dangerous was there. The way floor that he was walking on once again became sloping and he started ascending again.


    Lin Mu must have walked for at least eight hundred meters more along the winding and curving cave until finally, he reached its exit. The exit of the cave was ratherrge, being about six meters tall and ten meters wide.


    Lin Mu was rather surprised that such a big cave was unknown. The hunters should have known of it most likely, but somehow it had still stayed hidden. Only when he walked a short distance away did he realize why; the mouth of the cave was at a nting angle such that the trees and the face of the mountain would hide it.


    From far away, the mouth of the cave waspletely hidden, and no hunter would spot it easily. The snow only made it easy to hide as well. Lin Mu looked around but did not see anything peculiar.


    "I should climb a tree and get a gauge of the area. Perhaps I¡¯ll find something nearby." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu found a rtively short tree and used blink to appear at a branch that was at its top. From there he blinked to another tree and kept on going upwards until he finally reached the highest point he could for now.


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    Lin Mu took a look around and saw the white and green spread ofnd that was the northern forest. Behind him was the mountain out of which he had walked out of, and in front of him was the rest of the northern forest.


    Far in the distance, he could see the Northern mountain ranges as well. Those mountains were perhaps the farthest any hunter had ever gone, as the area beyond them was considered to be a forbidden area due to the high amount of danger.


    Lin Mu remembered the scary stories he heard from his parents about how there were monsters living beyond the northern mountains, and that¡¯s why it was called as a forbidden area. But now that he looked at the snowy white mountains, they looked anything but scary.


    They simply looked...


    "Beautiful..." Lin Mu muttered.


    The clouds in the sky had flown away and the snow had stopped. The half-moon could be seen hog up in the sky and stars could be seen twinkling in the nket of night. Gently flowing wind passed through Lin Mu¡¯s hair as he stood on the top of the tallest tree.


    Having taken his fill of the picturesque scene, Lin Mu had decided to get down when he spotted some broken trees.


    Because he was at the very top and the snow had covered thend, these trees were hard to spot. Lin Mu descended to some lower trees and went towards the location where he had seen the broken trees. He then discovered that a long trail of broken trees could be seen heading towards a particr direction.


    Lin Mu immediately recognized what it was, and an idea appeared in his mind. He got down onto the ground and checked the broken trees. All of them were knocked down with some of them being splintered because of a great force.


    Lin Mu looked at the leaves of the broken trees and judged that they were broken down not too long ago, most likely a week ago. The trail of broken trees came from the center of the forest and went all the way to the entrance of the cave.


    "Was this done by the Great slumber bear?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    "Hmm, it does seem like it." Xukong acknowledged.


    Suddenly Lin Mu remembered something.


    "Wait, Zhou Ye told us that when he was attacked, the beastter ran away and while running away the beast had knocked down the trees. If we follow this, we can find the site of the attack!"

 Chapter 163 - The Abandoned Cave

    <h4>Chapter 163 - The Abandoned Cave </h4>


    Now that Lin Mu had an idea of how to proceed, he acted on it. He followed the trail of the broken and knocked down trees and tried to find the site of the attack. He walked for quite a long distance and reached a rtively wide and open area that seemed to be natural.


    There were no more broken trees here, so Lin Mu concluded that the site of the attack should have been nearby.


    "Now I just need to look for a broken carriage," Lin Mu muttered to himself as his eyes looked around.


    Since it was dark, Lin Mu was also using his spirit sense to scan the area. Still, even after searching for over fifteen minutes, Lin Mu did not find anything. It was as if the carriage had disappeared into the thin air.


    "The carriage cannot be taken away by a beast, then that means... The culprits! They must have removed their tracester on." Lin Mu guessed.


    "You should use your spirit sense to look under the snow, it¡¯s likely that the traces of the carriage and the tracks may be buried below the snow," Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded his head as he looked below the snow. But his search seemed to have been for naught, as there did not seem to be any traces here either. Whoever the culprits were, they were smart enough to erase all traces.


    At least that¡¯s what Lin Mu thought until he found something that was stuck in the trunk of a tree. What Lin Mu had found was a broken part of a wooden n. It had broken off in a diagonal manner, and the sharp part was embedded in the trunk of a tree.


    Lin Mu only found hits by chance as he was looking around. And he actually did not find this because of his spirit sense, but rather because of his own eyesight. The thing that had pulled Lin Mu¡¯s attention was actually the glint of the moonlight that had shined off of a small nail.


    This nail was stuck into the broken nk that was then stuck in the trunk of a tree. Lin Mu thanked his luck as he pulled out the broken piece of the nk. He looked at the broken n and saw its finish and size.


    It was a properly cut and trimmed piece of wood, thus there was no doubt that it was a part of the carriage.


    "Seems like they missed this piece. Now you just need to figure out which direction you¡¯re supposed to go." Xukong chimed in.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and looked around for more clues, but he still could not find any.


    ¡¯Hmm, we were supposed to meet up with the other team a distance away from here in the south, so that means the culprit¡¯s cave must be in the other direction. It could be something else, but I just have to take a chance.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Having decided, Lin Mu turned to the northern direction and walked along the broad pathway. The pathway was a natural one and was basically a clearing. Lin Mu could tell that in other times of the year, animals probably passed through here,rge animals.


    There was no other reason why such arge path was present here in the forest. Another surprising thing that Lin Mu realized was that he had not seen nor heard any beast in the surroundings. He didn¡¯t know if it was because of the weather or if it was because of the Great slumber Bear.


    "It¡¯s definitely the Great slumber bear. The bloodline aura of it should keep away even beasts that are many cultivation realms above it, away from it. The innate fear that¡¯s present in the bloodlines of these beasts will force them to stay away." Xukong exined.


    "This is good. Now we know that the beast won¡¯t be disturbed from its sleep and we won¡¯t have to find itter." Lin Mu replied as he nodded in acknowledgment.


    Lin Mu had walked for about an hour now and finally got a small clue. Buried in the snow, he found a track mark that was no doubt from the wheels of a carriage. The track mark was very faint and would have been invisible if not for his spirit sense.


    Lin Mu carefully brushed away the snow from the ce that the track was at and revealed it. He looked at it and saw that the track slightly curved to the left. This prompted him to turn his head up and look to the left.


    Lin Mu saw that another small clearing was present in between the trees. It was camouged by the snow and he would have missed it if not for the track marks. He thus turned left and continued on. This time, Lin Mu was able to find more clues.


    There were faint footsteps that were buried under the snow and seemed to being from a single direction.


    "Hmm, the footsteps are very shallow. Whoever the culprits are, they are definitely trained in movement techniques." Xukong spoke.


    "Movement techniques?" Lin Mu questioned as his brow raised in response.


    "A movement technique is a special skill that can be used by a cultivator to improve their speed and agility. Some techniques are also specialized for assassination, sneaking, battle, speed, and more things. Though the one in this case is but just a minor foot technique used to lighten steps." Xukong exined.


    "That¡¯s interesting, perhaps I¡¯ll get to learn one sometime in the future." Lin Mu responded and continued following in the footsteps.


    The footsteps led him all the way to a mountain that was covered with tall pine trees. The entirety of it was covered with snow and looked beautiful. Lin Mu finally reached the side of the mountain and came to stand in front of arge boulder.


    "Huh? This is it? There¡¯s nothing here." Lin Mu muttered.


    He looked around, but this was where the footsteps had ended at. He used his spirit sense to observe the surroundings and detected a hollow space behind therge boulder. The boulder was ced in such a way that it leaned agings the wall of the mountain.


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    If one looked at it from far, they would think that the boulder had naturally rolled off of the mountain and hade to settle here. Lin Mu moved the snow from the ground around the boulder away and saw the dragging marks.


    "Oh, so this boulder was moved here from the side to block the path to the cave." Lin Mu spoke.


    ¡¯Seems like I need to make way for myself now." Lin Mu thought and tried to push the boulder.


    He knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to push it with his current strength, but he still wanted to try it, hoping for a miracle. His hopes were dashed quickly, as he wasn¡¯t even able to make it budge. Even when he used the entirety of his body¡¯s strength and stretched it with spirit qi, there was no effect.


    The boulder was about three meters tall and four meters wide. There was no way Lin Mu could move it.


    "Don¡¯t waste your efforts, just use your skill and walk through it directly," Xukong spoke in a chiding tone.


    "Yes, senior." Lin Mu replied while feeling a little embarrassed.


    He activated the third skill Phase and walked through the boulder. A secondter he appeared in a pitch-ck cave. Lin Mu stayed alert and scanned the cave with his spirit sense first and did not deactivate the skill yet.


    He was fully expecting for there to be people here, but surprisingly there was nobody. Having confirmed that the cave was abandoned, Lin Mu deactivated the skill and lit up an old half-burned torch that was attached to one of the walls nearby.


    With the me zing, the abandoned cave was illuminated and Lin Mu was finally able to see it. The first thing he noticed was therge number of cages that were present in the cave, along with chains and other types of restraints.


    There were also some pieces of furniture scattered all around, along with a few random articles. Lin Mu checked out the cages and discovered small amounts of blood in some of them. In another corner, he also found some old food.


    Some parts of the food had gone moldy, while the rest still seemed to be fine.


    "Looks like they left in a hurry." Xukong spoke.


    "Yes, but why? Did they know we wereing here or was it something else?" Lin Mu questioned in response.


    Lin Mu looked around and saw the rooms that were located in the different corners of the cave. Most of them were empty, and the others only had some random items left in them. All Lin Mu could understand right now was that this cave was used to temporarily hold the mercenaries here.


    "Looks like I¡¯ll need to guide the Hei corps here. They have better investigational skills than me, they should know what clues I missed."

 Chapter 164 - Returning To The Camp

    <h4>Chapter 164 - Returning To The Camp </h4>


    Now that he knew a bit more about the ce Lin Mu decided to return for now. He reckoned that spending any more time here would be just wasting it and thought it would be better to leave it to the Hei Corps.


    But there was another problem that presented to him. He couldn¡¯t justify to them how he got into the cave in the first ce. Neither could he tell them how he got there in the first ce. After all, he could not tell them that he walked through the territory of a terrifyingly strong beast, could he?


    Not to mention that even if he did show them the path, they wouldn¡¯t be able to take it, anyway. He was the only one who could walk through solid objects like that.


    "You¡¯ll have to find an alternative path for them," Xukong spoke.


    "Yes, Senior. Seems like I¡¯ll need to go around the mountain once I bring them here. This mountain is visible from far, so it shouldn¡¯t be hard to guide them here. Though I¡¯ll need to do something about that boulder at the entrance." Lin Mu replied.


    He then walked up to the boulder and thought for a minute before finding a solution that was rather simple and straightforward.


    Lin Mu unsheathed his short sword and amplified it with his spirit qi. Once it had a sufficient amount of spirit qi in it, he shed it at the edge of therge boulder where it was the thinnest.


    <i>~Swish~</i>


    <i>~Thang~</i>


    The corner of the boulder was cut cleanly and fell down to the side making some noise. If one looked at the surface of the cut boulder, they would see that it was smooth andpletely uniform. Lin Mu¡¯s sword had sliced through it effortlessly.


    "If I can¡¯t get through, I¡¯ll just cut it apart." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    He then pushed the piece of rock that he had cut to the side and walked out of the cave. He then turned back and looked at his handiwork.


    "Now they shouldn¡¯t mind it." Lin Mu muttered and started walking towards the cave of the Great slumber bear.


    An hourter, he reached the cave and walked all the way over to the beast¡¯s location. He checked to ensure that it was still sleeping and then entered the wall by using Phase and appeared on the other side of the mountain.


    The fire that he had lit was still burning albeit it had grown smaller because no extra fuel had been added to it. Lin Mu looked up at the moon in the sky and estimated that there was still quite a long time till the morning.


    "I¡¯ll eat some food and then cultivate. I should be able to return to the camp by tomorrow afternoon if I¡¯m fast enough." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    He then withdrew some of the meat and started cooking it. The meat he had taken out was the meat of the core formation alpha steel back wolf. Lin Mu generously dressed the meat in spices and prepared it well before cooking it.


    A tantalizing aroma spread in the cave, which made his mouth water and taste buds tingle. He sliced a piece of the meat and put it in his mouth. The roasted meat was juicy and vorful. His taste buds jumped in joy and he felt amazed.


    "Delicious! Seems like the stronger the beast, the better the taste." Lin Mu eximed.


    As soon as the first piece of meat was swallowed down into his stomach, a familiar warmth spread from his stomach. The vital energy and spirit qi that was stored in the meat started being absorbed by his body. It took Lin Mu a few seconds to snap out of the strange sense of euphoria.


    He quickly ate the rest of the meat and soon got full. The meat of a core condensation beast was rather filling for him and had satisfied his appetite for the first time after quite a bit. Lin Mu then sat cross-legged and started chanting the calming heart sutra to quickly assimte the vital energy.


    Half an hour passed by and Lin Mu felt a wave of energy spread from his body. It was as if a stream of energy was drilling into his bones. Lin Mu understood what was happening and quickly focused on it. He channeled more energy and intensified the process.


    Soon the small stream of energy turned into a raging river and Lin Mu directed it into his bones. The energy reached his marrows and started dousing them in it. A strange sense of pressure appeared in his body and he felt as if a weight was ced on him.


    The pressure intensified until when...


    <i>~Pop~</i>


    It was as if a dam had broken and a tremor passed through Lin Mu¡¯s body. The waves of energy stopped being emanated from his body and he opened his eyes. His eyes glimmered in under the mes of the fire in front of him.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath and a streak of ck gas came out. The gas traveled forward and met the wall of the cave.


    <i>~Sizzle~</i>


    As soon as the gas touched the wall, it started sizzling and corroded. A hole that was about an inch deep and three inches in diameter was formed after the ck gas was dissipated.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    Lin Mu swelled his saliva in slight fear after seeing this sight. He had seen this happen before back in his house, but that was a wooden wall. Now it was a solid stone wall that was affected.


    "That looks very dangerous." Lin Mu spoke in a nervous tone.


    "Indeed, this is quite strange," Xukong spoke in an equally nervous tone.


    Lin Mu wiped the sweat off his forehead and took a deep breath.


    "I guess I just need to be more careful. Though it seems like I progressed in progressing my body tempering realm by a little." Lin Mu spoke, feeling a little happy now.


    "Yes, that¡¯s good. This is the effect of the core condensation beast meat. Though this will only be a one-time effect I think, since it¡¯s the first time you¡¯ve eaten it. The next time should be rather mild." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded and scanned his body with his spirit sense. He could feel the vital energy that was saturated within his skin, muscles, blood and now his bones. He tried to go deeper and was able to feel his marrows, which did not have as much concentration of vital energy as the rest of his body.


    Xukong could guess Lin Mu¡¯s thoughts and understood what he was thinking.


    "When you reach the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm, your bone marrow should be saturated with the vital energy as well. Once you reach the peak of the Body tempering realm, you should be ready to assimte the bloodline of the Great slumber bear." Xukong exined.


    ¡¯Though you will need a little extra help before that. Hopefully, you reach it before the deadline and I¡¯m able to give it to you.¡¯ Xukong internally spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded and responded, "I understand, senior."


    He then sat back down and chanted the severing heart sutra to continue his cultivation. An hourter the clouds covered the sky again and winds started to get stronger. Snow soon started falling, and the forest became shrouded in it.


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    Lin Mu peacefully cultivated until the morning and only stopped when the sunlight illuminated the cave. Faint beams of sunlight would enter the cave and get dissipated in the darkness. Since the cave was at a diagonal angle and was blocked by the trees, sunlight barely got through.


    Still, it was enough for Lin Mu to sense it and he opened his eyes. The sunlight that diffused through the branches of the trees dappled the floor of the cave. He stood up and looked up at the sun that was hiding behind the horizon.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Time to return." Lin Mu muttered as he looked back at the cave onest time.


    The fire had gone out a long time ago and the embers had cooled down, leaving behind a pile of ash and unburnt charcoal. Lin Mu lightly stretched his body before he started out in a jog. The light jog soon turned into a sprint and he burst forward.

 Chapter 165 - Revealing The Findings

    <h4>Chapter 165 - Revealing The Findings </h4>


    Lin Mu was passing through the trees with ease. He would wade and flicker through them, dodging each and every obstacle. His spirit sense was spread forward and helped him sense the uing path. With the help of his spirit sense, he would know everything that was there.


    A couple of hours passed by and Lin Mu was still running. He would slow down once he felt the fatigue building up, but would never stop. His progress in his body tempering realm had also helped in increasing his stamina by a notch.


    After he slowed down, he would soon feel better and then he would continue on and increase his speed again. Three hours passed like this, and even now Lin Mu could not see any spirit beasts.


    "Where did they go? Even if they hide, they should at least have nests nearby." Lin Mu spoke while running.


    "The spirit beasts are smarter than normal beasts, so they should have retreated to the edge of the forest instead. But for the normal beasts, they probably stuck where they are because of the fear or they too filled the spirit beasts. Either way, you should probably see them soon." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu simply nodded his head in response and kept on running. Another hour passed and Lin Mu finally saw his first beast. It wasn¡¯t a spirit beast, but rather just amon bird beast that could be seen anywhere in the forest.


    "Seems like they ran pretty far." Lin Mu muttered.


    He then spread his spirit sense around in all directions and observed if there were more beasts nearby. His search showed him that there were plenty of beasts here, and they all seemed to be a bit startled. When he passed by the beasts, they ignored him and let him pass by without bothering him.


    The number of beasts was now muchrger than before, and it became impossible for Lin Mu to avoid them anymore. Eventually, he had his first encounter with a spirit beast. The spirit beast looked like a mongoose and was the same size as that of a normal one.


    If it were not for the faint spirit qi wavesing from the beast, Lin Mu would have not been able to tell that it was one.


    ¡¯Oh, it should have been obvious. No normal mongoose would live this deep in the forest, that too in a cold ce like this.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The mongoose beast looked at Lin Mu with sharp eyes and watched his every move. With every step that Lin Mu moved, the beast would move to. The beast was wary of Lin Mu and seemed to be a little afraid.


    Lin Mu watched the beast as well but did not attack it as he didn¡¯t want to be needlessly involved right now. Seeing that the beast had no desire to fight, Lin Mu moved a little distance away and walked away. The beast did the same and just watched him go away.


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    "Well, that was strange." Lin Mu said to himself.


    "Most intelligent spirit beasts won¡¯t attack straight away, especially in tense situations such as the one right now when most of them have been scared by the great slumber bear. They will avoid getting into a conflict as the other beasts may take advantage of this fact and catch them off guard." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded and then continued on his journey. He had more encounters with spirit beasts, but all of them acted the same way the mongoose beast had. They watched him but did not attack, and when he moved away, they let him go.


    Lin Mu was rather intrigued by this behavior. In the past, he had thought of all beasts as having zero to no intelligence and only having basic instincts that an animal has. He of course knew that senior Xukong was a beast as well, but he was way beyond hisprehension. Thus did not include him in his list.


    Lin Mu felt fascinated by the intelligence of the spirit beasts and wondered if he would get to see any beasts that had the same intelligence as humans here. He also wondered if the great slumber bear would be smarter than this or not.


    Lin Mu had seen how the core condensation realm Alpha steel back wolf had acted and led his pack of wolves. Common of that kind needed a certain level of intelligence, which perhaps only beasts above that of the qi refining realm have.


    Lin Mu had traveled even more far and guessed that he was rather close to the camp now. His guess turned out to be true as he could soon see clouds of smoke rising from the front, a few hundred meters away from him. Lin Mu approached the camp with a little apprehension and stayed alert.


    While Lin Mu knew that the camp would be safe because of the scent of the alpha steel back wolf, he was still a little worried in the back of his head. He wondered if the roar of the great slumber Bear had scared the spirit beasts so much so that they would ignore the scent of another core condensation realm beast.


    Lin Mu¡¯s hidden worry turned out to be for naught as he saw the camp was safe and calm. There were two men standing guard at the border of the camp, while four tents were set up in a circle with a Bonfire in the center.


    Seeing that the others were not here, Lin Mu guessed that they were most likely resting in the tents.


    <i>~tap~ ~tap~ ~tap~</i>


    Lin Mu walked into the camp and made sure to make some noise of footsteps so as to alert the guard. He didn¡¯t want to surprise them too much by directly turning up behind them and wanted to announce his arrival. He could tell from their expressions that the guards had been a little stressed, as the fatigue could be seen on their faces.


    The two guards turned to look at the source of the sound and saw Lin Mu enter.


    "It¡¯s senior Lin Mu!" One of them spoke.


    "Senior Lin Mu has returned!" The second one announced to the camp.


    Upon hearing the shout, four people walked out of the tents. Xie Bohai was one of them and looked at Lin Mu, who had just walked in. Lin Mu approached them can came to stand in front of them. All six of them cupped their hands in greeting and spoke.


    "Greetings senior."


    "I hope Senior had a breakthrough in his cultivation." Xie Bohai spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and spoke, "Ah yes, I did indeed."


    Lin Mu then looked at thest remaining tent and the others followed his gaze. Xie Bohai instantly guessed what Lin Mu was thinking.


    "Senior Hei Yingjie is better than yesterday and has improved. His condition has been stable now." Xie Bohai reported.


    Lin Mu simply nodded and walked into the tent. Upon entering, he saw the unconscious Hei Yingjie that was calmly sleeping. Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and checked the internal condition of him. The number of Small clots and internal bleeding had reduced by a lot.


    Though it still seemed like it would take a long time for Hei Yingjie to recover his cultivation base, which had regressed. Lin Mu observed the man¡¯s dantian and saw the pale White core floating in the center. It would let out faint wisps of spirit qi at regr intervals and would simrly absorb spirit qi that appeared in the dantian.


    "Hmm, at least his spirit qi cirction is still working normally now. He just needs to rest more and recover his cultivation on his own." Xukong exined.


    "I guess it¡¯s good that there were no culprits in the cave there. At least we won¡¯t have to sh with them now that we don¡¯t have a core condensation realm expert of our own." Lin Mu spoke in a slightly relieved tone.


    He then turned around and left the tent. He saw Xie Bohai waiting for him outside, and he looked to be calm.


    "Senior, there has been some strange activity with the beasts sincest night. We also heard a faint roaring from the northwestern mountains." Xie Bohai reported.


    "I know, it was caused by another core condensation realm beast." Lin Mu replied.


    Xie Bohai seemed to be a bit more nervous after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s response.


    "You know about it senior, but how? Weren¡¯t you cultivating?" Xie Bohai questioned.


    "My cultivation went smoothly, and I had a breakthrough rather early. After I was done with my cultivation session, I heard some noises, so I went to check. I ended up finding what we came for here." Lin Mu answered.


    Xie Bohai became surprised after hearing Lin Mu mention about his findings.


    "Senior, you don¡¯t mean, you..." Xie Bohai spoke but was then interrupted.


    "Yes, I did indeed. I found the hideout of the culprits."

 Chapter 166 - The Other Team Arrives

    <h4>Chapter 166 - The Other Team Arrives </h4>


    Lin Mu then went on to make up a series of events on how he found the cave where the culprits were supposed to have been using before. He told them that he discovered some broken trees and found the broken piece of the carriage and how he rted it to the story that Zhou Ye had told them.


    The Hei corps had known about Zhou Ye and the situation behind him, thus when Lin Mu corrted the events with Zhou Ye¡¯s story they did not doubt him.


    "So the cave has been abandoned, Senior?" One of the members asked.


    "Yes, it did look like that to me, but there may be clues that I couldn¡¯t find there. I hope that you people would be able to find something, I reckon you all are better in that aspect." Lin Mu answered.


    Xie Bohai hit his chest with his fist in a show of confidence before speaking.


    "We shall not disappoint you, senior. Whatever clues that are left in the cave, we will find them."


    "Yes senior, we will do our best and will not disgrace our lord¡¯s trust." Others chimed in.


    Lin Mu nodded in acknowledgment and felt a little better. His thoughts then went towards the other teams of the Hei Corps. He wondered if they had been contacted yet or not. The total people here were currently eight, including Hei Yingjie and him, which meant that thest two members had not returned yet.


    "Have they not returned yet from informing the other teams?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They should be here by tonight or tomorrow morning at thetest senior. I think the increase in the number of beasts probably dyed their progress." Xie Bohai answered.


    "Ah yes, that is true. They will probably have to fight some beasts in order to reach here." Lin Mu replied.


    "For now, all we can do is wait. Senior can also resume his cultivation in the tent. We¡¯ll inform you at the first sign of the other team." Xie Bohai added.


    Lin Mu nodded in eptance and then picked a tent at random and walked in after lifting its p. He had depleted nearly two-thirds of his spirit qi in returning to the camp as fast as possible, thus wanted to take this chance to replenish it.


    Lin Mu thus sat down onto the bedroll and started chanting the severing heart sutra. Hours passed by in the blink of an eye and it was finally night time. Lin Mu opened his eyes upon hearing the sounds of people moving around outside.


    He had thought that the other teams had reached them at first, but then upon using his spirit sense he realized that it was just the members of the Hei Corps setting up for some dinner.


    ¡¯I should eat as well, I guess.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He walked out of the tent and looked at the men that were skewing a haunch onto arge skewer for roasting. They had set up a smaller campfire for ease of cooking. Therger bonfire in the center of the camp was better for heating and illumination, and rather impractical for cooking.


    Lin Mu too set up another fire and started cooking the meat of the Alpha steel back wolf. Half an hourter he was done with his meal and so were the other people. They had finished up and had switched for the guard duty.


    It was now Xie Bohai and another member¡¯s turn for the guard duty. Xie Bohai talked with Lin Mu for a bit before starting his guard duty, while Lin Mu himself returned to the tent. He wanted to assimte the vital energy and spirit qi from the meat quickly.


    Lin Mu wanted to see what kind of effect it would have this time. The effect yesterday was rather strong, and Senior Xukong had told him that the effect would be lessened than the first time.


    It turned out to be as what senior Xukong had told Lin Mu. While he did experience a slight increase in his vital energy; it was not as great as before and neither did he expel the ck corrosive gas from his mouth again.


    "Well, that was a little disappointing." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Pushing this to the back of his mind, Lin Mu wondered if he should sleep or cultivate for now. He reckoned that the other team may return at any time, thus it would be better to just cultivate. The main reason for him wanting to sleep was that he could learn the legacy technique of the lost immortal.


    Lin Mu could still learn it right now, but he preferred to stay undisturbed for a long time and the current situation was not worth it. Thus Lin Mu simply decided to continue cultivating till the morning and that¡¯s what he did.


    His cultivation had stabilized and Lin Mu was now attempting to refine another drop of liquid spirit qi. He had heard from Senior Xukong about the use of liquid spirit qi, thus wanted to quickly start refining it. He channeled spirit qi into his meridians and started refining it like before.


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    Lin Mu had to attempt it five times and lost quite a bit of spirit qi before he seeded. Another drop of liquid spirit flowed down his meridians and settled down at the bottom of his dantian.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath of tiredness and focused his attention again. He observed his dantian and discovered that he had spent nearly five hundred whips of spirit qi in order to refine that one drop of liquid spirit qi. The drop itself was condensed from less than a hundred wisps of spirit qi, but the failed attempts had caused him a small loss.


    Now that he had refined the second drop of liquid spirit qi, Lin Mu had to replenish the depleted spirit qi first before he could even refine the next. Seeing the rate at which he was refining the spirit qi was a little disappointing to Lin Mu but he soon picked himself up after Xukong¡¯s reminder.


    It had taken him nearly two hours to refine one drop of liquid spirit qi, thus Lin Mu could only guess how long it would take him to reach the next stage of the qi refining realm. For in order to break through to the peak stage of the qi refining realm, a cultivator had to have at least half of his dantian filled with liquid spirit qi.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Don¡¯t worry, the more experienced you get, the easier it will get for you to refine the liquid spirit qi. It is usually difficult for most people at the start." Xukong advised.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu responded and returned to his cultivation.


    Lin Mu could only hope that his speed would soon increase in the future.


    More time passed by and now it was the time for the sunrise. But still, the sun could not be seen and was hidden behind the dark clouds. The snow fromst night had not stopped yet and was still ongoing. A little more time passed by and finally, the sounds of footsteps came from far.


    It seemed as if there were tens of people walking together, thus the sound was rather easy to hear. The members of the Hei corps that were on guard duty immediately became alert. Xie Bohai went to the side that the sound was originating from while holding his weapons.


    The other guards had woken up by now as well and walked out of the tents and notice the sound as well. They saw Xie Bohai standing at the edge while holding his sword. They instantly understood what was happening and got ready as well.


    A minuteter the sound increased more and the people could finally be seen.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Everyone took a collective breath of relief once they confirm that the people who had just reached them were the other teams of the Hei Corps. They were being led by the two members Xie Bohai had selected for sending the message.


    Along with the two, there were additional three people standing alongside them. These three people were none other than Hei Bao the captain of the Hei corps, Hong Luo and Teng Xiaolian, the current leader of the mercenaries.


    "You all are finally here, that good." Xie Bohai spoke in a relieved tone.


    The two members of his team came forward and whispered some things in his ear before going behind him. The two of them had gone to call Lin Mu while the three men, Hei Bao, Hong Luo, and Teng Xiaolian came forward to talk with Xie Bohai.


    "How is Hei Yingjie now?" Hei Bao questioned first.


    "Senior Hei Yingjie is stable for now. Because of senior Lin Mu¡¯s help, he was saved from qi deviation." Xie Bohai answered.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Hei Bao too took a breath of relief and calmed won. He hadn¡¯t show it to others, but he was rather stressed because of this. They only had three members of their higher corps left right now and they couldn¡¯t afford to lose another core condensation realm expert.


    They didn¡¯t know what kind of conflict they would be having in the future, and they would be needing every bit of their strength. From what his lord and Hei Wan had guessed, Hei Bao felt that the future seemed to be bleak.


    They had onlye halfway and one of their top experts was already out ofmission, Hei Bao was sure that they would be failing their mission now. But when he heard Xie Bohai¡¯s next words, his hopes rose again.


    "There¡¯s an important thing I need to tell you, captain. Senior Lin Mu found the hideout of the culprits."

 Chapter 167 - Embarking...

    <h4>Chapter 167 - Embarking... </h4>


    Hei Bao was astounded, to say the least upon hearing Xie Bohai¡¯s words, but then soon became ted. For this meant that they would not be failing this mission and would not have wasted their time.


    "Good, good, good..." Hei Bao spoke while nodding his head.


    He was truly relieved more than what others could see from his face. Hei Bao had always been a perfectionist and wanted to do the best for his lord, thus even the thought of failure was dreadful for him.


    "Well then, where is Lin Mu?" Hei Bao asked.


    "Senior Lin Mu is resting in the tent. The others have gone to call him so you need not worry." Xie Bohai replied.


    Just as Xie Bohai said this, another sound came from behind him.


    "I¡¯m here." Spoke the approaching voice.


    Xie Bohai and Hei Bao looked at the person approaching who was none other than Lin Mu. Lin Mu was looking at them as well, and in turn also at therge group of people that wereing from the forest one by one. The entire team had gathered there by now, and the border of the camp was now rather crowded.


    Lin Mu did a quick sweep with his spirit sense and estimated that there were at least seventy people there now. He also noticed that some of them looked a little haggard, as if they had been in a battle of some kind.


    ¡¯Seems like they did encounter some beasts.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "We should move to the camp, I think. It¡¯s getting a little crowded here and the others can rest for a bit as well." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Alright." Hei Bao replied.


    "That would be good. Mypanions are tired from the battle before." Teng Xiaolian said in acknowledgment.


    All of them thus entered the camp and were shocked by the sheer number of steel back wolf carcasses that were stacked in the corner. Even Hei Bao, Hong Luo, and Teng Xiaolian were shocked by this. Even though they had heard about the ambush that happened before, seeing something and hearing about it was different.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    Teng Xiaolian and Hong Luo gulped in shock, for they could not even begin to imagine what kind of battle that must have been. Ten Xiaolian then turned to look at Lin Mu.


    ¡¯Indeed, we were not wrong. There is no chance that this could be aplished by anyone other than the disciples of the top sects.¡¯ Teng Xiaolian thought to himself.


    The crowd then moved into the camp and sat down wherever they could. The camp that was once rather empty was now bustling with people. Some of the team members started butchering the beast carcasses to prepare a meal for the people.


    They all seemed to be tired, thus this seemed to be the best ways to utilize the beast corpses. The mercenaries and the remaining members of the Hei corps also seemed to be rather grateful and went along to help them set it up.


    Multiple smaller bonfires popped up in the camp, and the people were now sitting around them. With the main membered sitting at the very center of the camp between the four tents. This included Lin Mu, Xie Bohai, Teng Xiaolian, Hong Luo, and Hei Bao.


    "So then, what did you exactly discover?" Hei Bao questioned Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu then repeated the same story that he had told Xie Bohai and others. Hei Bao had a serious expression the entire time and listened to each word intently. Fifteen minutes passed and Lin Mu had finally finished speaking.


    Hei Bao thought for a minute before speaking.


    "I think we should take some of our stronger members to the cave and investigate it. The rest should wait here at the camp and wait for us."


    "Yes, that would be good. We will be faster to reach there with fewer people and the camp will also be safe with some people looking after senior Hei Yingjie." Xie Bohai spoke in acknowledgment.


    "I¡¯m fine with it as well." Lin Mu replied.


    He then turned to look at the only people who had not spoken yet, Teng Xiaolian and Hong Luo.


    "I¡¯m fine with it as long as I get toe. I want to confirm it with my own eyes." Teng Xiaolian spoke.


    "I¡¯ll do whatever that leader Teng says." Hong Luo added.


    "It¡¯ll be no problem. You can pick some of your men toe with us." Hei Bao replied.


    "Well then, it¡¯s decided. It will take about twelve hours to reach the cave, so they all should get ready as soon as possible." Lin Mu spoke in an affirming tone.


    No one objected to his words and nodded.


    Lin Mu then remembered the injuries that some of the people that hade to the camp had. He could guess that they must have had happened end due to the battle but wanted to know more. Because if they were to head to the cave, they would have to go through an area heavily popted with beasts.


    "Seems like you people had a hard time getting here." Lin Mu spoke with a questioning tone.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "We did indeed. The beast suddenly went crazy and started rushing in towards our direction, as if they were scared by something. Only a little whileter did we hear the faint roar that followed their arrival, and we understood that they were forced by another beast to escape." Teng Xiaolian spoke.


    "We were able to avoid fighting a majority of them, but some spirit beasts directly chose to attack us, but we were able to either kill or scare them away in the end." Hei Bao added.


    "Still, it¡¯s not even close to what your team went through." Hong Luo said while looking at the tent where Hei Yingjie was resting.


    The five people became silent after that and simply ate their meal when it arrived. Teng Xiaolian stood up and went to talk to his men while Hei Bao did the same. They both returned five minutester with their respectivepanions.


    Hei Bao had ten people with him, and all of them were the members of the Hei Corps while Teng Xiaolian returned with five people which included his personal team and Hong Luo. Xie Bohai had also decided toe with them and had brought along two men with him too.


    Lin Mu looked at the new twenty-person team that had just been formed.


    "So is everyone ready?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, Senior." Xie Bohai and hispanions spoke.


    "We are ready brother Lin Mu." Teng Xiaolian and his teammates replied.


    Hei Bao nodded and spoke, "we can leave now, please show us the way."


    Out of the nearly ny people, twenty would be going further while the rest will be staying at the camp. They understood that with the increased amount of beasts right now, it would be better to stay where they are. Otherwise, they would have taken Hei Yingjie and left for the town.


    Lin Mu then led the team out of the camp and into the forest. They were going towards the northwestern direction, the same way that Lin Mu had gone before. It didn¡¯t take them long for them to encounter the first beasts.


    Because of theirrge numbers, the beasts were startled and attacked them straight away. It was not like when Lin Mu was alone and had walked away from the beasts without a problem. To the beast¡¯s, theirrge numbers meant a threat and that¡¯s how they acted.


    But their attack was for naught as this was a team made of cultivators and even if they encountered spirit beasts, they would be able to deal with them. The beasts were quickly killed, and the team continued on forward, though Lin Mu did store them in his ring.


    The snow was still falling and cold winds were blowing, making their journey tougher. Although all of them were cultivators, not all of them were at the same stage and were thus susceptible to cold. Another thing that made a difference that Lin Mu noticed was the Body tempering realm cultivation of others.


    While traveling, he had asked Hei Bao and some others about their body tempering realm cultivation and received some surprising answerers. Nearly all of them had only reached the ninth stage of the body tempering realm before bing a cultivator.


    None of them had actually progressed their body tempering realm cultivation after that, and neither had they tried. ording to Teng Xiaolian, the only people who would even attempt to go belong the ninth level would be the ones that had no chance of bing a cultivator or the ones who had used some unique alchemical pills.


    Lin Mu had witnessed two such people back at the mercenaries camp at the Northern town. They were the two guards who were guarding the tent of Hong Luo. He had heard from Hong Luo that they had taken a pill called as the Vital spring pill.


    Lin Mu had asked senior Xukong about them whether he could take pills such as those, but he had denied him. Senior Xukong had told him that unless it was an alchemical pill that was made especially for body refining experts, it would only harm him and burn his potential.


    From what information Lin Mu had collected, most people would be cultivators when they reached the eighth stage of the body tempering realm, and very rarely would there be anyone that did it at the tenth stage.


    Lin Mu was a little surprised by this, and so was Xukong.


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    "This world is strange... it¡¯s almost as if someone intentionally skewed their understanding of cultivation."

 Chapter 168 - Clues

    <h4>Chapter 168 - Clues </h4>


    Lin Mu heard senior Xukong¡¯s mutterings in his mind but did not react. Although they were a little shocking to him, there were far too many people around him, thus he did not want to arouse unnecessary attention.


    "What do you mean, Senior? How can someone do that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I am not a hundred percent sure, it could be something else. But there are far too many ws in the understanding of the people in this world. Even if it is a low level world, they should have at least figured out the basics such as these. This world most likely has a history of at least ten thousand years or more.


    This much time is enough for many generations of cultivators to be born such that they would know most things about the body tempering realm at least." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu thought over Senior Xukong¡¯s words and found them to be correct. Now even he started to think that there was something wrong with this world of his. Suddenly a thought came to his mind, it was something that he had heard about a long time ago.


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    "Senior, could it be because of the sects? When I was younger, I had heard of stories from people about the top sects and how they were the most powerful and had a great amount of knowledge." Lin Mu asked.


    "Top sects, huh?... We¡¯ll see, for now, you should focus on the current task. We can think of thister at a more opportune time." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded and returned his focus on to the path. Within the time that Lin Mu and senior Xukong had their conversation, another hour had passed by. He could now see the first mountain within which the great slumber bear was sleeping.


    Lin Mu estimated the distance and guessed that it would take them another hour to get close to it. They would have to go around the mountain as they could definitely not take the same path that Lin Mu had taken before.


    Once they got even more close, Lin Mu could finally see the rest of the northern mountains in the distance. They came to a halt in front of the cave that Lin Mu had previously rested. They took a short rest there before deciding to discuss a little before continuing their journey.


    "How much farther is it, brother Lin Mu?" Hei Bao questioned.


    "You can see the mountain behind this one, actually. We only have to go around this mountain first and then the route is rather straightforward from there." Lin Mu answered.


    Everyone had seen the mountains before, thus they felt a little relieved with how close their target was from here. Some of them were looking around in the cave, and they had not failed to notice the ashes and charcoal that was left behind by Lin Mu.


    "Did you stay here as well before?" Teng Xiaolian questioned.


    "Ah yes. I took a rest here the night before when I heard the loud roar. I then went to investigate from here." Lin Mu answered.


    "I see..." Teng Xiaolian replied before looking around the cave.


    He eventually reached the back of the cave and noticed the deep fissure that existed at the end of the cave. Teng Xiaolian seemed a bit interested in this part of the cave but then noticed the water at the bottom of the fissure.


    The water was staining his shoes, but he did not mind and bent down to take a closer look at it. He even went so far as to smell and taste the water. He did not find anything peculiar about the smell of the water, but the taste of the water was a little unique.


    Teng Xiaolian had been a mercenary for about twenty years now and had seen many caves. Thus he was able to tell instantly that it was fresh water that had flown down from the mountains.


    "This cave would have been the perfect abode for some beasts, if not for the size of it. Perhaps some smaller beasts would live here, but it is surprisingly empty for some reason." Teng Xiaolian spoke.


    Lin Mu felt a little surprised at Teng Xiaolian¡¯s judgment as he was actually right about it. Except the beast in question was on the other end of the cave, and this was just a small external part of it.


    "Where did you see the broken trees senior? Where they somewhere nearby?" Xie Bohai questioned.


    Lin Mu who had been focused on Teng Xiaolian all this while turned to look at the person who had just called him.


    "Ah yes. The trees are right behind this mountain, we should see them as soon as we cross this." Lin Mu answered.


    Xie Bohai nodded while Hei Bao stood up.


    "We should continue now. Is everyone ready now?" Hei Bao spoke.


    "Yes, captain." The Hei corps replied.


    "We are ready." The mercenaries replied


    "Let¡¯s go then." Lin Mu spoke before standing up as well.


    Under the guidance of Lin Mu, everyone left the cave and soon crossed the mountain. It took them a little over an hour before they reached the site of the broken trees. The trees were broken rather randomly in this area, and if one did not know the location of the Great Slumber Bear¡¯s cave, they would not be able to find it.


    Upon seeing the broken trees, the people could tell that the beast must have been incredibly strong to do something like this.


    "Will we even be able to fight against a beast like this if we encounter it?" One of the mercenaries questioned in a shocked tone.


    "We have the advantage in numbers, even if it is a core condensation realm beast, I¡¯m sure we would be able to restrain it." Another onemented.


    While their people were discussing about the beast. Lin Mu knew how far from the truth they were. It was in fact their fortune that the great slumber bear was currently sleeping and would most likely not be awakening for at least another year.


    Lin Mu could not even begin to imagine what kind of a disaster it would be if they were to encounter the beast right now. Even Hei Yingjie had a tough time against the Alpha steel back wolf and the beast in question right now was definitely many times stronger than that.


    Lin Mu hurriedly led them towards their mission target and brought them to the hidden cave which was used by the culprits before.


    "This is a rather unique location. If it were not for brother Lin Mu¡¯s luck, perhaps we would have had an incredibly hard time finding this ce." One of Teng Xiaolian¡¯s teammates spoke.


    Some of them then went closer and looked at the cut that had been made to the edge of therge boulder. They could see the size of the boulder and knew that it would have been impossible to get in without doing that.


    They thus ced their hands against the boulder and built up their strength. They strengthened their muscles with qi and focused on it.


    "Now, PUSH!" One of the men shouted and the people then started moving therge boulder.


    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    The sound of small rocks and stones grating against each other appeared, as therge boulder blocking the entrance was moved.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Everyone took a collective gasp of relief and looked inside the cave, which was partially being illuminated by the fading sunlight. It was the time for sunset and the bare minimum of sunlight was still present in the sky.


    But the others were already prepared for something like this, as they all brought out the torches they had prepared beforehand.


    "We can go inside now. I¡¯ve already checked the entire cave before and we can go in safely." Lin Mu spoke, trying to assure the people a little bit.


    They all walked in and could finally see the cages that were ced everywhere and also the other stuff that seemed to have been abandoned here. While the mercenaries had more free expressionspared to the Hei corps, they were still a little shocked by this.


    They also noticed the moldy and rotten food that was left behind in the cave.


    "How many cages are here?" Xie Bohai asked, feeling a little amazed and unsure at the same time.


    "I didn¡¯t check them all clearly, but there should be at least a hundred cages here." Lin Mu answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like we got a ton of clues to look forward to." Xiong An spoke feeling a bit tired.


    The members soon notice that some of the cages were bloody and had bald spots on them.


    "Huh? This is rather peculiar. Only the shackles and the restraints have blood on them." Hong Luo suddenly spoke up.


    "Hmm, there are no signs of torture here. Rather it seems like the prisoners that were the mercenaries tried to escape on their own but could not." Hei Bao spoke in a grim tone.

 Chapter 169 - Piece Of Cloth

    <h4>Chapter 169 - Piece Of Cloth </h4>


    The others were a little confused after hearing Hei Bao¡¯s words and wanted a better exnation. Hei Bao too noticed their expression and knew what they were thinking.


    "The blood stter here is only concentrated around the shackles. Look around, there is none outside and neither is in any other rooms. It seems like the prisoners were treated rather well and were not unnecessarily harmed." Hei Bao exined.


    The people looked around and indeed found Hei Bao¡¯s assumption to be correct. There was no blood in any other rooms either. Even in the cages, only ten out of the nearly hundred cages even had any blood in them. And it did not look like it had been cleaned either.


    "There is another thing." Hei Bao spoke and pointed at the furniture and items in the hall.


    "These seem like they have been moved around in a rush. Some of these things are randomly strewn about, and even the food was left unattended." Hei Bao stated.


    "That means..." A member of Hei corps spoke.


    "Yes, they were taken away in a rush. My guess is that the beast attack probably made them scared. From what we saw before and what brother Lin Mu showed us, they even cleaned the traces of the attack and removed the wreckage of the broken carriage. They were trying to hide their tracks because they realized they were discovered." Hei Bao exined.


    "Hmm, but this should be good for us." Teng Xiaolian added.


    "How so leader?" One of his subordinates asked.


    "Teng Xiaolian is right. Since the culprits left in a hurry, they should have definitely left some clues behind. From what we know, there were at least fifty or more mercenaries captured here. It would be a herculean task to transport them all to a different location in a short period of time and also erase all their traces." Hei Bao answered while looking closer at the blood stter.


    Hei Bao also felt a little impressed but Teng Xiaolian¡¯s intellect and was now feeling good that he had allowed him toe with them.


    "Alright, everyone spread around and look carefully. This is extremely important for us." Hei Bao ordered.


    "Yes, captain." His subordinates replied.


    The others also went to look for any clues. Lin Mu did the same and extended his spirit sense in the cave. He was a little intrigued by the design of the cave. While it looked natural mostly, he could tell that the rooms that were in the cave were specifically made by carving in the rocks of the mountain.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense probed the surroundings while he walked and looked around. Even though he hade here yesterday, he had not spent much time here and didn¡¯t get to see it clearly, thus he wanted to see what he could find.


    Their search turned out to be sessful as soon, one of the members of the Hei corps shouted.


    "I found something!" The man shouted.


    Lin Mu and the others soon gathered around the man after hearing him call everyone. Hei Bao was the first to walk forward and stood in front of the man.


    "What did you find? Show me," Hei Bao asked while extending his hand to him.


    The man was holding a piece of cloth that was folded up. He handed it to Hei Bao, who quickly took it from his hands.


    "I found this here beside the cage. I saw the strange blood drops which were spared in a linear manner and saw that they went in one direction. I looked at its end and saw this wedged at the edge of a box that was kept behind the cage." That man exined while pointing at the cage and the box that was behind it.


    "Hmm, looks like the mercenary who hid this piece of cloth injured his wrists while trying to hide it. Let¡¯s see what it was that he tried to hide." Hei Bao spoke and unfolded the piece of cloth.


    The piece of cloth was rather damaged and looked to have been torn from the sleeve of a robe. Hei Bao carefully opened it and saw lines of text written on it with blood. The handwriting was rather bad, and it was barely legible.


    It took Hei Bao nearly ten minutes before he was able to make out what was written in there. But once he read it, his face fell and a grim expression filled his eyes.


    The others were not able to see it as he was facing way diagonally and the light was flickering under the torches, but Lin Mu and Teng Xiaolian who were standing close by could see it clearly.


    "What does it say?" Lin Mu questioned with a straight face.


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    "This..." Hei Bao muttered.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    He couldn¡¯t continue speaking and simply handed the piece of cloth to Lin Mu while he clutched his forehead in stress.


    Lin Mu looked at the piece of cloth and tried to make out what was written on it. Five minutester, even he had a grim expression on his face. The others were now getting tense, and a strange feeling of dread was rising from the bottom of their stomach.


    Hong Luo perked up a bit of courage and spoke up.


    "What does it say, Brother Lin Mu?"


    "The culprits... they are capturing the mercenaries for a sacrifice. They need their blood for something. The mercenary who wrote this was able to hear some things from the culprits¡¯ conversations and was able to secretly make this. Apparently, they had found out that they had been attacked by the beast and had decided to escape from here. The mercenary was barely able to mention that in here and the writing seems to have trailed off from there." Lin Mu answered with a heavy heart.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    A collective gulp was heard in the hall as the tense expression were now changed to dread.


    "Why do they need the mercenaries¡¯ blood though does it say that?" Teng Xiaolian questioned.


    Lin Mu shook his head in response before speaking.


    "It only says that their master had ordered them to do so, and they have been doing it for a few months now. Hundreds of mercenaries have already been captured and sent to their secret location. Apparently, this is not the only ce they are capturing mercenaries from and it has been happing in the eastern, western and southern regions as well." Lin Mu answered.

 Chapter 170 - Morality?

    <h4>Chapter 170 - Morality? </h4>


    "We need to do something, there should be something more here." Hong Luo spoke with frustration.


    "We¡¯ve already looked enough. There doesn¡¯t seem to be anything else here." Hei Bao finally spoke after getting a hold of himself.


    The faces of his subordinates and the other mercenaries dropped upon hearing his words. But then he spoke again.


    "Fear not, we will eventually figure out something. In fact, we do know of one such location that we had previously found before."


    Everyone looked up at him with questioning faces.


    "The abandoned warehouse!" Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "But didn¡¯t we already investigate that before?" A member of Hei corps spoke up.


    "Yes, of course we did. But before we didn¡¯t know why they were gathering the mercenaries and had thought whether if they were just hiding corpses. But now we know that they have a proper use for them, they need their blood. That means they have to keep them alive and fed to keep their blood fresh."


    "But for doing this, they will need another location that is asrge as this to keep them. Also, after the beast attack, I doubt they will take the risk of setting up a ce like that here." Hei Bao exined.


    "Then that means... they will hide in the town? Or the areas around it?" One of the men asked.


    "That is one of the possibilities. But we at least know that whatever their final destination is, the northern town is probably close to it. We don¡¯t know about the other locations but do know that we know the mercenaries are being captured from there too, we will be able to expand our scope of investigation."


    "This is far too big of a conspiracy to keep hidden. There is bound to be a leak of some kind. We just need to look out for it and wait for the right time." Hei Bao answered.


    The people nodded in understanding and realized that there was no use obsessing over what had already happened. All they could do for now was to wait and see.


    "We should rest for now. We leave at first light." Hei Bao ordered.


    Everyone decidedly agreed, as the sun had already set by now. Even the snow had started falling heavily. In fact, now that therge boulder that was blocking the entrance of the cave was removed, the wind was blowing in swathes of snow.


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    The floor of the front part of the cave was already covered in snow. The men thus gathered around and sat near the braziers. The braziers were there in the cave already and were used to heat up the cave. But since the cave had been abandoned and no one was keeping them lit, all that was left in them was ash and charcoal.


    A few of the members of the Hei corps decisively went out and gathered a sufficient amount of wood for them to burn. Lin Mu took out the carcasses of the beasts that they had killed on their way here and let the others prepare it.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t have the mood to do it himself right now, and his mind was not in the right ce. While he was reading from the piece of cloth, senior Xukong was also watching it. After he had finished reading it he had asked him what it could have meant and Xukong had told him to wait for them to be done first.


    "What did you think, senior?" Lin Mu questioned in his mind.


    "There are far too many things that they could have been doing with the blood of the mercenaries. But the most likely thing that I can think of that would require so many of people¡¯s blood would be what you humans call an evil cultivation technique." Xukong answered.


    "An evil cultivation technique?" Lin Mu asked in a confused tone.


    While he could understand the meaning behind the words themselves, he could not understand the context. Senior Xukong had just told him that it was something that humans called it.


    "Cultivation techniques themselves are rather neutral. It is only the humans and other intelligent beings that give them a bias. It all depends on the perspective. While here we can see that this ¡¯master¡¯ of the culprits is gathering blood for himself, it is only bad because the humans are the ones being hurt."


    "If it was beasts in question here, not many would mind it. But such is the truth of the universe." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu thought over it, but still felt a bit lost.


    "Then senior you mean that it is right even if humans are getting killed and I should not mind it?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling uneasy.


    "No... rather, as long as it is something that bothers you, you should mind it. It does not matter if it¡¯s humans, beasts, demons or immortals. These things that you hear, good and evil are but a matter of perspective. But in the end, all that is right in the world is the might of the strong."


    "If you are strong, you can decide what to do and you won¡¯t have to mind what others think of it. Such is the way of the strong. A strong willes from a firm mind, and a firm mindes from an unyielding heart. And finally, the fastest way to gain an unyielding heart is to be ruthless. Be ruthless to your foes and be even more ruthless to yourself.


    Only then would you survive and flourish in the cultivation world." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu went silent after hearing the words of senior Xukong. At first, he felt that the words of senior Xukong seemed to be wrong. Lin Mu had always been taught by his parents to be kind and righteous. He didn¡¯t understand how it would be correct to equate the killings of humans to that of the beasts.


    Lin Mu also didn¡¯t understand why senior Xukong had told him about this right now and had rted it to the sacrifice of the mercenaries. He was feeling frustrated but knew that being hasty would not do him any good. Instead, he decided to calmly think over it.


    Lin Mu did not speak anything, even when he was given food to eat and simply ate it before returning to cultivate again.

 Chapter 171 - The Journey Back

    <h4>Chapter 171 - The Journey Back </h4>


    Even while cultivating Lin Mu could only focus on it because he was chanting the severing heart sutra, which was suppressing his thoughts and emotions. Perhaps without it, he would have never had the will to cultivate and would have only kept on thinking about senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    The morning soon came and the team of twenty people began their journey back to the camp. Their journey this time was rather uneventful, and the only difference that they observed was that the number of beasts in the area had increased again.


    ¡¯Hmm, seems like the effect of the great slumber beast¡¯s roar has finally worn off. At least we won¡¯t have to unnecessarily fight the beasts when we get closer to camp.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself during the journey.


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    Ten hourster they had reached the camp and were greeted by the rest of theirpanions. Looking at them, Lin Mu could tell that everything was normal while they were gone and nothing untoward had happened. It was evening now and all of them decided that they would be returning to the Northern town tomorrow morning.


    The people who had stayed back at the camp wanted to know what they had found out at the culprits¡¯ cave, but Hei Bao had suggested that they wait till reaching the town before informing the rest. He didn¡¯t want them to lose their morale or worse, be agitated.


    They could not afford to make any mistakes now, and the situation had be even more serious. While the members of the Hei Corps were fine with this decision and were willing to obey the orders, it was not the same for the mercenaries.


    It took thebined effort of Teng Xiaolian and his team in order to cate the mercenaries. Even Teng Xiaolian was in agreement with Hei Bao and knew that it could be devastating for the mercenaries to hear that theirrades were being sacrificed for their blood.


    During the night, Lin Mu and Hei Bao went to check up on Hei Yingjie¡¯s condition but did not find much difference. He was still unconscious and when Lin Mu observed him using his spirit sense, he could see that his internal injuries were the same as well.


    "It¡¯s as if his recovery has halted." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It does seem like that, but we can¡¯t be sure. Once we get to the town, I¡¯ll get a physician to take a look at him. The lord should send a good physician from the Wu Lim city at the first message." Hei Bao replied.


    "Yes, that would be good." Lin Mu spoke in a straight tone and stayed silent.


    His expression was rather cold as well, and Hei Bao was feeling strange upon looking at Lin Mu like this. But he did not question him as he did not want to bother him and he too had a lot of things that needed to be dealt with for now.


    Hei Bao walked out of the tent and came to stand in front of his subordinates.


    "We shall leave tomorrow morning, some of you shall carry Hei Yingjie and stay in the center of the party. The rest should guard and keep an eye out for any dangers. We don¡¯t want any more misfortunes." Hei Bao ordered.


    "Yes, captain." The members of Hei Corps replied in unison.


    Hei Bao then went and informed Teng Xiaolian about their departure tomorrow as well. Lin Mu too walked out of the tent and looked at the people that were sitting around the bonfires.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "What is right... What is wrong... I hope time will show me..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu returned to the tent and decided to sleep for now. He did not enter Sleepscape either and just went into a deep sleep. He felt like he had heard too many things to deal with and simply wanted to get a rest for the journey tomorrow.


    It would after all take them three more days to reach the northern town if they were lucky, as this time many of the people were injured and could not continue on at the same pace as before. The biggest thing of all, they had to take care of Hei Yingjie who was still injured.


    At the first light of dawn, the entire camp was awake and ready to go. The tents had been rolled up and stored away for the journey. Hei Yingjie was being carried in a makeshift stretcher that was made by attaching some branches and bedrolls.


    Lin Mu too had woken up early and was simrly ready, although he was still feeling a little tired mentally.


    The entourage of eighty people began their journey and continued on for three days. During their journey, they encountered beasts multiple times but were easily able to deal with them. Lin Mu didn¡¯t leave this chance behind as well and fought too.


    He wanted to take every chance there was at getting some training in. Not only that, but he was also practicing the Thousand armament de scripture and was using the two slim swords that he had got from Hei Wan. Lin Mu could observe that he was improving at a much greater speed by directly fighting beasts than he did while in the Sleepscape.


    Another thing that Lin Mu did was to store the corpse of every beast that they encountered. Teng Xiaolian and Hei Bao had an agreement that they would be selling the beast corpses to the mayor in order topensate the mercenaries.


    It would have been an impossibility for them to carry the corpses by themselves, thus Hei Bao had asked Lin Mu for assistance. Lin Mu was fine with it, on the condition that they would give him some of the meat from the beasts.


    They did not deny him that and were rather just happy that they were gonna get somepensation at least. Back at the camp as well, Lin Mu had stored the remainder of the steel back wolf corpses in his ring. They had already eaten nearly half of the meat anyway, and the rest was for Lin Mu to take.


    Hei Yingjie¡¯s condition did not improve during the journey either.


    Three days passed by and on the afternoon of the fourth day they had finally reached the Northern town.


    "Finally..." Lin Mu muttered in an exhausted tone.

 Chapter 172 - More Trouble

    <h4>Chapter 172 - More Trouble </h4>


    Therge group quickly separated after reaching the town, with the mercenaries going to their camp at the western entrance and the members of the Hei Corps going to two ces. A majority of them went to the Town center while a small number of them went to the safe house instead.


    Lin Mu first dropped off the beast corpses in a warehouse for the mercenaries. Hei Bao had shown them this warehouse and had told the mercenaries to use it for the time being.


    "We will prepare the corpses and give you your share brother Lin Mu." Hong Luo spoke in a grateful tone.


    "It¡¯s fine. But what are you going to do with the corpses now? Are you going to take them to Wu Lim city?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, we will be seeding a caravan that will be transporting the beast corpses to the northern town. This is a ratherrge amount so we should be fine for a while." Hong Luo answered and took a pause.


    "Besides, we need to contact orpanions in the other parts as well. If what we learned about the culprits is true, then we need to know what¡¯s happening to the other mercenaries as well. We had already sent a messenger to the headquarters, but Leader Teng has decided to head there personally." Hong Luo continued.


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    "How long would it take for him to reach the headquarters? It¡¯s in Xiangwei city, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, the headquarters of most of the mercenarypanies are in that city. Leader Teng is going to rush there, so he should be there in about four days at the very least. He¡¯s also going to inform the otherpanies as well and gather some information from them as well." Hong Luo answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered while nodding.


    He then turned around and left the warehouse. His next destination was the town center. He was told toe there after dropping off the beast corpses and meet up with Hei Wan. Fifteen minutester, he reached there and stood in front of therge building.


    Lin Mu could see the rest of the guards standing around along with the reinforcements of the Hei corps. He took a look around before walking in through the entrance of the town center. This time he was not stopped by the guards as they recognized him and had already been informed of his status.


    Lin Mu went up directly to the third floor, where the town head¡¯s office was. He opened the door and found Hei Bao sitting there along with Hei Wan. Hei Wen was reading a letter and had a pile of scrolls kept to the side on the desk.


    Even though her face was covered with the Veil, Lin Mu could still sense the fatigue that she had. He could tell that she had been working hard for a while and was possibly quite tired. He came to the desk and pulled the chair to take a seat.


    Lin Mu did not interrupt her and simply waited along with Hei Bao, who soon poured him a cup of tea from the teapot that was kept on a warmer at the side. Lin Mu took a sip from the cup and closed his eyes to wait.


    Five minutes passed by and Hei Wan finally put down the letter she was reading from.


    "Seems like our troubles are only getting worse. First Hei Yingjie and now this." Hei Wan spoke in a frustrated tone.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "What¡¯s the new problem now?" Hei Bao asked, while Lin Mu listened intently as well.


    "Some of the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect have arrived in the region. They have been stirring up trouble as well." Hei Wan answered.


    Hei Bao narrowed his eyes upon hearing Hei Wan¡¯s words and thought to himself for a bit.


    "Why are they here and what kind of trouble are they causing?" Hei Bao questioned.


    "We don¡¯t know the exact reason for their arrival, but they are apparently going to be staying in Wu Lim City for a while. My best guess is that they have been appointed posts here. As for trouble, it¡¯s the usual things that they¡¯ve done before." Hei Wan spoke and rubbed her forehead.


    Lin Mu had listened to her words and was wondering what kind of trouble was usual for the disciples of the Tri cauldron Peony sect. From what he had known most disciples of the cultivation sects were aloof and did not bother withmoners.


    "They¡¯ve caused trouble before?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect like to throw their status and power around. They will take things forcefully and some of them even take women. Most people can¡¯t handle them, or rather they can¡¯t. Even the mayor ignores their misdemeanors as long as his business is not affected. Especially after the guest year, he had to go into a debt with the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    That is also the reason why they have been assigned here, I think. So that the sect can have their disciples watching over the mayor at all times." Hei Wan exined.


    It was rather surprising to Lin Mu that the behavior of the disciples of a cultivation sect was so vile.


    "This is rathermon and you will see it a lot in the future. It is like I said before, only the will of the strong is obeyed in this world." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu was lost in thought after hearing this and was actually able to clear some of his doubts from before. He now understood Senior Xukong¡¯s words that he had said in the culprits¡¯ cave better and knew that he was right.


    ¡¯If I want to do anything, I need to be stronger... much stronger.¡¯ Lin Mu thought with determination.


    Unknown to him, when he thought that, his eyes had glowed for a brief instant, and not only that but the two people that were sitting with him, Hei Wan and Hei Bao too felt a sense of danger. Their eyes went wide, and they became alert.

 Chapter 173 - A Wooden Plate?

    <h4>Chapter 173 - A Wooden te? </h4>


    Hei Bao and Hei Wan were already tense from the assassination attempt and were expecting another attack, and this is what they thought it was. But even after a couple of seconds, nothing happened, and that feeling faded away.


    Hei Bao looked at Hei Wan with eyes filled with confusion. It was as if he was asking what had just happened. Hei Wan did not speak and simply shook her head in response, showing that she did not know either.


    Hei Wan then looked at Lin Mu and spoke.


    "Also, I investigated more about the things that you had given me from the town head office. It is confirmed that the Town head and the Vice-captain of the town¡¯s guards were involved in the matter. Whoever the culprits are, they were paying them off, apparently.


    Another interesting thing we found was the first mercenary you had found in the abandoned warehouse."


    Lin Mu looked up at Hei Wan upon hearing her speak.


    "What about that mercenary?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You found the beast inciting powder on that mercenary, right? Well, we were able to find one of hispanions. One of the mercenaries finally recognized him and gave us some information. Apparently, the beast inciting powder was found by him in the northern forest." Hei Wan replied.


    "It was found in the forest? How is that possible?" Lin Mu further questioned.


    "The mercenary who recognized him said that they were together when they found it. The vial was lying on the ground, nestled in some grass. Luckily, while the two mercenaries did find it, they were not stupid enough to open and check a vial filled with an unknown substance, or we would have had a much bigger disaster on our hands.


    They thus stored it and wanted to get it appraisedter on. And guess what, that was not the only thing they found with the vial. They also found a rather special Item." Hei Wan answered and then opened the drawer of the desk.


    Out from the drawer, she pulled out a wooden te that had some metallic parts fixed in it. The te was t and was seven-sided. The metal tes protruded from the te and formed a rather unique pattern on it. The over all size of the te was slightly less than that of a palm.


    The pattern wasposed of a bird¡¯s wing, a tiger¡¯s w and a serpent¡¯s tail. The three parts crossed and formed a triangle, at the center of which was an eye. The eye was in the form of a plus and seemed as if was formed by two eyes intersecting at a perpendicr angle.


    Lin Mu looked at the te closely and found it to be very peculiar. Hei Bao too looked at it with great interest.


    "This is rather different? What material is this, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen it before?" Hei Bao questioned.


    He touched the te and tried to get a feel of its wooden and metallic parts. The wooden parts were light brown, but the pattern on its grain seemed to be rather dense. The metallic parts were ck colored and were made from a metal that Hei Bao had not seen before.


    "I don¡¯t know what the materials are either. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen this kind of craftsmanship before either. And this patter of a wing, w, and tail; I do not know what it means either. Overall, this thing is a mystery." Hei Wan exined.


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    Lin Mu and Hei Bao heard her words and started to think about the te.


    "How would something like this turn up in the forest? First, the beast inciting powder, and now this?" Hei Bao wondered.


    "Whatever it may be, but we know that whoever originally had the beast inciting powder also owns this te. Perhaps, it is rted to the culprits as well, we don¡¯t know. I have already sent a sketch of this te along with a report to the lord.


    With his knowledge and expertise, maybe he can find it for us." Hei Wan answered.


    Lin Mu too wanted to see what kind of thing this te was, thus he went ahead and touched it. But as soon as his fingers touched the surface of the te, the mysterious ring on his hand lightly hummed.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as he hurriedly pulled his hand back. Hei Bao and Hei Wan noticed the strange behaviors of Lin Mu and wondered what that was about.


    "Are you okay?" Hei Bao questioned.


    "Yes... I¡¯m fine." Lin Mu casually tried to brush off his strange behaviors.


    The two didn¡¯t mind this and went back to discuss a few other matters. Hei Wan unrolled a few more letters and continued her discussion about other matters with Hei Bao. But while this was happening, Lin Mu was having a different conversation of his own in his mind.


    "Senior, that te... I could feel it. There is space inside that te." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I know, I felt that too. There were spatial fluctuations from the te, albeit faint ones." Xukong replied.


    "Is that a spatial storage treasure, perhaps?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, it is indeed a spatial treasure. But it is not a normal spatial storage treasure, but rather one that¡¯s used to store beasts." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu had heard about beast storage treasures before and knew that they were rather rare and unknown. They could be used to store tamed beasts and were very useful, as they could pretty much double the fighting strength of a cultivator.


    "But senior is there even anyone that can make a treasure like this in this world?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling uneasy.


    "There should be some that are able to make a low tier beast storage treasure, but not one like this. This is no normal beast storage treasure. Do you see those three markings of the feather, tiger w, and serpent tail? Those denote the rank of the treasure." Xukong spoke and took a pause.


    "A wing is for beast storage treasures that can storemon fierce beasts that are in the body tempering realm. Such a kind of beast storage treasure should rtivelymon in this world. At least asmon spatial treasures can be.


    The Tiger w denotes that it can store spirit beasts that are in the qi refining realm and above." Xukong spoke and trailed off.


    Lin Mu could not bear the suspense and questioned again,


    "What does the serpent tail denote then?"

 Chapter 174 - Beast Storage Treasure

    <h4>Chapter 174 - Beast Storage Treasure </h4>


    Lin Mu was eagerly waiting for senior Xukong¡¯s answer, but it still didn¡¯te. He wondered why he had suddenly gone silent and was getting uneasy.


    "Senior?" Lin Mu called out.


    "Senior Xukong?" He called out again.


    "Senior..."


    Just as he was about to call him for the third time, senior Xukong finally spoke again.


    "It should be fine now," Xukong spoke.


    "Huh? What should be fine now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I just had to check the world¡¯s restrictions before I could speak further. It would do no good if you were not able to hear or understand it even if I said it." Xukong answered.


    "So what does the serpent tail denote?" Lin Mu questioned, having understood Xukong¡¯s rationale.


    "The serpent tail denotes that the beast storage treasure can store beasts that are above the Immortal ascension realm." Xukong finally revealed.


    Lin Mu had his guesses about what the serpent tail would have meant, but after hearing it and confirming it from Senior Xukong¡¯s own mouth, he still felt shocked.


    "But, how would a beast storage treasure that could store such an immensely strong beasts even be found in this world?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Remember when the beast inciting powder had an effect on those stray dogs and they were able to sense the ward that was ced on you, even though they should have been absolutely incapable of doing so.


    That was when I doubted whether it was normal beast inciting powder or not. But now that we¡¯ve seen this Beast storage treasure, I can say for sure that both of those items are not from this world." Xukong exined.


    "Is it possible that they are unrted, perhaps? I mean, how would something like this even appear here?" Lin Mu asked with a confused tone.


    "The beast inciting powder is likely a higher grade one, which is used as a weapon. The powder is made so that they not only make beasts attack others randomly, but the powder also sharpens and enhances the senses of the beasts, making them more deadly. While it could be possible that it was made in this world, but that has a negligible chance of happening.


    Another thing is the markings on the beast storage treasure. Those three markings are the standard markings that are used across the myriad of worlds and realms. But the people of this world should definitely not know of that. This is an additional reason why I can say for sure that both of the items are from another higher level world." Xukong borated.


    After hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s exnations, Lin Mu felt a bit better and understood well, but then his curiosity made him wonder about more things rted to it.


    "Senior, can I... use this beast storage treasure?" Lin Mu questioned with a slightly expectant tone.


    "Sadly, no. It would indeed have been an excellent addition to your strength, but this beast storage treasure is damaged. The formation array on it has been broken, thus it cannot store the beasts any more. Although it still has a spatial storage in it right now. It is rather unstable and will copse in a short period of time." Xukong answered.


    "How would the beast storage treasure break, though? It didn¡¯t look damaged from the outside, at least. Where are the formations array of it?" Lin Mu questioned further.


    "The formation arrays are too high leveled for you to be able to sense them. But from the faint spatial fluctuations, you sensed I was able to tell their condition. As for why it broke, there is only one reason for it. The beast that was kept in the beast storage treasure broke through its confines and escaped it." Xukong answered.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    "Wait senior, doesn¡¯t that mean that the beast that had escaped the beast storage treasure is now roaming in the area?" Lin Mu asked with a shocked tone.


    "Yes, that is quite likely. But the thing is, we don¡¯t know if it¡¯s one beasts or more." Xukong replied.


    "More beasts?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Yes, a beast storage treasure can store more than one beast depending on its grade and the cultivator¡¯s strength. It can either store a single beast at the very peak of its maximum capacity, which would be dependent on the cultivation base of the cultivator.


    A cultivator can only tame and store beasts of a cultivation base that is equal to or less than theirs. This means that, for example, a cultivated at the Immortal Ascension realm can store one beast that is at the same stage as him in a beast storage treasure that has a tiger w marking on it.


    If he were to store a beast of, say, one realm lower than him that is at the Dao treading realm, he would be able to store two such beasts of the Dao treading realm. For the Dao shell realm, it would be four beasts and so on and so forth.


    This number only doubles as the realms go lower." Xukong fully exined.


    Lin Mu was absolutely astounded by this information and had another realization.


    ¡¯The beast storage treasure has three markings, with the highest one being that of the serpent tail. Then this means... No!¡¯ Lin Mu Inferred.


    "Senior, then isn¡¯t it possible that there are more than one beast of high cultivations reaming around?" Lin Mu questioned with a slightly fearful tone.


    "No, luckily it¡¯s not the case this time, don¡¯t worry. If there were more than one spirit beasts of even Dao Shell realm stored in the treasure and were then released by it, then there would have been a massivemotion. The strength of such beasts would have been too much for a world such as this.


    Another thing we need to factor in is the strength of the cultivator itself. If if the cultivator did have a beast storage treasure with three markings, if he did not have a high enough cultivation base of himself, he would not be able to tame and store stronger beasts.


    Besides, I already have an idea of what beast was stored in the beast storage treasure." Xukong answered in a calm tone.


    "Huh, what beast is it?"

 Chapter 175 - The Escaped Beast

    <h4>Chapter 175 - The Escaped Beast </h4>


    "We¡¯ve seen the beast before, it¡¯s none other than the Great slumber bear." Xukong Finally answered.


    "That... does seem likely now that I think about it." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed, it would work since a Great slumber bear cannot be found in a low leveled world like this. Also, the three markings on the beast storage treasure prove that it¡¯s from a higher level world, it would make sense that the beast came from there.


    Though this gives rise to another question, whether the beast was brought by the same person that brought the Invader, or perhaps it was the invader that is behind this." Xukong said in an unsure tone.


    Lin Mu pondered on it for a bit and found it to be too much of a coincidence for it to not be rted.


    "We will just have to wait and see, I guess. The clues should turn up soon." Lin Mu stated.


    Suddenly Lin Mu remembered another thing.


    "Senior, should I... tell them about the beast storage treasure?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm, you can tell them that it¡¯s a beast storage treasure, but I don¡¯t think they will believe you if you tell them its rank. I think it¡¯s better that you just tell them that its one and not its capabilities." Xukong suggested.


    "Yes senior, I¡¯ll do that." Lin Mu replied respectfully before opening his eyes.


    During the entire conversation that Lin Mu had with senior Xukong, fifteen minutes had passed. Upon opening his eyes, he saw that Hei Wan and Hei Bao were still talking, but the topics they were talking about were unknown to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu did not speak up abruptly but rather chose to wait for them to finish their conversation as the current topic of their conversation was a little interesting to Lin Mu.


    "The celebratory tournament went well, apparently. A lot of hidden talents and ck horses were discovered dating that." Hei Wan spoke.


    "Oh, are there any that we knew of?" Hei Bao asked.


    "Just the usual ones from the top sects. All the others were a surprise to us. But that was expected too, ourwork is not that strong beyond the upper three countries of the Northernnds." Hei Wan replied in a dismissive tone.


    "Who won it this time? I mean, which top sect won it? The sky precepts sect, the rainbow pill sect, or the Centennial sword sect?" Hei Bao questioned in an interested tone.


    "Surprisingly, it was not a disciple from any of the three top sects." Hei Wan spoke, but was then interrupted by a shocked Hei Bao.


    "What! How is that possible? There¡¯s no way any of the top three sects would let go of a chance such as this to raise their prestige. They always like to flourish their strength." Hei Bao spoke.


    "Yes, I was surprised by that too. Even the lord had not expected such an oue. For some reason, all of the disciples of the top three sects chose to not fight in the finals. The one who won in the end was a disciple from the fourth ranked top sect, Unity wind sect." Hei Wan replied.


    Hei Bao was lost in thought after hearing about this and wondered what could have caused them to do such a thing.


    While Hei Bao was thinking this, Lin Mu was curious about the tops sects. This was the first time he was actually hearing the names of any of the top sects. In the past, they were so beyond him that he had never bothered to know more about them. But now that he had heard, he wanted to know more.


    But just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by senior Xukong.


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    "Are you forgetting that they are still mistaken that you are a disciple of a sect? If you ask them about the name straight away, they will be suspicious." Xukong advised.


    "Ah yes! You¡¯re right senior." Lin Mu replied in a grateful tone.


    He thought about how to frame the question for a moment before asking, "Umm, what were the rankings of the other sects in thepetition?"


    Hei Wan and Hei Bao turned to look at Lin Mu who had just spoken. All this while when they were talking, they had forgotten that there even was a third person in the room with them; they were that engrossed in their work. Both of them felt a little awkward about forgetting Lin Mu.


    Hei Wan forcefully suppressed her embarrassment, which was easy since her face was hidden behind a veil, anyway.


    "The rankings were as follows, the Unity wind sect came first, Ivory sable sect came second, Sky precepts sect came third, Centennial sword sect came fourth, Rainbow pill sect came fifth, Cloud mountain sect came sixth, and the eighth position was taken by Starry jasper court.


    As for the seventh, ninth and tenth positions, they were taken by cultivators that did not belong to the sects. The seventh position was taken by a lieutenant from the vermilion legion, while the ninth position was taken by a prince of the Eastern Ming dynasty.


    We do not know who took the tenth position though; they were a nameless cultivator, and they left soon after thepetition. They did not even take their prize." Hei Wan exined.


    While Lin Mu was not able to find out about all of the top ten sects, he was still fine with being able to find out about seven of the top ten sects. Before this, he had never heard of any of them. Though still out of the ten winners, he recognized one name.


    "The vermilion legion, huh?" Lin Mu muttered with a little surprise.


    "Oh, what the problem?" Hei Bao asked after seeing the hint of surprise in Lin Mu¡¯s voice.


    "Nothing, it¡¯s just that I didn¡¯t expect to hear that name." Lin Mu replied.


    "Whys that?" Hei Bao questioned, and even Hei Wan looked on in curiosity.


    "I thought the vermilion legion never moved from the frontier. Isn¡¯t a lieutenant a very high position in the vermilion legion?" Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 176 - Rise In His Image

    <h4>Chapter 176 - Rise In His Image </h4>


    Xukong was also a little surprised upon hearing that Lin Mu actually knew about one of the winners. He had fully executed for him to be in the blind about such things.


    "That is indeed true, the vermilion legion never moves from the frontier, but there are a few exceptions. One of them being the summons from the Emperor of the Great Zhou Empire. Some people from the Vermilion legion were invited by the emperor for the Grand Festival. As a request, the emperors asked for them to give a demonstration of strength in order to show the sects that they were no less from them either." Hei Wan answered.


    Lin Mu had heard about the festival from the mouth of Teng Xiaolian and his team before, so knew that there was one organized in celebration for the crown prince reaching the core formation realm. But it was still interesting for him to know more about the details of such.


    Seeing that Lin Mu was satisfied with the answer, Hei Wan was about to open another scroll to discuss the next matter when Lin Mu spoke up.


    "I have something to say." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh, please do tell." Hei Wan replied.


    "I thought over it and I think I have an idea of what this wooden te is." Lin Mu replied while pointing to the wooden te on the desk.


    "You know?!" Hei Bao exined.


    Hei Wan was equally not expecting this, but did not react as such and kept herposure.


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    "So what is it?" Hei Wan questioned in a calm voice.


    "From what I can tell, it¡¯s a... Beast storage treasure." Lin Mu answered.


    Hei Wan and Hei Bao went silent after hearing this and took a few seconds to digest this information. But once that was done, a mixture of emotions appeared in their eyes.


    "How do you know this?" Hei Wan asked in a nervous tone.


    "I can feel the spatial fluctuationing from it. They were faint at first thus I was not able to grasp them, but after a while, I was able to determine what it was." Lin Mu replied.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    Hei Bao gulped in astonishment and started to think about all implications of this information. He knew that Spatial storage treasures were incredibly rare and only a few people owned them, but Beast storage treasures were a rarity amongst the spatial storage treasure.


    Every single one of the beast storage treasures was known to most informed and influential people, and he knew for sure that none of them would be so carelessly be abandoned. Their value was far too high, and it wouldn¡¯t be umon for a cultivation sect to start a small war in order to get their hands on one.


    If his apprehension were true and this was indeed lost or worse stolen from a cultivation sect, it could potentially spell a disaster for them. He turned to look at Hei Wan and could see a simr apprehension in her eyes.


    "Leader, the beast storage treasure..." Hei Bao spoke and was interrupted.


    "But the Beast storage treasure is currently damaged, and the formation arrays within it would soon dissipate. It can¡¯t store any beasts in it currently." Lin Mu continued.


    Hei Bao¡¯s face visibly rxed as he let out a breath of relief.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "You should have started with that, you nearly scared us out of our wits." Hei Baoined.


    "Oh, I¡¯m sorry, I should have framed it better." Lin Mu apologized.


    "It¡¯s fine, there was no harm done. But now this revtion puts forth more questions." Hei Wan replied.


    Hei Bao too nodded in acknowledgment.


    "That is true. We still need to find out and verify, who is the owner of this beast storage treasure. We do not want to be caught off guard if someonees looking for it and suspects that we broke it." Hei Bao spoke.


    "I guess, I¡¯ll have to leave that up to you people. I believe you will be more capable of investigating that." Lin Mu said in a calm tone, trying to pretend as if he didn¡¯t know that the Hei corps would not be going on a blind goose chase.


    Although Lin Mu knew that he would be wasting the time of the Hei Corps in hiding the full truth, it was still better than exposing his own reality and lifting their misunderstanding. It was that very misunderstand int that was proving to be quite advantageous to him right now.


    Lin Mu definitely did not want to do anything that wouldpromise his current status quo.


    "Of course, we will do that brother Lin Mu. You can leave that to us." Hei Wan answered with confidence.


    Lin Mu nodded in eptance and then thought about what he should do next.


    "What should I do for the time being? I mean, we¡¯ve seen the culprits hideout and know that they are hiding the prisoners somewhere near the town, but when would we be doing more?" Lin Mu questioned after thinking for a bit.


    Hei Wan was a little impressed by Lin Mu¡¯s detailed question because she thought that he was worried about the investigation and wanted to fully help them. But in reality, Lin Mu wanted nothing more than to know a time period so that he could go cultivate peacefully till then.


    He did not want any more interruptions and wanted to finally begin learning the nameless technique created by the lost immortal. After knowing that he had less than a year to reach the peak stage of the body tempering realm as well as leering the technique of the lost immortal, Lin Mu was impatient.


    This impatience was seen in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes and was once again mistaken by Hei Wan as an eagerness to help.


    ¡¯Lin Mu is indeed an exceptional and righteous youngster. His future is very promising, I need to talk with the lord about investing more into him, perhaps.¡¯ Hei Wan thought.


    Unknown to Lin Mu, his image in the eyes of Hei Wan was raised once again.

 Chapter 177 - Respite

    <h4>Chapter 177 - Respite </h4>


    Hei Wanposed herself again and thought for a bit before speaking, "You need not worry, brother Lin Mu. We will inform you when the timees, but considering the current situation, I think we will need to stay in the town for a while. At least until Hei Yingjie recovers."


    "Yes, unless Hei Yingjie recovers, we will be in danger. Considering the efficiency with which the culprits were able to transport and hide the prisoners, I wouldn¡¯t be shocked if they have a core condensation realm expert of their own helping them. If by any chance we were to have a conflict, it would be absolutely necessary that we have a core contesting realm expert on our side." Hei Bao said, "Without one, it would just be a lost battle, even if we have many more qi refining realm experts."


    "Alright then, I¡¯ll take my leave then." Lin Mu replied and then stood up.


    "Oh, and if you need anything you can ask Hei Ping. He is still assigned to guard duty near your house, so you should be able to inform him. And any news that we send will be given through him as well... unless it is too sensitive, then one of us wille to inform you." Hei Wan added.


    Lin Mu simply nodded before leaving the office and heading down the building. Once he was out of the town center, the guards that were standing there bid him farewell with respect in their eyes. Lin Mu felt a little strange upon seeing this change, but did not think much of it.


    A little whileter he was at his house and had decided to get a much well deserved bath. For the past week, he had not had the chance to take one, and heavens knew that he had gone through a lot in this time. Lin Mu thus heat up some water and took afortable bath.


    Once he was done with it, he randomly chose one of the sets of clothes from the hundreds he had bought and went to the kitchen, for he needed to cook the beast meat. Lin Mu¡¯s current focus was to reach the peak stage of the body tempering realm, and there was no easier way than to consume beast meat for that.


    Lin Mu quickly finished his meal and sat down to chant the calming heart sutra to assimte the vital energy that was being released in his stomach. It didn¡¯t take much long for him to assimte all of the vital energy from the meat, but he did not see any difference in his body.


    Unlike back when he had eaten the meat of the core condensation realm alpha steel back wolf, Lin Mu did not have any major progress in his body tempering realm cultivation. But he had already known of this and did not lose hope.


    He then started chanting the severing heart sutra and started refining the spirit qi wisps within his dantian into liquefied spirit qi. Once afternoon arrived, he ate his lunch and assimted the vital energy again.


    The same thing was repeated in the evening at dinner time and he finally stopped when it was midnight. During his entire cultivation session of today, Lin Mu had refined two more drops of liquid spirit qi.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    "That was a bit more tiring than I thought. At least I get to sleep now." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    He then took out the soft white bolster to use as a pillow andid his head upon it while lying down. It didn¡¯t take Lin Mu much time from closing his eyes to fall asleep. Soon he appeared in the Sleepscape and was standing in front of the spirit apple tree.


    Lin Mu looked at it and saw nearly fifteen ripened spirit apples on it. He went ahead and plucked them before storing them in his ring. He took a look inside the ring and saw that his stockpile of spirit apples had reached a little more than a hundred now.


    "Oh, I... kind of forgot about them. I should eat them while I train, I guess. It should provide me with additional spirit qi. Even though it would not be much, but it should still help me a little bit." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    He then sat down below the sprite apple tree and withdrew the wooden slip within which the lost immortal¡¯s legacy was contained. Lin Mu opened it and got to reading it. Although he had already read it before, he still wanted to take another look before formally starting to practice it.


    Lin Mu slowly read it, ensuring that he understood every small character before beginning. He already knew theplexities of the Dao script and thus knew how important it was to know every aspect of a character before reading it, as its meaning could change depending on its position in the text.


    There were even times when the same character meant different things depending on the context, thus he did not want to make a mistake and hurt himself with that.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "Now let¡¯s begin..." Lin Mu said before putting the wooden slip away.


    He closed his eyes and recalled the nameless technique in his mind. He then followed the methods that were prescribed in the technique and moved the spirit qi ording to that. The spirit qi was following a strange path that he had not known about.


    Although Lin Mu had leered about his meridian circuit on his own, he had not known that he could have circted it in that manner as well. While there were many steps in the nameless technique, Lin Mu was only starting up and was thus at the very beginning of the first step.


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    This step involved guiding the spirit qi to the meridians in the stomach and bathing the tissues of it with the spirit qi in a certain pattern. Lin Mu had to ensure that only a specific amount of spirit qi flowed to the stomach at once and at the right ce.


    He had read the warnings and knew that if he increased the volume of spirit qi by too much or too less, the entire effort would be wasted in the best case or he would harm himself in the worst.

 Chapter 178 - No Respite

    <h4>Chapter 178 - No Respite </h4>


    Lin Mu sat there for hours following the technique, yet could feel no difference, except for his spirit qi being consumed. He only stopped when it had been nearly empty and only had about a hundred wisps left along with of course the liquid spirit qi drops.


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    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This is much more difficult than I thought." Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~Pop~</i>


    "Well, cultivation techniques usually take a while to learn and for auxiliary ones like this one, the time frame is even vast. It¡¯s a technique that has never been cultivated, thus we can not put an estimate on it." Xukong said, after suddenly appearing in front of Lin Mu.


    Ever since Lin Mu had progressed in his cultivation, Xukong had been able to freely appear and disappear from the Sleepscape as long as he himself was there. Xukong did not tell Lin Mu this, but he himself was starting to enjoy his time there.


    While he was beyond habituated to cultivating in seclusion in the void, having a break like this felt refreshing to him and he even felt a slight improvement in his cultivation speed.


    "I will have to wait and see then. Hopefully, I learn it before the Great Slumber bear awakens from its sleep." Lin Mu replied.


    He then stood up and withdrew a long spear from the ring. Lin Mu had practiced a sufficient amount with the two slim swords and now wanted to try out the other weapons. His next choice of weapon was the spear, as it had the farthest reach for him.


    Lin Mu started his practice with the spear and followed the stances and maneuvers mentioned in the Thousand armament de scripture. He practiced until he felt mentally tired and then stopped. Lin Mu noticed that he had tired much faster than before.


    "Huh, is it due to my depleted spirit qi?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    "Well, it could be that. Perhaps you need a certain amount of spirit qi in order to maintain your connection with the garden of karma. If that is true, then having a low amount of spirit qi may be reducing your capability to practice further here. Though this is all that I could deduce, we still don¡¯t know how exactly a Garden of Karma works." Xukong replied from behind Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu nodded and spoke, "Hmm, I see. Well then, time to sleep again."


    Lin Mu then willed it and his body disappeared from the Sleepscape, and he entered deep sleep. Waking up in the morning, the first thing Lin Mu did was to clutch his stomach.


    <i>~Groan~</i>


    "Aargh!" He screamed in pain.


    "Wha...t... is... this... pain...?!" Lin Mu uttered between breaths.


    He could barely breathe right now and was slumped up against his bed. Lin Mu was unable to think clearly right now and did not know what was happening to him. He did not even hear senior Xukong who was calling out to him.


    Lin Mu stayed like that for about a minute before he was able to get used to the pain.


    ¡¯Why is this happening? This is worse than the time when I ate that purple spirit fruit or even when I used the boulder copsing fist at its full potential.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    But just as Lin Mu was thinking this, it suddenly hit him.


    ¡¯It¡¯s the effect of the technique! Did I make a mistake? No, if it was like that then I would have known it then and there, this is something different.¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    "It...s ...ger..." Lin Mu suddenly heard a faint voice in the back of his head.


    It didn¡¯t take him long to realize that it was Senior Xukong that was calling out to him. He attempted to chant the calming heart sutra to be able to hear better, but the pain was making it incredibly difficult.


    To Lin Mu, it felt as if his guts were being twisted into a mush. With great effort, he was able to focus enough to chant the calming heart sutra. With the activation of the effects of the calming heart sutra, Lin Mu was finally able to hear senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    "It¡¯s hunger!! Eattt!!!" Xukong shouted out in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    It actually was not just Lin Mu that was having a problem in hearing Xukong, but rather Xukong too was having a hard time trying tomunicate with Lin Mu. The mental connection that they had was fading in and out, making it Nealy impossible for him to talk.


    Xukong was very shocked by this, as thest time this had happened was back when Lin Mu had gone through the awakening of one of the nine divine heart sutras or when he was having an epiphany.


    ¡¯What kind of technique is this that its even able to disturb my link with Lin Mu? For it to be able to do that, is it on the same level as the nine divine heart sutras, or is this something different?¡¯ Xukong thought to himself with confusion.


    Lin Mu heard Senior Xukong¡¯s words in his mind, loud and clear, making him stumble to get something to eat. In his delirium caused by the pain, he had nearly forgotten that he could just summon the food that was stored in his ring.


    Lin Mu instinctively pulled out some of the cooked meat that was left in the ring. He started eating and quickly finished it in mere seconds. The food stored was barely enough for a few bites.


    "NOT ENOUGH! I NEED MORE!" He spoke in a hoarse voice.


    A faint wisp of vital energy was released from the roast meat that he had just eaten and it was absorbed from his stomach. Still, it did not evene close to providing him relief. It was the same as throwing a cup of water into a wildfire.


    Lin Mu then withdrew the spirit apples that he had stockpiled in the ring and swallowed an entire apple in three bites. He had thought that these would show some effect, but s, the spirit apples had no vital energy in them.


    "MOREEEE!" Lin Mu yelled again.


    Pushing all semnce of sanity away, Lin Mu withdrew a beast carcass that he had stored in the ring and started tearing into it.

 Chapter 179 - Strange Changes

    <h4>Chapter 179 - Strange Changes </h4>


    In a house in the northern town, a gruesome scene could be seen. There was blood sttered all around in a room and the scent of the same was spreading around. The pungent and slightly disgusting smell of the mixture of flesh and blood would assault one¡¯s sense if they entered the room.


    At the center of the room was what could only be called as a remnant carcass of a beast of some kind, having only its bones left behind with small pieces of flesh on it. Even the bones seemed to have bite marks on them, and at some ces seemed to have been shattered and cracked.


    At the side of this carcass was a person who seemed to have been drenched in blood. His face, hair, and clothes were stained in blood and his eyes seemed to be bloodshot as well. This person was none other than Lin Mu.


    He was taking deep and tired breaths, making it seem as if he had gone through a great battle, but such was not the reality. For it was none other than Lin Mu who had eaten the beast carcass in such a gruesome manner, no different from any other predator beast.


    If such a corpse was found out in the forest or the wild, no one would bat an eye. But when such a corpse was found in a house with a person drenched in blood no less, people would be shocked and astonished, to say the least. And no doubt would call the person that was drenched in blood insane.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    "That... is... too... much..." Lin Mu muttered between his breaths.


    Lin Mu could not help but turn up his head to look at his handiwork that was in front of him. Even he himself could not bring himself to believe what had just happened and what he had done. Still, that very thing in front of him and the blood on his body was proof that he had done it.


    Lin Mu could no longer hold back andid down on the ground in fatigue, not having any energy to function well.


    ¡¯What in heaven¡¯s name was that?¡¯ Lin Mu questioned himself.


    "It seems like the lost immortal¡¯s technique is far more dangerous than we thought. I had not expected for there to be such a severe side effect. I don¡¯t know how you should proceed from this." Xukong suddenly spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    Lin Mu did not respond but rather just stayed there on the ground contemting about his situation. There were now far too many things that he needed to consider. Firstly, the effect of the lost immortal¡¯s technique had made him disappointed and frankly a bit scared.


    No normal human would like to eat raw flesh like he just did, and this thought made him nauseous and would have nearly made him vomit, if it were not for the fact that there was surprisingly nothing in his stomach.


    Lin Mu realized that and touched his stomach. If it were normal his stomach should have been bulging out. Even if he was used to having arge appetite and eating a lot of food, his stomach would still bulge for a while before going back to being t.


    But right now it had not even been five minutes, and he had eaten the entirety of a beast except for the bones, which was nearly twice his own weight. There was no way that this should have been possible, yet here he was having witnessed it.


    Wanting to know more, Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and checked his own body. He directly observed his insides and found no change in them, at least from what he knew about his body and what he had seen before. His organs seemed to look the same as before to him, and he could find no fault with them.


    "This nameless technique, I can¡¯tprehend its effect. It¡¯s supposed to stop hunger, right? So why is it giving me a hunger that makes me want to die?!" Lin Mu questioned himself in frustration.


    "Hmm, try checking the vital energy in your body, I... can¡¯t feel it," Xukong spoke.


    "Huh? What senior? But it seems to be normal to me." Lin Mu replied before chanting the calming heart sutra and sensing the vital energy within his body.


    That was when he discovered a difference. While he still had his vital energy that was saturated in his skin, flesh, blood and bones, he could not sense their faint fluctuations. It was as if they had been sealed into his body, and not even an iota of it was leaking out of his body.


    Normally vital energy in a person¡¯s or a beast¡¯s body creates faint waves that are naturally emitted by their body. While this results in a loss of vital energy, this is fairly negligible and has no overall effect on the creature involved.


    But for some reason, the vital energy in Lin Mu¡¯s body was being fully contained within. Usually, when Lin Mu sensed his vital energy, it would be pulsating, as if it were resonating with his heartbeats, but right now, it was not.


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    Instead, it was calmly flowing in a loop. Such a peculiarity made Lin Mu curious and wonder why it was happening. Wanting to rest something out, he flexed his fist to see how the vital energy would react. Usually, by doing this, his vital energy should have gotten agitated, but no such thing was happening.


    An idea appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind and he punched out at the air. While no effect could be seen with the naked eyes, Lin Mu could tell that the punch he had just thrown had the same power as before in it. The change in the vital energy had caused no change in his strength itself.


    "What is the cause of this?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Whatever it may be, at least it is not harmful. Hmm, let me think for a while; I¡¯ll try to find something in my bloodline memories and see if I have any information about your peculiar condition." Xukong replied.


    "Alright, senior thank you for your help." Lin Mu replied in a grateful tone.


    Lin Mu turned his head from side to side and looked at the mess that was his room right now.


    <i>~Groan~</i>

 Chapter 180 - Strange Changes-II

    <h4>Chapter 180 - Strange Changes-II </h4>


    "Damn, this will take a while to clean. Those bedsheets and my clothes are as good as useless now." Lin Mu muttered to himself in frustration.


    <i>~Sniff~</i>


    <i>~Sniff~</i>


    Finally, Lin Mu could feel the stench assault his nose.


    ¡¯I need to take a bath too now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He thenid there for another hour, after which he could finally feel the strange fatigue fading away. He then stood up and stretched.


    <i>~Pop~ ~Pop~ ~Pop~</i>


    Popping and cracking sounds were heard as Lin Mu stretched. The stiffness in his joints was being relieved with each moment. Lin Mu clenched and unclenched his fist, finding that the movements seem to be slightly better.


    Lin Mu did not think much of it and started cleaning up the mess in his room. After he was done with it, he gathered up the bedsheets and his clothes in a ball to be thrown away. Finally, he went to and took a bath to clean himself of the blood and bits of flesh.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t even bother heating the water and took the bath with ice-cold water, not wanting to bear the disgusting feeling anymore. Thankfully, his body tempering realm cultivation was very high, allowing him to bear the cold without shivering or with his teeth chattering.


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    Steam could be seen rising from his body after he was done with his bath due to the difference between his body temperature and the surrounding temperature. It was still snowing right now, and the snowkes would melt away as soon as they touched his bare body.


    Lin Mu quickly switched to a new and clean set of clothes before checking out the area around his house. He knew he had yelled out in pain and was wondering if it was loud enough to escape the confines of his house. He had expected for at least Hei Ping to have heard it as he was standing outside his house.


    Fortunately, it seemed like he had not yelled out as loud as he had thought. No one else seemed to have heard him or they would have definitely been wondering what was happening in there and the guards would have been gathered outside his house by now.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "At least I escaped that. It would have been far too bothersome and difficult to exin to them what had happened." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he took a breath of relief.


    Lin Mu decided to return to his house to continue his cultivation. He did check his dantian and saw that he only had half of his spirit qi for now, as only that much was replenished while he had slept. He thus sat down cross-legged and chanted the severing heart sutra to replenish his spirit qi.


    Two hourster, the snow had stopped falling and even the sun hade out from behind the clouds as they had finally scattered away. Lin Mu opened his eyes as he could feel his stomach rumble with hunger.


    "What!? I ate an entire spirit beast earlier, how am I still hungry?" Lin Mu eximed with astonishment.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯This just keeps on getting more confusing.¡¯ Lin Mu thought before standing up and going towards the kitchen.


    He quickly cooked some beast meat and ate it. But unlike before, this time his stomach was bulging like it should have been.


    "It seems like, your earlier hunger and this is different. The previous one seemed to bepletely due to the lost immortal¡¯s technique, and this one seems to be the normal one that your body feels." Xukong spoke inferred.


    Lin Mu could feel the vital energy being absorbed by his body and could feel the concentration of it increasing by a minute amount, unlike before when it had stayed the same.


    "Hmm, you are right senior. This time I can feel an increase in the vital energy within my body as well." Lin Mu replied.


    He quickly assimted the vital energy and just as he finished, an idea popped up in his mind. He went to the kitchen and set up some meat to cook and then went to his backyard and started taking out wood from his ring before lighting it on fire.


    Lin Mu prepared some meat to cook on that fire as well. Xukong noticed what he was doing and felt a little confused.


    "What are doing?" Xukong questioned.


    "I¡¯m guessing that, since practicing the lost immortal¡¯s technique had that effect, I may as well prepare arge amount of cooked meat beforehand. At least I would not have to eat raw meat again, and even if it does not happen, I can still eat itter." Lin Mu exined.


    "That is... actually smart." Xukong praised.


    Lin Mu nodded and watched over the cooking meat. After it was done, he stored it in his ring for easy ess. He had cooked the meat of two entire steel back wolves and estimated that it should be enough considering the amount he had eaten before.


    It had taken him about two more hours to cook it, and he quickly returned to his room to cultivate. The room still had a faint scent of the blood, but it was no longer strong enough to bother Lin Mu.


    Soon he was engrossed in his cultivation and the time started passing by quickly.


    ***


    While Lin Mu was busy cultivating something else was happening in Wu Lim city.


    In arge manor that was situated beside a smallke, a man was sitting in a room that looked like an office. There were multiple bookshelves to the sides and arge desk at the other end of the room. A schrly-looking man was sitting at the desk who seemed to have an erudite aura.


    The man was reading a letter and had a calm expression on his face. The contents of the letter seemed to be interesting to him, and a peculiar sketch was drawn on the letter. The most unique part being the three patterns of a wing, a tiger w and a serpent tail in a triangr formation present on it.


    Just as the schrly man was about to reach the end of the letter, the door of the office opened and a middle-aged man dressed in luxurious clothes walked in. The man walked up to the desk where the schrly man was sitting and cleared his throat.


    <i>~Ahem~</i>


    The schrly man put down the letter and seemed to be caught a little off guard. He looked up at the man standing in front of him and forciblyposed himself before speaking.


    "What are you doing here, father?"


    <i>~Chuckle~</i>


    "Does a father need a reason toe visit his son? Tell me am I wrong, Wu Hei?"

 Chapter 181 - Father And Son

    <h4>Chapter 181 - Father And Son </h4>


    The schrly looking man named Wu Hei stared at the person in front of him for a few seconds in silence.


    "Fine. What is it that you need? And don¡¯t repeat the same thing, I know you have an excuse foring here." Wu Hei spoke in a dismissive tone.


    "Ah, look at you talking to your father like that. Your mother would be so disappointed in you." Wu Heir¡¯s father spoke in the same teasing tone as before.


    <i>~Hmph~</i>


    "As if! Mother hates you no less than me. If it were up to her, she would have left just as elder brother did." Wu Hei spoke in a condescending tone.


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    Upon hearing the harsh words of Wu Hei, his father¡¯s expression changed. It was no longer the teasing and yful one, but rather one of seriousness. The man¡¯s entire aura had changed, if it was mellow before now it exuded power and authority.


    "Alright, as you wish. I¡¯ll just tell you what I am here for." Wu Heir¡¯s father spoke.


    "That would be for the best." Wu Hei said with a straight face without moving his eyes from his father.


    "The disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect have been posted here. They will be living at a property here in the eastern district of the city." Wu Hei¡¯s father spoke.


    <i>~Chuckle~</i>


    "Oh? That¡¯s rather surprising. I thought nothing went past your eyes and ears, ¡¯Mayor¡¯." Wu Hei said, with a sarcastic tone. "Looks like your influence has fallen, such that even outsiders from a sect can go behind you and buy property here."


    An irritated expression appeared on Wu Hei¡¯s father upon hearing his words.


    "I¡¯ve been busytely, there are far too many things to handletely. You would know this if you ever came and saw, but here you are spending your life in reading and more reading. At least your brother went and joined the kingdom¡¯s army; that is a thing of prestige. If you want to be a schr, go and join the Royal Court, at least that way you would make use of your worthless life." Wu Xun said trying to insult, but elicited no reaction out of Wu Hei.


    Wu Hei kept the same straight expression and did not mind his father¡¯s words. This was not the first time he had something like this, and over the years he had be far too used to them, that at this point he was just numb.


    "And, what is it that you need with these disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect?" Wu Hei questioned,pletely ignoring the earlier words of Wu Xun.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I want you to keep an eye on them. Make sure they don¡¯t try anything too much. I don¡¯t want a repeat ofst year again." Wu Xun answered.


    "And, why would I do this?" Wu Hei asked in a sarcastic tone again.


    "Because if you don¡¯t then I will nominate your name is the next annual gathering of the young aristocrats of the kingdom. You will be the person representing this county and before you tell me that you will not mind my reputation, know this that the King will be there this time. Your tricks won¡¯t work there." Wu Xun spoke in a slightly triumphant tone.


    Wu Hei¡¯s expression finally changed upon hearing that, but he soon rposed himself, not wanting to give his father this victory.


    "I¡¯ll see to it." Wu Hei curtly replied.


    "Hmm..." Wu Xun responded and looked around the room before speaking, "Seems like your collection of books has only increased. Ah! If only you were better at cultivation and spent more of your effort in it than this."


    While Wu Xun was looking away, a slight hint of a smirk appeared on Wu Hei¡¯s face but quickly disappeared as soon as Wu Xun turned around.


    Wu Xun¡¯s attention was then pulled towards the letter that was kept on the desk, more urately on the unique pattern that was drawn on to it. He unceremoniously picked up the letter from the desk, not minding any manners or privacy.


    Wu Hei¡¯s expression became tense for a moment, and he quickly snatched the letter from his hands before he could see the next page.


    "You! Do not touch my things." Wu Hei responded in a cold tone that almost bordered on violent.


    For a moment his schrly and erudite aura faded and was reced by that of power. It was almost the same as Wu Xun¡¯s yet was different in some aspects. It was as if there was a hint of rebelliousness within it.


    ~<i>Humph~</i>


    "What is this? Another one of your, random musings? Are you still looking into the old myths and lores? Grow up and give up on them. That¡¯s all they are, ¡¯myths¡¯." Wu Xun spoke in a dismissive tone before leaving the office.


    He soon left the manor and entered a luxurious carriage that had the crest of ¡¯Wu Lim¡¯ on it. The carriage swiftly left the manor, leaving a cloud of dust behind.


    A serious and grim expression appeared on Wu Hei¡¯s face as a wave of spirit qi was emanated from his body. The wave of spirit qi spread out of the manor and scanned all over the area. This was none other than Spirit sense and if one were to see the range of the spirit sense they would be shocked, for the area of the manor was more than three hundred meters.


    A few secondster the spirit sense returned to Wu Hei¡¯s body and he opened his eyes. The second door of the office opened and in walked a man that was dressed in a dark blue robe and had a mask on his face. The masked man seemed to be tense as he came and kneeled on his left knee in front of Wu Hei.


    Wu Hei did not speak anything and silently stared at the masked man. The masked man only kept on getting more and more nervous, such that his back was covered in a cold sweat. An entire minute passed by and only then did Wu Hei speak.

 Chapter 182 - Affinity And Idea

    <h4>Chapter 182 - Affinity And Idea </h4>


    "Why was I not informed of the mayor¡¯s arrival?" Wu Hei questioned in a cold tone.


    "My lord, we... could not. We sensed the spirit qi scanning over the manor before the Mayor¡¯s carriage entered the manor. As per your previous orders, we chose to hide and did not expose ourselves to the Mayor." The masked man spoke in a nervous tone.


    A confused expression appeared on Wu Hei¡¯s face for a moment before he spoke again.


    "The Mayor used spirit sense? But I did not detect it!? Are you sure of this?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "Yes, my lord. I swear on my life." The masked man answered as he tapped his chest with his fist to show his determination.


    "Hmm..." Wu Hei hummed as he rubbed his chin.


    ¡¯Father is getting sneakier. He never did this before. Has he started to suspect something, perhaps?¡¯ Wu Hei thought to himself.


    "Alright, it¡¯s fine then. But keep a closer eye next time. I want to know if he even gets close to the eastern district next time." Wu Hei ordered.


    "Yes, my lord!" The masked man replied.


    Wu Hei then continued thinking for about five minutes during which, the masked man stayed silent and waited.


    "There will be some new guests in our district soon, the disciples of Tri cauldron peony sect. I want every single movement of theirs reported to me when they arrive." Wu Hei ordered.


    "As youmand, my lord." The masked man responded with his head lowered.


    "You can go now." Wu Hei dismissed the man.


    The man thus stood up and was just about to leave the office when Wu Hei called out to him again.


    "Wait! Inform Hei Wan about this as well. Tell her that we may need the assistance of our ¡¯ally¡¯ if something gets problematic. He should be useful if our assumptions about him are correct. So far, he¡¯s only lived up to it." Wu Hei said in a calm tone that changed to a more expectant one at the end.


    "As you wish, my lord." The masked man replied before swiftly leaving toplete his assigned orders.


    Wu Hei went to sit at his desk again and slouched slightly as he rubbed his forehead in fatigue.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯What is father nning now? First, he turns a blind eye to the Northern town head¡¯s actions, and now this. There is certainly something bothering him, I need to find out.¡¯ Wu Hei thought to himself. ¡¯And these ¡¯culprits¡¯, I wonder if they found out anything new about them yet.¡¯


    ***


    In the Sleepscape, Lin Mu was sitting down below the spirit apple tree and had his eyes closed.


    Lin Mu was currently on his second attempt at practicing the nameless technique created by the lost immortal. He was channeling his spirit qi ording to the instructions in the wooden slip and did not find a difference this time either.


    Lin Mu had exhausted nearly all of his spirit qi wisps and was barely left with a hundred wisps now, along with six drops of liquid spirit qi. He had sessfully refined two more drops of them during the entire day.


    He had thought that his speed of refining liquid spirit qi would improve, but no such thing could be seen for now. Still, he did not lose hope and knew that he should improve some timeter. Senior Xukong told him the same thing as well.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he opened his eyes.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "No difference even now. I wonder if I¡¯m doing something wrong?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He thought for a bit and stood up to practice with his weapons. He took out the spear and practiced the routine demonstrated in the thousand armament de scripture. While practicing, Lin Mu noticed a new thing. The spear seemed to feelfortable to him now.


    Although it was not at the level of his short sword, it was still better than any of his other weapons.


    ¡¯Huh, looks like I have a second preference now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He continued practicing the moves of the thousand armament de scripture and continued thinking about it.


    "Perhaps, I should try visiting old man Jing again. Maybe he has a spear that is a spirit weapon as well." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    <i>~pop~</i>


    Xukong suddenly appeared in front of Lin Mu and was almost at the sharp tip of the spear, being barely a millimeter away. Still, he showed no reaction and simply kept on floating there.


    "Oh? Your control is getting better." Xukong said in a slightly praising tone.


    "Ah, yes! I think that too senior. For some reason, my progress with the spear is much faster than the other weapons. Except for of course, my short sword." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm, seems like you have some affinity with spears as well," Xukong spoke in acknowledgment.


    "Senior should I... try visiting the Jing Wei¡¯s emporium again?" Lin Mu asked.


    <i>~Chuckle~</i>


    Xukong stayed silent for a bit before he let out a slightugh.


    "You could try, of course. Though I do not know if you will even be able to find the shop again." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu had a slightly embarrassed expression, but soon calmed himself again.


    "Your right senior. Still, I¡¯ll try and see if I can sense it, if not there is no harm. My enhanced spirit sense should help now, I think." Lin Mu spoke.


    Senior Xukong did not respond and simply floated around. He had been appearing at random times, testing out Lin Mu¡¯s response time. Unknown to Lin Mu, he had been secretly enjoying this too.


    Lin Mu soon returned to his practice and thought of his ns. While he was doing so, he suddenly had an idea as his eyes went wide.


    Lin Mu abruptly stopped and stored the spear away in the ring before sitting down. He then closed his eyes and tried to do what he had thought of. Lin Mu chanted the severing heart sutra and focused on a ce at the very bottom of his dantian.

 Chapter 183 - Reports-I

    <h4>Chapter 183 - Reports-I </h4>


    This was the ce where the six drops of liquefied spirit qi were floating. Lin Mu willed it and guided a single drop of it into his meridians. He then repeated the method mentioned in the nameless technique, but this time with the drop of liquid spirit qi.


    The drop of liquefied spirit Qi traveled through the meridians and reached the meridians in the stomach. Upon reaching there, it merged with the tissues of his stomach. A feeling simr to that of goosebumps spread in Lin Mu¡¯s body for a moment and quickly faded away.


    Unknown to him, the obscure pattern that had appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s abdomen when he first bound the wooden slip to him, appeared again. It glowed for a brief moment before disappearing again.


    A few seconds passed and Lin Mu stayed still. He had sessfully used the drop of liquified spirit Qi in practicing the nameless technique of the lost immortal, yet he could feel no difference.


    Lin Mu had expected something new to happen but s, nothing of such kind happened.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Am I doing something wrong or I just need a lot more time?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu thought about how to proceed for a bit and eventually came upon a decision.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll cultivate and pour all my spirit Qi wisps into practicing the lost immortal¡¯s technique, and of the two drops of liquified spirit Qi that I refine I¡¯ll invest one into it as well. That way I¡¯ll be able to bnce the both, hopefully.¡¯


    Having nned for the uing days, Lin Mu threw himself into cultivation. He repeated the same routine every day, assimting vital energy, cultivating, refining liquified spirit Qi, practicing the lost immortal¡¯s technique and finally practicing the thousand armament de scripture.


    While the routine seems hectic to him at the start, soon he became habituated with it. He continued it for ten days, after which on the eleventh day he witnessed his progress.


    Lin Mu was now able to refine three drops of liquified spirit Qi instead of just two in a single day.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    "Finally, it increased!" Lin Mu said to himself in joy.


    "It was bound to happen, eventually. Though your pace should only keep on growing from now." Xukong replied.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu replied before returning to his cultivation.


    While Lin Mu was engrossed in his cultivation, something else had happened in Wu Lim city.


    ***


    A few days ago.


    In arge Manor beside ake, Wu Hei was standing in arge room that looked like a library. He was facing towards a bookshelf and had a book in his hand.


    Behind him, three men in dark blue robes and masks were kneeling on one leg.


    While Wu Hei was reading, the three masked men stayed silent and waited for him patiently.


    <i>~p~</i>


    The sound of a book closing resounded in the room, and the three masked men became tense upon hearing it.


    "What do you have to report?" Wu Hei questioned.


    One of the masked men that were kneeling in the middle took out a scroll and held it out in his hand.


    "Leader Hei Wan has sent her report, my lord." The masked man answered.


    "Hmm." Said Wu Hei as he took the scroll from the man¡¯s hands.


    He opened the scroll and started reading it. It took him five minutes to read the entire thing during which his expression went through a variety of changes.


    Wu Hei felt more emotions now than he had felt in the entire past month. He felt happy, excited, fearful, relieved, angry, and perplexed.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    He was happy that the mission had beenpleted and excited that they had found out more about the culprits. He was fearful about the Beast storage treasure that had been found as knew what kind of a situation that they could lead to and was then relieved to find out that the beast storage treasure was damaged and unusable.


    Also, he was angry that one of his higher corps members and one of the only three core condensation realm experts was injured in this mission and that too not because of culprits but rather because of the beast attack.


    Finally, Wu Hei was confused after he found out the truth that the link behind all these happenings was none other than Lin Mu. If it were not for him, then perhaps the entire series of events would have be a biff tragedy for the Hei Corps.


    Still, he could not understand how and why Lin Mu was able to uncover so many things. He wondered if he had still underestimated Lin Mu¡¯s capabilities and if he should do something more. This thought was soon affirmed once Hei Wan confirmed it and wanted to invest more into their new ¡¯Ally¡¯.


    His strength had already been proven before and him being able to fight an entire pack of steel back wolves anding out alive along with killing the alpha steel back wolf that was at the core condensation realm made it sure in Wu Hei¡¯s mind that he should not let him go.


    Even the fact that Lin Mu knew healing techniques was quite shocking to him. Especially one that had been able to save a cultivator that was at the core condensation realm like Hei Yingjie from Qi deviation.


    From all that he had learned about the healing techniques, Wu Hei knew that there were only a handful of sects outside of the top sects that had one of such a high grade.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Wu Hei silently sighed to himself after he finished reading the entire scroll.


    "What else do you have to report?" Wu Hei questioned.


    The masked man that was kneeling to the left lifted his head and looked up at Wu Hei.


    "My lord, as you ordered, we have been keeping an eye on movements of the Disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect. We asked ourrades to follow their path and finally today they have arrived in Wu Lim City. As we speak, the Disciples are moving towards the eastern district and are going towards their property." The masked man spoke.

 Chapter 184 - Reports-II

    <h4>Chapter 184 - Reports-II </h4>


    Wu Hei kept on listening silently and did not respond straight away. He thought for a bit and contemted before speaking.


    "Oh, so they¡¯re finally here. They were a littlete than expected though, why is that?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "My lord, we do not know either. The truth is, we lost track of them for a few hours in between and we do not know what they did in that time period. But from what we saw, they seemed to be tense after that time and chose to take a halt in another town." The masked man answered.


    "Hmm, that is strange... How did you lose track of them?" Wu Hei asked in a calm voice.


    But upon hearing his calm tone, the masked men only became more tense. They knew they had made a mistake before and were wondering if they were going to be punished for it soon.


    "They... entered a pleasure pavilion and didn¡¯te out for six hours. We thought something was wrong and went to check. From there they had somehow disappeared and we don¡¯t know where they went. We wanted to investigate the pleasure pavilion, but we couldn¡¯t. Six more hourster, one of our scouts reported to us that they had seen them in the next town in the path." The masked man replied in a hurried manner.


    Wu Hei went silent and thought again about it. He was not starting to get more interested in the matter, along with being a bit perplexed.


    "This pleasure pavilion, what town is it in, and who is it owned by?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "The pleasure pavilion is in cliff rain town and is owned by... the Xiangwei Jin armaments." The masked man answered as a bead of sweat dripped from the side of the mask.


    "Xiangwei Jin armaments? What are they doing in this kind of business? And that too in cliff rain town, which is a Small town. From my knowledge, there was no pleasure pavilion in cliff rain town before." Wu Hei spoke, feeling a little confused.


    "That is the reason we were astounded too, my lord. Somehow we had missed this intelligence that a new pleasure pavilion was opened in Cliff Rain town and that too one owned by Xiangwei Jin armaments. But from what little news we gathered, the pleasure pavilion was opened with the orders from the new backers of the Xiangwei armaments." The masked man replied.


    ¡¯The disciples of the top sect? Are they the same ones that bought the Xiangwei Jin armaments or someone else? It would be too uncouth for a disciple of any of the top sects to start an Establishment like that. There must be something else we¡¯re missing.¡¯ Wu Hei thought to himself.


    Wu Hie turned his gaze back onto the masked men and asked, "The town that the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect appeared in after disappearing, its Blue mill town right? Where exactly did you see them there?"


    "We discovered the disciples at the entrance of the town. Apparently, they had a small scuffle with the guards and injured a few of them. From what we could tell the disciples seemed to be bothered by something as even though they could have very easy crippled the guards they did not and only hurt them enough to give them pain by breaking some bones." The masked man replied.


    Wu Hei was once again surprise by these words as the gears in his mind started turning.


    ¡¯Hmm, so they are restraining themselves. That means they have been ordered to do so are perhaps been scared to do so as well. Seems like whatever power is behind the Xiangwei Jin armaments is doing this. We¡¯ll have to look into it further, I don¡¯t want any more surprises.¡¯ Wu Hei thought to himself.


    "Alright then, how many of them are here right now?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "My lord, there are four disciples currently here and all of them are at the peak of the qi refining realm. Though we suspect that one of them may be hiding their cultivation base. We did not dare to check it ourselves thus cannot confirm our suspicions." The masked man answered.


    "Hmm, that¡¯s good. Stay low for a while, I have a bad feeling about this. Meanwhile, just observe them from far and tell me when they arepletely settled in; I¡¯ll go pay them a visit then." Wu Hei ordered.


    ***


    In the present day.


    Lin Mu had just finished up cultivating for the day and was thinking of taking a short break as he had sensed something. The mysterious ring had hummed for a bit and Lin Mu instantly knew the reason for it. He was cultivating before and instantly opened his eyes upon feeling it.


    "A spatial rift will be opening." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Ever since gaining better control over the ring, there had been no incidence of the uncontrolled appearance of the spatial rift. Instead, Lin Mu could not see and feel when one of them was going to appear or he could just choose to open one wherever he wanted.


    But senior Xukong had told him that doing so would be a waste of time and his previous attempts were likely only because there were some items in the lesser void parallel to this world. At least in this area, Xukong doubted that he would find more items.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s see what is it this time.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before standing up.


    He followed the mysterious ring¡¯s beckoning, which took him to the outskirts of the town. But this time it was talking him towards the southern exit instead of the northern one. Lin Mu exited the town and went a Little distance to the southeast where he finally felt it.


    Lin Mu could see a small ck dot traveling across from the distance a rather fast speed and understanding the peculiarity of the situation.


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    "Oh! So it¡¯s a teleportation channel and not just a normal spatial rift." Lin Mu muttered before going after it.

 Chapter 185 - Another Letter

    <h4>Chapter 185 - Another Letter </h4>


    Ever since getting better control over the ring, Lin Mu had not used it to open anymore spatial rift and neither had he encountered any more teleportation channels either. He knew that while he could open a spatial rift anywhere he wanted, that would be useless, as it was likely that he had already taken all the items he could that were lost in the lesser void of this region.


    He was now excited to see what he could find this time and was looking forward to it. Lin Mu ran along with the ck dot and extended his right hand towards it. As soon as he got close enough, he willed it and the ck dot stopped moving.


    Soon the ck dot started expanding and reached the diameter of a meter.


    "Let¡¯s see what I can find this time." Lin Mu muttered before plunging his hand into it.


    The familiar feeling of flowing water appeared on his hand as he roamed it around to catch whatever that wasing through the teleportation channel. Senior Xukong had exined to Lin Mu about the workings of a teleportation channel thus he knew what to expect this time.


    Whenever an item is to be transported through a teleportation channel, the formation is activated. What the formation does is that it makes a safe and stable path in the lesser void through which the item can be transported through.


    The change that happens is such that the spatial energy starts moving in a particr direction, talking the path of least resistance. Thus it is often hard to estimate how or where a teleportation channel may appear if one does not have a good understanding of spatial energy.


    The spatial channels are often so random that even if you are transporting an item just one meter from its original position, it is likely that the teleportation channel it passed through was long and winding and could have extended for hundreds if not thousands of kilometers.


    Still, even if this does seem like it is counterproductive and would take more time instead. It was not as such, because the speed of transportation is rather instantaneous over short distances in a single world. Only when something is being teleported over different worlds and passes through multipleyers of the void does it take longer.


    Senior Xukong even told Lin Mu that teleportation between different realms could take years, if not tens of years toplete. The distance between each could not be imagined.


    Lin Mu thought of trying something different this time. He extended his spirit sense and let it enter the spatial rift. As soon as his spirit sense entered the spatial rift, he felt a strong tug on it. The short tendril of spirit sense was quickly pulled to its maximum length and was flown along with the spatial energy.


    "Ow!" Lin My groaned in pain as he tried to control the spirit sense.


    It was hard for him to control his spirit sense under the flow of the spatial energy and decided to just reel it back in.


    "You won¡¯t be able to navigate a teleportation channel with your current spirit sense. It is too strong for you. You will have to either reach the core condensation realm to strengthen it further or... You will need to gain an understanding of spatial Dao." Xukong spoke upon seeing Lin Mu¡¯s failed attempt.


    "Spatial Dao?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    "Yes, Spatial Dao. I¡¯ve told you about it, spatial Dao is the higher level understanding of the Spatial elemental qi. Once you learn more about the spatial elemental qi, you can startprehending the spatial Dao." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded in response, but was still a little confused. He wanted to ask more but thought it would be best left after he gets whatever ising from the partial rift.


    And just as Lin Mu thought that something hit his palm. Knowing what it was, he immediately grabbed it and pulled out his hand. Lin Mu looked down to see what he had obtained and saw that it was a scroll.


    The scroll was about ten inches long and seemed to be made of good quality paper. The cylindrical wooden handles of the scroll were finely polished and had additional tassels at their ends. Lin Mu could even smell the fragrant smelling from the wood and could tell that it was made from the same wood the box within which the four vessels restoration pills were stored in was made of.


    Finally, there was a wax seal ced on its opening and it also had a short tassel hanging from it. The wax seal had the imprint of three cauldrons with a peony flower above it.


    As soon as Lin Mu saw it, he knew where it hade from.


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    "The Tri cauldron peony sect!" Lin Mu spoke out loud.


    He wondered if he should open it or not, but after remembering the current situation he thought that it would be the best to open it. If there was any problem, he could still drop it back into the spatial channel as it was still open and would stay open for a while and could be opened for even longer if Lin Mu poured in his spirit qi.


    But looking at the wax seal Lin Mu was a bit bothered and thought that if he opened it and the formation triggered, the other party may find out about it.


    "Go ahead, ce it in the ring. I¡¯ll open it for you so that the formation does not trigger." Xukong suggested.


    "Alright," Lin Mu spoke before he stored the scroll in the ring.


    A few secondster he withdrew it and saw that the wax seal had broken in half and the scroll came undone. The first thing Lin Mu could see was the crest of the Tri cauldron peony sect at the very top of the scroll. Below it he could see the text, and from the format of it, he could tell that it was another letter.


    Having understood this, he started reading the letter.

 Chapter 186 - Formation Node?

    <h4>Chapter 186 - Formation Node? </h4>


    "Mayor Wu Xun, as you may have noticed by now, a few of our disciples have been dispatched to your city and they will be posted there for the time being. The time period for which they have been assigned there is undecided, and they will be there until they have been ordered to return.


    During this period you are to assist them in whatever task they may need assistance with and will ensure that they are not hampered in their work.


    If you do so, your previous transgressions will be forgiven and our previous cooperative rtionship will be re-initiated. You can choose to reject this but know that the consequences of such will be yours to bear."


    The letter this time was much shorter than the one that Lin Mu had seen before, and seemed to be more of a threat than an actual letter.


    "What is this? It¡¯s strange... could it be because of what I did before?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    "I¡¯ll tell you the same thing I said before, don¡¯t bother." Xukong simply said.


    This time Lin Mu did not think much. He had learned a lot more and knew that if he¡¯s getting some benefits, it¡¯s best not to think much and just take them as it is. Unless of course there is some absurd reason behind it.


    "Now then... what are we to do with this information?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    "Just keep it to yourself for now and wait for the right moment. See how it ys out and use it ording to your judgment." Xukong suggested.


    "I understand, senior." Lin Mu responded before rolling the letter and storing it into the ring.


    Currently, it was evening, so Lin Mu had no problem in staying away from the eyes of the people. Even since the few incidents that happened before, people had been avoiding going out at night. This helped him as he couldn¡¯t really exin chasing after air, could he?


    Still, Lin Mu did not know if others could see the spatial rifts.


    "That is a little difficult to answer." Xukong intercepted his thought.


    "Huh? What Senior?" Lin Mu questioned as feeling confused.


    "I can¡¯t tell if the spatial rifts are only visible to you because of the ring or if they would be visible to others too once they are open. But it¡¯s most likely thetter. Still, the cultivators who have spirit sense should be able to sense it even if normal people can¡¯t." Xukong exined.


    This was new information to Lin Mu, as he had not asked senior Xukong this before. He simply nodded and continued on to his way. He checked the gate and saw that the guards were still standing there. He didn¡¯t avoid them and simply walked towards the gate.


    "Halt! Who goes there?" One of the guards shouted upon seeing Lin Mu.


    The guard lifted a torch and brought it closer to see Lin Mu¡¯s face. Lin Mu too waked closer to show the guard that he was fine and there was no problem. Upon seeing his face, the guard felt relieved and let him enter the town.


    Hei Wan and the others had done a thorough check of the town¡¯s guards and had ensured that there were no suspicious people in it. Unsurprisingly, a few of the guards had secretly disappeared, confirming their suspicion that there were a few of the people from the culprits mixed in.


    Upon doing a deeper check, Hei Wan and the rest discovered that all the information about them in the registers was fake and seemed to have been forged. The absence of them was the reason why Lin Mu felt safe enough to directly walk in and did not go over the wall.


    While returning to his house, Lin Mu passed by the alley where Jing Wei¡¯s emporium was located. He looked around and he still could not see the alley there. But upon using his spirit sense, he felt something different this time.


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    Far up in the sky, he could feel something. It was as if there was a solid object of some kind floating there.


    "What is that?" Lin Mu muttered in wonder.


    "Looks like you found one of the nodes of the illusory formation array," Xukong answered.


    "A node? What¡¯s that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "A node is basically the point where the multiple formations continued within a formation array intersect. They are the points which are quite important to the stability and functioning of the formation arrays and any damage or modification to it can lead to its deactivation or getting destroyed." Xukong answered.


    "But how can I feel it senior? Isn¡¯t it supposed to be immaterial?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, but your spirit sense is different. There¡¯s a reason why it is one of the requirements to make formations because without it, sensing formations after they have been created is difficult." Xukong replied.


    "Is that so..." Lin Mu muttered and started tracing over the invisible formation with his spirit sense.


    He followed along with it and discovered that there were faint lines that extended from it. The ce that he had sensed the node at was the only ce that was a little broad. All the branches that arose from it were thin, like threads.


    Lin Mu tried to follow them with his spirit sense and found it to be difficult. He soon lost focus and the branch of the formation that he was following disappeared. Even if he used his spirit sense to observe the ce that he hadst felt the branch at, he still could not find it.


    "This is strange... why did it disappear?" Lin Mu questioned in confusion.


    <i>~Chuckle~</i>


    "It was to be expected, of course. If it was this easy to find formations, they would have never been used. Formations are much moreplex than you think they are." Xukong answered in a slightly humored tone.


    Lin Mu felt a little embarrassed upon hearing that and tried to look for it again.


    "I¡¯ll give you a hint. Follow it back from the node again. Know that nodes are often the weak points of formations and if you can find them, you can trace the rest of the formation. Though this is valid only for formations of a low level such as this." Xukong exined.

 Chapter 187 - Tracing The Formation

    <h4>Chapter 187 - Tracing The Formation </h4>


    Following senior Xukong¡¯s advice, Lin Mu tried it again. He extended his spirit sense all the way to the ce where he had observed the node and started tracing it from there again. s, he made a mistake again and lost track of it again.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯I need to think of a better method.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know why he was doing this. He just felt like this was something new and interesting, thus he wanted to know more about it. He had seen the beast storage treasure and knew that it had formations on it too. But their level was too high for him to be able to sense them.


    Now that he had this opportunity to observe and study formation here, he didn¡¯t want to stop. Luckily it was night time and the ce Lin Mu was in was a rather deste part of the town, where people rarely went past in day time not to say at night.


    After a few more attempts, Lin Mu decided to chant the severing heart sutra while tracing the formation. He had already tried the calming heart sutra, but it was not suitable for this situation where he needed to bepletely still.


    This time Lin Mu had better sess and was able to go much further than before.


    ¡¯Yes! This is it!¡¯ Lin Mu shouted inwardly in excitement.


    But just as he thought this, he had identally stopped chanting the severing heart sutra and had faltered in his concentration. Swearing to himself that he¡¯ll focus better this time, Lin Mu tried again. He had been here for about an hour now and the snow had started falling again.


    In histest attempt, Lin Mu was able to trace the branch of the formation to the next node and found it to be present on the wall of one of the old shops. He walked closer and touched it with his hand.


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    "Nothing... Just as Senior said." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    When Lin Mu touched the wall, he could not feel it to be any different from a normal wall. But when he touched it with his spirit sense, he could see the difference in the texture. It was as if there were countless patterns made on the wall that could only be felt by him.


    "That should be the second node," Xukong informed upon seeing Lin Mu feeling a little lost.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up at this, and he kept on exploring further. He must have spent nearly two hours there at this point and had forgotten about time. Because he was standing still for most of the time, ayer of snow had settled on his head and shoulders by now.


    The sky above him was thickly covered by clouds, and all the stars and moon were hidden. The only source of light in the area was from far awaymps that were lit up. It was even more dark in the street Lin Mu was in and there was only a single torch burning at the entrance of it.


    Because people rarely entered it, there wasn¡¯t anyone keeping an eye on this ce either and thus had no one to light up torches here. Most of the torch holders were empty and had no torches ced in them. While those that did have torches in them had snuffed out a long time ago.


    Because it was not a main street, it did not have any streetmps either. In the rest of the town, at least in the main areas, tall poles had been erected along the roads, from whichmps hung. Thesemps were maintained by some people assigned by the town center and had to be refilled with oil every day.


    Because maintaining the upkeep of so manymps was difficult due to oil being expensive, the streetmps were only lit alternatively. One could also attribute this to the former town had not been taking care of the town and rather embezzling the funds assigned to it.


    If the town head could steal the funds that were for the welfare of the people, then embezzling funds for the maintaining of the town was nothingpared to that. While Lin Mu was a lot bothered by this fact in the past, right now this situation wasing to his benefit.


    Because if anyone were to see him, there would be likely to ask questions. Questions that Lin Mu would prefer to not be asked and did not want to exin. Over the past few days, as he engrossed himself in cultivation, Lin Mu realized that he was now getting used to it and was preferred to be alone.


    Well... as alone as he could be, since senior Xukong was with him always.


    Another hour passed by and Lin Mu was still standing there. He had barely moved, and the snow around him had gotten thicker. The snowyer had now reached a little above his ankles, and frost had settled on his eyebrows.


    Every time he took a breath, a small cloud of steam was expelled from his nose and mouth. If there was anyone else standing out in the snow for such a while, they would have been incredibly cold and would have been shivering. But Lin Mu was not bothered by it and stood still.


    He felt no stiffness or soreness in his legs, nor did he mind theyer of snow on his head. Strong winds would blow from time to time, removing the snow from his head, yet a few minutester more would settle down there.


    Even Lin Mu did not realize this, but he had entered a strange sense of mind. For him, the only things that existed right now were his spirit sense and the formation array in front of him. He had even forgotten why he was doing this, and his only aim right now was to reveal more and more of the illusory formation.


    Just by doing this, he was unknowingly increasing his understanding and control of the spirit sense. Although he could notprehend the runes from which the formations were made out of, he was still starting to get a rudimentary level of understanding of them.


    While Lin Mu was engrossed in this, Xukong was thinking about something else.


    "This kid... his talent in formations is monstrous..."

 Chapter 188 - Distortion?

    <h4>Chapter 188 - Distortion? </h4>


    Xukong was currently floating around in the mysterious ring and a small distance away from him was the ethereal altar. During the time Xukong had spent in the ring he had tried to approach the altar many times, but he never could unless Lin Mu himself was present here.


    Every time he would get close to the ethereal altar a mysterious barrier would appear and would block him. This prevented him from going any further and the closest he could reach was within a hundred meters of the altar.


    The barrier that blocked Xukong was an enigma to him. He could not recognize any of the runes that were present on it and neither could he recognize the script. It wasn¡¯t written in the Dao scrips and neither was it written in any of the othermon scripts that numbered in the millions.


    From the countless years of experience that Xukong had, he had seen many iprehensible things, yet this was one of the times where he was the most confused he had ever been. He could swear on his bloodline that this was perhaps the mostplex array of runes he had seen.


    Even though Xukong did not understand the runes, he could still tell that the formations that made up the barrier were beyond any grade that existed.


    While he was floating near the ethereal barrier, Xukong was thinking of Lin Mu. He had been seeing what he was doing and could read some of his surface thoughts. From his memories, he could see that he had revealed around seven of the nodes of the illusory formation array that was hiding the Jing Wei¡¯s emporium.


    "How did I not notice this before? It just took him two hints before he was able to reveal an illusory formation on his own, even high grade spirit formation masters will take a day before they would be able to do the same." Xukong muttered to himself.


    ¡¯Is it just formations or is his talent in other professions simr too... No! I need to make sure of this. Just his talent in formations is good enough to open up a lot of opportunities for him. If he has even ten percent of the same in any of the other professions, his potential would be endless.¡¯ Xukong thought while swaying in the empty space.


    He was not floating around the barrier, the same ways a person would pace while they were thinking about something deeply. Along with Xukong¡¯s every movement, the spatial energy in the surroundings would stir while being attracted to him.


    Ever so often a streak of spatial energy would be absorbed by his body and disappear into it. Even while thinking, Xukong was unconsciously cultivating. He then suddenly came to a halt as more thoughts appeared in his mind.


    ¡¯While his talent in formations seems evident, testing for the others would be difficult at this point. He still needs to reach the peak stage of the qi refining realm before he would be able to ignite qi me... no wait, his dantian¡¯s capacity is much higher than others! It should be possible for him to do it much earlier.


    I¡¯ll tell him about it when the time is right. As for weapons forging and spirit tool refinement, we¡¯ll need to wait till he gets the proper equipment. Though if he can have a good understanding of formations, he would simply be to ce formations on weapons and tools. He can take that route as well, although it may be much long-winded.


    Beast taming... Hmm, that is aplex one. At his current cultivation base, it would depend on the beast itself rather than his talent. Perhaps I can ask him to try to tame a few smaller spirit beasts...¡¯ Xukong thought to himself and was interrupted.


    Xukong suddenly felt a wave of every in the ring and looked towards the ethereal altar. The altar was now faintly glowing, or rather more urately a few of the runes of the altar were glowing. Unlike before, when Lin Mu received the skills or the nine divine sutras, the altar was less active.


    There was no blinding glow of light but a rather more somber tone. Xukong could feel the change in the spatial energy as the streaks of it were moving in a uniform manner now. The silvery grey streaks of spatial energy in the mysterious ring were now circting around the altar.


    "What is happening?!" Xukong eximed, feeling confused.


    Xukong realized that in his thoughts, he had forgotten to keep an eye on Lin Mu. He hurriedly used his connection with Lin Mu and saw what was happening. And when he saw it, he was surprised once again.


    "How did he...?"


    ***


    Out in the real world, the snow was still falling and Lin Mu had his eyes closed. His eyelids suddenly trembled, and he opened his eyes. The space that was in front of him stirred and a storage distortion appeared. The space turned blurry, as if there was a foggy mirror there.


    While the things behind it were still visible, it looked as if one was looking at them through a fogged up ss.


    The snow that had settled on Lin Mu¡¯s head and shoulders fell down as he moved. A hint of confusion appeared in his eye before turning to a look of understanding in the next moment.


    "So this is the full extent of the formation..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he walked closer.


    He extended his hands towards the space in front of him and the ring on his middle finger hummed in response. The distortion in the space that looked like a foggy mirror at first soon changed to a twisting appearance.


    The twisting appearancested for a few seconds before it settled and the fabric of space in front of him unraveled. A circr opening had now appeared in front of Lin Mu that was about two meters in diameter. But unlike the spatial rifts that he had opened before, this was not ck.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.

 Chapter 189 - The Courtyard

    <h4>Chapter 189 - The Courtyard </h4>


    A pleasant fragrance entranced Lin Mu¡¯s senses as soon as the opening appeared.


    An borate and luxuriant courtyard appeared, with flowers and trees everywhere nted in an auspicious pattern. Although it was night here as well, no snow was falling. A crescent moon could be seen high up in the sky and had as a slight tint of blue. A nket of stars covered the night sky.


    There were small rivers and streams along with fake mountains in the courtyard, giving one a feel of aesthetic luxury. At the end of the courtyard, there was arge mansion that looked more like a pce instead. Statues of auspicious beasts were ced in the surroundings and gave the ce a strange yet calming aura.


    Lin Mu subconsciously took a step forward and entered the courtyard. As soon as he was fully in the courtyard, the opening behind him closed up and disappeared. He snapped out of his daze and his eyes went wide. A sense of rm washed over him as he turned around to look at the ce where the opening was.


    Looking back, he could see nothing but more trees and nts in the distance. And at the very end of it, he could see a tall wall that was at least ten meters tall. But even on that wall, he could see paintings of mountains and rivers that looked realistic.


    If he did not look at the very top of the wall and see its edge he would have thought that¡¯s what was actually what existed.


    "What is this ce?" Lin Mu muttered in shock.


    Still unable to believe it, he did a 360 degree turn, taking in all the sights of the ce. In the opposite direction of the mansion, there was a small building. Compared to the size of the mansion, it wasically small and looked out of ce for a courtyard such as this.


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    It seemed to be old and weathered, whereas the mansion was the epitome of luxury. Lin Mu thought that even the houses and courtyards in Wu Lim city would notpare to it.


    "Seems like you have entered a minor ne." Xukong suddenly spoke up.


    Xukong himself had been reeling in shock about what Lin Mu had done.


    ¡¯How did he open a stable portal to a minor ne like this, wasn¡¯t he just studying the formations? How did it lead to this...?¡¯ Xukong internally thought.


    "A minor ne, the ones that you talked about Senior?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling curious.


    "No, what I told you was minor worlds, not minor nes. Minor worlds are entirely self sustaining while minor nes need to depend on an actual world to anchor themselves to. Minor nes are also much smaller than minor worlds, so small that this ce you see, it only exists within the confines of the four walls." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu felt fascinated by this and had twinkling in his eyes.


    "Also another big difference is that while a minor world is part of the great void, a minor ne exists in the lesser void. Although the way a minor ne exists is a bit unique in that, they can either be artificially created or naturally as well." Xukong added.


    A string of questions popped up in Lin Mu¡¯s mind as he started walking around. Looking around, he could tell for sure that there was someone living here and he was sure that it was the pair of grandfather and granddaughter; Jing Wei and Duan Ke.


    Still, Lin Mu wanted to ensure that it was safe before approaching the mansion. It didn¡¯t take him much longer to walk around the three sides of the courtyard, leaving the side with the mansion to thest. He wanted to take a closer look at the boundaries of this ce thus went to the walls.


    While the walls were ten meters tall, it was nothing to Lin Mu. He simply blinked to the top of a tree nearby and then blinked again to the top of the wall. While the wall looked sturdy from the inside, when he was at the top, he could see that it was actually very thin and narrow.


    In fact, the area that he had to stand in was only about a foot wide. If he had not judged properly and was careless, there was a chance that he would fall into the other side, which he certainly did not want after seeing what existed there.


    A vast ck expanse came in the view of Lin Mu that expanded from one edge of the horizon to the other. When he was standing inside the courtyard, he could see apletely different scenery with there even being a sky above him.


    But as soon as he was at the top of the wall, the scenery changed and all he could see was darkness. It was a darkness he was familiar with.


    "The lesser void... but how?" Lin Mu wondered.


    From the information he had received from Senior Xukong, Lin Mu leered that lesser void exited in parallel to the real world and enveloped it simultaneously. Although it seemed hard to understand andprehend, it was just how it was.


    "Think of this ce like a bubble. There are multiple formations ced on this courtyard that iste it from the rest of the lesser void." Xukong exined.


    ¡¯Hmm, seems like the ring can open portals to minor nes as well, despite there being the istion and barrier formation arrays. Did he actually manage to find a w in the formation array? That would be very impressive if it¡¯s true... or is it the work of the ring, perhaps.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    While Xukong was thinking to himself, Lin Mu was walking along the wall, trying to get a sense of this ce. While from the inside it lookedrge, from the top of the wall Lin Mu could see its actual size, which was of about a square kilometer. He then jumped down and walked towards the small building that was to the opposite of the mansion.


    ¡¯This is rather peculiar, I wonder how it works...¡¯ Lin Mu was thinking to himself when he got interrupted.


    "Who are you!"

 Chapter 190 - A Shocking Visitor

    <h4>Chapter 190 - A Shocking Visitor </h4>


    Lin Mu immediately turned around after hearing the voice and recognized it.


    "Duan Ke..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The person who had called him was none other than Duan Ke. She was standing there a short distance away from him and had a sword floating above her. The sword¡¯s tip was pointed towards Lin Mu and Duan Ke herself seemed to be standing in an offensive stance.


    ***


    The day had been normal for Duan Ke and she had spent it the same as she had spent these past two months. Especially after getting injured, most of her time was spent in rest and recovery. The rest of it was spent in either cultivating or staying in the library.


    She and her grandfather had been trying to find the clues to all the incidents that had been happening until now, and were also looking into the identity of the hidden expert that had ascended along with the sword intent of the other.


    While they were secretive, Duan Ke¡¯s grandfather was sure that the experts must have left some traces somewhere. Thus they were checking their records, which were perhaps the most extensive in the entirety of the empire.


    Still, even after spending weeks on it, they had little progress. Today was a simr day, and Duan Ke had just finished reading another record. She was feeling spent after the repeated failures and felt like taking a walk.


    In the past, she would secretly go out to fly around the county. But ever since the incident with Lin Mu, they had sealed the courtyardpletely. Now all she could do was take a walk around the courtyard itself. Although she had be used to the courtyard over the years, it still felt refreshing to her.


    But she had never expected that she would end up finding someone here that was not her grandfather. Duan Ke was a hundred percent sure that the formation arrays were still intact and had not been tamped with. Her mind quickly started to think of all the possibilities.


    She wondered who could be able to enter a ce as secure as this without them ever noticing or with the formation array breaking. With every possibility that came to her mind, her face only fell more, for each of those possibilities were bad.


    There were far too few people who could enter this courtyard and she could count them on one hand, with two of them being her and her grandfather. The other three she did not think would ever enter here as they had long been dead.


    The only other way she could think of was if there was a formation master who could enter through a w in the formation array and the other being even more dangerous. A cultivator that was in the immortal Ascension realm.


    She could not think of anything else than those two possibilities. After a little thinking, she discarded the possibility of it being a formation master, as ording to her knowledge there was no one that would match the age of the person in front of her.


    Although she did not see the face of the person, she could still guess it from his back. The person in front of her was about 170 centimeters tall and had a slim frame with hair that was about three inches long and free flowing.


    All the signs only pointed to her that the person in front of her was young and she knew that there were no formation masters of a grade that high in the empire. Her mind then went towards the second possibility. At first, she doubted it because of the same reason as the first. The person was way too young.


    But then a story that she had heard from her grandfather came to her mind. There were certain exceptions where a cultivator would return to a youthful appearance. Thisbined with the existences of the hidden expert with the sword intent, Duan Ke only became more fearful.


    Still, she did not back down and cower, instead she stood her ce and decided to face it.


    ¡¯If it really is an expert that strong, they were are doomed either way.¡¯ She thought to herself.


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    Taking a deep breath, she finally called out. But as soon as she saw the face of the person in front of her, she was shocked even more. For this was a possibility she had never expected.


    "What!?..." Was all she could mutter before she saw him move.


    Lin Mu walked forward casually with a calm demeanor and came to stand in front of her. A gentle smile appeared on his lips as he spoke.


    "It¡¯s been a while, Duan Ke." Lin Mu spoke in a genial tone.


    Duan Ke¡¯s brain almost shut down after hearing him speak, and for a moment she felt like she was about to faint. The memories of that day came rushing back, the ¡¯being¡¯ that she had witnessed. She clearly remembered it, for it was etched into her heart.


    That day she had known what true terror felt like. She realized the reality of her existence and how minute she or her grandfather werepared to that being. And behind that encounter was none other than Lin Mu. While she had suppressed this deep in her mind, it all broke free upon seeing him.


    "What... what are you doing here?..." Duan Ke let out, struggling to speak still.


    Unknown to Duan Ke, her hands were trembling as she stood there staring at Lin Mu with a pale face. Lin Mu noticed all this and could sense a storage feelinging from Duan Ke.


    ¡¯What happened to her?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Umm... it seems like this may be my fault," Xukong replied in an unnerved tone.


    "Why?..." Lin Mu questioned and then remembered what had previously happened.


    "You mean to say she¡¯s still affected because of it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It does seem like it. But I didn¡¯t expect this either." Xukong replied.


    <i>~Sigh~ </i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath and looked at the still trembling Duan Ke, before an idea popped into his mind and he opened his lips.

 Chapter 191 - Calming Duan Ke

    <h4>Chapter 191 - Calming Duan Ke </h4>


    Looking at Lin Mu act like that made Duan Ke only feel more ufortable. Especially when his lips gently opened, and he lightly came forwards, a myriad of thoughts popped into her mind. Thoughts which she had never thought of before.


    Feeling scared at these thoughts, she closed her eyes in eptance. But just as she was awaiting the thing that she had imagined, it never happened. Instead, a wave of calmness washed over her body and relived her worries.


    Duan Ke could hear some esoteric chants in her ears and could tell that they wereing from the front. She did not understand what the chants meant, but they were helping her. It was as if the chants were lifting a hidden weight that was ced upon her heart.


    Duan Ke couldn¡¯t tell how much time had passed as when she opened her eyes after the chants had stopped. She no longer felt the terror she had felt before, and a feeling of serenity and peace had reced it. She had not felt like this in a long time and was cherishing every moment of it.


    ¡¯What is this?... Did he do it? But how?¡¯ Wondered Duan Ke, as she basked in the peaceful feeling.


    Her eyes lifted from the ground and looked back at the person standing in front of him. For the first time ever, she was taking such a close look at him. Lin Mu had changed from what she used to remember he looked like.


    Duan Ke couldn¡¯t almost believe her eyes as she saw the changes in him. Lin Mu¡¯s height had increased by a little bit and his hair had grown as well. His physique had also changed slightly, but it wasn¡¯t as apparent. Strangely enough, she felt as if his shoulders had be broad like a shield.


    She felt as if they would be good for protecting her for some reason. As she thought of this, her face was tinged with a slight shade of pink.


    ¡¯What am I thinking? Ah! Why do I feel like this?¡¯ Duan Ke questioned herself.


    Forcibly suppressing her thoughts, she focused her attention again. This time on more important things, such as why Lin Mu was here and how he was able to enter this ce.


    ***


    Lin Mu saw the strange look on her face thatsted for a couple of minutes before he actually stopped chanting the calming heart sutra. He was feeling a little guilty at Duan Ke¡¯s condition thus thought of this solution.


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    He reckoned that it should help her to a certain extent, but had never expected for there to be a reaction such as this. For some reason, her face had turned a shade of pink and he didn¡¯t know what to think of.


    ¡¯Perhaps, it¡¯s just the effect of the calming heart sutra reliving her fear... Yes, that¡¯s probably it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He then saw Duan Ke open her eyes and struggling with something before finally speaking.


    "How did you enter here?" Duan Ke questioned.


    Lin Mu was at a loss of what to answer. He couldn¡¯t just tell her that he appeared here because of sheer curiosity, could he? It was now that the voice of Senior Xukong rang in his mind.


    "Actually, that¡¯s what you should do. Did you forget they already suspect your capabilities? Take advantage of this the same as you did with the Hei corps." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu thought over it for a moment before deciding that it should be fine. Many people already believed that he had a strong background adding a couple more people didn¡¯t really matter at this point. Besides, even if he told them the truth, he didn¡¯t think they would believe it.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu finally opened his mouth.


    "I sensed a formation outside and wanted to know what it was doing here in the middle of the town. And ever since your shop disappeared, I was wondering where you guys were. It eventually led me to this, and I ended up finding an opening in the formation." Lin Mu answered rather truthfully.


    Duan Ke heard Lin Mu¡¯s words but could not bring her to believe in them. They were seemed far too good to be true. She knew theplexity of the formation that was ced on this courtyard and knew the difficulty one would have in finding a w in it.


    One could not just ¡¯find an opening¡¯ as what Lin Mu had just said.


    ¡¯There is definitely something more that he¡¯s hiding.¡¯ Duan Ke thought to herself.


    But just as she did so, Duan Ke remembered the incident from the past again and thatbined with the peerless sword intent she had felt before, an idea formed in her mind. She could imagine Lin Mu standing there and a mysterious figure behind him, guiding him.


    ¡¯Yes, that¡¯s it! He definitely has a hidden expert behind him. The only question is which one... is it the expert who had the peerless sword intent, perhaps?¡¯ Duan Ke thought to himself.


    A multitude of thoughts and ideas passed through her mind, but in the end, she realized that it would be best to leave it to her grandfather for now. Jing Wei was much more experienced than her and would be able to understand the situation much better than her.


    With this temporary solution in her mind, she just decided to take Lin Mu to meet her grandfather.


    "Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll meet my grandfather and there you can tell him the rest." Duan Ke spoke in a cold tone.


    Lin Mu finally heard the familiar cold tone and felt a bit better. He was used to Duan Ke acting like that and was feeling ufortable with her previous behavior. Calmly nodding to show his acknowledgment, he spoke.


    "Alright, show me the way." Lin Mu replied.


    Duan Ke turned around immediately and the spirit sword that was floating above her floated down and came to hover in front of her. She lightly held the sword and it disappeared. Looking at this, Lin Mu immediately felt the spatial fluctuations.

 Chapter 192 - The Spirit Qi In The Courtyard

    <h4>Chapter 192 - The Spirit Qi In The Courtyard </h4>


    ¡¯So she does have a spatial storage treasure as well.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he continued walking behind Duan Ke.


    Along the way, Lin Mu kept on smelling the sweet fragrance of the flowers. It was the first thing that he had felt upon opening the portal to this courtyard and was still smelling it. The fragrance was calming and helped him feel a bit rxed.


    Lin Mu could only imagine how stressed Duan Ke must have been, considering she had ess to a rxing ce such as this. Not only this, but Lin Mu could even feel the faint spirit qi in the air. While it was still faint, he could sense it very well.


    It was different from the other ces. The concentration of the spirit qi was higher than the real world, and it was easy for him to sense it as well. Even without using his spirit sense or the severing heart sutra, Lin Mu could sense it.


    In fact, he felt as if he could even absorb the spirit qi straight from the air. Feeling curious, he tried that very thing.


    <i>~Whirl~</i>


    The sound of wind blowing was heard, and Duan Ke abruptly halted. She knew that wind never blew in the courtyard unless the formation array artificially did that. But looking at the status of the formation array, no such thing had been triggered, which made her think of only one thing.


    She immediately turned around and saw the wind swirling around Lin Mu. She could clearly sense the wisps of spirit qi in the wind as they were absorbed by Lin Mu. This was already surprising to her, but with the ease that Lin Mu was absorbing the spirit qi only made her more shocked.


    Duan Ke knew this courtyard inside out and knew of every formation array that was ced on it. There were in fact around a hundred formation arrays ced in this courtyard, which were in turnposed of many more individual formations.


    One of those formation arrays was a Qi gathering formation array which absorbed the qi from the atmosphere and ground of the real world and channeled it to this courtyard. There was another special function that was added to it with the virtue of another formation array.


    This formation array was a kind of identification array and helped verify the identity of persons. The way it did it was with the qi signature of a person. A qi signature was basically the unique traces that appeared in every person¡¯s qi due to the cultivation technique that they practiced.


    A cultivation technique not only gave a person¡¯s spirit qi a unique signature, but the person themselves would add small traces of their individuality to their spirit qi. While this was of little use most of the time, in situations such as these it was very important.


    When a qi gathering formation array wasyered with an identification array, theybined to give apletely new effect. The effect was such that the qi that was gathered by the qi gathering array could only be utilized by the persons whose identity was registered in the identification array.


    If their identity was not registered, they would not be able to absorb the qi no matter what they did. But clearly, in front of Duan Ke a big exception was present. Somehow Lin Mu was absorbing the spirit qi in the air and that too without much effort.


    With the casual way he was walking, Duan Ke could tell that it was very easy for him. Even she herself could not do anything such as this and would have to sit down to properly cultivate. But then more questions popped up in her mind.


    What kind of effect would it have on the formation array if the spirit qi was forcefully absorbed even if the person was not registered in the formation? A lot of negative ideas Pope up in Duan Ke¡¯s mind and her face fell.


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    Not wanting to take any chance, she hurriedly spoke up.


    "Stop! Don¡¯t absorb the spirit qi." Duan Ke ordered.


    Lin Mu was astonished and snapped out of his own thoughts. He was engrossed in the feeling of spirit qi and had not noticed when Duan Ke turned around. Since this was the first time he had absorbed spirit qi with such an ease he wanted to revel in the moment.


    In fact, in the few tens of seconds that Lin Mu had spent absorbing spirit qi, he had already gained over a hundred wisps of spirit qi. The only time he had even gained spirit qi this fast was back when he absorbed the spirit qi from the spirit stones when he was helping Hei Yingjie.


    "Huh? Is there a problem?" Lin Mu questioned feeling confused.


    "Yes, there is a problem. You can¡¯t just absorb the spirit qi here without our permission." Duan Ke answered, feeling slightly angered.


    "Oh, I¡¯m sorry. I should have consulted you before." Lin Mu apologized immediately.


    <i>~Humph~</i>


    Duan Ke harrumphed before speaking, "Don¡¯t do it again," and then turned around to continue walking.


    Lin Mu rubbed the back of his head in helplessness and followed behind her. Along the way, he got a closer look at the flowers that were nted in the gardens. He could now tell that the fragrance was actuallying from these flowers and he could even sense something else.


    Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and observed the flowers with them. But when he did, he was surprised to find them filled with dense spirit qi.


    "These are... spirit flowers?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Yes, they are indeed spirit flowers and looking at their numbers it¡¯s an entire garden of them," Xukong spoke in agreement.


    Lin Mu was amazed at them, as this was the first time he had seen them. The only other thing that he had seen that was rich in spirit qi like this was the purple grape sized fruit he had eaten in the past. Still, the density of spirit qi in that fruit was unknown to him as he did not have spirit sense back then. He could only estimate that it was perhaps on the same level.


    Eventually, both of them reached the entrance of therge mansion where an old man was standing.

 Chapter 193 - Jing Weis Confusion

    <h4>Chapter 193 - Jing Wei''s Confusion </h4>


    Jing Wei was busy in cultivation the entire time and when he woke up, he saw that his granddaughter was not there in hall. He checked the library where she usually spent her free time and did not find her there either, which was rather unexpected to him.


    Ever since the incidents, including the one with Lin Mu, Duan Ke had been obsessed with finding the clues to the identity of the hidden expert. Jing Wei himself had been doing the same, but even his memory was betraying him. He could not recall if he had ever known of something like that before.


    He had scanned the old records of his n yet even after two entire months he had barely been able to search in thirty percent of them. And this was when he had the help of his granddaughter as well. Still, after knowing that Duan Ke was not in the library, he checked the other parts of the mansions.


    It didn¡¯t take Jing Wei much effort, as he just did a simple sweep of the entire mansion with his spirit sense. For a cultivator of his cultivation base, their spirit sense was massive. Even though his cultivation base was sealed by himself, and his full potential of spirit sense restricted, it was nothing for Jing Wei to do such a task.


    Jing Wei did not even wade through the rooms individually but rather directly pierced through them with his spirit sense, the wall acting less than air. After learning that she wasn¡¯t in the mansion, he didn¡¯t worry as there wasn¡¯t anything that could harm them here.


    This courtyard was one of the heirloom treasures that had been refined by each head of the n. It had hundreds of formation arrays inscribed into it, with many of them being defensive ones. Jing Wei was confident that even with his sealed cultivation base, he would be able to hold off Dao treading realm experts as long as he was in the courtyard.


    The entirety of the courtyard was actually a special spirit tool that was bordering on the level of an immortal tool. It was one of the few spirit tools in existence that were able to manipte space and create a spatial dimension such as this.


    While it could notpare in size with the inheritance grounds of the top sects which were simrly based in different spatial dimensions, there was one thing that put this courtyard above them all. While the top sects¡¯ inheritance grounds were big, they were immobile.


    They could never be moved from the location they had been created at and would forever stay there. The only time they could be moved would be when it was the time for the destruction of that spatial dimension. Jing Wei¡¯s n had some information about the peculiarities of space and had learned from it that every space would one day copse as it reaches its end.


    The biggest advantage of this courtyard was that it could be moved around. The courtyard was in a bubble like space from where a connection could be formed to the real world. The secret to it was kept by Jing Wei and no one else knew about it, not even Duan Ke.


    Because of this very reason, he never doubted the safety of his granddaughter as long as she was in this courtyard. It wasn¡¯t like she had left the courtyard either, as he would have been alerted if the restrictions of the courtyard were lifted.


    Without his permission, no one could enter or leave the courtyard. Thus the shock that Jing Wei felt after discovering that there was a third person in the courtyard was terrifying, to say the least. Jing Wei knew even better than Duan Ke and knew the level of danger they may be facing right now.


    In the thousands of years, he had lived, he had learned and seen many things that others could onlye to imagine. He knew the cultivators that would be able to do such a thing would be immensely strong. So strong that perhaps even with his cultivation unsealed and the courtyard in his control it would not be possible for him to resist.


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    Such a person was none other than an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator. It was someone he definitely did not want to meet. He had the chance to experience their might before, and it was terrifying to say the least. He doubted he would be able to fight against one.


    But when he saw that Duan Ke and the other person were calmly walking without any sign of agitation, he was dumbstruck. Even more so when he recognized the person who was with his Granddaughter.


    "What?! How?!" That was all Jing Wei could say before he rushed out of the Mansion and appeared at the entrance.


    There he finally confirmed with his own two eyes that it was Lin Mu who had appeared in the courtyard. Seeing that nothing bad was happening, Jing Wei waited patiently till they reached him. He did not show a change of expression on his face, even though internally he was nervous.


    ***


    Lin Mu looked up at the old man, who looked the same as he was thest time he had seen him. Except this time he was wearing much better quality clothes and looked to be a proper cultivator. Back when he had seen Jing Wei at the shop, he had been dressed in a robe that while it was clean still looked old.


    The one thing Lin Mu noticed seemed different was that Jing Wei was no longer wearing the ck beaded bracelet in his left hand. He then remembered that Jing Wei had forcefully pulled on it and broken it apart. Only after doing that had he been able to return to normal after being affected by senior Xukong¡¯s ward.


    Looking at Jing Wei¡¯s face, Lin Mu could tell nothing and could only feel calmness on it. He was unaware that Jing Wei was perhaps much more nervous than back when he fought in the war a thousand years ago.


    Lin Mu walked forward and came to stand beside Duan Ke. He lifted his hands and cupped them in greetings.


    "Hello, Owner Jing Wei." Lin Mu greeted respectfully.

 Chapter 194 - Peculiarity Of The Courtyard

    <h4>Chapter 194 - Peculiarity Of The Courtyard </h4>


    Jing Wei did not know how to respond at that moment and was at a loss. But to his fortune, Duan Ke was the next person to speak, and he did not have to respond first.


    "Grandfather, he was able to somehow find an opening in the formation array and entered the courtyard." Duan Ke informed.


    Many thoughts appeared in Jing Wei¡¯s mind upon hearing that and he began thinking of all possibilities. His train of thought went in the same direction as Duan Ke and arrived at the same conclusion as well.


    ¡¯Seems like the ¡¯being¡¯ supporting him helped him.¡¯ Jing Wei thought.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Jing Wei took a deep breath before speaking.


    "And why did youe here? I reckon you understood that we were intentionally not allowing anyone here?" Jing Wei questioned.


    Although Jing Wei felt a little scared at asking him like this but he surmised that since the expert behind Lin Mu hadn¡¯t attacked them till now, it should be safe for now. In the past two months, he had alsoe to an understanding.


    Jing Wei understood that what the ¡¯being¡¯ behind Lin Mu had done at that time was a mere warning. A show of power, to say the least. It was not even a threat. But considering the ¡¯beings¡¯ standing, Jing Wei reckoned that it was to be expected.


    Powerful cultivators had entric personalities and habits. He himself could attest to it. He had lived for over two thousand years now and knew that he had picked up some strange habits himself. He just attributed it to a natural thing that happened to most cultivators once they lived long enough.


    Jing Wei had seen others that were on a simr level as him and had witnessed the same kind of entricities. He could only imagine a being that was who knows how many times more powerful and long-lived than them would act like.


    Still, since Lin Mu was already here, there wasn¡¯t much that he could do.


    ¡¯I may as well rify all things.¡¯ Jing Wei thought to himself.


    While Jing Wei was thinking all this, only a couple of seconds had gone by. Lin Mu thought during that time and then decided to speak. He gave him the same exnation that he had given Duan Ke, except this time he added a few more details.


    With senior Xukong¡¯s suggestion, Lin Mu told them how he had discovered the formation with his spirit sense and had traced the entirety of it. He then told them that by doing that he found a way to make an opening and appeared here in the courtyard.


    Jing Wei and Duan Ke couldn¡¯t help but think, ¡¯The proverb stands true, a monster can only be created by a monster.¡¯


    They reckoned that with a powerful backing such as his, Lin Mu must have had a lot of time and guidance to be able to do such a thing.


    Jing Wei and Duan Ke finally realized another thing, ¡¯Wait, he said spirit sense?¡¯


    Both of them exchanged a look and knew exactly what the other was thinking. Duan Ke tried to sense Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation and realized that while she could feel the faint waves of spirit qi from him showing that he was a cultivator, she could no longer sense any vital energy in his body.


    ¡¯What the... How is this possible? Did his body tempering realm cultivation regress? No, his physical condition is too good for that to be true. What could it be?¡¯ Duan Ke wondered.


    Jing Wei too was having simr thoughts. He had a brief thought about probing Lin Mu with his spirit sense to get a better idea, but then quickly remembered his previous misfortune. No longer daring to even think of that, he decided to get more information.


    "We¡¯ll talk more inside, that would be more appropriate." Jing Wei suggested.


    "That¡¯s fine with me," Lin Mu replied while nodding his head.


    Soon Jing Wei and Duan Ke brought Lin Mu to a hall. Along the way, Lin Mu got to see all the luxuries that were in the mansion and was amazed by them. The paintings, calligraphy scrolls, and statues all emanated spirit qi.


    Even the wood from which the walls and floor were made from emanated faint spirit qi, making him wonder what they were made from. Lin Mu could not even begin to imagine what all these materials were and how much they must have cost.


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    He had never seen such luxury before, and the only thing that he had topare it with was the town head¡¯s office. But that and this werepletely different. If that was an opulent luxury, this seemed to be more sober.


    Everything was tasteful and nothing seemed out of ce or too much.


    ¡¯All of this stuff... I can¡¯t even imagine...¡¯ Lin Mu internally felt overwhelmed.


    "Such is the world of cultivators, Lin Mu. From this, I can tell that these two have a powerful background in this world. I can actually identify some of the rare materials here. While they aremon in the higher worlds, for a low level world such as this, they are perhaps the epitome of luxury." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Not just this, but have you sensed anything peculiar here?" Xukong asked.


    Lin Mu tried to think over it, but could not understand what Senior Xukong was asking. He curiously extended his spirit sense and scanned over the ce. It was then that he got a familiar feeling from multiple ces in the mansion and not just that, he tried to extend his spirit sense out from the windows and sensed it out in the middle of the air as well.


    "There are formation nodes everywhere!" Lin Mu internally eximed.


    "That¡¯s good, you realized that at least. Now, what more can you tell me when you feel this ce?" Xukong further asked.


    Lin Mu tried hard but could not feel anything more. He probed all the items and even the walls, but all he could sense except for the formations was spirit qi. It was then that he realized it, and his eyes went wide.


    "This ce... the qi here is uniform, too uniform." Lin Mu answered.

 Chapter 195 - Pseudo Immortal Tool

    <h4>Chapter 195 - Pseudo Immortal Tool </h4>


    Lin Mu sensed the spirit qi and found it to be quite stable. In fact, it was moving in a strangely harmonic way. It would flow from different channels and then return to the beginning. Lin Mu had seen something like this before, and it was in something that he owned.


    It was his short sword, which was a spirit weapon. This surprised Lin Mu as he had never expected this.


    "Senior... this entire ce..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Yes, this is not just a minor ne but rather an entire spirit tool. That too a spirit tool that is bordering on the level of an immortal tool and is at a grade called as pseudo immortal tool." Xukong revealed.


    This was the first time Lin Mu had seen something that was this powerful. The closest item he had to this was his own spirit sword, but the difference was great between those two. Lin Mu had heard about pseudo immortal tools from senior Xukong before and knew that they were one peak grade spirit tools that were half a step in turning into an immortal tool.


    Though Lin Mu still did not know what was it that theycked in order to be an immortal tool, and this was what made him curious.


    "Senior, what is it that makes a spirit tool pseudo immortal and what is thee that will turn it into an immortal tool?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "In order for a spirit tool to evolve into an immortal tool, what it needs is... sentience," Xukong answered.


    "Sentience? But isn¡¯t a spirit tool or spirit weapon already sentient? Like that time when my short sword responded to me and formed the link." Lin Mu asked, feeling slightly confused.


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    "No, while your sword did react to you, that was but a basic instinct. The sentience I¡¯m talking about is different. At that level, the spirit tool will be conscious of itself and will be able to think for itself." Xukong exined.


    After hearing Xukong¡¯s words, Lin Mu was amazed and wondered if he would ever get to see something like that. His mind then went back to the ce they were in, as they had reached a hall while he was thinking about the courtyard.


    Jing Wei reached in front of tworge doors that were about five meters tall along with Duan Ke and Lin Mu. The doors automatically opened as he approached them, allowing the three of them to walk in without any hindrance. Lin Mu was fascinated by it and continued following them silently.


    After entering the hall, he could see the decorations in it. They were the same as the rest of the mansion except for therge throne like chair that was ced at the head of the hall. The chair was as if made from marble and had delicate carvings on it.


    At the front of the throne like chair, there was arge table that was empty. On the sides of the table, one could see four more chairs. These chairs were smaller than the throne like chair and were at a lower level than it.


    The hall was almost fifty meters long, Lin Mu guessed. But now that he had taken a look at it, he for some reason thought that it looked iplete. It was as if there was something missing in it, but he couldn¡¯t ce his finger on it.


    "This is a royal hall. Looking at its design and therge throne like chair, I would say this is where the head of organizations would have a meeting." Xukong informed Lin Mu after sensing his thoughts.


    Lin Mu had never seen anything like this, not to mention that there was not a single house as big as this anywhere in his knowledge. Even back when he went to the Wu Lim city, the biggest building there was ten times as small as this.


    Lin Mu could only guess that perhaps the royal pce wouldpare to this, but even then there was a doubt in his heart that it would still notpare. He looked around in the hall and then realized what was missing from it.


    He had also heard senior Xukong¡¯s words and knew that it was used for meetings and looking at theck of chairs, it was evident that it was no longer used for that specific purpose. Lin Mu then realized... there seemed to be only two people in the entire mansion that was as big as this.


    ¡¯So that is why it feels strange. There are simply no people to fill it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And as he thought this, the three of them reached therge table. Jing Wei went to sit at therge throne like chair while Duan Ke went to sit on another smaller chair near it. Lin Mu understood what they were going to do and selected a chair to sit opposite to them.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Jing Wei sat downfortably and let out a sigh that was reminiscent of fatigue. He then looked up at Lin Mu and thought for a moment before speaking.


    "Now you can tell us why you are here... properly." Jing Wei spoke.


    Lin Mu looked over at Duan Ke and saw that she was looking at him with a curious look as well.


    "As I said, I was just looking passing by and notice a few strange things. I observed them with my spirit sense and found them to be formation nodes. I was confused at first, but then realized that it must be you people. At first, I was just curious and wanted to explore more on the formation, but I just ended up finding a way to open it up." Lin Mu spoke frankly.


    Upon hearing his answer, the corner of Duan Ke¡¯s lip could be seen twitching.


    ¡¯What finding a way to open it up, it¡¯s clear that someone helped him.¡¯ Duan Ke inwardly cursed.


    Jing Wei listened to his words but did not speak straightaway. Instead, his attention was actually palled towards what Lin Mu had said.


    ¡¯He used his spirit sense to observe the formation arrays of the courtyard? What level is his spirit sense that he can even attempt that? Even Duan Ke shouldn¡¯t be able to do it.¡¯ Jing Wei thought to himself with astonishment.

 Chapter 196 - Myriad Armament Canopy Abode

    <h4>Chapter 196 - Myriad Armament Canopy Abode </h4>


    Jing Wei thought it over and decided that it would be better if he didn¡¯t ask further as if it really was someone else that helped him, then perhaps they preferred to stay in the dark and did not want to be revealed. He had alsoe to the same conclusion as Duan Ke as he could not believe that it would be possible for someone that was in the Qi refining realm.


    Even someone that was at the nascent soul stage and was a formation master would take a long time to analyze a single formation, not to mention an entire array. It was even more difficult in the case of the courtyard as there was not one, but rather hundreds of formation arraysyered together.


    Lin Mu was simply looking at Jing Wei as he stayed silent. Seeing that he was not speaking anything, Lin Mu was now feeling awkward. Wanting to break the awkward silence, he decided to ask something.


    "This is a nice courtyard and the mansion is even better. I would have never guessed that something like this would ever be in a small town such as the Northern town. A pseudo immortal tool is indeed amazing." Lin Mu spoke.


    Jing Wei and Duan Ke¡¯s eyes went wide as they heard Lin Mu guess the truth about the courtyard.


    "What?! How do you know about this?" Duan Ke questioned with shock.


    "I just sensed its uniform spirit qi and considering the hundreds of formations arrays on it, I guessed that it must be a pseudo immortal tool. Not to mention that it is also able to manipte space." Lin Mu truthfully answered.


    Lin Mu would not have said something like this usually, but he had been suggested this by Senior Xukong. He said to him that this will show his capabilities to the duo of granddaughter and grandfather. Besides, they had always helped him until now and hadn¡¯t actually harmed him, thus he thought that it would be good to develop a rtionship with them.


    Even Xukong was in approval of this, as he too was at a loss about this world. While he had endless knowledge about many worlds, it was still impossible for him to know about everything. This world also had too many mysteries which made him confused, and he reckoned that it would be better to ask someone that would be more knowledgeable.


    The first candidates in his mind were actually the Hei corps, but heter rejected seeing their dedication to their ¡¯Lord¡¯. For an unknown person like that, he did not want to leave it up to luck, thus decided that Jing Wei would be a better choice.


    One, they had already had a few interactions before granted that thest one may have been a bad one, but it was nothing that they could not fix. The second that they had been surprisingly amodation of Lin Mu for some reason.


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    The third reason was that Xukong was confident that after the little scare he gave them back then, they would never think of doing anything even close to threatening Lin Mu. Xukong was also suspicious of Jing Wei¡¯s cultivation base and could estimate that he was at the Dao shell realm at the very least.


    A cultivator that was at a stage as high as that in a low leaved world should be knowledgeable about many things thatmon cultivators didn¡¯t know.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Jing Wei let out another sigh as he heard Lin Mu reveal the truth about the courtyard.


    "So you know about pseudo immortal tools as well, that is impressive." Jing Wei praised in a helpless tone.


    Lin Mu was still looking at him with the same casual look as before and did not react to his words.


    "Um, does this ce have a name? I mean it should right, it is after all a pseudo immortal tool." Lin Mu asked.


    "It does indeed. It is called as the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode." Jing Wei answered.


    Hearing the name Lin Mu felt a little impressed. He thought that the name did suit a pseudo immortal tool. He wanted to ask what it could actually do but decided against that, as it would not be good to ask that straightaway.


    "Was that all? Is that why you came here?" Duan Ke asked, feeling a little underwhelmed.


    She had been having so many thoughts about how things could go bad and she was nervous about them. But now that she saw Lin Mu sitting here calmly and interacting with them, she didn¡¯t know what to do. She couldn¡¯t believe that he had no hidden intentions.


    "Ah! I actually do." Lin Mu replied.


    ¡¯See, I knew it.¡¯ Duan Ke thought to herself.


    "I wanted to ask you if you have a spear that is a spirit weapon." Lin Mu asked.


    "Huh?" Duan Ke responded, feeling a little dumbfounded.


    "Hahaha." Jing Wei let out augh.


    Lin Mu heard it and was a little surprised at hisughter and wondered what it was about.


    "So you broke in through the defenses of a pseudo immortal tool to ask us for something like this? If those old elders of the sects were ever to listen to this, they would spit blood. Good... good... very good..." Jing Wei spoke in a jovial tone.


    Even Duan Ke was astonished at her grandfather¡¯s reaction and wondered if he was fine.


    "So you say you want a new spirit weapon, eh? Why do you want it, is the spirit sword I gave you not up to your expectations?" Jing Wei asked.


    "Ah, about that, I almost forgot. Thank you for giving me such a precious thing for cheap. I don¡¯t know why you did, but thank you. And yes, the short sword is great, it has been very useful to me." Lin Mu replied in a grateful tone.


    Jing Wei ced his hand on his chin and stroked his unruly beard as if he was thinking.


    "Hmm, alright! If you want a new spirit weapon, I¡¯ll give you one. But first, you have to pass my test, I won¡¯t give you one easily." Jing Wei spoke in a teasing tone.

 Chapter 197 - Jing Wei Asks For A Test

    <h4>Chapter 197 - Jing Wei Asks For A Test </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at Jing Wei with the same resolve he had and did not feel strange about this. He had already experienced the way that Jing Wei tested him before and was confident that he would easily pass it, but had never expected that he would be suggesting something else.


    "But the test will be you fighting, my granddaughter Duan Ke." Jing Wei dered.


    Lin Mu felt surprised at this and didn¡¯t know what to think of this. He had a little idea that this could be a choice but had little expectations about it. In fact, even Senior Xukong had not expected this and had told him that he would be testing him the same way he had done before that.


    "Hmm, what is he thinking? I thought he wanted to hide their identities and capabilities. Seems like it doesn¡¯t matter to him anymore." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    Not only were Lin Mu and Xukong surprised by this, but Duan Ke herself was too. She had not expected for her grandfather to suggest this. In her mind, her grandfather had always been calctive and careful and never the one to take the risks.


    But what he had just suggested had overturned that idea that she had in her mind. Though she could understand his perspective on this. They had already known that Lin Mu had a certain kind of protection on him, and the previous method was likely to be useless.


    Thus Jing Wei decided to use this method. It was a rather straightforward method and would ensure that they actually got the proper results. This way they would not be the only losing party, and Lin Mu would have to reveal his fighting strength as well.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s see how good is the kid that a being such as that will take him under his wing.¡¯ Jing Wei thought to himself.


    "Alright, I ept. But how do we go about this?" Lin Mu finally replied.


    "It will be straightforward. I know you are not in the core condensation realm and thus will be mismatched against Duan Ke. Hence, all you need to do isst for five minutes against her and I will dere you a winner." Jing Wei exined.


    Lin Mu could not find any doubts about it and neither did Duan Ke have any apprehensions with it. In fact, she had not fought properly in a while and was now looking forward to it.


    ¡¯I wonder if he will be able to make me use my full strength.¡¯ Duan Ke thought to herself.


    At first, she thought she would be overestimating Lin Mu, but then remembered what kind of person she was against. But still, to get a more urate idea and ensure that it was fair, she decided to ask Lin Mu about it.


    "What is your cultivation base, though? I don¡¯t want to be unfair." Duan Ke spoke up.


    Lin Mu felt a little good in his heart that Duan Ke actually thought of this and did not start rightaway. Though he would have not minded it either way. He hadsted against a wave of spirit beasts and a core condensation beast for about an hour.


    Lin Mu thought that it would be easy for him tost mere five minutes against Duan Ke.


    "Don¡¯t be overconfident! Remember this is not a beast you¡¯re fighting and neither is she a half-baked cultivators like the ones you¡¯ve been fighting. She has a proper foundation and would be a tough match. If you don¡¯t focus, you will no doubt lose." Xukong chided immediately as soon as he sensed Lin Mu¡¯s thoughts.


    Lin Mu was a little taken aback by Senior Xukong¡¯s harsh tone, but then realized the meaning behind it.


    "I¡¯m sorry, senior. I will keep your advice in my mind." Lin Mu apologized.


    "That¡¯s good. Now focus on your opponent, I won¡¯t help you this time. I want to see how you fare against a well trained cultivator as well." Xukong dered.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes brightened with determination and he wanted to make Senior Xukong proud. He had taken it upon his heart to defeat Duan Ke now and would try to defeat her at any price that he could. In fact, Lin Mu was wondering if he should use his skills that were bestowed by the ring.


    "No, you shall not use them. This will be a fight of pure prowess, I can guess what that man Jing Wei is thinking. He wants to assess your skill level and wants to see if you¡¯re worthy of a spirit weapon, perhaps." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu heard his words and was surprised by some parts.


    "Senior, you mean..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Yes, he may be thinking of giving you a spear at the same level as your short sword." Xukong interrupted.


    Lin Mu had never expected that this would be the case. He would be happy with a normal low grade spirit spear for now and did not mind if he would be getting one. But now that he had the hope that he would be getting one on the same level as his spirit sword, he was motivated even more.


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    Lin Mu had learned from Senior Xukong about the grades of spirit weapons and knew how much of a difference they can make in the long run. Although Lin Mu could not use the full potential of his short sword right now with his current cultivation level, he knew that it will be much more usefulter on.


    Senior Xukong Had told him that ording to his estimation, Low grade spirit weapons should be the mostmon in this world and should be the basic level weapon that a cultivator used. The mid grade spirit weapon was something that rich core condensation and nascent soul cultivators would use.


    While High grade weapons would be used by cultivators that were either rich nascent soul cultivators or Dao shell realm cultivators. As for the peak grade weapons, it was likely that only Dao treading realm cultivators had ess to them.

 Chapter 198 - The Test Begins

    <h4>Chapter 198 - The Test Begins </h4>


    The hierarchy was the same for Spirit tool as well and would be the same for a lot of other things such as pills and formations. Of course, there were exceptions to it, but those were only up to a certain extent. One of them was the four vessels restoration pill that Lin Mu had.


    It was a mid grade healing alchemical pill that was effective on everyone from mere mortals to core condensation realm cultivators. That was also the reason why it was so expensive and rare as it would take a mid grade spirit alchemist to manufacture those.


    Even for a low grade alchemist, the basic requirement was that they needed to be able to ignite their qi me. Doing so was a difficult task that would require huge stores of spirit qi and would only be possible for Peak qi refining realm cultivators at the very least.


    And that was not all, as bing an alchemist also involved a ton of learning. One had to learn a mountain of texts to gain an understanding about herbs and pills. Their knowledge revolved around the efficacy of the herbs, their medicinal properties, their dosages and their refinement process.


    A simr picture came into the view when one consider the other professions of the cultivators such as the formation masters, weapon forgers, and spirit tool refiners. The difficulty only increased as one became more involved.


    "Though don¡¯t get your hopes all the way up. There is still a chance that he may not give you a weapon of that grade. We do not know Jing Wei¡¯s true identity, but I can guess that he is either a weapon forger or a spirit tool refiner. There is no other way he would be so knowledgeable about weapons otherwise. And his control on a pseudo immortal tool like the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode only affirms my belief." Xukong Advised Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu silently nodded and showed that he fully understood Xukong¡¯s words. While this entire conversation had happened between Lin Mu and Senior Xukong mere five seconds had actually passed in real time.


    When Duan Ke saw Lin Mu nod his head, she thought that he was responding to her about her previous inquiry. Lin Mu knew that he should not stall anymore and replied quick.


    "I am currently in thete stage of the qi refining realm." Lin Mu answered truthfully.


    Duan Ke was inwardly expecting something like this and was thus not shocked. Lin Mu¡¯s previous revtions had already tested her wits and she had simply increased her expectations by a few levels. But these very few levels in the eyes ofmon cultivators would be a mountain topare to.


    Jing Wei meanwhile had not changed his expression and was looking as if he had already expected this oue. He knew for sure that Lin Mu was not in the core condensation realm, which left him with two viable options, thete stage of qi refining realm or the peak stage.


    Knowing that Lin Mu could use the spirit sense beforehand helped him in devising this conclusion. Even Jing Wei himself in his thousands of years of life had not seen a single cultivator that could refine their spirit sense before thete stage of the qi refining realm.


    ording to their belief, having dense and saturate spirit qi was one of the basic requirements of refining spirit qi. It was a pity that they did not know Lin Mu was not doing it in the conventional way. He did not even have a true cultivation technique, to be honest!


    If Jing Wei was to know this fact, he would rather doubt his ancestors that believe this!


    "Follow me, this ce is not suitable for a spar." Jing Wei said and gestured for Lin Mu to follow him.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    Duan Ke and Lin Mu followed behind him as he took them to a different hall that was much wider than the previous one. While the previous one was longer than this, it did not have the same area as this.


    Lin Mu looked around and could see the solid stone floor underneath him. This waspletely different than the rest of the mansion, which only had wooden floors. Even the walls of this room seemed to be reinforced with metal in ces.


    Lin Mu¡¯s curiosity was ignited and he extended his spirit sense to observe the hall. His findings were amazing to him. The hall was covered in tens of formations, the design of which Lin Mu found to be different.


    "This is a reinforcement formation whose function is to contain all the forces that are inflicted on it. The walls are specifically made as well. Do you see those metal parts on the walls?" Xukong spoke up.


    "Yes Senior, I do." Lin Mu replied hurriedly.


    "Guess what metal they are made of, you have already seen it before," Xukong questioned in a mentoring tone.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit before he linked the defensive features of the hall with what Senior Xukong had just said.


    "It is the Heavy Depths Iron ore!" Lin Mu answered.


    "Correct, the Heavy Depths Iron ore has been refined andbined with the wooden wall to contain spirit qi attacks. This means that while you can¡¯t use the skill bestowed upon you by the ring, you can use the skills Thai you learned yourself, including the basic strength amplification by your spirit sword." Xukong spoke in a suggestive tone.


    Lin Mu immediately grasped what he meant, and ideas started forming in his mind. Lin Mu had not used the full potential of his spirit swords as it was too strong and he would simply split apart all enemies that he had encountered until now.


    He had even tested the short sword on the Heavy Depths Iron ore chunk that he himself had and had cut it apart. But ording to Senior Xukong, he did not have to worry about it right now as it should be properly refined.


    Lin Mu and Duan Ke stood on the opposite sides of the hall and entered an offensive stance before Jing Wei spoke.


    "Start!"

 Chapter 199 - The Spar

    <h4>Chapter 199 - The Spar </h4>


    Lin Mu unsheathed the short sword that was hanging from his waist and entered an attacking stance. Duan Ke simrly extended her hand and her spirit sword appeared in her hand. She let go of the sword and it kept floating in the air.


    Duan Ke then extended her index finger and middle finger together as if it were a sword and pointed forward. Her spirit sword that was floating in front of her changed direction and the point of the sword was now pointing towards Lin Mu.


    The spirit sword Duan Ke was using was longer than Lin Mu¡¯s and was a normal sized sword. It was about sixty centimeters long and was decorated with a tassel at its handle. Its hilt was made in the shape of two leaves curling around the base of the de while there was the pattern of a lily on its handle.


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    Compared to Duan Ke¡¯s sword, Lin Mu¡¯s was shorter and its design was also rather mundane. If not for the visible good craftsmanship that could be felt from the aura that the de exuded, one would think that it was anymon short sword that could be found at a cksmith.


    Lin Mu looked at Duan Ke and saw that she was using her spirit sense to control the spirit sword instead of using it to fight directly. Lin Mu had also learned how to do it by now but barely had any opportunities to do so. In most of the fights, he had been in, he had finished it rather quickly using his skills in tandem with his sword.


    Senior Xukong had taught him that the best way to fight was to end it as quickly as possible. No matter who the opponent was, it was better to use your full potential. Even a lion used all his strength to hunt a rabbit.


    Lin Mu had taken this to heart and thus had finished all fights quickly and efficiently. The only fight that hadsted long was when he was battling the pack of the steel back wolves. But even then, that was only due to there being too many opponents. Otherwise, Lin Mu was still killing the individual steel back wolves at a quick pace.


    Duan Ke stared at Lin Mu and their eyes met. She decided to make the first move and gestured in a shing manner, putting her fingers to her chest and then shing outward. Her spirit sword followed the same gesture and went flying forward.


    Lin Mu kept his eyes trained on the sword¡¯s path and skillfully dodged it while moving forward. Duan Ke gestured again and the sword turned back, going towards Lin Mu¡¯s back now. Lin Mu himself was running towards Duan Ke and knew that if he defeated her first, the fight would end.


    Still, he was able to sense that the sword wasing towards his back with his spirit sense and used his short sword to block it.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    Metal shed against metal as a sharp sound spread in the hall. Lin Mu felt the impact of the swords and was pushed back.


    "That was strong... its better if I just dodge her strikes, otherwise the impact will knock me off the path." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Maneuvering under the spirit sword that was still trying to pierce him, Lin Mu deflected it to the opposite direction. Duan Ke gestured upwards, and the sword turned to face Lin Mu again, but he was ready this time. Channeling spirit qi into the short sword he shed at the very moment that it was about to sh with him.


    <i>~Deng~</i>


    <i>~Swish~</i>


    A different sound was heard this time as the force contained within Lin Mu¡¯s short sword was greater. Duan Ke¡¯s spirit sword was knocked back and got mmed into the back of the wall.


    Duan Ke¡¯s eyes went wide as she saw this.


    ¡¯What! How much spirit qi did he amplify the short sword with? Nearly half of the spirit qi I stored in my spirit sword is already depleted from this. Ugh, seems like I¡¯ll need to take this more seriously.¡¯ Duan Ke thought to herself with shock.


    Jing Wei was looking at this and nodded his head.


    ¡¯Seems like my old sword has epted him and is now attenuated with him.¡¯ Jing Wei thought.


    After knocking the sword away Lin Mu kept on running towards Duan Ke. Before he was halted midway and even had to take a few steps back, but now he was gaining on her again. This time though, Duan Ke moved herself. She started moving towards Lin Mu and gestured in a calling manner.


    Her spirit sword that had fallen on to the ground shot back and returned to her hand at a blinding speed. The speed was even fast for Lin Mu to see clearly and he only observed it due to his spirit sense.


    Although Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense was about eighty meters long now, it still couldn¡¯t cover the entirety of the hall that was about a hundred meters in length and breadth. Still with his spirit sense, a majority of the area of the hall was covered and he was able to observe most things within it.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went back to Duan Ke, and he found that she was at a mere hand¡¯s distance from him and was about to sh at him.


    "What the!" Lin Mu uttered as he quickly brought his short sword forward to block the blow.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    The force this time was even more great as Lin Mu nearly lost hold of his short sword.


    "You need to do better than that, I won¡¯t hold back anymore." Duan Ke dered with a sharp gaze.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he tightened the grip on his short sword. A smile appeared on his face as his eyes light up with fervor.


    "Alright, this will be my first time fighting like this as well. I never get the opportunity before..." Lin Mu spoke in a calm tone before quickly taking a back step while strengthening his legs with spirit qi and vital energy.


    This amplified the force generated by his leg muscles and he shot backward five meters away.


    Duan Ke withdrew her stance and was now pointing the spirit sword diagonally towards the ground.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them. His lips started to move and strange chants started toe out of his mouth.

 Chapter 200 - The End Of The Test

    <h4>Chapter 200 - The End Of The Test </h4>


    Duan Ke looked on at Lin Mu with slight apprehension in her eyes. For a moment there she had thought that it was her grandfather standing in front of her and not Lin Mu. The aura that had appeared on Lin Mu was nowpletely different from before.


    It was as if she was seeing her grandfather back in his peak, ready to fight against a thousand enemies.


    "What is he doing?..." Duan Ke whispered to herself.


    Lin Mu looked at Duan Ke with a sharp gaze and it felt as if hundred of des were dancing at this moment within it. Duan Ke finally felt the effect, her gaze went dull. The severing heart sutra was working.


    ¡¯Now!¡¯ Lin Mu shouted in his heart as he threw his short sword forward.


    Jing Wei too was astounded by this change and wondered what had just happened to Lin Mu.


    "This change in demeanor... Is he starting to develop sword intent?" Jing Wei muttered to himself as he kept on looking, not wanting to miss a single moment.


    Lin Mu¡¯s short sword kept flying toward Duan Ke and was now very close. Duan Ke felt as if she was in a daze and could not respond for a moment. She could see the short sword flying towards her but could not respond.


    ¡¯That¡¯s it, just a little more...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Just when the short sword was about to pierce Duan Ke¡¯s shoulder,


    <i>~ng~</i>


    Sparks flew as her spirit sword came forward to block it.


    Duan Ke returned to her normal self at that moment and looked at the short sword in front of her with fear in her eyes.


    "How did he... or what did he do?" She muttered to herself.


    But this onlysted an instant as she quickly regained her poise. Anger appeared on her face as mes danced within her eyes.


    Duan Ke was finally angry, angry that she was close to being defeated by someone that was an entire cultivation realm below her.


    ¡¯Dammit!¡¯ She cursed internally while gritting her teeth.


    A wave of air spread out from her as spirit qi in the hall swirled around her.


    Duan Ke took hold of her spirit sword that was still blocking Lin Mu¡¯s short sword and forcefully hurled it away. She moved at a lightning speed, and her legs could only be seen as a blur. She appeared next to Lin Mu in the next second and shed at him.


    Lin Mu was currently unarmed and did not have his short sword as it had been hurled to the other side of the hall.


    He was surpassed at Duan Ke¡¯s speed but did not lose hisposure. Just as her spirit sword was about to cut him, he withdrew therge tower shield he had in his ring. Lin Mu had not used it for a while, and thest time was back when he defended Hei Wan and Hei Bao against the assassin¡¯s bolts.


    <i>~Dang~</i>


    An even louder sound was heard as Sparks flew.


    <i>~Crack~Crack~Crack~</i>


    Therge tower shield that Lin Mu had just used to defend against Duan Ke¡¯s sword cracked. While the cut itself was blocked by the shield, the force of it still traveled through his arm and he felt pain in it.


    "Oh, heaven¡¯s she is angry." Lin Mu internally spoke.


    Duan Ke was unfaded at the appearance of the tower shield and swung her sword again, but this time the shield could not bear it.


    <i>~Crumble~</i>


    The tower shield broke into multiple pieces as they were spread all around the ground. This time though Lin Mu had not borne the brunt of the impact as at the veryst moment he had let go of the shield and moved to the side.


    The pieces of the tower shield were now scatted all around the hall, and Lin Mu was unarmed again. Duan Ke gripped her sword harder and lunged forward to strike, but suddenly her spirit sense discovered the short sword that was flying towards her from her blind spot.


    Lin Mu had been controlling the Short sword this entire time and was only wanting to get close enough so that his spirit sense could connect with it.


    Duan Ke twirled and dodged the iing de and refocused her attention on Lin Mu.


    They trained their eyes on each other as Lin Mu¡¯s short sword came to float above him. Duan Ke thought that he was going to attack straightway but was a little surprised as a spear appeared in his hands. It was the very spear that he had bought from her along with the tower shield back then.


    "What is he doing..." Duan Ke thought and was then interrupted by the flying short sword.


    By now Lin Mu¡¯s spirit qi had been depleted by more than half, and he did not want to take any more chances.


    "Let¡¯s get this over with..." Lin Mu muttered and lunged forward with the spear in his hand.


    Duan Ke deflected the short sword and blocked the spear tip. But just as she blocked it the spear disappeared, making her lose her bnce due to the change in momentum. Recing the spear now was an axe. Lin Mu spun around as the Axe came creasing towards Duan Ke¡¯s waist.


    She blocked the Axe forcefully making its de break and the handle snap. She then raised her spirit sword upwards blocking the short sword that shed from another direction.


    Lin Mu threw the remnant of the Axe away and pulled out a long sword instead, using that to fight Duan Ke.


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    Their Battle continued in this manner as countless hits were exchanged. Lin Mu would keep on switching the weapons, while the short sword would continue to attack Duan Ke. His motive was to distract her with his normal weapons while getting an opening with the short sword.


    Jing Wei was looking at the entire exchange with amusement in his eyes. By now he had realized what Lin Mu was doing and that he was using the thousand armament de scripture.


    "He has indeed grown a lot during these few months. Even the thousand armament de Scripture that a lot of the geniuses of my n could not learn after years is being used by him efficiently. Although there are still many ws in his technique, there is no doubt that he is a hidden talent." Jing Wei spoke to himself in a content tone.


    "STOP!" Jing Wei shouted, "the time is up, Lin Mu is the winner." He dered.

 Chapter 201 - Banter

    <h4>Chapter 201 - Banter </h4>


    Unknown to both Lin Mu and Duan Ke, five minutes had already passed. The hall was littered with pieces of broken weapons and even a few cuts, and scratches could be seen on the floor. Although the floor was made to be resistant to damage, it had still been slightly damaged from their attack, which said a lot about the strength that they had used.


    But soon enough, under the influence of the formations in the hall, the damage started to recover. A few secondster the entire hall was back to its former appearance, save for the fragments of broken weapons everywhere.


    Lin Mu saw this and was amazed by this. He had not expected that the hall even had a feature like this. While the formations had activated, Lin Mu had observed them with his spirit sense and had found them to be different than that of those he had seen before. Evidently, these formations had different functions and thus had different designs.


    ¡¯This is rather amazing.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Indeed, but not so much. There are far too many things that can be done with the use of formations. This is but the tip of the iceberg." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up even more after hearing about this, and a me for learning was born in him. He had already seen the formations on the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode and had seen how versatile andplex those were.


    "If only a pseudo immortal rank tool is thisplex, then what are the higher ranks like?" Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    "Well, you just need to explore them yourself. The time will eventuallye." Xukong spoke with a chuckle.


    Meanwhile, Jing Wei was gazing at Lin Mu and Duan Ke intently. He could see that Lin Mu¡¯s eyes were more lively than before and just attributed it to his win, unaware that it was for apletely different reason. He then looked at Duan Ke and saw the wronged expression on her face, which soon disappeared.


    ¡¯Ahaha, she¡¯s still the same as before, my little Ke¡¯er.¡¯ Jing Wei thought to himself as he briefly reminisced his memories.


    Duan Ke herself was looking at Lin Mu with aplex gaze. She felt too many emotions, and the mixture of them only made her feel confused. She felt angry since she had lost and how she was unable to inflict even one wound on Lin Mu.


    That was another shocking thing that bothered Duan Ke. During the entire fight, although she fought with all her might, she was still unable to hurt Lin Mu and the same was for Lin Mu. Although they were not going to gravely injure each other, Jing Wei had already told Lin Mu that all injuries could be taken care of by them so he could fight without restraints.


    Still, Duan Ke knew that she would not be injured anyway since she had a defensive treasure on her that would block hits from even Nascent Soul cultivators, not to mention Lin Mu who was not even at the core condensation realm.


    Duan Ke could not believe the force that was packed within each of his strikes, and not only that she realized that he was actually improving the more they fought. His ws were slowly getting reduced and his uracy was increasing.


    Duan Ke did not know that Lin Mu had not even used the full potential of his skills and was only using the weapons with his spirit qi. Even Duan Ke had not used any martial techniques, but that was more because she was restricted by the area.


    Most of the martial skills she knew were for long range and to be used in a bigger area. As for the others, they were either defensives skills or for other investigations. Duan Ke knew that she was not a genius, but even then her skills were easilyparable to that of the disciples of the top sects.


    After all, she had trained in the skills of her n under the tutge of her grandfather. While her sword skills were not top notch, they were not to be scoffed at either. Besides, the biggest reason was that Lin Mu had defeated her at his lower cultivation realm. This was the biggest blow to her.


    ¡¯What kind of master does he have? In the span of few months, he¡¯s reached the level of an inner sect disciple of a top sect.¡¯ Duan Ke thought to herself.


    ¡¯Even his cultivation base... I can¡¯t tell if it¡¯s really as he said it is. He should have been exhausted much earlier if that was true, not to mention his vital energy, I can¡¯t even sense that anymore.¡¯ Duan Ke wondered.


    Both of them finally snapped out of their thoughts when Jing Wei spoke up.


    <i>~Ahem~</i>


    "Good... very good, I am satisfied with your skills. While there are still many ws, they are nothing time and practice can¡¯t fix." Jing Wei praised while looking at Lin Mu.


    He then turned his gaze to his granddaughter before giving her a gentle smile.


    "Don¡¯t be down Ke¡¯er, you were disadvantaged from the start; you couldn¡¯t use any of your martial techniques. Your specialization is not inbat anyway, you still did well. And it wasn¡¯t a dishonor anyway. What you lost against was our n¡¯s technique." Jing Wei consoled.


    Duan Ke felt a little better after hearing Jing Wei¡¯s words, but then felt confused at histter words.


    "Our n¡¯s technique? What do you mean?" Duan Ke questioned.


    "Umm..." Jing Wei uttered with a mixture of realization and embarrassment.


    It was then that Jing Wei realized. Back when he had given Lin Mu the manual for the Thousand armament de scripture, Duan Ke and he had been in a bad condition. Duan Ke was even more severe and needed immediate care. Thus he had forgotten about thatpletely.


    Even now he was only thinking of how Lin Mu had learned the technique but had forgotten to inform his granddaughter in these entire few months!


    <i>~Sigh~</i> Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "<i>Ah~</i> It seems this man is getting truly old." Jing Wei spoke in a self-deprecating manner.


    Lin Mu felt a little strange at this, but still felt that the old man was funny. His earlier imposing demeanor was nowhere to be found.

 Chapter 202 - The Pitiful Hei Corps?

    <h4>Chapter 202 - The Pitiful Hei Corps? </h4>


    <i>~Ahem~</i>


    Duan Ke coughed to get Jing Wei¡¯s attention.


    "I asked you something grandfather, please rify." Duan Ke spoke in a cold tone.


    Jing Wei noticed the change in her tone and knew that he should drop the act now, lest he angers his precious granddaughter even more.


    "I gave Lin Mu the thousand armament de scripture." Jing Wei said in a straight tone.


    Duan Ke¡¯s expression, which was cold before went still for a moment before shock appeared on her face.


    "WHAT! You gave an outsider that? When?!" Duan Ke spoke in shock.


    A few secondster she herself realized when that must have happened.


    "You mean... back then... when... when..." She stuttered.


    "Yes, I did. I admit it was a decision made in haste, but now that I¡¯ve seen the result I don¡¯t regret it." Jing Wei interrupted Duan Ke, not wanting her to embarrass herself in front of Lin Mu.


    The person in question, Lin Mu himself was having a great time listening to the banter of the pair of grandfather and granddaughter. He had an amused expression on his face and kept on listening without uttering a word.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Duan Ke sighed and thought to herself there was no use crying over spilled milk.


    ¡¯No wonder, he kept on switching weapons and improved against my own weapon skills. The sword technique I use is a lesser derivation of the Thousand armament de scripture. It¡¯s obvious that the technique is much more superior.¡¯ Duan Ke consoled herself.


    "You should have told me beforehand grandfather, I would have used a different tactic then." Duan Ke uttered in defeat.


    "I didn¡¯t know he would be able to do that either. I never expected anyone to learn it that quick, especially since the requirements of that technique are quite harsh." Jing Wei said and continued, "How did you do this? I mean, the number of weapons required for this is astounding and some of them are even unorthodox."


    Both Duan Ke and Jing Wei¡¯s eyes were now focused on Lin Mu, and they were waiting for his reply.


    Lin Mu realized what Jing Wei was talking about and replied, "Yes, the requirements did indeed make it difficult for me at first. But then I got an opportunity and had the Hei corps procure them for me."


    Lin Mu did not mind that he spoke about the Hei corpse as it was already known to him that the Hei corps and Jing Wei had previously met before. Though if he knew the context of that meeting, then perhaps he would have thought of avoiding mentioning them.


    "The Hei corps?" Both Duan Ke and Jing Wei repeated with momentary confusion.


    "You mean those bunch of weaklings in Dark blue robes and masks?" Duan Ke spoke in a depreciating tone.


    "Ah, I remember. Weren¡¯t those the people who were snooping around the shop back then? I nearly forgot about them." Jing Wei said as he stoked his beard in realization.


    Lin Mu looked at the two of them with a strange gaze.


    ¡¯What kind of interaction did they Hei Corps have with them? And wasn¡¯t what I did a little while ago the same, technically.¡¯ Lin Mu inwardly spoke.


    "I am confused too." Xukong chimed in.


    "What happened between you and them?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    Duan Ke took this opportunity to show her supremacy and bashed the Hei Corps for their weakness, as she narrated the entire story.


    After listing to the entire thing, Lin Mu didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry.


    <i>~Chuckle~</i>


    Xukong could not hold back anymore either and chuckled in response.


    ¡¯The Hei corps they are truly... pitiable.¡¯ Lin Mu muttered in his mind.


    "Indeed, they seem to have a penchant for misfortune. No wonder their image of you went up instantly when you spoke of these two. They had already been scared plenty." Xukong spoke in an amazed tone.


    "Senior... you too... <i>~Sigh~</i>" Lin Mu replied while feeling a strange sense of second-hand embarrassment.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what to make of this and just decided to push this to the back of his mind for the time being.


    "And how did you encounter the Hei corps?" Jing Wei questioned, feeling curious.


    "It¡¯s a long story." Lin Mu spoke with a tired expression.


    Jing Wei then remembered that Lin Mu had just gone through a battle and was likely to be tired due to qi depletion. This was indeed true, but Lin Mu¡¯s condition was not as bad as Jing Wei had thought. Lin Mu still had about two hundred wisps of spirit qi left in his dantian, along with about ten drops of liquefied spirit qi.


    "Well then, we can head back to the meeting hall to rest. You can recuperate your qi in the meantime, I¡¯ll add your signature to the formation array." Jing Wei spoke.


    He waved his hand and multiple formations appeared all over the hall and also surrounded Lin Mu. They glowed over his body for a moment before a pattern was emitted from the formation. This pattern went towards Lin Mu¡¯s chest as if to enter it.


    But just as the patter proceeded slightly, it halted midair and then faded away. Even the formations that were surrounding Lin Mu faded away.


    Jing Wei and Duan Ke stared at this with confused expressions. Duan Ke soon realized what must have happened and quickly whispered in his ear.


    "Ah, I see. He can already absorb spirit qi without the approval of the formation, no wonder the formation cannot register him." Jing Wei muttered in realization.


    But hidden in his words were a multitude ofplex emotions that he did not show. While Lin Mu did not notice this, Duan Ke certainly did and knew that her grandfather had likely caught onto something.


    "No matter," Jing Wei spoke up, breaking the silence. "You can absorb the spirit qi in the courtyard as you please for now."


    Lin Mu nodded his head in gratitude and quickly urged his body to start absorbing the spirit qi in the surroundings. Soon a faint whirlwind was formed and swirled around Lin Mu.

 Chapter 203 - The Invaders Origin

    <h4>Chapter 203 - The Invader''s Origin </h4>


    This was the first time Jing Wei was witnessing Lin Mu actually absorb spirit qi. He had heard from Duan Ke that he was absorbing it before but seeing itpletely different. He was Rather surprised by his speed as he had created a physical phenomenon.


    "He is rather fast, he barely even put any effort in it..." Jing Wei muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu kept on walking and did not mind the whirlwind of spirit qi surrounding him, rather he was fascinated by it. Seeing that Lin Mu continued on Duan Ke and Jing Wei also walked ahead. Soon they reached the meeting hall where they had been sitting previously.


    They all took their respective seats and Lin Mu too stopped absorbing spirit qi for now. Still, he was rather satisfied by his gains, in the five minutes they had taken to reach here, Lin Mu had absorbed nearly five hundred wisps of spirit qi.


    ¡¯This is rather good, my speed will be much greater if I cultivate here.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


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    "While that is true, I don¡¯t think it will be possible for you to cultivate here." Xukong spoke.


    "Oh? Ah yes senior. It would be rude for me to impose on them." Lin Mu spoke in acknowledgment.


    "No, that¡¯s, not all. You know how he tried to add you to the formation, right? And it didn¡¯t work, that¡¯s the problem. If you keep on absorbing spirit qi like this, you will eventually end up damaging the formation array. And that is certainly not something they would allow." Xukong exined.


    "Ah... is that so Senior?" Lin Mu respond.


    <i>~Ahem~</i>


    "Well then, you can tell us now." Jing Wei spoke up.


    Lin Mu nodded and then went on to narrate how there were disappearances and a night vigil was organized. How he found the dead bodies of the mercenaries and how he met Hei Wen. He then told him about the fight with the culprits and how theyter met the captain of the Hei corps, Hei Bao.


    The subsequent series of events were quickly exined, including the part about the invader. Lin Mu especially mentioned that in detail as he himself wanted to know more about it and was sure that Jing Wei must have some idea.


    Still, there were a few things that Lin Mu avoided mentioning, such as the existence of the Great Slumber bear. Senior Xukong advised him that it would be best that he avoided telling everyone about that for now. It would only be a waste if they killed the beast and Lin Mu lost this opportunity of getting its bloodline.


    Twenty minutes passed as Lin Mu finally finished telling them about everything that had happened in the past few months they were in hiding. The two, Duan Ke and Jing Wei, were shocked to say the least after hearing the entire story.


    "Grandfather..." Duan Ke uttered.


    "I know... it seems we missed many more traces of that ¡¯thing¡¯." Jing Wei interrupted her.


    Lin Mu was confused upon hearing what Jing Wei meant by the ¡¯thing¡¯ but quickly realized what he must have meant.


    "That ¡¯thing¡¯? Oh, you mean the invader?" Lin Mu asked to rify.


    "You know about invaders?" Duan Ke questioned with surprise in her eyes.


    During the entire narration that Lin Mu had done, he had not mentioned the word ¡¯invader¡¯ directly, as he wanted to know if they knew about it beforehand. His guess turned out to be true from what they had just spoken.


    "Yes, I do know about them. My umm... Master told me about them." Lin Mu revealed.


    Senior Xukong had told him to use this as it was actually true. Although the existence of him could not be revealed easily or that would be dangerous.


    ¡¯So he does have a Master and one that knows about the invaders. That means whoever they are, they are either from the top sects or have lived long enough to hear about them. Either of those possibilities makes itplex, thest one even more so...¡¯ Jing Wei thought to himself.


    "You have seen these invaders before?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Duan Ke turned to look at Jing Wei for a bit, as if asking for permission. Jing Wei gently nodded at her to proceed.


    "Yes... this is not the first time we¡¯ve seen their traces. The most recent time I saw them was actually when you brought in the mutant beast¡¯s corpse." Duan Ke answered.


    "Mutant beast?... You mean!" Lin Mu spoke in a tone of realization.


    Lin Mu thought back to the appearance of the coyote like beast that he had hunted before who had been able to withstand his boulder copsing fist before. That beast had an appearance that was simr to that of the invader¡¯s traces. It too had bone spurs on it. In fact, now that he remembered, he had also eaten its meat.


    "What? You ate its meat?" Xukong asked, feeling shocked.


    But before Lin Mu could rify this to Senior Xukong, Duan Ke interrupted.


    "Yes, back when you brought it to sell to me. That mutant beast had the traces of the invader on it, the reason why its appearance was like that. I was able to sense its aura from the previous time I had seen the traces of the invader and immediately linked it to that.


    You asked me to give you its meat, but what I did was give you the meat of another beast that was at an equivalent level. The knowledge about the invader cannot be revealed carelessly, thus I did not tell it to you back then." Duan Ke exined to Lin Mu.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    After hearing her words, Lin Mu took a breath of relief and so did Xukong in his mind.


    "Wait, you mentioned a previous time, there were more of those kinds of traces?" Lin Mu further questioned.


    "Yes, a year ago, back when the gue urred in the region. The cause of that was none other than a beast that was infected by the traces of the invader. The source of gue was none other than that beast."

 Chapter 204 - Ordained

    <h4>Chapter 204 - Ordained </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as memories of the gue came rushing back to him. He remembered his parent¡¯s suffering and how the people of the town died. How the mayor did not act quickly and many people had to die before the cure was procured.


    Duan Ke and Jing Wei were looking at Lin Mu and saw the very apparent change that happened in him. His aura seemed to have changed and his eyes turned red. Even his breathing became rough and the spirit qi in the surroundings started to be disturbed.


    If Lin Mu felt the calling of the world to exterminate the invader before, now it was his own rage that was doing it. Unprecedented fury appeared in his heart as the scenes of his parents suffering and dying kept on reying in his mind.


    <i>~Snap~</i>


    Lin Mu gripped the armrest of the chair hard breaking it in the process. The wood that was hard and would not break even from a full-strength attack of a body tempering realm expert crumbled like chalk in Lin Mu¡¯s hand.


    Unknown to him the aura of the demonic path appeared in the mysterious ring once again. Xukong was quick to respond this time and immediately shouted out to Lin Mu, but still, the same thing as before happened. It was as if a barrier had stopped hismunication.


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    ¡¯Dammit, this is not the right time for this to happen. The aura of the demonic path shouldn¡¯t be revealed this way, we don¡¯t know how those two would respond.¡¯ Xukong cursed to himself.


    Duan Ke clearly witnessed Lin Mu breaking the handle of the chair and almost flinched from it. But that was not all, his aura had now changed to something else. She couldn¡¯t help but feel a hint of fear rising in her heart.


    "Grandfather, what is happening to him?" Duan Ke questioned feeling uneasy.


    "I don¡¯t know, but it¡¯s certain he¡¯s agitated for some reason." Jing Wei spoke as he stood up ready to act.


    Lin Mu meanwhile was muttering something to himself and had his head lowered, his hair hiding his expression from that angle.


    <i>¡¯Kill¡¯</i>


    <i>¡¯ughter¡¯</i>


    <i>¡¯Eradicate¡¯</i>


    <i>¡¯Extinguish¡¯</i>


    <i>¡¯Massacre¡¯</i>


    Violent words were sounding in his mind and the ones that were speaking it were none other than the demonic figures that he had seen when he received the Burning heart sutra.


    Lin Mu¡¯s mutterings got faster and faster which only made Jing Wei and Duan Ke even more worried.


    "Ke¡¯er get back... I don¡¯t like where this is going." Jing Wei ordered as he then gestured in the air.


    Multiple runes appeared in the air and surrounded Lin Mu forming a translucent shell around him. Jing Wei was looking at him with a serious expression while Duan Ke was now standing in a defensive stance, ready to act.


    The aura that Lin Mu was emitting was slowly ring up, but just as it was about to reach its peak it suddenly faded away.


    <i>~Ahahaha~</i>


    Lin Muughed in a hoarse voice as he lifted his head.


    It was now that Duan Ke and Jing Wei saw his expression. His eyes were bloodshot and it seemed as if mes were burning within them. There were trails of tearsing out of the corners of his eyes as a malevolent smile bloomed on his face.


    "<strong>I ACCEPT!</strong>" Lin Mu shouted, but to whom that was unknown.


    "What is he..." Just as Duan Ke uttered this a massive wave of energy rocked the mansion.


    Hundreds of formation arrays appeared all around the Mansion and the courtyard. A multiyered golden barrier also appeared, surrounding the entire courtyard.


    Back in the town, at the location where the entrance of Jing Wei¡¯s emporium was hidden, the space started flickering.


    Jing Wei¡¯s eyes went wide as he shouted, "SUPPRESS!" and mmed his fist onto the table making more formations appear.


    The shaking of the courtyard did not stop then though, instead they only became more intense until eventually, a powerful presence descend and a beam of light pierced through the barrier of the courtyard with ease, passing through the roof of the mansion and struck Lin Mu.


    "This... This!" Jing Wei stuttered, as he recognized the identity of the presence.


    "Wha-what is that?" Duan Ke let out feeling afraid.


    "The world¡¯s will... it... it..." Jing Wei struggled to speak feeling lost at the entire situation.


    The beam of light that was surrounding Lin Mu faded away after a few seconds as he stood up. In the front of him floated a character. The character was written in Dao script and glowed with the same light that had surrounded Lin Mu before.


    Jing Wei stared at the character and recognized what it meant.


    "Ordained..." He muttered.


    The character then went towards Lin Mu¡¯s forehead and imprinted on to it, fading away the next instant.


    "Ordained?" Duan Ke questioned feeling confused.


    Although Jing Wei had lightly spoken the word, she had still heard it clearly since she was standing close to him.


    "He has been ordained by the world¡¯s will." Jing Wei answered with an astonished expression.


    ***


    A few seconds ago, when Lin Mu was hearing the mutterings of the demonic figures on his mind another voice called out to him. This voice did not have any identifying features and sounded as if it was the amalgamation of countless beings.


    This voice had drowned out the mutterings of the demonic figures and had silenced them. At first, Lin Mu was confused as to what it was, but soon he realized. Although the voice was different than that of the demonic figures, what it was saying was the same.


    The Voice spoke, "Kill the Invader. Obtain my grace. Avenge my people. Avenge ¡¯your¡¯ parents."


    Lin Mu recognized the voice was the world¡¯s will. Before it had only put a thought in his mind when he first saw the avatar of the invader, but this time it spoke in person.


    Upon hearing its word¡¯s Lin Mu did not hesitate and immediately dered.


    "I ept."

 Chapter 205 - Lin Mus Resolve

    <h4>Chapter 205 - Lin Mu''s Resolve </h4>


    Even though Duan Ke heard her grandfather¡¯s words, she still could not understand what they meant. She tried to search her memory and could vaguely remember a record that she had read in their n¡¯s library. The record was old and was said to have been from thousands of years before her n even existed.


    It was in that record that the character ¡¯Ordained¡¯ was written. Still, the record was heavily damaged and not much could be read from it. Duan Ke only found that record one day while randomly looking through them. She wasn¡¯t searching for them.


    But from what Jing Wei had said and the overwhelming disy of power that had just happened, she could understand that it was not something to be taken lightly. From the changes that happened, to the massive wave of energy that rocked the mansion, it was all too much for her to bear.


    ***


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    As soon as the character that meant ¡¯Ordained¡¯ in Dao script disappeared into Lin Mu¡¯s forehead, he looked at the two people that were standing in front of him. He knew that he had definitely scared the pair of Grandfather and granddaughter.


    Even he himself would have been scared if he was in their position and had witnessed something like this. A momentter, Lin Mu could finally hear Senior Xukong¡¯s voice in his mind.


    "Lin Mu, are you fine? What happened?" Xukong asked with great worry.


    "I¡¯m fine... As for what happened, I now know what to do..." Lin Mu spoke in a calm tone which did not alleviate Xukong¡¯s state at all.


    ¡¯He does not seem well. What happened back then waspletely unexpected. We need to figure out a new course of n or this won¡¯t be good for us.¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    When the light had descended on Lin Mu, the barrier that was surrounding his mind had disappeared, which allowed Xukong to witness theter events. He could recognize the character that had appeared in the air and had merged into Lin Mu¡¯s forehead.


    Xukong was also able to see the memories from a few seconds ago and saw Lin Mu¡¯s parents dying and suffering. He understood that this was a huge burden on Lin Mu¡¯s heart and would not go away easily. If it was not dispelled soon, it would be a shackle on his cultivation.


    ¡¯He already had a heart demon develop before, thankfully it was taken care of by the ring. I do not want another one to be born so soon. His parents are a big part of him and he will definitely need to take care of his filial debt.¡¯ Xukong thought to himself after seeing the memories.


    ¡¯I would have never expected the world to choose him and even bestow its ordainment. Still, this is beneficial to him and is ording to his goals, anyway. He can avenge his parents and gain power in the same path. The world¡¯s grace would only add to the advantages.¡¯ Xukong judged.


    Xukong then looked at the ethereal altar in the ring and saw that it had calmed down. No changes could be observed, and no longer was it releasing the aura of the demonic path.


    "Was the World¡¯s Ordainment your doing as well?" Xukong questioned without expecting an answer.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ***


    Jing Wei knew what being ordained by the world¡¯s will meant. He had known of other people that were ordained before in the past and knew that it was both a good thing and a bad thing. But one thing was for sure: a great upheaval was upon them.


    Jing Wei looked at Lin Mu and walked forward. Duan Ke saw this and felt fearful for a moment as she called out, "Grandfather!".


    Jing Wei looked back at her as he gently nodded at her and spoke, "It is fine. Now that he has been Ordained by the World¡¯s will, we have nothing to worry about. Instead, we now have hope for our future."


    Turning back to face Lin Mu, he came to stand in front and gazed deeply into his eyes.


    "Seems like the world¡¯s will has seen your resolve, Lin Mu. I guess it wants you to eliminate the invader?" Jing Wei spoke in a calm tone.


    All the fear and uneasiness that there was on his face had disappeared, and what reced it now was understanding.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he went over everything that had happened in these few minutes. Thinking over them for a moment, he ensured that he was clear about everything.


    "Yes, it does indeed. And I shall do it, even if it would have not asked me. I shall do it to avenge my parents." Lin Mu said with utter determination in his voice.


    Jing Wei was looking into Lin Mu¡¯s eyes as he said this, and could see the mes of resolve burning in them. He could even feel the change in his aura and knew that he had grown strong. It was not a physical growth, but rather a mental one.


    "Excellent. We shall help you too." Jing Wei replied as he nodded at him.


    Lin Mu felt a little confused at his words, but then realized that it was probably because of the invader. He had heard from Senior Xukong that it was an innate duty of every being of a world to eliminate the invaders that dared to trespass on it.


    He reckoned that this was the reason why Jing Wei had said this. Duan Ke had mentioned about the invader a few minutes ago, and now he wanted to know the rest of the story. He now wanted to know about it more than ever.


    Lin Mu shifted his eyes from Jing Wei and looked at Duan Ke. His gaze sent an ever so subtle shiver through her body and made her tense up.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    Duan Ke gulped hard as she felt her mouth go dry.


    "Continue and tell me the rest of what you were saying." Lin Mu spoke in a calm tone.


    Duan Ke looked at her grandfather for a moment and saw that he was giving her a look of approval.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    She took a deep breath before speaking.

 Chapter 206 - Blight Dust Beast

    <h4>Chapter 206 - Blight Dust Beast </h4>


    "The beast that was infected by the invader was a nascent soul stage beast, called as the Blight dust beast. It has the body of a butterfly, the tail of a bull, and the horns of an antelope. It has four wings that look likerge leaves and has countless fine hairs on it.


    It was found in the eastern part of the forest called as the gray muck swamp. It is located far beyond the eastern town, more than six hundred kilometers away. The swamp itself is quite small but the danger level there is quite high and seldom do people go there.


    The gue urred due to the ability of the Blight dust beast. Its ability allows it to releaserge amounts of invisible dust from its wings that is toxic. This dust can affect both nts and beasts. The creatures that die from this are then eaten by the beast.


    The beast itself is omnivorous and thus has no preference in food, eating whatever it gets. Though, overall in the hierarchy of Nascent soul beasts, it is in the lowest level as except for its ability it does not do that good in other aspects. Its speed is slow and so is its defense. Still, this is in terms of a nascent soul beast, overall it is still many times stronger than any Core condensation realm beast.


    Upon being infected by the invader, the beast mutated and its ability changed. Its ability actually got weakened and was no longer as deadly as before. While it did kill most creatures, the process was much slower than before. Another change that happened to the ability was that its range increased by a lot. It was this dust that caused the gue to spread in the region and because it was so far away, its effects were diluted even more.


    In reality, it was no gue but rather a massive case of poisoning." Duan Ke exined.


    Lin Mu intently listened to Duan Ke¡¯s exining and did not miss even a single word. He stayed silent after shepleted speaking and thought over it. He analyzed all that he could from it to n what he would be doing next.


    "What happened next?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Because the dust was invisible, and the effects were slower, the authorities could not identify what it really was. They thus tried the usual cures and remedies, but none of them worked as you must have seen. At most, they were able to extend the life of the patients by suppressing the symptoms, but still, that was no cure.


    Even the mayor had thought the same, and it took him a while before he sent people to investigate. Even the people that he had sent to investigate died never to return, making him rmed. Knowing that it must be something beyond his capabilities, he decided to contact the Tri Cauldron peony sect.


    The Tri cauldron peony sect is a cultivation sect that specializes in alchemical pills and herbs. The sect sent its elders and disciples to investigate the cause of this gue, which eventually led them to gray muck swam where they found the Bligh dust beast.


    With theirbined efforts they were able to defeat it, but little did they know that the beast had been infected by an invader. I had already been asked by grandfather to investigate this and was thus closely following their every move.


    I even had to assist them a few times during their fight while staying hidden or they would have all died, as all they had sent were core condensation realm elders and qi refining realm disciples. I had the support of the spirit tools, thus I was safe and was able to fight against the beast.


    The strange thing was, the beast was actually weakened. Its strength seemed to be even more less than usual for a nascent soul realm beast. I realized that this must have been the effect of the invader, a side effect of the mutation. Thankfully, because of this the beast was eventually defeated.


    Still, the Tri cauldron peony sect had great losses. Nearly all of their disciples died, and a quarter of their elders that were sent on the mission died as well. They were able to formte an antidote and sent it to the towns to be distributed.


    The mayor had to give a huge payment to the Tri cauldron peony sect, which drained a majority of his fortune. Ever since then he had been sensitive about all things rted to money." Duan Ke answered.


    Lin Mu finally linked the string of events and could now understand the strange anxiety everyone felt in the town. Even the supervisor was rather nervous and scared about the harvest and was being urged on by the mayor.


    He could even understand the perspective of Li Peng when he damaged all the apples. Perhaps he was even saved from a more harsh punishment because Li Peng handled it that way.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯It is all in the past, right now I need to look towards the future.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


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    ¡¯Hmm, seems like he has grown a lot. His naivety is slowly fading away.¡¯ Xukong inwardly spoke after seeing Lin Mu¡¯s thoughts.


    "What happened to the invader then? From what I¡¯ve seen, it will show itself once its host is killed. Did the Tri cauldron peony sect now find out about it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Fortunately, no. The Tri cauldron peony sect has not been existing for long enough to know about invaders. Or perhaps only their higher-ups know about it. Like I said, all information about the invaders is kept restricted.


    Still, what you said did not happen. The invader did not show itself right away after the beast was killed. The people from the sect also retreated quickly after the battle, as they need to tend to the wounded and did not want to risk it further. Once they were gone, I went in to check.


    I had to use a special technique to eliminate the beast¡¯s corpse, which led to the invader¡¯s avatar being released. It was in the form of a ck mass that had bone spurs and skulls on it. Only after seeing that did I realize what it was as I felt it in my mind, the repulsive feeling.


    I returned to talk with grandfather and he confirmed my suspicion. He then told me to investigate it further to see what else I could find. And I did, a lot. There were far too many traces of the invader in the forest spread around.


    It took me over a month before I could find them and eliminate them. Even still, a few escaped as we can see. Or rather, that was not the main source of the invader and was just one of the hosts." Duan Ke answered, feeling a little tired.


    Lin Mu could see that the entire thing was linked to far too many things and that he needed to proceed carefully. He now wondered if even the avatar of the invader that was infecting the Great slumber beast was the main one or not.


    "Now that we¡¯ve listened to this, I¡¯m afraid it is as you think. The great slumber bear was probably the first host, but not the source itself. From what we¡¯ve seen the invader can manipte space up to a certain extent, it¡¯s likely that it is hiding in one of the spatial dimensions in this world." Xukong spoke up.

 Chapter 207 - Clues About The Invader

    <h4>Chapter 207 - Clues About The Invader </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s expression was serious upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s reply. He did not know how they would face this or how they would even find the invader. For all he could imagine, the invader could be hiding anywhere in this world.


    Senior Xukong had exined to him before that as long as one has the ess to a spatial dimension in this world they would be able to enter it as long as it was not anchored to a specific location. There were also certain restrictions such as that it could be entered from any ce but could only be exited from a certain location.


    There were far too many possibilities, and Lin Mu did not know which one it could be.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯All I can do right now is to obtain more information, investigate and explore. I should eventually be able to find some kind of clue.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu¡¯s mind then returned to the current situation, and he started to think of the next question.


    "What did you do after that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "After I eliminated the invader¡¯s traces, I returned to the town and stayed here for the rest of the time. At least until you arrived and brought the Mutant beast. I refined the mutant beast¡¯s corpse into a bloodline tracking bead and used it to trace the location of the Invader.


    This eventually led me to the northern forest, where I found more beasts that had been infected by the invader. Most of them were fierce beasts, while some were spirit beasts. I refined them into bloodline tracking beads as well and was able to find the source of the mutation.


    The source of the mutation was a pond underneath which a bigger avatar of the invader was hiding. But unlike the one that escaped from the corpses, this one was unresponsive and looked like a mass of ck sludge, not having any of its characteristics like before.


    I brought it to show to grandfather before destroying it as well. At that moment, I thought these were the only traces that I had missed. I wanted to search for more, but the bloodline tracking beads were all fully consumed. Still, I didn¡¯t get any more reactions from thest remanding bloodline tracking bead, thus I thought that those were thest of them.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    This is the third time I¡¯m hearing about these invaders." Duan Ke answered.


    Lin Mu thought over her words for a moment before withdrawing two items from his Ring. These items were the vial containing the beast inciting powder, and the wooden te with a unique triangr pattern which was the beast storage treasure.


    Thest time Lin Mu had met the Hei Corps, he had taken the beast storage treasure with him. They were fine with it and since it was damaged already, they didn¡¯t mind it either. Hei Wan and Hei Bao were also quite trustful of him now.


    Lin Mu first handed the vial to Duan Ke, who took it from his hands and looked at it with a questioning look.


    "Can you tell me what this is?" Lin Mu questioned, to which Duan Ke nodded.


    She then waved her hand and a small transparent sphere appeared in front of her. The sphere was big enough for Duan Ke to keep her hands inside it with no problem. She put both of her hands inside the sphere and then opened the small vial inside it.


    She then closed her eyes for a minute after which they twitched and it seemed as if she was shocked. Another minute passed before she opened them. Upon opening them, the sphere glowed for a moment and she quickly closed the vial. The sphere disappeared and then she looked at Lin Mu with a slightly unsure expression.


    "My analysis tells me that this is a vial of beast inciting powder, but I¡¯m not fully sure. There is something wrong with it, but I can¡¯t tell what." Duan Ke answered.


    Lin Mu nodded at her answer and was a little amazed at her disy of techniques. He wondered what she had done with that transparent sphere.


    "That¡¯s an analytical technique. It is one of the auxiliary qi techniques that are useful for situations such as this. The sphere istes the contents of the vial and ensures that they don¡¯t spread. This makes it easier for the person to check them." Xukong exined to Lin Mu, who simply nodded in understanding.


    Meanwhile, Jing Wei had raised his brows upon hearing Duan Ke¡¯s answer. He did not think that his granddaughter would fail at something that she specialized in, investigation. While she was no expert at alchemical pills andpounds, he knew that she was more than knowledgeable about them.


    Wanting to know what it was that made her granddaughter confused, Jing Wei extend his hand to her. Duan Ke understood this gesture and gave him the vial. Unlike Duan Ke though, Jing Wei did not do what she did. In fact, he did not even open the cap of the vial. He simply sensed its contents with his spirit sense and then opened his eyes.


    "This is indeed beast inciting powder, but a certain change has been made in its form. I can estimate that its effects must have changed as well and are probably stronger than before." Jing Wei surmised.


    Lin Mu nodded his head as he spoke, "You are right, this is indeed beast inciting powder. Now can you also tell me what this is?" He said and passed the wooden te to Jing Wei directly.


    Jing Wei looked at the pattern on it and raised his eyes in surprise.


    "A beast storage treasure? That too with the marking of the ancients?" Jing Wei spoke.


    Lin Mu was not surprised that Jing Wei was able to recognize it, as he had expected him to know this because of his background. But what made him interested was the term that Jing Wei had just said.


    "Yes, it is a beast storage treasure. But what is this marking of the ancients you are talking about?" Lin Mu questioned.

 Chapter 208 - History Of The Continent-I

    <h4>Chapter 208 - History Of The Continent-I </h4>


    Jing Wei flipped the wooden te and pointed at the metallic wing pattern that was present on it.


    "This thing, it is the mark of the ancient spirit tool refiners. Their techniques have been lost to time and not many know about this anymore, as we now have our own techniques of refinement. But, I don¡¯t know what the other two markings mean. All I¡¯ve heard about before is the wing pattern.


    Our n specializes in the spirit weapon and spirit tool refinement, thus we have knowledge that a lot of sects do not have. Perhaps the top sects may know about it, but still not as much as us. Our n once had a beast storage treasure that had the ancient mark of the wing before." Jing Wei answered.


    "Just as I expected. While they¡¯ve seen such kinds of beast treasures before, they do not know that the markings are a universal designation of their grades. It seems like they have only seen the lowest grade beast storage treasures before.


    From this, I can specte that this world definitely had contact with other worlds. Perhaps even higher level worlds." Xukong chimed in.


    Lin Mu silently heard their words and internalized them. Duan Ke too heard her grandfather¡¯s words and was now wondering what was Lin Mu¡¯s aim.


    "Why are you showing us these?" Duan Ke asked, feeling curious.


    Jing Wei too turned his attention back to Li Mu after hearing Duan Ke¡¯s words as he too wanted to know the reason.


    "That is because both of these items are linked to the appearance of the invader and are clues..." Before Lin Mu could speak more, he was interrupted by Jing Wei.


    It turned out that this was all that Jing Wei needed before he liked all the information together in his mind and came to a conclusion.


    "You mean to say these items were brought by someone from a different world and the invader was contained within this beast storage treasure?" Jing Wei spoke with a shocked tone.


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    <i>~Phew~</i>


    ¡¯This saves me the exnation, and I don¡¯t need to lie about the great slumber bear at all. He just made it up by himself, still it¡¯s not aplete lie either.¡¯ Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    "Yes, it is as you said." Lin Mu confirmed while nodding his head.


    A grim expression appeared on Jing Wei¡¯s face upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s confirmation. Duan Ke too was worried, looking at her grandfather¡¯s expression. She could sense that something bad was stirring within his mind, and she wanted to know what it was that could bother him so much.


    "Grandfather, what¡¯s the problem, what are you worried about?" Duan Ke questioned in a concerned tone.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I¡¯m afraid I know who could be potentially behind this." Jing Wei spoke in a tired tone.


    Lin Mu and Duan Ke¡¯s eyes went wide as they heard this revtion.


    "Who is it? Why are they doing this?!" Lin Mu asked in an impatient tone.


    "Before I tell you this, let me ask you: do you know or rather, has your master told you about the history of our Continent before?" Jing Wei questioned to which Lin Mu shook his head in denial.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Another sigh escaped Jing Wei¡¯s mouth as hisplexion became a shade darker.


    "More than ten thousand years ago this Continent which we now call the Great Zhou Continent did not exist. Instead, there existed five different continents. These continents existed in the different directions of this world.


    The biggest of these continents was called as the central continent, which was ruled by the Zhou kingdom who ruled the mortals along with a few cultivation sects that ruled over the cultivators respectively. The second and third continents were known as the eastern continent, which was to the east of the central continent, and the western continent which was to the west.


    Below the Central continent was the Southern wild continent which was covered with endless jungles and deserts. And the final and the smallest continent was the northern continent.


    All of these contents had their countless kingdoms and cultivation sects within them except for the wild continent which was popted by beasts. Though there were some small and isted groups of people living there. These continents were separated by the grand ocean, which was filled with danger.


    Still, this did not stop the kingdoms and sects from fighting against each other for resources andnd. Countless battles and wars urred during this period in which innumerable people died. It was also during this time that peerless experts were born and many cultivators ascended.


    In these endless conflicts, many alliances were formed and simrly were dissolved. Kingdoms rose and fell, and so did the cultivation sects as well. Eventually, more years passed, and the situation stabilized. Though battles over resources still continued from time to time.


    Of these battles, the mostmon topic of conflict was the wild continent. It was thend that was untouched and had the most resources. But because of its location, only the central, western, and eastern contents could ess it. Leaving the northern continent with little benefits. If they wanted resources they could get them from the southern continent, but they had to pay a great tax to the other three continents, which barely left them with any resources for themselves.


    The other three continents too took advantage of them and employed their people in obtaining resources. Tired of this exploitation, the kingdoms and sects of the northern Continent were united under one n, the Yao n. They formed the grand northern alliance andunched a war against the rest.


    The ruling powers of the three continents took them lightly since they considered them to be weak. But this was a big mistake, and they lost harshly. rmed by this failure, the higher-ups of each continentunched their investigation against this Yao n.


    What they found out left them dumbfounded. The Yao n had never existed before the Grand northern alliance was created. It was as if they had appeared out of thin air."

 Chapter 209 - History Of The Continent-II

    <h4>Chapter 209 - History Of The Continent-II </h4>


    Lin Mu was listening intently to Jing Wei¡¯s each and every word. He had never known that the continent had such a history. From all that he had learned from his parents, the most he knew was the history dating back to a hundred years and the small wars that had happened during that time.


    But even those events he didn¡¯t know properly and only knew the surface information. He was quitecking in this aspect and was thus very interested in it.


    Jing Wei had paused to take a breath before he continued speaking again.


    "This Yao n was mysterious and was never heard of before. They were powerful and had tens of cultivators that were in the Dao treading realm, along with three that were even at the Immortal Ascension realm. These three Immortal Ascension realm cultivators formed the backbone of their power and established their hegemony.


    The Yao n took the other two ruling ns of the northern Continent under them as vassals. These ns were called as the Gu n and the Bei n. Both of these ns too had an immortal ascension realm cultivator each backing them.


    Now the Grand northern alliance had five immortal Ascension realm cultivators backing them, which was enough to change the bnce of power. As they had be the Continent with the most immortal Ascension realm cultivators. The western and eastern Continent only had two immortal Ascension realm cultivators of their own, while the central Continent had three.


    While this made it seem like the three continents were still in the advantage as they had a total of seven immortal Ascension realm cultivators, it was not so. The three continents still had their internal conflicts, which only ended up bing worse due to this shift in power.


    When the next battle happened, all five of the immortal Ascension realm cultivators of the Grand northern alliance descended while the three continents only sent four of theirs; one each from the eastern and western, and two from the central continent. The remaining immortal Ascension realm cultivators held down their respective bases as they could not be left undefended.


    This battlested a day and night and ended in a stalemate, with neither partying out victorious. This felt strange to the powers of the three continents, and they were suspicions. Their eventual investigations lead them to a shocking revtion.


    The Grand northern alliance had actually been negotiating in secret with the smaller Powers of the three continents and the previous battle was but a mere disy of power. Wanting to cull dissent, the higher-ups of the three continents cracked down onto the smaller powers that were likely to betray them and even ended up exterminating some of them.


    But this was exactly what the Grand northern alliance wanted. Their act of suppressing the small powers instead ended up making some of them betraying them, and they thus joined up with the grand northern alliance. ording to their strategy, they built teleportation formations in each of the continents within the territories of the smaller powers.


    This tactic of their resulted in great losses to the ruling powers of the three continents, and they started to fall to the losing side. They tried many things to prevent this, even destroying the teleportation formations that the grad northern alliance built by paying a heavy price.


    They lost tens of Dao treading realm cultivators of theirs to the enemy, yet it did not do much. For the Yao n had some mysterious formation creation skills which allowed them to create these teleportation formations in a short amount of time with less amount of resources. In fact, they were even able to build teleportation formations to the southern Continent as well, which allowed them to gain a lot of resources.


    Now utterly dismayed by this, the powers of the three continents came to a unanimous decision. They decide to unite and form an alliance of their own. At least until the grand northern alliance was dealt with. This took them a great deal of effort and many negotiations were held, but eventually they were able to achieve it, albeit with some ws of course.


    This time with their united efforts they were able to push back the people of the grand northern alliance that had upied their territory and even managed to kill one of their immortal Ascension realm cultivators.


    After this battle, the situation cooled down for a hundred years and the grand northern alliance did not act out as much. The alliance of the three Continents too, let them be for a little while as they themselves were tired and needed time to recover. And they also knew that a beast pushed into a corner will retaliate with its full might. It was better to let the situation continue as it was.


    But one day, it happened. Millions of cultivators suddenly appeared on the three continents out of nowhere. All of these cultivators used strange and unorthodox cultivation techniques and skills that were never known before. Soon it was known that these were evil cultivators and hade from another world.


    The three continents were now at the greatest risk. Hundreds of cultivation sects and kingdoms were massacred overnight by these cultivators. It was at that time that they felt it, the calling of the world. They then found out for the first time that these cultivators were invaders from another world.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    It was during this time that those ordained by the world¡¯s will appeared. Each of the top ten sects now had one person that was ordained by the world¡¯s will, including those from the strongest kingdoms. In total, there were about a hundred cultivators that were ordained by the world¡¯s will.


    These cultivators formed the vanguard and helped in pushing back the invaders and killing. Eventually, people found out how the invaders hade to this world. The Yao n had summoned them and had pawned off the three continents in exchange for getting to rule the world.


    Angered by this, the ruling powers of the three continents came to a big decision. They would strike where it would hurt the most and remove the one thing that was allowing the Yao n to suppress them, the teleportation formations.


    They had decided to unite the continents, literally." Jing Wei revealed.

 Chapter 210 - History Of The Continent-III

    <h4>Chapter 210 - History Of The Continent-III </h4>


    Lin Mu was dumbfounded to say the least, upon listening to this. He wondered what kind of power would be required to move the literal continents of a world and join them.


    "While you think this is shocking, there are far more feats that can be aplished by the cultivators in this cosmos. Even creating life is not impossible." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


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    Lin Mu was overwhelmed by this information and simply nodded as he focused back on to what Jing Wei was speaking.


    "But aplishing this was no easy task, and a great number of resources were needed for this. Eventually though, they formted a n that could be fulfilled with the cooperation of each and every power of the three continents.


    Theyid great formations arrays in thends of the three continents, along with the southern wild continents. They tried to keep this hidden for as long as they could, but eventually, the truth was revealed. The grand northern alliance acted swiftly, starting another war to stall their efforts.


    And that was what happened. Their process ofpetition of the n slowed down to a turtle¡¯s pace after it had reached around fifty percentpletion. Another hundred years passed like this.


    The Yao n eventually grew tired of having their teleportation formations destroyed and decided to try a reckless tactic. They too decided to do what the ruling Powers of the three continents were doing. They decided to join the northern Continent to the central continent as well.


    Unlike the three continents though, they were able to keep this hidden for a much longer while. Their n was nearly ny percentplete before the alliance of the three continents figured out what they were doing from their movements.


    Afraid of what could happen next, they decided to initiate their n prematurely. Another war was started and in this, one immortal Ascension realm cultivator each of the Continents died. Knowing that this was their final few stands, the Yao n decided on an even reckless n.


    They decided to destroy the entirety of the eastern or western Continent. While this caused them to lose their benefitster on, it was still better than them losing everything.


    The formations arrays were activated and the continents started moving, this was the time when the Yao n decided to act. With their mystical teleportation formations, they summoned a beast of great power. This beast was in the pseudo immortal realm and ended up appearing in the Western Continent. It caused great devastation and the destruction of the ruling powers of the Western Continent.


    Still, by pitting all their resources and hidden reserves against the beast, they were able to y the beast, but now before it detonated at the end of its life. The detonation of a pseudo immortal beast was never seen before in this world shook the entirety of it, causing the western Continent to sink into the grand ocean.


    During this time, the Eastern Continent and the southern Continent had also managed to join up and unite. They had seeded in their n, but at a massive cost. Even the northern Continent had managed to join up with the central continent, but the area where they joined was rather narrow, spanning only a few kilometers.


    The ruling powers of the remaining two continents were utterly terrified and knew that the situation was now apocalyptic. They thus did something that was never done before, sacrificing a great number of their cultivators and resources they called their ancestors that had ascended to the higher realm. They were able to do this as they too had gained new knowledge from their analysis of the Yao n¡¯s teleportation formations.


    Understandably they were not able to contact anyone specific but could only send out a mass message to everyone that had ascended from this world. They eventually got the responses and four immortals descended to this world.


    The day that they descended, the entire world shook and the heavens were split apart. Heavily tribtion lightning appeared as if to punish the people who had summoned the immortals, but it could not do so. The four immortals snuffed it out like the wick of a candle with little effort.


    But their descent came with a great price, they could not stay here for long, having mere minutes before they would cause irreversible damage to their home world. Two of the immortals joined forces and created a great barrier around the world that would prevent the invaders froming in.


    This depleted their powers and they could not stay in this world anymore. One of those immortals was the progenitor of the number one ranked sect, the Sky precepts sect. While the other one was an independent cultivator from the eastern Continent.


    The two final remaining immortals decided to exterminate the Grand Northern alliance. Their every movement caused earthquakes, and the sky thundered with their steps. They descended onto the northern Continent and exterminated the Yao n thoroughly removing all their traces.


    One of the remaining two immortals was from the western Continent and was in grief due to the loss of his people. Regretting that he never left anything for his people, he took an oath and disappeared. No one knows where he went, but it is considered that he could not stay in the world anymore and was thus forced back to the higher realm.


    The final remaining immortal though did something else. He left behind a prophecy. He revealed to us that there are more powers in the other worlds that are coveting our resources and would one day descend bing invaders.


    He wanted us to be ready and warned that until the right time came, the world shall stay sealed. After saying thosest words, he too disappeared.


    All of this urred about ten thousand years ago.


    The world was now in shambles, and it took a took a thousand years before it could recover to a semnce of stability. Still, the powers were all greatly weakened and many of them had been destroyed leaving behind a handful that prevailed in the end.


    All of these powers were the ones that constitute the cultivation sects and the kingdoms of today. Of course, this was the same for the northern continent as well. While the Yao n was exterminated and the grand northern alliance had copsed, some remnants of the ns were still alive.


    The area that joined the northern Continent with the central Continent was now bigger than before and had reached an area of hundreds of kilometers and looked like the waist of a pear. With the smaller top part being the northern Continent and the bigger bottom part the central continent.


    Five thousand years passed by and the Powers had recovered decently. Although they did not have as many Dao treading realm cultivators as before. And the number of immortal Ascension realm cultivators had also fallen. These immortal Ascension realm cultivators soon entered seclusion and were never seen again as they had sacrificed a lot in order to summon the immortals.


    Eventually, the remnants of the Northern Continent formed small tribes and started attacking the kingdoms in the Central continent. By now the northern Continent was called as the forbidden continent."

 Chapter 211 - History Of The Continent-IV

    <h4>Chapter 211 - History Of The Continent-IV </h4>


    This was the second time Lin Mu had heard about the forbidden continent. He knew that thend beyond the northern mountains was called as the forbidden continent, but thought that it was called so because of the presence of strong beasts.


    He did know that there were still people living in thatnd, though. From all that he had heard, the forbidden Continent was cold and deste. It was popted by the beasts that roamed the forests within it. Even in the peak of summers, the forbidden continent was said to be covered with snow and ice.


    Lin Mu could hardly think of anyone that would willingly stay in and like this but now knew that it was not because of their choice but because of what had happened in the past.


    "So you mean to say the recent wars that happened, were because of these surviving tribes?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, they have been happening for far too long than that. You should know about the northern frontier, right? The vermilion legion guards it to prevent these northern tribes from attacking the people of the great Zhou continent." Jing Wei shook his head as he spoke.


    Lin Mu finally linked the things together and got a better idea of the situation.


    "What happened next?" He questioned.


    "Oh yes, after these tribes attacked the kingdoms retaliated and pushed them back. By now major changes had urred in the newly formed continent. The kingdoms were now vying for supremacy after having stayed silent for a long while.


    In this race for supremacy, the forerunner was the Zhou kingdom as it had to the strongest background and had the most amount of cultivators. While the cultivation sects could have also staked their im, they chose to not do so and instead decided to follow the advice of thest immortal that had left behind the prophecy.


    They came to an understanding with the kingdoms and decided that they would separate the ruling powers back into two as they were before. The kingdoms would rule over the mortals, while the sects would do so over the cultivators. Of course, the cultivators were not restricted from joining the kingdoms and could do so as they wished.


    Still, because of this a delicate power of bnce was created, where the kingdoms and cultivation sects would respect each other. Thus the cultivation sects decided to not get involved with the conflicts of the kingdoms.


    Eventually, thepetition for supremacy led to two kingdoms being at the top. Zhou kingdom of the former central continent and the Eastern Ming Dynasty of the former eastern continent. These two kingdoms had always been powerful and have had conflicts in the past.


    Now the situation came where the remaining kingdoms had to choose to be vassals of each of the two kingdoms in order for them to be the Superior one. A hundred years passed during which countless negotiations and trades happened in order to pull these smaller kingdoms under each of the two kingdoms.


    The northernnds that we live in right now was once a vassal of the Eastern Ming dynasty back then. This included the Shuang Qian kingdom and the newly formed ck Dawn kingdom. Eventually, in the end, the Eastern Ming Dynasty lost and Zhou kingdom prevailed.


    ording to their previous agreement, the loser would have to be a vassal kingdom of the other, and that is what happened. Still, to do this a marital alliance was required. The then king of Zhou kingdom decided to marry his second son to the first princess of the Eastern Ming Dynasty.


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    Still, their enmity had notpletely ended yet. The prince of the Zhou kingdom who was to be married off to the princess had some grudges against them and decided to settle them.


    The second prince of the Zhou kingdom was less talented than the first princess of the Wastern Ming Dynasty and thus had a lower cultivation level than her. In order to get his revenge, he humiliated her by asking for her cultivation base to be dissipated and for her to start over again.


    The people of the Eastern Ming Dynasty found this out and were in an uproar. Still, the princess was wise and understanding. She knew that if she did not follow the orders the consequences would not be good. She decisively crippled her own cultivation, giving her kingdom a saving grace.


    The royal family of the Eastern Ming Dynasty was in tears over her sacrifice and vowed to take to revenge in the future tenfold. Still, they gritted their teeth and held on. But the rtionship between the two kingdoms stayed tense.


    Eventually, the Zhou kingdom took over all the kingdoms on the continent under it and became the Great Zhou Empire.


    Three thousand years passed as such in rtive peace until when the people from the forbidden Continent acted. The remnants of the Grand northern alliance had somehow united again and had unearthed the relics of the Yao n.


    Using these very relics, they made shrines that they then used to summon more invaders. Over the years, the barrier of the world had gotten weaker and some ws in it could be found. The Northern tribes used these very ws and tried to summon invaders from other worlds.


    This time though, the empire was ready and so were the cultivation sects as well. For far too long had they been waiting, and finally it hade. They thought that the prophecy was finallying true. A great war was fought back then, and even I fought in it on the front lines.


    My n had long been dedicated to fighting against the invaders and specialized in refining spirit tools and forging spirit weapons. We were the ones that supplied weapons to the empire and to the sects as well.


    It was during this time that I had my first encounter with a being that was beyond the immortal ascension realm. We were in a shrine that the invaders were using to summon invaders. The being in question was a beast that was beyond the immortal ascension realm and had nearly broken through the world barrier.


    Still, with a great sacrifice, we were able to stop them. That was the end of thest great war.


    It was after that the vermilion legion was formed and deployed in hate northern frontier. A great wall was erected that separated the two continents, which was eventually called the pear¡¯s belt." Jing Wei concluded.

 Chapter 212 - The Workshop

    <h4>Chapter 212 - The Workshop </h4>


    Lin Mu was amazed after hearing the entire history of the Continent was absolutely amazed by it. He had never known that such intricacies were hidden beneath it and most people did not even know about it. At least themoners did not know. Lin Mu had even talked with the Hei corps about it previously and even they did not know as much as Jing Wei.


    But in their entire narration, Lin Mu had picked up a few things. The biggest being that Jing Wei had participated in the Great war a thousand years ago and had contended against a beast that was at a realm beyond the immortal Ascension realm.


    "Senior, this means..." Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    "Yes... This man Jing Wei has been living for more than a thousand years. Just from this and how he had contender against a beast like that, I cane to the conclusion that he is at the Dao treading realm as well. There is no other way he would have been alive till now.


    Dao shell realm cultivators have a lifespan of about two thousand years, while the Dao treading realm cultivators have a lifespan of three thousand years. Even if he were not a Dao treading realm cultivator back then, he is definitely one Right now.


    Still, the question stands, why would he seal his cultivation base?" Xukong replied.


    Although Lin Mu had estimated that Jing Wei¡¯s cultivation base was high, he was still shocked after getting this confirmation. He wanted to ask him right away about his cultivation, but knew that it would not be the proper method. He thus thought for a moment before speaking again.


    "Then, you don¡¯t mean that the northern tribes are behind this invader as well?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, although I can¡¯t say for sure, but it is the most likely possibility. Still, there is a chance that the invader had been brought by someone else here, but how we do not know that." Jing Wei answered.


    After listing to his words, Lin Mu was lost in his thoughts. Lin Mu knew that the beast storage treasure was used to store the Great Slumber Bear and that the beast had a cultivation base that was beyond the immortal Ascension realm.


    But the beast storage treasure could only be used by someone that was a cultivator. This meant that there was probably a rogue cultivator behind this. Lin Mu could also surmise that it was perhaps a lone cultivator from the northern tribes who had released the great slumber bear in the northern forest. But the beast inciting powder was still a mystery.


    ¡¯Why would that person not use the beast inciting powder? Or did he perhaps drop it there by a mistake?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Jing Wei took a long sigh after finishing the story. Evidently, this had also stirred some bad memories for him that he did not want to remember, perhaps. Duan Ke could see this cane forward to hold her grandfather¡¯s hand.


    She gently squeezed his hand and looked at him with a gentle smile on her face, as if telling him that everything was fine now. Jing Wei felt good after this gesture of hers and lifted his spirits up.


    <i>~p~</i>


    "Now then, we should get you your reward. After all, I did promise you that I would give you a spirit spear." Jing Wei suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu snapped out of his thoughts after hearing him speak and lifted his head to look at him.


    "Ah yes, I almost forgot about it. Let¡¯s go." Lin replied with a slightly excited voice.


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    Jing Wei and Duan Ke now took him to a different part of the mansion. Lin Mu could observe the change before he even reached their destination. The walls of the mansion as well as the floor had now changed from a wooden material to stone and steel.


    Lin Mu realized that they were moving in a downward direction as they eventually arrived at a stairwell. The stairwell descended into the ground and Lin Mu could not tell how deep it went as it was dark. He used his spirit sense and found out that even at its maximum range it did not reach the end of it.


    Jing Wei and Duan Ke continued on, and Lin Mu followed behind them. On the way, he passed through four floors, and even then he could not sense the bottom of the stairwell.


    ¡¯Seems like this mansion extends deep into the ground. But how far deep can it go, I wonder?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "It should be at the same depth as the height of the courtyard¡¯s barrier. You can estimate from that perhaps." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu thought over it and remembered that the barrier of the courtyard was more than a thousand meters wide. If he thought of the courtyard as a spherical bubble, then it should be about five hundred meters deep into the ground and five hundred in the sky as well.


    Eventually, they reached their destination after four more floors. Along the way, Lin Mu could see that each floor had multiple rooms that were hidden behind closed doors. He had tried to see behind these doors with the help of his spirit sense but discovered that it could not pierce them, making it impossible for him to know what was behind them.


    Their destination was a set ofrge doors that were about ten meters tall and five meters wide. They seemed to be made out of solid bronze and when Jing Wei opened them he saw that they were nearly ten inches thick.


    Jing Wei did not have to do much to open the doors as they automatically opened when they got close. When he finally saw the inside of the room though, Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what to think of it.


    The walks of it were made from stones stacked up on top of each other and stuck together with the help of mortar. At the end of it was arge forge that seemed to be covered with soot. Lin Mu could onlypare it to one thing; a cksmiths workshop.

 Chapter 213 - The Spirit Spears

    <h4>Chapter 213 - The Spirit Spears </h4>


    Lin Mu walked in from behind Jing Wei and Duan Ke and then saw that the room actually had another part to the right. This area was hidden from the angle that Lin Mu saw it from, thus did not know that it existed. But upon seeing it, he was amazed.


    There were hundreds of weapons in this area. Some were ced on stands, some were hanging while some were simply kept on the ground. While this would not have been that umon as Lin Mu had seen amon scene in the other cksmith¡¯s, but what made it different was the sheer amount of spirit qi that was in the area.


    "All of these are spirit weapons?!" Lin Mu muttered with shock.


    There was a wide variety of weapons ranging from the mostmon weapons such as swords, axes, spears, all the way to unorthodox weapons like hooked halberds, chain whips, ringed des, and sharp discs. This was the first time Lin Mu had seen such a wide variety of weapons apart from the ones he had gotten from the Hei corps.


    Lin Mu could even see that some of the weapons that were designed ording to the specifications of the thousand armament de scripture here. Still, Lin Mu did not feel like he needed every weapon for using with the thousand armament de scripture as that was not its main aim.


    The main aim of the thousand armament de scripture was for one to acquire the skills of multiple types of weapons and assimte them into a sword technique. Lin Mu knew that he was not even ten percent through to learning the thousand armament de scripture, thus knew that he shouldn¡¯t bite more than he could chew.


    Lin Mu¡¯s attention was pulled back to the soot-covered forge. One could tell that the forge had not been used for a long time and had been idle since time unknown. It had not even been cleaned, which only showed that perhaps its purpose had been long since forgotten.


    Lin Mu curiously checked the forge with his spirit sense and discovered that while it looked mundane and looked as if it was made frommon rocks and bricks, it was not so. There were multiple formation arrays hidden within its structure, that Lin Mu could sense with his spirit sense. He couldn¡¯t tell their purpose but knew that they wereplex.


    "Now then, let¡¯s look for a suitable spirit spear for you." Jing Wei spoke, breaking the silence.


    Lin Mu immediately turned his attention to Jing Wei, who had spoken.


    "Ah, yes. Please." Lin Mu replied.


    Jing Wei nodded his head and then went to the section where the spirit weapons were kept. He picked five spears from the area. Some were hanging on the walls while some were kept on the shelves. He then brought these spears to the side of the room where arge work table was kept.


    Unlike the forge though, this table was clean and seemed to be made of a single sheet of metal. Jing Wei ced down the five spirit spears on the table and showed them to Lin Mu.


    "After observing your style and how you fought Duan Ke earlier, I reckon these would suit you." Jing Wei spoke and pointed to the spears.


    Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and observed the five spears. Three of them had rtively simple designs and didn¡¯t look that impressive simr to his short sword. While the other two were different. One of them was quite shy, having a golden spear tip with a dark brown shaft that was made from some kind of wood. There were runes carved into the shaft and looked like they would activate when the spirit qi was poured into them.


    Property ? 2024 N0(v)elDrama.Org.


    The other spear waspletely opposite to the shy looking golden spear. Its spear tip was dark Grey, almost bordering on ck, and its shaft was made from a simr colored metal. While it looked like the entire spear was carved from a single piece of metal, it was not so. Lin Mu could sense that the inside of the spirit spear wasplex, and it looked like it had more parts than he thought.


    But still, Lin Mu could tell that each and every spear was a high tier spirit weapon byparing it with his short sword.


    "Go on, try them. See which one you like the best and you can take that one." Jing Wei spoke up and gestured to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu decided to try out the threemon looking spears first. While the three spears had a simr design, there were some minor differences that allowed them to be differentiated from each other. One of the spears had a longer spear tip than others, while the second one had a thicker shaft and the third one had a spear tip and shaft that were of equal thickness.


    All of their spear tips were dark silver colored just like steel and had shafts that were made from light brown wood that had been polished to an even finish. There were fine grooves carved into the shafts which allowed the user to have a better grip.


    The bottom end of the shafts was capped with a blunt metal end which prevented the shaft from getting damaged.


    Lin Mu randomly picked one of them and tried it out. He used the moves of the thousand armament des scripture and concluded that this spear was much better than the one he had bought from Jing Wei before. Its performance was much better than the ones he had gotten from the Hei corps as well.


    Lin Mu wanted to use his spirit sense to control the spear, but found out that he couldn¡¯t for some reason.


    "You won¡¯t be able to use it without putting a wisp of your spirit sense on it. But you can¡¯t do that either right now, as this is a high grade spirit spear. Your current spirit sense is not enough to handle two spirit weapons.


    Although you should be able to use it with your spirit senseter, I think it¡¯s better that you don¡¯t waste your time in that, as you may not even choose that." Xukong exined to Lin Mu.


    "I understand, Senior." Lin Mu nodded and replied in his mind.


    He then ced this spear down and did the same with the other twomon-looking spears. He repeated the same moves and techniques he used with the first spear so that he could get a rtively goodparison.


    He eventually came to the conclusion that all of them were quite simr in performance and were quitefortable for him. Still, that was all, they werefortable but not too special. Lin Mu¡¯s attention then went to the shy looking golden spear.


    But when he went to pick it up, he noticed something.


    ¡¯So heavy!¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    The spear was much heavier than it looked like, and while it was not difficult for Lin Mu to lift it; it was still at least three times heavier than the other three spears he had used. In fact, this was the heaviest spear he had used till now.

 Chapter 214 - The Effects Of The Spears

    <h4>Chapter 214 - The Effects Of The Spears </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s current strength was enough for him to lift a hundred kilograms easily, with no effort. And if he used vital energy and spirit qi to amplify his strength simultaneously, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for him to lift a thousand kilograms as well.


    Still, when using a weapon this weight became apletely different factor. While weight was an important factor and was quite beneficial for certain weapons such as hammers and maces, it was a different story in the case of weapons that worked more on technique such as swords and spears.


    Here more weight did not mean that the weapon would be that much more powerful. In fact, a heavier weight may even restrict the user¡¯s full potential in using the weapon. Thus it was important for the weapon to be well bnced.


    Lin Mu could feel that very thing right now. While the golden spear in his hands was heavy, it was well bnced. The weight of it was equally distributed and when he held it in the center of the shaft, it held straight.


    Lin Mu estimated that the spear was about fifty kilograms in weight, which was quite heavy to be honest. His short sword was barely four kilograms in weight, and the previous spear that he had used was at most twenty kilograms in weight.


    Still, Lin Mu started to use the spear and swung it around. He could sense that there was more to the spear and channeled his spirit qi into the spear. As soon as he did, the runes that were carved into the shaft lit up and the sharp edge of the spear started shining.


    Lin Mu stabbed forward and this caused a yellow beam of light to shoot out from the spat tip. The beam traveled for ten meters before it faded away. Lin Mu then swiped the spear in the air, creating arcs of energy that traveled for four meters before fading away.


    "Good spear!" Lin Mu muttered, feeling impressed.


    "Indeed, this spear is different from the previous three that you used. Different forging techniques were used in its creation and its type is different from the others." Jing Wei spoke.


    Lin Mu was intrigued by this information and wanted to know more.


    "Oh, what types are there?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Spirit weapons can be forged using many methods, but they are ssified broadly into three types. Pure forging in which the quality of the weapon and its strengthes from its raw materials. Such kinds of weapons don¡¯t have formations ced on them. The previous three spears you used are of this type.


    Enchantment, in which the strength of the weaponses from the formations ced on the weapons. The materials used to make them may not be as durable or strong as thosepared to the ones used in pure forging, but they can give special effects and skills like the one you saw. That golden spear is a spirit weapon of that type and can release energy when spirit qi is poured into the formation ced on it.


    The finally, there is the hybrid type, which is abination of the previous two types. These are much harder to forge and require proper nning andpatible materials. An example of this is your short sword, you must have felt it when you used it, didn¡¯t you?" Jing Wei replied.


    Lin Mu nodded as he remembered that the short sword did have a slightly different effect than normal. While it was not as apparent as the golden spear. The effect that the short sword had was enhanced amplification. Whenever Lin Mu poured spirit qi into the short sword, it would result in an amplification that was much stronger than normal. His short sword also had formations on it that enhanced the durability and sharpness of the de.


    Seeing that Lin Mu seemed satisfied, Jing Wei spoke again.


    "Go on, try thest spear. It is also a hybrid one, but is rather unique."


    Lin Mu picked up the final spear and found it to be rtively light. But he could tell that its weight was concentrated a little more towards the tip of the spear. Lin Mu used the thousand armament de scripture and discovered that he was much more fast while using this spear.


    Then came the time for the big reveal, Lin Mu wanted to know what kind of effect would the formations on this spear have. There were no runes present on the surfaces of the spear, and Lin Mu could tell that the spear was slightly hollow from the inside.


    He channeled his spirit qi into the spear and saw some changes happening in it. The spear lightly vibrated and four small openings appeared at the base of the spear tip. grey colored material energy was released from these openings and wrapped around the spear tip.


    But it didn¡¯t stop there. The energy kept onyering over and over until the spear tip was now much bigger than before. The spear tip was now no longer t, but instead had four intersecting edges forming a cross shape. The weight of the spear had also increased by three times by this.


    Lin Mu looked at the gruesome looking tip that had now formed and felt the change in weight. He stabbed out and saw its effect.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i> This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    The floor underneath him cracked with the stomp of his foot and the increased weight of the spear. The spear stabbed into the air and created ripples that spread out. Finally, at the end of the strike, the Grey energy that had wrapped the spear tip spread apart in the form of sharp des.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    Lin Mu could imagine the effect something like this could have if it was stabbed into a person or a beast, and then the skill was triggered. The effect would shred the person or beast from inside, causing massive injuries.


    "That¡¯s not all, you felt the weight difference, right? This spear is essentialy two different spearsbined into one. The basic form that is fast and efficient while the activated form which is heavy and powerful. The finishing skill is an added benefit which can be used as a trump card to surprise your enemies." Xukong analyzed.

 Chapter 215 - Iron Thorn Spear

    <h4>Chapter 215 - Iron Thorn Spear </h4>


    Lin Mu thought over Senior Xukong¡¯s words and indeed found them to be right. He had now made up his mind, he now knew which spear to choose. Lin Mu turned to Jing Wei and ced the spear on the table.


    "I want this spear," Lin Mu said as he pointed at the dark grey spear he had just ced down.


    Jing Wei nodded in acknowledgment, as if he had already expected this oue.


    "Alright, this spear does suit you. Though you may have problems using it right now once I remove the seal on it." Jing Wei spoke.


    "Seal? What seal?" Lin Mu questioned as he tilted his head in confusion.


    "There are seals on all high grade spirit weapons here. The seal prevents their instincts from awakening, which allows you to use them without putting your imprint on them. But their potential is also reduced by more than a half because of that. Also, considering you already have the short sword which is also a high garage spirit weapon, it will take you a lot of effort to add another High grade weapon as you will need to further refine your spirit sense to be able to control it." Jing Wei spoke.


    Lin Mu was surprised about what Jing Wei had just spoken. He didn¡¯t know that the spears were being restricted.


    "Restricted? You mean the power that I saw was not even half of what they can show?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling a bit astonished.


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    "Of course, what did you think high grade spirit weapons are? Even your short sword is much more powerful. The only problem that you have is that your cultivation is too low for you to be able to use it. Once you reach the core condensation realm, you should be able to unearth more of its strength.


    Though I should warn you not to reveal them to strong cultivators easily. High grade spirit weapons are sought after by even some Dao shell realm cultivators. There isn¡¯t much of a problem with the short sword as its strengths lie in pure power, but that is not the same with this spear. Its ability would give away its identity rather easily." Jing Wei answered.


    "He¡¯s right." Xukong acknowledged.


    Lin Mu then thought over his memories and realized that most of the people that he had met never gave his short sword a second nce because of its looks. Even when using it with his spirit sense, the cultivators of the Hei corps while being impressed did not look interested in it.


    ¡¯The short sword is indeed low-key. Hmm, I¡¯ll have to be careful with the spear.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Alright, I understand." Lin Mu replied to Jing Wei.


    Jing Wei nodded before waving his hand over the spear. As soon as he did, the spear glowed and two circr formations appeared on it along its shaft. One of the formations faded away while the second one stayed there. A secondter it disappeared along with the glow.


    "Here you go, take the Iron thorn spear," Jing Wei said as he handed Lin Mu the spear, before speaking, "I removed the restriction seal but kept the concealment seal on it. While you would be able to still use it, the concealment seal will prevent others from noticing its grade. But, know this that if you use its skill, that seal will be broken as well and others will be able to sense the spear¡¯s grade."


    Lin Mu nodded to show that he understood before asking, "So its name is Iron Thorn spear?"


    "Yes, that is its name." Jing Wei replied.


    Lin Mu thought for a moment before asking again, "Umm, does the short sword also have a name?"


    <i>~Chuckle~</i>


    "It did have a name once upon a time, but not anymore. Though if you want to, you can name it yourself." Jing Wei replied in a pleased tone.


    Lin Mu then stored the Iron Thorn spear into his ring and then remembered something. He realized that he had a lot of spirit cores that he had stored in his ring. He had always stored them into his ring whenever he hunted spirit beasts, and had thought of selling themter on when he got the right opportunity.


    Lin Mu already knew about the uses of the spirit cores and now that he had a few goals that he wanted to aplish he knew that he required resources. Resources that would speed up his progress in cultivation.


    He was now in a strange kind of a dilemma. On one hand, he wanted to obtain and assimte the bloodline of the Great slumber bear and on the other, he now had his new goal which was to avenge his parents by hunting down the invader.


    He could either leave the town right now and go hunt the avatars of the invader, or he could wait and cultivate in seclusion. He was at a loss of what to do till now, but he teased one key point. The only thing that was restricting him right now was his cultivation base and time.


    His deadline was of about ten months before the Great slumber bear would weaken. But there was also a Chance that the Invader may do something else in this time period. Another problem was the culprits, but that was not high up in Lin Mu¡¯s list, now that the Hei corps had stabilized the situation.


    If he could somehow reach the peak stage of the body tempering realm before the deadline along with increasing his cultivation base to the next sub-stage, Lin Mu would be able to go out to hunt the invader beforehand and then return when it was time for the Great slumber bear to be weakened.


    Duan Ke had been observing Lin Mu from the start to the end and was now wondering why he had gone silent and had a perplexed expression on his face. Feeling curious, she decided to speak up.


    "What¡¯s the problem? Do you perhaps need something else?" Duan Ke asked.

 Chapter 216 - Twelfth Stage Of The Body Tempering Realm?

    <h4>Chapter 216 - Twelfth Stage Of The Body Tempering Realm? </h4>


    Lin Mu was woken from his thoughts by Duan Ke¡¯s question.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath before a determined expression appeared on his face.


    "Yes, I do actually. I am in the need of resources and want to sell some things. I would be grateful if you would be able to help me." Lin Mu spoke in a needing tone.


    Duan Ke looked at her grandfather for a moment who nodded in response before speaking.


    "Of course we can. Now that you have been ordained by the world¡¯s will, we have a duty to assist you. Our n has been fighting against the tribes of the forbidden continent and the invaders for thousands of years now. We will help anyone that in enemies against them." Jing Wei spoke with fervor.


    "Show me what you have and then we can see what you need." Duan Ke chimed in.


    Lin Mu had a pleased expression on his face before withdrawing all the spirit cores and the pelts that he had stored in the ring. He even pulled out the bones of all the beasts that he had eaten until now. Soon four piles were formed in the room.


    One of them was a small pile of spirit cores, most of which were the size of a pea and one that was bigger and of the size of an olive. The pea sized spirit cores were from all the qi refining realm beasts that he had hunted till now and the bigger Olive sized spirit core was that of the core condensation realm beast that was the Alpha steel back wolf.


    The pile had more than two hundred spirit cores and was gleaming in from the light of themps in the room. The next pile which was more like a hill was made up of all the pelts that he had obtained from the beasts. Unlike the spirit cores though, their numbers were much higher as it also included normal beats in it too.


    The third pile was that of the bones of the beasts that he had eaten till now and was even bigger than the previous one. The Fourth and final pile wasposed of the other remaining parts of the beasts, which included misceneous things such as their horns, fangs, feathers, etc.


    Looking at the four piles, Duan Ke was astounded, to say the least. Though she was more shocked by the number of spirit cores that Lin Mu had ced down. Her attention was especially brought to the olive sized grey colored core that had Brown patterns on it.


    Duan Ke had already heard how he had hunted the Alpha steel back wolf before and knew that he must have obtained the core. But looking at it, she still felt a bit surprised.


    <i>~Haha~</i> Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "Seems, like you have plenty of goods." Jing Wei spoke, feeling amused.


    His expression then calmed down as he remembered how he had given Lin Mu arge amount of gold coins. Though he realized he didn¡¯t know how many coins he had actually given him, as he had just randomly pulled out one of the pouches from his spatial treasure in a daze.


    ¡¯Hmm, is his master intending to temper his character by letting him obtain his own resources, perhaps? That should be it, though it seems like he depleted the gold coins I gave him already. How many did I give him though, was it a hundred thousand? Or perhaps a million?¡¯ Jing Wei thought to himself.


    Duan Ke quickly got to checking all the items Lin Mu had just put down while Jing Wei was lost in thought. A minuteter, Jing Wei scratched his chin and spoke.


    "Lin Mu... How many gold coins did I give you on that day?" Jing Wei questioned, feeling curious.


    Lin Mu turned to look at Jing Wei, who had just spoken.


    "You gave me five thousand gold coins, for which I¡¯m very thankful." Lin Mu spoke in a grateful tone.


    As soon as Jing Wei heard Lin Mu¡¯s words, his mind shut down for a moment before the corner of his eye twitched. Cold sweat appeared on his back and he forcefully suppressed his expression that was about to show on his face.


    "Ah, I see... I see..." Jing Wei replied while nodding his head.


    ¡¯Did I really give him only five thousand gold coins? Damn it, if his masteres to settle this, it won¡¯t bid well for us. Ugh, I need to reorganize my spatial treasure, too much clutter has been umted in it now.¡¯ Jing Wei secretly thought.


    Jing Wei turned around to face the wall as he started to think about something while Lin Mu looked back at the goods being checked, seeing that Jing Wei was distracted.


    Ten minutes passed before, Duan Ke was finally able to calcte the value of all the items.


    "Now then, what is it that you exactly need. I¡¯ll give you the equivalent of the items here." Duan Ke spoke.


    Lin Mu¡¯s first thought went to pills that could help him reach the peak stage of the body tempering realm early. Senior Xukong had warned him before about not using the other pills, thus he wanted to know whether they had one that was specially made for it.


    "Do you have any alchemical pills that are effective for body tempering realm cultivation?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Duan Ke tilted her head almost instinctively upon hearing his question. She wondered if it was because of his body tempering realm cultivation which was no longer apparent to her. She wondered if he had some kind of injury or had his cultivation regressed.


    "We do have some alchemical pill that can help in that aspect, but they are only effective until a certain cultivation stage. What stage are you currently in?" Duan Ke replied.


    "I am at the twelfth stage of the body tempering realm and want to reach its peak." Lin Mu answered in a calm tone.


    "I¡¯m sorry, did you just say the twelfth stage of the body tempering realm?!" Duan Ke reiterated.

 Chapter 217 - Obsolete?

    <h4>Chapter 217 - Obsolete? </h4>


    Duan Ke could not believe her ears when she heard Lin Mu reveal that he was at the twelfth stage of the body tempering realm. It was not just because she couldn¡¯t sense any vital energy from his body but also because of the stage itself.


    ¡¯How did he even?... Why is he still cultivating in the body tempering realm, if he¡¯s already a cultivator? And how did he even break past the tenth stage?¡¯ Multiple questions were currently stirring within Duan Ke¡¯s mind.


    Jing Wei too was frozen upon hearing what Lin Mu had spoken and a shocked expression was on his face. He was lucky that he was facing away from the two of them right now or they would have seen it. He definitely did not want to break hisposure again and show them and unsightly look. That would definitely not suit someone of his stature.


    "Yes, I did say that. Why, is there a problem?" Lin Mu inquired with a curious expression.


    At this point, Duan Ke did not know how to respond to his question. She did not know whether to praise him for aplishing this or to call him a fool to waste his time like this.


    ¡¯Even the disciples of the top sects only cultivate till the tenth stage of the body tempering realm and stop. There is no reason for them to continue on as they only do this because of the minimum requirements of the cultivation techniques. Why is he still trying? And where would he even get a tempering technique that would let him exceed the tenth stage? Aren¡¯t they obsolete now?¡¯ Duan Ke thought to herself.


    "I¡¯m sorry, but we can¡¯t help you in that aspect." Jing Wei suddenly spoke upon seeing that his granddaughter was unable to respond in time.


    "Ah, why is that? Do you not have the pills for this stage?" Lin Mu questioned as he tilted his head in confusion.


    "No it¡¯s not that, but rather that alchemical pills of that level do not exist. Honestly, we don¡¯t even know how you managed to even exceed the tenth stage of the body tempering realm. ording to my knowledge, all the tempering techniques now only allow one to reach the tenth stage at the maximum. It has been more than five thousand years since they became obsolete." Jing Wei exined.


    Lin Mu was now more confused than at the start and was now wondering if he had made a mistake, perhaps.


    "WHAT FOOLS!" Xukong shouted.


    Lin Mu was startled, to say the least upon hearing the voice of Senior Xukong suddenly, that too one that was so loud.


    "What¡¯s the matter, senior?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "They are fools, I say. All of them. Calling body tempering technique obsolete when they have no basic understanding of them. Seems like this world bing sealed had more bad effects than were probably intended. The cultivators of this world have lost their view." Xukong replied.


    "Is it really that bad senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed, it is. While it is fine for them to not cultivate past the tenth stage as they can progress to the qi refining realm before that, it is absolute stupidity to call something that had been existing for thousands of years and was created by the ancestors that came before them. Body tempering techniques are very important and should not be neglected this way." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu now knew that Senior Xukong had been agitated by this, and perhaps it was best for him to change the topic for now. He certainly did not want to stay silent like this on the surface while talking to Senior Xukong in his mind. Otherwise, the two people in front of him may find him strange.


    "Alright, I understand." Lin Mu spoke, both to Xukong and Jing Wei.


    Jing Wei could sense that it would not be good to ask how Lin Mu aplished this either thus he did not ask further. He could guess that it was probably because of his master and did not want to invite trouble.


    "Though we can offer you other resources that can help you in cultivation." Duan Ke spoke up, seeing that Lin Mu seemed a little disappointed to her.


    "Ah yes, that would work too. Do you perhaps have spirit stones?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Duan Ke had aplex expression on her face as she sent her grandfather a gaze. As if asking him to help her out.


    <i>~Ahem~</i>


    "Umm, we do indeed have spirit stones, but I¡¯m afraid we cannot give you as many. Though if you¡¯re intending to use them for cultivating directly, we have a better option. You can use the basic qi pills for that very thing." Jing Wei spoke up.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know why they didn¡¯t have spirit stones, but he didn¡¯t want to pry either. He would be happy even if he gets other resources.


    ¡¯Senior, what are basic qi pills?¡¯ Lin Mu secretly questioned.


    "They are what their name means. Their function is to supply the cultivator with spirit qi." Xukong answered.


    "Umm, then they are the same as spirit stones?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, they are different. While spirit stones can be used for cultivating, they can also be used for countless other things. Spirit stones are perhaps one of the most versatile resources, which in turn makes them more valuable than basic qi pills.


    The basic qi pills which Jing Wei is speaking about are made from some basic spirit herbs which have the sole purpose of providing you with qi. Although they provide the same amount of spirit qi as a low grade spirit stone, their main drawback is that the process is not as fast as like that with the spirit stones.


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    Another hidden problem with them is the Pill toxins. These pill toxins are naturally created upon the refinement of the pill and are the impurities present in them. While they do not cause any damage in low quantities, they can be a harm to the cultivator¡¯s progress if they umte too much.


    In fact, there is even a chance that the cultivator may get qi deviation if too many pill toxins umte in their body." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu felt enlightened after hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s exnation and felt like he could make do with it for now.


    "Alright, that will work too."

 Chapter 218 - Toxin Cleansing Pills

    <h4>Chapter 218 - Toxin Cleansing Pills </h4>


    Jing Wei nodded his head upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words and felt secretly relieved.


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    ¡¯Good, that he epted it quickly, we can¡¯t afford to give him too many spirit stones. At least not now, but perhaps in the future. Still, if he wants gold, we can give him that too, we have plenty of it at least.¡¯ Jing Wei thought to himself.


    "Do you just want those pills or do you need other pills too? Do you need pills for healing?" Duan Ke asked.


    Lin Mu thought for a moment before remembering that he didn¡¯t have many healing pills. The ones that he had were of low quality and were given to him from Hong Luo. Though luckily he hasn¡¯t had a chance to use any of them till now.


    His own healing was good enough for most of his injuries. The only time he actually needed healing was when he used the boulder copsing fist at its full potential and mangled his arm.


    ¡¯I haven¡¯t tested that again since then. Perhaps I should use it soon, I wonder if its power increased now that I¡¯ve reached thete stage of the qi refining realm.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "You should get some healing pills for that technique. We don¡¯t know if it will have the same effect again. Though I¡¯m sure that once you reach the peak stage of the qi refining realm, along with the peak stage of the body tempering realm, your body should be able to handle it.


    And of course, you can¡¯t keep on using the four vessels restoration pills for injuries like this. They are intended for more dangerous ones." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu inwardly nodded and agreed with Senior Xukong¡¯s words. Though he also wondered if Jing Wei and Duan Ke had any four vessels restoration pills with them. While Lin Mu was not thinking of getting injured anytime in the future, he still wanted to be ready just in case.


    "Yeah, I would like some healing pills too. Also, do you have these pills?" Lin Mu replied and pulled out the bottle contain two pills that had spiral markings on them.


    Jing Wei and Duan Ke looked at the pills, and their brows furrowed.


    "Four vessels restoration pills? Yes, we do have those too, but not many. Neither of us two can make a pill of that level so we don¡¯t really have arge stock." Jing Wei replied.


    Lin Mu was actually a bit surprised by this and did not expect them to have a small stock of it as well. He was now wondering if Jing Wei was so strong and his n had a great background, why were they poor and hiding. Another thing he picked up from his words was that they could potentially refine alchemical pills as well.


    "Oh, it is fine if you don¡¯t have much. I¡¯ll be fine with a single one too." Lin Mu replied in an understanding tone.


    Jing Wei nodded in response and then spoke. "Ke¡¯er bring him to the pill repository. Give him the basic qi pills he wants and also some supplementary pills to help with stabilization and healing."


    "Oh, and depending on the quantity of the basic qi pills, ensure that you give him the toxin cleansing pills as well." He added as he saw that they were about to move.


    ¡¯Cleansing pills?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "They are used for removing the pill toxins that I talked about before. Although they can¡¯t remove all of it, they are still helpful. Toxin cleansing pills are also quite valuable and are hard to refine. Unlike other pills, they need a special type of alchemical fire to produce as these pills cannot have pill toxins of their own." Xukong exined.


    After hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s exnation, another question popped up in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "But Senior, if the toxin cleansing pills can be made to be free from pill toxins using the special alchemical fire, then can¡¯t the other pills too?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not always. In order to refine a pill of zero impurities, the alchemist needs to be perfect and their skills need to reach the grandmaster level. Another aspect is that the toxin cleansing pill are made from spirit herbs that themselves have cleansing properties which help in the removal of toxin during the manufacturing process.


    Also, this is not just a single type of pill. The cleansing toxin pill they are talking about is likely the most basic version of it. There are multiple variants of the pill and their generalized name is toxin cleansing pill. The actual name may differ depending on the world itself." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu inwardly nodded upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words and continued following behind Duan Ke. Jing Wei was noting along with them and had gone off in a different direction.


    "Umm, where is your grandfather going? Is he noting with us?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I don¡¯t know either. Though I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll join uster." Duan Ke answered.


    She took him to a different room that was two floors above the one that had the workshop. This room had a simr looking door that opened automatically when they walked close enough to it. But when Lin Mu saw the inside of it, he was amazed.


    A secondter the aroma of herbs assailed his nose and he felt entranced. That onlysted for an instant, though as Duan Ke waved her hand and the formation array in the room lit up. Lin Mu could actually see a mix of pink and green mist roiling in the room.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "That is the highly condensed qi of the alchemical pills. Such a scene ismon in pill repositories." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu took a few steps inside and could see the mist clear up. Once it was gone he could finally see the rows and rows of shelves which had countless jars, vials, bottles, gourds, boxes and pouches kept on it.

 Chapter 219 - Getting The Pills From Duan Ke

    <h4>Chapter 219 - Getting The Pills From Duan Ke </h4>


    Duan Ke gestured with her hand again and pointed at the hundreds of containers that were on the shelves. Soon some of them started floating up and flew towards a table that was kept in the center of the room. Just as she was doing this she halted for a moment and flicked her other hand, making a jade slip appear in it.


    She held it for a brief second and then stored it away again. Her brows furrowed for a few seconds after she put the jade slip away and sighed. She then gestured towards the shelves again and even more containers started flying out andnding on the table.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯What is grandfather thinking... But he is right too, we shouldn¡¯t take the chance to offend someone we know we can¡¯t resist.¡¯ Duan Ke thought inwardly.


    At the side of the table, one could see a cauldron that was kept on a stand. Looking at the cauldron, Lin Mu could tell that it was not simple. He could also sense the spirit qi lingering on it and then realized that it was actually an alchemical pill cauldron that was used for refining alchemical pills.


    The cauldron was bronze-green in color and had four legs on it. It had two handles to its sides and a conical lid on the top of it. The overall design of the cauldron was rather simple, and there were no unique or eye-catching designs present on it.


    In fact, if Lin Mu had not known that it was an alchemical pill cauldron then he would have just thought it to be amon cauldron that could be found in the flea markets of the northern town.


    "That¡¯s not any simple cauldron either. It¡¯s a pill cauldron that can be used to refine high grade alchemical pills. That cauldron is no less than a high grade spirit tool itself." Xukong informed Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu inwardly nodded, feeling enlightened at this. His attention was then pulled outward by the train of containers that kept on flying out from the shelves andnding on the table. The biggest ce was taken up by tworge wooden boxes that were rather in looking and took up around sixty percent of the surface of the table.


    In addition to this, there were some smaller bottles that came flying and settled to the side of the boxes. Some of these bottles were made out of ss and were transparent, while some were made out of some kind of an opaque material.


    Soon, the table waspletely filled and there was barely any space left on it. Finally, a green tinted crystal vialnded at the very center of the table. While the vial was colored Lin Mu could still make out what was kept inside it, it was a pill with spiral patterns on it.


    ¡¯The four vessels restoration pill!¡¯ Lin Mu inwardly thought.


    He had experienced the effects of the pill and knew how miraculous its effects were. He knew that they could be a big trump card in a fight if he ever got fatally injured. The pill was even able to supply him with a massive amount of spirit qi when he used it thest time.


    After no more items could be seen flying off from the shelves, Duan Ke walked forward and gestured Lin Mu to follow. She came to stand in front of the table and pointed at the tworge boxes and they opened up. As soon as they opened up, Lin Mu could feel the dense cloud of spirit qi rising from it.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as he saw the two boxes that werepletely filled to the brim with in white pills. Each of these pills was the size of a lychee and was perfectly round. Just from estimating their size and the size of the box itself, Lin Mu could estimate that there were easily hundreds of pills in each of the two boxes.


    "These are the basic qi pills. They are of low grade and there are thousand in each box for a total of two thousand pills." Duan Ke informed.


    Lin Mu was awed at the sheer amount of the pills and was now excited for the future.


    Duan Ke then pointed at a group of ss bottles that also had white pills in them. These pills were familiar to Lin Mu, and he knew that they were lesser wound restoration pills and the other white colored pills that wererger in size were the internal replenishment pills.


    He had received these pills from Hong Luo before and thus knew about them. If Lin Mu had not seen them before and experienced their spiritual aura, he would not have been able to distinguish them from each other. Even the basic qi pills were in white in color, making it hard for inexperienced people to differentiate.


    In addition to these, there were more pills. The most particr looking ones were the four vessels restoration pill and another pill bottle which contained two yellow-green colored pills. The pills had a clear differentiation of the two colors into half parts.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    "I think you should be able to tell some of these pills at least?" Duan Ke spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded at her words and pointed at the ones he knew of and replied, "I know about these three types of pills."


    "Alright, I tell you about the most important pills here first." Duan Ke spoke and then pointed to the bottle that contained the two pills that were yellow-green in color.


    "There are the low grade toxin cleansing pills that we were talking about before. These should be enough for you to use after using the basic qi pills. You should use one pill after you finish using up a thousand basic qi pills. Each pill will be able to remove the pill toxins that are umted because of the basic qi pill." After exining this, she pointed to three other bottles.

 Chapter 220 - Historical Records?

    <h4>Chapter 220 - Historical Records? </h4>


    "These are the higher versions of lesser wound restoration pills and internal replenishment pills that you know of. They are of mid tier and have a stronger effect than their low grade variants." Duan Ke continued.


    There were multiple bottles containing the same type of pills thus Lin Mu understood that they were the same and were just stored that way for convenience. Seeing that Lin Mu had understood until this point, she pointed towards a gourd that was rather conspicuous.


    That gourd then flew to her hands and she opened its cap, taking out a single pill from it. This pill was different than all other pills and was light brown in color with small yellow spots on it. Lin Mu touched it with his spirit sense and could feel a different type of qi hidden within it.


    This qi seemed strange to Lin Mu. He could feel a sense of heaviness from the pill and it also seemed to exude a muddy aroma, as one would smell after rain.


    "This is an earthen qi pill. When consumed it releases earth elemental qi that can form an armor around your body, raising your defense. The defense provided by it is enough to protect against a single attack of a core condensation realm expert. There are fifteen pills in here, use them wisely. You can take a pill before a battle and its effects willst for twelve hours or until the armor is broken." Duan Ke exined.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide upon seeing this pill. He had not expected that he would be getting a pill like this either. He had not asked for it either, but was happy upon being given them. Originally he was only intending to get the basic qi pills and some healing pill, but these earthen qi pills were a good addition too.


    "I understand, thank you for them." Lin Mu replied in a grateful tone.


    Duan Ke then turned her hand in the air and a small pouch appeared. She passed this pouch to Lin Mu, who opened it to take a tool. It didn¡¯t even take him a second to recognize what was inside it, as he could feel the dense spirit qi rising from them.


    "While we can¡¯t give you too many spirit stones, we can still spare some. In that pouch, there are about a thousand low grade spirit stones. You should save them and either use them for transactions with other cultivators or if you are in a pinch, use them to replenish your spirit qi stores." Duan Ke spoke in a slightly concerned tone.


    "Thank you for all of this." Lin Mu spoke and then started storing away all the containers of pills. A minuteter everything was stored and the table was once again empty.


    "Now then, we should go. Grandfather is waiting for us in the library, he has something for you." Duan Ke said before walking out of the door of the pill repository.


    Lin Mu too hurriedly followed behind her, and the door of the pill repository closed behind them. They went up the stairs from where they came and then walked back to the path of the meeting hall. But they did not stop there and instead took another set of stairs to go two floors up.


    Lin Mu now arrived in what looked like the biggest library he had ever seen. The library he had seen in the northern town and Wu Lim city did not evene close to one percent of it. Surprisingly, Lin Mu could also feel spatial fluctuations in the room and soon understood why.


    "The room is being expanded artificially using the expansion array. It is much bigger on the inside than it is supposed to be normally." Xukong informed Lin Mu.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    With the help of the mysterious ring, Lin Mu could sense every part of the formation array. This was different than when he had to trace the formation arrays one by one before. This time it was as if they were showing themselves to him.


    The bookshelves were about thirty meter tall and looked giganticpared to Lin Mu¡¯s height. He couldn¡¯t even see the top of the shelves. Lin Mu kept following behind Duan Ke, and they reached their intended location after fifteen minutes.


    Seeing the amount of time it had taken them to reach the location made Lin Mu get an estimation of the real size of the library.


    ¡¯The library itself is probablyrger than the entire courtyard.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself, feeling awed.


    The two of them then spotted Jing Wei, who was sitting at a desk and had a stack of books kept in front of him. He was staring at the two of them and seems to have been waiting for them intently.


    "Took you long enough. Now thene sit." Jing Wei spoke up.


    The two of them then went ahead and took a seat across the table.


    "What did you want to show me?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling curious.


    "I took out some books that may interest you. They have the history of the continent recorded in them and have more details than I can tell you. You can read them to get an idea of the more deeper intricacies. I think that you will need them in the future." Jing Wei answered.


    Lin Mu¡¯s face lit up with joy. He was happy that he would get to learn more and was excited about it. He couldn¡¯t wait to get back to his house and cultivate. An idea suddenly popped up in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Umm, I also wanted to ask if you have books having information about the descriptions of pills, spirit herbs and spirit beasts." Lin Mu asked.


    Jing Wei tilted his head in confusion upon hearing Lin Mu ask about something so simple.


    "Yes, we do have them. But why do you need them? Your master should be more than knowledgeable to help you." He replied.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how to reply to this, so he quickly made up a lie on the spot.


    "Umm, my master only teaches me about cultivation and not much about other things. He¡¯s mostly busy and doesn¡¯t have time for mundane things such as this." Lin Mu lied through his teeth.


    Jing Wei lightly tapped the desk in realization.


    "Ahh, I see! Of course, an expert of his standing has to spend his time wisely. Alright, it¡¯s not a problem. I can give you those too." Jing Wei spoke and then waved his hand in the air.


    Soon a small pile of books came flying towards them and settled on the table. Just from the thickness of the books, Lin Mu could tell that there was a lot of information stored in them.


    Just as Lin Mu was about to pick one of the books, Jing Wei interrupted him.


    "Oh, wait. I¡¯llpile them together in a jade slip. That will make it easier for you to look up the information." Jing Wei exined.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how to respond, thus he just stayed silent. Jing Wei meanwhile pulled out a greenish white jade slip and held it to the books for a moment. Soon the jade slip started glowing and runes appeared in the air.

 Chapter 221 - Leaving The Courtyard

    <h4>Chapter 221 - Leaving The Courtyard </h4>


    The runes revolved around the books and then entered the jade slip. After they entered the jade slip, its color changed and it becamepletely green. The formation array that had lit up soon faded away and everything went to normal.


    Jing Wei waved his hand, and the pile of books all went flying back to their respective ces. He then picked up the jade slip and took out another jade slip from his spatial treasure. This jade slip was different in color being azure blue.


    He tapped the green jade slip with the azure colored jade slip and made it glow again. He then stored the azure one away while passing the green jade slip to Lin Mu.


    "I reckon you know how to use a jade slip, at least?" Jing Wei questioned in a teasing tone.


    ¡¯Tell him yes. You can use it with your spirit sense.¡¯ Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Yes, I do know." Lin Mu affirmed.


    "That¡¯s good. Though you should bind the jade slip to yourself. We do not want the information in it leaking and I also registered my own jade slip to it, so if you need to inform me about something you can." Jing Wei added.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and took out his short sword before pricking his finger with it and dripping a little bit of his blood onto the jade slip. As soon as the blood touched the jade slip, it disappeared, and it was as if a connection appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    While he could feel the jade slip¡¯s position, he actually could not use it without holding it in his hand and using spirit sense. The only thing the blood binding did was increase the security of the jade slip, making it so that only Lin Mu could use it.


    Lin Mu then stored the jade slip into the ring when Jing Wei interrupted him.


    "You shouldn¡¯t putmunication jade slips into a spatial treasure or they won¡¯t work when someone tries to contact you."


    "Huh? But I can still feel it." Lin Mu replied without thinking.


    "What, you can? Hold on..." Jing Wei spoke as he then held his jade slip for a moment before looking back at Lin Mu with a confused expression.


    "Hmm that¡¯s strange, it does work. But how? Ahh... it is probably because of the spatial storage treasure that your master gave you." Jing Wei came to his own conclusion.


    Lin Mu just kept on looking and neither confirmed it nor denied it. He realized that he may have let it slip identally, but was lucky that Jing Wei assumed on his own. A question then popped into Lin Mu¡¯s mind. He wondered what was the maximum range till which he could contact Jing Wei.


    But before he could ask him that, Xukong suddenly spoke up.


    "Depending on the grade of themunication jade slip, its range may vary as they are also spirit tools. But the mostmon feature is that the range of its transmission depends on the spirit sense of the cultivator. For example, a cultivator that has an extremely long ranged spirit sense will be able to multiply the transmission range of themunication jade slip even if it is of a low grade.


    Simrly, if it¡¯s a higher grade jade slip, even if the cultivator has a short range of spirit sense, they will still be able tomunicate up to long distances. In simple terms, the jade slip only helps to amplify the range." Xukong exined.


    "Ahh, I understand now senior." Lin Mu thanked.


    "Now then, what are you going to do now?" Duan Ke asked, seeing that Lin Mu had been silent.


    Lin Mu snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Duan Ke before speaking.


    "I want to go back to cultivating. I think I¡¯ll be in seclusion for a while. I want to be prepared for all that¡¯s toe in the future and don¡¯t want to be caught off guard." Lin Mu replied in a determined tone.


    "Good... good... We need to make preparations of our own. But for now, we can¡¯t leave the courtyard. Still, if you want to talk to us you cane to the courtyard, you¡¯ve found a method to do so anyway." Jing Wei said with a calm expression.


    A troubled expression appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face, which was noticed by both Jing Wei and Duan Ke.


    "Go on, ask us. It¡¯s fine." Jing Wei spoke up.


    "Why is it that you need to hide here in the courtyard?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Jing Wei let out a sigh that seemed to have sorrow and pain hidden behind it. His expression also fell and it was as if the memories of the past ran in his eyes.


    "I cannot tell you everything, but I¡¯ll tell you as much as I can." Jing Wei spoke and took a deep breath.


    "My n had always been defending against the northern tribes, and we contributed by providing weapons to the sects and the kingdoms. But a few decades ago we were betrayed and our n was wiped out, leaving only me and my granddaughter as thest remaining members." Jing Wei revealed.


    Property ? 2024 N0(v)elDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu was shocked by this and didn¡¯t know what to think of this knowledge. He couldn¡¯t imagine what it could be that would threaten even a cultivator that was at the Dao treading realm and make him hide all this time.


    Still, Lin Mu knew that he shouldn¡¯t probe more than this and he could see that Jing Wei was already uneasy with this and did not want to continue.


    "I understand. I will take my leave now." Lin Mu spoke in a straight tone.


    Jing Wei nodded and spoke, "Go on, Ke¡¯er will show you out." He then walked away without saying anything more.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Once Jing Wei was gone, Duan Ke let out a tired sigh. She then gestured for Lin Mu to follow her and guided him out of the mansion and into the courtyard. They came to stand in front of the Small rundown building that was at the opposite end of the courtyard.

 Chapter 222 - Returning To Seclusion

    <h4>Chapter 222 - Returning To Seclusion </h4>


    "This is the main entrance of the courtyard. It opens in the shop so you can enter and leave from there. Don¡¯t use the method you used to enter before, I do not want you to identally damage the formation arrays of the courtyard. Even though I¡¯m not sure if you are capable of doing that, still this would be the safe choice." Duan Ke exined.


    Lin Mu nodded to show that he understood and entered the small building. Once they were inside there, he could see amp that was hanging from the roof, but the room was dark overall. Themp was unlit and seemed to be filled with oil. Duan Ke walked up to themp and snapped her fingers.


    As soon as she did, themp lit up and the room changed to a different look. There was now a door on the opposite side of the room and the door from where they had entered disappeared.


    "This is the method to use the gatewaymp. Light it to return to the shop and snuff it out to enter the courtyard." Duan Ke exined.


    They then took the sole door in the room and appeared in the dusty old shop that was the Jing Wei¡¯s emporium.


    "Goodbye." Lin Mu bid Duan Ke farewell before leaving the shop and heading out to the alley.


    But when he appeared in the alley, Lin Mu was greeted by a bright light shining on him.


    "It¡¯s already day time?" Lin Mu spoke as he looked up at the brightly lit sky.


    "Since the courtyard is separate from the main world, the time of the day in there can be set to whatever they want. ording to my estimation, you spent about six hours there." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded in acknowledgment before continuing on the way. As soon as he left the alley though, he felt the difference. It was as if the walls behind him merged and the alley disappeared. Taking a brief look at it, Lin Mu started walking towards his house.


    Along the way, he could see the people going about their daily life. Lin Mu unknowingly let out a sigh as he contemted this.


    ¡¯All these people live their lives whilepletely being in the blind about what happens in the world. I do not want to be like this ever again.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself with determination.


    Fifteen minutester he reached his house and directly went to the bedroom to cultivate. Lin Mu now wanted to see what the difference will be if he uses the basic qi pills to cultivate.


    Wanting to test this out, he withdrew one of the boxes that had them and opened it to take a pill out from it. He looked at it for a moment before consuming it. Lin Mu had expected for there to be some kind of taste to it, but it was not so. Instead, the pill was rather nd in taste, as if it was water.


    A few secondster the pill melted in his mouth and he swallowed it down to his stomach. When the liquefied pill finally reached his stomach, it started. Wisps of spirit qi were released from the liquid and started being absorbed by Lin Mu¡¯s body.


    Lin Mu quickly chanted the severing heart sutra and guided these spirit qi wisps into his meridians and from there into his dantian.


    Lin Mu¡¯s dantian was rapidly starting to fill up. He estimated that his speed of absorption of spirit qi from the basic qi pills was more than twicepared to when he cultivated normally. Ten minutes passed and Lin Mu had finally absorbed all of the spirit qi that was contained within the basic qi pill.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath as rxed a bit. He observed his dantian and saw that it was nowpletely filled to the brim. That one basic qi pill was enough to replenish the depleted part of his dantian. He tried to calcte and came to the conclusion that he had obtained nearly five hundred wisps of spirit qi from the pill.


    "This is rather nice. Still, I do not know how much qi does a low grade spirit stone give. I¡¯ve used the defective mid grade spirit Stine¡¯s before, but they already had a majority of their spirit qi depleted. I should check it." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    Still, to do this Lin Mu would have to deplete a part of his spirit qi to make more space, thus that¡¯s exactly what he did. Lin Mu then started to further refine the spirit qi wisps into liquefied form. An hour passed after which Lin Mu had depleted ever two-thirds of his entire dantian. And in exchange for that, he was able to obtain three drops of liquefied spirit qi.


    Lin Mu then pulled out the pouch that contained the spirit stones and took one of them from it before holding it in his hand and starting to absorb it. Unlike the basic qi pill though, the speed of absorption was rapid and arge amount of spirit qi rushed into his meridians.


    It wasn¡¯t asrge as when he absorbed the mid grade spirit stone, but it was still quiterge. It didn¡¯t even take him three minutes before the spirit qi within the spirit stone waspletely depleted and it crumbled into dust.


    Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s see how much spirit qi did I obtain from this.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before peering into his dantian.


    To his surprise, he actually obtained around six hundred wisps of spirit qi from the spirit stone, which was slightly more than the basic qi pill.


    "Senior, why is there a difference such as this? I thought they would have the same quantities of spirit qi." Lin Mu questioned.


    "The amount of spirit qi in all spirit stones is never the same. There are always some differences, some may have more while some may have less. But usually, a low grade spirit stone is able to provide you with at least four hundred wisps of spirit qi. Simrly, with the basic qi pill, some of them may have more or less spirit qi." Xukong answered.


    "I see... but then how much spirit qi does the other grade of spirit stones provide?" Lin Mu questioned with curiosity.


    "A mid grade spirit stone is about ten times more potent than the low grade spirit stones while a high grade spirit stone is a hundred times more potent than a mid grade spirit stone, which makes it a thousand times more potent than a low grade spirit stone." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu had a slightly confused expression on his face as hepared the grades of the spirit stones and then realized that Senior Xukong had not spoken about the highest grade spirit stone that was the peak grade spirit stone.


    "Then Senior, what about peak grade spirit stones? How do theypare?" He asked.


    "The peak grade spirit stones are rather special. Unlike the other spirit stones, they do not provide you with spirit qi wisps... Instead, they directly provide you with liquefied spirit qi which makes them incredibly rare.


    In fact, in a spirit stone mine, only five percent of all spirit stones are peak grade spirit stones, while the high grade ones are at fifteen percent, mid grade at thirty percent and low grade being the majority at fifty percent." Xukong exined.

 Chapter 223 - A Steady Pace

    <h4>Chapter 223 - A Steady Pace </h4>


    Lin Mu was astounded by this information. Just from this, he could imagine how rare peak grade spirit stones were. He could not help but wonder how much liquefied spirit qi he would be able to obtain from a single peak grade spirit stone.


    But just as he had this thought, Xukong interrupted him.


    "You shouldn¡¯t attempt to absorb spirit qi from a peak grade spirit stone at your cultivation level. It is quite likely that your meridians would not be able to handle the influx of spirit qi and may get injured. You would have to be at the core condensation realm at the very least in order to be able to use them safely." Xukong warned.


    "I understand senior. Thank you for your advice." Lin Mu replied before returning to cultivating.


    A surprising thing to Lin Mu was that he was actually able to refine three drops of liquid spirit qi using the basic qi pills in just one hour,pared to when it took him around ten hours to do the same without them. But another thing he noticed was that he was much more tired than normal.


    ¡¯Seems like with the increased speed of refinement, I also have an increased rate of exhaustion. I need to pace myself, or there is a chance I may make a mistake while refining the spirit qi wisps to liquid form.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu had already learned that focus was essential while refining the liquid spirit qi as any mistake during that process could make the spirit qi go haywire and damage his meridians. In fact, whenever he failed in refining them, Lin Mu had to take a break in order to return his mental status to normal.


    Even with the help of the sutras, the exhaustion of the mind was not something Lin Mu could easily escape. Thus keeping this in the mind, Lin Mu cultivated normally without putting too much effort into it and let his mind rx and restore.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Another hour passed before Lin Mu opened his eyes and let out a breath.


    ¡¯Hmm, at least he knows his limits and does not rush mindlessly. Cultivating haphazardly will only lead to his foundation bing unstable.¡¯ Xukong spoke inwardly with approval in his voice.


    After ensuring that he was feeling fine, Lin Mu took out another pill and ate it, letting it release the spirit qi in it. He had already obtained around five hundred wisps of spirit qi by cultivating normally and only needed one more basic qi pill to restore it to the maximum.


    "Let¡¯s start again..." Lin Mu uttered before beginning his refinement.


    Having learned his lesson from before, Lin Mu slowed his pace by an appropriate amount and focused on the entire process. By doing this he was observing the points where he made mistakes and was also trying to find the solutions which would help him avoid making them again.


    Slowly but surely, he was improving in this manner.


    Two hours passed before Lin Mu had depleted all of his spirit qi wisps and in exchange had obtained three more drops of liquefied spirit qi. These three drops joined the other drops of liquefied spirit qi and continued to float around at the bottom of his dantian.


    "Indeed, being steady is the way. Not only can I avoid mistakes, but I¡¯m also able to pick up points where I can improve." Lin Mu spoke in a slightly joyful tone.


    And just as he thought this, his stomach grumbled with hunger, making him realize that he hadn¡¯t eaten for over twelve hours by now.


    He quickly finished his meal and set up more meat to cook while he assimted the vital energy. Lin Mu now knew that it would be best if he always had meat ready for cooking before he cultivated, so that he would have it done by the time he finished his session.


    Quickly returning to his session, Lin Mu repeated the process until it was night time and the snow had started falling again. The window was half open, which allowed some snowkes to drift in with the wind that was blowing.


    The snowkes came and settled on his face, which made him snap out of his focus. He looked outside and realized that hours had passed by.


    "Hmm, I should eat and rest. I¡¯ll continue in the Sleepscape." Lin Mu muttered to himself before having his dinner and swiftly falling asleep.


    Appearing in front of the spirit apple tree in the Sleepscape, Lin Mu skillfully plucked four ripened spirit apples and stored them in the ring, before taking out a halberd to continue practicing the Thousand armament de Scripture.


    Lin Mu had learned a lot from the battle with Duan Ke and was able to pick up on the ws that he had. Though in the process, he had also destroyed the seven weapons he had originally bought from Duan Ke. They were the first few weapons he had gotten and was thus feeling slightly sad.


    But the sadness soon faded away once he realized the gains he had gotten today. Lin Mu had been able to obtain ten drops of liquefied spirit qi today. This was thergest amount he had obtained till now and had actually doubled his entire store of liquefied spirit qi, taking it to a total of twenty drops.


    "Now that I know I can refine these many drops of liquefied spirit qi, I can resolutely use half of them for practicing the lost immortal¡¯s technique." Lin Mu stated to himself.


    He continued practicing the thousand armament de scripture until he felt like he had depleted half of his mental stamina.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s see if there¡¯s a difference with the nameless technique or not.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before sitting down below the spirit apple tree.


    He then willed a drop of liquefied spirit qi to rise from his dantian and then merged it into the tissues of his stomach ording to the instructions. Still, no effect could be seen from a single drop the same as before.


    "Again..." He muttered.


    Another drop of liquefied spirit qi rose and merge with his stomach. He repeated this five times, after which he was left with fifteen drops of liquefied spirit qi.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    "Still no change. Perhaps, I¡¯ll see the difference when I wake up." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    Now feelingpletely tired, Lin Mu decided to call it quits for today and faded away from the Sleepscape.

 Chapter 224 - Hei Wans Frustration

    <h4>Chapter 224 - Hei Wan''s Frustration </h4>


    Lin Mu woke up to an aching stomach in the morning and instinctively withdrew the cooked meat from the Ring before devouring it. This time he was able to maintain his sanity and did not make a mess like thest time.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "Seems like I need to wait a bit more before I can see any change in the nameless technique. For now, the hunger seems the same although I haven¡¯t lost control over myself." Lin Mu spoke.


    "This does seem like the better way. From the pace you are cultivating, you should be able to reach the peak of thete stage of the qi refining realm much earlier than expected. Maybe, you would even have some sess with the nameless technique." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu hummed in response before starting his routine again.


    ***


    While Lin Mu was cultivating in seclusion, something else was happening in Wu Lim City.


    Hei Wan had arrived in the Wu Lim city a while back and had been staying at her lord¡¯s mansion. Not only was she keeping up with all the reports that the Hei corps got from all over the Shuang Qian kingdom, but she was also managing the Northern town.


    The investigations about the culprits had slowed to a turtle¡¯s pace, and no progress had been made for days now. This only made Hei Wan furrow her brows more, as she read the report in her hand.


    ¡¯No more disappearances have been reported in the Northern town and the area around it. Neither have there been any more incidences in the entire county. Some of the mercenaries that had gone out to the northern forest finally returned and were expertly shocked after learning of all that had happened.


    Apparently, they had also sensed some of the strange changes that had happened in the forest with the beasts and had sent some messengers to their respective camps. But due to the distance being ratherrge and the winter being in full swing, it was taking them much longer tomunicate.


    The beast corpses that were hunted by the mercenaries have also been steadily arriving at the Wu Lim city and were being taken by the Mayor¡¯s people regrly. Still, we are in the dark about what the beast corpses were being used for. All of our attempts at finding out more about it had been stalled by the lord as he did not want to rouse the Mayor¡¯s suspicion.¡¯


    Hei Wan rolled the report and tied it back before storing it on a shelf.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    She sighed and rubbed her forehead in frustration and fatigue.


    ¡¯What more can we do, all our attempts seem to be failing. And even the investigation into the abandoned warehouse turned out to be useless.¡¯ Hei Wan thought.


    <i>~Knock~Knock~</i>


    Just as she was lost in her thoughts, someone knocked on the door of the room.


    "It¡¯s me, leader." The voice behind the door called out.


    "Come in." Hei Wan replied.


    The door of the room opened and in walked a man whose face was hidden behind a featureless mask and was dressed in dark blue robes. The man came to stand in front of Hei Wan before cupping his hands in greeting.


    "Speak," ordered Hei wan.


    "The Lord had asked for your presence at this moment. We also have some news about the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect." The masked man spoke.


    "Alright, I¡¯ll be there in a minute." Hei Wan spoke before letting out another sigh.


    The masked man went away, and Hei Wan corrected her clothes before leaving the room as well. She walked to another room, which was the study of her lord.


    The Lord was currently standing against a window and was staring out of it. He was tapping on the windowsill with his left hand while he had a cup of tea in the other. Hei Wan gently opened the door of the study and walked to stand behind the lord in silence.


    She did not speak and patiently waited for her lord to be done with his thoughts.


    Her wait did notst long, as it seemed like the Lord was in a hurry today.


    "Something is wrong with the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect." The Lord spoke in a monotone voice.


    Hei Wan¡¯s eyes were raised behind her veil as she took these words in.


    "Is it something to do with the mayor, or perhaps is it because of their task?" Hei Wan spected.


    Wu Hei did not respond immediately and thought for a few seconds before responding.


    "I am thinking both. I want you to investigate into them more, perhaps even... a banquet. Yes... Yes... A banquet will be good." Wu Hei spoke in a strange tone.


    "I¡¯ll prepare the invitations right away. Should I set it up at the Qing Bao Restaurant? Or perhaps somewhere else?" Hei Wan immediately replied.


    "Hmm..." Wu Hei hummed as he sipped his tea and rubbed his chin.


    He thought for a minute before responding.


    "What was that ce that the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect took a fancy to? Set the banquet there. Hire some courtesans to entertain them." Wu Hei spoke with a slight smile on his face.


    "Fang Yin pavilion would indeed be a good choice, my lord, I¡¯ll get to it right away. But should we invite a few more people, just us and them being there would seem strange?" Hei Wan answered.


    "Do as you seem fit, I just want it ready as soon as possible." Wu Hei replied as he turned around.


    "It will be done." Hei Wan replied before swiftly leaving the room.


    Once Hei Wan was gone from the room, Wu Hei went to sit at his desk. He put the cup down and poured himself another serving before drinking it all in a single gulp.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It has gone cold... What a waste of good tea." He muttered before flipping his palm a making a jade slip appear in his hand.


    This jade slip was light yellow in color and was about the length of a palm. Wu Hei firmly grasped it in his palm before speaking.


    "How are you, Elder brother..."This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.

 Chapter 225 - A Groggy Morning

    <h4>Chapter 225 - A Groggy Morning </h4>


    While some events and meetings were happening in the Wu Lim city, Lin Mu himself waspletely oblivious to it. He was peacefully cultivating in his house and was simply following the routine he had formed.


    Lin Mu would cultivate during the day, eat the beast meat, assimte vital energy, cultivate till evening and then sleep. Even in sleep he would train in the Sleepscape increasing his proficiency with the thousand armament de scripture and would then practice with the nameless technique of the lost immortal.


    Just like this, a month swiftly passed by and Lin Mu barely noticed. No one disturbed him during this period and he simply stayed inside the house, not taking even a single step outside the courtyard. The neighborhood people had finally started to notice that he had disappeared for a long time and some tried inquiring.


    But all of their attempts were blocked by Hei Ping, who would stand guard near the house every day and would just give the people excuses that Lin Mu had gone out or something else. The people were fine with it for a week before they started to get incredibly suspicious.


    The people in Lin Mu¡¯s neighborhood had already found out that he had be a cultivator a while ago, as some of them had seen him visiting the town center and interacting with Hei Wan and the other officials. Some people had even seen him disy his strength, thus they now had respect for Lin Mu in their minds.


    This was also the reason why they thought that Hei Ping was assigned to the house. At first, even Hei Ping had tried to deny the fact that Lin Mu was a cultivator but eventually when Hei Bao and the rest realized that the entire neighborhood knew about it, they decided to reveal it officially and said that Lin Mu now worked for them.


    This was done without the knowledge of Lin Mu, but Hei Bao and Hei Wan thought that this would help solve some unnecessary problems that would crop up in the future. The people from the neighborhood that knew Lin Mu since he was a kid felt slightly proud that someone from their neighborhood had be a venerated cultivator.


    Another thing was that they had already been paranoid because of the disappearances and were relieved that they had stopped. The way that Hei Ping acted by giving excuses was only making them think that perhaps Lin Mu had disappeared as well, and the truth was being hidden from them for some reason.


    Even the fear of the guards was not stopping them this time. It was as if the fear of an unknown threat was much greater to them than the threat of opposing authority.


    "You can¡¯t stop us today, we are going to take a look inside ourselves!" A man spoke.


    "People, people, people, trust me, Lin Mu is currently resting in his house and is taking a rest after a tiring task." Hei Ping tried to convince by putting up his hands.


    While he himself was also a cultivator, he could not carelessly reveal his identity as that may point to how he reached this level by being amon guard. This was also problematic, as it could lead to his identity as a member of the Hei corps.


    Since he could not exert his strength, all he could do was try to speak to the people and hold them back that way.


    "No, enough is enough! We have seen Lin Mu grow up since he was a child, we¡¯ve known him for a long time. He won¡¯t mind it if we go meet him." An old woman spoke.


    Even more people voiced their opinion and a person eventually managed to get by Hei Ping, who was blocking the people. Seeing that this person was about to knock on the door, Hei Ping became tense. He had known that Lin Mu was in seclusion and also knew how important it was that a cultivator is not disturbed during it.


    Even a small mistake could potentially be harmful and result in an injury. Thus he definitely did not want anyone to even attempt to get close to Lin Mu¡¯s house, not to mention knock on the door.


    "STOP!" Hei Ping shouted.


    But the man seemed to have ignored his words as his hand had already extended towards the gate of the courtyard.


    But just as his hand was about to touch the gate, it opened by itself. The man froze in ce and so did the other people who had been causing ruckus this entire while.


    "What?" Spoke a person standing behind the gate in a groggy voice.


    "Why is there amotion so early in the morning?" He continued as he rubbed his eyes.


    "Li-Lin Mu... You¡¯re alive! You¡¯re alive!" The olddy spoke in a surprised tone.


    "Alive? Of course, I¡¯m alive, what would happen to me?" Lin Mu spoke as a yawn escaped his mouth.


    Hei Ping¡¯s eyes went wide as he came forward. He could see Lin Mu¡¯s expression and understood that he seemed to have awakened from sleep and was perhaps quite tired. He wondered if he had made a mistake by not using force with these people and whether he would get punished by his captain for this.


    He had been ordered to strictly not disturb Lin Mu unless explicitly told to do so, thus he was even more tense.


    "Se-Senior Lin Mu... I-I... I tried to stop them, but they just did not want to listen to me. Please forgive me." Hei Ping pleaded.


    Lin Mu who was listening to the entire thing was only feeling confused and wondered what was happening.


    "Wait, exin from the start, I¡¯m confused." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It¡¯s like this..." Hei Ping then went on to tell him everything.


    How he had been told to not disturb him and not to let others disturb him either. About how Lin Mu was lightly in seclusion and that it would be bad to interrupt him.


    Lin Mu listened to everything and let out a breath.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "These people..."Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 226 - Sick Lin Mu?

    <h4>Chapter 226 - Sick Lin Mu? </h4>


    A day ago Lin Mu had a rather long cultivation session and had a small breakthrough in his practice with the Thousand armament de scripture. Even he had not expected something like this, thus he had spent the rest of the day practicing it in the backyard.


    He had practiced straight for eighteen hours and had utterly exhausted himself. During this entire ordeal, he had not used even a single wisp of his spirit qi, and neither did he use the vital energy. All that he had done was done using the raw strength of his body.


    This had left him incredibly sore and tired such that when his head hit the pillow, he did not even appear in the Sleepscape rather just falling into a deep dreamless slumber. All these weeks no one had disturbed him, thus Lin Mu had gotten incredibly used to the solitary life.


    He had mostly forgotten about the people outside the courtyard and was fully focused on his training and cultivation. Thus when he was rudely woken from his sleep because of amotion that was happening outside, he was groggy, to say the least.


    In fact, now that he heard the story from Hei Ping, he was wondering when did his neighbors be so caring. While they had interactions over the years, the neighbors mostly kept to themselves after his parent¡¯s death, not bothering to talk with Lin Mu.


    On one part this was due to them ming Lin Mu for being an orphan and they did not want him borrowing any money from them. Although Lin Mu had never done that.


    <i>~Hmph~</i>


    "Hypocrites, how typical of mortal humans." Xukong scoffed in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    Lin Mu paid little attention to Senior Xukong¡¯s words as he was still reeling from his sleepiness. He could feel that something strange was happening with his body, like it was sick. This was rather new for him, as he had not been sick ever since he became a cultivator.


    ¡¯Perhaps it just a side effect of training without the use of spirit qi and vital energy. Bah! I¡¯ll deal with these people first.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself, feeling frustrated.


    "Alright, you all can see me now, right? I¡¯m fine, you all can go back. I want to rest now." Lin Mu spoke up in a louder voice than before.


    Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    This silenced most people, but some of them were still speaking a few things. Lin Mu did not mind them, as all he wanted to do now was rest. He thus turned to Hei Ping.


    "I¡¯ll rest for a bit. Please don¡¯t let them disturb me." Lin Mu ordered before closing the door of the courtyard.


    The people were now left standing in an awkward silence as they now didn¡¯t know how to respond.


    "You heard him, go off now. Senior Lin Mu does not want to be bothered. If anyone dares to disturb him anymore, they would be reported to the town head and be punished." Hei Ping warned.


    With the threat of punishment hanging over their heads and seeing that Lin Mu was indeed there, the people walked away, albeit reluctantly. It was almost as if they wanted more from Lin Mu, and they had now been restrained.


    ***


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath of fatigue as heid down on his bed and closed his eyes. He had his hand on his forehead and was rubbing it to alleviate the headache that had now sprouted in his head.


    Unable to bear it anymore, Lin Mu decided to ask senior Xukong.


    "Senior, what is happening to me? Why do I feel... sick?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm, I do not exactly know. It could be because of the training you did yesterday, but this seems too extreme for that." Xukong replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I guess I¡¯ll just sleep for a bit and see how I feelter." Lin Mu spoke before turning on his side.


    A few minutester, Lin Mu was deep in sleep and the silence once again descended in the room. Xukong though was lost in his thoughts.


    "Hmm, is it time for that? It should be, he is already close to the limit. He had already refined enough liquefied spirit qi, his body should be ready." Xukong spoke to himself.


    While Xukong had told Lin Mu otherwise, he actually knew what was happening to him, or rather had a good guess.


    In this entire month, Lin Mu had umted about two hundred drops of liquefied spirit qi and had used up about one third of the basic qi pills from one of the boxes. He actually refined more than double this amount of liquid spirit qi, but he had been using most of it in practicing the nameless technique of the lost immortal and had infused it into his stomach.


    If one were to look at Lin Mu¡¯s dantian, they would see that it was slowly expanding. Before Lin Mu had thought that he had the capacity of about two thousand spirit qi wisps when he had originally started to cultivate. Butter he learned that he was simply mistaken due to hisck of experience and spirit sense.


    Later on, he learned from senior Xukong that his dantian was actually increasing in capacity and had reached the capacity to hold fifteen hundred spirit qi wisps.


    During the past month, his dantian had gone through a rigorous exercise, having been filled and depleted over and over again. And not only that, but every day the amount of liquid spirit qi in his dantian was also increasing, which exerted a certain kind of pressure on it.


    For most other cultivators, this pressure was normal and came with the growth of their cultivation, but unlike Lin Mu¡¯s dantian, their dantian would instead get tempered and harden, making it so that the liquid spirit qi would no longer affect its walls due to its pressure.


    But in Lin Mu¡¯s case, his dantian was rather flexible, and now this very characteristic was showing its effect. His dantian started to steadily expand under the effect of the pressure exerted by the liquid spirit qi and fine cracks developed in its walls.

 Chapter 227 - The Expanded Dantian

    <h4>Chapter 227 - The Expanded Dantian </h4>


    These cracks slowly grew bigger, but when they reached a critical value a strong wave of energy would wash over it and mend it. This energy was none other than Lin Mu¡¯s vital energy which had been saturated to a great extent within his body.


    This process of mending and repairsted for many hours during which Lin Mu was running a fever and his body had turned red from the heat. Fine wisps of steam could even be seen rising from his body due to the cold temperature.


    The expansion of his dantian continued on until when finally, it had reached double its previous size. Lin Mu¡¯s dantian was nowrge enough to contain three thousand wisps of spirit qi within it.


    If other cultivators were to see it, they would be extremely shocked as Lin Mu¡¯s capacity to store spirit qi was now three times that of an average cultivator. In fact, if he were to refine more spirit qi and fill it entirely with liquid spirit qi, his capacity would even contend against that of mid stage core condensation realm cultivators.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    Even in the top three sects, there were barely any disciples whose capacity of dantian in the qi refining realm reached two thousand spirit qi wisps, not to mention three thousand. Even fifteen hundred wisps was considered a rarity in the top ten sects.


    While it only seemed like Lin Mu¡¯s capacity was only three times that of a simr stage cultivator, it was not so. While it was only three times for now, it would be exponentially more when he reached a higher realm.


    Even a hundred spirit qi wisp difference became a huge difference in the long run as it only meant that, that much extra space was present for refinement andpression of spirit qi. The more spirit qi was refined andpressed, the more stable the foundation of a cultivator would be.


    Still, the reason why there were not many cultivators with higher capacity was not that they were not talented. But rather because even in the top sects, they would restrain its expansion as it would only take that much longer for that disciple to reach the next realm.


    Another major problem was the injuries caused to the dantian could be life threatening and there was a big chance that the cultivator would actually end up crippling themselves permanently if their dantian was shattered due to the expansion.


    In a way, Lin Mu only survived it because of his abnormal body tempering realm cultivation due to which he had ample amounts of vital energy seething within his body. Most cultivators would abandon vital energy once they reached the qi refining realm and thought of it as an inferior to spirit qi.


    An entire day passed before Lin Mu¡¯s fever finally went down. His dantian had stabilized and was no longer expanding. Even the drops of liquid spirit qi which floated in individual droplets on the bottom of Lin Mu¡¯s dantian, merged together forming a small pool.


    If one were to look at this pool and the wisps of spirit qi floating over it, they would think that it is a scene from an immortal painting.


    Inside Lin Mu¡¯s abdomen, something else was happening. Aplex and obscure pattern appeared on his stomach. This pattern was the same pattern that had appeared when Lin Mu had first bound with the Lost immortals legacy treasure, which was the wooden slip.


    The obscure pattern flickered and small runes started appearing from it. These runes were too small to be clearly observed, and it could not be perceived what they meant. All that could be seen was that they had some kind of aplex form.


    These runes spread all over the stomach and formed a. The hadrge size gaps and it did not seem proper. The obscure pattern flickered unstably and a few more of those small runes appeared from it. These small runes too joined the, making it slightly more denser.


    The obscure patter flicked even more, but it could not produce any more of the small runes. The obscure pattern, as if running out of fuel, fizzled onest time before disappearing. The formed from the small runes shrank and faded into the surface of Lin Mu¡¯s stomach.


    Just as the obscure pattern disappeared, Lin Mu opened his eyes.


    "Huh, what... Ah! Heavens! Not Again!" Lin Mu uttered painfully as the hunger attacked him like a beast.


    He quickly withdrew the meat from his ring and started eating it. Over the days he had stored plenty of cooked meat in his ring, but even then it was steadily being depleted. Lin Mu had already known that his hunger was increasing more and more, thus he increased the amount of meat he cooked.


    It hade to the point where he had already finished half of all the beast corpses he had umted till now. Still, something was feeling strange to him. Usually, when he got the rush of hunger, it would immediately start being satiated once he started eating, but that was not happening right now.


    Lin Mu ignored it for a bit and continued eating, as he was more bothered by the pain for now. But after a few minutes, he had reached a point where he had already finished the entire beast and yet there was not even one percent of reduction in his hunger.


    "Senior! something¡¯s wrong!" Lin Mu shouted out in his mind.


    "I know, it seems like there have been a few changes in your body. Quickly check it with your spirit sense your dantian probably expanded even more. And perhaps even the nameless technique of the lost immortal must have had some effect." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu split his attention with some difficulty and used his sprite sense to observe his body while still continuing to eat. He had already withdrawn the second beast that was cooked beforehand and was already eating eat.


    Lin Mu first observed his visceral organs and could not find anything different with them. He even looked at his stomach and scanned it closely, yet could not find any change.


    ¡¯Huh? It¡¯s not my organs, so is it my dantian?¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he peered deeper.

 Chapter 228 - Strengthened Foundation

    <h4>Chapter 228 - Strengthened Foundation </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense reached his dantian and it was then that he witnessed it. The sight was strangely beautiful and he even stopped eating for a brief moment. It was as if he was looking at a beautiful painting and he was the person in the painting that was sitting on the side of a pond.


    The shimmering pond of liquid spirit qi and faintly glowing wisps of spirit qi looked amazing to him. It was now that he noticed it.


    "My dantian... It has... doubled in size? And what¡¯s this even the drops of the liquid spirit qi have merged. This looks beautiful..." Lin Mu muttered in his mind.


    While Lin Mu was witnessing this scene, Xukong was doing the same through Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    ¡¯Indeed, it increased as I expected. He even managed to form the qi pool, that¡¯s good. His progress should be even more faster now. But this hunger... it is abnormal even when considering the nameless technique. Did his training finally push him over the limit or is it something else?¡¯ Xukong thought.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Only time will tell..." Xukong muttered to himself before looking towards the eternal altar that was in a calm state.


    Lin Mu had finally gathered his wits and drew his attention back from his dantian to focus on eating. In the time that he had spent observing his body, he had already finished another beast. But now he could finally feel a reduction in his hunger.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu tookbored breaths between each bite.


    ¡¯This is too much. If it increases more, it would take me even more meat to satisfy the hunger. I just hope it doesn¡¯t re up like this again for a while.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself, feeling helpless.


    Lin Mu ended up finishing one more beast for a total of four beasts before he was able to stop.


    He could not move anymore and simplyid down on the ground surrounded by a pile of bones and scraps of the meat. He slowly blinked and looked around in the room. The room was now quite messy, to say the least, and it would take him quite a while to clean it again.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "How long is this going to take this time?" Lin Mu spoke to himself as he waited for his strength to return to him.


    He closed his eyes and took a brief nap, and when he woke up, he was feeling energized. He felt like a river of energy was coursing through him, and an inexplicable sense offort filled him. The vital energy within his body thrummed in harmony and simrly the spirit qi circted within his meridians automatically.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Pop~</i>


    <i>~Pop~</i>


    Lin Mu stood up, and the joints in his body crackled and pop. He could feel the strength that was coiled in his body. It was as if it was packed to the brim, yet there was still a desire for more. Lin Mu clenched his fist to test and immediately felt the difference.


    "This increase... it almost double of my previous strength..." Lin Mu said in a shocked tone.


    "Seems like your body has finally started to limatize with the spirit qi in your body," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu was confused upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words and was wondering what he meant as he had not heard of anything such as this before from him. In fact, in all that he had learned about cultivation, he did not know of anything that was simr to this.


    "What do you mean, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling curious.


    "What you are experiencing right now is nothing but your foundation getting deeper. You see, when a person cultivates they umte spirit qi in their body, but even if they haverge stores of it, they can¡¯t utilize it perfectly. This bes even more apparent when there is a difference between the cultivation realms.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    Another great factor in this was your body tempering realm cultivation. You remember when I said that the body cultivation realm was important, right? This was the reason. While one can have spirit qi, they still need a strong vessel to be able to contain and control it. Reaching the eighth stage of the body tempering realm puts you at the very minimum requirement level that is needed to contain the spirit qi.


    The higher your cultivation gets, the more difficult it would be for your body to handle it. For cultivators who only cultivate spirit qi and not the vital energy, they need to spend much longer to stabilize their foundations and need an extensive amount of resources as well.


    While the time taken to do the same with body tempering realm cultivation is longer at the start, it results in a big differenceter. Your body has harmonized with the spirit qi, and now you should be able to use a muchrger amount at once without harming yourself.


    This was the reason I wanted you to continue with body tempering realm cultivation." Xukong exined.


    After hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words, Lin Mu felt quite enlightened and grateful. He was lucky that he had met Senior Xukong or he would have probably gone on the wrong path and end up regretting itter. Or worse, he would have never even found out that he was wrong.


    As a great sage once said, "Knowing about a mistake and regretting it is better than never knowing you made a mistake at all."


    "I am grateful for your guidance, Senior Xukong." Lin Mu spoke in a content tone.


    "Hmm," Xukong hummed in response before continuing, "Once you reach the peak of the body tempering realm though, I have something that would help you go even further, much further than this world has seen."


    Lin Mu was curious about it but decided that it would be best for him to wait patiently till Senior Xukong tells him himself. He now knew that Xukong had much more experience than anyone in this world and his guidance was priceless.

 Chapter 229 - A Nostalgic Encounter

    <h4>Chapter 229 - A Nostalgic Encounter </h4>


    Lin Mu sat down and tried to observe the status of his body now. He wanted to see what exact difference was there, now that his foundation had been strengthened. He chanted the severing heart sutra so that his perception could be at its peak and then used his spirit sense to observe his body.


    While he had seen it before when he was still eating, it was not as thorough as he was distressed by the pain of hunger and thus couldn¡¯t focus. But now that he was free from it and was feeling better than ever, he had no such restrictions.


    Lin Mu went from the top of his body and went all the way down. He observed his meridians, which seemed to have slightly increased in diameter and had even gotten a bit thicker. He then observed his stomach, which seemed to be looking the same as before, yet he had this innate feeling that something had changed.


    He finally came to his dantian and saw the same painting like scene, except this time he wasn¡¯t as amazed. The spirit qi wisps were still floating around above the pond of liquid spirit qi but from time to time they would leave the dantian and enter the meridians on their own and circte in his body before returning.


    He also observed that the number of wisps was actually increasing slowly and this speed was much faster than his previous natural rate of recovery, which came as a surprise to him.


    ¡¯Seems like having a strong foundation has way more hidden benefits than I thought...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Having thought of this, he decided to return to his routine and left for the kitchen so that he could cook more meat. But when he reached there and was about to light the fire, he realized something.


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    "Huh? I¡¯m out of wood. Hmm, guess I should go buy some, or I can just ask Hei Ping, I think. He did say that I can request him some things." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He thus left the kitchen and started walking towards the door of the courtyard. He opened the door and looked for Hei Ping but did not see him there.


    ¡¯Did he go somewhere else?¡¯ Lin Mu thought before scanning the area with his spirit sense.


    "Not here? Was he called by the Hei corps, perhaps?" Lin Mu thought out loud.


    Taking a few more nces around, he reckoned that he would have to get it himself. Thus Lin Mu started walking in the direction of the market. While he still did have some cooked meat present in his ring, Lin Mu did not want to take any more chances with the nameless technique.


    He didn¡¯t know how much more could his hunger intensify, thus he wanted to be fully prepared. Besides, he had plenty of money with him right now. Lin Mu took a brisk walk and took in the sights of the town. He had been in seclusion for a rather long while, thus it was actually feeling a bit refreshing to him.


    ¡¯This is kinda nice. Perhaps I should take a long walk, rx myself and clear my mind.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "That would be a good idea. You should try out your techniques and skills, now that your strength has increased. You should always have a good grasp on your capabilities and limits." Xukong advised.


    "Your right, Senior. I¡¯ll do as you suggest." Lin Mu replied before reaching the town market.


    The market was rtively empty than usual as the winter was still in full effect and it was currently snowing. Lin Mu himself wasn¡¯t even wearing any thick robes and was in his simple clothes. Before he could at least feel rtively cold, but now he felt no different from being in his house.


    His vital energy which was fully contained within his body was protected from the weather.


    Some of the people that were selling their wares were shivering with cold, due to not having adequate clothing. While others were simply weak and had low body tempering realm cultivation. Lin Mu curiously did a scan of the entire market with his spirit sense and found out that out of the tens of people there, barely four reached the fifth stage of the body tempering realm.


    Most of the adults that he saw were at the fourth stage of the body tempering realm and below. Only the guards that were standing at the entrance of the streets and square had a cultivation that was at the sixth stage of the body tempering realm.


    Lin Mu quickly found a few people that were selling wood and bought it all. In fact, he bought all the stock that was avable in the market currently. The people who were around looked at him with strange looks, and some of the sellers were even suspicious if he even had that much money.


    But once he showed them the coins, their attitude changed three-sixty degrees and they quickly epted it. Lin Mu knew that he shouldn¡¯t store the wood in his ring here, thus he asked all of it to be delivered to his house, which they dly epted.


    Lin Mu spent about half a gold coin to buy the entire stock of the wood. This disy of wealth also garnered some unsavory looks, but they went unnoticed by Lin Mu.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s take a walk to the forest, I need to test my skills too.¡¯ Lin Mu thought before changing his direction to the forest.


    But there were a couple of people following behind him. They stayed a fair distance away from him thus Lin Mu did not notice them and currently, his focus was on something else, making him lost in his thoughts.


    Lin Mu eventually reached the outskirts of the town and exited from the northern part. Just as he got a sufficient distance away from the town, his ears picked up something, they were footsteps. While he was in the town he had not paid attention to it as there were many people around, but now even outside they were following him.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This is nostalgic..."

 Chapter 230 - Insult

    <h4>Chapter 230 - Insult </h4>


    The men that were following Lin Mu, were now in the range of his spirit sense and he could see them. There were a total of five men behind him, though he was surprised as he found two of them to be rather familiar.


    "These two? Aren¡¯t they the same men who chased me back when I sold the snow veiled hare?" Lin Mu spoke to himself in surprise.


    The men having seen that Lin Mu had already noticed them showed sly smiles on their faces with some that were more evil than others. But as they got close, they noticed that Lin Mu had not moved at all and he didn¡¯t have a change of expression either.


    "Ha ha! Seems like this kid has gone dumb from fear," One of the men spoke.


    "Of course he would be. Look at him, he¡¯s so scrawny and small we can snap him like a twig." Another man who was carrying a sword and was over six feet tall spoke in a demeaning tone.


    The two men who had once chased Lin Mu before finally realized who he was. It took them a little longer to recognize him, as his looks had slightly changed over the past few months. Although they were not widely different, they were still quite different for someone who had only seen him once.


    "YOU!" One of those two men yelled.


    "Brothers this is that brat which made fools of us back then. He even made big brother look bad." The second man exined.


    "Ah, seems like we now have more business to settle than before." The man who seemed to be the leader of the five men spoke as he cracked his knuckles.


    "Brat, give us all your money and kowtow on the ground a hundred times, and then maybe we will let you off." The final man who had a mouse like looks spoke in a shrill voice.


    Lin Mu did not respond to their taunts and simply stared at them and their ridiculous disy.


    "I didn¡¯t know there were mouse beastmen in this world," Xukong spoke in an amused tone.


    Lin Mu immediately realized what Senior Xukong was saying and chuckled in response.


    "Yes senior, he does look like a mouse. Perhaps he is indeed a beastman, we don¡¯t know." Lin Mu spoke out loud.


    A vein popped up on the man with the mouse like face.


    "What did you say, brat! You dare insult this daddy! I¡¯ll teach you, there won¡¯t even be any bones left of you when we¡¯re done with you." The man with mouse like face spoke.


    <i>~Hah~</i>


    "Little brother, it seems like this kid¡¯s parents didn¡¯t teach him any manners."


    "What do we know, perhaps his mother was a whore and didn¡¯t have time to teach him, being busy with other men." One of the men wearing a grey shirt insulted. He had an axe on his back and had a long scar extending from his left ear to his neck.


    "Yes, yes, his father must have been a weak eunuch seeing how scrawny he is." The leader of the men added.


    But as soon as these words were said, the environment of the area changed. While it was cold before, now it felt chilling. All of the men felt a chill passing through their bodies.


    They could also feel a malevolent aura that had suddenly appeared near them. They looked at its source simultaneously and saw Lin Mu standing there with a malevolent look on his face. His lips seemed to be moving and he was uttering something, but they could not hear anything.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    The men could not help but gulp their saliva, as an unknown fear washed over them. They could not tell why, but they knew the person in front of them was dangerous. Although logic told them that Lin Mu looked weak and young, their instincts were telling them something else entirely.


    The leader of the men forcefully grasped hold of himself and broke out of that strange spell.


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    "What are you all doing standing? Get him!" Leader yelled.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    The rest of the four men finally broke out of their stupor and were just about to move when they heard a sickening crunch.


    <i>~Stter~</i>


    A wet warm liquid stted onto their faces and bodies as they turned to see someone standing beside them. The person who was previously in front of them was now just beside them. Lin Mu had his hand on the remnants of the head of the man who had insulted his mother.


    One of the men touched his face and looked at the warm liquid that had sttered on it.


    "Blood?" The man spoke in a daze.


    The remaining four men were now stuck in a strange daze as they could not understand what had just happened. One moment they were standing here all fine, and Lin Mu was far ahead of them. But now he was near them and theirpanion¡¯s head seemed to have been crushed.


    Lin Mu stayed in the same posture and turned his head to face the man who had insulted his father; in an almost robotic manner. He had the same malevolent expression on his face, except this time it was dressed with the blood and brains.


    "You should not have said that," Lin Mu spoke in a cold tone.


    Hearing the voice of Lin Mu made the men feel as if ming steel was being pressed upon their hearts. They tried to speak and move, but discovered that the fear had rooted them to the ground. No matter how much their mind tried, their body simply did not obey.


    With every passing second, Lin Mu¡¯s expression was getting more and more malevolent as veins popped up on his face and his eyes turned bloodshot. Vital energy and qi coursed through his body as every inch of his muscles filled with strength.


    It seemed as if his body had increased by one size and the loose clothes he was wearing became stretched taut.

 Chapter 231 - Bottom Line

    <h4>Chapter 231 - Bottom Line </h4>


    Lin Mu let go of the now dead man and fully turned towards the man who had insulted his father. He clenched his fist and buried it in that man¡¯s chest.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Stter~</i>


    More blood sttered as a hole was smashed through that man¡¯s chest. The trees at the back could be seen and the man¡¯s ribs now poked out of the new opening. Blood flowed endlessly from the man¡¯s chest as he fell to the ground with a loud thud.


    The remaining three men had finally been shaken from his daze as they instantly started running.


    "De-Demon!" The mouse like man yelled in fear as he ran ahead.


    "Monster, this is monster!" Another man uttered in disbelief.


    The leader of the men did not have the will to speak anything and was fully focused on running instead. He was at the back of the two men as he was thest person to start running. He had only gone a few meters ahead when he heard a sound.


    <i>~Swish~</i>


    A short sword flew out his side and impaled itself into the head of the man with the mouse like face. But the short sword did not stop there and continued flying, taking the mouse like man with it until it pierced into the head of the other man as well.


    The two men had now been sandwiched together with the short sword as a toothpick and copsed on the ground.


    The leader¡¯s eyes went wide as he saw this and was suddenly stopped in ce. He then felt a tight grasp on his neck, as if it was the ws of death itself. He found himself being lifted off the ground and his legs kept on iling in the air.


    "Mercy! Mercy! Please let go of me! Oh, great lord I... I made a mistake. It was those two who wanted to rob you and suggested this." The leader pleaded with tears and snoting out of his mouth.


    He couldn¡¯t see Lin Mu behind him as he had been grasped from the behind, thus all he could do was plead in the air.


    "A mistake? Certainly not. Though you all will be useful. Perhaps, you all would be a good sacrifice for pleasing the souls of my parents. May they find peace in the afterlife." Lin Mu spoke in a hoarse voice, that was almost unrecognizable.


    Lin Mu tightened his grip as the man kept iling and pleading. But soon he couldn¡¯t speak as his throat had been crushed. But that was only the start, as Lin Mu kept on exerting force until the man¡¯s head was forcefully severed from his body, leaving behind a mangled neck on the body as it fell to the ground.


    Lin Mu threw the head to the side forcefully, which made it m into a rock and burst apart like a watermelon.


    Lin Mu looked at his handiwork with a cold look and then raised his hands to take a look at them.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Even more mess..." He muttered in a hoarse voice before it started to return to normal.


    His clothes that had been stretched taught became loose again, and the power coursing in his body calmed down as well.


    "All this because I just wanted to go out for a rxing walk," Lin Mu said in a frustrated tone.


    "Good... Good... The dignity of an immortal must not be challenged, the same way a dragon¡¯s reverse scale must not be touched. These men crossed your bottom line and deserved this." Xukong praised in a slightly joyous tone.


    The rage that was clouding Lin Mu¡¯s mind had finally started dispelling as he felt the implications of his actions. A sense of guilt filled him for a moment before swiftly being banished by Senior Xukong¡¯s words. What he was saying was right, these men had insulted his parents and thus perished.


    But the next thought that came to Lin Mu made him feel confused.


    "The burning heart sutra... it is different. I didn¡¯t even use it myself, it automatically came within my mind and before I knew it I was chanting it." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "I¡¯m afraid such is the power of the demonic path. Your will is not strong enough to fully control it, and thus it will take over when you truly get enraged. It will take you some time to get used to it and let your will get tempered. Still, you shouldn¡¯t use it carelessly, the aura of the demonic path is not something that should be revealed easily." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu silently listened to Senior Xukong¡¯s words before nodding in agreement. While he was not physically tired the way he was when he first used the burning heart sutra, he still felt the mental exhaustion from it. He could tell that the burden of using the burning heart sutra was quite high in his mind.


    "This strength... it was ill-suited for a task like this. It could have been easily aplished without the power of the burning hear sutra, this was simply a waste of effort. Those men were not even cultivators." Lin Mu spoke in a self-exnatory tone.


    Lin Mu¡¯s mood had been fouled by this incident, and he no longer wished to continue. He didn¡¯t even bother cleaning it up and just decided to leave it to the Hei corps. He thought that now that they were taking care of thew and order situation in the town, this work should be left up to them.


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    Lin Mu did not notice this clearly, but his personality had gone under a new change. While it had already started changing back when he received the ordainment of the world¡¯s will, it had now progressed further.


    But Xukong was not one to miss this as he basked in this moment.


    "He¡¯s finally experiencing the true reality of this universe. This is but the start, I¡¯ll have to guide him and make sure that it doesn¡¯t be too overwhelming for him." Xukong stated to himself.

 Chapter 232 - Clean Up

    <h4>Chapter 232 - Clean Up </h4>


    Lin Mu did not bother staying low key anymore and sprinted all the way to the town center. He now wanted nothing more than to return to his house and cultivate. He regretted that he even chose to go out and wondered if it would have been better if he had simply returned to his house from the very start after he bought the wood.


    The people along the way saw him running past them and were shocked, to say the least. Even the guards wanted to try to stop him, but his speed was not something that they coulde close to. Before they could even react, Lin Mu had already run past them.


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    Still, there were some guards who seemed to have recognized Lin Mu.


    "The new Town Head¡¯s esteemed guest, Lin Mu? What happened to him?" One of the guards who recognized Lin Mu spoke up.


    Hispanions and the residents who were nearby heard his words and were surprised.


    "That¡¯s senior Lin Mu?" Another guard questioned.


    "As expected from the new town head¡¯s guest. His cultivation is unparalleled." One of the guards who looked a little fat spoke in a ttering tone.


    Still, one of the guards was able to see Lin Mu¡¯s troubled and frustrated expression while he was running. This guard was actually a member of the Hei corps and had seen Lin Mu in person before and had also witnessed his might. All the Hei corps members that had been assigned as guards were informed of Lin Mu beforehand and were told to report his actions back to Hei Bao.


    The guard seeing this immediately went towards the town center. But he saw that Lin Mu was heading towards there as well.


    "He¡¯s going to the town center in such a hurry, did something drastic happen?" The guard question as he continued on.


    Lin Mu soon reached the town center and swiftly made his way up to the office. The guards at the entrance greeted him with cupped hands as he passed by and let him inside. Lin Mu saw that the door of the office was already opened and Hei Bao was sitting at the desk while someone else was also sitting opposite to him.


    Lin Mu recognized him immediately, as he was none other than the supervisor Li Peng.


    Hei Bao looked up the moment Lin Mu walked in and noticed his expression. A bad feeling arose in his mind, and he gritted his teeth before letting out a sigh.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Supervisor Li Peng, I¡¯ll talk with youter. I have... some more important matters to attend to." Hei Bao spoke.


    Li Peng heard his words and wanted to ask him why he was cutting his meeting short, but looking at his serious face made him think again. Hei Bao currently had a superior position than him and was also a cultivator. Hei Wan who was the acting town Head had personally appointed him to manage the town while she was gone.


    Thus Li Peng did not question it further and directly stood up. He nced at Lin Mu and was surprised. He also saw his expression and the gloomy aura that was radiating off of him.


    ¡¯Why is he here? Is it rted to the culprits again?¡¯ He questioned internally before walking out.


    Once Li Peng left the room, Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and did a quick sweep of the area. His spirit sense also passed over Hei Bao, and he could feel it. As soon as it touched him, he felt a chill pass through his body and for a moment there he felt fear.


    ¡¯His spirit sense, it¡¯s... iparable to before. And what was that feeling... killing intent? What has he done now?¡¯ Hei Bao questioned himself.


    Once Lin Mu was satisfied that there was no one listening to them, and they had privacy, he narrated the incident from before and asked him to take care of the bodies.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    "As you wish. You can go rest now, I¡¯ll send some guards to clean it up." Hei Bao replied.


    "Thank you." Lin Mu spoke in a calm tone before leaving the office.


    Hei Bao¡¯s brows furrowed upon Lin Mu¡¯s departure, and he called out.


    "Guards!"


    In a few seconds, four guards appeared in the room. All of them were members of the Hei Corps and were disguised as guards.


    "What is the problem captain?" One of them questioned.


    "Call a few men, we are going to go check out something. Oh, and also get some guards to look up these persons." Hei Bao answered and then described to them a few things.


    The guard¡¯s expressions changed to serious and one of them swiftly left to carry out his task while the others went out along with Hei Bao. Their destination was none other than the ce where Lin Mu had killed the five men.


    Upon reaching the site of the massacre, the Hei corps were shocked and Hei Bao¡¯s expression turned displeased.


    "Clean it up, and not a single word of this to anyone else!" Hei Bao ordered.


    "Yes, captain." The Men replied before getting to their tasks.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯I need to report to the leader. Something may be wrong with Lin Mu.¡¯ Hei Bao thought.


    ***


    Back in the town, Lin Mu had long since reached his house. He entered the courtyard and saw the wood that he had bought kept in the yard. There was plenty of wood there for him tost a few months, perhaps. He quickly stored it in his ring before entering his room.


    He nced at the mess that was still there and got to cleaning it. A few minutester the room was clean, but the faint smell of meat was still lingering in the air.


    "At least it does not smell bad and is not a foul smell," Lin Mu said to himself before getting to cook more meat.


    Once everything was prepped and ready, he finally sat back down to cultivate.


    "Only cultivating will calm me down..."

 Chapter 233 - The Complications Of Burning Heart Sutra

    <h4>Chapter 233 - The Complications Of Burning Heart Sutra </h4>


    A day was passed in cultivation as Lin Mu¡¯s mental state finally returned to normal.


    He had been chanting the calming heart sutra endlessly during this time, yet found that it was not being as effective as before.


    ¡¯The demonic path is as domineering as always, it will take him longer to get used to it. Even though he also has the approval of the Buddhist path, he hasn¡¯t grasped the essence of it yet. While the demonic path is much easier to grasp, all it needs is rage.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and let out a breath. His face was tranquil and no trace of the previous distress was seen on it. He had thoroughly been cleansed of his previous condition.


    "Senior, from what I¡¯ve experienced yesterday, it seems like I need to use the burning heart sutra and gain better control over it." Lin Mu spoke in a calm tone.


    "Oh, just as I thought of it. Yes, that is indeed what you should do. Once you get used to it and be familiar with that state, not only will you have better control over it but you may even increase your strength by another fold." Xukong replied.


    "Mmmhmm," Lin Mu hummed in response before a determined look appeared on his face.


    The words of the demonic figures appeared in his mind as he repeated after them.


    <i>"Ignite thy heart as a furnace, let your rage fuel your strength and unleash rampage upon the worlds - Behold, The Burning Heart Sutra."</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s expression soon changed to a strained one as veins popped up on his face and his muscles grew taut. His eyes were closed, but underneath his eyelids, they had turned bloodshot as well.


    Upon reaching his state, his mind started to wander as he had no target to unleash his rage upon. This made his memories of the past came back to him and the sorrow apanied it. And along with this sorrow came unprecedented rage.


    Lin Mu clenched his fists in rage as he tried to control it. He stayed like that for two minutes before Xukong called out.


    "Enough!" He ordered.


    Lin Mu snapped out of his thoughts and stopped chanting the burning heart sutra. His face and eyes went back to normal and his body also rxed.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "This is much harder than when I killed those men," Lin Mu said with a tired voice.


    "Indeed, when one does not have a goal in mind, their will starts to waver. Right now you don¡¯t have a target on which you can focus this power on thus it ends up targeting yourself," Xukong said with a straight tone before continuing, "Hmm, you should use the burning heart sutra once a day like this. But, you need to reduce the time period. Thirty seconds should be good for now. Two minutes is clearly more straining on you. When you killed those men, you barely spent a minute in that state. This is a taxing technique, better to be reserved with it for now."


    Lin Mu carefully pondered over Senior Xukong¡¯s words and agreed with them. The stress that the technique put on him was certainlyrge. He didn¡¯t know if it could have harmful effects, thus it would only do him good to be prudent.


    "That does seem to be the better choice right now." Lin Mu agreed before standing up.


    He took a look outside the window and saw the cloudy sky and the swirling snow.


    "The winter should be ending in a month now. Not much time left." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He sat back down to cultivate and returned to his routine, except this time another task had been added to it. The task being the daily usage of the burning heart sutra.


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    ***


    Days upon days passed as another month came to an end.


    Xiangwei city was a city that was well known in the Shuang Qian kingdom and was also known in other parts of the Great Zhou Empire. There were two reasons for it, one it was one of the biggest cities ofmerce and thousands of trades happened there every hour. The second being that it was home to a lot of big and prominent mercenarypanies.


    The climate in the Xiangwei city was alsopletely different from that of Wu Lim city. While it was also cold here, it was not on the same level as that of the Wu Lim city and there was no snow here either. The sky was also clear and the sun shone brightly.


    At the south of the city, there existed the mercenary district. This was the ce where most of the mercenarypanies¡¯ bases were located. While the smaller mercenarypanies had their head bases here, the bigger ones like the ashen cloak mercenaries had a smaller administrative base here.


    The bigger mercenarypanies had their main bases located outside the city in special areas that had been allotted to them. This was an honor that was only reserved for the most powerful mercenarypanies.


    Still, the mercenary district was the central hub of the mercenaries as this was also where the office of the mercenary union was located. The building which housed it was ratherrge and took up around ten percent of the entire mercenary district.


    This was a shocking thing for a single building to upy such arge area. But it was a given, as the building had many different departments in it that performed different functions.


    Some dealt with the requests andmissions that they received, some dealt with the legal aspects of the job, some dealt with the goods that they obtained while some parts functioned as a dorm for the mercenaries.


    Thought the most important part of the mercenary union was considered as the grand meeting room. This was where the most important meetings were convened and big decisions were taken.


    Currently, in this very room, a meeting was taking ce. There were more than a hundred seats in the room and all of them were filled.


    Right now, a man was standing in the center of the room and was speaking to everyone. This man was none other than Teng Xiaolian. He was currently informing everyone about the events that had happened in the northern town and forest.


    Nobody knew, but this meeting was the start of the upheaval.

 Chapter 234 - Mercenary Union

    <h4>Chapter 234 - Mercenary Union </h4>


    The people in the grand meeting hall were all in an uproar after hearing what Teng Xiaolian had just spoken. When the people had been informed that an important meeting was organized they had not expected for it to be this serious.


    Most of the mercenarypanies had sent their members out to the mission that was assigned by the mayor of the Wu Lim city, thus they were quite enraged, to say the least.


    "This cannot go unanswered, the mayor must give us an exnation!" One of the hundreds of mercenaries yelled.


    "Yes, yes! This has never happened before."


    "Mayor Wu Xun¡¯s audacity is too much. How dare he me the mercenaries without proof?"


    "Who knows, he may even have a part in this. Perhaps he does not want to keep up his side of the bargain." Someone else said.


    The higher ups of the mercenarypany that were sitting at the front of the room seemed quite agitated by hits too. But they knew that they could not express their displeasure directly like this. It would only be detrimental to them in the long run.


    "SILENCE!!" The old man who was sitting at the head of the room shouted as he mmed his fist onto the table.


    His voice was thunderous and spread around in the room, making the furniture shake. One could feel the power in the voice and could tell that it was amplified by qi. But to make things shake by mere voice meant only one thing. The old man in question was a Nascent soul realm cultivator.


    All the mercenaries that were shouting immediately fell silent after seeing the old man spoke. Evidently the old man had a very high positing and inspired fear in them. After silence descended in the room, the old man gazed at everyone with a hawk like gaze.


    The weaker mercenaries could feel chills going down their spine just from the gaze and subconsciously swallowed their saliva.


    Only when the old man stopped looking did they rx, but even in this time, their backs had been covered with cold sweat.


    The old man then looked at Teng Xiaolian before speaking.


    "Teng Xiaolian, do you swear on your life and your honor as a mercenary that all you¡¯ve said is true?" The old man questioned.


    "I swear on my life, my honor and the souls of my fellow mercenaries that all I¡¯ve said is the entire truth that I¡¯ve experienced." Teng Xiaolian dered as he mmed his fist upon his chest.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A sigh escaped the old man¡¯s lips as he too went silent for a bit. After thinking for a minute, he looked at the mercenaries gathered and the higher ups of all the mercenarypanies that were sitting at the front.


    "I¡¯vee to a decision. All the events that happened as Teng Xiaolian narrated will be reported to the sects. Since it is a matter of blood sacrifices, there may be unorthodox evil cultivators involved. This may go beyond our capacity to handle.


    Still, we don¡¯t know the full extent of this. Hence I am ordering a total recall of all the mercenaries currently on missions. They are to report to the union as soon as possible and we will be doing a full scale assessment." The Old man dered.


    Surprised expressions appeared on the faces of all the higher ups and then their expressions turned serious. One of them who was wearing a full set of armor stood up and looked at the old man. The old man gestured with his eyes to let him speak.


    "Union head, but if we recall all our mercenaries the bacsh would be too great. Our reputation may fall greatly, how would we deal with that?" The man spoke.


    The old man who was apparently the head of the mercenary union thought contemted for a second before gesturing for the man to sit down.


    "Do not worry about that," The union head spoke before flipping his palm and making a golden scroll appear in his hand, "I¡¯ll be using the royal decree for this, no one will dare question us for our actions them." He added.


    The people were incredibly shocked after hearing the union head¡¯s words and knew how severely he was taking it. The royal decree was no small matter, and it had been bestowed upon the mercenary union by the king of the Shuang Qian kingdom for their services over the years.


    The royal decree allowed them to request the king of anything as long as it was within certain limits. A request such as the one they were asking was certainly not a problem for the king, who could silence all the people who hadmissioned the missions.


    Even the cultivation sects would have to take Royal decree rather seriously, even if they did note under their rule. Besides, some of the bigger mercenarypanies had cultivations sects backing them, anyway. There was no way they would take this loss of their members silently.


    "And, if the implications of the event are as they have been told so, then there will be no problem anyway and the royal decree would not be needed." The Union head continued.


    The expressions of all of the mercenaries were visibly rxed after hearing the union head¡¯s decision and they all nodded in acknowledgment.


    "Now then, except for the higher ups, all of you can leave." The union headmanded.


    The mercenaries all stood up immediately and left the meeting hall, leaving the remaining people to discuss further.


    While leaving, two of the mercenaries from the crowd did not go to their respective bases, but rather they went to a building that looked like a pleasure pavilion. The two of them took different routes, thus did not meet each other and did not know that they hade to the same ce.


    One of the mercenaries went up to the receptionist that was sitting at the entrance and whispered something to her, after which another worker took him to a secret room. A simr thing happened with the other mercenary, and he was taken to a secret room as well.


    "The Lord needs to know about this as soon as possible." One of the mercenaries muttered under his breath.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    "Master needs to know immediately, they mercenaries have found out about us..." The other mercenary inwardly spoke with distress.

 Chapter 235 - A Nostalgic Visit

    <h4>Chapter 235 - A Nostalgic Visit </h4>


    Lin Mu was sitting on his bed and was wearing a clean white robe. His face was currently filled with veins yet looked to be rtively calm. His lips were silently moving, chanting the Burning heart sutra.


    He maintained this state for over two minutes before he finally stopped and let out a breath.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes that were now filled with tranquility.


    "Finally..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Good, you¡¯ve finally gained a good grasp over the burning heart sutra. Now you can at least maintain your state without stressing yourself." Xukong praised.


    Lin Mu nodded before standing up and stretching his body. Over the past month, he had been following his new routine and had be more habituated to the burning heart sutra. Unlike before when it ended up harming his mind when he didn¡¯t have a target to unleash it upon, Lin Mu could now bear with it with much fewer problems.


    This wasn¡¯t the only thing in which Lin Mu had progressed in this past month. His skill with the thousand armament de Scripture had also increased by another stage. By now, Lin Mu had already learned ten percent of the weapons that were included in the thousand armament de scripture.


    His cultivation too had greatly progressed and he now had over five hundred drops of liquid spirit qi, which put him at one third of the way to the next stage of the qi refining realm. Once he reached the cumtive number of fifteen hundred wisps, Lin Mu would be said to have entered the peak stage of the qi refining realm.


    In this process, though the basic qi pills had helped him a lot, his rate of refinement had also increased and now he could refine fifteen drops of liquid spirit qi from the previous ten. This had increased his pace even more, though he still used half of them to practice the nameless technique of the lost immortal.


    In this past month, Lin Mu did not have a severe reaction as before. While his hunger did increase, it was a steady increase and not an abrupt one as he had experienced before. But this had also resulted in him finishing a quarter of all the beast corpses that he had stored in the ring.


    Now he only had the final quarter of meat left and Lin Mu knew that with his current increasing pace, it would barelyst two weeks.


    <i>~Sigh~ </i>


    "I need to go hunt. Thankfully, the winter is at itsst legs now." Lin Mu spoke as he looked outside the window.


    While it was still cold, there was no snow anymore. The people had started toe out more, and even some of the trees and nts had sprouted new leaves. Spring was just around the corner and the worst part of the year was over.


    Lin Mu looked at the box of basic qi pills that was kept to his side and saw that there were much fewer pills left in it. He did a rough estimate and figured that only one third of the pills were now left in it.


    "Hmm, so I now have a total of a little more than thirteen Hundred basic qi pills left. This shouldst me at least three more months, even if I consider the increase in my refinement speed." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    He then closed the box and stored it in the ring before quickly finishing up his breakfast and leaving the room. Upon exiting the room, Lin Mu looked up at the clear sky and basked in the sunlight for a few seconds before letting out a breath of relief.


    ¡¯This feels so much better.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before opening the door of the courtyard.


    Hei Ping immediately spotted him leaving and hurriedly went to greet him. He had already been informed of the incident fromst month and was thus a bit tense. But now that Lin Mu was out of seclusion again, he wanted to check up on him.


    Last time he had been at the safe house when Lin Mu went out, thus had missed him. This time he wanted to make up for it.


    "Good morning Senior Lin Mu. Seems like your seclusion went well." Hei Ping spoke.


    "Hmm, it was decent." Lin Mu acknowledged.


    "So you are leaving right now? May I ask where you are heading, I can help you if it¡¯s within my capabilities." Hei Ping asked.


    "I¡¯m going out to hunt. No need for you to follow me, I want to be alone." Lin Mu answered in a calm tone.


    "As you wish, then. Farewell." Hei Ping greeted before letting Lin Mu go.


    While Lin Mu was heading towards the forest, Hei Ping was heading towards the town center to inform Hei Bao.


    ***


    Lin Mu subconsciously headed in the direction of the hunting shack and the apple tree. He reached there after ten minutes and took a look around.


    Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    The hunting shack had be more damaged over the winter, and the wood it was made from was now rotting. A few nks from its roof had also been broken from what seemed like wind and had gone to who knows where.


    Lin Mu then took a look at the apple tree and found it to be rather bare. It did not have many leaves left and there were no apples on it anymore. Still, fine green sprouts could be seen, which showed that it would soon be rejuvenated.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A sigh filled with nostalgia escaped Lin Mu¡¯s lips as he spoke, "So much has happened, and even more has changed."


    He took onest look at the apple tree before leaving to head deeper into the forest.


    Now that it was nearing spring, the beasts should start returning. But that wasn¡¯t necessarily good for Lin Mu, as what he now required was spirit beasts and not normal beasts. Though, he wouldn¡¯t mind if he got some normal beasts either, even if they were a drop in the oceanrade to his appetite.


    But as Lin Mu was walking, he sensed something move. The memory from thest month came rushing back to him as he immediately turned to take a look.


    "A beast?"

 Chapter 236 - Hunting Again

    <h4>Chapter 236 - Hunting Again </h4>


    As Lin Mu turned around, he could see the blurry silhouette of a small beast rushing into a bush. He was actually shocked by this, as the speed of the beast was still too high for Lin Mu to see it. He would have understood this in the past if he was at a lower cultivation stage. But he was rtively strong now and should not have had a problem.


    Lin Mu could not even sense that strong of spirit qi waves from the beast and estimated for it to be at the early or mid stage of the qi refining realm.


    "How is that beast so fast for its cultivation base?" Lin Mu spoke feeling confused.


    He extended his spirit sense and did a scan of the area but couldn¡¯t find it anything nearby. Whatever the beast was, it had now run away.


    "Senior, do you have any idea of what kind of a beast it could be?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm, it is difficult to say. I do know of a few beasts that have great speed and agility, even at a low cultivation, but I doubt any of them could be found in a world like this. It¡¯s quite likely that it is a native beast of this world." Xukong answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered before checking the area that he suspected the beast hade from.


    Lin Mu blinked to the top of a tree and tried to look around but could not spot anything.


    ¡¯Seems like the beast is good at hiding too. But considering its size, it shouldn¡¯t be that dangerous.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    From the size of the blurry silhouette that Lin Mu had seen, he could estimate that the beast came up to his knees and was less than a meter long. The beast also had a tail from what Lin Mu spotted at the end of the silhouette.


    "You can check the jade slip that you got from Jing Wei. Perhaps you will be able to narrow down the choices." Xukong suggested.


    "Ah yes. That would be good." Lin Mu replied before getting down from the tree.


    Now that the snow had mostly gone, the beasts had starteding out from the deeper parts of the forest. Lin Mu was able to spot plenty of them with his spirit sense but did not bother killing them as it would not be worth it for him to spend any effort on hunting normal beasts. Though Lin Mu would not mind if they were toe to attack him first.


    Lin Mu¡¯s main aim was to get spirit beasts, but they had also retreated to the depths of the forest now. Before, when Lin Mu came to the northern forest during winter in an area this deep, he had already encountered around four to five spirit beasts. But now he had not even seen one.


    Lin Mu kept on moving through the forest and continued on for another hour. Finally, he found something that would be worth his time.


    "A herd of Ash Crowned deers, this is good." Lin Mu muttered, feeling delighted.


    Lin Mu had hunted Ash Crowed deers a few times before during his journey to the culprit¡¯s cave, thus was familiar with them. But unlike before, when he only encountered one or two of them, there was an entire herd of them here.


    Ash Crowned deers were amon spirit beast that were found in the northern forest and had characteristic ash colored horns that extended upwards looking like a crown. They were rtively docile and did not attack humans unless provoked and usually stayed together in a herd that was around the size of fifty to eighty females and one male that was called the Ash Crowned Buck.


    Unlike the females, the Ash Crowned buck was muchrger in size and had bigger horns as well. It could run at a great speed and would impale anything that threatened it or its herd with its horns. In fact, Lin Mu could see the dried blood present on the horns of the beast, which implied that it had recently fought and perhaps killed another creature.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense and observed the cultivation of the nearest few deers and found them to be at the early stage of the qi refining realm. But Lin Mu did not attack right away he waited as he wanted to make a n first.


    Now that he hade across so many beasts, he wanted to hunt as many as possible. But if he attacked carelessly, it was likely that all of them would run away and the Ash Crowned buck would attack him. While the Ash Crowned buck wouldn¡¯t pose much of a challenge to Lin Mu, he did not want to waste extra time to chase the herd.


    Lin Mu circled around the grazing herd and eventually came close to the Ash Crowned buck. He then sensed his cultivation base and found it to be at the peak stage of the qi refining realm.


    ¡¯It¡¯s much stronger than the rest of them. Though I should be able to handle it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu spent a few minutes thinking before he was able to devise a n that would probably allow him to hunt at least twenty of them before the herd found out and ran away.


    Lin Mu blinked to the top of a tree and looked out for any Ash Crowned deers that were slightly scattered from the herd. After finding one, Lin Mu blinked closer by going over the tree tops. Once the beast was in the range of Blink, Lin Mu teleported next to it with his short sword drawn and stabbed into its neck before quickly storing the beast into the ring.


    In the very next second, he blinked back to the tree top. He then immediately looked around and saw that none of the beasts had detected him yet.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    "Good, this should work." Lin Mu muttered to himself before finding his next target.

 Chapter 237 - Bait And Kill

    <h4>Chapter 237 - Bait And Kill </h4>


    It didn¡¯t take him much longer before he spotted another Ash Crowned deer that had wandered off from the herd and killed it immediately before storing it into the ring. He repeated the same thing over and over again, till he had hunted fifteen Ash Crowned deers.


    It took him an hour to do this, and by now the Ash Crowned deers in the head had discovered that theirpanions were missing. They would have been alerted if they smelled the scent of blood, but because of Lin Mu¡¯s strategy, no blood was actually spilled outside.


    The herd was now slightly alert but did not seem to be much bothered. Lin Mu waited for a minute before seeing that everything was still normal. He resumed his hunt and killed six more Ash Crowned deers when he was spotted.


    The herd made loud grunting noises as they all started running away. The Ash Crowned buck also locked its gaze on to Lin Mu and had lowered his head, pointing his horns towards Lin Mu.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Guess this is it... Now, no more n," Lin Mu muttered before his short sword came floating in front of him.


    He then waved his hand in the air, and the short sword shot forward. The speed of the short sword was much faster than that of the Ash Crowned deer¡¯s and was able to catch up with them rather easily.


    <i>~sh~ ~sh~</i>


    <i>~Stter~</i>


    Blood spilled on the grass, as eight Ash Crowned deers were killed in one move. But before Lin Mu could attack again, the Ash Crowned buck came charging at him. He immediately sensed it with his spirit sense and dodged it at thest moment by using Blink.


    The Ash Crowned buck stooped in its tracks and dragged its hooves across the ground uprooting grass, once it noticed its enemy had disappeared. It turned around and let out a loud grunt before charging at Lin Mu again.


    This time Lin Mu blinked again, but only to the side of the Ash Crowned buck before he withdrew a long spear and stabbed it into the Ash Crowned buck.


    A pain filled grunt was let out by the Ash Crowned buck as the spear pierced from one side of its body to the other. It crashed on the ground due to the impact and struggled in pain. Lin Mu walked close to it and waved his hand in the air making the short sword return to his hand.


    He then swiftly shed the throat of the Ash Crowned Buck before storing it into the ring.


    "Well, that went well." Lin Mu spoke before looking towards the other corpses of the Ash crowned deers that were lying on the other side.


    The rest of the herd had long since run away and there was little chance of Lin Mu to catch up with them. But still, he had obtained around thirty beast carcasses, including the Ash crowned buck¡¯s.


    ¡¯This is good enough for one day, I need to test out my skills now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before storing all of the carcasses in the ring.


    He then continued onward into the forest until he found a suitable ce that was wide and open. But just as he was about to test out his skills, his stomach rumbled with hunger.


    "Been a while since I did this. It¡¯ll be a fresh change..." Lin Mu spoke to himself before withdrawing one of the Ash Crowned deer carcasses and skinning it swiftly.


    Over the months, Lin Mu had already skinned hundreds of beasts and had now be rather good at it and did not need much time for him to prepare them. His rising cultivation base also made it much easier for him to rip the pelt and break the bones.


    Once the meat was butchered, he set up a fire to cook the meat.


    Soon, a delicious aroma of roast venison spread out in the area. This of course ended up attracting some beasts, but they did not approach close, smelling the blood of the qi refining beast in the area. The blood which had been spilled out while skinning and butchering was acting as both a deterrent and a bait.


    ¡¯If some spirit beasts do end uping here, it would be much easier for me. I¡¯ll save time and kill two birds with one stone.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He then sat under a tree and closed his eyes while waiting for the meat to cook. His spirit sense though was fully extended and he was observing everything that was happening in the surroundings.


    Lin Mu¡¯s impromptu n seemed to be working as a spirit beast eventually came close and reached the range of his spirit sense.


    "There!" Lin Mu muttered as he flicked his and towards the direction of the spirit beast.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s short sword short forward and instantly nailed a spirit beast that had gotten close to the tree next to it.


    <i>~Gurgle~</i> Property ? 2024 N0(v)elDrama.Org.


    Blood spilled from the beast¡¯s mouth as the short sword nailed in its throat made it unable to make a noise. Lin Mu opened his eyes and saw that the beast he had just killed was actually a razor maw ox. He was a bit surprised upon seeing it.


    Lin Mu had seen a razor maw ox before when he was in the body tempering realm, but that razor maw ox was a normal beast. While this one seemed to have reached the early stage of the qi refining realm. Lin Mu stood up and walked up to the now dead beast and pulled out his short sword.


    "Hmm, is this the same one from back then?" Lin Mu wondered as he took a close look.


    But even after a minute, Lin Mu could not find anything that could confirm his guess.


    "It isn¡¯t umon for normal beasts to reach the qi refining realm naturally after a sufficient amount of time." Xukong said, "Especially a strong beast like the razor maw ox, which can actually hunt a spirit beast even if it¡¯s at the body tempering realm." He added.


    Lin Mu hummed in response and stored the carcass in his ring before returning to his position, waiting for more beasts to take the bait.

 Chapter 238 - Beast?

    <h4>Chapter 238 - Beast? </h4>


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t have to wait for much longer as a few more beasts turned up and intruded in his range, no longer being able to resist the allure of the meat. Lin Mu did not let go of this opportunity and killed each of them that came close.


    Using this method, he ended up killing a total of six spirit beasts before they stopped approaching, probably because of the smell of blood that was spreading around. Beasts would usually be attracted due to the smell of blood, but there was an exception to this rule.


    When there were too many different scents of blood mixed in an area, most beasts would then start to avoid it while some of them would be outright afraid to go close. It was an instinctive fear built into their beings, as the scent of blood belonging to multiple beasts meant that a disaster was close by. For beasts, the thick scent of blood meant that many beasts were dead or injured.


    By now the meat was cooked and Lin Mu took it off the heat. He still let the fire burn as the climate was still a bit cold. Although Lin Mu wasn¡¯t affected by it, that didn¡¯t mean that he did not like thefort of the warmth.


    Lin Mu had set up his temporary camp in a rather convenient manner. There was a tree to his back, the fire to his left and the open area to his right. This way he had a view of the entire area while he ate his food. Lin Mu was halfway through eating his food when he sensed something nearby in his peripheral vision.


    It was slightly far from his spirit sense, thus he couldn¡¯t exactly tell what it was but could still spot the bushes moving slightly. Lin Mu turned his head and curiously took a look while munching on the leg of a roasted Ash crowned deer.


    But when he focused on the area where he had seen the movement, it stopped moving. He still kept his gaze there for a bit as he wanted to confirm that whatever was there had gone away. Five minutester there were still no movements, so he drew his gaze back.


    ¡¯Probably a beast attracted by the scent of the meat that doesn¡¯t dare get close.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    A short whileter, Lin Mu had finished the entire roasted beast and was now ready to continue his assimtion of vital energy.


    While he was assimting the vital energy, the bushes slightly rustled once again but Lin Mu did not pay attention to it. Right now, his entire focus was on assimting all of the wisps of vital energy that were being released from the meat.


    The bushes kept on rustling until a small head popped up from it. The head only stayed visible for a second before it retreated back into the bush and disappeared. It was still too far for Lin Mu to sense it with his spirit sense, thus this went unnoticed to him.


    A few minutester another bush a short distance away rustled before the short head popped up again. Once again, the head only stayed there for a second before disappearing. Lin Mu was still focused on assimting vital energy.


    This event happened a few times again, and each time the duration of the appearance increased slightly. As if emboldened by Lin Mu¡¯s inaction, the creature that was hidden in the bushes finally appeared. But this time just as it appeared, Lin Mu finished assimting the vital energy and opened his eyes.


    As soon as his eyes met the creatures, the creature froze in ce. Lin Mu could finally get a good look at the creature that had been ying hide and seek all this time.


    The creature had a small body that came up to Lin Mu¡¯s knees and was slightly less than a meter long, along with four legs. It had fluffy brown fur over its body and dark brown patterns that went down its back. The brown pattern came up to its head and formed an ¡¯M¡¯ shape on its forehead.


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    The creature also had two brown ears that had fine fur over them that could independently move. Its tail was fluffy and had alternating bands of light and dark brown color that went all the way to the tip of its tail.


    It had two golden grey eyes that had pupils in the shape of vertical slits. Finally, on its mouth were a pair of whiskers and two small fangs that protruded from the edge of its mouth.


    "A cat?" Lin Mu muttered upon seeing the beast.


    The beast having realized that the person in front of it had seen it suddenly reacted and as if it were a sh, disappeared in a blur.


    "What the! How fast is that!" Lin Mu spoke in a shocked tone.


    He stood up and went towards the direction the beast had run away. But he could not spot the beast anywhere nearby. Returning back to the temporary camp, he sat down and thought about it.


    "Senior, did you see that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I did and I think I know what beast that is," Xukong answered.


    "You do?" Lin Mu questioned as his eyes went wide in curiosity.


    "Indeed, I do not know if the beast has the same name in this world, but it is called as a Brown Shrubby Forest Cat. It is one of the faster beasts in the qi refining realm, and its speed can even exceed the speed of a core condensation realm beasts. But on the other hand, its overall strength is weak and it¡¯s a rather timid beast.


    Brown Shrubby Forest Cats are rather docilepared to other beasts, though. Unlike other feline type beasts that areplete carnivores, Brown Shrubby Forest Cats are omnivores who eat whatever they get. Also, because of this they rarely attack humans and will prefer to run if they are attacked." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu intently listened to Senior Xukong¡¯s exnation and then pulled out the jade slip to see if it had any more information in it.

 Chapter 239 - Brown Shrubby Forest Cat

    <h4>Chapter 239 - Brown Shrubby Forest Cat </h4>


    Lin Mu held the jade slip and let his spirit sense interact with it. Upon touching the jade slip with his spirit sense, Lin Mu felt as if a book had appeared in his mind. He thought of opening it and it automatically opened in front of him.


    But upon its opening, he could see nothing on it as the pages were nk.


    ¡¯Where¡¯s the information about beasts?¡¯ Lin Mu thought, feeling confused.


    And just as he thought about beasts, the pages flipped once again and words started appearing on them. Lin Mu read them and found that they were talking about some beasts and the information was rather organized ording to the beast¡¯s characteristics.


    Lin Mu could guess how the book worked from his previous experiment and thus wanted to see if it would be effective or not. Now that he knew the characteristics of the beast he was able to find the information rather easily by sorting it out properly while searching it in the jade slip.


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    As long as Lin Mu thought about the appearance of the beast along with its characteristics it would appear in his mind. He searched and eventually, the book opened to a pair of pages that showed the information he needed for now.


    "Hmm, so it is called Brown Shrubby Forest Cats here as well. Let¡¯s see, high speed, brown fur, early to peak stage qi refining realm cultivation and a timid nature. Alright, this checks out." Lin Mu spoke to himself in his mind.


    Returning his focus to the real world, Lin Mu stored the Jade slip away.


    "Seems, like you were right Senior Xukong." Lin Mu spoke in an appreciative tone.


    "Hmm, I didn¡¯t expect there to be a Brown Shrubby Forest Cat here though. Also, another thing I find unusual is their number. The Brown Shrubby Forest Cats usually travel in pairs of two to four and keep each otherpany while they hunt.


    They are able to coordinate with watch other to corner and hunt their prey. And if they are being hunted down, they can use this very technique along with their speed to escape the conflict. By splitting up at thest moment, they divert the attention of the predator and they manage to escape.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat that we saw was solitary, so that is certainly unusual." Xukong exined to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu fully listened to his words and made sure that he had the intent to learn properly. Strangely enough, while Lin Mu was interested in the beast, he did not feel like hunting it. In reality, he just felt curious about it and wanted to know more about it.


    Also, now that he thought about it,pared to the other beasts he had seen until now, this beast seemed to be the most gentle looking and even looked a bit cute.


    Still, a few minutester Lin Mu was done with his thoughts and was about to get ready to test his skills. But just as he was about to stand up, he felt the bush rustle in the distance. He then saw a small head pop in from the bush and gaze at him for a moment before disappearing.


    "Huh? It¡¯s back?" Lin Mu muttered to himself but did not move.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s see what it wants actually seeing that it¡¯sing here even after the meat is finished.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu had already stored the bones that were remaining from the Ash crowned buck, thus there really wasn¡¯t much that would attract a beast here, not to mention the blood scent of multiple kinds of beasts was still lingering in the area, making them avoid it.


    Lin Mu kept on sitting in the same position and saw the small head pop in through another bush. The beast repeated the same thing as before and withdrew its head back once it saw that Lin Mu notice it. The beast kept on repeating this procedure, or rather a game of hide and seek multiple times.


    Lin Mu would keep his eye on the beast and would focus on the sound it would make as it moved through the bushes and the grass. This was actually working as a certain kind of training for Lin Mu, as he had never seen any beast that was so fast.


    It had been more than twenty times before the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat finally stopped its probing and actually developed a bit of courage and walked ahead.


    It first put one of its paws out and peeked before putting another one out. Seeing that Lin Mu was not attacking it and was peacefully sitting in his positing, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat fully showed itself as it left the bush.


    Lin Mu could once again get a clear look at the beast, and only one thought appeared in his mind.


    ¡¯Cute!¡¯ He thought.


    <i>~Miu~</i>


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat lightly growled as it tilted its neck while looking at Lin Mu. It then slowly started approaching Lin Mu and finally came close to him. But upon getting in a three meter distance of him, it stopped and changed its focus, looking at something else.


    ¡¯Huh, what¡¯s it looking at?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered as he followed the gaze of the beast.


    It ended up pointing him to the fire that had now died down and only had some smoldering coals and partially burned sticks left. It was still radiating heat, thus it feltfortable.


    ¡¯Hmm, it wants to stay in the warmth it seems.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    But his conclusion soon turned out to be false, as the beast did something he had not expected. The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat walked to the fire and lowered its head, trying to pick up a half burnt stick.


    The stick was cooled on the other end and thus was no problem for it to pick up even though the other end was still red and slowly burning. The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat turned around and started running away at a blinding speed.


    Before Lin Mu could think of anything, it had disappeared in the distance.


    "What... was... that?"

 Chapter 240 - Testing The Boulder Collapsing Fist-I

    <h4>Chapter 240 - Testing The Boulder Copsing Fist-I </h4>


    Lin Mu had imagined a lot of possibilities upon seeing the beast approach him, but that beast taking a burning stick was not one of those possibilities. He couldn¡¯t even begin to think for reasons behind that as the confusion guing him was ratherplex.


    ¡¯Why?¡¯


    Was the main question hanging in his brain.


    "This is rather peculiar." Xukong chimed in.


    "Isn¡¯t it Senior? What would a spirit beast need with a burning stick?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I have no idea... Well I do, but they are likely to be false and would be far-fetched." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm, it is a mystery. Unless we see that beast again, I don¡¯t think we can determine the reason for it." Lin Mu spoke with slight disappointment.


    Having spoken his mind, Lin Mu pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on what needed to be done, the second reason why he hade to the forest. He was here to test out his skills now that his strength had increased and his foundation had be more deep.


    Not to mention, Lin Mu had not tested or even used some of his skills for a while. The main one being the Boulder copsing fist. Lin Mu had not used it ever since he used it to kill the former vice captain Han Xu before. Though it was more because he had not gotten an opportunity to do it after that.


    Lin Mu had known very well that the boulder copsing fist was a rather exhaustive skill and would drain all if not most of his vital energy and spirit qi. Although he could still control the amount of resources used up to a certain extent, it was still difficult to do so in a life threatening moment.


    Another thing was the recoil of the boulder copsing fist. Using it even once would render Lin Mu¡¯s hand numb for a while and would make it difficult for him to use it in the best case. In the worst case, he would instead be severely injured.


    "Start with the basics, use your vital energy for the boulder copsing fist," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head before entering the stance for it and initiated the breathing technique that was needed for the technique. He performed its routine and felt the vital energy within his body getting agitated.


    At first, all of it was moving and entering his arms, but he then focused and limited the amount that entered them to less than five percent. Unlike before, Lin Mu had no difficulty in doing this, as the vital energy within his body was quite harmonized and listened to his will.


    Soon a clockwise spiral of vital energy was formed in his right hand and an anticlockwise one was formed in his left arm. Havingpleted the routine, Lin Mu focused on the air in front of him and punched out, releasing the energy that had been building in his arm.


    "Boulder copsing fist!"


    In that moment, Lin Mu could see an almost physical outline of his arm extending forward in the air. Sensing this new change, Lin Mu immediately focused on it and extended his spirit sense to observe it. But s, it was far too fast for him to respond.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    The effect of the technique continued outward and cause a gale to whip up. The gale went straight and shook the leaves of the trees in the distance. Some of the leaves detached and flew away with the wind. It seemed as if other than that, nothing much happened.


    But that wasn¡¯t exactly the case. This time the distance between Lin Mu and the trees was about twenty meters and yet the wind created by his attack was still strong enough to make the leaves fall. Another big thing was that Lin Mu had used only five percent of his vital energy in that attack, unlike arge amount before.


    "This is certainly strong..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Indeed, if it can cause such an effect even at a long distance such as this, then the technique is quite strong. Not to mention it¡¯s not supposed to be a long distance technique, it¡¯s a closebat technique." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded in acknowledgment and decided to try the technique again, but this time with a greater energy output. He entered the stance again and directed his vital energy to form the spirals, but this time he used ten percent.


    Once the vital energy spiral was stable, he punched forward, letting the energy fly forth.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    The fist outline was seen once again, and this time Lin Mu was ready with his spirit sense. He observed it the moment it was formed and sensed the changes in it. He could see that once the fist outline was formed, it stayed in shape for a brief instant before breaking down into a spiral of energy that kept on moving forward.


    But that was all Lin Mu could perceive before the spiral dissipated and turned into a gale. The wind this time was strong enough to make the branches of the trees in front of him shake and more leaves to fall.


    "Hmm, I¡¯m starting to understand the technique a bit more." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Oh, you are senior?" Lin Mu questioned with interest.


    "Yes. Use it again with more vital energy and see its effect. It should be more clear this time." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu hummed in response before repeating the technique and increasing the output to twenty percent.


    "Boulder Copsing Fist!"


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense followed behind the fist outline and the spiral and could sense them quite clearly this time. The spiral was clear at the start and Lin Mu could see it churning upon itself, before it could no longer stay stable and dissipated.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    A small branch from the tree broke and fell while the top of the tree shook and the leaves flew away.


    "Hmm, it is a rather straightforward method of using energy." Xukongmented.


    "Can you tell me more about it, Senior? We still have to test it out with spirit qi and finally thebination of spirit qi and vital energy." Lin Mu spoke up.


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    "Of course. But before that, how does your arm feel?" Xukong asked with concern.

 Chapter 241 - Testing The Boulder Collapsing Fist-II

    <h4>Chapter 241 - Testing The Boulder Copsing Fist-II </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at his hand and clenched and unclenched his fist. There didn¡¯t seem to be any difference from before and it seemed to be the same as usual.


    "It is normal. I¡¯m not feeling any strain or pain in my arm." Lin Mu replied.


    "That¡¯s good. That means your body is now strong enough to bear it." Xukong spoke.


    "Back to the technique then." Lin Mu muttered before entering the stance again.


    Lin Mu sensed the spirit qi within his dantian flowing into his meridians as soon as he initiated the technique. The speed was actually faster than with vital energy and the spirit qi wisps quickly entered his arms.


    But at this moment Lin Mu was in for a shock as the spirit qi wisps that had entered his arm did not stay in the form of wisps. Instead, they started swirling together and collided into each other over and over until they merged together.


    The merging process was quite fast and soon enough, the spirit qi wisps had condensed into the liquefied form. Now instead of fifty wisps of spirit qi, there was a drop of liquid spirit qi in his arm.


    "What!?" Lin Mu uttered with shock and lost his concentration.


    But because of this, his control over the technique wavered and the drop of liquid spirit qi that had formed dissipated, turning back into wisps.


    "Ouch!" Lin Mu yelped.


    It was as if someone had pinched his arm quite hard and it had be tensed for a moment. Still, a secondter the pain faded away and his arm returned to normal.


    "Oh? This is interesting." Xukong spoke with an ted tone.


    Lin Mu used his spirit sense and checked his arm to ensure that it was fine. He checked the muscles and meridians of his arm and found them to be the same as before. No damage had been caused to them because of his mistake.


    "What do you mean, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Looks like the centripetal force that the technique generates is strong enough that it can condense the spirit qi wisps into a liquid form. This is rather unique, and I have seen few other techniques that can replicate this effect. I have to say, the creator of this technique used a rather ingenious method to extract more power from a cultivator than should be usually possible.


    Though the drawbacks of this technique are rather obvious. You need a strong body to be able to use this technique without any injury." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu intently listed to Senior Xukong¡¯s exnation and absorbed all of it. He started contemting on it and was made to snap out of his thoughts by Senior Xukong when he spoke up.


    "Can you bring out the booklet of the Boulder copsing fist for me to see?" Xukong asked.


    "Ah yes, Senior." Lin Mu hurriedly replied before withdrawing the book from the ring.


    Xukong saw the tattered state of the booklet and then read the contents. His attention was pulled towards the part where it said that there were no minimum requirements needed for one to practice the technique.


    "Hmm, this is rather unusual. The technique is written in themon tongue rather than Dao script. This shouldn¡¯t happen, unless..." Xukong spoke and trailed off.


    Lin Mu waited for five minutes for Xukong to speak, but received no answer.


    "Umm, Senior?" Lin Mu spoke up.


    "I can¡¯te to a conclusion fully, I need you to use the technique more," Xukong replied.


    "Alright." Lin Mu answered before entering the stance and performing the technique.


    He didn¡¯t let his concentration waver this time and execute the technique perfectly. The spiral of spirit qi was formed in his arm the same as before and condensed the spirit qi wisps into a drop. But it didn¡¯t end here. The drop then continued spinning until it could not maintain its spherical shape and elongated to form a long needle like shape.


    The two ends of this needle were tapering and looked sharp, while the body of the needle looked like a strand of thread that had just been spun. Considering that this ¡¯needle¡¯ was formed from a single drop of spirit qi, it was rather thin being even thinner than that of a single strand of hair.


    Lin Mu was only able to observe all these changes because they were happening in his own body and he had been seeing it from the very start. Having observed enough, Lin Mu executed the technique and punched the air in front of him.


    "Boulder copsing fist!"


    <i>~Pew~</i>


    A low but sharp sound was heard as the spirit qi needle left Lin Mu¡¯s arm and shot forward. The effect that appeared was quite different from before. There was no fist outline but rather a colorless needle of qi that had been released.


    It was not even visible to the naked eye and Lin Mu could only sense it with spirit sense. The needle of spirit qi soon made the air surrounding it revolve around it and created a faint vortex that traveled in a straight line.


    The vortex met with the tree and dissipated. There was no shocking effect and it looked rather anti-climatic. None of the branches broke, and neither did the leaves fall.


    "Huh, did it fail?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion, seeing the technique dissipate.


    "No... Rather, it did better than I expected. Go ahead, take a closer look at the tree." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded and went up to the tree. He looked at the point where the spirit qi needle had hit and tree and found a small indent there.


    ¡¯Is this it?¡¯ Lin Mu thought before using his spirit sense to observe more in dept.


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    He then saw that the indent was merely the surface bark of the tree that had been impacted by the air vortex that was surrounding the spirit qi needle. The actual effect was masked by this, as he saw a tiny hole that had been bored into the tree.


    The hole¡¯s diameter was less than that of a hair¡¯s and it went all the way from one side of the tree to the other side. The tree in question had a diameter of about half a meter and had been pierced cleanly through.


    "Whoa!"

 Chapter 242 - Testing The Boulder Collapsing Fist-III

    <h4>Chapter 242 - Testing The Boulder Copsing Fist-III </h4>


    Lin Mu was certainly not expecting for such an effect to happen because of the boulder copsing fist. Before when he used spirit qi with Boulder copsing fist, the effect waspletely different and now it was something else.


    "Look at the next tree behind it," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu snapped from his shock and went to the next tree that was at a distance of three meters from the previous one. There he saw that another small hole had been bored into it as well. Except this time, it didn¡¯t pierce all the way through and stopped about half of the way.


    But that was not all. As the point where it stopped, the hole had increased in size as if the needle had exploded at the end. Lin Mu probed deeper with his spirit sense and saw internal cracks in the trunk of the tree. He reckoned that if some force was applied to the trunk, it may just split apart.


    Wanting to see how much damage it had actually caused, he punched the tree without any spirit qi and vital energy. This was already enough as the tree quickly split apart.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    The tree in question had the same thickness as that of the previous tree having a diameter of about half a meter. The cracks that were present inside it made it split into three irregr pieces. That copsed on the ground diagonally.


    The leaves of the trees were fallen all around and it had been broken from the middle.


    "This... is amazing." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Indeed, I reckon this would be able to pierce through the defensive techniques and skill of other cultivators. Now you have a ranged attack as well that you can quickly switch to close ranged one." Xukong spoke.


    "Hmm, now we only have thebined effect of spirit qi and vital energy left to see." Lin Mu said with a little excitement.


    "Yes, but before that, you should rest and replenish yourself. Better to be in the optimum condition." Xukong advised.


    "Yes, Senior." Lin Mu replied before sitting down to replenish his spirit qi.


    Lin Mu took out a few spirit apples and started eating them. He hadn¡¯t made use of them for a while and thought that this was a rather good opportunity. He finished two of them and had replenished all of his spirit qi to the top.


    Now all he had left was to replenish the vital energy.


    ¡¯Hmm, should I cook again or just eat some of the leftover stuff from before? Bah, I¡¯ll just eat the leftover for now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before taking out some of the meat.


    Quickly finishing it, he sat down to assimte the vital energy. Although Lin Mu could have let his body replenish the vital energy on its own, eating the beast meat was a much quicker method than that since he had depleted about thirty five percent of his vital energy.


    Twenty minutester, Lin Mu opened his eyes and was full of energy again. He checked the area all around him, ensuring that there was nothing that could disturb him or perhaps harm him if he is temperately incapacitated after using the Boulder copsing fist.


    ¡¯Hopefully, I¡¯m able to control it better thanst time and don¡¯t get injured that bad.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before entering the stance for it.


    His breath melded with his technique and the vital energy in his body started roiling. It entered his arm and apanying it this time was spirit qi. The two of them interacted with each other and seemed to be rather gentle, but that was only until they reached his arm.


    Lin Mu had decided to use ten percent of his vital energy along with spirit qi as he wanted to be on the safe side but also wanted to see a potent enough effect. The vital energy was vigorous in action while the spirit qi was fierce.


    Both of them started spinning and collided with each other. The collision got faster and harder until, they finally melded and formed something different. Unlike the spirit qi which was translucent white in color and vital energy that was pale reddish in color, this newly formed energy had a dual tone.


    The energy itself was white, but its edges were pink.


    The energy kept on spinning but did not change into a liquid form. It was as if the force was not enough for it to undergo further condensation, and thus it stayed in a mist form. Still, the power that could be felt from this streak of mist was not to be scoffed at.


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    It was as if thebination of vital energy and spirit qi cause a qualitative change instead of a quantitative one.


    Lin Mu could feel that this energy was much more unstable than the spirit qi or vital energy. Not only that, but it also felt rather unnatural to him. He felt that if he didn¡¯t release this energy quickly, it would implode on itself.


    Lin Mu could see the energy spinning faster and faster until it took the form of a small and t ribbon that was spiraling. Finally, he felt that this was the maximum he could withstand and executed the technique.


    "Boulder copsing fist!"


    <i>~Hong~</i>


    A strange resonant sound hit Lin Mu¡¯s senses as the ribbon of energy was shot forward along with his punch. The energy left his fist and in the process, tore the skin of his fingers and knuckles, leaving them bloodied.


    The ribbon of energy seemed to be moving in slow motion at first, but that was only an illusion caused due to how fast it was moving. It had left behind afterimages, making it seem as if a long ribbon was extending out of his fist.


    The ribbon of energy finally met the first obstacle that was a tree. This tree was thicker than the ones Lin Mu had targeted previously and was about a meter thick in diameter. The ribbon of energy effortlessly mowed through the tree, splintering it in the process.

 Chapter 243 - Devastating Power

    <h4>Chapter 243 - Devastating Power </h4>


    It was as if invisible waves spread wherever the ribbon of energy touched and these waves fragmented everything. The wooden trunk of the tree kept on splitting into smaller pieces until they were as small as fingernails.


    All of this seemed as it if took a long time, but in reality, it happened in an instant.


    Then, it happened.


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    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    The tree could no longer withstand and exploded, spreading all the fragments forwards. A sonic boom apanied this as Lin Mu himself was thrown back due to the impact. The sonic boom was dyed but was impactful.


    The ribbon of energy then detonated upon itself, being able to maintain its form resulting in another explosion. By now, the ribbon of energy had already traveled beyond the tree and created a stormy wind that bent the trees around it and made them bald.


    All the leaves of the trees were blown away as a wave of energy spread around in the area.


    The forest had now be absolutely silent.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu tookbored breaths as heid down on his back, having been knocked back. While he still had most of his spirit qi and vital energy, the impact that he had felt had rocked him to his core. He could still feel his ears ringing and his head trembling.


    He didn¡¯t even notice the blood that was spilling from his right hand, which had now be injured. A minuteter, Lin Mu was able to gather his wits and sat up straight, looking at his injured arm.


    The skin of his fingers and knuckles had been torn and cut, as if someone had shed it with a knife. Blood kept on dripping from it and a stinging pain assailed Lin Mu.


    "Damn, this..." Lin Mu cursed in pain.


    He then withdrew the healing pills and popped a lesser wound restoration pill into his mouth. He closed his eyes and chanted the calming heart sutra, trying to suppress the pain while the medical properties of the alchemical pill healed his hand.


    The effect of the pill to a minute to show as the injured skin of Lin Mu¡¯s hand started itching. Soon the bleeding stopped and the skin started scabbing over. Ten minutester, the wounds were gone and recing them were multiple brown dried scabs.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief as he touched the scabs and found them to be rather stiff. He tried moving his fingers and found that to be difficult. The scabs had made his skin tight, which made it harder to move and the impact of the attack had also numbed his muscles.


    "It should be fine after a day. You just need to rest your right hand for now." Xukong spoke up.


    Lin Mu felt a bit better after hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words and stood up, wanting to take a look around.


    "What the..." Lin Mu muttered in shock as he saw the devastation that he had caused.


    The grass all around had been uprooted and dirt had been unearthed in a circr radius. The tree that was once in front of him was no longer there, and even the ones around and beyond it were broken while some were bent.


    The leaves of the trees that were close by were shredded and the others were all blown away, leaving the trees bare. Tens of broken branches were lying around mixed with the fragments and splinters from the desired tree.


    "This form of boulder copsing fist is immensely stronger than the previous ones. The qualitative change in energy is what caused such an effect. I have to say... I didn¡¯t expect this. No to mention you did not even use a lot of your energy. You barely used ten percent of both vital energy and spirit qi." Xukong praised feeling surpassed himself.


    "That¡¯s true senior. But, while the consumption of the energy is less, I still can¡¯t use this form of boulder copsing fist consecutively. The most I would be able to do it is two times, once each with both of my hands. Anything beyond that is impossible for now." Lin Mu replied as he nced at his hand.


    "Hmm, that is true but not for long. Once you reach the absolute peak of the body tempering realm, you should be able to bear it with almost no injuries. This is already an improvement from before. Another thing is, even if you can only use it once with a hand, you can still increase its power beyond this." Xukong spected.


    Lin Mu then realized the true potential of this technique.


    ¡¯If I increase the output to fifty percent from both spirit qi and vital energy, what would be the effect?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    "I advise you that you should not go beyond twenty percent output for now. I fear that even after reaching the peak of the body tempering realm, you will not be able to bear the recoil. But fear not, once that time arrives I have something that will help you greatly and will allow you to exceed it, perhaps." Xukong advised.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu was now getting even more curious about what Senior Xukong was gonna give him after reaching the peak of the body tempering realm.


    He was now looking forward to it and couldn¡¯t wait to see it. But he knew that being impatient would do him no good, and the best thing was for him to steadily continue his cultivation.


    "Now that you¡¯ve seen the effects. I believe these techniques deserve names of their own. It would do no justice for them to be nameless." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up as ideas started popping up in his mind. He thought of their effects and the characteristics the three different forms showed to match words that would suit them.


    He scratched his head in contemtion as he thought of potential names that he could use. Lin Mu ended up spending thirty minutes on it before he finally thought up names for it.


    "I have decided..."

 Chapter 244 - The Three Forms Of The Boulder Collapsing Fist

    <h4>Chapter 244 - The Three Forms Of The Boulder Copsing Fist </h4>


    "So what have you decided to name them?" Xukong asked, feeling curious.


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    "The form in which Vital energy is used will be, ¡¯Boulder copsing fist: First form- Impact.¡¯


    The form which uses spirit qi will be, ¡¯Boulder copsing fist: Second form- Piercer.¡¯


    And the final form which uses thebination of both will be, ¡¯Boulder copsing fist- Devastator.¡¯


    These are what I have decided upon." Lin Mu answered.


    After listening to Lin Mu¡¯s words, Xukong was satisfied and felt like the names were appropriate and could not really find any fault with them. In the end, they were but mere names and would not really affect the technique itself. Thus even if Lin Mu had named them something else, he would not have minded.


    "They¡¯re good." Xukong praised.


    "I think so too, Senior." Lin Mu replied, feeling proud of his naming sense.


    Lin Mu then took another look around the area and he felt like he should leave now, lest someone elsees here and finds him. While it would not be a big problem for him, but it would still be too bothersome for him to give an exnation to others.


    Having thought of this, he decided to leave.


    "Hmm, the day should start getting longer now. We should have more daylight." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he looked up at the sky that was rtively clear.


    The winter was now at its end, and the snow had stopped as well. The only ce that Lin Mu could currently see snow was far in the distance on the northern peaks and the depths of the forest. While it was still cold right now, it wasn¡¯t as chilly as before.


    Soon the peasants would start farming and getting ready for spring. Though in the region among the four satellite towns of Wu Lim city, only the eastern town was specialized in farming and produced the majority of grains.


    The southern town was mostly an army base, yet there were still some peasants that grew grain in small tracts ofnd. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was still enough to satisfy the town¡¯s needs. But in the case of the eastern town, they grew a muchrger quantity. So much so that around ny five percent of it was exported to the other towns and Wu Lim city, with a smaller part also going to other regions.


    "I wonder if the hunters would be organizing the spring hunt this time." Lin Mu muttered to himself while walking.


    "Spring hunt?" Xukong questioned with an interested tone.


    "Ah yes, senior. Before the farming can be started, the hunters organize arge hunt to cull the poption of beasts that are leftover from winter. This allows the peasants to farm without worrying about random beast attacks and also allows the hunters to gain a reasonable amount of coin after the winter." Lin Mu answered.


    "That seems reasonable. But why the uncertainty?" Xukong asked.


    "It¡¯s just that now that there are mercenaries hunting in the forest, I wonder if the hunters will even get an opportunity to hunt." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm, that is a bit concerning for the townspeople, but nevertheless shouldn¡¯t matter to you anymore. You are no longer amoner." Xukong spoke up in a calm tone.


    Lin Mu had a strange sense of realization after hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words. All this time, although he had be a cultivator, he was still thinking from the perspective of amoner and was unknowingly thinking and worrying about stuff that no longer concerned him.


    "Seems like I¡¯m still notpletely used to my identity." Lin Mu spoke in a slightly embarrassed tone.


    "Don¡¯t worry, you will get used to it soon. Independent cultivators often have difficultiesing to terms with their new identitiespared to the cultivators that join sects." Xukong exined.


    "I understand, Senior." Lin Mu replied with a slight smile.


    But just as he said this, he smelled something that made him stop in his tracks.


    ¡¯Hmm? Smoke? Is there someone nearby?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before blinking to the top of a tree.


    He then looked around and spotted smoke rising from an area near to him.


    "This is strange, the hunters don¡¯te this deep into the forest, at least not at this time, this is too early. Is it perhaps the mercenaries? No... they should be further in the depths of the forest, they won¡¯t find many spirit beasts in this area." Lin Mu analyzed.


    "Why don¡¯t you just go and take a look?" Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu hummed in response before heading in the direction of the smoke. A couple of minutester as he approached the location, he could smell something different.


    "Someone¡¯s cooking something? What¡¯s this... <i>~Sniff~</i> Fish?" Lin Mu muttered as he got closer.


    Lin Mu soon reached the location where the smoke wasing from and was surprised upon seeing the scene.


    "What?!" He uttered in surprise.


    In front of Lin Mu, a pile of sticks and dried leaves were burning in a pile that looked as if they would go out any moment. They were ced rather messily, and it seemed as if the person who made the bonfire did not have any experience in setting one.


    Though that was not the most surprising thing, the surprising thing was actually the fish that was being cooked over the barely burning fire. The fish was skewered into a stick and was being held over the fire at a very low angle. But it seemed to be attached to a bush or whatever was hidden behind a bush, as Lin Mu could not see it from this angle.


    "What is that, did someone set camp and go away?" Lin Mu wondered before walking closer.


    He saw that the stick that was skewering the fish was shaking for some reason, but when he turned to the side and saw what was hiding behind the bush he was shocked, to say the least.


    "The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat... is it... cooking?"

 Chapter 245 - A Cooking Beast?

    <h4>Chapter 245 - A Cooking Beast? </h4>


    The sight in front of Lin Mu was something that would shock most people if not all. What he was seeing right now was a beast cooking something, or rather attempting to cook something as the fish being cooked seemed to be charred in some ces.


    <i>~ck~</i>


    The fish skewer fell into the fire as the beast finally noticed Lin Mu, who had approached it. The beast seemed shocked and dropped the skewer into the fire. But this led to small embers from the fire being kicked up, which thennded on the foot of the Brown Shrubby forest cat.


    <i>~Meooow~</i>


    The Brown Shrubby forest cat growled in pain as it flinched. It then took a step back and looked at Lin Mu as it froze in surprise.


    "Umm, hi?" Lin Mu spoke.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest cat seemed to be startled by this and ran away in the next instant. Lin Mu thought of running after it, but then decided to let it go. He instead came to stand in front of the bonfire, which had now stopped burning.


    "Am I wrong or was that beast really trying to cook this?" Lin Mu said as he picked up the skewered fish.


    The stick was crudely skewered into the fish from the middle of its body, and the fish was not gutted either.


    "This is strange... very strange," Xukong replied.


    "Isn¡¯t it? This is the first time I¡¯m hearing... or rather seeing a beast cook." Lin Mu said with a perplexed tone.


    "Indeed, beasts don¡¯t cook their food. At least not beasts of this level. They have no need for cooking food." Xukong affirmed.


    Lin Mu picked up Senior Xukong¡¯s words and a new question formed in his mind.


    "Oh, you mean some beasts cook, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Of course. Some beasts can transform into a human form when they reach a high enough cultivation. While there are some that simply like food cooked by humans more so they steal from the humans. But it¡¯s rare to see a qi refining realm beast trying to cook." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and thought about why the beast would cook. But soon the pieces started clicking together.


    "Hmm, it took the burning stick before, and now it was cooking here. There¡¯s no doubt that its aim was to make fire from the start. And now that I think of it, every time that I encountered it before, it was always around the time when I cooked something." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    Xukong too was now intrigued by this beast and was thinking of all the possibilities.


    "I have to say, this Brown Shrubby Forest cat has intelligence which does not match its species. Sure, Brown Shrubby Forest cats are slightly more smarter than other beasts, but this kind of intelligence is beyond that." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu listened to Senior Xukong¡¯s words and started hypothesizing himself.


    "Senior, could it be a mutant beast, perhaps? We know that its cultivation base is quite low, so the only thing that can be possible is that. Maybe something made it mutate in such a way that its intelligence was increased instead of its strength or cultivation?" Lin Mu spoke.


    Once Xukong heard Lin Mu¡¯s words, he couldn¡¯t help but think that they seemed to be likely.


    "Yes... that does seem to have the highest possibility. It would also exin why this Brown Shrubby Forest cat is alone and does not move around with itspanions as it should." Xukong said and took a pause. "There is a possibility... but I don¡¯t know if it would be possible for this world," Xukong added.


    Lin Mu was now even more curious and wanted to know more.


    "Oh? Please tell Senior." Lin Mu requested.


    "There are some special kinds of spirit fruits that have the effect of increasing the aptitude of cultivators. But these very fruits can have different effects when eaten by beasts. One of these effects being raising the intelligence of a beast." Xukong answered.


    "So you mean this Brown Shrubby Forest cat must have eaten one of those fruits?" Lin Mu further questioned.


    "Yes, and not only that, but I have a guess about what fruit it could be... it is called as the Dual Circle Ascension fruit." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu was lost in thought after hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s answerer and stayed silent for a few minutes before speaking.


    "This fruit Senior, do you think there could be more of them?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm, that is a possibility. This kind of fruit grows on a vine that attaches itself to other trees and sucks the nutrients out of them. As long as the main tree is alive, the vine will keep on producing fruits every few months." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm, if we consider that the Brown Shrubby Forest cat ate one of them four months ago, then perhaps a new one could be grown by now. If I gain it, won¡¯t I be able to increase my cultivation speed?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "That is indeed a possibility. Though you shouldn¡¯t get your hopes up. There are chances that it is not even a Dual Circle Ascension fruit, but rather a different kind of fruit. Not all fruits regrow that fast and there is a chance that the spirit nt it grows on may not even be there now." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu contemted on what Senior Xukong said for a while before replying.


    "Still, I think I want to search for it, Senior. On the off chance that I find one, it will be a great fortune for me." Lin Mu said in a firm tone.


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    "Alright, you can search for it, of course. But for that, you will need to find the tracks of that Brown Shrubby Forest cat. A beast will always remember the ces where spirit fruits grow and will often return to that location to see if more have grown.


    You will first need to find that Brown Shrubby Forest cat and then follow it around for long enough that it returns to the fruit." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded with determination in his eyes as he then started thinking of a n.

 Chapter 246 - Dual Circle Ascension Fruit

    <h4>Chapter 246 - Dual Circle Ascension Fruit </h4>


    An hour passed during which Lin Mu had thought up of a n that he may be able to use, but there were still some uncertainties that were problematic for him. The two biggest ones being him needing to find that Brown Forest Shrubby Cat and then somehow making it show him the way to the spirit fruit.


    While being lost in his thought, Lin Mu didn¡¯t even realize that he had already entered the Northern town. He only broke out of his stupor after being greeted by some town guards. Lin Mu recognized one of them to be part of the Hei Corps and simply nodded at them before continuing on to his house.


    He looked around the town and could see the stalls being set up along the street.


    ¡¯Oh? They¡¯re starting already? Are the merchantsing early this year or something?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    The merchant¡¯s caravan woulde to the region every year, four times or once every three months. Their first visit of the year was at the start of the spring and theirst one was before the start of the winter. Although they would usuallye to Northern town at the veryst and would normally start from the western town circling around to the southern town, eastern town, and then finally northern town before entering Wu Lim City.


    They did this because the Hunters took a little while toplete their first hunt of the year and obtained sufficient materials and goods to sell to the merchants. The merchants would also bring them fresh grain from the southern parts of the kingdom so that they could replenish their food stocks that get depleted during the winter.


    Lin Mu felt curious and thus decided to ask around. The people this time were quite genial to him as he was now recognized as an influential person in the town. Lin Mu could not help but feel a bit emotional at this moment.


    ¡¯Mother, Father, your son finally has the recognition that you once wished for me.¡¯ Lin Mu internally prayed.


    For a very brief moment the character meaning ¡¯Ordained¡¯ glowed on Lin Mu¡¯s forehead. This went unnoticed by everyone, and even Xukong did not sense it, not to mention Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu talked with a few people and learned that the hunters were already ready for the hunt and would be going for it tomorrow. The acting town head who was Hei Bao had apparently asked the mercenaries to let them hunt and vacate the area for three days.


    The mercenaries happily epted and did not mind it as they were going to head deeper in the forest, anyway. Not to mention, after all the help that the Hei Corps provided them, they would be staining their honor if they did not heed his request.


    "Seems like Hei Wan taking over was a good decision." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Having learned all this, Lin Mu reached his house and immediately started setting up the meat to be cooked. While the meat cooked, Lin Mu pondered more on his n and decided to ask Senior Xukong a few questions.


    "Senior this Dual Circle Ascension fruit, can you tell me more about it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course. Dual Circle Ascension fruit is a spirit fruit that grows on the Dual Circle Ascension Vine. The vine sprouts into two from the ground and forms circles around the tree that it is growing on, thus the name Dual Circle Ascension.


    It is a rather rare spirit nt and its fruits are used to raise the aptitude of cultivators. But of course, the increase is not that great, being around one percent at the very most. While the fruits can grow every few months depending on the nutrients avable, the vine itself can take decades to grow." Xukong answered.


    "But Senior, if it can raise the aptitude of cultivators, doesn¡¯t that mean it¡¯s very valuable? Won¡¯t cultivators just keep on eating the fruits to raise their aptitude?" Lin Mu questioned again.


    "While it is indeed quite valuable, its fruits be ineffective after a while. A cultivator won¡¯t be able to raise their aptitude for a certain point using them as they will soon develop a resistance to the effects of the Dual Circle Ascension fruit.


    Still, as long as the vine can keep on producing fruits, it will stay valuable, especially for sects. For cultivation sects, such a spirit herb that can keep on producing fruits is immensely valuable, and they would do anything to get their hands on one.


    But the thing that I am doubtful about is that the Dual Circle Ascension Vine cannot grow easily. Not only does it require a strong tree to absorb nutrients from, but it also needs arge amount of spirit qi to grow, an amount which is quite likely not present in the Northern forest.


    That¡¯s why I have doubts whether it is a Dual Circle Ascension vine or some other spirit herb. But considering the effect it had on the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat, others seem unlikely." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu carefully listened to Senior Xukong¡¯s words and contemted on them. He realized that the chances of it being a Dual Circle Ascension vine were getting lower and lower the more he thought. Still, he did not lose hope and wanted to find it.


    But the thing that would lead Lin Mu to the Dual Circle Ascension fruit was none other than the Brown Shrubby Forest cat. In order to make it guide him to it, he would first have to find it.


    "For this, you would need to tame the beast. That would give you the best chances of finding the Dual Circle Ascension fruit as just betting on the off chance that the Brown Shrubby Forest would go back there is quite less.


    On the other hand, this would also allow you to test your aptitude in beast taming." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up after hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s suggestion, and he started looking forward to it.

 Chapter 247 - How To Tame A Beast?

    <h4>Chapter 247 - How To Tame A Beast? </h4>


    "But Senior how do I go about taming a beast?" Lin Mu asked with curiosity.


    "Well, first of all you would need to find that beast. The best way would be to use a bait to attract it. You¡¯ve already seen the actions of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat, so you should have an idea about what to do first." Xukong replied.


    "Ah yes! Since that beast seems to be interested in food, I just need to cook some to attract it. Then whether it is the food itself that it wants or the fire, it doesn¡¯t matter." Lin Mu answered.


    "Exactly. But, beast taming is much more than that. The next step in beast taming is understanding the beast. You would need to use your spirit sense to probe its mind, and find out its desires. Then you should try to fulfill those desires, but herees the problem, beasts won¡¯t really speak to you as they don¡¯t understand the human tongue.


    The difference in beast taming talent lies here. It depends on how well you can understand the beasts¡¯ emotions and desires without directly talking with them. Then once you know that, youmunicate with them using your spirit sense.


    This is also the most dangerous part, as the cultivator can be quite vulnerable in this stage. Not only would he put all his focus on establishing the connection, but he would also have to be careful about external threats that may attack them.


    Even the formation of a connection between the beast and the cultivator is a sensitive process, and any mistake during in the stage can result in damage to the cultivator¡¯s mind. The most important thing to do before this is to ensure that the cultivator¡¯s spirit sense is stronger than that of the beast. This increases the sess rate greatly.


    Finally, if the beast epts and the connection is established, then the beast can be said to be tamed." Xukong explode.


    Lin Mu was surprised that the process would be soplex and had not expected there to be such intricacies.


    "But you have an advantage here. The beast in question does not have spirit sense of its own, not to mention that it is much weaker than you, so it shouldn¡¯t pose much problem to you." Xukong added.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu replied in a grateful one.


    Having learned the process, Lin Mu focused back on to the task at hand. The meat was still cooking.


    ¡¯Ugh, I forgot that I still need to skin and prepare all these beast carcasses.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He then got to prepping the beasts while alternating between cooking the meat. The reaming part of the day went by in this and midnight had arrived by the time Lin Mu was finished with everything.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "At least I won¡¯t have to do this again for a while, and it will also make it much more convenient for me." Lin Mu stated to himself before having hisst meal of the day.


    Lin Mu assimted the vital energy and immediately went to sleep appearing in the Sleepscape. There he first refined more liquid spirit qi drops and infused half of them into the tissues of his stomach ording to the nameless technique of the lost immortal.


    After being done with this, he practiced the Thousand armament de scripture till he felt utterly exhausted and left the Sleepscape, entering deep sleep. In the morning he woke up with vigor feeling unbearably hungry as always and instantly pulled out the previously cooked beast meat before devouring it.


    <i>~Phew~</i> Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    "I wonder if I¡¯ll ever get used to this..." Lin Mu muttered to himself with a wry smile.


    He stood up and looked outside, hearing the sounds of people talking.


    ¡¯Hmm, what¡¯s going on? Oh right, the hunters should be leaving by now.¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    "I should get going too," Lin Mu muttered to himself as he left the room.


    A mild breeze tousled his hair as he looked up at the sky, finding it to be much clear than yesterday. He left the courtyard and headed towards the exit of the town while hearing the conversations of the town¡¯s residents on the way.


    "Ah, finally we can hunt again. I was getting sick of staying in the town."


    "Yeah, but what would we have even done. It¡¯s too cold to wander out, anyway."


    "I hope that the hunters have good luck and hunt plenty of beasts, the kids are getting sick of eating the same food now."


    Lin Mu could hear a plethora of people from all walks of life talking around him. With his enhanced hearing, he did not even need to stand close to them to listen to their conversations. Most of the conversations were rather mundane and seemed like the usual banter.


    That was until Lin Mu¡¯s ears picked up something interesting which almost made him stop.


    "What do we do now, we have beenying low for a while now do we just watch as it is or act? We can¡¯t even go to the warehouse anymore it¡¯s been discovered and is being watched by those guards." A voice spoke around the corner.


    Lin Mu could not see who had spoken as they were in the corner of an alley, but he could hear them.


    ¡¯Hmm? What¡¯s this?¡¯ Lin Mu internally questioned before extending his spirit sense.


    Hidden in the alley, he found three people talking to each other. They were dressed in the clothes ofmoners and but were unfamiliar to Lin Mu. He didn¡¯t go further from there and instead went to sit at a stall near the alley so that he wouldn¡¯t seem suspicious.


    The stall was selling some warm buns, so Lin Mu bought some and ate them while listening to the three men.


    "Don¡¯t worry, master understands that the situation is risky and has not ordered us to do anything yet. The other teams have taken up the workload and now the sacrifices will being in from the eastern town instead."


    As soon as Lin Mu¡¯s heard this, his eyes went wide and the bun in his hand fell.


    "Finally!" He muttered.

 Chapter 248 - Fear And Respect

    <h4>Chapter 248 - Fear And Respect </h4>


    Lin Mu had not expected that after all these weeks he would finally find a clue to the culprits and not only that from the looks of it these men seemed to be part of the culprit¡¯s organization as well.


    "This will make it much easier, now I just have to capture them before they kill themselves." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu had known that the previous ones that were captured had killed themselves after being caught to prevent any information from being revealed. Thus he now had to be quick enough and incapacitate them before they can react or do anything.


    Lin Mu stood up from the bench he was sitting on and did a quick sweep of the area with his spirit sense, ensuring that he knew of all the paths that they could run to.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll have to attack them instantly after I probe them with my spirit sense, as they may get alerted if they have experienced spirit sense before.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he approached the alley.


    He took a look up and blinked to the top of a house that was attached to the alley. Now he was right on top of the three men and could attack them easily, and that¡¯s what he did once he discovered their cultivation to be at the early stage of the qi refining realm.


    Lin Mu jumped from there on top of one of the men and punched another when he was down. The two men had no time to react and fell down to the ground unconcious. The third man was dumbstruck as thepanions that he was taking with till now had been taken down instantly.


    But his shock onlysted a moment as he immediately realized the severity of his situation. He did not even look towards Lin Mu and instantly started running while pulling out something from his sleeves.


    Lin Mu had his spirit sense locked on him from the very start, thus knew what he was attempting to do.


    "Oh no, you won¡¯t!" Lin Mu spoke before gesturing with his hand.


    <i>~Shing~</i> Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    <i>~Stter~</i>


    "AHHHHHHHH!" The third man screamed in pain as blood spilled on the floor of the alley.


    His scream was extremely loud and attracted the attention of people who were surprised by it. Some of them directly peeked in and saw the bloody scene. Lin Mu standing over two men whose heads were bleeding, while a third man was lying a little farther, whose right hand was missing and two legs were severed.


    Lin Mu had used his short sword to cut off the hand of the man which had the poison in it, and after that he cut the legs of the man as well to prevent him from running.


    The people that witnessed this horrific scene screamed with terror.


    "GUARDS! MURDER!"


    "THERE IS A MURDERER HERE, RUN!"


    Lin Mu paid no attention to the people¡¯s scream and instead went to the legless and handless man. The man was now crying in pain and had his face covered in snot and tears. He saw a shadow looming over him and looked up with difficulty as he was lying on his chest.


    "Wh-why?" The man uttered.


    "Can¡¯t have you running away or killing yourself before we get some answers." Lin Mu answered in a cold tone.


    By now the guards had reached the alley after listening to the screams of people. Their numbers had already been increased ever since the past incidents, thus there were some posted at every corner. The guards had their weapons drawn and were ready to act as they approached the alley.


    "HALT! You are under arrest!" A guard shouted as he looked at Lin Mu with a stern gaze.


    Lin Mu turned around to face the guards and their expressions fell.


    "Se-Senior... Senior Lin Mu!" The guards uttered with shock.


    Lin Mu looked at them with a calm expression before speaking, "Gather these three men... They¡¯re part of ¡¯them¡¯."


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    The guards swallowed their saliva, trying to suppress their fear. Two of the guards were part of the Hei Corps, thus knew exactly what Lin Mu was talking about. They were also the ones that were the calmest among the group of guards that had arrived at the scene.


    They saw that the other guards had still not lowered their weapons and had them pointed at Lin Mu. A horrifying memory reappeared in their mind as they remembered their first meeting with Lin Mu.


    "What are you all doing, lower your weapons!" One of them shouted while the other approached Lin Mu.


    "We¡¯ll do it right way senior, don¡¯t worry." The send guard spoke.


    "Hmm, you know where to take them. Inform meter when you have obtained something, I¡¯m going out to the forest for a bit." Lin Mu replied.


    "It shall be done." The man replied.


    Just as Lin Mu had taken a step, he stopped and turned back to the man.


    "They were talking about there being more of them at the eastern town and their workload of sacrifices being transferred there. Tell this to Hei Bao." Lin Mu added before leaving the alley under the gazes of everyone.


    The people stepped back in fear as Lin Mu got closer to them and gave way to him. Although Lin Mu had be an influential figure in the town, he still wasn¡¯t known by everybody and even the ones that knew him, only knew his name and did not know how he looked like.


    But seeing him dismember someone and nearly kill them was still terrifying to these people. They were used to beasts killing people but not humans killing other humans, at least not so openly. They were used to hearing bandits killing people, but seeing something with their own two eyes waspletely different.


    Lin Mu noticed the change in their demeanors and was a little surprised inwardly.


    "Such is the truth of the world. Fear is often more powerful than respect. And for a cultivator, if they have a choice, it¡¯s better for them to be feared than respected." Xukong suddenly spoke.

 Chapter 249 - First Taming Attempt

    <h4>Chapter 249 - First Taming Attempt </h4>


    Lin Mu was sitting below a tree as a fire zed on his side. A beast was currently being roasted over the fire but Lin Mu¡¯s focus was on something else.


    His eyes were closed and he was contemting over the words that Senior Xukong had spoken. He couldn¡¯t help but feel entranced by them and those few words were stuck in his mind, repeating over and over again.


    "Fear or respect, whatever it may be all stems from power... and that is all I need right now." Lin Mu muttered.


    Xukong was currently engrossed in his own cultivation and had not paid attention to what Lin Mu had just said. He was suddenly woken up from his trance as he felt something terrifying. His body shuddered and he recoiled in terror.


    "What was that...?" Xukong uttered as he looked at the ethereal altar in the distance.


    The terrifying feeling that he felt faded away rather quickly and he could not find its source, but considering previous incidences he had a good guess that the altar was most likely the source.


    Xukong flew towards the ethereal altar and gazed at it deeply, not finding any change in it.


    ¡¯Did I imagine it? Or was that a premonition?¡¯ Xukong thought to himself as he closed his eyes and focused on himself for a minute before opening his eyes again.


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    "The connection is still the same... So, a premonition. Hmm, I need to keep a closer eye now."


    "That feeling... I haven¡¯t felt it before. The Demonic path?... no this was... much worse." Xukong muttered to himself as he got more and more anxious.


    Lin Mu waspletely oblivious to this and had now opened his eyes. His spirit sense was spread around and he was on the lookout for beasts. He had been in the forest for about two hours now and had lured a couple of beasts to his current location.


    But it was not the beast he was looking for. Though, Lin Mu had expected that this would not be easy even though he had taken precautions beforehand and ensured that no blood was spilled when he killed the beasts that approached him.


    ¡¯Do I need to try a different location, perhaps?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <i>~Rustle~</i>


    Just as Lin Mu was about to give up, a bush in the distance rustled and he became alert. His spirit sense moved there, and he waited for the beast to reveal itself. He had to be sure that the beast that appeared was the right one as he did not want to identally kill the Brown Shrubby Forest cat.


    Soon the beast raveled itself and a smile appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face.


    ¡¯Here it is.¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he stayed still.


    He did not want to startle the beast as he had seen how timid it was. Every time he had encountered it before, it had run away and the only time it had approached him closer was when he had cooked and had not moved.


    "Senior, it is here." Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    Xukong who was thinking about all the possibilities for that premonition finally snapped out of his mind. He first calmed himself down forcibly and only then did he speak. He knew that it would do no good if he revealed his anxiety and did not want to affect Lin Mu with it.


    "Oh, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat is here? Good, now focus and let it approach you. Once it is sufficiently close, I¡¯ll tell you and that¡¯s when you will use your spirit sense, understand?" Xukong replied.


    "Yes, senior." Lin Mu replied.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat peeked its head out from the bush and looked at Lin Mu for a moment before retreating. It repeated the same thing it had done yesterday and spied from all different angles before beingfortable enough to approach.


    It slowly approached, still alert about any movement, and seemed to be tense. It eventually reached the campfire and came to stand in front of it. The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat had stopped and was curiously gazing at Lin Mu, who had his eyes closed so as to not startle the little beast.


    Still, he was observing everything through his spirit sense and watched every reaction of the beast while waiting for Senior Xukong to give him the signal.


    "Now!" Xukong uttered.


    Immediately Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense shot forward and entered the head of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    The little beast flinched and took a step back, but was unable to move much because of its mind being pressured.


    <i>~Meow~</i>


    It yelped in pain as it slumped onto the grass, not being able to bear it.


    "Reduce the pressure, it¡¯s too much for the beast," Xukong ordered.


    Lin Mu immediately reduced the force that he was using and became much more gentler. He had been used to probing humans till now and used the full extent of his spirit sense, being unaware of the amount of pressure that it actually exerted on them.


    Still, humans were much more stronger mentallypared to beasts, thus they were able to recover rather easily. At least that was the case for the weaker beasts, such as those in the qi refining realm and below. Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense was already much stronger than most qi refining realm cultivators and wasparable to a Core Condensation realm cultivator.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat finally stopped trembling in pain and became a bit calmer.


    "Now you need to feel. Sense its mind, its emotions. Feel its desires and fears." Xukong instructed.


    Lin Mu focused his mind and tried to see if he could do so as he was instructed. But even after a minute, there was no difference. All Lin Mu felt was emptiness.


    "There is nothing, senior. I can¡¯t feel anything." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Hmm, the beast is too scared and its mind is scattered. Perhaps your first approach was too much for it. You may need to tryter again." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu was a little disappointed after hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words and did not want to give up so soon.


    "It¡¯s no use, taming a beast in this condition will be nearly impossible for a novice like you. It would be better to tryter when it has calmed down." Xukong advised.


    After hearing Xukong¡¯s words an idea suddenly appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s head.


    He gritted his teeth as he thought, ¡¯May as well give this a try."


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and let his body rx a bit. He then opened his lips and started chanting something in a low voice. These chants were esoteric and mysterious. One could feel the intent behind them, yet could not understand the meaning behind the words themselves.


    This was none other than the calming heart sutra. It was the very first sutra that Lin Mu had obtained, and yet it was the one which he did not fully understand. Lin Mu had heard the mnemonic behind the severing heart sutra and burning heart sutra right when he obtained them, yet he had notprehended the same for the calming heart sutra.


    All Lin Mu knew about it was its effects, and it was those were effects that he was betting on right now.

 Chapter 250 - A Little Friend

    <h4>Chapter 250 - A Little Friend </h4>


    A few seconds passed by as Lin Mu chanted the calming heart sutra. At first, no change could be perceived, and the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat still seemed to be in the same condition as before. Its eyes were closed and its whiskers were scrunched in distress.


    Lin Mu could not feel anything from his spirit sense either. The mind of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was still empty, and no thoughts arose. But soon he could sense a cry. The cry seemed to have only rung inside his mind and was not audible in the real world.


    The volume of the cry was slowly getting lower and lower until itpletely disappeared and the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat also rxed.


    "Pain" An innate feeling appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Hungry" He heard again.


    "Food" Another thought popped into his mind.


    ¡¯Huh, are these... it¡¯s thoughts?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Incredible, it¡¯s actually working!" Xukong eximed.


    "Is this how I am supposed to proceed, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, yes, continue. Focus on its thoughts and try to convince it by offering it what it wants." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu inwardly nodded before focusingpletely on the mind of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat. He could hear the same words repeating in his mind, although they were not exactly words but rather an innate understanding of those emotions.


    ¡¯So it just wants food, it seems. Like cooked food that Senior Xukong talked about.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before trying tomunicate.


    At first, Lin Mu spoke a sentence but realized that no matter how much he tried, it was not transmitted to the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat. Then he realized that he would have to simplify it, making it simr to the thoughts the beast was having.


    "Food" Lin Mu expressed first.


    The beast seemed to have understood him this time and had stopped its incessant thoughts. Seeing that it seemed to be working, Lin Mu decided to continue.


    "Give" Lin Mu paused and took a look; finding the beast to be calm he went further.


    "Me" He stated.


    "Hot Food" Lin Mu exined.


    He realized that he could now increase theplexity of the thought by a slight amount as he got more used to this kind ofmunication.


    "Food give?" The beast expressed.


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    "Yes, give" Lin Mu replied.


    "Pain?" The beast asked, which actually made Lin Mu feel its fear.


    There was something hidden deep inside the beast¡¯s mind, but Lin Mu could not understand what it was. But he could realize that whatever it was, it had made a great impression on the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    "No Pain" Lin Mu answered while trying to show a calm state of his mind.


    As soon as he said this, there was a change in the state and Lin Mu could feel a strange wave spreading into his mind. A secondter, the wave disappeared and Lin Mu could feel a connection forming between himself and the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    "Good, good, very good. You have seeded." Xukong congratted.


    "I did?" Lin Mu questioned, still being in disbelief.


    "Yes, you did. You should be able to feel it now," Xukong said.


    Lin Mu focused on his mind and indeed could find something new there. It felt simr to his connection to Senior Xukong, yetpletely different. Lin Mu felt as if a string was connected between himself and the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    The string was invisible and incorporeal, yet it felt very real. Through this connection, Lin Mu could feel the mental state of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat. Right now he could sense extreme tiredness and fatigue from the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and saw that the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was lying on the ground and seemed to be in a deep sleep.


    "Hmm, it has been quite exhausted due to the process of formation of connection. You should let it recover before you try to obtain the location of the Dual Circle Ascension fruit." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded with approval before approaching the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat. He touched its belly and found it to be rather soft due to being coated with fur. He then stroked his hands over the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat¡¯s back and head.


    "So soft..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he basked in the feeling.


    Lin Mu felt as if his fatigue from earlier attempts was now fading away.


    ¡¯This is rather nice.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before picking up the beast in his hands.


    The beast did not squirm in his hands and instead curled up in a morefortable manner before sleeping again.


    "Seems like it likes you," Xukong spoke up.


    "Its a ¡¯he¡¯ Senior." Lin Mu chuckled.


    "Ah, so it¡¯s a male Brown Shrubby Forest Cat. That¡¯s fine, it doesn¡¯t matter either way." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded with a slight smile on his face before looking around the area. He knew that he could have been in great danger if he stayed vulnerable like that while trying to tame Brown Shrubby Forest Cat thus wanted to be sure that he was still safe in his current area.


    A quick sweep of spirit senseter, Lin Mu confirmed that there was no man or beast nearby his location and that he waspletely safe.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "Now that this is done, time to head back to the town and wait for the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat to wake up again." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "You also need to make plenty of food for him as you promised, remember." Xukong stated in a teasing tone.


    Lin Mu rubbed his head in embarrassment with one of his hands and then stored the meat that had now been cooked into his ring.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s head back.¡¯ He thought before leaving the area.


    Lin Mu walked through the forest rather calmly and tried not to disturb the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat. This resulted in him talking over two hours before he reached the town. But the slow journey did seem like a waste of time to him, and he rather enjoyed stroking the fur of the beast during the journey.

 Chapter 251 - The Gu Legion

    <h4>Chapter 251 - The Gu Legion </h4>


    Before entering the town, Lin Mu took out a robe from his ring and covered the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat in his hand. He did not want people to see the beast and ask questions. While it would not cause him any difficulties, it was just that he did not want to waste time on giving exnations to them.


    While passing by the alley where he had knocked out the three culprits, Lin Mu could sense the tense atmosphere. He briefly nced inside it and saw that there was no blood there on the ground and neither were there any unconscious persons.


    "Hmm, they were rather efficient." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He looked around and saw that the people nearby seemed to be slightly tense due to the recent incident and seemed to be divided over his actions. Some were impressed by the strength that Lin Mu had shown, while the others were rather shocked and a bit offended by his ruthlessness.


    Lin Mu passed by these people and did not take offense to their words and easily shrugged them off. Ten minutester he was in his house and had justid down the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat onto his bed. The beast seemed to have taken a liking to it and quickly curled up against the pillow and slid into the quilt.


    "Here you go, little guy." Lin Mu muttered with slight joy.


    He stared at the beast for a bit before deciding to go visit Hei Bao. He wanted to see what information they had been able to extract from those three culprits.


    Fifteen minutester, Lin Mu was standing at the entrance of the town center and was quickly escorted to a different room that was located in the basement of the town center. The guards that were escorting him were quite respectful to him and quickly guided him to the room.


    Upon opening the door, Lin Mu spotted seven people inside the room. Three of them were none other than the culprits, while the rest were members of the Hei Corps, including Hei Bao. He took a look around and saw that it was rather in and did not have anything except for some furniture and the metal chair in the center to which the culprit was tied to.


    Of the three culprits, the one that was dismembered had been chained to the chair and the other two were lying on the ground. Lin Mu scanned with his spirit sense and found the two that were lying on the ground to be dead.


    ¡¯Looks like they fulfilled their purpose.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he moved his gaze back to the man who was currently torturing the culprit.


    <i>~AAARGH~</i>


    The culprit¡¯s screams spread in the surroundings and rung in Lin Mu¡¯s ears.


    "Please, please... No more." The culprit spoke with great difficulty.


    The other member of the Hei corps that was standing beside Hei Bao looked at Hei Bao before speaking.


    "This is all we can get. Any more and we will break his mind, anyway. Better to end it right now." The man spoke.


    Hei Bao seemed to be thinking something, before nodding to the man.


    "Alright, end him like the rest. We¡¯ve already obtained plenty of information. This has been our best one till now." Hei Ba replied in a satisfied tone.


    The culprit¡¯s face fell after hearing Hei Bao¡¯s words and knew what wasing. But before he could let out hisst scream, a swift blow was delivered to the back of his neck, breaking his spine and ending his life.


    "Clean it up, I have other things to do." Hei Bao ordered before gesturing to Lin Mu to follow him.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and followed him back to the privacy of the office upstairs. They sat at the desk and Hei Bao prepared some tea.


    "We obtained a good deal of information thanks to you. They were quite sneaky." Hei Bao spoke as he boiled some water in a teapot.


    "That¡¯s good. Though I don¡¯t understand, how were we not able to find any of their traces till now?" Lin Mu said in a slightly confused tone.


    "That¡¯s because there were actually none of the original culprits left in the town. After the assassination attempt, most of them had already left the town and once the results of the mission were out, the remaining members of their organization left as well.


    These three were actually hidden members who were never revealed and had not participated in any of the incidents until now. They had cleverly mixed in with the traveling hunters and had been lying low in the town¡¯s inns for months." Hei Bao exined.


    Lin Mu was intrigued by this and felt a bit impressed by their intelligence. But then he realized that for them to be able to n this far along, they must have been prepared.


    "These culprits, did you find out who¡¯s behind them?" Lin Mu questioned in a serious tone.


    Just as he asked this, the water in the teapot started boiling and the teapot let out a whistling sound. Hei Bao lifted the teapot off the heat and steeped some tea leaves in it before speaking.


    "We did indeed. These men belong to an organization called as the Gu legion. We have seen their traces before a few times in different ces in the past, but this is the very first time we were actually able to find out their name. This is great progress and all of it is because of you.


    The Lord will be very pleased with this." Hei Bao answered.


    Lin Mu heard the name and nodded in acknowledgment. He then remembered what the men were talking about originally and wanted to know more.


    "When I discovered them they were talking about the rest of their members being in the eastern town. Did you find out more about it?" Lin Mu asked.


    Hei Bao shook his head as he poured tea into two cups and ced one of them in front of Lin Mu.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    "Unfortunately, these men only knew that there were some of theirpanions there in the eastern town, but not exactly how many or where. Eastern town is muchrger in sizepared to Northern town due to its crop fields, not to mention its proximity to the forest. It will take time for us to find out where they were hiding exactly.


    We also do not want to let them know that were areing after them, thus I want to keep this mission limited to a few of our experienced members. Once we have gathered enough intelligence, it will be the time to strike and capture them all in one go." Hei Bao said in a determined voice.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and found it to be reasonable. He then picked up the teacup from the desk and took a sip from it. He savored the refreshing vor of the tea, which made him feel a bit more rxed.


    "By the way, why did you go to the forest? Didn¡¯t you already hunt yesterday?" Hei Bao questioned with curiosity.


    Lin Mu finished his cup of tea and ced it back on the desk before speaking.


    "I went there to make a new friend."

 Chapter 252 - More Rewards

    <h4>Chapter 252 - More Rewards </h4>


    Hei Bao seemed confused upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words. He could not think of anyone that would fit that description and wondered if it was someone that he didn¡¯t know of. They had already done their research on Lin Mu and thought that they knew most of the things about them.


    In case of friends, Hei Bao knew that Lin Mu did not have any friends left in the town. Many of his childhood friends had left the town over the years and some had even died in the gue. While there were others who chose to leave the town after their family members died.


    One of the ones that was still left was Lu Xiao, but even he had be distant over time. Another guess he had that the friend Lin Mu was talking about was perhaps someone from Jing Wei¡¯s emporium. There was little they knew about that shop or its owner.


    The only information they knew was that it was run by a pair of grandfather and granddaughter with high cultivation bases. They didn¡¯t know if there was anyone else with them, but it did seem likely to them. They hade to the conclusion that someone that powerful must have had at least a few servants, even if they were not known of.


    Suddenly Hei Bao had an idea, and he felt shocked inwardly.


    ¡¯Could it be...? Is it someone rted to his background perhaps... maybe even his master?¡¯ Hei Bao wondered.


    Lin Mu was calmly sitting on the chair and was staring at his empty cup, thus did not notice the expression of Hei Bao. He pushed the chair back and decided to leave for now, seeing that his work here was done.


    Hei Bao snapped out of his thoughts upon seeing Lin Mu stand up and spoke.


    "Wait, what reward do you want? I¡¯ll be sending a report to my Lord soon and can mention your requirements in it." Hei Bao said.


    Hei Bao thought that he may as well ask right now as he had a good guess that his Lord would want to surely reward Lin Mu. It was better if he told him what was the need of Lin Mu, that way there would be no loss of precious time.


    Lin Mu halted in his steps and looked at Hei Bao.


    "I would like spirit stones and Basic Qi pills. As many as you can give me." Lin Mu replied without hesitation.


    Lin Mu had his goals set and knew that the fastest way to reach the next realm would be for him to have resources such as these. He had already gotten some from Jing Wei and Duan Ke, but considering his pace of their consumption, Lin Mu knew that they would notst long.


    Practicing the nameless technique of the lost immortal also needed a lot of liquid spirit qi, and Lin Mu had been investing half of his liquid spirit qi that he refined into it. This had slowed his pace of progress into the next realm by half, not to mention that his dantian had also grown in size, thus he would be needing even more spirit qi to breakthrough to the next realmpared to other cultivators.


    "Alright, that¡¯s eptable." Hei Bao nodded in response to Lin Mu¡¯s words and knew that this was the most straightforward reward that was easy to prepare.


    Although he did not know how many spirit stones his lord would be giving, he knew that these were rather precious, and even he only had some with him that were reserved for emergencies. As for the basic qi pills, he had used a few of them before and the cultivators in Hei Corps got some every month as incentives.


    Basic qi pills were rtively easy to procure too, and any sect would be able to supply them. Even a few mortal organizations were involved in their production and sold them as well.


    "We should receive a response in a couple of days, I¡¯ll inform you when it arrives." Hei Bao said in a calm tone.


    Lin Mu nodded in response before leaving the town center and heading back to his house. After entering his room, he checked up on the Brown Shrubby Forest cat and saw that it was still asleep. Its head was curled up against the pillow while its body was half-covered with the quilt.


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    "It will take him a while to wake up. Mental exhaustion for beasts is much higher than humans and they take longer to recover." Xukong spoke.


    "I understand, Senior." Lin Mu replied before sitting down to cultivate.


    Lin Mu had been using most of his time to cultivate and was conscious of the deadline that was approaching fast. Although he still had a long time left till the Great Slumber bear woke up, Lin Mu still wanted to be ready for it beforehand and did not want to take any risks.


    He took out the box containing the basic qi pills and popped one into his mouth before chanting the severing heart sutra. Hours passed by as evening crept up. Lin Mu opened his eyes and let out a breath.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    He looked at the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat and found it to be in deep sleep.


    "Hmm, guess it¡¯ll take even longer." Lin Mu muttered before heading to the kitchen to cook.


    Eating the beast meat and assimting the vital energy had be like a second nature to Lin Mu at this point, and he did not even need to think much before being able to do it.


    But when Lin Mu returned to his bedroom, he found himself in a dilemma. Where was he supposed to sleep?


    "Umm, I don¡¯t want to disturb him or move him. He looks sofortable." Lin Mu said as he looked at the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    But just as he said this, the beast turned in its sleep, making space for Lin Mu.


    "Seems like he understood your thoughts..." Xukong spoke with a chuckle.


    Lin Mu rubbed his head in embarrassment before lying down on the bed and entering the Sleepscape.

 Chapter 253 - The Beasts Breakthrough

    <h4>Chapter 253 - The Beast''s Breakthrough </h4>


    The next day, Lin Mu was preparing more meat when the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat finally woke up.


    <i>~Nyaa~</i>


    Lin Mu looked at the sleepy expression of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat and found it to be quite cute.


    "Looks like you finally woke up, little guy," Lin Mu said as he stroked its head.


    <i>~Purr~</i>


    The beast purred in pleasure and enjoyed it. It was now that Lin Mu suddenly heard a thought in his mind.


    "Food?" The thought said.


    "Huh, oh... you¡¯re hungry. Let¡¯s go I¡¯ve made some food." Lin Mu spoke before standing up from the bed.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat jumped from the bed and followed behind Lin Mu. They had already formed a mental connection and could understand each other¡¯s intent, thus it was not that difficult to express such actions.


    Upon reaching the kitchen, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat saw the meat that was roasting over the stove and the aroma that was upying the air.


    <i>~Growl~</i>


    The beast lightly growled as it looked at the meat in desire. Lin Mu knew what it meant and cut off a portion of the meat before cing it before the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat, who was moving his tail sideways in anticipation.


    As soon as the meat was in front of him, he pounced on it. But just as he was about to take a bite, he suddenly froze and stared at Lin Mu for a few seconds.


    "No pain" Lin Mu heard in his mind.


    In the next second, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat started eating the meat with gusto. Lin Mu too cut off a portion for himself and started to eat. If someone else were to see them eating right now, they would wonder which one was the beast.


    The speed at which Lin Mu was eating was rather unnatural, and even the quantity seemed inappropriate for his body size. On the other hand, while the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was also eating fast, it did not seem unusual and the portion size was also appropriate.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    Lin Mu was fined eating much before the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat and assimted the vital energy while the beast finished its meal. He actually felt a bit surprised inwardly at his own speed. He had noparisons till now and seeing the beast eat at a slower speed than him made him feel a bit strange.


    But he didn¡¯t take it to heart and soon got over it. By the time he was done assimting all the vital energy, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was also finished with his meal and was now licking its mouth, clearing traces of the meat.


    "Oh, you¡¯re done." Lin Mu said as he then stood up.


    Seeing him stand up, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat also responded and followed him back to his bedroom. Seeing the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat understand his thoughts with such ease made Lin Mu feel good. He now wondered if he would be able to make the beast show him the way to the Dual Circle Ascension fruit.


    "Although it understands your passive thoughts right now, it would still be a bit difficult to tell it what exactly you want," Xukong said.


    "I¡¯ll try and see if we get any sess. Hopefully, it doesn¡¯t take much longer for him to understand." Lin Mu replied.


    But just as he was about tomunicate with the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat, he saw that it had already curled up against the pillow and was sleeping.


    "What..." Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    He could sense the faint waves of spirit qiing off from the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat and wondered what was happening.


    "It is cultivating. This is the way most beasts cultivate, they absorb a majority of the spirit qi from their food and also absorb some from the air. Do you remember what kind of beast meat you gave it to eat?" Xukong spoke up.


    "I think it was a spirit beast at the... mid stage of the qi refining realm." Lin Mu answered as he then realized.


    He extended his spirit sense and observed the body of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat. He found the waves of spirit qi originating from the spirit core, which was located just above the heart of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    Lin Mu closely observed the spirit core and found it to be te gray in color. Its size was also quite small being the size of pinky¡¯s fingernail. Right now the spirit core was thrumming with energy and wisps of spirit qi continued entering it.


    The more spirit qi wisps that entered it, the deeper its color became. Fifteen minutes passed after which arge wave of spirit qi appeared and spread from the spirit core. It had now be dark grey in color from its previous te grey color.


    "It... Broke through?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    "Of course it did. You fed an early stage qi refining beast that was already close to the next stage, the meat of a beast that was at an even higher stage. It was bound to happen." Xukong replied.


    "Actually, this is good for you. The more the beast progresses in cultivation, the more its intelligence will increase. The Dual Circle Ascension fruit merely catalyzes the process and speeds it up. A beast will increase its intelligence and wisdom as it grows.


    You¡¯ve already seen the intelligence of a core condensation beast that was the Alpha steel back wolf, so you should have an idea of their capabilities. I reckon the Brown Shrubby Forest cat will soon reach that level." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu felt a bit surprised by this, but then it was soon reced by tion.


    Lin Mu focused on his connection with the Brown Shrubby Forest cat in his mind and sensed that it had indeed be better than before. If it was a string that had the thickness of a hair before, now it had the thickness of a cotton thread.


    Lin Mu could also sense the emotions of the Brown Shrubby Forest cat and discovered that there was only one thing there.


    "Happy"

 Chapter 254 - Formation Array In The Forest?

    <h4>Chapter 254 - Formation Array In The Forest? </h4>


    Another day passed by in rtive peace, which Lin Mu spent in cultivating.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat had woken up a little while after its breakthrough and had eaten more of the beast meat, after which it fell into a slumber again. Lin Mu had thought that it would awaken again that night, but it did not happen.


    He then learned from Senior Xukong that the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was now stabilizing its cultivation after having broken through to the mid stage of the qi refining realm. He told him that the beasts had an innate understanding of their own cultivation thus knew how to do it. Lin Mu thus let the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat rest and focused on his own cultivation.


    Finally, in the afternoon the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat woke up and Lin Mu could try to get it to guide him towards the location of the Dual Circle Ascension fruit.


    Upon waking up, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat took a big stretch, raising its tail. It then walked up to Lin Mu and rubbed against him to show its affection. The beast had developed a liking to its master after having its wish fulfilled, although it wasn¡¯t really a difficult thing for Lin Mu to aplish, anyway.


    Lin Mu kneeled down and looked at the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat while trying tomunicate with it. He tried to show the beast the description of the Dual Circle Ascension fruit, but was rather sessful. Even after many attempts, it seemed like the idea was perhaps too much for the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    "Hmm, perhaps try asking it something else. Brown Shrubby Forest Cats usually keep to their usual territories and seldom leave them. Perhaps the location of the Dual Circle Ascension fruit is somewhere there or nearby it." Xukong suggested.


    "Hmm, that¡¯s a good idea." Lin Mu replied.


    He then focused on the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat, who was curiously gazing at its master.


    "Home?" Lin Mu asked in a very simple thought.


    "Take me" he continued.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat tilted its head in confusion for a bit before it finally understood what Lin Mu was trying to tell it. Having understood this, it bumped its head against Lin Mu as if gesturing him to follow him.


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    "Wait," Lin Mu spoke, making the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat stop in its tracks.


    "Let me carry you, there are a lot of people out there." Lin Mu said as he picked the beast up.


    He then took out a cloth again and covered the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat. The beast did not struggle in Lin Mu¡¯s hands and rather satfortably as if it knew it was safe with Lin Mu. Seeing that the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was calm, Lin Mu left the courtyard and headed towards the Northern forest.


    Along the way, although people saw him and some even looked at him with curious looks, no one really bothered much. The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat having been covered with a cloth only made it look like Lin Mu was carrying a package and not a spirit beast.


    Both of them reached the Northern forest after fifteen minutes, and Lin Mu let the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat down on to the ground. The beast looked up at Lin Mu as if feeling a bit sad that its fun ride had ended, but then Lin Mu told it again what he wanted.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat then turned in a direction and started running that way. Lin Mu followed after it and ran. Still, it was getting harder for him to keep up with the beast because of its speed. Although it was already moving slow, so as to let Lin Mu follow it, that speed was still higher than Lin Mu¡¯s top speed.


    "Brown Shrubby Forest Cats are indeed quite fast. I wonder what more can they do." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Brown Shrubby Forest Cats although timid are quite strong. While they are small and look like they can be harmed even by a child, that is not so. Do not forget that it is a mid tier spirit beast now, that can easily crush the bones of amoner." Xukong added.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu replied while running.


    He continued following after the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat for nearly an hour, after which he realized that they hade quite deep into the Northern forest. ording to the direction it had taken him in, Lin Mu realized that it was in the Northeastern region of the forest.


    Lin Mu had note to this part ever before, thus was a little confused about the area. But it mattered less to him now as he could directly scan the area with his spirit sense as he passed by. This way not only was he following the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat but also memorizing the topography.


    Another half an hourter, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat had slowed down and came to a thickly forested area. The trees and bushes in this area were densely packed together, and Lin Mu had a hard time passing through them. He eventually had to use his short sword to cut the trees and nts that came in his path and blocked it.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was able to maneuver through them with rtive ease, and it seemed like it had a lot of experience.


    But suddenly at a certain point, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat disappeared into thin air.


    "What the... what happened where did he go?" Lin Mu uttered with shock as he tried looking around for the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    He checked on his connection and saw that it was still there and was just as strong as before. Lin Mumunicated with the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat, trying to call him back.


    Lin Mu¡¯s attempt was soon sessful as the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat returned, appearing out of thin air the same way as before. At least this time Lin Mu could see where it had gone. Lin Mu looked at the exact ce the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat appeared from and observed it curiously.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat walked up to Lin Mu and bumped its head into him before speaking to him.


    "No home?" It asked.

 Chapter 255 - Deciphering The Bewildering Formation

    <h4>Chapter 255 - Deciphering The Bewildering Formation </h4>


    Lin Mu simply told it to wait in his mind, and he tried using the spirit sense to check the area. He was suspicious when he had originally arrived, but soon understood the reason behind the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat¡¯s disappearance.


    "Huh, there is a formation array here? How?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Not just any formation array. Look further with your spirit sense." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu did as he asked and discovered that he could not extend it beyond two meters. After two meters, it was as if his spirit sense bent and came out of another part of the formation.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "This is actually two formationsyered together into a formation array. You have seen these two before at the Myriad armament canopy abode before, but its level is significantly low. You can use your previous deciphering method to find the nodes." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu then started chanting the severing heart sutra and extended his spirit sense, touching the formation array. The same thing as before happened and his spirit sense bent,ing out of another spot. But Lin Mu did not mind this and tried again.


    An entire hour passed and multiple attempts had been done by Lin Mu, yet every time the same thing happened and his spirit sense came or from another random spot.


    Xukong actually knew how to help Lin Mu, but he intentionally did not help him. He wanted him to learn through trial and error, wanting to see how much he had improved from before. This formation in front of him, while simr to the one at the Myriad armament canopy abode, was not exactly the one that Lin Mu had solved.


    The difference lied in the basic characteristic of the Myriad armament canopy abode. The Myriad armament canopy abode was a spirit tool and did not actually exist in the same ne as the real world, instead existing in a minor one in the lesser void. That was also the reason why Lin Mu was able to find it rater quickly, the mysterious ring had helped him.


    But right now these formations had be an obstruction even though they were low leveled. This kind of formation array wasposed of two types of formations. One of them was themon illusory formation that Lin Mu had seen before. It was simr to the one that was used to hide Jing Wei¡¯s emporium and the deste alley it was located in.


    The second one was the moreplex one that was actually causing the bigger problem. This kind of a formation was called a bewildering formation and its only function was to confuse the intruder. It could make the intruder change his direction if they walked into it, making them leave the formation from another direction.


    Some of the bewildering formations could even trick the spirit sense and would make the cultivator using it feel as if his spirit sense was blocked by something. Another effect it could have on spirit sense was that it could make the cultivator misjudge it. This would cause them to extend and contract their spirit sense randomly.


    Thebined effect of both these formations created this formation array and had be the obstacle in Lin Mu¡¯s path.


    ¡¯Hmm, how was the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat able to get through it? I already checked the spot from where it entered, yet there was nothing there. What is it that I¡¯m missing?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He then thought about the characteristics of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat and realized that it did not have any spirit sense of its own. Back when the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat disappeared, Lin Mu could still sense the connection between them, telling him that the beast was right there in front of him.


    "Hmm, so if I restrict my spirit sense and walk in directly, would I be able to cross it?" Lin Mu thought out loud.


    He then looked at the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat and told it to continue onward, which it immediately followed.


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat walked forward and once again disappeared. This time though, Lin Mu did not lose focus and concentrated on his connection with the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    ¡¯Only one way to confirm my theory...¡¯ Lin Mu thought with determination as he took a deep breath and took a step forward.


    As soon as he crossed into the invisible formation, he felt the scene in front of him change for a slight moment. If it were some other cultivator in the qi refining realm, they would not even have been able to notice this kind of a small change as it was very quick and hard to recognize with naked eyes.


    But Lin Mu had an advantage in this area, being used to the rapid changes due to him using the skill blink. He understood that something had happened and there was a change. This doubt of his was confirmed when he sensed the location of Brown Shrubby Forest Cat suddenly switching.


    Previously the connection told Lin Mu that the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was right in front of him. But now it was telling him that it was on the left. He took a few steps forward, and it happened again, this time the location of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat changed to being behind him for some reason.


    Lin Mu did not follow his connection and just walked straight forward, wanting to see where it would lead him. Two minutester, Lin Mu found himself back to where he had started from.


    "So it will return me back to my original position if I keep on walking straight. My connection with Brown Shrubby Forest Cat also told me otherwise. It seems like the formation array is changing the direction I walk without me noticing." Lin Mu hypothesized.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    ¡¯Hmm, let¡¯s try this again.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself before taking a step into the formation array again.


    This time though, he did not keep on walking forward and instead changed direction to face the location of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat every time it changed. Before he had crossed the formation array ande out of it in 2 minutes. But now he had been walking for over five minutes, and yet the end was not in sight.


    ¡¯He¡¯s close to figuring out. His investigational ability is not bad...¡¯ Xukong thought.

 Chapter 256 - The Dual Circle Ascension Vine

    <h4>Chapter 256 - The Dual Circle Ascension Vine </h4>


    Lin Mu kept on walking and following his connection with the Brown Shrubby forest cat. Fifteen minutes had passed, after which he finally discovered a pattern. He realized that while the location of the Brown Shrubby forest cat changed, his own actually stayed the same.


    He tried marking the ground where he walked and discovered this. He thought that the Brown Shrubby forest cat was actually moving around that much, but after a few more tests he realized that it wasn¡¯t true either.


    ¡¯Hmm, I need to start over...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he walked straight ignoring the change and returned to the starting ce.


    Now Lin Mu had another idea which he wanted to try out. Lin Mu entered the formation array but did not take another step forward. Instead, he turned back and started walking. It seemed as if he was leaving the formation array, but the opposite happened.


    The scenery that was in front of him was supposed to move closer as he walked towards it, but what happened was that the more he walked the farther it got.


    Still, Lin Mu did not panic as he knew that his idea seemed to be the correct one. His connection with the Brown Shrubby forest cat told him that it was in front of him and was not changing locations anymore.


    Lin Mu kept on walking, and five minutester appeared in a new area. The scene in front of him suddenly changed from that of the starting area and new trees appeared there. He looked back and saw that the starting area was now behind him, in the distance.


    "Yes! I crossed it." Lin Mu eximed.


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    "Good, you figured it out. You found the right method to cross the formation array without even breaking it." Xukong praised.


    "Thank you, senior." Lin Mu said in a grateful tone before continuing, "but Senior, what do you mean by breaking it?"


    "Well, the mostmon method used by cultivators who are not proficient in formations is to break them with brute force. This involves overwhelming the limits of the formation with spirit qi and destabilizing it. Though this methodes with its risks and can be dangerous. Some formation masters eveny traps that take advantage of this method and harm the cultivators that try to break the formation with brute force." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu thought over Senior Xukong¡¯s exnation and wondered if he would have been able to attempt this.


    "Can I do this senior? I mean, if the situation so arises," Lin Mu asked.


    "You¡¯ve already done it before, actually. When you opened the portal to the Myriad armament Canopy abode, that was actually a type of brute force method as you overwhelmed its limitations and opened the gate. Though the formation was able to recover due to being a pseudo immortal tool." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded in understanding and started looking around the area. The surroundings were pretty much simr to the previous area, except that the concentration of the spirit qi in the area was slightly higher.


    ¡¯Hmm, this is strange? Is this due to the formation array, or something else?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Lin Mu sensed his connection with the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat and walked towards that direction. He could sense that it wasing from behind a patch of densely packed trees. This patch was blocked by overgrown shrubs and vines that interwove with the trees, creating a natural blockade that made it impossible for Lin Mu to proceed.


    "This is even more strange. Why are there so many nts grown together here?" Lin Mu said as he then gestured with his hand.


    The short sword that was on his back flew out and shed at the trees and the shrubs, butting them apart and making way for him. When the blockade was cleared, Lin Mu finally saw what was behind it.


    He appeared in a small clearing that had a few trees growing in the center. And among these trees, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat stood. Lin Mu walked towards it and saw the thing he came for here.


    "The Dual Circle Ascension Vine!" Lin Mu eximed.


    On one of the trees, the Dual Circle Ascension Vine was growing. It grew from the ground in a pair of vines and wrapped around the trunk as it grew upwards. It had reached the middle part of the trunk and had manyrge leaves growing from its vines.


    Lin Mu could also feel the faint waves of spirit qi arising from the vine.


    "Indeed, this is the Dual Circle Ascension Vine," Xukong confirmed.


    Lin Mu kneeled and stroked the head of the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    "Thank you" He expressed through the connection.


    <i>~Nyaa~</i>


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat purred in pleasure as it enjoyed the act.


    Lin Mu stood up and went to inspect the Dual Circle Ascension Vine. He extended his spirit sense and scanned it with it. Upon doing so, his eyes lit up as he found his goal.


    "There are some fruits!" Lin Mu said with joy as he lifted therge leaves of the vine.


    He saw the small fruits of the Dual Circle Ascension Vine that looked more like berries. There were about eleven of them growing on the vine and they were hidden because of the leaves of the Dual Circle Ascension Vine.


    The fruits were orange colored and were oval shaped. Thin veins were visible on its surface that spread all around the fruit.


    "This is unusual..." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Huh? What do you mean, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... there are far too many fruits growing on the vine considering the environment of this area. The spirit qi in this area is simply not enough for it to be able to grow so many fruits. Another thing is that... if there were so many fruits growing on it, why did the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat or any other beast eat them yet?" Xukong replied.


    After hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s concerns, Lin Mu too wondered why it was like this. He extended his hand towards the fruits and was just about to touch them when he suddenly heard the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat in his mind.


    "Danger"

 Chapter 257 - A Trap?

    257 A Trap? Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    Upon hearing the urgent message in his mind, Lin Mu became alert and his spirit sense spread around. But in the next moment, he was knocked back with great force, as if being hit by a bull.


    ~Thud~ ~Cough~


    ~Cough~


    ~Cough~


    Lin Mu coughed in pain as he tried to lift himself from the ground. ~Meow~


    The Brown Shrubby Forest Cat came running towards him to check up on him.


    "Dammit, what was that!" Lin Mu cursed as he rubbed his head.


    "Seems like there was a trap concealed in the Dual Circle Ascension vine," Xukong said.


    Lin Mu propped himself up and sat down on the ground as he checked on his body. He couldn''t find any injuries on his body, and the only pain he had was from being knocked back. He then looked at the Dual Circe Ascension vine and found it to be glowing with a faint light.


    "Why did I not sense it before?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It seems to be a trap that can stay concealed from the spirit sense of a cultivator. You''re still inexperienced about these matters so it''s no wonder that you couldn''t sense it. Though, now you know to be more careful. There may be more traps that we don''t know of here." Xukong answered.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu muttered as his spirit sense scanned the entire area deeply.


    He had been rmed by this, hence wanted to be extremely sure of everything before continuing. He stood up and walked around, searching a radius of about two hundred meters before returning to the Dual Circe Ascension vine with the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat following behind him.


    "Seems like there is only that one trap and no more in the area." Lin Mu stated as he gazed at the Dual Circe Ascension vine.


    "Fortunately, you can destroy this trap rather easily. It is a simple knock back trap that you can break by finding its node. Before, it would have been impossible for you to find it as it was in a concealed state. But now that it''s revealed, you should be able to find it." Xukong spoke.


    "Alright Senior." Lin Mu replied before focusing on the Dual Circe Ascension vine.


    He extended his spirit sense and tried to find the formation node on the trap. It took him about five minutes before he discovered it right below the tree.


    "I found it, Senior," Lin Mu said.


    "Good, now use your spirit sense and pour your spirit qi into the node. Keeping on doing it till it destabilizes." Xukong taught.


    Lin Mu nodded in response before doing as he was instructed. He channeled wisps of spirit qi into his spirit sense tendril and started pouring it into the formation node. Lin Mu was already proficient in using his spirit sword with the spirit sense thus had no problem doing this, as the concept was pretty much the same.


    Lin Mu could see the light of the formation getting stronger and stronger. The more spirit qi he channeled into it, the brighter it got.


    "Is this correct, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, just continue what you are doing. It should soon be reaching its limits." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu continued doing so, and two minutester the effects started to show. He could feel that the formation node was trembling and cracks started to appear on it. Another minute passed by and finally, the cracks covered the entirety of the node.


    ~Pop~


    Then, with a small pop, the glowing formation disappeared leaving the Dual Circe Ascension vine unprotected.


    "That¡­ was rather anti-climatic," Lin Mu said as he reached out with his hand.


    He touched one of the Dual Circe Ascension Fruits with his index finger and found there to be no reaction.


    "Well, now I can get the fruits." Lin Mu spoke with a happy tone as he plucked the first Dual Circe Ascension fruit.


    He looked at the small berry like fruit clenched in his fingers for a few seconds before storing it in the ring.


    Meanwhile, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was looking at the entire process with interest and waved its tail from side to side. Lin Mu quickly finished plucking the eleven Dual Circe Ascension fruits and stored all of them in the ring. He then turned to look at the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat and petted its head.


    "No wonder he didn''t eat the fruits, seems like he too was scared by the knockback trap formation." Lin Mu said. "But then how did it obtain the fruit that it had eaten before?" Lin Mu asked.


    "One of the fruits probably fell from the vine and left the confines of the trap. The Dual Circe Ascension fruits stay on the vine for quite a while even after bing ripe, thus it is likely that the Brown Forest Shrubby Cat probably obtained it after quite some time. Though, looking at these fruits, I can estimate that they should have fallen soon too." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded, showing that he agreed with Xukong and kept on staring at the Dual Circe Ascension vine.


    "Hmm, Senior can we¡­ take this vine with us?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No, that is impossible. The Dual Circe Ascension vine will wither away when it''s plucked from the ground. It''s already a miracle that it was able to grow in an environment such as this." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu hummed in response as his gaze curiously went to the base of the Dual Circe Ascension vine. There he spotted something protruding from the ground. It was rather hidden because of the thick grass and the leaves of the Dual Circe Ascension vine thus could not see it clearly.


    "Hmm, what''s this?" Lin Mu wondered as he kneeled to take a closer look.


    He moved the leaves and grass aside and saw that there seemed to be a grey crystalline object protruding from the ground.


    Lin Mu first carefully probed it with his spirit sense to make sure that it was safe to touch. Finding there to be no problems, he pulled out the object from the soil.


    "This?"


    Another chaptering in an hour.


    I also put some starting chapters of the book on Royalroad site and wonder if you all can give some reviews there.


    I''ll put the link inments.

 Chapter 258 - A Skeleton?

    <h4>Chapter 258 - A Skeleton? </h4>


    Upon pulling out the object, Lin Mu found it to be a crystal. It was about the size of a finger and was dull grey in color.


    "A peak grade spirit stone?" Xukong muttered.


    "What! This is... a peak grade spirit stone?" Lin Mu eximed.


    "It is indeed. But it has been depleted." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t begin to imagine how a peak grade spirit stone would end up here, albeit a depleted one. The highest grade spirit stone he had seen until now was a defective mid grade spirit stone that he had previously used.


    Lin Mu was now extremely curious, thus he searched the ground with his spirit sense carefully. This turned out to be effective as he detected more things hidden in the ground.


    "Senior, there is more stuff buried here." Lin Mu said with excitement.


    "Dig it out then," Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu immediately started digging and soon unearthed a few objects that were buried in the ground. There were about three more depleted peak grade spirit stones that were buried in the ground, and on these spirit stones, the roots of the Dual Circle Ascension Vine were wrapped.


    "This makes sense. No wonder the Dual Circle Ascension Vine was able to grow in an environment like this. It has been absorbing the spirit qi from these Peak grade spirit stones." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu picked one of the depleted peak grade spirit stones out of which led to the roots of the Dual Circle Ascension Vine that were wrapped around it to break. The instant those roots broke the Dual Circle Ascension Vine started withering.


    "Senior, what¡¯s happening?" Lin Mu questioned in a shocked tone.


    "It is as I said before, the Dual Circle Ascension Vine cannot be moved from its position once it has grown. Not to mention it has lost its only source of sustenance that was the peak grade spirit stones. The tree it was parasitizing is not sufficient to sustain it either.


    It seems like it was barely holding on after growing all these Dual Circle Ascension fruits and this was thest straw." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu watched as the Dual Circle Ascension Vine withered and its leaves turned yellow before falling to the ground. The vines that were wrapped around the trunk of the tree too crumbled and the Dual Circle Ascension Vine was no more.


    <i>~Sigh~ </i>


    "At least I was able to get the Dual Circle Ascension fruits." Lin Mu said in a helpless voice.


    "The Dual Circle Ascension Vine was a lost cause already. No need to worry about it." Xukong stated.


    "I understand, Senior." Lin Mu replied before turning to the other objects that were buried in the ground.


    Along with the three depleted Peak grade spirit stones, there seemed to be a cloth of some kind buried. Lin Mu pulled it out and looked at it. The cloth was actually a pouch of some kind that was torn in the middle.


    "This is rather high quality," Lin Mu said as he felt the texture of the torn pouch.


    He put it aside for the time being as he then dug the next object from the ground. This object looked like a circr t stone that had some strange characters engraved on it. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t read the characters, thus decided to show it to Senior Xukong.


    "Hmm, these characters are written in the script of a different world. Not only that, it seems to have an identification formation ced on it, though it looks like it has been damaged as well." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu curiously looked at the Stone and tried to probe it with his spirit sense, but was unable to observe the formation that was ced in it.


    "You won¡¯t be able to read the formation this way. It is a special identification formation that can only be read using the counter formation for it, simr to a lock and key. Such kinds of formations are rather unusual and are used for identification badges, but only for secretive organizations.


    It is unusual for them to be used by anyone else, as it means that they would rather have it destroyed than others discovering this stone badge." Xukong exined.


    Xukong was now quite curious as well and did not know how such a thing could turn up in a world such as this. He had heard about organizations that would use such kinds of identity formations, but nearly all of them were dangerous.


    While looking at the stone badge, Lin Mu¡¯s eyes spotted a small white pointed object sticking out from the ground. He had already known that it was thest object that was rather big. It was also the one that his spirit sense was not able to recognize easily as the object seemed to be repelling it.


    The repulsion was so strong that Lin Mu could not even tell the shape of the object.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    Lin Mu did not dare to dig this out directly with his hand and instead decided to use a stick to do so. Since he couldn¡¯t sense the object properly, he couldn¡¯t tell for sure if it had any traps ced on it, thus he was extra careful and did not want a repeat of before.


    But just a second after he prodded the white point, he saw what it was and became extremely shocked.


    "A bone!" Lin Mu eximed.


    He then carefully dug the soil around the bone, slowly expanding the dig area. Eventually, he ended up excavating an entire skeleton.


    "What the! How did this skeleton end up here?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Careful, step back! It¡¯s not just any skeleton, rather it¡¯s the skeleton of a nascent soul realm cultivator, it could have a remnant of a soul on it." Xukong warned.


    Lin Mu immediately took a few steps back as he contemted on the revtion.


    Lin Mu had learned about the Nascent soul realm from Senior Xukong before, but it was only some surface level information, thus he did not know what Senior Xukong was talking about.


    "What do you mean Senior?"

 Chapter 259 - The Two Souls Of A Cultivator

    <h4>Chapter 259 - The Two Souls Of A Cultivator </h4>


    "The Nascent soul realm cultivators are different than the cultivators in the Qi refining realm and the core condensation realm in that they have two souls," Xukong spoke.


    "Two Souls?! What?" Lin Mu asked with a surprised tone.


    "Yes, two souls, although they are of different kinds. You see, the soul which everyone has and is born with is called as the True Soul. This is the soul which forms the very basis of your existence and without it, you cannot live nor reincarnate.


    Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    The True soul is what undergoes the cycle of reincarnation and is also the soul which umtes karma. It is the soul whose destiny is dictated by Fate.


    The Nascent soul meanwhile is a construct born from the Spirit Qi Core of a Core condensation realm cultivator. When a Core condensation realm cultivator reaches the peak of the core condensation realm, they undergo a heavenly lightning tribtion which allows them to hatch a Nascent soul from their spirit qi core.


    With the spirit qi core as the egg, the Heavenly lightning as the life spark and the Dantian as the incubator a nascent soul is born." Xukong exined.


    Xukong stopped and let Lin Mu digest this information first before continuing. He had not told him the actual circumstances behind the creation of a Nascent soul realm cultivator before and knew that the information was a bitplex to understand.


    "The difference between the True soul and Nascent soul is in that the True soul cannot leave the mortal body under normal conditions. Thus, the nascent soul acts as the secondary vessel for the consciousness and allows the cultivator to leave his body.


    This can even allow the cultivator to escape death and live on in the form of a soul. And if the cultivator is fortunate enough, they will even find a suitable vessel and be able to take over it, allowing them to be reborn.


    This is the reason I warned you, Nascent soul ream cultivators can leave behind remnants of their soul on the remains of their body upon death. These remnants cantch onto the body of an unfortunate person and allow the nascent soul to find that person to take over them.


    In some cases, the nascent soul may even stay back in the remains of their dead body, waiting to chance upon a passing person to take over. Thus, unless one is strong enough or is sure that there are no soul remnants on a corpse or dead remains, they should avoid all contact with it." Xukong continued.


    Hearing the entire exnation from senior Xukong made Lin Mu feel a bit fearful of the nascent soul realm cultivators. But he knew that this was inevitable, and one day he would have to fight with one. All he could do right now was to take precautions and be extremely sure of whatever he was to do.


    He closely looked at the skeleton and spotted something on the other hand of the skeleton. This hand¡¯s fingers were slightly covered with dirt and Lin Mu had not fully uncovered them as senior Xukong had warned him before that.


    But now that he saw them again, his eyes caught the glint of some kind from there.


    "Senior, there¡¯s something on its finger!," Lin Mu spotted "it¡¯s a ring of some kind perhaps."


    Xukong focused on the hand and indeed saw the faint outline of a ring there.


    "How do I proceed Senior?" Lin Mu asked, desiring to check out the ring.


    "Hmm, looking at the state of decay, this man has probably died over a year ago. Considering the time frame and the environment, it is impossible for the nascent soul to survive this long. That is, if it was also not destroyed at the time of its death.


    But seeing that the Brown Shrubby Forest cat was able to approach it before without any problem, it is likely the Nascent soul left the skeleton behind or was destroyed.


    You need to check the skeleton with your spirit sense, use the same method you used to break the trap. That way you should be able to ovee the repelling from that Skeleton." Xukong instructed.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and took a step back before using his spirit sense to probe the skeleton. The result was the same as before, and his spirit sense probe was repelled. But Lin Mu did not lose hope and tried again, this time with more power than before.


    The spirit sense tendril came in contact with the repulsionyer of the skeleton and hovered there, unable to proceed. A strange equilibrium had been reached, and Lin Mu knew that now was the time. He started channeling the spirit qi into his spirit sense tendril and pushed further into the repulsiveyer.


    For the first minute, no change was observed but after another minute a small depression seemed to be forming as Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense pressed on.


    Ten minutes passed by and Lin Mu¡¯s forehead was covered in sweat by now. He had depleted a good chunk of his spirit qi wisps by now and barely had four hundred left. His progress was also evident though as the repulsiveyer was nearly gone by now.


    <i>~Pop~</i>


    Another five minutester, Lin Mu finally breached the repulsiveyer and it dissipated but in exchange, Lin Mu was now left with only fifty wisps of spirit qi in his dantian. Of course, there was still the liquid spirit qi there too, he had not touched them yet.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "That certainly was exhausting, I didn¡¯t expect it to take so much spirit qi from me." Lin Mu stated as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.


    His back was covered in sweat too making his clothes stick to it.


    "Rest and recuperate your spirit qi. Only after your stores are back to the top should you proceed, there can be some unexpected surprises so it¡¯s better to be cautious." Xukong advised.


    "I understand, Senior." Lin Mu responded before sitting down to recuperate his spirit qi.

 Chapter 260 - A Spatial Storage Ring?

    <h4>Chapter 260 - A Spatial Storage Ring? </h4>


    While Lin Mu was doing all this, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was lying in the grass and was basking in the warm sunlight while taking a nap. It had long since fallen asleep and did not notice Lin Mu do all this.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes after recuperating his spirit qi to the full and looked at the skeleton. No physical change could be observed on the skeleton, and it seemed to be the same as before. Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and probed it, facing no repulsion like before it easily touched the skeleton.


    Upon finally touching the skeleton, Lin Mu could not find anything peculiar on it.


    "That was... a bit underwhelming, after all that." Lin Mu uttered as a sigh escaped his mouth.


    "It is safe to touch now. There are no remnants of a soul on the skeleton. If there were, you would have felt them there." Xukong spoke up.


    Lin Mu nodded in response before a question popped up in his mind.


    "But Senior, what was that repulsion I felt?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That was the finalyer of protection that was left on the skeleton of the cultivator. Usually, when a nascent soul realm cultivator dies, their remaining spirit qi would umte onto their skeleton due to its characteristics.


    This ends up forming the repulsiveyer that you felt before. It is a kind of precaution that prevents the remains from being disrespected. But this also ends up preserving the remains, as you can see. Although the flesh may wither away, the bones will stay on." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu was listened on with interest and felt amazed by this new tidbit of information. He then pushed these thoughts aside as he now needed to check what was actually left on the skeleton.


    Lin Mu brushed the soil away and revealed the ring that was hidden beneath.


    On the index finger of the right hand of the skeleton, a in golden ring was left. It was loosely hanging on the finger as there was no flesh left on it. At the top of the ring, a square surface was formed on which a green gemid.


    As soon as Lin Mu saw it, only one thing appeared in his mind.


    "Is that a spatial storage ring?!" Lin Mu eximed.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu probed the ring with his spirit sense and confirmed his assumption, it was indeed a spatial storage ring.


    But a momentter, Lin Mu¡¯s brows furrowed as he sensed something else.


    "There are barely any spatial fluctuationsing from it, is this normal Senior?" Lin Mu asked as he pulled the ring off of the skeleton¡¯s finger.


    "No, this ring is damaged and those items that you found before were probably kept in this ring. They were probably ejected out after the ring was damaged." Xukong answered.


    "But don¡¯t the injects stored in a spatial treasure get lost in the void if they are broken?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not always. There are certain modifications that can be made so that the objects in a ring are not lost in the void and are instead ejected out. Though most cultivators prefer having the ability to destroy their spatial treasure so that others cannot obtain its contents.


    Usually, a modification such as this is only done for specific purposes, as it is rather difficult and expensive to make. Also, it is impossible for any spirit tool refiner below the immortal Ascension stage to make it." Xukong answered.


    "But then Senior, doesn¡¯t this mean..." Lin Mu replied before he was interrupted.


    "Yes, it is from a higher world and simrly this skeleton also belongs to a cultivator that came from a higher leveled world. This also makes sense as the Dual Circe Ascension Vine is rare in worlds such as this. It is likely that it grew from a seed that the cultivator was carrying, which was ejected upon the spatial storage ring being damaged.


    The other objects such as the peak grade spirit stones and the stone badge were also ejected along with it, after which the seed sprouted and took support from the peak grade spirit stones." Xukong hypothesized.


    Lin Mu was lost in his thoughts after hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words as things started linking up in his mind. He silently thought for a few minutes beforeing up with a theory of his own.


    "Senior... considering all the events that have happened till now, the beast storage treasure, the invader, and now this; they all seem to be linked. Is it possible that this cultivator is the source behind all of them?" Lin Mu said in a serious tone.


    Xukong did not immediately reply to Lin Mu and did an analysis of his own before responding.


    "I think that you are right. But... this brings us to a rather grave question; there is no chance that this cultivator died naturally, there was certainly something that killed him. It was definitely not a beast, as any beast strong enough to kill a nascent soul realm cultivator would have been able to easily eat it whole.


    It does not seem like the cultivator suffered from any qi deviation of even a tribtion, otherwise there would certainly be signs present on the skeleton.


    This leaves only one option, another cultivator killed him." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu realized the graveness of Senior Xukong¡¯s words and wondered who could be the likely culprit.


    "Hmm, if the cultivator was able to kill this man easily then they would have definitely taken his spatial treasure right? They would have left it behind like this. Also, there doesn¡¯t seem to be any damage to the bones which could mean that the cultivator wasn¡¯t attacked from by any kind of overwhelming power, rather by someone who was at the same strength level as him." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    "That¡¯s a possibility. The two cultivators probably battled and both must have sustained injuries otherwise the spoils of the battle would have surely berm taken by the victor. This narrows down the list of suspects to all the nascent soul realm cultivators that have been recently injured. The most obvious suspect would be someone from a cultivation sect." Xukong added.

 Chapter 261 - Heading Back

    <h4>Chapter 261 - Heading Back </h4>


    Upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s words, Lin Mu started to think of all the sects that could possibly be involved in this.


    ¡¯If they were able to attack this man, then this means that they were probably from this region. It¡¯s unlikely that someone from a sect not from this region came to attack that man. Hmm, if it¡¯s from this region then the only sect I can think about is the Tri cauldron peony sect. I don¡¯t know what other sects are here.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But then he remembered something.


    "Wait, I have the jade slip that Jing Wei gave me. There is bound to be some information in there about the sects of this region." Lin Mu muttered to himself and took out the jade slip.


    He held it in his hand and activated it, browsing through the information that was recorded within in. He soon reached the point where it talked about the sects that existed in the region and discovered that in the region around the Wu Lim City only the Tri cauldron peony sect existed that was a cultivation sect. There existed a few normal sects, but they were merely martial sects that had the body tempering realm cultivators in them.


    ¡¯So whoever it is, they¡¯re likely to be from the Tri cauldron peony sect.¡¯ Lin Mu guessed.


    "You can¡¯t ignore the possibility that it could have been someone else that was following the man. They may have followed him here and attacked so that there would be fewer traces, and it would be harder to track them. This would also inadvertently put the me on the Tri cauldron peony sect." Xukong advised.


    "Thar¡¯s true Senior. We have far too little information to be able to reach an urate conclusion," Lin Mu said in a calm tone.


    "At least our work here is done, I was able to aplish the goal I set. Though it¡¯s a shame that the Dual Circle Ascension vine was destroyed." Lin Mu added.


    He then stored the skeleton of the dead cultivator in his ring as he had intended to show this to someone that would perhaps be more knowledgeable, not to mention that this skeleton was an important piece of evidence.


    Lin Mu stood up and looked for the Brown Shrubby Forest cat, finding it to be asleep on the side.


    "Huh, so you were enjoying your time," Lin Mu chuckled as he petted the beast¡¯s head.


    <i>~Yawn~</i>


    The Brown Shrubby forest cat let out a yawn as it woke up from Lin Mu¡¯s action. It slowly blinked its eyes and licked its paws to rub its face. It stretched as it stood up and then rubbed against Lin Mu.


    "Let¡¯s go, little guy," Lin Mu spoke, the intention of which the beast understood.


    Lin Mu took onest look around the area and realized something which made him stop.


    "Hmm, Senior the bewildering formation array around the area, what will happen to it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "From what I could gather, that formation array was probably set up by the dead cultivator to protect himself when he was injured, and it has been active since then. The formation array should fade away by itself in a few more months, as I cannot see any other supportive formations that can supply it with spirit qi. Also, the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat was able to enter it. That means the ws are already appearing in it.


    Looking at the items we found and theck of spirit stones, it¡¯s likely that the dead cultivator used them to set up this bewildering formation. There is no other reason a cultivator that too a Nascent soul realm cultivator would have so few resources with him." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and fiddled with the damaged spatial storage ring he had in his hand.


    "Can this ring be repaired, Senior?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "Hmm, it is certainly repairable, but I doubt there are many people who can do it. Perhaps... Jing Wei can do it. He does seem to have some aplishments in Spirit tool refinement." Xukong replied.


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    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s reply.


    "That¡¯s good. If this ring can be repaired, then I can use it. That way, even if I openly store items, I can have a valid excuse. The mysterious ring that I have is not visible to others, thus it is suspicious whenever I use it. If I have an actual spatial storage ring, it will be much easier." Lin Mu state.


    "That will indeed deter some overly curious eyes. Something that¡¯s mysterious is more likely to catch attention than something that¡¯s in the open." Xukong agreed.


    Having decided what his next course of action would be, Lin Mu started to head back.


    This time it was much easier for Lin Mu to leave the formation array as it only worked in one direction. It prevented people from entering but did not restrict them from leaving.


    Lin Mu left the confines of the formation array, with the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat following behind him.


    Upon entering the town, Lin Mu first went to his house to drop off the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat before heading to Jing Wei¡¯s emporium. This was done ording to the advice of Senior Xukong as he did not want them to know of the beast¡¯s intelligence as it could lead them to question him about the Dual Circle Ascension Fruit.


    Upon reaching the area, Lin Mu saw that the alley the shop was located in was still hidden, but when he approached it, the path automatically appeared for him as the formation array recognized him.


    He opened the door of the shop and entered it.


    "Oh? Did they clean this ce up?" Lin Mu muttered with surprise as he saw the clean shop.


    The dust that usually covered the shop was no longer there, though the items in the shop were still scattered around. Putting this to the back of his mind, Lin Mu walked to the back room.


    ¡¯I¡¯m supposed to blow out thismp, right?¡¯ Lin Mu remembered as he then snuffed it out.


    The room suddenly became white and then Lin Mu appeared in the courtyard of the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode.


    The faint fragrance of the spirit flowers and the dense spirit qi in the air calmed Lin Mu¡¯s mind and made him feel rxed.


    "Ahh... This ce is so good." Lin Mu muttered in satisfaction.

 Chapter 262 - The Excited Jing Wei

    <h4>Chapter 262 - The Excited Jing Wei </h4>


    While walking towards the mansion at the end, Lin Mu was wondering where the pair of Grandfather and Granddaughter would be. The mansion was far toorge on the inside and it would talker him a while to find them.


    But just as he thought of this he spotted them sitting at a perg in the garden that was near the mansion.


    Duan Ke and Jing Wei were sitting at the table in the perg and were chatting about something when they felt the formation array letting someone inside.


    "Seems like he¡¯s back." Duan Ke spoke.


    "Indeed, I wonder what he¡¯s here for this time. It¡¯s been a while since we saw him." Jing Wei responded as he turned to look in the distance from where Lin Mu was walking.


    Lin Mu soon reached the two of them and came to stand at the side of the table.


    "Oh? Seems like you¡¯ve gotten better since thest time," Jing Wei said as he sensed some changes in Lin Mu.


    "What brings you here today? I thought you were going to stay in seclusion and cultivate for longer?" Duan Ke asked.


    "I was indeed in seclusion all this while but had to stop it for a bit as I had some matters to deal with." Li NM replied as he nodded.


    "What kind of matters? Do they involve the invader?" Jing Wei questioned in a more serious tone.


    Lin Mu¡¯s expression straightened as he nodded gently.


    "Yes, and not only that... I may have even found the source of the invader, perhaps." Lin Mu revealed much to the shock of the two.


    "What! Then we must hurry, let¡¯s talk further in the mansion." Jing Wei replied.


    Lin Mu went with the flow and followed the two of them to the library, which was a bit surprising to him as he had expected them to be heading to the meeting hall. Upon arriving there, Jing Wei waved his hand and the formation array lit up for a few seconds before disappearing.


    "What was that for?" Lin Mu curiously asked.


    "It¡¯s an isting formation, it will prevent the contents of our conversation from being heard." Duan Ke answered first.


    Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion as he could not understand why they would require something like that now, as there was no one else other than them in this entire space.


    Jing Wei saw the confusion on Lin Mu¡¯s face and could guess what he must have been thinking about.


    "There are certain abilities that we need to protect ourselves from. There are a few pesky and meddlesome sects that love to pry in matters that they have no business in. Even with the courtyard being in a different space, some of them can still discover us, though it¡¯s unlikely." Jing Wei said, "but... I still do not want to take any chances." He added.


    "But you didn¡¯t activate this before? We have even more sensitive discussions back then." Lin Mu asked further.


    "It was activated back then as well. But not just this, all the defensive formations were activatedst time, which is why you did not notice it." Jing Wei exined.


    "Ahh, I see." Lin Mu responded.


    "Well then, what did you discover?" Jing Wei questioned.


    Lin Mu withdrew the skeleton of the dead cultivator and put it on the ground for the two to see.


    As soon as the pair saw it, their eyes went wide.


    "Is this..." Duan Ke uttered.


    "A Nascent Soul Realm cultivator¡¯s remains, there is no doubt. I can sense it." Jing Wei confirmed.


    The two then lifted their gaze from the skeleton and looked at Lin Mu.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    "This is the source behind the invader, I estimate. I found a bewildering formation array in the forest, and inside there I found this skeleton. It had some items which I believe do not belong in this world. Linking that with the Beast storage treasure and the incidents that happened, led me to believe that they were rted." Lin Mu stated his theory.


    Jing Wei heard his words and stayed silent for a moment before speaking.


    "And what are these items that you found on him?" Jing Wei questioned.


    In response to this, Lin Mu withdrew the Damaged Spatial storage ring, the stone badge, and the depleted Peak grade spirit stones.


    "Peak grade spirit stones!" Duan Ke eximed.


    Jing Wei¡¯s attention particrly went towards the ring that Lin Mu was holding in his hand.


    "... and a spatial storage ring, that too of an unknown design." Jing Wei added.


    Lin Mu handed the ring to Jing Wei on cue and let him observe it. Jing Wei held it in his hand and observed it with his spirit sense. With every minute that he held it in his hand, his expression kept on changing. At the start it was calm, which then turned to surprise, then confused, and finally excited.


    Lin Mu could understand his emotions but did not know why he had now be so exacted.


    "Hahaha! This is a masterpiece! Such craftsmanship... such innovation... something like this had never been seen before!" Jing Wei shouted in praises.


    Duan Ke and Lin Mu both had perplexed faces, seeing the usually calm Jing Wei acting like this.


    "Of course I should have expected this. In a low leveled world such as this, even a spatial storage treasure such as that ring is of the highest quilt." Xukong spoke with a sigh.


    Lin Mu slightly chuckled which Duan Ke heard and her face became a bit red.


    "Grandfather, have some decorum." Duan Ke chided.


    "This is no time for decorum, Ke¡¯er. This little ring... it may potentially be the solution to our problems." Jing Wei replied in an excited tone, same as before.


    Now even Duan Ke¡¯s expression turned shocked upon hearing her grandfather¡¯s words.


    "Is it really that good?" Lin Mu asked out loud, "I mean, that spatial storage ring is damaged and broken."


    Duan Ke¡¯s excitement instantly died down after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s revtion, but Jing Wei did not even flinch and acted the same.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>

 Chapter 263 - Repair?

    <h4>Chapter 263 - Repair? </h4>


    Seeing that Jing Wei had not changed his expression after telling him about the condition of the Spatial storage ring, Lin Mu was now even more confused. He was wondering whether the old man had finally started to show the effects of his old age.


    <i>~Chuckle~</i>


    "You think I don¡¯t know this ring is damaged? I know that of course, I knew the moment I got my hands on it. But that¡¯s not all this ring is. Even if it is damaged, I can still analyze and learn a lot of things from it. Merely the techniques and skills used to make this ring are amazing. Even the best Spirit tool refiners in the entire Great Zhou Empire cannot match it." Jing Wei spoke in the same excited tone.


    Lin Mu finally understood why the old man was happy and saw that Duan Ke¡¯s expression also improved after hearing it. Lin Mu then remembered what he was gonna ask him about and thought that he should do it while they were on the topic of the ring.


    "Seeing that you can analyze the ring, can you also perhaps repair it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Hearing Lin Mu¡¯s question Jing Wei was a bit stunned and his expression calmed down.


    "Hmm, I definitely cannot restore it to how it was originally, as I neither know the techniques nor have the skill to do it. But... I may be able to restore it to a fraction of its full capabilities. Though I cannot tell how big that fraction would be." Jing Wei answered.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up after hearing Jing Wei¡¯s answer. It didn¡¯t matter to him how much this ring could store, it only mattered that it was functional. Lin Mu had the mysterious ring with a massive storage capacity, the limits of which even Senior Xukong could not perceive, thus this ring would only going to be used as a disguise.


    "Can you repair this ring for me then?" Lin Mu asked.


    Duan Ke looked at Lin Mu for a moment before turning to her Grandfather. She did not know whether her grandfather would be epting of such a request or not. If it was in the past, even the big sects would have to wait for months before they could even speak to him. But now here they were, hiding in some small town.


    Jing Wei smirked a bit before replying.


    "Sure, in payment of letting me study this ring I can repair it for you." Jing Wei spoke in a calm tone.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief after hearing his response, as this meant that he would be able to cover up for another one of his big ws. No longer would he have to hide or pretend to do something else whenever he got something.


    "Though, I do not know how long it would take me to repair it. I have simply not seen anything like it, thus I cannot give you an estimate. How about I contact you with themunication jade when it¡¯s done?" Jing Wei asked.


    "That would be fine, as long as you can fix it anything is eptable." Lin Mu replied while nodding his head.


    <i>~Ahem~</i>


    Duan Ke coughed lightly, bringing the attention of the two men towards the skeleton in the room.


    "We were speaking about this and you two already forgot it seems." Duan Ke spoke in a chiding tone.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit embarrassed but Jing Wei had no reaction. He still seemed to be basking in his previous feeling.


    "Ah, of course. Let¡¯s get to it shall we," Jing Wei said, trying to nullify the awkwardness.


    Duan Ke and Lin Mu both nodded in response and turned their attention to the skeleton.


    "So from what I can gather, this is indeed a Nascent soul realm cultivator that came from another world. The ring and the beast storage treasure pretty much confirms that." Jing Wei spoke.


    Duan Ke had a slightly confused expression hearing her grandfather¡¯s words as a doubt appeared in her mind.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    "The beast storage treasure? Isn¡¯t it possible that it is not linked to the dead cultivator but rather someone else?" Duan Ke inquired.


    "There is a possibility, of course. But... I¡¯ve seen the craftsmanship in the ring and the beast storage treasure, and there is no doubt that there are certain simrities in them that are definitely not found in this world. I highly doubt there can be another person, that too in this region that came from another world." Jing Wei rified.


    Duan Ke had an enlightened expression on her face as she understood Jing Wei¡¯s assumption.


    "Oh?... He¡¯s good. Much better than I expected." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "What do you mean senior?" Lin Mu internally asked as he tilted his head.


    "That old man was able to spot and link the fine simrities in the manufacturing and refinement techniques that were used to make the Beast storage treasure and the spatial storage ring, even though the beast storage treasure was pretty much junk at that point. Looks like the standards of this world may be slightly higher than I thought... or perhaps this old man is the better one of the lot." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu did not reply and simply hummed in acknowledgment as he focused back on the conversation.


    "What about the peak grade spirit stones?" Duan Ke asked.


    "Hmm, I can¡¯t tell much about their source as they are depleted. If they still had a slight amount of spirit qi left in them, then I may have been able to find some traces in them that could have pointed out to the mine that they originated from." Jing Wei answered.


    "They can do that?" Lin Mu spoke in a surprised tone to Xukong.


    "Indeed, although all spirit stones are pretty much the same, there are still some fine traces in them that can help to identify which mine they came from. The spirit qi in them is absorbed from the area that mine would be in, thus it would have something like a signature on it.


    Though this is quite faint and cannot be perceived by most cultivators. Only the Dao shell cultivators and above are able to sense them and that too with special equipment and supportive formations." Xukong exined.


    "That¡¯s amazing..." Lin Mu muttered in appreciation and awe.

 Chapter 264 - Autumn Valley Sect

    <h4>Chapter 264 - Autumn Valley Sect </h4>


    The conversation continued for a while until it finally came time to discuss the culprits.


    "What other cultivation sects are there in the region apart from the Tri cauldron peony sect?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Although Lin Mu knew that there was only one mentioned in the records he still asked to confirm.


    "There is another one, a rather new sect. All we know is that it is quite small but we don¡¯t have an estimate on its number of cultivators and that it was created about two decades ago." Jing Wei answered.


    Lin Mu had not expected for his question to bear fruit. Though he wondered why, it was not in the records.


    "Why was this not mentioned in the records that you gave me, though?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "That¡¯s because such sects pop up all the time. Some newly ascended Nascent soul realm cultivator thinks they have what it takes and creates a cultivation sect. Though these sects don¡¯tst long and soon dissolve due tock of resources or internal conflicts.


    Another thing is that such sects prefer to stay hidden for a while as this allows them to stabilize their roots and prevents the other sects from taking advantage of them.


    This is the reason why such sects are not even recorded in the main records. There may be some recent archives, but we didn¡¯t have those as you can guess from our condition." Jing Wei exined, with thest part seeming a little wry.


    Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "I found out about the sectst year, but they haven¡¯t really done anything and have not officially revealed themselves to the world." Duan Ke added.


    Lin Mu was intrigued by their words and was now starting to wonder if this sect was involved in it or not.


    "You see, the suspicion I had was that someone hurt this cultivator. But seeing that his ring was left intact and the bewildering formation that was set up in the forest, it was likely that the attacked could not hold back this cultivator from escaping. We know that he was a nascent soul realm cultivator, thus the other party must be one too.


    They should be at about the same strength, or such a thing would not have happened and his ring would have probably been stolen. This led me to believe that there was perhaps a nascent soul realm cultivator from one of the sects involved as it seemed to be the most obvious." Lin Mu exined.


    Jing Wei and Duan Ke listened to his theory with rapt attention and indeed found it to be sensible. There were far too few nascent soul realm cultivators in the area, and all of them belonged to either the Tri cauldron peony sect or to the kingdom.


    "Hmm, this does seem likely. But then ording to this hypothesis, the attacker must have been injured as well. But I haven¡¯t heard of any news about a nascent soul realm cultivator getting injured. There isn¡¯t much chance that news such as this can be suppressed.


    And I can tell for sure that it is not anyone from the Tri cauldron peony sect, as all four of their nascent soul realm experts are fine. They all recently showed up to an event a few months ago and all of them were fine and dandy as always." Jing Wei spoke.


    After hearing Jing Wei¡¯s exnation, Lin Mu wondered if it was not the Tri cauldron peony sect, then could it be the other ¡¯new¡¯ sect.


    ¡¯Speaking of that, I don¡¯t know its name yet.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "What is the name of this new sect that was created in the region? Could they perhaps be involved in it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That sect is called as the Autumn Valley sect and although they are not a righteous sect, they are definitely not an unorthodox sect. If they were, then the other orthodox sects would have long since exterminated them if they ever got even a little suspicion.


    But from the very few interactions they had, it can be determined that they are a neutral sect. Considering their age, I cannot say for sure if they would have attacked this cultivator. Not to mention, this would mean that their only Nascent soul realm cultivator was injured, which would leave them with acking leadership.


    Thus I cannot say for sure if they could be behind them either. What I think is that it was perhaps a wandering cultivator that discovered him and attacked him. There are actually some wandering Nascent soul realm cultivators in the kingdom. Although determining their location would be difficult. And if one of them got injured, it will be impossible for news to spread out." Jing Wei answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    <i></i>"This just keeps on getting more and moreplex." Lin Mu muttered to himself, feeling a bit fatigued.


    "Tell you what, Duan Ke will investigate this and try to find any news about it. Another thing is we are in luck as our supplier ising here today, we may find something from them." Jing Wei revealed.


    Lin Mu had certainly not expected to hear this today and suddenly remembered the state of the shop earlier.


    "Is that why the shop was clean? I thought it was just supposed to stay like that." Lin Mu asked.


    An almost invisible vein popped up on Duan Ke¡¯s forehead which went unnoticed by Lin Mu. But Jing Wei felt it rather instantly and knew that his granddaughter was on the edge.


    "Yes, yes, whenever the supplieres, we make it seem like the shop is still active. The formation automatically cleans the shop." Jing Wei said, trying to suppress the vtility before it could even begin.


    "Oh? That¡¯s amazing. Cleaning formations... now that¡¯s something I definitely need." Lin Mu muttered remembering the piles of bones and meat scraps that were left behind each morning after his monstrous meal.


    "Ah, those are easy to set up. I¡¯ll give you one of the premade ones, they are easy to set up and quite convenient." Jing Wei spoke upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s mutterings.


    Just as Jing Wei finished saying this, they felt the formation array activate.


    "He¡¯s here."

 Chapter 265 - Jingming Shang

    <h4>Chapter 265 - Jingming Shang </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at the duo, waiting for them to respond and see what their next course of action would be. He had no knowledge of this supplier of theirs and wondered what he had brought. From their words, he could also get that this supplier was also someone that provided them with news and intelligence.


    "Let¡¯s go, he has entered the alley." Duan Ke spoke, breaking the silence.


    Jing Wei nodded and started to walk out of the hall. They left the mansion with Lin Mu following behind them as they soon reached the small building that was the exit of the courtyard. The smallmp hanging on the roof was lit and the scenery changed.


    The three of them appeared in the backroom of the shop and went to take their ce in the shop. Jing Wei sat on a chair at the side while Duan Ke sat at the counter.


    Meanwhile, Lin Mu was left standing awkwardly.


    "What are you doing standing around dumbly? Go pretend to be a customer." Duan Ke said in a cold tone.


    ¡¯Why is she mad?¡¯ Lin Mu internally questioned.


    "Human females are confusing and mysterious. A great cultivator once said that among the eight thousand great mysteries of the cosmos, the minds of the females belong in the top ten." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Hehe, is that so, Senior..." Lin Mu muttered, finding it to be a bit strange.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The sound of the door opening resounded in the shop, as a man dressed in a delicate-looking robe walked in. The man had his hair tucked into his cap and had a short beard with a rather long mustache that hanged down to his chin.


    He had a jade hanging on his waist and a white fan in his right hand, while his left hand was kept on a pouch that hung from his belt. The man looked to be in his thirties, but looking into the man¡¯s eyes one would feel confused. They had an innocent look in one moment and then a shrewd one in the next.


    Lin Mu felt the faint waves of spirit qi emanating from him and instantly recognized him as a cultivator. He curiously extended his spirit sense and probed the man. But the instant he did so, the man¡¯s eyes turned to him and a smirk appeared on his lips.


    "Core Condensation realm..." Lin Mu muttered under his breath.


    Meanwhile, the man had an interested look on his face after sensing the spirit sense that had just touched him.


    "Oh? A fellow cultivator, greetings." The man spoke while cupping his hands and disying a smile.


    The smile seemed to be fine, yet there was a certain emptiness to it. Lin Mu hurriedly cupped his hands as well before speaking.


    "Greetings to you too..." Lin Mu said in an awkward tone.


    The man nodded in response and did not seem to mind Lin Mu¡¯s previous action. He simply went to stand in front of the counter and looked at Duan Ke.


    "Ahh! Lady Duan Ke is as beautiful as always. A million flowers shall turn dull before your face." The man praised in a ttering tone that dripped with coyness.


    Lin Mu felt shivers on his body after hearing the man¡¯s words and subconsciously took a step back. Unknowingly, even the short sword on his waist started trembling and seemed as if it wanted to leave the scabbard. But a few secondster it calmed down.


    The faint vein that was on Duan Ke¡¯s forehead suddenly became prominent as her expression turned cold. Lin Mu could suddenly feel the pressureing from her intensify. Although the pressure was not directed at him, he could still sense her power.


    "Oh my, she¡¯s strong. The pressure is not even focused on me, and yet I feel threatened. I wonder what¡¯s her cultivation base." Lin Mu muttered with slight fear.


    "Well, considering the aura she¡¯s exuding, there is no doubt that she is at the Peak stage of the core condensation realm." Xukong estimated.


    Lin Mu had known that Duan Ke was a core condensation realm cultivator and had even fought with her before, but he was still shocked when her full power was revealed, albeit unwittingly.


    "Heavens was I lucky winning against her back then!" Lin Mu thanked his fortune.


    Lin Mu then witnessed drops of sweat appearing on the brows of the man who had just tried to flirt with Duan Ke. But even then, the smile on his face did not weaken one bit and instead became more wide.


    "Hahaha, let¡¯s get down to business, shall we?" The man spoke, trying to defuse the situation he had created.


    <i>~Humph~</i>


    Duan Ke harrumphed in annoyance as she then withdrew her aura. The man wiped his forehead with his sleeve and then looked towards Jing Wei.


    "Oh, Lady Duan Ke¡¯s grandfather is here as well? That¡¯s good, I have some special herbs that are useful for elderly men in regaining their vigor." The Man spoke.


    Jing Wei who was calmly sipping his tea pretending to rx almost spit it out upon hearing the man¡¯s crass words.


    Lin Mu heard the man¡¯s words but did not understand what he meant, thus did not react. But Duan Ke¡¯s expression eased up a little bit after that, which she quickly hid behind her cold facade again.


    Jing Wei ced his teacup down and spoke, "yes, yes let¡¯s. Well then, what goods have you brought us today, Jingming Shang?"


    "Oh? So his name is Jingming Shang..." Lin Mu repeated, memorizing it in the next second.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    This man was the third person Lin Mu had met after Duan Ke and Hei Yingjie that was a core condensation realm cultivator, thus he wanted to remember his name in case it was needed in the future somehow.


    Jingming Shang nodded in response to Jing Wei¡¯s words and spread his hands apart.


    "Today... I have brought you a wide variety of goods, both material and immaterial." Jingming Shang said with a flourish.

 Chapter 266 - Exchange Of Goods

    <h4>Chapter 266 - Exchange Of Goods </h4>


    Lin Mu was a bit surprised by the mannerisms of the man called Jingming Shang, but it seemed like the pair of grandfather and granddaughter, Jing Wei and Duan Ke were used to it. It was as if they had seen this many times before and were not bothered by it, even if the man did try to flirt with Duan Ke.


    But from the previous interaction, Lin Mu could tell that this man Jingming Shang was not as strong as Duan Ke, who was at the peak stage of the Core condensation realm. But he did seem stronger than Hei Yingjie, or at least as strong as him.


    ¡¯Hmm, so he¡¯s at least at the mid stage of the core condensation realm. I can¡¯t tell if that¡¯s good or not.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Alright, that¡¯s enough of your acts. We have a lot to do today. First of all, let us clear out the previous stock." Duan Ke suddenly said, not wanting to see more of Jingming Shang¡¯s dramatics.


    "Ifdy Duan Ke says so..." Jingming Shang agreed and then took out a bracelet from his wrist.


    The bracelet had been hidden under his sleeves, thus Lin Mu had not seen it. But now that he saw it, he could instantly tell that it was a spatial storage treasure. Duan Ke took the bracelet and went to the back room for a few minutes before returning with it.


    She handed it back to Jingming Shang, who took it and closed his eyes for a minute before opening it. This time he had a new glint in his eyes, as if he had found something that he liked.


    "Ahh, the goods this time are quite good. I even see a lot of spirit beast cores. Oh? And what¡¯s this... A core condensation realm beast core? That too one that awakened a bloodline ability, excellent!" Jingming Shang praised.


    Lin Mu had not thought that the man was here to buy all the things that he had sold to Duan Ke before. He had thought that perhaps they were using it to make items of their own, but now it seemed to be unlikely.


    "I have more, give me another spatial storage treasure. Or perhaps you can just carry them out yourself." Duan Ke spoke again.


    "What is it? I hope it¡¯s as good as this." Jingming Shang asked.


    "It is beast materials. Pelts, bones andponents such as that." Duan Ke replied.


    "Ah, that needs no spatial treasure. I¡¯ll get the servants to carry it out." Jingming Shang said.


    "Alright, tell them toe in through the backyard¡¯s door. I¡¯ll put them there... there¡¯s arge quantity." Duan Ke said.


    Jingming Shang had an intrigued look on his face, but he did not question Duan Ke. He simply went out for a few seconds and came back.


    "They¡¯re entering the yard." He said.


    "Good," Duan Ke said and secretly gestured with her hand. "The goods have already been put in the yard." She added.


    Jingming Shang raised his brows in response and waited for his servants to report to him.


    Lin Mu had seen what Duan Ke had done there. He had felt the formation array activate for a bit, and spatial fluctuations appeared. Another thing was that there was no entrance to a yard before and now that he observed with his spirit sense, there clearly was another door to the side of the building which was not there before.


    "Seems like the work of the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode¡¯s formation array." Lin Mu inwardly muttered.


    Five minutester a knock was heard on the door of the shop and a middle aged man dressed in a steward¡¯s clothes walked in. The man cupped his hands in greetings to everyone in the room in a servile manner. Lin Mu could tell that the man was a servant and was a bit surprised as he could even feel spirit qi fluctuation from the man.


    He curiously probed the man and discovered that the servant was an early stage qi refining realm cultivator.


    "A cultivator as a servant?" Lin Mu muttered under his breath.


    "This isn¡¯t unusual, you will see this a lot in the future. The weak will always be the servitude of the strong." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu nodded in understanding and looked back at the people.


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    "I have recorded all the goods, master." The servant said as he then handed a scroll to Jingming Shang.


    Jingming Shang read through it and looked even more satisfied now.


    "These are good." Jingming Shang said as he looked at Duan Ke, "you¡¯ve outdone yourself."


    Jingming Shang waved his hand, and the servant left the shop.


    "Now then, what is it that you want to buy from me?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    In response to his words, Duan Ke took out a jade slip and handed it to the man who read through it before nodding his head.


    "Alright, I can get all of this." Jingming Shang replied.


    Duan Ke then nced briefly at Lin Mu before looking back at Jingming Shang.


    "We need information on a few matters..." She uttered.


    "Oh, what kind of information?" Jingming Shang asked, "and is it fine discussing it with someone else here?" He added.


    "Yes, it is fine. He is partaking in the trade as well." Jing Wei was the one who spoke this time.


    "If owner Jing Wei says so," Jingming Shang stated.


    "We need the information of any nascent soul realm cultivators that have gotten heavily injured in the past year. And we also need the information of the Autumn valley sect." Duan Ke said in a calm tone.


    Jingming Shang¡¯s expression straightened after hearing the question, and he fiddled with the fan in his hand.


    "Surelydy Duan Ke knows that information like this cannot be revealed easily? The price will be high for sensitive matters such as those dealing with Nascent soul realm cultivators. As for the Autumn valley sect, Hmm... it shouldn¡¯t be a problem." Jingming Shang replied.


    "The price is not a problem. All we need is the information." Duan Ke reiterated.


    "The information I¡¯m about to say is highly sensitive, I¡¯m asking you again, are you sure it is fine with a fellow cultivator here?" Jingming Shang questioned again, this time with a serious face.

 Chapter 267 - Sensitive Information

    <h4>Chapter 267 - Sensitive Information </h4>


    "Yes, it is indeed fine. You can say it." Duan Ke spoke in a cold tone.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Alright, listen carefully. In the past one year there have been five incidences where nascent soul realm cultivators have gotten injured.


    Of these five incidences, the first was because of a mistake cause during cultivating by the nascent soul realm elder belonging to the Wind Zither sect.


    The second and third nascent soul realm cultivation realm experts were injured in a friendly spar and belong to the centennial sword sect.


    The fourth nascent soul realm expert is a wandering cultivator called the Swan Daoist. He tried to rob one of the convoys of the kingdom and was hunted down by the royal regiment, thus getting injured. We do not know his exact location but know that he wasst seen in the Southern ins.


    As for the final incident, this... was the hardest one to obtain. An elder of the Sky Precepts sect was fatally injured with his current condition unknown. But the rumors are that he has sumbed to his injuries." Jingming Shang revealed.


    During the entire report, neither Jing Wei nor Duan Ke had much reaction, until when thest one was said.


    "What? An elder of the sky precepts sect got fatally injured? But how?" Duan Ke asked in a shocked tone.


    "I do not know. Even this bit of information cost me a lot to obtain." Jingming Shang replied.


    "Hmm, do you know what peak he belonged to?" Jing Wei questioned.


    "I... do not know for sure. But from the additional information I gathered, it seemed like there was a change in the popce of the Sky Catching peak." Jingming Shang said cryptically.


    Jing Wei¡¯s eyes went wide, but he did not say anything. He had already understood what was to be understood from those words and knew that they were not to be stated outright.


    The shop became silent for a minute after this as everyone started toprehend the information that was just revealed. Lin Mu too was doing the same as he had learned quite a few new names this time.


    Lin Mu had already known about the centennial sword sect and had also read up about them in the records he had obtained from Jing Wei before. He knew that the centennial sword sect was a sect full of cultivators that liked to battle and that they cultivated sword techniques.


    It wasmon for the disciples to spar with each other and get injured. This time it was just that nascent soul realm cultivators were involved that¡¯s all.


    Wind Zither sect was a new name that Lin Mu had heard, and he didn¡¯t know who they were. He quickly took a look through the records and found out who they were. The wind zither sect was a medium sized sect that was located in the western part of the Great Zhou Empire and was an average sect with nothing particr about them.


    The Swan Daoist, this was the first wandering cultivator Lin Mu had heard about. There was no information recorded about him in the records, thus he couldn¡¯t do much about it.


    But the final bit of informing that was said was also the most shocking one. The Sky precepts sect was the number one top sect of the Great Zhou Empire and was said to be equal if not above the emperor himself. Anything pertaining to them was taken with great importance, and it was thus quite surprising to hear that one of their elders was injured.


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    As for the Sky precepts sect, there wasn¡¯t much information about it in the records, except that it was one of the divisions of the Sky precepts sect.


    ¡¯Hmm, this doesn¡¯t seem to give me much to go on with.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <i>~p~</i>


    Jingming Shang lightly pped his hands to pull the attention and then spoke.


    "Now then, about the Autumn Valley sect. There hasn¡¯t been much that has happened with them in the past few years, but recently a few of their disciples got into a scuffle with some disciples of an unknown sect. Nothing serious happed, and it was resolved at that time.


    Though there was a rumor that someone from the Autumn valley sect was seen in the Wu Lim City."


    "Oh, who was it that was seen? Was it a disciple or an elder?" Duan Ke asked.


    "It was a core condensation realm cultivator, so it¡¯s likely that it was an elder of the Autumn valley sect. The sect only has one Nascent soul realm cultivator that is the sect head, so it¡¯s obvious that the core condensation realm cultivators are the elders.


    As for their identity, we do not know what their name is, but we do know that it was a woman." Jingming Shang replied.


    Duan Ke nodded in response and then spoke, "that¡¯s all we needed. Tally the costs against the goods."


    Jingming Shang closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening his eyes.


    "Lady Duan Ke, the cost is slightly higher than the goods, but just for you, I¡¯ll give a discount. No need to pay the extra cost." Jingming Shaun spoke in the same ttering tone as before.


    Duan Ke did not dignify the response with an expression and simply hummed in agreement. An awkward silence descended after this, which was forcibly broken by Jing Wei¡¯s cough.


    "I guess, we are done here. Till next time,dy Duan Ke and owner Jing Wei." Jingming Shang hurriedly said before leaving the shop, but not before giving Lin Mu a slight look.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A sigh escaped Duan Ke¡¯s lips as she rubbed her forehead as if she was about to have a headache.


    "That man... he¡¯s strange." Lin Mu said with a wry smile.


    "Strange is an understatement. If we were not forced because of our condition, I would have long since taught him a lesson. Ugh! I do not want to see him again. You should have never saved him before, grandfather," Duan Ke said with frustration.

 Chapter 268 - Jingming Shangs Debt

    <h4>Chapter 268 - Jingming Shang''s Debt </h4>


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what Duan Ke was talking about, thus he looked at her in confusion. It seemed like there was some past rtionship between the two of them and the merchant Jingming Shang. He wondered what it could be as right now it definitely did not seem like Duan Ke liked the man.


    Jing Wei noticed Lin Mu¡¯s inquiring look and knew that it didn¡¯t matter if he spoke about it. They had already been together in this for a while now and it seemed to him that it would be fine, revealing it to Lin Mu.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "You know why I had to save him back then. We were in need and at that time he seemed to be the only choice. Plus, with us having saved him made Jingming Shang in our debt. Otherwise, our whereabouts would have long since been leaked if we dealt with any other merchants like him.


    Although the man is a shrewd businessman, he still has a sense of honor and will follow through with his promise." Jing Wei said in a calm tone.


    "If you say so, grandfather." Duan Ke said unwittingly.


    Jing Wei looked at Lin Mu and spoke, "I know you want to ask something, go ahead it¡¯s fine."


    "I just wanted to ask about Jingming Shang. From your words, it seemed like you saved him?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I did indeed. It was a few years ago, and we had beencking a channel to sell and buy goods through. We couldn¡¯t use anything openly, as that would lead to our identity and location being leaked.


    Back then we were traveling through the empire and encountered a group of people chasing a man who was none other than Jingming Shang.


    He had apparently angered the wrong kind of people by taking over their profits, which led to them targeting him and hunting him down. We decided to lend him a helping hand and repelled his attackers. This led to him promising us a life debt.


    Upon finding that he was a merchant, we decided on a deal. He will trade with us while keeping our identity secret. While he does not know who we really are, he still doesn¡¯t reveal our location to others." Jing Wei answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu nodded in response.


    ¡¯Seems like I wasn¡¯t the first person they¡¯ve helped until now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <i>~Ahem~</i>


    Duan Ke lightly coughed, bringing their attention back to the matter on hand.


    "It does not seem like we have anything concrete yet, in terms of a suspect. Although the most likely one is probably a wandering cultivator like we previously thought." Duan Ke spoke.


    "Wait a minute, wasn¡¯t the elder from the Sky precepts sect also injured. Can it be possible that it was them?" Lin Mu interrupted.


    "No, that elder was from the Star catching peak, so it is not possible." Jing Wei replied.


    "Why is it impossible? What¡¯s the thing with the Start Catching peak?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Jing Wei took a deep breath before speaking.


    "The Star catching peak is a special existence in the Sky precepts sect. Even in the other top sects, its reputation is known.


    They are unlike the other peaks and divisions of the sect. All they deal with is the Star catching formation array. This is a special formation that can monitor and interact with the World¡¯s barrier. It can also sense spatial disturbances and fluctuations that happen all around the Great Zhou continent.


    All the members of that peak are involved in this and seldom leave the peak, not to mention the sect. There is no chance that they fought with the dead cultivator. Besides, their specialization is in formations and not inbat." Jing Wei exined.


    Lin Mu was intrigued by this information, but not for long since Xukong suddenly spoke up in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "The Star Catching formation array!? What? In a world such as this too..." Xukong uttered with surprise.


    "What¡¯s the problem senior?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "I¡¯ll exin to youter, after you leave this ce. But know this, we may have to do some changes soon." Xukong said mysteriously.


    Lin Mu silently hummed in response and did not probe further. He knew that if Senior Xukong had acted like this, there was bound to be something very important that should not be discussed here.


    "Alright then, seeing that we can¡¯te to a conclusion right now, I guess it¡¯s better to leave it. Perhaps you can find out more about itter on?" Lin Mu spoke, wanting to end the conversation.


    "Yes, we will do that. As for the damaged ring, you can leave it with me. I¡¯ll inform you on themunication jade, if anythinges up, or if the ring is repaired." Jing Wei replied.


    Lin Mu cupped his hand to thank them before leaving the shop and heading towards his house.


    Once Lin Mu was gone, Duan Ke looked at her grandfather with a slightly confused look.


    "Is it just me or does it seem like he wanted to leave rather urgently? He would usually ask a few more questions considering his past behavior." Duan Ke said.


    "Hmm, it does seem like it. But still, we could be wrong. That boy is progressing fast and I do not know how far he can go. There is certainly a great drive in him, and he¡¯s bound to have goals of his own. After all, the world¡¯s will would not just ordain anyone average." Jing Wei replied in a calm voice.


    ***


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    Back at the house, Lin Mu had just entered the bedroom and was immediately greeted by the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    <i>~Nyaa~</i>


    Lin Mu kneeled down and petted the head of the beast gently.


    "Are you hungry?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hungry" Lin Mu felt in his mind.


    "Alright, let¡¯s go make something. It will be time for dinner soon, anyway." Lin Mu replied before going towards the kitchen.


    There he set up some meat to cook while he looked at the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    "Hmm, I should give you a name now, shouldn¡¯t I?"

 Chapter 269 - Little Shrubby

    <h4>Chapter 269 - Little Shrubby </h4>


    Lin Mu thought over a name while eating the meat that he had just cooked. The Brown Shrubby Forest cat was also apanying him in dinner as it ate his own share. Unsurprisingly, the beast was still eating the same amount as before and there was no change in it like Lin Mu¡¯s appetite, which was still growing.


    "Hmm... That¡¯s it, I got it!" Lin Mu eximed, surprising the Brown Shrubby Forest Cat.


    Lin Mu looked at the beast and petted its head while he said, "Your name from now on will be Little Shrubby."


    The beast looked at Lin Mu with confusion, and he thenmunicated with it using his connection.


    <i>~Nyaa~</i>


    The beast purred in acknowledgment and epted the new name that was given to it. Lin Mu once again felt a bit proud about his naming sense as he saw the beast liking its new name. While Xukong simply ignored it and focused on his own cultivation.


    After being done with his meal he assimted the vital energy and checked his progress in the Body tempering realm cultivation, only to find no difference than before.


    "Hmm, the progress is getting slower and slower. Thest time I had any major progress was when I ate the meat of the Alpha steel back wolf, which was a core condensation realm beast. How long will I need to see more progress, or do I need to get more Core condensation realm beast meat?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He pondered on the possibility of getting core condensation realm beast and realized that it would be rtively difficult to obtain it. Although he may not have as much problem in finding one, killing it would be a problem if it was at thete stage of the core condensation realm or above. Not to mention that he would have to travel quite deep into the forest in order to encounter beasts that strong now that it was spring time.


    <i>~Sigh~</i> Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Seems like I¡¯ll have to just keep on eating the spirit beast meat. My appetite is increasing more and more anyway, I may as well justpensated quality with quantity." Lin Mu spoke in a helpless tone.


    "You know, if you want the meat of a core condensation realm creature, the beasts are not the only source." Xukong suddenly spoke, seeing Lin Mu¡¯s frustration.


    "Oh, what other option do I have senior?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "Technically meat is meat the only thing that matters is the cultivation base of the creature that the meat belonged to. There is a much closer source of Core condensation realm meat near you. You can... simply eat the other cultivators." Xukong spoke in a disturbingly calm tone.


    Lin Mu was shocked silent and did not know how to respond to this. Frankly, the idea had never evene close to what he had thought. On an innate level, Lin Mu felt an utter revulsion to the idea of eating another human.


    He was about to protest to senior Xukong when he suddenly remembered, Xukong was not a human... he was a beast. What right did he have to tell him that he did not find it correct, when humans ate beasts all the time and beasts did the same to humans?


    At least in that aspect the beasts ate other beasts and did not think much of it... at least the ones that had a higher capacity for thinking. It was not as if beasts werepletely unintelligent either. Most, if not all beasts would start to gain intelligence and wisdom as their cultivation base grew. They would eventually be just as intelligent as humans or even go beyond that.


    Lin Mu did not reply to Senior Xukong in the end and simply took his words as it is without ament.


    Lin Mu did not know, but today another small thing had changed in him, a change that while small right now, would one day be a mountain.


    He then stood up and returned to the bedroom to continue cultivating with Little Shrubby apanying him. Now he was about to do something that he had been really excited about. The eleven Duan Circle Ascension fruits that he had obtained, he could finally eat them.


    Lin Mu withdrew one of them from the ring and looked at it. The fruits were orange colored and were oval shaped. Thin veins were visible on its surface that spread all around the fruit, making it look attractive. Though Lin Mu did not know what they would taste like.


    He only hoped that this would not be like his past experience when he ate the purple grape sized spirit fruit.


    "Only one way to find out..." Lin Mu muttered as he then popped the Duan Circle Ascension fruit into his mouth.


    Nothing happened when the fruit touched his tongue, but when he bit into it a sweet juice burst into his mouth that was quite delicious. Lin Mu chewed a couple of times while enjoying the taste of the fruit before swallowing it down to his stomach.


    He now braced himself for any change that may ur, as he was still a bit scared from his previous experience. But surprisingly, no such change happened. Instead, Lin Mu only felt a small wave of energy travel from his stomach to all parts of his body before disappearing.


    "Huh, that¡¯s it?" Lin Mu said feeling confused.


    He used his spirit sense to observe his body, but he couldn¡¯t really see anything different in it. His meridians and dantian also seemed to be the same as before, and there was no change in them.


    "You should check if you¡¯ve had an improvement in your cultivation speed," Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded in response before starting to chant the severing heart sutra. His mind stilled, as the spirit qi in the air around him became visible to him. He circted the spirit qi within his body as he had always done and started absorbing the spirit qi from the air.

 Chapter 270 - Eating The Dual Circle Ascension Fruits

    <h4>Chapter 270 - Eating The Dual Circle Ascension Fruits </h4>


    The spirit qi wisps entered the pores in his skin and then moved to his meridians before being deposited into the dantian. At first, Lin Mu could not sense anything new, but after a little while, he finally found it.


    The reason why he had not been able to see the change inside his body was because it was not there at all. Instead, the change was in the pores of his skin from where the spirit qi was absorbed. Lin Mu could barely tell that they seemed to have expanded more than before.


    The expansion was small, yet the change was still there. Lin Mu cultivated for an hour to get a good grasp on how much his pace increased and came to the conclusion that it had increased by about one percent.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he stopped cultivating.


    ¡¯Hmm, it¡¯s a rather small change. But no worries, I still have more Dual Circle Ascension fruits left.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Don¡¯t think that this is insufficient. Even a single percent increase that urs in an instant like this is great. You don¡¯t know how much cultivators would sacrifice to have even one tenth of such an increase." Xukong spoke.


    "I understand, Senior." Lin Mu replied before talking out another Dual Circle Ascension fruit.


    He popped it into his mouth and enjoyed the taste, after which he swallowed it. Simr to before, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t observe any change in his body. He tried absorbing the spirit qi again and discovered that his speed had increased by another percent.


    Lin Mu observed his pores and saw that they had expanded slightly more than before.


    "Hmm, if all of those fruits work, then my speed will increase by about eleven percent, hopefully." Lin Mu said to himself before taking out all of the Dual Circle Ascension fruit and cing them in front of him.


    But when he did this, Lin Mu saw that Little Shrubby had woken up and was looking at them with longing. It was apparent that the beast wanted to eat the fruits too, but Lin Mu was reluctant to offer them to him.


    "You will soon see the effect of the Dual Circle Ascension fruit decreasing, so you will have a few fruits left over. You can give those to Little Shrubby, they will be quite useful to him and should increase its intelligence and cultivation speed." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and ate another Dual Circle Ascension fruit. After eating it, he tried to see how much of an increase there was and discovered that it was less than before. Unlike thest two times when his speed had increased by one percent, this time it was less than that.


    "Looks like it¡¯s already happening... No matter, I¡¯ll continue." Lin Mu stated to himself with determination.


    Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    He ate the fourth fruit and finally saw his speed increase by another percent, reaching a total of three percent since the start.


    "Finally, so the effect is there, but it¡¯s a fraction of what it was before." Lin Mu muttered with a little satisfaction.


    He then ate the fifth fruit and in a little surprise to him, his speed jumped a little more to about four percent of the original.


    "Alright, that¡¯s good." Lin Mu muttered as he picked up the next fruit.


    Upon eating it, there was a minute increase as expected.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu sighed a little in disappointment before eating the sixth fruit. This time he didn¡¯t sense an increase right away, but after a minute it slowly seemed to increase and finally reached to about five percent of the original speed.


    "Damn, seems like this is the most it can get. Still, I want to try one more time. If it doesn¡¯t have any increase, then I¡¯ll stop." Lin Mu spoke.


    He then picked up the seventh fruit and stared at it for a few seconds. Each and every Dual Circle Ascension fruit was quite precious, and if Lin Mu ever sold them, they would probably fetch a great price. Thus every Dual Circle Ascension fruit that he ate that had no effect on him was a wasted one.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and threw the seventh Dual Circle Ascension fruit into his mouth and chewed it quickly before swallowing it. He held his breath in anticipation and waited for any effects.


    Unfortunately, even after a while no effects were seen, and it looked like he had reached his limit.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like this is it. Still, I guess a five percent increase should still help me quite a bit." Lin Mu said, trying to perk himself up.


    Little Shrubby was looking at Lin Mu as he ate every Dual Circle Ascension fruit and slight drool had started to drip from the corner of its mouth. It licked it away every few seconds, but it only kept oning.


    <i>~Chuckle~</i>


    Lin Mu lightlyughed as he saw the funny situation of Little Shrubby.


    "Here you go, you eat this." Lin Mu said, as he offered little shrubby a Dual Circle Ascension fruit.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how many fruits it would take for little shrubby to reach its limits, thus he wanted to be a bit prudent.


    "The fruits should be a bit more effective on little shrubby, as it is at a lower cultivation base than you. Not to mention that it will still have an effect on its intelligence even if it stops increasing its aptitude." Xukong exined.


    "I understand, senior." Lin Mu replied before watching little Shrubby eat the small fruit.


    Unlike him, who was able to eat the entire Dual Circle Ascension fruit in one go, it took Little Shrubby a few bites to finish it. But after eating it, the effect was much more pronounced than it was with Lin Mu.


    While the change was invisible to the naked eyes, Lin Mu could still sense the spirit qi in the air moving towards Little Shrubby. The Dual Circle Ascension fruit had already taken effect.

 Chapter 271 - Little Shrubbys Improvement

    <h4>Chapter 271 - Little Shrubby''s Improvement </h4>


    Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and observed the Spirit qi wisps in the air being absorbed into Little Shrubby¡¯s body. The process didn¡¯tst that long and concluded after two minutes.


    <i>~Meow~</i>


    A growl escaped little Shrubby¡¯s mouth as it felt the effects of the Duan Circle Ascension fruit. It was at that moment that Lin Mu could sense the connection between himself and Little Shrubby strengthening.


    "Is this the effect of its intelligence increasing?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Not exactly. His intelligence would not increase this fast, it will be an eventual increase. What you¡¯re seeing is simply the connection strengthening due to little Shrubby¡¯s potential for intelligence increase. Once it reaches its potential, it will increase even more." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and thought over it. Although he did not know what the effects will be liketer on, he at least knew that there were some effects.


    "Here you go," Lin Mu said as he offered the rest of the Duan Circle Ascension fruits to Little Shrubby.


    The beast ate them one by one, and soon the effects intensified. Lin Mu could sense the spirit qi in the air stirring again as it moved towards Little Shrubby. This time the processsted much longer, for about ten minutes.


    Little Shrubby was a bit overwhelmed andid down on the ground with his eyes closed. It absorbed the spirit qi that was swirling around it, and its cultivation started to rapidly increase. Lin Mu estimated that the increase was much more than his own.


    It took Lin Mu about six fruits to obtain an increase of about five percent, while Little Shrubby was able to obtain an increase of about fifteen percent with just four fruits. Not only that, but the connection between Lin Mu and Little Shrubby was also strengthening visibly.


    "This is rather big, the benefits that it obtained are much more than me..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "It was bound to happen. You are not only at a higher cultivation base, but you also have been practicing the nameless technique of the lost immortal. In addition to that, I believe the mysterious ring also had a hand in improving your aptitude perhaps, that¡¯s why the increase was lesser. You are already at a higher level." Xukong exined.


    "I understand, Senior." Lin Mu replied before returning to his cultivation.


    Time passed by and night arrived. Lin Mu slept and appeared in the Sleepscape. There he plucked the five spirit apples that were hanging on the tree before starting his daily practice. After a sufficient time, he paused and used the nameless technique of the lost immortal to infuse half of the drops of liquid spirit qi that he had obtained today.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he opened his eyes. He still could not feel much of a difference and was now wondering if he could find anything in the Memoirs of the lost immortal that could perhaps give him a clue about the technique.


    The thing that he had discovered about the wooden slip was that he could not actually browse through it as he did with themunication jade slip, that had the records that Jing Wei gave him. If Lin Mu wanted to see thetter contents, he had no choice but to read through it one by one.


    The next part of the memoir would only appear if hepleted the previous one and but he could still go back and check the previous one.


    In the past few weeks, Lin Mu had lightly nced through the Memoirs, but did not really focus on it much as he had been busy cultivating for most of the time. Right now, since he felt like he nearing a dead end, he thought of reading it once again.


    Lin Mu took out the wooden slip and opened it, making the text appear on it.


    ***


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    A year had passed by since the Lost immortal had be the old man¡¯s disciple. During this time they were still living in the mines and were working as a ve. They had not escaped yet due to a few changes that had urred after the mine copse.


    The kingdom had a conflict in the royal family, which lead to one of the princes being assigned to take over the working of the mines. While they did not know the specifics behind it, the rumors that went around in the guards was that the prince in question had offended some influential cultivator that was invited by the king as a guest.


    The king, intending to punish the prince assigned him to take care of the mines which was something that most royals and nobles did not want to do. Not only did it take up too much time, but they would have to stay away from the luxuries they were so used to.


    It wasn¡¯t like it brought much profit anyway, which led to everyone avoiding it like the gue. Still, upon being assigned to the mines the prince actually improved the functioning. He applied certain policies which were better for the ves and also increased the productivity.


    The first of the policies was to make a roster of each and every ve that worked in the mine. He wanted to know how many workers were currently there after the mine copse. They had still not done a proper head count as it wasmon for some ves to simply die in the mines and disappear.


    The guards were less than pleased, to say the least after being told about this. Still under the pressure of authority, they carried out their duty and finished the roster after a month.


    This became the main reason why it became difficult for the lost immortal and the old man to escape. Before, they were rtively unknown and if they went missing, people would have just assumed that they had died in the mines. But now that the roster was made, and it was confirmed that they were alive, it would be much harder.

 Chapter 272 - The Memoirs Of The Lost Immortal- II

    <h4>Chapter 272 - The Memoirs Of The Lost Immortal- II </h4>


    Although it was easy to for the guard to miss the count before, it was still impossible for the ves to escape because there was only one entrance and exit of the mine which was heavily guarded. If they were assumed missing, they would have been able to escape with the help of their cultivation base. But now, there would be an investigation that would beunched.


    The king was keeping a close tab on the prince and was looking out for each mistake that he made, thus the prince was rather paranoid and did everything to prevent that. This lead to him keeping a close eye on the workings of the mine.


    Just like this another year passed by and it had been two years total since the Lost immortal had be a cultivator. Because of the terrible conditions andck of resources, the lost immortal was barely able to reach the early stage of the qi refining realm.


    The old man had also discovered that the cultivation technique he practiced was rather unsuitable for the physique of the lost immortal. This left him with no choice but to give him another cultivation technique that was inferior to his own.


    Still, the lost immortal did not mind this and cultivated wholeheartedly. He never let go of any free time that he got and used every second to the fullest. At first, it was quite difficult for him to bnce cultivating and mining as he had to fulfill a certain quota. If that quota was not fulfilled, he would not get food and thus would not be able to gain vital energy.


    Vital energy was essential in the Body tempering realm and without it, he would never be able to progress, thus at the start, he focused on fulfilling his quota as much as he could with the old man chipping in.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    In terms of the old man, his cultivation was also quite slow and he had barely reached the mid stage of the qi refining realm.


    A year after bing the old man¡¯s disciple, the lost immortal finally reached the eighth stage of the body tempering realm and decided to enter the qi refining realm and be a cultivator officially. Still, this was no easy task, and it took him nearly three months before he was able to sense the spirit qi and another three months before he was able to absorb it.


    The old man did not say this to him at that time as he did not want to demotivate him, but the lost immortal perhaps had the lowest talent he had ever seen. The old man knew that without proper resources and a suitable cultivation technique, it would be quite hard for him to progress.


    Six months passed by like this, and the resolve of the Lost immortal was only getting stronger. Eventually, a day arrived when another copse happened. This time too a lot of ves died, but the lost immortal and the old man were able to escape it sessfully.


    This lead to another head count to be initiated. The lost immortal and the old man knew that this was the right opportunity to escape, thus they started to n. Going out of the entrance was rather impossible, as there were some cultivators that were guarding it.


    These cultivators were none other than the prince¡¯s own personal guards who had taken up the job. The Old man was not confident that he or the lost immortal would be able to fight against them, when they were still so weak, thus they tried to find an alternate route.


    The head count would take a month toplete during which they could dy their turn rather easily by hiding inside the tunnels. The problem with food was solved as they were able to steal the leftover stock of food during the copse.


    The aim of the lost immortal and the old man was to find a secondary tunnel that led up to the surface. Even if they did not lead all the way to the surface, as long as they came close the old man was confident that they would be able to dig their way up.


    Both the old man and the lost immortal were now strong enough that digging through some rocks was easy for them. It took them three months, before they were able to find a suitable tunnel. It took them a lot of trial and error, along with hiding from the search parties that were sent down.


    In the final week, they started their digging and their journey began. During this, they experienced a setback due to another copse that happened. This led to the floor below them, copsing into a cave.


    This cave was closed off before and was undiscovered thus they had not expected to have a fortunate encounter there.


    Within the cave, there was a pool of water that was about two meters wide in radius and a meter deep. This pool of water glowed with a faint light, which attracted the attention of the old man. Upon taking it he was excited as he knew that they had found a treasure.


    The pool of water was actually a primitive spirit spring. A spirit spring can be considered as the embryonic form of spirit stone mines. The water that was present in the pool contained dissolved spirit qi that would eventually condense to form the core of a spirit stone mine.


    This core was also the point from where the Spirit Stone mine would start to grow and umte more spirit qi. But looking at the size and condition of the spirit spring, the old man knew that it would take hundreds of years before this spirit spring would be able to turn into a spirit stone mine.


    The old man instructed the lost immortal to absorb the spirit qi in the pool, due to which his cultivation started increasing at a rapid pace. Still, due to the low talent of the lost immortal, his benefits were not as great as they would have been for a normal cultivator.


    The lost immortal was able to reach the mid stage of the qi refining realm and was even able to break through to thete stage of the qi refining realm barely. In the process, the spirit spring waspletely depleted and with it, the possible fortune of the kingdom was also lost.


    If this spirit spring would have be a spirit stone mine, the kingdom would have definitely sensed it and would have be incredibly rich and powerful with its support. They would have been able to create en rite generations of cultivators with it, and their status would have skyrocketed.


    But s, fate was not in their favor and instead befitted the lost immortal. This was his second big fortune after having multitudes of misfortunes.


    Now with his new found strength, the old man and the lost immortal began their journey back to the surface. They broke through rock after rock, shattered one boulder after the other, and eventually reached a new tunnel.


    But it was here that the fortune of the lost immortal came to an end, as they were discovered by a search party.

 Chapter 273 - Learning From His Resolve

    <h4>Chapter 273 - Learning From His Resolve </h4>


    Lin Mu closed the wooden slip after he realized that he had been reading it for a long time and it was already the time for him to leave the Sleepscape. But it seemed like his quest for information about the nameless technique of the lost immortal was unsessful.


    Although it was notpletely fruitless, rather he had still learned a few new things. The biggest of which was none other than the poor talent of the Lost immortal and his perseverance. Lin Mu could not imagine how a man who had lived through such despair and misfortune could have a firm resolve like that.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "And here I am getting impatient about not progressing fast enough..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu wanted to read further and was curious about what happened next but the time restraints were telling him otherwise. He had established a routine that he was flowing with discipline and he did not want to break it. Ever since he got into the routine, his cultivation was progressing steadily.


    Lin Mu then thought back the mines that the Lost immortal was trapped in and finally came to the topic of the spirit spring. He wondered if there were any of those in this region. He had already seen caves and knew that there were plenty of them in the northernnds.


    Lin Mu wondered what kind of benefits he would obtain if he obtained a spirit spring like that.


    "Senior, the memoir mentioned that the lost immortal talent was low and thus his progress was slow. But if it were someone else that came upon the spirit spring and used it, how much would they gain?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Xukong who had been apanying Lin Mu had also been reading the memoirs along with him, or rather had been reading it from Lin Mu¡¯s mind. He too was getting interested in the Lost immortal story and could sense a strange desire for which he could not find a reason.


    "Hmm, considering the size of the spirit spiring that was described in the Memoir, if a cultivator with an average talent were to absorb it, they would directly be able to reach the core condensation realm from the very bottom.


    As long as they were at the eighth stage of the body tempering realm, they would be able to absorb the spirit qi in the water even without needing to sense it. Once they started it, they would be able to absorb the entirety of the spirit qi within three days and breakthrough to the early stage of the core condensation realm.


    The main obstacle that usually restricts cultivators, which is the refinement of liquid spirit qi, is easily solved with the help of the spirit spring as it already has dissolved spirit qi in the water." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu was astounded by Senior Xukong¡¯s words and wondered if he would have the luck of finding a spirit spring like that, or perhaps even a spirit stone mine.


    "The spirit spring should be present in this region, actually," Xukong said.


    "Oh? Really Senior?" Lin Mu asked with excitement.


    "Yes, the northern forest has all the conditions that satisfy the creation of a spirit spring. Though the main problem that stands is, the spirit spring is found either in caves or deep underground. Even if we know with a hundred percent guarantee that there is a spirit spring in the region, you would still not be able to find it.


    Not to mention, a spirit spring is easily hidden because of rocks and other things, unlike a spirit stone mine which would attract everyone¡¯s attention. The qi signature of a spirit spring is also very faint, and finding one would be no less of a grueling task than finding a needle in a haystack." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was a bit disappointed after hearing his words, but realized that he was obsessing over something that did not even exist right now.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and reorganized his thoughts, which were gating a bit haywire.


    ¡¯I should just focus on my aim. If the lost immortal can do it in the worst of conditions, then I can definitely do it in conditions that are a hundred times as better than his.¡¯ Lin Mu thought with determination.


    He stored the wooden slip away and disappeared from the Sleepscape, appearing in the real world. There he found Little shrubby sleeping beside him, snuggled into him. Lin Mu gently stroked its head as he heard the gentle purrs.


    It was strange, the purrs seemed to be calming his heart and when he sensed the connection Lin Mu discovered that it had be twice as strong as before.


    "This is good. The Dual Circle Ascension fruits seemed to be still having their effects on Little shrubby." Lin Mu muttered.


    He sensed the cultivation base of Little Shrubby and found out that it was already a quarter of the way through the mid stage of the qi refining realm, just like that.


    Seeing that the beast did not seem to awaken still, Lin Mu decided to begin his own routine.


    "Back to it then..." Lin Mu said as he took out the meat before eating it and then assimting the vital energy.


    He then withdrew the box that contained the Basic Qi pills and popped one in his mouth.


    Chants starteding out of Lin Mu¡¯s mouth, and he was thus lost in his cultivation.


    ***


    While Lin Mu was engrossed in cultivation, the mayor of the Wu Lim city, Wu Xun was pacing in his office.


    Looking at his face, one could tell that he was troubled about something and could not calm down. He stayed like this for nearly an hour, after which he suddenly stopped. He withdrew amunication jade slip from his belt and held it in his hand for a few seconds.


    "Ahahahhahaha!" A peal ofughter came out of his lips as his mood instantly lifted.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    "Zhou Di, your end ising closer and closer. Soon your entire domain shall pay for what your n did!"

 Chapter 274 - Three Months Later

    <h4>Chapter 274 - Three Months Later </h4>


    Time passed by and unknowingly Lin Mu turned sixteen.


    He had not paid attention to his birthday and did not bother celebrating it after his parents died, thus did not really remember it well. Still, it was not all for vain as Lin Mu was at a big turning point in his cultivation.


    If one were to look inside his dantian, they would see that there was a shimmeringke within it. Faint wisps of spirit qi floated above it as the shimmeringke water, which was none other than liquid spirit qi rippled.


    Another drop of liquid spirit qi had just been added to it.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes as he reached this juncture. He knew he needed to take a pause as the next step was crucial and he did not want to make a mistake.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he stretched his body. He had been cultivating for the past three days straight, thus needed to rx for a bit.


    It had been three months since he had eaten the Dual Circle Ascension fruits and his progress had been rater good. With his strengthened resolve, Lin Mu was able to greatly increase his pace of refining spirit qi and was at the very cusp of reaching the next stage.


    He looked at the empty boxes of basic qi pills that were lying to the side and sighed. He had depleted all of them about two weeks ago, which was earlier than he had excepted. Still, this meant that his own speed of cultivation had greatly increased.


    When he finished thest basic qi pill, he had used the third and final toxin cleansing pill to clear all the pill toxins that he had umted. The day after he did that, his speed had increased again.


    His progress with the nameless technique of the lost immortal also seemed to had progressed by a minute amount, as he could sense the hunger that he used to have decreased. Although his overall appetite was still massive.


    Even if the hunger was no longer as painful as before, Lin Mu still ate a massive amount of beast meat. And along with him, Little Shrubby progressed as well. The beast had already reached the end of the mid stage of the qi refining realm and would break through to thete stage as soon as it was able to refine its first drop of liquid spirit qi.


    Lin Mu had asked Senior Xukong if he could help Little shrubby with it, but was advised to let the beast progress on its own. Every beastprehended its own method of progression, thus it was better to let it figure out how to do it on its own.


    Little Shrubby also did not mind it, and all Lin Mu could feel from its thoughts was happiness. This not only helped his mood, but actually allowed him to better focus on his own cultivation.


    Another thing Lin Mu had greatly progressed in was his body tempering realm cultivation. It was also at the very edge of breaking through, and Lin Mu knew that he would be breaking through to the next stage at any moment. All he needed was a little push.


    The vital energy was already saturated within his bones and was now starting to prate into his marrows. Once it fully prated through, he would enter the thirteenth and final stage of the body tempering realm.


    Lin Mu silently meditate for a while before taking out arge amount of beast meat that he had prepared beforehand. Today he was determined to reach the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm and was thus going to eat till he was at his wit¡¯s end.


    His appetite had already reached a point where even if he didn¡¯t feel hungry anymore, he could still keep on eating.


    "Nows the time." Lin Mu state before starting to stuff his belly with the meat.


    He kept on eating and did not mind the mess that happened as it soon disappeared on its own. About two months back he had received the cleaning formation from Jing Wei, which he had ced in the house. Because of that, his routine had be even more efficient and he did not have to spend time cleaning his room.


    Lin Mu had also inquired about the damaged spatial storage ring from Jing Wei and wondered how far he was in fixing it. He had received the answer that while Jing Wei had been able to decipher a lot of techniques and skills that were used to refine the spirit tool, it would still take him a while to fix it.


    A big obstacle that was hampering this was actually theck of a special material. This material was none other than a source of spatial attribute qi. Any material that contained spatial attribute qi was used to make a spatial storage tool.


    Lin Mu had asked Senior Xukong if it would be possible to use some of the spatial energy from the ring, but was told that it wasn¡¯t exactly the thing that Jing Wei was seeking. The spatial energy within the ring and the spatial attribute qi while simr were different.


    The exnation that Lin Mu got from Senior Xukong was that the spatial energy within the ring was a much higher quality form of qi. He told him that an energy like this was currently beyond the scope of his control, thus Lin Mu could not use it. At least not for the time being.


    Thus having no option left, Lin Mu could only let it go and let Jing Wei find the materials on his own. Apparently, Jingming Shang was going to deliver the materials as soon as he could, thus Jing Wei told him not to worry. In fact, Jing Wei seemed to be even more anxious than Lin Mu and wanted to fix the ring more than anyone.


    Thirty minutes passed like this, and Lin Mu had finally finished all the meat that he had prepared. Within these thirty minutes, he had eaten an entirety of five mid stage qi refining beasts. The wisps of vital energy within his stomach were seething, as if unable to endure.


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    Lin Mu sat down cross-legged and started chanting the calming heart sutra, assimting all the vital energy wisps.

 Chapter 275 - Close To Death

    <h4>Chapter 275 - Close To Death </h4>


    A serene silence was spread around in the room, but slowly a faint sound was appearing. This sound was none other than that of heart beats and was increasing bit by bit every minute.


    Lin Mu was silently assimting the vital energy from the meat that he had eaten and was assaulting the next stage of the body tempering realm. He was slowly eroding the barrier which prevented him from entering the next stage with each wisp of vital energy that he assimted.


    The vital energy would be absorbed into his body from the stomach and then assimted into the tissues. As Lin Mu¡¯s skin and muscles were already saturated, the only ce left was his bones and marrows. His bones were also on the verge of beingpletely saturated and the vital energy was slowly prating into the marrows.


    Lin Mu¡¯s heart beats kept on getting louder and louder until eventually, they resounded in the room.


    <i>~Pop~</i>


    Then, an almost audible pop was heard and a massive wave of vital energy was released from his body. Lin Mu started trembling as the barrier which was acting like a dam was broken through and the vital energy rushed in like an unyielding river.


    But the moment the vital energy entered Lin Mu¡¯s marrows, a sharp pain assaulted his senses. He felt as if boiling water was being poured into his bones and scalding them. Lin Mu gritted his teeth and held on.


    He had already learned that the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm was different than the previous stages, and the process would be much more harsh. The vital energy kept on pouring and seemed as if it wasing out of nothing. It seemed as if something strange was happening, as Lin Mu should have broken through at this point.


    "The vital energy... it is much more than I expected. Is this the effect of the nameless technique of the lost immortal?" Xukong muttered in surprise.


    Xukong kept on observing, and by now thirty minutes had passed since Lin Mu started the process. Xukong was now getting anxious, as he could not think of a reason behind this.


    ¡¯If this was any other cultivator they would have broken through the moment the barrier was broken, but why is it not stopping? The vital energy should stabilize, if this keeps on going on he will kill himself.¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    Another thirty minutes passed and by this point Xukong wanted to interfere. He tried tomunicate with Lin Mu, asking him to stop, but his words fell on deaf ears. Lin Mu had subconsciously entered a state of trance to stop the pain from affecting him. But inadvertently this also meant that he had sealed his other sense too.


    No matter how much Xukong tried tomunicate with Lin Mu, there was no response.


    ¡¯Do I really need to take that step?¡¯ Xukong thought with apprehension.


    <i>~Groan~</i>


    A pain filled grunt escaped Lin Mu¡¯s mouth as he started bleeding from his seven apertures. His eyelids trembled as streaks of blood escaped from its corners. His ears too had trickles of blood which then dripped down onto the bed, staining the sheets red.


    The bleeding from his nose and mouth was the most intense, though. The blood flowed down and dyed his pristine white robes a deep shade of red.


    Observing the scene in front of Xukong was barely able to hold on. He flew over to theteral altar that was in the center of the mysterious ring and stopped at the barrier at its edge.


    "Will you not interfere this time?" Xukong spoke.


    "I know you can hear me!"


    Xukong did not know what he was doing. He didn¡¯t know for sure whether his words were true or not, but he still wanted to give it a try. He had his guesses after seeing all the techniques and skills that Lin Mu received. All of them seemed toplement Lin Mu somehow and were filling in for the ws that were presented.


    "You¡¯ve been modifying his physique and then you also gave him skills which would help him get attuned to manipting space even with his low talent. An artifact of your level is definitely sentient. Answer me!" This time Xukong shouted.


    But even then there was no response. The altar that was dimly glowing stayed the same.


    In the real world, Lin Mu¡¯s heart beats that were once strong and loud were getting fainter and fainter. His skin was also getting paler by the minute as more blood was shed.


    "Are you really going to let him die!?" Xukong said with anger.


    Xukong gritted his teeth as he still received no answer. He took onest look at Lin Mu before making up his mind.


    "FINE! I¡¯ll do it myself!" Xukong dered.


    And with these words, the spatial energy within the ring started seething. The silvery grey steaks that flickered in the sky started revolving around Xukong¡¯s small palm sized body. His ten golden yellow eyes glowed with power as a massive surge of qi escaped the ring.


    But just as Xukong was about to take the next step, he froze.


    The obscure pattern that was created because of the wooden slip appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s abdomen. Aposed of obscure characters formed around Lin Mu¡¯s stomach. With each passing second, the was increasing in density and more and more threads were being added to it.


    Each thread was formed by linking multiple characters and they interwove. Suddenly the started shrinking and covered the entirety of Lin Mu¡¯s stomach. Soon the merged in its entirety with the stomach changing its color to a graying blue, making it seem unnatural.


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    But this did not stop here, and soon more characters appeared and started linking up, forming new threads. These threads interwove again and formed anotheryer of above the stomach. But unlike the previous one, this one was not as dense and the holes in it were ratherrge.


    A blue glow appeared from Lin Mu¡¯s stomach as an extremely intense wave of energy spread.

 Chapter 276 - Xiantian Physique

    <h4>Chapter 276 - Xiantian Physique </h4>


    The energy that was currently emanating could not be identified and was different from spirit qi and vital energy. Its source seemed to be the numerous characters that made up the that was covering the stomach. With each passing second, the energy seemed to be increasing and with it, the was slowly fading away.


    As the energy spread around in Lin Mu¡¯s body, it healed every injury that was within it. The injuries that were caused by the raging vital energy were repaired and the hidden seque were also being healed. The bleeding apertures of Lin Mu stopped, and the blood that was staining his face also seemingly dried up.


    The blood dried and ked away before turning to a fine powder in the air. Lin Mu¡¯s expression eased up, and the pain dispersed.


    Inside his bones, the vital energy that was pouring in like a raging river smoothed up and the barrier hadpletely disappeared. Now it was as if the bones and marrows were linked through the reservoir of vital energy.


    All theyers of Lin Mu¡¯s body that contained the vital energy were merging. The vital energy within his skin, muscles, blood, bones and finally the marrows joined and became a singleplete entity. Also due to the massive amount of vital energy that had appeared, Lin Mu had directly shot to the peak of the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm.


    Normally the vital energy should have only been enough to break the barrier to the thirteenth stage and would have started tempering his marrows. But now the vital energy hadpletely soaked his marrows in it and was fully saturated. Lin Mu had gained an entire stage¡¯s worth of vital energy in one go.


    "This... energy... what is it?" Xukong questioned, feeling confused.


    He looked back at the ethereal altar, having calmed down with no qi fluctuations around him.


    "Did you already know this was going to happen? Or perhaps... you nned this from the very start?" Xukong questioned the nearly nonexistent altar.


    But as expected, he received no response and sighed with helplessness.


    ¡¯At least he¡¯s gotten through this ordeal, I just hope there are no more surprises.¡¯ Xukong thought, feeling a bit relieved.


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    Back in the real world, Lin Mu¡¯s heartbeats had returned to normal and his breathing was rhythmic as well. He slowly opened his eyes as they faintly glimmered. The graying blue that wasposed of the obscure characters hadpletely faded away by now and Lin Mu¡¯s stomach had returned to its normal look.


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s face turned a bit red as he started coughing. At first, the coughs were low, but they soon increased in loudness and became like the hacking coughs that a chronic smoker would have.


    <i>~St~</i>


    Then at the end with a loud cough, Lin Mu spat out arge glob of thick liquid that looked like ck tar. It fell to the ground, but upon touching the ground it did not spread around but rather clumped together like a blob of mercury would look like.


    Lin Mu controlled his breaths and looked at the ck tar-like blob with apprehension. Unlike the previous times where he had expelled impurities, this time they did not seem corrosive. Although they definitely did look quite bad.


    <i>~Phew~ </i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath of relief as he checked his body. The vital energy within his body had reached an equilibrium and was circting within itself. It would move from the uppermostyer that was the skin to the bottom mostyer that was the marrows and then go back up.


    This cycle continued endlessly, and no loss of vital energy could be perceived. His vital energy had be even more hidden than before and from the outside, it looked like he was amon teenage boy that had no body tempering realm cultivation.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu took a look at his soiled clothes and sheets before letting out a sigh.


    "Seems like I escaped by the very edge of my life." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "That¡¯s very urate," Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Huh, ah yes... this break though was rather dangerous. Seems like I was still a bit unprepared." Lin Mu agreed.


    "No, it is not that," Xukong said as he briefly thought and then continued, "rather no amount of preparation would have helped you with what you just went through. This was nomon breakthrough, I have no doubt the nameless technique of the lost immortal was the cause behind it."


    Lin Mu was a bit surprised and did not say anything. Instead, he used his spirit sense and closely observed his body. His dantian was the same as before and there was no change, but the other parts of his body that had undergone tempering had be strengthened.


    He observed his marrows and could feel a strange activity within them. He could feel as if something was growing in them. Lin Mu continued observing the activity and after a little while felt the growing matter move into his blood.


    Then in the blood, the matter started circting. It moved to all parts of his body and changed to resemble that part of his body. Lin Mu finally identified this matter as some kind of cells. These cells that changed to be part of his different organs and tissues were much more active than his preexisting cells.


    With the growth of these cells, Lin Mu could feel his strength increasing bit by bit in tiny fractions. Unlike the previous stages of the body tempering realm, where Lin Mu had directly gained arge increase in his strength, this time the growth seemed to be slow and eventual.


    "What is happening Senior?" Lin Mu question knowing that Xukong had most likely seen his memories.


    "Your body is recing its cells. Usually, this should have happened muchter, but since you have directly reached the peak of the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm, your marrows are making new cells that are improving the rest of your tissues and organs. Eventually, they will rece all the cells of your body and you would have practically obtained a new physique, The Xiantian Physique." Xukong answered.

 Chapter 277 - The Different Physiques

    <h4>Chapter 277 - The Different Physiques </h4>


    Lin Mu was a bit confused about this Xiantian physique that Senior Xukong was talking about. While he knew about physiques and had learned about them from Senior Xukong, he still did not know how he would be getting it.


    He thought that physiques were something that people were born with and were not something that could be gained. Besides, the only other physiques he knew of right now were the ¡¯Broken Fate Physique¡¯ that belonged to the lost immortal and the ¡¯Garden Of Karma¡¯ which could be considered as a physique as well.


    "Senior, but didn¡¯t you tell me that physiques are something that a person is born with?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed, that¡¯s true. But, that¡¯s just one of the categories of the physiques. In total, there are three categories: Innate physiques, that a person is born with, acquired physiques that a cultivator can gain after fulfilling certain conditions, and then finally the unique physiques, which contain the ones which cannot be put into the other two categories.


    The ¡¯Broken Fate Physique¡¯ that belonged to the lost immortal is a type of an innate physique. The ¡¯Xiantian physique¡¯ is a type of an acquired physique that can be gained by a cultivator once they reach the peak of the body tempering realm and cross all thirteen stages of it.


    The final type, which is the unique physique is harder to define. But the best example of it is none other than the ¡¯Garden Of Karma¡¯. We do not exactly know if it is even a physique or something else, thus it is ced into the Unique physique category.


    Of course, these categories are not fully fixed and certain exceptions can arise. For example, certain acquired physiques can also be naturally present in a person upon their birth, thus bing an innate physique. But on the other hand, none of the innate physiques can be acquired." Xukong exined.


    After listening to Senior Xukong¡¯s exnation, Lin Mu felt enlightened and his doubts cleared up. But soon he wondered about the characteristics of this ¡¯Xiantian Physique¡¯.


    "Senior, what is the benefit of the Xiantian Physique?" Lin Mu further questioned.


    "Xiantian physique is also known as the Congenital physique. It returns your body to the original state that it was born in. You see, after a human is born, they start umting impurities within their bodies. These impurities would have no impact onmon humans, and they would be able to live out the rest of their lives with rtive ease.


    But for cultivators, this is entirely different. These very impurities be a hidden obstacle in the progress of their cultivation. While these impurities may seem simr to the ones you acquire from the pills or even food, they are vastly different.


    Because these impurities are umted over a long time, they change the very structures of the cells of a cultivator, making them weaker. Most cultivators do not have the Xiantian physique and thuspensate for these hurdles by simply increasing the resources that they use and also the effort. Even the requirement to enter the qi refining realm that is the eighth stage of the body tempering realm is because of this reason.


    The eighth stage of the body tempering realm is ¡¯just enough¡¯ so that a person can handle spirit qi in their bodies. But the higher they go in their body tempering realm cultivation, the better their cultivation bes. This is another reason why better cultivation techniques have a higher requirement for cultivators to practice them.


    Still, the Xiantian physique is not something that just anyone that reaches the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm can acquire. There is also a certain aspect of luck involved in this. There are chances that a cultivator, even after putting great effort and reaching the peak of the body tempering realm, may not begin their transition to acquiring a Xiantian physique and may simply be stuck with their normal body." Xukong exined in depth.


    Lin Mu paid full attention to Senior Xukong¡¯s exnation and ensured that heprehended it properly.


    "I understand now, Senior. Then this means that my aptitude had increased once more and my pace of cultivation should increase as well." Lin Mu said, feeling motivated.


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    "Yes, you are correct," Xukong affirmed.


    Lin Mu stood up, wanting to test out his newly increased cultivation. But upon standing up, his attention went to the glob of ck tar that was now lying in the corner of the wall. In all this time, it had somehow rolled off to the side.


    "Senior... what exactly is this? I mean, I can tell that they are the impurities expelled by my body but they seemed different, they are... not corrosive?" Lin Mu asked with furrowed brows.


    "To be honest, I can¡¯t exactly tell what it is either, except for that it is the impurities. It is not the normal impurities as they would have been rather liquid and would not have stayed in a globule like that. And it does not seem to be the usual impurities from your body either, as those were corrosive." Xukong replied.


    "I see..." Lin Mu said, before bending down to get closer to the glob of ck tar.


    He then removed a small vial from his ring and pushed the globule into that vial. He then closed the vial and stored it back into the ring. The vial that he had used was none other than the vial that was used to store the toxin cleansing pills.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know why he was doing this, but he just felt like this was better than simply throwing the glob away. Xukong meanwhile watched Lin Mu do this, but did not question his reason behind it. He had already seen Lin Mu do far more weird and some outright stupid things before, thus this was nothing out of the ordinary for him.


    At this point, he just attributed everything strange Lin Mu did to his unnatural curiosity about things. Xukong didn¡¯t know whether this was a curse or a boon; but at least until now, everything had been fine.

 Chapter 278 - Assessing His Situation

    <h4>Chapter 278 - Assessing His Situation </h4>


    Lin Mu was now at a point where he had to review his position ording to the goals that he had set up. He had satisfied the first minimum condition that was required for him to assimte the Bloodline of the Great slumber bear.


    Since he was at the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm, that too at the very peak, Lin Mu should rtively not have many problems in assimting it. But there were still two requirements that were needed for him to survive the process.


    He still needed to make sure that the Nameless technique of the lost immortal was working and that he had understood its effects. His current close call with death had only made him more worried as the nameless technique seemed to have a hand in that.


    But it was also that very technique that had allowed him to directly reach the peak of the body tempering realm in one go. Then came another requirement that could change depending on the condition of the great slumber beast.


    If the great slumber beast was sufficiently weakened, Lin Mu would be able to kill it even with his current strength. But if it was not so then, he would have to reach the peak stage of the qi refining realm to be on the safe side.


    ¡¯Hmm, I¡¯m already close to the breakthrough. Just a few more drops and I¡¯ll directly breakthrough. My foundation is already stable and senior Xukong had already said the transition betweente stage and peak stage of the qi refining realm is rtively milder, simr to the early and mid stages.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Xukong could already guess what was going through Lin Mu¡¯s mind and was a bit happy that he was able to handle himself after nearly escaping death. But he was still doubtful about the ring. He didn¡¯t know if it was deliberate on its part or perhaps it would have really let Lin Mu die.


    Whatever it was, Xukong knew that Lin Mu needed to get stronger quickly. The duty thates with being the world¡¯s ordained is not easy, and it needs to be fulfilled satisfactorily.


    "Are you going to attempt to breakthrough right now?" Xukong questioned.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    "No, at least not now. I want to check up on a few things first. Seeing that I had that close call, I want to review my situation for a bit." Lin Mu answered after thinking for a bit.


    Xukong hummed in agreement as he could see the wisdom in Lin Mu¡¯s decision. It was better to be cautious than to jump in face first into a situation.


    Lin Mu meanwhile looked around for Little shrubby as he could not see him in the bedroom. He sensed his connection with Little Shrubby and found himself to be in the kitchen. Upon walking into the kitchen, Lin Mu spotted the small beast attempting to cook... again.


    Little Shrubby had apparently not given up on cooking, even after getting cooked food to eat. Especially after its intelligence started increasing, it had be even more determined to cook. Lin Mu found it strange, but just attributed it to the beast¡¯s uniqueness.


    Lin Mu saw it turning the skewer of meat around on the stove, although the meat was badly charred. In order to make it easier for the beast to cook, Lin Mu had made a few modifications. He had lowered the stove and made it broader so that Little shrubby could stand at the side and control the food.


    While for fire, Lin Mu had simply set up a long burningmp which was always lit and he would simply add oil to it whenever it started to go out. Themp had enough fuel that it could burn for about two days straight, and since the oil used was none other than the melted fat from beast meat; it was even easier for Lin Mu to do it.


    Little Shrubby merely needed to take a stick and light it using themp before putting it into the base of the stove to ignite it. As for the wood for the stove, there were plenty of wood logs that were ced in the storage. Little shrubby had no problem lifting them as his strength was quite enough, being at the mid stage of the qi refining realm.


    Lin Mu had set this up about a month ago and Little Shrubby would attempt to cook there every day with only failures to present. All of the meat that it cooked was charred and burned. But thankfully the beast did not mind this and ate the meat that he burned.


    Little Shrubby saw Lin Mu and stopped what it was doing before jumping down from the tform and nuzzling against Lin Mu¡¯s legs.


    <i>~Nyaa~</i>


    Little Shrubby purred in pleasure as he rubbed his face again and again upon Lin Mu. He had not been able to interact with Lin Mu that much these few weeks because of him being engrossed in cultivation fully. He could also sense the increase in his master¡¯s strength from the connection that they had.


    Little Shrubby was perhaps the only one that would be able to tell the true cultivation level of Lin Mu because of their connection. All others would simply think of Lin Mu as having no body tempering realm cultivation, while his qi refining realm cultivation would also be a bit of a mystery because of his ability to use the Spirit sense.


    Though this was soon about to change as Lin Mu would be entering the peak stage of the qi refining realm soon, and thus this advantage would disappear. But the others would still not expect for Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense range to be as long as eighty meters, as most peak stage qi refining realm cultivators only had a max range of ten meters.


    Lin Mu now took out the jade slip that was given to him by Jing Wei and contacted him. He held it in his hand for about a minute before opening his eyes.


    "Perfect!"

 Chapter 279 - Crazed Jing Wei

    <h4>Chapter 279 - Crazed Jing Wei </h4>


    "Oh? Good news, I presume?" Xukong asked curiously.


    Lin Mu nodded in response before speaking.


    "Indeed, Senior. Jingming Shang delivered the material required to repair the ring about two weeks ago, and he has just been finishing up. Old man Jing Wei told me that he was just about to contact me when I did it first instead." Lin Mu replied.


    "That¡¯s good, another thing off your mind," Xukong said.


    Lin Mu hummed in agreement before leaving the room and heading out to the streets. He had already gotten used to leaving Little Shrubby at home and did not worry much. No matter where he was in the Town, Lin Mu could sense him through his connection, especially after it has strengthened even more.


    And it was not like Little Shrubby would get into trouble either. There were not really many people that were as strong as it was, and the ones that were actually stronger than him would not be able to catch him anyway. Even now Lin Mu was unable to match the speed of the small beast.


    Lin Mu made his way to the deste alley where the Jing Wei¡¯s emporium was located in and triggered the formation to make it reveal itself. He then walked into the shop only to find it empty.


    "Hmm, looks like Duan Ke is in the courtyard." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He took a look around and found everything to be the same except for a few things that had been added. These things were sacks andrge packages that were yet to be opened. The packages were wrapped in canvas, and the contents of it could not be perceived from outside.


    Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu curiously scanned it with his spirit sense and got the shock of his life. There were about threerge packages kept in the room, and all of them lookedmon. But its contents were anything but simple.


    "Gold... So much gold..." Lin Mu uttered with shock.


    All of the packages were filled with solid bars of gold which had no stamp or engravings on them. Usually, the gold issued by the kingdom or any other organization had some markings on it which proved its authenticity. But there did not seem to be anything on these gold bars, and they actually seemed to be a bit crudely made as they had dents and unequal edges.


    "Why is this gold lying here?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He knew that there was no chance of the gold ever getting stolen, but it still seemed unusual for it to be kept here.


    Just as he was thinking about that, the door behind the shop opened, and out walked Duan Ke.


    "Oh, you¡¯re here just in time. Grandfather is nearly done, and now we have the final ingredient as well." Duan Ke said.


    "Let¡¯s get to him then," Lin Mu said in an impatient tone.


    "Wait, we have to get the final material," Duan Ke said before walking to the threerge packages.


    Lin Mu was a bit surprised at first before understanding what she meant.


    "That gold is the final material?!" Lin Mu asked, feeling a bit overwhelmed.


    "You¡¯ll see. Grandfather can exin it better, he¡¯s the expert here. I didn¡¯t inherit grandfather¡¯s skill, I specialize in investigational skills." Duan Ke replied in a nonchnt tone.


    Lin Mu nodded before following behind Duan Ke into the back room where she blew out themp making the scenery shift. They were now standing in the courtyard, but its look had drastically changed.


    "Wh-what? What happened here? Why is there smoke everywhere? And is that a tear in the barrier?!" Lin Mu shot a string of questions.


    In front of Lin Mu, the courtyard had changed by a lot. The grass in the ground had be brown and wilted, there was smoke everywhere and a strange smell of charcoal and metal was spread in the air. There was even a small tear present in the barrier that protected the Myriad Armament Canopy abode.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Duan Ke let out a sigh as she rubbed her head in frustration and fatigue.


    "This is what happens when grandfather gets too obsessed with his work. He hasn¡¯t had a challenge like this in years, thus he is giving it his all." Duan Ke exined.


    "Hahaha!" Xukongughed in Lin Mu¡¯s mind. "As I expected, that man is a league above others."


    "Huh?" Lin Mu felt confused after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s suddenughter.


    "Don¡¯t mind me. You¡¯ll see it yourself." Xukong said, mysteriously.


    Lin Mu could only hold his curiosity in for the time being and followed behind Duan Ke to the mansion. Unlike the outside though, the mansion was the same as before and impably clean. Lin Mu and Duan Ke went downstairs into the workshop he had visited before.


    The door of the workshop was already open when they got there and thus Lin Mu could get a direct sight of what was happening inside.


    The entire room was covered in a ckyer, which seemed like soot. There were formations glowing everywhere, and Lin Mu could even see a stream of sparks flowing in the air. Then at the end of the room was the forge he had seen before.


    Thest time Lin Mu had seen it, the forge looked abandoned and cold. But right now it was glowing with heat and an entire formation array was circling around it. The stream of sparks would enter into its top end from time to time, and the fire would rage at the bottom part.


    There were scraps of metal fallen all around the room, and when Lin Mu got closer, he could see that all of them were emitting faint waves of spirit qi. Looking at the shapes of the scraps, Lin Mu could tell that they had been forcefully damaged, and they looked quite simr to the fragments of his weapons from back when he sparred with Duan Ke.


    Then at the side of the forge was none other than Old man Jing Wei himself. His clothes burned in ces with his hair and beard all messy, covered in the same soot as the rest of the room.


    But the thing that garnered the attention most was his face. Jing Wei had a crazed expression on his face that looked no less than insane.


    "AHAHHAAHHA!"

 Chapter 280 - Refining The Gold

    <h4>Chapter 280 - Refining The Gold </h4>


    Lin Mu almost recoiled in shock after seeing the current look of Jing Wei. He had doubts whether he was really seeing this or if he was hallucinating.


    Jing Wei finally noticed the two of them enter the workshop and turned to look at them.


    "Excellent time! I finally got the right methodology, this is going so well!" Jing Wei uttered with joy.


    Lin Mu felt creeped out by his current behaviors and felt like he needed to stay a meter away from the old man.


    Duan Ke was unfazed by this though and walked forward with ease. She came to stand at a short distance from the forge and then ced the three packages there. She had stored them into her spatial treasure and was now simply depositing them here.


    Lin Mu felt a bit strange as to why she had stepped away from the forge instead of directly giving it to Jing Wei. But then he soon witnessed the reason. After cing the packages down, Duan Ke went four meters back and came to stand beside Lin Mu.


    Then a barrier appeared just ahead of the packages and expanded to engulf them.


    "Ignite!" Jing Wei shouted.


    <i>~Crackle~</i>


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    A stream of fire came out from the furnace, looking like a flowing river. The fire was extremely hot and Lin Mu could feel its heat from his position. The temperature of the workshop had just increased by at least ten degrees.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    If it were any othermoner here, they would have already gotten burns on their skin and they would have fainted due to the heat. When Lin Mu originally entered the workshop, it was already hot being at around fifty degrees, but now it had reached sixty degrees where a normal human would not survive for long.


    Although Lin Mu felt the heat, it was not painful for him and it seemed the same as normal for him. He did not feel as if his body was under any kind of distress. The vital energy circting within him was protecting him and isted him from the heat in a unique manner.


    Lin Mu observed the stream of fire touch the packages, instantly burning away the canvas coverings and revealing the gold hidden beneath. The crudely manufactured gold glutted under the orange mes and looked dazzling to the eyes. Its deformed look did not hamper its appeal, but rather highlighted its beauty.


    "Engulf!" Jing Wei shouted next as he gestured with his hands.


    His left hand was gesturing towards the gold and the stream of fire, while his right hand was towards the forge.


    The stream of fire surrounded the bars of gold, which had now melted slightly to be onerge block of gold instead. The fire lifted the gold block and pulled them towards each other. The three blocks of gold collided with each other and became softer and softer.


    "Merge!" Commanded Jing Wei.


    The block of gold melted together and formed a sphere of liquid gold, which glowed with a golden shine.


    Lin Mu was watching the entire process with rapt attention and did not miss even one second of it. He even slowed the blinking of his eyes so that there were lesser chances of missing something that was quick.


    "Refine!" Jing Wei shouted with fervor.


    And along with his shout, his hands started to move in different styles. They formed multiple gestures, the meaning of which Lin Mu could not perceive.


    The golden ball of molten gold was quiterge and had the diameter of almost a meter. If such arge amount of gold was ever revealed outside, there would definitely be a myriad of greedy eyes gazing at it, if not outright fighting for it.


    The gold ball started turning and spun around. The spinning got faster and faster until a change urred. The gold ball started reducing in size and the heat emanating from the fire increased.


    "More! More! More!" Jing Wei kept on urging.


    About five minutes passed at the end of which the gold ball was spinning at a blinding speed and a sharp whirring sound could be heard. The gold ball had now reduced to the size of a football and was still floating in the air while being surrounded by mes.


    "Not enough! I need more!" Jing Wei dered before gesturing with both his hands.


    "DUAN KE! Restrict the Forge!" He ordered.


    A serious expression appeared on Duan Ke¡¯s face as she flourished her hands and took control over the forge. The formations that were previously glowing around Jing Wei were now surrounding her. But unlike Jing Wei, she seemed to be greatly troubled by this.


    Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead and her breathing became heavier.


    "Do you need help?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "NO! You just keep on looking and don¡¯t disturb us!" Duan Ke spoke in a curt tone which immediately made Lin Mu shut up.


    Duan Ke then gritted her teeth and focused on the task at her hands. It was evident that controlling the forge was much harder for her than it was for Jing Wei, who seemed to have been doing it effortlessly.


    Lin Mu tenured back to look at Jing Wei and saw the football sized mass of gold float to in front of Jing Wei. The old man then extended his rough and calloused hands before cing them around the gold ball. They were not touching the ball and were simply hovering around it.


    "Condense for me!" Jing Wei ordered in an authoritative tone and making the gold ball spin even faster.


    Jing Wei started moving his hands closer, which now made the gold ball shrink even further, until it reached the size of a cantaloupe.


    <i><strong>~HAAAA!~</strong></i>


    The old man yelled with vigor as he forced his hands together, this time touching the gold ball.


    <i>~Sizzle~</i>


    A sizzling sound was heard as Jing Wei¡¯s hands made contact with the fierily hot gold ball. But strangely enough, no burning smell appeared from it as one would expect.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    Suddenly a green glow burst from the gold ball.

 Chapter 281 - Void Star Metal?

    <h4>Chapter 281 - Void Star Metal? </h4>


    "Wh-what is that?" Lin Mu muttered in amazement.


    The entire process that had happened in front of him was nothing short of world changing to him. This was the first time he was witnessing another aspect of cultivators which was the refinement of materials. The process was obviously veryplex, and Lin Mu could not even begin to imagine how much effort it would take to learn it all.


    It was obvious that the experience the Old man had was nothing short of world shaking. If Lin Mu knew that what he was witnessing was desired by countless other cultivators, he would be astounded. There would be tens of thousands of cultivators who would start a war just to have the chance of witnessing this and learning from this.


    Old man Jing Wei hadprehended a refinement technique that had never existed in this world ever before. If the knowledge of this ever went out, the sects and the empire would pay no small price to acquire it. But to Lin Mu, it was his first experience and thus could not grasp the true value of it.


    "That Lin Mu, is a man who is perhaps one of the smartest refiners in this world. What he just aplished would take even immortal tool refiners decades to learn. Not only that, but he did it without any guidance by simply observing a broken spatial storage ring." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu was amazed at senior Xukong¡¯s words and knew how much it meant if the praise wasing from Senior Xukong¡¯s mouth. He did not simply praise others that easily as he deemed them to be lower than him. Senior Xukong had seen countless things in his life, and Lin Mu could not even imagine how old he was.


    Lin Mu had once asked Xukong that very question, but the answer that he received was rather disappointing. Xukong himself did not know how old he truly was. All he knew that a time arrived when he gained self-awareness and understood who he was. Before that, he was more of a mindless beast who simply lived to fulfill its instincts.


    Lin Mu continued looking at the gold ball, which now had a green light bursting from it.


    "REFINE!" Jing Wei shouted, with his entire body covered in sweat.


    By now Lin Mu could see the exhaustion on Jing Wei¡¯s face. It was evident that he had exerted a lot in order toplete the refining process, and even now he was not stopping. Even Duan Ke who was merely restricting the forge was sweating profusely.


    In this all, perhaps Lin Mu was the only one who wasfortable watching the entire thing and was the least affected.


    Jing Wei let out another shout and started pressing down on the gold ball, making it shrink even more. The more it shrunk, the brighter the green light was getting. The stream of fire that was floating around the room also circled around Jing Wei, extending multiple small tendrils that touched the gold ball from the top and bottom while avoiding the old man¡¯s hands.


    The gold ball kept on shrinking and Jing Wei pressed his hands together and eventually, his two palms met.


    Blinding green light was leaking from the gaps between his fingers and palms while the gold ball had shrunk to be the size of a small marble.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Jing Wei let out a breath of relief as he saw that this task had seeded. He looked at Duan Ke without moving his hands and spoke.


    "Return the control to me and activate the barrier, do it at the right moment or you know what will happen..." Jing Wei said before turning his focus back to the tiny gold ball in his hand.


    He slowly opened his hands and the gold ball was revealed, except it was not golden anymore, instead it had turned a pale green in color that had tinges of yellow in it. The green light had also stopped emanating from the marble and was now contained within it.


    But when the marble was fully revealed it saturated to shake, and it looked like it was getting unstable.


    "NOW!" Jing Wei shouted.


    Duan Ke passed her control of the forge to Jing Wei and erected a multiyered barrier. There were about tenyers to it, with each subsequent one thicker than the first. Jing Wei freed one of his hands and extended it towards the forge, taking back control over it while with his other empty hand he held onto the green marble.


    He gestured with his hand and brought forth mes that transformed into strings and floated around the marble. He let go of the marble and freed that hand, but before the marble could fall it was held onto by the strings of fire.


    Jing Wei gave Duan Ke and Lin Mu a look before taking a deep breath.


    He waved his empty hand and an object came flying out of the forge. The item was lit and mes were zing off its surface. Looking at it closely, one could tell that it was a small anvil that was about the size of a palm.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Oh? He actually found some impure Void star metal?" Xukong suddenly spoke upon seeing the small ming anvil.


    "You know what that is, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, indeed. That is one of the materials that contain spatial elemental qi and can be used to make spatial storage tools. Though Void star metal is definitely an umon material. They can be found in the void surrounding the worlds and asionally crash into the worlds along with meteorites." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu memorized the information in his mind as he kept on watching Jing Wei. The old man floated the small ming anvil in front of him and then flipped his hand, making the broken spatial storage ring appear in his palm.


    The spatial storage ring physically looked the same as before when Lin Mu hadst seen it, but the fluctuationsing off it told him that something was different about it now.

 Chapter 282 - The Repaired Ring

    <h4>Chapter 282 - The Repaired Ring </h4>


    "What¡¯s changed with the ring? Hmm... Seems like it is the stuff he did to it before we arrived." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Yes, that is exactly it. Fixing a spatial treasure like this is quite difficult if not impossible for most spirit tool refiners. To be honest, I was not fully sure whether he would be able to do it or not. Even if he was able to fix just a little bit, I would have been impressed. But he exceeded my expectations and has nearlypletely fixed it.


    Of course, its capacity would definitely not be as much as it should originally have been." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu silently nodded in response as he then watched Jing Wei continue fixing the ring. A lot of things were happening all at once right now, and it would seem overwhelming to most people.


    The ming anvil came to a stop in front of Jing Wei, and on top of it, he ced the ring. Then he controlled the green gold marble to float over the ring and let it fall on to it.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    As soon as the marble touched, the ring thought it made a loud sound. Although the marble was rather small in size, its weight certainly was not. There were at least a few tons of gold refined to make that marble and Even if most of it was lost in refinement, the small amount was still quite dense.


    The green gold marble struck the ring, which then struck the ming anvil which was made from Void star metal. The three objects hummed in response and a faint cracking sound was heard.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Lin Mu could see faint cracks forming on the ring now.


    "What is he doing! Won¡¯t that destroy the ring?" Lin Mu uttered with shock.


    "That is exactly what he¡¯s doing. He¡¯s found a method to repair the ring without the materials which would have usually been needed. He¡¯s making do with what he has right now.


    Just watch and you will understand." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu focused his attention onto the anvil and saw the fine cracks in the ring releasing something from them. He couldn¡¯t identify what it was at first, but soon sensed it. It seemed to like spirit qi but of a higher quality, although it also felt impure to him.


    The energy seemed like a corrupted form of a higher versions of spirit qi.


    ¡¯Wait, could it be...? Immortal qi?¡¯ Lin Mu guessed.


    Lin Mu had already known that in order to break through to the higher realm after the Immortal Ascension realm, a cultivator had to refine the spirit qi into immortal qi. Thus Lin Mu guessed that it was that very immortal qi that was released from the ring.


    "But if it¡¯s immortal qi then why does it seem corrupted and impure?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    "Your guess is half correct." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Oh, what do you mean Senior?" Lin Mu questioned while Jing Wei controlling the mes to revolve around the anvil and the ring.


    "While that is indeed a higher quality qi than spirit qi, it is not immortal qi. Rather, this is the impure spatial energy. The one that you¡¯ve seen in the ring is perhaps the purest form you can find anywhere in this cosmos. The mostmon type you will find is the impure spatial energy like this." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu did not respond to this, as his attention was captured by the next step that Jing Wei was talking.


    He had now heated the green gold marble enough that it has started melting again. The glittering drops of the green gold dripped onto the ring and started coating it. Soon the ring was hidden under the green gold drops and Jing Wei took out a hammer.


    The hammer was octagonal in shape and seemed to have some characters engraved on its sides. Jing Wei grabbed it with his right hand and firmly grasped it. The grip of Jing Wei was so hard that his muscles tensed up ripping his sleeves apart exposing his bare arm which was now filled with tight muscles.


    Lin Mu could sense that although the muscles were not gained from body tempering realm cultivation, the strength within them was no less. Jing Wei raised the hammer high and mmed it onto the ring, which had been coated with the green gold.


    <i>~Deng~</i>


    The sound of metal hitting metal echoed in a room for a moment before Lin Mu suddenly felt spatial fluctuations.


    The anvil that was made up of Void star metal had now cracked as well, along with leaking something from it. But unlike the ring, this energy was te grey in color and was entering the ces that had the cracks on the ring.


    While the energy entered the ring, it also took the green fold drops that were coating the ring with it. The amount of liquid green gold that was covering the ring started to reduce and soon disappearedpletely having been absorbed by the ring.


    Still, Jing Wei did not stop there and raised his hammer again before mming it back down. The blow this time was softer than before, but it was still enough topletely destroy the anvil that been made by the void star metal.


    The chunks of void star metal fell to the ground and turned to ashes because of the heat." The ring was now floating in Jing Wei¡¯s hand as he took fatigued breaths.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    <i>.</i>


    <i>.</i>


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    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Jing Wei let out a breath of relief as he saw the newly repaired ring floating in front of him. The ring didn¡¯t have any more cracks and seemed to have been fully fixed. But along with this, he could see the difference in the look of the ring.


    The cracks that were once preset on the ring had been filled by the green gold and the spatial fluctuations could also be felting from it.


    "Sess!" Jing Wei yelled as he saw the precious artifact.

 Chapter 283 - The Repaired Ring- II

    <h4>Chapter 283 - The Repaired Ring- II </h4>


    Jing Wei himself had not expected that he would fully seed and that too up to an extent like this. The techniques that he had devised were mostly guess work, and he had used iplete theories that had been present in his n¡¯s records for a while now.


    Jing Wei even had used something which he had thought was wrong and would have beenughed at if it was ever revealed to the world. Even he himself hadughed at the technique when it was theorized and had rejected the person who had made it.


    ¡¯Seems like you were way ahead of me Luo¡¯er, I regret the day I let you go. If I ever got the chance to go back in time, I would rebel against the very heavens to save you.¡¯ Jing Wei thought with a little sorrow.


    Jing Wei pushed his thoughts back as he focused on the treasure in front of him. He knew that this was the start of a new era of spirit tool refinement.


    The spatial storage ring in front of him was for sure the highest quality spatial storage treasure in the entire Great Zhou empire. But this put him in a bit of a shock, as he knew that what he had made was still an inferior product.


    Jing Wei knew that even with all the skills he had used, the ring was barely at five percent of its full potential since he was still restricted by the materials. He had already tried many materials, but barely any of them were suitable and even less were avable.


    Jing Wei held the ring in his hand and probed it with his spirit sense, wanting to get a true gauge of its capacity.


    <i>~Gasp~</i>


    "A... thousand..." Jing Wei muttered.


    Duan Ke and Lin Mu had alreadye close by now and heard what Jing Wei had said. Even if he had just muttered it, both of them had high enough cultivation to listen to.


    "A thousand what?" Lin Mu asked.


    Although Lin Mu did not know what Jing Wei was getting at, Duan Ke knew exactly what he was talking about.


    "Really grandfather, a thousand meters?" Duan Ke asked with apprehension.


    "Yes... take a look." Jing Wei said as he handed the ring to her.


    Jing Wei meanwhile was lost in his own thoughts as he pondered over the entire process of refining. He was learning from the mistakes he had made during the refinement as well as the new insights he had gained.


    Duan Ke held the ring and checked it with her own spirit sense and found it to be true as Jing Wei had said.


    "A size of more than a thousand cubic meters... Truly a masterpiece." Duan Ke muttered in amazement.


    "Wait, the ring has a storage size of a thousand cubic meters? But mine..." Just as he was about to continue that sentence, he held his tongue.


    Lin Mu remembered what he should and should not say. One of the biggest things being the truth of the ring. If the size of the ring Jing Wei had repaired was just that much size, then his own ring was iparable. The size of it was iprehensible to even Senior Xukong.


    Duan Ke¡¯s hand was trembling slightly after having confirmed her grandfather¡¯s words. She looked at the ring with a longing for a bit before handing it to Lin Mu.


    "Here, take it," Duan Ke said.


    "Huh, oh yeah." Lin Mu said awkwardly as he took the ring.


    He could sense the spatial energy from the ring better than anyone here. He actually felt it the moment the ring waspleted and even the mysterious ring had reciprocated in response. Lin Mu knew that if he wanted to, he could rip the ring from their hands or perhaps even destroy it if he wanted to.


    He couldn¡¯t exactly tell why, but these were the innate feeling he was getting in his mind. He slid on the ring to his index finger of his right hand, next to the mysterious ring. The ring was slightly bigger than his finger¡¯s size, but Lin Mu didn¡¯t worry as he now knew how it functioned now.


    Lin Mu branded the ring with his spirit sense, and the ring automatically shrunk to fit his finger snugly. The contrast between the two rings was a bit appealing. The mysterious ring was sliver with five spurs, while the new spatial storage ring was golden with irregr green patterns that looked like cracks with a t top and a green gem on top.


    Lin Mu peered into the ring and saw its capacity for himself. He actually felt a bit ufortable seeing the space inside the ring as it was much more smaller than the mysterious ring and neither was there any free spatial energy shimmering around.


    But while Lin Mu was appreciating the two rings, the pair of grandfather and granddaughter could only see a single ring on his hand that was the new ring with the green gem and green patterns. Lin Mu looked back at Jing Wei with a grateful expression.


    "Thank you for repairing it. I can see that you had to spend a lot of effort and resources and fixing it, I am truly thankful for it." Lin Mu spoke.


    "No, thank YOU for giving me the opportunity to do this. I¡¯ve learned more from this than I¡¯ve done in the past few centuries. You don¡¯t know what this means for us... for our n..." Jing Wei spoke and trailed off.


    Lin Mu saw that Jing Wei was moving to a more emotional state, thus decided to change the topic a little bit.


    "Umm, will the courtyard be fine? I mean, there is a pretty big tear in the barrier," Lin Mu said with concern.


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    "Hahaha, oh that? You don¡¯t have to worry about that, it will fix itself after a couple of days. Though it was definitely worth it." Jing Wei said in a jovial manner as his state of mind shifted.

 Chapter 284 - Rewarding Jing Wei And Duan Ke

    <h4>Chapter 284 - Rewarding Jing Wei And Duan Ke </h4>


    "How did the tear appear, though? Isn¡¯t the courtyard quite strong, what was it that could cause damage like this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Oh, it was one of the materials needed for the ring. More specifically, the one that contained spatial attribute qi. The one that we got previously while useful, was not reallypatible and the technique I used wasn¡¯t perfect either.Thus,s as a result of that a great amount of it escaped my control and tore a hole in the barrier." Jing Wei answered.


    Lin Mu was a bit surprised, as he had not expected for it to be something like that.


    "Did you know this Senior?" Lin Mu asked in his mind.


    "Yes, I did. I recognized the damage caused by it, as it is how spatial qi does it. You should learn from this and know how dangerous it can be if you aren¡¯t able to control it one day or perhaps lose control." Xukong exined.


    "I understand, Senior." Lin Mu answered.


    "Also, I have a reward for the man. I believe one is in order." Xukong added.


    Lin Mu¡¯s expression lit up as he instantly agreed with it.


    "Yes Senior, that would be good. The have helped me a lot, and even now repairing this ring was quite an effort." Lin Mu replied. "But what kind of rewards did you have in mind?" He asked.


    "Just listen to my instructions and do as I saw," Xukong stated before telling him what to do.


    A minuteter Lin Mu¡¯s focus returned to the real world, and he looked at Jing Wei and Duan Ke. The two were doing something with the formations as they were glowing all around the room. The soot that covered the room was also disappearing now, so it seemed like they were using the cleaning formations.


    "Old man Jing Wei," Lin Mu called out.


    "Yes?" Jing Wei said as he looked at Lin Mu.


    Right now Jing Wei wanted nothing more than to finish fixing all the damage that had been caused due to the refining, before recording all the things that he had learned today. He then wanted to go and check the other iplete theories that were in the n records and test them out with his new insights.


    ¡¯Perhaps I¡¯ll be able to find a new solution.¡¯ Jing Wei thought to himself.


    Lin Mu took a couple of steps towards Jing Wei and said, "my master has something for you."


    Jing Wei immediately became alert, and so did Duan Ke. She stared at Lin Mu intently, and ideas started to go through her mind. She was trying to guess what Lin Mu¡¯s master wanted with her grandfather. She certainly did not want the repeat ofst time and did not want to experience that terror again.


    Jing Weiposed himself and aligned his thoughts before speaking.


    "And what does he have for me?" Jing Wei asked carefully.


    Jing Wei saw Lin Mu extended his hand in response and then it happened.


    A presence that was as heavy as a mountain descended in the room, making him choke for a moment. Jing Wei and Duan Ke both felt it and their hearts fell and they imagined the worst. But then the pressure lifted, or more like it wasn¡¯t as heavy to them. They could still sense the power in it, but it wasn¡¯t targeting them in a malevolent manner.


    Then the two of them saw an illusion. For a moment there, they could see a massive silhouette of something behind Lin Mu. They realized that the room had somehow disappeared, and they were in a space where there were only two things, darkness, and ten golden eyes.


    The gaze of the golden eyes shook their minds and they felt inferior in front of it. They felt as if they were mere ants. But then something else happened. They felt something entering their minds, it was simr to the presence in front of them but was much more milder in nature.


    Then finally as if a bolt of lightning had struck, information started pouring into their brains. They couldn¡¯t do much other than just hold on and wish that it ended quickly. While the process wasn¡¯t painful, it was still quite ufortable.


    Duan Ke and Jing Wei felt as if a few hours had passed by before the information finally stopped and they were able to open their eyes. They then realized that in reality, not even a minute had passed while they went through all that.


    "What-" Duan Ke was about to ask when she paused.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    The information that was added to her brain finally kicked in and she was able to understand what it meant. The same happened to Jing Wei, but his reaction was of absolute shock.


    "Marvelous... absolutely marvelous! This- this knowledge..." Jing Wei uttered with sheer awe.


    "Thousands of years of my n¡¯s experience cannot evenpare to one percent of this," Jing Wei proimed. "No! That¡¯s not it... Thousands of years of experiencebined of each and every spirit tool refiner cannotpare to this!"


    Lin Mu just patiently watched the two¡¯s reactions. Senior Xukong had already told him to expect something like this and had warned him that this will happen. What Xukong had just done was use the ward he had ced on Lin Mu along with Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense and transfer information to the pair of grandfather and granddaughter duo.


    Originally he only wanted to give it to Jing Wei, but then Lin Mu told him that he should give something to Duan Ke as well. What Xukong had given Jing Wei was a bare smidgen of knowledge of refining from the immortal realm. He had already seen his talent and knew that the old man was even better than some refiners of the immortal realm.


    He reckoned that this would be a good reward and would help him a lot more in the future. As for Duan Ke, he had merely given her a few tips about cultivation. These were rathermon ones in the immortal realm but would be priceless for someone from a low leveled world like this.

 Chapter 285 - A Fortune Of Pills

    <h4>Chapter 285 - A Fortune Of Pills </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at the two of them, who were in a state that was a mixture of excitement, shock, amazement, and utter awe. It was obvious that whatever Senior Xukong had given them was enough to shake their world forever.


    "I need to consolidate this..." Jing Wei muttered suddenly.


    He then looked at Lin Mu and thought for a moment before speaking.


    "I need to go into seclusion and fullyprehend the knowledge that was just given. I believe Duan Ke needs to do the same. The effects will be the best if we do it right away, thus before we go is there something you need, anything?" Jing Wei asked with fervor.


    The reward that he had obtained was probably a hundred times more valuable than what he had provided Lin Mu with. It didn¡¯t matter to him if he even had to give away the courtyard itself, he had so much new knowledge that he would be able to refine a better one, all on his own.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t even have to think before asking, "I want more basic qi pills."


    "Duan Ke, take him to the pill repository, give him any and all the pills that he wants. You know what this is worth..." Jing Wei immediately turned and said to Duan Ke.


    <i>~Gulp~</i> Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    Duan Ke silently gulped before nodding and gesturing to Lin Mu to follow. Meanwhile, Jing Wei increased his pace of fixing the damage to the formations. Lin Mu followed behind Duan Ke and was guided to the same ce where he had received the pills before.


    The doors of the pill repository opened automatically and Duan Ke immediately waved her hands, summoning arge number of pill containers. There were so many that there was no space on the tables that were kept there and most of therger containers had to be kept on the ground.


    The ones that were kept on the table were the more important and valuable pills and also the eons with the smaller bottles or vials.


    Duan Ke walked to the table and pointed with her hands towards the boxes that were kept on the ground.


    "These are all basic qi pills that we have, there should be about a million low grade Basic qi pills, five thousand mid tier basic qi pills, hundred and fifty high grade basic qi pills and three peak grade basic qi pills." Duan Ke stated.


    Lin Mu¡¯s jaw almost fell in shock, but he was able to control it at thest moment. He had certainly not expected that there would be so many basic qi pills that would be present here. Last time he had barely gotten two thousand basic qi pills that were of low grade, but now there were a million of them.


    Not only that, but the higher grade versions were also here, some of which he could not even use currently at his cultivation base. The most he would be able to use was the mid grade pills as the high grade and peak grade ones were not intended for qi refining realm cultivators and would only end up harming them instead.


    Seeing that Lin Mu had gotten an idea of the number of pills, Duan Ke shifted her hand over to the other pills on the table.


    "These are the toxin cleansing pills they are simrly of low, mid, high grade. There are 1500 low grade ones, fifty mid grade ones, and one high grade one. As for the peak grade toxin cleansing pills, we do not have them." Duan Ke answered.


    "Why are there no peak grade ones, though?" Lin Mu curiously answered.


    "Removing pill toxins from a cultivator¡¯s body gets more difficult the higher their cultivation base gets. You should know the grades how they are intended for different cultivation realms, right? That¡¯s the reason. It is simply too difficult to make a toxin cleansing pill that can work on even Dao treading realm cultivators.


    There aren¡¯t many alchemists that can make them in the empire either. ording to what I know there are only three alchemists of that level in the entire great Zhou empire, with one belonging to the emperor¡¯s court, one being the supreme elder of the Rainbow pill sect and the third alchemist is one of the head elders of Sky precepts sect." Duan Ke exined.


    If it was before, Duan Ke would have never had given such a detailed exnation and would have only told him the most basic of information. But now that Lin Mu or rather his master had given them such a huge reward, this was the least she could do.


    Duan Ke knew that if Lin Mu were to offer the knowledge to any of the sects or even the empire, he would immediately ascend to their top ranks and would be taken care of. It was their fortune that they were able to meet Lin Mu.


    Duan Ke then went on to tell Lin Mu about the rest of the pills that were present on the desk. There were a lot of healing pills of different qualities, and pills that were just useful in general. Overall, Lin Mu ended up receiving over fifty types of different kinds of pills.


    He was a bit overwhelmed by them and thus had difficulty remembering their names, effects, when not to take them, and all those conditions. But Duan Ke was helpful and made him a list. The list was conveniently put in themunication jade that he previously got from Jing Wei, thus Lin Mu didn¡¯t have much problem.


    "Seems like I¡¯ll be going into seclusion again and you two will be as well." Lin Mu lightly joked.


    "Hmm," Duan Ke hummed in response, clearly thinking about the things that were newly added to her mind.


    Jing Wei wasn¡¯t the only one who was impatient about getting toprehend the knowledge, Duan Ke was too.


    Lin Mu thus took this cue and bid her farewell before leaving the pill repository and after that the mansion. He looked up at the sky and saw that the tear in the barrier was already repairing, although very slowly.

 Chapter 286 - Fixing The Tear In The Barrier

    <h4>Chapter 286 - Fixing The Tear In The Barrier </h4>


    Please read the author note at end.


    ----


    Lin Mu felt a bit curious about the tear in the barrier as he peered at the void that was behind it. He realized that he could faintly sense something moving around the tear. He had not felt this before and could only sense it for the first time now.


    What Lin Mu was sensing was different from using the spirit sense, as whatever it was near the tear, it was too far away for his spirit sense to reach.


    ¡¯Huh? How am I able to sense that...? Is it because my cultivation recently increased?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Why don¡¯t you try to focus on it more, see what happens?" Xukong suggested in an encouraging tone.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and tried to focus on whatever that was moving around the tear. He realized that he was feeling it through a different kind of a sense. A sense he had for a while, but it was not as strong. He had been using this sense for a while now, unconsciously.


    "The thing moving around the tear, its... spatial attribute qi!" Lin Mu uttered upon realization.


    "Of course, Jing Wei said that the tear was caused by the spatial attribute qi that was identally released because he lost control. So it¡¯s still around the tear and that¡¯s what¡¯s stopping it from repairing fast enough," Lin Mu concluded.


    "You are correct, that¡¯s exactly what¡¯s happening. The spatial qi that escaped from the material that Jing Wei previously used is trying to escape the confines of the barrier but is being restricted by it. The more it leaks out into the lesser void, the faster the barrier heals." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu¡¯s brows furrowed as he felt some counterproductive points in Senior Xukong¡¯s words.


    "But Senior, if the barrier restricting the spatial qi is what¡¯s preventing it from repairing, doesn¡¯t that mean it is actually a w?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Absolutely correct!" Xukong said in a pleased tone.


    ¡¯Seems like his talent in formations is indeed good and his spatial sense is also improving. Hmm, let¡¯s see if he can do that...¡¯ Xukong thought.


    Lin Mu was still thinking about the w as he walked forward and then suddenly stopped. An idea had just appeared in his mind.


    "Senior, if the spatial qi is removed somehow, won¡¯t the formation repair faster?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Maybe it will... Why, do you want to try something?" Xukong replied with a slight chuckle as Lin Mu asked what he had thought of before he could even do it.


    "I feel like since I can sense it, perhaps with the help of the ring I can make it leave the barrier faster, or perhaps something else like... absorbing it?" Lin Mu said in a slightly unsure tone.


    "Well, go ahead then. Try it, find our for yourself." Xukong encouraged.


    "Hmm," Lin Mu hummed in response before closing his eyes and focusing on the spatial qi swilling around the barrier.


    It took him a little while to fully get a measure of how much spatial qi there actually was, but after five minutes Lin Mu got it. Lin Mu then extended his right hand and pointed it towards the tear.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    At first, nothing happened, but a minuteter the air in the courtyard started swirling, turning into the wind. The invisible spatial qi that was near the tear started to move from its position. A part of it moved out from the tear into the lesser void outside, while the remaining part instead descended.


    The part that descended started clumping together and soon formed into a translucent cloud. This cloud moved towards Lin Mu¡¯s hand and then turned into a stream, entering the mysterious ring on Lin Mu¡¯s middle finger. A few secondster, all the spatial qi was absorbed and the tear in the barrier started repairing at a rapid pace.


    Thirty secondster it waspletely gone, and the barrier was repaired to its original state.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and let out a breath of relief. While the entire process looked rtively easy, it was not. The process had been taking on Lin Mu¡¯s mind and he felt fatigued now.


    "Excellent! That was wlessly done." Xukong praised in an ted tone.


    Xukong had not expected that Lin Mu would actually be able to do it this well. Originally he had thought it may take him a few tries to do it, but he had done it in a single try. And not only that, but he was also able to absorb a small part of that spatial qi into the ring.


    That final thing in itself was aplex thing that would trouble a lot of experienced cultivators that specialized in using the spatial qi techniques or had cultivation techniques that focused on that aspect.


    "Thank you, senior." Lin Mu replied before peering into the ring.


    There he saw the translucent cloud of the spatial qi floating in a corner. Unlike the silvery grey streaks of spatial energy that floated in the sky, Lin Mu realized that this cloud was fully in his control. He could move it wherever he liked and could even change its shape.


    "Umm Senior... what do I do with it?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    While he had obtained this cloud of spatial qi, he had no use for it. He had not nned to really get something like this, thus was confused.


    "Well, there are many uses for it, of course, that I want you to find them out yourself. But, I can still give you one use, which is rather obvious. Try using that spatial qi to power the skills that you obtained from the ring." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu tilted his head as he thought over the other possible uses, but then decided to try the one that senior Xukong had suggested him.


    Lin Mu decided to use it with the first skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯ as it was the easiest one to use and took the least amount of qi. He controlled the cloud of spatial qi and broke out a small part of it before using that to activate the skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯.

 Chapter 287 - Alternate Method Of Using The Rings Skills

    <h4>Chapter 287 - Alternate Method Of Using The Ring''s Skills </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s vision suddenly changed, and he felt as if everything had turned ck and white. He looked around and could see that all the things were in different shapes. Some things were blurry while others were distorted. He could also see some ck dots that he knew were ws in the fabric of space and that they lead to the lesser void.


    While it seemed like a while had passed to Lin Mu, in reality only a mere second had passed. In the next instant, everything turned back to normal and Lin Mu could see in color again.


    "Huh, what was that?" Lin Mu said.


    "So what did you experience?" Xukong asked.


    Xukong himself didn¡¯t know what kind of effect Lin Mu using spatial attribute qi directly would have on the skills. But he could guess a few things and wondered if that was actually what Lin Mu experienced.


    "It was strange... everything turned ck and white. The time also seemed to be... slow for some reason. The objects were not exactly correct either." Lin Mu recalled.


    "Seems like you were able to get spatial perception when you used the skill with the spatial attribute qi. That ck and white color was due to your proficiency in it being less. Also, that feeling of time slowing down, that was an illusion or rather a misperception. That happens when a cultivator newly starts using spatial perception.


    If you actually tried to move, you would realize that you would be moving at the same speed as before and that time wasn¡¯t actually slowed down. And as for the objects not being correct, I believe that was because of them being luded by spatial distortions or the flowing space." Xukong exined.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu said before thinking of using another skill.


    Lin Mu took another small part of the spirit qi cloud and this time used it to power the second skill ¡¯blink¡¯. He already had an intention of where he wanted to move, thus had no problems.


    The moment he used it, his vision turned ck and white again, but this time he realized that he could still use his spirit sense unlike the during the first skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯ where it just didn¡¯t work or rather felt like it was frozen.


    Usually when Lin Mu wanted to teleport using blink his spirit sense could only extend up to the maximum range of the skill which was ten meters. But now he realized that he was not limited by that. He sensed that he could actually teleport freely up to the maximum length of his spirit sense.


    ¡¯This... this is amazing!¡¯ Lin Mu inwardly eximed.


    In the next moment, he triggered the skill and disappeared from his location, appearing at the ce he had chosen.


    <i>~Phew~</i> Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    Lin Mu let out a breath even he had not known he was holding in. It was obvious that he had been a bit nervous and had thus held his breath back. But now that he was sessful, he finally rxed.


    "The effect this time is rather obvious I see," Xukong said, appreciating the effects.


    "The range of the second skill ¡¯blink¡¯ is no longer limited to ten meters, it seems Senior. I can use it to teleport up to the maximum range of my spirit sense now." Lin Mu exined.


    "That¡¯s good. You can use it in times of emergency." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu nodded and checked the cloud of spatial qi he had in the ring. In the two times he had used it, the amount used reached six percent of its total volume. One percent was used to activate the first skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯ and five percent was needed for ¡¯Blink¡¯.


    Lin Mu realized that using spatial qi to power these skills was best limited to when he truly needed them. Until now he had been rtively safe and had escaped danger effortlessly. But he knew that there may be times in the future when his skills may not be enough and this coulde in handy.


    Lin Mu contemted on the idea of using the spatial qi for the third skill ¡¯Phase¡¯. It was the skill that had the highest consumption and would continue consuming his qi the longer he used it.


    "Better to test and know the effects now rather than to experiment in times of danger." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    He took a deep breath and calmed his mind. He then moved near some trees as the main effect of the skill was to allow him to walk through the physical objects, or rather pass through them. He activated the skill and saw his vision change again.


    Lin Mu immediately walked through the trees and did not feel much of a difference. He immediately stopped the skill and checked the usage.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "As I expected, it was ratherrge."


    The size of the cloud had been reduced by a further twenty percent when he used ¡¯Phase¡¯. While it was not exactly equivalent to that of the spirit qi wisps, it was still quite a lot considering that he had a limited amount of spatial attribute qi.


    In total, he had used up about twenty six percent of the spatial qi cloud, reducing its size to slightly less than three-quarters of its original volume.


    "Senior, how can I obtain more spatial qi? I know that I can get it from the materials that contain it, but that would be quite difficult no?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well, spatial qi is actually one of the most abundant types of qis in the cosmos. It is everywhere, it¡¯s just that most people or rather cultivators cannot sense it. Controlling it is even more difficult which leads to them thinking that it is hard to find. It is just that there are quite limited materials that naturally contain spatial qi." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu thought over his words for a bit before realizing something.


    "Then doesn¡¯t this mean that as long as one can sense and control the spatial qi they can directly imbue it into materials?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Exactly. How else do you think spatial storage tools are made in the higher leveled worlds?"

 Chapter 288 - Worried For Nothing

    <h4>Chapter 288 - Worried For Nothing </h4>


    Lin Mu felt enlightened at the revtion and felt a bit silly as to how he did not realize it himself. But after understanding this, many other ideas popped up in his mind. Though he did not know how many of them were actually valid.


    Lin Mu then remembered that while Senior Xukong had told him about the abundance of spatial qi, he hadn¡¯t told him how to get it exactly. Still, he could guess that perhaps he wanted him to find out on his own and perhaps wanted to test him.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t mind this and took it up with confidence. He actually felt more satisfied when he aplished andpleted something on his own. But he put these thoughts aside for the moment as he needed to head back to his house.


    He was at the very edge of progressing into the next stage of the qi refining realm and thus wanted to go bask as soon as possible. Not to mention with all the basic qi pills he now had, it would take him quite a while to finish them.


    Lin Mu finally left the courtyard and appeared in the shop. But upon leaving the back room, he saw that there was actually someone in the shop. At first, he was taken aback and thought that someone had either mistakenly wandered in or had juste to buy things.


    It wasn¡¯t like there were no customers other than Lin Mu that came to Jing Wei¡¯s emporium. There were actually some random people that came here a couple of times a month. Still, the shop was rtively unknown to most people.


    But then Lin Mu suddenly remembered something.


    ¡¯The illusory formations are still active!¡¯ He thought, and immediatly became alert.


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    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense spread around and he immediately observed the person, trying to find out their cultivation base. He inferred that if they had been able to enter the shop despite the illusory formations, they must definitely be a cultivator and that too a strong one.


    The person in front of Lin Mu was a man that seemed to be in his early thirties and was wearing the clothes of amoner. This only made Lin Mu more alert as he thought that perhaps the man was hiding his identity while disguising like this.


    But after Lin Mu probed the man¡¯s body, he was a little surprised.


    "He¡¯s... amoner?" Lin Mu muttered.


    Still feeling unsure of it, Lin Mu sensed the body tempering realm cultivation of the man, finding it to be at the fifth stage of the body tempering realm.


    ¡¯That confirms that he¡¯s not a cultivator, but then how did he get in?¡¯ Lin Mu thought, feeling perplexed.


    During this entire thing, the man had not noticed Lin Mu as barely five seconds had passed. Everything had happened quite fast, and Lin Mu¡¯s enhanced reflexes only helped this.


    The man turned around and saw Lin Mu, who was standing behind the counter.


    "Ah, are you the shopkeeper here? I was looking for you, I wanted to buy something." The man said.


    Lin Mu took a look and saw that the man was standing near a shelf that had some misceneous objects ced on it. He wanted to tell him that he was not the shopkeeper but before he could do that the man spoke again.


    "I wanted to buy this," the man said as he pointed towards what looked like a set of maintenance and polishing kit that was used for tools and weapons.


    Lin Mu walked forwards and looked at the kit, ensuring that it was something normal and nothing precious. He couldn¡¯t help but feel suspicious that perhaps this person was sent by someone else to get this or something like that.


    But after observing the maintenance and polishing kit, Lin Mu found it to be as mundane as it could be.


    ¡¯Is he genuinely a normal customer?¡¯ Lin Mu thought and then extended his spirit sense towards the door of the shop.


    His spirit sense easily pierced the door and went outside. There he saw that the illusory formation was not working, and the shop was fully revealed to the outside, and even the alley was visible.


    ¡¯Huh, the formations stopped?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    He then discreetly withdrew themunication jade and contacted Jing Wei, who thankfully had not entered seclusion yet. Jing Wei simply told him to sell the kit and that the formation was stopped because he was repairing the other ones.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    ¡¯I was worried for nothing...¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he took a breath of relief.


    "Umm excuse me? How much is it for?" The man asked Lin Mu, seeing that he had not responded yet.


    "Oh yes! It¡¯s worth about one silver and ten copper coins." Lin Mu answered, telling him the price that Jing Wei had quoted.


    Though Lin Mu doubted the high price and was pretty sure that Jing Wei had just said it from the top of his head.


    The man was a bit surprised after hearing the cost, and his expression turned serious. He stroked his forehead while thinking and it looked like he was having a hard time deciding.


    "I¡¯ll take it..." The man said while gritting his teeth.


    "Uh, okay..." Lin Mu replied and took the money from the man¡¯s hands.


    The entire time the man seemed quite hesitant about handing him the coins.


    "If you don¡¯t mind me asking, why do you need this kit?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "It¡¯s a good quality kit and has proper tools. Even if it¡¯s expensive, I think it¡¯s worth it if I can get the job at the army camp." The man replied.


    "Oh? What kind of job?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You don¡¯t know? A lot of people are looking to apply for the new jobs that are opening up temporarily at the southern town." The man answered.


    Lin Mu was confused by this as from what he knew, while the southern town was mostly an army base, they had their own workers and cksmiths. If this man was buying a maintenance and polishing kit that too an expensive one like this then it meant that it was something major.


    "How are there jobs opening up there? The soldiers there don¡¯t need much as they don¡¯t really fight.." Lin Mu asked.


    "You don¡¯t know? The son of Wu Lim city¡¯s mayor ising soon."

 Chapter 289 - Lieutenant Wu Teng

    <h4>Chapter 289 - Lieutenant Wu Teng </h4>


    Please read the author note at end


    ----


    Lin Mu was a bit confused upon hearing that the son of the Wu Lim city¡¯s mayor wasing back. ording to what he knew, the mayor had two sons. The eldest son was part of the Shuang Qian Kingdom¡¯s army and was a lieutenant, while the youngest one was rather unknown. All that was known about him was that he lived in the Wu Lim City as well and did not leave it usual.


    Most people did not even know about the identity of the youngest son of the Mayor. This led Lin Mu to believe that it was obviously the eldest son that wasing back the city. But then he wondered why were jobs being issued.


    "Why are there jobs though, even if the son of the mayor ising back?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Mayor¡¯s son is not onlying back, but is also bringing back his personal battalion of soldiers that hemands. These soldiers number in the thousands and unlike the ones at the southern town¡¯s army camp, actually practice and spar all the time.


    They need people to maintain their equipment in tip top condition. And this maintenance job is not the only job being issued, other jobs likemon servants, stable boys, cleaners, cooks, and cksmiths are also being issued.


    There are people from all four towns as well as the nearby viges applying for it. While the mayor¡¯s son will be living in the city during this entire time, his battalion will be left behind in the southern town ording to the rules of the empire." The man exined.


    Lin Mu finally understood the entirety of the situation but still felt that something didn¡¯t add up. Even if the son of the mayor was a lieutenant in the Shuang Qian kingdom¡¯s army, it didn¡¯t make sense for him to make an entire battalion move here.


    Lin Mu could help but be suspicious of the entire thing.


    ¡¯Did the mayor find out about something and called his son to help?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


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    He then remembered the Four vessels restoration pills that originally supposed to go to the mayor. At that time Lin Mu had thought that they were perhaps intended for the mayor¡¯s son as he may have gotten injured, but now seeing him return perhaps it was not that either. Or the mayor could have also found an alternative method to help his son.


    There were far too many possibilities that could not be confirmed, and this only made Lin Mu a bit more anxious.


    "Perhaps the Hei Corps will know more about this..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Umm, I¡¯ll take my leave then?" The customer spoke, seeing that Lin Mu seemed to be lost in his thoughts.


    "Ah yes! Everything is fine you can take it now." Lin Mu handed the kit to the man and let him leave.


    Lin Mu then put the coins he had gotten into a drawer that was built into the counter and left the shop.


    "Is it really fine leaving the door unlocked like this? What if someone else walks in and there is no one to attend to them?" Lin Mu wondered.


    But just as Lin Mu thought this, he felt the fluctuation of spirit qi. The shop¡¯s door in front of him disappeared and the shop eventually disappeared too. Lin Mu found the ground beneath him shrinking as he was moved out of the alley automatically.


    A few secondster the alley shrunk and the two walls to its sides closed up, making the entire alley disappeared.


    "Huh, just in time. Looks like Jing Wei was waiting for me to leave." Lin Mu realized.


    Lin Mu started walking in the direction of his house and listened to the conversations along the way. He could hear some of the people discussing about the arrival of the mayor¡¯s son and also the jobs that were opening up in the southern town.


    "Is your husband also going to the southern town for the jobs?" A woman spoke to another woman.


    "Yes, and my son will be joining him too. There are a lot of jobs and they can be safe too instead of going to hunt in the forest." The other woman replied.


    Lin Mu then passed by a tea stall where a young man and a guard were sitting.


    "Do you know when the mayor¡¯s son will be arriving in the city?" A man spoke to the guard who seemed like his friend.


    "You should call him with his proper title or you may get in trouble. His status is quite above us and is alreadyparable to that of the mayor himself." The guard warned the man.


    "His title? I don¡¯t even know his name though, we town folks don¡¯t really get that much news you know." The man replied in a joking manner.


    "That¡¯s true, but it will be better if you know it. The official title of the mayor¡¯s son is lieutenant Wu Teng of the Teng Battalion." The guard exined.


    Lin Mu was intrigued by this, as this was perhaps the first time he had heard the man¡¯s name.


    ¡¯So it¡¯s Lieutenant Wu Teng and Teng Battalion. Hmm... did he name the battalion after himself? Usually the kingdom officials decided the names from what I¡¯ve heard before.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Soon Lin Mu reached his house and opened the gate to enter the courtyard.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    He took a deep breath, calming himself down and prepared for what he was about to do. Lin Mu as low wanted to know more about the lieutenant¡¯s visit to the city, but decided to leave it forter. Right now his sole concern was to reach the peak stage of the qi refining realm as fast as possible.


    But before he could begin his session, Lin Mu ensured that everything was ready. He knew that anything could happen, and the ring was bound to do something. There was also the problem with the nameless technique of the lost immortal. Although it hade under a bit of control, Lin Mu was still apprehensive.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "Let¡¯s get to it..."

 Chapter 290 - 1800 Drops

    <h4>Chapter 290 - 1800 Drops </h4>


    It took Lin Mu about an hour to prepare everything and in the end, he simply checked up on Little shrubby before entering his bedroom and sitting down cross-legged. He withdrew one of the many boxes of basic qi pills he had and ced it in front of him.


    He then opened the box and popped a basic qi pill into his mouth before starting to chant the severing heart sutra. The spirit qi from the pill entered his meridians and arrived into his dantian. If one looked at Lin Mu¡¯s dantian right now, they could see that half of it was filled with shimmering liquid spirit qi while the other half was filled with floating wisps of spirit qi.


    Now with the arrival of the extra spirit qi from the basic qi pill, the dantian was getting saturated. But this is exactly what Lin Mu wanted. He willed the spirit qi wisps in the dantian to enter his meridians and circte.


    The concentration of spirit qi in his meridians suddenly increased, and so did the pressure on them. But for Lin Mu this was barely anything, and he increased the amount again. He steadily kept on drawing from the dantian and the spirit qi from the basic qi pill kept on replenishing it.


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    This kept a positive outflow of spirit qi into his meridians, which allowed him to refine it faster. The concentration of spirit qi in his meridians kept on increasing more and more until finally a single drop of liquid spirit qi was condensed.


    Usually, Lin Mu would have simply guided this drop of spirit qi into the dantian, but that was not what he wanted to do now. His current goal was to break through to the peak stage of the qi refining realm and for that, he knew it would be best to jump in one go.


    The more pressure he generated, the easier it would be to ovee the bottleneck. Although the bottleneck between thete stage and peak stage of the qi refining realm wasn¡¯t too tough, it still existed. But this bottleneck was more of a passive one, in that the spirit qi had a higher chance of dissipating instead of being restricted from condensing.


    Lin Mu wanted to refine a sufficient amount of liquid spirit qi in his meridians and then directly depositing it in his dantian all at once.


    He focused on this drop of liquid spirit qi and circted it faster through the circuit of his meridians while drawing upon the spirit qi wisps from the dantian. With each cycle, the drop of liquid spirit qi was growing in size.


    At first, it was only a single drop in size, but then it doubled, then tripled, and so on and so forth. Eventually, it reached a point where it was nearly thirty times the size of a normal drop and was looking more of like a stream.


    By now twelve hours had passed by and Lin Mu was still continuing on tirelessly. His newly enhanced body tempering cultivation was only making it much easier for him. In fact, Lin Mu could also feel that the conversion of his body¡¯s cells was getting faster as well, which brought him closer to achieving Xiantian physique.


    Lin Mu extended his hand in an almost mechanical manner and picked up a basic qi pill from the box in front of him and popped it in his mouth. During these past twelve hours, he had eaten about a hundred pills. This would have been very shocking before, but now it was but a drop in the ocean.


    While Lin Mu was refining the liquid spirit qi, he was also losing a fraction of the spirit qi. Right now he was oveing the time factor with quantity instead of quality and overpowering the routine. The nameless technique of the lost immortal was also helping Lin Mu, as without it he would have not been able to consume this many pills.


    Another thing that was happening which Lin Mu did not know was that with each cirction of spirit qi, a minute amount was also being infused into his stomach tissues. This amount was small enough that Lin Mu had no capacity to focus on it.


    Seconds turned into minutes and minute turned into hours. It had been over twenty four hours since Lin Mu started his session. The number of basic qi pills he had consumed reached nearly two hundred, and the size of the liquid spirit qi stream had reached eighty times the initial size.


    ¡¯Nows the time!¡¯ Lin Mu internally shouted.


    To be honest, Lin Mu had never expected tost this long. The amount of liquid spirit qi he had refined this time was thergest amount he had refined in a single session. Not only that, but simply the volume of liquid spirit qi circting in his meridians was exuding a pressure.


    Lin Mu had thought that he would keep on refining it till he would not be able to handle the pressure, and now the time had finallye. He had also exceeded the amount that was actually needed for him to break through the bottleneck a long time ago.


    But he still kept on going, as this had now be a way for him to challenge himself and his will. He didn¡¯t know how he waspared to other cultivators, but he was proud of himself for reaching this level.


    Lin Mu¡¯s focus reached peak, and he immediately guided the stream of liquid spirit qi into the dantian. Usually, the spirit qi would enter the dantian drop by drop, but this time it was as if someone had opened a tap as the stream came rushing in.


    <i>~Gush~</i>


    The volume of liquid spirit qi within his dantian started rising visibly.


    1500 drops


    1510 drops


    1550 drops


    1600 drops


    1700 drops


    1800 drops


    Finally, all the liquid spirit qi that he had refined entered his dantian and with that, a wave was emitted from his body.


    As soon as the wave reached the mysterious ring on Lin Mu¡¯s right hand, it started humming too.

 Chapter 291 - The Fourth Skill

    <h4>Chapter 291 - The Fourth Skill </h4>


    Please read author note at end.


    ----


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and found himself in front of the ethereal altar within the mysterious ring.


    Thest thing he remembered was the stream of liquid spirit qi filling into his dantian and his total stores reaching about one thousand eight hundred drops of liquid spirit qi. He knew that he had refined a lot of drops of liquid spirit qi but had never expected that it had reached such arge amount.


    This waspletely iprehensible to him, and he did not know how he had even done this. When he was looking at the stream of liquid spirit qi before it looked much smaller to him, being only eighty times bigger than a normal drop in size.


    But when that very stream had been added to his dantian, it turned out to be three hundred drops in total instead. This had instantly pushed him through the bottleneck between thete stage and peak stage of the qi refining realm.


    Lin Mu had expected that the mysterious ring would do something the moment broke through thete stage of the qi refining realm into the peak stage, and now that he was in the mysterious ring his expectations were fully confirmed.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and rxed his tense body. While he could finally perceive the changes in his body, he knew that it was not the right time to explore them. Right now he needed to see what the mysterious ring had called him here for.


    He looked around but could not see Senior Xukong nearby. But he could also see a faintly glowing barrier in the distance that surrounded him and the altarpletely.


    "So this is the barrier senior Xukong was speaking about before. Looks like it separates the altar from the rest of the ring and has a special function." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he walked to the altar in the very middle.


    He reached there in a minute and saw that it was thrumming with waves of energy. He found them to be simr to before and now knew what he was going to receive.


    Lin Mu ced his hand on the altar as it was beckoning to him and closed his eyes. A flurry of runes appeared out of the altar, turning into streaks of light entering into Lin Mu¡¯s head. Soon information started etching itself in Lin Mu¡¯s memories. What Lin Mu was receiving right now was none other than the next skill.


    Lin Mu had received the first skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯ and the second skill ¡¯Blink¡¯ when he first became a qi cultivator. He then obtained the third skill ¡¯Phase¡¯ when he broke through thete stage of the qi refining realm.


    From the consumption of spirit qi that these skills required, Lin Mu could estimate that every new skill was only granted to him when he satisfied a certain condition. For the first two skills, all he needed was spirit qi wisps, thus they were directly granted to him at the very start when he became a cultivator.


    Lin Mu then received the third skill ¡¯phase¡¯ when he satisfied the condition which was none other than liquid spirit qi. Once that condition was fulfilled, he obtained the third skill.


    But ording to this logic, it didn¡¯t seem right that he was getting a fourth skill now. If liquid spirit qi was a requirement, he should have received it a long time ago. There was perhaps another condition that was needed.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t have to think for long before he realized what it was. It was a very recent thing and he would have easily missed out on obtaining this skill had it not been for what he had done. The hidden condition needed for the fourth skill was none other than the spatial attribute qi that he had absorbed from the tear in the barrier.


    Lin Mu sensed that the cloud of spatial attribute qi was nowhere in the ring, thus came to the conclusion that perhaps it was used up by the ring to give him the fourth skill.


    After the process was done, he opened his eyes that momentarily shined with a silvery glow.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    "So it¡¯s like this..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He then started walking towards the barrier of the altar and left its confines. The ethereal alter behind him dimmed down to its previous brightness and settled down.


    Upon leaving the barrier, Lin Mu soon noticed a grey orb of light flying towards him with great speed. This orb came to a stop in front of him and was none other than senior Xukong. It was evident that he had been waiting for Lin Mu to finish the process ande out of the barrier.


    "Seems like you seeded," Xukong said in a content tone.


    "Indeed Senior, I even exceeded what I had expected of myself." Lin Mu replied.


    "Good... Very good. Cultivation is going against the very heavens; if you can¡¯t even exceed your own expectations, how can you exceed the will of the heaves." Xukong spoke in a sagely tone.


    Lin Mu nodded confidently, as he had fully realized this fact by now. He also knew that as long as he pushed himself, exceeding his limits was nothing. He wanted to even beyond that and keep on going till he reached another limit. Then he would find a method to ovee that limit and keep on going.


    "So, what did you receive this time?" Xukong asked.


    "I received the fourth skill from the ethereal altar. It is called as ¡¯Fade¡¯." Lin Mu revealed.


    "Hmm, ¡¯Fade¡¯ that¡¯s a rather unique name. Do you know what it does? Or do you still need to test it out?" Xukong questioned.


    "I already have a certain idea of what it can do, but to properly confirm it I would still need to test it. Though I can tell that this skill is quite different than the other three skills." Lin Mu answered.


    "Oh? Why do you say so?" Xukong asked curiously.


    "This skill has more information than all the other three skillsbined. I believe that I¡¯ll still need toprehend it a bit... I Umm... have a headache."

 Chapter 292 - Strange Effect

    <h4>Chapter 292 - Strange Effect </h4>


    Lin Mu soon appeared in the real world after his time was up in the mysteries ring. While there he had discussed something with Senior Xukong and had also figured out a few characteristics of the space inside the ring.


    The first thing that he learned was that the time he could stay in the ring after being summoned there was about fifteen minutes now. He had also taken a look around the nearby areas of the ring and found the items that he had stored lying around.


    Because of the sheer size of the ring, most of the items were spread around in a rather massive expanse of an area. Another thing he found that was a bit surprising and disgusting was that there was a copious amount of blood spread around in the ring.


    This blood was none other than the blood from all the beasts he had killed. Unlike the past when he used to clean and drain the blood, Lin Mu often had to keep the beasts as it is till he got the chance to clean them. This led to the blood getting umted there bit by bit, till it had reached a ratherrge amount.


    Also, because the things aged slowly in the ring, the blood was still liquid and had not dried out yet. Lin Mu discovered this unfortunate fact, when he inadvertently ended up stepping on it while taking a walk.


    "Ugh, I need to get rid of this all. It should make good fertilizer for the yard." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu looked at his body and found it to be the same as before, but when he sensed the spirit qi in his body, he found it to be extremely active. It was circting in his meridians and emanated faint waves of spirit qi that bathed the rest of his body.


    These waves of spirit qi were then released from his skin at a very slow pace. But it was this very thing that showed his status as a peak stage qi refining realm cultivator. Lin Mu clenched his fists and found his spirit qi to automatically focus on them.


    His control over the spirit qi had be almost instinctual now. Lin Mu looked into his dantian and saw the abundance of Liquid spirit qi.


    "Ahh, this is rather nice." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He then did a simple routine of some moves he had learned over the months and felt the minute changes in the behaviors of his spirit qi. He practiced the thousand armament de scripture and found the coordination to have improved greatly.


    Lin Mu felt that certain things that were difficult for him and were luding his progress were suddenly not there.


    "Hmm, so the difficulty I was having in progressing was because of spirit qi itself rather than theck of training." Lin Mu realized.


    Lin Mu then controlled the short sword with his spirit sense and found his connection with it had improved by almost twice. He felt as if he could use even more spirit qi with his short sword while he was controlling it with his spirit qi.


    Finally came the turn of the new skill that Lin Mu had obtained. The headache that he previously had was now gone after he rxed by practicing some of his moves. He also felt like the new information was more clear to him now and he could use it with the same ease as that of the previous three skills.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and then triggered the fourth skill ¡¯Fade¡¯. As soon as he used it though, about ten drops of liquid spirit qi was instantly used up. And with that, Lin Mu disappeared from the courtyard.


    "Huh? What is this?" Lin Mu said as he looked around.


    The ce was colored in grey and looked rather bare. There was nothing here, and Lin Mu could only sense faint fluctuations of spirit qi here.


    Lin Mu walked around and could not find anything particr there. A minute passed, after which he suddenly felt his vision change again.


    "Ouch! Dammit, watch where you walk kid!" A person shouted.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu was currently standing at the corner of the road and had bumped into a man who looked like a hunter. The hunter had recoiled and fallen on the ground, while Lin Mu himself was standing unmoved. The impact had no effect on him, and he was rather confused instead.


    ¡¯What happened, how am I here?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Hey! Didn¡¯t you hear me, kid? Are you not gonna apologize?" The hunter said as he stood up from the ground.


    But even now Lin Mu had not responded to the hunter and was rather engrossed in his own thoughts.


    "Look at me kid, don¡¯t you know ignoring is extremely rude?" The hunter said as put his hand on Lin Mu¡¯s shoulder.


    The way Lin Mu and the hunter had collided was at a perpendicr angle. This meant that while the hunter was looking at him, Lin Mu himself was looking in the other direction. Because of this, the hunter had to touch him to turn him.


    But as soon as he did that, Lin Mu swatted his hand away in reflex, making the hunter fall back to the ground again.


    "Aargh," The hunter groaned in pain.


    The hunter was now a bit shocked. It was fine when he fell back before as he reckoned it happened because he was the one who lost bnce. But now it was clear that he was knocked back by a light blow of Lin Mu¡¯s hand.


    He looked up to see Lin Mu staring at him. The shock that was in his mind turned to fear as it leaked into his eyes and was then shown on his face.


    "Eek" The hunter flinched back as Lin Mu extended his hand towards him.


    "Oh sorry, I didn¡¯t see you, I was thinking over something." Lin Mu apologized.


    "No-no problem, it¡¯s... fine." The hunter said before running away rather fast.


    "Strange..."

 Chapter 293 - Fade

    <h4>Chapter 293 - ''Fade'' </h4>


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t tell why the hunter had reacted like this and had run away, but he wasn¡¯t worried about that much. What he was the most worried about was the fourth skill ¡¯Fade¡¯. The effect that it had was much different than he had expected and not only that, but he had also somehow left his courtyard and appeared here.


    From looking around, Lin Mu could tell that he was about two streets away from his house.


    "Looks like the fourth skill ¡¯Fade¡¯ is much more powerful than your other skills." Xukong suddenly said.


    "Oh? Senior, you have a guess of what it is?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I do, indeed. The space that you saw which was grey in color was the parallels void that exists along with this world. Your fourth skill allows you to enter that space and move around in there. And finally, when the effect of that skill ends, you will reappear in the real world at the location that would match with that of the parallel void." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu thought over Senior Xukong¡¯s words and corrted them with his own findings and found them to be correct. Then in the next moment, numerous possibilities popped up in his mind. The Fourth skill was quite powerful, but Lin Mu still did not know what its limitations exactly were.


    All of his skills had certain limitations and ws which Lin Mu knew of. The first skill ¡¯Flicker¡¯ was of a very short duration but its advantage was that it could virtually allow him to dodge nearly anything as long as it was during that period.


    The second skill ¡¯Blink¡¯ allowed him to teleport to any location that was within the range of his spirit sense. The limitation of the skill was that it could only work in a radius of ten meters regardless of if Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense range unless if he used the spatial attribute qi to power the skill.


    The third skill ¡¯Phase¡¯ allowed him to dissociate his body, which allowed him to pass through objects with ease. The limitation of this was that spirit qi or objects containing spirit qi could restrict him. This meant that he would not be able to pass through formations and barriers.


    From his short encounter with that hunter, Lin Mu could tell this much that he had not noticed him appear in front of him. This meant that the fourth skill ¡¯Fade¡¯ fully made him disappear from this world. Lin Mu could see the obvious advantages and disadvantages of the skill.


    The advantage was that he could get into areas or locations without anyone noticing or could even escape from a location if he was confined. It did not seem like a wall or barrier could restrict it either as Lin Mu was pretty sure he had walked through at least ten walls whileing here. He could guess that it would be the same for the things such as barriers and formations too.


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    But then came the biggest disadvantage, or rather w of the skill. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t actually tell where he was going while he was in the parallels void. Everything was the same there, and it was fully bare with not an object in sight.


    This meant that Lin Mu had no reference to use and that even if he had his spirit sense, it was rather useless there as there was literally nothing there.


    All of this meant that while Lin Mu had this powerful skill, it was a wild card for him, unless of course, he figured out a method of navigation while he was inside there. While the skill could allow him to disappear and escape from a location, it also meant that it could get him into trouble.


    He could very easily get lost in the parallels void and end up right in the center of an enemy¡¯s stronghold. The fourth skill was now more of a double edged sword for him and unless he could figure out a better way to use it and navigate, he would not be using it as much.


    A smaller disadvantage was the amount of spirit qi that it consumed for a single use was ratherrge, being at ten drops of liquid spirit qi and not even wisps, that too for only a duration of one minute. Though Lin Mu guessed that there might be a way to extend the duration for which he could use the skill oft.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "So many things to consider, this will take me a while to figure it out." Li Mu muttered to himself as he made his way back to his home.


    Lin Mu entered his bedroom and sat down to meditate on the skill. After a few minutester, he came upon a potential solution to the w of the skill.


    ¡¯I can perhaps use the spatial perception to navigate better in the parallels void. Spatial perception depends on space itself along with the spatial qi, which was also present in the parallel void. If I can learn to use it better, I should have no problem using the skill and its w may even be an advantage itself.¡¯ Lin Mu analyzed.


    While Lin Mu was thinking this, Xukong was also taking a look at his memories and thoughts. Seeing that Lin Mu had actuallye close to finding a potential solution only made Xukong feel proud of his disciple. He had a good head on his shoulders and although he was disadvantaged from his peers due to his starting circumstances, Xukong had no doubt the boy was a hidden genius.


    Hisprehension ability was rather astounding for someone of his age. He didn¡¯t know whether to attribute it to his curiosity or his incessant thirst for knowledge, but whatever it was; it had made him smarter and smarter.


    Xukong had a bit more idea of how the fourth skill worked, but he had not told Lin Mu and wanted for him to figure it out himself. As he knew that the things that he learned on his own would be better for him than the ones that he taught him.

 Chapter 294 - Overcoming The Flaw Of Fade

    <h4>Chapter 294 - Oveing The w Of ''Fade'' </h4>


    Xukong knew that Lin Mu wanted to learn how to better use spatial perception and he had just the method for him or rather method was always with Lin Mu and he had even used it a few times before.


    "Senior, how would I go about enhancing my spatial perception?" Lin Mu question Xukong at the very right moment.


    "It would not be much difficult for you as you already know what it feels like. You even have an advantage in this over any average cultivator, as you can simply use your ring. You can already see those ck dots which are the ws in the fabric of space right, that is also you using spatial perception. Except in that case, it is only seeing the things that are causing the most disturbance and cannot see the more milder spatial fluctuations.


    What you need to learn is to how to simply expand that scope of sensation. While you can focus on the very strong points such as those ck dots, if you sensitize yourself, you will sense even more things.


    Now the method to train this is simple, you just need to keep on observing the ws in the spatial fabric. You should also focus on sensing the minute fluctuations in space that happen every so often naturally." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and immediately got to it. He willed the ring to show its effects and he opened his eyes to see the ck dots, only to realize that there were none of them in his house right now. He then expanded his spirit sense and tried to sense his surroundings, examining them for any small changes.


    Lin Mu did this for an hour, after which he stopped it as he realized that he was not having much of a progress. Though he did not falter there and was merely thinking of making better preparations. While he was doing this, he suddenly remembered something.


    When he had used the fourth skill ¡¯fade¡¯ before and walked around, he had changed his direction multiple times as he had no reference. He also remembered that he could use his spirit sense rather freely in the parallel void as well.


    These two factors amalgamated together in Lin Mu¡¯s mind, and a new idea formted itself.


    "Hahaha! Why did I not think of this before?!" Lin Mu suddenly eximed.


    Xukong was surprised out of his trance as he looked at Lin Mu, who had a slightly disturbing smile on his face.


    "What is it? What did you think?" Xukong asked curiously.


    "Hahaha! Senior if figured out a way to use the fourth skill ¡¯Fade¡¯ even without spatial perception. I still don¡¯t know if it will work, but that can be confirmed quickly." Lin Mu replied in an excited tone.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Really? Show me then, try it out." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu nodded and took a deep breath before extending his spirit sense. He kept it in a straight line and made sure that it did not bend anywhere. He then checked the direction he was looking at and oriented the spirit sense there.


    Then, Lin Mu triggered the fourth skill ¡¯Fade¡¯ and ten drops of liquid spirit qi drops were immediately consumed. Lin Mu¡¯s body disappeared from the real world, and he appeared in the parallel void. He looked around and found everything to be the same as before, empty and grey.


    "Let¡¯s see if it works or not..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He then started walking in the direction of the spirit sense as it was still in the same position that it was before. As Lin Mu took step after step, his spirit sense would simultaneously shorten. Eventually, he reached the end of the spirit sense and all of it was retracted into his body.


    Just a couple of secondster the skill¡¯s duration ended and Lin Mu reappeared in the real world. Except this time he was not in his room, but rather in the street outside his house. Lin Mu looked around and made sure of where he was.


    "YES! It worked! It really worked!" Lin Mu eximed in joy.


    Xukong too realized what Lin Mu had done by observing his actions. Lin Mu had realized that he would be transported in the same position as he was in the real world. This also meant that his spirit sense would stay in the same position, too.


    Using this technicality, what Lin Mu did was mark the location he wanted to go by using his spirit sense and then used the skill ¡¯Fade¡¯. This way when he appeared in the parallel void, he was able to go to his intended location by simply following his own spirit sense.


    Right now he had only walked in a straight path, but he knew that he could do this in any direction he wanted as long as he kept his spirit sense in the same position. But the benefit that the parallel void had was that there was nothing there. It didn¡¯t matter if there was something blocking it, Lin Mu could simply walk there in a straight path.


    "Amazing! Excellent thinking Lin Mu." Xukong praised.


    Xukong had not expected that such a method would be possible, but Lin Mu had done it. Although the ws of this method were also apparent in that the maximum distance Lin Mu would be able to travel is the maximum range of his spirit sense, which was about eighty meters.


    Another w was that he would have to chart the path with his spirit sense beforehand, this meant that if there was something that blocked his spirit sense or if there was someone in the path who could detect it, that could be problematic.


    But still, this was better than nothing, and at least Lin Mu would be able to use the skill up to a certain limit.


    Though there was a very big advantage that Lin Mu had if he was ever in a wide and open area. He could simply activate the skill and run at the maximum speed he could muster and leave the enemies behind. He would have no need to chart a plot.

 Chapter 295 - Marriage Alliance?

    <h4>Chapter 295 - Marriage Alliance? </h4>


    Please read the author note at end.


    ----


    Now that Lin Mu had figured out a method to alleviate some of the ws of the fourth skill ¡¯Fade¡¯ he felt a lot better. He then thought of what to do next, as there were quite a few things on his list.


    He had nearly fulfilled the conditions he needed in order to be able to assimte the bloodline of the great slumber bear, and the only thing left was the nameless technique of the lost immortal. For that technique, the main problem Lin Mu was having was actually seeing his progress.


    He couldn¡¯t tell if it was good or bad and whether it would be enough for him to counter the effects of the bloodline ability ¡¯Well of slumber¡¯. The consequences of the ability could be fatal, thus Lin Mu wanted to be extremely sure of it before he attempted it.


    Lin Mu already knew that he could possibly be asleep for about a year if he assimted the bloodline. Thus, by taking that time period as a rule of thumb, he estimated that he would have reached the necessary level in the nameless technique if he was able to eat a year¡¯s worth of food.


    Lin Mu could already eat a week¡¯s worth of food in one day which was around two beasts, which meant he needed eight beasts for a month and eighty four beasts for a year. And since he didn¡¯t know if his requirements may change, he just decided to increase the number to about one hundred beasts.


    The day he was able to eat the meat of about one hundred beasts would be the day he was ready. But even now Lin Mu didn¡¯t know his current limit. Even if he felt satiated, he realized that he could still keep on eating more and more.


    ¡¯I need to check my current limit for eating. But for that I¡¯ll need to hunt again I¡¯m about to run out of the meat again.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Another thing he had on his list was to check what was going on with the visit of the lieutenant Wu Teng. Lin Mu was a bit suspicious about it, thus wanted to know more.


    "Hmm... I can do this right now and visit the Hei corps. Hei Bao should be at the town center hopefully, and I¡¯m already out of the house, anyway." Lin Mu decided.


    He then changed his path and walked towards the town center. While on his way Lin Mu realized that the number of people had reduced for some reason, it was almost the same as back when winter was here. About a day had passed since he hade from Jing Wei¡¯s emporium and had learned about the arrival of the Teng Battalion.


    But in just twenty four hours, the look of the town had changed. This was also the reason why Lin Mu was able to practice the fourth skill ¡¯Fade¡¯ without much problem. There simply wasn¡¯t anyone nearby, and even in the houses in his neighborhood, there was barely anyone.


    ¡¯Are they out working or something else?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    He soon reached the town center and was greeted by the guards at the entrance.


    "Is Hei Bao here?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "No, Senior Lin Mu. Caption Hei Bao has gone out on a task and is currently not in the town, but leader Hei Wen herself is there in the office." The guard who was also a member of the Hei Corps answered.


    "Ah, that¡¯s even better." Lin Mu replied before entering the building and walking up to the office.


    Upon reaching there, he saw that the doors of the office were closed, thus he knocked on it.


    "Who is it... oh it is you Lin Mu. Come in," Hei Wen said, changing her question in the middle.


    It was evident that she had used her spirit sense to check who was behind the door, and Lin Mu had felt it as well. He opened the door and found Hei Wen standing on the balcony looking over the town. She was in a long blue dress and had her signature veil covering her face.


    "Greeting! I haven¡¯t seen you for a while," Lin Mu said in a friendly manner.


    "Indeed, I¡¯ve been... upied with certain matters." Hei Wen replied.


    "When did youe back? I head Hei Bao is out on a mission?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "I just returned a day back and Hei Bao left that time too. I came to rece him for the time being." Hei Wen answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu spoke before walking to the chair and sitting down on it.


    Hei Wen took walked to the table and sat at the opposite side.


    "So what are you here for?" Hei Wen questioned.


    "I heard the mayor¡¯s son, lieutenant Wu Teng, ising soon." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Ahh, so you heard. Yes, he ising here this week at the very least." Hei Wen answered with a slightly unnerved tone.


    Lin Mu sensed the difference in her voice and curiously observed the fluctuations of her vital energy and spirit qi.


    ¡¯Is she troubled by something?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered as he sensed the irregr waves.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    He could now tell that her heart was beating in a slightly higher speed and even the waves of qiing off of her body were sporadic. Lin Mu¡¯s progress in cultivation had also enhanced his sensitivity to these characteristics.


    "You don¡¯t seem to be liking it. Is there more to it than people know?" Lin Mu questioned in a slightly more serious tone.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Yes... there is something more to it." Hei Wen answered reluctantly.


    "Of course there should be more, or it wouldn¡¯t make sense for Wu Teng to bring his entire battalion here. That would be too inefficient and also a waste of resources." Lin Mu added.


    "The mayor Wu Xun apparently struck a deal with the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect. The exact details of it are unknown, but one of the conditions is a marriage alliance."

 Chapter 296 - Representing The Lord?

    <h4>Chapter 296 - Representing The Lord? </h4>


    Lin Mu was not expecting for there to be something like this behind the visit of Wu Teng. This turned out to be a much bigger thing than people knew of. Themoners only knew that lieutenant Wu Teng wasing to meet his father.


    "What truly? But isn¡¯t it a bit suddenly? Aren¡¯t affairs such as these rather high profile... at least in case of High officials like Wu Teng and the Mayor?" Lin Mu questioned further.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Another sigh escaped Hei Wen¡¯s lips as she rubbed her head.


    "We werepletely in the dark about it and only found out about it because the lord attended the banquet where it was decided. It was rather abrupt too and the people there were all shocked." Hei Wen answered in a tired tone.


    "So then... what does this mean for us? Like to me, it doesn¡¯t seem important." Lin Mu stated.


    Till now Lin Mu was suspicious that something serious was happening, but now that he heard that it was as a rtively simple affair such as this, he didn¡¯t care about it much.


    "Of course, there isn¡¯t anything for you to do. But for us, we have a lot of things that now need to be changed, ns that need to be modified." Hei Wen replied.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief after hearing that he had no need to get involved in it and that it was an internal matter of the Hei Corps.


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    "I¡¯ll take my leave then. That¡¯s all I needed to ask pretty much." Lin Mu said and was about to stand up when Hei Wen spoke.


    "Wait!" She said.


    Lin Mu stopped and sat back down on the chair and waited for her to say what she wanted to say.


    "Although you are not involved right now, you may need to in the future." Hei Wen stated.


    "Oh? How so?" Lin Mu asked.


    Even if Lin Mu was reluctant to get involved in the matter right now, it didn¡¯t mean that he would do it if he was asked by Hei Corps. He was still grateful to them and didn¡¯t mind helping them out.


    "Actually, the lord wanted to invite you to the very banquet that happened a month ago. But the circumstances changed, and then there was no need. Still, I¡¯m sure the lord would probably be inviting you in the future. He also wanted to meet you in person." Hei Wen exined.


    Lin Mu was now curious too. He too had been wanting to meet the ¡¯Lord¡¯ for a while now, and even Senior Xukong had praised him before. He was one of the few people that Xukong had praised, including Jing Wei.


    "Sure, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem as long as you inform me beforehand." Lin Mu answered.


    "Alright. We should know a bit more of what¡¯s going to happen in the uing days, thus I will inform you ording to that." Hei Wen replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, and then a thought appeared in his mind.


    "Umm, what does the lord want with me exactly? Except for of course meeting me formally?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "The lord... will want you to fight. Or more urately demonstrate your strength." Hei Wen answered hesitatingly.


    Lin Mu¡¯s brows furrowed upon hearing this. While he was not afraid of fighting, he was no fool to rush into a fight randomly. If there was no proper reason for it, he would never ept something like this.


    "And why would I need to fight?" Lin Mu questioned in a serious tone.


    "When the before the marriage, certain ceremonies are held. One of these involves the demonstration of each attending party¡¯s strength. Since the lord is one of the influential persons attending it, he needs someone to represent him.


    Although he has us the Hei Corps with him, we cannot fight for him. Most of our members are not strong enough to qualify for apetition of that level, and the ones that are cannot be revealed. The lord cannot recruit a mercenary either as that would lead to a loss of face for him.


    This leaves him with one choice, you." Hei Wen answered in detail.


    Lin Mu did not speak anything after Hei Wen was done and simply thought it over. Hei Wen too did not interrupt him as she knew that this decision was in his hands and if he really wanted to reject it, there wasn¡¯t anything she could do.


    The lord and she were already a bit apprehensive about Lin Mu¡¯s master and were careful about him. The lord had done an investigation of his own and all of them hade back empty. This only made them more and more scared about the master behind Lin Mu.


    As they did not want to offend the master behind Lin Mu, they could not force him to do anything that he did not want to.


    Hei Wen was getting nervous as five minutes had passed by and Lin Mu had still not responded.


    "Alright, I ept!" Lin Mu answered in a determined tone.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Hei Wen silently let out a breath of relief. Although her lord had not yet asked her to tell Lin Mu this, she had taken the risk to preemptively ask him. She had been apprehensive about being rejected but now that Lin Mu had said yes she was happy with it.


    "Though I have some conditions," Lin Mu added at the end.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    Hei Wen calmed down upon hearing his words and did not mind them. She did not think the lord would ask Lin Mu to do this for free either. Having some kind of reward or payment was fine, though the question stood what is it that he wanted.


    "Please go ahead and state it." Hei Wen said.


    "I need beast meat... lots of it. Enough for a person tost for an entire year and I want it fresh." Lin Mu said in a straight tone.


    Hei Wen waspletely thrown off by this.


    "What...?"

 Chapter 297 - Lin Mus Condition

    <h4>Chapter 297 - Lin Mu''s Condition </h4>


    Hei Wen soon collected her wits andposed herself. She immediately thought of the possibilities that arose from Lin Mu¡¯s question. Even if he had asked for beast meat, it still depended on the type that he would ask for.


    For example, if Lin Mu asked for just normal beast meat, then it was no problem even if he asked for ten years¡¯ worth of it, not to mention just a year. But if it was something like nascent soul realm beast meant, then it would be a probleming up with even a single beast.


    "Umm, what kind of beast meat do you want though?" Hei Wen asked.


    "Optimally I would like spirit beast meat, but if it is just normal beasts that would work too. But the quantity would need to be increased. I would need four normal beasts in the equivalent of a single spirit beast¡¯s meat." Lin Mu answered.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Hei Wen got relieved after hearing this. They should be able to get plenty of spirit beast meat even if it would not be a year¡¯s worth. They couldpensate the reaming with the normal beast meat, anyway.


    "That is eptable, I¡¯ll inform the lord." Hei Wen replied.


    "Though... why do you need so much meat?" Hei Wen curiously asked.


    "I¡¯ll be going in seclusion for about a year... away from here. So I just want to be prepared." Lin Mu answered.


    He had already discussed this with Senior Xukong in his mind, thus knew what to say if he was asked this.


    "A year of seclusion? When?" Hei Wen asked, feeling a bit worried.


    She was worried about the timing of Lin Mu¡¯s seclusion because if it came at the item of the event it would not work out for them.


    "Oh, you don¡¯t have to worry about it, I¡¯ll only do it after the event is done. I need to do quite a bit of a preparation before that, anyway." Lin Mu answered.


    "That¡¯s all good then. We should be able to procure the meat rtively fast. I¡¯ll get the reply from Lord by the end of this week and then inform you. Oh, and the event may be in this month anytime depending on how well their negotiations go." Hei Wen replied.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and was about to leave the room when he suddenly realized something. He halted in the doorway while holding onto the door handle and spoke.


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    "By the way, who is lieutenant Wu Teng getting married to anyway?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Oh, the bride-to-be is the daughter of one of the elders of the Tri cauldron peony sect." Hei Wen answered.


    "I see... well, goodbye then." Lin Mu replied before leaving the office.


    He quickly left the town center and headed back to the courtyard. Even on the way back, he couldn¡¯t see many people and the streets were still rtively empty. To him, it seemed like the people had already headed to the southern town.


    Lin Mu guessed that with the increased presence of the mercenaries in the forest, the hunters must be having a bit harder time hunting beasts. This opportunity was probably a godsent to most people, as it was safe and steady pay. Even if it was only for a few months.


    After the time period for the jobs was over the people should be able to go back to their normal jobs without much problem. Even the mercenaries should leave by that time most likely, and thus the hunters will have plenty of prey too.


    The time for sowing the corps was already close by and people would soon be preparing the Fields in the eastern town. Lin Mu wondered if the peasants there had chosen to go to the southern town or not. If they really did, then the harvest this year may be less which meant that the cost of crops may go up.


    Just like this, Lin Mu thought of some trivial things and reached his house. Upon entering, he could smell something burning and could even see smokeing out from one of the windows.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like little shrubby burned something again." Lin Mu muttered as he went to the kitchen.


    His guess turned out to be true as the meat that Little shrubby was cooking was fully charred. There was fire lit on the other meat that was kept to the side as well. Evidently Little shrubby had lost control there, and the fire had spread to the other things.


    Still, Lin Mu was not worried about it much. Unlike the rest of the buildings in the courtyard, the kitchen was made fully from stone and brick. The kitchen was also separate from the house, and there was enough gap between the buildings so that the fire could not spread there.


    A lot of the courtyards in the Town were made with a simr design in mind as this helped prevent fires from burning down homes.


    Lin Mu saw little shrubby panicking and not knowing what to do. While the beast was smart enough to know how to light something, it had still not learned how to put it out. Lin Mu had even put buckets of water nearby so that little shrubby could use them, but the beast seemed to have a dislike of water and refused to go near it unless it was thirsty.


    Lin Mu picked up the bucket of water and sshed the water onto the fire, dousing it instantly.


    <i>~Sizzle~</i>


    The sound of embers dying out and the hot stone sizzling due to the water was heard.


    "You really need to get over your dislike of water, little Shrubby." Lin Mu chided,


    <i>~Mewo~</i>


    The beast acted coy and pretend to be innocent. It rubbed against Lin Mu¡¯s legs and showed its affection while purring lightly.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu petted its head and began to clean the mess that had been made. While doing this, a thought came to his mind.


    "Hmm, what will I do with him, when I¡¯m in seclusion?"

 Chapter 298 - Planning Ahead

    <h4>Chapter 298 - nning Ahead </h4>


    Lin Mu was sitting cross-legged on his bed while Little shrubby snuggled against his back.


    He was currently replenishing the liquid spirit qi he had exhausted while using the fourth skill ¡¯Fade¡¯ and was also thinking of what to do next. He had expended twenty drops of spirit qi in two uses of the skill, thus he wanted to regain them as soon as possible so that he could continue his normal cultivation.


    Lin Mu popped the basic qi pills into his mouth one after the other as he refined the spirit qi wisps into liquid drops. He then remembered how he had refined arge amount of liquid spirit qi all at once yesterday and was wondering if he should do that.


    It seemed to him that it was a more efficient method of refining liquid spirit qi but it was also quite taxing on his mind and took up a lot of his focus. Doing that had also made him aware of the fact that the longer he refined the liquid spirit qi without storing it in the dantian, the higher his speed would rise.


    It was obvious that if not for something like that he would certainly not have been able to refine three hundred drops of liquid spirit qi all at once that too in mere thirty six hours. If it were his usual session, he would have only been able to refine a maximum of fifty drops of liquid spirit qi.


    The consumption of basic qi pills in addition to his increase in body tempering cultivation had greatly helped him. But that continuous method of liquid spirit qi also came with its ws. It simply took a lot of his time and he could not be interrupted in between.


    If he was disturbed, he could do nothing but end it right there and store the refined liquid spirit qi into the dantian. Lin Mu also could not repeat the same thing again as he had a few things to do every day and thus could not enter seclusion like before.


    A few hours passed and Lin Mu had fully replenished the twenty liquid spirit qi drops that he had used up. Lin Mu opened his eyes and let out a sigh.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I now need to focus on the nameless technique of the lost immortal and make sure that I reach the required level. Though I still have about four more months till the Great slumber bear would start recovering. Hmm... I think I¡¯ll use the majority of the liquid spirit qi that I refine every day to practice the nameless technique of the lost immortal.


    I am already at a sufficiently strong cultivation base and need to gain the bloodline first. After that is done, I should have no problem reaching the core condensation realm with all the pills that I have with me now. These should easilyst me for more than a year." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    Lin Mu then stood up, making little shrubby move to the side as it had no support from his back. The beast did not even react though and simply continued sleeping soundly.


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    ¡¯I need to go hunt some beasts. Even if Hei Wan will be getting me the beast meat, it will still take a week¡¯s time before I get the reply from the lord and actually obtaining it will perhaps take even longer. I can¡¯t waste this week of time. I¡¯ll just hunt beasts and use them for the technique.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he walked out of the room.


    An hourter Lin Mu was in the Northern forest tracking down some spirit beasts that he had seen. While in the forest Lin Mu was able toe across some spirit beasts but they were already being targeted by some mercenaries thus he had to give up on them.


    The mercenaries however were willing to share it with Lin Mu when they recognized who he was. Lin Mu kiddingly rejected their offer as he knew the beast would not even satisfy him for one meal. He just decided to continue on deeper into the forest.


    Another hour passed as he found his fourth spirit beast. He killed that one too and hear the sound of something in the distance. Lin Mu guessed that it was either the mercenaries fighting some beasts or just beasts battling amongst themselves.


    Lin Mu headed there and found a few ape beasts that were fighting a lizard beast. The apes were smaller than Lin Mu but were at the mid stage qi refining realm. There were about four of them and the lizard beast they were fighting was alone being at thete stage of the qi refining realm.


    Lin Mu scanned the area with his spirit qi and did not even bother to hide. To him, these beasts were rather easy and would not take him much of an effort to kill. The five beasts of course detected him when he approached them and got enraged.


    The ape beasts bared their fangs at him while the lizard beast simply hissed at him. Lin Mu looked at their conditions and saw them to be rtively fine.


    ¡¯Looks like they had just started fighting when I interrupted them.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu used his spirit sense and his short sword came flying out of the scabbard while Lin Mu himself withdrew a spear from the ring. He thenmanded the short sword to fly towards the four ape beasts while he himself went to the lizard beast.


    The apes were surprised by the flying short sword and jumped around while dodging it. Lin Mu did not mind it, as his main goal was to merely distract the ape beasts and keep them upied while he killed the lizard beast.


    Lin Mu directly blinked to the top of the lizard beast and pierced its skull with the spear. With its brain skewered from the middle, the lizard beast let out a light hiss before dying.


    "Now it¡¯s your turn..."

 Chapter 299 - Methods For Bloodline Refinement

    <h4>Chapter 299 - Methods For Bloodline Refinement </h4>


    Lin Mu flicked the blood off of his short sword and looked back at his handiwork. The lizard beast and the four ape beasts were lying on the ground, dead. All of them had been killed in one precise blow to the head and had their skulls pierced.


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    It had not taken Lin Mu even a minute to finish the five beasts off which showed his capabilities. If it were any other cultivator, they would have either been unable to do it alone or would have taken a while to do it. And even if they were able to do it, they definitely would have sustained some injuries.


    Lin Mu kneeled and used his spirit sense to check their bodies for their beast cores. He found them rather easily but did not remove them there. He would do so with all the other beasts he had hunted till now, back at this house.


    The only reason he checked the beast cores was to see if there was any beast core that had awakened a bloodline ability. Because Lin Mu was soon going to assimte the bloodline of the great slumber beast, he wanted to get some practice.


    This practice was not going to be the actual assimtion of the bloodline, as that would be counterproductive. No, rather Senior Xukong was going to teach him the way to prepare the bloodline for assimtion so that he knew when the time so arose.


    The mostmon method that was used was to refine the beast core of the spirit beast along with a few supplementary materials and turn it into a type of a alchemical pill. There were many other methods, but depending on the bloodline, they greatly varied.


    Some methods were suitable for some bloodlines while some were not. Senior Xukong was going to teach Lin Mu about a different method that needed no additional material and could be done as long as the entire corpse of the beast was avable.


    But senior Xukong had already warned him that the process was going to be quite painful and difficult. Still, Lin Mu did not falter and was fully determined to go through with it.


    "Not these either," Lin Mu said, looking at the corpses.


    "You will have to look for more. Beasts that have awakened bloodlines are harder to find. Though... there are still some methods to refine an awakened bloodline if you have more of the same type beasts." Xukong replied.


    "Same type of beasts, huh? Hmm, how many would I require if they are on the level of these ape beasts?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "With their cultivation bases? I would say anywhere around twenty, but even then there will be chances of failure and this is only to refine the awakened bloodline. To make it into the form which can be assimted will take even more effort." Xukong answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It is indeed quiteplex. Guess, I¡¯ll just have to keep looking," Lin Mu stated before looking at the sky.


    "Or not... it¡¯ll be dark in a couple of hours." Lin Mu muttered.


    He then stored the corpses into the ring and headed back. In today¡¯s hunt, Lin Mu had been able to hunt about twelve spirit beasts and five normal beasts. From this, he estimated that he would need to hunt for about a week to even get a basic amount needed to test out the progress of the nameless technique of the lost immortal.


    Still for Lin Mu, Hei Wen gathering the beast meat would be the fastest option, as it meant that he would not have to spend the time he could use for cultivation in hunting down beasts. The chances of finding spirit beasts was also not absolute.


    That time when he had found the herd of the Ash Crowned deers was also rather umon and would likely not happen again. Therge herds such as those were rather rare, and only a few types of beasts would stay like that. Most of the spirit beasts in the Northern forest were either solitary or lived in smaller groups.


    The journey back was much faster for Lin Mu, as all he needed to do was run in a straight line. With his skills, he could ignore most obstacles or jump over them. Lin Mu was back at the town in an hour¡¯s time and was now in the courtyard preparing the beast corpses.


    As soon as he started digging out the beast cores from the corpses of the spirit beasts, Little Shrubby ran out of the house and came towards him. It had been attracted by the scent of the blood and was probably here to get some.


    <i>~Meow~</i>


    It lightly growled and looked at the beast core that was in Lin Mu¡¯s hand. It nudged Lin Mu with his head and then Lin Mu felt a thought appear in his mind.


    "Want." The thought said.


    "Oh, you want the beast core?" Lin Mu said as he gestured to the small olive sized beast core.


    Little shrubby nodded in an almost human like manner, showing his response.


    "Give it to him, you won¡¯t be using the beast cores anyway, will you?" Xukong said.


    "Will it be fine, though? It won¡¯t have any bad effects, will it?" Lin Mu asked in a concerned tone.


    "The beast cores are kind of like alchemical pills for the beasts, and they often consume them to grow their cultivation base. In fact, it¡¯s one of the primary methods by which they cultivate. Though there are of course certain beast cores that they can¡¯t consume depending on the type of the beast.


    Still, the beasts innately know what kind of cores are good for them, so whichever beast core it like you can give it to him and it won¡¯t be problematic for you." Xukong answered.


    "Alright senior." Lin Mu replied before handing the beast core in his hand to Little Shrubby.


    The beast core he had just given it was that of the lizard beast and was dark green in color. The color matched to those of its scales and looked a bit like a gem. Little shrubby did not even look at it for a second before swallowing the entire beast¡¯s core.


    "Well, that was fast."

 Chapter 300 - A Wedding Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 300 - A Wedding Invitation </h4>


    Little Shrubby looked pleased after eating the beast core, and Lin Mu could feel the faint waves of spirit qiing off of its body. They had increased in frequency and were now getting stronger.


    "Is he gonna breakthrough?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "It won¡¯t be unusual, you have been feeding him spirit beast meat for the past months. With the amount he has eaten, his progress should be quite fastpared to other beasts who have to spend time hunting themselves. Plus, his aptitude along with intelligence has also been raised because of the Dual Circe Ascension fruits.


    This beast core should possibly push him into thete stage of the qi refining realm." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and watched the condition of Little Shrubby. After a few seconds, it seemed to have be sleepy and thus went back inside to sleep on the warm bed. Lin Mu went back to preparing the beast corpses and took about an hour to butcher them all. In all, he had obtained about threete stage qi refining realm spirit beasts, four mid stage qi refining realm spirit beasts and five early stage qi refining realm beasts.


    Lin Mu especially stored the beast cores separately so that Little Shrubby could get them to eat whenever he wanted to.


    ¡¯Oh, almost forgot about all the blood...¡¯ Lin Mu remembered.


    He then went to the yard and willed for all the spilled blood from the ring toe out. It was as if a dam was broken and a river of blood started flowing.


    "Uhh... I may have misjudged the amount," Lin Mu muttered, feeling shocked.


    Soon the entire ground of the yard was covered in beast blood. But it didn¡¯t take long for it to be fully absorbed into the soil, leaving behind some stains which showed that blood was spilled here. There wasn¡¯t much of a bloody scent either, as it was soon dispersed by the blowing wind.


    Right now, the only ce that was left bare of the blood was the two graves of Lin Mu¡¯s parents. Lin Mu shook his head and went back to the bedroom to continue his cultivation.


    Lin Mu returned to the routine that he had before. He cultivated and refined the liquid spirit qi and then infused about eighty percent of it into his stomach in order to progress the nameless technique of the lost immortal while storing the remaining twenty percent.


    He would then eat as much beast meat as he could and improve the technique further. This also led to an increase in Lin Mu¡¯s body tempering cultivation and he was getting even more closer to the Xiantian Physique.


    The day after Little Shrubby had eaten the beast core, he broke through to thete stage of the qi refining realm. Lin Mu didn¡¯t see much change in him except for it getting a bit stronger. He had not seen any change in its speed either. He could have gotten faster, but because he didn¡¯t use its full speed, it was not apparent.


    Lin Mu would also go to the forest and hunt down some beasts for him to eat and was able to hunt about sixty five Spirit beasts in total by the end of the week. But even out of all these beasts, not one of them had an awakened bloodline.


    Neither was Lin Mu able to find arge number of the same type of beasts so that he could use the alternative method that Senior Xukong had told him of.


    Today was the eighth day after he had spoken with Hei Wen and was also the day when he was supposed to receive the answer back from the Lord. It would be good for him if he was able to obtain the beast meat early on, as that would mean he could keep a reserve stock of them when it would be the time to assimte the bloodline of the great slumber bear.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and let out a breath. He was able to sense that someone was standing outside the gate of his house and knew exactly who it was.


    "Looks like Hei Wen got the reply," Lin Mu said before he stood up.


    He walked out of the bedroom and walked to unlock the gate. Standing in front of him was none other than Hei Ping, who had been posted near his house and would bring him any messages from the Hei Corps if there were any need for him.


    "Senior Lin Mu, the leader has called you. She told me that a letter hase for you." Hei Ping informed.


    "Ahh, nice. Right on time." Lin Mu replied before closing the gate on his way out.


    Hei Ping nodded and went back to his post while Lin Mu went to the town center. Hei Wen was waiting in her office and an opened letter was lying on the desk in front of her. She noticed Lin Mu walking in and gestured for him to sit down.


    "So, what did the Lord say?" Lin Mu asked.


    "As per your request, a year¡¯s worth of beast meat is being shipped to the town as we speak. It should be here in two to three days of time and will be entirely filled with spirit beast meat." Hei Wen replied.


    "Also about the other thing that I spoke to you about..." She added after taking a pause.


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    "You mean about me representing the lord in apetition of some kind?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, that. Well... there is a great chance they will be holding it in the next week, so now you know to be prepared and to keep your schedule clear. It will besting for about ten days and you are free to stay in Wu Lim city for the entire time.


    You also don¡¯t need to pay for anything all the expenses will be taken care of by the Mayor. And... you will also need to attend the wedding so take this as an official invitation to the wedding." Hei Wen answered.

 Chapter 301 - Jing Weis News

    <h4>Chapter 301 - Jing Wei''s News </h4>


    Lin Mu had certainly not expected something like this. Not only was he representing the lord in thepetition but he would also be attending the wedding now. He had never been to a wedding of anyone that had a high status like the son of the Mayor, Wu Teng.


    All the weddings Lin Mu had been to were of themoners and were usually a rather simple affair with little costs. They were also quick and would beplete within a day, unlike the more richer people whose wedding proceedings couldst for about a week.


    Lin Mu hearing that the entire thing was going tost for ten days made him feel both excited and a little sad at the same time. Excited because he would be getting to see the city and also experience the high ss event. Sad because he would not be able to focus fully on cultivating during those days, most likely.


    ¡¯Hmm, Hei Wen said that all expenses would be borne by the mayor and the lord... then does this mean I can eat as much as I like?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Lin Mu had heard stories of how precious ingredients were used in the banquets of the rich and this was no ordinary rich person, but rather the city mayor Wu Xun¡¯s own banquet. Not to mention hearing that his son Wu Teng will be marrying the daughter of an elder of a cultivation sect.


    There was bound to be even better stuff in the entire event, if not the same.


    "You said that all expenses are borne by the mayor and the lord, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    As soon as Lin Mu asked this questioned Hei Wen didn¡¯t know why but she got a bad feeling at the bottom of her stomach. It was as if her guts were telling her that misfortune was bound to strike soon or something.


    "Well yes, but it depends on the kind of expense too. As long as it¡¯s not something unreasonable like a person destroying property or hurting people, it will be fine. Again there can be exceptions, so just use your judgment and don¡¯t do anything untoward." Hei Wen warned.


    "How about eating food?" Lin Mu further asked, not minding her masked chiding.


    "Food? Of course, food is included in that. Any invited guest can eat and drink as much as they want. It would be a dishonor to the mayor if he could not do even this much." Hei Wen answered.


    A smile bloomed on Lin Mu¡¯s face while the feeling in Hei Wen¡¯s guts worsened.


    "Alright then, it should be no problem, I¡¯ll be ready. Just call me when you are about to head there." Lin Mu replied before walking out of the town center.


    Hei Wen rubbed her forehead as a headache sprouted out of nowhere.


    ¡¯Did I... perhaps taunt the god of misfortune or something? Why do I feel bad?¡¯ Hei Wen thought to herself.


    Meanwhile, Lin Mu was on his way to the entrance of the town now. He wanted to hunt more beasts and try to find a beast that had awakened its bloodline. He now knew how much time he had before he could head there.


    "Hmm, so once I¡¯m back from that wedding, I¡¯ll head to the northern forest to get the Great slumber Bear¡¯s bloodline and then prepare for assimtion. Though I¡¯ll also have to do something with little shrubby, as I can¡¯t leave it on its own the entire time.


    The house too... I can¡¯t leave it just like that for a year. People are bound toe to check if it is not opened for a year. What should I do for that?" Lin Mu muttered to himself while trying to n for the future.


    "For the House, you can try cing an illusory formation on it. I¡¯m sure you can try asking Jing Wei for it." Xukong suggested.


    "Oh yeah, I can try that. Perhaps he¡¯ll even have a beast core with an awakened bloodline. If he does, then I won¡¯t have to hunt specifically for one." Lin Mu replied.


    He then took out themunication jade from the ring and contacted Jing Wei with it. For a minute there was no response, but then he could sense Jing Wei respond. He seemed to be in a hurry and asked Lin Mu what did he contact him for.


    Lin Mu quickly told him what he needed and got both a positive and negative answer. In the case of the illusory formation, there wasn¡¯t much of a problem, and Jing Wei could give him the things needed for setting it up. As for the beast core with an awakened bloodline, Jing Wei said that they did not have them.


    They had sold off most of the raw beast materials that they had gathered to Jingming Shang for the resources that were needed to fix the spatial ring that Lin Mu had giving to Jing Wei and thus could not do much about it. Lin Mu understood this and said that he¡¯ll be fine with just the illusory formation.


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    Jing Wei told him toe to the shop right away and also said that he had a little more news about them.


    ¡¯Hmm what could the news be?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered as he changed his direction to go towards Jing Wei¡¯s emporium.


    He opened the door of the shop with a loud creak and walked to the back room. There was no one in the shop, and it seemed like the dust had started to settle again. Lin Mu blew out themp in the back room and appeared in the courtyard before heading to the mansion at the other head.


    While walking there, he looked up at the sky and found it to be the same as before. The environment of the courtyard was also restored to its normal one, and the damage caused by the repair of the spatial ring was also gone.


    Lin Mu then saw Duan Ke standing there at the doorway, seemingly waiting for him. Upon getting close, Lin Mu could see that her expression seemed to be a bit troubled.

 Chapter 302 - A PatriarChapter And A Princess

    <h4>Chapter 302 - A PatriarChapter And A Princess </h4>


    Lin Mu was about to ask Duan Ke what was wrong when she suddenly spoke.


    "Let¡¯s go grandfather is waiting for you." She said before walking in.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t even have a chance to respond to her and simply decided to follow her for the time being. Though he was also having a strange feeling in his guts now.


    They reached the hall and Lin Mu saw Jing Wei sitting there with his eyes closed. He seemed to be deep in thought and from his expressions it looked as if he had detached himself from this world and the only things that existed for him now were the things in his mind.


    Jing Wei opened his eyes when Lin Mu came to a stop in front of him.


    "Grandfather, I¡¯ve got the illusory formationponents ready as you asked." Duan Ke said.


    "That¡¯s good. Now give them to him and tell him how to use them after that." Jing Wei said in a calm tone.


    Duan Ke withdrew a box from her Spatial treasure and handed it to Lin Mu. She also took out a small jade slip and held it to her forehead for a minute before giving it to him as well.


    "The box has theponents you will need to set the formation while the jade slip has detailed instructions on how to construct it. It shouldn¡¯t be hard as theponents are already refined." Duan Ke said.


    Lin Mu kept the box ofponents in his ring and looked through the contents of the small jade slip. The information appeared in his mind and he found it to be rtively simple.


    "I can guide you with the formation so these instructions don¡¯t really matter," Xukong said in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Hmm" Lin Mu hummed in response to both Duan Ke and Xukong.


    He then looked at Jing Wei, who was still sitting on the throne like chair.


    "So what news did you have for me?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, first of all I would like to thank you and your master again for giving us the knowledge. We will eternally be grateful for that." Jing Wei said and then stood up.


    Duan Ke also seemed to have tensed up and was now standing in a rather different posture.


    Jing Wei then brought his hands in front and upped them in a salute, and Duan Ke did the same.


    "What..." Lin Mu was about to talk when he was interrupted.


    Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "I Jing Wei, the sixth patriarch of the Jing n hereby dere that me and my n, as long as they exist shall be in your debt and if you so desire will be avable to help for five generations of your offsprings." Jing Wei dered in a powerful tone before bowing.


    Lin Mu kept on listening with shock face couldn¡¯t say anything either.


    "I Duan Ke, the sole princess of the former Duan kingdom hereby dere that me and my family, as long as they exist shall be in your debt and if you so desire will be avable for help for five generations of your offsprings." Duan Ke dered in a staunch voice before bowing as well.


    Lin Mu was overwhelmed by their words and felt as if his mind was going nk.


    "That was certainly unexpected," Xukongmented.


    While Lin Mu could still understand Jing Wei¡¯s words, he was confused about Duan Ke¡¯s.


    ¡¯Princess? The Duan Kingdom?¡¯ Lin Mu questioned in his mind.


    He tried to recall if he had read anything about the Duan Kingdom and remembered that there indeed was one a long time ago. The Duan Kingdom was one of the kingdoms of the former Central Continent and was also a great power once upon a time.


    Eventually, it was taken over by the Zhou kingdom like the rest and became a vassal. The Royal n of the Duan Kingdom still existed back then, but something happened about fifty years ago when a civil war broke out. There was some kind of conflict in the royal family and all of its members were either wiped out or disappeared.


    After that, the kingdom was split up by the neighboring kingdoms and disappeared forever into the annals of time. Lin Mu had not expected that Duan Ke was a princess of that kingdom at all.


    Jing Wei and Duan Ke stood back up from their bow and looked at the perplexed Lin Mu.


    "I know it¡¯s a lot to process but don¡¯t take it to your heart. We... we are no longer the same as before. I am the Patriarch of a n that has no members, and Duan Ke is the princess of a kingdom that has no subjects. Our titles are mere scars of the past and hold no meaning." Jing Wei said in a calm tone.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what to say and simply nodded his head. He knew that the words they had said were heavy and were their way to express their gratitude. He could not disrespect them by denying them this thing.


    "Grandfather, you still need to tell him that..." Duan Ke prompted.


    "Tell me what?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The knowledge that we obtained has greatly helped us, and in a long time, I finally feel like I have hope. Hope to take revenge for my n." Jing Wei replied with mes in his eyes.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Jing Wei let out a breath and calmed himself down before continuing.


    "And for this very reason, we need to prepare. We have been waiting for the right opportunity and now it hase. We... we will be gone for a while." He said.


    "Gone? Where are you going and for how long?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling apprehensive.


    "We will be heading to our ancestralnds, there we will have the right things to prepare. I also want to tell you this, when wee back, the empire will not be the same. It is likely that the news of our return will start a new conflict, so you need to be prepared for that.


    As for the time... it can be a few months or it can be more than a year." Jing Wei answered.

 Chapter 303 - The Fall Of Jing Clan-I

    <h4>Chapter 303 - The Fall Of Jing n-I </h4>


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what to think. While he was surprised by their identities more specifically Duan Ke¡¯s he still had some questions.


    "Go ahead, you can ask us what you want. You deserve that." Jing Wei said reading the expression On Lin Mu¡¯s face.


    Lin Mu took a few seconds before he got all his thoughts in order.


    "Who are the people you want to take revenge on and why exactly?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "There are far too many people that betrayed us. Some did it intentionally, while some were simply bystanders who decided to not interfere when they could. Though the ones that are the most guilty are none other than the cultivation sects.


    In the past, my n was very influential and we were the sole suppliers of peak grade spirit weapons and tools along with some pseudo immortal tools. We had contributed to defending against the invaders and the northern tribes for countless years.


    Over time, numerous powers rose and fell, but we remained the same and even got more powerful. The cultivation sects were threatened by our influence and our skills in the refinement of spirit tools. The presence of our spirit weapons and tools could easily decide the winner of a war. The one who had our weapons had the highest chance to win.


    But our n had rules. While we would contribute fully in fighting against the invaders and the northern tribes, we would never provide the kingdoms or the sects with weapons that could decide the fate of a battle. If they wanted them, they had no choice but to pay a great price.


    Things were fine when I became the sixth patriarch of my n about fifteen hundred years ago. The kingdoms and the Sects respected our rules. But then came the time of peace. The northern tribes became silent and there were no more attacks. It was also during this time that the Great Zhou Empire had been fully stabilized.


    The then Emperor had been able to cull all dissent and gained power over all the kingdoms making them his vassals. Still, the emperor had a few thorns left in his path. These were none other than the Eastern Ming Dynasty, The Duan Kingdom and my Jing n.


    The Eastern Ming dynasty of course had already suffered a lot and eventually submitted to the emperor under the prolonged oppression. This left the Duan Kingdom and my Jing n, who were existing peacefully. While the Duan Kingdom also quite strong, they had long since submitted to the emperor. The actual reason behind the emperors thinking of them as a thorn was his paranoia.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    The Royal family of the Duan Kingdom was blessed in the investigational and appraisal arts. Back during the times of the great war, they had been able to win battle by simply having excellent intel, which was obtained due to their executional investigational skills.


    Still, because the Duan Kingdom had not directly opposed nor had any conflict with the emperor, he could not do much, and thus he had to bear with it. But my Jing n was still something he was afraid of. We had enough power that we could potentially overthrow his rule if we allied with the other former powers and the sects.


    The emperor kept on searching for avenues to harm us but failed at most attempts. eventually, a new emperor reced him but he had the same paranoia as his father. It was not until about a hundred years ago that it happened. My daughter... my sweet precious Miao¡¯er fell in love with the prince of the Duan kingdom.


    I knew how the emperor could react to it, and thus I tried to stop it, but she ran away and eloped with the prince. Knowing that I could not do much, other than to suppress this news, I contacted a few of my friends. With their help, I was able to fabricate a story that my daughter died while cultivating due to heavenly tribtion.


    The royal family of the Duan Kingdom tacitly approved of this, and Miao¡¯er lived there with the prince by changing her identity. Eventually, time came and the prince ascended the throne, bing the king Duan Chen. It was then that a n rose in the Northernnds.


    This n was called the Gu n and was a small n. They were able to grow big in the span of a few years due to them finding the inheritance of a fallen expert. With the help of that, their people grew in strength.


    But they were greedy and wanted more power. They were willing to do anything to achieve that and made a shady organization that did all the ck deeds that the other organizations and sects needed to be done. They also sold information and intel, bing thergest information broker on the continent.


    It was this Gu n that sparked the fall of my n. They somehow discovered the fact that Miao¡¯er was still alive and was actually the queen of the Duan Kingdom. The Emperor could not bear the news and entered a furious state.


    He incited the sects and the powers that were under his control. While he was not able to convince them all to attack us, he was still able to make them take no action. The cultivation sects too wanted our secrets and the refinement skills that we had hidden away.


    Then one day it happened, the emperor¡¯s men and cultivators swept thends of my n and killed every member. The same massacre happened in the Duan Kingdom, except there only the royal family was wiped out. In a single night, nearly the entirety of my Jing n and the Royal family of the Duan Kingdom was wiped out.


    This all happened over fifty years ago. The Emperor wiped out all the traces of massacre and made it look as if the Jing n never existed. Themoners were never involved in the matters of the cultivators anyway, thus they had no problem with it, while the cultivators themselves were involved in the ughter so there was no question there either." Jing Wei paused and let out another sigh while rubbing his brows.

 Chapter 304 - The Fall Of Jing Clan-II

    <h4>Chapter 304 - The Fall Of Jing n-II </h4>


    Jing Wei took the teacup that had been lying on the table in front of him all this while and poured some in water into it before taking a sip and moistening his parched throat. He then took a deep breath and continued his story, while Lin Mu Silently listened on.


    Lin Mu had not expected to hear something like this today. This was the dark history of the empire that had been hidden from the eyes of the masses for decades. He could also see the hypocrisy of the so-called ¡¯Righteous sects¡¯ and how they became bystanders while still secretly killing the Jing n¡¯s members.


    "After the ughter, only a few people were able to survive. I sustained injuries and escaped, but not before a tracking formation was ced on my body. Wherever I went I could be found and no matter what I did, I could not suppress the tracking formation.


    The intricacy of the formation was beyond anything I had ever seen and I could not find its origin. But I knew that it was none other than the emperor who hadmanded for it to be done. The other people who were able to survive were my eldest grandson Jing Luo, my daughter Miao¡¯er and a few servants from the Duan Kingdoms royal family.


    The servants were the ones that were able to save Miao¡¯er and were able to smuggle her out. But our problems had not ended there, we were all separated and away from each other. I was in my n¡¯s territory, Miao¡¯er was in the Duan Kingdom¡¯snds while Jing Luo was somewhere in the Eastern Ming Dynasty cultivating in seclusion.


    I was able to contact them and we were able to decide upon a safe ce which was none other than this very courtyard. The myriad armament canopy abode was the biggest achievement of my n and was also the greatest secret. Its full potential was never tested, and even now I do not know of it.


    The myriad armament canopy abode was meant to be a safe retreat for the n in case of a cmity, and that was exactly what we were having back then. But I could not reveal the myriad armament canopy abode to the world until I found a way to suppress the tracking formation.


    Eventually, I discovered a way that required a great sacrifice. I sealed my cultivation and suppressed my lifeblood, as that was the only way which could forcefully suppress it. My daughter Miao¡¯er was able to find her way to me eventually and the only person left was my eldest grandson Jing Luo.


    He was too far away, and it was difficult for him toe to us because of the danger that now presented in between, the cultivation sects. There were thousands of search parties looking for us and were spread in each and every kingdom.


    It was during this time that I found out Miao¡¯er was with child. Because of this, I had no choice but to take shelter in a small vige and wait for my grandchild to be born. Jing Luo hid during this time, yet still ended up in conflicts with some cultivators.


    He was on the precipice of the nascent soul realm back then and was looking for an opportunity to breakthrough. That was the reason why he was so far away from us and was in the Eastern Ming dynasty. He did breakthrough, but it came at a bad time.


    The heavenly tribtion that he had been trying to suppress from appearing all this time came and interrupted his battle. He sessfully broke through but ended up sustaining injuries due to the heavenly tribtion.


    This also revealed his location to all the Sects, as Heavenly tribtion was not something that could be hidden easily from the sense of the elders of the sects. Having no choice, I unsealed my cultivation base and went to save him.


    While I was able to save him, Miao¡¯er suffered from an attack in my absence. Her servants sacrificed their lives so that she could escape, but she was too waked by the pregnancy. I sealed my cultivation base and reached her location with Jing Luo, only to find out she was on her death bed.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    My new granddaughter Ke¡¯er was in her hands while she bled out. She held on till she could hand Ke¡¯er to us before passing on to the afterlife. It was that day that we swore upon the heavens that even if millenniums passed, we would have our revenge.


    Now finally together, I activated the myriad armament canopy abode and hid away to bide my time.


    The Emperor had still not given up on us though and kept on looking. A decade passed like this and they were still unable to find us. The Emperor grew impatient and turned his attention on a new target, which was none other than the Gu n, which was the perpetrator behind everything.


    Even if the emperor was paranoid, he was not stupid. He knew what the Gu n had done and what they were capable of. If they could bring forth the downfall of a strong n like the Jing n they couldn¡¯t they do the same with the empire given enough time?


    Thus the Emperor had the Gu n wiped off from the face of the empire as well. That was a great day for us, as well as it meant that one of our greatest foes had been eliminated. But this also meant that our other foe the Emperor had only gotten stronger.


    Thirty years ago we got an opportunity to take revenge and embarked on the mission to kill the emperor. That was the time when the First Prince of the empire, the emperor¡¯s son, was going to be appointed as the crown prince.


    But our mission failed as the sects were able to interrupt us and I ended up separating from Jing Luo. He sacrificed himself so that I could escape. Ke¡¯er was still young and needed for someone to raise her, thus I went into hiding again.


    We roamed across the Empire, finding opportunities and allies until we eventually settled here." Jing Wei concluded with reddened eyes.

 Chapter 305 - Pity And Disgust

    <h4>Chapter 305 - Pity And Disgust </h4>


    Please read the author note at the end.


    ----


    A myriad of emotions were currently flowing through Lin Mu. Sorrow, Rage, Pity, Difort, and Disgust allbined to form a strange mix that Lin Mu could not exin.


    He felt sorrow for all the bad that had happened to Jing Wei and Duan Ke¡¯s families and ns. He felt rage against the people who had put them in this position and had caused the downfall of their n and kingdom. He felt pity for Duan Ke as she never got to see her mother and Jing Wei because he lost his grandson as well.


    He felt difort at the idea that even if one has everything in the world, it can all be taken away in the blink of an eye. Lin Mu himself had gone through this before when his property was taken from him and he was thrown out of the town, but in the case of Jing Wei, it was different. He and his n were so powerful, yet against the machinations of many, it could not stand.


    Then finally he felt disgusted because of the actions of the cultivation sects. Their so-called Righteousness was only a facade that they would drop at a moment¡¯s notice if they were benefiting from it. Jing Wei and his n had stood with them and helped them resist the invaders and the northern tribes. Without them, perhaps countless more lives would have been lost and they would not have even won wars.


    Lin Mu felt as if the beasts were better than these cultivators, at least they stayed true to their nature and acted ording to it.


    Xukong was able to see each and every thought that Lin Mu had. He didn¡¯t even have to deliberately listen to them, rather they were so powerful and loud that he could hear them through their link even if he didn¡¯t want to.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    But Xukong didn¡¯t mind it, rather he was happy. He had long since wanted Lin Mu to experience the true realities of this universe, the bitter absolutes that ruled and reached over both the mortals and the immortals.


    While Lin Mu had already experienced some, they were simply not enough. The world of cultivation was harsh... much harsher than that of themoners. Themoners could easily live out their lifespans being ignorant and they would not suffer much, at least usually.


    But the cultivators... they pursued immortality... they pursued eternal existence. For them, what happened to the mortals was but a mere fraction of their lives.


    They could potentially live countless times more than them. The ones that could not go above the sufferings of the mortals were forever bound to remain mortals.


    They had to embrace the truth... or break it!


    Going beyond it, beyond the shackles of mortality, is how an immortal is born. Not only does this require the ¡¯Qi¡¯ but it also requires the ¡¯Dao¡¯.


    The Qi can be obtained even by an inanimate object, but the ¡¯Dao¡¯ needs a soul... it needs a mind... it needs a will.


    A weak will won¡¯t let the mind grow, a weak mind will cripple a soul, and a soul like that will never be able toprehend the ¡¯Dao¡¯ without which one would never touch the precipice of immortality.


    Cultivators take countless years to learn this and stumble through a sea of mistakes before they discover this truth. But Xukong, he didn¡¯t want Lin Mu to do that. No... he had much bigger ns. He had seen his capabilities, his... talent. He knew there was much more to it than he could even see now, and for this very reason he wanted him to grow faster, better and stronger.


    Lin Mu learning about the past of Jing Wei and Duan Ke was showing him a small aspect of this ¡¯Truth¡¯ and that was enough for him... at least for now.


    Suddenly, Xukong could feel it. There was a change in the ring. Xukong now knew a little bit about how the ring was working and how it would give Lin Mu the skills and abilities it was giving. He now knew that they both had the same thing on their minds. Both Xukong and the mysterious ring wanted Lin Mu to grow.


    "So you will let him see it all... let him experience it and only then will you reward him. Good... very good... I like it." Xukong said while looking towards the ethereal altar which had started glowing in dark purple light.


    "What is it that you want to give to him? Are you still assessing it or have you already made a decision?" Xukong asked the alter without expecting an answer.


    Xukong stared at the glowing altar with a strange glint in his eyes. While he could see the glowing altar, there was no specific aura that could be felt from it. Xukong had experienced the Buddhist path¡¯s aura, the sword path¡¯s aura, and even the demonic path¡¯s aura. But right now there was nothing that was simr to them.


    ¡¯What is this?¡¯ He wondered but was soon forced to focus on the situation outside.


    Lin Mu looked at Jing Wei and Duan Ke with a calm expression. He felt like if he expressed sympathy with them, that would simply insult them. With all that they had gone through, this would be degrading to them. They were much more stronger than this and deserved a better response.


    Jing Wei and Duan Ke saw Lin Mu giving them a respectful and calm gaze. This made them take a breath of relief as they did not want to be pitied. They were going to take their revenge, and that was absolute. If it were anyone that was to be pitied, then it was their enemies, for their fates had just be flipped.


    Lin Mu inwardly felt a need to help them, but it was not just because they had helped him, but rather because he did not want the people who pretended to be righteous but acted differently, to exist in this world.


    Today an intense dislike had been born in Lin Mu¡¯s heart for the cultivation sects.

 Chapter 306 - Farewell And Parting Gifts

    <h4>Chapter 306 - Farewell And Parting Gifts </h4>


    Lin Mu looked on at the two and thought of what to say until he eventually decided on something.


    "Looks like both of us will be going away soon, ha ha!" Lin Mu said.


    Jing Wei raised his brows but understood that this was a good way to change the good situation and thus decided to go with it.


    "Oh, really? Where are you going?" Jing Wei asked.


    "I¡¯ll be going into seclusion for about a year soon... well after a wedding." Lin Mu replied.


    "A wedding, whose wedding?" Duan Ke questioned, feeling curious.


    "The son of the mayor, Lieutenant Wu Teng is getting married to the daughter of one of the elders of the Tri cauldron peony sect." Lin Mu answered.


    "What? When did that happen?" Jing Wei asked, feeling confused now.


    The two of them had been inside the courtyard for a while now and did not have much contact with the outside world for the past two weeks. The only contact they had was with the servants of Jingming Shang, who had sent them the materials that they needed.


    But after that, they did not hear any news from the town and were thus in the blind about everything. Understanding this, Lin Mu began to tell them of all that had happened these past few days and how he was now going to represent the Lord of the Hei corps in apetition of some kind.


    "Be careful Lin Mu, those people will try to use you," Jing Wei said in a concerned tone. "I¡¯ve seen these contests and while they aremon and are a means to demonstrate your strength, you will also draw plenty of eyes to yourself."


    Lin Mu listened to his words and found them to be fair. He was inexperienced in these matters, and there was no one better than Jing Wei to give him advice in this aspect.


    "I won¡¯t tell you what to do, but you can decide yourself if it is worth or not." Jing Wei added.


    "Thank you for your advice, old man Jing. I¡¯ll think over it," Lin Mu said in a respectful tone.


    Then suddenly a question came to Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "You said you were going to leave, right? Then what¡¯s going to happen to the shop and the courtyard?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The shop itself will be here, as it had always been a part of the twin. But the Myriad armament canopy abode, it can go wherever we want it to as it. I can anchor it to any ce and will be able to enter into it. That is the reason why this was the backup n of my n." Jing Wei said.


    "Oh, I see." Lin Mu nodded in understanding.


    He then realized that he should probably hurry and get back to his tasks. The first thing he needed to do was to ce the illusory formation array in his house to protect it while he was gone.


    "Goodbye, then. I hope we meet again soon and you aplish what you are setting out to do." Lin Mu said.


    "You too, take care. You have a great duty on your head and you need to fulfill it. Be careful and don¡¯t let the schemes of others harm you. I hope that by the time we meet again, the situation will be one of peace and not conflict." Jing Wei replied.


    Duan Ke meanwhile looked at Lin Mu with aplex expression and felt a bit confused about what to say.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Goodbye then," Duan Ke simply said with a small smile on her lips.


    Seeing this, a big smile bloomed on Lin Mu¡¯s face as this was the first time he was seeing Duan Ke like this. He didn¡¯t mind that her farewell was rather short, but was happy with it.


    Lin Mu was about to turn around when Jing Wei stopped him.


    "Oh, I almost forgot!" Jing Wei said before waving his hand.


    <i>~clink~</i>


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~clink~</i>


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~clink~</i> Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    Tenrge bags appeared on the ground in front of him and made clinking sounds. As soon as Lin Mu heard it, he knew what was inside the bags. He didn¡¯t even look at them before he spoke.


    "Why?" He asked.


    "Where we are going, it won¡¯t be that useful. Besides, even if you have a strong master, having more money doesn¡¯t hurt. This shouldst you for a good while... I hope." Jing Wei said.


    Lin Mu did a quick sweep with his spirit sense and was able to estimate an approximate number of coins in those bags. His mind was shocked by the sheer amount, but he was able to control it rather well this time.


    "But if you had so much gold, why did you have to get more to repair the ring?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling strange.


    "Oh, that was a different kind of gold that I used. The gold used to make these coins is the normal gold, but the one that I used to refine green gold and fix the ring was a different variant called as Crude gold. It is considered to be of a lower quality than the one that is used to make these coins. But it has some special properties that this kind of gold does not have and it can be refined further to make green gold." Jing Wei answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and felt good at having another one of his curiosities satisfied. He then touched all of the coin bags and stored them in his ring, bing a million gold coins richer in an instant. Lin Mu did not even know how he was going to spend it and felt like it would take him a few years to finish them all.


    Just the current amount he had was barely starting to reduce. But of course, he didn¡¯t mind it and went along with it. He bid farewell to onest time to Jing Wei and Duan Ke before leaving the courtyard and heading to his house.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Will we ever see him again, grandfather?" Duan Ke questioned after Lin Mu had left.


    "Oh, I believe it will be more than that. He has been ordained by the world¡¯s will, no person who has ever been given that duty has stayed hidden. I believe his name will echo across the entire continent soon." Jing Wei said.


    "Even if we don¡¯t want to, we will see him. I just hope that we are on the same side in the end..." Jing Wei added with a mncholic look which was resonated by Duan Ke as well.


    ***


    Meanwhile, Xukong was looking at the ethereal altar in the ring again. It had suddenly calmed down without doing anything, which was not something that he had expected.


    "Why did you settle down?" Xukong questioned it, receiving no answer.


    He thought to himself and went over Lin Mu¡¯s conversation with Jing Wei and Duan Ke, finding the answer on his own.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯So that¡¯s why... only when he is in the need will you give it to him.¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    "No matter, we will think of it when the time arrives," Xukong said to himself. "For now, we should just focus on the present..."

 Chapter 307 - Setting Up His First Ever Formation Array

    <h4>Chapter 307 - Setting Up His First Ever Formation Array </h4>


    Lin Mu was currently being instructed on setting up a formation array and was about halfway done. Xukong had taken a look at theponents that Jing Wei had given Lin Mu and also the instructions that were given to him. As he had expected, their method of setting up the formation was quite inefficient.


    Xukong could think of ten different methods by which he could set up a better illusory formation array with the sameponents. And that was exactly what he was doing right now. In fact, Xukong even found a way to add a few more features to the formation array that would increase its effectiveness.


    The formation array was set up using a lot ofponents which included formation gs, talismans, formation tes, and formation stones. All of these were made of special materials and were inscribed with smaller individual formations on them.


    When all of these were used in a certain pattern along with the right methodology, they would give rise to a formation array.


    Lin Mu had just finished nting formation gs in each of the corners of his house and stuck talismans onto the four sides of the courtyard. Then finally he buried a formation stone at the very center of the courtyard. The stone would act as the main node of the illusory formation, the gs would act as the border posts and finally, the talismans would reinforce the borders of the entire array.


    Then at the end, Lin Mu was left with the formation te.


    "What do I do with this Senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That formation te is the key to the entire illusory formation array. That is what you will be using to control the entire thing." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded in understanding before looking at the formation te and pouring his spirit qi into it. It took him about ten minutes before the te was fully filled and ready to activate. It even took up a ratherrge amount of his liquid spirit qi, requiring around a hundred drops.


    "This is a muchrger amount that was mentioned by Duan Ke Senior, why is it so?" Lin Mu asked again.


    While he was not bothered by the depletion of his liquid spirit qi as he could not gain it back within a day, he still felt a bit shocked as the difference between the amount that Duan Ke had said was barely ten drops of liquid spirit qi but this took about hundred which was ten times more.


    "I¡¯ve changed the setup of the formation a bit. While this has increased its initial consumption, it will also strengthen the entire formation array and make it more potent. Besides, the formation itself should sustain on its own for a few years after you inject it with the amount you have.


    If we had an additional powering formation, then you would not have even needed to do this step and the formation array could have stayed activated forever as long as no one attacked it or something happened to the powering formation." Xukong spoke.


    Just as Xukong finished exining, runes started appearing in the air, denoting that the formation was now ready.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    "Do it!" Xukong ordered.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense connected with the formation te and the entirety of the courtyard was now covered in formation runes. First, they were shing with each other and seemed to be ipatible, but then with Senior Xukong pointing out the mistakes, Lin Mu corrected them.


    Usually, this would have been quite difficult for Lin Mu to do, as he practically had no formal training with the creation of the formations. But with the pre-madeponents and Xukong¡¯s instructions, it was a piece of cake for him.


    Lin Mu was able to rectify the mistakes with the help of the formation te, as it did whatever hemanded it to with his spirit sense. About thirty minutester, the entire formation array stabilized and the runes faded away.


    But Lin Mu could still feel the connection with the entire formation array and knew that if he wanted he could activated, deactivate and even destroy the entire thing at will. It would not even need a snap of his fingers, and the entire thing would detonate.


    But of course, that was not something Lin Mu wanted. These were just the features that were avable to him. Along with the illusory feature, Xukong was also able to modify a couple ofponents in it, to add a mild bewildering formation to it as well.


    Now with thebination of them all, if anyone were to look at the location the courtyard was located it, they would only see the other adjoining houses. It was as if the courtyard did not exist. And if someone identally touched the wall of the courtyard, for example, they would not think there is a courtyard there at all.


    Their perception would be distorted by the formation array. But of course, there were limitations to the formation array, it was not all-powerful. The formation array could sustain itself for a few years or even up to a few tens of years as long if everything went well.


    But if some damage was inflicted on itself, the spirit qi storage of the formation array would deplete, which would then reduce the time for which it could stay active. Another thing was the while this formation array could affect themoners it was not the same for the cultivators.


    In the case of cultivators, at most those below the Dao shell realm would be fooled by it. The perception of the Dao shell realm was in apletely different league because of which mostmon formations would not work on them.


    There were also a few exceptions, such as if there was a formation expert who was passing by. If the formation expert had a high enough attainment, he or she would instantly be able to detect the illusory formation. Thought whether they would be able to resolve it was dependant on their strength.


    Havingpleted this entire task, Lin Mu took a breath of relief and returned to his room to replenish the spirit qi he had spent.

 Chapter 308 - Politics

    <h4>Chapter 308 - Politics </h4>


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~Slick~</i>


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    Arge beast¡¯s head rolled on the ground as blood sttered to the sides. Lin Mu gestured with his fingers, and his short sword returned to his scabbard.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A sigh escaped Lin Mu¡¯s lips as he witnessed another failure. About four days had passed since Lin Mu set the formation array and bade farewell to Jing Wei and Duan Ke. The two of them had left the town the very night when Lin Mu had met them.


    He had not seen them leave but could sense it due to themunication jade that he had. Jing Wei had told Lin Mu had as long as they were within the distance of about a thousand kilometers themunication jade would work. Butst night it had finally stopped working and the connection it had was broken.


    It was evident from this that they had long left the town or even the kingdom itself, depending on the direction they went.


    The day of thepetition was getting closer and Lin Mu was still not able toplete one of his smaller goals, which was to practice refining a bloodline to prepare it for assimtion. He had hunted nearly about seventy beasts and was still unable to find a beast with an awakened bloodline.


    Still, he was not totally disappointed as another one of his smaller goals had been fulfilled yesterday as well. Yesterday was the day when therge shipment containing the beast meat had arrived for Lin Mu. Hei Wen had sent him a message and had asked him to meet somewhere outside the town.


    This was done as the shipment was ratherrge and they did not want people to know and talk about it, especially with the current political climate. When Lin Mu met yesterday with Hei Wen, he also got to know of some new undercurrents that had arisen in the current situation.


    The mercenary union had officially med the mayor of the Wu Lim city, Wu Xun for mishandling the incidents that urred and also for falsely using the mercenaries that ¡¯HE¡¯ himself had recruited. The mayor had of course tried to flip the directive onto the mercenary union, but the head of the mercenary union did something which waspletely unexpected.


    He used the royal decree which was issued to them for the services they had rendered to the kingdom. Because of that decree, they now had the support of the king of the Shuang Qian kingdom, and even the Tri cauldron peony sect could not do anything without disturbing the delicate political ecosystem even more.


    Of course, this also meant that the wedding had to be forcefully dyed as the mayor was now called in for questioning at the Royal court of the Shuang Qian kingdom. Investigators were also sent to the Wu Lim city and they would be making their rounds around the four towns as well, getting the people¡¯s perspective.


    Another ironic thing that happened was that the battalion that lieutenant Wu Teng had brought with him had now been ordered by the king to assist in the very investigation. Wu Teng being the son of the Mayor was not allowed to participate under any circumstances and another officer would be sent to take authority over the entire battalion for the time being.


    Of course, lieutenant Wu Teng was not punished he was merely asked to restrain himself till the investigation would bepleted.


    The people had even expected that lieutenant Wu Teng would be infuriated and would notply easily seeing that his marriage was being dyed. But it was not so, instead he very jovially epted it and just took it as a vacation.


    Thest report Hei Wen heard about him, spoke of him enjoying his time at one of the pleasure pavilions of Wu Lim city, much to the displeasure of his fiancee and the tri cauldron peony sect. The other powers were able to guess certain aspects from this and realized that the rtionship between the mayor and the Tri cauldron peony sects wasn¡¯t as good as he was showing it to be.


    Frankly, Lin Mu was a bit overwhelmed by hearing the entire thing and did not know why Hei Wen was even telling him this. But then Senior Xukong exined an obvious fact to him.


    He said,


    "The background that they think you have, certifies you to receive all this information and they think they have the responsibility to tell you this. This is something you will experience more in the future; when one has power, people flock to him and would do him favor just to get a little bit of his approval."


    This was another reminder to Lin Mu about how his situation had changed greatly, and he was not the same orphan he was in the past. He was a cultivator now, a cultivator that had been ordained by the world¡¯s will.


    The subconscious thinking that chained Lin Mu to his previous lowly identity of a peasant was slowly being broken down.


    Another thing that Lin Mu had heard was that even if the wedding was dyed for the time being, the other ceremonies associated with it were not fully stopped. The ones such as thepetition would still take ce, albeit at a slightlyter time.


    When Lin Mu has asked Hei Wen till when it could be expected, she told him that he should consider ten days as the minimum time period. She told him to be ready, as there were likely to be even more people at thepetition due to the investigations that the mayor was undergoing.


    This was because the nearby Powers wanted to put the mayor and all the people rted to him under a close scrutiny and what better way was there than to examine them during a maritalpetition where they would be giving the demonstration of their strengths.


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    The additional people that were nowing were noting uninvited, but rather they were just changing their previous decision to not attend the wedding. Due to how the politics worked in the aristocratic circle, mayor Wu Xun had to send invitations to each and every power that he knew of, including the ones that he had a bad rtionship with.


    Even if the powers declined it, that was fine. But if he were to never send an invitation, they would take this as a sign of disrespect and would then try to stir up trouble for him. Such was the world of the aristocrats and nobles which Lin Mu was now starting to clearly dislike.


    Hearing Jing Wei¡¯s story had made him dislike the hypocrisy of the cultivation sects, and now hearing Hei Wen¡¯s report had made him dislike the bureaucracy and facades of the so-called nobles.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Another sigh escaped Lin Mu¡¯s lips as he reminisced over the events of yesterday. He tried to not think over them but for some reason the harder he tried the harder it was to do that.


    "Hahaha! Seems like you are in a dilemma, huh." Xukong said with a chuckle.


    "I am indeed Senior. What is this strange conflict in my mind, which seems to be even more mysterious than cultivation?" Lin Mu replied.


    "That my child is another truth of the universe. Wherever there are sentient beings, their schemes will appear too. Trust me when I say this, no being in the universe whether a mortal or an immortal had escaped this and all they can do is to learn the game and get better at it."

 Chapter 309 - Four Hooded Men

    <h4>Chapter 309 - Four Hooded Men </h4>


    Lin Mu let out a sigh filled with fatigue after he finished listening to Senior Xukong¡¯s words. He recooked that it would be better to just focus on the task at hand and continue looking for a beast with an awakened bloodline.


    "Senior, is there any easier way to find a beast with an awakened bloodline?" Lin Mu questioned curiously.


    "There are of course, but I¡¯m afraid none of them are possible for you to use. There are special spirit tools that can do help in searching beasts with an awakened bloodline, but I doubt anyone in this world even knows something like that exists not to mention having one." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded in understanding and continued his hunt. He ended up hunting for about two more hours before deciding to head back for the day.


    ¡¯At least now that spring is here, the sun doesn¡¯t go down as early.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself while returning.


    He followed his routine and cultivated for a few hours before lying down on the bed and appearing in the Sleepscape. Lately, Lin Mu had been reading up on the records that Jing Wei had given him. He realized that there were a lot of things he didn¡¯t know, and as these things were native to this world, Senior Xukong could not help him in this aspect either.


    He would practice the thousand armament de scripture and then the nameless technique of the lost immortal before reading the records. He had learned quite a few things that included the history of the continent, the geography, and also the Powers of the continent.


    Lin Mu also found out that there were around twenty five kingdoms in the great Zhou empire and that the number of sects was even more than this. The exact number of cultivation sects was difficult to say, as new ones would appear and disappear every few years.


    But the one thing that remained constant was the top ten sects. Their numbers had stayed the same for the past thousand years, and they had always been ruling over the cultivators in a way. Lin Mu suddenly felt lightheaded and realized that he should probably sleep now.


    Thus another day began, and Lin Mu went to hunt. This time he changed the location and went towards the North eastern part of the forest, seeing that he was having no luck in the middle or the North western part. Lin Mu wondered if he¡¯ll just end up practicing for the first time with the Great slumber bear itself if he was not able to find any beast with an awakened bloodline.


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    Two hours passerby by in the blink of an eye during which he was able to Hunt three spirit beasts but sadly none of them had an awakened bloodline.


    While walking, Lin Mu suddenly realized that he had reached the area that was rather close to the ce where he found the Dual circle Ascension fruits. He decided to check up on it and wondered if the bewildering formation was still there or not.


    Five minutester Lin Mu reached the location and discovered there to be people there.


    "Huh, what?" Lin Mu muttered before quickly hiding.


    Lin Mu knew that the mercenaries had already stopped their mission and were no longer hunting any more beasts in the forest and the hunters would not daree in this far deep into the forest either. This left only one option.


    ¡¯Cultivators? But from where?¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he peeked from the side of a tree.


    There were about four people in the area and all of them were standing near the tree around which the dual circle Ascension vine grew. All of them were wearing hooded brown cloaks which covered their clothes and faces.


    ¡¯Seems like the bewildering formation finally dissipated or they would not have been able to enter this ce, not to mention how I¡¯m able to directly look to the center of the area.¡¯ Lin Mu further thought as he tried to listen to the four people.


    Lin Mu was standing about forty meters away from the four but could still hear their fain conversation.


    "Senior brother, did you really sense something good here?" Spoke one of the people. The voice seemed to belong to a young man.


    "I did Junior brother, look," the man called as Senior brother said before showing him the bangle on his wrist.


    Lin Mu could see that one of the gems on the bangle was glowing with light.


    ¡¯Is that a spirit tool?¡¯ Lin Wu wondered.


    The young man looked at the bangle and saw that it was indeed glowing.


    "Senior brother, this is merely a spirit qi sensing bangle that too of a low grade, isn¡¯t it possible that it¡¯s just sensing a spirit qi fluctuation in the area? The uracy of this spirit tool is quite low." The young man replied.


    "Of course I know that, but do you really want to miss out on the off chance that there is something precious here?" The Senior brother spoke.


    "Enough! We¡¯ve wasted plenty of time here. Let¡¯s get back to the mission that we were assigned to." Spoke another man in a gruff voice.


    The two bickering pair of Senior and junior brother immediately tensed up and zipped up their lips.


    "We need to find a suitable gift to give to sister Yi Ze Jin, before the next week or our image in the eyes of elder Yi Deng will fall." Spoke thest remaining person.


    While speaking, that person and slightly turned around because of which Lin Mu was able to get a look at his face and even the clothes that he had below the cloak.


    The person looked to be in his early thirties and had a clean shaved face. His hair could not be seen because of the hood, but Lin Mu still spotted something on his clothes that made him identify who they were. There was a pattern of three cauldrons with a peony flower above them embroidered on the clothes of the man.


    "The Tri cauldron peony sect? What are their disciples doing here?"

 Chapter 310 - An Awakened Beast

    <h4>Chapter 310 - An Awakened Beast </h4>


    After hearing the next sentence of the disciples though, he realized what they were here for.


    ¡¯Are they here for the marriage of lieutenant Wu Teng? Then that means... this Yi Ze Jin they talked about that¡¯s the fiancee of the mayor¡¯s son.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu would have used his spirit sense to take a closer look at the four disciples but knew that since they were from a cultivation sect, there was no way they would not detect his spirit sense. Thus for the time being Lin Mu just decided to watch using his spirit sense.


    As Lin Mu could not use his spirit sense, it also meant that he would not be able to tell the cultivation bases of the four disciples, not to mention that he was too far to be able to detect the passive fluctuations of their spirit qi.


    "Eldest brother, I still do not understand why we have to find a gift here in the forest? I mean, can¡¯t we just get something from the sect by exchanging some resources. I reckon there would be better items in the sect than this ce." Spoke the Junior brother.


    "You idiot, do you really think sister Yi Ze Jin even needs our gifts? With Elder Yi Deng being her father, there isn¡¯t anything she¡¯scking. We are here to find something unique for her as a marriage gift. Even if it¡¯s not that precious, it will be fine, it¡¯s the effort that we went through that she values." The disciple called as the eldest brother exined.


    "Oh! I see now." The junior brother replied.


    Suddenly the Senior brother yelled for the three of them.


    "Look, someone dug out something from here! The bangle is pointing towards this ce too." Spoke the Senior brother.


    The three of them then gathered around the hole that had been dug from where Lin Mu had excavated the skeleton of that deceased nascent soul realm cultivator.


    The four of them had not seen it as it was behind the tree, not to mention that the grass had grown over the hole as well, hiding it nearlypletely.


    "Hmm, there was definitely something buried here. There are fluctuations of spirit qi here, but what?" Spoke the eldest brother.


    "Junior elder Fa Shiu, you are the strongest here please can you tell me what was here?" Spoke Senior brother.


    "An elder? That to here... Hmm, this doesn¡¯t seem good to me." Lin Mu muttered himself.


    The man who was called Junior elder removed his hood and closed his eyes. Lin Mu was finally able to see that the man had dark brown hair that was tied up in a bun, as a lot of cultivators did. He saw him close his eyes for about thirty seconds before opening them.


    "Looks like we missed out on something good here. There were definitely some spirit stones buried here and from the faint traces of spirit qi that have been left behind it seems like they were mid grade spirit stones at the very least." Junior Elder Fa Shiu spoke.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A sigh escaped the lips of Senior brother, but he didn¡¯t mind it as much.


    "Junior elder, do you know how long ago this was taken away? Perhaps it was dug out by a beast and taken to its nest." Spoke Senior brother.


    "From the faint traces, I can estimate that they were taken at the very least a month ago though I can¡¯t tell if it was a human or a beast.." Junior elder Fa Shiu answered.


    "Let¡¯s just continue our search then, hopefully we find something good soon." The Eldest brother spoke before starting to walk in the direction that was opposite to that of Lin Mu¡¯s


    After the four men were gone, Lin Mu did a quick sweep of the area, ensuring that there was no one close by. He then walked up to the hole and looked at it.


    "I didn¡¯t exact that they would be able to sense the faint traces of the spirit stones that were once buried here. Though their estimate on their grade was rather wrong." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It should be obvious, I doubt there are many cultivators who have even seen a peak grade spirit stone before," Xukong added.


    Lin Mu nodded in understanding and looked around the area again. He still wanted to continue his hunt and knew that it would be better if he took a different direction from the four disciples. He thus went a bit right to the ce that the four disciples had gone and continued his journey.


    Lin Mu had his spirit sense already extended as he wanted to be ready for any danger. Another hour passed by and Lin Mu was wondering if he should give up for today, but then he suddenly heard a faint groaning from the depths of the forest.


    The groan was rather unique and seemed as if something was cackling. Lin Mu immediately became already and extended his spirit sense in the direction that the groan hade from.


    Lin Mu tried to remember if he could recognize the sound from any of therecords, but was unable to do so. He thus decided to continue onward and soon reached the location that the cackling groan hade from.


    "What kind of beast is that?" Lin Mu wondered.


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    The beast in front of Lin Mu seemed to have the body of a cow but the head of a tapir. It had brown blue fur and seemed to be making those cackling sounds while it ate a dead beast from the ground. Lin Mu could not recognize the dead beast as it was pretty much minced up.


    Lin Mu used his spirit sense and probed the cow like beast with the tapir¡¯s head. The beast seemed to have sensed him as it immediately turned towards Lin Mu¡¯s direction and sniffed the air.


    Upon observing the beast with his spirit beast, Lin Mu became both nervous and excited. Nervous because the beast in front of him was an early stage core condensation beast, his second one. Excited because the beast seemed to have an unusual spirit core.


    "Seems like you¡¯re in luck. That is definitely a beast with an awakened bloodline. It¡¯s a trunk-faced cow that naturally awakens their bloodlines when they reach the core condensation realm." Xukong informed.

 Chapter 311 - Trunk-Faced Cow

    <h4>Chapter 311 - Trunk-Faced Cow </h4>


    After hearing the name Lin Mu saw that it matched the beast¡¯s description quite urately. Though the sounds it was making were nothing like a cow and were rather strange. He looked at the beast from behind the trees, and the beast also seemed to be trying to find him.


    It sniffed the air, but to Lin Mu¡¯s advantage, the wind was blowing towards him, which prevented the beast from detecting him fast enough. Though seeing that the beast had not used its spirit sense till now and was only using its nose, relieved Lin Mu a bit.


    This meant that the beast had only recently reached the Core condensation realm and had yet to refine its spirit sense. This gave a big advantage to Lin Mu as a being with or without spirit sense hadpletely different danger levels.


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    Lin Mu had been using his spirit sense as a big tool to help in his battles and knew that he would probably lose his advantage if his opponent knew how to use it too.


    Seeing that the beast had still not reacted, Lin Mu circled around a bit in order to get closer to the beast. He wanted to ambush it like he did with most of the other beasts and needed to be in the range of about ten meters in order to use the second skill blink.


    Just as Lin Mu got into a proper position, the direction of the wind started blowing towards the beast and it smelled him.


    "Hrnnnggg" The beast grunted before turning towards Lin Mu¡¯s location.


    Lin Mu did not panic and immediately used the second skill blink, appearing to the side of the beast with his short sword ready in his hands. He amplified it with his strength and shed at the beast¡¯s neck. But to his surprise, the beast was quite agile despite its size.


    It dodged the sh by a hair¡¯s breadth and grunted again. This time Lin Mu could feel the waves of spirit qi rolling off its body. It was doing something, and Lin Mu had an inkling of what it was. A yellow glow appeared on its head as it started charging towards Lin Mu.


    "It¡¯s using a spirit qi skill, be careful of its attack. This skill should be a charge skill which allows it to form a toughyer of spirit qi around its head." Xukong informed.


    Lin Mu nodded and blinked away to another side. The beast easily missed its target and changed its direction towards Lin Mu again. Lin Mu did not blink this time and simply let his short sword attack the beast, while he himself pulled out ance from his ring.


    Thisnce was the longest weapon he had in his ring and was one of the weapons he had custom made from the Hei corps. He had not used it till now as there was no proper asion, but now it seemed to be the perfect to attack a beast like this.


    While the short sword shed at the beast¡¯s back, Lin Mu charged at the beast as well, with thence propped straight at the beast¡¯s head. Several small cuts were opened up on the beast¡¯s back as the short sword was unable to pierce any deeper due to the natural defenses of the beast.


    If it were Lin Mu himself who was holding the short sword and attacking the beast, the short sword would have been able to cut through the beast¡¯s skin easily, but when using it with his spirit sense, the power of the sword was reduced.


    Still, the beast had been distracted enough that Lin Mu was able to stab with hisnce. Though the beast had once again dodged and swung its head to the side. But this did not mean that it didn¡¯t get injured. Lin Mu was still able to stab thence into the side of the beast¡¯s shoulder.


    Thence went about four inches deep before it was stopped by the bones of the beast.


    "HRNNNGGG" A pain filled grunt came from the beast before its eyes turned red.


    The spirit qi fluctuationing from the beast intensified and the yellow glow surrounding its head vanished. Now it was prodding the ground with its front hooves and shaking its head. It then raised its head to the sky and let out a loud sound.


    "MOOOOOOO"


    "I thought it couldn¡¯t do that?" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he retreated a few meters away.


    He then saw a red glow surround its body and concentrate on its head. The wounds that were on its back were also healed, along with the one that was recently made on its shoulder.


    Then tworge horns sprouted on its head along with two tusks from its mouth. Its trunk also elongated, and a metallic sheen now covered its skin. The same metallic sheen covered its horns and tusks, turning them impably sharp.


    Looking at the sharp horns and tusks, Lin Mu knew that he would be heavily injured if he allowed the beast to get any closer to him. Lin Mu withdrew a few throwing daggers and hurled them at the beast¡¯s eyes while stepping around the beast.


    He charged with thence again, but this time it was blocked by the metallic sheen that was covering the beast¡¯s skin. The beast reacted quickly and pped thence with its tusks, making Lin Mu let go of them, in order to not be pushed along with it.


    "You¡¯ll have to use your short sword, normal weapons will not be able to cut through its defenses," Xukong advised.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and withdrew a pair of slim swords. He shed them at the beast incessantly while running around the beast. He had already amplified his legs with spirit qi which increases his speed for a short while.


    With the endless blows, the beast could only try to block them or dodge them. It was evident that the beast was only able tost this long because it had used its bloodline awakening and was using the bloodline skill that it got.

 Chapter 312 - Enmity

    <h4>Chapter 312 - Enmity </h4>


    Finally, while shing around an opportunity appeared in front of Lin Mu¡¯s eyes and he used flicker to pass through the beast, making it a bit disoriented. The short sword returned to his hand, and he poured spirit qi into it, and not just any spirit qi but rather the liquid spirit qi.


    This was the first time he had used the liquid spirit qi drops to amplify his short sword, and the effect was quite obvious. The short sword hummed with power, and a grey glow covered its edges.


    "HAA!" Lin Mu shouted as he stabbed the Short sword towards the beast.


    Lin Mu knew that while a sh may be blocked by the metallic sheen of the beast¡¯s skin, a stab might not be.


    <i>~Thuck~</i>


    <i>~Stter~</i>


    And just as he had expected, the short sword pierced through the neck of the beast rather effortlessly. But Lin Mu had underestimated the vitality of the beast, as it was still not dead, and while it cried in pain, it was still resisting him.


    "Damn, this is one tough beast!" Lin Mu cursed.


    "Trunk faced cows are known for their defensive abilities and vitality. Their bloodline ability not only increases this by threefold but also increases their offensive abilities by letting them grow extremely hard horns and tusks." Xukong quickly informed.


    Lin Mu listened to his words but did not lose focus.


    "If one stab didn¡¯t work, then ten more should do the trick," Lin Mu stated before drawing the short sword back.


    But he found it to be stuck in the neck of the beast.


    "What the..." Lin Mu uttered before he saw the muscles of the beast¡¯s neck twitch.


    ¡¯The beast is using his muscles to squeeze the short sword?¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    Seeing that this would not work, Lin Mu immediately used another strategy. He used flicker and the short sword was effortlessly pulled out of the beast. No blood was stuck to the sword either, letting it stay clean and shiny.


    "Huh, I gotta keep this in mind when I clean the short sword next time..." Lin Mu muttered with a little amazement.


    The beast had clearly not expected for Lin Mu to do something like this and staggered due to it losing the pivot it was putting its strength in i.e. the short sword. It stumbled to the left, and Lin Mu had an idea in that instant.


    He simply blinked to the side the beast was stumbling towards and pointed the short sword towards it.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~Slick~</i>


    In the next moment, the short sword was buried in the beast¡¯s jaw and pierced through the pte into the brain. Lin Mu didn¡¯t even need to push the short sword, rather the beast did it on its own as it had lost its bnce and collided with the sharp tip.


    The weight of the beast did most of the job and all Lin Mu had to do was to hold his ground, which was rtively easy, as the weight of the beast was sufficient for Lin Mu to handle. He had not tested his raw strength yet, but knew that he could easily lift a couple of tons.


    The beast let out a few more grunts before all life faded away from its body.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    Lin Mu withdrew the short sword and looked at it. He saw the blood covering it and thought of what he had learned before. He then used flicker and saw all of the blood that was covering the short sword separating from it and falling to the ground, leaving behind the shiny surface of the de.


    "That¡¯s convenient..." Lin Mu muttered.


    He then kneeled down and probed the beast for the location of its beast core. He found it to be in the belly of the beast rather than the head or the chest which was a bit surprising to him. Still pushing these thoughts aside, he used the short sword to cut a hole before he pushed his hand inside.


    It didn¡¯t matter to him that his clothes were getting bloodied, all he wanted right now was to get a closer look at the beast core. He fiddled around with the innards of the beast before he finally touched a small marble.


    He could feel the hidden yet potent spirit qi that was contained within the beast¡¯s core and his heart throbbed with it. It was almost as if the beast core was alive and still had a pulse. He wiped the beast core clean and took a closer look at it.


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    The beast core was brown colored with yellow patterns printed on it. The yellow patterns looked like the horns and the tusks of the beast, which showed that this beast core belonged to a beast that had awakened its bloodline.


    In the very next second that Lin Mu nced at the beast core, he suddenly had a feeling of danger and the hair on his arm stood on its ends. Without hesitation, he used blink and appeared the maximum distance he could from the area, but his hand felt empty. The beast core had fallen.


    Lin Mu looked at the scene and saw the reason behind it. His hand had been hit by a wind attack at the very instant he had activated the skill blink, which led to the beast core getting knocked out of his hand while he himself teleported away.


    "No! That¡¯s mine," Lin Mu shouted as he looked at the people that had attacked him.


    They were none other than the four disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect that he had seen before.


    "Very good junior brother," spoke the Senior brother as he pped his hands.


    "This beast core with an awakened bloodline will serve as the perfect gift for sister Ye Zi Jin." The eldest brother stated.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth as he saw the junior brother put the beast core in his pocket.


    "Give that back, if you do not want enmity between us." Lin Mu wandered.


    "Hahaha! Enmity? What right does a mere wandering cultivator like you have to say that? Just because you have a Little strength to kill an early stage core condensation beast?" The Senior brother taunted.


    "He also seems to have some unique movement techniques, perhaps we should interrogate him a bit, what do you say brothers?" Spoke the junior brother adding oil to the fire.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard that, it was as if thest straw was broken. The story that Jing Wei had told him came back to him, and his dislike of the sects climbed another step higher.


    Lin Mu knew that he could not let these men go now. Not only had they stolen the beast core that he had obtained, but they had also seen the skill that he used and were coveting him. The enmity between them was now sowed, and Lin Mu was determined to reap the crop, whether it be rotten or unripe.


    "Careful junior brother!" The eldest brother yelled as he blocked Lin Mu¡¯s short sword that hade flying.


    "YOU DARE!" The Senior brother yelled.


    But suddenly Lin Mu disappeared in front of their eyes, but then they heard his voice.


    "Boulder copsing fist: First form- Impact!"

 Chapter 313 - Battling The Disciples

    <h4>Chapter 313 - Battling The Disciples </h4>


    <i>~Stter~</i>


    Blood and brains covered the faces and bodies of the three disciples. They looked on with horror as the headless corpse of their junior brother fell to the ground. Because they were frozen due to the scene, Lin Mu took advantage of it and quickly took the Beast core from the dead man¡¯s pocket.


    It was then that the three disciples were finally able to react and anger appeared on their faces.


    "JUNIOR BROTHER, NOO!" Shouted the Senior brother.


    The other two men got into an attacking stance and withdrew their weapons.


    "You! You dare kill a disciple of the Tri cauldron peony sect! You shall suffer for this." The Junior elder Fa Shiu dered as the waves sprite qi rolled off his body showing his mid stage core condensation realm cultivation.


    Lin Mu also quickly scanned the three disciples and discovered their cultivation. The one called as the senior brother was at the peak stage of the qi refining realm while the eldest brother was at the early stage of the core condensation realm. It was only the junior elder that was at the mid stage of the core condensation realm.


    While these disciples were stronger than Lin Mu in terms of cultivation, Lin Mu did not back down. He had confidence in himself that he could handle them and did not fear them.


    Without speaking another word, Lin Mu blinked to another location and controlled his short sword to strike at the Senior brother.


    <i>~Clink~</i>


    The Senior brother blocked it with his own sword, while the eldest brother and the junior elder ran towards Lin Mu.


    "Careful, his movement technique is strange. I haven¡¯t seen anything like it." The junior elder spoke.


    The other two nodded, and Lin Mu blinked again disappearing from his location. He appeared at the back of the senior brother and shed with the two slim swords that appeared in his hands.


    "Gah!" The Senior brother grunted as he felt the force behind the strike.


    ¡¯How is he this strong?¡¯ The senior brother thought as he probed Lin Mu with his spirit sense.


    "He¡¯s only at the peak stage of the qi refining realm?!" Senior brother muttered in shock.


    The Junior elder leaped towards Lin Mu¡¯s back, seeing that he was involved with Senior brother. But just as his sword was about to sh Lin Mu¡¯s back, he found it to pass through him as if it were air.


    "WHAT! HOW?" The junior elder eximed in shock.


    "You don¡¯t need to know..." Lin Mu replied before he jumped to the side, dodging the three disciples¡¯ attacks.


    The twin swords disappeared from Lin Mu¡¯s hand as a battle Axe appeared in their stead. The short sword came flying and cut a wound on the Senior brother¡¯s hand. Lin Mu shed with the Eldest brother and nearly made him lose his sword.


    "Enough!" The Junior elder spoke before gesturing with his left hand and shooting a fire ball out from it.


    Lin Mu was surprised for a moment but then quickly dodged the iing fireball. He spun around and hurled the battle Axe in his hand towards the Senior brother.


    "Quick while, he¡¯s unarmed." Spoke the eldest brother.


    But before he could say the next sentence, he went silent and his eyes went wide.


    "Boulder copsing fist: Second form- Piercer!" Lin Mu had shot the thin needle of spirit qi into the man¡¯s chest.


    The spirit qi needle pierced through the man¡¯s heart, exploding it inside his chest while the needle left through his back and embedded itself into a tree, exploding its trunk as well. The splinters of the bark startled the Senior brother as he was close to it and he closed his eyes to protect from the splinters.


    "Bah!" The eldest brother spit out blood before he copsed onto the ground.


    None of the three disciples had seen what had struck the eldest brother, and they were shocked.


    "You! Who are you? There is no way someone with such skill can be a wandering cultivator. State your name!" The Junior elder Fa Shiu said feeling angry.


    "There is no need. You are the ones who sowed the enmity now you are the ones who will get the fruit." Lin Mu said before disappearing from their vision.


    He appeared behind the senior brother who had his eyes closed and stabbed the short sword through his back, instantly killing him.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    "Three down, one to go..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he looked at the junior elder.


    The look in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes terrified Fa Shiu, and it was unlike anything he had seen.


    "AAAAHHHH!" The junior elder shouted as he shed with Lin Mu.


    Both of them exchanged blow after blow, with no oneing out at the top. Even with Lin Mu using blink and circling around Fa Shiu, he found himself unable to find an opening.


    ¡¯Seems like fighting a mid stage core condensation realm cultivator is still a bit too much.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu actually wanted to see how much he could keep up against with a mid stage core condensation realm cultivator just by using his weapon skills. But now that he had received his answer, he knew that he should end it quick.


    The Junior elder started using the spirit qi skill that he had used before and started throwing more of the fireballs. Lin Mu was able to dodge them but was getting annoyed by them.


    Finally, he started chanting the severing heart sutra targeting the Junior elder.


    Fa Shiu entered a daze and became still. Lin Mu used this opportunity and got close to him, but just as his sword was about to sh at his neck, Fa Shiu awakened and jumped back.


    ¡¯That was close...¡¯ Fa Shiu thought.


    "What did you do?" He questioned, feeling shocked.


    ¡¯Tch, seems like using the severing heart sutra on a mid stage core condensation realm cultivator is not as effective.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He then gestured and ordered the short sword to attack the junior elder, but the man had instead started running away.


    "What!" Lin Mu muttered and then started running after the man.

 Chapter 314 - Checking The Spoils

    <h4>Chapter 314 - Checking The Spoils </h4>


    Lin Mu chased after the Junior elder but the man used some kind of a skill and increased his speed by fourfold, escaping.


    "DAMMIT!" Lin Mu cursed.


    Lin Mu had not expected that the man would escape mid way through the Battle.


    "You can find himter, you know where he would turn up," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu then remembered what the four men were here for.


    "Yes, if they were here to find a gift for that sister Ye Zi Jin, then they are bound to be at Wu Lim Cityter. I just need to bide my time and find them there. If I inform Hei Wen, she should be able to help me, at least that guy doesn¡¯t know who I am." Lin Mu spoke.


    But Lin Mu knew that he would have to find the man before he fiend¡¯s him and eliminate him, or there could be big problems.


    Lin Mu returned to the site of the battle and checked the three corpses. He gathered their weapons and found the three swords to be low grade spirit weapons. Lin Mu held them and channeled spirit qi into them only to find there to be Resistance.


    "Huh, so this is how low grade weapons are like..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He stored them in the ring and then searched the bodies. He took the bangle from the senior brother¡¯s arm and looked at it.


    "He called this the spirit qi sensing bangle, right?" Lin Mu spoke before trying it out.


    The gem on the top of the bangle glowed for a bit before it cracked and the bangle broke.


    "What the! Why did it break?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It was a low grade spirit tool that to one that could only be used by a single person." Xukong answered.


    "A single person? What do you mean Senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "There are certain spirit tools that are made in such a way that if anyone other than its first owner tries to use it, they are destroyed. This one was like one of those tools. A lot of sects do something like this to the things that they issue to their disciples." Xukong replied.


    "Though, this is likely only because this was a low grade tool. If it were a mid grade or even a high grade tool, the sects would not be able to bear the losses, so they should not have the same characteristic." Xukong added while made Lin Mu relived.


    Lin Mu did not want toe out without any benefits if he ever got into a battle with the disciples of cultivation sects in the future. If all of the spirit tools were like this, then it would be a shame.


    He also found two small bags hanging on the waists of the Senior brother and the Eldest brother. When he touched them, he could actually feel faint spatial fluctuations.


    "Are these..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Yes, they are spatial storage treasures. Albeit of the lowest grade. These are spatial storage bags and are the most basic kind of a spatial storage treasure. They are rtively easier to make but also have a very small capacity. Their durability is also rather bad and they can be damaged easily by stray attacks." Xukong exined.


    Since the two men were dead, their spirit sense signature was wiped from the two bags. Lin Mu easily put his own signature on them and checked what was in them.


    Upon checking, he saw that the volume of the bags was very small, being one cubic foot.


    "This is tiny, what do they even keep in this?" Lin Mu muttered he scanned them for items.


    From the two storage bags, he obtained about thirty low grade spirit stones, a few healing pills and basic qi pills. And finally, he also obtained a small booklet that had a qi skill written in it.


    Lin Mu read through the booklet and realized that this was the qi skill that the junior elder Fa Shiu had used.


    "This is good, at least I got some spirit stones and pills along with this qi skill." Lin Mu said.


    Lin Mu read the booklet and saw that the name of the skill was minor fireball technique.


    "That¡¯s rather simple." Lin Mu muttered as he continued reading the instructions.


    Five minutester he had learned them and he tried to follow the method that was described in it.


    A few secondster, a small fire ball was floating in Lin Mu¡¯s hand.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "I thought this would be harder? Learning the Boulder copsing fist was a hundred times more difficult than this." Lin Mu said as he felt a bit surprised.


    If the Junior elder were to see what Lin Mu had just done, his jaw would be wide open. Lin Mu had just learned a totally new qi skill in five minutes.


    Lin Mu looked at the fireball in his hand and yed with it for a bit, before understanding how it worked. He then threw the fireball onto the headless corpse of the Junior brother and watched it get reduced to ashes.


    Seeing that this was rather effective, he threw fireballs on the other two corpses as well and turned them to ashes as well.


    "This will make it convenient to cook, nice." Lin Mu spoke, feeling a bit happy.


    He amplified his hand with spirit qi and waved it hard towards the ashes, blowing them away. He then stored the trunk faced cow¡¯s corpse in the ring as well and started his journey back to the northern town. Now that he had the beast core of a beast with an awakened bloodline, Lin Mu wanted nothing more than to practice the method to refine and prepare it for assimtion.


    But before that, he needed to info Hie Wen of what happened and to keep an eye out for that Junior elder named Fa Shiu. While running away, the man had gone in the eastern direction but Lin Mu knew that he could have gone anywhere from there.


    ¡¯It will be faster for the Hei Corps to find that guy rather than me roaming around.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 315 - Refining The Trunk Faced Cows Awakened Bloodline

    <h4>Chapter 315 - Refining The Trunk Faced Cow''s Awakened Bloodline </h4>


    Lin Mu returned to his room after having told Hei Wen of what had urred a little while ago. She was shocked, to say the least upon hearing it, but then her expression turned serious after that. She simply told Lin Mu that she will inform him if anything happens or if that man is found.


    Lin Mu returned to his house after that, seeing that everything would be handled. He now had the most important task of practicing the method that was used to refine the awakened bloodline.


    "How do I start then, Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.


    "First, you will need arge container for the blood," Xukong spoke.


    "Blood?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, the blood of the beast. The entire beast is required in order to prepare the bloodline. You need arge container in which you will be draining the blood of the Trunk faced cow. Then you will be creating some formations which I will instruct you on." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded and took out of therge barrels he had bought long ago. He then took out the corpse of the trunk faced cow and slit its throat, letting all the blood spill into the barrel.


    "While the rest of the blood collects into the barrel, you can use the amount that is in it to make the formation runes." Xukong instructed.


    Lin Mu dipped his fingers into the blood and drew the formations runes onto the floor of the room. Lin Mu would have preferred not to make a mess in his room, but he couldn¡¯t actually draw this any ce else and certainly not on the soil, thus this was the only choice.


    Xukong kept on speaking and showed him how to move his fingers to write the runes. There were different kinds of runes, most of which Lin Mu could not understand. The runes included some in themon tongue and some in the Dao script. There were even some other runes that Lin mu had no idea whichnguage they were from.


    Still, Lin Mu did not question it and just kept on writing as he knew that it was not the time and he should simply focus on finishing this task. He knew that there was still a chance of failure and if he really wanted to seed in obtaining the bloodline of the great slumber bear, he had to be sure.


    About an hour passed by, after which Lin Mu had finally finished writing all of the runes.


    "What¡¯s next Senior?" Lin Mu asked as he wiped the sweat off his brow.


    "Now ce the corpse of the trunk faced cow in the very center of the formation. Then divide the blood that you drained from it into three parts and ce them in the three empty sections in the formation." Xukong spoke.


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    Lin Mu took out three small containers and split the blood into three parts and ced them ording to where senior Xukong had instructed.


    "Nowes the most difficult part, you need to release the bloodline from the beast core of the trunk faced cow." Xukong spoke in a serious tone.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    Lin Mu swallowed his saliva and withdrew the beast core from the ring. Xukong started speaking in his mind about what to do and he tried to repeat that, which was quite difficult as Lin Mu was failing a few times at every step.


    This was the first time he was actually doing something like this purely using his spirit sense, thus it was no wonder that it was difficult. Xukong had told Lin Mu to sense certain points in the beast core, which was quite difficult due to how dense the beast core was.


    The sheer amount of spirit qi condensed in it made it difficult for Lin Mu to observe it with his spirit sense and thus took him multiple efforts to even be able to enter it. But once he did, he was able to find the first point that he needed to unlock.


    Lin Mu could see that there were denses of spirit qi in the beast core that formedplex shapes, and within the joints of these shapes were the points that Lin Mu needed to unlock. After six attempts, he was finally able to unlock the first point.


    But this was only the start, and there were many more toe.


    In all, Lin Mu ended up unlocking forty two points in the beast core which took him over eight hours. This was quite taxing on Lin Mu¡¯s mind and he was feeling extremely tired mentally. Even if his vital energy or spirit qi had not been used as much, it was still exhausting.


    But as soon as the final point was unlocked, Lin Mu could feel the change in the beast core.


    "MOOOOO"


    A loud cry of the trunk faced cow was heard. If it were not for the illusory formation that Lin Mu had ced on his house, the neighbors and guards would have definitely been alerted. The beast core then started glowing and Lin Mu could see the faint figure of the trunk faced cow moving around inside of it.


    "You have to be quick now, or there is a chance the beast core may explode," Xukong warned.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his exhaustion. He roused his vital energy and spirit qi, making him refreshed again.


    "Now you need to put the beast core on top of the beast corpse, and then you will need to manually guide the process using your spirit sense." Xukong instructed.


    Lin Mu did as he was told and ced the beast core on the corpse. As soon as he did, the formation runes he had carved on the ground lit up and floated up. The three containers of blood that he had ced in the formation also started floating and the blood came out of them.


    The blood formed into three ribbons that started wrapping the beast corpse while the beast core released a bright light.

 Chapter 316 - Bloodline Refinement Success!

    <h4>Chapter 316 - Bloodline Refinement Sess! </h4>


    Lin Mu controlled the runes that would act on the blood and made sure that they worked ording to the proper institutions.


    The three ribbons of bloodpletely wrapped the corpse of the trunk faced cow, turning into a red mass and then the beast core melted before merging into the red mass. This red mass floated up and twisted and turned, letting out more noises.


    The trunk faced cow¡¯s grunts and cries could be heard in the room. Lin Mu was profusely sweating, but he did not dare to lose focus for even one second and continued operating the formations. An hour passed by after which the red mass had shrunk by half and continued to do so.


    "How long do I need to keep this up, senior?" Lin Mu asked with difficulty.


    "Until it has been reduced to the size of a small pill." Xukong answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a sigh and then focused back on the task at hand. Another hour passed and now the red mass was reduced to ten percent of its original size. But it was still far from the size it needed to be. One more hour for a total of three hours passed and now the red mass had reached the size of a fist.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes were blood shot at this point and veins had popped up on his face due to how much he had been straining himself.


    Suddenly a new change happened and all the formations runes that had been floating in the air started to fall towards the fist sized mass and hammered on it. With each formation rune that imprinted on it, the size of the red mass shrank by a little bit.


    Grasping what he now needed to do now, Lin Mu started to control the runes to hammer onto the red mass. With each rune, he increased his speed and continued to do so until finally all of the runes had disappeared and the red mass had shrunk to the size of a small pill.


    "MOOOOO"


    An unyielding cry came from the pill, and it almost escaped Lin Mu¡¯s control. The pill was trying to run away!


    "NO, YOU WON¡¯T!" Lin Mu uttered with determination.


    In that moment, the aura of the sword path unconsciously leaked out of his body and touched upon the small red pill. As soon as it did, a suppressed grunt came out of the pill as if it were submitting to Lin Mu.


    Finally, the small red pill glowed brightly, and when the light faded away Lin Mu saw it. There was now a translucent red bead floating in his hand. The bead had the figure of the trunk faced cow in it, but unlike before, it was fixed and did not move.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath of relief and held onto the small bead.


    "Now that is a proper bloodline crystal. Excellent job!" Xukong praised.


    "Thank you senior," Lin Mu said before he copsed onto the ground in exhaustion and then falling into a deep slumber.


    Xukong chuckled upon seeing this but knew that it was a well deserved rest.


    ¡¯He actually refined the entire thing in his first try, that is simply stunning.¡¯ Xukong praised in his heart.


    "If he can do it with this method, then the one that he will use for the great slumber bear will be even easier. Seems like my decision of getting him to practice with the moreplex method was correct, after all I also got to test out his natural skill in formations and refinement too." Xukong muttered to himself.


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    An unknown amount of time passed before Lin Mu woke up. After waking up, he looked around and saw that he was in his room with all the barrels lying around him. Thankfully, all of the blood had been used up to refine the bloodline crystal, so there was no mess in the room.


    He would not even have to wash the barrels as every single drop of blood was utilized. Lin Muid as he was on the ground and lifted his hand to look at the bloodline crystal in his hand. He looked at it closely and saw it faintly glimmer before the ray of sunlight that leaked in from the corner of a window.


    Lin Mu curiously probed it with his spirit sense and saw that he couldn¡¯t do it. The bloodline crystal was even more dense than the beast core and he could faintly sense the massive amount of raw spirit qi contained within it.


    But while doing this, Lin Mu also felt something strange with his spirit sense.


    "Huh, it increased in size?" Lin Mu muttered with surprise.


    He extended it as much as he could and realized that it had now reached a maximum length of a hundred meters.


    "But how?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "You extensively used your spirit sense to the limit. This stimted it and caused it to grow while you were sleeping. This has happened before, remember?" Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu then remembered when he had killed the Alpha steel back wolf, how the short sword had heeded hismand and acted ording to his will. He had exhausted himself quite a lot back then too and had stressed his spirit sense, which led to it greatly growing.


    The same thing urred now too, except it was not as much as before. This time it only grew in maximum length by about twenty meters, which was still quite a lot. ording to what Lin Mu knew, the range of spirit sense was usually only achievable when a cultivator reached the core condensation realm.


    Yet, Lin Mu had done it while he was half way through the peak stage of the qi refining realm. Lin Mu checked his dantian and saw that it was a little more than eighteen hundred drops of spirit qi, while the rest of the space was filled with spirit qi wisps.


    "Now I¡¯ve only got to ensure that I¡¯ve reached a sufficient level of proficiency with the nameless technique of the lost immortal." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 317 - Another Goal Accomplished!

    <h4>Chapter 317 - Another Goal Aplished! </h4>


    <i>~Meow~</i>


    Lin Mu was woken from his cultivation session by a voice which was none other than Little Shrubby. It had been bumping against his back trying to wake him up but because of Lin Mu being deep in focus, he didn¡¯t react at all.


    "What do you need?" Lin Mu asked as he woke up.


    He then saw it pointing towards a ce in the room. Lin Mu saw that this was the ce where he had kept all the beast cores for Little Shrubby to eat.


    "Huh, you finished all of them?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a bit surprised.


    <i>~Nyaa~</i>


    Little Scrubby coyly acted, asking for more of the beast cores. Lin Mu did not mind it and went and put more beast cores for Little Shrubby to eat.


    ¡¯When did I put the beat coresst?... He ate ten beast cores in four days?¡¯ Lin Mu remembered.


    He then used his spirit sense to look at Little Shrubby and realized that the spirit qi fluctuationsing off of it had increased by quite a lot over the past few days. He checked little Shrubby¡¯s own beast core and estimated that it was actually half way through thete stage of the qi refining realm.


    "Merely weeks and he¡¯s already starting to catch up..." Lin Mu muttered with a wry smile.


    "Of course it would catch up. What else did you expect? Perhaps even the disciples of a sect would not have the same level of resources that it gets. Endless spirit beast meat, beast cores, all on top of the effect of a few dual circle ascension fruits. Even amon pig would be an expert at this rate." Xukong joked.


    Lin Mu chuckled and got up, taking out the beast meat for his practice. Lately, he was feeling a change in the technique and could sense that his stomach was reaching a limit.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    Lin Mu finished thest bite of a fully roasted beast corpse when he felt it.


    "Is it finally time?" Lin Mu wondered and closed his eyes.


    The grey made out of the obscure patterns had appeared once again, but this time anotheryer was being added to it. Previously it had twoyers, of which the firstyer was the most dense and looked like a coat of grey skin. The secondyer was much less dense and had wide gaps in between it.


    That secondyer had also be simr to the firstyer and formed a close-knit skin onto the surface of the stomach. Finally, a thirdyer was rapidly forming and the obscure patterns kept on linking up, forming into threads that then wove to form the.


    An hour quickly passed and the process finallypleted.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    A wave of energy was released from Lin Mu¡¯s body as his hair moved with it. His hair had grown quite a bit over the months and was now up to his shoulders. He didn¡¯t really mind it and decided to keep it, not wanting to cut it.


    The wave of energy passed through his body, bathing his cells and filling them with vigor. Lin Mu felt extremelyfortable and sensed that the conversion of his body¡¯s cells into the Xiantian physique cells was sped up.


    Previously it was at ten percent but now it was rapidly approaching twenty five percent. Lin Mu reckoned that if this pace was kept up, he could even reach one hundred percent conversion soon.


    Another hour passed and the wave of energy finally subsided. Then Lin Mu felt something he had not felt for a while- it was the absence of hunger.


    Ever since Lin Mu had started practicing the nameless technique of the lost immortal, he had been feeling hungry all the time. Even if his appetite had been satisfied for a bit, it didn¡¯t mean that it was his limit. He could still keep on eating if he so wanted.


    But today for the first time he did not feel like it.


    "Is this it?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He scanned his body from the top to the bottom and witnessed the change in the physiology of his stomach. His stomach which should have originally been reddish-pink normally had changed to be a strange grey with countless obscure patterns crawling over it.


    "This is weird..." Lin Mu muttered, finding the appearance of his stomach to be a bit gross.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s test it out, have I really achieved it?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He took out more beast meat and tried to eat. He finished one of the cooked beasts and realized that there was no change in his appetite. He ate another and there was no difference again.


    Three beasts...


    Four beasts...


    Five beasts...


    After an entire five beasts had been finished off, Lin Mu confirmed that he had truly reached a proper level of proficiency with the nameless technique of the lost immortal.


    "AHAHA!" Lin Muughed in joy, "finally it is done."


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    The fear that he would be unable to aplish his goal was looming over Lin Mu¡¯s head for quite a while. And now that he had finally done it, an almost iprehensible level of relief washed over it.


    But that was not the end.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    It was as if a dam had broken in Lin Mu¡¯s body or perhaps it was a restriction which had been ced subsections by him, an even stronger wave of energy was released from his body. This wave of energy imbued hi cells and increased the pace of their conversion by even more.


    Finally, it seemed like the umted energy had reached an impasse and the covering of the cells into Xiantian physique cells had reached nearpletion. It would only take him another small push, and Lin Mu¡¯s body would have fully been converted into a Xiantian body.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath and took a look inside. The power contained in his body, it was as if each and every single inch of his body¡¯s tissues were packed with hidden strength.

 Chapter 318 - Heading To Wu Lim City

    <h4>Chapter 318 - Heading To Wu Lim City </h4>


    Lin Mu clenched his fist, gauging the power in his fist. The level of vital energy within his body had reached an extremely high level, and Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if it could go beyond this point. Perhaps when his body was fully converted into Xiantian Physique then he¡¯ll be able to tell.


    "I am now fully prepared for assimting the bloodline of the great slumber bear. All that¡¯s left for me is to fulfill the promise that I made with the Hei corps." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    He thought to himself for a bit and wondered why he was waiting here, when he could just go to the Wu Lim city. If he was lucky, he could even be able to find that junior elder Fa Shiu and kill him before the events preceding the wedding.


    "That does seem like a good idea. There is no reason for you to stay here and you can preemptively strike on that man." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu nodded in response and stood up, having made up his mind. He had a quick talk with little shrubby and instructed it to not start any fires for theing few days, or at least till he came back. Little shrubby agreed with him, albeit a little hesitatingly.


    Lin Mu petted his head and then prepared to leave for the journey. There really wasn¡¯t much that he needed to do, as most of his items were kept in his ring, anyway.


    Seeing that everything was now prepared, Lin Mu took out the formation te that controlled the illusory formation that was ced on the courtyard and activated it. An invisible wave of spirit qi was spread in the air, and the courtyard disappeared from the neighborhood.


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    Lin Mu stepped out of his courtyard and turned to take a look.


    "It¡¯s hidden alright," Lin Mu spoke before doing a quick sweep of the area to find Hei Ping.


    He informed the man that he was going to the Wu Lim city and to not worry about the house. Hei Ping was left dumbfounded when he tried to look for the house and could not find it, no matter how much he tried.


    "I swear it was here... Or is this what senior Lin Mu meant by not to worry about the house?" Hei Ping muttered to himself with a wry smile.


    He then let out a sigh and returned to his work, not bothering with the house anymore. Meanwhile, Lin Mu had just reached the town center and entered the office at the top.


    "What brings you here?" Hei Wen greeted Lin Mu upon seeing him enter.


    "I¡¯ve decided that I¡¯m going to head to Wu Lim city." Lin Mu stated.


    Hei Wen was a bit confused, but nodded her head nevertheless.


    "Why the change in decision, didn¡¯t you have some tasks to do? The ceremonies have not started either." Hei Wen asked.


    "The work that I had here has beenpleted ahead of time," Lin Mu said as he clenched his fist, still trying to get used to the increase in the vital energy.


    In that moment, Hei Wen could feel as if a hidden volcano was standing in front of her. A volcano that was at its limit and would explode any moment.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    But then the illusion faded away, and she gulped in shock.


    ¡¯What horrifying vital energy! And his cultivation base... I can¡¯t even sense it.¡¯ Hei Wen thought.


    Knowing that it was none of her business and it would be inappropriate asking Lin Mu about it, she decided to just go with the flow.


    "Alright, I¡¯ll get you a carriage to take you to the city and I¡¯ll also send a message ahead." Hei Wen spoke.


    "There¡¯s no need for a carriage, It¡¯ll be faster if I head there on my own. Besides, I want to see if I can catch that junior elder Fa Shiu first." Lin Mu replied.


    "About that... you may want to be careful while in the city. The disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect have a stronghold in the city and it would not do you good if you openly targeted them. I¡¯ve already informed the lord of this so he knows and will assist you.


    Also, it would be better if you take care of it before the ceremonies and do not act during them. There will be a few core condensation realm experts keeping watch there and it could turn dangerous." Hei Wen advised.


    "I understand," Lin Mu nodded and turned around to leave.


    After Lin Mu was gone, Hei Wen took out a sheet of paper and quickly wrote down something on it before calling for the guards.


    "Send this message to the lord, with our fastest messenger. It is of the utmost importance." Hei Wen ordered.


    "It shall be done." The guard spoke before leaving to do his task.


    A few minutester, a hawk took flight from one of the windows of the town center and in its ws, it clutched the letter that Hei Wen had written. It took to the skies and disappeared into the clouds at an impressive speed.


    Meanwhile, Lin Mu had just exited the town and was thinking of the things that he needed to do. Once he was at a sufficient distance from the town, he controlled his short sword to fly in front of him and jumped on it.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu said as he tried to bnce himself.


    This was the first time he had tried flying on his short sword and he had been looking forward to it.


    <i>~Swoosh~</i>


    Lin Mu started off slow, but soon sped up and short forward like an arrow.


    "WOOHOO!" Lin Mu cried out in joy as he enjoyed the feeling of flying.


    "Careful, you should watch your consumption of spirit qi, you are still not in the core condensation realm. While you can fly, the consumption will still be high." Xukong warned.


    Lin Mu nodded and took a look into his dantian.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu eximed as he saw that about two drops of liquid spirit qi had been consumed in the five minutes that he had flown.


    Lin Mu jumped down to the ground and his short sword returned to its sheath.


    "Yup, I¡¯ll just run."

 Chapter 319 - Caves And Thirst?

    <h4>Chapter 319 - Caves And Thirst? </h4>


    Lin Mu started running and burst into a sprint. The Wu Lim city was about ten hours¡¯ distance from the Northern town by a carriage, but Lin Mu was sure that by just going on his foot he should reach much earlier. If he were to fly using his short sword Lin Mu was sure that he would be there in less than two hours, but seeing the consumption of the spirit qi made him desist from doing that.


    Lin Mu did not want to be low in spirit qi in case anything bad happened, hence he did not fly to the city. But just as he was thinking of flying, he wondered why that junior elder Fa Shiu of the Tri cauldron pennon sect hadn¡¯t flown when he was in the mid stage of the core condensation realm.


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    "Senior, why did that junior elder not fly away when he was escaping from me?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It is likely that he only had a low grade spirit weapon and could not use it to fly. Not all low grade spirit weapons are able to be used to fly even if they can be used with spirit sense. Though all mid grade weapons can be used to fly." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu then remembered the sword that the junior elder had used and realized that the fluctuationsing off it were indeed quite less, which meant that the sword was indeed a low grade spirit weapon. He was also reminded that he now had three extra spirit swords in his ring that he got from the disciples that he killed, but did not brand them with his spirit sense as he did not want to expend his spirit sense in that.


    He had already learned that there were a limited amount of spirit tools and weapons he could brand with his spirit sense, depending on the strength of his spirit sense and his cultivation. Though it also depended on the grade of the spirit tool or weapon.


    Currently, Lin Mu had branded two spirit weapons, his short sword and the iron thorn spear, along with one spirit tool which was none other than themunication jade slip which also had all the records contained within it.


    While Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense had been strengthened today, he still did not want to waste it on low grade spirit swords like these. He could still use them directly without his spirit sense, anyway. The weapons he used for the thousand armament de Scripture were all normal weapons. Even if they were of a great quality, they were no spirit weapons, thus Lin Mu realized that he could rece three of the swords in that set with the low grade spirit swords that he got.


    Two hours had passed, and Lin Mu had covered around half of the distance to the city. But even now he was not feeling tired and was still running at the same pace he had started at.


    ¡¯Seems like the Nameless technique of the lost immortal had more effects than I thought, but it should also be due to the conversion of my body¡¯s cells into the Xiantian physique cells.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While running, Lin Mu was multitasking and was also practicing with his spirit sense. Now that it had grown stronger, he needed to practice with it again to get a better control over it. For that very reason, he was probing the ground, changing the shape of the spirit sense tendril intoplex shapes and forms along with changing its thickness.


    Though the most difficult part was splitting it into multiple parts. Whenever Lin Mu wanted to scan an area, he would create a single tendril and wave it over that area, gathering the information. But what Lin Mu wanted to do was create a constant area of perception around him by splitting his spirit sense into multiple strands.


    While this would reduce the maximum range of his spirit sense, it would also make it so he knew each and everything that was happening in an area of twenty square meters around him. The range of his spirit sense fell by about five times if he split it into multiple strands.


    And just as he was doing this, he also realized that there were actually quite a few hollow spaces inside the ground. In the entire distance that Lin Mu had covered till now, he realized that he had sensed no less than fifteen caves till now.


    "There were caves under the Northern town as well, right? The safe House of the Hei Corps is built in a cave system. I wondered why there are so many caves here. It doesn¡¯t seem like many people know about it either." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Finally, while running he heard the sound of running water and realized that he was near a river. Lin Mu came to a halt and decided to have a little drink.


    "Wait, shouldn¡¯t the nameless technique of the lost immortal take care of thirst too?" Lin Mu questioned with shock.


    "Now that I think of it, it should." Xukong spoke.


    "Then why do I still feel thirsty?" Lin Mu asked and then realized it on his own.


    "Dammit, I never drank water like I ate the meat, did it?!" Lin Mu cursed his stupidity.


    "Well, betterte than never. But I¡¯m surprised that there was no requirement for water for practicing the technique... though technically you should have also been getting quite a bit of water that is naturally present in the meat." Xukong added.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and kneeled beside the river. The river was none other than the northern river, one of the three rivers that were the lifeline of the Wu Lim City along with the Western and Eastern river. These Rivers met in the Wu Lim city and disappeared into the ground from there only to reappear near the Southern town.


    Lin Mu like a beast, dipped his head into the flowing river and started swallowing ungodly amounts of water. He would drink for a few minutes atrge and then take his head out to breathe for a few seconds.


    If someone were to see this scene, they wouldugh, at first but then after a while, it would get horrifying seeing the amount of water that Lin Mu was drinking.

 Chapter 320 - Entering The Lords Manor

    <h4>Chapter 320 - Entering The Lord''s Manor </h4>


    An entire hour had passed and Lin Mu was still drinking water. Perhaps it was due to staying in seclusion for extended periods of time or spending nearly every moment of his time with a beast who was none other than senior Xukong, Lin Mu¡¯smon sense had been twisted quite a bit.


    He couldn¡¯t grasp the extreme strangeness of the act that he was doing right now. The amount of water that he had drunk in the past hour was perhaps enough for a single man to drink for a year already and he was still not stopping.


    At this point, Lin Mu simply testing out the mortal limits of his body. Another thirty minutes passed and Lin Mu finally decided to stop. Not because he was full, but because he realized that in the time he had spent here, he could have perhaps covered most of the distance to Wu Lim city.


    "Well, seems like the Nameless technique of the lost immortal is definitely working. I feel no different and can probably keep on drinking for a couple of hours more." Lin Mu said as he wiped the water off his face.


    "You sure you don¡¯t have the bloodline of a river swallowing toad?" Xukong joked.


    Lin Mu chuckled and then continued on his journey.


    While running he realized that the conversion of his body¡¯s cells into Xiantian Physique had started again, but the pace was quite slow. But any progress was good for him, as it had halted at 95% previously.


    The time passed swiftly, and soon Lin Mu could see tall buildings in the distance. Little by little the buildings grewrger and more of them were visible. The most eye catching of all the building was the one that was located at the very back.


    This building had multiple roofs and had statues of auspicious ced on them. Its roof was made from red tiles while its walls were made from green bricks. This was none other than the grand manor of the Mayor, the seat of power of the entire county.


    Another building that was also quite big was the ancestral temple which was located at the very center of the city. Lin Mu could faintly see the myriad of characters that were carved into the temple walls and even the guardian gods that had been painted onto them.


    At the eastern part, Lin Mu could see the shimmering water near which a few buildings were located.


    "Hmm, so that is where the lord of the Hei Corps lives... but also where the stronghold of the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect is located." Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu had already been informed of the location of the lord¡¯s mansion as he was to go to him after reaching Wu Lim city. Though Lin Mu had a few things on his list that he wanted to do for a long time. Thest time he came to Wu Lim city was about a year before the gue and was also the time when the martialpetition was held. At that time he had gone there along with his father and had a lot of fun.


    A sense of nostalgia filled Lin Mu as the memories of past reused back and just like this he reached the entrance of the city.


    "Halt! Dere your identity and pay the tax." The guard at the entrance stated.


    "I am Mu Lin, and I¡¯m just a traveler." Lin Mu said a fake name before giving the guard two silver coins as tax.


    The guard looked at Lin Mu¡¯s and then at the short sword at his waist.


    "Alright, you can head in." The guard said opening the gate for Lin Mu.


    It was actually not even necessary for Lin Mu to pay tax to the guard as he was a cultivator and all cultivators had free entry to the city. But Lin Mu had been advised to not do that as the identity of each cultivator is recorded and they are kept under closer observation. That was also why he had given a fake name, though perhaps even that was a bit too much as his name was rathermon either way.


    Lin Mu walked through and went towards the eastern district, right where the Lord¡¯s mansion was. He had never gone to this area before, thus he had to ask a few people questions before finding the right route. This was because Lin Mu was not told to go through the main path, which was easy to find.


    Rather, he was told to go through a smaller path which he eventually found. Lin Mu saw that there were a couple of guards standing on this path as well.


    ¡¯The security in the city is indeed much higher than the twin.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Stop! This area is restricted, turn around!" The guards warned.


    Lin Mu knew this was going to happen and thus took out a badge from his ring and showed the guards. This was none other than the identity badge of the Hei Corps.


    As soon as the guard saw the badge and then Lin Mu¡¯s face, he immediately cupped his hands in a salute.


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    "Senior Lin Mu, we were instructed that you would being." The guard spoke.


    "Please, proceed. The mansion that is right next to theke is the Lord¡¯s." The other guard informed.


    Lin Mu nodded and walked in. The eastern district was the area where the more affluent and influential people in the Wu Lim city lived, that was why there was additional security here and the entry was restricted.


    A few minutester Lin Mu was standing at tworge gates that blocked the entry to argepound. This was none other than the location where the Lord lived in. Though to Lin Mu¡¯s surprise, there were already a couple of people that were standing at the gates, seemingly waiting for him.


    Lin Mu recognized them to be part of the Hei corps and had seen them back at the safe house.


    "Wee, senior Lin Mu. The Lord has been waiting for you."

 Chapter 321 - Meeting Wu Hei

    <h4>Chapter 321 - Meeting Wu Hei </h4>


    The members of the Hei corps guided Lin Mu to the mansion. Along the way, he got to see the beauty of the garden and the decorations that had been ced around. Though the biggest part of the mansion¡¯s area was none other than theke.


    Theke had no specific name and was simply called as the Wu Lim Cityke. All of the buildings that surrounded it were considered to be of high quality and belonged to the influential people of the city. Perhaps the only building better than these was the Mayor¡¯s manor.


    There were a few small artificial inds made in theke, and there were red wooden bridges extending from the banks of thekes and joining them. The artificial inds had ornate pavilions constructed on them. Stone table and chairs were ced in the pavilions, which were exquisitely carved.


    Lin Mu had thought that he was going to be taken into the Mansion but to his surprise, he was actually being taken towards theke. Upon getting closer, he could soon see the back of a man that was sitting in the pavilion on the artificial ind.


    He was wearing a in white robe and exuded a schrly aura.


    "My lord, senior Lin Mu is here." The member of the Hei corps introduced.


    The schrly looking man turned around and a in smile appeared on his face. There was a small book in his left hand, while in his right hand there was a small wine cup. The man ced down the wine cup and closed the book before cupping his hands in a greeting.


    "Wee to my humble abode, brother Lin Mu." Wu Hei Spoke in a genial voice.


    "I am honored to finally meet Lord Hei." Lin Mu reciprocated.


    "Please sit," Wu Hei said as he gestured.


    Lin Mu took a seat opposite to Wu Hei and the schrly man poured him a cup of wine. But then Wu Hei saw the slight unwillingness on Lin Mu¡¯s face and knew that perhaps this was not right.


    "Would brother Lin Mu prefer tea instead?" Wu Hei asked.


    "Ah yes, that would be good. I... do not like the taste of wine much." Lin Mu replied.


    "Of course, everyone has their preferences, nothing wrong with that." Wu Hei spoke, but without even his speaking a pot of tea was presented to him.


    Wu Hei and Lin Mu exchanged a few pleasantries before finally getting to the crux of the matter.


    "So, Lord Hei..." Lin Mu spoke but was then interrupted.


    "Please call me Wu Hei, brother Lin Mu. Your standing is only equal if not higher than me." Wu Hei spoke.


    Lin Mu was a bit intrigued upon hearing the surname of the Lord. Even when he had asked the Hei corps about the lord¡¯s name, they had only called him as lord or lord Hei, nothing more than that. Or perhaps it was their reluctance to say it.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Please, forgive my overbearingness, but I wonder if brother Wu Hei is..."


    "Yes, brother Lin Mu¡¯s guess is correct. I belong to the Wu n." Wu Hei interrupted again.


    "Leave us for now." Wu Hei said to the servants and the Hei corps.


    Lin Mu had not expected that his guess was really correct.


    ¡¯This means that the marriage Wu Hei wants me to participate in is none other than his own brothers?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "You are the mayor¡¯s younger son," Lin Mu realized.


    Lin Mu saw that Wu Hei had sent away all the people around when he told him this, which meant that he did not want the others to know.


    "I am indeed, but it is not an identity I particrly prefer. So I hope brother Lin Mu does not bother with it as much." Wu Hei stated.


    "If it is what brother Wu Hei wants that it is fine." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu had no qualms about this though it did make him wonder why Wu Hei did not want others knowing about his identity as the mayor¡¯s son.


    "Seems like this Wu Hei had many more secrets than he¡¯s showing," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu internally nodded but did not show it on his face.


    "So then brother Wu Hei, what exactly is that you want me to do?" Lin Mu finally asked the thing that he hade here for.


    "You see brother Lin Mu, my position is that of the younger brother of the Groom. This means that I need to have a representative fight in the tournament that is held before the marriage ceremony. All of the powers that have been invited will be participating, and I need toe out on top of them. And also with the recent events with the mayor, there are even more eyes on us." Wu Hei answered.


    "I understand. I¡¯ll do it then, though when will the tournament be and where?" Lin Mu replied.


    "The tournament will be held at the mayor¡¯s manor and will be held in three days from now. They finalized the date just today, thus you came at the right time." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Then I¡¯ll be there when you want me to be." Lin Mu responded with a nod.


    "I... also heard brother Lin Mu has a little enmity with the Tri cauldron peony sect?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "Yes, there is a certain Junior elder which I would prefer did not exist." Lin Mu stated as a matter of fact.


    "I have investigated the matter on my own, and have found that the junior elder Fa Shiu is not in the city as of now. Neither has he evere to the city before." Wu Hei informed.


    "Hmm, seems like I¡¯ll need to keep a look out for him. He is going to be at the wedding though from what I heard, they were finding a gift for a certain Ye Zi Jin." Lin Mu said in a straight tone.


    "Fear not brother Lin Mu, you¡¯ll be the first one to know the moment that man enters the city." Wu Hei dered.

 Chapter 322 - Where Did The Young Lord Go?

    <h4>Chapter 322 - Where Did The Young Lord Go? </h4>


    Lin Mu and Wu Hei discussed a few more things before Lin Mu decided it was enough. He had a few more things he needed to get done before the tournament, and he wanted to get to them as fast as possible. He didn¡¯t know when Junior elder Fa Shiu would turn up and thus wanted to be ready for any moment.


    At the end, Wu Hei called a few servants and asked them to bring a few things. He then gave Lin Mu some things like a key, and a writ of authority among some other minor things. The key belonged to the courtyard that had been set up for Lin Mu¡¯s stay. It was also in the eastern district and was a little distance from the Wu Hei¡¯s mansion.


    Lin Mu thanked Wu Hei before leaving the small pavilion. He walked out of the gates of thepound and headed towards the courtyard that was prepared for him. It was not near theke, but was still of a quite good quality. It had four individual smaller courtyards in it, and the entire ce was for Lin Mu to use.


    "Seems like this Wu Hei did not leave any chance for aint huh," Xukong spoke.


    "I guess so." Lin Mu muttered as he walked into the courtyard.


    "Greetings master, Lin Mu." A man suddenly appeared out of the corner.


    Lin Mu had already scanned the entire area with his spirit sense and thus knew that this was the servant that took care of the courtyard. He had been assigned to take care of Lin Mu¡¯s needs while he lived here.


    "Does master need help with his luggage or anything? Should I prepare a bath or would master like to eat first?" The servant asked.


    "No need. I¡¯ll be looking around the city for a while. I just came to check in." Lin Mu replied.


    "As the master wishes." The servant responded.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu waved his hand and sent the servant away while he took a closer look at the courtyard. It was much bigger than his own and was also much more luxurious. Lin Mu could guess that renting a ce like this probably cost a lot, but it didn¡¯t matter to him as long as he was not the one that was paying the price.


    Having had enough of the courtyard, he left the courtyard and headed towards the location that he wanted to go to the most, the ancestral temple.


    Lin Mu walked through the crowded streets and took in the sights of the city. There were a lot more cultivators in the Wu Lim citypared to the northern town. Even though there were a lot more cultivators in the Northern town due to the presence of the Hei corps, they were not the actual residents.


    Untilst year there were only five cultivators in total that lived in the Northern town, but now of those five three of them were dead. Two killed by Lin Mu¡¯s own hands. Being reminded of the doings of the former town head only made Lin Mu irritated, and he stopped thinking of that.


    Lin Mu was seeing the cultivation bases of the cultivators that passed by and found every one of them to be at the qi refining realm. A majority of them were at the Early stage with a few rare ones being at the mid stage and a couple even at thete stage.


    This let Lin Mu know how rare the cultivators truly were. Even in a big city like this, there weren¡¯t any at the core condensation realm walking around. Though Lin Mu guessed that this should change soon, once the Powers that have been invited for the marriage ceremony turn up.


    The ones that are close by will be here by tomorrow while the others should reach here in three days at thetest. While walking, Lin Mu came across arge and borate building.


    "Alluring Wisteria Pavilion" The board read.


    "So this is the ce where the lieutenant Wu Teng has been spending his time at." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Ahh, would this young lord like toe in? Fear not, we don¡¯t bite... Hahaha!" Asciviously dressed woman spoke.


    She was standing at the entrance of the pavilion along with a few other simrly dressed women and saw Lin Mu staring at the building.


    "Jung Mi, you already took another customerst time. It¡¯s my turn now." Said another woman with pink rouge on her lips.


    She came forward and held Lin Mu¡¯s arm, pressing it against her bountiful chest.


    A blush spread across Lin Mu¡¯s face and he became flustered. He didn¡¯t know what to do and froze up.


    "Ahaha! Seems like the young lord is shy. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll take good care of you." Spoke the woman who was sticking to Lin Mu.


    She then started dragging Lin Mu to the Alluring wisteria pavilion, seeing that Lin Mu did not disagree with her. The other women standing around teased Lin Mu and gave him seductive nces as he was taken past them.


    Meanwhile,, Xukong wasughing inside the ring and could not stop seeing the reacting of Lin Mu.


    "Ahaha! At least say something Lin Mu. Do you really want to go in? I won¡¯t mind, you are getting older and need to experience the matters between men and women." Xukong spoke between chuckles.


    Lin Mu was snapped out of his daze after hearing the voice of Senior Xukong. Suddenly he felt as if he heard a familiar woman¡¯s voice in his head.


    "Remember Lin Mu, women are devious and will try to trick you. Mother will find a good woman for you, so don¡¯t you go around falling into their wiles." The Voice spoke.


    Lin Mu then saw the stern face of his mother appearing in front of him. This invoked the fear that he had of her. He remembered how she would give him a good beating if he was naughty.


    "Uhh!" Lin Mu uttered, but did not know what to say.


    "Oh, does Young lord want anything specific? This sister will try her best to fulfill all of your desires." The woman spoke.


    Lin Mu turned a shade of red deeper and could not hold out anymore. The woman suddenly found her arm empty and Lin Mu having disappeared from her grasp.


    "Huh? Where did the young lord go?"

 Chapter 323 - The Ancestral Temple

    <h4>Chapter 323 - The Ancestral Temple </h4>


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t handle it anymore and the embarrassment was threatening to drown him, if not his mother¡¯s voice that would nag him at the back of his head that would kill him as well. Unable to hold on anymore and unable to speak, Lin Mu ended up using blink to get away from the woman that was dragging him into the Alluring Wisteria pavilion.


    The entire thing had happened in such a short amount of time that the woman had not seen anything happen and to her, it was as if Lin Mu had disappeared into thin air... which he kind of did.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief as he looked back at the Alluring Wisteria pavilion.


    "Hooh! Almost got trapped..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Hahaha! Seems like you still have time to grow up." Xukongughed again.


    Lin Mu ignored senior Xukong¡¯s teasing and just focused on walking. Eventually, he reached the ce that he so wanted to go to, The ancestral temple.


    The ancestral temple was located in a wide open square and there were a lot of people that came here to pray to their ancestors. The entry to the inside of the temple was not allowed to most of the people and all they could do was pray from the outside.


    The temple would only be opened to themoners on the day of the annual temple festival. Currently, only a few influential people could enter the temple and pray there. Lin Mu didn¡¯t have to wait in the crow for long before he was able to get close to the temple.


    "Hmm, some of the runes carved on this temple are indeed from the Dao script," Xukong spoke.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu looked and read all the characters that he could and realized that some of them were from the Dao script, while the rest were justmon runes. There were ancestral couplets written in the form of runes on the temple.


    But when Lin Mu tried to read the Dao script characters, he realized that he could barely understand their meaning. He had not learned these ones yet and thus could not understand the entire meaning of them.


    "Senior, what do the characters mean?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling curious.


    "Hmm, they are the characters pertaining to reincarnation, worship, family, virtue and... fate." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu could hear the strangeness in senior Xukong¡¯s voice and wondered if there was a problem.


    "Senior, is there... something wrong with the temple?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm, it¡¯s hard to tell but it does not seem to be as old as it¡¯s looking," Xukong replied.


    "Not as old as it looks? Do you mean is newer than it looks?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No, rather the opposite. Even if its materials look like they were made around a few hundred years ago, the aura that is felt from the characters is different. It¡¯s far more older..." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu looked at the temple and probed it with his spirit sense. At first, it breached the wall rather easily and entered the internal hall. There Lin Mu saw all the ancestral tablets that had been erected and the hundreds of incense sticks that were burning.


    Then he saw an old monk that was kneeling at the corner of the temple. He observed him and found him to be amoner with no cultivation. Yet, Lin Mu could feel something strange from the temple now. Lin Mu wanted to look further, but his spirit sense had reached its limit.


    If Lin Mu wanted to see more, he would have to get closer, which was not possible currently. Lin Mu looked ahead and saw the guards that were standing at the border of the temple, not letting anyone get close. Unlike the other guards, these guards were all cultivators and one of them was even ate stage qi refining realm cultivator.


    "Do you know about the history of the ancestral temple?" Xukong suddenly questioned.


    Lin Mu tilted his head and thought for a bit before remembering what he had heard before about the temple.


    "From what I heard from my father, the temple was made about a hundred years ago along with the city itself. It was actually one of the first buildings to be erected and has stayed the same since then, even if more buildings have been added to the town." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm, even if the building was made a hundred years ago, the materials it was made from look older than that and the aura that it exudes is even older than that... perhaps over a thousand years," Xukong replied.


    "Should we perhaps take a look inside senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No... at least not now. Perhaps if we get an opportunity in the future or when we have no choice but to do it." Xukong replied.


    "If you say so, Senior." Lin Mu muttered.


    He then got to the tiled floor and kneeled down kowtowing to pray to his ancestors. Lin Mu prayed to his descended parents and grandparents, before standing up. There were tens of people doing the same, and some of them even seemed to be crying while others seem to be begging.


    "You didn¡¯t tell me about your grandparents," Xukong said with interest, seeing Lin Mu pray to them.


    "I didn¡¯t? Oh yes, but I don¡¯t really have much to tell either. I don¡¯t remember much about them as they passed away a long time ago. I think only my grandmother was alive back when I was born and my grandfather had died a long time ago.


    My father was around my age when my grandfather died as well." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I see..." Xukong said with a calm tone.


    Xukong thought over his words and suddenly realized something.


    ¡¯Could Lin Mu really have a bloodline, perhaps? I couldn¡¯t detect any in him, but perhaps it¡¯s too diluted or beyond my understanding?¡¯


    "Lin Mu these grandparents you talked about, they are your paternal grandparents, right? What about your mother¡¯s parents?" Xukong questioned.


    "I... I... don¡¯t know?" Lin Mu uttered.

 Chapter 324 - Lockdown?

    <h4>Chapter 324 - Lockdown? </h4>


    Lin Mu then tried to remember but could not find any memory rted to his maternal grandparents. He realized that he had never asked his parents about his maternal grandparents either.


    "I think... my mother was an orphan? My father met her at the town when she was working in the orchards." Lin Mu spoke.


    "So you don¡¯t know anything about your maternal grandparents?" Xukong asked for confirmation.


    "Yes, I have no idea who they are." Lin Mu replied.


    This put Xukong in a deep thought and wondered if he should investigate it more.


    ¡¯The boy¡¯s fate is incrediblyplex, and his links to karma are not visible to me either. I don¡¯t know if it is because of the ring or something else, but perhaps there is a link to his family.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    Xukong closed his eyes and a wave of spirit qi started emanating from his body. It spread in the ring and made all the spatial energy streaks in the sky twirl around him. Five secondster everything settled and went to normal, except that the aura that Xukong had fallen by twenty percent.


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    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯Let¡¯s hope that I get some results...¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    Lin Mu was unaware that senior Xukong had done something right now and was calmly walking away from the ancestral temple. He was now heading towards the manor of the city mayor. He wanted to take a look at the ce where the tournament would be held soon.


    The city mayor¡¯s manor was located in the southern part of the city and was thus quite far from the location that Lin Mu was in right now. Because he could not run there due to the number of people on the roads. There was a high chance that he would collide with someone and then the guards would get involved.


    It took him about an hour to reach the manor and finally saw its true size. From far it seemed to be big, but from close it was massive. Lin Mu guessed that thend of the manor took up the area of an entire district, perhaps.


    ¡¯How much money would have taken to build something like this?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    He circled around the manor and saw a lot of servants preparing for the events before the marriage ceremony. From what Lin Mu had heard it would start with a martial tournament then there would be poetry, dance, music and art.


    A variety of programs were held for the enjoyment of all the guests that were invited. Then at the very end was the marriage ceremony set up.


    "Move aside, move aside!" Suddenly a group of guards appeared from the entrance of the manor and shouted.


    The people walking around heard it and became alert before following the orders. Lin Mu was already on the other side of the street thus didn¡¯t really have to move, but his attention was attracted. He looked towards the Manor and saw a carriage being brought out of the manor.


    "Who is that? Isn¡¯t the mayor in the Shuang Qian city undergoing interrogation?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "That should be the wife of the city mayor." A random person answered.


    Lin Mu could not see who was inside the carriage as it was too far. He pushed the people and walked closer to use his spirit sense to take a look. His spirit sense easily prated the carriage walls and then he saw a middle aged woman sitting in the carriage.


    Her face was calm, but a sense of dignity could be felt from it. But the moment Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense touched her, she felt it and became alert.


    ¡¯She¡¯s a cultivator too. A peak stage qi refining realm cultivator.¡¯ Lin Mu thought and immediately pulled his spirit sense back.


    But before it could leave the carriage the mayor¡¯s wife intercepted it with her own spirit sense trying to find its source. She kept on following it, but soon realized that it had gone beyond her range. Her face became even more rmed after this.


    Meanwhile, Lin Mu walked away from the area, unaware that he had just scared the woman.


    "Guards!" The mayor¡¯s wife shouted.


    The carriage stopped moving and a group of guards surrounded it. One of them who seemed to be the leader waked closer and cupped his hands.


    "Do you have any problems, madam?" The leader of the guards asked respectfully.


    "I sensed a cultivator spying on me..." The woman spoke.


    Now it was the turn of the guards to be shocked.


    "But madam, we were alert and didn¡¯t sense anyone approaching." The guard spoke.


    "I know but the cultivator¡¯s spirit sense came from quite far." The woman spoke.


    "Madam, you mean..." The guard leader gulped at that sentence.


    "There is a core condensation realm cultivator in the town. Someone sneaked in..." The woman spoke.


    "But madam, why would they do that? Any core condensation realm cultivator would be an honored guest that would get the utmost respect. If they wanted to meet you, they would have to merely mention it. Even the mayor would not reject it." The guard replied.


    "You think I don¡¯t know that?" The woman scolded. "What other reason is left? What do you think, you imbecile?"


    "A spy?" The guard muttered as he realized.


    "GO! I WANT THIS DISTRICT UNDER LOCKDOWN! Entry and the exit to the city will be stopped until further notice! I want a list of each and every person that entered the city in the past three days." The Guard leader ordered the others.


    "YES LEADER!" The guards replied and went to do their tasks.


    The carriage was turned around and went back into the manor while all the people around were gossiping about what had just urred.


    Lin Mu though, had gone quite far from the spot and didn¡¯t know that his casual probe had alerted all of the guards of the city now. He was now visiting all the shops that he found interesting and buying stuff from there.

 Chapter 325 - Avoiding The Check

    <h4>Chapter 325 - Avoiding The Check </h4>


    Lin Mu had been nning to get a lot of stuff that he thought he would need in the future, thus that was exactly what he was buying right now. It wasn¡¯t anything too important though, just things that would make the quality of his life better.


    And since Lin Mu could keep everything in his ring, it was extremely convenient.


    "You know there are special spirit tools that function as a house, you can simply get one of those in the future," Xukong suggested seeing Lin Mu buying all the things.


    "Oh? You mean like the myriad armament canopy abode?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well, that one is a rather extreme example. But yes, something like that. Though if you want one in this world, it would be hard to find a spirit tool refiner that can make it." Xukong replied.


    "Due to the difficulty, you mean?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not really that, but rather due to the niche kind of a tool that it is. It isn¡¯t really something used for offense, particrly so the people here may not be experienced in it. Though a small one should be around the same category as a high grade spirit tool." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu was intrigued by this and wondered if he could find anyone that could make it for him. But then he realized that while he did have a lot of gold, he didn¡¯t have as many spirit stones.


    ¡¯Hmm, I¡¯ll need to get spirit stones.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu of course had other things that were worth a lot of spirit stones but he couldn¡¯t sell those. They were of big use to him, like the pills and the tools that he already had. But he did have certain things he could sell, such as the spirit apples that he had.


    His stock of the spirit apples had reached quite arge amount by now and their growth rate had also increased to seven apples a day ever since he reached the peak stage of the qi refining realm. He knew that the spirit apples that grew in the garden of karma were of a better quality than the ones that grew in the orchards and thus should be worth more.


    "I should find a ce to see how much they¡¯re worth. This is Wu Lim city so it shouldn¡¯t create any trouble even if I sell the spirit apples." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu had just finished buying from the seventh store when he noticed that the route was blocked for some reason. There was a crowd of people standing around and beyond them, he could see some guards standing.


    "What¡¯s happening here?" Lin My asked a person standing nearby.


    "We don¡¯t know either. The guards have put the entire district on lockdown and no one can leave till they verify their identities. They¡¯re especially checking for cultivators, apparently." The person said.


    "Huh? Why though?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "Only the guards know, and they won¡¯t tell us. They¡¯re just forcing us to follow their orders." Another man that was standing beside him replied.


    Lin Mu nodded and realized that there was probably some incident that had happened. He extended his spirit sense and checked all the other exits that were nearby, only to find the same thing happening there. He also noticed that the guards were all cultivators and were actually using spirit sense to check for cultivators.


    As soon as Lin Mu saw that he retracted his spirit sense and knew that he couldn¡¯t let his identity be exposed here. While he had been given a writ of authority which he could use, he knew that it was better to only be used in a time of emergency.


    Since he still had an opportunity to avoid them right now, he chose to do that.


    After all, with Lin Mu¡¯s skills, a thing like this was quite easy. He quickly found a suitable ce from where he could get to the roof of the buildings using Blink. Because the buildings and the houses in the city were rather closely packed, it was easy for Lin Mu.


    But then upon reaching the roof, he suddenlyid down.


    "Dammit! They got guards on the roof too?" Lin Mu cursed.


    "Of course they would. If they didn¡¯t, they would be rather stupid, wouldn¡¯t they? A cultivator that was a criminal can easily scale buildings, this would be the most obvious route of escape." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu realized his mistake and got back down. There were far too many guards even on the roofs and he knew even with blink there was a great chance he would be found out and he didn¡¯t think Fade would be as effective here, the buildings were rather densely packed.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like I need to go the proper way this time. I don¡¯t want to create trouble unnecessarily the day that Ie here." Lin Mu said to himself.


    Lin Mu took out the writ of authority and put it into his sleeve to show it at the right moment. He then used his spirit sense to find a route that had the least amount of people. Even if guards knew that he was a cultivator, Lin Mu didn¡¯t want othermon people to know it.


    After all, people liked gossiping and who knew whose lips would take it where and turn it into what. But just as Lin Mu was doing this, he suddenly felt something under one of the paths.


    "Huh? Another cave?" Lin Mu muttered with surprise.


    He had not expected that there would be caves here as well.


    "It could be a sewer system," Xukong suggested.


    "A sewer system? What¡¯s that?" Lin Mu asked.


    Xukong "...".


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know why, but an awkward silence descended after asking that question.


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    "You don¡¯t know what a sewer system is?" Xukong asked with apprehension.


    "I know what sewer is, but not what a sewer system is." Lin Mu replied.


    Xukong didn¡¯t know if he shouldugh or cry, but then he remembered the state of the northern town and even this city. He realized that there were actually surface level sewers here that were simply covered byrge stone tiles.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I forgot what kind of a world this is..."

 Chapter 326 - Runes?

    <h4>Chapter 326 - Runes? </h4>


    Xukong then went on to exin to Lin Mu what a sewer system was in brief.


    "Oh yeah, I think I¡¯ve heard of them. The Empire¡¯s capital has that to drain the water from all the rain that they get." Lin Mu spoke.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "At least this world is not that backward..." Xukong muttered.


    "But still, senior it¡¯s strange that there are caves here too." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu had looked around and discovered that there were actually quite a few caves here. Though most of them were about ten to thirty meters deep in the ground. Even his spirit sense was barely able to reach them due to the density of the ground.


    If it were not for it having strengthened recently, he may have not even discovered it. Lin Mu thus decided to take advantage of these caves. He first found a suitable location that hidden from people and also had a cave below it.


    For this Lin Mu had to go all the way to the other side of the district. But this also allowed him to see the increased security around the Mayor¡¯s manor. While passing by, he finally heard what had happened from the people here.


    "So it was my fault..." Lin Mu muttered with embarrassment.


    "That¡¯s what happens when you carelessly probed people with spirit sense. Thankfully, your spirit sense was long enough that she didn¡¯t know why it was." Xukong warned.


    Having learned his lesson, Lin Mu found a suitable ce that satisfied both the conditions. He then used the third skill Phase and started sinking into the ground. It was a strange sensation for him, as when he usually used the skill he wouldn¡¯t go into the ground.


    This time he felt as if he was sinking into thick mud, which was actually what it was... kind of. A few secondster Lin Mu fell through the roof of the cave andnded on a wet floor.


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    "What the hell is this smell!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "Hold your breath! This air could be poisonous or at the very least stale." Xukong warned.


    Lin Mu immediately held his breath and looked around for the path. It wasn¡¯t a problem for Lin Mu to hold his breath in for more than five minutes now. But while waking he discovered another problem, his eyes had actually started burning due to the fumes in the air.


    "This seems much worse than I thought. The air here shouldn¡¯t be this bad though to hurt your eyes, unless... there was something rotting here." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu smelled it a bit and realized that it was indeed a rotting smell in the air. He followed his spirit sense and tried to find the quickest way out. He was using his spirit sense to look up onto the surface of the ground to see where to go.


    Even the path that he had seen from above didn¡¯t seem to urately match the one that he was seeing here.


    ¡¯Seems like I was mistaken due to the difference in the depths.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Still, Lin Mu didn¡¯t worry that he was in danger, as if he really had a problem he could just use phase and blink to get to the surface quickly.


    <i>~Woosh~</i>


    After walking for a minute, Lin Mu felt a faint breeze hitting his face.


    "Wind, here?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Unlike the rest of the air, while this had a rotten smell in it too, it was not as strong and it didn¡¯t irritate his eyes either.


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    "You should go that way, it possibly leads to an open path maybe," Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu checked it with the map that he had in his mind and realized that the direction this tunnel was going was right through the center of the district.


    ¡¯Doesn¡¯t this pass right below the manor then?¡¯ Lin Mu estimated.


    <i>~Trickle~</i>


    Lin Mu continued onward, and soon the sound of water hit his ears.


    "Huh water?... of course the three rivers, they enter the ground when they reach the city!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "The air is probablying from a well, if you follow the water you should find a suitable path faster. The air should be good too there." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded and followed this path. Not even a minuteter he found the air clearing up, and bing breathable.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    "This is much better..." Lin Mu muttered.


    Soon he found the underground river and saw the gushing water.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    But upon seeing the force of the water he knew he had to be careful, one wrong step and he could fall into the water.


    There was a very narrow space to walk along which Lin Mu traveled and soon spotted the first opening. There was a rope dangling from the opening as well.


    "That¡¯s a well, alright." Lin Mu muttered.


    From the well, Lin Mu could let his spirit sense exit out and take a look around.


    "Oh damn, I¡¯m right inside the manor..." Lin Mu realized.


    The well that was above Lin Mu opened up in the garden of the mansion. He could even see a few guards patrolling around and these were even stronger than the others that he had seen outside. With even the weakest one of them being at thete stage of the qi refining realm.


    "They got plenty of people indeed. Though if they really have these many, then they should assign some to the towns as well, then we wouldn¡¯t have had incidents like in the past." Lin Mu muttered with a grievance.


    Putting the matter aside, he continued on the path. But soon he felt something unnatural.


    "Wha-what is this feeling?..." Lin Mu wondered.


    There was a certain auraing from one of the tunnels near him that was quite obnoxious. While it wasn¡¯t outright repulsive, it certainly did not feelfortable to him. He curiously scanned it with his spirit sense and discovered something.


    "Are those... runes?" Lin Mu discovered.


    "What do you mean runes?" Xukong asked as he focused on Lin Mu¡¯s vision.


    There he saw runes carved into the walls. Most of them had faded away, and some had crumbled with the dust and gravel lying on the floor.

 Chapter 327 - Tunnels

    <h4>Chapter 327 - Tunnels </h4>


    Xukong carefully tried to read the runes but found most of them to not make much sense. A vast majority of them had been destroyed, and thus they could not really be read anymore. Lin Mu tried to read it as well and could only make out some basic words.


    But even then, the ufortable feeling that he was feeling was not dissipating and was still the same. Thinking of a solution, Lin Mu started chanting the calming heart sutra and a few secondster felt much better. The ufortable feeling could not affect him anymore.


    "Let¡¯s see what is here, there¡¯s bound to be something if it can make me feel like this." Lin Mu said before walking ahead.


    A few minutester he could smell the foul stench in the air again. He saw that he had reached a point where the tunnel branched into multiple parts. There was one of them that was the biggest in size and was also giving out the feeling of difort, while one of the other branches was where the foul stench wasing from.


    The remaining tunnels had no effect on him, and he didn¡¯t particrly find them unique.


    "Which one do we head to first?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm, let¡¯s go to the one that is the biggest one." Lin Mu decided after a few moments.


    Lin Mu walked ahead and saw that the runes that were carved into the walls were much more degraded than the previous parts. He touched the walls and could feel they were steeped in that ufortable aura. But even then the main source of that was quite ahead.


    It took him about five minutes to reach the end of the tunnel. This was where the ufortable aura was the strongest, nearly ten times as much as when he first felt it. But now Lin Mu could not proceed anymore, for there was arge wall in front of him. This wall also had runes that had deteriorated with time carved on it.


    "Now what?" Lin Mu asked.


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    He touched the wall and could feel the ufortable aura behind it. He tried probing the wall with his spirit sense and realized that he could not prate it more than an inch.


    "Hmm, seems like this is a gate of some kind. But looking at the runes carved on it, the opening mechanism for it has also broken due to the time." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu looked at the wall and felt unwilling to head back. But then an idea appeared in his mind. He triggered the third skill phase and walked ahead.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    "Ouch!" Lin Mu winced.


    Lin Mu recoiled from the collision and rubbed his head. He looked at his hands and saw that they were still blurry. He touched the wall with his hands and found them unable to prate through them.


    "But how?" Lin Mu felt confused.


    "Looks like there is a barrier or some kind behind the wall that¡¯s protecting it. It is probably one of the defensive mechanisms and was part of the main one, but the one that controlled the gate has been destroyed over time. But due to the method by which the gate was made, it is still blocked." Xukong answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Sighing in defeat, Lin Mu thought of any other idea. He got the idea of using the fourth skill Fade, but knew that it was risky. He had no idea what was in front of him and now that his spirit sense could not pierce it either, he couldn¡¯t use the method that he had previously used.


    Even if he used the skill anyway, while he would be able to bypass the wall, he didn¡¯t know what kind of ce he would end up in. Who knows what kind of a trap existed behind it. Or there could even just be nothing there, and his entire effort could have been wasted.


    "It¡¯s better toe backter since we don¡¯t know much about this ce. There are still other tunnels that you haven¡¯t checked, perhaps there is an alternate path there." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu thought over it and indeed found it better to not take a risk.


    He tenured around and walked back to the ce where the tunnel branched into the other tunnels and then chose another one of the tunnels. He walked ahead and soon reached another dead end. This time the tunnel in front of him had copsed and there was no way to proceed ahead.


    Lin Mu used his spirit sense and found it to easily prate it. But even after using all of his spirit sense, he couldn¡¯t find an opening behind it. The debris had covered the entirety of the tunnel behind it. Now here Lin Mu could use his third skill phase, but he didn¡¯t want to as he felt like there wouldn¡¯t be anything here.


    He went back to the point of split and checked the other tunnels. Nearly all of them were blocked as well in different manners. Some were copsed like the previous one, some simply ended in a wall, while some were flooded with water.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu was now standing at the fork again and was looking at thest tunnel he had not gone through. This was the tunnel that was filled with the foul stench and the one that Lin Mu had the least desire to head into.


    Still not wanting to give up mid way, he gritted his teeth and headed inside. This tunnel was deeper than any other tunnels and was also the steepest. This tunnel was heading downwards and the more Lin Mu walked in the harder he found himself to breathe.


    The stench was once again burning his eyes, and he decided to hold his breath in. Lin Mu had walked in nearly twice the distance he had than any other tunnels, and he finally saw a change. A wide opening appeared in front of him and the tunnels ended up in a wide open cave.


    This was the ce that had the vilest of stench. It was as if corpses had been rotting side here for a few months and an area of absolutely horrific conditions was created.

 Chapter 328 - Blood?

    <h4>Chapter 328 - Blood? </h4>


    Simr to the previous parts this area was pitch dark and Lin Mu was using his spirit sense to ¡¯see¡¯. But unlike the others, this area was sorge that his spirit sense was only able to feel the air and the ends were not visible to him.


    "This area is at least a hundred meters wide." Lin Mu muttered.


    He extended his spirit sense upwards and finally felt the roof of the cave. But even then it was quite far up as Lin Mu had walked arge distance downwards. He wanted to continue but felt hesitant as his spirit sense did not seem to be able to perceive everything.


    There could be things that were beyond his spirit sense that may be dangerous to him. Not wanting to continue directly he took out a torch from the ring. He gestured with his hand and suddenly heard a shout in his mind.


    "NO! Stop!" Xukong yelled, but was toote.


    A spark appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s hand and then "BOOOOOM!"


    Lin Mu felt as if time had slowed down and he could see the small spark he had made in his hand using the minor fireball technique rapidly expanding. There was something in the air that fueled the mes and spread around.


    In that fraction of a second Lin Mu instinctively activated the three skills Flicker, Blink and Phase all together. He appeared inside the walls of the cave and stopped there. His breath was still held in, but he could feel the tremors that were traveling through the walls of the cave.


    Theysted for about five seconds, after which Lin Mu felt them stop. He used his spirit sense to check if everything was fine and after confirming that walked outside. The cave was still pitch ck, but the heat could be felt in it.


    There was also the sound of rocks crumbling, echoing in the cave.


    "That was close, you almost killed yourself!" Xukong scolded.


    Lin Mu knew that he had messed up big this time and if it were not for him reacting quick enough, he would have sustained heavy injuries if not for death. But he was still confused about what had just happened, how did the mes grow so big and cause an explosion?


    Xukong saw the confusion in Lin Mu¡¯s mind and knew that this wasn¡¯t exactly his fault either. If anything, it was more because of his ignorance than anything.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "That stench you were smelling, they were the gases in the air. Some of those gases are toxic while some are even mmable, so even a small spark can cause an explosion if you¡¯re not careful. Now that the gases have ignited, while the gases themselves will have disappeared." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and took a light breath finding that the foul smell had indeed disappeared. He realized that he could now breathe again here and his eyes did not irritate anymore.


    <i>~Hooh~</i>


    "This is much better..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "It should be fine if I ignite another torch, right?" Lin Mu asked, just to be sure.


    "Yes, it should be fine now. Though I don¡¯t know how long it will burn thought... there won¡¯t be enough air in the cave left." Xukong answered.


    "I¡¯ll just take a quick look." Lin Mu replied before taking out another torch from his ring.


    The one that he had taken out previously had been destroyed in the explosion, and no traces of it could be seen. He used the minor fireball technique and ignited the torch, illuminating the cave. Lin Mu finally saw how big the cave was.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu eximed as he saw the size of the cave.


    The cave was at least eighty meters tall and around two hundred meters wide. The ground that Lin Mu was standing on was t, but it nted towards the center of the cave. Lin Mu looked ahead and saw arge hole in the center of the cave.


    This hole was the source of the foul stench that had been bothering Lin Mu this entire time. He looked inside and saw that there was a pool of what looked like a thick sludge of some kind. It was ck in color and the foul smell was emanating from it again. From time to time, bubbles would appear from the ck sludge and pop in the air.


    "Ugh! What in the heavens is this!!?" Lin Mu recoiled with revulsion.


    He looked around and saw that there were actually some channels that were joining this hole. He traced the channels and saw that they were heading towards the other side of the cave and reached the walls of the cave. At that point, there were holes for each of the channels and they merged into them.


    Lin Mu could also see some dried up sludge simr to that of therge hole, present on these channels.


    "So this is where the ck sludgees from. Whatever is behind this wall is the source of it." Lin Mu realized.


    "Could it be?..." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu was abut startled, but this and wondered if there was danger again.


    "What is it senior?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "Hmm, I think this ck sludge wasn¡¯t exactly like this before. Rather it should have been liquid and only after being here for a long time has it be like this. As for what it is... it¡¯s blood." Xukong revealed.


    "Blood?! But why would there be blood here?" Lin Mu asked.


    He immediately went to check the wall on the other side and probed it with his spirit sense only to find it blocked again. He tried to use the skill phase but could not pass through it either.


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    "As I guessed, the first tunnel we went through whatever was behind that gate is behind this wall as well. The source of the blood was from that ce as well." Lin Mu guessed.


    "There is only one thing thates to my mind, Lin Mu... The Blood Sacrifice!"

 Chapter 329 - Who Are The Culprits?

    <h4>Chapter 329 - Who Are The Culprits? </h4>


    Xukong¡¯s words made the cogs in Lin Mu¡¯s brain turn and everything started to link up; the culprits hiding in caves, them disappearing easily, the kidnapping of the mercenaries, the presences of caves everywhere in the region of which nearly no one seemed to have knowledge of.


    Lin Mu then looked at all the runes that had been carved into the walls and realized that all of this should have been ancient and have been exiting here for countless years. He then realized one of the most important things.


    It seemed too suspicious that barely anyone knew about the caves. At least the people who took care of the wells in the city should have known of them, and if they knew then normal people should have found out about it as well.


    A serious expression appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face as his train of thought progressed. He knew from the kind of thick sludge that had been formed, the quantity of blood that was originally present must have been quiterge. He checked the depth of the sludge pool and was even more shocked.


    "Senior the sludge pool, it¡¯s more than fifty meters deep." Lin Mu spoke.


    Now even Xukong was getting worried about this, as he understood the amount of blood required to fill such arge pool would not be easily obtained.


    "Lin Mu, I don¡¯t think this is all blood," Xukong said.


    "It¡¯s not? Then what it is?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Use the method I tell you and test it out yourself," Xukong replied.


    He then gave Lin Mu a small technique which was actually part of the refinement skills. Lin Mu didn¡¯t have a hard time in learning it, as a lot of the steps were simr to those he used for the refinement of the Bloodline of the Trunk Faced Cow.


    Lin Mu used his spirit sense and created a few runes in the air. He formed a few seals with his hands and a small amount of sludge came floating up from the pool. It entered the formation which the runes had formed and stirred before turning to dust and dissipating.


    But after this, the runes that constituted the formation also changed and then entered Lin Mu¡¯s head. He closed his eyes, and a troubled expression appeared on his face.


    "You were right, senior. This isn¡¯t just blood, but entire bodies mixed with them. There is not only human blood in it, but also a lot of beast blood. In fact, the majority of it constitutes of beast blood." Lin Mu informed.


    "Hmm, as I thought. They are using a certain refinement technique to refine the corpses and blood in a certain ratio to prepare blood essence rich fluid. They absorb the blood essence while discarding the rest as a waste." Xukong exined.


    Upon hearing this, Lin Mu¡¯s rage red up, but then he quickly chanted the calming heart sutra again to calm himself down. He knew that it would not be the right time to get senselessly angry and it would be the better choice to find out what was going on.


    "We should explore a bit and check what exists in the other caves. Even if this one is blocked, there should be others that should be essible. Besides this many beast corpse should not have been easily obtainable which means, the mayor is definitely part of the entire thing." Lin Mu said in a cold tone.


    "That makes sense. First, he employed the mercenaries to hunt beasts for him and then killed them as well to contribute to the blood sacrifice. But this leaves us with another problem. If the mayor is involved in this then does it mean that his sons are as well?" Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu was thinking about this very question as well, and it had put him in a dilemma. From the actions of the Hei corps, it was obvious that they were fully against the culprits and that they were definitely bothered by them. The dislike of the Mayor by Wu Hei was also quite obvious and from what Lin Mu had known about it, the mayor had always kept the existence of his younger son in the back.


    Most of the people did not even know the name of the younger son of the mayor, which showed that there was some conflict in between them. But even if it was sure that Wu Hei was not involved with the mayor, it didn¡¯t mean that Lin Mu could simply tell him that.


    In the end, they were still father and son. Blood was thicker than water. Who knew if he had a change of heart at the very end.


    "Old man Jing Wei and Duan Ke should have been here at this point, it would have been immensely helpful." Lin Mu muttered.


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    Xukong heard Lin Mu¡¯s words and knew that they were true. Their existence would have definitely made it much easier for them.


    "Senior Xukong, what do you think? Should I proceed in investigating the ce or not?" Lin Mu asked, feeling unable toe up with a conclusion.


    "Hmm, I think you should stop for a while. Whoever it is, they will definitely be strong. Just the amount of cultivators and beasts they have sacrificed would be enough to push them to the nascent soul realm, at the very least if they were a qi refining realm cultivator.


    Another thing we know: that the mayor is at the core condensation realm and has been for a few years. The same is for both of his sons, they are in the condensation realm as well. This means that they shouldn¡¯t be the ones that are taking the advantage of the blood sacrifice, but rather a third party." Xukong replied.


    "As far as everyone knows, the mayor does not have anymore family except for his wife and two sons. He has also been the mayor of Wu Lim city for nearly forty years now." Lin Mu said.


    "Who was the mayor before that, and how did Wu Xun be the mayor?" Xukong questioned after thinking for a bit.

 Chapter 330 - Finding The Secret Location

    <h4>Chapter 330 - Finding The Secret Location </h4>


    Lin Mu thought over it and realized that he didn¡¯t know who was the mayor before this.


    "I don¡¯t know Senior." Lin Mu replied.


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    "Hmm, then perhaps that is what we need to find out. That could be the key to the identity of the culprits." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu nodded and started to move towards the exit of the tunnel. It was already starting to get a bit hard for him to breathe here and he understood that the air was thinning out. It would take a while before this area was breathable again.


    But then he realized that the sludge pool will probably turn the air foul again, and he may have to repeat the same thing as before again.


    ¡¯Wait, the foul smell was not just from here, was it? I was able to smell it on the very end that too beyond the river, where the air was fresh. The foul smell should have dissipated there, but there was still some of it in those tunnels.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Senior, I think this is not the only sludge pool and they are more of them. Or the air would not have been so bad in other tunnels." Lin Mu stated his concern.


    "That does seem likely." Xukong acknowledged.


    Lin Mu soon reached the end of the tunnel, and the sound of the river could be heard again. He continued following it and reached another branch where there was a bigger tunnel heading deep. Lin Mu saw the runes carved there as well, and the ufortable feeling that wasing off it.


    "Seems like you found another one," Xukong said.


    Lin Mu went inside and saw that simr to before it split into multiple branches, but this one had less than before. There was a bigger one that had arge gate at its end which was impassable and another tunnel that had a sludge pool.


    Lin Mupared the location in his mind and realized that this one was a bit to the northern direction of the previous one. He couldn¡¯t tell the exact direction because of his spirit sense being unable to reach the surface at this depth.


    Lin Mu returned and walked along the river, only to encounter more openings that were spread along with it and the tunnels that would branch out. In all, he found about five more sludge pools and five closed gates that had barriers.


    Along the way, he was also able to see that the river had a curving path that it flowed around. And along this path were the tunnels ced around. The wells were particrly helpful for Lin Mu to get a rough estimate of where the tunnels werepared to the surface.


    Eventually, he had walked the entirety of the river and had reached a point where he could not continue anymore. The river had entered an underground path that waspletely flooded and he could not walk there. He thus went back and found a suitable ce to leave them.


    He had already gone way past the district where he wanted to leave and was now three districts away. He fording a ce that was the closest to the surface and then used thebination of Blink and Phase to climb up. About a minuteter, he was out and standing on the side of a tree.


    Lin Mu had spent nearly three hours underground and had crossed the entire city toe to the opposite side.


    "Now to check the wells here and pinpoint the location of the blocked area." Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu then started his journey to see what wells were located where in the city. While he had seen them from the inside, he could only tell the short area around the well as that was all his spirit sense could extend for. Since he didn¡¯t know much about the city¡¯s locations either, he had to search them manually.


    He spent another hour and a half checking all of the wells and finally figured out theyout.


    The underground river curved in the east to west direction. At the bottom of the curve was the first well that Lin Mu had discovered which was none other than the one that was located in the garden of the Mayor¡¯s manor. Then if he plotted all of the blocked gates and the sludge pools, he was able to find the central location.


    Lin Mu knew that all the sludge pools must be linked to one single location and the blocked gates must lead there as well. With this in mind, he finally figured out the main location.


    "The ancestral temple! It¡¯s roughly below it..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Did you sense any caves below the temple?" Xukong asked.


    "No senior. They are probably quite deep into the ground beside the ground below the temple was also quite dense and mostly made up of rocks which my spirit sense could not prate." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm, seems like we will need to investigate the temple. Perhaps you can take advantage of your connection with Wu Hei?" Xukong said.


    "Yes, that could work, but if it doesn¡¯t then I¡¯ll just enter it directly with the help of my skills." Lin Mu said with a sharp expression on his face.


    Having said this, he started his journey back to his courtyard. It was now getting dark and the sun was hidden beyond the horizon, with the sky a shade of orange. Along the way, Lin Mu avoided the Alluring Wisteria pavilion and reached the courtyard.


    "Wee back, master Lin Mu." The servant greeted.


    Lin Mu nodded and stepped in.


    "Should I prepare the dinner?" The servant asked.


    "Umm, I¡¯ll take a bath first." Lin Mu said.


    "I¡¯ll set it up right now." The servant said before going away.


    Having spent his time underground in a smelly ce had made him feel a bit gross. Thus Lin Mu wanted to clean up as fast as possible. Soon the bath was set up and Lin Mu was soaking in a warm pool of water, with his clothes sent for washing.

 Chapter 331 - Involvement Of The Tri Cauldon Peony Sect?

    <h4>Chapter 331 - Involvement Of The Tri Cauldon Peony Sect? </h4>


    Lin Mu had just finished his dinner and was lounging in his room. The door of the bedroom was wide open and the garden could be seen in front. The sky above was clear and a full moon was visible.


    "I got to say, this ce is quite good." Lin Mu said feeling satisfied.


    He had eaten dinner even if he didn¡¯t need to eat food anymore for a long time as it had be a habit which he didn¡¯t want to leave unless it was necessary. The ability to stave off the hunger of the nameless technique of the lost immortal was intended for emergencies, so Lin Mu would not want to use up the reserves in just general times.


    Spring time was perhaps the best to spend in the Wu Lim city, and a lot of travelers came here during this time period as well. Though this was also the time period when the city made the least amount of money. Their main source of money was none other than the spirit apples which grew in autumn the most.


    In the spring time, all the city depended on was the produce from the satellite towns mostly and the things that were sold in the city. But this demographic had been changed quite a bit this year due to the arrival of the Teng Battalion in the southern town.


    A lot of people from the other three towns had moved there to take up the jobs till the Teng battalion was here. Even in the city, Lin Mu could see that certain preparations were being done for the marriage of lieutenant Wu Teng.


    A lot of the trees in the city were being pruned and the flowering nts were being nted to enhance the beauty of the city. The roads were being repaired, even if they didn¡¯t really need it. Most of the roads were quite well maintained if not for the random cobble stone missing in the ground.


    Lin Mu was thinking of what to do next now that he had learned of the mayor¡¯s involvement in the Blood sacrifice. He wasn¡¯t sure of telling the lord Wu Hei and even telling anyone other than that was quite risky.


    "Wait, aren¡¯t the Tri cauldron peony sect and the Mayor close? Could they be involved in this?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Hmm, the mayor is in some kind of a debt with them from what we know, so it is possible," Xukong spoke,


    "But they¡¯re an orthodox sect, aren¡¯t they? Will they really do something like a blood sacrifice?" Lin Mu questioned with apprehension.


    "It won¡¯t be the first time that this would happen. After all, in the cultivation world benefitse first, everything else ister. Even righteous sects would do some unsavory thing in the Shadow." Xukong answered.


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    "But a blood sacrifice and murdering cultivators is a big thing? Will a sect really take a risk like this?" Lin Mu questioned further.


    "Well, the more likely thing is that it¡¯s not the entire sect that¡¯s involved, but rather one of the influential people from it. Maybe an elder is involved in this and is doing this separated from the sect." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu thought over Senior Xukong¡¯s words and found them to be quite possible. If it was an elder forcing the mayor to do this, then it would make sense. And then an idea struck Lin Mu which rocked him.


    "THE WEDDING!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "What?" Xukong asked with a bit of confusion.


    "What if the wedding is the climax of their n? It makes sense right since they couldn¡¯t just keep on taking mercenaries. With the wedding, a lot of cultivators will being to the city, both the ones that the mayor is friendly with and the ones he¡¯s not.


    If they set it up in a way where they get involved, then they will obtain a lot of blood essence. That too of stronger cultivates that will be in the core condensation realm, or perhaps even above that." Lin Mu exined.


    The more Xukong thought over it, the more he found it to make sense.


    "While this could work, but it would also bring them very big problems. They will have to reveal their true identities to the whole world and the murder of so many influential people would make them the number one enemy. They simply wouldn¡¯t take a risk like this.


    I can tell that the people in this region are not that strong. If an incident like this happens which harms both the mortals and the cultivators, no righteous sect will take this silently. Forget them, the king of this kingdom and perhaps even the emperor will get involved.


    If they don¡¯t, then their reputations will be muddied for years toe and the people will lose their faith in them." Xukong exined his perspective.


    Lin Mu fell silent after this and thought even more on this.


    "Hmm, Senior there is still a small chance, right? What if they have a way to divert the attention from them, like a scapegoat?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yeah that could work... but the preparation would take a long time," Xukong replied.


    "Still, we can¡¯t let go of this. We need to investigate." Lin Mu said and stood.


    "So where are you intending to go?" Xukong questioned.


    Xukong would not stop Lin Mu from something like this. He needed to let him learn and experience things on his own. Especially schemes such as these were important to be known, he would have to see a lot of them in his life; The Jianghu is unforgiving.


    "Well, since we doubt the Tri cauldron peony sect, then we should go check out them. If they truly are involved, then the disciples posted here should know something or there should be clues." Lin Mu answered.


    "Alright, but you¡¯ll need to be cautious," Xukong advised.


    "Of course," Lin Mu stated before he started getting ready for the excursion. He changed his clothes to a set of ck hooded robes that covered up to his forehead. Then he took out one of the face covers that the culprits had used.


    Wearing them all, he was ready to leave.

 Chapter 332 - Killing The Innocent

    <h4>Chapter 332 - Killing The Innocent </h4>


    Lin Mu blinked a few times and appeared on the roof of a luxurious house that was on the side of theke. Right across the house was the stronghold of the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    It was a sixyered courtyard and was one of the biggest properties in this district. It was also attached to theke and was nearly the size of the lord, Wu Hei¡¯s Mansion. Lin Mu looked at the insides of the courtyard and couldn¡¯t see anyone there.


    "It¡¯s a type of illusory formation array, it shows the contents of the location it¡¯s ced on but hides the people living in it," Xukong informed Lin Mu.


    This was a lower version of the formation array that Lin Mu had set up in his house and was much more affordable. It couldn¡¯t be forgotten that the only reason Lin Mu had been able to set one up was because Jing Wei had given him pre-made materials.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know that even the top sects would not be able to set up an illusory formation array of the level that Xukong had set up. Perhaps they would, but they would have no knowledge of how to do it, anyway. This was also why Lin Mu was so trusting of the formation to protect his house.


    Lin Mu had no thoughts of breaking this formation array as the courtyard was rtively open. He could just enter using his skills. He first chose a rtively hidden area that was least likely to have people. And even if there were people there, Lin Mu would be able to take care of them quickly.


    The area he chose to enter was none other than the small space behind thetrines of the servant quarters. Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense wasn¡¯t able to pierce the additional barriers that had been set up in the courtyard, thus he had decided to measure the distance directly with his eyes.


    Since it was an open area, it shouldn¡¯t be much of a problem to him even if he used the fourth Skill ¡¯Fade¡¯. With the path in his mind set, Lin Mu jumped down from the roof of the house and Faded away from the world. He appeared in the parallel void and saw the grey environment.


    It was the same as before,pletely empty and in. He started to walk forward with measured steps.


    Ten steps...


    Sixteen steps...


    Thirty steps...


    Fifty eight steps...


    Hundred and twenty one steps...


    Finally, Lin Mu had reached the area that he had chose... or at least he hoped he was.


    He deactivated Fade and appeared in the real world. Lin Mu¡¯s Sprint sense instantly split into multiple tendrils, scanning three hundred and sixty degrees around him.


    "Who..." A faint sound was heard behind Lin Mu as his eyes went wide.


    A servant had been standing in the ce that Lin Mu had just appeared and had spotted him.


    "Dammit!" Lin Mu cursed under his breath.


    In the next moment, he used blink and appeared right in front of the servant with his hand gripping the servant¡¯s neck. Then Lin Mu did something he had never done before, he forcibly put the servant into the ring. He was able to feel the resistance in doing so and even felt a greater consumption of spirit qi.


    In fact, it had taken about ten drops of liquid spirit qi, which was the highest consumption that he had ever seen.


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    After doing the act, Lin Mu was shocked.


    "Why did it take so much?" Lin Mu questioned in his mind.


    "The servant had cultivation. Of course, it would cost a lot more. The beasts that you had killed before did not have as strong of a cultivation or they were unconscious or incapacitated, neither did they have a stronger will to resist the spatial discement.


    Even what you did right now was pushing it, if the servant was not at the early stage of the qi refining realm, perhaps you would have not been able to put him in the ring at all. You will most likely fail if you try to put cultivators with stronger cultivation, at least as long as they are fully conscious." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu had heard of the theory behind the storing of things in a spatial treasure before from Senior Xukong, but the mysterious ring was a special exception to it. They still did not know all of its peculiarities and were figuring them out.


    Lin Mu had known that putting live creatures in any spatial treasure was impossible as they were ipatible. Only the special treasures that could store beasts were capable of that, or higher spatial tools like the Myriad armament canopy abode.


    Still, now Lin Mu knew the risk behind using the ring to put cultivators inside it. Lin Mu did not want to keep the servant in there for too long as the man would die from suffocation.


    "Seems like you the servant will not be of much concern now." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Huh? Why?" Lin Mu asked feeling concerned.


    "Take a look yourself," Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu looked inside the ring and saw the condition of the servant. His skin was torn in multiple ces and some of his bones had been sliced clean. Blood was freely spilling out of his body.


    "What the...! How?" Lin Mu eximed in his mind.


    "The man was ripped due to the spatial discement because he tried to resist. Seems like even using extra spirit qi was not enough to save him." Xukong exined.


    Seeing that he had most likely killed an innocent man, Lin Mu was a bit lost.


    "Do not think of it much. There will be far too many innocents that will inevitably get involved in the matters of the cultivators and die. Such is the way of the Jianghu and the karma shall be sowed. You will understand it in the future do not take it to your heart." Xukong consoled.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to calm his mind. He did not take the assistance of the calming heart sutra but rather did it on his own. He knew he had toe to terms with it on his own and that¡¯s what he did.

 Chapter 333 - Sneaking In

    <h4>Chapter 333 - Sneaking In </h4>


    It didn¡¯t take Lin Mu more than a few seconds to calm down as he could not afford to take any longer time. He was in a sensitive situation and needed to act quickly. He spread his spirit sense around again to check for anyone else that could be in the area and found there to be no one in the twenty meter radius.


    Having confirmed this, he switched to a single tendril of spirit qi and scanned a wider area of a hundred meters. This time a few people appeared in his range. Lin Mu had been careful while using his spirit sense, as he did not want to alert them by letting it touch them.


    Lin Mu had used a different method and had sensed the faint fluctuations of spirit qiing off their bodies instead. While this allowed him to see that there was a person there, he couldn¡¯t tell their appearance as he wasn¡¯t actually touching them.


    While this would allow him to also get a rough estimate of their cultivation as well, but if someone was deliberately hiding them, it would make it hard for Lin Mu to know. Still, this was the best he could do right now and he was fine with it.


    Lin Mu had sensed five people in the range. Three of them were people with very faint spirit qi fluctuations being at the early stage and were simr to the servant that he had identally killed. Seeing that he was in the servant quarters, it was obvious that they were servants.


    The other two though were at the mid stage of the qi refining realm and the spirit qi fluctuationsing from them were more rhythmic.


    "Those should be the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect." Lin Mu muttered.


    From what Lin Mu had heard from Hei Wen and the Lord Wu Hei before, there were originally ten disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect here. But it had increased to twenty five in the recent days and would be increasing even more, apparently.


    The mayor had given them special permission because of which the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect could freely enter the Wu Lim city. It would have been fine usu sally, if not for the fact that they had been hiding their identity as well.


    While their names were recorded while entering, it was not actually spread to the guards. Only a certain few knew about that, and this was not revealed. Just from this, Lin Mu was suspicious about them. If they were secretly gathering their people then it was likely that they wanted to hide their power.


    Lin Mu moved from the back of thetrines and got to the next section. Walking through the walls using the third skill Phase made it quite easy to avoid the servants. Still, Lin Mu realized that not all of the walls were passable using phase.


    There were some walls, such as the main ones that separated the servant and the main section of the courtyard that had formations ced on them. This prevented Lin Mu from using the third skill Phase on them. He couldn¡¯t use Fade either as his spirit sense was restricted either and he did not want to end up right in front of someone.


    He crossed another small section and appeared in the part where the two mid stage qi refining realm cultivators were standing. He looked at their robes and saw that they were indeed the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect. The servants were wearing different clothespared to them.


    Both of the men were standing at the entrance of the servant section as if acting as guards and watching who passed from there.


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    "Seems like these guys don¡¯t trust their servants either." Lin Mu muttered.


    "This is cautious behaviors as these servants are likely not part of their sect and are merely assigned here to take care of the courtyard," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu only had one way, and that was to pass from the exit, but the two disciples were blocking it. He then looked at what was beyond it and saw that there were a few statues there. They were decorative ones and were just in the range of his Blink.


    He thus used the second skill blink and teleported to the statues and phase to stand inside them. He peeked at the two disciples and saw that they were none the wiser. He then looked at the next location that was possible to go and blinked there.


    Now Lin Mu waspletely out of their sights. But he scanned ahead using his spirit sense and found three more disciples sitting around. This area was the garden area and a few stone tables and chairs were set up here. Two disciples were ying chess, and the third one was observing.


    The area in front of Lin Mu was wide open, and there wasn¡¯t anything he could hide behind. The only things were some stones that were ced on the ground, but they were not that big, being a sizerger than his head.


    Lin Mu remembered his earlier excursion of the caves and used phase to enter the ground only to meet resistance after two feet.


    "Dammit, the formations extend into the ground as well." Lin Mu coursed.


    "This should be an encapsting type barrier formation. This one prevents enemies from digging through the ground and attacking the residents." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu had no choice but to improvise and enter the ground. After having sunk down for two feet, Lin Mu crouched and moved that way. He went to the closest stone and hid his head inside it.


    "This is quite difficult..." Lin Mu internally muttered.


    "Impressive move, brother Pei Lao." One of the disciples praised.


    "Ah, this is nothing Senior. I merely learned some skills from watching the elders ying the other day." The disciple named Pei Lao replied.


    "Perhaps you should take part in the chess tournament in theing days. Sister Ye Zi Jin¡¯s wedding was dyed, so they added that as well in the pre-wedding entertainment. I¡¯m sure the elders will appreciate it too." The third disciple that was observingmented.

 Chapter 334 - Sneaking In-II

    <h4>Chapter 334 - Sneaking In-II </h4>


    "Please, I do not dare to disy my mediocre skills and dishonor myself. I do not want to lose face for the sect in front of the other peers. Besides, I heard some skilled people have been invited by the mayor to entertain people with their chess skills." Pei Lao spoke in a humble tone.


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    "Ha ha ha! Junior brother is shy, but do not worry about losing face. The elders wouldn¡¯t mind something like this. After all, this is merely a friendlypetition and we are just participating for the wedding." The disciple who seemed to be the senior brother replied.


    ¡¯Oh? So there will be more eldersing here from the Tri cauldron peony sect.¡¯ Lin Mu thought after hearing their words.


    "Wu Hei did not say that there were going to be more than one elder from the secting. Seems like even he did not know this." Lin Mu internally noted.


    He then scanned the area ahead and luckily found it to be empty. From what he had seen from the roof, the quarters of the disciples should be to the left of the current area, and the area in front of him was the main hall of the courtyard. This was where the meeting and dinner would be conducted.


    Here was where Lin Mu¡¯s luck shined. He saw that the main hall was elevated from the ground by half a foot.


    "Good, I can hide there." Lin Mu said to himself.


    He then looked at the three disciples and waited for their attention to shift a bit. The next area was out of his range of teleportation and he would have to move ahead a bit in the open. As long as he kept his head close to the ground, he shouldn¡¯t be easily noticed.


    The three disciples continued their banter for a few minutes before focusing on the chess game again.


    ¡¯Now!¡¯ Lin Mu internally shouted and shot ahead.


    If someone looked at him right now, it looked as if a rock was moving fast. Because his head was covered with a ck cloth and it was rather dimly lit, he appeared simr to a rock in appearance.


    "Huh? What¡¯s there?" The disciple who was observing the chess game suddenly spoke up and looked around.


    Pei Lao and the Senior disciple looked at the alert man and inquired.


    "What¡¯s the matter, brother Tie Dan?" Pei Lao questioned.


    Tie Dan looked around with sharp eyes for a bit and scanned the area with his spirit sense, only to find nothing.


    <i>~sigh~</i>


    "Nothing, brother Pei. I was mistaken." Tie Dan spoke.


    "No, no, your concern is valid brother Tie. Please do tell us what you felt was here." Senior brother asked.


    "I thought as if I saw a rock moving." Tie Dan answered.


    "A rock?" Pei Lao tilted his head.


    They then looked around the area for rock and saw that they were simply lying there with nothing moving.


    "Did any rock really move?" Pei Lao questioned in confusion.


    "Hmm, I can¡¯t tell either. I didn¡¯t really pay attention to the positinoning of rock in the area." The senior brother stated.


    "Let it be brothers. Perhaps, I¡¯m just mistaken. It¡¯s not like any animal can enter here." Tie Dan spoke.


    The three of them sat back down and returned to their chess game.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "Almost got caught!" Lin Mu took a breath of relief.


    The position that Lin Mu was currently in was very sensitive. He was at a mere foot¡¯s distance from the disciple name Tie Dan. His head was of course hiding in a rock again, but this rock did not belong to the garden, rather Lin Mu had taken it out of the ring at the veryst moment that he was detected.


    This was one of the random items he had obtained from the spatial rifts and had been deemed as trash by senior Xukong. Lin Mu had seen the lesser void and knew that there was nock of random chunks of rocks and debris floating around in there.


    Lin Mu once again confirmed that they were not looking at him, before moving a bit more and the using blink to appear beneath the crawl space of the main house. Now it had be rather convenient for Lin Mu to move around as he could keep his head hidden while using his spirit sense to look around.


    Lin Mu moved all around the buildings from there and got an estimate of the number of people that were in the courtyard. In all there were forty two people in here; twelve servants, twenty nine disciples and one elder.


    Lin Mu could tell that the elder was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm, just from the dense spirit qi fluctuations that wereing from his body. The elder was in a separate room from the rest of the disciples and was currently meditating.


    He was also wearing different kinds of robes than the disciples and looked to be older as well. Looking at his appearance Lin Mu felt he was in histe thirties, but the true number was probably much higher than this.


    The rest of the disciples were also in their quarters currently and were cultivating or doing certain tasks like writing and refining.


    "Hmm, where should we go first?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Perhaps you should go to a ce where there are letters and documents ced. But do not go to the elder¡¯s room, he will find you easily. His spirit sense is much stronger than yours currently, and you will not be able to fight against him either." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded and chose the disciples that were writing something. They were sitting in a room that had some furniture such as a low study table, bed and wardrobes ced around. The disciple was sitting on his knees while writing something on a sheet of paper.


    To the side of him, a shelf was kept on which a few rolled up scrolls were kept. Lin Mu made his way to the room and popped his head in to take a look. The disciple was at thete stage of the qi refining realm and was fully focused on writing.


    "This should be easy..." Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 335 - The Sects Reasons

    <h4>Chapter 335 - The Sect''s Reasons </h4>


    Lin Mu thought for a bit and figured out a way to check out the scrolls that were kept on the shelf. First, he went to the room that was next door and confirmed that it really was empty. He had sensed it with his spirit sense but still wanted to verify it.


    Then he peeked his head from the wall in the location that was behind the shelf and started reading the scrolls that way. His alertness was at the top and he was ready to blink away the moment the disciple in the room started showing any abrupt movement.


    But luckily whatever the disciple was writing was quite important and he did not want to make a mistake or something like that. Looking from the corner, he had only written a small paragraph in a two foot long, one foot wide sheet.


    By the time the disciple finished writing half of the letter, Lin Mu was done reading all of the scrolls that were kept there on the shelf. Thankfully, none of them were sealed or it would have be quite difficult for him.


    He would just touch one scroll, store it in his ring and go to the other room to read. He repeated this for all twenty two scrolls and found out quite a lot of information. These scrolls were all official messages between the Tri cauldron peony sect and the disciples that were posted here.


    Lin Mu learned the reason behind the posting of the disciples here in the Wu Lim city. There was apparently more than one reason for that. The one reason that Lin Mu knew of was the debt that the mayor owed to the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    Lin Mu had originally thought that the mayor had a debt because of asking the sect for help during the gue, but that was not it. Rather, the mayor had been buying a lot of alchemical pills from the Tri cauldron peony sect for years now.


    But after the gue, he had bought some high grade healing pills from the Tri cauldron peony sect, and apparently they had been bought using credit. The mayor had yet to pay it in full to the sect and had thus given them certain properties and authority instead.


    Lin Mu also found out that in the other smaller cities of the county, the Tri cauldron peony sect owned a lot of proprieties. But all of this had been hidden from the public for a long time. Still, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t find fault with the sect for this, they were simply getting the payment for the services they had provided the mayor.


    It was the mayor who was at fault here. The mayor had also been giving the yearly funds that he got from the kingdom to the Tri cauldron peony sect. These funds were used for the upkeep of the county¡¯s infrastructure and security.


    The other reason for the sect for sending their disciples here was for the wedding, of course. Lin Mu found out that this had been decided a long time ago, and they had been nning for this quite secretly. He couldn¡¯t find the reason for secrecy in the letters, but it was a bit suspicious.


    Then came the reason which was quite mysterious to Lin Mu, but the Tri cauldron peony sect paid a lot of importance on this. It was said in the letter that the disciples and the elder assigned here were to keep a look out for some type of spatial disturbances.


    This was the point that intrigued Lin Mu the most.


    "Spatial disturbances? What could they be looking for exactly?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "I think it should be obvious to you by now." Xukong suddenly spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "What senior?..." And then it struck him.


    "The spatial rifts... I opened in the past year... it¡¯s them, isn¡¯t it." Lin Mu realized it.


    "That¡¯s the most likely reason, unless there was someone else also doing that." Xukong replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A sigh escaped Lin Mu¡¯s lips as he wondered if this was a problem or not. There was nothing mentioned in the letter about capturing or obtaining the source of the spatial disturbing, all there was said was that it has to be reported to the sects.


    "But how did they find this out?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Well, considering the impact that the ring makes while opening the spatial rifts, it is likely that they became strong enough at one point that one of the higher elders of the sect found out about it." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu then remembered that senior Xukong had put a restraint on the ring and had masked the fluctuations from going from it.


    "But it shouldn¡¯t be a problem now, right senior? Since you masked them." Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, there is no way they can find them now, unless they are right in front of you. Or if there are too many spatial fluctuations in the area where you used the ring and they went there." Xukong answered.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief and was happy that he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about anything extra.


    Lin Mu put the scroll back and had now finished reading all of them. There were also some minor things in general that he had learned that were not of much importance, but he still kept them in his mind if they ever came to use in the future.


    Lin Mu was about to leave the room when Xukong stopped him.


    "You¡¯re forgetting another letter." Xukong reminded.


    "Which one?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The one that is being written right now," Xukong answered in a helpless tone.


    This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Oh! I... okay," Lin Mu uttered awkwardly.


    He then thought of a way to read it discreetly without alerting the disciple. He couldn¡¯t take the letter as he wasn¡¯t even sure that the letter would be put here. It was obvious that it was going to be sent to the sect, thus he had to do it in another way.


    Lin Mu looked up at the roof and blinked there while using Phase. After reaching there, he popped in his head from the top and read the thing that the disciple was writing.

 Chapter 336 - A Teleportation Formation?

    <h4>Chapter 336 - A Teleportation Formation? </h4>


    Lin Mu was a bit shocked after reading the letter, as what it mentioned was nothing but the missing disciples and junior elder Fa Shiu of the Tri cauldron peony sect. Apparently, they were supposed to reach the city a week ago but still had not appeared.


    This was the reason why the disciple was writing a letter to the sect, to inform them that they had not reached here yet.


    ¡¯So they do not know about them either and that Junior Elder Fa Shiu is not here either. That ticks of another thing from my list. At least now I don¡¯t have to wander the city scouring for him.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu stayed there on the roof till the disciple finished reading the letter and rolled it up. After that, the disciple melted some wax with the candle that was burning on his table and poured it on the seam of the letter. He stamped the seal of his sect on it and let it cool down.


    After that, he saw him store the seal away in the drawer and leave the room. Lin Mu thought of following him, but then stopped. As soon as the disciple was gone, he came down and opened the drawer that had the seal kept in it.


    "Just as I expected, there is more than one seal here. They shouldn¡¯t mind if I take one of them, I killed a servant anyway. They will eventually discover that." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Having made his decision, he picked one of the seals from the drawer and stored it in his ring, before sinking into the floor using phase. Lin Mu had been continually using phase for more than an hour now, along with his other skills. This had led to quite a lot of consumption of his spirit qi.


    This was the first time Lin Mu was using them so much.


    After having sunk down into the ground, Lin Mu followed the ce where the disciple was heading towards.


    "As I expected..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The disciple went to the elder that was meditating in the private room. Lin Mu stayed a sufficient distance away from the room as he was unsure whether the elder will scan the area with his spirit sense. Lin Mu knew that he was a nascent soul realm cultivator and that his spirit sense would be quite strong.


    There was a high chance that he could be found thus, he wanted to be a sufficient distance away from there just in case he had to escape using Fade. Lin Mu held his breath and continued observing the room using his spirit sense.


    <i>~Knock~Knock~Knock~</i>


    The disciple knocked on the door gently and spoke.


    "It is me elder, Quan Hong. I finished the report you asked me to write." The disciple spoke.


    Since Lin Mu could fully touch the people with spirit as he could be found out, he waited for sounds instead.


    "Come in," The elder spoke.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath, seeing that the elder had not used his spirit sense. The door slid open and Quan Hong walked in, before kneeling in front of the elder.


    "Here¡¯s the report, elder. You can send it now." Quan Hong spoke.


    "Good job," The elder simply replied before waving his hand, telling the disciple to leave.


    Once the disciple was gone, the elder looked at the letter for a few seconds. Lin Mu could feel the fluctuations of spirit qi and immediately withdrew his spirit sense back as he realized the elder was using his spirit sense to scan the letter.


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    "You can read using your spirit sense like that?" Lin Mu questioned in his mind.


    "Yes, as long as your spirit sense is strong enough, it doesn¡¯t matter if there are multipleyers of paper on it. The elder is in the nascent soul realm, thus his skill with spirit sense should be quite good. Doing something like this is a piece of cake for him." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and kept on watching. After being done with the letter, the Elder stood up and went to a cab that was kept in the room. Lin Mu had not paid much attention to this cab before, but when the elder opened its door he felt the spirit qi fluctuationsing from them.


    The elder then ced the letter in the center of the cab and closed the door. He ced his hand on a pattern that was carved on the top of it and closed his eyes. Strong waves of spirit qi emanated from the elder, and his full aura was released.


    This was the first time Lin Mu was feeling the aura of a nascent soul realm cultivator. Still, while it was quite strong, it felt minuscule to Lin Mu as he couldn¡¯t help butpare it with old man Jing Wei¡¯s aura. He didn¡¯t even botherparing it with senior Xukong, as that would be ridiculous.


    The patter carved on the cab glowed, and then suddenly Lin Mu felt the spatial fluctuationsing from it.


    "Is that a..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Yes, that¡¯s a teleportation formation," Xukong confirmed.


    Lin Mu nodded as an idea came to his mind. He continued watching and focused on the spatial ripples that were spreading in the area. Wherever the ripples went, Lin Mu felt as ifyer uponyer were revealed. Theseyers were nothing but the fabric of space.


    Lin Mu could sense a mass of energying from the cab and traveling through the spatial fabric while creating a path. It was not traveling in a straight path, but rather a veryplex and winding one. Seeing its speed, Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    "Is a teleportation formation really this slow?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It¡¯s a low grade one and is being manually activated. It hasn¡¯t even sent the letter yet, right now it¡¯s only forming a spatial transmission channel." Xukong informed.


    The elder kept pouring his spirit qi into the formation for about two minutes before he stopped. The pattern carved on the cab continued glowing even after the elder lifted his hand from it. Lin Mu could feel the mass of energy getting farther and farther away from the courtyard.

 Chapter 337 - Thief?

    <h4>Chapter 337 - Thief? </h4>


    Sensing that the Teleportation channel will take a while to formpletely, Lin Mu decided to see the rest of the courtyard. He still hadn¡¯t seen the Bride to be- Yi Ze Jin.


    Lin Mu had already sensed where all of the disciples were, thus he went to the disciple quarters again. This time his destination was a room that was separated from the other rooms. This one was also quite big than others and had a small attached garden of its own.


    One could tell that it belonged to someone that had a higher status than the other people in the courtyard. Lin Mu had sensed that there was a single person that was living here, and they were in the room. Lin Mu got near the section and entered the ground to sneak in.


    A blinkter, he was right below the room. He used his spirit sense to verify that everything was safe before deciding to take a peek. The person in the room was cultivating like most of the other people. Lin Mu saw a beautiful looking woman sitting in a meditative pose with her eyes closed.


    She had a gentle beauty and was one of the most beautiful people that Lin Mu had seen. Still, he couldn¡¯t help butpare it with the other women he had seen till now that were beautiful. Hei Wen had a mature and sleek beauty, while Duan Ke was colder and fierce.


    Comparing to those to Lin Mu find her to be a bitcking, but he didn¡¯t know why. This was pure appreciation on his part, but he didn¡¯t think much of it.


    ¡¯Hmm, I guess that¡¯s it?¡¯ Lin Mu thought in his mind and went back into the ground.


    "The elder that was sitting in the other room should be her father, Yi Deng. He is indeed quite Strongpared to the others that I¡¯ve seen." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he traveled through the ground.


    Lin Mu sensed the teleportation channel and found that it had gone quite far now, almost beyond the city¡¯s limits. He wouldn¡¯t have been able to tell this if it were not for the spatial sensing ability of the mysterious ring.


    It was now that Lin Mu had an idea pop in his mind.


    "If I follow that teleportation channel, will it lead me to the Tri cauldron peony sect, eventually?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "If you are able to keep up with its speed, then yes. But know this, even if it looks slow now, it will randomly speed up depending on the structure of the spatial fabric in that region. It can travel hundreds of kilometers in the span of a second if the region is stable.


    The current reason for it being slow must be because of all the minor disturbances that were caused in the region because of you opening the spatial rifts." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know that this was something caused by his actions as well, and was thus feeling a bit surprised.


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    "We¡¯ve seen the courtyard and couldn¡¯t really find any proper clues that link the Tri cauldron peony sect to the Blood sacrifice. Should we leave then?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, that would be for the best right now," Xukong advised.


    "Yeah, I want to intercept that letter too." Lin Mu replied.


    "The letter? You got something in your mind?" Xukong asked curiously.


    "Yes, Senior. I got that identity seal for a reason." Lin Mu answered.


    He then got to the wall that bordered the outer wall of the courtyard and used Fade. He appeared back in the grey world, but this time could see something new here.


    "Huh, what¡¯s that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Lin Mu could see a trail of ck going from one point of the parallels void to far in the distance.


    "Wait! Is it?... the teleportation channel?" Lin Mu realized.


    "Hmm, this is strange..." Xukong said.


    "What senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Teleportation channel shouldn¡¯t really appear here. It¡¯s supposed to be in a differentyer of the void." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu went ahead and probed the ck trail with his spirit sense, only to find it to be illusory. His spirit sense easily passed through it as if it were air. He then tried touching it and found the same result.


    "So it¡¯s a trace, but not the actual teleportation channel. Hmm, this is rather unique, seems like your skill fade brings you to a much differentyer of void than I first thought... no wait that¡¯s not it! Theyer is the one that I felt, but the trail is actually being shown by the ring." Xukong analyzed.


    "Oh! So that¡¯s how it is." Lin Mu uttered with understanding.


    He noted this information in his brain before continuing ahead. He had little time left in the skill¡¯s duration and had to leave quickly. He ran to a far enough location and the skill ended. Lin Mu reappeared in the real world but was stuck in an awkward position.


    "Oh... no." Lin Mu muttered.


    In front of Lin Mu was an old man sleeping on a bed along with a much younger woman. They were covered with a nket, but from the arms and legs that peeked out of the edge of the nket, Lin Mu could tell that the woman was naked under it.


    "I overestimated the distance." Lin Mu said, feeling a bit embarrassed.


    He scanned the area with his spirit sense and found that he had gone two houses too far and had ended up in this one. This house was also rtively big and luxurious. Lin Mu stood still and avoided making any sound. He was just about to turn around when he heard a slight groan.


    "Mmmngh..."


    "Oh, no..." Lin Mu uttered under his breath.


    But before he could blink away,


    "AAAAAAA, THIEF!" A woman shouted.


    Lin Mu was dressed in ck clothes that covered his body fully and was even wearing a mask. It was obvious that people would think he was a thief.


    "Dammit!" Lin Mu muttered as he used Blink, but then.


    <i>~Thud~</i>

 Chapter 338 - Unfortunate Conflict

    <h4>Chapter 338 - Unfortunate Conflict </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s mmed into the wall of the house, creating a loud noise. If the scream of the woman had not woken up the people in the house, this definitely did.


    ¡¯Dammit, what happened?¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he probed the wall with his spirit sense.


    There were now formations active on the wall, but they were concealed inside it. They were not fully active before and thus Lin Mu was able to use his spirit sense on them, but it seemed like the woman had activated the defensive formations.


    This had blocked Lin Mu from leaving the house even when he used blink inbination with phase. Suddenly Lin M felt danger and dodged to the side.


    <i>~kling~</i>


    A de was stuck inside the wall that Lin Mu was standing in front of before. He looked back and saw that the old man who had been sleeping had woken up and was the one who had thrown the de at him. Meanwhile, the woman was standing behind the old man and had covered herself with the nket.


    The old man was only standing in his underwear right now, which was a scene Lin Mu did not want to see. He quickly checked the old man¡¯s cultivation and found him to be a peak qi refining realm cultivator. But when Lin Mu did this, the old man¡¯s expression changed as he felt the spirit sense.


    "You dare enter the house of Lord Cai, Thief!" The old man shouted.


    A secondter, more people rushed in from the door of the room. Looking at their get up, Lin Mu could tell that they were the servants and guards.


    Lin Mu was now stuck here due to the defensive formations. While he could use fade to leave again, he did not want to risk repeating the same thing that he did right now. And he did not want to kill the people here either, as they had done nothing.


    There was no way he could exin why he was here either, as that was even more suspicious.


    Looking at the old man and the others who had drawn out weapons, Lin Mu knew that he would have to fight his way out. He withdrew his short sword and got ready.


    "When I get my hands on you, you will regret evering here!" The old man stated.


    "Leave this to us, lord Cai." The servants and guards spoke.


    "Haa!" one of the guards yelled as he lunged at Lin Mu, which he easily dodged.


    Lin Mu had already scanned all of the people here and knew their cultivation bases. Except for the old man, all of the people here were either at the mid stage of the qi refining realm or lower. The servants were not even cultivators and were mere body refining realmmoners.


    "Let me leave and no one will get injured, this was a mistake." Lin Mu said, trying out his luck.


    "HA! You dare to steal from me and speak such words, do you think I¡¯m stupid?" The old man replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like I¡¯ll have to take the hard way today..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    His eyes under the mask turned serious, and he moved at great speed. Lin Mu pped away the few servants that had approached him with the t end of his short sword and knocked them away. While this wouldn¡¯t kill them, it would crack some bones and leave some nasty bruises.


    "Take this!" A guard spoke as he shed from behind Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t even turn around. He extended his left hand to his back and caught the iing sword in his fingers.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Shatter~</i>


    Then exerting a bit of strength, Lin Mu broke the sword in his hand. Seeing the ease with which Lin Mu broke the sword, the guard was shocked and so was the old man named Lord Cai.


    "You! Who are you?" Lord Cai questioned, "no... it can¡¯t be... did they send you to assassinate me?!"


    Lin Mu was confused upon hearing the old man¡¯s words but didn¡¯t pay much attention to it as he had a few more guardsing at him.


    He kicked the guard whose sword he broke and probably broke a few ribs in the process. The guard flew back and mmed into two of the guards that wereing.


    <i>~Crash~</i> This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    The three guards mmed into some furniture, breaking it. Lin Mu found that he was actually feeling a bit pressured. Not because his current foes were strong or anything, but rather because he had to control his strength greatly so as to not identally kill them.


    Lin Mu had still not gained full control over his strength after reaching the peak of the body tempering realm, and with his body¡¯s 95% cells turning into Xiantian physique cells, it was taken up by a few more notches.


    Lin Mu did not even dare to use his spirit sense for the fear that it will cause more fatalities. He fought a few more guards and incapacitated them. Some had fallen unconscious while the rest were groaning in pain, unable to move.


    Seeing that his servants and guards were all taken care of, the old man was infuriated.


    "USELESS IMBECILES! Can¡¯t even do one thing correct..." Lord Cai said before approaching Lin Mu.


    During the fight, he had taken an Axe that was hanging on the wall and was now wielding it. He ran towards Lin Mu and swung it at him.


    <i>~ng!!!~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s short sword and the old man¡¯s axe collided, creating a loud noise. While the old man had exerted his full force, Lin Mu had not budged from his ce one bit.


    "I told you before, stop this. I¡¯ll go away peacefully," Lin Mu said again.


    "You think I¡¯m a fool to believe that!" The old man said before swinging the Axe again.


    Lin Mu once again blocked it with ease and deflected it. The old man stumbled back and his back hit the bed.


    <i>~Huu...Huu...Huu~</i>

 Chapter 339 - Escaping The Conflict

    <h4>Chapter 339 - Escaping The Conflict </h4>


    Lord Cai tookbored breaths, and it was obvious that he had exerted quite a bit of strength. The old man had amplified his strength with spirit qi and Lin Mu had done the same but just for defending. He didn¡¯t dare to use too much either, or the Axe of the old man would have been cut in half with the short sword shing into his body.


    Seeing that nothing was working, the old man gritted his teeth and held onto a pendant that he was wearing.


    "Let¡¯s see you handle this!" Lord Cai shouted.


    As soon as he said that, the formation lit up and small discs started forming in the air. The discs seemed to be made out of energy and glowed with a pale white color. Their numbers soon started to increase and in a few seconds reached a hundred.


    "What is that..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Get ready to defend, that¡¯s an offensive formation!" Xukong warned.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as he jumped back.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    The ce he was standing at was hit with a disk. Looking at it one could tell that it was sharp and could easily cut someone¡¯s limbs off. Lin Mu dodged the discs, but a few of them were still able to cute him due to the sheer number of them.


    "You won¡¯t escape now!" Lord Cai taunted.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and was now seriously considering taking the old man out. He had tried giving him a chance, but this was too much.


    But then suddenly Lin Mu felt the fluctuation in the formation array.


    "Its... getting weaker?" Lin Mu realized.


    "The formation is consuming a lot of spirit qi right now, and the energy source is probably getting low now," Xukong said.


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    Lin Mu quickly probed the old man and while he could tell he had depleted some of his spirit qi, it was still at seventy five percent.


    "Looks like the source is spirit stones rather than his own spirit qi." Lin Mu concluded.


    Lin Mu had now left the room he was in and was going through a long corridor. There were rooms on both sides of it, but he couldn¡¯t afford to switch his direction will all the disks attacking him. They were able to appear out of the walls and he couldn¡¯t do much.


    "Dammit, I didn¡¯t want to do this..." Lin Mu uttered.


    He kept on running and got ready. Spirit qi circted in his body and gathered in his arm. By the time he reached arge wall, he was done.


    Boulder copsing fist: Second form-Piercer!


    <i>~Swoosh~</i>


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The needle like spirit qi pierced the barrier that was ced on the wall with ease. It was this that was preventing Lin Mu from leaving the house, and while he knew he could destroy it, something like that would cause a bigmotion and bring more attention to him.


    That¡¯s what he was intending to avoid, but now he had no choice. The needle exploded the wall after it entered it and opened up a seven feet wide hole in it. Lin Mu could see the outside area with it and was now free to leave.


    "WHAT! HOW?" Lord Cai yelled in shock.


    Lin Mu paid no attention to him and blinked away. A few tens of blinkster, he had gone far away from the site of the incident and was now in his courtyard.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief after reaching the room. He quickly changed from the ck robes he was wearing into his normal clothes.


    "I made a mistake using Fade there." Lin Mu stated with a little resignation.


    "While you did make a mistake, it ispletely fine. You will make a lot of mistakes, what is important you learn from them." Xukong advised.


    "I understand Senior." Lin Mu appreciated.


    While Lin Mu had escaped the entire conflict, the people who were involved in it were still in shock.


    ***


    Back at Lord Cai¡¯s house.


    There were a lot of city guards standing around while a few were checking the nearby areas. The people that lived in the neighborhood were awake due to the loud explosion too, and some were out checking it themselves, while a few had sent out their servants.


    The disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect had heard the explosion too and were a bit disturbed due to it. They came to check out as well and approached the guards who were currently talking with Lord Cai.


    "What happened here?" Tie Dan questioned with a fierce face.


    The cultivation session of a lot of disciples was interrupted due to the explosion, and they were pissed due to it.


    The guards saw the uniform of the disciples and immediately became alert.


    "Seniors, there was an attempted robbery in Lord Cai¡¯s House." The guard exined while cupping his hands in greeting.


    "A robbery? Did they catch the thief?" Pei Lao who hade with Tie Dan asked.


    "NO! These imbeciles can¡¯t even do their jobs and let that wretched thief escape!" Lord Cai uttered with spite.


    "The thief escaped?" Uttered the senior brother, as he scanned the house of Lord Cai with his spirit sense.


    "Defensive, barrier, offensive disk, and restrictive formations," The senior brother urately stated.


    Lord Cai was surprised by this and finally took a closer look at the disciple that was in front of him. He had not clearly paid attention to them as he was too bothered by the thief escaping, but now that he saw the patter of the peony flower over three cauldrons he recognized them.


    "Ah! Disciples of Tri cauldron peony sect, forgive my misbehavior." Lord Cai said in a calm tone as he cupped his hands in a salute as well.


    He had heard that the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect were in the city, but this was his first time meeting him. Though he had heard that they had visited his establishment.


    "It is fine," The Senior brother stated as he waved his hand. "What I¡¯m more interested in is how a thief was able to get away despite all these formations? Even a core condensation realm cultivator would have a hard time."

 Chapter 340 - Lord Cais Suspicion

    <h4>Chapter 340 - Lord Cai''s Suspicion </h4>


    Lord Cai nodded his head in agreement. He was also wondering the same thing and couldn¡¯t figure out the cultivation base of the thief. Him being able to easily break through the formation like that and exploding a wall was not something he would have ever imagined.


    "So what did he steal... or rather, what did hee to steal?" Pei Lao asked again.


    "Hmm, that is what I am unsure about too. When I discovered him he was in my bed room and was standing quite close to me. I have no idea how he got inside in the first ce, despite the rming formations. We couldn¡¯t find what he came to steal either." Lord Cai answered.


    "Senior brother, to get past these formations one would need special spirit tools." Tie Dan spoke.


    "Indeed, and he says the thief did not steal anything either... perhaps his aim was something else." The senior brother replied and looked at Lord Cai with a knowing look.


    "I had that thought as well. But the strange thing is, not one of my servants or guards were killed, even if they were injured." Lord Cai answered.


    "What? Even after you attacked him?" Tie Dan questioned, feeling doubtful.


    "Yes, we attacked him with the intention to kill and he still did not act ording to that." Lord Cai answered.


    "That... is a strange kind of a thief..." Tie Dan said feeling confused.


    "Well... there was one thing he said which I did not believe back then," Lord Cai stated.


    "And what was that?" The Senior brother inquired with raised brows.


    "He said that it was a mistake and if we let him leave no one would get hurt." The old man replied.


    "A thief with morals, huh?" Pei Lao chuckled.


    "No, it is not like that." Senior brother said while shaking his head.


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    "Do you think there could be some other reason, senior brother?" Pei Lao asked.


    "Hmm, it is a bit unlikely, but I think the thief actually made a mistake. It¡¯s possible that his target was not that house, but rather something else." Senior brother responded.


    "How can a thief make a mistake about robbing the wrong house?" Tie Dan wondered.


    "What if... he was not a thief?" This time Lord Cai spoke.


    "Not a thief? What do you mean, do you perhaps have some suspicions?" The senior brother questioned.


    In response to this, Lord Cai looked around and saw all the people that were intently listening.


    "Seniors, it would be better if we discuss this somece else, the information is a bit sensitive." Lord Cai said in a low voice.


    The Senior brother raised his brows, but then nodded.


    "Alright, that would be eptable." The senior brother agreed.


    "If you all are fine with it then, I¡¯d like to invite you all to spend some time at my Establishment. I guarantee you will enjoy your time." Lord Cai said in a slightly ted tone.


    "Oh? And what is your establishment?" Senior brother questioned.


    "I am the owner of the Alluring Wisteria Pavilion. I believe, seniors have been there..." Lord Cai said in almost a whisper.


    The disciples¡¯ eyes went wide as they had not expected this old man to be the owner of a pleasure pavilion.


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    "I believe that would be fine." The Senior brother said while Tie Dan and Pei Lao nodded.


    "Pleasee with me, seniors." Said Lord Cai before ordering, "get the carriage, you imbeciles!"


    ***


    Lin Mu meanwhile was sitting in his room. He was trying to sense the teleportation channel again and could not feel it anymore.


    "Seems like it has gotten quite far." Lin Mu said.


    "Hmm, it should be connected fully soon. If you want to do something, you need to act quick." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu nodded and then took out some paper from his ring. He had bought a lot of things today and this was one of them, which he had not expected to be using so quickly. The paper was of a simr qualitypared to the one that the disciple Quan Hong had written.


    Lin Mu had read the contents of the letter and still remembered them. He started writing the content of that letter while changing some of the parts of it. Namely, the part about the disciples and the junior elder Fa Shiu not reaching the city.


    He changed the parts where it said that they were missing, and no news of them was known. Lin Mu had to write a bit slowly as he was trying to imitate the handwriting of Quan Hong. Lin Mu himself was not that skilled in writing, and using his hand to do it seemed a bit awkward to him.


    <i>~sigh~</i>


    "It is so much easier to write using my spirit sense." Lin Mu muttered.


    Unknowingly, Lin Mu¡¯s control over his spirit sense had gotten better than his handwriting.


    "Well, there are spirit tools that are specially made for writing too," Xukong added.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and made a note of acquiring one in the future if he so got the chance. A few minutester he was done writing and melted some wax in a heating cup over the candle. He then poured it on the letter¡¯s edge before stamping it with the identity seal he had stolen from Quan Hong¡¯s room.


    The wax cooled, and just as this was done, Lin Mu felt something.


    "It¡¯s happening!" He uttered as he shot up.


    Lin Mu appeared on the top of the roof and looked around. Soon he felt a few spatial fluctuations appearing.


    "The letter should pass soon, I can feel it." Lin Mu said before he jumped down and went in the direction of where he felt it could be.


    He was running on the roofs when he soon spotted the small ck dots appearing the area. They seemed to be arranged in a random pattern, but Lin Mu could sense the teleportation channel that was linking them. The ck dots were nothing but the weaker points in the channel.


    A couple of minutester he had found the perfect spot.

 Chapter 341 - Fake Letter

    <h4>Chapter 341 - Fake Letter </h4>


    Lin Mu was now standing near a ce that he had avoided that very afternoon. It was none other than the Alluring wisteria pavilion. He peeked at its entrance and saw that there was no decrease in the number of peopleing and going.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This will be a bit tough." Lin Mu said to himself.


    He was a bit unwilling to use this location as there were a lot of people here, but on the other hand, the spatial channel here was at the perfect ce. If he went a bit too far, there was a chance the letter may pass through before he got it.


    "You should be able to change it a bit if you try it. You have a bit of experience with using the spatial attribute qi, so use that and try to perceive the changes in the teleportation channel." Xukong advised.


    "Alright Senior, I¡¯ll try that." Lin Mu said while nodding.


    He then found a different location that was a bit isted but also had one of the ck dots located in it. This ce was in between a tree and a street stall. The stall was closed, and no one was there currently, making it easy for Lin Mu to hide.


    He extended his hand over the ck dot and focused. He was not using his spirit sense, but rather his spatial sense. It was much more difficult for him to use it, but after a minute he felt like he was able to get a grasp over something.


    It was a thinyer that existed in front of him, but it was immaterial. He started using the spirit qi in his dantian and powered the ring with it, before forcibly changing the path of the teleportation channel.


    <i>~Haa~</i>


    Lin Mu grunted as sweat dripped down from his forehead. This had taken a toll on his mind, but he did not dare to lose focus even for a second. Finally, a minuteter the ck dot started expanding and opened up into a rift.


    "I DID IT!" Lin Mu said with excitement.


    He looked at the spatial rift and found it to be rtively stable. But when he looked at his dantian, he was a bit surprised. It had taken him nearly fifty drops of liquid spirit qi to forcibly change the path of the teleportation channel.


    This was even higher than when he forcibly put that servant into the ring. Which now that he thought of it, he needed to dispose of.


    "Hmm, you should be able to reduce the consumption once your proficiency increases," Xukong said upon seeing the results.


    Lin Mu nodded and turned his eyes back to the spatial rift. He closed his eyes and could feel something approaching fast from the teleportation channel. Lin Mu put his hand inside the rift and caught the object in his hand.


    He pulled it out and opened his eyes.


    "Hahaha! I got it." Lin Mu said before putting the letter into his ring.


    He then withdrew the fake letter that he had written and put that into the spatial rift instead. Lin Mu then willed it, and the spatial rift started closing. A few secondster it was gone and no traces of it could be found.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Finally, it is done," Lin Mu said.


    The idea to rece the letter with a fake one hade to Lin Mu after remembering how he had taken the Four vessels restoration pills from the mayor and had put a small stone in it back then. He had seen the letter that the Tri cauldron peony sect had sent the mayor, and it was mentioned in it that the mayor had imed to have received a stone instead of the pills.


    This confirmed it for Lin Mu that objects that were traveling through a teleportation channel could be rpsed and that they will still reach their intended location. Another thing was that he no longer felt sad at having stolen the Four vessels restoration pills from the mayor, seeing how he was involved in the blood sacrifice.


    In fact, if he got the chance again, he would do it again.


    "Now to rest for a bit... today was a long day." Lin Mu said as he started to go back.


    He was passing over the roofs when he spotted someone below. Lin Mu abruptly stopped and almost fell down, but was able to gain control of his bnce.


    "The man from that house?" Lin Mu said after seeing the old man called Lord Cai below.


    He was entering the building, which was none other than the Alluring wisteria pavilion. He could see that the women there were quite excited upon seeing the old man, and even the workers that were from the establishment hade out to greet him.


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    Lin Mu could not hear what they were talking about clearly, but the old man was speaking something. Lord Cai pointed to a carriage that was standing to the side and whispered something in the ears of the manager who had walked from the Alluring Wisteria pavilion.


    Then Lin Mu saw the door of the carriage open and out walked none other than the three disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect, which he had hidden from inside a rock just an hour ago.


    "What are they doing here? That too with the old man..." Lin Mu wondered.


    He then thought over it a bit and realized that it could be something rted to the incident he had caused earlier. That explosion was quite loud and the stronghold of the Tri cauldron peony sect was only two blocks from that house.


    Lin Mu deliberated over it for a bit before deciding to check it out, regardless. But he knew that he would not be able to use the disguise he used before.


    Lin Mu used phase and sank through the building he was standing on top of like a stone in water. He entered the grounds and went near the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect and Lord Cai. Luckily they were not checking everything with their spirit sense or they would have detected him being right below them.


    "Let¡¯s see what they are here for..."

 Chapter 342 - Entering The Alluring Wisteria Pavillion

    <h4>Chapter 342 - Entering The Alluring Wisteria Pavillion </h4>


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t have a hard time listening to the conversation of Lord Cai and the disciples of Tri cauldron peony sect. Though he was a bit anxious about being found out.


    "Seniors, pleasee in and we¡¯ll discuss more about the situation. I hope my Establishment and its people will serve you well." Lord Cai said before taking the three disciples inside.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard this, he knew he had to listen to what they were going to talk about.


    ¡¯I stole the seal from the Tri cauldron peony sect and also killed one of their disciples, I need to know what they are going to discuss.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu waited for them to enter the building before moving away. He had tried to go in directly using phase but found it to be impossible.


    "They got barrier formations here too... Hmm considering it belongs to that lord Cai it makes sense." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu was a bit reluctant to go in but knew that it would be necessary as he wanted to know what kind of a risk he was in. He went to an alley to the side and came out of the ground. He straightened his clothes and ensured that he looked fine. He didn¡¯t want to give away that he was the ¡¯thief¡¯ in any way.


    "Ah! It¡¯s that Young Lord!" Suddenly someone shouted when Lin Mu got near the building.


    Then he felt his arm being squished between something soft and felt it to be a bit familiar.


    "Looks like Young Lord finally made up his mind," said the woman who had caught Lin Mu before.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    Lin Mu looked at thescivious looking woman and gulped his saliva. The voice of his mother appeared in his mind once again, but he was able to reassure him that he was here for a proper investigation.


    "Oh ho? Why doesn¡¯t the young Lord say anything? Do you not want to y with this little sister?" Spoke the woman.


    ¡¯What ¡¯little sister¡¯? You are probably twice as old as me...¡¯ Lin Mu said in his mind.


    "Umm, alright..." Lin Mu uttered in a low voice.


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    "Yay! Jun¡¯er I¡¯m taking this young lord in, you take the next one!" The woman said to another woman who was standing nearby.


    "No fair Yue! I wanna take this young lord too, he¡¯s so handsome. Hehehe..." The woman named Jun¡¯er spoke in a flirty tone.


    Lin Mu felt the hair on the back of his neck stand as he heard the coy voice of Jun¡¯er.


    "Dangerous, these women are absolutely dangerous!" Lin Mu said in his mind.


    "Ahaha! Look at you getting flustered. I thought humans were a bit more bold than this," Xukong teased.


    "Well, if it¡¯s fine with the young lord, you can join too~~" Yue spoke while stroking the chest of Lin Mu.


    "Uhh... I¡¯m fine with just you..." Lin Mu uttered awkwardly.


    Lin Mu definitely did not want another person clinging to him. As it would make it only more difficult for himself. He had already made up a n in his mind to get rid of this woman named Yue that was clinging to him right now.


    "Alright, then let¡¯s go in~" Yue said while dragging Lin Mu into the pavilion.


    Inside, Lin Mu could smell the aroma of the various perfumes that the women here were wearing. There were incense censors ced in multiple ces that also gave out a calming scent. Lin Mu felt as if his eyes were getting dull.


    "Hmm... this is... nice..." Lin Mu muttered as his eyes turned a bit zed.


    The woman named Yue looked at his face with a seductive smile on her face. She started letting her hand wander on his chest when suddenly, terror filled her body. At first, she couldn¡¯t tell where it wasing from, but then she looked in the eyes of Lin Mu.


    The eyes which were dull and zed a moment ago were now fierce and sharp. Lin Mu¡¯s eyes made contact with Yue¡¯s and she felt a pain inside her mind. It was as if thousands of swords were flying around in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes and they would shoot out at any moment.


    But then a second passed, and everything went to normal.


    <i>~huu~huu~huu~</i>


    Yue¡¯s breathing became a bitbored as she reeled in from the fear that she had just felt.


    ¡¯This boy... he¡¯s not simple.¡¯ Yue thought.


    "Damn, I almost got drugged!" Lin Mu uttered in his mind.


    "Indeed, that incense that is burning in the entire building has some kind of a drug mixed in. It dulls your sense and thinking, making you prone to reckless decisions. This is something that¡¯s used quite a lot in establishments like these." Xukong exined.


    "But isn¡¯t this too strong? Won¡¯t the other people notice and be bothered by it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "This is your first timeing in contact with it, that¡¯s why you felt the impact to be this strong. Most of the people here are habituated to it and would barely feel any effects." Xukong answered.


    ¡¯Good, that I used severing heart sutra fast enough...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "That¡¯s not all, your physique that has nearly be Xiantian also helped you. Once itpletely bes a Xiantian physique, your resistance to poisons and drugs like this should rise." Xukong added.


    Lin Mu internally nodded this and took note of this point. He looked at the woman who was clinging to him and realized for the first time that she actually was a person with seventh stage body tempering realm cultivation.


    "That¡¯s a bit unexpected..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "What¡¯s unexpected, Young lord?" Yue asked upon hearing his words.


    Since she was stuck so close to him, it was easy to hear whatever that he spoke. In fact, she had heard him chant the severing heart sutra too, but due to the fear she felt at that moment, her mind had not registered that.


    Lin Mu thought for a moment before deciding to speak.


    "You being at the seventh stage body tempering realm." Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 343 - Uniqueness Of The Pavillion

    <h4>Chapter 343 - Uniqueness Of The Pavillion </h4>


    Yue¡¯s eyes flickered for a moment but she was able to control her emotions well and did not show anything on her face.


    "Indeed, the Young lord is perspective and his cultivation is profound," Yue said while skillfully dodging the questioned.


    Lin Mu did not say anything further and turned took look at the rest of the things in the building. Seeing that he did not deny her words, Yue confirmed that Lin Mu was a cultivator.


    ¡¯I thought he was one of the rich young masters seeing his clothes, but he¡¯s actually a cultivator...¡¯ Yue thought.


    While it was not umon for there to be cultivatorsing to the alluring wisteria pavilion, this was the first time Yue was seeing one that was this young. Looking at him she could tell that he was somewhere between seventeen to twenty, but then from his shy behavior, she was confused again.


    The pressure that she had felt from him was also quite a lot than she had ever felt from other cultivators. She had once even had the chance to serve a core condensation realm cultivator and even he did not have the same bearing that this young man had.


    ¡¯It can¡¯t be... is he perhaps a disciple of a sect?¡¯ Yue thought.


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    She had seen their owner bring the three disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect here a few minutes ago and she couldn¡¯t help butpare Lin Mu with them. While they seemed to be young, they did not seem to have the same aura as Lin Mu either.


    The more Yue thought about it, the more she found Lin Mu to be an enigma.


    ¡¯Better to just serve him well and learn it eventually... perhaps I¡¯ll even get some reward.¡¯ Yue thought to herself while she guided Lin Mu to the inner area.


    There they came to a stop in front of a desk. An old fatdy was sitting behind the desk and she seemed to be counting gold coins one by one. There were probably a few hundred of them kept on the table along with some silver ones as well.


    If such a disy of gold coins was done somewhere else, the people would have had been throwing some covetous gazes. Lin Mu¡¯s gaze wandered over to them as well, but no hint of greed or anxiety could be seen. Yue was closely watching him, and seeing his reaction confirmed her doubts.


    ¡¯He is indeed nomon young master from the city.¡¯ Yue concluded.


    "Madam, I¡¯ve brought this young lord today," Yue said in a happy tone.


    The old fat woman who was counting the coins looked up and a crooked smile appeared on her face. Some of her teeth were old and mottled, which made the smile only look that much strange. Though Lin Mu was surprised due to something else.


    ¡¯This old woman is a cultivator too... she¡¯s at the mid stage of the qi refining realm.¡¯ Lin Mu realized upon sensing the faint fluctuations of spirit qi from her.


    "Ah! You¡¯ve brought quite a handsome young lord here today. So what would the young lord like today?" The madam asked.


    Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion as he didn¡¯t really know what they meant by that. Yue grasped this and quickly interrupted.


    "Young lord, we have some exquisite food that I guarantee would like it. We also have some of the finest wines of the county. And... if you want entertainment, you always have me~~" Yue said in a coy voice.


    "Huh, food? I can go with that, I can have some more dinner I guess..." Lin Mu said.


    For Lin Mu, eating was really not something that limited him. He could eat whenever he wanted and as much as he wanted. He still didn¡¯t know what his limit truly was.


    "Then I¡¯ll send some of our finest dishes to the room. Would the Young lord like more of our girls to apany him in?" The old woman asked.


    "No, just Yue would be fine," Lin Mu answered.


    "Yay, Young lord called me by my name! Hehe~~" Yue spoke with excitement as he rubbed her chest against Lin Mu¡¯s arm even more, which only made him blush even more.


    The two of them then went to one of the rooms was located in the western wing of the pavilion. On the way, Lin Mu was scanning the entire ce with his spirit sense. He saw that there were actually hundreds of people in the building right now.


    Most of them were enjoying thepany of the women here and some were involved in a certain ¡¯art¡¯ which made Lin Mu quickly divert his spirit sense from there. But out of all the rooms he scanned, he didn¡¯t find any cultivators, only somemoners in the body refining realm.


    ¡¯If they are not here, then...¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he turned his head to the eastern wing.


    Yue saw his attention change, and she followed his gaze.


    "Oh? Does the young lord want to go to the eastern wing? But I thought you didn¡¯t want thepany of more of my sisters?" Yue asked.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense was only able to reach the outermost building of the eastern wing, and he realized that it could not prate it.


    ¡¯There¡¯re barriers here too. Seems like the eastern wing has more security.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Ah yes," Lin Mu answered Yue, seeing she had asked him something.


    Lin Mu lightly shook his head and continued walking. Yue too gave up and simply took him to the room that was assigned to him. The western wing was made in a curved shape where its one end met the other end of the eastern wing. If one looked at it from the above one would see that the entire Alluring Wisteria pavilion was shaped like a wisteria blossom.


    The eastern and western wing met to form the petal of the blossom. In the center of the two wings was the corridor, and there were gardens on both sides of it. There were incense censors ced around here as well, with some hanging from the roof.


    They finally reached the room and it was the one that was at the mid point where the eastern and western wings met.


    "This should make it a bit easy..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 344 - Willing To Serve The Young Lord?

    <h4>Chapter 344 - Willing To Serve The Young Lord? </h4>


    Yue opened the door of the room that was assigned to them, and Lin Mu finally saw the insides of it. The room was rather elegantly decorated, having some paintings and flowers ced around. There were even some expensive cdon vases kept on the shelves.


    There was argemp that hung in the center of the room that had threeyers and spread out wide. Themp was made with polished brass and shone under the flicker of the mes. There was a skylight on the other parts of the room and the moon could be seen through it.


    The skylights were made of wooden grills that had the patterns of vines and flowers carved on them. There was another attached room to this one and Lin Mu scanned it with his spirit sense only to find there to be arge bed there. In fact, half of the entire floor of the room was actually a bed.


    In the main room though, a low table was ced on the ground and soft cushions embroidered with wisteria blossoms were ced for the people to sit on. While this room was not as luxurious as the one that was given to him by Loud Hei, it was stillparable just that it had a different feel to it.


    The one that he lived in was more homely while this was something one would like for a couple of days perhaps, but after that, they may get bored of it.


    "Please Young lord, take a seat. The food will be here shortly and then we can have some fun~~~" Yue said while gesturing with her hands.


    Lin Mu went ahead and sat down without showing any change of expression. He realized that he was now getting used to the actions and behavior of Yue. While sitting down, Lin Mu discreetly moved his hand across his clothes as if he was straightening them.


    Yue did not pay much attention to it and sat down beside Lin Mu.


    "So young lord, would you give me the honor of knowing your name?" Yue questioned with a glimmer in her eyes.


    The light of themps reflected off of her irises and made them look more attractive. She tilted her shoulder slightly, which made the short robe she was wearing to shift and reveal her bare shoulders even more. Perhaps if the robe shifted anymore, it may just fall offpletely.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    "I am Mu Lin." Lin Mu gave the same name that he had given the guards before.


    He had already talked with Lord Hei before, and he agreed with Lin Mu¡¯s decision of using a different name. Wu Hei even said that if everything went well, he will give the fake name for the tournament as well. This way the people will have less chance of knowing who he was.


    "Ah! Such a beautiful name, the young lord is indeed a jade that everyone would admire...(1)" Yue said praising Lin Mu.


    "Oh, is that so..." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed," Yue said with a big smile on her face as she node her head.


    <i>~Slide~</i>


    The door of the room was slid open, and another woman walked.


    "The food is here!" Yue eximed.


    The woman who had walked in kneeled on the ground and gave a bow to Lin Mu before calling for the food.


    "Bring the dishes in!" She said.


    Then upon hermand, a string of servants walked in carrying a lot of dishes in trays. Even the servants that were bringing in the food were beautiful women, but were a few notches lowpared to the courtesans like Yue.


    But even they gave Lin Mu seductive nces while putting the trays down on the table and bent enough to make sure that Lin Mu got to view the deep valleys that they all had. Lin Mu politely turned his eyes away and instead focused on the food that they had brought in.


    There were nearly thirty dishes currently in front of Lin Mu, and all of them looked good. The ones that were aromatic gave out a tantalizing aroma that stimted one¡¯s taste buds and increased their appetite. The ones that were cold had an impable presentation and made one admire it as if it were art.


    Yue picked up a pair of chopsticks and took a small piece of steamed fish from one of the tes before taking it to Lin Mu¡¯s face.


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    "Young lord, say aaa..." Yue said.


    Lin Mu felt a bit awkward at this, but seeing that Yue was getting closer to his clothes, he suppressed the feeling and opened his mouth. Yue gently put the morsel of fish in Lin Mu¡¯s mouth and Lin Mu closed it, chewing it a few times.


    "MM! This is indeed quite delicious!" Lin Mu truthfully said.


    While Lin Mu had been eating roasted spirit beast meat all this time, he had kind of be used to it and was bored. But that was the easiest method for him to prepare arge amount of meat and thus had no choice. Now that he was tasting some actually good food that was made by skillful chefs, he was of course amazed.


    Still, if onepared the value of the spirit beast meat that he ate daily and these dishes, they would notpare. The spirit beast meat that he ate was at least ten times more expensive than this. In reality, perhaps only the cultivation sects could afford to feed their disciples spirit beast meat every day.


    Besides, hunting spirit beast was actually not as easy as it was for Lin Mu. He had a big advantage due to his skills which allowed him to approach and kill spirit beasts covertly. But now Lin Mu wondered about one thing, what was this going to cost him?


    Ever since he had walked into the Alluring wisteria pavilion, he had not paid a single cent.


    ¡¯Do they not take payment or something?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered in his mind.


    "I¡¯m happy that the young lord is satisfied by our food." The woman who had brought in the food thanked.


    Lin Mu looked at them and saw that they had not left the room yet. Even the servants were looking at him with expectant gazes. Yue noticed Lin Mu¡¯s confusion and helped.


    "Would the young lord prefer if these sisters apanied him for the night? They are willing to serve the young lord." Yue said.

 Chapter 345 - Forget This!

    <h4>Chapter 345 - Forget This! </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s mind went nk for a second after hearing the words of the woman. He looked at their faces and they were looking at him hungrily.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    "No, I¡¯m fine with just Yue." Lin Mu stated after building up a little bit of courage.


    The servants all had crestfallen and teary expressions after hearing Lin Mu say that. Lin Mu even felt bad in his heart and hesitated a bit. He was about to say something when his mind suddenly became alert.


    ¡¯Wait, why am I acting like this? Why do I care about these servants?¡¯ Lin Mu questioned himself.


    "Looks like you finally understood," Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Wha..." Lin Mu was going to ask but then realized it himself.


    "The food! It¡¯s drugged too!" Lin Mu shouted in his mind.


    Now Lin Mu was no longer feeling pity for the servants rather he was feeling angry. It was fine at first since the incense that was drugged was for everyone that visited the Alluring wisteria pavilion but now this... this was specifically targeting him.


    A few suspicious points appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind; these people had not asked him for any payment and yet were offering all these services. He couldn¡¯t help but realize that their motive behind drugging him was for nothing good.


    Thin red veins appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes as his aura changed. The awkward expression that was on his face was changing. Yue was sitting the closest to Lin Mu and could sense all the changes. She had served plenty of cultivators and while she wasn¡¯t one, she was not unfamiliar to spirit qi.


    If it were not for her inability to get a cultivation technique, she could even be said to have an above average talent for cultivation. She sensed the changes in Lin Mu and twisted her neck to look at him.


    "Eek-" Yue had almost let out a cry but immediately calmed her mouth shut.


    A dangerous aura was leaking out of Lin Mu, and Yue could see his eyes. She didn¡¯t know what had happened, but she was not feeling as inclined to serve this boy anymore. She traced his gaze and saw that he was looking at the servants.


    The servants meanwhile were still kneeling on the floor, but a big difference could be seen this time.


    ¡¯The servants! They¡¯re... in pain?¡¯ Yue realized, seeing their expressions.


    The servants could not move and were frozen in their positions. Beads of sweat dripped off their foreheads as their clothes stuck to their body. Some of them that were a bit stronger could even be seen shivering. While the others were simply petrified in terror.


    The leading servant who had brought the food was sitting upright and the pain could be seen in her eyes that had gone red with tears dripping down the corners.


    "Young- Young Lord!" Yue said with hesitation.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    "Pl-please! I beg for forgiveness if we¡¯ve offended you in any manner," Yue spoke while her hands trembled.


    She could find the courage in her to touch Lin Mu either or she would have held onto his legs and begged him even more.


    "Tame your mind!" Xukong suddenly said.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Gently chanting some words in a low voice, he dispelled the anger that had clouded his mind.


    ¡¯The Burning heart sutra... it¡¯s still not fully controble,¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes upon hearing the sound of someone falling and saw that some of the servants had copsed on the ground after the aura had been lifted off them.


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    <i>~Sob~</i>


    <i>~Sniff~</i>


    The ones that were weaker had directly fainted while the stronger ones were now crying, unable to hold back anymore.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Begone..." Lin Mu ordered and turned his gaze away from them to focus on the food instead.


    He paid no more attention to them and the servants felt this. From the presence that he exuded, Yue could tell that they were nothing but dirt to him and that they had perhaps overstepped their boundaries. But she still could not find the reason behind the boy¡¯s anger.


    ¡¯NO WAY! Can it be?¡¯ Yue suddenly thought of something.


    She looked at the food and calmly picked up some of the rice and ate it. A few seconds after she swallowed it though, she understood the reason.


    ¡¯DAMMIT! These bitches! Acting without knowing who the customer is, now they¡¯ve ruined it for me too.¡¯ Yue thought with anger in her eyes.


    She stood up and kicked the leading servant on her head.


    "GO AWAY! Did you not hear the Young Lord?" Yue ordered.


    "Ye-Yes mistress..." The leading servant stuttered and dragged herself out.


    The other servants who were crying pulled out the three that had fainted as well.


    "Know this... the owner will hear of this insolence you¡¯ve done," Yue said will giving the leading servant a look of despise.


    She then closed the door and sat beside Lin Mu again.


    "Young Lord..." She whispered into Lin Mu¡¯s ear. Lin Mu tensed up for a bit as her breath tickled his ear.


    "Yue will do her best to please you tonight for the blunder that happened..." she said and trailed her finger across his neck.


    "So please... forget this~~" She muttered while her hand traveled down Lin Mu¡¯s body.


    <i>~snap~</i>


    "Eek"


    The chopstick Lin Mu was using broke in his hands as Yue flinched. He looked into her eyes and spoke a few words.


    "No , forget this-" He stated.


    "Wha-" Before Yue could ask she felt her mind going dull and then she fainted.


    Seeing that the woman was fully knocked out, Lin Mu stopped chanting the severing heart sutra and sighed.


    "The night just keeps on getting worse... perhaps I should have just returned to the courtyard directly." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu was originally going to use the memory confounding powder to knock out Yue, but seeing that the situation would only get out of control, he simply used the severing heart sutra.


    "At least I learned a new use of the severing heart sutra..."

 Chapter 346 - Lord Cai Is Threatened?

    <h4>Chapter 346 - Lord Cai Is Threatened? </h4>


    Lin Mu was moving Yue to the inner room and left her on the bed. He understood from her previous reaction that what had happened was perhaps not her fault entirely and it was most likely the servants acting on their own so as to convince him to bed them.


    Lin Mu could understand their intentions behind this a bit and knew that this was just a method for them to elevate their status a little bit.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Another sigh escaped Lin Mu¡¯s lips as he felt a headache approaching him.


    "Let¡¯s just get this over with, I¡¯ve already wasted quite a bit of time." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    His spirit sense extended out of his body and wandered out in the area. Since his room was adjacent to the eastern wing, Lin Mu was able to reach around half of the length of the wing. Still, he was unable to peek into the rooms due to the barriers that had been set up.


    But Lin Mu was not looking to peek inside to verify their identity. Rather, he was looking at other signs. A few secondster he determined the room in which the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect and Lord Cai were sitting in.


    And how he found them? Shoes.


    Lin Mu spotted the shoes that they had removed outside the room and could recognize them to match with the uniform of the disciples.


    "There they are..." Lin Mu said as he sank into the ground with phase.


    He was able to move rather easily as there was no bottom barrier restricting him. Lin Mu soon reached the room and it was as he had expected.


    "So they really didn¡¯t bother to put a barrier to protect them from the ground." Lin Mu saw.


    "Of course, just them setting up these many barriers must have been expensive. Besides, they probably would not have expected that someone woulde through the ground, anyway." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded as his spirit sense entered the room from a corner. He very carefully checked the entire room and got itsyout. The room was much bigger than the one he was assigned to, and it actually had five separate inner bedrooms in it.


    There was a long table ced in the main room and the three disciples were sitting at it with Lord Cai. Around ten servants and courtesans were serving them, while the disciples took plenty of liberties with them. Lin Mu could see their hands wandering and groping while the women said nothing and instead showed looks of pleasure.


    "Now to hear what they are speaking..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


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    He moved upwards and appeared inside arge decoration shelf that was kept in the room. His ear peeked out from the back side of it that faced the wall.


    "The peak master would definitely like to discuss an investment and seeing the quality here..." The senior brother spoke.


    "Ayah!" The courtesan uttered in a teasing voice as the hand of the Senior brother gripped her behind.


    "Yes, yes... with the peak master¡¯s investment, I can assure you that the quality of service can be improved even more." Lord Cai replied, skillfully ignoring the women.


    "What do you want as the profit share to be though?" The senior brother asked without moving his gaze from the courtesan.


    "How can I dare to ask the peak master something like this... we¡¯ll just follow the other contracts that the peak master has with the pleasure pavilions." Lord Cai said shamelessly.


    "Hmm," the senior brother nodded.


    "So now that we have this behind us, tell us what you were unwilling to say back then..." Pei Lao questioned.


    Lord Cai looked at the women and they all stood up immediately before leaving the room. He then gestured with his hand and formation runes appeared in the runes. They glowed for a moment before fading away.


    "Now we should have some proper privacy," Lord Cai stated as he pped his hands.


    "Oh, these are impressive formations. Looks like Lord Cai spared no expense for this establishment." Tie Dan praised.


    "Of course, I want to make a pleasure pavilion of the utmost level that is possible for this ce. Another reason why I want the support of a great man like peak master Yi Deng." Lord Cai boot licked.


    ¡¯So Yi Deng is actually a peak master. Wait, didn¡¯t the Mayor have a conflict with a peak master ording to the letter I read back then?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "It could be another peak master. Usually, in sects there are multiple departments that may be assigned to different peaks. It¡¯s likely for this elder to be the peak master of another peak." Xukong exined.


    "I understand Senior," Lin Mu replied as he continued hearing their conversation.


    But just as he was doing this, he realized something.


    "Oh no! The formation that he activated, trapped me in here too! I can¡¯t go out unless the formation is deactivated." Lin Mu said in his mind.


    "Just hide well, and you should be able to get away easily," Xukong said, calming Lin Mu down.


    Lin Mu silently nodded and contained listening.


    "I wonder if Seniors have heard of a certain group of people that have been causing a few incidentstely?" Lord Cai questioned.


    "Hmm, which specific group are you talking about... perhaps you mean by the disappearance of the mercenaries and some people?" The senior brother replied.


    "Yes, seniors are indeed well informed. You see, this particr group has had a couple of interactions with me..." Lord Cai revealed.


    The expressions of the three disciples went serious, and so did Lin Mu¡¯s.


    ¡¯Is he part of the Gu legion too?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "And what is your involvement with this particr... group? And before you say it, know that we already have orders from the sect to capture or exterminate if anyone from that particr group is found." The senior brother threatened.


    These words of the Senior brother confused Lin Mu as he had thought that they were involved with the Gu legion too.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    "O-of course not. My involvement with them is of a victim, Seniors. They... have been threatening me, you see." Lord Cai exined.

 Chapter 347 - No Need To Pay?

    <h4>Chapter 347 - No Need To Pay? </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s ears perked up after hearing that Lord Cai was threatened. To be honest, he had not expected it to be something like this. From what Lin Mu had seen and experienced till now the Gu Legion usually killed their foes directly instead of threatening.


    Still, this did not lift Lin Mu¡¯s suspicion and he wondered if Lord Cai was lying to save his own hide.


    "What exactly happened, tell us in detail." The senior brother asked.


    "Well, as Seniors know my Alluring Wisteria pavilion is the top most pleasure pavilion in the county and thus makes a decent amount of revenue. Not only that, but due to our clientele, we also have some good connections. This is what the Gu legion desires.


    They were threatening me to give them half of the share of the Alluring wisteria pavilion, that too without any payment; The audacity! They threatened me with dire consequences and even acted on it a while ago. Some of my servant girls have disappeared in the past few weeks.


    We were unsure of it as servant girls do run away from time to time, but this was far too many of them. Still, as long as it¡¯s just servant girls I¡¯m fine with it, they¡¯re easily receable. But what I cannot bear are my courtesans. These women have been trained for a long time and a lot of resources have been poured into them.


    As you must have seen, all of our courtesans are fifth stage of the body tempering realm and above. This allows our more affluent clientele such as cultivators to freely enjoy them. Any weaker and the women would break from time to time. Thus you can see the costs.


    Still, tonight when I saw the thief that appeared in my House I think he was one of the members of the Gu legion. His clothes were the same as the ones that they wear, but the mask he wore was a bit different. I thought that the Gu legion finally could not hold back and sent someone to assassinate me.


    But seeing that the thief spared all of my servants and guards, I¡¯m not so sure anymore." Lord Cai exined.


    The three disciples were lost in thought after hearing everything and could make sense of it after a while. It was obvious why the Gu legion would want the ce as it would provide them with a lot of money for their operations.


    "Did you talk to the city mayor about this?" The senior brother questioned.


    "Yes, I spoke with mayor Wu Xun the very day it happened. He was concerned too and sent guards to look over the ce. But after a few weeks, the disappearances still urred and they could not find any proof. The guards are still assigned here and you must have seen them on the streets." Lord Cai answered.


    Lin Mu remembered that he had seen the guards outside. It was one of the reasons why he was traveling over the roofs. Thankfully, there were barely any guards on the roof at nighttime. The Senior brother hummed in agreement but had a frown on his face.


    "So this is why you want the peak master to invest in this Establishment? For our protection?" the senior brother asked.


    "Yes... that was indeed one of the reasons. The city mayor does not have the same power that the peak master does and I believe under the eye of the seniors such as you all, this ce would be safe. Of course, this is not without benefits.


    All the Ladies here are open to your use as much as you want." Lord Cai said with a shameless tone.


    "Alright, then. I¡¯ll talk with the peak master over this, but know that this is not a guarantee that he¡¯ll approve." Senior brother said.


    "Of course, that¡¯s a give. It is up to the peak master to make the final decision, I¡¯m merely a helpless old man with a small business." Lord Cai bootlicked.


    <i>~Chuckle~</i>


    Pei Lao and Tie Dan let out a chuckle, and Lin Mu almost did the same after hearing Lord Cai¡¯s words.


    ¡¯What old and helpless? Who was fighting with vigor two hours ago?¡¯ Lin Mu scoffed.


    "Since we¡¯re done here, we will not bear on you anymore. We need to report back to the elder." Senior brother said.


    "Thank you for willing to listen to me Seniors," Lord Cai said while cupping his hands.


    He then removed the formation that was covering the room, and all of them left one by one.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "Finally they¡¯re gone..." Lin Mu muttered and sank back into the ground.


    A few secondster, he appeared in the room he was assigned and looked around.


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    "Seems like no one came here, thankfully." Lin Mu said to himself before entering the bedroom.


    He kneeled beside Yue, who was unconscious on the bed. Her robes were tilted to one side, revealing her shoulders and the deep valley on her chest. Lin Mu stared at her for a few seconds before deciding to leave.


    He left the room and walked to the counter where he had seen the old fatdy.


    "Oh, Young Lord is there a problem?" The madam questioned.


    "I¡¯m leaving now, what do I need to pay?" Lin Mu started directly.


    "Why, young lord, did ourdies not satisfy you?" The madam asked with concern.


    "I believe you can ask this to them." Lin Mu said before continuing, "now what do I need to pay?"


    The old woman gulped after seeing the demeanor of Lin Mu. She had known that he was a cultivator too, and a strong one at that. It was quite obvious that he seemed to be angered as well.


    "Young lord, there is no need for you to pay if you have not been satisfied. I just hope that you will give us a chance again in the future." The madam said in a courteous tone.


    Lin Mu simply nodded and walked outside of the building and went to his courtyard.


    After he was gone, though, the madam had a serious look on her face.


    "GET ME YUE!" She shouted.

 Chapter 348 - Laying Low

    <h4>Chapter 348 - Laying Low </h4>


    The old fatdy was standing in a room along with a group of servants, Yue and some guards.


    "Now tell me exactly what happened?" The madam questioned with a cold tone.


    Yue was nervous and was still a bit dazed as she had just woken up. It had taken the others a few minutes to be able to wake her up. She couldn¡¯t remember how she had fallen asleep, and thest thing she remembered was kicking the servants out.


    The first thing she did after waking up was checking her body and she was shocked to find out she was not touched at all. It wouldn¡¯t have been umon for a client to do something and they wouldn¡¯t really mind it either.


    But this was the first time a client had gone away without doing anything at all. He had only eaten some of the food, which reminded her that the food was drugged.


    ¡¯Wait, why did he continue to eat it even after he found out it was drugged? Seems like that was a warning, to show us not to try tricks like that on him.¡¯ Yue thought to herself.


    The servants that had served Lin Mu were currently trembling in their ce and didn¡¯t have the courage to speak.


    "WELL DID THE CAT GET YOUR TONGUES? SPEAK!" The madam yelled.


    "EEK" the servants flinched but still didn¡¯t dare to speak.


    "Madam, let me tell you what happened. These bitches dared to act on their own and drugged the food that was served to Young Lord Mu Lin. Thankfully, he was merciful and did not punish us, which would have been valid considering his status." Yue said with spite while looking at the servants.


    The expression of the servants only kept on falling the more they heard Yue¡¯s words, but they didn¡¯t dare to deny it either. The proof was already there as the food was still there. If they were found lying their punishment would only be more severe.


    "WHAT! You dare!" The madam shouted and pped the leader of the servants, knocking her to the wall.


    <i>~Thwack~</i>


    Her head struck the wall and started bleeding, but she made no voice for she had already passed out. The other servants only became more fearful.


    "You have no idea what kind of person you offend. While we do not know his background I sensed the power in him. His aura was nothing that anymon cultivator would have." The madam stated.


    "This is true madam, we felt this first hand. When the young lord found out about the food being drugged, merely his gaze was enough to make us kneel." Yue agreed.


    The madam only became more angry after hearing that they had potentially offended a strong cultivator.


    "This is far too big that I thought then. Only the lord can decide now." The madam dered.


    Two of the servant girls directly fainted from the stress after hearing this, while the others pped on the ground helplessly.


    ***


    Lin Mu was sitting on the bed while calming thinking about all that he had learned today.


    "Seems like Lord Cai was not lying about it, seeing his reaction from when he attacked me, he genuinely seemed shocked." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "But the operation of the Gu legion is also strange in this case, why didn¡¯t they just attack him, unlike the others?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "It¡¯s most likely because of his status. They can¡¯t really im a well known Establishment like this in a city like this without suspicion. The people would not be calm. Besides, we already know that the Mayor may be involved in this." Xukong remained.


    "Of course, how did I not realized this!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "You are already tired, some times our mind ys tricks on us and makes thingsplex," Xukong replied.


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    Lin Mu was indeed quite tired, even if not physically but mentally he was. This was thergest amount of spirit qi he had used ever since reaching the peak stage of the qi refining realm.


    "Looks like the mayor got the Gu legion to try to take over the Alluring Wisteria pavilion so that he can get their money for all his needs. Lord Cai is influential in the city too which means that even the mayor cannot act in a highhanded manner with him and would need to hide his real intentions." Lin Mu analyzed.


    "What do you want to do now? Will you inform the Lord Hei?" Xukong asked.


    "Hmm, I¡¯m thinking to wait and watch for a couple of days. There are still many things we do not know and acting on our own may be problematic considering that we¡¯ve already ruffled a few feathers today. The disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect should find out about the missing servant too soon, and perhaps even the seal that I stole.


    We¡¯lly low and watch the show, only acting when we have more information. Besides, the wife of the mayor is also alert from my mistake before. It would do us no good if we are reckless." Lin Mu replied after thinking for a bit.


    "Good, this a well thought out n," Xukong praised.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and went back to cultivating. With all the basic qi pills he had replenishing all his qi would still take him an entire day as he had used a lot of liquid spirit qi.


    ¡¯I need to get rid of the servant¡¯s body too...¡¯ Lin Mu remembered.


    Hours passed by as the night turned to day and then back to night. Lin Mu heard a knock on the door and woke up.


    "Master, would you like to have dinner?" The servant asked.


    Lin Mu looked outside and saw the moon, knowing that he lost track of time, he nodded his head.


    "I¡¯ll get it in a minute," The servant said before going away anding back with trays of food.


    "Tell me what has recently happened in the city." Lin Mu ordered the servant.


    Lin Mu then calmly ate his food while hearing some news from the servant.

 Chapter 349 - Letter For Mu Lin?

    <h4>Chapter 349 - Letter For Mu Lin? </h4>


    Apparently, the lock down had been called off after the guards offended a few influential cultivators. They had still been unable to find any culprit and even the mayor¡¯s wife had given her approval to stop the check. Then there was the news about the attack at Lord Cai¡¯s house.


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    But the strangest thing was the culprit they thought was the thief that came to Lord Cai¡¯s house was none other than the servant who went missing from the Tri cauldron peony sect¡¯s courtyard.


    ¡¯Huh? How the hell did theye to this conclusion?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered, but showed no expression on his face.


    Apparently, since the servant disappeared without a trace around the same time, the attempted robbery happened, they put the me on the servant. People had thought that this would mean that there would now be a conflict between Lord Cai and the Tri cauldron peony sect, but it was not so.


    Rather, the news of a coboration was spread by them officially. The Tri cauldron peony sect would be investing in the Alluring Wisteria pavilion. The people were all shocked by this and wondered if Lord Cai had taken advantage of the robber and takenpensation in this form from the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    "That¡¯s rather smart, I must say..." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "What do you mean senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We know that the old man was threatened by the Gu legion and was under watch by them. By taking advantage of their current situation and twisting a few facts, they made it seem as if it was now a coboration under forced conditions.


    This would also make the Gu legion think twice about attacking him and would perhaps even make the people think well of the Tri cauldron peony sect by showing the people that they are not unreasonable. This way they kill two birds with one arrow." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu thought over it and realized that it indeed seemed to be likely. This way a few future problems of theirs could be solved. Then another thing was that due to the new investment, Lord Cai would be organizing a celebratory banquet tomorrow night.


    A lot of influential people were going to be invited, and the alluring wisteria pavilion was already getting ready for it. Lin Mu also heard that Lord Hei was invited as well, along with a lot of people that lived in this neighborhood. Which was obvious considering all the high ss people who lived here.


    "Oh and master, this letter came for you too. You were cultivating before, so I did not dare disturb you." The servant said before passing a letter to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu looked at the letter and found there to be a seal on it too.


    "Who would send me a letter, though? No one knows me here, except for Wu Hei. But if it were him, he would simply send someone from the Hei corps." Lin Mu questioned.


    "I do not know either master, the messenger simply said it was addressed to a certain Young lord Mu Lin. Which I believe is the name you gave." The servant said.


    The servant was also a part of the Hei Corps and thus knew who Lin Mu was. They had already been informed of Lin Mu¡¯s fake identity.


    "Mu Lin? Huh..." Lin Mu muttered as he broke the seal on the letter and unfolded it.


    "To Young Lord Mu Lin,


    I am Lord Cai, the owner of the Alluring Wisteria pavilion. I was informed that my people made a few mistakes when you visited my establishment and for that I am incredibly sorry.


    I¡¯m sending you this letter as an invitation to the banquet celebrating the new coboration between my Establishment and the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    I hope the young lord would give us another chance to serve him. We guarantee that you will be fully satisfied, so please do grace us with your presence tomorrow night."


    "What the... how did he find this out?" Lin Mu said, feeling a bit surprised.


    The servant simply shook his head, showing that he did not know.


    "Well, it wouldn¡¯t have been that hard to figure it out with their connections I suppose. The name on this courtyard is set as Mu Lin, right? Then, considering that and your status as a cultivator, this Lord Cai must have found it out somehow." Xukong hypothesized.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what to do except nod his head at this.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Clean this up," Lin Mu said to the servant to take away the empty dishes.


    "Now the question remains... do we go there?" Lin Mu stated.


    "Hmm, the choice is up to you. But think of it this way, since we know that this Lord Cai is enemies with the Gu legion along with the Tri cauldron peony sect, perhaps you can take advantage of this." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu stroked his chin as he thought over it for a few minutes.


    "I guess we can attend the banquet. Perhaps we will get some more information there too, seeing as there are gonna be all the influential people of the city there." Lin Mu decided.


    Lin Mu then called the servant again and told him to inform Lord Hei about it. The servant epted it and immediately went to inform him about it. Thirty minutester, the servant returned with Wu Hei¡¯s reply.


    "Master, the lord has said that he will attend the banquet too since you are going to attend it. He will also be sending some things tomorrow that he said you should take a look over before going to the banquet." The servant reported.


    "Alright, I understand." Lin Mu said and dismissed the servant.


    <i>~Poof~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s head hit the pillow as heid down on the bed with his hands behind the head.


    "So we have our n for tomorrow cut out." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed, now you should just think of anything that may be necessary be for going there." Xukong replied.


    "Yes, senior..." Lin Mu said before falling asleep and appearing in the Sleepscape.

 Chapter 350 - Dressing Up

    <h4>Chapter 350 - Dressing Up </h4>


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~Zonggg~</i>


    Lin Mu was practicing with a long sword currently. The sword was rather oddly shaped and it took Lin Mu quite a while to get used to. The de of the sword was wider at the base near the handle and stayed like that for about one third of the length before bing narrower.


    The widest part of the de was about four fingers wide and the narrow part was two fingers wide. The de was also about six feet long, which was taller than Lin Mu. The only weapon that Lin Mu had in his storage longer than this were a few spears andnces.


    Lin Mu felt that this sword was a bit unwieldy but was getting used to it. He practiced for a few more minutes before stopping.


    "That should be enough for today..." Lin Mu said before setting down under the spirit apple tree. He looked up at it and felt as if it had be a bit more vibrant.


    "Did it grow a little bit? Hmm, perhaps not in height, but it has definitely be a little broader." Lin Mu said after checking it.


    Pushing this thought to the back of his mind, he practiced the Nameless technique of the lost immortal. Even if he had reached his goal, Lin Mu did not really want to fully stop practicing the technique. He was still not at the limit and wondered what things were still hidden.


    ording to senior Xukong, the Lost immortal who created the technique was a great cultivator who should be stronger than even immortals. So considering that, this technique should be useful for him for quite a long time.


    From what Lin Mu had learned, a lot of cultivation techniques were limited in the realm that a cultivator could reach with them. Their ssification was simr to that of the spirit weapons and ording to their grades could be used by cultivators of that level and could let them reach that level.


    For example, a low tier spirit grade cultivation technique would allow one to reach the core condensation realm at most. A mid tier spirit grade cultivation technique up to nascent soul realm, high tier till Dao shell realm and finally peak tier till the Dao treading realm.


    As for the immortal ascension realm, senior Xukong told Lin Mu that it didn¡¯t really need a cultivation technique to reach and it depended more on the cultivator¡¯s luck andprehension.


    Lin Mu had asked Senior Xukong what grade his cultivation technique would be, to which he simply said one thing- I don¡¯t know. The nine divine heart sutras were like the nameless technique of the lost immortal, they had never been practiced before and thus there was nothing topare it with.


    Besides, they were still doubtful whether it could even be ssified as a full fledged cultivation technique or an auxiliary one.


    Finally, before falling deep into sleep, Lin Mu went through all the things that had happened that day and the ns of the next day.


    ***


    The sunlight shined through the window as a gentle breeze blew, ruffling the curtains. Lin Mu woke up and stretched his body before walking outside. He could hear someone talking in the yard.


    <i>~Slide~</i>


    The door of the room opened and Lin Mu entered the yard. There he saw the servant talking with two men. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know who they were, but seeing that they were allowed entry freely like this, they must have belonged to the Hei corps.


    "Ah, good morning, master. You came at the right time, Lord Hei has sent some gifts for you." The servant spoke.


    Lin Mu looked at the packages that were kept on the stone table.


    "What¡¯s in them?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Why don¡¯t you open and take a look," The servant said with a smile.


    Lin Mu nodded and started opening the packages. Inside, he found a set of luxurious brocade robes. They were dark blue and had gold embroidery. In the other package was a silver cor along with a Jade ribbed fan. Lin Mu could tell these were all the clothes of an aristocrat.


    "So lord Hei wants me to wear these for the banquet?" Lin Mu asked.


    To be honest, Lin Mu wasn¡¯t really feeling the appeal of these clothes. While they looked luxurious and were identity symbols, to him they were too gaudy. He preferred the more simpler clothes that he wore and felt that they were morefortable.


    "Yes, the Lord said that these would help match your identity. He said that since you have made a fake persona, he will present you as his friend from another kingdom." The man who hade to deliver these said.


    Lin Mu nodded and understood the reason behind this.


    "That makes sense. I¡¯ll wear them then." Lin Mu replied.


    The two men bade him farewell before leaving the courtyard.


    "I¡¯ll take these inside master, the banquet will be starting at 8pm tonight so you have quite some time till then." The servant said before asking, "Will you be going out?"


    "No," Lin Mu shook his head. "Not today, I¡¯ll stay here. Just tell me when it¡¯s time to leave. I believe Lord Hei will be apanying me?"


    "Yes, Lord Hei will being with the carriage." The servant replied.


    Lin Mu nodded and returned inside. He cultivated while the servant got the breakfast ready. Lin Mu felt that he was at least able to enjoy some good food while he was here. Then he was reminded of Little shrubby.


    "Perhaps I should have brought him too. Then he would have been able to taste these dishes too..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he finished the breakfast.


    He sensed his connection with little shrubby and while there was nomunication with Little Shrubby, Lin Mu could still feel that it was as strong as before. He spent the rest of the day in cultivation, and it was soon time for the banquet.


    "Master, the carriage will be here soon, you should get ready." The servant informed.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and entered his room to wear all the clothes and essories. While he was able to wear the robes and shoes with no problem, it was still difficult for him to wear the silver cor as his hair was a bit short for it.


    <i>~Sigh~</i> This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "I give up, this won¡¯t work." Lin Mu said before an idea appeared to him.


    Lin Mu withdrew an item from his ring. It was a long metallic curving pin. This was actually one of the weapons that were included in the Thousand armament de scripture. He had not practiced it till now and it was going to be used as an ornament now.


    Lin Mu put his hair in a bun before using the pin to lock it in ce.


    <i>~ck~ck~ck~</i>


    The sound of cantering horses came from outside, and Lin Mu knew the carriage was here.


    "Master, Lord Hei is here." The servant announced.


    Lin Mu left the courtyard and saw therge carriage that was pulled by four white horses. The character for ¡¯Hei¡¯ was carved on its sides andnterns hung from its four corners.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Let¡¯s go..."

 Chapter 351 - The Carriage Ride

    <h4>Chapter 351 - The Carriage Ride </h4>


    The carriage driver stepped down and opened the door for Lin Mu, which he was not expecting as he had already extended his hand and was now standing awkwardly.


    "Umm, thank you..." Lin Mu stated before entering the carriage.


    There he saw long seats ced in the front and back side of it. They were covered in high quality soft furs and were stuffed with springy beast feathers. There was also a table ced in the middle on which a few bottles of wine were kept.


    "Greetings, Brother Lin Mu." Wu Hei said as he scanned Lin Mu from top to bottom.


    "Looks like the role of an aristocrat suits you much better than I thought." Wu Hei praised.


    "I guess, but I still prefer my usual robes better. These are just... notfortable for some reason." Lin Mu replied.


    "I understand that, I have a simr position on that matter as well. I¡¯d much rather prefer my own schrly robes than these. Simrly, I do not like attending events such as these either, but considering the situation, I believe we do not have a choice in this matter." Wu Hei exined.


    Lin Mu nodded and reclined in the seat, finding it to be quitefortable.


    "So why did brother Lin Mu visit the alluring wisteria pavilion for?" Wu Hei questioned with interest.


    Lin Mu had still not told him the reason behind it, as he didn¡¯t think it would be wise to pass it through a messenger. Besides, there were still a few things that he needed to hide such as the fact that he sneaked into the courtyard of the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    "I discovered more clues about the Gu legion," Lin Mu revealed.


    The gaze of Wu Hei turned serious as he tapped the armrest.


    "And what did you find?" He asked.


    "It seems like Lord Cai was targeted by the Gu legion and they wanted to get control of the alluring wisteria pavilion. Even the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect have been ordered to kill or capture if anyone belonging to the Gu legion was discovered." Lin Mu answered.


    Wu Hei stroked his chin before asking, "so we are going to meet some potential allies?"


    "Yes... if things work out." Lin Mu replied.


    "And you are fine with this? Despite your... infraction with the Tri cauldron peony sect?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "It can work, as long as the Junior Elder Fa Shiu never appears..." Lin Mu stated with a knowing look.


    Wu Hei nodded his head and took out a scroll from his spatial storage treasure.


    "As you asked before, we spread out our people to look for this Junior Elder Fa Shiu. We were able to find some traces of him in the Southern town, he was seen with some unknown people that were also cultivators." Wu Hei said as he passed Lin Mu the scroll with the report.


    Lin Mu¡¯s face darkened as he read the report. It was exactly as Wu Hei had said, but the strange thing was the Junior elder had disappeared when the members of the Hei corps tried to follow him further. This had actually made even Wu Hei surprised, as it was rather rare that his people were unable to finish a mission like this.


    "Seems like I may need to pay a visit to the Southern town," Lin Mu spoke.


    "No, that would be a waste. It¡¯s likely that the man already left it and is in the city. I¡¯ll increase the surveince here as well." Wu Hei replied.


    "Alright, as long as the junior elder doesn¡¯t meet the others, it will be fine." Lin Mu said, "and what did you say about presenting me as your friend from another kingdom?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I just found an aristocratic n with the Mu surname that I had once visited before. They are from the Fenlong kingdom and are rather unknown here, so it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. You shouldn¡¯t get questions that are much problematic either, and if you do, you can simply not answer them. The people will not dare to force you anyway." Wu Hei answered.


    Lin Mu went over the list of kingdoms that he had read and recalled the information about Fenlong Kingdom. It was a rather small kingdom southeast of the Shuang Qian kingdom. It didn¡¯t share a border with it though and was a few kingdoms away.


    They were actually only the size of the entire Wu Lim county. Which was rather smallpared to most other kingdoms. Lin Mu referenced this with the other smaller kingdoms and realized that they were the third smallest kingdom in the empire.


    The other two smaller kingdoms were not located on the Continent itself and were actually ind nations. Still, they were not that far, being a few hundred kilometers from the maind.


    The carriage came to a halt just as they finished talking and they could hear the people outside.


    "Looks like we¡¯re here," Wu Hei said as he pulled out a fan from his spatial storage ring.


    "Just act normally as you do, the people here are... rather unrestrained, anyway." Wu Hei said onest time before stepping out of the carriage.


    Lin Mu looked outside and saw that the entire look of the Alluring wisteria pavilion had been changed. The streets were decorated with rednterns and banners as well, while beautiful women strolled around presenting themselves.


    He looked to the other side of the street and saw that the entrances had actually been restricted. The Alluring Wisteria Pavilion had in fact reserved the entire district for this event.


    "Wee Lord Hei!" A person greeted at the entrance.


    Wu Hei simply gave a slight nod before gesturing to Lin Mu. They continued onward and received the seductive looks of a lot of women that were standing around. Lin Mu was feeling a bit strange, as this was the first time he had been to a big event like this.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I¡¯ll just take this as practice for the marriageter on..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


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    But then he suddenly felt something sofa squishing his arm.

 Chapter 352 - Officially Meeting Lord Cai

    <h4>Chapter 352 - Officially Meeting Lord Cai </h4>


    "Ah~ Young Lord Mu Lin! You finally came back~" A woman spoke.


    Lin Mu instantly knew who it was just from the feeling on his arm and turning around to look at the source confirmed it.


    A bright smile greeted Lin Mu as the woman named Yue looked into his eyes.


    "Young lord looks even more handsome today... Ah~ I¡¯ll melt~" Yue flirted as she squished his arm even more.


    Lin Mu looked at her closely and saw that she was wearing a different type of robe today. It was multyered and had fairy bands hanging from it. The robe was quite revealing like the previous one but was of a much better quality from what he could perceive.


    He had to admit that it did look good on her.


    "Thank you..." Lin Mu replied simply.


    "Ahem," Wu Hei interrupted.


    Lin Mu gave him a thanking look for that and waited for him to speak.


    "I believe we are gettingte. We should pay our greetings to Lord Cai." Wu Hei said, saving Lin Mu from the awkwardness.


    "Oh, I¡¯m sorry." Yue apologized. "Pleasee, I¡¯ll guide you to the owner. They are sitting in the private section for now and are waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. After half of them arrive, we will move onto the central area for the banquet." She exined.


    "Alright, that¡¯s fine." Wu Hei replied.


    Lin Mu nodded in approval as well, and she left his arm. They were then guided into a different part of the Alluring Wisteria pavilion. This was opposite to the one that Lin Mu had been to and was rather small. Yue nodded to the pair of guards that were standing at the entrance and they cupped their hands in salute.


    "Owner some honored guests are here to meet you," Yue said after knocking on the door of the room.


    <i>~Slide~</i>


    The door was opened by a servant woman and an old man walked out of it.


    "What a pleasant surprise, Lord Hei! I never expected that you would visit when I sent you the invitation." Lord Cai joked.


    "Lord Cai was correct, I must admit..." Wu Hei countered, "but my friend here was invited as well, so how could I not present him." He added.


    "Ahaha, you jest." The old mangged before taking a look at Lin Mu. "And may I have the honor of knowing your name, sir?"


    "This is Young Lord Mu Lin that I informed you about before owner," Yue spoke with excitement.


    Lord Cai¡¯s eyes lit up at this moment as he scanned Lin Mu from top to bottom. Looking at his clothes he could tell that he was an aristocrat, but his temperament showed something else. In his life, he had met a lot of people from all walks of life and could gauge them rather easily.


    Just from the faint aura that Mu Lin exuded, he could tell that he was no simple man. He had heard the entire report from Yue and the madam before, thus knew that Mu Lin was quite strong; at least stronger than himself.


    He was now even more interested, as he knew who Lord Hei was. Perhaps he was among the few people in the city that actually knew Lord Hei was none other than the youngest son of the city mayor Wu Xun. Just from this, he increased the importance attached to Mu Lin.


    ¡¯He must be someone influential if Wu Hei was willing to present him.¡¯ Lord Cai thought.


    "So it is, Lord Mu Lin. I am happy that you are willing to give us another chance. I believe your experience this time will be better." Lord Cai spoke.


    "I am happy to meet with you too, Lord Cai. Hopefully, we¡¯ll have some good conversations." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh, I almost forgot. The few imbeciles that offended Lord Mu Lin have been punished well. But if the Lord wants, he can do whatever he wants with him as he pleases." Lord Cai stated with a toothy grin.


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    "No, it is fine. I do not wish to be bothered." Lin Mu said as he lightly shook his head.


    "Let¡¯s talk inside then. We have some other guests that I would like to meet you too." Lord Cai gestured for them to enter.


    Lin Mu and Wu Hei walked in while Yue followed behind. The room was ratherrge, muchrger than the other rooms in the eastern and western wings that Lin Mu had seen. He did a quick sweep with his spirit sense and got ayout of the entire building.


    There were multiple smaller rooms attached to this one, and Lin Mu could also feel the Formations that were set up. Finally, he saw the other people that were in the room currently. They were none other than the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect. Including the three he saw before, there were four more, all of them men.


    "Seniors! Please meet Lord Wu Hei and Lord Mu Lin!" Lord Cai introduced.


    Yue¡¯s ears perked up after hearing the full name of Lord Hei.


    ¡¯Wu Hei? The youngest son of the mayor, who¡¯s elusive. Then this means... young lord Mu Lin is even more special than I thought. No wonder Lord Cai had that look in his eyes.¡¯ Yue thought to herself as she stole a nce from Lin Mu.


    The people in the room looked at them, but not all of them spoke, some merely nodding their heads gently.


    "Pleased to meet you, I am Fa Lao," The man who Lin Mu only knew as senior brother greeted.


    The others greeted and introduced themselves as well, but Lin Mu¡¯s mind was on the senior brother.


    ¡¯Fa Lao? Is he rted to the junior elder Fa Shiu, perhaps?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "Ahaha! Lord Wu Hei is as impressive as was described to us by Lord Teng. The peak master was also wondering when he would have the chance to meet you seeing the two of you are going to be rted soon." Quan Hong stated.

 Chapter 353 - Investment

    <h4>Chapter 353 - Investment </h4>


    Lin Mu did not say anything and simply listened on. He didn¡¯t want to interfere and wanted to see how Wu Hei would react to this. He looked at Wu Hei from the corner of his eyes and saw that there was no change in his expression.


    But when he felt his aura, he could sense the disturbance. Lin Mu also got a peek into his cultivation base for the first time properly. But it didn¡¯t look like others felt it, only Lin Mu¡¯s sensitive spirit sense did.


    ¡¯Didn¡¯t expect that he would be in the core condensation realm as well... but what stage is he in?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    While he could perceive the fluctuations of a core condensation realm cultivator from him, he couldn¡¯t tell the exact stage as they were not strong enough. But if he estimated it from Hei Yingjie¡¯s cultivation as a mid stage core condensation realm expert, Wu Hei must be at least equal or higher to him.


    "Ha ha! I¡¯ve been intending to do the same, but I¡¯ve been busy with some research. But do not worry, I¡¯m free now and we can meet soon. Just send a message to my mansion whenever the peak master is free, I¡¯ll be sure to visit." Wu Hei said with a smile.


    "He¡¯s good... but still needs more practice in hiding his true intentions. Though it may be enough for these people." Xukong analyzed.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t say anything and kept on observing.


    "Of course, of course! I will inform the peak master." Quan Hong replied with a smile as well.


    "Please gentlemen, let¡¯s sit," Lord Cai said.


    Everyone sat down and the servants started serving them all wine.


    "I propose a toast! To all the men here and to our glorious future rtionship!" Lord Cai raised his cup.


    "To a glorious future rtionship!" Everyone joined in, but Lin Mu was a bit slow in responding.


    He was not used to things like this and was not expecting it. Seeing as how everyone picked up the cups, he looked at the one that was kept in front of him.


    "Go ahead, pick it up, you have to join in certain etiquettes," Xukong said.


    Lin Mu picked up the cup and brought it to his lips before swallowing the wine in one go. At first, he didn¡¯t feel anything. But a secondter the strong burning taste of the wine spread in his mouth. The wine flowed to his stomach and a warmth filled it.


    He would have gagged if it were not for him forcibly holding his expression.


    ¡¯Ugh! That¡¯s gonna take a while to get used to...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Everyone ced their cups down and the servant poured them all another serving. Lin Mu looked at it with a slight aversion.


    "Ah, Brother Mu Lin here prefers tea," Wu Hei interrupted.


    "Oh! Is that so? Please get some of our finest tea for lord Mu Lin." Lord Cai ordered.


    A minuteter a fresh pot of fragrant tea was brought and poured for Lin Mu. He nodded his head to the servant girl who giggled in response.


    <i>~Sip~</i>


    "Good tea..." Lin Mu muttered.


    Seeing that Lin Mu was satisfied, Lord Cai nodded his head in approval.


    "Now then, I believe you already know the cooperation between my Establishment and the peak master. And since lord Wu Hei is also here, I wonder if you would be interested in this venture too?" Lord Cai finally asked what he really wanted to.


    A slight smirk appeared on Wu Hei¡¯s face as he had expected this to happen.


    N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive ? material.


    "Why not, I think it could be beneficial to us all? Besides, Lord Mu Lin and I have a few things of our own to discuss with you." Wu Hei stated.


    A big toothy smile appeared on the old man¡¯s face after hearing his reply. He had truly not expected him to say this straightway and had a lot of ns ready in his mind to convince him. Lord Cai had even thought of a few ways to threaten Wu Hei but it seems like his preparations were wasted.


    ¡¯Hah! What waste? This is simply good luck. If I was going to waste my effort like this every time, I would do it without regret.¡¯ Lord Cai said in his mind.


    "Hahaha! Good, good, Lord Wu Hei has a good eye for business. I promise you it will be one of the best decisions you make." Lord Cai said.


    "I¡¯m fine with it... but what of the peak master?" Wu Hei questioned, taking a sip of the wine.


    "We are fine with it... actually we would be happy seeing another good party investing together. Besides the peak master wouldn¡¯t mind it, you are gonna be family after all." Fa Lao replied.


    "Well then, this all works out." Lord Cai affirmed with a p and then looked at Lin Mu.


    "Lord Wu Hei said that you and Lord Mu Lin have something to discuss with me, may I know what it is?" Lord Cai questioned.


    Lin Mu calmly turned to see how Wu Hei would make this work.


    "Well, you see brother Mu Lin here has a bit of a trouble. A certain group of people have offended him, and thest he heard of their traces was here in this region." Wu Hei answered.


    Lord Cai raised his brows while the disciples continued to listen with interest.


    "And who would be so unfortunate so as to offend Lord Mu Lin?" Lord Cai asked.


    While he did not know the background of Lin Mu, he knew that he must not be someone simple if Wu Hei was friends with him. And with Lin Mu¡¯s strength,, he wondered even more about his background. But this also meant that the people who offended him must not be weak either.


    "I don¡¯t know if Lord Cai has heard of the ¡¯Gu Legion¡¯." Wu Hei revealed.


    Upon hearing the two words, the faces of everyone turned serious while the servants tensed up due to the change in the room.


    "What..." Yue muttered under her breath.

 Chapter 354 - Im From Fenlong Kingdom Too...

    <h4>Chapter 354 - I''m From Fenlong Kingdom Too... </h4>


    Lord Cai and the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect looked on with furrowed brows.


    "How did this... Gu legion offend Lord Mu Lin?" Lord Cai asked after thinking carefully.


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    Wu Hei was about to say something when Lin Mu secretly tapped him on his arm. Knowing he wanted to do this himself, he stopped himself.


    "The Gu Legion did not actually offend me, but rather my master." Lin Mu revealed.


    Wu Hei Raised his brows in surprise but then calmed down and understood Lin Mu¡¯s idea.


    "My master is not someone who likes to be disturbed and as such directed me to deal with it." Lin Mu stated.


    He didn¡¯t say why or when but knew that Lord Cai would not question this. They knew of the respect that was between a master and Disciple, the Tri cauldron peony sect disciples knew it even more, thus no one questioned Lin Muing after the Gu Legion.


    "I see..." Lord Cai muttered and thought for a bit.


    "May I know where Lord Mu Lin is from?" Quan Hong asked with a bit of apprehension.


    Quan hong knew of nearly all ns and sects in the Shuang Qian kingdom and he didn¡¯t think that there was any n surnamed Mu. From Lin Mu¡¯s attire and his friendship with Lord Wu Hei, he knew that he was an aristocrat but not from where.


    If he was from a rival sect or a n that they didn¡¯t have a good rtionship with, it would make thingsplex.


    "Ie from the Mu n of Fenlong kingdom." Lin Mu answered.


    "Fenlong Kingdom?" Tie Dan said unfamiliar with the name.


    A simr response was presented by most of the people except for Yue.


    "I... I¡¯m afraid I do not know of any kingdom such as this," Lord Cai said.


    A small smile appeared on Wu Hei¡¯s face as this was exactly what he wanted to happen. Lin Mu also kept a calm expression and did not panic.


    "Umm... owner Cai may I speak something?" Yue said in a meek voice.


    Lord Cai looked up at her and then at the others. Seeing that no one was bothered by the interruption he nodded his head.


    "Go ahead," he stated.


    "I know of the Fenlong kingdom, owner Cai." Yue stated.


    Now it was the turn for Wu Hei and Lin Mu to be surprised. The Fenlong kingdom was truly low key and barely anyone knew them. In fact, some of the powers and kingdoms didn¡¯t even consider them to be a true kingdom and merely thought of them as a vassal that was ignored by the emperor.


    The Fenlong kingdom didn¡¯t really have many resources either thus it was easily ignored by the Empire. The only contact they had with them was of the yearly tributes that were sent by them, which wasn¡¯t much either.


    "You know of it? Then please say more, I¡¯d like to hear what the others know of my kingdom." Lin Mu suddenly said with a slight smile.


    "Seems like Lord Mu Lin and I have more inmon than we thought... I¡¯m from the Fenlong kingdom too~" Yue said with a blush.


    Lin Mu¡¯s smile turned t and Wu Hei almost dropped the cup in his hands.


    "You are?" Lord Cai asked while tilting his head.


    "Yes, owner. I came to the Shuang Qian kingdom ten years ago along with a trade caravan. Before that, I used to live in Fenlong kingdom." Yue answered.


    Lin Mu and Wu Hei now truly did not know what to say. If it was found out that Lin Mu was not from the Mu n, things could be troublesome. Wu Hei¡¯s expression tensed up for a bit and he wondered if he should interrupt here.


    "I¡¯ve even had the fortune of visiting the Mu n once, Lord Mu Lin," Yue stated.


    Now Wu Hei and Lin Mu truly were shocked. Lin Mu¡¯s finger slightly rubbed the ring on his hand and his spirit sense spread out. He was ready to act if anything wrong was said.


    "If I killed them all it shouldn¡¯t really bother, Wu Hei right?" Lin Mu asked in his mind as some red veins appeared in his eyes.


    "Why are you asking me, ask him. But I¡¯m pretty sure if you kill them in the middle of a big event like this, it would be quite hard to hide it." Xukong advised.


    For a moment there, everyone in the room felt chills going down their spine but didn¡¯t know why. Lord Cai even flinched slightly and looked around, but couldn¡¯t find anything troublesome.


    ¡¯Am I still jumpy from the attack?¡¯ the old man questioned himself.


    "Oh? You did? That¡¯s unexpected..." Lin Mu said, continuing the conversation.


    "Yes, the Mu n bought some goods from the caravan once. But I only got to see it from the outside and didn¡¯t really meet anyone from there except for the steward and servants." Yue replied.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    A breath of relief was taken by both Lin Mu and Wu Hei.


    "Ha ha!" Wu Hei suddenlyughed. "Even if you had met brother Mu Lin back then, I doubt you would have recognized him now." Wu Hei added.


    "Oh? Why so? I¡¯m good at remembering people." Yue asked in a teasing tone.


    "Because I would have been six years old." Lin Mu answered that.


    "Huh? What...?" Yue had a nk expression after hearing that.


    Lord Cai and the disciples also looked at Lin Mu like they had seen something shocking.


    "Senior he can¡¯t really be... that young can he?" Tie Dan whispered.


    Fa Lao secretly sensed the fluctuationing from Lin Mu and had a doubtful expression on his face too.


    "He¡¯s at the peak stage of the qi refining realm..." Fa Lao muttered.


    His fellow disciples and the old man were all cultivators and thus were able to clearly hear this.


    "A peak stage qi refining realm cultivator... that too at the age of sixteen..." Lord Cai repeated.


    Now the looks on everyone¡¯s faces had changed after hearing the confirmation.

 Chapter 355 - BROTHER!

    <h4>Chapter 355 - BROTHER! </h4>


    There were not many people that could reach the peak stage of the qi refining realm, but the age of sixteen and this kind of talent was usually only found in sects. There were the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect sitting here in this room, and even they couldn¡¯t help butpare themselves with Lin Mu.


    Among them, the highest cultivation was that of the senior brother Fa Lao and Quan Hong. They were first and second in the seniority among the disciples of Peak master Ye Jing. Thought Fa Shiu was once the Senior most disciple, but he had been promoted to the position of a junior elder after he reached the core condensation realm.


    In the entirety of the Tri cauldron peony sect, there was no one that couldpare with Lin Mu currently. The record that they had was reaching the peak stage of the qi refining realm at the age of twenty. This record was held by the current patriarch of the Tri cauldron peony sect and hasn¡¯t been broken for the past forty years.


    Lin Mu reaching the Peak stage of the qi refining realm at the age of sixteen meant that he was easilyparable to the disciples of the top sects. They even wondered if there was a chance that he would reach the core condensation realm before the age of twenty.


    If he really did, then he would take over the position of the fastest person to reach the core condensation realm which was held by none other than Crown Prince of the Great Zhou Empire. While the sects also had a lot of disciples that achieved this, they could not bepared to mortal kingdoms. Their baseline was much lower.


    Still, it was an inevitable fact that reaching it at such a young age meant that there would be many sects willing to recruit Lin Mu as a disciple. In fact, the first thought they had was to none other than to report to the Peak master about this.


    Even if Lin Mu currently had a master, all they had to do was to get them both. The sect would definitely be willing to get a cultivator that could teach a person like Lin Mu and would not be stingy with benefits.


    "Lord Mu Lin is impressive! I never would have thought that I would get to meet such a talented person such as you today." Lord Cai said in a humble tone.


    He now knew that he had to develop a good rtionship with Lin Mu no matter what. The old man had a hunch that this boy in front of him would one day be a big power, perhaps. If he was able to grasp this opportunity today, his future may be bright and he may even have the chance to reach the core condensation realm.


    Lord Cai was around sixty years old by now and had already expended half of his lifespan. He knew that he didn¡¯t have that great of a talent, and his only chance at progress would be a better cultivation technique or alchemical pills.


    But both of the things were not something he could obtain easily. Another thing he wondered about was Lin Mu¡¯s master, who could be so good so as to raise a disciple such as him. Not to mention he now wondered about this Mu n. He wondered if he should pay attention to them now and also to the Fenlong kingdom.


    "You tter me, Lord Cai. I dare not speak of talent here." Lin Mu humbly replied.


    The disciples also praised him but did not do it as overtly as Lord Cai. They knew that they had to make a good impression but not repulse him. Besides, they still had to get the confirmation from the Peak master first.


    "Well then, Lord Cai, do you know about this Gu Legion?" Wu Hei interrupted bringing the conversation back on track.


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    <i>~Cough~</i>


    "Ah yes, I unfortunately do Lord Wu Hei. I had a few run-ins with them and they threatened me to hand half of my Establishment to them." Lord Cai replied.


    "Indeed, this is one of the reasons why we are cooperating with each other now." Senior brother Fa Lao revalued.


    "Actually, all the sects in the kingdom have been alerted about the Gu legion and have been asked to capture or kill them if they are found." Quan Hong spoke.


    "I see, then I guess our cooperation should only be of benefit." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes, yes. This is in line with both of our goals." Lord Cai agreed with a toothy smile.


    <i>~Knock~Knock~</i>


    Someone knocked on the door and the room suddenly went silent.


    "Owner Cai, nearly all of the guests have arrived now." A person spoke from outside the room.


    <i>~p~</i>


    "Seems like we will have to discuss the rest of the matterster, let us all go and enjoy the banquet for now." Lord Cai said before standing up and walking towards Yue. "Take care of Lord Mu Lin and if any one displeases him you know what to do. He is now far too important for us to treat him the same." He whispered in her ear.


    "Yes Owner," Yue replied.


    Everyone stood up one by one and followed behind Lord Cai while Yue stayed behind to talk something with the servants. They appeared in the garden and saw the tens of people who were all mingling. Lin Mu did a quick scan of the area and saw that the people here in the garden were only half.


    The other half were already in the rooms of the Alluring Wisteria pavilion, having their fun with the courtesans. He thought of something and walked close to Wu Hei.


    "Wasn¡¯t your brother supposedly spending his time here at the Alluring Wisteria Pavilion?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Yes, he was. But mother called him back after she felt someone was targeting her a day ago. He is back at the mayor¡¯s manor now with mother. They are checking the arrangements for the ceremonies, thest I heard of them." Wu Hei answered.


    But then suddenly a loud shout was heard.


    "BROTHER!"

 Chapter 356 - The Two Wu Brothers

    <h4>Chapter 356 - The Two Wu Brothers </h4>


    Wu Hei and Lin Mu both heard a rambunctious voice shouting from behind them. Lin Mu was wondered who would be so unrestrained to shout like this here, while Wu Hei instead felt a headache approaching him.


    "Who shouted like that?" Lin Mu asked.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Who else could it be other than my elder brother..." Wu Hei said as he rubbed his forehead and turned around.


    "Ahaha! I knew I recognized that back. I¡¯ll find you anywhere little brother!" Wu Teng said as he approached them with a pot of wine in his hand. There were even two courtesans that were apanying him and were clutching his arms.


    <i>~Swig~</i>


    <i>~Gulp~gulp~gulp~</i>


    <i>~Burp~</i>


    He finished the entire pot of wine in one go and wiped his face after a loud burp. Now he had be the center of attention and everyone was wondering who could be making so much disturbance here. While this was a rather unrestrained banquet considering it was held at the Alluring Wisteria pavilion, there was still a level of decorum they followed.


    At the very least they would not act like this in the open and would go to a private room for that.


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    "Hehe~ Lord Teng is so dashing~" One of the courtesans that were apanying Wu Teng spoke.


    "Not only is he dashing, but he¡¯s also so strong~" The second courtesan said as she trailed a finger on his bulging biceps.


    "Aiya~" both the courtesans let a little scream as Wu Teng pinched their supple waists.


    "My two lilies are quite naughty, I see," Wu Teng said as looked at them with a hungry gaze.


    Lin Mu was now feeling as if he was seeing the most typical aristocrat that he had heard in all of the stories of the nobility. Usually, people like him were weak that liked to use their positions and n to suppress others while taking advantage of them.


    "What disrespect, this person has no sense of decorum..." Someonemented.


    "Indeed, I wonder if Lord Cai will throw him out?" Someone else spoke.


    "WHO SAID THAT?!" Wu Teng shouted, looking around.


    The people flinched upon hearing the sudden shout.


    "I asked who said that? Who dares taunt me? Come out!" Wu Teng yelled as the waves of spirit qi emanated from his body.


    Everyone that was a cultivator could feel the pressureing from him, and their faces turned pale.


    Lin Mu took a closer look at the agitated man and realized that he was at the mid stage of the core condensation realm. Wu Teng was over six feet tall and had bulging muscles all over his body. He was clean shaven and had short hair as they did in the army.


    Yet this only entuated his demeanor and made him look unrestrained and dominating.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help butpare Wu Teng with Wu Hei. The two brothers seemed to be pr opposites. Wu Teng was unrestrained and wild, while Wu Hei was calm and schrly. Still, both of them were strong being at the core condensation realm. This was not something that could be denied.


    "Make way! Make way! Owner Cai ising though!" A couple of servants announced.


    Lord Cai had just gone to meet a few guests when suddenly he heard the ruckus. Sighing to himself, he just hoped it was not someone too unreasonable. But when he heard the shout, he instantly recognized the person. There was only one person who would dare to do something like this in the presence of the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    But when he felt the spirit qi waves, he knew that he had to hurry or the matter may be problematic.


    "This lieutenant is so unbing of his title. Where is his military discipline? He acts like somemon vige gangster..." Lord Cai muttered under his breath.


    Soon the crowd of people separated and the old man saw Wu Teng.


    "Lord Wu Teng! Please be calm, I¡¯m here now. Let us talk separately," Lord Cai said.


    "Humph!" Wu Teng harrumphed unwillingly but still decided to follow Lord Cai¡¯s words.


    "Brother, please keep some semnce of respect for your image, if not for yourself then for mother..." Wu Hei also spoke.


    <i>~haa~</i>


    "Alright... if you say so..." Wu Teng said and followed them to the corner.


    A table had been set up under a gazebo and they could see the entirety of the garden from it. Lin Mu stayed silent and simply followed behind them without interfering. He wanted to see how this would progress and was now quite interested in this Lieutenant.


    "I didn¡¯t expect that Lord Teng would also being to the banquet, seeing how you¡¯ve been busy with the predations." Lord Cai said, starting the conversation to take Wu Teng¡¯s mind of the previous thing.


    "Ah yes, of course... but how can I miss the chance to attend a banquet like this! Ahaha!" Wu Tengughed while pping the table which shook under his strength.


    Wu Hei gave a look to his brother, which made him stop.


    "Come one little brother you are no fun..." Wu Tengined.


    "This is no time for fun brother, you should be back home not here at this... ¡¯establishment¡¯. What will sister-inw think of this?" Wu Hei scolded lightly.


    "Oh, she¡¯ll be fine~" Wu Teng replied while waving his hand.


    Wu Hei looked at the two courtesans that were still clinging to his brother and stared at them. The two women froze up and didn¡¯t know what to do.


    "Go! Bring us some refreshments!" Lord Cai ordered, noticing Wu Hei¡¯s intentions.


    <i>~sigh~</i>


    "When will you learn brother..." Wu Hei muttered while rubbing his forehead.


    <i>~Chuckle~</i>


    Lin Mu lightly chuckled, seeing the banter between the two brothers. While on the surface it seemed like they did not like each other, the reality was rather opposite. Lin Mu could tell this now and felt likeughing a bit.


    "Oh? And who¡¯s this? Don¡¯t tell me... did little brother finally make a friend?" Wu Teng spoke upon seeing Lin Mu.

 Chapter 357 - Opposites

    <h4>Chapter 357 - Opposites </h4>


    Wu Teng had seen the boy apanying his brother right from the very start but did not know who he was. At first, he had guessed that he was just one of the people that were trying to get close to the mayor through his little brother, but Wu Teng knew that his younger brother would not tolerate people like that near him.


    Seeing Lin Mu freely apanying Wu Hei and seeing that he did not mind his presence and was actually amodating of him made Wu Teng suspicious. But now that they had sat down on this private table and Lin Mu was still here, confirmed it for him.


    Ever since he had been a child, Wu Teng had seen his younger brother staying alone. His solepanions were none other than books and more books. The very few people that he tolerated were the family and the servants. He would never y with the other children, and even he had to coerce him a lot to make him y.


    Years passed by like that, and his younger brother only became more and more distant. Then, back when he was fourteen, he decided to go on a schr¡¯s journey. His father Wu Xun was opposed to this and wanted Wu Hei to stay at home and cultivate properly.


    Compared to him, he knew that his brother¡¯s talent in cultivation was quite low, and even after twenty years of cultivating he had barely reached the peak stage of the qi refining realm. While he himself had reached the mid stage of the core condensation realm, just one stage below his father, the mayor.


    Still, under the incessant petering of his little brother, their mother eventually caved and pleaded Wu Xun to let him go. And thus Wu Hei went away on his schr¡¯s journey throughout the empire. He spent ten years like this and only returned six years ago.


    But after his return, he had only be more cold. Their mother had also be dissatisfied with their father during this time, and their rtionship was cold. While his brother stayed in contact with him throughout the years he was gone, Wu Teng still felt as if he had greatly changed and was hiding something.


    No matter how much he tried he couldn¡¯t get him to open up, and at this point, he had just given up and had epted that Wu Hei was simply just like this. This was his natural personality and there was nothing he could do to change it.


    Even now Wu Teng had fully expected that his little brother would deny his teasing question, but he didn¡¯t know that today was going to be surprising to him.


    "Yes, elder brother. Brother Mu Lin is a friend of mine." Wu Hei epted.


    Wu Teng was dumb stuck and was frozen for a bit. Then finally a big grin appeared on his face.


    "AH HAHAHA! Today is a truly great day! My brother brought a friend, an actual friend I say!" Wu Tengughed out loud.


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    "No need to be so loud, brother. You are needlessly disturbing others." Wu Hei chided again.


    "Alright, alright... But now I wanna know who this is," Wu Teng said.


    "Fine, then. Elder brother, meet Lord Mu Lin from the Mu n of Fenlong Kingdom." Wu Hei introduced.


    "Greetings Lieutenant Wu Teng," Lin Mu greeted as well.


    "What¡¯s that I hear? Lieutenant? No, you shall not use words such as these. A friend of my little brother is a friend of mine. You can simply call me brother Teng." Wu Teng replied with a smile.


    "Well... he¡¯s certainly easy going..." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Indeed Senior. Comparing the two brothers... they¡¯re simply the opposites. But this man is also quite strange... he has no decorum of a military personnel or even an aristocrat." Lin Mu replied.


    "There can be certain exceptions to them, of course. This man Wu Teng is probably one of them." Xukong said while shaking his head.


    "Alright then, I¡¯ll call you Brother Teng too." Lin Mu replied to Wu Teng.


    "ha ha!"


    <i>~p~</i>


    Wu Teng gave Lin Mu a p on the back in a celebratory manner. Lord Cai¡¯s eyes went wide and so did Wu Hei¡¯s. Even Wu Teng only realized a secondter what he had just done. He was at the mid stage of the core condensation realm and had just given the boy in front of him a p on the back with nearly his full force.


    He was suddenly worried that he may have injured him. But then when he looked at him, he saw him to bepletely fine and sitting without any difort. In fact, now that a couple of seconds had passed, Wu Teng could feel his palm getting slightly numb, as if he had identally hit a hard wall.


    ¡¯What is this boy... Does he practice some kind of qi skills that specialize in defense?¡¯ Wu Teng wondered to himself.


    Seeing that suddenly everyone was looking at him, Lin Mu felt awkward.


    "Umm... is there something on my face?" He asked.


    "Oh, no, no! Everything is fine, Lord Mu Lin." Lord Cai hurriedly spoke.


    "Yeah, I kinda was a bit disrespectful there... shouldn¡¯t have done that." Wu Teng apologized too.


    "Oh, that¡¯s fine. No harm done," Lin Mu replied.


    Just as they finished this conversation, a stream of courtesans and servants arrived with trays in their hands. They were carrying various dishes and wine with them. Just from the aroma that they were emitting, Lin Mu could feel it.


    "Hmm... spirit beast meat? <i>~Sniff~Sniff~</i> and what¡¯s this... herbs of some kind?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Oh, seems like lord Mu Lin is quite a gourmet. Yes, these are some of our finest dishes that include spirit beast meat and of course some spirit herbs as well. While the herbs are low grade spirit herbs, they can still be eaten directly unlike the others that needed to refined into alchemical pills." Lord Cai exined.


    Seeing that he now had some truly good food to eat, Lin Mu¡¯s eyes brightened while Wu Hei suddenly had a bad feeling in his guts.

 Chapter 358 - An Appetite To Shock The Masses

    <h4>Chapter 358 - An Appetite To Shock The Masses </h4>


    The three men, Wu Hei, Wu Teng, and Lord Cai were currently sitting with their eyes wide open, staring at the ridiculous thing that was happening in front of them.


    The servants and Courtesans had grown tired of going back and forth bring trays upon trays of food. But it was not because everyone was enjoying it a lot. But rather because of the monstrous appetite of the person sitting there.


    At first, everything had been normal, and they had finished their first round of food. Lord Cai noticed that Lin Mu had enjoyed it a lot and asked him if he wanted more. Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up upon hearing that, and he straightway answered yes.


    More food was brought for him and he finished it all in five minutes. This was when they noticed the anomaly that was Lin Mu. After finishing it all, he looked up at Lord Cai and asked if he could have even more. Lord Cai didn¡¯t know what to say, except that he could have as much as he wanted.


    After all, this was a banquet organized by him. What face would he have left, if he was not even able to satisfy the appetite of one guest properly? It wasn¡¯t really a problem for the Alluring wisteria pavilion to prepare such kind of food for a few hundred people, thus he did not mind at all.


    Even Wu Teng was someone who ate a lot of food, but he was shocked by this too. He even praised Lin Mu¡¯s appetite and told him he ate like a true warrior.


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    Dishes upon dishes were brought; there were entire roasted pigs, fried chicken, steamed fish, stewed vegetables and various fruit juices. Yet Lin Mu was able to fit them down in his stomach with ease. The people there could do nothing but simply watch him eat.


    It was now that a ratherrge cow beast was brought. The portions had been cut intorge steaks that were stacked on top of each other. Each b had bones attached to them, which were left there to enhance the vor of the meat.


    Lin Mu picked some of these steaks and started eating them. But then Lord Cai noticed something. Seeing that Lin Mu was about to bite into a bone, he suddenly spoke.


    "Lord Mu Lin, watch out! That¡¯s a..." but before he could finish his sentence, a sound was heard.


    <i>~CRUNCH~</i>


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    "Hmm? You said something?" Lin Mu asked, oblivious to his actions.


    "Uhh... no, nothing. Please continue." Lord Cai spoke with difficulty.


    Seeing that Lin Mu was totally fine, Lord Cai didn¡¯t know what to say. He had heard of people chewing on bones before for vor, but they would spit them out. Lin Mu was was snapping them in his mouth as if they were crispy fried dough sticks.


    "Sister is he... eating a bone?" A courtesan whispered to another, feeling amazed at this scene.


    "Looks like it... but I don¡¯t know how it¡¯s possible..." The other courtesan muttered in response.


    Another ten minutes passed and by now Lin Mu had eaten enough food that was enough to feed about thirty people easily. Even Wu Hei was left speechless at this and didn¡¯t know what to think of it. This simply did not make sense to him.


    He scanned Lin Mu from top to bottom and found him to bepletely normal. If someone else had eaten even ten percent of the amount of food that Lin Mu had eaten, their belly would have definitely been bulging out. But looking at Lin Mu, no such thing could be seen.


    It was as if his stomach was an endless void that only kept on sucking more and more of the food in it.


    "Lin Mu, stop! This is enough! At this point, everyone will suspicious of you!" Xukong shouted in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    Lin Mu snapped out of his mechanical actions and his focus returned to him. While he was eating he had entered a strange kind of state and was fully focused on absorbing the spirit qi and vital energy that was slowly being released from the food in his stomach.


    Because of this, he barely paid any attention to his surroundings. Lin Mu realized this and was a bit scared.


    "This was strange... what exactly happened to me?" Lin Mu questioned Xukong.


    "I don¡¯t know either. But from the looks of it, seems like we found another side effect of the nameless technique of the lost immortal. You lose sense of your surroundings when you have arge amount of food with you." Xukong exined.


    "I understand senior. I¡¯ll take a note of it and think of a solution to it." Lin Mu replied.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Seeing that Lin Mu had finally stopped eating, everyone took a breath of relief. They didn¡¯t know why, but the more they saw him eat the more ufortable they got. They even felt as if he would keep on eating till they ran out of all food and if he was still not satisfied then they would be the next ones to be eaten.


    The servants quickly took away the empty and dirtied dishes, and the table was reced. They were originally going to discuss a few things while having a meal, but Lin Mu¡¯s actions were something that they could not ignore and simply stared at him eat.


    "Now that our meal is done, I believe we can have a nice conversation..." Lord Cai spoke, trying to dissipate the awkward silence.


    "Ah yes, of course. Pardon my manners." Lin Mu said, seeing that Lord Cai was taking the initiative. He looked at Wu Teng and asked, "brother Teng, how are the marriage preparationsing along? I¡¯ve been waiting for it too and wanted to see all the ceremonies that have been nned."


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Oh, yeah... the marriage." Wu Teng said with a sigh, almost as if he was unwilling to do this. "The preparations areing along fine and mother had decided that we will have the official ceremony in five days." He continued.

 Chapter 359 - Cheap Tricks?

    <h4>Chapter 359 - Cheap Tricks? </h4>


    Both Wu Hei and Lord Cai seemed shocked at this revtion and have not expected this. From the information that Wu Hei had told Lin Mu, he remembered that they had at least ten more days till the marriage ceremony. For some reason, they had switched back to an earlier date.


    "What Elder brother? How did this happen?" Wu Hei questioned.


    This matter was actually quite important to Wu Hei too, and he needed to make appropriate changes in the ns that he had made, if the ceremonies were going to be hurried up. Wu Teng sighed again before speaking.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Mother said that father deserves what has happened to him and even if he doesn¡¯t return, we will be having the wedding. It doesn¡¯t matter to her if he even gets punished by the king." Wu Teng stated.


    "I see..." Wu Hei muttered upon hearing this.


    ¡¯Looks like mother found out something as well... but what could it be? Perhaps she suspects father as well?¡¯ Wu Hei thought to himself.


    "I must congratte on the finalization of the date then, Lord Wu Teng." Lord Cai spoke.


    "Ah, yes. Thank you." Wu Teng replied before picking up another cup of wine and gulping it down.


    "Now that the date of the marriage ceremony has been confirmed, when will the tournaments be starting?" Lin Mu questioned curiously.


    <i>~Tap~</i>


    Wu Teng ced the cup down and thought for a bit before answering.


    "Mother said something about finishing up the smaller tournaments first and keeping the martial tournament for the veryst. So I guess they will start from tomorrow afternoon. Mother is sending out the invitations as we speak right now." Wu Teng answered.


    "Wait a minute, elder brother! Is that why you are here? Did you skip out on work?" Wu Hei questioned with a strong gaze.


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    "Ehehe~ Umm... yeah..." Wu Teng responded awkwardly, like a child that was caught doing mischief.


    Wu Hei rubbed his forehead in frustration and knew the problems this would causeter. If mother got pissed, it would fall upon his head to resolve whatever happened, which was not something that he wanted to do at all.


    Just as they were speaking about this, a Steward approached Lord Cai.


    "Lord Cai, there is something for you," The steward said.


    Lord Cai took the item from the steward, which was an ornate box. He opened the box and saw the scroll inside. As soon as he saw it, he knew what it was.


    "Looks like I got the invitation too," Lord Cai said as he opened the scroll and read it.


    Wu Hei suddenly felt themunication jade slip lightly buzz on his waist as well, and he held it in his hand before closing his eyes. About ten secondster, he opened his eyes and nodded his head.


    "Was that mother?" Wu Teng questioned.


    "Yeah, it was her. She told me about the updated dates of all the events and also told me toe to meet with her as soon as possible." Wu Hei answered.


    Wu Teng¡¯s eyes went wide as soon as he heard this and he almost japed up.


    "Little brother, you absolutely cannot tell her where I am right now. I don¡¯t want to hear another one of her lectures again..." Wu Teng stated.


    Wu Hei was about to protest, but then simply sighed.


    "Fine, but you need to return home quick too and you cannot spend the night here." Wu Hei said before looking at Lord Cai. "Elder brother shall not stay here for the night, ensure this." He ordered.


    <i>~Gulp~</i>


    Lord Cai could faintly feel the threatening auraing from Wu Hei and knew better than to disagree with him.


    "As you wish, Lord Hei," Lord Cai replied with cupped hands.


    "Hmm, wait does the Tri cauldron peony sect know of this? I mean, won¡¯t they have to get ready for it?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "They should know about it by now as well. Mother should have informed the peak master and Ye Zi Jin too. But you don¡¯t really have to think about them getting ready, they have always been ready." Wu Teng replied.


    "Oh... I see." Lin Mu said before nodding his head.


    Seeing that silence had descended again, Lord Cai remembered what they wanted to discuss before.


    "Oh yes, Lord Mu Lin, you wanted to know about the Gu Legion," Lord Cai said.


    Wu Teng¡¯s ears perked up upon hearing about this, and he turned to look at Lord Cai.


    "You know about the Gu Legion?" He questioned in a straight tone.


    "Yes, elder brother. Both Lord Cai and brother Mu Lin have been offended by the Gu Legion." Wu Hei was the one that answered the question this time.


    "You too? I had a conflict with them as well when I wasing to the City from the capital." Wu Teng replied.


    "What? How did I not know of this?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "Father didn¡¯t inform you? I already told him a while ago and I thought he must have told you as well, that¡¯s why I never talked about it." Wu Teng answered.


    "Dammit, father!" Wu Hei silently cursed under his breath.


    Wu Hei¡¯s men had been rather concentrated around a few areas of concern recently due to which his informationwork had been slowed down. Otherwise, there was no chance that he would have had not known that the Teng Battalion had a conflict with them.


    "What exactly happened in the conflict, tell me?" Wu Hei questioned again.


    "Well, nothing too much really. A few of their men sneaked into one of the towns we were resting in and I noticed them. They were killing one of the patrons of the inn that I was staying at, and I sensed them. Regardless, they were dead soon and couldn¡¯t even bear a couple of blows from me." Wu Teng answered.


    "But how did you find out they were from the Gu Legion?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "They told me themselves. Those bastards thought they could fool me with cheap tricks. Can you imagine, they called father master; hah, the audacity!"

 Chapter 360 - Wu Heis Story

    <h4>Chapter 360 - Wu Hei''s Story </h4>


    "Hahaha! Ridiculous... absolutely ridiculous!" Lord Cai eximed.


    Lord Cai couldn¡¯t help butugh at the words of Wu Teng. Even he couldn¡¯t understand how the people of Gu Legion who were all smart and threatening till now, would act dumbly like that. But Wu Hei had a different reaction, he was deep in thought.


    Still, the one who was the most shocked yet didn¡¯t have any expression on his face was Lin Mu.


    ¡¯So it really is Wu Xun who¡¯s the master of the Gu Legion and not someone else.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Hearing the words of Wu Teng pretty much confirmed it for Lin Mu as he understood that the men were trying to convince Wu Teng to spare them.


    "Seems like while the people of the Gu Legion know Wu Teng is Wu Xun¡¯s son, they don¡¯t know that he isn¡¯t aware of their existence." Xukong suddenly spoke.


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    "Hmm, seems like a misunderstanding... a misunderstanding that we can take advantage of. At least his confirms another thing for us... Wu Hei and Wu Teng are truly unaware of the actions of their father." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed, this makes it both easier andplex for us now. While we know that they are not involved with their father now, we can¡¯t say the same in the future. Perhaps, when they learn of it, they may choose to stand with their father than us." Xukong exined.


    "That is true. We can¡¯t reveal this to Wu Hei yet and still need more information." Lin Mu stated.


    Wu Teng looked at Lin Mu who was silent and wondered why he was acting like this for.


    "Brother Mu, how did the Gu Legion offend you?" Wu Teng asked.


    "They offended my master and I¡¯m looking for them in his stead." Lin Mu simply answered.


    "Aha! I see. Still, any enemy of my brother and his friends is my enemy too! I swear to find them for you if I get the chance!" Wu Teng dered mming his fist on his chest.


    "Thank you, brother Teng. That would be great." Lin Mu replied.


    "I¡¯ll also assist them in this matter, Lord Mu Lin. I believe they will eventually try to make contact with me. That is when we¡¯ll get the." Lord Cai stated.


    "So you¡¯ll inform us if anything happens?" Wu Hei asked again.


    "Yes I will, Lord Hei. I swear on my honor!" Lord Cai affirmed.


    Lin Mu and Wu Hei both nodded and felt like their task was made slightly easier.


    "Well then, Elder Brother, Lord Cai; I need to leave now. Mother does not like to be dyed." Wu Hei said.


    "That is fine, Lord Hei. Please take care and don¡¯t hesitate to contact me if you need help in any matter. I¡¯ll do my best." Lord Cai replied respectfully.


    "Yeah, little brother take care... and don¡¯t tell mother about me. I¡¯ll be back in a couple of hours after having a bit of fun." Wu Teng stated in response.


    Wu Hei then looked at Lin Mu and asked, "will you be leaving with me or staying here?"


    Lin Mu could sense a few gazes on him, particrly of one woman who was none other than Yue. He hesitated for a second before deciding.


    "I¡¯lle with you. Perhaps I¡¯ll visit the Alluring Wisteria Pavilionter." Lin Mu answered.


    His answer made Yue sigh in a helpless tone, but Lord Cai was the same. He already knew that he had achieved what he wanted, and it didn¡¯t really matter if Lin Mu wanted to stay here or not. He could care even less about what a courtesan wanted.


    "I¡¯ll see you out, my lords." Lord Cai offered.


    "No need. We¡¯ll leave on our own." Wu Hei said and Lin Mu nodded in acknowledgment.


    The two of them then left the boisterous banquet, much to the sadness of Yue who had a frown on her face. They left the building, and the carriage was soon brought to them. After entering the carriage, the two of them sat down on the opposite sides and Wu Hei suddenly spoke.


    "Brother Lin Mu, I may have a suspicion about the person behind the Gu Legion." Wu Hei said in a serious tone.


    Lin Mu tensed up and gestured for him to continue, "please speak."


    "I think... it may be my father, the mayor." Wu Hei revealed.


    Lin Mu showed no reaction to this and simply kept a calm face.


    "And what made you think this, Lord Hei?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Honestly, I had the suspicion for a long time now. About fifteen years ago I found some documents in my father¡¯s study which showed that he was involved in some dark businesses. I thought that he was just the same as all aristocrats and did some things in the shadows.


    I had this in my mind for a few years till I first had the encounter with the Gu Legion. I didn¡¯t know who they were, but knew they were bad. I was quite naive back then with ambitions of justice. Of course, like a naive kid, I went to fight with a few of their members when they were attacking a vige under the guise of a bandit group.


    I sustained injuries but thankfully had my servants who protected me. They died protecting me while the Gu Legion members retreated. While I was busy fighting with them, the other part of the bandits had raided and killed half of the vige.


    I swore to not be helpless like that and took an oath to be stronger. That was also where I started my group, which Iter named the Hei corps. Hei Wen was one of the vigers that were attacked back then.


    She was a mere teen back then and was severely injured. I rescued her and she vowed to follow me, bing part of the Hei corps. And just like this, I would recruit more and more people till it reached the level it is today." Wu Hei revealed.


    Lin Mu was silently listened to his story and could feel the pain in it.

 Chapter 361 - The Creation Of Hei Corps

    <h4>Chapter 361 - The Creation Of Hei Corps </h4>


    Lin Mu had not expected the start of Wu Hei would have been like this. It was evident that he had gone through a lot, and that was why he was at the position he was right now. But he was still a bit confused about one thing, Wu Hei¡¯s cultivation. The mayor and his elder brother seemed to think he had a low cultivation, but Lin Mu could clearly sense that he was at the Mid stage of the core condensation realm at the very minimum or likely even higher.


    "It is likely due to an auxiliary cultivation technique that he practices. It is able to hide his cultivation base and makes it seem like he has a lower cultivation base than it actually is." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu internally nodded his head before continuing to listen to the story that Wu Hei was saying.


    "I then had a few minor encounters with the Gu legion but there wasn¡¯t much I could do except let them escape. Eventually while on my journey I came across a vige at the border of the Shuang Qian kingdom. It was nighttime, and it seemed like everyone in the vige was asleep.


    This was strange, as even the guards who should always be alert were fast asleep. We checked them and discovered that they were not sleeping, but rather unconscious. No matter what we tried, we couldn¡¯t wake them up and knew that something must have happened.


    Our fear turned out to be true, as most of the people in the vige seemed to unconscious as well. We waited and observed until morning arrived. The people eventually woke up but seemed to have no memory of the night before.


    I questioned them and found out that a curse had been put on the vige. People would fall asleep into a deep sleep and through the night at least one person would go missing. This had been happening for the past month and nearly fifty five people had disappeared since then.


    Eventually, I was able to figure out that this was no curse, but rather someone was poisoning the vigers." Wu Hei said.


    When Lin Mu heard this part he instantly recognized this as this was the very thing that happened in the Northern town as well.


    "It was the memory confounding poison, wasn¡¯t it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, it was indeed. But we were still a bitte in finding it out as some of my men were affected by it too. Thankfully, I had people that were cultivators and were able to stop the Gu legion that night. But what I had not expected was that they would have cultivators too, and more numbers than I had.


    I lost half of my men in that conflict but was able to finish all of them off. Then, after mourning for a bit, I found out that this vige was not the only one that was affected. Three more viges were too, and all of them had people missing.


    The vigers learned of this and were angry. The ones that were willing joined me in my venture and became part of the Hei corps.


    Over the years more and more incidents happened, but not all were rted to the Gu Legion. I learned a lot of things and gained even more experience before reaching the stage I am in right now. Finally, I decided to return to the Wu Lim City and properly establish the Hei corps as a power.


    I expanded its ranks and made an informationwork across the empire. In the years that I had traveled, I learned one thing that was at the very apex: Knowledge. If you had knowledge, you could change the very fate itself." Wu Hei exined.


    Lin Mu was lost in thought after hearing the entire story and spent a minute on it. During this time, they had finally reached the district where the Mayor¡¯s manor was located.


    "My Lord, we¡¯re here," The carriage driver lightly spoke from behind the blinds.


    Lin Mu snapped out of his thoughts and looked out of the window, only to learn that they were at the manor of the mayor.


    "You want me toe with you?" Lin Mu asked with raised brows.


    "Yes. I was hesitant at first, but seeing that we are on the same page about the Mayor, I believe this would be best. Perhaps, brother Lin Mu would be able to see something here that I was unable to all these years." Wu Hei answered.


    Lin Mu then remembered the tunnels and nodded his head.


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    "Alright, but I also want your help with another thing." Lin Mu stated.


    "What do you need?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "I need ess to the Ancestral temple." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm... that is something even a bit difficult for me." Wu Hei replied with hesitation.


    "Why? I thought it would be easy with your authority?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    "The problem lies with that very authority. Not many people know this, but the ancestral temple is actually run by a different power and even the mayor has barely any control over it." Wu Hei answered.


    "What?! How¡¯s this possible? Who runs it then?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling extremely shocked.


    He had not known that there was another power here that he was unaware of. When he had talked with Jing Wei and Duan Ke they had talked about a few powers, but this was not one of them.


    ¡¯Perhaps it is not as important for them.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Well, it is run by an organization of priests who take care of all ancestral temples of the Shuang Qian kingdom. Their head is none other than the High Priest of the Royal court of the Shuang Qian Kingdom.


    Though they are not a threat and they only deal with the temple matters. As for the entry to the temple, while I¡¯m allowed inside andmoners are allowed on certain days, getting permission for another person from those stubborn priests is difficult.


    They would simply say that we are ¡¯Disturbing the rest of the ancestors¡¯ and push the request aside." Wu Hei exined .

 Chapter 362 - Visiting The Manor

    <h4>Chapter 362 - Visiting The Manor </h4>


    Having heard that it would be a problem getting ess to the Ancestral temple, Lin Mu started to think of other solutions. It was then that an idea appeared in his mind.


    "Wait, can you just make it so the guards move away for a bit or something like that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Move the guards?" Wu Hei repeated as he furrowed his brows. "Hmm, that should be possible. The guards stille under the city administration so it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Though what are you going to do?" Wu Hei asked after thinking for a few seconds.


    "As long as the number of guards is reduced and there is apse in security for a bit, I can sneak in." Lin Mu replied.


    Wu Hei was a bit surprised by this and wondered how Lin Mu would be doing this, but didn¡¯t question it. He knew people had secrets and better not to do that.


    "Alright, I can do it just tell me when you need it done." Wu Hei said with a nod.


    "Though you may need to be careful of the priests. Particrly the head priest of this temple, from the rumors I¡¯ve heard he¡¯s a Core condensation realm cultivator too. Though we don¡¯t know exactly what stage. He¡¯s also seldom seen and only appears during the yearly ancestral worship." Wu Hei warned.


    ¡¯Another core condensation realm cultivator, huh? They just keep popping up now...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Do you have a suspicion about the temple or something?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "I do actually... Do you perhaps know what¡¯s under the city? Or rather the entire region around the city all the way to the northern town?" Lin Mu replied in a serious tone.


    "Oh? Do you mean the caves?" Wu Hei questioned feeling surprised again.


    Not many people knew about the caves around the area and most didn¡¯t even care as they were mostly inessible. The only troubles they had with them was when they were building something big and a cave was under the foundation. They would then either need to move the building or fill up the cave first.


    "Yes, and not just that... but rather an entirework of tunnels all across the city." Lin Mu answered. "I believe the Gu Legion have been using it to hide their tracks all this time." He added.


    Wu Hei underwent the same revtion that Lin Mu had and everything started to make sense to him.


    "You understand it too now, don¡¯t you? But that¡¯s barely the tip of the iceberg..." Lin Mu said, seeing Wu Hei¡¯s reaction.


    "Wait! Not here! Let¡¯s get to the manor first, my room there is more secure." Wu Hei interrupted.


    Wu Hei could tell that this was getting more serious and knew better than to discuss it in a location like this. He knew there were special skills that could be used to spy on people and who knew if someone was truly listening in. While the chance was low, it was not fully zero.


    "Alright, let¡¯s go in then." Lin Mu agreed.


    The carriage had entered thepound of the manor by now and had reached the front entrance. Lin Mu and Wu Hei stepped out to see an old steward that was waiting for them outside.


    "Madam told me you wereing, it has been a while Young Master Hei." The old steward spoke.


    "Greetings old Lan," Wu Hei responded.


    This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Pleasee in, Madam is waiting for you in the lounge." Old Lan said before looking towards Lin Mu. "And this is?"


    "This is Lord Mu Lin, he¡¯s one of my friends." Wu Hei answered.


    "Ah, this is a pleasant surprise. I believe madam will be happy to meet the young master¡¯s friend too." Old Lan said while giving a smile.


    He then turned around and opened the door of the Manor. Wu Hei and Lin Mu walked in silently while Lin Mu took in the sights. He had expected that the manor would be luxurious and well decorated like the Town Head¡¯s office.


    But surprisingly, it was not. Even though it did have decorations, they were rather tasteful and not ones that red opulence at your face. Lin Mu internally nodded at this and found it to be much better than the town head.


    ¡¯I guess the mayor still has some sense even if he¡¯s bad.¡¯ Lin Mu internally said.


    "Well, if he is gonna be greedy and survive for a long time like this, he has to be smart. There is no use in splurging for showing off. But this also means the man is rather wise and could prove a more difficult opponent than we thought." Xukong advised.


    "I understand, Senior." Lin Mu reasoned.


    While he was having this conversation in his mind, they had reached the lounge where a middle aged woman was sitting on a sofa. She looked the same as Lin Mu had seen her a couple of days before, but only her clothes were different and a bit of fatigue could be seen in her eyes when she nced them.


    "Xiao Hei..." She uttered.


    "Hello, mother." Wu Hei calmly greeted.


    Lin Mu could see her eyes light up for a moment when she saw Wu Hei and could sense the longing hidden in them.


    But then...


    "YOU INSOLENT BRAT, WHY DO YOU NEVER COME HOME!" A loud voice assaulted Lin Mu¡¯s ears and almost made him flinch.


    Seeing that the situation was getting ufortable, the steward interrupted, "Madam we have a guest too, Lord Mu Lin."


    Then almost in an instant, her expression changed to be calm and mellow.


    "Oh ho! Did my son really bring a friend home? Greeting¡¯s Lord Mu Lin, and thank you for being my son¡¯s friend." Wu Hei¡¯s mother spoke.


    "Uh..." Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what to say at this awkward and abrupt change, and the corner of his lips couldn¡¯t help but twitch.


    One would have thought that Wu Hei would get embarrassed or something, but the man stood the same with a cool and calm expression as if nothing could faze him.

 Chapter 363 - Demonstrating

    <h4>Chapter 363 - Demonstrating </h4>


    Wu Hei had knew his mother well enough and what her tactics were. All she had done now were in old acts that she would do all the time. She was no simpledy and was not averse to schemes either. Being the wife of an aristocrat like Wu Xun was no easy thing.


    Not to mention She herself was an aristocrat before she even married Wu Xun. If Wu Hei showed a reaction, she would only do more things to make it worse. Such was the way she teased him or rather punished him.


    "Are you done, mother?" Wu Hei calmly asked.


    <i>~Sigh~</i> N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive ? material.


    "What a son I have, doesn¡¯t even have time for his mother..." The madam said, shaking her head.


    "Brother Mu Lin meet my mother, madam Zhen Sui." Wu Hei introduced.


    Lin Wu sped his hands in a formal greeting again and slightly bowed his head. This was the first time he was hearing the full name of the mayor¡¯s wife. He knew that her first name was Sui and that some people called her madam Sui.


    "So mother what did you want from me?" Wu Hei questioned after they all had taken a seat.


    The old Steward meanwhile went to get some refreshments for them and did not dare to listen in anymore.


    "Well, I need you to take care of the marital tournament to be precise. This was supposed to be done by your father, but now that he¡¯s unavable you are the only one who can do it. I¡¯ll be handling the other tournaments but the Martial tournament is the prime jewel of the ceremonies. It needs to be perfect." Zhen Sui answered.


    "What about Elder brother? Can¡¯t he do it?" Wu Hei asked with reluctance.


    "You think he would really do it? All that happens in that thick skull of his is food, women, and fighting. He has no idea how to do things like this... I still don¡¯t know how he leads his battalion with his management skills." Zhen Sui replied.


    Wu Hei nodded his head in agreement. He knew that his brother was rather ill suited to tasks such as this. But this didn¡¯t mean that he was willing to take the task of organizing thepetition. This would mean that he would have to talk with other aristocrats and important people, which was a thing that he usually disliked.


    He would much rather go back to his mansion and continue his research. But then after thinking for a while, he realized that this could actually work in his favor. It would make it easier for them to investigate the Gu Legion along with him being able to fulfill the challenge that Wu Xun had given him.


    "Alright mother, I ept." Wu Hei stated.


    <i>~p~</i>


    "Ah! That¡¯s good, finally you came to your sense and decided to be an obedient son." Zhen Sui teased again.


    Wu Hei let out another sigh before shaking his head helplessly. Zhen Sui chuckled before looking at Lin Mu, who was calmly sitting there and looking around.


    "Lord Mu Lin, I wonder how you met my son?" Zhen Sui curiously asked.


    She knew that her son did not like to make many friends and even if he had met a lot of people during his journey, there weren¡¯t that could be said to be his friends. Perhaps only some of his subordinates could be considered to be his ¡¯Friends¡¯.


    Lin Mu turned his neck upon hearing her speak and raised his brows.


    "I met brother Mu Lin in the Fenlong kingdom when I visited the Mu n there. He¡¯s one of the Young masters of the n and seldom goes out in public." Wu Hei quickly answered.


    "Oh, I see. Well then, you must be quite an intellectual for my son to find you worthy to be his friend. But what made youe here all the way to Wu Lim city? I mean, if my knowledge is correct then the Fenlong Kingdom is a few thousand kilometers away from the border of the Shuang Qian kingdom." Zhen Sui questioned.


    Wu Hei wanted to answer again, but Lin Mu decided to interrupt. He knew that if Wu Hei continued answering everything for him, Zhen Sui might find it suspicious. Besides, he had the perfect answer for Zhen Sui that would work and was also legitimate.


    "Oh madam, I¡¯ll be representing Brother Hei in the tournament." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    This came as a rather big surprise to Zhen Sui as she had not expected this from Lin Mu. Looking at him, she could tell that he was rather young even if he seemed to look older. She had seen enough people to get a good estimate just from looking at them.


    She had guessed that he would at least be twenty years old. But considering he came from a rather small kingdom like Fenlong kingdom, she reckoned that he wouldn¡¯t be that strong. From what she knew, even a few core condensation realm cultivators were going to participate in the tournament.


    "Representing? Lord Mu Lin, you mean you¡¯ll be fighting?" Zhen Sui asked doubtfully.


    "Yes, I will..." Lin Mu confirmed with a nod.


    Zhen Sui still seemed unconvinced and decided to ask a few more things.


    "Pardon my rudeness, Lord Mu Lin, but... how old are you?" Zhen Sui questioned.


    "I¡¯m sixteen." Lin Mu answered simply.


    ¡¯Sixteen! How the hell is this boy sixteen? His cultivation must be even less than I thought then, but then why would Hei chose him?¡¯ Zhen Sui thought.


    Wu Hei could see the faint changes in his mother¡¯s expression and guessed what she was thinking.


    "Don¡¯t misunderstand Brother Mu Lin¡¯s age, mother. Despite his age, he is rather aplished and talented." Wu Hei said.


    "But..." Zhen Sui was about to speak again but was interrupted.


    "Brother Mu Lin, would you care to demonstrate?" Wu Hei asked.


    Wu Hei knew that the best way to shut up his mother was to shock her into submission. He knew about Lin Mu¡¯s skills and the things that he had done. Fighting against core condensation realm cultivators and beasts while being in the qi refining realm already made him extremely talented if he considered the circle of aristocrats.


    While there would be others like him in the sects, they weren¡¯t reallyparable.


    Lin Mu was a bit surprised that Wu Hei asked this of him and was hesitant.


    "Lord Hei, are you sure?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, I¡¯m sure. I believe mother would be fine with it too, wouldn¡¯t you mother?" Wu Hei said.


    "Yes, that would be fine. I don¡¯t mind, so do your best." Zhen Sui assured.


    Now she was even more interested in knowing the capabilities of this boy in front of her.


    ¡¯Even if he¡¯s talented, it doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s in the core condensation realm, so what¡¯s the most he can do.¡¯ Zhen Sui thought.


    "Alright then if both of you are fine with it." Lin Mu replied.


    He thought for a bit and wondered what would be the best way to do this. He didn¡¯t want to go overboard and expose himself. There were still a lot of secrets that even Wu Hei didn¡¯t know and there was no way he wanted Zhen Sui to know them too.


    Lin Mu thought of the things that Senior Xukong had said he could do in the tournament. He knew that he would be exposing a part of his capabilities in the tournament in front of hundreds of people and thus thought that it would be best to only show that part.


    Lin Mu stood up and walked a bit behind the sofa. The room was sufficiently wide, thus it wasn¡¯t much of a problem for him, and even the roof was quite tall. Wu Hei looked on with a smile on his face, while Zhen Sui had an interested expression on her face.


    Both of them were rxed at first but then soon they became alert.


    Lin Mu flicked his hand and the short sword appeared in front of him. It was floating in the air which showed to Zhen Sui that he was proficient in Spirit sense and even had a mid grade spirit sword at the very least.


    But then he extended his hand and grasped the short sword firmly in his hands. As soon as he held it though, his entire demeanor changed. Lin Mu had recently had good progress in the Thousand armament de scripture and had learned something new.


    ¡¯What was it that Old man Jing did back then... that feeling... that intent... that pressure...¡¯ Lin Mu recalled.


    He focused on grasping that feeling and tried to emte it. During this entire time his eyes were closed and not a hint of disturbance could be seen on his face.


    It was as if a long time had passed for him, but in reality, mere seconds had psed.


    But just from this, the pair of mother and son were shocked.


    "What in the name of heavens..."

 Chapter 364 - Desire

    <h4>Chapter 364 - Desire </h4>


    While Lin Mu was focused on his mind, the pair of mother and son were seeing somethingpletely different. At first, they thought that Lin Mu was simply gonna demonstrate his skill of using a spirit sword with his spirit sense.


    But they hadpletely misunderstood it.


    Lin Mu was trying to emte what he had seen Old man Jing Wei do when he went to buy the short sword and knew that he could do it after seeing the progress he had with the thousand armament de Scripture.


    He had known that the Thousand armament de scripture was what both Jing Wei and Duan Ke¡¯s techniques were derived from and were inferior versions of. He guessed that he wouldn¡¯t be at the level of Jing Wei of course, but if he could demonstrate even one percent of that, Lin Mu would be happy.


    The thing that Lin Mu was mistaken about though was his method. Jing Wei¡¯s sword intent was born after countless years of battles and fights. He had in mountains of enemies before he had reached his current level.


    Xukong was also curiously watching what Lin Mu was doing currently. He didn¡¯t know either and didn¡¯t want to read his mind as it could cause him to be disturbed. Lin Mu was almost in a state of trance and had cut off the real world.


    For him, only he and his sword existed.


    In the room, Zhen Sui¡¯s heart was beating like crazy and Wu Hei wasn¡¯t in a better position either. Both of them felt as if they were in mortal danger, yet not at the same time. It was not that Lin Mu was targeting them, but rather his very presence that had be dangerous.


    Wu Hei could sense the spirit qi in his core bing unstable, and Zhen Sui¡¯s sea of spirit qi in her dantian became stormy. Now for them, each second felt like an hour.


    Unknowingly Lin Mu felt as if he had discovered something, it seemed far yet close, ethereal yet material. He tried to grasp it but found it to be slipping through his fingers.


    In his mind, he was standing in an empty space. This was unlike the empty Sleepscape which he used to be in. If that Sleepscape was absolutely dark, then this was different... just empty. It was as if there was no concept such as light or darkness in here.


    Yet Lin Mu could sense the thing that his heart desired to be in front of them. He walked towards it and held onto it; but it slipped away again. He ran and clutched it, only for it to knock him away. He tried countless times, yet the result was a failure.


    "What am I doing wrong?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    He did not feel sad at failing. He did not feel happy at being here either. All he could feel was nothingness. He looked at his heart¡¯s desire and it was right in front of him again. But this time he did not try to catch it.


    "Am I wrong?" He questioned himself.


    Lin Mu stood in silence, looking at his heart¡¯s desire without moving an inch. It was as if he had be a statue that would not move no matter what tempests it went through.


    Lin Mu continued thinking and question after question appeared in his mind; One became two, two became four, and four became eight. Eventually, his thoughts were no longer thoughts but were now floating in front of him, bing real.


    "What is ¡¯wrong¡¯?" Lin Mu questioned again.


    His heart¡¯s desire that was once the only thing in front of him was now hard to see. It had been hidden behind the thoughts that had be real.


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    Lin Mu kept on looking at them and time passed during which the thoughts kept on multiplying.


    It was as if a millennium had passed by when Lin Mu spoke again.


    "WRONG!" He said, this time his voice was cold yet filled with power.


    The entire space shook as his voice traveled through it. An earthquake appeared, yet Lin Mu stood there unaffected. The material thoughts in front of him shook around like reeds in a storm.


    "Nothing is wrong and everything is wrong..." He said making some of the thoughts break.


    His heart¡¯s desire that had been buried under this ocean of thoughts had suddenly been awakened. It struggled to rise, yet found it difficult.


    "A desire is nothing and everything is a desire..." He continued making more of the thoughts break apart.


    It was as if they were crumbling to dust and fading away into nothingness. With each thought that dissipated, Lin Mu¡¯s voice became more powerful.


    "A desire is born from nothing and everything can be a desire..." Lin Mu whispered, but the whisper was as if lightning striking a mountain.


    "A desire is power, and a desire is poison..." He dered wiping away half of the thoughts.


    His heart¡¯s desire that was struggling to float, rose aboveing to the top of the ocean of thoughts. Yet it was far away, as if a mirage on the sea.


    Lin Mu took a step forward and all the thoughts moved backwards. His every step causing tremors, creating waves in the ocean of thoughts.


    "A desire can be strength and a desire can be weakness..." He imed shattering another quarter of the thoughts.


    Now it was as if the thoughts had be alive. They were scared of Lin Mu and angry at the same time. Some of the thoughts that seemed to be stronger came to attack him while the rest ran away.


    "Nothing matters when my heart desires everything, and everything matters when my heart desires nothing." Lin Mu uttered, destroying the thoughts that came to attack him.


    Now there were only the eight original thoughts left. They appeared as if mountains and were the strongest of them all. Lin Mu¡¯s heart¡¯s desire was still there now, being crushed by the eight mountains.


    "Sever the heart and gain everything, sever everything and gain the heart!" Lin Mu proimed, but this time his voice was inaudible with merely his lips moving.

 Chapter 365 - No Desire

    <h4>Chapter 365 - No Desire </h4>


    The eight mountains that were crushing Lin Mu¡¯s heart¡¯s desire were pulverized in the next instant.


    He finally looked at the desire that floated up and came towards him, pleading like a wronged child. But Lin Mu¡¯s gaze was cold, as if what he was looking at was less than dirt.


    "You are not needed either..." He stated.


    The desire in front of him started trembling as if dissatisfied by his thoughts. But then it suddenly grew enormous, reaching the size of a mountain. This mountain was bigger than the previous eight mountain thoughtsbined.


    The desire then morphed and transformed into a being that could only be called as a devil. It had swords for its arms and legs while its teeth were like daggers.


    <i>~KREEEEEE~</i>


    A soul stirring scream came from its mouth which cut upon one¡¯s heart like scythe through grass.


    But Lin Mu was still the unmoving statue as before, unaffected by the scream nor the appearance of the devil.


    He looked at it fearlessly and another mountain manifested behind his back. This mountain though was different and seemed as if made from countless swords. The mountain started rising, taking Lin Mu to the skies with him.


    The devil seemed agitated by this and lunged forward to attack, but Lin Mu was ready for it.


    <i>"SEVER!" </i>


    He extended his hand forward and shed it as if it were a sword.


    <i>~WEEENG~</i>


    A loud hum was heard as a titanic sword manifested in front of him. The swords swung like his hand and exterminated the devil. Not a single cry or scream was heard as all the traces of the devil were removed from this ce.


    ***


    In the real world, Zhen Sui and Wu Hei were still gazing at Lin Mu.


    They couldn¡¯t move their eyes nor could they blink, for they feared that the moment they tried that they would be killed. They wanted to move but feared the same thing again. Merely a minute had passed, but they felt as if hours had gone by.


    Lin Mu finally opened his eyes and saw the pair of mother and son looking at him. But they seemed to be uneasy. In fact, in the very next second, Zhen Sui coughed and a streak of blood seeped from the corner of her lips.


    Wu Hei was still able to hold on, but he was having a hard time stabilizing his core.


    When Lin Mu had opened his eyes, they both had seen the same thing. It was the thing that had shocked the life out of them and made Zhen Sui cough blood.


    It was a sword mountain and on top of the mountain was a throne on which sat none other than Lin Mu. But this Lin Mu was nothing like the one in front of them. This Lin Mu had an emotionless and cold gaze with eyes that could rip into the soul.


    The scenested only for a fraction of a second, but that was already enough for it to be carved into their memories forever.


    Lin Mu came to his sense and saw that while he had grasped something, he seemed to have still failed. He then looked at the two people in front of them who seemed to be injured now.


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    "Oh, no! Are you alright?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    He remembered the feeling he had when he first saw Jing Wei hold the short sword. The fear was quite strong, but overall he was uninjured. And this was when he was not even a real cultivator and was merely in the sixth stage of the body tempering realm.


    Both the people in front of him were much stronger than that and he had thought that they would be able to take it without much problem. Besides, they had said so themselves and had given their explicit permission.


    Another thing he now realized was that, if he had failed in his attempt, then why were the two injured?


    Wu Hei heard Lin Mu¡¯s words and couldn¡¯t help butugh internally.


    ¡¯Alright? What joke! You just unleashed a sword intent the likes of which I¡¯ve never seen before.¡¯ Wu Hei said to himself.


    But still, Wu Hei did not dare to show this on his face. He knew that what they had witnessed had gone beyond what he had expected. He knew that this was also not something that could be exposed, not to mention said out loud.


    There weren¡¯t many options left for him when he saw that his mother was injured and took the one that he found to be the easiest.


    "We are alright brother Lin Mu. Mother was just a bit overwhelmed and her past sickness red up. You see, she was injured a few years ago and we thought that it had healed by now. But thankfully because of you, we now know that it was not.


    We can not take proper care of it and ensure that she is a hundred percent healthy again. After all, don¡¯t they say; a hidden disease is more dangerous than visible death?" Wu Hei said, lying through his teeth.


    "Don¡¯t you think so, mother?" Wu Hei questioned, turning to his mother who hastily wiped away the blood from the corner of her lips.


    Zhen Sui was about to say something, but then she held her tongue. She could sense the faint difference in Wu Hei¡¯s tone of voice. The difference was almost negligible, but she being the one who gave birth to Wu Hei recognized it clearly.


    She could sense the faint warning in his voice and knew that this had gone beyond what she had expected. The boy was a monster no matter what angle she thought about it, and hearing the straight-up lie that her son told confirmed it.


    ¡¯So he¡¯s afraid too... is this boy really his friend or something else? Is he even who he imed to be? Is he really from the Mu n?¡¯ Zhen Sui couldn¡¯t help but think.


    Still, she heeded her son¡¯s words and reasoned appropriately.


    "Yes lord Mu Lin, I¡¯m fine. Do not worry..."

 Chapter 366 - Showing The Proof

    <h4>Chapter 366 - Showing The Proof </h4>


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but feel that he had gone overboard. He was about to say something when senior Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Just go with the flow." He advised.


    Lin Mu silently nodded and then looked at Zhen Sui.


    "If you are fine with it then it¡¯s all good, madam Zhen." Lin Mu said in a calm tone.


    "Of course, Lord Mu Lin. I cannot fault you with this. It was my mistake that I did not take proper precaution or you wouldn¡¯t have to see an embarrassing situation like this..." Zhen Sui spoke.


    "Brother Mu Lin, I¡¯ll show you some of the literary works that I told you about,e let¡¯s go to my room. Mother, we¡¯ll see youter." Wu Hei spoke, wanting to end the conversation quickly.


    "Yes, yes. Please go ahead, Lord Mu Lin. If you need anything, just ask we will do our best to satisfy." Zhen Sui spoke.


    "Ah, thanks for your hospitality." Lin Mu stated before leaving with Wu Hei.


    Once the two of them were gone, though, the eyes of Zhen Sui lit up.


    "I can¡¯t believe Wu Hei found someone like him to represent him, that boy is a monster. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen sect disciples like that. Perhaps only the top sects may have someone like him." Zhen Sui said to herself with excitement.


    She didn¡¯t mind one bit that she was injured and her fear from before had faded away, reced by the joy that they may have a new ally.


    "But that sword intent... that isn¡¯t normal. Who is that boy¡¯s master, someone from Centennial sword sect?" Zhen Sui wondered.


    Then suddenly her expression darkened.


    "Wu Xun cannot find out about this... at least not until the tournament." Zhen Sui muttered before leaving the room.


    ***


    Back in the corridor, Wu Hei and Lin Mu were walking down while he admired the paintings hung on the wall. All of them were ink paintings and seemed to be made by an expert painter. Even though Lin Mu had no idea about art, he could still tell that the paintings were good.


    "These are made by using special ink that contains spirit qi." Wu Hei spoke, seeing Lin Mu¡¯s interest.


    "Oh? Is that why they give off such a feeling?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, while the spirit qi has long since faded away from it. The intent that the painter drew it with still lies within it. That is the function of the special ink." Wu Hei exined.


    Herring about the ink made Lin Mu think of the refinement of the awakened bloodline. He remembered the runes that he had drawn using the blood of the Trunk Faced cow.


    ¡¯Wasn¡¯t that technically just using blood as ink? And it definitely had a lot of spirit qi in it as well. Hmm... so making formation can also be said as tranting one¡¯s intent into reality...¡¯ Lin Mu pondered.


    A couple of minutester, the two of them finally reached Wu Hei¡¯s room. Rather than room, it could be said to be more of an apartment, to be honest. It had a front room that could be used as a living room, another room that was a bedroom and also a study room/office. To the other side, there was a smaller room, which was none other than a bathroom.


    While the room was clean and dustless, it still seemed like it hadn¡¯t been used for a while. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know why he could tell this, but it just felt like it.


    ¡¯Itcks... aura?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "You are correct. The ce that a person usually resides in absorbs their aura and would give it a unique presence." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm, is that so senior..." Lin Mu replied.


    Wu Hei meanwhile waved his hand and activated some of the formations that he had set up in the room. Once all of them were activated the room waspletely isted and soundproof.


    "Now we can talk brother Lin Mu." Wu Hei stated.


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    "Finally... So the thing I was talking about was regarding the caves and tunnels underground. Most of them are natural, that seemed to have been artificially been modified. Not only that, but some of the tunnels even have runes carved on them.


    Though the thing that bothered me was the aura that I felt there. It was ufortable and made me want to leave. But I continued on and found out the ce for the Blood sacrifice." Lin Mu revealed.


    Wu Hei¡¯s eyes went wide as he almost gasped due to the shock. He would have never expected that this would have been hidden right below their noses.


    Lin Mu then went on to exin theyout of the underground area and how he came to the conclusion that the ce where the blood sacrifice is being done is right under the ancestral temple. Wu Hei started connecting the dots and found all of the hypotheses to be reasonable.


    But he didn¡¯t just want to hear it, he wanted to see it with his two own eyes beforeing to a proper conclusion.


    "Can you show this ce to me? I want to see these... sludge pools and runes." Wu Hei asked.


    "Sure, it wouldn¡¯t be much of a problem. We don¡¯t have to go far, anyway." Lin Mu said. "But we will still need an excuse to enter the well, wouldn¡¯t we? I¡¯m pretty sure the mayor would have some of his spies as guards here in the Manor." Lin Mu added.


    "That you don¡¯t need to worry. I¡¯ll take care of it..." Wu Hei said as his eyes showed a dangerous glint for a moment.


    Wu Hei removed the formations, and they walked downstairs to the garden. While on the way, Lin Mu could feel that Wu Hei was emanating some strong waves of spirit qi and he could even sense his spirit sense moving around.


    On the way, they encountered a few guards who greeted Lin Mu and Wu Hei.


    "What are you doing here at this time, Young Master?" The guards who were standing in the garden questioned.


    Wu Hei walked forward with a smile on his face as he ced his hands on both the guard¡¯s shoulders in a friendly manner.


    "You don¡¯t need to know..." He muttered before,


    <i>~kachak~</i>

 Chapter 367 - Showing The Proof-II

    <h4>Chapter 367 - Showing The Proof-II </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at the two corpses that were now lying on the ground. He had not expected that Wu Hei would kill them without a bit of hesitation.


    "Are you sure this was a good idea?" Lin Mu questioned, "I mean what if they were innocent?" he added.


    "No, there is no chance they were innocent." Wu Hei shook his head. "If such a thing is present under the manor, then there is no chance that the Mayor would assign anymon guards here. They are definitely his spies." He exined.


    "Alright, if you say so." Lin Mu said before touching the two dead guards and storing them in his ring.


    Wu Hei raised his brows at this, feeling confused.


    "Just a precaution..." Lin Mu said with a shrug.


    Wu Hei nodded, and the two of them reached the well. Wu Hei scanned it with his spirit sense and saw the water that was flowing deep below.


    "Do you need help in getting down? The underground river is rather dangerous." Wu Hei asked.


    "No need..." Lin Mu said before withdrawing his short sword and jumping on it.


    He floated to the well and hovered above it. Wu Hei just kept on watching a bit surprised at how effortlessly Lin Mu flew like that.


    "What are you waiting for? Let¡¯s go," Lin Mu stated.


    Wu Hei took out a spirit sword as well and flew down the well along with Lin Mu. It was dark here but Lin Mu simply raised his hand and a me started burning on it. He lit a torch with it and passed it to Wu Hei.


    "We will need to blow out the torches when we get near the sludge pool though, don¡¯t need another explosion." Lin Mu informed.


    "Oh yes, I know. It simr to the gas from the swamps, they are mmable." Wu Hei said showing his knowledge.


    Lin Mu nodded before talking him to the ce where he had gone before. He showed him the damaged runes and finally the blocked door at the end of the corridor. Wu Hei could also smell the fouled smell and squinted his nose.


    He used his spirit sense and checked the barrier on the door.


    "Hmm, this is definitely a defensive barrier. But one that¡¯s beyond our level currently... I believe only a nascent soul realm cultivator would be able to set up something like this." Wu Hei analyzed.


    He stroked his chin a couple of times before speaking, "I¡¯ll try and see if we can find a solution to this. I¡¯ll have to research a bit."


    "As long as you can get me into the ancestral temple, we may not need it at all. Or... if we can find the entrance that the Gu Legion has been using. There should definitely be one somewhere." Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes, that would be much easier... after we leave let me take care of the temple guards." Wu Hei said.


    The two of them then headed to the sludge pool and stopped a distance away from it. They could see that the torches were ring up and the gas was probably causing that.


    "I have something that can help..." Wu Hei said.


    He then took out a small fingernail sized marble from his spatial storage treasure and poured some spirit qi into it.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    Then with a muffled noise, the marble started glowing. The light grew brighter and was now enough for them to see an area of ten meters clearly.


    "This is an illumination marble, a low grade spirit tool." Xukong exined.


    This was the first time Lin Mu was seeing a spirit tool like this. But he could also understand that this was technically a luxury item for people, as there were easier and cheaper ways to create light than using spirit qi.


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    Under the illumination of the marble, they could finally see the sludge pool and the Small troughs which carried the waste blood to it. Wu Hei furrowed his brows and had not expected that the sludge pool would really be this big.


    ¡¯And if Lin Mu is right, then there are more of these...¡¯ Wu Hei thought as he tried calcting the amount of blood and corpses that would be required to fill them all.


    No matter what denomination he used, the Numbers kept on being high ording to his calctions.


    "Beyond that wall is possible the main chamber where the blood sacrifice happens. I¡¯ve tried to break it, but it has a qi barrier on it too." Lin Mu stated.


    Wu Hei flipped his hand and the spirit sword appeared in front of him. He closed his eyes and swiped his index and middle fingers over the t side of the de, making some runes appeared on it.


    <i>~HAA~</i>


    Wu Hei shed the sword forward and a sword beam traveled forward, striking the Wall. A cloud of dust was knocked up, but was quickly blown away with a flick of Wu Hei¡¯s sleeve. Looking at the result made Wu Hei a bit depressed.


    "It is tough..." Wu Hei simply said before turning around.


    "Let¡¯s get out. I¡¯ll go figure out something to get you into the ancestral temple." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Alright..." Lin Mu replied before they quickly left the tunnels the same way they hade in.


    Once they were out Lin Mu thought of something and asked, "how will you exin the disappearance of the two guards though?"


    "It will be easy, I can just me it on whatever intruder that came here a couple of days ago. Mother has still been bothered by it." Wu Hei answered.


    "Uh... Umm..." Lin Mu muttered awkwardly.


    "Is there a problem?" Wu Hei questioned, seeing his reaction.


    "That intruder... that was me... I checked the carriage that your mother was traveling in curiously and didn¡¯t expect that this would happen." Lin Mu exined.


    "Ahaha! This works then... technically I¡¯m not lying then." Wu Hei joked as they walked to the Manor.


    Lin Mu awkwardly rubbed the back of his head in response.


    "I¡¯ll take my leave then, inform me when it¡¯s time." Lin Mu said, before leaving for his courtyard.

 Chapter 368 - Open Visit

    <h4>Chapter 368 - Open Visit </h4>


    Lin Mu walked out of the manor and saw a carriage waiting for him.


    "Lord Mu Lin, please," The carriage driver opened the door.


    "Well, I guess I can think on the way back..." Lin Mu muttered to himself before climbing into the carriage.


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    <i>~Haa~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a rxed moan as he lounged on thefy seat. He couldn¡¯t help but think of everything that had happened in the past year. He who was once a poor orphan was now having the Aristocrats interacting with him, that too with respect.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but feel a strange sense of pride in himself, but at the same time, it felt wrong to himself. It was as if he thought he was unworthy of it.


    Was it really him that aplished all this or was it just luck?


    Lin Mu asked himself this question. But no matter how much he pondered on it, no conclusion could be reached.


    "Careful there!" Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu broke out of his stupor upon hearing Senior Xukong¡¯s voice.


    "You said something senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You are having a bad train of thought. Know this that self-doubt can be your biggest enemy if not controlled well. And by an enemy I mean one literally, if you let it grow for long, it will turn into a heart demon." Xukong warned.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as he realized the seriousness of Senior¡¯s words. "I understand senior."


    "But wait, why was I thinking of this? Oh yes, the thing that happened at the manor..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "That Lin Mu, was you touching upon the edge of sword intent." Xukong said.


    Xukong did not know what Lin Mu had actually seen. He had not seen the ocean of thoughts that had be demons, and neither had he seen the desire that Lin Mu had in. This was not present in his thoughts either, thus Xukong could not read them.


    But Xukong could still tell that Lin Mu had touched upon the realm of Sword intent.


    "I did feel different when I held the short sword... it¡¯s as if there is a connection but not the same one that I had before. It¡¯s as if the sword was bing part of me..." Lin Mu said, trying to recall.


    "That¡¯s correct, you¡¯ll eventually get there and grasp the sword intent. The gate is already open, all you need to do is cross it." Xukong reapplied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in acknowledgment.


    An idea then appeared in his mind and he took out the Refined bloodline crystal. He scanned it with his spirit sense and found it to be a bit easier for him this time. While it was still extremely dense and hard to prate, Lin Mu figured out that by condensing all of his spirit sense into a fine needle could see prate it a bit.


    Lin Mu then observed some fine connections that existed in the structure of the crystal. These were invisible to the naked eye but were still present there. He could sense the energy within the Crystal concentrating around the joints.


    He could sense that the energy flowed and circted inside the bloodline crystal, creating an equilibrium. These joints seemed to be what were keeping the energy contained. He remembered when he first observed the core of the Trunk face cow, the joints did not exist and the energy within the core was just integrated into the structure.


    Lin Mu recalled the ink paintings that he had seen in the manor andpared them with the formations that he had used to refine the bloodline crystal. He sensed that there was some kind of a link between them, but it was still a bit beyond his level.


    While he had learned a bit about formations from senior Xukong, it was only at a basic level. He still didn¡¯t know the higher nuances of it and was still trying to understand them on his own.


    Just like this, while pondering on the matter, he reached the courtyard.


    "We¡¯re here Lord Mu Lin," The carriage driver spoke.


    Lin Mu put the bloodline crystal away and left the carriage. A few minutester, Lin Mu had changed out of the gaudy aristocrat clothes and was now sitting on the bed cross legged. He needed to recover the spirit qi that he had used up today.


    Lin Mu spent the night cultivating and did not feel like sleeping. The next morning he was interrupted by the servant calling for him.


    "Lord Lin Mu, a letter hade for you," The servant said.


    Lin Mu took the letter from him and saw that it was from Wu Hei.


    "Looks like he was fast..." Lin Mu muttered after reading the letter.


    "He figured out a way to get rid of the guards?" Xukong questioned.


    "Even better... we would be going in through the front door openly. The aristocrats and sect officials that would being today are going to go to the temple. Wu Hei was able to get me a ce in the entourage as well." Lin Mu said feeling happy.


    Lin Mu was honestly a bit tired with all the sneaking around he had to do. It was stressful on his mind too and being alert all the time took a toll on him. This method would be much more easy for him and he wouldn¡¯t have to be on his toes all the time.


    "So when do we leave?" Xukong questioned.


    "Right away, actually," Lin Mu said as he changed into something more presentable.


    While these were no aristocrat¡¯s clothes, they were still of a good quality and he didn¡¯t think the people would mind it with his identity as a cultivator.


    He swiftly left the courtyard and headed towards the Ancestral temple, reaching there in fifteen minutes. The streets were popted with a lot of carriages, which meant that the people had starteding for the wedding.


    This made him slow down as he would have bumped into a lot of people otherwise.


    At the ancestral temple, he could see around twenty carriages parked and a group of people standing near the entrance.


    "Let¡¯s see what the truth is..."

 Chapter 369 - Entering The Ancestral Temple

    <h4>Chapter 369 - Entering The Ancestral Temple </h4>


    A couple of guards blocked Lin Mu when he got closer, but then a voice called out.


    "Let Lord Mu Lin pass!" Wu Hei ordered.


    Hearing that the person in front of him was a lord suddenly made the guards anxious. They wondered if they had identally offended an aristocrat and were bracing for the punishment, but surprisingly the person in front of them had no reaction to it.


    They moved aside and let Lin Mu pass, still feeling a bit speechless.


    "Have you ever seen an aristocrat act like that?" one of the guards asked the other.


    "Very few... but they are in the minority... seems like we were lucky." The other guard muttered.


    Lin Mu was observed by the other people that were wanting to enter the Ancestral Temple. All of them were either Aristocrats, or officials of the nearby sects. Lin Mu particrly paid attention to the sect officials and tried to recognize which sect they were from.


    Lin Mu secretly took a breath of relief, seeing that they were actually from small sects that were not that powerful.


    "Makes sense, a cultivator wouldn¡¯t particrlye to visit an ancestral temple once they have severed their mortal ties," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, ignoring the curious gazes of the people. The sect officials looked away rather quickly, but the aristocrats were still wondering about his identity. They were from different ces, but could still tell that the person in front of them was not normal.


    No normal aristocrat would walk around that casually in clothes like that.


    "Who is he?" One of the younger aristocrats questioned another.


    "I heard Lord Wu Hei call him, Mu Lin. Do you know the n he¡¯s from?" The other one replied.


    "Hmm, I know of a couple of Mu ns but they are not aristocrats." Another person added.


    "Greeting brother Mu Lin." Wu Hei spoke out loud intentionally with a smile.


    Seeing their host greeting the person who had juste personally, made them confirm his identity. Wu Hei took a quick nce around and was satisfied by the result. This was another one of his methods that he was using to softly introducing Lin Mu to the others.


    If Lin Mu directly turned up at the tournament, it would be a bit problematic and others could be suspicious. Wu Hei had thought of this method after seeing Lin Mu¡¯s demonstrationst night. If Lin Mu truly ended up doing something on that level in the tournament, the others would question his motives.


    Someone like Lin Mu would rightfully be worthy of cultivation sect and they would wonder if Wu Hei was cheating or something.


    "Greetings lord Hei, I hope I was notte." Lin Mu replied seeing the door of the temple was still closed.


    "Oh no, you are notte. The priests should be ready to open the doors at any moment." Wu Hei said, and the very next moment a sound was heard.


    <i>~Rumble~</i> Content protected by N?v/el(D)rama.Org.


    The two big doors of the ancestral temple moved and the people could finally see the inside of the Temple. The door was opened by two priests and they seemed to be middle aged.


    Wu Hei cupped his hands and slightly bowed his head in respect. "We greet the priests of the ancestral Temple. May the spirits of ancestries bring us prosperity." He greeted out loud.


    The others responded simrly, and Lin Mu hurriedly did the same.


    The priests on the other hand did not react at all and simply looked on, without a change of expression.


    "Please,e in." The priests spoke in a calm tone.


    Wu Hei nodded and gestured for everyone to enter. Lin Mu was right beside Wu Hei and was looking at the temple with interest. This was the first time that he had seen the inside of the temple and was feeling curious about everything.


    The Ancestral temple was actually quiterge, but it only had one floor. The entrance door led them to a small hall that was rtively empty and had a in stone floor. They continued onward and were brought to the next pair of doors.


    These doors were inscribed with protective prayers, and Lin Mu could tell that they were quite old. In fact, they seemed to be older than the walls of the temple. He could even feel the aura that was present on the doors.


    "That aura is the amalgamation of many years of prayers of the priests. It has been imbued with their very intent and is close to bing a treasure on its own." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu had not expected for something like this to be possible. He could not feel a single fluctuation of spirit qi from the doors, but the aura on it was still strong. Finally, the doors opened and the great ancestral tablets were visible to everyone.


    There were tens of thousands of stone tablets, carved with the names of ancestors of the people ced in the center. They were elevated on a ck tform that seemed to be made out of some kind of rock, yet it was polished enough that the flicker of themp mes could be reflected off of them.


    The stone tablets were of different sizes and were ced in a circr pattern. The small ones to the outer area and the bigger ones in the inner area. The center of the tform was upied by a five meter tall stone tablet, which was the biggest one of them all.


    The name that was written on it had nearly faded away and could not be made out properly. Even the obituary that was carved on the stone had withered away due to wear and tear over the countless years it had stood here.


    The people who had made great contributions or had a good status were the only ones that would have a chance to get their tablet ced here after their death. Lin Mu curiously looked around and tried to see if there were any stone tablets with the name ¡¯Lin¡¯ on it.


    He was curious if there was anyone among his ancestors that had been venerated here.


    "Hmm... not the ¡¯Lin¡¯ I want..." Lin Mu muttered to himself

 Chapter 370 - Doing The Task

    <h4>Chapter 370 - Doing The Task </h4>


    Lin Mu read the names on the tablets and saw a few with the surname Lin but not the same one as his. His surname meant ¡¯Forest¡¯ but the ones here meant other things.


    ¡¯Seems like none of my ancestors are here... wait, so why did fathere here to pray?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    While themoners also came here to pray, it was mostly because at least one of their ancestries at some point in time would be venerated here. But from what he could see no one of his could be seen. Still, no matter how much Lin Mu thought he couldn¡¯t figure out a reason for his fathering here.


    "Did you Father ever see the tablets himself?" Xukong asked Lin Mu.


    "No, he didn¡¯t... oh wait... I understand now." Lin Mu replied as he realized.


    ¡¯He never knew... most of themoners in the region had a link to the same family line thus would have an ancestor here. But seems like father just went with that idea in mind and came to pray here every year.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Now that he thought about it, Lin Mu felt a bit sad for his father. He had passed on and yet never knew that there was no one to listen to his prayers. Lin Mu¡¯s heart ached for his father and mother again making his hands tremble ever so slightly even though he tried to control.


    ***


    Far beyond the limits of the universe, beyond the void, there existed a wheel.


    Carved out of an unknown material, the wheel turned without stopping. The thing that was moving it was actually a river, but if one looked at the water they would find themselves getting lost in it.


    From this river countless smaller rivers branched, and from each of those smaller rivers, even more tributaries split. Then on each of the branches and tributaries, smaller water wheels were spinning. They weren¡¯t attached to anything yet kept on moving without stopping.


    The wheels were made out of various materials. Some of the them were made out of gold, some out of crystals and some out of rotting wood.


    In this ce, the concept of time did not exist and neither did space. The only things that exited were the River and the water wheel.


    The wheels kept on turning, and then suddenly a new tributary sprouted from one of the smaller breaches of the river. This tributary didn¡¯t have a wheel yet kept on flowing. But its flow was not smooth like the others, and there were waves in it.


    The water in this tributary seemed to be rising and receding periodically, its purpose unknown. Then, an unknown amount of timeter, whether right at the creation of the tributary or countless eonster, a voice sounded.


    "Oh? Something interesting... finally."


    ***


    Lin Mu snapped out of his thoughts when he heard someone calling him.


    "Brother Mu Lin," Wu Hei called him.


    "Oh, yes?" Lin Mu asked, still feeling a bit dazed.


    "You were gonna do some things..." Wu Hei said in a low voice.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as he remembered why he hade here. His memories had confused him for a bit, but then he calmed himself down.


    "Yes, I¡¯m on it." Lin Mu replied before closing his eyes.


    The others that were with them were already praying, thus Lin Mu did not seem out of ce. His spirit sense extended from his body and spread around. He avoided touching the people here as he did not want to alert them.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense touched the walls and the other parts of the area. But the one thing he foundmon was the aura that was contained within them. This aura was simr to the one on the doors and the ancestral tablets, yet it was much more faint.


    He then directed his spirit sense downward and started going through the ground. The floor was easy enough to pass through and Lin Mu realized that there were actually more level below the temple. The first area that he observed looked like where the priests lived.


    This was still normal, as he hadn¡¯t seen any bedrooms in the area above. He then went even deeper and could see some monks moving around and some reading scriptures. There weren¡¯t many of them, only six, but Lin Mu could feel the faint waves of spirit qi from them.


    All of them were cultivators, although not that strong. This seemed to be the area where the priests practiced and studied. He crossed this level and reached the third level, which was much smaller than the above areas.


    There were strong waves of spirit qiing from the center of the area and just from their intensity Lin Mu could tell that they belonged to a core condensation realm cultivator. He guessed that this was none other than the head priest of the temple, and this was his quarters.


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    Knowing that he shouldn¡¯t let his spirit sense get too close, lest he be detected, Lin Mu directed it to a safer corner and continued downward. But he found himself stopping as this was the limit of his spirit sense, and if he wanted to go any deeper, he would have to shorten the distance.


    Lin Mu retracted his spirit sense and opened his eyes.


    "There are some things that I discovered, but I need to get closer." Lin Mu told Wu Hei.


    "That would be difficult... the priests wouldn¡¯t allow anyone to leave their sight." Wu Hei replied.


    "I don¡¯t need long, just a minute would be enough." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    If Lin Mu use Blink in tandem with Phase, he would be able to travel much faster. Of course, this was only possible since he already knew of theyout of the ce. Otherwise there was a great chance he would have been trapped in some random wall.


    Wu Hei furrowed his brows and tried to figure out a method for it. Lin Mu saw his troubled expression and spoke again, "just being alone would be fine too. I may be able to figure out another method."

 Chapter 371 - Confirmation

    <h4>Chapter 371 - Confirmation </h4>


    "Now that... may be possible. Wait for a bit, I¡¯ll try something." Wu Hei replied.


    After everyone was done praying, Wu Hei went to one of the priests and spoke something in his ear. The priest shook his head for a bit but then Wu Hei said something again. This time the priest was a bit hesitant but then nodded.


    Wu Hei walked back to Lin Mu and gestured for him to follow him.


    They went to a separate hall away from the others with the priest. Lin Mu had seen this area with his spirit sense and knew that it was a scripture chamber.


    "So he¡¯s the one that wants it to be done?" The priest questioned.


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    "Yes, and he would like it to be done in private." Wu Hei answered much to Lin Mu¡¯s confusion.


    "Wait here then and do not leave the room, I¡¯ll go call someone." The priest said before leaving the room.


    After the priest left the room, Lin Mu immediately asked, "What did you tell him?"


    "I told him that you would like to have your fortune read." Wu Hei replied.


    "Huh? My fortune?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, you see some aristocratse here and ask the priests to divine their fortune with the help of the ancestral spirits. But they don¡¯t do this that often and it is expensive to do. I was able to convince them and that priest just went to get his elder who can read fortunes.


    We have three minutes at most before he returns, so do what you have to." Wu Hei exined.


    "I need to be alone for this. Having another person would disturb my concentration." Lin Mu said, giving an excuse so as to not expose his skills.


    "Alright," Wu Hei replied and did not question his methods.


    He went out of the room and extended his spirit sense all the way to the corner. This way when the priest came closer he would be able to sense him before he saw Wu Hei standing outside. Thankfully, the scripture hall was at a right angle and thus could not be seen directly.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "Now to get there ande back safely..." Lin Mu muttered to himself after Wu Hei was gone.


    He checked the area below and then used Phase to sink into the floor. A secondter he was at the first basement level, where the bedrooms were located. All of the bedrooms were empty at this moment as it was daytime and the priests were working.


    Lin Mu went down another level and appeared in the working area of the priests. There were six priests here, and he had actually appeared right behind one of them. Thankfully, the priest was deep in mediation and did not notice him.


    Lin Mu scanned for an empty room and blinked there. Now that he was in a safe ce, he checked the depths again. He didn¡¯t want to go to the third basement level of the temple as there was a chance the head priest could detect him.


    He could only use his spirit sense to observe ahead. But when it went beyond the third level of the basement, Lin Mu realized that the ground here was extremely dense and packed with solid rocks. The extent of his spirit sense was being restricted and he could only extend it for one third of its entire length.


    Still, he eventually reached a new level that was different than the Temple. It was another cave and looked to have been carved out. Lin Mu was sure that this wasn¡¯t a part of the Temple¡¯s structure as there were no paths connecting it, unlike the other three levels.


    While Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense was able to reach this level, he found it to be stopped again. But this time it was a spirit qi barrier, one that was simr to the ones at the sludge pools. Seeing that he was unable to go any further, Lin Mu decided to check the nearby areas instead.


    There was some furniture ced here that seemed to be quite old. Everything was carved into the very stone itself and could not be moved from their ce.


    ¡¯Someone lives here?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    While there was some dust in the area, it was still rtively clean. Seeing that he would have no progress further, Lin Mu decided to return. At the very least, he had confirmed that the central area of the caves was right below the ancestral temple.


    Now the only question left was- Why here?


    Lin Mu had already spent about a minute here, and wondered if he waste. He checked for the priest with his spirit sense and saw that he was going up the stairs with another older priest. This one had white hair and a beard, making him look old and wizened.


    "I need to get back up fast." Lin Mu muttered to himself before blinking to the level above.


    He blinked another time and then appeared back in the scripture hall. He extended his spirit sense and touched Wu Hei, who was standing outside, signaling him toe back inside.


    "Did you find anything?" Wu Hei questioned, seeing that Lin Mu was standing at the same ce he was before leaving.


    "Yes, I did. There are there more levels below this and an entire cave system below that. I tried to go beyond that too, but finally met the spirit qi barrier there, the same one that we saw before. This confirms it..." Lin Mu answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "At least we got this much, which is good." Wu Hei said.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The door of the scripture hall opened just as he said that and in walked two priests.


    "This is the person who wants his fortune read, elder." The younger priest informed.


    Lin Mu and Wu Hei looked at the elderly priest with interest. The priest came forward and stared into Lin Mu¡¯s eyes before cing his hand on his head. Lin Mu would have almost reacted on an instinct and knocked the old priest away had it not been for Wu Hei¡¯s nod.


    The old priest closed his eyes and did something before furrowing his brows.


    "This..." he muttered.

 Chapter 372 - Spirits Are Afraid?

    <h4>Chapter 372 - Spirits Are Afraid? </h4>


    Lin Mu was looking on at the old priest and was wondering what this was. He knew that he was gonna read his fortune but this seemed to be a bit unusual to him and he hadn¡¯t seen this method before. But then again, he didn¡¯t even know they did fortune reading in this temple.


    Lin Mu had seen this old man before when he scanned the area with his spirit sense and knew that he was one of thete stage qi refining realm priests of the temple. He wasn¡¯t afraid that he may try to attack him, no Lin Mu had far too many methods to deal with him.


    "This..." The old man said after opening his eyes.


    His brows were furrowed as he seemed to be thinking about something. Now even Wu Hei was a bit apprehensive of this and was wondering if there was a problem.


    "What¡¯s the problem, sir priest?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "I... cannot seem to be able to read his fortune. It is as if the ancestral spirits are unwilling, or rather I must say... afraid of revealing his fortune..." The priest said.


    "What? What does that mean?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling a bit confused and interested at the same time.


    He had honestly not expected anything toe out of this, but now hearing this had made him interested.


    "We priests can ask the ancestral spirits in this temple for their help in deciphering the fortune of a person. This cannot be done often and will reduce the power of the spirits for a while. Because of this, we don¡¯t do it that much.


    But there are times when the ancestral spirits can deny our request. If the person we were trying to read the fortune was a foreigner, then it wouldn¡¯t work, as the ancestral spirits would not have any rtion with them.


    But in your case here, the ancestral spirits are scared... scared of the heaven¡¯s will." The priest answered.


    Lin Mu was still confused and didn¡¯t fully understand this, but still nodded his head, regardless.


    "Well then, thank you for your attempt, sir priest. Yourpensation will be sent to the temple at the earliest by tonight." Wu Hei said, seeing that nothing hade out of it.


    Thankfully, their main aim ining here was already finished and the fortune Reading was merely an excuse.


    "No need, lord Wu Hei. I dare not take when even the ancestral spirits are scared. Lest I endure the wrath of heavens." The old priest hurriedly said before almost running away.


    "You two can leave now." The younger priest said before gesturing to them.


    Lin Mu and Wu Hei left the room and made their way to the main hall.


    "Well... that was weird." Lin Mu said.


    "Don¡¯t worry about it. The priests give excuses when they don¡¯t want to do this. Though it looks like, they did not dare to take the donation seeing the current situation." Wu Hei replied.


    Lin Mu nodded, and they soon reached the main hall. There most of the aristocrats had already finished praying to their ancestors and everyone was now ready to leave. They looked at their host that had just arrived and a few people even asked him questions on where he had gone.


    Wu Hei gave some simple excuse of discussing things with the priests about the marriage events and blessing ceremony. The people lost their interest rather quickly after hearing these words and went back.


    "Well then, since everyone is done, we can leave now." Wu Hei announced.


    Everyone cupped their hands and paid obeisance to the ancestral tablets onest time in farewell before leaving the temple. One by one the carriages started to leave and by the time half of them left, Lin Mu had already checked the cultivation of everyone here.


    Wu Hei was telling him, who was going to be hispetition in the tournament and thus he was checking who he was gonna go against. So far, the strongest person he had seen was an aristocrat that had the cultivation base at the peak stage of the qi refining realm. That man seemed to be in his thirties, and Lin Mu was sure that he can defeat him in a couple of blows.


    Even the sect officials that hade were mostly at the qi refining realm, with one that was at the Core condensation realm. But that was an elder and was not eligible to participate in the tournament, anyway.


    "So what did you think?" Wu Hei asked.


    "Nothing much. They don¡¯t really seem that strong to me..." Lin Mu replied straightforwardly.


    "Ahaha... that¡¯s good then. Though the best candidates are yet to arrive. From what I¡¯ve heard, there should be two people in the core condensation realm participating as well." Wu Hei informed.


    "Alright, we¡¯ll see it when the timees." Lin Mu said.


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    "We have about 4 days till thepetition and 5 days till the marriage ceremony, what else do you think we need to prepare. I don¡¯t know if there is anything that¡¯s going to happen seeing so many powerful cultivators will be at the manor." Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... I am a bit confused about it too, but till now there is no movement of the Gu legion. I think they may be resisting it because of the presence of the Nascent soul realm elder Yi Deng here." Wu Hei replied.


    "What about that Junior elder Fa Shiu? If he turns up, everything can be problematic." Lin Mu asked after thinking for a bit.


    "That man is another mystery that we can¡¯t seem to be able to solve. All of his traces have disappeared for some reason, and even the Tri cauldron peony sect is in the dark." Wu Hei said.


    Lin Mu stood there in silence as he started to think of what else that could be done now. There didn¡¯t seem too many extra paths left for him to take. All he could do now was to fight in the tournament and see if the Gu Legion decided to attack, but with the Mayor away that also seemed to be unlikely.

 Chapter 373 - Getting Ready For The Tournament

    <h4>Chapter 373 - Getting Ready For The Tournament </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at the temple and had aplex expression on his face. From what he could understand, the temple itself wasn¡¯t involved in any way with the Gu Legion or the blood sacrifice. In fact, he was sure that everyone in the temple was unaware of what existed beneath it.


    "What are we going to do about the blood sacrifice chamber beneath the temple?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I¡¯ll try to get some formation masters to analyze it. Though I¡¯m afraid that it won¡¯t be easy and will take up to a month. Those formations were set up by at least a nascent soul realm cultivator, so it would be quite difficult for anyone below that level to break it.


    I¡¯ll have to call some core condensation realm formation masters for this." Wu Hei answered.


    "Alright, I guess there really isn¡¯t much we can do except for waiting." Lin Mu replied. "Inform me when it¡¯s daytime. I¡¯ll spend my time cultivating till then." He added.


    "That¡¯s no problem. I¡¯ll inform you as soon as something happens." Wu Hei assured.


    Lin Mu then bid Wu Hei farewell before heading back to the courtyard. On the way, he did see more peopleing to the city and among them, there was a core condensation realm cultivator too. Lin Mu hadn¡¯t totally probed the person, so as to not offend them.


    But he was sure that this was one of the participants in the tournament. He looked at the symbol that was carved on the carriage he was sitting in and found it to be a bit unfamiliar. He jogged his memory and realized that it was none other than the Autumn Valley sect.


    "Huh? I thought they were a small sect, when did they get a disciple in the core condensation realm..." Lin Mu wondered.


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    Pushing the matter to the back of his mind, Lin Mu reached his courtyard. The servant was already there prepared with lunch, and Lin Mu ate it before beginning his cultivation.


    Lin Mu¡¯s dantian was currently at about 2200 drops of liquid spirit qi, and he wanted to use these four days to increase it as much as possible. He wasn¡¯t going to practice the nameless technique of the lost immortal and fully contribute his spirit qi to increasing his cultivation base.


    Him eating the spirit foodst night at the Alluring wisteria pavilion had also helped in increasing his overall stores of spirit qi. He would cultivate for about fifteen hours every day and then sleep to practice in the Sleepscape as well.


    Even if he was confident of being able to defeat most of the people at the tournament, Lin Mu did not want to becent and make a mistake. Besides, his experiences had taught him that the future was unpredictable and anything surprising could happen without anyone knowing.


    His progress inprehending sword intent had also helped him a lot. Lin Mu felt as if his progress in learning the thousand armament de Scripture had increased by a lot. He had already exceeded half of the weapons that were mentioned in the manual and was at the basic proficiency with the newer weapons.


    For the ones that he used more, he was rather decent with them. Besides, the aim of the thousand Armament de Scripture wasn¡¯t to be an expert with all the weapons. No, rather it was to gain the experience of using different types of weapons and applying those experiences to your swordy.


    Wanting to be an expert in all weapons was rather foolish, and even the immortals would not dare to attempt that. Each weapon had an intent of its own, and bing an expert at it meant that they would have to develop its unique weapon intent.


    If it had taken Lin Mu so much effort just to gain an understanding of the sword intent and yet he was only touching the surface, then one could imagine how long it would take for the other weapons. Another thing was that Lin Mu only had two types of spirit weapons, the short sword, and the iron thorn spear.


    He did have the other spirit swords he got from the Tri cauldron peony sect disciples, but they weren¡¯t as good as his, they were both high grade spirit weapons. Only spirit weapons and above could be useful in exerting his skills to the full potential, and thus he couldn¡¯t go beyond a certain level with the other weapons, anyway.


    Lin Mu spent the few short days cultivating just like this, and time passed quickly. The day of the tournament finally came, and he was awakened by the servant knocking on the door.


    "Master, Lord Wu Hei has called for you at the Manor." The servant spoke from outside the door.


    Lin Mu who was sitting cross-legged, opened his eyes as they glowed with a faint light.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    He let out a strong breath that ruffled the curtains on the other end of the room. He had just exceeded 2500 drops of spirit qi and was happy with his progress. He had used the same method he had used before, which was to continuously refine spirit qi till arge amount was umted.


    Lin Mu was only able to do that twice during these four days, yet it was enough to give him more than 300 drops of liquid spirit qi. He had already finished itst night and had spent the rest of the time calming and rxing his mind, making sure that it was in tip-top condition.


    "I¡¯ming," Lin Mu simply spoke.


    He then changed his clothes and ensured that he had everything ready. Finally, he took out a few pill bottles from his ring. These were the pills that Duan Ke had given him, and they were used for helping the cultivator during a fight.


    Lin Mu did not eat them but just checked them as he wanted to be ready if anything problematic happened. There was one pill though that he still wanted to take though. It was none other than the Earthen Qi pill that he had received a while ago from Duan Ke.


    It could form a defensive armor on the cultivator¡¯s body that wouldst for up to 12 hours and could bear one attack of a core condensation realm cultivator.

 Chapter 374 - Start Of The Tournament

    <h4>Chapter 374 - Start Of The Tournament </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at the earthen qi pill for a bit and deliberated on it before finally consuming it. As soon as the pill touched his tongue, it released its medicinal properties and melted. Lin Mu swallowed the medicinal liquid and felt it spreading in his stomach.


    The earth elemental spirit qi traveled through his meridians before reaching the surface of his skin and settling there. Lin Mu then saw it forming a thin brownyer of light before it faded away.


    "Is that it?" Lin Mu said feeling the same as before.


    "The armor will activate when you take an attack." Xukong exined.


    "Oh, I understand Senior." Lin Mu said before leaving the room.


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    Today was going to be a big day, and it was better if he was at the manor earlier than the reported time. Lin Mu saw that there was already a carriage waiting for him outside the courtyard.


    "Lord Mu Lin, please." The carriage driver was standing beside the door of the carriage waiting for him.


    Lin Mu entered the carriage and it started moving. He peeked out of the window and could see fewer people on the streets. But the number of guards had increased instead.


    "Hmm, did Wu Hei do this or is this just the normal procedure?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Thankfully, because the streets were rather vacant, the carriage was able to reach the manor rather swiftly. Lin Mu alighted from the carriage and saw the other carriages that were parked there. More of them were also arriving and he could see the neatly dressed aristocrats.


    Some of the people looked at him for a bit before going on their way. Because of how simply Lin Mu was dressedpared to others, the aristocrats didn¡¯t pay much attention to him. Lin Mu was thankful for this and liked it better than being stared at all the time.


    "Lord Mu Lin!" Someone suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu looked at the source of the voice and found that it was the steward old Lao.


    "Young master Wu Hei is waiting for you inside." The steward spoke.


    "Alright, take me to him." Lin Mu said.


    The two of them entered the manor and this time Lin Mu could see the changes in the decorations. Everything was much more opulent than before and there were more servants than before as well.


    "Where is the martialpetition going to be held?" Lin Mu asked seeing that it was unsuitable to hold it inside the house as it could be easily damaged.


    "We have set up the stage in the grounds behind the manor and the seating arrangements have been made as well." Old Lao answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head as that did seem to be more appropriate. The two of them reached a room that Lin Mu had not been to before.


    "Young master, Lord Mu Lin is here." Old Lao announced.


    "Come in!" Wu Hei said from inside.


    Old Lao opened the door and Lin Mu could see Wu Hei sorting through a pile of papers. He didn¡¯t know what he was doing, but it certainly seemed to be important.


    "I¡¯ll take my leave." The Steward said before closing the door behind him.


    "So what¡¯s happening?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~sigh~</i>


    "Just the usual workload. Brother messed up some of the tasks that were assigned to him... as usual. And now I have to fix them quickly before all the guests arrive." Wu Hei answered.


    Lin Mu could sense the frustration in his voice and knew that it would be better to not speak about his elder brother more.


    "When is the tournament starting then?" Lin Mu finally asked.


    Wu Hei stacked the pile of papers neatly before looking up at Lin Mu.


    "It should be starting in about fifteen minutes. Most of the participants have already arrive, anyway." Wu Hei replied. "Though, there are only two that you need to look out for." He added.


    "Oh? And who are they?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Both of them are core condensation realm cultivators. One of them is an aristocrat from the Xiangwei city called Ei Lan and the other one is a core disciple from the Autumn valley sect, called Qing Yuan Tiu." Wu Hei informed.


    Lin Mu remembered the carriage he had seen before and realized that it was the same person he had seen back then. But then after hearing the name he was a bit confused before speaking.


    "Qing Yuan Tiu? It¡¯s a woman?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, but how did you know?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "I don¡¯t know if this is the same person or not, but I heard that a while ago a core condensation realm elder of the Autumn valley sect had appeared in the city. I wonder if they are the same person as both of them are women?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Lin Mu had this doubt because from what he had heard and the information he had seen, the autumn valley sect was rather small and only had a single nascent soul realm cultivator that was their sect head. The core condensation realm disciples were enough to be worthy of bing elders in that sect.


    For a small sect as this, he doubted whether there could even be a core disciple with that cultivation base as they would have just be an elder.


    Wu Hei furrowed his brows too after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words. He himself was unaware that this had happened, and no reports were ever given to him about this. While he also knew about the Autumn valley sect he had not known about the woman.


    "Hmm... I do not know if it¡¯s the same person or not. But we do have an official letter stating that Qing Yuan Tiu is a core disciple of the Autumn valley sect that has been sent to participate in the Tournament. Even the Peak master Yi Deng confirmed it." Wu Hei stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and wondered if it was just a coincidence.


    "I guess we¡¯ll just see to it when ites to it." Wu Hei said seeing that Lin Mu was fine with it.


    "Oh yes, what¡¯s are their cultivation bases?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Ei Lan is at the early stage of the core condensation realm while I do not know exactly about Qing Yuan Tiu. There was no mention of it in the letter and neither could we ask her directly as it would go against the etiquette.


    But I¡¯ve seen her and she shouldn¡¯t be that strong, at most at the mid stage of the core condensation realm." Wu Hei answered.


    "I see." Lin Mu responded. "And how is the tournament going to happen?"


    "There will be random lots drawn and match sets will be made. The winner of every match will move up to the next set and it will continue till we have our final winner. As of now, we have sixteen match sets and thirty three contestants." Wu Hei exined.


    "Thirty three contestants? Is there one person less or extra?" Lin Mu curiously asked.


    "Actually, it¡¯s three people more than we expected. They came four days ago and joined at thest moment. Qing Yuan Tiu is one of them and the other two are some cultivators from nearby ns of the neighboring cities. They are not really on good terms with the mayor, yet they chose toe so as to pay respects to the Tri cauldron peony sect." Wu Hei stated.


    "So Qing Yuan Tiu is alone here?" Lin Mu picked up.


    "Yeah, she¡¯se here alone." Wu Hei stated.


    Lin Mu was now feeling even more suspicious of Qing Yuan Tiu and wondered what was going on with the Autumn valley sect. Still, he thought that it would just be better to wait and see how everything progresses.


    "What match am I in?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You are in thest one, oh and you will also be fighting with one of the two aristocrats that came at thest moment." Wu Hei answered.


    "Alright, let¡¯s go there then if you are done." Lin Mu said.


    And just as he said this, a knock on the door was heard.


    "Brother! What are you doing here all cooped up? Let¡¯s go the tournament is gonna start anytime now." The door suddenly opened and in walked Wu Teng.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A sigh escaped Wu Hei¡¯s lips as he saw that his brother was already a bit drunk. It was only ten am in the morning and this was never good for him, as Wu Hei knew that his elder brother would be causing problems soon.


    "May as well leave now." Wu Hei agreed.


    "Ah! I see brother Mu Lin is here too!" Wu Teng greeted.


    "Good morning Lord Wu Teng." Lin Mu greeted as well.


    The three of them then left the room and walked towards the backyard of the manor. The distance was ratherrge, and it took them about five minutes to reach the stage area.

 Chapter 375 - Contestants

    <h4>Chapter 375 - Contestants </h4>


    Lin Mu had a different thing in his mind when he had thought of a stage for the martialpetition. But when he saw the set up, he was rather surprised.


    "Well... this is... rather simple." Lin Mu said upon seeing the in stone tform that was surrounded by around two hundred seats.


    "It is not really a harshpetition and is more for disying the skills of their various powers. Thus there is no reason to get expensive materials to make it. Even if this sustains damage, we can just rece it." Wu Hei replied.


    "Wait, I just realized... there¡¯s no prize for winning this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, there are a few prizes of course. But its just mary rewards, I doubt brother Mu Lin would even like them." Wu Hei answered.


    "How much are the prizes?" Lin Mu further asked.


    "Well, there were many differentpetitions, and now only the marital tournament is left. The other prizes were around a thousand gold coins, while for the martial tournament it is ten thousand gold coins." Wu Hei answered.


    "Ah, I see..." Lin Mu muttered as he really did find them to be less interesting. With the amount of gold he had, Lin Mu didn¡¯t think he would be able to spend it for a long time now.


    "Though... I did hear that the peak master Yi Deng would be adding a prize to the tournament from his own side as well. But I don¡¯t know what it will be." Wu Hei added after thinking.


    ¡¯Hmm... now that could be useful. Something from an alchemical pill refiner should be good.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu looked around and saw the people waiting patiently while some of the aristocrats were enjoying a few fruits and drinks. He looked to the more higher seats and found madam Zhen Sui sitting there along with the people from the Tri cauldron Peony sect.


    To the very right of her sat the future daughter inw, Yi Zi Jin. Her eyes spotted the three of them and she silently gestured for them toe to her.


    "Looks like mother is calling us." Wu Teng said as a slight frown appeared on his face.


    "Better to be quick than to make her wait. She¡¯s already angry with you elder brother." Wu Hei said before walking ahead.


    Lin Mu walked beside Wu Hei and Wu Teng followed behind them, a couple of steps slower. They climbed the steps of the seating area and reached the top level where they were greeted by the people of the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    "Ah! Even lord Mu Lin is here. What a wonderful surprise, I thought you left us since I didn¡¯t see you in the past four days." Quan Hong spoke.


    "I was just preparing for the tournament, so took some days to seclude myself." Lin Mu replied.


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    "Preparing for the tournament? Lord Mu Lin, you are participating too?" Quan Hong asked in a surprised tone.


    Simr expressions could be seen on the faces of the other people that heard it. Only Wu Teng, Wu Hei, and Zhen Sui had calm expressions as they already knew about it. In fact, Zhen Sui was even secretly happy with it.


    "Yes, I am. I will be fighting on behalf of Lord Wu Hei." Lin Mu stated.


    This time he drew a gaze from Yi Zi Jin. The girl had kept to herself since the start and was silent the entire time, but she had finally found something to be interesting.


    "Wu Tenge sit here!" Zhen Sui said, gesturing to the seat beside Yi Zi Jin.


    "Let¡¯s go take a seat brother Mu Lin." Wu Hei said.


    They then went and sat there as well. Next to Wu Teng was Wu Hei, and next to that was Lin Mu himself.


    "Oh, I almost forgot to introduce. This is disciple Yi Zi Jin." The Senior bother Fa Lao spoke.


    "Greetings Lord Mu Lin." Yi Zi Jin spoke, in a light voice.


    This was the first time Lin Mu was hearing her and didn¡¯t expect her voice to be like this. Still, he responded to it and cupped his hands in respect.


    Now that the formalities were done, the people were back to their usual discussions. Lin Mu scanned the area with his spirit sense, being careful not to identally touch anyone. Thankfully, his sensitivity to the faint spirit qi fluctuations was getting better and he could barely estimate the cultivation realm of what a person may be in.


    He still couldn¡¯t tell the stage, but just knowing the realm was enough as he could estimate the stage by looking at their appearance to.


    "Hmm... where is peak master Yi Deng?" Lin Mu questioned Wu Hei.


    "He¡¯ll beingter, he¡¯s got somest moment work to do." Wu Hei answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and went back to check out hispetitors. Out of all of them, the only ones he didn¡¯t know were the two aristocrats that had joined at thest moment. While for the rest he had seen them at the Ancestral temple.


    Another person that Lin Mu found missing was none other than Qing Yuan Tiu. He couldn¡¯t see her anywhere and wondered if she waste.


    "Now that everyone has arrived, we shall be starting the tournament. The first to fight will be Xuanyuan Fei and Muroung Ki." A referee spoke.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went to the stage and saw that two men had stood up from the seating area and headed towards the tform.


    "The first person is a small aristocrat from here, while the other one is from Blue Mill city." Wu Hei informed.


    Lin Mu nodded in understanding and saw the two of them greeting each other with a Dao salute.


    "I shall exin the rules once more. There shall be no maiming and killing. If the referee asks you to stop, you are to stop immediately. If anyone falls outside the ring, they are considered defeated and if someone falls unconscious, they are considered defeated as well.


    If one contestant wants to admit defeat, they can do so too." The referee exined.

 Chapter 376 - Disappointment

    <h4>Chapter 376 - Disappointment </h4>


    "Please Guide me, Lord Xuanyuan Fei," Murong Ki spoke.


    "I shall do my best Lord Murong Ki." Xuanyuan Fei replied.


    This was the standard etiquette at the start of the fight and the two contestants would create sufficient space between them before fighting.


    Murong Ki took a fighting stance and let Xuanyuan Fei take the first attack.


    "HAA!" A punch was executed by Xuanyuan Fei, which was dodged by Murong Ki.


    Lin Mu could see that they were using some martial skills and the change in their spirit qi fluctuations that arose. Just from looking at them, Lin Mu estimated that Murong Ki was at thete stage of the QI refining realm while Xuanyuan Fei was the same.


    But from the strength of his attack, Lin Mu was a bit disappointed. He had expected them to be much better than this.


    The rest of the fight went rather quickly and was finished in five minutes with the winner being Murong Ki.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "That was a bit boring..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    But when he saw the rest of the audience, they were excited and were cheering the contestants on. Wu Hei also heard Lin Mu¡¯s words and gave a wry smile. When he had originally thought of choosing Lin Mu as his Representative he had also thought of him to be on this level or a bit above it.


    Now that he had the personal experience and witnessed a simple demonstration, Wu Hei knew that thepetition would be a joke for him. Only the core condensation realm cultivators would give him a challenge, but even then since it wasn¡¯t a full fledged fight, the results would be predictable.


    This was why he had put Lin Mu¡¯s fight at the veryst so that the audience could enjoy the fights. Though Lin Mu wasn¡¯t the only person that was bored here. Wu Teng seemed to be the same and had already given up on looking.


    He was now busy stuffing his mouth with the snack that the servants had brought them. Zhen Sui was giving him a warning re, but he seemed to be oblivious to it and Yi Zi Jin didn¡¯t seem to want to look at him either.


    Meanwhile, the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect were still looking at the Tournament with interest. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t tell why, but it seemed strange as he thought that they would have seen much better fights than this.


    Five more fights happened and they were rather boring as well. During all these fights Lin Mu realized that they were only using some physical skills and not any weapons.


    "Are weapons against the rules?" Lin Mu questioned Wu Hei.


    "Not really. But most people here are better at physical skills and would not use normal weapons as it would be detrimental to them. While the others that do have spirit weapons would not use them as they would not think it to be worth that." Wu Hei answered.


    "Hah! That¡¯s all just excuses. They are afraid that they will injure and damage their precious faces." Wu Teng said while taking a bite of fruit. "Real men fight no matter what they got and give it their all." He added, this time with a fierce fight.


    Lin Mu could feel the change in his aura for a moment there and understood that it was obtained from fighting in many battles.


    "He is right. Look at the people here, while they are cultivators barely anyone has true experience of fighting with their lives on the line. That is why they only have appearance but not quality." Xukong agreed.


    "Wu Teng! Mind your manners, you cannot speak like that about the guests." Zhen Sui chided.


    "Humph! They know their worth and if they want toin they can take it up with me." Wu Teng said not cowering, with core condensation realm cultivation at full disy.


    "Teng!" Zhen Sui said again, this time in a stronger tone.


    Wu Teng rolled his eyes as he withdrew his spirit qi fluctuations. Lin Mu saw that now pretty much everyone in the stadium was looking at them as many of them had been shocked by the spirit qi fluctuations. Even the core condensation realm cultivator Ei Lan was shocked by it.


    "Seem like your brother is stubborn when ites to battle, huh?" Lin Mu whispered to Wu Hei.


    "That he is. While he does fear mother, there are things where he wouldn¡¯t back down no matter what. One of them being a battle. He¡¯s been through a lot of fights and has even been to the Northern frontier before to battle with the Northern tribes." Wu Hei said.


    "Oh, he¡¯s been to the Pear¡¯s belt? So he was part of the vermilion legion as well?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "He was yes... temporarily. He returned to the kingdom and was assigned his own battalion after that." Wu Hei answered.


    This was new information to Lin Mu, as he hadn¡¯t expected Wu Teng to have such a past. Still, he gained a bit more respect in his heart for Wu Teng. There weren¡¯t many people who would willingly go to fight at the Pear¡¯s belt.


    Not only the climate was harsh, but the northern tribes were said to be even more cruel. Most of the people in the vermilion legion were volunteers, yet not everyone was approved. This showed that Wu Teng actually had the experience and skill to back up his words.


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    ¡¯No wonder the other aristocrats seemed to tolerate him. Its not just his status but the strength that scares them.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "We shall now draw the next two contestants." The referee announced.


    He then shook a wooden cylinder a few times till a small stick fell out of it. On that stick a name was written.


    "The first contestant is... Gen Jou!" He announced, and the person named Gen Jou walked down from the seating area.


    "The second contestant is... Ei Lan!" Loud cheers were heard as soon as the name was spoken.


    It was obvious that Ei Lan was a popr choice for the tournament.

 Chapter 377 - Quick Battle

    <h4>Chapter 377 - Quick Battle </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s interest was finally peaked after seeing that one of the two Core condensation realm contestants, Ei Lan will be the next fighter. At least this way he hoped that he would get to see a good fight, but as soon as the opponent found out who he was fighting, his face fell.


    "I forfeit!" Gen Jou dered.


    "WOOHOO!" The audience shouted.


    "Lord Ei is unmatchable here, no one shall be victorious against him!" One of the people who¡¯s seemed to havee with Ei Lan shouted.


    The people did not seem disappointed by the forfeit, but were even more excited. It seemed like most of them had already expected this anyway.


    "What a coward! This isn¡¯t even an actual battle, and he¡¯s still scared of doing a basic demonstration." Wu Teng uttered, feeling even more bored.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A sigh escaped Wu Hei¡¯s lips as he heard his brother¡¯s words and it seemed like there weren¡¯t many supporters for him. Lin Mu himself didn¡¯t know what to think of it and just continued watching. After this match, a few more happened until it was time for thest two matches of this round.


    Lin Mu perked up his ears as it was likely that he would get chosen in these two matches as only five people were left to fight now.


    "What¡¯s going to happen to the person who¡¯s left at thest? Don¡¯t we have an odd number of contestants?" Lin Mu questioned Wu Hei.


    "They¡¯ll just get a free pass to the next round." Wu Hei answered.


    "Oh... I see." Lin Mu responded.


    "The next contestant is... Qing Yuan Tiu! Who will fight... Bin Tao!" The referee announced.


    The man named Bin Tao walked down from his seat and went to the ring. But Qing Yuan Tiu seemed to be nowhere.


    "Qing Yuan Tiu? Qing Yuan Tiu!" The referee called out again.


    Wu Hei and Zhen Sui narrowed their brows as they looked around, unable to find her here.


    "Has she not arrive yet? Alright, then the win goes to Bin Tao by..." The referee was just about to announce the winner when he was interrupted.


    "WAIT! I¡¯M HERE!" A woman¡¯s voice called out.


    The man Bin Tao who was getting excited over getting a free win was suddenly doused. He looked at the voice and saw that his opponent hade. But when she got closer, he saw her appearance and got a smile on his face.


    "Hehe! At least this will be enjoyable," He said as Qing Yuan Tiu approached the ring.


    "Alright, get into your positions and we¡¯ll begin." The referee stated.


    The two of them moved into the ring, and Bin Tao had his eyes on Qing Yuan Tiu the entire time. Lin Mu and the others were also observing her from the seats and could see that she was a young woman, probably in her early twenties. She had a pleasant oval face and yet her figure could not be seen due to therge and bulky robe she was wearing.


    One would think that it even hampered her beauty and she would look much better with slimmer clothes, but from the indifferent look in her eyes, one would shudder. Lin Mu found her to be interesting, as he couldn¡¯t feel any spirit qi fluctuations from her.


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    It was actually a bit simr to Wu Hei¡¯s condition, where he could sense it only if he was close enough. Lin Mu wanted to check her cultivation base but knew that if he probed her with his spirit sense, it would be considered as interfering in the fight.


    "Watch her closely... she¡¯s not simple." Wu Hei whispered to Lin Mu.


    "Oh? Finally, a worthy contestant." Wu Teng also said, as his eyes gleamed.


    Hearing both brothers speaking in favor of the woman, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but get more interested.


    "Oh greetings, I hope we¡¯ll get to have a good fight today. And please forgive me if I hurt you, fists and legs do not have eyes." Bin Tao spoke in a sleazy tone.


    "Humph" Qing Yuan Tiu gave no response to his words and simply got into fighting stance.


    "FIGHT!" The referee dered.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    As soon as the referee shouted, a loud crack was heard. Lin Mu¡¯s eyes darted to the two contestants, but he couldn¡¯t see what had happened. He had thought that someone had gotten injured, but it didn¡¯t seem like it as they were still in their ces.


    "Wait... what¡¯s that near her legs?" Lin Mu muttered, seeing something near the legs of Qing Yuan Tiu.


    Currently, six metal rods had appeared from the clothes of Qing Yuan Tiu that were covering her legs. There were three from each of her legs and they had pierced the rock tform of the ring. The opponent Bin Tao was a bit confused seeing this and had no idea what those metal rods were.


    "Did she just... fix herself to the floor?" One of the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect asked.


    "Seems like it... perhaps she doesn¡¯t want to be knocked out of the ring?" another onemented.


    These two were junior disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect that Lin Mu had seen at the Courtyard.


    "No, do you two don¡¯t know who she is?" Fa Lao, the senior brother asked.


    "No Senior brother, who is she?" The two disciples questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "What were you two doing during the briefing?" Fa Lao asked with an apprehensive gaze.


    "We... we... we were out in the city, so we missed the briefing." One of the Junior disciples spoke in a hesitating tone.


    Fa Lao shook his head and said something under his breath before calming down.


    "Make sure you do not miss any further briefings. She is Qing Yuan Tiu, the Core condensation realm disciple of the Autumn Valley sect." Fa Lao answerer.


    "Core condensation?"


    "Autumn valley sect?"


    The two Junior disciples only seemed to get more confused after that. Fa Lao and the others seemed to be embarrassed by them now and simply said, "Just watch."


    "Whatever tricks you¡¯re trying won¡¯t work." Bin Tao said after noticing the metal rods.


    "Seems like you just trapped yourself here." Bin Tao added as he lunged forward to attack.

 Chapter 378 - Qing Yuan Tiu

    <h4>Chapter 378 - Qing Yuan Tiu </h4>


    Qing Yuan Tiu didn¡¯t mind Bin Tao¡¯s words and simply focused on what she was doing. She raised her hands in front of her and took a quick breath. Before,


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    A greenish wind formed on Qing Yuan Tiu¡¯s palms as it shot straight at Bin Tao. The audience gasped in shock as they had not expected something like this. This was the first time a qi skill like this had been used since the start of the tournament.


    <i>~Bam~</i>


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The greenish wind hit Bin Tao like a truck and sent him flying out of the ring all the way to the wall of the seating area. His head hit the wall, and a crack was formed on the wall. As he slid down, a trail of blood was left behind.


    <i>~Gasp~</i>


    "She... did she kill him?" Someone in the audience said.


    "HALT!" The referee ordered.


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    A couple of people went to check up on Bin Tao and found him to be unconscious, albeit alive.


    "He¡¯s alive!" The helpers said.


    <i>~Ching~</i>


    Another sound was heard as the six metal rods withdrew back into Qing Yuan Tiu¡¯s bulky clothes.


    The referee raised his hand as he dered, "The winner is Qing Yuan Tiu!".


    "AMAZING!"


    "WOW! That woman is strong!"


    "Where is she from?"


    A cacophony of voices were heard as the audience broke out in excitement. This was the best fight till now that they had seen, although it was one sided and ended rather quickly.


    Lin Mu was a bit confused too upon seeing the fight. While he could understand the qi skill that she had used, he couldn¡¯t understand what the six metal rods were that he had seen before.


    "She uses a special fighting style which uses supportive tools along with Qi skills toplement its ws. That qi skill she used had a lot of problems but would have knocked her back too if she didn¡¯t have the support of those metal rods that locked her into her position." Xukong exined.


    "I see... this is rather unique..." Lin Mu muttered in response.


    It was the first time he had a cultivator use tools such as this and had not expected a core condensation realm cultivator to fight like this.


    "But wait, she¡¯s already plenty Strong, why would she even need to use those tools?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, you see there are many fighting styles. Some are fully focused on offense and neglect the defensive abilities of the cultivatorpletely. These cultivators are usually quite Strong against multiple enemies and are helped by theirpanions as they are best suited to team fights.


    But when fighting alone they will be at a disadvantage and thuspensate using supportive tools such as those. It is not that she could directly fight, but rather she had never learned to fight like that." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in understanding, but found it to be a bit strange. Fully giving up on your physical skills seemed a bit foolish to him. But he didn¡¯t speak further, as he thought there must be more to it than he knew currently.


    Wu Hei and the others seemed to be pleased with the fight, while the two Junior disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect were quite shocked.


    While others may not have been able to estimate her Cultivation base directly, the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect were much more experienced in it and had seen countless other techniques.


    "Senior brother, is that the qi skill... Gale river palm?" The junior brother asked.


    "Good observation, junior brother." Fa Lao said with an approving gaze. "That is indeed the Gale River Palm." He confirmed.


    "But isn¡¯t that Qi skill said to be iplete and imbnced? Its force is not restrained and affects the user as well as the enemy." Another junior disciple asked.


    "You are correct. But that was exactly why she had used those metal rods there, to support her and ovee the w of the Qi skill." Fa Lao exined.


    Lin Mu heard this too and found the exnation to be the same as that of Senior Xukong. He couldn¡¯t help but look at Qing Yuan Tiu who was walking towards one of the seats in the corner of the seating area. She sat there alone without anyone around her, which only made her look more beautiful.


    The other people in the audience were also mesmerized by her strength and beauty and thus were watching her.


    "We shall start the next match now!" The referee announced, which made Lin Mu snap out of his thoughts.


    The rest of the audience too looked on at the cylindrical container in his hand that he was shaking. Lin Mu watched on with a keen eye as he wanted to see if he would be chosen, but he was not.


    "Nie Li and Gen Ma will be the next contestants. Thest remaining contestant will be proceed to the next round directly." The referee dered.


    <strong>~Sigh~</strong>


    "I guess it is not time for me yet..." Lin Mu muttered.


    Wu Hei heard his words and secretly took a breath of relief. He had intentionally made some changes to the random draw. Lin Mu¡¯s name had been removed by him so that he could proceed till to the next round directly. He knew that Ei Lan and Qing Yuan Tiu would be creating some waves at the very start, and this did not want to let Lin Mu¡¯s capabilities be exposed straight away.


    But he had let the second round be normal, as he knew that people would get suspicious if Lin Mu got the free pass multiple times.


    "Who¡¯s thest contestant, though? Do we know?" Someone from the audience asked.


    "Probably someone new if we don¡¯t know about it. No need to mention them since they won by default." Another person who seemed to be part of Ei Lana¡¯s faction said.


    Lin Mu was carefully hearing everything and was keeping an eye. He heard these words too but didn¡¯t mind them. He had far too many important things to deal with right now.

 Chapter 379 - Etiquette Or Not?

    <h4>Chapter 379 - Etiquette Or Not? </h4>


    Lin Mu could tell that Qing Yuan Tiu was going to be one of the finalists and if his guess was correct Ei Lan would be the other. Unless he fought them first and one of them was eliminated. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how he would fare against Qing Yuan Tiu, as her fighting style wasn¡¯t something he had seen before.


    If Lin Mu were able to use his abilities, all it would take is a single Blink to eliminate Qing Yuan Tiu. She couldn¡¯t move when she used her Gale River Palm and Lin Mu could dodge that easily with a blink. But being here meant that he would have to restrict himself to his sword skills and physical skills.


    The Boulder copsing fist was his most powerful attack, but it was also deadly and was a kill or be killed move. This tournament wasn¡¯t meant to be a fight to the death anyway, and thus he couldn¡¯t use that either.


    ¡¯Using the short sword with my spirit sense would be enough to fight Qing Yuan Tiu, but there is no way she doesn¡¯t have a method to deal with that as she¡¯s from a sect.¡¯ Lin Mu strategized.


    The next round started rather quickly, and it began from the ones that had fought first. This time hate method to draw lots was a bit different. The first winner of the match would fight against the one whose name was drawn.


    "The contestant Muroung Ki will be fighting against... Nie Li!" The referee announced.


    "Whoa, the first matches winner andst matches winner. This is an interestingbination." Someone from the crowd spoke.


    "Though, Nie Lie will be at a disadvantage. He hasn¡¯t had enough time to rest like Murong Ki." An old aristocrat stated as he stroked his beard.


    Lin Mu heard these words but shook his head. He had seen thest fight and while it looked like Nie Li was tired, he wasn¡¯t. He could sense their vital energy and could get a rough estimate from that. It definitely looked like Muroung Ki was still more tired than Nie Li.


    "Hmm... Nie Li probably has a higher body tempering realm cultivation than Muroung Ki..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "That is correct." Wu Hei said after hearing his words.


    "I am?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yeah, Nie Li is one of the disciples of the Babbling Brook Sect. Most of their skills are physical ones which need a higher body tempering realm cultivation base than others. From what I know, while the Babbling Brook sect is a smaller sect, they still have a high requirement for a body tempering realm cultivator to join their sect.


    Their core cultivation technique requirements are higher than normal." Wu Hei exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and focused back on the fight.


    <i>~Smack~</i>


    Muroung Ki was the first one to get injured as Nie Li¡¯s fist sent his arm hurtling back. Nie Li had changed the momentum of Muroung Ki¡¯s punch by attacking it at a perpendicr angle.


    "Aargh"


    Muroung Ki grunted and tried to gain back his footing, but then Nie Li sent a spinning kick to the man¡¯s ribs, knocking him out of the ring.


    "STOP! The winner is Nie Li!" The referee announced.


    "That was unexpected?" A person sitting a few seats below spoke.


    "Indeed, who knew Nie Li still had enough stamina left." The old man who had predicted his failure before spoke.


    The first out of the eight matches had beenpleted and now only seven were left. Lin Mu watched them with a keen eye, even though they were a bit boring for him. It was now the fifth match, and it was finally the turn for Ei Lan.


    "Ei Lan shall fight... Beo Xin!" The referee announced.


    The second contestant Beo Xin was a woman that seemed to be in her early thirties. Apparently, she was both an aristocrat and also a disciple of a small cultivation sect. Her skills were decent enough, and she was at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm and it didn¡¯t seem like she had reached it recently but had been there for a while now.


    Still, against Ei Lan the chances of her winning were slim. Lin Mu wondered if she would be forfeiting the fight, but she did not. Lin Mu had seen her previous fight, which was against another peak stage qi refining realm cultivator and it was a slightly long fight.


    They had fought for fifteen minutes before determining the winner. Looking at her, Lin Mu could tell that she was not tired and had most likely eaten an alchemical pill to make her return to her peak status. Ei Lan was still the same as before, since he had not fought at all.


    Both of them walked to the ring and Ei Lan greeted Beo Xin.


    "I hope Lady Xin will take it easy on me." Ei Lan stated.


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    "Ha ha~ I hope Lord Lan will do the same for this poor woman..." Beo Xin replied.


    Ei Lan lightly chuckled before getting ready.


    "FIGHT!" The referee ordered.


    Unlike his previous gentleman like manners though, Ei Lan was the first one to attack, and he attacked with full force. Beo Xin seemed to not be expecting this, and her eyes went wide in shock. She hurriedly stepped aside to dodge the palm strike that wasing towards her, but still couldn¡¯t do it fully.


    <i>~THWACK~</i>


    That palm strike turned into a reverse handed p instead and hit Beo Xin on her shoulder.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    In just hit, her shoulder was broken and she shouted in pain. Taking opportunity of the time she was dazed due to the pain, Ei Lan attacked once more and sent her shooting out of the ring.


    "STOP! The winner is Ei Lan!" The referee dered.


    "LORD ENLAI LAN WON!" The people that were with Ei Lan shouted.


    "Ahaha! That¡¯s what you get for not giving it your all." Wu Tengughed as well.


    He had seen how Ei Lan acted before the fight, yet didn¡¯t do the same during the fight. This was what Wu Teng liked. A tiger fighting at its full power even to kill a rabbit.

 Chapter 380 - Lin Mu Versus Pigu Shan

    <h4>Chapter 380 - Lin Mu Versus Pigu Shan </h4>


    Lin Mu too nodded his head in approval as he would have done the same and would not have held back for something like ¡¯gentleman¡¯s etiquette¡¯.


    Beo Xin was taken away to be treated and Ei Lan went back to his seat while the audience cheered for him. Lin Mu looked on and saw that the referee was about to pull out another match up.


    "The next fight will be Pigu Shan and he will be fighting... Mu Lin!" The referee announced.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up as his turn finally arrived. His opponent was Pigu Shan who was one of the three people that had joined at thest moment and was one of the aristocrats. Lin Mu had seen this man¡¯s previous fight, and it had been about ten minutes long.


    Pigu Shan was a thin man who was fast and used his high agility to move around his opponent while sneaking in quick attacks. He used finger stabs as his preferred attacking technique and it was a physical skill that used spirit qi.


    Lin Mu had seen one of his attacks shattering the sternum of the previous contestant and knew that they were quite strong.


    Wu Hei leaned towards Lin Mu a bit and whispered to him, "brother Lin Mu better finish this fight quickly, if you can. Best not to expose too much..."


    "I understand." Lin Mu replied before standing up and walking down.


    "Is that Mu Lin?" The people from the audience finally noticed him.


    "Wait, wasn¡¯t he sitting at the top with the Wu family and the Tri cauldron Peony sect?" Another person said feeling surprised.


    The people who had taken Lin Mu lightly in the first round were now looking at him with serious gazes. They had not expected that someone from the top would actually be fighting themselves.


    "Who is he representing here?" Ei Lan asked the referee, feeling intrigued by this.


    "Lord Mu Lin will be representing Lord Wu Hei." The referee said a bit more respectfully.


    "Oh?" Ei Lan raised his brows as he had not expected this.


    ¡¯So this is what Wu Hei prepared for us, huh? Still shouldn¡¯t be a problem to defeat a brat at the qi refining realm.¡¯ Ei Lan thought to himself.


    Pigu Shan was already standing at the ring as he was sitting in the front row from the start. Lin Mu took his ce opposite to him and greeted him.


    "Please guide me, Lord Pigu Shan." Lin Mu stated.


    "Same here, Lord Mu Lin." Pigu Shan said shortly before getting read.


    His attacking stance was a bit different as he held one arm above his head straight while the other was behind his back. Lin Mu on the other hand stood there casually and waited for the referee to start.


    "FIGHT!" He ordered.


    "Take this..." Pigu Shan said before attacking with his signature finger stab.


    The attack came towards Lin Mu¡¯s chest, but before the man could even take a second step, he shuddered. Multiple tendrils of spirit sense came out of Lin Mu¡¯s body and covered every side of Pigu Shan. Lin Mu was observing each and every movement of his in detail.


    Lin Mu sensed the spirit qi that was flowing from the man¡¯s meridians into his fingers and how it circted in a unique pattern. But this was not the entirety of the technique, as one hidden aspect of it was that the technique generated a counterforce in the legs that made the user lunge forward.


    This was how the technique had a strong momentum. The qi circuit in the hand was merely to reinforce the fingers and make them rigid temporarily.


    Now with his sensepletely focused on Pigu Shan, Lin Mu analyzed the trajectory of the attack and swiftly dodged it by simply leaning to the side and not even moving from the ce.


    <i>~Tear~</i>


    The sound of a cloth tearing was heard as Lin Mu had grasped Pigu Shan¡¯s hand, which hade towards him. But the momentum of his hand had caused the sleeves to be pulled back due to Lin Mu¡¯s grip and resulting in them tearing.


    "WHAT!" The people in the Audience said in astonishment.


    "Brother Mu Lin is impressive..." Wu Teng praised.


    "Senior brother, what is this technique that Lord Mu Lin used?" one of the junior disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect questioned.


    The senior brother in question had a few drops of sweat on his brow as he looked at Lin Mu with even more shock than others. Instead of answering his junior disciple, he turned to Fa Shiu.


    "Senior brother, was that..." He was about to ask when he got interrupted.


    "Yes... that was no technique but just basic agility. He merely used his spirit sense to grasp the trajectory before dodging it." Fa Shiu stated.


    Wu Hei on the other hand nodded his head in approval as this was perfect to conceal the true capabilities of Lin Mu.


    On the ring, Pigu Shan was able to get hold of his wits a fraction of a secondter, after Lin Mu had gripped his hand.


    "Let GO!" he said before pulling his hand, but found unable to do so.


    It was as if a pair of Iron vice grips were mping his hand and he couldn¡¯t break free.


    "I¡¯m afraid, I¡¯ll have to end it here." Lin Mu said shortly before moving.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The corners of his sleeves and the end of Lin Mu¡¯s robe waved in the air as he spun around, and tossed Pigu Shan out of the ring, like a baby chick.


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    <i>~Thud~</i>


    Pigu Shan fell to the ground face first and was knocked out due to a concussion.


    The audience was dumbstruck, as this was not how they had expected the fight to go. Even Ei Lan was astounded by this, as he knew the amount of strength that would be required to do something like this. Though the thing was... Lin Mu had not even used spirit qi!


    "The winner is Mu Lin!" The referee dered and the audience broke out in cheers.

 Chapter 381 - The End Of Second Round

    <h4>Chapter 381 - The End Of Second Round </h4>


    The people in the audience had underestimated Lin Mu at the start and even after finding out that he was representing Wu Hei they hadn¡¯t thought much of him. But now the overwhelming manner in which he had defeated his opponent made them think thrice about him.


    Lin Mu looked at his opponent who was now lying unconscious on the ground and he wondered if he used too much strength by ident. Lin Mu was still learning to control his strength well and thus needed more time. But thankfully after the healers came and helped Pigu Shan, he turned out to be okay.


    Lin Mu walked down from the ring and towards the seating area. The people watched him closely and could not take their eyes off him. Especially the ones from the cultivation sects. They were looking at him as if he were some prize that they needed to get.


    Since Lin Mu had represented Wu Hei and was also an aristocrat in their eyes, they thought that they had the chance of recruiting him. For them, he was a potential future powerhouse, that if they obtained would increase the status of their sect.


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    "Nicely done, brother Mu Lin!" Wu Hei praised.


    "Indeed, Lord Mu Lin is impressive with his skills." Zhen Sui added.


    "HAAHAH! Brother Mu Lin is a true man who fights with his all! But even that isn¡¯t enough for a good fight if your opponent is a weak chicken." Wu Teng said in his boisterous voice that spread all around the seats.


    The people that came with Pigu Shan looked at them but didn¡¯t show any wronged expression or anything. Rather, they just had wry smiles on their face as they could only sigh. But the other aristocrats seemed to be a bit agitated and were whispering amongst themselves.


    Ei Lan was doing the same and was talking with his subordinates. The only person that seemed to be the least bothered was Qing Yuan Tiu, who was simply sitting on her seat with her eyes closed in meditation. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if she had seen him fight or not, but then pushed that to the back of his mind.


    Finally, the referee began his next selection and pulled out the stick. The contestants fought and soon it was the time for thest match. Qing Yuan Tiu had still not been selected, so people were wondering if they would get to see more of her again.


    "The next contestants are Pidao Wuyun and Tianjin Shu!" The referee dered.


    "Oh seems like Qing Yuan Tiu gets the free pass in this round."


    "Yeah, still at least we know she¡¯s good enough and it wouldn¡¯t have mattered even if she fought." One of the sect personnel said.


    Lin Mu was also a bit disappointed as he wanted to see more of her moves but was now unable to. Soon the fight between Pidao Wuyun and Tianjin Shu started and people watched it. These two were some external cultivators that the aristocrats had hired and their strength was above average.


    Lin Mu sensed their spirit qi fluctuations and found them to be at thete stage of the qi refining realm.


    "Huh, so they were lucky having each other as opponents." Lin Mu said.


    All the cultivators that were below the peak stage of the qi refining realm had already been eliminated at the first round, and thus now only peak stage ones were left. These two were the lucky ones that had met ate stage qi refining realm cultivator at the start and had passed the first round.


    But now it was quite obvious that this would be thest round for both of them. One of them would be losing at this very round, while the next one will lose in the next round for sure. The fight was a bit strange this time, as both of them were being Cautious.


    They mostly used probing attacks and defensive skills to avoid damage. This was quickly starting to bore the people as the fight had gone on for about 30 minutes now.


    "Come on already! Finish it!" Someone from the crowd shouted.


    "This is what I was talking about. Chickens that can¡¯t do much but strut out their chests and run away when they¡¯re in a fight." Wu Teng taunted.


    Eventually, forty minutes had passed and now even Wu Hei and Zhen Sui were getting irritated. It was as if they were watching two kids fight, and it did not entertain the guests at all. This was meant to be an event that increased the reputation of the marriage, not lower it by frustrating the guests.


    "This is enough!" Wu Teng said as he stood up.


    "No! Teng do not go down." Zhen Sui warned.


    Seeing that his brother was getting agitated now, Wu Hei sighed. He then turned his eyes towards the two fighters in the ring and stared at them. Lin Mu could feel the faint spirit qi fluctuationsing from his body and the spirit sense that had been released.


    This spirit sense was quite strong, even stronger than his own. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what its range would be, but just from the potency that he could feel, he estimated that it should be more than double his own range. This made Lin Mu interested, as from what he knew most early stage core condensation realm experts had a spirit sense range of hundred meters.


    It was around two hundred for a mid stage core condensation realm cultivator, three hundred for thete stage and four hundred for the peak stage one. Just from this, it meant that Wu Hei was at thete stage of the core condensation realm at the very least.


    Wu Hei¡¯s spirit sense reached the two fighters, and they flinched for a moment. This made one of them stumble as he was in an imbnced position. The first of the other one hit him in the stomach, which sent him rolling on the ground.


    Seeing that his opponent had taken the hit, he took advantage and easily pushed him out of the ring.


    "The winner is... Tianjin Shu!"

 Chapter 382 - Qing Yuan Tiu Versus Dumu Ao

    <h4>Chapter 382 - Qing Yuan Tiu Versus Dumu Ao </h4>


    Lin Mu raised his brows at what Wu Hei had done and this was a new method of using spirit sense that he had seen. He wondered if he could use it too.


    "You can also do it rather easily, but it will only work on cultivators that are much weaker than you or the ones that have a frail mentality. Those with a stronger will not be affected by the pressure of spirit sense." Xukong advised.


    "Oh... I understand senior." Lin Mu replied in his mind.


    "Though, this is kind of obsolete for you. The Nine Divine heart sutras that you have are much better at mental disturbances and stronger to affect too. You may as well practice them more." Xukong added.


    Lin Mu then realized that what Senior Xukong was telling was quite right. The effect that Wu Hei¡¯s spirit sense had shown was basically a lower version of his severing heart sutra. The spirit sense was only able to momentarily make them lose their focus and disturb them, but his severing heart sutra could fully send them in a daze.


    ¡¯Wait a minute... can I...¡¯ Lin Mu suddenly realized something.


    He waited for the next round to start and prepared for it. There was a chance that he could be the very first person to be chosen, thus he would have to test it outter instead. Besides, in the third round, only four matches were going to happen and they were all going to involve contestants that were stronger.


    But Lin Mu had not expected that the very first round would be involving the person who had just fought.


    "The first contestant is Tianjin Shu who will be fighting... Nie Li!" The referee dered.


    The face of Tianjin Shu instantly fell after hearing this, and he knew he had lost already. But still, he walked to the ring, as was the etiquette and formally forfeit the match.


    "I forfeit!" He announced.


    Nie Li nodded his head in eptance, as he had already expected this. He was also secretly thankful as he was still a bit tired from his previous match and needed to recover.


    "Nie Li is the winner!" The referee quickly dered.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t even get to test out what he wanted to do, and the fight was over.


    "Looks like I¡¯ll have to wait for the next one." He muttered to himself.


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    The referee pulled out the next match up and announced it.


    "Qing Yuan Tiu will be fighting... Dumu Ao!" The referee annoyed.


    "Oh it is Qing Yuan Tiu, this will be a good fight." Someone from the audience said.


    "Yeah, even Dumu Ao is a good contestant and his fight was good too." Another person added.


    Lin Mu had seen this man Dumu Ao¡¯s previous fights closely and knew that he had good skills. He was also an aristocrat that was additionally a cultivation sect disciple. He belonged to the Cloven Sea sect, which was actually a medium sized sectparable to the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    This sect existed in the western border of the Shuang Qian Kingdom and was active in the ck Dawn kingdom as well. Lin Mu had read up on this sect before and knew that they were specialized in emission type qi skills with water based one¡¯s being their specialty.


    Lin Mu watched as the man went down the seats along with Qing Yuan Tiu. But the thing that Lin Mu wondered was if he would even get to test out what he wanted in this fight. The bnce of power was rather skewed on one side as both of the contestants use emission type qi skills, but Qing Yuan Tiu was much more powerful.


    The two of them stood at the ring and took their ces.


    "Senior sister Qing Yuan Tiu, I would like to invite you to our sect. I believe both our sects could have a good conversation." Dumu Ao said while cupping his hands in greeting.


    "I¡¯m thankful for the invitation junior brother Dumu Ao. I¡¯ll inform my elders about this invitation, but first we need to give a good show to the people." Qing Yuan Tiu said in a more genial tone.


    "That would be great. I hope senior sister will guide me and teach me today." Dumu Ao said before taking a defensive stance.


    He had already known that there was no chance of him winning this round as he was heavily outmatched. Still, he had his honor that he couldn¡¯t afford to lose. His n was not that high up in the aristocratic circles, and all he had today was gained through his own hard work and the cloven sea sect.


    "FIGHT!" The referee ordered.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Qing Yuan Tiu did the same thing she had done before, and six metal rods appeared from her legs and pierced into the stone floor. But Dumu Ao was ready for this and acted differently than he had shown. Instead of defending like he was presented before, his hands glowed in a blue hue before he swung them at Qing Yuan Tiu.


    <i>~kua~</i>


    The blue hue turned into an illusory whip that seemed as if it was made out of water, yet it was not. Lin Mu was observing it clearly and sensed that the method of using this technique was ratherplexpared to the basic fire ball technique.


    He had thought that it also used basic attributes qi and converts it to elemental qi to execute the technique, but this one seemed to have moreplex qi circuits. He would have to directly probe Dumu Ao body to be able to see it clearly.


    The whip swished ahead and was about to touch Qing Yuan Tiu when suddenly she swirled her hands.


    <i>~Whirl~</i>


    A wave of greening energy was released from her hands and spun around her body blocking the blue spirit qi whip.


    <i>~Thuck~</i>


    It was as if someone had pped a te filled with water with their hands. A few ripples appeared on the green wind barred before the whip dissipated.

 Chapter 383 - The Gale River Palm

    <h4>Chapter 383 - The Gale River Palm </h4>


    The audience watched with wide eyes as the attack faded away like nothing. The green wind barrier that was surrounding was like a shredder that ripped the blue qi whip into nothing.


    Lin Mu was also watching this and was impressed by the green wind barrier that Qing Yuan Tiu had created. From her style of fighting, Lin Mu could tell that she would be immobile a lot and thus would need a method to protect her.


    Normally she should have been part of a team, but since she was alone now, she had used a different method of defending herself against the attacks. But when Lin Mu took a closer look using his spirit sense, he realized that the green wind barrier was not something that could be used for a long time.


    He could see the fluctuating spirit qi that was circting in her spirit qi circuits and it looked as it if was going to fade away at any moment.


    ¡¯Looks like her defense is for a short term but can block a lot of damage.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Dumu Ao who had been dumbstruck by this was trying to attack again but could not do so as Qing Yuan Tiu attacked before that. She spread her palms away before pushing them towards him.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    "There it is again, the gale river palm!" The Junior disciple of the Tri cauldron peony sect said.


    The greenish wind that was spinning around Qing Yuan Tiu flowed to the front and turned into a pir of wind that hit Dumu Ao.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    Dumu Ao was thrown out of the ring and his back hit the ground. Though it seemed like Qing Yuan Tiu was a bit more lenient this time and there was no excess force behind the attack. It had merely pushed Dumu Ao out of the ring, but had not made him m against the wall and break his bones like Qing Yuan Tiu¡¯s previous opponent.


    Dumu Ao took a couple of seconds to recover before standing up.


    "I thank senior sister Qing Yuan Tiu for her lenience!" Dumu Ao stated in a respectful tone.


    Qing Yuan Tiu simply nodded her head and looked towards the referee, who raised his right hand.


    "Qing Yuan Tiu is the winner!" He dered.


    "Impressive fight!"


    "I wonder if the Autumn valley sect is still epting disciples."


    "Still, Dumu Ao did have some good skills. It was his misfortune that he had to be paired up against someone that was an entire cultivation realm above him."


    A cacophony of voices came from the audience, and the people cheered with joy. While this fight was also quite short, the people still got to see the different skills which had exacted and entertained them.


    Qing Yuan Tiu and Dumu Ao went back to their seats after this, and no healers were needed in this match. Now two more fights were remaining, and there was a fifty percent chance that Lin Mu would end up fighting in this match or the next one.


    The referee shook the wooden cylinder and pulled out the next match up.


    "The next match will be... Bu Lang versus Cai Wen!" The referee dered.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up as soon as he heard the announcement. Bu Lang and Cai Wen were the perfect candidates to test his skills on. What Lin Mu wanted to do was to see if his range with the Nine Divine Heart sutras had increased or not.


    He had not had the chance, neither had he remembered to check it in the recent few days. And with his increasing cultivation, there was a chance that it had increased. Bu Lang and Cai Wen were aristocrats as well and were both at the peak stage of the qi refining realm, making this match rather fair.


    The two contestants headed towards the ring and waited for the referee to start it.


    "Fight!" The referee ordered.


    Bu Lang and Cai Wen both had simr fighting styles and were e Venn using simr techniques.


    "This Cai Wen... is there any chance he¡¯s rted to Lord Cai?" Lin Mu questioned, seeing some familiarity between them.


    "Yes, you are right. Cai Wen is the nephew of Lord Cai and lives at the capital city. He¡¯se to attend the fight to represent lord Cai." Wu Hei answered.


    "Oh? Is that so... but then where is lord Cai? I can¡¯t see him here." Lin Mu asked further.


    "Lord Cai was attending the previouspetitions these past four days and wanted to attend this one too, but he had some kind of an emergency and had to give up on it." Wu Hei answered.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he wondered what could have been important enough for Lord Cai to miss this tournament. From what he had seen, the old man liked to be social and made a lot of connections in the aristocratic circle.


    But he was willing to miss out on a great chance such as this for some reason.


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    "What about this Bu Lang?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Bu Lang is also from the capital city and is one of the younger generation members of the Bu n." Wu Hei said.


    "Is that why their fighting styles are simr because they both learned in the capital city?" Lin Mu questioned curiously.


    "Both of them went to the same martial academy in the capital city that is popr amongst the aristocrats. That¡¯s why they have simr fighting styles. But if you consider just talent, then Bu Lang is above Cai Wen. He reached the peak stage of the Qi refining realm two years earlier than Cai Wen." Wu Hei answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and turned back to look at the fight.


    Bu Lang and Cai Wen had already exchanged a few blows, and their clothes were in disarray.


    "Haa" Bu Lang shouted as he did a palm strike to Cai Wen¡¯s back.


    Cai Wen was a bit slow to block it and ended up taking the full force of the attack.


    <i>~Thwack~</i>


    No bones were broken, but Cai Wen had been shaken due to the impact. Lin Mu looked at the two closely before chanting the severing heart sutra in a very low voice.

 Chapter 384 - End Of The Third Round

    <h4>Chapter 384 - End Of The Third Round </h4>


    Bu Lang was about to follow up with a kick to Cai Wen¡¯s legs when he suddenly became a bit dazed. Cai Wen who had been bracing for the impact became shocked at the man¡¯s sudden change. His eyes lit up as he realized that this was a good opportunity for him.


    A grey hue covered Cai Wen¡¯s arms as he raised both of them high up to the sky and brought them down together with his hands sped into a fist. The attacknded on the top of Bu Lang¡¯s head and he was knocked down.


    The impact was strong enough to shake his brain and render him unconscious for the rest of the match.


    "STOP!" The referee ordered.


    "The winner is Cai Wen!" He announced.


    "Whoa! That was unexpected." Someone from the crowd said.


    "What happened to Bu Lang suddenly? Why did he stop moving?" Another person questioned.


    It seemed like the audience was more interested in why Bu Lang had acted like that rather than Cai Wen winning. Even Cai Wen, the man himself was a bit surprised that he had won. He furrowed his brows for a bit before simply shrugging.


    The healers quickly went to check up on hate unconscious Bu Lang before a troubled expression appeared on their faces.


    "Bu Lang¡¯s... Bu Lang¡¯s not breathing!" One of the healers said.


    Another one checked his pulse and said, "he has no pulse either!"


    The people who had apanied Bu Lang were now agitated.


    "Quick, do something! You cannot let him die!" they shouted.


    The healers quickly took out healing pills and fed them to Bu Lang. They checked him for injuries and discovered that except for small cuts and bruises, the only Injury Bu Lang had suffered was the blow to his head.


    They checked his head as well, but didn¡¯t find any fractures on it and neither was it bleeding.


    "Wu Hei, you need to check it." Zhen Sui said, seeing that the situation had turned dire.


    She couldn¡¯t let a guest die here, not to mention that the Bu n was not a n they wanted enmity with. Their power was quite strong in the capital and would have control over a lot of businesses. Besides, the Wu family was already in quite a bit of trouble with Wu Xun being interrogated by the King.


    The audience was also anxious and didn¡¯t expect something like this to happen. But the most scared was actually Cai Wen.


    ¡¯I¡¯m doomed if Bu Lang dies by my hands...¡¯ He thought to himself as his hands trembled.


    About five minutes passed before the healers were finally able to get Bu Lang¡¯s heart working again.


    "Bu Lang is breathing!" The healers spoke.


    "Take him to recover and call some Senior healers to do a more detailed check." Wu Hei ordered from the seats.


    "As youmand Lord Hei!" the healers said before swiftly carrying Bu Lang away on a stretcher.


    Cai Wen could only go and sit on the seat and wait to see the result. Even if he had won the fight, he was not feeling excited. Even winning the entire tournament would not be worth it if Bu Lang died.


    "We shall continue now!" The referee announced.


    The people calmed down a bit after hearing his words and waited for the next draws. There were three people left in the pool and two of them were something that the audience wanted to see fight. These were none other than Ei Lan and Lin Mu.


    Ei Lan was simply the popr choice, while Lin Mu had defeated his opponent in a rather overwhelming manner.


    "The next match will be... Ei Lan versus... Zuo Hen!" The referee announced.


    The crowd was a bit disappointed as they wanted to see Lin Mu as well. But it seemed like his luck was good, and he had easily reached the fourth round. Lin Mu was didn¡¯t really feel anything about this as he already knew that he would have to fight one of the two core condensation realm cultivators, eventually.


    He just looked towards the ring and saw the two contestants descend. But as soon as they got on the stage, Zuo Hen spoke up.


    "I forfeit!" Zuo Hen said.


    "Oh? Are you sure, Lord Zuo Hen?" Ei Lan asked.


    "Yes... I know my limits and better than to challenge them for now." Zuo Hen stated.


    "Alight." Ei Lan said as he nodded his head.


    "The winner is Ei Lan!" The referee announced.


    "Lord Ei Lan is the best!" one of the women from the audience shouted along with the other fans of Ei Lan.


    Zhen Sui and the rest of the people in the top seats watched with indifference as they had already expected this result. Wu Teng looked extremely bored from his expression and was busy ying with the snacks instead.


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    Lin Mu took a look over to Yi Zi Jin and found her to be sitting there with her eyes closed.


    ¡¯For a bride to be her behaviors are rather strange...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Now the third round had beenpleted, and only the fourth round and the final round were left. It had been about five hours since the tournament had started and it was now afternoon.


    "We will be taking a break now and let the contestants rest. The next round will begin in one hour!" The referee dered.


    The people stood up from the seats and walked down. A small banquet area had already been set up for the guests to enjoy near the battle ring, and all of them moved there.


    "We may as well enjoy some food till the next round begins." Wu Hei said to Lin Mu.


    Zhen Sui and the people from the Tri cauldron peony sect did the same and went to the banquet area. There tables had been set up for the guests, and the servants were already serving food and drinks to the guests.


    Lin Mu apanied Wu Hei to a table and was joined by Wu Teng. They were waiting for the food when Lin Mu suddenly felt something.


    "This... from the caves..."

 Chapter 385 - Disturbance In The Tunnels

    <h4>Chapter 385 - Disturbance In The Tunnels </h4>


    Lin Mu could sense the strange aura that was nowing from beneath the ground. He tried to estimate where they were currently ording to the position of the tunnels and realized that there should be a sludge pool below them.


    ¡¯This... could it be the new blood sludge that is being expelled from the main blood pool?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    His spirit sense pierced the ground but could not go much deep. Still, he had not done this to check the area inside but just to see the aura that wasing from it. He looked around, and it looked like no one had actually sensed this, only him.


    "You¡¯ve sensed it before and your sensitivity is also higher, that¡¯s probably why you are able to feel it." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu silently nodded his head and looked around again to confirm if anyone else had sensed it. But it looked like everyone was still focused on the food.


    Lin Mu leaned towards Wu Hei and whispered. "I sense something in the tunnels below, perhaps new blood sludge is being expelled."


    Wu Hei¡¯s eyes went wide for a moment before calming down. His spirit sense immediately extended from his body and pierced the ground, traveling deep. But even then it was stopped half way through without reaching anything.


    Wu Hei¡¯s brows furrowed as he was unable to sense anything.


    "It¡¯s too deep for me to check... I¡¯ll send someone to take a look." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Alright... if needed, we may need to stop the tournament. Would that be possible?" Lin Mu asked in a low voice.


    "Hmm... I may have a method," Wu Hei replied as his eyes nced towards Wu Teng for a second before continuing, "but yes, I should be able to."


    "Can you speed up the rounds then? Maybe it is better to wrap this up early instead?" Lin Mu questioned after thinking for a bit.


    "Give me a few minutes..." Wu Hei said before standing up and going towards his mother, who was talking to a few guests on the other side.


    Wu Teng looked at his brother who had abruptly left the table and was about to ask him but then realized that it was probably something rted to organizing.


    ¡¯Better to not ask something that may end up with me needed to work...¡¯ Wu Teng thought and returned his attention to the food in front of him.


    Lin Mu also started eating and finished his first serving of food pretty quickly. This food was also made using some low grade spirit beast meat along with spirit herbs. This not only helped the cultivators with their cultivation, but was also quite delicious.


    N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive ? material.


    After the servants brought him his fifth serving, Lin Mu¡¯s gaze identally went towards Qing Yuan Tiu, who was sitting at a table with Dumu Ao and hispanions. They were talking animatedly while Qing Yuan Tiu would add to the conversation from time to time.


    Her behavior seemed to be a different from what it was during the match. Lin Mu then looked at the second core condensation realm cultivator that was there, Ei Lan. This man was also talking with a few other sect personnel along with a few aristocrats that had apanied him.


    Lin Mu looked at him for a minute before an idea popped into his mind. His spirit sense extended and stayed at a short distance from Ei Lan. He then started chanting the severing heart sutra and targeted Ei Lan. Thankfully Lin Mu had chosen the right moment and Ei Lan was not speaking right now, or the others would have found it strange if he suddenly stopped talking in the middle of the conversation.


    As soon as Lin Mu saw that he was dazed, he probed Ei Lan with his spirit sense tendril. It went through his body and observed the cultivation base of Ei Lan and the items that he had on him. Lin Mu took less than three seconds before quickly pulling his spirit sense back.


    Ei Lan snapped out of his daze and suddenly stood up.


    "Is there a problem, Lord Ei Lan?" One of the people sitting at the table questioned.


    Ei Lan did not answer him right away, but instead looked around for a couple of seconds.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    A breath was released by the man as he finally looked at the man who had asked him a question.


    "No, nothing... I was just mistaken and thought someone called me." Ei Lan spoke before sitting back down and returning to the conversation.


    On the other side, Lin Mu was intrigued by Ei Lana¡¯s reaction and also about the things that he had found out.


    ¡¯Hmm... seems like he¡¯s only at the early stage of the core condensation realm, though he does have a couple of spirit tools. A low grade spatial storage ring, amunication jade, a protective talisman hanging on his neck, and finally a pair of daggers hidden on his waist. Thought they are just normal daggers and not spirit weapons.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    About ten minutes had passed since Wu Hei had gone off, and now that Lin Mu looked for him, he was nowhere to be found. Even Zhen Sui had disappeared to somewhere. But just as he was wondering, he found theming towards him from the side of the Manor.


    "Honored guests, I know you all are enjoying your time here, but I¡¯m afraid it must be paused. We will be resuming the tournament right away." Zhen Sui announced.


    Barely half an hour had passed since the break began and another half an hour was left. While some people seemed a bit upset as they were having conversations, others seemed to actually be happy.


    "This is no problem, madam Zhen Sui. I would actually prefer to watch the tournament more." One of the guests spoke.


    "Yes, yes, while I was enjoying my time here, the tournament is definitely more exciting." Fa Shiu, the senior brother spoke.


    "Alright, if everyone is in agreement then please move back to the fighting ring." Zhen Sui said and everyone started to return to the seating area.

 Chapter 386 - Cheated?

    <h4>Chapter 386 - Cheated? </h4>


    "The first match up of the fourth round is... Mu Lin versus Nie Li!" The referee announced.


    After the people had gathered back everything had proceeded swiftly. Lin Mu didn¡¯t ask Wu Hei about how he managed to convince his mother and thought that it was alright. Looking from the faint scowl on his face, it was apparent that he probably had to make some concessions.


    Another thing that had happened was that Cai Wen had actually resigned from the tournament. His im was that he was not recovered yet, and neither was he in the right mind to fight. Though the people realized that the true reason was probably that he knew he was outmatched against everyone.


    This way the people in the fourth round had been reduced to four and now the matches could progress normally. The very first match was Lin Mu and thus he walked down from the seat and Nie Li along with him.


    "Lord Mu Lin please guide me." Nie Li said while cupping his hands.


    Lin Mu returned the greeting and looked at the Referee to start the match.


    "FIGHT!" The referee ordered while waving his hand.


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    "Let¡¯s end this quickly..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He didn¡¯t want to be caught in the middle of the tournament if anything was happening with the Gu legion or with the blood pool. Thus he used all his power from the get go.


    As soon as the referee¡¯s words were heard, Lin Mu amplified his legs with spirit qi and pounced at Nie Li. The man was clearly not expecting such a strong reaction from Lin Mu. He had seen his previous fight and how fast he was but did not expect this kind of an attack.


    Before he could even react, Lin Mu was already at his neck.


    "Sorry to make it end like this..." Lin Mu said before grasping his neck and throwing him out of the ring like a rag doll.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    Nie Linded on the floor outside the ring and could not move for a minute. He was pale with the fear that had filled him when that hand sped his neck. He felt as if he was being watched by a deadly beast and could not bring himself to resist.


    "STOP! The winner is Mu Lin!" The referee dered.


    Lin Mu nodded and went back to the seats much to the shock of the people. Since Nie Li had not stood up yet, the healers went to check up on it but found him to have no injuries, except for some bruises and scratches from falling on the ground.


    "That was quick, Good." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Better to end this quick. I did not expect it to be... easy like this..." Lin Mu replied.


    The corner of Wu Hei¡¯s lips twitched as he heard Lin Mu calling the best of the aristocrats weak. Sure there were people at the nascent soul realm or even the Dao shell realm among the aristocrats but they were old elders that wouldn¡¯t interfere in matters such as this.


    This was the fight amongst the younger generation and thus it was expected.


    ¡¯It was not that the fights are easy, but you who are a difficult opponent...¡¯ Wu Hei thought to himself.


    The referee saw the silence in the crowd and just decided to call out the next match up. He had already been instructed to speed up the process. He didn¡¯t know why they would do this, but he had to follow the orders and that was what he did.


    He didn¡¯t even have to shake the wooden cylinder to pick the contestants as only two of them were left and they were a fitting match too.


    "The next match is Qing Yuan Tiu and Ei Lan!" The referee announced.


    "WOO!!" The audience shouted after hearing it.


    "Finally, this is what we¡¯ve been waiting for!" Other spoke.


    Lin Mu looked around and saw that even Wu Teng and the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect were excited about this. It was quite obvious that even they did not get to see the battles between core condensation realm experts as much and thus were expectant.


    Lin Mu shook his head and apologized to the people for what he was going to do. He watched as Ei Lan and Qing Yuan Tie walked up to the ring.


    "Sister Qing Yuan Tiu perhaps we can have some conversation after thepetition is over," Ei Lan suggested with a smile.


    "Perhaps..." Qing Yuan Tiu curtly said before cupping her hands.


    "FIGHT!" The referee ordered.


    Instantly Lin Mu¡¯s lips moved, and he chanted the severing heart sutra.


    Qing Yuan Tiu looked towards her opponent, the only one here that she was actually wary about. The rest she had not even put in her eyes... well except for one. She knew that she was at a disadvantage here and if she did not react quickly she may have a chance of getting defeated.


    But just as Qing Yuan Tiu was about to get ready to defend, she saw that Ei Lan was standing there dumbly. She was surprised but pushed the thoughts of curiosity to the side.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    The six rods pierced the floor and her palms glowed with a green light.


    Gale River Palm!


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The greenish wind pir hit Ei Lan who had just be conscious at the veryst moment. One moment he was looking at his opponent and in the next, he was in the air. He was incredibly confused but could not do much.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    His bodynded on the ground outside the ring much to the astonishment of the speechless audience.


    Even if the past two fights had been knock outs, this was too much for them. Especially for a popr contestant like Ei Lan.


    The referee was barely able to hold back his jaw from dropping but then remembered his professionalism.


    "The winner is Qing Yuan Tiu!" He dered.


    "What the..."


    "This is unfair! Lord Ei Lan didn¡¯t even get to react, She must have cheated!"

 Chapter 387 - Accusation And Final Round

    <h4>Chapter 387 - usation And Final Round </h4>


    The words of the persons who had just spoken spread in the audience. But the very next moment another sound was heard.


    <i>~p~</i>


    "How dare you say that! Watch your tongue or I¡¯ll cut it off myself!" Spoke an old man who was actually apanying the user.


    "Bu-but Elder! That..." before the person could continue though, another p was given and he flew from his seat, falling to the ground.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    "Not! One! Word! More!" The elder stressed.


    The person could not hold on more and directly fainted due to the impact. Some teeth could also be seen fallen to the side of him and blood was leaking out of his mouth. But the elder paid no attention to his junior and simply looked at Qing Yuan Tiu with a wry expression.


    "Please forgive my junior, senior Qing Yuan Tiu. He is na?ve and does not know the way of the world." The old man apologized.


    "It is fine..." Qing Yuan Tiu said while shaking her head.


    None of the others dared to speak after seeing that exchange and knew better to talk. Qing Yuan Tiu stood right there on the stage as it was obvious she was the finalist along with Lin Mu. It wouldn¡¯t make sense for her to leave it.


    But while the audience was confused about the whole fight and how Ei Lan had acted, Qing Yuan Tiu was even more confused about it. She wondered if Ei Lan had given up the fight on his own or something. By now, the healers hade to check up on Ei Lan and found him to be normal.


    Though he was still not speaking and seemed to be reeling in from the shock.


    "Lord Ei Lan! Can you hear us?" The healers tried asking.


    "...Yes, I can..." Ei Lan spoke after a dy.


    His face was rather fallen and he was wondering what had gone wrong. He had a big n that he was supposed to be doing after he won thepetition, but now that he had lost in such a manner there was no way he would be able to do it.


    Another thing that scared him was that he seemed to have lost memories of those two seconds between the start of the fight and the moment he was sent flying. He thought for a bit ande to a few conclusions.


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    One, either he was mistaken and lost the memories due to the shock, or something had caused this. Which could be a poison or some kind of technique. But from all the techniques that Ei Lan knew of that could cause something like this, they needed to make direct contact with him, or that he needed to see them execute the technique to take effect.


    Such techniques could be executed through two modes, either visually or through sound. But Ei Lan was sure that neither had he heard anything nor seen someone use a technique like that. At first, he doubted Qing Yuan Tiu but then passed over that thought as it was quite unlikely.


    A technique like that was not easy to learn, and one would have to specialize in them to be good enough to affect a core condensation realm cultivator like him. This only left him with one choice,


    "Poison... I¡¯ve been drugged..." Ei Lan muttered to himself.


    As soon as he came to this conclusion, his eyes darted around. Suspicion rose in his mind, and the first part he thought of was the Wu Family. He hade here to demonstrate his ability and represent his n¡¯s power. He knew that there were some dealings in the secret between the ns, and him winning against Wu Hei would benefit them.


    So the first person he thought of was Wu Hei. But after a minute he realized that he wouldn¡¯t do something like that in a high profile event like this. It would be too problematic and the political mess it would open up would be counterproductive to Wu Hei instead.


    From what Ei Lan knew, Wu Hei was a rather reclusive person and did not like to get involved in external matters such as this. The man wasn¡¯t even at the core condensation realm and was more interested in his research and schrly work rather than increasing his cultivation and gaining power.


    ¡¯I need to be careful with this... throwing words wouldn¡¯t necessarily benefit me and would instead cause problems.¡¯ Ei Lan thought to himself.


    He simply stood up and went along with the healers to get checked properly. Ei Lan wanted to see if he truly was drugged or not.


    With Ei Lana¡¯s departure, the referee decided to begin the next round.


    "The final round will be starting now. Will the two fighters please take their ces on the stage!" The referee ordered.


    "Good luck brother Mu Lin." Wu Hei said in a calm tone.


    Wu Hei wasn¡¯t really worried about Lin Mu not winning, rather he was worried about him doing something overwhelming which would cause more problems. Wu Hei had realized by this point that bringing Lin Mu was perhaps a bit too much.


    "HA HA! Finally, it is brother Mu Lin¡¯s turn! Go and show them who¡¯s a true man!" Wu Teng said in his loud voice.


    He would have patted or rather pped Lin Mu on his back had it not been for the distance between them and his mother giving him a re.


    "We look forward to Lord Mu Lin¡¯s performance." The disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect said.


    "I thank everyone for their blessings..." Lin Mu said before heading down.


    He walked up to the stage and cupped his hands in ceremony.


    "Senior Qing Yuan Tiu, please give me guidance." Lin Mu said in a respectful tone.


    "I ask the same of Lord Mu Lin." Qing Yuan Tiu replied with a calm expression.


    Lin Mu nodded and look towards the referee to announce the start when he saw someone that shocked him.


    "Peak Master Yi Deng has arrived!"


    "Junior Elder Fa Shiu has arrived!"

 Chapter 388 - The Peak Master And Junior Elders Arrival!

    <h4>Chapter 388 - The Peak Master And Junior Elder''s Arrival! </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s was fine upon hearing the first name but the second name made his face tense up. He didn¡¯t dare turn around and simply looked through the side of his hair. It had grown long enough that it reached the base of his neck and covered the side of his face.


    Looking from this angle, it hid his face, but he was still able to see through the gaps in his hair locks. He gazed at the person apanying Peak master Yi Deng and indeed found him to be Junior Elder Fa Shiu who he had missed out on killing.


    Wu Hei had looked for the man everywhere in the city as well as the outskirts but the man had disappeared in a strange manner. There were still people looking for him but were unsessful. Lin Mu was still a bit worried about him in these past few days but since the man had not shown up his concern had lessened.


    But now it had been turned up to the very max and made him anxious. He looked towards Wu Hei and saw him ncing at him too. There was a warning in his sight that told him not to act right now. Lin Mu could tell that even Wu Hei was taken aback and was quickly thinking of something.


    "Alright fighters take their ce, and... Fight!" The referee ordered.


    The Peak master and Fa Shiu were walking towards the seating area and had barely seen towards the fighting ring. Even the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect seemed to be a bit surprised but also delighted at the same time. Fa Lao was ted at the sight of his elder brother as well.


    Lin Mu¡¯s attention was still a bit distracted due to this, and thus he slowed his response when Qing Yuan Tiu attacked him first.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    Unlike before, Qing Yuan Tiu was using a different technique and had not extended the metal rods. Instead of using the Gale River Palm, she was using a different qi skill. This skill had created a few swirling orbs of greenish winds that floated around Qing Yuan Tiu.


    She had shot out one of these very orbs at Lin Mu. Qing Yuan Tiu knew that she had to change her strategy against Lin Mu as the boy was much faster than her. While she had confidence that she could defeat him in a fight of pure strength, he had the upper hand here due to his speed.


    If she were to use her spirit sword to fly, she would be much faster than him, but her technique¡¯s requirements werepletely different and required her to be immobile. If she locked herself into a ce using the metal rods, she had no doubt that Lin Mu would be able to cover the distance quickly.


    While his attacks may not hurt her, Lin Mu didn¡¯t have to particrly hurt her. With his raw strength, all he had to do was throw her out of the ring to defeat her. Another thing was her metal rods prevented her from being pushed back, but not from being pulled upwards, which was what Lin Mu could attempt to do.


    Thus she used a different technique that she had in her arsenal. This one was much weaker than the Gale river palm but could be used without her needing to be immobile. Plus, her control with this technique was also much better.


    Qing Yuan Tiu had not expected that there would be a repeat of the result of thest round. But somehow Lin Mu was also distracted, like Ei Lan. And did not react in time. She wondered if her luck had been increased somehow.


    But when the greenish wind orb struck Lin Mu, Qing Yuan Tiu did not see the effect that she wanted. A brownish yellow barrier appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s body and easily blocked the orb before cracking and disappearing.


    The Earthen Qi pill¡¯s barrier had protected Lin Mu from the attack of Qing Yuan Tiu.


    "Dammit!" Lin Mu cursed under his breath.


    He had made a ratherrge mistake and had lost his secondary means of protection, which was to be the earthen qi pill¡¯s barrier. Now not only did he have to fight Qing Yuan Tiu but also hide his face from the Junior elder Fa Shiu.


    Lin Mu quickly started thinking of ideas as his thoughts ran like lightning.


    Qing Yuan Tiu got rid of her surprise quickly and sent another orb flying towards Lin Mu.


    <i>~woosh~</i>


    This time Lin Mu was able to dodge it by an inch. He could not use Blink and nor could he use Flicker to dodge these attacks. His legs were already strengthened with spirit qi, and their power was amplified. Using his quick movements and agility, Lin Mu started dodging the orbs that were thrown towards him.


    By now, peak Master Yi Deng and Junior elder Fa Shiu had reached the seating area and were going towards the seats that were reserved for them. It was along with the rest of the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    Once they reached the top and talked with others, Lin Mu knew that it would be close to immortal for him to hide his identity.


    While Lin Mu was thinking his speed has slowed by the slightest and Qing Yuan Tiu noticed this.


    ¡¯So he can¡¯t keep up this speed continuously... it must be quite taxing on him.¡¯ She thought.


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    Qing Yuan Tiu then flourished her hands and spread them wide. Ten more greenish wind orbs formed and surrounded her.


    "GO!" she uttered and flicked her hands towards Lin Mu.


    The orbs mirrored her actions and flew towards Lin Mu, some going in a straight line while the others curving around to surround him from all sides.


    Lin Mu saw theming and gritted his teeth.


    "I¡¯ll have to try it at least..." He muttered to himself before his eyes lit up with a fierce flint.


    Qing Yuan Tiu saw it for a moment and was surprised, before feeling a tinge of fear in her heart.


    ¡¯Boulder Copsing Fist: First form- Impact!¡¯


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    A big cloud of dust was kicked up, shrouding the ring.

 Chapter 389 - A Swift Murder

    <h4>Chapter 389 - A Swift Murder </h4>


    The people in the audience couldn¡¯t help but cover up their ears as the loud noise assaulted their ears and made them shudder in their seats. They were also shocked at what had happened. One moment Lin Mu was dodging the greenish wind orbs from Qing Yuan Tiu and in the next, he suddenly punched the floor.


    The power of that punch waspletely on a different level, such that the floor was shattered and thick stone dust blew up in the air, clouding their vision. The ring was made of a ck stone that wasmon and could be easily carved.


    It was sturdy enough to handle a majority of attacks of the cultivators below Core condensation realm and most Qi refining realm cultivators would not be able to even crack it with their strength unless they had some unique qi skills.


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    Qing Yuan Tiu herself was knocked back and fell to the ground as the floor beneath her broke. She was in a daze from the force of the shock wave that punch had caused. It took her a moment to realize what had just happened when the terror got to her.


    ¡¯He¡¯s hiding in the dust!¡¯ Qing Yuan Tiu thought.


    She extended her spirit sense and scanned the area, trying to find Lin Mu. Qing Yuan Tiu couldn¡¯t say that she was that talented in refining spirit sense as her¡¯s was barely at the minimum level that the core condensation realm cultivators had. But even then, its range wasrge enough to check the entire area.


    "Huh? Where did he go?" Qing Yuan Tiu said, feeling surprised.


    ¡¯Did he leave the ring by any chance? But that would mean he lost the fight.¡¯ Qing Yuan Tiu thought and extended her spirit sense beyond the ring. But when she couldn¡¯t see him even there, she was utterly confused.


    "NO! He must have a technique to mask his presence!" Qing Yuan Tiu realized and braced herself to defend.


    But unlike what she was thinking, Lin Mu really wasn¡¯t on the ring. Rather, he had used the Fourth skill Fade and entered the parallel space. Just before he punched the floor with the Boulder copsing fist, Lin Mu had shot out his spirit sense and made a guide towards the location of the junior elder Fa Shiu.


    In the parallel space, Lin Mu rushed along with his spirit sense as a guide. His eyes were bloodshot as he pushed his body to the next level. Spirit qi was thrumming in his meridians as his muscles filled with power.


    "It¡¯s now or never," Lin Mu muttered to himself before deactivating the fourth skill fade and appearing in the real world.


    His short sword was already in his hand and packed with spirit qi. This was the most he had amplified it with till now, and he had used liquid spirit qi this time. As soon as he appeared there, he was just behind the Junior Elder Fa Shiu.


    <i>~Slick~</i>


    The short sword effortlessly pierced the base of Fa Shi¡¯s head, and Lin Mu touched the back of the man like lightning before storing it in the ring. His spirit sense shot back to the ring, and he faded away into the parallel space.


    The audience was fully focused on themotion happening on the ring and thus did not see the murder that had append just beside them. Even the Peak master Yi Deng was looking towards the ring, not paying attention to his surroundings.


    Who would have thought that a nascent soul realm cultivators¡¯ck of alertness would lead them to miss out on such an act. By now Lin Mu was already in the parallel space, moving towards the ring. In less than 2 seconds, he reached the ring and deactivated the skill.


    But as soon as he did, he was hit with an orb that knocked him back and destroyed the robes that he was wearing.


    Qing Yuan Tiu had suddenly sensed that Lin Mu had appeared to her right side and immediately acted. The time period for which Lin Mu had disappeared was less than seven seconds, and thus she had not dispelled that dust cloud right away.


    But now that the greenish wind sphere struck Lin Mu, it also blew away all the dust that was there.


    "Look! He¡¯s still there." Someone from the audience shouted.


    Lin Mu was currently at the very edge of the ring and had stooped his fall by stabbing his hands through the stone ring. Although it had already been shattered intorge pieces, it was still in its ce. Lin Mu took a look at his shoulder that had been hit with the orb and saw that it was bruised.


    But even then there was no external bleeding, and neither was there anything broken for him. The force of the orb had mostly been focused on knocking him back.


    The audience didn¡¯t know what had happened and that Lin Mu had been hit with one of Qing Yuan Tiu¡¯s attacks. But the woman herself did and was shocked for the third time during the battle.


    ¡¯How did he defend against it again? The first time was the barrier... but now?¡¯ Qing Yuan Tiu wondered.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and knew that he had to be quick and end the fight. He didn¡¯t know whether the disappearance of junior elder Fa Shiu had been detected or not, but he wanted to be free from this fight before anything happened.


    His lips lightly moved as chants started toe out of them. Qing Yuan Tiu who was looking at Lin Mu suddenly felt her mind getting dull, then in the next second, Lin Mu was right in front of her. She wanted to react, but it was as if her mind had been stuck in a bog, unable to move.


    "Time to end it!" Lin Mu uttered as he grasped the hand of Qing Yuan Tiu like a mp and threw her out of the ring.

 Chapter 390 - Winner And Miss

    <h4>Chapter 390 - Winner And Miss </h4>


    Due to him being amped up, he had used a bit too much of his strength and hurled her too far. By the time Qing Yuan Tiu gained back her control, she found herself five meters in the air and about ten meters away from the ring.


    A wry smile appeared on her face as she epted her defeat. But she didn¡¯t fall, no. She reacted rather quickly and a spirit sword appeared in front of her, catching her in the air. She then lightly floated down to the ground and took a breath of relief.


    Only now did she realize how hard her heart was beating and how anxious she was during the entire fight. Not to mention that she had just been defeated by a person who was an entire cultivation realm below her.


    "He... he... won..." One of the audience members muttered.


    "HAHAHA! THAT¡¯S A TRUE MAN! BROTHER MU LIN IS AMAZING!" The boisterous voice of Wu Teng was heard as he stood up and started pping.


    T¨ºxt belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    <i>~p~</i>


    <i>~p~</i>


    <i>~p~</i>


    <i>~p~</i>


    The people snapped out of their shock and came to terms with the fact that Lin Mu had just defeated someone above his realm.


    "MU LIN IS THE WINNER OF THE TOURNAMENT!" The referee dered.


    "WOOHOO!" The people cheered in excitement.


    Their hopes for a good fight had finally happened, and they got more than they were expecting. This result was something that hadpletely blown them away.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A sigh escaped Wu Hei¡¯s lips as he dreaded what was about toe. While the fight had ended and Lin Mu had won, the trouble had just started. The junior elder Fa Shiu was here, and there was no chance that he had not informed peak master Yi Deng of what must have happened back then.


    All it would take is for him to point at Lin Mu, and peak master would not even have to lift a finger before Lin Mu would be restrained. For a nascent soul realm cultivator killing a qi refining, realm cultivator was as easy as squashing an ant.


    Wu Hei turned his head towards Peak master Yi Deng and saw him staring at the ring.


    "Huh? Where¡¯s the junior elder?" Wu Hei muttered to himself.


    He looked around, but there was no sign of Fa Shiu anywhere. He then looked at the other disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect and saw that even they were unaware of this fact and were looking at the ring with excitement on their faces.


    A big question mark was on Wu Hei¡¯s face as he couldn¡¯tprehend what exactly could have happened. Perhaps he had mistaken the existence of Fa Shiu and he was never here? Or that he had gone away during that incident in the ring.


    "Lord Mu Lin is impressive, I didn¡¯t think someone from a small kingdom like the Fenlong kingdom would have such skills." Quan Hong spoke.


    "Indeed, perhaps we should look into him a more and see if he wants to join our sect. He will be a great addition to us, I¡¯m sure," Fa Lao said. "What do you think elder brother?" He asked as he turned around to see his elder brother, who had finally appeared after being missing for weeks.


    While he had been a bit anxious, he wasn¡¯t exactly worried as he didn¡¯t think there were many things that could threaten his brother. And if he had disappeared, then something must have happened that required him to be hidden like that.


    "Elder brother? Huh? Where¡¯s elder brother?" Fa Lao questioned seeing his elder brother missing.


    Peak master Yi Deng who was looking at Lin Mu with interest was finally brought out of his thoughts by Fa Lao¡¯s words.


    "What do you mean, he¡¯s right he..." Yi Teng trailed off.


    He looked around and saw his former chief disciple missing. Yi Deng¡¯s eyes went wide as he became alert. A Strong wave of aura radiated off Yi Deng¡¯s body as his spirit sense spread around. Each and every person in the area shuddered as they felt the spirit sense scan and pass over them.


    Even Lin Mu felt it and trembled.


    "This... a nascent soul realm cultivator is much more stronger than I thought." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    While he had felt the spirit sense of Old Man Jing before who was in the Dao Treading realm, the spirit sense of Yi Deng was more bold. Jing Wei¡¯s spirit sense was conserved and precise, while Yi Deng¡¯s was like arge that spread.


    "FA SHIU!" peak master Yi Deng shouted in anger.


    It had taken him such a long time to find his former chief disciple and when he learned what had happened, he was even more enraged. But there was still the problem that the murderer who had killed his disciples had an unknown identity.


    Fa Shiu had just turned up at the stronghold and had told him all that had happened. How people had been following and tracking him. This all felt like a huge conspiracy to Yi Deng, and he knew there were hidden powers at y here.


    "WHERE IS FA SHIU!?" Yi Deng shouted again.


    The people were now all staring at Yi Deng, who was shouting like a mad dog. The other disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect were also anxious now and knew that something bad had happened.


    Wu Hei narrowed his brows and knew that he needed to control the situation before it got out of hand.


    "Peak master, please calm down and tell me what exactly happened?" Wu Hei questioned in a calm tone.


    "What do you mean, what happened? One of my disciples just disappeared!" Yi Deng answered.


    "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll find him, he¡¯ll be fine. After all, junior elder Fa Shiu is no child and should be able to take care of himself." Wu Hei assured.


    But this seemed to have only fanned the mes of anger in Yi Deng¡¯s eyes as he hooted again.


    "No one will leave this ce till I allow them to!"

 Chapter 391 - The Flipped Scenario

    <h4>Chapter 391 - The Flipped Scenario </h4>


    A pin drop silence was spread in the entire area and no one dared to speak. They were even careful about their breathing and felt as if a mountain had been ced on their chests. Such was the pressure exuded by a Nascent soul realm expert.


    Lin Mu had a bit of difficulty to bear it at first, but after about thirty seconds his body adapted to it and it no longer felt as heavy to him. He had borne the full force of old Man Jing¡¯s spirit sense and even sword intent. This was nothingpared to that.


    Though Lin Mu was still a bit anxious about the fact that he could have left some traces or clues that he was the one that had killed Fa Shiu. Besides, from what he knew, from Nascent soul realm onward the cultivators could sense the spatial fluctuations in the environment better.


    He didn¡¯t know, but it didn¡¯t seem like Yi Deng has sensed it yet. But Lin Mu knew for sure that the spatial traces would still be there in the area for a while. After all, he had basically torn through the fabric of this world to enter the Parallel space, which wasn¡¯t even supposed to be possible.


    From what he had learned from Senior Xukong, the ce that he entered when using fade was something that was different than normalyers of the void. Xukong himself didn¡¯t know that it existed until Lin Mu entered it. But from what he could tell, that parallel space was absolute and existed everywhere.


    "Disciples!" Yi Deng uttered.


    "Yes, peak master!" all of the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect stood yup and saluted the Peak master.


    "Seal the area, and contact the sect. Tell the patriarch to send the supreme elder!" Peak master Yi Deng said with fury in his eyes.


    Hearing the order, everyone¡¯s eyes went wide as their expressions turned serious. They knew that if the peak master was willing to contact the supreme elder, then it meant that the matter was of a grave danger. This was the first time they had seen peak master act like this, and from their experience with him they thought of him as a calm andposed man.


    "YES PEAK MASTER!" Everyone replied in unison.


    "I¡¯ll inform the sect." Hong Quan stated and left hurriedly.


    "I¡¯ll set up the seal." Fa Lao said with a straight expression.


    He now realized that perhaps his elder brother had been in much bigger trouble than anyone else had expected. He tried to remember what his elder brother was going to do before he came here.


    ording to what they had discussed, his elder brother was going to apany the juniors to hunt and obtain a gift for sister Yi Zi Jin. They didn¡¯t really exin where they were going to hunt, but from what he knew it must have been either the Northern forest or the sect¡¯s ownnds.


    ¡¯They shouldn¡¯t ha vie had any problem at the sect¡¯snd as they would have been able to call for help instantly there. That means whatever happened it must have been at the northern forest... don¡¯t tell me... did they perhaps go too deep?¡¯ Fa Lao wondered.


    "You alle with me," Fa Lao said to his fellow disciples, and they were about to walk forward when they were stopped.


    "And what gives you the authority to act like this in my house," Said Wu Teng as he blocked their path.


    "Teng! You cannot speak like that!" Zhen Sui said as she felt anxious.


    "No, brother is right this time," Wu Hei agreed. "The Tri cauldron peony sect cannot do anything till they exin to us what this is about." He added.


    Lin Mu looked on in silence and kept standing there. He didn¡¯t want to act until there was a problem.


    Yi Deng turned his head towards the two Wu brothers and a scowl appeared on his face.


    "Let me tell you what has happened and then you tell me if it¡¯s worth it. My former chief disciple and one of the junior elders of the Tri cauldron sect, Fa Shiu had been missing for the past few weeks. There was utterly no news of him and the disciples that apanied him in the task that they were doing.


    We waited and waited but received no news or message from them, until today. Fa Shiu appeared at our courtyard alone and exined to me what had happened. There is arge conspiracy beingmitted against our sect and its disciples.


    The apanying junior disciples didn¡¯t go missing, they were killed!" Yi Deng exined.


    <i>~gasp~</i>


    A collective gasp spread in the audience as they had not thought someone would have the gall to do something like this.


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    "But if both Fa Shiu and the Juniors went missing, why did only he return?" Wu Hei asked.


    "He was the only one that was able to escape. He told me that a group of strong Core condensation realm cultivators had hunted them at that time and wanted to rob them. They killed the juniors and Fa Shiu barely escaped by the skin of his teeth.


    Even after escaping, he was continued to be hunted down and had to hide many times. He was being spied on constantly even in the southern town and was able to give them a slip due to using a precious talisman." Yi Deng answered.


    Confused expressions appeared on both Lin Mu¡¯s and Wu Hei¡¯s faces. But Wu Hei¡¯s masked his rather quickly and nodded his head to show as if he had understood.


    "Alright then peak master, this is quite reasonable." Wu Hei replied and looked at Wu Teng. "Let them go, elder brother." He added.


    "Fine. If you say so." Wu Teng said in an unwilling tone and let the disciples do their task.


    Lin Mu on the other hand was trying to figure out how the story had changed like this.


    ¡¯How did it be from me killing them to a group of strong core condensation realm cultivators hunting them?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "I think I can tell why." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Oh? Please do tell senior." Lin Mu replied.


    "It seems like the junior elder Fa Shiu tried to save face by twisting the story. This way not only would the sect take his words more seriously, but they would not lose their reputation in the sect that way. If he was not able to defeat even a qi refining realm cultivator with his cultivation base at the core condensation realm, I believe he may have even been punished.


    Besides, his lie actually seems more usible than you killing all of them single-handedly and chasing the junior elder for his life. Even the sect would have doubted them if he said that he was hunted by you, I think." Xukong exined.


    "Wait, so that means... I¡¯m pretty much free from suspicion?" Lin Mu asked.


    "For now, yes. But if he had truly seen your face during the fight, I¡¯m pretty sure he would have used you. Thankfully, your swift action has not only prevented that but even saved you from suspicion." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in acknowledgment as he now found the entire thing a bit ridiculous.


    Wu Hei was alsoughing internally, as he was able to guess the entire premise too. After all, the people that were hunting and spying on Fa Shiu were the Hei corps. And of course, he knew the ¡¯group of core condensation realm cultivators¡¯ was none other than Lin Mu.


    ¡¯Seems like this junior elder made a grave mistake by not admitting the truth to the peak master. Had he told him that, even if he had disappeared, the Tri cauldron peony sect would have been looking for the culprit. But now his disappearance has sealed the fact.¡¯ Wu Hei thought.


    He then turned his gaze towards Lin Mu and wondered, ¡¯still... how did he disappear right in front of everyone?¡¯


    Wu Hei tried to recall the sequence of events and realized that the time of Fa Shi¡¯s disappearance and Lin Mu¡¯s punch that destroyed the ring coincided.


    ¡¯Did he do it somehow? But how? I¡¯m pretty sure he never left the ring... no wait... could it be?¡¯ Wu Hei pondered as a few names appeared in his mind.


    The more Wu Hei thought about it, the more fear he felt. For the cultivator that could manage to make someone disappear like that, right under the nose of a Nascent soul realm cultivator along with more than a hundred others would be a Herculean task.


    There were only a few people that could do it ording to his understanding, and everyone on that specific list was a terrifying person that even the patriarch of the Tri Cauldron peony sect would not dare to slight.


    <i>~sigh~</i>


    A sign escaped his lips as he muttered to himself, "the sect has either dropped the Axe on their own foot or is about to do that."

 Chapter 392 - A Private Talk

    <h4>Chapter 392 - A Private Talk </h4>


    The disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect were rather quick and swiftly set up some restrictions to stop people from escaping. Though this wasn¡¯t actually for the people that were sitting in the audience, no rather it was for the people who might have been hiding here.


    The restrictions would stop anyone from leaving, and the spirit sense of Yi Deng had also scanned for people that might have been hiding. If they could not be found by him, the restriction formation will scan everyone, even small insects.


    The people that were in attendance were a bit upset but did not dare to protest orin. They knew better than to do that, and it was obvious who the more powerful party was here. With that in mind, the people stood there calmly.


    The disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect went around asking the people questions about everything. But they already knew that there wouldn¡¯t be any results. The identities of these people here were verified, and they were well known.


    "Peak master, I¡¯ve talked with the people in the audience and they are definitely fine. We were sitting there too, and we didn¡¯t see anyone moving. Junior Elder Fa Shiu somehow disappeared into thin air." One of the disciples said.


    "We also talked with the guards and no one was seen leaving the area. Neither a suspect nor, junior elder Fa Shiu." Fa Lao said with a straight face.


    "Hmm... it is indeed as I expected. We¡¯ll have to wait for the supreme elder to investigate this... I don¡¯t have the skill required." Yi Deng spoke.


    The disciples were confused about what the peak master was talking about. They had thought that the peak master was calling the supreme elder for his authority. But now the peak master admitted that he had called him because he himself was inadequate to handle it.


    "Peak master, if it is fine with you. Why would the supreme elder be needed here? What skill are you talking about?" Quan Hong who had returned a minute ago questioned in a low voice.


    Yi Deng stroked his beard but did not answer.


    "What do you think could be something that can cause a problem for even a nascent soul realm cultivator?" Yi Zi Jin suddenly asked.


    During the entire thing, she was the only one who was calmly sitting and did not act. It was as if she cared the least about everything and did not want to be bothered. The other disciples also did not disturb her and left her to do her own thing.


    "Sister Yi Zi Jin, may I answer?" one of the junior disciples said.


    Yi Zi Jin looked at the young looking boy who was probably in his teens and nodded her head.


    "Go ahead," She replied.


    "I believe only a nascent soul realm cultivator can threaten another Nascent soul realm cultivator. So if the venerable supreme elder is being called then that means the other part must be that strong or above it." The junior disciple said in a respectful tone.


    "Indeed. You are correct." Yi Zi Jin replied.


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    The face of the junior disciple lit up, seeing that he had received the approval of Senior sister Yi Zi Jin.


    "What? Really? Why would a Nascent soul realm cultivator target one of our disciples like that?" Pei Lao asked.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "That is what we need to find out..." Peak master Yi Deng said while sighing.


    Seeing the change in the mood of Peak master, the disciples understood that this was going to be difficult.


    "Peak master Yi Deng, I believe everyone has been vetted? So it should be fine to allow them to return now." Wu Hei said.


    "Alright then... tell them they are free to go. But be ready to report as soon as the supreme elderes here." Yi Deng spoke.


    "WAIT!" Fa Lao suddenly said.


    "Is there a problem?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "There are two people we haven¡¯t asked." Fa Shiu said as he pointed at Lin Mu and Qing Yuan Tiu.


    Wu Hei furrowed his brows as he said, "Them? They were fighting and were in front of us the entire time. It¡¯s more likely for someone else to be the suspect."


    "We still want to question them." Yi Deng said.


    He thought about the two contestants and realized that he actually didn¡¯t know about them. He only knew about Qing Yuan Tiu, and even that was due to the letter of confirmation he had received from the sect. He knew that letters like that could be forged. It would be difficult, but it could be done.


    He wondered if this really was that case. He pondered more and realized that a small sect like Autumn valley sect having a core condensation realm seemed unusual. Even in medium size sect like the Tri cauldron peony sect, the core condensation realm disciples would be Junior elders.


    For a Small sect like Autumn valley sect, they were already enough to be full fledged elders.


    "Bring them to me. I want to talk with them in private." Peak master Yi Deng dered.


    Wu Hei looked at him for a moment before nodding his head.


    "Alright, Lord Mu Lin shouldn¡¯t mind this, and I don¡¯t think Sister Qing Yuan Tiu would do either." Wu Hei said before going towards the two.


    Lin Mu saw him approaching and already knew what was going to happen. He had been listening to their conversation with his enhanced hearing and knew exactly what was going to happen.


    Wu Hei approached Lin Mu and spoke in a low voice.


    "The peak master is..." but before he could continue, Lin Mu interrupted him.


    "I heard. I think we can use this to our advantage." He replied.


    "We can?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "Yes, just let me talk and see if it can work." Lin Mu answered.


    "If Brother Lin Mu is affirmative then, please go ahead." Wu Hei agreed and went to talk with Qing Yuan Tiu.


    Wu Hei informed Qing Yuan Tiu of what the Peak master wanted and she agreed without saying anything. To her, this was nothing of much importance and all she wanted was for it to end so that she could go on her way.

 Chapter 393 - Flipping The Scapegoat

    <h4>Chapter 393 - Flipping The Scapegoat </h4>


    Soon Lin Mu and Qing Yuan Tiu were brought to the manor and were taken to a room.


    In there, Peak master Yi Deng, Senior disciple Fa Lao and Quan Hong were waiting. Whereas Wu Hei was apanying Lin Mu and Qing yuan Tiu.


    "As you asked Peak master," Wu Hei said.


    "Please take a seat, lord Mu Lin and junior Qing Yuan Tiu." The peak master said.


    Lin Mu could sense the faint threat in his tone of voice and knew that this was more of an order rather than a request or invitation.


    "It is nice to formally meet you Peak master." Lin Mu greeted in a respectful tone.


    Lin Mu knew that they were not the enemy here. For what he was nning, it was better if they had a good impression of him and would be a bit more approving.


    "Greetings peak master, Yi Deng. My master sends you his regards." Qing Yuan Tiu greeted.


    "Oh, your master? How is he, I haven¡¯t seen him in years now?" Yi Deng questioned.


    "Master has been in seclusiontely. Though he did leave some instructions on what was to be done if certain situations arised. Someone from our sect meeting you was one of them." Qing Yuan Tiu answered.


    "Ah, I see." Yi Deng nodded his head and turned to look at Lin Mu.


    He hadn¡¯t had the chance to take a good look at Lin Mu, and now that he did he realized that he seemed to be rather unique. His spirit qi fluctuations could barely be felt and he seemed to have almost no vital energy in his body. It seemed as if everything was concealed.


    This struck a chord with him, and he couldn¡¯t help but rte to how Fa Shiu had disappeared without a trace.


    ¡¯No, it cannot be him. His cultivation base is too low and that cannot be a lie.¡¯ Yi Deng thought to himself.


    "So I believe we are here because of the disappearance of Junior elder Fa Shiu?" Lin Mu initiated the conversation.


    "Yes, that is correct. So tell me have any of you heard or seen anything. Or perhaps you have suspicions on someone?" Yi Deng questioned while Fa Lao and Quan Hong watched.


    "I do not really know much about this peak master Yi Deng. I only came here to fulfill the task that was assigned to me, which was to represent my sect." Qing Yuan Tiu replied.


    Yi Deng nodded his head as he had a bit of an idea about how the Autumn valley sect operated. He had only met the elder who was the master of Qing Yuan Tiu once before during a sect meeting. He had spoken to him as a courtesy that they could ask them of a request in the future as an excuse to foster good ties.


    But he had not expected that five yearster they really would request something of him. But that something was giving an identity reference to one of their core disciples. He didn¡¯t mind much and epted it as they wereing for his daughter¡¯s wedding anyway and allowed it.


    "Peak master, although I do not know how Junior elder Fa Shiu disappeared, I do know of a few simr incidents that have happened a while ago." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh? Do tell." Yi Deng said as his brows rose.


    "I sure peak master Yi Deng has heard about the Gu Legion," Lin Mu replied.


    The expression of Yi Deng and the other two disciples straightened upon hearing that name. Wu Hei observed their expression closely but did not interfere or speak anything. He already understood where Lin Mu was trying to take this.


    "Unfortunately, I do know of them. But what is their rtion to this?" Yi Deng questioned.


    "Well, I believe that they may be behind this all. My master had a conflict with them too and from what I¡¯ve seen they¡¯ve cause some incidents in this county too." Lin Mu answered.


    "I understand that, but why are you so sure?" Yi Deng asked.


    "Because I know the reason behind why they would try to kill or kidnap Junior elder Fa Shiu." Lin Mu replied.


    "And what would be that?" Yi Deng asked.


    "A blood sacrifice..." Lin Mu revealed.


    The eyes of the elder went wide and so did Fa Lao, Quan Hong, and Qing Yuan Tiu.


    "BLOOD SACRIFICE?!" Quan Hong eximed.


    "Yes," Lin Mu nodded. "A blood sacrifice. From what investigations I¡¯ve done along with Lord Wu Hei, we know that this is the reason why they have been kidnapping cultivators. It makes sense that they would do the same to Junior Elder Fa Shiu since he had seen their faces."


    "Do you have proof of this?" Yi Deng asked after a minute of thinking.


    Lin Mu turned his head towards Wu Hei. Wu Hei understood what he meant and nodded in acknowledgment.


    ¡¯Seems like father is doomed now...¡¯ Wu Hei thought with a bit of a smile.


    "We do. We found some old documents that showed that there were a lot of caves below. They were spread all around the area and there is awork of them below the city too. While we haven¡¯t explored it yet, I believe it may be a good start." Lin Mu exined.


    Yi Deng¡¯s eyes went wide as a pressure exuded from him. Lin Mu could feel that he hadunched his spirit sense probe, and it was now heading deep towards the ground. A few secondster, a tinge of rage appeared on his face as he stood up.


    "Seems like there is merit to this." Yi Deng agreed.


    "What do we do now Peak master?" Fa Lao questioned.


    "We wait for the supreme elder. He is an expert in formations and investigations. He should be able to see what happened. And once hees, we will investigate these tunnels that they are speaking of." Yi Deng answered.


    A smile appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face briefly as he knew it had worked.


    ¡¯Now to wait and see...¡¯T¨ºxt belongs to N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 394 - The Nascent Soul Realm

    <h4>Chapter 394 - The Nascent Soul Realm </h4>


    It was night time and the guests that had been in attendance at the tournament were still at the Manor. After hearing that the supreme elder of the Tri cauldron peony sect will being, nearly all of them changed their mind willingly.


    While the ones that were unwilling still stayed due to the peer pressure. They knew that if they were the only ones missing from the list, the supreme elder may find it disrespectful. Thankfully, their time wasn¡¯t wasted as Zhen Sui and Wu Hei did their best to entertain them.


    They already had some ns set up for the celebratory dinner banquet that was going to happen at night, and thus they just elerated the ns and had the servants set up everything quickly. Though the people of the Tri cauldron peony sect were in no mood to take part in the festivities. Perhaps only Yi Zi Jin was involved in it, and even then she was merely sitting in one ce giving short responses to the well-wishers that came to meet her.


    Lin Mu was currently sitting at a table with Wu Hei alone. Zhen Sui was busy directing the servants while Wu Teng had finally taken up a task and was talking with the guests. This was a task that he had no problem doing and with his boisterous personality, one could even say it was easy.


    Though a few hours ago when he learned that the Gu Legion had a secret hideout in the city, right below their noses, he was angry. But when he heard that they were doing Blood sacrifices he was absolutely furious and swear to kill them himself.


    Lin Mu watched it from the sidelines as the secret of the Gu legion was being revealed to everyone. He felt a bitfortable now that they had the power on the Numbers on their side. But at the same time, he felt as if he was missing something, and a strange sense of anxiety settled in him.


    Now the main trump card they had against whoever that was being served by the Gu Legion was the supreme elder of the Tri cauldron Peony sect along with the peak master Yi Deng.


    "What do you know about the Supreme elder of the Tri cauldron peony sect?" Lin Mu questioned Wu Hei, who was sitting with him at the table.


    "The supreme elder is perhaps the strongest cultivator of the Tri Cauldron peony sect and is at the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Even the sect patriarch is only at the adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Another thing is, while the Tri Cauldron peony sect specializes in alchemical pill refinement, they have different peaks.


    The peak headed by the peak master Yi Deng is the second cauldron peak and takes care of the sale of pills as well as refinement of some of the pills. Whereas the supreme elder heads the peony peak, which is the sect¡¯s sacrednd. That is where they keep their inheritance and precious treasures.


    Because of this, the specialization of the supreme elder is more towards qi skills rather than the refinement of pills." Wu Hei answered.


    Lin Mu was interested in this and while he had learned some things from the records that he had received from Jing Wei, there weren¡¯t finer details like these in them. From what he knew the Tri cauldron peony sect had four peaks; the first cauldron peak thatpletely specialized in alchemical pill refinement, the second cuddling peak that did sales, the third cauldron peak that grew spirit herbs, and the peony peak.


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    The records only told that peony peak was a sacrednd but did not mention more details about it. Another thing that surprised Lin Mu was that the Supreme elder was at the Adult stage of the nascent soul realm.


    Lin Mu had already learned about the Nascent Soul realm from senior Xukong and had an idea of its power.


    Reaching the nascent soul realm was incredibly difficult, as a cultivator had to ovee the heavenly tribtion.


    When a cultivator reached the absolute peak of the core condensation realm, they would start to get an idea of when their heavenly tribtion would being.


    During this period they were called as pseudo nascent soul realm cultivators as their understanding of the spirit qi had exceeded that of a normal cultivator and were close to that of a nascent soul realm cultivator.


    A cultivator would usually suppress the heavenly tribtion until he or she found a proper opportunity. One needed a lot of preparation if they wanted to reach the nascent soul realm, as the heavenly tribtion could very easily kill them if they were not careful and well prepared.


    Once the cultivator became ready to undergo the heavenly tribtion, tribtion clouds would gather and heavenly lightning would strike their body. The goal of the cultivator was to endure this heavenly lightning and use it to hatch their nascent soul.


    Their core would act as the egg, and from it, the nascent soul would be born. Once the nascent soul was sessfully born, the cultivator was said to have sessfully reached the first stage of the nascent soul realm.


    The first stage was called as the infant soul stage as the nascent soul was in the form of an infant. This infant would look the same as the cultivator when they were of that age.


    There were three more stages in the nascent soul realm, which were the child soul, adolescent soul, and adult soul stages, for a total of four stages.


    The cultivator would be able to freely able to wield the spirit qi in the environment and would have to nourish his or her nascent soul in order to make it grow and reach the next stage. It was also this stage during which the appearance of a cultivator was fixed.


    If a cultivator reached the adult stage of the nascent soul realm at the age of twenty, his appearance would be fixed at that age until he reaches the very end of his or her lifespan. At that point, they would rapidly age hundreds of years in the span of a few minutes and then die.


    Reaching the nascent soul realm increased the cultivator¡¯s life span to a thousand years and made them worthy of starting their own cultivation sects.

 Chapter 395 - The Supreme Elder Arrives

    <h4>Chapter 395 - The Supreme Elder Arrives </h4>


    It was a little past midnight when a booming sound was heard. It was as if thunder had torn through the clouds to strike the ground.


    The people in the hall became alert and knew that something had happened. Peak Master Yi Deng who had been sitting in mediation all this time opened his eyes as they flickered under the light of themps.


    "He¡¯s here..." He uttered.


    All of the disciples of the Tri Cauldron peony sect stood up and walked out of the manor. Even Yi ZI Jin was rather tense and kept her demeanor.


    "Looks like the supreme elder has arrived." Wu Hei stated.


    Lin Mu raised his brows as he felt the spatial qi fluctuations in the air. They were abnormally disturbed and it was as if someone had dropped arge stone in a pool of water. Waves and ripples were created as Lin Mu sensed them.


    ¡¯An Adult stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator is indeed powerful...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he also stood up along with Wu Hei.


    Zhen Sui was already prodding Wu Teng to wake up as he had fallen asleep after having a few pots of wine. Thankfully, the man woke up after getting a few ps from his mother and didn¡¯t even flinch. Rather it was Zhen Sui who had to nurse her hand after that.


    Lin Mu looked up at the sky and saw the clouds that were being split apart. Once the clouds were gone, he could see an old man floating up in the air. The man was dressed in white and blue robes with the motif of the Tri cauldron peony sect on his chest. On his back, one could see an embroidered peony flower that was ced over the pattern of a mountain.


    The old man exuded a sense of dignity from him, and just from looking at him one would feel pressure.


    While others were having a hard time looking at the old man, Lin Mu had already adapted to it. He looked closely at the supreme elder of the Tri cauldron peony sect who seemed to be in his ninties. This man looked even older than Jing Wei, which told Lin Mu that he was probably much less talented than him.


    "No, that¡¯s not it." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Oh? What¡¯s the problem senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That man isn¡¯t old because he reached the Nascent soul realmte, but rather because he has lost a significant portion of his longevity," Xukong answered.


    "What? Why would he lose his longevity?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There can be many reasons for it. But the mostmon one seems to be due to battles and fights. He burned his longevity to increase his strength exponentially during battles to defeat his enemies. Another thing can be that he used his longevity as fuel to create a special type of alchemical fire and used it to refine pills, seeing as he is from a sect that specializes in alchemical pills." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in understanding as he suddenly remembered a thing, that he had discussed with senior Xukong a while ago.


    "Wait, Senior now that I¡¯m in the peak stage of the Qi refining realm, can¡¯t I ignite a qi me now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, you can attempt that now. Though for your first attempt you would need special conditions as there can be a bacsh if you make a mistake." Xukong replied.


    "Ah, I understand senior." Lin Mu replied and focused back on the Supreme elder who was gazing down at everyone.


    "Greetings Supreme elder!" Yi Deng greeted while cupping his hands.


    Even if he and the supreme elder were both at the Nascent soul realm, the difference between them was vast. He was merely at the Child stage of the Nascent soul realm, while the Supreme elder was two stages above at the adult stage.


    But that wasn¡¯t the only reason behind his respect, no rather it was because of their age difference too. From what Yi Deng knew, the supreme elder has been holding his position since before he was a peak master. In fact, the supreme elder had been in the Nascent soul stage even before he was a cultivator himself.


    One couldpare from this, how difficult cultivation was. Even he who had lived for over three hundred years was at the nascent soul realm, and the supreme elder who was over six hundred years old was also at the Nascent Soul realm.


    The higher one climbed, the more difficult and slow the cultivation got. One could even say that they progressed at a snail¡¯s pace.


    "THESE DISCIPLES PAY RESPECTS TO THE VENERABLE SUPREME ELDER!" All of the disciples greeted out loud.


    Lin Mu broke out of his thoughts due to their shouts and saw the supreme elder descending on to the ground. This was another one of the basic abilities of the Nascent soul realm cultivators. They could fly without the use of a spirit weapon.


    Still, the ones that were in the infant and child stage of the nascent soul realm couldn¡¯t fly for long. Only after reaching the very peak of the nascent soul realm could one do what the supreme elder was doing. He had flown to the Wu Lim city all the way from the Tri cauldron peony sect, which was more than a thousand kilometers away.


    All this distance had only taken him six hours toplete by flying.


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    "Take me to the site of the incident," The supreme elder spoke directly.


    "Please follow me, supreme elder," The peak master replied and took him to the tournament area.


    "We had just arrived here when a minuteter, the junior elder Fa Shiu disappeared. No one saw what happened, and we couldn¡¯t find any suspects either. But we do have a good idea of where they are hiding and need your help for that." The peak master exined.


    The supreme elder¡¯s brows furrowed when he saw the area though and then a frown appeared on his face.


    "I sense traces of spatial disturbance here..."

 Chapter 396 - The Supreme Elders Praise

    <h4>Chapter 396 - The Supreme Elder''s Praise </h4>


    Peak master Yi Deng¡¯s expression turned serious as he heard the words of the supreme elder.


    "I had guessed that it could have been something like that, but now this..." Yi Deng said and trailed off.


    "Indeed... this is much worse than we thought. Seems like the disciples offended a power that has a nascent soul realm cultivator backing it. And not only that but one that has a spatial treasure." The supreme elder acknowledged.


    Yi Deng looked around and tried to sense the spatial disturbance on his own, but barely could.


    "Supreme elder, can you pinpoint where the spatial disturbance came from? Perhaps we can track it?" Yi Deng questioned.


    Just as this question was asked, Lin Mu and the others had also reached the area and heard these words. Lin Mu tensed up slightly and was ready to use Fade at any moment. The others also listened on with sharp ears, not willing to miss even a single word.


    "Unfortunately, the traces are far too faint for me to tell where they existed from. They could be from right where I¡¯m standing at, the stage, the audience, the manor or even somece outside the city. The degree of its uracy is too low." The supreme elder shook his head.


    "I understand. But if they were able to do something like this then they must have some reason, right? I mean kidnapping a core condensation realm cultivator right under the noses of us all, wouldn¡¯t it have been better to do it somece else?" Yi Deng questioned.


    "Hmm... this is not what they intend, I think. Rather, this was a warning to us." The supreme elder replied.


    "A warning? To the Tri cauldron peony sect? What kind of power do they have that they think they can do this? Even the top sects wouldn¡¯t do something like this sneakily." Yi Deng scoffed.


    "Whoever they are, one thing is sure; Fa Shiu saw something he should not have and survived. You should know this, didn¡¯t you speak with him?" The supreme elder asked with his brows raised.


    "He told me everything, how they were looking for a gift for Yi Zi Jin and obtained a beast core. Then they were discovered by some cultivators who wanted to rob them, but then when they resisted they were attacked instead and the juniors were killed.


    Fa Shiu said that it was a group of five core condensation realm cultivators." The supreme elder spoke.


    The supreme elder scratched his beard and thought for a minute before speaking.


    "Then that must be it. He saw their faces." The supreme leader concluded.


    "He said that he didn¡¯t know them, and this was the first time he was seeing them. But if they were core condensation realm cultivators, then they should have been well known. Even wandering core condensation realm cultivators have a reputation." Yi Deng replied.


    "Hmm... We¡¯ll know once we investigate these culprits you were speaking of, you said they¡¯re here in the city, right?" The supreme elder asked.


    "Yes, Lord Wu Hei and Mu Lin informed us about their suspicions. Ipared the incidents they described and they seem to match rather well." Yi Deng answered.


    "And who is Lord Wu Hei and Mu Lin?" The supreme elder asked as he turned his gaze towards the people who had been staring at them all this time.


    "This is my future son-inw¡¯s brother, Lord Wu Hei." Yi Deng said as he gestured.


    "Greetings Supreme elder, this junior hopes for your grace." Wu Hei said in a respectful tone.


    The supreme elder looked at Wu Hei for a few seconds and nodded.


    "Low cultivation but the demeanor is good." He said in a straightforward manner. "And who¡¯s Mu Lin?"


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    "I am supreme elder," Lin Mu stepped forwards and greeted with cupped hands.


    Looking at Lin Mu, the supreme elder¡¯s expression went from straight, to that of interest, to slight surprise and then back to calm.


    "Oh? Interesting... reaching the peak stage of the qi refining realm at the young age of sixteen, good talent. Also... a rather unique cultivation technique you have there. If it weren¡¯t for my years of experience I would have thought of you to be amoner." The supreme elder said with a slight smile.


    ¡¯He could see my cultivation, huh? So they need to be at the Adult stage of nascent soul realm to be able to detect mine, that¡¯s good to know.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "It¡¯s likely that he just guessed it. He could perceive your bone age and the faint spirit qi fluctuationsing from you, even though hidden to most are still visible to a person like him. It is likely that he is pretty close to the Dao Shell realm, thus the heightened sensitivity." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was happy that this happened right now as he would now have an estimate for the future and would be able to n ordingly. Thankfully, there weren¡¯t that many cultivators who were at the adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm and him meeting them would be very rare too.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t think of many ces where he would have the chance to encounter them either, except for the cultivation sects.


    "I thank the supreme elder for his praise, but I cannot im itpletely as it is the grace of my master." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh? You have a master? That¡¯s a shame... I would have epted you otherwise." The supreme elder said in a nonchnt tone.


    As soon as these words dropped, the jaws of the people who were listening in fell wide open as well. Even Peak master Yi Deng was rather surprised and took another look at the boy who he had won the tournament. He had not paid much attention to him even if he had defeated a core condensation realm cultivator while being lower than that because he had seen plenty of disciples in his sect that could do the same.


    But since even the supreme elder expressed his desire in taking him in, the peak master couldn¡¯t help but think again.

 Chapter 397 - A Team Is Formed

    <h4>Chapter 397 - A Team Is Formed </h4>


    Perhaps in the entire crowd, only Wu Hei was the one who had expected something like this and was not shocked that the supreme leader showed his interest in taking Lin Mu as his disciple.


    ¡¯Perhaps even that boy has no idea what kind of master he has. He hasn¡¯t experienced the life in a sect and neither has he seen the true circles of the high society. If he had, then I can¡¯t imagine what kind of a monster he would be right now.¡¯ Wu Hei thought to himself.


    "I am ttered supreme elder, but perhaps we should talk about this at ater time." Lin Mu said in a humble tone.


    "Ah yes, the situation is more important right now. Well then, can you show us what you meant?" The supreme elder replied.


    "Of course, but I believe we should make a n first." Lin Mu said before turning his head. Lord Wu Hei, would you please exin to them?" He asked.


    "Sure," Wu Hei said, "Would the supreme elder mind if we get some privacy?" he added.


    The supreme elder didn¡¯t even respond before waving his hand and instantly setting up an isting formation. One could tell from this how proficient he must be at formations and also his experience in them. The people that were meant to hear the n were only the Tri cauldron peony sect disciples, the Wu family, Qing Yuan Tiu and Lin Mu.


    Wu Hei nodded his head in approbate before speaking. Finally, after fifteen minutes a n was made such that only the stronger people that were willing would be going to the tunnels beneath. The candidates that were chosen were Quan Hong, Fa Lao, Qing Yuan Tiu, Wu Hei, Wu Teng, Lin Mu, and the two elders of the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    They reckoned that this many people would be better to stay on the side of caution. They did not want to take too many weak people and risk them sumbing to danger if it so urred. While the elders may be able to protect them in the face of open danger, it was not the same here.


    If the culprit could take a core condensation realm cultivator right from under their noses, then they would be sitting ducks even with the elders there. Thus even the weaker cultivators like Quan Hong and Lin Mu were asked twice if they really wanted toe, as they only wanted core condensation realm cultivators at the minimum.


    But Lin Mu insisted, and thus they allowed him toe. As for Wu Hei, he was the one that was going to guide them and thus there wasn¡¯t much they could do there.


    "Well then, now that we have this done, let¡¯s go ahead." Wu Hei said.


    "Yes, we should be as quick as possible." The supreme elder agreed.


    "I can¡¯t wait to get my hands on those pieces of trash, I want to stare them in their eyes as I break their necks." Wu Teng said with rage in his eyes.


    The peak master Yi Deng also seemed to be angry, but he was suppressing it for the time being knowing that this was not the right time to show it. The supreme elder was calm on the outside, but internally a lot of thoughts were going through his mind.


    Unlike the rest of them, he wasn¡¯t as worried about the blood sacrifice as he was about the spatial disturbance. It had been a year since the sky precepts sect had sent out a warning and told the other sects to keep an eye on any spatial disturbances.


    They had disappeared a while ago, but now they seemed to have reappeared somehow. And thatbining with the blood sacrifice gave him a bad feeling.


    "Please follow me," Wu Hei said before taking out a spirit sword and flying out.


    The others followed him on their respective spirit swords, except for the supreme elder who just flew on his own. Lin Mu was following behind closely and wondered where Wu Hei was taking them all to. The closest entrance to the tunnels was close to them being the well in the manor¡¯s yard.


    ¡¯Hmm, perhaps he doesn¡¯t want to abruptly throw the suspicion towards his family. While his father is involved, it wouldn¡¯t be fair to involve his mother and brother in this.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


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    Lin Mu¡¯s guess turned out to be true as Wu Hei took them to another one of the city wells. This well was muchrger than the other ones, as it was located in the main residential area of the city. Multiple people could draw water from it at once, which made it sensible to be thisrge.


    The well had a diameter of about five meters and had a wall of one and a half meters surrounding it. There were multiple beams set up above it, attached to which were pulleys. In total, there were about twenty pulleys, which meant that twenty people could draw water at once.


    All of them descended into the well one by one with Wu Hei talking the lead. There was darkness everywhere, which was soon dispelled by the people. Some used illumination techniques, some lit up fire on their hands while some like Wu Hei took out spirit tools.


    Lin Mu looked below and saw therge body of water. He looked at its two ends and saw the river that flowed into it. There was apparently a depression in the ground here which umted the water from the river, and once it reached a certain level, it would flow out and continue from the other end.


    "This way," Wu Hei spoke and took them tond near the edge of the water. One could see the tunnels that extend from there and all the faded runes that were carved on the walls.


    "This..." Fa Lao muttered in surprise, seeing the runes.


    "Supreme elder, you don¡¯t think they..." Yi Deng said.


    "Yes... they are from that time."

 Chapter 398 - Former Mayor?

    <h4>Chapter 398 - Former Mayor? </h4>


    The disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect heard the peak master Yi Deng and supreme elders¡¯ words but didn¡¯t understand what they meant. But Lin Mu on the other hand had an idea of what they were talking about.


    "Seems like the Empire missed this one..." The supreme elder spoke.


    "Indeed... looks like it will be the time to inform the sects and the empire after this." The peak master said in a cold tone.


    Wu Hei and Lin Mu were now getting a bit anxious about their statements and had a bad feeling.


    "What are you talking about elder?" Quan Hong questioned.


    "Yes elder, what are these runes?" Fa Lao questioned.


    "They are of an olden time, long before I was even born. It was a time of great strife, it was the time when the northern tribes invaded the empire." Peak master Yi Deng answered.


    Fa Lao and Quan Hong had not expected to hear something like this. Even Wu Teng was a bit surprised, but not as much as them. He was once part of the vermilion legion and had thus worked at the pear¡¯s belt. Because of this, he knew the history of the Continent and what had happened back then.


    "They are even older than I am... perhaps older than the entire Tri cauldron peony sect." The supreme elder added.


    Hearing this, Yi Deng raised his brows in question. "Supreme elder, you mean... this is one of the original ruins of the Grand northern alliance?"


    "I¡¯m afraid, yes. I do not know how this one stayed hidden for so long though..." The supreme elder replied.


    Hearing the words Grand northern alliance finally enlightened the two disciples, Quan Hong and Fa Lao. Even Qing Yuan Tiu showed an interested expression.


    "It would not have been able to stay hidden for so long unless..." Yi Deng muttered.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    "Unless it was hidden intentionally by someone," Fa Lao said before drawing his sword and pointing it towards Wu Hei and Wu Teng.


    Quan Hong did the same and entered an offensive stance. Wu Hei was not fazed by this and maintained hisposure. Wu Teng though had anger on his face.


    "Where do you think you¡¯re pointing your swords? Lower them or you¡¯ll have no hands to do that." Wu Teng threatened without the fear of the two elders.


    "YOU..." Fa Lao was about to pretest when the supreme elder interrupted.


    "Stop! It cannot be them or the Wu n. The Wu n did not even exist that long ago and only came to power in the recent hundred years." The supreme elder spoke.


    Fa Lao and Quan Hong lowered their swords but still felt a bit apprehensive.


    "But if it wasn¡¯t the Wu n then it must have been the predecessor, right? Which n had authority over the Wu Lim city before them?" Quan Hong questioned.


    Now, this was a question that interested even Lin Mu and he had wondered about it as well before.


    "Before the Wu n rose up under the influence of Wu Xun, the Zhen n was the one who had the city as one of their branches." Yi Deng answered.


    ¡¯Zhen n? Does he mean Wu Hei¡¯s mother Zhen Sui¡¯s n?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "The Zhen n? But didn¡¯t most of them perish over the years? I remember reading that their n was one of the ns that suffered the worst after the war. Are there even people left from that n?" Fa Lao questioned.


    "Of course there are..." Yi Deng replied.


    Wu Teng seemed to be rather surprised by this, as his face showed it all.


    "Mother..." He muttered.


    "Madam Zhen Sui is thest remaining member of the Zhen n as far as I know." Yi Deng confirmed.


    Fa Lao gripped his sword handle again as he spoke, "but doesn¡¯t that mean that it still involves the Wu n?"


    "It is quite unlikely... even Zhen Sui hadn¡¯t been born back then. Only the former mayor Zhen Hao and his wife Zhen Mei were left. So if there was any chance, then those two are the only ones who could have been involved in it." The supreme elder exined.


    "It cannot be..." Wu Teng muttered in shock.


    "There is nothing we could have done. Grandfather and grandmother passed away soon after mother was born and she was raised by the servants of the n. Even I only found out about these ruins after finding some old documents during my travels in earlier years." Wu Hei exined.


    Seeing that the situation could get bad, Lin Mu decided to interrupt.


    "I think we shouldplete what we havee here for, first. The other things can be discussedter." Lin Mu said in a calm tone.


    "The boy is correct, we should follow the goal we came here for." The supreme elder agreed.


    Fa Lao and Quan Hong nodded their heads to show their agreement as well, and all of them continued onward.


    It didn¡¯t take them long to reach the tunnels, and they encountered the split there. They didn¡¯t have to guess which tunnel to choose as peak master Yi Deng easily scanned the area ahead with his spirit sense and chose the path.


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    "Supreme elder... it is as they said... there is a blood pool..." Yi Deng confirmed as his hands trembled slightly.


    A stern look appeared on the supreme elder¡¯s face as he spoke, "I want to take a look with my own two eyes."


    They thus chose the second fork in the tunnel and reached the location of the blood pool.


    "Careful! There is inmmable gas here that is also toxic." Lin Mu warned.


    "Humph!" Peak master Yi Deng harrumphed and waved his hand.


    <i>~Weng~</i>


    A pale white shield appeared in front of them and blocked the path that was in front of them. Yi Deng then flicked his finger and a small fireball shot forward.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The fireball traveled for a short distance before exploding and igniting all of the gas that was spread in the tunnel and in the chamber where the blood pool was located in.

 Chapter 399 - Visitors

    <h4>Chapter 399 - Visitors </h4>


    Lin Mu was bracing for the impact for the explosion but it waspletely stopped by the shield and thus he didn¡¯t have to do anything. The peak master waved his hand again, and the shield disappeared.


    "Let¡¯s continue," Yi Deng said.


    Everyone walked ahead and finally arrived in arge chamber that had the blood sludge pool. They could sense the pungent and foul smell even after the explosion Had wiped out most of it.


    The supreme elder had a frown on his face as he looked at the blood sludge pool.


    "This is even worse than I thought... the number of sacrifices this must have required..." The supreme elder muttered.


    "Umm... this is just one of the blood sludge pools." Lin Mu spoke.


    The supreme elder¡¯s eyes went wide as he capped his head back to look at Lin Mu.


    "What did you say?" The supreme elder asked again.


    "There are more of them... ten more." Lin Mu answered.


    "Heavens! This..." Peak master had an utterly horrified expression on his face.


    Wu Hei and Lin Mu realized that this must have been even worse than they had thought before. Perhaps their perception was skewed from the very start and they were severely underestimating what the implications of this were.


    "Senior... I don¡¯t feel good about this..." Lin Mu spoke to Xukong.


    "Just be ready for anything..." was all Xukong could say to him for now.


    While Xukong could tell that Lin Mu was anxious he knew that the boy had enough abilities to save himself. And if push came to shove, there was still the final gambit that they could y. But it was not something they wanted to waste here.


    Lin Mu internally nodded his head and observed the two elders.


    "Ten more blood sludge pools like these... how many beasts and humans were sacrificed for this? And how many years has this continued for?" Yi Deng muttered with shock.


    The supreme elder looked at the small troughs that wereing from the wall and went to the blood sludge pool. He walked up to the wall that they came from and touched them.


    "There is a barrier behind it from what we¡¯ve seen before. The ¡¯gate¡¯ to what we think is the main room is in the other tunnel." Wu Hei said in a straight tone.


    He was trying his best to maintain a calm look but even he was getting a bit overwhelmed by the Revtion. Wu Teng was the same while Qing Yuan Tiu also had a serious expression on her face. The two disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect were just watching on looking shook.


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    "That¡¯s it no more waiting, we¡¯re heading there right now!" The Supreme elder dered.


    The others nodded in agreement and they went back to the location where the path split and chose the other tunnel. The path was heading lower into the ground and the two elders could sense it clearly.


    "No wonder it stayed hidden for such a long time... it is located over a hundred meters underground." Yi Deng said after assessing the depth.


    Their progress was halted by the gate that had finally appeared in front of them.


    "This was the farthest we ever went, and could not do anything to the barrier that is ced on it." Wu Hei spoke.


    "I take care of it, you all stand back. Yi Deng protect them." The supreme elder ordered.


    He then walked up to the gate and ced both of his palms on the door. Closing his eyes he focused on the gate and waves of spirit qi starteding from him.


    Lin Mu was closely watching him and wanted to perceive it better using his spirit sense but knew that it could be problematic and thus avoided doing that. He could still feel the spirit qi fluctuationsing from the supreme elder and knew that he was working hard at finding a solution.


    About ten minutes passed and nothing had happened till now.


    "Supreme elder should we-" Yi Deng was about to suggest something seeing that nothing was happening but was interrupted by a wave of energy that shook everyone.


    <i>~WEENG~</i>


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    Multiple formation runes appeared on the gates as they started to crumble and fade away one by one.


    "It worked! He did it!" Fa Lao said with excitement.


    "So we would have really needed a nascent soul realm cultivator to open this in the end..." Wu Hei muttered to himself.


    <i>~crackle~</i>


    <i>~Deng~</i>


    After all of the runes had disappeared, the gate split from the middle and finally started to open. The dust that had been covering it all these years started to fall from it and clouded the vision of the people who were here.


    The supreme elder opened his eyes as a few beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.


    ¡¯That formation array is terrifying! Never would I have thought I would see one like that here, the formation arrays of the Yao n were indeed powerful.¡¯ The supreme elder thought to himself.


    Lin Mu and the others finally got a clear look at therge chamber that had a bloody scent spread through it. The roof of the chamber was very tall, being above hundred meters, and they could see that it was at least five hundred meters wide as well.


    There were multiple tunnels arising from the chamber, and no one could tell where they all lead to. But the most eye catching thing was none other than the massive blood pool in the center of the chamber. It was a hundred meters in radius and multiple troughs connected to it.


    One could see that these troughs came from the walls and fresh blood trickled from them. Looking at the bloodstains that have covered the sides of the troughs, one could tell that there was a time when they were overflowing with blood.


    The blood pool in the center was about ten meters deep, but only a quarter of it seemed to be filled as of now. In the very center of the blood pool though was a man sitting in a cross legged posture, floating over the blood as if it was solid.


    "Seems like I finally have some visitors..."

 Chapter 400 - Betrayal

    <h4>Chapter 400 - Betrayal </h4>


    Lin Mu could instantly feel the aura of the man that was sitting on the blood pool was dangerous. There was a malevolent energy thrumming from his body and everyone shuddered due to it. But that wasn¡¯t what shocked Lin Mu the most, rather it was something else.


    "The invader... it¡¯s not... him..." Lin Mu muttered with shock.


    "You sure!?" Xukong immediately asked.


    "Yes... but he still does have some traces of the invaders aura. Which means..." Lin Mu replied.


    "He was able to banish the invader from his body... but that shouldn¡¯t be possible for someone like him." Xukong said.


    "Yes, wasn¡¯t the Great slumber bear only able to do that because of his bloodline?..." Lin Mu questioned but then realized the answer on his own.


    "THE BLOODLINE! He¡¯s been using the blood sacrifice to remove the invader from his body!" Lin Mu understood.


    While Lin Mu was reeling from the shock, the peak master Yi Deng and Supreme elder were going through something simr. While the others couldn¡¯t tell what Cultivation base the man in front of them was, they could very well do.


    "Pseudo Dao Shell realm... he¡¯s at the Pseudo Dao Shell realm..." The Supreme elder muttered in shock.


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    The man who was sitting on the blood pool was shirtless and was only wearing a pair of pants. There were tattoos over his body and the blood from the blood pool was flowing along his skin, like snakes slithering on a tree.


    The small streams of blood would climb up from his legs and spread all over his body, slowly being absorbed by it. The man¡¯s pupils were also a shade of deep red and his ck hair was long, extending all the way to his waist.


    If one looked at his one would think that he was in his thirties but his voice which contained the vicissitudes of life told otherwise.


    <i>~sigh~</i>


    "Looks like my brother failed in his endeavor and was toote..." The man spoke.


    "You! Who are you?" Yi Deng questioned.


    This was a question that each and every person had in this room and they were all wondering what kind of a person could do something like this.


    "Me? I am a forgotten man... a nobody..." The man spoke in a calm tone.


    "A nobody? You do all this and you say you are a nobody?" the peak master asked, anger tainting his voice.


    "Hahaha!" The manughed and stood up.


    The other people became tense and became ready to act if anything happened.


    "Why Yi Deng, have you forgotten me? Those were you very own words that you used to call me... I remember correctly, you said that to the elder of the Rainbow pills sect a few years ago." The man spoke.


    Yi Deng¡¯s eyes went wide as the man said that. He mind ran at the speed of lightning trying to remember and see if what he said was indeed true.


    "Nobody... that was... YOU! You¡¯re sect master Gu Yao!" Yi Deng remembered.


    Lin Mu and the rest had a confused expression on their faces as they tried to identify that name, but couldn¡¯t. Lin Mu cross referenced with the records that he had read before but couldn¡¯t particrly remember which sect he belonged to.


    "AH! Now that was a memorable time... but for now, seems like its time to do some work." Gu Yao said as he lightly stretched his fingers. "I¡¯ve been in seclusion for far too long it seems..."


    Gu Yao¡¯s eyes scanned over everyone but particrly focused on three people; Lin Mu, Wu Hei and Wu Teng.


    "I didn¡¯t think we would meet like this one day... nephews. Did your father tell you about me yet?" Gu Yao spoke looking at the two Wu brothers.


    The frown appeared on Wu Hei¡¯s face while Wu Teng¡¯s gritted his teeth.


    "LIES!" Wu Teng shouted and without thinking much lunged at Gu Yao.


    "NO! Brother Stop!" Wu Hei shouted.


    Wu Hei could clearly tell the man in front of them was stronger than all of thembined and it would be nearly impossible for them to act against him. He was about to go ahead and stop him but saw something that horrified him even more.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    "AARGH!" Wu Teng yelled in pain as he was bashed into the wall by a green pir of wind.


    The people all snapped to look at the source of the attack and were astounded to found who attacked Wu Teng.


    "Qing Yuan Tiu! Why would you do this?!" Lin Mu questioned with anger.


    Qing Yuan Tiu was standing there with her bulky clothes torn apart. Now that they had been removed, one could see the metallic armor that she was wearing underneath it. There were multiple small tes and spines that joined to gather to form an intricate set of armor.


    Underneath that armor she was wearing skin tight clothes that highlighted her curves, and the armor protected them. It was this armor from where the six metal rods that anchored her to the ground came from. The armor extended from her torso onto her arms and legs.


    Qing Yuan Tiu didn¡¯t answer the astounded Lin Mu but instead looked at Gu Yao with a glint in her eyes. Gu Yao too looked at her with interest in his eyes.


    "Junior Qing Yuan Tiu greets the ancestor!" She said with extreme respect in her voice.


    "ANCESTOR? He¡¯s the ancestor of the Autumn Valley sect?" Hong Quan asked out loud in a surprised tone.


    "But isn¡¯t Autumn Valley sect a new sect that only had a nascent soul realm patriarch?" Fa Lao questioned, feeling confused.


    A bitter expression appeared on Yi Deng¡¯s face as he linked all the points together.


    "We were wrong..." He said.


    "No, no, no..." Gu Yao said in a chiding tone. "It wasn¡¯t you that was wrong, it¡¯s just that the Autumn Valley sect never existed." He revealed.


    "Bu-but how? How did you even fool all of the sects?" Yi Deng spoke, feeling bewildered.

 Chapter 401 - Gu Yao

    <h4>Chapter 401 - Gu Yao </h4>


    Gu Yao looked at the speechless faces of everyone and couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.


    "Looks like my subordinates did much better work than I expected. I never expected them to be able to maintain the disguise for such a long time." Gu Yaoughed.


    He then looked at Qing Yuan Tiu before asking "so I assume my brother is in trouble?"


    "Master Wu Xun has been taken in by the royal court for questioning. They are investigating the disappearance of the mercenaries and the cultivators along with themoners." Qing yuan Tiu answered.


    "Ah... I see. I guess I¡¯ll have to get him backter on. By the time we¡¯re done here all the usations will be nullified." Gu Yao replied.


    The supreme elder and peak master Yi Deng drew out their weapons and got ready to attack. The supreme elder had a spear as his weapon while the peak master had a fan. From the spirit qi fluctuations that wereing from the two spirit weapons Lin Mu could tell that they were at the high grade.


    This was the second time he was actually seeing a high-grade spirit weapon in someone else¡¯s hands. These weapons looked rather simple but Lin Mu could tell the difference between them. The spear of the Supreme elder was a pure forging type of spirit weapon while the fan that the peak master Yi Deng was using was an enchantment type of spirit weapon.


    "Oh? You think you can fight me?" Gu Yao taunted.


    "It doesn¡¯t matter, we will still stop you." The supreme elder replied before stabbing forward with his spear.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    Before the spear could stab into the body of Gu Yao though, it was stopped by his finger. The bloodstreams that were flowing around his wrapped around his hand like a gauntlet and he stopped the attack like that.


    "Impossible!" The supreme elder eximed.


    "Ahaha! If it was about a year ago, this would have been enough to injure me greatly. But I¡¯m afraid you all are toote..." Gu Yao replied before flicking the spear away.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The peak master waved the fan in his hand and an illusory fan that was ten times asrge formed in the air. This fan was made out of orange mes and spread out towards Gu Yao.


    <i>~humph~</i>


    "Small tricks..." he uttered before flicking his index and middle finger together upwards.


    With that gesture, a wall of blood rose from the blood pool and easily blocked the ming fan. It was instantly doused and nullified, leaving Yi Deng breathless. Not only had that attack taken a lot from him, but it being blocked had also damaged him slightly.


    Wu Hei too decided to give up on the pretenses and showed his true strength.


    <i>~hu~</i>


    Waves of spirit qi rose from his body as they spread in the area. Lin Mu and the two disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect couldn¡¯t help but notice this.


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    "Peak stage core condensation realm!" Quan Hong eximed.


    "Unity flipping fist!" Wu Hei chanted before his hands were covered in a white glow.


    <i>~Deng~</i>


    His fist was blocked by the blood wall again, but this time the blood wall actually flickered as if affected by the attack.


    "Oh? That¡¯s a rather unique technique. Didn¡¯t think my little nephew would be able to hide his capabilities so well from his father." Gu Yao said beforeughing, "haha! The blood of the Gu n runs within you too! I knew that no child of the Gu n can be as useless as Wu Xun told me."


    Wu Teng who had been knocked to the side by Qing Yuan Tiu was finally able to stand back up. But his condition was not good. He had been caught off guard and was injured by a rather Strong attack. Qing Yuan Tiu was also at the mid-stage of the core condensation realm like him, plus her technique focusedpletely on offensive power.


    Though what astounded Wu Teng even more was his brother¡¯s strength. He would have never expected that his brother who didn¡¯t like socializing and cultivating would one day be so much stronger than him. He couldn¡¯t imagine how much effort would it have taken to hide it for so long.


    The humiliation and insults that his brother had suffered were something he did not like. But only now did he realize it was all intentional on his brother¡¯s part.


    Wu Teng gritted his teeth in frustration. He hated the fact that he couldn¡¯t do anything right now. He hated that he was injured by a sneak attack and caught off guard. But the thing that he hated the most was that this man Gu Yao was actually rted to them.


    At first, Wu Teng was absolutely opposed to it, but now that he took another look at the man, he could recognize the facial features. They were a bit simr to that of his father and even his own. Plus, there was this gut feeling deep inside him telling him that Gu Yao was his blood-rted uncle.


    Wu Teng had never expected that he still had other family except for his mother and father left. From what his father had told them, he knew that Wu Xun was an orphan and had grown up poor.


    Gu Yao looked at Wu Hei and shook his head.


    "While you are powerful, you still have a lot to learn..." Gu Yao said before waving his hands.


    A blood-red glow appeared on his body and spread around the area.


    "I should have done this from the start..." Gu Yao muttered.


    The supreme elder and peak master tried to defend themselves against the blood-red wave of energy but found it to be helpless.


    As soon as the blood-red energy touched their bodies, they were stuck. It was as if their bodies had been frozen and no matter what they tried, they couldn¡¯t move.


    <i>~Slick~</i>


    Streams of blood flowed out from the blood pool and wrapped around the bodies of everyone here. Lin Mu was the same as others and found it impossible to move. If even peak stage nascent soul realm cultivators could be affected by this skill, then it was obvious that it would be impossible for him too.


    "What... is... this...?" The supreme elder uttered with great difficulty.


    "Ah... this will make it easy. Now you all just rx until the process ispleted. Once it is done, all your sufferings and troubles will go away." Gu Yao replied with a toothy grin that terrified the people that looked at him.


    Lin Mu chanted the calming heart sutra to see if it worked, but found it useless. He then tried the severing heart sutra and gained a little control over his body, enough to struggle a bit.


    "You, why are you doing this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~p~</i>


    "Seems like we have a rather talented person amongst us. I never expected someone at your cultivation base would be able to resist the blood binding seal." Gu Yao said before spirit sense extended from his body and touched over Lin Mu.


    "Oh, what¡¯s this? I sense something familiar on you... Hmm... spatial qi traces? Not just that..." Gu Yao spoke before his eyes went wide in realization.


    "You have the te! You have the beast storage treasure, don¡¯t you?" Gu Yao asked.

 Chapter 402 - My Master’s Name Is… Xukong!

    <h4>Chapter 402 - My Master¡¯s Name Is¡­ Xukong! </h4>


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine how Gu Yao found out that he had the Beast storage treasure on him. The te was damaged and could not function anymore, even the spatial fluctuations on it were gone, leaving behind bare traces.


    Not to mention, the beast storage treasure wasn¡¯t even on his body, but rather in the ring itself. Lin Mu and Xukong were extremely sure that no one could perceive the ring on Lin Mu¡¯s finger.


    "How do you know this?" Lin Mu questioned, confusion apparent on his face.


    "Oh? So you admit? As for your question... I know the person who that beast storage treasure belonged to and that it is rightfully mine." Gu Yao replied.


    A new link appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind, and a great revtion appeared to him.


    "That dead nascent soul realm cultivator... you were the one who killed him..." Lin Mu said.


    "If you are talking about that merchant, then it is indeed true. But he is the one who tried to cheat me first! He got what he deserved, no one can disrespect the blood of Gu and live to tell the tale." Gu Yao said in a fierce tone.


    An image formed in Lin Mu¡¯s mind as the string of events started to make sense to him. The traces of the invader on Gu Yao, him killing the ¡¯merchant¡¯, and him doing the blood sacrifices.


    ¡¯Wait, if that invader came from the Great Slumber beast who was in the Beast storage treasure then for him to get infected by it would require them toe in contact, wouldn¡¯t it? Also, it is obvious that the merchant was not from this world, then how did he appear here?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "That merchant... how did hee ¡¯here¡¯?" Lin Mu emphasized.


    Gu Yao¡¯s brows rose as he heard the intonation of Lin Mu¡¯s question.


    "Usually I wouldn¡¯t bother to speak, but since I¡¯m bored after so long and you people will forget all this anyway, so it wouldn¡¯t matter. " Gu Yao uttered in a nonchnt tone. Besides, I get to satisfy my curiosity too...¡¯ He thought.


    The eyes of everyone stared at him as they were unable to move. Even the supreme elder was listening intently, wanting to know everything, hoping that there might be some hint that could help them.


    "You boy," Gu Yao pointed at Lin Mu. "Who are you? You clearly know about that merchant and even seem to know his origin." He asked.


    Lin Mu hesitated to answer, but then Senior Xukong spoke in his mind.


    "Cooperate with him. Perhaps there might be a way out of this situation without fighting. It is clear that the invader is not him and neither it is controlling him, thus you don¡¯t have an obligation to kill him right away.


    Besides, if he really tries to attack you, the ward should activate. While it wouldn¡¯t be able to harm him, it should give you long enough to escape." Xukong suggested.


    "I¡¯ll try senior... But these bindings, what do I do about them? I won¡¯t be able to escape if they stay." Lin Mu replied.


    "Just do what you are doing now, I¡¯ll try to figure out a solution for it till then. Just keep him busy." Xukong said.


    "Alright," Lin Mu replied before focusing back on Gu Yao.


    "I am Mu Lin... I found the skeleton of that merchant out in the forest a while back." Lin Mu answered.


    "I see... but that doesn¡¯t exin why you know about his origin." Gu Yao replied as a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes.


    Seeing that Gu Yao was perhaps about to act, Lin Mu hurriedly replied.


    "My master told me!" Lin Mu said.


    Gu Yao stared deeply into his eyes, which made Lin M shudder but soon calmed down after he withdrew it a few secondster.


    "Hmm... at least you are not lying now even if you did about your name." Gu Yao stated.


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    Lin Mu would have flinched had it not been for the bindings that restrained him.


    ¡¯He can detect lies? How?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered with surprise.


    "There are many methods to do that. But in his case, it is just pure experience. He is far too old for you to deal with directly." Xukong exined.


    "Now then... tell me the name you this ¡¯master¡¯ of yours... if he can perceive the origin of that merchant then he shouldn¡¯t be someone unknown. Who is he? Someone from the top ten sects?" Gu Yao questioned directly.


    The supreme elder had an expression of shock on his face and so did the other just that it was not visible.


    "Should I tell him senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Go ahead, it does not matter in the long run. What will he do even if he knows my name?" Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu internally nodded and took a breath before speaking.


    "My master¡¯s name is... Xukong!" Lin Mu revealed.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    An invisible wave of aura appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s body as soon as the name was spoken. No one in the chamber sensed it, not even Lin Mu.


    Gu Yao heard the name and tried to remember if he knew anyone by that name. Wu Hei was also intrigued, as this was the first time he heard the actual name of Lin Mu¡¯s master. He hadn¡¯t dared to ask it before, as they were unsure if it was appropriate.


    If the master of Lin Mu wanted to stay hidden and they forced him to say the name, it would only be bad for them.


    Wu Hei had his curiosity satisfied, but even he was unable to recognize who that named belonged to. All of the powerful cultivators that he knew were well known, their reputations speaking for themselves. But this was a name that was foreign to him.


    ¡¯The boy is not lying, but what is this name. It doesn¡¯t seem to belong to any of the cultivators. No wait... can it be? Could it be one of those old monsters?¡¯ Gu Yao wondered.

 Chapter 403 - Servant?

    <h4>Chapter 403 - Servant? </h4>


    Gu Yao knew that the beast storage treasure wasn¡¯t something that could be identified by just anyone. Even in the top sects, there were barely a handful of people who may recognize the symbols on it. This reduced the pool of potential candidates to a handful.


    "Your master, what is his cultivation base?" Gu Yao questioned again.


    This time his eyes glowed in red and it seemed to have affected Lin Mu.


    "And don¡¯t try to lie this time, I¡¯ll know if you do..." he added.


    ¡¯Is this one of the techniques that Senior Xukong mentioned?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    The others were also listening to the question and Wu Hei was particrly interested in this as well.


    "I do not know." Lin Mu straightway said.


    "What?" Gu Yao asked feeling a bit bewildered.


    "I do not know what his cultivation base is." Lin Mu said again.


    Gu Yao red at Lin Mu and his eyes glowed with a red light. But even after a minute, he seemed to be unable to sense anything.


    ¡¯He¡¯s not lying... He really doesn¡¯t know...¡¯ Gu Yao realized.


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    Even if Gu Yao had doubts about the authenticity of this information, the technique he was using confirmed that Lin Mu was not lying.


    While Gu Yao was thinking of this, Xukong was telling Lin Mu something else.


    "Can you move your right hand now?" Xukong questioned.


    "Yes, I can move the fingers a little bit." Lin Mu answered.


    "Good, that should be enough. Now, this is what I need you to do..." Xukong started exining.


    The more Xukong spoke the more Lin Mu was excited. If the method that Senior Xukong Had just told him worked then it would be possible for him to get freed from the bindings. But for this method to work, Lin Mu needed more time and for that, he would have to distract Gu Yao for more time.


    "Why did you do this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Why? To get what¡¯s rightfully mine of course. And to destroy the Empire." Gu Yao answered.


    His words shocked everyone in the chamber. If words such as these were spoken in public that person would be swiftly executed for treason against the empire. The empire was the supreme ruler of the world and the people were its subjects.


    "The Gu n from hundred years ago... so you belong to them." Lin Mu spoke in an understanding tone.


    "Oh? You actually know about this? That¡¯s interesting, the emperor did his best to erase all traces of our existence and yet someone knows about it." Gu Yao said in an impressed tone.


    "But how were you able to survive when the Gu n was exterminated back then?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The emperor greatly underestimated us. We knew that it wouldn¡¯t be good to stay in the open anymore, and thus we decided to hide. We sacrificed a majority of our n to hide a few and resources. We had vowed to have revenge against the empire." Gu Yao said with fervor.


    "So this ce... these ruins. They are the inheritance that the Gu n got all those years ago." Lin Mu stated.


    Gu Yao tilted his head as he was rather surprised by Lin Mu¡¯s words. He had not expected this piece of information to even be known to anyone. Even in his n, there were only a handful of people that knew about it and they were all dead except for him.


    "Enough talk, time to finish this all." Gu Yao said hurriedly before waving his hand.


    Lin Mu could tell that the man was flustered after having this fact revealed. Even Lin Mu didn¡¯t know that this was the inheritance that the Gu n obtained back then. ording to what Jing Wei had told him, the site of the inheritance was unknown and that it was destroyed.


    But by linking all the runes and chambers that existed in this ce, it was obvious to Lin Mu that it was the inheritance site that the Gu n gained. Even the existence of the Gu Legion became obvious because of it.


    ¡¯So the Gu n went into hiding and established the Gu legion. But to make things easier for them, they also made a cultivation sect called the Autumn Valley sect and made their cultivators legitimate. All the while they were kidnapping and sacrificing the cultivators to fuel Gu Yao¡¯s cultivation while also gaining power.¡¯ Lin Mu analyzed.


    "Aargh!"


    Suddenly a pain filled shout was heard and Lin Mu looked towards its source. The one who had shouted was none other than Quan Hong. A streak of blood flowed up to his head and entered his seven apertures. He tried to resist, but nothing seemed to be working.


    "YOU! STOP THIS!" The supreme elder shouted with difficulty.


    "It will be over soon and then you all will have nothing to worry." Gu Yao uttered before flicking his hand and doing the same to Fa Lao.


    "AARGH!" Fa Lao shouted in pain as well.


    The people watched in horror, except for Qing Yuan Tiu, who was watching with interest. She wondered what kind of technique the sect ancestor was using.


    A few secondster their shouting stopped, and the bindings on them disappeared as well.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Both Quan Hong and Fa Lao copsed to the ground and stayed motionless for a minute before moving. The Supreme elder and Peak master Yi Deng had thought that they had died, but it did not seem to be the case. But what they saw only terrified them even more.


    "This servant greets master!" Both Fa Lao and Quan Hong stated in a respectful tone.


    They looked up and one could see a faint red glimmer in their eyes.


    "YOU FIEND! What did you do to them?!" The supreme elder questioned with rage.


    "I just made them my faithful servants," Gu Yao said before looking towards the supreme elder. "Don¡¯t worry, it will be your turn as well." He added.


    "I have to thank that merchant thought. That being that tried to take over me, I learned a few things from it. Theyplement my cultivation technique quite well and even enhance it." Gu Yao said.

 Chapter 404 - Control And Punishment

    <h4>Chapter 404 - Control And Punishment </h4>


    Lin Mu recognized what Gu Yao was doing. He had seen something like it before and linked that to it. And seeing how he had been infected by the invader as well, there was only one answer.


    "He¡¯s using the invader¡¯s ability!" Lin Mu eximed internally.


    Lin Mu had already seen a few examples where the invader had been controlling others. The invader had hidden within the ashen cloak mercenary¡¯s dead body when he was killed by the great slumber bear who was also infected by the Invader.


    From what he could tell that the Great Slumber bear was perhaps the very first being that was infected by the invader or could have even been the one to spread it. But then when he considered that there were other beasts like the Blight Dust Beast, he thought otherwise.


    Lin Mu had learned from Duan Ke that the Blight Dust beast never left its territory, and neither did the Great Slumber bear go there. Which meant that there was a different way that it had spread.


    ¡¯Maybe the great slumber bear was not even supposed to be infected. If this merchant had brought both of them here, then maybe it happened during their fight. If he was going to capture a Strong beast like the great slumber bear, it wouldn¡¯t make sense to weaken it with the invader...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    While Lin Mu was thinking this, not even five seconds has passed. Gu Yao had sped up his process and was not targeting Wu Teng. The man was already injured and thus could not put up a fight physically. Thought his willpower was another thing.


    "I¡¯ll die but won¡¯t let you do this!" Wu Teng yelled, breaking through the restrictions.


    "Oh my, what a strong will nephew. You¡¯ve certainly inherited this from the bloodline of the Gu n. If we didn¡¯t have a strong will we wouldn¡¯t have survived all this time." Gu Yao said before making a seal with his hand and throwing it to Wu Teng.


    <i>~ck~</i>


    The seal tightened around Wu Teng¡¯s body tightly and the sound of a bones cracking was heard.


    "Aargh!" Wu Teng shouted in pain but couldn¡¯t move anymore.


    Lin Mu¡¯s focus was on him when it happened and saw the reason behind it. In order to gain control over the people, Gu Yao had to loosen the previous restrictions he had put on them. He had to bnce this with the controlling process and lower the restrictions ordingly.


    It was this very moment where Wu Teng had used to break through the restriction.


    "This is good, if our current n doesn¡¯t work, we can use that as well. But if that really does happen, the ward will be activated as well." Xukong said.


    "I understand, Senior." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu did not want to let the ward activate here and wanted to see if he could exin this ordeal himself. He knew that defeating or killing Gu Yao was going to be impossible, plus with the people in his control Lin Mu knew that he was going to be outnumbered too.


    ¡¯But how is he able to control someone at the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm when even he is technically at the same stage?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "It is the blood pool. It has refined blood essence in it which he is using to control their bodies and mind. If he did this on his own, it would have been quite difficult, but with the supplementary power of the blood pool he can perhaps control even an actual Dao Shell realm cultivator!" Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth upon hearing this revtion sped up what he was doing. Knowing that it may not be enough and just to be on the safe side, he decided to try to dy Gu Yao even more. Perhaps he may even be able to stop him before the others were controlled.


    "You should stop this while you can, or my master will not be pleased!" Lin Mu shouted at Gu Yao.


    Gu Yao looked towards Lin Mu as a smirk appeared on his face. The others looked at Lin Mu too, some wondering how he was still talking despite having a low cultivation base.


    Gu Yao created another seal and more blood flowed out of the blood pool and crawled up the body of Wu Teng. He then turned around to walk towards Lin Mu.


    "Oh, and why would I care about that? You don¡¯t even know what your master¡¯s cultivation base is, and I know he is not anyone strong. There is no one named Xukong in any of the top sects and if it is someone from other lower sects then they are not worth to me, anyway." Gu Yao spoke in an insulting tone.


    "Tell me you can detect lies using your skill right?" Lin Mu questioned, not bothered by his words.


    "I do, but why does that matter that to you?" Gu Yao replied, getting annoyed.


    "Ask me again what my master¡¯s cultivation base is," Lin Mu asked with a smile.


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    "Don¡¯t waste my time, when I already know that." Gu Yao said, raising his hand, ready to act.


    "Try again, if I¡¯m lying you can kill me, anyway. Or is it that you are scared?" Lin Mu taunted.


    <i>~Tch~</i>


    "Pesky brat! I¡¯ll sever your limbs and refine your body into a pill if you dare to lie!" Gu Yao threatened.


    Lin Mu kept on watching him while maintaining the control of his spirit sense. But just as he was about to speak again, he heard another voice.


    "Your servant greets master," Wu Teng said.


    Gu Yao had seeded in controlling Wu Teng as well.


    "Good, good, now on to the next one." Gu Yao looked at the remaining people, before settling on peak master Yi Deng.


    He flicked his hand and more blood streams covered Yi Deng.


    "Now where were we? Ah yes, your uing punishment." Gu Yao said while looking at Lin Mu with an evil glint in his eyes.

 Chapter 405 - Above Immortal Ascension Realm!!

    <h4>Chapter 405 - Above Immortal Ascension Realm!! </h4>


    Gu Yao was feeling both ecstatic and anxious at the same time. Ecstatic because his n was finally in its second phase and anxious because of Lin Mu. He was still confused about how or why the restrictions and seals were not working on the boy.


    He could understand the case with the supreme elder of the Tri cauldron peony sect as the man was near to him in terms of cultivation base, while in the case of Wu Teng it was because of his willpower and him lowering the restrictions back then.


    Another thing was their bloodline itself. The bloodline of the Gu n flowed in both of his nephews, and it was also why his skills wouldn¡¯t work properly on them. Gu Yao himself was unsure about the things that he had learned from that invader.


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    He knew that it was a rather different kind of invader and was perhaps quite powerful. Even he had only been able to stop it from taking control over his body because of the blood pool and his cultivation technique. But that invader had also taught him some things inadvertently.


    While trying to free himself from its control, Gu Yao was able to learn the methods it used. Seeing that they were rather useful, he adapted them into his own cultivation technique and created the Human Controlling Blood Curse.


    He also knew that the technique was not absolute and came with its own set of conditions. One of the conditions being that the technique needed arge quantity of blood essence and also needed a specific formation array to work.


    That was the reason why he had not left this chamber. If he wanted to, he could have left at any time, but he was staying here willingly, waiting for the prey to walk in. The gate that blocked the entrance and the barriers around it were a kind of a test that would only allow a strong cultivator to pass.


    Gu Yao had been ready the entire time and continued to grow his blood essence reserves while waiting. The more time he stayed hidden, the more blood essence he would obtain and the stronger cultivators he would be able to control.


    When Wu Xun was summoned by the king of the Shuang Qian kingdom, Gu Yao knew that it wouldn¡¯t be long before their existence was revealed to the world. That¡¯s why he had nned to do anotherrge-scale sacrifice and divert the attention of the people by taking advantage of the marriage of his elder nephew.


    In fact, the entire marriage alliance was suggested by Gu Yao himself, so that lots of cultivators could be gathered here together. He had thought the n was close to sess but just a single day before the marriage this had happened.


    ¡¯Fate is unpredictable... but my actions are not!¡¯ Gu Yao thought to himself as he looked at Lin Mu, who still had a smile on his face.


    While Lin Mu was able to still speak, he was stuck in his previous position with his right hand closed in the form of a fist and his left hand at his side.


    "Now where were we? Ah yes, your uing punishment." Gu Yao said while looking at Lin Mu with an evil glint in his eyes.


    "Tell me brat, what is your Master¡¯s cultivation base?" Gu Yao questioned as Lin Mu had asked.


    His eyes glowing in red as he activated his skill to detect lies. He could tell if someone was lying by perceiving the changes in their blood flow. With the bloodstreams covering them and the restrains active, his uracy was a hundred percent and perhaps only someone who was many times stronger than him may be able to lie to him.


    But if that was the case, then they would have no need to lie and would be able to fight their way out anyway by overpowering Gu Yao.


    Lin Mu took a breath and nced around at the condition of the other before speaking.


    "My master¡¯s cultivation base is... Above the Immortal Ascension Realm!!!" Lin Mu revealed, his voice echoing in the chamber.


    At first, Gu Yao was looking at him with a ridiculing gaze, but as he looked on, his expression started wavering.


    "He... he... he¡¯s not lying... how... how can it be?" Gu Yao muttered to himself.


    "Say that again, what is your master¡¯s cultivation base?" Gu Yao questioned again, doubting everything.


    "I said, my master is a being above the Immortal Ascension Realm and if that¡¯s not enough then know that he is thousands of years older than anyone in this world!" Lin Mu said, adding fuel to the fire.


    He knew he had trapped Gu Yao in a dilemma and as long as he stayed in it for a little while more, Senior Xukong¡¯s n would work.


    "You... you¡¯re not lying," Gu Yao said; this time clearly.


    The remaining four people in the chamber heard it clearly. Wu Hei was frozen in ce as his expression switched to that of shock. Qing Yuan Tiu stumbled back hearing the confirmation from her sect¡¯s ancestor. While Yi Deng was currently being assaulted by the ability of Gu Yao, he was still able to hear what had been said.


    The most affected was the supreme elder.


    ¡¯I... tried to recruit the disciple of an ascended cultivator...¡¯ the supreme elder thought.


    Trying to recruit or taking in someone else¡¯s disciple was considered a sin in the world of cultivators. The rtion between a master and disciple was sacred, and viting it was considered one of the biggest taboos.


    If a cultivator was found to be poaching someone else¡¯s disciple, that cultivator had the right to challenge and fight him for it. Even if it was said in passing, the other cultivator could still take offense and attack them.


    While the sects frequently poached disciples from other sects and wandering cultivators, that was only done because their masters were weaker. But a cultivator that was above the immortal Ascension realm? That cultivator wouldn¡¯t even need to lift a finger before tting the entire Great Zhou Empire.

 Chapter 406 - Bloodline Crystal Explosion

    <h4>Chapter 406 - Bloodline Crystal Explosion </h4>


    Gu Yao was now in a great dilemma. It was now his own skills against the words of a boy who he doubted greatly. On one hand, he was sure that his skills were urate and that the boy was not lying, but on the other hand, what the boy has said was utterly ridiculous to nearly everyone.


    It took a minute to recover before a furious expression appeared on his face.


    "YOU DARE TRICK ME? Who doesn¡¯t know that there isn¡¯t anyone above the immortal Ascension realm in this world? If there really was, then it would mean the world¡¯s barrier was destroyed." Gu Yao yelled.


    The supreme elder who was scared about his own prospects also calmed down after hearing the words of Gu Yao.


    ¡¯That¡¯s right, if the world barred was really destroyed, everyone would know. Without that, there is no way anyone can enter this world. The barrier was created by two Immortals from the upper realm personally, there is no way it would be possible.¡¯ The supreme elder thought.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t show any reaction to Gu Yao¡¯s words though. What he wanted to do was already aplished.


    "Doesn¡¯t matter, you¡¯re done anyway!" Lin Mu said before his right fist started to glow in a bright red light.


    There were beams of red lighting from the gaps between Lin Mu¡¯s fingers. The light seemed to be affecting the seals that were ced on his body. Gu Yao was only a hand¡¯s distance away before he saw it.


    "What did you do!?" Gu Yao questioned in shock before attacking Lin Mu.


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    But before he could do anything, Lin Mu¡¯s restraints broke like ss, and he was freed.


    "Take this!" Lin Mu shouted before throwing a small red marble at Gu Yao.


    Gu Yao saw the marble approaching him and saw the image of a cow that had a trunk running around inside the marble.


    "MOO!" A loud sound of a cow was heard as an illusory figure started forming in the air.


    The figure started expanding and became unstable.


    "Flicker..." Lin Mu muttered as dodged the iing attack of Gu Yao.


    "Blink..." He said as he reached hispanion that was closest to him, Wu Hei. He picked him up and threw him to the other side of the chamber. With Lin Mu¡¯s raw strength, it was an easy task.


    "Blink..." He used again to teleport to the Supreme elder and throwing him near Wu Hei as well.


    "Phase..." Lin Mu muttered as he passed straight through Qing Yuan Tiu, who had decided to block him.


    "Huh! HOW?" She said in shock before she was clocked at the side of her head.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The attack wasn¡¯t strong enough to kill her, but it was enough to knock her away.


    "Blink..." Lin Mu used to get to the Peak Master Yi Deng.


    He nced at the illusory figure of the Truck faced cow that was close to exploding and then at Gu Yao who was waving his hands, creating gestures to block the Bloodline Crystal from exploding. Merely five seconds had passed since Lin Mu had thrown the red marble at Gu Yao, and he knew that he was acting on borrowed time and thus had to be as fast as possible.


    Not bothering with any kind of etiquette, Lin Mu grasped the leg of the peak Master Yi Deng, which was pointed up to the back, as he was frozen in that position. Holding it tightly, Lin Mu swung him hard before throwing him to the same ce where Wu Hei and the Supreme elder were.


    Lin Mu barely had less than two seconds left, and there were still three people left. But he didn¡¯t know if it would be worth saving them as they were under the control of Gu Yao.


    "You can get one of them for now. They haven¡¯t received any orders from Gu Yao and thus haven¡¯t acted." Xukong informed.


    Lin Mu realized that even during all that he had done, the three servants had not acted even if Qing Yuan Tiu had done so. This meant that they couldn¡¯t act unless given specific orders verbally.


    Lin Mu blinked to Wu Teng and tackled him to the other corner, not caring for any injuries he may cause him for now.


    <i>~Shiing~</i>


    The waves of energy from the bloodline crystal of the Trunk Faced cow reached the peak and started exploding.


    "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!" Gu Yao shouted before creating a blood dome around him.


    Lin Mu paid him no mind and just muttered, "fade..."


    <i>~KABOOOOOOM!!!~</i>


    Lin Mu appeared inside the parallel space just a moment before the explosion happened, and he took a breath of relief.


    "Now onto the next part..." Lin Mu muttered before moving to the area where he had thrown the four men to. He had already extended his spirit sense there beforehand and thus didn¡¯t have a problem getting there.


    Him throwing the four men to the corner was just a way to minimize the injuries to them. Lin Mu was betting on the fact that the explosion from the Bloodline crystal would make Gu Yao lose control of the skill that he was using.


    This would cause the peak master Yi Deng and Supreme elder to get freed and perhaps even Wu Teng. If that happened, Xukong had told Lin Mu that the two nascent soul realm experts should be able to defend themselves. And even if they didn¡¯t they should have some defensive treasures on them that should protect them.


    Lin Mu had a good idea that Wu Hei had one of the defensive treasures and had thus thrown him to the side as well. Though he didn¡¯t know if it would be enough to bear the explosion of a bloodline Crystal.


    The explosion of a bloodline Crystal had the same power as that of a spirit core explosion. When a beast or a cultivator had no choice and still wanted to defeat their foes, they would explode their cores as a final gambit.

 Chapter 407 - Flipping The Odds

    <h4>Chapter 407 - Flipping The Odds </h4>


    Since the bloodline crystal was formed from the beast core of the trunk faced cow along with all of its vitality and spirit qi, Lin Mu was sure that it would be even stronger than that if not the same strength. Xukong had told Lin Mu that the detonation of a spirit core or a beast core could have the same power as that of the attack of a nascent soul realm.


    Another aspect of this was that the explosion of a beast or spirit core could cause arge amount of spirit qi waves that could disturb control skills like the one that Gu Yao was using.


    But what Lin Mu had done wasn¡¯t something that could be done carelessly. In fact, no one would have thought that a bloodline crystal could be made to explode like this. A properly refined bloodline Crystal was far too precious to be used as an expendable item like this.


    If someone wanted to use it as a bomb, there were far more cheaper alternatives that could be used without much problem and they would not be as dangerous either.


    A second Lin Mu reached the area where he had thrown the four men; Wu Hei, Wu Teng, Yi Deng, and the supreme elder. He ate another earthen qi pill and waited for a couple more seconds before deactivating the skill fade and reappearing in the real world.


    <i>~rumble~</i>


    <i>~crack~</i>


    The chamber was still shaking due to the explosion, and cracks were spreading all around. Lin Mu immediately spread his spirit sense around to get an idea of the area and saw a barrier set up where he was standing. Inside the barrier, the supreme elder and the peak master Yi Deng were standing, maintaining the barrier.


    The barrier had a multitude of cracks on it and looked like it would break any moment. Yi Deng and the supreme elder were injured as blood dripped out of their mouths and noses. Their clothes were torn in multiple ces and the peak master¡¯s leg was bent at an awkward angle. It was evident that it was now broken.


    Lin Mu looked for the other two people and found them to be in a slightly better condition. Wu Teng was knocked out and his head was bleeding. His ribs seemed to be broken as well at the ce where Lin Mu had tackled him in.


    Wu Hei was lying on the ground and was conscious. There were some scratches and cuts on his body along with his clothes being tattered, but there was also a blue glow protecting him. The glow wasing from a pendant that he had on his neck.


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    It had been hidden beneath his clothes all this time, but now it had been revealed due to the explosion.


    <i>~Shatter~</i>


    But the pendant did notst for long as its energy ran out and it shattered into multiple pieces.


    ¡¯At least they are alive...¡¯ Lin Mu muttered to himself before turning around to look at the main culprit.


    The blood pool was now destroyed as the blood had been burned due to the explosion, and the stone borders of the pool had also broken due to the force of the explosion. Lin Mu looked for Gu Yao and saw a sphere made out of blood floating in the air.


    He also saw a few body parts lying around the blood pool and quickly identified them. They belonged to none other than the disciples of the Tri cauldron Peony sect Fa Lao and Quan Hong. But there was one person that was missing, Qing Yuan Tiu.


    The woman was wearing a different type of clothes and her physique was also different, thus it wouldn¡¯t have been hard for Lin Mu to identify her remains. But they did not seem to be here. He quickly spread his spirit sense to the full and did a scan of the chamber.


    ¡¯There she is...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself after discovering her to be in the opposite direction to where he was.


    Looking at Qing Yuan Tiu, Lin Mu saw that she was still alive. The armor that she was wearing had protected her for the most part, but her face was still burned. Large burn wounds could be seen on her head as her hair had melted and stuck to her skull.


    Her fingers were also burned badly, and bones could be seen poking from the flesh.


    Overall, Lin Mu could tell that there wasn¡¯t much she could do anymore. But the danger was not over yet, the main culprit was still alive.


    "PEAK MASTER, SUPREME ELDER, QUICK!" Lin Mu called them.


    The two nascent soul realm men finally snapped out of their reverie and noticed Lin Mu was standing near them. They had fallen into a strange kind of daze and had barely been able to gain control of their bodies. Because they were being restrained before, they weren¡¯t able to fully defend themselves against the explosion of the bloodline crystal.


    Their defensive treasures activated but weren¡¯t able tost for long. But even then they gritted their teeth and achieved their own defensive technique to defend against the force of the explosion, albeit with injuries.


    The supreme elder sprinted flew forward and so did elder Yi Deng reaching Lin Mu. They didn¡¯t know what to say to Lin Mu now that he had pretty much saved them. But one thing was sure, they could no longer doubt the background of the boy.


    Even if he didn¡¯t have a Master that was beyond the immortal ascension stage, he definitely had someone powerful backing him. There was no way he would be able to have skills such as these otherwise. Surviving an explosion like that with no injuries, breaking out of a seal that even they were unable to from, and even saving them.


    None of these feats were something that should have been possible for someone that was in the qi refining realm. They even had a doubt whether the person in front of them really was a boy or it was an old cultivator that had returned to his youth and was now pretending to be a weak cultivator.

 Chapter 408 - Battling Gu Yao

    <h4>Chapter 408 - Battling Gu Yao </h4>


    The blood dome that was created by Gu Yao had be a blood sphere sometime during the explosion. Lin Mu and the other two elders couldn¡¯t tell what was happening inside it, but it was obvious that Gu Yao was nning something.


    "We need to kill Gu Yao or there will be a lot of problems." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes, we cannot let him escape. Just the blood sacrifices are worthy for him to be executed." Supreme elder replied with anger in his eyes.


    The peak master Yi Deng flicked his hand and the fan shaped spirit tool appeared in his hand.


    "Why are we waiting then? KILL!" Yi Deng shouted before flying forward.


    He waved the fan and des of wind formed in the air, before attacking the blood sphere.


    <i>~clink~</i>


    <i>~clink~</i>


    <i>~Clink~</i>


    It was as if metal was hitting metal and no damage could be seen on the blood sphere.


    "Dammit! It¡¯s much more tougher than I expected." Yi Deng said before attacking again.


    The supreme elder summoned his spear and made a gesture with his free hand, lighting a me onto the spear tip.


    "True me extermination spear!" The supreme elder canted before throwing the spear with all his might.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The spear streaked through the air, leaving behind a trail of orange mes.


    <i>~Weng~</i>


    But just as it was about to hit the blood sphere, it suddenly expanded and turned into the shape of a shield.


    "You think you can defeat me like this? Humph!" Gu Yao who had been hidden in the blood sphere all this time revealed himself.


    The blood shield blocked the True me extermination spear, but not before being damaged by half. There were cracks on the shield and the spear was flickering with mes.


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    "Return!" The supreme elder ordered, and the spear flew back into his hands.


    "Gu Yao, hear your crimes! You have sacrificed countless humans bothmoners and cultivators. You dared to scheme against the empire and the sects. Just by the virtue of your bloodline, you belong to the traitorous Gu n.


    Thus, in the name of the Supreme Elder of the Tri cauldron peony sect, I hereby condemn you to... DEATH!" The supreme elder dered.


    The aura of the supreme elder skyrocketed as intense waves of spirit qi emanated from him. Lin Mu could feel the full impact of the spirit qi and finally understood how strong a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, that too one that is in the Adult Stage is like.


    "HAHAHA! How many times have I heard the same words in the past, but I am still here, aren¡¯t I?" Gu Yao taunted as he created des made of blood.


    Raising both his hands to the front, Gu Yao started flicking them towards the three enemies of him.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    <i>~zoom~</i>


    <i>~zoom~</i>


    The des of blood flew through the air at great speed, with two of theming at Lin Mu.


    "Flicker!" Lin Mu muttered just a moment before the de touched him.


    <i>~cut~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as he looked down at his abdomen. His robes had been cut clean from where the de of blood had passed, and a faint cut could be seen on his skin as well.


    "How?" Lin Mu questioned with shock.


    This was the first time his skill Flicker, had failed to protect him from an attack.


    "His attacks are too powerful for you to ignore them. They contain a higher amount of spirit qi in them and thus can bypass the effect of the first skill Flicker. It¡¯s better that you dodge them instead." Xukong hurriedly spoke.


    Lin Mu was a bit thankful that he learned of this right now. If he did not know of the limitations of the flicker, he may have very wellmitted a grave mistake in the future. But he at least now knew that the limit for the skill flicker was the Nascent Soul realm.


    But there was still the fact that Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if only Adult stage Nascent soul realm cultivators could affect him or if it was all cultivators in the Nascent Soul realm.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Now that Lin Mu had been injured, the ward that was ced on Lin Mus started activating.


    "Senior, stop the ward!" Lin Mu urged.


    "You sure? Do you have some other idea?" Xukong inquired.


    He knew that the ward was a defensive spell and would at most allow him to escape from here. But looking at Lin Mu Xukong could tell that Lin Mu perhaps had some other idea.


    "I want to see if the two elders can defeat him and I also want to test out the full potential of the third form of the Boulder copsing fist." Lin Mu said.


    Lin Mu had never used the boulder copsing fist beyond the limit of twenty percent. He knew that the skill was quite powerful and if the Bloodline crystal explosion could hurt Gu Yao, then it was likely that the third form of the Boulder Copsing fist could do the same.


    Lin Mu was betting on the fourth skill Fade as his final gambit along with the ward if he wanted to escape.


    He trained his eyes on Gu Yao, who was now fighting both the Peak Master Yi Deng and Supreme elder together. The peak master pped his fan and created des of winds, while the supreme elder rained punches and kicks on the man while the spear flew around on its own, controlled by his spirit sense.


    "I¡¯ll give you two an offer, join hands with me and I¡¯ll make you the top sect of the empire." Gu Yao said.


    "HAH! As if we are fools to ept your offer." Yi Deng scoffed while creating a vortex that spun at great speed, sputtering the blood around.


    "Your loss if you do not want to ept it. But know that my Gu n shall rule this continent and the Great Zhou Empire will be exterminated, just like they did to my n!" Gu Yao proimed.

 Chapter 409 - Pray

    <h4>Chapter 409 - Pray </h4>


    The Supreme elder and the peak master could very well tell that the man was insane and would not budge. There was no use in talking with him anymore and the best course of action was a swift death.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Gu Yao created a whirling ring of blood that expanded to repel the two elders¡¯ back. The wind vortex that the peak master Yi Deng had created was destroyed as well, and the spear of the supreme elder was thrown to the side.


    "He still has the support of the blood pool!" The Supreme elder realized.


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    Lin Mu looked around and saw that even if the explosion of the Bloodline Crystal had destroyed the blood pool, the blood essence was not fully destroyed. Barely ten percent of it was perhaps burned away, but the rest of it had just sprayed around in the chamber.


    Under the control of Gu Yao, the blood was slowly gathering together. The blood essence was the fuel behind his technique and how he was able to fight against two nascent soul realm cultivators at once.


    "Wait, why isn¡¯t he trying to control them again?" Lin Mu suddenly questioned.


    All Gu Yao had to do was to control one of them, and then the odds would be flipped again. Lin Mu¡¯s eyes darted around, and so did his spirit sense trying to find the irregrity.


    "Blink!"


    "Flicker!"


    "Blink!"


    Lin Mu continually dodged the attacks of Gu Yao and tried to find what he was doing. He had already detected that the spirit sense of Gu Yao was split into multiple parts currently, and each one was doing something else. The two elders were busy fighting and could not lose their focus and thus could not tell Thai Gu Yao was seeming something even further.


    Lin Mu chanted the severing heart sutra, increasing his perception to the peak. It was then that he discovered the true extent of Gu Yao¡¯s spirit sense.


    ¡¯He has merged it with the blood essence... so that¡¯s how he controls it. But after merging it with the blood essence, the presence of his spirit sense is almost impossible to detect.¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    He discovered that some of the blood essence streaks were moving into some random locations. But after focusing there, he realized what his ultimate goal was.


    "He¡¯s creating runes!" Lin Mu eximed.


    The two elders heard his words and became shocked. Gu Yao had a simr expression and realized that he had nearly forgotten about Lin Mu.


    "YOU BRAT! I¡¯ll kill you!" Gu Yao chopped his hand in the air like a sword and a long de made of blood was created.


    "HAA!" he shouted as the de of blood traveled at great speed.


    Gu Yao had already given up on Lin Mu¡¯s master. He reckoned that the boy was trying to trick him as nothing had happened till now. If he really had a Master that was that strong and was beyond the Immortal Ascension realm, there wouldn¡¯t be any dy like this.


    A cultivator like that would be all-seeing and would know what was happening where in the world. If his disciple was in trouble, he would merely have to will it and the world itself would kill him. But since nothing like that had happened, he reached the conclusion that he really was being fooled.


    "NO!" The supreme elder shouted and threw his spear to intercept the blood de.


    Lin Mu could feel the wind pressure assaulting him, as the blood de tore through the air.


    "Fade..." Lin Mu muttered, disappearing from the world.


    All three men, Gu Yao, Yi Deng, and the supreme elder were left in shock as the boy disappeared into thin air.


    "Wait! Were those!" Yi Deng suddenly realized something.


    "SPATIAL FLUCTUATIONS!" Supreme elder eximed.


    "Does the boy have a spatial treasure? No! It cannot be... his cultivation base is far too weak to use it." Yi Deng questioned.


    "No, there is another way..." The Supreme elder spoke.


    Yi Deng understood the look in supreme elders¡¯ eyes and shot more wind des at Gu Yao, who was a bit distracted.


    "SENIOR! O¡¯ MASTER OF MU LIN! IF YOU ARE HEARING US, WE BESEECH YOU TO KILL THIS FIEND!" The supreme elder shouted, his voice thrumming with spirit qi.


    It was as if the walls of the chamber did not exist and Supreme elder¡¯s voice traveled through the ground all the way to the surface. There it spread into the surroundings, echoing in the city. Each and every person in the Wu Lim City could hear it.


    The people who were at the mayor¡¯s Manor had grim expressions on their faces. This included Zhen Shui, the hidden membered of the Hei corps, and the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect who had been asked to stay behind.


    "They are in trouble! That is the voice of the supreme elder!" Tie Dan spoke, recognizing the voice.


    "What kind of problems did they run into that even the supreme elder is shouting helplessly?" Someone else quietened.


    "More than that, why would they ask for help from Mu Lin¡¯s master? He¡¯s not even here..." Another person wondered.


    The other citizens of the town had simr feelings and did not know what to do.


    At the Alluring Wisteria pavilion, Yue was grooming her hair when she heard the voice of the supreme elder. She bit her lip as the name of Mu Lin echoed in her voice.


    "Will he be fine?..."


    At the hideout of the Hei corps, the members were all anxious as they were praying for the safety of their lord who was with them in the tunnels. They had asked to join him as back up too, but Wu Hei Had straightaway denied them, telling them that they would be more of a burden than a help.


    "O¡¯ Ancestors of yore! Please help our lord, please help our Saviour!" Hei Wen prayed, her eyes red with tears.


    Back at the underground chamber, Gu Yao was still fighting the two elders, when spatial fluctuations appeared again.

 Chapter 410 - Devastator!

    <h4>Chapter 410 - Devastator! </h4>


    The three of them sensed the spatial fluctuations and immediately became alert. They didn¡¯t know what could happen next and thus were anxious.


    The supreme elder had called for help from the master of Lin Mu and was wondering if it was him that had taken away Lin Mu or perhaps he was the one that wasing to help them. But when the fluctuations ended, they saw something that shocked them even more.


    A few meters away from Gu Yao, Lin Mu had appeared. But he did not look the same as he did ten seconds ago. His body seemed to have grown a couple of sizes and his clothes were stretched taut. His eyes were blood shot and his face was red as well.


    Veins popped out on his head and neck while his muscles throbbed. He was standing in a punching posture and was looking at Hu Yao. His face was one of utter malice and a terrifying aura could be perceived from him. In front of him, even Gu Yao¡¯s blood aura seemed to becking.


    "What are you..." Gu Yao muttered in shock.


    Right now Lin Mu did not seem to be just a peak stage qi refining realm cultivator, rather his presence was horrifying to even Gu Yao and the supreme elder.


    "GET BACK!" Lin Mu ordered.


    The supreme elder and the peak master Yi Deng instantly understood that this was intended for them and they rapidly flew to the back. They didn¡¯t know what was going to happen, but they knew better than to stay there for now.


    A smile appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face as he said.


    "Boulder Copsing fist: Third Form- Devastator!"


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    <i>~Rip~</i>


    <i>~Tear~</i>


    The skin of Lin Mu¡¯s hand was torn open as a pink ribbon of energy was released from it. The supreme elder and Yi Deng immediately set up defensive barriers, knowing that the ribbon of energy could hurt even them. They couldn¡¯t tell what the energy was, but the power contained within it was no joke.


    Gu Yao reached the same conclusion and set up a blood shield as well.


    <i>~Deng~Deng~Deng~</i>


    Multipleyers of blood walls papered in front of the shield, creating additional defenses.


    The pink ribbon of energy traveled at a great speed, yet it seemed as if it was slow. There were after images left behind which made it seem like the ribbon was extremely long, even when it was not. The floor beneath was ripped apart as the pink ribbon passed over it.


    Then finally, it met the blood wall.


    <i>~Crush~</i>


    <i>~Shatter~</i>


    The first wall was broken like ss as the ribbon collided against the second one.


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    <i>~Shatter~</i>


    Third wall


    <i>~Shatter~</i>


    Fourth wall


    <i>~Shatter~</i>


    Fifth Wall


    <i>~shatter~</i>


    None of the blood walls were able to hold back for even a second against the pink Robbin of energy. Both the supreme elder and Yi Deng knew how difficult it was to break those blood walls. They had broken a few of them before, but even then it had taken them quite a bit of effort.


    "NO!!" Gu Yao shouted in anger.


    He poured more of his spirit qi into the blood shield in front of him and strengthened it further. This was the strongest shield he could set up and had not expected the blood walls to be broken like this, or he would have made a stronger one from the very start.


    <i>~Boom!~</i>


    It was as if an explosion had happened when the pink ribbon of energy met the Blood shield. A sonic boom was created as Lin Mu was pushed back a few meters.


    He held onto his hand that was aching and looked at the pink ribbon of energy. This time he had gone beyond his limit and had used fifty percent power in using the Boulder Copsing fist¡¯s third form. Xukong had told him that he shouldn¡¯t use it more than thirty percent, even if his cultivation in the body tempering realm had reached the peak.


    Lin Mu needed to be undisturbed if he wanted to use the third form of the boulder copsing fist, and thus the parallel world was the perfect for it.


    Lin Mu knew that this would not be enough, as the attack power of the technique would barely reach that of a causal attack of a nascent soul realm cultivator. He did not want that as it would be blocked easily. Thus he went beyond forty percent.


    But this was too much for his body and would have destroyed his arm. A solution immediately presented to Lin Mu as he remembered the effects of the Burning Heart sutra. Not only did the Burning heart sutra raise his physical strength, but it also reinforced his durability.


    Lin Mu chanted the burning heart sutra and then used the technique. During this, he discovered another ability of the Burning heart sutra. He realized that any technique that used vital energy would be boosted when using the Burring heart sutra.


    The sutra seemed to have the ability to amplify it and thus Lin Mu made the decision to boost its power to a full fifty percent. This was the maximum that he would be able to handle, and even then, his hand would probably be disabled for a few days.


    Even if alchemical pills such as the four vessels restoration pill were used, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use it to its full capacity. This was not because of the physical injury, but rather because of the strain that would be put on his meridians.


    His meridians would not be able to heal fully even with the use of the Three vessels restoration pill and would thus require additional time.


    The effect of the technique was just as he had expected too. The Third form of the Boulder copsing fist was able to break multiple blood walls easily and now the only thing stopping it was the blood shield which was the most powerful defensive skill of Gu Yao.


    "Come on, BREAK!"

 Chapter 411 - Human Controlling Blood Curse

    <h4>Chapter 411 - Human Controlling Blood Curse </h4>


    The battle was at a stand still. The pink ribbon of energy was spiraling and trying to drill through the blood shield of Gu Yao and Gu Yao was trying to resist it.


    He couldn¡¯t afford to lose even a moment¡¯s time as he fully focused his efforts on the blood shield. The stalematested for five seconds after which a change fully urred.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    "NOO!!!!" Gu Yao shouted.


    A crack had finally appeared on the blood shield even after all that he had done and it only kept on expanding.


    Gu Yao¡¯s eyes shined in red as more blood essence traveled from the ground to his body and then to his arms. His right hand was ced at the back of the blood shield and his left arm was supporting it.


    But even after all that, the end result was disappointing.


    <i>~Shatter~</i>


    <i>~Rip~</i>


    The pink ribbon of energy broke through the blood shield and directly met the right hand of Gu Yao. The flesh of his palm was ripped apart as the pink ribbon continued onwards. Gu Yao gritted his teeth as he made up his mind.


    "BLOOD ESSENCE IGNITE!" He shouted.


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    <i>~Boom~</i>


    Another loud explosion happened that knocked away Lin Mu, Yi Deng, and the supreme elder.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    All three of them mmed into the Walls of the chamber and left cracks on it. Lin Mu coughed out blood as he was already tired from using the third form of the Boulder copsing fist and was reeling from the impact.


    The chamber was covered in a red mist now, and the pink energy ribbon could no longer be seen. After a few seconds of silence, Lin Mu and the rest finally saw the aftermath.


    <i>~drip~drip~drip~</i>


    In the center of the site of the explosion was standing Gu Yao. His right arm waspletely destroyed and only some remnants of flesh were left attached to his shoulder. The rest of his body had injuries as well, and blood was seeping out of his seven orifices too.


    "YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!" Gu Yao yelled with pure rage.


    <i>~grunt~</i>


    Blood essence stream floated up from the surroundings as they formed into thousands of runes. The runes that he had made previouslybined with these runes and now they could be seen everywhere.


    "I didn¡¯t want to waste my progress by using this right now, but you left me no choice!" Gu Yao said.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    <i>~Tremble~</i>


    The ground started trembling as the blood essence streams turned into threads. The threads went up to the roof and easily broke through it.


    <i>~rumble~</i>


    <i>~crack~</i>


    The roof started to fall apart and the chamber began copsing. The supreme elder and Yi Deng were under the protection of the barrier and thus were able to withstand it. Lin Mu on the other hand simply used Phase and stood there.


    He couldn¡¯t fully move yet as his spirit qi was in disharmony. He was chanting the severing heart sutra to control it, but still needed some time.


    "Seems like we¡¯ve run out of options..." Lin Mu said in an unwilling tone.


    "Indeed... time for the final gambit?" Xukong asked.


    "I want to see what his aim is, besides I can¡¯t move yet." Lin Mu said in a nervous voice.


    He then pulled out a bunch of healing pills and stuffed them in his mouth, not caring which ones they were. He had plenty of them and had to be ready for anything now. The pills took effect rather quickly as their medical properties spread across his body.


    The internal injuries and the flesh wound on his hand healed, leaving behind scabs. The small cuts and bruises he had suffered also healed.


    Lin Mu quickly checked his spirit qi and saw that he now had less than fifty percent of it left. He had used a lot of due to how many times he used his skills and then he had also used the Boulder copsing fist, which was at a higher power level.


    Lin Mu had kept fifty percent of his spirit qi as the absolute limit and had decided that he would escape if that level was reached. He knew that the others may likely be dying, but there wasn¡¯t much he could do now. If he sessfully escaped, he would have plenty of time to get his revenge.


    Lin Mu looked up and saw that the blood essence threads had opened up a hole all the way to the surface now. His vision was getting blocked by all the boulders that had fallen, and he barely saw it between the gaps. He didn¡¯t know if the supreme elder and the others were fine or not, but there wasn¡¯t much he could do for now.


    "This should be enough..." Lin Mu muttered to himself before moving a bit.


    Confirming that he could move better now, he started moving to the top using blink and eventually reached the surface of the ground.


    Lin Mu was now standing right beside the ancestral temple. The hole that had been opened up was halfway under the temple and half outside the temple near the surrounding ground. There were people running all around in terror as the blood essence threads spread around.


    They went to the sky along with Gu Yao, and he was now visible to everyone in the city.


    "People of Wu Lim City..." Gu Yao spoke and everyone watched him, frozen in terror.


    "PREPARE TO BECOME MY SERVANTS!" Gu Yao dered.


    <i>~SCREAM~</i>


    Absolute chaos broke, and people started ruining everywhere. The cultivators that were among them sensed the cultivation base of Gu Yao and knew that they were not his match. The head priest of the temple was lying on the ground to the side, his legs ripped off.


    He had been injured when Gu Yao broke the ground and a few of the other priests were also lying on the ground, some dead, some close to it.


    It was now that the blood essence thread swooped towards the people.


    "Human controlling blood curse: Absolute puppet!"

 Chapter 412 - Cracked

    <h4>Chapter 412 - Cracked </h4>


    Thousand of blood essence threads were currently swirling in the sky.


    Gu Yao¡¯s words were like a deity¡¯s judgment and the threads descended upon the people. Lin Mu was watching from below and could tell that the power of the ability that Gu Yao was using was much more than before.


    "How did it suddenly increase in power?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "He is sacrificing his longevity to increase the potency of the ability... you need to get away too," Xukong replied.


    A blood thread appeared in front of Lin Mu too, but he cut it with his short sword. The blood essence thread dissipated and another one soon appeared in its ce. Lin Mu kept on cutting them while observing Gu Yao. Lin Mu wanted to see how his skill worked, so as to find out ws in it.


    He knew that this was a lost cause for now and that he had already lost this battle. But for the next one in the future, Lin Mu knew he needed more information. He thus wanted to take advantage while he could witness the skill himself.


    ¡¯Hmm... so it is called the Human Controlling Blood Curse. From its name, the effects are rather obvious, but there should be more peculiarities of this ability. There should definitely be some restrictions, seeing that he is trying to control the entire poption of the Wu Lim city.¡¯ Lin Mu thought as his spirit sense spread all around, observing everything closely.


    Lin Mu searched for the supreme elder and Yi Deng for a bit before he found them on the other side of the Temple grounds. The two of them seemed to have already been captured and the blood essence threads were entering their bodies.


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    "Dammit! Looks like their guard was off while they tried to protect themselves from the falling debris. But still, how did he do it this quickly when it was taking him so long back in the chamber?" Lin Mu said to himself.


    "The runes... he is using the old runes that are in the tunnels as well." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu had nearly forgotten about the other runes as they had been damaged. His spirit sense pieced the ground, and he took a look at the tunnels.


    "He¡¯s repaired the runes!" Lin Mu said with shock.


    Gu Yao had apparently made this as a contingency if his other n didn¡¯t work and was infusing the blood essence to repair the old runes. Lin Mu saw that the ufortable and repulsive aura that was spread in the tunnels was what was repairing the runes as well.


    "He has modified the source such that it had a dyed response. The runes were always ready to be repaired, he only activated it now. Even I missed it somehow... this method is rather peculiar." Xukong exined.


    By now Gu Yao had taken control over half of the poption of the Wu Lim City and Lin Mu still wasn¡¯t able to find anything that could be done. He had been continuously chopping the blood essence threads and had finally caught the attention of Gu Yao again.


    "YOU PEST! You should have died down there, but now your luck has run out. I¡¯ll refine you alive for years toe!" Gu Yao shouted.


    Lin Mu gave him a ce before muttering.


    "Activate the ward..."


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    It was as if the entire city had fallen dead silent at once. Gu Yao too felt his vision getting dark and found himself in a pitch ck space.


    "Wha-what? What is this?" He said in shock, feeling a bit disoriented.


    Then it happened...


    Ten Golden Yellow eyes the size of huge temple bells opened in the distance. A terrifying presence was exuded from them and they stared at Gu Yao. The man shuddered with fear and couldn¡¯t understand what was in front of him.


    This was the strongest being he had seen till now and could notprehend what its cultivation base would be.


    In the real world, the air started to tremble, and even the ground started to shake. Lin Mu became alert and asked, "what is happening?"


    "I¡¯ll try to do something more, you start running," Xukong replied in a stern voice.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Lin Mu nodded his head in eptance and took onest look at the people before sighing to himself. He jumped on the short sword and controlled it to fly towards the Northern town. He had to get little shrubby before anything happened to him.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t want to leave it behind, and his next goal was in that direction, anyway.


    ***


    At the Sky precepts sect, the Start catching peak.


    "ALARM! ALARM!" Disciples were running around shouting in terror.


    The elders were sweating like they were in a desert and controlling the star catching formation that was going haywire.


    "There¡¯s no other choice, inform the patriarch!" The high elder spoke.


    "What should I exactly tell him, high elder?" Another elder that was low in ranking questioned while trembling.


    Disturbing the patriarch could be a grave mistake and if they were joint to do it, they needed to have a legitimate reason for it. The star catching formation array had a few incidents like this before and the patriarch had already grown sick of it.


    He had ordered that unless it was of grave importance, the matters should not be taken up to him directly. In exchange, he had increased the authority of the high elder of the Star catching peak so that she could take care of most troubles on her own.


    This had worked for the past few months, but then suddenly this had happened.


    The star catching peak had lost a lot of their disciples a year ago, and they did not want a repeat of that again. Thus they now had different protocols that they followed and the number of elders assigned to the star catching peak was increased as well.


    The junior elder waited for the response of the High elder and shuddered when he heard it.


    "Tell the patriarch, the world¡¯s barrier has been cracked..."

 Chapter 413 - I AM XUKONG!!!

    <h4>Chapter 413 - I AM XUKONG!!! </h4>


    Inside the mysterious ring, the altar was calmly glowing. Yet the spatial energy was swirling in chaos.


    It was swirling around Xukong who was floating a long distance away from the ethereal alter. He was currently using the spatial energy he had to umte to strengthen the link between his main body and the avatar.


    "Bah! Seems like summoning more of my cultivation base is impossible, it is too far away." Xukong said in frustration.


    "Looks like I¡¯ll have to use my own store of it... it doesn¡¯t matter, I¡¯ll be able to recover it back in a few months," Xukong spoke after thinking a bit.


    ¡¯Hopefully, the drain on the ward will be lessened as well... he will need it a lot more in the future.¡¯ Xukong thought, before his eyes glowed with a deadly gleam.


    ***


    "You threatened my disciple, didn¡¯t you?" A voice spoke.


    Gu Yao couldn¡¯t bring himself to speak anymore and could only stare at the ten golden yellow eyes.


    "You dared for me to show up, didn¡¯t you? Here I am..." The voice spoke again.


    Gu Yao bit his tongue and stimted himself through the pain, making himself snap out of the state he was in.


    "You are not a being of this world are you?" Gu Yao questioned.


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    He was still trembling, but he still held on somehow.


    "Oh? This is interesting, you can still talk in my presence." The voice replied.


    "You really are then. You are the same as the being that the merchant brought... you are an invader as well." Gu Yao said.


    An eerie silence spread after Gu Yao spoke and the deadly aura that wasing from the ten golden yellow eyes got stronger as well.


    "It does not matter if I am an invader or not. What matters is that if you daree after my disciple, I will hunt you down! It doesn¡¯t matter if I have to shatter this world to do so." The voice replied.


    "HAAHAH!" Gu Yao suddenlyughed.


    "You do know that if you dare to do that, the immortals will descend. Besides, you are not the only one who is above the immortal Ascension realm, I have allies that will not stand in silence if you try this." Gu Yao threatened this time.


    The space started trembling as Gu Yao felt cuts appearing in his body. His spirit qi became disarrayed, and his nascent soul felt like it would be snuffed out like the me of a candle.


    Cracks started to appear around the ten golden yellow eyes as massive white pirs manifested. The ends of the pirs ended in a sharp point, and they were tens of kilometers long. Gu Yao counted them and found there to be eight of them.


    Finally, the golden yellow eyes moved and a body appeared behind them.


    Gu Yao got the full glimpse of the being that he was in the presence of.


    "If it were not for the innocent people in this world, I would have not hesitated. My disciple calls this world his home too, and I do not want to destroy it for so little. But I swear... If any harmes to my disciple, even if you call the immortals to try to stop me, I WILL DESCEND MYSELF!" The Voice dered, dripping with a murderous aura.


    Gu Yao felt terrified again and finally realized that the being in front of him was much more worse than he had thought.


    "WHAT BEAST ARE YOU?!!" He shouted.


    "I AM XUKONG!!!"


    And with that Gu Yao lost consciousness.


    ***


    Lin Mu was still flying towards the Northern town and had covered about one fourth of the distance by now. He was rapidly using his spirit qi but did not dare to save it, he knew that if he hesitated now, he may get in fatal danger.


    Lin Mu had tried to speak to Senior Xukong a few times but received no response. He gave up for a while and just reckoned that he was probably trying to hold back Gu Yao.


    "No one hase after me yet, so it should be fine..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    About ten more minutes passed, and by now Lin Mu was running low on spirit qi. He had less than ten percent of his spirit qi left in the dantian, and this was the lowest he had ever fallen.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and made a decision.


    "Dammit! No time to be indecisive." Lin Mu said to himself before talking out two pale white stones along with a pill bottle.


    Lin Mu opened the cork of the pill bottle and poured some pills into his mouth before clenching the stones in his hand.


    Waves of spirit qi came from his body as he released more and more of it.


    What Lin Mu had eaten were none other than the Mid Grade Basic qi pills, and the stones he was holding were also mid grade spirit stones. He knew that this was the fastest way to replenish his spirit qi and also to continue flying.


    The mid grade spirit stones reced the spirit qi he was using for flying and reduced the drain on his dantian, while the mid grade basic qi pills were replenishing the spirit qi in his dantian. He was chanting the severing heart sutra as well, so as to rapidly assimte the spirit qi.


    Just like this Lin Mu¡¯s attention was split into multiple tasks and he pushed himself to his full potential.


    Unknown to him, his body¡¯s conversion from normal physique to the Xiantian physique had started again. He was already at ny nine percentpletion, but it was those fractions of thest percent that were the hardest for him to progress in.


    But Lin Mu kept on soldering on and flew at his max speed. Recing the spirit stones that crumbled into dust while using them. By now twenty minutes had passed and he was almost at the Northern Town.


    "LITTLE SHRUBBY COME OUT!" Lin Mumanded.

 Chapter 414 - I’ll Return Soon...

    <h4>Chapter 414 - I¡¯ll Return Soon... </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯smand reached Little Shrubby through the link he had with him and the beast came rushing out of the house. During the time he was away from the northern town, Lin Mu had been checking up on little shrubby through the link and had found it to be fine.


    There really wasn¡¯t any trouble that happened during that time and Lin Mu did not sense any danger either. Lin Mu directly flew over to his house, ignoring the shocked gazes of the townsmen that looked at him. He was flying on a spirit sword so it was obvious that he would catch a lot of attention.


    Lin Mu looked at Little Shrubby, who had clearly grown quite a bit by now. He was about thirty percent bigger than its original size, and his fur had also gotten thicker.


    "There you are, we need to go quickly..." Lin Mu said to the beast.


    "Okay!" Lin Mu heard the response in his head.


    "Whoa! You can speak clearly now." Lin Mu said, feeling surprised.


    Lin Mu observed him using his spirit sense and discovered that the beast was already at the peak stage of the qi refining realm.


    "Me, can, yes," Little shrubby spoke again, in broken words.


    "Huh, seems like you will need more practice... well for now we need to rush." Lin Mu said before entering his house.


    He went to his backyard, where the graves of his parents were.


    "Father, mother, I wanted to give you a better farewell, but the situation is not appropriate. Forgive my insolence." Lin Mu said before cing his hands on the two graves.


    His spirit sense split into multiple and spread around the area. Lin Mu then willed it and the two graves were directly stored into his ring along with most of the soil around him. A five meter wide and three meter deep hole was opened up on the ground and Lin Mu fell into him.


    He quickly bnced himself andnded on his legs. Lin Mu came out of the hole and took out the formation te. The illusory formation was still active, but he didn¡¯t know if the others would be able to find his house.


    With Gu Yao in the equation, all the assurances he had were thrown out of the window. Senior Xukong was still not responding, and he knew he could not waste time in hesitation.


    Lin Mu kneeled in front of Little shrubby, and picked it up in his arms.


    "We need to some ce far now..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Us, far? Okay!" It responded.


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    Lin Mu ced Little Shrubby on his back and told him to hold on. Little Shrubby simply extended its ws andtched onto Lin Mu¡¯s clothes that were already a bit torn from all the battles he had been in the past few hours.


    He then jumped on the spirit sword and flew in the direction of the Northern forest.


    The members of the Hei corps had seen Lin Mu flying over the city and were rushing to see him as well. They had received a letter from the Lord that there was going to be some trouble, but they did not know what exactly it was.


    They wanted to hear it from Lin Mu, but he gave them no chance as he flew away rather fast. He was already holding two more spirit stones in his hands to supply him with the spirit qi. With the uninterrupted supply of spirit qi from the stones and the replenishment of his dantian from the basic qi pills, Lin Mu¡¯s condition was improving by the minute.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s robes fluttered in the wind as his gaze sharpened. He knew that he had gone past the point from where there was no return. He had already started to n ahead and now needed to start the next part of his n as fast as possible.


    Lin Mu knew that Gu Yao could catch up with him if he slowed down even a bit. The Nascent soul realm cultivator could fly, and Gu Yao was even at the pseudo Dao shell realm. Lin Mu had seen how the supreme elder of the Tri cauldron Peony sect had reached the Wu Lim city in just a few hours by flying and knew the speed at which Gu Yao would be able to travel at.


    Lin Mu had still not heard from Xukong and thus knew that he must still be holding up Gu Yao at the city. He didn¡¯t know how he was doing it from so far apart, but just attributed it to him being Xukong.


    Two hours passed like this, and Lin Mu had crossed over four hundred kilometers like this. But this did note without a cost. His meridians were aching due to the constant use ofrge amount of spirit qi, and his store of spirit stones had also been reduced by about fifty.


    Lin Munded on the ground and ced the short sword in the sheath.


    "We¡¯ll continue on foot from there..." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby replied in the same manner as before.


    It didn¡¯t seem like he had much of an opinion in what Lin Mu said and simply followed what he was saying. They started running and Lin Mu remembered how fast Little shrubby really was. His speed had increased even more now that he had reached the peak stage of the qi refining realm.


    In fact, he was faster than what Lin Mu was when he was flying on the short sword.


    ¡¯I guess there really wasn¡¯t a need for me to carry him, huh? It could have easily outrun me if I left him to it...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu looked around and scanned the area with his spirit sense. He was able to somewhat recognize the area and knew that he had traveled about one tenth of the distance to the cave where the Great Slumber bear was sleeping in.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath before opening his eyes that shined with determination.


    "I¡¯ll return soon..."

 Chapter 415 - Far From Home

    <h4>Chapter 415 - Far From Home </h4>


    About three days had passed since, Lin Mu had escaped from Gu Yao and right now he had covered most of the distance to the cave of the great slumber bear.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a cloud of steam from his mouth as he looked around the snowy tundra. About a day ago, he had reached the point where snow was still present in the area and now it was getting more and more dense. He reckoned that by the time he reaches the cave, the area would be no different from when it was winter.


    In the depths of the northern mountains, there was no difference between winter and summer. There was snow all around the year and the wildlife had already adapted to this. But this also meant that the beasts here would be hardier and tougher.


    Last time Lin Mu was lucky since the roar of the great slumber bear had scared most of them off, but now he had to fight with the beasts that he came across. Luckily though, he had not needed to fight against a core condensation realm beast till now.


    He had encountered a few of them of course, but he was able to avoid them by going around. Also, perhaps because it was the summer, there was still an abundance of prey, which led to the spirit beasts being less aggressive against him.


    They would only attack him if he got too close or if they were naturally aggressive type beasts. Since Lin Mu was focusing on getting to the cave as fast as possible, he wanted to reserve his spirit qi and not use it in fighting.


    He was mostly using it to travel fast and reach the cave. But Lin Mu was not invincible and had to rest every night or he wouldn¡¯t have been able tost this long. Thankfully, he had a ratherrge amount of food in his ring and he was able to cook it whenever he needed it.


    Another thing was that Senior Xukong had still not responded to Lin Mu. He had gotten worried and thus had checked the inside of the ring, only to find him floating around the ring in silence. His eyes were closed and the spatial energy swirled around him, slowly being absorbed into his body.


    Guessing that he was rtively fine and was just resting, Lin Mu decided to wait till he woke up himself.


    It was near the evening, and thus Lin Mu had decided to take a break for now. Unlike him though, Little shrubby was not the least bit tired. It would simply follow him withoutining at all and only asked for meat.


    Little Shrubby had really improved in cooking meat and could make it without burning it. Though there were some parts that were left slightly raw.


    "Cook, cook, give, meat," Little Shrubby told Lin Mu.


    "Alright, let me take some out..." Lin Mu replied before talking out a wooden chopping block that was about a meter wide.


    He ced a b of raw meat on the chopping block and let Little Shrubby do the work. The beast was able to tear apart ribbons of meat from the b using its sharp ws and did so one by one. His work was rather uniform and most of the pieces were of the same size.


    While he was doing this, Lin Mu took out some firewood and ignited it with the minor fireball technique.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The wood ignited almost instantly, and Little Shrubby paused to watch it. The beast was rather interested in this technique and wanted to learn to make fire too. At the kitchen in his house, it was using the fire from the oilmp to ignite the stove and thus found it a bit inconvenient.


    But seeing Lin Mu create mes in his palm like that greatly interested him. He returned to cutting more meat, and Lin Mu began to take out some skewer sticks. He had bought a lot of them back at Wu Lim city when he went shopping during the first day and that had made it convenient for him now.


    The skewers were pieced with the meat ribbons and Little Shrubby started cooking some on his own, while Lin Mu did the same. They ate their fill and Lin Mu replenished his vital energy and spirit qi that had been consumed that day.


    He sat down in a cross legged posture and chanted the severing heart sutra. He perceived the condition of his body and sensed that the conversion of his cells from normal to Xiantian cells had reached nearly topletion.


    It could be said that it was at 99.9% now, and he only needed that one push to reach the fullpletion.


    ¡¯Hmm... I should reach it rather quickly now...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Time passed, and it was now nearly midnight. Lin Mu opened his eyes and looked at little shrubby, who was lying at his side.


    "I¡¯ll sleep now, tell me if anythinges close." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby said before standing up.


    Lin Mu pulled out a bedroll from his ring and ced it on ayer of tree branches beforeying on it. He ced his soft white bolster and rested his head upon it before entering the Sleepscape.


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    Inside the Sleepscape, Lin Mu appeared in front of the spirit apple tree and saw the ripened apples that were growing on it. He plucked more of them and ced them inside his ring. He had appeared in the Sleepscape after a few days and he had an aim today.


    Lin Mu choose a location that was at a short distance from the spirit apple tree and kneeled down there. He ced his hand on the ground and withdrew the graves of his parents. The entire chunk of the soil that Lin Mu had taken from his back yard was pulled out as it fell to the ground.


    Then, as if it had a mind of its own, the ground of the Sleepscape melded with the soil from the graves and they automatically leveled to be the same as they were before.


    "Rest well... mother, father..."

 Chapter 416 - Empress

    <h4>Chapter 416 - Empress </h4>


    In a world far beyond the mortal realm, there existed a.


    The was covered in many shades of colors and people could be seen flying out of it on various magical tools and vehicles.


    This also had a moon that revolved around it. This moon emitted a pale green light from it and illuminated the with it. The strange thing was the sun that existed in the sr system was a dark blue color as well.


    The light of the sun barely reached the and most of the light was provided by the pale green moon. There were forests, deserts, seas and snow mountains on the. But the most impressive part was not that but rather the massive amount of buildings that covered nearly half of the¡¯s surface.


    There was amon symbol on each of the buildings and even on the ground itself. The symbol was that of a serpent biting its own tail. But the serpent didn¡¯t look like a normal one, but had the features of a dragon having a dragonic head.


    If one looked up at the moon from the surface of the they would see another shocking sight. The moon had the symbol of the serpent present on it too. The serpent was emerald green in color and glowed with a stunning allure.


    Among these countless buildings, cultivators could be seen going about their duties. Some flew to their destination, some teleported, while some just walked.


    There existed an exquisite temple upon the top of the peak of the tallest mountain on the, far from the dense buildings. The temple was built directly into the mountain and the rest of the mountain was covered in a forest.


    The mountain was rather peculiar in that, even at such a tall height there was no snow falling on it, despite the fact that the other mountains around it were covered in snow. At the foot of this very mountain, an old woman was standing.


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    Her hair was ck but her face was still covered in wrinkles. She looked up at the peak and sighed.


    She hesitated a bit before starting to climb the mountain. Despite being old her speed was astonishing and it was as if the space itself shrunk below her feet. With a single step, she would cover tens of kilometers but even then the mountain still stayed the same.


    One could tell from this just how tall the mountain was. If one looked at the clouds, they would find that they were quite far down from the peak. The woman continued to climb and was at the level of the clouds now. The dense clouds masked one¡¯s vision and made it difficult to see.


    <i>~Boom~</i>


    The woman had just entered the cloudy forest when suddenly an explosion happened. She didn¡¯t seem fazed by it and quickly dodged it.


    "Hmph! Stop this!" She spoke.


    <i>~Hisss~</i>


    From behind the foggy forest, a giant head appeared. Its features were still hidden, but the glowing red eyes could not be missed.


    "The mountain is forbidden for entry! No one is allowed!" A deadly voice came from the giant head.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    The woman gulped in fear as she finally witnessed what the voice belonged to. It was a massive snake, just head of which was bigger than tens of elephantsbined.


    "It is urgent! Tell the Empress... ¡¯his¡¯ presence was detected." The old woman spoke.


    <i>~Hiss~</i>


    The hissing sound of the snake instilled fear into the old woman¡¯s bones, but she still held on.


    "Whose presence?" The snake questioned.


    The old woman took out an octagonal mirror from her spatial storage tool and showed it to the snake.


    As soon as the snake saw it, his pupils went wide and it recoiled from terror.


    "HIM! YOU FOUND HIM!" The serpent spoke in a mixture of terror and excitement.


    "Yes! We finally found his signs! Now, please let me meet the empress!" The old woman pleaded.


    The snake paused for a bit before nodding his head. It moved to the side and spoke, "go ahead then... I¡¯ll inform the rest to let you proceed unobstructed."


    "Thank you, Senior." The old woman cupped her hands in respect before heading forward.


    The Serpent looked towards the peak and let out a low hiss. But there was a strange power contained in it such that it traveled very far and reached the entire mountain.


    The old woman did not hear this and simply continued on her journey. It took her a day, but she finally reached the exquisite temple at the top of the mountain peak.


    The woman took her first step upon the temple grounds and stopped. She kneeled on the ground and kowtowed ten times and stayed in the same position without moving.


    An entire day passed before a voice was heard. The voice was cold and yet it was as if bells were chiming together with it.


    "Who are you?" The voice questioned.


    The voice belonged to a woman and held a fierce aura within it.


    "I am the fifty-seventh generation ancestor, may the Holy Empress grant me an audience." The old woman responded with utter respect.


    Her head was still nted upon the floor, and she did not dare even an inch.


    "Come..." The woman¡¯s voice spoke.


    "Yes, Empress!" The old woman replied before standing up.


    She walked forward and passed through a grove of trees before reaching the main part of the temple.


    There werenterns glowing in everywhere and fireflies floated around. Under the mystifying glow of the moon, a woman stood at the entrance of the temple. She had red hair and a face that was so beautiful any mortal whether a man or woman would die out of pleasure upon seeing it.


    Her eyes emerald green with slit like pupils simr to that of a snake. Her nails were a simr color and her dress as well. Faint scales could also be seen glimmering on the fluttering dress.


    The dazzling beauty looked at the old woman with a petrifying gaze.


    "Speak..."

 Chapter 417 - Prophecy

    <h4>Chapter 417 - Prophecy </h4>


    The old woman almost fell upon seeing the dazzling beauty, and had to use every ounce of her millenniums of cultivation to control herself.


    "Holy Empress, it is my greatest honor to meet you." The Old woman could not help but say.


    "Do not waste my time, speak what you are here for." The Empress warned.


    The old woman shuddered and took a deep breath to build up her courage.


    "We... detected the signs of that old monster." The old woman said before taking out the octagonal mirror to show the empress.


    The empress looked at the mirror for a second before the mirror automatically floated up to her. She held it in her hands and gazed at it deeply, looking at the image that was imprinted in it.


    The image was of a colossal creature with eight legs and Ten golden yellow eyes. It had a bony white body and countless threads made up a dense web behind him.


    It was none other than the Void Weaver Spider, Xukong.


    "It really is him... after all these years..." The Empress muttered.


    She then looked back at the old woman and spoke.


    "Where is he?" She questioned.


    "He is in one of the mortal worlds... or at least that¡¯s where we got his qi signature from." The old woman answered.


    "A mortal world? Him? Are you trying to fool me?" The Empress asked in a cold tone.


    "I dare not, Empress. I swear upon my life and the lives of my descendants everything that I speak is truth and only the truth. I lie, I allow the wrath of the moon to descend upon me!" The old woman dered.


    As soon as her oath waspleted, a wave of qi came out of nowhere and surrounded her body. It imbued her body and intense pain filled her. Yet even under duress, she did not dare to show one bit of displeasure. A few secondster the pain faded away, and she took a breath of relief.


    "So you are telling the truth..." The empress said before turning her back to the old woman.


    She started walking into the temple and lightly spoke, "follow."


    "Yes, Empress!" The old woman hurriedly replied before following behind her.


    The inside of the temple was surprisingly mundane looking, but the power contained within those walls could not be denied. The old woman felt beads of sweat appear on her forehead as she sensed the formation arrays that were present everywhere.


    They came upon a hall that had a pedestal constructed in the center of it. The empress ced the octagonal mirror on it and it automatically melded with the pedestal. The pedestal started glowing and a curtain of light appeared in the air.


    On the curtain of light, a scene of the night sky could be seen. Countless stars twinkled on it, and it seemed as if they were moving. Bit by bit their speed increased and it was as if it had zoomed out. Now instead of stars, entire gxies and nebe could be seen on it.


    The empress pointed her finger at the light curtain, and it started shifting again. This time a strange multicoloredyer appeared in front of them. On one side of theyer, the gxies and nebe could be seen and on the other side, a pitch ck area was seen.


    A frown appeared on the Empress¡¯s face and she shook her head.


    "What¡¯s the problem, Empress?" The old woman questioned.


    "As I expected, finding him would not be so easy. If it was, I would have done so a long time ago." The Empress answered.


    "Does that mean..." The Old woman said with hesitation.


    "We will have to wait... he is still beyond our reach." The Empress replied.


    The old woman felt her heart fall, seeing the empress show a sad expression. It was only for less than a second, yet the old woman felt as if she needed to dedicate herself to the Empress.


    "We... found something else, Empress. I do not know if you will find it worth your time though." The old woman spoke carefully.


    "Mm? Go on speak, I give you the permission." The Empress permitted.


    "Along with the qi signature of the Old monster, we found the traces of something else..." The Old woman contained.


    "Traces of what?" The Empress asked.


    "The Shadow Gloom Bone Lord..." The Old Woman revealed.


    "Him... he is still alive?" The Empress questioned, her voice filled with killing intent.


    "He has been killed many times, but his unique abilities have allowed him to survive till now. Five millenniums ago the eastern celestial court mounted an offense against him and exterminated the main body of his consciousness.


    We believe that it may be one of the fragments of his avatar that had been wandering the void. The strange thing was, we felt its traces on the same world as that of the old monster." The old woman exined.


    "Humph! A dead man whose time has long past dares to linger on still." The Empress uttered with malice.


    "Does the Empress... want us to interfere?" The Old Woman questioned carefully.


    "No... we cannot break the rules of the celestial court. As long as he stays in the mortal world, we cannot touch him." The Empress spoke with disappointment.


    "Seems like fate does not favor us..." the old woman signed.


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    The Empress¡¯s eyes glowed slightly upon hearing her words.


    "Fate, huh?" The Empress muttered.


    "You said, something Empress?" The old woman responded.


    The empress looked the old woman in the eyes and lightly shook her head before speaking.


    "Tell me... what is the progress on the seven ancestral serpents? What has happened in these past seven generations?"


    "We were able to retrieve one of the seven ancestral serpents about twenty five thousand years ago, but the rest of them are still missing." The Old woman answered.


    "Which one is it? And what state is it in because I haven¡¯t sensed it?" The Empress questioned further.


    "It is the... Three wed Terra Python. But sadly it is in a fossilized state and we haven¡¯t been able to revive it." The Old Woman answered.


    "Good... bring it to me. I¡¯ll do it myself." The empress ordered.


    "As youmand, Empress!" The old woman replied before hurrying toplete her task.


    After the old woman was gone, the Empress walked out of the temple and stared at the pale green moon.


    "I will fulfill the prophecy one day mother, I swear upon my honor as the Empress... And when that dayes, the Serpent Moon Sect will bathe in the rain of Glory!"

 Chapter 418 - A Surprise

    <h4>Chapter 418 - A Surprise </h4>


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~Stter~</i>


    The short sword soared through the air as it cut the neck of a snow fox.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Before the beast could even let out a cry, its life was ended and it copsed on the ground.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Almost got me..." Lin Mu muttered.


    It was the fifth day, and Lin Mu was woken up by the howl of a few beasts. He had thought that they were somewhere far away, but he suddenly detected something approaching him at a rapid speed. Little shrubby saw it too and tackled the beast with all its force before it could touch Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu frankly did not expect for Little Shrubby to do that as he could very well use flicker to dodge it. But he was still touched, nheless.


    After that, the deal was sealed pretty quickly and all it took was a flick of a sleeve before the beast was in.


    "Are you okay?" Lin Mu asked Little shrubby as he kneeled.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu quickly scanned him with his spirit sense and didn¡¯t find any injuries or such on his body.


    "Alright, you¡¯re all good." Lin Mu nodded and looked back to the corpse of the snow fox.


    Its fur was white, which allowed it to meld with the snow easily and its speed also seemed to be quite fast. It was at least faster than Lin Mu, but less fast than Little Shrubby.


    "Oh? It¡¯s actually at the early stage of the core condensation realm..." Lin Mu said feeling surprise.


    He quickly found the core of the beast and dug it out. Holding it in his hand, he actually saw a pattern of a fox on it.


    "Whoa! It¡¯s even a beast with an awakened bloodline!" Lin Mu said, this time feeling shocked.


    He had already seen what kind of an effect the bloodline crystal of the Trunk faced cow had when he had exploded it, and he was wondering if he should make something like that again. It seemed like a good trump card that could be used to surprise enemies.


    But more than that, Lin Mu could practice refining a bloodline crystal once more before actually making one from the Great Slumber bear. Although Senior Xukong had already told him that he could do it on his own, he wanted to be prepared.


    Little Shrubby walked up to him and looked at the beast¡¯s core in his hand.


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    "Want!" He said.


    "You want it? Umm... you can¡¯t have it, I need it to practice." Lin Mu denied.


    The beast seemed a bit disappointed but quickly recovered, "okay!" it replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and stored the corpse of the snow fox and the core into the Ring. He checked upon Senior Xukong and saw that his eyes were twitching.


    ¡¯Hmm... seems like he¡¯s gonna wake up soon...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He nced at the spatial energy streaks and found them to have calmed down a bit. They weren¡¯t moving as fast as they were a couple of days ago. Xukong waking up was important to Lin Mu as without him, refining the bloodline of the Great Slumber bear would be an extremely difficult task.


    "Come on, let¡¯s continue." Lin Mu said to Little shrubby and started running ahead.


    Little shrubby followed behind and they traveled through the snow, leaving behind footprints that soon faded away due to the snow that kept on falling. This part of the journey was getting a bit hectic for Lin Mu as his legs kept on getting sunk in the snow.


    "Bah! We¡¯ll just fly," Lin Mu decided, and controlled the short sword to float in front of him.


    He picked up Little shrubby and jumped on it. Flying on the short sword was incredibly convenient, and it didn¡¯t even take him ten minutes before they reached the mountain where the Great slumber bear was sleeping in. Lin Mu was going to leave Little Shrubby on the smaller cave on the other side of the mountain as he didn¡¯t want it to get hurt during the process.


    Lin Mu could see signs of beasts around the cave and guessed that one of them may have made this their nest. He quickly scanned the cave with his spirit sense and did not find anything in there.


    "Huh, was I mistaken?" Lin Mu wondered.


    They stepped into the cave and half way there, little Shrubby stopped in his tracks.


    "Not like," he said.


    After hearing his words, Lin Mu realized that the aura of the great slumber bear may be keeping the beasts away. They woulde close to check the cave but would run away after sensing the aura of the great slumber bear.


    "Alright, you stay in this part when I go ahead." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu was going to check the condition of the great slumber bear for now, as he wanted to wait till Senior Xukong woke up. He also wanted to see what was the cultivation base of the great slumber bear now, and if it had fully recovered from the invader or not.


    Back then it was still expelling the invader from its body and was violent. In order to expel the invader, it had to consume its cultivation base and remove it bit by bit. ording to Senior Xukong¡¯s estimation, the beast would have reached the early stage of the core condensation realm by the time it expelled all traces of the invader from its body.


    "Here we go..." Lin Mu muttered before using phase and walking through the end of the cave.


    It was still damp like thest time he hade in, but the chill had reduced quite a bit. The inside of the cave was much warmer than the outside.


    ¡¯This is a bit unusual... it shouldn¡¯t be this warm...¡¯ Lin Mu thought after sensing the increase in the surrounding temperature.


    He could tell that it was at least twice as warm as outside in here. Only when he reached the main cave where the great slumber bear was sleeping did he find out why.

 Chapter 419 - Refining The Snow Fox Bloodline

    <h4>Chapter 419 - Refining The Snow Fox Bloodline </h4>


    Lin Mu was standing some distance away from the huge beast that was sleeping in the cave. It was curled up against the wall of the cave and steam could be seening out of its mouth and nose.


    "Damn, so the warmth in the cave is due to its body temperature..." Lin Mu muttered.


    The great slumber Bear¡¯s condition was much better than before and it had recoveredpletely. There were no more bone spurs on its body and the ck patches had disappeared as well. Lin Mu could see the triangr pattern on its body much clearer than before.


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    Lin Mu chanted the severing heart sutra and sensed the faint fluctuations of spirit qi that wereing from the great slumber bear. Since he couldn¡¯t use his spirit sense due to the chance of him walking the beast up, Lin Mu could only do this.


    ¡¯What!¡¯ Lin Mu eximed in his mind so as to not alert the beast.


    "How did it reach the peak stage of the core condensation realm so fast?" Lin Mu wondered.


    The spirit qi fluctuationsing from the beast were quite faint, but they were still enough for Lin Mu to tell that.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This is gonna be difficult, isn¡¯t it?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He returned back to the other cave and sat down on the ground. He started thinking about whether he would be able to kill the beast or not this time. He had been able to sessfully injure Gu Yao, who was at the pseudo Dao Shell realm, thus he knew he could do it forcefully if he needed to.


    But he needed the entire body of the Great slumber bear if he wanted to refine the Bloodline. The more parts that were lost, including blood, the lesser his sess rate would be.


    <i>~sigh~</i>


    "May as well practice for now..." Lin Mu decided.


    He took out the corpse of the snow fix and also a small barrel to collect its blood. The snow fox was much smaller than the trunk faced cow and thus would not have the same amount of blood as it. He had not wasted much of its blood back when he killed it, as he had stored it rather quickly.


    Lin Mu held its body over the barrel upside down and let the blood flow out of the neck.


    <i>~Drip~</i>


    The blood started dripping into the barrel and was fully drained after ten minutes.


    "Now that this is done, the next step is to set up the runes." Lin Mu recalled.


    He took a small amount of blood from the barrel and started writing runes on the floor of the cave. than fully the ground was solid rock and thus, he didn¡¯t have much problem in writing the runes. If it was soil or dirt, the runes would not have been properly written.


    About thirty minutester, hepleted this and go ready for the next step. He ced the barrel in the center of the formation and then the corpse of the snow fox. Finally, cing the core of the beast, he started pouring his spirit qi into the formation and started the process.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The runes lit up and the corpse of the snow fox floated up. Streams of blood rose from the barrel and started wrapping around the corpse.


    <i>~hum~</i>


    The core of the Snow fox started humming as a small illusory figure of a snow fox appeared in the air. This figure was much fainter than the Trunk faced cow¡¯s and Lin Mu understood this was due to the bloodline being lower ranked than the trunk faced cow¡¯s.


    The rest of the process went rather smoothly, and about an hourter, Lin Mu had the bloodline crystal of the snow fox in his hand. He looked at the red crystal and saw the imprint of the snow fox inside it. Lin Mu looked through the beast records he had and discovered that the bloodline ability of the snow fox was enhanced camouge.


    Their fur would meld with the snow and their aura would be surprised as well.


    ¡¯So this is why it was able to get close to me despite being in the range of my spirit sense...¡¯ Lin Mu understood.


    While the bloodline ability was useful in a snowy area, it wouldn¡¯te in handy in other regions. It was not that an idea appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    ¡¯What happens if I give the bloodline crystal to little shrubby?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    He knew that beasts could improve their own bloodlines by consuming other beasts, but this was in the case of raw meat and unrefined cores. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if there would be a detrimental effect or a beneficial effect if Little Shrubby ate the core.


    The beast was staring at the crystal in his hand and thus Lin Mu knew that he was interested in it. Little shrubby had watched the entire process of refinement from the start to the end intently and had sat in his ce patiently.


    Lin Mu was about to ce the bloodline crystal of the snow fox in his ring when a voice sounded in his mind.


    "Seems like it took me more time than I had expected," Xukong spoke.


    "Senior! You¡¯re back!" Lin Mu said in excitement.


    "Yes, I am back. I didn¡¯t think that expending my spatial qi would end up having such an effect." Xukong replied.


    "What exactly happened back then?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well... when the ward activated, I knew that I had to stall Gu Yao for longer than normal. Even if he wasn¡¯t able to act, he could very well send his newly acquired ¡¯servants¡¯ after you. He had... already controlled the supreme elder and Yi Deng by then." Xukong answered.


    "He did!?" Lin Mu said with shock.


    "Yes, he did. That¡¯s why I had to ensure that he would be in no condition to speak for a while. For that, I had to use more of my cultivation base, which ended up with me tearing a hole in the world¡¯s barrier. This led to the world¡¯s will suppressing me, which took me five days to get out of." Xukong exined.

 Chapter 420 - A Different Method

    <h4>Chapter 420 - A Different Method </h4>


    After hearing the exnation given by Senior Xukong, Lin Mu finally understood the level of trouble that had been caused. Though now he wondered, what Gu Yao was up to.


    "What happened to Gu Yao now senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... I do not know, but the mental strain I put on him should be enough for about three days. I think he probably woke up two days ago." Xukong estimated.


    "Three days ago? Wait! If he was unconscious all this time, doesn¡¯t that mean we could have attacked him then?" Lin Mu asked, feeling as if they had lost a great opportunity.


    "No... not exactly. Even if he was unconscious, he had already made the entire city his servant by then. After the Supreme elder and the peak master Yi Deng were controlled, the rest of them were a child y for him. It seemed like it was only those two who were causing him to take such a long time.


    The weaker cultivators were controlled rather quickly after that. Because of this, even if you tried to attack him, the others would have stopped you. The Human Controlling Blood Curse that Gu Yao used is a rather sinister technique." Xukong exined.


    "I see... Senior." Lin Mu replied.


    "Well, now that you¡¯re already here at the cave, I assume you¡¯ve checked out the condition of the great slumber beast? Is it weakened yet?" Xukong questioned.


    Lin Mu shook his head and spoke, "seems like we underestimated its ability. Not only has it expelled the invader from its body, it has also recovered its cultivation base up to the peak stage of the core condensation realm."


    "So it really did... I had hoped that it would take longer but seems like we have no option now." Xukong said.


    "What do we do now senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You won¡¯t be able to refine the bloodline of the Great Slumber bear with your current cultivation base," Xukong said.


    "Then you mean..." Lin Mu said before being interrupted.


    "Yes, you¡¯ll have to break through to the Core condensation realm," Xukong confirmed.


    "But that would take more time, and won¡¯t the great slumber beast only get more strong till then?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "Just because you need to be at the core condensation realm to refine the bloodline doesn¡¯t mean that you can¡¯t kill it." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu understood what he was saying and nodded his head.


    "My body is going to fully be a Xiantian physique too." Lin mu informed.


    "Oh, it is? That¡¯s good... Wait!" Xukong suddenly said.


    "What¡¯s the problem, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There may be another way to approach this. If you obtain the Xiantian physique, your body will be strong enough to use that method," Xukong said.


    "Are you suggesting a different method than what we practiced, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes. This one is a rather crude method and isn¡¯t used that much. But the advantage of this method is that you can directly assimte the bloodline while also increasing your cultivation base." Xukong informed.


    "It has risks and I¡¯ll exin them to you. Tell me if you want to attempt it after that." Xukong said.


    "Alright Senior, please tell me." Xukong then went on to exin everything to Lin Mu.


    The steps were many, and it took a while before Xukong was able to exin everything. But after that Lin Mu did not even rest for a second before saying, "I¡¯ll do it!"


    "You sure?" Xukong asked again.


    "Yes, Senior. I believe in myself, this is our fastest way. If we wait too long, who knows what more difficulties could arise." Lin Mu said.


    "Alright, now then you have to prepare." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and began chanting the calming heart sutra. He knew that to progress the Xiantian physique he no longer needed Vital energy as it had already been saturated fully in his body. That 0.01% that was left was something that he needed to check himself.


    Lin Mu stimted the vital energy within his body and observed its movements. It flowed from his cells into his blood and then into the rest of the body. A harmonic cycle was formed between this, and it continued without a stop.


    He probed every single inch of his body and searched for ws. He tried to see where the problemid, and what was causing him to not progress further. Just like this, hours passed and night arrive.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath and opened his eyes.


    "What could the problem be... I can¡¯t see it anywhere?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    ¡¯What is it that I¡¯m missing now...¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he ticked off things from a list.


    Finally, he came upon something very obvious that he had missed.


    "My Dantian! I never checked it." Lin Mu realized it.


    He chanted the severing heart sutra and probed the dantian, trying to see where the problem was.


    "Here it is... no wonder I couldn¡¯t see it." Lin Mu stated.


    Thest bit of impurities was actually settled upon the outeryer of the dantian and was hidden because of the spirit qi fluctuations that arose from it. The impurities had merged with the dantian and seemed as if they had always been there.


    Lin Mu made up his mind as a serious expression appeared on his face.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    The spirit qi sea within Lin Mu¡¯s dantian started roiling as it began emanating wisps of spirit qi. The wisps tried to enter the meridians due to the dantian bing full, but Lin Mu had blocked them. He forced the medians shut and kept on increasing the amount of spirit qi wisps in the dantian.


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    Bit by bit the pressure on the walls of his dantian started increasing, and Lin Mu felt as if knives were goring him from the inside. He gritted his teeth and continued doing what he was, not faltering even for a second.


    Another hour passed as the howls of beasts could be heard from afar when the sound of something shattering could be heard.

 Chapter 421 - Sprit Qi Flame And Xiantian Physique

    <h4>Chapter 421 - Sprit Qi me And Xiantian Physique </h4>


    Within Lin Mu¡¯s body, a change was happening.


    Theyer of impurities that had been merged with the dantian was being forcefully separated from it. This was being done by pushing out the spirit qi wisps from the dantian. Instead of letting them pass into the meridians like normally, Lin Mu was pushing them out of the pores in his dantian.


    If someone else were to try this, they would likely cripple their dantian forever or even explode it. But because of Lin Mu¡¯s saturated vitality, the damage was being repaired just as it was being caused. Large beads of sweat appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s forehead, and he bore through the pain.


    This was no easy task and many would have given up a long time ago. But with Lin Mu¡¯s own determination and the assistance of the severing heart sutra, he held on. Finally, theyer of impurities cracked like the shell of a hard boiled egg and a burst of spirit qi came out of the dantian.


    A stream of vital energy started repairing his dantian, and he focused on removing the impurities. He couldn¡¯t remove these impurities in the normal way by coughing them out or exhaling them. They were far too dangerous and it was likely that they would taint the other parts of his body if he tried to use that route.


    It was now that the voice of Senior Xukong rung out in his mind.


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    "Control your spirit qi wisps and condense them," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu knew that doing this normally would result in the spirit qi wisps being converted into liquid drops, and wondered why Senior Xukong would suggest him this, but he could not afford to doubt him now and did as he was told.


    The spirit qi wisps were surrounding the ¡¯impurity shell¡¯ outside the dantian, and Lin Mu began to condense them. He had already gotten habituated to the entire process and thus didn¡¯t have as much of a problem. But once he reached the limit of the saturation point, an uncontrolled reaction happened.


    Lin Mu got anxious and was about to forcefully control it when Xukong interrupted.


    "Don¡¯t! Let it happen," He directed.


    Lin Mu held on and watched as the spirit qi wisps became unstable. He had expected that they would explode, but something else happened.


    <i>~flicker~</i>


    The spirit qi wisps suddenly ignited and a yellow me appeared. As soon as Lin Mu saw the me, he realized what it was.


    "A qi me..." He muttered to himself.


    "Yes... Now, burn the impurities away!" Xukong ordered.


    Lin Mu paused the qi me into the impurities and they started burning. The mes started to reduce after the first impact, but then Lin Mu made more of them. It only took Lin Mu one to try to understand the concept behind the creation of a qi me.


    If one wanted to convert the spirit qi wisps into liquid form, they needed the specific conditions that were provided by the dantian and meridians. If it was done outside of them, the chances of explosion or dissipation were likely.


    But if a certain level of control was applied, those spirit qi wisps would ignite into qi mes instead of exploding due to the pressure. This was the very qi me that could be used to refine alchemical pills and refine spirit tools.


    After months of waiting, Lin Mu had finally managed to learn how to ignite qi mes at this opportune time. The qi mes that he had right now were spirit qi mes as they were created from pure spirit qi and were different from fire attribute spirit qi.


    In fact, different types of spirit qi¡¯s could be ignited in a simr way and qi mes with different attributes could be formed. This was one of the moreplex methods of using spirit qi, and not many could achieve this.


    The fire attribute spirit qi me was the easiest to ignite as it matched its basic features. Making other elements have the same properties was quite difficult, and that was the reason why most pill alchemists and spirit tool refiners had a higher affinity with the fire element.


    It was simply much easier for them to achieve the same thing than it would for someone that had the water element affinity. It was not to say that those who had different elemental affinities than fire would be bad alchemists; no, rather they could have the same level of skills. The only difference was that their start would be difficult.


    ¡¯Even without the affinity for the fire element, he still is able to ignite the qi me on his own rather quickly. Hmm... though I guess his control over his spirit sense probablypensated for that. This leaves him with ten elements that he could possibly have affinity to.


    Due to the ring, he has the affinity to the spatial element, but he definitely does not have the affinity for the other two primordial elements. That leaves him with the four heavenly and four mortal elements.¡¯ Xukong thought.


    <i>~sizzle~</i>


    The impurities started burning rapidly as Lin Mu kept on converting more and more spirit qi wisps into spirit qi mes. The impurities reduced and soon disappeared into nothingness.


    <i>~Humm~</i>


    As soon as that was done, the spirit qi mes died down and a wave of energy spread out from Lin Mu¡¯s body. His cells rejoiced as the vital energy within them thrummed in a rhythmic manner. The final 0.01% that was left finallypleted and Lin Mu achieved the Xiantian physique.


    Then it was as if Lin Mu¡¯s skin had started growing rapidly. Layers of callus started forming on them, and their thickness soon reached one centimeter. After that point, it stopped and another cracking sound was heard.


    Lin Mu moved his body and the hardened callus all over his body cracked into tiny pieces. He stood up and the pieces all fell out from inside his clothes. He patted down his body and hair, getting rid of the final bits of the calluses.


    "I think you should take a look in the mirror,"

 Chapter 422 - The Five Treasures Realm

    <h4>Chapter 422 - The Five Treasures Realm </h4>


    Lin Mu heard senior Xukong¡¯s suggestion and took out a mirror from his ring. This was a rather expensive silver mirror that he had bought in the Wu Lim city and was now finallying handy. Lin Mu had mostly used polished bronze mirrors before this, and seeing the quality of the silver mirror made him impressed.


    He held it in front of him and gazed at the young man in the mirror.


    "Is this... me?" Lin Mu questioned in shock.


    "That is most definitely you," Xukong confirmed.


    "But... how?" Lin Mu asked in a stunned voice.


    "That is another one of the effects of the Xiantian physique. When it reachespletion, it will revert one¡¯s body to the most optimum condition it can achieve. That is the reason why you look like this now." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu¡¯s skin had be soft and supple, the faint tan that had previously hadpletely been erased. Recing it was fair smooth skin that would make a woman jealous. His hair became glossy and shone in the light of the mes.


    The scars that he had on his body also disappeared and it was as if he never got them. One could even say that Lin Mu now looked a bit more feminine than before. His hair was already long enough to reach below his holders and if he used a bit of makeup, he may even be able to disguise as a girl.


    "I look way more girly now..." Lin Mu said with a wry smile.


    "Ahaha!" Xukongughed before continuing, "you¡¯ve got time to grow. You¡¯re not even twenty, by the time you reach that age your features will be more mature."


    "Plus... this is not the end," Xukong added.


    "Not the end? What do you mean, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Did you really think it ended at body tempering realm?" Xukong asked.


    "Yes, the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm is thest, no? After that, you will automatically enter the qi refining realm." Lin Mu stated.


    "That is indeed true, but reaching the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm is not the end. You see, before qi cultivation used to exist, there was only one way one could strengthen their bodies, it was called as body cultivation. The body tempering realm is a mere fraction of it." Xukong answered.


    "Body cultivation? What is that? And what do you mean that qi cultivation did not exist?" Lin Mu questioned, his curiosity igniting.


    "This was far back, in a time beyond my existence. Back then, the great progenitors of the human race faced a great threat from beasts and other races that were naturally stronger than them. It is said that the beasts and other races had a natural talent in using spirit qi, and thus they easily defeated humans and ate them.


    Some races enved the humans and ruled over them for thousands of years. It was then that a small group of the humans learned about the secret potential of their bodies. They learned that they had been blessed by the heavens too, just that they were too blind to see it.


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    They discovered that the ¡¯breath¡¯ they had within them was vital energy and that they could increase its amount by training and consuming vital energy rich food. They devised training methods and started hunting weaker beasts to feed themselves.


    Little by little, their Numbers grew and more and more people learned how to use the vital energy. This is whatter on got to be known as the body tempering realm. But this was not the end as they didn¡¯t enter the qi refining realm automatically like us after reaching the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm.


    There was still something that theycked, and they didn¡¯t know what. Thus they kept up their efforts until a genius was born. This genius was blessed by the heavens and progressed in the body tempering realm much faster than any other human.


    He reached the peak of the body tempering realm at the age of seven and got stuck there for three years. When he reached the tenth year of his life, his potential exploded and his strength did too. That was when they learned of the realm beyond the body tempering realm." Xukong exined.


    "What is the name of the realm beyond that senior?" Lin Mu questioned, his curiosity reaching the peak.


    "The body cultivation realm that is beyond the body tempering realm is called... The Five Treasures Realm." Xukong answered.


    "What does the Five Treasures realm entail?" Lin Mu asked.


    "In the Five Treasures Realm, one needs to refine their five treasures, which are the five organs of your body; the liver, the spleen, the heart, the lungs, and the kidneys. Refining each organ sessfully will push you to a realm equivalent to that of the qi cultivation realm." Xukong revealed.


    "Wait! You mean to say... just one realm of the body temping realm epasses the entire spirit qi refining cultivation?" Lin Mu said with utter shock.


    "Indeed. The body tempering realm is an extremely potent way of strengthening your body such that it bes invulnerable. Another thing is, there is no order to it. You can start to refine any organ you want first and can even do all of them together.


    Though doing that is not rmended, as it could take a very long time.


    For example, if you fully refine your liver, you will instantly obtain the strength that is equal to that of a peak core condensation realm expert." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu¡¯s mind felt as if it was struck by lightning. He could immediately understand the potential of the body cultivation and wondered why it was not practiced here. He had never Even heard something like this existed.


    Lin Mu was currently at the peak stage of the body tempering realm which already put him at the same level as that of a peak stage qi refining realm cultivator and if he added his Xiantian physique to that, he was perhaps pushed to the level of a Early stage core condensation realm expert.

 Chapter 423 - Killing The Great Slumber Bear

    <h4>Chapter 423 - Killing The Great Slumber Bear </h4>


    Lin Mu remembered that Senior Xukong had told him he would give him something that would help him go beyond the body tempering realm a long time ago.


    "Senior what was it that you said you were going to give me?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I was going to give you a body cultivation technique, but I think it would be better to wait. You need to kill the Great Slumber bear first." Xukong replied.


    "Yes, Senior. I understand." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu stood up and looked at the sky outside. The moon was just starting to wave and its light could be said to be strong.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and made up his mind before walking towards the end of the cave. He activated the third skill Phase and entered the wall. Quickly passing through, Lin Mu reached the other end and looked at the huge beast that was curled up against the wall, steaming out of its nose and mouths.


    "Hmm... it has indeed recovered more than I expected. Good, that we chose toe right away, or I estimate it would reach the Nascent soul realm by the end of this month..." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu felt rmed by this and wondered if he had not been forced to fight Gu Yao, he would have perhaps still been in the Wu Lim city. If everything had gone ording to how Wu Hei had nned, Lin Mu would have reached this cave in fifteen more days from now.


    Those fifteen more days would have been the difference between life and death. Lin Mu could only think of this as finding a fortune in misfortune.


    "Be careful now, you will only have one chance. You need to kill it in a single blow, or it will not give you a second chance." Xukong warned.


    "I understand senior..." Lin Mu replied.


    He took another breath before muttering to himself, "fade...".


    Lin Mu appeared in the parallel world and held out his short sword. He started pouring spirit qi into the short sword, amplifying its power to the maximum he could. But this was not all, Lin Mu started chanting and his body grew by one size, his clothes stretching taut.


    Just when he had reached the time limit for Fade, he reappeared in the real world making a low thud. The Great Slumber bear stirred in sleep a little bit but did not react fully. The Auraing off Lin Mu¡¯s body was like the tides hitting a rocky cliff.


    He blinked to the top of the Great Slumber Bear¡¯s head and thrust the short sword deep into the head of the beast. His entire body¡¯s weight was behind it and was further amplified by the Burning heart sutra.


    When the short sword hit the skull of the beast, Lin Mu could feel the impact traveling through the short sword. If he did not have the effect of the burning heart sutra, perhaps he would have even lost hold of the short sword.


    The Great Slumber bear had woken up the moment Lin Mu had appeared above its head. His aura was simply too strong to be ignored and even the Great Slumber bear was startled by it. Even when the short sword was half way through its head, it was trying to stand up.


    s, the power contained within the short sword was still potent and passed through its head, embedding into the rock floor below.


    <i>~huu~huu~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu tookbored breaths as he saw the beast that was on itsst breaths. Even now it was letting out breaths and its eyes stared at Lin Mu.


    "It¡¯s still not dead?!" Lin Mu questioned with shock.


    "Its vitality is among the strongest of beasts, even weakened and having its brain pierced with the sword it can stay alive," Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth as a ruthless expression appeared on his face.


    "Then I¡¯ll just do it again!" Lin Mu said before withdrawing a spear from his ring.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    The Great Slumber Bear¡¯s powerful qi stirred as it increased its strength. It was now moving its limbs while its bloody red eyes stared at Lin Mu who had taken out a long spear from his ring.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~Cling~</i>


    He pierced the spear through the left paw of the great slumber bear and nailed it to the ground.


    "More!" Lin Mu yelled as he took out a long sword.


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    "GRRRRR!" The Great Slumber bear let out a rumbling noise as spirit qi started to concentrate on its other paw.


    "Quick! It¡¯s gonna attack!" Xukong wandered.


    "Take this!" Lin Mu said before stabbing the long sword through the paw that the beast was trying to attack him with.


    <i>~shatter~</i>


    The long sword pierced its right paw, but the beast shattered it forcefully. Lin Mu immediately pulled out the pair of slim swords and pierced them in the hole that was created by the long sword.


    The beast struggled to pull out the three weapons and was about to use its legs when Lin Mu took out three different kinds of spears from his ring and stabbed them in its left leg in three ces. The great slumber Bear¡¯s heel, ankle and knee were now nailed to the ground.


    Lin Mu then took out the battle axe from the ring and mmed its de into the only free leg of the beast. But this was not enough, as the length of the de was not enough to keep it trapped.


    Lin Mu raised his hand in the air and willed it, making arge rock appear. The rock fell on the Axe burying even deeper into the leg of the beast and into the rocky floor. This rock was none other than the Deep ocean Iron ore that he had obtained a long time ago.


    Finally, he took out the Iron thorn Spear he had obtained from Jing Wei. Lin Mu hadn¡¯t used it since then for fighting, and had only practiced with it in his Sleepscape.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    The Great Slumber Bear¡¯s powerful qi stirred as it increased its strength.


    "HAAAA!"

 Chapter 424 - Devour

    <h4>Chapter 424 - Devour </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s hair pped around as his bloodshot eyes gleamed. The ck thorn spear was thrumming with power and it had already reached the maximum limit of what it could hold for now.


    "TAKE THIS!" Lin Mu shouted.


    The ck thorn spear was stabbed deep into the chest of the Great slumber bear and pierced its heart, nailing it to the rock floor. Lin Mu and the Great Slumber bear stared in each other¡¯s eyes as unwillingness appeared in the beast¡¯s.


    "Rest in peace, I vow to use your bloodline and take it to the apex." Lin Mu spoke suddenly.


    He knew that he was killing a beast that had actually not wronged him. But like Senior Xukong had said this was the ruthless cultivation world, and he was now a cultivator. This was the least he could do for the beast and thus he did.


    It was as if the beast understood his words or the intentions behind it as it gave up on struggling anymore and closed its eyes. A minuteter, the steamy breaths of the Great Slumber Bear had stopped and Lin Mu confirmed that it was nowpletely dead.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "It is done..." Lin Mu muttered as he looked at the still warm body of the beast.


    "What¡¯re you waiting for, quickly take out its core and store the body in your ring, don¡¯t waste the blood!" Xukong urged.


    Lin Mu nodded and hurriedly dug out the core from the beast¡¯s chest and then ced his hand on the beast, storing it along with all of the weapons in his ring. The only weapon he had lost in this was the long sword which had been shattered by the great slumber beast¡¯s attack.


    Lin Mu looked at the handle of the long sword as that was all which was left, the de having been split into multiple pieces fallen on the ground.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Thankfully, I already finished the practice routines with this long sword, or I would have ended to find a recement." Lin Mu said.


    Lin Mu looked at therge core that he was still holding in his hand. This was thergest core he had ever seen and even in the beast records that he had the biggest core recorded was about five times smaller than this one.


    The core in his hand was about ten centimeters in diameters and was barely graspable in his hand being so wide. It was transparent unlike the other cores and had a triangr brown colored pattern on it, like the one that one on the Great Slumber Bear¡¯s Torso.


    Even after being removed from the beast¡¯s body, the core stayed warm and throbbed with power. Lin Mu could sense the bloodline deep within the core just by holding it in his hand and knew the potency of it. He was a bit anxious about the next few steps that he would be needing to do after this.


    "You should begin in now, the faster you do it, the higher your sess rate will be." Xukong spoke.


    "I understand, Senior..." Lin Mu replied before taking out a wide tub from his ring.


    He then started removing his clothes and became naked. He didn¡¯t want to soil his robes for what was about toe, and frankly, it would be easier if he was naked to do it as there would be an ease of movements.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    "Here we go..." Lin Mu said before he sat down in the tub and took out the corpse of the Great slumber bear.


    He ced itsrge body outside of the tub and took another breath to prepare himself for what he was about to do.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and practiced the nameless technique of the lost immortal. He knew that it had reached a specific level, but knew it was barely at the start. He had just scratched the surface and its secrets were way beyond this.


    Lin Mu tensed his body as the effects of the technique started and the hunger reappeared. He had intentionally triggered it this time and was prepared to bear its consequences.


    "Grr..." A low rumble came from Lin Mu¡¯s stomach as it ached.


    Lin Mu¡¯s muscles started twitching as veins appeared on his body, but this time it was not because of hate burning heart sutra. No, rather it was the almost animistic hunger that was taking over him and was close to turning him into a ravenous beast.


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    After two minutes, Lin Mu could no longer hold back and pulled the paw of the great slumber bear before biting on it. Even without spirit qi and vital energy to protect its body, the skin of the great slumber bear was quite tough.


    But Lin Mu was in no condition to think about that, and all he wanted to do right now was eat.


    It took him a few tries before he was able to tear the skin and bit away a mouthful of flesh from the beast. Lin Mu started chewing and then swallowed the flesh, blood dripping from his lips. A grin appeared on his face, as he suddenly found it to be incredibly delicious despite being raw.


    "MORE!" Lin Mu said before taking another bite.


    <i>~Chomp~</i>


    <i>~Gnaw~</i>


    <i>~Chew~</i>


    Various sounds were heard as Lin Mu finished eating the entire right arm of the great slumber bear after thirty minutes. He pulled the bones and ced them in the tub before pulling the other arm of the beast and starting to eat it.


    Just like this, Lin Mu went from one limb to the next, finishing up all four limbs of the great slumber bear. The bones of the limbs were half sunken in the blood that had umted in the tub while Lin Mu ate.


    All the blood that spilled from the flesh and Lin Mu¡¯s mouth was caught by the tub and was thus not wasted. Lin Mu¡¯s body was also covered with blood as only his back was now left dry. There was blood on his face, his hair and on his neck.


    If someone were to see Lin Mu right now, he would look no different from some deranged devilish cultivator. But it was not just his appearance that was terrifying, even his aura was undergoing a change. There were waves of spirit qi and vital energying from his body and spreading in the cave.


    Now only the main body of the great slumber bear was left for Lin Mu to devour. His hunger had actually been cated somehow by eating just these four limbs, and thus he had gained a bit of rity. He triggered the nameless technique of the lost immortal and stimted his hunger again.


    There was a massive amount of spirit qi and vital energy that was being poured into his body from his stomach as the made out of obscure patterns had appeared on his stomach. Bit by bit, more of those obscure patterns appeared and linked up to form threads that interwove and formed thes.


    This was the thirdyer that was now forming over it, and the previous two were already densely packed. They were grey in color and caused his stomach to look as if it was made out of some kind of a metal.


    Lin Mu continued and ripped the torso of the great slumber bear, starting to eat its internal organs. One by one, each of the organs started disappearing into his gullet. Liver, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, intestines, stomach, spleen, gall dder, heart; everything was cleanly eaten.


    Lin Mu then withdrew his short sword from the ring and cut the skull of the Great slumber bear apart to reveal its whitish pink brain. Jamming his hand in, Lin Mu scooped out a handful of brains, before slurping it up like jelly.


    The taste was incredibly delicious to Lin Mu, and he couldn¡¯t help but drool even more. In less than two minutes, the entire brain was eaten and now only the flesh and bones were left. Lin Mu started peeling the flesh off the ribs and put it in his mouth.


    It was as if he was picking berries from a bush and putting them in his mouth, but the bush was made of bones and flesh were the berries. An entire hour passed before Lin Mu was able toplete eating the flesh, leaving behind only the bones and the blood which had nearly filled the tub to the brim.


    "Are you fine?" Xukong questioned.


    "Yes..." Lin Mu replied in a hoarse voice.


    "Begin the next step, your body is already assimting it, you need it as the catalyst," Xukong said.


    Lin Mu simply nodded his head and withdrew the core of the great slumber bear and held it in his hands. He sat down in a cross legged manner and focused on the beast core.


    <i>~ROAR!!!~</i>


    A physical wave of spirit qi came from the beast core as the illusory figure of the great slumber bear appeared in front of Lin Mu.

 Chapter 425 - Assimilation Complete

    <h4>Chapter 425 - Assimtion Complete </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes were still closed despite the loud roar. He focused on therge beast core and ignore the illusory figure in front of him.


    The illusory figure of the Great Slumber bear looked on at Lin Mu for about ten seconds before bing silent. It floated over him and then ovepped with Lin Mu. Now it was as if instead of Lin Mu a giant bear was sitting in a meditative posture.


    Inside Lin Mu¡¯s body, the vital energy and spirit Qi was seething. There was a massive amount of it being released from his stomach and spread all across his body. There was even more spirit Qiing from the beast core in his hands and it was traveling through his meridians.


    But along with the spirit Qi, there was an aura traveling into his body as well. This aura was nothing but the bloodline aura of the Great Slumber bear. The bloodline aura traveled to his Dantian and soon another illusory figure of a great slumber bear started to form there. But this figure was different and was much smaller.


    Lin Mu continued absorbing the spirit Qi and the vital energy for a few hours, before the beast core in his hands had finally shrunk into nothingness. The illusory figure of the great slumber bear that was ovepping his body also started shrinking, while the illusory figure that was inside his body started growing instead.


    The bones that were sunken in the blood had melted and merged with it. This blood was now slowly being absorbed by Lin Mu¡¯s body and he calmly mediated, circting the spirit Qi in his body. About twelve hours passed before the entire process wasplete and both his body and the two illusory figures were of the same size.


    But by now, the illusory figures had be red, as if tainted by the blood, and the aura of Lin Mu was indistinguishable from that of the Great Slumber bear.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a deep breath as he opened his eyes. Simrly, the eyes of the illusory figure opened as well and a low roar was hearding from it. But this roar still traveled far and wide, silencing all the beasts of the northern forest. Even little shrubby trembled upon hearing it, but then calmed down as he could sense his master¡¯s aura within it as well.


    Lin Mu stood up, and felt an uncontroble power flowing through his body. He felt like he needed to let out this power or he would explode. He took a step and moved like a sh, appearing on the inner end of the cave.


    "HYAA!" he yelled as the third form of the boulder copsing fist was automatically executed.


    A pink ribbon shot out of his arm, but this time his arm was fine. The pink ribbon was also much wider than before and swirled in a beautiful manner. Its beauty was the disguise for the power contained in it was terrifying.


    <i>~BOOM!~</i>


    The pink ribbon came in contact with the cave wall and instantly passed through it, pulverizing it in the process. In less than two seconds it had traveled the length of the wall and hade out of the other end where little Shrubby was.


    Thankfully, it had already sensed the danger and escaped the cave.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The pink ribbon faded away, but now before widening the entrance of the cave. A thick dust cloud covered the interior of the cave now as the crushed rock swirled in the air.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Lin Mu punched out with his other hand, this time the power contained within it being lesser than before. Still, the punch was enough to generate a jet of wind that blew away all the dust and rocks that were in the cave. The debris shot out of the cave like bullets and shredded the trees that were outside the cave.


    After letting out two punches, Lin Mu finally felt better and didn¡¯t feel like exploding.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "That was... too much..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he started to feel drowsy now.


    ¡¯Ugh, it¡¯s already starting,¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was none other than the effect of the bloodline ability of the Great Slumber Bear, ¡¯Well of Slumber.¡¯


    If it had not been for the fact that Lin Mu¡¯s body was still assimting the bloodline in it, he would have directly fallen asleep right then and there. But there were still some things he needed to do and that too very quickly.


    Lin Mu blinked in the direction of Little Shrubby and called out to him.


    "Little Shrubby!"


    There was silence for a second, before the faint sounds of foot steps could be heard from near the entrance of the cave.


    "Here." Little Shrubby said.


    "I¡¯ll be sleeping for a while soon. So I need you to be careful, okay?" Lin Mu said.


    The beast seemed a little confused, but then nodded its head in understanding.


    "Okay," He said.


    Lin Mu looked at the entrance of the cave that was nearly twice as big now and sighed.


    "I can¡¯t let it stay open like this while I sleep here..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He went to one of the walls of the cave and punched it again. This time he used controlled force and was able to create cracks in the wall. He then slid his fingers in the cracks and pulled hard.


    "Come on now... Break!" Lin Mu shouted.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    Arge chunk of the cave was pulled out by Lin Mu. The chunk was nearly half the size of the cave¡¯s entrant and was two meters tall. Lin Mu carried it to the entrance and put it there, blocking half of the entrance. He went back and pulled out another piece, that was smaller than the previous one.


    He put it at the entrance again, this time only leaving a quarter of the space left open.


    "If you want to go outside, you can go from here." Lin Mu pointed.


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    "Okay," it replied simply.


    Lin Mu then removed a bowl and ced it on a rtively t rock.

 Chapter 426 - Aftermath

    <h4>Chapter 426 - Aftermath </h4>


    Little Shrubby looked curiously at the bowl as Lin Mu put arge amount of beast cores in there. There were almost a hundred beast cores in it, that would be worth a fortune if he were to sell them.


    "You can eat them when you want. These should be enough tost you a long time." Lin Mu said.


    He didn¡¯t know how long he would be sleeping and thus wanted to prepare some things for little Shrubby. They had estimated that a year was the shortest time seeing as the great slumber bear they killed was juvenile and thus his bloodline ability was not fully developed. Lin Mu was betting on this and thus had prepared all the beast meat enough tost a year.


    He then started to take them out and triggered the nameless technique of the lost immortal, stimting his hunger again. Lin Mu knew he had to force himself to eat this. Even if he had arge amount of vitality from the Great Slumber bear¡¯s meat, there was still a chance it may extend beyond a year¡¯s time.


    The drowsiness was being surprised by his intense hunger and thus he was able to power through. It took Lin Mu two hours before he was able to finish all the beast meat. Thankfully, he had prepared beforehand and only had cooked meat with him that had no bones left. This made it easy to eat, or he would have been unable to finish it on time.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    Just a minute after he had finished eating them all, he copsed on the ground.


    Little Shrubby came running and nuzzled against his body, concerned for him. But when he saw that he was just sleeping and what he had spoken to him, he felt a bit better.


    "I will wait." Little Shrubby said as itid beside Lin Mu and started cultivating itself.


    Rhythmic breaths came from Lin Mu¡¯s mouth as they eventually slowed down. It reached a point where he was only taking a single breath in a minute and even his heartbeats became slow.


    And just like this, silence descended in the cave, just like the northern forest outside.


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    ***


    Back in the Wu Lin City, chaos was ensuing.


    Thousand of disciples of the Tri Cauldron peony sect were moving around, some flying on spirit tools, some just running. The hugest number of them were gathered around arge hole that was located at the ancestral temple.


    There, a pair of disciples that were wearing slightly different robes than others were standing. The others looked at them with respect and while they had an expression of seriousness. They came to stand beside the hole and one of them spoke.


    "Is it really true? Did an Invader reallye to our world?" The disciple who was shorted questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "As much as I want it to not be, it really is. We have thousands of eyewitness testimonies, both frommoners and cultivators. There is no doubt that it has really happed." The taller disciple replied.


    The shorter disciple erroneously rubbed his fingers as he looked around at his junior disciples that were going around helping others. Some were healing the injuries of the injured people, while some were fixing the damage.


    "And what did the elder say about this invader?" The shorter disciple asked.


    "We¡¯ve been ordered to be on high alert and to keep an eye out for any suspicious people. The top sects have already been alerted and so has been the Shuang Qian kingdom¡¯s king. By tomorrow the emperor should know about this too. They will be sending more reinforcement and will help us determine the true identity of the culprit behind this." The tall disciple answered.


    The short disciple nodded and looked at the sky.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Thankfully, the supreme elder informed us quickly and the sect patriarch issued the rm, or the culprit may have seeded I his n." The shorter disciple said.


    The taller disciple nodded and looked to the side upon hearing someone approach them.


    "Seniors! We have the portrait of the culprit!" A disciple who had approached them spoke.


    "Show us then," they replied.


    The junior disciple opened the painting scroll and revealed the portrait of the culprit.


    "Who would have thought that someone like him could have been the culprit and behind all that happened in the recent days. Coborating with the invaders, he has dishonored his ancestors." The shorter disciple said with spite.


    "Hmm... so his name is Lin Mu, and he has been disguising his identity as amon peasant in the northern town." The taller disciple revealed.


    "How did he manage to hide for so long? Even the townsmen didn¡¯t belive this, seeing as how his supposed parents had lived there for so long." The shorter disciple asked.


    "He has been backed by the northern tribes apparently and was sneaked in here a long time ago. They controlled two peasants and made them act as his parents while killing their real son. This way he was able to hide for so long. He may look young, but he is an old cultivator who used forbidden arts to hide his age." The taller disciple exined.


    "Truly dangerous... I just hope the top sects are able to handle this." The shorter disciple muttered.


    ***


    At the Sky precepts sect, a simr scene of chaos could be seen.


    At the grand pce of the sect, the patriarch was sitting on his throne while the two supreme elders sat beside him. The entire hall was filled with people and they all had nervous expressions on their faces.


    The patriarch stood up, causing the hall to quiet down.


    "As you may all have learned by now, the spatial disturbances were indeed caused by an invader trying to enter our world. This was all a conspiracy hatched by the northern tribes and has been in motion for a long time.


    The main culprit that we know of is a boy called Lin Mu who we suspect is an old cultivator that may have been in hiding for a few hundred years. You all have already received the details and thus should be able to learn more on your own." The patriarch spoke and looked at the faces of everyone.


    "Now hear my decree;


    An official hunt of the utmost importance is to beunched for the person called Lin Mu. He is to be brought to the sects, either alive or dead. Any person found associating him will be considered guilty and killed without hesitation." The patriarch dered.


    Discussions started among the people in the hall, and they all agreed with the contents of the decree.


    A ck robed elder walked forward, who was none other than Head elder Han.


    "I¡¯ll be taking over the star catching peak for the time being and will resume the repairing process. The star catching formation is greatly damaged and the elders of the peak have borne the bacsh in the stead of the disciples.


    I hope that you all will give your all and find this culprit who has caused this great upheaval in our lives." Head elder Han said in an emotional tone.


    mes of determination ignited in the eyes of everyone as they all agreed.


    "YES!"

 Chapter 427 - Awakening In The Sleepscape

    <h4>Chapter 427 - Awakening In The Sleepscape </h4>


    After Lin Mu had fallen asleep, he immediately appeared in the Sleepscape.


    "It worked!" Lin Mu eximed.


    He looked around the Sleepscape and confirmed that he truly was in there.


    "Senior Xukong!" Lin Mu called out.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    In the next second, Xukong appeared in an orb of light in front of Lin Mu.


    "Ah... good, very good. It worked just as we had hoped." Xukong said.


    "Indeed, senior. Even at the end, I had some doubts whether it would work, but now this is a big relief to me." Lin Mu replied.


    "Now then... I guess it¡¯s time for you to begin the second part of your n." Xukong stated.


    "Yes senior. I can already sense the spirit Qi increasing in my body. I feel like I¡¯ll reach the core condensation realm rather quickly." Lin Wu said.


    "Hmm... it should be an eventual increase that should speed up as more time passes," Xukong replied.


    "I guess, I should start practicing then..." Lin Mu said before taking out a dual sided sword.


    He started performing the moves and furthered his progress with the Thousand armament de scripture. Now that his body would be automatically be cultivating, Lin Mu would be able to practice the rest of his skills in the Sleepscape.


    One of the things that he wanted to finish up was none other than the Thousand Armament de scripture. It was this very weapons manual that had allowed him to battle against so many cultivators. Had it not been for it, his fighting potential would have reduced by a half.


    But now he had the opportunity to practice it to his heart¡¯s content. Once he began, he practiced for over an entire day before stopping due to the mental exhaustion he was feeling.


    "You should take a break. There are still some things we don¡¯t know about the Sleepscape and you shouldn¡¯t strain your mind or you could harm yourself." Xukong warned.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu replied before sitting down with his back against the spirit apple tree.


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    He took out the wooden slip that was the legacy treasure of the Lost immortal and opened it. He had not read his memoirs for a while now and wanted to learn what had happened after they were trapped in the mine and discovered by the search party. Words started appearing on the wooden slip and Lin Mu started to read them.


    ***


    The lost Immortal and his master were discovered by a search party, and soon a battle started between them. The first one to attack was none other than the lost immortal himself. He knew that he couldn¡¯t let these people escape and thus had to kill them before they reported back to the others.


    He and his master were able to kill two out of the five people in the search party before they alerted the others using amunication jade slip. The remaining three cultivators fought the pair of master and disciple but eventually died as well.


    Knowing that they won¡¯t have much longer, the two started to find a shortcut. They traveled up the tunnels and reached an area that was very close to the entrance. They could even hear the voices of the guards there and had to hide quickly. After a bit, an opportunity arrived, and they were able to dig further.


    Due to being close to the surface, it took them less than six hours before a beam of sunlight shone upon their faces. They rejoiced for a short time, before forcibly calming themselves. They had already been found out and knew that there would be guards looking for them.


    They almost had an encounter with a core condensation realm guard, but the old man managed to get them away by using a special technique. But this came with its own disadvantages, the old man became quite exhausted shortly after and the two of them had to rest in a suitable ce.


    They knew that going to a town or a vige was not a choice, and thus they had to hide in the forests around the mines. They had not even traveled fifty kilometers away from the mine and thus there was a great chance that they would be found out. Theing two days were tense as the lost immortal kept an eye out without sleeping a single minute.


    The old man finally recovered on the third day, and they started their journey again. The lost immortal asked him about the technique that he had used and the old man exined that it was a technique that burned longevity to use normally, but he had instead diverted it to use up his vitality instead which could be restored.


    ***


    Lin Mu stopped after this point as he felt like his mental energy had been restored and he could begin practicing again. He repeated the same cycle multiple times and would learn from the memoirs of the lost immoral in the resting time.


    Sometimes instead of practicing the thousand armament de scripture, Lin Mu would learn the Dao script from senior Xukong and even a few formations that he knew.


    Bit by bit, Lin Mu was furthering his skills, until he felt a change in his body.


    "The time has arrived..." Lin Mu muttered as he closed his eyes.


    ***


    Time passed as the summer turned to autumn.


    In a cave in the Northern Mountains, a faint thrumming of heartbeats could be heard. It wasing from deep inside the cave and one couldn¡¯t tell what kind of beast it belonged to. The heartbeats kept on getting stronger and stranger until a strong wave of spirit Qi came from the cave.


    The wave of spirit Qi spread all over the mountain and scared off the beasts that lived there. A vortex of spirit Qi formed around the mountain and started to get sucked into it. The beasts instinctively stayed away from it and watched from afar as the clouds parted in the sky.


    Thissted for an hour before silence descends in the mountains again.

 Chapter 428 - Core Condensation Realm!

    <h4>Chapter 428 - Core Condensation Realm! </h4>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes in the Sleepscape as they slightly glimmered.


    "Excellent!" Xukong said.


    "You knew this was gonna happen?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "With your foundation that is extremely stable, it was merely a question of time." Xukong chuckled.


    "Hehe..." Lin Muughed a little bit as well before hearing senior Xukong speak again.


    "Anyways. Congrattions on bing the youngest cultivator to ever reach the core condensation realm in this world." Xukong spoke.


    Only now did, Lin Mu realized the reality. The publicly known person who held the record before Lin Mu was none other than the crown prince of the Great Zhou Empire and he had reached the core condensation realm at the age of twenty. But Lin Mu on the other hand was still about sixteen years old and his birthday was still six months away.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up as he reveled in this achievement for a bit before calming down. He now wanted to see the difference in his body and sat down cross legged and chanted the severing heart sutra. Almost immediately he felt his meridians that were being filled with spirit Qi that flowed like a river.


    Lin Mu trailed down to his Dantian and saw his core that floated there. The core looked vastly different from what Lin Mu had seen before though. It did not look pale white like that of Hei Yingjie¡¯s core. Instead, it was a silvery grey, almost the same color as that of the mysterious ring.


    But that was not all, there was also a pattern printed on his core.


    "This... The Great Slumber bear?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Indeed, the bloodline had been fully assimted by your body. And due to the uniqueness of the bloodline skill ¡¯Well of Slumber¡¯ it has presented the bloodline crest on your core." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes upon hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words and had a question pop in his head.


    "Wait, senior you mean the pattern that is on my core, it can be in different ces as well?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes. Depending on the type of beast the bloodline belongs to, the bloodline crest will appear on different parts of your body that correspond to the ability. Since the well of slumber corresponds to the cultivation, it has appeared on your core." Xukong exined.


    "Ah... I see now, senior." Lin Mu nodded his head in understanding.


    He closed his eyes again and checked his capacity for spirit Qi. Unlike before, his Dantian was almostpletely empty and only the core could be seen floating in the center of the Dantian. His entirety of liquid spirit Qi had been condensed into this one core and could now contain even more than before.


    Lin Mu observed for more time, as the spirit Qi from his meridians eventually reached his Dantian. But here the process had changed. The spirit Qi that entered his Dantian was in the form of wisps which then gathered together to form clouds. These clouds of spirit Qi floated around at the top of his Dantian and grew in size.


    This continued for a while until they became extremely dense and then finally started raining. The spirit Qi wisps started being converted into liquid form automatically, which shocked Lin Mu to no end. Before he had to put a lot of effort to refine the liquid spirit Qi, but now it seemed to be happening automatically.


    "Senior! There are clouds of spirit Qi in my Dantian that rain down liquid spirit Qi." Lin Mu said.


    "Oh, really? I didn¡¯t know that the bloodline of the Great Slumber bear could do something like this. They are far too rare, and thus there isn¡¯t much information about it. Besides, no one was able to survive long enough to tell what exactly happens with the bloodline.


    Another thing is that no one was at the Qi refining realm when they refined and assimted the bloodline, thus what you are experiencing ispletely undocumented." Xukong exined.


    "I understand senior..." Lin Mu replied and went back to observing his Dantian.


    Though that was not the only change that his body had. After all of his cells had been converted into Xiantian physique cells, their ability to conduct spirit Qi had increased by a lot.


    Usually, meridians were how the majority of spirit Qi traveled as the other cells were not as conducive to spirit Qi as the meridians were. But due to the Xiantian physique, Lin Mu¡¯s normal cells were about fifty percent as conducive as his meridians now.


    The benefits of this were many, and Lin Mu could already imagine a few of them. His ability to use various Qi skills would improve, and so would his absorption of the medicinal effects of the alchemical pills.


    Even cultivating normally would show an increase in speed. The overall effect was even greater than that of the Dual Circle Ascension fruits that Lin Mu had eaten a while back.


    Lin Mu had observed his core enough that he could estimate how much spirit Qi he would need to reach the next stage of the core condensation realm.


    The stages in the core condensation realm were simr to that of the Qi refining realm, such that one would need double the amount of spirit Qi they had in the previous stage.


    In Lin Mu¡¯s case, as he was in the early stage of the core condensation realm and had a core that was condensed from three thousand drops of liquid spirit Qi, to break through to the mid stage of the core condensation realm, he would need a total of six thousand drops instead.


    This would keep on doubling as he would need twelve thousand in thete stage, and finally twenty four thousand liquid spirit Qi drops in the peak stage of the core condensation realm.


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    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as his future n appeared in his mind.


    "Even a sea would begin from a single drop; I¡¯ve done it before and I¡¯ll do it again!" Lin Mu said to himself with determination.

 Chapter 429 - Two Years Later

    <h4>Chapter 429 - Two Years Later </h4>


    In the sky precepts sect, at the grand pce.


    "Has there been any new updates, head elder Han?" The patriarch questioned.


    The hall was nearly empty today, and only the patriarch and the head elder were present. There was an oppressive silence spread in the hall and even the people outside it were nervous.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "We¡¯ve been trying to fix the star catching formation for the past two years but it is still iplete, patriarch. The crack in the world¡¯s barrier keeps on damaging it again." Head elder Han said.


    "It¡¯s already been two years..." The patriarch muttered in a tired voice.


    "How about the culprit, Lin Mu. Any news about him?" Patriarch questioned after thinking for a bit.


    "No patriarch. Either he has found a really good ce to hide in the northern tribes, or he is dead. We¡¯ve searched the northern forest and even went till the northern mountains, but he is not there. The central, eastern, and western parts of the continent have been searched as well, but no progress. We wanted to go beyond the pear¡¯s belt as well, but that does not seem like an option considering our current condition.


    The other sects are also uncooperative and with the rise of the new alliances, the power structures are changing." Elder Han answered.


    "What about that lead in the Fenlong kingdom, the Mu n there?" The patriarch asked next.


    "That was merely a disguise, as well patriarch. He was borrowing the influence of the n there and used that as the identity. He even manipted the second son of Mayor Wu Xun of Wu Lim City and made him back his identity." Elder Han said.


    The patriarch shook his head as he fell deep in thought.


    "Also patriarch... we think someone slipped into the world, perhaps through the crack in the barrier." Elder Han revealed.


    "What?! Do you know where?" The Patriarch asked urgently.


    "I¡¯m afraid not. Theck of the star-catching formation has greatly reduced our sensing capabilities. Even with this we were only able to find out with great difficulty. Though it doesn¡¯t seem like whatever came to this world is that strong, or we would have seen more signs." Elder Han answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "At least that¡¯s better than the alternative," Patriarch said with a sigh.


    "Is there anything else?" He asked.


    "The emperor is still sick and has shown no signs of improving. They are now likely to ask the Rainbow Pill sect for help. Also, the alliance ceremony for the Tri cauldron peony sect, the Autumn Valley sect, the Cloven Sea sect and the Zither Wind Sect will be held in theing month.


    "Should we... attend it?" Elder Han questioned.


    "What other choice do we have? Even if these problems are here, we cannot give up on our reputation. We should be able to spare a few elders to go to the ceremony." Patriarch said.


    "Alright patriarch, as youmand." Elder hand said and left the grand pce.


    Outside, tens of people were waiting anxiously and became even more nervous upon seeing Head Elder Han appear.


    "What did the patriarch say, Head Elder Han?" Someone asked.


    "Gather the elders, we shall be having a meeting in an hour. Also... call in the core disciples, I have a few tasks for them too." Head Elder Han said with a serious expression.


    ***


    Back at the Northern Mountains, rumbling sounds could be hearding from a cave.


    The sounds were loud enough that the beasts living there were scared toe there. In fact, an area of about five kilometers around it had be a forbidden zone for the beasts and they were too scared to approach it.


    Inside the cave, pitch ck darkness was there. A faint dampness could also be felt in the air and one could hear drops of water dripping down from the ceilings.


    <i>~Huu~Huu~Huu~</i>


    Rhythmic breaths could be hearding from a particr ce in the cave. These were the breaths that echoed in the cave and seemed like the troubling soundsing from the cave. The source of the sound was a young man who was sleeping on the ground naked.


    His body was covered in dust, while his hair was caked with mud and soil. His face couldn¡¯t be seen because of the long hair covering it either. Still, even now, the outlines of muscles could be seen on his body and one could even sense the potent vitality contained in it.


    <i>~groan~</i>


    Suddenly a groan escaped the mouth of the young man who was sleeping on the ground. His body twitched and his fingers moved.


    Then his eyes opened. They were ck like the night, and a hidden might could be felt from them. They were like the eyes of a predator, and anyone that started into them would feel their hearts shake.


    This young man was none other than Lin Mu himself.


    "Haaa!" Lin Mu let out a groan as he stretched his body.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~pop~</i>


    The joints and bones of his body made crackling and popping sounds as they finally gained a bit of flexibility again.


    "Ah... I really need to find a way to control this ability myself... the effects after waking up are horrible..." Lin Mu said to himself.


    "Huh? What happened to my voice?" Lin Mu muttered as he felt the change in it.


    His voice was now deeper than he remembered and was a bit simr to that of his father.


    "Seems like you finally woke up." Xukong¡¯s voice suddenly appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Yes, senior. Though... how much time has it been?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Actually, I can¡¯t tell it either. After the first few months, I think both our perceptions of time have been altered." Xukong replied.


    "Didn¡¯t we estimate that it would be around a year by the time I wake up?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We did, but now it seems to be much different. I mean... look at yourself." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu looked at his body and saw how dirty he was. He was still naked as that¡¯s how he had gone to sleep back then, because he hadn¡¯t had the chance to put on his robes again after he assimted the bloodline of the Great Slumber bear.


    The first difference he felt was in his hair, which was now reaching all the way to his waist. The next change he felt was that his point of view had be a bit higher.


    "Huh? I became taller again?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He decided to use his spirit sense to check himself properly and found that he really had gotten taller. He was about 173 centimeters tall before and now he had reached 180 centimeters. He looked at his arms and saw the athletic and lean muscles that have been formed. His back had gotten broader and his shoulders wider.


    He touched his face and ended up identally poking himself with his long nails.


    "Bah! I¡¯ll need to cut the nails." Lin Mu muttered and snapped his nails one by one from the fingertips.


    With a single pinch, the nails were broken off cleanly and thrown to the ground.


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    "This is much better." Lin Mu said as he looked at his hands now.


    He touched his face and felt the hair that had grown on his face. There was a coarse beard growing on his face, which once used to be smooth. It was hidden beneath the dirt and thus was heard to perceive normally.


    "I need to get clean first, this feels very ufortable..." Lin Mu said before taking out a barrel of water from his ring and cing it on the ground.


    Then he took out arge metal cauldron and poured the water into it before igniting a me in his hand and heating the water with it. The me was vigorous and the strong heat could be felt from it. In less than a minute the water became hot and Lin Mu took a bath, scrubbing his body clean of the dirt and grime that had umted over the unknown number of days.


    "Ahhh! This is much better." Lin Mu eximed as he jumped into therge pot himself.


    The hot water rxed his strained and tensed body and made him feel much better. After a few minutes of soak, he jumped out of the water and put on some clean robes.


    He took out amp and ignited it, along with a mirror to take a look at himself.


    "I told you, didn¡¯t I? All you needed was a bit of time and your features would mature." Xukong said after seeing the appearance of Lin Mu in the mirror.


    He now looked much more mature than before, and his feminine features had mostly faded away. The coarse beard along with the long hair all the way to his waist gave him a wild look.


    "Looks like much more time passed than we had expected..." Lin Mu said.


    "Indeed, we went beyond it," Xukong replied.


    "What do you estimate, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I¡¯m thinking two years at the very least, seeing your body¡¯s growth."

 Chapter 430 - Peak Stage?

    <h4>Chapter 430 - Peak Stage? </h4>


    Lin Mu had prepared himself for something like this before he even started the n, and thus didn¡¯t feel that bad. He was a bit disappointed, but in the long term, it wasn¡¯t really worth that either for him.


    This was but the start of his journey, and there were far too many trials and tribtions he would be going through.


    During his time in the Sleepscape, he had read the memoirs of the Lost Immortal and had learned many things from it. He would then ask senior Xukong about any doubts that he had and would ponder on them afterward.


    Mentally, Lin Mu was no longer the same person he was before entering the Sleepscape two years ago. The things that he had gained in that time were extremely valuable to him now.


    "Hmm... since two years have passed without me dying, it means that I had enough vitality tost that long. Still... I should check my condition." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He sat down cross-legged on the ground and observed the internal condition of his body. Lin Mu didn¡¯t even need the use of the severing heart sutra to perceive his body now. His control over sprint sense had grown by leaps and bounds due to the continuous practice.


    He first checked the cells of his body and found them to be quite healthy, though he couldn¡¯t call them ¡¯normal¡¯. They were packed with vital energy that continued to nourish his cells.


    He was in the peak of the body tempering realm and had obtained the Xiantian physique, but this still seemed to be more than that.


    "Oh? Looks like your body already took a step towards the Five treasures realm." Xukong said.


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    "It did senior? But I never started the refinement." Lin Mu asked.


    "You didn¡¯t, but it seems like your new bloodline and the nameless technique of the lost immortal did it for you. Although it isn¡¯t anything major and all of your five treasure organs have been equally refined.


    The progress is minuscule, but this is still quite good." Xukong exined.


    "Is that so..." Lin Mu replied before peering into his five treasure organs.


    One by one, we checked his liver, spleen, lungs, heart, and kidneys. It was just as senior Xukong had said, their ¡¯quality¡¯ had increased. There were changes in their cells that seemed to be different from his Xiantian Physique cells.


    Having confirmed this, Lin Mu went onto his Dantian. He knew back in the Sleepscape that he had reached the Core condescension realm, but he couldn¡¯t exactly tell what stage he was in. Perhaps because of spending a long time in the Sleepscape, his perception had been skewed. Not to mention the nearly constant infusion of spirit Qi into his Dantian that happened.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense entered his Dantian and saw the ocean of spirit Qi there. There was a storm of spirit Qi clouds brewing in the sky above and the core was floating in the middle of the Dantian, like a moon in the sky.


    Drops of liquid spirit Qi could be seen drizzling lightly from the clouds. But Lin Mu could also tell that the clouds were gonna disperse at any time now since he had woken up. He took a look at his core and found it to be the same Silvery Grey color he had seen before with the bloodline crest of the Great Slumber Bear.


    He sensed the spirit Qi within his core that had solidified and was shocked.


    "HEAVENS! HOW!?" Lin Mu shouted out loud as his eyes went wide.


    "What happened?" Senior Xukong asked with concern.


    "Take a look senior," Lin Mu said as he shared his vision with senior Xukong.


    This was another ability he had gained back in the Sleepscape. Due to their link, he could share his vision directly instead of Xukong needing to see it in his memories. This gave Xukong real time information and was much faster.


    "The peak stage of the core condensation realm..." Xukong muttered, feeling shocked himself.


    Currently, within the Dantian of Lin Mu, his core was four times bigger than its original size and contained over twenty-four thousand drops of spirit Qi. With the requirement for the spirit Qi fulfilled, Lin Mu could be considered having skipped three stages.


    "Now I know why it took longer than we had expected. The bloodline of the Great Slumber bear was directly pushing you to the Peak stage of the core condensation realm..." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu looked around at the ocean of spirit Qi and estimated that there were about three thousand drops of spirit Qi in it, more than his Dantian should have been able to contain it.


    "Wait! My Dantian isrger in size too!" Lin Mu said.


    His Dantian had grown nearly thrice as much and looked to be deeper. Because Lin Mu had only nced over the surface, he had not estimated the exact internal size of the Dantian. From the outside, it looked to be the same as it did before.


    "This is getting more and more interesting. With you bing the first person to sessfully survive the side effects of the ¡¯Well of slumber¡¯, everything we learn will be new information." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu actually felt a bit lost here, as he had made all these ns to further his cultivation after waking up. This surprise was greatly appreciated but also left him a bit overwhelmed.


    "Since I have already reached the Peak of the core condensation realm, that means now I just need to wait for the heavenly tribtion to arrive, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That should be the case normally... but I do not know how it will happen," Xukong replied.


    "Why senior? Oh, wait..." Lin Mu asked, before realizing it himself.


    "Yes, the Great Slumber bear¡¯s are correctly born above the immortal Ascension realm and thus don¡¯t go through the same heavenly tribtion that is used to birth the nascent soul. For them, it is merely a thought that is needed to do the same." Xukong exined.

 Chapter 431 - The Fifth Skill

    <h4>Chapter 431 - The Fifth Skill </h4>


    Lin Mu felt surprised at this and wondered if he could do the same. If he could, then his power would skyrocket again.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and willed for a Nascent soul to be born.


    ...


    ....


    .....


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I knew it was too much to wish for something this big." Lin Mu said after seeing no results.


    "Do not worry, you will just need more time. You are bound to reach the Nascent Soul realm, eventually." Xukong assured.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and checked for any other changes that he may have had. It was now that he remembered something.


    "Wait, every time I progressed my cultivation base the ring gave me a new skill. Why hasn¡¯t it done yet?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Well, you¡¯ve been dormant for a long time so that could be the reason behind it." Xukong guessed,


    "I¡¯ll try to see if I can get it to activate..." Lin Mu said.


    He focused on the ring and suddenly disappeared from the cave. He appeared inside the ring and saw the Silvery Grey streaks of spatial energy that flickered in the sky. In the distance, he could see a vortex of them that was swirling above who could only be senior Xukong.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The vortex dissipated, and Xukong came flying towards Lin Mu.


    "Ah, seems like you were able to pull yourself into the ring consciously now," Xukong said.


    "Yes senior. When trying it, I felt that I could finally do it and thus entered the ring." Lin Mu said.


    "Good... and can you estimate how long you can stay here without problems?" Xukong questioned.


    "Hmm... I have this gut feeling that I can stay for thirty minutes." Lin Mu said.


    "That¡¯s great, actually. If it were a Dao Shell cultivator, even he would have a hard time staying here for more than ten minutes. Yourpatibility with the spatial attribute has definitely increased." Xukong praised.


    "Thank you, senior." Lin Mu said in a grateful voice.


    He looked towards the faint glow that wasing from the distance and started walking toward it. About two minutester, he reached the barrier that surrounded the Ethereal altar.


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    Lin Mu looked towards Xukong and asked, "have you managed to get past the barrier yet senior?"


    "No..." Xukong replied as he shook his head, which looked a bitical. "This is the farthest I¡¯vee, and even now I can¡¯t go past it. Only you can." Xukong added.


    "I see... I guess the key to getting past the barrier is the key itself." Lin Mu hypothesized.


    He touched the barrier, and it split apart for him to pass. He could feel the calling from the Altar and knew that his previous hypothesis was right.


    The reason the ring had not summoned him directly was because he could enter here on his own now and didn¡¯t need to force him toe. This was better for Lin Mu, as he didn¡¯t know if there woulde a time in the future when he would be identally pulled into the ring while he was doing something important.


    He saw the altar as it started to get brighter and new runes startled appearing from it. Lin Mu ced his hand on the altar¡¯s surface and triggered it. The runes turned into streaks of light that entered his head one by one at a great speed.


    Lin Mu felt a sharp pain in his head, but bore through it. About five minutes passed before it stopped and the transmission of information had beenpleted. A new memory had appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind, and he could tell that it was the new skill that the altar had bestowed upon him.


    "So... what did you get this time?" Xukong questioned.


    "I got the fifth skill from the altar. It is called... Meld." Lin Mu revealed.


    "Meld? Do you know what it does?" Xukong questioned.


    "It can basically allow me to alter the fabric of space, up to what level I do not know that." Lin Mu answered.


    "That is... rather strong. This is not something that can be done by anyone. Though why do you seem apprehensive?" Xukong spoke.


    "Umm... this skill. It seemsplex... I feel like while I know the working of it, I do not know if I¡¯ll be able to use it. This skill is... quite different from the other four which directly worked; this one seems to require manual control from me." Lin Mu revealed.


    "Hmm... I see. Well, maniption of the spatial fabric is no joke and thus it is understandable that it would be difficult. Your previous four skills focused on a particr aspect of spatial maniption and thus could be used automatically I think, but this one had more functions than just one." Xukong exined.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I¡¯ll have to use and see it myself. I cannot do it here, I must return to the real world." Lin Mu stated.


    "Let¡¯s go back then, I¡¯ll observe," Xukong replied.


    "Alright senior," Lin Mu said, and willed himself to leave the ring.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu appeared in the real world and felt a bit disoriented for a second before recovering.


    ¡¯Will take a few tries to get used to that...¡¯ he thought.


    He then focused his mind on the fifth skill Meld and triggered it while targeting the wall in front of him. Suddenly arge chunk of his spirit Qi got drained in an instant, which made him flinch.


    <i>~Rip~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Lin Mu held his head, which was spinning now, and tried to calm himself down before looking at the wall that he had targeted.


    "Huh? What is this?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    The part which he had particrity targeted was now popping out of the wall. It was as if a brick had been moved from arge wall and that¡¯s what it looked like to him, except it was arge part of the rock wall instead of a brick.


    The part of the wall was about two meters wide and was poking out of the wall halfway. Looking at its depth, Lin Mu could tell it was half a meter wide as well.

 Chapter 432 - Complex Skill

    <h4>Chapter 432 - Complex Skill </h4>


    Lin Mu walked closer to check what had exactly happened and spread his spirit sense.


    ¡¯It got cut off from the wall and pushed out?¡¯ Lin Mu thought observing the internal part of the wall.


    He held onto the rock and pulled it out.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    The rock fell to the floor and made a loud sound, spreading vibrations through the ground. Lin Mu looked at the edges and sides of the rock and found them to be smooth. In fact, the entire rock was a perfect rectangle that had been cut out of the wall.


    "I think I can exin what the skill did." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Oh, you do? Please exin to me senior," Lin Mu requested.


    "The fifth skill allows you to manipte the fabric of space, right? What it did here is it disced the fabric in the ce around the rock, which caused it to move out. But in reality, it did not move out, just that the ¡¯space¡¯ it was located in was shifted.


    This lead to it beingpletely being cut out from the wall when the skill deactivated." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit and understood it, even reaching a few conclusions of his own.


    "Wait senior, this means that as long as the skill is active, I can move parts of such objects around and then put them back without them breaking?" Lin Mu asked for rity.


    "Yes, it should be possible. As the object self isplete and connected, what you are doing is creating a ¡¯gap¡¯ between the particles of the objects. As long as the skill is active the gap is maintained while keeping the object connected.


    But when the skill deactivates, the gap returns to its original size, leaving behind the object as it could not be reconnected autocratically." Xukong answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered.


    He could think of many ideas and uses for the skill, but then his mind went back to the consumption of the skill.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Just as I expected..." Lin Mu muttered, seeing his Dantian.


    "What¡¯s the problem?" Xukong asked.


    "Take a look senior," Lin Mu replied, sharing his vision with Xukong.


    "Ah... of course if its consuming attribute less spirit Qi the consumption would be great." Xukong stated.


    A single activation of the fifth skill Meld had consumed about one thousand drops of Lin Mu¡¯s spirit Qi. Thankfully he had plenty of liquid spirit Qi in his Dantian for now thus it didn¡¯t affect him as much.


    But this alone had put the skill at the highest consumption skill in Lin Mu¡¯s list of skills. Lin Mu could think of a lot of prospects in which he could use this skill offensively, but he would have to consider this to be a trump card rather than a regr use skill.


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    Besides, Lin Mu knew that he had to gain better control over the skill if he wanted to use it in a battle. This skill was likely to hurt even himself if he made a mistake during its use. The great drain on his spirit Qi could also be a shackle for him in a prolonged battle.


    "The practice for it will be a bit strenuous and the consumption great. Had it not been for the Great Slumber bear¡¯s bloodline it would be quite difficult for me..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The bloodline ability ¡¯well of slumber¡¯ would activate even when Lin Mu was sleeping normally. The ¡¯long slumber¡¯ that Lin Mu had fallen into after assimting the bloodline was not likely to happen for a while and he would know when it would happen again. This way Lin Mu could increase his efficiency by making his sleep time his cultivation time.


    Another thing was that he had not checked the difference between the efficiency of the Severing heart sutra and the Bloodline¡¯s capacity to absorb spirit Qi. At first nce, the bloodline ability seemed to be much faster, but it also had the additional cost of requirement Vital energy to maintain its operation.


    Whereas the severing heart sutra could continually absorb spirit Qi without any additional cost. The Basic Qi pills could even be used to speed the process, and as long as he had an uninterrupted supply, the speed of absorption could be even faster than the bloodline.


    ¡¯Hmm, I need to find a bnce between both the methods...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    With that out of the way, Lin Mu¡¯s mind finally freed up for other things and he realized that he was forgetting something. His eyes wandered to an empty bowl that was lying on a t rock some distance away from him. The bowl was covered with dust and some water could also be seen within it.


    "Little Shrubby! I almost forgot about him!" Lin Mu eximed.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes as he focused on his connection with Little Shrubby. For the entire period that he was in the Sleepscape, he couldn¡¯t really sense the connection and thus had lost the attention of it.


    But now that he was awake, he had to consciously find the connection which was still within his mind, just that it had gotten a bit weaker over the time.


    "How did the connection get weaker?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Hmm... normally the connection between a master and a tamed beast gets broken when one of them dies. Seeing as you were in a dormant condition that was simr to that of death, there is a chance that the connection may have gotten weaker because of that." Xukong exined.


    Hearing the answer, Lin Mu became anxious and spread his spirit sense around. It pierced the rocks and went all around the caves, but there was no result. The caves were empty and there was no one there.


    Lin Mu tried to see if he could feel Little Shrubby¡¯s position from the connection, but he couldn¡¯t. All that could be felt from the connection currently was that Little Shrubby was alive and nothing more.


    He couldn¡¯t evenmunicate with it after trying a few times.

 Chapter 433 - Not So Little Shrubby?

    <h4>Chapter 433 - Not So Little Shrubby? </h4>


    Lin Mu went to the entrance of the cave and saw something that surprised him. The rock that he had ced before going to sleep, it had been moved. He had ced two rocks at the entrance, one big that covered half of it and one small that covered a quarter.


    The small one was the one that had been moved. It was not set against the side of the wall and Lin Mu could see moss covering it.


    "Hmm... it hasn¡¯t been moved in a long time." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He saw the faint drag marks on the floor and found them to be peculiar.


    "These marks... they can¡¯t be created in a single push. Someone moved this rock in the same manner multiple times for it to create marks like this." Lin Mu hypothesized.


    But then when he considered the moss growing on it, he didn¡¯t know when it had urred. Putting the thought at the back of his mind for now Lin Mu left the cave and looked outside for the first time.


    Everything seemed to be the same as before he slept, except some trees that seemed to have grown. There was also a rather unnerving silence in the area which was not how Lin Mu remembered the forest being.


    "Did something happen? A strong beast¡¯s presence, perhaps?" Lin Mu wondered.


    His spirit sense spread around but he still couldn¡¯t find anything of importance. The ground was still covered in a thin snow and Lin Mu could tell that it was summer time.


    ¡¯It should be the peak of summer, or the snow wouldn¡¯t be this thin.¡¯ Lin Mu thought and summoned the short sword before jumping on it and flying to the sky.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    He almost fell off the short sword due to the speed at which he flew. Lin Mu had not used it for a long time and now that his cultivation base had greatly increased his control over the short sword had gotten a bit worse.


    ¡¯Need to get used to it again. The power output is much higher than before...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu¡¯s sharp eyes wandered around the northern forest, and his presence peaked. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating spirit Qi in him.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "LITTLE SHRUBBY!" He shouted.


    His voice that had been amplified by the spirit Qi echoed throughout the forest and in the mountains at the back.


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    <i>~growl~</i>


    <i>~howl~</i>


    The beasts of the forest became shocked by his voice and the power contained within it, causing them to panic and run around. For a minute, only the sounds of the beasts escaping could be heard, but after that silence descended in the forest again.


    Seeing that there was no result, Lin Mu was about to give up and manuals search for Little Shrubby but then he heard the sounds of footstepsing from afar.


    <i>~rustle~rustle~rustle~</i>


    The trees moved around as if someone was moving on their branches. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t exactly tell what it was due to the thick leaves and the snow that fell from the trees, but he guessed that it was something big.


    <i>~grr~</i>


    A low growl could be hearding from a distance of two hundred meters away, which suddenly disappeared.


    "Huh? Where did it go?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He could swear that he felt some faint spirit Qi fluctuations from that area, but they had suddenly faded away without a trace. Lin Mu was about to go look when he felt something at his back papering abruptly.


    "Who!" He said and turned around, his spirit sense catching the appearance of the beast.


    The speed of the beast was very fast, even with Lin Mu being at the peak stage of the core devastation realm, he couldn¡¯t do much as the beast mmed into his chest.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Both Lin Mu and the beast fell from the sky to the ground with a muffled thud. Lin Mu had fallen in a pile of snow that had umted beneath a tree and thus didn¡¯t feel any pain. Beside his body was tough enough to tank hits like these with ease.


    <i>~nya~nya~nya~</i>


    Lin Mu found the beast rubbing its head on his chest while growling affectionately. He couldn¡¯t recognize the beast at first nce but soon felt the connection within him strengthen.


    "Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "MASTER!" It replied through the connection.


    "It really is you!" Lin Mu said with shock.


    "I was waiting for you but you never woke up..." The beast said.


    "I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t expect it would take so long," Lin Mu replied with a sad expression.


    The beast kept on rubbing its head over Lin Mu and he took a closer look at it.


    Little Shrubby was not small anymore and had grown ten times as big as before. Its brown fur had mostly darkened into a ck color, and red markings had appeared all over its body. The markings formed a straight line over its spine, extending from its head, all the way to the tail. Then over its back the spread into multiple branches extending all the way to its belly. The red markings and the ck fur interwove to form a ¡¯M¡¯ shaped pattern over its forehead.


    The eyes of Little Shrubby were still the same grayish yellow from before, but now tear lines had appeared along with its eyes that extended down to its nose. These tear lines looked rather sharp and gave it a fierce look.


    Sharp canines could be seen from the edges of its lips, the tips of which glinted against the sunlight.


    ¡¯It¡¯s less of a house cat and more of a big predatory now, like a tiger or a leopard...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu curiously checked its cultivation base and was shocked once again.


    "The mid stage of the core condensation realm?" Lin Mu muttered in shock.


    He was now wondering what exactly happened in these past two years and how did Little Shrubby grow so big.

 Chapter 434 - Little Shrubbys Bloodline?

    <h4>Chapter 434 - Little Shrubby''s Bloodline? </h4>


    Little Shrubby finally calmed down after a couple of minutes and Lin Mu was able to get up from the snow. He sat down and gazed at it for a bit before speaking.


    "What happened while I was sleeping?" Lin Mu asked.


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    "I ate, I cooked, I hunted, I ate, I slept, I fought, and I grew." Little Shrubby answered simply.


    ¡¯Why were there two ates?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered for a second beforeing to thest part where it said it grew.


    "How did you exactly grow?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "One day I felt a lot of power in me after finishing the beast cores and I fell asleep. When I woke up I was bigger." Little Shrubby answered.


    ¡¯Well, that was a straightforward and simple answer...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Do you have any idea what happed senior Xukong?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... check its core again. I think you¡¯ll find it yourself." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and probed the beast core of little shrubby. There he finally found the biggest change. Not only was its core big, but it also had patterns on it. Lin Mu knew right away that it was an awakened bloodline, but the strange thing was there was more than one pattern on it.


    "It has awakened a bloodline, but it is iplete and along with that it is also mutating." Xukong suddenly spoke after seeing it through the shared vision with Lin Mu.


    "It¡¯s mutating? Will that be bad senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not necessarily. Its core is rtively stable, and its body seems to be normal too. From what I can tell, it was gonna awaken one bloodline but due to the many beast cores it has eaten along with the aptitude increase due to the Dual circle ascension fruit, it has resulted in this." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit before asking again. "What¡¯s the main bloodline that it has awakened?"


    "From what I can tell, it seems to be that of the sh Fire Liger, but its physique is vastly different from that. While sh Fire Liger¡¯s are fast, they are not as fast as it either and are much bigger in size.


    Every beast can have multiple dormant bloodlines hidden in them and which one is awakened depends on their concentration and the influence of external factors such as resources and fortunate encounters.


    In little Shrubby¡¯s case, if it underwent a normal awakening after breaking through to the core condensation realm it would have be a sh Fire Liger. But now there are multiple bloodlines mixed with it.


    Usually, this would either cause the beast an injury or cause it to die instantly due to the ipatibility. But they seem to be rather stable for him. In fact, his body is actively trying to adapt to the bloodlines and is mutating itself further." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was lost in thought after thinking this all and was wondering more about the bloodlines. He had hunted a lot of beasts and thus had given little shrubby a lot of the beast cores to eat.


    If what senior Xukong said was urate, each of those cores could have tens of bloodlines, and anybination of them could be contributing to the mutation.


    "So what will be the final bloodline thates out on the top senior?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling a bit unsure.


    "I¡¯m thinking that it will not be any of the bloodlines that he has. Rather, the bloodlines would mutate together to form apletely new bloodline that has likely been never seen before." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu was intrigued by this and was now looking forward to the day when it happens. But for now, the changes in Little Shrubby seemed adequate to him. His strength had certainly grown by a lot.


    "Wait senior, currently it has the main bloodline as the sh Fire Liger, right? What does it do, what is its ability?" Lin Mu questioned.


    During the time Lin Mu had spent in the Sleepscape, he had gone through the beast records multiple times and he was sure that there was no mention of a sh fire liger in it. He reckoned that the beast was probably not native to this world or was lost in time.


    "The sh Fire Ligers have great speed and they can control Fire attribute spirit Qi. They can create mes from their ws and mouth that burn at high temperatures. The only disadvantage they have is that their firepower cannot be maintained for long.


    They are more of a single hit attack type beasts that kill their prey instantly. Their fast speed and quick attacks ensure that their prey is surely killed." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu looked at little shrubby and spoke.


    "You can use fire now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "YES! I can make fire whenever I want now. When I grew, I learned how to use fire." Little Shrubby said.


    It then flexed its ws and mes ignited on them. The mes were a bright white, and it seemed as if someone had ignited phosphorus. The mes must have onlysted for two seconds, but the snow in a two meter radius around them had directly evaporated.


    Lin Mu felt hot on his skin and realized that his clothes had been ignited as well.


    "Dammit!" Lin Mu cursed as he jumped into the snow, snuffing out the fire.


    Half of his clothes had been burned and the parts that remained intact were now ckened with soot covering them.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "They were new robes too... I should have expected something like this..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He looked back at Little Shrubby, who was gazing at him with a tilted head.


    <i>~chuckle~</i>


    Seeing the beast looking at him like that made Lin Mu chuckle, and he pushed the event of his clothes burning to the back of his mind.


    "Okay, so you need to tell me if you¡¯re going to use fire near me again." Lin Mu stated.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby spoke.

 Chapter 435 - Northern Tribe And Elemental Affinity

    <h4>Chapter 435 - Northern Tribe And Elemental Affinity </h4>


    Now that Little Shrubby¡¯s case was cleared with Lin Mu, all he had to do was wait and watch as his bloodline matured on its own.


    "How long do you think it would take senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... that is hard to answer. It can be anytime, to be honest. It can happen today itself or a hundred years from now. There are far too many possibilities that can affect it and the circumstance may change as well." Xukong answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu responded while nodding his head.


    Lin Mu now wondered what his next course of action should be. He had awakened and even increased his cultivation by a great extent. Not only that, but even Little Shrubby was much stronger than before.


    Lin Mu went over his goals and knew that killing Gu Yao was one that he needed to do definitely. But that also needed preparation as he couldn¡¯t just rush in blindly without any information.


    Even if Lin Mu was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm, he dared not underestimate the man. Back then Gu Yao was at the pseudo Dao shell realm, who knows what level he was at today.


    Lin Mu was still not clear about how much time had passed and asking Little Shrubby that was not a viable action. The beast had no proper sense of time either, as it had spent a while sleeping too while it was having a bloodline awakening.


    "Looks like you will have to ask a human." Xukong said.


    "Mmm, yeah." Lin Mu responded before looking at little shrubby. "Did you see any humans here while I was asleep?" Lin Mu asked.


    Little Shrubby nodded its head and said, "yes, a few humans appeared in the forest sometime after you fell asleep. I only saw them from far and didn¡¯t catch their attention. After that a few more humans came, but they didn¡¯t stay in the area for long."


    "Oh? Where did the second batch of humans go?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They went there," Little Shrubby pointed in the southern direction.


    "To the south? Wait! Where did theye from?" Lin Mu asked again, this time feeling that something was wrong.


    "They came from the opposite direction. I saw them flying over the mountain there." Little Shrubby answered.


    A serious expression appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face as he thought of the most dangerous possibility.


    "What kind of clothes were they wearing? Were they simr to what I¡¯m wearing or the ones from the town?" Lin Mu asked in detail, knowing that the beast may not have a clear idea of clothes.


    "Umm... they wore clothes that looked like the fur of other beasts. They were big clothes, and they looked small in it." Little Shrubby answered.


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    Lin Mu instantly realized who the humans were.


    "The Northern Tribes... only they would wear clothes like that ande from the northern mountains." Lin Mu said, "looks like Gu Yao made his move. Seeing as they are allies of his." Lin Mu added.


    "Seems like we need to get more intel on it," Xukong said.


    "Indeed, we need to go to a nearby settlement. But going to the northern town would be risky who knows if they will be looking for me." Lin Mu stated, knowing that Gu Yao would have likely controlled everyone by now.


    "Well, you shouldn¡¯t have much of a problem sneaking in with your skills. Besides, I doubt many people will even recognize you now." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu¡¯s gaze wandered into the water puddle in which he saw his reflection. He then realized that he looked vastly different from before and not only that, but his voice was different now too.


    "It would be good if that happens. Still... I better be cautious." Lin Mu said.


    "Speaking of cautious, I think it is time I finally give you the technique I was telling you about before," Xukong said.


    "Technique? You mean the technique for Five treasures realm?" Lin Mu asked with excitement.


    "Well... not exactly. While the technique can contribute to the progression of the Five Treasures realm too, it is not specifically made for it. It¡¯s more of a defensive technique you see." Xukong answered.


    "Oh? That seems interesting. What¡¯s the technique called?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The Technique is called as the Mortal Strengthening Scripture. This is a rathermon body cultivation technique that can be found across multiple worlds. Its advantage is that nearly anyone can use it, but the disadvantage is that the resources needed to practice it increases exponentially as you go through its stages." Xukong replied.


    "What does the technique exactly do?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "The technique is actually an earth attribute technique. Like the earthen Qi pills, it increases your defense. But unlike the earthen Qi pills which create a temporary armor, this technique will directly toughen your skin instead. Theoretically, it has five stages, but the highest anyone has reached is the fourth stage. The resources needed for the fifth stage are so many that people would rather buy a better technique instead, rather than practice it further." Xukong exined.


    "But senior if it¡¯s an earth attribute technique, won¡¯t I need to use earth attribute spirit Qi? We don¡¯t know if I havepatibility with it." Lin Mu said with apprehension.


    "Actually, your natural affinity has always been with the earth element," Xukong stated.


    "What? Why did you never tell me?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I was unsure of it too. Because of the ring, your physique has changed beyond what should have normally been possible. I didn¡¯t know if it was influencing your affinity with the elements and if we tried to check it then, the results would have likely been inconsistent.


    But when you used those Earthen Qi pills, it was confirmed that you had a proper affinity with the earth element. If it were not so, the armor would not have been able to bear the attack of Gu Yao so well back then.


    Thus for now you have the affinity with two elements; the spatial element bestowed upon you by the ring and your natural affinity with earth." Xukong exined.

 Chapter 436 - Mortal Strengthening Scripture

    <h4>Chapter 436 - Mortal Strengthening Scripture </h4>


    Lin Mu was now excited to learn the new technique and also wanted to see its effects. But there were also some questions that he had.


    "Senior, if it requires a lot of resources will I be able to cultivate it right now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The first two stages shouldn¡¯t be much of a problem, as all you need is spirit Qi for them. The ones after that need earth attribute herbs to progress it. The good thing about the technique is that it has no specific requirement for the herbs and any would work.


    No matter how low quality they are they can still be used, the only problem would be that they would need an even greater quantity topensate for the quality." Xukong answered.


    "Ah, I understand senior." Lin Mu responded.


    "Now then, I¡¯ll transfer the technique to your mind," Xukong said.


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    Lin Mu nodded his head and felt a slight prick in his mind. Itsted for a couple of seconds before new knowledge appeared in his memories.


    "So this is the Mortal Strengthening scripture..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The overall method of practicing the technique was rather simple. The technique would convert his spirit Qi into earth element spirit Qi and then use that to strengthen his skin. There were five stages to this skill, and each level increased the defensive ability exponentially.


    ording to the instructions, the first two stages only needed spirit Qi to progress while the others would need herbs. But the exact requirement for them was not set and depending on the person¡¯s affinity to the earth element it would be more or less.


    For Lin Mu who had an innate affinity to the earth element, it wasn¡¯t going to be much. He followed the method and circted his spirit Qi. The spirit Qi reached a different meridian, which he had not used before.


    This meridian went to his Spleen, which was one of the five treasured organs. It was also the organ that represented the earth element. Lin Mu had already learned of the theories behind the different meridians and organs back in the Sleepscape.


    This was something he wascking inpared to the disciples of a cultivation sect, as they were taught this as preliminarily knowledge. But now Lin Mu knew it too, and had thoroughly memorized it.


    Being in the Sleepscape had been really useful for him, as it had allowed him to narrow the gap he hadpared to the sect disciple. And now it could be said that Lin Mu had far exceeded most of them. He was already at the peak stage of the core condensation realm and was close to the Nascent Soul stage as well.


    As soon as he gets limated to his new cultivation base, it wouldn¡¯t take him long to reach the pseudo nascent soul realm. Most of the disciples who reached this point were already considered as the core disciples of a sect. And if it were a weaker sect, they would already be elders.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit Qi flowed to his spleen and slowly started being converted into earth attribute spirit Qi. The conversion was not a hundred percent efficient and there was a loss of spirit Qi too. Though overall, he was able to convert around sixty percent of his spirit Qi into earth attribute spirit Qi.


    Lin Mu knew that this was only because of hisck of practice and once he gets more proficient in it the ratio would only increase and he wouldn¡¯t have to waste any of the spirit Qi.


    After the earth element spirit Qi was refined, it flowed back to his Dantian. In his Dantian it formed a separate pool that was brown colored. This pool was much smaller than the ocean of spirit Qi of course but was slowly growing, the more Lin Mu refined the spirit Qi.


    About an hour passed like this, and Lin Mu had refined about a thousand drops of liquid spirit Qi. The pool of earth attribute spirit Qi had now be ake and contrasted with the transparent ocean of the attributeless spirit Qi.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and let out a breath.


    "This should be enough for now. On to the next step now..." Lin Mu muttered before closing his eyes again.


    The earth attribute spirit Qi flowed out from his Dantian and reached his arms first. There it seeped out of his skin and started covering it in a thinyer. Little by little, it spread from his arms to his shoulders and then onto his back, from there it finally reached his legs.


    Now his entire body leaving his head was covered in a thin brownyer that looked like mud. Lin Mu continued pouring more earth attribute spirit Qi into it, and theyer started to get thicker. When theyer reached a thickness of one centimeter, a wave of spirit Qi was released from his body and his skin glowed for a few seconds before calming down.


    The brownyer that was covering his skin disappeared, and Lin Mu opened his eyes. He looked at his arms and wondered if it was sessful. ording to the technique, he should havepleted the first stage now.


    "You should test it out," Xukong suggested.


    "Yes senior, I¡¯ll try." Lin Mu said before looking for Little Shrubby.


    Little shrubby had be bored while Lin Mu was practicing and had gotten a beast to eat till then. It had already set up a small camp fire and was grilling the meat on it. He was even using his own ws as skewers, unafraid of the fire.


    "When did he get this?" Lin Mu wondered and called out. "Little Shrubby,e help me."


    The beast looked at Lin Mu and stuffed the meat he was grilling on its ws into its mouth, before going towards Lin Mu.


    "What do you need help with Master?" He asked.


    "I need to test out a new technique, so I want you to attack me."

 Chapter 437 - Test And Hunt

    <h4>Chapter 437 - Test And Hunt </h4>


    Little Shrubby was reluctant to say the least, but after a little bit of exining, it finally agreed to Lin Mu¡¯s request.


    "I¡¯m gonna attack now, master." Little shrubby said.


    Lin Mu extended his hand and Little Shrubby wed at it.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    A brown glow appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s arm and the thin mud likeyer appeared on his skin, blocking the attack. After blocking it, theyer faded away and Lin Mu¡¯s arm returned to normal.


    "Again, this time with more strength." Lin Mu ordered.


    "Alright," Little Shrubby respondent before attacking him with more power.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    The brown light appeared again, but this time it seemed to be a bit dull.


    ¡¯Hmm... looks like the first stage can only handle an attack up to this strength.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


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    "Do it once more." Lin Mu spoke.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    This time, as soon as Little Shrubby¡¯s ws hit his skin, the brownyer cracked and disappeared. This showed Lin Mu that two attacks were the current limit for the first stage and if he wanted it tost more, he would need to progress the technique further.


    Lin Mu looked at his arm and felt the drain on the earthen spirit Qi he had refined in his Dantian. It was being consumed to repair the defensiveyer on his arm. It took a minute before theyer returned to its previous state.


    "Hmm... at least the repair doesn¡¯t take much of the earth attribute spirit Qi." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He checked his Dantian and saw that he had about six hundred drops of earth attribute spirit Qi left. It had taken him four hundred drops to reach the first stage and now needed to see how much would be needed for the second stage.


    ¡¯I think I¡¯ll need to refine more of the spirit Qi...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He followed the method for the second stage of the mortal strengthening scripture and poured the earth attribute spirit Qi into it. Theyer on his skin became slightly thicker, and now it didn¡¯t look like mud. Instead, it was starting to look like stone instead.


    But before it could bepleted, his earth attribute spirit Qi ran out.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I¡¯ll justplete itter," Lin Mu muttered to himself as he felt a little hungry.


    He looked at little Shrubby who was back to cooking and smiled.


    "Show me how much you¡¯ve improved in the time I was asleep." Lin Mu said.


    "Yes, master!" Little Shrubby said happily, but then looked at the meat it had with a little lost expression.


    "We will need more meat," Little shrubby said.


    "Oh, yeah... we definitely will..." Lin Mu agreed and spread his spirit sense around.


    There were a few smaller spirit beasts in the range, but nothing that would be worth his time.


    "What are you doing, master? The beasts are there," Little Shrubby said.


    "Oh wait, you can just smell them out!" Lin Mu realized.


    "Yes I can, let¡¯s go get some." Little Shrubby nodded its head and ran in the direction it had pointed towards.


    Lin Mu brought out his short sword and flew on it, following behind little shrubby. It didn¡¯t even take a minute before little shrubby dug its ws into the neck of ate stage Qi refining realm beast. It then threw it towards Lin Mu, who quickly stored it before continuing onwards.


    A minuteter little shrubby found another beast that was at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm. Lin Mu also learned another thing during all this, nearly every beast was scared of little Shrubby.


    It was especially proved when they came across a mid stage core condensation realm beast that looked like a wolf that had the horns on its head. There were four of them, one pair that came from behind its ears and went up and the second pair that went downwards below its chin.


    "A horn helmed Wolf!" Lin Mu muttered, recognizing the beast.


    The four horns formed a sort of a helmet around its head, hence the name. Usually, a beast like this would not have backed down without a fight, but as soon as it saw little shrubby it started running.


    Lin Mu could hear the scared growls of the beast, but couldn¡¯t exactly tell what it was saying. Still, Lin Mu could understand the words of Little Shrubby and guessed the condition of the wolf from it.


    "Where are you running? Come here, my master is hungry!" Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Uhh... I don¡¯t think it will stop just because you say that..." Lin Mu muttered to himself, feeling a bit awkward.


    He could tell that if little Shrubby wanted to catch the beast, it would be easy with his speed. Right now it was merely ying with the beast.


    "Why don¡¯t you catch it now?" Lin Mu asked little shrubby.


    "If I let them run for a bit like this, their meat tastes betterter when I cook it." Little Shrubby said.


    "Umm... okay..." Lin Mu replied.


    "Looks like it has been focusing on cooking too, Ahahaha." Xukongughed.


    Lin Mu watched as Little shrubby chased the wolf for about five more minutes before moving with a burst of speed.


    A bright light shed as its ws shined and heat exuded from them. The ws came close to the wolf¡¯s neck and started burning its flesh before they were even touched. The wolf let out a pain filled cry but was soon silenced as its neck was lopped off.


    ~thud~


    ~sizzle~


    The head of the wolf rolled on the ground and no blood could be seening off from it or the body. The flesh had been burned by the ws of little shrubby and the cut had been cauterized which prevented the blood from spilling out.


    The snow around the area evaporated too, and the fur of the wolf was singed from the heat as well. Lin Mu looked at the damage and thought that it was good he stayed behind or he would have lost another pair of robes.


    "Well... lunch time."

 Chapter 438 - Second Stage Of The Mortal Strengthening Scripture

    <h4>Chapter 438 - Second Stage Of The Mortal Strengthening Scripture </h4>


    Lin Mu was currently sprawled on the ground in the soft snow, while rubbing his bulging belly. He had eaten for the first time in a quite a long while because of which the food only tasted that much delicious.


    He had also gotten to taste Little Shrubby¡¯s cooking which was eptable to say the least. Without any spices or condiments, the beast had done well. Lin Mu had eaten a little from what Little Shrubby had cooked and the rest he had made himself.


    He still had plenty of spices and condiments left in his ring and they would probablyst him for a month or two if he kept the same rate of consumption. Little Shrubby was also lying on the side in the snow but the snow kept on melting under its body heat. Eventually, he just broke a few pine branches andid on them.


    Lin Muid like this for a while and thought of his ns. The first step was to get the Mortal Strengthening Scripture to the second stage and then to go and gather information from the nearby settlements.


    Another thing that Lin Mu was a bit surprised about was that not a single beast dared toe near the area that they were in. Except for a few small animals, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t see any other beasts.


    "That is because of Little Shrubby. With his strength, he is already a dominant beast that others will not challenge. Even a peak stage core condensation realm beast is not likely toe out on top due to Little Shrubby¡¯s speed and abilities." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and wondered how much fast Little Shrubby had gotten. He knew that while hunting the Horn Helmed Wolf, it had not used its full speed and it could go even beyond that.


    Even when little shrubby was at thete stage of the Qi refining realm it was already faster than most Core condensation realm beasts. But now it has only increased by a lot more and Lin Mu was looking forward to seeing it.


    ¡¯Wait a minute... can I do that?¡¯ Lin Mu suddenly had an idea that appeared in his mind that excited him a bit.


    He temporarily put this idea at the back of his mind and sat down to cultivate. He needed to refine more spirit Qi and then further refine it into earth attribute spirit Qi. He took out the box of basic Qi pills and popped in five of them in his mouth all at once.


    With his current cultivation, five pills were easy for him to handle and in less than ten minutes he had already assimted the spirit Qi wisps and was now converting them into liquid form.


    His speed had certainly increased by quite a lot and his core would passively convert the wisps into drops as well. While the speed could not bepared to when Well of Slumber was active, it was still three times as fast as before.


    Lin Mu watched as the spirit Qi umted into his Dantian again. He spent the rest of the day doing this and by night he had enough earth attribute spirit Qi for him to use for the mortal strengthening scripture.


    "Master, I brought food!" Little Shrubby announced.


    While Lin Mu was busy in cultivation, little shrubby had taken the responsibility of procuring food. A pile of beast corpses could be seen kept near a side and a bloody scent that was mixed with burning was wafting from it. Lin Mu could see the scorch marks on the corpses, evidently the work of Little Shrubby¡¯s ws.


    "Thank you," Lin Mu said with a smile and quickly cooked some food for him and little Shrubby to eat.


    The beast was also enjoying the added vor of the spices and watched closely when Lin Mu applied it to the meat. Lin Mu would have given it some spices to use as well, but they would have to figure out a method for him to use them.


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    "Wait, senior! Can beasts use spirit tools as well?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Xukong who had been busy in his cultivation, woke up due to the question and replied, "yes they can, of course. It is just that not all spirit tools arepatible with them and they would need some special ones made."


    "Hmm... I guess we can get something made that will help little shrubby in cooking." Lin Mu muttered.


    Xukong looked on in awkwardness as he imagined arge cat cooking while using an expensive spirit tool that was the form of a spat. ¡¯Hmm... that would be a first. I don¡¯t think anyone has gotten a spirit tool made for a beast, that too for cooking.¡¯


    Xukong left Lin Mu in his thoughts and returned back to his own cultivation. It had spent most of the time teaching while in the Sleepscape and thus hadn¡¯t had enough time to cultivate himself.


    He had already restored his cultivation back to the state it was in before dealing with Gu Yao and had even exceeded it a little bit. Currently, he just hoped to reach a stage where he would be ready for anything that was thrown at them.


    "That strange feeling I¡¯ve been having... is it a premonition perhaps..." Xukong muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu meanwhile was now practicing the Mortal Strengthening scripture. He had already covered a certain part of the second stage and only needed to finish it now. He started pouring the earth attribute spirit Qi he had refined before and its amount in the Dantian started reducing.


    The brownyer appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s skin again and stone like patterns started appearing on it. They kept on getting more and more clear until a glowing light was emitted by it. This signified that the second stage was nowplete, and it had taken about half of the entire store of earth element spirit Qi Lin Mu had refined.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Let¡¯s test it again..."

 Chapter 439 - Affinity With Space

    <h4>Chapter 439 - Affinity With Space </h4>


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu slid back on the ground as he bore the impact from Little Shrubby¡¯s attack.


    He had asked little Shrubby to attack him again to test the defensive ability of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture to see its effects, but not a single difference could be seen on the brownyer, which had stone like patterns on it.


    This was already the third attack of Little Shrubby and Lin Mu could now consider it to decent for defending against most attacks below the Nascent Soul realm. Thisbined with Lin Mu¡¯s own body¡¯s toughness, should protect him from quite a bit of harm.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "This is pretty good. I¡¯m looking forward to the next stage of the technique now. But I¡¯ll need resources for that." Lin Mu said.


    ¡¯Hmm... resources... can those pills work, maybe?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "Senior can I use the earthen Qi pills for furthering the Mortal Strengthening scripture. You said that it has no minimum requirement right? So this can work too?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... they should work. You may as well try it out, the pills won¡¯t be worth much to you now anyway with the mortal strengthening scriptures defenses." Xukong replied.


    "Alright, I¡¯ll try it." Lin Mu said, before withdrawing the bottle that contained the earthen Qi pills.


    He ate one of them and practiced the method for the third stage of the Mortal Strengthening scripture. The medicinal properties of the pill spread in his body but instead of forming an armor, they started being absorbed into the brownyer instead.


    In less than ten seconds, it waspletely absorbed and Lin Mu could not see any difference.


    "Need more, I guess..." He muttered and ate another earthen Qi pill.


    There was still no effect and only when he ate a total of six pills did he see some change on the brownyer. The stone like pattern on it had be a little fainter and instead a set of lines were now appearing on it.


    Lin Mu felt like he needed to supply it earth attribute spirit Qi and thus he did. He poured all the remaining earth attribute spirit Qi he had before the lines on his skin became more apparent.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Seems like I will need much more than just this... but this change is still good." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed. The Mortal Strengthening scripture takes an average person who has no affinity with the earth element about a year to reach the same level as you are right now. While you only took a day, this is extremely good." Xukong praised.


    "Really senior? It¡¯s that much of a difference?" Lin Mu asked feeling shocked.


    "Yes... the difference in elemental affinity can be a great game changer. That is why sects do affinity exams for their more talented disciples before they start to cultivate. This way the most appropriate cultivation technique can be chosen for them.


    In your case, we didn¡¯t have the right tools to check you and I could not use the power of my main body either or it would have been easy. Thankfully, the earthen Qi pill helped a lot and showed your affinity with the earth element." Xukong spoke.


    "I have two affinities right, senior? Space and earth?" Lin Mu asked for rity.


    "Yes. Though there is a slight difference between them. Your affinity with earth is something you were innately born with, while your affinity with the spatial element is something that has been bestowed upon you by the ring.


    Another part is that your affinity with the spatial element is still growing and currently it cannot be said to be at an eptable level." Xukong replied.


    "It¡¯s not at an eptable level?" Lin Mu said with confusion.


    "Indeed. Cultivators who have an innate affinity for the spatial element would also have spatial sensing abilities. If I were to give an example, I guess we can just consider the ring itself.


    If it was a cultivator with a proper spatial affinity that obtained the ring instead of you, I reckon he would have already been able to manipte space just on his own without depending on the skills provided by ring." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm... I understand." Lin Mu nodded his head but did not feel bad, as it was the truth.


    "Though I think the reason why the ring gives you the skills at certain points may be rted to this," Xukong added.


    "Why is that so senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm... it is like the ring is giving you skills that are usable at that specific cultivation base. It gave you skills that only manipte one specific aspect of space at once. This allows you to gain a better understanding as you can observe it better.


    This... may be the way the ring is teaching you and increasing your proficiency of the spatial element. I think thetter goal would be so that you are able to manipte space on your own without depending on the ring.


    Of course, this is just my hypothesis." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was lost in thought after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words and found them to be quite logical.


    Lin Mu then remembered one of the abilities of the ring, which was not actually a skill.


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    "Wait, senior does this rte to how I can open the spatial rifts? I mean it is not actually a proper skill that was given to me by the ring. It¡¯s just something that I automatically knew." Lin Mu said feeling unsure.


    "Yes, that is indeed a good example. If you can do that, you should be able to do a lot more things once your proficiency with the spatial maniption increases. The fifth skill ¡¯Meld¡¯ should help you in this aspect as it seems to have a lot of applications that I can think of." Xukong answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu spoke after hearing Xukong¡¯s words.


    After a while, heid down on the ground and slept, appearing in the Sleepscape while the Well of slumber activated automatically and spirit Qi started stirring in his body.

 Chapter 440 - A Speedy Ride

    <h4>Chapter 440 - A Speedy Ride </h4>


    Morning came and Lin Mu woke up with the prodding of Little Shrubby. The sky was rather gloomy today and thick clouds could be seen. Lin Mu stood up and stretched a bit before being pulled by little Shrubby to cook.


    Little Shrubby had already gone out beforehand and hunted some beasts for them to eat.


    "Well... this will save us some time." Lin Mu said before beginning to cook the meat.


    Soon they finished the breakfast and Lin Mu got prepared to leave. Today would be the first time he would be returning to civilization in a long time. He had spent a lot of time in istion and even with senior Xukong being there; he now desired to see some other humans.


    Though he knew he would ha be to be a lot more cautious, as there was no saying what was going to happen out there.


    Lin Mu was now sitting on the back of Little Shrubby and tightly holding onto his fur.


    "You ready, master?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yup, let¡¯s go." Lin Mu answered.


    This was the idea that Lin Mu had gotten yesterday. He had seen now little shrubby was faster than the spirit sword and how it could carry heavy beast corpses in his mouth and run at the same pace with no problem.


    This led Lin Mu to believe that he may be able to ride Little Shrubby and travel that way. He thus asked him about this a few minutes ago, and the beast agreed right away.


    "Start a bit slower and speed up as I tell you." Lin Mu added.


    He knew that if Little Shrubby started sprinting from the very start, he would be sent back flying due to the momentum. He needed to hold on tight so as to be safe. Lin Mu watched on as the trees around him became a blur and wind assaulted his face.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    His hair fluttered in the wind as Little Shrubby ran through the forest. It jumped from tree to tree, traveling in a straight line. Lin Mu leaned a bit forward so as to reduce the wind resistance and squinted his eyes to see ahead.


    The iing wind had made it hard for him to see, but soon he got suede to it.


    "WOOHOO! This is amazing!" Lin Mu cried out in joy.


    A few minutes had passed and by now Lin Mu had gotten habituated to the current speed of little shrubby.


    "You can go faster now," Lin Mu said.


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    "Okay," Little Shrubby replied before speeding up.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    The wind tore as little Shrubby leaped over the trees, its red fur shining under the rays of sunlight that escaped from the gaps of clouds. Beasts were scared as they felt him approach and made way for it.


    While running like this little Shrubby¡¯s aura was in full disy and waves of spirit Qi were emanating from his body as well. It was evident that it was now using spirit Qi to amplify its strength further. Even his spirit sense was extended out to catch the iing obstacles before it could see them.


    ¡¯His spirit sense is actually the same range as mine.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "You should refine your spirit sense further, I think you should be able to increase it by multiple folds by now." Xukong reminded.


    "Ah yes, senior." Lin Mu responded.


    He couldn¡¯t refine his spirit sense when he was in the Sleepscape and thus it had stayed the same length as it was before. Lin Mu knew it would be much easier than before to refine his spirit sense further due to the progress in his cultivation base.


    Currently, Lin Mu was heading in the eastern direction and was not going to the Northern town directly. He didn¡¯t know what the situation would be like there and it also had a higher chance of having cultivators there.


    Thus, the choice he had made right now was to head to the viges in the eastern part of the region. They were much smaller and mostly farmed for grains. Lin Mu knew there would be less security here, rtively speaking and the best choice for him right now.


    If Lin Mu were traveling normally, even with his increased cultivation base, it would have taken him about three days to reach the vige. But now, with Little Shrubby, the entire journey of hundreds of kilometers was reduced to a single day.


    By the time night fell, Lin Mu could already see the farms on the horizon.


    "You can stop here." Lin Mu said,


    "Okay," Little Shrubby replied before slowing down and eventuallying to a halt.


    Little Shrubby had learned to slow down and not abruptly stop when he was carrying Lin Mu, as when they had done this before in the afternoon, Lin Mu had beenunched ahead into a tree.


    He definitely did not want a repeat of that and thankfully Little Shrubby was able to stop properly. Lin Mu got down from his back and jumped on his short sword to fly up, so that he could get a clear look at the vige.


    It was night time, so the area was mostly dark and barely anynterns could be seen. Because the grains had been nted, there was always a danger of the crops being burned due to an ident. Because of this, they would avoid keepingnterns or any fire sources out near the farms.


    At the center of the vige where the houses were more densely packed, Lin Mu could see more light.


    "I should start from there." Lin Mu muttered to himself and got down.


    "You stay here for a bit, I¡¯ll call you if I need you." Lin Mu said.


    "Alright." Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu was just about to leave, but then a thought made him stop.


    He looked back at little Shrubby and spoke, "oh and no cooking. I don¡¯t want to give out our location to them."


    "Okay..." Little Shrubby replied with a slightly disappointed face.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and went to the vige; with each step, he sank into the ground and then disappeared.

 Chapter 441 - Wanted?

    <h4>Chapter 441 - Wanted? </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense was spread around in the area as he checked the houses for the vigers. Most of them were sleeping by now while some were still awake and doing misceneous tasks.


    Overall, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t find anything strange here, just an average vige. He looked around the vige and came upon the notice board that was located at the center of the vige.


    This was where the notices, decrees, and such kind of information was posted. Most of the people in viges were taught to read at the very least and thus it wasn¡¯t much of a problem for them to see it.


    It was here that Lin Mu saw something that confirmed his conjecture.


    "So they have still been looking for me huh..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    On the notice board, an old and faded poster could be seen. The poster had the portrait of Lin Mu drawn on it and his name was also written below it.


    The poster read: ¡¯Lin Mu, wanted dead or alive. Anyone that has information on his location will be heavily rewarded.


    -by the order of his majesty, King Shuang¡¯


    There was also a date of issue on the poster and it was about a week from the day he fought with Gu Yao. But this still didn¡¯t tell him how long it exactly had been. But from the state of the poster, he guessed that it should have easily been more than two years.


    "The poster is here, but we don¡¯t know if they are actively searching for you. Unless you encounter someone who has seen you before, I doubt they will recognize you. Look at the portrait, that is not you anymore." Xukong spoke.


    "Hmm... indeed senior. I will wait till the morning before speaking with the vigers. Approaching like this at night will be suspicious." Lin Mu said.


    "That would be wise." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu nodded and went back to little Shrubby. The beast was lying at the side of arge tree cultivating. Lin Mu could feel the faint waves of spirit Qiing from his body and knew that the beast was only getting more stronger.


    Little Shrubby woke up and saw Lin Mu approach.


    "Shall we eat?" He asked.


    "Yes, let¡¯s go a bit further though." Lin Mu replied.


    The night passed and morning came, Lin Mu could even hear the cry of a rooster from afar.


    He wondered what persona would be the best to present to the vigers. He deliberated on a cultivator at first but then decided to go as amoner. He knew that the appearance of cultivators would be recorded and he would likely be investigated even if he was not suspected.


    Lin Mu thus changed into some in looking robes and stored his short sword into the ring. Instead of that, he withdrew a staff from it. This was just amon bamboo staff and there was nothing special about it, it would suit well to his narrative as a traversal.


    He then took out arge cloth and put some random things in it to make it seem like he was amon traveler going on his journey.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "This should be decent enough..." Lin Mu muttered to himself before going to the vige.


    This time he had to walk there, so as to not arise suspicion and it took him five minutes to reach there. He could see some peasants working in the fields and some guards that patrolled along the paths.


    The peasants quickly spotted him and spoke up.


    "Who is that?" one of them asked.


    "Seems like a traveler, I¡¯ve never seen him in our vige before." Another one answered.


    The guards had heard the smallmotion by now and went to intercept Lin Mu.


    "Who are you?" The guards asked without showing much hostility.


    "Greetings, I¡¯m Little Ma." Lin Mu replied, making up a randommon name.


    "What are you here?" The guard questioned further.


    "Aah, I¡¯m just looking for a job in the city and am on the way there. I¡¯ve been traveling for a few hours and wanted to rest and eat for a bit." Lin Mu answered with a genial smile.


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    The guard was not a cultivator and was only at the fifth stage of the Body tempering realm. Lin Mu didn¡¯t even have to actively sense him to be able to tell this, but he still spread his spirit sense around and observed the people here to see if there was anyone hiding their strength.


    He had only done this as a precaution but didn¡¯t expect that one of the peasants here was at the eighth stage of the body tempering realm. Lin Mu casually nced at the old man, who looked to be in his sixties. He was hale and hearty looking, and even his muscles could be seen faintly beneath his clothes that were patched in many ces.


    "I see. Well if it¡¯s food you want, there is a small restaurant if you go straight from here. On another thought, if you¡¯re going to the city, how did youe here?" The guard replied.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a bit confused.


    "You came from the southern route, right?" The guard said, seeing the path Lin Mu had taken. "There is a blockade set up by the army at the start of the southern route. How did you pass?" The guard questioned.


    Now Lin Mu was caught off guard, as he had not expected something like this to have happened.


    "What are you even asking Old Bu, there is still the small path through the forest. Second Nie¡¯s cousin arrive through that pathst week, did you forget?" A farmer who was working at the side spoke.


    Lin Mu secretly took a breath of relief and thanked the simple attitudes of the vigers in his mind.


    "Yes, yes! I came from that path." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright then." The guard spoke and let Lin Mu passed.


    "If you¡¯re going to the restaurant, make sure you try the buckwheat noodles, they are the best." The farmer suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and continued onward.

 Chapter 442 - Gathering Intel

    <h4>Chapter 442 - Gathering Intel </h4>


    Lin Mu walked into an old restaurant that had a faded name board. There were a few vigers sitting around on the tables while chatting amongst themselves.


    "What would you like?" A tanned middle aged woman walked asked Lin Mu.


    "Ah, I¡¯d like some breakfast. Whatever you have." Lin Mu replied.


    "I¡¯ll send some right over, you can take a seat with the others. We don¡¯t have private seats left now." The woman replied.


    "Sure, that won¡¯t be a problem." Lin Mu said before sitting at a table that already had six people sitting on it.


    It was evident that due to being the only restaurant, it was popr and the people who were too busy to cook woulde here to have their meal. Things like these weremon in viges where a majority of the poption consisted of farmers.


    They would need to work on the farm most of the time thus often wouldn¡¯t have time to cook. Those that had families wouldn¡¯t have to do the same as their wives would cook for them.


    Lin Mu nced at the appearance of the six men and found them to be rtivelymon looking.


    "What¡¯s the current news around the region, brothers?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The men stopped talking and looked at the neer.


    "It¡¯s the same mostly, but after the incident two years ago things have be a bit vtile. The northern tribes have be active again and the perpetrator of the incident is still atrge." One of the men spoke with a sigh.


    "Oh? I see. I saw the poster at the square whileing here, is he the perpetrator?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. That is the person who has made the lives of usmoners difficult. We now need to pay higher taxes as the army has been deployed."


    "Aren¡¯t the cultivation sects doing anything? I mean, isn¡¯t it their duty as well to stop the Northern Tribes?" Lin Mu replied.


    "We don¡¯t know much about that we are mere peasants. We can¡¯t deal with the matters of the immortals, perhaps only in the city you will find more information about them."


    "I understand." Lin Mu said before his food arrived.


    While eating his food, Lin Mu made some casual conversation and learned more things about what had happened. He also learned the exact time that had passed since he was sleeping.


    It had been two years and three months since he fell asleep. During that time, a lot of changes had urred in the kingdom and even in the rest of the empire. The Army had even started recruiting more and more men now.


    They were not only recruiting for the position of soldiers but also for jobs such as cleaning, cooking and maintenance of equipment. Only the viges that majors did farming were spared, as food was an essential that no army could do without.


    Even the rich were not spared, as their children were being called to work as well. The kingdoms had seen the horrors of the past war with the northern tribes and thus did not want to be careless. They were doing their 120% to ensure that everything would be fine when it eventuallyes. For them, they would do over preparation rather than leave the response of the enemies to chance.


    Lin Mu also verified the fact that no one could recognize his appearance now that he was looking older. He couldn¡¯t find out what was going on in Wu Lim city though, as all they said was that the entry there was restricted.


    ¡¯Looks like I¡¯ll have to see it myself,¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He finished his meal and then left the vige. Calling Little Shrubby, he got on his back and continued his travel to the city. The next stop for him will be the eastern town, but he didn¡¯t want to stop there choosing to go straight to the city.


    Since he was with little Shrubby he couldn¡¯t travel on the main road and went through the forested area. But he would only be able to travel up to a certain point before needing to stop.


    After reaching the part near the Eastern town, the rest of the way was open ins and if he traveled with little shrubby, he would be easily spotted.


    "Wait here, I¡¯ll be back in two days at the veryte." Lin Mu instructed.


    "I can¡¯te?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "No, you are too big now." Lin Mu replied.


    "But I can fight!" Little Shrubby said with excitement.


    "I know you can, but I am not going to fight there... at least not now. So wait here and stay out of sight. You can cook to pass time if you want to." Lin Mu exined.


    "Okay, I¡¯ll wait." Little shrubby agreed.


    Lin Mu flew away on the short sword and reached the Wu Lim City after an hour. He would have been able to reach it even earlier had it not been for the multiple outposts that had been set up in multiple perimeters.


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    It would have been fine if it was just normal soldiers, but there were cultivators mixed in there too. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t tell which sect they belonged to though, as all of them were wearing the same kind of uniform.


    He avoided them by taking longer routes or where he couldn¡¯t do this, he used Fade to travel for short distances. But when he had reached the border of the city, Lin Mu found himself to have triggered a formation array.


    "What is this, senior?" Lin Mu asked, feeling anxious.


    "It¡¯s a tracking and marking formation array. It is used to tell how many people are currently going in and out of the city and who is around it as well." Xukong answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This just gets more and moreplicated..." Lin Mu muttered.


    It was evident that the formation was recently set up while he was gone. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if it was done under the directions of Gu Yao or the kingdom, but whatever it was, it had only caused trouble for him.


    Lin Mu came to an isted corner of the city wall and phased through it to enter the city. He knew he was already discovered the moment he stepped into the formation array¡¯s range, but he was betting on the fact that they will not be tracking each and every person closely.


    Besides, even if he was found out, he was simply going to escape after that.


    Entering the city, Lin Mu could see the increased security everywhere. There were even checks at the entrances of the different districts. Lin Mu simply crossed them by either phasing through the ground or blinking past the guards.


    His destination was the Ancestral temple which was the main site of the incident. But upon reaching there, Lin Mu found the area to be cordoned off and there was even a strong barrier formation surrounding it.


    Lin Mu spotted some Tri cauldron peony sect disciples guarding the area. Lin Mu knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to cross the barrier without causing a lot ofmotion thus, avoided it for now.


    He changed his aim and went to the Mayor¡¯s Manor instead. He also wanted to check up on Wu Hei but reckoned going to the manor would be better for now. Lin Mu knew it was likely that Wu Hei had been controlled too as there was no way Gu Yao would leave his nephew alone.


    Appearing at the manor, Lin Mu discovered it to be empty. There were only some servants and guards left there.


    Lin Mu spent some time gathering more information and learned that they all had moved from the city.


    The Mayor was now in the capital and was given a high position due to his contribution of preventing the Red tide incident from spreading further.


    The Red tide is what they were calling the Human controlling blood curse now. But they had been misled and made to believe the red tide was made for just killing, as themoners that were affected by it had been killed. The mayor imed that he and his family managed to suppress the red tide caused by Lin Mu.


    The im gained support from the Tri Cauldron peony sect and a few other minor sects as well. The shocking thing was these sects were none other than the ones that had participated in the tournament.


    "Seems like they managed to get the sects over to their side as well. But to what extent are they being controlled, that is the question." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "From what I¡¯ve seen and analyzed. I doubt Gu Yao can control so many people like this multiple times. He is probably going to only control the stronger cultivators like the supreme elder. He didn¡¯t want to waste his power in controlling themoners and thus killed them.


    This also allowed him to make a narrative of the curse being used for killing instead." Xukong said.

 Chapter 443 - New Alliances

    <h4>Chapter 443 - New Alliances </h4>


    Lin Mu felt furious in his heart that Gu Yao had killed the innocent. He recalled the memories of the townsmen dying due to the gue but then steeled his heart. Nothing woulde out of his mindless anger, rather if he wanted to avenge them he needed to be smart.


    He needed to have a n that would hurt them where it hurt the most. Lin Mu also knew that he couldn¡¯t just start killing the people straightaway as most of them were being controlled by Gu Yao and weren¡¯t necessarily at fault.


    "Senior, will the people be freed if Gu Yao is killed?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... that is a hard thing to answer. There are a few different possibilities that can happen. Theoretically, Gu Yao shouldn¡¯t be able to control that many cultivators that are at the Dao Shell realm himself.


    And if he wants to control those that are at the Dao treading realm, I believe it will be impossible if he¡¯s not at the Dao treading realm himself. We know that he is controlling the Tri Cauldron peony sect and their strongest cultivator is at the Nascent Soul realm.


    It is likely that the other sects that are cooperating with them have been controlled too... or rather their higher ups are. Just from this, we can assume that the number of Dao Shell realm cultivators that are under his control is around ten.


    Not to mention the disciples and other elders that will follow theirmands. You will have to fight a huge number of people, strong people. Going straight ahead will not work, you will need to weaken them first." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and thought to himself. For now, he couldn¡¯te up with anything concrete and realized that he needed more information before creating a proper n.


    "I¡¯ll gather more intel in the city and see what else I can find. Hopefully by day after tomorrow, I get enough for the next stage." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    With this, he sank into the ground and went to spy on the disciples. Lin Mu also went to check on the underground chamber where he had fought Gu Yao, but it had the barrier surrounding it as well.


    This one was even stronger than the one that was set up around the temple, and he couldn¡¯t find any way to break it himself. He knew he could force his way in using the ring by opening a portal, but there were risks to it.


    By now Lin Mu had understood the implications of using the ring and was worried the Star Catching formation may detect it. Even if Xukong was able to restrict the passive spatial fluctuationing from the ring, he wouldn¡¯t be able to stop something that direly affected the world¡¯s barrier.


    Lin Mu spent a day spying on the disciples and listening to their conversations. He even stole some documents and letters from their quarters that helped him a lot.


    He found out that the top ten sects were in a time of upheaval and that new alliances were being created. The Sky precepts sect had been the number one for a long time but there was now a chance their position may be threatened.


    About six of the top ten sects were now forming alliances; there was the Zither Wind alliance and the Long Cloud alliance. Only the top three sects were staying independent while the sect that was ranked at the bottom the tenth in number was being fought over by the two alliances.


    Whichever alliance was able to convince thest sect to join them would be the dominating one. It was a game of numbers, and thepetition was only getting tougher as the days went by.


    The smaller sects were not left unaffected either, and were now making alliances of their own. The empire had be rmed and suddenly the emperor had fallen sick too. The royal physicians were unable to help him and they were now thinking of asking the Rainbow Pills sect for help.


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    But it was likely the Sky precepts sect and the Centennial sword sect would not allow something like this to happen. They could guess that the Rainbow Pill sect would likely put the empire in their debt, which in turn would push them to the top.


    Though Lin Mu heard another news that surprised him. The alliance ceremony for the Tri cauldron peony sect, the Autumn Valley sect, the Cloven Sea sect, and the Zither Wind Sect will be held in theing month.


    As soon as he heard of this, Lin Mu understood what was actually happening.


    "That damned Gu Yao! This is all his doing, isn¡¯t it? Pitting the sects against each other while the northern tribes mount their offense." Lin Mu uttered with rage.


    "Perhaps the emperor getting sick may be due to him as well... there are many ways he could aplish it if he has people being controlled in the pce too. There are far too many things we missed out on in these two years.


    The hardest part is that even if the sects find out their people are being controlled, they may not be able to differentiate between who is being controlled and who is not. This will only sow more distrust and cause further conflicts in their unity.


    Remember that memoir of the Lost immortal? The same thing would happen here." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu was reminded of the memoir he had read some time ago in the Sleepscape.


    The Lost immortal at that time was a Nascent Soul realm cultivator and was steadily growing his influence. An enemy nation at that time had nned to sow discord in the kingdoms so that they could annex them.


    A great civil war urred, and brothers fought against brothers, spilling their blood everywhere. The Lost immortal had written the conflict in detail; his aim to teach his sessor about the divide and rule strategy.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and vowed to not let it reach that level.


    "That¡¯s it," Lin Mu uttered, as an idea suddenly came to his mind. "I just need to dismantle their efforts."

 Chapter 444 - A Plan To End The Conflict

    <h4>Chapter 444 - A n To End The Conflict </h4>


    "The sects forming the alliances may not be totally bad, maybe they will have better preparation for the war with the northern tribes. But Gu Yao must be stopped." Lin Mu said with determination.


    His eyes glowed with valor as he faded away.


    A minuteter he was already outside the Wu Lim city. He started flying towards Little Shrubby¡¯s location and Xukong spoke to him at this time.


    "So what are you going to do now?" Xukong questioned.


    "First, we head to the capital city of Shuang Qian Kingdom. I need to see what the mayor is up to and I can¡¯t leave Wu Hei like this either.


    I¡¯m pretty sure the mayor is an important trump card for Gu Yao and definitely has ess to vital information. On the other hand, Wu Teng is the son-inw of the Peak Master Yi Deng and will be the official link between kingdom and the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    If we can gain control over them, we may have a chance at starting early. Besides, we also need to figure out where Gu Yao is currently. The most obvious location that I can think of is the Tri Cauldron peony sect, but that may be wrong too.


    Like you said senior if he wants to control the higher ups of the sects he needs to have a higher cultivation base. And will be looking to increase it, for which he will need resources, tons of resources.


    He may be getting them from the sects that are currently under his control, so that is where we need to start." Lin Mu exined.


    "Of course, if you can figure out where the resources are being sent to, chances are Gu Yao will be there too. Also his mind was damaged by me too, so he probably is unstable even now." Xukong replied.


    "Him? Unstable? Hmm... that will be a wild card as it will be hard to guess his actions. But... it may work in our favor too. If he is not thinking clearly, he will make mistakes and will be reckless." Lin Mu analyzed.


    "You will need to find out how he ismunicating with the northern tribes too though. Right now he is the main thorn in our path, but if more of his allies from the northern tribese here, it will only be more difficult.


    After all, we know some of them are already here in the kingdom, as little Shrubby told us." Xukong said.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It would have been good if we had Old man Jing Wei help us with this. He has lived long and knows more about the northern tribes. He also has experience with the sects and thus could have guided us." Lin Mu said feeling a bit sad.


    "Don¡¯t worry. If I have grasped their character well, I¡¯m pretty sure they will not let this happen either. As long as they have not been unaware of all these happenings, they are likely to intervene." Xukong assured.


    "I hope so too senior. Plus, we still have the threat of the invader hanging on our head." Lin Mu added.


    "Hmm... about the invader I think if you will be able to find out about them from the northern tribes too. If they are the ones who called that merchant here, they must have a way to let outsiders into this world.


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    There should be a teleportation formation for that. If we can find that, you may be able to trace the location of the invader by using that formation. I will guide you in formations till then, you will need to be proficient with them in order to do something like that." Xukong said.


    "I will do it diligently, senior. Since we are heading to the capital, we may as well get some supplies to make formations there too." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Or... since this is a difficult time, we can ignore certain rules." Xukong said after thinking for a bit.


    "Oh? What kind of rules, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Do you know what is the fastest way to gather a fortune?" Xukong asked.


    "... you mean to say... we should just steal them?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes, we do not have the liberty of time. We will need to act quick and this will be the best method. After all, this is forthe benefit of the people; you will be saving them." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu thought about it for a bit and found it to be reasonable. While thinking of the n, Lin Mu eventually reached Little Shrubby, who as he had expected, was cooking some more meat. Though this time the beast was amon beast at the sixth stage of the body tempering realm.


    "I¡¯m back!" Lin Mu said.


    "Master,e eat then cook more." Little Shrubby said.


    "Alright, I guess a little rest is in order." Lin Mu said knowing that he needed to rest his mind, which had be distressed.


    He reckoned that if he got some rest, a new solution may automatically pop up in his mind. After all, a chaotic mind will only give rise to disorder.


    Little Shrubby went out to hunt a few more beasts while Lin Mu meditated while chanting the calming heart sutra. After that, they cooked some delicious food which helped Lin Mu stressed even more.


    "What now, master?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Now? Now we head to the capital city. We have a lot of things to do now... and perhaps even you will get to participate." Lin Mu answered.


    "Yay! I wanna fight someone that can actually fight back too. All the beasts I fight only run away now." Little Shrubby said, feeling happy.


    Lin Mu raised his brows as he realized he was not without allies, either. Little Shrubby was formidable in his own way, and his speed was the key.


    ¡¯Wait his speed... I can use it like that, can¡¯t I?...¡¯ Lin Mu thought as a better idea formted in his mind.


    It was on this day that the beast every cultivation sect would dread was born.

 Chapter 445 - Preparations For Tribulation

    <h4>Chapter 445 - Preparations For Tribtion </h4>


    Lin Mu was on his way to the capital city of Shuang Qian Kingdom. The distance was of about ten days if one went on a horse but for cultivators that went there flying on their spirit weapons, it would take them three to four days.


    But Lin Mu was gonna reach there much earlier than that. He didn¡¯t have an exact estimate since he had never been to the capital city but judging from the distance it took little Shrubby to travel previously, he was guessing a day or two.


    Little Shrubby had monstrous stamina and could maintain his full speed for at least twelve hours before he had to rest for a couple of hours. Still, this was greater than a cultivator flying on their spirit weapon as depending on their cultivation base, they would have to rest after every couple of hours or risk depleting their spirit Qi too much.


    Only Adult stage Nascent soul realm cultivators could fly for long periods of time on their own and were faster than Little Shrubby. Butpared to an infant stage or even a child stage Nascent soul realm cultivator, he was already faster.


    Lin Mu had gotten a map long ago from Wu Lim city and thus didn¡¯t need to ask anyone for directions. Not to mention that there were signboards that showed the path to the capital city everywhere on the road.


    The capital city was located slightly south of the center of the kingdom. It was thergest city of course and had a lot of people living in it and around it. There was a military base located a short distance from the city and a smaller one within the city itself.


    These were important points for Lin Mu, as he needed to know them if any conflict were to ur. Entering the city itself wasn¡¯t going to be difficult, and he would be able to enter just by showing his identity as a cultivator or paying some tax as amoner.


    Unlike Wu Lim city or other major cities of the kingdom, here cultivators were rathermon and as such had more liberty. Though Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if they will be recording identities here as well.


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    He was leaning on the likelihood of it and as such would just sneak into the city if it so came to it. Thankfully, with the ridiculous amount of money he had, gathering information in the city would not be that difficult.


    "The first stop in the city will be at the mercenary union¡¯s branch then. They should have an information supplying section where I can pay to get it. I don¡¯t know how much confidential information will be avable but it should help me with the overall situation of the cities.


    And if this contains the information about trades and shipments, I may even be able to figure out the location of Gu Yao." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu looked in the distance and saw another city there. This was none other than Xianwei city, which had a lot of merchants and mercenaries working here. If it were normal time, he would have even thought of visiting but right now he wanted to stick to his n.


    Unless something came up that needed him to visit the city, he would not be going there. Lin Mu was traveling through the more rugged path that was filled with trees and shrubs so as to avoid being seen. The thing was even if one did spot him all they would see is a blur but they will definitely spot him.


    Till now Lin Mu had not seen any cultivator travel on beasts, thus he didn¡¯t know if he should do it openly. Perhaps the sect disciples would do it, but in this ce, it may be rather unfamiliar and would only bring attention to him.


    Time passed and now it was time for little Shrubby to rest. They stopped near a hill that had a few viges nearby and prepared some food while watching the people working in the distance.


    Lin Mu had already gone past the area where the winters were considered to be strong and thus the number of viges here was much higher than in the north. If one split the kingdom in half, the southern part would contain about seventy percent of the poption, while the north would have thirty percent. Such was the poption density of the kingdom.


    Thend in the south was more prosperous, and the earth was fertile due to which a lot of farming could be done here.


    After they finished eating, Lin Mu waited for Little Shrubby to rest up. He cultivated in that time and sensed his core that was fully saturated. He didn¡¯t know when the heavenly tribtion would be arriving and thus wanted to be ready for it.


    "Senior, what kind of preparation should I do for the heavenly tribtion?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... there are many things that can be done. The only question is whether you can afford them or if you have the resources for them. If we take the example of amon sect disciple that was about to undergo heavenly tribtion to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, they would have elders acting as their Dharma protectors, defensive treasures that can reduce the impact of the tribtion lightning and supportive pills as well.


    Some sects may even have tribtion tforms set up for their disciples. Tribtion tforms allow the cultivators to observe the person undergoing the heavenly tribtion safely without risking the chance of inviting the wrath of the tribtion themselves.


    The tforms would even help reduce the power of the tribtion and depending on its specificity, would even reinforce the cultivator. But string up such tribtion tforms is expensive for smaller sects and most of them are specific depending on the cultivation technique the cultivator uses and are destroyed during the tribtion, thus bing a single use disposable.


    There are multiple use ones that can be used by nearly cultivator despite their cultivation technique, but those ones are immensely difficult to set and require the support of formation masters, alchemists, and even spirit tool refiners to set it up." Xukong exined.

 Chapter 446 - Blockade

    <h4>Chapter 446 - Blockade </h4>


    Lin Mu knew that a tribtion tform was out of the question for him since he didn¡¯t even have a Qi cultivation technique. Senior Xukong had exined to him back in the Sleepscape that he was following what was called the path of the primordials.


    The primordials were none other than the very first Qi cultivators that were born in the cosmos. They were the ones who established the way of qi cultivation and from where Qi cultivation started.


    At that time they did not have any Qi cultivation techniques, and they followed the body cultivation path. But that was not possible for everyone to practice and thus when the hostilities and conflicts with the other races were reduced, mankind thought of finding a way to cultivate Qi normally.


    It took them many years before they figured out a method to absorb spirit Qi from the environment. They gained the knowledge of meridians and the Dantian bing more erudite.


    Back then cultivation was simply absorbing the spirit Qi into one¡¯s body passively and there was no specific method as everyone figured it out on their own. Those that had good observation and perception were able to do it better than others and seeded.


    Then as time passed, the cultivators started to figure out methods to better absorb and assimte the spirit Qi. These methods were recorded and refined, before they became the first cultivation techniques.


    But it wasn¡¯t as if the cultivation techniques from back then were necessarily good than the ones that were practiced currently. In fact, even Lin Mu would have been extremely slow in cultivating had it not been for the support of the ring.


    But now that he had the bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear assimted in his body, he had ovee one of the ws of the primordial path.


    Xukong had told him that the primordial path would help him in the future, but he hadn¡¯t told him exactly how because of the restriction of the world. The simplest way he could do was to give aparison.


    He said that the primordial path was like a key that waspatible with nearly any lock, while cultivation techniques could restrict them to a lesser number of the locks.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    While pondering on his thoughts, Lin Mu suddenly felt a strong gust of wind passing by. The wind shook the trees and made some leaves fall from them. He looked around and spotted a group of cultivators passing by in the sky. But they were not flying on separate spirit tools, but rather on a boat of some kind. It was ten meters long and two meters wide from what Lin Mu could estimate.


    It flew through the air and did not have a sail. But its speed was quite fast and whipped up winds as it passed by.


    "Is that a spirit boat?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, that is indeed a spirit boat. A low quality one though." Xukong confirmed.


    Lin Mu gazed at the people that were sitting in the boat and saw they were wearing the same type of outfits which made him think that they belonged to a cultivation sect. By the time he saw them though, they had gotten far and thus he couldn¡¯t tell which sect they belonged to from their outfit.


    "They came from the west and are heading to the south as well... the closest sect that is located in the west is the Cloven Sea sect. Hmm... I don¡¯t think their outfits match those of Dumu Ao from the tournament." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "They are in a spirit boat which is an umon spirit tool for this world, they are probably not from some low level sect," Xukong said.


    "That is true." Lin Mu muttered and got up.


    Little Shrubby was now fine and stood up with a long stretch.


    "I¡¯m ready!" he said.


    "Alright, let¡¯s continue." Lin Mu said and got onto his back.


    Lin Mu had not expected it at first, but little Shrubby¡¯s back was rtivelyfortable to sit on. The fur was soft and thick which made it ways, though the main problem raised from the speed which threatened to throw him back because of which he needed to tightly grip his fir.


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    ¡¯Hmm... maybe I can get a harness made too...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu added that to the list of items he wanted tomission for little Shrubby. Right now the things on the list were; a spatial storage tool, a spirit tool that could help him to better cook and do other stuff since he did not have hands, and then finally this harness.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby shot forward in a leap and covered hundreds of meters in a second. A couple of hours passed and then they came upon an obstacle.


    There was now an army blockade in front of Lin Mu. If this were any normal blockade, Lin Mu would have been able to go around it but the problem was it was set up in a circr perimeter around the capital city.


    Lin Mu could tell that there were cultivators in the blockade as well, and they were vigntly watching around for anyone passing by. Near the blockade, he spotted a long line of carts and carriages along with people who were waiting for their turn to get in.


    Now here came the problem for Lin Mu. It was no problem for him to enter the blockade alone but he wouldn¡¯t be able to take Little Shrubby with him. He wanted him there near the city so that he could help him if any problems arose.


    With little Shrubby¡¯s speed, it wouldn¡¯t take him long to cross over into the city ande to his aid. He could even escape with him if needed, as only an adolescent stage or adult stage nascent soul realm cultivator would be able to catch up with him.


    "Hmm... how do we get through here now?" Lin Mu wondered for a bit before an idea came to his mind.

 Chapter 447 - Getting Past The Blockade

    <h4>Chapter 447 - Getting Past The Blockade </h4>


    Lin Wu approached one of the checkpoints where the cultivators were standing around. There were no other people at this checkpoint, unlike the other ones due to this being a rarely used route.


    "HALT!" The cultivator at the front shouted.


    "Who are you? State your identity." They asked while their spirit sense spread towards Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu could tell that one of these cultivators was at the core condensation realm and that was the one who was using his spirit sense.


    "Greeting, I am Wu Lian a wandering cultivator." Lin Mu said giving a fake name.


    The core condensation realm cultivator sensed his cultivation base and a serious expression appeared on his face.


    "He¡¯s at the peak stage of the core condensation realm," He whispered to hispanions.


    They too showed simr expressions and became even more alert.


    "What is your business here?" They asked.


    "My business? Oh, it is just..." Lin Mu said and started chanting.


    A secondter the eyes of all the cultivators went dull, and they entered a daze. There were ten cultivators here but all of them had been affected at the same time. Lin Mu had used nothing but the severing heart sutra.


    He had not seen its effects after he reached the peak stage of the core condensation realm and thus had expected it to be much stronger than before. And that was exactly what happened here.


    ¡¯Go ahead, little shrubby.¡¯ Lin Mu said through his link.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    In the next moment, a blur passed by them, but they did not notice it. Lin Mu nced and saw that Little Shrubby had already gone far enough and stopped chanting the severing heart sutra.


    "... I¡¯m here to visit the city and buy some things. I need to get spirit tools and also sell some of the resources that I do not need anymore." Lin Mu continued.


    "Huh?" The cultivators felt a bit strange for a moment and looked around.


    "Is there a problem?" Lin Mu asked with a friendly smile.


    "No... nothing. So what did you say again?" The core condensation realm cultivators asked.


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    "Oh, I said I was visiting the capital city to buy and sell things." Lin Mu repeated.


    "Hmm... wait a little bit." The cultivator replied before turning to hispanions.


    "Check and see if he matched anyone wanted or cklisted." He said.


    "Yes, senior." The others replied and looked through some information that was stored in a jade slip.


    It took them a minute before they spoke again.


    "Everything seems normal, senior," they replied.


    The core condensation realm cultivator nodded his head and looked at Lin Mu.


    "Give me yourmunication jade slip, it needs to be marked before you can enter the capital¡¯s region. Entering and exiting the city will require this mark and if you lose your jade slip, you will have to pay a fine and may even have to go through a trial if any convictions are found to be made against you." He exined.


    "Alright, that will be fine." Lin Mu said before handing him hismunication jade slip.


    The core condensation realm cultivator took it and ced it on a small table that was kept to the side. The top of the table was made of metal and some carvings could be seen on it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Some runes appeared from the table before embedding themselves into the jade slip. After that was done, the core condensation realm cultivator picked up the jade slip and handed it back to Lin Mu.


    "Can I go ahead now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, you can." The core condensation realm cultivator replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and jumped into the air, where a short sword appeared below his feet.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    He flew past at a great speed, leaving the cultivators behind who finally lifted their serious expressions.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Senior, who was that? Have you heard of any wandering cultivator that is at the peak stage of the core condensation realm?" one of the juniorpanions asked.


    "From the name he told us Wu Lian, I can¡¯t recognize him. If my memory serves right, there isn¡¯t anyone that is in any of that tame in the cultivation sects either so he is telling the truth about being a wandering cultivator." The core condensation realm cultivator answered.


    "Shouldn¡¯t he have been a bit more famous? It¡¯s like he never existed. From his appearance he looks young too, probably in his forties." Another disciple said.


    "Hmm... that is true. Though now that we have this information we can update the sects about it." The core condensation realm cultivator stated.


    "I¡¯ll do it right away, senior." One of the juniors replied before talking out amutation jade slip and holding it.


    He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them. "I¡¯ve sent the information ahead."


    ***


    Lin Munded after going a sufficient distance away from the cultivators. He soon spotted little Shrubby, who was waiting in a small patch of trees.


    "Let¡¯s go ahead." Lin Mu said and got onto his back.


    Lin Mu had to circle around the perimeter of the blockade till he found a checkpoint where there were fewer people guarding. He didn¡¯t want there to be additional public as his n would have probably not seeded then.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t exactly know how many people he would have been able to affect using the Severing heart sutra and thus had tested it out on some beasts that he found nearby. He was able to control fifteen of them at once, but they were all weak beasts that were at the body tempering realm.


    Thus Lin Mu estimated that he should be able to control at least that many cultivators as well. And thankfully the checkpoint he had found had only ten cultivators guarding it, which had made his work easy for him.


    Lin Mu¡¯s n was to actually do what he had said to the cultivators at the start. It was just that he would be buying more things than just resources in the city. He hoped that his identity would not be found out for a while, but he knew that it would eventually be found.

 Chapter 448 - Entering The Capital

    <h4>Chapter 448 - Entering The Capital </h4>


    He just wanted to dy it as long as he could so that his n would progress without much obstruction.


    Lin Mu and little Shrubby traveled for about one hour before they were able to see therge city in the distance. Lin Mu halted there and looked for a suitable ce where Little Shrubby could stay for the time being.


    "Alright, I¡¯ll call for you if I need you. I don¡¯t know how long it is going to take me so be patient." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay. But can I cook?" Little Shrubby asked.


    Lin Mu had to think for a bit before he came upon an answer.


    "Yes, you can. Just make sure to cover the fire after you are done, it will make it look like a human did it. There are a lot of people living nearby so they will just assume it was a person and not a beast." Lin Mu replied.


    "I¡¯ll do that then." Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and headed towards one of the gates of the city, leaving little shrubby behind. His link with little Shrubby was now effective for quite a long distance and thus he knew he wouldn¡¯t really have much problem with calling him, should he need help.


    While flying there, Lin Mu could see beyond the tall walls of the capital city. The walls were about ten meters tall and some guards could be seen patrolling it from time to time.


    Just as he got near it, he once again felt a familiar feeling.


    "It¡¯s that formation again... looks like I¡¯ll have to head through the gate." Lin Mu muttered with a sigh.


    This was the same formation that detected when a person got near the city¡¯s area. It was just this one had a longer range, which Lin Mu had not expected. Even him being able to detect it was actually unusual, as normal cultivators wouldn¡¯t even know about it.


    This made it easy for the authorities to tell when someone unknown entered the city or got near it. If they were found to be criminals and denied that they were in the city, this formation would help in confirming their location.


    Lin Mu circled around the wall, and he eventually found a gate where a lot of people were standing.


    "Mother, look it is a flying cultivator." A child who had snot running down his nose pointed to Lin Mu.


    The guards spotted him too and were a bit surprised. Multiple spirit sense probes came towards Lin Mu and he allowed them near him. If Lin Mu wanted to, he could easily block them all but he knew this was to check him and would make it a bit easier to enter.


    "Make way! Make way! Allmoners move aside!" The guards shouted.


    The guard who seemed to be the leader, came forward and cupped his hands.


    "Senior, may I know your name and take your jade slip for verification." He asked.


    Lin Mu descended onto the ground and flipped his palm, making a jade slip appeared in his hand. The guard noticed the ring on his hand and gulped.


    "Thank you senior." The guard said respectfully and checked the jade slip before passing it back.


    "Everything is an alright senior. Is there anywhere specific you want to go to? Most of the locations frequented by cultivators are far from this point? You should have gone through the main entrance perhaps, this entrance is usually used by peasants." The guard exined.


    "Ah! I see. I just came from a different route and thus came to this gate as it was the closest for me." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh, that is fine, senior. People of your standing do not have restrictions on the gates that they can enter from, onlymoners do." The guard spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to ask the guard about some shops. This may even help him establish an alibi in case anything happened.


    "Well, I have never been to the capital of this kingdom before and wanted to buy as well as sell some cultivation resources." Lin Mu stated.


    "Senior is not from this region I see. Well that is fine, I have a guide here that you can read to find out more about the city. It has a catalog of all the popr shops that cultivators frequent." The guard replied.


    "Oh, that will be very good." Lin Mu replied.


    N?velDrama.Org is the owner.


    The guard asked one of the others to bring the guide, which he then passed onto Lin Mu.


    "Thank you for your assistance, here take this." Lin Mu said before handing a spirit stone to the guard.


    The guard graciously epted the spirit stone and spoke, "thank you for your generosity senior."


    Lin Mu nodded before entering the city.


    It was Xukong who had advised him to be a little generous to the guard as it would help in keeping a good image in their minds. If any trouble arose, and these guards were questioned, they would subconsciously assume that Lin Mu was not the one to do it.


    Such was human psychology, and a little tip worked a long way. Lin Mu looked through the guide and quickly found a few ces that aroused his interest.


    The first ce was none other than the branch of the mercenary union, which was located in the south of the city. The second was a shop that specialized in spirit tools and both sold and bought them. Lin Mu was looking to see if they would also make some custom things that he wanted for little Shrubby.


    The third ce was another shop that specialized in the sale of alchemical pills. But the most special thing about this shop was that it was actually being run by the Tri cauldron peony sect itself.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t actually want to buy anything here, but wanted to visit for the disciples themselves. If anything, he would be able to spy on them and find out more about their workings here.


    "Gu Yao is bound to have some people working here... after all, this is the capital."

 Chapter 449 - The Desolate Mercenary Union

    <h4>Chapter 449 - The Deste Mercenary Union </h4>


    Lin Mu was standing in front of a rather broad building that had two smaller buildings attached to it at the sides.


    The name board hanging on top of it read: <strong>Mercenary Union (Shuang Qian Kingdom Branch)</strong> T¨ºxt belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Wu looked around but found the building to be rather empty. There were barely any people here and even the mercenaries seemed to be missing.


    "This is strange..." Lin Mu muttered to himself before stepping inside.


    Currently, there was only one clerk sitting on the desk at the corner. The main desks were empty and even dust had settled on them now. Lin Mu walked to the clerk sitting on the desk and coughed lightly.


    The clerk himself was busy reading something intently.


    "Ahem," Lin Mu coughed to get his attention.


    "Oh? Someone¡¯s actually here." The clerk said feeling a bit shocked.


    "Why is this ce so empty?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Upon hearing this question, a frustrated expression appeared on the clerk¡¯s face.


    "Are you here to make fun of us?" The clerk replied.


    "What? No! Why would you think that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "So you are telling me you¡¯ve been living under a rock and don¡¯t know of the entire fiasco that happened six months ago?" The clerk said getting a bit angry.


    "Nope, I¡¯ve been in seclusion you see... for the past two years." Lin Mu said before letting out a bit of his spirit Qi.


    As soon as the clerk sensed his spirit Qi, he sobered up and a scared expression appeared on his face.


    "Fo-forgive me senior! I didn¡¯t know of your status." The clerk said hurriedly.


    "It¡¯s alright," Lin Mu said and waved his hand, "now tell me what actually happened?" he asked again.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "After the incident in at the Wu Lim City and the blood tide great upheaval happed. Investigations were done, and the culprit was found to be a person called Lin Mu.


    Originally, the Mayor of the Wu Lim City, Wu Xun and the mercenary union were at odds due to the false usation that he had put on us. But then the involvement of Lin Mu flipped the entire thing on us.


    The sects and other powers found out that when they had sent out people to investigate the kidnappings, this person called Lin Mu had actually apanied them. This basically caused them to reject all of the findings and they imed that the evidence was all fabricated.


    The current head of the mercenary union had used the royal decree to ask the king to question Mayor Wu Xun. But after he found out about this all, he canceled the decree and levied sanctions on the mercenary union.


    Ever since then the reputation of the mercenary union plummeted and people started using us of being traitors, although they had no proof of it.


    Little by little most of the mercenaries left the union and a majority have even left Shuang Qian kingdom itself." The clerk said.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide as he had not expected there to be such a story behind this and even in this somehow his involvement was there. But soon anger appeared in his heart too as he could imagine why Gu Yao or Wu Xun must have done this.


    ¡¯He was getting rid of thorns in his path. By discrediting and framing an inflectional power such as the mercenary union, he removed one of the parties that were opposing him.¡¯ Lin Mu inferred.


    But he didn¡¯t show any expression on his face as it would only cause the clerk to feel weird.


    "Why are you still here then?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I¡¯m still here for the few mercenaries that are still left in the kingdom. If theye to me, I¡¯ll assign them some other jobs in ces where they won¡¯t be as infamous.


    Or if they want to resign... I take their resignations as well." The clerk answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in understanding.


    "So what did you want, senior? We don¡¯t really have much to offer here, there are barely four people left including me." The clerk asked.


    "I believe the mercenary union has an information catering department right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... yes we do. It¡¯s one of the few departments that are still active here, though there is only one person running it." The Clerk answered.


    "That may work I guess... I wanted information." Lin Mu said.


    "Information? We can give you some but it is likely to be outdated as we don¡¯t have much inteling now due to ack of people. Still... what kind of information do you want?" The clerk asked.


    Lin Mu was about to speak but then changed his question at thest moment.


    "I want... everything." Lin Mu stated.


    "Everything? What do you mean by everything?" The clerk questioned feeling confused.


    "All of your records. Everything that you have left, it doesn¡¯t matter how old the information is, or what it is for. Give me everything you have." Lin Mu exined.


    The clerk¡¯s expression was that of a shock after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words.


    "Se-senior... I can get that but the cost for it will be huge. I... don¡¯t think I even know what to charge you, I don¡¯t think anyone has ever asked for this." The clerk said.


    "Hmm... the price shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Try toe up with a price." Lin Mu said.


    "Umm, I can¡¯t do it on my own. I¡¯ll need to ask the person who is working in the information department." The clerk replied.


    "Go ahead and call him then, I¡¯ll wait." Lin Mu said.


    "Y-yes..." The clerk replied before rushing into the other parts of the buildings.


    While he was gone, Lin Mu spread around his spirit sense to the fullest and checked the entirety of the building.


    "Hmm... so there¡¯s a library in the western building. I can check it outter but what does it contain? Oh it¡¯s a pretty wide variety." Lin Mu muttered to himself and turned to look towards the direction of the library.

 Chapter 450 - Buying The Information

    <h4>Chapter 450 - Buying The Information </h4>


    "Sorry to make you wait, senior!" The clerk announced as he came with another female clerk.


    "This is the clerk who manages the information department currently." The male clerk introduced.


    The female clerk seemed a bit flushed upon seeing Lin Mu and a blush had appeared on her face.


    "Mm? Is there something wrong?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No-no nothing senior." The clerk replied in a meek voice.


    "Alright. So what will it cost to get all the information?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Since we are shutting down senior, we will give you a discount." The female clerk said before pulling out an abacus from her satchel.


    She quickly calcted an amount on it before showing Lin Mu. But Lin Mu looked on awkwardly at the abacus.


    "Umm... senior Xukong, how do I read an abacus?" Lin Mu secretly asked.


    Lin Mu had seen abacuses before but had never used one himself, thus he didn¡¯t know how to read it. And even in these past two years he never did that while he was in the Sleepscape, thus he was now confused.


    "You count it from the center row. The four beads on the bottom part are all one unit and the one on top is worth five units. If you go to the left, you increase the amount by ten and if you go to the right, you instead enter fractions." Xukong exined.


    With Lin Mu¡¯s mind, it didn¡¯t take him more than a second to calcte the amount.


    "Ah, so it¡¯s, ten thousand six hundred and twenty nine? But in what coins?." Lin Mu replied.


    "Gold coins of course." The female clerk replied.


    "Ah, that will be no problem." Lin Mu said before causally pulling out arge pouch from his ring and cing it on the desk.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The loud sound shocked the clerks as if they had not expected something like this. Each of gold coin was of one gram and thus that bag weighed over ten kilograms.


    "Umm... just hundred and sixty spirit stones would have been enough too, but since senior has so much gold then we can ept it too." The clerk replied feeling a bit awed.


    Usually,rge transactions in gold rarely happened and the cultivators specially used spirit stones in their stead as they were convenient to carry. A single low grade spirit stone was worth a hundred coins.


    It was now that Lin Mu realized he had never asked for the price of spirit stonespared to gold coins.


    ¡¯Damn... I¡¯ve been carrying around a fortune since the start.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Haha! You will be even more shocked if you find out the worth of the other cultivator currencies. But I can tell you that the value of goldpared to the spirit stone is probably less due to it being of low quality.


    Cultivators can further refine ordinary metals such as iron, copper, silver, and gold into higher quality forms that are then minted into coins to be used by them." Xukong said.


    "Oh? Is that what the green gold that old man Jing refined was?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, that¡¯s correct. The higher refined forms of these metals can be used for various things such as forging of spirit tools and weapons." Xukong replied.


    "I see..." Lin Mu replied.


    The female clerk was rummaging through a set of registers that she had brought along with her. It took her about ten minutes before she was finally done.


    "So in what form do you want the information to be in senior?" The female clerk questioned.


    "Umm... the best would be if it¡¯s in a jade slip." Lin Mu said.


    "That... may be difficult." The male clerk said.


    "Oh? Why so?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "With the amount of information there is, there is no way a normal jade slip will be able to hold it. You will need a mid grade jade slip for it." The clerk said.


    "Hmm, will this one work?" Lin Mu asked, showing the jade slip that he had been using.


    "Oh, it¡¯s a mid grade jade slip!" The clerk eximed.


    She took the jade slip and held it for a second before her expression fell.


    "This one is already filled with a lot of information I can tell, so you will need to get another one." The female clerk replied.


    "Hmm.., alright. Do you guys sell that? I think there should be a department that sells spirit tools too right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That department was the first to shut down, so you will have to go and buy it from elsewhere senior. Jade slips are widely used so you should be able to buy them from any shop selling spirit tools in the city." The male clerk replied.


    "Oaky, which is the closest shop?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Gengbai emporium is the closest one, senior. If you go to the street that¡¯s on the right three cross roads from here, you will reach it." The male clerk answered.


    "Alright, I¡¯ll get it. Oh, and I also wanted to ask if you have a library here?" Lin Mu said.


    "Yes, we do. Do you want to visit it senior?" The female clerk asked.


    N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "Yes, how much will be the charge for it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Since you¡¯ve already paid so much, you do not need to pay senior. You can stay in the library as long as you want, it¡¯s free for you to use." The clerk answered.


    "Ah, that is perfect." Lin Mu said feeling pleased.


    He nodded his head and left the mercenary union¡¯s building, heading towards the shop that the male clerk had told him about.


    It took Lin Mu about ten minutes to reach the shop, which was decent looking. There was arge board on which its name was written in borate calligraphy.


    "Wee to Gengbai Emporium, what would you like, customer?" the shopkeeper immediately greeted Lin Mu upon seeing him stand in the door.


    While Lin Mu¡¯s clothes were that of amoner, the shopkeeper could easily identify a cultivator.

 Chapter 451 - Gengbai Emporium

    <h4>Chapter 451 - Gengbai Emporium </h4>


    Lin Mu looked around the shop and saw all the items that were on disy. There were spirit tools like shields, seals, weapons, clothes, and even some spatial storage treasure.


    Lin Mu could sense the faint spatial fluctuationsing from the spatial storage tools and thus recognized them quickly. He looked at the shopkeeper, who had his hands sped and nodded his head in greeting.


    "Hi, I would like to buy some spirit tools from here." Lin Mu stated.


    "Of course, we have arge assortment of spirit tools you can choose from, or if what you need are spirit weapons, we have those too." The shopkeeper said.


    "I would like a Mid grademunication jade slip first." Lin Mu replied.


    "Sure, I¡¯ll bring one right up." The shopkeeper said, and opened one of the drawers to his back.


    From there he pulled out a pale green jade slip that was five inches long and one inch wide. He put it on a disy cushion and slid it to Lin Mu.


    "Here, you go sir. Please check if it is up to your satisfaction." The shopkeeper replied in a professional tone.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and picked up the jade slip before checking it with his spirit sense. He could sense the formations that were constructed in it and the connections they formed with each other.


    It was a bit different from the one he had with him, and he couldn¡¯t exactly tell why.


    N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "This one seems to have a self-destruction formation integrated into it, that is why it looks different to you," Xukong stated.


    "A self-destruction formation?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. It is actually quite popr to put them in certain spirit tools such as jade slips and spatial storage treasures as they can contain sensitive information or items that a cultivator would not want to be revealed to the public if they are killed.


    They are as a precaution so that if someone kills them, they will not get their items from the ring or will be able to get the confidential information stored on the jade slip." Xukong exined.


    Upon hearing this, Lin Mu dered what senior Xukong had told him a while back in the Sleepscape. At that time, Lin Mu had asked him how did so many items turn up in the void, to which Xukong had said that one of the major causes of the items ending up in the void was due to self destructing spatial storage treasures.


    When a spatial storage treasure was destroyed, there were two things that could happen. In the case that there was no self destructive formation on it, the items contained in the treasures would all spill out into the real world.


    But if there was a self destructive formation ced on it, the items would be thrown into the void instead of being pushed out into the real world. This also helped reduce the cases of robberies among the cultivators, but notpletely.


    If a cultivator was proficient in formations or spatial maniption, they would still be able to retrieve the items. In fact, robbing was so lucrative that there were even special spirit tools made just for that. One of these spirit tools could even disable the self destructive formation of spatial storage tools and every robber worth their salt would own one of these.


    Lin Mu was fine with the jade slip either way and decided to get it.


    "How much does it cost?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "This mid grademunication jade slip costs 150 low grade spirit stones." The shopkeeper answered.


    "Oh, okay. I¡¯ll take it then." Lin Mu replied.


    "Is there anything else that you would like, sir?" the shopkeeper asked.


    He could tell that the customer in front of him was interested in more items than just the jade slip and it was now up to his own skills, to make him buy them. He was after all, a businessman and needed to use his sales skill to the best.


    "Hmm... I do want a few more things," Lin Mu said, remembering the things he wanted for little Shrubby. "But they need to have certain properties which I do not know if you have them." Lin Mu added.


    "Sir, even if you need something custom made, we will happily oblige to it. As long as you can pay for our service, we will do our best to please you." The shopkeeper replied, almost in a rehearsed manner.


    "Can we talk in some ce more private then?" Lin Mu asked, showing his reluctance to speak.


    "Of course, sir. Please follow me." The shopkeeper said right away.


    He could very well sense that Lin Mu was at the peak stages of the core condensation realm. This was not a cultivator he wanted to offend in any way as core condensation realm cultivators were already considered good experts, not to mention one that was at the peak stage.


    The man took Lin Mu to a private room in the interior of the shop, away from the customers. A servant also came and served him some tea before the shopkeeper spoke again.


    "We will not be disturbed here, sir. Please state your requirements." The shopkeeper said.


    "That¡¯s good then. I need three more items in addition to the jade slip. I want a spatial storage treasure that can be used by anyone, even a beast. Then I need a durable harness made for riding on a beast and I also need a custom made spirit tool that can work as a hand." Lin Mu stated.


    The shopkeeper had not expected that Lin Mu would be asking for something like this. In his twenty years of experience as a shopkeeper, he had never seen anyone ask for a spatial storage treasure for a beast.


    As for the harness Lin Mu asked, it was something that could be easily procured from a cksmith.


    But thest item on the list was something he would need to ask a spirit tool refiner for. He would not be able to estimate the price himself either, as theplexity would determine that.

 Chapter 452 - Buying The Tools For Little Shrubby

    <h4>Chapter 452 - Buying The Tools For Little Shrubby </h4>


    "Please let me call our in-house Spirit tool refiner, sir. He may be able to give a more urate answer for this than me as you need custom tools." The shopkeeper replied.


    "Okay," Lin Mu said before watching the shopkeeper leave.


    While he was gone, Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around the shop and observed everyone and everything. While Lin Mu was traveling on the back of Little Shrubby he had nothing much to do and as such decided to refine his spirit sense further.


    In the short span that he had traveled, Lin Mu had already managed to increase the range of his spirit sense to two hundred meters. With a range thisrge, Lin Mu was easily able to scan the entire shop and the people within it.


    A couple of minutes passed like this and the Shopkeeper returned with another man. This was the in-house spirit tool refiner of the Gengbai Emporium. Lin Mu had watched theming here with his spirit sense and thus knew just the right moment to withdraw his back in.


    It was likely the shopkeeper and the owner of this establishment would not like Lin Mu spying on them and their customers. They in fact had formations that blocked the perception of spirit sense, ced on their walls.


    But Lin Mu simply went around them using the doors which actually did not have those formations on them. It was a w in the security but it was more due to affordable costs, simr to the Alluring Wisteria pavilion.


    "This is our spirit tool refiner, Refiner Ru." The shopkeeper introduced the old man.


    "Greetings customer..." Refiner Ru spoke but could not recall the name of the man in front of them.


    "Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Wu Lian." Lin Mu said, corresponding with the name that he had given before to the guards.


    "So I heard you need some custom spirit tools, can you please describe them to me in detail?" Refiner Ru asked.


    "Sure. I need a spatial storage treasure that can be used by anyone, even spirit beasts; a durable harness that can handle a speed equivalent to that of a nascent soul realm cultivator and a spirit tool that can function as a hand." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm... the spatial storage treasure will need to be modified a bit, but it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. For the harness, I can get one made from the leather of a bronze bull which is one of the best materials we have for it. And for the spirit tool that can function as a hand, I actually have something ready with me." Refiner Ru said after thinking for a minute.


    "That¡¯s good. Can you show it to me?" Lin Mu asked.


    Refiner Ru nodded his head before withdrawing a hand that was made from metal from his spatial storage treasure. It had multiple moving parts and had the same structure as that of a human hand.


    The only difference would be the color, as it did not have skin covering it.


    "How did you have something like this pre-made?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "This is a prosthetic arm that some cultivators use. Not all of them can afford alchemical pills that can heal and regrow their arms and thus they use these in their stead.


    They are a bit difficult to make and as such I keep at least one of them prepared in case anyonees to buy and it saves me time too." Refiner Ru stated.


    "Ah, I see now. That does make sense." Lin Mu replied.


    "If you want, you can check how it works yourself." Refiner Ru suggested.


    "I¡¯ll do that then." Lin Mu said before taking hold of the metallic hand.


    He was intending to let little Shrubby use it for cooking, as it had a hard time with certain parts of it, like using spices and brushing condiments on meat. Even stirring was something that he found to be problematic. He had ever made something that needed stirring, thus little shrubby only found that out when Lin Mu was teaching him to make stews and soups.


    Lin Mu looked at the metal hand and let his spirit sense enter it. As soon as it did, he could feel a connection with the tens of small joints of the hand and the fingers. He had to control each part individually and took a few tries before he was able to properly move the fingers.


    "Hmm, it¡¯s good. A bit tough but good." Lin Mu assessed before cing it back on the table.


    T¨ºxt belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Indeed. It takes a bit or practice to get used to but once you do, it will act the same as a normal arm. Even its durability is quite good due to being made with refined iron essence. The only w is that one cannot use most Qi skills with it as that requires meridians. Though martial skills should be no problem." Refiner Ru exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to get this hand too.


    "What about the spatial storage tool? When can I get it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "If you are willing to wait for a few minutes, I¡¯ll modify a basic spatial storage tool." Refiner Ru answered.


    "Sure, do that. Also, what kind of a spatial storage tool is it? I want something that can be used as a belt." Lin Mu stated.


    "That will be no problem. I have a spatial storage tool that is in the form of a belt." Refiner Ru said before going to get the spatial storage tool.


    A couple of minutester, he returned with a brown belt that had a few gems embedded in it. He ced it on the table and created a few runes around it before making modifications to it.


    Ten minutes passed, before he was done with it.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "It is done. Now this belt can be used by anyone, and all of the restrictions on it have been removed. As for the harness, I will give the order to the cksmith, you should get it by tomorrow at thetest." Refiner Ru said.

 Chapter 453 - Spatial Storage Treasures

    <h4>Chapter 453 - Spatial Storage Treasures </h4>


    Lin Mu was a bit surprised by the speed at which Refiner Ru had modified the belt. He had expected it to take a bit longer, but it obviously was not.


    Lin Mu took the belt from him and checked it with his spirit sense. The belt was a low grade spatial storage treasure and did not have much space in it. There were roughly two cubic meters of space in the ring.


    ¡¯Hmm... this should be enough for Little Shrubby to use. Even if I would prefer a higher grade spatial storage treasure, I doubt there is any here... at least the ones that will be affordable.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Speaking of spatial storage treasure, are there any shops selling Mid grade spatial storage treasures or higher in the city?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Mid grade spatial storage treasures? Hmm... there are a few shops that can get you one if you ce an order but I highly doubt anyone will have them in stock, they are just far too difficult to get, not to mention highly expensive." Refiner Ru replied.


    N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "How much do they go for currently?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "Even the low grade spatial storage treasures cost anywhere from two thousand low grade spirit stones to ten thousand spirit stones. The mid grade ones can¡¯t even be bought with low grade spirit stones and need mid grade ones.


    Even if you have the equivalent amount of the mid grade spirit stones in low grade ones, I doubt anyone will be willing to sell them. As for the high grade spatial storage treasures, you simply can¡¯t buy them.


    The sect¡¯s have a monopoly on them because all the refiners that are able to make them are part of the sects. If you want to buy one, you will either need to be part of sect, barter them with a resource that is of the same or higher value or... find one with luck." Refiner Ru answered.


    "Ah... I see. What about the peak grade ones? Have you ever seen one?" Lin Wu questioned again.


    "In the two hundred years that I¡¯ve lived, I have never heard of a peak grade spatial storage treasure being sold. But back when I was still learning from my master, he told me that his master once witnessed a peak grade spatial storage treasure being sold.


    It was sold from a sect to the Emperor of the Great Zhou Empire. Nobody knows the cost though, so we can only guess. But there is no way it would have been cheap." Refiner Ru answered.


    It was now that Lin Wu realized he didn¡¯t know what was the capacity of the spatial storage treasures. The belt had a capacity of two cubic meters while the ring that was repaired by Jing Wei had a capacity of about a thousand cubic meters. He knew that the ring was notparable to spirit tools and was way beyond that, but due to being damaged, it was barely at five percent of its full potential.


    "And what was the capacity of the peak grade spatial storage treasure?" Lin Mu asked.


    It looked like even the old refiner was having a good time talking with Lin Mu, since he was taking an interest in the field he specialized in. He was an old man and was mostly busy in either refinement or cultivation, thus he did not get to talk with young people like Lin Mu who was also talented.


    Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation was another reason why he was willing to answer so many questions of his. Besides, Lin Mu was buying a lot of things that were worth quite arge amount, thus he did not mind answering some simple questions.


    "I don¡¯t exactly know, but the rumors are that it had about a thousand cubic meters of space. Seeing as low grade ones are anywhere from one to five cubic meters in size, mid grade ones ten to fifty cubic meters and the high grade ones hundred to three hundred cubic meters; it does seem close to it." Refiner Ru answered after thinking for a bit.


    "I see... that¡¯s interesting." Lin Mu replied, feeling amazed at the ring that old man Jing fixed.


    "I should head out now, I have a few more things to do. How much do I need to pay right now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The mid grademunication jade slip is 150 low grade spirit stones, the spatial storage belt is 2200 low grade spirit stones, the harness will be 70 low grade spirit stones and finally the prosthetic arm will be about 1250 low grade spirit stones. So the totales down to about 3670 low grade spirit stones." Refiner Ru calcted.


    "That is eptable." Lin Mu said before taking out a pouch from his ring.


    Since he could directly move items in his ring without needing to physically touch them, he moved the spirit stones to one of the many pouches he had bought back in Wu Lim city. All the misceneous items that he had bought were nowing in handy.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The pouch made a low thud as it was ced on the table and the shopkeeper took it to check it.


    "It¡¯s all there. Thank you for your patronage, sir Wu." The shopkeeper said with cupped hands.


    "I¡¯ll contact you on yourmunication jade slip when the harness is ready. You can take the rest of the items." Refiner Ru said.


    "That¡¯ll be good. I¡¯ll take my leave now." Lin Mu said before storing the new jade slip and the prosthetic hand into his ring.


    He did not do the same for the belt as that would be a clear vition of themon understanding that spatial storage treasure could not be stored in other spatial storage treasures. Lin Mu tied the belt around his waist and left the shop. He casually found an empty area near the mercenary union and stored the belt in his ring there, before heading into the building.


    "Ah, senior you¡¯re back!" The male clerk said.

 Chapter 454 - Million Word Transference Formation

    <h4>Chapter 454 - Million Word Transference Formation </h4>


    "Yes, I brought the jade slip. Take it." Lin Mu said,


    "I¡¯ll get the transfer started right away." The male clerk replied.


    "Any estimate on how long it will take?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It will probably take about six hours senior since there are far too many things and weck the manpower too." The clerk answered.


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    "I see. That¡¯s understandable, anything you need my help with?" Lin Mu offered.


    "No, no, we cannot inconvenience you, senior. If you feel like it, you can go and visit some ces in the city or... since you were asking about the library you can spend your time there too." The clerk replied.


    "I¡¯ll do that then. I¡¯ll be in the library till then." Lin Mu said before walking towards the library.


    The clerk left as well, but just as he was about to step out of the hall, he stopped as a thought came to his mind.


    ¡¯Does he know where the library is though?¡¯ The clerk thought.


    "He should be able to find on his own, I guess. Since he didn¡¯t ask me, he should be fine with it." The clerk muttered to himself before leaving for the area where all the information was stored.


    "Alright guys! Let¡¯s hurry up, the senior brought the jade slip." The clerk announced to the other three people who were working in anotherrge hall that had books and documents kept everywhere.


    They nodded at his words and got to work.


    ***


    Lin Mu directly went to the library since he already knew where it was due to his spirit sense. The library was ratherrge but nowhere near to the library that was in the myriad armament canopy abode.


    He spread his spirit sense around to check the titles of the books and quickly found a few that interested him. About an hour passed before a thought came to him.


    "Hmm, senior is there any way I can transfer all the information here into the jade slip as well? Like the formation that old man Jing used?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well yes, of course. With your current cultivation base, it should be no problem. I can teach you a formation for that, but it will take you time before you are able topile all of the information here. Also... I doubt it will fit in the jade slip you have currently, you will probably have to use the new one that you gave to them." Xukong answered.


    "Hmm... that should fine. You can just teach me the formation in the meantime." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright, then. Let¡¯s begin." Xukong said before teaching Lin Mu the formation.


    The name of the formation was ¡¯Million word transference formation¡¯. It was one of the many formations that could be used to transfer information from one type of medium to the other, but this was chiefly used for transferring information from physical items like books and scrolls to jade slips.


    By the time Lin Mu was done learning the formation from senior Xukong, six hours had already passed and he was woken up by someone calling him.


    "Senior! We are done." The male clerk announced.


    Along with him was the female clerk, who was staring at Lin Mu with stars in her eyes. Since Lin Mu was focused on learning from senior Xukong, he had been sitting in a meditative pose and had a very tranquil expression on his face.


    To the female clerk, the moment she saw him she felt as if it was an immortal cultivating in front of her. In fact, they had actually been done about an hour ago, but she did not allow the male clerk to disturb Lin Mu since he seemed to be busy meditating.


    Only after an hour passed and Lin Mu showed no signs of waking up on his own, did she let him call out to him as she guessed that he must have gone deep in his mediation.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and looked at the two clerks before nodding.


    "You can give it to me then, I¡¯ll spend some more time here. I found a few interesting things in the library." Lin Mu said.


    "Sure senior. You can stay here as long as you want." The female clerk said excitedly.


    "Thank you." Lin mu said before taking the jade slip and taking a quick look through the information.


    All of the information was sorted ording to chronology and if he wanted, he could even search for something specific. All he needed to do was think, and the jade slip would present the information to him.


    "We won¡¯t disturb you anymore then, senior." The female clerk said before pulling the male clerk away, not letting him speak anything.


    Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion at their strange actions, but forgot about it pretty quickly. The only thing in his mind currently was to transfer the information to the jade slip, now that he had learned the formation.


    Lin Mu checked to see if there was anyone near the room with his spirit sense and proceeded after confirming it.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Let¡¯s begin..." Lin Mu took a deep breath.


    He gestured with his hands and runes started forming in the air. He took out five low grade spirit stones and created a small arrangement with it. His spirit Qi linked them together and a formation circuit was soon formed.


    "Expand!" Lin Mu said before spreading his arms wide apart.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    An illusory formation circuit materialized and spread all over the area of the library. More runes appeared in the air before creating intricate patterns in the air before the new jade slip came to float right in the middle of them.


    The books that were kept on the shelves all flew out and the words that were written on them started to fly out. They moved towards the jade slip and started being absorbed into it. Lin Mu sat down and focused on controlling the formation for the rest of the night.


    Only when the morning arrived did he stop.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Half-way done..."

 Chapter 455 - Wu Hei...

    <h4>Chapter 455 - Wu Hei... </h4>


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    Lin Mu felt his stomach rumble and realized that he had not eaten for a few hours. Since he had already exhausted most of the energy provided by the meat that he had eaten in the past two years, he now needed to eat again regrly.


    "I¡¯ll eat first then, I guess." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "You need to watch for the changes in the Nameless technique of the lost immortal. Who knows what kind of changes it may suddenly present to you." Xukong advised.


    "I understand, senior. That is why I don¡¯t want it to trigger the hunger by holding back too much." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm, that would be for the best," Xukong said before going silent.


    Lin Mu left the library and found the female clerk to be standing nearby. It was almost as if she was waiting for him.


    "Senior! Good morning." The female clerk greeted.


    "Good morning. Can you tell me some good ces to eat?" Lin Mu asked.


    Although he had the guide, he reckoned asking a local would be better for now, as he did not want to go too far.


    "Of course. There are a lot of good restaurants nearby that you can go to. Let me take you to them," The female clerk said.


    "Alright," Lin Mu replied before he was attempted to be dragged by the clerk only for her to stumble.


    She rubbed her head in embarrassment and let Lin Mu walk on her own.


    ¡¯Damn, he¡¯s heavy... he doesn¡¯t look that heavy though...¡¯ The female clerk thought.


    It was not that the clerk was weak, rather she was decently strong and had a cultivation base that was at thete stage of the Qi refining realm. If she wanted to, she would be able to lift a few hundred kilograms of weight easily.


    But Lin Mu¡¯s current strength was something on apletely different level. Not only had hepleted the entire body tempering realm, but he had also started to progress slightly in the Five treasures realm.


    Along with his peak stage core condensation realm cultivation base, there were very few people who would be able to pull and push him around. The two of them went through the streets as Lin Mu took in the sights.


    There were a variety of people living in the capital city, frommoners all the way to nobles. Lin Mu also spotted sect disciples who were going about their business. He saw plenty of cultivators who were at the core condensation realm as well. Though most of them were in the early stage and only a few were in the mid stage.


    They eventually reached a wide square and in the distance, Lin Mu could see the royal pce. On its two sides, more buildings could be seen that were rather borate and luxurious. While walking, the female clerk was enthusiastically introducing him to the various things and telling him about them.


    "And that is the new residence of minister Wu Xun, he got it recently built about six months ago. He and his family are currently residing there." The female clerk spoke.


    ¡¯So that is where Wu Xun is...¡¯ Lin Mu thought after seeing one of the bigger buildings near the royal pce.


    "I heard that he has two sons. Do they live there too?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Umm... I think the elder son lives somece else as he is also the son-inw of peak master Yi Deng of Tri cauldron peony sect, but the younger son does live with them." The female clerk answered.


    "I see." Lin Mu muttered.


    ¡¯I need to at least see the condition of Wu Hei. I need to free him from the control...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Here we are! This is the best restaurant I know of that makes amazing food. Even the noblese here to eat." The female clerk said.


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    Lin Mu looked up at the building that was about five floors tall and had a wide name board that read: Big Zhao¡¯s Heavenly Delicacies.


    "The name is pretty... impressive." Lin Mu said, finding it to be a tad too much.


    They stepped into the restaurant, finding it to be full of people. On the first floor Lin Mu mostly saw average looking people. A majority of them weremoners, but there were also some cultivators mixed in.


    A waiter spotted them as soon as they walked in and approached them.


    "A table for two?" He asked.


    Lin Mu saw the eager expression with which the female clerk was looking around and sighed to himself.


    "Yes." Lin Mu replied.


    "Pleasee with me then," the waiter said and was about to take them to one of the empty tables.


    But then the female clerk suddenly spoke, "wait, we want a table on the fourth floor."


    "Oh?" the clerk looked at the two of them with a questioning look. He could tell that the two of them were cultivators, but from their clothes, it did not seem like they were affluent enough.


    "This senior is at the core condensation realm." The female clerk spoke.


    Just as she said this, Lin Mu felt a spirit sense probe nearing him. His eyes darted to the source and his aura fluctuated, halting the spirit sense in its tracks. He found the spirit sense to being from a guard that was standing at the stairs of the next floor.


    He had a surprised expression on his face and secretly gulped. The waiter seemed to have turned to look at him as well, only to see him nod and gesture something with his fingers.


    The waiter¡¯s eyes went wide too, but he quickly controlled himself. Lin Mu of course, witnessed the entire interaction and wondered if they had suspected something or not.


    "Forgive me, senior, pleasee with me. You are eligible to sit on the fourth floor." The waiter spoke and took them upstairs.


    Lin Mu saw more cultivators on the upper floors, but when he reached the fourth floor he was shocked to see someone he had not expected.


    "Wu Hei..."

 Chapter 456 - Scatterbrain?

    <h4>Chapter 456 - Scatterbrain? </h4>


    All the way across the floor Lin Mu saw a man sitting. The man was dressed in some blue and gold luxurious robes and had a sword at his waist. He was sitting along with a few other people, some of which were disciples of sects.


    This man was none other than Wu Hei himself. Although he looked much different from before. He did not have the same schrly aura that he used to have and even his clothes did not seem to suit him that much.


    Lin Mu quickly withdrew his gaze from them so as to not arouse any suspicion but his spirit sense was still trained on them.


    "Is there a problem, senior?" The female clerk asked seeing him suddenly stop.


    "No, nothing. I was just looking around, this ce is nice." Lin Mu said making up an excuse.


    "I know right! This is my first timeing up here, I¡¯ve only heard of how good the food is here. Back when the union was still popted by everyone, I used to hear the senior mercenaries talk about how the food here was good." The female clerk replied.


    "I see..." Lin Mu said before walking to the table that the waiter had picked for them.


    The table was located quite far from where Wu Hei and the others were sitting and there was even a wide window behind them, from where they could see the view of the city. Though the most prominent part was the royal pce and the beautiful garden that surrounded it.


    The entire ce could be seen from here, which had made this a prime spot for people. They only got the table here, since another pair of customers had just finished up their meal and stood up, vacating it for them.


    Lin Mu and the female clerk sat down while the waiter gave them a menu.


    "What would you like sir?" The waiter asked.


    Lin Mu pretended to look at the menu, but his attention was focused on Wu Hei and the rest. It was now that he found something strange. Usually even at this distance if Lin Mu focused on something he would be able to hear them, but right now he was unable to.


    ¡¯This is unusual...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He extended his spirit sense closer and then sensed something.


    ¡¯A formation...¡¯ Lin Mu recognized.


    "Hmm... seems like a sound isting talisman which can create a temporary formation that istes sounds. Very useful to hide your conversation when you are in a public space." Xukong informed.


    "Can I find a way through it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "At your level no... if you try and fail, it will rm them." Xukong answered.


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    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I can¡¯t take that risk... at least not now. I¡¯ll just wait and watch then." Lin Mu replied before actually looking at the menu.


    "Have you decided what to get senior? I¡¯m gonna get the braised treasure duck." The female clerk spoke.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and looked through the prices that were all written in silver coins or even gold coins. Feeling it a bother to calcte, he just decided to go ahead.


    "I¡¯ll take everything." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hm? I¡¯m sorry, everything?" The waiter asked, thinking that he must have heard something wrong.


    "Yes. Get me one of everything." Lin Mu spoke.


    The waiter¡¯s eye couldn¡¯t help but twitch upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words and he was about to speak but was then interrupted again.


    "No, wait. Get me one of everything and keep theming." Lin Mu said before putting a small pouch on the table.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    The pouch made a clinking sound and just from the waiter could roughly tell it was filled with coins.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    He secretly gulped before opening the pouch to take a look, only to find it filled with gold coins. There were about twenty gold coins in it, which were more than enough to buy the dishes a few times over.


    "As you wish, senior." The waiter said before swiftly leaving.


    He was actually scared that Lin Mu may go back on his words and take back his money. This was a lot of money for him and usually, he would get a share from each customer that he served. It was about five percent of the total cost of the meal and just from Lin Mu¡¯s meal, he was getting an entire gold coin, which was usually what he got in a week.


    The restaurant was inherently expensive and as such even the positions such as those of waiters were very lucrative. There were many people among themoners applying for jobs such as these, and thepetition was tough.


    Lin Mu though waspletely unaware of the thoughts of the waiter and was just focused on Wu Hei and his currentpanions. The female clerk, on the other hand, was trying very hard to not look at him awkwardly.


    ¡¯Why did he order so much? Is he gonna keep some forter?¡¯ She wondered.


    Then she realized another fact.


    ¡¯He didn¡¯t even think about me tagging along for a meal... now that I think of it... isn¡¯t he a bit of a scatterbrain?¡¯ She thought.


    Since the start, while she had found Lin Mu to be quite handsome, he had been acting strange. He didn¡¯t mind all the expensive prices. He went and bought a mid grademunication jade as if it was nothing and he even wanted all the information that had in the union no matter how old it was. Then he went and sat in the library for the entire night.


    ¡¯Hmm... he did say that he has been in seclusion for the past two years, so maybe it¡¯s rted to that. No wait! He said he¡¯s a wandering cultivator, then where would he even go to seclusion at? It isn¡¯t like he just went into seclusion in a random cave, did he?.¡¯ The female clerk thought.


    Unknown to her, all of her assumptions were rather urate, but the man in front of her showed zero interest.

 Chapter 457 - The Restaurants Peculiarity

    <h4>Chapter 457 - The Restaurant''s Peculiarity </h4>


    Lin Mu looked around the floor to see if there was anyone else that was strong or influential here. It didn¡¯t take him long to realize that nearly everyone on this floor was a core condensation realm cultivator.


    ¡¯The clerk said something about the floors being different, didn¡¯t she?¡¯ Lin Mu thought and looked at her, but then realized another thing.


    ¡¯Wait, what¡¯s her name?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "I just remembered I never asked your name. What is it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The female clerk was a bit started by his question and even she realized that never had he asked her for a name and had just been speaking directly. In fact, now that she thought of it, he had not asked anyone for their names.


    "My name is Tongguo Bing." She answered.


    "Tongguo? That¡¯s a rather rare surname. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve met anyone that had that surname before." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hehe~ Yes senior, my surname is indeed rather umon. Even I haven¡¯t met anyone that had the same surname except for my father." Tongguo Bing said.


    "I see... oh yeah, tell me more about this restaurant. I saw that they have different floors for different people, what¡¯s that about?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Oh, that? The restaurant basically gives different privileges to cultivators depending on their cultivation base.


    Themoners and normal warriors usually sit on the first floor, while some weak cultivators may also join them there. Cultivators that are in thete stage Qi refining realm to peak stage can sit on the second floor.


    Then cultivators who are at the early stage of the core condensation realm to mid stage can sit at the third floor. Then here at the fourth floor, only those that have ate to peak stage core condensation realm cultivation base can stay." Tongguo Bing answered.


    "I see. But what about the top floor? There¡¯s a fifth floor too, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The fifth floor is a bit special in that it is reserved for the Royalty or if it so happened a Nascent Soul realm cultivator." Tongguo Bing replied.


    "Has any royal ever visited here? Or even a Nascent Soul realm cultivator?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "Not recently, but it does happen sometimes. Thest time was about a year ago, I think. Umm... it was the prince that visited the restaurant with some of the other young masters of the influential ns, if I remember correctly." Tongguo Bing replied.


    "So royalty, huh? Does that mean the son of a Minister will also be qualified to sit on the fifth floor?" Lin Mu questioned.


    N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "Of course. Being the son of a minister does make them royalty, though not blood rted." Tongguo Bing replied.


    "I understand." Lin Mu said before his perception moved back to Wu Hei.


    ¡¯Why would Wu Hei sit here if he could be on the fifth floor and have more privacy? It couldn¡¯t be because of hispanions though, as it seems like it only takes one person to fulfill the condition to let theirpanions join them. If it was not like that, the restaurant wouldn¡¯t make sense.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Now that Lin Mu thought about it, Wu Hei¡¯s actions seemed to be much strange than before. He didn¡¯t know if it was due to him being controlled or something else, but a smart man wouldn¡¯t make a mistake like this.


    If he bothered to set up a sound isting formation, then they may have as well sat at the fifth floor that was definitely empty.


    "You should probably observe him for longer, as even I¡¯m feeling it to be strange. Perhaps after they deactivate the istion formation, you can check him with your spirit sense better." Xukong suggested.


    "Yes senior." And just as Lin Mu responded, the waiter had returned.


    But this time, he was not alone and was apanied by six more waiters. The rest of the people sitting on the floor couldn¡¯t help but look at the number of dishes that were being carried by the waiters. Each of them was carrying arge tray that had multiple tes and bowls of dishes ced on them.


    This would not have been unusual if the waiters were going to different tables, but in this case, they were all going to the same table, which only had two people sitting on it. No matter how they looked at it, the amount of food was simply too much.


    Tongguo Bing also noticed the gazes of the people being directed towards them and felt a bit embarrassed. Lin Mu on the other hand, was feeling amazed by the aroma of the dishes, so much so that his mouth couldn¡¯t help but water.


    ¡¯Oh no, don¡¯t start right now.¡¯ Lin Mu said to himself as he could feel a rumble in his stomach.


    He didn¡¯t want the nameless technique to suddenly activate in a full blown manner here, as that would mean he would pretty much eat like a beast.


    "Here are your dishes sir, as for the rest of your orders, just gesture to us and we will bring them as well." The waiter said, after covering the entire table with the tters.


    "Okay, I¡¯ll do that." Lin Mu said before starting his meal.


    What happened next could only be described as bizarre. Tongguo Bing and the rest of the people on the floor that were watching Lin Mu eat were left dumbfounded. It had not even been five minutes before all of the dishes on the table had been swiped clean.


    Tongguo Bing on the other hand couldn¡¯t even begin to fathom how something like this could be possible. She was so shocked that she hadn¡¯t even touched the food she had ordered.


    "Wh-what? What kind of a man is that? How is he even eating that much food?" Someone on the floor questioned in a low voice.


    They knew speaking out loud would be rude and no one on this floor was someone they could afford to offend willy-nilly.


    It was now that even Wu Hei and hispanions, who were keeping to themselves, noticed Lin Mu.

 Chapter 458 - Following Wu Hei

    <h4>Chapter 458 - Following Wu Hei </h4>


    "Someone you know?" One of the men that were sitting along with Wu Hei asked.


    "No..." Wu Hei shook his head.


    "Hmm... he is indeed quite strange. If I had not sensed his peak stage core condensation realm cultivation base, I would have just assumed it was some random cultivator taking advantage of their host.


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    Even his clothes look rather simr to those of the peasants." Another manmented.


    "He¡¯s at the peak stage? What?" A man who was wearing a Grey shirt spoke.


    His body was rtively muscr than the others sitting here, and he had a hammer strapped to his back. He squinted his eyes as his spirit sense spread towards Lin Mu. He didn¡¯t directly probe him though, and merely sensed the faint fluctuationing from his body.


    His brows furrowed as he fiddled his fingers.


    "Anything wrong?" Hispanion asked after seeing his reaction.


    "While his spirit Qi is quite apparent... I cannot sense the vital energy within him." The man with the hammer replied.


    "That¡¯s normal though, if you have not directly probed his body, you wouldn¡¯t be able to check his vital energy, anyway." Thepanion replied.


    "I know that. But I am not speaking in that sense. There¡¯s this feeling... I can¡¯t exin it fully, but it¡¯s like his aura... it is that of a predator hiding in his den, ready to attack at the first sight of provocation." The man with the hammer exined.


    After hearing the words of the man, the rest of them couldn¡¯t help but take another look at Lin Mu, who had now finished the second round of dishes and was asking for the next round.


    "We should finish up here, Master has ordered us toplete the check up quickly. The next shipment should not be dyed." Wu Hei urged.


    "Yes, we cannot waste master¡¯s time." The others chimed in and returned to their previous discussion.


    While Wu Hei¡¯spanions were busy in the discussion, Wu Hei secretly nced at Lin Mu again.


    ¡¯Is that...¡¯


    ***


    Lin Mu was now on his fourth round of dishes, and the people in the restaurant had gotten used to it. They just put him as an anomaly. It wasn¡¯t as if there were no cultivators who ate that much, it was just that they were quite rare and they thus ended up considering him as one of them.


    As long as Lin Mu was paying the cost of his meal and not bothering them, they had no right to speak about it, anyway.


    Tongguo Bing had also gotten numb to Lin Mu¡¯s appetite after the third round and was now eating her own food little by little. Unlike Lin Mu, who was looking to just stuff his mouth, she wanted to enjoy and savor the vor of the dish she had ordered.


    The dish was actually quite filling and all of the dishes they had ordered contained some low grade spirit herbs and meat of spirit beasts. This could not be found on the lower floors and was exclusive to the fourth floor and above.


    Those on the third and second floor could only enjoy some food with low grade spirit herbs but no spirit beast meat, while those on the first floor could only eat normal vegetables with body tempering realm beast meat.


    Lin Mu ate a total of five rounds of dishes and only stopped because he noticed Wu Hei and his group were about to leave. He quickly wiped his face with a napkin and stood up.


    "You¡¯re going senior?" Tongguo Bing questioned.


    "Yes, you can continue eating and if you want to order more." Lin Mu said before looking towards the waiter. "There¡¯s still more money left in the tab right?" he asked.


    "Ah, yes sir. She can order more food if she wants." The waiter hurriedly responded.


    "See, now you can enjoy more. I have a few tasks to do so I¡¯ll be heading off." Lin Mu said before leaving the restaurant.


    Lin Mu had ensured that Wu Hei and hispanions were a bit ahead of him, so that they wouldn¡¯t find him to be suspicious of following them. Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense was extended fully as he kept an eye on them all.


    He had known when thepanions of Wu Hei and him were looking at him back at the restaurant. He had done this intentionality as he wanted to see if they would be bothered by him, or if Wu Hei would recognize him. Lin Mu got the idea that while the rest of them were a bit interested in him, due to how he was eating, Wu Hei himself had only taken a couple of nces.


    Spying on people was now quite easy for Lin Mu as he simply sank into the ground using Phase while his spirit sense kept observing them. With his increased cultivation base, it was no problem for him to hide for days on end using phase if he needed to. He simply had a lot of spirit Qi.


    Wu Hei and hispanions soon split up and went on their own ways after a short distance and Lin Mu continued after Wu Hei. He didn¡¯t want to give up on him right now and knew from the way they were conversing at the restaurant, he was the one leading them.


    If he could get Wu Hei, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for Lin Mu to get the rest of hispanions either. Lin Mu followed after him for about fifteen minutes, after which he had reached a rather empty area. They were currently near the city wall of the southwestern part.


    This area was a bit less developed than the other parts of the city, but it was still quite better than the northern town. Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense checked the area but above the ground and below it but did not find anyone here.


    "This makes it a bit easy for me." Lin Mu muttered and decided to act.

 Chapter 459 - A Teleportation Talisman

    <h4>Chapter 459 - A Teleportation Talisman </h4>


    But before Lin Mu could proceed any further, he felt strong spatial fluctuations appear in the area.


    ¡¯WHAT!¡¯ Lin Mu internalize shouted.


    He sensed them and felt them to be a bit familiar.


    "A teleportation formation? But I didn¡¯t see it before here?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "He used a teleportation talisman. They can be used to teleport to a fixed direction or randomly in any point in a set radius." Xukong informed.


    "Did he find out that I was following him or something?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That seems unlikely. The most probable thing is that their meeting ce is somece secret that can only be essed by that teleportation talisman." Xukong replied.


    "I see... but I¡¯m not letting him go this easily." Lin Mu said with determination.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    Wu Hei disappeared into thin air, but Lin Mu didn¡¯t panic. He activated his spatial perception and saw the ck dots appearing in the area. He easily caught the one that was moving and knew that was Wu Hei¡¯s traveling through the void.


    "Fade..." Lin Mu muttered before appearing in the parallel world.


    Here he could sense the ck dot much easily and flew behind it. His speed had increased by quite a bit and even with the short span that Fadested for he was already outside of the city by now.


    Thankfully, since he had entered the city formally the first time, he didn¡¯t need to worry about the formation as much now. Unless someone specifically searched for him at this right exact moment, they wouldn¡¯t even know where Lin Mu had gone to.


    He appeared in the real world after the duration of Fade ended and continued after the ck dot which was speeding up now. Lin Mu didn¡¯t worry about him missing the ck dot, as the trail of spatial traces that it left behind was enough for him to go after.


    After a few minutes, the ck dot was no longer in the sights of Lin Mu and he had to follow the trail. It took him about ten more minutes before he reached the end point of the spatial traces.


    "It is a cave of course... I should have expected." Lin Mu muttered after seeing the location.


    The cave was located underground and had no entrance from the surface. As Xukong had said, the only way to get into it was to use the teleportation talisman. The cave was also located quite deep, such that one would not find it by simply digging into it.


    But this was a problem for normal people and not Lin Mu.


    "Let¡¯s see what they are up to..." Lin Mu muttered before skiing into the ground.


    His spirit sense was extended to check for the area and he quickly found that there were around twenty people in the cave right now. The cave was quite big and divided into halls and rooms ording to their uses.


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    "Perhaps even Gu Yao may be hiding here... though that seems unlikely. I don¡¯t sense that ufortable aura here." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu found that the people here were wearing a variety of outfits and it didn¡¯t seem like they belonged to any particr organization. They didn¡¯t even seem to belong to the Gu Legion.


    "Gu Yao has probably expanded his circle of control to a more vast group of people. I don¡¯t think many of them are even being controlled." Xukong said.


    "What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Controlling each and every person would be too much for Gu Yao. The more efficient and manageable thing would be to control the higher ups and leaders of the organizations. That way he can simply give orders to their members and make them work for him. They will oblige without thinking much since they are working for their leaders, unaware of what¡¯s truly happing." Xukong exined.


    "But won¡¯t they question some things that are straight up wrong? Like killing random people? Gu Yao would need them right, if he wants to increase the number of people he¡¯s controlling?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You think too highly of those cultivation sects and other organizations. They won¡¯t mind something like this as they do things like these on their own too. Though not as often. Besides, if someone really does question them, they can simply frame that person as a traitor or working for the enemy.


    As for the victims, they can do the same thing. They can just tell their members that the victims were their enemies as well, and that they were secretly working against them. It wouldn¡¯t be that difficult for them to fabricate evidence either." Xukong answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered as a cold look appeared on his face.


    He focused back on the situation at hand and looked for Wu Hei. He had to be careful not to touch anyone or their spirit sense, or he would be found out. He could tell that there were a lot of core condensation realm cultivators here, and he did not want to start a battle without the proper information.


    He soon found Wu Hei to be sitting in one of the private rooms and working on some documents. Lin Mu moved deeper into the ground before reaching the room. He did the same thing he had done back at the Tri caution peony sect¡¯s courtyard at the Wu Lim City and spied on him from the top.


    He slightly popped his head out and watched what was written on the documents.


    ¡¯The current shipment of resources will be sent by next week at thetest and the master should receive it in fifteen days. Make sure that all the herbs are properly packaged and do not lose their potency.


    A shipment of spirit stones will be arriving from the Cloven Sea sect by tomorrow and will join in the main shipment mid way.


    As for the human cultivators, they are to be transported to Master in batches of ten every ten days. Make sure to have extra stock in case of an emergency.¡¯


    "What the hell..." Lin Mu eximed internally.

 Chapter 460 - Wu Hei Is Not Controlled?

    <h4>Chapter 460 - Wu Hei Is Not Controlled? </h4>


    Lin Mu had not expected that he would directly find a clue about Gu Yao¡¯s whereabouts. He had been prepared to search here for a while but this was quite unexpected.


    "Senior if I break Wu Hei out of Gu Yao¡¯s control somehow, will Gu Yao know?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... unless he is in the range of his direct control I doubt it. We already saw back at the cloud chamber below the ancestral temple that he needs to give his servants verbalmands. He can¡¯tmunicate with them telepathically.


    So as long as they are at a sufficient distance from him, there shouldn¡¯t be a problem. The real problem will happen afterward if Gu Yao or that person gets close to him." Xukong replied.


    "This will make it a bit more difficult then..." Lin Mu replied.


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    "Wait a minute, I think not. Look at Wu Hei," Xukong suddenly said.


    Lin Mu directed his focus back onto Wu Hei and saw that he had taken out another sheet of paper from his desk. This sheet was nk but was of the same type as the one on which the document was written on.


    He then started copying down everything from the document while making certain changes. The changes he made were in the part where it mentioned the sending location of the cultivators.


    "Huh? Why did he change this location?... no wait... is he?" Lin Mu said feeling shocked.


    "Looks like we didn¡¯t have to worry about him as much... he¡¯s not in the control of Gu Yao." Xukong said with a chuckle.


    "But how?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Well, why don¡¯t you ask him afterwards and see for yourself?" Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to wait and watch. He still had his doubts about Wu Hei being controlled, and was wondering if this was just something he was doing on his own.


    After Wu Hei finished writing the forged document, he rolled it up and called a person.


    "Send this to the next outpost," Wu Hei ordered.


    "Yes!" the person replied before leaving for his task.


    He activated the talisman, which was actually a bracelet that they were all wearing under their sleeves. Lin Mu had not seen it before, but now he had a clear sight of it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The man disappeared into thin air and Lin Mu could sense the spatial fluctuations moving farther away. After the man was gone, Wu Hei slumped down on his chair and let out a sigh, rubbing his temple. He didn¡¯t even speak a word and just rested his eyes.


    Seeing them use teleporting talismans had also confirmed another thing for Lin Mu; their links to the Northern Tribes.


    As far as he knew, the northern tribes had the knowledge about teleportation formations, and while the people in the Great Zhou Empire had also learned of it, they did not have the same expertise.


    Making a teleportation formation required skilled formation masters and making a talisman was even more difficult. Most of them were fixed formations, which made it easier to establish a teleportation channel.


    If a talisman was used, the point of teleportation would change often, which would lead to the channel changing as well. This would end up using more energy and resources which would only make the process expensive.


    To make this process cheaper was something that was lost with the disappearance of the Grand northern Alliance. Lin Mu reckoned that Gu Yao was having the backing of northern tribes or making so many teleportation talismans, that too multiple use ones would have been very expensive.


    "I¡¯ll take a look around the rest of the area." Lin Mu muttered before moving.


    One of his spirit sense tendrils was still focused on Wu Hei so he didn¡¯t miss his actions, while he moved around in the cave. He memorized the appearances of each and every person here and also went on to check the rest of the things kept here.


    Most of the ce was empty, which seemed strange to him, but he assumed that they kept theirmunication to the minimum so as to keep it secret and avoid leaking.


    The things that were kept in the cave were mostly resources, such as spirit herbs and some spirit stones.


    "Seems like this is their shipment..." Lin Mu guessed.


    "But their quantity is less than mentioned in the document, looks like they are waiting for more." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He was going to look more around the cave, but then Wu Hei woke up. He touched the bracelet in his hand and teleported again. Lin Mu instantly used Fade and followed behind him.


    "Is he going to end up in the same ce where he came from? Or will it take him somece else in the city?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Another thing Lin Mu noticed was that the speed at which the spatial fluctuations were moving at was slower than before.


    "Why is it slow now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It¡¯s likely a limitation on the teleportation talisman. Even if it is a multiple use teleportation talisman, the number of times he can use it in a day must be less. So far we have seen him use it twice, so we can put that as the minimum number.


    Though we don¡¯t know if it depends on his own spirit Qi to operate or has a separate store of spirit Qi store." Xukong answered.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu said, continuing his journey.


    This time due to the teleportation being slower, Lin Mu didn¡¯t lose track of Wu Hei and was able to follow behind him rather easily. They soon reached the capital city and Lin Mu used fade to enter it again.


    As Lin Mu had guessed, Wu Hei appeared in the same deste alley from where he had teleported at the start. Wu Hei spread his spirit sense around and checked for any people in the area.


    Seeing that there was no one there, he was about to leave, but then a voice stopped him.


    "Wu Hei..."

 Chapter 461 - Jumpscare?

    <h4>Chapter 461 - Jumpscare? </h4>


    Wu Hei was shocked upon hearing the voice suddenly calling out to him. He was a hundred percent sure that there was no one near him just a second ago, but the voice was right behind him.


    He tried to identify the voice, but couldn¡¯t do so. It was no one from his group of acquaintances, which meant that it was either a random stranger or more likely an enemy. Wu Hei quickly summoned his spirit sword and turned around for a battle.


    His spirit sword shot towards the source of the voice and collided with it.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~clink~clink~clink~</i>


    But then his spirit sword was swatted away like a child¡¯s toy. His eyes went wide and he looked at the faintly glowing arm of the man in front of him. Now... he recognized him.


    "You! From that restaurant..." Wu Hei muttered.


    He didn¡¯t know what to be shocked about more. The fact that the man had been able to approach him without him knowing and escaping his spirit sense. Or the fact that he was able to swat a full power attack of his like it was nothing.


    If it was any other core condensation realm cultivator, they would have had their arm severed or worse, their head decapitated.


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    "So you really were paying attention to me back at the restaurant." Lin Mu said.


    "Who are you?" Wu Hei asked as he recalled his spirit sword to his side.


    "I thought you would have recognized me by now. After all, you saw me eat at the restaurant," Lin Mu chuckled.


    Wu Hei¡¯s eyes narrowed and he became apprehensive.


    "I know you are not under the control of Gu Yao, so you don¡¯t need to act in front of me. It is I, Lin Mu." He revealed.


    Wu Hei¡¯s eyes went wide and he couldn¡¯t help but take another look at Lin Mu. His appearance was much different than the teen he had seen two years ago. This man was much taller and well built than him, plus his voice was also quite different.


    But now that he looked closely, he couldn¡¯t help but match some of the facial features of Lin Mu to this man. The one thing that was telling him that this was likely to be was his appetite, that he had demonstrated in the restaurant. Still, he couldn¡¯t confirm just from this as there were many more people that could do the same and he could just be someone pretending to be Lin Mu.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like you still doubt me. I think this should help..." Lin M said before some faint chants started toe out of his mouth.


    A short sword appeared in front of him, that Wu Hei instantly recognized. But what confirmed the fact that this was indeed Lin Mu was what he saw next.


    In the very next second, it was as if he had disappeared from the world and appeared in an empty ce. There he saw a tall mountain made out of swords appeared and at the very top of it was sitting no one but Lin Mu.


    ¡¯There is no doubt... this sword intent... it cannot be faked...¡¯ Wu Hei confirmed.


    A secondter, the illusion faded and Wu Hei found himself back in the real world. He felt sweat covering his face and back and was now absolutely sure.


    "How did you..." Wu Hei muttered.


    "Survive? Escape? Hide?" Lin Mu prompted.


    "Yes... all that." Wu Hei replied.


    "I call tell you everything... but for now I think it would be better if we find a more private space. Even if this area is rather deste, I don¡¯t think it would be appropriate." Lin Mu said.


    Wu Hei nodded as he saw the merit in his words. He had been dealing with Gu Yao and the people he controlled for the past two years, all the while disguising himself. He knew better than to be careless and to err on the side of caution.


    "Hmm... follow me from afar, I¡¯ll take you to a ce. Be careful, there are many eyes in this ce that are always watching." Wu Hei spoke.


    "I have my ways. Don¡¯t worry, no one will see me." Lin Mu said before disappearing into thin air, right in front of Wu Hei¡¯s eyes.


    Wu Hei did a double take and even scanned with his spirit sense, only to be unsessful. Pushing this to the back of his mind for now, he decided to continue on as they had discussed.


    Wu Hei weaved through the city, moving from one street to the next. Lin Mu was observing him closely and was actually right below him. When he had disappeared, what he had actually done was to use phase and Blink at the same time.


    He saw how Wu Hei avoided certain areas and noted them down to ask about themter. He knew there must be a lot of spies that Gu Yao must have in the area. Lin Mu wanted to investigate on his own as well, and this information would greatly help him.


    About an hourter, Wu Hei arrived at the southern part of the city. This street was popted by some shops that sold expensive and luxurious items, as well as some pleasure pavilions. Wu Hei halted at the side of a pleasure pavilion for a bit and scanned the area.


    He then sent to the back area of the pleasure pavilion, which was usually used for the servants to enter and opened a hidden door that was disguised as a wall. Lin Mu on the other hand, simply phased through the ground and appeared back on the ground.


    "Here I am," Lin Mu announced, shocking Wu Hei again, who was waiting for Lin Mu at the door instead.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Wu Hei took a breath of relief and wiped the sweat on his forehead away.


    "Now then... can you tell me what exactly happened after you escaped? I was quite restrained and thus could find literally no information about you... which now that I think was good." Wu Hei spoke.

 Chapter 462 - Catching Up

    <h4>Chapter 462 - Catching Up </h4>


    Lin Mu sat down on one of the sofas that were ced in the room and began his story.


    "After escaping from Gu Yao, I knew that returning was not gonna be an option for a while. At least until I was strong enough to fight him again. I thus went beyond the northern forest, all the way into the northern mountains.


    There I cultivated in seclusion until I reached the peak of the core condensation realm. I reached a bottleneck and thus need to wait for the heavenly tribtion before I can continue forward.


    I knew that the longer I waited the more dangerous the situation would get and thus finally decided to return. Thankfully, during that time I also experienced a growth spurt and my appearance changed enough that no one recognizes me now." Lin Mu spoke.


    Wu Hei felt dumbstruck at his words.


    ¡¯Reaching the peak stages of the core condensation realm in two years? That too from the peak stages of the Qi refining realm? Is this a joke?!¡¯ Wu Hei thought.


    But the reality proved him otherwise. Wu Hei could clearly sense the faint spirit Qi fluctuations that wereing from Lin Mu and knew for sure that the man was at the peak of the core condensation realm.


    ¡¯Wait... how old is this kid? Back then he was barely sixteen and now a little above eighteen?¡¯ Wu Hei wondered.


    He couldn¡¯t help butpare Lin Mu with the other young geniuses of the Great Zhou empire. The crown prince was said to be the youngest person to have reached the core condensation realm at the age of twenty.


    Sure, there were geniuses in the top sects that were able to do the same at an even younger age, but there was no one like Lin Mu. Not only had he broken through to the core condensation realm, but had also reached the peak and was now literally only restricted due to the heavenly tribtion.


    Wu Hei had no doubt that if the tribtion came right now, Lin Mu woulde out on top to be a Nascent Soul realm cultivator. This was a terrifying thought that even he did not dare to think of.


    He couldn¡¯t help but remember the fact that Lin Mu¡¯s master was someone that was beyond the Immortal Ascension realm.


    ¡¯Xukong... he called him.¡¯ Wu Hei remembered.


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    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I see... that¡¯s rather good. At least you had some gains in these two years..." Wu Hei said with a sigh.


    Lin Mu stayed silent for a bit and let Wu Hei calm down a bit as he could sense that the man was a bit agitated. Giving him some time to think would be better, he thought.


    "So what happened on your end after I escaped?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "After you escape, I don¡¯t know what exactly happened to Gu Yao. He... kind of went insane..." Wu Hei answered.


    "Insane? Wasn¡¯t he already like that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No, not in that way. Like mentally insane. He kept on repeating about some monster and that it wille for him." Wu Hei replied.


    "Monster?..." Lin Mu finally realized. "Master..." he muttered.


    "Huh? What?" Wu Hei asked upon hearing Lin Mu mutter.


    "I think it was due to my master... he kind of warned Gu Yao that if he went overboard, he would descend to teach him a lesson." Lin Mu revealed.


    "Your master... I understand..." Wu Hei said.


    ¡¯So the monster that Gu Yao has been raving about these past two years is no one but, Lin Mu¡¯s master. What kind of a cultivator is he?¡¯ Wu Hei wondered.


    "When did you wake up? And were you injured?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yeah... getting injured was the least of my worries though. After... whatever your master did to Gu Yao, he was unconscious for five days from what I heard. This would have been a really good opportunity to get rid of him, but he was being guarded by his ¡¯servants¡¯.


    I myself woke up after two days and was injured of course, but was able to heal myself using some of the healing pills I had. Gu Yao had controlled everyone in the city by then though, and the red tide had scared the nearby towns as well. They were apparently able to see it from afar as the sky had turned red over the Wu Lim City.


    After I woke up though, I found my thoughts in disarray. It was as if there were two people inside me and they were fighting for control." Wu Hei exined.


    "How did you break out of Gu Yao¡¯s control, if even the supreme elder of the Tri cauldron peony sect and Peak master Yi Deng were controlled?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It was due to thebination of a few reasons. The first being that Gu Yao is my uncle by birth and due to being blood-rted the Human controlling blood curse didn¡¯t affect mepletely. But what made me get fully out of his control was the cultivation technique I practiced." Wu Hei revealed.


    "A cultivation technique? How did that help?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "I practice a cultivation technique called the Unity Reversal Secrets." Wu Hei answered.


    "Oh? The Taiji Celestial¡¯s inheritance was spread to this world too?" Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "You know about the technique, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, I do. I¡¯ll tell you more about itter, for now you need to focus on him." Xukong replied.


    "But what truly helped me hide that I was free from Gu Yao¡¯s control was my assimted bloodline." Wu Hei added.


    "You have an assimted bloodline?" Lin Mu asked, feeling surprised.


    ¡¯Did you know this, senior?¡¯ Lin Mu asked Xukong.


    "No, even I didn¡¯t sense it on him. I should have been able to sense a beast¡¯s bloodline normally, but it seems like there is more to it than we know." Xukong replied.


    "Yes, I do. It is a bloodline that belongs to a beast called Shadow Lurk Beast." Wu Hei answered.

 Chapter 463 - Wu Heis Fortunate Encounter

    <h4>Chapter 463 - Wu Hei''s Fortunate Encounter </h4>


    Upon hearing the name of the beast, Lin Mu tried to remember if he knew any beast like that. But he could not and came to the conclusion that the beast was either so rare that it was never recorded, or it was not from this world.


    And from what senior Xukong had said about the cultivation technique, Lin Mu was leaning on the second option.


    "How did this bloodline help you hide from Gu Yao then?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The bloodline ability of the Shadow Lurk beast is to hide its spirit Qi fluctuation and its aura. I did not expect that it would even work against the human controlling blood curse and thus I was lucky." Wu Hei answered.


    "I see... and what did this Shadow lurk beast look like?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I do not know," Wu Hei stated.


    "What? But you got the bloodline, right?" Lin Mu asked again.


    "I did get the bloodline, but I did not refine the beast myself. In fact, when I got it the bloodline was already refined into the form of a crystal. The bloodline crystal was present along with the cultivation technique Unity Reversal Secrets." Wu Hei replied.


    "So... you got some sort of an inheritance?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Yes, it could be called that... a year after I left the city and the tragedy with my servants, I was researching different libraries for the old legends and myths. I knew that with my aptitude, raising my cultivation would take a long time.


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    And as such, I was looking for things that would help me progress faster. My aim wasn¡¯t even an inheritance. What I wanted was simply abandoned areas where sects and powerful cultivators lived.


    Even if they were not inheritance grounds, there would often end up some spirit herbs and such growing there, which could have greatly helped me then. I had explored tens of such areas with little luck and only found some mid grade spirit herbs. While it did help my cultivation a bit, it was nothing substantial.


    Then one day, I came upon an old letter that was torn and greatly damaged. This letter told about a treasure box which was sent by an old cultivator to his friend. The letter did not mention who it was addressed to due to the damage over the years, but it did say the ce it was supposed to be kept at.


    Coincidentally, the location mentioned in the letter was just slightly off from the route we were taking back then. I had zero expectations that I would find anything there, but I still did not want to give up on a random miracle.


    When we reached the location, we found it to be the fragments of a ruin. There were barely any traces of it left over the ground, and one could not even tell that this once used to be the abode of a cultivator. My team and I spent time excavating the area and eventually found a random box.


    Now I didn¡¯t know if this was the treasure box that the letter was talking about, as it looked nothing like a treasure box. It was a simple rectangr box that was the size of an incense box. I thought there may be some formations or such on it, but there were none.


    It was simply a two-part box that easily opened by lifting the lid. But inside it, I found a small jade slip and a bloodline crystal. Upon seeing the bloodline crystal, I instantly knew I had lucked out. Even if the jade slip didn¡¯t have anything much, just the bloodline crystal would have been potentially very valuable if I sold it.


    But when I checked the contents of the jade slip, I was shocked even more. The jade slip contained the cultivation technique ¡¯Unity Reversal Secrets¡¯ and also exined what the bloodline crystal was.


    I kept on reading more and found out that both the cultivation technique and the bloodline crystal were sent by the original owner to this cultivator so that he could analyze it.


    I decided to try out the cultivation technique and found it to be much better than the one I used to practice. In less than a year, I had reached the peak of the Qi refining realm. Two yearster I broke through the core condensation realm and then decided to assimte the bloodline crystal.


    At that time I was in a ratherplex situation and it was better for me to hide my cultivation and as such the bloodline crystal was the obvious choice. It took me a couple of days before I finished assimting it and gained the ability to hide my spirit Qi fluctuation and aura.


    I continued cultivating, and learned that there was much more to this technique than I had originally thought.


    And then recently I reached a conclusion that the technique I got was iplete. A cultivation technique that was able to help me progress so fast... was iplete.


    I tried to look for theplete technique but never found it. I even tried to trace the original sender of the letter as I assumed that he probably had the entire technique and had thus sent a part of it to his friend so that he could analyze it." Wu Hei exined.


    Lin Mu heard the entire thing carefully and coulde to a few conclusions of his own. Whatever the technique was, it was likely that even its original owner was unaware of it and did not practice it on his own.


    But seeing as how powerful and effective the technique was, the original owner must have also been an expert, so as to have been able to obtain the technique and even a bloodline crystal.


    He did not know if the bloodline crystal was refined by the original owner or had been found by him, but either of those options would open up a lot of things to consider.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It¡¯s definitely the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial or rather... a fragment of it." Xukong suddenly spoke.

 Chapter 464 - Gu Yaos Influence

    <h4>Chapter 464 - Gu Yao''s Influence </h4>


    Upon hearing the name of the Taiji celestial again, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but want to know more. But knew that this was not the right time for it.


    "I understand how you got through it now. How is your Wu Teng? Since you said those rted by blood would be able to resist it." Lin Mu questioned.


    "Wu Teng was much more injured by the time I woke up and had been taken away by the disciples of the Tri Cauldron Peony sect to heal. Unlike me, he did not have the Unity Reversal Secrets and thus was unable to break out of the control.


    But now that I think of it, that was probably for the best. Because if he really did get free from Gu Yao¡¯s control, he would discover the fact that his Human controlling blood curse was less effective on us and restrain us even more.


    Since my brother did not have the bloodline of the Shadow Lurk beast either, it would have only been even more difficult for him to hide that he had been freed. Besides, with his personality, I highly doubt that he would have chosen to hide and bide for the time being.


    The most likely probability I can think of is that he would have chosen to directly attack Gu Yao and ended up dying to his servants." Wu Hei answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Yes, I think that was good, too. But where is he now? I heard that only you, your father and mother are currency living in the capital." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, it¡¯s only us three currently living here. From what I¡¯ve learned, my elder brother is living at the Tri cauldron peony sect along with his wife and has been given a rather high position.


    Since he is the link between the sect and the kingdom, he is favored by the king as well. Ironically, ever since Gu Yao started controlling the sects, the ties between the Shuang Qian kingdom and the sects have actually gotten better.


    But this has been but a mere facade to hide the fact that all of the controlled sects are involved in human trafficking." Wu Hei replied.


    "How are they gathering people for the sacrifice now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Now that they have sects on his side, Gu Yao has only gotten more brazen. You must have heard that the mercenaries have left the kingdom, right? Well, that thing is not entirely true. The ones that are still in the kingdom are free and safe, but the ones that decided to leave get captured at the border of the kingdoms.


    No one knows about this currently and even the king does not know this." Wu Hei answered.


    "Why hasn¡¯t he controlled the king then?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Every kingdom that is a vassal of the Great Zhou empire has a life wick candle ced at the grand pce of the empire. These life wick candles are linked to the rulers of each kingdom and whenever something happens to them, the effect is reflected on the life wick candles.


    I think Gu Yao has still not been able to ovee this part, and has thus chosen to avoid the king for now. The sects though are a free game and since he directly goes for the higher ups, there is no one left to respond to the changes." Wu Hei exined.


    "Damn this Gu Yao... he can¡¯t be doing this alone, can he? I mean, I know he now has all these sects backing him, but just that shouldn¡¯t be enough. There must be something else." Lin Mu cursed.


    "Of course there is. I was doubtful of this as well at the start but then as I spent more time getting involved in his ns I discovered the most obvious culprit; the Northern tribes. We now know for sure that they have their people infiltrated all over the empire and acting ording to their agendas." Wu Hei said.


    "Hmm... I did actually see a few peopleing from the north back when I was in seclusion in the northern mountains. They were wearing beast furs as clothing." Lin Mu said, repeating what Little Shrubby had told him.


    "Indeed, those are the members of the northern tribes. They are also supplying Gu Yao and the sects under his control with their expertise in the teleportation formations." Wu Hei confirmed.


    "I guessed that as well, when I saw you use that talisman to teleport." Lin Mu said.


    "I have to admit, these teleportation formations are much more powerful than the ones that the people in the empire know. Especially the cost of making them. While the top sects also have knowledge about these teleportation formations, they can¡¯t just make them how the norther tribes do and use a lot more resources.


    It is due to these cheap costs, that Gu Yao has been so fast in taking over all the sects. Currently, he has eight cultivation sects under his control." Wu Hei exined.


    "The zither wind alliance... all the sects in that alliance... they¡¯re controlled by Gu Yao, right?" Lin Mu asked.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Unfortunately, yes... After Gu Yao controlled a bunch of mid level sects, he was able to use theirbined power to ask the patriarch of the zither wind sect for a meeting. Then, setting up a trap using all the controlled experts, he managed to take over the Dao Shell realm patriarch of the Zither Wind sect.


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    This opened up a lot more opportunities for him and he managed to control quite a few of the top sects. Thankfully, the other sects had gotten wind that something was definitely wrong and as such started avoiding any meeting with any person from the Zither Wind sect." Wu Hei replied.


    "Then this is much dangerous than we thought... thankfully none of the top three sects have been controlled yet and Gu Yao has also reached his limit it seems. My mastermunicated with me a while ago and told me that there are only a limited amount of Dao Shell realm cultivators he would be able to control before reaching the Dao Treading Realm himself." Lin Mu spoke.

 Chapter 465 - Reassurance

    <h4>Chapter 465 - Reassurance </h4>


    Most of the assumptions that Senior Xukong had made turned out to be true and Lin Mu was thankful it had not gone beyond what they had expected. If it truly did, then they would have been unable to do anything.


    Thankfully now that they knew the situation at hand, they would be able to make a n that was appropriate for it and it would hopefully work.


    "Brother Lin Mu, Gu Yao has also reached the Dao Shell realm himself due to the support from all the resources of the cultivation sects and the blood sacrificial. Did you master tell if this will affect his ability to control others with the human controlling blood curse?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "Yes. My master already thought of this and told me that even if Gu Yao reaches the Dao Shell realm, he would be limited in his controlling ability. We can roughly consider that he has about ten Dao Shell realm cultivators under his control for now.


    And if he wants to control more, he would need a lot of blood essence to use the Human controlling blood curse to control those that are at the Dao Shell realm. But if he wants to do the same with those at the Dao Treading Realm, he would need to be at the Dao Treading realm as well." Lin Mu answered.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "That means the top three sects are safe for now. They each have their respective Dao treading realm cultivators who will prevent them from being controlled." Wu Hei took a breath of relief.


    "Indeed. But we can¡¯t drop our guard here. There is still the wild card which is the Northern Tribes. What more information do you have on them?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Honestly, I don¡¯t have much. Even Gu Yao himself does not interact with them as much thus we have no idea of what they¡¯re nning. The two times that I did see them speak with Gu Yao, they were merely discussing about more resources and nothing more." Wu Hei replied.


    "I see... what about the blood sacrifices? I know you have been trying to divert them." Lin Mu said.


    Wu Hei seemed a bit surprised upon hearing this but just attribute it to Lin Mu¡¯s skill of hiding and disappearing, whatever it was.


    "I have been able to free a few of them by changing the location of deliveries. Though not all of them were able to survive it. But those that did are willing to join our cause as they want to take revenge for theirpanions as well." Wu Hei stated.


    "How exactly are you doing it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well, I simply make it so that the sacrificial cultivators are delivered to a fake location and taken by someone who is disguised as one of Gu Yao¡¯s servants. They then pretend to take them. But this does not always work and the ones delivering discover it.


    Me and the others have been able to kill those that find out thankfully, to stop this information from getting out. We were able to hide the fact that there are traitors within the ranks, by telling Gu Yao, the cultivators freed themselves somehow and escaped to that location. We pretend that we reached that ce to capture them and that is how we justify the change of delivery location.


    So far, the sess rate is about thirty percent. A lot of cultivators still end up reaching Gu Yao as I am not the only one handling these deliveries. There are other servants of his that do the same for other regions and they still deliver them. Even I can¡¯t do it too often as Gu Yao may end up discovering it." Wu Hei exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and knew this was the best Wu Hei could do for now. Even with his cultivation base that was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm like him, he still wasn¡¯t a match for multiple nascent soul realm cultivators that may attack him if he was found out.


    "What about the Hei corps?" Lin Mu asked next.


    Wu Hei had a tense expression after listening to the question and gritted his teeth. Lin Mu instantly knew something bad had happened.


    "When Gu Yao controlled everyone in the city, there were many Hei corps members amongst them as well. With them being in his control, he was able to find the others who were not there and free. He quickly eliminated them and now barely five percent of all my people are left." Wu Hei said in a sorrowful tone.


    Lin Mu felt anger rise within his heart as well, since he had some good rtions with some of the people in there too.


    "Who are the ones that are still left?" Lin Mu questioned.


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    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Right now, there is Hei Wan and a few of the weaker members of the Hei corps left. Hei Wan had secret orders from me to escape with some documents if she felt we were a lost cause. She was to deliver them to the sects and the kingdom.


    But back then, I did not know that Gu Yao had the ability to control so many people. That n failed before it had even started. But still, due to that Hei Wan was not in the northern town at that time and was able to escape the massacre." Wu Hei answered.


    <i>~pat~pat~</i>


    "Don¡¯t worry, we will not let their deaths go in vain. I swear upon my honor that I shall take revenge for all that have been affected by Gu Yao and the Northern Tribes!" Lin Mu said while patting Wu Hei¡¯s shoulder.


    Wu Hei looked up and thought he was hallucinating. For a moment there he had seen an obscure pattern appearing on Lin Mu¡¯s forehead. He couldn¡¯t read what the pattern said, but could feel the power exuding from it. There was a strange sense of reassurance in Lin Mu¡¯s words that he could not exin.


    "And when that time arrives, I¡¯ll be with you!" Wu Hei replied.

 Chapter 466 - A Plan Of Sabotage

    <h4>Chapter 466 - A n Of Sabotage </h4>


    "What¡¯s the situation here in the capital? And what about your father?" Lin Mu questioned after Wu Hei had calmed down.


    "The capital has a lot of spies of Gu Yao. Mostly in the form of disciples of various sects. There are a few that are being controlled by the curse but most of them are here on the orders of their sects.


    Overall the situation is in a strange equilibrium but it can be changed at any moment. As for my father Wu Xun, ever since he was promoted to the position of a court minister, his influence has only grown.


    He has been using this power to establish various deals that are likely to be helpful to Gu Yao. I haven¡¯t been able to gain much on his end due to being greatly restricted. He hasn¡¯t been letting anyone other than Gu Yao himself get an idea of what he¡¯s doing either.


    And now that my mother is under the control of Gu Yao as well, the slight opposition that he had from the old powers that supported my mother have also faded away. Her power as the Zhen n¡¯s final member is useless as well." Wu Hei answered.


    "Hmm... looks like we will have to take a different approach. Have you thought of a n? It doesn¡¯t matter if it is not possible now, we may be able to change that in the future." Lin Mu asked.


    "There are indeed some ns that I made. I reckoned that since we are unable to directly oppose Gu Yao for now, the most I could do was to dy his rise. I was sabotaging his supply chains and saving the sacrifices, but that hasn¡¯t been that effective.


    Another thing that I wanted to do was to alert the top sects to his existence. This would have been easy since they already knew the Northern Tribes are acting up, but his hold over the other sects is far too much to do it efficiently. I tried something like that, but it was stopped by his servants before the proof could even reach the top sects." Wu Hei replied.


    "Crippling his supply chains may really be the way. I doubt Gu Yao will be able to hide the fact that the various elders of the sects are being controlled for long. Like you said before, the top sects were already suspicious of the many sects that were joining under the Zither wind alliance.


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    That means they have some idea but don¡¯t exactly know what it is. We just need to dy Gu Yao long enough that the top sects figure it out on their own. Or perhaps... Gu Yao may even get desperate and make some big mistake which would reveal him.


    Even if he has Dao Shell realm cultivators under him, it will still be difficult for him to go against the Dao treading realm elders of the top sects, not to mention their ancestors who will definitely awaken if things go really bad." Lin Mu analyzed.


    Wu Hei thought over it and found it to be quite valid.


    "This could work... but we will need a lot of people if we want to do this and doing that... while staying hidden is a herculean task." Wu Hei said.


    "What are the particr points for which we will need so many people?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "Well, since we want to dy him, we will need to hit the root of his power, the sects themselves. Without the resources, he will not be able to do much. But to do this, we will have to get to the sects themselves. Unless we have insiders there, this will be close to impossible." Wu Hei replied.


    Lin Mu held his chin and pondered for a few minutes before a few ideas came to him.


    "So... as long as someone can get into the sects and get rid of their resources, it will work?" Lin Mu said.


    "No, not like that. If we really do get rid of all their resources, we will only be crippling ourselves in the long term. We still have the northern tribes to worry about. If the sects don¡¯t have the resource in the time of need, even if we get rid of Gu Yao, we may end up losing the war.


    Besides, if only one sect¡¯s resources disappear, the others will be alerted and they will amp up their defenses. We would need a coordinated operation that targets all of them at the same time." Wu Hei replied.


    Lin Mu once again, thought for a bit before speaking.


    "The problem is with the other sects finding and increasing security, right? Then as long as the gap between all the attacks is short enough will this work?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... it may work. But... it will have to be very fast. Like barely a gap of a day between each attack maybe a bit more if we¡¯re lucky." Wu Hei answered.


    After hearing these words of Wu Hei a new n instantly started formting in Lin Mu¡¯s mind. There were a few variables in this, but Lin Mu reckoned that as long as a little bit of luck was on his side, he truly may be able to aplish this.


    A determined expression appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face which made Wu Hei a bit surprised.


    "I think I may have a method that can be done to make the n work... and the best thing is we don¡¯t even need more people. At least not for the part of crippling Gu Yao¡¯s supply chain." Lin Mu spoke.


    "What is it?" Wu Hei asked hurriedly.


    "Alright then, listen carefully." Lin Mu said before beginning his exnation.


    At first Wu Hei was confused, but the more he listened to it the more shocked he got. The methods that Lin Mu was suggesting were absolutely insane and he would have thought them to be straight up suicide. But Lin Mu¡¯s exnation rified it for him.


    "This... AMAZING! If this truly works then we may truly be able to stop Gu Yao!"

 Chapter 467 - Completing The Recording

    <h4>Chapter 467 - Completing The Recording </h4>


    Lin Mu and Wu Hei discussed the n for about two hours more before they were able to rify the more fine points of it.


    They had separated their duties of the n and now knew what they needed to do. Wu Hei will be taking care of the background tasks of the n, gathering information about the resource and shipments while Lin Mu will be the one who was actually going to attack them.


    "Where is Hei Wan though?" Lin Mu asked feeling curious.


    He had heard from Wu Hei that Hei Wan was safe but he didn¡¯t know where she was or what she was doing.


    "She is currently working as an attendant in one of the shops of Tri caution peony sect. She can hide there and also gather some information." Wu Hei answered.


    "Hmm... that does seem good for the n." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed, once we get this started we will need to be quick. We can¡¯t let Gu Yao or his allies get a whiff of this." Wu Hei said.


    "Of course. Thankfully, with the people you are saving, we will get more people to gather intel. As long as I have the information I¡¯m confident of doing it." Lin Mu stated.


    "Good, I¡¯ll contact you when I have enough details." Wu Hei replied.


    Lin Mu registered Wu Hei¡¯smunication jade slip with his and could now contact him at any time without needing to meet him. The two of them split after this and Lin Mu went back to the library at the mercenary union branch.


    Lin Mu knew that even if Wu Hei was going to gather the information he still needed to do some parts on his own. Obtaining the information from the library would also be helping him in the long term and as such was quite important.


    But while he was going towards the mercenary union¡¯s branch, he felt hismunication jade slip vibrate. He held it and realized that it was Refiner Ru contacting him.


    "All your items are ready, you cane to collect them anytime you want." He said.


    Lin Mu changed his direction and decided to directly go to the Gengbai Emporium to get the Harness that he hadmissioned to be made.


    "Greetings, Senior Wu Lian." The Shopkeeper spoke upon seeing Lin Mu.


    "Mm, I¡¯m here for the harness." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Of course, we have it ready." The shopkeeper said before going to the other room and returning after a minute.


    He had a dark leather harness in his hand and ced it on the counter.


    "Please see if it is up to your standards," The shopkeeper said. "If you want changes to be made, we can do them." He added.


    Lin Mu saw the harness which had multiple straps that firmly secured against the body of a beast. Its seat was firm yet soft and Lin Mu could tell that it had some excellent craftsmanship. The size was also perfect for Little Shrubby and because the straps were adjustable, even if he grew more the Harness would still fit him.


    "Everything seems alright, I¡¯ll take it." Lin Mu stated before picking the harness and storing it in his ring.


    "Thank you for your patronage." The shopkeeper bade Lin Mu farewell, while hoping that he would return again.


    High paying customers were always wee no matter what kind of a business or shop it was. And any business man would want more of them toe in.


    ¡¯Hmm... after I finish up with the books in the library, I should go to Little Shrubby and give him these things. Wonder how he¡¯ll react...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He soon reached the mercenary union and entered it without bothering the clerks. They seemed absent currently and Lin Mu did not know where they had gone to. He estimated the time and could tell it was a little past noon.


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    "Are they having lunch, perhaps?" He wondered.


    Pushing this thought to the back of his mind, Lin Mu opened the door of the library. The doors made some noise while being opened as well.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    It was evident that infrequent use had led to it losing its smoothness and now its hinges were getting rusty.


    Lin Mu sat back in his previous position and took out more spirit stones to use for the million word transference formation.


    <i>~WENG~</i>


    The runes appeared in the air and the formation became active again. Books started trembling in their shelves and when Lin Mu finally ced the jade slip in the center, they all flew out of the shelves.


    They floated over to the center and words starteding out of them before pouring into the jade slip. The formation was working well and Lin Mu could tell that its speed had even increased by a little bit.


    "Your control is getting better," Xukong praised.


    "It is all due to your guidance, senior." Lin Mu replied before fully focusing on the task at hand.


    He continued using the formation and transferred all the information from the books into the jade slip one by one. It took him twelve hours, but he had finallypleted the task and all of the books had been copied into the jade slip.


    This gave rise to a thought in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Senior, if keeping the information in a jade slip is so convenient why do they not use it more?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They do that, of course. Did you forget that not everyone can afford them though? Only sects and rich organizations can afford to set them up though. Besides... for the amount that you bought that Jade slips, you would probably have been able to buy multiple copies of each book in this library." Xukong answered.


    "Ah! I understand... I really did forget that, Hehe..." Lin Mu replied.


    He looked out through one of the windows in the library and saw that the moon was already high up in the sky. It was starting to wane, which meant that it was the second half of the fortnight.

 Chapter 468 - Gifts For Little Shrubby

    <h4>Chapter 468 - Gifts For Little Shrubby </h4>


    Wind whizzed by as Lin Mu flew through the air.


    He had finished up recording all the books in the library and was now heading towards Little Shrubby. He had easily left the city by using fade and was now on his short sword.


    Lin Mu made sure to take a less traveled path and avoideding under the view of anyone. Due to it being nighttime, the security was heightened and he could see way more guards patrolling the areas.


    The area around the capital city was mostly ins with a few hills and patches of forest spread in between. Little Shrubby was hiding in one of these small patches of forest, and Lin Mu was tracing him through his connection with him.


    It took Lin Mu about an hour to reach his position due to how many detours he had to use. It was not like he could use fade either, as sometimes a cultivator would randomlye in his path.


    Even with his spirit sense spread, Lin Mu could only travel a short distance of two hundred meters which was simply not enough. If he tribally wanted to, Lin Mu could travel over a kilometer in the short span within which the skill Fade was active.


    With no other choice, Lin Mu ended up taking multiple detours and finally reached Little Shrubby. He contacted the beast through his link and waited.


    <i>~rustle~</i>


    The thick and tall bushes trembled before Little Shrubby appeared from them, his Grey yellow eyes shining under the moonlight.


    "Are you done with the work in the city?" Little Shrubby asked.


    Lin Mu sniffed and could smell some smoke nearby.


    "Were you cooking?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, I was about to start but then I heard you." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Oh, perfect then. I have something you can use," Lin Mu said before taking out the items he had gotten for little Shrubby.


    He ced the prosthetic hand, the harness and the spatial storage belt on the ground.


    "What are these?" Little Shrubby questioned, having no idea about them.


    Lin Mu then went on to exin the purpose of each item, and the more little Shrubby listened to it the happier he got.


    "YAY! Now I can cook even better!" Little Shrubby eximed in joy.


    But this could only be heard by Lin Mu. For others this was just the growl of a beasting from a forest.


    "Don¡¯t make too much noise," Lin Mu warned.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby immediately became calm.


    "If you want to use the hand, it will take you a bit of practice, but I think you should be able to use the belt rather easily." Lin Mu said.


    He then exined how to use them before putting the belt around little Shrubby¡¯s neck. Since the belt was a spatial storage tool, it had a size adjustment function.


    After Little Shrubby branded it with his spirit sense, the belt automatically shrunk to fit him properly. Now it looked like the belt was custom made for him and even suited him, as the gems embedded in the belt gleamed under the moonlight.


    "Let me put on the harness and then you should be able to store it in the belt and put it on your own." Lin Mu said.


    Little Shrubby purred in acknowledgment and let Lin Mu put on the harness. There were multiple straps on it and once they were all secured, the harness was proselyte set. Lin Mu climbed onto it and tested it.


    "Now try running, we¡¯ll see how it works." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby replied before starting to run.


    Having learned from thest time, Little Shrubby started slowly and got faster as Lin Mu directed him.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    Soon they were running at the fastest speed that was possible for Little Shrubby, and the wind flowed through their hair.


    "Alright, this is enough. We shouldn¡¯t go too far, let¡¯s return." Lin Mu said.


    Little Shrubby did a flip mid-air and change his direction at breakneck speed. This was something he could not have done before when he was carrying Lin Mu, as it would just end up throwing him off his back.


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    But now with the new harness, it was safe for Lin Mu to sit normally, as the straps would keep him secure. Plus, he was able to grip onto the seat as well.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    With the same speed they had gone, they had returned. Lin Mu felt it to be a rather refreshing experience and thought that this was a rather good investment.


    "Now that we are done with the harness and the spatial storage belt, you should try storing it." Lin Mu suggested.


    "I¡¯ll do it." Little Shrubby replied and willed it.


    Then with a slight dy, the harness disappeared from his back.


    "Good! Now try putting it back on." Lin Mu spoke.


    Little Shrubby sensed the harness in his belt and sessfully withdrew it. Since the harness was stored in the position where it was equipped, it appeared back in the same state.


    This way it made it convenient for Little Shrubby to put it on and store it whenever needed.


    "Now, do the same you did with the spatial storage belt and brand the metallic hand with your spirit sense." Lin Mu directed.


    Little Shrubby nodded his head and the spirit sense spread from his body. It touched the prosthetic hand and finally connected to it after a minute.


    "I did it!" Little Shrubby said with excitement.


    "Try moving it around, you should be able to do that now. Though if you want to control the fingers, it will take you more practice." Lin Mu replied.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    With a single thought of little Shrubby, the prosthetic hand was sent flying up in the sky.


    <i>~rustle~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The hand fell back a couple of secondster on the ground with a thud.


    "You¡¯re gonna need more practice..." Lin Mu said as he was reminded of his own time, when he had first used his short sword and split the tent apart.

 Chapter 469 - The Wait For The Operation

    <h4>Chapter 469 - The Wait For The Operation </h4>


    Lin Mu helped Little Shrubby gain better control of the hand for a few hours before he was finally able to use it. Though controlling the fingers was still hard for little shrubby as it had never used them before.


    For Lin Mu or anyone that had a human like hand, it would have been easy to control them as they were used to it. But for a beast like little Shrubby, it had never done the same and as such, it was hard for it to learn.


    It would be the same for humans if they were given an appendage they were not familiar with. For example, if a tail was given to Lin Mu he would have a hard time learning to use it too.


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    It took the entire night, before Little Shrubby was able to gain a basic ability to move the fingers. Its grip was either so strong that he snapped the utensils when he tried to hold on to them, or so weak that they simply fell from the hand.


    Still, Little Shrubby was not hardhearted and was actually excited. This was like a new toy to him, and he was having a great time ying with it.


    "This should be enough for now, the more he uses it the better his understanding will be." Xukong spoke, reminding Lin Mu that it was close to dawn now.


    "It does look like it, senior. I guess I should return now." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu bade farewell to Little Shrubby and returned to the city. What he did not know was that a few cultivators would get reports of strange noisesing from a patch of the forest and visit it.


    But what they would find there is handprint, and palm prints along with trees and rocks that had been destroyed. The matter finally ended with them dering that it was just some cultivator practicing his techniques and thus causing all the noise.


    They also found some camp fires set up that were extinguished along with some bones and scraps of cooked meat, which only assured them further that it was indeed some human cultivator who had taken a break here.


    Such a thing was not that umon as a few wandering cultivators would pass by and take a halt here. Not everyone would visit the city and some didn¡¯t like to socialize with others that much.


    Lin Mu had returned to the mercenary union branch and had just decided to stay at the library for the time being. He had told Wu Hei about this and he told him that it was actually a great idea for him to stay there.


    Not many people favored the mercenary union now and not even the guards would think to check there. This made it the best ce for Lin Mu to stay, as apparently there were a lot of spies in all the inns and hotels of the city.


    Even though he lookedpletely different from before, it was still better if his ¡¯new¡¯ identity stayed hidden for as long as possible. This would only be beneficial to their n and would prolong the time it took for the sects to find out more about him when they started their n.


    Lin Mu was told to wait for a few days before he got the information from Wu Hei and thus had not left the city. While Wu Hei could easily give Lin Mu the location for the sects, it was still better if he gathered all the details for it.


    He wanted the operation to be as swift as possible, so there was the least possible chance of an obstacle. This was due to the fact that most sects were quite huge in size. And had protective formations and arrays that were hard to bypass.


    Any intruder that was able to enter a sect would only get lost in them, or worse killed. If it was not so, any Tom, Dick or Harry would like to steal from the sects. After all, they were no less than a bank if one considered the sheer amount of fortune that was piled in there, both mary and in the form of resources.


    The clerks of the Mercenary union also did not mind, Lin Mu staying at the library, not to mention that had taken quite a liking to him now. Apparently, after he had left the Big Zhao¡¯s Heavenly Delicacies to follow after Wu Hei, the female clerk Tongguo Bing had taken the rest of the credit and bought more dishes for her fellow clerks.


    This had made the clerks favor him a lot, and they felt like they were cheating Lin Mu instead. As he had already paid more than was actually worth to stay in the library. They didn¡¯t mind it even if he stayed there for a year as there wasn¡¯t anyoneing to the Mercenary union anyway.


    About a week had passed since the meeting with Wu Hei and Lin Mu talked with him every day through themunication jade slips. The n wasing together nicely and Wu Hei reckoned that in a month they should have enough to start their very first operation.


    Lin Mu wanted it to be quicker, but even Senior Xukong told him to be patient as things like these could be very dangerous. Stealing from sects was considered a great crime, that too at the level which they were going to do. It would not be rare for the elders of the sect to personally hunt him down.


    Not to mention since they were all being controlled by Gu Yao, the response would likely be even harsher. Lin Mu was already prepared to fight nascent soul realm cultivators in the future. He only had the experience with Gu Yao and he was probably one of the strongest Nascent Soul realm cultivators and if he took him as a standard, Lin Mu had confidence in holding out against one.


    "Now to just bide our time..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he finished reading another book.

 Chapter 470 - Lin Mus Obstacle In Cultivation

    <h4>Chapter 470 - Lin Mu''s Obstacle In Cultivation </h4>


    Lin Mu had learned quite a few new things while Wu Hei gathered intel for their mission.


    He learned the locations of most of the sects of the Great Zhou continent and except for those that were internationally hidden, he now knew how to get to them. Some part of this he learned from the records that he had taken from the mercenary union and some from Wu Hei.


    He was also getting inputs about the current situation of all the top sects and learned that they were officially getting divided into different alliances except for the top three sects.


    Soon there will no longer be the top ten sects but the top four and the two great alliances. The fourth sect which was at the bottom of the top ten sects had now be a hotmodity and both, the Zither wind alliance and the Long Cloud alliance were fighting over it.


    Lin Mu asked Wu Hei more about this Long Cloud alliance and found that it was being led by the Long Cloud Sect, which was the previous number four sect in the top ten sects. Lin Mu wanted to know if Gu Yao had any control over this alliance and learned that while he had some spies in them, they were still free.


    This relieved Lin Mu a bit as they may be able to reel them in as allies in thetter part of their n. But both Lin Mu and Wu Hei knew that would be quite difficult as both of them were not qualified to talk to them if one considered their cultivation bases.


    At the very least they would have to be at the Nascent Soul realm to be able to aplish that. Wu Hei had told Lin Mu that while he was at the peak stages of the core condensation realm, he was still far from the Nascent Soul realm.


    It would take him a decade if not more to reach that, but if he somehow received theplete version of his cultivation technique, the Unity Reversal Secrets, he would be able to do the same in less than two years.


    As for Lin Mu, he was in a dilemma. Neither Xukong nor Lin Mu knew when he would be able to break through to the Nascent Soul realm. Xukong had told Lin Mu that he will sense it when a heavenly tribtion is about to appear for him.


    But so far, Lin Mu did not have even a small sign for that. Even his spirit Qi cultivation had reached a peak and he was unable to progress anymore. Not only was his core fully saturated, even his Dantian was now full.


    Sleeping and using Well of Slumber also did not work for him as the extras spirit Qi that was generated only dissipated after a while. So instead of focusing on the quantitative aspect, Lin Mu decided to focus on the qualitative ones.


    There were a few things that he could do for this. First was the Nameless technique of the Lost immortal which he could continue practicing. Currently, no matter how much spirit Qi he poured into it, it was like a drop in the ocean and no change could be perceived.


    Then he had the body cultivation which he could still progress in. He had the mortal strengthening scripture too, which he wanted to practice but wascking in earth elemental resources. He had already finished all the Earthen Qi pills and could only buy more resources or refine earth attribute spirit Qi of his own.


    Since the spirit Qi he was generating was getting wasted anyway, he focused on refining it further into the earth attribute spirit. Since he was already in the second stage, the use for spirit Qi was quite diminished and he would need earth elemental resources to progress further.


    But Lin Mu could still use the earth attribute spirit Qi to progress his Five Treasures Realm Cultivation. Since he was using the Earth attribute spirit Qi, the five treasures organ that he could refine was his spleen.


    Lin Mu diligently practiced it and continued to refine his spleen with the earth attribute spirit Qi. It was now that he truly learned what the pace of cultivation was like for most people. He was progressing at a snail¡¯s pace and even after a week¡¯s of practice he had not even seen one-hundredth of a percent¡¯s change to his spleen.


    "It looks like the Mortal Strengthen Scripture really isn¡¯t made particrly for Five Treasures Realm cultivation, the progress is disappointing. Do you have something else, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


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    "No I don¡¯t, sadly. Either you will have to continue with this, or find a better technique on your own. Even the reason why I knew of this technique was because it was far too widespread in many worlds. And since I didn¡¯t really need any cultivation techniques myself, I didn¡¯t bother to collect them either." Xukong exined.


    "Seems like it is time to go and buy some resources then." Lin Mu replied before leaving the mercenary union.


    He was now heading towards one of the shops that sold alchemical pills and resources. This was the same shop that was run by the disciples of the Tri Cauldron peony sect and where Hei Wan was working as an attendant.


    It was located quite far from the mercenary union and as such took Lin Mu some time to reach. He would have directly used phase to move underground, but he also liked to listen to the passerby people¡¯s conversations.


    He had been getting some really interesting information from this and was thus getting habituated with it. This was a sort of an entertainment for Lin Mu and he didn¡¯t even know why he was liking it.


    But it still helped him rx a bit, which was strange as he didn¡¯t even know he was stressed. Just like this while listening to the words ofmoners, Lin Mu came to stand in front of the Shop.

 Chapter 471 - At The Pill Shop

    <h4>Chapter 471 - At The Pill Shop </h4>


    The shop was rtively big and had the name board on its entrance. It simply read ¡¯Tri Cauldron Peony Sect Alchemical Supplies¡¯. Every shop that was run by the Tri cauldron peony sect had the same name no matter the city it was located in.


    This made it easy for people to recognize it, not to mention the prestige that came with the name. It directly increased their value which in turn brought in more customers. Which Lin Mu could witness easily.


    The shop was filled to the brim with customers and clerks were running around at the back, rushing to fulfill the orders. Though there was one person who caught Lin Mu¡¯s attention.


    It was a woman who was helping the shopkeeper in selling the pills and other resources. This woman was a mature beauty and had a cold face. A lot of customers couldn¡¯t help but take a second look at her.


    Lin Mu instantly recognized her to be Hei Wan. He walked in and directly went to the main counter. There were multiple spirit sense probes spread around in the shop and the disciples of the Tri cauldron were on guard for any crime that may ur in the shop.


    Thus Lin Mu¡¯s approach was quickly detected, not to mention the fact that he had not hidden his spirit Qi fluctuation. He was deliberately letting them spread in the area. Lin Mu had long since figured out that just doing this let him establish and authority and saved a lot of time for him.


    As long as people saw his cultivation base, they would not dare underestimate him and would respect him. This made things easier for him. Hei Wan too noticed him when he appeared in the shop and almost stumbled.


    She had already heard the report that Lin Mu had appeared from Wu Hei and that his appearance had changed. He had described it to her, but she was still shocked upon seeing him.


    ¡¯This is not a little change, he does not look the same at all!¡¯ Hei Wan thought to herself.


    It was still unbelievable to her that the boy of two years ago was already at the peak stage of the core condensation. She herself had spent a decade to reach the peak of the Qi refining realm because of which this fact was nothing short of a miracle to her.


    If Hei Wan had noticed him, then there was no way the Shopkeeper had not done the same. This man was at the early stage core condensation realm disciple of the sect and could even be considered to be as a junior elder.


    The man instantly sprouted a businessman like smile on his face as he cupped his hands in greeting.


    "What can I do for you today, senior?" The shopkeeper questioned.


    Hei Wan and Lin Mu both looked at each other briefly, but none of them spoke a word to each other.


    "I¡¯d like to buy some pills and herbs please." Lin Mu replied in a friendly tone.


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    "Of course, senior. Our shop has everything that can be supplied by the Tri cauldron peony sect and we give a guarantee for our quality. What would you like in particr? Or if you would like to browse, I can give you our catalog too." The shopkeeper replied swiftly, in a practiced manner.


    "Ah, a catalog would be perfect." Lin Mu said.


    He did not want to say that he would like anything that was rich in earth attribute spirit Qi or was based on that; as it would probably draw some strange gazes and maybe even suspicion.


    Besides, Lin Mu had also learned a few things from the Lost immortal¡¯s memoirs about buying things. He had learned that it was best to not let the merchant know of your exact requirements or there was a great chance that he would try to bargain for a higher price.


    Getting a catalog would ensure that the merchant had a less chance of finding out, and besides that, the prices on the catalog would also help him verify the actual cost.


    "Very well. Here is our catalog of alchemical pills and this one is for spirit herbs." The shopkeeper spoke as he ced them in front of Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu started with the pill catalog as he knew they would contain a higher amount of earth attribute spirit Qi due to being concentrated during refinement. Though on the other hand, they would also be a lot more expensive than just the base spirit herbs.


    There were about fifty pages in the catalog for the pills, and each page had around five to ten pills on it. Lin Mu used his spirit sense along with his vision and quickly read through the entire catalog in five minutes.


    It didn¡¯t take him long before he was able to pick out pills that filled his requirements. But he didn¡¯t state them to the shopkeeper right away. Instead, he chose to look at the herb catalog too.


    The herb catalog was much bigger than the pill catalog, having over a hundred pages in it. Various herbs with their properties, prices and uses were described on each page and Lin Mu took his leisure time reading these.


    The Shopkeeper instructed Hei Wan to keep Lin Mupany while he attended to other customers. This was exactly what the two of them wanted, and Hei Wan epted the task.


    "Are you really here to buy pills and herbs?" Hei Wan asked, feeling a bit apprehensive.


    "Yes, I do need them. And on the other hand, I also wanted to check up on you. I¡¯ve heard all that happened in the past and wanted to see how you were doing." Lin Mu replied.


    Complex emotions appeared in Hei Wan¡¯s eyes, but she quickly suppressed them before letting out a sigh.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "We should ideally avoid as much contact as we can. Even though the ¡¯controlled¡¯ are unaware of him right now, we don¡¯t know if they will find out due to some luck." Hei Wan spoke.

 Chapter 472 - Hei Wan The Attendant

    <h4>Chapter 472 - Hei Wan The Attendant </h4>


    Lin Mu observed the other people with his spirit sense before speaking.


    "I know... and the reason I¡¯m buying the pills and herbs is also due to our mission. I need them to prepare for it beforehand, they will help me increase my abilities." Lin Mu replied.


    "I see... well you can just tell me the actual requirements that you have, no need to pretend anymore." Hei Wan said in a knowing manner.


    "Well, I guess this will make things easier for me too. What I need are pills and herbs that are either rich in earth attributable spirit Qi or are made from ingredients that contain it." Lin Mu said.


    "That¡¯s a rather broad categorization... there are a lot of pills and herbs that fit into that." Hei Wan spoke.


    "Show them to me," Lin Mu replied.


    Hei Wan nodded and pointed out all of them. Lin Mu had already picked out some of the pills and herbs but she showed him the ones that were more cost effective. Lin Mu wouldn¡¯t need a healing pill that contained a little bit of earth attribute herbs and cost more.


    Rather, a low grade pill that had a lot of earth attribute ingredients with a more economical price was better for him. One by one, the list expanded and soon Lin Mu had his order ready.


    But the amount that he was buying irked Hei Wan a bit.


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    "Are you really going to buy these all? They will be quite expensive you know?" Hei Wan said.


    It wasn¡¯t that the pills or herbs themselves were that expensive, but just that Lin Mu was getting a ratherrge quantity of them.


    "How much will they cost?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Roughly six thousand low grade spirit stones. Do you really want to spend them?" Hei Wan asked again.


    She knew that Lin Mu wanted them for his cultivation but she didn¡¯t know if it was a worthwhile exchange. Spirit stones were a lot more versatile and could be used in pinch to restore one¡¯s spirit Qi stores.


    Lin Mu thought over it and indeed found it a little wrong. He had a ratherrge capacity of spirit Qi and didn¡¯t know if he would be needing to resort to it during an emergency. It was now that an idea urred to him.


    "Wait, they take other resources in exchange too, right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, they do. You can use resources of equivalent value to buy things as well." Hei Wan spoke.


    "I have something that I can use then... or rather a lot of them." Lin Mu replied.


    "What is it?" Hei Wan asked curiously.


    "Spirit apples," Lin Mu revealed.


    "Spirit apples?" Hei Wan asked, feeling a bit confused.


    While they were indeed quite valuable in terms of Normal currency, if Lin Mu wanted to buy using those he would need a rather massive amount of them.


    "Yes, let me show you." Lin Mu spoke and withdrew one of them from his ring.


    Hei Wan took the immacte looking spirit apple that had glossy skin and the perfect shape. But when she touched it, she could instantly feel the spirit of Qi that was contained within it.


    "This... how is this possible." Hei Wan said, feeling surprised.


    The spirit apple that Hei Wan had in her hand contained as much spirit Qi a low grade spirit stone. The entire reason why the Norther Town¡¯s mayor Wu Xun was so rich was due to them. Spirit apples could be produced inrge numbers and each of them cost a single gold coin.


    But they were still notparable to spirit stones and contained much less spirit Qi than them. They were more affordable to the rich and affluent and thus could be eaten regrly as a staple.


    "How many do you have?" Hei Wan questioned.


    If the spirit apple had the same amount of spirit Qi as a spirit stone, it could be of nearly the same value.


    "I have about thirty thousand of them and all of them have the same quality." Lin Mu answered.


    "They will perfect then! You can just sell them and get more spirit stones in exchange." Hei Wan replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and found it to be reasonable. During the time he had spent in the Sleepscape he had umted a lot of them and as his cultivation base had also increased the number that grew on the tree every day increased as well.


    Currently, the spirit apple tree in the Sleepscape grew thirty spirit apples every day. Lin Mu himself did not have as much use for them as his speed of cultivation was much faster and he wasn¡¯t even using the basic Qi pills now due to the Well of Slumber.


    Back then the spirit apples were not as potent as they are now. They had increased in quality along with his cultivation base and were nowparable to spirit stones, although their value would still be slightly low.


    But that was not of much importance to Lin Mu, as the tree produced thirty of them for literally no cost. His original n in the past was also to sell these spirit apples for money, but since he had been given a lot of it by Old man Jing, he didn¡¯t really need to do that.


    They had been umting in his ring since then and had reached quite a high number.


    "Let me talk to the shopkeeper and try to get a good price for you." Hei Wan said.


    "That would be the best. He wouldn¡¯t know that we know each other and should agree with it." Lin Mu replied.


    Hei Wan nodded and went to talk with the shopkeeper. The man was certainly surprised but the offer and asked to see the spirit apple himself to assess the quality. After confirming the truth, he decided to give his permission.


    Both of them approached Lin Mu and asked him to go to a private room with them, to which Lin Mu dly obliged. He didn¡¯t want others in the shop to know about it, anyway.

 Chapter 473 - More Spirit Stones

    <h4>Chapter 473 - More Spirit Stones </h4>


    The private room was quite simr to the one from Gengbai Emporium and had some basic things in it like a table, some cushions and a tea set already prepared. Lin Mu did a quick sweep of the room with his spirit sense just to check for assurance and found it to be normal.


    This was something senior Xukong had taught him. At first Lin Mu was doubtful for the reason behind it but then he learned them very well from the memoirs of the lost immortal. There were often ways that shops and merchants used to trick customers.


    Some of them were the use of befuddling formations that dulled the mind and allowed the merchant to get higher profit. There were also incenses that could do the same, and Lin Mu had already encountered them in the Alluring wisteria pavilion.


    Here though, he found everything to be normal and thus he calmed down.


    "Please take a seat, senior." The Shopkeeper spoke.


    Lin Mu sat down and so did the shopkeeper, but Hei Wan stood at the side.


    "So senior, I see you have some spirit apples to sell, could you show them to me so I can appraise them?" The shopkeeper asked.


    "Sure, but I think we¡¯ll need a bit more space than this." Lin Mu said.


    "More space?" The shopkeeper asked with confusion.


    While Hei Wan had told the shopkeeper that Lin Mu had arge amount of spirit apples to sell, she hadn¡¯t told him the exact number. Doing so would make him determine the price beforehand and would then lessen the profit Lin Mu could make from it.


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    Still, the shopkeeper obliged and the table was moved to the side, leaving a muchrger space there. Lin Mu then simply extended his hand and withdrew tenrge barrels that took up nearly the entirety of the room, only leaving enough space for the three people to stand.


    The shopkeeper was absolutely astounded and couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. He went to one of the barrels and opened its lid revealing the spirit apples that were stored inside. All of them looked the same as the one he had been shown.


    Still, he didn¡¯t stop here he opened the lids of all the barrels and then used his spirit sense to count them. After ten minutes he was done judging and still had a surprised expression on his face.


    "A total of thirty two thousand six hundred and nine spirit apples all of the same quality..." The Shopkeeper muttered.


    He roughly calcted the price and how much he could resell them for and came up with the transaction costs.


    "Senior this... for 32609 spirit apples I¡¯m willing to offer you 24,268 low grade spirit stones or its equivalent in mid grade spirit stones." The shopkeep spoke.


    Lin Mu looked over to Hei Wan, and she slightly nodded her head.


    "Alright, I¡¯ll take it." Lin Mu replied.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    The shopkeeper took a breath of relief and felt secretly happy. He would be able to resell these for thirty percent more and hismission from that would be the same as what he would get from the sect in six months.


    "How would you like the payment to be senior? Do you want spirit stones, resources, or something else?" The Shopkeeper asked.


    "Hmm... deduct the things that I am buying from this and from the renaming amount I want it to be split into two. One part to be converted into low grade spirit stones and the other to mid grade spirit stones.


    "That is eptable. It shall be done as you wish." The shopkeeper spoke and called over a few servants.


    Since Lin Mu had asked for quite a lot of things, they would need a little while to gather them and thus he instructed the servants to get what was needed. Hei Wan though was an attendant and thus of a higher rank, because of which she got to stay here.


    The shopkeeper couldn¡¯t help but think about the man in front of him. This was a great deal but he was curious how Lin Mu had gotten so many sprint apples. The trio cauldron peony sect had a good rtionship with the Wu Lim city and its mayor Wu Xun, who was now a minister at the capital.


    They were thus aware of the costs of the spirit apples and knew the quality that they could get in the market. But no matter how he looked at these, they seemed to be of a much better quality than what they could get.


    ¡¯Does he perhaps have a different source? Hmm... but then the climate to grow the spirit apples and the soil would also be needed and that is not avable anyce else than near the northern forest.


    The only other way would be to... make a specific orchard that is isted and enriched for the optimum growth of the spirit apple trees. That is the only way by which the spirit apples can get to such a good quality.


    Getting the saplings is not that difficult, but setting up an orchard like that... it is no easy task.¡¯ The shopkeeper thought to himself.


    Unknown to Lin Mu, he had be a mysterious figure with a good backing in the eyes of the shopkeeper. The man himself was an elder of the Tri cauldron peony sect and thus dealt with things rted to alchemical pills and spirit herbs all the time.


    He knew very well how they were grown and how to take care of them. Became of this the conclusion he reached was so different than reality. Still, there was no way he could have known the truth either, and even if he did, there was a great chance he would never believe it.


    After all, in the entire cosmos, only four people before Lin Mu had ever been the owners of a garden of Karma.


    A servant poured them some tea, while they waited for the items to arrive.


    ¡ª

 Chapter 474 - Progressing The Mortal Strengthening Scripture

    <h4>Chapter 474 - Progressing The Mortal Strengthening Scripture </h4>


    It took the servants about thirty minutes before they were able to gather all that was asked by Lin Mu. Seven servants walked in, each carrying arge box with them. They ced these one by one and the shopkeeper presented them to Lin Mu.


    In the first box which had the best quality, the mid grade spirit stones were kept. The box had a preservative formation ced on it as well as a protective formation that prevented the contents from getting damaged when the box was moved.


    The second box was simr and had low grade spirit stones kept in it. The third and fourth box had an assortment of pill bottles which were ordered by Lin Mu. The final three boxes all contained various spirit herbs and resources that were either of the earth element or contained earth attribute spirit Qi.


    Lin Mu checked them with his spirit sense and found them to be as they were described. Hei Wan also gave her approval secretly and Lin Mu confirmed the transaction before storing all of the boxes in his ring.


    "Thank you for your patronage, senior. Please doe again and feel free to contact me if you need any more things." The Shopkeeper said and even registered hismunication jade with Lin Mu¡¯s.


    Lin Mu simply bade him farewell before returning to the library in the mercenary pavilion. Now that he had all the resources, there was nothing stopping him from getting stronger than before.


    After Lin Mu was gone though, the shopkeeper¡¯s expression turned serious. No longer it was that of a jovial businessman, instead of that a sly cultivator¡¯s had appeared.


    "Hei Wan, did you get any idea of his background?" The shopkeeper questioned.


    "No, elder. He didn¡¯t speak anything in excess and only things rted to the transaction were discussed between us. I tried to get him to reveal more after I found out how much he was willing to trade, but was unsessful." Hei Wan replied with a straight face.


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    "Hmm... he was definitely experienced, then. Plus the number of things he stored in his spatial storage ring... that was clearly not normal. I reckon it was a high grade spatial storage treasure or there is one way he would have that much space." The shopkeeper spoke.


    "Do you need me to ask the disciples to keep an eye on him?" Hei Wan asked, her expression getting slightly dark.


    The shopkeeper deliberated over it for a while before shaking his head.


    "No... at least not for now. But if he doese again and another transaction like this happens be sure to inform me. Maybe I¡¯ll be able to get more information that way." The shopkeeper replied.


    "As you wish, elder." Hei Wan said while secretly holding a jade slip in her hand.


    ***


    Back at the library, Lin Mu had already taken out the boxes that contained all the herbs and other resources. He had asked the clerks not to disturb him for the time being and locked the doors. The clerks agreed with him right away and didn¡¯t mind it. It was not like anyone went to the library these days anyway.


    "Hmm... what should I start with first, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Begin with the things that have the least amount of earth attribute spirit Qi and then progress to higher quality items from there. The mortal strengthening scripture develops tolerance to the same amount of resource after a while and thus it¡¯s better to do it this way." Xukong advised.


    "Alright then," Lin Mu said before opening the first box.


    This box contained spirit herbs rich in earth element spirit Qi and were of various types like flowers, grasses, stalks, roots, etc. He picked up what looked like a knotty root and put it in his mouth before chewing it.


    "Ugh, this is bitter..." Lin Muined before swallowing it.


    As soon as he did though, the medicinal properties of the root started spreading from his stomach, and he quickly guided it ording to the method of the mortal strengthening scripture.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The brownyer appeared on his skin once again and had the stone like patterns on it. The glow of the brownyer flickered as more and more earth elemental spirit Qi was being supplied to it.


    Lin Mu was closely observing it and was wondering what the difference was between the earth elemental spirit Qi that he refined himself and the one that was obtained from the herbs. After observing it for a while, he couldn¡¯t really find any difference between them.


    ¡¯Why doesn¡¯t the Mortal strengthening scripture progress then?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Soon the absorption of the Qi wasplete and the glow stopped. Lin Mu picked up another herb before eating it and repeating the process. Little by little the thickness of the brownyer was increasing and after a couple of hours it had reached a thickness of an inch.


    The stone like patterns were now more apparent and a heavy feeling could be felt from theyer if one looked at it. By now, Lin Mu had emptied out half of the box of spirit herbs. Eventually, the brownyer started flickering and then a sound was heard.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    The surface was covered in cracks, and it was as if the brownyer was now copsing. Lin Mu did not panic though and let it happen.


    <i>~Crumble~</i>


    A minuteter, the cracks spread even further and the entireyer started crumbling. Once it was gone, an even brighter light was emanated from Lin Mu¡¯s body. It made it hard to see him, but soon it started to condense onto his body.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The light kept on getting smaller and smaller, until an even coat was formed all over Lin Mu¡¯s body. From head to toe, Lin Mu was now glowing in a brown light that seemed to be more clear than before.


    Eventually, the light faded away and in its ce another brownyer and appeared but this one had different patterns than before. Instead of a stone, there were now te like patterns on it.

 Chapter 475 - Third Stage Of The Mortal Strengthening Scripture

    <h4>Chapter 475 - Third Stage Of The Mortal Strengthening Scripture </h4>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he looked at the newyer of armor that had now formed on his skin. This was the third stage of the mortal strengthening scripture and it had taken half a box of the earth elemental herbs for him to reach it.


    The stone like patterns had now disappeared and it was as if Lin Mu was wearing a brown te armor. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t tell how much the difference had increased by but could sense the dense earth attribute spirit Qi that was packed into it.


    He tapped on the armoryer and found that his arm easily passed through it and it was as if it didn¡¯t exist.


    "Only an attack would cause it to harden..." Lin Mu muttered to himself before raising his hand and punching his other hand.


    <i>~bam~</i>


    The sound of collision could be heard as his arm hit the brown armoryer. It easily defended against it and Lin Mu felt nothing but knew that the power in the attack was enough to break the bones of a Qi refining realm cultivator.


    "Well... that didn¡¯t take as many resources as I had expected. I still have a lot more left for the next stage." Lin Mu said.


    "Don¡¯t forget the requirement only increased exponentially after each stage. You may barely be able to reach the fourth stage with all this here." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head before meditating for a bit and optimizing his condition. Practicing directly after a breakthrough could make their cultivation base unstable and thus it was better to let it stabilize for a bit.


    Lin Mu spent an hour like this before starting his practice again. He started eating the rest of the herbs and continued the process. And just as senior Xukong had said, even after finishing all the boxes of the earth elemental spirit herbs, Lin Mu was unable to have a breakthrough to the next stage.


    But while he had not seen any progress in the mortal strengthening scripture, he did get a different surprise. He looked at his spleen and saw that its refinement had actually increased a little bit.


    After his spleen was fully refined, he would reach the first stage of the Five treasures realm and just his body alone would have strength equivalent to that of a peak core condensation realm cultivator.


    ¡¯Perhaps if I¡¯m able to finish the first stage of the Five treasures realm before I reach the Nascent Soul realm, I may even be able topete against the Nascent Soul realm cultivators.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    During his time in the Sleepscape, he had read about the Body cultivators in the Memoirs of the lost immortal. The lost immortal himself was not one and was a true Qi cultivator, but during his life, he had seen a lot of body cultivators himself.


    Their power was not something that normal Qi cultivators couldpare to. Just progressing in one stage of the five treasure realms would put them at the same point as that of a peak stage cultivator of that equivalent Qi realm.


    Another thing was their terrifying bodies which were durable and had better resistances than normal Qi cultivators. Overall, it seemed like their advantages over the Qi cultivators were many, but in reality, it was bnced.


    Body cultivators couldn¡¯t use Qi skills and would have to use their bodies to directly fight asmon martial artists would do. While they could use the spirit Qi in their bodies and with vital energy, emitting it out of their bodies was often difficult for them.


    Another thing was that the effort needed to progress for the body cultivators was immense, such that ten normal Qi cultivators would be able to cultivate at the same time that was required by them. The resources needed also increased by quite a bit.


    While body cultivators were rare, what was even rare was someone who cultivated both the body cultivation path and the Qi cultivation path. The people who were sessfully able to do both were considered to be rare than a Qilin¡¯s horns or a phoenix¡¯s feathers.


    While some people did practice a little bit of body cultivation along with Qi cultivation, they only did this to increase the strength of their bodies and would not fully focus on this path. Doing so would only cause them to waste their potential.


    He spent the rest of the night in eating all the herbs and practicing the mortal strengthening scripture and had to stop as he had run out of the herbs. He looked at the pills and picks out the lowest quality ones first.


    They were all sorted ording to their quality, just as Lin Mu had asked from the shopkeeper and thus he had an ease of use. He wondered if he should start using them, but was then interrupted by a knock on the door.


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    "Senior, would you like some breakfast?" A Tongguo Bing asked from outside.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    And just as he heard the word breakfast, his stomach gave him the answer.


    "I may as well eat now..." Lin Mu said before opening the door.


    "Sorry to disturb you senior, but we got some food and was wondering if you would like some." Tongguo Bing asked.


    "Alright," Lin Mu said, and the girl gave him a tray of food that she had already prepared for him.


    Lin Mu looked at the quantity and knew that this would barely fill the gaps in his teeth. Still, he epted the food and finished it rather quickly before thinking of eating more.


    "Do you... want more food, senior?" The woman questioned.


    "Yes.... How about you go buy me some, I¡¯ll give you the money?" Lin Mu replied.


    "SURE!" Tongguo Bing replied with a smile.


    "Alright, get me as manly dishes as you can that have spirit beast meat and spirit herbs in them." Lin Mu spoke before handing her ten gold coins.


    She happily skipped away and Lin Mu went back to the library.


    "At least I¡¯ll save time this way..."

 Chapter 476 - Three Earth Elemental Pills

    <h4>Chapter 476 - Three Earth Elemental Pills </h4>


    Tongguo Bing soon brought him his food, which she could not carry alone and had to ask her fellow clerks to bring with them. Lin Mu generously allowed them to take some for themselves too.


    It wasn¡¯t like they could eat as much as him anyway and thus he didn¡¯t mind it. He was grateful that he had a ce to hide without suspicion. He simply ate his food and returned to practicing the mortal straightening scripture.


    He opened the first pill bottle and ate a single pill. The pill melted in his mouth like sugar and he swallowed the medicinal liquid. Unlike the herbs, most of which were bitter, this pill had a slightly sweet taste.


    After the pill reached his stomach, he quickly got to assimting its potency. Guiding it into the circuit for the mortal strengthening scripture, Lin Mu resumed the process. It finally started moving again and he confirmed that it had only stopped due to the tolerance developed to the herbs.


    One by one, he kept on eating the pills and three days went by. He would pause in the morning and ask Tongguo Bing to get some food for him and would then return to his practice.


    Finally, on the fourth day, he had finished consuming all of the pills he had bought from the shop. He was now stuck at the very cusp of a breakthrough and only needed a little bit more to reach the fourth stage.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I need to get more pills.... But these ones won¡¯t work anymore..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He was just a small step away from the next step which felt a little frustrating to him, but he knew that he should just take it calmly. He took out themunication jade slip and looked at it for a few seconds before making up his mind.


    He sent a message to the Shopkeeper of the Tri cauldron peony sect¡¯s shop and asked him if they had any pills of the earth attribute that were not on the catalog.


    "Hmm... there are a lot more alchemical pills like that senior, but if you want them, they would have to be ordered first. The alchemist will then refine them for you. Since these pills are more expensive and hard to produce, we don¡¯t usually keep them in stock.


    If youe by, we can discuss which specific pill you want." The shopkeeper exined.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t go there straightaway though. He first consulted Hei Wan and Wu Hei about his situation and asked if such pills could be avable in other shops. He got the same answer from both of them that he had already taken all of themon pills of the earth element.


    If he needed more of them, he would have tomission an alchemist to refine the pills for him. He also asked them if it was fine if he got them made from the Tri cauldron peony sect¡¯s shop. While Hei Wan was a bit apprehensive about this, Wu Hei said that he will suppress any excess information about him getting out from the city; if it so happens.


    Right now, Lin Mu was not under any kind of surveince, so he was fine. Hei Wan had been recording what the shopkeeper had said after Lin Mu had left, thus Wu Hei was aware about this and had acted in the background while keeping an eye on the actions of the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    Thankfully, the shopkeeper had not gone overboard and had not sent anyone to spy on Lin Mu. This meant that the man was still fine to speak with and buy from. Thus having reached a decision, Lin Mu went to the shop where Hei Wan was already waiting for him at the door.


    "The shopkeeper has asked the alchemist to be ready for your arrival. ording to your requirements, he has picked out a few pills which can be refined. You can choose which one fits your fancy." Hei Wan informed.


    "Thank you for this," Lin Mu said before walking in with her.


    "Greetings, senior Wu Lian!" The Shopkeeper said, "the alchemist is waiting in the private room, pleasee with me."


    This time a bigger room was taken by them and a middle aged man was sitting in the room. Lin Mu sensed his cultivation base and found that he was also at the peak of the core condensation realm. In fact, he seemed to be even slightly higher than that.


    "The pseudo Nascent soul realm... he¡¯s waiting for his heavenly tribtion too..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu was in the same situation as the man, but in his case he had no idea when it would being. While the other pseudo nascent soul realm cultivators knew the time would take for the tribtion to arrive. Not to mention their understanding of spirit Qi was also better than other core condensation realm cultivators.


    "So this is the person who wants tomission a pill?" The Alchemist asked.


    "Yes, this is senior Wu Lian." The shopkeeper introduced.


    Lin Mu cupped his hands in a salute before sitting at the table.


    "So what kind of a pill do you exactly want. I was told that it needs to be an earth elemental one, but that is a rather vast categorization which includes many pills with healing proprieties, defensive properties, offensive properties and much more." The alchemist asked.


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    Lin Mu thought over a bit and figured out what he wanted.


    "I want an earth elemental pill that is used for cultivation and has the most amount of earth attribute spirit Qi." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm... a pill for cultivation would be more expensive. The costs to refine it would include buying the herbs and then the refinement itself." The Alchemist spoke.


    "I¡¯m fine with that." Lin Mu replied straightaway.


    "Okay. Then there are three pills that I can refine of that type. The first is the Dark Soil pill, the second is the five earths pill and the third one is the Earth resurgence pill."

 Chapter 477 - Alchemist Bilao

    <h4>Chapter 477 - Alchemist Bo </h4>


    Lin Mu was interested in these pills and tried to see if there was information about them in the records he had collected till now. He quickly found the information about it and knew that these pills were notmon at all.


    These were actually pills that Nascent Soul realm cultivators would use and refining them was a difficult task too. Not to mention that the ingredients required for them were hard to get as well.


    If Lin Mu were topare any of these three pills with the other pills, then he could say that any one of these pills was more potent than all of the other pillsbined.


    ¡¯But wait if this is a pill used by Nascent Soul realm cultivators, how is he going to refine it?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    He knew that some alchemists that were more talented could do so, but seeing one in this world was rare. Even Lin Mu had only seen such people in the memoirs of the lost immortal till now.


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    "You can still try asking, who knows this person may really be talented at it." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu reckoned that there really wasn¡¯t any drawback to this and thus decided to go ahead with it.


    "I¡¯m fine with all three pills. If you can refine them all it would be good, but I don¡¯t know how long that will take." Lin Mu spoke after thinking for a bit.


    Lin Mu had a probable deadline and would have to leave the city when Wu Hei was done gathering information. There were about ten days left but it could be dyed, Lin Mu just hoped that the pills could be refined before that.


    "Hmm... I can refine all of them but each pill would take me around fifteen to twenty days of time." The Alchemist spoke.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Fifteen to twenty days... that would be a bit toote for me..." Lin Mu replied.


    "Well... the reason why it is taking me so long is because these pills are meant of Nascent Soul realm cultivators and I¡¯m still not there. I can still refine them but to make sure I don¡¯t fail, I need to take it slow and carefully.


    Though there is a way by which I can speed up the process. But this will only work for one of these pills the Dark Soil pill." The alchemist replied.


    "Oh? You can do that? How many days it would take you if you use that method?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Lin Mu was fine with even just one pill as he reckoned it would be enough to push him into the fourth stage of the mortal strengthening sutra. Senior Xukong had already told him that reaching the fifth stage was incredibly difficult and would take a massive amount of resources to do so.


    Lin Mu would be content and his defenses would increase by quite a bit even if he was just in the fourth stage. He had not tested his defensive ability to the full extent when he reached the third stage and knew that it would only be good if it progressed further.


    "I can shorten the time required to refine the Dark Soil pill to ten days if I use some catalysts. But this would involve using multiple mid grade spirit stones and would only increase the cost of the pill. For aparison, you would be able to get two Dark Soil pills for the price of this one." The alchemist replied.


    "I see..." Lin Mu responded before thinking over it.


    Currently, he didn¡¯t really care for the spirit stones as much if he couldn¡¯t convert them to his personal strength. While they would be helpful in replenishing his spirit Qi in the time of need, if he didn¡¯t bolster his abilities now, it would not make it worth, when he went on the mission if he just ended up getting hurt or worse, dying.


    "So do you still want to buy them?" The Alchemist asked again.


    "Yes, I¡¯ll take them. How much will it cost for the Dark Soil pill?" Lin Mu replied.


    "It will cost 250 mid grade spirit stones." The alchemist replied.


    This was the first item Lin Mu was spending such arge amount of spirit stones on something, but he knew it was worth it.


    ¡¯If I think about it, I¡¯ve spent way more collectivity on other things...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Alright, I¡¯ll take it." Lin Mu answered.


    He then took out a pouch filled with the exact number of spirit stones and handed them to the alchemist, who looked at the pouch apprehensively. He counted the spirit stones and was surprised.


    ¡¯Did he already prepare before this? Seems like he was pretending to not know the price of the pills huh... a cautious person just like they told me.¡¯ The alchemist thought.


    "Everything is here, I can start the process as soon as I get back to my abode." The alchemist spoke.


    But just as the alchemist was about to stand up, Lin Mu had a thought and he spoke up.


    "Ah, I forgot to ask, what is your name?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Oh look at me, I forgot my manners at work. You can call me Alchemist Bo." He answered.


    "Alright then, goodbye alchemist Bo." Lin Mu said farewell to him while thinking, ¡¯where did I see this name before?¡¯


    Alchemist Bo left the shop and went to do his work while the shopkeeper exchanged some more pleasantries with Lin Mu. He couldn¡¯t help but feel happy with such a good customer who was high paying. After all, he would be getting a cut from this too, as he was the one who rmended alchemist Bo.


    ¡¯Good, that I spent extra effort in getting Alchemist Bo. Thankfully, he was free from other jobs since he was preparing for his breakthrough. I wonder though... will alchemical Bo be doing his breakthrough at the sect or somece else... maybe we¡¯ll get to observe and learn from it.¡¯ The shopkeeper thought to himself.

 Chapter 478 - The Dark Soil Pill Is Ready

    <h4>Chapter 478 - The Dark Soil Pill Is Ready </h4>


    Now that he had ordered the pill, Lin Mu just returned back to the library. There wasn¡¯t much left for him to do other than to wait. He couldn¡¯t progress his cultivation and he couldn¡¯t practice the mortal strengthen scripture either.


    "Hmm... may as well try to further my five treasures realm cultivation, even if it is slow it¡¯ll be fine. A drop will eventually turn into a pond and then into a sea." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Currently, his spleen had reached the fifty percent mark due to therge number of earth elemental herbs and pills he had consumed. This was not the intendant method of cultivation for the five treasures realm, but this was all he had.


    Originally the five treasures realm could be cultivated with vital essence but because Lin Mucked the specific technique he was using the inefficient method of using spirit Qi to convert into the elemental spirit Qi and then use that to refine the rted organ.


    This was a long winded and inefficient process, but this was all he could do for now.


    ¡¯Perhaps I can get some ideas from the lost immortal¡¯s memoirs....¡¯ Lin Mu thought and started reading them.


    Back in the ring, Xukong was observing Lin Mu while thinking about some things.


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    "He¡¯s going to need a proper body cultivation technique soon, if he wants to progress it. But finding it in this world seems close to impossible. <i>~Sigh~</i> I should have paid more attention and collected techniques in the past." Xukong muttered to himself.


    He then looked back at the altar in the center of the ring and thought a bit more.


    ¡¯Will you be interfering this time? I wonder...¡¯ Xukong thought.


    ***


    The ten days passed in the blink of an eye and Lin Mu just continued his routine in that time.


    In that time he had been able to find some clues to the five treasures realm from the lost immortal¡¯s memoirs but none of them were useful in his situation. Still, he noted them down in his mind thinking that he may have a chance at using them in the future.


    Another thing that he discovered in this item was about the alchemist Bo. He had thought that he had heard or seen his name somewhere before, and it was actually in the records of the mercenary union.


    Alchemist Bo was over two hundred years old currently and thus quite a lot of information about him was avable. He was actually a big shot in the Tri cauldron peony sect and had won a few des in the alchemistpetition that were held by the many sects.


    His aplishments in the field of alchemy were good for his age and cultivation base, not to mention that most of this was self learned. He actually did not have any master and had learned everything on his own.


    He joined the Tri cauldron peony sect about a hundred years ago when he was invited by a few elders. They noticed his talent in one of the tournaments and quickly took him in. Even the patriarch of the sect said that his talent was beyond his own and thus he was not worthy of being his master. Although he still gave him some lessons and other elders did the same too.


    In fact, if it were not for the fact that Alchemist Bo wanted to focus on his work and cultivation, he would have long since been given the position of an elder. It was said that even the Rainbow pill sect had eyes on him and was looking to recruit him at one point.


    But this didn¡¯t happen for some reason and Alchemist Bo chose to stay back at the Tri Cauldron peony sect.


    Since he was at the peak of the core condensation realm, and also had over two hundred years of experience, a lot of the people knew that his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm was almost guaranteed.


    Lin Mu even wondered why a person like that was called to the shop in the capital city when he should have been focused on preparing for his breakthrough instead.


    Finally on the tenth day, as it had been promised, he was contacted by the shopkeeper and asked to collect hismissioned Dark Soil pill.


    "Let¡¯s get it quickly, Wu Hei should also be done on his end soon." Lin Mu said to himself before leaving the library.


    Tongguo Bing noticed Lin Mu leaving the building but did not question him this time. She had learned that he was a rather reserved person except for his monstrous appetite and did not speak much.


    Lin Mu directly entered the ground using phase and rushed to the shop. In less than two minutes, he was already at the shop and popped back up in a secluded area.


    "Senior Wu Lian! You¡¯re here already? That was fast..." The Shopkeeper said upon seeing Lin Mu at the door.


    He had just contacted Lin Mu and here was already here, which was rather quick.


    "I was just nearby, so it didn¡¯t take me long." Lin Mu said, giving an excuse.


    "That¡¯s good. Well, here is your Dark Soil pill." The shopkeeper said as he ced a box in front of Lin Mu.


    The box was small, only the size of a palm, but Lin Mu could see the preservative formation that was carved on it. He opened it and saw the pill lying in a small crystal vial. The pill looked like it was made out of a hollow ss in which small particles of dark ck soil were filled in.


    Lin Mu slightly shook the vial and did not see the soil like particles move. This was how one was supposed to check the quality of the dark soil pill. If the particles of the soil moved, it meant that the pill was of a low potency and was not fully refined. But if it was packed to the brim, the particles would not move.


    "Everything seems alright," Lin Mu said before leaving the shop and hurrying back to the library. This time he just used fade and returned.

 Chapter 479 - Fourth Stage Of The Mortal Strengthening Scripture

    <h4>Chapter 479 - Fourth Stage Of The Mortal Strengthening Scripture </h4>


    Appearing in the library again, he shut the doors and got ready. He sat down cross legged and took out the Dark soil pill. Its ssy exterior glittered in the sunlight that wasing from one of the windows.


    After looking at it for a moment, Lin Mu put it in his mouth, swallowing it down. Unlike most of the other pills which turned into liquid when put in mouth, this one stayed solid. Even when it was in his stomach it stayed in the solid form.


    ¡¯Why is it not showing any effect?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    And just as this question appeared in his mind, it happened.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    It was as if an explosion had happened in his stomach and the pill started releasing its efficacy. Dense earth elemental spirit Qi was released from it that was rapidly absorbed into Lin Mu¡¯s body.


    The spirit Qi coursed through his meridians putting pressure on them. This was the first time in a long while, Lin Mu was feeling such kind of a pressure on his meridians. Ever since his meridians had expanded and he had reached the Five treasures realm, he had not had any problem bearing the spirit Qi.


    This showed just how much power was contained within that little pill. Lin Mu got over the initial shock after a second and hurriedly practiced the Mortal strengthening scripture. The earth elemental spirit Qi, traversed the meridians and followed the Qi circuit of the moral strengthening scripture.


    Unlike before, the brown armoryer did not appear on his skin right away. It took him fifteen minutes before he had even absorbed the initial wave of the spirit Qi. Lin Mu took a look at the pill in his stomach and saw that it was barely 10% dissolved.


    ¡¯This is definitely way more powerful than any other pill I¡¯ve taken...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Finally, he had gone past the limit and the brown armoryer appeared on his skin again. The te like patterns on it started expanding as the armor started to get thicker. The earth elemental spirit Qi kept on pouring into it and hours passed in the blink of an eye.


    About half of the Dark Soil Pill¡¯s efficacy had been used up by Lin Mu and he had still not broken through to the next stage. He looked at the armor which was now two inches thick. If one looked at Lin Mu right now, they would think that some barbarian that was wearing a thick armor was sitting there instead.


    The armor masked Lin Mu¡¯s appearance and he looked like a very bulky man instead. From afar it looked heavy but in reality, it was weightless. More time passed and then themunicator jade slip hummed.


    Lin Mu paid no attention to it right now though, and simply continued practicing the mortal strengthening scripture. Finally, the armor could not absorb any more of the earth elemental spirit Qi and reached a peak.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    The armor shuddered before cracks started spreading all over it. Bit by bit they covered the entire surface of Lin Mu¡¯s body until it finally shattered.


    <i>~Tremble~</i>


    A wave of aura was released by Lin Mu¡¯s body and spread all across the area. All the people who were currently in the Mercenary union and the district that it was located in felt tremors.


    "What! Is it an earthquake?" Tongguo Bing who had been doing her work said in shock.


    The other clerks rushed out and saw her. They were in the same condition and felt that there was an earthquake too.


    Outside the building, the people were all going about their business. But a lot of them suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground.


    "What in the name of heavens!" They eximed.


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    Some of the stalls and shops that had things hanging on disy fell down and the guards became alert.


    "Inform the captain, we have an earthquake iing!" The guards spoke.


    But what they didn¡¯t know that this entire urrence was only confined to this area. In fact, when they stepped out of a certain radius they felt calm. There were no tremors here and it was as if everything was normal.


    Yet when they turned around and looked back at the road, they could still see the things moving and people trembling. All of them had question marks on their faces and couldn¡¯t exin this stager urrence.


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    This didn¡¯tst for long though and within two minutes everything had calmed down. It was as if nothing had happened, but the marks of those tremors could still be seen everywhere. Some of the buildings and shops had cracks in their walls and a few trees had copsed.


    Even themps that hung from the poles along the streets spilled the oil from them. While the ones that were a bit more unstable directly fell to the ground. Thankfully, it was daytime and themps were extinguished, or fire would have likely started in the area.


    Lin Mu who was the source of this, satpletely unaware and was fully focused on himself.


    A newyer had appeared on Lin Mu now. This one did not look like armor and rather like scales. They were brown and were attached to the surface of his skin. Each skill was symmetrical and about two centimeters in diameter.


    Now it didn¡¯t look like Lin Mu was wearing an armor. Rather it looked like he was wearing tight lizard skin clothes instead. His robes that he was wearing had been shredded in the process of the previous armor expanding and now Lin Mu was left sitting, wearing tattered rags.


    He finally opened his eyes, that glowed with a fierce look.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "I seeded..." Lin Mu muttered to himself before taking a look at his body, which had changed once again.


    He touched theyer which was rather springy instead of stiff like before. But this was not all, as when he took a look inside his body he received another surprise.

 Chapter 480 - Unexpected Progress

    <h4>Chapter 480 - Unexpected Progress </h4>


    Lin Mu saw that while the Dark soil pill was still not fully absorbed, and the mortal strengthening scripture had reached the fourth stage, his spleen had actually gotten more refined as well.


    This was unexpected to him as it was not a minor increase either, it was about 75% refined while previously it was at 50%. Just a single pill had helped him increase it greatly which was shocking and it had not stopped increasing either.


    Lin Mu estimated that the pill still had about thirty percent of its efficacy left and thus kept on absorbing more and more of it. The effect of it was apparent and the refinement of his spleen sped up.


    But while this was happening Lin Mu was wondering how it was happening. This was not possible due to the mortal strengthening scripture as it was not this efficient. And neither did he had a technique for body cultivation.


    "How can this be possible Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I... don¡¯t know either." Xukong said before turning to look at the altar in the center of the ring.


    He thought that it was the altar¡¯s doing but it seemed to be calm and no change could be seen in it.


    ¡¯If not you then what? He¡¯s not even using vital essence for refinement.¡¯ Xukong wondered.


    "Just keep on doing what you¡¯re doing. If this is happening them you better take advantage of it. Use up all the earth elemental spirit Qi you have stored if it still continues." Xukong advised.


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    "Yes senior!" Lin Mu said before cutting off the connection and stilling his mind.


    All that existed for him was his body and the spirit Qi in it.


    Time passed and it was nighttime now.


    <i>~knock~</i>


    A knock was heard on the door of the library but no one answered it. Outside the library, a woman who was wearing a veil was standing. Along with her, another younger woman was standing as well.


    "Is senior Wu Lian fine?" Tongguo Bing asked with concern.


    The entire city had be alert after the news about the earthquake spread. But this became a strange mystery as only one district of the capital was affected, while the rest of the city was safe and calm.


    The news reached the king and he sent out his men to personally check what was happening. If it was not an earthquake and was contained to a single district that meant something was wrong there.


    He was worried that some kind of an enemy may be attacking them from the ground and this could be the sign of that. If this happened a few years ago, the advisors of the king would have said that he was being paranoid.


    But with the advent of the northern tribes and the situation with all the sects, there was no chance that could be taken. Caution was key in these moments and they definitely did not want to make a mistake that would cost them their dynasty.


    The king¡¯s men who had been sent to the district were still surveying it and were trying to find the source of the tremors.


    "He¡¯s fine, just deep in cultivation." Hei Wan replied after withdrawing her spirit sense.


    "I see." Tongguo Bing said, but unknown to her beads of sweat dripped from Hei Wan¡¯s forehead.


    Hei Wan looked back at the library¡¯s door and let out a breath of relief.


    ¡¯What kind of a technique is he practicing now, that mountainous aura...¡¯ Hei Wan thought.


    She then turned to the clerk and spoke, "it was good that you did not disturb him. He is in a sensitive period and thus it¡¯s best we leave him alone."


    "Ah, I see. Senior is indeed very talented." Tongguo Bing said, slight awe visible in her eyes.


    ¡¯Talented is an understatement... even we don¡¯t know what he is...¡¯ Hei Wan thought.


    "How do you know senior though, Miss Wan?" Tongguo Bing questioned.


    "We are acquaintances and have had some dealings before." Hei Wan replied.


    "Ah I see." Tongguo Bing nodded her head.


    "I¡¯ll leave now. Make sure not to disturb him. Also, do you need more payment for him staying here?" Hei Wan asked.


    "No!No! Senior already paid enough. Even if he stays here for a year it still won¡¯t be enough. It¡¯s not like this is a proper hotel or inn anyway." Tongguo Bing replied.


    "Alright then. I¡¯ll take my leave for now." Hei Wan said before leaving the building.


    After she went out though, she took out amunication jade slip and contacted someone.


    "How is he? What was the problem?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "He¡¯s having... another breakthrough..." Hei Wan answered.


    "Another breakthrough?! He¡¯s at the peak stage of the core condensation realm!" Wu Hei eximed.


    "No! It does not seem like that. Rather it is some kind of Qi technique¡¯s breakthrough; his aura is monstrous right now. I could barely look for a second with my spirit sense before I had to withdraw it." Hei Wan exined.


    "Hmm... that¡¯s better. If it really was a breakthrough, the heavenly tribtion would have altered every sect and power in the area and there is no doubt that Gu Yao would have detected it too." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Indeed. I think the tremors today were rted to that too. They may have been caused by him." Hei Wan replied.


    "I see. Return to your post for now. It¡¯s better you are not seen there, the king¡¯s men are surveying the area and would probablye to check up on the mercenary union too." Wu Hei suggested.


    "Yes, my lord..." Hei Wan said before leaving the area.


    Back at one of the ces that were near the grand pce of the Shuang Qian kingdom, two men dressed in luxurious clothes were sitting.


    "Did you find out about the tremors?" The older man questioned.


    "No father... whatever it was, it is likely to be something new. Or maybe a one time phenomena." Wu Hei answered.


    "Hmm... I¡¯ll inform elder brother. Just in case." Wu Xun spoke.

 Chapter 481 - A New Team

    <h4>Chapter 481 - A New Team </h4>


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath that traveled far and shook the curtains on the windows. He opened his eyes that glimmered with a serene look. This was quite different from the fierce one he had before this.


    "I¡¯m close... just need another push like this toplete the first stage of the Five treasures realm...." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    His spleen had reached 85% refinement level and would need just a bit more to reach the next stage. Once he finished the first stage, just his bodily strength would be equivalent to that of a peak stage core condensation realm cultivator.


    If he was able to do this before reaching the nascent soul realm with his spirit Qi cultivation he would probably have the strength of an infant stage nascent soul realm cultivator just from this.


    Not to mention since then, Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian had arger capacity than others and his core was also bigger, his overall strength would still be higher than that of an infant stage nascent soul realm cultivator.


    The foundation that Lin Mu had built until now and the slow progress he had taken was now close to showing fruit for him.


    Lin Mu looked at the jade slip which had a message left in it.


    "So it¡¯s time... I didn¡¯t miss it though." Lin Mu said.


    A message had been left in the jade slip which was from none other than Wu Hei. He had now gathered enough information that, Lin Mu could continue their mission. He had contacted for about a meeting tomorrow.


    "No wait... how much time has it been?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "A day has passed. The meeting should be soon." Xukong answered.


    "I should head out then..." Lin Mu said before standing up and using fade.


    Disappearing from the real world, Lin Mu traveled in the direction of the pleasure pavilion. He was using phase at the same time and appeared in the ground below it. Since the distance traveled was ratherrge, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t use his spirit sense to keep track of it.


    But as long as he knew a general direction, he could travel far and just appear in the ground. This was another workaround he had figured out by now and would use until he was able to increase his spatial perception.


    He had also not had the chance to use his newly acquire fifth skill, ¡¯meld¡¯ due to being inside the city. Not only did it have a massive drain on his spirit Qi but it also created somerge spatial fluctuations. While these faded away quickly, there was still a chance someone in the city could detect them.


    Lin Mu rose up from the ground and blinked to the alley behind the pleasure pavilion. This was where the entrance to the secret room was located and where Wu Hei had asked him toe. His spirit sense was spread around to keep a track of what was nearby. Just in case something unsavory happened.


    Lin Mu could already see that there were people in the room. He counted six people in the room, including Wu Hei and Hei Wan.


    <i>~creek~</i>


    Six pairs of eyes trained at Lin Mu upon seeing the door open. They looked alert but didn¡¯t seem to be in an offensive stance.


    "Sorry I got a bitte," Lin Mu apologized to the people.


    "It is fine, brother Lin Mu, we know you were undergoing a breakthrough. Hei Wan came to check up on you." Wu Hei replied.


    "She did? Ah, I see." Lin Mu said.


    "Since we have everyone here, we can start now." Wu Hei said after taking a look around the room.


    "I can now officially introduce you all to brother Lin Mu. I believe you all know who he is." Wu Hei spoke.


    The four new people nodded at his words before speaking.


    "Indeed, how can we not? Had it not been for him, perhaps we would have all been dead and this empire would have perished in the future." An old man spoke.


    Lin Mu looked at him and could not recognize him.


    "This is Jin Kou, he used to be a mercenary but has retired since then." Wu Hei introduced.


    "This is She Qing, one of the former disciples of the Tri Cauldron peony sect, she is the one who has provided us with a lot of information." Wu Hei spoke.


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    "Greetings, sister She Qing." Lin Mu greeted.


    Lin Mu had not expected that She Qing would be a former disciple.


    "How did you leave the sect, though sister She Qing?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Back when the red tide happened, I was there to witness it. I saw how Gu Yao attacked everyone and controlled them. At that time I was heading to the Wu Lim city to deliver an emergency missive to the peak master Yi Deng, and was at a distance from the city.


    As soon as I saw it all, I barely managed to escape the area. I deliberated on returning to the sect, but Gu Yao¡¯s servants had acted quickly and started capturing the other people. Since the supreme elder was also controlled, I didn¡¯t think it would be a viable choice to return to the sect.


    This turned out to be correct since the sect changed its behavior quickly after that day. Gu Yao¡¯s roots had already spread deep by then and knew I would have to do something else." She Qing expanded.


    "I see... it is indeed quite unfortunate." Lin Mu acknowledged.


    He then turned to the third person, who was a young man with a scar on his face. He was wearing rough clothes and looked no different from a peasant. But Lin Mu could sense his cultivation base and knew that he was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm like him.


    "And who I this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I am Shuang Zedong." The man introduced himself.


    "Shuang? Zedong? Isn¡¯t that..." Lin Mu said, feeling like he recognized the name.


    "Indeed, this is the former crown prince of the Shuang Qian Kingdom."

 Chapter 482 - Two Broken Men

    <h4>Chapter 482 - Two Broken Men </h4>


    Lin Mu had definitely not expected to meet the former crown prince here. He recognized the name as he had heard that a few times before. Thest time he heard about a prince was from Tongguo Bing who had told him that the prince came to the Big Zhao¡¯s Heavenly Delicacies restaurant with the other young masters of the noble ns of the city.


    He had thought that this was the none other than Shuang Zedong, but it turned out to be false.


    "How did you be like this? If you¡¯re not the crown prince, who is now?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling shocked.


    "The crown prince is none other than my second brother now." Shuang Zedong spoke.


    "Second brother? You had a brother?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Till now he had not heard that the king had another child from the queen. He knew that there were more children from the concubines but not from the queen.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "He is not my blood brother, rather the son of my father¡¯s favorite concubine. He schemed against me and assassinate me with the assistance of Gu Yao. But Lord Wu Hei managed to save me." Shuang Zedong spoke.


    "What! But the assassination of a prince would have been great news if it happened." Lin Mu said.


    "Indeed... but the current crown prince managed to convince father that letting such news spread would be bad for the current morale of the kingdom. Instead, they fabricated a story of how I have entered seclusion to focus on cultivation and have given up on my position of the crown prince." Shuang Zedong exined.


    "This... utterly ridiculous! How can the king be so stupid?" Lin Mu said, feeling enraged.


    Lin Mu¡¯s thoughts about the aristocrats and nobles were already in the negative since before, and now this was only infuriating him more.


    "I don¡¯t know either. But our best guess is that the concubine had managed to charm the king so badly that he does not question his own actions." Shuang Zedong spoke.


    "Wu Xun also had a hand in this and supported the current crown prince¡¯s rise to his position." Wu Hei added.


    Hearing the answer only made Lin Mu angry but then he forcibly calmed himself down. He swore to himself he would take them down one by one.


    "I believe I should introduce myself now." The final man who was remaining in the group spoke. "I am nameless, one of the elders of the Gu Legion." He revealed.


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    Lin Mu raised his brows as he looked at Wu Hei for answers.


    "He is another person who has been aware of the Gu Legion for a long time. In fact, he knew about them before me and had the same aim as me to decimate them." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Then why did you join the Gu Legion." Lin Mu questioned, still not feeling safe with the man.


    "My family was exterminated by the Gu Legion as well. Back then I was a wandering cultivator and had been away from them for a long time. But when I returned, I found them to all be dead and only skeletons were left behind in our house. All twenty members of my family were dead.


    It took me a couple of years before I was able to find out who the culprits were. I originally wanted to kill them and die in the process, but I realize that it was not just my family who was their target. Many more had been affected and more would being in the future.


    Unlike my family, they did not have people to avenge them and thus I took it upon myself. I researched more about the Gu Legion and found out that they had a lot more power than I had expected.


    Knowing that I would not be able to kill them all myself, I had to take a different approach. Eventually, an opportunity presented to me and I infiltrated the Gu Legion. I rose up the ranks and managed to sabotage the ns of the Gu Legions.


    Although I was not always sessful." Nameless exined.


    "He was the one who actually managed to hide the existence of the Hei Corps for so long. Nameless would kill the members who found out about the Hei corps. All these years I wondered if I was just lucky but it turned out that I had a hidden ally all this time." Wu Hei added.


    "You are an honorable man." Lin Mu praised.


    He couldn¡¯t imagine what the man would have gone through all these years. Knowing that the killers of his family were with him, yet not being able to act and wait patiently. If it were Lin Mu in his ce, he probably would have lost his patience a long time ago and ughtered them all.


    "Now that the introductions are all over, I believe we can get started. Brother Lin Mu will be the one who¡¯s going to execute the main part of the n while we all will be supporting him." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Yes, so what is our first target?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It is none other than the Tri Cauldron peony sect." Wu Hei answered.


    "Hmm... I¡¯m fine with it, what¡¯s the information on it, and what do I need to do?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Originally our first target was going to be the Cloven Sea sect, but a different event is going to happen at the Tri cauldron peony sect in a few days which will present us with the best opportunity." Wu Hei answered.


    "And what is this event?" Lin Mu asked.


    "One of the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect will be undergoing his Nascent Soul realm breakthrough. There is going to be a ceremony and the people will be observing a tribtion tform for it.


    The person who is undergoing the heavenly tribtion is one of the talented alchemists of the sect, Alchemist Bo." Wu Hei revealed.


    "Alchemist Bo?!" Lin Mu eximed, recognizing the name. This was the very person who had made the Dark Soil pill for him.

 Chapter 483 - A Plan For Infiltration

    <h4>Chapter 483 - A n For Infiltration </h4>


    Lin Mu remembered when he had met the man, his cultivation base was at the very peak of the core condescension realm. He had expected that he could have been in the pseudo nascent soul realm but now this had confirmed it for him.


    "Yes, I believe you¡¯ve met with the man before." Wu Hei said.


    "Yeah, Hei Wen was there too. I bought an Alchemical pill from him." Lin Mu answered and Hei Wan nodded her head in acknowledgment.


    There were very few people who could refine a pill like the Dark Soul pill thus it obvious that it would be him.


    "So how will this event be useful to us?" Lin Mu questioned.


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    "The heavenly tribtion of each disciple is considered to be an important matter for any of the sects. If the disciple sessfully overcame it that would mean the sect would have another Nascent Soul realm powerhouse.


    And since heavenly tribtions are so rare as not many people reach that point, the sects make it a point to get as many disciples to observe and learn from it. Even the other Nascent soul realm cultivators who have already experienced it before, observe it with great interest, as it will only bring them more insights.


    For the Heavenly tribtion ceremony of Alchemist Bo, a tribtion tform is being set up. They are making a custom one for him that is suitable for his cultivation technique.


    Due to this, there will be arge influx of resources and we will be able to see their movement. Along with this, there can bepses in security that we will be taking advantage of.


    But the time of action for us will be the moment when the heavenly tribtion actually starts. Most of the people will be focused on it and even the guard disciples of the vaults will be at the ceremony.


    That will be the time you will act and seize the resources. Sister She Qing already gave us the locations of where the major vaults and storage pavilions of the sect are located. In total, there are twelve of them, but you only need to target four of them.


    If you have more time or the opportunity, you can go to the others as well." Wu Hei exined.


    "I understand. I¡¯ll do my best." Lin Mu said with confidence.


    "Don¡¯t risk entering ces that will expose you or put you in excess danger. We cannot afford to lose you. Oh, and... if you cannot take the resources away... don¡¯t hesitate to destroy them. While the Northern Tribes may take advantage of this in the future, Gu Yao is the immediate threat for us.


    I believe the sects will be able to figure it out on their own if the danger bes apparent." Wu Hei added.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and knew that this was a valid choice. They couldn¡¯t hesitate to destroy the resources just because of the potential danger from the Northern Tribes in the future.


    "Besides, the Tri cauldron peony sect is just one of our targets. Even if its resources are destroyed, there will still be other sects to support the fight against the Northern Tribes in the future." Wu Hei assured.


    "I can see that. An enemy at the gates of a higher priority that¡¯s the one beyond the mountains." Lin Mu replied.


    "I¡¯ll be going with you too." Jin Kou spoke.


    "You will? But I doubt you will be able to enter the sect with me." Lin Mu said.


    "I will just be there as a backup. And will help ry the information, after all the range of themunication jade slips is not enough to reach the capital city." Jin Kou replied.


    Lin Mu looked at Wu Hei for an exnation which he probably gave.


    "Jin Kou and a few other mercenaries that we saved will be acting as the ry points formunication between you and me. Jin Kou will be the nearest to you and will help in case of any emergency.


    There will be three mercenaries each at the maximum range points of themunication jade slip. This way they will be able to transmit the information from one point to the other." Wu Hei exined.


    "Ah, I see. This is a rather novel way of doingmunication. Why don¡¯t the other sects and kingdoms do something like this?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling interested.


    "Well, they just use a long distancemunication jade if a need arises or just use a teleportation formation to send letters. Ry points like these are usually only used by weaker powers who don¡¯t have the same resources or in times of war when there can¡¯t be a dy in actions." Wu Hei answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and found the merit in the information.


    "Alright then, when is the Heavenly tribtion going to be?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Alchemist Bo had informed the sect that he sensed the tribtioning in the next ten days. So it¡¯s better if you get to the sect as soon as possible. You can even infiltrate it beforehand and check out the situation so that you won¡¯t have problemster on. Though I already have a map for you ready, which should assist you in your task." Wu Hei answered.


    "Hmm... I¡¯ll probably infiltrate beforehand. But I¡¯ll need to hide well or they¡¯ll find me." Lin Mu said.


    "We have that covered too." She Qing said before giving Lin Mu a set of robes and a badge.


    "This is the robes of an inner court disciple of the Tri cauldron peony sect. As for the badge, since I was a junior elder before, I was able to modify parts of it to make it seem authentic to your identity. But know this that some people may still recognize you and you will also need to hide your cultivation base." She Qing exined.


    Lin Mu took the robes and the badge before checking the badge with his spirit sense. He put a brand on the badge so that it would work and stored the robes in his ring for the time being.

 Chapter 484 - Onto The Tri Cauldron Peony Sect

    <h4>Chapter 484 - Onto The Tri Cauldron Peony Sect </h4>


    A few more discussions happened among the members before they finalized the entire n. Still, the main pivot of this n was none other than Lin Mu. He was the only one who was capable of going past the barrier and defensive formations without letting others get alerted.


    Lin Mu understood this very well and knew the huge responsibility that was on his head.


    "I¡¯ll take my leave first now. I should be able to reach the Tri cauldron peony sect by tomorrow night at the earliest." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Alright, brother Lin Mu. Jin Kou will be leaving now too but should be at his position before the time of the mission. The other mercenaries are already at their positions so there shouldn¡¯t be a problem on that end." Wu Hei spoke.


    Lin Mu noddy his head and bade farewell to everyone before leaving. He directly used fade and flew through the parallel world at great speed. Since he was already near the city wall, he was able to leave the city in a single use of the skill.


    He then circled around and went to Little Shrubby¡¯s position.


    ¡¯Oh? He changed his location.¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    He was no longer in the same area that he had left him in two weeks ago.


    "Perhaps some people came there and he moved to hide," Xukong suggested.


    "Hmm, could be that. It¡¯s not like they will be able to catch him, anyway. Even a Nascent Soul realm cultivator will have a hard time. And since I didn¡¯t sense any danger from him, that means he¡¯s just fine." Lin Mu replied.


    In a few minutes, Lin Mu entered the small patch of forest and went to Little Shrubby position. It wasn¡¯t hard either as he could see smokeing from what could only be a campfire.


    Upon reaching the area, Lin Mu saw little Shrubby cooking something in arge pot while stirring the contents with the prosthetic hand that he had gotten for him.


    "Your control has gotten much better, I see," Lin Mu spoke.


    The beast turned around and leaped with joy. "Master! You¡¯re finally back!"


    "Yup, it¡¯s time for us to head on to our mission." Lin Mu said before exining it to Little Shrubby.


    He simplified the parts for him so that it would be easier for him to understand. Little Shrubby didn¡¯t worry about it much either and just said that he will do what Lin Mu asks. This would in turn make things easy for Lin Mu too.


    After he was done exining, his gaze went to the pot that had been cooking on the fire for now.


    "What did you make?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I made the soup as you showed me once before." Little Shrubby said.


    He then took out a bowl from his spatial storage belt and used the prosthetic hand todle out the soup into the bowl. Lin Mu nodded his head at seeing the skill of little Shrubby and felt happy.


    He took the bowl of soup and took a sip.


    "Mmm it is good... but needs salt." Lin Mu said.


    "Ah yes, master, I need more condiments and spices. I finished all of them." Little shrubby said.


    Before leaving little Shrubbyst time, Lin Mu had given him all the essentials that were required for cooking, including vessels, utensils, and condiments. The only thing that he needed to find on his own was beast meat and herbs. Which was not a tough job for him.


    "Ah, you did? Take these then." Lin Mu said before talking out more sets of spices and condiments for little Shrubby to use itter on.


    The beast stored them in his belt, and the pair sat down to drink the soup. There were chunks of meat floating in the liquid while the bones had long since sank down to the bottom with their vor having been infused into the soup.


    In fact, had it not been for Little Shrubby¡¯s presence, it was likely that the nearby animals and beasts would have already be greedy from the aroma of the meat.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby enjoyed this little break before the big mission, and it also helped Lin Mu rx and gather his thoughts.


    Little Shrubby stored everything back into his belt and waited for Lin Mu¡¯s instructions. Lin Mu went over the map onest time and charted a route to the Tri Cauldron peony sect.


    "The Tri Cauldron peony sect is to the east of our location and it will take us two days to reach it I think." Lin Mu said.


    Little Shrubby nodded his head and spoke, "get onto my back then. We¡¯ll get there faster than before, I feel like my speed has improved from before."


    "Oh? That¡¯s good. Let¡¯s see then..." Lin Mu replied before climbing onto the seat of the harness.


    Strapping into it, Lin Mu ordered, "Let¡¯s go!"


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    Now that they had a harness that helped Lin Mu stay on Little Shrubby¡¯s backfortably, little Shrubby could now run from the very start, instead of pacing it like before. His sprint stirred up winds that shook the leaves of the trees nearby, while the ones that had weak stems directly swayed from side to side.


    Just as little Shrubby had said, his speed had increased more than before. It was not a major increase, but Lin Mu estimated it to be about five percent faster. But if onepared this with a nascent soul realm cultivator, they would realize that little Shrubby was alreadyparable to that of Child Soul stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator.


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    In less than twenty minutes, they were already at the location where the checkpoint was located. Lin Mu didn¡¯t even need to stop this time, as he simply spread his spirit sense and targeted each cultivator.


    He chanted the severing heart sutra and the ten cultivators became dazed; taking this opportunity, Lin Mu and little Shrubby breezed past them like a gale.


    "Hmm... I guess this will be a good practice method too..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 485 - Dust Mill Town

    <h4>Chapter 485 - Dust Mill Town </h4>


    It had been twelve hours since Lin Mu had left the Capital city. Along the way, he had met quite a few blockades and checks that the kingdom had set up. He now saw the reality of how much the kingdom was anxious about the Northern Tribes.


    A few bandit groups had also risen up in the recent months to take advantage of the presence of Northern Tribes. The strange thing was, people were only specting that the Northern Tribes had arrived in the Empire.


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    Mostmoners did not even know for sure if this was true, only the king and the other nobles knew the truth currently. Yet, a strange belief had settled in their hearts after hearing countless rumors.


    Now it was a fact for them that the Northern Tribes were in the empire and in that way the Shuang Qian kingdom. Even if the tribes had not spread to the entire empire, it was likely that they were in the Shuang Qian Kingdom, as it was located right near the border of the continent.


    If one went north from the Shuang Qian kingdom and went beyond the northern forest, they would reach the Pear¡¯s belt which was the great wall the divided the Great Zhou continent from the forbidden northern continent.


    The pressure was also exerted on the vermilion legion that guarded the pear¡¯s belt. But they were used to this and were able to take it well. They had increased the security and had even increased their numbers with recruitment drives.


    But this posed a question to the people; if the vermilion legion was guarding the pear¡¯s belt, how were the norther tribe people entering the empire?


    Right now the people that questioned this were in the minority. But it wouldn¡¯t be long for it to spread to the majority. And if any problem was caused by the northern tribes and it was found out, it was likely that themoners will be ming the officials.


    All of these were the points that Lin Mu had analyzed while traveling. He was reading through the records he had collected from the mercenary union and some things that Wu Hei had provided him. It was obvious that there were a lot of conspiracies and schemes in the background as well.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "The nobles and the aristocrat just can¡¯t get enough, can they?" Lin Mu said in a tired tone.


    "The human greed is boundless, but it also drives them further. It is up to you how you perceive it and how you use it." Xukong reminded.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in acknowledgment and looked ahead. He was now nearing a small town called Dust Mill town.


    "We should take a break. Little shrubby, you can recover your stamina till then." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby agreed.


    He had been running at his full speed for over twelve hours now and it was already nighttime. Even when they came across blockades Lin Mu didn¡¯t stop as he just used the severing heart sutra to daze the soldiers or the guards, before passing quickly with Little Shrubby.


    Not only was this helping him hone his proficiency with the serving heart sutra, he discovered that his control over his spirit sense was also increasing. In fact, in these past twelve hours, he had been able to increase his spirit sense¡¯s range all the way to 380 meters.


    Such a fast increase was rather surprising to him, but it was bound to happen as his cultivation base was already quite far. Once he reached the Nascent Soul realm, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for him to have spirit sense that extended all the way to 1000 meters.


    In fact, there was a chance that Lin Mu may end up exceeding it before that. But he knew that the difficulty would only get more with each 100-meter increase in range. Every hundred meter was like a bottleneck that took a lot of effort to ovee.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    Little Shrubby paused near some trees outside the town, and Lin Mu got down from his back. He then spread his spirit sense and checked the town.


    "Hmm... there isn¡¯t much here. Even the poption seems less than it should be..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He had seen the houses, but when he checked the people using his spirit sense, he found them to be lesser than he had expected. At least 40% more people could be amodated into these houses.


    After leaving little Shrubby outside, Lin Mu walked into the town. At the end of the town a hill could be seen, on which an old mill was built. The mill looked quite old, but it was still operational from what Lin Mu read about the town.


    Since it was already nighttime, most people were sleeping in the town and there were barely any lights lit up. Lin Mu was only stopped by the guards at the entrant for a couple of minutes before he was let in.


    "The security is ratherx too... they just asked me what I was here for, not even the name..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He soon found a restaurant that was still working and stepped in.


    "What would you like, sir?" The waiter asked.


    Lin Mu saw that the restaurant was mostly empty and the workers were just sitting around.


    "Hmm... get me one of every dish you have." Lin Mu spoke.


    The waiter looked at Lin Mu for a few seconds longer, but did not question him.


    "Alright, sir. Please take a seat and I¡¯ll be with you in a moment." The waiter spoke before leaving.


    Back in the kitchen,


    "We have another traveler, he ordered one of each dish." The waiter spoke to the cook.


    "Huh? Why would he want that much food?" The cook asked.


    "I don¡¯t care as long as he pays. He looks decently dressed so shouldn¡¯t have a problem paying. I even saw some jewelry on his hands so he should be fine." The Waiter responded.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Alright. We have to do whatever since the business is dying, anyway." The cooks replied.


    "Yeah... I can¡¯t believe the kingdoms won¡¯t listen to our pleas that the people are disappearing. If they are all gone, how would we do business."

 Chapter 486 - Kidnappings Here Too?

    <h4>Chapter 486 - Kidnappings Here Too? </h4>


    "Oh? What¡¯s this? Disappearing people here too?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    It wasn¡¯t hard for Lin Mu to hear the waiter talk due to his enhanced hearing.


    ¡¯Even the kingdom is not listening to them? This shouldn¡¯t be possible, they should send someone to investigate.¡¯ Lin Mu thought before taking out themunication jade slip.


    He was still in the range of the city so should be able to contact Wu Hei.


    "Is there a problem?" Wu Hei instantly asked.


    He knew that if Lin Mu was contacting him, in the middle of his travels, there was bound to be something wrong.


    "Another town with people disappearing, the Dusty Mill town." Lin Mu replied.


    "That¡¯s not right... we have no reports of this." Wu Hei replied.


    "I overheard the people in the restaurant talk about it. Besides, I took a look over the town. The number of people is really less than there should be." Lin Mu exined.


    "Did they ask for the guards to investigate?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "They did. Apparently, the kingdom won¡¯t listen to their plea or something. I don¡¯t know but this does not add up. Perhaps the Gu Legion is part of this too." Lin Mu replied.


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    "Let me check, give me a few minutes." Wu Hei said.


    Lin Mu put down themunication jade slip and continued hearing the conversation of the waiter and the cook. But they had already stopped speaking and the waiter was nowing towards him with a tray.


    He poured Lin Mu a ss of water upon reaching his table.


    ¡¯May as well ask him directly.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "I saw that the town looks rather empty, why¡¯s that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Is it that obvious now?" The waiter spoke before sighing.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "A lot of people left the town as was told to us by the ¡¯guards¡¯ but we knew they would not leave without informing the others. We suspect that they disappeared or were kidnapped." The waiter answered.


    "Did the kingdom soldiers not take action, I mean there is an outpost nearby that I went past when I came here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They¡¯re even worse. Unless they get ordered from their superiors, they won¡¯t act on it. We even tried to send some people to the capital city to inform the official there, but they were prevented from going past the outpost itself." The Waiter spoke.


    "Why were they denied? And what about your town head, why do you guys not ask him, he¡¯s an official too?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They simply told them that there were bandit attacks going on currently and that it was dangerous to go ahead. The people had no option but toe back. As for our town head, there isn¡¯t one for the past six months." The waiter answered.


    "Six months? Where the hell is your town head?" Lin Mu asked, feeling this to be absurd.


    "He died. He was sick for a few years now and finally sumbed to it six months ago. We were supposed to get a new town head, but the capital city¡¯s officials never appointed anyone. I now think it is our bad luck that our main city is the capital city and not some other regional city.


    I¡¯ve never seen such a slow response before in other towns." The waiter said, feeling frustrated.


    Every town and vige that existed in a state, came under the authority of the regional main city. In the case of the Northern town, it was the Wu Lim city. But in this case, since the region of the capital was simply toorge, this town came under it as well. Usually, things in the capital region should have been taken care of promptly but there was a ck attitude.


    "I see..." Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what more he could say to the man.


    He just watched as the waiter went on to attend to the few customers that were still in the restaurant. Just as Lin Mu looked around, he felt themunication jade slip hummed in his hand.


    "You were right," Wu Hei said.


    "I talked more and found out that they haven¡¯t had a town head for six months either and that they are being restricted from leaving the town by the soldiers at the outpost." Lin Mu Informed.


    "Just as I expected. I believe this is one of the towns the Gu Legion is targeting. This is their ssic modus operandi. First, they iste the peoples, spread rumors that the people are leaving for better job prospects or better life and then start kidnapping people." Wu Hei exined.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up, showing a fierce look and he spoke, "should I take care of them?"


    "Unfortunately, no... if you act now, it is likely that the spies at the Tri Cauldron peony sect will be alerted as well." Wu Hei replied.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and knew that he would have to bear with it for now. He could notpromise their mission for this, not at this point, at least.


    "Alright..." Lin Mu replied after a short period of silence.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll send my men there. They should be able to stop the next kidnapping, and once that happens, we¡¯ll blow the whistle to the king. He will definitely have to act at that point." Wu Hei spoke.


    An idea popped into Lin Mu¡¯s mind upon hearing Wu Hei¡¯s words.


    "That¡¯s right, we can use this as an opportunity. Make the king aware of the actions of the Gu Legion and their reach. If we bare everything to the people, he will have no option but to act on it." Lin Mu said.


    "Yes, that can work." Wu Hei replied.


    "Hmm... I¡¯ll investigate a bit more and see where they are hiding here. Though I think I may already have an idea about that..." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay, feel free to do that. Inform me if anything new arises." Wu Hei replied before stopping the link.


    "Gu Legion... I¡¯ll eradicate you all!"

 Chapter 487 - The Hidden Members

    <h4>Chapter 487 - The Hidden Members </h4>


    It didn¡¯t take Lin Mu long to finish his meal and leave the restaurant. The waiter had expected he would not be able to finish the food and would get some as take away, but Lin Mu really did end up eating the entire thing. But before he could think of much or ask Lin Mu, he paid the bill and left.


    Lin Mu had used blink and gone to the top of the tallest building in the town, which was none other than the Mill on top of the hill. He had a hunch about where the hideout of the Gu Legion was in this town and he went to look.


    His spirit sense spread far and wide, prating deep into the ground. The soil here was not as densely packed as the one near the Northern town or the Wu Lim city, because of which Lin Mu didn¡¯t have as much difficulty.


    His spirit sense¡¯s range was now over 380 meters which allowed him to observe multiple things at once. And this time his hunch turned out to be true, as he found the hideout right where he thought it was.


    The hideout was inside the hill on which the mill was located. The main entrance to the hideout was in the mill itself, but Lin Mu simply used phase to sink into the ground. About six meters deep, there was an empty hall.


    It looked like it had originally been part of the mill and was its basement where grain used to be stored. But now there were better warehouses in the town which were used instead as it made it easier for people to carry the grain down the hill, rather than to carry it up there.


    ¡¯Seems like the people either forgot about this, or it was made to be forgotten.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He looked around the hall, which had a few items which showed that it was the hideout of the Gu Legion as there were their uniform and robes lying here. There were some bloodstains in one of the corners and some rusty cages as well.


    There was no dust in the hall though, which showed that it was actually being used regrly. But now the question was, where were the members of the Gu Legion.


    "Looking at the uniforms and robes, it¡¯s likely that they are either part of the popce of this town itself. Or they abandoned this ce only recently." Xukong spoke.


    "I think so too senior. I¡¯m betting on the first option though, I doubt they would abandon this town so fast." Lin Mu said.


    Seeing that there wasn¡¯t much here, Lin Mu phased out of the hill and went back to the town. This time he wanted to take a walk around the town and see the condition more in detail. He looked at the houses which had been locked up for a long time and shops that had been boarded up.


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    He could even see joss sticks ced in front of a few houses, which made him think that these may have been the most recently kidnapped.


    But while he was walking, he was suddenly stopped by a small group of men.


    "Here he is, this is the new guy I saw in the restaurant." One of the men spoke while pointing at Lin mu.


    "Good job. At least we will be filling this month¡¯s quota early. Haha!" One of the other menughed.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard their words, he knew who they were.


    "Gu Legion?" Lin Mu asked openly.


    His question stunned the group of men as they had not expected someone to recognize them. They were not even wearing their robes or hiding their faces here. Either they were very confident that nothing would happen to them, or they had just be careless.


    "Huh? Why the hell do you know that name?" The man at the front asked.


    "Well, that confirms it..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "This guy speaks too much, GET HIM!" The man ordered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "And here I thought I would have to stick to the n... but now youe show yourselves." Lin Mu said, as his eyes lit up with a fierce glint.


    He then extended his right hand and lightly spoke, "Meld."


    Then a shocking scene could be seen in front of him. The men who were running in front of him were divided into multiple segments. Some of them had their torso stuck in the air with the same expression, while their legs kept on running towards Lin Mu.


    Some of them were segmented diagonally and left behind an arm, while some had their legs segmented such that one leg went in one direction and one in the other. Lin Mu raised his eyebrows as he watched a strange scene.


    He sensed the drain on his spirit Qi but didn¡¯t mind it, he wanted to test the effects of Meld and this was a good opportunity. He would be able to recover it all while he traveled with little shrubby anyway.


    It took the men a couple of seconds to register what had happened. Since their torsos were left floating in the air, they were able to look at their legs or whatever segment that had been disced from their body.


    An expression of absolute shock was present on their faces as they looked at their body parts.


    "WHAT IN THE NAME OF HEAVENS!" They eximed in fear.


    Another strange thing was these segments that had been disced from their bodies were not bleeding. In fact, their legs and the rest of their parts were fully functional. Due to the shock, they had stopped moving and could not help but look at their bodies.


    One of them sensed their leg and tried to lift it, and it actually did even though it was a few meters ahead of their body. The others did the same with their parts and discovered that there was no pain, it was as if everything was normal.


    "What did you do to us?"

 Chapter 488 - Meld And Bandits

    <h4>Chapter 488 - Meld And Bandits </h4>


    The men were now frozen in fear and could only look at Lin Mu as he casually approached them. He bent and looked at the underside of their torsos and the bottom parts of their bodies.


    "Hmm... interesting... very interesting." Lin Mu said.


    "This is rather unexpected, this level of spatial maniption... amazing," Xukong said.


    "Indeed senior. But the drain on spirit Qi... it is still quite a lot. And it hasn¡¯t stopped either, the longer I keep this state the longer it keeps on draining." Lin Mu replied.


    "Well... let¡¯s see what happens when it stops." Xukong suggested.


    The members of the Gu Legion could not see who Lin Mu was talking to and it terrified them. His words were especially depressing to them as they could see their demise in the proximity.


    "Alright," Lin Mu said and stopped the skill.


    A cacophony of screams echoed in the town at that moment as blood and guts sttered on the earth, the stench spreading in the air.


    <i>~Woof~</i>


    <i>~Howl~</i>


    The stray dogs smelled the scent of the blood and howled in excitement, while the people of the town tightly closed their doors and windows, fearing that if they went out, they may suffer the same fate as what those voices did.


    The scream of the men onlysted for a couple of seconds after which a deathly silence had descended in the town.


    "Uff... this is a messy skill..." Lin Mu said as he wiped the blood that had sttered onto his robes and hands.


    "Should have gone a bit far before deactivating the skill... now these robes are stained too..." Lin Muined.


    Lin Mu walked to the bodies and stored each of them into the ring. There was still blood left on the ground but Lin Mu didn¡¯t care for it much as the stray dogs would take care of that for him.


    They had already rushed to the ce and were licking the spilled blood.


    "At least they were good to be food for the dogs." Lin Mu muttered to himself before fading away.


    The next morning, the townsmen would find more of their popce missing but they would not forget the pain filled screams that they had heard. A legend would be born from this day onwards of a being that swallowed men whole, not even leaving blood behind.


    But the person behind this, Lin Mu could not care less. He simply contacted Wu Hei to tell him what had happed.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Since they are the ones that chose to attack you and they were not in their robes I should be able to find it. I¡¯ll frame it as if they attacked a cultivator that was beyond their strengths and were killed. Won¡¯t be the first time something like this has happened so we should be fine." Wu Hei said.


    "Alright... at least there won¡¯t be any kidnappings in the near future there." Lin Mu said.


    "Master, you¡¯re back already?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yes, I was done early." Lin Mu replied.


    <i>~sniff~</i>


    "Blood? More enemies there?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yup." Lin Mu said as he rubbed the beast¡¯s head.


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    They rested there for another hour before little Shrubby was ready to go. Lin Mu got onto his back and the duo sped away like the wind.


    Hours passed by and they traveled across thends. They encountered several beasts in the forests nearby and some of them were even at the Peak stage of the core condensation realm. Lin Mu didn¡¯t fight them though as it was much easier for him to just use the severing heart sutra and quickly pass from the side.


    He didn¡¯t want to dy anymore, and seeing the situation in the Dust Mill town had only made him more impatient. After a certain distance, the outposts of the Shuang Qian kingdom¡¯s army had stopped appearing and even the blockades could not be seen.


    Not that it mattered to Lin Mu, as he could easily bypass them all.


    Twelve more hours had passed and it was time to let little Shrubby rest again. They found a spot in the forest and Lin Mu got to cooking this time. Finding a couple of early stage core condensation realm beasts, Lin Mu skinned and cut them.


    In less than half an hour, a fragrant barbecue was set up. The master and beast enjoyed the meal while resting for the time being. But just as both of them had finished their meal, Little Shrubby smelled something.


    "Humans, they¡¯reing from the south east." Little Shrubby said.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and spread his spirit sense to the furthest limit, but still could not see them.


    "They¡¯re farther than four hundred meters at the very least." Lin Mu said before blinking to the top of a tree.


    He looked in the approximate direction of the humans and was able to spot one of them. The man was dressed in light armor and had his chest bare. His face was cascaded and so was his chest. On his back, there was a club hanging and in his arm, he carried arge bup sack.


    Lin Mu blinked to get closer to them, while keeping his presence hidden.


    "Hahaha! It was the right decision to move here, Little Bu. There are no soldiers to fear and the travelers are also plenty to rob." The man spoke.


    Hearing their words, Lin Mu instantly knew who they were.


    "Bandits..." Lin Mu muttered as he counted them


    There were seven of them, one at the qi refining realm and the rest in the body tempering realm. some of them even had dried blood on their weapons. Though when Lin Mu scanned them with his spirit sense he found there to be more than seven people.


    "That sack... there is someone in it. A child..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He followed behind the men while giving some orders to little shrubby. After following them for about thirty minutes, Lin Mu reached their camp that they had set up.


    It wasn¡¯t much just a few crude tents, but seeing the cages there only made Lin Mu seal the fate of these men.

 Chapter 489 - Safe Location For The Bandits?

    <h4>Chapter 489 - Safe Location For The Bandits? </h4>


    The cages were made out of hardwood which could be found anywhere in the forest. If it were a normal adult man, or even a teenager with little body tempering realm cultivation, they would be able to break through the cage easily, but for children, something like this would not have been possible.


    Lin Mu could see the traces of the cages being used extensively and there were even scratch marks on the cage which showed that whoever was imprisoned within them struggled a lot.


    His spirit sense spread around and discovered two more cages kept inside the tents. But these cages were not empty. Each of the cages had a child trapped in it, both of them being boys of around six or seven years of age.


    From their clothes Lin Mu could tell they were probably low born peasants and seeing their tan skin, they were probably from this region since they got more sunlight here than in the north.


    "Seems like they were kidnapped by these bandits to be sold as ves..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as his eyes trained on the bandits.


    The scarred man who was carrying the sack with the child put it down and opened it, revealing the unconscious girl within it. She looked to be of five years of age but was wearing better clothes than the other two boys.


    ¡¯She doesn¡¯t seem to be a peasant... perhaps the child of a merchant or businessman?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu did not act right away, as he wanted to know what these bandits did with the other children. Even if he could save these three children right now, and kill the bandits, he would be missing out on the information about the other children.


    He could also interrogate them, but obtaining information that way would be a bit inefficient. Whereas just by eavesdropping on them, he reckoned, he should be able to obtain plenty of clues to the whereabouts of the others.


    "Today was a good haul, we¡¯ll get a good price for this girl. Look at her, she got better skin and face, in a few years she¡¯ll be worth ten times her price." The scarred bandits spoke.


    "You¡¯re right. Though, when will those people being to buy next?" Another short bandit questioned.


    "Theye around every week, so perhaps today or in a couple of days from now. Shouldn¡¯t matter much, we just need to watch them for a bit and keep them here." The scarred bandit spoke.


    "Who would have thought the safest ce for us to hide would be near the territory of a cultivation sect." Another bandit spoke.


    "Though what sect is it that we are near?" A younger bandit questioned.


    "You should ask this to Ba Lian, he¡¯s the only one who¡¯s a cultivator here." The short bandit replied.


    The bandit who had the scarred face was evidently named Ba Lian. He opened a gourd that was ced nearby and took a swig. The pungent smell of cheap and crude wine could be felting from it.


    "Ah~ good wine... The cultivation sect? It¡¯s called as the Tri Cauldron peony sect, they¡¯re pretty big in the kingdom and call shots nowadays. Apparently, even the king heed¡¯s their orders and they have great sway among the other sects too." Ba Lian answered.


    "Why would they allow us to function here, then? I mean aren¡¯t the sects ¡¯righteous¡¯?" The Younger bandit asked curiously.


    <i>~p~</i>


    The short bandit pped the back of the younger bandit¡¯s head while the other bandits chuckled in delight.


    "Whose side are you on Little Bo, huh? You¡¯re gonna jinx us if you say things like that." The Short bandit said.


    "Bah! What do you know, those sects are just like us all, dirty. They¡¯re just better at hiding it, but behind their ¡¯masks¡¯ they¡¯re all the same." Ba Lian spoke.


    "Now don¡¯t spoil the mood and get the food. I¡¯m hungry after all that work. Get some of that money and buy more stuff tomorrow when you go out, and don¡¯t forget to get the wine I like." Ba Lian spoke.


    The other bandits also made requests of what they all wanted while the Little Bo did his best to remember it, though it looked like he was having a hard time. One of the bandits looked at the kidnapped girl and spoke.


    "Look, she¡¯s waking up. Put her in the cage too." The bandit ordered.


    Little Bo couldn¡¯t do much but to listen to the orders. He was new here and just like any junior, he would have to do menial tasks for his seniors till another junior came in. He couldn¡¯t do much other than to just grit his teeth and do his work. At least he was getting good money from banditry, much more than he did when he worked at his old man¡¯s farm.


    He picked up the girl and locked her inside one of the empty cages outside. Once he returned back, he was sent to prepare the food while the rest of the banditszed around.


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    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes narrowed as he checked the distance between the bandits and the cages where the children were held. Confirming that the distance was sufficient, Lin Mu decided to act.


    He sank into the ground using Phase and appeared below the group of bandits. They werepletely unaware of him and were joking around when suddenly a squelching sound was heard.


    <i>~stter~ </i>


    "XI LAO!" The bandits shouted as they suddenly saw the legs of a bandit pretty much explode.


    "AAAAAAA!!!!" The bandit named Xi Lao cried in pain.


    Xi Lao was sitting at the very back and hence the rest of them had not seen what had happened. But they didn¡¯t have to wonder about it for long as it happened another time.


    <i>~stter~</i>


    And again.


    <i>~stter~</i>


    And once again.


    <i>~stter~</i>


    "What the hell is that?!" Ba Lian eximed, not knowing the cause.


    "I-I... I think I saw a hand..." another bandit said while stammering.


    "What?" Ba Lian questioned again.


    "A HAND CAME FROM THE GROUND!"

 Chapter 490 - Interrogating And Rescue

    <h4>Chapter 490 - Interrogating And Rescue </h4>


    Just as the bandit had spoke, his legs were grasped by two hands which then pressed hard, crushing the legs to minced meat.


    "ARGH!!!" The bandit cried in pain as snot trailed down his nostrils and his body fell to the ground, writhing in pain.


    "WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU!?" Ba Lian shouted in shock.


    But now Lin Mu had broken the legs of nearly every bandit, and only Ba Lian and little Bo were left. Upon hearing his question, a voice appeared.


    "Me?" The voice said, before a person emerged from the ground. "I am your death."


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s leg moved like a whip and hit the legs of Ba Lian, severing them instantly and knocking his body away.


    <i>~Crash~</i>


    The legless Ba Lian crashed into the tents as he groaned in pain. All the bandits that Lin Mu had fought were weakpared to him, being in the body tempering realm, except for Ba Lian who was a cultivator and at the early stage of the Qi refining realm.


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    "LEADER BA LIAN!" Little Bo shouted upon seeing the scene. He had rushed back upon hearing the pain filled shouts and was greeted by a horrifying scene.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    A sword suddenly appeared next to Little Bo¡¯s neck, which made him freeze in ce.


    "Take another step and lose your head." Lin Mu spoke in a cold tone.


    "Wh-what... why-why are you doing this?" Little Bo questioned.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know whether tough at his word or pity the man. Such a question was ridiculous if he considered his position.


    "I don¡¯t think I need to answer that. Any sensible person will know why, and since you need to ask such a question, you are definitely not one of them." Lin Mu ridiculed.


    He turned back to Ba Lian and stepped on his gory stumps that were bleeding profusely.


    "NOO!!" The man shouted in pain as Lin Mu pressed his heel against it.


    "If you don¡¯t want a repeat of this, tell me everything. Tell me where you got these kids and who you are selling them to." Lin Mu questioned, his eyes looking deadly sharp.


    The injured man spilled the beans pretty quickly. What Lin Mu had done was enough to reduce a grown man to a crying child. There was no way he could hold up against the threat.


    Lin Mu finally learned how all these bandits were actually working. Ever since the kingdom set up multiple army outposts and blockades, these bandit groups had to move to the outer regions of the kingdom that were either less protected, or were under the authority of a local power like the cultivation sects.


    Usually, these powers would exterminate criminals like these bandits on their own, but for some reason the Tri cauldron peony sect didn¡¯t. The bandits didn¡¯t know the exact reason for it, either. It was either out of ignorance, or arrogance about the fact that no bandit group would dare to operate in their territory.


    As for the kids, the bandits had simply taken them from the carriages that passed by. A lot of people had been moving to the souther kingdoms ever since the news about the Northern tribes had spread. Their numbers were in the minority, but they were slowly growing little by little.


    ¡¯Hmm... so what they said about people migrating in the Dusty Mill town wasn¡¯t entirely false. It¡¯s just that they are moving from other towns and the ones in the Dusty Mill town were being specifically targeted.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    But when Lin Mu heard who was buying the kids, he couldn¡¯t identify them. Lin Mu had originally thought that the Gu Legion was behind this too, but then he realized that they would much prefer the grown adults as they had more blood than children. Though he didn¡¯t know if they really discriminated against that or not.


    The people who were buying the children woulde by this bandit camp and buy them for two to ten gold coins each. This was a rather high price for these bandits and thus they now refereed to kidnap children rather than steal heavy goods which would yield lesser profit.


    Lin Mu got the description of the group of vers and memorized them.


    "Where are the other bandit groups?" Lin Mu questioned.


    But unfortunately, by now Ba Lian had suffered a massive bloodless and could not speak coherently. In less than a minute, he took hisst breath and died. Lin Mu looked around for the other bandits, but they were dead too, leaving Little Bo alive.


    Lin Mu extended his finger and beckoned the man toe to him.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Little Bo swelled his saliva in fear as he felt his legs turn to jelly. He had seen the torture that his now-descendedpanions had gone through and was utterly terrified of the man in front of them. To him, Lin Mu may as well be a devil in disguise.


    Little Bo gradually approached Lin Mu and struggled to speak.


    "Now tell me, where are the rest of the bandit groups?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Do-don¡¯t kill me... I¡¯ll tell you... please..." The man pleaded while crying and trembling.


    "Speak!" Lin Mu ordered.


    "Th-there are two camps to the south, three to the south west and one to the west. There are more, but I don¡¯t know about them. If you ask those bandits, I think they should know." Little Bo answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered before a muffled thud was heard.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    A head rolled on the ground and then the body fell beside it as well. The man named little Bo was now dead, having fulfilled his purpose in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes.


    Lin Mu went to check up on the condition of the kids and found them to be rtivity well. They had some minor scratches and bruises, but they were not in a bad condition. Lin Mu could tell that they had been dosed with some tranquilizing herb and found it in one of the copsed tents.


    "I think it¡¯s better you leave them sleeping." Xukong suggested.

 Chapter 491 - Test Subjects

    <h4>Chapter 491 - ''Test Subjects'' </h4>


    "Hmm... yes, it would be best if they don¡¯t see the current scene." Lin Mu said as he looked around.


    He took out themunication jade slip and contacted Wu Hei.


    "I need your assistance." Lin Mu spoke.


    "What happened this time?" Wu Hei asked while holding the bridge of his nose.


    For some reason, trouble seemed to either follow Lin Mu around or he went looking for it even if he did not aim for it. They had been waiting for him to reach their first goal but Lin Mu had been interrupted twice now.


    "Bandits kidnapping children near the territory of the Tri Cauldron Peony sect." Lin Mu said.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I¡¯ll send the men there." Wu Hei replied.


    "Oh, I just want them to take the children. I¡¯m gonna go ahead and wipe out the bandits." Lin Mu said before putting themunication jade slip away.


    "Wai...t <i>~Sigh~</i> this boy..." Wu Hei muttered before contacting his men that were in that region.


    Lin Mu was carrying the other jade slip which showed his location thus the men Wu Hei sent wouldn¡¯t take long to reach.


    "Little Shrubby,e here," Lin Mu said through his link.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    The trees rustled and in less than five seconds, Little Shrubby was standing in front of Lin Mu, his paws having sunk into the ground due to the speed at which he had moved.


    "Watch these children. If any bandits like thesee to take them, kill them. And if men wearing clothes such as thise let them take them." Lin Mu said before showing the uniform of the Hei corps.


    "Just watch from afar and hide. Act only when needed." Lin Mu added.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby said before disappearing into the bushes.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and went to the cages before breaking them and taking out the kids. He put them together in a morefortable position and put a mild healing pill in each of their mouths.


    "This should be enough for them..." Lin Mu said before blinking away.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A few minutester, Lin Mu was at the location of the next bandit camp. This one was bigger than the one he had seen before, and there were even more cages here. But unlike the previous one, they were all empty.


    Lin Mu sank into the ground and sneaked closer to listen to their conversations. They were rtively mundane as most bandits would talk, but Lin Mu didn¡¯t get anything of particr importance from them.


    ¡¯These ones don¡¯t have any people kidnapped as of now, but they do sell them as well. Better get rid of them as well.¡¯ Lin Mu thought before blinking to the top of a tree.


    Lin Mu was currently revealed to all of the bandits if they looked up. But since they were busy in either talking or doing other tasks, they did not notice.


    "This should be a good chance to test meld further..." Lin Mu said before closing his eyes.


    Meld was much more difficult to use than the other four skills and when he had used it on the Gu Legion members in the Dusty Mill town, his control had been rough. That was the reason why all the Gu legion members had been cut in different manners.


    Lin Mu¡¯s weaker control over Meld was also the reason why he did not test it on the earlier group of bandits. He was worried about hurting the children and thus did not want to take a risk.


    The targeting area of Meld was irregr and was hard to maintain. If the target it was used on moved, their body would be split into different parts, depending on how meld was used. Thus Lin Mu looked at the bandits, who all felt a chill go down their spines.


    "Meld..." Lin Mu muttered.


    For a second there, it was as if everything had frozen as the bandits felt scared. But then they recovered and looked around.


    "What the hell was that feeling?" One of them questioned.


    "Yeah, it was like some beast was staring at us." Another bandit turned around to say.


    But then...


    "WHAT THE FUCK! Second Ning! Looks at your waist!" A bandit shouted in shock and pointed at him.


    But when this bandit moved his hand to point at him, his hand detached and dested to a different position.


    "AHHHHHH!" The bandits all became startled.


    Of course, since they were scared they all moved and some part of their body detached from them. One of them even lost his head, which was now floating in the air while his body ran around like a headless chicken.


    Lin Mu watched all this closely and focused on his spatial perception. It was still not good enough, and he could barely sense the borders of the target area of Meld. It was like different chunks that attached to some part of the target, and controlling it was quite hard.


    Lin Mu also had a difficult time controlling how many of these ¡¯chunks¡¯ were used at once. He reckoned that this could have been the reason behind him requiring such arge amount of spirit Qi to use the skill.


    ¡¯If I¡¯m able to use it on a singr target, I should be able to reduce the consumption of spirit Qi.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Currently, Lin Mu could use meld about six to seven times before his spirit Qi would be entirely depleted. This was a massive amount, not to mention that Lin Mu had three times the spirit Qi stores than a normal cultivator while being at the peak stage of the core condensation realm.


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    There was a chance that if it were a normal cultivator at the same stage as him, he would only be able to use the skill once or twice before depleting all of their spirit Qi.


    Lin Mu continued looking at the chaos that was happening in the bandit camp while improving his understanding of Meld.


    "Hmm... I¡¯ll need more test subjects..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 492 - Exterminating Bandits

    <h4>Chapter 492 - Exterminating Bandits </h4>


    Lin Mu eventually discovered that the more the targets moved, the more difficult it got to control the skill. But their movement also made it so that they moved their detached parts further away.


    The bandits were all screaming in terror at seeing their body parts detaching. Some of them even tried to pull on them and found that they could actually still be moved. One of the bandits who had his hand detached tried to put it back and found that even while detached he could move it.


    The bandits felt like they were in some nightmare and could not get out of it. A couple of them directly fainted due to fear while some copsed due to the fatigue and shock.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "This should be enough." Lin Mu muttered before deactivating the skill.


    <i>~Thud~ Thud~ Thud ~thud~ </i> Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.


    <i>~Stter~ stter~</i>


    <i>~slick~</i>


    A cacophony sounds were heard as all the bandits took their final breaths. Various body parts and entire bodies were scattered around now, dressing the earth in various shades of red.


    The bandit who had a part of his waist attached was at Lin Mu¡¯s side and Lin Mu saw a kidney and a fragment of rib along with some skin lying there. Evidently, this was the part of his waist that had been detached.


    This part included a good chunk of arteries so the man died rather quickly due to blood loss.


    Lin Mu looked around and realized that except for the ones that were decapitated or severed half from the waist, themon cause of death was blood loss. Though he reckoned that the shock and terror had probably contributed to it as well.


    Lin Mu took onest look at the dead bandits and scanned the camp with his spirit sense to see if he could find any clue.


    "Nothing here... better head to the next one..." Lin Mu said before blinking away.


    A few minutester, the same scene was seen at a different bandit camp and cleanly dismembered bodies were lying all around. This camp also did not have any people that had been captured, so Lin Mu did not spend much time here.


    In the next camp though, there were a few women that had been captured. They were shackled and put in metal cages. Lin Mu looked at the bandits and saw that these ones were better equipped than the previous ones.


    Not wanting to risk hurting the women with Meld, Lin Mu swiftly dealt with the bandits. Leaving only one of them alive for asking questions. This bandit was their leader and was likely to know more than others.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Lin Mu stepped on the leg of the bandit, shattering it while ignoring his pain filled cry.


    "Speak... where are the other bandits and who do you sell these people to." Lin Mu ordered.


    "I¡¯ll speak, I¡¯ll speak! Please don¡¯t kill me!" The bandit leader pleaded.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Lin Mu shattered his other leg bone and prodded him to speak again.


    "There... there are four more bandits camps. We have a map you can see on there. As for the vers, they are from outside the kingdom. They buy ves from us and sell them to different parts of the empire." The bandit leader uttered hurriedly.


    <i>~st~</i>


    "I see..." Lin Mu replied before stepping on the head of the bandit, crushing it like a watermelon.


    He freed the women that were unconscious and fed them the healing pills as well. He could see many signs of abuse on them, including deep scars and cuts. Lin Mu had a cold expression on his face as he took out the jade slip and reported his location to Wu Hei.


    "They have found the children and are taking them to a safe ce now." Wu Hei Spoke.


    "Good. Come to this ce now. There are women here." Lin Mu said, before rushing to his next target.


    One by one, Lin Mu went to each of the Bandit camps and eradicated all of them. He ended up freeing over twenty people, which included men, women and children along with a couple of beasts as well.


    Lin Mu looked at these beasts that looked like a mix between a turtle and a duck. He recognized them to be rare beasts that were prized for their shells and were often sold for them. They were at the early stage of the Qi refining realm and were not of much use to Lin Mu so he freed them as well.


    Lin Mu had gotten a little bit more practice with the bandits, but it was still not enough for him to say that he had sufficient control over Meld. He hadn¡¯t been able to use it more due to there being captured people in the camps.


    Though the one thing that wasmon was the herb they used to tranquilize the people. All of them used the same herb, and it was not native to this region. Lin Mu learned that this drug was provided by those vers so that it made the task of the bandits easier.


    "Damned monsters! they are worse than beasts!" Lin Mu said, mes of rage visible in his eyes.


    After having taken care of all the bandit camps, Lin Mu called for Little Shrubby and went on his way to the Tri Cauldron peony sect. But he had not forgotten about those vers and was going to kill them too if he encountered them.


    Lin mu knew that the border of the Shuang Qian kingdom was only at a day¡¯s distance from this ce, so it was likely the vers were located somewhere outside it. But since there were military outposts and checkpoints at the routes that went in from the border, they were likely to be using some other secret path.


    Finding this path would have been like finding a needle in a haystack and thus he just told Wu Hei to watch the locations where the bandit camps were, so that when the vers approach they are able to capture them.

 Chapter 493 - Reaching The Tri Cauldron Peony Sect

    <h4>Chapter 493 - Reaching The Tri Cauldron Peony Sect </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes were closed as he was focused on refining his spirit sense further. It had been twelve hours since he had left the site of the bandit camps and was on his way to the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    Technically he was already inside the sect as he had felt the border of formation at a certain point. This was the formation that demarcated the territory of the sect. Usually, this formation would have been hidden to most people but due to Lin Mu¡¯s natural sensitivity, he was able to perceive it.


    This formation was intended for the disciples of the sect as it was the range in which they could ask for help or in which the sect¡¯s other formations could work. Still, it wasn¡¯t like there were many people guarding it manually.


    It wasn¡¯t in the main sect¡¯s territory and would take far too many people to guard it. There wasn¡¯t anything of much value in this area either thus it didn¡¯t make sense to guard it strictly either.


    "Wait here, this should be far enough." Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    Little Shrubby slowed down as his paws dug into the soil. Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around and verified that there was no one here before nodding his head.


    "You can wait here, though stay alert and hide if anyonees. I¡¯ll call for you when needed. You can find me, right?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes! I can always tell where you are from the link and when we¡¯re close enough, I can pin point you with your scent." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Good. We will have to act very quickly when the timees." Lin Mu said before withdrawing a bunch of things.


    There were alchemical pills and spirit stones in it, that he gave to little shrubby.


    "Use these when needed." Lin Mu directed.


    He couldn¡¯t risk losing little Shrubby at all. He had grown way too close to him, plus he felt like family to him now. The beast had been nothing but devoted to him and was but a child, too.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and changed into the robes of the Tri cauldron peony sect that She Qing had given him. They were of the perfect size and dint himfortably. He then hung the identity badge on his waist with the belt.


    Now he looked like an inner court disciple of the Sect no matter which angle one looked at from.


    "Hmm... just one more thing left..." Lin Mu muttered before sitting down cross legged.


    He chanted the calming heart sutra, and slowly suppressed the fluctuations of vital energying from his body. Although Lin Mu¡¯s vital energy fluctuations were already quite hard to detect, he still didn¡¯t want to take a chance with it.


    After all, there was a greater chance of finding a cultivator at the peak stage of the core condensation realm rather than one who was in the Five Treasures realm. Though he did not know if anyone would be able to tell or even know about that.


    After all his vital energy fluctuation had been contained, Lin Mu started chanting the severing heart sutra and stilled his mind. Unlike vital energy, it was much easier for him to hide his spirit Qi fluctuations. His Xiantian physique contributed a lot to this and made it very adaptive for his spirit Qi.


    Usually, the spirit Qi fluctuation happens due to the leakage of a small amount of spirit Qi due to the body being ipatible with spirit Qi. But the Xiantian physique took care of this part and made it highly conducive to the spirit Qi. Due to this, the spirit Qi would rather stay bound inside the body than spread outside into the air.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit Qi fluctuations started falling and soon it was as if he was not a Peak stage core condensation realm cultivator but rather a peak Qi refining realm cultivator. This was more urate for his standing as an Inner court disciple as those in the early stage core condensation realm would be core disciples of the sect, while those at the mid stage and thete stage were junior elders.


    The disciples that managed to reach the peak stage of the core condensation realm would be directly promoted to the position of elders while the ones who managed to reach the Nascent Soul realm would be peak masters.


    The Tri Cauldron peony sect had three peaks, which meant three peak masters who were all at the Nascent Soul realm. In total, there were four Nascent Soul realm cultivators in the sect, including the Sect patriarch who had the highest cultivation base being at pseudo Dao Shell realm.


    Peak master Yi Deng upied the pill peak, the sect patriarch upied the main peak, while another female elder upied the Herb Peak. The supreme elder was an exception to this and stayed in the forbidden area of the sect, only attending to matters of great importance. He was also the expert with the second highest cultivation base in the sect.


    Though these were not the people that Lin Mu had been warned about. Rather the person he needed to be careful of was the Ancestor of the Tri Cauldron peony sect. Not even the sect patriarch or the Supreme elder knew if he was alive or not.


    Wu Hei had been able to get the bare minimum information about him as Gu Yao had been looking for this ancestor too. But his location was hidden and unknown to anyone. This ancestor could be a problem for his ns and hence he was looking to either control him as well or get rid of him.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Time to head in..." Lin Mu muttered as he opened his eyes and looked up at the three peaks that were finally visible.


    These three peaks had suddenly appeared as they had been hidden behind a concealment formation array. Before reaching this point it was as if there were only trees in the area, but now three mountain peaks each with a different symbol carved on them were visible.N?velDrama.Org: owner of this content.

 Chapter 494 - The Tri Cauldon Peony Sect

    <h4>Chapter 494 - The Tri Cauldon Peony Sect </h4>


    "So this is what a cultivation sect looks like..." Lin Mu muttered after seeing the peaks.


    He continued walking forward and could sense the rapid change in the spirit Qi concentration in the air.


    "The difference is... quite a lot. No wonder people want to join sects." Lin Mu said as he took a deep breath.


    He could tell that the concentration of spirit Qi was about fifty percent more than other ces.


    "Though it still can¡¯tpare to the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode. That ce is on a different level." Lin Mu stated.


    "They probably have a couple of spirit stone mines and maybe a few more spirit Qi springs in the area. This concentration of spirit Qi seems proportional to that." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Do we need to target those too?" Lin Mu asked.


    He knew spirit stones were one of the foundational resources that were needed for a sect to function. Without them, there was no way a sect wouldst for a long and a mid sized sect like the Tri cauldron pent sect definitely had arge requirement of them.


    "Hmm... not necessarily. They can¡¯t mine beyond a certain point and most of their wealth should be stored in those vaults that Wu Hei told you about. If they mine too much, it will just hurt the vitality of the mines. If too many spirit stones are mined, the mines won¡¯t recover and will go into a decline.


    Most sects will mine a certain amount and stockpile them in their vaults. Over the years they end up with arge surplus which makes the backbone of the sect. That¡¯s why the more spirit stone mines a sect has the more power they will have." Xukong answered.


    "What about the spirit Qi springs then?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The spirit Qi springs work a bit differently. While they can turn into a spirit stone mine after a few decades or centuries, even before that they do help in increasing the ambient spirit Qi of an area. Not everyone uses them like how the lost immortal did." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm... that¡¯s true... he did take advantage of a lot of spirit Qi springs when he found them and who knows seized how many people¡¯s future fortune." Lin Mu said as he remembered the memoirs.


    Lin Mu had seen the Lost immortal find Spirit Qi springs and absorbing them dry like the very first time he had done at the mines. It was one of the reasons why he was able to reach the Nascent Soul realm despite his low talent.


    He would spend his time in finding spirit Qi springs and then draining them dry. Due to his efforts in this, he had researched quite a bit and had even developed certain theories about how a spirit Qi spring would be formed.


    ording to him, if certain parameters were fulfilled, there was a 90% chance of a spirit Qi spring forming in that area. Lin Mu had read those theories, but they were all too much for him. Unlike him, the lost immortal had gained centuries of experience before he hade up with those.


    In fact, when he had be a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, he was already close to the end of his life span. It was that veryst moment when he had gotten lucky and found a rather mature spirit Qi spring that was close to turning into a spirit stone mine.


    He absorbed all of that and broke through to the Nascent Soul realm.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu sighed at the bad luck of the lost immortal and couldn¡¯t help butpare how fortunate he was. The lost immortal had ended up spending over two hundred years before he reached the Peak of the core condensation realm while here he was at the same point at eighteen years of age.


    "Better start hiding now, the longer I stay out of sight the easier it would be for me..." Lin Mu said before sinking into the ground using phase.


    Even if Lin Mu had the robes and the identity badge of a Tri cauldron peony sect disciple, there was still a chance that he would be found out by someone. While not everyone didn¡¯t know everyone in the sect, there could still be people who get suspicious.


    Another thing was that while Lin Mu had the identity badge, it didn¡¯t mean that it was 100% authentic. The disciples who were part of the sect were all recorded in the sect registry. So while Lin Mu would have the badge, if anyone cross checked it with the registry they would find out the truth.


    The less Lin Mu came into the sights of others, the fewer chances of him being found out.


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    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Getting up there will take a while..." Lin Mu said.


    Since he couldn¡¯t fly he would have to take the long winding route that went to the peaks. The Tri cauldron peony peak was built in a rather unique manner. The entire region of the three peaks was rising up from the ground like a singr mountain and then from that three different peaks separated.


    If one looked at it from afar, it kind of looked like a three pointed cauldron.


    Lin Mu first needed to reach the base of the sect which took him an hour to climb. Since he was traveling underground the entire time, he moved smoothly but the drain on his spirit Qi was also substantial.


    Along the way, he saw plenty of outer disciples and servants. These were the majority members of the sect and did most of thebor in the sect. Lin Mu paid attention to their conversations, as these were the people who would know the finer nuances of what happened in the sect.


    And just as Lin Mu was listening to one of the gossips between a few Outer court disciples, he learned of an interesting development.


    "Did you know, Alchemist Bo will be getting his own peak after his Ascension?"

 Chapter 495 - A New Peak?

    <h4>Chapter 495 - A New Peak? </h4>


    Lin Mu paused in his tracks after hearing the words of that disciple. This was the type of information that was very important to his mission and there was no way he could miss it. Thus he went closer which was pretty much right below the small group of disciples.


    "Where did you hear this? And why would they do this?" One of the disciples questioned.


    "That¡¯s the wrong question brother, you should ask how would they do this? Can¡¯t you see we only have three peaks?" Another smarter disciple added.


    "You gotta believe me, guys. My brother¡¯s neighbor¡¯s cousin is a servant at one of the elder¡¯s residence. He heard the elders discussing about this in a meeting. They said that if Alchemist Bo managed to sessful breakthrough, they will make an entirely new peak for him." The first disciple answered.


    "Another peak? How in the world would they do that? Making something out of nothing, even Nascent Soul realm cultivators can¡¯t do that much. I¡¯m not that smart but even I know this much." The second disciple spoke.


    Even Lin Mu wondered about how they would make an entire mountain where there wasn¡¯t any to add. If one looked around the area where the Tri Cauldron Peony sect was located, they would only find a forest.


    There were no other mountains than the three peaks of the sect in an area of about three hundred kilometers.


    "Senior, can they make a mountain just like that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... it is possible. One doesn¡¯t even need to be a cultivator to make a mountain. Even simple mortals can do so with enough time. Rather, the importance of mountains and peaks in the cultivation sects is usually due to the presence of the Spirit stone mines and spirit Qi springs.


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    These mountains all have intricate formation arrays that evenly distribute the spirit Qi around the sect. Even the spirit stone mines and spirit Qi springs are located beneath these mountains, or inside them.


    So if they are willing to make another mountain, it means that either a spirit Qi spring is about to mature into a spirit stone mine, or a couple more spirit Qi springs will bebined to supply for a mountain." Xukong exined.


    "This... is rather surprising. Will Gu Yao do something about this? I mean won¡¯t all this require a lot of resources." Lin Mu questioned.


    "It is quite likely. Or... since this alchemist Bo will be a new Nascent Soul realm cultivator there is even a chance Gu Yao would want him under his servitude. Even if he isn¡¯t able to control him with the Human controlling Blood curse, I think he should still be able to passively give him ordered through the sect." Xukong answered.


    "That¡¯s right! As long as Alchemist Bo sessfully bes a Nascent Soul realm cultivator Gu Yao will get another talented Alchemist at his disposal that can make pills for him. This will just be more beneficial for him." Lin Mu said.


    "Then perhaps... you should prevent this from happening..." Xukong suggested.


    "I may be able to do that, but will that be right? Besides, interrupting a heavenly tribtion is deadly isn¡¯t it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not if the tribtion neveres," Xukong replied.


    "You mean to say..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "End him before he can be a problem," Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu went silent and didn¡¯t know how to reply to this. He knew senior Xukong was right on this matter, but he did not want to kill a man for simply being there at the wrong ce. If he killed him, what difference would be there between him and the type of people he hated.


    "I don¡¯t think I can do this, senior. I simply cannot kill an innocent man for something that is not his fault." Lin Mu said with determination.


    "That¡¯s alright. These decisions are yours to make and the consequences yours to live with as well. I can at most advise you, but you are the one who is supposed to act." Xukong said in a sagely voice.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and continued to head forward. He was now near the area where all the outer court disciples of the sect lived. They all had their individual courtyards, but they were smaller than he had expected. In fact, they were smaller than the houses of some vigers too.


    "Don¡¯t just go on their size, these houses should all have a spirit Qi amplifying formations in them. Each of these houses should cost a few hundred spirit stones as well." Xukong spoke.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu said as he continued looking around.


    Another thing Lin Mu noticed was a lot of security barriers that were in the form of barrier formations. These formations restricted one from entering areas they did not have the authority to enter.


    Every house had these formations ced on its four walls, while some of the other areas here were entirely restricted. Lin Mu looked at them and realized that they were training areas where the disciples were taught and trained.


    Even when Lin Mu proceeded on the upward path that went to the three peaks, he was forced to temporarily halt. A barrier had stopped him even while he was underground and the badge that he had on his waist was humming.


    "Use the badge. This should be the demarcation area between the outer court and the inner court. It will block you from entering unless you go in from the gate." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu took a look around and saw that there were still some people in the area. He waited for them to pass and the path to be empty before he returned to the ground. He held out the identity badge and let the gate¡¯s formation check it.


    The badge glowed in a green light and let him pass. But just as he was about to take a step across the gate, he heard a loud shouting from the back.


    "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

 Chapter 496 - A Weird Disciple

    <h4>Chapter 496 - A Weird Disciple </h4>


    Lin Mu tensed up and became alert. He didn¡¯t know why this person had called out to him like this but knew that he would have to be careful from here on.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t turn around but rather looked at the person using his spirit sense. This way if he was getting into trouble at least they would not have seen his face. But when Lin Mu saw the person who had called out to him, he was rather dumbfounded.


    "Is that guy okay?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but say.


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    The person who had called out to him was a young man who was dressed in tattered robes, looking like some homeless beggar. His face was covered with dirt and his hair was messy, leaves and twigs stuck in them. There were also some injuries on his body that Lin Mu could see.


    The man seemed to have a relieved look on his face upon seeing Lin Mu stop and rxed his speed. But by the time he reached Lin Mu he was panting and his chest was heaving.


    "Thank you for stopping brother, my identity badge was broken while I was out of the sect, so I needed someone else to open the gate for me." The man in the tattered robes spoke.


    "What... happened to you? Why are you in this condition?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    He was now sure that he had not been found out and thus turned around to take a direct look at the man.


    "Whoa! Where have you been hiding all this time, brother? I¡¯ve never seen you before. I¡¯m sure there would have been talks about you if such a handsome and heroic looking man was in the sect." The man ignored Lin Mu¡¯s question and asked something else.


    "I... I¡¯ve been in seclusion." Lin Mu gave an excuse.


    "Ah, I see. Have you been in seclusion for a long time? Did youe out of seclusion for the heavenly tribtion of Alchemist Bo too?" The man started shooting off a string of questions without stopping.


    ¡¯Damn, he¡¯s a chatterbox.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "<i>Ahem~</i> Better to get inside and change your clothes. I also need to get to my work." Lin Mu said, interrupting the man.


    "Ah, look at me. Me and my big mouth again. You¡¯re right brother, I should clean up and heal my injuries first." The man said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and walked towards the gate that automatically opened for him. The man in the tattered robes walked behind him and passed the gate too.


    "Thank you for your help, brother. If it were not for you, I don¡¯t know how long I would have had to wait here for the other Inner court disciple to pass by. And now that everyone is anticipating Alchemist Bo¡¯s breakthrough, no one ising to the outer court.


    My chances of meeting inner court disciples would have been quite less." The man in the tattered robes spoke.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "What is your name though, brother? I¡¯m Jiao Fang. I owe you one for this; when the Heavenly tribtion of Alchemist Bo is over, I¡¯ll treat you to wine and some good food at one of the pleasure pavilions." The man in tattered robes said.


    "I¡¯m... Wu Lian." Lin Mu gave the same fake name that he had been using for a few days now.


    "Ah, Wu Lian. I¡¯ll remember it from now on. When the tribtion is over, I¡¯ll find you for drinks." Jiao Fang said before going on his merry way.


    After the man was gone, though, Lin Mu kept on looking in his direction.


    "...Weird man." Lin Mu muttered.


    ¡¯I should get going too.¡¯ Lin Mu thought and continued on his path.


    Now that he was in the inner court, he could choose which peak he wanted to go to. The three peaks were divided ording to their functions. The Herb peak was where all the spirit herbs required for the Alchemical pills were grown.


    The Pill peak was where they refined the Alchemical pill. And finally, the Main peak was where the sect patriarch and a lot of elders resided. It was also the peak that had the important buildings of the sect like the Skill pavilion, libraries, merit hall, sect registry, and other such ces.


    Lin Mu¡¯s targets were on all three peaks and from what he had learned from Wu Hei the Tribtion tform where Alchemist Bo will be having his breakthrough will be at the main peak. So ording to that, that peak was going to be thest one that he was going to visit.


    For now, Lin Mu was only supposed to check out the areas where the vaults were located so that he could quickly visit them during the time of Heavenly tribtion. He chose his first target to be the herb peak.


    This peak was located in the south western part of the sect and looked rather beautiful. There was arge symbol carved on its surface that could be seen from afar. The symbol was of a single cauldron that had the character for ¡¯Herb¡¯ on it.


    There were many colors on the peak due to the numerous spirit herbs that grew on it. They were grown on t surfaces that had been carved around the radius of the peak and were of many types. There were also different buildings located between these fields of herbs where the disciples that took care of these herbs resided.


    At the very top of the peak, Lin Wu could see a fewrge courtyards and a pce.


    "So that¡¯s where the peak master of the Herb peak resides. What was her name again... oh yeah, Shaoyan Qianyu." Lin Mu remembered.


    This peak master was at the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm and was the weakest Nascent Soul realm cultivator of the sect. Her presence was also quite limited in that she barely participated in administrative matters unless they rted to her peak.


    "Let¡¯s see where they keep the herbs..."

 Chapter 497 - The Herb Peak

    <h4>Chapter 497 - The Herb Peak </h4>


    There were many warehouses where the herbs were stored. This was a necessary part of the peak since most of the herbs took a long time to grow. Thus if they wanted a sufficient quantity and a stable supply, they needed to grow a lot of them at once.


    Even the low grade spirit herbs needed few months to years to grow. While those that were of high grade would even need centuries to grow. Currently, the herbs that Lin Mu was seeing everywhere, were of either low grade or mid grade herbs.


    These herbs were not as valuable as high grade herbs and did not have growth conditions that were as strict as those for the high grade herbs. The high grade herbs were grown in specific gardens that were well controlled by the elders of the peak.


    As for the peak grade herbs, those were far too rare to be grown here. One could only chance upon them and not cultivate them. Though there were sometimes when a sect was able to grow a peak grade herb sessfully. But any such instance was exceedingly rare, and repeating it would be taunting the heavens.


    Not to mention the amount of time needed for a peak grade herb was far too much, often exceeding for a thousand years or more. Most cultivators were not even able to survive for that long.


    Many nts had longer lifespans than animals. Evenmon trees could live for thousands of years if they never cultivated. Such was the blessing bestowed upon by the heavens, but in exchange, they did not have the movement or the intelligence that animals had.


    Thus when these nts became spirit herbs and gained the ability to absorb spirit Qi, their aspects such as these were amplified further. ordingly, they needed more spirit Qi the higher their grade was, because of which the higher the grade of the herb the further up they were grown on the Herb Peak.


    Lin Mu was currently on the level where only the low grade herbs were grown. He could see a wide variety of flowers blooming along with herbs that had exquisite looking leaves and stems. Their colors so vibrant, that one could not help but admire them.


    The aroma of herbs that spread in the air was ever-present and the closer Lin Mu got to the location of the warehouse, the stronger the aroma got. This just made it easier for him to find it. He continued on ahead and finally reached arge building, which had three floors.


    There were of course, disciples present around it that were acting as guards. They had a sharp look in their eyes and vigntly watched every one that passed. Whenever one needed to enter the building, they were stopped a hundred meters away from it and their identity badges were checked.


    Only after they were verified would they be allowed to get closer. Then, when they actually entered the building, their badge would be scanned once again. Lin Mu carefully watched the entire process, including the part where the formation would get activated when checking the badges.


    Lin Mu got closer to the warehouse while still underground and saw that there were multiple barriers surrounding it from all sides, including the ground below it. He checked the formation with his spirit sense and tried to find the nodes.


    "Hmm... I should be able to resolve this if I get some time. I¡¯ll need to make a schedule after I confirm the locations of all vaults and warehouses." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The warehouse in front of him only had low grade herbs in it, and even then the security was quite high. If he wanted to steal all the resources, he would have to sort out the formations protecting them beforehand.


    ¡¯I should see the other warehouses as well. Then there is the vault at the very top too.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The most important herbs were kept in the vault, which was personally under the protection of the peak master and elders. essing it was going to be the toughest part of Lin Mu¡¯s mission, not to mention there were a total of twelve that existed, of which Lin Mu needed to rob from at least four.


    The herb peak had only one vault, which meant that Lin Mu definitely needed to rob this one. The Pill peak had two vaults and the main peak had three vaults instead, so Lin Mu would have the option for those peaks. Along with these, there were six storage pavilions in the entire sect.


    Two of these were the warehouses that were located in the herb peak, then the two pill repositories in the pill peak and the final two treasure pavilions in the main peak. Lin Mu would have to carefully pick his targets or he would never be able toplete his mission sessfully.


    Lin Mu continued on ahead and reached the second warehouse. This one was located halfway up the peak and was smaller than the previous one, which was understandable since the mid grade herbs took a longer time to grow than the low grade ones.


    Lin Mu checked the security, which was obviously better than the previous warehouse¡¯s.


    "I will need more time to figure out the formations in this warehouse. If these are already this difficult, how will I open the vaults?" Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    Lin Mu recorded the number of disciples guarding the warehouse as well as their patterns. Though there weren¡¯t many changes to it, as they mostly stayed in the same ce for twelve hours. Before a different disciple would rece them. There wasn¡¯t even apse between the shift change as the second disciple would be here before the shift even began.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Let¡¯s just see the vault and then on to the next peak." Lin Mu muttered to himself, feeling a bit overwhelmed.


    He continued on ahead to the top of the peak. This was where the peak master resided and the core disciples lived as well.Property of N?)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

 Chapter 498 - The Vault At Herb Peak

    <h4>Chapter 498 - The Vault At Herb Peak </h4>


    Lin Mu had to be extra careful as if the elders or heavens forbid the peak master ever scanned the ground with their spirit sense they would end up finding Lin Mu there. These people were either as strong as Lin Mu or even stronger than him, thus their range of spirit sense would be higher as well.


    He finally reached apound that had high walls. There was arge gate at the front which needed an identity badge to enter inside as well. Lin Mu tried to enter using phase, but the barriers surrounded it from everywhere making it difficult to pass.


    "I¡¯ll just have to use fade, I guess." Lin Mu said to himself before disappearing from the real world.


    His proficiency with fade was getting better with time and now he could judge how much distance he had traveled just by estimating it with his eye. This was good for the short distances he needed to travel like these barriers.


    He would have done the same with the formations on the warehouse but they were different. While he would be able to enter them using fade, an rm would still ring as soon as he deactivated it and appeared in the real world.


    The warehouses had active formations that prohibited one from staying in it for long times and also checked who was in it at all times. So to ovee this, Lin Mu would have to override the formations themselves.


    As for the barrier in thispound, it only prevented one from entering but did not constantly check for the identity. Thus, once Lin Mu entered it, things were a bit easier. Lin Mu looked around and saw all the buildings that were locatedwithin it.


    The biggest building was where the peak master stayed at. There were two more buildings in it that were smaller than it. These were the buildings where the elders and the core disciples of the peak lived in.


    They wereyered in an ascending manner, with the building where the core disciples lived first, then the elders¡¯ building and finally the peak master¡¯s building.


    ¡¯ording to the information I was given, the vault is located between the elder¡¯s building and the peak master¡¯s building.¡¯ Lin Mu recalled.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around and sensed the spirit Qi fluctuations in the area.


    "So there are about seven core disciples in the building and they are all at the early stage of the core condensation realm." Lin Mu discovered.


    He didn¡¯t worry much about these disciples as they couldn¡¯t do much to him, even if they all attacked him at once. He then continued on ahead and reached the elder¡¯s building. Here the spirit Qi fluctuations were a bit stronger and Lin Mu was able to see that there were three elders in here.


    "Oh? One of them is missing. Perhaps he¡¯s gone out..." Lin Mu guessed.


    ording to the information he was given, there were a total of four elders in the herb peak, two of which were at thete stage of the core condensation realm and two at the peak stage of the core condensation realm.


    They all were currently busy with preparations for the event that would be happening in theing few days and seemed to be engrossed in it.


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    ¡¯This may make it a bit easier...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He finally went past the building and reached the middle area between the elder¡¯s building and the peak master¡¯s building. There was a garden in between them where spirit herbs were nted as well. These were all high grade spirit herbs and were quite difficult to grow.


    Lin Mu checked the properties of these herbs and found some interesting ones.


    "Oh my, the main herb needed to make the four vessels restoration pill is here too." Lin Mu said upon seeing a small nt that had four cylindrical leaves.


    This was the Tube Rest Grass and was a high grade herb that was the main ingredient for the four vessels restoration pill. There were a total of ten such nts which showed how expensive the pill really was.


    There were also other herbs that were used to make other high grade pills such as the high grade basic Qi pill and even the Earth resurgence pill. Lin Mu¡¯s eyes particrly trained on the flower that was used for the Earth Resurgence pill.


    His gaze lingered over it for a bit before he reluctantly withdrew it. He looked at the small pavilion that was built at the other end of the garden and moved towards it. This was the vault of the Herb peak that contained all the high grade herbs that the peak had grown over the many years it had existed.


    It was built along a cliff and the other side of it extended out the side of the peak. This gave it quite a mystic look and the formations the faintly glowed around it only made it more enchanting. But Lin Mu knew that this only entuated the danger that was there.


    Lin Mu checked the formations with his spirit Qi and saw theplicated formation array that wasyered over the vault.


    "Dammit, just unrevealing this single vault will take me a few days. If this is notpleted before the tribtion I may really fail this." Lin Mu said in a frustrated tone.


    The original n was that Lin Mu would quickly break into the vaultsformations, during the time of tribtion and steal all the things in it. But this was a final gambit kind of a goal, which was to only be done when there was no option.


    Optimally, Lin Mu would have resolved the formations that protected the vaults and storage pavilions before the tribtion even came. This way, not only would the sect take longer to realize that they had been robbed, Lin Mu may even be able to gain more time to rob more of the storage pavilions.


    But just as Lin Mu was observing the vault, he sensed someone approaching it.


    "Shaoyan Qianyu..."

 Chapter 499 - An Opportunity To Observe

    <h4>Chapter 499 - An Opportunity To Observe </h4>


    The person who had just appeared was none other than Shaoyan Qianyu, who was the peak master of the Herb Peak. The woman looked liked she was in herte thirties, yet still had a special charm.


    She had no wrinkles on her face, but there were a few strands of white hair on her head that could be seen. She was wearing the robes of a peak master with the symbol of the Herb peak embroidered on them.


    On her face, there was a rather calm look as she strolled to the vault.


    <i>~swish~</i> N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    She waved her hand and a small jade appeared in her palm. As soon as the jade appeared in her hand the formations on the vault started to light up and a wave of spirit Qi fluctuations could be perceived.


    Lin Mu instantly knew what was the jade in her hand.


    "The key to the vault..." He muttered.


    "Quick! Don¡¯t waste this opportunity. Look at the formations and observe how they are unraveling. It will make it much easier for you to do itter." Xukong prompted.


    "Yes, senior!" Lin Mu responded before focusing on the formations of the vault.


    He saw how eachyer reacted to the key and the specific waves of spirit Qi that were released from it one by one. Lin Mu memorized the patterns and the order of their movement. The process was rather quick,sting only two minutes, but even in that Lin Mu reckoned that he had seen at least a hundredyers of formations.


    "Thankfully, I get the chance to observe it opening, or I would have had a bad time unlocking them one by one. Not to mention there are three more of these vaults, each with a different formation array." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    After the formations were finally open, the door of the vault moved to the side, giving one the view of what was inside. There were a lot of boxes and containers kept in the vault, each of which was made from special preservative materials.


    Some of them were made out of fragrant wood that helped maintain the qualities of the herbs kept in them, which some were made out of precious blue jade that kept the herbs cool. In addition to this, each of these containers were inscribed with more formations.


    Overall, the security was top notch. Thankfully, Lin Mu only needed to enter the vault, as after that he would be able to store everything in the ring at once. The peak master Shaoyan Qianyu entered the vault and went to a specific shelf.


    There was a brocade box kept on it which gleamed with the glow of formations. She traced her finger over it and made a seal before the box opened. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t see what was in the box from this angle and neither could he risk using his spirit sense to see it, as there was a chance that the woman would sense him.


    Thus he just waited till she was done. Shaoyan Qianyu closed the box and carried it out in her hands, before closing the door of the vault again. Lin Mu didn¡¯t waste this chance either and observed how the formations locked the vault. This allowed him to deepen his understanding even more now.


    He saw how each node reacted with the other and how theyers intersected with each other. Theplexity was profound and it would take a formation master a few months before they would be able to figure it out on their own.


    Lin Mu was in luck due to his enchanted perception offered by the mysterious ring. Still, once the formations were all locked again, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh at the difficulty. He then saw as Shaoyan Qianyu walked back into her residence.


    An idea appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind, and he followed behind the peak master. There was another barrier that restricted his entry into the residence, but he was able to use fade to bypass that easily. He had expected the interior of the residence to be quite luxurious, but once he saw it he was underwhelmed.


    "This... is quite simple..." Lin Mu said upon seeing the in things in the residence.


    There was nary an item that could be called as luxurious here. The furniture was made out of basic wood and some of it was made from stone. He saw the teapot and teacups which were made from y, and then the set of brushes that were made out of donkey hair.


    "Hmm... this woman is rather sober." Xukong said upon witnessing it.


    "Indeed. Even the peak master Yi Deng¡¯s residence in Wu Lim city was much better than this. Except for the high concentration of spirit Qi in the air, there is no luxury here." Lin Mu agreed.


    Lin Mu saw Shaoyan Qianyu enter a pill refinement room and begin her work. There were already a lot of herbs kept in the room along with other materials like minerals, beast parts, and natural treasures.


    There was also a ck cauldron kept in the center of the room, on which there were many runes carved. The cauldron looked old, but a faint medicinal fragrance could be felting from it. It was evident that this was a pill cauldron that had been used for pill refinement for a long time.


    "It¡¯s a Dark Iron Alchemical Cauldron. It¡¯s a rather simple type of a cauldron but it¡¯spatible with nearly any type of pill. Still, with therge number of runes that have been carved into it, the cauldron is no less than a high grade spirit tool." Xukong exined.


    "I see..." Lin Mu said as he watched Shaoyan Qianyu begin her work.


    She flipped her palm and closed her eyes. A few secondster wisps of spirit Qi rose from her palm and then started to condense together before forming into ring like shape. The wisps kept on copsing within themselves and then they ignited.


    "Whoa... a blue me?"

 Chapter 500 - Vitalizing Red Lingzhi

    <h4>Chapter 500 - Vitalizing Red Lingzhi </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at the blue me that was burning above Shaoyan Qianyu¡¯s palm. He could tell that it was a Qi me, but it was quite different from his own that he had ignited before when he was purging the impurities from his body.


    His Qi me was yellow in color but this one was blue. Another thing that was different was the method by which Shaoyan Qianyu had ignited it. The level ofpression was much higher than his.


    "What is this senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That is an intermediate rank Qi me. It is better than the low rank Qi me that you made. An intermediate rank Qi me is one of the basic requirements for Peak rank pills." Xukong answered.


    "I see... wait does that mean she is about to refine a peak rank pill?!" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Hmm... could be, why don¡¯t you wait and see." Xukong replied.


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    Lin Mu nodded his head and watched as Shaoyan Qianyu began to refine. She opened the lid of the cauldron with her spirit sense and levitated it to the side. She then picked up a few spirit herbs and dropped them inside.


    Then she ced her palm onto the cauldron and the blue me started swirling around the cauldron, heating it up rapidly. In less than thirty seconds, the bottom of the cauldron was already red hot.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Smoke was released from the top of the cauldron as the herbs in it were getting burned. But they did not burn up directly, rather they first started to shrink due to the heat which caused them to release their juices.


    These juices were able to bear the heat better than the herbs themselves and dripped to the center of the cauldron. Once the juice of the herbs waspletely released, the herbs themselves turned into ash due to the intense heat.


    But just as the ash was about to fall back into the juice, Shaoyan Qianyu flicked her other hands and executed a hand seal, causing a gust of wind to swirl inside the cauldron. This gust of wind swept away the ash out of the cauldron and deposited it into a small basket at the side.


    But the function of the wind did not end just here. The wind also dissipated some of the excess heat of the cauldron and prevented the juices from getting burned. The woman then controlled the blue mes again and reduced their intensity.


    She picked up a few more ingredients and tossed them into the cauldron, using the same method as before. But there was still a difference here, such that the timings and periods of cooling were different. Even the time at which the herbs were added changed.


    Some of the herbs were refined to extract their juices, while some of them were allowed to directly mix with the juice at the bottom of the cauldron. For some, the ash was removed while for others the ash was allowed to mix with the juice.


    Overall, Lin Mu got to witness the different methods that were used in the field of Alchemical Pill refinement. He paid his full attention to this, even though he knew he was spending the precious time he had to check the other vaults.


    This was not something he could witness often and thus did not want to miss out on it. Besides Pill refinement was something that even Senior Xukong did not know much about. Even if he knew some theories behind it, he actually did not know how to refine alchemical pills.


    Thus Lin Mu watched Shaoyan Qianyu refine with rapt attention. Two hours had already passed and she had used up a lot of herbs and other materials. Then finally came the turn of the ingredient that was kept in the brocade box.


    She carefully opened the brocade box and pulled out arge red mushroom from it. It was the size of a palm and was as thick as a finger.


    "Is that... Vitalizing Red Lingzhi?" Lin Mu muttered upon recognizing the herb.


    He had read about a lot of spirit herbs and alchemical materials from the records and could now identify them by name and appearance at least. This Vitalizing Red Lingzhi was a High rank spirit herb and took over five hundred years to grow.


    If a cultivator were to consume this directly their injuries would heal rapidly and if they had experienced blood loss, it would also be remedied. The Vitalizing Red Lingzhi had the medicinal property of stimting Blood production in the body.


    Another thing that was different about the Vitalizing Red Lingzhi was that unlike other herbs, it did not have a specific aroma. Even if one ced it next to their nose and took a deep whiff, they would not smell anything. This was one of the reasons why it was hard to find it in the wild.


    Even cultivating it artificially was a pain and took many decades of effort before the specific conditions required for it were made. Only after these conditions were met would the Vitalizing Red Lingzhi be able to grow.


    Lin Mu had not seen any of them growing on the path here, which meant that this Vitalizing Red Lingzhi was likely found in the wild, which only increased its value by a great margin.


    "What kind of a pill is she making such that it would require a valuable herb like this?" Lin Mu wondered.


    While Lin Mu had learned about various herbs, he still did not know what kind of pills would be refined from them. There were simply far too many different forme such that a single pill could have multiple permutations andbinations to make the same thing.


    Lin Mu could only see the end result to know what she was making. He also did not dare to check what kind of a pill it could be, as that would mean taking his attention off her.


    The woman stared at the herb in her hand carefully for a few seconds before finally dropping it in the cauldron.


    But the moment the Vitalizing Red Lingzhi touched the liquid at the bottom, a violent reaction happened.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>

 Chapter 501 - Vital Guardian Pill

    <h4>Chapter 501 - Vital Guardian Pill </h4>


    The introduction of the Vitalizing Red Lingzhi was like the spark that had lit the oil. An explosion happened that rung loud and wide. Had it not been for Lin Mu being in the ground, he would have likely been knocked back.


    "Did the refinement fail?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Observe," Xukong replied.


    <i>~swish~</i>


    The sound of wind could be heard as the smoke was rapidly dissipated. Shaoyan Qianyu was standing there with a protective barrier glowing over her body. The Dark Iron cauldron was also undamaged. It was as if the explosion was all bark and no bite.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    A loud sound was heard again, as Shaoyan Qianyu pped the lid of the cauldron back on it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    She made a few hand seals and runes started appearing around the cauldron before illusory chains were formed around it. These chains locked the lid of the cauldron tightly, preventing any fumes from escaping.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    After the cauldron was sessfully sealed, she took a breath of relief and wiped the sweat off from her forehead.


    "The Vital Guardian Pill is still difficult for me even after so many years <i>~Sigh~</i> thankfully the most risky part is over. Now just to let it congeal for theing days and hopefully it is ready before Bo¡¯s tribtion." Shaoyan Qianyu muttered to herself.


    Lin Mu¡¯s ears perked up after hearing her words, and he finally understood why she had made this. But then this presented another question to him.


    "Wait, a minute... she¡¯s the peak master of the Herb peak, so why did she make a pill for Alchemist Bo? Shouldn¡¯t this be the duty of the pill peak?" Lin Mu wondered.


    No matter how much effort he put in thinking about the reason, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t find one.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like I¡¯ll just have to find out about it, eventually. No use wasting more time here." Lin Mu muttered to himself before leaving the residence of the Peak master Shaoyan Qianyu.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    This time he used Fade and directly went a long enough distance such that he was directly out of thepound. Once he appeared outside the things became easier for him. Even though Lin Mu had ended up spending quite a lot of time there, he had also learned quite a bit.


    Lin Mu pulled out the records he had collected till now and searched for the information about the Vital Guardian Pill that Shaoyan Qianyu had talked about it. A couple of minutester Lin Mu found out its uses and properties.


    The Vital Guardian Pill was a rather unique pill that had both defensive and healing properties. Shaoyan Qianyu¡¯s intentions were for Alchemist Bo to take this pill so that he would have an easier time withstanding the heavenly tribtion.


    Everyone knew that the Tribtion lightning was one of the most deadly powers in the world and its strength was fierce. The Vital Guardian Pill would defend against its power and the medicinal effects would heal the injuries that were caused in the process.


    It was a high grade pill, which meant that its effectiveness was the same as that of the Four Vessels restoration pill or even greater. If alchemist Bo were to take it, his chances of surviving the heavenly tribtion would be far better.


    "Hmm... seems like the Tri Cauldron peony sect is really enthusiastic about Alchemist Bo¡¯s breakthrough. Though I wonder if this is the attitude of all the people in the sect or just a few of them like this woman.


    With this out of the way, Lin Mu put the records away and went down the peak. His next target was the Pill peak, and there were multiple locations he needed to check there as well. Unlike the herb peak, the pill peak had two different vaults there along with two pill repositories.


    Lin Mu reached the pill peak¡¯s base after half an hour and started moving upwards. Unlike the herb peak, there were norge fields of herbs here. Instead of that, there were multiple residences built along its sides.


    These residences had a few things inmon, such as a small herb garden in which the disciples nted the herbs that they regrly needed and a pill refinement room. The pill refinement room could be easily noticed due to the long chimneys that were attached to the roofs.


    The creation of alchemical pills was no easy process, and even an experienced alchemist would make mistakes often. This would result in explosions which would release some that sometimes had corrosive and toxic properties.


    Thus in order to get rid of those, these chimneys were built on the top. But in the case of Peak Master Shaoyan Qianyu¡¯s residence, Lin Mu did not see any chimneys like these. What she used was of a much better quality.


    Instead of a chimney to expel the smoke and fumes, her residence used specialized formations that not only dispelled the smoke but even detoxified it. This was not something that the sect could build for every disciple, and neither would they be able to afford them.


    Lin Mu curiously observed a few disciples that were refining alchemical pills. The difference between them and the peak master Shaoyan Qianyu was like the difference between heaven and earth. Not only was their control of Qi me worse than Lin Mu who had barely even used it, but their spirit sense control was also mediocre.


    Comparing the performance of the peak master and these disciples would probably be an insult to the peak master. Lin Mu didn¡¯t spend much time in this, seeing that he would not have any gains and directly went to the first pill repository.


    This was actually located quite close to the base of the peak and a couple of long lines of disciples could be seen next to it. There was a mixture of both outer court and inner court disciples in the line.


    After listening to their conversation, Lin Mu discovered the reason for the lines. There were two types of lines for each of the outer court disciples and inner court disciples. One type was those disciples who hade to buy alchemical pills, while the second type was of those that came to sell them instead.

 Chapter 502 - At The Pill Peak

    <h4>Chapter 502 - At The Pill Peak </h4>


    Here, Lin Mu could see that the lines for those that were desiring to buy the alchemical pills were longer than those of selling.


    Lin Mu got closer and saw the entire process of transactions. The disciples would approach the exchange window and talk with the other disciple who was working within. They would state what they wanted to buy or sell and then present their badge to the worker.


    The worker disciple would check this badge and would then add or deduct sect credits ording to what was bought or sold. This transaction was not done on the whim of the worker disciple but rather a formation array that was in the form of a pedestal.


    The worker would enter the value and then ce the badge on the pedestal. This wouldplete the transaction by deducting or adding the sect credits. Overall, the process was simple and the only thing that consumed most of their time was the checking of pills.


    Lin Mu wanted to get closer, but was blocked by the barrier surrounding the entire building. He looked around and saw that the only way to enter it was through the designated doors.


    "Hmm... let¡¯s see..." Lin Mu muttered as he timed his attempt.


    He waited for one of the workers to leave the building before he took that chance to pass below the door. He had noticed this w in the formation as the formations would open much wider than they should have when the door was opened.


    Normally the opening should have been of the same size as that of the door but whoever made the formation did not consider the expansion of the formation during that or was careless enough to let the w there.


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    ¡¯Well... it¡¯s my gain anyway.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The building was smaller than the warehouse for herbs, but the security seemed to be higher in the case of actual people. There were shelves upon shelves in the room upon which various containers for the pills.


    There were gourds, vials, pill bottles and boxes, all of distinct qualities. Though one thing Lin Mu notice was that the highest quality pill that could be found here was a mid rank spirit pill.


    "So that¡¯s the reason for two pill repositories. This one is mostly for lower quality pills and the other one should be for the higher quality ones." Lin Mu guessed.


    Lin Mu then spent an hour observing the different formationyers of the pill repository. Because the doors would open and close along with the shelves, the formations were active a lot. This allowed Lin Mu to get a better grasp on its working.


    It was simr to how Lin Mu had seen the vault of Herb peak open and was only going to make it easier for him to open themter on. Once he felt like it was enough, Lin Mu moved onto the second pill repository which was some distance from this one.


    On the way, he could see that the residences for disciples that were built here were of a much better quality than the earlier ones.


    "Hmm... I guess they allot them ording to some ranking." Lin Mu guessed.


    He briefly looked over one of the residences and saw that they were simr in features to the earlier ones, except for the size and better formations.


    After traveling for a while, he finally spotted the next pill repository. The building design was the same as before but it was much smaller in size, being only half of the previous one. Another difference was that there were only inner court disciples waiting here currently.


    The lines were also much shorter, allowing the workers to finish up faster. Lin Mu had to wait for about half an hour before the door of the pill repository opened. But then he discovered that the w that the previous pill repository had was not present here.


    "Looks like the previous one is either damaged or has been built carelessly," Xukong spoke.


    "Hmm, seems like it, senior. Guess I¡¯ll just observe from the surface. If the formations are simr to the previous one, I shouldn¡¯t have much problemter on." Lin Mu replied before getting busy in observing.


    From what he observed, Lin Mu could tell that these formations were indeed simr to the previous ones.


    "Well, that makes it simpler for me now. Better head to the vault... that one is going to take a long time." Lin Mu muttered to himself before continuing on ahead.


    The Vaults were both located at the very top of the peak. But unlike the herb peak, there were two separatepounds here. The firstpound was for the core disciples and the elders to live in, while the second one was for the Peak master Yi Deng.


    Lin Mu had not seen the man for a long time and was wondering how he was since being controlled. But upon entering the firstpound, he saw someone he had not expected.


    "Wu Teng..." Lin Mu muttered.


    He saw the man training in one of therger courtyards of thepound.


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    He was training with practice dummies and destroying each of them with a single punch. Lin Mu looked at his appearance and found him to be looking much more serious and gruff than he used to be.


    "He¡¯s just like Wu Hei described him to be. The human controlling blood curse truly does suppresses their original personality." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    But while Lin Mu was observing Wu Teng, he suddenly felt a re up of spirit Qi.


    "WHO¡¯S THERE!!" Wu Teng suddenly shouted as he turned in Lin Mu¡¯s direction.


    Lin Mu was a bit dumbfounded, but did not move. He saw as the man approached the location beneath which he was hiding. His spirit sense was just about to touch the ground when Lin Mu blinked away.


    ¡¯How did he find out?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered as he retreated a safe distance away.

 Chapter 503 - Wu Teng And Yi Zi Jin At The Peak?

    <h4>Chapter 503 - Wu Teng And Yi Zi Jin At The Peak? </h4>


    "It is probably his battle instincts. He could tell that someone was observing him." Xukong replied.


    "But how is it possible? Even the peak master Shaoyan Qianyu who is at the Nascent Soul realm was unable to discover me." Lin Mu said.


    "Some people are just built differently. Their intuition can be much stronger than others even if their cultivation base is not." Xukong exined.


    "I see... Wu Teng was amander who has fought a lot. It is understandable that he still has these instincts." Lin Mu acknowledged.


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    Wu Teng though was still looking around and was unable to see anyone. It was now that another voice was heard.


    "Wu Teng? Who are you speaking to?" A woman¡¯s voice asked.


    Lin Mu looked towards the direction of the sound and found it to be a bit familiar. The door of the courtyard was open and in it, a woman was standing.


    "No one, Zi Jin... I was mistaken it seems." Wu Teng replied.


    The woman who had spoken before was none other than Ye Zi Jin, the daughter of peak master Yi Deng and Wu Teng¡¯s wife. Back then all the marriage proceedings had halted due to the red tide, but Lin Mu heard from Wu Hei that his father Wu Xun had asked them to proceed with a small ceremonyter.


    Their goals were already solved because Lin Mu forced Gu Yao to appear and use the Human controlling blood curse. Since everyone, he wanted to be dead was dead and others controlled Wu Xun did not deem it worthy for there to be another marriage ceremony that was borate.


    Thus a very hush-hush ceremony was done after everything calmed down a bit and Wu Teng was sent to the Tri Cauldron peony sect along with Yi Zi Jin. The peak master was also under Gu Yao¡¯s control and thus there wasn¡¯t much they needed to do there.


    Lin Mu observed as Yi Zi Jin and Wu Teng briefly talked before Yi Zi Jin went on to do something else and Wu Teng returned to his practice.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll free you two eventually." Lin Mu said silently before heading ahead.


    He briefly checked the residence of the elders and saw them busy at work. All of them were actually in a singlerge hall and were busy with refinement. Two of the elders were using their Qi mes to heat arge pill cauldron, three of them were processing the ingredients, and one elder was adding them to the cauldron.


    Overall, they were working in perfect synchronization and Lin Mu could tell that they had great practice in doing this. Coordination like this was not something one could create in just a few days and would likely require a few years at least.


    These elders were at thete stage of the core condensation realm at the very least and thus did not pose Lin Mu any danger. He freely checked what alchemical pill they were refining with his spirit sense and learned a few things.


    While he did not gain as much as he did from observing peak master Shaoyan Qianyu, it was still plenty for him.


    "What pills are they making, though? The amount of ingredients and the size of the cauldron is simply massive." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The actual variety of ingredients used by them was actually quite less being only five herbs. But the sheer quantity of them was something to see. Lin Mu estimated that they had easily used over a hundred kilograms of herbs till now.


    Lin Mu identified the herbs and resized what they were making.


    "They¡¯re making... Basic Qi pills?" Lin Mu estimated.


    "Not just basic Qi pills, they are making high grade versions of them," Xukong replied.


    "High grade version? But the recipe I saw needed different ingredients than these to make them." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That¡¯s true. But that is not the only method to make a high grade basic Qi pill. You see with a lot of alchemical pill recipes that are of the same type but multiple grades, higher grade variants can be made just but further refinement of ingredients that are used for a lower grade variant.


    Of course, this is not without its ws as the sess rate would be less than if they would use higher quality ingredients and there also being a higher concentration of pill toxins in the final product.


    Still, the advantage that forces a lot of alchemists to use this method is theck of high quality ingredients. This way they canpensate quality with quantity and then refine it further to make the alchemical pill." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu listened to it with his full attention and nodded his head in understanding. This was something new that he had learned and thus he was quite interested in it. He decided to see the rest of the process, as he deemed it to be worth his time now.


    About an hour passed by before the elders finally finished processing all the ingredients and adding them to the cauldron. The intensity of the Qi mes had been quite low till now and it was as if the cauldron was only being warmed.


    "Alright, seal it up! We shall finish it in one go!" The elder who had been in charge of adding the ingredients spoke.


    The other elders nodded their heads and one of them picked up the heavy lid of the cauldron before cing it on the top.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The sound of metal nging on metal was heard as the elders locked the lid with the help of metal mps. These ms were attached to the cauldron itself and were broad, hooking into the outer lip of the lid.


    Once the mps were secured, five of the elders gathered around the cauldron before raising their hands.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    Intense Qi mes came out of their palms and licked the surface of the cauldron. The final elder who was in charge only observed the entire process with his spirit sense, not daring to miss even a small moment.

 Chapter 504 - The Elders Combined Effort

    <h4>Chapter 504 - The Elders'' Combined Effort </h4>


    Another hour had passed since the elders had sealed up the cauldron and by now popping sounds could be heard from inside the cauldron.


    It was as if one was making popcorn in a pressure cooker as the sounds continued nonstop. Lin Mu could also see that the cauldron was lightly trembling because of the pressure that had built up inside it.


    "It... it won¡¯t explode, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That will depend on their skill. If they miss the correct moment of opening the cauldron, they will mess up. If they open it too early, the pill will not congeal sessfully and a part of its efficacy will be lost.


    While if they open it toote, the cauldron will not be able to bear the pressure and then explode. Seeing as this cauldron is a mid grade spirit too, it is already a miracle that it has been able to bear it till now." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu could do nothing but nod his head and continue observing. He actually wasn¡¯t worried about getting injured as he was inside the ground, but rather about the other people of thepound getting alerted due to the explosion.


    If the explosion happened, it was likely that the people will gather to check up on the elders and even the peak master Yi Deng may appear.


    And then to check the situation, what will they do?


    They¡¯ll use their spirit sense, of course, which would still be fine if it was the core disciples, but if it was the peak master Yi Deng there was a chance that Lin Mu would be discovered.


    This was all just a paranoid guesswork from Lin Mu, but it was this very caution which had been saving him till now and preventing him from falling into a desperate situation. It was this very caution which allowed him to kill the Great Slumber bear and escape from Gu Yao.


    There was no chance that he would ignore this.


    "This is enough, time to congeal the pill. Begin the thousand taps stirring technique!" The elder who was in charge orders.


    "YES!" All of the elders replied as their palms dimmed. The Qi mes became less intense and actually stopped emitting from their palms. Instead of that, they wrapped around the palms like translucent gloves.


    <i>~ding~ding~ding~</i>


    One by one, palms starting hitting the surface of the cauldron as the elder moved around the cauldron. These palms strikes were rhythmic and had a particr pattern to them. Still, this scene looked quiteical to Lin Mu.


    "What... are they doing?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... seems like a pill congealing method," Xukong spoke.


    Each of the palm strikes was precise and created vibrations in the cauldron. These vibrations collided with the vibrations of other palm strikes and created a unique flow in the herbal liquid inside the cauldron.


    Not only this but with the palm strikes, a specific amount of heat was being transmitted, which was neither too high neither too low. Making aparison, if before the cauldron was being ¡¯stewed¡¯ now it was being ¡¯grilled¡¯.


    About ten minutes passed, during which these elders kept on pping the cauldron.


    <i>~creek~</i>


    Then finally, a creaking sound was heard due to the mps being forced to open. The pressure inside the cauldron had reached a massive amount, and if it extended beyond this, there was a great chance of explosion.


    "NOW!!!" The elder who was in charge yelled, his eyes bloodshot.


    <i>~clink~clink~clink~</i>


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    The three metal mps came undone as the lid of the cauldron shot up in the air.


    <strong>~shua~</strong>


    The elder who was in charge leaped into the air and caught the lid, preventing it from disturbing the others. Or worse, falling onto the cauldron and spoiling their progress. A cloud of steam hit the faces of the elders, but they did not dare to look away from the cauldron.


    The steam was hot and thus burned their beards. Had it not been for them being in thete stage or the peak stage of the Core condensation realm, they would have been badly scalded.


    The elders, now with wry and singed beards, looked at the inside of the cauldron. The bottom of the cauldron was still not visible due to the steam that was stilling from it, but the elders waited patiently. They didn¡¯t even dare to wave the steam away, afraid of damaging the pill.


    The elders didn¡¯t have to wait long either, and within thirty seconds the steam cleared away. Wide eyes and toothy smiles appeared on their faces which,bined with their messy burned beards, only made them look even moreical.


    "AHAHAHA! IT IS DONE! WE DID IT!" The elders yelled in excitement.


    The elder who was in charge carefully leaned inside the cauldron and picked up the glossy white pill that was resting at the bottom.


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    "Truly marvelous!" the elder spoke as tears threatened to drop from his eyes.


    "I finally did it... I finally refined a high grade basic Qi pill. Even if it took thebined effort of all the elders of the pill peak, it is still a new record for the sect!" The elder in charge proimed.


    "I¡¯m sure the peak master and the sect master will be pleased. We can now refine high grade pills too!" The other elders added.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Indeed. But first! We are to deliver this pill to Alchemist Bo. We never know when his heavenly tribtion would appear and thus it is best for him to always have it by his side." The elder in charge said.


    Lin Mu raised his brows upon listening to this bit of information.


    "Even they were making this for Alchemist Bo?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but say.


    "It is an admirable effort. The use of a high grade basic Qi pill can help increase the sess rate of surviving a heavenly tribtion. When used at the right time, it will provide the cultivator with a bust of spirit Qi that will help them bear through the force of tribtion lightning." Xukong exined.

 Chapter 505 - Spirit Qi Gathering Formation

    <h4>Chapter 505 - Spirit Qi Gathering Formation </h4>


    Having heard Senior Xukong¡¯s words Lin Mu wondered if the main peak¡¯s elders were also doing something like this or not. He looked at the elders who were still celebrating and took the opportunity to leave.


    The first vault was located right below the building where the elders were refining the pills. Lin Mu had noticed it before but had not paid attention to it since he was focused on observing the elders refine the pill.


    He had to move around a bit before he was able to approach the vault as it hadplex formations that prevented him from getting close. Technically, he was standing exactly over the vault when he was observing the elders refine the pill, but because of its restriction, he could not go down.


    Lin Mu ended up going around the area and then through the stairs that actually went to the vault¡¯s level. After reaching there, Lin Mu could instantly tell this one was going to take much longer than the pill repositories.


    He spent an hour observing the formations during which the elders had left the building to meet up with the peak master. But one of the elders had instead gone to deliver the High grade basic Qi pill to Alchemist Bo.


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    Lin Mu took full benefit of their absence and learned as much as he could from the vault¡¯s formation. He even did some direct tests like touching the vault¡¯s formation and managed to gain a better understanding.


    If the elders had been here, Lin Mu would not have taken this risk as it could have alerted them. But in their absence, he took full liberty. Once he felt that nothing more could be done here and the elders were about to return, he went up from the vault.


    Lin Mu went ahead to the secondpound where the Peak master Yi Deng lived. This was where the second vault of the Pill peak was located at. Unlike the first vault, this one was located on the surface but the location was even more secure.


    The second vault was located in the cultivation chamber of Peak master Yi Deng. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t even get close because the spirit Qi fluctuations of peak master Yi Deng continuously came from the room. Lin Mu was sure he would be found out if he got closer or even used his spirit sense for it.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I¡¯ll have toeter or try my hand during the heavenly tribtion." Lin Mu muttered to himself before leaving the area.


    He directly left the pill peak and went in the direction of the Main peak.


    "You should rest and restore your spirit Qi. You have been using your skills for far too long that too continuously." Xukong reminded.


    Lin Mu checked his Dantian and saw that the store of spirit Qi in it was at a bare ten percent.


    "I should find a ce." Lin Mu said, while nodding his head.


    "Since you have that identity badge you may as well use one of the empty residences that are for the inner court disciples," Xukong suggested.


    "Oh? But won¡¯t the sect get suspicious about using them?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Actually, it would be more suspicious if you just roam around or cultivate somewhere outside." Xukong replied.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu said before going towards the residences of the inner court disciples.


    The method of iming these residences was rather simple. They were actually not assigned to the disciples unless they were the ones that were of a special type or of a higher quality. Most of these residences were free for an inner court disciple to im.


    All they needed to do was to ce their identity badge on the door of an unimed residence and open it. This would assign the residence to their badge and they would be free to use it after that. While if they wanted servants they could apply for them at the sect registry or directly ask a few outer court disciples for it.


    Usually, the inner court disciples didn¡¯t even need to go to the sect registry as there would be plenty of servants or outer court disciples who would be willing to serve them. Lin Mu though wanted nothing to do with them as it would only go against his goal of staying low key.


    Lin Mu scanned the area with his spirit sense and easily picked out an empty residence.


    "Let¡¯s see if this works as intended..." Lin Mu muttered and ced the identity badge into a shallow groove on the door.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A few runes appeared on the door before entering the identity badge.


    <i>~click~</i>


    Then in the next moment, the door automatically opened for Lin Mu. He walked in and saw the grass in the garden which was overgrown. But when he saw the interior of the residence, he was a bit surprised as it was spotlessly clean, nary a speck of dust.


    "Is this a cleaning formation?" Lin Mu wondered as he used his spirit sense to check for one.


    He opened his eyes and nodded his head, "just as I thought. Though this one is of an inferior quality than the one that old Man Jing Wei gave me."


    He entered the bedroom and saw the square mat that was ced in the center of the room.


    "This is the focal point of the spirit Qi gathering formation, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Correct. Try sitting on it, that should activate the formation." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu did as he was told and sat down cross legged. As soon as he did though concentrated spirit Qi started emanating from the mat and diffused into the air. Lin Mu quickly started absorbing the spirit from Qi as he took deep breaths.


    ¡¯This spirit Qi is 20% more concentrated than the spirit Qi outside.¡¯ Lin Mu estimated.


    He felt a bit curious and checked the formation that was being used for it. His spirit sense prated the floor of the residence and came across awork of runes that spread far and wide. Lin Mu could tell that they were all individual formations that were linked into arge array.

 Chapter 506 - Limiter?

    <h4>Chapter 506 - Limiter? </h4>


    All of these formations were located in the individual residence and then connected to the main spirit Qi gathering array of the sect.


    Lin Mu continued observing thework while absorbing spirit Qi and sensed the different concentrations of spirit Qi in different channels.


    "Oh? Some of those ¡¯channels¡¯ have a higher concentration of spirit Qi while some have a lower concentration." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Wait a minute! It¡¯s one of these types, huh." Xukong suddenly said upon seeing what Lin Mu had just observed.


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    "Did you figure out something senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He knew that if Xukong had reacted like this, there was likely something important or beneficial that he had found.


    "Yeah. The formations that they are using for different types of residences, it¡¯s actually the same." Xukong spoke.


    "What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu questioned, unable to understand clearly.


    "It means that the concentration of spirit Qi is determined by this limiter formation. If you modify it, you will probably be able to obtain the same effects you would see from an elder¡¯s residence." Xukong exined.


    "Really?" Lin Mu said with his eyes wide.


    "Yes. Follow my instructions and it should work." Xukong said, before exining a few steps to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu carefully listened to all steps and made sure that it was safe before actually proceeding with it. He definitely did not want the sect to get alert about a spy being in their sect.


    It was already nighttime and it took Lin Mu two hours before he was able to modify the limiter formation ording to Senior Xukong¡¯s guidance.


    But it was here that he made a mistake.


    <i>~WEENG~</i>


    "Oh no!" Lin Mu only had a moment to say this before a dense wave of spirit Qi knocked into him.


    Lin Mu was barely able to hold his ground or he would have been knocked far back into the wall.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    It was as if a fire hydrant had been broken as the spirit Qi gushed out like a geyser.


    "HAAA!" Lin Mu grunted before he was finally able to increase the setting of the limiter formation.


    "Quickly absorb the spirit Qi into the ring!" Xukong urged.


    Lin Mu realized that the danger was not over and raised his palm into the air, rapidly starting to store the spirit Qi into the mysterious ring. If Lin Mu let it leak into the surrounding, there was no chance that the people would not notice this.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    The dense spirit Qi that was almost visible to the naked eyes was then sessfully stored in the ring.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Managed to do it... somehow..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he wiped the beads of cold sweat that had appeared on his forehead.


    Lin Mu looked into the ring and saw that all the spirit Qi which he had stored into the ring diffused into the surroundings. The spatial energy streaks that flickered in the sky were like hungry sharks as they hurriedly consumed the spirit Qi.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like I can¡¯t use that spirit Qi, anyway." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "The spatial energy streaks in the ring are of a far higher quality than normal spirit Qi. There is no way they would allow something of such low quality like this to stay here." Xukong exined.


    This was new information to Lin Mu, as he had not expected this kind of property to be a part of spatial energy. The only instance when he had stored foreign spirit Qi in it was when he absorbed the spatial attribute spirit Qi from the spatial fissure that he had fixed in the Myriad Armament Canopy abode.


    But even that was only able to stay in the ring due to its properties matching those that of the spatial energy streaks.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t rx now though. He spread his spirit sense around to check for any anomalies. He wanted to see if anyone had sensed this or not and luck seemed to be on his side this time.


    "Slowly raise the limiter as you increase your absorption speed. That way you will not leak any wisps of spirit Qi outside." Xukong advised.


    "I understand, senior..." Lin Mu said before he modified the limiter formation again.


    This time he had better control and was able to slowly raise it. He then chanted the severing heart sutra and started absorbing the spirit Qi at a rapid pace. Lin Mu raised the limiter by one percent at regr intervals or whenever he felt that his pace of absorption matched that of the emission of spirit Qi.


    It was an hour past midnight and Lin Mu had raised the limiter to 40% of its maximum limit.


    For outer court disciples, this limit was set to 5% while for those that were in the inner court this limit was set to 20% instead. In the inner sect, there were a few higher quality residences where this limit was set to 30% instead.


    Lin Mu had seen these formations in the residences of the core disciples as well and for them, this limit was set at 40% which was currently what Lin Mu was using.


    "I think I can tolerate even more..." Lin Mu muttered to himself before raising the limit once more.


    Now the limit was at 50% which was the limit set for elders. This was also the maximum standard limit in any of these formations, as going beyond this level could affect the supply of spirit Qi of other nodes.


    Lin Mu did not go beyond this and fully absorbed the spirit Qi that wasing from the mat.


    ¡¯If I had something like this before, how fast would my pace of cultivation be?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    He also thought about what would happen if he tried to use this formation in addition to the Well of Slumber Bloodline ability.


    "That would probably make this formation unstable and eventually drain the spirit Qi springs below this mountain. We¡¯ve already seen the capability of the Well of Slumber, that bloodline ability is no joke." Xukong hypothesized.

 Chapter 507 - Assesing The Treasure Pavillions

    <h4>Chapter 507 - Assesing The Treasure Pavillions </h4>


    Lin Mu understood that there were more aspects to a formation array such as this and simple exploitation like that would only work up to a certain extent. Even now he was limited unto the 50% of the capacity of the limiter.


    He had seen the full force of it which had knocked him away just by the density and amount of spirit Qi. Lin Mu knew for sure he wouldn¡¯t even be able to sleep before his body would be sent flying by the formation array.


    He thought about this for a while before refocusing on his aim. Lin Mu restored his spirit Qi rapidly as it rose to its maximum capacity. This took him less than three hours when normally it would have taken him over ten hours with the help of basic Qi pills.


    One could tell the difference it made by living in the sect and having their resources. This was the part that got Lin Mu interested in the spirit Qi gathering formation array. Neither he nor Xukong knew what was the exact name of spirit Qi gathering formation this was, but Xukong knew it was barely above the lowest grade.


    Lin Mu had learned quite a bit about the Qi gathering formations from not only senior Xukong but also the memoirs of the lost immortal. Qi gathering formations were actually an entire subfield in the great field of formation masters.


    There were many formation masters who dedicated their lives to making and studying Qi gathering formations. There were simply so manyplexities and nuances to a Qi gathering formation that many formation masters that entered it would only be able to learn two or three such formations in their lifetime.


    He knew there were five categories of the Qi gathering formation.


    They were divided into:


    1. Tool powering formation


    2. City powering formation


    3. Sect powering formation


    4. Empire Powering formation


    5. World powering formation


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    The one that the Tri Cauldron peony sect was using was barely on the level of a city powering formation. Even then they needed tobine multiple of those formations to make an entirework of arrays that spanned across the sect.


    As for the Tool powering formations, they were the smallest Qi gathering formations that were used for powering sprint tools or even other formations. When Lin Mu had made the illusory formation on his house, Xukong had told him that if he had a Qi gathering formation, he would be able to make the formation work endlessly.


    It was on the level of a tool powering formation. As for the higher level formations, Lin Mu had only ever read about the sect powering fomentations in the memoirs of the lost immortal. An actual one would be able to power a sect even if there were no spirit stone mines or spirit Qi springs in it.


    Its efficiency of gathering spirit Qi from the environment would be so high that it would not need any additional sources. Xukong had estimated aback then that perhaps only the top sects like the Sky precepts sect would have something along the lines of a sect powering formation.


    Time passed, and Lin Mu was now fully refreshed. He opened his eyes and reduced the limiter to the level it was on originally. He definitely did not want any random person from the sect stumbling upon this and then revealing it to the entire sect.


    Once this was done, Lin Mu sank down into the ground using phase. He did not want others to know that he had entered and left a courtyard so fast and thus chose this. His next aim was a treasure pavilion that was not that far from his location.


    When he actually got there, the treasure pavilion was closed and only some guard disciples could be seen around it. Lin Mu reckoned that it was a good opportunity and got closer. The disciples that were standing around were all at the Qi refining realm and there was no way they would even be able to detect his spirit sense.


    Though one big difference that was between these Qi refining realm disciples and other non-sect Qi refining realm cultivators was the ability to use spirit sense. Even peak stage Qi refining realm cultivators that were not part of sects were often unable to use their spirit sense.


    While here, most of them were able to do it. It was this very difference that made the greatest difference between the two types of cultivators. With spirit sense, they would be able to use spirit tool, enhance and expand their perception along with many more things.


    Spirit sense was like an additional organ to a cultivator, thus having or not having it made substantial difference. The one who had it would be at an advantage over the one that did not.


    Still among those that had it, the cultivator who had better spirit sense and cultivation base woulde out on top. And in Lin Mu¡¯s case, he had both. There wasn¡¯t much risk left for him right now, except for the rm formations that were integrated into the overall formation array of the treasure pavilion.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t enter it, thus only observed it from the outside and checked some of the formations on it, before heading for the next one. There were a total of three that were on the main peak, along with three vaults. He had a lot of work left.


    Heading up the peak, Lin Mu reached the second treasure pavilion. This one was of the same design as the previous one, except it had better security. It was evident that there were higher quality treasures kept here.


    ¡¯Hmm... the formations are pretty much the same as before with the only difference in security.¡¯ Lin Mu thought before deciding to head further in.


    About ten minutester, Lin Mu reached the third and final treasure pavilion of the main peak. This was the pavilion that sold cultivation techniques and Qi skill, thus being very valuable to the sect overall.


    But then he saw someone he had not expected here.


    "Jiao Fang?"

 Chapter 508 - Sneaky Jiao Fang

    <h4>Chapter 508 - Sneaky Jiao Fang </h4>


    Lin Mu saw that weird disciple who was in tattered clothes when he first met him, near the Treasure Pavilion. He seemed to be a bit tense and was alert. His head would swivel around to take a look every so often and he would ruffle his sleeves.


    "What is he doing here?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He kept on looking and saw that Jiao Fang was actually heading to the Treasure pavilion too. The man hid behind some trees when he got near the security so that they would not see him.


    "Is he even trying? They can very easily find him with spirit sense." Lin Mu said.


    But then the opposite of what he thought happened. Lin Mu could tell that the spirit sense of the guards passed over the position of Jiao Fang but didn¡¯t stop there.


    "Huh? What?" Lin Mu felt strange.


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    Jiao Fang then took out a small pouch from his sleeves. The pouch was small, about the size of a por leaf. He carefully loosened the drawstrings of the pouch and poured out the contents of it into his hand.


    There was now a translucent white powder in his hand.


    "Wait a second, isn¡¯t that... Memory confounding poison?" Lin Mu recognized.


    "No... if it was normal memory confounding poison it would not work on these guards who are all at the Qi refining realm. This is a higher grade version of it." Xukong corrected.


    Lin Mu silently listened to senior Xukong¡¯s words and saw how Jiao Fang blew the powder towards the guards. He seemed to be using some kind of a Qi skill to spread the powder, as it would have affected him too if the natural wind blew it back towards him.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    The wind generated by his Qi skill blew the powder towards the guards, who all breathed it in.


    Then about ten secondster...


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    One by one, all of the guards copsed onto the ground, unconscious.


    Lin Mu¡¯s brows narrowed as he realized this weird disciple might not be here for good reasons. An idea appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind and he got closer to the building. The treasure pavilion was an octagonal building with five floors, with the doors being at one of the sides.


    Jiao Fang went to one of the guards and frisked his body, taking out a small piece of a medallion. He then took out another piece of the medallion from his own pocket and matched the two together.


    As soon as he did, the formations on the treasure pavilion became active.


    "Yes!" Jiao Fang eximed under his breath.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t miss this opportunity and quickly observed the movements of the formation. Because he had already done this a few times, his experience had gone up and he didn¡¯t miss any part of it. He was able to memoirs the finer nodes that were hidden between the different formationyers.


    It was these nodes that gave him the most problems as they would only appear when he was finally done unraveling the upperyer of the formation. If that node was not taken care of quickly it would cause another rm formation to activate which would then lock down the entire treasure pavilion.


    It was here that Lin Mu was seeing the superiority of the Dao script over themon tongue and rune script that was used by cultivators. Dao script had countless permutations andbinations, while themon tongue and rune script was more rigid.


    The same character in Dao script could mean different things depending on how or where it was used. While formon tongue, it was fixed and flexibility was less. Using Dao script in formations could not only allow one to make moreplex formations in less area but also make them harder to break.


    Lin Mu had learned a lot of Dao script from senior Xukong back in the Sleepscape during the past two years, and while he would not say he was an expert, he was definitely not a novice. Being used to a higher difficulty made it easier for one when it was lower.


    Though Lin Mu did not get to observe it for long as the formations unraveled rather quickly and within thirty seconds the doors of the Treasure pavilion were unlocked. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t enter the building with Phase as the defensive barriers were still in ce, thus he waited for Jiao Fang to go in before he used Blink to quickly enter through the doors.


    After getting in, he hid behind one of therge pirs and observed Jiao Fang with his spirit sense. The man in question waspletely unaware that there was now a second person in the building with him.


    ¡¯Now let¡¯s see what he is here for.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Jiao Fang ran around the entire first floor in a circle, unable to find whatever it was that he wanted. He climbed the stairs and did the same on the second, third and fourth floors.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It better be on the fifth floor or I would have risked this all for naught." Jiao Fang muttered to himself, which was heard clearly by Lin Mu.


    The man then climbed to the fifth floor and checked each bookshelf carefully until finally stopping at the sixth one. His eyes went wide as his hands trembled lightly. He extended his fingers and pulled out a thick book from the shelf.


    Lin Mu raised his brows in interest and read the title that was written on the spine of the book.


    ¡¯Yulong¡¯s Mnemonics¡¯


    "Hmm... what is this?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He had never heard of this book nor knew about its contents. Jiao Long though, looked really excited about it and flipped through the pages until stopping on a certain page.


    <i>~tear~</i>


    Then suddenly the man ripped out that page and carefully folded it before hiding it in his sleeve. He put the book back on the shelf before going downstairs and closing the door.


    "What was in that page?" Lin Mu wondered as he didn¡¯t get enough time to see it.

 Chapter 509 - Jiao Fangs Act

    <h4>Chapter 509 - Jiao Fang''s Act </h4>


    Now outside the treasure pavilion.


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    Lin Mu saw Jiao Long split the two pieces of the medallion apart before putting the piece that belonged to the guard in his clothes. Lin Mu followed behind him but stopped at the edge of the area where the next section of the peak started from.


    Lin Mu did not proceed because Jiao Long was going to a ce he did not think he should go into.


    "The discipline hall? Why would he go there?" Lin Mu muttered.


    The discipline hall was thew and order department of the Tri Cauldron peony sect, which dealt with all problems that urred rting to rules and regtions. Lin Mu could see the disciples were were a cut above the rest.


    Their gazes were sharp and there was no area that was not being scanned by spirit sense at every moment. Not only that, but they were even scanning the ground, which surprised Lin Mu.


    "They are even more alert than the guards that were assigned to the treasure pavilion." Lin Mu muttered.


    "ALARM! ALARM!" Suddenly shouts were hearding from the discipline hall.


    "What the hell! That¡¯s Jiao Fang¡¯s voice." Lin Mu said as he looked at the building.


    "HELP! THE GUARDS OF THE THIRD TREASURE PAVILION ARE UNCONSCIOUS!" Jiao Fang shouted.


    Lin Mu could not understand why Jiao Fang was revealing what he had just done. Still, it didn¡¯t involve Lin Mu, so he could not say much about it except staying hidden and observing.


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    The guards of the discipline hall all rushed to Jiao Fang upon hearing his words and even the elder who was in charge of the hall came out.


    "What are you shouting at night!" one of the guards asked.


    "Pleasee see. The guards have all fallen unconscious for some reason. I don¡¯t know why." Jiao fang said, anxiety and fear visible on his face.


    "Is this the truth?" The elder asked with a serious expression.


    "Yes, elder! I swear upon my life!" Jiao Fang dered.


    The elder clenched his fist before looking at the guard beside him. "Take some guards and check the situation. Report back to me right away after that." He ordered.


    "Yes, elder!" The guard said before leaving with hispanions.


    About two minutester, one of the guards returned with news.


    "It is true, elder! All the guards are unconscious and show no sign of waking up. It is likely they have been poisoned!" The guard spoke.


    A frown appeared on the elder¡¯s face as he held a jade slip. He hesitated and put the jade slip back into his pocket, deciding not to use it now.


    "I¡¯ll take a look myself. Meanwhile, go ask some elders from the Pill peak to prepare some antidote pills. We don¡¯t know what kind of a poison it is. Better to be ready for everything. The third squad will lock down the Main peak for now and no one is allowed to leave without my permission." The elder ordered.


    "As youmand Elder!" the guards who had been ordered, went to do their duty.


    "And you,e with me." The elder said to Jiao Fang.


    Jiao Fang simply nodded his head and followed behind the elder. Seeing all this, Lin Mu also decided to follow behind them. He knew that he may have to stop his survey for today due to this, but he didn¡¯t lose hope.


    "I don¡¯t know if this man Jiao Fang is dumb or if he¡¯s scheming something. What was on that paper that he would do something like this?" Lin Mu wondered.


    The elder along with the others, reached the treasure pavilion where they saw all the guards lying on the ground. The elder knelt beside the guard, who was in charge of the treasure pavilion and checked his pocket.


    He then pulled out the piece of medallion before taking a breath of relief.


    "It¡¯s here at least..." he muttered before checking the body of the disciple for signs of poisoning.


    There were no obvious signs of them, which meant that it was some hidden poison that acted quickly, otherwise the guards would have found out and started the rm. The elder had a tense expression on his face as he found it to be difficult to tell what kind of poison was used.


    He was able to confirm that it was not a lethal poison at least, and was probably something that just knocked the guards out.


    "How are they, elder?" the guards who had apanied the elders asked.


    "They are fine for now. Their vitals seem normal, and even their spirit Qi seemed to be flowing normally with no blockages." The elder answered.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "So that means it is just a tranquilizing poison?" The guard questioned.


    "Hopefully yes. But we still need to wait for the elders from the pill peak. My expertise in this is not as good as them and whatever poison the guards are affected with it is definitely notmon." The Elder replied.


    Lin Mu who had been hearing everything till now, nodded his head in seeing the deduction. He knew what poison was used and also that it was not lethal. But he still didn¡¯t know what angle was Jiao Fang ying here.


    "He may be trying to throw off suspicion from himself, perhaps. He could be thinking that the guards and the elder won¡¯t think he is involved in this then." Xukong suggested.


    "But this... isn¡¯t this too obvious? A thief crying foul?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Could be. All you can do is wait and watch." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and kept observing as the elders from the Pill peak finally arrived. They were the same elders who he had seen refine the High grade basic Qi pill. They still had their beards burned and looking disarrayed. But it did not seem like they minded this.


    "What happened here?" one of the elders questioned.


    "Looks like an attempt to break into the treasure pavilion. Whoever it was, they managed to knockout the guards but did not get into the treasure pavilion." The disciplinary elder answered.

 Chapter 510 - The Elders Assessment And Thief

    <h4>Chapter 510 - The Elder''s Assessment And Thief </h4>


    The Pill peak¡¯s elder held his chin for a bit before he checked the body of the unconscious guards. He used his spirit sense and scanned the meridians and even sniffed the body of the man.


    "I don¡¯t sense anything on him either..." The pill peak elder said.


    "You don¡¯t? Then how did they fall unconscious?" The disciplinary elder questioned.


    "There are two reasons I can think of. First, someone used a unique Qi skill on them which made them unconscious but did not physically harm them or second... someone used a high grade tranquillizing poison on them." The pill peak¡¯s elder spoke.


    "Our sect does not have a Qi skill like that and I doubt other sects that do have them will dare to enter like this. I doubt that this is the work of a wandering cultivator too as they would have to go through a lot of loops to enter the sect.


    Getting past our security and formations is not easy without the right tools. But even then they can¡¯t get past the eyes of so many people in the sect.


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    Which means... it is likely to be the second option. If a poison is really high grade, then the chances of it being undetected are higher. Only those kinds of poisons would be hard for me to detect." The pill peak elder said.


    "Hmm, if it really is someone from our sect, then it would make sense. But whoever did this is really stupid. They dare to go against our rules and even have the guts to steal... they shall not go unpunished." The disciplinary elder said.


    While the disciplinary elder was speaking, Lin Mu nced over at the expression of Jiao Fang who was the perpetrator behind this entire incident and saw that he was the least bothered by it. Instead, he had the expression of righteous indignation.


    "Don¡¯t worry, elder! I have no doubt whoever did this will pay a great price for it! How dare they act against our great sect!" Jiao Fang said with a strong voice.


    The elders raised their brows in question but did not speak. For them, this was just another overenthusiastic disciple. There were plenty of them in the sect and there was nock of those that liked to kiss their ass all the time.


    Lin Mu too felt amazed at this act of Jiao Fang.


    "This man is really something else. He can act rather easily, huh..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He watched for a few more minutes and saw their discussion. The guards who were unconscious were taken to the infirmary of the sect to be monitored while a barrier was set up around the treasure pavilion. This area would now be monitored more closely.


    Not only this but the other treasure pavilions were alerted along with the equivalent buildings such as the herb warehouses and Pill repositories. The news reached the patriarch and he directly gave the orders to directly seal the sect so that no one could enter or leave.


    A sect wide hunt was quicklyunched as Lin Mu stayed hidden. Now it was even more difficult as the disciples were even scanning the ground just in case someone had buried themselves and hidden there.


    While they did not find any disciples or thieves this way, they did end up finding some stashes of things rted to ¡¯entertainment¡¯ in quite a few ces in the sect. The disciplinary elder got angry and immediately ordered such things to be purged so that they may not taint the minds of the hardworking disciples.


    As for those that were found to be culprits of hiding such material, they were also punished. Some of them were sent to the disciplinary hall to serve their sentence while some were asked to do hard tasks that many disciples dreaded doing.


    The entire night, Lin Mu was on the move as there was little he could do. He even tried to go to one of the vaults of the main peak but was stopped by the spirit sense of elders who were personally guarding these.


    Even Lin Mu did not dare to act while they were all here. He did not want to risk the chance of being found out by others as that would end up spoiling the entire n that had been made. Instead of that, he went to the residence he had imed in the sect and focused on going over the things about the formations he had learned.


    In his mind, Lin Mu was running simtions on how he would unravel the formations of all the storage areas and vaults. Till now the only vaults he had not seen were those of the main peak, due to how hard it was to reach them now.


    But it was these very vaults that perhaps had the most expensive items. The three vaults in the main peak were all located near the patriarch¡¯s private courtyard and were watched over by him or by a few elders at all times.


    No one dared to ck now that an attack like this had happened. An elder with a few disciples even went to the treasure pavilion to see if any important books were stolen or not. Even after scanning the entire pavilion, there were unable to find and substation evidence for the robber.


    Jiao Fang himself had been rxing after he had been rewarded with a badge by the disciplinary elder on behalf of the sect. Jiao Fang was so excited for this that he chose to literally wear the reward on his clothes at all time; as if he was afraid of other not knowing that he was given a reward and praised.


    Lin Mu had followed the man for quite a while and Jiao Fang had done nothing suspicious all this time. He never took out that page he had torn out of that book, either. Lin Mu was even wondering if he had done all that for the reward he had been given.


    A day passed like this and Lin Mu followed behind Jiao Fang before finally, the man went back to his residence.


    "Oh my... did not expect this..."

 Chapter 511 - Jiao Fangs Secret

    <h4>Chapter 511 - Jiao Fang''s Secret </h4>


    In Jiao Fang¡¯s residence, what Lin Mu saw could only be described as a treasure trove. There were literally mountains of gold coins and gems lying around along with spirit tools and what looked like pill bottles.


    Had it not been for the basic formation that isted the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from outside and inside the residence, the residence would have been nothing less than a bright beacon, shining in the middle of the night.


    Even Lin Mu, who had a substantial amount of wealth currently was astounded on seeing all this.


    "How...." Was the only word that came out of his mouth.


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    "<i>Ahh~</i> Home sweet home," Jiao Fang said as he tossed the badge he had been wearing the entire time into one of the piles of treasure.


    He then went to a bed which looked to be made out of solid jade and had a mattress made out of what could only be the finest of silk spun by an Arctic Frost Silkworm. Even the bed itself was a spirit tool that could help one in cultivation and would help one restore their mental condition when they slept in it.


    While lying on the bed, Jiao Fang took out the page from his sleeve and opened it. Lin Mu took this opportunity to take a look at what was written on the page. He stood right behind the bed and leaned out slightly from the floor.


    "Let¡¯s see... where is the next clue to the inheritance..." Jiao Fang said as he read the page.


    Lin Mu saw it too, but couldn¡¯t find anything special in it. The page described some cultivation experiences of a cultivator by the name of Yulong. Lin Mu reckoned that this was the person who had made that book.


    Jiao Fang read the page multiple times before nodding his head in understanding. Lin Mu on the other hand, waspletely in the dark about what this all was. He was as confused as a fish in the sky and could only wait for Jiao Fang to say something.


    But the man didn¡¯t do anything and simply folded the page, putting it back into his sleeve before closing his eyes.


    "Is he... sleeping?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~snore~ </i>


    "Oh yeah, he¡¯s sleeping alright..." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "This man is really carefree, isn¡¯t he?" Xukong said.


    "Indeed senior. All this treasure and barely any security. It¡¯s as if he¡¯s not scared of this getting stolen at all." Lin Mu replied.


    "Though if you think of it this way... he¡¯s hiding the things by not hiding anything at all. If he put up additional security, there is bound to be someone that notices this. Not to mention if he started to act as if he had treasure and behaved like that it would be suspicious too.


    But being as he is now, there is a very minute chance that anyone would even doubt him. No one would think that an inner court disciple would have enough treasures to make even the sect master jealous." Xukong said.


    "That¡¯s true. There is no way all of this was earned by him." Lin Mu said.


    "He was talking about some inheritance, wasn¡¯t he? When he looked at that page." Xukong added.


    "Oh yeah, but we didn¡¯t find anything particr on the page." Lin Mu spoke, feeling a bit confused.


    "Hmm... perhaps that¡¯s because we don¡¯t know the full context behind it. That page may be a small piece in arge puzzle. If we only look at it alone, it would be hard for us to understand the reality." Xukong said.


    "You mean to say all of this is that inheritance that Jiao Fang was talking about and that it is not the entirety of it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes." Xukong replied simply.


    "Hmm... if it is like that... then where did he get the source of the inheritance. Not to mention why hasn¡¯t he used it at all?" Lin Mu said as he nced at the alchemical pills and spirit stones that ranged from low grade to high grade.


    "We can¡¯te to a conclusion like this. You will need to observe him more." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu went silent for a bit after hearing senior Xukong¡¯s words and nodded his head.


    "Or... we can just ask him." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Oh? You want to confront him?" Xukong asked.


    "Yes, seeing his actions and how he¡¯s been doing things; perhaps we cane to a certain kind of an arrangement." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright... but be careful. We don¡¯t know if he is also being controlled by Gu Yao or not. Perhaps all of this is part of his scheme too, or something like that." Xukong advised.


    "I¡¯ll keep that in mind, senior. Don¡¯t worry." Lin Mu said, as he nodded his head.


    Lin Mu did not wake up Jiao Fang here, as he wanted to prepare a bit. He wanted to see what made the man tick and what made him act.


    Thus, he took a better look around the residence and checked all the items that were in there. It was a bit hard for Lin Mu to check things due to almost stumbling on some random treasure, but he got the gist of it after a few more minutes.


    Lin Mu scanned the entire residence with his spirit sense and realized that there were perhaps over ten million gold coins in the residence all piled up in small hills. There were also tens of thousands of precious gems that would make nearly any cultivator in this world jealous too.


    But these were not the things that would give Lin Mu more information about Jiao Fang. What Lin Mu wanted were documents and records; letters even. He spent about an hour searching around the residence before he was able to find something worth his effort.


    The thing he had found was a diary whose cover pages were made out of a thin sheet of wood that was covered in leather. The diary did not have any title written on its cover and only had inner pages that were densely filled with handwritten notes.

 Chapter 512 - A Diary

    <h4>Chapter 512 - A Diary </h4>


    Lin Mu flipped open the cover and read the first entry.


    ¡¯Day 1, third of October.


    We have left the sect for the expedition. I managed to get a ce in this by giving the excuse of not having done my yearly quota of missions. Usually, they would not give a mission like this to an outer court disciple like me but I waspensating for multiple yearly missions with this single one.


    My main aim was to get to the Deep Moon Ravine, which getting to otherwise would have been very difficult. Now with the added protection of my fellow disciples, I would be able to go much further. And... I¡¯ll have them act as my shields too.


    This is the first time I am going this far from the sect, but I feel only excited. One of the senior disciples that are traveling with me is more experienced and has been to the Deep Moon Ravine before. Under his guidance, we should swiftly reach the location within fifty days.¡¯


    Having read the entry Lin Mu was intrigued but could not tell if the person described in thisdiary was Jiao Fang or not. While the entry mentioned the day and month, it did not mention the year, which confused him even more.


    ¡¯And this ¡¯Day 1¡¯ too... why would someone put an entry like this?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    He felt a bit curious about the location mentioned in the diary, ¡¯the Deep Moon Ravine¡¯ and recalled some information about it.


    "Hmm... isn¡¯t the Deep Moon Ravine one of the many ravines located at the border of the Eastern Ming Dynasty?" Lin Mu recalled.


    The Deep Moon Ravine was a rtively dangerous ce because of the flying beasts that inhabited it. The area was steep, with a gushing river flowing at the bottom of it. Anyone that missed a step would fall, never to return again.


    Still... the beasts that lived there were mostly Qi refining realm beasts that were in the early stages with a few at thete stage. A team of outer court disciples should still be able to handle them as long as nothing went wrong.


    Having thought for a bit, Lin Mu flipped the page and read the next entry.


    ¡¯Day 2, fourth of October.


    We have left the territory of the sect and I am still amazed that the sect really is sorge. Had it not been for the senior brother taking us through the shortest route, it would have taken us another extra day to cross this.


    We continued traveling and encountered a few beasts, most of which we drew away while some that we ended up fighting. The senior brother told us to avoid as much conflict as we could and only act when it was needed.


    If we did not, then we would only harm ourselves and waste the time.¡¯


    The entry was short and Lin Mu did not get anything substantial from this. He kept on reading and went from page to page. Most of the things were mundane and it was just the daily events that had been describe in this.


    Whoever this person in the diary was, he was able to travel for over twenty nine days before he encountered trouble.


    ¡¯Day 29, eighth of November.


    We greatly messed up and now we are quite likely to die. There is a pair of Scale backed Storks following us for the past twenty four hours. These are both at the core condensation stage and we identally invited their ire when we ended up destroying a few eggs while fighting other beasts.


    We didn¡¯t know that beasts like these would build their nest here, and now we can¡¯t do much other than to escape.¡¯


    Lin Mu knew about these Scale-backed stork. They had long sharp beaks that they would use to pierce their foes, killing them. They liked to eat the intestines of their prey by pecking them out with their long beaks. Overall, they were terrifying for a Qi refining realm cultivator.


    Three more entries in the diary were simr, the person and his team kept on getting chase for three days.


    ¡¯Day 33, eleventh of November.


    I can¡¯t believe it! Today we were almost killed by those two Scale Backed Storks, but then another cultivator swooped in and killed those beasts in one sh. We thought this was our luck, but then when we saw the man¡¯s cultivation base we were shocked.


    The man was a Nascent Soul realm cultivator! He did not tell us his name and just said that he was a wandering cultivator. We were grateful that he save us and did not question why he hid his name from us. It was the obvious thing to do for a wandering cultivator, especially when they met a group of sect cultivators.¡¯


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon reading about this unknown Nascent Soul realm cultivator but did note to any conclusions and kept reading.


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    ¡¯Day 34, twelfth of November.


    The Nascent Soul realm cultivator is still with us at our camp and our senior managed to somehow convince the man to allow us to follow him. The man was also heading to the Deep Moon ravine and this would only make things easier for us.


    I can¡¯t believe our luck would only improve this day.¡¯


    Lin Mu read over a few more entities over which the contents only became more and more interesting.


    ¡¯Day 40, eighteenth of November.


    We were able to cover most of the path rather quickly due to the nascent soul realm cultivator clearing out beasts and dangers. We were now almost at the Deep Moon Ravine and would probably get there tomorrow morning.


    The cultivator is also going to depart from us tomorrow and gonna head to his own path. But then at night, I saw him do something strange. He had woken up and walked to the tent of one of my femalepanions.


    I thought that he was heading to ¡¯interact¡¯ with her but instead of that he drugged her with some kind of a powder before carrying her out.¡¯

 Chapter 513 - Fortune And Guilt

    <h4>Chapter 513 - Fortune And Guilt </h4>


    Finally, Lin Mu understood that this nascent Soul realm cultivator had some nefarious motives behind his actions. There was no way a nascent soul realm cultivator would randomly assist some random outer court Qi refining realm cultivators like this.


    Lin Mu kept on reading, wanting to find out more.


    ¡¯I knew if I rmed mypanions at that time, the Nascent Soul realm cultivator might just kill us all.


    But I did not want to give up on my femalepanion either. Thus I followed behind the man. Though strangely the man did not fly even though he could and simply waked from the edges of the ravine.


    He walked steadily and had the femalepanion of mine on his back the entire time. They went past winding paths across the ravine and I too followed behind. During the entire time, I was sure that I would be found out, but somehow I wasn¡¯t. The man didn¡¯t even use his spirit sense to check the area around him, as if he was fully confident of himself.


    Though I was cautious as well and stayed a couple of hundred meters behind just in case.


    Hours passed by before the man finally reached the location he was intending to go to this entire time. It was a small cave that was carved out at the side of the ravine and was hidden from the view of anyone who passed by.


    If one did not take the path that I had taken, I doubted anyone would notice the small cave snuggled between ravine walls. The man entered the cave, and I stopped far from it. I was sure that if entered the cave, I would definitely die.


    I waited there for about an hour before I heard screams. The scream belonged to the Nascent Soul realm man and he was sent flying out of the cave. I could see that the bottom half of his body was missing and blood was spilling out of everywhere.


    The man¡¯s torso fell down into the ravine, never to be seen again. I waited there for hours in anxiety but my curiosity eventually won and I went to the cave, my each step trembling. Peering into the dark cave, I could not see anything.


    Thankfully, I knew some basic fire techniques and was able to ignite a fire to illuminate the area. Inside the cave, I saw ruins of what could only have been a cultivator¡¯s abode. There were formations around it that were now destroyed and also the bottom half of the Nascent Soul realm cultivator from before.


    It was evident that he had been bisected at this location and had in turn destroyed the formation as well. I reckoned that he was trying to unravel the formations that were located here and made a mistake that led to his death.


    I looked around for my femalepanion and was able to find her. s! She was not alive. All that was left of her was a pool of blood with chunks of flesh floating in it. I guessed that the Nascent Soul realm cultivator was using her to open the formations somehow.


    It took me a while to get hold of myself, but I eventually managed to calm down my throbbing heart. The fear took more time to get rid of, but it eventually passed. With all that done, I decided to explore the ruins.


    In there I found a lot of things including treasures. I now knew that I had be incredibly lucky, but at the expense of my femalepanion and the nascent soul realm cultivator. I was no fool and decided to take full advantage of this opportunity that the heavens had bestowed upon me.


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    Not only were there treasures but there were also a lot of cultivation techniques and books here. After reading those books did I realize that the most precious things in this abode were actually the books.


    The book mentioned of more treasures hidden in many ces all over the continent. But not all of their clues were in that book. Whoever was the owner of this abode, he didn¡¯t want to pass on his legacy that easily.


    He wanted to make sure that his inheritor had the determination and drive that he deemed worth. The books didn¡¯t even mention the cultivation base of the person who this abode belonged to, but seeing all these treasure and the formations that were able to kill a nascent soul realm cultivator, I estimated it to be am Adult stage nascent Soul realm cultivator at the very least.


    I also discovered that the nascent Soul realm cultivator who had died was not the first person to find this ce. There were plenty of fragments of skeletons that I had missed initially due to my fear.


    I collected whatever treasures there were into the five spatial storage rings I found there and hid them in my clothes. Then I made it seem like I had been injured by tearing my clothes and left the cave, returning to mypanions.


    They were anxious and looking for us this entire time and were scared since we had now been gone for nearly three days. Our senior brother had nearly called the mission off because of this and wanted to report to the sect.


    Had it not been for the distance between the ravine and the sect, he would have already called them with themunication jade slip. They were surprised upon seeing me and questioned my disappearance.


    I could only attribute this all to the Nascent Soul realm cultivator. They were cated for the time being, but I knew the senior brother had suspected something. I was sleepless that night but finally made a decision.


    Using one poison I got from the cave, I spiked the food that we were going to eat that morning. Mypanions slept unaware of this and finally died by the next afternoon. I still remember their expressions as they died and it will forever stay carved in my memories.¡¯


    Reading the entire thing, Lin Mu could only think of this as a ssic case of paranoia over fortune.

 Chapter 514 - Yulong And The Inheritance

    <h4>Chapter 514 - Yulong And The Inheritance </h4>


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Such is the world of cultivation..." Lin Mu muttered to himself, unable to really put Fang Jiao at fault.


    If it was him in the same position and he did not have the mysterious ring, he probably would have done the same thing.


    "You will see far too many simr things in the future. The fortunate encounters are there for those that want to risk it and sacrifice for it. Those who hesitate will fall and nevere out on top." Xukong spoke.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu said.


    "Good, now you should continue reading the thing to see what else he experienced," Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and flipped the page. The rest of the entries were not as detailed as before and were kept brief. Lin Mu reckoned that this was probably due to the altered mental state of Jiao Fang and his guilt.


    After having killed hispanions, he returned to his sect but not before hiding the five spatial storage rings full of treasures some ce safe. At the sect, he reported the death of hispanions and fabricated a story of how they were killed by the Scale Backed storks.


    The sect didn¡¯t have a hard time believing something like this as disciple dying in difficult missions like these was not that umon. Besides, all of them were outer court disciples who were not as much worth to the sect.


    If the sect wanted, they could have ten times as many outer court disciples as they had right now recruited within a couple of days. It was their own choice that they didn¡¯t want that many people so as to not lower the quality of disciples too much.


    Still, there was some scrutiny that Jiao Fang had to undergo to verify the things. Thankfully, the sect was leaning on the fact that what Jiao Fang was telling was the truth and thus they didn¡¯t question him that much.


    Jiao Fang also did not act unnaturally and stayed within the sect for about a year. His cultivation base also did not improve, and he just did some menial missions to get by. When another year passed and the incident waspletely over, Jiao Fang finally decided to act.


    He took back the treasure and slowly started to grow his cultivation base so as to stay away from prying eyes of suspicion. Over the years, he would explore the other locations mentioned in the books and gain more clues.


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    Each location that he went to was an inheritance site and Jiao Fang was able to ovee them due to the help of the now-dead nascent Soul realm cultivator. Apparently, he had already prepared all the things that would be needed to ovee the different sites and had actually scouted them out beforehand.


    It was evident that the man had been preparing all this for a few years now, perhaps even decades; only for him to die due to a mistake.


    With the tools having been handed to him on a silver tter, Jiao Fang was able to gain the inheritance from three more locations before he came upon the final inheritance ground. This inheritance ground was said to be bigger than all of the previous onesbined and was hidden in a secret location.


    The coordinates of that location were split into multiple books made by different authors and only when they werebined would a person be able to find the final clue.


    But after another decade of search, Jiao Fang discovered that this was another test by the owner of the inheritance which revealed his identity and the final clue would be revealed after getting the final clue which was hidden in the book called Yulong¡¯s Mnemonics.


    "So the expert that this all belonged to... he¡¯s Yulong." Lin Mu muttered as he tried to recall about this man.


    There wasn¡¯t much information about this man except that he was an elder of the Zither Wind sect in the past and was at the Pseudo Dao Shell realm. This man had disappeared about thirty years ago and is said to have already died.


    "He¡¯s from the zither wind sect, huh... then perhaps the location of the inheritance ground is also there?" Lin Mu guessed.


    Lin Mu read more and finally finished the entire diary. Having read it, Lin Mu was able to ce a time frame on all the things that had happened.


    "So Jiao Fang found that cave over twenty five years ago and Yulong had died five years earlier to that. Not a long span of difference though." Lin Mu stated.


    Lin Mu thought for a few minutes, and a few ideas appeared in his mind. On how to deal with Jiao Fang.


    "You¡¯re going to ckmail him, aren¡¯t you?" Xukong guessed.


    "Yes... it seems to be the simplest way. But it¡¯s not my first choice. I¡¯ll first ask him to cooperate and if he still does not listen, then I can threaten him with this. That way he will be reluctant to reveal my identity to others as well." Lin Mu said.


    "Alright, n well. Besides, it¡¯s not like he can truly hurt you now with your strength vastly surpassing his." Xukong said.


    "Hmm... that¡¯s true. But it is also the point that makes me doubt him. If he had all these treasures, why did he not use them properly? I mean they should have been enough to push him to the nascent soul realm quite easily." Lin Mu replied.


    "Seeing his character from the diary, I¡¯d say it¡¯s because of his fear and cautiousness. He is a man who would patiently wait for a century to reap the profit." Xukong answered.


    "Keeping the suspicion off him, huh... I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d be able to wait this long if I was in his position." Lin Mu said.


    Taking another look at the carefree expression of the sleeping Jiao Fang, Lin Mu decided to wait for the morning. Once Jiao Fang left the residential area, his n would begin.


    Phasing out of the house, Lin Mu went to make some preparations.

 Chapter 515 - A Spot For Negotiation

    <h4>Chapter 515 - A Spot For Negotiation </h4>


    Lin Mu took a look around the area and plotted out what he wanted to do. Overall, there weren¡¯t many things he needed to set up. Just a single isting formation thatsted long enough so that others would not tread on that area.


    And Lin Mu knew the perfect ce to set it up as well. In the time Lin Mu had observed Jiao Fang, he had learned of a ce that he liked to frequent. In fact, he went there at least thrice in a day.


    Lin Mu turned to the east and went to an area where a smallke was located. There were trees around the area and a calm atmosphere was spread. Jiao Fang woulde here regrly to cultivate and read things.


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    Lin Mu reckoned that it was the best ce to interact with him as well. While this area was notpletely hidden and was visited by a few other disciples as well, Lin Mu didn¡¯t need that long of a time.


    Even ten minutes should be enough for him to talk with Jiao Fang, Lin Mu guessed. Having scoped out the area, Lin Mu took out a few things that would help him set up the formation.


    Overall, it was a simple formation, and he already had all the things he needed to set it up. It didn¡¯t have high requirements and only needed a bunch of spirit stones and a formation te.


    Lin Mu had plenty of spirit stones and as for the formation te, he could reuse the old one that he had. He walked to a few spots and buried the spirit stones while drawing some runes in the air with his spirit sense.


    After that was done and a perimeter was made, Lin Mu went to the center and buried more spirit stones before making more runes. He then linked them all with the formation te and the isting formation.


    Since the formation was inherently harmless, it wouldn¡¯t interact with the other formations that were set up around the sect, plus the people would not detect it as easily either.


    "Hmm... this should be enough. Now to only wait for him." Lin Mu said as he went back to Jiao Fang¡¯s residence and went to sit on the roof.


    Heid down on his back and looked up at the stars in the sky.


    "Hmm... even here the stars are the same. Though the distance has greatly changed..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    While looking at these stars, Lin Mu felt as if he had seen an illusion for a moment. It showed him countless spheres that had different colors everywhere, but the moment he blinked his eyes, they disappeared.


    "Strange..." Lin Mu said as he shook his head.


    "Did something happen?" Xukong questioned.


    "No... not really. I saw something but I think it¡¯s just because I¡¯m a bit tired, at least mentally." Lin Mu replied.


    "Take some rest, then. Wait till Jiao Fang wakes up." Xukong suggested.


    "Yeah, I think I¡¯ll do that." Lin Mu said before closing his eyes.


    While his eyes were closed, he was not asleep. His spirit sense would still spread around every few minutes, keeping an eye on things. It was midnight currently, thus Lin Mu had plenty of rest by the time morning came.


    <i>~creek~</i>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes as he sensed the door of the residence open, Jiao Fang had woken up. He used his spirit sense and observed that Jiao Fang was heading to theke as he had expected.


    "Let¡¯s move," Lin Mu said as he blinked away.


    At theke, Jiao Fang had just found his regr ce to sit, which was arge t rock. There was a tree to the side providing him shade, and the cool wind blew in from the front where theke was. Overall, it was a good ce to meditate.


    Lin Mu was now out in the real world and not in the ground. He walked calmly while his spirit sense checked the area. Once he was sure that there was no one there, he took out the formation te and activated the isting formation.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    A low humming sound was heard as the formation te glowed faintly and the isting formation activated. Traces of spirit Qi fluctuations could be sensed, but these kinds of fluctuation weremonce here in the Tri cauldron peony sect, where cultivators were everywhere.


    Thus there was little chance for anyone to suspect that something was happening or that a formation had been secretly activated. Once this was in ce, Lin Mu approached Jiao Fang openly.


    The man was sitting cross legged on the rock while his hands were sped together in a rather unique manner, with his thumbs spread apart and middle fingers touching. Lin Mu had seen this before and knew that it was the signature cultivation method of the Tri Cauldron peony sect, ¡¯The Triple Cauldron refinement technique.¡¯


    Jiao Fang of course noticed someone approach him and opened his eyes. Lin Mu noticed how the man had not used his spirit sense despite having it and wondered if this was intentional or if he was just not habituated to using it.


    But considering the age and experience of man, he was leaning towards the former.


    "Oh? Brother Wu Lian?" Jiao Fang said upon spotting Lin Mu, who was approaching from the path that was lined with small pebbles.


    Lin Mu gave the man a little smile before speaking, "greetings brother Jiao Fang."


    "Greetings! Greeting! To what do I owe this pleasure today? Don¡¯t tell me you want to cash out on the favor so early? Hahah!" Jiao Fang joked.


    "Well... I guess you could kinda say that." Lin Mu replied.


    Jiao Fang¡¯s smile stiffened as he had not expected this answer. But he didn¡¯t break his expression for long, and quickly assumed his jovial attitude.


    "Of course! Pray, do tell me what I can do for you? Inner court disciple Jiao Fang at your service~" The man said with a rtively wide smile.

 Chapter 516 - Violent Negotiation

    <h4>Chapter 516 - Violent Negotiation </h4>


    Lin Mu gazed at the man and his mannerisms. He had expected him to react a bit differently than this, but reckoned that this was the persona that man had adapted.


    "Well, you see... I have certain tasks I need to do that can be considered risky. And thus I want your help with them." Lin Mu stated.


    "What kind of tasks do you mean, brother? Is it hunting for beasts?" Jiao Fang asked.


    "Not exactly... what I need is... for you to distract the guards while I get close to the vaults." Lin Mu revealed with a straight face.


    Jiao Fang¡¯s face stiffened for a moment before he broke out inughter.


    "Ahahaha! Brother Wu Lian surely knows how to joke. You got, now do tell me what is it that you truly need." Jiao Fang replied.


    "I already stated what I wanted." Lin Mu said.


    Jiao Fang¡¯s smile now went away as he assumed a more calm expression.


    "Brother Wu Lian must know that certain words should not be uttered in the sect, and these are the very words. Doing so would result in some harsh punishments by the sect. I¡¯m sure you do not want that, do you?" Jiao Fang replied.


    "No, this is exactly what I want. And I want you to help with this." Lin Mu spoke in a straight tone.


    The corner of Jiao Fang¡¯s mouth twitched, but he did not falter.


    "Say, I do consider this... but what reason should I have to ept something that clearly goes against the rules of the sect and would invite the ire of the disciplinary department?" Jiao Fang questioned.


    "Because, a certain someone knocked out the guards, broke into the third Treasure pavilion and stole the page of a certain book by the name of Yulong¡¯s Mnemonics." Lin Mu answered, much to the shock of Jiao Fang.


    "Ahahah! Brother Wu Lian¡¯s jokes are getting much better. Why would I do something so vile as this?" Jiao Fang asked while secretly clenching his fist.


    Lin Mu did not respond straight away but instead pulled out a diary from his spatial storage ring, before holding it out on disy.


    "I¡¯d guess to find the next clue to the inheritance of Yulong." Lin Mu replied.


    The moment Lin Mu finished his sentence, he sensed a wave of spirit Qi emanating from Jiao Fang¡¯s body. This was his spirit sense, and it moved around in a circr manner.


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    ¡¯Oh? His spirit sense is rather long for a Qi refining realm cultivator... no wait, it¡¯s not...¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he then saw the man¡¯s aura rising.


    Fang Jiao¡¯s expression turned cold as he suddenly shot towards Lin Mu, his fist stretched out at the front.


    "So you really were hiding your cultivation base," Lin Mu said as he felt Jiao Fang¡¯s spirit Qi fluctuations which clearly put him at the peak stage of the core condensation realm.


    The man in front of him was already eligible to be an elder, yet had been hiding his cultivation base.


    "DIE!" Jiao Fang said in a fierce tone.


    Lin Mu though, did not flinch at his attack and merely tilted his head, easily dodging the punch. Then in one swift motion, he sent out a palm to Jiao Fang¡¯s side.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The wind generated from the palm strike made Jiao Fang¡¯s robes flutter and the man barely managed to retreat at thest movement. Flipping in the air, he moved back a few meters before stopping to take a look at the man in front of him.


    There were no spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him and even that palm strike that he had used was made with just his physical strength. But even then Jiao Fang could tell that if it hit him, his ribs would be shattered.


    His decades of experience had honed his instincts well enough that he could estimate the danger of an enemy. Over the years he had gone through one perilous situation after the other and had be used to them.


    But the man in front of him was still feeling like an enigma to him.


    "Who are you?" Jiao Fang asked, now realizing that the man in front of him was probably not who he was presenting himself to be.


    "It¡¯s not really of your concern now. As long as you listen to my conditions, we may be able to work this out without violence." Lin Mu said, putting his hands behind his back casually.


    <i>~humph~</i>


    "Then just die. No one can live after finding out my secrets!" Jiao Fang said as his eyes turned bloodshot.


    He flipped his palm and a long halberd appeared in his hand. Just from its appearance and the craftsmanship, Lin Mu could tell that it was no normal weapon and was probably a high grade spirit tool.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Then so be it... I¡¯ll just beat some sense into you," Lin Mu said, much to the anger of Jiao Fang.


    "HAAA!" Jiao Fang yelled as he lunged towards Lin Mu, his halberd haled up high.


    The halberd tore through the air as its sharp de descended upon Lin Mu.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    The sheer amount of spirit Qi being channeled through the halberd was sending out gales of wind which made ripples on the surface of theke.


    But then...


    <i>~ng~</i>


    The sound of metal hitting something hard could be heard as Jiao Fang¡¯s eyes went wide. His high grade halberd, which was probably one of the strongest weapons in the sect, had been stopped.


    Lin Mu calmly watched the man as he stopped the de of the halberd mid-strike. But the thing that had shocked Jiao Fang was not it getting blocked, but rather how it had been blocked.


    Lin Mu¡¯s bare hand was sped around the de of the halberd, not letting it move even a centimeter. If one looked closely, a faint brown glow could be seen on his hand with the patterns of scales on it.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    The sound of metal grinding could be heard as Lin Mu deflected the halberd, knocking it out of Jiao Fang¡¯s hand.


    "You...."

 Chapter 517 - Beaten Jiao Fang

    <h4>Chapter 517 - Beaten Jiao Fang </h4>


    Jiao Fang had definitely not expected that his day would be like this today. Not only was his secret found out by someone and he was forced to reveal his true strength, but the person who had found this out was much stronger than him even though his cultivation base seemed to be much less.


    He looked at Lin Mu who was casually standing there, as if he had not just tossed a High grade spirit weapon halberd like it was a toy. Even a Nascent Soul realm cultivator or a Dao Shell realm cultivator would find something like this hard to do.


    Lin Mu looked at Jiao Fang, who was obviously shocked and decided to speak.


    "So will you now be willing to listen, or should we continue and I break a few things?" Lin Mu stated.


    Jiao Fang gritted his teeth and took a fighting stance again, which only made Lin Mu roll his eyes.


    "I won¡¯t go easy this time..." Lin Mu muttered before pulling his hand back and clenching his fist.


    It was unusual to Jiao Fang as Lin Mu had neither form nor technique in this. Yet, he couldn¡¯t feel but feel anxious for some reason.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    Then suddenly Jiao Fang felt a powerful aura emanating from Lin Mu. But this aura was not due to spirit Qi but rather vital energy.


    ¡¯No... vital energy isn¡¯t this dense...¡¯ Jiao Fang thought.


    This was true, as what Lin Mu was disying was no vital energy but rather vital essence. This vital energy started to condense in his arm and the aura peaked.


    <i>~Fuwa~</i>


    Then Lin Mu punched towards Jiao Fang. The speed of this punch looked slow, but it was fast at the same time. Jiao Fang was toote to realize that the punch was simply leaving behind afterimages due to which it appeared to be slow.


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    Though the thing was, the punch didn¡¯t directly hit him. In fact, there was a distance of over three meters between him and Lin Mu. But even then, the punch was strong enough to knock the air out of him.


    Lin Mu¡¯s punch created a jet of air that tore through most of Jiao Fang¡¯s defenses as if they were paper. The few defensive measures he was using, including defensive Qi skill and talismans, were ineffective as they were used to defend against Qi attacks. But what Lin Mu had just used was nothing but simple air, which the measure would not respond against as they were not programed for that.


    Once this jet of air his Jiao Fang, he felt as if his chest would be crushed and it made him forcibly exhale air before he vomited out his stomach¡¯s contents. He had not eaten anything and thus all that came out was the stomach acid.


    Then he was sent flying backward and collided against the tree that he was once sitting beside.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    A loud thud could be heard as the tree shook hard, its dry leaves falling to the ground and the small animals that lived on it like the squirrels and bird scampered away.


    Jiao Fang¡¯s clothes had been torn and a ck-blue bruise was visible on his chest. It took him a minute before he was able toe to his sense as he had passed out due to the impact beforehand.


    But even then it was hard for him to move, and he felt desperate.


    ¡¯Where is he!?¡¯ Jiao Fang thought, still unable to speak, his ribs protesting with pain.


    He barely lifted his head and turned his eyes to see Lin Mu calmly leaning against the t rock where he was used to sitting. The man had not attacked him again, even though he fully had the ability to. In fact, in that state Jiao Fang was so helpless that even a child would have been able to kill him.


    "W-w... w-why?" Jiao Fang spoke after a minute more.


    This single word took a lot of effort for him, as even breathing was painful to him.


    "Oh? What did you say?" Lin Mu asked with raised brows.


    "-why... did... you... not... kill... me?" Jiao Fang asked, speaking each word after an agonizing breath.


    "Oh, like is said I want to cooperate with you. Do what I ask and everything will be fine." Lin Mu replied.


    Jiao Fang was now truly confused. He couldn¡¯t tell if his pain was greater or his confusion. He had a hard time believing the man in front of him, but the facts were all there. If Lin Mu truly wanted to kill him, he had plenty of options.


    Originally Jiao Fang had thought that Lin Mu was someone who was after the treasures that he had umted, but now he couldn¡¯t help but think over his offer again.


    "Re-really?" Jiao Fang asked again.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This will take a long time for us to figure out if you speak on like this." Lin Mu said before taking out a vial from his spatial storage ring.


    "Take this," Lin Mu said, extending the vial in his hand towards the injured Jiao Fang.


    "It will heal your injuries." Lin Mu added.


    Jiao Fang looked at it in hesitation but then reckoned that it should not be any problem. Lin Mu already had plenty of options to kill him, but he had taken none. It would take much less for him to kill him rather than using some poisoned pill, which would be more expensive.


    Jiao Fang extended his trembling hand and took the vial from Lin Mu. He held the vial to his mouth before pulling off the cap with his teeth. His other hand was numb from the impact and he was barely able to move it currently.


    As soon as the vial was open, Jiao Fang could smell the medicinal aroma from the pill and realized what pill it was. After all, he was a disciple of the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    ¡¯Pneuma Healing Pill? A mid grade one at that?¡¯ Jiao Fang recognized.

 Chapter 518 - Renegotiating

    <h4>Chapter 518 - Renegotiating </h4>


    Jiao Fang had known about this pill even if he had actually not seen it ever before. A Pneuma Healing pill was a healing pill that was used to heal internal injures like the ones he had right now.


    While it was just a mid rank pill, it was still rare. But it was not because of the difficulty of refinement, but rather because the ingredients needed to refine that pill were now all either extremely rare or in the control of a few sects.


    Even the Tri Cauldron peony sect did not have the herbs that were required to refine the Pneuma Restoration pill. Still, it was not like the rarity of the pill was a problem for people, since there were plenty of other pills that could show the same effect and they were more economical too.


    Lin Mu giving Jiao Fang a Pneuma Restoration Pill made him learn about a few things. The first thing that Lin Mu was definitely not from the sect; second that whichever power or sect Lin Mu belonged to, it was much stronger than the Tri Cauldron Peony sect, as only they would have rare herbs needed for the pill growing in their fields.


    Jiao Fang started at the ring for about a minute before gritting his teeth for a moment and then eating it. The pill touched his tongue and rapidly started to melt. Once it was fully converted to liquid, Jiao Fang quickly swallowed it and got to healing himself.


    He managed to sit in a meditative posture and guided the medicinal efficacy of the pill to heal his injuries. While he was doing this, Lin Mu had spread his spirit sense around the area ND was observing everything.


    His main concern now was that another person maye here and witness this. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how long the istion formation would work for and if a random person would enter it despite the existence of the formation.


    It took Jiao Fang about thirty minutes before he was able to take a breath of relief, literally. Even the bruise that was on his chest started to slowly fade away. Keeping his eyes closed, Jiao Fang pulled out another small pill bottle and ate two more pills.


    These were some other healing pills that he was used to carrying with himself. Though this was the first time he was actually using them while he was inside the sect.


    Till now an hour had passed and the isting formation had long since lost its effect. A few people had walked in as well, and they had confused expressions on their faces. But it didn¡¯tst long as they saw everything to be normal.


    A couple of them even passed by where Lin Mu and Jiao Fang were and looked at them curiously. After all, Lin Mu rtively handsome for the women, and Jiao Fang was eye-catching due to his torn clothes.


    At first, they had thought that perhaps some conflict may have urred between the two men. Private duels were often prohibited in the sect and the disciples that had disagreements with each other would either solve it amongst themselves or let it fall onto the backs of the Discipline hall.


    But seeing both of the men sitting cross legged and cultivating calmly, they reckoned that it must have just been an ident or a friendly spar. Seeing this, the two people went away and Lin Mu stared at their backs.


    "Hmm... looks like the istion formation worked just as I had expected. Thankfully, itsted long enough that I was able to get Jiao Fang healed. If Jiao Fang was still in pain and struggling, perhaps one of the disciples may have be suspicious." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Just as Lin Mu opened his eyes, Jiao Fang did too. This time his eyes had a better look in them, and he no longer struggled to move.


    "Do you feel better now?" Lin Mu questioned the man.


    "Yes...." Jiao Fang replied in a low voice.


    "Are you ready to cooperate and talk?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "Yes..." Jiao Fang nodded his head.


    "Good, then we shall talk. Though not here. Let us go back to your residence. This ce is not suitable for a conversation such as that." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright." Jiao Fang said before staring up.


    Both of them went back to Jiao Fang¡¯s residence and locked the doors behind their backs. Jiao Fang lightly waved his hands and the door of the residence locked up automatically.


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    <i>~huu~</i>


    Jiao Fang took a deep breath as he sat down on his bed.


    "Now tell me what is it that you exactly want." Jiao Fang said.


    "Basically, what I want you to do is the same that you did for the guards of the third treasure pavilion. But this time the targets would be the guards that guard the vaults of the main peak." Lin Mu said.


    "I believe you should be able toe up with a method on your own, to execute something like this. I¡¯ve read the diary and know that it won¡¯t be your first time at a task like this." Lin Mu stated.


    Jiao Fang went silent for a few minutes before speaking.


    "I... I¡¯ll be able to do something. But whatever you want to do, it will have to be quick." Jiao Fang said.


    "That will be fine. Mainly I want someone to dy the guards from noticing us. Or if that does not work, I just want the right opportunity to be able to observe the vault¡¯s formations when they are opened or closed." Lin Mu exined.


    "Hmm... I should be able to do the first thing for two of the vaults, but for the final vault, this would not be possible as there are no guards on it. If you want to observe the formations though, it should be possible.


    All we would need for it is the key of the vault which should be in the hands of the sect patriarch." Jiao Fang exined.

 Chapter 519 - A Key To A Key

    <h4>Chapter 519 - A Key To A Key </h4>


    After hearing thest sentence of the man, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but raise his brows.


    "Steal from the sect patriarch? Won¡¯t that be extremely dangerous?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes. But not if you do it the way I tell you." Jiao Fang replied.


    "You got some more information on this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed. Over the years I spent in the sect, I learned a few things, since I often needed to do things that were not exactly ording to the rules. I did this all for the inheritance, of course.


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    It was also during one of these things that I learned of the key that the sect patriarch had. Since the patriarch often needs to attend to the matters of the sect that are of utmost importance, he cannot personally go to the vault when things are needed.


    Because of this, he would ce his key at a designated location where the high elders of the sect have ess to it. As long as they have the permission of the sect patriarch, they would be able to enter this ce and take the key.


    But this onlysts for one use after which the key would stop working." Jiao Fang exined.


    "Is this how you got the part of the key to the treasure pavilion too?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not exactly. The treasure pavilion has items that are of way less important than the vaults. Thus they have multiple keys that are the medallions. These medallions are often split into multiple parts so that no single person can ess them on their own.


    I just had to find someone who had a piece of that medallion and take it from them." Jiao Fang replied.


    It was now that Lin MU realized what must have happened with Jiao Fang on the day he met him.


    "You don¡¯t mean that the day I saw you for the first time, you had just fought someone for that piece of the medallion?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You won¡¯t be wrong. It was just some junior elder who was carrying the medallion." Jiao Fang answered.


    "But wouldn¡¯t that bring problems? Killing an elder must be problematic, especially since you live in the sect itself." Lin Mu asked.


    "It would have been like this a couple of years ago. But recently I don¡¯t know what happened to the sect, but the higher ups of the sect have changed greatly. It¡¯s almost as if they don¡¯t care what happens to their people.


    It was only when Alchemist Bo said he was going to break through to the nascent soul realm, that they all got busy showing their concern. Even if I had killed the junior elder, the sect won¡¯t find it out for a few months at the very least.


    Even then there is a chance it would take longer as the mission the junior elder was going on was a long term one and he would have been gone for at least a couple of months even if hepleted it early.


    Still fighting that man took out a lot from me and that was the reason for my appearance that day." Jiao Fang replied.


    Lin Mu nodded at the man and understood that he was someone who set up various masks to hide his true self. The man in front of Lin Mu was fickle and devious. Had it not been for Lin Mu¡¯s overwhelming disy of strength, it was likely the man would have still been scheming against him.


    "So, do you not care for the sect? And do you not have loyalty to it?" Lin Mu finally asked the question that had been bugging him for a while.


    "Not really. Ever since I got the inheritance, I didn¡¯t really care for the sect as it is now a mere stepping stone for me. Once I get all parts of the inheritance, it won¡¯t be hard for me to control the entire sect on my own." Jiao Fang said with fires of ambition burning in his mind.


    Lin Mu almost wanted to tell him how ironic this was, as there was already someone that was controlling the sect behind everyone¡¯s back. And not only this, but they were also controlling a ton of more sects, either directly or indirectly.


    "So where is this ce where the patriarch puts the key to the vault?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Jiao Fang pulled out a map of the sect from his spatial storage ring and spread it on the table. Lin Mu could see a lot of markings that were made on the map and guessed that these were the ces of importance ording to Jiao Fang.


    "The key is located in an inconspicuous location just south of the elder residences. The location in question is a small shrine that is seldom visited by anyone, including the other elders of the sect. Only the patriarch and the elders who have been given permission to go there." Jiao Fang exined.


    "Hmm... so this is the location. But what about the security? There should be some, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There is indeed. There are formation arrays that only recognize the sect elders and they are also active 24/7 unlike the other identity formations of the sect which only scan every few hours." Jiao Fang answered.


    "Getting into this shrine will be hard then. I¡¯ll have to unravel the formations." Lin Mu muttered.


    "I already have this part solved." Jiao Fang said before he took out the piece of medallion from his spatial storage ring.


    "This medallion piece already has the identity of the elder that it belonged to. You should be able to get into the shrine without much trouble." Jiao Fang said.


    "But won¡¯t the sect found out that one of their elder¡¯s borrowed this? How would that be possible if they were never in the sect?" Lin Mu asked for rity.


    "You won¡¯t have to worry about that if you are only going to stay here a short time. The patriarch would only check the shrine next month after Alchemist Bo¡¯s tribtion is over." Jiao Fang stated.

 Chapter 520 - A Shrine And Bilao

    <h4>Chapter 520 - A Shrine And Bo </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up as he liked this n. For the first time, he had a concrete n that would work.


    "Alright then, I¡¯ll do this and get the key first." Lin Mu said.


    "Yup. And by then I¡¯ll get the diversion of the other two vaults ready. It will take me a bit to check around and get to you." Jiao Fang spoke in a serious tone.


    He then took out a jade slip from his spatial storage ring and held it out for Lin Mu.


    "Here, register this in yourmunication jade slip so we can talk in the sect." Jiao Fang said.


    Lin Mu dly obliged and registered the Qi signature of Jiao Fang in his ownmunication jade slip.


    "I¡¯ll leave for the shrine now." Lin Mu said.


    "You need to be careful then, and hide well. Even if some disciples see you and it is identally reported you may get found out and the patriarch maye to check up on the shrine before time." Jiao fang said.


    "You don¡¯t need to be concerned about that, I got a n." Lin Mu said before he left the residence and closed the door behind him.


    Jiao Fang waited a few seconds before taking a peek outside, but was then shocked.


    "Huh? Where the hell did he disappear to?" Jiao Fang said, feeling bewildered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Sighing to himself, Jiao Fang realized the man was way beyond his understanding and it was better if he did not ask too much. That was also the reason why he had not asked Lin Mu how he had found out about his secret.


    Deep in his heart, he was afraid that Lin Mu may kill him to hide his own secrets. Thus, he considered this option to be the better one.


    "I should get to my part too... perhaps I make some gains too..." Jiao Fang muttered to himself before leaving the residence as well.


    ***


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t tell Jiao Fang that he did not care about being able to hide at all. His skills that were conferred by the ring were strong enough to take him through this all with barely any problems.


    He had left the residence by blinking away and then sinking to the ground. From there he quickly made his way up the sect, right to where the residences of the elders were. These residences were bigger than those from the Herb Peak or the Pill peak and looked to be better maintained.


    "That should be the path," Lin Mu muttered as he saw a small path that went to the depths of a few trees.


    Going along with it, he soon came upon the shrine that they were talking about. Looking at the shrine, Lin Mu saw a few tablets kept inside it.


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    "Oh, so it¡¯s an ancestral shrine for the people of the sect." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It should be the shrine for people who have lived in the sect for many generations. Many disciples get married within the sect and have their children, who eventually grow up and have their own children.


    Such families don¡¯t have any homes in the secr world and thus end up making ancestral shrines in the sect itself." Xukong exined.


    "Ah, no wonder Jiao Fang said barely anyonees here. If they don¡¯t have any ancestors here, they would have no use visiting the shrine. But then, if the sect patriarch visits this ce and uses it to keep the key, he must be linked to it or something." Lin Mu replied.


    "Could be... but it¡¯s none of our concern," Xukong said.


    "That¡¯s true. Let¡¯s just hurry up and take the key." Lin Mu said as he approached the shrine.


    He held the medallion in his hand and it interacted a bit with the formations of the shrine before allowing him to enter. If one were to see this scene, they would think that the formation was malfunctioning as it had activated without anyone being there.


    After all, unless they used their spirit sense to check the ground, they would never realize that Lin Mu had been hidden there all along.


    Once the formation let him in, Lin Mu rose up to the floor of the shrine and saw a box kept at the back.


    "That should be it..." Lin Mu muttered as he opened it.


    "There we go," Lin Mu said as his eyes lit upon seeing the key to the vault inside.


    This key was in the form of a formation te and was made out of metal, along with a few precious gems. It was evidently of a much higher quality than the formation te that Lin Mu had used to set up the illusory formation before.


    Quickly putting the key into his ring, Lin Mu blinked out of the shrine and went away from the area.


    ¡¯May as well check out the area.¡¯ Lin Mu thought and he went to the location of the first vault.


    This vault was located where the core disciples lived and was guarded by a couple of them as well. Lin Mu took a simple nce and could tell these formations would also take time to break.


    He then went to the next vault, which was located deeper within thergepound where the elders of the main peak lived. Lin Mu was causally taking a look around the residences when he spotted someone he recognized.


    "Alchemist Bo... so this is where he has been residing." Lin Mu murmured.


    He was currently around a luxurious residence that was surrounded by a lot of disciples. They were evidently guarding it and would turn away anyone that got close to it.


    "Do not approach the residence, Alchemist Bo is deep in preparation." One of the guard disciples warned another disciple who had gotten close.


    That disciple took heed of the words and quickly went in a different direction.


    Lin Mu though had no such problem, and he easily sneaked into the residence.


    ¡¯Wonder what a person who is close to a heavenly tribtion feels like?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 521 - The Signs Of Heavenly Tribulation

    <h4>Chapter 521 - The Signs Of Heavenly Tribtion </h4>


    Lin Mu observed Alchemist Bo from one of the walls of the residence. The middle aged man was deep in meditation and had a still expression on his face.


    From what Lin Mu knew, the man was over two hundred years already, but still looked quite young for his age. Until one reached the adult soul stage of the Nascent soul realm, their body would still age, albeit at a much slower rate.


    For them, ten years were the same as one year, thus the time required for them to look one year older would take ten years. But for core condensation realm cultivators, it was less than that.


    For them, three years was equivalent to one year. Thus considering that Bo should have looked like someone who was in his sixties. But he looked like someone who was in his forties instead.


    Lin Mu could only attribute this to him eating certain alchemical pills, which allowed him to maintain his condition far better than another cultivator. Once he reached the nascent soul realm, his aging would slow down to ten years, and he would be able to maintain this for far longer.


    But that was not all he saw on Bo. Lin Mu could see an almost imperceptible energy around Bo.


    ¡¯What is this...¡¯ Lin Mu wondered and squinted his eyes along with focusing his spirit sense.


    This led him to use his spatial perception on instinct and he saw the faint spatial abnormalities around him.


    "This... what is this... it¡¯s like the space around him is getting unstable?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Oh? You were able to see the spatial disturbance caused by an impending heavenly tribtion?" Xukong questioned.


    "You know what that is, senior?!" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. What you is one of the signs of a heavenly tribtion." Xukong answered.


    "One of the signs? But why would there be spatial disturbance caused by it?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    "This is more like the heavenly tribtion observing Bo and not letting him hide from it. Hiding from a heavenly tribtion is immensely difficult. Even if you hide within the void, the heavenly tribtion will break through the space itself toe to strike you." Xukong exined.


    "Truly senior? Is it really this terrifying?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Of course. Why do you think nearly everyone fears it and wants to do a lot of preparations before attempting it?" Xukong replied.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered and continued looking at Bo.


    Except for the spatial disturbance around Bo, Lin Mu did not find anything of importance there. Alchemist Bo wasn¡¯t even cultivating and was just meditating there with no change.


    Though now that he had learned about the spatial disturbances, he wondered if there were any spatial disturbances around his body. s! No matter how much he looked, there was none around him. The spatial fabric was as strong as every around him.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like I¡¯m gonna have to wait much longer for a tribtion..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


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    Having observed him enough, Lin Mu decided to leave and take a look at the rest of the ces. He would have gone all the way to the vault that was at the very end had it not been for the presence of the patriarch.


    No matter what, Lin Mu would have to wait till the heavenly tribtion started to be able to get to this vault. At that time, the patriarch and all the other elders will be at the tribtion tform and there were be next to no one watching the vaults.


    With the scouting done, Lin Mu chose to return to the residence of Jiao Fang. The man was not here yet. Thus Lin Mu just sat down to cultivate for the time being. It took about five hours, after which Jiao Fang finally returned.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes upon his arrival and spoke, "did you figure out anything?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I did. I was able to find out the time of the opening of both the vaults." Jiao Fang answered.


    "You did? When is it?" Lin Mu questioned it.


    "The original timing of their opening was in a week from now. But... I managed to make it much earlier." Jiao Fang answered it.


    "And how did you do that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Usually these vaults open once every month on a regr schedule or if someone needs something in an emergency they open it as well. Certain disciples are also allowed to ask for the vaults to be opened as well so that they can receive their reward from the sect.


    Rewards such as these are not easy toe by and one needs to contribute greatly to the sect or use their merit points that the sect awards them forplete certain missions and tasks.


    So what I did was basically make a couple of disciples who were eligible to receive their rewards from the sect speed it up." Jiao Fang answered.


    "Making them use up their reward? How is this even possible?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling curious now.


    "Well, it was much easier than I expected. The higher ranked core disciples of the sect are already on the edge due to the nearing breakthrough of Alchemist Bo. Some of them are also particrly jealous, such that they want him to die in his heavenly tribtion.


    I just had to put a few words into their ears such that they would be impatient to get their resources. Once they use them, they think that they can breakthrough and improve their chances of breaking through to the nascent soul realm themselves." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was impressed by this and had no word for Jiao Fang except for the time at which the disciples would be doing this.


    "So when exactly would they be opening the vaults?" Lin Mu asked.


    "One of them will be opening early in the morning while the second one will beter in the night. It should be enough for you toplete each task." Jiao Fang stated.

 Chapter 522 - The Two Vaults

    <h4>Chapter 522 - The Two Vaults </h4>


    With the n now in ce, Lin Mu decided to wait till then. He did stay at Jiao Fang¡¯s residence though, instead of that, he went back to that residence he had previously taken over. He was currently sitting on the mat and was absorbing the spirit Qi from it.


    Seeing that he had a ratherrge amount of spirit Qi supply, Lin Mu just decided to take this chance to further refine the range of his spirit sense. He failed many times during the night that made his spirit sense copse, but with the nearly unlimited supply, he was able to rebuild it to its previous range once again.


    Little by little, it started to increase in range with each failure. With this uninterrupted supply of spirit Qi, Lin Mu could freely practice with the spirit sense and didn¡¯t have to worry about not having a spirit sense in the time of distress.


    By the time for the opening of the vault came in the morning, Lin Mu had already refined his spirit sense to a maximum range of six hundred. This was a massive increase and Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if he would be able to replicate their progress in a short time again.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He exhaled a breath and muttered. "this will only help me more now..."


    The jade slip in Lin Mu¡¯s spatial ring stirred and he withdrew it.


    "It¡¯s me Jiao Fang. The core disciple has left theplex they live in. You will have to take this time to observe the formations of the vault." Jiao Fang spoke.


    "I understand. I¡¯ll leave right now." Lin Mu said before blinking away.


    He quickly left the residence and entered a path that led to the courtyards of the inner court disciples. Once he was there, he went hoards the location of the vault, which was already known to him now.


    Upon reaching the vault, Lin Mu kept hiding behind on the spots in the ground as no one was here yet. But in the distance, he could see a couple of people heading toward it.


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    "Ah, seems like I¡¯m just early this time..." Lin Mu said to himself.


    He saw that the disciple was not alone and even a junior sect elder was following him around. But when Lin Mu saw the face of the elder, he could tell that he had an expression of jealousy.


    Jealousy was something he had grown good at recognizing by now. It was evident that this elder was not happy about this disciple taking whatever treasure they were going to take.


    "Stand here, I¡¯ll open the vault. And remember no funny business..." The junior elder said, before taking out a small formation te and checking it.


    Even if a disciple had gotten rewards normally the man would not ever paid any mind to it. But here he was observing a good for nothing junior taking the best techniques of the sect.


    That¡¯s right, the reward that had been chosen by him was nothing by a spirit tool. The elder held out the identity badge of his own and held it out in front of his body.


    Then... it happed.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    The formations surrounding the vault started unraveling, and Lin Mu watched it with rapt attention. Only when five minutes passed and the formations were all open was the disciple able to enter the formation.


    Lin Mu continued observing as he knew it was going to take a rtively rare technique that may be hard to get in the sect. During this time he did his best toprehend these formations and by the time the inner court disciple returned, about thirty minutes had already passed.


    <i>~harrumph~</i>


    "Took you long enough..." The junior elder stated.


    The elder didn¡¯t know what the disciple had gotten into the vault and could only act like this. He knew that even with a low grade technique he won¡¯t be able to get that from the disciple unless he was willing to break a lot of rules.


    Taking out the identity badge again, the elder closed the vault behind his back. The two of them went either separate ways, and Lin Mu returned to his temporary residence in the sect as well. Upon reaching it, he got a notification from Jiao Fang.


    Jiao Fang reached to him on the jade slip and asked him if everything had gone well on not. Seeing that Lin Mu was back, he reckoned it was.


    "Yes. It worked just as you said. I¡¯m now much more confident in opening the formations on my own." Lin Mu replied.


    Jiao Fang nodded his head and stopped the link.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "May as well continue refining my spirit sense, seeing I got a few hours to the next opening of the second vault." Lin Mu muttered to himself before sitting down cross legged on the prayer mat.


    He raised the limit of the limiter formation and allowed his body to be doused in spirit Qi. Time passed and finally, it was evening when the second disciple would be opening the second vault of the Main peak.


    Lin Mu left before Jiao Fang even reminded him to be ready for it and left for the second vault. He waited for the disciple toe as well but saw that someone else came before them.


    The person was one of the elders he had seen in the elder¡¯spound.


    The elder came to a stop in front of the vault and waited, evidently for the disciple toe.


    "Sorry for making you wait, elder!" A voice came from the side.


    Lin Mu¡¯s gaze went there instantly as he seemed to have recognized the voice. The voice was that of a woman, and it was someone that Lin Mu recognized.


    "Ye Zi Jin? Why is she here? Don¡¯t tell me... she¡¯s the disciple who wants to get resources from the vault. Since this is the second vault, then it has spirit tools kept in it. Some of them should be at the high grade too..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Unlike the previous elder and disciple, this elder was muchposed and respectfully nodded to Ye Zi Jin.

 Chapter 523 - An Opportunity?

    <h4>Chapter 523 - An Opportunity? </h4>


    Lin Mu watched on as he saw the elder and Ye Zi Jin talk.


    "So you finally decided to use that chance to get a weapon?" The elder asked.


    "Yes, elder. I reckon this is the right time. With Alchemist Bo¡¯s eventual breakthrough, the power structure of the sect will change. Especially with the new peak that will be built for him." Ye Zi Jin replied.


    "So you know..." The elder muttered.


    "Yes... It is no longer a secret, elder. Many disciples know of the sect patriarch¡¯s n. It will also affect the pill peak the most." Ye Zi Jin stated.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "That is true. Till now the pill peak was the only one that specialized in manufacturing pills, but now with the peak alchemist Bo is getting, there will be two pill peaks. The benefits that the pill peak got till now are bound to reduce." The elder said.


    "Indeed, senior. Right now the best thing I can do is improve my own personal strength... and that of my husband." Ye Zi Jin spoke.


    The elder nodded his head at this and did not speak further. Lin Mu also heard her reasoning and realized that it was valid. It was obvious that with the creation of a new peak, that too one that specialized in the refinement of pills, the previous pill peak would suffer.


    Alchemist Bo was also considered to be talented in pill refinement. Some even said he had already exceeded peak master Yi Jing. The only thing that he was restricted by currently was his cultivation base, but once that was resolved, there was nothing to stop him from growing.


    With their conversations done, Ye Zi Jin went into the vault. This time the elder simply waved his hand which was holding the key to open the vault¡¯s door. Unlike the other elder, Lin Mu could tell this one favored Ye Zi Jin.


    Lin Mu observed the formations of the vault and saw that they were quite simr to the one before, with there being a few minor differences. But it was these very differences that could cost Lin Mu a lot of time when he actually got to opening the vaults.


    Unlike the previous disciple who had taken over thirty minutes to choose, Ye Zi Jin merely took five minutes before she walked out of the vault. She was not carrying anything which meant that she had stored whatever she got from there into her spatial storage tool.


    "Farewell elder." Ye Zi Jin said before leaving the area.


    The elder nodded his head once again while closing the door of the vault. He then took out a spirit sword and flew away on it, his destination unknown. Having obtained the information that Lin Mu wanted, he went back to the residence that he had upied.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He took a deep breath as heid down on the bed. Lin Mu had not slept properly for a few days and had spent a lot of time in observing the formations. This greatly taxed his mind, and he was now mentally tired.


    "Now the only thing left is to wait..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he fell asleep.


    Inside the ring, Xukong had been observing Lin Mu the entire time.


    "His progress with the formations is at a great pace... still this is mostly with modifications and not actual creation. He will need practical experience before he would be able to be an actual formation master." Xukong muttered to himself as the spatial energy streaks stirred around him.


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    ¡¯Though with the information he will probably get from these vaults, he should have enough to get started on formation creation.¡¯ Xukong thought to himself before busying himself in his cultivation.


    ...


    The moon disappeared and the sun rose up into the sky. It was finally daytime and Lin Mu had a rather rude awakening.


    "THE PEAK MASTER OF THE HERB PEAK IS GIVING AN OPPORTUNITY!" A cacophony of shouts could be hearding from the outside.


    "Ugh... what is up with them all? This ce is usually calm. Hang on... ah! I forgot to activate the istion formation before sleeping. No wonder the voice was able to reach me." Lin Mu said with a groan.


    He rubbed his eyes and pushed the hair that had fallen across his face.


    ¡¯May as well check what this is all about...¡¯ He thought before leaving the house.


    Outside, he could see that a lot of disciples were running around while some talked in groups. Lin Mu causally picked one of these groups and started to listen in on their conversation.


    "Are you going to participate too?" One of the disciples asked hispanion.


    "Of course I am. Even if I fail, there is no penalty, and if I get even to the minimum level the peak master wants, I¡¯ll still get some rewards." The other disciple said.


    "That is true, no matter how small a reward is a reward. Besides, the peak master has not set any high requirement for the test. Anyone who can ignite a Qi me can participate."


    Lin Mu¡¯s ears perked up at this and now he was wondering what kind of opportunity was this, that so many disciples would be excited. While he was curious, he didn¡¯t dare to ask them. It was fine if he was listening to them on the passive, but if he actively talked to them and they recognized him, it could be problematic.


    Besides, he now had someone whom he could ask anything rted to the sect. Lin Mu thus went to the residence of Jiao Fang, but it seemed to be locked. Without any sense of privacy, Lin Mu phased into the residence.


    "Huh... he¡¯s really not here?" Lin Mu said upon seeing the empty room.


    He took out the jade slip and messaged Jiao Fang.


    "Where are you?" Lin Mu asked.


    He had expected there to be a quick answer, but nothing of that sort happened. He was just about to send a second message when the jade slip hummed on its own.

 Chapter 524 - The Qi Flame Control Test

    <h4>Chapter 524 - The Qi me Control Test </h4>


    Lin Mu held onto the jade slip and saw that it was Jiao Fang responding finally.


    "I¡¯m at the Herb Peak, the peak master is doing apetition of Qi me control." Jiao Fang answered.


    "Qi me control? What do you mean?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Juste over, I¡¯ll exin it. Besides, the prize for the one that is first is something that would interest you too." Jiao Fang replied before stopping the link.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows, but then decided to go see the man who was acting strangely. Lin Mu sank into the ground and blinked his way to the herb peak. It didn¡¯t take him long to find Jiao Fang as he was standing in one of the areas near the warehouse, along with hundreds of other disciples.


    He messaged Jiao Fang telling him that he was here, and the man turned around to spot him. Nudging with his eyes, he directed Lin Mu to a more secluded spot.


    "So what is it that¡¯s exactly happening?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Peak master Shaoyan Qianyu had some progress in her alchemical pill refinement skills and thus she has decided to celebrate it by giving the disciples an opportunity. She is holding a tournament and those who are sessful in satisfying her would get rewards.


    There are many rewards corresponding to the capability disyed by the disciple. All they need to do is show their proficiency in Qi me control and they would get ranked. The better it is the higher the rank and the reward." Jiao Fang answered.


    "What kind of rewards are there? You mentioned that it would interest me?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. While there are many rewards ranging from spirit herbs to alchemical pills, the reward for the first ce is what I think you would like. It is something that you have been looking for all this time... a key to the vault." Jiao Fang answered.


    "A key? Why would she give the key to any disciple? Even as a reward that would be too much." Lin Mu said, finding it a bit ridiculous.


    "Of course it¡¯s not a permanent key. Or rather I should have said it¡¯s a temporary ess token. The token would allow someone to enter the vault of the herb peak once. Then once they are inside they are allowed to pick any one thing that they want." Jiao Fang exined.


    While this did pick Lin Mu¡¯s interest, he still wanted more details on this.


    "Who will they determine that only one item is taken? And what is the time frame on taking the item from the vault?" Lin Mu questioned.


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    "The formation array of the vault will be configured such that the person can only take one item from it, no matter what. As for the time frame... there is none. It is simr to the two disciples who got the items from the vaults yesterday." Jiao Fang exined.


    "Hmm... so one can go and ess the vault anytime, right? Even if no elder is present there?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "An elder needs to be there to let you into thepound, of course. But I believe you have no such restriction with your capabilities." Jiao Fang said with a knowing look.


    Lin Mu kept a straight face and realized that this was indeed true. If he could really get a token, he would be able to get to the vault when everyone was observing the heavenly tribtion. As for the restriction on the items, he didn¡¯t care for that as much. The vault door being opened would already take away a majority of the difficulty that he had.


    After the door was opened, Lin Mu was confident that he would be able to resolve the rest of the formations much quickly. This would save him a massive amount of time. If he considered the situation now, he would have free ess to two of the four vaults that he needed to rob.


    "Tell me more about the tournament. More particrly about how the Qi me control would be assessed?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The assessment is mostly automatic. You would enter the testing hall and the formations that are present in it would record your skills. You will simply need to do actions that the formation instructs you to do. It will measure the time needed for you to do them and also the efficiency." Jiao Fang replied.


    Lin Mu liked this method of assessment. At least this way, he would not be noticed by others as much.


    "And what kind of skills do you think would be required for one to get the first rank?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "At the very least you would need to have Qi me control that allows one to refine mid grade alchemical pills." Jiao Fang answered.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard his words, he knew that this was not a venture he would be able to undertake. While he was indeed capable of igniting his Qi me, he had no practical experience in refining pills. And there was no way he would be able to learn it in a day. If it were formations, he would have tried it, but even those he had learned over two years.


    "Though... there is a way to get the first rank instantly." Jiao Fang added.


    Lin Mu raised his eyes and knew that there must be a catch to this.


    "If a disciple can ignite an intermediate rank Qi me. As long as they can do this, they don¡¯t even need to do the assessment, the formation will instantly give them the first rank." Jiao Fang exined.


    "An intermediate Qi me... the blue me," Lin Mu muttered.


    "Indeed. But I doubt this method would be possible for you or any disciple here for that matter. That condition is only set by the peak master as a formality. Perhaps only alchemist Bo would be qualified enough to refine an intermediate ranked Qi me in addition to the other peak masters." Jiao Fang said, thinking that Lin Mu was disappointed.


    While Lin Mu looked calm on the outside, internally he was rejoicing.

 Chapter 525 - Lin Mus Plan For The Competition

    <h4>Chapter 525 - Lin Mu''s n For The Competition </h4>


    Unlike the other disciples who would have to learn how to ignite an intermediate ranked Qi me by constant practice along with refining alchemical pills, Lin Mu had directly seen it being used before.


    But it was not as if the other disciples could replicate the same by just watching an intermediate ranked Qi me. No, just in order to reach that point, they would require great control over their spirit Qi, and along with it, them having a massive store of it.


    If they didn¡¯t have arge amount of spirit Qi, they would simply be unable to ignite the intermediate ranked Qi me. Lin Mu thought had many times more spirit Qi than what an average peak stage core condensation realm cultivator had. In fact, he had enough spirit Qi that he would be able topare with a child soul stage nascent soul realm cultivator.


    The only thing he would be missing would be their ability to manipte the spirit Qi in the environment around them and their faster regeneration of spirit Qi.


    Lin Mu had confidence in himself that even if he was unable to learn how to refine alchemical pills, he would still be able to ignite an intermediate ranked Qi me at the very least.


    But then came the question. Would he even have enough time to learn how to ignite an intermediate ranked Qi me?


    "How long would thispetition be avable for and when would its results be announced?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Peak master Shaoyan Qianyu has said that thepetition would be avable till Alchemist Bo had his breakthrough and the heavenly tribtion came. Though it is likely most disciples would end up finishing thepetition before that since they only have one chance each." Jiao Fang answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and knew that if he had a few days, he would surely be able to do this.


    "Alright... I¡¯ll see what I can do." Lin Mu said.


    "So you¡¯re gonna participate in thepetition?" Jiao Fang questioned.


    While he could see that Lin Mu was interested in thepetition, he actually didn¡¯t know if Lin Mu could even ignite a Qi me.


    "I¡¯ll think of it." Lin Mu said before going away.


    Jiao Fang didn¡¯t ask him any further either and went back to the front. After all, he was an alchemist too and wanted a chance at the items in the vault. While he knew it would be quite difficult to get the first ce, he was sure that he could get into the top five.


    Jiao Fang also didn¡¯t care that he already had a lot of resources that he had gathered from Yulong¡¯s inheritance. For him, the more he got the better it would be. Thus, there was no way he was going to let go of this opportunity.


    Lin Mu had returned to his residence and sat down on the prayer mat which had the Qi gathering formation set up on it.


    "Hmm... with the continuous infusion of the spirit Qi, I shouldn¡¯t have any problem..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He closed his eyes and chanted the severing heart sutra before checking his Dantian. He observed every part of it and slowly guided out some spirit Qi out of his Dantian. It traveled to his meridians before leaving out of his hands.


    The spirit Qi started topress before it suddenly ignited in the air. The me looked vigorous but after a minute of burning it started to get unstable. Another five minutester, the mes started flickering before snuffing out.


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    "Hmm... I need to learn how to keep a stable output." Lin Mu realized.


    He repeated the process and ignited the Qi me again. And during all this, his body was also absorbing the spirit Qi that was being emanated from the prayer mat below him constantly. This kept his Dantian at its maximum capacity the entire time.


    Lin Mu spent about two days like this, and his control over the Qi me had gotten much better. But this control was only interns of keeping the me ignited, not the kind of control that was needed for the refinement of pills.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and rxed his body.


    "I should check what happened in these two days..." Lin Mu thought to himself before leaving the residence.


    He went around the sect and listened to the conversations of the various disciples, learning of all that urred during these two days. Most of it was mundane except for thepetition of the Herb peak.


    Apparently, over eighty percent of disciples of the sect who were eligible had already taken part and were now just waiting for the final results. As for those that were remaining, they were either not going to attempt it or were still preparing.


    Having learned enough, Lin Mu went to check on alchemist Bo. While there was no news about him from the disciples, Lin Mu could just go and check how he was doing on his own. After all, he had a better way of knowing if the heavenly tribtion was close for him or not.


    Lin Mu swiftly made his way to the ce where Alchemist Bo was staying at. This time Lin Mu didn¡¯t need as long to reach there as he had experienced from before. Though he could tell that the security had been lessened here.


    "Did they go for thepetition, too? Or something like that?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Feeling a bit strange, Lin Mu decided to check out the nearby situation as well. He went around the different blocks, including the ce where Ye Zi Jin and Wu Teng lived. But the thing was, only Alchemist Bo¡¯s residence had its security reduced.


    "Something is definitely wrong." Lin Mu realized.


    He made his way back to Alchemist Bo¡¯s residence and phased inside. His spirit sense spread around, but it detected something else that was not there before.


    "What¡¯s this... formations?" Lin Mu said, as his brows furrowed.


    He quickly entered the room where Bo was meditating and saw the scene of a de that was about to pierce the man¡¯s neck.

 Chapter 526 - Assassination Attempt

    <h4>Chapter 526 - Assassination Attempt </h4>


    Lin Mu almost froze upon seeing the shocking scene. There was a masked man standing behind Bo who was calmly mediating without a care in the world.


    The thing is, he should have woken up but there was no spirit Qi fluctuationing from the masked man either.


    Lin Mu¡¯s mind worked at the speed of lighting, and he disappeared from his position before appearing beside the masked man. He extended his hands and quickly grabbed onto the masked man. One hand was on his head and the other on the sword de that was approaching Bo¡¯s neck.


    A brown glow appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s hand as it defended against the sharp edge of the de. The masked man though, was absolutely bewildered. Out of nowhere, someone had appeared beside him and grabbed onto him.


    He tried to resist, but the man¡¯s grip was extremely strong, not letting him budge. His struggle was short lived though, as in the next moment he felt like he lost control of his body and his vision went dark.


    The masked man disappeared from the real world and Lin Mu immediately used fade to enter the parallel world.


    "WHO!!!" Alchemist Bo suddenly woke up with a shout as he felt the movement of spirit Qi in his room.


    His eyes darted around as he looked for an intruder. His shout was loud enough that the guards that were outside came rushing in soon.


    "QUICK! TO ALCHEMIST BILAO¡¯S ROOM!" The guards shouted.


    They all barged into the room only to find it empty except for Bo who had a confused expression on his face.


    "Senior Bo, did something happen?" The guard asked, seeing no one in the room.


    Bo didn¡¯t answer right away and spread his spirit sense around, unable to find anyone there.


    "No... nothing." Bo answered.


    "Why did you shout then?" The guards questioned.


    "I thought I felt someone, but no one is here. Must¡¯ve been my imagination." Bo answered.


    The guard leader didn¡¯t feel at ease though, and asked the others to check the area. A few minutester, they all came back to report.


    "What did you find?" The guard leader asked.


    "Sir, a lot of the other guards who were supposed to patrol the streets are missing. At least the ones in our block are gone." The guards reported.


    "WHAT! Where are they?" The guard leader asked.


    "We don¡¯t know, sir. I¡¯ve already asked the other guards from the blocks and they don¡¯t know either." The guards replied.


    The guard leader¡¯s expression fell, and so did alchemist Bo¡¯s.


    ¡¯Did someone really enter?¡¯ Bo wondered.


    Lin Mu who had just saved Bo though, was quickly getting away as fast as possible from the area. By the time the duration of fade ended, he had already reached the area near his residence. Though he had overshot and appeared in one of the disciple¡¯s residences.


    That took inside one of the walls.


    <i>~Crash~</i>


    The wall that Lin Mu appeared inside was suddenly broken apart as Lin Mu¡¯s body resisted it. A brown glow was visible on his body as it shielded him from any damage. But Lin Mu didn¡¯t pay attention to this first. He checked if there was anyone inside with his spirit sense and took a breath of relief when there was found to be none.


    <i>~phew~</i> N?velDrama.Org: owner of this content.


    "That was a close call..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he looked at the broken part of the wall.


    "This... I didn¡¯t know the Mortal Strengthening scripture would work like this too." Lin Mu said, feeling surprised.


    If he had normally appeared inside a wall or any other ce, while Phase was not active, he would have definitely sustained some flesh injuries as the molecules of the wall would have tried to push his body¡¯s molecules.


    "Seems like the Mortal Strengthening scripture is good as a safety for when you use Fade." Xukong said.


    "Maybe for weaker materials like this wooden wall. If it were something stronger, I¡¯m pretty sure I would have gotten injured." Lin Mu replied.


    "Still, it is a good addition that you got to know. Though you should probably leave this ce." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu simply nodded his head and blinked to his own residence. Once he reached there, he looked outside to see if anyone hade to check on the residence that he had just damaged.


    Thankfully, it seemed like no one had listened to the noise made by him and he was still undiscovered.


    "Looks like someone does not want Alchemist Bo to live." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and nodded.


    "Don¡¯t know what kind of a storm would have started if Bo died there. Our n would have definitely failed had Bo been killed." Lin Mu said.


    Lin Mu then looked at his hands that were still glowing with the brown light of the mortal strengthening scripture.


    "Thought appearing inside a wall did drain a lot of durability of the armor. It¡¯s barely at fifty percent." Lin Mu said.


    "Oh? Lin Mu you should take a look at this person." Xukong suddenly said in a surprised tone.


    Lin Mu then remembered that he still had the masked man inside the mysterious ring. He didn¡¯t have many choices back then. He could either quickly kill the man there with an attack or restrain him.


    But the thing was Lin Mu could not let out any spirit Qi fluctuations that were strong, thus he had chosen to forcefully put the masked man inside the ring.


    Though Lin Mu knew the man would be killed if he did that. But this was not something he was bothered with, since he was intending to kill another person anyway.


    Lin Mu willed it and the body of the masked man appeared on the ground, but his mask was half broken, evidently due to Lin Mu gripping his head too hard. But through the broken part Lin Mu could see the appearance of the person.


    "It can¡¯t be..." Lin Mu muttered and quickly took off the rest of the mask.


    "Ye Zi Jin!"

 Chapter 527 - Ye Zi Jins Scheme

    <h4>Chapter 527 - Ye Zi Jin''s Scheme </h4>


    Lying in front of Lin Mu was none other than Ye Zi Jin, the daughter of peak master Yi Deng. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what to make of it at first, but then a few secondster, he was able to connect the dots.


    "Ye ZI Jin said something back then at the vault... so this is what she meant by gaining power..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu could understand the anxiety of Ye Zi Jin and the peak master, but he had not thought that she would go to this extent. Another thing that bothered him was that Gu Yao should have had control over Ye Zi Jin as well.


    ¡¯Was this his doing, perhaps? No... it wouldn¡¯t make sense. Why would he lose a potential Nascent soul realm cultivator like that?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    "Seems like when Gu Yao has not given anymand to his servants actively, they will act in their own capacity. I don¡¯t think peak master Yi Deng was behind this either." Xukong suggested.


    "That does seem likes now, senior. But still... this is quite bad." Lin Mu said, remembering that Ye Zi Jin was the wife of Wu Teng and sister-inw of Wu Hei.


    Wu Hei was someone Lin Mu considered to be his friend now and he didn¡¯t know how he would react to this.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This is a mess..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He chanted the calming heart sutra to normalize his state of mind before taking another look at Ye Zi Jin. Now that he thought of it, he had not recognized her to be a woman back at the residence of Bo.


    Even now he could not see her figure, that should have been of a woman. He pulled the outer robes apart and saw the bandages that had been appeared around her body to hide her bosom.


    "No wonder..." Lin Mu said.


    "Though wait, how did she get into the residence and what about the other guards?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "I think the answer to this should be what she got from that vault. Whatever spirit tool it was, it should be something that helps hide one¡¯s spirit Qi fluctuation or something along the lines of that." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu checked her body, but could not find anything. She did not even have any spatial storage treasure with her. But then he spotted something that he had missed at the very start.


    "The mask!" Lin Mu eximed.


    He picked up the broken mask from the side and checked it. The mask was quite in and had somemon features of a man. But the one thing that was different was the small stone that was embedded at the forehead of the mask.


    Lin Mu probed this stone with his spirit sense and realized that it was like a quicksand, pulling his spirit sense in.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu wondered as he looked at the stone closely.


    He also checked the rest of the mask, but it was made out of normal wood. Even the paint on it was normal.


    "I think I know what that stone is. It should be a Seventh Veil Mirror stone." Xukong spoke.


    "A Seventh Veil Mirror stone?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The stone in itself is a natural treasure and has the properties of absorbing spirit Qi along with spirit sense. If someone has it on their body, it would passively absorb their spirit Qi fluctuations which will make them better at hiding.


    And if someone tries to probe them with spirit sense, the spirit sense would be absorbed by the stone as well. Making it seem as if there is nothing there." Xukong exined.


    "Won¡¯t that make it too powerful then? Shouldn¡¯t this be enough to make it qualified for the top level vault?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No... the Seventh Veil Mirror stone has its own limitations. It cannot work continuously and can only absorb a certain amount before it will stop working. After that, it needs to dissipate the spirit Qi to start working again.


    The time limit for it is usually short, around ten-fifteen minutes. But... if it is inscribed with formations its powers can be amplified and more features can be added to it. This mask should be a spirit tool that was made with it and the formationsid on it.


    But your grip broke it..." Xukong answered with a chuckle.


    Lin Mu felt a bit embarrassed as he had just destroyed a high grade spirit tool just like that. It was actually something that could havee in handy to him as well.


    "No use crying over spilled milk. Though I need to think of what to do with Ye Zi Jing now." Lin Mu stated.


    Lin Mu sat in silence for a while before deciding that it was best if he kept hit to himself for the time being. He would have to assess the situation in the sect first and see how the reactions of the others were.


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    If Ye Zi Jin had acted like this, it was likely that there was someone assisting her. It was probably some other elder, or the disciples near the area should not have disappeared.


    ¡¯The truth shoulde out in a bit. I¡¯m sure they didn¡¯t expect Ye Zi Jin to disappear after the assassination attempt. They will just think the attempt failed and Ye Zi Jin went into hiding or something like that. So I shouldn¡¯t have much trouble from the side of Ye Zi Jin¡¯s allies.¡¯ Lin Mu analyzed.


    Having thought of that, Lin Mu went outside the residence and did an assessment of the situation. And just as he had expected, there was an rm currently in the sect. Though it was about the disappearance of the disciples who were guarding Alchemist Bo.


    After taking a round in the sect, Lin Mu returned to the residence.


    ¡¯Should finish up the practice...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he ignited the Qi me in his hand once again.

 Chapter 528 - Changes And The Test

    <h4>Chapter 528 - Changes And The Test </h4>


    Two days passed like this and Lin Mu finally had some progress with the intermediate ranked Qi me.


    Currently, one could see that there was arge amount of spirit Qi moving around his arm. It was in the shape of a circle and was revolving around itself, trying topress as much as it could.


    At first, it was a thick circle that was as wide as a wok. But then the circle started getting smaller and its thickness also started decreasing. The more it decreased, the stronger its aura got.


    Sweat dripped down from Lin Mu¡¯s forehead as he focused on the spirit Qi.


    "Come on... just a bit more..." he murmured.


    The ring kept on shrinking until finally it became the size of a coin. And then... it ignited.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    A bright sh appeared in front of Lin Mu¡¯s eyes as the room suddenly heated up. A blue glow reced the sh as the intermediate ranked me burned on his palm.


    A smile appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face as his eyes trained on the intermediate ranked mes.


    "Congrattions, you truly did it." Xukong praised.


    "Thank you, senior. But it¡¯s just for show now. I can¡¯t use it for anything, if I try to do anything it will fade away." Lin Mu replied.


    "Mmhmm. But this should be enough for the test. Even nascent soul realm cultivators would find it difficult to do what you have just done. This was only possible for you because you have never used a cultivation technique and have used the most primitive method of absorbing spirit Qi.


    The control you have gained over spirit Qi is impable due to that. The other cultivators who use cultivation techniques won¡¯t be able to do this as they are stuck in their rigid paths. They would need quite a lot ofprehension to do the same." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu finally realized the meaning of what senior Xukong had said a long time ago when he had asked if he was doing wrong. At that time Xukong had told him that he should just continue to follow what he was doing and that it would have a lot of hidden benefits in the future.


    Lin Mu was finally getting to see those benefits now.


    "I should get ready for the test. Though I need to check up on the situation first." Lin Mu said before talking out themunication jade slip.


    He contacted Jiao Fang, who picked up quite quickly this time.


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    "Are you not going to participate in thepetition?" Jiao Fang asked straightaway.


    "I am. I¡¯m finally done with the preparations." Lin Mu stated.


    "Thene quick. Most of the people have finished and since it was taking too long, some of the disciples asked for Peak master Shaoyan Qianyu to make changes to speed it up. She has thus instructed the ones who have not taken part yet to dere if they are just preparing or never going to participate.


    Today is thest day for that and most of their responses havee. If you don¡¯t report soon, they will end it most likely." Jiao Fang said.


    "Didn¡¯t you say they were going to wait till alchemist Bo¡¯s breakthrough?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "That was a thing of the past. Since his guards were arrested for dereliction of duty, things have changed. Even the elder who asked them to change their posts has been detained by the discipline hall." Jiao Fang answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu instantly understood that this must be the elder that was behind Ye Zi Jin or was perhaps assisting her.


    "He probably took the me for it so as to save Ye Zi Jin. And since no assassination actually happened, they have only detained them for now. Xukong suggested.


    "Hmm... that is likely." Lin Mu replied.


    "Well then, you should head on quick. I think even Alchemist Bo is going to have his breakthrough soon." Jiao Fang said.


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied before putting the jade slip away and leaving the residence.


    Since he had been continuously absorbing the spirit Qi from the prayer mat, his Dantian had been at its full capacity always. This saved Lin Mu from spending extra time in recuperation. He sank down into the ground and quickly made his way to the herb peak, where he emerged from a tree that was in a rtively secluded area.


    He headed to the area where the testing buildings have been set up. He had already heard of the address and Lin Mu only needed to use his badge to gain entry to it.


    "Seems like most people are just waiting now." Lin Mu said as he saw the short line.


    There was barely anyone waiting for their turn to enter one of the five testing buildings. Lin Mu joined one of the lines and in less than two minutes he was ready to enter the testing building.


    He held up his badge and the formation of the testing building scanned it before letting him in.


    "Please follow the instructions show on the mirror." A in voice suddenly said upon Lin Mu¡¯s entry.


    Inside the room, Lin Mu saw that there was a mirror set up on one of the walls. A few lines were written on it, which were the techniques of Qi me control that he was supposed to do.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Let¡¯s get started." Lin Mu said as he extended his arm.


    For two minutes, he was only focused on condensing his spirit Qi.


    "Please start the test in one minute or you will be considered having failed." The in voice stated.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and sped up the condensation process. The ring of spirit Qi started to shrink at a quicker speed than before and finally reached the size of a coin.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    As soon as the blue me lit up on Lin Mu¡¯s palm, the formation arrays of the room started ringing.


    "INTERMEDIATE RANKED QI FLAME DETECTED! Test passed.


    Rank obtained: First!"


    Hearing the announcement, Lin Mu took a breath of relief and the intermediate ranked me snuffed out. But at the same moment that he did this, up on the top of the herb peak, Shaoyan Qianyu opened her eyes that were filled with shock and excitement.


    "Someone actually did it?!"

 Chapter 529 - Shaoyan Qianyus Surprise

    <h4>Chapter 529 - Shaoyan Qianyu''s Surprise </h4>


    When Shaoyan Qianyu had sent igniting an intermediate ranked Qi me as a qualifying factor as the first prize, she had only done so out of formality. This formality stemmed from an old rule where they were supposed to put an exceptional condition for passing a test like this.


    So for this test of Qi me control, Shaoyan Qianyu had chosen to put an intermediate ranked Qi me, which basically only the peak masters could use. Even the elders of the sect were unable to do the same.


    Thus virtually, there was no chance that a disciple would be able to do the same. Unless... there was a wild exception like the one that had just happened.


    Shaoyan Qianyu stood up from her seat in her residence and left behind everything before flying to the location of the test. There she saw that the tests were nearly done and barely anyone was left now.


    "Where is he? The results have not appeared on the main notice board yet, which means he has not left the site yet." Shaoyan Qianyu muttered to herself.


    But she was also feeling a bit confused about all this. There was a hint of doubt within her heart whether it truly was a disciple or if the formation had malfunctioned. While she would be happy if it truly was a disciple, she knew it was quite unlikely.


    Someone like that would be immensely talented and would have already been discovered. The sect patriarch himself woulde forward to take that person in as a disciple if it ever so happened.


    Quicklybing through the testing sites, she found the one which had sent out the alert.


    "There he is!" Shaoyan Qianyu said before flying down.


    The rest of the disciples finally noticed her when she descended. Before this, she was far too high for them to see. But now they were all in awe and were wondering why the peak master hade down from her abode.


    But before anyone could say anything, they saw the peak master rushing to one of the testing sites. A young man had just walked out of the building and slight fatigue could be observed on his face.


    "Halt!" Shaoyan Qianyumanded.


    Lin Mu who had just left the building, looked up at the woman who had just appeared. Upon seeing her he instantly realized what must have happened.


    ¡¯Time to do as I nned.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself and took a deep breath.


    "THIS UNWORTHY DISCIPLE GREETS THE PEAK MASTER!" Lin Mu greeted with the utmost respect.


    Shaoyan Qianyu who had prepared her own string of questions, was stunned by this and almost forgot them.


    "State your name, disciple," Shaoyan Qianyu asked.


    "Peak master, before I do this would you listen to my request. I assure you it is not overbearing and I mean you no disrespect." Lin Mu hurriedly uttered.


    A lot of eyes were currently trained on him, and he was trying his best to pretend to be confident. Upon hearing his words, Shaoyan Qianyu furrowed her brows but then nodded her head.


    "Go ahead, ask." She stated.


    "I only wish that we speak in private, peak master." Lin Mu replied.


    Shaoyan Qianyu had thought of many things that she had expected him to ask, but this was not one of them. Thinking it to be quite reasonable and conducive to her own goals, she decided to agree.


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    "Alright,e on." Shaoyan Qianyu said before waving her hand.


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    A few formation runes appeared around Lin Mu and formed a tform below him. It then lifted him into the sky and followed behind Shaoyan Qianyu, who had taken the lead. Lin Mu probed the tform and could tell that it was part of the overall formation array of the herb peak.


    It looked simple on its own, but when integrated with the entire array wasplex. Its function was simr to that of a spirit tool, to allow a cultivator to fly. Though in this case, it was a temporary construct and would disappear in a bit.


    The peak master took Lin Mu to the pce at the very top of the peak. Lin Mu had been here before of course, but still showed a look of interest, just to keep up appearances. Shaoyan Qianyu took a few gazes at him and was satisfied by his reaction.


    This was one of her methods to coax Lin Mu into bing part of the herb peak. It wasn¡¯t much, but she reckoned it was worth the effort even if she was unsure of his talent. The two of themnded in the garden of the pce where hundreds of spirit flowers were blooming.


    "Sit." Shaoyan Qianyu directed towards a stone table that had stone chairs kept around it.


    Lin Mu cupped his hands in ceremony before taking a seat, and Shaoyan did the same.


    "Now tell me, why did you ask to speak in private?" Shaoyan Qianyu questioned.


    "Forgive me for this insolence peak master, but I did this to keep my identity hidden." Lin Mu said.


    "Oh? And why would you want to do something like this? Other disciples would prefer that their name spread across the sect so that they could get recognition." Shaoyan Qianyu asked.


    "It is because I have sworn to not let myself be known until my goal has been fulfilled." Lin Mu stated.


    "And what goal is this?" Shaoyan Qianyu asked again.


    "To kill the killer of my family!" Lin Mu revealed.


    Shaoyan Qianyu¡¯s face turned serious upon hearing this, and her gaze tensed.


    "And this person you want revenge on... they¡¯re another disciple?" Shaoyan Qianyu questioned with apprehension.


    "Yes, peak master. I cannot afford to let my name be revealed to them and I have already tried to keep a low presence in the sect all these years. I¡¯ve been cultivating hard so that I can fulfill my goal and pay back the humiliation my family suffered." Lin Mu spoke with determination.


    Shaoyan Qianyu could feel the power in his words and realized that there was probably a lot more to this than he let on.

 Chapter 530 - Lin Mus Act

    <h4>Chapter 530 - Lin Mu''s Act </h4>


    A big question still stood for Shaoyan Qianyu; if a disciple was intending on harming another fellow disciple, she had to take an action for it.


    But just to know the rest of the story, she decided to hold back.


    "Tell me more." She said.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and recited the story that he had prepared all this time. He had practiced this many times in his heart so that it was believable.


    Overall, the story went like this:


    He was Wu Lian, who came from a small vige. His parents were killed by a disciple of the Tri Cauldron peony sect casually just because they offended him by not knowing his identity. After that the disciple humiliated him and stepped on him, telling him that trash like him who can never cultivate should know his ce. Time passed and Wu Lian took an oath that he would definitely take revenge on that disciple and had been diligently cultivating all this time.


    If one were to hear it, they would find it to be quite generic and they would have heard it from a lot of storytellers that roamed the settlements. Shaoyan Qianyu also found all of it to be a bit too much and doubted it.


    "So when is it that you will let your name be known?" She asked, just to entertain him a bit.


    "When I reach the Nascent Soul realm." Lin Mu stated without hesitation.


    Shaoyan Qianyu had a strange look in her eyes, which Lin Mu noticed quickly. Knowing what she was thinking, he closed his eyes for a moment before releasing his aura.


    Suddenly the peak master¡¯s eyes went wide as she felt the full extent of his cultivation base.


    "Absolute peak of the Core condensation realm...?" She muttered.


    Lin Mu gently nodded his head and said, "I have been hiding my capabilities all this time so that my enemy does not notice me and try to kill me beforehand. He and his background are quite strong and I cannot go against them yet.


    I hope the peak master understands and keeps my identity hidden." Lin Mu added.


    Shaoyan Qianyu narrowed her eyes and asked, "this enemy of yours... is he rted to some elder?"


    "Indeed, peak master... he is... quite strong and his background even stronger." Lin Mu answered.


    Shaoyan Qianyu almost face-palmed but managed to stop her to keep her appearance as the superior. Now she could honestly believe Lin Mu, as she knew of the people of the sect. She had been part of the sect for long enough to know how the elders behaved and how bad their offspring could be.


    They were entitled and would act without a care in the world, when they went out of the sect. For them,moners were less than dirt. Before she couldn¡¯t do much, even if she wanted to and thus could only ignore it.


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    She could understand Lin Mu¡¯s pain on a certain level, as she too was once amoner.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Alright, I¡¯ll keep your identity hidden. But you need to show me how you ignited the intermediate ranked Qi me. I want to confirm it myself before I can give you the reward token." Shaoyan Qianyu said.


    "Of course, peak master." Lin Mu said with a smile, knowing that the n had worked.


    Had it not been for the intel Wu Hei had given Lin Mu on the backgrounds of the elders of the sect, Lin Mu would have been unable toe up with this n. In the information that he was given it was said that peak master Shaoyan Qianyu was a cold woman but was not unjust.


    She was of low birth and had be an elder over five hundred years ago. Thus Lin Mu built upon this point and appealed to the sympathy within her.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a bit before extending his palm in front. Spirit Qi rose from his meridians and formed into a thick circle. It then kept on condensing within itself before finally a blue fame ignited with a sh.


    "This..." Shaoyan Qianyu murmured.


    ¡¯How did he? How does he know my method of igniting the intermediate ranked Qi me? Unless... heprehended on his own.¡¯ Shaoyan Qianyu thought to herself.


    She was extremely sure that no disciple had ever seen her use this method before, except for the other peak masters and a few elders. Thus the only option left was that he had learned this on his own. This gave rise to a strange feeling within Shaoyan Qianyu¡¯s heart, and she didn¡¯t know what to think of it.


    "That¡¯s enough." She said, and Lin Mu extinguished the me.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief while thinking, ¡¯thankfully she asked to stop early or she would have seen I have no actual control over it.¡¯


    "That confirms it. You are indeed qualified to receive the reward." Shaoyan Qianyu said before retrieving the token for the first ce.


    She ced it on the table and Lin Mu picked it up.


    "Thank you peak master, for understanding me. I shall not forget this grace." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It is fine. Though once you are done, I want you to join the Herb peak." Shaoyan Qianyu added, taking the opportunity to nab him for her peak.


    She could very well see that Lin Mu was obviously talented and would one day be a Nascent Soul realm cultivator himself. While she could not tell his age exactly, she reckoned that he was probably less than two hundred years old, which made him more talented than Alchemist Bo.


    Shaoyan Qianyu now felt excited at finding this hidden gem.


    "Will you be taking the reward now?" Shaoyan Qianyu asked.


    "No, peak master. I still have a lot of preparations. Only when I am done, shall I deem myself worthy of choosing the right reward from the vault." Lin Mu answered.


    "That is wise. Choosing the right herb for your breakthrough will be the proper choice indeed." She said, thinking that Lin Mu wanted to support his breakthrough with the help of herbs.

 Chapter 531 - An Uproar And Time For Tribulation

    <h4>Chapter 531 - An Uproar And Time For Tribtion </h4>


    Having chatted for a bit, Shaoyan Qianyu found Wu Lian to be quite a good disciple. He didn¡¯t have that arrogance that most other disciples she saw had even if they tried to hide it in front of her.


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    Plus, Lin Mu had the strength to back up his im and the mental fortitude to wait for the right opportunities without rushing in. She had not seen many people like this in her life, especially in cultivators, since they often liked to chase after resources.


    "I shall take my leave then peak master and not take any more of your precious time." Lin Mu said.


    "Alright. Though be careful if you are going to do what you said you will. The people of the sect have... be strange in these two years." Shaoyan Qianyu replied.


    Hearing this perked up Lin Mu¡¯s ears as a thought appeared in his mind.


    ¡¯She¡¯s not under Gu Yao¡¯s control?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    But he did not dare to show any change on his face. He could think of thister on, when he was away from her.


    Lin Mu thus stood up and bowed to Shaoyan Qianyu before leaving through the main door. He didn¡¯t waste this opportunity to take a look around the formations either, and sensed that the formations on the vault had been modified a bit.


    "Thankfully, I have the token, or it could have be a problem at thest moment if I couldn¡¯t unravel the formations at the time of tribtion..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Seems like reading the memoirs of the lost immortal also gave some skills in acting. Hahaha!" Xukongughed.


    "It¡¯s not much senior. I just tried my best." Lin Mu replied.


    "If you say so..." Xukong said before going silent.


    After going down half way, Lin Mu sank into the ground using phase and quickly made his way to the residence. He didn¡¯t want any extra people to see him, and thus this was the best choice.


    Having safely reached the residence, Lin Mu was unaware of the uproar he had caused in the sect. Shaoyan Qianyu had heeded his words and had not put up his name on the result list.


    When the list updated, the disciples were shocked to see that someone had imed already the first ce reward as it had been cked out. But strangely enough, there was no name beside it. That was the only ce that didn¡¯t have a name, and the disciples wondered if the formation had malfunctioned or what.


    "Did someone really im the first ce?" a disciple watching the list asked.


    "It does seem like it. Wait! Do you think it is that person who peak master talked to after descending?" His friend questioned.


    "That is probably it. How lucky! He not only got the first ce but also got to meet the peak master personally."


    "You fools, do you not understand what this means?" A female disciple asked with a scowl.


    "What?!" both of the male disciples asked dumbly.


    "Look at the list! No other rewards have been issued, only the first ce reward. Don¡¯t you know what the qualifying condition is if one wants to get the first ce before the final results are dered? Someone managed to ignite an intermediate ranked Qi me!" The female disciple exined.


    "How can that be? Only the peak masters have managed to do that."


    A lot of other disciples who were standing around also heard her words and started speaking. Soon this matter spread to the entire sect and even reached the ears of the other elders.


    Shaoyan Qianyu was visited by a few elders of the sect to ask about the identity of the disciple who managed to ignite the intermediate ranked me, only to get denied.


    <i>~humph~</i>


    "Do they really think they can poach a talented disciple like that from me?" Shaoyan Qianyu said after another elder of the sect left her residence.


    She had already considered Wu Lian to be part of her peak and would be under her guidance. She had asked him which peak he was affiliated with and told her that he was one of the few rare ones that were unaffiliated. At that time she had kept a straight face, but internally she was rejoicing.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Hopefully Bopletes his breakthrough quickly so this tense situation calms down again..." Shaoyan Qianyu muttered to herself.


    ***


    About five days passed by in the blink of an eye, and finally, it was time for Bo¡¯s heavenly tribtion.


    He had already informed the sect about it yesterday when he felt the first sensation and quickly rushed to the Tribtion tform, which was already prepared since a month ago.


    Lin Mu had also not been idle during these five days and had passed them in studying the formations around the ces he was going to rob. He already felt that he would be able to resolve them quickly if everything went well.


    "How long do you think his heavenly tribtion willst senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Lin Mu had learned that the duration of heavenly tribtions was quite long depending on the cultivator¡¯s talent and luck. He had read the memoirs of the lost immortal which described some legendary heavenly tribtions which wouldst for days if not months.


    But he was pretty sure nothing of that sort would happen here.


    "Hmm... from what we saw before and the spatial fluctuations around Bo, he should be having a basic heavenly tribtion. The lightning bolts themselves should onlyst for about fifteen minutes, but the phase before that should be at least an hour long." Xukong answered.


    "I see. Everyone should be observing the tribtion tform at that point and the number of guards should be minimal. That will be my time to act." Lin Mu said with a glint in his eye.


    Right now the sect had officially announced the arrival of the heavenly tribtion and had informed the disciples to gather at the tribtion tform. Lin Mu blended in with these disciples as well, and headed to the main peak, but instead of stopping at the tribtion tform, he slipped away.


    "It is time..."

 Chapter 532 - The First Vault

    <h4>Chapter 532 - The First Vault </h4>


    Lin Mu had chosen the main peak to be his first target, as he would be able to ess the vault rtively easily, since he already had the key for it. The only problem was that he didn¡¯t know about the current security there.


    While he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the formations much, he would still have to look out for guards. Lin Mu had seen that the elders of the peak were already at the tribtion tform, but he had not noticed the sect patriarch there.


    "Hopefully he has left, and I just missed him." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He skipped the five buildings before him and made his way to the vault at the top. But upon reaching there he felt a wave of goosebumps appearing on his body and instantly used fade to enter the parallel world.


    Back in the real world, an old man who looked to be in his sixties was staring at a location.


    "Was that my imagination? Or was there someone there for a moment?" The old man wondered before his spirit sense spread out.


    If someone were to be here, they would be able to feel the strength of his spirit sense and the aura that he emitted. This old man was none other than the sect patriarch of the Tri cauldron peony sect, Sect Patriarch Mudan!


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    The patriarch looked around the area carefully, and only when he was sure that no one was here did he leave.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "So he was still here... thankfully I was able to use fade and get away." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He watched the area empty out and then blinked to the top of the tallest building there to take a look at the proceedings in the tribtion tform. Since the building was at the very top, it was rtively easy for him to take a peek at the things below.


    A huge crowd of over a hundred thousand people was gathered around an eight sided building that had no roof. From time to time, they could see formations flickering in the air, which showed that the Tribtion tform was active.


    At the center of the tform, one could see that alchemist Bo could be seen sitting.


    "The spatial fluctuations... they¡¯re getting stronger." Lin Mu muttered, seeing that they were visible from such a distance.


    "That¡¯s not all, look up." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu looked up at the sky and saw a stunning scene. To a normal person, there were only some white clouds floating around in the sky but to Lin Mu, who was using spatial perception along with the ring¡¯s help, he saw a ck tear spreading across the sky.


    "What is that...?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That is the spatial cracks caused by the iing heavenly tribtion. Why do you think they take so long? Theye from an unknown dimension and rip through the void to reach the being that is to be punished." Xukong answered.


    "Then what¡¯s the function of the tribtion clouds? Don¡¯t they make the tribtion lightning?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling a bit confused.


    "Of course that is its function, but the clouds themselves are mere constructs. The energy, or rather themand that is needed for them to form, is whates through those spatial cracks. After it arrives it creates the tribtion clouds which then generate the tribtion lightning." Xukong revealed.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes glowed with amazement upon learning this as he had not expected there to be a secret like this behind the phenomenon called a heavenly tribtion. Getting overs his amazement after a few moments, Lin Mu looked to the location of the vault and blinked to there.


    He took out the key to the vault and held it up.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The vault¡¯s formations started glowing and scanned the key that Lin Mu had held out. Once the scan was done, the formations became active and the door of the vault started to open. During this entire process, Lin Mu was alert and his spirit sense was spread around, watching for anything unusual.


    <i>~Creek~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The door fully opened and Lin Mu could see the myriad treasures that were kept in the vault. His eyes darted from one thing to the other as he took it all in. There were high grade spirit stones, high grade herbs, various cultivation techniques, skills, manuals, weapons, spirit tools, talismans, and a lot more.


    It all felt surreal to Lin Mu, and he could barely bring himself to believe his eyes.


    Lin Mu quickly chanted the calming heart sutra to focus his mind and got to storing everything. He simply extended his finger and started to run along the items, as they started being stored into the ring one by one.


    The vault itself was rtively smallpared to the other ones Lin Mu had seen and it also had the least amount of items in it. Still, all of these items were personally collected by the sect patriarch or the supreme elder of the sect.


    In less than three minutes, Lin Mu had robbed what was pretty much centuries¡¯ worth of fortune umted by the patriarch.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and left the vault, letting it close behind his back. He could see that some of the formations seemed to be behaving abnormally, but he didn¡¯t have the liberty to check them.


    ¡¯Alright, NEXT!¡¯ Lin Mu said in his mind before phasing and blinking his way to the next vault.


    This was the vault that had the majority of spirit tools and weapons of the sect. Lin Mu checked the area and quickly got to analyzing the formations before starting to unravel them. For any normal formation master, it would take months if not even longer to unravel these, but to Lin Mu who could directly perceive the fine changes in the space, it was simple.


    Because Lin Mu could bypass the differentyers of the formation by using the ring¡¯s ability to create portals and gates, he was able to pick at eachyer one by one. Someyers were intricate and did not follow the numerical order.


    It was thisplexity that basically made it extremely difficult for most formation masters to do their work.


    He spent about ten minutes on this before the formations were fully unraveled.


    "Bingo!"

 Chapter 533 - Robbing The Main Peaks Vaults

    <h4>Chapter 533 - Robbing The Main Peak''s Vaults </h4>


    The door of the vault opened and Lin Mu saw the thousands of spirit tools and weapons that were kept here. Forcibly suppressing his curiosity, he ran across the vault while touching everything and storing them in the ring.


    After that, he left the vault but discovered a problem.


    "Dammit, the door won¡¯t close!" Lin Mu cursed.


    Lin Mu walked up to the door and tried to physically push the door. While it moved when he did that and even got to the closed position, when he let go of the door, it snapped back and opened wide.


    "A formation may have been damaged while you were unraveling, probably the one that is supposed to keep the door locked." Xukong said.


    "What do I do now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Just leave it for now. You will need to escape the sect after this, anyway." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head with a little hesitation before blinking away. He headed to the third vault, but saw that there was actually someone standing there.


    "Jiao Fang? What are you doing here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Do you think I¡¯m going to let you take benefit alone?" Jiao Fang said with a grin.


    "I want something from here." Jiao Fang stated.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t really mind this, as his main goal was to just take away the resources of the sect. It didn¡¯t matter in the long term in whose hands they were, as long as it wasn¡¯t Gu Yao.


    "Alright, now stand back." Lin Mu said before getting to work.


    The reason why Jiao Fang had actually appeared here was to see how Lin Mu would actually open the vaults formations. He reckoned that he may get to see some tricks which could help him in his own endeavors.


    But when he actually saw Lin Mu¡¯s actions, he was stunned.


    "What in the world... what kind of a skill is this?" Jiao Fang couldn¡¯t help but wonder.


    Unlike the other formation masters Lin Mu was not using analyzing tools, formation tes, gs and talismans to open the vault¡¯s formations. Rather, he was just using his own hands to make runes while using his spirit sense to observe the formationyers.


    What Jiao Fang couldn¡¯t tell was that Lin Mu was seeing something that he could not. By separating theyers by creating small portals for his spirit sense, Lin Mu was basically cheating his way into unlocking the vault.


    Jiao Fang couldn¡¯t believe his eyes when Lin Mu opened the vault door in less than five minutes. And this time Lin Mu also paid attention to the formationyer which dealt with the locking mechanism of the vault door.


    Because of that, he didn¡¯t mess up likest time and the door would be able to be locked again.


    <i>~creek~</i>


    The vault door opened wide and all the shelves inside it were now visible. Jiao Fang¡¯s eyes lit up after seeing this, and a smile bloomed on his face.


    "HAHAHA! Brother Wu Lian is a genius, an absolute genius!" Jiao Fang genuinely praised.


    There were no other words he could use to address Lin Mu as the skill that he had shown right now was nothing less than that of a Genius in formations.


    "Shush! Don¡¯t make excess noise!" Lin Mu scolded before entering the vault.


    "Take what you want quickly!" Lin Mu said in a stern tone, feeling tense.


    "Alright, alright." Jiao Fang said before he quickly picked out about ten manuals from the vault.


    Lin Mu used his spirit sense to scan over them and found them to be various Qi skills and a few pill refinement techniques. He then started his routine of running across the books as they all started getting stored in the ring.


    Jiao Fang was once again stunned by this and wondered what kind of spatial storage treasure was Lin Mu using. He reckoned that like him, Lin Mu probably had multiple high grade or mid grade spatial storage treasures or something like this would not be possible.


    Still, Jiao Fang did not ask any questions and quietly stood to the side. He knew the man was stronger than him and he did not want to offend him at this time.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Lin Mu was done gathering everything in three minutes and quickly closed the vault door.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Two more to go... at the very least." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Originally he was supposed to rob four out of six vaults, or one vault from any two peaks and two vaults from any one peak. But he already had three vaults from the main peak. He now wondered if he should continue with the main peak or not.


    "Are you going to get more things from other vaults?" Jiao Fang questioned, guessing Lin Mu¡¯s thoughts.


    Seeing that Lin Mu did not answer him, he reckoned his guess was correct.


    "Then I would rmend you go to the other peaks now. It is not safe to continue on the main peak as the people are concentrated here. It was still fine if you are at the vault area but if you go to the pavilions, there are still a few people around there that will probably notice you." Jiao Fang suggested.


    Lin Mu heard his words and realize them to be valid. He nodded his head and quickly ran away before Jiao Fang could react.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    "Wait!" Jiao Fang was about to say more, but realized he couldn¡¯t see Lin Mu anymore.


    "Damn, he¡¯s fast!" Jiao Fang cursed, unaware that Lin Mu was right below him.


    Lin Mu had intentionally waited here as he wanted to hear what Jiao Fang wanted to do.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Better get to the Tribtion tform... that would be the best ce to enjoy the after-show once everyone realizes the sect has been robbed." Jiao Fang said before chuckling.


    Lin Mu saw that he genuinely went to the Tribtion tform and stood among the rest of the people. Lin Mu also took this opportunity to see the situation and saw that Alchemist Bo had still not started the tribtion.

 Chapter 534 - Caught Red Handed?

    <h4>Chapter 534 - Caught Red Handed? </h4>


    When Lin Mu looked up at the sky, he could see that the spatial crack had expanded even more.


    "Hmm... you will have about thirty minutes more. You should head to the Herb peak first and get the things from there, as you already have the token. You can spend the rest of the time gathering items from the pill peak and the other stores." Xukong suggested.


    "Alright senior." Lin Mu said before sinking into the ground and heading to the Herb peak.


    He took a look at the warehouses and saw that there were actually some guards still there.


    ¡¯Looks like peak master Shaoyan Qianyu is still cautious... I¡¯ll just have to focus on the vaults first...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He quickly made his way to the vault at the top. Lin Mu had already seen that the peak master was at the tribtion tform and thus did not worry that he would be found out there.


    Reaching thepound of the peak master, Lin Mu took out the token and let the formations of the vault scan it.


    <i>~Weeng~</i> N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    The formation verified Lin Mu¡¯s identity from the token and opened the door. But the moment Lin Mu stepped through the vault he felt a strange wave pass over him. The wave moved to the spatial storage ring he had on his index finger that was fixed by Jing Wei and covered it in a peculiaryer.


    "What was that?" Lin Mu questioned, while looking at the ring on his hand.


    "Seems like a restriction. It will prevent you from using spatial storage tools inside the vault. This is probably designed to prevent the token holder from taking more than allowed." Xukong said.


    "Hmm... is that so?" Lin Mu said as he touched one of the herb boxes and found the token bing active again.


    The token glowed and marked the box with a symbol before disintegrating.


    "Ah, so they made it so I could only carry one item out of the vault and prevented the use of the spatial storage treasures." Lin Mu realized.


    But then, Lin Mu tapped the box with his hand and made it disappeared.


    "Just as I thought. It can¡¯t restrict the mysterious ring." Lin Mu muttered before looking at the other boxes.


    He tried to pick one of them up but found them to be stuck, as if weighed by tons of rocks.


    "Damn... another restriction." Lin Mu cursed.


    He looked around before an idea appeared in his mind. Instead of touching the boxes of herbs that were kept on the various shelves and tables, Lin Mu touched the tables and shelves themselves.


    "Aha! So the restriction is only ced on the boxes themselves." Lin Mu realized the loophole.


    When he stored the shelves and tables, the boxes kept on them were stored as well. With this fact in hand, Lin Mu swept the ce clean before leaving the vault, which automatically closed.


    "Shaoyan Qianyu will definitely be pissed when she sees this." Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but imagine.


    He then checked the sky and saw the spatial cracks expanding even more. He was about to leave when his gaze was caught by the herb garden.


    "Almost forgot about them." Lin Mu said before picking out all the valuable herbs in the garden.


    He especially focused on the earth elemental herbs as they would help him further his Mortal Strengthening scripture¡¯s progress.


    "There we go. Now to head to the next ce." Lin Mu said before a loud noise was heard.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    Lin Mu looked up and saw that the dark clouds had already started to appear above the tribtion tform.


    "Shit! Gotta be faster." Lin Mu urged himself before leaving the herb peak.


    He knew that there was still some time until the tribtion clouds will be at their full potential before the tribtion will actually start. Lin Mu just hoped that he would be done before that. Thankfully, by now most of the disciples had gathered around the tribtion tform and he did not encounter anyone.


    He weaved his way through the houses before reaching the first vault which was located near the residences of the Elders. Lin Mu got to unraveling the formations, but found these ones to be a bit more difficult for him.


    Sweat dripped from his forehead as ten minutes passed.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    Finally, he unraveled thestyer and the door of the vault opened.


    "YES!" Lin Mu rejoiced before getting to work.


    There were thousands of pill bottles, vials, storage gourds, and boxes kept in the vault. Lin Mu could identify a few of them and felt happy. There were even a couple of pills that were of earth attribute, and could be of help to him. Albeit they were of a lower quality than that of the Dark Soil pill that he had consumed before and would probably not help him as much.


    Still, he was pleased with it as even little progress would be beneficial to him. Having stored all the pill containers in the ring, Lin Mu had just consoled the vault door when he heard footsteps.


    "HALT! WHO ARE YOU!" A voice shouted from behind him.


    Lin Mu recognized it and internally cursed. Quickly thinking of an idea, Lin Mu ced his hand on his face and let a broken mask appear. This was the very mask that Ye Zi Jin had worn before, which was a high grade spirit tool.


    Lin Mu then turned around and saw the man standing there.


    "Why is Wu Teng still here? Shouldn¡¯t he have been at the tribtion tform?" Lin Mu murmured.


    Wu Teng also looked at the masked man in front of him and seemed to have recognized the mask.


    "That¡¯s Ye Zi Jin¡¯s mask! What did you do with her! Where is she?!" Wu Teng questioned.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t speak a word and was about to restrain Wu Teng when the man realized the situation and raised an rm.


    "INTRUDER! THERE IS AN INTRUDER ON THE PILL PEAK! THE VAULT HAS BEEN ROBBED!" Wu Teng Yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice being amplified by spirit Qi.


    The voice echoed between the peaks as it was heard by nearly every person in the sect.


    "Fuck!"

 Chapter 535 - Uprooting A Vault

    <h4>Chapter 535 - Uprooting A Vault </h4>


    Lin Mu now knew he was at the end of the line. He would have to act quick and wrap this up or everything would mess up even more. Quickly thinking of potential solutions, Lin Mu lunged at Wu Teng.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The man responded by punching at him, but Lin Mu blocked it with ease. He was now seeing the benefit of the mortal strengthening scripture and was grateful to senior Xukong for teaching it to him.


    Wu Teng was shocked upon seeing his full power punch being blocked with ease. Lin Mu took advantage of this and knocked him out by hitting his head. A faint crack could be heard, which made Lin Mu anxious.


    He checked Wu Teng to see if he was alive and took a breath of relief when he truly was. The crack was due to a defensive treasure breaking on Wang Xiong¡¯s body. It had taken the blow but was unable to bear it.


    Lin Mu¡¯s attack should have been dulled by it but it was still powerful enough to knock Wu Teng out.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Need to control my strength better..." Lin Mu muttered to himself before blinking to the vault.


    While he was going there, the people at the tribtion tform had all heard the shout and were now aware alert.


    "ELDERS! SECURE THE AREA! DHARMA PROTECTORS WATCH BILAO!" The sect patriarch immediately issued orders.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    A bunch of old men moved like the wind and got into their positions. Some were sitting around the tribtion tform as Dharma protectors while some were checking the outer area of the tribtion tform.


    "The area is secure patriarch, we don¡¯t think there are any intruders here." One of the elders reported.


    Mudan looked at the pill peak and spoke, "Yi Deng, tend to your peak. Disciplinary pavilion members get to your duty. I want the intruder captured as soon as possible. And make sure no onees near the tribtion tform."


    Peak master Yi Deng, who had been anxious since hearing the shout of Wu Teng immediately flew away. He had recognized the voice and knew that it was his son-inw. If he was the one who had shouted then it meant the intruder was strong.


    The disciples who were watching all this muttered amongst themselves, but no one dared to make noise. They knew if they did that and it interfered with Bo¡¯s breakthrough, the me could potentially fall on them.


    N?velDrama.Org: owner of this content.


    Though there was one person among the disciples who had a smile on his face.


    "Let¡¯s see how you deal with all this Wu Lian..." Jiao Fang muttered to himself as he looked at the pill peak.


    Jiao Fang had actually not expected that Lin Mu would be able to hide for this long. Even though he knew Lin Mu was able to open the vault with ease, there were still additional factors which could spell trouble.


    It was one of those very unexpected factors that had caused Lin Mu to get stuck in his folly.


    ***


    Lin Mu was now at the vault at the top of the pill peak. He knew that unraveling the formations was out of his options now, as the sect disciples and elders had already been alerted. This meant that they would be here any second.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and wondered if he would have to abandon this vault perhaps. He had not even had the chance to get the other pill repositories and the warehouses, thus it would be a bit underwhelming.


    Though it would be fine in the end, as their main goal was to only rob four vaults from the total twelve storage locations.


    "If only I could have more time..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Then suddenly... an idea hit Lin Mu.


    "WAIT! Can this work?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He walked to the side of the vault and pushed on its walls. Even with his full strength, Lin Mu was unable to make it budge.


    "If I can¡¯t open the vault right now, I may as well take the entire vault." Lin Mu said with determination.


    He tried strong the vault in the ring but couldn¡¯t do it. The vault was embedded in the ground along with multiple formations preventing it from moving.


    "I need to separate it from the ground and the formation array... separate... hang on! SEPARATE!" Lin Mu suddenly eximed.


    He extended both his hands towards the vault and took a deep breath.


    "Here goes nothing.... MELD!" Lin Mu said as he activated his fifth skill.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A sharp wave of spirit Qi could be felt in the air as the space suddenly me unstable. Lin Mu used his spirit sense inbination with the skill to guide it around the vault. Of course, this was still too much for him and he could make mistakes.


    ck lines appeared around the entire vault as Meld separated it from the real world. In order to not damage or cut the vault irregrly, Lin Mu had to put 110% of his focus into it.


    ¡¯IT IS DONE!¡¯ Lin MU thought in his mind as he kept the skill active.


    He then kneeled down and slid his hand under the vault.


    <i>~HAAA~</i>


    With a loud grunt, Lin Mu managed to lift the entire vault from the ground. One could see that there were chunks of soil attached to it that had been lifted too. He also realized that the weight of the vault was still present despite the use of the skill.


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    Then suddenly the vault disappeared from the real world and entered his ring.


    "STOP IT, YOU THIEF! Dare to take it and I will skin you!" Yi Deng Shouted from afar but then became dumbstruck seeing the vault disappear into thin air.


    He knew that if one wanted to take away the vault, they would have to deal with formation arrays and locks which had held the vault in ce. There were many people in the world who would be able to do something like this and thus he wasn¡¯t as cautious.


    But now that very same thing hade to bite him in the ass.


    "YOU!!" Yi Deng shouted, as his face turned red with rage.

 Chapter 536 - Thunderstuck!

    <h4>Chapter 536 - Thunderstuck! </h4>


    Right at the moment, Lin Mu used meld to detach the vault from the ground, a change had happened.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The heavenly tribtion clouds thundered and lightning arced across its edges.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    A bolt of white lightning fell from the sky and hit Alchemist Bo, who had been prepared. A shockwave spread in the area, which was quickly stopped by the tribtion tform. The disciples and the elders watched with intent as smoke spread round Bo.


    A faint scent of burnt flesh could be smelleding from the center of the tform where Bo was sitting.


    "Is he dead?"


    "Did Alchemist Bo withstand it?


    "Heavens! Tribtion lightning is so scary!"


    Various words were spoken by the spectators as the patriarch Mudan lookedintently at Bo. To him Bo¡¯s survival meant great things, along with another peak master in the sect.


    Lin Mu saw the tribtion lightning too, and couldn¡¯t help but stare at it. The power in it was asrge as he had expected, but Bo¡¯s fate was still unknown. By the time the smoke cloud dissipated, more people had gathered around the Pill peaks¡¯ area.


    They were the disciplinary pavilion¡¯s members who wereing to find the thief as well. They hadgged behind Yi Deng, even though they had all left at the same time.


    "Activate the restricting formations! We will not let the thief escape!"


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    Barriers started forming around the area, preventing Lin Mu¡¯s escape. Still, this was not enough to stop Lin Mu.


    "Fade..." Lin Mu muttered as he disappeared in front of everyone¡¯s eyes.


    Yi Deng¡¯s eyes went wide in shock, as he couldn¡¯t understand how Lin Mu did this. He couldn¡¯t perceive the spatial fluctuations urately either because of the interference from the Heavenly tribtion.


    They all looked around for traces of Lin Mu, assuming that he had merely turned invisible using some kind of technique or an item. But then a voice was heard from another side of the peak.


    "HE¡¯S HERE! COME QUICK!"


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    "Dammit!" Lin Mu cursed, finding the route blocked.


    Even with Fade, it was getting hard for him to move as the formation arrays caused the space to get harder to manipte. These were the great barriers created by the formation array of the Tri Cauldron peony sect and when activated at full potential, would even restrain a nascent soul realm cultivator.


    Lin Mu looked for routes of escape and his eyes went to the Herb Peak. But that soon turned to disappointment as he saw a green dome surrounding the Herb peak.


    "Shaoyan Qianyu activated the defenses as well..." Lin Mu realized.


    He was now surrounded on three sides by the disciplinary pavilion members and the peak master Yi Deng, who had bloodshot eyes and a rage filled face.


    "YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE THIS! PREPARE TO DIE!" He shouted as a ming dragon shot out of his palms.


    Lin Mu blinked to dodge the Qi skill, but found the dragon to be following him. The other cultivators also took this chance to attack and troubled Lin Mu.


    "Bah! I¡¯ll take care of them, too!" Lin Mu said before he shed with the disciples.


    <i>~ng~ ng~ ng~</i>


    The weaponsnded on Lin Mu, whose body was easily able to withstand the hits. The mortal strengthening scripture was working perfectly.


    Seeing that their attacks were doing nothing to Lin Mu the disciples were surprised. They sent out more, but Lin Mu started to counteract this time. He exchanged a few blows with the disciples, but could not kill them.


    "Don¡¯t let him leave!" Yi Deng said as he watched Lin Mu getting trapped.


    There were now two peak masters facing Lin Mu. There was Yi Deng at his back and Shaoyan Qianyu at the front. The peak master of the herb peak had volunteered to defend and was now standing at the edge of the field.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The people were suddenly stunned by a loud noise as thunder rumbled in the skies. Patriarch Mudan looked up at the sky and knew the second bolt wasing.


    <i>~Boom~</i>


    The second tribtion bolt descended from the sky before striking Bo. The man was hit hard and had his clothes burned in multiple ces. Still, Bo had expected something like this and had taken a few precious medicines.


    "He withstood it!" someone from the audience shouted.


    Patriarch Mudan looked at Bo for a moment before diverting his gaze to where Lin Mu was.


    "Where do I go now?" Lin Mu said, seeing no avenue of escape.


    Even he would have a hard time with these many cultivators and thus fighting them was out of the question. Then finally he came to a choice. Lin Mu gritted his teeth and flew towards the tribtion tform.


    "STOP HIM! Don¡¯t let him near the tribtion tform." The patriarch ordered before he himself moved to block Lin Mu.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The sound of thunder echoed in the sky as it got ready for the next tribtion lightning bolt. Seeing that there was more toe, Bo was not scared and instead ate the pills that had been prepared by him.


    He fully focused on himself and did not even look out of the area of the tribtion tform.


    "Flicker... Blink... Phase... Phase... Fade..." Lin Mu used all his skills as he moved towards the tribtion tform.


    The peak masters were unable to restrain him due to his speed and the weird way by which he was moving. Some of them had a hunch that Lin Mu may be using spatial maniption but they did not dare confirm it.


    After all, even Dao shell realm cultivators would have a hard time using something like that.


    The disciples in the audience had the shock of their lives as they suddenly saw a stranger appear on the tform.


    "Who¡¯s that!" someone shouted as they pointed at Lin Mu who had just reached the stage.


    He had appeared out of thin air, thus everyone was confused. Bo also noticed it and was dumbfounded.


    But then another thing happened that made everyone flinch with terror.


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    The third tribtion bolt fell from the sky.


    But this bolt didn¡¯t hit Bo... rather it went towards Lin Mu and struck him!

 Chapter 537 - Upheaval At The Sect

    <h4>Chapter 537 - Upheaval At The Sect </h4>


    Today was not a day that Lin Mu would ever forget. He had never expected that he would be getting hit by lightning that too Heavenly Tribtion lightning, of all things.


    But he was not the only one who had not expected this. Each and every person there did not expect it either. After all, why would someone¡¯s heavenly tribtion lightning hit someone else.


    The thing was when someone interfered in the Heavenly tribtion they would not get struck by the original lightning, but rather by additional bolts that came down as punishment.


    Those bolts did not contain the tribtionws that allowed a cultivator to break through to the Nascent soul realm and thus would only cause harm to the ones who dared tomit such an act.


    What Lin Mu had done was no less than a miracle... if it could be called that.


    "WHAT IN THE NAME OF HEAVENS!!!!" The elders couldn¡¯t help but exim.


    The sect patriarch Mudan was nervous and sweat had covered his brow. He didn¡¯t want Bo to get harmed here, as he would be the fourth pir of his sect in the form of a peak master. Each Nascent Soul realm cultivator was precious, and he didn¡¯t want to lose a potential one who was so close to a breakthrough.


    He didn¡¯t know how the man had gotten so close to the tribtion tform and even entered it directly. There were elders who were acting as Dharma protectors and even they had not sensed him.


    Till now he had thought that Lin Mu was using some illusory techniques with the way he was moving. While those techniques might have been able to give them a slip, they would definitely not work against a solid Qi barrier, which was the tribtion tform.


    This led Mudan to believe he may have been using somethingpletely else.


    "Could it be... no... that¡¯s not possible. From what we saw, the thief was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm. No way he could use skills like these..." Mudan said to himself, unable to even say what type of skills they were.


    "There must be... must be some fault in the formations... YES. That must be how he got into the vaults too, he has some key!" Mudan justified to himself, unaware that it wasn¡¯t the only vaults that had been robbed.


    In fact, he didn¡¯t even know that the main vault of the pill peak had been literally been stolen in its entirety. There was simply not enough time for Yi Deng to make a report, and the man was also dealing with the stress of his things being stolen, so he had forgotten to tell that to the patriarch.


    If Mudan knew Lin Mu had stolen from all the vaults of the sect, he would probably be drinking himself to death.


    ***


    At the Tribtion tform, Bo tried to look at the person who had just interrupted the heavenly tribtion. Unlike the other people, he could tell that his tribtion had actually ended. Thatst bolt was truly intended for him, but it was now gone.


    But that was not the thing that made him despair the most. What made him despair was the fact that he had not broken through to the Nascent Soul realm even after taking the two bolts. The third one was necessary for him and without it, he would not progress at all.


    "How?" He couldn¡¯t help but say.


    The culprit behind all this was in a different state all together. His body was glowing in a brown light and one could see a scale like patterns on it. There were now numerous cracks on theyer and it looked like it would copse any moment.


    But that was not all, as the robes Lin Mu was wearing were destroyed as well. There were burn marks and holes on the torso part of his robes and his hair was singed as well. Smoke came out from his robes as well, and the mask on his face was barely holding on.


    Lin Mu himself was shaken and felt his head buzzing.


    "Lin Mu! Lin MU!" Xukong shouted, stirring Lin Mu out of his daze.


    "Senior?... what happened?" Lin Mu questioned, his thoughts still feeling slow.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    "Snap out of it! You need to leave quickly! While they are still distracted." Xukong urged.


    "Leave? I... can¡¯t move... I can¡¯t feel my body." Lin Mu replied.


    Xukong realized that the tribtion lightning may have paralyzed Lin Mu for the time being. It was not something that could be resolved quickly, but Lin Mu really needed to leave quickly. His mind raced to find a solution while also keeping a look at the area around them.


    There were still traces of lightning spread in the area, thus the people did not dare to get close but there was no surety that they wouldn¡¯t try it in a bit. Lin Mu was pretty much a sitting duck right now.


    "Lin Mu can you call Little Shrubby! Is your connection still working?" Xukong questioned in a tense tone.


    "Y-yes! While I can¡¯t use my spirit Qi, I can still feel the connection." Lin Mu answered.


    "Wait, can you use the ring?" Xukong questioned as another idea appeared in his mind.


    Lin Mu willed it and felt like the ring still responded to him. The mysterious ring was connected to him on the level of soul, thus Lin Mu needed no spirit Qi to control it.


    "Take out a spirit stone, and use that. The tribtion lightning has paralyzed your meridians right now, but external spirit Qi should still get to moving.


    Use that to use fade and then use Blink to get to far enough. Also, contract Little Shrubby toe get you." Xukong instructed.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said and managed to withdraw a mid grade spirit stone from the ring.


    He used that to activate, fade and disappeared from the sights of everyone.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    The spirit stone instantly cracked when Lin Mu did that due to the immense drain of the skill.


    An uproar spread in the sect upon seeing Lin Mu disappear again.


    One after the other unthinkable things had happened and the disciples were lost for words.


    "Where did he go? WHERE DID HE GO?!!!" The sect patriarch Mudan could no longer keep his cool and yelled.


    "He-he disappeared..." One of the elders nearby spoke.


    "GO FIND HIM THEN!" Mudan yelled.


    The elders and the disciples scrambled to fulfill the orders. But this was just the start of their despair.


    "You fools, get the tracking formations from the vaults! Think better!" The patriarch ordered.


    "Yes, patriarch." The elder said before flying to the vaults.


    But the moment they reached there they felt likend was pulled out from below their legs.


    "The vault... it¡¯s empty..." One of the elders whispered, unable to even speak properly.


    The others that were with him didn¡¯t dare to make assumptions and checked the vault quickly before confirming it.


    "SECT PATRIARCH! THE VAULTS HAVE BEEN ROBBED!" A loud yell was hearding from afar.


    Mudan who heard it, felt confused at first but then it hit him.


    He waved his hand and a force was exerted by it. The elder who was rushing from the peak was instantly pulled towards him and the patriarch shed his robes.


    "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" he said in a furious tone.


    "The other vaults at the main peak... they are empty... all three of them." The elder let out.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Mudan slot his grip and the elder fell to the ground with a thud.


    "We¡¯re done... we¡¯re done... we¡¯ve doomed the legacy of our ancestors..." Mudan murmured.


    For a minute there he was pale as bones, but then his face turned red and mes literately manifested on his body.


    "ALL DISCIPLES OF THE SECT ARE TO FIND THE THIEF AT ALL COSTS! I WANT HIM DEAD OR ALIVE!" The patriarch ordered before flying out himself.


    Soon an army of cultivators set out to find Lin Mu; some with angry faces, some with lost faces, and some just in shock. Though there was one person who was trying very hard to suppress the excitement and fun that he was feeling.


    ¡¯HAHAHA! WU LIAN YOU ARE REALLY SOMETHING! THIS IS EVEN BETTER THAN I EXPECTED!¡¯ Jiao Fangughed internally.


    Jiao Fang looked at the expression of his fellow disciples and felt glee. It had been far too long since he had felt like this. He had been often busy in keeping a facade and couldn¡¯t really show himself, which lead him to suppressing his true self most of the time.


    He had gotten good at it, but now what Lin Mu had done really threatened to break that mask. Though he didn¡¯t feel bad. Instead, he felt like this was something he wascking.


    "Wu Lian, Wu Lian... you are an interesting man... much more interesting than this sect." Jiao Fang muttered to himself.


    The man he was speaking about though, was not having a good time like him.

 Chapter 538 - Helplessness

    <h4>Chapter 538 - Helplessness </h4>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    A body manifested out of thin air and fell to the ground helplessly. This was none other than Lin Mu. He had managed to use fade and then travel in the parallel world with blink by using the mid grade spirit stones.


    But once the time limit for Fade ended, he couldn¡¯t do much and ended up in the real world. The problem was though... Lin Mu had no sense of direction when he entered the parallel world using fade.


    Usually, he would use his spirit sense as a guide, but since he was paralyzed, it was hard for him to use his spirit sense. Thus currently he had no idea where he had ended up. All he had done was to use blink in a straight line once he got to the parallel world.


    "Is little shrubby close?" Xukong asked.


    "He... he¡¯sing." Lin Mu said in his mind.


    Without the help of his spirit sense, he couldn¡¯t observe the situation around him and since he was lying on the ground with his face down he couldn¡¯t use his eyes to see anything either.


    Lin Mu wanted to check the condition of his body but couldn¡¯t use his spirit sense. This left him with his old method of checking.


    He tried to chant the calming heart sutra and the severing heart sutra, but was unable to do so. His tongue would not move, and neither could his lips.


    ¡¯This... is this what the Lost immortal felt? Such helplessness?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But his time was only about to get worse.


    "HE¡¯S HERE! ELDERS I FOUND HIM!" A voice suddenly came from afar.


    Lin Mu heard it and realized he had already been found. Unknown to him, when he used fade he hadn¡¯t gone much far from the sect. Instead of going perpendicr to it, he had gone parallel.


    The only reason why the elders hadn¡¯t found him first was that they thought he must have gone in the outer direction of the sect and not just within it. This was why a random disciple ended up finding him.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    The sound of wind tearing could be heard as some elders arrived on their spirit weapons, flying in from the sky.


    "It really is him!"


    "He¡¯s here, patriarch!!"


    The elder¡¯s face lit up as they saw Lin My lying on the ground. They had been truly worried that they may never be able to find Lin Mu and that me would all fall upon their head.


    But now... now they were relieved. One of the elders was about to approach the copsed Lin Mu when he was interrupted.


    "Careful! He was able to fight multiple elders on equal terms, he¡¯s dangerous. Watch out for any tricks!" A fellow elder warned.


    The elder nodded and took out a staff from his spatial storage treasure that was a bracelet. He controlled the staff with his spirit sense and poked Lin Mu with it, as if he was a dead animal on the side of the road.


    Seeing as he didn¡¯t respond, the elder thought he was unresponsive.


    "Is he dead?" one of the disciples questioned.


    "No... his chest is moving, he¡¯s still breathing." Another one pointed out.


    Grins papered on the elder¡¯s faces as they realized their enemy was a fish in a barrel. They got bolder and directly went to pick up Lin Mu.


    "Let¡¯s see who it is that dares to offend the Tri Cauldron peony sect." A white haired elder who used the staff previously spoke.


    He approached Lin Mu with an evil gaze and was just about to touch him when a loud sound was heard.


    <i>~ROAR!!~</i>


    A blood chilling roar was heard as the sound of tearing wide apanied it.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    A blinding sh appeared out of nowhere and made everyone¡¯s vision go white. The odor of burnt flesh could be smelled as blood spilled on the ground.


    <i>~thud~ thud~</i>


    <i>~Roar!~</i>


    "ARGH! What is this!" The disciples shouted.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    Multiple shes kept on happening, which prevented the people from seeing anything. It wasn¡¯t until a few secondster that they could finally see.


    And when they did... they were horrified. Arge tiger like beast stood in front of them, its ws pressing upon the dead bodies of two elders and five disciples. It bared its teeth at them as a murderous aura emanated off its body.


    "Wh-what beast is that! It killed the elders!"


    "Elder Guan was killed! How! He¡¯s at the peak stage of the core condensation realm!"


    A cacophony of noises that consisted of confusion and terror spread in the area.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The ws of the beast suddenly heated up and shed like burning phosphorous. A scorching heat came from it as six more disciples lost their lives.


    A short distance away from where Lin Mu was, the other elders and the patriarch Mudan were located. They had gotten the messages on theirmunication jade slips and were rushing to the area.


    But now they had heard the beastly roaring from there along with the terror filled shouts of the disciples. They didn¡¯t know what had happened, but they knew it must be soothing really bad.


    "It¡¯s the scent of blood!"


    "Quick, we need to hurry!" Mudan urged.


    He waved his hand and a wind below from the back, pushing the faster toward the location where Lin Mu was. In less than ten seconds, they reached there and saw the horrific sight.


    Dead bodies of the sect¡¯s disciples along with the elders were spread in the area; some decapitated, some crushed under great force.


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    In the centerid Lin Mu on his face, and on its side was none other than the beast who had killed everyone.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    The beast turned to face the patriarch and the others before roaring at them fearlessly. The elders felt their bodies involuntarily shiver at the roar while the patriarch¡¯s gaze stiffened.


    Lin Mu who had heard everything from the start, knew who hade.


    "Little Shrubby... you¡¯re here..."

 Chapter 539 - Mighty Shrubby!

    <h4>Chapter 539 - Mighty Shrubby! </h4>


    Xukong had been terribly worried upon seeing the state of Lin Mu. He didn¡¯t know what kind of damage had been caused by the tribtion lightning either. The thing was that Lin Mu was hit by was pure tribtion lightning, but it was not intended for him.


    If it was punishment tribtion lightning, Xukong would be able to assess it much better. But this was something that he had rarely seen happen before. He had heard of certain cultivators who had special cultivation techniques that needed the Tribtion lightning to progress.


    But even they didn¡¯t use pure tribtion lightning that was intended for someone else. Thews of heaven simply did not work like this. The tribtion lightning that was intended for someone would only hit that specific person.


    If an extremely powerful person interfered, they may be able to stop the lightning, but it would still not go to them. Instead, a bolt of punishment lightning would descend instead. With so many unknown parameters, there was little Xukong could do.


    And since Little Shrubby had not arrived yet either, and the sect members had, it only made the situation worse.


    Xukong had even thought of using his trump card, but hesitated. Him interfering by descending directly into a world was extremely dangerous. Not only to the world, but also to him.


    And it was not like he was without enemies either...


    But the arrival of little Shrubby gave him a great sense of relief. Upon seeing him though, he felt like little shrubby was a bit different than before. His aura was much stronger and he could even feel that there had been some kind of a change in its bloodline.


    But this relief didn¡¯tst long as the sect patriarch Mudan and the rest of the elders had arrived at the location as well.


    ***


    Mudan looked at the beast in front of him and felt a bit uneasy. Even though he was far above the cultivation base of the beast, he didn¡¯t know why but approaching it himself felt dangerous to him.


    <i>~Roar~</i>


    "Go get that beast! And get that man too!" Mudan ordered his elders, wanting to wait and see.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    The elder¡¯s suppressed their fear and approached Little Shrubby. Their weapons gleamed as they floated in front of them.


    "Die filthy beast!"


    <i>~shing~ </i>


    A spirit sword shot towards Little Shrubby, but it was stopped mid way.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    A hand was wrapped around the de of the spirit sword... or more urately, a metallic hand.


    "Wh-what? What the hell is that?" The elder couldn¡¯t help but wonder.


    "It¡¯s a spirit tool! There¡¯s someone else here!" another elder said as they all became alert and looked around.


    <i>~roar~</i>


    Little shrubby had blocked the sword with the prosthetic hand, which was a spirit tool. Taking the opportunity while the elders were distracted, he shed out with his ws, sending out streaks of scorching mes.


    "Watch out!"


    <i>~shing~</i>


    The elder withdrew the short sword to block the streaks of mes in front of them, but then felt a strong force hitting his cheek.


    <i>~p~</i>


    <i>~ptui~</i>


    The metallic hand had just pped his cheek, making him spit out a couple of teeth.


    The other elders watched dumbly, as this was not something they had expected.


    <i>~p~</i>


    Another p hit the elder which knocked him back. Little shrubby took this opportunity to withdraw the harness from his spatial storage belt. He then picked up Lin Mu with his teeth and threw him up in the air before catching him on his back.


    Only now did the patriarch and the elders realize the beast had actuallye to rescue Lin Mu.


    "STOP HIM! IT¡¯S A TAMED BEAST!" Mudan shouted, this time acting personally.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    Little Shrubby let out another roar that shook the air and made the elders flinch for a moment before bursting into a sprint.


    <i>~whoosh~ </i>


    He wasn¡¯t running at full speed though, as Lin Mu was still not strapped into the harness. Right now his legs were slid into the hoops, thus he wouldn¡¯t fall at this speed, but if he did not strap in properly, he would fall off.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~piak~</i>


    The patriarch¡¯s head bobbed as he felt something hit it from the behind. He lifted his face, that was angry, and looked at the culprit.


    "You! YOU!!! YOU DARE INSULT ME!" He shouted.


    The metallic hand had just now pped the back of Mudan¡¯s head before it returned to little shrubby.


    But this only unnerved the elders more.


    "Patriarch! That beast! It¡¯s controlling that spirit tool."


    "Not only that, didn¡¯t you see that harness appearing on its back!"


    "Wait, that¡¯s a spatial storage treasure on its neck!"


    Realization dawned upon their head as they put two and two together.


    "There is no other person... that beast is behind it all!"


    They sped up, but couldn¡¯t keep up with the beast.


    Little Shrubby had recalled the metallic hand to his side and used that to strap Lin Mu into the harness. Once that was done, he stored the hand back into the storage treasure and increased his speed.


    <i>~thud... thud... thud... thud~</i>


    The sound of heartbeats echoed in the forest. The sect patriarch who was the only one able to keep up with little shrubby noticed that they wereing from it. The heartbeats kept on getting louder until they were like war drums.


    And then he saw a sight he would never forget.


    Seven illusory beasts appeared around little shrubby. Each of them looked different, but they were all big cat type beasts simr to lions, tigers, panthers, leopards, etc. The illusory beasts roared in unison before merging with Little Shrubby.


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    Little shrubby¡¯s body glowed before bursting entirely into mes.


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    These mes were massive and fully covered his body, increasing his size by four times. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t even be seen among the mes, as they had fully buried him within.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    Finally, Little Shrubby let out a thunderous roar that shook thend, before disappearing with a sonic boom; knocking all the trees and soil back.

 Chapter 540 - The Tragedy Of The Tri Cauldron Peony Sect

    <h4>Chapter 540 - The Tragedy Of The Tri Cauldron Peony Sect </h4>


    Patriarch Mudan and the elders were affected by the force of the sonic boom and were pushed back as well. Mudan was still able to handle himself but the elders couldn¡¯t do the same and ended up crashing into the trees nearby breaking them.


    The ones who were lightly injured simply spat out blood while the others had broken bones and were directly knocked out.


    Mudan stabbed his sword into the ground and stopped himself from flying back more. Even though he could fly on his own without the support of a spirit weapon, the force was still too much. It was as if there was more than just Air that had caused such an effect.


    Mudan looked in the direction in which Little Shrubby had gone, but couldn¡¯t see it anywhere.


    "YOU CAN¡¯T RUN FOREVER!" Mudan yelled while flying after them.


    His spirit sense was fully spread around, covering over a kilometer of the area as his eyes darted around. The old patriarch ended up searching for over a day, to no avail. He couldn¡¯t bring himself to believe it, but it really had happened. A core condensation realm beast had outrun him, an Adult stage Nascent soul realm cultivator.


    If this news got out, there was a great chance he would be aughing stock of the cultivation world.


    Still, he knew news such as this would not be able to be suppressed. There were far too many disciples who had seen everything that had happened and they would probably let it out even unintentionally.


    Besides, this was something he would need the help of other sects to resolve now. It had gone beyond the scope of just one sect. If a thief could steal from their sect, they could very well do with the other sects.


    Mudan returned to his sect feeling disappointed, only to get fed with more despair. The sect had not known that it was not just the main peak and pill peak that had been robbed. It waster that they found out that even the Herb Peak had be a victim.


    But this time they had a suspect that was most likely behind it or was at least part of it. No one would believe that this was done by just a single person. There was simply no way it could be done.


    Currently the sect patriarch, the peak masters, and all elders of the sect were in a hall. Everyone¡¯s expression was tense as they looked at the patriarch pensively.


    "So you are telling me the culprit behind this is the disciple who won thepetition you organized?" Mudan questioned.


    "Yes, patriarch." Shaoyan Qianyu ordered with a straight face.


    She herself couldn¡¯t bring herself to believe that it was Wu Lian who had stolen all the things from the vault. But when she went to check the formations it was obvious that what opened the vault was the very token that she had issued the man.


    "So a genius who can ignite an intermediate ranked Qi me is behind all this?" Mudan questioned.


    "Yes, patriarch." Shaoyan Qianyu repeated.


    Mudan turned to look at the elders of the sect registry before speaking.


    "And what information do you have on this disciple Wu Lian?" He questioned.


    "Theres... none." The elder, who was the head of the sect registry answered.


    "None? WHAT DO YOU MEAN NONE?" The patriarch yelled.


    "We don¡¯t know how, but while his name is indeed in the registry, there is no other information in it. It is likely someone forged the records." The elder replied.


    "Useless! The lot of you!" Mudan scolded as a bunch of expletives came out of his mouth.


    The sessionsted for five minutes, after which the patriarch forcefully calmed himself down and took a deep breath. No one dared to even speak a single word for the fear that the patriarch may very well execute them in rage.


    "How did he... how did he break through the formations?" Mudan questioned after a few minutes of silence.


    "Our formation masters checked it and have reported that it was a method they have never seen nor read about. It is likely that it was done using a specialized spirit tool that is made for breaking formations as there is no way anyone would be able to get through them in that short of a time.


    Even if a formation master was given the literal blueprint of the formation array he would still need a lot of spirit Qi and time to unravel the formations one by one. In our case, it seems as if the formation posed no obstacle to the culprit and he went straight through them.


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    We... we think it may be a peak grade spirit tool." The Elder who was in charge of formations, spoke.


    Mudan couldn¡¯t help but rub his forehead in frustration. This was perhaps the worst day of life since he was born. Even his heavenly tribtion was perhaps a ten times better than this.


    "Another thing, patriarch... since the main vault was entirely taken, we believe the culprit also had a peak grade spatial storage tool with him. No other spatial storage tool would be able to amodate something thatrge." Another elder added.


    "Peak grade spatial storage tool... peak grade spirit tool... martial skills that allow him to defend against tens of elders at the peak stage of the core condensation realm at once... surviving a heavenly tribtion... and that spirit beast... I don¡¯t think we are dealing with anyone normal patriarch." Yi Deng who had been silent all this while, spoke.


    Mudan looked at him and gestured for him to speak more.


    "If this man had so many powerful things, he must have a great backing. I believe he may be from one of the hidden trump cards of some sect or kingdom. They may be doing this to intentionally challenge us." Yi Deng spoke.


    "Hmm... and what is it that you suggest we do?" Mudan questioned.


    "I believe it is time to contact ¡¯master¡¯." Yi Deng answered, as his eyes glowed in a red light for a moment.

 Chapter 541 - The Nurturing Heart Sutra

    <h4>Chapter 541 - The Nurturing Heart Sutra </h4>


    The moment he said ¡¯master¡¯ the eyes of Mudan simrly glowed in a red light too. Shaoyan Qianyu though looked at them with a cold face. Internally she felt strange about this all. She had heard about this ¡¯master¡¯ that the supreme elder and the patriarch had met before.


    This master was willing to be the backing of their sect and was said to be an expert. They were even sending a lot of resources to this master. In fact, a lot of the resources that they were supposed to send the master were included in the vaults that were robbed.


    ¡¯No way... could it be?¡¯ Shaoyan Qianyu remembered Wu Lian¡¯s words.


    She decided to excuse herself from the meeting as the patriarch and Yi Deng went alone to somece. Shaoyan Qianyu didn¡¯t like what had happened with the sect¡¯s condition, but the actions of Mudan and Yi Deng unnerved her too.


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    "Oh Ancestors... what is this beast? And who is that man? Why has our sect suffered such tragedy?" She muttered to herself.


    ***


    The culprit behind this was currently unconscious and lying in a cave somewhere. He wasid against a wall and had a still face. Arge beastid at his side but it seemed to be extremely tired. Its fur had lost its shine and its aura seemed to be weak too.


    This was of course none other than Lin Mu. He had passed out after he got onto Little Shrubby¡¯s back and when the beast ran away at great speed. Little Shrubby had run for a day and night, only after which did he stop.


    He knew he was being chased by Mudan and thus didn¡¯t stop, even if the distance between them was quiterge. Little Shrubby could smell the man and that was how he could tell he was being followed.


    Only after the scent got very faint did he pick a good enough ce to hide. It had found a random cave at the side of a mountain and entered it before putting down Lin Mu. By this time all the mes on his body had already been extinguished and his size had returned to normal as well.


    Unknown to both the man and beast, a change was happening between them. Little Shrubby¡¯s aura flickered like a me in a storm and Lin Mu¡¯s was simr, both of their auras intermixed before bing synchronous. Then suddenly the mysterious ring on Lin Mu¡¯s hand started to hum.


    Lin Mu who had been unconscious the entire time, woke up but found himself in front of the ethereal altar at the center of the ring.


    "Huh? Why am I here?" Lin Mu wondered as he looked around.


    "Senior? Senior Xukong!" Lin Mu called out, but received no response.


    He then tried to contact him using his link, but found it to be blocked. He could tell that the link still existed but was unable to do anything to it.


    "What is happening?" Lin Mu questioned as he tried to remember.


    He recalled being paralyzed from the tribtion lightning and then being chased by the elders and patriarch of the Tri Cauldron peony sect. Finally, little Shrubby hade to rescue him and he had fallen unconscious after that.


    "A lot happened huh... though my body... is it fine or not?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    As if responding to him, the ethereal suddenly started to glow as mystical runes started to appear on it. Lin Mu¡¯s attention was instantly pulled by it as he felt a calling in his mind. It told him toe to the altar.


    Lin Mu faced the altar and walked towards it before halting at its front. He lifted his hand before cing it on it, fully expecting something to happen.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s vision went dark as a streak of runes started to appear out of the Ethereal altar. These runes entered Lin Mu¡¯s head and were like an endless river. Lin Mu felt memories starting to appear in his mind as he felt his body bing numb.


    When his vision returned, he found himself in a strange ce. He was standing on a tform that floated in the middle of the sky. Below him, he could see massive forests, frozen ciers, dry and scorching deserts, colossal volcanoes that spewed out dark smoke and an abyssal ocean that extended wherever his eyes went.


    He looked closer and saw that each of these areas had something inmon. There were beasts in all of them. These beasts were of various types, some could fly, some crawled, some walked and some swam. They were of various sizes, from the size of a dust particle all the way to the size of a mountain.


    All these beasts were also staring at Lin Mu from their locations. The ones that were on the ground looked up at Lin Mu while those flying the sky stared down at him. Lin Mu felt unnerved by their gazes and felt fearful.


    But this was merely the start of it. Soon the beasts started to let out their cries. They roared, growled, screeched, cackled, clicked, chattered, chittered and howled. Their cries all mixed up to be an ungodly noise that assaulted Lin Mu¡¯s ears.


    "Argh!" Lin Mu cried in pain as covered his ears.


    Their cries were only increasing in volume and made Lin Mu kneel on the ground as he lost strength in his legs.


    Time passed by and the cries of the beasts never stopped. Lin Mu was now curled up on the ground, half unconscious. He was just about to pass out when he heard a different voice among the cacophony of cries.


    Unlike the other beastly cries, he was able to understand this one. He focused on this voice as he found it to be a lot better than the beast¡¯s cries. But then he realized more and more such voices appeared.


    One by one, the cries of the beasts disappeared, and recing them were coherent voices that spoke words which Lin Mu understood.


    They were all chanting the same thing, and Lin Mu finally grasped it. All the voices then merged to be one massive voice, which boomed in his ears.


    "Open thy heart to the world, embrace its creations and be one with them! - Behold, The Nurturing Heart Sutra!"

 Chapter 542 - Cracked Core

    <h4>Chapter 542 - Cracked Core </h4>


    Once the voices disappeared, Lin Mu found that the world he was in disappeared as well and he was now back in the Mysterious ring. He looked at the altar in front of him, which had be dim again, and sighed.


    "When will I figure out how this works..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t exactly know by what logic the altar gave him the parts of the Nine Divine Heart sutra and the skills. For skills, at least he reckoned it depended on his cultivation base, but even that had varied a lot.


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    "I got the Calming heart sutra at the very start, then I got the severing heart sutra when I managed to cultivate spirit Qi, I got Burning heart sutra when I felt angry and killed the Town head and now... the Nurturing heart sutra... I got because of little Shrubby?" Lin Mu spoke.


    Lin Mu now fussed that the altar would give him the other parts of the sutra when he fulfilled certain conditionals, though what they were, it was unknown. Lin Mu had now obtained four of the nine parts of the Nine Divine Hearst Sutra.


    Each sutra was unique and transformative for Lin Mu. He wondered what kind of effect the Nurturing heart sutra had.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    Lin Mu felt the ring on his finger hum and realized it was time to return to the real world now.


    "I should head back... I have a lot of things to check anyway..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Back in the real world, Lin Mu opened his eyes that felt heavy and looked around. Straightaway the first thing he saw was little Shrubby lying on his side. The beast looked to be exhausted and was in a bad condition.


    Even though it didn¡¯t have any injuries per say, it looked to be weakened and sick.


    "Little Shrubby..." Lin Mu muttered as he felt a pain in his heart upon seeing him like this.


    Lin Mu then looked around at the rest of the ce and saw that they were in a cave currently. The cave wasn¡¯t that big and plenty of light came from its opening to the front. It was daytime, and Lin Mu could see the trees that were located in front of the cave¡¯s entrance.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Seeing that he was in a rtively safe ce for now, Lin Mu took a breath of relief. That was one of the worries out of his mind.


    "Senior, Senior are you there?" Lin Mu called out in his mind.


    "LIN MU! You¡¯re finally awake!" Xukong spoke in an anxious one.


    "Yes, senior. I am..." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That¡¯s a relief. You¡¯ve been unconscious for over a month now." Xukong replied.


    "Wait WHAT!? A month?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes. I managed to get my spirit sense through a few times and observed the surroundings from time to item to confirm. Little Shrubby managed to get you here after a day and night of constant running. But after that both of you have been unconscious." Xukong answered.


    "That is..." Lin Mu couldn¡¯t find words to describe the situation.


    "Put that aside for now. How are you feeling? I couldn¡¯t check your body at all during this time. I was being prevented by the ring, it seems like." Xukong asked.


    "Prevented by the ring... I think I know why I was unconscious for a month senior." Lin Mu suddenly said.


    "Why?" Xukong questioned.


    "The altar in the ring... it gave me another part of the Nine Divine Heart Sutra." Lin Mu answered.


    "So it was that... no wonder." Xukong spoke in an understanding tone.


    "I couldn¡¯t tell how long I was there in the ring, but from what you have said, I guess it was for over a month. I saw a lot of things at that time and learned the sutra." Lin Mu stated.


    "What is the sutra that you obtained?" Xukong questioned.


    "It¡¯s called the Nurturing Heart sutra." Lin Mu answered.


    "That¡¯s an... unexpected name." Xukong said. "Do you know what it can do?" he added.


    "I think I have a guess..." Lin Mu said as he looked at Little Shrubby.


    "But before that I need to sort myself." Lin Mu said as he peered into his body, using his spirit sense.


    He was finally able to use it and didn¡¯t feel the strong paralysis that he had felt before. While his body still felt numb, he reckoned it could have been due to not moving for a long time.


    Inside his body, Lin Mu saw that his muscles and tissues were fine but his meridians had some injuries. But when he reached his Dantian did he saw the main problem.


    "Oh no..." Lin Mu said with surprise he saw his core.


    His core was now covered with cracks. Xukong, who was watching along with Lin Mu though felt strange instead.


    "It¡¯s not damaged... rather these cracks are simr to a cultivator who is undergoing Heavenly Tribtion." Xukong spoke.


    "It¡¯s not?" Lin Mu asked, still feeling unsure.


    "No... if it was cracked due do being damaged, it wouldn¡¯t be just the core that was this damaged. Your meridians and the entire Dantian would be damaged too. Right now your condition is simr to someone who is in the middle of his breakthrough to the nascent soul realm." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and tried to use his spirit Qi, finding that it was still controble.


    "That¡¯s correct. My spirit Qi is not hampered at all." Lin Mu said, feeling pleased. "But then, what am I supposed to do about my core?" he asked, feeling confused.


    "This is aplex situation which I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen before. But if my assumption is correct, it may be due to your bloodline of the Great Slumber bear. Remember what I told you about them before?" Xukong replied.


    "That they are born at the at the realm above Immortal Ascension realm and that they can give birth to their nascent soul with just a thought?" Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 543 - Seven Beasts Burst

    <h4>Chapter 543 - Seven Beasts Burst </h4>


    Xukong felt pleased with Lin Mu¡¯s quick thoughts and nodded his head.


    "Exactly! When you tried that it didn¡¯t work, right? I think we overlooked the vast difference of power between you and an actual Cub of Great slumber bear. First of all, a beast like that would not be found in a world like this at all. Instead, it would be in a higher leveled world where the heavenlyws are more active." Xukong said.


    "What would that mean for me?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That means the environmental conditions were simply not the same for both of you. Instead, what you needed was a little push which came in the form of the tribtion lightning. From what we saw it was the pure tribtion lightning that was intended for Bo that struck you. It was not a mistake at all, nor was it a chance, it was clearly drawn to you.


    I think the problem you have is a contradiction. While you should be able to form a Nascent soul easily like a Great Slumber bear, the world you are in is not optimum for it." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu listened carefully and went deep in thought. Five minutester he felt like he understood it and had an idea of what he now needed to do.


    "Seeing as I have not broken through to the Nascent Soul realm, I¡¯m guessing that I need more bolts of Tribtion lightning." Lin Mu said.


    "That¡¯s right," Xukong replied.


    "But I can¡¯t trigger it on my own either due to the contradictions between the bloodlines method and the world¡¯s state." Lin Mu added.


    "That¡¯s right as well," Xukong replied.


    "Which leaves me with... stealing other¡¯s tribtions?" Lin Mu said, feeling a bit unsure.


    "Well, that is indeed the most obvious solution." Xukong answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "And how am I going to find cultivators undergoing heavenly tribtions?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That is up to you. Though seeing as how about half of your core is covered in cracks, one more tribtion lightning bolt like this one or a couple more will be enough for you to sessfully breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm and from your Nascent Soul." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu felt a bit disappointed that there was not an easier way, but then realized this was already a lot more than he had known before. At least now he knew what to watch out for, plus this now meant the only thing that was restricting his cultivation was now time or theck of resources, but just the right opportunity.


    ¡¯I should try moving now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he willed his hands.


    At first, nothing happened, but after a few seconds, he was able to make his fingers twitch. Five minutester, he was able to lift his hand and move it. Half an hourter he managed to sit up properly and finally when an entire hour passed he was able to walk around.


    <i>~Ahh~</i>


    Lin Mu grunted as he stretched his tense body. The sounds of his joints and bones popping could be heard as a wave of pleasure washed over him. He looked at his tattered robes that were quite dirty and damaged before removing them and cleaning up with the water that he had stored.


    He then put on a fresh set of robes and got to checking on Little Shrubby. Lin Mu scanned him with his spirit sense and found that the beast was in a different condition than him. His heartbeats had gotten slower, and it was as if he was in deep hibernation.


    Though when he checked Little Shrubby¡¯s Core and Dantian, they seemed to be quite depleted as well, but now there was a new pattern over Little Shrubby¡¯s core.


    "Little Shrubby seems to have awakened an innate ability?" Lin Mu said.


    "Ah yes! I almost forgot. Do you remember when he came to rescue you?" Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Hmm... I remember some fragments. But yeah, I saw him killing the elders and the disciples." Lin Mu replied. "And then... some illusory beasts that appeared around him


    "Indeed. The seven illusory beasts that manifested around him are part of his innate ability that awakened as part of his bloodline." Xukong stated.


    "Do you know what the innate ability is?" Lin Mu said as he stroked the fur of Little Shrubby.


    "The innate ability he awakened is called as Seven Beasts Burst. The ability is very powerful and quite rare too. It is actually a confirmation that Little Shrubby has multiple Bloodlines that are mutating to form a single bloodline." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu felt happy for Little Shrubby, but then felt uneasy upon seeing his current condition again.


    "Senior, why is he like this now though?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Seven Beasts Burst is an innate ability that demands a lot from its user. It not only boosts all aspects of the beast¡¯s strength but it also increases its cultivation base. Little Shrubby used it for the first time and kept it activated for a long time.


    It¡¯s his blood essence that has been damaged, most likely. Thankfully, his bloodline seems to be recovering on its own. If not he would not have been in a hibernation state like this." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu nodded at this and then remembered what he was going to do earlier.


    "Wait him awakening the innate ability and me getting the new sutra are linked." Lin Mu said.


    "Linked? How?" Xukong questioned.


    "When I was getting the sutra, I saw a lot of beasts. They were letting out their cries, but I couldn¡¯t understand them. But after more time passed, I began to understand it bit by bit, until it was the same as the human tongue for me.


    It was they who taught me the Nurturing heart sutra." Lin Mu answered.


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    ¡¯Could it be...?¡¯ Xukong suddenly thought of something.


    "Use the sutra and see what effect it has right now." Xukong urged.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and sat down cross legged. He took a deep breath and finally started to chant the Nurturing heart sutra.


    But the moment he did so, countless beasts across the world howled out as one.

 Chapter 544 - Cry Of A Billion Beasts

    <h4>Chapter 544 - Cry Of A Billion Beasts </h4>


    At one of the cities in the empire, a herd of beasts waszing around in a pen. These were Long Furred Goats and were early stage Qi refining realm spirit beasts. They were rather docile and their meat and milk were considered to be a high end delicacy.


    They were so easy to handle that even children could take care of them. While they did have quite a lot of strength, they wouldn¡¯t attack anyone without any provocation. They would even let the people shear their fur so that it could be used to make clothes.


    Overall they were no different from normal goats, except for being spirit beasts. The caretakers were doing their daily chores in one of the pens when suddenly the goats all stood up in unison.


    The caretakers were surprised but didn¡¯t find anything to be wrong. They thought something must have caught the beast¡¯s attention as they were sensitive to spirit Qi. But then, the goats all turned their heads in one direction, before raising them and letting out a loud bleat.


    <i>~BAAA~</i>


    It didn¡¯t stop there though, as more cries of beasts all over the city could be heard. Some people who kept spirit beast pets saw them suddenly stop and turn in a specif direction before letting out a cry.


    "What is happening?"


    "All the beasts are crying out at the same time!"


    "Did something scare them?"


    "Quick go and inform the master! There is some strange phenomenon happening."


    This scene repeated in nearly every ce that had beasts.


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    At the Rainbow pill sect.


    An orange feathered bird that was as big as a swan was perched atop a spirit fruit tree. Itzily pecked at the berry like fruits hanging on it and ate them.


    A white haired elder was standing at the side of the tree and looked at the orange fathered bird with a smile on his face.


    "Da Cheng won¡¯t you give me a feather, please..." the white haired elder pleaded. The orange feathered bird though paid no attention to the man and just continued eating.


    "Just... just one feather will do. Please... pretty please..." The old man continued requesting to no avail.


    The bird had no intention of listening to the old man.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    The old man shook his head and turned to sit down at the stone table that was ced nearby. But the moment he turned he heard a shrill sound.


    <i>~Qiyaaa~</i>


    The old man¡¯s eyes went wide as he hurriedly turned around. He saw his precious bird spreading its wings and letting out a loud cry. Looking in its eyes one could see a strange kind of fervor. The old man felt puzzled but a few secondster, more such cries sounded all across the sect.


    The old elder¡¯s brows furrowed as he looked around. A massive wave of spirit Qi came from his body as it spread around the sect.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    Soon multicolored lights could be seen flying towards him from all over the sect. The lightsnded around him, revealing many men and women, who started bowing their heads and cupping their hands in respect.


    "Ancestor! The beasts all over the sect are acting strange."


    "They aren¡¯t listening to us either. A few disciples who tried to restrain a couple of them were attacked directly."


    "We¡¯re getting reports that this isn¡¯t happening just here. It is happening all over the empire."


    The old man raised his hand, silencing all the people at once.


    "If all the beasts are acting like this then can only be a few reasons for this." The Ancestor spoke.


    "And what are they, ancestor?"


    "Either they have been scared by the presence of a very strong beast, the likes of which we¡¯ve never seen before. Or... if what I¡¯ve read in our forbidden archives is correct... an immortal treasure that is priceless to beasts ising into existence somewhere." The ancestor spoke.


    "What should we do now, ancestor?"


    "Investigate of course. If it¡¯s the first option then we may need to talk with the other sects about it first. A beast like that... won¡¯t be something I will be able to deal with alone." The ancestor said shocking the people.


    "But if it¡¯s the second option then... we need to obtain it at all costs!" The ancestor said as a powerful aura exuded from his body.


    ***


    All the top sects reared certain beasts and even had guardian beasts who were treated no less than the sect¡¯s elders. These beasts were as smart as humans, but even they were acting the same and letting out loud cries.


    The cultivation sects were sent in a tizzy trying to control them as some of them redacted violently to being interrupted.


    This phenomenon continued for over an hour before it stopped.


    Themoners were scared that this was an evil omen and that something bad was about to happen, while the sects hurried to find the cause behind it, thinking that it must be something really beneficial for them.


    Even the nobles of various kingdoms were not excluded in this and they sent out their own people to check it as well.


    The actual cause behind this was none other than Lin Mu who was sitting inside the cave in an unknown forest.


    After he started chanting the Nurturing heart sutra the cries of beasts could be heard from all over the forest by him too, but he didn¡¯t pay attention to it for now. For him, little Shrubby was the main concern.


    Inside Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian, the spirit Qi started to stir before it started to bubble. Soon the reaction got more violent it was as if the spirit Qi would soon explode. Lin Mu felt like something was wrong when he looked at it, but his mind was telling him everything was fine and this was supposed to happen.


    The bubbling spirit Qi started to reduce in size before Lin Mu was only left with half of his entire store of liquid spirit Qi in his Dantian. The amount that had disappeared had instead changed into a string of energy that floated above the sea of spirit Qi.

 Chapter 545 - Beast Qi

    <h4>Chapter 545 - Beast Qi </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at it curiously but couldn¡¯t tell what it was. From his own body¡¯s response, it didn¡¯t seem to desire the energy as it did with spirit Qi or vital energy.


    "What is this senior?" Lin Mu questioned feelingpletely lost.


    Xukong though did not respond to Lin Mu. He just kept on staring at the string of energy that was floating above Lin Mu¡¯s spirit Qi sea without moving.


    "Senior? Is everything okay?" Lin Mu questioned feeling concerned.


    "Could it really be..." Xukong muttered.


    "Senior?" Lin Mu called out again.


    "Yes?" Xukong said snapping out of his daze.


    "What is that strange energy?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That Lin Mu... is something nearly every beast in the world would desire..." Xukong said and took a pause, looking at the energy again.


    "That energy is a strand of pure Beast Qi." Xukong answered.


    "Beast Qi? Is that another type of spirit Qi?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No..." Xukong shook his head. "It¡¯s something on apletely different level."


    "Beast Qi is a special type of Qi that contains a fragment of the essence of the Beast Path." Xukong revealed.


    Upon hearing that it was rted to one of the ¡¯Paths¡¯, Lin Mu instantly connected the points and realized what it was.


    "So it¡¯s simr to other derivative Qi¡¯s like the Sword Qi, Buddhist Qi, and more." Lin Mu asked.


    "Exactly... these types of qi¡¯s are different from the three categories of the Qis of the universe. They all contain a fragment of the essence of various paths. Sword Qi would contain the fragment of the essence of the Sword path, Buddhist Qi that of the Buddhist path and in this case, Beast Qi has the beast path." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu felt excited about this as he understood that the fourth sutra that he obtained was the representative of the Beast path. Now he had sutra for four paths including the Sword, Buddhist and Demonic path.


    While Lin Mu was feeling excited about this, Xukong on the other hand was going through a storm of emotions. He felt sad, angry, happy, terrified and excited at the same time.


    "Seeing as it is of the beast path, will this Beast Qi help other beasts to cultivate?" Lin Mu asked.


    Xukong forcefully controlled himself and reminded himself he needed to be calm.


    "Yes... but not directly. It will not be like spirit Qi which would increase the cultivation base of a beast. Rather Beast Qi has a slightly different effect." Xukong said as he took a pause.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu asked impatiently.


    "Beast Qi can instead help a beast improve their bloodline and overall quality of their body." Xukong answered.


    Upon hearing this Lin Mu knew exactly what he now needed to do.


    Lin Mu ced his hands upon little Shrubby¡¯s body. He then controlled the Strand of Beast Qi to leave his Dantian before guiding it through his meridians and then into the body of Little Shrubby.


    Once it entered Little Shrubby¡¯s body, Lin Mu didn¡¯t need to do anything else. The arrival of the Strand of Beast Qi was like throwing a drop of water into a vat of boiling oil.


    Little Shrubby¡¯s body convulsed violently as its spirit Qi became chaotic. Lin Mu became scared and went to intervene when Xukong interrupted.


    "Don¡¯t! Let it happen! Little Shrubby needs to do this on his own." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu had a worried expression on his face as he looked at little Shrubby on the ground.


    "What is happening to him senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Beast Qi is not something that is easily handled by anyone. Absorbing it is an even more difficult task." Xukong said.


    "But... didn¡¯t you say it is something that every beast desires?" Lin Mu asked feeling confused.


    "Yes... while nearly every beast desires it, they can¡¯t all hope to survive it. When a Beast absorbs Beast Qi, it will be forced to withstand its power. The Beast Qi will thoroughly activate every part of the Beast¡¯s body. The beast¡¯s bloodline, whether it has one or not will be tested and trialed.


    If the bloodline is strong enough it will be able to absorb the beast Qi, but if it is weak then the only chance the beast would survive it is if it has luck or a good body. In a way, it will temper the body of a beast as well.


    Once a beast sessfully absorbs some Beast Qi they would gain an increase in the quality of their bloodline." Xukong exined.


    "Then will they undergo a bloodline evolution?" Lin Mu questioned.


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    "No, of course not." Xukong said before continuing, "a bloodline evolution is no small thing. While a bloodline evolution can indeed happen due to Beast Qi, it would require arge amount of it. A strand like this will only increase the quality of a beast¡¯s bloodline.


    It also has more effects but they vary from beast to beast. It¡¯s hard to tell what would happen in each beast due to the vast variety of beasts in the world." Xukong answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He then looked at his Dantian and a wry smile appeared on his face.


    "All this spirit Qi and only a small strand like this..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "No, Lin Mu. That¡¯s not it. You don¡¯t understand... If the Nurturing heart sutra can keep on producing Beast Qi like this then it is nothing less than a fortune of the heavens. If a beast want¡¯s to get Beast Qi normally, they would have to obtain it by killing countless other beasts in hopes of condensing a small amount themselves.


    Or... they would have to find a natural treasure that contains such Beast Qi. Either of these options are hard for most beasts and even cultivators would go crazy to obtain Beast Qi just so that they can get their tamed beast to progress." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu finally understood the gravity of the situation and knew he would need to ponder on this matter more.

 Chapter 546 - Restriction And Resources

    <h4>Chapter 546 - Restriction And Resources </h4>


    Lin Mu continued observing Little Shrubby and saw that his condition was slowly getting better. The convulsions had reduced and only some muscle twitches could be seen now from time to time.


    Lin Mu waited there for over three days before the changes in Little Shrubby finally stopped, even though he was still asleep. By now his body had healed and the color of his fur had a glossy sheen again.


    Even his aura seemed to be a bit more powerful than before.


    Lin Mu had also restored the spirit Qi in his Dantian and had taken this time to normalize his own body and meridians. He needed to see if his spirit Qi was hampered by anything or not.


    Finding that except for his core being cracked, there wasn¡¯t any problem for him.


    "You will need to watch out for your spirit Qi consumption though." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You use the spirit Qi from the spirit Qi sea in you Dantian most of the time and don¡¯t depend on the spirit Qi in your core as your capacity is high. But for others, their spirit Qi sea is depleted quickly and they primarily depend on their cores.


    Cores have a much higher storage of spirit Qi in them due to being condensed into a solid form. But this also determines the cultivation base of the cultivator. So you should know what would happen if they use up too much spirit Qi." Xukong replied.


    "Yeah, their cultivation base would regress and they would fall back one stage." Lin Mu answered.


    "Correct. But in your case, you can¡¯t let it get to the level where your cultivation base is about to regress. Other¡¯s core will shrink in size when it has been deprived of Qi, but yours is cracked.


    If you do the same, instead of simply shrinking in size, your core will directly explode due to bing unstable. A core explosion is quite deadly and not many survive it. And even those that survive it, be crippled." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know that there would be a restriction like this on him. But he didn¡¯t really mind it, as reaching that point would be quite difficult. Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian already had arge capacity for spirit Qi and his core had over six times that capacity.


    Unless it was some extreme situation, Lin Mu doubted he would even be able to deplete that much spirit Qi at once. Not to mention before reaching that point he had a lot of resources like spirit stones and basic Qi pills that he could easily use to restore his spirit Qi.


    Thinking of the resources made Lin Mu realize that he now had a lot of resources taken from the Tri Cauldron Peony Sect. He quickly peered into his ring and went through them, one by one. There were many herbs, pills, manuals, natural treasures, spirit stones, weapons and such in the ring. Along with arge vault that was still lying there, locked.


    "Ah, I still need to unlock it." Lin Mu remembered.


    Seeing as Little Shrubby had still not woken up, Lin Mu decided to take care of the vault for now. He definitely couldn¡¯t do it in the cave as the area was simply too small, thus he first carved out the cave to make it big enough.


    About an hourter, Lin Mu had expanded the cave to be over ten times the size it was before. The rocky walls were easy to chop with the spirit swords and transporting them was even easier, as Lin Mu could simply store them in the ring.


    Once arge enough area was constructed, Lin Mu ced the vault on the ground. The ground cracked and trembled because of the weight of the vault, but it soon settled down. Lin Mu got to unraveling the formations of the vault and took his sweet time in doing so.


    He had chosen to take this opportunity to learn a bit about the formations, as well. Plus, now that he actually had resources that could help him in constructing formations, he may actually be able to use them more.


    He even had ess to manuals, which contained information about various formations. Lin Mu ended up taking an entire day before he finally opened the vault. When it opened though, Lin Mu felt a wave of spirit Qiing from it.


    The spirit Qi was dense enough that it had turned into a visible mist. The mist obscured the items within the vault and made it hard to see.


    <i>~HUU~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and sucked all the mist into his body, clearing it out. Once the mist was gone, Lin Mu was left to gaze at the various treasures that were left in the vault.


    Unlike the other vaults, though, the number of items here was quite less, but the quality was top notch. Many of the items were things that even the top sects would desire.


    "Isn¡¯t this... an Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum?" Lin Mu said in astonishment.


    The Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum had eight petals and each petal had a sigil on it. From these petals, streams of spirit qi were being released. They would leave one petal and enter the next after spreading a bit. This way they bounced eight times before returning to the first petal.


    A unique pattern was thus formed that had a mesmerizing property. Looking at the flower, Lin Mu felt as if he was being hypnotized. He chanted the severing heart sutra and dispelled the effect of the flower.


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    "Truly marvelous..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "I didn¡¯t expect that there would be an Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum here... these are rare even in the higher worlds." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head as he had known about this too. He had actually learned about it from the Lost immortal¡¯s Memoirs.


    The use of this Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum was quite important in the refinement of a pill called Twilight Ascension Pill.


    It was peak grade pill that could assist a Dao Treading Realm cultivator to break through into the Immortal Ascension Realm!

 Chapter 547 - Sorting Through The Contents

    <h4>Chapter 547 - Sorting Through The Contents </h4>


    A herb like the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum would be priceless even in the top sects. Lin Mu had no idea how one of them turned up here. But looking at its condition he could tell that it had been growing for a long time and had been perfectly preserved in a jade box.


    "Doesn¡¯t the Flower look a bit different, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... I guess it does. It has probably been preserved in the box for a long time now and that box is the only thing keeping it alive. Once it dies, its medicinal properties will start to fall as well.


    It is one of the spirit flowers that needs to be fresh for them to be useful. That is one of the reasons why they are so hard to find. While they are indeed born in many worlds, finding one that is alive is quite difficult.


    Even that box it¡¯s kept in is quite valuable and could be considered as a high grade spirit tool. The formations on it areplex enough to form an array and would probably need a formation grandmaster to inscribe." Xukong answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu said before storing the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum in the ring.


    He had no use for it now and even if he wanted to make use of it, he would need the other ingredients of the Twilight Ascension pill, each of which was quite hard to find. Lin Mu actually knew all of them since he had seen the Lost Immortal use one himself.


    That is how the lost immortal was able to break through to the Immortal Ascension realm despite his low talent. Lin Mu had read quite far in his memoirs and at the current part the lost immortal was already at the Immortal Ascension realm.


    Lin Mu had seen his journey and struggles along the way through his memoirs and felt enlightened. He couldn¡¯t help butpare them to his own and find that he had it quite easier than that man.


    The Lost Immortals Broken Fate Physique was truly something that was devastating to a person. But despite that, the man had achieved something that billions had been unable to. The respect in Lin Mu¡¯s heart for that man was great.


    Having put the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum which was the most eye catching thing in the vault first, Lin Mu went to check the other things that were kept in there. Lin Mu first of all put away the spirit weapons that were in it. They were all high grade spirit weapons but if hepared them to the one¡¯s Old Man Jing had, they would still be of a lower quality.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t really care about using them as he would need to put his brand on them too. He already had two high grade spirit weapons with him which took up most of his control. He didn¡¯t want to add more until he had a better control on it.


    Lin Mu knew he could support five high grade spirit weapons on his own right now, so he chose to rece the ones that he had for the Thousand Armament de scripture. A few of them had been broken and there were suitable recements for them here.


    The ones that he added were a high grade spirit Axe, a pole arm, and a saber.


    Checking the other items, Lin Mu came upon several Alchemical pills that were of high grade. Though there wasn¡¯t something he could use now as he would need to store most of these items till the final war with the northern tribes.


    He would then return these to the sect so that they could have resources for that. If Lin Mu were to use them up, he would be destroying the foundations of the Tris Cauldron Peony Sect and in turn weakening an ally of the Zhou Empire in the fight against the Northern Tribes.


    Wu Hei had told him that he could take some items from the sects but he should not go overboard. Lin mu continued looking and found a few manuals, which had quite a lot of information about Alchemy and pill refinement.


    It took Lin Mu over six hours to sort through everything before he was done. He then stored the entire vault back in his ring, not knowing what to do with it now. He didn¡¯t leave it here as the vault itself was quite valuable.


    "You may as well further progress the mortal strengthening scripture since you have better earth elemental herbs now." Xukong reminded.


    Lin Mu remembered it and took out all the earth elemental herbs he had gotten from the herb fields of the Herb peak. He then sat down before stabilizing his condition. Lin Mu checked the pool of earth attribute spirit Qi in his Dantian and saw that it was full.


    In the month that he had been in the ring, his body had recovered the spirit Qi that he needed automatically. This was a surprise to him as before he needed to convert the earth attribute spirit Qi on his own manually.


    ¡¯I guess this is the benefit of having an affinity to the earth element. Just having the technique is enough for it to work automatically after a certain point.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Back when he had been struck by the tribtion lightning, the armor made by the Mortal Strengthening Scripture waspletely destroyed and all of his earth attribute spirit Qi was drained in one go. That was also the reason why Lin Mu had not sustained as many physical injuries.


    If it was anyone else, they would definitely be more than just paralyzed due to the Tribtion lightning bolt.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and picked yup one of the earth attribute herbs which was in the form of a thick brown stalk. Lin Mu put it in his mouth and chewed on it. His face cringed at the bitter taste but he clenched his fist andpletely ate the herb.


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    As soon as he swallowed it down, the brown glowing armour around him cracked!

 Chapter 548 - Gravity Of The Situation

    <h4>Chapter 548 - Gravity Of The Situation </h4>


    Lin Mu was already at the edge of the next level of the Mortal strengthening scripture and thus even eating this one herb was enough to push him to the next level. But it was not enough to fullyplete the process.


    While the brown armor was cracked, it would take more earth attribute herbs to reform it. Lin Mu thus picked up another earth attribute herb which was a flower with six petals. Each petal was curled up as if it was shy and a small cloud of earth attribute spirit Qi surrounded it.


    Lin Mu put it in his mouth and chewed, spreading the juices in his mouth. Unlike the bitter root he had eaten before, this flower was slightly sweet in taste but overall it was nd. This eased Lin Mu¡¯s expression as he swallowed it downpletely.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The medicinal properties surged through his stomach as they were taken up by his meridians under the guidance of the Mortal Strengthening scripture. The earth attribute spirit Qi seeped out of his skin, forming into a newyer.


    Thisyer was very thin, as if it was silk. It was still brown but its color had gotten a bit lighter. If it was brown like soil before, now it was light brown like y. It also didn¡¯t have any patterns on it.


    It looked very in, as if someone had painted ayer on Lin Mu¡¯s skin. Theyer kept on growing in thickness as more and more earth attribute spirit Qi kept on pouring in it. Lin Mu thought he had already reached the fifth level of the Mortal strengthening scripture, but now it seemed different.


    "Senior, is it supposed to be like this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Different people have different effects with the mortal strengthener scripture. Since you already have an affinity to the earth element, I think the skill is needing more earth attribute spirit Qi to make it better.


    You already have plenty of earth attitude herbs and pills, you may as well use them and see the effect." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and reckoned that it was fine. He thus started to eat more of the earth attributive herbs one by one. The more of them he ate, the thicker theyer got. It reached a point where theyer was over six inches thick! Lin Mu couldn¡¯t even be seen beneath it, and it seemed like someone had covered him in a mound of y.


    Once Lin Mu ran out of all the earth attribute herbs, he got to the alchemical pills. Now there were many pills in this. Most were of a lower quality than the Dark Soil pill that Lin Mu had eaten before, but there were seven pills that were of the same quality as that of the Dark Soil pill!


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    Lin Mu first finished off the lower quality pills and saw that the brownyer was now starting to condense. A strange gravity like force emanated from Lin Mu¡¯s body as it started to pull on theyer.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~DENG~ </i>


    <i>~DENG~ </i>


    Each time theyerpressed, it was as if someone was hitting a bronze bell. When Lin Mu had finished all of the lower quality pills, the thickness of theyer had been reduced by half and was about three inches thick now.


    Lin Mu then looked at a set of pills that were kept in individual bottles. Each of these pills was equivalent to the Dark Soil pill and were immensely powerful. Usually, a Nascent soul realm cultivator or higher would use them, but here was Lin Mu, about to eat them like candy.


    He put the first pill in his mouth, which immediately melted and swallowed down. His body quickly got to absorbing it and assimting it ording to the Mortal Strengthening scripture. Unlike before when Lin Mu had eaten the Dark Soil pill, the reaction was not as strong.


    The brownyer started to shrink again, but this time at a snail¡¯s pace. Seeing that it was not having a strong enough effect, Lin Mu popped another pill.


    <i>~Weeng~</i>


    The sound of metal bending could be heard as Lin Mu suddenly felt his body being attracted towards the earth. He managed to keep himself from toppling but had to spend a bit of energy. Lin Mu reckoned this would only get difficult as he went ahead.


    Thus he thought of doing something crazy.


    <i>~pop~pop~pop~</i>


    He opened all of the vials and ate six pills at once!


    Thick Earth Attribute spirit Qi leaked out of his pores due to the sheer amount that was coursing through Lin Mu¡¯s body. His meridians were under great pressure and so was his Dantian.


    In his Dantian, a unique scene could be seen. His liquid spirit Qi which was like a wide sea, became tainted with the brown earth attribute spirit Qi. It was as if the water had suddenly be muddied like during a flood and a scene of chaos was spread.


    Lin Mu¡¯s cracked core spun automatically, trying to stabilize the condition.


    The gravitational pull that Lin Mu was feeling suddenly multiplied threefold and his robes got pulled down straight. His hair was also stretched taut and it looked quiteical. The earth attribute spirit Qi which was leaking out of Lin Mu¡¯s pores, was being pulled back into his body due to the gravitational force and pushed on the brownyer further.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Another loud sound of a bronze bell ringing was heard as theyerpressed by half. It was now at one and a half inches.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The force pushed it more and it reached a thickness of one inch. By now the gravitational force that was pulling on Lin Mu was not just acting on him, but in the area of over ten kilometers around him.


    Though it was only a fraction of what it was on him.


    Many birds that were flying around suddenly found themselves falling out of the sky as their bodies became like lead. Other animals that were galloping stumbled and fell to the ground due to suddenly finding it hard to move.


    Many such scenes were seen in the forest which shocked the animals and made most of them scared.

 Chapter 549 - Completion Of Mortal Strengthening Scripture And Treasured Organ!

    <h4>Chapter 549 - Completion Of Mortal Strengthening Scripture And Treasured Organ! </h4>


    The gravity continued to pressure the brownyer and finally reduced it to less than a centimeter thick.


    The moment this happened, all of the medicinal properties of the earth attribute herbs were consumed and a rumbling sound spread in all his body. His muscles and skin stiffened as the brownyer started to attach to them.


    It now formed a skin-tight bond and lookedpletely like a part of Lin Mu¡¯s body. It no longer had any patterns like an armor, and had returned to a very simple form. If one were to look at it when the armor was activated, they would think that it was just some low leveled defensive technique.


    But in reality, this thin looking armor was strong enough to take the blows of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator now. Lin Mu had now sessfully reached the fifth level of the Mortal Strengthening scripture and had done something very few people had aplished.


    But this was not the stop of it. Since the Mortal Strengthen scripture could also help Lin Mu a little bit with his body tempering realms cultivation, it was now pushing it as well. Inside Lin Mu¡¯s body the spirit Qi and vital energy were now reacting under the effect of the gravitational force.


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    Lin Mu¡¯s body currently contained both Vital Essence and Vital energy. But the vital essence was in less quantity than the vital energy. But now it seemed to be rapidly increasing as the remaining amount of Vital energy was being converted to vital essence.


    Lin Mu¡¯s Body tempering cultivation which had been stuck all this while also kick-started again as a surprise to him and started to progress. His spleen¡¯s cells started replicating and new ones began being created.


    Soon all of them were reced and the old ones were destroyed. Earth attribute spirit Qi swirled within his spleen and a stream of vital essence also flowed out of his spleen. His blood suddenly started to speed up and he felt a heat within his chest.


    <i>~WEENG~</i>


    His blood rapidly perfused his spleen and started being filtered. His spleen was now filtering all the blood, removing the old and damaged blood cells. The processsted about fifteen minutes before his blood flow slowed down to Normal.


    If one looked at Lin Mu¡¯s face, one would see a refreshing rosy tint on his cheeks. Even his skin seemed to be vibrant, as the blood of his body had been purified by the spleen. All the old and damaged blood was removed, leaving behind youthful and young cells.


    Then suddenly everything went silent.


    Nothing could be heard in the area, but within Lin Mu¡¯s body, a storm was seething. His aura started to rapidly rise and if one could see it, they would find him like a beacon in the dark. Lin Mu¡¯s aura shot straight up from the cave, ignoring the rock and the mountain in the way.


    His aura was unyielding as it dered its presence. Lin Mu hadpleted the refinement of his spleen fully, and it had now be a treasured organ!


    Lin Mu hadpleted the first stage of the Five Treasures realm and just his flesh was strong enough to contend with a cultivator that was at the peak of the core condensation realm. If onebined that with his Qi cultivation he would now be able to content with plenty of Nascent Soul realm cultivators!


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a dark breath that corroded the path that it passed over. The rocks of the cave sizzled as if acid had been spilled on it, while the soil changed its color to a vitriolic green. One could see the toxicity of the impurities that had just been expelled by Lin Mu¡¯s body.


    But that was not the shocking part as these impurities didn¡¯te from his body, from consumption of food and air. But rather from the pills that he had just consumed all together. Reaching the Five Treasure Realm had the additional benefit of purifying the body, just like the Toxin Cleansing pills did.


    Except for the effect of brought by the Five Treasures Realm was much stronger than any Toxin Cleansing pill. But this could not be replicated again either, unless Lin Mu progressed further and reached the second stage of the Five Treasures realm.


    Progression in each stage would give the cultivator an opportunity to cleanse their bodies. This was another reason why the body cultivation was considered to be terrifying. With theck of toxins in their bodies, body cultivators would have smoother progress and their Qi would flow smoothly as well.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes as they exuded an imposing presence.


    He extended his hand and clenched his fist.


    <i>~phut~</i>


    The sound of a balloon bursting could be heard as Lin Mu¡¯s handpressed the air due to the force and made it burst. While other cultivators would also be able to replicate this, Lin Mu didn¡¯t need any Qi skills to do that.


    His body was now an impable weapon that would only grow stronger with time. His breakthrough to the second stage of the Five Treasures realm also improved the durability of his body further, whichbined with the Mortal Strengthen scripture had reached an unthinkable level.


    Lin Mu knew for sure that he would not be able to hurt himself unless he lowered his guard himself. He reckoned that he wouldn¡¯t even be able to harm himself, even if he tried and would need to rely on enemies to test it!


    This also brought Lin Mu a sense of relief in his heart. He would not need to fear ambushes now as the Mortal strengthening scripture and his own body would be able to defend against surprise attacks at all times.


    "Congrattions Lin Mu! You¡¯ve made a great achievement I¡¯ve rarely seen any cultivators reaching both the second stage of the Five Treasures realm and thepletion of Mortal strengthening scripture in one go." Xukong praised.


    "Thank you, senior. But it was also due to your guidance that I¡¯ve reached this far." Lin Mu added.

 Chapter 550 - Where Are We?

    <h4>Chapter 550 - Where Are We? </h4>


    "Though I must say you created a lot ofmotion in your breakthrough," Xukong said.


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    "I did, didn¡¯t I?" Lin Mu said with a chuckle.


    He knew the gravitational force that had emanated from the earth was not normal and probably had something to do with the Mortal Strengthening scripture.


    "Why did the gravity suddenly increase though, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I think this may be due to your natural affinity with the earth element. If it were someone else that reached the fifth level of the Mortal Strengthening scripture, they would not have the same effect.


    I also think it was catalyzed due to your body cultivation as well. Since you were refining your spleen as the first treasured organ, it resonated with the earth. Plus, this world likely never had someone who practiced to the five treasures realm, which probably caused it to respond.


    Though it was beneficial to you, as it helped you breakthrough in both things at once." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu did not expect that the world itself would have helped him like this. He knew senior Xukong had said, being the world¡¯s ordained came with certain benefits, but this was the first time he was actually seeing them.


    ¡¯But why would it give me benefit when I haven¡¯t even fulfilled my end of the bargain? I haven¡¯t dealt with the invader at all yet.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was another thing that had been hovering at the back of Lin Mu¡¯s mind. In all this time, he had gotten no clues to the Invader except for the fact that Gu Yao hade in contact with it and was even infected at one point.


    From what Xukong had said, the main body of the invader should be hiding somewhere in the void, and if he wanted to find it, he would have to find its other avatars that were probably spread in the world.


    If Lin Mu counted, he knew of multiple avatars that had been killed till now. There was one that was expelled by the Great Slumber bear, one that was erased by Jing Wei and Duan Ke and was in the form of a coyote beast. Then there was the Blight Dust beast which was killed by the disciples of the sect and cleaned up by Duan Ke as well.


    Zhou Ye was also infected by the invader, but it was not an actual avatar but rather the fragment from the great slumber beast, so it would not count. The same would be the case for the others that Duan Ke erased in the forest. They were all fragments created by infecting creatures of this world.


    Though if what Gu Yao had said was right about the merchant who brought the Greta Slumber bear and the invader to this world, then it was likely that the other avatars could be somewhere in the Northern Tribes.


    Lin Mu had guessed that the Northern Tribes had asked the merchant to bring in the invader as a trump card to use against the Great Zhou Empire and the sect. He couldn¡¯t tell if it was a foolish move or not though, as the invader was not controble by anyone.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I¡¯ll just have to persevere... taking one thing at a time is the best I can do for now." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Having done that, he took out themunication jade slip and tried to contact Wu Hei, but was unable to do so.


    "Just as I expected... we are too far. But where?" Lin Wu wondered.


    He had no idea where Little Shrubby had run to. Plus since he was still in a deep sleep it was not like he could ask him either.


    "May as well take a look from the top..." Lin Mu said before leaving the cave.


    He summoned his short sword and flew to the top of the mountain at the base of which the cave was.


    "Oh, my... this..." Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    This was not the only mountain that was in the area. In fact, Lin Mu could easily see hundreds of mountains along with a vast forest that extended to the horizon. But that was not the most shocking thing.


    The most shocking thing was the thousands of buildings and pavilions that were built along the sides of the peaks of mountains. These mountains were quite far from where Lin Mu was but and they looked like small dots. But he was sure that it was a sect... a cultivation sect.


    "How far did Little Shrubby exactly run? These trees... they aren¡¯t found in the Shuang Qian Kingdom at all... not even that, they aren¡¯t from the Northern Lands either." Lin Mu said in a shocked tone.


    "Senior, did you see where Little Shrubby went? Got any idea?" Lin Mu questioned, just in case.


    "No... after you passed out, even I could abrasively sense anything outside. Plus, since little Shrubby was using the seven beasts burst, the defense formed by it was not something my spirit sense could get through either." Xukong said.


    "Only after he reached here and fainted, was I able to see things." Xukong added.


    "Hmm... thisplicates things..." Lin Mu muttered.


    Since it had been over a month, he knew Wu Hei and the rest must be worried about him and were wondering where he went. While their n had indeed seeded, it was just one of them. They would still need to do it for the other sects.


    "¡¯You can try to take a closer look and see what sect that is. If you know which one it is, you will know your position on the map." Xukong suggested.


    "Yeah, I¡¯ll do that. I¡¯ll use the ring¡¯s skill just in case. Trespassing in a sect¡¯s territory will be problematic." Lin Mu replied before flying towards the mountain where the sect was.


    He didn¡¯t go to the main part, which was highly popted by the buildings. Rather, he went to the outer mountains with fewer buildings.

 Chapter 551 - Ripple Mist Sect

    <h4>Chapter 551 - Ripple Mist Sect </h4>


    It took Lin Mu a little over four hours to reach the buildings. They looked closer than they appeared, and at a certain point, Lin Mu was even wondering if he was moving forward or not.


    He also observed quite a lot of beasts roaming the forests. There weremon beasts all the way to the core condensation realm beasts. Lin Mu even saw three Peak stage core condensation realm beasts in the forest.


    "This is definitely nomon forest..." Lin Mu muttered.


    He avoided the beasts and continued his journey to the sect. But once he reached there he quickly hid underground using phase and moved to check the area. Along the way, he had not detected any formation array, which was a bit shocking to him as well.


    He was sure that a sect would have arge formation array around it. Especially a sect like this, which was evenrger than the Tri Cauldron Peony sect in size. Lin Mu was sure it was a mid grade sect if not higher.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around to observe things and saw quite a few people moving around. They were dressed in in Grey blue robes and were doing menial tasks like cleaning, chopping wood, carrying water, and such.


    "Seems like they are servants of the sect." Lin Mu guessed.


    He checked their cultivation bases and discovered that nearly everyone was at the eighth stage of the body tempering realm, if not higher.


    "Damn, if the servants are at this level then this is nomon sect." Lin Mu reckoned.


    He spent an hour gathering information and eventually discovered where he was.


    "The Ripple mist sect..." Lin Mu muttered.


    The sect that was in front of Lin Mu was actually one of the top ten sects of the World, The Ripple Mist sect!


    It was ranked seventh in the rankings and came under the alliance of the Zither Wind sect. Which meant that it was likely to be under the influence of Gu Yao as well. And if it was so, then Lin Mu knew he would have to tread carefully.


    "Little Shrubby ran over three entire kingdoms in that time..." Lin Mu said, feeling shocked.


    The Ripple Mist sect was located south east of the Northern Lands and was over fifteen thousand kilometer from the Shuang Qian Kingdom¡¯s border. This showed how far Little Shrubby hade.


    "Getting back to the Shuang Qian kingdom will be quite difficult... unless Little Shrubby is able to use the Seven Beasts Burst again. But I doubt we want him to use it again... unless it is absolutely necessary." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That¡¯s right, I think you¡¯ll need to make a different n from here," Xukong said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and moved to the other mountains that were closer to the main area of the Ripple Mist sect. Along the way, he heard the conversations of the disciples and learned quite a few things.


    "So my actions at the Tri Cauldron peony sect have already spread till here, huh..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Well, what you did was truly quite a lot. A robbery of that level will cripple most sects." Xukong said.


    "That¡¯s fine but why would they give me that name..." Lin Mu said, feeling a bit embarrassed.


    "Well, I guess it does suit you a bit. After all, you didn¡¯t only steal the sect¡¯s resources... you also stole Bo¡¯s Tribtion lightning." Xukong said with a chuckle.


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    "I guess the ¡¯Lightning Thief¡¯ is not so bad." Lin Mu said.


    In the month, Lin Mu had been sleeping, his deeds had already spread across the sects. First was the fact that he had robbed a sect and the second, he had actually stolen a tribtion lightning bolt as well. It was something that was never done before, and now all the sects were wary.


    They had beefed up their security and made sure their identity badges were working properly. There were extra checks on who entered and exited the sect while their vaults were on day-long supervision.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "If it¡¯s like this, then the n Wu Hei made would not work even if I went back." Lin Mu muttered.


    "It does seem like that now," Xukong replied, unable to help Lin Mu with much.


    Lin Mu put it at the back of his mind for now and investigated a bit more. He also realized why he had not felt any formation array upon getting closer to the sect. It was because the entire mountain he was in before and beyond that came under the sect¡¯s territory.


    That was the reason why no formation triggered. He was within the limits of the formation from the very start!


    Apparency the Ripple Mist sect had expanded their borders after the news about the Tri Cauldron peony sect spread as a precaution and the mountain where Lin Mu was sleeping, was not part of it originally.


    Since they expanded itter on, they never detected Lin Mu or little Shrubby who were in there. Then came the detection function of the formation array. Since there were a lot of beasts in the forest around the sect, including the core condensation realm, their movement would probably trigger the formation.


    So to prevent false rms, they made it so that all the beasts that were within the limits of the formation at the time of expansion were considered part of the sect by default.


    Hearing this gave an idea to Lin Mu and he decided to do something daring. He deactivated phase and resurfaced. He then stole some disciple¡¯s robes and switched into them before trying to pass through one of the automatic checkpoints.


    "Just as I thought..." Lin Mu muttered after going through the checkpoint.


    There was no reaction at the checkpoint at all. It was as if he was not there, which was strange as when other disciples passed the formation lit up for a bit.


    "The formation array... it now considers me as a beast too..."

 Chapter 552 - Two Snakes

    <h4>Chapter 552 - Two Snakes </h4>


    Lin Mu realized that the expanded formation array branded him as a beast, probably because he did not have the identity badge of a disciple. It basically scanned the entire area when it was being made and marked everything with a cultivation as a beast while excluding the disciples from it.


    Now that he thought of it, he wondered why the sect had not thought of this loophole before, or rather why didn¡¯t they think that others may take advantage of this and infiltrate the sect.


    "No rather, they did this after finding about me, right? So, didn¡¯t they think I may have already entered the sect?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Did you forget about the distance? I doubt they even expected Little Shrubby to be so fast that he carried you all the way here. Plus, they didn¡¯t think of others trying this as they are probably a top sect and had better security from the start." Xukong suddenly said.


    Lin Mu thought over it and realized that senior Xukong was right. He was the only one who had been sessful in robbing a sect like that while going past multiple formations. Thus they probably didn¡¯t keep up their guard against others.


    In a way, it was abination of ignorance and belief that no one would target them. Still, it turned out to be advantageous to Lin Mu and he now had a safe haven for the time being.


    "No wait, even if I¡¯m registered as a beast in the formation array, shouldn¡¯t it still prevent beasts from entering the sect?" Lin Mu wondered.


    His spirit sense spread around and he quickly found out the reason for it.


    "Ah, so they use a different method for this. A beast repelling formation instead of an active block against the beasts." Lin Mu learned.


    "This is the more effective method and will also save them quite a bit of resources that letting the formation array actively filter out beasts all the time. Formation arrays asrge as these take up a lot of spirit Qi and they probably save at least couple thousand mid grade spirit stones every day from doing this." Xukong exined.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered, noting this point in his mind.


    While he knew he would not be detected by the formation for now, Lin Mu still didn¡¯t dare to go deeper into the sect, though. He didn¡¯t want to risk someone recognizing him as he was sure they had portraits and sketches of him circting.


    Though he had not seen any of them in this sect for now. Even if he had worn a mask when he was caught, others had seen him before that and the sect would have likely found out about his appearance and would have spread it in the kingdom, or even beyond it.


    "Though I wonder if Gu Yao had any reaction to the Tri Cauldron Peony sect getting robbed." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He roamed around the outskirt of the sect for a little while more and gathered a bit more information before deciding to leave. In this time he had learned that the mountain that he was living in was actuals the backyard of the sect.


    This was a protected area and there were many beasts that lived here. They were all brought in by the sect and were left here to grow. Over the years it had be flourishing and now the disciples could go out to hunt the beasts whenever they watered.


    Lin Mu even learned that there were Nascent Soul realm beasts living in the forest, though he did not know the exact number. For the time being, Lin Mu decided that he would wait till Little Shrubby recovers and in the meantime he will check out the surroundings of the mountain.


    He didn¡¯t want some random Nascent Soul realm beast stumbling upon the cave when he was out or when he was cultivating. Lin Mu thus flew back to the mountain and scouted its surroundings.


    "Hmm... good thing I checked, there is a nest of a Core condensation realm beast nearby." Lin Mu discovered.


    The beast in question was arge Fire Fang Snake. It had built a nest in the hollow of a massive tree and had probably been living there for a while. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how the beast didn¡¯te to attack them, even though he was in its territory for all this time.


    Though when he went closer to check did he realize why.


    "Seems like it is going toy eggs soon," Xukong spoke upon seeing the balding body of the snake.


    "No wonder it didn¡¯t leave the nest, it didn¡¯t want to get into a fight before that." Lin Mu said in understanding. "Hmm... though it is still a bit strange. Don¡¯t Fire Fang snakes live in pairs? If it¡¯s going toy eggs its mate should be with it." Lin Mu recalled from what he had read before.


    "That¡¯s true... perhaps it went out to hunt? Or maybe it died." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu wondered if he should kill the beast now, but then realized it wasn¡¯t really a threat to him. The beast would not move from the spot till itid eggs, and even after that it would guard the eggs till they hatched.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    While Lin Mu was thinking about what to do next, he sensed the ground tremble.


    "Huh? Something¡¯sing." Lin Mu muttered and distanced himself from that area, just in case.


    He moved up from the ground and entered a tree using Phase instead. From there, he observed what was happening. About a minuteter, the tremors in the ground only got stronger before the ground burst open.


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    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    Lin Mu saw the beast that had juste out of the ground. It was another snake, but unlike the Fire Fang snake, which had a mix of red and orange scales, this one had ck and blue scales.


    "A ck Water snake?" Lin Mu recognized. "Is it here to attack the Fire Fang snake?" Lin Mu wondered.


    But then he saw something that rather surprised him.

 Chapter 553 - A Unique Pairing And An Alternative Method

    <h4>Chapter 553 - A Unique Pairing And An Alternative Method </h4>


    Lin Mu was sure that the ck water snake was here to attack the Fire Fang Snake, but he instead saw it bringing a corpse of another beast instead. It ced it at the side of the Fire Fang Snake who was resting with its eyes closed.


    <i>~Hiss~</i>


    The ck Water Snake woke up the Fire Fang Snake because of its movement.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    The fire fang snake weakly hissed before looking at the beast¡¯s corpse. It then lifted its head from therge tree hollow and revealed the rest of its body. The Fire Fang Snake was actually quite big, but because it was all coiled up, it was hard to see the rest of its body.


    The ck Water snake was smallerpared to it. The Fire Fang snake opened its mouth and swallowed the beast¡¯s corpse whole.


    Upon seeing this, Lin Mu realized that the ck Water Snake was probably the mate of the Fire Fang Snake.


    "Strange..." Lin Mu muttered upon seeing this.


    He felt a bit confused and took out the Jade slip to go through the beast records he had.


    "Hmm... Fire Fang Snakes primarily live in the southern part of the Great Zhou continent near the Scorch Sand Desert." Lin Mu read.


    He continued reading more about the Fire Fang Snake and learned a few more things such as the fact that the Fire Fang Snakes make couples when they are young. But seeing as this one was at the peaks stage of the core condensation realm, Lin Mu reckoned it was brought here when it was much weaker.


    "Looks like when the Ripple Mist sect brought it here, it must have been a child. They let it off here to grow, and it formed a pair with the ck Water snake when it could not find another Fire Fang Snake." Lin Mu stated.


    "This is indeed a rather unique pairing, I must say. Both the beasts are of opposite elements and yet they managed to pair up." Xukong said, finding it interesting as well.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and observed the two beasts for a while.


    The ck Water Snake was weaker than the Fire Fang Snake and was at thete stage of the Core condensation realm instead. Seeing its submissive attitude with the Fire Fang Snake and its cultivation base, it was evident that the Fire Fang Snake was the one who had probably forced it to pair up with it.


    While Lin Mu was watching them, an idea suddenly appeared in his mind.


    "Senior, beasts have the same kind of a breakthrough as humans when they reach the Nascent Soul realm, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, mostly it is the same. Though beasts are likely to have stronger bodies than most other Nascent Soul realm cultivators at the same level as them." Xukong replied.


    "Then is their tribtion lightning the same too?" Lin Mu asked.


    Hearing this, Xukong got an inkling of what Lin Mu probably wanted to do.


    "Yes, it¡¯s the same. No matter where you go Tribtion lightning will be same, the only difference will be in its quality and strength." Xukong replied.


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    "Then, if the Fire Fang Snake has a heavenly tribtion, I should be able to steal it as well." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    "YES!" Xukong eximed. "The Nurturing Heart Sutra! If you use it on the Fire Fang Snake, it should improve its talent which would probably cause it to start its breakthrough and trigger the Heavenly Tribtion."


    "Exactly senior. This way I won¡¯t have to piss off any other cultivators and would still be able to break through to the Nascent Soul realm. Even if this Fire Fang Snake is not able to trigger a heavenly tribtion, I¡¯m sure there should be more beasts that are in the same stage as it is." Lin Mu said.


    "Indeed, that could work." Xukong agreed.


    Having made a decision, Lin Mu decided to act on it. He first left the tree and found a better ce so that he could chant the nurturing heart sutra and create the Beast Qi. Lin Mu was not as proficient with the Nurturing Heart Sutra as he was with the other three ones and thus needed to be undisturbed.


    The first three sutras he now had for over two years, while the Nurturing Heart sutra in his possession for barely a day now. Lin Mu thus found a rather isted tree and sat at its crown. It was arge tree, quite like the one the Fire Fang Snake was nesting in. Expect this one was still alive.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and chanted the Nurturing heart sutra, making the spirit Qi within his Dantian boil. It then started to reduce at a rapid pace until half of it was gone in less than five minutes.


    All of this spirit Qi was converted into a thin string of energy that floated above the spirit Qi sea of Lin Mu. This was none other than the Beast Qi!


    Lin Mu opened his eyes as he realized he didn¡¯t have much time before the Beast Qi would be unstable and leave his body forcefully. Either that would happen or it would just dissipate, since Lin Mu was not a beast.


    At least this time, there was no reaction from the beasts of the forest when he chanted the Nurturing heart sutra. Though the sutra was also in the first level of externalprehension while the other three sutras were at the second level of the externalprehension.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how long it would take for it to reach the same level and what changes would happen when it really did.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he observed the string of beast Qi in his Dantian.


    "Well then. No use waiting, let¡¯s get to it," Lin Mu said before jumping down from the tree and approaching the location of the Fire Fang Snake.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    The moment he got within two hundred meters of the beast, he heard a loud hiss.

 Chapter 554 - Injecting The Beast Qi

    <h4>Chapter 554 - Injecting The Beast Qi </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s neck turned as he looked at the source of the sound.


    <i>~Hiss~</i>


    A ck-blue snake looked at Lin Mu with a fierce gaze, as if warning that he should not approach the Fire Fang Snake.


    "Hang on there, little guy. I got something for you two." Lin Mu said, unsure whether the beasts will even understand him or not.


    Little Shrubby could, because he had eaten the Dual Circle Ascension fruits, stayed with him a lot, and had the link with him. But these two beasts were at the core condensation realm like little Shrubby, so their overall intelligence should be still better than average Qi refining realm beasts.


    "They may not understand your words but they should understand the tone of your voice and your intentions. Beasts have sharp instincts, as long as you don¡¯t show any maleficence, they should still be fine.


    Especially since the Fire fang Snake is about toy eggs, they will try to avoid conflict." Xukong said.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu said and thought of something.


    He had one of the best things with him, if he wanted to show that he meant no harm. Lin Mu gave a little smile before chanting the calming heart sutra. His body¡¯s aura immediately toned down, and the ck Water Snake observed him carefully.


    While it had not dropped his guard, the snake was at least a little less tense.


    "Look what I have for you two." Lin Mu said before withdrawing the string of Beast Qi that was within in Dantian.


    Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    As soon as the String of Beast Qi appeared in the world, the forest went silent. It was as if all the beasts were trying to pinpoint its position and none dared to make a sound. The ck Water snake too watched the string of Beast Qi with entranced eyes and even the Fire Fang Snake which had been resting opened her eyes.


    The Fire Fang Snake lifted her head and gazed at Lin Mu cautiously.


    "I guess you two like it. So... I¡¯ll give it to you both." Lin Mu said before splitting the String of Beast Qi in half.


    He held each half of the string in his hand and sent them flying towards each of the snakes. The two snakes reacted like lightning and leaped at the strings of beast Qi, devouring them instantly.


    A pleased expression could be seen on the face of the Fire Fang Snake, but the ck Water snake was not looking exactly good. It lowered its head and rolled on the ground, hissing. From his reaction it looked like he had eaten something bad and now was having a stomachache.


    Lin Mu had of course, expected something like this, but the reaction of the Fire Fang Snake was weird to him. Lin Mu had seen how Little Shrubby had to struggle with the beast Qi, even though it had a stronger bloodline than the Fire Fang Snake.


    "How is shepletely fine?" Lin Mu wondered, having no answer.


    Thinking that it may be better to just leave them alone and observe for now, Lin Mu retreated back to the tree where he was before. He climbed to the top of the tree and bend some branches to make himself afortable seat.


    The Fire Fang Snake coiled back into her nest and seemed to have calmed down. Though when Lin Mu observed the area using his spirit sense, he could tell that she was cultivating. Spirit Qi could be felt moving around her body before being breathed in by her.


    The same was happening with the ck Water Snake, and he was cultivating too, except not in the same calm manner as the Fire Fang Snake. It was still rolling around on the ground, while knocking down some of the nts nearby and uprooting shrubs.


    Having observed them for one hour, Lin Mu didn¡¯t find anything different.


    "Hmm... just this much beast Qi is not enough for any big change. Seems like I¡¯ll need to try more." Lin Mu muttered before deciding to return to the cave.


    In the cave, Lin Mu chanted the Nurturing Heart sutra once again and created another string of Beast Qi. This time it was for Little Shrubby, as he had already assimted the previous one that Lin Mu had given.


    Lin Mu knew that while Beast Qi was quite valuable, if one wanted to evolve the bloodline of a beast, arge quantity was still needed.


    "Let¡¯s see what happens now..." Lin Mu said as he ced his hands on Little Shrubby¡¯s body and injected the string of Beast Qi.


    <i>~Tremble~</i>


    Little Shrubby¡¯s body trembled a little bit on the ground but there were no abrupt and violent convulsive reactions like before. It seemed like his body had adapted to the Beast Qi and the bloodline had taken a step forward in progress.


    Even the color of his fur had be more vibrant, and his aura had stabilized as well. Lin Mu could tell that if before Little Shrubby was asleep due to overtaxing his bloodline, now it was asleep because his bloodline was progressing.


    Lin Mu could feel the strong yet hidden heartbeats of Little Shrubby, along with the heat that emanated from him. His ws would asionally extend and retract while glowing.


    "Oh, gonna have to stay away from there, or he¡¯ll burn my robes when I¡¯m cultivating..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The heat of Little Shrubby¡¯s ws was strong enough that it needed no contact to burn stuff. Anything that was within one meter would be ignited just by being in their presence. And this was only when they were glowing and not fully ignited.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and sat down to replenish his spirit Qi. He had used the Nurturing heart sutra twice and had used up most of his spirit Qi in his Dantian¡¯s spirit Qi sea. He barely had ten percent left now.


    "It will take a little trial and error... but we will get there..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 555 - Qualitative Change

    <h4>Chapter 555 - Qualitative Change </h4>


    The next day Lin Mu opened his eyes and saw a change in Little Shrubby.


    "Did his fur fall off?" Lin Mu spoke.


    He stood up and observed the fur that was fallen on the ground everywhere. Lin Mu checked little Shrubby and saw new fur growing on his body. It was very small and would take a while before it would be replenished.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if this was a good change or not, but then remembered even he had lost all his hair when he had obtained the Xiantian Physique. He reckoned that this must be something simr, if not different.


    Little Shrubby¡¯s aura had also gotten a bit more stronger than before, and it had yet to fully absorb all the Beast Qi that Lin Mu had injected into him yesterday.


    "Hmm... I¡¯ll give him more when he is done with this part." Lin Mu spoke before leaving the cave.


    He wanted to see what the condition of the two snakes was now that a day had passed. Lin Mu flew there and saw the two snakes still lying there. The Fire Fang snake was in the same position as before and was resting while the ck Water snake had calmed down, too.


    It no longer looked like it was in difort, though it was still sprawled on the ground like he was dead. Lin Mu checked both of them with his spirit sense and found that there was a slight change in their cultivation base.


    It had increased by a little bit, but it was most obvious in the ck Water snake.


    "Hmm... a few more strings of the Beast Qi should be enough to show an effect, I think. Since Little Shrubby shed his fur after two full strings, it should be roughly the same for them too... hopefully." Lin Mu estimated.


    Lin Mu chanted the Nurturing heart sutra and refined another string of Beast Qi before taking it out of his Dantian. The Fire Fang Snake woke up immediately upon sensing the Beast Qi and raised its head. The ck water snake though, was still asleep and it seemed like it could not take any more for now.


    "Seems like it¡¯s just you this time..." Lin Mu muttered.


    The Fire Fang Snake looked at Lin Mu with eyes filled with interest, and actually took the initiative to approach him. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but raise his brows at this action and saw the snake stopping a couple of meters away from him.


    It looked intently at the String of Beast Qi but did not rush in for some reason.


    ¡¯It¡¯s willing to wait?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


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    He moved the beast Qi around and saw the snake following it. He moved it to the top, to the left and to the right. The Fire Fang Snake Continued staring at it, not even blinking for the fear of missing it.


    Lin Mu then flicked his finger, sending the beast Qi flying towards the Fire Fang Snake, who quickly consumed it.


    <i>~hiss~ </i>


    The Fire Fang Snake let out a contented hiss as it coiled back up in her nest. Lin Mu could sense its heartbeats getting stronger.


    "Time to wait and watch..." Lin Mu said before taking his seat on top of a tree nearby.


    This time the Snakes were much more tolerant of him and thus did not mind him being nearby. Lin Mu also took this opportunity to cultivate so that his spirit Qi would be replenished. He was there for about two hours before he felt a bit hungry and went to hunt.


    He had not had proper food for more than a month now and felt like he needed to cook and eat something. Even though he had some pre-cooked food in his ring, he wanted to eat something fresh.


    Lin Mu flew over the forest and daily caught a bunch of Rabbit beasts that were all at the Qi refining realm.


    "Ahh... this reminds me of the time in the Northern forest." Lin Mu said as he reminisced about the past.


    Just like today, the rabbits were being roasted over the fire while he gently applied the spices to them.


    ¡¯All thingse back in a circle... times repeat and so do memories... three years passed in the blink of an eye and I changed too...¡¯


    The food was soon cooked while Lin Mu was engrossed in his memories and he woke up from the rumble of his belly. Lin Mu quickly finished the meat before chanting the nurturing heart sutra and refining the Beast Qi string.


    "He seems a bit better than yesterday." Lin Mu said, upon checking Little Shrubby¡¯s condition.


    He then ced his hands on Little Shrubby¡¯s back and injected the string of beast Qi.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    This time the reaction was much stronger than before. A spirit Qi vortex seemed to have formed around Little Shrubby, and it started to pour into his body at a great speed.


    "What¡¯s this?..." Lin Mu said, feeling surprised.


    "Looks like you triggered a breakthrough for him. This is the infusion of spirit Qi which happens when a cultivator or a beast is undergoing a qualitative change." Xukong said.


    "Spirit Qi infusion? How is this different from a normal breakthrough or cultivating normally?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Think of it like this... the body of Little Shrubby is a vacuum and the Sprint Qi is the air that is in rushing to fill that vacuum. While when you cultivate you are trying to stuff that very air into a filled container." Xukong answered.


    "Ah, now I understand." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He watched the spirit Qi vortex for about fifteen minutes, after which it finally faded away.


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    Spirit Qi fluctuations that were much stronger than before came from Little Shrubby¡¯s body as it fully broke through into the Peak stage of the core condensation realm. Its fur which was short, started to grow at a rapid pace and soon covered its entire body.


    Now it was actually longer than it used to be. Another thing that was different was that more patterns had appeared on Little Shrubby¡¯s fur than there were before.

 Chapter 556 - Practice And Adapting

    <h4>Chapter 556 - Practice And Adapting </h4>


    "He should wake up soon now, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... seems like it. Though with the changes that happen we can¡¯t be fully sure." Xukong replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I guess we just wait and watch." Lin Mu said before cultivating.


    He had to replenish the spirit Qi he used up and also sleep for a bit as he needed to practice in the Sleepscape as well. After a few hours, he had fully replenished his spirit Qi and Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape.


    There he saw the spirit apple tree, which was covered with twenty spirit apples.


    "Huh, the number of them growing at once increased again..." Lin Mu said upon seeing the tree.


    He thus went to the tree and plucked the spirit apples before storing them in the ring. Lin Mu himself had little use for the spirit apples, as his recovery was much faster than eating one of them.


    Even now he did not understand why there was this tree growing in the Sleepscape. Still, he didn¡¯t mind it as he could sell its fruits for money when he needed it and it gave a pleasant look to the otherwise in Sleepscape as well.


    Lin Mu then took out the new spirit weapons he had gotten from the Tri Cauldron Peony sect and started to practice the Thousand Armament de Scripture with them. Over time, Lin Mu had alreadypleted the routines of each weapon that was described in the scripture.


    The next step for him was to now assimte them into his swordsmanship. The use of the Thousand Armament de scripture was that so the person learning it would know multiple weapons described in it, and would be able to apply their essence into the swordy.


    It was aplex technique that even Xukong was a bit impressed by. Lin Mu had been practicing this manual ever since he got it and still was at its second step.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~zing~</i>


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    Swords, spears, axes, halberds, sabers flew as Lin Mu practiced the manual. He could now sense the ces where he wascking in and understood where he needed to improve. Rapidly switching between the weapons, Lin Mu let his body flow like water.


    He no longer thought and only let his body do the work. The moves were ingrained into his muscles and needed little to be executed. He was deep in focus and had let go of everything else in his mind.


    Lin Mu spent the rest of the night in this and only stopped when he felt like it was morning.


    <i>~Humm~</i>


    The spirit weapons hummed as Lin Mu shed out onest time, this time creating a faint outline in the air that traveled for a meter before disappearing. The most surprising thing was the fact that no spirit of Qi had been used in this.


    Yet if someone were toe in front of that outline, they would undoubtedly be chopped into two.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath as sheathed the weapons before storing them all in the ring.


    ¡¯The weapons from the Tri Cauldron peony sect, while a bit inferior to the sword and spear I use, are still better than the old weapons I used.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Having thought of this, Lin Mu willed it and returned his consciousness to his body. He opened his eyes and saw Little Shrubby gently sleeping in front of him. His aura had be stronger again and his heartbeat was stronger as well.


    "He should wake up today I think." Lin Mu estimated.


    He then left the cave and went to the location of the two snakes. Upon reaching there Lin Mu saw that only the Fire Fang Snake was currently present there, while the ck water snake was nowhere to be seen.


    ¡¯Did it go out to hunt?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    The Fire Fang Snake sensed Lin Mu¡¯s presence and woke up. Confirming that it really was him, she let out a content hiss while looking at him intently.


    "Where¡¯s your mate?" Lin Mu questioned.


    But the Fire Fang Snake gave no response, just staring at him intently without blinking.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like talking with them is still no use..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He checked the condition of the Fire Fang Snake with his spirit sense and saw that its cultivation base had improved times again. In fact, he reckoned it should reach the Pseudo Nascent Soul realm soon.


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    "Let¡¯s see the effect this time..." Lin Mu said before chanting the nurturing heart sutra and refining the string of Beast Qi.


    In this attempt, it took Lin Mu less time to refine the Beast Qi than before. It was evident that he was getting proficient in the use of the Nurturing Heart Sutra.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The String of Beast Qi came floating out of Lin Mu¡¯s body as he flicked it towards the Fire Fang Snake, who quickly consumed it with pleasure. It almost looked like she had a smile on her face while she absorbed the Beast Qi.


    Lin Mu also noticed that the spirit Qi fluctuations that urred after consuming the Beast Qi reduced for her.


    ¡¯Seems like her body has gotten used to the Beast Qi as well and the bloodline is adapting to it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He observed the snake for a bit while also replenishing the spirit Qi.


    "I should take a look at the sect. Need to have information about the recent events, just in case. Besides me using the Beast Qi caused the beasts to create an uproar, there are bound to be people from the sect who must have noticed it." Lin Mu said.


    "Yeah, you should do that. Better to be safe than sorry." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and flew toward the sect after changing into the robes of a Ripple Mist Sect disciple. He had changed back into his normal robes when he came back from the sectst time, as he didn¡¯t want to damage them while he was in the forest.

 Chapter 557 - Sacred Trials And Little Shrubby Awakens

    <h4>Chapter 557 - Sacred Trials And Little Shrubby Awakens </h4>


    Silently sneaking into the Ripple Mist Sect, Lin Mu began eavesdropping on the different conversations that were going on between the people.


    "Did you hear? Senior sister Bi is going to participate in the sacred trials this time."


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    "Of course I did! It¡¯s the talk of the sect, even the servants know about it."


    "Do you think she will be able to gain fortune from the secret trials?"


    "If she can¡¯t then who else can? She¡¯s the only peak core condensation realm cultivator joining the trial this time and is the strongest of all candidates."


    "That¡¯s true. Even Core Disciple Tian Jun was at the early stage of the Coremendation realm when he joins date Sacred trials thirty years ago. If he can gain one of the supreme inheritances of our sect, then Senior sister Bi should definitely be sessful."


    Lin Mu heard the same topic nearly everywhere in the sect. Apparently, the Ripple mist sect had a ¡¯Sacred Ground¡¯ that only opened every ten years. This sacred ground contained the supreme inheritances of the Ripple mist sect and was said to have been set up by their ancestors.


    The ripple mist sect had a history of thousands of years and thus they had a lot of time to nurture this sacred ground. It could be said that this was the foundation upon which they erected their sect.


    Their best cultivation techniques could be found hidden within the trial ground, along with many other precious herbs that grew within. Any person that got them would be incredibly lucky and would rise up through the ranks if they obtained it.


    Still, Lin Mu didn¡¯t mind it much, as it didn¡¯t have anything with him. It was not like he would be able to enter there, anyway. Or rather... he would not want to enter there, as it would mean risking his identity being revealed.


    Since the Ripple Mist sect was part of the Zither Wind alliance, there was bound to be someone here that was spying for Gu Yao. Plus, there was a great chance that if he revealed his face, he would be discovered.


    So far, Lin Mu had not seen any portraits of him in the sect so he was unsure whether anyone knew what he looked like.


    Lin Mu had wandered in the sect for about two hours now and had learned quite a few things, though they were mostly rted to the Sacred trials. He also learned that the sect had actually be aware of the uproar caused by the beasts in the forest.


    They had even sent out some disciples to check the forest, but they had not gone too deep into the region where Lin Mu was living. There were stronger beasts around the mountain that Lin Mu lived in and they were too much for most disciples to handle.


    Even core condensation realm beasts could prove too much to them and if they made a mistake, they would have to pay with their lives. Not to mention that there were about four Nascent soul realm beasts that lived in the forest as well.


    If by some misfortune the disciples encountered them, they may be saved by the formations but will probably suffer some severe injuries. Usually, this should have been handled by the sect¡¯s elders who were also at the Nascent soul realm, but they were all busy with the preparation of the sacred trials.


    They were one of the most important events that ever happened in the sect and thus they needed to be well prepared, there was no scope for a mistake. Each disciple that entered the sacred trials would have the potential to be one of the powerhouses of the sect in the future.


    Thus they all knew to do their best and not to ck off on it.


    ¡¯At least this works in my favor. When the Heavenly Tribtion happens, hopefully they won¡¯te to check. If everything goes smoothly, I might be able to take advantage of it properly.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He returned to the mountain and decided to wait out till Little Shrubby woke up. The hours passed like flowing water and it was soon evening.


    <i>~purr~</i>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and saw some movement in front of him. Little Shrubby, who had been asleep the entire time, finally started moving. Low purrs came out of his mouth as his eyelids trembled. Finally, a minuteter, the beast opened his eyes.


    "Master..." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "You¡¯re finally awake. You¡¯ve been asleep for a while now." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    "Are you okay, master?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "I¡¯m fine. I... also need to thank you for saving me at the Tri Cauldron peony sect." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Of course! I won¡¯t let anyone harm master!" Little Shrubby said with determination.


    <i>~pat~pat~</i>


    Lin Mu pat the head of little Shrubby, which was a lot softer due to the new and long fur that had grown there.


    "How do you feel now? Are there any problems in your body?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Little Shrubby closed his eyes for a bit before opening, slight confusion present in them.


    "I broke through? And I feel different." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Yes, you broke through. You¡¯ve been absorbing the Beast Qi that I¡¯ve been injecting into you." Lin Mu replied.


    "Beast Qi?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Ah, yes you haven¡¯t seen it yet." Lin Mu said. "Let me show you and you can tell me what you feel about it." He added.


    While Lin Mu knew about Beast Qi and had seen its effects on Little Shrubby, he would still know better if Little Shrubby himself told him how it felt.


    Lin Mu chanted the Nurturing heart sutra, which made Little Shrubby¡¯s ears perk up.


    "What is that, master? It¡¯s so... good?" Little Shrubby said, finding the chants pleasant.


    Lin Mu lightly nodded his head beforepleting the chant and refining the Beast Qi string in his Dantian.


    "It is one of my abilities that allows me to make Beast Qi." Lin Mu said before drawing out the string of beast Qi from his Dantian.


    As soon as little Shrubby saw it, his pupils went wide, fully covering his eyes.

 Chapter 558 - Fruit Of Wisdom

    <h4>Chapter 558 - Fruit Of Wisdom </h4>


    Lin Mu could tell that Little Shrubby was definitely interested in the beast Qi in his hand. The way he was looking at it was of absolute attention and it would not even blink, no matter how much Lin Mu moved his hands around.


    "Beast Qi really is every attractive to beasts huh..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He looked at little Shrubby who was still enthralled by it and coughed lightly.


    <i>~Ahem~</i>


    "So I presume you want it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "YES!!" Little Shrubby responded hurriedly.


    "Okay, I¡¯ll give it to you. But you need to tell me what effect it has on you." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby said in an impatient tone.


    Lin Mu then sent the Beast Qi flying towards Little Shrubby, who quickly sucked it in. He then closed his eyes in pleasure as if he had eaten something very delicious and his stomach was full.


    "This feels good." Little Shrubby said beforeying down on the ground.


    "What are you doing now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He wanted to know how exactly was little Shrubby processing the spirit Qi as he had only seen him do this unconsciously. He reckoned that it was the passive absorption that his body did automatically, which must have been slow.


    Lin Mu wanted to see how it worked when Little Shrubby was awake.


    "The Beast Qi... it feels good... it is spreading in my body and my spirit Qi, feels to be flowing smoothly. It feels warm." Little Shrubby said.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯Must have guessed that he wouldn¡¯t be able to fully exin how it works.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu then extended his spirit sense and probed little shrubby¡¯s body. The beast did not mind it at all and Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense easily entered his body with no obstructions. Inside little Shrubby¡¯s body, Lin Mu could see that the beast Qi had fully assimted into his cells.


    There were only faint traces left with which he could tell that the beast Qi was still here. The beast Qi was stimting his cells and was causing them to produce a lot of vital energy which coursed through the blood, nourishing his body further. After a few circtions, Lin Mu could even see that the vital energy was being converted into Vital essence.


    "So this is how it works... the beast Qi stimtes the cells, producing vital energy which nourishes his body, prompting it to further refine the vital energy to vital essence. This vital essence then increases the overall quality of his body, thus causing the bloodline to improve." Lin Mu hypothesized.


    It was quite simr to how Lin Mu had reached the Xiantian physique after breaking through the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm. It had triggered a qualitative change that caused his body¡¯s cells to be reced by Xiantian cells which could produce vital essence.


    It was a like a feedback loop that amplified itself as time went by and more energy was fed to it. Though Lin Wu reckoned that the Beast Qi was onlypatible with beasts and not humans.


    At first, Lin Mu was doubtful that since it worked on the bloodline, it should have worked on the cultivators who had assimted bloodlines of other beasts too. But seeing its actions and workings in Little Shrubby¡¯s body, he realized that it would not work on any humans.


    The Beast Qi did not directly act on bloodline but rather influenced their body, increasing its quality till it reached a level where the bloodline would improve on its own.


    "Hmm... no wonder the Fire Fang Snake and ck Water Snake had such reactions." Lin Mu muttered.


    Xukong was impressed by the thinking process of Lin Mu and had seen how he hade to the conclusion.


    "While most of what you havee up with is right, that is not all what Beast Qi does." Xukong said after thinking for a bit.


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    "Mm? What do you mean, senior? What did I miss?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There is one important thing you missed in this. Can you tell me what it is? It¡¯s rted to your Nine divine heart sutras too." Xukong replied.


    "Rted to the Nine Divine Heart Sutras?..." Lin Mu muttered before closing his eyes and thinking deeply.


    About five minutester he opened his eyes, which dawned with the light of realization.


    "THE PATHS! I forgot about the Paths!" Lin Mu said.


    "Indeed. And what did you exactly forget about them?" Xukong added.


    "The Nurturing Heart Sutra is representative of the Beast Path and can make Beast Qi. With that rtion, Beast Qi itself should also contain insights of the Beast Path." Lin Mu answered.


    "That¡¯s correct. Nearly every beast will follow the Beast Path, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Many of them will follow more than just the beast path though, they could follow some other path like the Demonic path, if they have the bloodline of demons in them.


    Each path is the cumtion of the entire type of cultivation. The beast path is that of the beasts and how they cultivate. It collectively has the experience and insights of every beast that ever came into existence, whether it be a tiny worm crawling in the ground or a mighty dragon soaring through the skies.


    If a beast assimtes enough beast Qi, you should know what else they would be able to do with it." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up with the spark of knowledge and he thought over senior Xukong¡¯s words understanding that there was a lot more to Beast Qi. The only reason why he could not see it right now was hisck of experience.


    He knew he could not rush it and that he would have to slowly observe the fine changes that happened in the long term.


    ¡¯The fruit of wisdom is not grown in one day and a life is not lived in one day... the only way is to have a steady heart that sees all and observes all...¡¯ Lin Mu learned.

 Chapter 559 - An Egg

    <h4>Chapter 559 - An Egg </h4>


    Lin Mu watched as Little Shrubby assimted all the beast Qi in his body. He could see that while his cultivation base was not directly affected, his body was definitely improving little by little.


    Lin Mu knew that the changes will be slow, but as long as he kept on supplying the beast Qi, Little Shrubby will progress steadily.


    "I guess that¡¯s another thing to add to my routine now... hopefully, once I break through to the Nascent Soul realm, I¡¯ll have higher spirit Qi stores so I can produce more beast Qi at once." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    About two hourster, Little Shrubby had fully assimted the beast Qi, which was much faster than before when it took over twelve hours.


    "Are you done?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Can you take more Beast Qi?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No... I don¡¯t think I can for now. Even though I have absorbed all of it, I still feel ¡¯full¡¯." Little Shrubby exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head while thinking, ¡¯just as I thought. The growth of the body isn¡¯t the only effect the beast Qi is having. There are extra aspects that make it take longer event though it has been fully assimted.¡¯


    Lin Mu stood up and walked out of the cave, which prompted Little Shrubby to follow behind him as well.


    "Where are you going, master?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "I¡¯m going to give another beast the Beast Qi." Lin Mu replied.


    It was as if Little Shrubby had been hurt, and his ears drooped.


    "Why would you do that?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Ahaha," Lin Mu chucked upon seeing little shrubby¡¯s betrayed reaction. "I¡¯m giving it to that beast so that it can break through to the Nascent Soul realm and I can take advantage of its heavenly tribtion."


    "Also, you don¡¯t need to worry. I can give you more beast Qiter, I can keep on making it as long as I have spirit Qi." Lin Mu assured.


    Little Shrubby¡¯s eyes lit up after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words and he felt relieved.


    "Okay." Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and flew towards the location of the nest of the Fire Fang Snake. Little Shrubby followed behind him and curiously checked out the entire area as his spirit sense also wandered.


    "There she is," Lin M pointed for Little Shrubby.


    Little Shrubby raised his head and observed the Fire Fang Snake, which was curled up in the hollow of a broken tree.


    "Just wait, here. I don¡¯t think she will like it if another beast gets closer." Lin Mu advised.


    Little Shrubby just nodded his head in response and jumped to the top of a tree, wanting to observe from a vantage point. Lin Mu on the other hand, approached the fire fang snake who had already sensed him as well.


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    <i>~hiss~</i>


    The fire fang snake hissed in greeting.


    "Ah, so you were already expecting me." Lin Mu said upon seeing the action of the beast.


    He then looked around and saw that the ck water snake was also nearby. It seemed to be deep in sleep, and Lin Mu could already sense the aura of his body changing.


    "Oh? His bloodline is already progressing?" Lin Mu said upon seeing this.


    The ck Water snake was at the Late stage of the core condensation realm when Lin Mu had given it the half strand of Beast Qi. But now, it was already at the peak stage of the Core condensation realm. It was evident that the beast Qi had contributed greatly to this.


    "Seems like I¡¯ll have two candidates for the Heavenly tribtion..." Lin Mu muttered before looking at the Fire Fang Snake.


    "Are you ready?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~hiss~ </i>


    The Fire Fang snake nodded her head, almost like a human.


    Lin Mu then chanted the nurturing heart sutra and refined a string of Beast Qi in his Dantian before sending it out to the Fire Fang Snake.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~HISS~</i>


    As soon as the Fire Fang Snake consumed the strand of Beast Qi, her body¡¯s aura skyrocketed at a great speed. Her scales shined with a red light as the sound of loud heartbeats could be heard.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    But then a change happened. The fire fang snake let out a hiss that sounded painful. Its body twitched and turned in unease.


    "What¡¯s happening to her?" Lin Mu wondered and used his spirit sense to probe it.


    He understood the reason behind it quite quickly.


    "She¡¯sying the eggs!" Lin Mu realized.


    He kept on observing, and about thirty minutester, the Fire Fang Snake had sessfullyid an egg. But it felt strange to Lin Mu, as it was not normal.


    "Why¡¯s there only one egg? Don¡¯t the Fire Fang Snakesy over ten eggs at once? And why is it so big?" Lin Mu questioned.


    But that was not all, as once the mucus and blood from the egg were cleared, Lin Mu saw its color.


    "Its... Grey?" Lin Mu spoke in a doubtful tone.


    He quickly took out the records of the beasts he had and checked more about the Fire Fang snake. He learned that the Fire Fang Snakesid more than ten eggs at once and their eggs were red in color, like their eggs.


    While the egg that wasid by this Fire Fang snake was grey and only one in number. Though if he considered the size, this single egg was probably the size of the ten eggsbined.


    "Seems like a change caused by mixing of two different snakes," Xukong said.


    "Oh, yes! I almost forgot that the Fire Fang Snake¡¯s mate is a ck Water snake." Lin Mu spoke.


    He then checked the characteristics of the ck Water snake eggs and learned that theyid about four to six eggs at once that were the size of chicken eggs. They were also ck in color along with some blue patterns. The egg that the Fire Fang Snake hadid was nothing like that one.


    "This is certainly peculiar..." Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 560 - Rejected Egg

    <h4>Chapter 560 - Rejected Egg </h4>


    Looking at the egg of the Fire Fang Snake Lin Mu could only think that it must have been something like a mutation of some kind.


    "Wait, is the egg even viable?" Lin Mu wondered and probed it using his spirit sense.


    He couldn¡¯t tell what was inside the egg as it was just liquid, but he could feel the aura of life from it.


    "It¡¯s alive at least..." Lin Mu muttered.


    The Fire Fang snake was also looking at the egg with a strange gaze. She touched it and sniffed it a few times before shaking her head.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    She then nudged the egg with her head and moved it to the front of the nest.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was confused by this and wondered what the beast was doing.


    "Seems like the Fire Fang Snake is rejecting the egg." Xukong spoke.


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    "Rejecting? Why is she rejecting her own egg?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Most beasts will reject eggs that they think are not viable or unusual. They do this due to their ingrained instincts." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu looked on as the Fire Fang Snake finally pushed the egg out of the nest.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    It hit the ground with a light thud and rolled all the way to Lin Mu¡¯s feet. Lin Mu himself was a bit shocked and checked if the egg was cracked or damaged.


    "It¡¯s... fine?" Lin Mu said, feeling surprised.


    "Of course. Beast eggs aren¡¯t so fragile as to break from such a small fall." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu looked back at the Fire Fang snake, who was now busy cultivating. It had not even been five minutes since she hadid the egg, and she didn¡¯t seem worried about it at all. It felt quite strange to Lin Mu at first.


    But then he realized he could not judge it ording to his standards. These were beasts and he had no right nor logic to judge them by his own standards as a human.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "What will be of this egg now?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Well, since the snake has rejected it... you may as well take it with you. If anything, it will make a good meal." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu felt the corner of his lips twitch, but he just shook his head. He opened his eyes and looked at the egg, not feeling like eating it. He instead felt a strange curiosity towards the egg now. Unlike the Fire Fang Snake, Lin Mu could very well tell that the egg was alive and had the aura of life within it.


    "I wonder what kind of a snake will be born from this... one egg instead of six or ten... that too of a different color... there is bound to be something unique about it." Lin Mu murmured.


    Lin Mu made up his mind and picked up the egg. He was about to store it in the ring when he realized something.


    "Can I keep the egg in the ring or will it die, senior?" Lin Mu asked, unsure if the same rule applied to an egg instead of a grown animal.


    He didn¡¯t know if it would be the same or not, as the egg didn¡¯t really need air for now.


    "Hmm... it is hard to tell. For a short period, it should be fine. The spatial energy streaks and distortions shouldn¡¯t cause many problems if it is not there for long." Xukong said.


    "So if I take it out every so often it will be fine?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, that should work. And just in case, you can keep it near the Altar. From what I¡¯ve seen barely any spatial energy streaks get near there." Xukong replied.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said before storing the egg in the ring.


    He even took a few extra looks there to ensure that it was fine before nodding his head.


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    Suddenly a faint cyclone of spirit Qi could be felt revolving around the Fire Fang Snake.


    "Huh? It¡¯s close to a breakthrough?" Lin Mu¡¯s gaze went back to the Fire Fang snake.


    Spirit Qi lightly revolved around the beast and was absorbed by it.


    "Looks like the Fire Fang Snake was actually being restricted by the egg in her belly. Now that she hasid it, she can cultivate freely." Xukong said.


    "You mean to say senior... that she rejected the egg because she knew was close to a breakthrough?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. Usually, the stronger the beast¡¯s cultivation base is, the better offspring they will birth. So if she sessfully breaksthrough to the Nascent Soul realm, her offspring will be better than when she was in the core condensation realm." Xukong stated.


    "I see..." Lin Mu nodded his head in understanding.


    Lin Mu observed the Fire Fang Snake for a bit and realized that she was in the same preparatory period as Alchemist Bo when he was awaiting the Heavenly tribtion.


    "Wonder how Bo is now... there was no news about him..." Lin Mu was reminded of the man.


    Bo himself was not bad and had been polite to Lin Mu, as far as he had seen from his interaction. Lin Mu did feel sorry for the man as he could not break through to the Nascent Soul realm, but he also understood that this was for the best.


    If Bo broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, Gu Yao would have likely made him his pawn as well. Thus putting his life in danger.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll make up to him sometime...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself, while taking a seat in one of the trees near Little Shrubby.


    He was going to wait here for the Fire Fang Snake¡¯s tribtion toe so that he can take advantage of it as soon as possible. Little Shrubby on the other hand, was already sleeping and his tail was swinging from side to side. Though Lin Mu could also sense the spirit Qi moving around him, being slowly absorbed by his body.


    Light winds blew, bringing leaves with them, painting a rather serene picture; man and beast lounged around while waiting for the heavens to crack open.

 Chapter 561 - Time For The Tribulations

    <h4>Chapter 561 - Time For The Tribtions </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s wait was going to be a long one. But he was taking this opportunity to observe the finer changes that urred when someone was about to have their heavenly tribtion.


    After all, if his n went as he was expecting it to. The tribtion that the Fire Fang Snake underwent would be the tribtion that will help him break through to the Nascent Soul realm as well.


    About two days passed like this, and there were no particr changes in the Fire Fang Snake.


    But then...


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    The ck Water Snake who had been asleep this entire time, woke up. Spirit Qi vortex appeared around him as he started to absorb it too.


    "He¡¯s close to the breakthrough as well?" Lin Mu said, feeling rather surprised.


    "The standard is a bit low for the ck Water Snake, it seems like. The bloodline of the Fire Fang Snake should be a slightly superior to it and thus it took longer to reach the same point. It just needed to gather arger amount of spirit Qi." Xukong said.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered, feeling a bit pleased that he would now have two attempts with the heavenly tribtion.


    Originally he was going to try out with the Fire Fang Snake¡¯s heavenly tribtion first and see if the bolts were enough for him to sessfully break through. If they were enough, then it would be perfect. If not, then he would have to search for a secondary beast to use.


    But with the ck Water snake¡¯s progress, Lin Mu would not have to wait as long and the process would be much faster for him.


    "How long do you reckon this will take, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... there are no spatial disturbances in the sky yet so it should be a couple more days at the very least." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu looked up at the sky and could tell that the spatial borders were fully stable at this time. He remembered the condition of Alchemist Bo and how the spatial fluctuation around him got stronger as time went by.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a moment and opened them, this time using his spatial perception at full power. Lin Mu could barely spot a tear the size of a hair in the space around the Fire Fang snake.


    "It¡¯s gonna take a while..." Lin Mu muttered and was about to close his eyes when he spotted something.


    "Huh? Where did that mountaine from?" Lin Mu said, feeling stunned.


    But when he blinked again, the mountain that had just appeared in front of him disappeared. Lin Mu rubbed his eyes and looked again, but saw nothing there.


    "Must be an illusion..." Lin Mu shook his head.


    Using spatial perception sometimes caused Lin Mu to see things that did not exist. He had asked senior Xukong about this and was given the answer that what he was seeing was the traces of old spatial fluctuations that sometimes leaked out from the void.


    They were from a different ce or the same ces and had be lost in the void. They would end up storing an illusion of how things used to be and could appear like the real thing to the person who was observing it at that time using spatial perception.


    Just to be sure, though... Lin Mu took a look around in better detail and could not see anything. Though when he gazed at the Ripple Mist sect in the distance, he could see a few ck dots moving around the sect. Some came towards the sect while some went away from it.


    "Hmm... Teleportation channels..." Lin Mu recognized.


    Unlike the Tri Cauldron Peony Sect, the teleportation channels here were highly active, showing that the sect was greatly involved in trade and exchange. It could be of anything, items, letters, treasures, information, and much more.


    His gaze lingered at the moving dots for a few more moments before he withdrew it closing his eyes, lightly rubbing them.


    "Using spatial perception is still quite exhausting if I use it continuously..." Lin Mu said.


    "It takes time to get used to it. Besides the way you are learning to do it is quite different from the cultivators who use a technique for it. While your method gives you a short time period, it also has no consumption of spirit Qi." Xukong spoke.


    "I understand senior... this will only help me in long term." Lin Mu replied.


    ***


    Seven days passed like with Lin Mu continuing to keep an eye on the Fire Fang Snake and The ck Water snake. The spatial fluctuations were steadily getting stronger and today they had reached a peak.


    Surprisingly, both the snakes were about to have their heavenly tribtion at the same time.


    "Looks like the spatial fabric destabilizing made their tribtions sync up. If the border is weak, the heavenly tribtion will have an easier time appearing in the world." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu looked up at therge crack in the sky with his spatial perception and knew the Heavenly Tribtion clouds would be forming at any time now.


    "Little Shrubby," Lin Mu called out.


    The beast in question had been having a fewzy days as he just absorbed the Beast Qi that Lin Mu gave him and spent the rest of the time sleeping.


    "Yes, master?" Little Shrubby, who had just woken up, askedzily.


    "You should retreat to the cave for now. The Heavenly tribtion will being soon, you would be in danger if it hit you as well." Lin Mu said.


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    "Will you be getting injured again?" Little Shrubby asked with concern.


    "I... don¡¯t know. But this is the only way I can get stronger now." Lin Mu stated.


    Little shrubby soundlessly stared at Lin Mu for a bit before speaking, "don¡¯t worry, if you get injured I¡¯lle to get you quickly."


    "Alright," Lin Mu said while rubbing his head.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The sky darkened as ck clouds appeared overheard.


    "It is time..." Lin Mu muttered as he looked up at the sky.

 Chapter 562 - Tribulation Stirs The Sect

    <h4>Chapter 562 - Tribtion Stirs The Sect </h4>


    At the Ripple Mist sect.


    A group of disciples were doing their job of refining some raw materials for spirit tools in one of the pavilions when they suddenly heard a low rumble.


    "Huh? Thunder? In our sect?" One of the disciples stopped midway, making the chunk of metal floating in front of him fall.


    "Be careful Ping Mo! Why are you acting like this?" One of the other disciplesined.


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    "Did you guys not hear the rumbling of thunder?" Ping Mo questioned.


    "Thunder? How can there be thunder in our Ripple mist sect?" The disciple who had asked Ping Mo to be careful, stated.


    "Yeah, our sect has formations that control the climate around the sect. How can there be thunder here?" Another disciple chimed in.


    "Are my ears buzzing then?" Ping Mo said, doubting himself.


    But then...


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    "What the hell! It really is thunder!" The disciples said in unison as they all ran out of the pavilion.


    Outside they could see hundreds of other disciples all staring at the dark clouds gathering in the distance.


    "It... it cannot be... A heavenly Tribtion?" Ping Mo muttered in disbelief.


    "Quick! We need to inform the elders! Someone is having their Heavenly tribtion at the forest!" Someone shouted.


    "You idiot! Do you really think the elders are stupid like you? If we can see the heavenly tribtion, they must have sensed it long before." The precious disciples fried stated while pping the back of his head.


    "Ah, that¡¯s true. But which senior brother or senior sister could it be? And why are they choosing to have their tribtion in the forest when they could do it in the sect under the assistance of the Tribtion tform and the elders as Dharma protectors?" The previous stupid disciple questioned.


    "How could I know? But whoever it is, they must be confident of their breakthrough and must want to do it on their own independently! They must have their own pride!" The other disciple said with a knowing expression.


    At one of the higher buildings in the central peak, a bunch of elders were standing in a gallery while observing the clouds in the distance.


    "Is it truly a disciple having a breakthrough?" A green robed elder questioned.


    "I do not know high elder, let me check our roster. If any disciple was close to a breakthrough we should have it on our list." A brown robed elder replied.


    The brown robed elder took out a long register and opened it. Flipping through the pages he came to a particr page, after which his brows became furrowed.


    "This is strange... they¡¯re not on the list..." The brown robed elder said before turning to another young man. "Quick check the whereabouts of all the disciples on the roster!" he urged.


    "Yes Elder!" The young man said before taking out hismunication jade slip and contacting certain people.


    About two minutester, sweat appeared on his face as he shook his head.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    "All disciples are ounted for elder... I fear it may not be someone from our sect..." The Young man stated.


    The green robed elder stroked his beard as he looked up at the dark clouds that had not stopped expanding.


    "The Heavenly Tribtion clouds... they are far too big for a normal Heavenly tribtion." The green robed elder stated.


    Everyone else hurriedly looked at the clouds and found them to be exactly as how the green robed elder had stated.


    "Heavens! It is some unique type of a Tribtion? Is it some genius that is having a breakthrough?" One of the elders eximed.


    The green robed elder did not say anything and simply narrowed his eyes, as his gaze tried to peer far into the distance.


    ***


    Lin Mu could see the dark clouds and the faint glow of lightning hidden within. There was also the spatial tear that was hidden behind the clouds but it could not be seen bymon eyes.


    Lin Mu squinted his eyes and his gaze went past the clouds. There he could see arge tear in the spatial fabric. This one was much bigger than the one Alchemist Bo¡¯s heavenly tribtion had caused.


    "The two snakes will be having their tribtion together... don¡¯t know if it will make it better or worse." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He chanted the calming heart sutra in the preparation of the tribtion. Lin Mu knew he should wait for the first tribtion bolt to fall before he jumped into the fray. He did not know what difference there will be if it is two beasts having a tribtion together than just one.


    Lin Mu was reminded of the warnings of the Lost Immortal.


    ¡¯Better to be cautious a million times than be dead once.¡¯


    It was a simple and crude line, but Lin Mu had seen that it was backed by many years of experience and misfortune. It would only do him good to heed the warning. After all, he was not doing anything normal... he was about to steal a Heavenly tribtion!


    Cultivators dreaded Heavenly tribtions and wanted nothing more than to get away from them. They feared the day their tribtion would arrive and would try to dy it as long as possible.


    Only those that were about to run out of tier life span or those that were brave geniuses would attempt it as quickly as possible. But here was Lin Mu... not even twenty and about to undergo his second tribtion.


    One had to know there were many Peak stage core condensation realm beings that underwent the Heavenly Tribtions. But there were less than ten percent that actually survived.


    If surviving just a single tribtion was this hard, then Lin Mu was going the extreme way. Trying his chance against multiple tribtions just because his own could not be summoned.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The clouds started to stir in the sky as arcs of lightning jumped from one part to the other.


    The Fire Fang Snake and the ck Water Snake seemed to be prepared for this and were also looking up at the sky at this moment.

 Chapter 563 - First Bolt Successfully Taken!

    <h4>Chapter 563 - First Bolt Sessfully Taken! </h4>


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and opened his eyes that were filled with determination. He leaped far and increased the distance from the two snakes.


    The Fire Fang Snake and the ck Water Snake did not pay any attention to Lin Mu at all. It was not that they did not want to but rather they could not afford to. They simply looked up at the sky, while spirit Qi waves continued to rise from their bodies.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The first bolt of tribtion lightning started to form in the cloud as it gathered together. Two huge ¡¯mouths¡¯ opened up in the clouds and it looked like the lightning bolts were their tongues.


    Lin Mu braced himself as he didn¡¯t know if the lightning would still strike him at this distance or not. The distance that he had chosen was double the distance of the Tribtion tform that Lin Mu had seen at the Tri Cauldron Peony sect.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    The two tribtion bolts were fully formed and finally fell from the sky with a loud thunderp.


    <i>~Zap~</i>


    The bolts struck the two snakes as they hissed in pain. Spirit Qi swirled around them acting like barriers but it did not seem like it was effective.


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    <i>~shua~</i>


    mes came out of the Fire Fang Snakes¡¯ mouth as they swirled around, joining the spirit Qi barrier that had just copsed. Blood trickled out of its scales that had been broken from the tribtion lightning bolt but it still managed to withstand it.


    The ck Water snake was in a simr condition with its scales being broken. The only difference was that these scales also seemed to be burned, unlike the Fire Fang Snake. The Fire Fang Snake lived near volcanoes and had good hesitance to heat and fire.


    Even the heat of the tribtion lightning bolt was enough for it to withstand. But one could not tell if this would be naturally possible or was this due to the intervention of Lin Mu in the form of Beast Qi.


    The ck Water Snake spat out a blue mist from its mouth that surround his body and attached to his wounds. The bleeding soon stopped as the flesh got stiffer.


    The ck Water Snake had used its venom which could make a victim¡¯s blood clot in its body on himself!


    If it were another human or creature, their blood would freeze in their veins, eventually killing them but to ck Water Snake who had resistance to his own venom, he could use it as blood clotting medicine.


    Lin Mu saw that the might of the two tribtion bolts was nearly the same as that of Alchemist Bo.


    ¡¯Seems like it is manageable.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "How many bolts do you think there will be senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... if these beasts were normally undergoing the heavenly tribtion with their original talent, even this single bolt should have been enough for them to break through. But with the improvement of the Beast Qi, I reckon they will have at least two more bolts." Xukong stated.


    "I guess, I should get two attempts then. One with each snake." Lin Mu said.


    "Be careful though, you will need to time it properly. If it is too early or toote, the Punishment lightning bolts will descend instead of the Pure Tribtion lightning. We do not know if that will work for you or not." Xukong warned.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu replied and came closer to the two snakes.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The clouds stirred as more lightning crackled through the seams, gathering up at the ¡¯mouths¡¯. Once the spear like lightning bolts were just about to bepleted, Lin Mu jumped into the fray. And the snake that he had chosen to use first was the ck Water Snake.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The lightning bolts fell with a thunderp, tearing through the air as they struck the beings below. Except one of them was diverted slightly. The first bolt hit its intended target which was nothing but the Fire Fang Snake, but the second one that was supposed to hit the ck Water Snake hit Lin Mu instead.


    "ARGH!" Lin Mu grunted in pain, as the searing lightning coursed through his body.


    His robes were burnt as a brownyer could be seen glowing below. Unlike thest time, his skin was not affected and only his robes were burnt.


    The Mortal Strengthening Scripture had endured the might of the tribtion lightning bolt!


    But that was not all. Unlike before the armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture was still intact and no cracks could be seen on it. Lin Mu was actually a bit worried about this and wondered if the armor would stop the effect of the Tribtion bolt too.


    But that didn¡¯t happen. While that armor did manage to block the impact of the bolt, it didn¡¯t stop its effect on Lin Mu¡¯s core.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s core which was half covered with cracks started to crack again. The cracks spread more and now covered three quarters of the entire core. Lin Mu could also feel the spirit Qi around him stir, as if it was excited.


    "IT WORKED! IT WORKS!" Lin Mu internally eximed, still feeling numb from the lightning bolt.


    He quickly chanted the severing heart sutra to get through the pain and tried to move.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll need to move to the Fire Fang Snake for the next bolt.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He looked at the ck Water Snake that was dumbly staring at the sky, as if wondering where the Tribtion bolt went. The Fire Fang Snake on the other hand was bleeding even more and was lying on the ground weakly.


    "Is it dead?" Lin Mu wondered and probed the snake with his spirit sense.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    But then he received a sudden surprise. The core within the Fire Fang Snake¡¯s body had already been fully covered with cracks and was about to shatter. There were dense waves of spirit Qiing from it and it was evident the Nascent Soul was about to be born.


    "How can this be? The tribtion is not even over yet?" Lin Mu stated.

 Chapter 564 - Second Bolt Successfully Taken!

    <h4>Chapter 564 - Second Bolt Sessfully Taken! </h4>


    Lin Mu could not understand why the Fire Fang Snake was already having its breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm even though there were still more tribtion bolts about toe.


    From what he knew the tribtion bolts were just enough for a person or creature to break through to the Nascent Soul realm. Which meant that they needed all of those bolts to break through to the Nascent Soul realm.


    If they did not endure all bolts, their core would not be fully cracked and then shatter to give birth to their Nascent Soul. If something like this happens then their situation would be the same as that of Alchemist Bo.


    Lin Mu had taken hisst tribtion bolt and he was now unable to break through to the Nascent Soul realm. Of course, this was not permanent, there were ways by which one could trigger the heavenly tribtion again.


    The mostmon way was to just cultivate more so that the infusion of spirit Qi generates a heavenly tribtion. But doing so would take quite a long time and resources as the cultivator would have to heal all their cracks of the core.


    Usually, cultivators who failed their heavenly tribtion but still survived would end up regressing to the Qi refining realm as their spirit core would be destroyed. They would need to cultivate again and reached the peak of the core condensation realm in order to break through.


    But not many people had this opportunity and the reason for this was their lifespan. Qi refining realm cultivators could live till 150 years at most. While those at the Core condensation realm could live till 300 years.


    For a cultivator to reach the peak of the core condensation realm, they would take multiple decades if they were talented. This would mean that they would usually be older than 150 years.


    This basically meant that they would die automatically from old age. Only very talented people who reached peak of the core condensation realm before the age of 100 truly had any chance to survive the restart of their cultivation.


    "Oh no, this is due to the imbnce." Xukong suddenly said.


    "What do you mean senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It¡¯s due to you influencing the Fire Fang Snake with the Beast Qi. The heavens think that the fire fang snake¡¯s talent is enough for threes bolts of tribtion lightning. But her body itself and the core only needed two bolts to breakthrough.


    You increased her potential, but her cultivation could not keep up with it. Perhaps if you had started a bit earlier, she would have needed three bolts toplete her breakthrough." Xukong exined.


    "That means..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "The fire fang snake will die if she takes this tribtion lightning bolt." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu felt bad about this and did not want the beast to die. While it was true he had given her and the ck Water snake the Beast Qi to take advantage of the Heavenly Tribtion, his heart would not feel good if they died in the process.


    "Then I¡¯ll just have to take the tribtion bolt myself. I¡¯m here for that so this will work anyway!" Lin Mu dered.


    He suddenly felt a newfound strength fueling him. He didn¡¯t know where it came from but Lin Mu found that all the pain and numbness he felt was wiped away. He jumped near the Fire Fang Snake the very moment the next tribtion bolt was about to descend.


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    The final bolt of tribtion lightning was the strongest. Two such bolts were shot by the tribtion clouds. One struck the ck Water Snake and was rightfully his, while the second one struck Lin Mu when it was supposed to hit the Fire Fang Snake.


    "ARGH!!!!" Lin Mu shouted in pain upon bearing tribtion lightning.


    <i>~WENG~</i>


    The sound of metal bending could be heard as the armor made from Mortal Strengthening scripture appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s body again. The brown glow managed to block the impact of the lightning but some parts of it seemed to be out of shape.


    The armor itself was the same shape as Lin Mu¡¯s body but was perhaps a couple of millimeters bigger. It did not crack under the tribtion lightning but instead bent to take the impact. Lin Mu ended up kneeling on the ground as he felt like a mountain had just been thrown on his back.


    Lin Mu¡¯s inner robes were fully scorched now and the top half of it had already been reduced to ashes. Still, he managed to take the second bolt of tribtion lightning sessfully.


    "I... Did... IT!" Lin Mu said between breaths.


    The Fire Fang snake was also looking at Lin Mu with a strange glow in her eyes. Her core was still shattering bit by bit as spirit Qi started to pour into her body. The ck Water snake was in a simr position.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian was currently trembling. Arcs of tribtion lightning danced within it as they jumped from one part to the other. It looked like the lightning was protesting and saying this was not where it belonged. It tried to escape but Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian was like a steel vault.


    No matter how much the lightning tried to hit the walls, nothing happened. The strange thing was even Lin Mu didn¡¯t feel any paining from his Dantian when the tribtion lightning was hitting its walls.


    Lin Mu wanted it to go towards his Dantian but unfortunately, he had no control over the tribtion lightning. From what Lin Mu had learned the tribtion lightning should have a trace of the heaven¡¯s will in it and was thus sentient to a certain extent.


    The previous bolt did not act like this as it was much weaker than this, but since this was the most powerful of the past two, it had a greater sense of self.


    "What do I do now?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but wonder.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    Lin Mu¡¯s attention was suddenly pulled towards the ck Water Snake as a spirit Qi vortex surrounded it.Property of N?)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

 Chapter 565 - Turn Back?

    <h4>Chapter 565 - Turn Back? </h4>


    The ck Water Snake suddenly started to float in the air as the spirit Qi vortex poured into him.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The Fire Fang Snake was the next one to float up as the spirit Qi cortex infused spirit Qi into her too.


    "Both of them are having a breakthrough at the same time..." Lin Mu muttered.


    It was a rather unique situation that rarely ever happened in the world. Most of the creatures of cultivators would choose to be far away from others in order to be undisturbed and have a safe breakthrough.


    A simultaneous breakthrough like this was unheard of in this world. The phenomenon caused by the two beasts breaking through at the same time caused an upheaval in the forest.


    The concentration of spirit Qi in the air increased multiple folds and a mist appeared everywhere.


    "Is this... spirit Qi? It has be visible?" Lin Mu said feeling amazed.


    <i>~Roar~</i>


    <i>~howl~</i>


    <i>~Chirp~</i>


    The sounds of three different beasts could be hearding from afar. Lin Mu felt like he could tell what they meant.


    "They seem to be... rejoicing?" Lin Mu sensed.


    He then turned to look at the two snakes whose auras were increasing by the minute. But while looking there he felt like he saw the illusion of a mountain again. This time it was a bit more clear as the mist would disappear around it.


    "What is that?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but say.


    This time the illusion was visible for longer but it did eventually fade.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu looked within his Dantian and saw that the tribtion lightning was still arcing around, trying to find an exit.


    "When will this reach my core?" Lin Mu wondered.


    <i>~Tremble~</i>


    "Huh?" Lin Mu suddenly felt a strong fluctuation of spirit Qiing from the side. He turned around and saw that it wasing from the mountains where the Ripple Mist Sect was located.


    The mountains were barely visible due to the dense spirit Qi mist that had appeared by Lin Mu could sense the waves very clearly.


    "These spirit Qi waves... they are not from a Nascent Soul realm Cultivator... they are stronger than the patriarch of the Tri Cauldron Peony Sect and even Gu Yao." Lin Mu said.


    "Quick, you need to leave. It¡¯s a Dao Shell realm cultivator! They must being here to check the phenomenon. The heavenly tribtion must have caught their attention." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu realized that a single beast¡¯s breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm might not have attracted them but two beasts breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm at once brought apletely different type of a heavenly tribtion. This was evidently more than enough for a Dao Shell realm expert¡¯s interest to be piqued.


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    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and summoned the short sword before calling out to little Shrubby.


    "LITTLE SHRUBBY COME!" Lin Mu said through his link.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    The spirit Qi mist was blown away as a reddish blur arrived at great speed, causing a gust of wind.


    "Are we leaving?" Little Shrubby who had just appeared asked.


    "Yes!" Lin Mu said before getting on his back.


    He strapped in the harness and little Shrubby started running.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    Little Shrubby¡¯s spirit knocked away some trees as heunched into the air. But just a few secondster a strange sound was heard.


    <i>~Honglong~</i>


    Lin Mu then saw arge formation array appearing in the sky. The formation array extended all over the forest and even beyond that. In the distance, Lin Mu could even see a pale barrier that had just materialized.


    "Dammit! They activated the formation array of the sect!" Lin Mu cursed.


    "It should still be fine. They probably did this to stop the Nascent Soul realm beasts to stop from escaping. They should not know about you being here, this is just a safety precaution." Xukong judged.


    Lin Mu¡¯s quickly thought over it and found it to be likely. He had not let out any signs of him being here and even the cave that he lived in briefly was cleaned out by him every day. He was doing his best to not leave traces.


    Even in the sect he had not spoken to anyone and had kept to himself. And this was when he actually appeared on the ground and not underground.


    "That¡¯s where the phenomenon started, go there!" An elderly voice was heard echoing from afar.


    Hearing this Lin Mu confirmed that the sect¡¯s experts were here for the two beasts instead of him. But this did not mean that he was out of danger. While he could indeed escape the barrier, it was very likely that they would discover him. And if he decided to hide here for the time being he would be found by the Dao Shell realm expert.


    He could use Phase and sink into the ground far enough that he would be away from the senses of the Dao Shell realm cultivator but there was still the Tribtion Lightning jumping around in his Dantian.


    The moment that lightning hit his core, Lin Mu would start breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm and that was something that was bound to bring attention to him. And if at that moment he was underground, he doubted he would be able to maintain focus on using Phase and would identally lose control of it.


    That was certainly not something Lin Mu wanted to happen.


    Lin Mu looked around while thinking of something when a crazy idea suddenly appeared in his mind. His head snapped to the back and he used his spatial perception to the full extent that he could.


    "Come on... I know you are there..." Lin Mu muttered.


    For a few seconds, Lin Mu saw nothing but mist and felt the approaching waves of the Dao Shell realm cultivator. But then he saw it... he saw the illusory mountain.


    ¡¯Let¡¯s hope this works or we¡¯re doomed...¡¯ Lin Mu thought before looking down at little Shrubby who was starting to get nervous as well.


    "Little Shrubby turn around, we¡¯re going back." Lin Mu ordered.


    Little Shrubby looked a bit confused but then started running as he was directed to without questioning.

 Chapter 566 - Lin Mus Risk And The Arrival Of The Sects Elders

    <h4>Chapter 566 - Lin Mu''s Risk And The Arrival Of The Sect''s Elders </h4>


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know for sure what he was about to do would work or not, but he knew this was the only option for now. Xukong was also watching Lin Mu, spatial energy swirling around him.


    He didn¡¯t tell Lin Mu, but he was always ready to act in case anything happened. So far he had only acted once against Gu Yao, but that had put him back two years in his progress. Thankfully, with Lin Mu getting the bloodline of the Great Slumber bear, he slept for two years and Xukong got to cultivate again.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "He does take risks but at least he knows when¡¯s the right time to take them." Xukong muttered to himself as his eight golden yellow eyes gazed upon the ethereal altar.


    Just beside the altar, one could also see a Grey color egg lying still. No movement could be observed from it, yet Xukong could feel the life within the egg.


    "Wonder what thing you will be..." Xukong said.


    Even with his countless years of experience, he could not tell what the beast in the egg was going to be. With the inclusion of beast Qi, there were far too many variations that could appear in a beast.


    Beast Qi could awaken or strengthen a specific bloodline that was hidden within a beast. But when it was used in special conditions such as on a pregnant beast, the offspring¡¯s condition would be even more unpredictable.


    The beast Qi would be able to affect bloodlines that were far deeper and hidden in the beast. Bloodlines that would never be awakened, no matter what if the said beast was fully born.


    Though there was also the other end of this equation. The beast Qi could be overwhelming and awaken multiple bloodlines that conflict with each other and prevent the egg from ever hatching.


    Lin Mu was unaware of the thoughts of senior Xukong and was fully focused on the road ahead. His eyes were squinted as he extended his right hand forward.


    "I know you are there..." Lin Mu muttered as he tried to find the hidden mountain again.


    It flickered in and out of existence, but he knew he could tap into it.


    "NOW, OPEN FOR ME!" Lin Mu dered.


    The mysterious ring hummed in response as arge amount of spirit Qi was drained from Lin Mu at once. Even the tribtion lightning within Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian was affected by it and got pushed to the side by the massive amount of spirit Qi that was being consumed.


    <i>~Humm~</i>


    <i>~Rip~</i>


    A tear appeared in the space in front of Lin Mu and expanded in a fraction of a second.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    With the speed Little Shrubby was moving at, it didn¡¯t even take them a second to pass through the tear before it faded away into nothingness.


    "What was that!" A couple of voices said as they flew over.


    The mist parted and once could see some elders floating in the air. All of them were evidently at the Nascent Soul realm, but there was one green robed elder who had stronger spirit Qi fluctuation. than the others.


    "Elder Qing, do you sense something?" the nascent soul realm elders asked the green robed elder.


    "Hmm... there are some spatial fluctuations here." Elder Qing replied.


    "Spatial fluctuations? What! You don¡¯t think... there was an intruder here?" One of the elders said with shock.


    Elder Qing furrowed his brows, which made other elders nervous too.


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    "No..." Elder Qing shook his head.


    The other elders looked at him in confusion, wondering why he would say this.


    "There were two beasts having a heavenly tribtion at the same time. Things such as this are bound to cause strange phenomena, not to mention heavenly tribtions themselves can cause spatial disturbances when they are strong." Elder Qing exined.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    The Nascent Soul realm elders collectively took a breath of relief. They certainly did not want any extra trouble, especially when the sect was at a sensitive time as that of the sacred trials.


    "At least we got to see the Nascent soul beasts. Though... how did we not know there were two beasts who were close to a breakthrough?" One of the Nascent Soul realm elders asked.


    "Just as we cultivators have fortunate encounters, the beasts can have them too. It is not our ce to think about it much, you will just waste time, trying to pry the threads of fate." Elder Qing said wisely.


    The elders were impressed by his words and nodded their heads.


    "Though Elder Qing... I don¡¯t think I recall there ever being a Fire Fang Snake in our region. We know about ck Water snakes as they are native to here, but the Fire Fang snakes live way far to the south." Someone curiously asked.


    Elder Qing raised his brows and thought over it, finding it to be a valid query.


    "Do we have a record about who brought it here? Someone must have brought it, there is no other way it would end up here." Elder Qing asked.


    "Let me check elder." One of the junior elders hurriedly responded, before taking out a long jade slip.


    This jade slip was about three times as long as a normalmunication jade slip and looked more like a ruler instead. The junior elder held it for a few seconds and closed his eyes.


    "Ah, I think I found it." The junior elder stated.


    "And, what does it say?" The other elders asked.


    "The records state that one Elder Limo brought a bunch of beasts from the southern part of the continent about a hundred years ago. This Fire Fang Snake must be one of them too." The junior elder replied.


    "Elder Limo? Did we have an elder like that in the sect?" One of the elders questioned.


    The other elders seemed lost about it too.


    "Umm... the records state that Elder Limo died over fifty years ago while fighting against someone named Jing Luo when he reached the area of our sect." The junior elder replied.

 Chapter 567 - A Minor Plane?

    <h4>Chapter 567 - A Minor ne? </h4>


    The other elders had never thought that something like this happened in their sect and wanted to know more.


    "Wait, I remember that. I was still an inner court disciple when that happened. A strong intruder apparently managed to slip into the sect. There were many other experts from different sects chasing him as well.


    Our sect was near to the battle zone and they made a n to coax him into the area of our sect so we could trap him." The elder replied.


    "What happened after that?" the other elders curiously asked.


    "The n did seed, but not without a cost. Elder Limo, along with seven other Nascent Soul realm elders of different sects, died in the battle." The elder answered.


    "What? The enemy managed to do that? Who was he and what happened to him?" they asked further.


    "Of course the enemy died. Thebined attack of the elders was so strong that it eliminated all traces of the enemy. In fact, that was the reason why the seven elders died, because the man used a forbidden self sacrificing technique." The elder answered.


    "Why don¡¯t you know about this Elder Qing, you were an elder too at that time, weren¡¯t you?" the junior elder questioned.


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    Elder Qing shook his head in response and spoke, "I was sadly in closed door seclusion at that time. I was close to death as my life span was about to end and had less than a year left to live. Thankfully, I managed to break through and extended my lifespan again."


    "Ah, forgive me for asking this." The junior elder replied.


    Elder Qing simply waved his hand in a gesture, saying it was fine.


    "Though what do we do with the two snakes now?" Someone asked.


    "Hmm... see if any of the elders can tame them or not. If they are not able to, just leave them as it is. They can serve to increase the power of the sect passively. Enemies will not dare to enter the forest with the fear of the Nascent Soul realm beasts.


    Also... give them some herbs and pills. It¡¯s better to have their favor than to offend them needlessly. Now that they are Nascent Soul realm beasts, they should have higher intelligence and will know how to act." Elder Qing said.


    "As youmand, elder Qing." The elders responded with cupped hands before getting to their tasks.


    ***


    ~<i>Zoom~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i> ~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    A loud sound could be heard as a red blur broke through a few trees. This was none other than Little Shrubby who was moving at great speed and did not have the chance to stop. Thankfully, neither he nor Lin Mu could be hurt by mming into trees such as these and were fine.


    "That¡¯s enough, we can stop now." Lin Mu stated, upon sensing the change in the area.


    Little Shrubby came to a halt with a flip and dug his ws into arge boulder. His ws cut into the boulder for over a meter before he managed to stop. Lin Mu unhooked the harness and got down from Little Shrubby¡¯s back.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He breathed in the dense spirit Qi in the air.


    "This ce... it¡¯s definitely not the Ripple mist sect..." Lin Mu said.


    While spirit Qi here was not as dense as to form a mist like during the breakthrough of the two snakes, it was still over five times as concentrated as that of the sect. Lin Mu took a look around and found it to be much different from the area of the Ripple mist sect.


    Instead of multiple mountains, there was just one single mountain here. But the mountain was taller than any other mountain Lin Mu had ever seen.


    "It¡¯s the same mountain..." Lin Mu muttered.


    This is the scene that Lin Mu had seen previously in the forest. It looked like an illusion to him before, but now it was confirmed that it was all realm.


    "Seems like you managed to stumble into a minor ne..." Xukong suddenly said.


    "Really senior?" Lin Mu said and spread his spirit sense around. "This ce is much more stable than I thought though. It is even stable than the Myriad Armament Canopy abode of old man Jing." Lin Mu added.


    "Hmm... probably because this is a naturally formed ne. Though it can¡¯t be considered to be aplete ne." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded and decided to take a look around. The spirit Qi in the air was quite pleasant to Lin Mu and his Dantian was quickly being replenished. Before he had used over ny percent of his spirit Qi in order to open the portal to this minor ne.


    One could tell from this how difficult it was to enter this ce, but now thatrge amount of spirit Qi was restored by half in just ten minutes.


    "This ce is simply a cultivation haven." Lin Mu praised.


    He walked around with little Shrubby in the forest surrounding the mountain. Lin Mu could not see the borders of the ne, which meant that either they were quite far away, or that the ne simply looped back after a certain distance.


    If it was the second case, then the ne would be simr to Lin Mu¡¯s Garden of Karma. In the forest, Lin Mu saw a lot of beasts, but all of them seemed to be herbivores with nary a predator.


    It felt strange to him as with no predator, the poption of these beasts should have been overwhelming, yet they seemed to be normal. Lin Mu also saw some peculiar trees which he had not seen before, along with spirit herbs and fruits.


    This ce was simply a paradise for any cultivator. There was no danger and plenty of resources to consume. Just like this, Lin Mu continued walking and reached the edge of the mountain.


    But just as he was about to take a step ahead, he felt danger and took a step back.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A Sharp wooden spear struck the ground a few inches away from Lin Mu.


    "Who?!!" Lin Mu said as he got ready to defend.


    "Halt! Tell me who you are and how did youe here?!" A man suddenly appeared atop a cliff some distance from Lin Mu.

 Chapter 568 - A Wild Man

    <h4>Chapter 568 - A Wild Man </h4>


    Lin Mu had definitely not expected for there to be someone here. There were no signs of a human here, thus he estimated that this minor ne was fully isted and only some herbivores were here along with nts.


    But that spear that had just struck the ground in front of him had surprised him. Not just because it was so fast, but also because of the power contained in it. Lin Mu looked at the spear that looked like it was made from anymon branch of a tree.


    There were tens of carvings made into the spear all the way from the tip to the shaft¡¯s base. Lin Mu was able to recognize several of the carvings and understood what they were.


    "High grade spirit weapon? That too from amon wooden branch?" Lin Mu muttered in shock.


    Whoever made this had managed to turn amon wood into a high grade spirit weapon with the inclusion of the carvings. Even though Lin Mu would not be hurt by the spear if it hit him directly due to the defense of his body and the Mortal Strengthening scripture, it would still knock him back several meters.


    Lin Mu finally looked at the man who had thrown that spear and found him to be rather haggard. He was wearing old and tattered robes that were repaired and patched many times. It didn¡¯t even look like the man had used a cloth to patch them and had instead used various leaves.


    But the faint glimmer of the runes that he saw on those ¡¯patches¡¯ surprised him again. Even the torn and tattered robes of the man were a High Grade Spirit armor!


    Looking at the appearance of the man, Lin Mu would have never expected him to have these capabilities. The man had long hair that was divided into multiple sections and tied with what looked like a hemp ribbon.


    His beard was also very long and almost reached his waist. His arms were thicker than Lin Mu¡¯s thighs and his legs were like that of an ox, strong and hardy. Overall, the man gave Lin Mu a wild barbaric vibe.


    Lin Mu quickly tried to control his shock and got ready to defend against the man. He had not sensed the man¡¯s cultivation base, but realized that he must be quite strong if he had a spear like this. When the man got closer though, Lin Mu could see three more wooden spears strapped to his back.


    On the left of his waist, there was a stone axe with a wooden handle and on the right, there was a dagger that looked to be made out of some animal¡¯s bone. All of them had runes and formations carved into them, showing that they were all high grade spirit weapons.


    "Just who is this man?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but say.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    Waves of spirit Qi emanated from Lin Mu¡¯s body as he fully revealed his cultivation base and the short sword came to float beside him. But that was not all, as the Iron Thorn Spear also appeared in his hand.


    Lin Mu felt danger from the man in front of him and was ready to use all his capabilities. Tension rose to the peak as the man approached at a great speed. He leaped from the cliff and jumped from rock to rock.


    He flew over a ravine as if it was nothing, which prompted Lin Mu to think that the man must be in the Nascent Soul realm. When he got closer to Lin Mu though, he noticed the Short sword and the Iron Thorn Spear that were with Lin Mu.


    The man narrowed his eyes and spoke, "Who are you!?"


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    "I am Wu Lian." Lin Mu gave his fake name again.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    "LIES!" The Man shouted as a spear was thrown.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Lin Mu blocked the wooden spear with his short sword, which was also knocked quite a distance back. Lin Mu flicked his finger, forcibly controlling the Short sword and bringing it back. The man¡¯s eye twitched upon seeing this, but he kept his demeanor.


    "Tell me who you are! Last warning!" The Man dered.


    "Maybe you should tell me who you are! You are the one who attacked first!" Lin Mu stated.


    "Insolent!" The man shouted as he threw another spear.


    This time though, Lin Mu was ready and attacked with his own spear.


    Thousand Armament de Scripture!


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The Iron Thorn Spear was activated for the first time as a ck light was released from it. The seals that old Man Jing had put on it to hide its full potential were finally released.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    The ck light released by the spear met the wooden spear and managed to stop it dead in its track.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The wooden spear was sent flying back and got stuck in the ravine wall behind. Arge crack spread from where the spear stuck in the wall and crumbling rocks could be seen.


    "So you do have some capabilities... being at the Peak stage of the Core condensation realm and managing to hold off against my casual attack." The man said before waving his hand.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    All the wooden spears that he had thrown flew back, returning to his side.


    "Now let¡¯s see how you take my serious attack!" The man said before withdrawing the Axe from his waist. The four wooden spears apanied him to attack Lin Mu from all sides, and he himself lunged at Lin Mu directly.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    The man had missed one big thing when attacking Lin Mu though. Lin Mu was not alone.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    A fiery explosion knocked back all the wooden spears at once, as a red blur appeared at the side of the wild man.


    <i>~Growl~</i>


    Little Shrubby had received Lin Mu¡¯smand at the very start, and had hidden when Lin Mu sensed the wooden spearing at him first. He wanted to see what the danger was first before acting. Lin Mu asked Little Shrubby to hide for now and attack when the opportunity was right.

 Chapter 569 - Combat!

    <h4>Chapter 569 - Combat! </h4>


    Seeing that Lin Mu was about to be overwhelmed by attacks, Little Shrubby attacked with his full force as well. His sharp ws glowed bright red as a scorching heat came from them. His fur red up as a thundering roar came from his mouth.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    He swiped at the man¡¯s back while Lin Mu attacked from the front. His short sword danced through the air like a butterfly while the Iron Thorn spear struck like a Wasp.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    The sh was quite loud and the impact of all the attacks knocked away a lot of soil and leaves. The wild man looked back and saw arge Liger beast behind him. His clothes were struck by the beast¡¯s ws but were unable to pierce through the defense.


    The man blocked the Iron Thorn Spear on his right with the Axe, while on his left he flicked the dagger to deflect the short sword.


    "Not bad... not bad... but if this is all you have... then you are better off dead!" The man yelled and stomped his foot on the ground.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The ground shook heavily as Lin Mu was knocked back. He flipped in the air to stabilize himself and stepped onto the short sword which came to him at the right moment. Little Shrubby was also knocked back, but he stopped himself after digging his ws into the soil.


    "This is gonna be hard..." Lin Mu muttered as he attacked again.


    This time, two slim swords appeared in his hands as he spun around like a vortex. The wind howled as it was sliced apart by the rapidly spinning des.


    <i>~shing~shing~shing~</i>


    The slim swords met the wild man¡¯s dagger, which he had thrown.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    The slim swords shattered under the attack of the dagger as they were unable to keep up with the durability of the dagger. After all, these slim sword were made from simple steel, even if they had been of a good quality.


    But this was exactly Lin Mu¡¯s aim, as a smirk appeared on his face. His lips slightly moved as the wild man suddenly felt his vision blur. Lin Mu disappeared in front of him, which quickly made him shake of the daze he had felt.


    "Toote..." Lin Mu whispered


    Boulder Copsing Fist- First Form: Impact!


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    The wild man was sent flying as a fist hit his nk. He flew for over a hundred meters in the air, as spittle flew everywhere from his mouth.


    "H-how!?" The wild man was extremely surprised. He was sure he had not sensed Lin Mu approaching him at all!


    ¡¯Did he just appear out of thin air?¡¯ The Wild man wondered.


    "<i>Tch~</i> he¡¯s way stronger than I thought. Seeing as he fully bore the attack of a ten percent Boulder Copsing Fist- First Form: Impact, he should be in the Nascent Soul realm. At the very least at the Child Stage of the Nascent Soul realm too." Lin Mu analyzed.


    He had really thought that he would have been able to knock out the man in one hit but he seemed to be way more durable. Lin Mu even targeted his nk, which was the only ce that seemed to not be protected from the formations.


    While Lin Mu was fighting at the start using weapons, he was intentionally not using any of the skills of the mysterious ring. He was taking this time to analyze the man and his spirit tools. With Lin Mu¡¯s little experience with the formations, he had gained a little insight into formation nodes and saw that the man¡¯s spirit tools were all weird.


    There were way too many formation nodes on it, which made Lin Mu confused at first. This made him think that what he was wearing was a high grade spirit armor. But once he got to probe the nodes closely, he realized each of the ¡¯patch¡¯ on his robes was actually an individual defensive formation!


    The robes were actually not a High grade spirit armor, but rather multiple smaller low grade and mid grade defensive formationsbined. This also meant that any spot they did not cover was undefended.


    This spot was none other than the wild man¡¯s left nk. Thus using the severing heart sutra at the right moment, he sent him into a daze and then blinked to close the distance before using the Boulder Copsing fist.


    ¡¯He¡¯s good at hiding his spirit Qi fluctuations too... I would not have known he was at the Nascent Soul realm had I not seen him defend against my attack.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu trained his eyes on the wild man, who had now recovered. Unlike before, the man had a more cautious expression on him as his aura became a bit controlled.


    "Let¡¯s see how you take this then!" Lin Mu uttered before pulling his fist back.


    Boulder Copsing Fist- Second Form: Piercer!


    The wild man barely had any time to react before he saw a thin needle approaching him at blinding speed.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    He managed to put the bone dagger in front of him to block the needle, but was pushed back again. He gritted his teeth and poured spirit Qi into the bone dagger.


    s! He was toote.


    <i>~Shatter~</i>


    The needle, which was the Piercer attack of Boulder Copsing Fist, broke through the dagger before exploding.


    ~boom~


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    Bone fragments wereunched everywhere, but the defenses of the Wild man managed to stop them from harming him.


    "AHH!" the Wild man yelled crazily as he approached Lin Mu at breakneck speed. Lin Mu was surprised by this as the speed was almostparable to little Shrubby.


    <i>~zing~</i>


    Little Shrubby intercepted the wild man mid air but was thrown away at thest moment by the Wild man¡¯s punch. The illusory fist imprintunched by the wild man sent little Shrubby crashing into tens of trees.


    "Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu said with concern as anger appeared on his face for the first time.


    "Damn you!" he cursed as a massive amount of energy seethed in his arm.


    A pinkish glow appeared around his arm, which terrified even the wild man.

 Chapter 570 - Devastating The Wild Mans Defense

    <h4>Chapter 570 - Devastating The Wild Man''s Defense </h4>


    The Wild man had not expected Lin Mu would have so many trump cards. The young man in front of him, shocked him to no extent. His attacks were varied, yet well times. The liger like beast which he thought to be his tamed beast also attacked in sync, which made it hard for the Wild man to defend.


    But when he knocked away the beast at the end and saw what Lin Mu was about to use he was utterly shocked. It was a type of energy he had only seen once before in his life. And it was used by an ancestral treasure of his n.


    The Wild man had thought it was a special energy that could only be found in artifacts and natural treasures but never in a cultivator. When he had seen that energy he was unable to tell what it was.


    It neither seemed like spirit Qi nor vital energy. It was simply... different. Far moreplex than either of those. But the energy Lin Mu was about to use was nearly the same as that. Or he could even say more potent than that.


    The pink glow on Lin Mu¡¯s hand might seem pleasant to a few people but to the Wild Man, it was a call for death.


    He immediately pulled out all of his defensive treasure and activated every defensive Qi skill he knew.


    The tattered robes he wore started to glow as more and more runes appeared on them. The patches that were on it all flew out from it, making the robe even more tattered. Then multipleyers of barrier appeared around him. He shook his head, making the hemp ribbons that tied his haire free. Each of the hemp ribbons started glowing as they joined the barriers as well.


    The man sped her hand together and made a few mudras before executing another skill. He even bit his tongue and spat out a little blood toplete the skill.


    "Cmity repelling shield!" The wild man shouted.


    An illusory form of a door god appeared around him. One hand of the door god held antern while the other held a ruler. The door god held out thentern from which a me came out. The me then formed a spiraling barrier around the wild man. The door god also raised his ruler, ready to attack.


    Lin Mu saw this all but did not care. The spirit Qi and vital energy mixed within his arm beforebining to fully form the pink energy. The pink energy turned into a ribbon that started spinning.


    Boulder Copsing Fist- Third Form: Devastator!


    The pink ribbon of energy shot out of Lin Mu¡¯s arm, while bloodying his knuckle. Theyer of armor above Lin Mu¡¯s skin which was made from the Mortal Strengthening scripture also cracked. Thankfully, unlike the previous forms of the Mortal Strengthening scripture, the armor did not fully copse if only one part was cracked.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The pink ribbon of energy created a gully in the ground as sit soared through the air. Whatever came in its range, whether it be trees or rocks were instantly pulverized and this was when it did not even touch them.


    It moved at a great speed such that after images were left behind, making it look like it was an extremely long ribbon. It kept on moving till it met the Wild man.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The barriers that were made from the patches were instantly shattered by the pink ribbon of energy. The next to be destroyed were the wooden spears which the Wild man had brought forward to defend. The runes on them copsed like straw in the wind before fading away.


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    Then came the turn of the defensive Qi skills that the Wild Man had prepared. The weaker skills were able to hold the pink ribbon of energy for a couple of seconds before they were broken as well.


    The only defense that was left was the door god. The me barrier created by thentern of the door god managed to hold back the pink ribbon for four more seconds, before it was snuffed out.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Seeing that the me barrier had copsed, the door god swung its ruler at the pink ribbon of energy. By now, all thebined defenses had managed to drain most of the momentum of the pink ribbon but it was still more than enough to kill the wild man.


    <i>~zing~</i>


    Sparks flew as the ruler of the door god managed to block the pink ribbon for the time being. The stalematested for an entire ten seconds before the pink ribbon showed signs of dissipating. The wild man had an expression of relief on his face but then it became tense again.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The pink ribbon of energy became unstable and exploded.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The illusory door god perished under the explosion as arge crater was created on the ground. Trees in a diameter of hundred meters were reduced to splinters as they wereunched everywhere.


    Lin Mu simply stood there as the brown armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture took the impact from the splinters.


    <i>~huu~huu~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took deep breaths as blood dripped from his right fist. The area in front of him was covered in a cloud of dust and nothing could be seen in it. When the dust finally cleared, Lin Mu saw the aftermath.


    In the center of the crater, he saw the wild man kneeling on one leg. The top half of his body left was bare as his robes were destroyed. Blood dripped from the multiple cuts on his body as his hair was syed around haphazardly.


    His head was down, making it hard to see his face. His beard was muddy and soiled, as it touched the ground fully. Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he saw the slight movement of the man¡¯s shoulders.


    He was still breathing!


    "Dammit!" Lin Mu cursed.


    "Another attack should do him in... Argh!" Lin Mu spoke but then pain suddenly filled his body.


    The tribtion lightning had attacked his core!

 Chapter 571 - Breakthrough!

    <h4>Chapter 571 - Breakthrough! </h4>


    While Lin Mu had spoken those words lightly, the Wild Man had still managed to hear them clearly. His ears perked up as he forced his body to move in response. But then he heard the pain filled grunt of Lin Mu.


    "Huh? What¡¯s happening?" The wild man could not help but say.


    He lifted his head and saw Lin Mu who had fallen on the ground. He seemed to be rtively uninjured except for his right hand, so he couldn¡¯t tell why Lin Mu was in pain.


    ¡¯Was thest technique he used perhaps a sacrificial technique? Yes! That must be it! No other technique should be able to create that ¡¯energy¡¯ otherwise.¡¯ The Wild man thought.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    <i>~Shatter~</i>


    But then a powerful aura red from Lin Mu¡¯s body.


    "WHAT!? HOW?" The wild man eximed.


    A vortex of spirit Qi formed around Lin Mu as his body started to float in the air.


    "He¡¯s having a breakthrough? But this is a Nascent Soul realm breakthrough? Why¡¯s there no heavenly tribtion?" The wild man said out loud, feeling utterly confused.


    He observed Lin Mu for a bit more and saw the amount of spirit Qi in the air increasing more and more. Soon the spirit Qi had be condensed enough that a mist had spread around. The spirit Qi concentration in this minor ne was already five times more than the ripple mist sect¡¯s ambient spirit Qi, but now with the breakthrough as a trigger the amount only kept on increasing.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The loud sound of heartbeats came from Lin Mu¡¯s body as they resonated with the spirit Qi in the air. With each beat, the spirit Qi would create a wave.


    Wave by wave, beat by beat, Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation soared!


    The brown armor on Lin Mu¡¯s body was instantly restored to the optimum condition before glowing even more. Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian was undergoing an even greater change. The shattered core had given birth to a tiny infant.


    The infant was translucent and had features simr to that of Lin Mu. But there was a unique thing about him. There was a small silver ring with five spurs on its right hand¡¯s middle finger. It was the very same mysterious ring that Lin Mu wore!


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    Suddenly the illusory figure of arge bear appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian. It had long ws that looked like daggers and had a unique triangr pattern on its chest. Its fur was brown while the patterns on it were ck.


    This was none other than the Great Slumber Bear!


    The illusory figure of the Great Slumber Bear grew bigger and bigger, till it ovepped Lin Mu¡¯s body.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    The illusory figure of the Great Slumber Bear raised its head up to the sky and let out a roar, shaking thends, and making every beast in the forest shiver. The wild man also saw the illusory figure of the Great Slumber bear and felt terror within his heart.


    He could tell that the beast was nomon beast. Just from looking into its eyes, he felt his bones quiver. He had felt such fear in his n¡¯s training grounds before. They had illusory arrays that were able to replicate the auras of beasts. This let the nsman train their will and courage.


    The wild man had gone through multiple levels of the formation array and had reached the very final level which contained the recorded aura of the strongest beast their n had ever encountered. That was the level where the wild man had failed toplete.


    "I-Immortal beast!" The wild man spoke with shock in his voice.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    The wild man swallowed his saliva as he kept on looking at Lin Mu without missing a second. He did not even dare to blink, for the fear that he would miss out on something important. He couldn¡¯t help but recall his own breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm.


    Back then he had to survive four bolts of tribtion lightning before he was able to sessfully breakthrough. But here was Lin Mu, breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm without any such obstacle.


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    The concentration of spirit Qi kept on increasing in the air as the mist got even denser. After five minutes though, it had reached a saturation point.


    <i>~drip~</i>


    <i>~drip~</i>


    <i>~drop~</i>


    The wild man extended his palm and saw the translucent water on it. His eyes widened as he looked up at the cloudless sky.


    "S-Spirit Qi? Liquid spirit Qi? A rain of spirit Qi?" The Wild man muttered in disbelief.


    Such a phenomenon was unheard of to him. He had seen the sacred grounds of his n where the sprint Qi could form a thick mist like there was here in this minor ne, but spirit Qi rain? That was not possible ording to his knowledge.


    When a cultivator wanted to refine liquid spirit Qi they had topress the spirit Qi wisps many times in their meridians and Dantian. It was a grueling task and needed to be done specifically in the condition of the Dantian.


    The only other mode in which spirit Qi could be seen naturally was in the form of spirit Qi springs. But those were very different from this. They were formed over many centuries and needed unique conditions to do so. Not like now when the rain was spontaneous.


    Just the amount of spirit Qi that was currently raining down right now was probably enough to make even a Dao treading realm cultivator jealous.


    "What the hell am I doing?" the wild man realized his stupidity before quickly sitting down cross legged and absorbing the spirit Qi.


    His body was like a sponge, as it soaked in all the liquid spirit Qi around him. Butpared to Lin Mu he was nothing.


    If the wild man was like a sponge, then Lin Mu was like a vacuum. The liquid spirit Qi directly formed a floating stream around him as it started to pour into his body.


    <i>~Honglong~</i>


    The rain of liquid spirit Qi continued to get stronger as all life in this minor ne rejoiced.

 Chapter 572 - Disciple Of Jing Wei?

    <h4>Chapter 572 - Disciple Of Jing Wei? </h4>


    The rain of spirit Qi was gathering all the spirit Qi that existed in the air as of now. The wild man had replenished all the spirit Qi he had used in the battle in less than five minutes of the rain, while Lin Mu was even farther.


    Within Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian, one could see the Nascent Soul that was floating in the center. It was bathed in the liquid spirit Qi, which fully covered it. Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian had already been filled to the bring with spirit Qi.


    A few brown sections could also be seen which was nothing but the earth elemental spirit Qi which was also part of Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian. His meridians were flowing with spirit Qi as it nourished his entire body.


    Fifteen minutes passed like this before the rain of spirit Qi finally stopped. The Wild man had not only replenished his spirit Qi in this time, but he had also increased his own cultivation base by a significant amount.


    "His choice in disciples... is much more terrifying than I thought..." the wild man muttered.


    No longer was any fury present on his face, and no battle intent could be sensed from him either. It was hard to believe that the man was fighting Lin Mu with his full power just twenty minutes before.


    While the spirit Qi rain had been enough to give the wild man an increase in his cultivation base, for Lin Mu it had barely been enough to stabilize his cultivation base. Usually the spirit Qi infusion that happened after a cultivator breaks through to the nascent soul, was so that it could provide the baseline spirit Qi needed to maintain it.


    A Nascent soul needed far more spirit Qi to be stable than a spirit core. But this was also an initial cost. As once it became stable, no matter how much spirit Qi a cultivator used up his cultivation base would not regress.


    In the realms before the Nascent Soul realm, if a cultivator went below the limit of the cultivation stage, they would need up regressing their cultivation base. One could actually use up all of their spirit Qi in the core and made it copse, causing them to return to the Qi refining realm.


    But in nascent soul realm, even if one used up all the spirit Qi in the body, their cultivation base would still be in the Nascent soul realm. But on the other hand if the Nascent soul was damaged or destroyed the person would lose their entire cultivation at the very least, or be killed at the worst.


    But the same Nascent soul also gave the cultivator a chance to live after death. If a cultivator was killed before his lifespan was about to end, they would be able to transfer their true soul into the Nascent soul and let it wander outside the body.


    Thus, even if the body died, they could live on in the Nascent soul. And if they were lucky, they may even be able to find another body to inhabit or if they were forced, they could even steal someone else¡¯s body.


    All of these abilities were now what Lin Mu could use if he chose to do so. Once this entire process was done, Lin Mu felt a buzz going through his body, which made him wake up. Upon awakening, he saw the Wild Man sitting a short distance away from him.


    As soon as he saw that though, rage appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes.


    "YOU!!!" Lin Mu shouted.


    The Wild Man saw that Lin Mu had woken up and was a bit surprised. He was about to say something when Lin Mu came flying towards him at a great speed.


    "Now DIE!" Lin Mu yelled as his fist came flying towards the Wild man.


    Lin Mu was not even using the Boulder Copsing fist, yet the power contained in this punch was no less than of the first form- Impact. This was now just his pure strengthing from thebination of his Five treasures realm cultivation which had entered the second stage havingpleted the refinement of the first organ and the upgrade in his cultivation base.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    The winds generated from Lin Mu¡¯s punch were strong enough to make the broken branches and leaves around them fly away. The Wild Man had a shocked expression on his face, and fear could also be seen in his eyes.


    "STOP! You passed the test! You are worthy of being Jing Wei¡¯s Disciple!" The Wild Man hurriedly shouted.


    <i>~Woo~</i>


    The fist came to stop just an inch away from the Wild Man¡¯s face, but even that was enough to redden his skin. Thepressed air was enough to graze and scratch his skin, making him bleed slightly.


    But the Wild man would very well take this kind of damage than the full force impact of that punch. While he had been able to take multiple of these before, one had to know he no longer had any of the defensive treasures on him and his spirit tools had been broken as well.


    Even with his recent progress in his cultivation base due to the rain of the spirit Qi, he very well doubted he would be able to endure the power of the punch. And even if he did, he would be quite injured from it with multiple broken bones.


    Lin Mu who had stopped mid way, lifted his head and looked the wild man straight in his eyes.


    "What did you say?!" Lin Mu asked, anger still visible in his eyes.


    "You passed my test! I know you are the disciple of Jing Wei!" The Wild Man repeated.


    "How do you know Jing Wei?" Lin Mu questioned, still maintaining his attacking stance.


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    "He¡¯s my grandfather." The Wild man revealed.


    "Grandfather...?" Lin Mu muttered as he looked closer at the Wild Man.


    He tried topare his feature with that of the old man Jing and realized they did seem to be a bit simr.


    "Luo¡¯er?" Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 573 - Jing Luo

    <h4>Chapter 573 - Jing Luo </h4>


    Upon hearing the name from Lin Mu¡¯s mouth, the Wild man suddenly turned red, even more red than his face was previously.


    "DON¡¯T CALL ME THAT! Only Grandfather can call me that!" The Wild man said, feeling embarrassed.


    Lin Mu saw the loud reaction of the Wild man who he now confirmed to be the grandson of Jing Wei.


    "Call me Jing Luo." The Wild man stated.


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    "Okay... but wait... weren¡¯t you supposed to be dead? Jing Wei said you died from the experts of the sects." Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    Lin Mu had withdrawn his hand by now and eased up a bit. Jing Luo was the same and could rx a bit now. But just as Lin Mu did this, he was reminded of something important. He had forgotten about Little Shrubby in the heat of the moment.


    "Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu said before flying away in the direction he had seen him beingunched.


    Jing Luo was also a bit lost and went after Lin Mu. The two men flew for about a minute before reaching the ce where Little Shrubby was. It was not hard to find him, as he had created a long path of destruction as he had passed through the forest.


    Upon finding him, Lin Mu hurriedly checked him for injuries with concern.


    "Huh? He¡¯s fine?" Lin Mu muttered with surprise.


    "That spirit Qi rain should have allowed him to heal himself." Xukong who had been silent since Lin Mu arrived here, spoke.


    "Senior Xukong? You¡¯re awake?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes, I¡¯ve been awake the entire time," Xukong stated.


    "I thought you were deep in cultivation or something happened to the connection once I arrived in this Minor ne." Lin Mu replied.


    "No, I¡¯ve just been observing everything. You fought well against Jing Luo. I think this is the first time you were able to use all your abilities at once and even got Little Shrubby to assist you." Xukong spoke.


    "You were observing, I see. Then you must have some idea about that man, right? Do you really think he¡¯s Jing Luo? If he was, then why did he attack me and continued to do so?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    "I¡¯ve been observing everything closely from the start and I can tell one thing for sure. That man was never intending to kill you. He had always been increasing his power in response to your own." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head for now, and wanted to focus on checking Little Shrubby¡¯s condition. He probed his body with his spirit sense and saw that his Dantian was filled to the brim. Not only that, but his core was also about to be saturated.


    "That rain... it pushed Little Shrubby to the limit." Lin Mu muttered.


    "If he continues to cultivate here for a bit more, he is likely to break through to the Nascent Soul realm." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu watched on with concern for a bit before letting out a sigh.


    "Give him more of the beast Qi, that should speed up the process. His wounds have already healed due to his body using the liquids spirit Qi rain to repair it, so his progress should be fast." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and quickly chanted the Nurturing heart sutra. Jing Luo, who had been following Lin Mu, saw the state of the beast and was surprised too. He was sure his punch should have at least broken a few bones of the beast, but it seemed to be fully fine.


    ¡¯No wait, its aura got stronger too.¡¯ Jing Luo thought.


    But the next moment he saw Lin Mu do something. Since he was watching from the back, he did not see Lin Mu chanting the Nurturing heart sutra, but he did see him drawing out a string of energy from his body.


    "What is that?" Jing Luo felt confused.


    He could very well tell that it was not spirit Qi and neither was it Vital energy. It was also not the pink energy that he had seen Lin Mu use in his attack. Jing Luo then saw Lin Mu injecting that string of energy into the beast.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    As soon as that was done, Jing Luo could feel the aura of the beast explosively rising for a second before calming down again.


    "What did he do? What was that energy?" Jing Luo muttered to himself. His voice though, reached Lin Mu, making him turn around.


    "Just something that will help him..." Lin Mu said mysteriously.


    Jing Luo didn¡¯t know if he should ask more and just decided to keep silent. He had after all beaten up the man¡¯s pet and he would probably beat him up if he pissed him off more. Even though Jing Luo knew he was above Lin Mu in terms of cultivation base, the man had defeated him.


    And now that Lin Mu was in the Nascent Soul realm as well, he highly doubted he would be able tost against him.


    "You were gonna tell me what happened with you before... Jing Wei said you were dead." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Ah yes... I did nearly die. I was being pursued by multiple experts from different sects. Eventually, I ended up in the borders of the Ripple mist sect, where I got trapped. I could not leave the barrier the experts had set up, so I decided to make my final stand here.


    I ended up detonating one of the prototype spirit tools I was making. That spirit tool killed most of the experts that were chasing me but it also pushed me to the brink of death." Jing Wei answered.


    "How did you survive, then?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling curious.


    "The same way that beast did... I got a lot of spirit Qi to heal myself with. And I got that when I ended up here." Jing Luo answered.


    "Here? This minor ne?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes... well, not exactly. We are technically in the Sacred Grounds of the Ripple Mist sect." Jing Luo revealed.

 Chapter 574 - Over 50 Years Of Isolation

    <h4>Chapter 574 - Over 50 Years Of Istion </h4>


    When Lin Mu had roamed through the Ripple Mist sect he had heard from the many people there that the sacred trials will be held soon. And the most promising of disciples would be participating in it.


    Lin Mu learned that the sacred trial would be held in a sacred ground which was nothing but a Minor ne that was located parallel to the location of this ce. It was of course located in the lesser void, and essing it required specific spatial coordinates.


    But since it was a sacred ground of the Ripple mist sect, it was forever anchored to this location and would not move. Thus all they needed to enter it, was an ess key or token. Once someone had this, the gate would let them in.


    This gate could be in various forms, but Lin Mu did not know what it was for the Ripple Mist sect.


    But after hearing that they were in the sect¡¯s Sacred Grounds, Lin Mu understood his previous illusion better.


    ¡¯So what I was seeing was nothing but the sacred ground because of my spatial perception. The spatial disturbances caused by the heavenly tribtion should have weakened the barriers surrounding it, thus allowing me to peer into it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    But this gave rise to another question in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Wait, if this is the sacred grounds of the sect, why did you never leave it?" Lin Mu asked. "Was it so that you could heal and cultivate?" He added.


    "No... I¡¯ve been looking for ways to exit it for a long time now. Actually, I¡¯ve been looking for an exit since the very first day I ended up here. But could not find it." Jing Luo answered. "Even the entrance that should have been used by the disciples of the sect is missing for me."


    "What? How¡¯s that possible?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I don¡¯t know. I think it may have something to do with the spirit tool I detonated." Jing Luo said.


    "What kind of a spirit tool was it?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "Well, if you¡¯re my Grandfather¡¯s disciples you should have known about the inheritance treasure of our n." Jing Luo stated.


    Upon hearing this, Lin Mu instantly understood what he was talking about.


    "The Myriad Armament Canopy Abode..." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Exactly, you truly are his disciple." Jing Luo nodded his head.


    "Umm... about that..." Lin Mu interrupted him.


    "What¡¯s the problem?" Jing Luo asked with confusion.


    "I think you got one thing wrong... I¡¯m not Jing Wei¡¯s disciple." Lin Mu revealed.


    "What! How? You should definitely be his disciple. There is no way you would know so much about him and you would not have his short sword either. Grandfather never let me touch it and said that he will only pass it to his final disciple." Jing Luo said, feeling shocked.


    "Ehmm... I bought the short sword from him... as for the rest, we just helped each other and got to talk. That¡¯s why I know this much." Lin Mu stated.


    "This can¡¯t be... grandfather would never sell the Short sword, unless... something changed him." Jing Luo said, realizing something.


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    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu sighed and remembered that the man in front of him had been isted for over fifty years now.


    "I guess I should exin everything to you from the start... how I met Jing Wei and Duan Ke." Lin Mu spoke.


    Jing Luo nodded, and both of the men sat down to getfortable. Lin Mu started from the very first day that he had encountered the old dusty shop. He recited each of his meetings and how they found out about the invader.


    Though there were some points that Lin Mu zed over as they included his secrets as well. By the time he was done, over six hours had passed by and it was now night time. Jing Luo was both amazed and saddened by all that he had heard.


    "So grandfather has sealed his cultivation base... and of course they would think I was dead the life light bead I had was destroyed when I came to this ce and it does not work across different nes." Jing Luo spoke.


    "It¡¯s not all bad, though. Old man Jing should recover soon and even Duan Ke should progress a lot. They had gone into seclusion when Ist met them and were going to capitalize on the gains they had." Lin Mu stated.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "What¡¯s gone is gone... all we can focus on is the present now." Jing Luo said in a mncholic tone.


    But his state did notst long as he realized another important thing he had forgotten in the heat of the events.


    "Hang on! You managed to enter this ce; then you should know how to leave it too." Jing Luo said, feeling hopeful.


    "Oh yeah, we should be able to leave no problem." Lin Mu replied, feeling confident.


    He knew the ring could open the portal between the two worlds and even if it was hard at the start, Lin Mu¡¯s ring now had the coordinates and should be able to open a portal so that they could return as well.


    "Perfect! When¡¯s the earliest we can leave?" Jing Luo said, feeling impatient.


    ¡¯Hmm... plenty of time should have passed by now, and I don¡¯t think the sect¡¯s experts should be there. It should be fine to open a portal.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Alright. Do you need anything? Or do you need to be in the same location you came from?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Umm... I guess we should go to the same location I arrived from, just in case. Though we will need to wait for Little Shrubby to wake up." Lin Mu replied.


    "Ah... I see." Jing Luo said after looking at Little Shrubby.


    "Though if you want to just take a peek I can do that too." Lin Mu said, seeing his disappointed look.


    Jing Luo¡¯s eyes lit up and it was evident he wanted to see the outside world after so many years. After all, even if this ce was a cultivation paradisepared to the outside, it would still get boring after a while.

 Chapter 575 - The Exit Of The Plane

    <h4>Chapter 575 - The Exit Of The ne </h4>


    "Is leaving little Shrubby here fine? Nothing dangerous lives here, right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Oh yeah, nothing should happen. Most of the stronger beasts have been killed by me over the years, and no predators remain. As for the other beasts, I doubt they will evene within a kilometer of this ce." Jing Luo said while looking at Little Shrubby. "His aura is simply too powerful for them. They will dare not approach." He added.


    "I see... very well, then. I can let you peer out into the real world." Lin Mu said.


    As Lin Mu had said, he returned to the ce where he had first arrived. It was not that hard to find, as there were plenty of traces left behind by him. Though it did take them another two hours to reach there even while flying.


    The strange thing was the mountain in the background never changed its size and always looked the same.


    "It¡¯s one of the methods of spatial maniption. No matter where you look from, the mountain will look the same. And when you actually get onto it, you will realize that it is even bigger than it actually appears." Xukong informed.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up after hearing this new information, and he quickly memorized it. This was actually even more exaggerated as he didn¡¯t need to actively memorize it. His breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm had not just affected his body, it had also increased his brains¡¯ capabilities.


    Now it wasn¡¯t that difficult for Lin Mu to memorize an entire book in a single read. As for things he heard, they were even easier to memorize. While this was not eidetic memory, it was still many times beyond a normal human¡¯s abilities.


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    After reaching the spot where Lin Mu had arrived, Jing Luo looked around.


    "Hmm, this ce does look quite simr to the state when I first arrived in this minor ne." Jing Luo said upon seeing the damage caused by a spatial portal in the surroundings.


    "What ce did you arrive at?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "That ce was on the mountain itself, so it¡¯s quite far from here." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Ah, I see." Lin Mu responded.


    He then got to work and sensed the area with his spirit sense before activating his spatial perception. After a minute of adjustment due to Lin Mu¡¯s increased cultivation base, Lin Mu was able to grasp the state of the spatial fabric in this area.


    "Here we go," Lin Mu muttered as he extended his right hand, which wore the mysterious ring.


    Jing Luo could feel a pressure exuding from Lin Mu. It was quite different from what he had felt before. If it was like the waves of the sea before, now it was like reverse gravity exuding from his body. It made him subconsciously want to get away from him.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu waved his hand and a tear opened in the space in front of him.


    ¡¯Tearing the fabric of space with such ease... even grandfather would find it hard to do so with his spirit tools.¡¯ Jing Luo thought.


    He looked at Lin Mu and his body, but could not see any treasure or spirit tool on him.


    ¡¯Just what kind of a treasure is he using? Or perhaps it¡¯s a skill instead...¡¯ Jing Luo wondered but did not question.


    He trusted his grandfather¡¯s judgment and knew that if he had chosen Lin Mu, then there must be a solid reason behind it. Jing Luo watched on as the tear in the space started to expand, till it reached the width of over a meter.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and felt the drain on his spirit Qi. It was significantly less than before which he attributed to his progress in the cultivation base and reaching the Nascent Soul realm.


    But when he saw the portal in front of him, his brows became furrowed.


    "This... this isn¡¯t the same ce..." Lin Mu muttered upon seeing the ck portal.


    "What¡¯s the problem?" Jing Luo asked upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s doubtful tone.


    Lin Mu got closer to the portal and very carefully extended his spirit sense out of it. As soon as it reached into the portal, he could feel the strong tearing force tugging on it. This prompted Lin Mu to immediately pull it back.


    "This is not right." Lin Mu said.


    "What happened?" Jing Luo asked again.


    "This portal... it does not link to the location of the Ripple Mist sect." Lin Mu said.


    "It doesn¡¯t?" Jing Luo questioned, getting even more confused.


    "No... the ce that is beyond this portal is the lesser void." Lin Mu answered.


    Jing Luo knew a little about the void from his ns¡¯ records and thus understood Lin Mu¡¯s words.


    "From what I know the Minor nes exist in the lesser void, right? So I don¡¯t understand what the problem is." Jing Luo asked.


    Lin Mu shook his head before speaking. "If I opened a portal here, it should have directly linked to the Ripple Mist sects location... But it did not."


    "And what does that mean?" Jing Luo inquired.


    "It means... this minor ne is not anchored to the Ripple Mist sect. If we step into the portal, we will end up in some random part of the Lesser void. And if that portal happens to close behind us, we will not be able to return back here." Lin Mu exined.


    "This..." Jing Luo muttered, feeling surprised.


    Lin Mu looked on with aplex expression as he was wondering what had gone wrong too.


    "What could be the problem, Senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I think... what we are in right now is not aplete Minor ne... but rather a fragment of it that has been carved out due to the detonation of that spirit tool Jing Luo used. And since this fragment was carved from that minor ne, it was not fully anchored to the sect." Xukong answered.


    "Damn... this just makes it even more difficult." Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 576 - Escape Plan

    <h4>Chapter 576 - Escape n </h4>


    Lin Mu knew that now that there was no direct exit to the ne, they may very well have to traverse the void to get out. This was a task more dangerous than anything that Lin Mu had ever done till now and he did not want to do it just yet.


    Lin Mu had learned the dangers of the void very well from senior Xukong. While the ring gave him a very big advantage with spatial maniption, it was still not enough. Lin Mu remembered what senior Xukong had said to him once in the Sleepscape.


    ¡¯That ring is an immensely powerful artifact, but that is also your shackle. Even if a baby is given a sledgehammer, it is not like they would be able to use it properly. It is the same with you, the ring is powerful and fortunately restricts its level ording to you.¡¯


    The mysterious ring may eventually allow Lin Mu to traverse the void safely but now was not the time. Even at the Nascent Soul realm, he was far too weak for it. Even Immortal Ascension realm cultivators died like ants if they were careless with the void, not to mention a Nascent Soul realm cultivator.


    Jing Luo had been watching Lin Mu and theplex expressions that had appeared on his face. From that, he knew they may have been in an even more difficult position than he had originally thought.


    ¡¯There must be something... something we are missing...¡¯ Lin Mu thought hard to find a solution.


    "Wait, I¡¯ve heard that the Ripple Mist sect has its sacred trials every ten years. You¡¯ve been here for over fifty years, right? Then you should have seen or sensed some change then." Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm... when I first came here, the sacred trials had just ended. After that ten years passed before the next trial¡¯s happened. I did see some changes in this ne... the beasts seemed to be restless and the spirit Qi in the air would fluctuate greatly." Jing Luo answered.


    "Spirit Qi would fluctuate?" Lin Mu muttered.


    He looked around and felt the high concentration of the spirit Qi here.


    "If there is such high concentration of spirit Qi then there must be some source of it right? If this ne was cut off from the sacred ground, there should have been no spirit Qi after one point, but the concentration is still maintained.


    It must being from somewhere, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I think there is a spirit stone mine here below the peak there. The Concentration of spirit Qi is quite stronger there. I¡¯ve tried to get to it since I wanted more materials for making spirit tools and formations, but I could not break through the tough rock there." Jing Luo answered.


    "There might be a way!" Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "What senior?" Lin Mu asked hurriedly.


    "We may be able to link this fragment with the sacred grounds of the Ripple mist sect for a short time. But it will be difficult... and will also need the right opportunity." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu thought over it and realized that this may be the only option for them now. He had no better ideas and even Jing Luo, who had been here for over fifty years, was clueless.


    "How will we do it, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We will be... copsing this entire fragment of the minor ne," Xukong revealed.


    "Copse? But won¡¯t that kill us too? How will we escape it?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling confused.


    "Yes, there is a chance that it will kill you. That¡¯s why I said it will be hard and will need the perfect time to do it.


    Think of the Ripple mist sect as an Ind in the sea while the sea is the lesser void. If that¡¯s true then the Sacred grounds are like a ship floating in the sea while the fragment we are in currently is like a lifesaver. While the lifesaver is floating in the sea independently, there is still a link with the main ship.


    Before the ship was anchored to the ind and the lifesaver was floating in at the shore of the sea. It would bob and move, which let you see the illusion of the mountain before when you were at the Ripple Mist sect.


    Then came the heavenly tribtion which disturbed the spatial fabric and thatbined with you using the ring to open a portal to there, it pushed the fragment deeper into the lesser void. So now getting back to the shore is difficult.


    But... you can still go to the ship since there is still a tether. But to do that is not as simple as this example." Xukong exined.


    "Please tell me the method senior." Lin Mu requested, fully ready for anything.


    "What you will need to do is to create a vacuum in this ce... but not just any vacuum but rather a vacuum of spirit Qi." Xukong spoke.


    "A vacuum? How will I be doing that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "By absorbing it, of course! Basically, you will take up all or most of the spirit Qi of this minor ne which will cause its borders to get weak. The lesser void will exert pressure on it and will make it copse.


    Now herees the tough part... when this copse happens, the force of the lesser void will also push the fragment to the sacred grounds but for a very brief moment. It will be like a ball striking a wall, you will have to cross over when that ball is touching the wall or it will bounce away.


    That will be your moment to act. You will use the ring and hopefullytch on to the sacred grounds, before jumping there." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu listened to the entire exnation carefully, making sure to not miss any points, and once Xukong was done with everything, Lin Mu closed his eyes thinking over it and assimting the information.


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    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Alright... I think I got it. I will be using Well of slumber, won¡¯t I?" Lin Mu spoke.

 Chapter 577 - Jing Luos Mountain Residence

    <h4>Chapter 577 - Jing Luo''s Mountain Residence </h4>


    "Exactly... you are the only one who would be able to pull it off. Without that bloodline ability... it will be close to impossible." Xukong replied to Lin Mu¡¯s question.


    If this thing were to be done by anyone else, they would need a long time to absorb the spirit Qi of this entire ne. Not only that, but they would also need to absorb it faster than the production speed of the spirit stone mine.


    The amount of spirit Qi in this minor ne was quite massive. Even if its borders were restricted, absorbing enough spirit Qi to trigger a copse like that would be a herculean task.


    While Xukong had suggested Lin Mu this method, even he was unsure whether Lin Mu would be able to do this.


    ¡¯Hopefully, he seeds... even if he doesn¡¯t, I can interfere. At least in the void, I should be able to control things better.¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    Jing Luo saw the determination that had suddenly appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes and wondered why.


    "Did you think of something?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yes... I have a solution." Lin Mu spoke.


    "To get us out of here? What is it?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Alright, listen carefully." Lin Mu said before exining the entire n to Jing Luo while omitting a few details that were treading on his secrets like the Well Of Slumber.


    "This... I¡¯ve never thought something like this could be done." Jing Luo spoke after hearing the entire thing.


    "It is indeed risky, but the only option we have left." Lin Mu replied.


    Jing Luo nodded his head and did not waver.


    "I¡¯ve been here for fifty years already, and it has been far too long. Grandfather and Duan Ke have suffered for far too long. Our enemies have risen again and I won¡¯t let them be." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Very well. But before we can start that we will need to get ess to the Spirit stone mine." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Ah, yes. My home here is on the mountain, let¡¯s go there. Over the years I¡¯ve managed to dig a tunnel that leads to the location of the Spirit stone mine, but I can¡¯t get past thest part. The rocks there are much harder than anything I¡¯ve seen before." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Okay, let¡¯s go check it out." Lin Mu spoke, and both of them flew to the mountain.


    Lin Mu no longer worried about Little Shrubby, as there was no beast that could harm him here. Along the way, Lin Mu talked with Jing Luo and learned of all that he did here during the past fifty years.


    He was greatly injured when he first arrived here and it took him five years just to heal from his injuries. During that time there were many dangers in this minor ne. There were other Nascent Soul realm beasts that threatened his life and had attacked him.


    While he had managed to escape them, he had gotten injured over and over again. It took him another ten years before he was able to adapt to this ce. But with all the hardship came the benefits, too.


    Jing Luo learned a lot here in that time and got to solidify his own power. Eventually, he started to focus on making spirit tools and weapons using the materials that were present here. Those leaves he had made patches on his robes with were all refined by him.


    He had managed to make spirit tools and weapons from basic materials of this ce, even though it was hard. While this ce was like a paradise, it did not have all the right materials that were needed to make the spirit tools, thus Jing Luo simply managed with things that he had.


    Instead of finding materials that could handle the runes and formations, he modified the formations such that they could be used onmon materials as well. This was all due to the research that he had done on his own here.


    His hand was forced due to necessity and this new methodology of making spirit tools was born from that.


    "This man is a genius, simr to his grandfather. He managed toprehend the ¡¯Return to simplicity¡¯ principle of formations. Many good formation masters never learn that in their life even when they are taught, and he did it on his own." Xukong praised.


    Lin Mu knew how much senior Xukong¡¯s praise was worth. Anyone that could get praised by him was greatly deserving of it and was leagues above others. Lin Mu now wondered if he should learn from Jing Luo, but he did not know if that would be possible currently.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo eventually reached the residence, which was nothing but arge cave in the mountainside. But it was not dark like one would think. Once Lin Mu entered inside and got to the main part, he was surprised.


    There were glowingmps everywhere, and it was bright. There wererge workstations on which various materials were lying and formations that glowed in the air. There were skylights carved out in the roof, through which sunlight entered the cave.


    There were even nts growing in the residence, and there was an entire garden here. Jing Luo had grown some of themon nts that he needed for materials here. Usually, these nts would take decades to grow, but in a paradise like this, they grew like weeds.


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    There were also some decorations in the residence like skulls of beasts,rge horns that hung from the walls, along with many weapons made from the bones of beasts. Lin Mu saw a great sword that was ced on one of the shelves. The Sword was simply massive. It was nearly twice the size of Lin Mu¡¯s entire body.


    But that was not all, as when he scanned it with his spirit sense, he found it to be densely covered with runes upon runes. There were so many formations on it that there was simply no space left.

 Chapter 578 - A Great Sword

    <h4>Chapter 578 - A Great Sword </h4>


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t even know if the sword was able to handle the activation of so many formations, not to mention the consumption of spirit Qi that came with it. But then he remembered the spirit Qi concentration here and understood that the sword would still be able to function.


    But if this was the Shuang Qian kingdom, for example, there was no way the sword would be able to work, unless the user supplied all of the spirit Qi on his own. But that was not all, as Lin Mu could not even tell the grade of the sword.


    The reason for this was because while the sword did have a lot of formations, it was not emitting any major spirit Qi fluctuations, which made it hard to estimate. But just from the quality and number of formations on it, Lin Mu guessed that it was a high grade spirit weapon easily.


    "Ah, I see you noticed it." Jing Luo said upon seeing where Lin Mu was looking at.


    "What is this sword?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling quite curious.


    "To be honest, even I don¡¯t know. The sword randomly fell from the sky one day. I¡¯ve tried to analyze it but the runes and formations on it are just tooplex for my capabilities." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Fell from the sky? When exactly did this happen?" Lin Mu questioned.


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    "Hmm... it was a year after I appeared in this minor ne. Back then there were some instabilities in the world due to the detonation of the spirit tool I had. That was a prototype of a peak grade spirit tool, thus it had quite a lot of power in it.


    Though seeing this ce was likely to be part of the sacred ground of the Ripple Mist sect, I reckoned it just came from there. Or perhaps it was part of their sect and identally fell here due to spatial interference.


    And I had no reason to doubt it either, as it was not like that was the first time it happened. From time to time, beasts would also appear out of thin air randomly. I had to be on my toes all the time for the fear that a random Nascent soul realm beast would pounce on my back.


    Oh, there was also that one time when half a cliff fell about an inch from my head when I was sleeping." Jing Luo answered.


    Hearing Jing Luo¡¯s words, Lin Mu was reminded of the random items that he got from the lesser void when he used the ring¡¯s ability. But at least it wasn¡¯t as dangerous as Jing Luo¡¯s condition. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if he would ever be able to sleep peacefully, knowing that a cliff would randomly fall on his head.


    "This sword, you said you analyzed it... did you try to ever use it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, I did. And I failed... miserably." Jing Luo said with a wry smile.


    "Why? It¡¯s just a sword, can¡¯t you just swing it?" Lin Mu felt strange.


    Even if a spirit weapon was sealed, and their skills can¡¯t be used, one could still act like a brute and swing them like a barbarian.


    "Believe me, I tried, but the de will just fly away from my hands if I do that. Even getting it here was a herculean task." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Huh? How did you put it on that stand then? You must have had to lift it, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I didn¡¯t... or rather that stand was how I even got it here. I had to literally build the stand around it and then carry the stand here. I had to be careful while doing so as well, if I exerted too much strength or went too fast the de would take that as an attempted use and would fly away, destroying the stand in the process.


    I went through over fifty stands before I was able to get it here. They were hard to build too, considering the weight of the sword along with the formations. I had to put really inert, durability increasing formations on the shelf or it would break automatically. The sword¡¯s self defense formations are quite strong too." Jing Luo exined.


    "That... quite a peculiar weapon alright." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Of course it¡¯s gonna be peculiar. It¡¯s a Pseudo Immortal Grade weapon after all... or so I think." Jing Luo revealed.


    "Pseudo Immortal Grade Weapon?!" Lin Mu said in shock.


    The only Pseudo immortal grade weapon he had seen till now was the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode, but it was not an offensive spirit tool but rather a supportive one. Even if it did have offensive formations in it, that was only for self defense. But even then its power was massive.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t even begin to understand how much power this sword would have since it was a fully offensive spirit weapon. And with the condition¡¯s that Jing Luo said the sword had, Lin Mu was even more intrigued by it.


    "What do you think, Senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm, it¡¯s probably as Jing Luo said. The sword likely has gained a certain level of sentience and thus can fly away if someone intends to use it." Xukong replied.


    "But if that¡¯s the function embedded in it, how would one use a weapon like this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Any weapon that starts to exceed the boundary of the Spirit grades will gain sentience and along with it, new limits will be bound to the weapon. Some of these limits are intentionally put by its creator, while some are created automatically during its creation.


    There is probably a limit bound to the weapon which dictates who can wield it. If one can find that limit, they will be able to use it. And seeing the number of formations on it, I reckon that limit must be something really severe." Xukong answered.


    "I see... it really is just a decoration for now I suppose." Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 579 - The Tunnels Below The Mountain

    <h4>Chapter 579 - The Tunnels Below The Mountain </h4>


    "Perhaps only my grandfather will have any idea about how the sword really works. If there is anyone who can do it then it will be the number one Weapon refiner in the world!" Jing Luo imed in a prideful tone.


    One could tell from his voice that he truly believed this. Lin Mu nodded as well as Jing Wei was the only man he had seen that had skills such as that and was even praised by Senior Xukong. Thetter part was of the greatest importance.


    "That¡¯s probably true." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Sad that we won¡¯t be able to take it with us..." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Huh? What do you mean?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The sword does not allow us to carry it and neither does it want to be kept into a spatial storage treasure." Jing Luo replied.


    "Can I try it?" Lin Mu asked, having an idea.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Sure... I guess it doesn¡¯t really matter much now. Either we get it now, or just leave it here anyway." Jing Luo said, fully expecting the sword to run away again.


    ¡¯Perhaps I¡¯ll have to patch up the roof again. It has already made enough holes that I ended up turning the roof holes into a skylight.¡¯ Jing Luo thought.


    Lin Mu simply nodded his head and approached the Great Sword. It did not react to him, even when he was at the very side of it. It was just like Jing Luo had stated, the sword would only respond when someone touched it.


    Lin Mu extended his right hand and touched the great sword¡¯s handle. The great sword trembled and at that moment, Jing Luo braced his head; as once the great sword had broken through the roof and the fragments had fallen on top of his head. While it had not injured him greatly, he still had a bump on his head for a couple of days.


    "H-how?!!" Jing Luo said in the next moment, feeling absolutely shocked.


    The great sword had disappeared into thin air, which was proof that it had been stored into a spatial storage treasure.


    "See, it isn¡¯t really a problem." Lin Mu spoke.


    Jing Luo couldn¡¯t help but look at the gold ring with green patterns on Lin Mu¡¯s hand. Lin Mu had already told him it was Jing Wei who had made the ring so he thought that was where the Great Sword was stored.


    "Grandfather¡¯s craft has only gotten better over time..." Jing Luo murmured.


    "Well then, where is the tunnel that leads to the Spirit stone mine?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Ah, yes. I almost forgot." Jing Luo said, recovering from the shock. "Follow me. The tunnel is quite deep in the mountain. I¡¯ve been digging it for nearly twenty years now." He added.


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    Lin Mu followed behind the man and continued inward. Jing Luo got to the very back of the residence, where a pair of stone gates were erected. Lin Mu could tell that these were handmade and there were formations carved on them, too.


    From the top of his head, Lin Mu could tell that there was an istion formation on it, a locking formation, an insting formation, and also a sealing formation of some kind. Lin Mu had spent quite some time studying the formation array of the vaults in the Tri Cauldron Peony sect and thus knew a lot about formations that would be ced on doors.


    Jing Luo simply waved his hand and made the runes on the door move.


    <i>~Kaching~</i>


    The doors started to move and soon opened fully.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    Once they were open though, Lin Mu felt a tide of spirit Qi hitting him. The tide was strong enough to blow his long hair back. Jing Luo had the same experience and seemed to be surprised by this.


    "That... this has never happened..." Jing Luo muttered.


    "The spirit Qi is leaking?" Lin Mu said.


    "But if it really is, then... COME QUICK!" Jing Luo spoke in a hurry.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and flew behind him. The two men flew at their max speed and traveled through the tunnels. Along the way, Lin Mu saw hundreds of branches in the tunnels. Lin Mu also realized why it had taken Jing Luo so much time to reach the ce where the Spirit stone mine was.


    ¡¯Looks like he also took the opportunity to mine out the precious materials and ores from this mountain.¡¯ Lin Mu thought, recalling all the raw materials that were kept in the workshop.


    Even at their full speed, it took Lin Mu and Jing Wei over an hour to reach the bottom of the tunnels. This showed just how deep it went, but it was also due to the winding routes that were made by Jing Luo.


    Upon reaching the end, Lin Mu and Jing Luo finally saw why the spirit Qi hit them like a tide at the doors of the tunnel.


    "Cracks? How? I¡¯ve tried countless methods, attacked endlessly, used explosives and yet nothing worked." Jing Luo spoke in disbelief.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows as well and got closer to check it out. He could tell that the walls here were different from the rest of the tunnels. The rock it was made out of was smooth, with very few striations.


    Lin Mu tapped the rock and sensed it with his spirit sense, finding it to be more earthy rather than metallic in nature. Lin Mu went through his memories and tried to recall if he had read about this kind of rock before.


    While Lin Mu was doing this, Jing Luo was observing the small cracks that had appeared on it. The cracks were very fine, and could be considered to be hairline cracks but even these fine cracks were leaking out a rather substantial amount of spirit Qi.


    While it was notparable to that of the spirit Qi rain that was caused by Lin Mu¡¯s breakthrough, it was still higher than the normal spirit Qi of the area.


    "I remember now! This is Earthen Depths Obsidian!"

 Chapter 580 - Earthen Depths Obsidian

    <h4>Chapter 580 - Earthen Depths Obsidian </h4>


    Lin Mu remembered reading about this kind of rock in the Memoirs of the Lost immortal. The man had also encountered it before and was actually blocked by it. That was one of the instances when he had been trapped.


    He was exploring the depths of volcanic tunnels and it had copsed, trapping him inside. On one side was fuming magma and on the other side was the Earthen Depths Obsidian.


    At that time the Lost Immortal was at the Dao Shell realm. He could not go through the magma as he did not have any spirit tool or skill that would be able to resist its heat and breaking through the Earthen Depths Obsidian was also not an option.


    The man was trapped in there for over a year before he managed to escape. He had suffered a lot during that time and had grown weary. But even then he did not manage to break through the Earthen Depths obsidian.


    The only reason why he had managed to escape was that there was an earthquake and the magma that blocked his path was drained away. Once he had managed to escape from there though, the lost immortal swore to find a way to escape from that kind of situation in the future.


    He practiced defensive Qi skills that were able to bear great heat and also learned about how to break the Earthen Depths Obsidian. This material was actually a mineral that was formed deep in the earth.


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    It was formed in areas where there was magma and was tempered by heat. It was said that the original minerals that it was formed from were melted and cooled over and over again, till a smooth surface like this was formed.


    Earthen Depths obsidian was naturally hard and if a shard of it was broken, it would have an incredibly sharp edge. It was one of the best materials to make pure refinement type of spirit weapons from.


    Though the disadvantage of it was that it could not bear formations as much as other materials. Thus it could not be used for the hybrid type spirit tools either. They could be used for armor too, but that was quite rare as molding the Earthen Depths Obsidian was not easy.


    Jing Luo had heard what Lin Mu had said and was interested in it. He had not learned about this before and wanted to know more.


    "You know what this is?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Yes, it¡¯s called as Earthen Depths Obsidian and is a hard mineral." Lin Mu spoke before exining more of the properties of the material to Jing Luo.


    Jing Luo being a weapon refiner, immediately assimted this information and his mind came up whit different ways to use it automatically. But this also let him understand how difficult it would be to get past the wall.


    "If you know all this, then you should know how to get past it too right?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Yes... while the Earthen Depths Obsidian is quite hard to break, it is also brittle under certain conditions. It is very durable against direct attacks and even Qi skills, but what it can¡¯t bear for long is... vibrations." Lin Mu answered.


    "Vibrations?" Jing Luo repeated.


    "Yes... and I think I also know why there are these small cracks in it now." Lin Mu continued.


    "Why?" Jing Luo asked.


    "The same thing, vibrations. I¡¯m guessing upon my breakthrough all spirit Qi of this minor ne was resonating. The one in the sky turned into rain but the one in the earth did not have a way to escape.


    But this resonance still permeated and caused the spirit Qi beyond the Earthen Depths Obsidian to resonate in response as well. This tranted it into vibrations which then caused the cracks in the Earthen Depths Obsidian.


    But of course, these vibrations were not strong enough to fully break this wall of Earthen Depths Obsidian as it was caused by the resonance of the spirit Qi. Plus, once the small cracks were created, the spirit Qi could very well escape from there.


    This reduced the pressure on the Earthen Depths Obsidian and thus prevented it from cracking even further. In a way it was a self preservative function, one could say." Lin Mu exined.


    Jing Luo listened to the entire exnation and nodded his head.


    "So we break it with the same method?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yup. Let¡¯s see if we can do it." Lin Mu replied and was about to do it when he was interrupted.


    "You do know you have a much simpler method right?" Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "Just use meld." Xukong reminded.


    "Uh... oh right. How did I forget that?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "You got engrossed in new information once again... learning it," Xukong replied in a knowing tone.


    "Ah, haha..." Lin Mu chuckled lightly.


    "Though if you don¡¯t want to reveal it right now, you can try using the method you were gonna use," Xukong added.


    "Yeah, I¡¯ll do that." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Is everything alright?" Jing Luo asked seeing that Lin Mu had suddenly stopped.


    "No, nothing. I was just thinking something." Lin Mu gave an excuse and ced his palm on the wall.


    He channeled some spirit Qi from his meridians and let it reach his palms. From there he coated the entire palm and caused the spirit Qi to vibrate.


    At first, there was no response and nothing happened. There was no sound, no movement. But as a minute passed and the vibrations got stronger, some effect could be seen.


    <i>~Humm~</i>


    The walls could be seen trembling slightly. After five minutes passed though, another noise was heard.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    Jing Luo saw that a thin hair like crack had appeared on the wall.


    "It¡¯s working! It¡¯s working!" Jing Luo spoke excitedly.


    But Lin Mu on the other hand was underwhelmed.


    ¡¯This... is not efficient at all.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Why did you stop?" Jing Luo asked seeing Lin Mu lift his hand.

 Chapter 581 - Breaking The Wall

    <h4>Chapter 581 - Breaking The Wall </h4>


    Jing Luo didn¡¯t know Lin Mu had stopped when the method was working.


    "I¡¯ll try something else... this is taking too long." Lin Mu said. ¡¯And takes a lot of spirit Qi too.¡¯ He internally thought.


    The amount of spirit Qi being used to vibrate was about half of what was needed to activate meld once. Lin Mu reckoned that he may as well use meld as it would be faster and he would be able to recover it quickly with the spirit Qi from the mine.


    "You may wanna step back for this." Lin Mu stated.


    Jing Luo didn¡¯t know what Lin Mu was about to do, but listened to him nevertheless. Once Jing Luo was a sufficient distance away, Lin Mu extended his right hand in front of him, before whispering something.


    "Meld..."


    No sound or movement could be felt, but Jing Luo felt a massive amount of spatial fluctuation appearing in the area. He wondered what was happening and got worried that the minor ne may be copsing on its own perhaps.


    Just when he was about to voice out his concerns, he stopped. He suddenly saw the wall made of Earthen Depths Obsidian move.


    "H-how...?" Jing Luo muttered.


    Lin Mu slightly flicked his hand and moved the ¡¯chunks¡¯ around. Meld could separate the spatial fragment into multiple sections which Lin Mu called chunks. The more chunks there were the harder it was for Lin Mu to control.


    Still, now that Lin Mu had reached the Nascent soul realm, the drain on his spirit Qi was less than before. It was much more tolerable such that he did not mind using it more often. Plus his recovery would also be much faster, increasing the number of times it could be used further.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The wall was split into fourrge fragments that were now floating in the air. But the way they floated was quite eerie. It was not like they were some object floating in the water, bobbing up and down while being at the space ce.


    They were more like floating in a zero gravity environment. There were no extraneous movements and they were very still. Until Lin Mu controlled them to move, they were in the same position and it did not even seem like the wall had been split.


    Only after it had been disced did Jing Luo saw the true effect.


    Lin Mu curled his index and middle fingers together, moving the Earthen Depths Obsidian to the front before splitting it to the opposite sides. Once they were where he wanted them to be, Lin Mu deactivated the skill.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief. Even if the drain on his spirit Qi was manageable for him, the amount of mental concentration it needed was still quite a lot. Jing Luo on the other hand was left stunned at this.


    "How in the name of heavens..." He muttered in shock.


    "I have my ways." Lin Mu replied shortly.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    Once the wall was opened up though, a breeze of spirit Qi came from it, refreshing Lin Mu and Jing Luo both.


    "The Spirit stone mine, it¡¯s open!" Jing Luo eximed, forgetting about what he had just seen for the moment.


    Both of them stepped inside and took a look around. The immediate area next to the wall was simr to the tunnels before and there were just rocky walls and soil here. Lin Mu spread his spirit sense and checked the entire area,ing to the conclusion that the Earthen Depths Obsidian was covering the entire ces in a dome like structure.


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    "Hmm... seems like the Earthen Depths Obsidian was actually a bubble," Xukong spoke.


    "A bubble? What do you mean senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "When this mountain must have first formed, there would have been magma andva everywhere. And of course, where there isva there would be other materials and minerals there too. Certain such materials would release gases when they are heated.


    And if some of these materials had sunken below the magma, they would get heated and release the gases. This gas would rise up in the form of a bubble and reach the surface of the Lava. But of course, unlike water,va is much thicker.


    Sometimes these bubbles would not pop and be stuck there. Eventually, time would pass and theva would start to get cooled before getting solidified. When that happens, this bubble would get stuck like that too and would be dome shaped like this.


    Of course, the bubbles are not as big as this, which leads me to think whatever kind of gas was trapped in it, it must have been different." Xukong exined.


    Upon hearing this nil mu got an idea of what it must have been.


    "Spirit Qi... the mine must have formed back when it all happened and the gas must have been nothing but spirit Qi itself." Lin Mu hypothesized.


    "Probably yes," Xukong replied.


    While Lin Mu and Xukong were talking about this in their minds, Jing Luo was watching the surroundings carefully. More particrity at the small glints on the walls of the tunnel.


    "Three fall agate, Eight spot Metal, Shutter blight crystal... so many materials... so many treasures..." Jing Luo muttered one by one.


    All of the things embedded in the walls were precious materials that could be used for countless things from the refinement of weapons, alchemical pills to the creation of formations. These materials were quite rare in the Great Zhou continent and one would find a great demand for them but no supply.


    Lin Mu heard Jing Luo¡¯s words and looked at the walls too, finding everything to be exactly as he had just said.


    "If this is ce is just a fragment of a minor ne carved from the Sacrednd of the Ripple Mist sect, then how many more resources would be present in the entire sacrednds? And what of the other sacrednds of the top sects?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

 Chapter 582 - High Grade Spirit Stone Mine!

    <h4>Chapter 582 - High Grade Spirit Stone Mine! </h4>


    "Seems like we¡¯ll get to take more than just the spirit stones now." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed... I don¡¯t even know if I¡¯ll be able to carry all this. Combined with the materials I already have in the workshop, I definitely don¡¯t have enough space in my spatial storage tools." Jing Luo replied.


    "Ah, you don¡¯t need to worry about that. We got plenty," Lin Mu said before withdrawing a literal fistful of spatial storage rings.


    "Uh... I guess we will not then!" Jing Luo said, feeling stunned at first and then excited.


    What Jing Luo did not know was that this was barely the tip of the iceberg. Lin Mu¡¯s mysterious ring wasrge enough to probably store the entire mountain if he had the power to do so.


    Still, the spatial storage rings and other spatial storage treasures he had obtained from the Tri Cauldron Peony sect were already enough to store quite a lot of things and it was unlikely that they would be needing any more.


    "We¡¯ll get to themter. First, we should see the spirit stone mine." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Of course, not like they are running away." Jing Luo agreed.


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    The two continued and realized that the area was getting wider as they went further. Even the ores and materials embedded in the wall were increasing in number. Eventually, they reached the end of the path and were greeted with a wall of translucent white crystals.


    "This... I didn¡¯t expect it to be this kind of a spirit stone mine..." Jing Luo muttered.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    "Senior... I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to finish this alone..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "No, you should be able to... it will just take more time. Besides you can also store it forter use. Putting it in the ring will count as depleting the spirit Qi of the minor ne too. The only change is that the spirit stone mine is a high grade one." Xukong replied.


    That¡¯s right, the entire wall of crystal in front of Lin Mu and Jing Luo was actually made of spirit stone. This was a rare urrence as a crystal as big as this was immensely difficult to form even for high grade spirit stone mines.


    "If this really is a fragment of the Sacred grounds as you said, then the part of the sacred grounds that was carved out was probably very important." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Yeah," Lin Mu replied, still feeling stunned.


    But then upon hearing Jing Luo¡¯s words he was reminded of something that he had heard while he was in the Ripple Mist sect. He had ignored it at that point as it wasn¡¯t really useful, but now it was linked to the current situation.


    ¡¯Wasn¡¯t the reason why the elders of the Ripple mist sect were so concerned about the sacred trials because there had not been any significant gain in the past forty years? They were preparing the disciples such that they would reap the most benefits.¡¯ Lin Mu recalled.


    "Seems like you may have unknowingly helped me Jing Luo." Lin Mu spoke.


    "What, how?" He asked.


    "You detonating the prototype spirit took carved out a major important part of the Sacred ground such that they have been suffering for the past forty years. When I was out there, I heard that the sect did not gain many resources from their sacred grounds when they sent in disciples.


    They couldn¡¯t even go to check in, as the formation of the sacred grounds prevents those in the Nascent soul realm and above from entering. They just thought that their disciples were unlucky, but in reality one of the major sources of spirit Qi has been taken away from it." Lin Mu replied.


    "NO WONDER! I always wondered why there was such a high concentration of spirit Qi in this world along with many resources. Not this just confirmed it." Jing Luo said out in joy.


    To him, he had dealt the Ripple mist sect which had forced him into a hard situation along with other sects a bad hand. He couldn¡¯t help but feel happy about it and felt like he should take full advantage of it while he was here.


    "How do we deal with this though? Mining spirit stones directly can be problematic." Jing Luo spoke.


    "I think I can deal with this part." Lin Mu spoke.


    Lin Mu was originally going to absorb all the spirit stones to further the n, but instead of that he reckoned just storing it all in the ring would be much more efficient. Not only would he be done quicker but he would also have spirit stones for the future.


    "Umm, are you going to use the same method as before?" Jing Luo asked, hinting at the use of Meld.


    Lin Mu simply nodded his head and extended his hand. Jing Luo took the cue and took a few steps back. By now he had already understood that the skill Lin Mu was using was a spatial maniption skill.


    Jing Luo knew how precious and hard to learn skills such as those were. In his n, there was actually a skill that allowed a certain level of spatial maniption but no one had been able to learn it.


    The source of the skill was also quite important as it was obtained by one of his uncles during the Great war with the Northern tribes in the past. It was rumored that it was one of the skills the northern tribes had obtained from the invaders by letting them into the world.


    Many people from his n, both old and young had tried to learn the skill but no one had seeded. This had already affirmed the fact that no one in their n had an affinity with one of the three primordial elements of the universe, the spatial element.


    Even the few elders that were able to manipte space due to their high cultivation base only did so with the assistance of spirit tools.


    Lin Mu looked at therge mass of spirit stone and uttered. "MELD!"

 Chapter 583 - Mine All Day, Mine All Night

    <h4>Chapter 583 - Mine All Day, Mine All Night </h4>


    <i>~HENG~</i>


    This time actual sound be heard as the masses of spirit stones ground against each other. This was the first time Lin Mu was controlling such arge mass object thus it was quite difficult for him.


    "Come on... Pull!" Lin Mu curled his fingers pulling out fourrge chunks from the entire wall.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The four chunks fell to the ground, making it tremble.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "That took way more spirit Qi than ever before," Lin Mu said upon seeing the amount that had been consumed from his Dantian.


    "Well it is a good thing that what you are literally moving is spirit stones, haha~" Xukong chuckled.


    "Oh yeah..." Lin Mu realized his silliness and figured out another solution.


    He walked to the chunks of spirit stone he had pulled out and stored them into the ring one by one except for the smallest one. Even the smallest one was quiterge in size, being twice as big as Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu took this chunk and pulled it back before sitting on it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Streams of spirit Qi started to emanate from the chunk Lin Mu was sitting on, as he started to rapidly absorb it. Even if this chunk looked big, it was actually just a low grade spirit stone. The difference between the different grades of spirit stone was in the density of spirit Qi in them.


    Even if this chunk was sorge, in reality, it only had enough spirit Qi that would be provided by 10 mid grade spirit stones. But even then the amount was way more than enough to restore the spirit Qi that Lin Mu had used for meld.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t even take a minute, before his spirit Qi was restored.


    "That was quick, let do it again." Lin Mu muttered before extending his hand again.


    The chunk of spirit stone Lin Mu was sitting on was not even a quarter way used and thus Lin Mu had a few uses left in it. He did not even move from it and just sat cross legged while using meld.


    "Meld," Lin Mu murmured as spatial fluctuations spread in the area.


    <i>~Heng~</i>


    The sound of crystals rubbing against each other was heard as they were pulled out. A few secondster, four more chunks of spirit stone were stored into Lin Mu¡¯s ring. Looking at the wall, about sixty percent of it had been removed.


    "A little more to go." Lin Mu said before continuing his task.


    Jing Luo was stunned seeing it all. The way Lin Mu was mining the spirit stones could be said to be very unique. No one would be so opulent enough to use a spatial maniption Qi skill to mine spirit stones.


    Not only would it take too much of the user¡¯s spirit Qi, but there was also a chance that it may end up damaging the spirit stones. If the spirit stones were damaged too much, they would start leaking spirit Qi as well.


    But for Lin Mu, none other these things were a concern. Even if spirit Qi was being leaked from the spirit stones, it didn¡¯t matter as he would be absorbing it all eventually anyway. Plus, spirit stone miners worried about losing spirit Qi as it reduced the value of the spirit stones. But for Lin Mu, it was alls just entering the minor ne and it would not dissipate truly.


    In about ten minutes, Lin Mu had fully ¡¯mined¡¯ out the wall of spirit stone. Once this was done, the two men could see the next part of the mine.


    "Ah, so this was just the outermost vein. No wonder it was sorge, it wasposted of the low grade spirit stones." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Yup, we should find better quality inside." Lin Mu spoke as the two of them continued onward.


    After amount a minute of walking, they reached an area that actually looked like a mine. The entire cave shimmered with crystals that were embedded into the walls. These were of course the spirit stones.


    Unlike therge solid wall, this ce was like arge cave with spirit stones embedded into the walls. Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around causally and discovered that about ten percent of all these spirit stones were of mid grade.


    "Let¡¯s get to it; you take left I¡¯ll take right." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay," Jing Luo said with a smile before withdrawing a pickax from his spatial storage ring.


    The pickax was of course nothing normal and was a spirit weapon as well. It had formations on it that increased the sharpness of its point, reduced the recoil from hitting things and overall durability of the thing.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t need that though and could do most of the stuff on his own.


    <i>~cling~</i>


    <i>~ng~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The sounds of metal hitting rock could be heard as Jing Luo mined the spirit stones from the walls of the cave. While he was doing this, Lin Mu was simply flicking his hand while using Meld to pull out entire blocks of the cave wall.


    He didn¡¯t care that other rock and dirt was still attached to the spirit stones. He did not need to worry about space and could just store the entire thing in the ring. If needed he would sort it outter.


    The two men continued digging non stop for about three days before they finished with the cave


    <i>~huu~</i>


    <i>~huu~</i>


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Even Jing Luo who was a Nascent Soul realm cultivator was tired from all the work. Arge pile of spirit stones of different sizes could be seen lying on his side. The pile was of about five meters in height at its peak too.


    On Lin Mu¡¯s end though, there were just bare walls left, with irregr chambers carved out into the wall.


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    "Looks like this part is done, time to move on ahead." Lin Mu stated, not feeling tired at all.


    Jing Luo and he had already known where the next vein was and directly headed there.

 Chapter 584 - RiChapter Cultivator Problems?

    <h4>Chapter 584 - RiChapter Cultivator Problems? </h4>


    The next vein was hidden behind more solid rock and soil, which was quite easily removed by Lin Mu and Jing Luo. Since they did not need to be careful like with the spirit stones or other materials, they just used all their power.


    "Boulder Copsing Fist- First Form: Impact!"


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    The entire cave shook as Lin Mu¡¯s fist hit the rocky wall, shattering it in one hit.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    The wall crumbled as more and more rock fell. The next vein was about twenty meters further from the previous one and thus they needed to remove all the rocks blocking them.


    Of course, had it not been for Lin Mu being able to use Phase, they may have taken longer to find the vein. But since they already knew the location, they could easily make a straight path to it.


    Reaching the next vein, Lin Mu and Jing Luo saw an even bigger cave than before. And just like before, there were spirit stones embedded in the walls along with the floor. Some parts were evenrge enough to form pir of spirit stones.


    This showed that they were getting closer to the core of the mine. The core of the spirit stone mine was the reason why the mine could keep on producing spirit stones, year after year. If the said source was removed, the mine would stop existing.


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    Even when the sects mined spirit stone mines, they ensure that they did so in a sustainable manner. As a rule of thumb, no more than ten percent of all spirit stones in a mine should be removed in a single year.


    This ensured that they would be replenished year after year. Many times sects would not even reach the core of the spirit stone mines. Most of them would just mine the outer veins which would keep in regenerating.


    The only time when the sects actually went deeper into the spirit stone mines was to get higher grade spirit stones. High grade spirit stones were found in the veins closest to the source of the spirit stone mine, while the peak grade spirit stones were exclusively found next to the source itself.


    That was one of the reasons why even if someone had a low grade spirit stone that were equivalent in spirit Qi to a higher grade spirit stone, very few people would trade them for it.


    Most people would rather use twice the amount of low grade spirit stones rather than half the amount of high grade spirit stones. This led to the high grade spirit stones bing an extremely valuablemodity, while the peak grade spirit stones directly became a resource of strategic value.


    Peak grade spirit stones were one of the basic requirements needed in the manufacture of pseudo immortal weapons and tools and without them making them was impossible. Peak grade weapons and spirit tools could be made with high grade spirit stones but not the pseudo immortal weapons.


    Right now, what Lin Mu and Jing Luo were doing was certainly not sustainable at all. They had already gone past the rmended ten percent harvest limit and were quiet likely to be at about forty percent now.


    No sect would mine spirit stones like this as it would literally mean damaging the foundation of the sect. Spirit stone mines not only provided the sect with a form of currency but they also provided the sect with arge amount of spirit Qi that was naturally concentration by the mines.


    As a secondary effect of the increased concentration of spirit Qi, other treasured materials would also have a greater chance of forming around it. The same could be said for spirit herbs and other such natural materials.


    That¡¯s why for a sect, it was much more beneficial to reduce the number of spirit stones they mined, and use its passive effects than to increase their direct wealth by umting them. By doing all this, Lin Mu was making himself filthy rich.


    At the expense of another party, of course.


    "Lot¡¯s of spirit stones here too... we¡¯ll do the same?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yup. You take the left, I take the right." Lin Mu replied.


    The two men got to work and became engrossed in it. Five days passed like this and they had finished up clearing out this vein as well.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "I¡¯m tired, but excited at the same time. For the first time in my life, I feel like not stopping at all, despite the exhaustion!" Jing Luo spoke while wiping the sweat off his brow.


    "Why don¡¯t you do what I¡¯m doing?" Lin Mu said, pointing to the chunks of spirit stones he had stuffed in his robes.


    "Uh... why didn¡¯t you say that earlier!" Jing Luo spoke, feeling flustered.


    He had forgotten that he was literally surrounded by spirit Qi and was also mining it in a way. All this time he had been using his own spirit Qi, along with the natural regeneration that his body had.


    Lin Mu just shrugged in response and let the map copy him. Jing Luo strapped a fewrge chunks of spirit stones to his back and got ready again.


    "Next vein?" Jing Luo asked.


    "I¡¯ll go check." Lin Mu replied before entering the walls using phase. Due to the extensive amount of spirit Qi that was dispersed in the ground here, even if Lin Mu could use his spirit sense, it didn¡¯t really give him an urate picture.


    It was like swimming in a pool of muddy water. Thus he needed to be close to something to actually sense it, even with his spirit sense. Using the spirit sense was like trying to find a coin that was at the bottom of a pot, using only one¡¯s touch.


    It would be easy if there was only one coin or even a couple of coins in the pot. But if the entire pot was filled with coins and you were supposed to find a coin of a specific type, it would start to get difficult. That was the kind of situation Lin Mu was currently in.

 Chapter 585 - A Dazzling Sight

    <h4>Chapter 585 - A Dazzling Sight </h4>


    Another week had passed before Lin Mu and Jing Luo arrived in at the final vein of the spirit stone mine. Till now they had mined out four veins, each of which was bigger than the previous one.


    Seeing that there were so many veins, both Lin Mu and Jing Luo were surprised. Even Xukong said that they had hit a jackpot as this spirit stone mine was probably close to bing a peak grade spirit stone mine.


    Xukong estimated that in the next couple of years this mine would have evolved to be a peak grade spirit stone mine. Though it could be said that it was both a fortune and misfortune. Fortune for Lin Mu, misfortune for the Ripple Mist sect.


    In addition to the spirit stones, Lin Mu and Jing Luo both had some extra gains in their cultivation base too. For Jing Luo, he had reached the border of the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm. If he umted more spirit Qi, he would break through to the Adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul realm.


    As for Lin Mu, while his cultivation base had also progressed, it was not as much as Jing Luo. The main reason behind this being his higher capacity of spirit Qi due to arger Dantian. Another thing was that little Shrubby had woken up a couple of days ago.


    He was better than ever, and Lin Mu had paused to go meet him as well. Upon seeing him, Lin Mu realized that Little Shrubby was very close to the pseudo Nascent soul too, and to elerate that process he had asked him to stay in the spirit stone mine with them, letting him absorb as much spirit Qi as he could.


    If one looked at the scene in the spirit stone mine as of now, one would see a slightly chubby Liger lounging on arge bed made out of solid spirit stone. Lin Mu had been taking this opportunity to train his use of meld as well.


    This spirit stone bed was made by him, by using meld skillfully to carve out the perfect shape. Little Shrubby quickly took it over andid a few animal pelts that Lin Mu had in his ring on it before sleeping.


    It could be said that the beast was enjoying a life of luxury that perhaps even the Emperor of the Great Zhou Empire did not have. Little Shrubby¡¯s fur had also grown further and he now looked chubby because of that.


    Lin Mu wondered how long it would grow, because if it kept growing at the same rate for a few more days, the beast might turn into arge fur ball instead. Even Xukongmented on it and thought that it was quite unusual.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "This should be thest one..." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yeah, we¡¯vee a long way." Jing Luo agreed as he took a look at their handiwork.


    There were piles upon piles of spirit stones in the cave, the value of which was incalcble to both Lin Mu and Jing Luo at this point. After a certain period, they had given up on keeping count and just kept on digging, while Lin Mu stored them.


    Jing Luo also kept an emergency store of spirit stones in his rings, if he needed themter. They knew that when they escaped, they would perhaps be getting into a conflict with the Ripple mist sect and wanted to be as prepared as possible.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Lin Mu punched the wall of the cave, making another tunnel in it. Quickly removing the rocks in their path, the two men progressed before eventually appearing in front of another solid wall of spirit stone.


    Lin Mu scanned it over with his spirit sense and realized that it was like arge oval egg.


    "This should be the source vein of the spirit stone mine," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and got ready to make a door.


    "Meld," He muttered while extending his hand.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    An unequal rectangle was cut from the wall, and Lin Mu instantly stored it in the ring. Stepping in, the two men saw a stunning sight.


    "This is the most beautiful thing I¡¯ve seen in my life..." Jing Luo spoke.


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    "Indeed..." Lin Mu muttered in agreement.


    In the two men¡¯s eyes, the entire area they were in was dazzling. Because the final vein was an enclosed solid crystal, even a single beam of light was enough to create countless refractions. This caused the light to turn into a multitude of colors, making it seem like they were in a rainbow sea.


    Each breath they took was saturated with spirit Qi such that it was now sticking to their clothes, making them moist. This was an environment, rarely anyone would ever get to experience.


    "The spirit Qi here... it¡¯s so... free?" Lin Mu said as he waved his hand.


    He did not even need to do much and the spirit Qi would obey hismands. It was a bizarre feeling, but pleasant at the same time.


    "It feels a shame that we need to break this," Jing Luo spoke, feeling ufortable.


    "Indeed..." Lin Mu replied before an idea suddenly popped into his head.


    "WAIT! We don¡¯t need to break this entire thing!" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Huh? Really?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yeah, all we need to do is remove the surrounding rock and soil. Once that is done, I¡¯ll be able to entirely store it in my ring." Lin Mu replied.


    "Perfect! We¡¯ll do that then. I¡¯ve never heard of such arge spirit stone mine source being used before. I know they are broken down to make peak grade spirit stones sometimes, but they are never thisrge." Jing Luo spoke with excitement.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and the two ¡¯miners¡¯ got to work again. Diligently excavating the rock and soil, they made sure not even an extra dent was made on the surface of the source vein. This took them two days toplete, but the final result was worth it.

 Chapter 586 - Qualified To Make A Sect

    <h4>Chapter 586 - Qualified To Make A Sect </h4>


    "This is perhaps one of the most beautiful things I¡¯ve ever seen..." Jing Luo spoke as his eyes gleamed with joy.


    At his side was standing Lin Mu and both of the men were looking at arge oval shaped crystal. This was nothing but the entire source vein of the Spirit stone mine and wasposed entirely of high grade spirit stones in its outeryer, with some peak grade spirit stones in its inside.


    The presence of peak grade spirit stones showed that the mine was already close to turning into a peak grade spirit stone mine. But now that Lin Mu and Jing Luo had stripped it out, that would not be so.


    The oval crystal was lying on its broader side and was over ten meters long and seven meters wide. It had a height of about six meters and was quite tall. At its side, an entrance had been carved which could allow one to enter it.


    Rarely would one be able to see a source vein of a spirit stone mine like this, as it would be mined out in smaller fragments or just never touched. Removing it from the ground meant stopping its work and growth.


    While spirit Qi springs could be transnted by moving the source crystal, doing the same with a spirit stone mine was immensely difficult. When it was still in the form of a spirit Qi spring, it was more malleable and would be able to adjust to different areas.


    But once it turned into a spirit stone mine, it was rigid and could not be done. Only certain experts could transnt an entire spirit stone mine and still make it generate more spirit stones.


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    Still, if that was done, it would still take many years before the spirit stone mine would be able to reach its original state. That was the reason why a sect would rather move its headquarters to an area with more spirit stone mines, rather than transnt one.


    In fact, many sects did not start with multiple spirit stone mines. Most only had one spirit stone mine and they either transnted other source crystals of spirit Qi sprigs that eventually grew to be spirit stone mines, or over time their sects simply gave favorable conditions for the growth of new spirit Qi springs naturally.


    What most sects did when they found spirit stone mines in the wild was quite different. They would instead establish a branch of their sect there and let them grow. This would be beneficial to them on many fronts. First, they would be able to expand their presence in the area. Second, they would gain more disciples and thus increase their overall man power. And third, they would be able to get the spirit stones mined from those mines as a tribute from that branch.


    Of course, doing so was difficult in worlds that already had many cultivation sects. In worlds like those, the sect would instead take lower sects under their wing or create an alliance. This way the lower sect would get protection from the big yers, get the opportunity to send their talented disciples to the higher sect while paying a tribute to the higher sect.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo had gained one of the very such things that would help one establish a sect.


    "Now that I think of it... isn¡¯t one of the basic requirements of establishing a sect being in the Nascent Soul realm?" Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "Yes, that¡¯s true. But it will be an unranked sect at that level." Jing Luo replied.


    "And with this source crystal, we can probably increase that by quite a bit, if we just take over others." Lin Mu joked.


    "Probably... if we survive." Jing Luo chuckled.


    <i>~Purr~</i>


    "Oh? You woke up?" Lin Mu spoke upon seeing Little Shrubby, who had appeared.


    The beastpletely ignored Lin Mu and walked up to therge source vein and started rubbing against it, all the while making a face of pleasure.


    "Seems like he likes it a lot," Jing Luo spoke.


    "Oh, he does indeed." Lin Mu replied before checking Little Shrubby¡¯s cultivation base with his spirit sense.


    "Hmm.... Is he close?" Jing Luo asked upon seeing Lin Mu¡¯s look.


    Lin Mu squinted his eyes and activated his spatial perception. He could see the faint spatial distortions around Little Shrubby¡¯s body.


    "Yes, he should be having his heavenly tribtion in a couple of days at the most." Lin Mu replied.


    "We better get ready, then. I don¡¯t know what a heavenly tribtion will do here. You were able to break through to the Nascent Soul realm without needing it, and no other beast had reached that level here so as to need a heavenly tribtion.


    The other beasts that were at the Nascent soul realm previously were all brought here directly from the Sacred grounds and I¡¯ve killed all beasts that get close to that." Jing Luo said.


    "Yeah, let¡¯s put this away for now." Lin Mu said before walking ahead and cing his hand on therge source vein.


    As soon as he did, he could feel a thick stream of spirit Qi entering his hand. But he did not absorb this as it would only lead to the source crystal losing its power. He resisted the temptation and directly stored it into the ring.


    He could feel a bit of pressure while doing so, which he attributed to the massive amount of spirit Qi that was contained in the source vein.


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    Once the source vein disappeared, the spirit Qi concentration of the cave visibly fell.


    "Aw, it was better with it here." Little Shrubbyined.


    "You¡¯ll see itter. For now, we have work to do." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay..." Little Shrubby replied.


    Jing Luo watched the conversation between the man and beast with interest. While Lin Mu had spoken in themon tongue, Little Shrubby had only growled in response. There were no actual words spoken by the beast.


    "You two can really understand each other, huh?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yes, little Shrubby can talk properly now." Lin Mu spoke, feeling a bit proud.

 Chapter 587 - Close To Breakthrough

    <h4>Chapter 587 - Close To Breakthrough </h4>


    Jing Luo had not seen anyone being able tomunicate with beasts like this. While the sects did have some guardian beasts that were at a high cultivation base and had intelligence that was greater than that of man, they still could not speak in themon tongue.


    The way sectsmunicated with them was due to the mutual understanding and writings. While the beasts could understand humannguages after learning them, they were still mute in speaking them.


    This was the first time Jing Luo was seeing a human speak with a beast like this. This was a direct conversation from what he could understand. No beast tamer in his n had been able to reach such a level either.


    It was simply amazing to him.


    "We should leave now, it¡¯s been a long time." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, while we have finished mining the spirit stones, we still have the other materials left in the upperyers." Jing Luo replied.


    "Hmm... we want to take those with us too, it will be a pity to waste them." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed, they are hard to find in the real world. We¡¯ll need to figure out a way to get everything done." Jing Luo stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, and the two men started flying to the upper levels of the caves. Little Shrubby ran along with them, easily keeping up with his speed. In fact, he was faster than both of them if he used his full speed, so there was no way they could keep up with him anyway.


    "Oh, I got an idea!" Lin Mu spoke while traveling.


    "What is it?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Since we¡¯re going to need to create a vacuum of spirit Qi in this world, I¡¯ll simply focus on that. While you, on the other hand, can gather all the materials in this world. Start from the most valuable to the things of least value.


    Optimally we¡¯ll take everything. All resources, metals, ores, woods, spirit herbs, even the beasts themselves!" Lin Mu answered.


    "I¡¯ll do my best!" Jing Luo nodded his head.


    They finally reached Jing Luo¡¯s residence at the top and got to their tasks. Jing Luo didn¡¯t go to get the ores and materials from the tunnels directly, as there were some more preparations he needed to do.


    Since they didn¡¯t know how long it would take for Lin Mu to finish absorbing all the spirit Qi in the minor ne, Jing Luo would have to be ready at all times, prioritizing the critical tasks first and then the rest.


    "Do you want me to set up a tribtion attenuation formation?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "For little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked as he took a look at Little Shrubby.


    "Yes, it will help him in safely breaking through." Jing Luo replied.


    "I don¡¯t want. I can do it on my own. It will take up your times," Little Shrubby suddenly spoke.


    "Ah, he doesn¡¯t want that. Says he¡¯ll do it on his own." Lin Mu answered.


    "I see... if that¡¯s what you want, then that¡¯s what we¡¯ll do. It should give us more time as well." Jing Luo said before getting to work.


    Lin Mu also left the residence and went to the top of the mountain. The concentration of spirit Qi in the air was still the same as they had seen before, but the main difference was that if it was absorbed now, it will not regenerate.


    The Mountain in the minor ne was where there was the highest concentration of spirit Qi as of now and it was also located roughly at the center of the minor ne. Thus it could be said to be the best ce for Lin Mu to cultivate.


    "This mountain really is way too tall. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen any other mountain as tall as this in the Shuang Qian kingdom." Lin Mu spoke.


    "You¡¯ll see more of them. Mountains that are as big as these usually have unique phenomena associated with them. One of such appearing smaller than they actually are. In fact, this is one of the types of spatial distortions, but because it is natural, it bes hard to spot for many people." Xukong exined.


    "No wonder it was always the center of the illusion whenever I saw it in the Ripple mist sect." Lin Mu replied.


    Just like this, the man and beast reached the very top of the mountain. There was snow falling here, but despite that, neither of them felt cold. Lin Mu had the body cultivation at the Second Stage of the Five Treasures realm and while also being at the Nascent Soul realm.


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    As for Little Shrubby, he had an innate control of fire element and also had a good bloodline. Thus he was not affected by this level of cold either. The two of them found a rtivelyfortable ce at the top and began cultivating.


    Lin Mu knew that using Well of slumber woulde with the risk that he might not wake up in time, but he was also betting on the fact that the ability was dependent on the presence of spirit Qi along with vital energy.


    Plus little Shrubby was yet to break through and thus Lin Mu wanted to wait for him to do that, before using Well of Slumber.


    "I should start eating. Better to be safe and have a surplus of vital energy..." Lin Mu said before taking out the beast meat he had ready.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll eat till it¡¯s the time for Little Shrubby¡¯s tribtion, then I¡¯ll observer it just in case and start the next part of the n.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu chewed and gnawed on the meat while Little Shrubby cultivated diligently, preparing for theing heavenly tribtion. Lin Mu could sense the faint increase in spatial distortions with every passing hour and reckoned that when they reached the peak, the tribtion will arrive.


    And just as he thought, two days passed swiftly and it was finally time.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    Lin Mu looked up at the dark cloudy sky and then at little Shrubby.


    "Time to Breakthrough!"

 Chapter 588 - Little Shrubbys Tribulation

    <h4>Chapter 588 - Little Shrubby''s Tribtion </h4>


    ~Rumble~


    The Dark Tribtion Clouds in the sky rumbled as the lightning swam within them. The shes of lightning lit up the mountain and the forest at every few seconds. The beasts of the forest were scared and did not make even a single noise.


    The pressure exerted by tribtion clouds was something most beasts below the Nascent Soul realm could not bear easily. Lin Mu though felt nothing from this, which felt strange to him.


    ording to what he had seen and learned till now, even other Nascent Soul realm cultivators should be afraid of it. Tribtion lightning was very strong and even a Adult Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator would get injured if he was not careful.


    The existence of tribtion tforms was entirely because of this and they helped reduce the impact and pressures of the heavenly tribtions. Jing Luo was thinking along the lines of this as well, and that¡¯s why he asked if Little Shrubby wanted one.


    But Lin Mu knew Little Shrubby did not need it, and neither did the beast himself. There was a certain level of pride in its bloodline that would not allow him. They were still unsure of what bloodline he had, as there were far too many of them mixing together.


    At first, the dominant one was the sh Fire Liger, but now it was hard to tell which one was truly dominant. Not to mention the seven beast burst confirmed the existence of at least seven bloodlines that were merging together.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The tribtion clouds gathered up together and the tribtion lightning within them arced across the surface. Little Shrubby looked up at the sky with determination as his aura red up.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    He let out a defiant roar at the skies, taunting them to hurry up.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The Skies were quick to answer too as the tribtion lightning descended from the clouds, striking Little Shrubby. The impact of the lightning bolt spread around him as the snow directly evaporated from the heat.


    The trees nearby were shaken as well due to the force, but Lin Mu stood there unhindered. He had felt the full pressure of the bolt and even then found it to be quite bearable.


    ¡¯This is truly astonishing... wonder what would happen if I get hit by one of them?¡¯ Lin Wu thought to himself.


    It was a rather dangerous thought, and not many people would dare to think of something like that. Most would like to stay away from tribtion lightning as much as they could.


    <i>~GRRRR~</i>


    Little Shrubby bore the tribtion lightning with rtively less difficulty and stood his ground.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    He shook off the numbness and roared back up at the sky as his aura stabilizing again. His body had no traces of being hit by tribtion lightning and was fine. Usually one would see burn marks or such injuries, but for Little Shrubby who had resistance to heat and fire, there was no such thing.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The clouds thundered once again as more tribtion lightning gathered up in the clouds. Lin Mu could tell that this tribtion was a bit different from the other two he had seen.


    "Why is it so fast?" Lin Mu questioned.


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    "Look up at the sky with spatial perception," Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu looked up and first saw the dark tribtion clouds, but then they faded away under his gaze and the spatial fabric hidden behind it was visible to him.


    "The spatial tear... how is it so wide? And the borders of the Minor ne... they are thin too." Lin Mu said upon seeing it.


    "Exactly. Since it¡¯s a minor ne, the restrictions thate with a true world don¡¯te. And thus the tribtion will have an easier time traveling through the void. Breaking into the world is even easier for it." Xukong exined.


    "I see... no wonder the minor ne appeared as an illusion during the tribtion of the two snakes and the border became weak enough for me to enter it easily." Lin Mu spoke.


    And just as he spoke, another bolt of lightning fell from the sky.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    This time Little Shrubby was forced a little lower due to the force of the Tribtion lightning, but he still managed to hold on. A little fur could also be seen fallen around him. But it did not fall due to being burned off, rather it fell due to the impact of the lightning.


    The ground around him, which was free from snow due to thest lightning bolt, was now cracked due to Little Shrubby¡¯s paws digging into it. Even if it was solid rock, it was unable to bear the force of the Tribtion lightning.


    Once the re of the lightning faded away, Lin Mu looked at little Shrubby who was still standing.


    <i>~GRRRR~</i>


    Little Shrubby felt numb due to the Lightning as it coursed inside his body. Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense entered his Dantian and he saw the core being cracked by the tribtion lightning. About half of it had been cracked already.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    After little Shrubby managed to gain back the control on his body, he roared back at the clouds. His aura had increased by another level as spirit Qi swirled around him.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The next tribtion lightning bolt was twice as thick as before and fell with great force.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    A loud cracking sound could be heard as the rock below little Shrubby was directly shattered and he sank into the ground. The shattered rocks were also scorched ck, but Little Shrubby just threw them all away with a stomp.


    This time he did not feel numb, as the loud throbbing of his heart could be heard.


    <i>~Badum~Badum~Badum~</i>


    The sound of his heart got louder and louder till it matched the tempo of the tribtion lightning. Soon his body started to glow in a red light as spirit Qi fluctuations radiated from it, along with heat.


    The heat directly melted the snow in a radius of a hundred meters, drying it outpletely.


    "Is he gonna...?" Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 589 - The Seven Bloodline Beasts

    <h4>Chapter 589 - The Seven Bloodline Beasts </h4>


    The sound of bellows came from the lungs of Little Shrubby as they took in vast amounts of spirit Qi in. His fur red up as fire started burning on it.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    A roar was let out by little Shrubby but it was different this time. It seemed as if instead of just him, seven beasts were roaring at the same time. Lin Mu finally got to see the illusory beasts that had appeared before when little Shrubby used Seven beasts burst.


    The illusory figures were different from each other and Lin Mu could recognize a few of them.


    The first figure was that of none other than the sh Fire Liger that Lin Wu had known about. It looked distinct from Little Shrubby and was a bitrger in size than him.


    The next figure that appeared was that of a Lion beast. Lin Mu tried to recall what it was and recognized it to be the Brood Mane Lion. Its body was a wheatish brown color and it had a simr colored tail. The only difference was in its mane which had tens of lion head like patterns on it.


    The third figure was that of a Tiger beast. Lin Mu identified it to be the Scorch w Tiger. It had ws that were muchrger than of otherrge cat beasts and were not retractable. They looked to be made of sharp metal that had been heated to a red hot level. They looked more like long knives instead of ws.


    The fourth figure was that of a slender leopard. This was the beast called as Hundred Mirror Leopard. The spots on its fur were like mirrors and reflected light when one looked at them. If one got closer they would even be able to see themselves.


    The fifth figure that appeared was a panther. Lin Mu recalled seeing this beast in the records as well. It was the Fume Wood Panther. Its body looked like it was made from wood and had grass like fur growing on it. All in all, it was a strange beast that looked more like a nt than a beast.


    The sixth figure was something Lin Mu recognized from the records of the Lost immortal. It was a cheetah beast with the name Thunder Bolt Cheetah. Its cry was like that of a thunderp and it was one of the fastest beasts the Lost Immortal had ever encountered.


    The seventh and the final beast was the strangest of them all. Lin Mu could not recognize it no matter what he did and wondered what it was.


    "Do you know what beast that is senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I think that is a Midnight Lynx," Xukong replied.


    "A Midnight Lynx?" Lin Mu repeated as he looked at the long eared cat like beast.


    This beast was smaller than the other six but had two pairs of long hairs on each of its ears and also on the corners of its eye brows. But that was not the most iconic nature of the beast.


    That ce would be taken up by its sleek ck fur that shimmered under the shes of lightning. It looked incredibly smooth and if this beast even entered shadows, Lin Mu doubted anyone would be able to see it.


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    Each of the seven beasts seemed to be powerful in their own self, but if one looked at little shrubby they would find it hard to see their bloodlines in him. Only the sh Fire Liger, and the Scorch w Tiger had some influence on his physique. While the rest of the beasts did not seem to have any influence on him.


    Though Lin Mu did think that the Thunder Bolt Cheetah¡¯s speed might have been what made Little Shrubby so fast. Butpared to the description the Lost Immortal had written in his memoirs, Little Shrubby was still like a snail.


    The Thunder Bolt Cheetah the Lost Immortal had encountered could cross a thousand kilometers in a blink of an eye. The beast was one of the most terrible ones for the then weak Lost immortal and had relentlessly chased him for over three years.


    In the end, the Lost immortal could not escape it and had to make apromise with the beast. As for what thepromise was, the man did not mention it, but from the slightly embarrassed tone in the text that Lin Mu picked read, he reckoned it must not have been something honorable.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "So many beasts, and all of them powerful... can Little Shrubby really handle so many bloodlines?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Most likely not. That is also the reason why not all bloodlines show up in his physique. The most probable result will be that during the merging of bloodlines, only thepatible features will be kept, while most of them will be discarded.


    After all, a body can only handle so much before it would either explode, or would incite the wrath of the heavens bringing forth severe punishment Tribtion lightning. That is also the reason why most beasts with multiple bloodlines don¡¯t survive for long." Xukong exined.


    "I see..." Lin Mu replied, feeling a bit concerned about Little Shrubby.


    By now Little Shrubby had fully activated the Seven beasts burst and his body had increased by over four times in size. It was entirely covered in mes that raged like an inferno, scorching the earth and distorting the air.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The final bolt of tribtion lightning finally fell and this was three times as thicker than the first one. But not only that, this lightning bolt even had traces of purple color in it, making it seem far deadly.


    The Tribtion lightning bolt struck Little Shrubby¡¯s body and dissipated all of the mes on his body. They exploded like a firework and Little Shrubby was made to kneel on the ground. The power of the tribtion bolt was far stronger than all of the previous onesbined.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    A crack was heard as Little Shrubby¡¯s Core finally shattered and a blinding light came from it. The bloodline pattern on the core glowed like the sun as it split apart, giving birth to the Nascent Soul.

 Chapter 590 - Bloodline Strengthening?

    <h4>Chapter 590 - Bloodline Strengthening? </h4>


    Little Shrubby¡¯s Nascent Soul that had just been born was small, and looked like a kitten. It had its eyes closed and was curled up with its face hiding in its tail. It had the same patterns as that of Little Shrubby too.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    The spirit Qi in the environment starter to stir as a vortex of spirit Qi formed around little Shrubby. It was now time for the infusion of spirit Qi.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The cyclone of spirit Qi swirled around Little Shrubby¡¯s body which also started to float in the air. The spirit Qi was soon turned into a dense mist as it started to pour into the Dantian.


    The infusion of spirit Qi was not as shocking as that of Lin Mu, but it was still strong enough for most people to be shocked. It was already stronger than thebined spirit Qi infusion of the two snakes from before.


    The seven illusory figures around little shrubby were also absorbing bits of spirit Qi along with it and were flickering. Lin Mu closely observed them and realized that among the seven beasts only two of them were the clearest.


    The others were much more blurrypared to the Scorch w Tiger and the sh Fire Liger.


    "Hmm, I guess those are the two bloodlines that are currently dominant in Little Shrubby. His overall physiquees from the sh Fire Liger while the heated wse from the Scorch w Tiger.


    Now that I think of it, out of the seven beasts, two of them are fire attribute beats, the Fume Wood Panther is a wood attribute beast, and the Thunder Bolt cheetah is a Lightning tribute beast.


    The Brood Mane Lion and the Mirror Spot leopard don¡¯t particrly have any attributes that they specialize in. But what about the Midnight Lynx? Is it the same as the previous two having no attribute?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Actually the Midnight Lynx has an attribute too," Xukong spoke.


    "It does? What is it? I don¡¯t think it is from any of the 12 elements." Lin Mu replied.


    "You¡¯re correct on that front. The Midnight Lynx does not have any of the 12 main elements of the cosmos. Rather it has the Shadow element, which is a derivative element of the Darkness attribute. It is rather rare and is not seen in most beasts of Little Shrubby¡¯s kind." Xukong exined.


    After hearing about the shadow element, Lin Mu furrowed his brows. He had learned about the Shadow element from the Lost Immortals memoirs. Most beings rted to it were considered to be infamous across the many worlds.


    "Senior the Taiji Celestial you talked about before, isn¡¯t he the one who eliminated the Shadow Cmity which also used the shadow element?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, he did in a way... but that¡¯s not the whole story. All you need to know is that the Shadow element itself is not bad, but rather the users. It¡¯s just that... most of them turn out to be bad." Xukong replied.


    "I understand." Lin Mu said with a nod.


    While Lin Mu was conversing with Senior Xukong, Little Shrubby waspleting his breakthrough. The tribtion clouds had already started to disappear and the cyclone of spirit Qi was also slowing down now.


    Little Shrubby¡¯s Dantian had already been replenished and it was now the illusory figures that were absorbing the remnant spirit Qi. Lin Mu reckoned this was the way by which they were going to negate the cost of using the Seven Beasts Burst.


    But upon seeing the illusory beats absorb the spirit Qi, Lin Mu got an idea.


    ¡¯Can that work?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Feeling curious about the idea that had just appeared in his mind, Lin Mu decided to go ahead with it. He closed his eyes and calmly chanted the Nurturing Heart Sutra. Soon a string of Beast Qi was refined in his Dantian.


    He easily drew it out of his body and looked at it. The string of beast Qi was longer than before and was even a bit thicker. It was evident that his breakthrough into the Nascent Soul realm had boosted it.


    As soon as the beast Qi appeared out of Lin Mu¡¯s body though, the seven illusory figures of the beasts instantly looked at it. Little Shrubby himself was busy absorbing the spirit Qi and could not be bothered with anything else.


    Seeing this strange response of the illusory beasts, surprised Lin Mu.


    "Do they have a consciousness of their own?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They don¡¯t exactly have that. More like its instincts built into the very bloodline. Since the beast Qi has the effect of improving and evolving a bloodline, the illusory figures that are the representative of the bloodline will obviously respond." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu looked at the string of beast Qi that swirled above his palm for a moment, before sending it flying towards the Illusory figures.


    <i>~ROAR~</i> Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    The seven illusory figures all pounced on it at once, but the one that managed to get it was the sh Fire Liger as it was at the front and also fast. While the Thunder Bolt Cheetah was faster than the sh Fire Liger, it was much weaker than it as the sh Fire Liger was the dominant bloodline as of now.


    The sh Fire Liger immediately devoured the Beast Qi as its body glowed. The glow spread evenly around its body before it finally settled. But once it was settled, a difference in its transparency could be seen.


    The illusory figure of the sh Fire Liger had be slightly more opaque than before.


    "Just as I thought... the beast Qi can direly affect them." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    His eyes wandered between the different illusory figures as a n formed in his mind. Xukong also took a few peeks at Lin Mu¡¯s ideas and reckoned that they might really work.


    "If you are really going to use the Beast Qi to strengthen the bloodlines, you will need to be careful. Strengthen any particr bloodline too much and they will wreak havoc." Xukong warned.

 Chapter 591 - Balancing

    <h4>Chapter 591 - Bncing </h4>


    Lin Mu heard the warning of senior Xukong and knew that he should not go overboard with this. Besides now that he thought of it, this was not something he would be able to do for long, as once Little Shrubbypletes his breakthrough the seven illusory figures will disappear.


    Seeing as he did not have long to do this, Lin Mu had to make a choice. He would have to select a beast about the seven to strengthen.


    "Hmmm... I can exclude the sh Fire Liger and Scorch w Tiger as they are already the dominant bloodlines. If I strengthen them further, they may be unstable. So which one should I pick?" Lin Mu muttered to himself in contemtion.


    Lin Mu thought over the different abilities offered by each bloodline and reckoned that strengthening the Thunder Bolt Cheetah bloodline might be the better choice. It may increase the speed of little Shrubby further, as that was its main trump card against many enemies.


    Not to mention that Lin Mu relied on Little Shrubby¡¯s speed to travel around. Even if he could fly now, he knew his speed could not bepared to that of little Shrubby in most cases, at least when he did not use his own skills.


    If Lin Mu were to use Fade along with blink and kept on using them, he would be traveling at the fastest speed possible for him, which would be more than Little Shrubby¡¯s. Though that may change if the bloodline ability of the Thunder bolt Cheetah is added to the mix.


    "I¡¯ll pick that one!" Lin Mu said before chanting the Nurturing heart sutra and converting the spirit Qi within his Dantian into Beast Qi.


    A string of beast Qi was produced in his Dantian and it floated around. Lin Mu did not stop chanting there though and continued with it. As long as little Shrubby was in this state he wanted to take benefit of it.


    While chanting the Nurturing heart sutra, Lin Mu also sent the strings of beast Qi that he had already refined to the Thunder Bolt Cheetah¡¯s illusory figure. This time because Lin Mu was actively controlling the string of beast Qi, the other illusory figures did not have the chance to take it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The Thunder Bolt Cheetah absorbed the beat Qi and his body started to glow in an electric blue light. Some sparks of electricity even coursed around its body before calming down. Once that was done, the illusory figure became a bit more opaque, showing that it had been strengthened.


    But this was merely the start as Lin Mu kept on producing more and more Beast Qi. He sent two more strings of Beast Qi to the Thunder Bolt Cheetah¡¯s illusory figure, after which it had be almost the same as that of the Scorch w Tiger.


    "That is enough, you should evenly distribute to the rest now." Xukong advised.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and managed to refine four more strings of beast Qi before sending one each to the remaining illusory figures. Each of the figures seemed pleased from this and had increased its presence.


    Little Shrubby¡¯s breakthrough was now at its end, and the spirit Qi infusion had also stopped.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    His bodynded back on the ground as he opened his eyes, that glowed with a powerful light. His fur swayed in the wind, and his muscr body rippled with strength.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    Little Shrubby let out a world shaking roar that echoed across the entire Minor ne. There was a strange pressure contained within the roar such that all of the beasts of the forest that were just bing active after the passage of the Tribtion clouds, became silent again.


    ***


    In the tunnels below the mountain, a man was mining the ores and metals in the wall.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    "DAMMIT!" Jing Luo cursed, as anotherrge chunk of rock fell on his head.


    This had been happening more and more recently and he knew it was due to the removal of the source vein of the Spirit stone mine below. It had caused a reduction in the spirit Qi saturation of the soil, which in turn led to the materials getting weaker and loosening.


    Since then, whenever he mined, there would often be a random piece of ore or just rocks that would fall on him. While this did not hurt him in reality, it was still frustrating to get hit by rocks over and over again, when one was working.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    Jing Luo, who was about to hit the wall with his pickax again was shaken.


    "What was that?" Jing Luo wondered as he focused on it.


    Since he was deep in the caves, the sound became distorted and it was hard to tell what sound was it that he was exactly hearing. But once he focused on it, Jing Luo managed to recognize it.


    "Huh? A roar? Wait, is it time already?" Jing Luo said in a surprised tone.


    He realized that the roar belonged to none other than Little Shrubby. He also understood that Little Shrubby may have broken through due to the power contained within the roar.


    ¡¯No wonder I felt like the concentration of spirit Qi here reduced again. That beast must have broken through to the Nascent Soul realm and caused this.¡¯ Jing Luo thought.


    He stored away the pickax and the materials he had mined before rushing out of the mine. Jing Luo appeared in the cave residence before he flew up to the mountain top. He could already feel the difference of spirit Qi in the air and knew that he was right.


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    At the top of the peak, he saw Lin Mu and Little Shrubby. Lin Mu was sitting on the ground cross legged and looking at Little Shrubby while Little Shrubby was getting used to itself.


    "Congrattion on the breakthrough!" Jing Luo said upon reaching the top.


    <i>~growl~</i>


    Little Shrubby looked at Jing Luo and growled.


    "What did he say?" Jing Luo asked upon seeing the beast talk.

 Chapter 592 - Start Of The Plan

    <h4>Chapter 592 - Start Of The n </h4>


    Lin Mu listened to Little Shrubby¡¯s words and chuckled.


    "What did he say?" Jing Luo asked again upon seeing Lin Mu¡¯s strange reaction.


    "He wants to even the score." Lin Mu replied.


    "Even the score? What do you mean?" Jing Luo questioned, getting even more confused.


    "He wants to fight you again for that punch before." Lin Mu answered.


    Jing Luo was stunned by this response and didn¡¯t know what to think. But after a little consideration, he reckoned it should be fine. He had fought many Nascent Soul realm beasts while being weaker than them.


    And here was Little Shrubby who had just broken through to the Nascent Soul realm while he was at the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm. He didn¡¯t think he would have a problem with this.


    "Alright, let¡¯s do this!" Jing Luo agreed.


    <i>~Roar~</i> Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Little Shrubby Roared in agreement and the three of them moved to a more suitable ce.


    ***


    About two hourster, Jing Luo was sitting with a scowl on his face.


    "Cheer up, it¡¯s not like you lost." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That doesn¡¯t change the fact that I could not hit him either!" Jing Luo said in frustration.


    "Hahahah!" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help butugh again.


    About two hours ago, Jing Luo and Little Shrubby had fought, but were unable toe to any conclusion. The fightsted for two hours during which Little Shrubby was unable to cause any major damage to Jing Luo while Jing Luo was unable to hit Little Shrubby.


    Little Shrubby¡¯s speed had increased by another notch due to Lin Mu strengthening the sh Fire Liger Bloodline and the Thunder Bolt Cheetah bloodline. This had allowed Little Shrubby to outrun and dodge all of Jing Luo¡¯s attacks.


    No matter how much Jing Luo tried, none of the attacks hit Little Shrubby. He was simply too fast for them. Jing Luo even deliberated whether he should use some of his strongest attacks, but then realized that if he had reached that point and was still unable to hit little Shrubby it was better to end the fight.


    Thus the fight ended in a draw with neither partying out on top. Lin Mu was quite impressed by Little Shrubby though, and knew that this was not his full speed either. Since Little Shrubby was dodging, he was using the short bursts of speed to do that.


    If he were to run in a straight line, he would be much faster than that. Plus, he had not used the Seven Beasts Burst either, as that would increase his overall capabilities by multiple times. Once that was used, who knows the battle may have flipped in odds again.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Jing Luo shook his head and epted the result in the end.


    "What will you be doing now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I¡¯ll mine out all the materials, while you cultivate. I¡¯ll try to be as fast as possible so that we can escape the moment you are done." Jing Luo reiterated.


    "That¡¯s good. You should be able to tell how long it would take if you sense the spirit Qi in the environment. The moment it gets impossible for you to absorb spirit Qi naturally, you should consider that the time is near." Lin Mu replied.


    "I¡¯ll keep that in mind." Jing Luo stated.


    The two men split apart and went to do their own tasks. Jing Luo went back to the mines, while Lin Mu went to the mountain peak. Little Shrubby, on the other hand, was going to hunt down all the beasts of the minor ne as they were technically resources as well.


    Jing Luo had made a storeroom with a chilling formation. The beast corpses would be put there by little Shrubby so that they don¡¯t spoil and when it was time, Lin Mu would get all of them together.


    Lin Mu looked around at the mountain peak and wondered what would be a good spot for sleeping. Since he would be using Well of Slumber, Lin Mu would have to sleep and hope that he would be able to control it better this time.


    He eventually picked arge boulder and carved out a room in it. Calling it a room was a bit too much though as it was literately just a cavity that had been emptied out. Lin Mu then ced a bed in there and his favorite while bolster.


    Lin Mu had gotten quite a few items forfort in his ring, and they were quite useful at times like these. Having put set all of them, heid down on the bed and tried to sleep. His mind tried to stimte the Bloodline ability of the Great Slumber Bear as it started to fall deeper into sleep.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    Within Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian, his Nascent Soul was calmly floating in the middle of his Dantian while bathing in the liquid spirit Qi. The spirit Qi nourished the infant and made it glow sightly. But a short whileter, a humming sound could be heard as another illusory figure appeared in the Dantian.


    This figure was that of the Great Slumber Bear. It reached the Nascent Soul and oveid upon it. The infant was fully hidden within the illusory figure of the Great Slumber bear as the bloodline ability activated.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The throbbing of Lin Mu¡¯s heart could be heard as the area went silent for a moment.


    <i>~Shua~ </i>


    But then a few secondster, spirit Qi started to swirl around the area. The amount of it increased little by little as it then entered therge bounder and from there Lin Mu¡¯s body sucked in all of the Spirit Qi.


    The process of absorption was not as fast as when Lin Mu had broken through, but it was still sightly faster than his normal absorption speed. But while this was happening, Lin Mu had just appareled inside the Sleepscape.


    He was standing in front of the Spirit apple tree and looked around.


    "Did the size of this ce increase again?"

 Chapter 593 - Change In The Sleepscape?

    <h4>Chapter 593 - Change In The Sleepscape? </h4>


    Lin Mu could definitely feel the difference in the Sleepscape. To confirm it, he spread his spirit sensepletely and fully covered the Sleepscape.


    "It really did expand... seems like my breakthrough should have done this." Lin Mu understood.


    Lin Mu still did not have a full understanding of how the Sleepscape worked, despite having it for a couple of years now. There were new things to find out every so often, which ended up surprising him.


    "I wonder how long it will take for me toplete absorbing all of the spirit Qi in this minor ne... though the increase in cultivation should be helpful." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He had already nned out a few things that he was going to do in the Sleepscape once he was there, and took them out. The first thing that he wanted to do was to sort through all the gains from the past few weeks.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo had mined out the entire spirit stone mine underneath the main mountain of this minor world and had even taken the Source Vein off it. In the spirit stones that Lin Mu himself had mined out, there were a lot of waste parts such as rocks and soil.


    Jing Luo had mined everything using a pickax that was a spirit tool, and thus he had mostly taken out the spirit stones themselves. While Lin Mu had mostly used Meld to cut apart therge blocks directly from the walls of the caves.


    It was a time constraint that they had, and this was the fastest way they could rush it with. And now that Lin Mu was in the Sleepscape while his body absorbed all the spirit Qi of the minor ne, he would be free to do all the extra things.


    "Let¡¯s get this out of the way first." Lin Mu said before withdrawing all of the spirit stone chunks that he had obtained using meld.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The sound ofrge objects falling on the ground could be heard as one after the other, Lin Mu withdrew the spirit stone chunks while flying around the Sleepscape. Thankfully, the Sleepscape had increased in size again. Or there may not have been enough space for Lin Mu to take them all out once.


    "Now that I look at them this way... we really did mine a lot of spirit stones..." Lin Mu stated upon seeing the literal hills of spirit stones piled up around him.


    Around seventy percent of the Sleepscape had been upied by the spirit stones now, though arge quantity of them was also filled with the rocks and such things. That was the very part that he needed to separate.


    But just when he was about to do that, he suddenly felt something.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    "Huh? Why¡¯s the ground shaking?" Lin Mu immediately became alert.


    <i>~shua~</i> N?vel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.


    Beside Lin Mu, a Grey orb of light appeared. The light faded away, revealing Senior Xukong.


    "Look there!" Xukong pointed.


    Lin Mu followed his gaze and saw that he was pointing him to the ce where the Source Vein of the Spirit stone mine wasying.


    "Huh? It¡¯s sinking into the ground?" Lin Mu muttered, feeling shocked.


    He quickly flew to the Souse Vein to see what exactly was happening and Xukong apanied him. In the two seconds it took him to reach the ce, the Source Vein had already sunk into the ground and only a few inches of it were left on the surface.


    Lin Mu gripped it on the top and tried to pull it out but could not. Despite his immense strength, the Source Vein was forcibly swallowed up by the ground.


    "What the hell?! What are we supposed to do now?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but curse.


    But then another change urred in the Sleepscape.


    <i>~HUMM~</i>


    The entire Sleepscape hummed with excitement as the wind started to blow.


    "Wind? There was never wind here before... no, not just that... Spirit Qi?" Lin Mu muttered.


    That¡¯s right. Lin Mu could now feel spirit Qi appearing in the air of the Sleepscape. He could tell that the spirit Qi was slowly increasing in concentration too.


    "How is this happening? The source vein... did the Sleepscape absorb it to produce spirit Qi?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Seems like the Source Vein of a spirit stone mine was enough to trigger the Sleepscape to change again. This should be the new feature it gained by absorbing the source vein." Xukong spoke.


    "But transnting source veins is a very difficult task, didn¡¯t you say that before senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed... But you must not forget that this is not the real world or any other ne for that reason. This is a Garden Of Karma. We already have the bare minimum information about it thus anything could be possible here.


    It absorbing the Source Vein and producing spirit Qi is not out of the range of possibilities." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu thought over it and found it to be reasonable. The Garden of Karma was basically an enigma, and there were new things he got to learn every time he came here.


    "I guess this will benefit me anyway." Lin Mu epted it in the end.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He took a deep breath and sucked the spirit Qi in, realizing that the concentration of spirit Qi in the Sleepscape was pretty much the same as that in the real world.


    "Hmm, I should have expected that there would be some reduction after transntation." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Still, he did not mind and was fine with the source vein being used like this. He still had plenty of spirit stones with him, and he needed to sort them out. Lin Mu spent about two days sorting out all the spirit stones and cleaning them.


    He also got some more surprises with them, as there were a few treasured materials stuck with the spirit stones too. They must have gotten mixed in with the rocks and soil and thus came with the stones.


    Lin Mu separated them out too and stored them back in the ring.

 Chapter 594 - Hidden Improvements

    <h4>Chapter 594 - Hidden Improvements </h4>


    The next thing Lin Mu wanted to do was to finallyplete the thousand armament de Scripture.


    He had reached about seventy five percentpletion in it and had learned quite a lot of weapons. He reckoned now that he had this opportunity, he may as well do it. It would only help him a lot as it would be increasing his personal strength.


    Plus, he had gotten the new weapons from the vaults of the Tri Cauldron peony sect so this would be a good opportunity to get used to them.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    Lin Mu took out a long scythe and observed it. This was one of the weapons he had gotten from the vaults and was suitable for the Thousand Armament de Scripture. The scythe¡¯s de was a meter long while the pole itself was a bit over two meters long.


    Its de curved evenly for about three quarters of the way before it hooked down. The de was a smooth silver in color while the pole of the scythe was covered in ck leather and had runes imprinted on it.


    This scythe was one of the high grade spirit weapons that Lin Mu had managed to get from the vault of the Sect patriarch. Since it was kept in the top vault, its value was bound to be the highest amount all of the other weapons.


    "Hmm... I¡¯ll need to brand it." Lin Mu muttered as he released his spirit sense and branded the scythe with it.


    With Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation at the Nascent Soul realm and hisrge stores of spirit Qi, it was easy for him to brand multiple high grade spirit weapons. He reckoned that even if he did ten of them, he would be fine in controlling them.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~shing~</i> N?vel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.


    Lin Mu grasped the handle of the scythe and swung it with his full force. The power was enough to create an arc of energy that traveled for over ten meters before fading. One had to know, this was done with just his own physical strength and not spirit Qi.


    But when Lin Mu looked at the glowing runes on the handle of the scythe, he was intrigued.


    "This is a different spirit weapon... I didn¡¯t even use my spirit Qi." Lin Mu said.


    "This scythe seems to be able to convert your physical attacks into energy." Xukong stated upon seeing the effect of the scythe.


    Lin Mu used the scythe a few more times and realized that the more physical strength he used, the stronger the energy attack would be. This made him wonder what would happen if he used spirit Qi for the scythe instead.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    Lin Mu started to pour spirit Qi into the handle as the runes started to light up again. But this time, different runes from before were activated. Lin Mu sensed the working of the scythe with his spirit sense and saw that the runes were channeling the spirit Qi through its internal channels and into the de.


    <i>~Weeng~</i>


    A secondter, the de of the scythe started to vibrate at a high frequency. It looked to be trembling, and if Lin Mu observed his reflection on it, it looked blurry. It was quite unique for him to say the least.


    ¡¯Time to test it out... but what would be suitable for this?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    After thinking for a moment, he took out a bunch of materials he had gathered. These included metals and ores as well as some armors. He reckoned these would be the best things to test the scythe with.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu swung the de of the scythe at the first item, which was a rectangr ingot of metal.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Two sections of the ingot fell to the ground evenly as the scythe¡¯s de passed through them like a hot knife through butter. He picked up the two pieces of the ingot and saw a mirror finish on the surface that had just been cut.


    "Whoa! This is more powerful than I thought," Lin Mu eximed.


    Feeling pleased with a new type of weapon that was now added to his arsenal, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t wait to start his practice.


    "Let¡¯s get to it!" Lin Mu uttered before busying himself in practicing the Thousand Armament de scripture.


    Lin Mu practiced for a week nonstop, testing the limits of his body. Yet even after all this, he realized that he could go on. Lin Mu had learned enough to know that any Nascent Soul realm cultivator at the Infant soul stage would have been exhausted if he did the same as he had.


    This left him with only one reason.


    ¡¯The effects of the Body cultivation are even more profound the more I explore...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    By now he hadpleted the Thousand Armament de scripture by another five percent, leaving only twenty percent left. If he was able to keep up the same rate of progress, he would be able toplete it in one more month, but Lin Mu could already feel a bottleneck approaching.


    He just hoped that it was a soft bottleneck and he would be able to ovee it quickly. If not, things would be difficult for him. In this time, Lin Mu was also keeping an eye on his body, or more specifically his Dantian.


    He wanted to ensure that the Well of Slumber was working normally and there were no abnormalities. While Lin Mu found himself unable to wake himself up right now, he could tell that his control over the bloodline ability was increasing slightly.


    "Though it should automatically stop once there was no more spirit Qi left in the environment." Lin Mu reckoned.


    Lin Mu returned to his practice and took some breaks in between as well. In these breaks, he either learned more Dao Script from Senior Xukong or read the memoirs of the Lost Immortal. At first, he could still feel the passage of time, but after a month, it started to get blurry and Lin Mu himself entered a haze of cultivation.

 Chapter 595 - The Neglected Egg

    <h4>Chapter 595 - The Neglected Egg </h4>


    About two months had passed since Lin Mu had appeared in the Sleepscape. His practice was going quite well and he had finally finished the entire Thousand Armament de scripture.


    While he wouldn¡¯t say he was fully proficient in all of the weapons from the scripture, he could very well say that he was able to use them all. And was also proficient in about ten percent of them.


    It could not be helped, as the total number of weapons in the Thousand Armament de scripture was over three hundred. Lin Mu being able to be proficient in even ten percent of them was quite a lot.


    Lin Mu had also furthered his understanding of the Dao Script during his lessons with Senior Xukong and could read far more characters than before. He also read more from the memoirs of the Lost immortal and gained some wisdom from them.


    Overall, it was a rather productive two months and Lin Mu¡¯s strength had be more refined than before.


    "My cultivation base has also increased but quite a lot..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "How far along are you?" Xukong who was calmly floating on the side, asked.


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    "I should be close to breaking through to the Child Stage of the Nascent Soul realm soon." Lin Mu replied.


    "That¡¯s good, hopefully the spirit Qi in the Minor ne has also started to reduce by now." Xukong stated.


    "I can¡¯t really tell that urately right now. But if I corrte it with the increase in my cultivation base, I would say it is at the same rate as it was about a month ago." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, but that is in addition to the spirit Qi you were constantly using as well. If you were just absorbing spirit Qi during this time, I reckon you would have already broken through to the Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm." Xukong estimated.


    "That¡¯s true, but doing that would have made my foundation unstable. At least this way I have a steady increase and my body gets used to it as well. Plus, I¡¯m still improving my strength in other ways." Lin Mu said in an understanding tone.


    Xukong nodded in appreciation. He was feeling content with how far along Lin Mu hade and how his understanding of cultivation had also increased. He did not doubt himself as much as before either, and had gained confidence.


    But while thinking of all this, Xukong was suddenly reminded of a certain thing that had been lying near a certain glowing altar.


    "Have you checked up on that egg yet?" Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Egg?" Lin Mu repeated before his eyes went wide.


    "THE GREY EGG OF THE SNAKES!" Lin Mu remembered and hurriedly withdrew the egg from his ring.


    The egg appeared in his hand and he looked at it closely, examining all of its sections, ensuring that it was fine. He then scanned it with his spirit sense and except for it being a bit too calm, there did not seem to be anything wrong with them.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "It seems to be alive." Lin Mu said, feeling a bit relieved.


    He felt like it would be a shame if the egg died just because he had forgotten about it and neglected it for the most part. Ever since he had gotten the egg, he had only taken it out twice, and that was when he was in the Minor ne with Little Shrubby and Jing Luo.


    Lin Mu had even shown Jing Luo the egg and had questioned him what he thought about it, or if he could tell what kind of a beast woulde out of it. Jing Luo simply answered he didn¡¯t know. He stated that his expertise in spirit beasts was quite less and that Lin Mu definitely knew a lot more than him.


    The only beasts that Jing Luo knew well enough about were those that he used as ingredients for Weapon refinement and formations. As for the others, he did not really care for them as much.


    Lin Mu could only sigh to himself at that time and let time reveal the identity of the spirit beast that was in this egg. The strange thing was that even if Lin Mu tried to scan it with his spirit sense, he could not tell much.


    Observing the egg using spirit sense was like looking at something through a white sheet. The image was hardly visible and the details could not be made out. All that could be told was that there was something in the egg.


    "I still can¡¯t see anything in the egg though." Lin Mu stated.


    "Hmm... It is probably too early for you to see anything in it. The embryo should still be forming and thus the beast would only look like a mass of fluid right now." Xukong exined.


    "Ah, I see. Though how long would this beast take to hatch?" Lin Mu questioned.


    From what Lin Mu had read in the beast records, the eggs of the ck Water Snake took about two months to hatch, while the eggs of the Fire Fang Snake took a little over three months to hatch.


    If hepared the time since he got the egg, it had been nearly four months. Even taking the hatching time of Fire Fang snake, which was the longest, the egg should have already hatched. But since he could not see an embryo in it, he didn¡¯t know what could be the problem.


    "Seeing as the beast is a mix of two snakes and has also absorbed Beast Qi from the mother, it is hard to tell. The most likely thing is that it is also mutating and its bloodline has yet to adapt. Once the bloodline is stabilized, the embryo should start developing." Xukong exined.


    "I see..." Lin Mu muttered.


    He looked at the egg for a while more when he suddenly got an idea.


    "Since the egg is still adapting the bloodline which is probably mutating... what will happen if I give it Beast Qi?" Lin Mu wondered.

 Chapter 596 - Raising An Egg?

    <h4>Chapter 596 - Raising An Egg? </h4>


    Hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words, Xukong was also intrigued now.


    "I actually can¡¯t tell. Beast Qi in itself is something that is hard to find and seldom exists in free form like you use. Most of the Beast Qi that the beasts obtain is by eating other beasts and is thus present in their bodies.


    Since eggs can¡¯t eat, they can¡¯t really absorb beast Qi like it would be possible for other beasts who are viviparous." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu heard senior Xukong¡¯s words and wondered what would truly happen. It was indeed a strange situation and he doubted many people got to see something like this ever in their lives.


    Even the sects and cultivators who specially raised beasts for taming did not use beast Qi on them. As it was simply not viable. Thus for Lin Mu or most of the people in the world, this was uncharted territory.


    "Will it be safe to give the egg Beast Qi?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Since the Egg sessfully absorbed Beast Qi before it wasid, and it has still not started developing giving it Beast Qi should be rtively fine. It may even boost its growth rate. You won¡¯t know until you try it." Xukong advised.


    Lin Mu thought over it and came to the conclusion that it was worth a try.


    Putting the egg down on the grass, Lin Mu chanted the Nurturing heart sutra.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The spirit Qi within his Dantian started to convert into Beast Qi and then flowed out to his hand. Lin Mu ced his hand on the egg and channeled the Beast Qi into the egg. Lin Mu had expected something to happen, but nothing really did.


    "Hmm, did it not work?" Lin Mu wondered.


    <i>~tremble~</i>


    The egg suddenly trembled for a moment, which Lin Mu could feel. But just as he was about to observe it with his spirit sense, the egg calmed down. Now, except for feeling a bit warm, Lin Mu did not sense any difference in it.


    "The auraing from it is stable, so it is still alive. Looks like giving it Beast Qi did not harm it at the very least." Lin Mu stated.


    "Giving it beast Qi regrly may have some unexpected effect that we will probably only know when the egg fully hatches. If you want to you can keep on supplying it with beast Qi.


    Who knows when the beast hatches, you may have another helper with you." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu thought over it and found his words to be correct. Little Shrubby who was his tamed beast and friend was a powerfulpanion had was now part of his own strength. Lin Mu understood how much another beast could help him.


    One of the most difficult parts of taming beasts was controlling them, which could be solved by taking care of them since birth. But then this brought a secondary problem which was providing them with resources.


    One must know that a beast was still a cultivator in a way and needed resources to be powerful. Even a beast with a good bloodline would need some resources to help in its growth. The stronger the beast got, the more resources it would require and sometimes it would also get harder to control them.


    That was the reason why a lot of cultivators who dabbled in beast taming, preferred to tame already grown beasts. But doing that brought them to the very first problem, which was actually getting to tame them.


    Failed attempts at taming would end up agitating the beasts and they may even end up harming the cultivator. This was IF the beast was even docile, for most beasts though the first part was to get them conformable with you.


    But in Lin Mu¡¯s case, he did not have either of these problems. The beast would be born from the egg and thus he would be raising it since it was a baby. As for the part about resource? Lin Mu had enough resources that he would make a lot of the sects jealous.


    In addition to this, he had one of the best resources a beast could desire... Beast Qi. And he had it in an almost endless quantity too. As long as Lin Mu had spirit Qi he could keep on refining more Beast Qi.


    Having thought of all this, Lin Mu finally decided that he would be taming this beast that was yet to be born. With this in mind, Lin Mu returned to his routine, which was now a bit modified.


    Since Lin Mu was now finished with the Thousand Armament de Scripture and could not improve in it directly, he decided to switch to something else. There was a plethora of study material Lin Mu had obtained from the Tri Cauldron Peony sect that he could learn from.


    One part of those materials was about Alchemy and Alchemical pills, and the second part that he obtained was about formations. While the Tri caldron¡¯s peony sect did not have anyone that was considered to be a genius in formations, they still had enough manuals and records to make someone who had talent in it a formation master.


    Plus in addition to this, Lin Mu had also received a copy of the formations that Jing Luo knew. He had given this to Lin Mu beforehand since he knew that escaping from this Minor world was not a surety.


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    Jing Luo had learned and researched quite a few formations in the fifty years he had spent here and had progressed in them. He did not want all this knowledge to go to waste and thus had passed it to Lin Mu in the form of a jade slip.


    He wanted him to give this to Jing Wei and Duan Ke, in case he did not make it. But even if they did seed to get back to the real world, Jing Luo still wanted Lin Mu to keep all the knowledge for helping him.


    Had it not been for Lin Mu, perhaps Jing Luo would have been trapped here forever.

 Chapter 597 - Formations And Runes

    <h4>Chapter 597 - Formations And Runes </h4>


    Time passed bit by bit, and Lin Mu had already been in the Sleepscape for about four months now. His progress with the formations had also increased during this time, and he was proficient in more of them.


    Theption of all the knowledge that Jing Luo had gathered had helped Lin Mu quite a lot in it along with the information he had gained from the Tri Cauldron peony sect. He was happy that he was finally getting to learn more.


    Xukong also assisted him in this and gave him pointers where ever needed. He did not directly teach him though, as he wanted Lin Mu to learn by himself. Only by attempting it himself and making mistakes would he gain a better understanding of the formations.


    Another thing that prevented Lin Mu from practicing formation was theck of resources needed for it. But now he had plenty of them to use during practice. He spent this time in making a few formation gs, talismans, and formation tes that may help himter.


    Still, he was not as proficient at making them as he was at directly modifying existing formations. The part where Lin Mu was particrly having trouble in making them was the actual inscription of the runes.


    The runes needed to make formation could be inscribed in multiple different ways and there were many methods for it. The mostmon methods were to either using spirit sense to inscribe the runes and use treasured materials to make ink, which would then be used to write the runes.


    The first method was used for things such as spirit weapons, spirit tools and formation tes and the runes would not be normally visible on them unless they were activated.


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    The second method of using ink was often used for making formation gs and talismans. On these, the runes were easily visible and one could tell what the function of the formation was simply by reading the runes written on it.


    Of course, it was not this simple always and the moreplex runes would make one confused in understating what the function of the formation was. This was the part where themon tongue and Dao Script greatly varied.


    The written runes on talismans and formation gs were mostly written using themon tongue in this world and thus could even be read bymoners at times. But Lin Mu was not using that to make them. Rather, he was using Dao Script to write the runes.


    This allowed him to write moreplex formations with limited characters. Since the Characters of Dao Script could mean more than one thing and convey entire sentences in a single letter, making runes using them and expanding them into a formation was incredibly potent.


    Plus, most people in this world could not read Dao Script and thus would be stumped at what the letters even were. In the higher worlds where Dao Script was used, not everyone knew all of the characters in the Dao Script.


    Senior Xukong even told Lin Mu that there were more characters in Dao Script than there were stars in the night sky. Thus learning all of them was close to impossible and anyone who managed to do so may directly be a saint!


    At least for the most things, only a limited amount of characters from Dao Script were needed. But if one were to expand in the field of formations and even the creation of different cultivation techniques and Qi skills, they would need a good understanding of Dao Script.


    Along with learning formations, Lin Mu was also injecting beast Qi into the gray egg every day. While he still could not see any difference in its internals after two entire months, the aura of the egg was definitely getting stronger.


    Even Xukong was stumped at this and wondered what kind of a bloodline did the egg manage to awaken. If it was needing such arge amount of beast Qi then he was afraid that it might turn out to be a beast that this world may not allow to exist.


    Xukong did not mention this part to Lin Mu, as he did not want him to be worried about it. At least not when it was still unconfirmed. Regardless of that, the amount of beast Qi Lin Mu had injected into the gray egg was many times more than what he had given to Little Shrubby and the two snakes.


    Had this amount been given to amon beast that was at the Body tempering realm, perhaps it had already increased its talent far enough to gain the potential to reach the Nascent Soul realm in the future.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a deep breath as he finished inscribing thest rune on a formation te.


    "Finally! It¡¯s done." Lin Mu eximed, but his joy was shortsting.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    The formation te that he had just finished inscribing cracked, and all the runes on it copsed.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu shook his head.


    "Formations are truly difficult. I¡¯m still having problems with formations that need arger area to inscribe." Lin Mu said.


    "You¡¯ll learn it, eventually. You were able to inscribe them on bigger surfaces before, you just need to learn how to make your runes smaller while also maintaining their shape." Xukong advised.


    "I understand, senior..." Lin Mu replied and restarted his work.


    Lin Mu was having the same problem that thousands of other formation masters had; reducing the size of the runes. Often times one needed to inscribe runes onto a smaller surface than was often used. This made the process difficult, as the formation master would be used to making runes of a specific size over the years.


    Since runes were quite sensitive to irregrities, they could copse if a mistake was made. They needed high precision to make or they would simply not work. Thus, when one had to reduce the size of them, the entire ordeal became multiple times difficult.


    "Just have to keep on practicing..."

 Chapter 598 - Ten Months

    <h4>Chapter 598 - Ten Months </h4>


    Another month passed just like that, and Lin Mu finally felt a change in his body.


    "It¡¯s time for the breakthrough..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Is the spirit Qi already at peak for you?" Xukong asked.


    "Yes, my Nascent Soul is already ready for it." Lin Mu replied and sat down.


    He closed his eyes and chanted the severing heart sutra before using his spirit sense to observe his Dantian.


    In there, the spirit Qi was like a turbulent sea as it kept on swirling around the Nascent soul. More spirit Qi kept on pouring in from the walls of the Dantian while the Nascent Soul absorbed a majority from the Dantian.


    A strange cycle was created like this, which bnced the input and consumption of spirit Qi in Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian.


    ¡¯Despite using Spirit Qi all the time during these past five months, he still managed to reach the breakthrough. This pace is quite good and if he is able to keep it up, it will push him to the next stage soon as well.¡¯ Xukong thorough to himself.


    The Infant like Nascent Soul in Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian kept on absorbing the spirit Qi till it started to finally grow. His arms grew thicker and his legs longer. His back grew taller and his head grew bigger too.


    Soon the Nascent Soul changed from looking like an Infant to a Child that looked to be about five years old. This meant that Lin Mu had sessfully broken through to the Child Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.


    If one looked at the child soul in Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian, one would find a lot more simrities between it and Lin Mu. When it was still an infant, it was hard to tell that but now the simrities would only increase till they looked the same.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he stabilized his spirit Qi. It didn¡¯t really take him much effort to break through this time as it was the Well Of Slumber doing the work. But Lin Mu knew this could not be done always.


    For bigger breakthroughs like those into major realms, Lin Mu would need to be fully awake and in control. Those breakthroughs brought about qualitative changes and without having proper control, Lin Mu would most likely die.


    One could only imagine what would happen if Lin Mu was asleep when the heavenly tribtion arrived. While the Mortal strengthening scripture might be able to protect him for a while, if he was not in full control, there were still many problems that could appear.


    At least for now, Lin Mu did not need to worry about it.


    "How¡¯s the difference in spirit Qi of the minor ne now?" Xukong questioned.


    This was the main reason why they were doing this and needed for the minor ne¡¯s spirit Qi to fully deplete. Only once that was done would they be able to leave this world by letting it fully copse.


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    "Hmm, the concentration had fallen by about thirty percent I suppose." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Thirty percent... it should only speed up from now. The higher the cultivation base gets the faster the depletion rate will get." Xukong replied.


    "How long do you think it will take, senior? From what I can estimate it seems like five more months." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, that should be the right time." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and looked around at all the mess in the Sleepscape. There were materials for formations lying around everywhere, along with broken or iplete formations. There were even a few formations that Lin Mu hadid on the ground.


    Because of the Source Vein of spirit stone mine which was now part of the Sleepscape, it was continually producing its own spirit Qi. While this amount was less than that of the real world, it was still enough for him to practice making some formations.


    These were the formations that could operate continually without needing any additional spirit stones as they would absorb spirit Qi from the environment. Had it not been for the change in the Sleepscape, Lin Mu would have been unable to practice these.


    Currently about a quarter of the Sleepscape was filled with these formations and materials, making it look like a scrapyard. The poor Spirit apple tree was stuck in the middle while being surrounded by a couple of ¡¯hills¡¯ of broken or defective formation gs.


    Such was the life Lin Mu had adapted for now, and he was content with it. Though he knew this was temporary and that he would need to leave it as soon as the next step of the n started. He continued this routine while improving his proficiency in formations and injecting the Grey egg with beast Qi for more time.


    And just as Lin Mu had estimated, five more months passed before the concentration of spirit Qi in the air fell by a great amount. Right now it was barely five percent of what it was originally and it was still decreasing.


    But it was just one part of it, as Lin Mu was now close to another breakthrough!


    Lin Mu was sitting cross legged while letting the spirit Qi flow into his body freely. He didn¡¯t even need to use severing heart sutra this time to peer into his Dantian and could do it freely due to the continued practice in this time.


    Making formations needed a lot of spirit sense use. This led to him bing better and better at controlling it. And now, he could use it much more easily and did not need the assistance of the severing heart sutra.


    Lin Mu watched on as his Nascent Soul started to grow once more. This time the growth was much slower than before. Its limbs started to grow and its torso became bigger. About an hour passed before Lin Mu¡¯s Nascent Soul was finally done growing.


    And with this Lin Mu had broken through once again and had reached the Adolescence Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm. If one looked at Lin Mu¡¯s Nascent Soul now, one would find that it looked the same as him when he was fifteen years old.

 Chapter 599 - Fall In Spirit Qi

    <h4>Chapter 599 - Fall In Spirit Qi </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s breakthrough had brought profound changes to the Minor ne that he was currently unaware of.


    In the mountain residence of Jing Luo, the man was working on several sets of spirit weapons. Sweat was visible on his forehead as he etched the formations on the spirit weapons.


    But just as he was about to put thest rune on the spirit weapon, a tremor shook the entire ce.


    <i>~Boom~</i>


    "DAMMIT! What the hell is it this time?" Jing Luo cursed.


    The past few weeks have been getting tiring for him since the amount of spirit Qi was getting lesser and lesser with time. Jing Luo knew that this meant their n was working, but he still couldn¡¯t help but feel ufortable.


    He was also doing some extra preparation on his own by making several items that they may needter. That was why he was slogging off right now. But now the tremor had basically wasted a couple of hours of his work in less than a second.


    He stepped out of the residence and flew up to get a measure of the area.


    "Huh? It¡¯s everywhere?" Jing Luo said upon seeing the entire ne trembling.


    He was unaware that Lin Mu had another breakthrough and was simply estimating the progress by checking the concentration of the spirit Qi in the air. He looked up at the sky and saw the spirit Qi swirling in the air.


    All of the spirit Qi in the minor ne was heading towards the top of the mountain right now. When Lin Mu broke through to the Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm, this kind of reaction was not present as the concentration of spirit Qi was still quite high.


    But now that it had fallen to about five percent of the original, a spirit Qi infusion caused by a breakthrough caused the spirit Qi of the entire minor ne to rush towards Lin Mu. This was a warning in a way and showed that the minor ne was about to run out of spirit Qi soon.


    "No way could it be?" Jing Luo muttered in disbelief.


    He finally guessed that this must have been caused due to a breakthrough and all the spirit Qi was now rushing towards Lin Mu, who was at the top of the mountain. Jing Luo had never gone where Lin Mu was since the start, as he had been asked by Lin Mu to not be disturbed.


    He did actually know that Lin Mu was simply going to sleep there and instead thought that he would be in seclusion while actively cultivating. Jing Luo knew that it was best for one to be undisturbed during secluded cultivation and easily epted Lin Mu¡¯s request.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    But then another change happened, which shocked Jing Luo.


    "The spirit Qi is decreasing at a rapid pace! If this keeps us the minor ne will run out of spirit Qi in a short while." Jing Luo said, feeling both anxious and excited at the same time.


    He was anxious as he did not know if the n would truly work or not and he was excited as this would be his chance at leaving this ce where he had been trapped for over fifty years now.


    ¡¯Grandfather, Duan Ke... I¡¯ll meet you soon now.¡¯ Jing Luo thought to himself.


    <i>~Roar~</i>


    A thunderous roar was hearding from the forest, and Jing Luo snapped back to look at it. One could see a reddish blur moving at a great speed. But that was not all as there were six more blurs following it which were in different colors.


    The blur approached the area where Jing Luo was and then flew up toe to stand beside him. Once the blur came to a stop, one could see that it was none other than Little Shrubby. He had changed in the past ten months as well.


    His size was at least thirty percent bigger than before, and his fur now had additional patterns on them. Small ming sparks appeared on his fur from time to time as his body exuded a powerful beastly aura.


    If one looked at his back though, they would see five more beasts there. But the difference was that these beasts were not alive and were just corpses. Some of them were crushed to death, while some were burned.


    The one thing inmon was that each of these beasts was being held up by metallic hands. One of these hands was the prosthetic spirit tool that Lin Mu had gotten Little Shrubby a long time ago, while the others had slightly different designs from that.


    But one could tell that the newer hands were of a better quality than the one Lin Mu had bought for Little Shrubby.


    "You¡¯re here too? Did you sense something with your master?" Jing Luo questioned.


    Over the months he had spent quite some time with Little Shrubby and had gotten to observe the beast. He understood that the beast was almost the same as a human and had even better intelligence than most.


    In addition to that, the beast was incredibly fast and strong such that even he could not defeat it, despite the multiple attempts in the past ten months.


    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    Little Shrubby growled in a low voice and nodded his head.


    "So it really is him... looks like our time to leave this ce will be near. We best get ready." Jing Luo said as he looked at the five beasts Little Shrubby was carrying with the prosthetic hands.


    "Are these thest of the beasts?" Jing Luo questioned.


    Little Shrubby nodded his head once again in reps one.


    "Perfect, just in time. Put them in the cold room for now. I¡¯ve already finished processing the remaining corpses that you brought." Jing Luo said.


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    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    Little Shrubby growled in a low voice, before flying away to the mountain residence to do the task he had been given by his master. He had faithfullypleted them, and his master was also about to wake up soon.

 Chapter 600 - The Collapse Begins

    <h4>Chapter 600 - The Copse Begins </h4>


    The Spirit Qi soon turned into a storm as it rushed at the mountain peak. It influenced the weather of the minor ne and soon dark clouds started to form and strong winds started to blow.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    A few minutester, the sky was hidden in the dark clouds and the sound of thunder could be heard. shes of lightning could also be seen from time to time as it arced across the clouds.


    At the mountain peak, spirit Qi kept on pouring into the boulder where Lin Mu was sleeping. If one looked at the boulder now, one would see that multiple small holes had been created all over it.


    These were all created due to the continued movement of spirit Qi through the boulder. Even though Lin Mu had made arge entrance in the boulder, it had still ended up like this due to the enormous amount of spirit Qi that was rushing in all the time.


    The spirit Qi entered Lin Mu¡¯s body through his nose as he breathed it in and also through his pores. His robes had long since be tattered due to the same effect as that on the boulder.


    The robes Lin Mu wore were just normal clothes and were not made from any spirit materials nor were they spirit clothes. Since the robes of the Ripple Mist disciple that Lin Mu was wearing before were destroyed in the battle with Jing Luo early on, Lin Mu had switched to the other set of robes he had in the ring.


    The more spirit Qi that poured into Lin Mu¡¯s body, the stronger his aura became. The processsted for about thirty minutes during which the concentration of spirit Qi in the environment kept on falling until it reached a devastatingly low level.


    The moment this happened, the spirit Qi infusion stopped and Lin Mu¡¯s eyes opened.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Massive waves of spirit Qi were released from his body as the entire boulder that he was in trembled.


    <i>~Crumble~</i>


    The boulder was unable to maintain its structural integrity anymore and finally broken apart under the effect of the spirit Qi waves. But the fragments of the boulder did not fall upon Lin Mu, rather they were all sent flying out due to the continually emitting spirit Qi.


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    Lin Mu rose up from the bed as he stretched his slightly stiff neck. In reality, his body was in top notch condition and would not be stiff or sore like that. This was just a psychologicalpulsion that Lin Mu still had.


    But as he stood up from the bed, his robes fell apart.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Another pair of good robes gone..." Lin Mu muttered before taking out another set of robes and wearing them.


    He then stored the Soft white bolster and the bed in his ring before looking around and the destroyed boulder.


    "Looks like this ce changed a lot in this time... why did this boulder break apart like this, though?" Lin Mu wondered, but then pushed it to the back of his mind when he heard the sound of something moving fast.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Strong winds blew as a red blur appeared in front of Lin Mu.


    "Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu called out with joy.


    <i>~purr~</i>


    Little Shrubby immediately switched to his gentle mode as he nuzzled Lin Mu as he got some head rubs and head pats.


    "You woke up." Little Shrubby said.


    "Yes. Seems like we can leave soon now." Lin Mu replied as he looked up at the sky.


    His eyes narrowed and his perception extended beyond the dark clouds that covered the sky. He could see the spatial fluctuations that were arising there.


    "The border of the minor ce is close to its limit." Lin Mu spoke.


    "You should gather the things that are still left here quick. This world will copse any moment now." Xukong urged.


    "Right," Lin Mu replied before flying down the mountain with Little Shrubby following behind him.


    The two of them soon saw a man floating right near the entrance of the residence.


    "You really did breakthrough to the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm... no wait, the Adolescent Stage!?" Jing Luo said, finding it hard to believe.


    "Yes, I did." Lin Mu responded as he took a look at Jing Luo.


    "And it seems like it¡¯s not just me who did, you are in the Adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul ream now too." Lin Mu stated.


    "Ahaha, yeah. I broke through six months ago by luck." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu nodded in acknowledgment and spread his spirit sense around.


    "Is everything ready now? We¡¯ll need to leave at any moment." Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course! The moment I felt the spirit Qi falling, I gathered everything in one ce. Now you just need to store them. Little Shrubby also fished hunting down all of the beasts of the forest and I¡¯m done with all materials too." Jing Luo answered.


    "Perfect." Lin Mu shortly said before rushing into the residence.


    There he saw that it had changed its look now. There were no more tables and things strewn about and instead arge pile of items was lying in the center. The items ranged from metal ingots, ores, crystals, gems, rocks, formation tes, weapons, armors, spirit tools, beast meat, and beast materials.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and quickly stored everything in the ring. And just as he did, he felt the residence quake.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    "It¡¯s happening again," Jing Luo spoke.


    "Hmm, the minor ne is already copsing from the bottom. We should see it in the sky soon as well." Lin Mu informed.


    He had already learned from senior Xukong about what would most likely happen to the Minor ne. If the minor ne started to quake first, then it meant that it was copsing from the ground.


    Lin Mu would need to wait till the sky started to tear apart before being able to leave. That was the point when the borders of the minor ne were weak enough to escape it. Plus, this also meant that the minor ne was getting closer to the Sacred Grounds of the Ripple mist sect.

 Chapter 601 - Finding The Path Out

    <h4>Chapter 601 - Finding The Path Out </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at Little Shrubby and Jing Luo who were waiting outside and nodded to them.


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    "Time to go!" Lin Mu spoke.


    "YES!" Jing Luo eximed with excitement.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    Little Shrubby responded with his own roar, and the trio flew up. This time they were going to fly up as high as they could. The tear in the spatial fabric can appear at any ce in the sky and Lin Mu would need to be there to open a portal from there to the sacred grounds.


    Technically, one could leave the Minor ne from anywhere in the area but the areas that had started to break apart first were the underground and sky. The underground was out of the option, as Jing Luo and Little shrubby would be unable to leave through that route.


    Only Lin Mu with Phase might be able to leave through that route, but even then it may take him long to find the proper point which was the tether between the Minor ne and the sacred grounds.


    There would be multiple smaller tethers that would like to the main tether, and Lin Mu hoped to find one in the sky. Since the sky was so huge there were bound to be a few small tethers there.


    The three of them kept on ascending and soon went past the top of the mountain. But the more they rose up the harder it was getting for them to fly. The concentration of spirit Qi in the air was now close to zero.


    The way Nascent Soul realm cultivator flew is by using the ambient spirit Qi in the environment and using their own spirit Qi to create a push and pull effect. This way they would be able to fly around.


    But when there was no environmental spirit Qi left, all they could do was use their own spirit Qi to create a propulsive effect. This increased the consumption of spirit Qi by at least two folds.


    Plus the higher they went, the more spirit Qi would be consumed to maintain flight. That was the reason why most Nascent Soul realm cultivators did not fly too high. In fact, if there was a high concentration of spirit Qi in the air, a cultivator still might not be able to ascend past a certain limit.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    <i>~RIP~</i>


    The minor world trembled once again as the sky shook. Lin Mu then saw the clouds suddenly dissipating, or more like leaking, into a small tear that had appeared in the spatial fabric. The tear sucked in all of the clouds like a vacuum before closing up.


    The tear did notst for long, only about a second, but that was enough for Lin Mu to see the lesser void behind it.


    "Not the right one, let¡¯s move to a different ce." Lin Mu spoke.


    Lin Mu knew the unless he saw the tether they would not be able to leave this ce.


    <i>~RIP~</i>


    Another tear appeared in the sky as a ck background was visible behind it. Lin Mu¡¯s eyes immediately snapped to it and squinted, his spatial perception raised to the maximum. His gaze went past the spatial fabric and the tear before managing to appear in the lesser void.


    There, he saw a very faint glimmer that looked almost like a thread.


    "THERE IT IS!" Lin Mu pointed.


    "Is it the right one?" Jing Luo asked, since Lin Mu was pointing to a direction slightly far from the tear he was actually looking at.


    "Yes, I can see the tether behind it, but it links to a different ce in the sky. We just need to get to there." Lin Mu quickly exined while flying.


    They changed their directions and continued flying behind Lin Mu. About a minuteter, they managed to reach the ce Lin Mu had pointed to.


    "What now?" Jing Luo asked, seeing that there was no tear there.


    "We wait, there needs to be a spatial tear here first before we can go through it." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Can¡¯t you just make one on your own? Like you did before?" Jing Luo asked in confusion.


    "No..." Lin Mu shook his head. "If I do that, the tether will be severed. I don¡¯t want to take that risk. At least now that we are here, we can just wait for it to open up." Lin Mu exined.


    "I see..." Jing Luo nodded his head an acknowledgment.


    He was not as proficient or knowledgeable about spatial theories as Lin Mu was. Lin Mu had after all gotten personal lessons from Senior Xukong himself. And if Xukong imed himself to be second in spatial theory, no one would im to be first in this world.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo watched as the minor world slowly started to copse. The earthquakes were only getting stronger and soon cracks started to appear on the ground as well.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    A minuteter, a huge fissure that spanned from horizon to horizon opened up on the ground. The fissure split the mountain peak apart at its edges and soon started to expand.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~kaka~</i>


    The trees of the forest that were near the fissure all copsed in the fissure as it expanded, and some of the rocks from the mountain also fell into it. The cliff where Lin Mu had met Jing Luo for the first time had now joined the fissure and had be a bottomless abyss.


    It was then that Lin Mu¡¯s gaze was pulled to the fissure turned abyss. In the pitch ck darkness, Lin Mu could feel a stream of spatial Qiing out of the fissure. The spatial Qi was very faint but was still sensible for the ring.


    Lin Mu used his spatial perception and looked at the fissure, not finding anything particr there. The spatial border was still too far deep in the underground, and there were too many obstacles for his eyes to see through.


    An idea suddenly appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind and he spoke, "wait for me here a minute."

 Chapter 602 - A Different World?

    <h4>Chapter 602 - A Different World? </h4>


    Jing Luo was taken aback by Lin Mu¡¯s words, and wondered where he was going. Little Shrubby though did not ask anything; his trust in Lin Mu was something which could not be expressed in words.


    But what Jing Luo was expecting did not happen. He had thought that Lin Mu was going to fly to some ce, but instead of that, he disappeared into thin air.


    "Huh? Where the heck did he go?" Jing Luo said out loud, feeling confused.


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    He looked at Little Shrubby with a questioning gaze and only received a gesture that could be considered being a shrug. Little Shrubby could still sense the presence of his master due to the link, and thus did not worry.


    And neither could he speak to exin this to Jing Luo, thus he took the easiest option. Just shrug his shoulders in ignorance. While little Shrubby had spent ten months with Jing Luo, he wasn¡¯t particrly genial with the man.


    He had held a grudge ever since his defeat when they first fought, and had kept it up. He had found him many times after that but could only end up in a draw each time. Little Shrubby thought that he was improving, but could still note out on top.


    The only reason he had only be tolerant of Jing Luo was that the man had made him the four new prosthetic metal hands. They were also spirit tools and were actually at the mid grade.


    Since little Shrubby had reached the Nascent Soul realm as well, it was easy for him to control multiple spirit tools at once like this. Most beasts were at a disadvantage naturally when it came to using spirit weapons and spirit tools due to their different physiologies.


    This also included the fact that their usage of spirit sense was inherently different. Most beasts used their spirit sense directly and did not even refine it. They mostly depended on their natural talent and the passive growth of the spirit sense to extend its range.


    This led to them not having the finer motor skills needed for the spirit sense to use different spirit weapons and spirit tools. Humans though were always using different tools and weapon with their hand and thus using spirit sense to do the same came a bit more naturally to them.


    Overall, it was just a question of habit and practice. Now that little Shrubby had been using the prosthetic metal hand, he had gotten habituated to it as well and could use it the same as any human would use their hand.


    And with the addition of the four more prosthetic hands. Little Shrubby¡¯s capabilities had increased as well. The main thing he was happy about was the fact that he could now cook five things at once.


    Jing Luo was unaware of what was running in Little Shrubby¡¯s mind, and looked at the ce where Lin Mu had disappeared from. Had it not been for the copsing minor ne, Jing Luo would have been able to tell that there were some spatial disturbances where Lin Mu had disappeared at.


    But the spatial fluctuationsing from all over the minor ne were basically muddying the water and making it hard for him to perceive. If he was in fact able to perceive it, he would realize that Lin Mu had used Fade.


    After using Fade, Lin Mu appeared in the paralleled world. He knew that the parallel world was like a more even mirror of the real world and the things that were hard to see were easily visible in here.


    Since it was hard to tell where the spatial Qi wasing from in the depths of the fissure, Lin Mu reckoned using fade should solve his problem. And when he finally did, he could see the changes there.


    "What¡¯s that? A sphere of some kind?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Below Lin Mu, where the fissure was supposed to be in the real world, he could see arge illusory sphere. It was kind of like the ck dots that showed the ws in the spatial fabric or the moving ones, which designated the teleportation channels.


    The only difference was that this sphere was not ck and was instead white, along with being much bigger than that. Even from this distance, the sphere looked to be of a size the same as that of the mountain in the minor ne.


    Lin Mu could only imagine how big it would be if he actually got closer to it. He tried to think what it could be, but could not reach a conclusion.


    "What is that, senior?" Lin Mu asked, unable to think of anything.


    Xukong who had been silently cultivating for a while, opened his eyes upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words. He used his link with Lin Mu and peered into the outside world before seeing where Lin Mu was standing.


    "The parallel world? And... a world?" Xukong said.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard senior Xukong¡¯s words, his eyes went wide.


    "That¡¯s a world senior?!" Lin Mu questioned, surprised, visible in his tone.


    "It does seem like it... but there is something wrong with it." Xukong replied.


    "What could be it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Can¡¯t tell from here. There are far too many things that could have happened, just observing like this is not enough. But seeing as you are in the Parallel world and are able to see this world, it means it is quite close to the real world." Xukong spoke.


    "It¡¯s not my world though, is it?" Lin Mu asked for confirmation.


    "No, it¡¯s definitely not that. This is a different world... perhaps a forgotten one, or one that has been isted." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu was intrigued by this and wondered what that world would be like. He knew that the image of the world he was seeing in the parallel world was not really urate nor clear and he would have to see it in the actual void to know what it looked like.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    But while he was thinking this, he saw a ck crack spreading in the sky above him.

 Chapter 603 - Soaring Through The Portal

    <h4>Chapter 603 - Soaring Through The Portal </h4>


    As soon as the ck crack appeared above him, Lin Mu knew it was time for the minor world to copse.


    "Seems like this is it... though I can¡¯t help but wonder what that world is..." Lin Mu muttered before the duration of Fade ended.


    Jing Luo and Little Shrubby saw Lin Mu reappearing at the same ce he was before. Jing Luo was a bit startled as he had thought Lin Mu had gone some ce else rather and did not think he would being back in the same position.


    "Where did you go?" Jing Luo asked.


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    "Nowhere really... just needed to take a different perspective of all this." Lin Mu said before turning to the sky.


    While he was in the parallel world, he could see a ck crack there, but now it was just the same sky as before. But Lin Mu could tell that the spatial fabric had already started copse. The only difference was that it was not visible to the naked eyes... yet.


    <i>~RIP~</i>


    "It¡¯s time!" Lin Mu announced.


    Jing Luo nodded his head, and a serious expression appeared on his face.


    "The moment, I open the portal, you two rush along with me. It will only be open for a short while and will close as soon as the tether gets severed. Also when we arrive in the sacred grounds, we don¡¯t know where we will be or if how long we will be able to stay there." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, that¡¯s gonna be a problem. From what I know, the formation array in the sacred grounds spans over its entirety. It only allows those at the Core condensation realm and below into it. Even entry requires an Identity token.


    What I can think will happen is... if we¡¯re lucky we will arrive together and be ejected after a bit of dy. If we are unlucky, we¡¯ll be ejected separately into the Ripple mist sect. But where... that will be hard to tell. It¡¯s supposed to send the ejected people to the entrance of the Sacred grounds in the sect, but I don¡¯t know about intruders." Jing Luo exined.


    "Hmm... we¡¯ll deal with it when ites to it." Lin Mu said with determination.


    "Hahaha! I¡¯ve lived here for over fifty years, I don¡¯t care what I need to do to escape. If we need to fight our way out, then so be it. Besides, they are technically part of the enemy¡¯s camp too aren¡¯t they?" Jing Luo replied.


    "That¡¯s true." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.


    Lin Mu felt strange right now. Even though he was about to head straight into danger and was even unsure if he would be able to escape it, he was still not fearful or anxious. Rather, he was just feeling a strange drive and excitement.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He took a deep breath of pure air, no spirit Qi in it, and looked at the ck crack expanding above them. He could faintly see the tether flickering behind it and if he focused really hard, he could even see the outline of something bigger in the distance.


    Extending his hand up, Lin Mu channeled his spirit Qi into the mysterious ring, urging it to open a portal linking to the sacred grounds.


    <i>~Humm~</i>


    The ring responded immediately as spirit Qi started being drained from his body at a rapid rate. Thankfully, he was now at the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm and his spirit qi capacity had increased by multiple times.


    If this was Lin Mu of the past when he was at the Infant stage of the Nascent Soul realm, it would have taken nearly all of his spirit Qi to open it. Opening this portal was much more difficult than when he actually got into this minor ne.


    Before the spatial borders had been destabilizing due to the tribtion lightning, but now they were destabilizing due to a world copse. There werepletely different parameters in y and this one was more dangerous than the one before.


    Still, Lin Mu was determined toe out of this alive and seed.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A massive wave of energy was released from Lin Mu, which then cleaved the space above them into two. Unlike the ck crack before, a swirling gray portal was spinning there now.


    "NOW!" Lin Mu shouted before speeding into the portal and disappearing.


    Jing Luo and Little Shrubby moved to the tone of his voice and disappeared into the portal along with him. They felt a strong tug on their body, and were then squeezed. It was as if someone had put them in clothes that were two sizes too small for them.


    They could not move their hands or legs and their necks were scrunched up. It was very ufortable, but nothing that they could not bear through. Lin Mu though was having apletely different experience.


    While he was also feeling a bit ufortable, he was rtively free to move his hands, legs and neck. He could tell that they were passing through what could be said to be a teleportation channel of some kind which the ring had made using the tether that linked the Minor ne and the sacred grounds.


    "This... is marvelous..." Lin Mu muttered upon seeing the many lights that flicked by.


    He looked to his sides and saw Jing Luo and Little Shrubby who were frozen like statues, before turning to look at the back. There he saw the remnants of the minor ne being destroyed. This was his first time witnessing a world copse, and he had to say it was quite unique.


    It looked both beautiful and terrifying at the same time to him. The minor ne¡¯s borders were breaking apart and its insides were falling out into the lesser void. The speed of copse was rather fast and not even five secondster, the minor ne was no more.


    But when the minor ne finally disappeared, Lin Mu could see something hidden beneath it.


    "Is that... the world we saw before?" Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 604 - Remnant Of The Ocean World

    <h4>Chapter 604 - Remnant Of The Ocean World </h4>


    Lin Mu observed the world... or rather remnants of a world that he had seen in the parallel world before.


    "That does seem like it... but that is not a Minor ne... that is definitely an entire world." Xukong spoke.


    "But how is it in the lesser void, then? Isn¡¯t a proper world supposed to be in the great void?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "This is probably just a fragment of it that entered the lesser void upon its copse." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu hummed in response and kept on observing. He could see severalrge chunks of rocks that were bigger than entire mountain ranges floating in the lesser void. Along with that, there were some remains of nts and animals there, too.


    These remains werepletely deteriorated by the many forces they had to go through during the copse and were barely holding on now.


    "Wait! What¡¯s that?" Lin Mu spotted something elseing up from behind the remnant of the world.


    "Ice?" Lin Mu recognized.


    Floating behind therge rock was what could basically be called as an iceberg. It was about half the size of the rock and was partially hidden by the remnant of the world, which is why Lin Mu did not spot it the first time.


    "Why would there be ice here? And that too such arge amount of it?" Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and tried to make out the finer details on the rock and the iceberg. But it was getting harder by the second, as they were getting farther and farther from it.


    While Lin Mu was unable to identify anything on the rock, he did spot something on therge iceberg. It was a grayish ck dot embedded into the iceberg. It even seemed familiar to Lin Mu.


    "Heavy Depths Iron ore?" Lin Mu recognized.


    "That¡¯s it!" Xukong suddenly eximed.


    "You know something, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Remember, I told you about the origin of Heavy Depths Iron ore?" Xukong asked.


    "Yes, I remember clearly. It is formed at the bottom of oceans and the bigger the ocean the bigger the size of the Heavy Depths Iron Ore will be." Lin Mu replied.


    "Exactly! Thatrge rock you see there and the iceberg; that is the remnant of the Ocean World I hypothesized was near your world." Xukong revealed.


    Lin Mu was surprised at first upon hearing this, but then he felt curious about it.


    "There should have been a lot of treasure and resource in the world right, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, there should be. Even a copsed world¡¯s remnant should have some." Xukong replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It would have been good if we were able to get to the remnant and obtain them." Lin Mu said with a sigh.


    "Don¡¯t worry. Now that we have the confirmation that the ocean world really did exist besides your world and that the Heavy Depths Iron ore was not just something random lost in the lesser void, we will find a way to get to the main remnant of the Ocean World." Xukong said with assurance.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and epted it for now. He knew it would be no use worrying about something that was extremely far from him, and it was better to look at the present instead. But unknown to him, Xukong was far more excited than him.


    ¡¯If he can really manage to get there, he might actually be able to find that...¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    Lin Mu suddenly felt his body shake as the teleportation channel around them shook as well. It was like a ss tube that linked two ces, and currently, it looked like something was hammering on its sides.


    "What¡¯s happening?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He looked at Jing Luo and Little Shrubby and found them to be shaking as well. While they could not show any expressions on their faces due to being frozen like statues, Lin Mu could still feel the emotionsing from Little Shrubby.


    Jing Luo and Little Shrubby were feeling vibrations that were stronger than him currently. The only difference was that it was hard to tell as they were frozen like statues. Lin Mu knew that this was the spatial turbulence and a normal part of the lesser void.


    But this was also something that could easily turn deadly and im their lives. Lin Mu needed to be sure that the integrity of the teleportation channel was decent or they may not reach their destination in one piece.


    <i>~Crackle~</i>


    Lin Mu felt a strange fluctuation from behind him and looked back.


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    "THE CHANNEL HAS ALREADY STARTED TO COLLAPSE?" Lin Mu said out loud.


    Thankfully, his voice couldn¡¯t really be heard by the other two right now, or they would have probably be terrified and anxious. Which was something that would not have helped them in this situation anyway.


    Lin Mu could see that the far ends of the teleportation channel were breaking apart and that had resulted in a domino effect. It had started from the minor ne and was now rapidly approaching them.


    "It will be fine, you are already quite far from it." Xukong assured.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but still feel a bit anxious about it, but nodded his head before turning to look at the front. The faint outline that he had seen back in the minor ne was now fully visible to him.


    "Is that the sacred grounds?" Lin Mu said.


    He could see what looked like a t ground that was floating in the lesser void. It was covered with a translucent dome which was probably the Sacred ground¡¯s spatial borders. The teleportation channel was taking them to the very edge of the sacred ground, from what Lin Wu could see.


    "Is that where we will bending?" Lin Mu wondered.


    <i>~Zoom~ </i>


    Lin Mu suddenly felt his speed increase, as if an additional force was acting on him. This force was pulling him toward the sacred grounds now. With the addition of it, Lin Mu, Jing Luo, and Little Shrubby reached the border of the sacred grounds in an instant.

 Chapter 605 - Sky Diving?

    <h4>Chapter 605 - Sky Diving? </h4>


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    A massive explosion was heard up in the sky as all the spirit beasts below ran away in fright. The strange thing was though, there were no effects of the explosion such as fire or smoke.


    All that could be experienced was the noise caused by it. But if one looked up at the sky, they would see what was the actual source behind it. A ck hole had been carved out into the sky and it was surrounded by cracks.


    It looked like someone had broken the windscreen of a car with a ball of some kind. But that was just one of the things that were behind it, in addition to that, there were three bodies currently falling from the sky.


    They were hard to see at first, but soon they became apparent. These three bodies were none other than Lin Mu, Jing Luo and Little Shrubby.


    "What the hell! Why can¡¯t I fly?" Lin Mu suddenly eximed.


    Upon breaking through the border of the Sacred grounds, Lin Mu along with Little Shrubby and Jing Luo had started to fall. At the start, because they were still reeling from the impact and the shock, they had not reacted.


    Jing Luo and Little Shrubby were still affected slightly because of the restrictions applied to them during the transport through the teleportation channel. They had not yet recovered from that and thus were unable to move.


    Only Lin Mu was the person who was able to move now. And he tried to fly since they were quite up high in the sky. But then the shock of being unable to fly was delivered to him.


    "It must be a limiter on the sacred grounds. Since it does not allow anyone from the Nascent Soul realm above to enter it, it would obviously not allow you to fly. Try and use your spirit weapons." Xukong Spoke.


    Lin Mu immediately withdrew his spirit sword from the ring, but then found it to be unable to fly either.


    "This doesn¡¯t work either!" Lin Mu said, feeling a bit anxious now.


    While he knew he might be able to bear a fall of this height due to his innate defenses and the Mortal strengthening scripture, Little Shrubby and Jing Luo might not be able to do the same.


    Lin Mu also had another way of bypassing this fall since he could just use Fade to enter the parallel world and fly down there.


    ¡¯If I can get down first, I might be able to catch them somehow.¡¯ Lin Mu thought and used fade.


    In the next moment, he appeared in the parallel world and tried to fly.


    "Why can¡¯t I fly here either?!" Lin Mu was stunned again.


    "This shouldn¡¯t have happened, unless... this is just how fade works." Xukong said.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard Xukong¡¯s words, it clicked to him.


    "Of course! Fade only allows me to enter a ce parallel to this, the rules stay the same though." Lin Mu understood another restriction of fade today.


    "But why do the spirit weapons don¡¯t work either? Even the Qi refining realm cultivators can use them." Lin Mu questioned.


    "Many such inheritance and trial grounds prevent flying so that the contenders have to follow a set route. This also prevents them from cheating and finding a loophole to an otherwiseplex test." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu was reminded of the various trials grounds that the Lost immortal had gone through and realized that this was understandable. Flying made a lot of tasks easier and if that was restricted, a cultivator would have a hard time doing what they normally did.


    Reappearing in the real world, Lin Mu thought of some other solutions. He was falling for about forty seconds now and still had not reached the ground. In fact, Lin Mu could see the ground was still a minute away.


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    His brain ran at lightning speed and the first thing he thought of was his other skills.


    ¡¯Blink! Yes, Blink should help!¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He then used blink, but it did nothing except for moving him a distance away from his previous location. He blinked several times, but there was no reduction in his speed. He even tried to blink to a position lower than him and higher, but there was still no difference.


    "Dammit, this doesn¡¯t work either..." Lin Mu cursed.


    He then thought of Phase but using it would be tricky. If he kept on falling like this while using phase, he might end up quite far deep into the ground and would not have enough time toe back up.


    It was now that it hit him.


    "I¡¯ve got it all wrong! I just need to get down faster than them." Lin Mu remembered.


    In the anxiety and rush of falling down, Lin Mu had forgotten what he had thought of literally ten seconds ago. But now that he remembered it he knew the way to proceed.


    "Blink it is..." Lin Mu muttered before starting to use blink non stop to increase his speed of falling. Currently, it would still take Jing Luo and Little Shrubby about thirty seconds to reach the ground, but Lin Mu was already there.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    A crater was instantly cratered upon him, hitting the ground and he was directly embedded into it.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    A cracking sound could also be hearding from the ground, and this was actually from Lin Mu himself. His Mortal Strengthening scripture¡¯s Armor now had long cracks going all the way from the top of his head to his legs.


    "Damn, that still hurts!" Lin Mu gritted his teeth and forcibly pulled himself out of the ground.


    The ground tore like paper under Lin Mu¡¯s hands and he stood up. Unfortunately, it took him five seconds to get out of the crater and Jing Luo and Little Shrubby had gotten even more close. Lin Mu could not think of anything to cushion their fall either.


    "What do I do?!" Lin Mu said out loud.

 Chapter 606 - Ejected

    <h4>Chapter 606 - Ejected </h4>


    But at this very moment, a change happened. Jing Luo flipped in mid air and pulled out multiple talismans. He then threw half of them at Little Shrubby and half he used on himself.


    <i>~HUALA~</i>


    The talismans all activated and a strong wind was created by them. The wind surrounded Little Shrubby and Jing Luo, creating a vortex around them. This vortex was spinning in an opposite direction and thus slowed down the speed of their fall.


    But by the time they were a hundred meters from the ground, they could already manage their fall. Little Shrubby managed to snap out of the frozen state as well and broke his fall using his own ability.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    mes burst from his paws and propelled him upwards, automatically slowing him down even further.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    The two of themnded safely on the ground next to Lin Mu and looked at him.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief and felt much better than before. But he still couldn¡¯t help but feel a strange sensation at the back of his head.


    "Are you guys okay?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling concerned.


    <i>~Growl~</i>


    "I¡¯m good." Little Shrubby said through his link.


    "I¡¯m fine. Didn¡¯t think I would need to use the wind vortex talismans so soon. Even used up my entire supply." Jing Luo replied.


    "Thankfully you had them, or I don¡¯t think both of you would have been able toe out of this unharmed." Lin Mu stated.


    "That¡¯s true. I never expected to be frozen like that in the lesser void... at least now I can say proudly that I survived the void." Jing Luo said with a chuckle.


    "Wait, did you see anything in the void?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No, once I was frozen, everything went ck for me. I could not feel anything, nor could I hear anything. It was a strange feeling and very ufortable. I don¡¯t think I want to experience that again." Jing Luo said with a shake of his head.


    Jing Luo then looked at therge crater to the side and the Lin Mu sized hole that was created in the center of it.


    "Seems like someone had a rather roughnding..." Jing Luo said.


    "It could have been better yes, but it was not." Lin Mu replied, remembering the feeling of the crash again.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    Little Shrubby let out a low growl and lifted his paw.


    "I can¡¯t fly," He stated.


    "What¡¯s he saying?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "That he can¡¯t fly... or rather, I think none of us can fly here. Not even the spirit weapons work here and can only be wielded normally using hands." Lin Mu answered.


    Jing Luo furrowed his brows in response and tried to fly on his own, realizing that he truly could not fly.


    "There are restrictions here." Lin Mu stated.


    "Looks like it. But... why are we still here? The Sacred Grounds should have expelled us by now." Jing Luo stated.


    "Oh yes! I was wondering about it too. Are the formation arrays not working?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He closed his eyes and spread his spirit sense around, trying to sense any formation that might be set up here. The overall formation array of the sacred ground was too big and Lin Mu would not be able to see it unless it was at the very center or at a node.


    "It won¡¯t work. We will need to get close to one of the nodes to even be able to sense a formation array like this. Plus, the true location of those formations might be deep underground. Since the minor ne we were in was part of this world, then I¡¯m sure the formation arrays are set up underground.


    Only by doing that would they be able to freely harness the spirit Qi from the spirit stone mines that are hidden deep beneath the ground." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Hmm... does this mean we will be able to stay here in the Sacred grounds?" Lin Mu said as his eyes lit up.


    But then...


    <i>~Humm~</i>


    Thousands of runes suddenly appeared in the sky as they formed into a formation array.


    "I spoke too soon..." Lin Mu said with a wry smile.


    The spirit Qi in the air started to stir as the formation array fully activated. Lin Mu, Jing Luo and Little Shrubby all three of them felt a force pushing them into themselves. The force started to get stronger and in a few seconds, they disappeared into thin air.


    Lin Mu was able to perceive all that was happening and knew that it was the space opening up and using the gate of the sacred grounds to send them back. He could even see the lesser void for a fraction of second again, but was moved to the ejection site pretty quickly. Since he was still able to move, Lin Mu took this opportunity to put on a mask from his ring.


    ***


    In a certain area of the Ripple mist sect, several disciples were working on their tasks. There were even some Nascent Soul realm elders among them that were doing the moreplex and difficult tasks.


    "We need to be quick and find out the reason behind all these abnormalities. The Sect patriarch has ordered us to strictly check for any discrepancy!" The Elder who was the supervisor here, announced.


    "Yes, elder!" The disciples responded.


    Thousand of runes could be seen floating around in a formation array as disciples worked on them. There were several runes that were fluctuating abnormally, and those were the ones that the disciples focused on.


    <i>~Weeng~</i>


    But then all of a sudden, a loud whirring sound was heard.


    "What¡¯s happening?" The disciples said out loud.


    They did not know what this was as it was not done by them.


    "The gate! It¡¯s opening!" The Elder Pointed to the center of the area.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i> Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    The sound of three people hitting the ground was heard as everyone nearby turned to look at them.


    "People? How?"

 Chapter 607 - The Distressed Ripple Mist Sect

    <h4>Chapter 607 - The Distressed Ripple Mist Sect </h4>


    The people of the Ripple Mist sect had been sensing some abnormalities with the Sacred ground and thus the patriarch of the sect had ordered the elders to check upon it. The first thing they checked was the gate of the sacred ground and it was normal and thus the only other option for them that was left was the formation array instead.


    Now, this was a troublesome matter for them. The formation array of the sacred grounds was set up in multiple parts. The main part of it thatposed of over fifty percent of the formation array was entirely based in the sacred grounds itself.


    And that was the part which could not be touched by the elders, and they could not send the disciples in either, as the time period of the sacred grounds opening was over as well. In fact, the only reason why they found out about this due to the disciples who had been chosen to enter the scared trials.


    Inside there they found out that the spirit Qi concentration in many areas was far lower than normal and the number of resources they got this time was the lowest in fifty years. The sect¡¯s elders had prepared the disciples thoroughly so that they could get more this time around, but it still did not help.


    This had bothered the sect patriarch very much, along with the high elders. The lower elders though, were a bit confused as to why the patriarch and the others were so obsessed about the resources.


    Sure they were valuable, but it was not like the Ripple mist sect was in a dire need of them. Even if the amount that they got from the sacred grounds was lesser than it used to be, the resources they had gotten over the years were still plenty.


    After all, not all of the resources that were obtained from the sacred grounds were used. Usually, only fifty percent of them were used while the rest were conserved forter times. Due to this, the sect had quite a stockpile of them.


    But for the past year or so, the elders and the patriarch have been a bit obsessive about resources, so much so that they had increased the exploratory and harvest missions by two fold. In addition to this, the sect also started to take the bounty requests which it usually did not.


    But then about a month ago, the formation array of the Sacred grounds started to react rather strangely. There were multiple break downs that appeared around the gate of the sacred grounds.


    As soon as the elders saw this, they knew the situation was dire. If the outer formation were affected to this extent, it meant that the internal formation array of the sacred grounds was vastly affected too.


    The patriarch was infuriated and had thus ordered them to fix it as soon as possible, which was what they were doing right now. But they had never expected for the gate of the sacred grounds to suddenly activate.


    Usually, it only activates to allow the disciples to enter or exit the sacred grounds. And it asionally ejected some disciples from the trials too. This was originally a feature to prevent intruders from entering the sacred grounds, but had not been utilized for that in a long time.


    The sect never had an intruder in the past fifty years and thus the only time someone was ejected was due to a disciple¡¯s breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm in the sacred grounds.


    There were many disciples who were at the peak of the core condensation realm and they dyed their breakthrough for the sacred trials, Senior Sister Bi was one such example and had taken advantage of the opportunities in the sacred grounds to have her breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm there.


    Not only did she manage to sessfully break through to the Nascent Soul realm, but due to the high concentration of spirit Qi in the sacred grounds and the resources she had obtained there, she even managed to progress quite far into the Infant Soul stage.


    In fact, the elders even thought that it would not be long before she would break through to the Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Perhaps two yearster, the sect would have another cultivator at the Child Soul stage.


    But now the appearance of three Nascent Soul realm spirit Qi fluctuations at the gate, that too nine months after the trial had ended was shocking to the elders and disciples here.


    "Huh? A beast?" one of the disciples said.


    The first being they saw was none other than Little Shrubby, who was at the Nascent Soul realm.


    "Did one of the beasts identally get ejected from the sacred grounds due to the malfunction?" someone else wondered.


    "NO! There are two men there too!" A junior elder spotted Lin Mu and Jing Luo, who had finally appeared fully.


    "How is this possible?" The elder who was the supervisor couldn¡¯t help but say in shock.


    Finally, everyone saw the people who had appeared clearly. There were two men, one of them was wearing a mask while the other man was big and muscr. The third was not even a human being a Liger like beast with red and ck fur.


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    "Oh my, more than I expected..." Lin Mu muttered.


    Jing Luo¡¯s eyes darted around and he saw all the formations that were currently being worked on by the disciples.


    "Looks like our n had been affecting the formation arrays of the sacred grounds." Jing Luo said in a low voice.


    "No wonder they are here. I thought we may at least get to surprise them and get a head start." Lin Mu replied.


    "Kill?" Little Shrubby asked as his ws extended and started to heat up.


    Lin Mu looked around as his spirit sense spread fully. Everyone that was in the range was currently in the range of his spirit sense, and they could feel the pressure exuding from the spirit sense as well.

 Chapter 608 - Crossing The Sect

    <h4>Chapter 608 - Crossing The Sect </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense observed the cultivators in his range and he realized that there were three Nascent Soul realm cultivators here, along with twenty core condensation realm cultivators and over forty Qi refining realm cultivators.


    The Core condensation realm cultivators were the ones mainly dealing with the formations, while the nascent Soul realm cultivators mostly supervised and dealt with the formations that were the mostplex.


    The Qi refining realm cultivators were mostly there to do chores and menial tasks. They would hand the materials and tools to the core condensation realm cultivators as needed and would also supply the spirit Qi when needed for testing.


    But currently, all of them were under the pressure exerted by Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense. Lin Mu himself did not know that his spirit sense was doing this.


    "A-adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul realm?" the surprising elder stated.


    He focused on the spirit Qi fluctuationing from the other two and realized that they were not weak either.


    "A beast at the Infant Soul stage and another cultivator at the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm... how are they here?" He added.


    "Are they from our sect?" An elder who found this all unbelievable said.


    They could not imagine there being intruders in the sect or even in the sacred grounds and thus thought of the only other option which was none other than them being some disciples or elders of the sect that were here instead.


    "No! They are not from our sect! I don¡¯t recognize any elder to be like them and they are far too strong to be disciples!" The supervising elder uttered out loud.


    He did not even consider Little Shrubby in it, as he was a beast and would obviously not be a disciple.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Looks like we got to hurry..." Lin Mu said with a sigh before chanting something.


    The supervising elder, who had gotten agitated along with the others, suddenly became dazed as his eyes went dull and facial expression nk. Jing Luo looked at it with an incredulous expression and spoke.


    "What did you do to them?" He asked.


    "Just bought us some time... let¡¯s get as far away as possible. The others may arrive soon too," Lin Mu replied as he gazed at little shrubby.


    Shrubby instantly understood what Lin Mu meant, and the harness appeared on his back. Jing Luo narrowed his eyes upon seeing this as it was the first time Little Shrubby had shown the harness, as Lin Mu had not needed to ride on his back at the Minor ne before.


    The only thing that Little Shrubby had even shown Jing Luo was the Spatial storage belt that he wore on his neck as a cor and the prosthetic spirit tool. But then he saw Lin Mu climbing on top of Little Shrubby and strapping into the Harness.


    Jing Luo understood the use of the Harness. He had seen Little Shrubby¡¯s speed and knew how fast he was. He was way faster than him, or perhaps anyone in the Nascent Soul realm. Plus, he was sure that Little Shrubby had not used his full speed yet.


    Whenever they battled, Little Shrubby used short bursts of speed. For him to reach his top speed, he would have to run in a straight line for a long time to be able to do that and thus had never used it in the minor ne.


    There was simply not enough space there. If Little Shrubby started running, he would not even reach half way to his full speed before crossing the entire length of the Minor ne, running out of space to run.


    The elders and disciples of the Ripple mist sect were still in a daze and looked like they would be for a while.


    "Where do we go now?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Out of here. Anywhere but first we just need to get as far away as possible." Lin Mu replied.


    Jing Luo nodded his head and flew up. Little Shrubby pawed the ground and pushed ahead. He didn¡¯t go at its full speed from the start, since that would create a lot of noise. Instead, it started to leap across the area while running, while creating barely any sound.


    Even now, Little Shrubby was moving at a speed faster than at which it flew. While Lin Mu could fly faster than this, that would let out a lot of spirit Qi fluctuations and attract quite a bit of attention.


    Even now, there were several people who had noticed them.


    "Who¡¯s that flying in the air?" A disciple who was at the Qi refining realm asked hispanions.


    "If they can fly, then they must be a Nascent Soul realm elder." One of thepanions answered.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    And just as the disciples were speaking about this, they felt a strong gust of wind rush by.


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    "WHAT IN THE NAME OF HEAVENS WAS THAT?!" The disciples who were knocked back couldn¡¯t help but say.


    They moved their eyes to catch a glimpse but could only see a red blur moving at a blinding speed.


    "Is that an elder too?" Someone questioned.


    "I think that was a beast?" Another disciple wondered.


    "A tamed beast? That too at the Nascent Soul realm? I highly doubt they are one of the few that our sect has." A senior disciple who was at the Core Condensation realm spoke.


    "Who do you think they are then, senior brother?" A junior disciple questioned.


    "I think that elder was not wearing the robes of our sect either," someone noticed.


    The Senior Disciple narrowed his eyes as he thought of something. He then pulled out a jade slip and held it in his hand. Closing his eyes, he sent a message and then put the jade slip away.


    "Let¡¯s see who they really are..." The senior disciple spoke.


    By now, Lin Mu, Little Shrubby, and Jing Luo had already crossed a quarter of the Ripple Mist sect. The gate of the sacred ground was located far too deep into the sect, plus they needed to cross several barriers too.

 Chapter 609 - The Sects Barriers

    <h4>Chapter 609 - The Sect''s Barriers </h4>


    The Ripple mist sect had different barriers for security in different sections of the sect. This was to prevent those who did not have ess or were not authorized to enter those areas from proceeding.


    Only if one had the right identity token would one be able to enter that area. But there were still some peculiarities to this. There were several areas that were considered to be public and did not need an identity token except for the most basic one to enter.


    This would be the token needed for a person to enter the sect¡¯s boundaries. Lin Mu did not need this, as the formation pretty much recognized him as part of the natural ¡¯fauna¡¯. As for Jing Luo, he already had a fake identity token that he had made during the time when Lin Mu was absorbing the spirit Qi of the minor ne.


    He had made this fake token from the remnants of the cultivators he had found when he originally came to the minor ne. One could see from how Jing Luo had the Wind vortex talismans and the fake identity token, that he was quite prepared.


    Another thing about the barriers was that if one was inside it, some of them actually did not need the token to exit it. They only needed the tokens for the entry. The gate of the Sacred grounds was under one such area that only needed the token for the entrance and not exit and as such Lin Mu and Jing Luo were able to leave rather easily.


    After exiting this area, they ended up in the public area of the sect, which did not need anything specific, so they were able to travel with ease. Theoretically, they could just travel in themon area of the sect and exit it without actually triggering anything.


    But this was not possible, as that would mean they would need to go around a long path and would get seen by a lot of people. Rather than that, it was easier for them to just go straight through the sect.


    After reaching one such area, Lin Mu and Jing Luo had to stop.


    "Let me take care of this barrier," Jing Luo said before walking up to it and cing his hand on it.


    His spirit sense extended into the formation nodes while with his left hand he withdrew a couple of spirit tools that were used with the formations. Jing Luo had a talisman in his left hand and he then pped it on top of the surface of the barrier.


    He then took out a cuboid stone and let it float in front of him.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    Under the effect of the talisman, the nodes of the formation became revealed to the naked eye and his spirit sense started to make changes to them. After a certain amount of changes were done, Jing Luo used the cuboid stone to tap the node, which would then deactivate it.


    He did this five times in five minutes before finally stopping.


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    <i>~shua~</i>


    The barrier in front of them disappeared, and they were able to continue onward. Lin Mu knew about the method that Jing Luo had just used as it was included in the jade slip that he had given him.


    Lin Mu had a lot of time to study it all, but was barely half way through it. There was no way he would be able to go through everything in that jade slip as that had taken over fifty years to be made.


    Lin Mu would need even more time than that if he wanted to internalize it and fully be proficient in it, it would take him years to do that. Thus Jing Luo, taking care of these formations right now was a better choice and would save them a lot of time.


    Haven gone past the barrier, Lin Mu and Jing Luo continued their journey. Thankfully, the Ripple Mist Sect was rather vast and the number of disciples currently around were rather sparse.


    Still, Lin Mu knew that some of them had noticed them while traveling and that there was also a chance that their existence had been revealed to the sect by now. Lin Mu had used the severing heart sutra on all of the elders and the disciples at the gate of the sacred ground and had put them in a daze.


    At his current level, Lin Mu knew that all cultivators up to the core condensation realm should be dazed for at least ten minutes if no one woke them up and as for the Nascent Soul realm cultivators he didn¡¯t really have a proper idea. When he had used the severing heart sutra of Jing Luo, it had only worked for a mere second before he had managed to snap out of it.


    But considering that Lin Mu was at the Adolescence Stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and that the elders at the gate were only at the Infant Soul stage, Lin Mu reckoned that they would be dazed for at least five minutes and perhaps even more.


    ¡¯The best would be if they stay like that for as long as possible... at least until we are half way through the sect.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Who¡¯s that? Did our sect have a guest?" Some of the disciples in the distance spoke.


    Lin Mu could hear them clearly at this distance and just ignored them, not even looking at them. His spirit sense was spread around in a circle and was observing everything just in case.


    And since they were just passing without doing much, the disciples did not think that they were intruders, either. But when they came across another barrier and had to stop there, the disciples nearby saw it.


    Jing Luo and Lin Mu looked at each other and then at the disciples, the same idea appearing in their minds. But just when they were about to act, one of the disciples approached them on his own.

 Chapter 610 - A Foolish Disciple?

    <h4>Chapter 610 - A Foolish Disciple? </h4>


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo became a bit confused the moment they saw the disciple appraising them. They were originally going to seize the identity tokens of these disciples with the hope that there would be one of them that could allow them to pass through the barrier.


    While Jing Luo could unlock this one on his own as well, it would take him a few extra minutes that they did not really have. Thus, this would be the fastest way for them to progress further.


    But then this disciple who was wearing the robes of the inner court approach them with a smile on his face.


    "Would honored guests allow me to provide some help?" the Disciple asked.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and scanned the disciple with his spirit sense, finding that he was the early stage of the core condensation realm. He didn¡¯t know what to do, but then thought of going along with it.


    He gestured to Jing Luo to pause before speaking.


    "We want to go past this ce but we have been given the wrong kind of token it seems." Lin Mu shed the token that they had.


    "Tsk tsk~ Seems like the disciples at the registry messed up again. Let me help the honored guests then," The disciple replied.


    "Oh! That would be really nice." Lin Mu said, feeling surprised.


    "Please, the honor is all mine. The sect would be losing its credibility if I let honored guests be displeased." The disciple stated.


    He then took out his own token and waved it at the barrier, which then opened up a gate for them.


    Jing Luo was honestly quite stunned by this and had not expected this to happen. He had been ready to fight and get the identity token, but now they had been mistaken for ¡¯Honored Guests¡¯ somehow.


    He didn¡¯t know whether this disciple was truly mistaken or was acting pragmatically to save himself and his fellow disciples.


    Lin Mu on the other hand, nodded his head and went through the gate along with Little Shrubby and Jing Luo.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    "Take this as a gift," Lin Mu said as he threw a fist sized stone to the disciple from past the gate.


    The disciple caught it and did not recognize what it was first. But then he could feel the spirit Qi from the stone entering his hand.


    "M-Mid grade spirit stone? This is a mid grade spirit stone? There can be a mid grade spirit stone of this SIZE?" The disciple couldn¡¯t help but say.


    His fellow disciples, who were hesitant to approach Lin Mu were stunned as well.


    "Dammit! We should have gone forward to help instead." They couldn¡¯t help but regret it.


    But just as Lin Mu and Jing Luo had left the area, a group of Nascent Soul realm elders arrived at the scene. The disciple who had helped Lin Mu proceed was showing off the spirit stone to hispanions and bragging.


    "See! You guys just don¡¯t know when to take an opportunity." The disciple said.


    "Humph! We just didn¡¯t go talk to them since we didn¡¯t know who they were." One of the other disciples stated.


    "Didn¡¯t you see how strange they were? One of them was riding on that beast while wearing a mask too while the other man was built like a hill!" Another onemented.


    "Exactly, and what if they were intruders and not guests at all? What would you have done then?" a female disciple snorted.


    "<i>Pfft~</i> you guys are just envious. How would someone even enter our sect like that? And didn¡¯t you see, they were leaving the area... not entering it. They would have surely been found if they were entering." The disciple replied.


    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!? A man on a beast and wearing a mask?" The Nascent Soul elder who just appearing in the sky, questioned out loud.


    "Ah!" All the disciples were startled by the sudden appearance of the elders and looked up.


    "E-Elders! Greetings!" They all cupped their hands in greeting.


    "Repeat what you just said," The elder who had spoken before stated. The other elders also descended along with him while looking around.


    The disciples then repeated the incident that had just happened with Lin Mu appearing and the disciple helping them. As soon as the elders heard it they were stunned first but then rage became visible on their faces.


    "YOU FOOLS!" The elder hundred while pointing at the disciple.


    "Do you know what you just did!? You let an intruder escape!" A second elder said.


    "Wait, they really were intruders?" The female disciple who hadmented earlier questioned as her face went pale.


    "YES! They are intruders that not only infiltrated our sect but also our sacred grounds! They hypnotized the elders at the sacred ground¡¯s gate before escaping." The first elder exined.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    All of the disciples went white with fear and the one who had helped Lin Mu directly fell to the ground.


    "Did they say anything about where they were going?" The elders asked.


    "No, they just said they were leaving the area." The disciples spoke, while the one who had helped Lin Mu was frozen on the ground in shock.


    "GAH! You lot are useless," The elder said, feeling infuriated.


    "We¡¯re not out of luck yet. The other teams of elders should encounter them if they are leaving the sect from that end." The second eldermented.


    "Let¡¯s hope so..." The infuriated elder said before looking at the disciple who had helped Lin Mu. "And you! Go and report to the discipline hall and confess your crimes. I¡¯lle to see youter personally!" The elder said before flying away in the direction that Lin Mu had gone into.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The disciple directly fainted upon hearing the verdict, while his fellow disciples could only sign in pity. But on the other hand, they felt lucky that they did not help Lin Mu nor did anything problematic, except for getting scolded, they didn¡¯t really get any punishment.


    As for the disciple who had helped Lin Mu, his fate was probably sealed now.Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 611 - The Cautious Ripple Mist Sect

    <h4>Chapter 611 - The Cautious Ripple Mist Sect </h4>


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo continued onwards after the short incident before.


    "That was rather unexpected," Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed. I don¡¯t know if that disciple was truly mistaken or guessed what we were going to do." Jing Luo replied.


    "Hmm... if he was mistaken, that it would be fine. But if he was able to guess that they would not meet a good end if we conflicted, then I would have to reassess the disciple¡¯s intelligence." Lin Mu said with a serious tone.


    If there were disciples with this level of foresight in the sect, then the elders were bound to be even better. Or so Lin Mu thought. Meanwhile, the disciples and the elders were unaware that the little incident had increased their image in Lin Mu¡¯s mind and he had be far more alert.


    "To be on the safer side, I think we should expect some resistance soon. There is no way the sect does not know about us by now. There may be some people waiting for us." Lin Mu stated.


    "I think so too. Though as long as it is no one in the Dao Shell realm, I¡¯m confident of dealing with them." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Yes, that would be good. As far as I know, the Ripple Mist sect¡¯s High elders are at the Dao shell realm and only the patriarch should be at the Dao Treading realm. There may be some hidden experts, but I doubt they would appear at this time.


    Especially since Gu Yao must be controlling them as well... or suppressing them till he gains full control." Lin Mu replied.


    "That would be for the best." Jing Luo said as he gazed ahead.


    The three were now passive over the Ripple Mist sect¡¯s Spirit tool pavilion. Below them Lin Mu could see countless smaller buildings and what looked to be forges. ck smoke rose up from the chimneys, along with fumes of different colors.


    Disciples moved around like busy ants as they went about their tasks. Overall, everyone seemed to be focused and even though they saw Lin Mu and Jing Luo along with Little Shrubby, they did not pay attention.


    "I can¡¯t help but feel strange that they haven¡¯t rmed the entire sect." Lin Mu said after assessing the unnerving calmness.


    "Hmm... perhaps they know that rming the sect may do more harm than good and thus they haven¡¯t done that. If they do, we will probably end up fighting the elders and disciples, many of them who would not be our match. This would cause damage to the sect and its members." Jing Luo hypothesized.


    "That is a smart choice. Though if they can think this far, then they must be deliberately waiting for us to reach a suitable location that would not impact the rest of the sect." Lin Mu spoke.


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    Jing Luo raised his brows and spoke, "Do you have any idea where that might be? Comparing thest time I came here, I never entered the sect itself and even then I can see that several parts have been changed, so I can¡¯t really tell."


    "Indeed, the forest of the Ripple mist sect. That is the only ce they can fight without impacting the rest of the sect. That is actually from where I entered the minor ne." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm, if that is true, then it would be good for us too. More open space would allow us to fight better." Jing Luo said as a spark of battle arose in his eyes.


    Lin Mu saw this and secretly sighed to himself.


    "Don¡¯t forget, our first priority is to escape. We shall only battle if there is no other choice. Besides, once we reach that point, Little Shrubby will be able to use his full speed, and no one will be able to stop me. But you... you¡¯ll need to find a way to speed up as well." Lin Mu exined.


    "Hahah! You don¡¯t need to worry about that. I¡¯ve prepared well in advance for that. I assure you that my speed will be no less than our little kitten¡¯s," Jing Luo chuckled.


    "GRRR~!" Little Shrubby let out a low growl, feeling offended by Jing Luo¡¯sments.


    Jing Luo heard it and only chuckled more to himself. And just like this, they crossed over to the next area that was the residences of the many disciples of the Ripple Mist sect.


    "We are close. Once we cross this, we will reach the forest. We will need to deal with the barrier here too." Lin Mu informed.


    Jing Luo simply nodded his head and continued.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo could hear the sound of a bell echoing from afar. They instantly became alert and knew that their time of ease hade to an end.


    "Seems like the sect finally reacted." Lin Mu said and looked around, his gaze sharp.


    Jing Luo had a simr expression, and they looked below to see a strange scene.


    "Huh? The Elders have called for a gathering?" the disciples who heard the bell came out of their residences.


    They then hurried to the gathering ground in the central area of the sect without questioning why the bell had been rung. Lin Mu and Jing Luo clearly heard the words of the disciples and narrowed their eyes.


    This was not what they expected for the bell to be for.


    "I don¡¯t feel so sure about this..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    A gut feeling arose within Lin Mu and he instinctively used spatial perception. His eyes scanned the entire area along with his spirit sense. The spirit sense was unable to find anything, but with his spatial perception, Lin Mu found several spatial disturbances.


    They were small and unnoticeable to most cultivators. Only someone with spatial perception might be able to see them. Lin Mu focused on the spatial disturbances and saw that they moved in a rather unique pattern.


    "So it really is a trap." Lin Mu said.


    "What?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "There are several Nascent Soul realm cultivators surrounding us. They intentionally rang the bell to clear out the area."

 Chapter 612 - A Trap Of Ten

    <h4>Chapter 612 - A Trap Of Ten </h4>


    Hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words, Jing Luo was surprised. He tried to sense the area with his spirit sense, but didn¡¯t really have much luck. But Jing Luo knew that Lin Mu was proficient with the Spatial element and he probably saw something he could not.


    "They are probably hiding with the help of Mist Veil talismans. They are one of the specialties of the Ripple Mist sect." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Looks like it. They are unable to be found with spirit sense and I can only tell that they are there due to the faint spatial fluctuation they are emitting." Lin Mu replied.


    "If that is true then, I think we will need to battle soon. Previously, we thought that they may choose the forest for battle as it would be empty and would not endanger the disciples and the sect¡¯s property.


    But now that they have gotten the disciples to leave cleverly, they are free to act. As for these residences, they aren¡¯t really valuable and the sect can easily afford to rebuild them. It would be their best option as it would take us some effort to get past the barrier here." Jing Luo analyzed.


    Lin Mu did not reply and simply nodded his head. He knew that they must act as before and not let the enemies know they have found out about them.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    And just as Lin Mu had expected, the moment all the disciples were gone, the hidden foes revealed themselves. Ten elders appeared in front of Lin Mu and Jing Luo, while the barrier that was past them started to glow as well.


    "HALT RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM!" The elder who was standing in the very center yelled.


    Lin Mu paid no attention to him and instead scanned their cultivation bases.


    "Three elders at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm, four at the Adolescent Soul Stage and three more at the Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm." Lin Mu informed.


    "Seems like all the stronger elders of the Ripple mist sect below the Dao Shell realm are here." Jing Luo spoke as a smile appeared on his face.


    "Indeed, how do you want to do this?" Lin Mu asked as ideas instantly appeared in his mind.


    "Since we¡¯ve already been detected, we may as well directly shatter that barrier. I believe you have something for that." Jing Luo said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, understanding what Jing Luo was referring to.


    "But before that, we¡¯ll need to get rid of these elders, the barrier is unlikely to fail as long as they are here plus, I think It¡¯ll take me a couple of continuous attempts to break the barrier, or it will simply recover." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Alright, then we shall get rid of the elders first." Jing Luo said as he withdrew the weapons from his spatial storage treasures.


    Seven spears appeared behind his back, then a broad Axe appeared in his right hand along with a slim dagger in his left. His equipment type seemed simr to when he fought Lin Mu previously but the quality was much higher.


    Now that Jing Luo had been able to get high quality and valuable materials from the mines, he splurged as much as he could to make the best weapons and spirit tools he could. And it would be an understatement to say that he was not urging to test it out.


    Jing Luo was a Spirit weapon forger at heart, and it would be the best feeling for him when he tested out his weapons himself. That is the thing that would give him the most joy in the world, if he excluded his family from the list.


    Lin Mu saw this and couldn¡¯t help but be impressed.


    ¡¯He truly did prepare a lot for this.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "I¡¯ll take the three Adult Soul Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivators, you take the four Adolescence soul stage one." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Do I Kill?" Little Shrubby also asked.


    "You can kill the rest." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.


    "ROAR!" Little Shrubby let out a deafening roar in response.


    The roar traveled across the sect, striking fear into the hearts of the weaker disciples. The three finally came to a halt a short distance from the elders and gazed at them.


    "How dare you three enter our sect! Surrender now and perhaps we will leave your bodies whole for a burial." The elder in front spoke.


    The elders were infuriated upon seeing that Lin Mu and Jing Luo weren¡¯t really putting them in their eyes and causally talked despite the tense atmosphere.


    "And that beast! Muzzle it, perhaps we will have a feast!" Another elder said, eyeing Little Shrubby.


    Hearing this, Little Shrubby¡¯s eyes locked onto the man.


    "He dies first!" Little Shrubby dered, though to the elders and Jing Luo, all they could hear was a growl.


    Lin Mu unhooked from the harness and let Little Shrubby free. The short sword came to float beside him along with the Iron Thorn spear, then two more slim swords appeared in his hands. These were taken from the Tri Cauldron peony sect and didn¡¯t really match each other fully, but were of the same size, thus being suitable to be used like this.


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    <i>~BOOM!~</i>


    Little Shrubby was the first to make his move as he moved at a blinding speed and rushed the man who had taunted him. His ming red ws exploded with a blinding light, impacting the elder.


    All the elders were stunned to see this speed, as they realized they were unable to keep up with it. Their vision was simplycking.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    "Big mistake taking your eyes off a foe," Jing Luo said as three of the seven spears soared through the air like javelins thrown by an Olympian.


    "ARGH!" One of the elders who was at the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Souls realm was stuck in his arm and grunted with pain.


    The other two managed to dodge the spears but were now alert.


    "Careful! These men are not weak." The leading elder cautioned.

 Chapter 613 - Three Against Ten

    <h4>Chapter 613 - Three Against Ten </h4>


    The warning of the elder was soon confirmed a few secondster.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The smoke created by the explosion cleared up and everyone could finally see the scene. Little Shrubby¡¯s ws were pierced through the chest of the elder as his blood boiled over. The bubbling blood spilled from his seven apertures as Little Shrubby boiled him from the inside.


    <i>~Woo~</i>


    The sound of boiling water came from the elder as more and more blood spilled out from his seven apertures. The elder could not speak anything at all and felt like his entire body had be just one big pot of boiling blood.


    The pain was simply underwhelming his sense and made him unable to act.


    <i>~Boom~</i>


    The body of the elder could no longer hold the pressure in and finally exploded. The boiling blood made steam, which was being suppressed by the body of the elder. When it reached the peak, the elder creased to exist.


    But then...


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    "You¡¯ll never catch me!" The Nascent Soul of the elder flew out from the bloody mess and went towards the other elders for protection.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    Little Shrubby roared once again, stunning the people around. Even the Nascent Soul was frozen for a second, but that was all that was needed for Little Shrubby to reach it. His mouth opened wide and bit the entire Nascent Soul whole.


    "NOOO!!!!!!" The Nascent Soul screamed but could not escape.


    Little Shrubby¡¯s mouth closed and the Nascent Soul was crushed to death, dissipating into spirit Qi.


    "This tastes GOOD!" Little Shrubby suddenly said.


    His words were only understood by Lin Mu though, while Jing Luo could sense the emotions in it a little bit. But to the other elders, all they could hear was another loud roar and the terrifying scene of a beast eating their fellow elder¡¯s Nascent Soul.


    Some of the elders were scared, but most of them were also angry.


    "YOU WRETCHED BEAST! YOU SHALL NEVER LIVE A DAY WITHOUT PAIN AGAIN!" The elders yelled in rage.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    Little Shrubby simply growled at them, as if inviting them for a challenge. But the look that he had in his eyes was quite different from before. The elders felt like they were being gazed at by a predator and the desire in Little Shrubby¡¯s eyes was also quite visible.


    To little Shrubby, they were now reduced to treats that Little Shrubby could eat as he pleased. Lin Mu saw the ease with which Little Shrubby killed the elder and nodded his head.


    "His strength has undergone a qualitative increase." Lin Mu muttered as he looked in the front at his target.


    "I¡¯ll kill you beast!" The elder in the center shouted and went towards Little Shrubby, ignoring Lin Mu that was in front of him.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    "And where do you think you are going?" Lin Mu said as the short sword flew towards the elder.


    The short sword was aimed directly towards the man¡¯s heart and if he had not blocked, it would have directly pierced into it.


    "YOU!!!" The elder shouted upon blocking the short sword with a Qi skill.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    But Lin Mu gave him no chance to speak as he suddenly appeared at his side. His body spun like a top as the slim swords shed at the elder¡¯s back.


    <i>~Deng~deng~deng~</i>


    The outer robes of the elder were directly torn apart and the inner armor hidden beneath was revealed. This was the armor that had managed to save the life of the elder. The elder was more than just shocked, as he had not seen Lin Mu approach him.


    One moment he was in the front and in the next moment he was at his side.


    ¡¯How? If I did not have the armor, I would have already died. These men... who are they?¡¯ The elder couldn¡¯t help but think.


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    "Elder Ko, we areing!" The other two Adult Soul Stage Nascent Soul realm elders said as they flew to support him.


    While Lin Mu was fighting here, Jing Luo was overwhelming his opponents. His first volley of spears had already made the four Adolescent Soul Stage Nascent Soul realm elders wary, but his attacks were just the beginning.


    <i>~shua~~shua~shua~</i>


    The spears flew back to his back and three more were shot out instead.


    "HAAA!" Jing Luo didn¡¯t stand back either, and he jumped into the fray himself.


    The Axe in his right hand shed out an arc of Qi that moved like a scythe through weeds.


    <i>~slick~</i>


    "AHH!" One of the four elders was slower than the others and managed to get his arm chopped off in one clean cut.


    The three spears that had shot were blocked, but this had slowed down the elders once again.


    "HAHAHA! You are far too weak for me!" Jing Luo taunted as he shoved the dagger into the chest of the elder whose hand he had just cut off.


    And just like that, the second elder from the ten elders was killed. His Nascent Soul didn¡¯t even get a chance to escape as the dagger glowed with a Grey light, decimating the Nascent Soul right within the elder¡¯s body.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    Jing Luo withdrew the dagger from the chest of the dead Adolescent Soul stage elder and looked at the rest.


    "Who wants to be next?" He asked with a chuckle.


    "You fiend! How dare you kill our elder!" Two of the elders flew towards Jing Luo, enraged by his actions.


    The third elder was slowed down due to his arm and leg being injured. He was the first elder who was injured due to the spears that Jing Luo had thrown at the start.


    <i>~ng~ng~ng~</i>


    Blow after blow was exchanged as Jing Luo battled like a beast. Each of his attacks was decisive and if the elders lost focus even for a second, they would meet their end.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    On the end of Little Shrubby, the elders were having a hard time catching up to him. Little Shrubby was just leading them around the area and would then sneak in a few strikes every now and then.

 Chapter 614 - Three Against Five

    <h4>Chapter 614 - Three Against Five </h4>


    The elders felt like they were being exhausted just from running around. In their case they didn¡¯t even realize that Little Shrubby had brought them quite far from the other elders.


    "Huh? Where are the others?" The two Child Soul stage Nascent Soul realm elders said.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    But what greeted them was a thundering roaring from the top. Their eyes went wide as they saw Little Shrubby falling like a ming meteor from the sky. His speed was something they could barelyprehend, and right now he looked mostly like a blur.


    If it were not for his roar, they would have just thorough that it really was a meteor that was falling from the sky. The two elders knew that if they did not move, they would be instantly squashed to death.


    Thus, they decided to split apart to escape.


    "You think it will be this easy?" one of the elders said.


    But then...


    <i>~p~</i>


    A metallic hand suddenly pped his face. He felt the breath leave his lungs as his cheek ached. This p was enough to stun him and stop him from moving. The other elder heard the loud p and couldn¡¯t help but look.


    But as soon as he turned, he was met with the same fate.


    <i>~SLAP~</i>


    This time two hands pped him at the same time, making his ears ring non stop.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The stunned elders were then hit with the falling meteor, which was none other than Little Shrubby. His ws were spread apart and shed the two elders from the back of their head to the bottom of their spine.


    The two didn¡¯t even have a chance to scream before their death was assured. Little Shrubby¡¯s ws had pierced from the back of their skull and ripped it out along with their entire spine.


    It was as if someone had scooped out the seeds of a cucumber using a spoon. Except the cucumber was a human and the spoon, Little Shrubby¡¯s ws. The smell of burnt meat could also be felt as his hot ws seared the flesh and blood.


    "AHHHHHH!!!!" A dyed scream came from the Nascent Souls that had left their bodies.


    Seeing the Nascent Souls appear, Little Shrubby got even more excited.


    "There¡¯s the yummy bits," He said with a growl before chasing after them like a cat behind a butterfly.


    Back at the ce where Lin Mu and Jing Luo were fighting, the elders barely saw red sh falling from the sky before sensing the loss of the two Child Soul Stage Nascent Soul realm elders.


    "Heavens! The eleventh, twelfth, and the thirteenth elder were killed!" The reexamining elders couldn¡¯t help but say.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    "You should focus on the fight in front of you." Lin Mu said as he switched the slim sword mid way and withdrew arge battle axe from his ring.


    Taking a lesson from Jing Luo¡¯s book, he shot out the Iron Thorn Spear along with the short sword and then swung the Axe with his own hands.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    The short sword shed at one of the elders while the Iron Thorn Spear activated the Qi skill that was contained within it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~deng~deng~deng~</i>


    Tens of ck des shot out from the Iron Thorn Spear as they burst apart shing the three elders. They were having a difficult time blocking so many attacks and barely manged to do so at the cost of bearing some cuts on their body.


    The short sword though, managed to cut the Achilles tendon of the second elder who hade to help elder Ko.


    "AH! My leg!" He shouted and tried to retreat.


    But then Lin Mu blinked to his back and the Axe, which was originallying towards Elder Ko, was now shing at the second elder.


    <i>~stter~</i>


    The Axe fully cleaved the elder in half diagonally from the top of his right shoulder to the left side of his waist.


    "SECOND ELDER!" Elder Ko shouted, his eyes bloodshot.


    But Lin Mu didn¡¯t stay in the same ce for more than a second and reached the third elder, who was currently upied by the ck des that had been released by the Iron Thorn Spear.


    "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!" Elder Ko stated before strong spirit Qi fluctuations arose from his body.


    Mist wrapped around his hands and torso as his aura started to rise.


    <i>~WEENG~</i>


    Elder Ko flicked his hand, which caused the mist to turn into a whip and attack Lin Mu. The Nascent Soul of the second elder had managed to survive and was now taking refuge behind Elder Ko.


    "Oh? Your Nascent Soul is still alive? I was sure that attack should have destroyed it." Lin Mu said casually, though he really was surprised.


    The attack with the Axe was infused with spirit Qi and should have also destroyed the Nascent Soul along with cleaving the elder in half.


    "You aren¡¯t the only one who has some tricks under his belt." The second elder, who was in the form of a Nascent Soul spoke, his face was like that of a vengeful ghost.


    The third elder finally managed to block all of the ck de attacks of the Iron Thorn Spear and looked at Lin Mu with shock on his face.


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    ¡¯It hasn¡¯t even been ten minutes and half of our people are already dead.¡¯ The third elder thought.


    His spirit sense spread around and saw the dead bodies of the rest. Three were killed by Little Shrubby and one each by Lin Mu and Jing Luo.


    "Who are you! There is no way someone like you would enter the sect for no reason." The third elder couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    "That is none of your concern..." Lin Mu said as he clenched his right fist.


    The Axe had been stored away and Lin Mu was now unarmed, rest for the Iron Thorn Spear and the short sword that floated at his sides. The two elders did not sense the spirit of Qi spinning within Lin Mu¡¯s arm or they would have long since interrupted him.


    "Who sent you? Is it the Long Cloud Alliance?"

 Chapter 615 - The Conflict Of Alliances

    <h4>Chapter 615 - The Conflict Of Alliances </h4>


    Lin Mu raised his brow upon hearing the name of the Long Cloud Alliance from the elder¡¯s mouth. He knew the Long cloud alliance was the second alliance that was formed when Gu Yao created the Zither wind alliance.


    The Long Cloud Alliance was a product of circumstance and the sects within it only reunited only because of the threat of the Zither Wind Alliance. Plus, it allowed them topete against the top three sects due to this.


    The alliances had powers that wereparable to each of the top sects alone. While this meant that the top three sects could join up to easily eliminate them all, they knew that it was impossible to happen.


    The top three sects had long legacies and they certainly would not join up together as it would me sullying the honor of their ancestors. But while they might not join up together, they could pull in other smaller powers.


    There was already news about the Rainbow Pill sect thinking about pulling in the entire Great Zhou Empire under their wing. Until now, the sects and the empire were in a delicate bnce.


    While the sects were ultimately located within the territory of the entire Great Zhou Empire, which represented the Secr world, they still had their independent territories within them.


    Many sect¡¯s territories were bigger than that of kingdoms of the Great Zhou Empire. Thus, one could understand just how much power the sects held. The only reason why the Great Zhou Empire was able to stand was that they represented the secr world and the people who were recruited into the sects ultimately came from there.


    If there was no Great Zhou Empire, themoners would have a hard time flourishing. And if there were nomoners left, how would the sects get their disciples. One must know that only a few among themoner were able to cultivate, not to mention reach a sufficient cultivation base.


    Thus, if the sects wanted a decent number of people with a talent for cultivation, they would need an evenrge number ofmoners.


    Some people wondered if the sects were so strong, why do they not take over the Great Zhou kingdom?


    The answer to this was rather simple... logistics and administration.


    The exact poption of the entire Great Zhou Empire was still unknown to everyone, but they could easily estimate that it was in the tens of billions. With these many people, there were many difficulties such as providing them shelter, security, food and clothing.


    Even the Great Zhou Empire could not do all this on their own and thus allowed the existence of Vassal states. That was the reason why the Kingdoms still existed within the banner of the empire.


    This allowed the empire to distribute the workload ording to different regions. This also took care of the region specific problems and needs that varied from time to time. If the cultivation sects were to take over the entire Great Zhou empire, their workload would be massive.


    They were supposed to be cultivators detached from the secr world; if they controlled the empire, they would have no time to cultivate at tall. Plus, the headache of handling the needs andints of billions of people would probably lead them to Qi deviation instead.


    Thus as a wise man once said, ¡¯why do something that exhausts you when others can do it for free.¡¯ The cultivation sects never took over the great Zhou empire and let them proceed on their own.


    But now what the Rainbow Pill sect was doing was rather different. Instead of taking over the entire empire, they were forming an alliance. This would allow them priority to choose the talented people and treasures that asionally turned up in the world.


    The implications of this were simply massive and if the emperor were not sick, even the Great Zhou empire would not have thought of ever doing it.


    Lin Mu had thought about all this and knew that the conflicts between the alliances were conducive to Gu Yao¡¯s n. The man did not really care if the people of the sects perused in the conflict as long as he got to enjoy the resources.


    But now that he heard the elders¡¯ words, Lin Mu suspected if the Long Cloud Alliance had already started to target the Zither wind alliance or not. From the tone of the elder, it did seem like they had been concerned about this for a long time.


    "So what if I am?" Lin Mumented casually.


    Hearing his words, the elder¡¯s eyes went wide.


    "I knew it. You truly are from the Long Cloud Alliance, aren¡¯t you?" The Elder said as anger appeared on his face.


    Lin Mu did not respond to the man and simply kept his silence, not solving the misunderstanding. The other elders also heard the conversation and got wary.


    "Dammit! The Long Cloud Alliance managed to do a preemptive strike! It should have been us who did it first." The third elder cursed.


    The extra time that these elders had taken in the conventions was exactly what Lin Mu had wanted, and a smile appeared on his face. If it were not for the mask he was wearing, the elders would have definitely be alert.


    While the elders were cursing their luck, Lin Mu suddenly raised his right hand and punched out.


    Boulder Copsing Fist- Second Form: Piercer!


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    The first elder felt all the hair on his skin stand, as a sense of danger epassed him. His gut was telling him that if he was hit by this attack, he would absolutely meet his demise.


    <i>~shua~</i> Text content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He moved his legs and the mist on his body propelled him to the side like a rocket. The speed at which he had moved was nearlyparable to that of Little Shrubby.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "I almost got hit..." The first elder muttered to himself.


    The man saw Lin Mu¡¯s attack missing and going past the location he was standing on. But then his face fell, as he saw its target.

 Chapter 616 - Blood Will Ignition Pill

    <h4>Chapter 616 - Blood Will Ignition Pill </h4>


    The needle made out ofpressed spirit Qi traveled like lightning across the sky and hit the barrier in the distance.


    <i>~shung~</i>


    A rather strange sound was heard upon the impact, which was neither too loud neither too low. The barrier flickered and looked like it had absorbed all the force of the attack that Lin Mu had just sent out.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "YOU BASTARD! YOU DARE TRY TO ESCAPE!" The first elder who had barely managed to dodge the attack thundered.


    But just as he said this.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    A loud audible crack could be hearding from the barrier and all the runes that were present on it started to split apart.


    "H-HOW! HOW CAN THIS BE POSSIBLE!?" The first elder eximed in utter shock.


    The other elders who heard it were stunned as well and couldn¡¯t help but turn to look at it. But that was a huge mistake on their end.


    <i>~SLASH~</i>


    <i>~st~</i>


    The Adolescent Soul Stage Nascent Soul realm elders who had been fighting Jing Luo were caught off guard and instantly killed. One of them was decapitated, while the other two were cut in half at the waist.


    "AHAHAHA! Look at these dumb elders, can¡¯t even focus on a battle!" Jing Luo roared.


    He flicked his hand and threw out a ck talisman that seemed to be rather eerie. The Nascent Souls of the three elders that were just leaving their dead bodies were struck by the talisman and yelled in pain.


    "WHAT IS THIS! WHAT FIENDISH THING IS THIS?" The Nascent Souls cried.


    Jing Luo made a sping gesture and all three Nascent Souls exploded at once, along with the talisman.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The detonation caused by these nascent Souls was not as strong as when a Nascent Soul self detonated, but it was still powerful enough to push away the other elders who had been fighting Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu himself though waspletely fine, his Mortal Strengthening Scripture easily bearing the damage as if it was nothing. The brown armor faintly glimmered on his body but was unnoticed by the elder, as they were currently trying to resist the explosion.


    "ARGH!" The third elder cried in pain as a part of his torso was injured in the explosion.


    The first elder had managed to dodge it again using his mist, but only barely. He looked around at the damage and gulped in fear.


    ¡¯What kind of cultivators are even they? How can they fight so many of us at once and even kill? Are they geniuses of their sects or something?¡¯ The first elder thought.


    "YES! That¡¯s right! They must be the hidden trump cards of their sects!" The first elder said as mes of determination burned in his eyes.


    A dangerous thought appeared in his mind and he gritted his teeth before taking out a pill from his spatial storage treasures. Lin Mu noticed this strange action and immediately used his spirit sense to see what kind of a pill it was.


    But before he could do that, the first elder swallowed it.


    <i>~Gulp~ </i>


    After swallowing it, the first elder looked at Lin Mu and Jing Luo with a crazed look.


    "YOU TWO WILL NEVER ESCAPE! EVEN IF I HAVE TO PAY MY LIFE IN EXCHANGE!" The first elder dered.


    Lin Mu was frankly stunned by this dedication.


    ¡¯The man can very well escape right now and get back up, but he still does not want to? What kind of loyalty is even this? This isn¡¯t even smart...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s just loyalty that is causing him to act like this. No cultivator who had cultivated as long as him would act so stupidly. The better option would certainly be to get reinforcements and yet this man does not seem to want to do that.


    I think the cause behind it is not loyalty, but rather... servitude." Xukong suddenly said.


    A thought appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind and he immediately understood.


    "So Gu Yao, huh... that skill of his is terrifying, even changing the basic personalities of a being..." Lin Mu muttered, but a hint of anger could also be seen in his eyes.


    He reckoned had it not been for Gu Yao, this man and many others would not have died this day.


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    "GAH!" The first elder suddenly grunted in pain and coughed out a mouthful of blood.


    The blood seemed to be a dark red and the elder¡¯splexion also seemed to be changing. Soon his wrinkled skin start to get stretched as his body started to grow in size.


    "What¡¯s happening to him?" Lin Mu said.


    "QUICK! KILL HIM! He used a Blood Will Ignition pill!" Jing Luo¡¯s voice entered Lin Mu¡¯s ears.


    Upon hearing the name of the pill, Lin Mu recalled its effect. The Blood Will Ignition pill was another alchemical pill that fell into the category of potential igniting pills. They could increase the strength and cultivation of a person at the cost of their longevity.


    It was a high grade pill that was effective even on Dao Shell realm cultivators, not to mention Nascent Soul realm ones. It could very well double or even triple one¡¯s power, depending on the amount of longevity one was willing to burn.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    Jing Luo had already acted upon seeing the pill and send out all seven spears at the first elder.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    But before they could reach him, the third elder withdrew what looked like a in Grey shawl from his spatial storage treasure. The shawl expanded to a size of over fifty meters and covered the seven spears that wereing here.


    "I won¡¯t let the first elder¡¯s sacrifice go in vain!" The third elder said, his eyes bloodshot as well.


    Blood spilled out from his nose and the corner of his lips, but the man still held on. The shawl trembled as it struggled to hold the seven spears.


    "If seven are not enough, then take more!" Jing Luo yelled as the Axe and dagger were thrown out as well.


    But just as they were about to injure the third elder...


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>

 Chapter 617 - Weapon Mist Domain

    <h4>Chapter 617 - Weapon Mist Domain </h4>


    An explosion suddenly urred but it was not bright and neither were there any mes in it. Rather, it was just made out of a mist that continuously spread around.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The explosion¡¯s force also managed to knock away all the weapons away that wereing towards the third elder. He, who was bleeding from his mouth and nose, finally took a breath of relief.


    "Show them the true power of the Ripple Mist sect, First Elder!" The third elder eximed.


    Jing Luo had retreated upon sensing the explosion and tried to recall the weapons that had been sent flying away. But then he found out that it was a bit difficult for him to do so.


    "Huh? How is this happening?" Jing Luo wondered.


    His spirit sense suddenly became sluggish andmanding the spirit weapons was like sending a message with a pigeon. The time difference between the transmission and reception was far too much for the weapons to be useful.


    A few secondster, Jing Luo realized why it was happening. The mist that had spread around in the area was the cause behind it. Jing Luo¡¯s eyes narrowed as he tried to find the source of the mist.


    Since his spirit sense was useless right now, he could only use his eyesight to find where it was. But seeing anything was only getting difficult by the second as more and more mist spread and became denser.


    Jing Luo immediately took out a jade slip and contacted Lin Mu.


    "Can you see what¡¯s causing this?" Jing Luo asked.


    Lin Mu, who had gone through the same realization as Jing Luo, sensed the Jade slip humming. Finding Jing Luo¡¯s message on the jade slip.


    ¡¯So he¡¯s having a problem too... this mist is troublesome.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Unlike Jing Luo, he had a hunch about what this mist was.


    "This is caused due to that elder," Lin Mu said.


    Jing Luo wondered what kind of a technique was it that the first elder had used. Since the man had eaten the Blood Will Ignition pill, whatever Qi skill he used would be much more powerful than before.


    "We need to be careful, seeing the attacks in this ce will be difficult." Jing Luo warned.


    "Yes, I¡¯ll try to take out the third elder first. He should still be close by." Lin Mu said before searching for the third elder.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    But just as he moved a short distance from where he was a sword made out of mist shot out.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Lin Mu crossed his hands in front of him and blocked the mist sword at thest moment. Due to the Mortal Strengthening scripture, while Lin Mu would not have been injured by the mist sword even if he did not defend, he would still have been knocked away.


    And he did not want that to happen, as it would only be harder for him to find his location in this mist. He looked around and saw that the mist had nowpletely filled the entire area and nothing else could be seen; neither the sky neither the ground.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~shua~</i>


    One after the other, more weapons made out of the mist came out from nowhere, forcing Lin Mu to dodge.


    "HAHAHA! Behold my Weapon Mist Domain!" The voice of the first elder echoed from everywhere.


    Lin Mu heard the name and remembered that he had heard about this before.


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    "Isn¡¯t this one of the core skills of the Ripple Mist Sect?" Lin Mu muttered.


    He had heard a few disciples talk about this before when he was wandering in the sect. The Ripple mist sect cultivated using many cultivation techniques, but their core technique was called as the Misty Depths Technique.


    There were many levels in the Misty Depths Technique and the highest ranked level within that technique allowed one to use the Weapon Mist Domain. Lin Mu had only heard this because the disciples of the sect were talking about it animatedly afters a lesson from an elder.


    Fortunately, Lin Mu had also gotten to hear about the different abilities of the technique.


    The first ability was that the Weapon Mist Domain could shroud a vast area in a thick mist that stopped one from seeing far and also dulled their spirit sense. If someone was more proficient in this technique then they might even be able topletely prevent someone from using their spirit sense.


    And if a cultivator¡¯s spirit sense was suppressed, then they were not different from being rendered blind andme. They wouldn¡¯t even be able to use their spirit weapon to attack and with nothing to see, they wouldn¡¯t be able to use their offensive Qi skills, either.


    The second ability was that the Weapon Mist Domain could create weapons from the mist that could appear and disappear at any time. They were quite hard to dodge for many people and if they did not have storage defenses, they would be impaled rather quickly.


    Though the third ability was what made it the most deadly. The mist could eventually block out all spirit Qi and make the cultivator unable to absorb it. And since the mist was spread out in the vast area, they would have a hard item finding a way out and get lost.


    Then the user of the Weapons Mist Domain only needed to continue attacking the cultivator till they ran out of sprint Qi. Once they were drained out of spirit Qi, they would be unable to do much and would be easily killed.


    But Lin Mu knew that using the Weapon Mist Domain must havee at a great cost. From what he had heard from the disciples, the Weapon Mist Domain was only able to be used by a cultivator that reached the hugest level in the Misty Depths technique and was at the Dao Shell realm.


    From this, Lin Mu surmised the first elder now had powerparable to that of a Dao Shell realm cultivator. Lin Mu informed Jing Luo of this as well and tried to think of a few solutions.

 Chapter 618 - A Tricky Technique

    <h4>Chapter 618 - A Tricky Technique </h4>


    Upon being informed by Lin Mu, Jing Luo became even more alert and watched out for any sneak attacks. His wariness turned out to be right, as just after a few seconds, he could hear something approaching him at great speed.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    "You can¡¯t attack me that easily!" Jing Luo said before withdrawing a shield from his spatial storage.


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    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The shield vibrated as it defended against the mist sword that had just attacked him. The shield was also a spirit weapon and was of high grade. Jing Luo had spent quite a few resources in making this particr shield after witnessing the power of Lin Mu¡¯s attacks.


    He reckoned that he needed better ways to defend himself than the ones he had before. Back then, Jing Luo did not have the ess to the resources below the mountain due to the Earthen Depths Obsidian blocking his way.


    But once he got them, he basically had a free rein over what he wanted to make. Thus, Jing Luo took all liberties and built the best shield his current skill and materials allowed. He was even sure that this shield could block Lin Mu¡¯s Boulder copsing fist¡¯s second form: Piercer.


    Though he had not tested it out against that yet. Still,pared to that level of an attack, the shield had no problem blocking the mist sword. The mist sword dissipated after being blocked and Jing Luo watched out for more.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    One after the other, more and more mist weapons appeared from the mist and attacked Jing Luo. Lin Mu was having the same problem, but he was able to dodge most of them using just his speed.


    And the ones that he was unable to dodge were taken care of by using Flicker and blink.


    "You won¡¯t be able to dodge for long! Sooner orter you two will run out of spirit Qi and be fish on my chopping block!" The first elder taunted.


    Lin Mu focused on his voice and tried to sense where it came from, but could not do so. The voice was too scattered and even echoed, making it hard to distinguish its source.


    "Dammit, without spirit Qi it will be very hard..." Lin Mu cursed.


    But soon a solution appeared in his mind. He did not know if it would be effective, be he decided to try it nheless. Lin Mu closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them. This time, his spatial perception was in full effect and he was doing his best.


    Slowly, the mist started to fade in front of Lin Mu and an empty space appeared around him. His eyes wandered around searching for the location of the first elder, but his body stayed in the same ce.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Lin Mu could not move or use any of his skills as that would cause disturbance in the space which would prevent him from finding the first elder. Thus, all he could do now was let the armor made by the Mortal Strengthening Scripture bear it all.


    Now he did not care about being knocked around and simply focused on using the spatial perception.


    "HAHAHA! Seems like you have given up, good good! Just wait and die for me!" The first elders voice echoed once again.


    "THERE!" Lin Mu suddenly said as he discovered some difference in the spatial fabric in this area.


    While most of it was empty and stable, minor spatial fluctuation could be perceived from the distance which could only be caused by another person.


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    Lin Mu locked onto the location and used blink multiple times in session. In less than two seconds, he was near the location of the First elder.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    But just when he was within the hundred meter radius of the man, he mmed into what was a wall made out of mist.


    "Ah!" Lin Mu reeled from the impact.


    Even if he had not suffered from any injuries right now, the force of the impact was quite high due to him using blink. When his spatial skills met an obstacle they could not ovee, Lin Mu could potentially receive quite a lot of damage.


    He had witnessed it when he used fade at the Tri cauldron peony sect while escaping and crashed into a random disciples¡¯ house. That was one of the few things that could injure him right now.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and looked at the solid wall of mist.


    "How did you find me!?" The sound of the first elder came from the wall, confirming that he was indeed there.


    The first elder was shocked that someone could find their way to him when they were in the weapon mist domain. One had to know that this technique had once seeded in killing an Immortal Ascension cultivator in the past.


    If even they could not find their way in here, Lin Mu who was many times weaker than that, should not have been either. But the contradiction was literally in front of him now. Even though the first elder knew that his power was much less than that of the real cultivator who had aplished the feat of killing an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator using Weapon Mist Domain, he should have still been able to trap Lin Mu.


    "It doesn¡¯t matter! You won¡¯t be able to break the defense of my mist fortress!" The first elderughed out loud. "Taste the barrage of ten thousand mist weapons! Hahahaha!"


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~shua~</i>


    From the walls of the mist, which the first elder called as Mist fortress, thousands and thousands of mist weapons shot out. They were in various forms, such as that of arrows, swords, daggers, axes, spears, javelins, hammers, needles, and many more.


    They all attacked Lin Mu and knocked him about half a kilometer away from thebined attack. While the brown armor was able to bear all of the hits with little to no loss of durability, Lin Mu had still lost his direction now.


    "Drat! Gonna have to find another way..."

 Chapter 619 - The Misty Fortress

    <h4>Chapter 619 - The Misty Fortress </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at the swirling mass of mist, which was nothing but the Mist fortress. He did not know about this ability of the Misty Depths Scripture.


    "Must have not been taught to those disciples back then. Maybe a stronger application of the technique..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu flew towards the fortress again, wanting to see if he could break through its walls.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The walls of the fortress swirled as hundred of mist weapons sprouted from them. The weapons moved their heads towards Lin Mu before shooting out.


    Flicker... Blink... Phase... Flicker


    Lin Mu dodged the attacks using his skills and techniques, trying to get as close as he could to the edges of the fortress as he could. Yet the sheer number of attacks were getting hard to dodge.


    He kept on getting halted at every few meters by the weapons and struggled to proceed. Gritting his teeth, Lin Mu used Fade and appeared in the parallel world. The parallel world was as in as always and Lin Mu was free from the attacks here.


    He grasped the approximate location of the fortress and moved there. Once he was sure that he was in the right ce, he deactivated Fade and reappeared in the real world.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu said in surprise.


    But what he had expected was not there. Instead of appearing inside the mist fortress, Lin Mu was out in the open. He moved his eyes around and saw that the mist fortress was actually in a different direction.


    "Did I misjudge?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He squinted his eyes and checked the fluctuations in the spatial fabric, seeing that the mist fortress was actually moving around. Because he was constantly being attacked and there were mist walls around, sensing the location of the mist fortress was difficult.


    It was always moving, but perceiving was difficult due to these multiple factors.


    ¡¯Dammit! As long as the fortress keeps moving, it will be difficult for me to enter it, even while using fade. I don¡¯t have spirit sense either to help guide me.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Will have to find another way..." Lin Mu muttered and decided to observe the mist fortress and how it moved.


    He hoped to find a way that would allow him to enter the fortress.


    "Looks like you have finally learned your lesson and have given up! No one can enter my mist fortress!" The voice of the first elder echoed from the fortress.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes twitched as he felt infuriated by the first elder¡¯s words.


    "If I really want to I can just prolong this till the first elder runs out of spirit Qi. I¡¯m pretty sure the first elder can¡¯t maintain this state indefinitely, after all, he used a potential burning pill." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Don¡¯t forget that the longer you prolong this the higher the chance for the other higher ups of the sect froming here." Xukong reminded Lin Mu.


    "Ah, that¡¯s right! Can¡¯t do that either..." Lin Mu replied.


    He could only continue to observe the fortress from afar while dodging the attacks of the mist weapons. He even asked Jing Luo about the mist fortress but the man was helpless as well. He had as much knowledge about mist fortress as Lin Mu, which was nothing.


    Besides he was having a hard time doing anything other than blocking and dodging the attacks of the mist weapons. Unlike Lin Mu he did not have a technique that passively defended him nor did he have skills that allowed him to effortlessly dodge the attacks.


    Thus Lin Mu could not expect much hesitance from the man currently either. But then Lin Mu¡¯s mind went to the only other person, or rather beast that could help him.


    "Little Shrubby, where are you?" Lin Mu called out through his link.


    Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    ***


    Out of the misty area, Little Shrubby was chasing the two Nascent Souls of the Child Soul Stage Nascent Soul realm elders that he had killed.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    "Ahhh!" one of the Nascent Souls screamed in pain as it was eaten up by Little Shrubby.


    The destruction of the Nascent Soul led to it releasing all of the spirit Qi that was contained within it and Little Shrubby enjoyed it thoroughly.


    ¡¯Yummy!¡¯ He thought to himself.


    He continued his chase after thest remaining Nascent Soul for a few minutes. The Nascent Soul was evidently using some kind of a technique to speed up or little Shrubby would have been able to catch it rather easily.


    Plus the Nascent soul had figured out that there was a limit to Little Shrubby¡¯s speed at short distances. The nascent Soul discovered that as long as he could change his direction constantly, Little Shrubby would not be able to catch him.


    Thus the cat and mouse chase continued round and round the area. Little Shrubby also saw the appearance of the Mist but did not mind it right now as Lin Mu seemed to be fine to him. The connection was also stable so he was not worried.


    They were running around in circles and it was now that Little Shrubby heard Lin Mu¡¯s voice in his head asking him where he was.


    "I¡¯m chasing after thest Nascent Soul." Little Shrubby said.


    "Finish it up quickly ande help me, I need your speed." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby said as his expression turned serious.


    Now that Lin Mu had asked for his help, he would not ck off anymore.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    mes exploded from Little Shrubby¡¯s body, making him shoot forward like a rocket. In less than a second, he was right next to the Nascent Soul.


    "H-How?!" The Nascent Soul said in shock.


    The truth was that ever since getting stronger, and his speed increasing, Little Shrubby had not had the time to practice his skills. He needed practice with his short bursts of speed and controlling directions. And now this Nascent Soul was turning out to be the perfect test dummy.


    But all that was over as Little Shrubby¡¯s fangs sank into the Nascent Soul, ending its existence.

 Chapter 620 - Assistance From Little Shrubby

    <h4>Chapter 620 - Assistance From Little Shrubby </h4>


    Little Shrubby flipped mid air and looked at the mist in the distance.


    "Where is master?" Little Shrubby questioned, unable to see anything.


    "Use our connection to find me, it should still be working." Lin Mu replied.


    Little Shrubby nodded his head and closed his eyes, using the connection to sense Lin Mu¡¯s location. It didn¡¯t take him long to sense where he was.


    "I¡¯ming!" Little Shrubby said with a roar.


    <i>~Boom~</i>


    He burst forward and disappeared into the mist, sending it roiling to the edges. The winds generated by his speed were splitting apart the mist while the heat from his body was also making the mist evaporate.


    The path that he had traveled had cleaved open the mist.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    Lin Mu heard a sound and saw Little Shrubby appear from the distance. But that was not all, as he could see the outer area of the sect from the path that Little Shrubby had unintentionally created.


    Lin Mu raised his brows and wondered if this was a valid method of navigating, but then the mist started to move and covered the path that had appeared. Still, now that Lin Mu knew that it was possible to do so, he had more hope.


    "What do we need to do?" Little Shrubby asked.


    <i>~swoosh~</i>


    But just as he spoke, a mist weapon came flying toward it.


    "DIE, VILE BEAST!" The First elder thundered.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    Little Shrubby growled in irritation and spat out a fireball that met the mist weapon, destroying it instantly.


    "If one doesn¡¯t work, take a hundred more! AHAHAHA!" The first elderughed as more and more mist weapons shot out from the mist fortress.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    <i>~boom~</i>


    <i>~boom~</i>


    Little Shrubby dodged a majority of the mist weapons with his speed while the rest he destroyed with fire.


    "What I want you to do is to throw me towards the mist fortress." Lin Mu said, while dodging the mist weapons.


    Little Shrubby nodded his head and got closer to Lin Mu, so that he could get on his back.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    Little Shrubby circled around the barrage of the mist weapons and got a sufficient distance away from the fortress. Lin Mu was on his back, but this time he was not strapped into the harness. They two continued to move at a great speed and once they were two kilometers away from the fortress, they turned around.


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    "Now follow my direction and run," Lin Mu said as he instructed little Shrubby through his mind.


    Little Shrubby started to run toward the mist fortress ording to Lin Mu¡¯s direction. Whenever the fortress moved, Lin Mu told Little Shrubby so that it could make adjustments ordingly. The more little Shrubby ran, the greater his speed got.


    But even now he was not at his full speed, it was only at perhaps fifty percent. The mist weapons were unable to keep up with little shrubby¡¯s speed and kept on missing, despite getting closer to him.


    Lin Mu kept his eyes trained on the mist fortress, tracking its every move.


    "NOW!" Lin Mu yelled.


    Little Shrubby stopped at that very moment, and Lin Mu was short forward due to momentum. But this was exactly what Lin Mu wanted, and he used fade the moment he was sent flying. The momentum he had was carried over to the parallel world and just when Lin Mu estimated that he should be in the mist fortress, he deactivated the skill.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu suddenly felt a constricting force around him when he reappeared in the real world. It felt like there were restraints wrapping around him, slowing his ability to move. He looked around and saw that the mist here was even denser.


    "HOW DID YOU ENTER MY MIST FORTRESS! NOOO! THIS CANNOT HAPPEN!" The First elder was shocked at first, but then got furious. "Be crushed under the misty depths!."


    ¡¯Where is he?¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he used his spatial perception.


    But despite using that, he was unable to tell the exact location of the first elder.


    "Of course, if he¡¯s not moving, I won¡¯t be able to see the faint disturbances in the spatial fabric," Lin Mu understood.


    He gritted his teeth and wondered if he had now been trapped.


    "No! I need to think calmly, there must be a way." Lin Mu said to himself.


    He continued using spatial perception to look around and soon found a difference.


    "There is an... outline?" Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu could see that there was a demarcation of the spatial fabric around the area. He had previously been unable to see it as he had not observed till that far. But now that he saw it, the demarcation was rather smooth and in a circle.


    After analyzing it, Lin Mu guessed that it must be the area that the mist fortress was located in.


    "The mist fortress isn¡¯t thatrge and seeing the location that I¡¯m in is quite deep... that should work." Lin Mu muttered as his eyes shed with the spark of an idea.


    He moved his hands with difficulty as the mist bound around his body like mud, but still managed to extend it to the front.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Then taking a deep breath, Lin Mu felt the space around him before muttering, "Meld."


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    In the next moment, everything around him freezes. The mist didn¡¯t move, and neither did it swirl. The restraints that were around him were torn off and he could now move his body freely. Meld had fully frozen the space around him.


    "Where are you, first elder!" Lin Mu shouted with a smirk.


    But he received no answer.


    "Perfect..." Lin Mu muttered, seeing that he got no response.


    Lin Mu then flipped his hands and made a grasping motion in the air, before parting his hands. It was the same as moving apart two curtains to walk into a room.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The mist fortress started to move and parted.


    With the flick of a hand, Lin Mu split apart the fortress in two!

 Chapter 621 - Grasping Meld

    <h4>Chapter 621 - Grasping Meld </h4>


    Jing Luo, who had been defending and dodging the attacks from the mist weapons all this time, suddenly found them dispersing.


    "Huh? What happened?" Jing Luo said, feeling a bit confused.


    He looked around, but the mist was still blocking his field of view. He started to search for the core area of the technique and flew around. But he ended up finding someonepletely unexpected.


    "Haha! Even if it is not that first elder, at least I got you!" Jing Luo said to himself as he found the third elder hidden in the mist.


    The first elder had evidently made a defensiveyer around him that hid him and protected him, so that he could recover from his injuries, but now thatyer had disappeared along with the mist weapons.


    The third elder, who was sitting cross legged on a floating mist cushion, didn¡¯t hear anything at first, but then a momentter he could hear the sound of winds tearing.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    By the time he reacted, it was toote.


    <i>~SPLAT~</i>


    A spear now embedded into his skull. It went through his right eye and came out through the back of the skull, easily shattering the bone. Blood and brains spilled out from the back and his mouth as his neck slogged to the left.


    Jing Luo quickly approached the man with the dagger in his hand. The dead man¡¯s body slightly glowed and his Nascent Soul was just about to leave it when Jing Luo stabbed the dagger into it.


    "AAA!!!!!" The Nascent Soul screamed in unwillingness.


    The third elder could not understand how this all happened. One moment he was calmly recovering in a safe space the first elder had made and now in the next moment, he was dead.


    Had he not been off guard, Jing Luo might not have been able to kill the man so easily. He had after all, managed to defend against multiple high grade spirit weapons at once when he had been attacked by Jing Luo.


    "Hmm... now where is that Spatial storage treasure..." Jing Luo said as he searched the man¡¯s body.


    The thing Jing Luo was after was the shawl that the third elder had used. Its defenses were far too stronger than they should have been, and Jing Luo felt suspicious about it. After taking out the spatial storage treasurer of the third elder, which was a shoulder band. Jing Luo put his brand on it and checked it.


    "I KNEW IT!" Jing Luo said, as his eye turned bloodshot.


    He pulled out the Shawl from the spatial storage treasure and looked at it. His spirit sense probed it and checked the formations on it, along with the building materials.


    "Ripple mist sect... I swear the Jing n will have its revenge!" Jing Luo said out loud.


    Jing Luo then sensed something in the distance and furrowed his brows.


    "Spatial fluctuations? What¡¯s Lin Mu doing?" Jing Luo questioned.


    ***


    Back in the mist fortress, Lin Mu had split it apart using meld.


    His hands trembled as Lin Mu gritted his teeth.


    "This is much harder than I thought!" Lin Mu said with difficulty.


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    He was currently trying to control the two chunks of space that he had separated using meld but was finding it to be extremely difficult. He wanted to find the first elder who was hidden there, but to do that he would need to split it once more.


    Not only that, but Lin Mu also realized that his spirit Qi consumption right now was through the roof. Using meld on such arge area was consuming it like a camel in an oasis. Lin Mu tried to estimate his consumption and saw that despite his increased cultivation base, controlling an area as big as this used up one percent of his entire spirit Qi stores every second!


    It had been twenty seconds since he used Meld and he had already used up about one third of his spirit Qi stores, inducing the previous consumption during the battle. Normally it should not have been this high as his body would also absorb spirit Qi passively from the air.


    But due to the effect of the Weapon mist domain, Lin Mu could not absorb spirit Qi from the air. If he was still able to passively absorb spirit Qi, the consumption of spirit Qi might have been sufficiently offset by that.


    "You need to focus! Sense the fine details of the spatial fabric, and find its ws. There are always ws in the spatial fabric. Once you grasp them, you will know where to tear it from." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The next moment he opened his eyes, he started to chant the severing heart sutra and used his spatial perception at the full potential.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    The scene in front of him turned as dark as the night and it was as if an endless sheet made out of cloth had been spread in front of him. The sheet had millions upon millions of threads in it that interwove.


    Lin Mu could see that Meld had currently ripped the sheet from one part and had spread it apart. While in the real world it looked like the cut was clean, here Lin Mu could see that I was not like this.


    Instead of being fully cleaved into two, the cut was more like someone had stabbed a knife in the middle of a napkin and created a hole. The then edges of the napkin were pulled apart to broaden the cut.


    This was exactly what Lin Mu had done right now. Having learned this, Lin Mu quickly grasped the proper method. He lessened his control over meld and started to shrink the area that he controlled.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The mist at the edges started to flow once again and was no longer frozen. Lin Mu continued to shrink the area till it was abouttwenty meters wide and he was sure that the First elder was contained in it.

 Chapter 622 - Killing The First Elder

    <h4>Chapter 622 - Killing The First Elder </h4>


    Having reduced the area that he was effectively controlling also reduce the amount of spirit Qi meld was consuming. From one percent every second, it fell to one percent every ten seconds. While this still seemed to be quite a lot, there was no way Lin Mu could go below it.


    This was not a problem of consumption due to the quantity right now but rather due to the quality. Meld would consume different amounts of spirit Qi depending on the area that it was being used on and also the ¡¯quality¡¯ of the area.


    The quality in this sense meant what that area contained. For example, if that area contained a cultivator that was at the Qi refining realm, Lin Mu would easily be able to use meld for over an hour with just one percent of his spirit Qi.


    But if that same cultivator was at the Nascent Soul realm, the consumption was increased to one percent needed for every ten seconds. It would also be the same for high energy areas like formation arrays and such.


    Areas that had high spatial stability would also be very difficult for meld to manipte and thus, the consumption would be high as well. That was the reason why Xukong had told Lin Mu to find the ws in the spatial fabric.


    While Meld could cut space from any part, cutting it from the weaker parts would use far less energy and would also be easier. And now that Lin Mu could grasp that he found himself being able to move around much easily.


    His hands that felt like they had been stuck in a swamp, were now finally free to move.


    "Now... SPLIT FOR ME!" Lin Mu said as he turned his hand and pulled away.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    With his gesture, that area that was currently under the influence of Meld was split apart. It was like he was cutting pieces of a pie, but they were unequal. Once they spread apart though, Lin Mu could see within them.


    "THERE YOU ARE!" Lin Mu eximed as he spotted the first elder in one of the pieces of the ¡¯pie¡¯ slightly off the center.


    But he was not fully contained in that section. Rather than that, one of his arms was in a different section and a part of his waists was in another section as well. Seeing this, Lin Mu turned his hands and curled his little finger and index finger.


    The two parts that contained the majority of the First elder were pulled towards him while the rest he freed from meld.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The mist started to flow again and only the two pieces that Lin Mu was currently controlling meld were consuming his spirit Qi. His consumption of spirit Qi finally reached a more tolerable level that he did not need to worry about right now.


    Lin Mu brought his hands closer to him, pulling the two chunks that were currently being controlled by him that contained the first elder. Lin Mu looked the elder straight into his eyes and saw his taunting expression that was frozen.


    "This man..." Lin Mu muttered and extended his left hand to grasp the elder¡¯s head.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    He then pulled on it, easily separating the head from the body. Since the space was still frozen, Lin Mu had not actually cut the head apart, but rather just split the space. If the head was put back right now, it would still return to normal.


    But Lin Mu did not have that intention at all. Instead, he lowered his right hand and stopped using meld.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The space returned to normal once again, except for one major change. The body of the First elder was no divided into four unequal parts. His left arm was in a different fragment and the rest of his body was in a different part. Then a small part of his waist was also taken up by another chunk of space.


    And finally, his head was now in Lin Mu¡¯s hand, which blinked a couple of times before going dead.


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    The body of the elder that was now falling down started to glow for a moment as a Nascent Soul flew out from it.


    <i>~Nom~</i>


    s! Before the Nascent Soul could even have a chance at escaping, Little Shrubby took the opportunity to devour it. His eyes closed in pleasure and turned into two ¡¯U¡¯s as he enjoyed the treat, which was probably one of the most luxurious treats a beast could have... a Nascent Soul.


    "Uh... I guess that¡¯s fine too?" Lin Mu said upon seeing Little Shrubby eat the Nascent Soul of the first elder.


    The poor man had no chance to say anyst words and was eliminated rather quickly.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    With the demise of the first elder, the Weapon Mist domain started to dissipate and Lin Mu found himself being able to use spirit Qi once again along with his spirit sense.


    "There you are!" In the very next moment, Lin Mu heard the voice of Jing Luoing from the back.


    He turned around and saw the man flying towards him at great speed. Lin Mu understood that now that the Weapon Mist Domain was not effective, Jing Luo would be able to use his spirit sense and find him quickly.


    In the next second, Jing Luo was right beside him and looked at the head of the First elder in Lin Mu¡¯s hand.


    "Seems like you handled it pretty well..." Jing Luo praised.


    "It was tricky... but I managed," Lin Mu said with a nod.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    "Oh, and little Shrubby helped a lot too," Lin Mu said with a smile upon hearing the growl of Little Shrubby.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "We should get out now. The death of these many elders should have definitely caused panic at the sect. As much as I would like to decimate the entire sect, I think it would be best we leave this ce." Jing Luo said.


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    "Mmm... let us leave." Lin Mu said.

 Chapter 623 - Escape From The Ripple Mist Sect

    <h4>Chapter 623 - Escape From The Ripple Mist Sect </h4>


    "Did you manage to break the barrier? I saw that you had manged to put a crack in it before." Jing Luo asked.


    Lin Mu, Jing Luo and Little Shrubby had juste out of the remnants of the mist and were looking at the barrier at the border of the sect. The ce where Lin Mu had used the Boulder Copsing fist was now looking normal, and it did not look like it had ever been attacked at all.


    "Looks like it managed to recover on its own. We should have expected it with a sect protecting formation array like this." Lin Mu said.


    "But... we have another solution now..." Lin Mu said as he pulled out the Spatial storage treasures from the First elder¡¯s body before pulling out a token.


    Lin Mu had put the body of the first elder in his ring after killing him and had thought that he would check his ptial storage treasurester. But didn¡¯t expect for the opportunity toe this quickly.


    "Aha! Perfect! With that token, we can bypass all barriers now!" Jing Luo said with joy.


    Lin Mu nodded and the three of the headed towards the barrier, while Lin Mu held the token in his hand.


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    The moment they got within a two meter radius of the barrier, it opened up a entrance for them to pass through.


    "There we go," Lin Mu said as they very easily went through the barrier.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "If we had this token from the start, it would have been so much easier." Lin Mu muttered.


    "That¡¯s true... but in exchange, at least we managed to weaken the Ripple Mist sect a bit. If this was a normal battle, I doubt we would have been able to kill these many elders as the Dao Shell realm experts of the sect would have interfered." Jing Luo replied.


    "Hmm... that¡¯s quite likely. Though why did they note right now?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "From what I¡¯ve seen and know, the Ripple Mist sect is a bit cautious. They recalled the disciples to the main area of the sect so that they would be safe from us. As they don¡¯t know what kind of means we have, they wanted to protect the sects core.


    Thus, with their strongest experts there, they would not have to fear much. But I¡¯m sure they would have never expected for all of their elders to die like this, haha!" Jing Luo chuckled.


    "We shouldn¡¯t dy this and wait anymore, then. Let¡¯s take advantage of this," Lin Mu said as he sat on the back of Little Shrubby and strapped into the harness.


    "We follow the same n?" Jing Luo asked for confirmation.


    "Yes, we first get as far as possible and then we regroup." Lin Mu said as he patted the back of little Shrubby.


    Jing Luo nodded his head and took out a pair of boots from his spatial storage treasure and put them on. He then took out another belt and put that on his waist as well. He then skipped a few times before flying away at a sonic speed.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu eximed upon seeing it.


    Lin Mu knew for sure that this was not Jing Luo¡¯s real speed. The man was not this fast even when he had used that blood essence ignition technique. But right now, his speed was nearly the same as that of Little Shrubby¡¯s speed.


    Since Lin Mu saw the man put on the new spirit tools, which were the boots and the belt, he reckoned they were the reason behind his increased speed.


    "That is some impressive work..." Lin Mu muttered.


    But just as he was about to leave, he sensed some really strong spirit Qi fluctuationsing from afar.


    "WHO DARES!!!!!" The sound of a man thundered from afar.


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    From the strength of the spirit Qi flotations, Lin Mu knew that this must be a Dao Shell realm cultivator, most likely to be a grand elder of the Ripple Mist sect.


    "The couldn¡¯t hold back anymore. Seems like it..." Lin Mu said as he told Little Shrubby to start running.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Little Shrubby¡¯s running speed was faster than his flying speed, and thus he mostly ran on the ground. His paws dug into the ground with force as he shot ahead at great speed. He pushed a few more items with his paws and elerated again.


    "YOU DARE RUN AFTER KILLING OUR ELDERS! NEVER!!" The voice thundered again.


    This time, Lin Mu could see the outline of a man approaching from the main area of the sect. He wasing at a great speed and was sitting on what looked like arge Oar. The oar was also emitting strong spirit Qi fluctuation and Lin Mu understood that it was also a High grade spirit tool.


    To Lin Mu now, High grade spirit tools looked to bemon since he had been with someone who could literally make them as he wanted to. Lin Mu had gotten to learn quite a few things from Jing Luo and if he wanted to, he could actually make his own spirit tools and spirit weapons now.


    Albeit they would only be of the Low grade level, or the mid grade if Lin Mu was a bit lucky. Still... all that hecked was experience and practice in making them. He already had the knowledge in the form of the jade slip that Jing Luo gave him and also the various books that he had collected from many ces now.


    Allbined, Lin Mu should be able to learn to make spirit tools and weapons on his own after a while. But he didn¡¯t know if he would really do it right now as there were a lot of things that he needed to do before that.


    Lin Mu had gained a lot of materials on the various upations of cultivators such as the formation creation, Alchemical pill refinement, some beast taming and now Spirit tool/spirit weapon forging.

 Chapter 624 - Speed

    <h4>Chapter 624 - Speed </h4>


    There were simply too many things for Lin Mu to do and he felt a bit overwhelmed. But eventually, he decided that since he had started with the formation creation first, he would stick with them. All the other upations needed formations in some way or the other anyway and thus it would be helpful to himter.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    Little Shrubby¡¯s speed kept on increasing, and Lin Mu realized they were now faster than ever before. If it were not for his enhanced vision due to a higher cultivation, he would not have even been able to see things going by, as it would have all just been a blur.


    "And the speed is still increasing..." Lin Mu muttered.


    With every little step, Little Shrubby elerated even more. Looking at the area, Lin Mu was sure they had already left the territory of the Ripple mist sect by now. Even though Little Shrubby had only been running for about five minutes now, they had quite likely went past at least a hundred kilometers.


    Lin Mu looked back and could not see any signs of the Dao Shell realm cultivator at all.


    "Seems like we left him far behind," Lin Mu said.


    "With the speed you two are going, it would have been a joke if he was able to catch up." Xukong said. "Do you even know the speed at which you are traveling?" he asked.


    "No... I can¡¯t really estimate it..." Lin Mu said.


    "You two are traveling at nearly the same speed as sound." Xukong replied.


    "The speed of sound?" Lin Mu repeated.


    "If you go any faster your voice would be left behind if you talk." Xukong exined shortly. "Try it, try speaking."


    "Ok-ay..?! wh-at?" Lin Mu spoke in a shocked tone.


    To him, it felt like his voice wasgging behind him. And then it happened.


    <i>~BOOM!!!~</i>


    Lin Mu felt a shock wave emitting from around them as Little Shrubby¡¯s speed increased once more.


    "Now you¡¯re moving faster than sound. That was a sonic boom. It happens when you break the sound barrier." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu and Xukong were talking using their connection and thus didn¡¯t actually need to speak verbally. All they needed to do was thinking and their thoughts would be transmitted to each other. Though Xukong had said to Lin Mu that it wasn¡¯t exactly that, as that thing would be called telepathy instead.


    What actually happened was that both Lin Mu and Xukong¡¯s thoughts came to amon ce that was made from a fragment of both their minds. In this ¡¯shared space¡¯ their thoughts would appear and interact.


    This was also where Xukong would be able to ¡¯see¡¯ Lin Mu¡¯s memories when he shared it with him. Usually Lin Mu directed all his current memories to this ce unfiltered because of which Xukong was able to see and experience the real world without causing problems.


    But Lin Mu could also simply talk, and Xukong would be able to hear him. But now it was obvious that speaking was of now help as his voice would be transmitted but would be left behind. The only sound that Lin Mu heard while speaking was his own voice in his head that echoed in his skull.


    But even then, he could clearly hear the difference between the sound that echoed in his head and the sound he heard externally. This was Lin Mu¡¯s second time experiencing this technically, but the first time he was not conscious.


    The first time this happened was when Little Shrubby used the Seven Beasts Burst for the very first time. But now Little Shrubby could achieve the same speed without needing to use that innate skill.


    "How fast would he be once the Seven Beasts Burst is used now?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but wonder.


    Lin Mu turned back to see if there was anyone following them and did not see the Dao Shell realm cultivator anymore. It was obvious that they had left him in the dust. Though, when he looked to the upper side, he saw none other than Jing Luo.


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    The man¡¯s long hair was blowing back due to the wind and every step he would soar forward. The boots that he was wearing allowed him to step onto the air and created a strong jet of wind from them.


    As for the belt that he was wearing, it continued to emit spirit Qi fluctuation and had several points on it that glowed. Though when Lin Mu looked at it, he found that after a few seconds, one of the glowing points stopped glowing.


    And after another minute, one more point stopped glowing.


    "What is that...?" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he focused on the belt.


    Still, it was hard to do so when they were moving at a great speed and thus he decided to improve it a bit. He chanted the calming heart sutra and felt everything slowing down a bit. He opened his eyes and gazed at the belt again, and finally understood what those glowing points were.


    "High Grade spirit stones?" Lin Mu recognized.


    Each of the glowing point was a high grade spirit stone, that had been embedded into a socket around which a small formation was inscribed. The glow that he saw was actuallying from the formation itself rather than the high grade spirit stone.


    And the reason why it stopped glowing was that the high grade spirit stone was depleted of its spirit Qi. Once that happened, the high grade spirit stone would crumble to dust and scatter, deactivating the formation.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t really tell how this all functioned just from seeing and decided to ask Jing Luo once they stopped.


    "How long can you run at this speed for Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu questioned the beast.


    "I don¡¯t know. I feel like I can just keep on running." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Hmm... keep on running till Jing Luo can run. Once his speed is reduced and he needs to rest, we shall stop as well." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby said and kept on running at the same speed.

 Chapter 625 - Wind Strider Boots And Spirit Qi Infusion Belt

    <h4>Chapter 625 - Wind Strider Boots And Spirit Qi Infusion Belt </h4>


    Lin Mu knew that if they went any fast, they would leave behind Jing Luo as well. And it was better for them to run alongside for now, just in case anything happened that they had not expected. They continued like this for about twelve more minutes before finally stopping.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    An audible crack was heard as Jing Luo slowed down and stopped. Lin Mu and Little Shrubby stopped along with him and looked at him.


    "Ran out of power?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed..." Jing Luo said as he took a look at the belt he was wearing.


    All of the high grade spirit stones that were embedded in them were broken and now there were only empty sockets left in their stead.


    "So this was why you were assured you would be able to keep up with Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Little Shrubby was also looking at Jing Luo in intrigue and felt a bit threatened. He was the fastest being right now, and he didn¡¯t want someone else to be faster than him, especially not Jing Luo.


    "Yes, these are the spirit tools I made in case we needed to escape and they did end uping in handy." Jing Luo replied as he took off the belt from his waist.


    "So what are these exactly?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... you can think of the belt as a disposable high grade spirit tool while the boots are just normal high grade spirit tools." Jing Luo answered.


    When Lin Mu heard the word disposable High grade spirit tool, he didn¡¯t know what to think of it. Perhaps in this world, only Jing Luo and a few handful of people would say the words Disposable and High grade spirit tool in the same sentence.


    "I see. So the belt functions as a battery?" Lin Mu asked, remembering some of the concepts from the jade slip Jing Luo had given him.


    "Yes. But a very high powered one. I had to use high grade spirit stones to make this work for the boots. While I can make a lower quality version of this as well, I finally found out the upper limit of what the belt can handle as of now." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu felt quite a bit intrigued by this and wanted to know more. His curiosity had always been high and every time he got to learn something new, he would benefit from it. He definitely wanted to know how these two worked.


    "How do they work?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I¡¯ll tell you, but I think we should find a ce to rest first. I don¡¯t know about you, but using these two spirit tools put a bit of a strain on my body. I don¡¯t know how you two can keep up with a speed like that." Jing Luo said as he massaged his neck.


    "Oh! Okay, let¡¯s find a ce to rest for a bit." Lin Mu said and the two men looked around with their spirit sense.


    It didn¡¯t take them long to find a dense thicket of trees some distance from them. The crown of the treespletely covered the sky while the bushes and smaller trees around, blocked the view of what was hidden within it.


    Of course, a location like this was quite unusual and Little Shrubby told them that this was the nest of a beast. Currently, the beast was not there thus they could go there and would not need to bother with it... hopefully.


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    And if the beast came back before they were done resting, it would be unfortunate... for the beast.


    Jing Luo didn¡¯t rest right away though. He first threw out four gs, that imnted themselves into the four cardinal directions around the thicket. Once that was done, a thin barrier appeared around it and a few runes floated around.


    Jing Luo scanned it over with his spirit sense and they all faded away into nothingness as if they never existed. The gs also went deeper into the ground,pletely disappearing from their view.


    "This should be a bit safer," Jing Luo said as he sat down with his back to a tree.


    Lin Mu could see the visible fatigue in the man and knew that he was truly affected by the spirit tools.


    "Why are you so tired from that?" Lin Mu asked curiously. "Being at the Adolescent Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm, you should be stronger than that."


    Jing Luo had a bitter expression on his face after hearing Lin Mu¡¯s question.


    "Not everyone has a body like you and cultivates all the way to the thirteenth stage of the Body tempering realm. I don¡¯t even know how the hell you aplished that." Jing Luo said, feeling a bit insulted.


    But then he saw the look on Lin Mu¡¯s face that showed pure curiosity and understood that Lin Mu didn¡¯t really mean to insult him like that.


    ¡¯What kind of a master does this guy even have? How did he train him like this?¡¯ Jing Luo wondered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "The speed at which we ran... you must have seen that we outrun the Dao Shell realm cultivator, as well. From that, you should be able to tell, how much power it would require to do the same for a normal cultivator." Jing Luo hinted.


    Lin Mu went over it in his mind and realized that it was truly far more than should have been possible for any normal cultivator, even if they were at the Dao Shell realm.


    "Ah, no wonder your body hurts." Lin Mu said in an understanding tone.


    "Exactly. While the Wind strider boots are extremely fast, they need an equally strong spirit Qi supply. And while I can provide it with my body as well, the speed of infusion that it needs would not be enough. Thus I ended up adding the spirit Qi infusion belt to thebination." Jing Luo said and took a pause.


    He took out a couple of alchemical pills from his spatial storage treasure and ate them.

 Chapter 626 - A New Destination

    <h4>Chapter 626 - A New Destination </h4>


    After feeling a bit better in a minute or so, Jing Luo decided to continue his exnation.


    "The belt can be socketed with spirit stones of different grades and can provide a steady high output of spirit Qi that a cultivator cannot provide himself normally. But... I expanded the belt to the max and eighteen high grade spirit stones seem to be the limit for it." Jing Luo said as he withdrew the belt from his spatial storage ring.


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    Lin Mu looked at the belt and saw that most of the inscriptions on it were destroyed and looked like they were burned off.


    "The amount of continuous spirit Qi needed by the wind strider boots destroyed a high capacity spirit Qi infusion belt as well." Jing Luo said with a sigh.


    "So if it were a lower number of High Grade spirit stones, the formations would not have been destroyed?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Exactly. But Wind Strider Boots require far too much spirit Qi to function. Originally, they aren¡¯t even supposed to work for extended periods of time like this. They are supported to be used for short bursts of speed.


    I just modified the design a bit and made it so that they can work continuously as long as I want, but the counter problem to that is that they need a high volume supply of spirit Qi.


    This was one of my projects that I worked on before I left the n, but never got to finish. Didn¡¯t think I would work on it again after so long." Jing Luo answered.


    Lin Mu could see the hints of sorry in Jing Luo¡¯s eyes and understood that he must be missing his n now. It had been a long time for the man, over fifty years, and he could not even begin to guess how that felt.


    It had been barely six years since Lin Mu¡¯s parents had died and he still missed them from time to time. For Jing Luo, Lin Mu could only guess that it was many times more painful.


    "We should figure out what to do next." Jing Luo suddenly said.


    "Ah, yes. Seeing as there have been no signs of anyone pursuing us, we should be safe." Lin Mu replied.


    "That was inevitable. Unless the one pursuing us was a Dao Treading Realm Cultivator, they would not have been able to keep up with our speed. Though I now don¡¯t know where we exactly are..." Jing Luo said as he stroked his beard.


    "Hmm... let me check where we exactly are." Lin Mu said before withdrawing a jade slip from his ring.


    ¡¯Since we ran in the southeastern direction from the Ripple mist sect, we should have already left the borders of the previous kingdom. And considering our speed and how long we ran, we should be about... four hundred kilometers away from the sect.¡¯ Lin Mu calcted and checked on the map.


    "I think I have an idea of where we are." Lin Mu said.


    "And where is that?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "We havee about four hundred kilometers from the Ripple mist sect to the south eastern direction. This roughly puts us at the border of The Kingdom of Shu." Lin Mu said as his brows furrowed.


    Jing Luo noticed Lin Mu¡¯s reaction and wondered if something was wrong, but then recalled his own memories.


    "Is there one of the sects that is under the influence of Gu Yao in the area?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Indeed. It is a mid level sect called Mountain Brush Sect." Lin Mu replied.


    "The Mountain Brush sect... I remember them. They were one of my attackers as well and took part in the assassination." Jing Luo said as a spark of fury appeared in his eyes.


    "We need to leave this area as soon as possible. We still don¡¯t know if Gu Yao has been alerted or not yet. While we do need to gather more information about the current condition of the empire, I don¡¯t think this will be the right ce.


    While we personally would not be harmed by this, if they get a whiff of our presence so soon, ourtter ns might be troublesome." Lin Mu exined.


    Jing Luo went over Lin Mu¡¯s words and found his hypothesis to be reasonable.


    "That does seem likely. We are only four hundred kilometers away from the Ripple Mist sect anyway. We need to go much farther than this, they can still inform their allies at this range usingmunication jade slips." Jing Luo said.


    "Exactly. We best get going." Lin Mu said.


    "Where do we go, though? I know about the kingdoms, but seeing as how it¡¯s been over fifty years, their situations might have changed and thus my judgment could be wrong." Jing Luo asked.


    Lin Mu thought over it for a minute and saw the map. Currently, they were in the upper mid part of the Great Zhou Empire. They literally had the entire southern part that they could go to as of now. But after thinking for a bit, a specific kingdom popped up in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "We do have a lot of ces that we can go to, but the closest location that I think would be safe is the Fenlong Kingdom." Lin Mu stated.


    "The Fenlong Kingdom? Hmm... they are quite small, aren¡¯t they. They don¡¯t have that many cultivators there that belong to sects there either." Jing Luo muttered.


    Both of them deliberated over it and discussed the advantages and disadvantages beforeing to a final decision.


    "Fenlong Kingdom it is then. If we go two thousand kilometers further south and then a couple of hundred kilometers east, we should arrive there." Lin Mu said.


    "We should set off, then. Though I will not be able to keep up with the same speed. At least not for a while, till my meridians are a bit rested, and the belt fixed." Jing Luo replied.


    "That will be fine. We will stop by some smaller viges on the way and see if we can find some information there as well." Lin Mu assured.


    Jing Luo nodded his head and the two of them, along with little Shrubby, began their journey again.

 Chapter 627 - First Time Seeing The Ocean

    <h4>Chapter 627 - First Time Seeing The Ocean </h4>


    Lin Mu, Jing Luo, and Little Shrubby had now been traveling for about two days now. Since they had to travel at a bit more rxed pace than before, they only covered about a thousand kilometers in a day.


    Plus, Jing Luo needed to rest to recover his meridians as well. This showed to Lin Mu how much of a difference having aplete Body Tempering cultivation made, along with him having the Xiantian.


    Though there was still the question of Little Shrubby, who was the one who could run at that speed for a long period of time. Little Shrubby said that he could still run at that speed and did not feel tired at all, so they were yet to find the limits of little Shrubby.


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    As for the pace at which they were traveling at currently, they could do so without stopping for weeks upon weeks had it not been for Jing Luo. Though there was also the fact that every time they came across a vige, they would pause their journey and gather some information.


    This was the additional reason why they were even slower. If it were not for them halting, perhaps they would have covered twice the distance they had by now. The viges that they came across were mostly small and rtively istedmunities.


    In total, they had seen seven viges in the past two days and only two out of these seven viges even had a cultivator in them. The rest of them were just filled withmoners and warriors in the body tempering realm.


    And just as Lin Mu and Jing Luo had thought, they were looked at with suspicion when they entered the viges. It took them quite a bit of effort before even getting some interaction with the vigers.


    Jing Luo, who had been deprived of normal human interaction for over fifty years now, was still quite enthusiastic and tried to talk as genially to the vigers as he could.


    s! When Lin Mu showed them a bit of gold, the vigers turned into chatter birds, showing that Jing Luo¡¯s efforts were a bit inefficient.


    Still, even when the vigers did start to speak, Lin Mu and Jing Luo didn¡¯t really get any information that they could consider to be useful. They mostly talked about their daily lives, about who¡¯s kid got married, whose cow gave birth, whose wife beat up their husband, and stuff like that.


    Lin Mu could simply rub his forehead in helplessness while Jing Luo fully enjoyed it all,ughing with the vigers. Lin Mu even wondered if the vigers were hiding something and spied on them using phase, but it turned out that they were speaking the truth.


    Lin Mu then wondered if these vigers were too isted or something. Only when he reached the final two viges where there were cultivators did they get some actual useful information.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo learned that the Fenlong kingdom was currently in aplex situation. Their royal family was undergoing an internal conflict, and the aristocrats were also vying to pull some power under them.


    The prices ofmodities had risen up and the merchants were fully taking advantage of it all. While they did not find out the reason behind this, Lin Mu reckoned they should get the information quite soon.


    The Fenlong kingdom was the third smallest kingdom in the entire Great Zhou continent and wasparable to the Wu Lim County in size. It only had two major cities, with one of them being the capital and the second one being the Port City Jiao Long.


    The Fenlong Kingdom was located on the eastern coastline of the continent and thus had ess to the ocean. This was Lin Mu¡¯s first time seeing an ocean as he hadn¡¯t even seen a sea before this in his life, thus he was amazed.


    The Port City of Jiao Long was the first major city that they came to and thus the two men, along with Little Shrubby, came to a stop in front of a cliff that faced the city on one side and the ocean on the other.


    "This... I¡¯ve never seen so much water before..." Lin Mu said with awe in his voice.


    The glistening, blue expanse of water looked mesmerizing to him. There was a strange calmness he felt upon seeing it that he could not exin.


    "Ahahah! You¡¯ll get used to it. Water is water, once you see one sea you would have seen them all!" Jing Luo said with augh.


    "If you say so..." Lin Mu replied, not knowing if the man was being serious or not and his choice of alliteration.


    "Mmmhmm, I don¡¯t like it." Little Shrubby said upon taking a long stare.


    "You don¡¯t?" Lin Mu asked, while looking at the beast.


    "Seems too wet," Little Shrubby replied.


    "Ah... I guess that¡¯s okay?" Lin Mu said, thinking that little shrubby was still a cat in the end.


    "It¡¯s my first time here and I¡¯ve heard that this ce is small, but yeah it really is." Jing Luo said while gazing at the Jiao Long port.


    Lin Mu turned around and took a look at the city as well. Calling it a city was a bit of an overstatement as the entire Jiao Long Port was the same size as that of the Northern town.


    "It really is small, though they do have a lot of boats and ships topensate for that I guess." Lin Mu said while gazing at therge nket of floating vessels.


    There were easily over a thousand boats and ships on the port and in the water surrounding it. The ones that were near the port were densely packed and dangerously treaded.


    If there was any mistake made, they would quite likely collide with other vessels that were passing by. It was evident that the sailors and fishermen were quite skilled at controlling their ships and boats.


    "Indeed. Jiao Long Port is said to be one of the cities with the best shipwrights and sailors in the entire Great Zhou Continent."

 Chapter 628 - The Smallest Kingdoms

    <h4>Chapter 628 - The Smallest Kingdoms </h4>


    Lin Mu felt a bit surprised upon hearing Jing Luo¡¯s words. He could not think that in such arge continent filled with cultivators, a small ce like this would have the best shipwrights and sailors.


    "Why is that so, though? Can¡¯t the cultivators make better boats and ships?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling curious.


    "Well, that¡¯s mostly because these ships and boats are used by the cultivators that are below the Nascent Soul realm andmoners that are barely in the Body tempering realm. Another reason is that not many people actually go out that far into the ocean as there isn¡¯t really a need.


    There are no locations to go to specifically in the ocean and the inds there are far too sparse to be profitable. The danger is especially high and deeper in the ocean there is nock of aquatic spirit beasts that are Nascent Soul realm and above.


    If it were not for the fact that these beasts cannot leave the ocean, the Human race and even the entire Great Zhou Continent would have long since been overrun." Jing Luo answered.


    "Hmm... but there are the two kingdoms in the ocean, right? The two smallest kingdoms in the world?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Oh? You mean the Echo Conch Kingdom and the First Sun kingdom?" Jing Luo asked for rity.


    "Yes, those two. They are ind nations, right? Thus they would need ships and boats for trade." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh, those do use ships and boats, but they aren¡¯t that far from the coastline of the continent. In fact, the First Sun Kingdom is located close to the Fenlong kingdom and is one of the allies of the Kingdom.


    It¡¯s located Southeast of the Fenlong kingdom and is in the ocean about two hundred kilometers away from the coast. The two nations trade a lot and that is one of the reasons why the shipwrights and sailors here are said to be the best in the continent." Jing Luo further exined.


    "Ah, I understand now." Lin Mu said, recalling the locations of the two smallest kingdoms.


    While the First Sun Kingdom was located close to the Fenlong Kingdom, the Echo Conch Kingdom was located quite far to the very southern end of the continent. It was also a bit reclusive and people seldom came traveled to and from it.


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    It was also said to be backward and thus not many cultivators had any interest in it. Their economy was mostly dependent on fishing and some local products that they grew on their ind and thus it was mostly self sufficient. The only thing they bought from the maind was metals that theycked on the ind.


    "We should head to the city now and see what news we can gather." Jing Luo said.


    "Yes, we should do that." Lin Mu said as his spirit sense spread over the entire area, looking for a suitable ce.


    "What do I do?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Hmmm... you can go fish?" Lin Mu suggested, but then saw the wronged look on little Shrubby¡¯s face.


    "You can fly now, so you won¡¯t need to touch the water and you can probably figure out more ways to fish." Lin Mu cated the beast.


    Little Shrubby thought over it and nodded his head.


    "I¡¯ll do that then. I haven¡¯t made roasted fish and stewed fishtely." Little Shrubby said before flying away.


    Jing Luo saw the little interaction between Lin Mu and little Shrubby, but didn¡¯t really question it. He reckoned it was just something rted to what the beast wanted to do until they were in the city.


    They obviously could not bring him into the city as it would be way too eye catching and people would get suspicious.


    "We¡¯ll split up and return to this spot at midnight then." Lin Mu spoke after thinking for a minute.


    "That seems okay, I¡¯ll take my leave then." Jing Luo said before flying away.


    Lin Mu could see that the man was going to circle around the port city to go to the southern end. Two Nascent Soul realm cultivators entering together would probably pull the eyes of a few spies that usually loiter around, and that was not something they wanted.


    Plus, with the increasing influence of Gu Yao, Lin Mu and Jing Luo couldn¡¯t be more careful. Plus another one of Lin Mu¡¯s goal was to see if he could find an outpost of the Hei Corps here.


    "Hmm... Wu Hei had told before that he came to this kingdom in his travels and thus he should have one of the outposts of the Hei Corps here, too hopefully." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t fly like Jing Luo did, instead, he walked to the entrance of the city once he had changed into some sober robes. While most cultivators would not be able to tell his cultivation base as long as they weren¡¯t at the core condensation realm, if he wore the shy robes, he would definitely bring attention to himself.


    Lin Mu took in the sights as he walked calmly to the gate of the city and paid the entry tax, which was a single silver coin.


    "Hmm... at least they are not ripping us off." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he continued on.


    The guards didn¡¯t even check anything and merely asked his name before writing it down onto a register. Lin Mu casually gave out a fake name, and the guards epted it right away.


    "They don¡¯t seem that worried about security, huh?" Lin Mu said after leaving the gate.


    Once inside the city, Lin Mu spread his spirit sense out fully and grasped the situation in the city. With his spirit sense that had expanded once more, it was easily possible for him to cover the entire city in it.


    Lin Mu could very easily sit in one ce and observe the entire city as he pleased. And with this thought in his mind, he decided to find a suitable spot to wait in.

 Chapter 629 - Jiao Long City

    <h4>Chapter 629 - Jiao Long City </h4>


    Lin Mu soon found a tea shop that was bustling with people on the main roar of the Jiao Long City. The shop was located on the third floor of the building and overlooked the port, allowing the patrons to take in the pleasant sight of the sea.


    Of course, it was nomon tea shop and from the attire of the people that entered it, it was a rather luxurious shop that the rich people of the city visited. At this point, Lin Mu didn¡¯t really care for the price despite it being a gold coin.


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    He was quickly brought to a suitable table by the open gallery and allowed him to see the city and the people below. With his eyes, it was easy for him to see even an ant crawling on the ground clearly.


    "Hmm... the people here are mostlymoners." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he looked around the tea shop.


    The waiter had already gone to get him a pot of tea with some snacks, allowing Lin Mu to freely look around the shop. There were around a hundred people on the floor easily and even then there was room for more.


    It was evident from this that the tea shop was ratherrge. Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense quickly picked up the cultivation bases of everyone in the shop.


    "The strongest person is at the Late stage of the Qi refining realm while the weakest is at the fourth stage of the body tempering realm." Lin Mu assessed.


    A few of the women and girls in the tea shop stole some nces at Lin Mu as well. His handsome face made it hard for them to resist, which earned him the envy of a few men that were apanying these women.


    But since Lin Mu kept to himself, he looked out of the shop, they didn¡¯t mind it after a bit.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A few women sighed at the face of Lin Mu, who they found to be longing for something. In their minds, they had already made up some borate stories about him as they wondered who he was.


    Lin Mu was unaware that he had gained multiple different identities in the minds of these women in the span of mere minutes.


    "Here you go sir, this is the best tea of our establishment." The waiter said upon serving the tea.


    Lin Mu looked at the tea that seemed to have a greenish yellow color. A few tea leaves floated gently on the surface of the tea, looking like dancing grass in the wind. Lin Mu had an idea after seeing this.


    He took out a couple of silvers and handed them to the waiter.


    "I¡¯m new to the city and would like to know more about it. Why don¡¯t you apany me and tell me." Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course, sir! It will be my pleasure!" The waiter hurriedly agreed.


    Lin Mu gestured to the chair next to him and picked up the cup of tea before taking a sip of it.


    ¡¯It¡¯s... nd?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    While Lin Mu hadn¡¯t really tasted that many types of teas and was not really a ¡¯Connoisseur¡¯ he still had enough sense to tell good tea from bad tea when it was this obvious. He even wondered if they had made a mistake or something like that.


    But for the sake of this time, he decided to keep his mouth shut and listen to the waiter¡¯s words.


    "I¡¯ll start with the history of the city then. Jiao Long city was established over a thousand years ago and is considered to be one of the oldest cities in the continent." The waiter spoke.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was truly intrigued.


    "Oh really? But with a kingdom this small, how can this city be so old?" Lin Mu questioned the man.


    "Ah, that¡¯s amon doubt that people have, sir. In fact, Jiao Long city is even older than the capital of our Fenlong kingdom. The city has had many names throughout the years and had changed with every new dynasty.


    The current name was given to the port by the current royal family about eighty years ago. They named it so that the city would rise up like a flood dragon from the sea, shocking the masses. And thus they called it ¡¯Jiao Long¡¯.


    The city was used by many kingdoms as a point of transit if they were involved in sea trade. Our Jiao Long city is also the main port from where one can take a ferry to and from the First Sun kingdom." The waiter exined.


    "I see... please continue." Lin Mu said as he took another sip of the nd tea that was no different from warm water at this point.


    He took a look at the fried dough sticks that were given as snacks and picked one up before eating it. The dough stick broke in his mouth with a crisp <i>~Crack~</i> and a pleasant vor spread in his mouth.


    For a moment there, Lin Mu was reminded of his childhood in the norther town. His mother would make freshly fried dough sticks in the morning for breakfast and Lin Mu used to enjoy them hot.


    But in the next breath, his heart stilled, and he opened his eyes calmly.


    ¡¯That time has long past... dwelling on the past is only asking for more pain and sorrow...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu continued hearing about the city and its people from the waiter. He learned that the city was actually run by a group of merchants than a single mayor or someone like that. In fact, even the king of the Fenlong kingdom didn¡¯t really have as much authority in Jiao Long city as the council of merchants.


    These merchants traded all over the continent and surprisingly became part of the council of such a small city. Lin Mu found this to be a bit strange and did not know why. While the waiter told him that it was because of the merchant ships that all alighted here, Lin Mu knew that there was something fishy.

 Chapter 630 - Two Familiar Names

    <h4>Chapter 630 - Two Familiar Names </h4>


    Lin Mu got interested in this so called Council of merchants and asked more about it. He discovered that it wasposed of ten merchants, some of which representedrge and prominent merchant families.


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    Though there were two names that caught Lin Mu¡¯s attention. The first name was none other than the Mu n which Wu Hei had visited in his younger years. This was also the n from which Lin Mu had disguised himself as.


    The second name that caught his attention was actually an individual merchant who had made his ownpany and grown it quite a bit. He recently reached the point where he had managed to buy a position in the council by outbidding others.


    This individual merchant was actually someone Lin Mu had met before, Jingming Shang!


    "Tell me more about the Mu n and Jingming Shang." Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm... the Mu n is in a difficult state right now." The waiter spoke.


    "Oh? Why¡¯s that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We do not know exactly why, as the matter was suppressed by both the royal family and the other members of the merchant council, but we do know that the Mu n has fallen greatly in their status.


    Even their position in the merchant council is now threatened and could be taken away at any moment." The waiter replied.


    "But how could such a drastic change happen?" Lin Mu asked further, having a bad feeling about it.


    "It hall happened around three years ago. The people of the Mu n suddenly went into hiding, and only a few external workers were left to run their businesses. Of course, this couldn¡¯t be kept up as without the guidance of the main members, the businesses started to fall into a loss.


    The n didn¡¯t reappear for about two years and even the merchant council wondered if they were okay or not. They sent many letters to the n, but all of them were unanswered. If it were not for the fact that the Mu n had several cultivators, the merchants might have even gone to visit them directly.


    But then about a year ago, the n reappeared, or more like their people did. The person that appeared was not someone we had expected though. The person was the youngest son of the Mu n patriarch, Mu Tao.


    He is the one who took over the administrative part of his n and dered that their patriarch had passed away. The merchants were suspicious about it and did their own investigations.


    They ended up finding out that the majority of Mu n¡¯s people were killed two years ago one a single night!" The waiter revealed.


    Lin Mu¡¯s brows were raised after hearings the words of the waiter. He even doubted the authenticity of his words, but then realized that he could confirm this very well himself.


    ¡¯That¡¯s one thing I definitely need to find out more about... if it¡¯s who I¡¯m thinking it is, then...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "What about Jingming Shang?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "This man joined the council about a year and a half ago. Because there had been an increase in trade in the kingdoms that surround the top sects of the world, the overall wealth of merchants that got involved in it has also grown.


    This made it so the council decided that they can now add another seat to it. Originally, the Mu n was in disagreement but then they were cated by the other merchants who wanted new positions to be opened. And since the Mu n was in need of money to pay back their debts, they finally epted it.


    Jingming Shang is said to have capitalized on the trade boom and made a sizable fortune. He easily outbid hispetition for the tenth seat in the merchant council and was even said to be one of those that sent a big gift to the Mu n.


    Plus, he is also a cultivator that is at the Core Condensation realm and thus not many can afford to oppose him either." The waiter exined.


    "Hmm... I see. A rather interesting man." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu sat in silence for a couple of minutes, analyzing the information that he had just been given. The waiter also sat patiently, not daring to interrupt Lin Mu. From Lin Mu¡¯s demeanor, he could tell that he was not simple and the ease with which he tipped him also showed that he was definitely wealthy.


    ¡¯Since he¡¯s asking questions about the merchant council, he must be a rich merchant too...¡¯ The waiter thought to himself.


    "What can you tell me about the cultivators of this kingdom? Oh, and also the royal family." Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Fenlong Kingdom isn¡¯t particrly known for our cultivators, but we still do have quite a few of them. While we don¡¯t have any cultivation sect in our borders, we still have a lot of martial schools.


    Every rich merchant would either be a cultivator himself if he had the talent or would have other cultivators as his guards and assistant. As for those that belong to merchant families, they have plenty of cultivators of their own.


    The strongest cultivator in the Fenlong kingdom is said to be the General of the Fenlong kingdom. He¡¯s at the Nascent Soul realm and is the uncle of the current king. The king himself is at the Core condensation realm while the patriarchs of the merchant families, who are also the aristocrats of this kingdom, are also at the Core Condensation realm.


    Even the Mu n¡¯s patriarch was at the Core Condensation realm, which was one of the reasons why all the other council members were shocked after hearing of his demise. They were scared that whoever did that to the Mu n coulde after them as well and thus they were very cautious during that time.


    As for the Qi refining realm cultivators, there are plenty of them spread around the kingdom, but most of them should be concentrated around the capital and this city." The waiter answered.

 Chapter 631 - Observing The City

    <h4>Chapter 631 - Observing The City </h4>


    Having learned quite a few things from the waiter, Lin Mu was given a lot to think about. The more he did, the more he felt like things were not right here. He gazed out of the gallery and saw the hustle and bustle of the port below.


    ¡¯This ce is way too prosperous for the cheap prices that they have.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu could easily list over ten different sources of ie that the city had and despite that, the people didn¡¯t seem to be that rich. Even this tea shop, which was supposed to be for the richer people, wasn¡¯t particrly expensive.


    Even in Wu Lim city, Lin Mu had seen ces more expensive than this. He was not feeling even more sure that there was something wrong with this ce. The waiter took his leave after Lin Mu dismissed him and was tipped a few more silvers.


    Lin Mu took another sip of the warm tea and closed his eyes. Low chanting that was inaudible to anyone in the room came out of Lin Mu¡¯s voice as his spirit sense spread around.


    While before Lin Mu had done a quick scan with his spirit sense, it was only to get a gauge of the area of the city. If he wanted to see what was actually going on, he would need to focus on particr parts to be able to do that.


    Once Lin Mu¡¯s eyes were closed, darkness descended in his vision. But as his spirit senses started to pick up things, that darkness started to be filled with things. At first, the building and people that were the closest to Lin Mu appeared in the darkness.


    They were all in ck, white and Grey in color now and if Lin Mu focused on any particr part, he could see its color as well. The more ¡¯diffused¡¯ his perception was, the lesser details there were for him to ¡¯see¡¯.


    Lin Mu went from the closest area around him in circles and expanded outwards. There he saw themoners toiling and working hard, some cultivators fighting and arguing among themselves, fishermen carryingrge wicker baskets filled with fish, women doing their daily chores and cooking, children ying around in the streets and old people watching them while reminiscing about their own childhood.


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    Lin Mu¡¯s perception kept on expanding as he started sensing the cultivation bases of everyone in the city. Those that were in the Qi refining realm and body tempering realm couldn¡¯t even feel anything when Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense swept over them.


    Eventually, Lin Mu even found Jing Luo on the opposite side of the city. He too was sitting in one of the city¡¯s establishments and this one seemed like a restaurant. Currently, he seemed to be enjoying a table full of dishes and was eating in a manner quite simr to that of Lin Mu himself.


    Jing Luo felt when Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense arrived near him and he responded with a simple nod. But upon seeing this, a thought appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "Does he... even have money to pay for that food?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu tried to recall but he didn¡¯t remember ever giving the man any of the coins that he had with him.


    ¡¯He should be fine using the spirit stones for payment, he should have some low quality ones left probably.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu pulled his spirit sense from Jing Luo¡¯s area and proceeded ahead. After a bit, he finally reached a ce of interest, the building where the council of merchants assembled.


    "Hmm... interesting," Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    His spirit sense easily bypassed the few formation barriers that were set up around the building and entered the building. The building was not that bigpared to its importance and there were other buildings in the Jiao Long city that were over ten times bigger than this, but those buildings were warehouses for storing goods and raw materials.


    There were several rooms in the building and it was mostly empty, other than a few servants and clerks going about their data. Only when Lin Mu reached the inner most hall of the building did he meet some resistance.


    ¡¯Hmm... this is a stronger barrier. My spirit sense won¡¯t be able to enter at this range.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He opened his eyes and stood up from the table before leaving the tea house. Once he was out of the building, he directly went to the side alley that went from the left of the tea house and then entered an even smaller alley.


    Lin Mu had already scanned the entire Jiao Long city and now knew it like the back of his hand. He knew exactly what would be the best locations to hide and the ces that would be empty.


    Lin Mu sank into the ground using phase and quickly made his way to the merchant council¡¯s building. In less than ten seconds, he was already there. Lin Mu¡¯s movement speed while underground had increased by quite a bit since he could now fly using just his cultivation base due to being at the Nascent Soul realm.


    To him, the ground was pretty much the same as air when he used Phase, and thus he could just fly around in the ground that way. Thus reaching the merchant council¡¯s building didn¡¯t take him that long.


    Once he was there though, he quickly found some ws in the barrier and made an opening just big enough for him to pass. He easily reached the innermost hall where the ten council members were likely to meet.


    While there, Lin Mu saw several servants gossiping.


    "Did you hear, they are going to remove the Mu n from the council?" One of the servants whispered to another one.


    "Hasn¡¯t that rumor been going around for a while now? Nothing strange there," the second servant replied with a whisper as well.

 Chapter 632 - The Councils Secret Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 632 - The Council''s Secret Meeting </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s ears perked up upon hearing the servant¡¯s words and he got closer to them.


    "Isn¡¯t that why the council has met up today?" The servant asked.


    "Oh yeah, I don¡¯t think I saw the Mu n¡¯s leader either." The second servant replied.


    "No way. Do you think they might be doing this secretly?" The first servant said with an apprehensive tone.


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    "Hey, you two! Get to work and stop gossiping!" A clerk who had just appeared from the corridor said out loud.


    "Y-yes, sir!" The servants said before rushing away.


    "Humph, dare to ck off on my watch..." The clerk said before returning to his work as well.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing the words of the servants.


    "Something is definitely fishy..." Lin Mu muttered as his head turned to the innermost hall.


    He approached the barrier and ced his hand on it. About five secondster, an opening appeared on its surface, allowing Lin Mu to enter freely. To Lin Mu, a formation of this level was easy to crack, taking him mere seconds to unravel.


    Upon entering the inner hall, Lin Mu first sensed the spirit Qi fluctuations in the room. Since he had known that there were several core condensation realm cultivators in the council, they could still sense his spirit sense if he directly used it.


    "Hmm... five at the early stage of the core condensation realm, two at the mid stage, and the remaining two at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm." Lin Mus quickly analyzed the cultivation bases.


    He then turned his spirit sense into a fine tendril and probed the walls of the hall, before finding a location that was suitable to spy from.


    "That shelf should be fine..." Lin Mu muttered before blinking to the wall behind the shelf.


    He then slightly extended his head from the top of the shelf such that only his eyes were peeking out of it. The shelf itself was over five meters tall and there were several decorative show pieces kept on it. And no one was likely to directly gaze at the very top of the shelf between two statues that cast a shadow on the wall behind.


    Lin Mu¡¯s eyes were hidden in these shadows and thus were not visible easily for others. But it allowed him to take a view of the room quite clearly.


    "Hmm... so these are the so called council members..." Lin Mu internally said.


    He saw five old men, three middle aged men, and one woman in the hall. They were sitting around a long circr table where one chair was currently empty. In all of them, Lin Mu quickly identified the one person he knew, Jingming Shang.


    He looked the same as he did before when thest time Lin Mu had seen him, with the only difference being that his cultivation base had reached the Mid stage of the Core condensation realm and he was wearing more luxurious clothes.


    A few secondster, one of the old men started to speak.


    "So we all agree that the Mu n is no longer qualified to be part of the merchant council?" the old man stated.


    "I¡¯m fine with it. Even if they had already paid their council fees for about ten years beforehand, I doubt they would be able to keep up their businesses for that long." A middle aged man said with a clean shaved face said.


    "Are we sure about this?" The only woman in the council asked. "I mean, the Mu n was one of the founders of this council. Should we really remove them?"


    "Has Miss Fen forgotten that we are merchants and all we care about are profits. The Mu n is no longer profitable and beneficial to the image of the Merchant Council. Do you have doubts about that?" The Old Man questioned.


    "Isn¡¯t this dishonorable, though? We would be going against our promise that was made to the patriarch of the Mu n." The Woman replied.


    "Oh? Does Miss Fen have some other interests in the Mu n?" an old man that had small eyes asked.


    "Who knows, perhaps Miss Fen is interested in the brat of Mu n, haha!" The second middle aged man who was dressed in a Grey aristocrat¡¯s robe joked.


    "You! Think before you speak!" The woman named Fen got angry.


    "Why? Did I step on a sensitive nerve?" The man teased.


    "Gun Kai, you dare insult me to my face!?" The woman named Fen stood up from the chair and pointed at the man.


    Spirit Qi fluctuations came off her body and it was obvious that she was at the early stage core condensation realm.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Equally powerful spirit Qi fluctuations came from the man named Gun Kai as well and shed with Miss Fen¡¯s. The two were in a stalemate for about thirty seconds while they stared at each other, with neithering out on top.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Jingming Shang, who had been silently watching it all, suddenly sighed.


    "People, people, people, we are civilized humans here. No need to act like those prudes on the streets." Jingming Shang cated the two.


    "Besides, it isn¡¯t just Miss Fen that seems to have extra interests. If my sources are correct, isn¡¯t there an additional party exterior to the merchant council that is interested in the removal of the Mu n from the council?" Jingming Shang said with one eye open.


    "What do you mean by that Jingming Shang? Do you dare to use us openly?" The old man who had spoken at the start said, feeling irritated.


    "No, no. All I mean is... we alls have benefits to pursue. Why don¡¯t we just discuss them openly so that a conflict like this doesn¡¯t appear? Who knows, perhaps you might even find an option which is far more profitable?" Jingming Shang suggested in a nonchnt tone.


    The members of the council heard his words and deliberated over them for a bit before nodding their heads.


    "We¡¯ll do as Jingming Shang suggested." The old man said with a straight expression.

 Chapter 633 - A Hidden Backer

    <h4>Chapter 633 - A Hidden Backer </h4>


    Lin Mu was surprised that the other council members had epted Jingming Shang¡¯s words so quickly.


    ¡¯So the saying merchants will sell their mothers and children if it bring them fortune is true, huh...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Putting these thoughts aside for now, Lin Mu focused on the task at hand and continued to observe the council.


    "Well, then who wants to start first?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    He gazed around at the council and finally settled on the old man who had spoken the first time.


    "Why doesn¡¯t senior Shantung start first? You are the oldest of us all, so this honor should go to you," Jingming Shang said with a thin smile.


    The old man who was named Shantung didn¡¯t mind Jingming Shang pushing him at the front and took it with ease.


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    "So I¡¯ll reveal to you all that we have a backer currently willing to get a seat in the merchant council. While we could add another seat while keeping the Mu n in there, getting the approval from the royal family will be difficult." Shantung said.


    "Is that why you want to remove the Mu n from the council?" One of the middle aged men who wore a single earring on his right ear asked.


    "If it was like that, I would have long since done it. But no... the backer wants something else... they want the seat of the Mu n specifically. In simple words, they do not want the Mu n to exist." Shantung revealed.


    A few of the members of the council had surprised expressions on their faces, but it didn¡¯t seem like they were truly genuine.


    "How many of the council members knew about this already, senior Shantung?" Jingming Shang asked with a straight face.


    He then saw four members out of the nine, raising their hand, among them, Gun Kai was included, and so were two more older men of the council. The ones that were not included in it were Miss Fen, the man with the earring, and the remaining members.


    ¡¯As expected...¡¯ Jingming Shang thought to himself.


    "Let¡¯s say we go ording to the wishes of this backer of yours and boot off the Mu n from the council. What will be the aftereffects of that, have you thought of that?" Jingming Shang questioned. "I mean... won¡¯t the royal family be concerned about this? From what I¡¯ve seen and heard till now, they try to keep tabs on the council." He added.


    Shantung nodded his head and looked at Gun Kai for a second before speaking.


    "This backer of ours... he doesn¡¯t really care for the opinion of the royal family... but of course they did try toe in his way and now... the royal family is in turmoil," Shantung spoke in a serious tone.


    At first, the other council members didn¡¯t pick it up, but a secondter they understood the meaning behind Shantung¡¯s words. Jingming Shang also raised his eyes upon hearing the revtion.


    "I see... so the royal family has invited trouble by interfering with the backer¡¯s ns. But if this backer really is this powerful and influential as to affect even the royal family... why does he want a seat at our merchant council? Frankly speaking... we shouldn¡¯t even be in his eyes." Jingming Shang spoke.


    "That is exactly why I don¡¯t dare question him. If he can cause the royal family troubles like this without even appearing, then what would he be able to do to us... to our ns and our businesses..." Shantung said in a cold tone.


    Hearing his exnation, the other members, who did not know of the backer originally, felt chills going down their spines, except for Jingming Shang. The man instead had a calm expression on his face that could not be fazed by anything.


    The council members went silent for a couple of minutes before Jingming Shang finally broke the silence.


    "Miss Fen... you must have had a reason to act in favor of the Mu n, right? What was it? We know Senior Shantung¡¯s side and now let¡¯s see yours." Jingming Shang questioned.


    Miss Fen, who had a slightly lost look on her face, looked at Jingming Shang and the rest of the council before taking a deep breath.


    "The reason why I acted in favor of the Mu n was because of a rumor..." Miss Fen stated.


    "A rumor? What kind of a rumor?" the council members asked.


    "A few years ago, I heard a rumor about the Mu n. It is said that their n is actually an offshoot of an ancient n of the continent. I don¡¯t know how much you all know about the history of the world... about the five great continents." Miss Fen replied.


    "The five great continents... You mean before the unification of the Great Zhou Empire?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "YES!" Miss Fen responded. "As the history goes, there were once five great continents in this world of ours, the northern, the eastern, the western, the southern and the central continent. Among these five continents, the great Zhou empire is currentlyposed of only three of them.


    Namely, the southern continent, the eastern continent and the central continent. The northern continent is the territory of the Northern tribes while the western continent... it doesn¡¯t exist anymore." Miss Fen revealed.


    "What?! Is this really true? I¡¯ve never heard of this before." The middle aged man with the earring said feeling shocked.


    Jingming Shang didn¡¯t say anything and sat in silence. Nobody knew what was going on in his mind right now. Lin Mu was intrigued by hearing this all as well and wondered what else he would find out.


    ¡¯This is the first time I¡¯m seeing someone else other than Jing Wei speaking about the history of this world. So for no other person I met knows much about the existence of the five continents...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu was even more intrigued due to the fact that the Mu n was rumored to be the offshoot of an ancient n. He wanted to know what kind of a n could they be from that Miss Fen was willing to help them.

 Chapter 634 - An Ancient Clan?

    <h4>Chapter 634 - An Ancient n? </h4>


    After hearing the doubt of the middle aged man with the earring, some of the other council members were interested in it too.


    "I¡¯d like to know more as well." Gun Kai, who was on the side of Shantung asked.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I guess I can exin this to you all... this is not something that is known to the people of the recent few generations..." Shantung said.


    "Why is that so?" Jingming Shang suddenly asked.


    "There are many reasons for it, but the biggest one is that... it has simply been far too long. In fact, even I don¡¯t know when all this exactly happened." Shantung replied.


    "I see... please do exin it to us." Jingming Shang stated.


    "As I said before, I don¡¯t really know when this all happened, but it¡¯s safe to assume that it¡¯s been thousands of years. As of now, I think only a few of the cultivation sects including the top cultivation sects, the different aristocrats of the kingdoms and a few old ns, know about all this.


    Even I myself only know about this because I once traded a few old documents in exchange for a lot of money. Originally, I had thought that these documents maybe some kind of a cultivation technique or a Qi skill that was found from a ruin.


    But it turned out to be something far more shocking." Shantung said, and took a pause.


    "As miss Fen said previously, there used to be five continents in the world. There were many conflicts between them and a great war happened. After that war, the five continents were joined up by some peerless cultivators.


    But then the northern continent, which was the biggest enemy back then and even is now, did something. They destroyed the entire western continent and made it sink into the ocean. The people of that time managed to stop the northern continent from fully merging with the Great Zhou continent, but it came at a great cost.


    It is said that ever since then, the powers of the world fell considerably such that were are not even half aspared to then. The area that we live in right now, the Fenlong Kingdom... it was once part of the Eastern continent." Shantung exined.


    "This... I can¡¯t believe it..." The middle aged man with the earringmented.


    The others were finding it hard to believe it as well and didn¡¯t know what to say. For about five minutes, silence descended in the hall and no one spoke as they tried to internalize this shocking information.


    But Lin Mu on the other hand, furrowed his brows.


    ¡¯So they don¡¯t have a proper record of the history as well... the record that this man Shantung saw only mentions a war but doesn¡¯t mention the invaders? What stupidity...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he shook his head.


    Seeing that one of the most important parts of the history being removed from the records made him feel disappointed.


    ¡¯Perhaps if the people of this world had proper records and knew about what had all happened, they would have been far more alert...¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.


    "About this link of Mu n to an Ancient n... whats the rest of the story behind it?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "Ah yes! As Senior Shantung said, there were five continents in the past. I found out that the ancient n that the Current Mu n is an offshoot of belonged to the now destroyed Western continent." Miss Fen answered.


    "How sure are you of this?" It was Shantung that questioned the woman this time.


    "See it for yourself..." Miss Fen said as she withdrew an old scroll from her spatial storage treasures, which was a hair pin.


    The scroll had a metallic stamp imprinted on one of its edges while golden tassels hung from its corners. Shantung took the ancient scroll carefully and observed it with his spirit sense.


    "This... I¡¯ve never seen paper like this before... it¡¯s woven with formations..." Shantung said as he continued to observe it.


    "Exactly! I¡¯ve never seen those kinds of runes and scriptures before other than in some of the extremely old ruins. But even then they only had a few of those scriptures and charterers, not hundreds like on this scroll." Miss Fen stated.


    ¡¯What is in that scroll?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered and tried to focus on it.


    ¡¯Oh? Dao Script?¡¯ Lin Mu recognized the characters.


    "This looks like the primordial script that some of the formations masters use." Shantung suddenly said.


    "Primordial script? But isn¡¯t that a lostnguage? Even the formation masters only know how to write them but don¡¯t know their meaning." Another old man suddenly said.


    Lin Mu¡¯s ears perked up as he remembered that Old Man Jing Wei had also called Dao Script as the primordial script before. He had also seen some Dao Script characters being used in the formations Jing Wei had made.


    While Lin Mu could not fully read the scroll from this angle, he decided to use his spirit sense to see what it exactly was. Since it had Dao Script written in it, Lin Mu was sure that there would be traces of spirit Qi that would allow him to read without directly interacting with Shantung¡¯s spirit sense.


    "What¡¯s written in it?" Jingming Shang asked the question that everyone else had been wanting to ask.


    "The scroll states that during the ancient war, a lot of ns that survived the copse of the western continent moved to the great Zhou continent. These ns eventually joined other cultivation sects or created their own. While many faded away to the annals of time, a few still managed to survive.


    But when the ns were escaping the western continent, not all of their people evacuated. There were still the main powerhouses of those ns that needed to stay back to fight the war. The few that were sent out were either younger members of the ns or even some of the branches.


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    The Mu n of Fenlong kingdom is from one such Ancient n of the western continent... The Mulong n!" Shantung read.

 Chapter 635 - The Fen Clan And The Fenlong Clan

    <h4>Chapter 635 - The Fen n And The Fenlong n </h4>


    Upon hearing the words written on the scroll, the council members were shocked. They had not thought that some average merchant n in a small kingdom like the Fenlong Kingdom would be rted to some ancient n.


    But while they were having thoughts about the ancient n, Lin Mu was thinking about something else.


    ¡¯Mulong... Fenlong... Mu n... Fen n...¡¯ Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but repeat.


    They seemed to be significantly simr to him and he wondered if there was some rtion to all of them.


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    ¡¯This Miss Fen... is she rted to the Royal Family too?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Jingming Shang furrowed his brows and came to the crux of the matter.


    "Miss Fen... I understand that the Mu n is rted to the ancient Mulong n, but what is your particr interest in it? I mean, there are a lot of smaller ns that were once rted to the ancient ns.


    We can literally find tens of people with the Zhou surname, and they may even be rted to the Imperial family, but just how far is the rtion, that matters too." Jingming Shang questioned.


    Miss Fen looked at Jingming Shang and hesitated a bit before speaking.


    "As you might all know, my Fen n is technically rted to the Royal Family of our Fenlong Kingdom as well. My mother was a lower member of the royal family and married into the branch, which split apart a long time ago.


    This branch chose to keep ¡¯Fen¡¯ as their surname while letting go of the ¡¯Long¡¯ from their name. They thought at that time that keeping an imposing name such as ¡¯Long¡¯ might bring them trouble since they didn¡¯t actually have the true power to back it up.


    Still, deep down, my nsmen still wanted to one day gain back the old surname. We had been striving on it by bing merchants and amassing a fortune. Of course, our nsmen did as much as they could do, by pursuing the path of cultivation as well, yet there weren¡¯t really any people that had a good talent.


    In my n, I¡¯m the only one that could be said to have a decent talent." Miss Fen exined.


    Having heard her words the some of the council members nodded their heads while some of them just got more confused.


    "I still don¡¯t understand how this links up with you speaking for the Mu n," Gun Kai questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I¡¯m not done yet... it¡¯s just painful...


    My elders pursued cultivation but couldn¡¯t achieve much and thus they tried to find other ways to get stronger. The way we sought was bloodline assimtion. Of course, doing so is a difficult task and finding a suitable bloodline for everyone would be close to impossible.


    But even then, we found an alchemist that was an expert at bloodline refinement. He did an analysis for us and told us that no bloodline would bepatible with us because... we still have an innate bloodline hidden within us." Miss Fen revealed.


    <i>~gasp~ </i>


    The council members were far more shocked upon hearing this revtion. They couldn¡¯t believe that the Fen n could have an innate bloodline. But what they were even more shocked about was that Miss Fen chose to reveal sensitive information like this.


    Lin Mu was surprised by this too and felt like the more time he spent here, the deeper the web of mystery got for him. But while some of the members of the council were shocked, two of them were not convinced.


    "Why would you say something like this, Miss Fen? No benefites to you by doing this." Shantung asked.


    "I agree with senior Shantung this time." Jingming Shang added.


    "That is why I said it was painful. The innate bloodline we have is the reason why our cultivation talent is not that good. The alchemist that we met told us that it is our own innate bloodline that suppresses our talent, and unless few fully awaken it we would not be able to reach our potential.


    Of course, my elders were not convinced and tried to find a solution to this problem. One of them managed to get some of the ancestral scrolls from the Fenlong Kingdom¡¯s royal library. In there we discovered that the Fenlong n and thus the Fen n in rtion was said to have peerless experts thousands of years ago.


    But then an evil cultivator came and cursed them to never be able to cultivate. The ancestors managed to resist the curse, but it still managed to suppress the innate bloodline that they had. Over the years, information about the bloodline was lost as well, and now we know nothing about it.


    We still continued our search and eventually found out about the Mulong n. It was even said that the Fenlong Kingdom took their name from being inspired by the Mulong n once upon a time. This was because both were ns that were based around the ocean and practice water attribute cultivation techniques and skills." Miss Fen exined further.


    Jingming Shang and Shantung nodded their heads as they finally understood the woman¡¯s thinking. They understood that even if the information about the innate bloodline was revealed, it was not like they could take advantage of it.


    ¡¯No wonder they seemed to be so different... the founders of the Fenlong Kingdom took inspiration from the Mulong n.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "Wait! So the reason you wanted to support the Mu n is because of their rtion to the Mulong n?" Gun Kai asked.


    "Not just that," Miss Fen Shook her head. "I know for sure that the Mu n has some old records about the Mulong n and my elders hoped that those records may contain something that may help us awaken our bloodline." She answered.


    Lin Mu was a bit confused upon hearing her words, though.


    ¡¯If they really wanted to find a way to awaken their bloodline, why would they pursue the records of the Mu n. This is just hoping to find something. It is not even sure that they would have something like that.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 636 - Temptation

    <h4>Chapter 636 - Temptation </h4>


    Lin Mu thought a bit more about the Fen n¡¯s situation and got more confused.


    ¡¯Rather than searching like this, why don¡¯t they go to actual ancient ns that still exist or even the cultivation sects that are far more likely to have a solution?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    "You¡¯re forgetting something," Xukong suddenly spoke in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "What is it, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Do you think they can afford that? Or whether those ancient ns or the cultivation sects will entertain them?" Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu heard senior Xukong¡¯s word and came to a realization.


    "Of course... how did I miss that..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Often there are solutions to problems that one knows about, but those solutions are unreachable. And sometimes pursuing them can lead to further trouble. Thus, rather than doing that, people prefer to toil in the pursuit of another solution that is hard to find but still could be possible." Xukong stated.


    "I understand, senior..." Lin Mu replied.


    The situation of the Fen n was simr to a poor person that was sick. They knew that they could get cured rather quickly as long as they went to a physician. But doing that cost a lot more money than they could afford.


    Thus, rather than doing that, they would try other solutions like home remedies, alternative medicine, herbs, prayer, exorcism, and other superstitious things like that. All they wanted was relief from their pain. They didn¡¯t care what solution led to that.


    Having learned this, Lin Mu gained a different perspective on life and people.


    "Hmm, so that is why..." Jingming Shang spoke.


    "Still, even if you think of that Miss Fen, it might not be viable. You have no surety that you will be able to find a solution in the Mu n and whether they would even be willing to give it to you.


    After all, despite them being in debt, they have not sold the heirlooms and fortune that they had amassed over the years." Shantung said.


    Miss Fen couldn¡¯t help but nod after hearing this. This was something that she had known already, but after hearing from the lips of others, it just became too real and painful as well.


    "Though... if we do as our backer says, the Mu n might be eliminated and Miss Fen might be able to get ess to the ancient records of the Mu n.


    Also... if my backer is pleased, they might even be willing to search for a solution as they are far more powerful than us." Shantung spoke in a calm tone, as if devil voicing his wares into the ears of a desperate person.


    As soon as Miss Fen heard this, her ears perked up and a new drive appeared in her eyes.


    "Can you assure that I¡¯ll be able to get the records from the Mu n?" Miss Fen asked directly.


    "If Miss Fen supports us, then I assure you that you and only will get the records of the Mu n." Shantung stated his deal.


    Miss Fen thought for about a minute before making up her mind.


    "I ept." She stated.


    And just like that, another person was roped into the fold of Shantung.


    "Will we get the resources from the Mu n as well?" The remaining members that were not yet in the party of Shantung questioned.


    "Of course, all those who take part will get a section of spoils to their names. Either they can get the resources that they want, or an equivalent value in coins." Shantung said with a smile.


    The neutral members looked at each other before nodding their heads.


    "We agree to it as well then," they spoke.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing all this.


    ¡¯In just a few minutes, they doomed a n to extinction...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself, not finding it to be right.


    He looked at Jingming Shang, wanting to know what the man would decide.


    "And what about you Jingming Shang? Everyone else has joined and only you are left." Shantung questioned.


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    "Hmm... I think I¡¯ll pass on this. You all can split the spoil amongst yourself." Jingming Shang stated, causing Shantung and a few of the council members to furrow their brows. "But fear not... I won¡¯t interfere in your n either and will stay a neutral party. After all... this brings me no benefit." He added.


    Hearing his answer, the council members finally felt at ease and nodded their heads.


    "That is fine, then. As long as you don¡¯t interfere, no problems wille your way." Shantung replied.


    "Mmmhmm." Jingming Shang hummed in response and stood up from his seat. "I guess this meeting ising to an end, then. I¡¯ll take my leave, I have ces to be." Jingming Shang said and left the room.


    Shantung and the rest of the members didn¡¯t care about him leaving and talked amongst themselves for a couple of minutes before splitting up as well.


    "I¡¯ll talk with our backer tonight and inform him of our decision. Once that is done, I¡¯ll call another meeting to discuss the details." Shantung said.


    "That is fine."


    "eptable."


    "We shall take our leave as well then."


    The different council members spoke and left the council¡¯s building. Once they were gone, Lin Mu furrowed his brows and rose up to the roof of the building. From there he looked around and spread his spirit sense, searching for someone.


    After searching for a few seconds, Lin Mu found his target.


    "There he is..." Lin Mu said as he Blinked away to a different roof top.


    He moved from roof top to roof top, hidden from the sights of people. He followed his target and waited for him to reach a suitable location that was secluded than the others. It took Lin Mu about two minutes of following, before the target reached a suitable ce.


    It was a street filled with rtively empty shops and few people going about their way. Another difference was that there were no cultivators here, justmoners. Once he was here, Lin Mu blinked next to the man and put his hand around his mouth and another around his chest, before flying away.

 Chapter 637 - Jingming Shang Is Kidnapped

    <h4>Chapter 637 - Jingming Shang Is Kidnapped </h4>


    Jingming Shang had been going about his day after having finished the tiresome merchant council meeting. He had to admit that while he had joined the merchant council for the benefits and prestige; it was now proving to be quite a hassle.


    He had joined the merchant council so that he could get some power and also stay away from the bigger political dramas. But now that very drama had found him and infiltrated the council.


    Of course, Jingming Shang wanted to know the entire situation before he actually rejected anything, but he had a hunch that it was not going to be ording to his wishes. Thankfully, he had managed to stay in a neutral position in the end.


    Right now, he just wanted to go to his residence in the city and rx while having some good wine that he had recently bought from the First Sun Kingdom. It was said to be a special one made from the coconuts that grew on the ind nation and were their specialty.


    Unlike the other members of the council, Jingming Shang didn¡¯t really have any extra security and he simply walked out alone. After all, security would only work if they were stronger than him.


    Jingming Shang was at the mid stage of the Core condensation realm and thus didn¡¯t really need any protection. At least in the city itself. If there was anyone that was going to attack him, they would need to be many times stronger than him.


    Even those at thete or peak stage of the Core condensation realm would be unable to attack him as he was confident in defending against them and even if he could not defeat them, he had the confidence to escape with his trump cards.


    Perhaps only a Nascent Soul realm cultivator might be able to attack and harm him. But if it really came to that, then Jingming Shang was already doomed. He had already learned from the previous lessons a few decades ago and avoided stepping on the toes of people that were stronger than him by arge margin or too influential.


    This had saved him from most problems, but there were still some people he would inadvertently offend. For people like these, he would show a genial demeanor on the front while plotting to get rid of themter.


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    After all, unlike a lot of other merchants and cultivators, Jingming Shang knew a lot of secrets about the world and the people. He even knew a few people that were at a very high cultivation base such that there were only a handful of other such cultivators on the continent.


    Jingming Shang had the trust that they would be able to save him if he was ever truly in a pinch.


    But he had never expected that he would be in danger today. He was kidnapped literally in the middle of a street like a toddler and he couldn¡¯t even do anything. He tried to scream, but the hand that was mped on his mouth was like an iron vice.


    The same could be said for the other hand that was wrapped around his waist. The strength of the person that was holding him was far stronger than him and no matter how much he resisted he couldn¡¯t do move.


    But when he finally looked below him, he finally understood the kind of situation he was in... he was flying!


    This meant that the cultivator that had just kidnapped him was at the very least a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, and a strong one at that. Jingming Shang had a couple of defensive talismans on his body that should have been able to defend against the cultivator for at least a second.


    But they had never even activated or were perhaps stopped before they could ever reach the full activation. This confirmed the fact for him that he was in utter and absolute trouble. He tried to take a look at his attacker but could not due to his head being held in ce.


    They flew for about thirty seconds beforending. Jingming Shang felt the grip on his waist and hands loosen and the hand on his mouth being lifted. As soon as this happens, he threw out a spiked ball at his attacker and retreated.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Jingming Shang then saw the man who had kidnapped him pping away the mid grade spirit weapon as if it was a rubber ball.


    "Wh-what?! How?!" Jingming Shang couldn¡¯t help but say.


    He finally took a proper look at his kidnapped and saw his appearance. The man had a mask on his face and was dressed in rather modest clothes. While they weren¡¯t particrly luxurious, they weren¡¯t bad either and looked to be new.


    Other than this, the man had a gold ring with green patterns on his right hand and nothing else. He didn¡¯t even have any weapons on his body as of now. But Jingming Shang was sure that the ring on his hand was a spatial storage treasure.


    Jingming Shang extended his spirit sense and tried to probe his attacker, but met with resistance. No matter how much his spirit sense tried to proceed, it was blocked by the attacker¡¯s own spirit sense, which was dense like mud.


    "Have you had enough, Jingming Shang?" Lin Mu finally spoke.


    "Who- who are you? And how muchpensation do you want to let me go?" Jingming Shang questioned right away.


    He had already understood that there was no way he would be able to fight against someone at this man¡¯s cultivation base and hoped that this man would be tempted by his riches.


    "Ahahaha," Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help butugh upon seeing Jingming Shang¡¯s response.


    He had kept him restrained because he wanted to get away as soon as possible. But didn¡¯t expect this man to act like this.


    "Did you forget me, Jingming Shang?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Who-who are you?" Jingming Shang asked while trying to remember all the people he had offended till now.

 Chapter 638 - Confusion And Clarification

    <h4>Chapter 638 - Confusion And rification </h4>


    Jingming Shang watched on as the man in front of him lifted his mask and revealed his face. He had not been able to recognize the voice and hoped that the face would be somewhat of a clue.


    "Huh? Who are you?" Jingming Shang questioned, still unable to recognize him.


    Lin Mu raised his brows upon seeing Jingming Shang¡¯s reaction.


    "Hmm... guess this is actually good. At least Gu Yao and the rest would not be able to recognize me easily if Jingming Shang can¡¯t do it." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Who are you and why did you kidnap me?" Jingming Shang asked, seeing that the kidnapper was mumbling to himself.


    ¡¯Who is this guy? If I knew someone with a face as handsome and a demeanor like him, I would have definitely remembered him. Wait it minute... could it perhaps be the elder of someone I offended?¡¯ Jingming Shang wondered, getting even more nervous than before.


    Seeing that Jingming Shang was clearly in the dark about who he was, Lin Mu decided to say it himself. "It¡¯s me, Lin Mu."


    "Lin Mu?" Jingming Shang repeated the name and tried to match it in his memories.


    The only names that came up that he knew about were a few small merchants,moners and a boy wanted by every cultivation sect in the world. He was sure that the man in front of him was none of those.


    "Old Man Jing Wei and Duan Ke... do you remember now?" Lin Mu stated.


    As soon as Jingming Shang heard those two names, his eyes went wide.


    "How do you... wait, you¡¯re that boy! That boy in that shop back then." Jingming Shang finally recognized.


    It was hard for him to match the features of that boy to the man in front of him, but once he considered the years that had passed since then, he understood. But then fear filled him after that.


    "No... not just that boy... you¡¯re THE Lin Mu, aren¡¯t you? The most wanted person in the world." Jingming Shang said.


    "What? I¡¯m the most wanted person? I don¡¯t think I really saw any posters about me recently." Lin Mu said, feeling confused. "Though yes, I am the same person you saw in the shop with Jing Wei and Duan Ke back then."


    Jingming Shang calmed down a bit after hearing that. Originally, he had been confused about the identity of Lin Mu but now that it had been established he truly was the one linked to Jing Wei and Duan Ke, he felt relieved.


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    <i>~phew~</i>


    "So they really didn¡¯t exaggerate back then, you really are quite strong." Jingming Shang said.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling a bit disconnected.


    Jingming Shang sighed to himself before exining all that had happened since Lin Mu fought Gu Yao.


    Apparently, Jingming Shang had learned about Lin Mu from the many warnings the sects had spread around. They had called him a threat to the people and that he had invited an invader into the world with the help of the northern tribes.


    At first, Jingming Shang didn¡¯t believe the boy that he had seen in the shop was the same as those in the wanted posters that were spread everywhere. But after hearing the many ounts of it, he started to believe it to.


    The hardest thing for him to believe was that such a person could be linked to Jing Wei and Duan Ke. While Jingming Shang didn¡¯t exactly know the true identities of the two people, he knew that they were very powerful.


    He knew they were hiding from the sects and now wondered if Lin Mu was involved in this n with them. Thenter on Jingming Shang had found them to have disappearedpletely from the face of the earth.


    This only affirmed his belief that they must have been involved in it. Jingming Shang knew that he could not let others know that he knew them and thus distanced himself from all the other people that knew about it or had an idea.


    Even if the others didn¡¯t know about Jing Wei and Duan Ke, Jingming Shang wasn¡¯t sure if it woulde out in the future. Thus to be on the safe side, he moved away from the Shuang Qian Kingdom and came to the south, eventually settling in the Fenlong Kingdom.


    Jingming Shang reckoned that even if something happened, it would not reach a small kingdom like the Fenlong Kingdom. But it was proven to be wrong just today.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "That Gu Yao... he really dared to vilify me that much, huh..." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Who¡¯s this Gu Yao you¡¯re talking about and where are Jing Wei and Duan Ke?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "Gu Yao is the actual culprit behind all of this. All the things that they said I did, it is Gu Yao who did it in reality. He is the brother of former mayor Wu Xun and an ally of the northern tribes. As for Jing Wei and Duan Ke, they are safe. They are just in seclusion... I think." Lin Mu answered.


    Jingming Shang obviously didn¡¯t believe Lin Mu fully, but after hearing his side of the story and linking it up with the information that he himself had dug out, the inconsistencies started toe up.


    An hourter Jingming Shang was finally convinced.


    "I... I can¡¯t believe all this has been happening. This Gu Yao... he¡¯s far dangerous than any other person I¡¯ve ever heard about." Jingming Shang said.


    "Exactly. He has been nning all this for a long time and is behind the suffering of a lot of people. In fact... back at the Merchant council, I think the secret backer is none other than Gu Yao or someone working beneath him." Jingming Shang replied.


    "Wait! How do you know about the meeting?" Jingming Shang asked in shock.


    "Well... I was spying on it. Originally I came to find you, but ended up listening to what was basically a n to exterminate the Mu n." Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 639 - Recruiting Jingming Shang

    <h4>Chapter 639 - Recruiting Jingming Shang </h4>


    Jingming Shang was still confused about how Lin Mu actually managed to get in despite the barriers. He could have understood if Lin Mu broke or dismantled the formations, but when he left the building, he was sure that all of the barriers were intact and unaffected.


    After thinking for a bit, Jingming Shang decided to let it go and just attributed it to some skill that Lin Mu might have. After all, he had reached the Nascent Soul realm in such a small time. It soul be less shocking that he would have some method like this.


    Lin Mu and Jingming Shang discussed a bit more and Lin Mu exined his end of the things and how Gu Yao¡¯s n was working. The alliances, the conflicts, the emperor¡¯s sickness, everything was an intricate n made by Gu Yao with the assistance of the Northern tribes.


    "Hmm... now that I think about it, there have been a lot of rumors about the northern tribes in the past few years." Jingming Shang suddenly spoke.


    "There are? Surprisingly I haven¡¯t heard them at all till now." Lin Mu spoke.


    "They are mostly rumors that gue themoners. They fear that the Northern tribe has already entered the Great Zhou continent and is secretly nning things to destroy it. The sects and cultivators though, think of it as a joke and don¡¯t think they would ever be able to enter the continent.


    There are even stories of people spotting the spies of northern tribes in various ces. But they were easily dismissed and not taken seriously." Jingming Shang said.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing this.


    "And what did these rumored spies of the northern tribes look like, ording to thesemoners?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm... all the ounts say that they were wearing thick animal furs on their bodies and had paleplexions." Jingming Shang exined.


    Aplex expression appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s face upon hearing this.


    "I¡¯m afraid those are not rumors..." Lin Mu replied.


    "Why? Do you know something more?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "I know for sure that they are from the northern tribes... someone I know, someone I trust, has seen them as well. And this was two years ago." Lin Mu answered.


    Jingming Shang¡¯s face went pale upon hearing it. Unlike the rumors, he would much rather trust Lin Mu about something like this and now that he heard that the northern tribes had truly entered the continent, he was stunned.


    "But how can this be possible? The Pear¡¯s Belt is very difficult to cross and even then there is the Vermillion legion that guards the passes that allows one to cross over the waist." Jingming Shang questioned, feeling a bit lost.


    "If Gu Yao can control the elders and patriarch of the top sects, then controlling somemanders from the Vermillion legion would be far easier. Plus, I think that might have been one of the first things they must have done.


    Once they secure their entry, the rest of the n would be far easier to do." Lin Mu spoke.


    "This Gu Yao... if he can control such strong people, then isn¡¯t everything lost already?" Jingming Shang said, feeling hopeless.


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    "No, there are still things restricting him. After seeing the technique that he uses, I was able to devise certain limitations that he must have. The very first one that I know is that he can only control a limited amount of people at once and if he wants to let them free from his control, he needs to kill them.


    The use of his technique is not instant and needs a lot of preparation. Then there is the fact that it can actually be resisted and people can free themselves from it if they have certain beast bloodlines and cultivation techniques." Lin Mu exined.


    Jingming Shang seemed far better after hearing the words of Lin Mu. He at least felt a bit of hope that something could be done and not all was lost.


    "So what is it that you want from me?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "You know about Gu Yao and the danger he poses to everyone in this world. I want your help in defeating him and freeing the people under his control. I know this is something I can¡¯t do alone and need a lot of allies.


    I know you are someone approved by Old Man Jing Wei and Duan Ke. They are two people I trust the most in this world and if they approve of you; I approve of you as well. Are you willing to join us in resisting and defeating Gu Yao?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I..." Jingming Shang seemed to hesitate and didn¡¯t know what to say.


    "I¡¯m not too strong to do many things. I won¡¯t be able to fight against that many people if ites to it." Jingming Shang voiced his concern.


    "You won¡¯t have to. The purpose of the alliance is not to fight Gu Yao head on, rather we need to fight him on all fronts. We need a variety of people that can do different tasks and I believe you can excel at one of them." Lin Mu replied.


    "And what task is that?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "One of the basic steps in defeating Gu Yao would be to dismantle his support system. He gets these supplies that help him in his cultivation and increasing the number of people he has under his control.


    I know by now that Gu Yao uses various means to transport them to the ce that he resides in and also to the other ces that need these supplies. If we take away these supplies, he won¡¯t be able to do a lot of things.


    I¡¯ve heard from Jing Wei and Duan Ke that you are a talented merchant. And if you are one, you should be able to see where a certain amount of goods could be heading to and changes in the trade patterns. This is all I want from you." Lin Mu exined, "... and one other thing."

 Chapter 640 - Jing Luo In Trouble?

    <h4>Chapter 640 - Jing Luo In Trouble? </h4>


    Having heard Lin Mu, Jingming Shang deliberated over his words for a few minutes before nodding his head.


    "I guess I can do the part you were telling me about, but what¡¯s the other thing you want from me?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "I think it would be better if I talk to you about it along with another ally of ours." Lin Mu replied.


    "Another ally? Who?" Jingming Shang asked feeling curious.


    "Grandson of old man Jing Wei," Lin Mu said with a smile.


    Jingming Shang was surprised to say the least upon hearing that the man had another grandchild.


    "Let¡¯s go meet up with him and then we can talk further about the ns." Lin Mu added.


    "Alright... but where is he?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "Hmm, let me check." Lin Mu said and took out themunication jade slip before contacting Jing Luo.


    After a few seconds, Lin Mu put away the jade slip and had a wry smile on his face before he looked at the city.


    "He¡¯s waiting for us at a certain restaurant at the south of the city." Lin Mu stated.


    "Why do you look like that? Did something happen?" Jingming Shang asked.


    "Yes... a little trouble. We¡¯ll see it once we get there." Lin Mu said.


    Jingming Shang nodded his head and then the two men went to the restaurant where Jing Luo was previously. Since the two of them were already out of the city, they could directly fly around the outer area of the city and speed their way to the southern part.


    Having reached there, Lin Mu and Jingming Shang got down at one of the smaller hills and then walked to the city gate. Upon seeing Jingming Shang the guards simply cupped their hands and let the two men in.


    They didn¡¯t even question who they were, which showed that Jingming Shang was quite a bit influential and famous in the city.


    "Just some perks of being in the merchant council." Jingming Shang chuckled.


    The two of them then went to the street where the restaurant was located and spotted it rather easily. It was the biggest building on that street and seemed to be far more luxurious than the other restaurants Lin Mu had seen.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense and soon spotted Jing Luo inside the restaurant. He was at the top floor of the building and was currently standing over five men and a copsed table. There were empty tesying around in fragments and food tters bent.


    ~Sigh~


    "What did he do..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The two of them climbed to the top floor and saw Jing Luo arguing with a man.


    "You dare make trouble in my restaurant!" The man who seemed to be the owner of the ce shouted.


    "You are the ones who offended me first! How dare you say the spirit stones I have are fake!" Jing Luo shouted back.


    As soon as Lin Mu head this, he instantly understood what must have happened.


    "Is that him?" Jingming Shang asked.


    "Yup. That¡¯s him alright." Lin Mu replied.


    Currently there were barely any spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the body of Jing Luo and it was evident that he was hiding his cultivation base. This was decided by Lin Mu and him beforehand so as to hide their identities and avoid trouble.


    "I¡¯ll take care of this. Best we leave this ce soon..." Jingming Shang whispered to Lin Mu. "What¡¯s going on here?" he then asked out loud.


    Jingming Shang¡¯s voice attracted the attention of everyone in the room and they looked at him. The owner of the restaurant who spotted him felt like he had found apanion and his eyes lit up.


    Jing Luo saw Lin Mu as well and kept his expression intact.


    "Senior Shang! You came at the right time. This person is a fraud that dares to cheat me. He first ate a lot of food, all of them being the most expensive dishes of my ce. Then when it cames time to pay the bill, he didn¡¯t have any coins!


    He did say that he had spirit stones instead and then I got suspicious. You know there have been ounts of stammers using fake spirit stones to cheat people and he is the same. Look at this!" the owner shot out a series of sentences without stopping.


    The owner held out a spirit stone that was the size of a index finger in front of him.


    "Look at the size, it¡¯s not even close to that of a spirit stone. Does he really believe that he can fool us by showing such a big spirit stones? Everyone knows spirit stones are the size of fingernails, despite their grade." The owner said smugly.


    Lin Mu and Jingming Shang couldn¡¯t help but face palm upon hearing this.


    "You hearing this man? Look how ridiculous he sounds. Can¡¯t one just probe a spirit stone and check if its real?" Jing Luo stated.


    "Humph! You think I don¡¯t know the fraudsters tricks? You guys make fake stones and inject a certain amount of spirit Qi into them to make them seem authentic. But then they deteriorate automatically after a while.


    You don¡¯t even know how to cheat people correctly and made a wrong sized spirit stone." The owner used.


    The other customers in the room looked on in interest. To them this was free entertainment that was a lot more interesting than what they got to see at the drama houses. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what to do and shook his head.


    He looked at Jing Luo¡¯s face and the anger that was suppressed beneath it.


    "You better take care of this soon, or this restaurant will be ttened soon." Lin Mu whispered to Jingming Shang. "He is no less powerful than me." He added.


    ~gulp~


    Jingming Shang instantly straighted his back upon hearing this and walked to the owner.


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    ~SLAP~


    "YOU FOOL!" Jingming Shang yelled at the man.


    The owner who didn¡¯t have a good cultivation base being at the mid stage of the Qi refining realm was knocked all the way to the wall.

 Chapter 641 - A Foolish Owner

    <h4>Chapter 641 - A Foolish Owner </h4>


    The customers who had been watching the entire show all this time were shocked by this development. They were sure that it would be Jing Luo being beaten up rather than the owner. In fact, they had not expected the owner to be hurt at all.


    But seeing that a member of the merchant council himself had done this, they could not question it. All they could do now was to wait and see what else happened.


    "The owner is out of his luck," One of the customers said.


    "I didn¡¯t think that this man would be so influential that even council members Shang would give him face." Another customer said.


    "You don¡¯t understand. What if the man was not lying at all?" A customer who was old said.


    "What do you mean?" the previous customers questioned.


    "Don¡¯t you all know that the spirit stones aren¡¯t actually the same size? It is the sects and the mine owners that cut it into that size to make it standardized. An uncut stone that is as big as this is quite rare." The old man spoke.


    "Why would it be rare, grandpa?" a young teenage girl questioned.


    "Simply because they are usually not let out into the market and the ones who can have them are usually the mine owners themselves. This means that either this man is an owner of a spirit stone mine himself, or that he belongs to some powerful sect." The old man spoke in a wizened tone.


    "Whoa! Can he really be from a sect?" The people were now really surprised.


    "I can¡¯t sense his cultivation base! He¡¯s definitely stronger than me." A young man who haha a sword on his back said.


    The other customers of the shop also heard the conversation that happened on these few tables and had a face of realization. To them, the restaurant owner had simply kicked a steel te today.


    The owner, who had been knocked into the wall, managed to sit up while coughing blood. Pain filled his body as he realized he had probably broken several bones and had internal injuries. His mouth also seemed to be far lighter than before to him.


    "My teeth... they are gone..." the owner said in a sorrowful tone.


    When he spoke, one could see the missing teeth in the front and the fragmented teeth in the back. The fragments that had been broken could be seen lying around the ce where he had coughed.


    The white teeth stained with blood and lying in the sttered pools looked rather gross.


    "Why Council member Jingming Shang?" The owner questioned.


    "You just offended a person I know and you are in the wrong as well. This is truly a spirit stone... an uncut one." Jingming Shang stated.


    "I-I... I... ahhhh! <i>~thud~</i>" The owner tried to justify himself but simply fainted after a few tries.


    Perhaps it was the pain of his body that made him faint or it could even be the loss of face that knocked him out, but the owner no longer replied.


    "Come on, let¡¯s go." Lin Mu spoke while shaking his head.


    "Humph!" Jing Luo harrumphed while looking at the unconscious owner, and turned around to follow Lin Mu.


    Jingming Shang gave no more attention to others and hurried behind Lin Mu and Jing Luo. To him, he had done a favor to the restaurant owner by pping him. If the owner truly had managed to piss of Jing Luo, there was a great chance he would lose his life and the business as well.


    At least this way, he had only gotten some injuries and lost face; he still had his life and business.


    "You held back quite a bit there." Lin Mu said to Jing Luo.


    "Why would I attack weaklings without a reason? Though I was quite on edge, if he really didn¡¯t stop I would have shoved that spirit stone down his throat." Jing Luo replied.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Jingming Shang secretly gulped when Jing Luo said this and felt a tinge of fear. And just as he did this, Jing Luo looked at him, making him shudder as well.


    "And who¡¯s this man?" Jing Luo questioned after they all left the restaurant.


    "This is one of the ten council members of the merchant council, Jingming Shang. He will be helping us in our endeavor." Lin Mu replied. "I¡¯ll exin more, but first we need to get to a more private ce." He added.


    "Let¡¯s head to my residence. I have formation arrays set up and no one will dare disturb us there." Jingming Shang said.


    "Alright," Lin Mu agreed, and the three of them headed there.


    A couple of minutester, they reached the residence of Jingming Shang, that was actually located at the beach. This was in a slightly secluded area from the city and was away from the port where the main hustle bustle of the city was.


    This area was silent, and the wide residence that extended into the beach sand looked exquisite and quaint. Jingming Shang led them inside and waved his hand, activating the formation arrays of the residence.


    "Hmm... not bad for a ce like this." Jing Luomented, much to the pride of Jingming Shang. "But even Lin Mu should be able to bypass this in less than a minute." He added, dousing the pride Jingming Shang felt.


    Still, the man could not reallyin about it much and knew thatpared to them, he was rather low. Even though his cultivation base was at the mid stage of the core condensation realm now, it was mostly achieved through the use of resources that he had bought with his fortune.


    Ever since the danger of the invasion and the conflict of the sects started, Jingming Shang had be a bit paranoid and thought about increasing his personal strength. In these past couple of years, he had spent almost ny percent of his profits on himself and to further his cultivation base.


    But despite that, he had only reached the mid stage of the core condensation realm.Property ? 2024 N0(v)elDrama.Org.

 Chapter 642 - Potential Allies

    <h4>Chapter 642 - Potential Allies </h4>


    Jingming Shang couldn¡¯t help but look at Lin Mu, who was so young and had reached a cultivation base that was far superior to him that to in less than five years. To him, this was nothing less than miraculous.


    "It should be safe now, we can talk." Jingming Shang said.


    "So who is this, really?" Jing Luo questioned again.


    "Like I said before, this is one of the council members, Jingming Shang. He¡¯s also one of the people that old Man Jing Wei and Duan Ke trusted." Lin Mu answered.


    Jing Luo raised his brows upon hearing this. He had not expected his grandfather and cousin to trust someone else after all that happened.


    "Are you sure? There were many of our friends and so called allies that betrayed us back then." Jing Luo questioned in an apprehensive tone.


    "I know..." Lin Mu said in a calm tone. "Jingming Shang owes them though and thus will not betray them... they simply have far too many things that can cause trouble to him." Lin Mu added, making a wry smile appear on Jingming Shang¡¯s face.


    "That¡¯s true. Old man Jing Wei and Duan Ke saved my life many years ago and thus I owe them for that. Even when I helped them, it was mostly equal trades of items and gold, so there wasn¡¯t really a way that I was paying for that debt.


    At most I was keeping their location a secret, but that didn¡¯t really count because as a merchant I do that for a lot of my clients when they need the source of a product hidden. But now... since you are here, I can finally fulfill my debt." Jingming Shang exined.


    Jing Luo stayed silent for a minute and gaged the man before finally nodding his head.


    "Alright, if grandfather and Duan Ke trust you and Lin Mu approves of it, I¡¯ll trust you too." Jing Luo stated.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Jingming Shang took a breath of relief and felt like he had avoided a great cmity. This might have been true, as it was unlikely Lin Mu or Jing Luo would let him go after having learned so many things about him.


    "So what is it that we need to do?" Jingming Shang asked.


    "Ah, yes. So like I said, in the fight against Gu Yao, we will need allies. You are one of them, but that is not enough. We will need hundreds if not thousands of people to help us. And for that I want you to infiltrate the council and join the other members in the n." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Huh? Why?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "That secret backer Shantung talked about... that is quite likely to be Gu Yao or someone working for him. If we have you in there, we will get a lot of information and it will save us some valuable time. Plus... it will allow us to save the Mu n." Lin Mu spoke.


    "The Mu n?" Jing Luo questioned.


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    "Let me exin the entire thing..." Lin Mu said before telling Jing Luo about all that had happened earlier and the condition of the Mu n.


    At the end of the exnation, Jing Luo was visibly enraged to say the least.


    "THAT GU YAO!" Jing Luo said through gritted teeth.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    He mmed his fist on the floor in a rage and punched through the solid wood flooring. Jingming Shang could only look on with a wry smile while crying internally for his precious polished wood floor.


    "We definitely need to save the Mu n." Jing Luo stated with determination.


    "Indeed. Not only will we save them, but we will also be getting an extra ally in the process." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Hang on, if the Mu n truly is linked with the ancient Mulong n, they might not be that weak." Jing Luo suddenly said.


    "Why do you say so?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I¡¯ve read some old documents that said that the Mulong n was proficient in small trap puppets. If they truly have a link to the Mulong n, we may get lucky their inheritance may still be there." Jing Luo answered.


    "Really?" Lin Mu said, feeling surprised.


    "Indeed. Though there is no guaranteed. Still... since Gu Yao exterminated the Mu n¡¯s members, I¡¯m sure they hold a grudge against him and will aid us, regardless." Jing Luo stated.


    "Perfect! That will be the best thing if it really is true." Lin Mu replied, feeling a bit pleased.


    "If we really are looking for allies, I have a suggestion." Jingming Shang spoke in a hesitant tone.


    "Oh? Please do tell." Lin Mu asked.


    "Since you were in the meeting hall when they were discussing everything, you must have heard Miss Fen¡¯s condition, right?" Jingming Shang asked.


    "Yup, I did. She¡¯s doing this to find a solution to her bloodline." Lin Mu replied.


    "I think there is a chance that we can recruit her and her family as allies as well." Jingming Shang stated.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo furrowed their brows upon hearing this. To them, Miss Fen had given into temptation and gone against the Mu n and they didn¡¯t know if they wanted someone like that.


    "I¡¯m not too sure of that." Jing Luo voiced out his concern.


    "I know what you two are thinking, but Miss Fen is rtively a better choice out of all the members of the council. I know the others and they are far more corrupt than the Mu n and the Fen n. The Fen n is linked to the royal family of the kingdom as well and thus they keep a better image of themselves." Jingming Shang replied.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo were not convinced by this and kept their silence.


    "If we are able to find a way to take care of Miss Fen¡¯s bloodline problem, we might actually gain a powerful ally. Miss Fen does have a greatwork in ces that I don¡¯t have mine in. Thus she could definitely be useful.


    Don¡¯t forget that while we ten merchants are based in the Fenlong Kingdom, this is mostly due to the stability and remoteness which provides safety. In reality, we work all over the continent and have businesses everywhere.


    The Fenlong Kingdom is merely a means to an end." Jingming Shang stated.

 Chapter 643 - Heading To The Mu Clan

    <h4>Chapter 643 - Heading To The Mu n </h4>


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo considered Jingming Shang¡¯s proposition for a few minutes and eventually nodded.


    "We shall do it then. Though finding a solution would be the hard part." Lin Mu said.


    "Hmm... I¡¯ll try to see what I can do as well. My n did have several methods of doing so, but I don¡¯t know if they would work on them as well or more specifically on their bloodline." Jing Luo stated.


    "That will be fine. As long as we do an effort, Miss Fen and her n will be grateful. She... isn¡¯t a vengeful woman and is only acting with the others because of her n¡¯s circumstances.


    Plus, if we are able to awaken the Fen n¡¯s Bloodline, we may even be able to rope in the Fenlong Royal family since they are rted as well." Jingming Shang added.


    "Alright then, I guess we should start from here." Lin Mu spoke, looking at the city.


    "What will you be doing first?" Jing Luo asked.


    "I¡¯ll go talk to the Mu n and see how their situation is. I¡¯ll monitor them for a bit before actually talking to them, though. As for Jingming Shang, you should go and talk with Shantung and join up in their n.


    Jing Luo can go and monitor the other members of the council and see if he can find any more clues or information." Lin Mu directed.


    "I shall take my leave then. If you want to rest, feel free toe back here to my residence." Jingming Shang said before leaving the residence.


    Once Jingming Shang was gone, Jing Luo looked at Lin Mu with a serious expression on his face.


    "You think these people will be worth it?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "If there is one thing I¡¯ve learned in these past years is that underestimating people can be the biggest mistake one can make. There is a great cultivator who I read about, he said:


    ¡¯The potential of humans is endless and there are a million Dao¡¯s hidden in one¡¯s body. No one knows when one will gain enlightenment and ascend to the heavens.¡¯" Lin Mu said, reciting the words of the Lost immortal that he had read.


    Hearing Lin Mu, Jing Luo was lost in thought. He felt like he had gained something from this and was impressed.


    "This cultivator must have been a peerless expert of his time," Jing Luomented.


    "Indeed, he was..." Lin Mu said with a hint of mncholy in his voice.


    Jing Luo didn¡¯t notice this and simply left to do work on his own.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu lightly shook his head and blinked away, his destination the Mu n.


    The courtyard of the Mu n was ratherrge and was not located in the city itself. Rather, it was located on the south eastern cliff of the area. It was a rtively picturesque area that overlooked the vast ocean on one end and the city on the forest on the other side.


    It was a good location for defending against attackers as well as they would only need to defend on side. Though this also meant that they would have a hard time escaping themselves if they got overwhelmed.


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    Lin Mu floated up in the sky while looking down at the courtyard. His spirit sense sweeping across the area, letting him observe each and every person there.


    "They really do have very few people for a courtyard thisrge..." Lin Mu muttered.


    The courtyard was argemunity courtyard with multiple smaller courtyards located within it. There was enough space to amodate over five hundred peoplefortably, but currently, there were only eighty seven people in the entire courtyard.


    "The Mu n certainly suffered a lot." Lin Mu muttered.


    His spirit sense checked the identity of the people and he soon had a result. Only ten people in the entire courtyard were those of the Mu n. All the remaining people were the servants of the n.


    "This was supposed to be an aristocratic n... and now there are barely any people left." Lin Mu said as he tried to find the current head of the Mu n, Mu Tao.


    After a few seconds of search, Lin Mu found him in a ce that was located beneath the courtyard. It was an underground area that seemed to function as the secret area of the n where they had their vault and stored precious items.


    There were formation arrays to defend against spying here, but to Lin Mu could still sense the presence of the three people inside there.


    "Let¡¯s take a look..." Lin Mu said as he disappeared.


    A few secondster, he appeared on the ground and sank into it, directly heading to the hidden underground area. Once he reached the barrier that blocked him from going further, Lin Mu created an opening using the formation maniption skills that he had improved in the past year in Sleepscape.


    Lin Mu¡¯s skill in modifying already made formations was far better than making them from scratch and thus it didn¡¯t take him even a minute before he was able to enter it without alerting the owners of the formation array.


    "There we go... though it feels a bit wrong entering like this. But if I don¡¯t know the true situation of the Mu n, it will be hard to judge. It¡¯s not like they would reveal their vulnerability so easily..." Lin Mu justified to himself.


    Lin Mu hid in the walls and listened to the conversation going in the hall. There was a young twenty year old man sitting at a wide table with a frustrated expression. At the other side of the hall, a teenage girl was standing while crying and another man that looked to be in his forties was standing in front of the young man with a helpless expression.


    It was evident that they had been having some kind of an argument for a while now. Though Lin Mu¡¯s attention was on the young man at the table.


    "That must be Mu Tao."

 Chapter 644 - Bloodline Trinity Formation

    <h4>Chapter 644 - Bloodline Trinity Formation </h4>


    A few secondster, the three of them started talking.


    "Uncle Niu, no matter what we do, there is no chance we can let the heirlooms of our ancestors be given to outsiders!" Mu Tao stated firmly.


    "Nephew, but we don¡¯t have any chance. Our coffers are dried up and even the servants have started leaving. Only the ones who have been serving the n for a long time and are loyal are here. Our businesses are gone and only a few small ones are left, but even they are likely to be gone soon.


    We need a solution or our n will be forever gone." Mu Niu replied.


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    "Cousin... I... I¡¯m willing... I¡¯m willing to marry the heir of the Fei n... if we do that we will be able to resolve some of our debt, right?" the teenage girl said in between her sobs.


    Hearing the words of the girl, Mu Tao got enraged and mmed his fist on the table.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    "NO! I¡¯ll never let that piece of shit, Fei Teng marry you. I¡¯d rather let the Mu n perishes than be disgraced like this." Mu Tao said in a stern tone.


    Lin Mu narrowed his brows upon hearing this and tried to remember if he knew any Fei n and Fei Teng.


    ¡¯Isn¡¯t one of the council members surnamed Fei?¡¯ Lin Mu recalled that it was one of the old men that had sided with Shantung from the start.


    "B-But counsel¡ª" girl wanted to say more but was interrupted.


    "Enough! This matter is final." Mu Tao dered.


    "I fear soon we may not have the choice. I suspect the other council members have been nning something. There have been unusual activities on their end and what they are nning we do not know.


    We no longer have enough people to look out and spy for us and we are in the blind. If we do not take a concrete decision soon, we might not be able tost long." Mu Niu said after seeing it all.


    "The Mu n still has several trump cards we can use. I¡¯d those greedy and dishonorable bastards try it I won¡¯t hesitate in using them!" Mu Tao replied, rage fuming from his eyes.


    Upon hearing this, the eyes of Mu Niu and the teenage girl went wide.


    "Cousin, you don¡¯t mean..." the teenage girl muttered.


    "That vault cannot be opened carelessly! Thest time we did it your junior uncles had to sacrifice their lives. And now... there is only you of the direct bloodline left that can open it. We can¡¯t afford to lose you." Mu Niu said, feeling uneasy.


    The teenage girl sobbed even more and slumped down onto the floor while the middle aged man tried to persuade Mu Tao further. But the young man was like a hundred year old Oak, firm and unyielding.


    ¡¯What is this vault they are talking about... could it be the inheritance?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered and checked the interior more thoroughly with his spirit sense.


    After two minutes of search, he finally found a small clue to where the vault was. He headed there and ended up another two floors below the one he was on before. The vault was made out of a solid ck stone and many formations could be felt beneath it.


    "What is this... these formations... they are not normal..." Lin Mu muttered as he assessed the vault.


    He ced his hand on the ck stone and found it to be a bit familiar.


    "Wait a minute, isn¡¯t this... Earthen Depths Obsidian?" Lin Mu recognized.


    "Looks like the Mu n truly has a decent inheritance. The formations and the vault are not something a n of their current stature can make. I doubt even the Top sects will find it easy to make something like this.


    Plus, using Earthen Depths Obsidian that can iste spirit Qi is very difficult and needs a formation grandmaster to operate on it. I doubt even the people in higher realms would find this easy.


    Whoever made this vault was certainly not weak." Xukongmented.


    Hearing the high praise from senior Xukong, Lin Mu knew that this was far moreplex than he thought. He tried to see if he could do anything to the formations and found it to be impossible for him as of now.


    "I can¡¯t do this, we¡¯ll need Jing Luo for this." Lin Mu said.


    "Hmm... one of the key formations used for this vault is the bloodline trinity formation. This will be hard even for Jing Luo." Xukong replied.


    "What is the Bloodline Trinity Formation senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "One of the strongest key formations in the world. But its strength is varied depending on the bloodline that is entered into the formation. It is a formation you will encounter in nearly every world that has cultivators in them.


    Resolving it is hard, and the solutions are sparse. You can still ask and see if Jing Luo can open it. If he can then we will be lucky if not, then we may need a more crude method." Xukong answered.


    "I see. But first, we need to talk to them..." Lin Mu said as he looked up.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ¡¯Let¡¯s get to it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself and ascended directly to the hall where the three people were still conversing.


    Mu Tao and Mu Niu suddenly felt a strong spirit sense scan over them and their eyes went wide.


    "WHO¡¯s THERE!" Mu Tao shouted and got into a defensive pose, taking out a spirit sword.


    Mu Niu on the other hand, rushed to the teenage girl and pulled him to his back.


    "Mu Bing, stay behind my back and get ready to run. If they managed toe here, then they are stronger than the enemies that came before." Mu Niu warned.


    He then took out a small triangr pendant from his neck and handed it to Mu Bing.


    "Take this... it will take you far from here." Mu Niu said with a heavy heart.


    "Uncle... you..." But before Mu Bing could say more, she was stunned.


    A Handsome long haired man dressed in ck robes appeared from the ground.

 Chapter 645 - Calming The Mu Clan Trio

    <h4>Chapter 645 - Calming The Mu n Trio </h4>


    Mu Tao, Mu Bing, and Mu Niu had fully expected the one appearing right now to be the same attackers that had killed a majority of their family two years ago. They had been ready to fight to the death, ready to perish with the enemy.


    But the one that appeared was somethingpletely different.


    "Handsome..." Mu Bing muttered to herself.


    But while Mu Bing was appreciating the appearance of Lin Mu, Mu Niu and Mu Tao were terrified of the spirit Qi fluctuations that wereing from his body. Mu Tao couldn¡¯t even estimate what Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation base was at due to him being far weaker than him.


    Mu Tao was only at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm and thus could not sense Lin Mu¡¯s actual cultivation base. All he could feel was that it was overwhelming to him. Mu Niu on the other hand, was at the Early stage of the Core condensation realm and was barely able to tell Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation base.


    Mu Niu was the only person in the entire courtyard that was at the Core Condensation realm. All the others that were not servants were at the Qi refining realm. Still, even among the servants, there were about thirty that were at the Qi refining realm which was a bit surprising.


    "N-Nascent Soul... it¡¯s a Nascent Soul realm expert!" Mu Niu said out loud.


    Mu Tao and Mu Bing¡¯s eyes went wide upon hearing this and they became even more terrified.


    "Quick Mu Bing! Use the talisman! Leave this ce!" Mu Niu ordered.


    Mu Bing reacted almost instantly and activated the talisman, which was made into a pendant. It was still in her hands and thus she didn¡¯t need any time to do so. In the next second, spatial fluctuations appeared around her as the fabric of space started to bend.


    Her body became blurry and half of it disappeared into air. But just as the talisman was about to fully teleport her away, Lin Mu extended his hand.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    It was as if the space around them had solidified and the talisman, which was about to teleport Mu Bing away, stopped. Mu Bing¡¯s body returned and became corporeal again.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    The teleportation talisman in her hand cracked and shattered, shocking Mu Niu and Mu Tao.


    "H-How?... how can this be possible?" Mu Niu said, in fear.


    Seeing all that happened in the few seconds of his appearance, Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what to think of. He could only sigh to himself and attempt to exin.


    "Stop, I¡¯m not here to hurt you all." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing his words, no one believed him.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Seeing that Lin Mu had not acted yet, Mu Niu pulled Mu Bing to the back, and they retreated to the end of the hall. Mu Tao did the same and looked at Lin Mu with a sharp gaze. He was fully prepared to end it here today.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I¡¯m here to help the Mu n. You three don¡¯t need to worry." Lin Mu spoke.


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    "And why would you do that?" Mu Tao questioned in a stern voice.


    "Because we have the same enemy." Lin Mu answered.


    "Why should we believe you? For all we know, you could just be here to trick us!" Mu Niu was the one who shouted this time.


    "You have to believe me, I¡¯m here to help you all. I also bring you some news. The other members of the Merchant council are going to kick the Mu n off the council. They are also nning to exterminate you ording to the wishes of their ¡¯backer¡¯." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing his words, they were surprised. Mu Tao was still in doubt, but Mu Niu was not.


    "It c-can¡¯t be... how did they start to act so fast?" Mu Niu spoke, his voice stuttering.


    Hearing this, Mu Tao remembered what his uncle had said about the council members wishing ill on the Mu n.


    "Seems like you can already guess. This backer of theirs is none other than the ones who had attacked you before." Lin Mu added.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Mu Tao and the rest couldn¡¯t help but slump to the ground, feeling helpless. They didn¡¯t know that things had progressed to this level without them knowing. They had thought that while the merchant council wasn¡¯t necessarily friends, they wouldn¡¯t at least kill each other.


    But that was proved to be wrong by hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words. There was no reason for them to doubt him anymore, as his words aligned with their earlier assumptions. It was just that they were unwilling to believe those assumptions with the hope that it would not happen.


    Seeing their expressions and turmoil in their eyes, Lin Mu knew that they would be deeply traumatized if this was not taken care of quickly. He thus closed his eyes for a second, before starting to chant.


    Esoteric chants came out of his lips as they spread in the hall. These chants entered the ears of the three people sitting here and shook their minds. It was as if a massive fan blew in their minds, blowing away the fog of uncertainty and fear.


    Once the fog was swept away, they felt a unique sense of calmness and peace. The turmoil within the eyes of the trio faded away, and a serene expression appeared on their faces. About thirty secondster, when Lin Mu felt that it was enough, he stopped chanting.


    With the disappearance of the chants, the three people felt a bit ufortable, but this was enough to snap them out of their daze. They could now think clearly and consider all things properly.


    "Who are you?" Mu Tao was the first to stand up and question.


    "An ally... My Name is Lin Mu." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    "Lin... Mu..." Mu Bing repeated under her breath.


    "Are you really here to help us?" Mu Niu finally asked.


    "Indeed. I believe we have the same enemy. An enemy who has taken families and loved ones from both of us," Lin Mu said, a hint of fury shing in his eyes.

 Chapter 646 - Pulling In The Mu Clan

    <h4>Chapter 646 - Pulling In The Mu n </h4>


    Mu Tao and Mu Niu could very well see the anger in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes and knew that it was true. Emotions such as those could not be faked and they would know the best, since they had once felt the same.


    "How will you help us, senior? We have nothing topensate you with." Mu Tao said respectfully.


    Now that it was established that Lin Mu was not here to harm them and only wanted to help them, he wondered at what cost help like that came. Even if Lin Mu had said that they had the same enemies, it did not mean help like thee could be free.


    "Rather than just helping, I would say this would be an alliance. The person targeting you is far more powerful than you think. In fact, the one that previously attacked you was merely just a subordinate of that man.


    Right now, I¡¯ll help you stabilize the Mu n and exterminate the enemies that are close. Once that is done, we will be able to progress further." Lin Mu replied, before exining the entire situation to them.


    Having learned that such machinations were happening in the world, the trio were shocked, to say the least. They were even more surprised when they learned that Lin Mu was ¡¯the Lin Mu¡¯ who all the sects were searching for.


    "So that¡¯s why they targeted us..." Mu Bing muttered.


    "I¡¯m sorry that all this happened to your n. Perhaps if I had chosen some other name at that time, your family may have still been safe." Lin Mu replied.


    Upon hearing his words, Mu Tao and Mu Niu shook their heads.


    "No senior. Regardless of you using our name, they would have still attacked us." Mu Tao said.


    "Why¡¯s that so?" Lin Mu questioned, wanting to know the entire situation.


    "We managed to suppress this matter with great difficulty by doing some misdirection, but the truth behind the attack is that they wanted the secret inheritance of our n." Mu Tao answered.


    "Hmm... that bloodline vault below this hall." Lin Mu replied.


    Mu Niu¡¯s eyes went wide for a moment, but he then understood it.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "So you¡¯ve already seen it... doesn¡¯t matter now. Not like we can make use of that vault, anyway." Mu Niu stated.


    "Tell me about this vault? What is inside it exactly? I know that the Mu n is descended from the Mulong n of the western continent and that they were experts in puppets." Lin Mu said in a calm tone, putting his cards on the table.


    Mu Tao felt even more shocked after hearing that their ancestry was known by Lin Mu already.


    "You know this too? Senior¡¯s scope of knowledge is profound." Mu Tao said in a stunned voice.


    "It didn¡¯t know it myself, a friend of mine told me about it." Lin Mu spoke.


    "As senior said, the Mu n is an offshoot of the Mulong n of the western continent that no longer exists. Even I didn¡¯t know about my ancestors until my father, the former patriarch, died and I was given the ess to the ancient records of our n.


    There, I learned the truth of my n and why we were really attacked. The attacker... Gu Yao or whoever came at that time wanted our inheritance. Thankfully, our ancestors were wise and made it so that the vault could only be opened by the direct members of our bloodline.


    My father¡¯s younger brothers... my uncles sacrificed their lives by opening the vault and unsealed the power of the ancestors to repel the attackers. But even then, it was not enough to kill them all, and we merely managed to push them back.


    Ever since then, they had not attacked us, but we knew that they woulde one day. And now we have confirmation that they are indeed targeting us... it¡¯s just their method that has now changed." Mu Tao exined.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes upon hearing this from Mu Tao.


    "So you¡¯re saying that only the people who have the direct bloodline of the family can open it right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes senior." Mu Tao replied.


    "Then why has the vault closed, and you needed so many people to open it? That too needing them to sacrifice their lives?" Lin Mu questioned.


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    "That... the truth is senior... our bloodline has gotten thinner over the generations and thus the vault does not recognize us easily. Those that are from the branch of uncle Niu aren¡¯t even considered to be from the same family as us by the vault." Mu Tao said.


    "Indeed. If it were possible, I would have already sacrificed myself to open that vault." Mu Niu said.


    "I see... no matter what, we need to open that vault if we are to make you stronger. Your current strength is far from enough to go against them right now." Lin Mu said without sugar coating it.


    "We know, senior... but how will we open the vault? In our records, it was mentioned that even a Dao Treading realm cultivator would be unable to open it and neither would their attacks would do anything to it.


    And if someone forcefully tried to manipte the formations, the vault would just self destruct, destroying all the contents." Mu Tao replied.


    "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll figure it out. But before that, we need to take care of the other council members." Lin Mu said, before telling them about the n they had made.


    Lin Mu also told them about the Fen n and taking them in as potential allies.


    "Miss Fen... she has indeed been genial to the Mu n till now. We¡¯ve had some good deals before and I think she is the only council member that has been cooperative with our n even now." Mu Niu spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and thought that if even the Mu n had this kind of an impression of the Fen n and in turn Miss Fen, she might really be a worthy ally to recruit to their cause.

 Chapter 647 - Mu Clans Flaw

    <h4>Chapter 647 - Mu n''s w </h4>


    Mu Tao rubbed his chin for a bit before speaking.


    "I would be grateful for Miss Fen¡¯s support. If she wants those records that would help her awaken her bloodline, I would dly give her that. But the problem is... all such records are stored in the vault and can¡¯t be essed by us.


    Even I only know about it because my great grandfather was thest person who was able to open the vault without having to sacrifice his life. But even then he only did it twice in his life and it was to take out the cultivation techniques we use today." Mu Tao said.


    "I see... no wait! You said you all use the cultivation techniques from the vault? Then they must belong to the inheritance, right?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes, they should." Mu Tao replied.


    Hearing this Lin Mu furrowed his brows. He didn¡¯t know if he was overthinking it, but the cultivation technique of the Mu n didn¡¯t seem to be that good. Lin Mu had seen many cultivators by now and had even seen the elders of the top sects.


    He had felt their spirit Qi signatures, and they all had a unique rhythm to them. From this, Lin Mu was able to estimate if a cultivation technique was good or not. And from Mu Tao and Mu Niu, he couldn¡¯t really feel much.


    "You are thinking right, either their cultivation techniques are inferior, or they are using it wrong," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and looked at Mu Tao.


    "If you don¡¯t mind, can I take a look at the cultivation technique your n uses?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Sure, if it¡¯s senior then we have no problem." Mu Tao answered right away.


    To them, a cultivation technique being exposed was the least of their troubles. Besides, they didn¡¯t think Lin Mu even needed that when he definitely had a far superior technique than them.


    Mu Tao withdrew a scroll from his spatial storage ring and handed it to Lin Mu. The scroll was made from a special kind of paper and was much heavier than normal paper. Its thickness was also more than normal paper.


    Lin Mu opened it and saw the words written in it with dark ink. The strokes were smooth and flowing, which showed that whoever wrote this was very confident and proficient in this cultivation technique.


    ¡¯The Thousand thread Spirit Breath Technique...¡¯ Lin Mu read the title.


    The cultivation technique was quite different from the conventional ones Lin Mu had seen until now. Lin Mu had a ratherrge store of cultivation techniques in his ring now, since he had raided the vault of the Tri Cauldron peony pill and had also killed the elders of the Ripple Mist sect.


    Lin Mu had taken the spatial storage tools of all those that were killed by him and had been scanned by him. He had read almost all the cultivation technique and Qi skills that were contained in them.


    But despite that, he had not practiced any of them as they were either notpatible with him, or were of no use to him. Even the Qi skills were not something that Lin Mu desired that much since they were not really ording to his fighting style.


    Lin Mu¡¯s style focused more on dodging and avoiding hits before delivering fatal attacks. The Qi skills would be useful if Lin Mu were fighting a normal and prolonged battle, but that didn¡¯t really happen.


    Though Lin Mu had not given up on those skills and thought that when he had a lot of time in the future, he may learn them eventually. But for now, Xukong had advised him to focus on what he already had.


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    The Thousand Thread Spirit Breath Technique allowed one to condense spirit Qi in the form of threads in their body. These threads could then be emitted to control the puppets that the Mu n used.


    Lin Mu instantly understood where the main problemid; the Mu n had no puppets as of now.


    "No wonder... you are missing the most important part of your cultivation technique... the puppets." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed, senior. That has been one of the biggest ws of the Mu n. The knowledge about the creation of puppets was lost a long time ago and the ones that we had were destroyed before my grandfather¡¯s generation." Mu Tao spoke in a sorrowful tone.


    "Looks like our only option is the vault, then. That should definitely contain the information we seek along with the knowledge about the puppets." Lin Mu spoke.


    "If that can happen, it would be wonderful. But the problem is still about how we are going to open the vault." Mu Tao replied.


    "Let me see what I can do about it..." Lin Mu said before withdrawing amunication jade slip and contracting Jing Luo.


    He then informed Jing Luo of all that had happened till now and that he needed his help. And a few secondster, Jing Luo replied to him as well.


    "I¡¯m currently spying on two of the council members and need to observe more. I¡¯ll meet you with you in the evening and then we will see what we can do about the Mu n." Jing Luo messaged.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and felt like at least there was some hope since Jing Luo had not denied right away.


    "We will need to wait till the evening before my friend will be able toe help." Lin Mu informed.


    "That will be fine, senior." Mu Tao replied with a satisfied expression.


    Mu Niu, who had not spoken for a bit suddenly furrowed his brows and took out a formation te from his pocket. He closed his eyes for five seconds before opening them.


    "We have intruders near the n." Mu Niu said.


    Mu Tao had a tense expression on his face while Mu Bing seemed to be a bit fearful. Lin Mu instead let out a wave of spirit Qi, as his spirit sense spread all around the courtyard before extending up to an area of three thousand meters.

 Chapter 648 - Intruders At The Mu Clan

    <h4>Chapter 648 - Intruders At The Mu n </h4>


    Mu Tao and Mu Niu were a bit overwhelmed by the pressure of Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense and wondered just how strong was Lin Mu.


    ¡¯If just the spirit sense is this strong that what will his cultivation be like?¡¯ Mu Tao thought.


    ¡¯Such force... just what kind of foundation is be needed to reach this level?¡¯ Mu Niu wondered.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know that he had awed the trio once again just by this. He was too focused on seeing who was it that hade near the Mu n. In the range of his spirit sense, Lin Mu detected thirteen men that were sneaking their way to the Mu n.


    They werepletely covered up to hide their identities and it was easy to understand that they weren¡¯t here for anything good. Lin Mu also sensed their cultivation base and found them all to be at the Qi refining realm.


    "Thirteen Qi refining realm cultivatorsing towards the n." Lin Mu said.


    "It can¡¯t be the council members, right? They won¡¯t act so soon." Mu Tao asked.


    "We can¡¯t say for sure. Even if they only revealed their n today, Shantung might have been thinking of doing this for longer than that." Mu Niu replied.


    "Regardless of that, we will know once we interrogate them..." Lin Mu said before he disappeared into thin air.


    Mu Tao and Mu Niu were stunned by seeing this.


    "He really can use spatial skills..." Mu Niu who knew a bit more guessed.


    ***


    Lin Mu appeared in the sky above the Mu n and looked at the ces where the intruders were located at. He then blinked towards them and stood at the back of one of them.


    Without giving the man to even know he was there, Lin Mu knocked out the man unconscious. He then did the same for the rest of them and in less than thirty seconds, thirteen men had been incapacitated.


    Lin Mu then tied all of them up with a rope into arge bundle and carried them to the n. The few nsmen and servants were shocked upon seeing a man descending from the sky in the middle of the n.


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    "Who¡¯s that!?" A servant shouted.


    This caught the attention of the others and all of them looked at Lin Mu, who had the bundle of thirteen men in his hand.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Hended in the central courtyard of the Mu n where there was arge open space and put the captured men there.


    "It can¡¯t be... a Nascent Soul realm cultivator..." one of the Mu nsmen said upon seeing Lin Mu being able to fly.


    "Everyone, get back to your works. We will be having a n meetingter in the day. Also... no one is allowed to leave the n till further notice!" Mu Tao, who had just appeared from the main hall of the central courtyard, announced.


    The servants went to their posts upon hearing their patriarch¡¯s words while few remaining nsmen went back to their rooms. They all had been stressed in these few months and had been doing their best to cultivate and thus would spend most of their time in the rooms.


    This was the order Mu Tao had given them and they were following it. They all had seen the condition of the n when they were attacked and thus they no longer wanted to be in the same helpless state.


    "There are the intruders." Lin Mu informed.


    "Let¡¯s see who they are..." Mu Niu said as he pulled off the face coverings of the men.


    Upon seeing their appearance, Mu Tao and Mu Niu furrowed their brows.


    "They are indeed sent from Shantung... I¡¯ve seen a couple of them working as guards for his caravans." Mu Niu stated.


    "Hmm... at least this saves us time and we don¡¯t need to interrogate." Lin Mu said. "Though what do we do with these men?" he asked.


    "For now, we will throw them in the dungeon. Once the problem with the vault is resolved we will think of what to do with them. We will also get to see Shantung¡¯s reaction." Mu Tao replied.


    Lin Mu thought over it and found it to be fine.


    "That would be good. We will also make the man nervous by not showing any reaction." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Exactly, it will make him confides and he will wonder where his men are since he will detect no disturbance in the Mu n." Mu Niu agreed.


    With everyone in agreement, Lin Mu and the rest waited till the evening. Mu Tao and Mu Niu went to make an announcement to the nsmen about what would be happening. While they didn¡¯t tell them everything, they did tell them that the n was being targeted and that Lin Mu was a senior that was going to help them.


    It was safe to say that they were shocked by this and also wondered about who Lin Mu was. But Mu Tao gave them no information other than he is to be respected and not to question his orders.


    While this was happening, Lin Mu was waiting in the underground secret area of the n. He took out the Grey egg of the fire fang snake and injected some beast Qi into it. Lin Mu had been doing this once every day since he got it.


    So far, there had been no changes in the egg and it showed no signs of hatching. Even using spirit sense was not possible as the interior of the egg just looked hazy to Lin Mu. Originally Lin Mu had even wondered if the egg had died, by Xukong had told him that the egg was fine.


    The only difference was that the egg was rather unique and could block the spirit sense¡¯s perception somehow. While they were curious how this was possible, they didn¡¯t prod it too much as they didn¡¯t want to identally damage the egg.


    "Here you go senior," The voice of a girl was heard as a teacup was ced in front of Lin Mu.

 Chapter 649 - Change In The Egg And A Minor Flaw?

    <h4>Chapter 649 - Change In The Egg And A Minor w? </h4>


    Lin Mu looked up and saw that it was the girl Mu Bing serving him tea. Mu Tao and Mu Niu had asked her to apany Lin Mu while they got the n in order, as they found it to be rude to leave Lin Mu alone.


    In a way, it was to keep an eye on Lin Mu and also a way for them to serve Lin Mu for a bit.


    Ever since Mu Bing saw Lin Mu thought she had a constant blush on her face. Lin Mu though, was oblivious to this and just thought that was how her face looked. She had been crying before that and thus her face had been red the entire time, making him unable to see the difference.


    Besides, he was far too busy in his own things to notice other matters such as this.


    "Thank you," Lin Mu said as he took the tea and took a sip.


    "Oh, it¡¯s better than the tea shop in the city." Lin Mu said upon finding its taste to be a bit more pleasant than the watery one in the city.


    "I¡¯m happy that senior likes the tea of our n. This is something we grew ourselves," Mu Bing replied.


    "Oh, you did? That¡¯s nice." Lin Mu said as he finished the tea in the cup.


    Mu Bing poured another cup of tea for him and looked at the Grey egg that was ced on the table. She had noticed it from the start and wondered what it was, but she didn¡¯t want to disturb Lin Mu at that time.


    Lin Mu had been injecting the beast Qi into the egg and thus Mu Bing had felt there to be a strange pressure exuding from Lin Mu that prevented her from interfering back then. But now that it was gone, she felt like Lin Mu was pleasant again.


    "What egg is this, senior? Is it a beast egg?" Mu Bing questioned.


    "Yes, it is a beast egg, but I don¡¯t know what kind of a beast it will hatch." Lin Mu answered.


    "I see... did senior found it in the wild?" Mu Bing asked further.


    "You can say that, I guess..." Lin Mu replied.


    Mu Bing then extended her hand to touch the egg carefully. She watched if Lin Mu was in disagreement but did not see any response from him.


    "Whoa! It¡¯s so warm," Mu Bing spoke.


    "It is?" Lin Mu said as he ced his hand on it as well.


    "Hmm... it seems to be the same to me," Lin Mu muttered.


    "Now it became cold all of a sudden!" Mu Bing


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and tried to feel it but found it to be the same.


    "Are you sure of what you are saying?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I swear senior!" Mu Bing said hurriedly.


    ¡¯This is strange... why can only she feel the changes? It doesn¡¯t seem like she¡¯s lying either.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu was then reminded that he had not felt any change in the egg since he had gotten it and was worried about it. But now that someone was telling him that there was a change, he could not sense it.


    "Wait, a minute... can it be?" Lin Mu suddenly had an idea.


    He closed his eyes, and a wave of spirit Qi came from his body.


    "Eek!" Mu Bing got startled and took a step back.


    She was merely at thete stage of the Qi refining realm and even a little fluctuation of spirit Qi from Lin Mu¡¯s body was strong for her. If he exerted a bit too much force, there was a chance she might be directly knocked away.


    But then Mu Bing saw something change in Lin Mu.


    "Huh? What¡¯s that brownyer?" Mu Bing said upon seeing the armor made of Mortal Strengthening scripture appearing on his body.


    A few secondster, theyer disappeared and Lin Mu opened his eyes.


    "Let¡¯s try now..." Lin Mu muttered and ced his hand on the egg.


    His eyes went wide as he finally felt the warmth of the egg. Lin Mu kept his hand there and ten secondster the egg felt cold instead. The change in temperature was rather drastic and was not something an egg should have usually.


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    ¡¯So it really was Mortal Strengthening scripture that was preventing me from feeling the temperature difference.¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    "While it does make sense, it shouldn¡¯t have happened before. When you had it at a lower stage, did you ever have difficulty sensing temperature before?" Xukong suddenly questioned.


    "Hmm... I don¡¯t think so, senior. Before I was able to sense everything normally." Lin Mu answered.


    "Seems like you need better control over it, then. The mortal strengthening scripture is probably working at its full potential at all times. This also has the side effect of suppressing certain senses like touch and temperature." Xukong analyzed.


    "At least we were able to find out about it now, rather than sometimeter when a major problem could have popped up. Plus, we now know that the egg is at least showing some changes." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu then looked at Mu Bing and smiled.


    "Thank you for telling me about this. I was mistaken earlier and couldn¡¯t feel it because of something I was unaware of." Lin Mu stated.


    "Ah!" Mu Bing got a bit startled. "It¡¯s nothing senior. I didn¡¯t do anything praiseworthy, I just said what was true." She added.


    <i>~chuckle~</i>


    Lin Mu chuckled upon seeing her reaction and felt like he should do something. He flipped his hand and took out a small bottle filled with pills.


    "Here you go," Lin Mu handed the bottle to Mu Bing.


    "My, my, you¡¯re already taking the persona of a senior and gifting resources to junior." Xukongughed upon seeing this.


    While Lin Mu felt embarrassed internally, he didn¡¯t show it on his face, as that would only make him far more embarrassed. Mu Bing on the other hand, was overwhelmed upon seeing the pills.

 Chapter 650 - Three Clans To Eliminate

    <h4>Chapter 650 - Three n''s To Eliminate </h4>


    Mu Bing could tell that these were Mid grade Basic Qi pills. She had only used these a couple of times before when her n was still surviving with all its members. Back then, the n still had plenty of resources to give to the members.


    But now they had to be frugal with their resources and sold off all those that could be liquidated to pay off their debts.


    "Senior, you... thank you!" Mu Bing said, her eyes red.


    Lin Mu was a bit taken aback and had not expected such a strong reaction from the girl.


    "It¡¯s okay, you don¡¯t need to be so..." Lin Mu replied, trailing off after not knowing what to say to the girl.


    Mu Bing didn¡¯t question it either and simply nodded her head, wiping away the tears that were appearing at the corners of her eyes.


    "I¡¯m really grateful for this senior." Mu Bing said as she put the pills away into her pocket.


    It was evident that she did not have a spatial storage treasure of her own. If she did, Lin Mu would have been able to sense them on her, due to the spatial fluctuations they let off. He had be quite sensitive to them now.


    Lin Mu wondered how the condition of the n would change if they had the right resources and their cultivation technique was full. If that was done, he reckoned they would not be any inferior to the top sects perhaps.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The door of the hall opened, and in walked Mu Tao with another man in tow.


    "Ah, you¡¯re here finally Jing Luo." Lin Mu said upon noticing the wild man.


    Jing Luo still had long hair that was tied in multiple parts with ribbons, each of which was a spirit tool. The man was always decked in spirit tools and weapons, and this was his way of fighting as well.


    Jing Luo had informed Lin Mu when he would being and thus Lin Mu had told Mu Tao about Jing Luo¡¯s appearance. It was safe to say Mu Tao was rather shocked upon seeing the wild man.


    Jing Luo was far bigger in size than most other people he had seen being over two meters tall and having shoulders as wide as that of a horse.


    "Did you find anything interesting?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Nothing out of the ordinary, just regr corruption, murder, and abuse." Jing Luo replied.


    "Ah... which ones?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The one named Fei, Hui and Shu." Jing Luo answered.


    Mu Tao raised his brows upon hearing the surnames.


    "Aren¡¯t these the surnames of the other members of the council?" Mu Tao asked.


    "They are." Jing Luo nodded his head. "I was spying on them and found a lot of dirty secrets."


    "More targets for us to erase?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Definitely. They will go to the side that pays them the most and brings them benefits. While we may be able to tempt them, there will be no guarantee that they will stay loyal." Jing Luo replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu shook his head.


    "A single rotten apple will spoil the rest and a single termite will shake the foundation of the house. We better get rid of them, before they cause us problems." Lin Mu said in a serious tone.


    "Just tell me and I¡¯ll get to it. Their formation arrays aren¡¯t really that strong and I can break through them whenever needed. Plus, the strongest person they have is only at the core condensation realm.


    This will be a joke." Jing Luo replied in a casual tone.


    Mu Tao was shocked by seeing how easily Lin Mu and Jing Luo were deciding the fate of multiple merchant ns. He had seen the spirit tools on Jing Luo¡¯s body and could tell that they were not normal, even if the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from his body were too weak.


    Mu Tao was sure that despite the low spirit Qi fluctuationsing from Jing Luo, he was probably no less powerful than Lin Mu. He even wondered if the enemies that attacked his n discussed it casually too before they attacked him.


    Except at that time they didn¡¯t send any Nascent Soul realm cultivators, only core condensation realm cultivators and several peak stage Qi refining realm cultivators. But despite that, over ny percent of his n ended up dying to them.


    "Well, since we are in agreement, should we go get rid of them?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Not so fast. First, I want you to take a look at the vault below and tell me your opinion." Lin Mu replied.


    "Ah, of course. I want to see what it could be like as well..." Jing Luo said.


    Lin Mu gestured to the man, and he followed him to the bottom part where the vault was located. Mu Tao apanied them as well and observed them without disturbing them. Jing Luo furrowed his brows as his spirit sense analyzed the formation.


    "A Bloodline Trinity formation huh... this is gonna be a tough one to resolve." Jing Luo stated.


    "Tough? Senior, you have a solution to it?" Mu Tao said out in surprise.


    Even if Jing Luo said there was a solution, it was a difficult thing. Mu Tao knew there was at least a solution unlike before when there was no chance. Even if Mu Tao used himself as a sacrifice, it would still not be enough to open the door.


    As for the other members of his n, they were no longer rted to the n¡¯s original bloodline close enough for the vault to recognize them, and thus they had no chance of bing sacrifices either.


    "I do have a solution... actually I have three of them." Jing Luo answered, catching Lin Mu¡¯s interest.


    "And what are they?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling a bit excited.


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    "The first is getting the actual bloodline to unlock this, but it is not possible as of now. The second would be for me to unravel the formations one by one, till I get to the core. This is the most difficult situation and may take a very long time." Jing Luo replied.


    "And what¡¯s the third?"

 Chapter 651 - Breaking The Bloodline Trinity Formation

    <h4>Chapter 651 - Breaking The Bloodline Trinity Formation </h4>


    Having more than one method was already much better than they would have ever expected, but they were not really proving to be good enough for them.


    "The third method can be the easiest and also the most difficult one. Its effectiveness depends on the working of the Bloodline Trinity formation¡¯s innate structure. The way it works is that itpares two bloodlines when activated.


    The first one is the original bloodline which was inserted in it as a base, while the second will be the person who is trying to open it. The formation then judges how close or how far or close a bloodline is to the other and will open if it finds it sufficiently.


    Now, what we can do is to use a person that has a bloodline far stronger than the original bloodline used to make the formation. Theoretically, the formation should find the first bloodline inferior and deactivate itself." Jing Luo exined.


    Lin Mu and the rest heard his exnation and were lost in thought. All of the options seemed hard to use at first, but the second one was the most possible to them as of now.


    "Can¡¯t I just use meld and break apart the vault?" Lin Mu asked Xukong.


    "If your skill was high enough, you would have been able to do it easily. But the Bloodline trinity formation is not so easy. It is interwoven between the self destruction formation, such that even if a single inch of it gets unstable, the entire thing will blow up.


    If you wanted to use meld to open it, you would need to specifically iste theyer of the Bloodline trinity formation. But you yourself know how your control of Meld is. You can only control blocks of an area rather than fluidly picking it apart." Xukong answered.


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    "I see... that will make it quite hard." Lin Mu replied.


    "Though the third method to override it using bloodline could work," Xukong spoke.


    "It could? You mean with my Great Slumber Bear bloodline?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, it is a bloodline of an immortal beast and should be far stronger than any other from this world." Xukong answered.


    "Alright, we¡¯ll try if it works." Lin Mu replied and looked at Jing Luo.


    "We¡¯ll use the third method." Lin Mu stated.


    "Mmm," Jing Luo nodded his head, knowing that Lin Mu had a strong bloodline that he didn¡¯t fully know about.


    "I don¡¯t know what exactly seniors will be doing, so I¡¯ll leave it all to you." Mu Tao said, finding it all to be a bit tooplex.


    "Do you need to do anything else to get it ready?" Lin Mu asked Jing Luo.


    "No, with the third method it¡¯s just letting the formations activating on their own. I may need to stabilize a few of them during the process though, as it can get problematic. You just need to go and drip some blood on the door of the vault." Jing Luo instructed.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and walked up to the door. He took out a dagger and pricked his thumb with a little difficulty. It was hard for him to even harm himself, as his defense was quite high at this point. He first needed to deactivate mortal strengthening scripture and then forcefully cut his silk using a high grade spirit weapon.


    With the cut, some blood appeared on his skin. Lin Mu quickly put it on the door and waited.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The formations started to light up, and runes appeared all around the vault. Mu Tao and Mu Niu gulped their saliva, feeling nervous. Each opening of the vault was associated with trouble for them at this point and thus they mostly had bad memories about it.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and let the formation work, while Jing Luo monitored it for any abnormalities.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    A humming sound was heard as the firstyer of the formation unlocked, much to the surprising of the Mu n members. But then came the interruption.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    As if a metal te had been hit, a screeching sound spread in the hall. More runes appeared from the formation array and formed into the shape of an old man. The old man had no facial features except a long beard.


    The runes that made his body were glowing read and flickered from time to time. Upon his appearance, the opening of the formation array stopped.


    "That¡¯s the original bloodline used to make the Formation array," Jing Luo informed.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and became a bit tense. In the next moment, his body stirred and an imposing presence exuded from his body.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    The roar of a beast echoed in the hall, the source of iting from Lin Mu¡¯s body. Then, the illusory figure of arge bear appeared over Lin Mu¡¯s body and started to erge. This figure belonged to none other than the Great Slumber Beast!


    The illusory beast looked at the illusory man with anger in its eyes. To it, the old man was an enemy that was blocking it from getting what it wanted.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    The Great Slumber Bear roared and raised its paw up into the sky. The long ws shined as if they were made of the highest quality steel and mmed into the old man.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    A visible explosion appeared as the old man was blown into smithereens. Mu Tao and Mu Niu were left gawking as they saw what was supposed to be their ancestral bloodline being destroyed, as if it was a paper toy.


    <i>~ROAR~ </i>


    Having destroyed the old man, the Great Slumber bear felt pleased and raised its head before letting out a roar. While its roar could not get out of the underground area, the pressure exuded from it was felt by everyone in the city.


    Their bodies involuntarily shuddered and some of them felt weak. Thankfully, this state onlysted a couple of seconds before fading away. If it hadsted any longer, people would have definitely started to faint.

 Chapter 652 - Revival Of The Mu Clan

    <h4>Chapter 652 - Revival Of The Mu n </h4>


    <i>~WEENG~</i>


    The runes of the formation array faded away as the door of the vault finally opened up. The illusory figure of the Great Slumber Bear also disappeared back into Lin Mu¡¯s body, leaving behind no trace.


    ¡¯What kind of a bloodline does senior have?¡¯ Mu Tao wondered.


    ¡¯This power... it is not normal...¡¯ Mu Niu thought.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath upon seeing the door of the vault was finally open. Jing Luo felt relieved as well and checked the formations onest time to ensure that it was stable and it would not explode upon their entry.


    "It¡¯s safe now, we can enter." Jing Luo spoke.


    Lin Mu and the other nodded and carefully stepped ahead.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The interior of the vault was illumined by a small formation that created a string of lights at the top of the vault. This let them all see the items that were contained within the vault.


    "Heavens!" Mu Tao couldn¡¯t help but exim.


    The vault was actually not that being, being smaller than those of the Tri Cauldron peony sect. But that was understandable, as that was a vault for an entire sect, while this was for a n.


    In the vault, the resources that could be used for cultivation such as the alchemical pills, spirit stones and spirit herbs were present in plenty. Mu Tao was overwhelmed by just them as they would be enough to solve all of their debt even if just one percent of this was sold off.


    In addition to that, there were also the most important parts of the vault, the records of the n, and the cultivation techniques. While Mu Tao was looking at this, Lin Mu was looking for the puppets that the Mulong n was said to have used.


    "THIS IS IT!" Mu Niu suddenly shouted, a long scroll in his hand.


    "What did you find, uncle Niu?" Mu Tao questioned.


    "It... it¡¯s the manufacturing technique for the puppets!" Mu Niu said out loud. "We are saved! We are saved!


    Lin Mu quickly scanned over the scroll with his spirit sense and found aplicated methodology written on the scroll. There were hundreds upon hundreds of steps written on it, describing the process of the creations of a puppet.


    Lin Mu had learned a little about puppets from the memories of the Lost immortal before and knew how they worked. Now that hepared those puppets describe in the memoirs, and he realized these were far moreplex.


    But in addition to that, they were also quite small in size. A majority of them were no bigger than the size of a hand and the smallest ones were only the size of a grape. One could imagine the detail that went into making a puppet this small.


    In fact, one could even consider that making a puppet this small would be far more difficult than makings a giant puppet. Lin Mu had read the cultivation technique of the Mu n and knew that the Thousand Thread Breath Technique allowed them to turn their spirit Qi into threads which would then allow them to control these puppets.


    In this way, even a Qi refining realm cultivator could operate a puppet for at least a hundred meter range. One would argue if this was the same as that of spirit sense, but it was not.


    While their structure might be the same, their functionality was far different. In the case of the puppets, the threads were more like wires that supplied power to them; and in the case of spirit sense, each tendril of it was like a sensory organ that performed multiple functions.


    That was the reason why refining spirit Qi was so hard as the the range increased.


    "This all is rather impressive. With this, the Mu n should be able to grow quite well." Jing Luomented.


    "If everything goes well, yes." Lin Mu agreed.


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    Mu Tao and Mu Niu turned to Lin Mu and Jing Luo before cupping their hands in a salute and bowing their heads.


    "I, Mu Tao, the patriarch of the Mu n, thank seniors for their help. You are the saviors of our n, and we shall be eternally grateful. From here on, the Mu n will do its best in assisting the seniors in whatever it is that needs to be done." Mu Tao said with reddened eyes.


    For these past two years, he had been under a great amount of stress. He feared that the Mu n will being to an end under his rule and he would be the sinner of his n, which let the n perish.


    He had matured a lot over the two years, but even then, there were certain insecurities that he could not resolve. But then Lin Mu came and brought Jing Luo along with him, solving the biggest problem of the Mu n.


    Now that they had ess to the vault, Mu tao was sure that they could take care of all their other problems such as the debt, and the council members on their own.


    "It is our pleasure that we now have an additional ally to fight against the tyranny of Gu Yao and the Northern Tribes." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm... our work here is not done yet though. We still have the council members to take care of." Jing Luomented.


    "Of course, now that this part is done we can go ahead with the rest of the n." Lin Mu said before looking at Mu Tao. "I want you to focus on your n for now and make sure that all of them are able to take advantage of the vault and its resources.


    Your main aim should be to stabilize your n first and then increase the cultivation base of everyone in the n. Don¡¯t exclude the servants either and nurture them too, they will provide valuable support to the Mu n now that it has shrunk by so much." Lin Mu advised.


    "I shall do as you say, senior." Mu Tao humbly responded.

 Chapter 653 - Generosity And Debt

    <h4>Chapter 653 - Generosity And Debt </h4>


    Lin Mu looked at Mu Tao and his cultivation base andpared them to the thousands of enemies they would have. Even some of the servants of the cultivation sects might be stronger than them right now. And Gu Yao had way more of them under his control than just one.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    After secretly sighing to himself, Lin Mu shook his head.


    ¡¯Even if they are willing to help us, at the speed they will grow, they might not be enough...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


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    He closed his eyes and thought for a bit beforeing to a decision.


    "Mu Tao, does your n have a cultivation area?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "A cultivation area?" Mu Tao asked, feeling a bit confused.


    "A ce where the more talented nsmen can cultivate in a higher concentration of spirit Qi," Lin Mu replied.


    "No senior... something like that we cannot dream to have." Mu Tao said, in a slightly sorrowful tone.


    "Hmm... alright." Lin Mu said before turning to Jing Luo. "Can you set up a Qi gathering formation array for them?"


    <i>~thud~</i>


    After saying that, Lin Mu waved his hand and arge object fell to the ground with a thud.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    In the next moment, the spirit Qi of the area increased by over ten times.


    "This..." Mu Tao muttered in shock.


    "Heavens... is this what I think it is..." Mu Niu stammered.


    Seeing thatrge spirit stone that Lin Mu had just taken out, Jing Luo understood what he wanted for the Mu n.


    "Setting up a spirit Qi gathering array might be better in the long term. As they are right now, I doubt the Mu n will be able to resist the more tougher enemies of ours. Best we get them stronger as fast as possible." Jing Luo agreed.


    Hearing the conversation between the two, Mu Tao and Mu Niu were both shocked. They were talking about setting up spirit Qi gathering formation array as if they were thinking of making some new furniture.


    "How about we split duties, I¡¯ll go take care of the ns and you set up the formations here?" Lin Mu suggested.


    "Sure, It¡¯ll take me a day or two. I¡¯ll also add some defensive formation array to the n. The current one is just... inadequate." Jing Luo said mildly.


    Mu Tao felt overwhelmed by all this and felt his eyes redden.


    "How will we ever repay this debt seniors?" Mu Tao said with difficulty..


    Lin Mu looked at the man who was nearly the same age as him and ced his hand on his shoulder.


    "As long as we are allies, there is no need to repay. The best we can do is defeat Gu Yao and his backer, the Northern Tribes." Lin Mu replied.


    Mu Tao nodded his head and rubbed his eyes quickly, before a determined expression appeared on his face. If before he was willing to help because of the atrocities of Gu Yao, now Mu Tao was willing to help just because of the generosity Lin Mu had shown him and his n.


    He didn¡¯t speak anything and knew that words would not be enough to express his gratitude.


    ¡¯I need to do my best... no, the entire n needs to do its best! Even if we are just ten people now, we all will be equal to a thousand individually!¡¯ Mu Tao affirmed his heart.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    In that moment, a spirit Qi fluctuation came from Mu Tao¡¯s body and made him tremble. Lin Mu and Jing Luo sensed it and raised their brows.


    "That¡¯s some good news for the start." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    "My bottleneck... it¡¯s gone?" Mu Tao said as he looked at his hands.


    "Let¡¯s get you settled properly for the breakthrough. Core Condensation realm isn¡¯t that far for you now." Jing Luo said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and looked up at the ceiling, or rather at n.


    "Let the breakthrough happen in full view of the n. It should do some good for their morale," Lin Mu advised, before disappearing into thin air.


    Once Lin Mu was gone, Mu Tao was left staring at his position.


    "Come on, we got a breakthrough to do." Jing Luo stated.


    ***


    In the sky above the Mu n, Lin Mu let his spirit sense spread across the city. He quickly found the three ns that they had targeted and approached the one that was the closest to his position.


    The n in question was the Shu n and was located right in the middle of the city. From the sky, Lin Mu could see the antlers that illuminated the Shu n below. He could also see their insignia that was imprinted on the walls of the npound.


    "Let¡¯s get started..." Lin Mu said before disappearing and appearing in one of the rooms of the Shu n.


    In this room, an old man was having a good time drinking wine and listening to a few women ying music on various instruments. Lin Mu had appeared right behind the old man and thus he had not seen him, but the musicians did notice Lin Mu there.


    At first, they were stunned and lost a few notes, which led to the old man¡¯s displeasure. He had been enjoying the music, and it was going so smoothly, but now there was an awkward pause. The musicians were about to say sometime but then they heard Lin Mu mutter something.


    In the next moment, their eyes zed over and they fell into a daze. The chants didn¡¯t just stop here though, even while being very low in volume, they spread across the entire Shu n, sending them into a daze.


    The severing heart sutra showed its might after a long time and allowed Lin Mu to sever lives easily.


    The first to die was the old man in front of Lin Mu. He was none other than one of the council members that Lin Mu had seen and also the patriarch of the Shu n. Lin Mu¡¯s hand wrapped around the man¡¯s neck before snapping it in a second.


    <i>~Crack~</i>

 Chapter 654 - Two Clans Down

    <h4>Chapter 654 - Two n''s Down </h4>


    A crisp cracking sound was heard as the core condensation realm patriarch died instantly. Lin Mu let the body fall to the side as he moved on to the musicians. But before extending his hand, he took out themunication jade slip and checked something.


    "Hmm... not in the list." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Jing Luo had checked all three ns and had made a list of the people that were absolutely needed to be eliminated. The three ns didn¡¯t all have people that needed to die. There were several innocent people living among them as well.


    Besides, they didn¡¯t need the entire n to die, rather they just needed to take out the key members of the n so that they would be weakened permanently. Kind of simr to that of the Mu n¡¯s situation.


    Lin Mu left the room and appeared in the corridor.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    His hand spread to the two directions and sped the necks of the guards before snapping them as well. Step by step, he moved through the n and eliminated the members of the n.


    In less than ten minutes, half of the Shu n was dead.


    "Now let¡¯s see where they keep their valuables..." Lin Mu muttered as his spirit sense searched for a vault or safe in detail.


    In a few seconds, Lin Mu spotted a suspicious area that was located under one of the bedrooms of the n. This was evidently the bedroom of the patriarch and was an obvious choice to keep stuff in.


    <i>~shatter~</i>


    Lin Mu directly uprooted the tiles that were fixed to the ground and revealed the small underground room that was filled with all the valuables of the Shu n. Lin Mu knew that this was merely a small part of the Shu n¡¯s fortune, as most of their money was in the form of property and fixed assets.


    But he wouldn¡¯t leave this part of their fortune behind as it would still help the remnants of the Shu n, which they didn¡¯t want. Even if they were innocent, it was obvious that they would want to revive their n and help fulfill their dead member¡¯s wishes.


    That would turn out to be a problem for Lin Mu and his n, and thus it could not be possible to just leave it for them. Storing all of them away forter, Lin Mu took his leave.


    "They should still be under the effects of the Severing heart sutra for an hour... should give me enough time to take care of the other ns." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    If the effect of the severing heart sutra wore out quickly, the Shu n might have raised an rm and that was not something that Lin Mu wanted. If that happened, the city would be in a sensitive state and it would end up making things tough for Lin Mu.


    The remaining Shu n¡¯s men were lucky that Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation base was higher and the severing heart sutra could work longer, or he might have ended up needing to kill the entire n to silence them.


    With one n down, Lin Mu flew to the next one. This one was the Hui n and was located to the north of the city. There were a lot of pleasure pavilions, taverns, and simr establishments located near it as well.


    "So this is the Hui n... they are apparently involved in the pleasure business and trade in specialized women for that... though it doesn¡¯t matter to them if they are willing or not..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    It was now that Lin Mu was suddenly reminded of someone.


    "Wasn¡¯t Yue sent by the Hui n to the Alluring Wisteria Pavilion as well?" Lin Mu suddenly recognized.


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    For a moment, he remembered the woman who was bubbly on her own and had tried to serve him so hard, only to get rejected. But then Lin Mu realized that if she was in the Wu Lim city when the Red Tide happened, then she was probably dead by now.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I can only avenge you in this way for now perhaps..." Lin Mu muttered to himself, not knowing why he was even caring about someone who was only there in his life for a few hours.


    In the next moment, his eyes turned cold as the chants of the severing heart sutra came out of his lips, spreading across the entire Hui n.


    This time, Lin Mu had a lot of people that were needed to be killed. The Hui n in total had fewer members than all of the other members of the merchant council, except for the Mu n.


    In total, Lin Mu could only sense fifty members in thepound, but the number of servants they had was massive. They had over four hundred servants in the entire ce, which put the ratio at roughly one member to eight servants.


    Plus, there wasn¡¯t just one type of servant in there. There were pleasure servants and other such kinds mixed in there as well.


    Some worked there voluntarily, but most were here as they were forced. Even if very was ouwed in the Fenlong Kingdom, bondedbor was not.


    <i>~shua~ </i>


    A gust of wind spread as Lin Mu flew through the n, killing the members with a single flick of his hand. If he wanted to, he could have simply sent a spirit weapon to ughter them all, but this was a bit more mild method that they had tactically chosen.


    Not only did Lin Mu and Jing Luo want to reduce the power of the merchant council members that were not in their favor, but they also wanted to strike fear into the hearts of others. That way, even if they had thoughts about betraying them, they would not dare act on it.


    Plus, in the short term, they would not know that this was done by Lin Mu and Jing Luo and what was most likely to happen was that the fault will fall on the party that had done something simr to this before.

 Chapter 655 - Introspection

    <h4>Chapter 655 - Introspection </h4>


    Once the Hui n was eliminated, only the Fei n was left. This was the same n that had sent a marriage offer to the Mu n and had asked for Mu Bing to marry their son, in exchange for getting a part of their business and paying off the debts of the n.


    The Fei n was also a merchant n, but they didn¡¯t particrly focus on one business. Rather, they preferred to have partnerships in other businesses and own them partially while letting the other party run.


    In other words, they liked to take profits but didn¡¯t like to work.


    Most of the businesses that ended up in a partnership with the Fei n did not do it intentionally, rather they were forced to do so. The terms of it were unfair and the Fei n would only provide enough amount to make the business function at the start and then keep on taking the profits.


    It was still fine if they were taking a minority of the profit, but they often went for partnerships where they took over sixty percent of the profit.


    Of course, most businesses were aware of the Fei n¡¯s predatory practices and avoided them like the gue, but the Fei n knew how to pick their targets. Most of the people that ended up with them were those that were unfortunate and had no other choice.


    Lin Mu was rather surprised that Jing Luo had been able to gather so much information about these three ns in less than a day.


    "He¡¯s rather good at this, isn¡¯t he?" Lin Mu said.


    "Well, we do know that he and his family were involved in what was basically a rebellion against the empire. If they had survived till now, it is obvious that they had some skills and had learned them very well." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm... I didn¡¯t think of it like that. But it does make sense now." Lin Mu agreed.


    Lin Mu looked at the Fei n below and scanned the area. The Fei n was located at the border of the city, which was a rather strange location for a n as big as this. They had around four hundred members and nearly the same number of servants.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Let¡¯s get this over with..." Lin Mu muttered as he quickly got the location theft targets that he was supposed to get rid of.


    In the Fei n, Lin Mu to kill all members except for the children and also around half of the servants as they were often involved in the business as well. The more Lin Mu killed, the more he found it to be easier.


    Especially since these were people that had no chance of resisting or fighting back against him. He was basically trampling on ants with the cultivation base that he had right now.


    Plus, the severing heart sutra made it so that the Fei n members had no chance of responding at all. Lin Mu did not notice this, but his eyes only got colder and colder by the time he was done getting rid of the Fei n members.


    Within the Mysterious ring, the ethereal altar flickered slightly at this moment, but calmed down before it could be noticed by Xukong or Lin Mu.


    By the end of the massacre, there was not even a single drop of blood spilled and yet hundreds of lives were taken. Lin Mu ransacked the vaults of the Fei n as well and cleared them out before retreating to the residence of the Mu n.


    It had merely taken him an hour to finish killing all three ns, which now that he thought of was a terrifyingly less amount of time to kill such arge number of people.


    "The power is immense... but also puts pressure on oneself..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he entered the main hall of the Mu n.


    "Wee senior Lin Mu!" Mu Niu along with a few other n members was sitting in the hall.


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    It was evident that Mu Niu had already informed the other n members of Lin Mu and why he was here.


    "How¡¯s Mu Tao?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Patriarch Mu Tao is at the spirit Qi gathering formation that senior Jing Luo made earlier. He will be breaking through as soon as senior Jing Luo is done with the final parts of the formation." Mu Niu answered.


    "I see... I¡¯ll wait till then." Lin Mu said before taking up a seat in the hall as well.


    He closed his eyes for the time being and silently chanted the calming heart sutra, feeling a bit strange.


    ¡¯Killing all of them was so easy and yet... why doesn¡¯t it feel that bad to me?¡¯ Lin Mu questioned himself.


    Lin Mu wondered if he had gotten too used to killing people and realized that he truly had. He no longer felt averse to the act nor the idea of doing so, as he knew that his life would hang in bnce because of that.


    Lin Mu spent about an hour in introspection before he was woken up by a spirit Qi fluctuation that came from outside.


    "It¡¯s time," Lin Mu said as he stood up.


    Mu Niu and the rest stood up as well and walked out to the area where the new spirit Qi gathering formation was made. Jing Luo had set up the basic part of the formation and it would function for now, but if he wanted it tost a long time, he would need to work on it mores.


    But for Mu Tao¡¯s breakthrough, it was the perfect addition.


    "Seems like your part went well?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Mmmhmm, it went smoothly." Lin Mu answered.


    "There hasn¡¯t been anymotion though?" Mu Tao questioned, a few spirit Qi fluctuationsing from his body.


    Lin Mu nodded his head before speaking. "they should being to their senses soon enough. It has been long enough..." Lin Mu said and looked in the direction of the city.


    And just as he did, a faint cacophony of cries echoed from afar.

 Chapter 656 - Mu Taos Breakthrough

    <h4>Chapter 656 - Mu Tao''s Breakthrough </h4>


    At first, only Lin Mu heard the cries, but then Jing Luo heard them as well.


    "Oh? Just as I asked..." Jing Luo said as he turned his head towards the city.


    "What¡¯s that seniors?" Mu Niu and others could now hear the sounding from the city as well.


    The sound of cries was mixed and distorted by the time it reached the Mu n and thus they were unable to tell what exactly they meant.


    "That should be the Fei, Hui and Shu ning to their senses..." Lin Mu replied, before looking at Mu Tao. "We should start the process, no use wasting time." He added.


    "Of course, senior." Mu Tao said before sitting down in the middle of the formation circle.


    Jing Luo had only made the initial circle the formation for now so that Mu Tao could take advantage of it. The rest of it could be addedter on, once Mu Tao was done with his breakthrough to the Core Condensation realm.


    The entire Mu n had gathered around by now to witness Mu Tao¡¯s breakthrough and was quite excited and anxious at the same time.


    After the tragedy two years ago, they had only been fed with one bad news after the other and thus their morale was down in the gutter. But now they finally had a little ray of hope that may perhaps lift their spirits.


    Lin Mu was also watching on in interest as he wanted to see how a breakthrough to the Core Condensation realm actually happened. This was because Lin Mu had actually not seen anyone breakthrough to the Core condensible realm before.


    Even during his own breakthrough, he was asleep and it was brought about due to the bloodline ability of the Great Slumber Bear, the Well of Slumber. Thus, he wanted to see how it would all happen and increase his scope of knowledge.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Mu Tao closed his eyes and let the spirit Qi stir within his body. The bottleneck that had restricted him till now was loosed and now more spirit Qi could finally be condensed within his Dantian. The spirit Qi concentrated around him due to the spirit Qi gathering formation made it easy for him to gather and refine.


    In less than ten minutes, Mu Tao had refined the necessary liquid spirit Qi needed to reach the absolute peak of the Qi refining realm. Lin Mu was watching the man with his spirit sense to see his progress as well.


    It was here that he saw the unique effect of the Thousand Thread Spirit breath technique that the Mu n used. The spirit Qi within their body did not exist in the form of spirit Qi wisps, but rather in the form of strings.


    The same spherical wisps were morphed into the form of a string and flowed through their meridians and umted in the Dantian. Within Mu Tao¡¯s body, the strings had reached the absolute peak, and they started to join up.


    The process started with a random string that floated within the Dantian but it soon, spread to the others. Soon the entire spirit Qi sea within the Dantian started to spin as string after string joined up until a very long string was formed.


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    But this was just the starting as this long string started to spin in the Dantian until it turned into what looked like a ball of yarn. Looking at this, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but raise his eyes as it was different from normal core condensation realm breakthrough.


    What normally happened was that a continuous spinning vortex formed that kept on sprinting till all the spirit Qi was involved in it. This process was called the consolidation of spirit Qi and could be considered to be the halfway point to aplete breakthrough.


    The Ball of yarn in Mu Tao¡¯s Dantian kept on spinning and started topress. More pressure was applied by the external spirit Qi, that was trying to rush into his body and Dantian as well.


    With each passing minute, thepression kept on increasing and soon reached a limit.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    The Ball of yarn was suddenlypressed into the size of a marble. This kept on shrinking the more it spun, and about thirty minutester, it had reached the size of a tiny pea.


    The color of the Core was a pale white, the same as that of the others, but there were multiple striations on the entire core. If one looked at it closely, they would find that the core looked like a crystal piece that had been carved to look like a tiny ball of yarn.


    And with this, the breakthrough of Mu Tao sessfullypeted.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The spirit Qi infusion started from this point and more and more spirit Qi flowed into his body from the air. His Dantian, that had be empty of spirit Qi upon being converted into a core, was filled back again.


    At first, there were only spirit Qi wisps that floated around, but as they circted between his meridians and Dantian, they elongated to be strings back again. These strings further kept on beingpressed until liquefying into liquid spirit Qi.


    "That was faster than expected," Mu Niu spoke.


    "With the formation array, of course, it was going to be fast. The stabilization of his core shouldn¡¯t take long either." Jing Luomented.


    All the other members of the n were closely observing Mu Tao and taking notes in their minds. They knew they had to break through to the core condensation realm soon as well and picked a lot of tips from Mu Tao¡¯s breakthrough.


    Lin Mu also nodded his head upon seeing all this and felt satisfied by it all. This was a rather smooth breakthrough, and he had gotten to learn some new things as well. But just as he was done with this, Lin Mu felt themunication jade slip vibrate.


    He took it out of the ring and held it to see what was the message.


    "The city is going crazy. Three ns have been ughtered!" Jingming Shang¡¯s nervous voice was heard.

 Chapter 657 - Panic At The City

    <h4>Chapter 657 - Panic At The City </h4>


    Upon hearing Jingming Shang¡¯s message, Lin Mu suddenly realized something.


    "Um... we forgot to inform Jingming Shang..." Lin Mu spoke.


    "About what?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "The three ns," Lin Mu answered.


    Jing Luo finally felt it click in his mind and couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.


    "And what¡¯s he saying now?" Jing Luo asked, trying to hold back hisughter.


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    "He sounds quite nervous." Lin Mu replied.


    "You should go meet up, I¡¯ll finish up the work here." Jing Luo stated.


    "Alright. Though watch out for surprises, we don¡¯t know how the other members will respond and Gu Yao too." Lin Mu said before disappearing.


    It was a shock to the other members of the Mu n to see Lin Mu disappear like this. Unlike Mu Tao and Mu Niu they did not know the reason behind it and thus were quite confused.


    s for them they would not be getting an exnation anytime soon and thus they would have to specte on their own.


    Lin Mu reappeared in the sky above the Jiao Long city and observed the current situation of the city. There were people screaming and crying in a lot of ces, with guards running around trying to control it all.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense spread around to see the scene of the three ns that he had killed and saw most of the people left there were terrified and crying. Some of the stronger members of the ns that were spared were angry and were wondering how it all happened.


    It was now that Lin Mu heard something that made him smile.


    "It must be the same people that killed the Mu n! Only they can do something like this and get away!" Someone in the Shu n said.


    It didn¡¯t take long for his words to spread amongst the survivors and from there to the guards of the city. Lin Mu calmly stood in the air while listening to the entire city¡¯s voices. Themoners though were the ones that were the least bothered.


    "Haha! It was bound to happen on day!" A middle-aged port worker said.


    "This is divine retribution I say! What killers like Mu n? Do you think anyone can kill all three ns at the same time without leaving any traces?


    This is the judgment of the heavens!" An one eyed old man said out loud.


    "Careful you two!" A man shouted.


    "Watch your tongues! If the guards hear you, you two will be arrested and killed without much thought." A woman near them spoke.


    "Ahah! Do you think I care about that? Those three ns were the worst among the council and have been causing problems for a long time.


    They sank my business, sold Ah Lau¡¯s daughter and killed my grandsons too! They deserved it all!" The old man spoke out loud fearlessly.


    Lin Mu had already heard about the atrocities of the three ns from Jing Luo but hearing it first hand was far more impressionable. He furrowed his brows and let his spirit sense move towards the other ns.


    ¡¯Where are the council members now?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered unable to find them.


    "Perhaps Jingming Shang will know better." Lin Mu muttered to himself before going towards his residence.


    In less than a minute, Lin Mu was at Jingming Shang¡¯s beach side residence. He could already tell that the man was sitting inside while nervously flipping through registers and muttering to himself.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    "EEK! Don¡¯t kill me!" Jingming Shang yelped as he suddenly felt someone behind him.


    "Calm down, it¡¯s me." Lin Mu spoke.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Senior! You scared the life out of me!" Jingming Shangined.


    "Ah, sorry." Lin Mu causally replied and sat down.


    "Is the Mu n with us now?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "Yes, they are allied with us now and we will be helping them solve some problems." Lin Mu replied.


    "I see... But we have a bigger problem at hand, it seems like Gu Yao has acted again. The Hui, Shu and Fei ns have had a majority of their members killed!" Jingming Shang said while trembling.


    "About that..." Lin Mu was about to speak but was interrupted.


    "I think Gu Yao has gotten impatient and killed the three ns because they did not join his cause with Shantung and has now sent a message!" Jingming Shang spected.


    "No wait, that¡¯s not..." Lin Mu was interrupted again.


    "I think we need to act quickly, if Gu Yao has already acted then he may being for me soon too!" Jingming Shang continued spewing his words.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu shook his head and chanted the severing heart sutra.


    "We shoul¡ª" Before Jingming Shang could continue, he was sent into a daze and made to forcibly stop.


    Seeing that he had shut up, Lin Mu stopped chanting the severing heart sutra and looked at Jingming Shang.


    "Now then, let me tell you what happened. It¡¯s not Gu Yao who killed the three ns, it was me." Lin Mu revealed


    Jingming Shang who had finally heard it all was surprised, to say the least, but the effect of the severing heart sutra did not let him disy that on his face nor act on it. Lin Mu was at least thankful for that.


    "You did senior? Why?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "Is that even a question? Have you seen what themoners are talking about them? And do you know what they have been doing till now?" Lin Mu counter questioned.


    Jingming Shang went silent for a bit before nodding his head.


    "I understand... but killing all three without leaving any signs... that¡¯s terrifying." Jingming Shang muttered.


    He finally understood what kind of a person he was dealing with.


    ¡¯Thankfully I¡¯m on his side... or I would not even know how I died...¡¯ Jingming Shang thought to himself.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Jingming Shang took a deep breath to calm himself down and looked at Lin Mu.


    "So what are we to do now?" he asked.


    "Well, you will be taking over the businesses of the three ns now that they are out ofmission. I hope you can do that at least?" Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 658 - The Panic Continues

    <h4>Chapter 658 - The Panic Continues </h4>


    Hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words, Jingming Shang¡¯s eyes lit up.


    "Of course, senior! You can leave it to me!" Jingming Shang said while thumping his chest.


    ¡¯He really changed quickly upon hearing business, huh?¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "With the higher ups of the three ns gone, the remaining members of the n would be unable to do much. The Hui n is pretty much entirely gone, so they will be the easiest to take over." Jingming Shang spoke.


    "About the Hui n... it would be better to dismantle their businesses and free the boundborers." Lin Mu spoke in a straight tone.


    Jingming Shang immediately settled down and nodded his head.


    "I¡¯ll free them and liquidate their assets. The public opinion about this is bad anyway and will bring misfortune to the business." Jingming Shang replied quickly.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and spoke, "you can do what you want with the rest. Oh, and also use some of the assets gained from these ns to clear out the debt of Mu n."


    "That¡¯s actually not a problem, senior as there is barely any debt left for the Mu n, with the demise of the three ns.


    About seventy percent of their debt was from the three ns, while the rest thirty percent is split among other lenders spread around the empire. We can just forget about the seventy percent debt and pay the remaining thirty." Jingming Shang replied.


    "Oh? Is that so... well, it just makes it easier for us then." Lin Mu nodded his head.


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    Lin Mu had not expected to get another pleasant surprise out of killing the three ns.


    "What happened with joining the council in their task? Did you get that part sorted?" Lin Mu questioned, remembering the task Jingming Shang was given.


    "Ah, yes. That went without a hitch. I just told Shantung that I did a little thinking and decided that this may be profitable in the long term. He epted it right away and didn¡¯t really doubt me." Jingming Shang answered.


    "Good... and what about Miss Fen?" Lin Mu questioned further.


    "Hmm... Miss Fen has left the city for the time being and has gone to her n. The Fen n is located about a hundred kilometers to the south west." Jingming Shang answered.


    "Hmm, so there is a chance that she maye back after hearing what happened in the city?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I doubt it. If anything, there is a greater chance she may instead get her n to seal up, till things settle down in the city. She will probably have the same conclusion that what happened to the Mu n was repeating and that Gu Yao is making an example of the three ns." Jingming Shang spected.


    Lin Mu thought to himself for a bit before speaking.


    "Keep tabs on her and inform me if anything happens. We may need to visit the Fen n ourselvester... but that wille after we get the records that they need, sorted out." Lin Mu stated.


    "Okay, senior. But does this mean you were able to get the Mu n¡¯s inheritance?" Jingming Shang questioned feline curious.


    "Yes, we did. All that¡¯s left is to sort through it and find the right record. Once that is done, we¡¯ll go meet the Fen n." Lin Mu replied.


    "And what do you want me to act like right now? Is there anything specific you want?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "Umm... just act as you were before I came here. We don¡¯t want the other merchant council members to think that you have any idea about what truly happened. Let them think that it was Gu Yao that did it and sow doubts." Lin Mu answered.


    "I¡¯ll do as you say, senior. But I¡¯m sure Shantung will be suspicious about this all and investigate all that happened till now. With his resources, there is a chance he might be able to find some clues." Jingming Shang spoke.


    "He actually did something today... sent a few people to attack the Mu n." Lin Mu replied.


    "Huh? He did already? Didn¡¯t think he would be this impatient." Jingming Shang replied.


    "Hmm... we now know that he¡¯s probably being pressured by Gu Yao, or whoever is assigned to him right now. Gu Yao himself won¡¯t be the one giving orders and it should be someone below him." Lin Mu stated.


    Jingming Shang nodded his head before speaking, "I¡¯ll get started then. Since the city is still in a panic, it¡¯s the right time to fish in the muddied waters."


    "Do what you feel is the best. Inform me if somethinges up. I¡¯ll be at the Mu n in the meantime, Jing Luo is there as well." Lin Mu informed before disappearing.


    Once Lin Mu was gone, Jingming Shang smiled to himself andughed to himself.


    "Never expected, I¡¯ll get to see the fall of the merchant council like this." Jingming Shang said whileughing.


    ***


    Lin Mu did another scan of the city while observing to see what was happening. The guards were still running around trying to control the situation, while themoners had mixed reactions.


    Most of them were now hiding within their houses even if they were happy about the situations as the guards would arrest them for ¡¯spreading rumors¡¯. It was night time anyway and thus most of the workers were getting off work now.


    Only a few that worked on the night boats were still out at the port. The night boats would go out for the fish that came out only at night. Plus, there were some trade ships that woulde to the port at night and stay there to unload their goods.


    But it was obvious tonight they were not going to get much work done.


    Having observed enough, Lin Mu went to the building of the merchant council and found it to be empty as well. No servants could be seen there, either.


    "Hmm... seems like this is enough to keep them in fear for a while. Our work starts now..."

 Chapter 659 - Breakdown Of The Council

    <h4>Chapter 659 - Breakdown Of The Council </h4>


    It had been about a week since the three ns, Hui, Shu and Fei had been exterminated from the Jiao Long city.


    Tensions were rising and falling every day and mostmoners were certainly more happy than before, even if their daily life had be a bit more difficult due to the strict checks by the guards.


    Because the murders of the three ns had gonepletely unnoticed, a significant part of it was med on the guards as well, and thus they were under pressure to perform. Hence, they ended up targeting themoners and were convinced that themoners knew something but were not revealing it.


    Plus, it didn¡¯t help that themoners were in the favor of the three ns being exterminated either. The remaining ns of the merchant council had gone into hiding, with only Shantung and Jingming Shang staying in the opening.


    After the massacre, just as Lin Mu had guessed, the me had fallen upon none other than Gu Yao who was the supposed backer of Shantung. The other members, including Jingming Shang, were worried and asked Shantung to ask their backer if they had done this.


    Shantung had assured them that he would get to the bottom of it and that it would not be his backer that did this. On the surface, he appeared to be confident, but when Lin Mu and Jing Luo spied on him, they realize he was no less nervous than the others.


    The thing that troubled Shantung the most was the fact that his supposed backer had broken off all contact with him. He was not responding to his messages, no matter what channels they used.


    Plus, since they were mostly in the shadows since the start, Shantung could not openly ask for them either. Thus to preserve his face and authority, he made the other members believe that the backer was still there and that he was just waiting for their response.


    As two, three, and four days passed, Shantung got more and more unsure about his backer¡¯s intentions and now that an entire week had passed even he started doubting if it really was his backer who had done all this.


    It also didn¡¯t help that the assassins he had sent to the Mu n never reached there. He had even sent some scouts to keep an eye on the Mu n, but the only news he got was that the Mu n had sealed themselves up like the other ns as well.


    Plus, the day his assassins had disappeared and the massacre of the three ns had happened was on the same day. It left him no proper timeline to estimate who could be behind it.


    With Lin Mu and Jing Luo¡¯s nning, it had made it so that now no one in the merchant council trusted each other. They doubted if it was any one of them that killed the three ns, but then they also knew the fact that none of the three ns had power like this.


    After all, even a Nascent Soul realm cultivator would end up causing quite a bit ofmotion before being able to kill so many people. Plus, when the survivors of the three ns were questioned about how did they not see anything, they all said the same thing ¡ª it happened in an instant.


    With the effects of the severing heart sutra, the survivors saw everything normally one second, and in the next second; they were surrounded by dead bodies of their nsmen. It was like a terrifying nightmare that just wouldn¡¯t end for them.


    "Here are the documents for the remaining businesses," Jingming Shang said, prompting Lin Mu to open his eyes.


    He had been sitting in the Mu n and contemting the events of the past week.


    Lin Mu took the documents and quickly read through them before handing them to Mu Tao who was sitting next to him. The young man took the documents with trembling hands and read through them before his eyes reddened.


    "Thank you senior Lin Mu, brother Jingming Shang." Mu Tao said with gratitude.


    "No need for that. This is just my end of the bargain. We still have a few more steps to go. How are the other nsmen doing?" Lin Mu replied.


    Mu Tao quickly rubbed his eyes and calmed himself.


    "With the businesses added from the Shu and Fei n, we won¡¯t really have a problem in supplies and our range of informants has greatly expanded. Also, with the resources senior Lin Mu provided along with the formation array made by Senior Jing Luo, the nsmen are progressing in their cultivation steadily.


    Three of them have already broken through to the Core condensation realm too and two more are at the peak of the Qi refining realm as of now. Uncle Mu Niu is also busy cultivating at this moment and has managed to break through to the Late stage of the core condensation realm." Mu Tao answered.


    "Mmm... I see." Lin Mu muttered.


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    Gaining four Core condensation realm experts in a week was an astounding figure that even the top sects may not have always. In the Mu n, half of the total people which was five, were at the core condensation realm now, leaving five more to catch up.


    "With the formation array, it shouldn¡¯t be that difficult for everyone to enter the core condensation realm at the very least. But only after you get a Nascent Soul realm cultivator would the foundation of the n stabilize." Lin Mu advised.


    "I¡¯ll keep that in mind, senior." Mu Tao replied hurriedly.


    Lin Mu then turned to Jingming Shang before speaking.


    "What¡¯s the status on the Fen n, have you been able to establish contact?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Fen n is still under lockdown and is not responding to any messages. Or rather, they simply can¡¯t get through. I felt suspicious and went to check there myself, only to find out that they have activated an isting barrier that also hides their n itself.


    I didn¡¯t expect them to have something as high level as that." Jingming Shang answered.

 Chapter 660 - Heading To The Fen Clan

    <h4>Chapter 660 - Heading To The Fen n </h4>


    Lin Mu raised his brows upon hearing the information that Jingming Shang had just shared. He knew exactly the kind of formation that Jinxing Shang was talking about and wondered if it really was that one.


    "Senior, could it be the same as the bewildering formation we saw that dead Nascent Soul cultivator set up?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm, we won¡¯t know until we go and check it out ourselves. But if it really is that one, or even something on the same level, then we will have confirmation that the Fen n truly has some ancient links." Xukong answered.


    "I see... I guess it¡¯s time to go meet with the Fen n myself." Lin Mu replied before focusing back on the real world.


    "Get the records we found for the Fen n... we will be going to meet them ourselves." Lin Mu ordered.


    "At once, senior!" Mu Tao said before leaving for the vault.


    "Do we need to do anything else before that?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "We have most things sorted out and ready. We can leave as soon as Mu Taoes." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright." Jingming Shang nodded his head.


    Lin Mu also took out the jade slip and informed Jing Luo of what he was going to do.


    "You can go on ahead, I¡¯ll continue my work here. If you need help with the formation, I can get there quickly, anyway; it¡¯s not that far." Jing Luo replied.


    "Okay," Lin Mu said before putting the jade slip away.


    The Fen n was about a hundred kilometers away from the Jiao Long city. While this distance would take around half a day formoners to reach, for Qi refining realm cultivators, it would take a mere hour.


    As for Lin Mu and other Nascent Soul realm cultivators, a mere five minutes would be enough to get there.


    "Here¡¯s the records, senior Lin Mu." Mu Tao finally returned with what was a pack of long scrolls.


    There were fifteen scrolls that were tied together into one pack, and each of them was a meter long while being three inches thick. One could tell from this that the records were rather vast.


    "Hopefully, the Fen n can make use of this and join us in the alliance." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu exited the room with Mu Tao and Jingming Shang before looking in the direction of the Fen n.


    "It¡¯s in the west from here, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes senior." Mu Tao replied.


    "Alright, let¡¯s fly there then." Lin Mu said before taking out two spirit swords from his ring.


    The spirit swords came to float in front of Jingming Shang and Mu Tao.


    "Senior, what¡¯s this?" Mu Tao questioned and Jingming Shang looked on in confusion as well.


    "Climb on them. It¡¯ll be faster if I fly there and take you two along on the spirit swords." Lin Mu exined.


    Even if the two men were in the core condensation realm, Lin Mu¡¯s cultivation was way above them and he would be much faster than them.


    Mu Tao and Jingming Shang nodded their heads and jumped onto the spirit swords.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu shot up into the sky along with the other two straight up before going in the western direction. Jing Luo had upgraded the formation arrays around the n and thus, no one could see the three of them fly up from the n.


    This was also the reason why the scouts sent by Shantung were unable to see anything, despite the hustle-bustle of the Mu n. Even the Servants of the Mu n had greatly befitted from the increased spirit Qi and now nearly all of them were in the Qi refining realm with only the younger children left in the body tempering realm.


    It was evident that with a little more time, the servants would reach the core condensation realm as well. Plus, all this had only increased the loyalty of the servants to the Mu n and they were willing to devote even more to the n.


    But this was just the start of the Mu n. Lin Mu had instructed Mu Tao to pull in more people along with the new businesses that they had obtained. The other members of the Merchant councils had no idea that it was actually the Mu n that owned the three massacred n¡¯s businesses now.


    They only knew that Jingming Shang had taken advantage of the massacre and taken over the businesses. While they were displeased due to this, they couldn¡¯t reallyin, since they were intending to do the same if it ever happened.


    Though Jingming Shang dismantling the Hui n and freeing off the bondedbor was beyond their expectations. The other members also didn¡¯t know that the Mu n was now debt free and richer than ever before.


    "There it is!" Jingming Shang pointed at a small patch of forest.


    Lin Mu looked in the direction and found it to be only trees.


    "Just from the initial observation, the formation array seems to be of a good quality... let¡¯s see how it holds up against spirit sense..." Lin Mu said before extending his spirit sense.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    He actually felt a little resistance when his spirit sense got closer to the barrier, but after a little push, it easily bypassed whatever thing was restricting it.


    "Huh... they have a spirit Qi muddling formation added to the array as well." Lin Mu muttered.


    Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.


    He continued ahead and the three of them were now at the very edge of the formation. Lin Mu touched with his hand and felt it easily pass through.


    "Yup, it¡¯s a bewildering formation. And one that is even better than the one in Northern forest." Lin Mu said to Xukong.


    "That might be more due to the fact that the one in Northern forest was running out of spirit Qi and was made with few resources," Xukong replied.


    "Ah, yes. That might be it." Lin Mu said before looking at the formation array. "Let¡¯s see how this goes.."

 Chapter 661 - Entering The Hidden Fen Clan

    <h4>Chapter 661 - Entering The Hidden Fen n </h4>


    Lin Mu started to find the nodes of the Formation array and managed to do so in about two minutes. Once that was done, he found the linking runes that connected it to the loweryers of the array.


    Since this was a formation array, there were multipleyers that worked together and if one wanted to stop it, they would need to deal with theyers that either functioned as the connectiveyer, or theyer that supplied the spirit Qi to the formation array.


    This was the basic method of dismantling a formation array and was the two pronged approach that was used often. Either one removes the power supply, or the circuitry to stop it from working.


    Of course, Lin Mu could go the direct and more crude route by using an attack to break the formation array. But they were here for an alliance with the Fen n and not a war. Plus, Lin Mu didn¡¯t want to break the formation array either and only wanted to open a path for him and the other two to enter.


    ¡¯Hmm... this is true of a higher level than the one before. The number ofyers is also higher and theplexity is increasing.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    After spending about ten minutes prodding with the formation array, Lin Mu found the linkingyer and anotheryer that actually functioned as the identification formation.


    "There it is..." Lin Mu muttered as he injected some spirit Qi into the identificationyer at a few specific nodes.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    In the next moment, the formation array flickered and some new runes appeared on top of it. Two such runes floated out from the formation and entered the bodies of Jingming Shang and Mu Tao.


    The two of them were a bit surprised and were almost going to dodge. But seeing as Lin Mu had not done anything, they understood that this must have been intentional.


    "What was that?" Mu Tao questioned.


    "That is the identification tag of the formation array, it will allow you to enter without a problem now." Lin Mu, who had just opened his eyes said.


    "Ah... I see senior. So should we proceed?" Mu Tao replied.


    "Let¡¯s go," Lin Mu said with a nod.


    <i>~hua~</i>


    An opening appeared on the formation array opposite to where Lin Mu was standing, allowing them to proceed. Lin Mu and the other two walked in and saw the scenery in front of them changepletely.


    Previously, the ce where the formation array was, they could only see some trees. But now that they had entered the formation array, they could see what was truly located here. There were multiple small hills spread around the area and the courtyard that surrounded them.


    At the very center, they could see thergest courtyard that was decorated with some statues that were ced on the walls and paintings of guardian gods on the doors. In addition to that, the entire area was surrounded by a five meter tall wall, at the gate of which arge namete hung.


    The namete read ¡¯Fen¡¯ and was written in bold yet elegant strokes.


    "So this is the Fen n... they seem rather big." Lin Mu said upon seeing all the courtyards.


    "There weren¡¯t these many courtyards thest time I saw this ce... there was only a medium sized courtyard present." Jingming Shang furrowed his brows.


    Upon hearing this, Lin Mu finally understood.


    "Looks like the Fen n has really been hiding themselves for far longer than we thought. The formation array has always been active, and just hid a specific part of the n." Lin Mu exined.


    "They can do this too, senior?" Mu Tao questioned.


    "Yes, the formation array does have specific controls that allows one to adjust its range. Normally it¡¯s only used at its hundred percent or just turned off, but with a little more effort it can be used to hide a specific part as well." Lin Mu answered.


    Mu Tao was awed by this and had not expected there to be this kind of a formation array. He himself was not proficient in either formations or other upations of cultivators and had mostly been focused on just cultivation and running the n for the past two years.


    Though this would have to change soon if he wanted to bring his n to the rise. After all, their n¡¯s signature cultivation technique required puppets to use, which were made using abination of several things.


    There were not only forging techniques used to make the body parts of the puppets but the formations were also used a lot to make them function properly. In addition to that, even alchemy was used in it to give the puppets different effects, such as making their attacks toxic.


    But while Mu Tao was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly saw a group of peopleing out from the gate of the Fen n.


    "WHO ARE YOU?!" The voice of an old man came from the group that had just walked out.


    Lin Mu looked at them and found them to be all at the core condensation realm.


    "Hmm... wasn¡¯t Miss Fen at the mid stage of the core condensation realm? If they have peak stage core condensation realm elders, then why would they send her as the representative of the Fen n to the merchant council?" Lin Mu wondered to himself.


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    "State your name and reason why you are here, or you shall be killed!" The old man warned again, this time spirit weapons appearing in the hands of everyone.


    "I am Lin Mu and I¡¯m here with the patriarch of the Mu n Mu Tao to propose an alliance with the Fen n." Lin Mu spoke up.


    "Huh, what? Say truthfully, if you were here for that, why would you break out n¡¯s formation array?" A middle aged man asked this time.


    "I am stating the truth. As for the formation array..." Lin Mu said and turned to look at the back.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    He waved his hand and the formation array returned to the state it was originally in.


    "There you go, it is back to how it was." Lin Mu said.

 Chapter 662 - Adding The Fen Clan To The Alliance

    <h4>Chapter 662 - Adding The Fen n To The Alliance </h4>


    Seeing their Formation array intact, the people of the Fen n took a breath of relief.


    "Patriarch Mu Tao?" The voice of a woman came from the back.


    "Let me through," she spoke again and the group of men parted to give way to the the woman that had just appeared.


    The woman who had appeared was none other than Miss Fen.


    "Greetings, Miss Fen." Mu Tao cupped his hands in greeting and came forward.


    Miss Fen looked at him and nodded before looking at the other two people. Of those two, she only recognized Jingming Shang.


    "Why are you here and... who¡¯s this?" Miss Fen asked, seeing Lin Mu.


    He was the most eye catching person here, not only in looks but also the spirit Qi fluctuations that wereing from him. Even if Lin Mu was intentionally suppressing them, Miss Fen could sense it faintly.


    ¡¯This man... he¡¯s not simple. Thankfully, they did not break out in conflict right away...¡¯ Miss Fen thought to herself.


    "Miss Fen, we are here to propose an alliance with the Fen n." Mu Tao answered first and then gestured towards Lin Mu. "As for him, he is senior Lin Mu." He introduced.


    "Greetings, miss Fen. I believe your n is in need of certain records." Lin Mu spoke.


    Hearing this, Miss Fen was confused at first, but then it suddenly struck her.


    "How do you...?" She questioned, feeling a bit lost.


    "This will be a long exnation. I believe it will be better if we find a good ce to sit and talk." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Yes, that will be good. Please... Miss Fen allow us." Mu Tao added.


    "It will only benefit you, Miss Fen. You can take my word for that." Jingming Shang spoke up too.


    Seeing that even Jingming Shang had spoken in favor, Miss Fen raised her brows.


    ¡¯Jingming Shang does not dabble in matters that he is not sure of and brings problems... if he¡¯s saying this then it might be worth it.¡¯ Miss Fen thought to herself.


    A few of her nsmen whispered something to her before she nodded.


    "Alright, let¡¯s go in and talk." Miss Fen invited.


    The other nsmen of the Fen n went in first and spread around while Lin Mu and the other entered behind Miss Fen.


    "The Fen n is truly big. I never thought you all would be hiding something like this." Mu Tao spoken feeling surprised.


    "Our Fen n does not like to be in the limelight and prefers to stay low key. Standing out is only the call for trouble." Miss Fen replied.


    "I see..." Mu Tao said.


    Jingming Shang looked around and furrowed his brows. There were a lot of materials and people in the n. Even their cultivation bases were not that bad, as around ny percent of them were cultivators.


    ¡¯Isn¡¯t this already on the level of a small sect?¡¯ Jingming Shang thought.


    He did not voice out his doubts at this point though, and just continued on with Lin Mu. About two minutester, Miss Fen brought them to a detached courtyard that was located on one of the hills that were within the formation array.


    The courtyard was far better looking than the other ones, and there was even a verse written on its gateway.


    "The cranes rise and fall over the years, yet the cicada stays hidden." They read the verse that was written on the gateway.


    The verse did not lookplete and seemed like had been taken out from a poem of some kind.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The gate opened up, letting them all enter. Miss Fen brought them to the outer hall and let them all take a seat.


    "So what is it that you are here for patriarch Mu Tao?" Miss Fen questioned.


    "I think it would be better if Senior Lin Mu exins." Mu Tao replied.


    "Alright then, please do." Miss Fen replied, unsure if she should add the title of a senior as well.


    The cultivation base of Lin Mu was still hidden to her plus looking at his face, he looked to be even younger than her thus it was hard for her to tell if it would be appropriate to use senior or not.


    "It goes like this..." Lin Mu said before beginning his exnation.


    He exined everything from the start and how Gu Yao had changed the face of this world secretly all the way to how he was the one behind the massacre of the Mu n. It took Lin Mu over two hours to finish the exnation and by the end of it, Miss Fen was stunned.


    "This... how could we be so blind?" Miss Fen couldn¡¯t help but say.


    "It¡¯s not just you... its everyone. If even the Top sects can fall to the schemes of Gu Yao, then you are not to me." Lin Mu replied.


    It was now that Mu Tao suddenly spoke up.


    "Wait if the Fen n is also an ancient n and changed their name from Fenlong to Fen because of attackers... then doesn¡¯t it mean that it was actually the invaders that made them do this?" Mu Tao questioned.


    Hearing Mu Tao¡¯s words, Lin Mu nodded. Miss Fen on the other hand was stunned for a moment before anger appeared in her eyes.


    "Damn them... first they suppress my ancestors and thene ask me to j ion them... NEVER!" Miss Fen said out loud.


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    "You will not need to worry anymore, miss Fen. We are here for that exactly." Jingming Shang who had been silent for a bit, chimed in.


    "Yes, not only is senior Lin Mu here to oppose Gu Yao, but he is also willing to help restore the Fen n¡¯s bloodline." Mu Tao stated.


    Miss Fen couldn¡¯t help but look at Lin Mu with a mix of emotion in her eyes. It was as if hope and doubt swirled within her eyes, forming aplex tone.


    "Are you really going to help with that?" Miss Fen couldn¡¯t help but ask for confirmation from Lin Mu himself.


    "Yes, I am." Lin Mu said with a smile.

 Chapter 663 - MatriarChapter And History

    <h4>Chapter 663 - MatriarChapter And History </h4>


    Hearing the words from Lin Mu himself, Miss Fen felt much better than before.


    "And do you already have a way to do so?" Miss Fen questioned.


    "We do actually." Lin Mu said before withdrawing the records that they had obtained from the inheritance vault of the Mu n.


    "There should be the records that you were intending to get from the Mu n." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing this, Miss Fen felt a bit embarrassed. It was as if a secret had been revealed and that too, one that was not just humiliating but something that could cause a blood feud. But surprisingly, no one here was angry at her.


    Seeing this, she took a breath of relief and felt much better about doing this.


    "This is more than I thought there would be..." Miss Fen said after she saw the number of scrolls there were.


    Not only the quantity, but their size was quiterge too. She opened one of them and saw it spread for over twelve feet before being fully opened.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Various letters and words swimmer across the surface of the scroll, changing ever so often.


    "This... there is the basis for bloodline sealing theory, Bloodline copse theory, Bloodline invocation... just how much information is there in it?" Miss Fen felt a bit overwhelmed seeing it all.


    "Well, we didn¡¯t know what would exactly help you, so we got everything that seemed suitable or close to suitable." Lin Mu replied.


    Miss Fen hurriedly opened the other scrolls and took a quick look through them as well, feeling even more amazed at it.


    "If there is so much information and that too in this detail, we would be able to do this on our own!" Miss Fen said in an excited tone.


    "You don¡¯t need my help?" Lin Mu asked, feeling doubtful.


    "Senior need not spend his valuable time in this. You have already helped enough by giving this to us. If we can¡¯t even find a solution on our own, then it would be a shame to our n.


    We will not take up any more of your valuable time." Miss Fen answered.


    ¡¯Huh... seems like this was way more effective than we thought...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "At least it allows you to do other things till then." Xukong added.


    "That¡¯s true," Lin Mu said before looking at the scrolls.


    He had already gotten the Mu n to make copies of all the records and documents there were in the vault, and thus he had them too. He kept them with him just in case he ever needed the information in the future.


    Besides, Lin Mu was intending to learn some of it as well when he was free. These past few days he has been to the Sleepscape a few times as he had been working on some doubts about formations that he had.


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    His understanding of the formations was increasing once again, which was a good thing for him. Since Lin Mu had two teachers now, Jing Luo and senior Xukong to rify his doubts, his progress was even faster.


    Lin Mu, Mu Tao and Miss Fen discussed a few more ns with Jingming Shang for about six hours before they were done finalizing everything. Jingming Shang asked her for help in determining the flow of goods to find out the location where Gu Yao was hiding, along with getting ess to their trade routes.


    Miss Fen also had a rather expansive trade circle and it would fill in the missing gaps in the information that Jingming Shang had. The trade circles of the Hui, Fei and Shu ns had already expanded their scope of surveince, and this was only making it better.


    While Jingming Shang did not have an estimate on how fast they would be able to find some clues, he did say that it would take less than a year for it. Since the long distance trades usually happened in the cycles of several months, it was normal to take that long to find the patterns.


    "We shall take our leave then, Miss Fen." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Please, stay assured that we will do our best to assist senior in the alliance" Miss Fen said simply, knowing that the best way to show her gratitude would be through actions rather than just words.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and then left along with Jingming Shang and Mu Tao.


    "That went well, much better than I expected. I was sure that the elders would have opposed us." Mu Tao said.


    "Well, if Miss Fen gave the word, they would not dare oppose her. After all, she is the matriarch of the Fen n." Jingming Shang spoke.


    "Matriarch?" Lin Mu said, feeling a bit confused.


    "Ah yes, I guess not many people know this. The Fen n is a Matriarchal n and women are the ones who take care of the administrative matters of the n while the men take care of the business part outside the n." Jingming Shang expanded.


    "Huh... even I didn¡¯t know that. I thought Miss Fen only became the council member because she was the one with the highest cultivation base in her n." Mu Tao stated.


    "Yes, that is something that might be confusing to others. And I don¡¯t think the Fen n rifies this for others either. Even I only know about it in detail because I had the Fen n investigated before." Jingming Shang replied.


    Lin Mu raised his brows upon hearing this and felt a bit curious.


    "And why did you do something like that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well... before I actually joined the merchant council of Jiao Long city, I was looking around the entire empire for a suitable ce to settle down. One fine day, I was sitting in a tavern when I heard some gossip about the Fen n that hade to trade a lot of herbs for a low price.


    After investigating a deal like that, I got more curious and eventually found out more. In reality, it was the fact that something as unorthodox as a matriarchal n like the Fen n could establish itself in the Jiao Long city that caught my attention.


    I thought that if someone like that could be stable here, then it should not be a problem for someone like me with a troubled past." Jingming Shang bared his history.


    "I see... that does seem like fate." Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 664 - Breaking Under Stress

    <h4>Chapter 664 - Breaking Under Stress </h4>


    About five days had passed since the day when the Fen n agreed to join the alliance.


    The overall progress had been steady, and everything had been going well. Even the other members of the merchant council seemed to have stabilized by now and the initial panic after the massacre of the three ns was now mostly gone.


    Though Shantung still seemed to be at a loss for what to do next. He had exhausted every means of contacting his backer but had gotten no response. At this point, he was close to believing that it might be his own backer that had massacred the three ns and was now refusing to answer him.


    Shantung sat in his n¡¯s mansion while nervously drinking some wine.


    "Patriarch, you need to mediate. So much worrying is not good for you." A man spoke to Shantung.


    <i>~tap~</i>


    Shantung put the cup of wine on the table with a ck before rubbing his forehead.


    "Even if I want to, I can¡¯t... if it really is as everyone is expecting, then our troubles would increase many folds. With the backer changing the stance, we are left between a cliff and a ravine.


    If we still decide to stick with them, while we might have a chance to survive, we would also be emunicated from the merchant council. Not to mention the final intentions of the backer are still unknown to us." Shantung said to the man.


    "Then what are we supposed to do, patriarch? As you said, the backer is very powerful, so what does he even want with a ce like the Jiao Long city? Even if the merchant council members are based here, that is only because of the safety.


    Our actual businesses are all spread across the empire. We don¡¯t even keep our wealth here." The man asked, feeling confused.


    Shantung had cold sweat appear on his forehead after hearing the words of the man. For about five minutes, Shantung went silent before letting out a sigh.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "My son... you might be right. When I was asked to support him, I wasn¡¯t ¡¯asked¡¯ exactly... more like threatened." Shantung answered.


    "THREATENED? Why didn¡¯t you tell us so patriarch?" The man, who was evidently the son of Shantung questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i> Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.


    Letting out another sigh, Shantung shook his head.


    "If I could, I would have, but the danger was simply too much. The backer said that he would exterminate me and our n if I opposed him. And look now, the three ns Hui, Fei and Shu, who had shown neutrality first, were directly eliminated.


    If the backer had waited just one more day, he would have gotten the news that the three ns had joined us." Shantung exined.


    "What?! So we could have had the same fate as that of those ns?" The son of Shantung said in shock.


    "Yes..." Shantung nodded his head in a fatigued manner.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The son of Shantung couldn¡¯t help but fall on the ground from the shock.


    "No wonder you had been worried so much... this is just our worst fearsing true..." he spoke while trembling himself.


    Silence descended in the room for about ten minutes before the son of Shantung moved again.


    <i>~pata~</i>


    He picked up the other cup of wine and drank it all in one go before putting it back on the table. The heat from the wine roused him and the buzz of the alcohol calmed his nerves.


    "We need to find a solution to this, father. We can¡¯t just be on the passive any more." He said, changing the title being used.


    Seeing his son being a bit more mature than him, Shantung couldn¡¯t help but feel emotional. The mix of wine and stress was sending him into a tizzy.


    "You are right. Do you have any suggestions? I don¡¯t think I can do this alone anymore..." Shantung admitted.


    "I think the first course of action should be to reverse our stance. We cannot associate with the backer anymore... whoever they are. We need to consolidate support from the other council members and denounce the actions of the backer.


    If we are the ones to admit it first, while the council members may vilify us at first, they will still have some semnce of trust. Even if we are merchants, we should aim for the target that brings us profit, and associating with the backer is no longer good for us." The son of Shantung advised.


    Shantung pondered over his words for a few seconds and found them to be reasonable. While they may have to pay some penalties to ovee the initial problems of mistrust with the council members, it will still be better in the long term.


    "Good, we shall do that then." Shantung agreed.


    <i>~p~p~p~</i>


    Just as Shantung said that he was shocked by the sound of someone pping. He and his son became alert and turned to the source of the sound.


    "Who¡¯s there!?" they said in unison.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Shantung then saw a handsome man descending from the sky in a nonchnt manner. Seeing this, his eyes went wide as he understood what this meant.


    "This... Nascent Soul realm..." Shantung muttered.


    "Could it be the backer? Have theye to kill us?" the son of Shantung wondered in shock.


    "I have to say Shantung, you son is way smarter than you are... Smart enough that he has saved your n from being exterminated." Said Lin Mu, who just descend from the sky.


    "W-Who are you?" Shantung questioned, feeling unsure.


    "Me? I¡¯m here to offer you help... your n help." Lin Mu answered.


    "You¡¯ll help us? But how?" The Son of Shantung questioned.


    Lin Mu smiled upon seeing this and gestured to the table, "why don¡¯t we all take a seat? This will take a while..."


    ***


    Lin Mu¡¯s choice of waiting and watching had gone well, and the Shantung had broken under stress. The added pressure from the loss of their spies and no replies from Gu Yao had also made it more problematic for Shantung.


    Eventually taking advantage of this, Lin Mu managed to add them to the alliance as well.

 Chapter 665 - Propositions And Discussions

    <h4>Chapter 665 - Propositions And Discussions </h4>


    A small group of people sat in a hall in the Mu n.


    This was the small alliance that Lin Mu had created and they were the very first members of it. In the center sat Lin Mu, and opposite to him was Jing Luo. On the right of Lin Mu sat Jingming Shang and Mu Tao, while on his left there were Miss Fen and Mu Niu.


    "I still can¡¯t believe how senior managed to get Shantung to join us as well." Mu Tao said.


    "It was actually a surprise to me as well. Never thought that the day I would go to kill them, he would have a change of heart... or rather his son would." Lin Mu replied.


    Miss Fen had her hand on her chin as she thought about it for a bit.


    "But is it really fine to trust him? He can change at any time." Miss Fen said in a concerned tone.


    "I know. That¡¯s why we will be keeping him on a short leash. His son is far smarter than him and knows how to adapt. He seems to be the better person to interact with. And seeing from how Shantung has voluntarily taken to a more passive position in this situation, it makes sense that he¡¯s letting his son handle it." Lin Mu replied.


    "Wait... how old is Shantung?" Jingming Shang questioned as a thought suddenly popped up in his mind.


    Miss Fen and Mu Tao seemed to be unable to answer this, and so did Lin Mu and Jing Luo. After all, there was no specific reason for them to find out the age of the man back then and thus they didn¡¯t know.


    "Shantung has been alive since the time of Uncle Di... so that would put him at... just over two hundred and fifty years, I think." Mu Niu calcted.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    Hearing that the man was over two hundred and fifty years old, Jing Luo and Jingming Shang understood the situation.


    "No wonder... he¡¯s running out of his lifespan and wants to pass on his position now." Jingming Shang spoke.


    "That might actually be the reason why he gave in to the threat of Gu Yao so fast as well. He was simply fearful of his n¡¯s existence after he was gone. I know Shantung would not back down from a fight, but if he was gone, his n would not have anyone to rely on.


    But now that his son is showing potential, he might be intending to pass on the position quicker. Besides, he also showed a willingness to fight against Gu Yao now too, right? That might be hisst attempt at glory before he runs out of lifespan." Miss Fen analyzed.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu thought for a bit and wondered what could be the best oue for them and the alliance.


    "Shantung has been at the Peak stage of the Core condensation realm for a long time now, and the only reason he has been unable to break through to the Nascent Soul realm is because of theck of talent." Lin Mu assessed.


    "Not only that, but he also suffered some injuries when he was younger and ended up falling into the life of debauchery for nearly a century. It was not until his father died that Shantung matured and took the mantle of the patriarch. That is also the reason why he had a son sote in his life. Even if he has multiple children right now, only his eldest son ispetent and old enough to run things." Mu Niu added.


    "I see... so what if we help him break through to the Nascent Soul realm?" Lin Mu proposed.


    "Won¡¯t that backfire on us?" Mu Tao asked, feeling a bit concerned.


    "It could, but we will take precautions. A bloodline oath should be enough to force him if it is taken along with his son. He definitely won¡¯t dare to try anything after that." Lin Mu replied. "Plus, we don¡¯t have many people at the peak stage of the core condensation realm as of now and if Shantung is able to breakthrough, we will have another Nascent Soul realm cultivator in our alliance." He added.


    The members of the alliance thought over the proposition for a bit before nodding their heads.


    "We can do it then." Jing Luo agreed as well.


    Since he had spoken, the others agreed to the proposition, too.


    "But... do we have the necessary resources to make him breakthrough?" Mu Tao asked.


    "Yes, we have plenty." Lin Mu replied, remembering the sheer amount of pills that were lying in his ring.


    He had raided the Vaults of the Tri Cauldron Peony sect and had gained a lot of pills from them. Even if a majority of them were of mid and low quality, it didn¡¯t mean they had no valuable pills.


    As for a pill that helped cultivators breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm, Lin Mu had a whole bottle of them. These pills were hard to make and were considered to be thest resort method when all other routes had been exhausted.


    Not only would these pills forcefully push a cultivator into the nascent soul realm, but it would also use up all of theirtent cultivation talent in doing so. This meant that they would have no chance of ever breaking through to the Dao Shell realm.


    But for people who were on the edge of death, this was the perfect pill and was a sacrifice they were obviously willing to make.


    These kinds of pills were not something Lin Mu was going to give away easily, though. Not only because of their value but also because of their effects. It was also the reason why Lin Mu had not given any to the Fen n despite there being several Peak stage core condensation realm elders among them.


    Even Miss Fen had rejected any more help from Lin Mu and had said that once their bloodline¡¯s problem was resolved, they would have no need for resources for a long time. Just their own talent should be enough to progress quite quickly.

 Chapter 666 - Potential Expansion Of The Alliance

    <h4>Chapter 666 - Potential Expansion Of The Alliance </h4>


    "It is decided then..." Lin Mu said while looking at everyone.


    "Shantung will be given one Core Hatching pill to break through to the Nascent Soul realm." He continued.


    All the members of the alliance nodded their heads, and this matter was passed.


    "I¡¯ll write a message to Shantung right now and ask a servant to send it there. He should respond quickly." Mu Niu responded.


    "Yes, please do that." Lin Mu replied.


    Mu Niu took his leave to do the task that was assigned to him and came back within five minutes.


    "Once Shantunges, we will ask him to take the oath and then give him the Core Hatching Pill." Lin Mu stated.


    The Core Hatching Pill was a high grade alchemical pill whose sole function was to help a core condensation realm cultivator breakthrough. It did exactly what its name said and helped in the hatching of the core of the cultivator.


    All content is ? N0velDrama.Org.


    This was the part that most people had trouble in doing and their talent greatly dictated whether they would be able to do it without killing themselves. One could, of course, force their cores to hatch, but there was a great chance it might just end up cracking and exploding instead.


    "Now then, till Shantunges, we have the next matter to discuss. How will we be progressing from now?" Jing Luo was the one who spoke this time.


    "We definitely need a lot more allies than just us. We do have some big ones already, like the Hei corps, but we need to establish contact with them. And I do not know if we can do that right now with the chaos in the Shuang Qian kingdom." Lin Mu spoke.


    "The Hei corps... Young master Wu Hei... I remember when he came to visit us back then. He was merely seventeen years old, I think." Mu Niu spoke.


    This caught Lin Mu¡¯s attention and his ears perked up.


    "Oh? You met him?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, a few of the Mu n members met him. He even stayed in our n for two days before continuing on his journey. I remember Uncle Di had a great time discussing business and politics with him back then." Mu Niu said with a hint of nostalgia in his voice.


    "Who¡¯s Uncle Di?" Lin Mu asked. He had heard the name twice now and was wondering who that person was.


    "Uncle Di is Mu Tao¡¯s grandfather. The patriarch before his father." Mu Niu spoke.


    Mu Tao had moist eyes upon hearing the mention of it all but tried to keep a calm expression.


    "I see." Lin Mu muttered.


    "I never would have thought that the boy from back then would be linked to something this huge now." Mu Niu said with a sigh.


    "Fate and destiny are favorite toys of the heavens. Who knows when they will be twisted." Lin Mu said, reciting one of the favorite quotes of the Lost immortal.


    Lin Mu had read the man reciting these lines at least a few hundred times till now in the memoirs of the Lost immortal. Since the Lost immortal had the Broken Fate Physique, he often had misfortunes and tragedies.


    Things would be going well for a while before he would end up with a set back suddenly. But even then, as much as he wanted to hate his luck, he could not. But he also didn¡¯t know that he had something called the Broken Fate physique, or he would have surely cursed the heavens all day and night.


    "Didn¡¯t you say that the Hei corps had their outposts in several ces all over the empire?" Jing Luo suddenly asked.


    "Oh, yes there are. But there are not many in the southern part of the empire and I don¡¯t know if the one closest to us is even active or not. One of thest orders Wu Hei passed was to send all of Hei corps members into hiding." Lin Mu replied.


    "If we are already grasping at straws, then we may as well try this out anyway." Jing Luo suggested.


    Lin Mu thought over it and found it to be reasonable.


    "True, but we should also get some information about the situation of Wu Hei and even Wu Xun at the capital city first. We don¡¯t know fully what happened after the incident with the Tri Cauldron Peony sect either." Lin Mu replied after thinking for a bit.


    "I¡¯ll try to see if there is any updated information from the Northernnds." Jingming Shang spoke.


    "I¡¯ll see if there are any suspected leads on the Hei corps. Since Gu Yao made them out to be the criminals, there are open bounties on them. If there are any suspected sightings, we might be able to find them.


    Besides, they would never suspect that we are trying to find them to help them and not kill them." Miss Fen spoke up.


    "Alright. Once we have some information, we will be able to proceed further. Till then we need to consolidate and increase our own strengths." Lin Mu replied.


    They knew that the Fen n and the Mu n needed to grow a lot stronger to even be able to fight against Gu Yao and then the Northern Alliance. Right now, Lin Mu¡¯s presence had merely given them the opportunity to grow till that point.


    Just when all of them had finished the discussion, a servant knocked on the door.


    "Council member Shantung has arrived." The servant spoke from the outside.


    "Just in time." Jing Luomented.


    "Come in," Lin Mu called out.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The door of the room opened and in walked Shantung with his son. The two of them seemed to be quite nervous and didn¡¯t know fully what they were called here for. Mu Niu had merely mentioned that they had been called by Lin Mu.


    They had already seen the strength of Lin Mu and dared not to make him wait any longer.


    "What have you called us for, senior?" Shantung questioned.


    "I have called you here so that you can break through to the Nascent Soul realm." Lin Mu said with a straight face.

 Chapter 667 - Taking Their Oaths

    <h4>Chapter 667 - Taking Their Oaths </h4>


    Hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words, Shantung didn¡¯t believe them at first.


    "Wh-what?" Shantung couldn¡¯t help but say.


    His son was the same but didn¡¯t speak anything, first wanting to observe the situation lest they make a mistake. He had be really careful since the appearance of Lin Mu and knew that they were being watched at all times now.


    Not to mention they were shocked by the progress of the other people such as Mu Niu and Mu Tao. Both of them had broken through the next stages in just a few days of Lin Mu¡¯s appearance.


    He knew that the tide of change had arrived and if they tried to swim against it, they would only drown. It was better for them to go along with the flow and have a chance of flourishing.


    "If you take a bloodline oath that you and your n shall never harm me, and the alliance ever in the future, I¡¯ll give you a chance to break through to the Nascent Soul realm. I know your lifespan ising to an end and you want to set your n¡¯s future.


    I¡¯ll give you a chance to live longer and let your son gain a better grasp over the functioning of the n. I¡¯m sure you know theing few years will be turbulent and without you being there, your n will not survive.


    Do you want that to happen?" Lin Mu expanded.


    With the carrot and the stick presented to the Shantung, there was little he could do. He feared for his n and his own life as well. Over the years he hade to ept that he would have no chance at breakthrough.


    It was not merely a case of resources since with his n¡¯s fortune, they could definitely buy enough to nurture another Nascent soul realm cultivator, eventually. But his problem was due to ack of talent and injuries as well.


    In the long term though, the specific resources needed to increase his cultivation base were way more than what their n might be able to afford. In the same amount, perhaps two more Nascent soul realm cultivators might be nurtured.


    "We ept!" Shantung¡¯s son was the one to answer for them this time.


    Shantung looked at his son¡¯s determined expression and sighed to himself.


    "Yes, we ept," Shantung said before closing his eyes.


    When his eyes opened, they had a staunch look and determination filled them.


    "I Shantung Sang, swear upon my bloodline that neither I nor my n will ever hurt senior Lin Mu and the Alliance. If I break this oath, may my bloodline perish and my life be crippled." He dered.


    "I Shantung Bucao swear upon my bloodline that neither I nor my n will ever hurt senior Lin Mu and the Alliance. If I break this oath, may my bloodline perish and my life be crippled." The son dered.


    With thebined oath of the father and son, the sound of rumbling could be heard within the room. The sound was none other than that of their hearts. Lin Mu and the rest could feel a strange presence in the room other than them.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and looked at Shantung Sang and his son. He could faintly feel that there was more than was being shown there.


    ¡¯What is this...?¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He himself had the bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear, which was a very high grade bloodline not seen in a world like this. It was sensitive to the other bloodlines and allowed Lin Mu to sense all this.


    He curiously ended up using spatial perception and ended up seeing a different view than what was seen by the naked eyes. It was as if a gate was opened up behind Shantung Sang and his son. The gate extended into a long tunnel and in that tunnel, hundreds of silhouettes could be sensed standing.


    Each of these silhouettes was blood red in color and had simr features to the Shantung patriarch and son.


    ¡¯Are those... their ancestors?¡¯ Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but wonder.


    While Lin Mu had known about the effects of the Bloodline Oath, he did not think it would literally summon the specters of their ancestors.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    "They should be the bloodline imprints of all their ancestors," Xukong replied.


    "Huh... does this happen always? And I could only see it because of spatial perception?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No. Even if someone else had spatial perception and tried to see it, they would not be able to. The main reason behind it is the bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear that is within you. Since the bloodline Oath of the Shantungs included you specifically in their oath, it invoked the pressure of the Great Slumber Bear.


    This caused resonance between the two bloodlines and allowed you to see the ancestral imprints. Other people who have bloodlines strong as you would be able to see the same in a situation like this too." Xukong exined.


    "Ah, I understand now senior." Lin Mu replied, before focusing on the task at hand.


    The presence stayed for about thirty seconds before fading away. The heartbeats of the father and son went to normal again, and they had rather red faces after that, as if they had done a lot of work.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and took out a small pill vial.


    "Very good. Take this," Lin Mu spoke and handed the pill vial to Shantung Sang.


    Shantung Sang looked at the pill feeling a bit confused as he could not recognize it right away.


    "It¡¯s a Core Hatching pill." Lin Mu spoke, seeing that they didn¡¯t even understand what he got.


    A lot of raised brows could be seen upon hearing the name of the pill.


    "Heavens! I never would have thought I would ever get to hold this pill." Shantung Shang eximed.


    The only other person who was calm was Jing Luo, but it was only because he knew what kind of a pill this was.

 Chapter 668 - Secrets And Breakthoughs

    <h4>Chapter 668 - Secrets And Breakthoughs </h4>


    Once Shantung Sang had been given the pill, he left the Mu n mansion hurriedly so that he could go back and breakthrough. This was a matter of the utmost importance and involved the future of the Shantung n.


    With the Shantung duo gone, Lin Mu dismissed the alliance meeting, leaving only him and Jing Luo in the room.


    "That was smart of you. That pill will both raise his cultivation and shackle him." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Hmm... better than blindly trusting them." Lin Mu replied in a low voice before turning to look at Jing Luo.


    "Are you going to look for your grandfather?" Lin Mu questioned.


    This was something Lin Mu had been intending to ask for a long time now. The only person that knew more in detail about the past was none other than someone who was alive at that time.


    Jing Wei knew everything that had happened and had experienced it himself. Not to mention he himself was a victim of the Gu n and would not let them go. In that way, both the royal family and the Gu n had deep enmity with the Jing n and it was not something that would be easily resolved.


    "Hmm... I¡¯ve been intending to go but our ancestralnd is not close." Jing Luo spoke.


    Lin Mu had already informed Jing Luo where Jing Luo and Duan Ke had gone to; the ancestralnd of the Jing n.


    "Where exactly is it? Jing Wei never told me." Lin Mu questioned.


    "It is far to the north west." Jing Luo replied.


    "North? Is it also at the border of the pear¡¯s belt?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, no. The pear¡¯s belt is more towards the central border of the great Zhou continent. Since it tapers out, there are parts in the north east and west that directly touch the ocean. On the eastern part there is the Eastern Ming Dynasty, while on the west there is the ck Dawn Kingdom.


    The ancestralnd of the Jing n is located beyond the limits of the ck Dawn kingdom, inside a minor ne." Jing Luo answered.


    Lin Mu was a bit stunned upon hearing this, but nodded his head.


    "So will you be going there?" Lin Mu continued.


    "No... at least not yet. Even if I know the approximate location of the ancestralnd, I don¡¯t know the exact coordinates of it. I might be standing right next to it and would not see it." Jing Luo spoke.


    Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu knew that he could definitely work it out.


    "Do you need my help then?" Lin Mu asked. "Finding a minor ne¡¯s entrance won¡¯t be hard for me."


    "No, that¡¯s not necessary. You have more important things to take care of here. I can go there myself, I just need to prepare the entry token first." Jing Luo spoke.


    "An entry token?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    "You see the ancestralnd of the Jing n is not a ce that can be entered without a price. Only those that are talented in the n were allowed to go there, kind of simr to the sacred grounds of the Ripple mist sect.


    Except in the case of our n, the proof of our talent would be the entrance token. Itposes of multipleplex techniques and shows our skill and talent in weapon and spirit tool forging." Jing Luo replied.


    "So you arecking materials for that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not materials... I just need time to make it. At my level, the process itself is easy for me. It¡¯s just that a lot of the materials need long periods of tempering and will take up several months to be done. But after that, I should be able to enter it quickly.


    I¡¯ve actually begun making them already and should be done in a few months. I¡¯ll inform you when I¡¯m ready." Jing Luo answered.


    "Alright. Then I guess we¡¯ll be sticking together for a while." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.


    "You¡¯re goddamn right!" Jing Luo replied with a smile.


    "Besides... I won¡¯t go before killing a few of Gu Yao¡¯s cronies. I¡¯ll take a few heads as a tribute to my ancestors!" Jing Luo said, with mes of fury in his eyes.


    ***


    About a month passed since the day Lin Mu had given the Core Hatching Pill to Shantung Sang.


    The man in question had broken through sessfully, and it was witnessed by nearly everyone in the city. Despite Shantung Sang leaving the city to undergo his tribtion, the effects of it could be felt all the way to the city.


    Themoners were shocked by the strange thunderstorm, while the cultivators wondered who was it that was undergoing a heavenly tribtion. By the time news spread that it was actually the patriarch of the Shantung n who had broken through, Lin Mu had already taken over all of the members of the merchant council.


    They were either enticed into joining the alliance by some resources or threatened by the presence of Gu Yao. The fact that it was Lin Mu who had actually killed the three ns was kept secret from but a handful of people and was enough to scare the merchants into joining them.


    But even after all this, there was no response from Gu Yao¡¯s end, and this had confused Lin Mu and Jing Luo to no end.


    From what Lin Mu had assessed by now, while Gu Yao was a man with a lot of patience, he also knew when to act. It didn¡¯t make sense that he had not retaliated for taking over the merchant council and foiling his ns.


    If not Gu Yao, then at least the subordinate of theirs that was working under him should have reacted.


    While this was one of the worrying parts to Lin Mu, there were many other positives that had happened. Mu Niu had also broken through to the Nascent Soul realm and was the first Mu n member to reach that realm.

 Chapter 669 - A Compiled Report

    <h4>Chapter 669 - A Compiled Report </h4>


    With Mu Niu¡¯s breakthrough, Lin Mu was assured that the Mu n would be fine for the time being, even if he was not there. While Nascent soul realm cultivators were what Gu Yao had many, it was still not possible for him to just send any random one to target someone.


    Especially in areas that were not fully under his control. If he did so carelessly, he would only invite the ire and attention of the ruling power of that region, which might spiral out into him getting revealed to the world.


    After all, one must remember that even after the blood tide happened and he put the me on Lin Mu the one who got the fame of repelling the blood tide was Wu Xun. Even then, Gu Yao did not want to reveal himself to the world and wanted to stay hidden.


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Silently gaining power while controlling the great powers of the world, such was his n. The emperor of the Great Zhou Empire was already sick and the court officials were now starting to get worried about it.


    The emperor himself was a cultivator and was at the Nascent Soul realm, but despite this he had be sick. This troubled the official to no end, as an illness capable of making someone of this level sick wasn¡¯t something easily dealt with.


    While the royal physicians were doing their best in finding a cure to this, the official had already been deliberating on other options. The Empress though, has been prodding the officials to ask the Rainbow pill sect for their help.


    If there was a sect that was said to be the top in alchemical pills in this world, then it was none other than the Rainbow pill sect. The only reason why they were not the overall top sect in the world was that they focused more on the field of alchemy and pill refinement.


    The Sky Precepts sect stayed at the top because they were a rtively bnced sect and dabbled in everything while still managing to stay at the top. They also had a deep background and had plenty of resources left by their ancestors to tide them through centuries and centuries of time.


    The Centennial sword sect, on the other hand, was highly focused on increasing their own personal power and relied on the sword arts to do so. It was said that the patriarch of the centennial sword sect was strong enough to fight multiple Dao Treading realm experts on his own.


    The fourth sect in the rankings was the Zither wind sect, which had risen to this position due to the alliance that they had formed. While on the surface the alliance was supposed to be an equal share of power, the Zither wind sect being the first, had evidently given him a lot of benefits.


    Below them at the fifth position, was none other than the Long Cloud sect, which was the creator of the Long cloud alliance. They were opposed to the Zither wind alliance and had joined up with the sixth and seventh ranked sects to form the Long cloud alliance.


    It was only the tenth ranked sect which was now not in an alliance and was also independent, like the top three sects. They were fiercelypeting to pull the tenth ranked sect, which was called as the Noon Grass Sect.


    The Noon Grass Sect was perhaps the most low key sect of all top sects and was only in the top ten because they were old. People didn¡¯t know whether to call them lucky that their sect managed to survive for thousands of years or unlucky that they never managed one of their cultivators to break through to the Immortal Ascension stage.


    It was even said that the Noon Grass was of the same seniority as that of the top three sects. But overall, their disciples just stayed average and never rose to be anything impressive in the cultivation world.


    Currently, they were holding their position because of their Dao Treading realm patriarch, who was the only Dao Treading realm expert in their sect. People often wondered if they didn¡¯t manage to produce another Dao Treading realm expert will they fall from the top sects or not.


    It had already been more than two thousand years since the patriarch of the Noon Grass Sect had reached his position. While his exact age was not known, he was said to be close to the end of his lifespan now.


    This was the entire report that had beenpiled by Jingming Shang and Miss Fen after collecting the information from their links.


    Lin Mu had been reading it all day and had gathered these important points from this. And the reason why he had asked them topile this was to see if they could pick allies from these powers.


    With the current power they had, it would be impossible for them to resist Gu Yao for long.


    "What do you think?" Lin Mu questioned the man sitting to his right.


    "Hmm... the Long cloud alliance seems like the obvious choice since they are in direct opposition to the Zither Wind alliance. Any of the top three sects would be the best choice, but they are far too conceited to even believe the Gu n can make a return and the Northern Tribes infiltration." Jing Luo answered.


    "Indeed... plus, I am currently wanted by the top sects. While they might not recognize me at this moment, they definitely will once we actually go to them for the alliance proposal." Lin Mu replied.


    Jing Luo was deep in thought after hearing this and wondered what might be the more reasonable choice.


    "The top sects can be convinced, but to convince them it would need someone that can match their level and talk to them at the same strength." Jing Luo spoke after thinking for a bit.


    "Indeed. If only we could get your grandfather toe out, all of it would work." Lin Mu spoke.

 Chapter 670 - The Strong Cultivators And Beasts Of The World

    <h4>Chapter 670 - The Strong Cultivators And Beasts Of The World </h4>


    Jing Wei and his family had a grudge with the Imperial family and the emperor, along with several of the top sects. Those were the sects that could be directly excluded from the choice of potential allies.


    "Which sects participated in attacking you and your n before?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The top three sects were mostly neutral, but it was their neutrality that gave the others free rein to act as they wished. But the ones that did not act at all were only two from among the top sects.


    These are the Long Cloud sect and the Noon Grass sect." Jing Luo answered.


    "Well then. That¡¯s our choice for the allies. We either go for the Long cloud sect and gain help of the entire Long Cloud alliance or go for the solitary Noon Grass sect." Lin Mu decided.


    "Alright. Even if the other members of the Long cloud alliance were once involved in hunting us down, we can spare them, since they are under the leadership of the Long Cloud sect.


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    As for the Noon Grass sect, I don¡¯t really have anything much to say about them. Even back when the Jing n was at its peak, we didn¡¯t have any transactions with the Noon Grass sect and they hadn¡¯t bought any peak grade spirit tools and weapons from us." Jing Luo exined.


    "I see... we can choose who to go to depending on who¡¯s closer, then." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Hmm... if we consider the distance then the Long Cloud Sect is the closest to us. It will take about a month or more to reach it though." Jing Luo replied.


    "How far is the Noon Grass Sect?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It is to the extreme south, almost at the border of the previous southern continent. If we want to get there, it would take us over six months to do so." Jing Luo answered.


    "Six months? Even at Little Shrubby¡¯s speed?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a bit surprised.


    "Yeah, I considered his speed too. If it was a straight distance, it might have only taken two months to reach there, but the problem is the terrain obstacles thate up. Many of them can¡¯t just be passed directly and need to be crossed through safer paths.


    Not to mention many of these areas are dangerous to pass through and are popted by numerous beasts some of which can even reach the Dao Shell realm. Plus, with the location that the Noon Grass sect is located, the danger increases even more.


    The dense forests of the southernnds are home to the most resources in the world and also the most dangerous beasts. There are multiple Dao Treading beasts that live there as well.


    Perhaps if the beasts had some ambitions, they might have already taken over the world as the number of Dao Treading realm beasts easily outnumbers that of the humans." Jing Luo exined.


    "My... that¡¯s a lot. And what about the Immortal Ascension realm? Are there any cultivators or beasts of that level?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but feel curious.


    Even in the records that Lin Mu had obtained till now, there was no mention of details like these. Most of it was minor information that just prodded the surface and left one wanting more.


    "The Immortal Ascension realm is aplex realm. From what I heard from my grandfather, it has no stages and is said to be a boundary realm. As for what that means, I do not know, and neither does my grandfather.


    In the current world, perhaps only the ancestors of the top three sects are at the Immortal Ascension realm. But even then, they do haven¡¯t appeared in the world for thousands of years.


    As for the beasts... there is no specific record of them. But there was a rumor that I read once. It is said that while beasts are inherently stronger than humans in the lower realms, theirprehension is far lower when ites to higher realms.


    Even when the unification of the five continents happened, there were no Immortal Ascension realm beasts that appeared. Though if we go by themon understanding, the majority of beasts of the world don¡¯t even live onnd but rather the great ocean.


    And going by that logic, it should have the strongest beasts too and thus Immortal Ascension realm beasts." Jing Luo further exined.


    Lin Mu thought over his words and found them to be reasonable.


    "Hmm... it makes sense that no Immortal Ascension realm beasts appeared back when the unification of the continents happened, since there were simply no beasts as strong as that living on thend.


    As for the aquatic beasts that are at the Immortal Ascension realm, they never had a problem with the unification since they lived in the ocean in the first ce. Hence having no conflict of interest." Lin Mu said, while nodding his head.


    Lin Mu and Jing Wei discussed for a few more hours before finally deciding upon their n of action.


    "I guess this should be fine for now. First, we¡¯ll see if we can inform Wu Hei about our situation by finding an outpost of the Hei corps. Then we need to establish points of contact in multiple regions.


    For that, we shall be taking the assistance of the merchants and have some of their cultivator employees stay in those locations full time so we have ry points." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I¡¯ll also try to get some high grademunication jade slips ready. We have plenty of materials for it and I should be done in a couple of weeks. Then we can distribute them as needed.


    Jingming Shang already took the responsibility of handling the information for us. This will help us to obtain information as soon as possible when they find traces of Gu Yao." Jing Luo replied.


    "Good. Once all that is done, we will head onwards to the Long Cloud sect to propose an alliance.


    Hopefully, they are willing to listen to us..." Lin Mu stated.

 Chapter 671 - Exponential Growth Of Allies

    <h4>Chapter 671 - Exponential Growth Of Allies </h4>


    Lin Mu sat in a private courtyard that had been built for him by the Mu n. He was going through the tens of reports that had been given to him by the various allies that they had now.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Is this how Wu Hei felt, managing an organization?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu¡¯s n was going forward steadily, and another month had passed just like this. The Fen n had finally managed to release their bloodline seal and had shot forward in cultivation base.


    In less than two weeks, they had six Nascent Soul realm cultivators appearing in their n, including Miss Fen herself. This was a shocking increase, even for a top cultivation sect, and had made Lin Mu question Xukong about it.


    "Seems like this was more of a cursed seal rather than an actual bloodline seal. This inhibited their own talent and prevented them from progressing." Xukong replied.


    "What¡¯s the difference between a cursed seal and an actual bloodline seal, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "If it were an actual bloodline seal, even if they had released it, their potential would have taken quite a while to recover. It¡¯s like a paralyzed patient. Even if they are cured of their paralysis, it still takes them a long time to recover full control of their body.


    Whereas in a cursed seal, even if the seal was suppressing them from progressing, their potential was still there. I reckon when the seal was originally ced it would have been sessful in suppressing both their talent and potential, but over the years as more and more descendants were born, the grip of the curse weakened.


    The potential of the cultivators was still being suppressed, but their talent had already recovered and now, with the seal removed, it was like a dam being broken. Plus, we say before that they had very stable foundations." Xukong exined.


    "I see... I guess having the Fen n as our allies will be far better than I thought. It still feels unreal how someone this powerful was living here, hidden in in sight." Lin Mu said with a sign.


    "Hidden dragons and crouching tigers are everywhere in the world. All you need to do is look properly.


    Besides, we know that this world has been in a decline for a long time now. With the potential, this world had, it should have easily had a lot more strong cultivators, but the constant wars and invasions in the past have weakened it considerably.


    The degeneration of cultivation knowledge is also one of the main causes for this, I must say." Xukong replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was suddenly reminded of something.


    "Is this how... the other cultivation worlds are senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. ns with talent simr to the Fen n are abundant and can even be considered average. The only reason, why the world you live in is not at the lowest rank is because it still has cultivation.


    There are many worlds out there in the universe that have no cultivation at all. Most of them are just newborn worlds and are still weak, but there are some worlds that are forbidden.


    There are even worlds whose inhabitants are as strong as cultivators despite not having a shred of Qi in them. Then there are worlds that can control the wind and clouds as if their own limbs, despite having no cultivation base.


    The more you see, the more you learn. Even I don¡¯t dare say that I know everything in the world. If one was able to learn even 0.01% of the knowledge of the entire cosmos, they would be proimed as a saint.


    Forget cultivating, the heavens themselves would give them their approval and call them to them directly." Xukong enlightened.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt his views expand. While he had seen and read a lot of things from the memoirs of the Lost immortal, it could still not bepared to the wisdom that senior Xukong had.


    Lin Mu knew one thing that, even if the Lost Immortal had reached a high level of cultivation and lived for perhaps thousands of years, Senior Xukong had lived exponentially longer than that.


    It was at a point where Xukong admitted even he did not know how old he truly was.


    In addition to the Fen n, the Mu n had also grown significantly. Mu Tao had also broken thought to the Nascent Soul realm, albeit with more assistance. Unlike his uncle Mu Niu, Mu Tao needed a tribtion tform for him to safely break through.


    The tform was made by none other than Jing Luo, and the Mu n was tremendously grateful to them such that the few females left in the n had often sent flirtatious nces towards Jing Luo.


    The man simplyughed to himself and politely declined their advances, telling them that they were old enough to be his granddaughters. Lin Mu even learned that Jing Luo apparently had a betrothed and was to get married a long time ago, if it only were not for the destruction of the Jing n.


    Ever since then, Jing Luo had simply chosen to focus on the recovery of his n and avenging it, vowing to not do anything else until his n was revived. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but feel awed by the man¡¯s dedication and determination.


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    On the side of the merchants, there had also been some progress though mostly for the intelligence. Lin Mu had been given a report on the suspected whereabouts of a Hei corps outpost.


    Though this was what they had assumed and might not be fully true.


    "Hmm... if there is one member, there should be more. Plus, since they were this far from the Shuang Qian kingdom, they had a longer time to hide. They should definitely be there." Lin Mu analyzed.


    He continued to read the documents and saw that the location mentioned was a kingdom called the Hong Lin kingdom.


    "Hmm... so the Hong Lin Kingdom is the next destination..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 672 - Introducing Little Shrubby

    <h4>Chapter 672 - Introducing Little Shrubby </h4>


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo stood at the gate of the Mu n while the others waited for them there.


    "We shall be in contact at all times." Jingming Shang spoke. "With themunication jade slips senior Jing Luo made, it will be far more convenient and easy for us to talk." He added.


    "Indeed, I never thought I would see high grademunication jade slips out of top sects before." Miss Fen added.


    "Very well. Inform us if anythinges up. Although with the increased strength, I doubt you guys should have a problem unless Gu Yao sends tens of Nascent Soul realm cultivators or even a Dao Shell realm cultivator." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, senior. Plus, no one has an idea that our ns have progressed this far and increased in strength. Thus, even if Gu Yao does send his people to kill us, he will make a mistake and that will give us time to readjust our strategy." Mu Tao added.


    Lin Mu nodded to himself and looked towards the northern end of the Jiao Long city. Seeing that the two of them were not moving, Mu Tao and the others felt strange.


    "Is there something left?" Mu Tao questioned.


    "Ah, we¡¯re just waiting for someone." Lin Mu answered.


    "Someone? There¡¯s another person with seniors?!" Miss Fen was rather surprised.


    Till now, they had only seen Lin Mu and Jing Luo and did not know that there were more people. From Lin Mu¡¯s words, they could tell that there was at least a third person in their group.


    ¡¯Just how many more people does senior have? Four? Ten? Or even a hundred? Senior Lin Mu¡¯s nning is truly profound.¡¯ Mu Tao thought to himself.


    "Oh yeah, I never told you guys did I... it¡¯s not a person I¡¯m waiting for," Lin Mu spoke.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Just as Lin Mu spoke, the sound of winding from the far could be heard.


    "Not a person?" Jingming Shang narrowed his eyes as he suddenly had a hunch of what it might be.


    <i>~Roar~</i>


    A rumbling roar could be hearding from afar, pulling the attention of everyone. But to Lin Mu¡¯s surprise, it was actuallying from the sea.


    "No wonder he¡¯s been silent... he¡¯s been enjoying his time, huh." Lin Mu said upon spotting hispanion of years in the distance.


    A red streak wasing in from the sea and some turbulent wind apanied it. There seemed to be a massive object behind it that was at least ten times as big as the red streak.


    "No way! Is that..." Jingming Shang said in shock.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    The speed of the red streak increased even more as the object behind it sped up too, turning it into a blur as well.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Finally, the red blur slowed to a halt next to Lin Mu and its appearance was revealed.


    "Look, I got us food for the journey!" Little Shrubby spoke excitedly.


    Lin Mu looked at the object, which was now seen clearly. It was arge fish that had sharp teeth and a long tail. It was dark silver in color and its scales glistened under the sun. Even while dead, the fury in its eyes could be seen.


    "Heavens! That¡¯s the Saw Tooth Tuna! It¡¯s a Nascent soul realm beast that has been guing the ocean near the First Sun Kingdom." Mu Niu identified.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    Therge fish was blocking the view of Little Shrubby, and thus the others had not seen him yet, but once Lin Mu stored the Saw Tooth Tuna in the ring, they could see him.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Jingming Shang couldn¡¯t help but swallow his saliva upon seeing Little Shrubby. He had known very well who this beast was. Mu Tao and the rest though had no idea who little shrubby was and neither had Lin Mu told them.


    It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to, but that simply never came up.


    "I guess I should introduce. This is Little Shrubby, my tamed beast." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Grrr!" Little Shrubby responded with a growl that only Lin Mu could understand.


    "So these are the people who are helping master? Hmm... they seem weak." Little Shrubby spoke.


    Lin Mu almost chuckled upon hearing this, but managed to suppress hisughter. He didn¡¯t want the others to feel bad.


    "Seniors tamed beast..." Mu Tao muttered.


    Unlike Lin Mu and Jing Luo, the cultivation base of Little Shrubby was in full disy and that, added with the strong bloodline he had, caused some pressure to be exerted on them all.


    Even those at the Nascent Soul realm felt like they would notst for even a second against the beast. While little Shrubby was calm right now, they could feel the predatory aura that exuded from it.


    If not that, then the Saw Tooth Tuna was the best proof. One must know that beast was a nuisance and the only reason no one could do anything to it was because it was at the child soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.


    Even Mu Niu and Mu Tao would have to think twice before fighting against a beast like that, not to mention the advantage it would have in the ocean.


    Miss Fen though had apletely different reaction. She had cold sweat break out on her forehead when she saw Little Shrubby.


    ¡¯What is this beast... this fear... why¡¯s my bloodline telling me to run away?¡¯ Miss Fen thought.


    Unlike the Mu n, the Fen n had recently awakened their bloodline and they were sensitive to the other bloodline auras now. And for Little Shrubby, who had not one but seven strong bloodlines, it was as if a mountain was hanging above their heads.


    Seeing as how Lin Mu calmly petted the head of Little Shrubby, Miss Fen didn¡¯t know what to think. No Nascent soul realm cultivator would dare do that to a Nascent soul realm beast easily, even if they were a tamed beast.


    After all, both being in the Nascent soul realm allowed them tomand a certain respect.

 Chapter 673 - On To The Hong Lin Kingdom

    <h4>Chapter 673 - On To The Hong Lin Kingdom </h4>


    After a couple of minutes, the people had gottenfortable with Little Shrubby¡¯s presence. Seeing that it did not do anything, and it was only the aura that was imposing helped a bit to condition their minds as well.


    "Alright then, we¡¯ll take our leave." Lin Mu said as Little Shrubby made the harness appear on his back.


    Strapping into the harness, Lin Mu looked at Jing Luo. The man tapped his feet together, making the wind strider boots rece the ones that he was wearing before.


    "Take care, senior!" Mu Tao and the rest said as Lin Mu and Jing Luo soared into the sky.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    In the blink of an eye, the three of them disappeared, causing a small sonic boom that blew the hair of everyone back.


    ***


    Their destination was the Hong Lin Kingdom, which was located about five hundred kilometers from the border of the Fenlong Kingdom. It was also the home to a couple of small sects but they were unranked and thus didn¡¯t really matter to Lin Mu and Jing Luo.


    For unranked sects, the strongest cultivation in their sect would be at most in the Nascent Soul realm. Such unranked sects were many in number all over the empire and would rise and fall every couple of years.


    There was nock of ambitious Nascent soul realm cultivators who had newly broken through, wanting to establish their foothold in the world. Of course, while they did have the qualifications to start a sect, it didn¡¯t really mean their sect would get members or that they would have resources.


    Sure, there would be many that would want to join the tutge of a Nascent soul realm cultivator, but whether they could provide the resources to cultivate was also an important point that was often missed by people.


    If one did not have resources, it was better for them to be an itinerant cultivator rather than a sect head. Only after spending several years as an itinerant cultivation and gathering sufficient resources might one think of establishing a sect.


    If they were lucky, they might even find a suitable location that was rich in spirit Qi for the sect. But such locations were rare and few in between, as they would need to have a spirit stone mine or spirit Qi spring at the very least under them.


    Such locations had mostly been discovered by the majority of the cultivation sects and others would have to be incredibly lucky to find one in a deserted location or apletely new born spirit Qi spring to even had a chance.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo reached the border of the Fenlong kingdom in about ten hours, and this was when they weren¡¯t going at full speed. After all, they weren¡¯t running away from anyone and weren¡¯t in danger.


    Even if Jing Luo had put on the wind strider boots, he was mainly using them with his own spirit Qi rather than the spirit stones. And the only reason why Lin Mu was sitting on the back of Little Shrubby and not flying on his own was because he was cultivating right now.


    As days passed by, Lin Mu understood that he needed to increase his own cultivation base as much as he could in the shortest time. In the past two months, his cultivation had been increasing steadily and while he was not close to a breakthrough, Lin Mu knew that he was half way to the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.


    Little Shrubby had some shocking gains in the past two months as well, and had reached the Adolescent soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.


    "How did you break through again?" Lin Mu questioned Little Shrubby through their link.


    "I¡¯ve been hunting beasts in the ocean and eating them. I found that, unlike the forest, there are a lot of Nascent soul realm beasts in the water. I don¡¯t even need to do much and theye out on their own to die." Little Shrubby said smugly.


    Lin Mu had a wry smile on his face, understanding that Little Shrubby had basically eaten his way to a breakthrough. He had been aware of his taste for Nascent souls and knew that he had been desiring them for a while now.


    Seeing the Saw toothed Tuna, Lin Mu knew that while the beast¡¯s body was intact, its Nascent soul had already been killed and possibly eaten by little Shrubby.


    Lin Mu curiously checked the body of Little Shrubby and saw that it had be stronger than before. The Beast Qi that Lin Mu had given little Shrubby two months ago was fully assimted and had brought about several minor changes that were hard to notice on the outside.


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    His bloodline also felt a bit more stable to Lin Mu and was possibly affecting him more than he could understand right now.


    Once Lin Mu and Jing Luo reached the border of the Fenlong Kingdom, they could see the dense forest that started from there. Most of the area of Fenlong kingdom was sparse hills and trees, but on the southern border, the forest started.


    "Once the trees of this forest start to turn red, we¡¯ll know that we have entered the territory of the Hong Lin kingdom." Lin Mu informed.


    "Hmm... I¡¯ve heard of this before. The Hong Lin kingdom is also known as the crimson leaf nation and is filled with the Hong Lin Trees. There are some special herbs that are only found here too." Jing Luo replied.


    "Have you been here before?" Lin Mu questioned cursorily.


    "Once when I was a child. I came here with my uncle to get some thousand year old Hong Lin wood. They are used as a material for weapons and are very good for use with fire attribute materials." Jing Luo answered.


    "I see... anything of use we can get here in addition to our mission?" Lin Mu asked again.


    "Hmm... nothing that specificallyes to my mind, but I guess we can get some resin of the Hong Lin trees here. I¡¯ll be able to make some more formations with it as it can be used in several unique inks." Jing Luo replied.

 Chapter 674 - A Horde Of Monkeys

    <h4>Chapter 674 - A Horde Of Monkeys </h4>


    Lin Mu had heard of the Hong Lin tree resin before. It was harvested in the winters when the trees let out their sap and only those that were over a hundred years old produced this resin.


    It was used to make ink, which was used in the creation of talismans and other formations. While most of the formations could be made with spirit Qi as the ink and spirit sense as the brush, the direct method of using actual ink and brush was also quite popr.


    In some cases, that was the only way to make several formations that were above the capabilities of one¡¯s cultivation base. Many formation masters who had great skills with formation but were restricted due to their cultivation base used this method.


    The ink used to make these formations and talismans was made by mixing and processing several materials. There were an almost endless amount ofbinations that could be used, which led to several different formations.


    Since the Hong Lin tree was innately of the fire element, its resin was the same and used in the creation of offensive fire attribute formations.


    Of course, the number of Hong Lin trees that reached the age of over a hundred years were quite rare. This was because they had a hard time reach that age as they would either end up being cut down or dying due to some other problem.


    As for the thousand year old Hong Lin trees, they were the rarest and there were no specific records of such trees. One could only wander around the forest trying to find one based on their luck.


    "When you went with your uncle, did you even find the thousand year old Hong Lin tree?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We did find one... it was mostly dead through and only a single branch was viable to be used." Jing Luo answered.


    "I see. I guess, we may as well get some of them while we are there, just in case we need it in the future." Lin Mu replied as they continued on their journey.


    After about three more hours, they decided to take a break. Lin Mu and Jing Luo ate the grilled fish that was made by little Shrubby and were impressed.


    "You¡¯ve gotten so much better at cooking now." Lin Mu praised.


    "Of course! I¡¯ve been practicing every single day." Little Shrubby replied.


    Jing Luo on the other hand, was confused.


    ¡¯Why does a beast really like to cook so much though?¡¯ he had asked himself this question many times till now, but had eventually decided to give up.


    He looked at the prosthetic hands he had made for little Shrubby, flipping and rotating the skewers that were being cooked on top of a grill with a wry smile. He silently shook his head and just decided to finish up eating his food.


    After about an hour of rest, Lin Mu and Jing Luo were energized and returned to their journey. It was now night time, but it was no trouble for the trio to see in the darkness. Little Shrubby could see in the night even when he was a normal beast, while Lin Mu and Jing Luo just used their spirit sense.


    "Eeeeeekkk!" The sound of a beast was heard echoing through the air and made Lin Mu and Jing Luo alert.


    Traveling at night was not safe, and they had encountered their first obstacle.


    "What was that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~sniff~</i>


    "There¡¯s another beast nearby, five kilometer away." Little Shrubby informed.


    Jing Luo on the other hand, furrowed his brows and spread his spirit sense around.


    "It¡¯s a Green Tail Howler monkey. This one is at the core condensation realm." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Huh? Just Core condensation realm, that¡¯s nothing to us." Lin Mu replied.


    "That¡¯s not the problem..." Just as Jing Luo was about to speak more, a cacophony of cries interrupted him.


    "Eeeee! Eeeee! EEEEeeek!" Hundreds if not thousands of cries of Green Tailed Howler monkeys could be heard now.


    The sound was loud enough that Lin Mu and Jing Luo were forced to close their ears.


    "DAMMIT! IT¡¯S TOO LOUD!" Lin Mu yelled.


    <i>~Grrr~ </i>


    Little Shrubby got annoyed by this too, and his eyes glowed in a dangerous light.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    A thunderous roar was let out by him as a massive fire ball shot out of his mouth. The fireball traveled far, before exining in the sky.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The explosion of the fireball illuminated the area of around five kilometer, allowing Lin Mu and Jing Luo to see the beasts that were hiding in the shadows. They seemed to be a bit intimidated by Little Shrubby¡¯s roar, but soon a stronger presence was felt in the distance.


    On one of the bigger Hong Lin trees, a Green Tailed Howler monkey was standing. Its back was straight and fangs jutted out of its mouth. It was nearly twice as big in size as a normal Green Tailed Howler monkey and seemed to be its leader.


    "KIIIIIII!" The Chief Green Tailed Howler monkey let out an oppressive cry as if ordering his kin to attack.


    "EEEEE! EEeee!" The other Green Tailed Howler monkeys became bold upon hearing their leaders cry and charged towards Lin Mu and Jing Luo.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like we get monkey meat added to the menu now." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Hmm... that chief monkey is good, too. Its bones are one of the ingredients in making a fluted staff." Jing Luo added.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i> Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "I guess, we fight." Lin Mu said as tens of spirit weapon appeared around him.


    He held the ck thorn spear in his hand and pointed at the beasts.


    "KILL!" Lin Mu ordered.


    <i>~ROAR!~ </i>


    Little Shrubby burst forward, going directly towards the chief green tailed howler monkey. With its speed, none of the weaker monkeys were able to stop him and he directly went to sh with the chief.


    <i>~Bam~</i>


    The sound of collision between Little Shrubby and the Green tailed howler monkey chief made a lot of weaker monkeys flinch, but this gave Lin Mu and Jing Luo the perfect chance to begin their ughter.

 Chapter 675 - The Hong Lin Forest

    <h4>Chapter 675 - The Hong Lin Forest </h4>


    Swords and spears flew around as they decapitated, pierced and killed the Green tailed howler monkeys. In less than five minutes, the entire horde of monkeys was eliminated while Little Shrubby finished up fighting the chief.


    He too returned with the corpse of the Green Tailed Howler monkey chief, which was being carried by the prosthetic hands.


    "Well... that was quite a bit of action." Lin Mu said upon seeing the hundreds of corpses that littered the forest now.


    "This is unusual though. They should not have been active at this time, not to mention attack us like this." Jing Luomented.


    "Indeed, this does not seem like their natural behavior." Lin Mu agreed.


    He then looked at all the corpses and didn¡¯t feel like letting them go to waste.


    "Little Shrubby, can you pile all the corpses up here?" Lin Mu asked.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Little Shrubby didn¡¯t even wait to answer before he started collecting all the corpses. With his speed, only two minutes were needed before all the corpses had been stacked into a pile near Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu then simply ced his hand on them and stored them into the ring, leaving only the Chief Howler monkey outside.


    "You want its bones, right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, I can use that to make a fluted staff." Jing Luo replied as he flicked his hand and set a spirit dagger to butcher the corpse.


    "What¡¯s the Fluted staff exactly?" Lin Mu asked while watching Jing Luo dissect the Howler monkey chief.


    "It¡¯s a high grade spirit staff that makes sounds when it is used. It has special holes and groves in it that makes sounds while passing through the air. These sounds can be modified with formations to cause disturbance to the opposing enemies." Jing Luo exined.


    "Ah, I see." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    While he also knew about staffs and had used some ording to the thousand armament de scripture, those staffs were different as they were all ded, unlike normal staffs that were blunt weapons.


    Overall, Lin Mu had not used as many blunt weapons and thus did not have as much experience with them. Once they were done with the clean up, the trio continued their journey and eventually reached their destination.


    "That¡¯s the capital of the Hong Lin kingdom." Jing Luo spoke.


    The two men stood on top of a hill as the sun rose from the horizon, casting a glow that made it seem like the forest was lit up with red mes. In the center of the forest, a city could be seen which was popted by over a million people.


    The city didn¡¯t seem out of ce in the forest though, as if in harmony. There were Hong Lin trees in the city as well, but they were more uniformly arranged, along with other normal trees and nts.


    The Hong Lin forest was a rather unique ecosystem, which was able to sustain itself despite having only one kind of a tree as the majority. All other nts were in the minority, such that only ten percent of the entire forest consisted of normal nts.


    It was considered to be one of the miraculous areas of the Great Zhou continent that could be witnessed by bothmoners and cultivators alike. Most miraculous areas were inessible tomoners and thus were hidden.


    Lin Mu could feel the beauty of the forest and felt rather calm.


    "This ce feels good... it¡¯s veryfortable for me." Little Shrubby spoke too.


    "Indeed. For you, the fire element of the trees is also a plus point, I guess." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and sensed the spirit of Qi in the area. After a bit, he could sense a different kind of spirit Qi in addition to the basic attribute less spirit Qi.


    "Fire attribute spirit Qi..." Lin Mu muttered as he took a deep breath.


    Spirit Qi rushed into his body from all seven of his apertures along with the millions of pores on his body. This spirit Qi had the fire attribute spirit Qi mixed in and thus automatically elicited a new response from his body.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    As the fire attribute spirit Qi flowed through his meridians for the first time, they reacted to it and it was a bit ufortable for Lin Mu at first. But as he kept on breathing more and more, his meridians started to adapt to it and soon formed a small pool of fire attribute liquid spirit Qi in his Dantian.


    The pool was small, containing only ten drops of liquid spirit Qi, but the rate at which Lin Mu had made it was astounding. If it were any other cultivator, it would have taken them several days just to be able to sense the fire attribute spirit Qi in the air if they did not have an affinity with it.


    Lin Mu was someone who had the affinity with earth elemental Qi and none of the other elements. But despite that, his speed of absorbing was no less than that of a cultivator who had been cultivating using fire attribute cultivation technique their entire life.


    In ten breaths, Lin Mu had expanded the pool of fire attribute spirit Qi to a hundred drops. At this point, something else started to change within his body. His heart suddenly started to heat up as waves of energy starteding off it.


    As soon as Lin Mu sensed it, he realized what was happening.


    ¡¯The five Treasures realm... it¡¯s progressing!¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Unknown to himself, he had already entered an extremely focused state of cultivation. Jing Luo, who watched the change happening in a matter of minutes, was left with a wry smile.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Comparing oneself with geniuses will only hurt our Dao hearts..." Jing Luo shook his head and sat down, deciding to wait till Lin Mu was done with his cultivation.


    Little Shrubby joined Lin Mu as well and started to absorb spirit Qi like crazy. To him, who had two beast bloodlines that were of the fire element, it was even faster than Lin Mu!

 Chapter 676 - A Pair Of Nascent Soul Realm Brothers

    <h4>Chapter 676 - A Pair Of Nascent Soul Realm Brothers </h4>


    Inside Hong Lin city, arge circr building with multiple smaller buildings stood. Its roof was painted red, while its walls were white. Looking at it, one could tell that it was made from Hong Lin tree wood, while the paint was made from the leaves of the tree.


    At the front of it, a twin towered gate was built, at the top of which a board hung that mentioned the name of the building.


    ¡¯Hong Lin Royal Pce¡¯


    There were hundreds of people entering and exiting the pce and guards stood at the sides, observing each and every person. There were bothmoners and cultivators mixed into the crowd and all of them seemed to be following the proper etiquette.


    Within this crowd of people, a couple of men wearing Daoist robes were also walking. They kept a calm expression on their faces and entered the gate. The guards at the gate observed them like all others and spirit sense spread over them.


    After a couple of seconds, the guards nodded and let them in.


    "Ugh, do we really need to do all this? Following the rules likemoners, this is humiliating." One of the men said in a low voice.


    "Master named you Dai Heng so that you could have some perseverance while also being patient. Why don¡¯t you follow his wishes?" The other man replied.


    "But senior brother, why do we have to be like this? We are at the Nascent Soul realm. If anything, all of them should bow to us when we are here." The man named Dai Heng asked.


    "Master sent you out so that you could experience the world better. Just because you are a Nascent Soul realm cultivator does not mean that you can just exert your might and suppress others.


    There is a ce and timing for everything. Doing that here would bring you no benefits and you will only lose face for Master and yourself." The senior brother replied.


    "Fine... I won¡¯t..." Dai Heng replied.


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    The two of them continued onward to the second gate, where they were checked as well.


    The entire area of the ce was divided into four circles. Each circle had different buildings and the innermost circle was the one that held the royal pce and the royal court.


    All the other circles held other important buildings of the kingdom, such as the ministry ofbor, the ministry of agriculture, the ministry of culture, and so on and so forth. Depending on their importance, they were all assigned in different circles.


    The buildings in the outermost circle were the offices of minor officials and workers that took care of the misceneous tasks of the administration. The buildings in the second circle were those that housed the more important buildings, such as the royal library, the royal repository and many more.


    The third circle contained all the ministries, while the final fourth circle was the one that held the actual royal pce.


    All this took up half of the area of the capital city and looked like arge crown set upon the earth, with the buildings the decorations of the crown.


    The two men in Daoist robes were halted at the second gate and were checked more thoroughly. The security increased the deeper one went into the circles, with the outermost circle being essible to nearly everyone, includingmoners, while the second circle and onwards needed special identity tokens to enter.


    "Halt! Show us your identity token." The guard at the second gate spoke.


    The senior brother among the two took out a rtively in piece of paper and handed it to the guard.


    "We do not have tokens, we were given a temporary pass. We have been invited to the pce." The senior brother spoke in a humble tone.


    The guard narrowed his eyes and took a look at the pass. Only two lines were written on it and the words were written rather casually.


    ¡¯Please grant entry to the bearers of this pass.


    -Daoist Hua¡¯


    In addition to these lines, a red stamp that was in the shape of a leaf and another stamp that read ¡¯Noon¡¯ was imprinted at the bottom.


    The guard found it to be rather dubious and wondered if these men were here to ridicule them with a thing like this. But when his eyes fell on the red leaf stamp, he knew that it was genuine.


    "Hmph! Enter, but next time tell whoever issued you this pass to use a better quality. It is very rude to use this kind of format for official documents." The guard warned.


    The senior brother could only smile wryly, knowing that he couldn¡¯t really say anything to the person who issued them this pass.


    "I¡¯ll keep that in mind, brother guard." The senior brother said before they walked ahead while the junior brother hid his face in embarrassment.


    "Why doesn¡¯t master think of us when he sends us out on errands like this? His style is far more casual than it should be for someone of his stature." The junior brother stated.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Do you want to tell master? Feel free to do so. Just remember that fifth junior brother ended up plucking the grass of the back mountain one de at a time, without using his cultivation for three years when he did the same." The senior brother warned.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    "I... I¡¯ll keep it to myself." The junior brother hurriedly replied.


    "That will be best." The senior brother said before they continued onward.


    They were now at the third circle¡¯s gate and about to enter it.


    "Show us your identity tokens!" the guards ordered.


    The senior brother was about to hand the pass to the guard and the junior brother was about to hide his face to save the embarrassment, when suddenly he felt a spirit Qi waveing from the back.


    <i>~thud~ thud~</i>


    Both of them turned around at a lightning like speed and took defensive postures. The guards who saw this became alert as well and thought that these two were here to cause trouble.


    "Senior brother that..." the junior brother spoke.


    "Someone powerful is here..."

 Chapter 677 - Heart Refinement

    <h4>Chapter 677 - Heart Refinement </h4>


    The two brothers¡¯ action had made the guards alert too and they wondered if these men were about to do something problematic, but they just stood there talking amongst themselves.


    Suddenly the guards realized that they couldn¡¯t hear what they were speaking and nor could they sense their cultivation bases.


    "What?" one of the guards said.


    One moment, these men looked like they were at the Qi refining realm and now they were unable to tell what realm they were at.


    "What realm are they at senior brother? Peak of the Nascent Soul realm?" The junior brother asked.


    "Possibly higher... unless it¡¯s something else." The senior brother said.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    But then the next moment, his expression changed as he felt another wave of spirit Qiing from the distance, this time a bit weaker.


    "Another one?!" The junior brother sensed it as well.


    "Yes... there are two now..." The senior brother replied as he narrowed his eyes.


    His spirit sense spread around, but was unable to find the source of the spirit Qi wave within the city.


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    "What should we do now?" The junior brother asked. "Do we go check it out?"


    The senior brother thought for a bit before shaking his head.


    "No... we need to finish our task first. Besides, as long as they are not causing trouble we have no need to interfere... and it¡¯s not our responsibility either." The senior brother answered.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    "Okay," The junior brother replied as he lowered his spirit sword and stored it away.


    The senior brother did the same and turned back to look at the stunned guards.


    "Forgive me, brother guards. We have embarrassed ourselves. Please let us pass." The senior brother cupped his hand and spoke with a smile on his face.


    "E... E-Enter," The guards opened the gate for them.


    ***


    Back at the hill where Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were having an impromptu cultivation session, Jing Luo had set up a couple of barriers. He was writing in air, and making runes that floated to join the formation that he had made.


    "There... this should be fine for now." Jing Luo said before turning to look at Lin Mu and Little Shrubby.


    "These are guys... <i>~sigh~</i>" Jing Luo shook his head and sat down as well.


    He then took out a few of the materials and started refining them. Jing Luo had not forgotten that he still needed to make the entrance token that would grant him the passage to the ancestralnd.


    He was barely ten percent done with the refinement of materials and he wanted to be done as soon as possible. Thus to not waste any time, he made use of all free periods of time he had while waiting.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby on the other hand were having rather great progress and their cultivation bases were experiencing an increase once again. Except in the case of Lin Mu, it was his body cultivation that was increasing and for Little Shrubby, it was his Qi cultivation.


    Inside Lin Mu¡¯s body, the fire attributive spirit Qi had now made aplete cycle and was ready to be assimted by his heart. The pool of liquid fire attribute spirit Qi started to be guided towards the heart while the other meridians kept on refining more of it and depositing it into his Dantian.


    It was a rtively bnced speed, though the process of consumption of fire attribute spirit Qi was still higher than that of refinement. Bit by bit, the fire attribute spirit Qi reached his heart and started being absorbed into its cells.


    The heart was one of the five treasured organs and belonged to the fire element. It was responsible for providing blood to the entire body and was a vital organ. The stopping of it would cause even a cultivator to die.


    The stronger one¡¯s heart was the better stamina they would have. Plus the other organs would also benefit overall, if a heart was strong and could withstand strains and stress, stably. If it were up to Lin Mu, he would have chosen to refine his heart first as well among the five treasured organs.


    But unfortunately for him, he only had a technique for the earth element and thus had chosen to refine his spleen instead. While it was also an important organ, it wasn¡¯t directly useful for Lin Mu as much as a heart was.


    Even right now, Lin Mu did not have a body cultivation technique that could cultivate fire attribute spirit Qi. The situation that he was in right now was because he was lucky and he had a bout of enlightenment due to sensing such high amounts of fire attribute spirit Qi for the first time.


    It was his body¡¯s natural response and it was also the fire attribute spirit Qi in the air responding to it. It was the same as water moving from a high point to a lower point, until equilibrium was reached.


    The fire attribute spirit Qi found his body conducive under its absorption and started entering it. Lin Mu took advantage of it and let his Heart take up as much fire attribute spirit Qi as it could right now.


    Since the refinement of organs was easier at the start, even direct spirit Qi could help it. But in thetter parts, one ended up needing spirit herbs and pills to assist it as the process only got more and more difficult.


    Lin Mu had plenty of fire attribute spirit herbs and even several pills and thus he chose to use the infusion of fire attribute spirit Qi he was experiencing right now to refine his heart as much as he could.


    ¡¯This is rather different... I can feel the fiery warmth in my chest...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The cells of Lin Mu¡¯s heart absorbed the fire attribute spirit Qi and started to change. They began to replicate and divide but the new cells that were born were better than the original cells.


    These were the newly refined cells!

 Chapter 678 - 30% Refinement Completed!

    <h4>Chapter 678 - 30% Refinement Completed! </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s heart started to change cell by cell and became stronger. The fiery warmth he was feeling in his chest was now apanied by an itch. The itch was simr to what one would feel on their scabs and wounds when they were healing, but Lin Mu could not scratch it at all.


    ¡¯Ugh... this is far more ufortable than I thought it would be...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After all, while the pain was something he could tolerate and suppress, itching was something that went beyond that and could not be suppressed easily. Even being at the Adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul realm and the second level of the Five Treasures realm was not enough.


    Lin Mu held on for about ten minutes, but it was getting a bit too much.


    ¡¯Need to do something...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself and went to the solution he had used many times before.


    Lin Mu started to chant the calming heart sutra so that it could calm the itch on his heart!


    The effect of the sutra was rather effective as in less than ten seconds, Lin Mu felt the itching subside. The refinement of his heart still continued though and was now reaching fifteen percentpletion.


    This was a rather rapid pace, but Lin Mu knew that he would not be able to keep this up for long. Once the state he was in passed and the infusion of Fire Attribute spirit Qi stopped he would not be able to do it again.


    ¡¯I need to find something that can be used to further my Five treasures realm body cultivation.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu let the process continue for as long as possible and focused on it so that it could be drawn for even longer. But eventually as an hour passed, he had to stop as the infusion of fire attribute spirit Qi stopped as well.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath that was hotter than normal and opened his eyes. He checked his Heart and saw that it had reached thirty percent refinement sessfully.


    "Well... this was an unexpected gain... unexpected, but surely a wee one." Lin Mu said.


    Little Shrubby too woke up seeing that Lin Mu had woken up and stretched his body. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t sense anything particrity different in his body, but that was obvious as the beast had only recently broken through to the adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul realm as well.


    Within his Dantian, the baby kitten was now the shape of a tiger cub. Once it reached the Adult stage, it would look the same as what Little Shrubby looked in real life. It was the same for Lin Mu too, as his nascent soul currently looked like what he used to look five years ago when he was fifteen.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll need to keep in mind when I reach the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm... my appearance will be fixed after that.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu turned his gaze and saw Jing Luo busy with his own refinement. But what he was refining was far different than him, he was refining materials needed to make the entrance token.


    Currently, Lin Mu could see three blocks of metal ores floating in front of Jing Luo as three different intensities of fires burned beneath them. All three of them were being held by what looked like a verypressed formation array and were floating stably.


    Lin Mu was rather intrigued upon seeing this as he had not read or seen a method of refinement like this ever before.


    "How¡¯s it going?" Lin Mu questioned Jing Luo in a low voice, so as to not disturb him much.


    "It¡¯s going well... it¡¯s just that the refinement process for these metals is just too slow and there is nothing I can do to speed it up. It¡¯s not even that I need to make it reach the best quality I can, but rather to create a specific set of tempering patterns that only appear after a certain period of tempering." Jing Luo answered, his voice sounding a bit frustrated.


    "Ah, I see. It does seem like a hectic job." Lin Mu replied, not knowing what much to say.


    "It¡¯s just the constant changes that need to be done. This is way below my skill level, but the time period needed to do this all is what tires one out more." Jing Luo stated.


    Lin Mu simply nodded and looked on at the small formation array that was in the form of a small forge.


    "And what¡¯s this formation array? Did you design this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Oh, this? This is our Ji n¡¯s: Ji All-refinement Formation Array. This was designed by one of our ancestors a long time ago and is used by nearly every member of our n. Though it is often modified ording to the preferences of the refiner themselves.


    It is rather modr and we can make changes as need be. This very same array can be reduced to only refine a single material as well. I currently have it set to three, but if the need arises it can even be expanded to hundreds of items.


    Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.


    These formations can also be inscribed onto a physical forge directly, making them even more powerful and efficient." Jing Luo exined enthusiastically.


    Hearing the exnation Lin Mu felt rather impressed. Even in the records about formations that Jing Luo had given him, it didn¡¯t actually include any inheritance techniques such as these. The things that Jing Luo had givens Lin Mu mostly involved the parts that he had researched himself and could give it out since he owned it.


    As for the knowledge of his n, he could not give it out without the permission of the patriarch. But if it were really up to Jing Luo, he wouldn¡¯t mind giving it all to Lin Mu anyway.


    Having heard of Jing Luo¡¯s woes a realization suddenly urred to Lin Mu.

 Chapter 679 - Giving Jing Luo The High Leveled Knowledge

    <h4>Chapter 679 - Giving Jing Luo The High Leveled Knowledge </h4>


    Lin Mu wondered why he had not done this before and then realized that he and Jing Luo had simply been far too upied with other matters and did note to the issue of refinement as much.


    And even when Jing Luo did do refinement, he mostly did it on his own and alone. This didn¡¯t let Lin Mu think about it either and thus the current situation arrived where he had missed out on an upgrade that could have been done a while time ago.


    "Senior Xukong, can you give Jing Luo the same weapon forging and spirit tool refinement knowledge that you gave to Jing Wei?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Xukong, who had not spoken for a few days and had been mostly engrossed in his own cultivation, woke up upon hearing Lin Mu¡¯s voice. The first thing he did upon waking up was to check his surroundings.


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    ¡¯Huh? The fire element is rather concentrated here...¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    He then went through the more recent memories that were stored in their shared consciousness and learned all that had happened in the past few days.


    ¡¯A battle with a horde of monkeys and a lot of corpses... Hong Lin kingdom... fire attribute spirit Qi and a small bout of enlightenment.¡¯ Xukong saw.


    "Oh? He even had some progress in the five treasures realm, that¡¯s good. Especially without the use of a body cultivation technique too..." Xukong muttered to himself.


    Having seen the recent memories, Xukong now had a hang of all that happened and also learned what Lin Mu had asked for.


    "I can give it to him as well, but it wille at a cost." Xukong spoke.


    "Cost? You mean the ward?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed. Every time it is used as an interface, it will weaken and run out of the energy it had. It cannot be replenished either and the world itself will interfere if we prod around too much." Xukong answered.


    "How much will this take?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Currently you have about sixty percent of the ward left, doing this will take another ten percent of the energy," Xukong answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu said before thinking over it a bit more.


    So far, the ward had only activated twice. The first was with Jing Wei and the second time with Gu Yao. That was because Lin Mu was far too weak before andpared to the overpowering enemies he had to face, it was necessary.


    But now that he thought of it, he barely had any difficulty fighting against most enemies. Even at his Adolescent soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivation base, he didn¡¯t really have much trouble fighting Adult soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivators.


    And while he had not fought any Dao Shell realm cultivators till now, Lin Mu was getting confident that he might actually be able to hold up against them. And even if he could not do that, he was more than confident in escaping.


    Plus, he would enter the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm soon and that would allow him to fight even stronger enemies.


    ¡¯There is the Five Treasures realm cultivation too...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After thinking to himself for a minute, he realized that he could easily sacrifice such a percentage of the ward with almost no problems. Besides, this would allow Jing Luo to speed up his work and get far more stronger than before.


    In the long term, this was only going to benefit Lin Mu as well.


    "Alright, senior... I¡¯ve decided to do it." Lin Mu stated.


    "Very well. I¡¯ll do it then... you may want to warn him before that though." Xukong suggested.


    "Ah, yes. I¡¯ll do that." Lin Mu replied before opening his eyes and looked at Jing Luo, who was still busy with his work.


    "Jing Luo," Lin Mu called out.


    "Yes? Need something?" Jing Luo turned around.


    "I have a way to speed up the refinement process." Lin Mu replied.


    "You do? How?" Jing Luo questioned, feeling interested.


    "My master has agreed to pass the weapon and tool refinement knowledge of the higher worlds to you." Lin Mu answered.


    "He? What? Master?" Jing Luo was stunned to say the least, upon hearing this.


    "Be ready." Lin Mu said as he pointed his finger towards the man.


    Before Jing Luo could even say anything, he felt his vision go dark as a stream of information started to pour into his mind. After a point, he started to get a headache, but when he saw the information, he got excited.


    "How..." Jing Luo couldn¡¯t help but marvel at the techniques and skills of the higher worlds.


    About five minutester, the process wasplete, and Lin Mu lowered his hand. This time, not only had Jing Luo gotten all the information, but Lin Mu had obtained it too. But to him, the information was too high leveled and he could not apply it.


    It was the same as giving a grade schooler the books to make a terrifying missile; It was useless. If they did not have the foundational knowledge that was needed to even reach that point, the rest of the information would just be useless.


    But for Jing Luo, who was proficient and very experienced, all of this information was as if an oasis at the end of a desert. The oasis was the enlightenment he needed while the desert was the block he was going through, unable to pass and think ahead.


    Jing Luo stayed in a state ofprehension for about an hour. During this time, Lin Mu ensured that nothing happened to him and guarded him. It was only fair, since he had done the same for him before.


    Still, it wasn¡¯t really any trouble since they were in a rtively safe ce and any beasts that could evene close were quite weakpared to them. Finally, after the hour passed and Jing Luo opened his eyes, joy was filled in them.


    "This... WE WILL BE INVINCIBLE NOW!" Jing Luo dered.

 Chapter 680 - Into The Hong Lin Capital

    <h4>Chapter 680 - Into The Hong Lin Capital </h4>


    Seeing Jing Luo¡¯s response, Lin Mu knew that he had definitely figured out a solution to his problems from this.


    "I reckon you had some good gains from this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Good Gains? That will be a grave understatement... this knowledge... I... If I¡¯m given enough time, I can bet my life that I can make hundreds of peak grade spirit tools, pseudo immortal tools, or even ... an immortal tool!" Jing Luo spoke.


    Seeing Jing Luo¡¯s enthusiasm, Lin Mu knew that the man was quite pleased.


    "Very well then, I guess you should finish up on the entrance token first?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I¡¯ll do thatter. First, I need to assimte all this information." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Ah, yes. Your grandfather needed to do the same. That was also one of the reasons why he chose to go to the ancestralnd." Lin Mu replied.


    "That would be the most optimum decision. There is said to be aprehension and enlightenment room there which can greatly speed up the process of learning new techniques and skills.


    Though it does require arge amount of spirit Qi to operate." Jing Luo said.


    "Oh really? Interesting..." Lin Mu stated, taking note of this.


    "We should enter the city and get a ce. It¡¯ll take me a few days toprehend and assimte all this. Plus, the target we want to find is also rather intricately hidden. We will need to be careful, lest they go further in hiding." Jing Luo said.


    "Yes, that would be for the best. Let¡¯s head in," Lin Mu said before turning to look at little Shrubby. "You know what to do."


    "I¡¯ll just stay here and cultivate. It feels good here." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Yeah, do that. We¡¯ll be close by, anyway." Lin Mu replied before leaving with Jing Luo.


    "Wait, the beast Qi." Little Shrubby reminded Lin Mu.


    "Ah, yes. Let me give you some before leaving." Lin Mu stated before chanting the nurturing heart sutra.


    In this area, the concentration of fire attribute spirit Qi was higher than normal and it was very conducive to Little Shrubby¡¯s cultivation. Normally, with the assistance of the beast Qi, the speed of cultivation was already increased by a certain level. Lin Mu could only imagine the speed little shrubby might have with a suitable area like this.


    "Here you go," Lin Mu said as she sent a thick stream of Beast Qi to Little shrubby.


    Little shrubby absorbed it and quickly sprawled on the soft grass before falling asleep.


    Jing Luo looked at the barrier formations and spoke, "I guess we¡¯ll leave the formations here just in case."


    "Mmhmm, it¡¯ll prevent most people froming close or even seeing him." Lin Mu agreed.


    Jing Luo had already winded up the Ji All-Refinement formation array and was ready to leave. The two men flew towards the city beforending at a short distance away from it. Even if they would have no problem revealing their cultivation base in the Hong Lin City, it was still better to keep as low of a profile as possible.


    After all, Gu Yao¡¯s spies could be everywhere and who knows if they report about them, which reached Gu Yao and he takes an interest in them. Plus, they also needed to ensure that the members of the Hei corps they were looking for wouldn¡¯t be scared off.


    The remaining members of the Hei corps have been in hiding for years now and had only gotten warier and warier of the enemies. Even from their ownpanions and other members, they were barely keeping any contact.


    ¡¯Hopefully, these members and Wu Hei are still in contact. If they are hiding, it should be under the guidance and instructions of Wu Hei.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo had no problems entering the city and quickly found a suitable ce to live in a rather isted courtyard. The costs of these things were irrelevant to them with the amount of fortune they had and thus they directly picked a ce that was the best one.


    "This should be good enough. Take any room you fancy. I¡¯ll go out and take a look around the city." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Alright, just be a bit more careful. We are now in the central area of the continent, which is far closer to several top sects and also the imperial capital. You are far more likely to encounter stronger cultivators here." Jing Luo warned.


    "I¡¯ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu said before taking his leave.


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    He then spent the rest of the day wandering the city and learning more about it and its people. Lin Mu learned of the royal pce of the Hong Lin Kingdom that was located in the center of the city. It was the most eye catching piece of infrastructure and also took up nearly a quarter of the entire city¡¯s area.


    He learned how it was divided into the different sections and the people that worked in it. Lin Mu also took the opportunity to find out more about the Hong Lin trees and where he could buy the type that Jing Luo wanted.


    Even though it wasn¡¯t really the focus of their mission, it wasn¡¯t something that really caused Lin Mu any problems, so he thought he may as well do it.


    "Huh... hundred year old Hong Lin wood is still avable to buy at a high price but the thousand years old is nowhere to be seen. Just as Jing Luo said, they can only be found with luck..." Lin Mu muttered to himself while walking.


    He had just consulted several traders that sold Hong Lin Wood and got the same answer.


    ¡¯Looks like we¡¯ll just have to shelve this forter. I¡¯ll get started on the possible locations of the Hei corps members.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The location that he was heading to was actually the royal pce, or more urately, the second circle of the royal pce. This was the ce where thew enforcement records were stored.

 Chapter 681 - The Law Enforcement Records

    <h4>Chapter 681 - The Law Enforcement Records </h4>


    For Lin Mu, entering the ce was a piece of cake. No security was enough for him and even the formation arrays couldn¡¯t do much since he was able to just go around them. Quickly bypassing them with Phase and Fade, Lin Mu appeared underneath the second ring of the royal pce.


    "Hmm... now which one is thew enforcement building?" Lin Mu wondered as he spread his spirit sense around.


    A minuteter he found the ce he was looking for and moved towards there. He checked to see for people and saw that there were easily over a hundred people working in there currently.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit and picked his tactic so that he would not be seen. The tactic was one that he had used many times before. He would appear from solid objects and just store the records he wanted before taking a look through them.


    He would do this until he found the right record.


    "Though it might be better to just ask someone where they were... but that has its own share of different problems." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He began his search and ended up spending six hours in it. Despite his spirit sense, the number of records in thew enforcement record room were simply massive. He reckoned that these were all records from a long time ago and thus had reached such a number.


    Lin Mu even found several records that dated back to over three hundred years ago. There were records for petty crimes such as unruly behavior and public nuisance all the way to murder and treason.


    Though the area where the records for treason or high crimes were stored was under extra security. Lin Mu had to spend some extra time unraveling the formation so that he could enter it. That was where he finally found the record he was looking for.


    Lin Mu took one of the scrolls that had a stamp imprinted on its seams that read ¡¯Treason¡¯. He opened it up and read its contents, but was then shocked.


    ¡¯All official correspondence and documents rted to the Hei corps and their reports are to be stored in the royal repository.


    ¡ªBy the order of Minister of Law, Fu Delun¡¯


    "Why would they need to move it there? Is there something more to it?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but wonder.


    ording to what Lin Mu knew, the orders to keep watch on the activities of Hei corps were issued to every sect and kingdom on the continent. Which meant that it wasn¡¯t a secret and even public knew about it.


    Thus, this extra secrecy increased Lin Mu¡¯s wariness for it.


    "If they have done this for the Hei corps they should have done the same for me too, shouldn¡¯t they?" Lin Mu guessed. "Let¡¯s see if I can find anything on myself."


    He then searched for any documents or records rted to him and found them rather quickly. They were stored in the same section as well, and there was only one single scroll there. Seeing it, Lin Mu had a bad feeling.


    ¡¯All official correspondence and documents rted to the person ¡¯Lin Mu¡¯ and his reports are to be stored in the royal repository.


    ¡ªBy the order of Minister of Law, Fu Delun¡¯


    "The same... this minister ofw Fu Delun seems suspicious... ording to what the merchant¡¯s informants provided us, there were public reports about the Hei corps. Thetest report was from eight months ago as well.


    This must mean they added this new order between that time. Is there perhaps any date here?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He checked the scrolls and the shelf they were stored, but there were no dates mentioned there.


    "There should be a separate register for this, you¡¯ll need to find that." Xukong suggested Lin Mu.


    "Ah, I¡¯ll do that then, senior." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu took another half an hour to search and found the register. But he also encountered a problem. The register was being used by several people right now. It was kept with the head of the department, and he was currently doing work with the registry involved.


    "Taking it from him would be possible, but would only cause an rm. I¡¯ll need to wait till he is done..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He wondered if he could find it just by looking from above, but that was a far fetched possibility. The register was several thousand pages thick and was over two meters long. Not to mention finding it like this, even a person who had the registry in his hand would take a while to sift through the pages and find the correct entry.


    "Sigh, isn¡¯t this too inefficient? Can¡¯t they just put the registry in a jade slip?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t hole but say.


    "Well that is how it is done in sects, but here since there aremoners who are not cultivators working, you can understand how that method might not work." Xukong replied.


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    "Oh, yeah. That¡¯s true as well." Lin Mu nodded his head in understanding.


    ¡¯Hmm... I guess I¡¯ll keep an eye on this with my spirit sense while I go check other documents. Maybe I¡¯ll find something useful.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He then split a separate spirit sense tendril that kept a watch on the head of the department who had the register and went to check other documents. He ended up spending over seven hours like this and it was the afternoon of the next day by the time the man was done.


    The head of the department was also a cultivator, thus it made sense that night time didn¡¯t really matter to him as much, plus seeing the work that needed to be done, he was portablypelled to finish it as well.


    "The man definitely looks tired..." Lin Mu said upon seeing the eye bags on the man¡¯s face.


    The man was in the mid stage of the Qi refining realm, which was probably quite high for an official of this level. And despite that, he had been tired out working just a single night.

 Chapter 682 - Entering The Hong Lin Royal Palace

    <h4>Chapter 682 - Entering The Hong Lin Royal Pce </h4>


    Once the head of the department was done with his work, he picked up the long register and put it in a safe before locking it. He also locked his office before he left the building.


    "Finally..." Lin Mu said with relief.


    He simply put his hand through the walls of the safe and touched the register, storing it into his ring before taking a look. After about five minutes of spirit sense assisted search, Lin Mu finally found the two entries he was looking for.


    "Huh... both of the orders in regards to me and the Hei corpse were issued about six months ago. That would be just two months after thest sighting of the Hei corps..." Lin Mu read.


    He didn¡¯t know what to make of this as it gave little context and Lin Mu understood that if he wanted to find out more, he will need to go to the royal pce itself.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Why can¡¯t all this be more simple?..." Lin Mu shook his head.


    He then left thew enforcement building and made his way to the main pce. He was in the second ring and needed to cross the third ring to enter the final ring in which the actual royal ce was built.


    While going through the third ring, Lin Mu even saw the ministry ofw there. He wondered if he should go and check up on the Minister ofw Fu Delun but then decided to do itter if the need arose.


    For now, it would be much easier for him if he just found the intended records in the royal pce.


    "So this is the royal ce, huh... it does have a rather different design than the one in the Shuang Qian kingdom¡¯s capital." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


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    Unlike other pces, the ce of the Hong Lin Kingdom was a single circr building that towered around two hundred meters. Lin Mu could feel that the pce was not only extended above the ground but also below it.


    Once he got past the formation arrays, it became easy for Lin Mu to take a look around. He spread his spirit sense around and checked for all the people that were in the ce. Most of them weremoners with no cultivation base, but around thirty percent were those with cultivation.


    This included the guards that protected the ce and the royal family, along with the royal family itself. After a bit of looking around, Lin Mu even found the king of the Hong Lin kingdom.


    Lin Mu checked his cultivation base and found him to be at the peak stage of the core condensation realm. Though he could also tell that the man was actually a bit ahead of that, possibly being at the Pseudo Nascent soul realm.


    "He might actually have a heavenly tribtionter." Lin Mu muttered to himself and squinted his eyes while using spatial perception.


    "Oh? There are actually spatial disturbances around him. His heavenly tribtion is not far... another month perhaps." Lin Mu estimated.


    After observing the king who was evidently cultivating by himself, Lin Mu had a strange thought.


    "Killing him would be rather easy now, wouldn¡¯t it? With the level of ess I have, nearly anyone should be able to kill him. This security seems a bit weak..." Lin Mu spoke to himself.


    "You have to remember that there may not be a single other person, who is able to manipte space as you are doing right now. Even cultivators who are proficient with the spatial element are unable to pass through objects like you are unless they have a very high cultivation base." Xukong reminded.


    Lin Mu looked at the ring on his hand and knew that all this was only possible due to this. It was his biggest fortune that he had been able toe across this ring and grow to this point.


    ¡¯But what is the use of it all... once I get avenge my parents and satisfy the world, what do I do? With such great power I can do anything... but what exactly do I pursue?¡¯ Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but wonder.


    There was a flood of thoughts that would fill his mind, but he forcibly supersede them for now and decided to focus on the mission.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll need to think of all thatter once I¡¯m done. I can¡¯t be making mistakes just because I was distracted...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    With determination in his eyes, he checked the other areas of the pce. But just when he was checking the underground areas of the pce, Lin Mu sensed spirit Qi fluctuations that were stronger than normal.


    "Huh, four Nascent soul realm cultivators?" Lin Mu was able to sense the presence of some people on the lower floors.


    Going a bit closer but ensuring that he was not detected by them, Lin Mu observed the said four Nascent soul realm cultivators. From the spirit Qi fluctuations, he could tell that they had varied cultivation stages even if they were all in the Nascent Soul realm.


    "Hmm... the one at the bottom has the strongest fluctuations, even if they are a bit suppressed. The three that are in the middle have nearly the same fluctuations, with one of them being lower than the other two." Lin Mu analyzed.


    He first decided to check the one cultivation who was alone at the bottom as there would be fewer chances of him being detected.


    ¡¯Since he has suppressed his spirit Qi fluctuations, he might be in seclusion perhaps...¡¯ Lin Mu guessed.


    Lin Mu this descended to the very bottom of the pce at the lowest underground floor and arrived at what looked very clearly like a cultivator¡¯s abode. There were spirit herbs nted here and even a spirit Qi gathering formation that circted the spirit Qi while also concentrating it.


    Going past a few smaller halls, Lin Mu reached the inner area where the cultivator was actually located.


    Seeing his appearance, Lin Mu was rather astounded.


    "Is he... dead?"

 Chapter 683 - Strange Whispers

    <h4>Chapter 683 - Strange Whispers </h4>


    The man in front of Lin Mu was extremely emaciated and thing. Veins popped on his skin like the ridges on the bark of an old tree. What little hair he had was white and a long white beard apanied it.


    His fingers were long and bony, with nary a bit of flesh on it. His back was crooked, and he was sitting cross legged. No matter which angle Lin Mu looked from, the man looked no less than dead.


    And yet, the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from his body showed him that the man was at the Nascent Soul realm. Though Lin Mu could not fully estimate which stage he was at as doing, that would probably disturb the old man.


    "If he¡¯s not dead, then he¡¯s extremely close to death." Xukong spoke.


    Seeing this, Lin Mu was reminded of the reality of what happened when a cultivator reached the end of their lifespan. They would start to rapidly age and years would turn into months for them.


    The man in front of Lin Mu easily looked like he was over a hundred years old ifpared to amon mortal human.


    "Seems like he is the ancestor of this kingdom, perhaps one of the former kings?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Hmm, that could be it. Such experts usually enter seclusion and stay there, guarding the younger generation against any trouble that they can¡¯t handle. Of course, there is a limit to how many times they can do so and also how long they can perform this duty.


    Seeing this old man, I doubt he has more than a month or two left." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu observed the unmoving man for a few minutes, while he was given a harsh reminder of what could be his eventual future.


    ¡¯I can¡¯t let that happen... I don¡¯t want to be like this in the future!¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and opened his eyes that were filled with newfound determination; determination to never let himself reach this point. Even if he was going to die, he would die with dignity and not like this.


    At the same time, within the Mysterious ring, the Ethereal altar flickered before a few runes came out of it. The runes were different from the ones on it and were written in a rather fierce style.


    They looked like they had been carved out by ws rather than written or drawn. The color of the runes was also dark grey, almost bordering on ck. The runes spun around the altar before trying to move away from it.


    But when they tried to do so, they were blocked by the barrier that surrounded the ethereal altar. This was the same barrier that prevented Xukong from getting close and was extremely strong, ording to him.


    The runes tried to go through the barrier but were unable to do so. It was at this point that they seemed to have noticed the Grey egg that was kept near the barrier. They approached that part of the barrier and tapped against it.


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    The runes vibrated and let out a strange hum. These vibrations were able to pass through the barrier and reached the Grey egg. Upon hitting the egg, they made the egg tremble.


    The egg kept on trembling and was moved from its position. It rolled slightly towards the barrier but then suddenly stopped. This time, the sound of heartbeats came from the egg and it stopped responding to the vibrations created by the runes.


    The runes kept on sending more vibrations, but the egg stayed in its ce, not moving at all. It was as if the heartbeats were matching the vibrations of the runes and countering them.


    The runes continued their effort for a few seconds, but once they realized that it was not working, they returned to hover above the ethereal altar. There, they kept on spinning as if lost at what to do.


    They stayed like this for about a minute before finally, they started to shrink. The more they shrunk, the darker their color got, and when they reached a size that was less than ten times than the original, they had turned fully pitch ck.


    At this time, they looked no less than a needle and let out a thin beam of ck light straight up. The light traveled at a great speed and disappeared. Xukong who was also in the ring, suddenly turned around and looked in the direction of the ethereal altar.


    "Huh? Did something happen? Why did the space tremble?" Xukong wondered.


    He moved to see the altar and saw that nothing had changed. He even saw the egg, which was lying in a tilted position but did not put much thought to it. Lin Mu withdrew the egg nearly every day and thus its position would change often.


    Of course, Xukong did not pay any extra attention to how the egg looked or moved. He observed the barrier and the altar within, confirming that everything was fine.


    At the same time as this, Lin Mu was also having a different experience.


    While he was thinking about his own lifespan, and how it would end, Lin Mu suddenly heard a whisper. It was extremely strange to him as he didn¡¯t hear it from his ears but rather directly in his head.


    <i>"Kill... Kill forever... live... live forever..."</i>


    Lin Mu could only hear a few words and even if he tried to focus on it a bit more, he was unable to hear anything more.


    "What the hell are these whispers?" Lin Mu said in his mind, pulling Xukong¡¯s attention as well.


    "What happened?" Xukong questioned.


    "I heard some strange whispers, but they weren¡¯t from outside, rather directly in my mind." Lin Mu answered.


    "Whispers? What did they say?" Xukong asked, now feeling a bit concerned.


    "They said... They said... I... can¡¯t remember them? I can¡¯t remember them!" Lin Mu eximed in his mind.


    Xukong was now officially concerned and wondered if what he felt before was linked to this.

 Chapter 684 - The Kings Uncle

    <h4>Chapter 684 - The King''s Uncle </h4>


    "Senior?" Lin Mu called out, seeing that Xukong had gone silent all of a sudden.


    "Ah, yes. I can¡¯t tell what exactly happened, but I did feel the space within the ring tremble for a moment there as well." Xukong informed.


    "You did?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. At first, I thought it was probably just a minor anomaly in space. The ring is a strange space that even I cannot fully understand and just thought that it might have been a normal urrence, albeit rare.


    But now... now I don¡¯t think that was normal." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes upon hearing this and wondered what it could have been.


    "Should we check the ring?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I¡¯ve already taken a look around the altar, there¡¯s no change there. As for any other ces, it would be impossible to find a source with how vast this ce is." Xukong replied.


    "I see... we¡¯ll think about thister, I guess. For now, we¡¯ll focus on the task at hand." Lin Mu replied.


    "Agreed, I¡¯ll keep a close eye on the situation in the ring in the meantime." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to leave this ce.


    He had already seen enough of the old man and the longer he stayed here while observing him, the more ufortable he became.


    ¡¯At least we know what the peak power of this kingdom is...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he ascended to the floors above.


    His location was none other than the floor where he had detected the three other Nascent soul realm cultivators. He had to be a bit more careful in this part and ensured that his spirit sense did not identallye into their sensory range.


    This floor was three levels up from the floor on which the old man was and looked like a study room instead. There were several bookshelves along with tens of chests kept along the walls. There were also some paintings hung on the wall.


    In here, Lin Mu saw three Nascent soul realm cultivators talking. Since he was closer to them, Lin Mu could now tell their cultivation bases far more clearly.


    "One Infant Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator and two Child Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivators." Lin Mu observed.


    One of the Child Soul stage Nascent Soul realm cultivators was sitting behind a desk talking to the other two, who were evidently together. There was of course, a sound isting formation around the floor, but that was already a piece of cake for Lin Mu to unravel.


    Once inside the formation, Lin Mu took his position at a closer and convenient location so that he could hear the three men talk.


    "... As I stated before, we do not have the location of a thousand year old Hong Lin tree." The man sitting behind the desk said and took a pause. "But since my brother had a favorable rtionship with the sect master, I¡¯m willing topromise and let the kingdom¡¯s reserve stores be given." The man continued.


    "What is it that you want?" The Infant soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator asked.


    "I want you two to assist my nephew in a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm. He¡¯s close to it and will have it sometime this month." The man behind the desk spoke.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu instantly realized who they were talking about. After all, there was only one person that was close to a breakthrough right now in the Hong Lin Kingdom¡¯s royal ce.


    "The king? This man is his uncle?" Lin Mu observed the man.


    He could soon match several of the features of the man. Though both this man and the king seemed to be of the same age if hepared just the appearance; They were both middle aged.


    "This is not what we were told, sect mater told us to only go to you and that you will fulfill your end of the bargain." The Infant Soul stage Nascent Soul realms cultivator said, looking a bit upset.


    "And we would have helped if we knew of the location of a tree like that. But we don¡¯t and thus don¡¯t have apulsion to tell you anymore. I am going out of my way to give you a way toplete the mission you were given." The king¡¯s uncle stated firmly.


    "Fine... if we do agree, how do you propose we help?" The other Child Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator questioned.


    "You can make a tribtion attenuation tform so that my nephew can breakthrough safely and can also act as the Dharma protectors along with me then. Even though I¡¯m sure nothing would happen and no one would dare to interfere, it would still be best for the safety of my nephew." The King¡¯s uncle answered.


    "Senior brother this!" The Infant soul stages Nascent soul realm cultivator seemed agitated upon hearing this and was about to stand up when he felt a hand on his arm.


    "Be calm, Junior brother. Let me handle this." The senior brother spoke.


    "Humph, you should listen to your senior brother. Even if you are from a Top sect, you can¡¯t act without decorum in the royal ce of an official vassal of the Great Zhou Empire." The King¡¯s uncle stated without a hint of fear on his face.


    Lin Mu found this to be strange because if it were any other Nascent soul realm cultivators, they would think twice before acting like this in front of other Nascent soul realm cultivators, especially when they were alone.


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    Numbers could overwhelm power at a certain point, and Lin Mu was sure that he wasn¡¯t someone who could find multiple experts at the same level as him without any trouble.


    ¡¯Hmm... they are here for the thousand year old Hong Lin trees as well. Perhaps this might be useful to us too...¡¯ Lin Mu thought and decided to listen more while waiting here.


    "So what have you finally decided?" The king¡¯s uncle asked.

 Chapter 685 - Two Conversations

    <h4>Chapter 685 - Two Conversations </h4>


    The two disciples looked at each other and the senior disciple finally decided to speak.


    "Fine, we shall do as you ask. We¡¯ll make a tribtion attenuation tform for the King to safely breakthrough." The senior brother answered the king¡¯s uncle.


    "Excellent! I hope you can prepare for this as soon as possible." The King¡¯s uncle urge.


    The junior brother furrowed his eyes in doubt and looked at his senior brother. But before he could say anything, he was signaled by his senior brother to stay silent and not to do anything.


    With that done, the senior brother suddenly stood up.


    "We shall take our leave then and prepare for it, Senior Kou." The senior brother stated.


    "Of course, please do. The suites are avable for you and you can stay there if you so please." The King¡¯s uncle, who was evidently named Kou spoke.


    Having said that, the two disciples took their leave and so did Kou after a few minutes. Lin Mu observed both parties with his spirit sense and saw that Kou went to talk with the king about the meeting he just had while the two brothers went to the room that they were assigned.


    Since the entire pce was a singlerge building, they didn¡¯t have a separate courtyard like in many other ces. Instead of that, there wererge suits assigned to people within which there were more rooms.


    The suite was rather luxurious and of high quality. There were several decorations in it, along with many nts. There were even miniature Hong Lin trees that had evidently been grown especially for indoor areas like this.


    Overall, it gave a ratherfortable vibe despite not being as big as a courtyard. There were now two conversations going on at the same time, and Lin Mu didn¡¯t know which party to listen to first.


    But after hearing the two disciples for a few seconds, Lin Mu took a breath of relief.


    "Why did you ept it, senior brother?" The Junior brother questioned.


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    "Stay quiet for now. There can be people listening in more ways than just one. We shall talkter outside, for now just cultivate and wait." The senior brother stated, not letting the junior protest.


    The junior brother had an uneasy expression on his face, but he didn¡¯t protest and simply epted it for now.


    Lin Mu nodded upon hearing the senior brother¡¯s words and knew that it was actually true. There were formations that could listen to people that were located in the royal pce.


    The formation was directly integrated into the entire fomentation array of the pce and thus would be hard to discover unless a formation master came by and decided to investigate it thoroughly.


    Even then, it might take that master a long time to do so and they might not even be sessful. For Lin Mu though, he could simply use the ring to look past theyers without a problem.


    Normally for formation masters, solving a formation array was like solving a puzzle, but the puzzle was hidden behind a wall and they could not see it. In addition to that touching, any wrong part might copse the wall and hurt, if not damage them.


    All in all, it was aplex process and needed quite a lot of skill to learn and master. Lin Mu had discovered them and didn¡¯t really care for them as they couldn¡¯t affect him anyway when he was in Phase.


    After this short conversation, the two disciples went silent and continued to calmly cultivate.


    "Hmm... I¡¯lle to themter." Lin Mu muttered to himself and focused his attention on the King and his uncle.


    The King was sitting on the throne and the entire throne room was currently empty. It was evident that the members of the royal court had been asked to give the king time to breakthrough while not being disturbed.


    Nearly every cultivator knew how difficult it was to ovee a heavenly tribtion and thus they took to their duties seriously while the king was busy with his own breakthrough preparations.


    Of course, the normal public did not know about this as it could be a troublesome event in the case that the King fails his tribtion and gets hurt, if not dies. Plus, it would also give the enemies of the king and the royal court information about this, letting them have a chance to plot against them.


    If the news about the king being close to a breakthrough was heard, it was bound to cause waves in the entire Hong Lin kingdom. It would thus invite attention from the enemies, who would be worried about the increasing power of the king and try to kill him.


    By keeping a secret, the king would be safer and perhaps even have a better chance at surviving this without the stress of people watching his every move. Plus, if he sessfully broke through and stabilized his cultivation base, the announcement after that would only be that much better.


    It would increase the veneration for the king that was felt by the citizens of the Hong Lin country and it would also increase the fear that these enemies felt from them. Overall it was a n that focused more on safety and stability rather than temporary publicity.


    "I have managed to convince the two disciples of sect master Hua to help in your tribtion." Kou spoke.


    "You didn¡¯t have to, uncle Kou. I know that I can aplish this on my own as well. Plus, taking the help of others would only put us in debt with them." The King replied.


    "Hahaha, you don¡¯t need to worry about that. Those two came here to actually ask for our help, thus when they take care of this task, that debt their master owed your father will be written off.


    That way, no one will be in each other¡¯s debt and you won¡¯t have to worry about it either." Kou spoke with augh.


    "Hmm... if you say so, uncle Kou." The King replied in a low voice.

 Chapter 686 - Hong Lin Kingdoms Secrets

    <h4>Chapter 686 - Hong Lin Kingdom''s Secrets </h4>


    Lin Mu continued to listen to the conversion of the royal nephew, and uncle as they talked.


    "But what is it that they wanted with us, Uncle Kou?" The king questioned.


    "Oh, it was the same old, people needing thousand year old Hong Lin trees. I told him that we don¡¯t have the location for any such trees as of now. Instead of that, we are willing to provide them some wood from our own reserve storage that they can take." Kou answered.


    Hearing this, the king furrowed his brows.


    "Hmm... the number of Hong Lin trees that reach a thousand years has greatly fallen over the years for us. I think it may be time to enact the measures father had chosen back then." The king spoke upon hearing Kou.


    "Those measures were controversial and you know that. If we really do announce them, our trade will fall and so will the taxes we gain from our people." Kou replied.


    "But if we really don¡¯t do anything, we will be losing our heritage, the Hong Lin trees. You of all people should know well uncle, there must always be at least ten thousand year old Hong Lin trees living, or the entire forest will start to die.


    They are the mother trees that we protect, but if others cannot rece themter on, if some ident happens, we won¡¯t be able to do anything and it will be toote to regret it." The King said in a concerned voice.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This is a problem that has troubled us for a long time now. Many past ministers and kings tried to find some solution, but it was never suitable for the time period. Even now, we cannot do it.


    It is unknown which trees have the potential to survive till a thousand years and be thousand year old Hong Lin trees. If we forcibly protect all trees and prevent them from being cut down, just for the fear that it might be the potential thousand year old tree, it will only cause an uproar." Kou exined.


    The King shook his head and closed his eyes to focus on his cultivation back again.


    Unknown to both of them, Lin Mu had heard their entire conversion, which could be considered to be very sensitive. Lin Mu had evidently gotten to learn several sensitive secrets of the Hong Lin kingdom.


    The first was that there were ten mother Hong Lin trees being actively protected by the royal family somewhere and that not all Hong Lin trees had the potential of bing a thousand year old.


    Lin Mu knew that there were actually people that sold Hong Lin saplings to various people. The customers for this were both the citizens from the Hong Lin kingdom and also other kingdoms.


    Several sects had bought them as well, just for the hope that the tree might reach thousand years and grow to be a thousand year old Hong Lin tree.


    But what they did not know was that they had been intentionally misinformed. If they did find out about this, there was a great chance they would be offended, despite the fact that the natural survival chances of a Hong Lin tree only decreased once it lived past five hundred years.


    In the entire Hong Lin kingdom, there were less than 5% of trees that were actually a hundred years or older. One could only imagine how difficult it would be for a Hong Lin tree to reach a thousand years.


    Lin Mu thought about this all and wondered if there was a way he could take advantage of this somehow.


    The King¡¯s uncle took his leave and went back to his own room to cultivate for now. Lin Mu observed both of them for a while and saw that they were not doing anything other than cultivating and thus decided to take his leave.


    "I should get to the repository so I can see the records about me and the Hei corps..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    His spirit sense soon found the area where the repository was located. It was located right below where the king¡¯s court was and even had a direct entrance to it from the back. Its main entrance for others though was from the floor below it.


    All of these, of course, were irrelevant to Lin Mu, and he directly descended into the repository. Luckily for him, there was no one in the hall for the time being and let him search it freely.


    ¡¯It may be because the king is cultivating right above this that they decide to prevent others froming here and identally disturbing the king.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While the royal repository wasrge, it didn¡¯t have the same number of documents and records as that of thew enforcement hall. Plus, the documents and records that were kept here were rather varied and contained more than just crime reports and such.


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    There were official records of the Kingdom¡¯s daily expenditure and functioning that went all the way back to over three hundred years, its history and genealogy of all the king¡¯s and even several cultivation techniques.


    While Lin Mu found several of these documents interesting, he put off reading them for the time being and focused on the task for which he came here. After about an hour¡¯s search, Lin Mu finally found the thing he came here for.


    "There it is... Lin Mu and Hei corps." Lin Mu picked up the two scrolls that were kept together, along with several other scrolls with sensitive information.


    Lin Mu first read his own scroll and then the scroll about the Hei corps.


    In his own scroll, there wasn¡¯t anything that seemed out of the normal to him. It was just more and more orders about how to find and where to report the information about him.


    It was all general instructions that would be issued for most wanted criminals. But when he finally got to the scroll about the Hei corps, his eyes narrowed.

 Chapter 687 - Change Of Plans

    <h4>Chapter 687 - Change Of ns </h4>


    Lin Mu read the scroll and furrowed his brows.


    "They caught over ten members of the Hei corps of the sixteen that they had detected were in the kingdom. The remaining six are still missing and have been put at a high level of importance.


    The ones that were caught were then sent to the empire itself, as was requested of them ording to the orders." Lin Mu muttered after reading the entire scroll.


    He knew that it wasn¡¯t fully the Hong Lin kingdom¡¯s fault either in catching and sending the members of the Hei corps off. From all that he knew, the kingdoms needed to follow the orders of the empire, especially for highly wanted criminals like this.


    Plus, it was not like they would listen if the members of the Hei corps protested. They were simply doing what they were asked to and anyone else would do the same if they didn¡¯t know that the sects and empires were being manipted, no less.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This doesn¡¯t help us much. There is no more information about the six members that managed to escape either." Lin Mu said while shaking his head.


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    Comparing the dates, Lin Mu was sure that it would be close to impossible if he wanted to find the members of the Hei corps here. The outpost that was located in the Hong Lin kingdom could be said to be as good as gone now.


    ¡¯Perhaps they have left the kingdom a long time ago as well...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    With these thoughts in his mind, Lin Mu didn¡¯t know ifpleting their mission here was even possible anymore.


    "Things won¡¯t always go ording to your ns. This is one of the very important things you need to learn. Fate is a fickle mistress and often likes to y without much rhyme or reason." Xukong said in a sagely tone.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu replied.


    "Though... it¡¯s not like this is aplete failure for you, either. There are other things you can aplish here from what I¡¯ve been seeing till now." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu thought over it and indeed found it to be true. There were a lot of things he could do in the Hong Lin kingdom, plus it didn¡¯t seem like Gu Yao had a very strong control here... at least not for now.


    "Mmm, I¡¯ll see what else I can do here. At the very least, we¡¯ll get the Hong Lin wood before we leave for the Long Cloud sect." Lin Mu stated.


    With that done, Lin Mu felt a bit free now and felt like he could do some other things and didn¡¯t need to rush everything.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll take a look at the other things here... might as well take the advantage of being here already.¡¯ Lin Mu thought before looking around.


    Lin Mu read through many records and documents that were stored in the repository and even learned of the history of the Hong Lin kingdom.


    It was said that the Hong Lin kingdom was founded over three thousand years ago by the first king of named Hong. He was an orphan as well, who was abandoned in the Hong Lin forest.


    He grew up in the harshness of the forest and survived it all, taking up the forest as his parents and thus naming himself ¡¯Hong¡¯. He alone managed to cultivate all the way to the peak of the Qi refining realm uponing across a secret cultivator abode in the forest.


    Using the cultivation technique he found in it, his cultivation continued to soar, and so did his status.


    Back then, while the unification of the entire continent was already done, the area where the Hong Lin forest was located was still free. And since the nearby powers were still struggling in their own troubles after the war, they didn¡¯t have the chance to expand or take over more things than they could deal with back then.


    This allowed there to be several small ns that settled in the Hong Lin forest. These were the natives of the forest and lived inrge circr houses, much like the royal ce itself.


    Over time, the architecture style had changed and been influenced by the rest of the empire, but the Royal pce still kept up the tradition.


    The first King, ¡¯Hong¡¯ reached the Nascent soul realm and was said to be so talented that he was invited by many sects back then, even including several top sects. But he rejected all of them and instead chose to settle in the forest that had raised him and called it his home.


    He established the Hong Lin Kingdom and united the smaller ns, making them his citizens and subjects. He dispelled opposition with an iron fist and decimated his opponents with ease.


    But the one thing he loved dearly was the forest itself and the Hong Lin trees. He wrote countless poems and couplets about them, and praised them to no end. Many people said he was obsessed with the trees and that he would even marry them if one turned into a human.


    His obsession even carried on after he became king. Bing a king came with the duty of producing offspring and heirs, and thus he married several women. But the queen that he married never managed to truly win his heart, and he was often found cultivating in the forest instead.


    Despite him having many heirs, his queen and concubines were always displeased with him. Over the years, this led to many conflicts among the heirs of the first king. Since he didn¡¯t pay much attention to his wives and the royal court, it ended up with thempeting against each other.


    With no attention from their husband, the wives fought and quarreled amongst themselves, redirecting their goals to gain more power in the kingdom for themselves, their children, and their families.


    While themoners lived in rtive peace, the royal pce was almost always in some kind of internal trouble.


    All of this only stopped when the King suddenly disappeared one day. Upon his departure, he only left a single letter from which mentioned that he was reaching the end of his lifespan and would not deal with the matters of the kingdom anymore.


    As for who would be the next king?


    He left that up to a quest that he assigned to his heirs.


    Before leaving, the king had sealed the royal treasury and even the repository, basically leaving the entire royal ce helpless. He stated that the next king will be the one who finds the oldest Hong Lin tree in the forest and takes the Royal Seal from it.


    The king had hidden his Royal seal, which was his token of authority on the oldest tree of the Hong Lin forest. This tree was something that only the king knew, as he was the only one who had spent so much time in the forest.


    It is said that due to the pressure from the potential fall of the royal family, the heirs actually worked together and eventually found the royal seal. One of the heirs was elected as the king, while the rest of them took different positions in the royal court.


    Though half of them also chose to leave the kingdom and pursue the life of a cultivator, either in the sects or just as itinerant cultivators.


    Over the years, the throne changed hands several times, and the king wasn¡¯t always someone who reached the Nascent Soul realm.


    "That was one entric king... why did he even choose to be one when he didn¡¯t want to run his kingdom well?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but wonder.


    "People have many obsessions in their life and some of these make them want to protect it. The first king loved the forest like his own parents and thus took the only method he thought would be possible to protect it, bing king." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu thought over it and found it to be reasonable. He then continued to read through more documents and spent several hours in the repository. He also kept checking the status of the king, his uncle Kou and the two disciples from the sect he didn¡¯t know about yet, but they were all still in their ces and cultivated in silence.


    Just as he was about to debate on whether to leave or not, he came across something that caught his attention.


    It was a cultivation technique and was kept among the other cultivation techniques in the repository. They weren¡¯t particrly good and thus didn¡¯t catch Lin Mu¡¯s eyes, as he could cultivate far easily without them.


    But this cultivation technique caught his attention, became of its description and method that it showed.


    "This is a rather strange technique..." Lin Mu said upon reading its content.


    ¡¯Embrace the heart of the Hong Lin, let its essence flow through you, and ignite the me in your heart.¡¯ Lin Mu read the mnemonic of the technique.

 Chapter 688 - A Technique

    <h4>Chapter 688 - A Technique </h4>


    The technique in front of Lin Mu was unlike the other ones he had seen. The more he read it, the more he found it to be strange. By the time he was done reading it, he understood that it was not a normal cultivation technique.


    It was then that it hit him.


    "Senior, could this be a body cultivation technique?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Xukong quickly took a look through the recent memories and assessed the technique.


    "Oh? This is actually a rudimentary body cultivation technique." Xukong spoke.


    "It really is!?" Lin Mu was now excited.


    "Indeed. Though this one is dependent mostly on a specific kind of resources and thus it can only be considered to be the lowest grade of body cultivation technique." Xukong replied.


    Lin Wu was now excited upon hearing this. A body cultivation technique was what he wascking, and now he finally had one. Even if it was a low quality one, Lin Wu reckoned it should be better than nothing.


    "What¡¯s the difference between this body cultivation technique and others, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm.... This one was evidently made by trial and error. And now that I observe it again, it seems like the creator of this technique originally wanted to make a Qi cultivation technique but ended up with somethingpletely else." Xukong exined.


    "I see... this essence of Hong Lin that the technique talk about... isn¡¯t this just Vital essence?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That¡¯s probably it. This world probably does not have body cultivation techniques since those require vital essence to cultivate rather than just Vital energy. But in the case of this technique, it managed to find an alternative way of obtaining it which is from those Hong Lin trees." Xukong spoke.


    "Seems like it. Though it also needs some specific kinds of trees, it looks like. Normal Hong Lin trees won¡¯t be enough. The tree needs to be one with a ¡¯Heart¡¯." Lin Mu stated.


    Xukong thought over it for a bit and shook his head.


    "You will have to investigate this on your own and see how it works. So far, you have managed to use elemental Qi instead of Vital essence to cultivate, but that only works for the initial stages.


    I doubt your body will be that responsive to it as you increase it further. Even when you absorbed the fire elemental Qi, that was a great luck. I don¡¯t think fire elemental Qi will work for you anymore." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu thought over it and found it to be reasonable. He knew that even if he had managed to refine some fire attributive spirit Qi and his heart had been refined due to the first influence, it was not something that could be repeated over and over again.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like we will be focusing on Hong Lin trees even more than I thought. Though having obtained this technique is more than enough reason toe to the Hong Lin kingdom. I can¡¯t say we¡¯ve wasted our time here now, despite the fact that we have basically failed with the Hei corps." Lin Mu said while shaking his head.


    "Indeed. Like I said before, there are opportunities everywhere and all you need to do is search for them." Xukong spoke.


    "I understand now, senior." Lin Mu said before putting the technique¡¯s scroll back where he found it.


    He had already memorized it and had even made a copy of its contents in another jade slip. Thus, he no longer needed it, plus he didn¡¯t want to steal it from its rightful owners. The Hong Lin kingdom had not directly harmed him yet and thus he didn¡¯t want to harm them either.


    Even if they did end up harming the Hei corps, it was not something Lin Wu could me them for. With that said and done, Lin Mu swept through the rest of the repository, reading and gathering information that was of use to him.


    There were some minor pieces of information that came to his use and cleared some of the doubts that he had about the empire as well and thus he felt that this was all useful to him.


    Once he was done, Lin Mu checked the entire repository to make sure that no one would find that he was here and left it. He observed the king, his uncle Kou and also the two disciples only to find them cultivating now as well.


    "Hmm... this makes it easier. I¡¯ll go check up on Jing Luo and see how he¡¯s doing before doing other things." Lin Mu muttered to himself and quickly left the royal pce.


    In a few minutes, Lin Mu was already in the courtyard, which he had rented for the month. He used his spirit sense and saw that Jing Luo was still deep in assimting the knowledge. He had also set up a barrier around his room to prevent any sound or someone from disturbing him.


    "Hmm, guess I¡¯ll leave him alone for now and go do other tasks." Lin Mu said before leaving the hall.


    It was now nighttime and the streets were filled with people going about their tasks. Some were walking around, enjoying their time and eating at the various restaurants and food stalls that were located in the city.


    There were children ying around while their parents looked after them. There were also several cultivators that were selling things here.


    "I may as well check out the market and see how things fare." Lin Mu said before he wandered through the streets.


    There were many areas in the capital city, and they were divided ording to their purpose. There was the food street that was filled with restaurants, the entertainment street that had brothels, pleasure pavilions, taverns and gambling houses, and finally shopping streets where various goods and items were sold.


    Lin Mu of course, decided to visit the food street first and partake in the unique cuisine of the Hong Lin kingdom.


    "This will be fun..."Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.

 Chapter 689 - An Exhausted Official

    <h4>Chapter 689 - An Exhausted Official </h4>


    The people of the food street had a rather unique and a bit overwhelming experience today. For the first time in their lives, all of their stock had been finished and even their reserves were all sold off.


    A rather handsome man as described by the female vendors, went to shop by shop, stall by stall, and either ate all the food they had or bought it all. In some shops, he tasted some and bought the rest.


    The other people who hade to visit the street were left stunned, unable to evenin. All they could see was a man, eating food like he had been starving for who knows how long.


    Of course, this person was none other than Lin Mu, who was having the time of his life. There were many kinds of dishes to taste and even more ingredients to buy.


    There were special herbs that were cooked in jungle fowl fat to make a stir-fry. There was one of the specialties of the Hong Lin kingdom, which was the Leave wrapped rice and meat cakes.


    These were made by covering beast meat in rice first before it was wrapped in the broad leaves of the Hong Lin trees and then steamed. The leaves of the Hong Lin Trees gave it a rather unique armor and a tinge of vor that seeped into the rice.


    Even the water that was used to steam it all was vored with the flowers of the Hong Lin trees, adding a scent that mesmerized everyone that passed by. This was also one of the most expensive dishes that could be bought here, but Lin Mu simply spent several tens of gold coins and bought the entire shop¡¯s supply.


    In total, he had bought around twenty steamers full of this dish. Once he stored them in the ring, they would stay good for a long time and Lin Mu would be able to enjoy themter.


    In addition to the food street, Lin Mu even went to the street where they sent the ingredients for those dishes and emptied out other stores as well. Some of the other customers protested, of course, but they couldn¡¯t really do much in the face of money.


    After all, no sane shopkeeper would deny Lin Mu, who was paying everything upfront. The other customers could only sigh to themselves and curse their bad luck that they met a whale today.


    The thing was, they didn¡¯t even know why Lin Mu was buying all this. At the start, the customers thought he owned a restaurant or something like that and thus he was buying in bulk, but when Lin Mu started to empty out other shops as well, they started to find it really strange.


    No restaurant would buy these many ingredients. Even if they wanted to keep some in the reserve storage, they wouldn¡¯t keep such a massive amount. Doing so was just asking to make a loss as the ingredients would go bad on their own after a while, even if they tried to use as many as possible.


    Of course, how could they know that Lin Mu had a spatial storage treasure that had a massive capacity that was not even a fraction of one percent filled? And the food and ingredients that were kept in it would not go bad for years toe, which was enough for him to finish it all of.


    Though to be honest, that situation would never arrive, as even after eating so much food, Lin Mu didn¡¯t feel full at all. The only reason he bought it forter was that he knew it would probably cause an even biggermotion if he went around eating their entire stocks instead of just buying it.


    Another reason why the people didn¡¯t question Lin Mu much was because of his identity as a cultivator. Since he was able to store all of it in spatial storage treasures they knew that not only was he a cultivator, he was also a very rich cultivator.


    Some of the women and girls couldn¡¯t help but send flirtatious nces towards him but unfortunately for them, Lin Mu only had eyes for the food.


    While Lin Mu continued to go from one store to the next, buying stuff, the news about themotion had already reached thew enforcement office. In there, a few guards were standing in front of a man who seemed to be exhausted and had eye bags.


    His eyes were bloodshot, and it was apparent he had not had much sleep these few days.


    "And you woke me up because this man was buying things?" The man asked.


    "Yes, office head." The guards spoke.


    "And he brought everything legitimately?" The man asked.


    "Yes, office head." The guard replied again.


    "No stealing?"


    "No, office head."


    "The coins were real?"


    "Yes, office head.


    "Did he cause any conflict or a fight?"


    "The other customers were upset and displeased that all of the stock was bought off by him, not only in one or two shops but the entire streets." The guard replied.


    "And they were the ones that reported him to you all?" The office head questioned.


    "Yes, office head. They said that he is intentionally causing trouble and strife in the business. They say he is attempting to run them out of business and make them bankrupt." The guards answered.


    Hearing all this, the office head rubbed his forehead and eyes.


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    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    The man let out a sigh as he raised his head. His exhausted expression contorted and fear filled the eyes of the guards.


    "YOU IMBECILES! DID YOU EVEN CHECK THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS BEFORE YOU CAME TO ME?" The office head thundered.


    "Umm..." the guards were unable to reply anymore.


    "SPEAK!" The office head yelled again.


    "Uh... he didn¡¯t really break anyws or regtions. But since the merchants and allined, we had no choice but toe to you, office head." The guards replied with difficultly.


    "I swear I¡¯ll flip the ministry of trade someday... just because someone outbid them, they think they can just force work onto us..." the office head cursed.

 Chapter 690 - Nice

    <h4>Chapter 690 - Nice </h4>


    ~gulp~


    The guards couldn¡¯t help but swallow their saliva in fear as they worried about their office head. They didn¡¯t know if he would have a breakdown and start beating them up or if he would really go ahead with his words and cause an upheaval in the ministry of trade.


    They didn¡¯t even know how their office head caught onto the fact that a majority of the people who hadined to them were influential supporters of the ministry of trade. With their money and power, the guards dared not offend them and directly came to report to their superior.


    But now they were getting yelled at here as well and all they could do was bear it silently. They knew that if they voiced out or protested, the office head would not hesitate in beating them up.


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    After a few minutes of cursing, the office head calmed down and took a deep breath.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Tell the merchants if theyin again for things like these, that are clearly not against the rules, they will be the ones getting punished. And if they really don¡¯t like running out of things to buy, they are free to approach the ministry of trade to appeal a neww specifically for that.


    Tell them that they can have their ¡¯fair¡¯ purchase power as much as they can if they do that. Whatever the bacsh they get from that though will not be on us." The office head dered.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    The guards swallowed down their saliva and nodded their heads.


    "We¡¯ll do as you said, Office head." The guards said in a meek voice.


    "Now then... GET OUT!" The office head replied before kicking them out of his office.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    The door was mmed shut behind the backs of the guards, and they could only smile wryly.


    ***


    While all this happened, Lin Mu was blissfully unaware of it all and kept on shopping. And even if he did know that this happened, he wouldn¡¯t really care, as it was not like he had broken any rules.


    Lin Mu was now sitting in a tea house, calmly sipping some tea made from Hong Lin Blossoms. He reckoned that after having eaten so many things, it only made sense to cleanse his pte and rx while drinking some tea.


    "The Hong Lin trees truly are the life blood of this kingdom." Lin Mu muttered after thinking for a bit.


    He had seen so many products and items that all used Hong Lin trees or involved them, making him feel a bit awed at it all.


    "No wonder the first king of the kingdom was so obsessed about the trees. They definitely have a lot of uses and his obsession was even passed down among his citizens." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He looked around the tea shop and saw the other patrons talking and enjoying their tea. Some were gossiping about the rumors they had had while some were just talking about their day and how their boss had yelled at them.


    Some married menined about their wives and how theyined to them and pestered them. Then there were the youngsters who talked about who had the best and trendy things.


    Lin Mu even saw a few cultivators among them all and they were also talking amongst themselves.


    Seeing all of this made Lin Mu feel a strange sense of detachment. He felt that he was far apart from them, gazing from the outlines while these people went about their daily lives.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Is this what the Lost Immortal meant by the vor of life of the mortals?" Lin Mu muttered to himself, recalling one of the lines that the Lost immortal had written in his memoirs.


    Pondering over it for an hour, Lin Mu finished the pot of tea that he had ordered. Once he was done, he decided to take his leave and head out of the city.


    ¡¯This tea is quite good... thankfully I bought plenty of it and can make itter on.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was one of the reasons why he hade here. Even if Lin Mu had bought the tea, he had not tasted it and decided that going to a tea house that specialized in it might be the best choice.


    And now that it was confirmed that the tea was truly excellent, Lin Mu felt pleased about his purchase.


    "Hmm... little shrubby will probably like the new ingredients. He¡¯ll have a lot more to try out now." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Little Shrubby actually had more than just one spatial storage treasure now, and Jing Luo had modified a few of the ones they had gotten as spoils from other enemies. Little Shrubby was using those to store the food ingredients and all other things that he liked.


    "Now that I think of it... we haven¡¯t tried that Saw tooth Tuna either..." Lin Mu said to himself as he flew towards the hill where Little Shrubby was hidden.


    The hill was located about ten kilometers from the capital city and gave a really good view of the city from the distance. And like many other hills, it was also covered with the Hong Lin trees hiding whatever beasts that were living on it.


    This was the reason why Lin Mu and Jing Luo had picked this ce to halt beforehand and also why they let Little Shrubby stay there.


    The beast in question opened his eyes when he sensed his master appraising from the distance.


    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    Little Shrubby lightly growled and stretched his body before getting up from the curled up position he was in before. Lin Mu also saw him and couldn¡¯t help but smile upon seeing it.


    "Even if he has grown many times bigger than before, he still sleeps in the same manner when he was a small cat." Lin Mu muttered to himself andnded on the hill.


    "You¡¯re back!" Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Yes... and I brought some things you might like."

 Chapter 691 - SearChapter For Hong Lin Trees

    <h4>Chapter 691 - SearChapter For Hong Lin Trees </h4>


    Hearing that Lin Mu had gifts for him, Little Shrubby was really excited.


    "What did you get?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Well, let me show you." Lin Mu said before taking out all the ingredients and condiments that he had bought.


    The more Little Shrubby saw, the wider his eyes got.


    "This is awesome! I can try so many things now!" Little Shrubby said before he went to check each of the items.


    He smelled them and tasted them before deciding what things they could be used for. Lin Mu let it happen and the beast enjoyed it. By the time Little Shrubby was done checking all things, an entire hour had passed.


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    "I think you should store them away for now. We need to go somece else now." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby replied before quickly getting to storing all of the items in the many spatial storage treasures he now had.


    In a minute, he was done and the two of them were ready to leave.


    "So where are we going?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "We are going to test out a new technique that I got. But for this, I need Hong Lin trees that are at least a hundred years old." Lin Mu answered.


    "These trees? Hmm..." Little Shrubby muttered.


    "Come on, let¡¯s leave." Lin Mu said as he flew up.


    He didn¡¯t get onto Little Shrubby as their aim, wasn¡¯t to travel a long distance in a short time but rather to find specific kinds of trees. Lin Mu knew a little about the Hong Lin Trees and knew that the hundred years old trees didn¡¯t really look much different from the other trees with the exception that their roots would be far more deeper and longer.


    Just from the outward appearance it was often hard to find one and even when someone used spirit sense to find the right kind of a tree there was still a chance that the tree might not be a hundred years old and it was just their roots that had reached a length long enough to look like that.


    Since the Hong Lin trees were nts, ultimately they could have different growing styles and uniqueness that animals often could not. Not only that, but their lifespan was also naturally longer with some trees even immortal despite not needing to cultivate.


    As long as trees got the nutrition and ideal conditions, they would keep on growing and stay alive for years and years toe. But cultivation often came with time. Every item in the world absorbed spirit Qi passively even if they wanted it or not.


    It didn¡¯t matter what kind of objects they were either, they could be living beings or even inanimate objects like rocks, stones,kes or even something like clouds. The longer something existed the more spirit Qi they would have absorbed.


    Living creatures had an advantage here and they could naturally absorb far more spirit Qi passively than what inanimate objects like rocks could. And thus ntsing under this category could also cultivate after a certain age.


    There were often times cases when a nt that had reached over a thousand years old would gather enough spirit Qi to naturally breakthrough to the Qi refining realm and be a spirit herb.


    But if onepared this to a human, the very same human might not even live for one tenth the entire lifespan of the nt. And the more ironic part was the fact that even if a human did cultivate and reached the Nascent Soul realm, they would at most be able to live for a thousand years, whereas the nt would have already lived for that long.


    This was also the reason why, while there were variations in sizes of the Hong Lin Trees, a bigger tree might not necessarily be hundred years old or even a thousand years old. There were many more factors to them and one could only depend on their luck to find one.


    Of course, hundred year old Hong Lin trees weren¡¯t something that were too hard to find either. Evenmoners could find them on their own, given that they searched hard enough and long enough as well.


    From what Lin Mu knew, the entire Hong Lin forest had at least ten percent trees that were at the age of hundred years old or more. As for the thousand year old trees, the people had no idea and neither did the King.


    Lin Mu and little Shrubby traveled over the forest for about an hour, with Lin Mu having his spirit sense extended fully and checking the earth for the roots of the Hong Lin trees. Even if the roots might not necessarily indicate if a tree was hundred years old, it still had a greater chance of being a hundred years old than a tree with shorter roots.


    "There," Lin Mu suddenly said while pointing to one of the areas below.


    Him and Little Shrubby then descended to the ground and reached the tree, which Lin Mu suspected was a hundred years old Hong Lin tree. He checked the method that was described in his mind and ced his hand onto the trunk of the tree.


    Closing his eyes, Lin Mu sensed the condition of the Hong Lin tree. At first, he didn¡¯t sense anything but after five seconds, Lin Mu could feel the vibrant energy that was only hidden within a hundred year old Hong Lin tree.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes that shined with content.


    "This is it!" Lin Mu said.


    "What do we do now?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Now I¡¯m gonna try and cultivate using the new method. You can try and find other trees simr to them. I don¡¯t know if your senses will work with this or not though." Lin Mu said.


    He knew that the method would not be something that Little Shrubby would be able to use, but Lin Mu hoped that Little Shrubby¡¯s animal senses would triumph here instead.

 Chapter 692 - Embrace Of Hong Lin

    <h4>Chapter 692 - Embrace Of Hong Lin </h4>


    Hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words, Little Shrubby approached the hundred year old Hong Lin tree and probed it with his spirit sense. He then touched the tree and smelled it before scratching the tree and tasting it as well.


    Lin Mu watched on and let the beast do its thing.


    "Hmm... I can tell that something is different about this tree than the other ones here. I think I may be able to find more of them." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Alright, please go ahead and find them. I¡¯ll try to cultivate in the meantime." Lin Mu stated.


    Little Shrubby nodded his head and flew away in search of more hundred year old Hong Lin trees. Lin Mu, on the other hand, followed the methodology that was described in the technique he got from the repository and sat down with his back facing the Hong Lin tree.


    While it was a bit ufortable at first, Lin Mu managed to find a position in which his back made maximum contact with the tree trunk as it could. Once that was done, Lin Mu closed his eyes and tried to sense the energy within the Hong Lin Trees once again.


    After about a minute, he was able to sense them again, this time without even touching with his hand. The main use of this step was to let the cultivator get used to the Hong Lin tree and learn about the energy within it.


    Even if Lin Mu had his back to the tree, he wasn¡¯t actually using his back to sense the energy within the Hong Lin Tree, as that was not how the technique worked. He could only sense it directly with his hands as they worked through his hands¡¯ meridians and not his back¡¯s.


    This step was to see if the cultivator could still sense the energy within the Hong Lin trees without a direct link. Now that Lin Mu had sensed the energy hidden within the tree, the next step was to pull the energy towards him.


    This was the ¡¯Embracing the heart of Hong Lin¡¯ part of the mnemonic.


    This was also a far harder step than before, and it took Lin Mu over an hour before he was able to even make the energy move a millimeter. But once that happened, he found the next parts easier.


    As minutes passed by, Lin Mu was able to pull the energy within the Hong Lin trees closer and closer. And when the energy finally reached close to his body, Lin Mu realized something.


    "This... this is vital essence?" Lin Mu muttered. "No, wait... there¡¯s is some difference between this vital essence and my own. I guess this is what makes it possible to cultivate..."


    Lin Mu thought to himself that this technique really did work as was said and continued the process. With this steppleted, it became far easier for him to do the next step. The vital essence from within the Hong Lin tree entered his back and then spread over the skin.


    Little by little, it trickled into his body before passing through the muscles, bones, and sinews. The strange thing was this vital essence didn¡¯t merge into his cells directly like his own vital essence did.


    ¡¯This separation might be one of the factors that make this technique possible...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The transmission of vital essence was rather slow within his body, and it took over an hour before it reached his internal organs. Once it was there, it didn¡¯t go to any other organ and started moving towards the Heart.


    It was as if the other organs were repulsive to it and only when it reached his heart did the vital essence start getting absorbed into it. The moment it did, Lin Mu could feel the cells of his heart starting to strengthen.


    Normally, since a heart was involved in the pumping of blood, it came in contact with a lot of vital essences that Lin Mu¡¯s body normally produced. But even then, it only stored a certain amount of vital essence in its cells.


    It did not actually absorb the vital essence directly to refine itself. The process was a bit strange and hard to understand. If one were topare it to something, they could think of it as using a jug of water to pour a ss and then using that very water to fill the jug back up.


    Overall there was no change of energy, and thus it would stay the same. This was where the cultivation techniques came and the need for external resources and requirements.


    One needed something of ¡¯high potential¡¯ to increase their own ¡¯low potential¡¯.


    Lin Mu calmly continued to cultivate using the method and kept on absorbing the vital essence of the Hong Lin tree. Eventually, the cells stopped absorbing the vital essence and started to divide.


    ¡¯My Five Treasures Realm cultivation... it¡¯s increasing!¡¯ Lin Mu detected.


    Seeing this, hope lit up in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes and he focused even more in the absorption. Once the replication of cells stopped, his heart could absorb more vital essence from the Hong Lin Tree.


    Just like this another three hours passed before the Hong Lin Tree had run out of all Vital essence.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and checked his condition.


    "That... this is at least two percent increase!" Lin Mu eximed.


    While this increase seemed minuscule, one must remember that even this was a great progresspared to before. His heart was now 32% refined and Lin Mu was assured that as long as he kept this up, he will surely reach 100%pletion and also break through to the Third Stage of the Five Treasures realm.


    Lin Mu stood up and took a look at the Hong Lin tree finding it to be the same as before. But when he ced his hand on it, he could see that it was now fully drained of the energy that was present in it.


    Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.


    "No wonder the first king liked the Hong Lin trees so much. They were the ones that helped him cultivate and he wanted to increase their numbers while protecting them.." Lin Mu said.

 Chapter 693 - An Intelligent Herb

    <h4>Chapter 693 - An Intelligent Herb </h4>


    With the increase in his Five Treasures realm cultivation, Lin Mu felt incredibly pleased.


    "This will work! I just need to find more Hundred year old Hong Lin trees." Lin Mu said whit excitement.


    He looked around to see if Little Shrubby had returned yet or not but did not see him there. He closed his eyes and sensed his connection, only to find that Little Shrubby was fifty kilometers away from him in the southern direction.


    "Did he find something there?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He then flew towards little Shrubby¡¯s direction and reached it after a few minutes. There Lin Mu saw Little Shrubby fighting another creature.


    "Huh? What is that?" Lin Mu wondered.


    The creature Little Shrubby was fighting was not a beast but rather a nt. The nt was moving around underground and popping up to attack Little Shrubby. Little Shrubby was chasing the nt around trying to catch him.


    Lin Mu could tell that Little Shrubby didn¡¯t intend to kill the nt otherwise with his speed he would have done it rather easily.


    "What are you doing little Shrubby?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Little Shrubby who was in the middle of a jump, missed his target and the nt moved away quickly. Lin Mu didn¡¯t really get to take a good look at the nt and from what he could see it was just a brown root.


    Little Shrubby looked up at Lin Mu who had just appeared and spoke "Catch it, its good ingredient!"


    Hearing this Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if he shouldugh or not.


    ¡¯No wonder...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He extended his spirit sense and let it prate the ground. There he finally got to see the real appearance of the nt. Just as he had thought it was a spirit herb and was in the form of an onion like bulb.


    It had long roots that were several tens of meters long, while at its top it had t green leaves that numbered eleven. Lin Mu did not immediately realize what spirit herb this was but since it was able to move around like this, Lin Mu knew it was nomon spirit herb.


    "Oh?" Xukong¡¯s surprised voice was heard in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    "What happened senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It¡¯s a peak grade herb that has managed to gain intelligence," Xukong spoke.


    "Peak grade herb?" Lin Mu repeated as a smile appeared in his mind.


    He quickly extended his hand in the direction of the spirit herb which was now trying to run away. Since Lin Mu had also appeared and he was quite strong which the spirit herb could perceive, it decided it was no longer worth it to fight and started to run away.


    s, it was Lin Mu he was trying to escape from which was very difficult now.


    "Meld," Lin Mu said as the entire area around the spirit herb was frozen.


    The spirit herb also stopped moving and it looked it had turned into a normal spirit herb that was inanimate. Lin Mu raised his hand along with which the entire chunk of soil was lifted up as well.


    He then waved his fingers, making the soil split apart till the spirit herb¡¯s side was revealed. Lin Mu didn¡¯t go too much in deep as that may end up harming the spirit herb. He wanted the spirit herb intact as a spirit herb with intelligence was far more valuable than just a dead one.


    With that one, Lin Mu pulled the chunk with the spirit herb towards him and he held onto it with his other hand and finally deactivated meld.


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    All the chunks of soil fell to the ground as the spirit herb was now firmly sped in his left hand.


    <i>~rustle~ rustle~ rustle~</i>


    The spirit herb that looked like an onion couldn¡¯t really make any noise but its struggling in Lin Mu¡¯s hand made its leaves rustle. But no matter how hard it tried, the nt found it impossible to escape Lin Mu¡¯s grasp.


    "You caught it!" Little Shrubby said with excitement.


    "Yes, I did." Lin Mu said with a nod.


    "Now let¡¯s cook it! I know it will be really good I can sense the spirit Qi in it!" Little Shrubby stated, his mouth almost dripping with drool.


    <i>~rustle~ rustle~ rustle~</i>


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if the onion like spirit herb could even understand Little Shrubby¡¯s cries or not and did it understood what he had meant, but it certainly did start to struggle even more. Though Lin Mu had to admit the spirit herb was strong.


    ¡¯Its strength is almostparable to someone in the Nascent soul realm.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Had it not been for Lin Mu¡¯s superior cultivation base and a strong body, he might have been forced to let go of the onion like herb.


    "Hang on now," Lin Mu said to Little Shrubby. "We should first see what spirit herb this is." He added.


    Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.


    Little Shrubby nodded his head and slurped back his drool. Lin Mu looked back at the herb and saw it continue to struggle it was now whipping around its roots and hitting Lin Mu as well.


    <i>~p~p~whip~</i>


    Its roots were long and thin, and could cause a lot of damage to the average cultivator. In fact, Lin Mu estimated that if it really did use a little more force with its roots, it might just end up cutting apart the body of whatever it struck.


    In Lin Mu¡¯s case though, the spirit herb was out of luck as the Mortal Strengthening scripture¡¯s armor had kept in impervious to damage.


    ¡¯No wonder little Shrubby was acutely dodging its attack... they can actually cause him some damage.¡¯ Lin Mu understood.


    Learning all this had only made him that much curious about the herb in his hand. Keeping his hand on the herb, Lin Mu held the jade slip with all the records in his right hand.. He then started to search through it, trying to find the identity of the herb.

 Chapter 694 - Wood Spirit Tulip

    <h4>Chapter 694 - Wood Spirit Tulip </h4>


    Five minutes had passed since Lin Mu began his search through the jade slip but he was still unable to find anything in it.


    "Hmm... it¡¯s not in this." Lin Mu said while furrowing his brows.


    The record that he had just checked was the one that Jing Wei had given him and it had most of the information of spirit herbs that he could find. In fact, if the information was present in this record, Lin Mu would have already recognized the spirit herb with his eyes.


    But since he didn¡¯t he thought that he had missed one of the herbs or forgotten about it.


    "I¡¯ll need to check the other records. But keeping it in this manner is not viable." Lin Mu said.


    "Send it into the ring. The spirit herb should be fine, unlike beasts. As long as it has a small source of spirit Qi it will stay calm." Xukong suggested.


    "Ah yes! I¡¯ll do that." Lin Mu said before storing the onion like herb into the ring.


    Little Shrubby had been watching Lin Mu¡¯s hand without moving and saw the herb suddenly disappear. His eyes went wide and he quickly snapped his neck around looking to see if the herb had escaped or something.


    "Don¡¯t worry. I kept it in the ring. I¡¯ll take it out once we know what it really is." Lin Mu said seeing the lost little Shrubby.


    "Okay<i>~</i>" Little Shrubby said beforeying down on the ground.


    Lin Mu took out the rest of the records and went through them one by one. But the more he looked the more confused he got as the herb was not present in any of them. Lin Mu finished the records he had obtained from the mercenary union and was now moving on to the records that the Tri Cauldron peony sect had.


    "If it is anywhere then it should be in these records. After all the Tri cauldron peony sect was a sect focused on alchemy and grew a lot of herbs." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "And if it¡¯s not in this, then I¡¯ll just have to look elsewhere."


    Since the records of the Tri cauldron peony sect were all divided into multiple jade slips, books, and scrolls, Lin Mu took several hours to look through them. This reminded him that he shouldpile all of these into one jade slipter.


    ¡¯I need to get Jing Luo to make me a higher capacity jade slip as well so I can store all the informationter on.¡¯ Lin Mu noted in his mind.


    Finally when an entire day passed he was able to find out what the herb was. The book he found it in was also a bit astounding to him.


    The name of the book was ¡¯Theorized existence of cross habitat residing spirit herbs¡¯.


    The content of the book was actually quite interesting to Lin Mu and he only stopped when he had finished reading the entire book. It wasn¡¯t a ratherrge book either as it actually seemed to be iplete.


    Lin Mu saw the note at the end of the book, which stated that this was a work in progress and that all the theories were yet to be fully verified. In fact, of the nts that were mentioned in the book, only a handful of them had even been seen by the author ever in his life.


    And those nts were not even seen clearly by the author as they were of a very high grade. But the author was not discouraged from this and went ahead doing as much as he could.


    What the author wanted to say was that there were certain strong spirit herbs that were very weak to the element which was opposite to the element that they belonged to. And thus because of that, they resided in habitats that were rich in the element which was strong against their weak element.


    For example, a herb of the fire element is weak to water and thus it would reside in a habitat that was strong against water which was nothing but earth. It was a rather unique phenomenon in which a herb chose to live and grown in an environment that wasn¡¯t actually its own element.


    And all of this just because they had a great fear for the opposing element. While the author had been unable to gather any of such herbs he did theorize that if these herbs came into contact with objects or spirit Qi of the element they were weak to they would instantly die.


    This would happen, no matter how strong those herbs really were or how high their rank was.


    The onion like herb Lin Mu caught was alone one such herb and had been described in the book. It was one of the only handful of herbs that the author actually managed to find and observe enough to write it down.


    Since he was the first one to find the herb, he named it the wood spirit tulip. It looked just the same as what Lin Mu had caught except that it also had a vibrant green flower at the top.


    ¡¯The one I got should be an immature one which has not blossomed yet.¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.


    While there was no flower at its top, the herb matched all the features such as the onion like bulb, long brown roots that moved around like whips and green stalk and leaves.


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    But to confirm further, Lin Mu withdrew the spirit herb from his ring and held it back in his hand.


    <i>~rustle~ rustle~</i>


    It tried to escape again, but could not. Lin Mu used his spirit sense to probe the spirit herb and realized that it had wood attribute spirit Qi within it.


    "Just as I thought. The Wood Spirit Tulip is of the wood element and is weak to the metal element, thus it is residing in an area rich in the fire element which is the Hong Lin forest.." Lin Mu analyzed.

 Chapter 695 - Peculiarities Of The Hong Lin Trees

    <h4>Chapter 695 - Peculiarities Of The Hong Lin Trees </h4>


    Having learned of the identity of the spirit herb, Lin Mu felt a bit satisfied. It was as if an itch he was unable to scratch for a long time was finally relieved. And it was not any normal itch, it was the itch of curiosity which could only be satisfied by knowledge.


    "What do we do it now? Are we not going to eat it?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Oh we will, but not so fast. It is still not fully grown, when it does it will have a flower on top of it." Lin Wu spoke.


    "A flower? Then will it get a fruit too?" Little Shrubby questioned as drool started to drip from its mouth.


    "Um... I don¡¯t know. The book doesn¡¯t mention it since the author never got to see a Wood Spirit Tulip that was beyond that stage. But perhaps it can grow beyond that and grow a fruit." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby replied.


    "We¡¯ll just have to wait and see." Lin Mu said before storing the Wood Spirit Tulip that was whipping around back into the ring.


    "That was getting annoying..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    With that out of the way, Lin Mu decided to focus on the task at hand.


    "Oh yeah, did you find anymore Hundred year old Hong Lin Trees?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "YES! Yes, I did! I found two of them when I saw this spirit herb." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Excellent," Lin Mu praised while patting his head, "where are they?" He asked.


    "Follow me," Little Shrubby said and the two of them flew away.


    Little Shrubby went back to the north and brought Lin Mu there to a tree that was hidden between tens of simr. If it were anyone that passed by, they would find it indistinguishable from the others.


    But to Lin Mu who used his spirit sense, he could tell that it was hundred year old Hong Lin tree.


    "Yup, this is a Hundred Year Old Hong Lin Tree alright." Lin Mu said as he ced his hand over the tree¡¯s trunk.


    He could sense the vital essence deep within the tree and the warmth that was hidden in it as well.


    ¡¯Is that fire attribute spirit Qi as well?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered, but didn¡¯t pay much attention to it.


    He didn¡¯t have any particr skill that needed fire attribute spirit Qi and thus he didn¡¯t really care for it as much. Perhaps in the future when he got more of it he would, but at that point, Lin Mu reckoned he may as well refine the fire attribute spirit Qi himself.


    Lin Mu had learned that once his Spleen was fully refined into a five treasured Organ, his rate of refining earth attribute spirit Qi had increased substantially. Thus, with that in mind, he reckoned that each organ that is refined would increase the rate with which elemental spirit Qi can be refined.


    Overall it was a rather pleasant surprise to him and he knew that cultivating the Five Treasures realm was a truly good decision. Not only did it increase his body cultivation, but it also boosted his spirit Qi cultivation.


    ¡¯Body cultivation really was the progenitor of cultivation methods for all humans...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With that done, he sat down with his back against the Hong Lin Tree and used the cultivation technique to absorb the vital essence. The First King who had made this cultivation technique had named it the ¡¯Embrace Of Hong Lin¡¯ and it really was like that.


    Not only could the Hong Lin Trees help one in the body tempering realm by providing Vital energy and vital essence. From reading further ahead, Lin Mu knew that one could also cultivate using the fire attribute spirit Qi.


    Although the spirit Qi aspect of this technique was far weaker than that of the body cultivation one. There were very few techniques in the world that covered both the body and Qi cultivation, and the ¡¯Embrace Of Hong Lin¡¯ could be considered one of the rare few.


    Though it wasn¡¯t fully efficient seeing as how the spirit Qi that could be obtained from it was less than 10% of the vital essence.


    Time passed and when an hour was finally over, Lin Mu had finished absorbing the vital essence from the Hong Lin tree.


    "Hmm... the amount this time is less. Barely above a percent taking it to a total of 33% now." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He then stood up and looked at Little Shrubby, who had been patiently waiting for him.


    "Where¡¯s the next tree?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Follow me," Little Shrubby replied, and took him to the next location.


    This one wasn¡¯t that far from the previous tree and was at mere minutes¡¯ distance. This tree though, was different from before.


    "Huh... seems like someone tried to cut this one before." Lin Mu said upon seeing the Axe marks on its branches and trunk.


    Although whoever tried to cut it was not strong enough to do it since the tree was still here.


    "Perhaps they gave up after being unable to cut it..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He then looked at little shrubby and spoke, "go ahead and find more of them. I¡¯ll continue here."


    "<i>Okay~</i>" Little Shrubby said before flying away.


    Following the same method as before, Lin Mu began his cultivation. This time it took him over two hours to finish absorbing all the vital essence. This wasn¡¯t because there was more vital essence in it, but rather because sucking the vital essence was harder.


    It was like some debris was stuck in the pipe through which he was trying to pull it.


    ¡¯Is this due to the damage? Doesn¡¯t seem like it could prate this deep...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He stood up after absorbing it all and saw that the refinement had reached the 34% mark now.


    "Hmm... if I keep this up, I¡¯ll need at least 66 more trees to do this. And that is if they all have the same amount of vital essence in them." Lin Mu said to himself.


    He then sensed the location of Little Shrubby and went to find him. This time, Little Shrubby wasn¡¯t that far from him and he reached his location in about five minutes.


    "Little Shrubby," Lin Mu called out.


    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    Lin Mu heard the growl of the beast and saw him hidden below therge crown of a Hong Lin tree.


    "Here! It¡¯s this one." Little Shrubby spoke.


    Lin Munded and saw that this Hong Lin Tree was far bigger than the ones he had seen till now.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    "Is this the only one you found?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, I looked around, but this one seems to be the only one in this area." Little Shrubby answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu said, wondering if it was something to do with the tree¡¯s size.


    He ced his hand on it and sensed the vital energy within the tree.


    "WHOA! That¡¯s a lot of vital essences." Lin Wu said upon feeling what looked like ake of vital essence deep within the Hong Lin tree.


    This Hong Lin Tree was about two and a half times as big as the normal Hong Lin Tree and contained a simr amount of vital essence.


    "I¡¯ll go search for more." Little Shrubby stated, understating his part now.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in response and got to work. Sitting down with his back to therge Hong Lin Tree, Lin Mu could feel the faint warmth on his back. This was strange to him since his body was protected by the armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture.


    Even when he had touched the Grey Egg, he was unable to tell if it was cold and hot. This meant that even now he should have been unable to tell the temperature correctly.


    "This is peculiar..." Lin Mu muttered.


    He was curious about it, but decided to finish absorbing vital essence first. Lin Mu spent five hours in absorbing the vital essence from this Hong Lin Tree. Unlike the other trees, he realized that this one had the vital essence distributed in multiple small and separate pockets throughout the tree.


    Getting to them one by one took a little more effort than normal and he had to make routes to them individually. But when he was finally done, he realized that he had obtained far more vital essence than before.


    "39%... this one had enough vital essence to increase my refinement progress by over five percent. If I can find more trees like this, I¡¯ll be able to reach full refinement very quick." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and flew towards the direction of Little Shrubby, hoping that he had found more trees such as this.. And even if they weren¡¯t like this, Lin Mu was fine with it as he knew that him reaching the peak of Heart Refinement was inevitable.

 Chapter 696 - Dinner Night

    <h4>Chapter 696 - Dinner Night </h4>


    A crescent moon was painted in the sky as clouds floated by. Crimson leaves blew with the wind and a faint fragrance of Hong Lin blossoms could be felt. But along with this fragrance, one could also smell the aroma of something cooking.


    In the middle of a forest, a few fires were burning and on top of those fires, several pots and grills. One of the pots was filled with bones to the top and boiled continuously emanating a rich aroma.


    Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.


    The second pot was filled with shredded meat that was cooking with several colorful vegetables. But if one looked at the vegetables, they would realize that they were not normal vegetables at all, but rather spirit herbs and fruits.


    In the third pot, a thick stew was brewing. It bubbled, letting out a tantalizing aroma. The aroma was like a seductive lover, pulling one into the bed, asking them to roll in the sheets.


    Then there was arge t grill set on a pile of ming red coals. On the grill, deboned fillets of fish were being grilled. A nice sear could be seen on the orange-pink meat, which had been drizzled with vored oils.


    Each of the ingredients used in all this were expensive being either spirit beast meat or spirit herbs.


    The bones that were boiling in the first pot belonged to the Green tailed howler monkeys that were all at the Core Condensation realm. The second pot filled with the shredded meats contained the mixed flesh from several Beasts that Lin Mu had hunted that spanned all the way from Qi refining realm to the Nascent Soul realm.


    The third pot with the thick stew had the spirit herbs from the Tri Cauldron peony sect, along with organ meat from several spirit beasts. And on the grill, the fish meat that was being grilled belonged to the Nascent Soul realm Saw toothed Tuna.


    While the vored oil that was drizzled on it was made from the essence oil extracted from Plume wisp Olives mixed with several spirit flower petals. Then there was the dipping sauce kept at the side with was made with the honey of Iron Sting bees and pollen from spirit flowers.


    The entire spread of dishes was something that even an emperor would rarely eat, not to mention an average cultivator. One would think that a spread like this would be found in an exquisite restaurant with gilded tables and golden utensils, or perhaps in the royal pce of an empire.


    But it was not so. Rather than all that luxury, this was all being made in the middle of a forest, on fires that were being fueled by Hong Lin wood and that too on top of soil. No matter what way one looked at this, they would find it highly unusual to say the least.


    But that was not all, as the one cooking it was even more strange. There were several metal hands floating around that were doing the cooking. Some stirred the pots, some drizzled and sprinkled the condiments, and some flipped the fillets on the grill.


    And controlling all these metal hands was arge feline beast that observed each change with a close eye, adjusting the temperature of the mes with a few puffs of breath. Each breath would be like a stream of fire, thin and straight, allowing very precise control of temperature.


    The one cooking was none other Little Shrubby of course, and he was doing his best.


    ¡¯This will be the best meal I¡¯ve cooked till now. I¡¯ve got all the ingredients and condiments and master finally got free time... I have to make the best meal he has eaten till now.¡¯ Little Shrubby thought to himself with determination.


    And while he was doing this, Lin Muid on top of a Hong Lin tree while watching the sky. A myriad of thoughts floated through his mind as if they were clouds in the sky mirroring his mind.


    An hour passed like this in silence, with only the sound of wind, the fire crackling and the oil sizzling being heard.


    "Master, the food is ready!" Little Shrubby called out.


    Lin Mu whose eyes were a bit lost finally gained back their focus, and he floated down from the tree.


    ¡¯Being able to fly is really convenient...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Upon getting down, he saw all of the dishes ready and an amazing aroma that apanied them.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but gulp his saliva upon seeing all the food. He could almost imagine the taste of it on his tongue and couldn¡¯t wait to test it out.


    "Well, what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s get to it," Lin Mu spoke.


    "ALRIGHT!" Little Shrubby said before the hands flew out with a whoosh.


    They all picked up various utensils like tes and bowls before filling them up with the food and bringing them to Lin Mu, who had just set up a table. At this point, Lin Mu had several sets of furniture in the ring and if he wanted to, he could probably make an entire house out of them.


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    The tes and bowlsnded on the table and out came the chopsticks as well.


    "Let¡¯s begin," Lin Mu said before starting to eat.


    Each and every sip and bite filled his mouth with vor and a warmth that filled his body. The dense spirit Qi and vital energy from the food improved the experience by multiple folds as a wave of pleasure filled him.


    The pair of Master and beast didn¡¯t even realize when all of the good was emptied out and they were left wanting for more.


    Lin Mu looked at Little Shrubby with an awkward smile.


    "Do we have more?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "More? We have tons!" Little Shrubby answered.


    With a smile on his face Lin Mu said, "Cook more then, we¡¯re gonna eat all the food we¡¯ve missed all this time."


    And just like that, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby spent the entire night eating food.

 Chapter 697 - Talking With Jing Luo

    <h4>Chapter 697 - Talking With Jing Luo </h4>


    "Huh, it¡¯s already morning." Lin Mu spoke as he saw the sky starting to redden.


    "It is morning." Little Shrubby replied.


    All around them, one could see bones and utensils lying around. It was evident that they had eaten a lot and had spent a lot of time in that as well. But despite therge amount of food the two of them had eaten, neither of them looked to be stuffed.


    Rather, they looked normal and could even eat more. But Lin Mu knew it was enough for today and that he should get back to work.


    "Well, that was a great night. We¡¯ll do it again sometimeter. But now we need to find more Hong Lin trees..." But just as Lin Mu said this, he felt the Jade slip hum in the ring. "Or not..."


    Lin Mu took out the jade slip and saw that it was Jing Luo who had messaged him.


    "Where are you?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "I¡¯m in the forest." Lin Mu answered.


    "Why are you in the forest? Weren¡¯t you looking for the clues to the Hei corps?" Jing Luo asked feeling a bit confused.


    "It¡¯s a long story..." Lin Mu said. "It¡¯ll be better if I exin to you in person." He added.


    "Alright, I¡¯ll wait for you." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu then looked at Little Shrubby and spoke, "seems like I¡¯m gonna have to pause this excursion for a bit."


    Little Shrubby nodded and spoke, "I¡¯ll continue searching for more Hong Lin trees then."


    "Yes, that¡¯ll be good." Lin Mu said before flying away in the direction of the Hong Lin capital.


    In about an hour, he reached the city and directly went to the courtyard they had rented for the time being. Since they had not taken any servants for service, the courtyard was empty.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The door of the room Jing Luo was staying in opened, and Lin Mu walked in. In there, he could see Jing Luo sitting on a mat on the ground while meditating. It was evident that he was stillprehending the information that Lin Mu had passed on to him.


    ¡¯I¡¯ll wait till he is done...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself and sat down as well.


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    While doing this, he spread his spirit sense around and checked the city for any changes or anything interesting that may have happened. An hour passed like this and Jing Luo Finally woke up, prompting Lin Mu to withdraw his spirit sense.


    "Are you done?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not even close. Now that I got a better look at the knowledge, I understand just how vast it is. It¡¯ll take me months to fully even go through it not to mentionprehend it. The more I learn the more I feel that it getsplex and I feel like the path in front of me which was nearlypleted, extends further." Jing Luo replied.


    "No wonders, Jing Wei and Duan Ke preferred going to the Ancestral ground." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed. This is something that I think will take me years to fullyprehend." Jing Luo stated.


    "I see... so you are taking a break I guess?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, I wanted to see how your investigation was going." Jing Luo replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu sighed to himself before he began his exnation about all that had happened till now. He spoke about the missing Hei Corps, the situation with the King of the Hong Lin Kingdom, his uncle and the two Nascent Soul disciples that hade in the search for the thousand year old Hong Lin wood.


    After Lin Mu finished exining everything, Jing Luo furrowed his brows and thought to himself. Lin Mu also let him think on his own and after five minutes Jing Luo spoke again.


    "So I¡¯m guessing you want to take advantage of this?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Indeed. This will be the perfect opportunity for us to gain an ally not only in the Hong Lin kingdom but those two Nascent Soul disciples too. I don¡¯t know what sect they are from, but they are certainly from a top ten sect.


    Plus I can confirm that they are not under the influence of Gu Yao either. They don¡¯t have the same aura as the people who are controlled." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm... those two disciples... can you describe them to me?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Alright," Lin Mu said before telling Jing Luo the appearance of the two disciples and how they all conversed.


    "Wait did you just say they talked about Sect Master Hua?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Yes, they did." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "Huh... if I recall correctly there is only one person named Hua that is also a sect master in all of the top sects... the sect master of the Noon Grass sect." Jing Luo replied.


    "The Noon Grass sect! Really?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It should be. I doubt any other sect changed their sect master over the past fifty or so years. And even if they did, I doubt they would have the same name too." Jing Luo answered.


    "Hmm... this is an even better opportunity than I thought. Actually... this might even be better than meeting up with the Hei corps." Lin Mu spoke.


    Jing Luo thought for a bit before replying.


    "Depending on how we y this out, we can spread a rather wide and gain multiple Allies I think. If we satisfy the two disciples and the King as well, we may get to inquire more about the Hei Corps¡¯s disappearance.


    Even if they are not on the record, I¡¯m sure the people who actually did the investigation should know better." Jing Luo stated.


    Lin Mu thought over it and found it to be reasonable.


    "I guess so... but we will have to y our cards right. I¡¯m pretty sure they will find it suspicious if we directly go and talk to the two disciples about helping them, especially since I have literally spied on them.." Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 698 - The Two Disciples Leave The City

    <h4>Chapter 698 - The Two Disciples Leave The City </h4>


    Having heard Lin Mu¡¯s words, Jing Luo nodded his head. Talking directly with the two disciples of the Noon Grass sect might not really be good.


    "Hmm... how do we go about this?" Jing Luo muttered as he started to think.


    Lin Mu did the same and the two of them discussed several points on how they could be made to work. A few minutes passed like this when Lin Mu suddenly sensed something. He had his spirit sense spread around almost always and suddenly felt a few familiar people.


    "Oh? Speak of the devils..." Lin Mu said.


    "What happened?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "The two disciples, they are nearby." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm... let¡¯s take a look. Perhaps we¡¯ll get to know something that might help us in figuring this out." Jing Luo suggested.


    "Alright," Lin Mu said and flew out of the courtyard.


    The two of them made their way towards the two disciples who were heading towards one of the exits of the city. The Hong Lin city had multiple exits, bothrge main ones, and smaller unofficial ones.


    The two disciples were using one of the smaller ones which went from the neighborhood where Lin Mu and Jing Luo had gotten into the courtyard. They had picked this neighborhood for its rtive remoteness and fewer people and it seemed like the two disciples were taking this route for that very same reason.


    Thankfully, the two disciples were not using their spirit sense or they would have detected Lin Mu rather quickly. It was evident that they were following the aim of staying low-key to the maximum such that they didn¡¯t want to identally alert someone else with their spirit sense.


    While they could, of course sense someone else¡¯s spirit sense if it came near them, Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense was far more refined than most people such that they couldn¡¯t even detect it. It was the same with his cultivation base which could not be perceived unless he disyed it himself.


    Jing Luo on the other hand, didn¡¯t use his spirit sense and also used a spirit tool to hide his spirit Qi fluctuations. Since the presence of any Nascent soul realm cultivator could be met with interest and even suspicion, it was best for them to hide it.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo watched as the two disciples left the city and went in the northern direction after changing their path.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu recognized where they were going.


    "They¡¯re going to the ce where we rested at first." Jing Luo also identified.


    "Hmm... perhaps they are investigating us as well." Lin Mu spoke while furrowing his brows.


    After a few minutes, the two disciples came to a stop at the hill where Lin Mu and Jing Luo had paused.


    "Just as we thought... you wait here, I¡¯ll see what they are talking about from underground." Lin Mu said before he sank into the ground using Phase.


    Jing Luo looked at the disappearing Lin Mu and muttered to himself, "I can never get used to seeing that..."


    Lin Mu quickly approached the two disciples and hid within one of the trees behind them. This distance was enough for Lin Mu to hear what they were talking about clearly.


    "Are you sure this is the ce where the spirit Qi fluctuations came from senior brother?" The junior brother questioned.


    The senior brother kneeled on the ground and touched the grass that had some imprints on it. He closed his eyes and spread his spirit sense around, which Lin Mu felt, and quickly blinked away to a ce deeper underground.


    ¡¯Close!¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After about a minute, the senior brother withdrew his spirit sense and opened his eyes.


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    "Mmmhmm, they were here. There were in fact three cultivators here, two humans and one beast." The senior brother stated.


    "Huh? A beast as well?" The junior brother asked.


    "Indeed. And from the traces of spirit Qi I can feel... all of them were at the Nascent Soul realm." The senior brother replied.


    "That... how can that be? It would make sense if it was two human cultivators at the Nascent Soul realm but a beast as well? Normally, this should have been met with a conflict between them.


    I don¡¯t think it can be a tamed beast either. No Nascent Soul realm cultivator can tame a Nascent Soul realm beast." The junior brother expressed his doubts.


    The senior brother nodded his head in response to his junior brother¡¯s analysis.


    "You¡¯re right, junior brother. I don¡¯t think the beast was free. Perhaps it was restrained and the two Nascent soul realm cultivators were transporting it somewhere. The spirit Qi fluctuation we felt might not even be a breakthrough but rather the signs of a struggle." The senior brother spoke.


    "A struggle? But there are no signs of a battle or fight here." The Junior brother stated.


    "Don¡¯t forget, a struggle need not be a direct fight. What if the struggle was due to the beast trying to escape whatever restrictive formations were ced on it and the humans trying to stop that or add more formations?" The Senior brother replied.


    "I see..." The junior brother said in an understanding tone.


    Lin Mu who listened to everything, shook his head.


    "They got no idea whatsoever... the only thing they got right is the two humans and one beast part, right. Still... that¡¯s good since we have the advantage due to being in the dark." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He switched his focus back to the two disciples as he heard them talk again.


    "Now that we have checked this ce, at least we know that the Nascent Soul realm cultivators are not here anymore. We can talk further about the situation with the King, senior brother.


    How are we going to get a tribtion tform made? Neither of us is proficient in formations enough to be able to make one." The Junior brother stated.


    "Hmm... I fear we may have to look for external help for that.." The senior brother replied.

 Chapter 699 - Dilemma Of The Two Disciples

    <h4>Chapter 699 - Dilemma Of The Two Disciples </h4>


    Hearing what the two disciples said, Lin Mu perked his ears.


    "Who can we look for that senior brother? I don¡¯t think we know any formation master of that level." The junior brother asked.


    "Hmm... our options are indeed limited. Plus, with the time limit we have, I don¡¯t know if we will be able to find one in time either." The senior brother said.


    "But I don¡¯t want to fail the very first task Master gave me. If I fail this, who knows how many decades will pass before he will allow me to leave the sect." The junior brother said, feeling a bit unwilling.


    "Master will understand. This was supposed to be a rtively easy task, but the current situation has made itplex. The thousand year old Hong Lin wood has suddenly be high in demand in the past year or so.


    Even the empire and several sects asked for it, if I remember correctly." The senior brother replied.


    "No senior, I at least want to try till we can¡¯t. Going back like this is not something I want to be remembered as by the master." The junior brother said, his tone firm.


    The senior brother looked at his junior brother¡¯s face and sighed to himself.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Fine... we shall try." The senior brother replied.


    "YES! I have faith that we will be able to find a way." The Junior brother said.


    The senior brother sank into deep thought while the junior brother kept his silence so as to not disturb. Lin Mu on the other hand, was intrigued to learn the fact that it wasn¡¯t just him and Jing Luo that were looking for the thousand year old Hong Lin trees.


    ¡¯This thing seems to be in a far higher demand than I thought... but why?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Jing Luo wanted the resin of the Hong Lin trees and to get the resin they would need the trees, which also meant that there would be the wood to apany it. While Jing Luo himself didn¡¯t have any particr need for the wood, the resin could only be obtained from a live tree.


    To verify this, Lin Mu decided to contact Jing Luo using themunication jade slip.


    "I just learned that we aren¡¯t the only ones looking for thousand year old Hong Lin trees. In addition to these disciples, apparently the empire and several sects also bought the thousand year old Hong Lin tree wood." Lin Mu said.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    "Oh? That¡¯s rather strange. Even though the Hong Lin tree wood is useful for spirit weapons and tools, they aren¡¯t something that can¡¯t be substituted for other materials. I can¡¯t tell why this is suddenly so much in demand that even the empire and other sects want it." Jing Luo replied.


    "Perhaps if we know exactly which sects bought it, we might get a better idea of it." Lin Mu stated.


    "Guess we will need to talk to these two in the end." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Indeed. But first I have to find the right excuse. I¡¯m listening to them and hopefully, we get something." Lin Mu said.


    "I¡¯ll leave you to it then." Jing Luo said before stopping the connection.


    Lin Mu turned his attention back to the two disciples and saw that the two were still not talking. About ten minutes passed like this before the senior brother finally spoke.


    "I... may know someone that can possibly assist us." The senior brother suddenly said.


    "You do? Who are they?" The junior brother questioned.


    "It¡¯s someone I met a long time ago when I was still a body tempering realm warrior. Both of us were recruited by the top sect, I went to the Noon grass sect, but he went to the Long Cloud sect." The senior brother answered.


    "The Long Cloud sect... but if we really do ask the Long Cloud sect for help, won¡¯t it be against the rules that our sect has set. We aren¡¯t supposed to have any contact or interaction with the two cultivation sect alliances unless we have concise instructions to do so." The junior brother said, feeling doubtful.


    "I know... but we won¡¯t be talking to the Long Cloud sect itself, but rather one of the disciples on a private level. I think master should understand that might at least and forgive us." The senior brother said.


    "Hmm... I don¡¯t know. It is risky, if master really takes offense to it, he will punish you, senior brother. I don¡¯t want to do this if you have to be punished." The Junior brother replied in a low voice.


    "Foolish junior, this much punishment will be fine for me. Even if I have to stay in the sect for half a century, I don¡¯t mind. I prefer staying in seclusion any way." The Senior brother said with a chuckle.


    "Senior brother..." The junior brother had a touched expression on his face upon hearing this.


    "It is settled then. I¡¯ll try to contact the person I know and hopefully, they can help us out. While I haven¡¯t had much contact with them over the years, I do know that they became a core disciple a few years ago due to their talent in formations." The senior brother said.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu had an idea that he thought might just work.


    "Let¡¯s see if showing a thirsty traveler in the desert an oasis would work or not. We don¡¯t have any better idea, anyway." Lin Mu muttered to himself and took out themunication jade slip.


    "I have a n..." Lin Mu said before exining what they could do to pull the attention of the two disciples.


    Jing Luo, who listened to the entire thing some distance away, furrowed his brows but found the n to be rtively fine.


    "I guess this could work. Though it will depend on how much they really ¡¯want¡¯ this. If they are desperate enough, we can probably get through it." Jing Luo stated.


    "It¡¯s worth a try. Let¡¯s get to it.." Lin Mu said before he blinked away.

 Chapter 700 - A Display Of Formation Skills

    <h4>Chapter 700 - A Disy Of Formation Skills </h4>


    About an hour had passed and the two disciples of the Noon Grass sect were still discussing their situation, and how to solve it when they suddenly felt a wave of spirit Qiing from a certain location.


    "Senior brother! That... that seems familiar." The junior brother said after sensing the spirit Qi wave.


    The senior brother furrowed his brows and extended his spirit sense in the direction from where the spirit Qi fluctuation hade, but he realized that it was beyond the rage till which he could reach.


    "Hmm... it¡¯s much farther than I thought. If it can still have this strength at this distance, then it must be quite strong." The senior brother said.


    "What should we do now? Do we check it out?" The junior brother questioned.


    The senior brother didn¡¯t answer right away and waited to see if there would be any more changes. After about fives minutes, he nodded his head and spoke again.


    "We may as well check it out. But keep calm and stay alert. Better to be cautious than not." The senior brother stated.


    "I understand." The junior brother said with a nod.


    The two of them then flew in the direction of the spirit Qi wave and reached it after about ten minutes of travel. While they could have reached this much faster, they wanted to be careful to ensure that they wouldn¡¯te across any trouble.


    This way they would have enough distance to retreat if need be. But when they actually reached the location they were still shocked.


    "That... What is that man doing?" The junior brother questioned in shock.


    "An entire formation array? Is he making an abode here?" The senior brother couldn¡¯t help but mutter.


    The two of them were standing on the top of a hill that was located at the side of a mountain. The mountain in front of them was densely covered in Hong Lin trees and the surface of it could barely be seen.


    Though what they could perceive, there was a small cave at the entrance of which a beefy man was sitting. He had long hair that was tied into multiple strands that hung at his back.


    He was wearing robes that were of a high quality and was decked in spirit tools and weapons from the top to bottom. No matter which way they looked at, he looked to be filthy rich in spirit tools.


    While they couldn¡¯t perceive the fainter spirit Qi fluctuations that came off the spirit tools due to the formations that the man was making right now, just from the appearance of it they could tell that they must not be lower than mid grade spirit tools.


    But the most shocking part was the man¡¯s cultivation base.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    "Senior brother is he..." The Junior brother muttered, a little afraid to speak further.


    "Indeed... he¡¯s at the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm." The senior brother replied.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    And just as he said this, the senior brother saw hundreds of runes being created simultaneously at the flick of the man¡¯s fingers as they quickly arranged themselves into a formation which then entered the cave.


    The beefy man then took out several formationponents such as gs, nodes, and talismans, before sending them flying. Theponents flew around the mountain and settled into the appropriate pces that were needed for them.


    The formation gs nted themselves at the four points of the mountain, erecting ayer that made the spirit Qi fluctuation get fainter. The physical nodes that were made of several stones directly buried themselves into the ground and disappeared.


    Finally, the talismans attached to the trees in a random pattern before fading away. The beefy man then brought his hands together in a mudra and flipped them, merging the tenyers of formations that he had made in front of him.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    An audible hum could be heard as the formationspletely merged into a formation array.


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    Once that was done, the man and the cave disappeared as if there was nothing there from the start. Instead of that, a in ground surface could be seen where the cave was. In addition to that, if one looked at the Hong Lin trees for a while, they would find it as if they were moving, which would make them dazed.


    The two disciples who had seen everything were now more than shocked.


    "Did that man just... set up an entire formation array in a span of ten minutes?" The junior brother asked, finding all of it to be unbelievable.


    "He did... not only did he do it in ten minutes, the formation array isn¡¯t something to take lightly either. I have no doubt I would be unable to break this even if I used all skill. Perhaps only a brute force attack might be able to do something to it.


    But this is only because we saw the formation array being created. If it was someone else, they wouldn¡¯t even know that there is a formation here and even a cultivator¡¯s abode." The senior brother replied.


    Seeing as how the beefy man had used that cave, the two were very sure that what the man had made was a cultivator¡¯s cave abode. It was one of themon kinds of residences a cultivator would make when they were out of their sects.


    Though for most itinerant cultivators, a cave abode was probably the only kind of a residence, they would use. Actual physical residences were impractical since they often needed to move around a lot.


    Plus, making a cave abode was much easier than making a proper residence. They could either just find a preexisting cave or carve out one for themselves. After all, there was nock of mountains and hills in the world. And even if one didn¡¯t exist, they would always make a cave in the ground itself.


    Having seen the beefy man make an entire cave abode along with a formation array, made an idea appear in the mind of the junior brother.

 Chapter 701 - Granting A Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 701 - Granting A Meeting </h4>


    The Junior brother looked at the mountain and then at the senior brother.


    "Senior brother, should we... ask the man... no, Senior for help?" The junior brother questioned.


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    But the senior brother didn¡¯t answer right away and stayed silent as if thinking about it.


    "Senior brother, you¡¯ve seen how this senior is proficient in the formations. He must be a great formation master. Where else would we find someone that can do all this? Even if we go to your friend in the Long Cloud sect, we have no guarantee that they would be avable to do that.


    Plus, the time needed to travel back and forth will be more than fifteen days. And even if we manage to convince your friend, I doubt they would be able to set up a tribtion entuation fomentation array that quickly.


    This senior seems like our best choice." The junior brother pleaded.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Fine... we will try. But we will not bother him. He has no obligation to help us and seeing his skill and cultivation base, I doubt he is anyone without a background." The senior brother stated.


    "Yes. Of course, the final decision about epting our request is up to him. But I guess we can try." The junior brother replied.


    "Alright, let¡¯s go and see if he is willing to help us. Don¡¯t talk and let me speak first." The senior brother ordered.


    The two of them then flew to the base of the mountain and cupped their hands while bowing their heads.


    "We two are disciples from the Noon grass sect and couldn¡¯t help but notice the senior¡¯s great skill in formations. Can the senior please grant us audience?" the senior brother asked in a humble tone.


    His voice was normal, yet it managed to reach all across the mountain. While they were doing this, inside the cave of the mountain, something else was happening.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A man appeared out of the ground and looked at another man who was standing at the entrance of the cave while gazing out. The man who had appeared was none other than Lin Mu of course, while the other being Jing Luo.


    "They took the bait. It actually went far better than expected." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Good. Since they are the ones asking us for a request, we will now have an upper hand." Jing Luo replied.


    "Should we let them enter?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not so fast... let them wait a few more minutes." Jing Luo replied.


    ***


    "He hasn¡¯t responded yet... is he in seclusion already?" The junior brother asked his senior brother.


    "Hmm... it has been an hour since he entered it. I doubt he would start this fast as he would need to set up more things inside the abode." The senior brother replied.


    "Then is he perhaps ignoring us?" The junior brother questioned.


    "That could be possible. He doesn¡¯t really have an obligation to help us, anyway." The senior brother answered.


    "Even the name of our sect doesn¡¯t help this..." The junior brother replied.


    "Our sect has always been low key and prefers to stay out of conflicts. This also includes any debts and favors. It¡¯s usual for other cultivators to not pay much attention to us at this point.


    Some normal cultivators might, due to our identity as one of the top sects, but those who know more will probably not care much about it. Plus, this senior definitely has a much higher identity than us." The senior brother exined.


    Hearing this, the junior brother nodded his head.


    "Now that I think of it... doesn¡¯t he look younger than us?" The junior brotherpared.


    "That¡¯s another way to confirm that he may actually have a higher rank than us. Even if we are the direct disciples of the sect master, there are many geniuses out there in the world. This is one of the things master, wants you to learn." The senior brother replied.


    Despite hearing his senior brother¡¯s words, the junior brother couldn¡¯t help but feel a tinge of envy fromparing himself to the senior who had made the formation array. To him, the beefy man not only had a higher cultivation base than him and his senior brother, but was also of a younger age.


    The two of them looked like they were in theirte forties right now, while the beefy man looked to be in histe thirties. While they couldn¡¯t confirm his actual age just by this, before one reached the Adult Soul stage of the nascent soul realm, using appearance to judge was still enough.


    The junior brother himself was over two hundred years old, while his senior brother was twice as old as that at the age of over four hundred.


    Just as the two of them were about to give up, they heard a deep voicee from the mountain.


    "Enter!" The voice stated.


    The eyes of the junior brother lit up after hearing this, and he looked at the senior brother.


    "Seems like we are in luck." The senior brother said. "Let¡¯s enter. Best not to keep him waiting."


    The two of them then approached the mountain and saw the barrier materialize in front of them. A small door opened up for them and they were able to enter it. Upon entering, they could see the mountain change slightly and the cave which had disappeared was now visible again on the mountainside.


    The two of them quickly reached the cave and came to a stop there.


    "Senior, may we enter?" the senior brother asked in a polite tone while cupping his hand. His junior brother followed his lead and did the same.


    "Come in," Jing Luo said from the inside.


    "Thank you senior." The senior brother said and took a step in while his junior followed.


    Upon entering, they could see thepletely different look of the cave. There were several sets of furniture that had been arranged in a simple, yet elegant manner.


    Seeing this, the two felt a bit better since they realized that they weren¡¯t being ignored, just that the senior was busy.

 Chapter 702 - Hua San And Hua Wu

    <h4>Chapter 702 - Hua San And Hua Wu </h4>


    The two brothers saw Jing Luo sitting at a table while working on something. There were a fewponents lying around that they couldn¡¯t fully identify. The only thing they could tell was that they were of a high quality from the spirit Qi fluctuation that wasing from there.


    "Thank you for giving us the chance to talk to you senior." The senior brother spoke.


    "Mmmhmm... so who are you two?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "I am Hua San and this is my fifth junior brother, Hua Wu. Both of us are direct disciples under sect master Hua of the Noon Grass Sect." The Hua San introduced.


    "You took up his surname? He made you his legacy disciples?" Jing Luo asked, finding their names to be same.


    "Indeed, senior. All of us were orphans before the sect master took us in from the secr world. We take up his surname to show our eternal gratitude. Our master is our father as well." Hua San answered.


    "I see... seems like Sect Master Hua Dan had far more disciples than I thought... I¡¯ve only ever seen his first disciple named Yi and the second disciple named Er." Jing Luo replied.


    "You know eldest senior brother and senior sister?" Hua Wu was surprised.


    "Hmmm, I¡¯ve never met them but I believe my n did have some interactions a few hundred years ago." Jing Luo spoke, elevating his status in the minds of the two.


    "I see..." Hua San muttered, wondering if they had really lucked out today that they met an acquaintance of their master.


    "May we know the name of senior?" Hua San questioned.


    "I am Jing Luo... Heir of the Jing n." Jing Luo answered.


    "Jing n...?" Hua Wu muttered and tried to recall if he could remember the n.


    "THE JING CLAN!?" Hua San was shocked.


    "If you mean the great weaponsmith Jing n, then yes." Jing Luo confirmed.


    "This... I never knew..." Hua San said, finding it hard to speak.


    Hua Er, seeing his senior brother like this, was also quite surprised. He had not heard of the Jing n and didn¡¯t know their significance. But from his senior brother¡¯s tone, he could tell that it was very important.


    Hua Er felt curious and wanted to ask about the Jing n, but knew that doing so while Jing Luo was here might be a bit rude to him. Thus, he kept his silence and decided to ask himter when they were alone.


    While Hua San was surprised, Jing Luo was surprised as well. He had not expected that there would still be someone that remembered his n. Till now they had actually tried to inquire and gather information about the Jing n, but all of it hade empty.


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    Even Lin Mu had searched for information on the Jing n in the Tri cauldron peony sect and the Hong Lin kingdom. He was unable to find the information in either of the ces. Just from this, Lin Mu assumed that the information about the Jing n was far more hidden than they had thought.


    Jing Luo didn¡¯t know how far the empire had gone in their attempt but knew that the sects must have had a hand in this obviously.


    ¡¯If someone from the Noon Grass sect knows about my n, then it means that the Noon Grass sect still maintained records about our n. If they were involved in the extermination back then, they would have erased all of them.¡¯ Jing Luo thought to himself.


    He felt like they now had a sect that can be somewhat trusted, even if it was not fully assured and could change any moment, depending on whether Gu Yao manages to take control of others.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Jing Luo took a deep breath, pushing aside these thoughts for now. He needed to focus on the task at hand and thus decided to talk.


    "So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Ah yes! We are in a little bit of a problem senior." Hua San replied.


    "What kind of a problem?" Jing Luo asked.


    "It¡¯s like this..." Hua San then started to exin theplication that they had.


    He told Jing Luo about their mission and why they came to Hong Lin kingdom and what the king wants. While the information about the King breaking through was confidential, he didn¡¯t think it was necessary to hide it from Jing Luo.


    After ten minutes, Hua San was finally done speaking, leaving Jing Luo to continue.


    "Hmm... so you want someone to make a tribtion attenuation formation for you, so that the king can use it so that you can get the thousand year old Hong Lin wood." Jing Luo summarized.


    "Yes senior." Hua San nodded his head.


    "If I decided to help, what do I get?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Anything within my capabilities, I shall offer senior." Hua San replied hurriedly.


    "I¡¯ll assist as well." Hua Wu added, not wanting to miss out.


    "Hmm... I do need your help with something if you are willing to listen to a problem I have." Jing Luo said.


    "Of course! Please do tell senior." Hua San replied.


    "Very well... this thing is a bit sensitive and it would be better if you don¡¯t let others know about it... for your own safety as well." Jing Luo said, making Hua San furrow his brows.


    A serious expression appeared on Hua Wu¡¯s face as well and the two disciples decided to listen on.


    Jing Luo then exined to them about the threat about Gu Yao and how he has been controlling the sects and even the people from the imperial court. He told them about the truth behind the Zither wind alliance and the northern tribes.


    It took Jing Luo two hours to exin it all and the two disciples were shaken after hearing all this.


    "No wonder master said not to interact with those from the sects asking for an alliance..." Hua San muttered in shock.

 Chapter 703 - Agreement With The Two Disciples

    <h4>Chapter 703 - Agreement With The Two Disciples </h4>


    Hearing that the sect master of the Noon Grass sect was wary about the actions of the other top sect, Jing Luo was a bit intrigued.


    "Sect Master Hua knows about this?" Jing Luo asked.


    "I don¡¯t exactly know how much he knows, as even we don¡¯t know. All that he to us before leaving was to not get involved with the sects that are asking us to join their alliances and to keep away from them.


    I never knew there was such a problem behind it." Hua San replied.


    "I see... Sect master Hua certainly has a great foresight to be able to see the problems even when the top three sects could not." Jing Luo said with a sigh.


    Hua San and Hua Wu didn¡¯t speak and waited for Jing Luo to continue.


    Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.


    "Alright... I can help you guys out as long as you can contract sect master Hua and tell him about Gu Yao. You should be able to tell that this matter involves the entire world and can lead to a lot of people dying." Jing Luo stated.


    "Of course, senior. This can actually be considered a favor from you to us. By telling us this, you may have just saved our sect perhaps." San Hua spoke.


    "We shall certainly inform master about this. Currently, we can¡¯t contact him since we are too far from the set, but once we return we shall definitely do so." Hua Wu added.


    "Ah, yes. You do not have a high grademunication jade slip, do you?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Yes, we don¡¯t. I think in the entire sect, only the supreme elder and master have one. They are far too rare for us to be able to get one." Hua San said with a little embarrassment.


    "Well then, here you go." Jing Luo said before handing two jade slips to the disciples.


    "Huh? High grademunication Jade Slips!?" The two disciples were shocked upon seeing this.


    They had never expected that they would just get one like this. And it was not just a single one, but two, one for each of them. One must know that even if amunication jade slip was also a spirit tool and that it would not be that hard for them to get a high grade spirit tool from the sect, jade slips were still hard to make.


    The higher the grade, the more difficult it was to make them. But there was also the matter of theponents required for it; they were simply far to difficult to find and expensive to use since they could be destroyed if the production failed.


    This was the reason why high grademunication jade slips were even rarer than the other high grade spirit tools and weapons.


    As for peak grademunication jade slips?


    It was said that a peak grademunication jade slip would work no matter where someone was in the world.


    "Mymunication jade slip is linked to those two, so once you link that with your masters, we will be able tomunicate." Jing Luo spoke.


    "We shall do that then, senior." Hua San replied.


    "Before I get to making the tribtion attenuation formation though, there is one more person you should meet." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Oh? Who is it?" Hua San asked.


    Originally, Lin Mu and Jing Luo had wanted to talk a bit more with the two disciples and thought that they would need to do a lot more convincing. But everything had gone much easier and there was no need for Lin Mu toe in with his nned act at all.


    And since that was out of the way, Lin Mu had no chance to appear and was still listening to the entire thing while hidden in the walls. Of course, he couldn¡¯t appear directly out of the walls upon being called, as it would seem inappropriate and work against the act they had done till now.


    Thus, Lin Mu waited for Jing Luo to contact him using themunication jade slip.


    The two disciples looked outside the cave as they suddenly felt a presence outside. There were spirit Qi fluctuationsing from there and they could tell that they were at the Nascent soul realm as well.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Finally, they saw a handsome man enter the cave. He was far younger than them and looked to be barely twenty years old. But the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from his body showed that he was no less powerful than Jing Luo here.


    "Greetings senior!" The two of them hurriedly cupped their hands, realizing that it was another strong person.


    "Greetings, I am Lin Mu." He introduced himself.


    "Come sit. We¡¯ll talk for a bit." Jing Luo said and quickly exined the situation to him.


    Even though Lin Mu knew about it already, they needed to do so to keep up the act. They were too far in and could not break it anymore. Thankfully, Jing Luo was able to wind it up in just five minutes.


    "I see... well, I¡¯m in agreement with everything and am thankful that you two are willing to talk to the sect master on our behalf." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It is fine, senior Lin Mu. We shall do our best." Hua San said.


    "Though, you two are also looking for Thousand year old Hong Lin trees like us." Lin Mu spoke. "I guess we can join up in finding them." He added.


    "Seniors are looking for them too? Do you want the wood as well?" Hua Wu questioned.


    "Well... Jing Luo wants the sap of thousand year old Hong Lin trees, but I just want the living trees themselves." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm... we tried searching but couldn¡¯t reallye up with any clues other than asking the king¡¯s chief adviser. While they do have the thousand year old Hong Lin wood in their reserve storage, I don¡¯t know if it is enough." Hua San spoke.


    "I know. That¡¯s why I have been searching for them myself as well.." Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 704 - Clarifications

    <h4>Chapter 704 - rifications </h4>


    Hearing that Lin Mu and Jing Luo were looking for thousand year old Hong Lin wood as well, the two disciples were surprised. They even felt that they might have a little bit of apetition when it came to that now.


    "Senior wants thousand year old Hong Lin Wood as well? Why?" Hua San questioned.


    "Well, not thousand year old Hong Lin Wood itself. Jing Luo needs the sap of thousand year old Hong Lin trees, while I need the actual living tree." Lin Mu exined.


    "Ah, I see." Hua San said, feeling a bit relieved.


    He thought at least this way they wouldn¡¯t have aplete sh.


    "Though getting thousand year old Hong Lin tree sap would be difficult. It can only be extracted when the tree is alive and even then it is quite hard to keep for long periods of time.


    I don¡¯t think even the Hong Lin kingdom has any in storage." Hua San spoke.


    "Yeah, I guessed that. That¡¯s why we prefer finding an actual living tree." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm.. But why does senior need a living tree? Are you going to make something from it as well?" Hua San asked.


    "I don¡¯t want it for making anything. Rather, I want it for a cultivation technique I practice." Lin Wu informed.


    "Oh? That¡¯s something I didn¡¯t know was possible." Hua San spoke, feeling truly surprised.


    "Are there even cultivation techniques that use it? What are they even used for?" Hua Wu asked.


    "Well, it¡¯s a fire elemental cultivation technique and as you may know the Hong Lin trees are abundant in fire attribute spirit Qi. While I can use hundred year old Hong Lin trees as well, as my technique progresses further, I¡¯ll need at least one thousand year old Hong Lin tree toplete it." Lin Mu exined.


    He didn¡¯t really feel ufortable telling them about this, since they couldn¡¯t really do much with it. Even if they knew that it was a body cultivating technique, they would be helpless as they would have to firstplete all thirteen stages of the body tempering realm and obtain a Xiantian physique before they could even begin with the Five Treasures realm.


    When the first king of the Hong Lin empire made their technique, he had only made it as a body tempering realm technique, which switched to a normal Qi cultivation technique when one reached the eighth stage of the body tempering realm.


    Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.


    This same technique would allow them to absorb spirit Qi from the trees and boost their speed of cultivation. This was a fire element spirit Qi cultivation technique and would allow the cultivator to get fire elemental spirit Qi for use.


    Lin Mu though, could not use the spirit Qi aspect of this technique since he didn¡¯t cultivate spirit Qi directly using a cultivation technique. Senior Xukong had told him to continue following the primordial path, and that was what he was doing.


    Lin Mu absorbed spirit Qi naturally with the pathways he had learned himself and they were the most appropriate for him. Naturally, he would not switch to a cultivation technique that was inferior and had a slower speed.


    Thankfully, Lin Mu was merely using it for five treasures realm cultivation and didn¡¯t really care for the spirit Qi aspect.


    "Hopefully we are able to find them so senior can practice his cultivation technique." Hua Wu stated.


    "Mmhmm... I think if we look long enough we will find it." Lin Mu said.


    This was true since it was only a matter of time till they found a thousand year old Hong Lin tree. With Little Shrubby manually looking around at his speed, it was quite likely for them to find it.


    If needed, Little Shrubby could literally scan every inch of the Hong Lin forest to find some thousand year old Hong Lin trees. Lin Mu had currently refined 43% of his heart and needed a lot more before he could reach the peak.


    He knew that eventually, he would need a Thousand year old Hong Lin tree as every use of a hundred year old Hong Lin tree, lesser the amount of vital essence that was obtained by him.


    While the normal Hong Lin trees won¡¯t even make a difference. The normal Hong Lin trees that were younger than hundred years were only useful for cultivators that were in the Body tempering realm.


    "By the way, have you two chosen a location for the tribtion attenuation tform, or perhaps the king has chosen one?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "No, he hasn¡¯t specified anything. They only told us that they want one. I reckon they should be fine with any ce as long as it has a tribtion attenuation tform. They can¡¯t really be choosy with the location since even a single use Tribtion attenuation tform has very specific requirements." Hua San answered.


    "I see..." Jing Luo muttered, not telling them that he could make one essentially anywhere to save him some work.


    "How about this mountain itself?" Jing Luo asked after thinking for a bit.


    "It would actually be quite good!" Hua San said. "Not only does senior have the other illusory formations set up, the location is also distant enough that the entire session should be a bit private."


    "Indeed. I¡¯ll get to working then. You guys can talk with Lin Mu and do other things." Jing Luo replied.


    "Oh yeah! Speaking of the king, we would like to meet him as well." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Meet the king?" Hua San asked.


    "Why would you want that?" Hua Wu felt a bit confused.


    The two of them thought that Lin Mu and Jing Luo were intentionally concealing themselves from the king and that¡¯s why they were here so far away.


    "For the same reason that I wanted to talk with Sect master Hua... Gu Yao. We¡¯d like to inform them and see if they are willing to join our cause. Plus... I¡¯d like to rify some things with them as well.." Lin Mu exined.

 Chapter 705 - Back To The Hong Lin Capital

    <h4>Chapter 705 - Back To The Hong Lin Capital </h4>


    Having heard Lin Mu¡¯s words, Hua San and Hua Wu couldn¡¯t really reject them. They were reasonable requests and besides, if Lin Mu and Jing Luo were to go to the royal pce, they would be willingly given an audience with a king.


    Their cultivation base gave them the authority to ask for such a thing. Though the only reason why Lin Mu hadn¡¯t done, that was because he was unsure if Gu Yao had his spies here as well.


    But now that he knew about the situation of the Noon Grass sect and how they have been careful since the start, they reckoned it would be fine. Plus, Lin Mu himself had spied on their records and could tell that the Hong Lin kingdom was still rtively safe.


    Even though Lin Mu had some doubts, he felt a bit more confident in himself that he would be able to resolve any problem that came with his cultivation base. He was no longer the weak Qi refining realm cultivator that had barely been able to stand against Gu Yao; he was now an Adolescent Soul stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator.


    Lin Mu also had the confidence that he would be able to fight Gu Yao in an open fight and even defeat them. But that was the very problem; Gu Yao would never do this unless it was the final option he had.


    The old man liked to scheme and control others, as could be seen from the skills he used. This was why he was someone even more dangerous than someone who was at the Dao Treading realm.


    After all, Gu Yao himself had at least one cultivator that was at the Dao Treading realm in his control and multiple Dao shell realm and Nascent soul realm cultivators.


    So far, Lin Mu hadn¡¯t felt the presence of anyone being controlled in this kingdom. He had felt the full aura of Gu Yao and the effect his human controlling blood curse had. At first, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t really differentiate them.


    But now that he had reached the Nascent Soul realm, his sensitivity had increased and he was able to tell the difference. In fact, any Nascent Soul realm cultivator would be able to do the same for granted they had felt the aura of Gu Yao himself.


    This was also the reason why he hid himself somewhere and refused toe out, using others to do his bidding instead. This way, no one would see him and sense his aura, thus making it close to impossible for others to figure out others were being controlled.


    Lin Mu reckoned other than him, only Wu Hei should be able to do this. After all, the man was also under the control of Gu Yao temporarily, but had managed to break free due to his bloodline and the cultivation technique.


    "Hmm... if senior Lin Mu wants a meeting with the King we can ask him right away. After all, Senior Jing Luo is setting up the tribtion attenuation tform and this would be something the king and his adviser would be happy to hear." Hua San stated.


    "Very well then. I guess we can head out now." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Sure senior." Hua San replied.


    "Contact me if anything happens. I¡¯ll get to work in the meantime." Jing Luo added.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said and the three men flew away.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The two men had a bit of a hard time catching up to Lin Mu¡¯s speed, thus Lin Mu had to intentionally slow down.


    ¡¯If I really went at my full speed using blink, they won¡¯t even be able to see me at that point...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Theparison was enough to make him a bit happy, as it meant that he would be able to stand his ground against even stronger cultivators or multiple weaker cultivators with ease.


    The three men flew for about an hour before they finally reached the Hong Lin Kingdom¡¯s capital.


    "Let¡¯s walk from here. Better to not attract extra attention." Hua San said.


    "Is that fine with you, senior?" Hua Wu asked.


    Some cultivators would find it offensive that they needed to walk likemoners and thus they thought it was appropriate to ask.


    "Oh yes. I am of the same thought as you. It¡¯s better to be low key for now." Lin Mu replied.


    Hua San found Lin Mu to be even better now that he heard this, and Lin Mu¡¯s image in his heart rose up by a bit. The three men made their way through the city, weaving through crowds of people.


    "Is it just me or are there a lot more people out today?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Hua San furrowed his brows and looked around, finding it to be really more crowded.


    "It does seem to be more crowded than before..." Hua San replied.


    "AH! I remember, it¡¯s nearly the time for the Autumn festival!" Hua Wu suddenly spoke.


    "It is?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. While many kingdoms have the Autumn festival, it is especially more important in the Hong Lin kingdom. Since Autumn signifies the end of summer and the change in weather to winter, it also signifies the fall of the fire element.


    Since the Hong Lin kingdom reveres Hong Lin trees, they bid farewell to fire at the end of Autumn. Plus the leaves of Hong Lin trees that are naturally red be even more vibrant in Autumn before they start to fall." Hua Wu exined.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    "I see..." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Looks like you researched quite a bit beforeing here." Lin Mu added.


    "Indeed, it is my first time leaving the sect in thirty years. Master prohibited me from leaving the sect unless I reached the Nascent Soul realm." Hua Wu exined.


    Hearing the stringent requirement, Lin Mu was a bit astounded.


    ¡¯Huh... didn¡¯t know sect would put such restrictions on their disciples.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Oh, there are far more than just these. You will see many peculiar conditionster on.." Xukong chimed in.

 Chapter 706 - Directly Entering The Palace

    <h4>Chapter 706 - Directly Entering The Pce </h4>


    While Lin Mu had seen some special requirements that cultivation sects had on their disciples in the memoirs of the Lost immortal, they were mostly to do with their cultivation talent.


    There were none that Lin Mu hade across that wanted for their disciples to stay cooped up in the sect till they reached a specific cultivation base. He wondered what other condition they could put on them without it bing problematic.


    "I see, senior. I¡¯ll keep that in mind for future reference... if it everes to use." Lin Mu said before continuing ahead.


    He looked at Hua Wu and spoke, "how long does this festivalst?"


    "The Autumn festivalsts for about a week. This is thest week of winter and seeing as it has started today, it willst for six more days till the beginning of the next month." Hua Wu answered.


    "That¡¯s long enough for a festival. Though since there aren¡¯t really proper winters and autumn here in the south central area of the continent, I guess it isn¡¯t really as restricted by climate." Lin Mu replied.


    He remembered the harsh winters of the north and how the people in the Northern Town had to struggle with food all the time. The winters wouldy several feet thickyer of snow on the doorsteps of people sometimes.


    There were even a few years when the snow had been two meters deep, which was enough to basically bury most of the houses. That was said to be one of the worst winters in the past few centuries and had happened about two hundred years ago.


    A lot of people had died at that time, though the help was also sent from the Shuang Qian kingdom¡¯s capital at that time. But the event was still terrifying enough for many generations of people to know it by heart.


    When Lin Mu was just five years old, his mother had told him about the dangers of winter and how to prepare for it. He knew what things needed to be done absolutely and which things could be kept off forter.


    <i>~Sigh~</i> All content is ? N0velDrama.Org.


    ¡¯The past is in the past... the present is important and the future is far...¡¯ Lin Mu said to himself in his mind.


    The three men weaved through the crowds of people as they observed the various new goods that were being sold along with new food items that Lin Mu had not seen before.


    "Oh? They added even more new things for me to buy," Lin Mu said with surprise.


    Hua San and Hua Wu ignored the words of Lin Mu as they thought that he was just talking about something general. If they knew Lin Mu was talking about food, they would definitely be astounded.


    It took them almost an hour to reach the outermost wall of the central district. They were stopped by the guards there, but managed to enter quickly just by showing their identity as a cultivator.


    For the second ring, the two disciples showed the new entry pass that was given by the king¡¯s uncle to them and entered as well. They had originally thought that they might need to let Lin Mu wait while they went and talked with the king, but they didn¡¯t have to.


    The guards easily allowed the two disciples in along with Lin Mu, as well. This was mostly because of the specification on the entry pass. It stated that it allowed entry to Nascent soul realm cultivators but not how many nascent soul realm cultivators.


    And so, when the guard looked at it, while they were surprised, they still let Lin Mu enter with the two men. Of course, this was not a free method for a ground of Nascent soul realms cultivators to enter since the guards would probably be suspicious when more than the entire city¡¯s number of Nascent soul realm cultivators appear at the doorstep.


    The other two gates were also crossed with the same method and they got the final entry to the ce. Of course to Lin Mu, this was a rather long and winded method, but due to the official nature of this visit, he had to keep up with the etiquette.


    Otherwise, he would have just entered using phase from the ground. The formation array around the pce was as good as paper to him and he could freely enter it without being detected now.


    Even in the pce, the guards seem to recognize the two of them and let them enter. Though they did stare at Lin Mu for a tad bit longer than normal when they saw him. But this time Lin Mu had his cultivation revealed slightly.


    While they were unable to tell what stage he was at, they could very well tell that he was at the Nascent Soul realm just like the others. Just from this, they knew he was not anyonemon.


    Normally they should have be concerned with the appearance of an unknown Nascent Soul realm cultivator inside the royal ce since it could be a threat to the life of the king. They weren¡¯t as much because of the other two.


    They had gotten specific instructions that those two were honorable guests of the king and were not to be offended in any way. And since Lin Mu was apanying them, they expected that prohibiting Lin Mu might offend the other two, which might end up causing them problems.


    They could only hope that Lin Mu was not here to cause trouble. Though they did escort them to the courtroom of the royal pce. This was to both keep an eye on Lin Mu¡¯s behavior and also to serve as cannon fodder while the King got the time to react if Lin Mu turned out to be an enemy.


    All of these were general tactics that they had learned over the years and it had served handy quite a few times till now.. But at the doors of the courtroom, Lin Mu had to halt.

 Chapter 707 - Meeting King Hong

    <h4>Chapter 707 - Meeting King Hong </h4>


    "Pardon me seniors, but the presence of any additional guests needs to be informed to the King." The guards that were standing outside the courtroom blocked their path.


    Hua Wu furrowed his brows, but Hua San took the lead.


    "That is fine, we shall go talk with the king first and then invite senior in." Hua San spoke.


    "That¡¯s fine with me. I¡¯ll wait here." Lin Mu replied.


    The guards also nodded to this and watched as Hua San and Hua Wu entered the courtroom.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    Therge doors of the royal court made a slightly high sound that spread throughout the entire courtroom. One could tell that the doors were not normal and were made from some high quality materials.


    They were also heavy and sturdy, able to withstand attacks of Core condensation realm cultivators and even Nascent soul realm cultivator if push came to shove. Of course to Lin Mu, this might be nothing, since he could use skills to get in. He still wanted to get in through the front part to show sincerity.


    The door closed the moment Hua San and Hua Wu entered the courtroom and no sounds could be hearding from inside there. The guards who were standing near Lin Mu were sweating in their boots.


    They didn¡¯t know what would the king be talking about to them and whether this was even appropriate.


    Usually, themon public ended up waiting several weeks, if not months, to get a chance to talk to the King, but now Lin Mu was just getting an express pass.


    Lin Mu of course, didn¡¯t just stay still there and used his spirit sense to probe the room. And just as he had expected, the room was covered in a separateyer of formations that protected the king and prevented spirit senses froming closer.


    "Oh? They are indeed talking to the king alright. And even the king¡¯s uncle is here already." Lin Mu muttered to himself upon seeing the scene inside the royal court.


    While Lin Mu couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying, he could kind of guess based on their lip movement and body postures.


    Overall the expression of Hua San and Hua Wu were normal throughout the short conversation, but those of the king and his uncles were changing. At first, they were surprised, then became calm and when they heard the words of the two disciples, they became even more shocked.


    The King gestured them to stop with his hand and said something to them while pointing to the door.


    "Ah, seems like this is it for my turn..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    <i>~Rumble~</i> All content is ? N0velDrama.Org.


    The door of the royal court opened up again, but this time it was opened by Hua San and Hua Wu.


    "The king is calling senior in," Hua San informed.


    "Very well. It won¡¯t be good to leave him waiting." Lin Mu said and walked into the court under the eyes of several guards.


    Only when Lin Mu had fully entered the royal court did they take breaths of relief. To them, if Lin Mu were to be a bad person who came to kill the king, they would have a very hard time battling him.


    At most, they might serve as cannon fodder while the king himself escapes. Though they also recalled that there was the king¡¯s advisor and also uncle waiting to help him out in case of trouble.


    "Wee to the royal court of the Hong Lin kingdom," The king¡¯s uncle spoke.


    Lin Mu took a look at the man and also the king. While the king had a normal expression, Lin Mu could see the fine tremors in his body.


    ¡¯Hmm... while he is a bit unnerved, he is still observing.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And while Lin Wu was observing them, the king was doing the same.


    ¡¯While they already said that the help they got was stronger than them, I didn¡¯t expect it to be someone at such a high cultivation base...¡¯ The king thought to himself.


    As a king, he couldn¡¯t let his weaker emotions be shown to the public, lest it just bes more problematic.


    "It is nice to meet his majesty, Hong Qiqiang. I am Lin Mu." He introduced himself.


    The king looked at Lin Mu deeply and took a breath himself before speaking.


    "So senior¡¯s name is Lin Mu. It is an honor to meet you." The King also said with a bit more respect than others.


    He could tell that Lin Mu was stronger just from looking at him, as the pressure and aura radiating off him were on apletely different level.


    And while the king wondered about Lin Mu¡¯s strength, his uncle focused on the name.


    ¡¯Lin Mu? That seems familiar...¡¯ The king¡¯s uncle thought.


    "Sect master Hua¡¯s two disciples say that they have a proposal for us?" The King questioned.


    "Indeed, King Hong. I along with my otherpanion are willing to help the king safely breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm. We will be getting the tribtion attenuation tform ready for you." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing the words directly from Lin Mu¡¯s lips, the king and his uncles were astounded to say the least. While they had indeed asked for help from Hua San and Hua Wu, they had not expected it toe this quick.


    "King Hong doesn¡¯t need to worry now. Senior Jing Luo is highly proficient in formations and will be able to set up the tform in just a few days." Hua Wu chimed in.


    The king furrowed his brows and looked at his uncle.


    "Since it is you two vouching for brother Lin Mu, I guess I can believe it." The king¡¯s uncle stated.


    "Fear not. You will get to see the tribtion attenuation tform with your own two eyes and can actually confirm that it works." Lin Mu said. "Besides... from what I can tell, King Hong still has about twenty three days till the time for his heavenly tribtion arrives.." Lin Mu stated, surprising the king and his uncle as well.

 Chapter 708 - Hard To Believe

    <h4>Chapter 708 - Hard To Believe </h4>


    Hearing his own expected time of heavenly tribtion, King Hong was shocked. Usually, this was information that only the person who is about to undergo a heavenly tribtion should be able to know.


    If it was to be anyone else judging, they would have to be at a very high cultivation level to be able to do so since it was not simple. Heavenly tribtion was rted to the restrictions of the heavens, and it was not something anyone could just casually pry into.


    ¡¯Even I didn¡¯t know it was going to be 23 days from now a week ago... how did he know it so easily?¡¯ King Hong wondered.


    The king¡¯s uncle was stunned as well and didn¡¯t know what to think of it.


    ¡¯This man is not simple...¡¯ was all he could think for now.


    "<i>Ahem~</i> what is it that brother Lin Mu wanted to talk to us about more? The two brothers mentioned it. I heard this will be thepensation you want from us instead of anything material?" The king¡¯s uncle asked.


    "Yes, that part... I believe you may already know about me." Lin Mu said.


    "Know about you?" The King furrowed his brows, and the uncle did this as well.


    "Your name is rtivelymon, so it¡¯s hard to tell..." The King¡¯s uncle said, but after a few seconds his brows were raised.


    "No, wait... there is only one Lin Mu thates to mind in the recent times... the one wanted by the sects and the empire." The king¡¯s uncle said.


    "Ahah! Uncle, you jest. It¡¯s surely not that." The king said upon hearing this for the fear that they might offend Lin Mu.


    He was here to offer them help, and they were certainly not going to deny it by just saying things casually.


    "No, Adviser Liu is actually right. That is indeed me." Lin Mu admitted.


    "This!" The king¡¯s eyes went wide and so did his uncles.


    They didn¡¯t expect it to truly be like this. ording to the general thinking, no one would admit them being Lin Mu like this, even when they weren¡¯t actually Lin Mu and were just joking. Doing something like that would be problematic and would end up with them in the hands ofw.


    "How can this be? No... you are surely joking. I¡¯ve seen the portrait of Lin Mu that they sent out. You look nothing like that. The original Lin Mu disguised as a young boy but was actually an old cultivator." The king¡¯s adviser replied.


    "Oh, that¡¯s one of the least problematic things they made up about me." Lin Mu stated.


    It was now that the two disciples thought they should speak up.


    "There is a lot more hidden than meets the eye King Hong, Adviser Liu. Senior Lin Mu is telling the truth and even our sect has had our doubts about all that has been happening recently." Hua San stated.


    "Indeed. Please hear out senior Lin Mu and then you can decide on your own." Hua Wu added.


    Hearing the two disciples also pleading on Lin Mu¡¯s behalf, the king still felt doubtful, but knew that it was worth listening to it at the very least.


    "Alright, please go ahead and exin to us." The King finally said.


    The King¡¯s uncle also decided to hold his tongue and decided to listen in.


    "Very well..." Lin Mu said before exining the entire series of events from the start while omitting things that should not be said, of course. Two entire hours passed by and the king and the adviser listened closely.


    Learning more about Gu Yao and his ability to control others made them shiver involuntarily. To them, Gu Yao being able to control the Zither Wind sect and the entire alliance meant that they were mere fishes on a chopping block if Gu Yao truly decided to target them.


    When Lin Mu was finally finished, the king and his uncle took Deep breaths. This time though, the first one to speak was the king¡¯s uncle.


    "How can we truly believe you? You must understand what you are saying goes against all that the top sects and the empire are saying." Adviser Liu spoke.


    "I know... and that is exactly why Gu Yao¡¯s n is incredibly nefarious. He is making the sects and empire target each other while the Northern Tribes take this opportunity to infiltrate the empire secretly.


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    In the months that I¡¯ve been investigating this now, I have seen signs of Gu Yao¡¯s interference in many ces, but yet I haven¡¯t seen the Northern tribe¡¯s people. This only makes me wonder where exactly they are and what they have in n.


    But I can tell one thing, if they are hidden for this long and are not acting, they must be waiting for the right opportunity. Perhaps when Gu Yao has the control over most of the powers of the world, they might appear and snuff out the resistance from the remaining.


    Now it is up to you whether you want to keep your free will or be the pawns of Gu Yao as well." Lin Mu exined.


    Silence descended in the room for about five minutes, in which no one spoke. Unlike the two disciples who had seen the undercurrents of the events happening through the lens of their sect, the King and his adviser didn¡¯t have ess to information such as what Lin Mu had brought forward.


    In fact, they didn¡¯t even know the proper history of the continent and about the existence of the Jing n, and how they were once one of the strongest powers of the world.


    Lin Mu was observing the two the entire time and realized that they weren¡¯t fully believing him even now.


    "Seeing as how Gu Yao works, I¡¯m pretty sure there is already someone in your kingdom¡¯s higher ups that are being controlled as well." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing this adviser Liu furrowed his brows and spoke, "that is a tall assumption to make brother Lin Mu."

 Chapter 709 - Doubts Over Lin Mu

    <h4>Chapter 709 - Doubts Over Lin Mu </h4>


    usations as what Lin Mu had made could not be taken lightly and if were taken as false, could bring a lot of problems. But the same could be said if what Lin Mu said turned out to be true.


    It would mean that the Hong Lin kingdom was alreadypromised and perhaps puppets, in the hands of a second party. It was not a good feeling for a king to experience and could even be said to be a bit humiliating.


    "What if I can prove it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm... but didn¡¯t you say that the people being controlled by Gu Yao couldn¡¯t be differentiated? If they were, the top sects should have been able to tell something was wrong, shouldn¡¯t they?" Adviser Liu questioned.


    "Of course, that is true for most people. In order to be able to tell if someone is being controlled, you would have to know the source aura of the Human Controlling Blood curse. And this source aura could onlye from none other than Gu Yao.


    Now if no one has seen the man, they would be unable to tell if someone they meet is being controlled by Gu Yao or not, since they would have no standard to match it with. But I¡¯ve personally seen and fought Gu Yao before.


    There is also the additional restriction that one needs to be in the Nascent soul realm to be able to sense it as well. I admit I was unable to do this back when I was at the core condensation realm but now I can." Lin Mu answered.


    The king thought for a bit before speaking again.


    "Let¡¯s say for argument¡¯s sake, I believe you and your words. Who do you think is being controlled in my kingdom and how would you prove it?" The King questioned.


    "Before I met you today, I did some investigations on my own." Lin Mu said, making up an excuse.


    He had of course, done them, but it was different from normal. He had actually spied on them. He couldn¡¯t tell the king and his adviser that he sneaked into thew enforcement department and looked through their records, and neither could he tell them that he had seen through their repository.


    "And the person I have my suspicions about is Minister of Law, Fu Delun." Lin Mu stated.


    "Fu Delun?! That¡¯s impossible." Adviser Liu said outright.


    "If you bring him here, I assure you that I¡¯ll be able to verify my ims." Lin Mu stated. "And if not... I¡¯ll let you arrest me. I¡¯m pretty sure King Hong can activate the formation arrays of the pce at any time." He added.


    "Senior! This... you can¡¯t do this." Hua San was surprised at the level of risk that Lin Mu was willing to take.


    Though he was unaware that Lin Mu wasn¡¯t really at any risk right now. There were very few people who could fight Lin Mu now and if he wanted to escape, they would not be able to stop him either.


    The king looked at Lin Mu deeply and then turned to his uncle.


    "Call minster Fu Delun... let¡¯s get to the bottom of it." He ordered.


    Adviser Liu seemed to be a bit unconvinced, but he still nodded his head.


    "As you wish, your majesty," Adviser Liu stated.


    He then took out amunication jade slip and contacted the minister of Law. The man in question was somewhere Lin Mu had not seen yet. Sincest time, Lin Mu had note to the central district, though upon seeing the way how the office ofw enforcement was working, he was truly suspicious.


    Even in the records of Hei corps that he had found in the repository, Lin Mu had learned that the arrest and hunt were all done under the orders of the Fu Delun. Normally, this would be what the minister would only do for high profile criminals.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    But what stood out was the fact that the man had personally gone out of his way to find and capture the ¡¯culprits¡¯. Those were the things written in the records. Lin Mu had not thought much of it at first, but then seeing the state of the poor head of thew enforcement department, Lin Wu wondered if something else was wrong.


    He went over the information gathered over and over again and started to make links. He recalled the mismanagement in thew enforcement officers and how the information was a bit misced.


    This lead him to believe that perhaps all of this was done intentionally. From the memoirs of the Lost immortal, Lin Mu had learned that one of the best ways to defeat a country was to weaken its internal systems first.


    No matter how much military power they might have, if their own house was in disarray, there was little they would be able to do. Then, thinking of Gu Yao¡¯s methods of working, Lin Mu realized that this is something he would obviously do.


    The Hong Lin Kingdom was known for its Hong Lin trees and the more old ones of these were certainly quite useful in several things. Lin Mu reckoned that Gu Yao wanted a part of this too and decided to bring this n.


    Lin Mu even wondered if what Gu Yao did here was thought on the side as a little extra project. Because if he truly wanted to take over this ce, it wouldn¡¯t even take the man a single day.


    ¡¯He does want the resources here, but it¡¯s not that urgent to him. But if he is doing it right now, it means that he will be needing them in the future. It is best if I can prevent that from ever happening.¡¯ This was Lin Mu¡¯s conclusion.


    Now all that was left was for Lin Mu to wait for Fu Delun to appear and see if he truly was being controlled.. Lin Mu knew that there were better ways he could have gone about this and prepared, but for now, this was all he had and could do.

 Chapter 710 - Secret Sabotage

    <h4>Chapter 710 - Secret Sabotage </h4>


    Lin Mu and the rest ended up waiting, or about thirty minutes before Fu Delun actually appeared. Lin Mu could tell that King Hong and Adviser Liu had stern appearances on their faces upon seeing the time required for the man to appear.


    Lin Mu looked to the entrance of the empty court and saw the minister of Law appear. The man was about six feet tall and wore the uniform robes of a court official along with his designation, which was imprinted as the crest on his robe ¡¯Minster of Law¡¯.


    The man had a long mustache with no beard and had broad eyes. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t tell anything from him directly, but the moment he used his spirit sense he knew it... there were traces of the Human Controlling Blood curse on him.


    Lin Mu kept his cool though and didn¡¯t show any change in expression on his face. He didn¡¯t know the details of how Gu Yaomunicated with the people he controlled. He knew that he had to verbally give themmands, but the exact methodology over long distances was unknown.


    Even the information that Lin Mu got from Wu Hei back then was not fully urate as Wu Hei¡¯s scope of action was reduced to the Shuang Qian Kingdom and thus he never got toe in contact with the moreplex operations.


    Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.


    ording to the theories Lin Mu, Jing Luo, and senior Xukong hade up with, they were most likely usingmunication jade slips to do it. And that was exactly what could make it very difficult for them.


    If someone was found out that they were working for Gu Yao and managed to send out a message, their entire n might end up failing due to Gu Yao bing aware of them and directly acting against them.


    Lin Mu certainly didn¡¯t want that to happen and already had made a few ns about what to do with people such as those. The first thing Lin Mu did after confirming the fact that the minister was truly controlled by Gu Yao was to see where hismunication jade slip was.


    Normally, cultivators hung it on their waists, but some also had custom ones made for them, which were in the form of bracelets and pendants. In the case of Fu Delun, Lin Mu quickly spotted it on the left side of his waist.


    But this was just one of themunication jade slips. While most cultivators only had onemunication jade slip, some of the more affluent ones will keep more than one in case of emergencies.


    After all, the problem with keepingmunication jade slips on their bodies was that they could break during a battle or get lost. And whilemunication jade slips were hard in themselves while also having reinforcement formations on them, strong attacks could still break them.


    These extramunication jade slips would, of course, be kept in the spatial storage treasures of that cultivator. While they could be of various forms and hid on one¡¯s body, to Lin Mu this was the easiest part to control.


    Lin Mu easily sensed the two spatial storage treasures the man had on him. One of them was the ring on his left hand, and the other was a pendant hidden underneath his robes.


    ¡¯Hmm... one low grade spatial storage treasure and one... mid grade one? I doubt even a minister should be able to obtain a mid grade spatial storage treasure... this is definitely suspicious.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Within three seconds of seeing the minister, Lin Mu had already obtained the facts that were needed for him.


    "This might be the best time for you to try out that trick I showed you before. At your skill level, you should be able to execute it... and even if you don¡¯t it will still be fine in this situation." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Xukong had actually been watching the entire series of events for the past few hours. He had decided to take a break from cultivating to see how his disciple takes care of the current situation.


    Hearing Xukong¡¯s words, Lin Mu understood what he was talking about. Lin Mu had a hunch that he would be able to destroy or break spatial storage treasures if he wanted to a long time ago, but he had never actually gotten to do it.


    While he could have figured it out on his own at one point, Xukong showed him a faster trick to do the same.


    "I understand, senior." Lin Mu said and focused on the two spatial storage tools using his spatial perception.


    The first one he targeted was the low grade spatial storage tool, which was none other than the ring Fu Delun was wearing. Then, Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense condensed into a very fine thread before shooting towards the ring.


    There, it quickly met with the formations on the spatial storage rings while avoiding alerting the man. The formations Lin Mu was targeting were not the surface one, but the deeper ones that interacted with the space directly.


    Usually, these were buried deep within the formation array to protect them, but this also made it difficult for most average cultivators to sense them. Thus, when they got damaged, one would not know until it was toote.


    ¡¯There!¡¯ Lin Mu found the node he wanted and attacked it with his spirit sense.


    A wave of spatial fluctuation arose from it and impacted the ring. The formations within the ring subtly changed, but the surface stayed the same.


    ¡¯Sess! Just the second one left now.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    By the time he was done with the ring, Fu Delun had reached the end of the court where Lin Mu and the rest were sitting. Fu Delun had of course, noticed Lin Mu and the other two Nascent Soul realm cultivators and was a bit confused.


    He could sense their cultivation bases and was a bit unnerved, but seeing the king sitting there calmly, he didn¡¯t panic either.


    "To what do I owe this visit, King Hong?" Fu Delun questioned.

 Chapter 711 - Questioning Fu Delun

    <h4>Chapter 711 - Questioning Fu Delun </h4>


    King Hong looked at the minister ofw in front of him and so did advisor Liu.


    Both of them were a bit upset at the time Fu Delun had taken to approach them. Usually, any minister that was within the city would be able to reach them in less than twenty minutes, as for the ones that were in the central district would be able to do the same in less than ten minutes.


    As far as King Hong was concerned, Fu Delun was supposed to be in the ministry of Law and thus it should have taken him at most ten minutes, if not even less.


    "Was Minister Fu Delun busy? It is umon for you to take this long." Adviser Liu took the lead this time.


    Lin Mu using on their people had already put a bad taste in his mouth and now seeing that very same used dying royal summons only made him that much upset. It instead made it seem like it was the King who was actually ipetent and allowed his official to becking.


    While Lin Mu didn¡¯t really think about them like this, to adviser Liu and King Hong, this would be the norm. If one of the court officials acts in a manner that is ill of their position, it reflects the situation of the royalty.


    "Ah, indeed adviser Liu. Work has just been more and more hectic these few days. With the autumn festival on our heels and his majesty taking time due to his imminent breakthrough, the work is just even more intense.


    I am working to ensure that his majesty is not troubled; not now and not after his sessful breakthroughs." Fu Delun skillfully spoke.


    He knew he was at fault here. He had not spent years in the royal court for nothing and knew how to read people. That minute change in the tone of the adviser was enough for him to know that the king had asked him here for something important.


    ¡¯And who are these three? Their cultivation bases... that one is at the... NASCENT SOUL REALM? And the other two... I can¡¯t even sense them.¡¯ Fu Delun thought to himself.


    While he didn¡¯t get fully nervous, he still became a bit more cautious. Right now he was in a situation where he didn¡¯t know why he was called here and there were even unknown people here.


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    "I see... I have called you here to meet three very respected cultivators. Meet Disciples Hua San and Hua Wu. Their master is the sect master of the Noon Grass Sect. And finally, we have brother Lin Mu, he is also someone of a standing equal to the previous too." King Hong introduced.


    Fu Delun raised his brows upon hearing this as the gears within his brain started to move.


    "Ah, did the Noon Grass sect decide to help his majesty?" Minster Fu Delun asked.


    "Indeed." King Hong nodded his head.


    "Good, good, good." Fu Delun nodded his head. "But what is it that respected seniors need of me?" he asked again.


    "I am the one that asked King Hong to call in Minister Fu Delun today. It¡¯s just that I had certain questions to ask of you regarding some incidences and policies." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this, Fu Delun became even more confused.


    "Incidences and policies? What does senior need specifically? Did something happen to cause trouble for senior?" Fu Delun asked, thinking that this might be the only reason why he would be summoned.


    It was obvious to him that Lin Mu was a strong and influential cultivator. And thus he was offended somehow and ended up contacting King Hong who then ended up summoning him to give the answer.


    Fu Delun now started to sweat and wondered what could have been the problem.


    "You see... I found minister Fu Delun¡¯s previous words to be a bit confusing. A few days earlier I visited thew enforcement department and saw quite a bit of disarray there. Most of the officials there seemed to be inept and the only qualified official, the head of the department, seemed to be handling all of the work.


    He not only seemed overworked, but also troubled by the others working in the department.


    In addition to this, I also found some past actions of minister Du Delun that interested me; such as the fact that you personally went ahead and arrested a certain group of suspects that go by the name of Hei corps." Lin Muid down the facts.


    Fu Delun was confused at first but the more he heard, the more he sweated. And when he heard the name of Hei corps, he became alert instead.


    "As I said before, work is piling on due to unavoidable circumstances that have led to all of us officials bing very busy. As for the matter with the Hei corps, it was of utmost importance, after all, it was ording to a decree sent by the empire itself." Fu Delun stated as a matter of fact.


    "Hmm... is that so... they may I ask adviser Liu what are the policies on keeping official documents rted tow enforcement? I mean the specific protocol of storage and records keeping?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Adviser Liu was also a bit confused by Lin Mu¡¯s question, but answered it nevertheless.


    "For any ministries, including thew ministry, all official records are to be stored in their designated records departments." Adviser Liu replied.


    "I see. Then what if someone higher in power gives an order to shift certain records to a different location not officially designated?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "That will be a gross misuse of power and will be met with swift punishment. Records are only to be withdrawn when needed for official work and the official designation for storage cannot be changed unless the king approves of it." Adviser Liu stated.


    "Then I must ask King Hong a question... Did you permit Minister Fu Delun to shift records to the royal repository?" Lin Mu asked.

 Chapter 712 - Treasonous Confirmation

    <h4>Chapter 712 - Treasonous Confirmation </h4>


    Hearing Lin Mu¡¯s question, King Hong was confused.


    "I haven¡¯t had any official actions in the past three months and I have certainly not given any permission to Minster Fu Delun." King Hong stated.


    "I see. Then I wonder why Mister Fu Delun ordered some records to be moved to the royal repository?" Lin Mu asked again.


    King Hong and adviser Liu narrowed their eyes as they looked at Lin Mu.


    "This is absolutely wrong your majesty. I have never done such a thing." Fu Delun lied right away.


    Lin Mu could feel the nervousness of the man and the faint tremble of his legs rather easily.


    "Oh, is that so minster Fu Delun? Then King Hong should be fine with us checking the royal repository, shouldn¡¯t he?" Lin Mu questioned further.


    "This..." Fu Delun was now stuck, he didn¡¯t know how to proceed.


    It was now that he suddenly had an idea.


    "You are lying, there are no such records in the royal repository. After all, they have not been essed since the king began preparing for his breakthrough." Fu Delun stated.


    "Like I said, if King Hong or adviser Liu checks it, I believe we will find what are facts and what is fiction." Lin Mu replied calmly.


    King Hong deliberated on it a bit and seemed to be hesitating. But then he took a deep breath and looked at his uncle.


    "Please go and check the Royal repository adviser Liu." King Hong ordered.


    "At once, your majesty." Adviser Liu said.


    And just as he said this, it happened.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Fu Delun threw out an explosive talisman that sted the flooring and the chairs around, which knocked up a lot of smoke and dust.


    "Got you..." Lin Mu said as he disappeared the next instant.


    <i>~KACHA~KACHA~KACHA~</i>


    "HNGMPGF!!!!" The sounds of multiple things cracking could be heard along with a muffled cry.


    "YOUR MAJESTY!" Adviser Liu flew to the protection of King Hong while Hua San and Hua Wu also became alert.


    They looked for Lin Mu but found him to be missing.


    "What?" Hua San suddenly detected something with his spirit sense hidden behind the smoke.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    He waved his hand and executed a technique, blowing away all the smoke. Once the smoke was gone, they could finally see the scene behind it. Lin Mu stood there with his hand extended.


    In front of him, Minister Fu Delun was as if frozen, while there were also shattered pieces of objects on the floor. If one looked at it, one would see that they belonged to amunication jade slip and two spatial storage tools.


    "He made the wrong choice." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Escaping in front of Lin Mu was an impossible option. Even the use of the explosive talisman by Fu Delun was something under Lin Mu¡¯s control. Lin Mu knew he would need to show proof of action to the king and thus he simply made Fu Delun think that he was caught and act ordingly.


    If Lin Mu truly wanted to, he could have frozen the man in the very first second he saw him move. But Lin Mu intentionally let it happen. Now there was inexplicable proof that the minister was acting against the interest of King Hong.


    Even if he was not under the control of Gu Yao, he would have still been arrested for an action like this. The action of using the explosive talisman went beyond anymon misdemeanor that the king might tolerate and was now the same as an attempt on his life.


    After all, the explosive talisman that Fu Delun had used could very well hurt the king, and the smoke was enough for him to take advantage of and kill the king. s for him, there were four Nascent Soul realm cultivators in the room and all he wanted to do was escape.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    "FU DELUN, YOU DARE!" King Hong was now truly angry.


    He stood up with a bang and pointed his finger at the frozen man. Of course, he didn¡¯t know that Fu Delun was frozen and he just thought that the man was looking away from him.


    Adviser Liu didn¡¯t speak about anything right now and closely protected his nephew while keeping an eye out for danger. He looked at Lin Mu, who was holding back Fu Delun with some unknown technique.


    Of course, due to being at the Child Soul stage of the Nascence soul realm, his senses were also stronger and he was able to tell what the objects broken on the floor were.


    "Amunication jade slip and... two Spatial Storage treasures?!" Adviser Liu was shocked now as well.


    He would have understood Fu Delun having one spatial storage treasure but two was beyond anything that the man should have been able to afford at his current ie. Even he himself only had a single spatial storage treasure and only the king had two such.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    In their treasury as well, they only had a couple of spatial storage treasures. And even those were just low grade ones and not the mid grade one that minster Fu Delun had. Adviser Liu knew at this moment that even if Fu Delun was not being controlled by Gu Yao, he was obtaining ill gotten wealth from somewhere.


    He finally looked at Lin Mu, who was casually standing there with his right hand extended out t towards Minster Fu Delun. He then saw Lin Mu mutter something in a very low voice.


    Upon hearing the words, he couldn¡¯t understand them and even felt strange. It felt like a daze, and he certainly didn¡¯t want that to happen to him in this situation. Thus he deiced to ask the only person who could answer him.


    "What is happening, brother Lin Mu?" Adviser Liu questioned.


    King Hong watched on as he came back to the front from his Uncle¡¯s back.


    "I believe this should be enough of an exnation." Lin Mu said, pointing to Fu Delun.


    "Yes... it is enough..." King Hong finally spoke.

 Chapter 713 - Another Ally

    <h4>Chapter 713 - Another Ally </h4>


    To King Hong who had seen minster Fu Delun for a long time, he knew the nature of the man. He also knew that the man would have never acted like this before. A sudden change like this could only be attributed to a few things.


    Either it was that the man was an imposter or that he was being controlled, just like Lin Mu had said.


    "King Hong, perhaps we should still confirm this first." Adviser Liu asked.


    "Go ahead, check the royal repository." King Hong replied before looking at Lin Mu and the other two disciples. "I believe you all can hold him?" he asked.


    It was now that Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh, he won¡¯t move anymore." Lin Mu said as he moved towards Fu Delun and pushed him back with one finger.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The man helplessly fell on his back and did not react at all. His expression was stuck in a strange daze and his eyes were zed over.


    "He¡¯ll stay in this state for a couple of hours. You don¡¯t need to worry anymore." Lin Mu exined.


    While there were many questions arising in the minds of King Hong and the others, they knew it was best to process and not think too much. Lin Mu had certainly used a skill that was beyond them, and they didn¡¯t want to pry into his secrets for the fear of offending him.


    Lin Mu¡¯s might was already established by now and there was no need for them to test it beyond this.


    King Hong sat back down on his throne and wondered where was it that he had gone wrong. He questioned himself if he had noticed all this earlier perhaps none of this might have happened.


    Lin Mu, who looked at the perplexed expression on the king¡¯s face, guessed what he was thinking.


    "Is King Hong wondering how all this happened?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "How did you know?" King Hong raised his brows in surprise.


    "It is not hard to guess. With Gu Yao... a lot of people have the same reactions. That is just how he operates. One day everything will be fine, then a few dayster you would find people betraying you and everything flipping around.


    That is how Gu Yao controls people and causes devastation." Lin Mu answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    King Hong sighed and didn¡¯t know what to make of this. He waited for Adviser Liu to appear and just kept on looking at the minister, whom he knew very well.


    "Your majesty!" Adviser Liu¡¯s voice could soon be heard from the side.


    In his hand were several documents, and a troubled expression was also on his face.


    "Looks like... what brother Lin Mu said is true." Adviser Liu stated.


    "Let me take a look myself." King Hong said as he took the documents in his hands.


    He went through them one by one and saw the stamps of approval on them. The more he read, the more infuriated he got.


    "This is atrocious! This is a joint seal of authority! How did Minister Fu Delun even get ess to it?" King Hong said out loud.


    "I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they have forged even more documents and seals by now, King Hong. You may want to do a full audit of the officials. While I¡¯m sure there won¡¯t be any more people being controlled by Gu Yao directly since he has limited numbers that he can control like that, I wouldn¡¯t be shocked if there were corrupt officials within." Lin Mu exined.


    Adviser Liu and King Hong understood what Lin Mu meant and nodded their heads.


    "Seems like we were this close to drowning and we would have never even realized it had it not been for you, senior Lin Mu." This time King Hong addressed him with even more respect.


    "It is fine, King Hong. After all, this is what I set out to do. I want to prevent Gu Yao frompleting his goals and I want your help in it as well." Lin Mu proposed formally.


    <i>~p~</i>


    King Hong cupped his fists formally and spoke, "you have my word now, senior Lin Mu. You have saved the Hong Lin Kingdom from a grave disaster.


    And seeing the severe implications of it, I don¡¯t think we will be able to keep ourselves away from the muddied water. It is best that we join you now."


    Lin Mu nodded his head in approval, as this was exactly what he had set out to achieve.


    "I¡¯m happy that we coulde to an agreement." Lin Mu spoke.


    "This is great!" Hua Wu chimed in as well.


    "Forgive me senior Lin Mu, but i need to get the things in order quickly. Can you pardon my leave?" Adviser Liu asked.


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Sure, please go ahead and do what you have to do, adviser Liu." Lin Mu replied.


    "Thank you once again." Adviser Liu said while cupping his hand.


    He then rushed out of the court hurriedly. Midway, his expression turned fierce and one could imagine the anger boiling over in the heart of the man. After all, today he had been through a lot. Not only did they find out about a massive plot to take over the entire great Zhou empire, but also about people being controlled.


    And now that he learned that there were other corrupt officials as well, Adviser Liu¡¯s cap had blown off finally.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    King Hong sighed once again, and he now seemed a bit more fatigued.


    "Perhaps King Hong should focus on his breakthrough for now. We shall wait here for today, at least till things get somewhat in order and nothing problematic urs." Lin Mu said.


    "If you can do that I will be grateful, Senior Lin Mu." King Hong stated.


    "I believe you two are fine with this as well?" Lin Mu questioned Hua San and Hua Wu.


    "We shall follow the words of senior Lin Mu." The two answers right away.


    And with this, Lin Mu had added another ally to his alliance... this time an entire kingdom.

 Chapter 714 - Hidden Problems

    <h4>Chapter 714 - Hidden Problems </h4>


    The day after that passed rather quickly and a lot of new discoveries were made during that time. Lin Mu, Hua San and Hua Wu were still in the court so they got to see everything first hand.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    King Hong also realized that his kingdom was in a lot more trouble than was being let on to him. It had be especially severe in the past months, ever since he entered the ¡¯seclusion¡¯ for his breakthrough.


    There were piles of criminal matters that had umted and the poor department head of thew enforcement office was handling it as much as he could. He was also the reason why the entire structure had not copsed yet.


    That single man had somehow managed to keep the department running while pushing the ipetent fools he had for subordinates. This also kept the other departments running somewhat.


    The King was highly impressed by this and even Lin Mu was since he had personally seen the man back then. The name of the man was Xian Po, and he had been the head of the department for less than two years.


    He had been made one when thest department head died two years ago due to an unexpected illness. Of course, Lin Mu found this suspicious and so did adviser Liu. Upon a bit more investigation, it was found that the death of the former department head was also due to the orchestration of Fu Delun.


    The minister ofw had been in control of Gu Yao for a long time now and ording to what Lin Mu could analyze, had been in that state for at least three years. Lin Mu felt where this was linked since there was no way Gu Yao came to the Hong Lin kingdom to personally control the man.


    He thus asked Adviser Liu for the records and even the king agreed since he wanted to know the weak link in his administrator and where was it that everything started to go wrong.


    It was then that he found out that minster Fu Delun had attended the wedding of one of the sect elders of Light Harmony sect. This was a mid ranked sect of a simr size as the Tri Cauldron peony sect.


    It¡¯s located to the west of the Hong Lin kingdom and is also part of the Zither wind alliance now. It wasn¡¯t just minister Fu Delun that had attended it either. A lot of high officials from nearby kingdoms had done the same, and now it was safe to assume that all of them could be under the control of Gu Yao.


    In the case of Hong Lin kingdom, it was especially bad since Fu Delun was the minister ofw and thus his position was rather special. Other than the king and adviser Liu he was the only man who couldmand the military power of the kingdom and also influence the policies of the kingdom.


    Whenever a problem happened and something needed to be done, he was the first one to hear it, and then if it was deemed worthy he would elevate it to adviser Liu who would then present it to King Hong.


    But with Fu Delun in Gu Yao¡¯s control, one could only imagine the level of changes he could cause. Corruption was one big thing which he used to influence other ministers and officials of the kingdom.


    Right now, the Hong Lin kingdom was in such internal peril that over half of its officials were corrupt. The public had long since felt their impact, but the King was grossly unaware. Adviser Liu had his suspicions too all this time, but due to the many diplomatic changes urring across the empire, he had been busy outside.


    One could only imagine the luck of King Hong that it wasn¡¯t adviser Liu that was controlled rather than Minster Fu Delun as it would have meant the end for the Hong Lin Kingdom effectively.


    One must know that if the king died, the next in line for the throne would be his heirs. But Adviser Liu being their grand uncle, would be able to usurp power rather easily. After all, he had his Nascent Soul realm cultivation on his side.


    Though Lin Mu also knew that there was an additional Nascent Soul realm cultivator hidden underneath the royal pce. But he didn¡¯t let that out. He also gave an excuse about how he found out about the records kept at the repository and thew enforcement department.


    The excuse he gave was that he had some special skills. Seeing his standing, King Hong and Adviser Liu didn¡¯t question him in detail, of course. They could care less that Lin Mu may have just spied on their secrets as their entire kingdom was close to grave danger right now.


    But in addition to this, there were still more shocking things toe. Lin Mu and the rest were drinking some tea in the royal court, nursing their headaches when an official came running in frantically.


    "MY KING! MY KING! ADVISER LIU! DISASTER! IT IS A DISASTER!" the voice of the official could be hearding right from the corridor.


    Hearing this, the brows of everyone in the room furrowed even more. The headache that they had borne came back and the tea they had drunk was wasted.


    "What is it?" King Hong questioned, no longer caring for decorum.


    "The... the... The Royal Reserve Storage... its... it¡¯s empty!" The official spat out with difficulty.


    "WHAT!?" Both King Hong and Adviser Liu said out loud.


    Lin Mu and the two Hua brother also focused on the official as they quickly scanned him from top to bottom with their spirit senses. They couldn¡¯t help but be suspicious about everyone now.


    "Are you sure? I literally checked the storage a week ago and everything was right there." Adviser Liu stated.


    "That¡¯s the thing... the things in the storage were never there! We went to do a manual inventory today and discovered that the entire ce is under an illusory formation. There are no actual items in it!"

 Chapter 715 - Empty Reserves?

    <h4>Chapter 715 - Empty Reserves? </h4>


    Hearing this information, the King didn¡¯t know what to think of.


    "How can this even be?" King Hong said before looking towards his uncle.


    "When you checked it was it the same?" He asked.


    "No... I... when I checked it I just did a visual check with my spirit sense. I didn¡¯t actually touch them physically." Adviser Liu said in a sorrowful voice.


    "I should have checked it dammit! If I did, then perhaps we would have found all of this earlier." Adviser Liu cursed himself.


    "It is not your fault Adviser Liu. If they were able to set up a formation that could fool even your spirit sense, then there was nothing you could do. They may have even taken a harsher approach if they were outed back then.


    At least now, we have several excuses for the discovery of the corrupt officials. Even if Gu Yao finds out that his n has been derailed, he wouldn¡¯t know that we know of him. All that he will know is that some investigations were done, and the truth came out." Lin Mu consoled the man.


    But he knew that no matter how much he did, the adviser would likely me himself for a while.


    "Senior Lin Mu is right. There is nothing you could have done, Uncle Liu." The king said a bit more affectionately. "You cannot me yourself. We need you to be in the right ce in these tough times."


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Adviser Liu took a deep breath and closed his eyes before looking up.


    "That is right... I can¡¯t be like this. Rather than moping about it, it¡¯s better to focus my energy on making things right." Adviser Liu said with determination.


    "Indeed." Hua Wu chimed in.


    Hearing him, the king looked at him and sighed.


    "I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to give you a payment for the help you¡¯ve provided us," King Hong said to the two disciples.


    To this Hua San just smiled and spoke, "there is little we can do now. Besides, the Hong Lin wood matters less now as we are in a moreplex situation. While we do really need it in the sect, I¡¯m sure the sect master will be able to figure out something else."


    The reserve storage being emptied out also meant that there was no Hong Lin wood that was promised to the two disciples.


    "What exactly is it that you need the Hong Lin wood for?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He wondered what could be so important to them that they would need it.


    Hua Wu looked at Hua San before seeing the approval in his eyes.


    "Our supreme elder... he experienced Qi deviation and is now injured. To heal that we need to make a pill which needs the Thousand year old Hong Lin wood as one of the ingredients." Hua Wu answered.


    "Master is looking for other options while we are here, and we aren¡¯t the only ones looking for resources. There are some others that we need and my fellow disciples are looking for them.


    Thankfully, our sect is located near the edge of the Grand Southern Forest and most of the spirit herbs can be found there along with other beast materials. It¡¯s just some special herbs and minerals that can¡¯t be found there." Hua San added.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu nodded his head and understood their situation.


    "If you are willing to wait a month or a bit more, I may be able to help you with the thousand year old Hong Lin wood." Lin Mu said, much to the surprise of the two brothers.


    Lin Mu then looked towards the King and asked, "King Hong you must know if there is still the possibility of thousand year old Hong Lin trees in the forest right? Your n has been revering them for centuries now."


    "Hmm... there are two locations where there are definitely thousand year old Hong Lin trees." King Hong spoke after thinking for a bit.


    "There are?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed... one of them in the home of the first king. It is also the sacrednd of our Hong n. But going there is prohibited and the Thousand year old Hong Lin trees there are not to be touched.


    They are the trees that keep the entire Hong Lin forest alive and even if one of them is damaged, the entire forest away suffer." King Hong revealed.


    "I understand... that is indeed a very important location. But what about the second one?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Even the two Hua brothers were surprised as they were not told this information when they came to ask them for help. They could understand about the sacrednds as that was something they could definitely not ask for.


    "The second location... that is a difficult and dangerous one. Over the many years, many rumors have sprung up about that location. It is called as the wandering sinkhole." King Hong spoke.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    "The Wandering Sinkhole?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I think I¡¯ve heard of this before." Hua Wu suddenly spoke. "It is said to be a mystical location that is rarely stumbled upon by travelers and woodcutters. It has no fixed coordinates and has been reported to be in multiple locations. But whoever truly enters it either doesn¡¯t return or dies." He exined.


    Lin Mu was intrigued by this and wondered what could be the reason.


    "What you said is correct. We do have confirmation that the location is real, but it is also filled with a myriad of dangers. The only problem is that we have no method to enter it. The location is filled with treasures through and thousand year old Hong Lin trees aren¡¯t the only spirit nts there." King Hong answered.


    "Huh? If you don¡¯t know its exact location, then how do you know what things it has? Someone must have seen and returned to tell the tale, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes... someone has indeed seen it and recorded his experience." King Hong answered.


    "Can¡¯t we just ask them for more information, then? Perhaps we¡¯ll get some clues.." Lin Mu suggested.

 Chapter 716 - Former Adviser

    <h4>Chapter 716 - Former Adviser </h4>


    Hearing Lin Mu¡¯s words, King Hong sighed.


    "The person who returned and recorded his experience... is already dead." King Hong replied.


    "Huh? Who was it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Back then he was just amon woodcutter that went a little too far to get some good timber and stumbled into the Wandering sinkhole. Five hundred yearster, that man found a way to leave the wandering sinkhole and returned to the kingdom.


    He then became an adviser for the king due to the extensive knowledge he had gained during his time in the sinkhole.


    He is the Royal adviser from three generations ago surnamed Chu. He died about a year ago and had been serving as the protector of our kingdom all these years. He simply ran out of lifespan. That is also the reason why I am in a hurry to breakthrough since we only have a single Nascent soul realm cultivator in our kingdom now." King Hong replied.


    "Huh? Wait a minute, how did you know he died?" Lin Mu questioned, remembering a certain someone.


    "We stopped sensing his spirit Qi since then." Adviser Liu spoke.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was quite sure that these people were mistaken.


    ¡¯If it really is that old man downstairs then it¡¯s now wonder that they don¡¯t really have a proper clue.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Just to confirm... did you see his dead body?" Lin Mu questioned.


    To this, both King Hong and Adviser Liu shook their heads.


    "No... we don¡¯t even know where the former adviser¡¯s seclusion chamber is. All that we know is that it is somewhere in the central district." King Hong spoke.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was absolutely sure that these people were mistaken.


    "Well, if that is true then... I have both good and bad news for you." Lin Mu said.


    "Good and bad news? What?" King Hong asked, feeling curious.


    "I think I know where your former adviser is, and the good thing is he is still alive." Lin Mu replied.


    "WHAT!" King Hong and Adviser Liu said in shock.


    "Indeed... but not for long. His life is slipping away as we speak... I can still sense him. I understand that you all might not be able to sense him, but my spirit sense is far greater than most others." Lin Mu exined.


    "WE HAVE TO SEE HIM!" King Hong stood up urgently.


    "Before we go, let me just inform you that he might not even be conscious. If his spirit Qi signature fell this much, then there is a great chance that he didn¡¯t do it himself but rather his body did it for himself." Lin Mu warned.


    He couldn¡¯t just say that he had seen the old man and thus this was the best excuse he coulde up with.


    "We understand. If I get to see him just once, I¡¯ll be content. A man like that needs a proper burial!" King Hong stated righteously.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and hoped the old man was still having a bit of life left in him. At least enough to talk with them.


    "Where do you sense his spirit Qi?" Adviser Liu asked.


    "Far in the depths of the pce." Lin Mu replied.


    "Below? But there¡¯s only the repository and the meeting room there... what else?" Adviser Liu muttered to himself.


    "If it is the former adviser, perhaps he got a seclusion chamber made for himself unknown to us. After all, he has been part of the royal court for over five hundred years." King Hong suggested.


    "Hmm... that could be it. It isn¡¯t unheard of for certain experts making their secret seclusion chambers. A lot of elders in the cultivation sects do the same." Hua San spoke up.


    "Very well, we should hurry, then. Every second is precious!" King Hong stated.


    "Follow me," Adviser Liu said and brought them downstairs.


    The Hua brothers had already seen a few of the floors but the ones below it were only seen by adviser Liu, and King Hong. Lin Mu had seen them too of course, but that was under different circumstances.


    About five minutester, Lin Mu and the rest reached an old room that was filled with old and dusty furniture and objects that were not used for a long time.


    "What is this room?" Hua Wu questioned curiously.


    "As far as I know, this used to be the personal study of some of the advisers in the past. Later on we added more floors to the pce upward and expanded it a bit, thus the past two generations of advisers have been using a different ce." Adviser Liu answered.


    "Is the seclusion chamber really here? If it was, we should have known or discovered it at some point." King Hong spoke doubtfully.


    "It¡¯s below this... I can sense it to be stronger." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Then how do we get there?" King Hong asked.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and let his spirit sense wander. Adviser Liu, and the two Hua brothers did the same and tried to see if there were any hidden entrances. When Lin Mu had used phase to go below, he hadn¡¯t really paid much attention to the entrance.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    He observed the area and realized that there really wasn¡¯t a specific entrance to it.


    "He may have sealed it entirely when he entered it. He probably decided it to be his final resting ce." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Seems like it, senior. They even ced a spirit sense dampening formation below the floor, thus they can¡¯t even tell there is empty space there." Lin Mu replied.


    "Just go in, directly. If there is no entrance, make one," Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu internally nodded and looked at King Hong.


    "If you don¡¯t mind, I can just make an entrant for us?" Lin Mu asked.


    King Hong thought for a bit, but agreed.


    "This matter is of grave importance. You can go ahead, it doesn¡¯t matter if this ce gets, damaged we can always repair it.." King Hong replied.

 Chapter 717 - Old Generations Gift?

    <h4>Chapter 717 - Old Generation''s Gift? </h4>


    King Hong¡¯s reply was exactly what Lin Mu wanted, and he was pleased.


    "Very well then, please get back." Lin Mu spoke.


    He picked a location that was a bit far from the old man¡¯s position just so that he would not be disturbed excessively.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    The short sword was summoned from his ring and floated in front of him. Lin Mu had stopped keeping the short sword on his waist for a few weeks now. It was mostly because of the new disguise he had taken up, though.


    King Hong and Adviser Liu gazed at the short sword, finding it to be of impable quality.


    "Excellent de! I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen anything of this level in our sect.." Hua San praised.


    "Where did you get this Senior Lin Mu?" Hua Wu asked.


    "Oh, I got this from the patriarch of the Jing n." Lin Mu said, stunning the three.


    While he had told them that the Jing n was still alive, they had not expected Lin Mu to have a weapon like this.


    "No wonder..." Hua San muttered.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    Lin Mu controlled the Short sword expertly and let it slide into the floor as if it was a hot knife sinking into butter. Seeing this, the others were even more shocked. The floors were tough and made out of dense rocks that were hard to break.


    Yet here Lin Mu was cutting through them as if they were paper. A circr opening was quickly carved out onto the floor.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    "No, no! You can¡¯t fall!" Lin Mu said as he quickly grabbed onto the circr piece of floor that he had cut.


    His fingers directly dug into the solid rock as if they were a block of tofu.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Seeing this, Hua Wu couldn¡¯t help but swallow his saliva. He knew how much strength a Nascent Soul realm cultivator had and it was even different when just physical strength was considered excluding spirit Qi.


    And from that he knew for sure there would be very few that would be able to puncture through a meter thick rock with the same ease as Lin Mu did.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    Having grabbed the piece of the floor, Lin Mu set it to the side and the five men finally felt the gush of spirit Qiing from it.


    "So much spirit Qi? But how?" King Hong couldn¡¯t help but feel curious.


    "Seems like there is a spirit Qi gathering formation along with several spirit herbs in here." Lin Mu said.


    They breathed in the dense spirit Qi for a bit beforeing to their sense.


    "Let¡¯s get in." Lin Mu said and flew down.


    The others followed behind him and they finally reached the seclusion chamber, which was made out of several halls and a huge outer courtyard. There were spirit herbs nted ording to formation array which promoted their growth and increases spirit Qi.


    "I could have never believed this... so many rare and precious spirit herbs..." King Hong said in surprise.


    "I believe this might have been an additional security that the former adviser had for the kingdom. I reckon once he died, the formation array that concealed this ce would have stopped working and you would have sensed the ce." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Hmm... that does seem like what the former adviser would think. He was that kind of a man..." Adviser Liu spoke.


    "You met him, uncle?" King Hong asked.


    "I have indeed... though only a few times. Back then I was quite young and was barely in the Qi refining realm." Adviser Liu spoke.


    "How far ago was this?" King Hong asked.


    "About two hundred years ago, I suppose. The adviser back then was your grand uncle. And the old adviser here is two generations before that." Adviser Liu replied.


    "That was a long time ago..." King Hong muttered. "I wasn¡¯t even born then..."


    The five of them looked around a little bit and finally reached the end of the corridor where an old hall was located. At the center of this hall, a cushion was on which the old man was sitting.


    "It... it¡¯s really him... it¡¯s Former Adviser Chu!" Adviser Liu said in disbelief.


    The others were a bit taken aback by the old man¡¯s appearance, though. This was perhaps the oldest looking person he had seen.


    "Senior brother, is he...?" Hua Wu whispered.


    "Indeed... he¡¯s undergoing the final decay of mortals." Hua San replied.


    Lin Mu heard what the two brothers were speaking and knew of the ¡¯Final Decay of Mortals¡¯. This was nothing but a term that was used when a cultivator used the end of his lifespan.


    The strange thing was, it was actually a rather rare thing to see. Most cultivators never actually reached the true end of their lifespan and would mostly die before that due to other reasons.


    Either they would die due to a mistake during cultivation or die due to some other external danger, including being killed by cultivators, beasts, heavenly tribtions, and many more.


    Another reason why it was hard to observe it was because most cultivators that underwent it would enter seclusion and would thus not be seen. By the time people found out about them, they would have already turned into dust and bones.


    The old man who was named Chu did not respond when the five men got close, and it was obvious that he was in an unconscious state.


    "What do we do now?" Hua Wu asked.


    "Seeing his state, I don¡¯t think we can wake him up directly. That may just end up killing him." Adviser Liu spoke.


    Now they were in a dilemma about what to do. While they had managed toe here, waking up the old man and gaining information was another obstacle.


    It was now that Xukong spoke again.


    "Use the healing technique. While it won¡¯t heal his deep seated injured due to aging, it should still give him enough to wake up. If we¡¯re lucky, it might just work." Xukong suggested.


    "Let¡¯s try it then..." Lin Mu said and walked ahead.

 Chapter 718 - Third Attempt At Healing

    <h4>Chapter 718 - Third Attempt At Healing </h4>


    Lin Mu ced his hands on the old man¡¯s chest gently while keeping an eye on whether he would respond or not. Usually, cultivators such as these that entered such a deep seclusion would only wake up in times of distress.


    Thus there was a chance the old man might still wake up if Lin Mu touched him, but surprisingly, he did not.


    ¡¯He¡¯s far deeper in this...¡¯ Lin Mu thought and used his spirit sense to check the body of the old man.


    There he could see the years of damage and aging. Over sixty percent of his meridians were damaged and the spirit Qi flowing within them was weak. His muscles had already degraded to a dangerous level and there was no chance of them getting healed.


    The same could be said before his skin and bones, which had turned weak. His blood vessels were also blocked with hundreds of small clots that obstructed the blood flow and prevented proper cirction.


    While Lin Mu was checking the old man, the others were observing him. They didn¡¯t know what he was doing, but for now, Lin Mu was the best option that they had at getting out of this situation.


    After about five minutes of a detailed check, Lin Mu finally decided to peer into the man¡¯s dantian.


    ¡¯Huh? Why is it like this?¡¯ Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but wonder.


    The old man¡¯s Dantian was like a stone and it was hard for him to enter it. But with Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense, he did manage to prate it, of course. Finally, in the Dantian he could see a dried up spirit Qi sea, which was more like a small pond now, and a Nascent soul that looked simr to the old man floating above it.


    Seeing the scene, Lin Mu understood that this might be one of the effects of the Decay of Mortals. But having observed it all, Lin Mu now had an idea of how to use the healing technique.


    This would be the third time he was using this technique, butpared to thest time, his cultivation base was vastly different.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu started injecting gentle streams of spirit Qi into the old man¡¯s body and they entered his meridians. There they started to first clear up some of the blockages made from injuries and impurities gained over the many years.


    Lin Mu had to take it slow to ensure that no extra harm was brought to the old man. Bit by bit, his meridians recovered and by the time he was done, the old man¡¯s meridians were about seventy percent functional.


    While they were not fully repaired, it was still far better than before. Lin Mu then moved on to his other tissues and muscles, trying to fix as much as he could using the spirit Qi that circted within the old man¡¯s body.


    Due to being old, the man didn¡¯t have much of his own vitality left. That was what the technique used to heal a person, but in this case, Lin Mu had to supply some of his own vital energy to the man.


    Hua San and Hua Wu, that were watching Lin Mu were shocked at this point.


    "Is he... Is he healing him?!" Hua Wu said in shock.


    "What? That¡¯s not possible. Adviser Chu¡¯s injuries aren¡¯t direct but due to his age. They aren¡¯t something that can be healed with a pill or something like that." Adviser Liu said, unable toprehend that a technique like the one Lin Mu was using even existed.


    The king though kept his silence and let Lin Mu do whatever he was doing. An hour passed like this and by the end of it, the observers could certainly see some differences between the previous state of adviser Chu and the current state.


    While his body was still old and wrinkled, the skin had eased up a bit and the age spots on his skin had also reduced.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and lifted his hands from the old man¡¯s body.


    "How is it senior Lin Mu?" Hua Wu questioned.


    "I¡¯ve done all I could. Now the rest is up to him. He is in a deep slumber caused due to his body slowly shutting down. I managed to heal some parts, thus he should at least be able to wake up." Lin Mu answered.


    "How long will it take?" Adviser Liu asked.


    "Can be anywhere from an hour to a day." Lin Mu replied.


    "I see..." Adviser Liu muttered.


    "A day is nothing if we can get something out of this and get to talk with former adviser Chu." King Hong nodded.


    "Exactly," Lin Mu said and sat down on one of the cushions that were lying around.


    Lin Mu noticed one thing: that this hall was clean, unlike the other ones. He spread his spirit sense around and found the reason for it; there was actually a cleaning formation embedded into this hall as well.


    Lin Mu remembered his own cleaning formation that he had ced in his old house in the northern city. While he had abandoned that ce now, he had taken away the graves of his parents and thus his home could be wherever he wanted it to be.


    The others also sat down and waited for the old man to wake up. The spirit Qi on the floor was concentrated and thus it was not like it was ufortable for the others. They could very well stay here for days if not months here with no problem.


    Lin Mu took this time to observe the area in better detail. Last time he was afraid that the old man might wake up and thus he had not used his spirit sense as much, but now he had the full freedom to do so.


    Though what Lin Mu was looking for was any old records or documents that mighte to his use here. Seeing how old the former adviser was, Lin Mu reckoned there must be something.

 Chapter 719 - Adviser Chu Wakes Up

    <h4>Chapter 719 - Adviser Chu Wakes Up </h4>


    "He¡¯s... he¡¯s... moving!" Hua Wu said out loud.


    Lin Mu and the rest ended up waiting about twelve hours, after which the old man moved for the first time. Their attention went to the old man and they could see his fingers trembling.


    After a few more minutes, his face started to twitch as well and then his eyes opened with great difficultly.


    <i>~HUU~</i>


    The old man took in a breath and looked around with his hazy and zed eyes. One of his eyes was possibly blind already, as there was a cloudyyer on it. His left eye though, looked to be fine enough.


    The former adviser noticed the people sitting in front of him and for a second there, a strong wave of spirit Qi emanated from him.


    Everyone except for Lin Mu trembled at the pressure that was exuded by the old man in that moment and a cold sweat broke on their backs and foreheads..


    "That... strong..." Hua San muttered.


    The pressure that the old man had just emanated was no less than some of the elders of his sect that he had met. This was a lotpared to most cultivators that did not belong to sects.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Hua Wu and Adviser Liu couldn¡¯t help but swallow their saliva upon feeling that pressure. King Hong, on the other hand, didn¡¯t really feel it urately since he was not at the Nascent soul realm like the others.


    While he did feel the spirit Qi fluctuation, he did not feel the oppressiveness from it. Lin Mu on the other hand, only felt like a breeze of wind passed by him. Though he was aware that this was emanated by the old man.


    Lin Mu stepped forward and spoke, "can you hear me adviser Chu?"


    The old man slowly lifted his gaze and looked into Lin Mu¡¯s eyes. Lin Mu felt as if the old man could almost peer through him and gaze into his soul. It made him shudder a bit, but he held on.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    The old man let out a sigh and lightly shook his head.


    "The youth... ovee the elderly..." the old man said for the first time.


    Hearing the hoarse and old voice of the man, Lin Mu felt uneasy. He was once again reminded of the mortality of humans and the limitations that they had. His determination to grow stronger was reaffirmed again.


    King Hong and adviser Liu also came forward and kneeled on the ground before cupping their hands and lowering their heads.


    "It is a great honor to meet you again, Adviser Chu. I am Hong Liu," Adviser Liu introduced himself first.


    "And I am King Hong Qiqiang, grandson of King Hong Liqiang." King Hong said, rting himself to the king two generations ago.


    Since he had never seen the adviser Chu before, there was no chance he would recognize him. Even his father¡¯s name might not do well since the man was very old and he didn¡¯t know if his memory would allow him to remember his father.


    After all, when adviser Chu held his position, it was during his grandfather¡¯s and great grandfather¡¯s time.


    After hearing these words, the old man did not respond and simply stared emptily at the people.


    "How long has it been?" The Old man questioned.


    "It has been two hundred years since the reign of King Liqiang, adviser Chu." King Hong answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It has been too long... I have been on this earth for far too long." The old man spoke in mncholy.


    "If adviser Chu allows it, we would like to formally venerate you in the ancestral temple. We know that your lifespan is at its end and there is little we can do, but we can¡¯t afford to let your contributions go to a waste." King Hong spoke.


    "Spare me the trivialities child... I have seen far too many of them in my time... speak, what is it that you need? This chamber is not something anyone should have discovered unless I was dead." Adviser Chu spoke in a calm voice.


    "This... we have a request of you." King Hong spoke, calcting his words.


    Adviser Chu looked at King Hong¡¯s face and suddenly spoke, "you want to ask me about the wandering SinkHole don¡¯t you?"


    Hearing this, King Hong and adviser Liu were shocked and wondered if the old man had read their minds.


    "How did you...?" King Hong muttered in surprise.


    "When you¡¯ve lived as long as I have, making prediction bes easier. Besides, there are very few things that would be worth getting from me and my knowledge about the Wandering Sinkhole is the only thing that might be worth this effort.


    I do not know how you managed to wake me up like this as I was sure my meridians had already shut most of my body down." Adviser Chu exined.


    "I see... well yes, we do want information about the wandering sinkhole." Lin Mu was the one to speak this time.


    "Hmm... fine. I¡¯ll tell you all that I know... I don¡¯t know how much time I have right now anyway." The old man stated.


    Hearing this, the ears of everyone in the room perked up and they got ready to listen to it.


    The old man closed his eyes for a couple of minutes and seemed to be meditating. Only after he was done with it did, he opens his eyes.


    "The wandering Sinkhole is a unique phenomenon that urs in the Hong Lin forest. Most people think of it as a mystery or even a curse. But in reality, it is nothing but the entrance to a minor ne.


    I entered it identally when I was a teenaged and fell into it. Thankfully, I fell into a body of water and managed to survive otherwise I would have been dead. But even then, a fall from that height into straight water was not without injuries.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    I broke several of my bones and got a lot of bruises in the process." The old man said and took a pause, his breath heavy.

 Chapter 720 - The Story Of Adviser Chu - I

    <h4>Chapter 720 - The Story Of Adviser Chu - I </h4>


    Having rested for a few seconds, Adviser Chu began to speak again.


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    "After falling in, I barely managed to pull myself out of the water. Only aftering out of it did I realize that it was a deepke. Iid on the ground, tired and in pain, as I stared up at the sky.


    It was then that I realized another thing... It didn¡¯t look like the top of the sinkhole anymore. Rather, it looked just like a normal sky to me with no borders.


    I was na?ve and didn¡¯t have any cultivation base back then and didn¡¯t know how all this happened. Terrified and confused, Iid there until eventually, the pain became too much for me to do nothing.


    I crawled around to find something that may help me. I knew of some herbs and nts that could help with pain in the Hong Lin forest and I wondered if I could find one of them here.


    .


    Since my Body tempering realm cultivation was only at the fifth stage of the Body tempering realm, I couldn¡¯t heal my bones faster either. I ended up spending two days in a helpless state.


    In the end, I was far too exhausted and fell unconscious. When I woke up after an unknown amount of time, I found my body to bepletely fine. My broken bones in my legs and ribs were fully recovered.


    But that was not all as I also discovered far more strength in my body than before and along with it a different kind of an energy in my body other than the vital energy. Iter realized that this was spirit Qi!" The old man spoke.


    "Huh? You directly broke through to the Qi refining realm? How is that possible?" Hua San asked.


    "Back then, I didn¡¯t know either. But after spending about a month there, I started to learn more about the ce. Thergeke I had fallen into actually had mysterious properties that healed my body and even increased my cultivation base.


    I started to explore and wander around the area and learned more about it. Theke was just one part of the sinkhole and there were many more unique areas in it. There was the forest that was filled with dangerous beasts who could easily kill me at that time and poisonous nts that would kill me if I got too close to them.


    The dangers were many and, knowing that I was in the blind about that ce, I just observed from a distance. For food, all I could eat were some tubers I found growing near theke.


    Making fire was easy enough, and water was easy to procure as well. What I didn¡¯t know was that everything around thatke was beneficial for one¡¯s cultivation. The water contained medicinal properties while the tubers contained spirit Qi.


    I spent about a year in that area, unable to proceed any farther because of the danger. The beasts would kill me the moment I would step out of a certain radius." Adviser Chu exined.


    "Wait, then why did the beasts not attack you near theke?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It was due to the water of theke as well. Apparently, it was good to repel beasts though, for nts and humans. I guess it was very beneficial. Though in that one year I had a lot of gains.


    My cultivation base reached thete stage of the Qi refining realm in that span. I of course, took full advantage of theke water and the tubers around it, but I realized theke water started to lose its effects after a few months.


    While the tubers still provided me with spirit Qi, they started to run out of numbers. By the end of the first year, I had no tubers to eat. At that point, I realized that I had to leave the ce or I would starve.


    I had no cultivation technique and thus all I could do was to use my raw strength while strengthening my limbs with spirit Qi. My first battle was with a small beast that looked like a mix between a dog and a roon.


    It was the most difficult battle I had gone through, and I was quite injured by the time I managed to kill the beast. It was a bit strange since the beast was actually at a far lower cultivation base than me.


    I realize that unless I gained better control over my spirit Qi, I would probably not be able to fight many more beasts. I did my best to learn about spirit Qi while also hunting more and more beasts.


    Another two years passed like this before I was able to continue onwards. It was also during this time that I broke through to the Core Condensation realm. After that, things became a bit easier for me and I could see the rest of the sinkhole.


    The area was ratherrge and even after ten more years; I had barely covered half of the area. There were many different areas in the sinkhole, fromkes to swamps to forests and even some tombs.


    I had not given up my search for an escape route but was unable to find anything. Even now I didn¡¯t have any cultivation technique and had to depend on external resources to increase my spirit Qi.


    If I depleted my spirit Qi, I would not even be able to recover it actively. I would just have to wait for the spirit Qi to passively regenerate. This often led to some rather dangerous situations in the sinkhole.


    The beasts, along with the dangerous areas, made for a badbination and could make you stuck in one area for a long time.


    It wasn¡¯t until a hundred years passed that I actually found a cultivation technique in one of the tombs. It was made by another cultivator who had perhaps fallen in an unknown amount of time ago." The old man spoke in detail.

 Chapter 721 - The Story Of Adviser Chu - II

    <h4>Chapter 721 - The Story Of Adviser Chu - II </h4>


    Lin Mu was stunned by hearing the time for which the old man was stuck there and the struggles he had gone through. Lin Mupared himself to him and realized that he at least had some people to talk to during the past few years, but Adviser Chu had no one.


    He too was blind to the ways of cultivation and had gone through it due to a fortune. But Lin Mu had managed to figure out his own method of cultivation and Adviser Chu had not.


    Lin Mu even wondered if the way he figured out his cultivation method could even be replicated or not. Senior Xukong called it the path of the primordial, but Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what that exactly meant.


    Though ording to senior Xukong, this method of cultivation would allow him to have many paths of progress in the future unlike a lot of cultivators that be restricted to a few avenues of growth.


    ¡¯With the time that Adviser Chu had he should have been able to learn something about his meridians and cultivation base right? Since he was not able to do it then what was it that made me different?¡¯ Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but wonder to himself.


    Even though he had these questions, he did not ask them and let the old man speak. They didn¡¯t know how long he had and it was better to listen to all his words before asking him more..


    <i>~cough~</i>


    The old man lightly coughed and took a few breaths before speaking again.


    "A lot of us had heard rumors of the Wandering Sinkhole and how it would take away people never to return them. When people encountered it, they had two options. Either to sumb to greed and enter it, or be scared and run away.


    Though there was also the fact that a lot of people fell in it involuntarily since it was hard to spot the Wandering sinkhole. There were a lot of cultivators that seeker it out as well and wanted to learn about its secrets with the hope that there was something powerful in it.


    Which from what I could see, wasn¡¯t actually false. The wandering sinkhole contains a lot of treasures, spirit herbs, and even spirit stones. Thus, a myriad of cultivators came here to test their luck.


    s, none of them seeded. Or perhaps... some did, but the world never found out about it. Of the ones that were unsessful I learned about cultivation. The dead were my teachers and I their student.


    Upon discovering the tombs, I spent time uncovering them and learning about their secrets. Various tombs contained the various inheritances that the cultivators who entered sinkhole left behind.


    I do not know for how many centuries or even thousands of years this had been going on, but an unofficial record of some kind had been made by the survivors of the sinkhole. While they were unable to leave the ce, they still learned from their predecessors and wrote down the things they say.


    They had hope that perhaps someone woulde to rescue them or maybe their information would help someone else in the future. And that information certainly came in handy for me.


    Not only did I learn about the ecology of the sinkhole I also learned about cultivation. The cultivation technique I gained was left behind by a nameless cultivator and I had to spend ten years in order to learn it.


    And after those ten years, it took me another hundred years to perfect it. By that time, I was already over two hundred and fifty years old. I knew my lifespan would end soon, thus I took that time to make my breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm.


    Thirty years passed before I was finally able toplete my breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm. But even then, my troubles did not end and there was no path to escape in sight.


    I spent the rest of the time learning about the sinkhole and the beings that lived inside it. And from that I learned, there was always a bigger fish behind a big fish. I thought I would be strong enough to handle anything once I was in the Nascent Soul realm, but I was foolish.


    There were plenty of beasts and nts that were at the Nascent soul realm and even a few that were at the Dao shell realm. I of course, avoided as many fights as I could and continued my escape n.


    It was only when 450 years had passed since my arrival into the sinkhole did I find a path to leave. Once I learned that I waited for the opportune moment, and escaped the sinkhole." Adviser Chu exined.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    The old man took a deep breath and rested for a bit.


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    "What was it that you used to escape the area?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It was a formation array. Making it was a throw in the dark that I tired and it ended up working." Adviser Chu answered.


    "I see... but then why didn¡¯t you speak of your experiences in the Sinkhole?" Lin Mu questioned.


    If it were him, he would probably learn about everything there and give the answer to the juniors in the world.


    ~Sigh~


    Hearing this, the old man sighed to himself.


    "I have seen the sinkhole... while there is fortune there, it is a mere trap. I did not want the juniors of this world to be tainted and thus I never revealed it to the world. All I wanted to do after escaping it was to meet my family.


    s! They had long since perished, after all, there are no mortals that lived as long as the cultivators. I had gained increased longevity and didn¡¯t even get to share that with my family.


    Then the King noticed me and offered me a position after hearing my situation.


    A person like me was very useful for the king and thus I was made an Advisers." Adviser Chu exined.

 Chapter 722 - Three Routes Of Entry And Exit

    <h4>Chapter 722 - Three Routes Of Entry And Exit </h4>


    Hearing the story of the old man, Lin Mu was intrigued. Yet there were questions that were still unanswered.


    "Adviser Chu, how can we find the Wandering Sinkhole? And if we do enter it, what is the method to get out of it? We also want to know where a thousand year old Hong Lin tree can be found within it." Lin Mi shot off a series of questions.


    "Ahah! A bit impatient, I see. Well... young men like you must have drive..." Adviser Chu chuckled.


    "But I fear I won¡¯t be able to tell you about it. Not because I don¡¯t know, but rather because I don¡¯t want other people to sumb to the greed and get trapped there." Adviser Chu spoke, shocking the others.


    "Please Adviser Chu, tell us so that we may save our kingdom." King Hong pleaded.


    "Save the kingdom? What happened?" Adviser Chu was now worried as well.


    "Well... how to begin this. But..." King Hong and adviser Liu then told them how the kingdom was faring and how it had almost be a puppet in the hands of others.


    Once King Hong was done, Adviser Chu seemed visibly agitated. His tree bark like skin trembled while the veins underneath it throbbed.


    "The northern tribes I see... so they have finally returned." Adviser Chu stated with a sigh.


    He took a pause for a few seconds and then spoke again.


    "Seems like the situation is far more dangerous than I had thought. This no longer concerns just our kingdom but also the rest of the world..." Adviser Chu said, his voice gaining a bit of volume.


    "Will you tell us then, Adviser Chu?" Lin Mu asked again.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    "I shall tell you then. Listen carefully....


    I¡¯ll start with the easiest question, the one about the thousand year old Hong Lin trees. Yes, they can be found in the sinkhole, but if you want to get to them, you will have to pass through the territories of several dangerous beasts, most of which are in the Nascent soul realm and even Dao Shell realm." Adviser Chu answered, reliving Lin Mu and the two disciples a bit.


    But even if they had heard the confirmation, the approach was still difficult, as the danger was quite high.


    "Now about finding the Wandering sinkhole... the only way is to just search the entire Hong Lin forest. The sinkhole has no rhyme or reason and can be found moving around anywhere; hence the name wandering sinkhole.


    As for getting out of it... there are three methods.


    The first one is to exit through the same opening that you entered through. But the problem with this is that the opening moves around and there is a great chance you won¡¯t find it in the same ce that you entered through.


    The opening moves around at a rather fast pace as well and even if you spot it, the chances of you reaching it bes rather less.


    The second method is to make your own passage. I don¡¯t even know if this can be done by anyone in this world, even if they are from the top sects. The cultivation base needed to do it is simply massive.


    Within the sinkhole, I¡¯ve seen graves that belonged to Dao Treading realm experts as well, and if they were unable to escape it, someone at the Nascent soul realm escaping is far less.


    Then there is the third and final method that I used. Using the intended exit of the Sinkhole." Adviser Chu exined.


    Hearing all the answers, everyone was intrigued. They did not know which ones were viable for them fully, but knew that they would have to take the risks regardless. Lin Mu on the other hand, felt like the first and second methods might be viable for him even if the others did not seem like that.


    Though the greatest doubt he had was about the third method.


    "Adviser Chu, if there was an intended exit, then why did you not use it all those years? Was it perhaps hidden somewhere?" Lin Mu questioned the man.


    "From all that I learned about the wandering sinkhole, I believe it was supposed to be a sacred ground or trials ground for some power a long time ago. But then it fell into despair and no one maintained it.


    This caused it to return to the main world and develop to be a minor ne instead. It took in several nts and animals from our world and then isted itself. But even then, there are several traces of its original structures remaining.


    One of these original structures is the intended exit I spoke of. It is hidden, or rather I must say protected by strong spatial phenomena that would kill you before you can even approach it.


    The only reason I was able to escape using that was that there are moments in time when the spatial disturbances reduce in intensity, allowing one to push through the phenomena.


    Of course, since I escaped it and never returned there, I am not sure how often that reduction in spatial phenomena urs. But from theparisons I made earlier there, I reckon it happens at least once a month or so.


    While I used the exit only once, I had been observing the area around it for years. I was simply unable to approach it due to the danger it held. But I was lucky as I ran out of all options and decided to take a do or die initiative.


    This allowed me to learn about the increased stability of the exit and I didn¡¯t hesitate to leave at that point. I even left behind most of the things I had gotten there." Adviser Chu answered.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Hearing this, Lin Mu and the rest took breaths of relief. To them as long as they had at least one viable option, they were fine with it. Lin Mu even more so, as he realized all three of those options might be viable for him.

 Chapter 723 - Gratefulness And Regrets

    <h4>Chapter 723 - Gratefulness And Regrets </h4>


    "Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, Adviser Chu. I am grateful to you and I believe the entire world will be grateful for you as well." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed, Adviser Chu. If it were not for you, perhaps our supreme elder would not have a chance either." Hua San added.


    "And the Hong Lin kingdom might not have lived past this either." King Hong added.


    "The work of our ancestors was saved due to you, Adviser Chu." Adviser Liu said with gratitude.


    Hearing the kind words of his visitors, the old man felt pleased, but at the same time, he felt a bit regretful..


    "Perhaps... perhaps my choice of entering seclusion was wrong. I should have been actively involved with the kingdom these years." Adviser Chu stated.


    "No, don¡¯t me yourself, Adviser Chu. If you had not gone, perhaps we would not have had the pressure to reach the Nascent Soul realm. With you there, we would have just relied on you and forget to be prepared ourselves.


    It was a very wise decision on your end." Adviser Liu spoke without hesitation.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    The old man sighed and shook his head.


    "If only I had more time, I would have taken care of this. Breaking through at this juncture is also impossible for me. I simply don¡¯t have any longevity left." Adviser Chu said with regret.


    "With the technique I used, you should still have at least a week left, adviser Chu. I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t do anymore, I am helpless in that aspect." Lin Mu said, finding it to be a bit sorrowful as well.


    But he knew this was the harsh truth of the world and perhaps only a miracle could save the old man now.


    The others seemed to resonate with Lin Mu¡¯s thoughts and felt sad as well.


    "Do you have any solution, senior Xukong? This man has done so much for his kingdom and even for us, it seems unfair for him to die like this." Lin Mu asked grasping for some hope.


    "I can¡¯t do much here either. Unless he got some immortal pills, to extend his longevity or managed to breakthrough it is impossible for him to live on." Xukong replied.


    What Xukong didn¡¯t tell Lin Mu was that these were the orthodox methods he knew of. There were some other unorthodox methods that existed and he knew of, but those weren¡¯t something that were appropriate here.


    Some were rather cruel, while others could greatly harm themselves. He also didn¡¯t think cultivators of this level were mature enough to handle it and not be tempted by them too much before falling into depravity.


    ¡¯I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t help, but if it were you though going through this, I would not hesitate in using each and every means in my arsenal.¡¯ Xukong secretly thought.


    Having gotten what they needed, Lin Mu and the rest decided to depart.


    "Wait!" the old man suddenly spoke.


    "Yes, Adviser Chu?" King Hong asked.


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    The old man¡¯s hands trembled before they entered within his robes and pulled out an old and mottled jade slip. While it looked rather bad, it was fully functional.


    "Take this... it¡¯s my understanding of the Wandering sinkhole and has information about the things there. It also has a map I made of it, though beware that things change there quite often and you might get lost, regardless.


    There¡¯s also the fact that it has been over five hundred years since I left the sinkhole and thus there might be many changes that have happened since then. The map and intimation might be entirely useless." Adviser Chu exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt even more grateful.


    "Thank you, adviser Chu. With a map it will be far more easier for us. And don¡¯t worry, even if the sinkhole has changed, and the map is useless, we shall still find a way out. We can¡¯t die yet... the world needs us." Lin Mu spoke.


    "The old are the torches of the youth. It is my honor that I managed to be helpful to you." The old man replied with a little smile on his face.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and took the jade slip from his hands before storing it away. Having gotten thest item they needed, Lin Mu and the rest cupped their hands before leaving the underground hall.


    They would give Adviser Chu some privacy in hisst few days on the world, and let him pass on his own terms.


    Back at the court, Lin Mu looked through the jade slip while the others sat around. The more Lin Mu read the more shocked he got. The information recorded in the jade slip was ratherrge and he didn¡¯t even know if he could read it all soon.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Can¡¯t believe so many things can be written about a single ce." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    King Hong and the rest looked at Lin Mu, waiting for him to proceed. After looking through the jade slip, Lin Mu looked at the rest of the people in the court.


    "Looks like we are in for a rather dangerous journey." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Even if it is dangerous, we need to go through it. A lot of people are relying on us." Hua San affirmed.


    "Plus if we go together, our chances of survival will be higher." Hua Wu stated.


    "No!" Lin Mu rejected right away.


    "Huh? What happened, senior?" Hua Wu was surprised and also a bit anxious at Lin Mu¡¯s negative reaction.


    "From all that I¡¯ve heard and read about the Wandering sinkhole till now, I don¡¯t think you all should go there." Lin Mu replied.


    "What! But we have to do it." King Hong said anxiously.


    "Yes we do indeed. That¡¯s why I shall be heading there alone. I have confidence that I can escape it with my skills, but I don¡¯t know if I would be able to do the same if I had other people with me.


    Please understand my concern." Lin Mu expressed.

 Chapter 724 - Convincing The Team

    <h4>Chapter 724 - Convincing The Team </h4>


    Hearing that Lin Mu wanted to get to the Wandering Sinkhole on his own, the others felt concerned and didn¡¯t know if it was good.


    "You can¡¯t do that. It will be too dangerous to go alone. Plus with more people, we would be able to cover more ground." Hua San replied.


    "That is exactly why I don¡¯t want you all to go. It will be too dangerous. If it¡¯s just me alone, I can deal with danger and escape if I want to. The greatest confidence I have is in my speed and ability to retreat.


    Plus, I won¡¯t be going alonepletely, I¡¯ll be having anotherpanion with me." Lin Mu spoke.


    .


    Hearing this, they were a bit confused but then realized that Lin Mu might be talking about Jing Luo.


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    "Why can senior Jing Luoe with you then?" Hua Wu asked.


    "Oh, he won¡¯t being either. He is needed here more. Not only will he need time to set up the tribtion attenuation formation, but he has his own preparations to do." Lin Mu said, remembering that Jing Luo had yet to fully assimte the knowledge he had been given.


    Not to mention the entrance token to the ancestralnd of the Jing n that he still needed to make. Plus, it would be far more safer if Jing Luo was still in this world as there was no guarantee that Gu Yao won¡¯t just attack.


    Even if these two disciples were from the Noon grass sect and were at the Nascent Soul realm, Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if they would be strong enough to fight against the tricks and schemes of Gu Yao.


    Heck, from what Lin Mu had heard, they didn¡¯t even go out of sect that much and didn¡¯t have enough experience with the world, despite being significantly older than him.


    "Not senior Jing Luo? Then who¡¯s going toe? It won¡¯t make sense if they are weaker than him or us." Hua San asked.


    "Oh, the one I¡¯m taking is far faster than anyone here. Even faster than me and has decent strength." Lin Mu stated.


    "And who¡¯s that?" now even Adviser Liu was curious.


    So far they had met two Adolescent soul realm cultivators and now he heard there was an additional expert?


    Adviser Liu wondered how they were just popping up now, or if Lin Mu was hiding even more than that. While he hadn¡¯t seen the full might of Lin Mu, he could tell that the young man was not normal.


    Casual actions of him exerted strength that seemed unusual.


    "The one I¡¯m taking is my tamed beast." Lin Mu answered.


    "You have a tamed beast too?!" Hua Wu asked, feeling excited.


    "I do indeed. He¡¯ll also be the one to help us find the wandering sinkhole in less than a month." Lin Mu stated.


    "Huh? Can he really do that? I mean, even if one is fast, just how fast would they even have to find it in a month?" Hua San was doubtful and so was adviser Liu.


    It was understandable since finding the wandering sinkhole was the same as searching the entire Hong Lin forest for it. And that was a massive area to cover. Even with the spirit sense of a Nascent soul realm cultivator expanding the area that could be observed at once, there were still several thousand square kilometers of the area to cover.


    Not to mention the Wandering sinkhole did not have a set location and would move around, which meant that it might appear in a location one had already searched in which meant that one would have to search the entire forest multiple times.


    "Mmhmm... It shouldn¡¯t really be a problem. He¡¯s actually out looking for Hong Lin trees now that are hundred years or older than that." Lin Mu spoke.


    The people in the hall didn¡¯t really know what to think of it now and asked a few more questions while Lin Mu tried to convince them. After several minutes, though, they agreed; albeit reluctantly.


    They were anxious that Lin Mu might not return and get trapped or something. But Lin Mu assured them that trapping him won¡¯t be possible, not to mention that spatial maniption was something he was good at.


    "Senior can do spatial maniption!?" Hua San and Hua Wu were shocked.


    This was not a skill that anyone could have. Even Dao Treading realm cultivators struggled with it, and the only way most cultivators coulde in contact with it was through formations.


    Otherwise doing it on their own was close to impossible since not only did it require greatprehension ability but also the spirit Qi to back it up. Lin Mu had a great advantage in this since the skills granted by the ring didn¡¯t have as high of a spirit Qi usage aspared to the other crude spatial maniption skills cultivators had in this world.


    "Indeed, I can. So don¡¯t worry. Worsees to worst, I get trapped in an isted space. If that does happen I would just choose the second option that Adviser Chu told us. I¡¯ll just make my own exit by carving out an opening in the void." Lin Mu said.


    Hearing Lin Mu speak casually about manipting the space and interacting with the void felt surreal to them. If this was some great elder from a top sect like the Sky precedent sect, they would understand, but this was not.


    Lin Mu was only at the Adolescent soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.


    After a few minutes of shock, they came to aplete agreement and decided to let Lin Mu go on his own. Lin Mu contacted Jing Luo and told him about what he was going to do, and Jing Luo agreed that it was better for him to go on his own.


    If one knew Lin Mu and his skills better than anyone else now, it was Jing Luo. After all, it was due to Lin Mu that he had managed to escape the isted fragment of the sacred ground of Ripple Mist sect.

 Chapter 725 - Putting The Kingdom Back On Track

    <h4>Chapter 725 - Putting The Kingdom Back On Track </h4>


    With the agreements made, Lin Mu and the rest came up with a pipeline for the events. They hoped for the best and nned for the worst, making contingencies for contingencies. They even made ns in case Gu Yao decide to directlye out and attack them or even start his takeover of the empire.


    Jing Luo also agreed to set up some better formation arrays around the Hong Lin kingdom just in case they needed to protect from attacks. It was needed since they were their allies and their survival was essential to them in the long term.


    Plus, King Hong was going to use the entire kingdom to provide the resources now. He knew it was no time to skimp on things and put the administrative machinery into work. While this was happening, Adviser Liu efficiently weeded out the corrupt officials of the kingdom and reced them with the right people.


    During the reign of minister Fu Delun, a lot of good workers had been wrongfully dismissed or transferred to other positions. Adviser Liu rectified these mistakes and checked the records to see who actually did well.


    This was not easy as the records were heavily manipted as well and they had to take a lot of direct testimonies from people and then cross reference them before actually checking the differences..


    It was a long and hectic process and it would have been impossible if not for the people¡¯s support. When it was announced that Minister of Law Fu Delun has been arrested along with several other officials on the charges of corruption and forgery, a lot of the other good officials that had been suppressed were overjoyed.


    Even themoners who had suffered during this time were pleased that their king and adviser were taking action. In the royal court, half of the people were either greatly fined or arrested entirely due to their involvement with Minster Fu Delun.


    As for Fu Delun himself, since he was under the control of Gu Yao, there was always a chance that he would try to escape and contact Gu Yao. As long as Gu Yao didn¡¯t know what was happening in the kingdom, they would have the advantage.


    Thus, to prevent Gu Yao from discovering what had happened, Lin Mu and the rest put Minster Fu Delun in a tranquilized state perpetually. The royal physicians and an alchemistbined their skills to make a strong tranquilized which won¡¯t harm the body but would truly put the person it was used on in a deep sleep.


    They wouldn¡¯t wake up even if the person was beat up and was rather deadly if one thought about it. It was fine to use on cultivators, but if it was used on normal humans, they would die of thirst before they could even wake up.


    For Fu Delun at least, the physicians set up a nutritional solution made of several herbs that would prevent the man from dying. Because in the end, Lin Mu and the rest knew that Fu Delun was a victim too and wasn¡¯t doing this on his own.


    Killing him would be a grave injustice when they still had the capability to restrain him. King Hong and adviser Liu had spoken of how Fu Delun truly took his responsibilities very seriously all these years.


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    In fact, it was that very reputation that led to them overlooking all the mistakes that had been made in the past few years. Had it not been for that, Adviser Liu and King Hong would have been more hands-on in their approach with administrative matters.


    A wise man once said, ¡¯havingpetent subordinates makes one¡¯s life easier, but it also makes one dependent on them, thus taking away their caution.¡¯


    This was one of the reasons why strong ns and sects always chose to let their juniors train and experience the world and get some setbacks. Otherwise, if they were given a smooth carved out path by their seniors, they would getcent.


    Of course, doing all these changes brought their own set of problems. The new people for higher positions were hard to find and for lower positions, they needed to be trained from the start.


    The biggest issue though, was finding a suitable recement for the minister of Law. So far, Adviser Liu had taken over the duties for that, but it was no longer viable for him to keep on doing that as his duties were expanding by the day.


    They needed someone to rece Fu Delun. Plus, since the mess started from this position, the eyes of everyone in the kingdom would be on this position. Thus, anyone who took over, would be facing great pressure.


    For this, Lin Mu actually had a suggestion. The person he suggested to King Hong and adviser Liu was none other than the head of thew enforcement department. Lin Mu himself had seen how hard the man worked, despite the bad hand he was dealt and still managed to keep the department running.


    Adviser Liu had already seen the work ethic and productivity of the man and epted it right away. But when they actually called in the man to offer him the position, he cried.


    He said that he would die if he took on more work. Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but chuckle when he heard this and gave a few solutions.


    First, they gave the man a well deserved vacation and secondly they gave him enough resources so that he could break through to the Core Condensation realm.


    Xian Po was stunned and had not expected this at all. To him, it waspletely out of his scope that he would ever reach a higher cultivation base.


    They knew that he was a hard worker and was pushed to the limit. But these limits were also there because of his cultivation base. Thus, the easiest option was to simply upgrade it and that¡¯s what they did.


    And thus, Xian Po¡¯s vacation week also turned into a secluded cultivation session which he did like.

 Chapter 726 - The New Court Session

    <h4>Chapter 726 - The New Court Session </h4>


    With a new minister of Law set up and the rest of the administrative machinery working in proper order, King Hong felt pleased. To him, this was one of the most necessary things that needed to be addressed.


    Lin Mu was also happy with the progress and got to experience the inner workings of a kingdom for the first time. He got to learn how different matters were handled and how it was to deal withplex people, all of whom had their own agenda.


    While this was not useful to him directly right now, he reckoned he may as well learn all that he could. Xukong was of the same mind and told him to do so while Little Shrubby continued his search.


    Littler Shrubby had been looking for the Wandering sinkhole right on the day when Lin Mu made the agreement with King Hong and the two disciples. He gave the description of the sinkhole to Little Shrubby and told him to search across the entire Hong Lin forest for it.


    Little Shrubby was fine with it and did so.


    Jing Luo on the other hand, was busy with making formation arrays.. The tribtion attenuation array was alreadypleted and ready for use at any moment. He was now setting up the formation arrays for the Hong Lin Kingdom¡¯s capital city.


    Upon hearing the n that Lin Mu had for the city, Jing Luo went even more extravagant and asked that if they are doing it for the city, why don¡¯t they just do it for the entire kingdom.


    Hearing this, everyone was shocked as well, and they didn¡¯t know if this was viable at all. To this Jing Luo exined that while security on the same level as that of the capital might not be possible, it would still be possible to set up lower levels of securities across the entire kingdom.


    At the borders, there would be a basic formation array that detected and recorded who left and entered the kingdom. Of course, this was a rather grand project, but under the support of the entire Kingdom and their other formation masters, Jing Luo didn¡¯t have much problem in starting it.


    Even the Hua San and Hua Wu joined in to help. While they weren¡¯t specialized in formations, they still had enough knowledge to help out. Plus, they were one of the stronger cultivators in the entire kingdom and thus just their cultivation base was enough to support more of the formation arrays which depended on power and not skill.


    Of course, this n was done rather covertly, and the people were mobilized secretly. The ones involved were asked to take oaths. That would kill them if they ever broke them. Only after that were they allowed to be part of it.


    King Hong¡¯s tribtion was also fast approaching and there was little time left until he would have to get ready for it. The same could be said for the former adviser Chu but in his case what was approaching him was death.


    The old man had not moved since that day and had stayed in the same state. Everyday King Hong and Adviser Liu would go to see him and check his condition. They were ready to give the man the funeral he deserved.


    Finally, three weeks had passed since the start of the n and today Xian Po broke through to the Core condensation realm.


    "Xian Po pays his respect to King Hong." The man cupped his hands in greeting and bowed his head.


    "At east, Minister Xian Po." King Hong said with a smile.


    Xian Po looked up at the King and the rest of the people sitting in the royal court. He was thest one to join, and the rest of the positions had already been fulfilled. While he was technically the first to be added to the new court, since he entered seclusion, it took him longer.


    "Take your ce Minister Xian Po, it¡¯s time we begin." King Hong said and gestured to the third seat on the left side of the court from the King¡¯s position.


    On the left of the king sat adviser Liu, while on the right sat none other than Lin Mu. He was actually feeling rather awkward here.


    ¡¯Should I even be here? This feels strange...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He didn¡¯t know why, but King Hong had specifically requested for him to be here for the Royal court. It was fine before since the were in a more informal setting and discussed the ns.


    But not all of those members were here. Hua San and Hua Wu weren¡¯t invited.


    Lin Mu looked at the ministers sitting in their seats. Their clothes showed their rank and position with it being embroidered on their outer robes. The ministers sat closer to the king on the left side, while the junior ministers and other officials such as army officials, sat on the right side.


    "Today we are here to start a new journey. This will either take us to a safer future or lead us to our eventual end." King Hong spoke, turning the vibe in the room a bit cold.


    "I have decided to tell you what we are facing now. It is an unprecedented threat, the likes of which only our ancestors have faced before. Some of you here already know about it or have an idea about it, but I¡¯ll be properly telling about it to you all." King Hong said, turning the faces of everyone serious.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu now understood why King Hong had asked him to be here. Hua San and Hua Wu were helping out Jing Luo and thus were out of the capital at this moment in one of the other major cities.


    ¡¯No wonder...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu felt a little less anxious now and listened to how King Hong spoke about Gu Yao and the threat he posed along with the threat of the Northern Tribes.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Once King Hong WA finished with his exnation, the people of the royal court finally understood the reason for the recent upheaval in the kingdom. Having learned that there was someone who could control them and others wouldn¡¯t even know was a terrifying thought.


    "Now that I am done, you all can speak if you wish to." King Hong spoke.


    Lin Mu looked around and saw that most of them weren¡¯t really in the mood to do anything and were still digesting the tough information that had been dropped on them. The ones that had a stronger mentality though, were already thinking of ns to do.


    "Your Majesty, I have something to say," the new minister of Law Xian Po suddenly spoke.


    "Pleased do, Minister Xian Po." King Hong replied.


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    Xian Po stood up and looked around at his fellow court members.


    "We all have heard King Hong speak and have even seen the effects that this man Gu Yao has brought upon our kingdom. While we were lucky that we had senior Lin Mu this time who helped us avoid an even worse situation, I do not know if we would be lucky in the future.


    I have personally experienced the distress brought on by the former Minster Fu Delun and the difficulties it brought. I do not want anyone else to go through it, yet there is a chance someone among us may end up being controlled anyway.


    Thus to address this, I propose we take up an oath." Xian Po stated, surprising everyone.


    While it was fine asking the formation masters and other lower officials to take oaths, one must know that asking their ministers and other higher official such as army generals, was not usually done.


    This was considered to be offensive in many ces and basically meant that the King did not give them the respect they deserved and also made them into ves. Since taking an oath meant they would be binding themselves forever, giving a sense of safety and trust, it also meant that they were cutting off their other routes of escape.


    If for some reason the kingdom fell and they had no other choice, they wouldn¡¯t even have a chance to escape, as that would mean them dying anyway. Of course, the specific conditions of the oaths varied, but this was the general consensus among them.


    Xian Po and Lin Mu looked around, seeing the hesitation on the faces of some people in the hall.


    "I volunteer to do it first!" Xian Po spoke up with determination.


    "I shall take it as well." This time Adviser Liu stood up.


    "And I¡¯ll be doing it as well." King Hong said, shocking everyone.


    "But... why you, your majesty?" one of the generals asked.


    "The situation we are facing is not just any threat. While you can be controlled, I can be controlled as well. Besides, it would be unfair if you all are bound to just me. Rather than that, I would prefer it to be a unified oath so that all of us are on equal terms." King Hong replied.


    Hearing this, the court officials were left speechless.

 Chapter 727 - An Oath

    <h4>Chapter 727 - An Oath </h4>


    It wasn¡¯t often that a king would allow such an oath to be taken, not to mention taking it himself. This went against all that was considered usual for the royalty and kings. One could count on one hand the number of kings who had ever done this.


    There were oaths taken by kings sure, but they were taken among others of equal or higher status. And thus, the court members were left speechless. Only after a minute of silence did someone speak.


    "I volunteer too!" one of the generals spoke.


    "I do too!" A junior minister spoke.


    "I shall take the oath as well!" Another minister joined in.


    One by one, hands rose up as more and more people joined.. In the end, each and every person was ready to take the oath and this put a smile on the face of the King and even Lin Mu, who had not expected this.


    ¡¯I thought there would be at least some resistance among them, but looks like the new people that were chosen were perfect for it and the ones that were not corrupted were good from the start.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Excellent! With our unity, we shall either rise through the cmities or die trying!" The king eximed, sending waves of excitement across the hall.


    He then looked at Lin Mu, prompting him to turn a bit serious.


    "Senior Lin Mu, since times immemorial when oaths as big as these were taken, the eldest or the strongest person would act as the officiator. Would you please grant us the honor of being one?" King Hong asked.


    Lin Mu was a bit stunned and didn¡¯t speak when suddenly Xukong¡¯s voice rang in his mind.


    "Do it," Xukong spoke.


    "You sure, senior? But I¡¯m not the oldest here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That is just a formality. In reality, anyone can act as the officiator, but the strength of the officiator does decide how strong the oath will be as well. While most people think oaths are unbreakable, it is not so.


    There are certain methods that can be used to nullify them, and one can break them. Then there are also some methods that allow one to bypass them while keeping an oath intact.


    We do not know of Gu Yao or the powers backing them have such means, but it would be better to be cautious." Xukong replied.


    "Then how do I prevent that senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, the easiest method is to change the oath terms. Most people give blood oaths or take an oath against their cultivation. These are the easiest ones to bypass and break. Oaths can also be given to the heavens which are far more stronger but that also requires one to be a cultivator and have a certain cultivation base.


    In here, only the Nascent soul realm cultivators would be able to do that and others won¡¯t.


    But right now they have you here... you have something that others don¡¯t and it will help ovee that w." Xukong answered.


    "I see... then what do I do?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Just follow my words," Xukong replied.


    "Okay senior," Lin Mu replied and nodded his head, giving affirmation to King Hong as well.


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    "Thank you senior Lin Mu," King Hong said.


    Lin Mu then closed his eyes for a couple of seconds and took a deep breath.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    The next moment when his eyes opened, they had apletely different aura. Everyone that looked at him felt their hearts shudder. They couldn¡¯t look into Lin Mu¡¯s eyes and felt like their hearts would jump out of their chests if they did so.


    "Repeat after my words," Lin Mu said in a calm voice.


    "YES SENIOR!" They all replied.


    "I, Lin Mu..."


    "I, Hong Qiqiang..."


    "I, Hong Liu..."


    "I, Xian Po..."


    They all repeated.


    "Shall not harm the interest of the alliance, my allies, and humanity as a whole. And if I do so, I shall be struck down by the world, erased by the bloodline, extinguished by the heavens, and have my soul removed from the cycle of reincarnation." Lin Mupleted.


    The oath was a harsh one, but this was not the time to hesitate and thus they all repeated properly.


    Once everyone was done saying it, Lin Mu added the final part.


    "So mote it be!"


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    The moment the oath waspleted, a heavy presence descend in the hall. Everyone felt like boulders were pressing down on their heads and that they would copse at any moment.


    Then a glowing character appeared on the forehead of Lin Mu. It was visible to everyone and was in fact, hard to not notice with the intensity of light it was casting.


    ¡¯What... is that...?¡¯ Everyone wondered while simultaneously struggling under the presence.


    The character on Lin Mu¡¯s forehead glowed even brighter and shot out several tiny motes of light. Their number was equal to the number of people that were in the hall at this moment.


    The motes of light flew to each person and entered their foreheads.


    Then.... A character appeared on their foreheads too. This character read ¡¯Oath¡¯.


    It lingered on their forehead for about three seconds before it faded away. The pressure on their bodies also disappeared and they could take breaths of relief. But while this was all happening, Lin Mu did not see it.


    Rather than that, the moment the character had appeared on Lin Mu¡¯s forehead, his vision had gone white. He appeared in a white space and could see a character floating there as well. It was the same one that had appeared on his forehead.


    "Isn¡¯t that... the mark of the Ordained?" Lin Mu recognized.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    Then it was as if an explosion happened and Lin Mu was sent hurtling across the empty skies. He kept on going higher and higher until he could see the entire world below him.


    It was a bit hard for him to see things, but after a couple of seconds, his vision adjusted.


    "What?.... What is this....?" Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but question.

 Chapter 728 - Gazing At The World

    <h4>Chapter 728 - Gazing At The World </h4>


    "Senior? Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu called out but received no answered.


    He looked below and saw a massive sphere. Most of it was blue, but one third of it was made of different colors such as green, brown, yellow, white and red. Lin Mu noticed that the top of the sphere was white and looked like a pear.


    "Huh... is this... my world?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He checked the other points and was able to recognize several of them, such as the pear¡¯s waist and the belt. Then below he could see the northern Mountains and the northern forest.


    This was enough to confirm for him.


    "There¡¯s no doubt... this is my world." Lin Mu spoke..


    And when he did, he could hear a voice in his mind. The voice was familiar to him and he had heard it before.


    "Xiaofan World..." the voice spoke


    "Huh... so the name of my world is Xiaofan..." Lin Mu muttered.


    So far, he had never heard the actual name of his world and had not seen it anywhere either. Since the world had only one continent that was now named the great Zhou continent, the people also called it the Great Zhou world.


    But Lin Mu now realized that it was just a name given by the people, but the real name of the world was something different. It was named Xiaofan. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know if it was written in the records somewhere, but he decided to check up on itter.


    Lin Mu continued observing and could see the vast expanse of the forests that spread across the continent at the bottom of it.


    "That... should be the part which was once the southern continent. So that is the Great Southern Forest." Lin Mu identified.


    Above the Great Southern forest, he could see several areas that had small ck and Grey dots.


    "Hmm... those should be the cities, I guess, and seeing the location, it must be one of the kingdoms in the south. I think that is where the Noon Grass Sect is located as well." Lin Mu muttered.


    On the northeast of that, he could see a small patch of dense red color. Lin Mu instantly recognized what this was.


    "The Hong Lin forest!" Lin Mu said.


    He then went west from there and saw several different areas, including one ce which was densely packed with buildings.


    "Is that... the Imperial capital of the Great Zhou Empire? Yes, that must be it." Lin Mu spoke.


    He went a bit north west from there and saw the deserts and volcanoes. This was also the area where the Fire Fang snake was supposed to be a native of. He continued further up from there and saw a change in the color.


    The area here was significantly darker, and the ground seemed to be ck in certain ces.


    "That should be the ck Dawn Dynasty." Lin Mu recognized.


    Then to the east of it, Lin Mu saw the Shuang Qian Empire and further east of that Lin Mu saw the part of the continent that protruded a bit outwards and went to the north.


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    The area here was multicolored, with different hues mixed in such as red, green, blue, yellow, pink and many more.


    "That should be the Eastern Ming Dynasty." Lin Mu recognized.


    He could also see several small dots in the great ocean that were sparsely spread. The biggest ones though, were closest to the continent and were none other than the Echo Conch kingdom and the First Sun kingdom.


    As Lin Mu continued observing, he wondered where the sects were. He couldn¡¯t particrly see them.


    "Hmm... from what I know the top sects are rather spread around. The Sky precepts sect is located somewhat east of the Imperial capital while the Zither wind sect is south west of it. Then, some distance south from the ck dawn kingdom¡¯s border, there is the centennial sword sect.


    The Rainbow Pill sect is the furthest from all sects and is the Eastern Ming dynasty. Then finally... there are the Northern tribes..." Lin Mu muttered.


    He could see that within the frozen white northern part, there were small dots of red and ck. He realized that they must be the settlements of the Northern tribes.


    "If only I could see more..." Lin Mu wished.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The moment he did so, he felt his vision flicker. Then red dots appeared all over the map. These dots were all of different sizes and intensities. Some of them were bright enough that they looked like beacons, while there were some that were dim enough that they couldn¡¯t even be seen unless Lin Mu squinted.


    The ones that looked like beacons were located in four different parts of the world. One of the red beacons was near the ck dawn kingdom, which Lin Mu recognized as the Centennial sword sect.


    One of them was located in the central part of the continent that Lin Mu recognized to be the Sky Precepts sect. Then there was another one located in the north eastern part of the continent which Lin Mu recognized to be the rainbow pill sect.


    "What are these red beacons? They are the strongest ones... seeing the pattern, they may be cultivators." Lin Mu wondered.


    After thinking for a bit more, Lin Mu realized that this was likely.


    "Considering the different intensities of the light and them being in a few locations, they might be Immortal Ascension realm cultivators. But then at the north... this can¡¯t be!" Lin Mu eximed.


    What Lin Mu saw in the North was surprising to him. In the north, there were three such red beacons. One of them was a bit to the south in the mountains, while the other two were together in the popted area.


    "If these really are immortal Ascension realm cultivators, then the Northern tribes have the same number as the rest of the empire. But how can this be? They should have all been killed in the past.


    Unless... They are new..." Lin Mu understood the startling reality.

 Chapter 729 - Stormy Ocean

    <h4>Chapter 729 - Stormy Ocean </h4>


    Seeing the world and the cultivators on it, Lin Mu felt a bit overwhelmed. While the general consensus was that cultivators were rare, being one in a thousand, seeing their total poption, was still shocking to him.


    "They have the same number of Immortal Ascension realm cultivators as us..." Lin Mu muttered.


    He then looked at the other red dots that were still big but did not look like beacons. These were the cultivators who were in the Dao Treading realm. Of these, Lin Mu could see about twenty nine dots in the great Zhou continent and eleven dots in the Northern tribes.


    "So the total number of Dao treading realm cultivators is twenty nine, huh..." Lin Mu said as he gazed in the direction of the ck Dawn Kingdom.


    There his gaze was on a particr location that was close to the northern coast.


    "No red dot there. Hmm... if Jing Wei was there, the dot should have been there.. Guess he really is in the ancestralnd of the Jing n. No wonder it doesn¡¯t appear here. But this also means there should be other such Dao Treading realm experts that don¡¯t appear on the map if they are in other such minor nes or worlds." Lin Mu analyzed.


    Lin Mu wondered if he could find Gu Yao with this, but that was a tough thing to do. He knew that Gu Yao had reached the Dao Shell realm, but when he tried to see the red dots for Dao Shell realm cultivators, he found there to be over two hundred.


    Some of them even ovepped, so it was hard to tell how many there actually were.


    "The actual number is bound to be higher. Plus... there is a chance that Gu Yao might have taken to hiding in a minor ne. It could be one of the reasons why finding him is hard. If I was him and had the information, I would probably do the same." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Seeing the entire world at once had given Lin Mu an overview that enhanced his thinking. He could now think from a broader perspective and realized just how little prepared he was for theing battle.


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    He knew that the entire world would be embroiled in this. While both the parties had the same number of Immortal Ascension realm cultivators, he didn¡¯t know if they would be able to work together when Gu Yao was sowing discord.


    "NO! Rather than that, Gu Yao would never even let them have the opportunity to fight. With the speed at which he is controlling others and taking over sects, he will probably try to neutralize the top sects before they can do much.


    They should definitely have something that can restrain or even kill Immortal Ascension realm cultivators." Lin Mu concluded.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and deeply gazed at the world, trying to memorize each and every bit of it. He tried to see which ces had the most cultivators and why. He didn¡¯t know how he had ended up here, but knew that him being ordained by the world had something to do with it.


    ¡¯If I have the opportunity, why not take it... even this much is enough to give us plenty of perspectives.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu moved from one side of the world to the other and eventually ended uppleting it all.


    "I¡¯ve done as much as I can right now." Lin Mu said, but after a few seconds, he wondered something else. "What¡¯s there behind this? This world is a sphere, right? There should be more behind it." Lin Mu said.


    And just as he said this, the world started to turn and showed the side which was hidden to Lin Mu. But what he saw shocked him even more.


    "What... is this?" Lin Mu said in shock.


    So far, from what Lin Mu had learned, after four of the five continents werebined, only the great ocean was left behind. Lin Mu had thought that all he would see there would be water, but he saw much more than that.


    On the other half of the world, a massive storm was churning. It looked like a white vortex that continued to spin in one ce. Clouds from all over the world would join it and then get dispersed into the ocean.


    At the eye of the storm, Lin Mu could see nothing. It looked like a pitch ck hole and no light was seen there. It was like the deepest depths of the sea where no light could prate.


    From time to time, streaks of light would spread across the storm, showing that it even contained thunder and lightning. The streaks were like dragons swimming in the seas and weaved through the storm.


    There were no inds or anyndforms that Lin Mu could see on the other side, either. It was as if all of them had disappeared or sunk.


    "Is this the effect of moving entire continents, or perhaps something else?" Lin Mu wondered.


    But this gave rise to another question for Lin Mu.


    "These continents... were they floating that they could be united? No... that doesn¡¯t make sense. If they were able to float, they would have to be far lighter. But then how would one move something that is attached to the ground?" Lin Mu pondered.


    It was now that Lin Mu noticed another thing. The color of the water was different, or rather the shade of blue was different in the different parts of the world. The water around the continent was of a lighter shade than the water in the depths of the ocean.


    Lin Mu realized that the further one went from the continent, the darker the color of the water got. Then arrived the storm where everything was white due to the clouds. And in the center of the storm, in its eye, there was just pitch ck darkness within which nothing could be seen.

 Chapter 730 - World Nexus

    "So the farther one goes from the continent, the deeper the ocean bes and the storm should be the deepest part of the ocean." Lin Mu understood.


    Having seen this though, Lin Mu realized another thing.


    "Hang on¡­ if the red dots are the markers where there are cultivators and shows their cultivation base, then where are the beasts? The poption of beasts should be far more than humans.


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    Especially the ocean, it should be filled with strong beasts, shouldn''t it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He even looked at the great southern forest, but didn''t see any markers for beasts there. In fact, there were only a few red dots dispersed in the entire southern forest. It looked rather empty, which looked strange to Lin Mu.


    "Those few red dots should be the cultivators who entered the forest to get the resources. But then, where are the beasts? Why does it now show beasts?" Lin Mu wondered..


    Sadly for Lin Mu, this question remained unanswered and his vision turned to white again. The next time he blinked his eyes, he realized he was back in the real world in the pce of the Hong Lin kingdom.


    The people around him were looking at him in awe, and he didn''t know why.


    "Senior Lin Mu, what was that? How did you make the oath so strong?" King Hong questioned while the rest looked on.


    Lin Mu though, didn''t answer and had a question mark in his mind.


    "Senior Xukong what happened?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Just as I had expected, with the oath you managed to trigger the world''s will to descend. Now with it as the witness, no one will be able to break the oath since they will all be observed by the world." Xukong spoke.


    "No wonder they looked like this¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "And what about you? Your mind disappeared for about ten seconds there." Xukong spoke, finding it to be strange.


    "Wait senior, you didn''t see it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "See what?" Xukong asked.


    "Hang on, let''s deal with this situation first and then that." Lin Mu said as he began to focus on the task at hand.


    He looked at King Hong and spoke.


    "I just used an oath that my master taught me. It''s stronger than the normal oaths and should protect us better." Lin Mu answered the King.


    "No wonder. Of course, senior Lin Mu''s master must be far beyond us." King Hong nodded his head.


    They didn''t know who Lin Mu''s master exactly was, but hearing that he had one meant a lot to them. If Lin Mu was so strong, then they thought his master must be beyond what they could imagine.


    This gave them an additional sense of security that they didn''t even know they needed.


    "Well then, now that this is done, we can get back to work." King Hong said to everyone.


    "Yes, Your majesty!" Everyone replied.


    Lin Mu also sat down and listened to their ns. There was little for him to do other than to speak at a certain moment when King Hong and adviser Liu sought out his opinion on a few matters.


    Most of the matters were just internal things that rted to the kingdom, but there were also other matters which were more of a diplomatic nature.


    For example, what do they do if someone they know is being controlled? Or if a person from a sect arrives that they know is being controlled.


    They needed to know how to behave during these times and that was also where they asked Lin Mu''s opinion. The entire meetingsted over twenty hours and only stopped because it was midnight now.


    Once it was over, Lin Mu got to leave and went to the courtyard that he had Jing Luo rented out. King Hong had just gifted it directly to Lin Mu after having bought it from the previous owner, who was actually one of the ministers.


    They owned several properties across the capital and the kingdom, and thus doing something like this was very easy. Lin Mu had be something of an unofficial elder of the Hong Kingdom by now.


    "So what is it that you saw?" Xukong questioned Lin Mu after he sat down in the room.


    "Why don''t you take a look, senior?" Lin Mu said as he moved some of his memories to the shared mind space they had.


    Xukong read through the memories and saw all that Lin Mu had seen; the world, the beacons, cultivators, the storm, and the shades of the water. He saw everything. After he was done, he couldn''t help but be internally shocked.


    ''Why did this happen? How can he see something only a celestial should be able to see? Even if he is ordained by the world, something of this sort is impossible.'' Xukong thought to himself before turning back towards certain direction.


    ''Unless it''s something you intended to do¡­'' Xukong said while looking at the ethereal altar.


    "So? What do you think, senior?" Lin Mu questioned after a few minutes.


    Xukong had been silent the entire time, so Lin Mu wondered if he was done or not.


    "Hmm, the most I can tell you right now is that you have seen something that should have been impossible to see. Not just for you but the world itself." Xukong answered.


    "Huh? What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu asked for rification.


    "What you saw was the world, or rather its representation. In the higher worlds, it is known as the world nexus. It is something every world has, but only a few worlds can actually ess it or see it." Xukong replied.


    "You mean to say senior¡­ only a high leveled world should be able to see it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. If it has appeared and you managed to see it, that means¡­" Xukong stated.


    "The world has been growing and has reached a new level." Lin Mu interrupted.


    "Indeed. Even if it hasn''t fully reached it, it is close since the nexus is still notplete. That is also the reason why you could only see the humans on there." Xukong exined.

 Chapter 731 - Power And Solutions

    Having learned of this, Lin Mu felt as if his understanding was expanded.


    "That''s why there were no markers for the beasts, now I get it." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Mmmhmm, Humans are the most likely to create upheavals in the world and have higherprehension of the heavenly Dao, that''s why the world might have added them first," Xukong replied.


    "Then what''s next after this senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The world Nexus is like the central part of the world itself.. You can think of it as a separate dimension itself that exists within the world. But it can only be essed by someone that is ordained by the world or permitted by it.


    Seeing the Xiaofan world''s current state, I reckon the growth of the Northern tribes might have contributed to its level increasing." Xukong answered.


    "How ironic¡­ the ones that want to cause disaster are the ones that are causing the world to grow¡­" Lin Mu said, finding it strange.


    "Such is the cruel game of fate¡­ it will favor you sometimes and hate you sometimes," Xukong replied.


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    "Hmm¡­ but this is also a good point, isn''t it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "To be honest, it can go either way," Xukong replied.


    "What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Seeing as how the world is upgrading, if you manage to seed the overall power of the world will upgrade too. The spirit Qi level within the world will rise and all the beings of this world will be blessed.


    Their talents would elevate and there will be far more cultivators, thus further developing the world. But on the other hand¡­ the Xiaofan world is in a sensitive situation. If the Northern Tribes manage to use the invader or even call more invaders, they might just plunder the world.


    The world is like an egg. Once it hatches, it will be able to protect itself, but before that, if someone attacks it, it will just be ripe for the taking. The stronger invaders won''t have a problem tearing down the world and taking all that it contains, including the people." Xukong answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was surprised. While he had learned about some things from the Lost Immortal''s memoirs, there was no mention of such people.


    "But for someone to do something like this, they would have to be very strong, right senior? Then there numbers should be less too." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Unfortunately, there are cultivators that have turned their entire profession into plundering worlds. And that doesn''t really need much other than being at the Immortal realm of which there will be plenty of cultivators in the higher worlds." Xukong replied.


    Hearing this Lin Mu''s brows furrowed, and he realized the level of danger they were truly in.


    "That invader that we have right now might actually be the thing stopping the world from being discovered by the others as well. After all, if a thief has found a good loot, he won''t expose the location and allow other thieves to steal it.


    This, in addition to the world''s barrier, are the two things that are hiding the world from the perception of the others. Once either of those is gone, it may be difficult for the world to survive if someone attacks." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm¡­ but we have to get rid of the invader. That is the mission that the world gave us." Lin Mu spoke, finding it to be difficult.


    "That is also where the situation resides. After the invader is gone, the world should manage to strengthen itself too. The only problem will be the brief period of time when it will be vulnerable.


    As long as it is safe during that time, nothing will happen and it wille out better." Xukong replied.


    "I understand, senior¡­ so for all this¡­ I need to be strong." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed. To 99% of the problems in the world, strength and power are the solutions. As long as you have sufficient power, anything can be changed¡­ even death¡­ is not the exception." Xukong replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu''s eyes lit up and a new wave of excitement spread through him.


    ''So power is the absolute factor¡­'' Lin Mu determined.


    His gaze turned serious and a faint change urred within his mind that was unnoticeable to Lin Mu and Xukong, as well. The Altar within the mysterious ring though, flickered as a few dark runes appeared above it for a few seconds before fading away again.


    ***


    A couple of days passed and a certain? piece of news spread across the capital city.


    The Former Adviser of the Hong Lin Kingdom, Adviser Chu had passed away.


    Lin Mu who received the message from the King, sighed to himself.


    "So he finally passed away¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "He did manage tost longer than he would have otherwise. You helped him live longer, so don''t be down." Xukong replied.


    "Still¡­ he was at the Peak of the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm. If only he was able to break through, he would have had another thousand years of lifespan." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Sometimes things cannot proceed as we want them to," Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu stayed silent for a while as he processed his thoughts. After about an hour of pondering, Lin Mu spoke again.


    "Adviser Chu ultimately died because hecked power¡­ even if he did not have physical power or his cultivation, he could have used other ways to ovee it¡­ he did not even attempt it and neither did he ask for help from others¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "I told you before, his body had deteriorated to the point where nothing would have helped him." Xukong reminded.


    "No senior," Lin Mu interrupted, surprising Xukong.


    "You said that power could do anything¡­ even defy death. Then tell me, was there absolutely no solution to the man''s situation?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well¡­ there was a solution." Xukong replied.


    "Just one?" Lin Mu asked again.


    "Well¡­ solutions." Xukong said.


    "See¡­ hecked the drive to find them." Lin Mu replied, as his expression turned cold.

 Chapter 732 - A Funeral And Tribulation

    Xukong did not know what Lin Mu was going through right now.


    ''He isn''t like this normally¡­ why''s he acting like this?'' Xukong wondered to himself.


    He tried to check Lin Mu''s mind but was unable to enter it. He felt like he was blocked and no matter what he tried he could not see anything within it. There wasn''t anything within the shared mind space either so he was left with nothing.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "He''s growing and developing¡­ I need to let him figure things out on his own as well¡­" Xukong shook his head.


    Lin Mu sat there for a few more hours and only moved when another message was sent to him.


    "Senior Lin Mu, will you be attending the funeral?" King Hong questioned.


    .


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and stood up.


    "I''ming¡­" Lin Mu said before disappearing from the courtyard.


    A few minutester, he appeared at the royal pce. The vibe of the entire city was somber, and the people seemed to be in mourning. Though the ones that knew of the former adviser were very few, the people still joined in.


    Most of the generations of citizens that lived in the city currently didn''t even know of the former adviser and even less had lived during the time when he was the adviser. The ones that did live during their time were either old cultivators or the officials.


    The funeral was carried out in a grand manner, befitting of the man''s contribution and status. Itsted about twelve hours at the end of which the former adviser was finally buried in the royal cemetery, along with the other deceased advisers.


    His memorial tablet was then ced in the royal shrine, along with the rest of the ancestors. Lin Mu watched the entire procession silently, without speaking a word. He learned a few things during it as well, but kept them in his mind for now.


    A day after the funeral of the former adviser, Lin Mu felt another change in the area.


    "It''s time for the heavenly tribtion," Lin Mu said as he sensed the spatial fluctuations urring in the sky.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    He disappeared from the courtyard and appeared in the sky. He squinted his eyes and looked up at the sky, using his spatial perception at the same time. There, he could see the cracks in the fabric of space and the tribtion energy that stirred within it.


    Lin Mu estimated the time of the tribtion and knew that it was not long. He quickly contracted Jing Luo and the others about it.


    "You can head on to the tribtion attenuation formation. I already have it ready and the control te is kept in the abode there as well. You should be able to use it." Jing Luo spoke.


    Jing Luo was currently in White River City. It was one of the major cities of the Hong Lin kingdom and was located to the south east border of the kingdom. It was also the only city that was not directly in the forest itself.


    Jing Luo would not be able toe back, thus Lin Mu would have to do it himself. The two disciples Hua San and Hua Wu would be acting as the Dharma protectors during that time along with Adviser Liu as well.


    "Time to get to it," Lin Mu muttered before he sped to the royal pce.


    Using phase, he directly passed through all obstacles and appeared in the royal court. It was currently empty and other than the King there was no one else present there. Lin Mu was the first one to detect it, as even the King had yet to fully get the sense of it.


    "King Hong¡­ it is time." Lin Mu spoke.


    King Hong opened his time and slight confusion could be seen in his eyes. But a secondter, his eyes went wide, and he realized what Lin Mu spoke about.


    ''He knew before me? But isn''t this my tribtion?'' King Hong was surprised.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The door of the royal court opened and Adviser Liu appeared as well. Lin Mu and sent him a transmission as well, but he had still managed to reach here first.


    "Senior Lin Mu''s already here?" Adviser Liu was also surprised, but he quickly suppressed it and looked at his nephew.


    He too, could feel the fluctuations of space around his nephew. They were very faint for him, but he knew that was a telltale sign of the heavenly tribtion. All Nascent soul realm cultivators would be able to sense such spatial fluctuation, but not on the level of Lin Mu.


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "The tribtion attenuation formation is ready. We should leave. Hua San and Hua Wu have already on their way there as well." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Alright," King Hong nodded his head.


    Lin Mu waved his hand, and a broad sword appeared in front of him. He sent it to the King and spoke, "get on it, it''ll be faster if I take you two there."


    "Thank you, senior." King Hong replied with gratitude.


    "Adviser Liu should get on too. I''m still faster than you as well. If we go normally, you will be left behind." Lin Mu added.


    "As you say, Senior." The adviser said and jumped onto the broadsword as well.


    Lin Mu had intentionally picked this spirit weapon since it was the widest and wouldn''t have problems in amodating two or even three people on it. Having done this, the three of them flew up into the sky.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Themoners could feel a strong wind blowing for a few seconds as they saw a streak moving across the sky at great speed. They could not see what that streak was, but it was certainly the source of the wind.


    Lin Mu and the other two reached the mountain where the abode was located in about thirty minutes. The speed at which they traveled was shocking to King Hong and adviser Liu.


    While they had heard that Lin Mu was fast, they had not expected him to be this fast!

 Chapter 733 - The Tribulation Arrives

    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~thud~ thud~</i>


    The broad sword came to a halt on top of the mountain and King Hong and adviser Liu got down.


    "I''ll get the formation ready, King Hong can take his position." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Alright," King Hong nodded his head.


    "We''re here too!" in the next moment, the voice of the two disciples could be heard as well.


    Hua Wu and Hua San were already on their way back when they got the message that it was time for the heavenly tribtion. Thus they sped up and changed their destination to the mountain directly.


    "Perfect timing, let''s get started.." Adviser Liu said and all of them sat down in their respective positions.


    Adviser Liu sat to the northern direction, while Hua San and Hua Wu sat in the east and west. About a minuteter, Lin Mu returned as well and he had the formation controlling te in his hand.


    "Let''s get this started, the clouds should start appearing at any moment now." Lin Mu said and took a look at the sky.


    The spatial fluctuations in the sky were getting stronger and the crack in the space had widened. The only reason it was not visible to the naked eye was because the world would hide it and the world barrier assist in doing so.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The formation te lit up on Lin Mu''s hand and he tapped on two points on the te, activating the Tribtion attenuation formation. A circle appeared on the ground and at the center of it was none other than King Hong.


    Then more runes appeared from it and created a square around the circle. At the corners of the square sat the Dharma protectors. Lin Mu took his ce in the empty corner and the formation was finally ready.


    This was the tribtion attenuation formation that was made for having four Dharma protectors. The number of Dharma protectors could be adjusted ording to the need and avability of the people.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    For King Hong, since there were four people who could act as one, Jing Luo had made one for four people. The corners of the square were the points that were just out of the range of the tribtion and thus it was the limit till one was supposed to be.


    Once the formation was activated, it glowed for a bit before fading away. It would now reappear when the tribtion lightning struck.


    <i>~WOOO~</i>


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The sound of wind blowing could be heard and a faint sound of thunder could be heard, despite the fact that there were no clouds in the sky.


    ''That''s the spatial tear expanding¡­'' Lin Mu recognized.


    The sound was simr to that of thunder but was different in nature. Soon the winds started to get stronger and ck clouds appeared in the sky. The clouds spread very fast and in less than a minute; the sky was fully covered in dark clouds.


    "This is different¡­" Lin Mu muttered and furrowed his brows.


    King Hong was already sitting with his eyes closed in a cross legged position and was mediating to reach his optimum condition.


    "It might be a variant Tribtion," Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was surprised.


    "You sure, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It''s hard to tell exactly. But the dy in its appearance and the spatial tearing beforehand are two of themon signs." Xukong answered.


    "But don''t they only appear for people with unique physiques or cultivation techniques?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, that is usually the case, but there are always outliers. Perhaps the talent of King Hong is enough for the tribtion to change." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ if that truly is the case, then this tribtion attenuation formation does make sense to use.


    And just as Lin Mu said this to senior Xukong, he heard Adviser Liu yell out something.


    "Heavens! It''s the same!" Adviser Liu said.


    "You knew about this Adviser Liu?" Lin Mu questioned with confusion.


    "Yes¡­ this is the same tribtion that King Hong''s father, my brother had. His grandfather and my father, the king of two generations ago, also had the same tribtion. It is this tribtion that both of them perished as well." Adviser Liu spoke.


    "Huh? Is that why you two were desperate for a tribtion attenuation formation?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed. This tribtion has haunted our family for generations. It''s different from normal heavenly tribtions and affects the first born of the heir. That is the reason why I managed to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, but my brother that was far more talented could not." Adviser Liu answered.


    "I see¡­ but then if you have this tribtion, that means there is something special about you guys. There is no other way it would appear across multiple generations." Lin Mu replied.


    "I don''t know what it exactly is. But all of the kings have died to this very tribtion. Perhaps the only ones who managed to ovee it were the first three kings of the Hong Lin Kingdom." Adviser Liu exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was now quite intrigued and was wondering just what kind of a variant tribtion was it.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The ck clouds in the sky started to stir and move. Soon arcs of lightning could be seen swimming within the clouds. Though when Lin Mu looked at them, he found them to be slightly different from the normal tribtion lighting.


    "Huh? Why is it of a slightly different color?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Instead of the usual white-purple color of the lightning, it had a white-blue color instep. Its inside was white, while its edges were blue in color. Looking at it Lin Mu got a cold feeling on his skin.


    "It is certainly strange¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "That''s the Aqua wisp Tribtion lightning!" Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "You know about it, senior?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling curious.


    "I do indeed. And I think I also know why they get this tribtion every time they try to break through to the Nascent Soul realm." Xukong answered.

 Chapter 734 - Aqua Wisp Tribulation Lightning

    Hearing that Senior Xukong knew about the reason Lin Mu was intrigued.


    "I think the entire Hong n might have a dormant physique that never managed to awaken. The first King Hong finding the use of the Hong Lin trees might also be due to that. We already know that they contain fire attribute spirit Qi, thus it makes sense.


    The Dormant Physique is definitely of the fire attribute and thus, to oppose it, the Aqua Wisp Tribtion lighting has appeared. This is a dual attribute tribtion lighting and has the water element in addition to the Lightning." Xukong exined.


    .


    Lin Mu felt enlightened and didn''t know that there were different elemental variations in the tribtion lightning as well. It was new for him and he was also surprised by the fact that the Hong n had a dormant physique.


    This was the first time he would be seeing another person with a unique physique.


    "Is the physique they have an innate physique too?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It is bound to be. If it were an acquired physique, all of their heirs wouldn''t have had it either. Plus, it makes sense that only one heir in the family has it. Many physiques can only be passed on once by a person to a single offspring.


    This is where the physiques differ from the bloodlines. The bloodlines can be used by an entire n but physiques are limited to a few people." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and watched on, wondering just what kind of a physique it could be. Unless the physique was awakened, he would not be able to tell what it was.


    "Wait¡­ if the first three kings managed to survive this, then doesn''t it mean that they knew what physique they had?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not necessarily. Even if they managed to survive, there is a great chance they never awakened the physique or reached the point for that. Some physiques require a certain cultivation base to activate, while some can be utterly random.


    I can''t exactly tell what the problem is unless I know the name of the physique." Xukong spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ I see. Hopefully, he is lucky and we get a strong ally¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    To Lin Mu, this was both weing and a bit of disturbing information at the same time. If King Hong managed to live through this, he woulde out far stronger than before and might even have his talent increased to a new level.


    Lin Mu could only hope that something like that happened.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    About five minutes had passed since the appearance of the tribtion clouds and it was now time for it to start.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The first tribtion bolt was quick and struck down without much wind-up.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The Tribtion attenuation formation activated and runes spread across the air, forming into a dome. The lightning hit the dome with a loud sound, making it tremble. The might of this lightning was certainly not something that normal one couldpare to.


    Still¡­ the formation managed toe out on top and blocked the lightning before reducing its power by half. Once that was done, it passed through the dome and struck King Hong.


    <i>~Sizzle~</i>


    The sound of something burning could be heard as the lightning bolt passed through King Hong''s body. The man was unyielding though, and did not let out a single sound. He held his ground and quickly resisted the lightning.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "The first one is done." Lin Mu said.


    "That''s just the first one¡­ we don''t know how many he would be getting." Xukong reminded.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Lin Mu swallowed his saliva and felt lucky that he didn''t need to go through a tribtion that was simr to this. The ones that he had used before were the normal tribtion lightning bolts, even if they hade from different beings.


    One of them was taken from alchemist Bo, one was taken from the Fire Fang snake and thest was taken from the ck Water snake. But the power of this single bolt was definitely stronger than that.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he tried to sense the spirit Qi in the air. It was moving in a rather strange pattern and it was like the sea, ebbing and flowing.


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    "Something is different¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The rumbling thunder quaked in the sky as another bolt was charged up.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The second bolt descended and stuck the formation, making it tremble, but it still managed to hold well. The power of the bolt was reduced by half before it shot down to King Hong.


    "Ugh¡­" The man let out a muffled grunt but held on, letting his spirit Qi strengthen his body.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The third bolt charged up very quickly after the second one and struck down before the formation could fully block it.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    This time, only thirty percent of it could be blocked and King Hong received seventy percent of the bolt''s power. One must know that the power of the bolts got stronger as they progressed and thus the third bolt was far more powerful than the previous too.


    "ARGH!" this time King Hong let out a cry of pain and almost fell from his position.


    Blood flowed down his head, and his clothes were now burning. The lightning had set them on fire and they were now an additional hindrance to the man.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Adviser Liu noticed this and waved his hand, sending out a wind skill that extinguished the fire. But it was now that Lin mu noticed something.


    "He''s shivering?" Lin Mu muttered.


    He could see that King Hong was shivering as if he was cold. And not only that, but his skin had also taken on a slightly blue tone as if out of blood.


    "It''s the Aqua wisp Tribtion lightning''s secondary effect! It has managed to prate his meridians and is now clogging them up with water elemental Qi that will prevent his own Qi from circting properly!" Xukong spoke up.

 Chapter 735 - Critical Action!

    Hearing senior Xukong''s words, Lin Mu became concerned. He knew just how dangerous it would be for someone if their meridians got clogged up at a time like this. Withstanding heavenly tribtion lighting was no easy task and most that went against would end up dying.


    Having one''s meridians blocked basically made it so that they would be bearing the full brunt of the lightning with just their body. If it were a body cultivator or someone like Lin Mu who practiced both, they wouldn''t have a problem, but for a pure spirit Qi cultivator, this was no less than a death sentence.


    "Dammit!" Lin Mu cursed out loud.


    Adviser Liu and the other two also heard this and knew that the situation was bad. They could observe the condition of King Hong as well and saw that he was not in the best state for this.


    "What do we do, senior brother?" Hua Wu questioned Hua San.


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    Hua San pursed his lips, unable toe up with anything.. He didn''t know just what could be done here without harming himself or the others. If they interfered without precautions, they may very well end up dying themselves.


    Not to mention, they might trigger a punishment tribtion instead and cause even more problems for King Hong.


    "I¡­ don''t know¡­ only someone as knowledgeable as master or strong enough can do anything." Hua San answered.


    "It''s the curse! This is the curse that stops them from defending properly!" Adviser Liu recognized.


    "I know! This is called as the Aqua Wisp Tribtion lightning and is a variant tribtion." Lin Mu informed them.


    Thankfully, after the third bolt, the next bolt needed to gather again. The power within the tribtion clouds was seething and increased steadily. It was evident that King Hong would be having more than just three tribtion lightning bolts.


    Usually even one was enough to crack one''s core and hatch the nascent soul. Lin Mu needed three as well, but King Hong was in a different situation. Not only did his core affect the state of the tribtion lightning, but his dormant physique did as well.


    "What in the name of heavens¡­" Adviser Liu muttered in shock after hearing the truth behind the tribtion.


    He watched his nephew with a concerned look on his face. He wanted to help him survive the tribtion but knew that if he interfered now, the tribtion may only get stronger.


    He then looked towards the only person who could potentially help in this time.


    "Senior Lin Mu, you know what this tribtion is. You must have a solution too! Please! Please save my nephew!" Adviser Liu pleaded.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows. He truly wanted to help, but he was at a loss as well.


    "Senior, do you have any solution to this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Unless the water elemental spirit Qi can be purged from the man''s meridians, it would be impossible for him to ovee this. Even if the tribtion lightning is blocked, he still needs to depend on himself to ovee this.


    At most, you can buy him time and hope that he survives." Xukong answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu knew he didn''t really have many options. His mind ran at the speed of lightning as he went through numerous thoughts.


    "WAIT! An obstruction in his meridians should be simr to the obstructions caused by pill toxins, right?" Lin Mu questioned as an idea came to his mind.


    "Hmm¡­ in this case, yes. They should function simrly." Xukong replied.


    "I GOT IT! The toxin cleansing pill! A high grade one should do the trick and if not one, I can add ten more!" Lin Mu said.


    Xukong narrowed his eyes and thought over it for a second.


    "That may¡­ actually work! But he will have to be undisturbed during this time so that the pills show their effect. He will also need to actively get his own spirit Qi, to push it out. So unless that is done, this option will not work either." Xukong replied.


    "That can be done¡­" Lin Mu said as a dangerous glint shone in his eyes.


    "Wait, what are you doing to do?" Xukong asked, feeling concerned.


    "I''m going to block the lightning for him¡­ I''ve taken it before and I sure as hell can do it again!" Lin Mu said.


    "WAIT!¡ª" But before Xukong could say anything, Lin Mu flew straight towards King Hong.


    <i>~sigh~</i>


    Seeing this, Xukong sighed to himself and shook his head.


    "Youth¡­ they will do as they see fit in the end¡­ I suppose this will be a learning experience for him." Xukong muttered to himself.


    ''Besides, you won''t let it go too far, would you¡­ Xiaofan world?'' Xukong said in his mind.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu moved like the wind and appeared right next to King Hong. Seeing this, Adviser Liu, Hua San, and Hua Wu were stunned.


    "He¡­ he''s actually doing it¡­" Hua Wu muttered in disbelief.


    "I can''t even¡­" Adviser Liu was also shocked by the risk Lin Mu was taking.


    Even if someone was a Nascent soul realm cultivator, interfering in a heavenly tribtion was not something that came without a price. Perhaps if this was a normal tribtion, the four of them could havebined their strengths to reduce the impact of the tribtion lightning, but that was not an option with a variant tribtion.


    Besides, that was something done only for tribtions that had less than three bolts. In the case of King Hong, it had already reached four bolts and it didn''t seem like the fourth bolt would be thest one either.


    King Hong was listening to everything as well and felt touched when Lin Mu decided to risk his life toe to save him.


    Lin Mu quickly took out the Toxin cleansing pills and shouted, "open your mouth, King Hong!"


    King Hong did as he was asked and a pill was dropped into his mouth. He had not eaten this kind of a pill before and didn''t know of its effects. But since Lin Mu was the one who had given him this, he was fine with it.

 Chapter 736 - Fearless

    King Hong had developed enough trust in Lin Mu now that he knew Lin Mu didn''t mean any harm to him or his kingdom. All he wanted was strong and loyal allies that would help him stand against Gu Yao and the Northern Tribes.


    He quickly swallowed the Toxin cleaning pill, which turned into a medicinal liquid and waited for its effects. They didn''t take long to show either, and a warm sensation spread through his belly.


    It started to spread all the way to his extremities and the cold he was feeling earlier was reducing.


    "Focus on removing the blockages in your meridians, I''ll handle the lightning!" Lin Mu said as he looked up at the lightning arcs streaking across the ck clouds.


    The blue white color of the lightning looked threatening, like the Axe of an executioner hanging over one''s neck. One could tell that the heavens were angry and did not want King Hong to exist anymore.


    It was as if his existence was against the rules of the heavens and it wanted to wipe him off the face of the world. Cultivation was doing against the heavens and that was exactly what King Hong was doing and all Nascent soul realm cultivators did..


    Right now there was no fear within Lin Mu''s heart¡­ rather, there was a strange sense of excitement spreading within his body. He felt like he was made for this and anticipated the lightning.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    Unknowingly, a smile appeared on his face as he flew up. The sound of thunder apanies the arcs of lightning that were forming into a ratherrge bolt. It was bigger than the previous three and its power could only be imagined.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The air was torn apart as the lightning fell from the tribtion clouds. Lin Mu didn''t falter and met the bolt head on.


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    A blinding sh urred, forcing the rest to close their eyes. A coupled of secondster, the sh faded away and they could see again. But when they looked up at the sky, there were far more shocked than before.


    "HOW!" This was the only word that was in their mind as they saw Lin Mu standing in the air.


    His hands were crossed above his head as a brownyer of armor protected his body. The bolt of tribtion lightning was as if frozen above him. The tribtion attenuation formation had managed to reduce its festiveness by about forty percent, but even then, blocking it was no joke.


    "He''s¡­ he''s actively resisting it!" Hua San said in disbelief.


    They watched on as Lin Mu pushed against the force of the lightning bolt.


    <i>~crackle~crackle~</i>


    The bolt tried to get past Lin Mu but could not. The armor made by the mortal strengthening scripture was strong enough to hold it back.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Still, the power of the bolt was quite strong and the armor started to crack as well. Lin Mu opened his eyes as well and saw the bolt. A stern expression appeared on his face as he conjured more power.


    "BEGONE!" Lin Mu yelled as he pushed his hands apart.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The bolt that was blocked by his hands was deflected to the side before striking a tree in the distance.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The tree exploded instantly and was reduced to ash in a second.


    <i>~huu~? </i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he looked at his arms. They were undamaged, but the armor of the mortal straightening scripture was cracked.


    "I can do this again," Lin Mu said as he looked fearlessly at the sky.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The tribtion clouds let out a thundering shake, as if they were infuriated. Arcs of lightning streaked across the clouds once again before gathering up into a bolt. This time, the speed was far quicker than before.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The lightning bolt descend again and Lin Mu shed against it.


    "GAH!" Lin Mu grunted as the impact of the lighting made his body tremble.


    He still held on forcefully and didn''t falter.


    "AAAAAAHHHH!" Lin Mu shouted as he pushed the bolt away.


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    The tribtion bolt struck another tree, but this time spread to the ones around it as well. The small group of trees was quickly reduced to a pile of ashes with cinders glowing within.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    The armor made of Mortal Strengthening scripture cracked further, before the part on his arms dissipated entirely. The parts on his shoulders and torso were cracked the most, following his head and legs.


    King Hong was feeling angry right now¡­ he was angry at himself and angry at the world.


    ''Why is it that my n has to suffer this!? Why is it that others have to suffer because of my suffering!? Why are he heavens punishing us when all we want to do is to protect the world!?


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    WHY! JUST WHY!?'' King Hong shouted in his heart.


    The toxin cleaning pill Lin Mu had fed him was doing its part and had managed to remove half of the blockage in his meridians. But King Hong knew this was not enough.


    He gritted his teeth as his anger overflowed. At this moment, he opened his eyes and looked up.


    "LEAVE SENIOR LIN MU! YOU''VE DONE ENOUGH! I SHALL BEAR THE REST!" King Hong shouted.


    Lin Mu saw the awakened King Hong and furrowed his brows.


    "No, it''s not enough! You are not ready!" Lin Mu replied.


    "TRUST ME! THIS IS MORE THAN ENOUGH! IF I CAN''T EVEN BEAR THIS ON MY OWN WHAT KIND OF A KING WILL I BE?!" King Hong said with determination.


    Hearing the voice of his nephew, Adviser Liu was awed.


    "Brother¡­ your son has be a true king¡­" He muttered.


    Seeing the determination in King Hong''s eyes and voice, Lin Mu wavered.


    "Go back, this is enough. Any more and the punishment tribtion will truly descend," Xukong warned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Okay, senior¡­" Lin Mu replied and blinked back to his previous position.


    With Lin Mu gone, King Hong stood up and faced the sky.


    "COME! DO YOUR WORST! I''LL TAKE IT ALL!" He taunted, his fury flowing like magma.

 Chapter 737 - Rage Of The Unwilling

    Right now, King Hong exuded a dauntless aura. It soared to the sky, as if shing against the Tribtion lightning instead. Lin Mu observed it too and found the aura to be powerful, and even a little bit familiar.


    ''Why is it familiar?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He observed King Hong who was facing the tribtion and saw his spirit Qi roiling.


    "Survive!" Lin Mu said.


    .


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    The Tribtion thunder descended and pierced the Tribtion attenuation formation''s barrier. This time it barely managed to reduce it by 20% and King Hong faced eighty percent of its power.


    "AAAAAAAAA!" King Hong let out a battle cry as he bore the force of the lightning.


    They flowed in through his head and spread throughout his body. His robes were charred and his skin was burned in many ces. His hair was either burned away or stood like spikes.


    His eyes thought shone with an unyielding light and he forcibly held his ground. His bones though, creaked under the pressure and his knees started to bend.


    "I¡­ will¡­ ovee this!" King Hong said with determination.


    Lin Mu looked at the man and tried to see just how far he was. He wanted to see if his core was anywhere close to hatching or not. But in the current situation, it was hard to do so.


    "The tribtion should also be a good judgment, right?" Lin Mu muttered as he observed it.


    His spatial perception activated, and he peered past the clouds. There he could see that the spatial crack from which the tribtion energy was entering this world was still there. It had shown no sign of reducing.


    "Not over¡­" Lin Mu said.


    "It may have ended at this bolt if you had not blocked the earlier bolts. This may have just made it more difficult for him." Senior Xukong spoke.


    "We had no choice¡­ it was either giving him the chance to survive for long on a harder difficulty or dying early." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ though his core should be close to being fully cracked. This single bolt was already as powerful as the first three boltsbined." Xukong spoke.


    "Hopefully it''s enough." Lin Mu replied.


    He then went silent and watched on as the tribtion seared the body of the king.


    <i>~zisssss~</i>


    The lightning bolt was finally ovee by King Hong but it had left him in dire starts. His knees were half bent, and it now looked like he was in the horse stance instead. His eyes had also dimmed down considerably.


    "HAA¡­. Haaa¡­ Haaa¡­" King Hong tookbored breaths as he tried to stabilize his condition.


    That single bolt had managed to take all of his strength and stamina.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The sound of thunder echoed in the sky again, as if taunting the king again.


    "Ahahahah! Not over yet? COME ON! I''M FREE TO TAKE IT!" King Hong shouted in rage.


    There was already water attribute tribtion Qi starting to settle in his meridians again. The efficacy of the Toxin Cleansing pill had already been used up and now the King had nothing to rely on.


    Lin Mu sensed the change in the king and his spirit sense leaped forward like a harpoon. It pierced the body of the King and quickly entered his Dantian. The man didn''t even realize that a spirit sense had probed him due to the state he was in.


    "His meridians are damaged in several points and the water attribute tribtion Qi has returned¡­ Dammit!" Lin Mu cursed.


    He continued to the depths of his dantian and saw the state of his core.


    "Huh? It''s still not fully cracked?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Xukong took a look as well and saw that it was barely hanging by a thread.


    "Only a bare smidgen left¡­" Xukong said as he saw the core that was cracked over 99%.


    "So close¡­ so close to the breakthrough¡­" Lin Mu said, feeling uneasy.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Things are like this in life¡­ fate likes to y a lot and every being is a toy for it¡­" Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu''s expression fell as he observed the King. The man had been staunch earlier, but the lightning bolt had sapped his energy. Lin Mu had started to like the king and had found him to be a good person.


    Not only did he care for his people, but he also honored his promises. He was a man worry of honor. He was someone who Lin Mu would like to be friends with and having him in his alliance would be invaluable.


    Lin Mu felt unwilling.


    He felt it was unfair.


    "No¡­ no¡­ he cannot die like this!" Lin Mu said as a mix of unwillingness and rage appeared in his eyes.


    It was at this moment that a few words echoed in his mind.


    <i>''Ignite thy heart as a furnace, let your rage fuel your strength and unleash rampage upon the worlds!''</i>


    The burning heart sutra echoed in his mind, and Lin Mu knew what to do. Xukong was stunned by it as well, since he had heard the words as well.


    "That¡­ that is certainly the demonic path¡­ that voice¡­ that is not normal¡­" Xukong said to himself.


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    Lin Mu on the other hand, started to chant the Burning heart sutra. But the way he was using it was different this time. He was not using it on himself, but was rather targeting King Hong.


    King Hong, whose eyes had dulled and whose vigor had wavered, suddenly heard a voice speaking in his ears. It seemed like it wasing from far, yet he could hear each and every word.


    The only thing was he could not tell what the words were. They were in some unknownnguage. Still, the meaning of the words as something he was able to understand on his own.


    It was as if these words resonated with him. They told him he was right to be angry. That he was right to be unwilling. It was the heavens that were forcing his hand and thus he would push back.


    "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

 Chapter 738 - Dauntless

    Hua San, Hua Wu and Adviser Liu looked at the King, who let out a shout that was more close to a roar.


    His entire demeanor had changed, and so did his looks. His body seemed to have swelled up as veins popped up on it. His eyes turned bloodshot and his muscles bulged. The vitality in his body was burning at a rapid rate as he let out a Dauntless aura that was many times stronger than before.


    "Wh-what?" Hua San and Hua Wu were stunned.


    "What''s happening?" Adviser Liu was confused as well.


    Just a few seconds ago, he was convinced that his nephew was going to die and there was nothing he could do. But now suddenly he seemed to have gained a second wind. Lin Mu observed it too and kept on chanting.


    .


    He had not used the Burning heart sutra on anyone else other than him after his breakthrough and didn''t know what level of an effect it would have. He had already seen the effect of the other sutras though and knew that their effects were enough to affect Nascent soul realm cultivators.


    It was fine if he used the Calming and Severing heart sutras on other people as they didn''t really cause any direct harm, but the Burning heart sutra was not exactly normal. It would put a strain on the body when used and would rapidly drain one''s vitality at the same item.


    For someone like Lin Mu who had massive stores of it, it was easy to use. Not to mention he had vital essence rather than vital energy in his body, which was a higher version that couldst far longer.


    But for others who had not even reached the tenth stage of the Body tempering realm, the amount of vitality within their body was limited, even if their cultivation base was rather high.


    Though the boost that it gave in exchange for that was also significant.


    Every inch of King Hong''s body was exuding a power that was unseen before. Even when he had exerted all of his cultivation base before, he had note close to this power level. But now it was beyond that.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    It was as if rage fueled his strength and unwillingness fueled his heart. The restrains he was feeling earlier were freed and he didn''t feel the pressure from the tribtion either. It was as if some shackles that were put on him at some time were broken.


    Lin Mu who was observing the man using his spirit sense, realized that the water elemental tribtion Qi that was starting to block King Hong''s meridians were forcibly being pushed out by the burning vitality of King Hong.


    "I WILL DEFEAT YOU!!!!" King Hong let out a roar.


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    As if to reply to him, the Tribtion clouds gathered all of their power and sent out one final tribtion bolt. It descended at blinding speed, but King Hong did not waver. Instead of letting it fall on him freely, he punched out in retaliation and his fist was hit with the bolt.


    <i>~st~</i>


    The skin on his fist was instantly charred by the lightning and the flesh direly exploded. His bones were exposed now, yet the man continued to push. It was as if the pain was a foreign existence to him and the only thing in his mind was to defeat the tribtion.


    He didn''t even think about surviving now, but rather wanted to show the heavens his unwillingness.


    But of course, the power of the lightning was far stronger than before and continued to push through his hand. His skin kept on falling off as it got turned to ash and his flesh became mangled.


    It spread from his fist, to his forearms to his shoulder, and finally to his torso. In a few seconds, it was about to reach his heart as well. Hua Wu, Hua San and Adviser Liu closed their eyes as they were unable to watch the cruel sight anymore.


    But Lin Mu did not. He kept his eyes on the King and observed each and every instant of this time period.


    To him, it would be unfair if there was no one to witness the King''s actions now.


    s, the force of the tribtion was not something that could just be ovee with will. The lightning had already spread to his neck and was about to reach his heart. The moment it reached either of them, the man would perish.


    "Is this it?" Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    But just as he said that an almost imperceptible wave of aura spread out from King Hong. This aura was different from his own and had something else in it that Lin Mu found hard to identify.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    As the aura spread across the area, the Hong Lin trees started to rustle. Lin Mu looked around and saw that the trees were resonating right now. He could feel it even more because he had practiced the embrace of Hong Lin and was sensitive to it now.


    "What¡­ what is¡­ the Hong Lin Trees are reacting?" Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~poof~</i>


    Then a rather unexpected change urred in the area. One after the other, the Hong Lin trees started to burn.


    "Huh? Did fire spread when we were not looking?" Hua San was confused too.


    But then the phenomenon started to spread at a rapid rate. In less than ten seconds, a radius over one kilometer was burning at the same time. Lin Mu, who had greater sensitivity, could feel the fire element spirit Qi spiking in the air.


    Its concentration was rising rapidly and it was even more than when he had trigged the spirit Qi influx before.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    A wind started to blow and one could see tiny embers floating within the wind. They glowed in a red light and looked rather beautiful. The wind tried to blow them out, yet they kept on burning and let out their warmth and light.


    All of these embers flew towards King Hong, shocking everyone.

 Chapter 739 - Crushing Pressure

    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    The embers sped up, and soon it was as if a tide of embers was drowning King Hong. In less than three seconds, the man waspletely covered in embers and looked like a flowing red man without any features.


    Adviser Liu didn''t know if this was good, but in the current situation, he could only think bad. His heart shuddered, and he just hoped that some miracle would happen.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    All of a sudden, a resounding crack was heard and King Hong''s fist, that had been frozen in one ce started to move.


    "It''s¡­ it''s rising!" Hua Wu Shouted.


    <i>~Hu~</i>


    The aura of King Hong appeared again, but this time, it had transformed. Previously, the dauntlessness in his aura was like a secondary factor, but now it seemed to have fully assimted within it..


    "BEGONE!" King Hong''s voice echoed.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The tribtion bolt was forcefully dissipated by the King and it disappeared.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Wind started to stir as the spirit Qi in the air became vtile.


    "Wha-what''s happening?" Hua Wu was concerned.


    "Are¡­ are the tribtion clouds angry?" Hua San was in a simr state.


    "No," It was at this time that Lin Mu spoke.


    "It''s time¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~HONGLONG~</i>


    The spirit Qi in the air started stirring as a vortex formed above the King. Since the fire attribute spirit Qi was concentrated and was present in the highest amount, the air was tinted fire red.


    The spirit Qi started to pour into King Hong at a rapid pace as his cultivation base rose.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    An audible crack was heard and the moment it did, a heavy pressure exuded from King Hong''s body.


    "HE BROKE THROUGH!" Hua Wu eximed.


    "Qiqiang broke through¡­. QIQIANG BROKE THROUGH!!!" Adviser Liu said out loud with joy.


    But this was merely the start of the change. The pressure exuding from the man kept on increasing and soon it reached a state where it was getting ufortable for Hua San, Hua Wu and Adviser Liu.


    Seconds passed by and after about two minutes, it was hard for them to even breath.


    "This¡­ ugh¡­" Hua Wu grunted in slight pain.


    Lin Mu was the only one who was fine in all this and noticed their state. King Hong''s aura was still increasing and he had already broken through to the Nascent soul realm. But the spirit Qi infusion was far from over.


    "Come over to my side!" Lin Mu called.


    The three men heard him and hesitated since they were supposed to be Dharma protectors.


    "Come on, your work is over. If you stay there, you will just get injured." Lin Mu spoke again.


    They nodded their heads and went over to Lin Mu in the next second.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu took out the formation array controlling te and tapped on it a few times. Hundreds of runes appeared in the air in the next moment as the entire formation array was revealed.


    "Let me make it a bit more amodating." Lin Mu said before waving his hands in the air.


    Runes started to fly around and arranged themselves into a different format. The Tribtion attenuation formation had already been broken earlier due to the increased power of the Tribtion and thus Lin Mu was basically recycling the remnants.


    While his skill was not enough to make a tribtion attenuation formation on his own, he did have enough skill to remake it into something of a defensive formation. Tribtion attenuation formations fell into a defensive category of formations any way and theplexity only came from the fact that they needed to process tribtion lightning.


    Other than that factor, they could work in any defensive formation once the necessary parts were removed. And the thing was, the tribtion lighting damaged that very part which processed the lightning.


    That was also why normal defensive formations and spirit tools were either not effective at all or were very less effective against tribtion lightning due to its inherit property of piercing against all defenses.


    There were numerous foolish cultivators who had thought that they could hide somewhere strong to stop a tribtion, but that was just being ignorant. Even if someone hid all the way inside the depths of the earth, hundreds of kilometers deep, the tribtion lightning will still find its way there.


    If anything, the lightning will merely feel some resistance, but for that, the tribtion clouds will just increase the power of the tribtion topensate for the weakening over the travel period.


    In fact, there were several species of spirit beasts that lived underground and actually never went to the surface. There were many that also reached the Nascent soul realm and would break through underground. They still managed to experience tribtions there.


    And as Lin Mu had already experienced, hiding away in a different world or ne would not work either. Tribtion lightning would literally tear through space to hit you. Thus, manipting the defensive part of the formation was far more easier for Lin Mu.


    But as he was doing this, Hua San and Hua Wu were watching on in surprise.


    "Senior Lin Mu is proficient in formations too?" Hua Wu said.


    "I''m just learning, I''m barely a beginner." Lin Mu replied.


    But hearing this was just even more stunning to Hua Wu and Hua San.


    ''Casually manipting runes of a broken formation and re-purposing without the use of assertive spirit tools is a beginner? Then what are we? Less than beginners?'' Hua San couldn''t help but think.


    "Hmm¡­. This should be enough." Lin Mu said.


    He then pulled his hands apart and pointed them in six ces around them. The runes turned into six gs and nted themselves on the six points Lin Mu had pointed at. Then strings of runes joined up from the six points and formed what looked like a tent around the four of them.


    "Hexapole Tent Defensive formation?" Hua Wu recognized.


    He then looked at his senior brother in confusion beforeing close to him and speaking.


    "Does the tribtion attenuation formation even use the same lower formations as that of the Hexapole Tent formation, I don''t think I''ve seen this before in our records?" Hua Wu asked.


    Hearing his junior brothers'' words, Hua San furrowed his brows.


    "No¡­ it''s not. This isn''t even the normal Hexapole Tent formation¡­ the runes¡­ they''re all different¡­" Hua San said after observing it for a few seconds.


    "The runes are different?" Hua Wu said, as he focused on the runes specifically.


    Once the runes turned into theponents of the formation, it was hard to tell what they actually were. It was either because they became too small to see, or that they would merge directly. But Hua Wu and Hua San were Nascent soul realm cultivators and thus had a high enough sensitivity to observe it in detail.


    "Wh-what?! What script is even this?" Hua Wu was confused.


    Lin Mu heard their little conversion and knew that they were unable to recognize the Dao Script.


    ''So even the top sects do not know about it fully¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He quickly finished up the formation and the pressure that was on the three men was lifted. Lin Mu himself didn''t feel it at all and could stand there freely for days with no problems. But for them, it was still harder.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Adviser Liu took a breath of relief once the pressure was lifted from him, and his back straightened. He had not even realized the level of pressure he was in and felt that he was starting to hunch over.


    "That should be enough," Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He looked back at King Hong and saw his cultivation base continually increasing. He tried to use his spirit sense to probe it, but met a block when he got closer.


    "Huh? How?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    So far, his spirit sense has been strong enough to go past several formations as well. But in front of King Hong it was like it had met a steel te, unable to pierce through. The aura around King Hong was continually forcing his spirit sense away.


    It was like he was trying to swim against the river and it was only getting more difficult as time passed by.


    King Hong who was now fully encapsted within the embers, was hard to see. More and more embers flew in from the area around them as the Hong Lin trees continued to burn.


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    The area that they were burning in had continued to expand and now the entire mountain they were on was bare of Hong Lin trees. All of them had been turned to embers, yet not a single spec of ash could be seen where they were.


    Instead of that, only in ground was visible. Seeing the strange state of King Hong only one thought came to Lin Mu''s mind.


    "It''s his dormant physique¡­ it is awakening." Lin Mu muttered in realization.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    The sound of coals crackling could be heard as a long crack appeared in the encapsted form of King Hong.

 Chapter 740 - Dauntless Ember Physique

    Everyone watched on with rapt attention as the cracks kept on increasing on the ''cocoon'' made out of embers.


    <i>~Crack~crack~crack~</i>


    <i>~SHATTER~</i>


    Once the cracks fully covered it, a fist broke through the cracks, fully breaking the cocoon apart. From within appeared a naked man with a domineering appearance. His muscles were filled with overflowing vitality and his long amber colored hair swayed with the wind.


    There were red lines that looked like flowing magma going down from his head, and then spreading all over his body. Two of the lines spread out from his neck, onto his shoulders and then onto his hands all the way where they split to join his ten fingers.


    The same was the case with his legs as well as the red lines spread and joined his toes. On his back, the red lines formed a rather simple pattern that looked like a burning me. On his chest, the lines joined up at his heart to form another pattern which Lin Mu could read.


    .


    "Dauntless¡­" Lin Mu read the character that was written in Dao script.


    It was now that Xukong suddenly spoke up.


    "Oh? It''s this physique?" Xukong said.


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    "Senior, you know about it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I do, of course. This physique once belonged to a peerless cultivator oh a high leveled world. Relying on it, he defeated his foes and established his hegemony. Later on, he became a great emperor.


    It has been several thousand years since his death and now the physique has returned." Xukong said, thinking for a bit before continuing.


    "The name of this physique is¡­ The Dauntless Ember Physique. It allows the owner to be like the ember that never goes out no matter how many winds blow nor if water tries to douse it.


    The ember will go on and so will the person. This physique contains an immense vitality such that even the Xiantian physique is outssed by it. But of course, that is understandable since the Xiantian physique is an acquirable physique and can be gained by anyone." Xukong expanded.


    "Dauntless Ember Physique, huh¡­" Lin Mu said before a smile appeared on his face.


    "EXCELLENT!" Lin Mu eximed.


    Everyone heard his voice and looked at him, including King Hong, whose appearance had changed significantly. Other than his facial features, his body was quite different, including his hair that had be amber red as well.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    But just as he said this, the sky rumbled all of a sudden.


    "Huh, what?" Hua San and Hua Wu were surprised.


    They looked up and saw thunder seething within the clouds.


    "How can this be? The tribtion was over!" Adviser Liu was shocked.


    "What is happening, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He was observing it with his spatial perception as well and could see that the crack from which the tribtion energy was leaking had actually expanded.


    "AH! I should have expected this. The Dauntless Ember Physique is not something that should have normally appeared in a low leveled world like this. That may have also been why all of the heirs of the Hong n died to the tribtion.


    The heavenly tribtion could not allow it to exist in a world like this. If this was a higher world, they would not have so much trouble. In fact, if they were in a higher world, they might have be a great n.


    The previous owner of the physique was cursed and died without any heirs, thus his dynasty ended, but the current Hong n is vastly different." Xukong answered.


    "Another tribtion?" Lin Mu said as his brows furrowed.


    King Hong also looked up and anger appeared in his eyes.


    "You tried to strike me down and were unsessful¡­ I broke through and you still want to try again¡­ NEVER!" King Hong let out a bellowing shout.


    He clenched his right fist, which had fully recovered. It was this very fist that had been destroyed by the tribtion lightning earlier, but now it was fully healed and even better than before.


    His fist was like a hammer within which immense energy was condensed. King Hong raised his fist and punched at the sky with all his might.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Before the tribtion lightning could even get ready, a red pir of light pierced the tribtion clouds.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The tribtion clouds were forcefully dissipated and the blue sky was fully revealed again.


    This was a scene that was not only witnessed by Lin Mu and the rest but even the citizens that lived around the area and in the capital city. The light of the red pir was bright enough to catch everyone''s attention.


    Adviser Liu and the Hua brothers were stunned upon seeing this as well.


    "Forcefully dissipating tribtion clouds? HEAVENS!" Hua Wu eximed.


    With the tribtion clouds gone, King Hong descended to the ground. Adviser Liu hurriedly walked towards him and handed him some clothes. King Hong''s spatial storage treasure had been handed to adviser Liu because there was a great chance of it being destroyed.


    King Hong quickly dressed in some simple robes for now and then walked towards Lin Mu. Till now he had spoken a word to anyone rather than the sky and they were feeling a bit tense.


    He came to a halt in front of Lin Mu and looked at him.


    <i>~p~</i>


    He cupped his hands and bowed deeply before speaking, "You have my eternal gratitude, Senior Lin Mu. Not only have you given me a chance to live, you have given all my descendants a chance at survival.


    You have given me the solution to our curse!"


    One could hear the deep veneration within his voice.


    <i>~pat~</i>


    Lin Mu ced his hands on the man''s shoulders and lifted him up.


    "You do not have to thank me. It is you who managed to do this and came out on top. I''m pleased that you survived." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    King Hong smiled as well before a serious expression appeared on his face.


    "Regardless, I shall help you in any way possible. We shall defeat Gu Yao and the Northern Tribe!" King Hong dered.

 Chapter 741 - Increased Might!

    Hearing King Hong''s words, Lin Mu was pleased.


    "Very well, we should take our leave now though¡­" Lin Mu said as he looked around the bare mountain.


    The formation arrays that Jing Luo had made earlier had been broken and only a few of them had managed to survive until now. But even those that survived did not seem like they wouldst long.


    "I never expected the tribtion to reach this level," Hua Sanmented.


    "Indeed. It was no normal tribtion, of course. That was the Aqua Wisp Tribtion lightning." Lin Mu replied.


    "I don''t think I''ve heard of it before.." Hua Wu said before taking a look at King Hong. "But what''s happened to you King Hong¡­ you''re different."


    King Hong took a look at his hands and chuckled.


    "Even I don''t know exactly. All I know is when I was just about to die, something deep within me awakened and pushed through, saving me and transforming my body." King Hong said.


    "Oh? You don''t know the name of your physique?" Lin Mu asked.


    "This is a physique?!" Adviser Liu was stunned.


    "Yes¡­ this is also the reason why your n was ''cursed'' this is not a physique that should appear in a world of this level. But now that it has, and you have survived, I do not know what changes will happen." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Not of this word¡­ huh¡­" King Hong muttered.


    "Do you know what its name is?" King Hong asked next.


    "It is called as the Dauntless Ember Physique. As for the abilities, I believe you should know them far better than me." Lin Mu replied.


    King Hong looked at his hand and clenched his fist. A red flow appeared on it as the red lines glowed like flowing magma. The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from his body also became apparent, giving them another shock.


    This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    "The Child Soul Stage Of the Nascent soul realm?!" Adviser Liu was stunned.


    King Hong was confused and looked within his Dantian only to be greeted by what looked like a child version of himself. His Nascent soul looked like him when he was ten years old and had red glowing lines on his body as well.


    One could tell that the Nascent soul was a unique nascent soul due to the virtue of his physique as well.


    "Looks like I managed to break through all the way to the Child Soul stage¡­" King Hong said.


    "That is expected with your physique. It won''t be long before you gain full control of it and your cultivator base will soar. From what I know, the previous owner of the physique was a great emperor who conquered an entire world.


    But you have an advantage over him such that you can still have heirs unlike him, who was cursed." Lin Mu exined, shocking thempletely.


    King Hong was also stunned, wondering how his n ended up with a physique like this.


    "You mean to say¡­ my children will also have this physique?" King Hong asked.


    "Well, your first born will. As for the rest, now that you have awakened your physique, I can''t tell what changes they will have. But one thing is for sure, the talent of your children will be far higher than most cultivators in this world." Lin Mu replied.


    "I see¡­" King Hong replied.


    "Ahahaha!" Adviser Liu suddenly startedughing.


    "King Hong can finally get married! Hundreds of women are dying to join you!" Adviser Liu said out loud.


    "Uncle that¡­" King Hong was a bit embarrassed.


    "Now you have no excuse to deny their offers. You shall have hundreds of children!" Adviser Liu dered as if there was no other option.


    Lin Mu simply chuckled on the side, and so did Hua San and Hua Wu.


    "Well, that cer, for now, we have more important things to get to." King Hong spoke trying to divert the topic.


    "Of course," Adviser Liu said with a smirk.


    King Hong knew that his uncle would not waver and that he would have to deal with an extra headache in a few months.


    "Hmm¡­ now that King Hong has sessfully broken though, all he needs to do is to focus on cultivating. In the meantime, I''ll wait till Little Shrubby finds the location of the Wandering sinkhole.


    We have saved you, but we still need to save the supreme elder of the Noon Grass sect." Lin Mu stated.


    "Indeed. If you need anything senior, just ask." King Hong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded and all of them then left the mountain, which was now bare of all trees. It looked rather strange as there were no ashes left behind by the trees, either. Lin Mu wondered about it, as he found it to be rather different.


    The area of about five kilometers around the mountain had turned empty as all of the Hong Lin trees had been burned away. Only the grass and other nts that were not Hong Lin trees were present there.


    If they were not there, the area would certainly look a lot more eerie. Soon, the four of them reached the capital city, where everyone was talking about the appearance of the red light pir.


    "Hmm¡­ we''ll need to do an official announcementter." King Hong spoke.


    "Or, rather than that, we can just keep it a secret." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh?" King Hong was intrigued.


    "I think it is better for us that your breakthrough and physique are kept a secret for now. If it gets out, it will definitely cause amotion which may bring Gu Yao''s interest. Though you do have an advantage against him now¡­ he can''t control you with the human controlling blood curse." Lin Mu replied.


    "He can''t!?" King Hong was surprised.


    "Yes. Those that have bloodlines and physique can be affected by the curse, but only up to a certain extent. Even if they are, they can still break out of it. But with your physique, I don''t think the curse will even work at all." Lin Mu stated.

 Chapter 742 - Appearance Of The Wandering Sinkhole

    Having gotten the confirmation from Lin Mu, King Hong certainly felt better than before. He just hoped that it would nevere to the point where Gu Yao would act before them and they would be left as sitting ducks.


    "That''s good then. We have one less thing to worry about." Adviser Liu said in a relieved tone.


    "We can''t getcent though. If Gu Yao finds something he''s unable to control something, he would rather have it eliminated permanently. You will have to watch out for that.


    Though for now, the best would be to stay hidden and get stronger. Those that have already taken the oath will keep the secret, thus King Hong can still run his kingdom while here.


    The only thing you mustn''t do is appearing in front of the public.. Your appearance¡­ well, it''s more than enough to catch a lot of attention. Plus, your vitality¡­ you need to learn how to control it." Lin Mu stated.


    "My vitality?" King Hong questioned and looked at himself.


    "Indeed, King Hong¡­ your vitality is quite oppressive." Hua San spoke.


    King Hong closed his eyes and focused on his body. After about a minute, the pressure exuded by him reduced considerably.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "That was slightly more difficult than I had expected." King Hong muttered.


    "That''s good. You''ll get a better hold over it soon enough." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Thank you for your help again Senior Lin Mu." King Hong said with gratitude.


    "It''s fine. We just need to focus on the uing events now." Lin Mu said before discussing some matters with everyone.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    An hourter, the other members of the court appeared too and they were shocked to see King Hong to say the least. A cacophony of cheers was heard once they learned the fact that King Hong was a Nascent soul realm cultivator and even had a unique physique.


    Every cultivator had heard of bloodlines and physiques and thus it was quite intriguing for them that their King had one as well. While they didn''t speak of the details of his bloodline, King Hong did tell them that it was something that needed to be kept secret.


    Everyone agreed instantly and even gave suggestions by which they could keep the public suspicion and external suspicion to the lowest. Quickly, solutions were given to hide the red pir of light that had appeared when King Hong forcefully dissipated the heavenly tribtion clouds.


    It was then decided that they would attribute it to the appearance of a natural treasure. The treasure was powerful enough that it wiped out the trees in a radius of five kilometers and thus that''s why the area is barren now.


    While it was bound to bring some attention to the kingdom from the sects, it was still far better than letting them thinking that someone broke through to the Nascent soul realm there.


    To further solidify the ims, they would even send out searching squads to look for the said ''natural treasure'' and allow other cultivators toe and search for them if they wanted to do so.


    The suggestion got approval and was quickly approved. It was announced the very next hour, much to the excitement of themoners. Even if they weren''t cultivators, this was an exciting thing in their normal and mundane lives.


    Cultivators on the other hand, were excited and wanted to go search for the natural treasure which was allowed by the kingdom. In fact, they even decided to announce a reward for whoever finds the natural treasure and an appropriatepensation if they so choose to sell it to the kingdom.


    There was of course, no actual natural treasure, but this served to further solidify their ims. In theing weeks, this proved to be useful, as the news had spread rather quickly to the nearby areas and then into the other kingdoms.


    Two weeks after the breakthrough of King Hong, multiple cultivators from different sects arrived. Most of them were from unranked or low tier sects, with a couple from mid tier sects.


    It was also during this week that Lin Mu finally revived the news that he had been waiting for.


    "Master, I found it! I found the wandering sinkhole!" Little Shrubby sent out a message through their link.


    Lin Mu who was deep in cultivation, woke up immediately as his aura spiked for a few seconds. He quickly controlled it and responded, "where?".


    While Lin Mu could sense the approximate direction of Little Shrubby, it was still hard to pin point the exact location. Lin Mu could of course, fly in that vague direction till the link got stronger and he could find the exact position, but with the characteristics of the wandering sinkhole, there was a specific time period that they needed to keep up with.


    "Two hundred kilometers to the south from where we met the weird herb." Little Shrubby answered.


    "I''ming!" Lin Mu said before flying out from the courtyard.


    A gust of wind ran through the city as Lin Mu left at a very high speed. A lot ofmonersined about the strange winds that came from time to time, unaware that it was actually caused by a cultivator.


    As for the cultivators, they could not see Lin Mu either as he would end up using blink in addition to flying. Plus, his speed was simply too fast for them to observe easily, anyway. While on the way there, Lin Mu informed King Hong and the rest that he was leaving and that the wandering sinkhole had appeared.


    They had already been informed how he would be acting upon the appearance of the wanderer sinkhole due to the time limitation and were fine with him leaving without telling them before this.


    Lin Mu also contacted Jing Luo, who was now on the western border setting up the formation array there.


    "Little Shrubby found the Wandering sinkhole." Lin Mu informed.


    "Excellent! Keep an eye out for some other useful resources and be careful about the dangers. I hope you cane back as soon as possible." Jing Luo replied.

 Chapter 743 - New Phenomena, Into The Sinkhole!

    Lin Mu continued flying towards the direction Little Shrubby had pointed out at full speed. He used blink in addition to flying and coveredrge tracts of the area at once. Little Shrubby was also heading towards him so that he could meet him mid way.


    This way, they would be able to reach the wandering sinkhole quicker. In about twenty minutes, Lin Mu saw Little Shrubby appearing from the distance. He was running at his maximum speed and started to break when he saw Lin Mu.


    <i>~crack~crack~crack~</i>


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    .


    Unfortunately, his breaking was still not enough and several trees had to sacrifice themselves in order to reduce his momentum. Little Shrubby having gotten used to it already, quickly turned around and the harness appeared on his back.


    "Let''s go!" Little Shrubby said with excitement.


    He had not seen Lin Mu for a while now and was feeling pleased seeing his master again and spend time with him.


    "Mmhmm, run at full speed!" Lin Mu said as he strapped into the harness.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>Little Shrubby''s paws dug into the ground and he shot forward like a cannonball.?</i>


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    The nearby trees were forcibly bent and broken due to the wind generated by Little Shrubby running, and a path was carved out. They kept on running for about five minutes, after which they reached the location of the wandering sinkhole.


    Seeing the sinkhole, Lin Mu couldn''t help but take in a breath of air.


    "Damn¡­ it''s far bigger than I expedited." Lin Mu muttered.


    The sinkhole was over ten kilometers wide and had an uneven edge. The strange thing was that around its edges, some trees had disappeared half way. It was like they were sliced clean in different ratios, but even then, they seemed to be still alive.


    "Use your spatial perception, I think you may have juste across one of the rarer phenomena." Xukong''s voice was heard.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu responded before using spatial perception.


    The moment he did this, the scene in front of him changed vastly. Instead of the forest and the open sinkhole, Lin Mu saw two differentyers of spatial fabric ovepping. It was as if someone had cut out a hole in one sheet and then ced it over the other one.


    Lin Mu also saw that the hole was not stationary and was actually moving around very subtly. Its boundaries also seemed to stutter every so often, making him think that the current situation was not very stable.


    "Hmm¡­ just as I thought, this is an example of ne ovepping," Xukong spoke.


    "ne ovepping? What''s that senior? Is it like the mountains I saw when I was in the ripple mist sect?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, that was different. Back then, you were seeing a tethered fragment of a minor ne. This time¡­ this is aplete minor ne and is actively linked to this world. The only difference is the kind of ''anchor'' it has.


    The fragment of the minor ne in the ripple mist sect could be described as floating in a ''sea'' and in that sea this world was also floating. But in the case of this sinkhole, the ''sea'' is the Xiaofan world and the wandering sinkhole is a floating boat on it.


    The anchor is affixed to this forest and it can move about in the area just as how an anchored boat can move around due to the waves." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu pondered over the exnation and understood it rather quickly.


    "I get it now, senior. So what are the differences that I need to watch out for?" Lin Mu questioned.


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    While he had already gotten enough information from the former adviser Chu, what Lin Mu wanted information on was the spatial characteristics of this world.


    "Well, I would say that you are in good luck. With your skills, leaving this minor ne will be easy, so you don''t need to worry about that aspect. Though reentry would not be possible unless you find the location of this ce again." Xukong answered.


    Seeing this, Lin Mu''s eyes lit up, and he felt excited. He looked into the sinkhole and saw that it was pitch ck.


    "Just as Adviser Chu described. It looks dark, but once you go deep enough, the appearance would change." Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~HONG~?</i>


    Just as he was observing, a faint spatial fluctuation spread around the area.


    "No time to wait, let''s head inside." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby responded, and they jumped into the wandering sinkhole.


    To any normal human or even many cultivators, jumping into such a hole would be really terrifying. They couldn''t see inside, and neither did they know just how deep it was. They couldn''t even tell if they would survivor or not.


    But for Lin Mu, it was not a problem since both he and Little Shrubby could just fly. The two of them descended at a rtively stable pace while observing the changes around them.


    They kept this up for about two minutes, during which everything was the same. Lin Mu could see the normally blue sky above him that kept on getting small. It was as if the boundaries of the sinkhole were closing upon him.


    But at a certain point, Lin Mu felt a change in gravity and they started to fall in uncontrobly.


    "Huh? WHAT THE HELL!?" Lin Mu and Little Shrubby both were surprised by this phenomenon.


    "Senior, what is happening?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It''s normal. You are transitioning between two nes and this is just the vacuum effect. You''ve seen this before." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu was reminded of the many ck cracks he had opened up before and nodded his head.


    The two of them kept on falling at a great speed and soon the sky above them had turnedpletely dark.


    It was like the shutter of a camera closing in a circr manner. It reached the point ofplete darkness and then opened back up as a new blue sky appeared above him.

 Chapter 744 - A Vast Plane

    Lin Mu could see the sky changing and the area changing as well. The sky turned blue but without a sun in it. There were a few clouds dispersed around the sky, but they were rtively small.


    Below him, he could see different kinds of areas. There were swamps, marshes, forests,kes, rivers, drynds, mountains, hills and even a volcano. Over all, the area was quite varied and was farrger than the fragment of the minor ne that Lin Mu had been to before.


    The ground was expanding at a rapid pace as Lin Mu got closer and closer to it. Lin Mu could already match several of the areas with the map that the former Adviser Chu had given him, but there were also some differences that could be seen in it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    At one point, the force that Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were feeling faded away, and they could fly on their own again.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Finally¡­ even though I wouldn''t necessarily get hurt by falling, I still don''t want to feel that¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~Growl~? </i>


    Little Shrubby growled in response and reduced their speed of falling. They slowlynded on the ground and Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around the area as far as possible. Everything that was within it came under his observation, and he noted some interesting parts.


    The area that Lin Mu hadnded in was between a few hills and a forest. There were several small ponds nearby as well, and some flowers grew within them. These flowers exuded a peculiar fragrance that was quite nice but at the same time made one feel a bit dizzy.


    "What is that?" Lin Mu wondered as he got closer.


    Little Shrubby followed behind him, and the two of them soon reached the ponds. Looking at the ponds, one would realize that they looked like they were made from craters. There were several of them, and the boundaries definitely looked like they were created due to something falling.


    "Hmm¡­ this is rather strange¡­" Lin Mu said and looked around.


    There were no spirit beasts here other than a few insect beasts, but they weren''t really strong. Lin Mu approached one of the flowers that were a bit closer to him and took a closer look at it.


    The flower was white but had yellow streaks at the base of its twenty petals. At the base of its petals, leaves spread around like t spoons and long stems could be seen going into the water.


    The water itself was clear, but its color was a deep blue. Lin Mu could not recognize the flower and wondered what it was. He checked the records he had and found them after a while.


    "Adviser Chu mentioned that he saw some flowers like these but never approached them because there were strong beasts nearby. But now that I''m seeing this, the area ispletely empty?" Lin Mu said.


    The flower had no name and was only mentioned in the records that Adviser Chu himself had made.


    "Do you know what this is, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I don''t know either. It could be something that has specifically been born in this minor ne itself and is unique to it." Xukong replied.


    "Is that something that often happens in minor nes?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes. Minor nes areplete and stable habitats that can give birth to a myriad of forms of life. That is also why they are considered to be so valuable to cultivators regardless of their professions.


    Each minor ne could have resources that are unique to it and couldn''t be found anywhere itself. Many alchemists spend decades and centuries of their lives researching and learning about the spirit herbs and nts that are found in the minor nes.


    That''s why whenever a minor ne is discovered, the value of exploring it is considered to be very high." Xukong exined.


    "I see¡­ I guess I''ll take a few flowers just in case." Lin Mu said before plucking the said flowers.


    There were easily hundreds of flowers in the multiple ponds and they gently swayed with the wind in water. But just as Lin Mu was done plucking the flowers, his gaze went to the depths of the water.


    He narrowed his eyes and extended his spirit sense into it. It kept on going deeper and deeper, until it reached a depth of over a hundred meters.


    "This pond is far deeper than it looks." Lin Mu said.


    He peered into it and felt like he saw something glow beneath it all.


    "What was that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He looked toward Little Shrubby and spoke, "did you see that too?"


    Little Shrubby was hovering over the water, ensuring that his feet did not touch the water.


    "Yup, looked like a spark." Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit before saying, "should I take a look?"


    "You''re going into the water?" Little Shrubby asked with reluctance.


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    "If I want to get it then yes, I have to go into the water." Lin Mu replied.


    "I''m not touching water." He stated right away.


    "<i>Ahah~</i> okay, I''ll go alone." Lin Mu said, not minding it.


    He had already checked the area with his spirit sense, and there wasn''t really anything dangerous within the pond or around it. Lin Mu stimted the Mortal Strengthening scripture and let the armor appear on his body.


    He then descended into the water with the armor protecting his body. Not only did it keep him dry, but it would also protect him from anything that may have been mixed into the water.


    Even if he had checked it all, he didn''t know if there was something unknown that his spirit sense could not detect in the water. It was better for him to be cautious and this was a fact that he had internalized a long time ago.


    Lin Mu continued his descent and found that the water only got colder and colder the deeper he went.


    "This is strange¡­ I shouldn''t feel cold due to the armor."

 Chapter 745 - Glacial Snail Shell And A Roar

    Lin Mu was rather surprised due to this discovery and wondered if there was really something problematic about the water.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Suddenly he saw the glow again, and this time he could somewhat see the appearance of the object. It looked like a snail shell and was gently glowing in a blue light. From the surface of the water, it looked like a spark, but here he could see it better.


    "A snail? But I didn''t detect any life here." Lin Mu said.


    He finally reached the bottom of the pond and went closer to the shell. It had dimmed down again and was hidden in the darkness. But for Lin Mu''s spirit sense, it was no problem seeing the shell.


    Lin Mu urately picked it up and found it to be cold to the touch.. As he was holding it in his hand, he found the shell to suddenly be ice cold. It was then that it glowed again and let out the blue light.


    Lin Mu was mesmerized by its appearance. The shell was a pale white and blue line went along the spiral on it. The shell was empty and it was evident that the snail that it belonged to had died.


    He took another look around the bottom of the pond, but did not find anything else here. Lin Mu returned to the surface and let the water drip off the armor.


    "Did you find it?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "I did," Lin Mu replied, and showed him the small shell in his right hand.


    The shell was barely an inch in size, yet the cold it could exude was enough to make Lin Mu feel cold despite the armor of the mortal strengthening scripture.


    "This is certainly not anythingmon if it can bypass the defenses of the armor." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That might be the shell of a cial Snail." Xukong spoke.


    "Oh? What''s that senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It''s a spirit beast as well but it''s not really the same as normal spirit beasts. It can have a high cultivation base and yet not have a simr level of intelligence. They live in icy cold ciers and can be found in its depths." Xukong answered.


    "I see, wonder how this shell got here though." Lin Mu said.


    He had not seen any cold areas when he was falling from the sky and even adviser Chu had said that there were no cold areas in the minor ne. Even on the tall mountains, there was no snow.


    "It could have been brought in by some other cultivator that fell into the sinkhole, perhaps. cial snails aren''t really that umon. They are hard to find just because they live beneath the thick ciers.


    But once you get to the right ce, you will find enough of them." Xukong spoke.


    "But how can it affect my armor? I''m not supposed to be able to feel temperature easily." Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm¡­ it could be due to its inherent properties. The cial Snail is a beast of the extreme Yin Water attribute. Its body naturally contains the traces of the Dao and thus it can bypass the defenses of the armor." Xukong answered.


    "That''s rather strong. Isn''t that only possible for Dao Treading realm cultivators and beasts?" Lin Mu said.


    "Usually yes. But some beasts are just unique in that way. They don''t need to be at the Dao Treading realm and can still contain the traces of Dao in their body." Xukong replied.


    N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and wondered if he could make use of this shell.


    "I guess I can use this for the five treasures realm cultivation maybe." Lin Mu said.


    "That might not be the best choice. Even though this shell is of the water element, it''s not the normal water but rather Extreme Yin water. It may conflict with your body, thus it''s best not to use it for that." Xukong suggested.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu agreed.


    If senior Xukong said something was not right, it was best not to do it. So far, Lin Mu had avoided many problems due to senior Xukong''s advice and wasn''t intending to go against it for no reason.


    Lin Mu put the shell away in the ring and went to explore the rest of the areas with little Shrubby.


    "We should first try to find the ce where the thousand year old Hong Lin trees grow." Lin Mu said.


    "Do you want me to search at a fast speed?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "No, not now. There are some strong beasts hidden in this ce and they might be far stronger than us. It is better to be careful for now." Lin Mu answered.


    "<i>Okay~</i>" Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin mu nodded his head and took out the map that the former adviser had given him.


    "Hmm¡­ now let''s see which part matches what¡­" Lin Mu said as he looked at the details on the map.


    The area they were in didn''t really match the ce and so he headed ahead, trying to get to an area that was actually mentioned on the map so that he could find a reference point.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    While doing this, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby could hear the roar of a beasting from the distance.


    Little Shrubby''s hair stood on its end, and so did Lin Mu''s.


    "It''s a very strong beast. I can sense it¡­" Little Shrubby spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, "looks like Adviser Chu was right¡­ there are Dao Shell realm beasts in this minor ne."


    The roar hade from about two kilometers away, and Lin Mu definitely did not want to get close to that area. This also made him realize something else.


    "No wonder the area was empty of beasts¡­ no beast would dare toe near the ce where a Dao shell realm beast lives." Lin Mu muttered.


    The two of them quickly went as far as possible from the earlier location and reached one of the many forests that Lin Mu had seen from the sky.

 Chapter 746 - Stronger Beasts And A Vantage Point

    Having confirmed the existence of Dao Shell realm beasts, Lin Mu decided to stay clear of such areas, at least until he was confident of taking them on. He was still in the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm and needed to reach the Adult stage at the very least before he would be able to have some confidence in battling Dao Shell realms beings.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby continued their search through the forest and observed the flora and fauna around. There were a variety of nts and animals that Lin Mu had not seen before.


    There were also plenty of spirit herbs that were unknown to him here.


    "May as well take some of everything, just in case." Lin Mu said to himself.


    Thus he picked whatever herbs he could while walking around and stored them in the ring. He didn''t know if they would evere in handyter, but he reckoned it was better to have it than not need it than need it and not have it.


    <i>~Growl~</i>


    .


    Lin Mu was about to pick another spirit herb that looked like a cross between an orchid and a lily when he heard a growl from the back. His spirit sense extended immediately and caught the beast midway.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    <i>~Boom~</i>


    But before he could even do anything, a fire ball hit the beast and it was knocked to the side.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Little Shrubby was the one who had attacked of course and he was now standing just at the head of the beast that had just tried to attack them. He bared his fangs at the beast and pressed upon its head with his paw.


    "Oh? It''s a Nascent soul realm beast?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    He was surprised because the beast had let out no spirit Qi fluctuations and had a rather fast speed. Normally his spirit sense would have detected anything way faster than they could get to him.


    Still, Little Shrubby was way faster and reacted before he could. Looking at the beast, Lin Mu found it to be rather different. It had the head of a Jackal, body of a bull, tail of a wolf, and broad hooves like that of a horse.


    It had no horns but it did have bumps on his head that looked simr to them.


    "A Wood Trampler beast?" Lin Mu recognized after a few seconds.


    He had read about such beasts before and knew that they lived in dense forests. They could be found on the Xiaofan worlds as well but were only seen in the great southern forest.


    "It''s at the Infant Soul stage and yet it''s quite fast, didn''t expect them to be this good." Lin Mu said as he stabbed the short sword into the neck of the beast, killing it.


    "This will serve a good meal," Little Shrubby said feeling pleased.


    "Indeed," Lin Mu replied.


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    It was now that an idea struck him.


    "Hang on¡­ if there is an abundance of Nascent soul realm beast here, then¡­ we may as well kill as many as we can and stockpile forter!" Lin Mu stated.


    "YES! We should do that!" Little Shrubby agreed as well.


    "Mmmhmm, first we''ll get they of thend and then decided which beasts are safe to attack. Though I also think that we should get the Thousand year old Hong Lin trees first since that may be a bit time sensitive.


    Hua San said that his supreme elder might have three more months at most but won''t be able to hang on for any more." Lin Mu said.


    "We''ll try to find the Thousand Year Old Hong Lin tree first then and mark the interesting locations along the way. We cane to themter once we are done." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "That seems perfect," Lin Mu agreed.


    He felt pleased with the smartness of Little Shrubby which was no less than that of a human now. It could even be said to be higher than a lot of humans, considering some had the IQ of non cultivating pigs.


    One couldn''t even say someone was as dumb as a donkey in the cultivation world since a donkey could very well start cultivating and gain far better intelligence than you. Who knows, one day you may even have to call it ancestor.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby continued their search and gathered spirit herbs and whatever interesting materials that they could find. They were attacked by some beasts during that time to but managed to kill them with ease.


    They also found two more areas that were considered to be the territories of Dao Shell realm beasts. Lin Mu had not seen them himself and neither had Little Shrubby felt their presence, but the eerie absence of beasts in that area was a telltale sign that there was a strong beast living there.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu simply marked it on his map and continued onwards.


    ''Hmm¡­ Adviser Chu had said that there were a total of five beasts that he had suspected to be at the Dao Shell back when he was here. Two of them were wolf beasts, one was a snake beast, one was a turtle beast and one was a squirrel beast.


    Wonder if they are still here or not. He did say that there were conflicts among the beasts as well and seeing as it has been over two hundred years since he left the sinkhole, there are chances that some of them may have perished.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    About thirty six hours had passed since they had arrived in the sinkhole and they had yet to get out of the forest.


    "Hmm¡­ are we going in the right direction?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He flew up and checked the area finding that he was now at the edge of the forest.


    "Ah! Finally, we''re out." Lin Mu said as he gazed in the distance and spotted something familiar.


    "That should be a decent vantage point."

 Chapter 747 - A Tall Mountain And Dagger Beak Birds

    The location that Lin Mu had just seen was a mountain that was one of the tallest ones in the sinkhole. He had seen it while falling down and it was the tallest object in his view. This ne was far bigger than the one at the Ripple Mist sect and at this point, Lin Mu was sure that it was possibly bigger than the entire Shuang Qian kingdom in size.


    "Even Adviser Chu didn''t know just how big this ce truly was and had barely scratched the surface of it when he explored it. My estimate might not even be close enough." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Minor nes like these can be up to ten percent the size of the world they are anchored to." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Huh? What!? TEN PERCENT!" Lin Mu was shocked to hear that.


    "Yes, ten percent. Of course, that is the maximum estimation that I can give you, it is likely to be smaller than that.." Xukong replied.


    "Ah¡­ if it really is ten percent then¡­ I don''t even know if a year would be enough for us to find it." Lin Mu said.


    One must know that the entire Great Zhou Continent along with the Northern Tribe''s territory was barely thirty percent the size of the entire Xiaofan world the remaining seventy percent of the world was covered with water and was inhabitable for humans at least.


    If the minor ne was really ten percent in size, it meant that it was one third the size of the entire Great Zhou continent. One must know that it had taken Lin Mu nearly six months to travel half way across the continent and this was at his full speed.


    If it really came to searching on his own, it would be close to impossible for him to do so in the given time constraints.


    "The mountain is really tall¡­ I don''t think I''ve seen one this tall before." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Indeed. I think mountains this tall are only in the northern mountain range back home." Lin Mu agreed.


    The two of them flew to the mountain while keeping an eye on the surroundings.


    <i>~Piiiii~</i>


    Their vignce turned out to be correct as several bird beasts came to attack them.


    "Bah! Annoying," Lin Mu said as he sent out the short sword to deal with the bird beasts.


    <i>~PIIII~</i>


    Six of the bird beasts were killed rather quickly, but the cry they let out attracted more of the bird beasts. This time the cry that came was stronger than before. Lin Mu''s spirit sense detected the presence of several Nascent soul realm beasts approaching them.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "More enemies areing," Lin Mu spoke.


    "No, food¡­ more food ising." Little Shrubby replied while eyeing the corpse of the bird beasts that were dripping with blood.


    Lin Mu could only chuckle and get ready for the first. The spirit Qi fluctuations he had detected were at the Infant soul stage thus they weren''t much of a problem for him or Little Shrubby.


    The bird beasts that had attacked him were at the Core condensation realm and were called as Dagger Beak Birds. As their name said, their beaks were sharp like daggers and they would kill their prey by stabbing them with it.


    They would dive from the sky and pin the beast that was targeted on the ground. Lin Mu noticed the ground and saw that there were multiple holes in it as well. The more concerning thing was that the ground was mostly rock.


    ''Those holes are definitely caused by these Dagger Beak birds, will need to be careful with sneak attacks.'' Lin Mu thought and changed the form of his spirit sense.


    From the normal single tendril form, it changed to a that spread around him equally. While this did reduce the overall range of his spirit sense it did allow him to sense everything within a five hundred meter radius.


    <i>~PIIIII~</i>


    The cry of the Dagger beak birds was heard again and Lin Mu spotted them approaching him from one of the cliffs.


    ''That must be their nests.'' Lin Mu took note.


    N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    Lin Mu waved his hand and several spirit weapons appeared in front of him. The short sword floated at his side and he held the Iron Thorn Spear in his right hand. Several smaller daggers floated above him as well along with a hatchet.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    Little Shrubby let out a thundering roar and was the first to act.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Only a red streak was seen as he crashed head first with the first Infant Soul stage Nascent soul realm Dagger Beak bird. There were six in total and the strongest of them was actually at the Child Soul stage.


    "Hmm, let''s take out the leader first." Lin Mu said as he moved as well.


    <i>~Shua~shua~shua~</i>


    The spirit daggers were allunched at the same time and they flew towards the iing Dagger Beak bird. The ones that were at the Infant soul stage flew to the side to dodge them, but that was exactly what Lin Mu wanted.


    Now the Child Soul stage Dagger Beak beast was alone with another Dagger beak beast that was weaker than him and Lin Mu could attack it freely.


    "Iron thorn Bloom!" Lin Mu chanted as the ability of the Iron Thorn spear activated.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    The Spear lit up with a dark light as tens of dark des burst out from its tip. The des moved like deadly scythes through the air and hit the two Dagger Beak beasts.


    <i>~PIIII~</i>


    The Child Soul stage Dagger Beak beast pped his wings and created a barrier of Qi. The Qi was arranged in the shape of feathers and it was evident that this was a Qi skill it had learned itself or was innate to its kind.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    A few of the the ck des shed with the barrier and were blocked but the rest hit the second dagger beak bird that was with it.


    <i>~KIYAAAA~</i>


    The Infant Soul stage Dagger Beak bird cried as it fell from the sky after having its wings injured.

 Chapter 748 - Scared Nascent Souls?

    "One down, five more to go." Lin Mu said as he elerated towards the Child Soul stage Dagger Beak bird.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The Iron thorn spear hit the barrier that the Dagger Beak bird had created and vibrated due to the impact.


    "Oh? That''s rather strong," Lin Mu said, finding the technique used by the beast better than a lot of defensive Qi skills that he had seen till now.


    "But not enough," Lin Mu added as he cocked back his fist.


    Spirit Qi swirled within his right fist as an imposing aura emanated from him.


    <i>~Kiiiii~</i>


    The Dagger Bird Bird let out a wary cry as it pped its wings to distance itself from Lin Mu as fast as possible. It could tell that the attack Lin Mu was charging up was nothing weak..


    "Toote," Lin Mu spoke.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Second Form- Piercer!


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The needle like condensed spirit Qi shot out of his hand and traveled at a speed hard to see.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    It pierced through the barrier easily and entered the body of the Dagger Beak Bird.


    <i>~St~</i>


    The very next moment, the head of the Dagger Beak Bird exploded like a watermelon, sshing brains and blood everywhere. It couldn''t even let out a cry before it died. But then a pale light could be seen from its corpse that was falling.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    Lin Mu saw the Nascent Soul of the beast trying to run away.


    N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    "Not so fast!" Lin Mu blinked and reached the Nascent soul instantly.


    Both of his fists mped around the Nascent soul like a vice.


    <i>~KIIIIII~</i>


    The Nascent soul tried to struggle, but under the power of Lin Mu''s fingers, it was all for naught.


    "Little Shrubby will like this," Lin Mu said as he stored the Nascent soul in his ring.


    He had already learned that Little Shrubby liked the taste of Nascent souls, and since it helped his cultivation as well, he didn''t mind capturing them additionally.


    <i>~PIIIII~</i>


    The remaining four Dagger Beak Birds that saw their leader die were shocked and angry. They let out loud cries and rushed towards Lin Mu in a mindless rage. Lin Mu didn''t really mind them and passed through their charge using Flicker.


    The beasts were confused when they saw that nothing had happened to Lin Mu despite the fact that they had pierced him with their beaks. Their powerful beaks that had killed thousands of beasts had failed today.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    Unfortunately for them, their confusion was shortsting as the short sword flew in from the top. It had been hiding in the canopy of the trees and Lin Mu had just been waiting for the right opportunity to use it.


    <i>~PIIIII~</i>


    Two of the Dagger Beak Birds were killed instantly and their Nascent souls tried to escape. Lin Mu quickly got to catch them while the other two tried to escape.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    But just as they tried to run away, a red streak hit them and a fiery explosion was heard. Both of the Dagger Beak Birds were killed in an instant as Little Shrubby crushed their heads.


    "Ah, there you are." Lin Mu said as he saw Little Shrubby grabbing the Nascent souls of the two Dagger Beak Birds that he had just killed.


    <i>~nom~</i>


    Little Shrubby quickly ate the two Nascent souls while they cried out in horror.


    "They always taste so good~" Little Shrubby said in pleasure.


    "I got three more," Lin Mu said as he withdrew the three Nascent souls he had put in the ring.


    But when he pulled them out, he saw a rather strange reaction.


    "Huh? What''s up with them?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Little Shrubby looked at him too and saw the three Nascent souls in Lin Mu''s hands. Two of them looked like small featherless baby birds, while one of them was like a feathered bird that had yet to learn to fly.


    "Why are they not trying to run and are shivering?" Lin Mu looked at the three Nascent souls that were frozen in one ce.


    Little Shrubby came closer and gazed at them as well before speaking.


    "They are scared of something." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Huh? They are scared?" Lin Mu said in confusion.


    It was now that a voice was heard in his mind.


    "Those three were noisy, so I made them shut up." Xukong stated.


    "Ah¡­ haha, no wonder." Lin Mu chuckled.


    Xukong''s aura was something that even human cultivators would be scared of, not to mention actual beasts. Lin Mu could imagine the three Nascent souls going crazy in the ring''s space.


    Finding oneself in apletely different space was often disorienting as well as confusing. Unfortunately for them, there was someone far more dominating in the space of the ring.


    "Well¡­ at least it makes it easier." Lin Mu said as he passed the Nascent souls to Little Shrubby.


    <i>~nom~</i>


    He quickly ate them and let out a pleased purr. He then looked at Lin Mu and spoke.


    "What was that aura on them, master? There was an extra aura on the Nascent souls." Little Shrubby asked.


    "Extra Aura? Oh, that must have been Senior Xukong." Lin Mu replied.


    "Senior Xukong is a beast?!" Little Shrubby was shocked.


    Little Shrubby had long since known that Lin Mu had a master and that he was inside the ring Lin Mu had. Lin Mu didn''t know that little Shrubby could see the mysterious ring too, but reckoned that it was due to the soul link that both of them had.


    What Little Shrubby didn''t know was that Lin Mu''s master was actually a beast.


    "Huh? I never told you that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No," Little Shrubby replied.


    "Hmm, yes I don''t think you ever did," Xukong added.


    "Ah, I see. Well yeah, he is a beast¡­ a very strong beast." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Can I see him?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing this.


    "I don''t know actually¡­ can he senior?" Lin Mu said in a confused tone.

 Chapter 749 - Biting Plants And Strong Winds

    Xukong had not expected a question like that, but didn''t mind answering it.


    "Well he can, just not in this world. You would either have to be in a world which can amodate my presence or¡­ in a ce where the rules don''t apply." Xukong spoke.


    "I see¡­ guess we''ll have to wait." Lin Mu said and then looked at Little Shrubby. "Perhaps you''ll get to see him in the future,"


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    "Okay~ I''ll wait." Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and collected the corpses of the Dagger Beak birds. These were going to serve as some good food for the two of them. Plus Lin Mu was going to benefit from their vital energy too since he was looking to increase his Body cultivation..


    While Lin Mu did not have the cultivation techniques for the other three elements, he could still use the basic method of just absorbing more and more vital energy. A fraction of it would still be processed and be used to further the progress of the Five Treasures realm cultivation.


    While the progress was rather minuscule, it was still something and better than nothing.


    Having collected them, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby continued their journey to the top of the mountain. Their short battle had created enough spirit Qi waves that the rest of the beasts on the mountain had been silenced.


    They had strong instincts and knew when to hide when there were strong beings around. From the previous lively atmosphere of the mountain, it was now far more calm and serene.


    The mountain was far bigger than Lin Mu had expected when he actually got closer. Plus, the higher he got, the stronger the winds got.


    <i>~WOOOO~</i>


    "Damn, we can''t fly like this." Lin Mu said as he retreated.


    "Yeah, even I feel like I''ll be blown away." Little Shrubby said.


    The winds around the upper part of the mountain were the strongest and it could even prevent a Nascent soul realm cultivator from flying. Lin Mu knew that being knocked away by the winds would not really be a good thing as he may end up in an area that was far more dangerous.


    "We should just walk from here," Lin Mu said andnded on the ground.


    Little Shrubby did the same, and the two of them continued on foot. The trees at the top were a bit more sparse and were reced by shorter ones. There were also a lot more shrubs there rather than actual trees.


    "Oh? There are some different herbs," Lin Mu said, spotting a few herbs that had leaves that looked like a butterfly''s wings.


    <i>~SNAP~</i>


    But the moment he tried to touch them, the leaves sprouted sharp thorns along the edges of the butterfly like leaves and snapped at Lin Mu''s hand.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Of course, there was no damage done as the armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture blocked it all with ease. Lin Mu was definitely surprised through.


    "What nt is this? It can actually attack like this." Lin Mu spoke.


    He checked through the records that Adviser Chu had given him but did not find anything in it. He then checked the rest of the records but didn''t find anything in them either.


    "Do you know anything about this senior?" Lin Mu decided to try his luck with Xukong.


    Xukong observed the herb for a bit and spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ it looks to be a variant of the Fly Trap herbs. They bite into anything thates close. This is how they eat their prey if they are unfortunate enough to get close. It''s an omnivorous nt but mostly obtains its nutrition from other beasts." Xukong spoke.


    "Oh, that''s interesting." Lin Mu took note and probed the herb with his spirit sense.


    He could tell that there was quite a bit of spirit Qi within the herb.


    "What is this used for senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well¡­ it''s used as pest control in herb gardens. Alchemists nt them there which prevents some pests which are spirit beasts from affecting the nts." Xukong answered.


    "So¡­ it''s not used for making pills or anything?" Lin Mu asked doubtfully.


    "Not really. Its medicinal content is rtively vtile and doesn''t really match well with other ingredients, thus causing the formation of pills to fail. Well, if one really wants to, they can just eat it whole." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and thought he may as well take these spirit herbs. Lin Mu could see several of them spread around the area and they were quitemon here.


    "How do I keep them¡­ let''s see¡­" Lin Mu said as he looked around.


    He then found a rtivelyrge rock and cut it apart to make smaller rocks. He then carved out a container that looked like a flower pot from it and put the Fly Trap herb in it. He did the same for five more such nts and then stored them all in the ring close to some corpses of beasts.


    "Now they''ll have some food too." Lin Mu muttered.


    They then continued onwards to the top and reached it in about half an hour.


    <i>~WOOOO~</i>


    The top of the mountain was rather bare, and strong chilly winds blew. Lin Mu''s hair pped back and Little Shrubby''s fur fluttered under the strong winds.


    "Finally¡­ this is quite a dangerous location though." Lin Mu said after feeling the winds.


    He looked at the areas around the mountain and the ones far from it. Lin Mu wanted to find the area that was either on the map that Adviser Chu had given him, or directly find the area with the thousand year old Hong Lin trees.


    From the top of the mountain, Lin Mu could see more mountains and forests, along with somekes. And in the very distance, he spotted the lone volcano as well. Redva flowed down its mouth, looking like fiery rivers.


    "Hmm¡­ Adviser Chu did mention that there was a volcano here, so it could be this one. But considering the size of the minor ne, there might be more than that.


    Still¡­ better check it out." Lin Mu said.

 Chapter 750 - Planets And Space

    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby descended the mountain from the other side and went in the direction of the Volcano. The path down was a bit rougher than the climb but they still managed to reach the point from where they could fly.


    "If it were not for those strong winds we would have an easier time." Lin Mu muttered.


    "After you go beyond a certain elevation winds like those aremon. The higher you go, the stronger the winds will be. This is the same in most of the worlds. That is also why there are limitations to how high one can fly.


    Even An Immortal Ascension realm cultivator would not be able to fly above a certain point." Xukong informed.


    "Oh? Is that so¡­ but in the memoirs of the Lost immortal I''ve read about some tools that could be used to travel in the sky and even go beyond it into the space.." Lin Mu spoke.


    N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    "Indeed, there are tools like those. But the ones that can allow one to fly that high need to be at the pseudo Immortal grade at the very least. As for the ones that can allow one to leave the and enter the space, it needs to be an immortal tool.


    Immortal cultivators can do it on their own as well." Xukong exined.


    "No wonder it''s hard for people to leave this world. If they can''t fly out and head to the other worlds." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Even if they do leave the and head to the vast expanse of the space, there aren''t that many ces they would be able to go to. Since this world is in the mortal realm there will be just more mortal worlds around it.


    Exploring the space is quite dangerous too and one must not enter it without preparations. The spacecks air and even spirit Qi. The sources of spirit Qi in space are quite less, unless one can find some special resources floating around or such.


    Besides, not alls around the world are habitable, in fact over 99% of them will be inhospitable to all kinds of life. So while a strong cultivator might be able to go there, they won''t find any native life there.


    Though many still go tos such as those since several precious resources can be found in those ces." Xukong exined.


    "I understand. Then does it mean that the oceanic world that senior was talking about might be close by to this world?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, that is quite likely. We have already seen a fragment of it in the Lesser void, it should definitely be close by. In fact, it might be the very next next to the Xiaofan world." Xukong answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu''s eyes lit up and he felt the desire to go to the space. He wanted to see everything with his own eyes and witness the truth of the world. More questions appeared in his mind as he thought ahead and he decided to ask senior Xukong more.


    "Senior, if wepare traveling¡­ which is more dangerous the void or the space?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The void definitely. It is not something that can be taken easily. Numerous cultivators have died in the void because they were careless. It didn''t matter if they were peerless cultivators and owners of great powers, or measly itinerant cultivators, their fate was the same.


    If one wants to traverse the void, one needs to be careful and strong. And one must not forget that it is the void that contains the space and not the other way around." Xukong answered.


    "I get it now senior." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    This was a good learning experience for Lin Mu as his understanding of the universe had increased by a little bit. And while he was conversing with senior Xukong, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby finally got to flying.


    The directions in this minor ne were hard to deduce since something such as north, south, west, and east did not exist. There was no sun and neither was there a moon. There were no stars in this ce either and thus the only way to find a ce was with respect to other ces.


    Lin Mu and little Shrubby had to keep an eye on everything as if they missed a certain part, there was a chance they might get lost without even knowing it. The forests below them were thick and filled with tall trees that reached over a hundred meters in height.


    Lin Mu had seen such tall trees only in the Northern mountains before. There was a bounty of wildlife here including various animals and beasts that could not be seen elsewhere.


    Lin Mu was also taking some quick notes while flying. He held a jade slip in one of his hands and quickly recorded the appearance of the beast and whatever extra information he could get on them just from observing them.


    With his spirit sense, it was a lightning fast task and could be done simultaneously. Of course, this kind of information might notpare to the carefully studied and recorded information in the many libraries and n records, but it was still better than nothing.


    As for why Lin Mu was doing this¡­ he simply thought it was better to do something than to not.


    But the more Lin Mu watched the ce, the more confused he got. He realized that the minor ne was far too developed than even the actual Xiaofan world. The average strength of the beasts here was higher than that of the Xiaofan worlds.


    He had alreadye across over twenty Nascent soul realm beasts in this time. And it had only been about four days since he had arrived here. One could imagine from this just how vast the difference was.


    Lin Mu was also seeing several herbs which he recorded too, while taking a few samples. By the time he actually reached the volcano, two days had passed.

 Chapter 751 - The Volcano

    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had a few battles during their travel to the volcano but were still unhurt. Though they were certainly tired. Normally such travel would not have exhausted them even if they traveled for over a month without stop.


    But when one added battles against other Nascent soul realm beasts and core condensation realm beasts, it meant that their spirit Qi stores would be used up and slow them down.


    They thus needed to take breaks from time to time to rest and recuperate before they could head on ahead. After all, if they tried to rush through without properly resting, they might be in greater danger than normal.


    After all, the same attacks they faced could be deadly if they had no spirit Qi to defend with or deal with the situation appropriately. But on the plus side, this also gave them the opportunity to eat the beast corpses that they had obtained during this time.


    Unlike thest time when they only had saw toothed Tuna and the Green tailed howler monkey chief to eat, they now had over four Nascent soul realm beasts to eat for each person.


    They took full advantage of it and ate two beasts each that night.. Of course, the scent of the cooking meat attracted several more beasts but that was just more bonus for Lin Mu and Little Shrubby as they were basically serving themselves forter.


    "So this is called a volcano?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Yes." Lin Mu replied.


    "I''ve never seen one before." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "I haven''t either. I''ve only read and heard about them." Lin Mu replied.


    "Why are they so hot and what''s the hot liquiding out of it?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ from what I''ve read, the hot liquiding out of it is calledva. And that hot liquid is what exists deep within the earth. I''ve even heard that the inside of the world is a fireball that continues to burn. But I don''t know if that is true or not." Lin Mu replied.


    "A fireball? Like the sun?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Maybe." Lin Mu replied.


    C0pyright ? 2024 N?v)(elDrama.Org.


    "You''re half correct." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Oh? So what''s the reality senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Theva does indeede from deep within the earth. And the thing about a fireball burning within the world can be considered to be half correct. But it''s not actually a fireball¡­ rather it''s a mass of different materials all being melted together and burning.


    They form into a massive ball that is under a great pressure. The pressure is so much that it can''t turn into liquid and neither can it be gas. Thus even at a great temperature, it continues to be in a solid state.


    This is what constitutes as the ''core'' of the world. It contains a great attraction force that keeps the world together. It also spins in the center of the world keeping the world stable.


    If anything happens to it or if it stops, the entire world would be destroyed.


    As for thatva you see, it is a mixture of molten rocks and many other minerals." Xukong exined.


    "I underhand senior." Lin Mu said, finding the information really interesting. He also exined this to little Shrubby who was intrigued.


    The two of them got closer and close to the volcano, with Little Shrubby finding it to be ratherfortable. Lin Mu on the other hand didn''t feel the heat due to the armor of the mortal strengthening scripture and freely walked.


    "This ce is really good!" Little Shrubby said while purring.


    The heat made Little Shrubby''s body glow slightly and his fur was also glowing slightly.


    "This ce is indeed suitable for you, the fire elemental spirit Qi is in high concentration here. Even more than the Hong Lin forest." Lin Mu spoke after sensing the air.


    "It might do you two good to spend some time here. You can probably find some fire attribute herbs that only grow here. Little Shrubby can cultivate here and even you can try and see if you can further your five treasures realm cultivation.


    And even if that doesn''t work you can still absorb some fire attribute spirit Qi into your Dantian. You have more than enough space anyway." Xukong suggested.


    "Alright senior. We''ll do as you say. We can take a day''s break here anyway." Lin Mu replied.


    He then looked at Little Shrubby and said, "we''ll stay here for a bit and cultivate."


    "Yay~" Little Shrubby growled in pleasure. "I want to see what would happen if we grill meat on theva!"


    Hearing that idea Lin Mu raised his brows and wondered what would happen too. While the temperature was high enough to burn most things, Nascent soul realm beast meat was still tough enough to withstand it for a bit.


    "Very well, let''s try that out tonight. But first, we cultivate." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby said.


    The two of them found a suitable location that was near two flowing rivers ofva and sat down. The ground below them was actually quite smooth, almost looking like ss though it was a bit uneven in its shape.


    The ground was warm too and it felt ratherfortable to sit on. Lin Mu took out a fewrge pillows for him and Little Shrubby and they sat down to cultivate.


    Thirty minutes passed rather calmly before finally the fire attribute spirit Qi in the air started to flow. It swirled around the area before gathering over Little Shrubby and Lin Mu''s bodies.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A majority of the fire attribute spirit Qi was sucked into the body of Little Shrubby while about 5% of that was taken in by Lin Mu. Lin Mu was simply using the Embrace of Hong Lin to absorb the fire attribute spirit Qi into his body.


    Even if he had no Qi skill that used the fire attribute spirit Qi, it could still be used by him for some attacks. He could use it in recement for normal spirit Qi and add the fire element to that attack.

 Chapter 752 - Fire Attribute Spirit Qi

    At the volcano, fire attribute spirit Qi swirled around as it poured into the bodies of Lin Mu and Little Shrubby. The concentration of it had reached a point where it had almost be visible to the naked eye.


    N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    One could imagine that after a certain point, it may even start to condense and turn into liquid. Of course, something like that needed a lot of power to happen and it had only urred when Lin Mu had broken through to the Nascent Soul realm.


    But this time, it was actually Little Shrubby who was driving the fire attribute spirit Qi to gather. After all, he had two bloodlines that had a great affinity to the fire element, the sh Fire Liger Bloodline and the Scorch w Tiger bloodline.


    His other bloodlines had different affinities, such as the Fume Wood Panther that had the affinity to the wood element, the Thunderbolt Cheetah that had the affinity to the lightning element, and then the Midnight Lynx that had an affinity with the Darkness element.


    As for the Brood Mane Lion and the Hundred Mirror Leopard, those didn''t really have a particr element that they had an affinity with, but rather innate techniques and skills that were unique to them.


    But for now, the fire element was the strongest for Little Shrubby, and thus he was taking full advantage of it. Not just him, but the Fire attribute spirit Qi itself seemed like it wanted to be part of Little Shrubby and was being naturally attracted to him..


    Little Shrubby was also at the Adolescence Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm like Lin Mu, and was slightly below his level. But with the speed at which he was absorbing it his cultivation would soon catch up with Lin Mu it seemed like.


    Lin Mu on the other hand, was focusing on getting a feel for the fire attribute spirit Qi instead. He knew that he didn''t really use a cultivation technique and just used his own sense when he absorbed spirit Qi.


    He was using the primordial path and was not going to switch around now. It was also due to that because of which he could absorb any elemental Qi as he wanted. The only difference being that the efficiency would be slower.


    Right now he was using the Embrace of Hong Lin, which was a fire attribute cultivation technique. It had two parts to it, the body cultivation and the Qi cultivation paths. Lin Mu hadn''t really used the Qi cultivation path of it and was just using the body cultivation one till now to further the five treasures realm cultivation.


    But even then, just using the body cultivation part made it so that his natural affinity to fire attribute spirit Qi increased and allowed him to absorb more of it naturally. Lin Mu''s spirit Qi stores were increasing bit by bit and his Dantian was now gaining another color.


    So far, it only had two kinds of spirit Qi in it. The first being the attribute less spirit Qi or the non elemental spirit Qi and the Earth elemental spirit Qi. The attribute less spirit Qi just appeared like water while the East elemental spirit Qi looked brown in color.


    White and brown were the two colors in his Dantian as of now. But now a third color, red was being added to it bit by bit. There was already some fire attribute spirit Qi that Lin Mu had absorbed back when he first reached the capital of the Hong Lin kingdom, but all of that had been directly been taken in by his Nascent soul.


    That was the difference between the Nascent soul and Dantian. The spirit Qi that was taken in by the Nascent soul would increase his overall cultivation base, while the one being stored in his Dantian would allow him to do things like use spirit weapons, Qi skills, control formations, and many such things.


    Of course, spirit Qi that was stored in the Nascent soul could also be used, but doing that meant that one would be decreasing their cultivation base in exchange. Lin Mu''s Dantian had been continuously expanding as his cultivation base grew and at this point, even he did not know what his max capacity was.


    This was due to the fact that his Dantian never reached full capacity. When it reached the eight percent mark, the excess spirit Qi beyond that mark would be absorbed by his Nascent soul.


    One could imagine this setup to be like a donut shaped container. Its outer and inner walls were open and if one filled water in it, it would fill up. The difference was that the walls of the inner circle were lower than that of the outer circle.


    Thus, when the water reached a certain point, it would fall into the inner circle. Comparing this to Lin Mu''s body, the container itself was Lin Mu''s Dantian, while the bottomless inner circle was his Nascent soul.


    Calling his Nascent soul bottomless was urate since it had increased its capacity at an exponential rate aspared with normal spirit Qi cultivators. For example, if one had thousand drops worth of spirit Qi core when they broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, to reach the Child Soul stage they would need at least twice that amount.


    But in Lin Mu''s case, that number was more than just twice. And with each increase in the stage it multiples over and over again. This was also why it was difficult for him to breakthrough as the amount of spirit Qi needed by him was simply too much.


    In fact, there was a chance that Lin Mu mightplete the second treasured organ of the Five Treasurers realm before he even reached the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.


    At that point, just his own body would beparable to that of an Adult Soul Stage Nascent soul realm cultivator. Lin Mu simply hoped that he found the solution here, and that was his wish¡­ for now.

 Chapter 753 - Drained Of Spirit Qi? Finding Herbs

    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby ended up staying at the volcano for about five days. After that point, the fire attribute spirit Qi in the air dramatically decreased.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The vortex that was spinning above them stopped and faded away, prompting Lin Mu and Little Shrubby to wake up.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu looked around.


    "What happened to the spirit Qi?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "What do you think happened? You two drained all of the spirit Qi in the area." Xukong chuckled.


    "Ah! Never thought that would happen¡­" Lin Mu felt a bit awkward.


    .


    "Aww, I was liking that." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "We''ll find some other ce. I''m sure the ce where the Thousand Year old Hong Lin trees grow should also have more fire attribute spirit Qi there." Lin Mu consoled.


    "Okay¡­" Little Shrubby replied before standing up.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around and could really tell that the concentration of fire attribute spirit Qi in the air had considerably fallen. It was even lower than the Xiaofan world.


    Even the Northern town had a greater concentration of spirit Qi than what was present here right now.


    "How long will it take for spirit Qi to be replenished here Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, that depends on several factors and the kind of spirit Qi you are talking about. The normal attribute spirit Qi will soon spread here from the surrounding areas, but the fire attribute spirit Qi will take a while to be produced.


    The way the fire attribute spirit Qi is produced is in two ways. The first is that the volcano emits fire attribute spirit Qi naturally, and thises from the depths of the earth. Then there is theva and heat itself which can slowly turn normal spirit Qi into fire attribute spirit Qi after long periods of contacts." Xukong answered.


    "I see¡­ so I''m guessing it will take several weeks?" Lin Mu asked.


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    "If it is fast enough, yes¡­ but may take several months instead. You shouldn''t forget the fact that you two aren''t the only ones who are absorbing spirit Qi here. There should be several beasts and spirit herbs too that need it.


    The beasts should have already moved out due to Little Shrubby''s presence, but the spirit herbs should still be here." Xukong replied.


    "Oh yeah! The spirit herbs! I almost forgot about them. I should go and get them too." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, they will help you too." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu looked at little Shrubby and said, "let''s get the spirit herbs that are around here."


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby replied and the two of them flew up.


    The area directly close to the mouth of the volcano was very hot, so much so that even the armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture was unable to prevent the heat from affecting Lin Mu.


    As for Little Shrubby, it was still possible for him to stay there, but he certainly would not be able to get close to theva and it would hurt him as well. But this was only for theva that was in the mouth of the volcano.


    Theva that was flowing out from the sides and had formed into the streams was cool enough that both Little Shrubby and Lin Mu could touch them without many problems. This was certainly not normal and anymon cultivator at the same level as them would lose their hands if they did the same.


    This point was important, since there were some herbs that were growing directly in the middle of those streams andva pools.


    "There''s one," Lin Mu said as he spotted an orange bell like flower growing in the center of ava pool. Half of its stem was soaking in theva while the top petals were above theva.


    "That''s the Fire Drip Bell Flower, I remember it is used in high grade pill." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I found something, too!" Little Shrubby said in his mind.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It looked like a rock like fruit, it stuck in the side of a cliff." Little Shrubby spoke.


    The two of them had split up and were searching separately, thus could not see what each other did. Currently in front of Little Shrubby was a cliff, and embedded in it was what looked like a bulbous nt.


    The bulb was embedded deep in the rocks of the cliff and looked almost the same as that of the rocks surrounding it. If it were not for the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from it, Little Shrubby would have missed it entirely.


    "Okay, mark it and I''lle to get itter." Lin Mu replied.


    Several herbs had different methods of harvesting that depended on their type. These harvesting methods were used so that the least amount of damage was caused to the spirit herb and most of its medicinal efficacy was preserved.


    Of course, one could still rip it off directly, but then one would have to consume it right away. Little shrubby could use his prosthetic spirit tool hands, but since he did not know the right method, it was best to let Lin Mu handle it.


    Having heard Lin Mu''s worlds, he scratched and made marks near the bulb and flew away to find the others. Meanwhile, Lin Mu got to the Fire Drip Bell flower and got ready to harvest it.


    Hot fumes wereing off theva, but the brown armor of the mortal strengthening scripture was fully protecting Lin Mu. He very carefully sank his hands into theva and felt around the nt to find its base.


    The flower had a thick base from where it needed to be plucked so as to ensure that it won''t leak out any spirit Qi and lose its efficacy.


    "Found it!" Lin Mu eximed and gently broke off the flower from its stem.


    Once that was done, a stalk and a flower were present in his hand. He nodded his head in approval and stored it in the ring before going to find more of the herbs.

 Chapter 754 - The Lake, The Island And The Tree

    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby ended up getting over fifty different kinds of herbs in and around the volcano. Most of them were low to mid grade herbs but a couple of them were at the high grade as well.


    It took Lin Mu about a day to harvest all of the herbs simply because some of them were in hard to reach areas or were difficult to harvest without being damaged. But after he was done with all of them he was pleased with the end result.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Finally done," Lin Mu said as he wiped the sweat off the brow.


    It was onlyter that he had realized staying in a low spirit Qi area would make him ufortable now. Little Shrubby also stood beside him and looked around at the area.


    "I haven''t found any more of the herbs here. I think we are all done." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Very well, I guess it''s time to go ahead." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Let''s go then," Little Shrubby replied.


    The two of them flew away from the volcano and went to the next area that was beyond the volcano. This part of the area was something Lin Mu had not seen before. Even when he was falling from the sky, the volcano was the furthest ce he could see at that time.


    This meant that he had alreadye quite far and would need to search and learn about the rest of the areas on his own. This volcano was also not the one that was mentioned in the records Adviser Chu had given him thus he had to keep on searching.


    Lin Mu and little Shrubby wandered for about a week, finding different beasts and nts. He fought several Nascent soul realm beasts as well as core condensation realm beasts.


    He even came across two areas that definitely contained Dao Shell realm beasts. Lin Mu didn''t get close to seeing what kind of a beast lived there and kept his distance to stay safe. After that week, he finally found the first sign of familiarity.


    "Look! Thatke!" Little Shrubby called out from the Sky.


    Lin Mu was currently on the ground and was harvesting a couple of herbs he had stumbled across. They were mid grade herbs, but he was not letting them be left behind. He had done the same for most of the herbs he hade across and had built up a sizable store of them.


    In fact, the number had reached almost half of what one of the warehouses in the Tri Cauldron Peony sect contained.


    "Coming!" Lin Mu replied and flew up into the sky.


    There he could see a very peculiarke in the distance. It was shaped like a six pointed flower and had an ind in the center of it. And on that ind, a massive tree could be seen growing.


    The tree was over three hundred meters tall, with its crown being five hundred meters wide. It was a strange ratio and the tree was spread wider than the ind itself.


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    "So that''s the Cloud Crowned Banyan Tree," Lin Mu identified.


    Cloud Crowned Banyan trees wererge trees that could grow almost indefinitely. It was said that they could grow by a hundred meters every thousand years and, seeing the size of this Cloud Crowned Banyan Tree, Lin Mu reckoned it was at least three thousand years old.


    Various bird beasts and smaller animals could be seen living on the tree as well. There were small fig like fruits growing all over the tree that provided the food for the creatures living around it.


    There were also light brown flowers growing in bunches on the tree and a few insect beasts could be seen going from one bunch to the other, pollinating them.


    "A Six-pointedke, an ind in the center and therge tree¡­ yup that''s the one Adviser Chu marked on his map." Lin Mu confirmed.


    This was one of the ces that Adviser Chu had been to before and it was actually one of the farthest ces he went to. Lin Munded at the ind and took a look around. There were smaller nts growing as well, but no trees.


    The Cloud Crowned Banyan Tree had taken up most of the space on the ind thus it was obvious that the other trees would not grow there. In fact, theke itself was slightlyrger than a kilometer and the trees'' crown was 500 meters wide, taking up half of the space.


    It even extended over the water and provided shade to some of the fishes living in water. Lin Mu peeked into the water and could see several hundred if not thousands of fishes in the water.


    "Adviser Chu mentioned that he this was one of the most remote ces he had gone to whenparing the ce he started from. He turned to the direction of the Eight hill from here and that is where he found the exit of the Sinkhole." Lin Mu muttered and looked for the Eight hill.


    The reason why Adviser Chu called it eight hill was because it looked like the character ''Eight''. Its sides were curved smoothly and its top was t, looking rather unique. Lin Mu wondered if he should go there first or go to the next destination that was given on the map.


    "Hmm¡­ let''s go to the next destination, I can alwayse back anyway." Lin Mu decided and flew to the next destination, which was also the one that Adviser Chu reached before thiske.


    This destination was about half a day away and was filled with forest in between.


    "The number of beasts is really increasing here huh¡­ I thought adviser Chu said the further he went from the starting location, the more beasts he found there." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Twelve hours and several beast fightster, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby reached the next destination.


    "Whoa!" Little Shrubby eximed, seeing the surroundings.


    "The Billion Flower Meadow¡­ the name is perfect indeed.." Lin Mu said with a smile.

 Chapter 755 - Billion Flower Meadow

    Lin Mu was now in a meadow filled with multicolored flowers. The ground was sprawling with flowers that let out a scent that enamored everyone. Little shrubby walked for a few steps and rolled on the ground.


    "<i>Ah~ this is sooooo goood~</i>" Little Shrubby purred.


    Lin Mu also couldn''t help but sit down and take it all in. It was a pleasant sight that gave peace to his mind and heart, washing away his worries for a bit. The aroma of the flowers was also really nice.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and let the scent of the flowers spread in his lungs. But just as he did this, his eyes went wide.


    "Wood attribute spirit Qi?!" Lin Mu could tell that there was a different elemental spirit Qi in the air and the most obvious answer was wood.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around to his full extent and observed the area.


    "There''s wood elemental spirit Qi here¡­ even though it is not in as high concentration as that of the volcano, it''s still higher than normal air." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That makes sense, wood element is something that nts favor of course, so if an area has a higher concentrator of it, nts would grow rather vibrantly there," Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ that does seem like it senior." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Lin Mu now desired to cultivate here but knew that he should probably fulfill his mission first. As long as he got the thousand Year old Hong Lin trees, he would also be able to breakthrough andplete the second treasured organ.


    "We''ll return hereter, definitely. Now that we know this ce''s value we will make use of it." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He then looked towards little Shrubby who was rolling around on the flowers and spoke, e on now, we have work to do. We''lle hereter after we''re done."


    "Mmmh, okay¡­" Little Shrubby said with some unwillingness.


    The master and beast then continued onwards and traversed the Billion Flower meadow. Lin Mu realized that the area was farrger than was mentioned in the records of Adviser Chu. And not only that there were also thousands of beasts wandering around here.


    Though what was strange was they wouldn''t fight, but rather juste here andy around simr to what little Shrubby was doing. Lin Mu also saw several of them cultivating in peace.


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    Even beasts that would normally have the rtionship of predator and prey were doing the same thing.


    "This is quite strange¡­ I''ve never seen something like this before. Don''t beasts usually have battles for territories when they like one?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They do usually, but this is a rather unique location. You must know about watering holes right?" Xukong questioned.


    "Yeah, the ce where beastse to drink regardless of their position in the predator chain and they don''t fight either." Lin Mu answered.


    "Exactly. Think of this ce like a watering hole, but for spirit Qi and cultivating. There are many such areas around the world where beasts may reach a harmony and reside in peace.


    These areas aren''t too valuable either so stronger beasts like Dao Shell realm beasts won''t upy it as a territory either. As for the other beasts like nascent soul realm beasts, they have a high enough intelligence that they won''t fight unless someone else offends them first in an area like this." Xukong exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was intrigued and had not expected for there to be something like this in the nature. And now that he thought of it, the area wasn''t that concentrated in spirit Qi either, its main point was that it contained wood attribute spirit Qi.


    "I reckon it is the beasts with an affinity with the wood element thate here." Lin Mu said before looking at little Shrubby. "And little Shrubby has the bloodline of the Fume Wood Panther as well which means he has some affinity with wood too. No wonder he liked the ce so much."


    Having learned this, Lin Mu continued onwards but the flowers would just not end, prompting him to think of something.


    ''Is the meadow perhaps expanding? It was definitely not this big ording to adviser Chu''s records and neither did he mention the peculiarity with the beasts.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Taking note of this point in his mind, Lin Mu kept an eye out for anything that may have been causing this to happen. For an area like this to expand by over seven times in size in two hundred times meant that there was certainly something catalyzing it.


    While Lin Mu did have a desire to find out about the cause, his luck was just not with him and he didn''t see anything. He finally reached the end of the area and it took him over a day for this as well.


    Another dense forest had now started but the trees in it were filled with broad leaves. The floor was covered densely with dried and dead leaves and fallen logs could also be seen. Low beast cries echoed around the area and winds rustled the trees.


    Stepping into the forest, Lin Mu could straight away feel a dangerous aura in the area.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    "This area is just as how Adviser Chu described¡­ I''ll have to be careful." Lin Mu muttered.


    Little Shrubby narrowed his eyes and fluffed his fur as well.


    "There are a lot of beasts here¡­ strong beasts¡­ I can feel them¡­" Little Shrubby spoke his voice slightly strained.


    "Indeed¡­ this is also where Adviser Chu got injured the most. It took him over a year to escape this forest." Lin Mu added.


    <i>~HOWL~</i>


    A loud howl spread across the forest silencing all of the beast''s cries and chirps that could be heard till now.


    "And speak of the devil¡­" Lin Mu said before withdrawing the short sword and the Iron Thorn Spear.


    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    Little Shrubby bared his fangs and growled towards the front sensing a beast approaching.

 Chapter 756 - Bronze Tribe Wolf

    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    <i>~RUSTLE~</i>


    The sounds of trees moving and wood cracking could be hearding from the front. Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he could tell that whatever was approaching was a ratherrge beast.


    His spirit sense was already spread around, but the beast was not within its range, meaning that all of these sounds wereing despite the distance between them.


    "Can you tell what beast it is from its scent?" Lin Mu questioned Little Shrubby.


    "No¡­ It''s something I haven''t seen before. But it''s stronger than me." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Stronger than you, huh?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows and tightened his grip on the weapons.


    <i>~HOWL~</i>


    The moment the next howl came, Lin Mu felt the beast entering his spirit sense range. The beast sensed him as well with its own spirit sense and now knew about each other. Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as the beast rushed forward at a great speed.


    <i>~HOWL~</i>


    The beast let out a loud howl while running and broke all of the trees that were on its way. To the beast, all the trees were like brittle toothpicks, easy to snap. The ground shook with each of its steps, showing just how heavy and bit it was.


    Lin Mu decided to act first and gestured with his left hand, pointing his middle and index finger towards the beast.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The short sword hummed lightly and flew towards the beast at a great speed. Anything that was in its way was cut immediately and the moment it reached the beast, a loud ng was heard.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Little Shrubby joined the fray and spat out mes that burned everything that touched. The hardened wood trees of the forest were unable to withstand it and lit up in red mes. As Little Shrubby ran, the mes spread around with him.


    "Iron Thorn Bloom!" Lin Mu chanted and thrust the Iron Thorn spear.


    <i>~Shing~shing~shing~</i>


    Tens of ck des made out of energy shot out of the spear and attacked the beast that was approaching. The beast had not even made its full appearance and was already facing three attacks at the same time.


    <i>~BARK!~</i>


    An angry bark was hearding as the trees finally broke apart under the force of the sound.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    The short sword seemed to have hit something and was deflected.


    <i>~DENG~DENG~DENG~</i>


    The ck des made by the iron thorn spear seemed to have made contact with the beast as well, and multiple collision sounds were heard. But hearing the sounds, Lin Mu didn''t really feel good, as he knew that they had been blocked.


    "Not going to be easy this time¡­ a True Dao Shell realm beast," Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    The beast finally made its true appearance and it could be seen fully now. It was arge Wolf beast with Bronze colored fur that looked tough. Its fur was like steel wires that would not break and provided it with great defense.


    Its eyes were a deep green in color while its tail was bushy but could hit like a whip if the beast chose to use it like that. The wolf''s canines were also about a foot long and the rest of its teeth were no less fierce.


    Its ws were like hooked knives that would easily tear apart the flesh of anything that dared to go against it. And the beast was as big as a house, being the biggest beast that Lin Mu had seen till now that wasn''t Senior Xukong.


    But Lin Mu was also able to recognize the beast and had actually read about it before.


    "Bronze Tribe Wolf, a variant of the Steel Back wolves that is many times stronger than it and can cultivate all the way to the Dao Shell realm. They live inrge packs, and the leader of the pack is the strongest one of them.


    This is definitely the pack leader." Lin Mu identified.


    While he had understood what the beast was, he now needed to know just how strong the beast was.


    He could tell that the beast was at the Dao Shell realm, but what stage? That was the question.


    If the beast was in the Shena Genesis stage or above, Lin Mu would escape right away. A beast of that level was not something he or Little Shrubby would be able to deal with. But if it was at the Shell Initiation stage, he would still have a chance.


    And thus, Lin Mu''s spirit sense probed the wolf beast, without caring about its feeling and drilled directly into its Dantian. This of course, angered the beast even more, but Lin Mu got what he wanted.


    "Haha, at the Shell Initiation stage I see¡­" Lin Mu said with a smile.


    He could see a faint outline of a sphere in the beast''s Dantian. It was floating above its nascent soul and looked somewhat like a bubble. Lin Mu had already learned that it was the outline of a Dao Shell and that was what the initial Dao Shell would be looking like.


    <i>~GRRR!~</i>


    "You dare ignore me?" Little Shrubby''s growl came from the back.


    The mes that little Shrubby had spat out were meant as a visual distraction, as the beast couldn''t see around easily with the mes hiding everything behind them. As for its spirit sense, the wolf was focused on Lin Mu.


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    Little Shrubby took advantage of this and had circled around to attack it from the behind.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    He quickly sped up, and a sonic boom could be heard.


    <i>~KACHA~KACHA~KACHA~</i>


    <i>~SPARK~</i>


    The sound of metal being grinded could be heard as numerous sparks shot out of the Bronze Tribe Wolf''s back. Lin Mu took a look and smirked.


    "Of course, Little Shrubby would be able to damage even if he has a lower cultivation base¡­ those bloodlines are not for nothing." Lin Mu muttered.


    ''Time for me to join in as well..'' Lin Mu thought as a fierce expression appeared on his face and the spear was raised.

 Chapter 757 - LIGHT UP THE SKY!

    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Lin Mu shot forward as well and thrust the Iron Thorn Spear at the head of the Bronze Tribe wolf.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    The wolf raised its front paw and used its ws to block the attack. More sprats were let out from the contact, but the force of the impact was enough to strain the wolf as well. Its paw was slightly pushed to the back and Lin Mu noted it.


    "So that''s now it is, huh?" Lin Mu learned.


    <i>~BARK~</i>


    The wolf barked in anger and swiped his w at Lin Mu, who just blinked away. It then shook its body, knocking away Little Shrubby, who was wing its back.


    "Haha! Its defense is not as strong as it seems." Lin Muughed from the top.


    He could see that the steel wire like fur was torn apart like somemon yarn. Little Shrubby flew back as well, but not before spitting out more mes that irritated the wolf.


    Lin Mu blinked again and grasped the short sword before thrusting it down at the back of the wolf''s neck.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    Another grating sound was heard as the sword sank a bit into the wolf''s body. Its fur was dense and was several inches in thickness. Lin Mu could tell that he had not even touched its skin yet.


    <i>~BARK~</i>


    The wolf was now furious and whipped its tail from the back. It moved like a steel cable snapping and ripping through the air. Its speed was quite fast as well and Lin Mu could not move in time due to the Short sword being stuck in the dense fur of the wolf.


    <i>Flicker!</i>


    The tail of the wolf passed through him as if he was air and reflected back. The wolf couldn''t feel anything being hit and was confused. It frantically kept on whipping, but that one second dy was enough for Lin Mu to blink away again.


    <i>~SHING~ SHUA~</i>


    Little Shrubby''s ws extended and started to heat up. Soon they turned red hot, with the centers being a blinding white in color. It was hard to even look at them, which showed just how hot the ws were.


    "TAKE THIS!" Little Shrubby roared.


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    <i>~RIP~</i>


    His ws sank into the beast''s thick fur as if it was paper before being ripped apart. The heat of the ws softened the bronze fur and the sharpeners of the ws made it easy to cleave it apart.


    <i>~BWEEEEEEE~</i>


    The Bronze Tribe Wolf whimpered in pain as blood was spilled for the first time. Little Shrubby''s ws had torn open a wound in the wolf''s back.


    ''So fire is the weakness of this beast, huh.'' Lin Mu thought.


    It was now that Xukong''s voice appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Remember how the elements work against and with each other!" Xukong reminded.


    Memories appeared in Lin Mu''s mind, and he recalled the weaknesses and strengths of each element. The Bronze Tribe Wolf obviously had an affinity to the metal element, as could be seen from its metallic bronze fur and thus its weakness was none other than fire that little shrubby was using.


    Wood could fuel the fire and thus increase its power. Lin Mu looked around and smiled.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    Little Shrubby didn''t even need to hear Lin Mu''s idea, and mes appeared on its body. Soon they becamerger andrger, and it now looked like he waspletely made out of fire. With Lin Mu and Little Shrubby''s connection, words were not even necessary, and he knew what to do.


    Little Shrubby hadn''t used the Seven Beasts'' burst but was simply using the fire attribute Qi to coat his boy and amplify his mes now. It was one of the abilities that came to him naturally, but he didn''t use it as much, since it was almost never needed. But now that was exactly what was required.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Little Shrubby leaped away from the Bronze Tribe Wolf and started to run. But he wasn''t running away or toward the wolf, but around it.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    Second, after second, Little Shrubby picked up speed and started to make circles around the wolf. The wolf was of course, irked and tried to attack Little Shrubby.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    "Not so fast," Lin Mu said as he sank his fist into the side of the beast''s neck.


    <i>~Whimper~</i>


    While it was not enough to spill blood, Lin Mu''s fist was enough to create imprints on the fur of the beast. The punch had forcefully pulled the wolf''s attention towards him.


    <i>~GRR!~</i>


    It growled at Lin Mu but he simply smiled at that he even put away the spear and the sword as he knew what he needed to do. At his current strength, using weapons to fight it was a bit inefficient.


    Rather than that, he had a better method now, and his part in the n was to hold the beast in one ce.


    The wolf bared its fangs and bit at Lin Mu, who blinked to the side before punching again.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    His fist hit the head and slightly moved the wolf.


    <i>~BARK~</i>


    The wolf bit towards Lin Mu again, but he blinked away again.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Another punch hit the beast, making it grunt in pain. But this was just the start.


    <i>~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~</i>


    Lin Mu''s fists were like a hammer hitting the gong as he kept on punching while dodging with a blink. The wolf did its best to bite him, but was unable to do so due to Lin Mu''s blink.


    To catch up with the speed of blink was not easy and it would need for the attack to be faster than Lin Mu''s reaction speed. As he simply could not be stopped once the skill had been activated.


    And while this was happening, Little Shrubby continued to run circles around them, spread the fire everywhere. But due to the speed at which he was running, the mes were now rising up.


    Lin Mu smiled at seeing this and finally spoke.


    "Little Shrubby¡­ LIGHT UP THE SKY!" Lin Mu shouted.

 Chapter 758 - Bronze Roasted Wolf!

    With Lin Mu''s call, a strong gust of energy emanated from Little Shrubby''s body. The vortex of fire that had been made by him running in a circle started to rise up like a water spout in the ocean.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    The Bronze Tribe Wolf was certainly anxious and knew that he was not in a good situation. All this time, he had thought that while he hade across some tough prey, it didn''t ur to him just how tough.


    But now that he had realized it, the time had passed, and it was toote.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    The Bronze Tribe Wolf swatted at Lin Mu in anger and Lin Mu blocked it directly. The brown armor of the mortal strengthening scripture appeared on his arms, absorbing the damage easily without cracking.


    Lin Mu had borne the full brunt of a variant tribtion lighting twice before, thus this physical attack was still easy for him to bear. But this time, Lin Mu did not resist and held his ground.


    Rather, he let himself be knocked away. The Wolf felt pleased that he had finally managed to hit Lin Mu and was happy at seeing him get injured. Lin Mu was flying towards the ground at a very fast speed and if he mmed into it, he would probably get quite injured.


    Unfortunately, what the Bronze Tribe wolf was expecting didn''t happen. Instead, Lin Mu sank into the ground as if it was water and the entire time he had a smile on his face. And just as he disappeared into the ground, arge explosion happened.


    <i>~KABOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!~</i>


    Red mes swirled into a pir that pierced the sky. The night sky was lit up and now it looked like it was the time for sunset instead. The heat of the mes ignited the trees that were further away from it.


    Already a lot of trees had been burned by Little Shrubby, and now more of them were burning. This further fueled the pir of spinning fire and increased its power. This was exactly the wood fueling the mes, ording to the strengthening of the elements.


    While Lin Mu and Littler Shrubby could not use wood attribute spirit Qi as of now, they used a different method of powering up the fire. They used the naturally present wood elemental spirit Qi in the nts and trees and let Little Shrubby''s fire burn them.


    The synergistic reaction caused due to this was the main reason behind the current situation. Lin Mu had picked the right moment to escape as the mes were something that would injure even himself.


    The temperature of the mes had already reached the level of the magma that was present in the mouth of the volcano that Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had reached. It was enough to decimate his Mortal strengthening scripture''s defenses in just a couple of seconds.


    But while Lin Mu had escaped into the ground, he didn''t stop there. He continued to get further and further away, as even the soil was heating up at a rapid pace.


    <i>~woong~woong~woong~</i>


    The me vortex continued to spin and burn for about a minute as Little Shrubby kept on running. The mes were made by him, thus it was harmless for him. And even if they were not, he still had a high enough resistance to fire anyway.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    A mass shot out of the me vortex after a minute, looking like a meteor descending from the sky.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    <i>~CRASH~</i>


    Several trees were destroyed in its descent and a deep gully was carved into the ground. Of course, more fires were caused by it and even the ground was scorched. Lin Mu blinked out from the ground and went to check.


    "Little Shrubby, are you okay?" Lin Mu asked.


    The meteor that had just crashed was none other than Little Shrubby.


    <i>~puff~? </i>


    The mes went out and Little Shrubby jumped out of the crater that he had just made.


    <i>~huff~huff~huff~</i>


    He was panting, but seems to be doing fine.


    "I''m good¡­" he replied.


    Lin Mu still probed him and saw that over eighty percent of his spirit Qi had been consumed.


    ''Hmm¡­ that''s understandable. He just managed to greatly damage if not kill a Dao Shell realm beast.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He looked back to the me vortex and saw that it was still raging on. The spinning of the vortex sucked more air towards itself, which further fueled it. This also created a low pressure area, further pulling in more air.


    The me vortex continued for about five minutes, after which it finally faded away. The initial spirit Qi that Little shrubby had used for it had been used and just the infusion of air was no longer enough for it to continue to burn.


    The trees around it had also been reduced to cinders a long time ago and thus there was no fuel for it anyways.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The heat waves finally stopped and Lin Mu and Little shrubby took a closer look. Previously they could not do so as even their spirit senses were being stopped. Lin Mu''s was being stopped due to the vtile burning Qi in the air, while Little Shrubby''s was being pushed away due to the spinning of the vortex.


    <i>~thud~ thud~</i>


    The two of themnded at the edge of the now dissipated vortex and saw its aftermath. There was molten soil and rocks present there now. It looked like a pool ofva that Lin Mu had seen at the volcano, except it was far less bright.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense once again rose from his body and checked the area for the signs of the Bronze Tribe wolf.


    "Oh? THERE IT IS!" Lin Mu spotted a dark mass at the bottom of theva pool.


    "I''ll take it out," Little Shrubby said as the five prosthetic hands that were spirit tools arrived.


    Each of them was a high grade spirit tool and could easily handle such high temperature. The prosthetic hands sank into the molten ground and swam to the bottom before grasping onto the dark mass.


    <i>~stter~</i>


    The molten liquid parted as the dark mass was pulled out by the five hands. Lin Mu and Little Shrubby could finally see its appearance. It looked like an elongated bronze mass. It was vaguely in the shape of a wolf and seemed like a deformed bronze statue instead.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The hands dropped the bronze mass on the ground with a loud sound as it sank into it a bit.


    The mass was still very hot, but to Lin Mu and Little Shrubby, it was still handleable.


    "Huh? What happened to the wolf?" Lin Mu was a bit confused until he probed the bronze mass.


    Upon doing this, he finally readable the reality.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu eximed.


    The metallic fur of the Bronze Tribe wolf hadpletely melted and formed a coating over it while the bones inside its body had been heated up to a very high temperature. But the most surprising thing was that to Lin Mu its flesh seemed to be perfectly cooked.


    "This may be really good," Lin Mu said as he pulled out a hammer from his ring.


    This was one of the many weapons he had and was a war hammer. It was over two meters long and had a hammer head that was at least three hundred kilograms in weight. It was made of a mixed iron allow and was quite tough.


    Lin Mu raised it with both his hands into the air, making it stir a bit.


    <i>~HUU~</i>


    He took a breath before mming the hammer into the bronze mass with full force.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    As if a bronze bell had been struck, a loud humming sound was released by it that spread in the surroundings. But that was just the start, as another sound could soon be heard.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    It started very lightly, but the new sound increased in intensity.


    <i>~crack~crack~crack~</i>


    Cracks started to appear all over the bronze mass before finally¡­


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    <i>~SHATTER~</i>


    The outer bronzeyer shattered like an eggshell, revealing the tender meat within. The aroma of the meat spread in the air like a tsunami and drowned Lin Mu and Little Shrubby''s olfactory receptors.


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    In the next moment, saliva filled their mouths, and they couldn''t help but gulp.


    <i>~slurp~</i>


    Lin Mu walked forward and used his short sword like a knife cutting out a chunk of flesh. It was incredibly tender and Lin Mu felt like he would be able to cut it with a blunt stick if it came to it.


    "This looks sooooooo good!" Little Shrubby said out loud.


    The Bronze Tribe wolf''s meat was like that of y Roasted Fish!


    But the y used was its own bronze like metallic fur and the oven was the me vortex made by little shrubby. Its own bones acted like internal heating prods that cooked the meat very evenly.


    The Dao Shell realm beast''s tough red meat was now a pleasantly soft brown. Lin Mu passed a chunk to Little Shrubby while he took some for himself.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Both of them took a deep breath and inhaled the tantalizing and meaty aroma before biting into the meat.


    <i>~NOM~</i>


    After the very first bite, an intense and gamy vor spread throughout their mouths. After chewing a couple of times they swallowed the meat and their eyes lit up.


    "THIS IS AMAZING!" Lin Mu let out a loud promation.


    "INDEED!" Little Shrubby agreed.


    Then both of them pounced on the ''Bronze Roasted Wolf'' and started to devour it like beasts¡­ well, one of them was really a beast while the other acted like a beast.

 Chapter 759 - Little Shrubby’s Breakthrough To The Adult Soul Stage

    <i>~BURP~</i>


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby lounged around on the ground after having devoured the meat of the Bronze Tribe wolf in its entirety. The spirit Qi they had exhausted in the battles was easily replenished and not only that, but they had also gotten a nice boost over that.


    "<i>Ahh~</i> that was really good." Lin Mu said as he rubbed his bulging stomach.


    The Bronze Tribe Wolf was the size of a house and the meat in it was enough to feed a thousand men easily. Yet Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had devoured it all alone. Over seventy percent was of course, eaten by Lin Mu since Little Shrubby could just not eat that much.


    Even with the higher appetite as a beast, Little Shrubby still could notpare to that of the nameless technique of the Lost immortal. Lin Mu was on a different level like that and even now didn''t know what was the limit of this technique¡­ if there even was.


    The Lost immortal did state that it would allow one to eat as much as they could, but Lin Mu wanted to know if it really was true. After all, the Lost immortal never actually got to test the technique before and it had several additional effects that were simply not known of.


    Lin Mu''s stomach had already changed its qualities many times over and was no longer that of a human. Even he himself could not tell what the changes were exactly as when he used spirit sense to observe it. His stomach was imprable to it.


    It was as if there was a sheet covering it that was protecting it and no spirit sense could go through it. Even senior Xukong was at a loss and didn''t know just what it was that made it like that.


    Though the technique did bring about many benefits, such as the fact that it increased the rate at which Lin Mu digested food and absorbed the spirit Qi and vital energy within it. It was also one of the reasons why he was able to speed through cultivation.


    As long as Lin Mu had the support of the beast meat or other such energy rich foods, he would be able to continue cultivating at a rapid pace. Little Shrubby was in the same state and had gained a lot after eating the Bronze Tribe Wolf''s meat.


    In fact, Little Shrubby was almost at the border of the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm and might reach it before Lin Mu.


    "Now I don''t know if the other beast meat we got will taste better or not." Little Shrubbymented.


    "Hmm¡­ we''ll only know if we eat itter. For now, this is enough," Lin Mu replied.


    If it was up to them, they probably would not have eaten the meat of the Bronze Tribe Wolf and would have chosen to keep it forter. But since it was already cooked and the aroma was so tempting, there was little they could do to inhibit their desires.


    "Ah," Lin Mu grunted and forced himself to sit cross legged.


    He started to assimte all of the vital energy and spirit Qi from the meat actively. There was a massive amount of it in the meat, thus it actually took Lin Mu and Little Shrubby an entire day to finish assimting it entirely.


    And when the next day arrived, it happened¡­


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Little Shrubby''s aura suddenly spiked as spirit Qi in the air started stirring. A vortex started to form over his body as the spirit Qi started to pour into his body.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes upon noticing this and was surprised.


    "Spirit Qi infusion? He already broke through?!" Lin Mu said in excrement.


    His spirit sense probed Little Shrubby''s Dantian and there he saw his Nascent soul frantically sucking in all of the spirit Qi. Little Shrubby''s Dantian itself was empty since the nascent soul had taken it all in, but the spirit Qi infusion due to the breakthrough was actively recing it.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    Little by little, the Nascent soul that looked like Little Shrubby when he was at the core condensation realm started to grow. About ten minutester, it had fully grown and looked just how Little Shrubby looked right now.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Little Shrubby opened his eyes as they glowed in a red light. An oppressive presence exuded from his body and a Bloodline Aura shot out. Lin Mu felt it clearly as well and knew that it was far more powerful than any beast he had met till now. The Great Slumber Bear and Senior Xukong were the exceptions, of course.


    "Congrattions!" Lin Mu said, a smile appearing on his face.


    "I broke though! I can now protect master better and help him!" Little Shrubby replied.


    <i>~pat~pat~</i>


    "That you will, of course," Lin Mu said as he rubbed Little Shrubby.


    It was a bit awkward since Little Shrubby was now the same height as that of Lin Mu himself. His size was quite big but still not as bigpared to the Bronze Tribe Wolf. Lin Mu could tell that Little Shrubby was still growing, even now.


    The only difference was that the speed was slow. He wondered if he would keep on doing so and just how bit would he be in the future.


    "With the Beast Qi you are feeding him every so often, I won''t be shocked if he never actually stops growing." Xukong suddenly said.


    "Really senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes¡­ Beast Qi is something each beast desires, and it is hard to find. That Bronze Tribe Wolf you killed might have only made about half the amount of Beast Qi you have given to Little Shrubby till now in his entire life of probably a thousand years." Xukong answered.


    "Damn¡­ that''s not a lot." Lin Mu replied.


    "Mmmhmm¡­ that is exactly why it is so absurd seeing how you can make the beast Qi with the nurturing heart sutra.. It is certainly not normal¡­" Xukongmented.

 Chapter 760 - Beasts And Beast Qi

    Lin Mu talked with Senior Xukong for a couple more minutes before celebrating Little Shrubby''s breakthrough. The reward was of course, more Beast Qi and was quickly taken by Little Shrubby as if it would run away at any moment.


    Lin Mu could only chuckle at this and wait for Little Shrubby to assimte it. While doing this, a thought came to him.


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    ''If Little Shrubby has had this much growth and difference after getting Beasts Qi when he had already matured a bit, what would be happening to a beast that has been fed Beast Qi since birth?'' Lin Mu thought. ''Or perhaps¡­ before birth?'' he recalled the Grey Egg.


    The Fire Fang snake and ck Water Snake''s egg had been sitting in the Ring for most of the time. Lin Mu only took it out to inject Beast Qi into it every day for a couple of minutes.


    It had be routine to him, just like eating and drinking, and he would do it without even thinking much of it. He had done it when he was riding Little Shrubby too, and would simply pull the egg out before injecting the Beast Qi for a minute before putting it back into the ring.


    It had stayed mostly the same ever since then and Lin Mu wondered when it would be hatching. Senior Xukong also didn''t know when it would do, since the egg had certainly gone on apletely different path after having been given Beast Qi.


    If it were a normal egg, it would have possibly hatched by now, or would soon. But in the case of the Grey egg, it was showing no such signs.


    "I think it''s time we leave now and head on forward," Lin Mu said after an hour.


    Little Shrubby opened his eyes and looked around before nodding. The forest had be really quiet ever since the battle and Lin Mu attributed it to the strong aura of a Dao Shell realm beast and perhaps its blood as well.


    In addition to that, Little Shrubby''s Bloodline had also be stronger, and the aura exuding from him was also suppressive for other beasts and would make them think several times beforeing close.


    And this was the case for beasts who would be at the same cultivation base as Little Shrubby, which was the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm. The ones that were weaker would run away with their tails between their legs.


    Just a mere wisp of the aura was enough to terrify them more than enough.


    <i>~thud~ shua~</i>


    Little Shrubby and Lin Mu continued on ahead and traversed the deep forest. Their travel was easy at the start, but after about three days, they started to meet beasts again. The strange thing was that they would still attack them from time to time, which was strange considering Little Shrubby.


    "Isn''t this not supposed to happen? The beasts earlier were afraid ofing close." Lin Mu said.


    "This might actually be more of a territory thing. You two are passing through the territories of thousands of beasts who already fight a lot amongst themselves. There are already other Dao Shell realm beasts here that they cannot provoke.


    Even if they are scared and want to escape, they can''t really go to other areas as they may be the ces where Dao Shell realm beasts live. So their only choices be either fighting a Dao Shell realm beast by intruding on its territory or to fight you two who are at the Nascent Soul realm.


    And the choice must be obvious here." Xukong exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu understood. "But then, doesn''t this also mean¡­ there are Dao Shell realm beasts nearby?" he added.


    "Indeed. You can take this as a sign. If a beast attacks you despite not being provoked and seeing you two, then it''s quite likely there are Dao Shell realm beasts living nearby. Of course, there is always a chance that the beast is just stupid and fights anything.


    There are often many examples of such beasts. Then there are also those that don''t really have a good enough spirit sense and thus can''t judge very well who they are fighting against." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu could only nod and pity the beasts that would being to fight them. But it also made him alert about the Dao Shell realm beasts.


    While he had indeed fought and won a battle against the Bronze Tribe Wolf earlier, Lin Mu knew that the same would not be the same for other Dao Shell realm beasts. Little Shrubby and he were simply lucky that their match up was favorable.


    Plus, the Bronze Tribe Wolf was at the Shell Initiation stage. Lin Mu didn''t have the same confidence in dealing with one that was at the Shell Genesis stage. After all, only after a Dao Shell was created would the true powers of the Dao Shell realm be visible.


    The Dao Shell had many more functions than to just protect the Dao Embryo. It could also be used for offense and defense. One must know that a Dao Shell was quite tough, in fact, many Dao Shell realm cultivator''s bodies were weaker than their Dao Shell.


    Thus, they would often use their Dao Shell to defend against attacks that they could not bear with their own bodies. Then on the other hand, since the Dao Shell was so hard, it could be used as a direct weapon by using it as a smasher.


    One just had to m it onto their enemies and turn them into a pancake. Lin Mu was doubtful if he would be able to take on the toughness of a Dao Shell at this moment and thought that perhaps only the Third Form of the Boulder Copsing Fist might have any luck at causing it damage.


    While the second form piercer was focused on piercing barriers and defenses, it was still limited, depending on the opponent''s cultivation base.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby continued their journey and one week after Little Shrubby''s breakthrough, they finally found their mission''s destination.

 Chapter 761 - A Grotto

    The location they had been looking for this entire time was none other than a grove of thousand year old Hong Lin trees. This would be an astounding thing if it were revealed in the Hong Lin kingdom.


    A grove of hundred year old Hong Lin trees was already shocking enough and there were very few of them. As for the normal ones, forget groves, the entire kingdom had a forest, thus they had little to no value.


    Even a single Thousand year old Hong Lin tree was of a great value and a grove of them would be priceless. One must know that even top sects would be interested in one if it came up anywhere.


    Plus the presence of thousand year old Hong Lin trees denoted the fact that it would definitely be producing more and more Hong Lin trees. After all, the thousand year old Hong Lin trees were also called as mother trees.


    Without them, it was very difficult to grow any Hong Lin trees. That was also why it was extremely rare to find them out of the Hong Lin Kingdom. With the only ces, being some sects that managed to grow them using their special techniques.


    But this also meant that wherever there was a Hong Lin Tree forest, there was bound to be at least a single Thousand year old Hong Lin Tree.


    And now, in front of Lin Mu and Little Shrubby, there was an entire grove of them.


    "Marvelous¡­" Lin Mu muttered in awe.


    In front of him was what looked like a grotto between two broken mountains. They looked like they were struck by lightning a long time ago in the past and were thus broken. The damage caused by the lightning caused the two mountains to form a grotto between them.


    And in this grotto, grew over a hundred Hong Lin trees. Each of them was over a hundred meters tall and had thick trunks that would need at least ten men to wrap around them each.


    From the gaps in the roof, faint light shimmered down, gently illuminating the grotto. The red leaves of the Hong Lin trees looked beautiful and made one feel calm subconsciously.


    But the roof wasn''t the only source of light here. Other than that, there were rocks embedded in the ground that had red cracks in them. They let out a red glow as well. Then there was a small pond in the center of the grotto that was filled with pinkish water.


    Small streams came out of the pond and went all the way around the grotto, inundating the ground of the grotto. The entire scene was picturesque and looked mesmerizing. Then there were small insects and animals that resided in the grotto as well.


    But other than them, Lin Mu couldn''t really sense any bigger beast or animals living there.


    "The fire attribute spirit Qi is higher here too," Little Shrubby spoke.


    Lin Mu checked it and nodded his head.


    "Indeed, it is almost as high as that volcano." He agreed.


    He then looked towards the rocks with the red cracks in them. The fire elemental spirit Qi was seeminging from there.


    "Looks like these might be the reason behind that. Hmm¡­ what are they? Adviser Chu did say that there were some strange things here, and he didn''t know what they were." Lin Mu muttered.


    "They look like Earthen me Ores," Xukong spoke.


    "Oh? So these are Earthen me ores¡­ but aren''t they found deep in mines?" Lin Mu asked, recalling some information about them.


    "They are usually. But in some cases, their veinse to the surface naturally. There are also some that get formed at the surface. Since we have already seen a volcano before, I reckon there must actually be a pit of Earth mes deep in the bowels of this world.


    They might be the reason why these ores can exist here as well." Xukong replied.


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    "A pit of Earth mes¡­ what exactly are those senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They are a natural phenomenon and can be formed pretty much in any world. I told you about the core and insides of a world, right? The molten rocks and metals? The heat of those things gives rise to what is called as Earth mes.


    In a general sense, it is literally mes that are born within the earth. The name is exactly how it means.


    They are very powerful and can harm even cultivators that are above the Immortal Ascension realm. They can be used for a wide variety of things as well and can be very valuable¡­ but that is only if they can be essed." Xukong exined.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu was intrigued. He felt curious about it and looked at the ground, wondering if he should use phase to check it out.


    "Don''t even think of it!" Xukong suddenly said.


    "Huh? What?" Lin Mu replied, feeling stunned.


    "Don''t try to go check out the Earth mes. They aren''t something you can evene close to now. While their power might be less than tribtion lightning bolts, they are sustained mes that will continually damage you.


    Your armor will notst for longer than a few seconds. Those mes are hotter than the magma that you''ve seen. Besides, I think even if the Earth mes are closer to the surface here, that distance might still be several thousand meters under the earth.


    Your phase won''tst that long either, since your consumption increases exponentially if you go through denser and denser ces." Xukong exined.


    While he was fine with Lin Mu testing out things and learning on his own, he certainly did not want him to do extremely dangerous things like these. He had not said anything when Lin Mu decided to block the Tribtion Lighting bolts, which showed just how terrifying the Earth mes would be.


    "I understand, senior. I won''t do it." Lin Mu stated.


    "Good¡­ now then, you best get to doing what you are here for.." Xukong replied.

 Chapter 762 - 99.9% Completion

    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby walked into the grotto while keeping an eye on things. Even if they had already checked the area with their spirit sense and didn''t find any danger didn''t mean that it wasn''t there.


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    Even if there were no dangerous beasts, there could be other forms of danger that they could not detect. There could very well be nts or dangerous substances here. Lin Mu and Little Shrubby took an hour to check every ce in the grotto and only after that did they rx.


    <i>~PHEW~</i>


    "Finally, a safer ce here." Lin Mu said.


    Lin Mu picked one of the trees and sat down with his back against it. Little Shrubby, on the other hand, was responsible for guarding this time and would prevent any beast froming into the grotto.


    Well¡­ most beasts would avoid him anyway due to the bloodline suppression, but if there were Dao Shell realm beasts wanting toe here, Little Shrubby would be able to hold one back for at least a minute.


    And if not that, he could very well alert Lin Mu through their link.


    <i>~HUU~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and mediated for a few minutes to reach his optimum condition. Once that was done, he began his work. He needed to break through to the third stage of the Five Treasures realm and finish refining his heart.


    As for getting the wood? That was something that could be done at any time. Lin Mu just needed to ce his hand, and the entire tree would be stored into the ring. And it was not like the tree that Lin Mu used for cultivating would be useless.


    Its wood and other parts could still be used and if left on its own for several years, it would regain the energy that it had lost.


    Lin Mu started using the Embrace of Hong Lin and followed its method. His consciousness sank into the tree and sensed the pockets of fire elemental energy within them.


    He focused on them and little by little they started getting sucked into his body through his back. The warm energy felt like water to him and was quite pleasant. Lin Mu felt as if he was sitting in a tub of warm water now.


    The energy moved through his skin, into his muscles, and then into his blood. The blood swiftly took it all the way around his body, and eventually reach its destination¡­ the heart. Lin Mu felt a wave of heat spreading through his chest and felt a bit ufortable now.


    It was a sudden change, but knew that it was just his heart''s cells changing little by little. It wasn''t exactly painful this Lin Mu could withstand it easily. Hours passed by in the blink of an eye as more and more energy was absorbed by Lin Mu.


    His progression in the refinement of his heart was moving at a slow pace. He didn''t know how long it would take, but he knew that with the number of thousand year old Hong Lin trees he had; it was just inevitable.


    ''If I didn''t get these thousand year old Hong Lin trees, I doubt the hundred year ones would have even made a dent at this point. Their energy content was just getting too low for my body to make use of.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The first day passed quickly and when the second day arrived, Lin Mu had finished using up all the energy of the Hong Lin tree.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and took a breath.


    "It just gets slower and slower huh¡­ no wonder even the first King didn''t practice it beyond the Body tempering realm¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He stood up and went to the next tree before sitting down below it with his back to the tree. The same process began and Lin Mu spent the rest of the day absorbing all of the energy from the thousand year old Hong Lin tree.


    Soon this tree was empty as well, and Lin Mu switched to another one. He kept on repeating this as more of his heart was refined. Within his chest, a different scene could be seen right now.


    Lin Mu''s heart had several fine lines on it that spread in a unique manner. These lines were seemingly demarcating the tissues of the heart that had been refined and the ones that were yet to be refined.


    The color difference was also quite obvious, with the part that was refined being rather vibrant and the one that was not, being dull. With each tree, that line of demarcation was increasing and after about a week, it finally reached the 75% mark.


    It was now that Lin Mu felt a change in his body. Before he felt like there was a slight hesitance in his body, that slowed down the speed of absorption. But now it was gone and his speed of absorption increased.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The same tree that would have taken an entire day to absorb was done in less than ten hours.


    "Huh? What exactly is this? Did my body get attuned to it now?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Even though he was a bit confused, he was happy as well. As this just meant that he would break through faster. Lin Mu continued his task and went from tree to tree absorbing its energy.


    But even the increased speed was not helping him as much after a few days. Even though his absorption speed was high, his refinement speed wasn''t increasing and had instead slowed down.


    "Ny percentplete¡­ just need some more and I''ll reach the end." Lin Mu said to himself.


    He didn''t lose motivation and kept it up. Finally¡­ an entire month had passed since Lin Mu had arrived at the grotto and started absorbing the energy of the Hong Lin trees. His progress had slowed down to a snail''s pace, but he was now at the very edge.


    "Just a little bit more¡­ 99.9%!"

 Chapter 763 - Burning Body And Strange Phenomena

    Lin Mu soldiered on and finally reached the end point.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    The moment, the process wasplete, a loud hum was heard. The sound came from Lin Mu''s heart. The sound slowly got louder and louder and its tone changed. Before it was like a light bell, but slowly it was morphing.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    Soon Lin Mu''s heart was beating like the thunders of summer storms. It was as if a roaring fire was burning within his heart and it had be a furnace. The sounds were like the call of prominence and were heard in an area of over a hundred kilometers.


    Content held by N?velDrama.Org.


    Little Shrubby was the closest and heard it the clearest. He quickly rushed to Lin Mu''s side and checked upon him. Finding that Lin Mu was good, just in a unique state, he took a breath of relief.


    But at this point, his ears twitched.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    Little Shrubby bared his fangs and looked towards the distance. In the forest away from the grotto, he could see several glowing lights and if one looked closely, they would see pupils within those lights.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    Little Shrubby let out his own roar and shot out towards the glowing eyes. Soon a battle ensued and fire raged. Lin Mu though, waspletely unaware of it and was in a strange state right now.


    He had no sense of the external world and was within the space of his mind. There he floated calmly. In front of him, he could see a body floating.


    "Is that¡­ my own body?" Lin Mu questioned.


    At his current position, the body looked a bit blurry and thus hard to tell who it belonged to, but from the silhouette, he could kinda tell that it was none other than himself. He thus got close and finally confirmed it.


    "It really is my body!" Lin Mu said in shock.


    He was shocked because his body looked massive to him now. It was as if his body was that of a giant and was the size of a mountain. The only thing that was as big as this that Lin Mu had seen before was none other than the main body of Senior Xukong.


    Lin Mu focused on his body and saw that he could zoom into certain parts if he wanted to and could also look into the different organs of the body. It was like he was able to separate out the differentyers of his body.


    He thus checked them and went through eachyer one by one. But when he arrived at the internal level after having passed through the skin, and muscles, he saw two eye catching things.


    The first was none other than his Spleen. It was tucked under his left lung and was almost touching his liver. But that was not the thing that caught his attention, rather it was the heaviness that was exuding from it.


    Lin Mu was not even holding it and yet could tell that it was heavy. And not only that, but now that he was looking at it, he could see a brown glowing from it as well.


    "Is this perhaps the effect caused by the Five Treasure realm?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He then looked at the second thing that was pulling his attention, which was none other than his heart. It was a vibrant red in color and each and every vein on it was prominent. It beat with vitality and seemed powerful.


    It also emanated a heat that was like the depths of a furnace. Focusing on it, Lin Mu could see a ball of fire burning within it that looked like a sun. Seeing this, Lin Mu was now sure of what it was.


    "It truly is the effect of the Five Treasures realm¡­ every organ that is refined will gain a property like that it seems¡­ the only thing is why am I seeing this?" Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    It was at this moment that his heart let out a humming sound again.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Then it spontaneouslybusted and let out a torrent of mes. These mes spread all over Lin Mu''s body and threatened to burn him.


    "ARGH! GODDAMMIT! WHAT IS THIS!?" Lin Mu cursed in pain.


    His entire self felt like it was burning and felt incredibly hot. He couldn''t even do anything and simply held on. And while in pain, a memory came to him. It was about the time he had broken through to the second stage of the Five Treasures realm and had just finished the refinement of his Spleen.


    "IT''S THAT!" Lin Mu remembered.


    When he had finished his spleen''s refinement, it was like a very heavy gravity was ced on him. He felt like he would be pressed into a t pancake. But he had borne through it and had eventuallye out on top.


    ''It''s like a tribtion¡­ but at every stage of the Five Treasures realm? No wonder it''s so difficult for others¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    Going along with this assumption of his, Lin Mu just gritted his teeth and decided to endure it till the end. He had confidence that he would be able toe out on top again and won''t lose now.


    The fire crackled, and the pain continued.


    Lin Mu had lost track of the time a while ago and didn''t know just how long it had been. It could have been hours, or it could have been days, he did not know. All he knew was that he had to endure.


    Time passed¡­


    ***


    In the real world, the sounds of battle could be heard.


    The forest near the grotto of the Thousand year old Hong Lin Trees was burning. A scene of devastation and death could be witnessed. Broken and burnt trees wereying on the ground along with several beast corpses.


    Some were mangled, some burnt, some crushed.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    A thunderous roar burst through the raging mes as the face of a beast appeared.. Its eyes were a glowing red and red mes burnt all over it.

 Chapter 764 - An Ugly Beast And Hordes

    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    A wall of mes was spat out by the beast which burnt down a swarm of beasts that was heading towards the grotto.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Then in the next moment, the beast disappeared, leaving behind a mere blur. A few secondster, it appeared in a different location where more beasts were gathering and spat out more mes burning all of them down.


    The beasts that were dying were not weak either. There was a mix of Qi refinement, Core condensation, and even Nascent soul realm beasts in them. Their cultivation bases varied, but their numbers were in the thousands.


    All of them were in a strange, frenzied state and tried to rush towards the grotto.


    <i>~GRRR~</i> Content held by N?velDrama.Org.


    "I WON''T LET YOU GET CLOSE!" Little Shrubby let out an angry growl.


    He had sensed the beasts appearing and had stopped them before they could even get within two kilometers of the grotto. He had killed and fought thousands of them by now, but their numbers were just endless.


    Little Shrubby could tell that they were being attracted by Lin Mu, since the aura that he was releasing right now was irresistible to all the beasts. It was as if someone had thrown a pile of bloodied meat in the center of starving beasts.


    Like sharks rushing towards blood, the beasts all rushed towards the grotto. Even Little Shrubby himself could feel the temptation. But he felt it differently. To him, he felt that it was precocious and nothing should happen to it.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    Little Shrubby burst through a herd of beasts and tore them to shreds. His ws had been ripping into flesh non stop and were now stained with blood. Due to their heat, they were constantly drying out the blood that covered them.


    And now ayer of dried blood had caked up on them. Little Shrubby''s entire body was lit with mes as well, thus if any beast tried to get close or touch him, they would get injured too.


    If they were weak, they would be burned even before touching him just due to the sheer heat. As for those that were stronger and a bit more durable, they would experience their skin and bones being scorched upon touching Little Shrubby.


    Of course, this was IF they even managed to do that. So far, Little Shrubby had the advantage due to his greatly superior speed. But he had now been fighting for several days now and was getting tired.


    While his spirit Qi consumption was not at the same level as when they fought the Bronze Tribe Wolf, it was certainly getting closer and closer.


    <i>~TREMBLE~</i>


    And just as he was fighting yet another horde of beasts, a loud tremor shook the ground. It was as if a mountain was falling and caused the beasts to shiver involuntarily. Little Shrubby instantly sensed it and knew what it was.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    He disappeared and reached the sky in a couple of seconds and gazed upon therge beast that was approaching. It had three legs that looked like that of an elephant, a fat body that had bulging rolls of skin, and warts that looked like bubbles.


    Its back had a strange greenish ck fur that emanated a foul stench and at the bottom of it, there was also a short tail that looked like that of a donkey. Then there were its arms that were covered in rough and rugged skin.


    It looked like it was made out of stones but the power in them could be felt as well. The torso of the beast had small hard bumps on it as well that were Grey colored. Then there was the beast''s head.


    Its head looked mismatched with its body and was rtively smaller. It had a wide mouth that opened all the way to its ears and two bulging eyes that had horizontal pupils like that of a goat.


    They were colored yellow and the sclera around it was a ck-red in color with the veins popping up every now and then. At the top of its head, there were three horns as well. Two of the horns were short and stubby, but the one at the center was long and sharp.


    Every step of the beast shook the ground and made it crack. It was three times the size of the Bronze Tribe Wolf that Little Shrubby and Lin Mu had fought before and looked far more powerful than as well.


    Little Shrubby narrowed his eyes and felt a sense of danger from the beast.


    ''It''s at the Dao Shell realm¡­ but stronger than the wolf¡­'' Little Shrubby thought to himself.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    But then he showed his fangs and let out a threatening growl.


    "I won''t let you go further!" He said staunchly.


    The ugly andrge beast had reached closer by now. It looked at Little Shrubby, who was standing in the air and opened its mouth. Its teeth were of different sizes and were ck and yellow in color, looking utterly repulsive.


    "GRARARARRARARAARAR!"


    "GRARARARARARARARAR!"


    The beast let out a loud cry that sounded likeughter. It was eerie and would make one feel goosebumps.


    "Humph!"


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Little Shrubby didn''t hold back and shot out a fireball from his mouth. The fireball hit the beast on its face and exploded, causing an explosion.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    But then, in the next second, the ugly beast swiped its hands, blowing away the smoke of the explosion. It was unharmed and looked to be the same as before. Its face now had an ugly frown on its face that suited its ugly appearance.


    "BUG! KILL!" The Ugly actually spoke some words.


    It then swung itsrge arms towards Little Shrubby.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Strong winds were knocked up due to the force behind them and actually pushed Little Shrubby behind.


    And while Little Shrubby was distracted due to this momentarily, the Ugly beast moved at an astonishingly fast speed and appeared right above Little Shrubby.. It then lifted its hand and mmed them towards Little Shrubby like a hammer.

 Chapter 765 - Two Treasured Organs And A Demon Beast

    The hands of the ugly beast descended like a hammer and Little Shrubby could not react to it due to still recovering from the previous attack. For the first time, he was unable to use his speed and was helpless.


    It watched as the fists descended, anger burning in his eyes. But at the same time, a hint of helplessness and sorrow was also present there. He didn''t know if he''ll be able to survive this or not, but he just thought about Lin Mu instead.


    "Sorry I won''t be to protect you master¡­" Little Shrubby muttered.


    He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable¡­ but instead of that, something else happened.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    As if a bronze bell had been rung, sound waves spread in the area. A jet of wind also spread along with it, prompting Little Shrubby to open his eyes. And when he did, so he saw something shocking.


    Standing there was Lin Mu, the top half of his robes were missing and his head was lowered. A shadow was cast on his face, making it impossible to see his appearance. He had extended his right hand up and had held up the fists of the Ugly beast.


    If anyone were to see it right now, they would be shocked. Lin Mu was blocking an attack of a Dao Shell realm beast with a single hand. His torso, left bare, rippled under the force as vitality and spirit Qi stirred like a stormy ocean.


    "Master¡­?" Little Shrubby spoke.


    Lin Mu turned his head and looked at him as a smile appeared on his face.


    "It will be fine now¡­" He said before turning to look at the ugly beast who was a bit bewildered and confused.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    Lin Mu brought his fingers together and made a fist with his left hand before punching out.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: First Form- Impact!


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The skill hit the Ugly beast''s hand like a truck, knocking him back and making him trip over the trees behind him.


    <i>~Crash~</i>


    The beast fell to the ground, crushing many beasts and trees beneath it.


    "UGGGAAAAAAAAA!" The Beast let out an angry cry and iled his hands before using them to prop himself up again.


    Lin Mu finally got to take a proper look around him, now that he had gotten a full hold of himself.


    "Are you fine?" He asked Little Shrubby.


    "I''m good¡­ just a bit tired," Little Shrubby replied.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and saw the thousands of beasts that were present here. All of the beasts were now looking at him as well, as if he was a juicy piece of meat.


    "What exactly is happening here, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "<i>~Sigh~</i> I had hoped this would not happen, but it seems like it is." Xukong replied.


    "What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu said, feeling confused.


    "This is the effect of the Five Treasures realm," Xukong stated.


    "Huh? How?" Lin Mu was even more confused now.


    "Well, the Five Treasures realm refines your organs, right? Well, while it does increase your own power, those organs are also very valuable to others. If a beast or cultivator can get them by killing you, they will be able to use it to further their own cultivation.


    This is another reason why Body cultivators can be considered to be a bit rare. The ones that reach a higher level are sometimes hunted down for their bodies. For example, in the five treasures realm, your organs will literally be a treasure for cultivators.


    Of course, normally most cultivators would not be able to sense it, but the beasts in this minor ne are rather different and have a higher sensitivity, it seems. All of them desire your treasured organs and want to kill you." Xukong exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was quite stunned. He had not expected there to be a reason like this.


    "Then¡­ does it mean I''ll be hunted down all the time now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­ fortunately, this effect on the beast is only temporary. I reckon it happened due to the aura re up during your breakthrough. That was like a tribtion, you could say. After all, now that your heart is also refined and you''vepleted two treasured organs, your body is now equivalent to that of an Adult Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator." Xukong answered.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Hearing this, Lin Mu took a breath of relief. While he was not that afraid of fighting beasts, if he had to constantly do this, even he would get annoyed. But knowing that this was just a temporary thing felt better to him.


    "GUARARAR!" The Ugly beast looked at Lin Mu and shouted at him, spittle flying all over.


    Lin Mu blinked at that moment and dodged the disgusting spit.


    "Ugh, what is this beast even?" Lin Mu said as he took note of the different features of the beast.


    The beast had too many different things on its body, which made it difficult to estimate what kind of a beast it was.


    "Huh? That''s a Demon beast. It seems like¡­ an impure one though." Xukong spoke.


    "That''s a demon beast? Aren''t they supposed to be a bit more¡­ normal?" Lin Mu said.


    "Yeah, as I said, it is impure. While it did manage to awaken its demon bloodline, it was far too impure and muddled. That''s why it has so many mixed features and parts. If it had awakened a more pure or refined demon bloodline, it would have looked far more normal." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu had learned about demon beasts before and had also read about them in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal. Demon beasts were nothing but beasts that had the bloodlines of demons in them.


    Simr to how humans could have beast bloodlines, the beasts could also have demon bloodlines. This was usually due to a beast having an ancestor that managed to reach a high enough cultivation base so as to transform into a humanoid form.


    The offspring of a transformed Beast and Demon was a Demon beast.

 Chapter 766 - A Mixed Troll Demon Beast

    Demon beasts were a rather peculiar breed of creatures. Due to how proliferated the demon race and the beast race were across the many worlds, they could be found almost everywhere.


    Many beasts often had traces of demon bloodlines in them and the only thing that mattered was if it was pure enough or not. If it was pure, they would be able to awaken it and be a Demon Beast.


    If it was not pure enough and had a lot of bloodlines mixed, it was called impure. Beasts with this were unable to awaken it, but there were still some beasts who, through some stroke of luck or a fortunate encounter, manage to awaken that bloodline.


    The Ugly beast in front of Lin Mu could be considered to be one of those lucky beasts. It very clearly had a muddled bloodline, and its effects could be seen on its physique. The mostmon difference that was there between Demon beasts and normal beasts was the fact that they could actually gain humanoid forms way faster.


    Even in the Nascent Soul realm, there were several demon beasts who managed to gain a humanoid form. And the higher their cultivator base went, the closer they could get to a true human form.


    Lin Mu looked at the ugly beast who looked like a mix between a goat, an elephant, and heavens know what other demons. It was now rushing towards Lin Mu with certain anger in its eyes.


    "Let''s get rid of this ugly beast first¡­" Lin Mu said as he blinked to the back of the beast.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    A punch hit the back of the ugly beast, making it flinch in pain.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    <i>~CRACKLE~</i>


    Sparks flew as Little Shrubby''s ws tore into the sides of the beast. But its thick skin prevented it from getting injured. The rock like skin was almost imprable to attacks and only Lin Mu''s blunt attacks seem to be working.


    "A thick skinned one huh¡­ well I''ve seen more thick skinned people than this," Lin Mu said as he blinked to the side of the beast''s head and punched again.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Its head was rung like a bell, and it let out a loud cry.


    "UGAAAAAA! HURTS!" The Beast said.


    Hearing this though, Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Huh, it speaks?" Lin Mu said.


    "Oh? This is a surprise¡­ impure demon beasts like these are usually mindless and act on instinct. In fact, their intelligence can be even lower than normal beasts as a side effect of a mixed and muddled bloodline." Xukong replied.


    <i>~ROAR~</i>


    Little Shrubby took the opportunity while the beast was crying to shoot out a fireball.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The fireball exploded on the ugly beast''s face and some of it even got into its mouth that was open due to it crying out in pain.


    "UGAAWWWWWWW!" The beast cried even more and shook his head around.


    Lin Mu dodged its blind swings effortlessly and looked at the beast with curiosity.


    "Wait a minute though¡­ it''s fine that he''s speaking¡­ but he''s speaking in Dao Script, isn''t he?" Lin Mu realized.


    "It must have learned it from somewhere. It can''t just do it spontaneously, can he?" Lin Mu added.


    "Actually¡­ that''s probably how it did. Just like Little Shrubby, it must have had some bloodline memories." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to focus on the task at hand.


    <i>~deng~deng~deng~</i>


    Each of his fist attacks was powerful and made the ugly beast flinch.


    "Let''s try the weapons¡­" Lin Mu said as he drew out the Short sword.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    But the moment he hit the beast, the sword was blocked by its tough skin. Lin Mu furrowed his brows and drew out the Iron Thorn Spear instead. He then sped ahead and thrust it towards the Ugly beast.


    <i>~WENG~</i>


    In another surprise to Lin Mu, even the strong and sharp Iron Thorn Spear was unable to do much to the beast''s skin.


    "Just what the heck is this beast?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Hmm¡­ this is indeed quite peculiar. For it to resist High grade weapons like this¡­ I can only think of a few demon beasts that might be able to do so. And if this beast has their bloodline, then it is quite likely the reason for his high defenses." Xukong replied.


    "Seems like blunt attacks are the way to go for now," Lin Mu said and put away the weapons for now.


    He steeled his fists and blinked to the beast''s forehead.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    "GUARAAA! Die BUG!" The ugly base replied and blocked with his fists.


    Lin Mu''s fist and the ugly beast''s arms made contact, and both of them were pushed back slightly. The brown armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture appeared and blocked the recoil for Lin Mu, but the Ugly beast was not so fortunate.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    A crack appeared on its rocky skin and a faint redyer could be seen beneath it.


    "So Qi amplification works¡­ need to target the weaker spots and seams in its skin," Lin Mu learned.


    Content held by N?velDrama.Org.


    But as he was looking, his eyes widened.


    "Huh? He''s already healing?!" Lin Mu observed the crack in its skin closing up and whatever blood that was about to drip out was absorbed back in.


    "I now know what Demon beast that is¡­ it''s definitely a Demon beast with a troll''s bloodline. They have strong defenses like this and good regeneration. But on the other hand, they have low intelligence, no talent in using spirit Qi for Qi skills and are also greatly dependent on their bodies." Xukong said.


    "A troll¡­ I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu said, as he quickly thought of some possible solutions.


    Since the beast could regenerate whatever wounds Lin Mu made, he reckoned he would have to either make bigger wounds that took longer to heal or prevent them from healing somehow.


    While thinking, he continued to dodge and attack the Ugly beast which Lin Mu now knew was a mixed Troll Demon Beast.

 Chapter 767 - Discoveries

    Lin Mu''s attacks were certainly doing some level of damage to the beast and the attack that did the most damage was none other than the Boulder Copsing Fist. Though Lin Mu also wondered if other skills could damage the beast or not.


    "Let''s try meld¡­" Lin Mu muttered and put some distance between himself and the beast.


    Meld!


    In the next moment, space started to move and froze the Mixed Troll beast in ce.


    "It does work¡ª" But just as Lin Mu was about to say it, he saw something shocking.


    Ayer of spirit Qi was being emanated by the beast''s skin, which was now pushing the mixed troll demon beast away from the area under the influence of meld.


    "Huh? What the hell?" Lin Mu was shocked.


    He tried to focus and realized that the space around the beast was being repelled by its skin. It was a stage phenomenon that Lin Mu had not seen before in a beast, but he had certainly seen it with his other skills before.


    "Is it actually resisting it?" Lin Mu realized.


    "Your proficiency with Meld is still too low for you to be able to break through the defense of a demon beast that is specialized in defense. It can actively use its spirit Qi in this manner even if its proficiency with Qi skills is non existent.


    If it were some other Dao Shell realm being, you might have been able to do it." Xukong replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt enlightened. He knew that while the ring and its skills were very strong, the bottleneck that limited its potential was none other than Lin Mu himself. If Lin Mu''s proficiency and cultivation grew, the power of the skill would also grow.


    Having learned that Meld did not really work on the Troll, Lin Mu decided to use the direct method of fighting.


    "But since I''ve used it already¡­ I may as well take advantage of it. MELD!" Lin Mu flicked his hand, and the ground rose up around the Troll.


    Meld had shifted the ground and blocked the legs of the Troll.


    "GURAAAAAA!" The Troll was certainly irritated due to it and had to spend some time getting out of the obstacle.


    Lin Mu thought took full advantage and let out another barrage of blows.


    One after the other, Boulder Copsing fists hit the beast.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Soon the damage was starting to pile up and wounds started to appear on the body of the Troll.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    And just as the wounds appeared, Little Shrubby took the opportunity to singe them with his mes. This way, the wounds were not able to heal right away and was slowing down the troll even more.


    "NICE! Keep on doing that!" Lin Mu told Little Shrubby.


    "Okay!" He replied and flew away.


    Since he was rather exhausted, Little Shrubby could not use the full potential of his cultivation base. Thus, Lin Mu had to handle the troll while Little Shrubby took the safe opportunities.


    The battle continued for hours on end. This was the longest Lin Mu had actually fought non stop till now and he was still feeling good.


    "I can do this all day!" Lin Mu taunted.


    "GURAAAAA!" The Troll growled in anger.


    The nearby beasts that approached Lin Mu were also killed due to him and Meld was getting used to that since it could decimate hundreds of beasts at once. Little Shrubby was also recovering little by little, using the spirit stones that he had and was keeping the other beasts away.


    This prevented Lin Mu from getting disturbed, and the focus was on the troll. Lin Mu also realized something else during this fight. The longer he fought, the better his control over his body was getting.


    He had not realized it at first, but after the breakthrough, his body''s power had increased day quite a lot and he had yet to reach its limits. This fight was helping him amodate that.


    ''May as well take full advantage, I won''t get an opponent like this easily.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and continued the battle.


    He had used the Boulder Copsing fist about 20 times till now, and that was the most he had used in a short time. Boulders copsing fist was increasing in power too little by little.


    ''No, it''s not power¡­ it''s efficiency¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    He discovered that when he used the skill a certain amount of energy was wasted in it. For example, if he used ten percent of his spirit Qi, only five percent was actually used and the rest of it was wasted in the execution.


    N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    "Never thought I had been wasting so much of it¡­ how did I not realize it till now?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "It could be due to the fact that the Boulder Copsing fist is a rather vtile skill. I mean, normal cultivators won''t even be able to use it without injuring themselves. You can only do it due to being a body cultivator." Xukong spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ it seems like it senior. But now that I think of it, perhaps the Boulder Copsing fist was always meant for body cultivators. Maybe itsck of requirements was just an open point, but not a rmendation." Lin Mu replied.


    "That may be true seeing as how you are able to use it fully without being injured," Xukong said.


    "Well¡­ only the first two forms leave me uninjured. The third one, though¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Perhaps that may have changed too? You havepleted two treasured organs after all." Xukong added.


    Hearing this Lin Mu''s eyes lit up, and he wondered if it really was true. He now wanted to use the skill and end the Troll beast. But there was a problem with that¡­ unlike the first 2 forms, the Third form wasn''t exactly instantaneous in its execution.


    Lin Mu needed to prepare it for a few seconds before it could be used.. And that time was something he did not have in a fight like this.

 Chapter 768 - Personal Challenge

    Lin Mu was now using just his own body to fight the troll and had stopped using his spirit Qi,pletely. He wasn''t even flying now and was just walking and jumping around the ground.


    He hadpletely taken to the challenge and wanted to see if he could deal with the beast using just his body. It was a personal challenge that he had made up during the fight and was now doing his best.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "This is certainly a different experience." Lin Mu said.


    If someone knew what Lin Mu was doing, they would think that he was a fool. But Lin Mu knew exactly what he was doing. He was moving away from relying on just spirit Qi all the time.


    He knew that if he wanted to fully explore the potential of the Body cultivation and the five treasures realm, he had to depend on his body to do so. Besides, while the troll demon beast did looked rather intimidating at first, Lin Mu had now learned most of its actions and behaviors.


    The beast certainly had a ton of stamina and vitality as they had been fighting for two days straight now. The area around them had been left barren and no more beasts were approaching, either.


    All of them had either been killed or were now too scared to approach. The attractive aura that Lin Mu was exuding before had long since faded away. And now that he had just been using his body to fight, a different kind of an aura was appearing on it.


    It was one of dominance and intimidated every beast around him other than Little Shrubby and the troll. And the more he fought, the more it was increasing. Lin Mu had gone quite far in his challenge and had even dropped the armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture.


    A few bruises and marks were now visible on his bare chest, a testimony of his fight.


    "Ahhaha! This is fun!" Lin Mu said as his blood flowed with adrenaline and endorphins.


    It was a strange state he had not experienced before and it was actually giving him joy.


    Xukong who had been observing the entire thing, had some other thoughts though.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This boy¡­ he''s getting infected by that muscle-hotheadedness as well." Xukong shook his head.


    "Seems like the saying is true¡­ all Body cultivators will love fighting and may be addicted to it." Xukong continued.


    He looked back at the scene and saw the wide smile on Lin Mu''s face.


    "Well¡­ at least he''s enjoying it. And it doesn''t seem like he''ll lose any time soon. Plus¡­ he''s actually progressing in his cultivation and he doesn''t know it yet." Xukong said as his eyes narrowed.


    A thin wisp of spirit sense rose up from his body and entered Lin Mu''s body. There, it could observe the activity of the cells that were all bursting with vitality. It was as if they were doped up with drugs and were functioning at their optimum potential


    They were even replicating and increasing in number, healing the injuries that were gained by Lin Mu during the fight. It was an astounding scene for most of the people. But Xukong could observe the depths of it and realized what was actually happening.


    "His body cultivation is actually increasing even now¡­ fighting puts his body under strain, which activates the cells to work harder, which stimtes their potential and progresses the refinement.


    All the vitality gathered into his body due to all the beasts he ate is now fueling it little by little. If he really keeps this up, he might not even need a cultivation technique to progress in the five treasures realm.


    Though it will be slow¡­" Xukong analyzed in depth.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    He let out another sigh and looked back at the altar in the distance.


    "Perhaps¡­ he will show more miracles? What do you say?" Xukong asked, but received no answer.


    ***


    Five days had passed since Lin Mu had started his battle. The wounds on his body had rtively healed up and new ones were not really urring anymore.


    "GURAAAAA! DIE!" The Troll Demon beast punched with his wide fist.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    But before the fist could even reach Lin Mu, he dodged it like a rabbit. He moved very fast such that only a blur was left behind. The most surprising thing was the fact that he was actually not using Blink.


    He had stopped using the ring''s skill as well a while ago. His tendons were strengthened as well and could retract at a very fast speed, allowing him to dodge attacks even better.


    "Hehe, that won''t work anymore." Lin Mu said as he smiled and rushed forward to punch again.


    N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    While he was fighting, Little Shrubby was lying on a rock nearby.


    <i>~Yawn~</i>


    "Master~ How long will you fight? Can''t you just end it now? I''m bored~" Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Just a little while more. I''m nearly done." Lin Mu said.


    And he was actually saying the truth. He could now tell that he had fully controlled the aspects of his body that he was unable to before. He truly was twice as strong as when he was five days ago.


    And despite the continual battle, he was full of energy and the vital energy was just filling his body nonstop. All the beast corpses that he had eaten were showing their effect.


    ''Practicing the Nameless technique of the Lost immortal certainly has its additional hidden benefits¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Since he had never actually fought this long, he had not known that his vitality would continue to be restored by his stomach. It was as if there was a massive stockpile of vital energy hidden within his body, and it was just waiting for Lin Mu to stress it a bit.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    A strong punch hit the Troll beast in his stomach and it spat out a mouthful of blood.


    "GU HA!" The Demon beast cried in pain.


    It then stepped back for the first time and looked apprehensively at Lin Mu.. Then, in the next moment, a sphere appeared from its body.

 Chapter 769 - Flaming Devastator

    Lin Mu could see that the sphere that had just appeared from the Troll''s body was iplete. It only had half of its structure actually solid, while the other half was just made out of a glowing outline.


    "So he''s mid way through the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm." Lin Mu muttered, seeing the sphere.


    But now that the Troll had just released its Dao Shell, Lin Mu knew that it was time to end it. Usually, a cultivator or a beast would not use their Dao Shell directly until it was in the Shellpletion stage.


    Only after it was in that stage would its true power would be unleashed. If used before that, while the Dao shell was very strong, it was still a bit sensitive and if damaged could kill the cultivator in the worst case and regress their cultivation base in the best case.


    "GURAAAAA!" The Troll raised the Half formed Dao Shell over its head and swung it towards Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu''s eyes widened as the Dao Shell moved at a great speed.


    <i>~SHUA~</i> Content held by N?velDrama.Org.


    He dodged at the best speed he could with his body but was still a tad bit slower.


    "Dammit, BLINK!" he was forced to use his Ring''s skills again.


    "You can stop now. You should have already gotten used to your body. Best end this fight now." Xukong rmended.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu said as a serious look appeared on his face.


    He blinked several hundred meters away and got ready for the next part.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The Dao Shell crashed into the spot Lin Mu was in previously and created a loud explosion. Rocks, stones, and soil were shot everywhere as clouds of dust covered the area.


    "UGUAAAAAA!" The Troll beast shouted as the Dao Shell rose back up into the air.


    This cleared up the dust and one could now see a crater that was over ten meters deep and a hundred meters wide.


    "That¡­ is certainly strong." Lin Wu muttered.


    "It is indeed¡­ but that is also the crudest way one can use their Dao Shell. If they had a special kind of a Dao Shell or if they changed its shape, it could have far more power." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu took note of this and decided to ask Senior Xukong more about itter in the future. He had known that there were several different ways of using the Dao Shell and different forms that could be made.


    Some cultivators even decided which form to make depending on the kind of a Dao Embryo they had the confidence to form. Though there were many more that just stayed with the default shape which was that of a sphere and went with it.


    A sphere shaped Dao Shell could technically contain each and every Dao Embryo, but the size of it would often need to be farrger than it would have to be if that Dao Shell was specific to that Dao Embryo.


    For example, if someone''s Dao Embryo was in the form of an Axe, it would make far more sense to make a Dao Shell that was in the shape of a rectangr rather than a sphere. Not only would this take far less energy, but it would also be a lot more time saving.


    There were some that would take it even farther and make their Dao Shell the same shape as that of their Dao Embryo. This would make their Dao embryo fit into the Shell very snugly, like a sword in a sheath.


    But in the case of a low intelligence beast like the Troll here¡­ it was evident that it would never be doing something like that. Its decision to pull out a Dao Shell at this stage was already plenty of evidence that it was not really thinking properly.


    If it were any other Cultivator or even a beast, they would have likely thought of ending the fight far earlier. And if they had no confidence to do so, they would have chosen to retreat.


    But the Mixed Blood Troll Demon beast had its strong body in his favor. Its low intelligence was covered by its defenses and allowed it to fight without a care for a long time.


    "UGAAAAAAA!" The Troll yelled again as it raised the Dao Shell and shot it towards where Lin Mu was.


    Lin Mu had already taken this time to rest his body. The Mortal Strengthening scripture was back in full power and the armor had been awakened. The spirit Qi was also seething within his body and flowed like gushing rivers within his meridians.


    "Oho! This is far better than before." Lin Mu said.


    "Of course, now you have control over both aspects of your cultivation, the spirit Qi and the physique. It will only get better from now." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu clenched his fist and felt the air explode within it.


    "This is way better¡­ I feel like I''m four times as strong as I was earlier." Lin Mu said in disbelief.


    "That might not be that off from the reality. There is a reason why Qi and body dual cultivators are so strong and hard to find. Many people yearn for it but only a few are able to reach that point." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and felt the spirit Qi seethe within his meridians and Dantian. It was as if it was excited to act and was asking Lin Mu to use it. But the surprises were just about to start.


    Within Lin Mu''s Dantian, there were three different colored pools of spirit Qi. One of the pools was mostly colorless and looked like water. This was the attribute less spirit Qi. It was in the majority and covered over eighty percent of the total volume.


    Then there was brown colored spirit Qi pool. This was the earth attribute or earth elemental spirit Qi. Its volume was around fifteen percent of the total spirit Qi present in his body.


    And then finally there was a red pool of spirit Qi. This was none other than the fire attribute or the fire elemental spirit Qi. This was in the smallest quantity, being a mere five percent of the total.


    But it was also this very spirit Qi that was currently the most excited. Ripples could be seen in the pool and some parts of it were even fizzing over. Seeing this, Lin Mu suddenly got an idea.


    "It''s worth a try. Maybe I''ll get to learn something new." Lin Mu muttered to himself before looking towards the troll beast.


    His eyes narrowed, and he flew back while also using blink as much as he could.


    "UGUAAAAAAA!" The Troll Beast was of course, pissed again since Lin Mu ran away.


    It didn''t leave Lin Mu and ran towards him. Of course, by now Lin Mu had already put about two kilometers of a distance between him and the Troll. After gaining this distance, he did not move as he had enough of it now.


    "Let''s try it now¡­" Lin Mu said and ced his fists on his sides.


    He stood in the horse stance and closed his eyes.


    <i>~THUD~THUD~THUD~</i>


    The Troll ran toward Lin Mu, who had closed his eyes as if he didn''t care about it anymore. Every step of the Troll shook the earth, and tremors spread far and wide from it. Lin Mu though, didn''t care for any of it and just focused on himself.


    A change was urring within his body right now. The spirit Qi and vital energy both were agitated. Spirit Qi started to enter his hands and so did the vital energy. But here, the vital energy went into another reaction and started to collide with itself.


    If it were anyone else, their body would have been greatly damaged due to this, But Lin Mu''s was beyond tough at this point. The vital energy wisps collided and twisted around each other like snakes in a pit.


    Soon, they melded together and released waves of energy. A few momentster, they had turned into a liquid form and were no longer in the form of wisps. The Vital energy had turned into Vital essence!


    Once this was done, the vital essence started to grow and spin inside Lin Mu''s right hand. It reached a specific orbit and stayed there while spinning. The spirit Qi that had arrived in his hand from the meridians also did something simr and picked an orbit of itself.


    At this point, both of the energies tried to collide together due to being so close and spinning, but Lin Mu forcefully prevented that. He gritted his teeth and pulled them apart while letting them continue to spin.


    It was like holding two strong mas apart and pulling a third one at the same time. It was not an easy task. Lin Mu put a part of his attention on this while using another part to control something else.


    His spirit sense went to his Dantian and pulled out some of the Fire Attribute spirit Qi that he had stored there. With just a little prodding, the fire elemental spirit Qi ran like an eager child awaiting candy and arrived in his hand.


    There it pushed its way between the spirit Qi and the vital essence and caused a new change. The red energy spun rapidly and formed the axis between the two other energies that were spinning.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    As if a certain equilibrium was achieved, the three energies merged perfectly and Lin Mu opened his eyes.


    At this moment, the troll was just in front of him.


    BLINK!


    Lin Mu arrived at the top of the troll''s head and punched straight down.


    "BOULDER COLLAPSING FIST: Third Form- ming Devastator!"


    In the next moment, it was as if ance of fire shot out of Lin Mu''s hand, letting out a blinding red light.

 Chapter 770 - Effect Of The Flaming Devastator And Future Growth

    This was the move that Lin Mu hade up with. He had an inkling of what would happen if he added a bit of the fire attribute spirit Qi into it, but the effect was far more powerful than he had expected.


    N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    It was as if the catalytic change caused during the formation of thebined energy ribbon had turned it even more vtile. Lin Mu could feel the recoil of the attack in his hand as well.


    While it was being shot out of his hand, his hand was also being pushed back at the same time. He had to put a lot of effort to counteract that or he felt like he would be sent shooting up into the sky.


    "Argh!" Lin Mu gritted his teeth and held on.


    The light was blinding, and he was forced to close his eyes, but his spirit sense was still working to keep his vision. The ming Devastator entered through the top of the Troll Demon beast''s head and pierced through it easily.


    Like a Thermic Lance piercing through solid concrete, it cleaved through the skull of the troll beast and went all the way through the body, beforeing out from below. But its moment had not lessened at all.


    It entered the ground below with even more ease and disappeared into the depths, its fate unknown.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~Sizzle~</i>


    With the attackpleted, Lin Mu Blinked away as he heard several nasty soundsing from the body of the Troll.


    <i>~Pop~ pop~</i>


    He then saw the eyes of the troll boil over and explode from the immense heat. A few more popping sounds could be hearding from the inside of the body, but nothing spilled outside, most likely due to the fact that the channel from where the ming devastator had entered had already been turned into solid ash.


    <i>~huu~huu~huu~</i>


    "That was¡­ something else¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he took deep breaths.


    He winced in pain and raised his right hand before taking a look at it. It was a rather gruesome sight as well. The bones of his knuckles were fully visible and were now charred ck as well.


    The flesh had been burned enough to turn ck, but some of the more further parts were still a raw red. No blood oozed out, as it had been heated enough to either be dried or fully cauterized.


    "Yeah¡­ this is still not something my body can handle freely." Lin Mu said, taking a look at his injury.


    For a normal person, an injury like this was crippling, if not deadly. After all, even if it was distant, a person would still die from the sheer pain and shock of it, not to mention the pain that would knock them out.


    And if they were knocked out in an area like this, they would be a free meal for other beasts.


    But for Lin Mu, it was still something manageable. He took out a couple of healing pills and swallowed them down. He had a ratherrge stock of alchemical pills and herbs by now, and injuries such as these were just light at this point.


    "This is rather unexpected. I thought your body would be able to resit it now that you havepleted two treasured organs." Xukong said.


    "I thought so too¡­ but the power of this move was certainly too much. Even the armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture copsed the moment I used it." Lin Mu repelled.


    "Hmm¡­ how much did it take?" Xukong questioned.


    "Since I didn''t know how the effect would be, I used a little less than before. I used half of the fire attribute spirit Qi which was 2.5% of the total spirit Qi I had, then used 7.5% of the attribute less sprint Qi and 10% of the vital essence." Lin Mu answered.


    "Huh¡­ you''ve used it at thirty percent before too, right? 15% of spirit Qi and 15% of vital energy?" Xukong asked.


    "I''ve used it, yes. But even while reducing the fuel, its power still increased. Seems like mixing in more types of energies increases its power by multiple times. But it also makes it far more vtile and hard to handle." Lin Mu replied.


    "Seems like there might be a lot more to the Boulder Copsing first than we earlier thought. I''m sure this technique is certainly not from a low leveled world¡­ it''s functionality is far too high for that." Xukong said.


    "I think so too, senior Xukong. In fact, whilebining the three energies, I felt like I learned something more." Lin Mu said, hesitating a bit.


    "Eh? What did you learn?" Xukong asked.


    "I¡­ I think I know how to take the technique to the next level¡­" Lin Mu spoke.


    "What?" Xukong was a bit surprised.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and pulled out the old torn booklet from which he had readable the boulder copsing fist. He flipped to the center of the book. While only the starting part of the booklet was fully intact, there were still some fragments of pages left in the center and in the end.


    "I''ve read this before but didn''t understand it back then. But now¡­ I think I can kind of rte the words to the next stage of the technique. Of course¡­ it''ll take a long time before I can fully decipher it enough to learn on my own, but I now have a direction." Lin Mu exined.


    Hearing this, Xukong was surprised once again.


    ''Hisprehension ability is certainly higher than before¡­ to extrapte and learn without the next part andprehend from something that he made on his own¡­ I wonder just how his progress with the Dao will be in the future.'' Xukong thought to himself but did not speak.


    After thinking for a few seconds, he nodded his head and spoke again.


    "Very well¡­ you canprehend it a bit more and try it out to see if it works. But seeing as how much damage it can cause¡­ it might be better to wait till you get stronger.." Xukong suggested.

 Chapter 771 - The Troll’s Corpse

    Having heard Senior Xukong''s suggestion, Lin Mu felt pleased and nodded his head.


    It was something he wanted to do but knew that using techniques blinding can be very dangerous, especially once that was as vtile as the boulder copsing first. Lin Mu had already taken a risk in practicing the nameless technique of the Lost immortal, which was something that was never actually practiced by anyone.


    He had suffered its effects and knew just how debilitating they could be.


    ''If even two treasured organs are not enough¡­ then I''ll refine more. If not three, then four, if not four, then all five, I don''t believe I can''t resist the recoil damage.'' Lin Mu thought to himself with determination.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    While he was thinking to himself, the sound of a gust could be heard and a red blur arrived next to him.


    "THAT WAS AMAZING!" little Shrubby said.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was a bit confused, having been brought out of his thoughts abruptly.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    "The attack! Its power was something I don''t think evens I can escape from." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "It was that fast?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "VERY FAST!" Little Shrubby replied.


    "Huh¡­ guess I have something to use against if I''m up against someone with a speed faster than me." Lin Mu said, hearing this.


    It was a bit unexpected to him since he was actually unable to see how the attack progressed. It was too bright and by the time he got to switching to his spirit sense, the attack had already been executed.


    "Oh yeah, speaking of that¡­ how''s the troll now?" Lin Mu wondered and stood up, ensuring that his right hand wasn''t strained for now.


    Lin Mu and little Shrubby walked up to the standing corpse of the dead troll and saw the aftermath. Blood and goop spilled out of its eyes and dripped down slowly. The Troll''s eyes had exploded due to the heat and whatever was left of his brain wasing out of them now.


    The outside of the Troll''s body was actually fine looking, since most of the damage was to the insides.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu eximed upon seeing the hole in the ground below the troll.


    This was the ce from where the ming devastator had exited and entered the ground. There he could see a red hot tube that went rather deep. The glowing red color could be seen all the way down and its depth was hard to estimate. Though the width of the hole wasn''t that much, being just five inches wide.


    "Just how deep did it manage to go?" Lin Mu wondered and used his spirit sense.


    Soon it went into the depths of the hole, and he got the depth of the hole.


    "Five¡­ five hundred¡­ it''s over five hundred meters." Lin Mu muttered.


    "That is indeed impressive¡­ for it to pierce through a strong defensive based demon beast like the troll and still have enough energy left over to melt over five hundred meters of soil and rocks. The power is certainly quite good." Xukong acknowledge.


    "Mmhmm¡­ and this was with a low powered version¡­ I can increase this even more." Lin Mu said.


    "But that would probably end up with you losing your entire arm or more." Xukong replied.


    "That is if I can even execute it, I don''t think I can even go beyond thirty percent level. It would either explode inside my arm before that, or I would not be able to hold my position and be sent flying back instead.


    The opposing force generated by the skill is way too much to resist normally." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That''s another few things you''ll have to think of solving before you get started on the next level of the skill." Xukong added.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu agreed.


    The two of them talked for a bit more while Little Shrubby sniffed and looked at the Troll.


    "I don''t think we can eat this anymore." Little Shrubby said.


    Lin Mu heard his voice and looked towards the Troll corpse. He used his spirit sense to check its insides and found them to be burnt beyond recognition. Only the tough outer skin and some bone were left intact for now.


    "Yeah¡­ doesn''t seem like it." Lin Mu agreed, though he did feel a bit grossed out at eating an overly ugly beat like this.


    "And there is no Nascent soul for me to eat either." Little Shrubby added.


    "Oh? I almost forgot about that. It should have still been here though, right?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Do you really think a move as vtile as that would allow a spirit Qi construct like the Nascent soul to exist for more than an instant?" Xukong chucked. "It was gone the moment you used it."


    "Ah¡­ of course." Lin Mu said.


    He knew that in most cases, the Nascent soul of a cultivator could survive and escape. If it could find another suitable body it could possibly gain a second life. This had happened with many of the Nascent soul realm enemies that Lin Mu had killed.


    Little Shrubby liked eating their Nascent Souls, so Lin Mu would keep them for him. But in case of strong attacks like the ming devastator or even the normal devastator, it was tough for a Nascent soul to survive.


    It was the same as putting a candle in front of a seething storm; it would blow it out in the blink of an eye.


    "Though¡­ I think you can fashion a good armor out of the remains of the Troll beast." Xukong suggested.


    "Oh? I can?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Of course. Though processing might be a bit hard." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ guess Jing Luo will have another project to work on." Lin Mu said as he stored the corpse of the Troll Demon beast into his ring.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "That was a long week¡­ I want a bath.." Lin Mu said as he took a look at his body, which was covered with dirt and dust and blood and soot.

 Chapter 772 - A Relaxing Bath

    <i>~SIZZLE~</i>


    Lin Muid in arge bronze tub as water boiled in it.


    <i>~FUUUU~FUUUU~</i>


    "Is this enough?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yeah, that''s hot enough." Lin Mu said.


    He thenid back and rested his head. Lin Mu had been fighting for about a week straight and even though he was not fully exhausted at the end, using the ming Devastator had certainly put some extra strain on his body.


    Soaking in warm¡­ or boiling water in his case was rather rxing for Lin Mu. His body had reached a level of toughness that warm water did not even feel like anything. Only when it got to bubbling did it feelfortable.


    Fortunately for Lin Mu, there was little shrubby who could heat it up in a jiffy.


    He scrubbed away the filth and dirt that had stained him and washed the blood on his body as well. The wound on his right hand was tingling, which was a sign that it was already on its way to healing soon.


    Lin Mu spent about an hour soaking in the water and felt better after it. Feeling refreshed, he donned a new pair of dark blue robes with ck designs. The robes he was wearing previously had been burned away during his breakthrough.


    Thankfully Lin Mu had nock of clothes now. He had enough that they would probablyst a hundred years. That is of course¡­ if he didn''t end up destroying them every day.


    Thinking of the clothes, Lin Mu had a thought.


    ''Wonder what Jing Luo would be able to do with the corpse of the Troll Demon beast. It certainly has some different properties, maybe I''ll get to see something new.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "What should we do now?" Little Shrubby questioned, bringing Lin Mu out of his thoughts.


    "Oh? Yeah¡­ our main mission that we came here for is pretty muchplete now. And thinking of the time¡­ I think we have just a little under a month left here." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Then¡­ do we go back?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Do you want to go back?" Lin Mu asked for his opinion.


    "Hmmm¡­ I''m fine with either option. But the things here are good too. We can find lots of food and herbs we don''t find other ces." Little Shrubby said.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s true." Lin Mu agreed.


    "You can look around the remaining time. See if you can find things or treasures to further your cultivation base. I''m sure you should be able to find herbs and other treasures that can help your body cultivation as well." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Oh yeah, that''s true as well. Coming back to this ceter will be difficult. And I don''t think we''ll have the opportunity again anytime soon. At least not before Gu Yao is dealt with." Lin Mu said, as a glint appeared in his eyes.


    He was now even more confident of killing Gu Yao. He had managed to kill two Dao Shell realm creatures one of which was even a Shell Genesis stage Dao Shell realm demon beast Troll, thus he felt like he could do a lot more.


    After thinking for a bit, Lin Mu made up his mind.


    "Alright, we''ll stay here for a while more. I''ll try to reach the Adult Stage of the Nascent soul realm as well in the meantime." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby agreed.


    With that said and done, Lin Mu and Little shrubby began their journey again. The ce they were heading to was none other than the Billion Flower Meadow. The location that the former Adviser Chu had left from was nearby from there and Lin Mu wanted to see how it actually was.


    Even though he knew that he could leave at any time, he still wanted to be assured of it. It would be very unfortunate if he waste and the mission he came for was failed. He did not want to give up on a strong allow as the Noon Grass sect.


    Even though they were the lowest ranked of all the Top sects, they were still a top sect. Not to mention they had a lot of strong cultivators among them, even if they were low key most of the time.


    Plus, if he managed to get the Noon grass sect on his side, convincing the Long Cloud alliance with them would be far easier. After all, even if Lin Mu was strong, it was a different thing if there was another Top ten sect in the conversation.


    So far, Lin Mu had gathered only a handful of allies and he didn''t know if they would be enough for the battle that would being. He knew that even if he got very strong, the quantitative factor was hard to ignore.


    The Northern Tribes were still the unknown factor, and Lin Mu did not know how they would be acting. Plus, Lin Mu now knew that they had three Immortal Ascension realm cultivators as well along with several Dao Treading realm cultivators.


    This only made him more anxious. After all, Lin Mu did not know if he would be able to get the top three sects on his side. They were the only ones that had Immortal Ascension realm cultivators among them.


    Not to mention, Lin Mu was technically a wanted criminal among the sects and the kingdoms. There was little to think if they would prefer to attack him first rather than listen to him.


    With the scheme Gu Yao had hatched, it was quite likely that they would choose the former. That''s why Lin Mu knew that he needed to have power and allies on his side. Only then would he be on talking terms with the sects.


    Time was running out, and Gu Yao was spreading his. With each passing day, Lin Mu felt more anxious, but he knew that was not good. All he could do for now was keep a strong mind and soldier on.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    As these thoughts went through his mind, Lin Mu ended up reaching the meadow.

 Chapter 773 - Brood Mane Lion And Hundred Mirror Leopard Bloodlines

    <i>"Ahh~</i> this ce is good!" Little Shrubby said as heid and rolled in the flowers.


    Lin Mu smiled seeing it and sat down for a bit as well. The wood attribute spirit Qi was quite high in the area and he could feel himself absorbing it as well.


    ''I wonder if the other types of elemental spirit Qi will have the same effect as that of the fire elemental spirit Qi, when using it with the boulder copsing fist.'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    "With how flexible the technique is, I won''t be surprised if it really does work. Why don''t you try it out." Xukong suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ I guess I can try that after I''m healed up. In the meantime, I may as well try absorbing some Wood Attribute spirit Qi here." Lin Mu said.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby ended up spending about three days in the meadow and absorbed the wood attribute spirit Qi here. Little Shrubby gained the most of course, and his Fume Wood Panther Bloodline was getting a bit stronger as well.


    Lin Mu gave him beast Qi specifically for the Fume Wood Panther Bloodline, so it was steadily increasing Little Shrubby''s affinity with the Fume Wood Panther Bloodline. Though for now, there were no specific changes that had urred in his body.


    The only characteristic that Little Shrubby had right now were those of the sh Fire Liger and Scorch w Tiger. Each of Little Shrubby''s seven bloodlines was powerful on its own and could increase his power greatly.


    Though which ones will show the most effects and which ones will give him new abilities were still a mystery. Lin Mu had a hunch that other than the affinity with the different elements each bloodline had, there might be some innate skills Little Shrubby might gain.


    In the case of elemental affinity, there was fire, wood, lightning, and Darkness. Having an affinity to two of the Four Heavenly elements was considered rather outstanding already, not to mention some other unique abilities that the Brood Mane Lion and the Hundred Mirror Leopard had.


    Lin Mu was currently studying a bit more about those beasts and learned some new things.


    "Oh? The Brood Mane Lion is good at controlling and directing beasts of its Pride. They are known to be able to use their Innate skill, ''Call of the Brood'' to increase the power of the beasts subordinate to it.


    I wonder just how much of an increase it can bring. If I do get more beasts in the future, it mighte in handy." Lin Mu learned.


    "Hmm¡­ I don''t think I''ve heard of Brood Mane Lions that much. While they are indeed strong, they aren''t that astounding either. I guess you can consider this bloodline to be the lowest ranked one amongst Little Shrubby''s seven." Xukong spoke.


    "I see¡­ still, having it will be better than nothing." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu continued reading a bit more about the Brood Mane Lion and was soon done. In the end, he came to the same conclusion as senior Xukong, while the beast was strong, it was nothing too special.


    "Oh yeah senior, what do you know about the Hundred Mirror Leopards?" Lin Mu asked, since he was unable to find much about it in the records he had.


    "Hmm¡­ they live in strange worlds called as Mirror worlds and there are very few of them left. Their abilities are strange and sometimes even terrifying to people. They can mimic different Qi skills and techniques while also being able to create clones of themselves.


    Not much is known about them because of the worlds they live in. Mirror worlds are hard to ess and ones that do manage to enter one are unable to return." Xukong answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was very interested. He had not expected this bloodline to have such aspects. He was also curious about the mirror worlds that Xukong had talked about.


    "Tell me more about the mirror world''s senior." Lin Mu asked.


    "Mirror worlds are in a way replicas of the other worlds. While they are fully functional, they are also Dependant on the other world. Theye into existence in mysterious ways, and we still don''t know the exact reason behind it.


    Usually, if a world has a mirror world attached to it, nothing unusual happens. But when the borders between the worlds get closer or the beasts in the mirror world get stronger, they may start to cross over to the main worlds.


    The Hundred Mirror Leopard is one such beast that has been noted to be like that. It can appear out of mirrored surfaces and snatch away humans and other beasts. It is a predator that is hard to catch or even notice.


    Many unusual disappearances of people are often attributed to the existence of a mirror world and the Hundred Mirror Leopards.


    The Mirror worlds are also rather strange and can exhibit unusual phenomena. These arergely unstudied and only a handful of schrs have actually managed to return from such worlds." Xukong exined.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu felt amazed. He had not expected that there would be something as unique as mirror worlds as well. The more he learned about the universe, the more he understood that what he understood was just a grain of sand in an endless ocean.


    This only fueled him to learn more and more while also making him want to see all of those with his own eyes.


    "Ah, this should be enough." Lin Mu said as he stood up.


    He stretched a bit before looking towards little Shrubby.


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    "Let''s go." He said.


    <i>~roll~</i>


    Little Shrubby turned on the ground and stood up as well. Both of them had gained a bit while staying here and their cultivation bases had progressed as well. Lin Mu was inching closer and closer to the Adult Stage of the nascent soul realm.


    Plus, he now had an additional pool of spirit Qi in his Dantian and this one was green in color.

 Chapter 774 - The Eight Hill

    The pool of wood attribute spirit Qi in Lin Mu''s Dantian was not as big as that of the fire elemental or the earth elemental pool, but it was still rtively big considering that the total capacity of Lin Mu''s Dantian was ever expanding.


    Cultivation in the Nascent soul realm didn''t depend on how much spirit Qi on had their Dantian directly but instead depended on how grown the Nascent soul realm was. For most people, their Dantian capacity would not change after a certain point.


    But Lin Mu was a big exception to that and had yet to see any sign of it stopping. He was at a point where he reckoned even if he was getting close to the full capacity of his Dantian, just as he was about to reach it, it would just expand even more to amodate the spirit Qi.


    Thus, even if the Wood attribute spirit Qi in his Dantian was just 3% of the total spirit Qi that he had, it might be equal to all the spirit Qi, a newly broken though Infant Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator might have.


    Although Lin Mu''s High Dantian capacity was also countered by his skills and techniques that used up arge amount of spirit Qi. While Flicker, Blink, and Phase were rtively light use for Lin Mu now and he could use them tens of thousands of times, it was not the same for Fade and Meld.


    Fade consumed 1% of Lin Mu''s total spirit Qi regardless of how much he had at this point. This was aplex point he only understood as a cost rted to how his cultivation base grew and the equivalent energy needed to enter the parallel world.


    As for Meld, its consumption was rtive to how long and how much of an area Lin Mu controlled. If he controlled it for too long or toorge of an area, the consumption would increase exponentially.


    Though Senior Xukong had told him that if he could better his proficiency with the skill, he would be able to reduce the consumption even more.


    Then there were was the Boulder Copsing Fist. Each form of it used either Vital energy or spirit Qi. And the quantity used could be varied as needed by Lin Mu. But the minimum number was still 1% of his total capacity.


    As such, Lin Mu knew he had to keep these skills as his trumps cards. Even if his cultivation base grew, he couldn''t just keep on using them blindly and expect to be fine. He would need to diversify his skills, and that was exactly why he was focused on bettering his body.


    If just his body was strong enough to take all the hits and deal enough damage without even needing the spirit Qi, Lin Mu would be far more powerful. Thus, furthering his body cultivation was key to this.


    The way he thought of it was that his Five Treasures realm cultivation base was now for general fights and long term sustained fights, while his spirit Qi cultivation would be for the specific situations where he could not deal with it using his body.


    With his new path decided, Lin Mu now knew how to proceed. Before, he was moving a bit blindly on the path of cultivation. He knew that he had to defeat Gu Yao, but did not know how he would be fighting.


    But now he knew it very well. All he needed to do was to keep on progressing and he''ll be able to take the man down.


    While pondering on all this, Lin Mu reached the six pointedke with the cloud crowned banyan tree in the center of it.


    "Here we are¡­ the Eight Hill should be close from here now." Lin Mu said as he took a look around.


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    No matter how many times he looked, theke certainly looked rather peculiar and so was therge tree in the center of it. Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around and checked the area in detail, just to ensure that everything was fine and safe.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Nothing different so far. That''s a good sign." Lin Mu said and nodded his head.


    "That''s where the hill is, right?" Little Shrubby asked and pointed towards an area where three rows of hills could be seen.


    "Yup, that''s the one. Let''s head on to there." Lin Mu replied.


    The two of them flew towards the three rows of hills and quickly found the one that was called as the Eight hill. It was in the shape of the Character ''Eight'' and had a t top with smoothly curving sides.


    It was rather peculiar and Lin Mu guessed that it was actually made by someone to look like this.


    "This is strange¡­ there is no spirit Qi here." Little Shrubby said upon feeling the air.


    "What?" Lin Mu asked.


    Little Shrubby was slightly ahead of him, but the distance between them was not that much, being a mere 100 meters. The ce where Lin Mu was standing was normal and had the same concentration of spirit Qi as the rest of the area, thus he was confused upon hearing Little Shrubby.


    He moved towards Little Shrubby and at the 50 meter mark, he sensed the change. As if the ce was in a vacuum, the spirit Qi in the area was dead zero. Lin Mu could feel no spirit Qi at all in this part which was rather strange.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu looked around and let his spirit sense wander.


    They were currently in the center of the top of the Eight hill and it was only this area that was void of spirit Qi. Since Lin Mu could not sense anything in the air, he let his spirit sense pierce through the ground.


    It did manage to enter up to a depth of a hundred meters into the hill, but after that, he felt a strong tug at his spirit sense.

 Chapter 775 - Strong Suction Force

    Feeling the Tug, Lin Mu became alert.


    He knew that if something could pull on his spirit sense even now, after being refined this much, there must be something strong behind it. Lin Mu very carefully let his spirit sense descend even more, but realized that the tugging force was getting even more strong.


    "Damn, if I let it go further, it will just end up ripping my spirit sense." Lin Mu understood.


    "What did you find?" Little Shrubby asked, seeing Lin Mu''s reaction.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    "I don''t fully know either. But whatever it is¡­ it can pull spirit Qi of any kind, it seems. Even if it is in the form of spirit sense it seems to be strong enough to pull it. I think that is also why there is no spirit Qi in the area." Lin Mu replied.


    Little Shrubby tilted his head in confusion and looked towards the bottom. After a few seconds, he spat out a small ball of fire towards the bottom. Lin Mu and Little shrubby then saw the ball of fire falling towards the surface of the hill.


    The ce where it fell was scorched a bit, but then the ball of fire started being sucked into the ground. Seeing this Lin Mu and Little Shrubby, both raised their brows. One must know that the ball of fire had enough spirit Qi to continue burning, even if it fell on the ground for at least a minute.


    Thus, it was not just normal fire that would be extinguished like that. Instead, the ball was pulled into the ground easily. Lin Mu followed behind it with his spirit sense and saw that the ball was transformed into a drop of fire elemental spirit Qi anal quickly pulled to the bottom of the hill.


    The Eight hill was just over two hundred meters tall and thus the maximum depth that Lin Mu haha reached with his spirit sense was just half of it.


    "This is certainly very strange. What could be sucking all spirit Qi like that? Some beast, or some treasure perhaps?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "The location from where the former adviser Chu left. Was it close to this ce?" Xukong asked.


    "Yes, senior. It''s there," Lin Mu pointed towards a pair of hills.


    The hills were verymon looking and would hide very well in any background. But if one looked closer they would find a small ck patch between them. This small ck patch was actually arge boulder that was blocking the entrance to an underground cave.


    "So that''s where he hid the formation array, huh¡­ I think this ce and that might be linked." Xukong said.


    "Huh? How so senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Why don''t you go down to the bottom of the hill and see. Check what''s hidden beneath the ground." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and agreed.


    "Just wait here, I''ll go take a look." Lin Mu said to Little shrubby.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby replied, and spread his spirit sense around.


    He knew now to keep an eye on the surroundings seeing just how many beasts there were in this ce. Even Dao Shell realm beasts could pop up at a moment''s notice and thus it was better to keep alert.


    Lin Mu then sank down into the hill using phase and kept on freely sinking. In just five seconds, he was at the hundred meter depth.


    "This is where the suctions force got stronger." Lin Mu said as he very carefully extended his spirit sense.


    He made sure to not let it go beyond ten meters, as after that, his control over it would weaken under the suction force. Lin Mu certainly did not want his spirit sense to get torn here.


    "Hmm¡­ nothing here¡­ need to go deeper." Lin Mu said and sank down further.


    Soon he had reached the same level as that of the hill''s base. He could be said to be at the ground level now.


    "Damn, the suction force is even stronger." Lin Mu said and retracted his spirit sense to only a five meter range.


    But even here, there was nothing for him to find. He wandered around in the hill searching for the source, but did not find it at this level.


    "Do I really need to go deeper?" Lin Mu muttered.


    Gritting his teeth, he sank down even more deep. This time, he slowed his speed and kept an eye on the suction force. The force kept on increasing more and more, and became the strongest at about fifty meters below ground.


    At this point, Lin Mu could not release his spirit sense from his body at all, or it would get torn.


    ''Bah! May as well see what''s even deeper.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and went deeper.


    But here was when the things changed. The suction force actually decreased here and by the time he was a hundred meters from the strongest suction point, it waspletely gone, allowing Lin Mu to freely use his spirit sense.


    "Huh¡­ what the¡­" Lin Mu was now confused.


    He had thought that something would be hidden beneath the area with the strongest suction force, but it was nothing here.


    "See¡­ I told you it might have something to do with the cave. Go back up and follow the area, it should now be moving in a horizontal manner instead." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu did as was told and went back up and moved horizontally toward the direction of the cave.


    "This is like a tunnel¡­ but for spirit Qi." Lin Mu understood.


    "Mmmhmm, it might actually be a formation array." Xukong said.


    "Of course! With a suction force as strong as this, barely anyone would be able to prove it without hurting themselves. No wonder it could stay hidden so well." Lin Mu understood.


    "This is one of the moreplex methods of hiding a formation. But to more experienced masters, this is also the quickest way to find such formations." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and followed the ''tunnel'' all the way to the cave where the former adviser had escaped the Sinkhole from.

 Chapter 776 - A Formation Nexus

    The distance to the cave where the Former Adviser Chu built the teleportation formation array to escape the wandering sinkhole was about a kilometer away. Lin Mu could feel the suction force getting a bit turbulent the closer he got to it.


    He also realized that the ''Tunnel'' was slightly below the cave. Lin Mu reached it after about ten minutes and saw what looked like a vortex below it. There was not just one, but eighteen such tunnels joining it.


    "So many¡­ does this spread all across the ne?" Lin Mu said upon seeing it.


    The vortex spun at a constant pace and the spirit Qi from the tunnels kept on getting condensed within it. Lin Mu did not know how this was formed, but he was sure that it was certainly not natural.


    Lin Mu then rose up and appeared on the surface. He looked around and saw that there were a few glowing crystals in the cave that illuminated it. The light was dim, but for Lin Mu, it was still enough to see everything clearly.


    There was a lot to process here, and there were many things in the cave.


    "This¡­ just how many formation arrays is this even controlling?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ this looks like a rudimentary formation Nexus¡­ it''s basically an artificial version of a world nexus." Xukong answered.


    "Huh? So this controls this entire Minor ne?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Possibly¡­ or perhaps it was supposed to. Looking at it, this seems to be iplete." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to take a look around. The cave itself was ratherrge, being at least a hundred meters tall and around five hundred meters wide. Though Lin Mu doubted if this was just one of the rooms or if there were more.


    There were old ruins and structures in the cave, on which many runes were carved. It was certain that they were part of an array, but they were either damaged or just iplete.


    Lin Mu continued to look around and soon found what looked like a stone door disguised as a wall at the side.


    "Hmm¡­ this is certainly suspicious¡­" Lin Mu muttered and pushed it.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    As if the door had gained a life of itself, it moved and revealed a passageway. It was dark, unlike the hall, and Lin Mu lit up a me on his hand to provide some light. With the fire elemental spirit Qi he had, it was a piece of cake for him to do something like this.


    He walked through the passage while being alert and careful. He did not know if there were any traps set here or not. Soon, he reached the other end of the passage and appeared in another room.


    "This should be the actual entrance of the cave." Lin Mu said.


    He looked to the side and soon found what looked like ten stone pirs that were carved with old runes written in Dao script. The pirs were thin and were only five inches in thickness. But they were about three meters tall in height.


    Inside the center of the ten pirs, Lin Mu could see the formation that was inscribed on the ground. There was also a small altar set up made out of some kind of a metal that seemed familiar to Lin Mu.


    "Isn''t this¡­ made from Void Star metal?" Lin Mu identified.


    "It actually is, yes." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu got closer and checked the altar with his spirit sense. He could sense the remnants of spatial Qi inside the void star metal, but most of it had been depleted. Lin Mu read the inscriptions on the altar and could tell that it was a teleportation formation.


    "This must be the formation that Adviser Chu made to escape the sinkhole." Lin Mu spoke.


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    "I doubt that," Xukong suddenly said.


    "Huh? But he said that himself." Lin Mu replied.


    "Not that part about the formation itself, but rather that he made it." Xukong exined.


    "What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Look at the stone pirs and the altar as well. Those runes look far older than just two hundred years." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu got closer and touched the inscriptions, observing them in detail. The inscriptions certainly seemed far more aged than just two hundred years to him.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s strange. But why would adviser Chu lie?" Lin Mu stated.


    "Rather than lying, I think it was more of him just forgetting it." Xukong replied.


    "Him forgetting? Would that be possible?" Lin Mu asked.


    "More than possible. Don''t forget that you managing to awaken him was already enough of a miracle. I wouldn''t be shocked if his memories were still muddled. And with his condition, he would not even be able to tell that they were mixed up." Xukong answered.


    "Then what could be that actually happened." Lin Mu wondered.


    "From his other stories and what we''ve seen so far, it seems like this formation wasn''t actually made by him, but some of itsponents were gathered by him. For example, the runes written on the ground seem newer and are probably made by him.


    But the pirs and the altar were certainly made by someone else. They are far moreplex than the other runes. They were definitely made by someone that had a mastery in formations and runes.


    It would need someone on the level of Jing Luo or Jing Wei to make something like this. I doubt a man who became a Nascent soul realm cultivator just because of luck would be able to do something like this." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps it really is like that. He did mention that there were other people that get lost here and made their attempts to escape. Perhaps this ce is thebined effort of all those people." Lin Mu stated.


    "That could be it. But the inner hall you appeared in¡­ that ce cannot be made by anyone that came here. A formation nexus like that is¡­ something that would need an Immoral Ascension realm cultivator to make.." Xukong revealed.

 Chapter 777 - Jackpot

    Hearing the words of Senior Xukong, Lin Mu didn''t know what to think of. If it really was an Immortal ession realm cultivator who had made this ce, it meant that it would have had to have been made several thousand years ago.


    "That is a lot to take in." Lin Mu muttered.


    "I think this ce was intended to be something else and became somethingpletely different in the end." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to search around a bit more. But before that, he recalled something.


    ''Oh, I should call Little Shrubby now.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He sent a message through their link and in less than thirty seconds, Little shrubby was at the entrance of the cave.


    "What is this ce?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "This is where the Former Adviser escaped from, but there seem to be more secrets to it. Can you look around and see if you find any clue or if something is unusual?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby said, and looked around the area.


    Lin Mu did the same and checked all of the walls first. He had a hunch that there was more space in here than was apparent. He thought so even more because the walls were actually preventing his spirit sense from going in.


    <i>~knock~ knock~</i>


    After looking around for about two hours, Lin Mu discovered something in one of the walls that was to the opposite of the teleportation formation.


    "Hmm¡­ the thickness is certainly different." Lin Mu muttered.


    Phase!


    Lin Mu passed through the wall directly and walked. After about ten seconds, he ended up in another passage.


    "Just as I thought." Lin Mu said upon discovering this.


    He turned around and saw what looked like broken hinges and other mechanisms that would work to move a door.


    "So that''s why it doesn''t work. It has been broken for a long time." Lin Mu understood.


    He checked the area with his spirit sense just to be sure of everything and thought of a n. This part of the area was not blocking his spirit sense and he could use it freely.


    "So only the initial cave has that restrictiveyer built into it and not the other parts." Lin Mu understood.


    He then extended his hand towards the wall, which was also a door, and spread it apart like a w.


    <i>~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~</i> Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    Lin Mu''s fingers dug into the solid stone door and grasped it tightly.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    Lin Mu then pushed on the door and it started to move.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Finally, the door was fully open and Little Shrubby could be seen standing behind it.


    "Another secret passage?" He asked.


    "Yup, seems like it." Lin Mu repelled.


    With the door open, Little Shrubby could enter it now as well. The master and beast continued through the passage finally reached another door.


    "Hmm¡­ this ce is deeper than the previous cave." Lin Mu could tell from the angle that they had walked.


    "Let''s see what''s behind this." Little Shrubby said.


    "Mmhmm." Lin Mu hummed in response and ced his hand on the door before pushing.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    Dust fell from the door as it finally swung open slowly. Behind it, Lin Mu could see what was basically a mountain of gold.


    "What in the name of heavens!!" Lin Mu eximed.


    He walked in and looked around the entire hall, finding more gold and many other treasures. There were literal mountains of gold made from ingots that were stacked up in the front and behind them, he could see several other such mountains but of different metals.


    Lin Mu could identify some of them, but many of them were unidentifiable to him. There were other things such as calligraphy scrolls and paintings here as well, but Lin Mu could tell that they were actuallyponents of formations as well.


    Then there were several pieces of furniture, along with what looked like a bedroom.


    "There should be something more there." Lin Mu said before walking towards the bedroom.


    There he saw arge portrait that was hanging on the wall. It was made from the finest of canvas and the paint was made from spirit herb dyes. A strong aura could be felting from the portrait and the person in it was starting towards Lin Mu.


    "This is so lifelike¡­ whomever made it must have been very talented." Lin Mu said.


    "That¡­ is not just lifelike¡­ that is an actual life portrait." Xukong suddenly said.


    "What?!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    He had heard about Life Portraits before and had also read about them in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal. They were basically a medium that the cultivators used to pass on information after their death.


    These life portraits were very hard to make and could only be made by a person who was a ''Spirit Painter''. It was one of the more umon upations of a cultivator and not many actually practiced it.


    The spirit painters could make a portrait of a cultivator and then use a wisp of their soul to imbue life into it. Once this was done, the portrait could actually animate itself and start to speak.


    But the thing about this was that¡­ not just any spirit painter would be able to do something like this. It was a very high level skill among the spirit painters and one that was at the Immortal Ascension realm might not evene close to being able to do it.


    "If it really is that, then¡­ why is it not speaking?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It must have gone dormant. Life Portraits don''t have an indefinite existence, they can actually be aged over time and the soul wisp in them would fade away after a certain item period.


    To prevent this, they will enter a dormant state if there is no need for them to be active. This is possibly the case for this as well." Xukong answered.


    "Hmm¡­ then there is only one way to confirm that.." Lin Mu said and approached the painting.

 Chapter 778 - Kong Hutao

    Lin Mu''s hand extended and touched the frame of the Spirit painting.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The moment he did so, a wave of spirit Qi emanated from the portrait. Then in the next second, the painting moved and blinked. Lin Mu stepped back and stared at the portrait for a few seconds.


    The person in the portrait seemed to be doing the same thing, and it was evident that it was trying to figure out what was happening. Just like a person who had woken up from a deep sleep, the person in the portrait was a bit disoriented.


    He looked around and then back at Lin Mu, who was staring at him.


    "So it is finally the time¡­" The man in the portrait spoke.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was a bit confused by the choice of the man''s words.


    "After ask these years¡­ no wait, how long has it even been?" The man in the portrait questioned.


    "I¡­ don''t know how long it has been for you either." Lin Mu replied.


    "What year is it?" The man in the painting asked.


    "Umm¡­ three hundred and sixteenth year after the advent of the third Zhou Emperor?" Lin Mu said, recalling the date.


    "Zhou Emperor? Who the hell is that?" The Man in the portrait said.


    "The emperor of the Great Zhou Empire and the Great Zhou Continent." Lin Mu replied.


    "Great Zhou Continent? What? This does not seem right¡­ am I even in the right world?" The man in the portrait questioned.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was now sure that whoever the painting belonged to probably existed long before the Great Zhou Empire and the continent were formed.


    "Are you from the Central continent? Or the other four ones?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The man in the portrait seemed to have understood something and looked at Lin Mu.


    "Did¡­ the continents manage to unify finally?" The man asked doubtfully.


    "Yes they did¡­ they did so over nine thousand years ago." Lin Mu answered.


    "N-nine thousand years¡­ this¡­ am I toote?" The man in the portrait questioned himself.


    Lin Mu knew that there was a lot of confusion and wanted to know who the man was.


    "Who are you and what is this ce?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The man''s brows furrowed upon hearing Lin Mu and he looked at Lin Mu strangely.


    "How do you not know me? If you don''t know me how did you even enter this ce?" The man questioned.


    Lin Mu was now even more confused and didn''t know what the man was talking about.


    "I just entered from the cave entrance at the top." Lin Mu answered, not telling the man about his ''real'' method of entry yet.


    "Impossible! Without the key, you cannot even find the cave not to mention enter." The man said. "And if you found the key you would very clearly know who I am."


    Lin Mu now understood what the problem was.


    ''So there was a key to this ce that was probably in a different ce. Obtaining that key would probably tell more about this person and also give one the entry to his cave. This ce is definitely and inheritance ground then.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "No I did not find any key. The entrance to the cave was already open when I came. Plus¡­ I''m not the only one that came here. There have been many before me. Perhaps one of them had the key and opened the cave." Lin Mu stated.


    "That is impossible. If the cave was ever opened, I would have known." The man said.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ''We''ll just keep on going in circles like this¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    "Seems like I need to tell you about the current situation then," Lin Mu stated.


    The man in the portrait furrowed his brows and then nodded.


    C0pyright ? 2024 N?v)(elDrama.Org.


    "Go on then¡­" The man in the portrait said.


    Lin Mu then went on to exin everything that he had learned about this ce and all that he had seen. He told the man about the current name of the minor ne, about it being called as the wandering sinkhole, and how hundreds if not thousands of people had been lost in here.


    It took Lin Mu about two hours to finish exining everything, during which the man in the portrait listened silently.


    "And that''s about it all." Lin Mu finished his exnation.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    The man in the painting sighed to himself and rubbed his forehead as if a headache had assaulted him.


    "Never thought this would end up happening to my n''s inheritance ground¡­ the fates are cruel and unkind." The man said in a sorrowful tone.


    "This¡­ is your n''s inheritance ground? What n are you from?" Lin Mu asked.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    The man sighed to himself and looked at Lin Mu.


    "Since you have managed toe this far, you may as well be the inheritor now. Although you will still need the key to be the true owner." The man in the portrait said, much to Lin Mu''s shock.


    "Me? The inheritor?" Lin Mu said feeling shocked.


    "I am Kong Hutao, thest ancestor of the Kong n of the Western continent." The man revealed.


    Hearing the name, Lin Mu felt like a bell was struck. He immediately recalled information about the Kong n.


    "The Kong n? The number one n of the western continent?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Indeed¡­ I am thest ancestor of that n¡­ or was." Kong Hutao replied.


    "I thought¡­ the Kong n was exterminated and everyone from it died." Lin Mu said.


    "We were indeed¡­ I managed to escape at the expense of my nsmen who chose to sacrifice themselves to forcefully teleport me to the Central continent. They wanted me to take revenge for the n¡­ for the continent and all those that had died." Kong Hutao replied.


    Lin Mu''s brows furrowed and he felt like several of the events did not match up.


    "What exactly happened? Can you tell me in detail?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Fine¡­ this will take a bit.." Kong Hutao replied.

 Chapter 779 - The Kong Clan’s Fate

    Kong Hutao took a deep breath as if he was still a real human and started to speak.


    "As you already know, I am or was the Last ancestor of the Kong n. My n was exterminated by the invaders during the great invasion. The alliance of the three continents had chosen to unite them and hadid down a great n.


    Unfortunately, before the n could be fullypleted, the Yao n managed to summon a great beast in the Pseudo immortal realm. This beast destroyed and killed all the people of the continent and only a few that were already on their way to escape managed to survive.


    I tried to fight the Beast, along with several other sect patriarchs and the n heads of the Western continent. All of them died but did manage to injure the beast fatally. But then the beast decided to detonate itself in its blind rage.


    Many of my nsmen and others had already died, but they did not want me to die as well. They wanted vengeance and thus they¡­ forcefully¡­ against my wishes¡­ teleported me away to the central continent.


    They also passed on the anchoring formation te of our Sacred grounds to me and then the beast finally detonated. Unfortunately, despite their best wishes, I was already injured and my life was running out.


    Knowing that I would not have long to live and take vengeance, I decided to enact a different n. It was also during this time that some of the invaders managed to detect my presence and chased me down.


    I ran and ran since I was in no condition to fight. Finally, I decided to take a radical decision. I unleashed the anchor of the sacred grounds and pulled all of the invaders that were chasing me inside it.


    Then using the powers of the formation, I killed them all inside there. But now that the sacred grounds had been unleashed again, they could not be moved anymore. And without the right location, they would not be able to exist for long without being broken.


    Thus, I did what I had to. Using myself as the base, I changed the entire formation array of the scared grounds. I turned it into a minor ne and attached it to the world. But this time I made some other changes.


    N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.


    The sacred grounds would not have a fixed location so as to prevent the invaders from finding it and if they did so, they would be trapped inside it. Only those that are natives of this world would be able to escape it.


    But that was just one half of my n. I also wanted vengeance against the invaders. Thus, I chose to allow the sacred grounds to choose anyone as long as they were of this world and worthy enough to be the inheritor.


    They would have to fulfill one condition though¡­ they would have to exterminate the Yao n and the northern alliance along with all the invaders." Kong Hutao exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was stunned. He had not expected there to be such a story behind this ce.


    "I guess I have some good news for you and some bad news as well." Lin Mu spoke.


    "What is it?" Kong Hutao questioned.


    "The Northern alliance was exterminated a long time ago along with the Yao n." Lin Mu answered.


    "And what''s the bad news?" Kong Hutao asked, his brows furrowed.


    "They have made aeback in the recent years¡­ they even managed to call another invader from a different world." Lin Mu replied.


    "CURSED FATES! Has this world been forsaken by the heavens?" Kong Hutao said in frustration.


    "There is more¡­" Lin Mu said and exined all that Gu Yao had done and gave him a bit more information about the invader and how it could control beings.


    Hearing this, Kong Hutao was stunned.


    "This¡­ this is even worse¡­" Kong Hutao said in a helpless tone.


    "I know¡­ and that''s why I along with a few more allies, are looking to stop them." Lin Mu replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "If it really is as you say, then it is impossible for your cultivation base. Even Immortal Ascension realm cultivators have perished, not to mention Nascent soul realm cultivators like you. They have perished in the six digits." Kong Hutao stated.


    It seemed like he had already given up hope and had suffered a lot.


    "NO! I will defeat them! They took my parents from me, and they killed a lot of people that were my friends. I shall not let them do whatever they want.


    As for the invader¡­ it shall perish too!" Lin Mu said with determination.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The moment he did so, a character appeared on his forehead and let out a glow. Kong Hutao saw the character and was stunned.


    "Ordained¡­ YOU ARE ORDAINED?!" Kane Hutao said out loud.


    "I am indeed. I became ordained by the world''s will when I epted its mission to exterminate the invaders and the traitors of this world." Lin Mu replied.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "So all hope is not lost. If you are an ordained, then this is fate finally favoring us. You will be the right person to inherit this then¡­ inherit the vengeance of my n." Kong Hutao said in a serious tone.


    "I will avenge all that have suffered due to the invaders and the northern tribes." Lin Mu said with determination.


    "Good!" Kong Hutao said out loud and nodded his head.


    His expression seemed to be far better than before and hisplexion had improved too, which made Lin Mu wonder about the techniques used to make the portrait. For it to have such varied changes, Lin Mu wondered just what kind of materials and skills were needed for it.


    "While it seems like the formations and security is set beforehand has gone a bit haywire, the inheritance formation should still be intact. But before you can inherit this officially, you will need to get the key." Kong Hutao stated.


    "Where do I find that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You need to find a turtle."

 Chapter 780 - From A Lake To A Sea

    Hearing this, Lin Mu was surprised and confused at the same time.


    "A turtle?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, a turtle¡­ my turtle Bao." Kong Hutao replied.


    "You have a tamed beast?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Indeed. I have one.. Or I do¡­ I think. It''s been several thousand years. I don''t think Bao''s alive anymore." Kong Hutao replied.


    "If he''s dead, then how do I find him?" Lin Mu questioned. "And why do I need to find him again?" he added.


    "Before I died, I gave some instructions to my turtle. He was the one that was supposed to take care of my dead body. My grave should be where the turtle is." Kong Hutao replied.


    "I see¡­ and where is this turtle?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Go to the south from this cave. If you travel for about half a day, you should find argeke. I left him there. I''m sure if you were able to figure out how to get into this minor ne you can find that turtle too." Kong Hutao said.


    "Umm¡­ south? This ce has no directions, there is no sun." Lin Mu replied.


    "No sun? What do you mean no sun?" Kong Hutao asked, feeling confused as well.


    "There is no sun out there, just a blue sky." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s weird. I know there can''t be a sun in this ce, but I still let the formations represent the position of the sun in the real world here." Kong Hutao exined.


    "Perhaps that formation broke down too?" Lin Mu suggested.


    "Maybe¡­ guess you''ll need another way to find the direction. Hmm¡­ how do we find it¡­" Kong Hutao was perplexed.


    "You can¡­ point me in the direction using one of the spirit Qi channels that are linked to the Formation nexus?" Lin Mu suggested.


    "Ah yes! That will work!" Kong Hutao nodded his head.


    Kong Hutao then instructed Lin Mu about the different channels that were used to absorb spirit Qi. Lin Mu asked a few more questions and learned that they were spread all across the minor ne.


    In fact, the ones that he saw linking to this location actually split in several more junctions all over the ne. The spirit Qi they absorbed was used to then function the rest of the formation array.


    That was also the reason why Former Adviser Chu and the other survivors, ended up making the teleportation formation here. They could tell that the spirit Qi concentration here was higher and thus it would be the best to make the formation work.


    In other ces, there was no way they would be able to power it on their own and also keep it stable at the same time. Any formation that had anything to deal with the space was not to be messed with.


    One small mistake and you could be split into several fragments or sent into the void¡­ probably in pieces as well. There were plenty of cultivators who had made this mistake and there were a lot of warnings in all kinds of records and documents.


    With the new information added to his repertoire, Lin Mu was ready to leave. He left the cave and followed the direction of the spirit Qi channel. The direction that south was in was slight to the left from where the Eight Hill was.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby reached there in about twelve hours, just as Kong Hutao had said. But upon reaching it he was a bit surprised, because what he saw was far more than ake.


    "Is this¡­ a sea?" Lin Mu said, feeling stunned.


    In front of Lin Mu, a vast blue sea extended all the way into the horizon. He couldn''t see anything past it and there were just a few inds scattered inside it. But looking at them closely, one would realize that they were actually mountain peaks.


    "Hmm¡­ the changes are certainly a bit more than expected." Xukongmented.


    "Ugh¡­ more water." Little Shrubby muttered.


    Lin Mu got closer andnded on the seashore. The seashore was rocky and several shells could be seen scattered on it. Now Lin Mu was in a dilemma and didn''t know what to do exactly.


    "It''s one thing to search for a turtle in ake and thend around it, and apletely different one searching for it in an entire sea!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps we can narrow down the search. We know that the turtle that Kong Hutao had was in the nascent soul realm, so it should be rtively big. It''s rather unlikely that it would have lived even now unless it managed to progress its cultivation base without stop.


    Certain beasts like turtle and tortoise have naturally long lifespans, and even some Qi refining realm turtle beasts can live up to a thousand years. If the turtle that Kong Hutao was one of them and managed to reach the Dao Shell realm, there is a slim chance it is still alive.


    Though if it''s in the Dao Treading realm, then it''s certainly possible for it to be alive." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and looked around. It was now that a thought appeared in his mind and he furrowed his brows.


    "Senior¡­ is there a chance perhaps that this sea¡­ was made by that turtle?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    "That may be possible if the Dao embryo it made had the grasp over the Dao of water." Xukong answered.


    "Exactly. I''ve heard of some beasts doing this before. I remember reading a record about a beast called as the Aquadream Lotus. It''s a nt like beast and lives in water bodies. I''ve heard that when it reached the Dao Treading realm, it bes an Aquadream Sea Lotus and the power it has can make seas.


    In one of the legends, I even read that one such Aquadream Sea Lotus fought against a strong fire elemental beast. Fire and water raged and in the end, two areas were created. One was a sea and one was a ming Marsh.." Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 781 - A Turtle

    With a new idea in his mind, Lin Mu had better hope of finding the turtle.


    "So¡­ even then, how do we find him? Should I go run around?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Yeah, you do that. I''ll try to search the depths, perhaps it is sleeping down there or something." Lin Mu answered.


    <i>"Okay~</i>" Little Shrubby said before flying away.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    A few secondster, he picked up speed and started running on water. Little Shrubby ignited mes on its paws so as to make sure that water did not touch him. He was already fast enough that he could run on water, but didn''t forget to take an extra precaution.


    Lin Mu picked the opposite direction and flew towards it as well. His spirit sense extended and went straight to the bottom of the sea.


    "Oh, it''s not that deep. That will be easier." Lin Mu said, finding the sea to only be 300 meters deep.


    And thus Lin Mu and Little Shrubby spent about three days searching for Kong Hutao''s turtle Bao¡­ or its remnants.


    Kong Hutao had said that even if his turtle died, its shell should have still stayed intact. It was a strong shell and could not be damaged even by Dao Shell realm beasts, so it should be a good way for Lin Mu to track it down.


    s, even after three days, there were no signs of the turtle. Little Shrubby had already made several trips around the entire sea with his speed and was still unable to find the said turtle.


    Lin Mu had barely covered ten percent of the sea in this time and was lost about it as well.


    ~Sigh~


    "This won''t work, will it? If I keep on doing this, the time for me to return will be very close." Lin Mu said.


    <i>~crackle~crackle~crackle~</i>


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "We can try for some time more and the return, I guess." Little Shrubby replied as he blew some mes onto arge bronze cauldron that was boiling. A delicious aroma was emanating from the cauldron, and it was evident that some spirit beast was currently part of it.


    <i>~stirr~stir~stir~</i>


    Little Shrubby''s prosthetic hands slowly stirred the stew in the cauldron at a steady pace and it gently bubbled.


    "Yeah, I guess that''s the only option now." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He and Little Shrubby were currently resting on one of the inds in the middle of the sea. They had decided to take a little break since it was not really working out for him and food was the only thing that would motivate them a bit.


    Plus, they had umted plenty of Nascent soul realm beasts corpses, and spirit herbs, so it was the perfect time to use them. ording to Little shrubby, this was also cultivating in a way and was certainly not a waste of time.


    Lin Muid on the rocky ground and looked around. The sea was rather still and empty. This was another surprising thing he had learned. In the entire sea, while there were normal aquatic animals, there were no spirit beasts.


    Usually, this would point to there being a Dao Shell realm beast living here, but Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had already established that there were none by now. Besides, if there really was one, the beast in question would have probably been agitated by now.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had already seen about ten Dao Shell realm beast territories by now and had learned enough about them and their behavior. Unless they were overtly aggressive, they usually won''te out of their territory.


    Unless of course, they were hungry and came to hunt.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Bao¡­ Bao¡­ Bao¡­ where are you?" Lin Mu said out loud.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    Suddenly the ground started shaking and the stew that was boiling in the cauldron started to spill out.


    "MY STEW!!!!" Little Shrubby yelled, and the five hands flew to sp the cauldron immediately.


    Lin Mu became alert and spread his spirit sense around.


    "An earthquake?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He could see ripples spreading in the sea everywhere, and waves were rising up as well.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    A few secondster, Lin Mu saw the water at the side of the ind shift and create a lot of noise. Bubbles starteding out of the water, rming Lin Mu. His spirit sense checked the area and he found something to be rushing up from the bottom.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He entered a defensive stance just in case and was ready to escape at a moment''s notice.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Finally, the water parted and arge pir rose up from it. It kept on rising up and after a certain point, Lin Mu realized that it was actually curved and seemed to be attached to the side of the ind.


    "What the¡­" Lin Mu said in shock as the pir rotated.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    Once it had turned 180 degrees, Lin Mu saw a pair of eyes and arge mouth on it. It was a head of some creature and seemed familiar to Lin Mu.


    "Bao¡­?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~FUUUSH~</i>


    A spray of water shot out straight up from the nostrils of the creature as it looked at Lin Mu.


    "How do you know that name?" An old and deep voice rang in Lin Mu''s mind.


    The voice had no direction and Lin Mu felt a bit of a headache from its intensity.


    "Ugh¡­ too loud." Lin Mu muttered.


    He forcefully calmed himself down and looked at the beast.


    "I am looking for a turtle named Bao." Lin Mu replied.


    "And why are you doing that?" The voice questioned again.


    "I am sent by Kong Hutao to find him and his tomb." Lin Mu honestly answered.


    "Hmm¡­ is that so?¡­ Very well. I shall take you to him." The voice said again.


    "Are you Bao, or do you know where he is?" Lin Mu questioned the beast, who he was certain was a turtle as well now.


    "I am not Bao¡­ I am his son Xiaobao!" The beast stated.

 Chapter 782 - A Great Island Turtle

    Hearing the words of the beast, Lin Mu was surprised. He was even more surprised because he had been unable to tell that it was a beast or that there was a beast nearby. There were simply no signs of it nor the aura of a beast.


    But for now, Lin Mu knew he needed to see where the beast was about to take him and how.


    "So¡­ you are gonna bring us to your father? He''s alive?" Lin Mu questioned.


    C0pyright ? 2024 N?v)(elDrama.Org.


    "He''s not¡­ he died about a thousand years ago." Xiaobao answered. "I''m gonna take you to his grave."


    Lin Mu raised his brows upon hearing this.


    ''A thousand years ago? That''s still almost¡­ seven thousand years of lifespan. Isn''t that¡­ even more than an Immortal Ascension realm expert?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.


    "Like I said, some beasts have naturally long lifespans. Some physiques have that factor too, including some cultivation techniques. Even you Lin Mu¡­ are like that." Xukong suddenly said.


    "I am too? What do you mean, senior? I have a thousand years of lifespans right now." Lin Mu said.


    "No, you don''t. You have two thousand years of it¡­ perhaps even a bit more." Xukong replied, much to Lin Mu''s shock.


    "What?!" Lin Mu internally eximed.


    "Did you forget you are practicing both Qi cultivation and body cultivation?" Xukong said with a chuckle.


    It finally struck Lin Mu.


    "Of course¡­ why would a cultivator want to practice both of the paths, when they would have to spend a long time and a lot of resources. Having twice the lifespan makes sense." Lin Mu understood.


    "It is also the reason why many cultivators, when they reach the end of their lifespan and are unable to progress anymore, try to practice other paths of cultivation. Of course, this is often useless as one cannot simply do that as many issues can arise.


    This is why one needs to cultivate from the start orpletely destroy their cultivation base and start over again. But for people that are already at the end of their lifespan, that is not really an option." Xukong exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was rather dazed now. Finding out that one had twice as long to live than they expected was, of course shocking. It was even more shocking, as it was over two thousand years.


    "And I''m already close to breaking through¡­ once I reach the Dao shell realm, how much more will I have?" Lin Mu said.


    "Your longevity will simply be the sum of the normal lifespan of both paths, and a little bit added on top of that. The extra lifespan at the end is rather varied and hard to estimate. You''ve already seen the example of former adviser Chu. He spent nine extra months living and then you extended it by another month." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and knew that this was enough for him now. Having to not worry about enough time to live was a pleasurable thing and left one free to do a lot. Though Lin Mu also knew that he was lucky in this aspect till now.


    He had been fortunate enough to progress very fast and have almost reached the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm at the age of twenty years. In the Xiaofan world, it was already something that had not been seen ever before.


    As for the higher worlds, Lin Mu did not know what the record was. But he did know that there were cultivators that were born immortals. He had read about them in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal and didn''t know how that was possible or how that worked.


    <i>~FUUUSH~</i>


    While Lin Mu was in thoughts, he suddenly felt the ind shake again and it then started to move.


    "Huh? What?!" Lin Mu looked around. "What''s happening?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I''m taking you to my father''s grave, as I said," Xiaobao spoke.


    "But¡­ why''s the ind moving?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "This is no ind¡­ this is my body," Xiaobao answered.


    "What¡­" Lin Mu was now utterly shocked, taking another look at the ind.


    He was confused because he could not feel any spirit Qi or auraing from it. It was as if this was a lifeless ind.


    "Little Shrubby should have also been able to smell him if that was so¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He looked towards the head of Xiaobao and spoke, "what kind of a beast are you?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He had not heard or read about a turtle beast as big as this before, and this was certainly thergest beast he had seen till now as well. And seeing as how he knew that his father died a thousand years ago, he was at least more than a thousand years old as well.


    Lin Mu wondered what the beast truly was.


    "ording to my father, we are the Great Ind Turtles. But I am bigger than my kind due to my mother, who was a Great Reef Turtle." Xiaobao answered.


    "And what is your cultivation base¡­ I can''t really sense your presence. Which is strange¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    He had understood by now that the beast was rtively friendly and did not seem to be as secretive.


    "I am at the Nascent soul realm. As for why you can''t sense me, that''s simply because of my mother''s bloodline. I do not know much about it as my mother died shortly after I and my siblings were born." Xiaobao asked.


    "I¡­ I''m sorry about your loss." Lin Mu said, not knowing what would be the right thing.


    "It''s fine. It wasn''t you who killed them. I was told by my father that not all humans are the same. He said his master was kind and good. He took care of him when he was a small beast and injured.


    It was also because of his master that he managed to live his life and he taught me the same.." Xiaobao revealed, making Lin Mu furrow his brows.

 Chapter 783 - Kong Hutao’s Grave

    Lin Mu wondered what more had happened with Xiaobao and the turtle Bao in the past.


    "The humans attacked you?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes. I don''t fully remember as I was small, but I and my brothers were less than a year old when some humans came around. My father thought they were sent by his master or were the ones that his master had talked about.


    He went to meet them, but met with an attack instead. The humans did not even speak and just attacked. My father resisted them, but there were more of them than he expected. Some of those reached my mother and attacked us.


    She died protecting me and my siblings and by the time my father came, only I was left." Xiaobao answered.


    "What? Humans, more than one?" Lin Mu asked.


    So far from what Lin Mu had seen, while there had been hundreds if not thousands of humans that had managed to enter the wandering sinkhole, it was not at the same time. And even if they were, Lin Mu didn''t think it would be arge number.


    "There were over thirty from what my father told me, all at the Nascent Soul realm." Xiaobao replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was now sure that something was wrong here.


    "There''s no way so many Nascent soul realm cultivators cane here at the same time. I don''t think there are many powers that can afford this either." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He looked back to Xiaobao and asked, "And when did all this happen?"


    To this question, Xiaobao turned his neck and looked at his body. His eyes lingered on it for a bit and then he finally spoke, "it has been over three thousand years now."


    "Three thousand years¡­ this was before Jing Wei''s time¡­ the overall strength of the cultivation world was higher back then." Lin Mu muttered while analyzing the situation.


    There were many questions he had, as he reckoned this might be linked to the Northern Tribes as well. He didn''t question the beast anymore and just watched as he carried him to another ind.


    This ind was smaller than Xiaobao in size but did look simr in shape.


    "We''re here¡­ this is my father''s shell." Xiaobao spoke.


    Lin Mu looked around and could see several structures on the shell. They were dpidated and looked ancient. The ind was barren for the most part, except for a few weeds growing here and there.


    "I''ll take a look then. Did your father tell you anything?" Lin Mu asked.


    "He just said that if someonees, and they are sent by Kong Hutao, I am to take them here. And if they arrive without being told, I am to just hide till they go away on their own. If they find whatever my father hid, they would either die or live.


    So far all that havee, died." Xiaobao answered.


    "The test¡­ Kong Hutao''s grave is on Xiaobao''s shell itself¡­" Lin Mu understood.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and flew towards the ind while Little Shrubby followed behind him. The stew had long since been put into his storage belt as he did not want it to get spilled or spoiled.


    <i>~thud~ thud~</i>


    The two of themnded and Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around.


    "This is certainly far more clear." Lin Mu muttered as he observed everything with his spirit sense.


    He could tell that the reason why he was unable to perceive Xiaobao was certainly due to its unique ability. As for this ce, Lin Mu could tell that it really was a shell, and that there used to be a beast that it belonged to.


    He could feel the remnants of its aura deep within the shell.


    "No¡­ there''s something more there as well." Lin Mu muttered.


    He looked up at the old ruins and decided to head there first.


    ''Kong Hutao''s grave should be here.'' Lin Mu thought.


    After about ten minutes of search, he finally found the right ce. It was actually quite obvious as it had several skeletons piled around it. Some of them were highly deteriorated while some were still rtively intact.


    "A couple of them don''t look that old either." Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~sniif~sniif~</i>


    "This one is less than a hundred years old." Little Shrubby spoke.


    Lin Mu approached the said skeleton and observed it more closely. The clothes that it was wearing were mostly tattered, but since they hadsted this long, Lin Mu reckoned they were probably spirit clothes.


    "Hmm¡­ looking at the style, it seems to be of some sect." Lin Mu said.


    He tried to see if there were any other items that would point to its identity but didn''t find them. What he did find though, were a lot of ashes.


    "You will need to be careful now, there might be a rather dangerous formation here." Xukong warned.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and became more alert. He entered the ruin and saw what looked like a stone coffin in the center. There were a few words written on the lid of the coffin that Lin Mu discovered.


    C0pyright ? 2024 N?v)(elDrama.Org.


    "Here lies Kong Hutao, whose vengeance is unfulfilled." Lin Mu read.


    He furrowed his brows and ced his hand on the coffin.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The moment he did so, hundreds of runes started to appear around him and arranged into a formation array. Lin Mu could tell that many of them were powerful formations, but they were conditional.


    They would not activate until certain conditions were fulfilled, which he guessed would depend on the test.


    He then felt his vision go dark, and he appeared in a rather in looking room.


    "Is this the test?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Are you an invader?" A voice was heard from behind.


    Lin Mu turned around and saw none other than Kong Hutao.


    "No I am not, Kong Hutao." Lin Mu replied. "Rather, I have been ordained by the world''s will." Lin Mu added.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The character appeared on his forehead, showing the proof. Kong Hutao saw it and his expression visibly changed.


    "Finally¡­" He said with relief.. "You pass, and I can pass on too¡­" with these few words, he faded away.

 Chapter 784 - A Key And Shell

    Lin Mu was a bit taken aback by the entire series of events. From what Kong Hutao''s spirit portrait had said, there would be a test for him, but now it seemed to be far different from before.


    Lin Mu''s vision returned to the same ruins as before and he understood that whatever the test was, it was now over.


    "That''s it? I thought it would be a bit more difficult than that." Lin Mu muttered.


    It was even more perplexing for him since there were so many skeletons and remains around the ruins showed that whatever the test was, it was far more dangerous than this. Plus, the formation arrays were ratherplex as well.


    "Seems like you being the world''s ordained was enough to bypass the test." Xukong spoke.


    "Perhaps¡­" Lin Mu muttered and looked towards the coffin, which had started to move.


    <i>~CREAK~</i>


    The coffin started to slide and a staircase was revealed below it.


    "So, I''m supposed to go down?" Lin Mu guessed and walked towards it.


    Little Shrubby waited outside, since they did not know if the formations would react to him being a test taker as well. The staircase was covered in darkness and Lin Mu had to light a me above his hand to illuminate the path.


    He could see that the walls of the stairwell were made from solid rock and the staircase was the same as well. Lin Mu walked for about a minute before reaching the very bottom of it.


    There, he could see what looked like a very in looking tform and on that tform, a table was ced. Walking up to it, Lin Mu discovered what looked like a small rectangr piece of stone kept on the tform.


    "Is this the key?" Lin Mu said as he picked the rectangr stone up.


    It looked simr to that of a miniature Jade slip, but was made from a different material. It was about the length of a pinky finger and was a greenish yellow in color. Lin Mu used his spirit sense to probe it and could feel that there were certain inscriptions written inside the key.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The inscriptions suddenly started to move and Lin Mu felt a rush of memories in his mind.


    "I am Kong Hutao, thest ancestor of the Kong n.


    If you have managed to obtain this key, it means you passed my test and are worth to inherit thest of the Kong n''s resources and the sacred ground. This world experienced a great cmity and a lot of enemies pushed me to doing this.


    Your reward will be waiting in a cave to the north of here, the key will guide you. As for any questions you have, they will be answered there as well." A voice spoke in Lin Mu''s mind.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath and shook his head after the effect of the key passed.


    "Guess it''s time to return now." Lin Mu said.


    "Aren''t you going to take a look below? I thought to found there to be something here?" Xukong questioned.


    "Oh? I thought this ce was it?" Lin Mu said and spread his spirit sense around.


    He couldn''t find anything within the room itself, but when he let his spirit sense descend below, he could sense something hidden there.


    "No¡­ this is not the ce, there is something more down there." Lin Mu said.


    At first, he wondered if there was another cave below, but there was no entrance around here.


    "Hmm, Phase it is." Lin Mu said and sank into the ground.


    For the first time in a long while, Lin Mu felt some resistance going down.


    ''Oh? This thing is far denser than most metals?'' Lin Mu discovered.


    While Lin Mu''s phase could pass through most things, there were still certain restrictions on it. For example, he could not pass through restrictive formations and barriers. He also could not pass through things that were rich in spirit Qi or filled with it; a good example being other cultivators.


    To do that, he needed to use Flicker, which still allowed that. Flicker and Phase were simr, yet their scope of actions was different.


    The same could be said for the substance that was of exceptional density andplexity. Lin Mu might be able to pass through soil, dirt, rocks, and even metals, but certain denser materials were still hard for him to pass through.


    The substance that he was passing through right now seemed to be one of those things.


    Lin Mu looked around and found the substance to be a bit familiar.


    "Is this¡­ bone?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "You might be passing through the shell of the dead turtle." Xukong stated.


    "Oh? So the surface above was just normal rock and soil, huh¡­" Lin Mu understood.


    The shell itself was about ten meters thick and took Lin Mu two minutes to pass through. This showed just how dense it truly was, as normal rock and soil were like water to Lin Mu at this point.


    "This is certainly quite strong and with this thickness¡­ will anything even be able to affect it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ it is certainly far beyond normal. I''ve heard of Great Ind Turtles before and their abilities. They haverge bodies that are like inds and can carryrgendmasses on them.


    Some that manage to go above the Immortal Ascension realm are even able to reach sizes rivaling that of entire cities, if not states. I recall there being an ancient tale as well, about a massive turtle." Xukong spoke.


    "Oh? What tale senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There was a certain turtle beast that was sorge it had an entire kingdom on its back. The people living on it never knew about it and the said turtle disguised himself as the patriarch of a sect that he started.


    No one knew the reality until some disciple discovered it all and forced the turtle to reveal itself." Xukong answered.


    "That''s interesting. What else happened?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I don''t know much more than this. Either the tale is too ancient or just a made up story.." Xukong replied.Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.

 Chapter 785 - Remnant Dao Crystal

    Lin Mu learned a bit more about the Great Ind Turtles from Senior Xukong and understood that they were often used as mounts by many cultivators. The only problem was that they were rather slow.


    But this didn''t matter when they could carry massive amounts of weight on their bodies. Since they were impervious to most kinds of damages, these beasts were basically mobile forts.


    The cultivators would set up different structures on the backs of these turtles and turn them into mobile fortresses. They could be taken into a war and serve as as a camp for the soldiers.


    Of course, this was something done only in higher level worlds as the low leveled worlds would either not have such beasts in them, or would not have cultivators that could tame beasts as these.


    Kong Hutao could be said to be a lucky person, as he actually managed to find an infant Great Ind turtle before. It is lucky because these beasts are hard to distinguish from othermon turtle beasts before they reach a certain size.


    "What do you think the cultivation base of this beast was senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There is a chance that it may have reached the Dao Treading realm, seeing how long it managed to live and the sea around it." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and finally reached the interior of the shell.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu eximed upon seeing the interior.


    He could see long and wide pirs supporting the top of the shell and beams extending from it spreading across the roof of the shell.


    "Are those¡­ his bones and spine?" Lin Mu questioned in awe.


    "They are indeed." Xukong answered.


    Since the beast had been dead a long time, the flesh had long since decayed, leaving behind only the shell and bones. This hollow space would have once been filled with the flesh of the Great Ind Turtle, whose name was Bao.


    It was now that Lin Mu discovered something he had missed.


    "Wait, why can I see things? Where''s the glowing from?" Lin Mu turned his eyes towards the bottom and saw a small blue spot.


    It was faintly glowing, yet its glow was able to reach the bones and the shell. This was of course, very weak and normal humans would not be able to see anything. But for Lin Mu, it was still enough to see.


    Lin Mu quickly dropped to where the blue glow wasing from and slowed down his descent when he was close enough.


    "Huh¡­ what is this? A Gemstone?" Lin Mu questioned.


    In front of Lin Mu, there was a small blue gemstone floating. It was six-sided, but two of its sides were longer than the other four.


    "This¡­ the Dao Embryo actually condensed into a remnant Dao crystal?!" Xukong said with shock.


    "This is a Dao Embryo?!" Lin Mu questioned, feeling stunned.


    "Not exactly. After the death of a creature, their Dao Embryo would fade away and dissipate. But in certain rare cases, instead of dissipating like that, they would condense into crystals such as these.


    They are called as remnant Dao Crystals and are very rare. If sold, they can easily fetch a price of several hundred thousand peak grade spirit crystals. Of course, only a fool would sell it like that.


    There is a market for it, but no supply. They are simply too rare." Xukong answered.


    "What''s it use though, senior? I''m guessing they can be used for cultivation and help increase our cultivation base?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No, they can''t increase your cultivation base. They have no spirit Qi in them at all either." Xukong replied.


    "Huh? Then why are they so valuable?" Lin Mu asked again.


    "What these crystals represent is what gives them value. If someone is able to obtain a crystal like this, they are basically assured to have a path to reach the Dao Treading realm. The crystal will help themprehend the Dao path that was left in it.


    For example, if a Remnant Dao Crystal was formed from someone whose Dao embryo was based on the Dao of fire, it would allow one toprehend the Dao of fire and allow them to make their own Dao embryo.


    Since most Dao shell realm experts are unable to do so and fail at that point, this basically gives them a guarantee that they would be able to reach the Dao Treading realm. What''s more, is that it can actually be used more than a single time." Xukong exined in detail.


    "This¡­ no wonder it''s so valuable." Lin Mu couldn''t help but gasp.


    Content held by N?velDrama.Org.


    "Should I take it? Touching it won''t cause any problems, will it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yeah, you can touch it. The crystal itself is inert and won''t do anything." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and touched the crystal before taking hold of it. It was slightly cold to the touch and light as well.


    "Feels like I''m holding a feather, it''s very light." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ so it''s the lowest quality Remnant Dao Crystal. The more their weight, the better their quality. The quality decides how fast someone would be able toprehend their own Dao Embryo from the crystal." Xukong added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "Wonder what Dao Embryo can beprehend from this."


    "Hmm¡­ it should be a Dao Embryo based on the Dao of Water. The Great Ind turtles have an affinity with water and a slight affinity with earth. Seeing the sea around us and the crystal itself, it should be one of the Dao of water." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and put the crystal into the ring for now.


    "Let''s return now. We''ve had quite some gains." Lin Mu said before ascending back to the top.


    About fifteen minutester, he exited the ruins and met up with little Shrubby.


    <i>~FUUUSH~</i>


    But then the sound of air gushing could be heard.


    "Why do I sense the aura of my father on you?" Xiaobao''s voice was heard.

 Chapter 786 - A Mental Demon And Xiaobao Breaking Through

    Lin Mu looked up to see none other than Xiaobao staring at him. His eyes were locked onto him and were scanning him from the top to bottom.


    "Your father''s aura?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes¡­ I can feel it. It wasn''t on you before, it is now." Xiaobao stated.


    "Huh? Is it perhaps because I went down into his body from the ruins?" Lin Mu replied.


    "That cannot be it. His aura has faded away a long time ago and cannot be felt from his body. How do you have it?" Xiaobao asked again.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and wondered what was the reason for it, but then it struck him.


    ''Could it be the Remnant Dao Crystal?'' Lin Mu guessed.


    He then thought for a bit before deciding to withdraw the Remnant Dao Crysta from the ring.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The moment it appeared out in the world, the water around them started to get agitated. Ripples started to appear on it and it started to swirl around the entire ind, which was the dead body of Bao.


    "That''s it! That''s my father''s aura!" Xiaobao said out loud.


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    Lin Mu nodded his head as his guess turned out to be right. While he was a bit confused as to how there was any aura on this Remnant Dao Crystal as he had not felt it at all and he was rather sensitive to that.


    "I think he''s mistaken. He''s thinking of the natural aura of the remnant Dao Crystal to be his father''s." Xukong suddenly said.


    "Mmhmm, though what do we do now?" Lin Mu asked after observing the reaction of the turtle.


    It was evident that the turtle was desiring the Remnant Dao crystal.


    "That''s up to you. Truthfully, that Remnant Dao Crystal isn''t really of use to you. While it can allow you toprehend the Dao of water, you do not have any affinity for it and neither do you have any skills that use it.


    You can sell it of course, but that would be even more foolish. And I doubt you will want to give to other humans, anyway. Another thing is¡­ it was formed from a beast, and thus the Dao Embryo would be something that is more adapted to that of a beast.


    While a human would be able toprehend it from that, it would still be a bit weaker than if they did so themselves." Xukong exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu nodded his head and looked at the turtle.


    "Do you want it?" Lin Mu questioned the beast.


    "Yes." The beast replied without hesitation.


    "Sure, take it then." Lin Mu gave away the crystal to Xiaobao.


    He did so because of several reasons, some of them being that perhaps it remaining in this ce would be better than appearing in the Xiaofan world where it could add to the chaos, and the other being that Lin Mu felt a bit bad for Xiaobao.


    Not only was he alone all this time, but he had also lost his entire family to other humans that came here. And all that only happened because they were doing the duty that Kong Hutao gave to Bao before his death.


    Lin Mu himself knew that he did not need the Remnant Dao Crystal and was more than confident in himself to be able toprehend one himself.


    He thus watched as the Crystal floated towards Xiaobao and was quickly absorbed into his head. It was as if it was a part of him from the very start and merged with his aura as well.


    The water that was swirling calmed down on its own and Xiaobao seemed to be in a dazed state. His eyes were out of focus, but soon they returned to a normal state.


    <i>~HUALA~</i>


    The moment this happened though, a strong pressure exuded from Xiaobao''s body and spirit Qi waves started to emanate from his body. Lin Mu felt the fluctuations and was able to sense his cultivation base for the very first time.


    Lin Mu''s brows raised as he realized something.


    "He¡­ he''s having a breakthrough?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "How''s this possible? Didn''t you say there is no spirit Qi in the Remnant Dao Crystal senior?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    "I don''t think the breakthrough is because of the crystal providing the spirit Qi needed for the breakthrough. Rather, it is due to a mental need that was fulfilled by it." Xukong replied.


    "A mental need?" Lin Mu wondered.


    After thinking for a few seconds, he understood the reason.


    "A heart demon? Or a mental demon?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. But in this case, it is a mental demon. The beast probably had one for a long time and had thus been unable to progress any further. Or maybe it had no desire to do so. But now¡­ that he felt his father''s aura again and got that Remnant Dao Crystal, that mental demon was purged.


    There was nothing stopping him from breaking through anymore." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in understanding and recalled some information about mental demons.


    Both Mental demons and Heart demons were something cultivators often suffered from. It was difficult to tell which was more dangerous or hard to ovee as they could present themselves in different forms.


    Though the major difference between a Heart Demon and a mental demon was that the Heart Demon could actually gain a corporeal form. They mostly did so by taking over the body of the cultivator and destroying their true consciousness.


    Of course, this was only if the cultivator had truly reached that limit, but most would die way before that ever happened.


    A mental demon was not something that would ever gain a corporeal or a true form. It was part of the cultivator''s mind itself and could even be said to be a form of disease.


    It was in fact, something that could even gue a mortalmoner and was not limited to a cultivator.. Many considered mental illnesses as a form of mental demon as well.

 Chapter 787 - A Different Method To Observe

    Lin Mu''s eyes were on Xiaobao as his aura kept on increasing more and more.


    "Observe him closely. Perhaps you''ll get some tips for your own breakthrough in the future." Xukong advised.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu replied.


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    Lin Mu knew that his spirit sense could not prate the body of Xiaobao already and thus the only way for him to perceive it was through the spirit Qi waves and the changes in the auras that were emanated from him.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Lin Mu quickly sat down and decided to observe as much as he could and take benefit of it. He observed Xiaobao for about five minutes with his full focus, but was unable to see much.


    "Ugh, this won''t be enough¡­" Lin Mu said and tried to think of another method.


    After a few seconds, an idea dide to him, but he did not know if it would work or not.


    "It''s worth a try, anyway." Lin Mu decided.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A secondter, his lips started to move lightly and a low chant could be hearding from his mouth. Lin Mu''s eyes opened and a cold re was emanated from it.


    Severing Heart Sutra! Spatial Perception!


    Severing heart sutra stilled his mind, removing everything unless from it, while also preventing disturbing thoughts from appearing in it. Then the Spatial perception allowed him to peer into the body of Xiaobao without spirit sense.


    This was something that would not work on someone normally and if Lin Mu did do it, he would just end up seeing the space but not the person or anything within them. But the current situation was an exception.


    Since Xiaobao was undergoing a breakthrough, there was a lot of spirit Qi moving around. This caused the space to show fluctuations as well, and that was something Lin Mu could see.


    Thus, Lin Mu observed the spirit Qi''s movement using the spatial fluctuation as a negative contrast. This was of course, not fully urate, but it was more than what he was seeing before.


    Right now to Lin Mu, it looked like he was seeing everything through a sheet of cloth and things seemed to be a bit blurry. He couldn''t see Xiabao''s Dantian or meridians. All he could see was the fluctuations caused by spirit Qi, not even spirit Qi itself.


    It was aplex situation where he was deriving conclusions from a third factor that was indirect.


    <i>~shudder~</i>


    Xiaobao''s body started to shake as the spirit Qi in the atmosphere started to pour into his body rapidly. Lin Mu could even feel a different kind of spirit Qi mixed into it. Slightly diverting his attention to use spirit sense, Lin Mu sensed the new kind of spirit Qi that was arising from the sea.


    "Is this the water elemental spirit Qi?" Lin Mu guessed.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    His attention was quickly pulled back to Xiaobao''s Dantian¡­ or rather, the general area in which it was located. He could sense that the spirit Qi there was getting really agitated and seemed to be moving in a very peculiar manner.


    ''It is gathering in a specific ce.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He could see another small outline floating in the area of the Dantian. Its shape was rather blurry and fuzzy, getting distorted every so often. But after observing it for a few seconds, Lin Mu understood what that was.


    "That should be Xiaobao''s Nascent soul itself." Lin Mu muttered.


    He then looked below it and saw that the spirit Qi that was gathering was actually condescending below it. It was like a whirlpool of sorts had formed and all the spirit Qi was getting sucked into it.


    More and more spirit Qi kept on getting sucked into it and time passed by.


    After about an hour, Lin Mu could tell that the situation had arrived at a different stage. The whirlpool had started to fade away and behind it, another structure had appeared. It looked to be a t circle that was a bit deformed.


    Its shape was changing, and it looked to be rather flexible. The spirit Qi was actually moving into this circle, or rather into the circumference of it. The more that entered it, the more the circumference expanded.


    After a certain point, it stopped expanding and its form had be rtively stable. No longer did it deform and kept a stable shape. Thirty minutes passed and now the circle was growing into a three dimensional form from the two dimensional one.


    "It''s¡­ bing a sphere?" Lin Mu said as he observed the change.


    Bit by bit, the sphere started to take form and about an hourter, it was fully formed. It looked to be flickering and seemed like it would disappear anytime now.


    "No¡­ it''s not disappearing. Rather, it is stabilizing. I can only see the spirit Qi that is vtile and moving. It needs to cause a spatial fluctuation in order for me to see it. If it is calm, it would do that and it will be invisible to me again." Lin Mu analyzed.


    Lin Mu did not feel disappointed as he knew that this was the eventual end of the entire process. He felt lucky that he was even able to observe this much. A few more minutes passed and the sphere fully disappeared.


    And along with the disappearance of the sphere, which was nothing but the Outline of the Dao Shell, the Dantian also disappeared.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu closed his eyes to rest them and took a deep breath. Observing for this long had put quite a lot of stress on them and he would not be able to use spatial perception for the rest of the day or two now.


    Lin Mu stood up and suddenly smelled something near him.


    "Huh? What''s that aroma?" Lin Mu turned around and saw Little Shrubby.


    "You''re drinking the stew?" Lin Mu asked, feeling bewildered.


    "You were busy doing your thing, and I was getting bored. So I thought I may as well eat.." Little Shrubby replied casually.

 Chapter 788 - Returning To Kong Hutao

    Lin Mu didn''t know whether tough or cry upon seeing Little Shrubby and just decided to join him instead. He knew that Xiaobao would take a few more hours to fully be done with the process and that they had time.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby lounged around and ate the stew while Xiaobao was done. Three hours passed like this before Xiaobao woke up and looked at them.


    <i>~HUU~</i>


    A gust of hot air was released from the nostrils of Xiaobao and he seemed to be a bit happy.


    "Thank you," He said calmly.


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    "That''s fine. It belonged to your father so you can keep it. I''m happy it helped your breakthrough." Lin Mu replied.


    "I never thought I would be able to breakthrough. I didn''t think I needed to. All I wanted to do was to fulfill my father''s wish. And now that is done as well." Xiaobao said with a hint of mncholy.


    Hearing this Lin Mu thought for a bit and spoke.


    "What are you going to do now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Just what I have been doing all this time I guess. Live here." Xiaobao answered.


    "Do you want to perhapse with me?" Lin Mu asked.


    To this, Xiaobao gave that answer instantly.


    "No¡­ I''d like to stay here where my father once lived. I don''t go anywhere else in this world either and have no need. I''m fine where I am." Xiaobao replied.


    "Ah¡­ I see. That is fine I guess." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu didn''t really want to force the beast if it had no desire to do so. He had just asked him casually and wasn''t really sure either.


    ''Guess I should return now. No need waiting here now.'' Thought to himself.


    "We''ll take our leave now, Xiaobao. I hope you live well." Lin Mu bid him farewell.


    "Good bye." Xiaobao replied.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby then left for the portrait of Kong Hutao and reached it rather quickly. Since they already knew the location and the distance, Lin Mu simply got onto Little Shrubby''s back and reached their destination.


    Quickly entering the inner cave where the portrait was located, Lin Mu saw Kong Hutao.


    "You''re back!" Kong Hutao''s portrait awakened.


    "I am indeed. I got the key," Lin Mu said as he withdrew the rectangr object from his ring.


    "That''s truly the key. How was the journey? Did you meet Bao?" Kong Hutao questioned.


    "The journey was fine, but I did not meet Bao. But I did meet his son." Lin Mu answered.


    "His son?! Oh, tell me more." Kong Hutao asked.


    Lin Mu then went on to exin all that had happened in the past few days along with the story of Bao and how the humans attacked them. The more Kong Hutao heard it the more his brows furrowed.


    "The men of the Gu n, no doubt. Those kinds of techniques and clothes belong to them. They are the ones that attacked Bao''s family." Kong Hutao said, anger visible in his eyes.


    "Huh? They were from the Gu n? The one from the northern tribes?" Lin Mu asked feeling surprised.


    "Indeed. There is no doubt. Only they would have the intelligence about the sacred grounds of my n and that I unleashed it here. Some of their experts are specialized in remote sensing and can tell when certain things happen.


    They''ve existed for a long time and have their spies mixed into many different ces all over the continents. There were some in the Western continent as well and had once targeted my n.


    They were after the inheritance grounds for a long time and I wouldn''t be shocked if they were the same even after thousands of years." Kong Hutao exined.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was rather shocked. He did not know the Gu n was this ancient.


    "Are they rted to Gu Yao and his n as well?" Lin Mu questioned feeling doubtful.


    He had already told Kong Hutao all about Gu Yao, and thus the man was informed about him.


    "From all that I''ve heard from you, I think the majority of the Gu n must have been eradicated by now. Or they went into hiding. The n that Gu Yao belongs to was probably one of the branches.


    Poor Xiaobao, he lost everything that he had and yet kept up his father''s duty." Kong Hutao answered.


    "I felt sad for him too and asked if he wanted toe with me. But he denied and said that he''d like to stay in the ce that was his father''s home." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ that is probably for the best. His kind is not something that can be found in our world usually. I was lucky that I found Bao, and I didn''t even know what kind of a turtle beast he was.


    Xiaobao is even rarer since his mother is a Great Reef turtle." Kong Hutao said.


    "Oh? You know about Great Reef Turtles?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Mmhmm, but not much. I didn''t know about the Great Ind turtles and only learned about them from you just now. But I''ve heard of the Great Reef Turtles. There were some old records left behind by my ancestors.


    I don''t know where they got those from but they were certainly not from this world. In those records, I learned of a great world that was many times massive than ours. But it was also very different.


    Unlike our world that hadnd as well as oceans, that world only had water covering its entirety. And on that world, a beast called as the Great Reef Turtles lived. I do not know where that world is or how my ancestors got this information but I do know that no one else has it. Not even the great powers of my time do." Kong Hutao exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu''s ears perked up. After all, this all sounded very familiar to him now.


    "Senior Xukong this¡­ is that perhaps the oceanic world we saw?" Lin Mu said in his mind.

 Chapter 789 - Past And Mysteries Of The Xiaofan World

    The description that Kong Hutao had just given was far too simr to that of the oceanic world that Lin Mu knew of. He had already seen the remnant of the oceanic world and in the void and thatbined with the other proofs he had seen, he was now sure that the two worlds definitely had something to do with each other.


    "Hmm¡­ that seems to be true. Perhaps there may have been a passage between the two worlds once upon a time. It could have been a natural one too. And considering how we have no information before the ten thousand years ago, it is safe to assume that there were more people that traveled to the oceanic world." Xukong replied.


    "Seems like that senior. Perhaps I can get to know more about the history before the unification of the continents." Lin Mu said and looked at Kong Hutao.


    "And what did these records tell more about the Great Reef turtles?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "ording to those records, the Great Reef turtles are massive beasts of great power. They live below the oceans and are the home of several aquatic beasts due to the corals that grow on their shells.


    They can cause tsunamis that can wipe out entire countries if they are enraged as well. Their cultivation base is said to be very great and they can grow even more. They are perhaps one of the strongest beasts I know of." Kong Hutao answered.


    "I see." Lin Mu replied, finding the information to be pretty simr to what he had.


    ''The characteristics of the Great Ind Turtle and the Great Reef Turtle are pretty simr. No wonder Bao chose one as his mate. Though I wonder how that Great Reef Turtle made its way to the sinkhole.


    Though its cultivation base might not have been that high considering how she died back then. If it really was that strong the cultivators would have all died.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Do you know the history before the invasion, senior Kong?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Unfortunately, I don''t¡­ or rather this portrait does not. There was only a limited amount of information I could add to it back then as my death was rather close and I still had a lot of things to set up.


    I was lucky that our n had a nk portrait like this. If not for this, I don''t think I would have been able to set everything up." Kong Hutao answered.


    "Huh? A nk portrait? This spirit painting was not made for you by a spirit painter?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, it was one of the ancestral treasures that we''ve had for a long time. As for a spirit painter¡­ what''s that?" Kong Hutao replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was now confused. From what he had heard, a spirit painter needed to custom make the painting for the person. But it seemed to be far different from that in this case.


    "Senior Xukong, what is this? Can there be a nk painting like that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s hard to tell. I''ve heard of bloodline linked paintings in which every patriarch would leave a wisp of their soul. But this seemed to be a bit different than that. The process of making a spirit painting is said to beplex and for it to work with just anyone is even more difficult.


    I don''t know how this all happened, but it''s likely that there is more to the Xiaofan world than we know. The history before ten thousand years is pretty much a mystery." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and knew that it was better to just learn about itter since it was not possible now. He knew that one day he would be able to unravel the secrets of the Xiaofan world.


    Lin Mu and Kong Hutao talked for a while more and figured out some things.


    "Now that you have the key you can begin the process of inheriting the entire sacred ground." Kong Hutao spoke.


    "Alright senior. What should I do now?" Lin Mu asked.


    Kong Hutao then went on to exin the steps that were needed for the process to be done. Lin Mu was basically supposed to take the key to the Formation Nexus and insert it into a specific ce.


    After that, he just needed to bind it with his spirit sense and blood before the process would be done.


    "I''ll get to it then." Lin Mu said and left to do it.


    He reached the formation Nexus and quickly found the ce where he was supposed to insert the key into.


    "No wonder I did not see it before. There are simply too many of them." Lin Mu said.


    There were pirs here in the hall where the formation nexus was located and on those pirs, there were hundreds of indents. This was where Lin Mu was supposed to insert the key. But the problem was that there were too many of them and they all looked the same.


    If someone else found the key and came here, they wouldn''t even know where to start with. Thankfully Kong Hutao had already informed Lin Mu of it and he quickly found the right one.


    "The Ninth hole of the ninth pir of the ninth ring." Lin Mu located the indent.


    He took out the key from the ring and inserted it into the indent.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The moment he did so, a wave of spirit Qi spread in the area and the entire formation nexus felt like it had juste alive.


    Lin Mu could see several runes appearing all over the ce and they were all operating in different ways.


    <i>~SHING~SHING~SHING~</i>


    The pirs started to move and most of them sank into the ground. Even the one with the key inserted into it did the same.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The floor started to shake and move before a circr tform started to rise from the center of the hall.

 Chapter 790 - A Problem Of Logistics And Space

    Lin Mu looked at the tform and the fine runes that were directly carved into it. They seemed a bit familiar to him and after a few seconds, he realized them to be spatial runes that dealt with the spatial linking of the minor ne.


    "This¡­ so the binding involves not only the control of the formation nexus but also the nes ess coordinates as well?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "This is a rather different way of doing a binding. Usually one would just link directly to the source of the minor ne, but in this case, since Kong Hutao had to prematurely deploy the minor ne, I guess the source was merged with the Xiaofan world as well." Xukong replied.


    More runes started to appear from the tform and arranged themselves into a formation that was different from the others. But this process was also far slower than the one before and it looked like each rune was being made with great precision.


    This gave Lin Mu the time to think more about the minor ne and what it would entail. He already had several ideas of how to make use of it. The biggest advantage was that he could use the resources stored in here for the fight against Gu Yao and the invader.


    But the only problem was that the ess point was limited to one location and if they wanted to procure the resources they would all have to go to the Hong Lin Kingdom. While this was fine on the surface, Lin Mu was sure that it would be quite rming for the sects and other kingdoms, if a lot of cultivators suddenly started to visit the Hong Lin Kingdom.


    These were already troubled times and everyone was getting suspicious about the actions of other powers. The alliances and opposition between the top sects had also split the lower sects into their respective camps.


    The two alliances, the Long Cloud Alliance and the Zither wind alliance were currently growing with wanton speed and it did not look like it would stop anytime soon. The top three sects seemed to be busy among themselves and it looked a bit strange as they weren''t really acting either.


    The only one among the three that seemed to be doing anything at all was the Rainbow pill sect, but even that was just taking advantage of the Emperor right now. It was now no secret that they were looking to create an alliance of their own.


    There were already rumors that the son of the empress consort was willing to marry one of the core disciples of the Rainbow pill sect. The said disciple was actually the daughter of one of the supreme elders of the Rainbow pill sect as well thus her status was no less than that of the prince either.


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    In fact, her cultivation base was far higher than the prince right now. She was said to be at the peak of the core condensation realm. Though the only difference was that she was far older than the crown prince, being over fifty years old right now.


    Of course in the case of the cultivator''s age didn''t really matter as much since they could maintain their youthful appearance for hundreds of years. Thus even if there was about twenty five years of difference between the crown prince and the daughter of the supreme elder it was easily eptable.


    All these thoughts went through Lin Mu''s mind as he formted a solution that might help him and his own alliance the best. He knew that the current members were not enough and they would soon be expanding.


    ''Hopefully, the Long cloud alliance joins up with us. But even if they do, fully trusting them might not be the best thing. The resource distributional will probably get skewed if they are the ones providing it.


    Rather than that, I''ll need to find a personal bnce on a different front.? Hmm¡­ perhaps for the smaller but more trustable powers such as King Hong, the Mu n, the Fei n and the Hei corps I can depend on the Minor ne for it.


    But even then the distance between all of them will be far too vast to efficiently take care of the logistics.'' Lin Mu thought.


    More time passed as the formation kept on progressing little by little. This process was sensitive and needed to be done without any disturbance or the problems that arose would be quite devastating to the entire formation nexus.


    As always, anything that dealt with the space and void was something that needed to be very carefully controlled. Anypse of focus could lead to devastating effects and they would not be something that Lin Mu would like to bear.


    "If only there was a way to allow multiple ess points to this minor ne¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    The ring on Lin Mu''s right hand hummed slightly bringing his attention to it.


    "Oh? You want to tell me something?" Lin Mu asked lightly.


    He closed his eyes and appeared in the internal space of the ring. The area around him was mostly bare except for the ethereal altar a short distance from him and the Grey egg that rested on a soft cushion near the barrier of the Altar.


    Lin Mu lightly gazed at the egg for a few seconds before heading towards the altar.


    "What is it that you want to tell me?" Lin Mu whispered.


    He knew the ring was sentient and that it was always listening. It had often given him hints and helped him. He didn''t know what the conditions for it to do that were but it didn''t hurt to think more about them.


    Lin Mu came to stand beside the avatar and ced his hand on the altar.


    He expected there to be something that would happen, some information that he would get, but nothing like that happened.


    "Huh? That''s weird¡­ then why was I called here?" Lin Mu questioned as he looked at the altar.

 Chapter 791 - Modifying The Formation Nexus

    Every time the ring called him into the space, there was a reason for it. Either it was a new skill that Lin Mu received or a technique. But now it was nothing like that. This left him confused.


    This was of course until, he looked at the runes that faintly glowed on the altar. These runes would change every so often and looked to be random at first. But the more Lin Mu looked at them, the more he found them to be understandable.


    "Wait a minute¡­ aren''t these¡­ simr to the ones used in the formation nexus?" Lin Mu recognized.


    He ced his hand on the altar once again and focused on the runes that he had recognized. They appeared on the altar once again and this time they didn''t disappear, allowing Lin Mu to understand them better.


    Hebined the information and knowledge he had learned earlier with the current runes in front of him beforeing up with something he had never expected to be able to do this.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes that glowed with a new found motivation.


    "This might just work!" Lin Mu said and returned to his body in the cave.


    "What just happened there? I lost connection with you for ten seconds." Xukong said in a concerned voice.


    "Huh? I was just there in the ring senior." Lin Mu spoke.


    "No, you weren''t. Your body was here and I would have felt if you entered the space in the ring." Xukong replied.


    "Strange¡­ then was it just my mind that entered the ring?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Perhaps¡­ the ring is a mystery as always. Anyways, what exactly happened?" Xukong questioned.


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    "Ah yes! I think I may have a way to improve this minor ne." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Improve it?" Xukong said feeling doubtful.


    "Or rather make it better for our use¡­ a bit more convenient." Lin Mu added.


    He then went on to exin the formation array modifications that he could do that would allow him to link the minor ne with his ring instead of being restricted to the Hong Lin forest.


    Xukong heard everything carefully and was actually surprised internally but did not show that.


    ''He actually managed to modify a spatial formation enough that he could add a different spatial junction to the anchor¡­ while this was done with some assistance, it is no less than a miracle for someone of his level.'' Xukong thought.


    "So what do you think senior?" Lin Mu asked after being done with his exnation.


    Xukong came out of his thoughts and looked at his disciple.


    "You can try it of course. Just be careful and don''t force it if the formations don''t move like you want them to." Xukong replied.


    "Alright, senior." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He looked at the formations in front of him that were almostpleted and were ready for his binding. Lin Mu knew that the process of modification was sensitive and would have to be done in a time period when the core of it was open.


    "What better time to make the modification than when binding with it?" Lin Mu chuckled and took out the short sword.


    Pricking his hand, he drew out some blood which he then dropped on the formation runes. The blood acted as if there was no gravity and started to float in mid air. The drops of blood merged and split apart in a strange harmony as the energy of the runes permeated them.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The runes suddenly let out a spirit Qi fluctuation that made the blood drops turn into an extremely thin screen. A very small amount of blood was stretched into a screen that was about a foot wide and a foot tall.


    The runes that were floating around started to pass through the screen and were getting stained by the blood. The amount staining them was very less yet it was enough to add a little bit of Lin Mu''s aura to the runes.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around, and chanted the calming heart sutra while keeping a close eye on everything. His window of opportunity was very narrow and once he lost that it would be close to impossible for him to act.


    Five minutes passed by which felt like hours to Lin Mu. His focus was at the peak as beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. Him being able to do this would greatly affect his entire mission of fighting Gu Yao and the invader, thus the pressure on him was significant.


    Finally, Lin Mu saw that the blood screen had dissipated fully and the blood had been incorporated into the formation.


    ''NOW!'' Lin Mu said in his mind as his spirit sense moved like tens of tendrils.


    All of them entered through the gaps of the formation and started to link up with the core. Lin Mumanded them with his mind and they started to change the formation array.


    The runes shifted, they were removed, they were flipped, they were added and new ones were written.


    Different actions were done by Lin Mu as hebined all the knowledge that he had learned about formation till now. This was his most difficult and most important work on formations and he was learning even more while doing it all.


    His experiencesbined with the information in his mind before transforming into reality as the formations kept on changing. Time turned into a blur as Lin Mu got into a flow.


    His hands moved like shadows as the runes flitted around his fingers. Writing them and flicking them around Lin Mu looked like a painter who used his fingers as the brush.


    Spirit Qi interwove like the contrasting fibers of yarn and merged into the formations ording to the will of Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu''s eyes darted around and followed the runes making sure all of them went into the right ce as he flipped through theyers one by one.


    "This shall be a sess!" Lin Mu said to himself.

 Chapter 792 - Anchor Transfer Completed

    The rune kept on changing as the formations were modified. By now Lin Mu had gotten a better grasp on everything and was doing better than before. He knew that as long as he kept this up he would be done with the entire thing soon enough.


    "Just a little more¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he reached the final step of the process.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    The ring on his hand startefinyd to hum and he knew the time had arrived.


    "Void Anchor linking!" Lin Mu said as he spread his fingers apart.


    Rune lined up like a string and wrapped around his fingers before joining up on the ring.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The waves of spirit Qi started to change as Lin Mu felt the attribute less spirit Qi in the air morphing into something different. His eyes flickered, and he used spatial perception for a few seconds.


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    ''It''s working¡­'' Lin Mu thought before stopping his usage of spatial perception.


    He had not yet rested his eyes enough to be able to use it for long enough and just wanted to check it for now. He didn''t know how this would all go and with the involvement of space, one couldn''t be too careless.


    Lin Mu had sensed several small openings in the space when he used spatial perception and had seen the runes entering the space as well. For a few seconds, he had even seen the void beyond the world and the spatial attribute spirit Qi that wandered there.


    The runes would link up with the outer formation arrays that covered the outside of the minor ne and kept it safe from the void''s forces.


    What Lin Mu was currently doing was basically changing the anchor of the Wandering sinkhole from the Hong Lin Kingdom to himself. The anchor reality was stuck in a very obscure location of the Hong Lin forest and the sinkhole could wander around like a boat in the sea.


    Even if a boat was anchored, depending on the length of the rope, it could still bob and move around a bit. That was exactly what made the Wandering sinkhole ''Wander''. But now once the anchor was transferred to Lin Mu, he would be able to move around freely and so would the minor world.


    The rune changes needed for this were very different and no one would be able toe up on their own easily in this world. If it were not for him noticing them on the altar in the ring, he probably would not have been able to do this.


    Even if he got the ownership of the entire ce, he would still have toe back to the Hong Lin kingdom to enter the minor ne.


    Watching all this, Lin Mu was reminded of his own Sleepscape. In a way it was airmail to this minor ne and was linked to him. Though with the Sleepscape there was a fundamental difference.


    It could allow the mental world to affect the physical and yet keep things the same in the real world. There were many restrictions on the Sleepscape as well as Lin Mu couldn''t really affect it much other than the tree and the spirit stone source vein that he had introduced.


    Other than him only Senior Xukong and the Grey egg could even appear there. But with this minor ne, Lin Mu knew that he would be able to ovee those problems. Though there was still the issue of it being attached to him at all times.


    ''Then there is also the fact that this minor ne is still a part of the Xiaofan world and cannot be detached from it truly. Even if I have the anchor, I still can''t move the ''boat'' from the ''sea.'''' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Pushing these thoughts out of the way for now, he focused on the task at hand and reached the end point.


    <i>~Tremble~</i>


    Finally, the runes stabilized and the space around the tform got stable as well. Lin Mu felt a weight on his body that was not there before. The sensationsted for about ten minutes before it faded away.


    It felt like he was carrying a hill on his back, but he bore it while just gritting his teeth.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    When the weight finally faded away, he felt a scorching pain on his back.


    "Dammit, what is it now?" Lin Mu cursed.


    Using his spirit sense to observe his back, he saw several runes appearing there. The characters were those for binding and ownership.


    ''So this is the binding runes of the anchor¡­'' Lin Mu finally understood.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Once the runes were etched onto Lin Mu''s back, they disappeared as well and he lightly stumbled.


    <i>~huu~huu~huu~</i>


    "Finally¡­ it''s over¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~HUALA~</i>


    But it seemed like he had spoken too soon and a spring of spirit Qi rushed out of the tform. It was like an oil well had been struck and the jet of spirit Qi sprayed out, filling the entire hall.


    "Now what is this?" Lin Mu said in confusion.


    "You actually managed to do what I failed to do before¡­ you changed the ne''s anchor." Lin Mu suddenly heard a voice in his head.


    "Huh? Senior Kong Hutao? How are you in my mind?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "When you finished the transfer of ownership, you were linked to the entire fomentation nexus of the minor ne, and this includes hat various other formation arrays that are linked to it.


    This included the spirit portrait of me as well. I can speak to you as long as you are in the minor ne directly now." Kong Hutao answered.


    "I see¡­ but what''s happening now? Why''s the spirit Qi leaking out like this? Did some problem ur?" Lin Mu asked feeling concerned.


    He was wondering if he had broken some secondaryyer of the formation array that caused this leak.


    "Ahahah!" Kong Hutaoughed out in response to Lin Mu.


    "This isn''t a problem.. This is your reward¡­ Now just enjoy!" Kong Hutao Stated.

 Chapter 793 - Adult Soul Stage And Approaching The Peak

    Hearing Kong Hutao''s words, Lin Mu was confused at first but then understood his meaning.


    "The spirit Qi¡­ it is for me to use?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course. It was meant as a reward to the person that inherited the minor ne. I was afraid that they might not be strong enough thus prepared this for them. Even if it was someone at the Qi refining realm, I guarantee that with the spirit Qi here, they will be able to reach the peak of the Nascent Soul realm as long as they absorb it diligently." Kong Hutao said proudly.


    This was one of the hardest things he had to prepare and he was happy that he made the decision. The formations set up to gather the spirit Qi were also modified in such a way that a certain amount of spirit Qi would be stockpiled every year.


    This was in addition to the base amount that Kong Hutao had set up.


    "It has been thousands of years since I set this ce up, the spirit Qi that has been stockpiled should still be plenty. In fact, it should already be more than double the principal amount." Kong Hutao added.


    Lin Mu was even more surprised after hearing this.


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    "I''m already close to the Adult soul stage of the nascent soul realm, just how far would I be able to reach with this?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    It was now that Xukong''s voice rang in his mind.


    "Just focus on absorbing it now. Once you reach the Dao Shel realm, I have some things that I need to teach you." Xukong stated.


    "Oh? If you say so senior. I''ll absorb it for now." Lin Mu said before sitting down cross legged in the center of the tform.


    This was the ce from where all the spirit Qi was rising out of and now it was directly being absorbed by Lin Mu.


    <i>~HUU~</i>


    With a single breath, it was as if Lin Mu inhaled a river of spirit Qi. The spirit Qi directly started to condense in the air and turned into dense vapor. This vapor was breathed in by Lin Mu and quickly absorbed by his lungs and the rest of his body. It spread through his meridians while nourishing them and finally reached the Dantian.


    <i>~drip~drip~drip~</i>


    Unlike the usual process that Lin Mu needed to follow to refine spirit Qi wisps into liquid spirit Qi, the vapor directly turned into clouds in his Dantian and raised down the liquid spirit Qi.


    If someone were to see this, they would be astounded. This was the same as letting the spirit Qi spoon feed itself to Lin Mu, with him having no need to put in any effort.


    The rain kept on falling as Lin Mu''s Nascent soul directly absorbed it as well. Half of his Nascent soul was above the sea of spirit Qi while the other half was submerged into the liquid spirit Qi.


    The bottom half bathed in the liquid spirit Qi that nourished the Nascent soul and faintly glowed. The more Lin Mu focused on it, the faster the speed of the Nascent soul''s absorption.


    Lin Mu continued to cultivate and was soon lost in the process. Little Shrubby who was a short distance from him also sat down and absorbed the extra spirit Qi that went a little too far from Lin Mu.


    He too was benefiting from it. Little Shrubby was already at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm and would need a while to reach the very peak.


    But now this would help speed up the process.


    ***


    Time passed and a week had psed.


    Lin Mu had already broken through to the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm and his nascent soul looked just like him. No longer was it the teenage form of Lin Mu.


    This also meant that Lin Mu''s appearance would bergely stationary from now on. He would not age and the only changes that would happen in his body would be due to external factors such as damage or internal factors like growth.


    The fountain of spirit Qi had not stopped yet and was still going at the same pace as before. But now Lin Mu had reached the bottleneck and was at the very peak of the Nascent Soul realm.


    In fact, it wouldn''t be wrong to say that he was already at the Pseudo Dao Shell realm.


    The bottleneck between the Nascent soul realm and the Dao Shell realm was actually rather faint and could be ovee as long as one had enough spirit Qi to support it. The main problem that the cultivators actually had was to reach that point.


    It was said that the amount of spirit Qi needed to go from the Adult Soul stage to the Very Peak of the adult soul stage was multiples of the spirit Qi needed to go from the Infant soul stage to the Adult stage.


    Most of the time the cultivators failed in doing so because they either ran out of longevity, became injured and weak, were crippled, were killed by someone else or were simply toozy to cultivate.


    Of course, if someone wanted to cultivate steadily without the support of external resources they could still do it, but the time needed for that would be very long. Many people were still unable to do so with resources thus it was understandable that they could not without them.


    And this was IF they did not encounter any personal bottleneck. Depending on the talent of a body, someone may end up with a bottleneck that would restrain their progress. For such people, they would have to depend on some luck to ovee it or need recourses.


    Fortunately for Lin Mu, he didn''t have a major bottleneck during the Nascent soul realm and only felt themon one between two major realms.. But with the support of spirit Qi, he was steadily chipping away at the bottleneck and it wouldn''t be long before he got rid of it entirely.

 Chapter 794 - Breakthrough To The Dao Shell Realm!

    Lin Mu had been in the state of cultivation for two more days now and he was at the very cusp of a breakthrough. The bottleneck had already loosened and he would be oveing it any moment now.


    In his Dantian, the spirit Qi was filled to the brim and his nascent soul waspletely submerged into the liquid spirit Qi. The scene was a bit strange as ever so often, the level of the spirit Qi would fall.


    But this wasn''t because it was depleted, but rather because the Size of Lin Mu''s Dantian would increase. The pressure exerted by the spirit Qi would steadily expand his Dantian and right now it had already reached a size that was twice as big as before.


    Lin Mu''s Nascent soul had stopped absorbing spirit Qi a while ago since it had already reached a saturation point. Lin Wu was now focusing on reaching the Dao Shell realm but was unable to.


    He was simply a bit lost and was looking for a solution on his own. This was nothing but the bottleneck that was now loosened.


    After a certain amount of time, Lin Wu''s Nascent soul suddenly opened its eyes. A powerful gaze was let out by it and it waved its hands. Lin Mu wasn''t in control of it right now and the Nascent soul was acting on its own.


    Lin Mu had reached a state of hyper-focus, such that he was mostly unaware of everything other than his own body. The Nascent soul worked on its own and manipted the spirit Qi around him.


    His fingers and hands formed obscure gestures and controlled the spirit Qi as if it was his own part like a limb.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The spirit Qi in the Dantian started to move like a cyclone and spun at a great pace. Soon the entire Dantian started to shake and move with the momentum of the cyclone. The spirit Qi started to gather at one point and it looked like it was condensing further.


    At the bottom of the cyclone, one could see that the spirit Qi had turned into something like yarn. This ''yarn'' turned into a t circle and then started to expand in three dimensions.


    From a t circle, it soon turned into a hollow sphere instead. By the time Lin Mu actually awakened, he realized that the process was alreadyplete.


    "Huh? What happened?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He looked within his Dantian and saw the spherical outline floating below his Nascent soul. His Nascent soul had returned to its normal meditative state and had its eyes closed. Lin Mu looked closer at the outline and knew that he had seeded.


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    "Its¡­ it''s done! I broke through!!!" Lin Mu eximed.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    His aura erupted like a tsunami and washed over the entire hall before spilling out of it. The moment was rather strong and it was a testament to just how stronger Lin Mu had gotten.


    "Congrattions on breaking through, Lin Mu." Xukong spoke.


    "This was a bit unexpected though senior. I thought there would be a far different effect when it formed. I don''t feel particrly strong either?" Lin Mu stated.


    "Well, that is due to several factors. The first being that you have only formed the outline of your Dao Shell and you are in the Shell Initiation stage. Only when you reach the Shell Genesis stage will the power of your Dao Shell reflect on you.


    But you have another reason why this seems so underwhelming. Your body is not weak either. You havepleted two treasured organs and thus it was already strong. Due to the power difference being so little, the impact of power you felt was less.


    Right now other than your control over spirit Qi improving, there shouldn''t be as many changes." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu heard everything clearly and realized that it was all true. He clenched his fist and could feel a slight increase in power. He could also feel the spirit Qi within his body respond to him far faster than before.


    Thinking of the spirit Qi made him look around him.


    "Huh? The spirit Qi¡­ it is already gone?" Lin Mu observed.


    "Of course it would be gone. The amount you took was rather massive. Plus, with your every expanding Dantian the spirit Qi simply continued being absorbed into your body without any limitations.


    Even if you see no spirit Qi here, it''s still there in your Dantian and you can use it. The spirit Qi you have leftover is still enough to help you progress quite a bit into the next stage of the Dao Shell realm." Xukong replied.


    "I see¡­ and what was it that you wanted to speak to me about? You told before that you would exin after I broke through." Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes¡­ the thing that I wanted to tell you was¡­ to ignore the Shell expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm and reach the Dao Treading realm directly." Xukong replied.


    "What?! Why? But didn''t you say that it decides the future potential of a cultivator? If I ignore it won''t I have problems in the future?" Lin Mu questioned feeling shocked and confused.


    "Indeed, that would be true for most cultivators. But you are a special case. You see, you are focused on the spatial element and a lot of your skills are based on it. Thus if you want the best potential, you would have to form a Dao Embryo rted to the spatial Dao and thenprehend it from there on.


    But the problem we have is that this world will not be able to support something like that." Xukong stated.


    "Huh? Then what do I do?" Lin Mu asked.


    He already knew that he would like to focus on the spatial Dao as it was the one he hade into contact with, the very first time and was rted to most of his skills.. It was something that he definitely did not want to give up on.

 Chapter 795 - Shape Of The Dao Shell

    What Xukong had told Lin Mu went against his very own knowledge that he had taught to Lin Mu.


    "The solution to this problem cannot be found in this world. If you want to form a Dao Embryo rted to the Dao of Space, you would have to find a higher world. This world cannot handle a Dao Embryo that rtes to the three primordial elements.


    This is one of the restrictions that are there on lower leveled worlds. Only when they promote to a higher leveled world, can they allow them. In fact, even the formation of the Dao Embryos of the four heavenly elements would be difficult for most cultivators in this world." Xukong exined.


    "Then¡­ what do I do? Which Dao Embryo do I form and what will I do about the spatial Dao?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He knew that the Shell Initiation stage was important since it would determine the shape of the Dao Shell. It was only in this stage that its shape could be modified. The outline that was formed was a default spherical one that everyone formed.


    If a cultivator knew what he wanted to pursueter on in the future, they would modify the shape of the Outline in this stage. And only after the outline was modified would they start to solidify it and enter the Shell genesis stage.


    Thus Lin Mu needed to know what Dao to pursue from now.


    "I think your best bet would be to try for the Earth Dao for now. Later on when you leave this world you will be able to form more Dao Shells and Dao Embryos. Many people in lower worlds either don''t know or think that this is possible too.


    One doesn''t need to restrict themselves to a single Dao Embryo. Most don''t attempt this due to how much time this takes, but for you, this is easier. It''s not like you have ack of time either.


    Another thing that I''m doubtful of is the time needed for you to form an embryo rted to the space Dao as well. The primordial elements are incrediblyplex and thus forming a Dao embryo takes a long time.


    That is time that you possibly don''t have now since you need to get strong as quickly as possible." Xukong exined in detail.


    Lin Mu heard everything and pondered over everything thinking about it in detail. Even if Xukong had told him to do so, he needed to think about it more on his own as well. Making his own decisions was an important skill that he needed to know.


    Lin Mu spent a few minutes like this and finally made his decision.


    "I''ll do as you suggested senior. I do have an affinity with the Earth Dao and can go ahead with it." Lin Mu stated.


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    "Mmhmm. But you don''t have to restrain yourself to just the Earth Dao either. If you feel like it, you can pursue others as well. You have the Fire Dao, the Sword Dao and even the Spear Dao that you can pursue." Xukong replied.


    "Oh? Yes¡­ I do have that option too¡­" Lin Mu was now given more to think about.


    Soon, ideas started to form in his mind and he knew what he wanted to do.


    "I''ve decided¡­ I know what the shape of my Dao Shell would be!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    "Good, now you can proceed whenever you want." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and stood up.


    He was not going to change the shape of it right now as he still needed to think more about the details of the Dao Shell. Cultivators spend decades to centuries in the Shell initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm so as to find the shape that would be perfect for them.


    It wouldn''t be hurtful if Lin Mu decided to take it a bit slower. Plus the idea that he had in his mind was different than the norm and he needed to do a few more experiments before he was able to attempt that.


    Lin Mu went to the spirit portrait of Kong Hutao and saw him staring at him with wide eyes.


    "You reached the Dao Shell realm?" Kong Hutao asked.


    "I did indeed." Lin Mu acknowledge.


    "Good, good!" Kong Hutao was very happy to hear this.


    The stronger the inheritor was the better the chances of his wishes being fulfilled.


    "Though¡­ was the spirit Qicking? Why are you only at the Shell initiation stage?" Kong Hutao asked after seeing a bit further.


    "Ah that¡­ I need time to think of what my Dao Shell will be. As for the spirit Qi, no it was notcking. It is simply that I absorbed it all into my Dantian for use in the future." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing this, the eyes of the portrait went wide. But a few secondster he started tough.


    "AHAHAHAH! EXCELLENT! If such an outstanding person is the heir, then I have less to worry about." Kong Hutao said, not even asking how Lin Mu aplished something like that.


    Lin Mu rubbed his head in slight awkwardness and didn''t know what to say. Kong Hutao stopped on his own in a bit as well and looked at Lin Mu.


    "Now that you are done with binding and taking your first reward, it is time for the others." Kong Hutao said.


    Lin Mu''s expression turned serious, and he nodded his head.


    "You have already seen the vault and the items contained in it. They are all yours to use as you deem fit. The entire minor ne is also yours of course and you can control its formations as well." Kong Hutao stated.


    "Thank you senior." Lin Mu said feeling grateful.


    A few secondster, another thought came to his mind.


    "What about the beasts? Are they mine too?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Of course they are¡­ well¡­ if they agree to that. They aren''t really under the control of the formations and have their own free will to act. Though the beasts shouldn''t be able to trouble you much now.." Kong Hutao answered much to Lin Mu''s joy.

 Chapter 796 - The Pseudo Immortal Beast That Sank The Western Continent

    Hearing the words of Kong Hutao, Lin Mu was happy. That was exactly what he wanted, as he had another idea in his mind. The beasts in the ne were isted and were far stronger than most beasts in the Great Zhou continent.


    It wasn''t that there weren''t any strong beasts; it was just that they were scattered across the world. But in the minor ne, they were all confined to the same ce and would not be able to move.


    ''I might be able to make use of themter. The beasts should certainly respond as long as sufficient rewards are provided. And even if they don''t and pushes to shove¡­ I can just force them out onto the battlefield.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With this in mind, Lin Mu made up a temporary n for now and decided to go ahead with the current situation.


    ''The beasts are an untapped power that barely anyone in this world uses. They only use them for resources and only a few turned them into tamed beasts. Little Shrubby is just one of them who is the best example of their power.


    The Grey egg is still dormant and I don''t know how long it''ll take to hatch. Perhaps I can use some other beasts in the forest for this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "You might not be able to make the same level of connection you made with Little Shrubby. That is a deeper connection that is far harder to form. Only beasts that are raised from the start or those that stay with you for a long time can form connections at that level.


    Even if you tame the other beasts, they might only obey you as long as you give them sufficient rewards or satisfy their condition. Though if you consider reward, you do have an advantage that many other beast tamers would kill for." Xukong replied.


    "Of course, the beast Qi will be indispensable. That will be my key to convincing the beasts. I don''t think they will deny me once I give them Beast Qi in exchange." Lin Mu said.


    "Most beasts will probablyply, but there are always some beasts that are either too smart or crazy to do it. That Demon beast you fought is one of them." Xukong replied.


    "Ah yes¡­ that troll beast. It really was something else, though it was quite strong as well." Lin Mu said as he remembered the beast.


    A few secondster, another thought came to his mind.


    "Senior Kong Hutao¡­ the pseudo immortal beast that attacked the western continent, just what beast was it?" Lin Mu questioned suddenly.


    "Oh? That beast¡­ it was actually an unknown beast that we don''t know of, though it certainly was different from most other beasts we''ve seen. It had a tall stature, being over a hundred meters tall.


    Its skin was rocky and rough, while tusks jutted out of his mouth." Kong Hutao went on to exin the entire appearance of the beast in detail as well as its powers to Lin Mu.


    But the more Lin Mu heard of it, the more he was shocked. He wasn''t shocked because of the beast''s power or strength but rather because it was familiar to him.


    "Senior Kong Hutao¡­ this beast you''re talking about¡­ is it perhaps this?" Lin Mu asked as he withdrew the corpse of the Troll beast from his ring.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The heavy body of the Troll beast fell on the ground with a loud thud, shaking it slightly. Kong Hutao''s eye went wide the moment he saw the corpse.


    "THAT! THAT''S THE BEAST! THAT''S THE PSEUDO IMMORTAL BEAST THAT ATTACKED US!"? Kong Hutao eximed.


    "Are you sure? This one is far smaller," Lin Mu reminded.


    Kong Hutao suppressed his shock and the bad memories that came with seeing the troll beast. Even though he was a panting he still took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few seconds.


    By the time he opened them, the familiar calmness had returned to them. Kong Hutao looked at the corpse and realized that the beast was indeed smaller than the one that he had fought in the past.


    "This seems to be the beast of the same kind¡­ but this one is smaller." Kong Hutao said.


    "And weaker," Lin Mu added. "When I fought this beast, it was at the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm.


    Kong Hutao''s brows furrowed as he thought of something.


    "Did the beast manage to leave behind some offspring back then? Its bloodline has passed on." Kong Hutao muttered.


    "Indeed. This was originally a normal beast, but it managed to awaken its mixed Troll bloodline. It is actually not a normal spirit beast, but rather a demon beast." Lin Mu exined.


    "Hmm¡­ so they are called as Demon Beasts. I think I''ve read a little about them before, but the information didn''t say much other than they were a different race of creatures." Kong Hutao said.


    "Not just that, their bloodline is quite proliferated among the spirit beasts. If some of them are lucky, they might manage to awaken a Demon Beast bloodline." Lin Mu replied.


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    "I see¡­ then this might not necessarily be an offspring of that pseudo immortal beast. From what I''ve read, some beasts can acquire bloodline by consuming the other beasts. While the one that attacked us exploded, we did manage to injure hit quite a bit.


    The beasts'' blood was spilled everywhere and some parts of his flesh might also have fallen around. I remember when I removed this minor ne''s anchor, it also pulled in some of its surrounding areas with it.


    I wouldn''t be shocked if some beast consumed the blood of the beast during that time and this bloodline was obtained by it. Perhaps in all these years, the bloodlines managed to concentrate and fully awaken." Kong Hutao guessed.


    "That does seem likely. That is good for us though, if this was just the effect of some blood that a beast consumed back then, it means that the chances of another one like this growing is rather low.." Lin Mu spoke.

 Chapter 797 - The Kong Plane And Return To Hong Lin Kingdom

    Lin Mu and Kong Hutao talked about the Troll beast for a bit and discussed the techniques and attacks that the demon beast used. Finally at the end, they came to the conclusion that it really was as they had assumed.


    The chances of a new beast like this being formed were less and if it had taken so many years for just one of them to awaken, it was probably not going to happen for a long time from now.


    And even if a beast did manage to do that, Lin Mu would be able to handle it now.


    "It''s good that you spoke to me about this. If the invaders try to summon simr beasts in the future, you will know how to kill them." Kong Hutao said.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu said.


    The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds before Lin Mu spoke again.


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    "It is time for me to leave now. It has been a long time and a lot of people are waiting for my return." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Go, go back. Take the exit in the front hall, the formation there should be active and allow you to teleport out." Kong Hutao stated.


    "Thank you senior. I''ll see you soon," Lin Mu said while cupping his hands.


    After that, he went to the front hall with Little Shrubby. This was the same ce where the former adviser Chu had made the formation for his escape. Lin Mu and Little Shrubby stepped into the circle and Lin Mu activated it with his spirit sense.


    "Time for us to return¡­ we are certainly going back with a lot of rewards." Lin Mu chuckled.


    Runes appeared in the air and the runes on the ground started to glow. Spirit Qi fluctuations arrived out of the formation on the ground and Lin Mu felt a little giddy and light.


    Then in the next second, he disappeared in a sh of light.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Lin Mu''s vision had turned dark for a second, but then something else reced it.


    "Spatial perception is truly useful¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    In front of him, he could see the edges of the Lesser void. He tried to look far but couldn''t, as his travel ended rather quickly.


    <i>~HUALA~</i>


    In a location inside the Hong Lin forest, a strong wave of spirit Qi appeared out of thin air before they turned into runes, which then formed into a formation. This was the receiving end of the teleportation formations and Lin Mu''s body materialized within it.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and looked around.


    "Little Shrubby?" He called out.


    "Where did he go?" Lin Mu questioned and spread his spirit sense around.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    About five hundred meters from where Lin Mu had appeared, another teleportation formation appeared, and Little Shrubby materialized.


    "Ah, there he is. Must have dyed a bit on the teleportation." Lin Mu said.


    "Once you get a bit more proficient with them, you should have better control over it," Xukong said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and went to meet Little Shrubby. Originally he was going to use the ring to make a portal to leave the minor ne, but now there was no use for it and he himself was the anchor of the minor ne.


    "Should we go?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Mmhmm¡­ it just four days before the deadline, we should hurry." Lin Mu said after checking the date.


    Little Shrubby withdrew the harness, and Lin Mu strapped in before the two of them ran away at blinding speed. Taking this free time to think, Lin Mu tried to see if he could find a solution to the problem of the minor ne.


    He wanted the ne to have other entrances than just him, so that his allies might be able to use it as well.


    "If you and Jing Luo work on it, you might be able to expand its ability to have more entrances. It will take time though, unless¡­ you use something else as a stopgap for the time being." Xukong spoke.


    "Indeed. Though what do you suggest senior? I know that we might not have the necessary time to set it all up." Lin Mu replied.


    "Basically, what you need is a second junction between this world and the Minor ne. Since you are the anchor, you can directly enter and exit it while also carrying others.


    But due to the limitations of the formation right now, it cannot allow other entrances. This problem in reality, is due to the distance between the minor ne and the Xiaofan world. Even if they are linked, there is still some part of the lesser void between them." Xukong stated.


    "Hmm¡­ something else as a junction. What can that be¡­ it would have to be operating in the lesser void and also be reasonable enough for us to use. Can''t have it being too expensive orplex to make either¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    It was now that another thought appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Wait¡­ now that I think of it, the minor ne needs a name too. Wandering Sinkhole does not suit it anymore." Lin Mu said.


    "Why don''t you name it Lin Mu world." Little Shrubby suggested.


    "Eh? That¡­ might be a bit too much. It doesn''t suit it either." Lin Mu replied, finding it to be a bit strange.


    "Then what else can you name it?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Hmm¡­ instead of my own name¡­ perhaps I can use the Kong Hutao''s name. The Kong ne! Yes! That sounds better." Lin Mu said with a nod.


    "Your name sense is improving~" Xukong said with a chuckle.


    "Hey!~ what''s wrong with my naming sense?" Lin Mu said.


    "Nothing¡­ you''re just a littlecking. Though you''re improving¡­ don''t mind me." Xukong said, suppressing hisughter again.


    Lin Mu pursed his lips and went back to thinking about the solutions.


    He didn''t even realize as time continued to pass by and he had finally arrived at his destination.


    "The Hong Lin Kingdom¡­ I''m back."

 Chapter 798 - Strange Situation In The Hong Lin City

    Upon his arrival, the very first thing that Lin Mu could feel was the spirit Qi in the air.


    "Huh? Did the spirit Qi concentration increase?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense and tried to observe it and discovered that the spirit Qi in the air was not the attribute less spirit Qi that wasmon, but instead it was the fire attribute spirit Qi.


    "What is happening here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    It was now that Little Shrubby spoke up.


    "The fire elemental spirit Qi¡­ it''s as if it has formed a stream in the air. It''s flowing towards the pce." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Huh? You can see it even at this level?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s new. You weren''t able to do that before, were you?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Nope, I learned it recently." Little Shrubby replied.


    "That''s just his bloodline amodating his body. It''s normal since he had two strong bloodlines that are of the fire element. Rather it would be usual if he was unable to do this." Xukong exined.


    "I see¡­ it''s certainly helpful. Though it does not answer why all the spirit Qi is heading towards the pce." Lin Mu said as he furrowed his brows.


    His mind first went the negative way, and he wondered if a strong cultivator was there and was absorbing this all. But then he was reminded that a formation could do the same.


    "Did Jing Luo set up an extra spirit Qi gathering formation there, perhaps?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "You''ll have to go there and see. No use standing around here." Xukong prodded on.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and headed directly to the pce. He had already gotten all the permissions and had free rein to do pretty much anything in the city. His position as the guest elder of the kingdom guaranteed that.


    Plus, right now Lin Mu''s cultivation base had reached the Dao Shell realm and there was no one in this kingdom that could even sense him if he chose to hide himself. The same could not be said for Little Shrubby though.


    Still, the moving fire attribute spirit Qi in the air helped mask his presence as well. Little Shrubby was not actually seen by many people and thus it would probably cause some trouble if a beast as big as him appeared in the city.


    Whenevermoners or even cultivators saw beasts as strong as this near the human cities, their first thought is that it is attacking them and that they need to run/fight. For that very reason, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby sped directly to the pce.


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    At their speed, there wasn''t anyone that could see them anyway.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The moment Lin Mu entered the innermost ring of the pce, he felt like he had passed through some kind of a membrane. And once he fully entered it, he felt another thing.


    "WHAT THE HELL?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but exim.


    Everywhere around him, he could see red motes of light floating around.


    "Such dense fire attribute spirit Qi? How?!" Lin Mu was shocked.


    He looked outside and then around him, finding that no one knew about it. The people outside seemed to be fully oblivious to this.


    ''Just what was that membrane?'' Lin Mu wondered and checked it with his spirit sense.


    After about a minute, he remembered the description of a formation that was simr to this.


    "An altered version of an isting formation¡­ this one not only hides the things inside it also prevents the spirit Qi from escaping. The spirit Qi can enter but can''t leave." Lin Mu remembered.


    He checked the runes hidden within it and realized that the style was a bit familiar to him.


    "This is Jing Luo''s work, no doubt." Lin Mu recognized.


    "Seems like he''s been busy with a lot of things in your absence," Xukong spoke.


    "Mmhmm¡­ he should have finished his work with therge formation array set around the entire Hong Lin kingdom. But even if it has been several months, this seems to be cutting a bit close.


    For him to make a formation array asplex as this, he would have needed at least a month. Thatbined with the detection formation he was making around the kingdom¡­ something doesn''t add up." Lin Mu said.


    He let his spirit sense wander and it quickly entered the pce. In there, he saw it being mostly empty. Even the servants that were around were missing. The situation seemed to be getting even stranger.


    Lin Mu became alert and moved inside. Soon his spirit sense reached the royal court, but it was blocked there.


    "This is far more suspicious now. Did something happen to King Hong?" Lin Mu wondered.


    His spirit sense checked the rest of the pce for people, but didn''t find anyone. All the ministers, servants, maids, and workers were missing. Even Adverser Liu seemed to be missing right now.


    "Be ready for anything. Things maybe wrong." Xukong warned.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu said as he withdrew six of his spirit weapons.


    All of them hovered behind him, ready to attack, while Lin Mu''s spirit sense split into multiple tendrils covering a spherical radius around him. Now there was no attack that could get into a radius of two hundred meters without Lin Mu detecting it.


    <i>~sniff~sniff~</i>


    "There''s more than one person inside. But I can''t tell who they are, the fire elemental spirit Qi in the air is burning away their scent." Little Shrubby spoke.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and thought of all the potential scenarios that could happen; from Gu Yao being here to some treasure being brought into the pce. He also thought if the others were being held hostage inside or something.


    The likelihood of it happening was low since he had received no message on his jade slips, but he wanted to be ready just in case. His lips started to move as faint chants came out of his mouth.


    Severing Heart Sutra!

 Chapter 799 - A Barbecue Party?

    Lin Mu prepared as much as he could and was ready to face whatever that was behind the two doors of the Royal court.


    "Let''s enter¡­" Lin Mu said as he ced his hand on the doors and pushed with full force.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    The doors of the royal court opened with a bang and mmed on the sides of the walls before being pulled off their hinges due to the force applied. The ce where Lin Mu had pushed was directly broken and splinters flew across from it.


    Finally, the inside of the hall could be seen and Lin Mu''s eyes darted around and so did his spirit sense, grasping everything all at once.


    But the very next moment, he was stunned.


    "Huh? What''s happening here?" Lin Mu said in a strange tone.


    The entire momentum that he had built until now had been doused in less than a second. This was because of what was happening in front of him.


    "Lin Mu? Why did you break the doors?!" The voice of Jing Luo could be heard. "I just finished with the restrictive formations yesterday, now the spirit Qi will start leaking out again."


    "Spirit Qi leaking? Restrictive formation?" Lin Mu repeated and did a double-take.


    In front of him, several people seemed to be sitting around a long table that was ''U'' shaped. In the center of it, arge and long grill seemed to have been set up and several pieces of meat were currently being cooked on it.


    On both sides of the table, people familiar to Lin Mu were sitting. On the right sat King Hong''s uncle adviser Liu and Jing Luo, along with the ministers of trade,merce andbor. On the left sat the two disciples Hua San and Hua Wu, along with the minister of war and minister of agriculture.


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    Then at the very helm of the table, sat none other than King Hong. He himself seemed to be in a rather strange state, and it looked like he was covered in a fiery cloak from head to the toe.


    The cloak was immaterial and seemed to be flickering. One of his hands was extended towards the grill and mes seemed to being out of them.


    "T-they¡­ they''re having a barbecue party without us!" Little Shrubby said.


    Of course, this was only heard by Lin Mu, while to the others it sounded like a low growl instead.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby weren''t the only ones shocked here either. Everyone else in the room was the same. Jing Luo who had shouted initially was also a bit taken aback at seeing Lin Mu and little Shrubby.


    Lin Mu seemed to be battle ready and had a sharp gaze while the spirit weapons floated behind him, ready to attack. His aura was also turbulent and was exerting a silent pressure in the area.


    But the thing that shocked him the most was the fact that he could not sense Lin Mu''s cultivation base anymore. The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from his body were far too suppressed for him to feel anything urately.


    Though when he looked at Little Shrubby, he could tell that the beast had a breakthrough and was almost at the peak of the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm!


    The changes in Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were far too surprising for him, so it could be understood just how shocked the others were. Unlike Jing Luo, Adviser Liu and King Hong, the others in the room weren''t all Nascent soul realm cultivators, thus the pressure exerting from Lin Mu was like a bounder kept on their heads.


    They had to hold on to therge table and exert some power on their legs in order to keep on sitting. If they didn''t do that, they feared that they may end up bashing their heads into the table or the ground itself.


    "What exactly is going on here?" Lin Mu asked.


    He was ready for a lot of things, but a party like this waspletely out of his expectations. It also seemed to be a bit unusual since they were in a very sensitive time, with the supreme elder of the Noon Grass sect being close to death and the situation with Gu Yao.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Jing Luo sighed to himself and knew that this was going to be a long exnation.


    "Come sit, I''ll tell you all that happened." Jing Luo said.


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied and reeled in his aura along with the weapons, which were sent back into the ring with a wave.


    Lin Mu took a seat at the table and Jing Luo started to exin all that had happened in the past three months.


    After Lin Mu was gone, Jing Luo spent the time in setting up the detection formations around the kingdom. During this, he was also learning the new knowledge that Lin Mu had passed on to him.


    It gave him a few epiphanies and he was able to increase his pace of work. The work that was going to take him nearly three months was finished in less than a month that way.


    And just as he had finished his work, he was called by Adviser Liu urgently to the capital. It was due to none other than King Hong who seemed to be undergoing an uncontroble process.


    All the fire attribute spirit Qi in the area around the city seemed to be getting at attracted towards him as if he was a ma for it. This led to several scares in the city, with themoners thinking some great power had attacked them.


    It took several excuses to assuage their fears and assure them that everything was fine.


    Jing Luo was called for this very thing. They needed to restrain the fire attribute spirit from causing the chaos. Jing Luo set all the new formations and formation array that Lin Mu saw on his way here up and they were all for safety.


    "Now I understand¡­" Lin Mu said after having heard everything.


    But then his brows furrowed, "but why are you having a barbecue here?"

 Chapter 800 - Changes In The Past Three Months

    "This¡­ is done by King Hong." Jing Luo answered.


    "Huh? Why?" Lin Mu asked looking towards the king who was awkwardly looking at him.


    "I guess I should exin it then¡­


    Basically what happened is that a few days after you left and I stabilized my cultivation base and realized that my body was pulling in all the spirit Qi of the area towards me. It was mostly fire elemental spirit Qi and it ended up causing a little chaos.


    Once the fire elemental spirit Qi reached a certain level, it started causing random fires around the city. It didn''t take me long to figure out that the reason was none other than my physique.


    Even if I had stabilized my cultivation base, I had yet to gain control over my physique. The Dauntless Ember Physique is just as its name, and will continue to pull fire elemental spirit Qi no matter what.


    I hurriedly asked Uncle Liu to call senior Jing Luo to help out as I thought only someone more experienced could help me with this. While he came here I tried to suppress the fire elemental spirit Qi and gain better control over it.


    When Jing Luo finally arrived, he set up the restrictive and isting formations that prevented the spirit Qi from leaving the confines of the pce. It could enter, but now leave.


    This led to another problem, and that was it became a little too concentrated around the ce and made it uninhabitable for others that were below Nascent soul realm and themoners.


    I had to send away all the servants and workers so that no harm was brought to them. It was then that Jing Luo suggested me some controlling exercises and I''ve been doing them since then." King Hong exined.


    "I see¡­ but cooking as an exercise?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well the exercise I taught him was rted to forging. We have to finely control the mes and the temperature during forging, and that is what helped him. But in his case, he could not just randomly forge anything.


    We did try that and went through more things that would utilize fire before finally settling on this¡­ cooking." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and could rte how the two things could work, though it was still a bit strange. He then looked at the immaterial cloak that was floating around King Hong and wondered what that was.


    "And what''s up with the cloak, King Hong?" Lin Wu questioned.


    "Ah, this? This is one of the techniques I have managed to grasp on my own. I call it the Ember Cloak and it helps me in additionally controlling the fire elemental spirit Qi. This inbination with the cooking is what''s keeping it in control right now." King Hong answered.


    "I understand now." Lin Mu stated.


    He observed King Hong a bit more deeply and discovered something surprising.


    "Oh? You broke though already?" Lin Mu said in a surprised tone.


    "I did indeed. With therge amount of spirit Qi approaching me, cultivating was easier and it seemed like my physique was pushing me as well. I broke through to the Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realmst month." King Hong replied.


    Lin Mu raised his brows in approval and found it good that the man was getting stronger quickly. The stronger his allies were, the better it would be when the battle against Gu Yao and the northern tribes finally breaks out.


    Lin Mu even wondered if there was a way to boost this process and let King Hong progress even faster.


    "You can probably do that now. You do have ess to the Kong ne now. With the Dauntless Ember Physique as long as it''s in an area rich in fire attribute spirit Qi, cultivating will be a breeze.


    At least at the current level." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu''s eyes lit up, and he knew what to doter. And while he was thinking this, Jing Luo was thinking something else too.


    "Lin Mu, did you breakthrough as well? I can''t sense your cultivation base." Jing Luo said.


    "Senior Lin Mu broke though?" Hua Wu said in surprise.


    Both of them knew that Lin Mu was at the Adolescent soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm before he left for the wandering sinkhole. Even if he broke through to the next stage, it was unlikely that they would be unable to sense it.


    The only reason this would be possible if he broke through an entire realm.


    ''But that would mean¡­ he''s at the Dao Shell realm now¡­ Heavens! A Dao Shell realm cultivator younger than five hundred years?'' Hua San calcted in his mind.


    Even a talented Dao Shell realm cultivator in this world took at least five years to break through to that realm. The ones that had aplished were considered the cream of the crop and were all top disciples of the sects or were now elders.


    Anyone that managed to do something like this was a great surprise. It wasn''t the same as someone younger than a hundred years or fifty years reaching the Nascent Soul realm. There were still plenty of examples in the world about people who had done that before.


    Reaching the Nascent soul realm was easier, as one only needed the spirit Qi for it and resources could help in this factor. It was surviving the heavenly tribtion that killed most of the cultivators.


    But once one entered the Nascent soul realm, doing the same was very difficult. Only non stop use of resources could help someone doing that. But it was something even the top sects did not do.


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    For the disciples that were considered talented, if they rushed ahead, they were told to slow down instead, as it would lead to their foundation bing unstable. Even Jing Luo was over eighty years old right now and was at the Adolescent soul stage of the nascent soul realm.


    Hearing the inquiry of Jing Luo, Lin Mu nodded his head.

 Chapter 801 - Shock And Explanations

    "I did breakthrough. Little Shrubby did too," Lin Mu replied.


    "Then that means¡­" King Hong asked, but hesitated to say the two words.


    "Mmmhmm¡­ I''m at the Dao Shell realm now." Lin Mu acknowledge.


    <i>~Ssssss~</i>


    <i>~Gasp~</i>


    Everyone gasped upon hearing this. It was more than just shocking to them; it was sky-flipping level of crazy to them.


    Other than Jing Luo, while the others knew Lin Mu was young, they did not know how young. In case of cultivators, even a hundred year old grandpa might just be a small junior and wouldn''t be worthy of mentioning much.


    But Jing Luo knew what Lin Mu''s true age was.


    ''Isn''t he barely twenty one now? A twenty one year old Dao Shell realm expert¡­ if the top sects learned of this they would go insane.'' Jing Luo thought to himself.


    He knew just how much talent was desired in the world. While juniors were mostly looked down in cultivation sects, their cultivation talent could easily reverse this. As long as they reached a sufficient cultivation base before a certain age, they would be considered talented.


    Lin Mu reaching Nascent soul realm in his teens was already enough to stun the sects, but Dao Shell realm was an entirely different manner.


    One must know that Dao Shell realm cultivators were worthy of being the patriarchs, if not ancestors of sects. Even in top sects, Dao Shell realm cultivators were high elders, if not supreme elders.


    Even the supreme elder of the Noon Grass sect that Hua San and Hua Wu were trying to save was at the Dao Shell realm, albeit at an unknown stage.


    But having thought of all this, everyone in the room smiled.


    "AHAHAHA! EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT! BROTHER LIN MU IS THE SON OF HEAVENS!" King Hong praised out loud.


    <i>~p~p~p~</i>


    The ministers couldn''t help but p in amazement as well, and their expressions changed. If before they looked at Lin Mu with respect in their eyes, they were now looking at him with veneration instead.


    Anywhere in this world, a Dao Shell realm cultivation was enough to stand proud. Lesser ns would directly ask them to be their elders or even send their women to be their concubines.


    There was nock of benefit that one would receive if they openly showed their cultivation base. This was especially so for wandering and rogue cultivators without any affiliation.


    In fact, there was literally no wandering cultivator that stayed faction less for more than a year after reaching the Dao Shell realm. They would get hundreds of invitations from different powers and organizations asking them to join them while providing a lot of resources.


    "Grandfather will be very impressed once he sees you now." Jing Luo said with a chuckle.


    "Perhaps¡­" Lin Mu said humbly.


    "Although¡­ how did this happen? Even Little Shrubby is at the Adult Soul stage of the nascent soul realm¡­ and from what I can sense, he isn''t that far from the peak either." Jing Luo questioned.


    The ministers were once again shocked upon hearing this. They could not sense Little Shrubby''s cultivation on the ount of being rude and this had kept to themselves. But hearing that the beast in the hall was the second strongest being in the hall made them shiver.


    Little Shrubby''s size was big, and his head came at the same level as Lin Mu. A beast of this size was already considered to be extremely dangerous, and yet here he was calmly standing beside Lin Mu.


    ''The beast takes after the master indeed¡­'' The ministers thought to themselves.


    "It''s a long story, but you all need to know about it. I''ll tell you the truth about the Wandering sinkhole and how I broke though." Lin Mu stated.


    Jing Luo and King Hong nodded their head and gestured for Lin Mu to continue.


    Little Shrubby on the other hand, took over in the stead of King Hong and started to cook the meat. He wasn''t going to let go of an opportunity to cook or eat. Lin Mu didn''t mind it either and let the beast do whatever he wanted to.


    Corpse after corpse came out flying from Little Shrubby''s spatial storage belt and stunned the ministers again.


    The size and the faint spirit Qi remnants on the corpses were enough for the ministers to identify that the beast corpses were all at the nascent soul realm.


    "Heavens¡­ Nascent soul realm beasts can be eaten so easily like this?" The minister of agriculture said as he stared at the bowl in front of him.


    Little Shrubby had given some to everyone, while Lin Mu gave his exnation. He had learned to share and didn''t mind giving this much. After all¡­ they had a literal mountain of beast corpses in their store right now.


    It took Lin Mu an entire day to get through his exnation. He wanted to keep it a little short but everyone wanted to know more and more about the Wandering sinkhole, thus Lin Mu had no option but to tell it in detail.


    After all, the Wandering sinkhole was one of the native myths of the Hong Lin kingdom, and every citizen had heard the tale about it at least once. Whilemoners just thought of it as a story to scare people into not going deep into the forest, the cultivators knew that it was true.


    It was just that not many had seen it, as for those that did, they were either considered as joking about it or never returned to tell the tale.


    Lin Mu told them about the strong beasts living there and the habitats as well. He then told them about the truth of the wandering sinkhole and how it belonged to a great n once upon a time.


    He told them about the sacrifice of the Kong n and Kong Hutao, as well as his hope for the future.


    "So the wandering sinkhole had such a story behind it¡­ I would have never expected." Adviser Liu muttered.


    "No¡­ it''s no longer the Wandering sinkhole. It is the Kong ne from now on, as a respect to the Kong n.." Lin Mu added.Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.

 Chapter 802 - Introducing Everyone To The Kong Plane

    "You Renamed it?" Jing Luo asked.


    "I did indeed. After all¡­ I own it now." Lin Mu replied.


    "Of course¡­" Jing Luo said thinking of all the possibilities that can be made use of now.


    "Wait, Senior Lin Mu! Does this mean you can enter it anytime now?" Hua Wu questioned.


    "Yes. It is no longer ''wandering''. Rather, it is linked to me now. Where ever I am, it will be there." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing this, the eyes of everyone lit up.


    "Then¡­ can we all see it?" Hua Wu asked.


    "I would like that too¡­ I always wondered what the mystical Wandering sinkhole looked like." King Hong agreed.


    "Sure, I can take you all one. But before that, don''t you need to take the Hong Lin wood to your sect?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The eyes of Hua Wu and Hua San went wide and they remembered the main mission that they hade here for.


    "Heavens! We almost forgot!" both of them said in unison.


    "How long do you have now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We have about fifteen days I think. After that, the supreme elder''s condition will get worse and he may possibly die." Hua San answered.


    "Then getting to your sect first will be more important. Will you be able to reach there in time?" Lin Mu asked.


    "We don''t even need to get to the sect, as long as we are in the range, we can call for our elders toe get us. Traveling that distance will take us a little more than a week." Hua San replied.


    "Very well. You should leave now then. Once your supreme elder is taken care of, you cane back and we can discuss further." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes, senior Lin Mu!" Hua San and Hua Wu said while cupping their hands.


    "Now then¡­ I should give you the wood¡­" Lin Mu said before moving to the outside and withdrawing an entire Thousand year old Hong Lin tree.


    Seeing the tree, the jaws of all ministers dropped.


    "This¡­ is this even a thousand year old Hong Lin tree?"


    "So big! This is the biggest one I''ve ever heard of."


    Adviser Liu and King Hong were shocked too and didn''t speak for a few seconds.


    "A mother tree, it''s a Hong Lin Mother tree!" Adviser Liu eximed.


    "Huh? This is what a Hong Lin mother tree looks like?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed. The mother trees in our sacred grounds look just like this and are this big. We don''t know how old they exactly are, but they''ve existed since before the time of our first king." King Hong answered.


    "And there are ten mother trees in your sacrednd?" Lin Mu questioned further.


    Hearing this the King furrowed his brows as he couldn''t understand how Lin Mu got to know of this secret information. While the knowledge about the mother trees was public, their numbers were not exactly revealed.


    "Yes. There are ten of them." King Hong acknowledged.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu smiled and was reminded of the problem that the Hong Lin Kingdom had about the thousand year old Hong Lin trees. Their numbers were falling and there was no way to get them back up.


    "Do you know how many trees I found in the Kong ne?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Five?" One of the ministers guessed.


    "Ten?" another one said.


    "No¡­ There are over a hundred such trees there. An entire grove of them." Lin Wu answered.


    The faces of every one were stunned and they didn''t know what to think of it.


    "Over a hundred¡­ but adviser Chu never told us that." Adviser Liu spoke.


    "Adviser Chu was mistaken about some things and didn''t know the truth behind the Kong ne. Plus ever since he left the ne, many things have changed. I saw a lot of differences in the areas from how Adviser Chu described them." Lin Mu replied.


    "I see¡­ still, this is very good news for us. If we can transnt even a couple of them, the entire forest will be revitalized. The number of hundred year old Hong Lin trees should increase as well.


    And maybe¡­ more thousand year old Hong Lin Trees might appear in the future." King Hong said.


    With the overall mood of the group now improved, Lin Mu and the rest talked for a bit before Hua Wu and Hua San took their leave. The Thousand year old Hong Lin Tree was chopped and would be enough for several attempts of pill refinement.


    After the two were gone though, the others couldn''t wait to see the Kong ne themselves.


    "Alright, everyone ready?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We are ready!" King Hong and the rest said.


    "Hold each other''s hands and don''t let go." Lin Mu ordered before activating the formation anchor on his body.


    ~shua~


    Runes came out from his body before forming into a formation that teleported everyone that was holding his hand.


    A few secondster, a formation circle opened up in the Kong ne, and on it appeared Lin Mu and everyone that had joined him. The ce where they had appeared was in the cave where the teleportation formation was made.


    "What''s this ce? A cave?" Someone asked and they all looked around.


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    "It''s the center of the Kong ne. Come on, I''ll take you out." Lin Mu said, guiding them to the exist.


    Upon appearing on the outside, they could finally feel the difference in the air.


    "The spirit Qi¡­ it''s higher¡­ even the air feels fresher." Adviser Liu said.


    "Indeed. The spirit Qi in this world is slightly higher than that of our world. Some areas are even more concentrated. There are also the areas that are rich in specific elemental spirit Qi." Lin Mu exined.


    Hearing this, King Hong felt intrigued.


    "The ce with the Hong Lin tree grove¡­ is it rich in Fire elemental spirit Qi?" King Hong questioned.


    Hearing this Lin Mu smiled.


    "That''s exactly what I was getting to next. This ce will help you get stronger far quicker than before.." Lin Mu stated.

 Chapter 803 - Alliance Funding And Interplane Travel

    Lin Mu''s thoughts were in line with that of King Hong''s and they headed to the Hong Lin grove next. Though they ran into a little problem here, while they could travel in the Kong ne alone, the distances were a little too far.


    Plus, the dangers made it so that they would have to be very careful. Not everyone could be like Lin Mu and be free to act as they want. Lin Mu not only had his cultivation and defenses, but he could also run away any time he wants and even escape the ne directly.


    The same could not be said for the others.


    Lin Mu himself could only teleport in and out of the Kong ne, but he couldn''t teleport around in the ne itself. Thus, if he wanted to get anywhere, he would have to either fly or walk there.


    He at least had Little Shrubby for faster travel, but the same could not be said for the others.


    "Just how far is it?" Jing Luo asked.


    "About a day away with Little Shrubby''s speed." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That''s far¡­" Jing Luo said.


    "But I think we can get there even faster now. Three days was because we didn''t know theyout. I now know where the ces are. If we travel in a straight line, it shouldn''t matter.


    As for the beasts that appear, I can easily handle them." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s better. But taking care of so many people will be problematic even for you." Jing Luo replied after thinking for a bit.


    It was now that the others spoke.


    "Senior Lin Mu, you can take King Hong alone. We can just return to the pce. Just seeing this much is enough for us. We simply wanted to see the inside of the rumored wandering sinkhole." The minister of War spoke.


    "Yes, yes! There is no need for us to be a burden." The minister of Trade agreed.


    "Plus, if we all are here, who will take care of the kingdom in our absence? What if something serious urs?" Adviser Liu added.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s indeed a problem. Themunication jade slips don''t reach here." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Then it''s best that we return. King Hong can apany you." Adviser Liu stated.


    "Alright, I''ll take you all back." Lin Mu took a pause before continuing, "but not before taking some things along with you."


    Hearing this, they were a bit confused, but then Lin Mu brought them to the vault.


    "HEAVENS!" The ministers couldn''t help but exim.


    King Hong and Adviser Liu were the same and Jing Luo was looking at the metals and other materials like a hungry wolf.


    "This is almost on the same level as the Jing n''s storage vault." Jing Luo said.


    "Ah yes. I''ll need your help in figuring out all that''s here and what would be the best way to make use of it. There''s a lot of spirit stones as well, though they are mostly of mid and low grade.


    I haven''t seen any peak grade spirit stones, though there are a few high grade ones here as well. All this will help us in our endeavors against the Northern Tribes and Gu Yao." Lin Mu replied.


    Jing Luo''s expression turned serious and he nodded.


    "This will help a lot. Now we will have the resources and cash flow needed to deal with arge number of people. With this out alliance will actually have a financial backbone¡­ at least for the time being." Jing Luo said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in agreement before giving the ministers some of the cultivation resources. These were not just for them, but also for other trustworthy and talented people that they knew.


    Lin Mu needed the alliance to have arge number of strong cultivators and this would be one of the ways to strengthen it.


    The Mu n and the Fei n already had their own ways of getting stronger thus, Lin Mu didn''t need to worry much about them. And Jingming Shang had also taken over the business of the three ns that were exterminated and thus they had some fortune to rely on there.


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    Though Lin Mu had better hope for the uing allies in the form of the Noon Grass sect and the Long Cloud Alliance. The noon grass sect was something that would be more open to forming a closer rtionship from what Lin Mu perceived but it was unknown how the Long cloud alliance would act.


    Lin Mu expected that they would at least have a mon foe'' standpoint and would be willing to cooperate better. Though nothing could be said now for sure. PPlus,this all relied on the fact that Gu Yao did not have anyone that he controlled in the Long cloud alliance.


    At least¡­ not someone influential.


    The ones that were going to need the most resources would be the Hong Lin Kingdom and the Hei corps. Though for Hei Corps, Lin Mu would need to establish contact with them again.


    He was still in the blind about what had happened there and no news about Wu Hei was heard till now which made Lin Mu worried if something had happened to him.


    Lin Mu quickly sent the ministers and adviser Liu back to the pce before heading back.


    "I will make trips back to the ce every four hours, that way if there is any important news we will know it." Lin Mu said.


    "That will be for the best. It''s good that you can leave and enter from any ce, this will save a lot of time and effort." Jing Luo agreed.


    "Mmhmm¡­ now let''s go." Lin Mu said and was just about to fly when he was interrupted.


    "Wait a second, I got something perfect for this asion." Jing Luo spoke, much to Lin Mu''s intrigue.


    "Oh? What is it?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling intrigued.


    King Hong was the same and watched on as Jing Luo withdrew something from his spatial storage treasure.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    "Behold!" Jing Luo presented a ratherrge item.

 Chapter 804 - A Spirit Boat

    Lin Mu and the rest watched on in anticipation as Jing Luo pulled out what looked like arge boat.


    "What is this?" King Hong questioned, having never seen something like this.


    But Lin Mu had an idea about what this thing was.


    "A Sky boat? A spirit Vehicle?" Lin Mu said.


    "Indeed. I actually had an iplete project since a long time ago. I think I started it back when I was still in my n, but I never had the chance or the resources to get working on it again after the fall.


    But now¡­ with some new inspiration, I got from the knowledge you gave me, I managed to change the design a bit and also improve it." Jing Luo exined.


    Spirit boats were one of the mostmon types of spirit vehicles. Spirit vehicles were basically used by cultivators to travel long distances when there was more than one of them.


    This was especially useful when their cultivation bases were mismatched or their speeds were not the same. Using a spirit vehicle, they could travel together and it was also a lot safer.


    There were many types of spirit vehicles, but spirit boats were the ones that were used the most by individual cultivators.


    Spirit vehicles were different than spirit weapons, even though both were used to travel. It was just that the spirit vehicles were specially made by travel and did not necessarily have the same offensive capabilities.


    Though they did have extra defenses that protected the travelers during the journey. Of course, there were also many other types and this was not an absolute restriction.


    There were in fact, great spirit vehicles that could both attack and defend and were often used as moving artillery in great wars. Lin Mu had read about them in the Lost Immortal''s memoirs.


    In fact, the Lost Immortal himself had participated in one such war whererge offensive spirit vehicles were used. The vehicles in question wererge galleons that had long range spirit weapons mounted on them like cannons and ballistas.


    They seemed simr to mortal artillery but were greatly different in power. The Lost immortal had seen the power of such spirit vehicles and just how useful they could be in the war.


    A single such sprint vehicle could not only transport arge number of cultivators, it could also attack and provide them cover while they did their tasks. It could alsoe and pick them up when the need so arose.


    Overall, it was a very versatile object and many cultivators wanted it. Of course, a spirit vehicle was ultimately a type of Spirit tool and needed an equal level of expertise to make.


    Most spirit vehicles started from the high grade since their material costs were high. While ones from lower quality materials could be made, their speed wouldn''t necessarily be as high as that of the spirit weapons of the same grade that would still cost many times lower than the spirit vehicle.


    That''s why a spirit vehicle that was as basic as a spirit boat would still be a high grade spirit tool and was expensive for most cultivators to keep for themselves. It wasrge organizations, kingdoms, empires, and cultivation sects that actually kept and used them.


    Since they needed to transport arge number of their people and their finances were strong, they had no problem in affording them. Though there were always some rich cultivators that could afford one on their own and use them for their own private transport.


    Lin Mu didn''t know Jing Luo could make spirit vehicles, which came as a nice surprise.


    He observed the spirit boat and recognized some of the material used in the making of it.


    "Oh? The bones of the Green tailed howler monkey chief? I thought you were going to make a weapon from this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I was, but then there would be no use for that weapon other than lying in my storage. You don''t need spirit weapons and neither do I, so I thought it would be better to use it in this instead." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and saw the skillful way in which the bones were used. The ribs of the Green tailed howler monkey chief were used inbination with other materials to make the body of the shape.


    It was smoothed out and made to look even. Though, unlike a normal boat, it did not have any oars or rudders to control it. After all, it was a spirit weapon and had no use for something like that.


    "How do we use it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Jump in, I''ll show you." Jing Luo replied and they all got in.


    Little Shrubby sat at the very back, as that was the widest area, while King Hong and Lin Mu sat in the middle. Jing Luo sat at the very front, where a m pedestal was attached to the floor of the spirit boat.


    Runes were carved on the pedestal and fine lines that looked like veins spread from the pedestal to the spirit boat''s surface. These lines were only on the inside and not on the outside.


    Instead, there were t and long rectangr patterns on the outside that were actually another defensive formationyered directly onto the surface of the spirit boat.


    "The control of the spirit boat is every simple. It''s almost the same as that of any spirit weapon, the only difference is that you need to have direct physical contact at all times and pour your spirit Qi into it.


    I wanted to make another version that could use spirit stones as fuel alternatively, but I didn''t have the time. So we just have to make do with this one for now." Jing Luo said.


    "Alright. Guess I''ll run it. I should be able to keep up with the spirit Qi use with little problem." Lin Mu said.


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    "Yes, since your cultivation base is the highest, you can run the spirit boat at the fastest speed as well.." Jing Luo replied.

 Chapter 805 - A Speedy Flight To The Grotto

    Lin Mu followed Jing Luo''s instructions and ced his hand on the pedestal before pouring the spirit Qi into it. In the very next second, he felt like the entire spirit boat had be his own limb and he could move it freely.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The spirit boat floated up slowly and reached a sufficient height in the sky.


    "I guess we can now head on," Lin Mu said before he began to elerate.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Little by little, speed increased, and soon they were soaring through the sky.


    "WOO!HOO! This is amazing!" King Hong shouted out like a child.


    This was his first time flying at such a great speed and it was rather novel to him. To Lin Mu or Jing Luo though, they had flown at a far faster speed than this thus they weren''t as amazed.


    "The speed isn''t as fast as Little Shrubby but it is pretty close to my own top speed." Lin Mu spoke.


    "The speed of the spirit boat depends on the one operating it. Since your own speed is high, the spirit boat will also be faster. Though there is a certain limit to the spirit boat''s speed as well.


    I think a Dao Shell realm cultivator is the limit for it right now. After that, no matter how much spirit Qi one uses for it, it just won''t go any faster." Jing Luo exined.


    "I see¡­ let''s see how far I can push it. I can use more," Lin Mu said, surprising Jing Luo.


    "You aren''t using it at full eleration?" Jing Luo asked.


    "No, we''re at half I think. I was afraid that it might get damaged and thus I held back." Lin Mu said.


    "Then try going all in." Jing Luo suggested.


    "Okay, I''ll do it." Lin Mu said as his expression turned serious.


    The spirit Qi in his Dantian flowed out to his meridians and poured into the spirit boat.


    <i>~HUM~</i>


    Right away, the boat''s formation let out a humming sound, showing that they had reached the limit.


    ''This should be the top point, now to elerate.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "And¡­ GO!" Lin Mu shouted.


    <i>~ZOOM~</i> Content held by N?velDrama.Org.


    <i>~Weeng~</i>


    The spirit boat lightly creaked as it suddenly elerated by arge amount. King Hong was pushed back and so was Jing Luo, but Little Shrubby supported them with his body.


    "Oho! This is even faster than my own speed now!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "It is meant to be like that¡­" Jing Luo said, finding it a bit hard to talk now.


    He could tell that the speed of the boat was now on apletely different level than before. He didn''t even know if the boat could actually handle it at this output for long periods of time.


    This was after all, a prototype for him. While it may sell as apleted spirit tool in the market, for Jing Luo or just the Jing n in general, they did not make mediocre goods. Everything they made was built to the limit of the skill that each person had.


    With the spirit boat''s assistance, Lin Mu and the rest reached the grotto in just six hours. Having reached there, theynded on one of the empty plots ofnd that was made as a result of Lin Mu and the Troll beast''s fight.


    "Is this¡­ where you fought that beast?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu answered and then was reminded of something.


    "AH! I almost forgot!" Lin Mu said before withdrawing the corpse of the Troll Demon beast.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The corpse fell on the ground with arge thud and highly shook it. Seeing it, both Jing Luo and King Hong were shocked.


    "That''s one ugly beast." King Hongmented.


    "I know, right?" Lin Mu replied.


    Jing Luo walked around the corpse and took a deep look. He touched and probed the corpse before his face lit up.


    "Can I use it?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Of course. That''s exactly why I took it out. It''s for you to make something out of it. Its insides are fully burned so all that''s left is some bones and the skin." Lin Mu answered.


    Jing Luo felt happy with this and hurried to put it in his spatial storage treasure when he ran into another problem.


    "What happened?" Lin Mu asked, seeing Jing Luo struggle.


    "Umm¡­ I don''t think I have enough space left." Jing Luo said.


    "Oh, yeah¡­ this is kinda big." Lin Mu agreed.


    He looked at the corpse for a few seconds before saying, "we have some materials in the cave back there. See if you can find something to make a bigger storage ring. I''ll keep this with me in the meantime." Lin Mu stated.


    "Hmm, that will be good." Jing Luo agreed.


    With this little thing out of the way, they went to the grotto that was located between the two broken mountains. Jing Luo and King Hong were once more amazed by the beauty and? mystery of the ce.


    "So many¡­ So many thousand year old Hong Lin trees¡­ these must have existed since times immemorial." King Hong said.


    "Not that long¡­ their growth is also elerated due to the natural fire attribute spirit Qi in the area." Lin Mu replied.


    Upon hearing this, King Hong sensed the spirit Qi in the air and found it to be true.


    "This¡­ this is higher than any ce I''ve seen." King Hong said.


    "There is apparently a pit of Earth mes deep below this ce. That is what makes this area rich in fire attribute spirit Qi. There are also Earthen me ores here that are born due to it." Lin Mu exined.


    "A pit of Earth mes? That''s really valuable if it can be essed. I remember the Jing n once tried to buy an area that contained Earth mes, but before the deal could be finalized the war started.


    A lot of spirit tools and weapons that have never been made before can be made with the help of Earth mes.. There are even legendary records stating that they can help make immortal tools!" Jing Luo spoke.

 Chapter 806 - Clearing His Mind

    Lin Mu then brought Jing Luo and King Hong to the middle of the grotto and showed all the ores, the trees, the smaller herbs, and the spring that flowed out from the middle. Its water was tinged light red and looked beautiful as well.


    The water was naturally warm and if one drank it, one would feel their insides heat up. To normal humans, just a sip or two would be fine, but if they drank more, they might get a fever and if they still kept it up, they would just end up dying.


    This was because there was fire elemental spirit Qi mixed into it. This was in a very delicate bnce since the fire element was the opposite of the water and both counteracted each other.


    The existence of the spring was already rather rare. But if onepared the concentration of the fire elemental spirit Qi in the water to the air, they would find that the air was more concentrated.


    Thus, the value of the water was lesser than just cultivating directly in the air.


    "You two can take your time here and King Hong can cultivate, I''ll go take a look back at the pce. The time we decided on is already over." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Alright. I''ll gather some of the Earthen me ores for useter. Oh, and since we''re here, I should also take some fresh thousand year old Hong Lin tree sap." Jing Luo spoke.


    "I''ll cultivate here. I have a feeling that this ce is very beneficial to my physique." King Hong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and activated the runes of the Kong ne''s anchor before teleporting away to the real world.


    A few secondster, he appeared in the Xiaofan world and met with the ministers and asked if there were any problems or if there was any news. Since there was nothing particr, he returned back to the Kong ne.


    Once he was there, Lin Mu picked a ce and sat down as well. He needed to think of his uing ns and how they would go about them.


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    ''We need to wait for Hua San and Hua Wu to contact us again so that we can officially establish the alliance between the Noon Grass sect and us. Once that is done, we can discuss some more ns with them and tell them what the potential problems will be.


    I''ll also need to make use of the Noon Grass Sect''s power to interact with the Long Cloud alliance. They are far more likely to listen to another sect on the same level rather than just me.


    Even if I''m at the Dao Shell realm, it just won''t be enough. Plus, there is always the fact that they will consider me to be the dangerous factor instead.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu spent six hours pondering this, during which he stayed silent.


    Jing Luo and King Hong were doing their own things and thus did not bother them. But they were spending it productively as well.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "So many things to do and so many uncertainties to go through." Lin Mu muttered to leftism.


    It was now that Jing Luo heard Lin Mu and Spoke.


    "Are you fine Lin Mu?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "I am fine, but I am unable to figure out the course of action that we should take so that we have the best result. There are too many uncertain factors which are preventing me from making an urate prediction." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing this, Jing Luo was rather surprised.


    "Prediction? You are making predictions? For what?" Jing Luo asked further.


    "How the things will go and how we will need to react to them. Gu Yao has the advantage of secrecy and so do we, but we do not have the power of numbers on our side yet.


    I am trying to find a way to optimize everything." Lin Mu replied.


    "You know, you are stressing yourself out too much. Thinking like that is no use. Predicting the future is something many people have gone crazy doing. Unless one is an immensely powerful expert and can pry into the fate, they will be unable to make an urate prediction like you are trying to do.


    Rather than that, it''s best if you just take it one step at a time and solidify that step. As long as you have a solid foundation, even if you run into a problem, you won''t have to il around as much and will have something to fall on." Jing Luo lightly scolded.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt as if his mind was expanded. The curtain that was blocking his thoughts from flowing smoothly was lifted and new ideas started to flow through his mind.


    "I GOT IT!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    Jing Luo wondered what happened to Lin Mu now, but was then suddenly hugged by Lin Mu.


    "THANK YOU! I NOW KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Lin Mu said while hugging the man tight.


    Jing Luo didn''t know how to take this, but just decided to speak.


    "And what did you think?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "All our problems stem from the fact that Gu Yao has an expansivework and he can quickly cover for any trouble that urs for him quickly. They do this with the expansivemunication that they have.


    But they are stillcking in the actual physical intervention. If they respond to a certain problem, they will need some time to do so as the people under him will need to travel wherever they need to.


    That is exactly where we need to overwhelm him. As long as our alliance can move around quickly, we will have the upper hand." Lin Mu answered.


    Jing Luo had a little hard time catching up, but he soon figured out the gist of what Lin Mu was saying.


    "So¡­ you are saying we need something to travel between them fast? Something like my spirit boat?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "No, I mean something even faster¡­ a teleportation array!" Lin Mu answered.

 Chapter 807 - A Month Of Progress

    Jing Luo was not expecting Lin Mu to say something like that.


    "A Teleportation Array? You do know how difficult those are to make, right? Just the materials required are already a handful, not to mention the extensivework of formation that we will need to make across the continent.


    This is not something we can do in a short amount of time. Heck, even if all the sects of the worldbined their powers, it would still take a hundred years or more to do something like this." Jing Luo replied.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head in agreement.


    "But that is if we follow the usual method of making a teleportation array. We know that a teleportation array is the amalgamation of several teleportation formations linked together with multiple teleportation channels.


    The problems begin not with the teleportation formation themselves, but the channels. They are hard to stabilize and when multiple of them are linked, the problem can get even more intense.


    But what if I told you we can simply eliminate the need for the channels and the interlinking teleportation junction?" Lin Mu exined.


    "Huh? Something like that¡­ is possible." It was now that it struck Jing Luo.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in response and spread his hands around.


    "Why do we need to make the channels and the interlinking teleportation junction when we have an entire Minor ne on our side?" Lin Mu said with a chuckle.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Jing Luo took a deep breath and thought of the requirements to make something like this.


    "If we are to do this¡­ the teleportation formations that will act as the individual stations will need to be made from spatial elemental materials. Though they wouldn''t have to be veryplex.


    Most of the strain will be directly passed on to the Kong ne thus there would be no need for the stabilizing formations and the supporting formations." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Mmhmm¡­ what if we use something that is already premade?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Something premade?" Jing Luo wondered what Lin Mu was thinking about and soon figured it out.


    "You mean¡­ no, it can''t be. Their uses are very different. We won''t be able to establish a two way route. It will simply copse." Jing Luo replied understanding what Lin Mu was talking about.


    "We don''t need a two way route. They will simply have to be inward routes. The outward route will be the main one from the Kong ne." As soon as Lin Mu said this, everything in Jing Luo''s mind made sense.


    Now it was Jing Luo''s turn of feeling like a curtain on his mind was lifted.


    "This¡­ if we really managed to make it, then¡­ this will be revolutionary!" Jing Luo eximed.


    "Perhaps. But first, we need to figure out if it can really work or will it need some tweaks." Lin Mu stated.


    "Of course. I can get started on it right away. As a prototype¡­ I think I can establish amunication link between the Kong ne and our world." Jing Luo spoke.


    "YES! That will be perfect. It will save us a lot of time and enhance the speed of response of people in the Kong ne. There are way too many things here that would be a waste to not make use of." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well. I''ll get started on the first prototype and attach it to the Hong Lin Kingdom." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Yes, and until you are done, I think we should get some response from Hua San and Hua Wu as well." Lin Mu agreed.


    Jing Luo nodded his head and felt excited about theing days. Even though there was the dread of the future danger, there was also the excitement of learning new things. The anticipation had started to itch his hand, and he quickly got to work.


    Lin Mu didn''t ck off either and got to his own cultivation. He had yet to figure out what his Dao Shell was going to be like and needed to spend some time in figuring it out. He wanted to be as strong as possible when he was going to face Gu Yao.


    ''He should be at the Dao Shell realm at the very least by now. With the support and resources he is getting, even with his pace, he shouldn''t be at the Dao Treading realm.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Time quickly went by as the three men spent their time growing in different ways. King Hong grew his cultivation base, Jing Luo furthered his proficiency with formations while Lin Muprehended how he wanted his Dao Shell''s shape to be like.


    Lin Mu would also make some trips to the Hong Lin ce every twelve hours just to make sure there were no problems and to get any new news. So far, there has been nothing out of the ordinary and everything was progressing smoothly.


    There were some tasks that were assigned to the ministers rted to their kingdom and citizens and they were also progressing fluidly. The ministers themselves were cultivating, and some of them were already close to a breakthrough.


    Just like this, an entire month passed.


    During this time, King Hong''s cultivation had risen once more, and he had reached the Adolescent soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm. This speed was outstanding and was even faster than Lin Mu if onepared the time needed.


    Though theparison wouldn''t be fully urate since the amount of spirit Qi needed by Lin Mu for a breakthrough was many times more than that of the average nascent soul realm cultivator.


    C0pyright ? 2024 N?v)(elDrama.Org.


    And even if King Hong was not average and had a strong physique, it was still less spirit Qi than Lin Mu.


    Jing Luo had some progress with the prototype as well and had finished the very first one. He had made a few trips with Lin Mu to the vault to gather materials and then to the ce to make the prototypemunication link.


    After about ten days of struggle and tweaks, the first prototype was finally functional!

 Chapter 808 - Shocking News Arrives

    Lin Mu and Jing Luo were at the Formation Nexus. Jing Luo had just finished the instation of the prototype that would allowmunication between the Xiaofan world and the Kong ne.


    "Alright¡­ let''s try it now." Lin Mu said.


    "Just use the Communication jade slip as normal and if the message goes through, it means it is working." Jing Luo stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and used themunication jade slip. He closed his eyes and let his spirit sense interact with the jade slip. About five secondster, he opened his eyes and a smile appeared on his face.


    "Senior Lin Mu, we can hear you." A voice said from the jade slip.


    "It works¡­ It works!" Jing Luo said, feeling joyous.


    "Indeed. You did great, Jing Luo." Lin Mu replied.


    C0pyright ? 2024 N?v)(elDrama.Org.


    "Haha, this is just the start. I never thought using spatial storage tools could be used like this with just a few modifications." Jing Luo said.


    "Mmmhmm, I reckoned since they already ess the minor void, we can probably use them to bridge the gap. After all, they just need to provide the inward route. The exit can be taken care by the main formation in the Kong ne." Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes. But we still need to tweak and improvise it more. This can handlemunication, but the transport of humans is still a bit doubtful. I''ll need to work on it more and ensure that it works on living things too." Jing Luo said.


    "Of course. You can do as much work as you want. We have plenty of spatial storage treasures now anyway. I took them from all those that had them and also got them from the vaults of the Tri cauldron peony sect.


    The vaults here also have the materials needed to create them, so you can make use of them as well." Lin Mu spoke.


    Jing Luo nodded his head and felt pleased with the ease of ess he had. Being restrained by materials was one of the main reasons for progress being slowed and once that obstacle was removed, things became smooth flowing.


    Of course, it was smooth flowing because it was Jing Luo. For most formation masters, weapon forgers, and spirit tool refiners, something like this would be immensely difficult. Jing Luo had the basics from the Jing n and the improved knowledge that Lin Mu gave him, thus those obstacles were removed for him.


    Lin Mu looked at Jing Luo and was reminded of something.


    "Will you be breaking through to the Adult Soul stage soon as well?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes. I should be able to in a week or so. I want to be done with this first though, then I''ll be free to do it. Though if we need to rush, I can break through first as well. The spirit Qi here is very useful." Jing Luo answered.


    "Hmm¡­ I think you should break through first, then. After that, you can focus on work and let the spirit Qi passively increase your cultivation. We need to be ready for anything and personal strength will be important." Lin Mu suggested.


    "That''s true. I guess I''ll do that first then. At least now, with themunicator established, we won''t have to make continuous trips to the pce." Jing Luo said with a nod.


    "Hmm¡­ thismunicator, what is its range right now?" Lin Mu asked while observing the five feet tall construct.


    It was made out of several different metals and had a bracelet embedded in its center. This bracelet was originally a low grade spatial storage tool, but now was being used as a link between the Kong ne and the Xiaofan world.


    Another such construct was ced in the grand pce of the Hong Lin kingdom and interacted with themunicator here.


    In addition to the spatial storage tools, jade slips were also attached to them so that they could allow the transmission of messages. In simple words, this acted as a ry tower for them.


    "I attached a mid grademunication jade slip to themunicator that is in the pce, while the one here has a high grade one. It should be sufficient to cover at least ten thousand kilometers, but some fluctuations can ur.


    Optimally, we should have several suchmunicators ced at equal distances. That would allow for faster and more urate transmission. Plus, if we add the teleportation formations to them, we can also use them to teleport within the Kong ne as well.


    As you said, this ne is almost one third the size of the great Zhou Continent, thus covering such arge area is difficult. Plus, with the myriad of resources and areas that are useful here, it would be a waste if we do not take advantage of it." Jing Luo answered.


    Hearing Jing Luo''s idea about rymunicators and teleportation points, Lin Mu was amazed and pleased at the same time.


    "Yes, that will be really good if you can set them up. Though we will need additional manpower to take care of that." Lin Mu spoke.


    "We can make use of the cultivators that helped in the set up of the formations around the Hong Lin kingdom. I''ve found some of them to have a good potential with formations. While they aren''t geniuses, they will be able to do the tasks sufficiently." Jing Luo stated.


    "If you find them useful, then you can employ them. I''m sure adviser Liu will be fine with it." Lin Mu stated.


    Jing Luo nodded his head in response and decided to do itter.


    The two of them talked for a few minutes more when they suddenly got a message.


    "What is it?" Jing Luo questioned Lin Mu, seeing the change in his expression.


    "It''s Wu Xun¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "What happened? Did Wu Xun do something? Has Gu Yao started to act?" Jing Luo asked, assuming the worst.


    "No¡­ it''s not that. Wu Xun¡­ he''s dead.. He died over a month ago¡­" Lin Mu answered, shocking Jing Luo.

 Chapter 809 - Wu Hei’s Action

    Jing Luo and Lin Mu both had not expected to receive news such as this today.


    "Who told you this?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Adviser Liu just informed me. They got the news just a few minutes ago when a messenger arrived with it." Lin Mu replied.


    "What? How did it happen?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Come on, we''ll go and talk to them ourselves. We''ll tell King Hongter, hismunication jade slip should work now anyway with the newmunicator." Lin Mu said.


    Jing Luo nodded his head, and Lin Mu took him back to the royal pce.


    Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The two figures appeared in the circle of runes and looked at the people that were standing around them.


    "Senior Lin Mu, Senior Jing Luo." The ministers and the rest greeted.


    With King Hong staying in the Kong ne, the phenomenon with the fire elemental spirit Qi umting had passed and now normal people and cultivators could enter the area of the ce.


    The work had gone to normal, and all the people were working at full force now.


    "What happened?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We received news that Wu Xun, the minister of Shuang Qian kingdom, has died just a few minutes ago. He died over a month ago, but the Shuang Qian kingdom didn''t let the news spread until now, probably to take care of the issues that would arise due to his death.


    The news was released by their official decree and was sent to the Empire. We got the report from one of our informers there." Adviser Liu answered.


    "Huh? How did he die, though? He should be fine with his position and Gu Yao as his backing. Just what happened?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We don''t know. They did not reveal the cause, though there are many rumors already spreading, from murder, poisoning, and all the way to a heavenly tribtion." Adviser Liu answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu furrowed his brows. Wu Xun''s death was something that was determined to happen in the future, as there was no way Lin Mu was going to let the man live.


    After all, Wu Xun was indirectly responsible for the death of his parents and many others in the Northern town. Even Wu Hei was fine with it and knew that his father needed to receive the punishment, eventually.


    But his death now was out of the blue and made Lin Mu wonder if this was some other ploy by Gu Yao instead.


    ''No¡­ not just Gu Yao¡­ it could be others too¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    There were many enemies that Wu Xun had gained over the many years. Even with Gu Yao''s influence and control, there were still many that could not be restrained. While they were in a weaker position than Wu Xun and Gu Yao; there was still a chance they could have plotted something that Gu Yao and Wu Xun failed to notice.


    ''Can it really be like that? Did their arrogance cause their downfall?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    If it really was like, it would be really advantageous to them. But at the same time, it would add some unknown variables that''s may force them to change their approach.


    "What do we do now?" one of the ministers asked.


    "Yes, what should our response be? Wu Xun is the brother of that Gu Yao right?"


    Everyone here now knew the situation with Gu Yao and thus were knowledgeable about everything rted to it. Having this knowledge among the allies was important, so that there was nopse in judgment or misunderstandings.


    "It''s not what we do, but rather what Gu Yao will do. No¡­ he should have already started to act, we just don''t know what it is." Lin Mu spoke.


    It was now that Jing Luo said something that urred to him.


    "Who is it that''s taking over Wu Xun''s position now? If it has been a month, then they should have taken care of it, right?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "There is no information about it yet, but our people are working on gathering more as we speak. We should receive updates any moment now." Adviser Liu said.


    Jing Luo nodded and sat down to think with Lin Mu, who was already deep in thought.


    Ten minutes passed during which the ministers discussed potential actions that they might need to take, after which a new message finally arrived. Adviser Liu held hismunication jade slip and heard the message.


    A few secondster, he opened his eyes that had a hint of confusion mixed in them.


    "What''s that news?" Jing Luo asked.


    "The new minister recing Wu Xun¡­ it''s none other than his son¡­ Wu Hei." Adviser Liu revealed, sending a wave of surprise throughout the hall.


    Lin Mu who heard it though, felt differently.


    "No way!" Lin Mu suddenly eximed.


    "What''s the matter?" Jing Luo asked with concern.


    "You remember I told you about the ns I made whit Wu Hei when we were dealing with the Tri Cauldron peony sect?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Yeah, you made ns on how to do the same with other sects to weaken them. But we know that option did not work out since you almost got caught and had to run." Jing Luo said.


    "Indeed. But in addition to that, we discussed many other options and n. Most of them were just theoretical ones, and we were simply trying to find something that might work.


    And in those ns, one such n was Wu Hei taking over the position of an official. Originally it was him doing this through the official channels and moving up eventually to gather power, but I think he is doing it in a different manner now." Lin Mu answered.


    "Huh? So you mean to say¡­ Wu Hei killed his father to take over his position as the minister?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Mmhmm¡­ while the original n was different, I think Wu Hei has done this to pull our attention. This may be his way of sending a signal since he knows Gu Yao would probably find out if he did something directly.." Lin Mu exined.

 Chapter 810 - Jing Luo’s Breakthrough And Message From Hua San

    The news about Wu Hei''s action was certainly unexpected, and now Lin Mu and the rest were left to think about how to respond to it.


    "Do we send a message to him?" Adviser Liu asked.


    "No¡­ doing so openly will be bad and doing it secretly won''t be possible, either. If he has taken over the position of the minister, then it is likely that he will be closely observed by Gu Yao to ensure that everything is fine.


    I reckon we will need to wait for a while before we can make contact. In fact, this might be what Wu Hei intended it to be like. He is telling us to stay away till he had established himself and his power well enough." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well, Senior Lin Mu. We''ll do as you say." Adviser Liu stated.


    "What about the others? How do we proceed with the alliance?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "For now, I don''t think we need to make any big changes to our ns. The only thing we add to it is keeping an open link for Wu Hei to send a message and also keep an eye on him.


    He may try to contact us at some point. I''m sure he knows I am somewhere in the south at this point. We also need to ask Jingming Shang to get hiswork to make contact with Wu Hei in a non direct manner.


    It will be for matters unreleased to us or the alliance. This is just to make sure that he has a certain level of trust and neutrality with it. Once we are ready, we will use the same connection to make contact." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm¡­ that will be for the best." Jing Luo agreed.


    "Then it''s decided. We keep on doing what we are until Hua Wu and Hua San make contact with us. Once the Noon Grass Sect has joined up in the alliance, we will make moves on the Long Cloud alliance with their help." Lin Mu stated calmly.


    Seeing that everyone was in an agreement, Lin Mu went ahead and gave some more orders, before he returned to the Kong ne with Jing Luo. There they returned to their tasks, where Lin Mu focused on choosing a shape for his Dao Shell, while Jing Luo prepared for his breakthrough.


    Ten days passed like this and Jing Luo finally made his breakthrough to the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Lin Mu had also made some progress in choosing the shape of his Dao Shell, but still needed some time to figure out the details.


    Since he already knew that the Dao Embryo he was going toprehend in the future was rted to the Earth Element, and the Earth Dao, he wanted the Dao Shell to be conducive to that.


    It would be something that could help the Dao Embryo and would increase his overall power as well. Jing Luo too finished stabilizing his cultivation base in a couple of days and got back to working on the prototype.


    By now he had decided on the name of the tool that he was making, it would be called as a Teleportation Gate and would allow one to enter the Kong ne and exit it. With the number of such gates that they were going to make, they would probably have to make a lot of sections in the cave.


    Thankfully, the cave was veryrge and there was plenty of space to make use of it.


    A few more dayster, the news from Hua San and Hua Wu finally arrived. Lin Mu checked themunication jade slip and read the message.


    "Senior Lin Mu, we will be arriving at the Hong Lin city in a week''s time along with our elders." Hua San stated.


    Lin Mu informed everyone that needed to know it, including Jing Luo, Adviser Liu, King Hong who was busy cultivating and Jingming Shang. Adviser Liu took care of the rest of the people in the pce and Lin Mu talked with King Hong about the matters of the alliance.


    Since King Hong was the king of the Hong Lin kingdom, he would need to be there as per the etiquette. King Hong was fine with it and was also excited to meet the elders of the Noon Grass sect.


    After all, even if they were ranked tenth, they were still part of the top ten sects and were as old as the Top three sects too. King Hong had only heard of their stories but had never met someone from them and from the message it was implied that the master of Hua San might being too.


    This master was of course, none other than the Sect patriarch Hua. He was a man that stayed out of the public attention most of the time and very little was known about him or the other elders of the Noon Grass sect.


    Only the other top sects knew about them somewhat and even among them, only the top three sects knew the details. That was the reason why when the Long cloud alliance and the Zither Wind Alliance tried to recruit them, their words fell on deaf ears.


    They didn''t know what the noon Grass sect would desire and thus they had no leads to go on. All they could do was put forth the reward that an average cultivation sect would like. Even then, the Noon Grass simply rejected all offers and stayed neutral.


    Being able to withstand this temptation and pressure showed the hidden tenacity of the Noon grass sect, and thus it had be aplex factor for the alliances. Though the top three sects were secretly pleased that the Noon Grass Sect stayed neutral like them.


    All the four sects that stayed neutral had existed for a long time and were very experienced. They had their own inheritance and foundation that was not easy to shake.. Even if the Noon Grass sect was pushed to the tenth rank, it had a stable foundation to stand on, which could not be denied.C0pyright ? 2024 N?v)(elDrama.Org.

 Chapter 811 - The Noon Grass Sect Arrives!

    The time given by Hua San passed quickly and it was already the day for the Noon Grass sect''s arrival. Scouts were already in ce and ready to inform the Kingdom as soon as they spotted the entourage of the Noon Grass sect.


    C0pyright ? 2024 N?v)(elDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu, Jing Luo, and King Hong had already returned to the pce and were in the royal court going over the points they needed to discuss with the Noon Grass sect. These not only involved the things about Gu Yao and the alliance, but also smaller matters such as what to do in case of disagreement and conflicts.


    They were important too, and it was best if they got them out of the way as soon as possible. This way, they would have the least number of obstacles in the way.


    <i>~CREAK~</i>


    It was at this point that the door of the Hall opened abruptly and in came a man who seemed to be looking anxious.


    "My King! The Noon Grass sect is here!" A messenger said quickly.


    Lin Mu and the rest stood up immediately and flew out of the ce and stood in the sky.


    "There they are¡­" Lin Mu said, spotting the people approaching from the distance.


    King Hong and Jing Luo also watched them and narrowed their eyes.


    "What¡­ is that thing?" King Hong questioned.


    "Oh? They have a Spirit vehicle too," Jing Luo replied.


    "Mmhmm¡­ and it''s rather powerful, too. I can sense its spirit Qi fluctuations¡­ it''s nearly at the peak grade." Lin Mu spoke.


    Hearing this, Jing Luo focused on the flying object and tried to see if he could analyze it.


    The object in question was a long rectangr ruler. It was made out of a in-looking stone but there were many runes carved into its surface. Plus the spirit Qi fluctuationing from it were also rather strong whenbined with the people that were riding it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    And while Lin Mu and the rest were observing this, a red blur arrived and floated beside them.


    "Danger?" Little Shrubby questioned, his ears perked up.


    "No, just some new friends." Lin Mu answered.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby said and observed the flying ruler as well.


    Lin Mu could see at least twenty people sitting on the ruler. At the front sat two old men, one of which was controlling the formations of the flying ruler. The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him showed Lin Mu that he was at the Dao Shell realm as well.


    Sitting beside him was another old man that looked to be at least a hundred years old whenpared to a mortal. This meant that he was really old in the case of cultivators. Unlike the first man, Lin Mu could not perceive any proper spirit Qi fluctuations from him.


    He was wearing a long robe that had fine designs embroidered on them. The robes themselves were a in white color like the rest, and only the designs made them stand out. It was evident that whoever he was, he had the highest position among them.


    "That''s Daoist Hua, the patriarch of the Noon Grass sect. I''ve seen his portrait before." Jing Luo informed.


    "So that''s the master go Hua San and Hua Wu. They''re sitting in the middle." Lin Mu replied.


    Behind the two old men, Lin Mu could see five younger elders sitting. But even if they were youngerpared to the two old men, they were by no means youngsters. They looked to be in their sixties instead.


    Four of them were men and one of them was an old woman. Behind these five elders sat the disciples that were apanying them. Lin Mu could see Hua Wu and Hua San sitting with five other disciples in a group.


    Behind them sat more disciples, that had weaker cultivation bases. But even the weakest of them was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm. While the strongest was at the pseudo Nascent soul stage.


    "Your sensing capabilities have certainly gotten stronger." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Mmmhmm¡­ the more time I spend pondering on the Dao Shell, the finer my control bes. I didn''t realize it at first, but I''m seeing improvements in things I didn''t know about before." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s a good sign. Improvements like this usually happen if you are going on the right path withprehending your Dao Shell''s shape. An optimum shape will increase the quality of your cultivation base and allow you to grasp better control over it." Xukong stated.


    "Yes, senior. Though I wonder why I can''t sense the cultivation base of Daoist Hua, even if he is at the Dao Treading realm, I should have been able to do it." Lin Mu said in a slightly confused tone.


    "He is probably at the very peak of it and has some skills that prevent others from sensing his cultivation base. You''ll have to be a bit careful when interacting with so many cultivators at such cultivation bases.


    There are six Dao Shell realm and one Dao Treading realm cultivator. This is the strongest group of cultivators you are facing." Xukong informed.


    "I''ll keep it in mind, senior." Lin Mu responded.


    Xukong then went silent and let Lin Mu handle the rest. They watched as the Noon Grass sect reached their position in a minute''s time.


    "Wee, Patriarch Hua! Wee fellow elders!" Lin Mu greeted with his fists cupped.


    Since Daoist Hua was the only one at the Dao Treading realm, this was the etiquette Lin Mu had to follow. The other elders were all at the Dao Shell realm, though their stages varied.


    "We pay our respects to the Noon Grass sect!" One by one, the others also greeted the people from the Noon Grass sect.


    "Ohoho! Seems like our disciples grossly underestimated you, junior Lin Mu." Daoist Hua said in a jovial tone.


    His eyes sparkled and Lin Mu could feel a very swift sweep of spirit sense going along his body.. Of course, it was blocked by him, but that was more than enough for Daoist Hua to grasp what Lin Mu''s cultivation base was at.

 Chapter 812 - The Guests Are Pleased

    When Hua Wu and Hua San reported to the Noon Grass sect, they were met with great eptance. Them finding the Thousand year old Hong Lin wood was the same as giving the supreme elder a new lease on life.


    This was enough to win the hearts of the elders, and they asked what the two disciples wanted for a reward. Of course, the two of them asked what Lin Mu had requested of them. This came as a shock to the elders of the Noon grass sect and even their master, Daoist Hua was a bit taken aback.


    They gave them the summary of all that had happened and told them that they should meet Lin Mu. Daoist Hua being the patriarch had to be a bit more cautious of course and asked them for more things in detail before finally agreeing to it.


    Though what he was more intrigued by was none other than Lin Mu. From all that he had heard, this boy was the same Lin Mu that was wanted on the entire continent by now and had created great havoc before.


    And hearing that he was already at the Dao Shell realm at his age was the most shocking thing to Daoist Hua. At that point, even if it were not for the situation with Gu Yao or the alliance, Daoist Hua would still insist on meeting him.


    Finally, now that he was face to face with Lin Mu, Daoist Hua realized that what he had heard till now was not even half of it.


    Daoist Hua was an experienced man and had seen a lot in the thousands of years he had lived. He could be considered to be of the same generation as that of Jing Wei, the grandfather of Jing Luo and the patriarch of the Jing n.


    Even if he had guided his sect on a different path than most other sects and had chosen secrecy and facade as the face of it, he was not weak, nor was he foolish. He knew what it entailed for someone like Lin Mu to appear.


    After all, even if someone was given unlimited resources, achieving what Lin Mu did was not easy to do alone. What it meant to Daoist Hua was that there was someone else guiding him.


    And it was this very person that he was the most interested in. After all, for someone to be able to guide a junior like this from no cultivation to the Dao Shell realm was an achievement on its own.


    For a teacher to have an outstanding student, he needed to be outstanding as well.


    This was why Daoist Hua was a bit doubtful and wondered if the rumors mentioned by the Sky precepts sect about Lin Mu were true; that he was in fact an old man that had disguised himself.


    But now that he checked it himself, he had found out the truth. And the truth was far more shocking than the falsehoods. Lin Mu had thought that Daoist Hua was checking his cultivation base, but that was not entirely correct.


    What he was doing in reality, was checking his true age. It could be done through a few techniques that were used by sects to ensure that their disciples were within the limits prescribed by them.


    Spirit tools were usually used for this, but Daoist Hua had individual techniques that could be used as well.


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    ''It truly is like that¡­ a twenty one year old Dao Shell realm cultivator¡­ either this world is truly progressing, or someone is interfering in it.'' Daoist Hua thought to himself.


    Lin Mu on the other hand, wondered if Daoist Hua was justplimenting him as a formality or if he was being genuine.


    "You surely jest, Elder Hua. I''m still many years junior in front of you." Lin Mu said humbly.


    "Ahahaha! Good, good!" Daoist Hua instantly liked Lin Mu''s response.


    The one thing that Daoist Hua didn''t like were arrogant disciples and cultivators that were talented. They thought that they were so talented that they deserved everything and took everything in granted.


    But what Daoist Hua didn''t like even more were those that faked being humble. He had enough experience to know who was faking and pretending to be humble, from who was truly humble.


    And seeing Lin Mu, who was truly like that while being talented, as well made Daoist Hua feel pleased.


    "Patriarch Hua, pleasee in. We''ll talk in the court." King Hong suggested.


    "Very well." Daoist Hua agreed as well.


    Everyone entered the Royal court and took their seats. Daoist Hua was given a prominent position and so were the other elders. On the head of the table sat Lin Mu instead of King Hong, as he was the one with the strongest cultivation base and was also their leader.


    Daoist Hua then went on to introduce the others that hade with him, including the five disciples he had. They were named Hua Yi, Hua Er, Hua San, Hua Si and Hua Wu; in the order of their seniority.


    Of the five disciples, Lin Mu knew Hua San and Hua Wu of course. Hua Yi was the eldest disciple of them all and was at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Lin Mu could sense the faint spirit Qi fluctuationsing from and found them to be a bit simr to that of Daoist Hua.


    Even though they were faint, they still seemed to be powerful, simr to the old man.


    ''Seems like the eldest disciple is following the same cultivation technique as that of his master.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Hua Er on the other hand, was the only female disciple among the five and was at the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Hua San and Hua Si were at the Child Soul stage and finally, Hua Wu was at the Infant soul stage.


    Though it seemed like Hua Wu was close to a breakthrough as well.


    ''The pills and herbs might have helped him a lot more than I thought..'' Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 813 - The Noon Grass Sect Joins The Alliance

    With the quick introductions done, Lin Mu got to exining them about the alliance and why they had made it. Lin Mu simply expanded on what Hua San and Hua Wu had already told the elders about it.


    "I never would have thought our suspicions would turn out to be this grave¡­" Elder Bolin stated.


    This was the same elder who had driven the flying ruler and brought everyone here.


    "Hmm¡­ when the two alliances started to ask us to join us, I thought the worst. At least the Long cloud alliance reduced their attempts in recruiting us, but the Zither Wind Alliance has been incessant.


    Even now, we keep on getting invitations toe to visit their sect. They are even providing free resources to us if wee to their sect and discuss the ''Dao''." Daoist Hua spoke.


    "Huh? Discuss the Dao? As if they even know what ''Dao'' is¡­" another elder scoffed.


    "Mmhmm¡­ there is no such thing as free in this world. Someone is always paying the price, if it''s not you then it''s the other person. But why would someone pay it for free, unless they have some other intentions?" Adviser Liu chimed in.


    "Indeed. Elder Hua was wise to reject them. I fear if you epted and went there, all those that went there might have been controlled by Gu Yao." Lin Mu stated.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "That is what I fear¡­ I''ve heard of the strange methods of the invaders of the past from my own elders. It was with great difficultly and sacrifice that they were removed from this world.


    And now this¡­ Gu Yao makes his own and created this situation. He is simply not worthy of living in the world." Daoist Hua said, after sighing to himself.


    "Exactly, and that is why I want all of us to unite and fight against it. Will Daoist Hua and the Noon Grass sect join me in this endeavor?" Lin Mu asked sincerely.


    Silence descended on the room as a pregnant pause took hold.


    "Of course!" Daoist Hua said out loud, breaking the silence.


    "Even if my Noon Grass sect does not participate in the matters of the world, and avoids most things, we know how to pick out battles. The current events are not something we can ignore.


    After all, if we ignore them, we will perish in the same way people of the old did." Daoist Hua spoke.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Lin Mu and the others on his side took breaths of relief after hearing this. Even though they knew that it was quite likely the Noon Grass sect might agree, there was still some uncertainty to it.


    "Grandfather will be pleased when he hears this. I''m sure he''ll like to meet you again, Elder Hua." Jing Luo spoke in agreement.


    Daoist Hua''s eyes went to therge man. Jing Luo had lost the wildness he had to him after getting his hair and beard in control. But there was still a little bit of valor in his eyes that was hard to hide.


    "So you are senior Wei''s grandson¡­ are you Jing An''s son? Or Jing Tan''s son?" Daoist Hua asked.


    "Jing An is my father''s elder Hua." Jing Luo replied.


    "Ah¡­ he was a good junior. Very talented too¡­ I dread the day when the massacre of your n happened. I would have liked to interfere, but the pressure from the other sects made it impossible to act." Daoist Hua said with a hint of empathy in his voice.


    "It is not your fault, Elder Hua." Jing Luo said, his eyes softening. "Those that wronged us shall pay multiple folds¡­ they think the Jing n has been eradicated, but we will return¡­ and when we do, we shall show them the power of the Jing n!" Jing Luo said in a staunch voice.


    "And I''ll look forward to that day. The Jing n has contributed greatly to the world and sacrificed a lot. It deserves the best position in the world." Daoist Hua praised.


    Jing Luo and the rest smiled upon hearing this and nodded their heads.


    "There is another thing I wanted to ask you, Elder Hua." Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "What is it?" Elder Hua asked.


    "Since you are of the older generation the same as Elder Jing Wei, you must know of the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators in our world, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Hearing this, the eyes of Elder Hua narrowed.


    "I have some understanding of them. My Noon Grass sect has existed around the same time as that of the Sky Precepts sect, Rainbow Pill sect, and the Centennial sword sect. Even if we never had an Immortal ascension realm cultivator of our own, we do know about them." Elder Hua Answered.


    "Then I need to ask you just how many of them are there in the Great Zhou continent." Lin Mu asked.


    Even if he knew that there were three of them, Lin Mu wanted to know what was the actual information that the sects knew.


    "Hmm¡­ from what I know, the top three sects all have one Immortal Ascension realm cultivator of their own.


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    The one from the Sky Precepts sect has been in seclusion for over two thousand years and has not appeared since thest great war.


    The one from the Rainbow pill sect should be in seclusion as well, but there is a chance he might havee out, seeing as how the Rainbow Pill sect is taking some serious decisionstely and cooperating with the Empire.


    As for the Centennial sword sect¡­ I don''t know. The cultivators from the Centennial sword sect are a bunch of sword obsessed fools that know just to swing swords and fight each other.


    Their ancestor is far too strong and has no one in the world he canpare his swordsmanship to. Thus, he entered the seclusion and said that he will onlye out when he senses someone worthy of himing out.


    Though if he doese out¡­ we will now. He is the one that likes to show off the most and will make his presence known.." Daoist Hua exined.

 Chapter 814 - The Immortal Ascension Realm Cultivators

    Lin Mu was surprised to hear more details about the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators and how they were in reality. He needed to know their attitudes so that they may have a fighting chance against the Northern Tribes in the future.


    "Why are you asking this though, Lin Mu?" Daoist Hua asked.


    "Because we are going to need them in our fight¡­ you see the northern tribes¡­ They have immortal Ascension realm cultivators too." Lin Mu said, shocking everyone in the hall.


    "IMPOSSIBLE! Utterly impossible!" Daoist Hua was the first to im.


    "That can''t be¡­ didn''t the sects wipe out all the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators of the Northern tribes?" A minister said.


    "How can they even afford to have a single Immortal Ascension realm cultivator, not to mention three in a deste area such as the Northern continent?" one of the eldersmented.


    "I''m afraid this is true." Lin Mu stated.


    "Are you sure you are not mistaken, Junior Lin Mu?" Daoist Hua asked, feeling doubtful.


    "I would be happy if I was wrong, but I''m 100% sure that it is true." Lin Mu said before tapping his forehead lightly.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A character appeared on his forehead before it floated out. The glow of the characters was faint but enough to catch the attention of everyone.


    "This¡­ Ordained¡­ no wonder." Daoist Hua had a sense of realization.


    The other elders looked towards Daoist Hua for orders and waited for him toe out of his thoughts.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    The expression of Daoist Hua changed a few times before he sighed to himself.


    "Junior Lin Mu is telling the truth. If he has been ordained by the will of the world, then we can believe him." Daoist Hua assured.


    The others didn''t know what to think of it. On one hand, they were relieved that Lin Mu was trustable, but then on the other hand, they were also afraid of the reality that he had presented.


    Immortal Ascension realm cultivators were legends to them and other than Daoist Hua, none of them had ever seen one. There has only been a handful of them throughout the history of the Xiaofan world and all of them were very influential.


    "This is why I stressed on the need for an alliance. Gu Yao is merely the first obstacle we will face. The one after him will be the Northern Tribes, who I doubt will stay still when we deal with Gu Yao.


    Even now, they are spreading in our homnd and taking over different ces. We need to keep an eye out for them as well. It''s also why we set up the detection formation around the entire Hong Lin Kingdom.


    That way, we know each and every person that enters and leaves the kingdom. So we will be able to track them down the moment, they enter this. I rmend all others do the same if they don''t have it set up already." Lin Mu exined.


    "Junior Lin Mu is right. I''ve heard and seen the horrors of the northern tribes. They will stop at nothing toplete their goals. They are the most ruthless people in this world and will kill without mercy." Daoist Hua added.


    Discussion and chatter urred after their information was revealed to everyone. Lin Mu let them talk it out for a bit before he continued with his side.


    "Elder Hua, do you think the top sects can be asked to help out¡­ or rather, will those Immortal Ascension realm experts be willing to help us?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It is hard to tell. They will usually only act if their own sect is being threatened. But if war truly breaks out, I reckon they won''t stand back. Of the three sects, only the Ancestor of the Centennial Sword sect is someone who I think may be ready to fight right away.


    He still has grudges against the Northern tribes, and his own goal of fighting against a strong opponent will be fulfilled if the three Immortal Ascension realm cultivators of the Northern Tribes are revealed." Daoist Hua answered.


    "What about the other two? What drives them?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "The Ancestor of the Rainbow pill sect is said to be a shrewd man and won''t act unless benefits are involved. As for the Ancestor of the Sky Precepts sect, he is a mystery and I don''t know much about him." Daoist Hua replied.


    "Hmm¡­ there are still ways the ancestor of the Rainbow pill sect can be pushed to cooperate with us then." Lin Mu said.


    "Are you thinking of making use of the alliance between them and the Great Zhou Empire?" Daoist Hua quickly grasped.


    "Perhaps¡­ it depends on whether we have that much time or if Gu Yao doesn''t gain control over them as well." Lin Mu replied while rubbing his chin.


    "So our only option is to strengthen ourselves first." Daoist Hua said.


    "Exactly. And for that, I have some other options that we can use." Lin Mu stated.


    "Oh? What are they?" Daoist Hua said, feeling intrigued.


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    Lin Mu then went on to tell him about the Kong n and how he was thinking of using it as a junction to move everyone around. Hearing it all, Daoist Hua was not only impressed, but also shocked.


    He was impressed by the idea and shocked that Lin Mu could actually make formations like this and manipte space to that extent.


    "THAT IS AMAZING!" one of the elders of the Noon grass sect named Liqiang eximed.


    He seemed to be the most enthusiastic among the others and was paying the most attention to Lin Mu when he spoke about the formations.


    "Indeed. That is something we would greatly like. If Junior Lin Mu can establish something like that, I reckon it might change the entire world." Daoist Hua proimed.


    "If Daoist Hua is fine with it, we''d like to add the Noon Grass sect to it as well." Lin Mu said.


    "Of course, and I believe Elder Liqiang would be more than willing to help you out with this endeavor as well. He is the head of our formations pavilion.." Daoist Hua replied.

 Chapter 815 - A Pipeline Of Plans And The First Teleportation Gate

    With the discussion done, several ns were made by Lin Mu and the Noon Grass sect.


    The first n was to make contact with the Long Cloud Alliance. This would have to be a careful step and they would have to ensure that the Zither Wind alliance does not get any hint about it.


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    The same could be said for the top three sects, and it was best if they were in the dark about it as well. Because if any of them found out, it may once again shift the bnce of power and cause another race for conflict.


    It was important that only the Long Cloud Alliance knew about it, but even then they would have to contact someone trustworthy. This was so that Lin Mu could be involved in it without getting attacked.


    After all, Lin Mu was still someone wanted in the sects and the empire.


    The next n was to establish another teleportation gate in the Noon Grass sect. For this, Elder Liqiang and his entire Formations pavilion will be helping them. They were more than enthusiastic to help as they would get to improve their own craft as well.


    Jing Luo would be making most of the formations and structure needed for the gate here itself and would then pass them on to Elder Liqiang, who would do the rest in the Noon Grass sect.


    Then came the cement of people. For now, Daoist Hua decided that it would be best if Hua San and Hua Wu apanied Lin Mu and helped him out with anything he needed. Though he also wanted the two to make use of time to cultivate in the Kong ne.


    And once the teleportation gate was established, he would be sending other talented disciples to cultivate in the Kong ne as well.


    The Noon Grass sect did have a sacred ground of their own that could help in cultivation, but the problem with it was that it would take several decades before it would open again.


    Thus, it could not be used right now even though they needed disciples to cultivate faster. Though the Noon grass sect and its elders collectively decided that they would increase the resources given to the disciples so that they could quickly cultivate.


    They even decided to end the seclusion of several elders and disciples so that they could all go to the Great Southern Forest and hunt for resources. This was something even Lin Mu was interested in and decided that he would go if the opportunity arose.


    Except Elder Liqiang, Daoist Hua and all the other elders would be heading back to their sect. They would currently focus on contacting the Long Cloud alliance and see if they could set up a meeting.


    This greatly lifted the workload from Lin Mu and he no longer needed to worry about doing that part himself.


    "Once we get some news from Jingming Shang about the situation in the Shuang Qian kingdom and Wu Hei, we will leave for the north." Lin Mu said to Jing Luo.


    The two of them were currently alone in one of the courtyards assigned to them.


    "Hmm¡­ I should be done setting up the teleportation gate for the Hong Lin kingdom in a few days. After that, I''ll prepare it for Noon Grass sect. Elder Liqiang will be helping me out, so it should be much faster than before as well." Jing Luo replied.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and looked up at the night sky. The moon was out and no clouds could be seen today. It was a pleasant sight that gave them a little relief from the day''s stress.


    "Seems like the day we meet your grandfather again ising close." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I''m looking forward to it as well. The Entrance token is already prepared so we are covered on that aspect." Jing Luo informed.


    "Oh? That''s good. Though what route should we take for going to your family''s ancestralnd? I don''t think it should be essible from the normal roads, right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Even I haven''t been to that ce before. Though I do know how to get there. And you''re right, the route to get there is not from the normal roads. There are two ways to get there.


    We can either go directly through the ck Dawn kingdom, or take another route through the Shuang Qian kingdom and leave it through the north west mountains." Jing Luo answered.


    "I see¡­ then we can finalize what path to take after seeing the condition in the Shuang Qian Kingdom. If things work out with Wu Hei, we might go there first, and if not, we will directly head to the ancestralnds." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    "That should be fine." Jing Luo agreed.


    With the ns made, Lin Mu discussed a few more minor things with Jing Luo before returning to the Kong ne with him. There, Lin Mu focused on his Dao Shell while Jing Luo worked on the teleportation gate.


    With each passing day, Lin Mu was getting closer to the shape that he wanted his Dao Shell to be and was finding more and more mistakes with it. Xukong told him to be very thorough with it and make sure all the ws were checked by him, before he decided on the final design.


    Hua San and Hua Wu also started cultivating in the Kong ne and made use of the resources that were given to them. Since they all knew that a great battle was lying in the future, no one held back on the resources and started using them as much as they could to speed things up.


    King Hong was also progressing steadily and so was Little Shrubby.


    Days passed like this and Jing Luo was finally done with making the first proper teleportation gate. This was installed in a special area prepared in the Pce and was guarded by many soldiers.


    It was of course, a formality as without the approval of the defensive formations no one could enter it.

 Chapter 816 - A Six Minute Teleportation And The Next Step Of Expansion

    With the instation of the First Teleportation gatepleted, the first thing Jing Luo and Lin Mu did was to let the others visit the Kong ne as a test.


    "So, how many times does it need to be tested before you are sure of it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "While I''ve got the stability down to the correct level, it''s the efficiency that is the problem. The time needed for the teleportation will be different and that is what I need to tweak.


    I reckon ten tests should be enough to get a judgment." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Alright, let''s see how it works." Lin Mu spoke.


    The ten people who were going to enter the Kong ne stood in the teleportation circle and waited for it to activate. This was the w that happened with the teleportation gate. While Lin Mu could take many people with him to the Kong ne instantly, the same couldn''t be done with the teleportation gate.


    Its size was enough for only ten to fifteen people to stand in it and it would not be instantaneous travel. They would need to wait for a few minutes for the formation to fully activate and send them.


    It was this very time needed for the formation to work that Jing Luo wanted to tweak.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Finally, the formation activated and the ten people were sent to the Kong ne.


    "Hmm¡­ twelve minutes¡­ that''s not good." Lin Mu spoke after seeing the time needed.


    "While it''s fine in a non stressful condition like this, I don''t think it will be good in a battle or something like that." Jing Luo said.


    "Indeed. See if you can improve it." Lin Mu said before taking his leave.


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Jing Luo got to work and made several more improvements before it was finally at a decent enough time.


    "So how much is it now?" Lin Mu questioned, having returned.


    "See for yourself." Jing Luo said, and activated the formation.


    The soldiers that were volunteering this time looked on in nervousness as the fomentation below their feet activated and glowed. The spirit Qi swirling around them was many times more than what they had in their cultivation base and thus made them feel even more nervous.


    After all, these soldiers were mere Qi refining realm cultivators and weren''t particrly strong. Though formoners and general warriors, they were still enough to deal with them.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The formation finally activated and teleported the ten soldiers away.


    "Oh! Six minutes! This is way better." Lin Mu eximed, feeling pleased.


    "Mmhmm, I managed to reduce it by half. I think I might be able to reduce it more, but the effort might not be worth the returns. For any significant improvement, I''ll need to change the entire array and the materials as well." Jing Luo exined.


    "This is still pretty good. After all, the time will be six minutes for any distance. Whether it be a few meters or a few thousand kilometers." Lin Mu praised.


    "Thank you." Jing Luo said with a smile.


    "Guess it''s time to make the second one now¡­ for the Noon Grass sect." Lin Mu stated.


    "I got the basics ready, and Elder Liqiang has learned some parts of it as well. I should be done with it in a week, and then Elder Liqiang will leave for the Noon Grass sect. We can begin our return to the North as well then." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Yes. Jingming Shang has also sent us some reports regarding the Shuang Qian kingdom. The situation there, while a bit sensitive is starting to normalize. Whatever Wu Hei did, he has managed to handle it well enough." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh? Seems like the Little merchant showed his worth." Jing Luo said in a surprised tone.


    "I thought you approved of him since he was trusted by your grandfather." Lin Mu asked.


    "People change¡­ and it''s always good to be cautious." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and thought that Jing Luo was correct too.


    "We now have amunication channel with Wu Hei, but using it will probably get it exposed so we can only use it once. The informant that made contact with Wu Hei has said that there are certainly a lot of suspicious people around Wu Hei and they are watching his every move.


    There are some rumors in the public that Wu Hei hasmitted patricide for fortune. While it is true, we cannot let it ignite any incidents. That''s why it''s best if we keep the contact channel for when we truly are ready." Lin Mu exined.


    "That''s harsh. At least we can now retreat whenever needed with the Kong ne." Jing Luo said.


    "Indeed. The Kong ne will be the godsend for our victory¡­ as long as we can make good use of it." Lin Mu agreed.


    With the discussion done, Jing Luo got to making the second teleportation gate that will be ced in the Noon Grass sect and was done in about a week. Elder Liqiang had already been exined to how it should be installed and was ready to leave now.


    "Elder Liqiang, hope your journey goes well." Lin Mu said as he looked at the elderly man.


    "You do not need to worry brother Lin Mu, I''ll get to the Noon Grass sect as soon as possible. Patriarch Hua is also working on talking with the Long Cloud alliance and is in contact with a few people that may be willing to cooperate." Elder Liqiang replied.


    "Very well. Just tell us if anything urs, the newmunication jade slips should work for both of us even at that distance." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes. I shall take my leave now, brother Lin Mu." Elder Liqiang stated.


    "Farewell." Lin Mu, Jing Luo, King Hong, and the few others that were in the hall said together.


    Elder Liqiang flew away and soon disappeared in the distance. Once he was out of the range of their sight, Lin Mu lightly sighed to himself.


    "Hopefully things go well¡­"

 Chapter 817 - The Missing Elder Liqiang

    Everyone was currently sitting in the Kong ne, in one of the caves that the servants had set up as a meeting hall. This was one of the recent developments and was made on a suggestion by adviser Liu.


    He said that since the Kong ne will be used as a junction for many locations, it will be better to have a meeting hall for the alliance right here. And that was exactly what Lin Mu got set up.


    Clearing up some of the rocks in the cave for making the hall took Lin Mu barely a few minutes and the rest of the work was simply done by the servants that Adviser Liu sent in. The formations were easy to set up as well as Lin Mu simply needed to expand on the already existing ones.


    Since he was already the owner of the ne, it was a piece of cake for him.


    Two weeks had passed since Elder Liqiang had left for the Noon Grass sect. Lin Mu and Jing Luo had gotten a bit anxious since they had received no message since that day and were a bit worried.


    They had tried contacting Elder Liqiang as well, but they received no response.


    "Do you think he may be in danger?" Adviser Liu asked.


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    "It''s possible, but if he was in trouble, he should have contacted us at the very start." Lin Mu replied.


    "What about the others at the Noon Grass sect? Do they know anything? We still have a contract with them right?" Jing Luo asked.


    "I''ve talked with the master and the other elders. They are worried about Elder Liqiang too." Hua San replied.


    ''Just what could it be¡­'' Lin Mu thought as he fiddled his fingers.


    ''For a Dao Shell realm cultivator like Elder Liqiang to be unable to contact us, it should have been something that either knocked him out directly, or managed to trap him somehow.'' Lin Mu tried to think.


    "What are the likely dangers that he can face on his way there? Do you know of them?" King Hong questioned the Noon Grass disciples.


    "While there are dangerous areas on the way to the Noon Grass sect, most of them are something that shouldn''t trouble a Dao Shell realm cultivator like Elder Liqiang." Hua San replied.


    "What about beasts? Are there any that can threaten them?" one of the ministers questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ there are a few areas where Nascent soul realm beasts live and are dangerous to the average cultivator, but for Elder Liqiang it is still simple to bypass or fight them." Hua San answered again.


    Everyone discussed and tried to figure out the reason behind theck ofmunication, and it finally reached a point where they could not go forward.


    "That''s it. We''ll end this for today. No use discussing it further. All we can do now is wait¡­" Lin Mu said, dismissing everyone.


    "As you wish, Senior Lin Mu." Everyone said and started to leave.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu sighed and felt a hand on his shoulder.


    "We''ll figure something out, don''t worry." Jing Luo said.


    "I know, but I just feel like we should have gone along with him as well. At least that way we would have finished the task even if we would have lost some time." Lin Mu said.


    "We shouldn''t try to do everything ourselves when we have people to help us. You should know that it is a very inefficient way of running things by now." Jing Luo exined.


    "I know¡­" Lin Mu said in a low voice.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    But just as he finished saying that, he felt themunication jade slip on his waist, hum lightly. His eyes went wide and he immediately grabbed on to it.


    Jing Luo watched Lin Mu and waited for him to be done.


    "What is it?" Jing Luo asked, after waiting for five minutes and seeing no response from Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes that had a sharp look in them.


    "Get ready, we are leaving for the south." Lin Mu stated.


    "But what happened?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Elder Liqiang¡­ he''s likely trapped in some ruins in the Broken Sand desert." Lin Mu answered.


    "Huh? Who told you this?" Jing Luo asked as ideas appeared in his mind.


    "It was Elder Hua. He is currently in the Long Cloud sect discussing a meeting with them. He learned there that an old ruin with the inheritance of an old expert named Kushao has reappeared.


    The site where it appeared is in the broken sand desert, which is before the Noon Grass sect. It is quite likely that Elder Liqiang is trapped there. If it is anything like an inheritance ground, it should probably restrain people inside till the task ispleted." Lin Mu answered.


    Jing Luo furrowed his brows as he recalled the name Kushao.


    "I never would have thought the ruins would appear again. They were thought to be lost after thest time they opened. Some disaster was said to have happened then which closed them forever and they disappeared in the Broken Sand desert." Jing Luo remembered.


    "That''s what I''m worried about. If it is a different ne like the Kong ne, then Elder Liqiang may truly be trapped. After all, the formation arrays of the ruins were already damaged." Lin Mu exined.


    "If that''s true, then we need to hurry. Do they have any idea how long Elder Liqiang may have been in there?" Jing Luo asked.


    "It should not have been that long. It takes two days from the Broken Sand desert to reach the Noon Grass sect and it''s been two weeks since he left, so at most he should have gotten trapped five or six days ago." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ and I''m guessing if the Long Cloud sect knows about it, the other sects do as well?" Jing Luo asked.


    "They do, of course." Lin Mu said in a slightly tired tone.


    "That means we will have to be careful there. We will probably have eyes on us. The sect disciples won''t let this chance go to get some more inheritances." Jing Luo guessed.


    "We''ll need to prepare¡­"

 Chapter 818 - Leaving For The Broken Sand Desert

    The news about Elder Liqiang being trapped spread quickly among Lin Mu''s allies and they all prepared for the journey that Lin Mu was going to embark on.


    "Senior Lin Mu, will it really be fine for you to go there alone?" Hua Wu asked.


    "I''m not going alone, Jing Luo and Little Shrubby areing." Lin Mu replied.


    "They are?<i> ~phew~</i> that will be good then." Hua Wu took a breath of relief.


    Since even Elder Liqiang who was at the Dao Shell realm had been trapped at the ruins, no one was now thinking that a cultivation base like that was enough to be safe. Thus they did not want Lin Mu to leave alone.


    "I''ve contacted Master and the elders in the sect, they will be joining you at the ruins as well. Many other sects have already sent out their disciples or are sending them out to explore the ruins.


    You can join them to mix in." Hua San informed.


    "Hmm¡­ that will be a decent disguise." Lin Mu spoke.


    The others including King Hong and adviser Liu also said some things before they were finally ready to go. The one person they were waiting for was none other than Jing Luo. He had some things he needed to get ready, just in case they needed them in the mission.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The door of the hall opened and Jing Luo appeared. He was wearing a different style of robes now that looked a lot morepact. It looked like something that was made for long travels and also had leather armor on top of it.


    "You ready?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Of course. Let''s get Elder Liqiang!" Jing Luo answered.


    "Very well¡­" Lin Mu said and sent a message to Little Shrubby through his link.


    By the time they appeared in the sky above the Little Shrubby was already waiting for them there.


    "Did you find out anything?" Lin Mu asked.


    "There are a lot more cultivators out of the kingdom. Many at the Nascent soul realm too," Little Shrubby informed.


    Lin Mu had gotten Little Shrubby to scout out the situation for them while they got ready. With his speed, it was a simple task to do and saved them time and effort.


    "If there are Nascent soul realm cultivators then we should be able to blend in too." Lin Mu spoke.


    "They won''t discover you anyway. I don''t think they will be able to tell what realm you are in any way. Though being at the core condensation realm will suit you." Jing Luo replied.


    "I''ll reduce my spirit Qi fluctuation to that level then." Lin Mu said and closed his eyes for a few seconds.


    The Brown armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture appeared on his body and glowed for a bit before the spirit Qi wavesing from his body fell. Soon they were only a fraction of what they were before.


    "This should be enough." Lin Mu said as he opened his eyes.


    The others that saw there were shocked.


    ''How can he¡­ doesn''t that take a strong technique to hide one''s cultivation?'' Hua San and Hua Wu were surprised.


    The two of them were knowledgeable about techniques that allowed one to hide one''s cultivation base. They had seen these in their sect and there were many grades of them. They themselves knew one as well and had used it while they were entering the Hong Lin capital.


    But Lin Mu''s was on apletely different level than the one they had. For them, the technique could only lower it by a single level or hide the cultivation base entirely, but doing the second option only leads to being viewed with suspicion.


    And using the technique also took some time and was slower than what Lin Mu had just done.


    But what they did not know was that Lin Mu wasn''t even using a technique that hid his cultivation base primarily. The Mortal Strengthening scripture''s armor mainly served to iste his body from the outside.


    While it did let some things like spirit Qi pass through it, Lin Mu could decrease its permeability to let the spirit Qi pass through and reverse it as well. Using that Lin Mu now appeared to be at the Core Condensation realm.


    It was a lot more believable for him to be at the Core Condensation realm than the Nascent soul realm or the Dao Shell realm considering his young appearance. Lin Mu was currently twenty-one years old and was close to being twenty-two in a month.


    No one would believe him to be at those cultivation bases, but with his appearance, he could still pass off for someone that was in his thirties or forties since cultivators aged slowly as well.


    This way the chances of suspicion would be less. Though if things really went south, Lin Mu had no fear and was ready to take them on directly. He already managed to kill a strong beast like the Troll when he was at the Adult Soul stage, he was more than confident of taking down anyone as long as they weren''t at the Dao Treading realm.


    Lin Mu asked a few more details from Little Shrubby about what he saw and then finally decided to leave.


    "Take care senior Lin Mu." Adviser Liu and King Hong wished.


    "Don''t put yourself in any unnecessary trouble senior Lin Mu. It isn''t your responsibility to save an elder of our sect. Master will act himself as soon as he is freed from the Long Cloud sect." Hua San said with concern.


    "No¡­ if I can''t help my allies when they are in distress, there would be no meaning to this alliance." Lin Mu stated with determination.


    "That''s right." Jing Luo chimed in.


    Hua San and Hua Wu looked on feeling touched and saw Lin Mu fly away with Little Shrubby and Jing Luo.


    The spirit boat came in handy again and they were soon flying at a great speed.


    "I should have done this from the very start, people suffer when I don''t act on my own¡­"Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

 Chapter 819 - Hundreds Of Cultivators And Camouflage

    Jing Luo heard Lin Mu''s self ming words but did not know what to say. He knew that Lin Mu had been pushing himself a lot and he had already scolded him before about trying to do anything.


    But the current incident didn''t really help him think any better now. Deciding that it was best to keep his silence for now, Jing Luo simply watched on. Lin Mu sat with a cold and still expression as well, his thoughts unable to be perceived from the outside.


    After a couple of hours, Little Shrubby spoke up. "This is where the cultivators start getting moremon."


    Lin Mu simply nodded his head and spread his spirit sense to the maximum range. In a single direction, Lin Mu''s spirit sense was now long enough to reach almost ten kilometers in range.


    Though if he wanted to perceive a wider area, the range would also reduce and if it was an entire spherical radius around him, he could only reach a few hundred meters of range. Still, his range of spirit sense was a lot more than any average Dao Shell realm cultivator.


    Even Dao Treading realm cultivators only had spirit sense that reached up to a hundred kilometers. Beyond that, they were unable to extend it easily since the cost of refinement increased exponentially.


    With Lin Mu''s range, he was able to easily detect if there was anyone in their path, and switched their flight route to go around those people. This way they avoided most if not all curators that they encountered.


    Lin Mu also took note of their cultivation bases and appearances. He was on the lookout for anyone from the Zither wind alliance or anyone that may be linked to Gu Yao.


    "There''s a lot of cultivators from the low ranked sects now." Jing Luo said.


    "Mmhmm¡­ a few from the high ranked sects too. They have Nascent soul realm elders guarding them." Lin Mumented.


    Jing Luo had not sensed these people as they were out of his range, but Lin Mu had.


    "They shouldn''t pose any problem to us then." Jing Luo replied.


    "Hopefully. It''s not that we can''t fight them, it''s about them letting the others know about our existence. That is what will bring trouble to us." Lin Mu said.


    "Indeed¡­ let''s just keep on avoiding them as much as we can." Jing Luo agreed.


    "You know¡­ I can just eat them before that." Little Shrubby chimed in.


    Lin Mu looked on with narrowed eyes while Jing Luo tried to guess what was spoken.


    "We aren''t eating anyone¡­ at least not when it is unnecessary." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this Jing Luo raised his brows and understood what Little Shrubby was intending.


    "You''ll just eat anything you see, won''t you?" Jing Luo said.


    <i>~growl~</i>


    "I''ll eat you too~"


    "What did he say?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Just ignore him¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmmm¡­" Jing Luo squinted his eyes before looking away.


    Their travel continued for a few more days and the number of cultivators that they encountered kept on increasing. It reached a point where Lin Mu had to take a significant detour to avoid arge caravan of cultivators.


    He even sensed a strong spirit Qi signature with them which hinted to him that it may have been someone at the Dao Shell realm.


    "The Zither wind sect is here too." Lin Mu suddenly said.


    "They are?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yeah, I saw the disciples with their robes some distance away." Lin Mu said as he opened his eyes.


    Jing Luo then withdrew something from his spatial storage treasure after hearing this.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Something that I guessed woulde in handy for us now." Jing Luo replied before flipping open the object he had in his hands.


    It looked like a t rectangr box, but after it opened, one could see the fine runes inscribed in it. There were also some uniquely carved stones embedded inside the box.


    Jing Luo ced the box in the center of the spirit boat and tapped it in certain spots before it activated.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A spherical membrane extended out from the box and covered the entire boat. Soon the membrane changed color and foggy mist appeared on it. It increased in density and soon turned into a cloud.


    "Huh? A camouge?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Mmhmm¡­ now take us to the sky. This will notst that long, it''s best if we cover as much distance as we can." Jing Luo replied.


    "Very well," Lin Wu said before controlling the spirit boat or rising up to the sky.


    <i>~ZOOM</i>~


    It picked up speed again and started to move directly to the desert. With the camouge, it was easier for them to hide in the clouds that were spread in the sky. Not many people would pay attention to the clouds anyway and at the speed that Lin Mu was flying, it was hard to notice them anyway.


    The only ones that had the chance of doing so were those at the Dao Shell realm or someone at the Nascent soul realm that had a strong perception ability. Even then they would not look up at some random cloud as these elders would rather pay attention to their disciples and protect them from danger.


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    This allowed Lin Mu to cover the distance far quicker and in less than a day''s time they were already in the Broken Sand desert.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    The power of the camouge died down and the illusion faded away. Jing Luo put away the box and looked down at the vast desert that was filled with yellow sand and patches of t hard ground.


    This was the Broken Sand desert and was one of the three deserts of the Great Zhou continent. There were barely any clouds in the sky, thus their camouge would not have worked as well anyway.


    "We''ll go on foot from here. It will be easier and less noticeable." Lin Mu stated.


    "Where is the Noon Grass sect waiting for us?" Jing Luo asked.


    "They said they have set up camp about ten kilometers away from the Kushao Ruins.. We will meet up there." Lin Mu replied

 Chapter 820 - The Situation At The Kushao Ruins

    "How long do you think it will take Senior Lin Mu to arrive?" one of the disciples of the Noon grass sect questioned.


    "ording to thest we were informed, he should be reaching us in a day or two." Another disciple that seemed to be the leader this time spoke.


    The disciples all seemed to be a bit nervous and couldn''t help but look in the distance. The Camp of the Noon Grass sect was located some distance away from the camps of the other sects and powers that had arrived in the area.


    Everyone wanted to take advantage of the ruins and try to obtain some fortune inside. Unfortunately for them, even if the ruins had appeared, it didn''t mean that they could enter it right away.


    The main entrance of the ruins was still blocked by severalplex formations that had not opened. There were many cultivators trying to figure it out and unlock it. But it was not something that would be done so easily.


    That was entirely the reason why they were all setting up camps instead of directly entering the ruins.


    "Hopefully they arrive here before the ruins open¡­ we don''t know what kind of a situation Elder Liqiang is in¡­" another disciple that was wearing a pair of gauntlets spoke.


    "About that¡­ I heard that the ruins may open automatically in a week or so. But the others still want to try and see if they can do it beforehand. Don''t they know it''s dangerous? Why are they still doing it?" A female disciple questioned.


    "Everyone in this world strives for resources and fortune. Even if one is born with it, more fortune is always necessary if one wants to keep on growing stronger. That''s why even if the ruins might open automaticallyter, they still want to bet on obtaining more of it early on by doing this.


    After all, if they be lucky and enter it, they will have the best harvest." Suddenly, a voice was heard from the side.


    All the disciples became alert and looked towards it, only to find an elder standing there.


    "ELDER WEIMIN!" The disciples identified the man.


    "You''re back? Did elder learn anything about Elder Liqiang''s disappearance?" The leading disciple questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I couldn''t find anything particr, but there are some rumors among the others that a few people that appeared at the very start managed to enter the ruins. I''m thinking Elder Liqiang might be one of them." Elder Weimin answered.


    "But if that''s true, then why are the ruins blocked now?" Another disciple asked.


    "We do not know. The Kushao ruins were long since considered lost, but now its reappearance changes things. Originally it was an inheritance ground that many sects wandered to, trying to obtain the inheritance hidden within.


    Some seeded, many failed, but they still kept on trying over the years. The Kushao ruins would appear and disappear every hundred years normally, but they haven''t appeared since the disaster five hundred years ago.


    They were considered to have been destroyed entirely. But now we know that it''s not true, they were simply damaged enough that they do not function the same. That is also probably why its entry is broken and random now.


    There are chances that it may randomly open up even now and allow some people to enter." Elder Weimin exined.


    "Then will we have to wait for that? What will we do if Senior Lin Mu is not here till then?" He Yun the leading disciple, asked for guidance.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "That is something we can only leave to fate. We can simply hope that the fates favor us this time and Junior Lin Mu appears before that¡­" Elder Weimin replied in a tired tone.


    "It will still take a day at the very least, I don''t know if we are in luck this time¡­" A disciple who was meditating in the side spoke in a low voice.


    "Don''t speak if you have nothing good to say and jinx it," The female disciple next to him said.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    At the same time, wind started to blow, and the tent that everyone was sitting on shook.


    "Huh? Why the sudden wind?" Hu Yun wondered.


    "SENIOR YUN! They are here!" A disciple that was scouting in the distance called out.


    Elder Weimin raised his brows and appeared outside to check. The other disciples appeared as well and they could see a red stream approaching them at great speed. It was knocking up winds that reached all the way to them.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    <i>~MUSH~</i>


    The red streak tried to slow down and blew away a lot of sand before finally halting near the ten. Its breaking had caused a small hill of sand to get umted in front of it. Everyone approached it and saw none other than Lin Mu, Jing Luo, and Little Shrubby.


    Lin Mu was sitting on Little Shrubby while Jing Luo was holding on to his back, stuck like a ko bear.


    "We''re here, you can let go now." Lin Mu spoke lightly.


    Jing Luo opened his eyes and took a breath of relief. He looked towards Little Shrubby and huffed before looking away.


    "I''m never doing this again." Jing Luo stated.


    "I don''t want to either," Little Shrubby said with a growl.


    Lin Mu saw the little banter between the two and could only shake his head. He decided to focus his attention on the task at hand and saw the Noon Grass sect''s people standing around them.


    "Elder Weimin," Lin Mu greeted with cupped hands.


    "Junior Lin Mu¡­ you managed to reach us before time?" Elder Weimin said, still finding it a bit unbelievable.


    "Yes¡­ thanks to little Shrubby here, we cut down on a few day''s time." Lin Mu said casually.


    <i>~growl~</i>


    Little Shrubby lifted his head, feeling proud.


    "What is the situation right now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It''s like this¡­" Elder Weimin then went on to exin the way the ruins were working and the other powers that had arrived in the area.


    After hearing everything, Lin Mu couldn''t help but furrow his brows.


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    "No matter what, we have to enter it first!"

 Chapter 821 - A Path Of Entry

    Hearing Lin Mu''s determined words, Elder Weimin didn''t know what to say.


    "We would greatly like that too, but the current situation is not really conducive to that. There are top sects here already and they have their best formation masters here trying to unlock the formation that is blocking the entrance.


    They were evidently targeting anyone that manages to enter first. We are still not done making the alliance with the Long Cloud sect, so we will probably be targeted. All the other sects that are here are either under the Zither Wind Alliance or the Long Cloud alliance.


    The top three sects have nothing to fear and can''t be targeted. As for the weaker sects, they are unable to enter before us, so they are not considered. But the people in the alliances will band together against us." Elder Weimin exined.


    "Elder is right. Even if we have to ability to open the formations, we would have to go to the area where everyone else is doing the same. We are bound to get noticed when there are people standing just a few meters away from us." Hu Yun chimed in.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and looked towards the distance. He closed his eyes for a second and opened them again. This time they flickered lightly and a strange pressure exuded from his body.


    The pressure was felt by everyone around him and even Elder Weimin who was at the Dao Shell realm, was not exempt from it.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Elder Weimin tried to resist it but found that he could not.


    "Just what is this¡­" Elder Weimin was confused as he did not find it to be due to spirit Qi.


    He was a Dao Shell realm cultivator and should not have been influenced by another Dao Shell realm cultivator. Unfortunately for him, Lin Mu was no average cultivator and had a lot more in his arsenal than most people knew.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    "Where did he go?!" The disciples were stunned.


    Lin Mu had just disappeared suddenly in front of their eyes. It was almost unbelievable for them and they wondered how it happened.


    "Just how fast is he?" The disciple wearing the gauntlets wondered.


    "That¡­ was no speed." Hu Yun said as he wiped the sweat off his brow.


    Unlike the others, he was at the Nascent soul realm and could tell that Lin Mu had not run or anything. He had simply disappeared.


    "What?" the disciples were confused.


    "Space¡­ he used spatial spirit Qi?" Elder Weimin realized as his eyes went wide.


    Even though the elders of the Noon Grass sect knew that Lin Mu had made the Kong ne his own and had made a teleportation formation from it with the help of Jing Luo, they thought that this was just because he was proficient with formations.


    They never thought that Lin Mu was proficient with Spatial spirit Qi instead. This was out of their normal thinking and no sane person would think of it directly. Even the Elder only thought of it, since he could sense it very clearly at his level.


    The disciples were taken aback and didn''t know what to make of this. While they had learned of the space element, they also knew that it was something beyond the use of most cultivators.


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    One had to be at the Nascent soul realm to even be able to touch upon the very basics of it and needed to have a strong spirit sense to feel it.


    Jing Luo who had seen the same string of events a few times before, simply rolled his eyes and spoke, "he''ll be back. We just wait."


    "Will it be fine? He didn''t even change into the sect''s uniform?" Elder Weimin asked.


    "Yes. If he wants to hide, no one will be able to find him easily. Don''t worry. As for the sect uniform¡­ can I get some robes too? It''ll be better if I disguise as well." Jing Luo replied.


    "Of course! Disciple Yun, bring junior Jing Luo to the tent and give him a sect of our robes. Also, keep some robes for junior Lin Mu ready." Elder Weimin ordered.


    "Yes, Elder!" Hu Yun replied and took Jing Luo to the test.


    While Jing Luo changed into the robes, Lin Mu was checking out the ruins. He was currency underground and was using his spirit sense to observe it in detail.


    "Hmm¡­ it extends rather deep. There is an entire area dugout two kilometer below the surface." Lin Mu discovered.


    "That should be the ce where the ruins usually recede to when inactive," Xukong spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ but that doesn''t tell us how Elder Liqiang disappeared. Was it really a different ne?" Lin Mu asked.


    "What did you sense with your spatial perception?" Xukong asked in repose.


    "There are some spatial disturbances here, but they could also be due to the many people interfering with the formations here. The disturbance they are causing is muddling my perception here as well." Lin Mu replied.


    "One option would be for you to directly descend to the depths, but your phase cannot do that at this moment. And even if you enter, the others will have to wait outside." Xukong stated.


    "Hmm¡­ Phase might just be enough to reach it, I think¡­ but I don''t want to take that risk. And unraveling the formations from the front is not an option either." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this, Xukong went silent and Lin Mu continued to observe the area around the ruins. He had gained a little idea that there might truly be the entrance to a minor ne inside it as the spatial fluctuations got stronger when he got closer.


    It was at this time that Xukong spoke again.


    "There is another option that might work. Why don''t you¡­ just break in from the back. There is no one there and you don''t really need to care about the formation arrays here, do you? The others won''t see it either, so you can enter with the Noon Grass sect quickly." Xukong suggested.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu smiled.


    "That might just work¡­"

 Chapter 822 - A Path Of Entry - II

    Elder Weimin and the others were just discussing some things about the other powers here when suddenly a presence was felt by them.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Everyone turned to look at it and saw none other than Lin Mu standing there.


    "Senior Lin Mu!" The disciples said in surprise.


    "Did you find anything?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "I did. I have a way to get in. We don''t need to care about the rest." Lin Mu answered calmly, but the others certainly were not calm upon hearing it.


    "WHAT! You really found a solution to the blockage?" Elder Weimin asked.


    "I did indeed. We won''t even have to see the other powers that are here. So that disguise might not even be needed now." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this, the others were confused, but since it was Lin Mu speaking it, they chose to believe it right away. Lin Mu was someone that had the approval of their patriarch and several elders.


    Not to mention he was at the Dao Shell realm as well, thus they had to respect him one way or the other.


    "How are we going to enter in front of everyone, though? You might be able to sneak in, but I doubt we all can go." Jing Luo said after thinking for bit.


    "We are not going from the front. There is another path I can take." Lin Mu exined.


    "If that''s true, then others should have an idea too. Won''t they suspect if we manage to enter through there?" Hu Yun expressed his concern.


    To everyone, the only path that they could think of was the main path that was at the front, and even if there were some other one''s they could only think of them as the ws in the formation.


    And with therge number of formation masters that were here currently, they would be foolish if no one else would have not discovered the w as well.


    "No¡­ the path I''ve chosen does not exist for others. Rather to choose the path, it would be more urate to say I''ll be making one for us." Lin Mu exined.


    "This¡­" Elder Weimin didn''t know what to say.


    "Juste with me and I''ll show you. But before that, I rmend you all prepare for it." Lin Mu interrupted.


    "Alright, all disciples are to get ready within ten minutes!" Elder Weimin dered.


    "YES ELDER!" The disciples replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and took a seat for the time being. It was at this point that he saw Hu Yun approaching him.


    "Yes?" Lin Mu looked at the man, who seemed to be carrying something in his hands.


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    "Senior Lin Mu, you should take these robes. Even if they are not useful now, you may as well keep them." Hu Yun spoke.


    Lin Mu took the folded robes from Hu Yun''s hands and saw that they were the robes of the Noon Grass sect that were their uniform.


    "Thank you." Lin Mu said highly, epting the offer.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit before deciding to change into them anyway.


    "It''ll help, since we still need to head to the back of the ruins. Some of the others or scouts might notice us, so it''s better if we have the same look." Lin Mu stated.


    "As you wish, senior. It is an honor that you will be wearing the same robes as us though." Hu Yun said with a smile.


    Lin Mu simply nodded and let the man return before he changed into the robes. He simply wore them over the robes he was already wearing since they were made differently than normal ones.


    Lin Mu had gotten robes that were a few sizesrger than his size. This was due to the fact that the Burning Heart sutra had the effect of bulking up his body. While he had not used the sutra for a while now, he never knew when the need would arise.


    Plus, losing more and more clothes was a bit annoying too. He wished there were robes that could bear through the battles. By this point, Lin Mu had seen that most cultivators carried around several tens of clothes with them.


    At least the ones that had a spatial storage tool did that. As for the others, they would have to suffer some nakedness as a side effect of a battle. Though after one reached the core condensation realm or the Nascent soul realm, they would be able to afford at least a low grade spatial storage ring.


    Thus, most disciples that were here with Lin Mu had them. One thing he didn''t notice while changing through was the disappointed looks of a few female disciples.


    Exactly ten minutes after the order was given, everyone was ready for the mission.


    "I trust everyone is prepared for anything that''s about toe?" Lin Mu asked onest time.


    "YES SENIOR!" They all said in unison.


    "Good. We leave now and will circle around to the back of the ruins while trying to avoid as many people as we can." Lin Mu stated.


    There were a total of forty five members of the Noon Grass sect here currently, which includes the elder, thus they would have to take a slightly longer route to avoid others. A few people moving around were fine and wouldn''t gather much attention, but forty seven people and a beast certainly would.


    Elder Weimin looked at Little Shrubby and furrowed his brows.


    "Umm, what will we do about him?" Elder Weimin asked while pointing to Little shrubby.


    "Oh, it won''t be a problem. They can''t see him once he starts running." Lin Mu said and gestured to Little shrubby, who gave a little growl before leaving.


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    In just a few seconds, Little Shrubby had disappeared off the horizon, leaving them stunned. Even if everyone had seen Little Shrubby approach with Lin Mu at the start, this speed was even faster than that.


    "Can even patriarch match that speed?" Hu Yun and the rest couldn''t help but wonder.

 Chapter 823 - Ripping A Barrier

    Lin Mu was currently guiding everyone around the ruins. They were circling from the western side since there were the least number of sect camps there. Plus with Lin Mu''s spirit sense, it was easier for him to detect people and avoid them.


    In about three hours, they finally reached the location that Lin Mu had decided on.


    "This is where we will be entering from?" One of the disciples asked.


    "Yes," Lin Mu replied.


    "But¡­ there''s nothing here." Another disciple said.


    "To the naked eye, there is indeed nothing here." Lin Mu agreed and walked ahead before reaching out with his hand.


    <i>~ring~</i>


    A low humming sound was heard as a membrane appeared to stop Lin Mu''s hand.


    "What? Why can''t we feel it?"


    "Even my spirit sense can''t detect anything there."


    "How is this possible?"


    The disciples were truly confused now. Elder Weimin on the other hand, was impressed by Lin Mu. He knew just what level of skill and perception was needed for one to detect illusory formations on this level.


    Even if he wasn''t the head elder of the formation pavilion of the Noon Grass sect, his skill with formations was just inferior to Elder Liqiang. That was the reason why he was sent on the mission here.


    The patriarch and the other higher ranking elders were currently in the Long Cloud sect, trying to negotiate a meeting without being forced to do something else. It was a delicate process that they could not abandon mid way thus they had to let others handle this.


    "Hmmm¡­ abination of a bewildering formation that is imposed on a barrier? If I remember correctly, this one is a Sheltered Mirage formation array." Jing Luo identified.


    "Is that so?" Lin Mu spoke.


    While Lin Mu could somewhat tell how this formation array worked and what itsponents were, he didn''t know the name of it. There were far too many formations and formation arrays in the universe and they could have multiple names, thus often it wasn''t feasible to know them all.


    Lin Mu too had focused on learning how they worked, rather than memorizing everything about each formation since it wasn''t truly efficient. The ns and sects though, would rather have them learn about each formation individually.


    Though this was mostly due to the fact that they did not know the Dao Script. If one knew Dao Script and could use it, the best way to learn the formations was to learn from the runes and inscriptions.


    That way, even if you encountered apletely unknown formation, you would still be able to figure out its functions and workings.


    "Do you know how to get in?" Elder Weimin asked Jing Luo, since he seemed to recognize the formation.


    "I do¡­ but unraveling this formation array will take at least five days." Jing Luo said, much to the disciples shock. "Plus, it is expanded in a ratherrge area, so finding the nodes will also take a while and they might be located in different areas." He added.


    "This¡­ how are we supposed to enter without alerting others, then? I don''t think we can wait for five days either." Elder Weimin said with concern.


    The other disciples were the same and didn''t know why Lin Mu had brought them here if it was not possible to enter.


    "I''m sure Lin Mu has a solution to this," Jing Luo said while taking a look at Lin Mu. "Don''t you?" he asked.


    "Of course¡­" Lin Mu said with a nod.


    His spirit sense spread around and observed everything in the area all at once. When his spirit sense spread overs the disciples, they couldn''t help but shudder. They felt like all their secrets had been revealed just now.


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    Their defenses against spirit sense probes were nothing but air in front of Lin Mu. He didn''t even look at them intentionally, his spirit sense was simply far too refined for them to be able to resist it.


    A minuteter, Lin Mu had gotten what he wanted and opened his eyes.


    "Can you set up a spirit Qi isting formation around us quickly?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Sure," Jing Luo said and pulled out the pre-madeponents from his spatial storage treasures.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    He flicked several gs around and made gestures with his hands.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    Runes appeared in the area and quickly assembled themselves into formations that spread into a dome shape around everyone. The gs acted as the borders of the formation and a node stone acted as the center that was buried under Jing Luo''s feet.


    The Noon grass sect was once more surprised by the speed and efficiency of Jing Luo.


    "Hey, what was the record fromst year''s formation tournament?" A disciple whispered to hispanion.


    "Fifteen minutes for a simple barrier formation¡­" he answered.


    "Damn¡­ this is on apletely different level. Just two minutes¡­" the first disciple said in shock.


    With the formation set up, Lin Mu gestured for everyone to take a step back.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and entered a Stace. His right hand cocked back and spirit Qi started to swirl within it. A few secondster, he punched forward!


    <i>Boulder Copsing Fist: Second form- Piercer!</i>


    <i>~Zoom~</i>


    <i>~Kew~</i>


    Barely visible to the eyes of the disciples, a small projectile was shot out of Lin Mu''s fist. Only Jing Luo and Elder Weimin saw it clearly.


    ''So it''s that technique¡­ it managed to get through my defenses back then¡­ wonder how strong it is now.'' Jing Luo thought.


    The needle easily pierced through the barrier, as if it were an eggshell. The moment this happened, the formation quickly tried to repair itself.


    "Not so fast!" Lin Mu said before blinking right in front of him.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Lin Mu thrust his hands into the small gap that was made by the needle and was now closing up.


    "Ha!" Lin Mu turned his hands to the side and pushed them in further.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    "Heavens!" Elder Weimin couldn''t help but exim.


    "BREAK FOR ME!" Lin Mu said as he pulled apart the barrier with his bare hands.


    His muscles flexed as the vital energy within his body stirred.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>

 Chapter 824 - History Of The Kushao Ruins

    Lin Mu was using both his body and cultivation base right now. He had not exerted this level of power yet and it was his first time testing it out.


    His body had two fully refined treasured organs that gave him the physical strength of someone at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm. And even that was not something that couldpare to that of an average cultivator.


    Then there was his spirit Qi cultivation base that was at the Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm. Combining both of them put his power at apletely different level. The barrier in front of him would have greatly injured someone if they tried to do the same.


    Not to mention pulling it apart with their bare hands, even cracking it like that would be close to impossible.


    "YAAAAAA! SHATTER!" Lin Mu said as his power increased by another level.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    <i>~SHATTER~</i>


    A loud breaking sound was heard, and it seemed as if some ss had been broken. The jaws of all the Noon Grass sect remember dropped at seeing this. Jing Luo had already seen plenty of feats that Lin Mu had aplished and wasn''t as shocked.


    But seeing this level of power was still new for him. Unlike others, he knew the defense of the Sheltered Mirage formation array. It was an old formation array that had mostly been lost to the time.


    For it to protect this ruin for such a long time, it had to be very strong. Otherwise, the people who came here in past would have plundered itpletely a long time ago.


    "ENTER!" Lin Mu said out loud as a wide hole about ten meters wide was torn out by him.


    The people didn''t need a second to respond to this, and they hurriedly ran into the hole. In less than five seconds, everyone was inside and the hole soon closed behind them.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and looked at the formation that looked like it was not damaged at all.


    "That''s certainly a strong formation if it can recover that fast¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Mmhmm, it''s something that even Grandfather will take a while to unravel with his skills. And yet¡­ you managed to enter it forcefully." Jing Luo replied in a low voice.


    "Hmm, we best not loiter here. Even if we managed to enter, we don''t know if others have sensed it or not. The flickering in the formations'' integrity might be felt by a formation master that has a higher sensitivity." Lin Mu rmended.


    "You''re right. Let''s head forward," Jing Luo agreed.


    They turned around and looked at the ruins ahead. It was a bit astonishing since they had not seen the ruins from the outside. It looked like there was just endless desert in front of them.


    "It can truly present a mirage¡­ but in the opposite way¡­" Hu Yun muttered to himself.


    The ruins were far bigger on the inside than they had thought. In the main area of the ruins, they looked to be only a kilometer big, but here they could see that it was far bigger than that.


    "The barrier served as a means to hide its true size and location. Even if someone managed to wander here, the bewildering function of the formation array would activate and they would just lose their way before being ejected out from a different side.


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    I wouldn''t be shocked if many people have actually gone by here and just never noticed." Elder Weimin exined.


    The disciples felt enlightened after learning this. This was one of the Elder''s duties when they apanied the disciples anywhere; they needed to teach them the things that they had not seen.


    But what Elder Weimin did not tell them was that the way Lin Mu managed to directly touch the formation was unnatural. One should not have even felt it and just passed through it, falling into bewilderment.


    But Lin Mu still managed to touch it somehow, not to mention ripping it apart with his hands was apletely different feat that he couldn''t evenprehend.


    "So what do we do now, senior Lin Mu?" one of the disciples asked, feeling a bit lost.


    The ruins in front of them were vast and made out of materials that were inscribed with fine runes that restricted their spirit sense. Perhaps only Lin Mu, Elder Weimin, and Jing Luo might be able to use their spirit senses here.


    "Can you do anything about these formations?" Elder Weimin questioned.


    "No¡­ these are different. There are multiple of them in every square meter of them. And they are spread everywhere, it would be useless to even attempt that." Jing Luo answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This is the way the ruins were meant to be¡­ after all, this is a trial in a way, isn''t it?" Lin Mu said.


    "Indeed," Elder Weimin agreed and nodded his head.


    The Kushao ruins were originally the tomb of an expert by the name of Kushao. He was said to have been at the very cusp of the Immortal Ascension realm, but some even said he had managed to reach it.


    Not much was known about him since he preferred to stay low key and seldom took part in the matters of the world. People didn''t even know he had died until someone discovered his tomb.


    It had been a very popr site for the disciples of various sects to gain fortune and resources, but then five hundred years ago a disaster happened that damaged the tomb and turned it into the ruins that are known now.


    They sank into the depths of the earth and were said to have been gone forever. Their appearance now waspletely unexpected and very desirable for every cultivator. Not to mention the sects had other intentions with it as well.


    "There are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of cultivators buried here. They either perished in the trials or failed to escape.." Jing Luo spoke.

 Chapter 825 - The First Trap

    Lin Mu heard the information given out by Elder Weimin and Jing Luo and thought of something.


    "The sects that came here¡­ they have other intentions for it, don''t they?" Lin Mu said.


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    "What do you mean?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "How many people failed to escape when the disaster happened?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm¡­ it is said to be about half of them." Jing Luo replied.


    "No¡­ it''s far more than that." Elder Weimin suddenly said.


    "Oh? Do you know something else, elder?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Officially, it was said that half of them had died, but the reality was different. The sects had secretly sent more cultivators, including some of their high elders, to the tomb. There are rumors that the disaster that happened was because of those that entered it secretly.


    They managed to do something that caused a failure in the formation arrays and that resulted in the disaster. Of those that entered secretly¡­ none of them ever returned." Elder Weimin replied.


    "This¡­ then just how many percent does that be?" Jing Luo asked, feeling surprised.


    As far as he knew, his own n hadn''t taken part in it when the disaster was said to have happened. His grandfather was still the patriarch back then and had chosen to avoid sending his people to the tomb because of the ongoing conflicts with the northern tribes.


    There were many orders that they needed to fulfill, thus they could not go then. But when the news about the disaster spread, everyone in the n couldn''t help but take a breath of relief.


    "If we consider the number of people and add both the ones that entered official and the ones that did so secretly¡­ the numbers of people that never escaped is at around 90%." Elder Weimin answered.


    "No wonder¡­" Lin Mu said as the things started to make sense to him.


    "The sects are in such a hurry not because they want to be the first to enter¡­ but because they want to im whatever was lost by their people five hundred years ago." Lin Mu stated.


    Elder Weimin nodded his head, and Jing Luo furrowed his brows.


    "Did the Noon Grass sect take part in this, too?" Jing Luo asked in concern.


    "We did, but only in the official aspect. And the ones that entered were just disciples and two elders. Nearly all other than one of the disciples managed to escape. The elders failed too¡­" Elder Weimin answered.


    "Hmm¡­ the elders sacrificed themselves, didn''t they?" Jing Luo asked.


    "They did indeed. One of the elders was the junior brother of patriarch Hua too. He was struck by grief when that happened. It was also one of the reasons why we withdrew even more from the secr world." Elder Weimin replied.


    Lin Mu walked ahead and spread his spirit sense as much as he could before speaking.


    "I guess this is our chance at some redemption then. We will rescue Elder Liqiang and if it''s possible we will reim the remains of the two elders as well." Lin Mu stated.


    "The sect will be in your debt, Junior Lin Mu." Elder Weimin said with his hands cupped.


    Even if he called Lin Mu a junior, he knew that it was only temporary. Elder Weimin himself was only at the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm, and Lin Mu might overtake him soon enough if his growth stays the same.


    Lin Mu simply nodded his head and continued on, taking the lead in guiding them in the ruins.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    Since most of the areas were dark and they were unable to use their spirit sense, the disciples used several methods to illuminate the area ahead. Some used techniques, some used tools and some just lit up somemps they carried in their storage.


    Lin Mu was still able to use his spirit sense, to see what was ahead, though his range was rather limited to just a few tens of meters right now. Another problem was that he couldn''t see beyond the walls either, as theypletely isted the spirit sense.


    "Be careful everyone, we could encounter something hidden in the corners." Lin Mu stated.


    The ruins were like argebyrinth and had multiple turns and forks. Unless one reached the very side of it, nothing could be seen if it was hidden behind them. Lin Mu was fully alert and ready to act if something happened.


    "Nothing seems to be the problem now though?" One of the disciples said to hispanion in a low voice.


    <i>~click~</i>


    Little Shrubby''s ears perked up as he heard an almost inaudible click. Then in the next second, his eyes went wide as he felt something.


    "FIRE! COMING FROM THE BOTTOM!" Little shrubby growled out, stunning the disciples.


    Lin Mu though understood it and felt the approaching heat from beneath as well.


    "DAMMIT! PULL THE DISCIPLES TO THE FRONT!" Lin Mu ordered.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Little shrubby moved instantly and started yanking and throwing disciples beyond where Lin Mu was standing. Elder Weimin and Jing Luo understood the gravity of the situation as well and helped them out.


    Still, they were not fast enough and a couple of disciples were still left when the heat started to rise up from the ground.


    It was as if molten metal was pouring out from the floor and the area lit up with the bright red color from the glowing metal.


    "ARGH!!!!!" One of the disciples burned his legs in the molten metal.


    The other one managed to jump up, but his clothes were still burned.


    "SHIT!" Lin Mu cursed as his mind worked quickly.


    "MELDDDDD!" Lin Mu waved his hands.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    The moment he did this, it was as if something had changed around them. The two disciples were frozen in ce, but the same could be said for the molten metal that was around them.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and gestured with his hands, carefully controlling the space he was handling.


    He separated as much of the molten metal as he could from the disciples and pulled them towards him.

 Chapter 826 - A Lesson For The Disciples And Wrong Mindset

    The two disciples who were currently under distress were extremely scared and felt like death was grasping their neck. But then Lin Mu''s quick action had managed to pull them back out, albeit with some injuries.


    Still, they weren''t anything that they couldn''t recover from.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Lin Mu lowered the two onto the ground and made sure that there was enough distance between them and the molten metal that was still flowing out from the ground.


    "Get even further, I don''t think it will stop just here!" Lin Mu ordered everyone.


    Meanwhile, his mind worked quickly and got an idea.


    <i>~Boom~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Lin Mu punched one of the walls at the side and uprooted it directly from the ground.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Throwing it at the passage, he blocked the molten metal that was still flowing out from it. Some of it still seemed out from the gaps, but the flow was slow and eventually stopped. Seeing that it was now over, Lin Mu took a breath of relief.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Others did the same and some of the disciples slumped down to the ground. Even though they were disciples of a top sect, they weren''t as used to problems like this. They had not gotten used to danger as much and had thus been unable to pick up on cues quickly.


    "Healing Pill!" Elder Weimin ordered.


    "Take this," one of the female disciples took out a small pill bottle that contained some pills.


    They fed those to the two disciples that were injured and also applied some herbal pastes that helped with burns.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and wondered ifing here with the disciples was even a good choice.


    <i>~pat~</i>


    Jing Luo put his hand on Lin Mu''s shoulder having guessed what Lin Mu was thinking.


    "They need to get used to this. There will be far more problems they wille across. If they can''t even handle this, then they will only suffer moreter." Jing Luo stated.


    Lin Mu clenched his fist but then let out a breath.


    "You''re probably right¡­ but I still can''t help but want to let them avoid being harmed." Lin Mu replied.


    "Junior Lin Mu, that is a dangerous mindset." Elder Weimin who had heard the two''s conversation said.


    "I especially brought them here so that they can see the reality of the world. For far too long have they been protected in the sect. If they do not suffer now, they will only dieter. Our future is dark and we will need to be determined if we are to survive it.


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    Do not me yourself if they die, they will only have themselves to me. Each of them knew the danger before they came here, we did not force them, they volunteered." Elder Weimin stated.


    Lin Mu didn''t know what to say and still felt a bit ufortable but then nodded his head.


    "I can only trust Elder Weimin''s judgment then." Lin Mu said with a nod.


    Elder Weimin smiled and then turned around to look at the disciples. The moment he did, his smile turned into a harsh frown.


    "YOU FOOLS! Have you not learned anything? Have you lost your sense of alertness?" Elder Weimin exploded.


    <i>~EEK~</i>


    Some of the disciples were startled by the sudden outburst.


    "I am telling you all this only once! You all have to look after yourself and yourpanions. While we are here to oversee you, if you cannot even deal with minor dangers like this, then you all are better off being flowers in the sect!" Elder Weimin scolded.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    The disciples shuddered at the scolding, but then lowered their heads. They knew they were partially at fault here and that they needed to be better. All the disciples were at the Core condensation realm at the very least and should have been able to avoid the trap as long as they had a fast reaction time.


    "We understand our mistake, Elder Weimin; Senior Lin Mu." The disciples apologized.


    <i>~humph~? </i>


    "Make sure it is not repeated." Elder Weimin said and walked to the side, letting the disciples rest for a bit.


    Even though they had just started, the very first trap had been enough to exhaust their minds. Plus the scolding would serve as a reminder to them that there would be danger at every step.


    Lin Mu watched the entire series of events and just sighed to himself.


    "This is just how they need to be taught. Not everyone is diligent like you, they can''t pick up from their mistakes as fast." Jing Luo said as he sat beside Lin Mu.


    Even though Jing Luo might not say it outright, he knew just how hardworking Lin Mu was. The young man barely rested and every moment of his was spent in bettering himself, learning things, or solving problems.


    Jing Luo could count on one hand, the people that couldpare to Lin Mu.


    ''If there was someone like him in any sect, they would very easily be a chief disciple¡­ bing the next patriarch would not be impossible either. And it''s not just his talent either¡­ his own hard work and personality is also a major part.


    Even if he did not have the talent, he would still have been a great expert¡­'' Jing Luo thought to himself as he looked at Lin Mu.


    While Jing Luo was doing this, Lin Mu was scanning the area, trying to see if he could find any more traps. Little Shrubby came to sit beside him and purred lightly, calming Lin Mu''s mind a little.


    "Thank you¡­" Lin Mu said in a low voice.


    <i>~purr~</i>


    Rubbing little Shrubby''s fur a little Lin Mu was about to look away when he noticed something. He was looking at the wall he had just broken off.


    "Wait a second!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    "What''s the problem?" Jing Luo asked, as he saw Lin Mu stand up abruptly.


    But Lin Mu did not answer him. Instead, he just walked up to the wall that was opposite him and mmed his fist into it.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>

 Chapter 827 - Breakable Walls And Spare Gifts

    The disciples of the Noon Grass sect had seen Lin Mu suddenly rush to the wall and were confused. That confusion turned into utter shock as they saw Lin Mu break the wall as if it were made of ss.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    Lin Mu put a hole through the wall which then spread cracks through it eventually crumbling it entirely. Elder Weimin and Jing Luo were taken aback seeing this. While Lin Mu had broken a wall just a few minutes ago to block the molten metal, they had not put much thought into it.


    But now it finally struck them.


    "The walls¡­ they are breakable?!" Jing Luo said and quickly went to try it out on his own.


    His fist glowed with spirit Qi and struck the wall.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    But the oue waspletely opposite to what he had thought.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Runes appeared on the wall before turning into a barrier that quickly repelled Jing Luo back.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    As if hit by a bull, Jing Luo was sent flying back but still managed to stop himself before he collided into another wall.


    "Huh? What the hell?" Jing Luo was now confused.


    Elder Weimin stroked his beard and spoke, "it''s the spirit Qi¡­"


    Lin Mu turned around and this point and nodded his head.


    "As long as attacks don''t contain spirit Qi, they can still break the walls." Lin Mu confirmed.


    The disciples were intrigued upon hearing this and felt like trying it out themselves.


    "HYAA!" One of the more muscr disciples punched the wall with his fists.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    "ARGH!" but his attempt only gave him pain instead. Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes as he held his fist that had turned red and was bleeding now.


    "Even if it''s dormant without spirit Qi doesn''t mean you all have the strength to break it like that." Elder Weimin stated.


    "Eh? So we''re weak in that aspect to¡­" A short female disciple said.


    "No¡­ you all just need to use weapons. Why use your body which is not durable enough?" Hu Yun suddenly said.


    He then took out a club from his spatial storage ring and raised it high up before mming it into the wall.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    "Nothing happened?"


    "No¡­ look!"


    When Hu Yun pulled his club from the wall, they could see a small dent that had now formed on the wall.


    "It really can be damaged!" The disciples rejoiced.


    "Ahaha! That''ll make it way easier!" Jing Luo said out loud.


    He then took out a war hammer from his storage. It was very crude looking and was made out of a chiseled stone that was attached onto the end of a thick stick. It looked like something that a caveman would use and not a dignified cultivator.


    But then¡­ its effects were spectacr.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Jing Luo smashed the hammer onto the wall and cracks spread across it while also leaving a substantial dent in the wall.


    "Use normal weapons for it. Spirit weapons will be ineffective and will trigger the formations." Elder Weimin instructed.


    "But¡­ we don''t have normal weapons?" Some of the disciples said.


    After they said this though, they heard the sound of arge number of objects falling to the ground.


    "All those that need a weapon can take one here!" Jing Luo announced.


    At his side were easily over a hundred weapons piled into a small hill. Not all of them were like the crude war hammer he was using through. In fact, most of them looked like what mortal warriors would use and were properly forged.


    Only a few of them looked as crude and unrefined as that. Lin Mu took a look at Jing Luo''s hammer as well and recognized the materials used for it.


    "Using the Grey metal Ore as the hammerhead and the Stone Heart Wood as the handle¡­ no wonder the hammer is that strong." Lin Mu muttered.


    Elder Weimin who heard him was surprised and took another look at Jing Luo''s hammer.


    ''They truly are that! Who would use such precious materials like this!?'' Elder Weimin was astounded.


    Both Grey Metal Ore and the Stone Heart Wood were special materials that could be used to refine and forge high grade spirit tools. Using them crudely like this would not be something that any sane cultivator would imagine.


    "Did you make this during our time in that ne fragment?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Mmhmm¡­ I made a lot of weapons back then and didn''t really have the needed condition to refine them further. They''re pretty much iplete projects." Jing Luo answered.


    "At least they are getting some use now." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed." Jing Luo said with a nod.


    Some of the Noon Grass sect disciples had also caught onto the fact that the weapons they were holding, while not Spirit weapons were still very durable and strong.


    "This! These can be easily refined further to be spirit weapons!"


    "Heavens! Isn''t this Cyan Mist Copper? It''s not even found in the southern regions!"


    One by one the disciples started to recognize the materials used. They also understood the value of the weapons and just how much of a favor Jing Luo was doing by giving them this.


    "We will return these back to you with care, Senior Jing Luo." The disciples said quickly.


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    "Ahaha! There''s no need for that. You all can keep them. They''re just lying around unused with me anyway." Jing Luo waved his hand.


    "Really!?" The disciples were stunned.


    "Yes, go ahead." Jing Luo confirmed.


    "Thank you!" They all said feeling grateful.


    Seeing their morales were back up again, Elder Weimin couldn''t help but smile.


    "Everyone! Let''s get to breaking the walls! We have to hurry and find Elder Liqiang!" Elder Weimin ordered.


    "YES ELDER!" They said in unison.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Immediately they started attacking the walls and trying to break them. Still, even if they managed to damage them they couldn''t break them as quickly as Lin Mu.


    "I''ll take the lead and head on first!" Lin Mu said before turning around and beginning his demolition session.


    <i>~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~</i>

 Chapter 828 - Demolition Man

    Lin Mu''s fists were like sledgehammers, taking down walls after walls without stopping for even a second. While the others struggled to even put a crack, Lin Mu had already gone over a hundred meters in that time.


    The others could only watch on in shock as a trail of debris and broken walls were left behind.


    "Are we even needed at this point?" The disciples couldn''t help but question.


    Jing Luo and Elder Weimin had also ended up stopping after a few minutes upon realizing that their work was not needed at all. Lin Mu was already making circles around them, removing all the walls one after the other.


    "This¡­ <i>~Sigh~</i> I got excited about nothing¡­" Jing Luo muttered.


    Elder Weimin was simply silent, as he knew there was nothing left for him to say. Lin Mu to him at this point was a great anomaly that probably would not be seen ever again. He could simply watch on as Lin Mu cleared out a path for them.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    <i>~shing~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Various traps were activated while Lin Mu broke down the walls, but to him, they were easy to avoid. Most of them couldn''t even damage him, even if he didn''t dodge them. The ones that he needed to dodge were the ones that forced him out of the way or made him fall.


    The rest that directly damaged were just borne by the armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture.


    "What do we do now, elder?" The disciples asked.


    "What do we do now? We follow him, of course. You should be thankful that he removed all the obstacles." Elder Weimin replied.


    "Yes, elder!" They replied in unison before following behind Lin Mu.


    By now Lin Mu had gone two hundred meters away from them. He was moving in a spiral, breaking walls around a radius. This way, any hidden ces or entrances would be revealed to them.


    By now, Lin Mu had understood that the entire ce was basically argebyrinth. Though it didn''t make full sense to him, as it didn''t serve any particr way to test the people that entered.


    This made Lin Mu think that perhaps this wasn''t an inheritance ground at all.


    "You might be right." Xukong suddenly spoke in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "You really think so, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes¡­ while there are some experts who like to be sadistic and keep unnecessarily dangerous obstacles on the path, they are rare and few in between. Not to mention, we already know that many people have already entered this ce before." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ they say this ce is also the tomb of Expert Kushao. But what if that is not true?" Lin Mu proposed.


    "What are you thinking?" Xukong asked.


    "With so many mazes, and the disaster in the past, I''m thinking¡­ this might actually be made to keep people away, rather than let them enter." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ that could be possible. If it really is a ce that prevents others from entering and is securing something, the disaster might have been caused by the people of the sects entering in secret." Xukong agreed.


    "If we consider it to be like that, then the question is, what is being hidden inside it? Plus, it also doesn''t fully make sense that people thought of this ce as an inheritance ground since they did find resources and other fortunes here." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That might just have been a misdirection tactic on the end of the creator of this ce. One must know that people are bound to discover things at one point, no matter how much they are hidden.


    Rather than trying to hide it even more, it is better to disguise it as something else. There may even be some benefit to this ce with the people entering it." Xukong exined.


    "That might be it, but what could be the benefit that this ce gets?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "We may be able to figure it out. What else do we know about this ce? What do people encounter other than these traps here?" Xukong asked.


    "From what I''ve heard till now, there are supposedly strange beasts living in these ruins called as Kushao beasts. The people who enter it need to kill them to proceed. The beasts are native to this ce and aren''t found anywhere else.


    There are many variants of them too and some are more dangerous than others. I think the strongest ones they''ve seen are at the Dao Shell realm." Lin Mu replied.


    "Strange beasts unique to this ce, huh? That does seem peculiar but it is not correct to make assumptions. We''ll see if we can find more." Xukong stated.


    "Yes senior." Lin Mu said as he continued breaking more and more walls.


    And while Lin Mu was doing this, Little Shrubby was doing another task. Lin Mu had secretly told him to keep an eye on the changes in the area. He knew that even if the traps were seen by him, there was still a chance that some might have been missed and were not activated yet.


    Little Shrubby had the fastest reaction time of everyone here and would be able to warn them in time. While Jing Luo would be able to help and so would Elder Weimin with their strength, Little Shrubby was still faster.


    Lin Mu continued his demolition for about six hours, after which the entire floor was leveled.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    The disciples took breaths of relief after seeing the wide open floor. Lin Mu came to stand at front and didn''t look tired at all. Rather, he looked the same as before and not a single bead of sweat could be seen on his head.


    Instead it looked like he had just been rxing the entire time.


    "That man is a monster¡­" A few disciples whispered.


    "And handsome <i>too~</i>" A female disciple added.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A flickering sound was heard as Lin Mu found the entrance to the next floor.


    "So it was located in the center, makes sense. And it''s being protected by the same barrier as that of the surface entrance." Lin Mu noted.


    Behind Lin Mu, he could see the main entrance of the ruins in the distance. It was still protected by the barrier, and nothing could be seen outside it.


    "The others will be rather surprised after entering now," Jing Luomented.


    "They will indeed¡­ thankfully we will be gone by then." Elder Weimin added.


    "That''ll be for the best. We do not want any extra attention. As long as we are not here, they have nothing to attribute to us." Lin Mu said.


    He then walked up to the entrant of the next floor and ripped it open, just like he had done on the surface.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    With the barrier torn, everyone quickly descended to the next floor. The next floor was rather deep, and it took them 5 minutes to reach it. But the moment they did, they could feel the aura change.


    "Be careful everyone! We are not alone!" Lin Mu spoke.


    "More than six hundred beings are here." Little Shrubby informed.


    His sense of smell was going crazy and was rming him about the danger here. Lin Mu''s spirit sense also spread around and saw the numerous beasts that were spread around on the floor.


    Unlike the first floor, the walls here didn''t restrict spirit sense, but the sheer number of beasts made it difficult for normal people to sense other things, as it would distract them too much.


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    The floor was divided into multiple rooms and halls, and along with the beasts, Lin Mu could feel the presence of other things as well.


    ''There are certainly nts and spirit herbs growing here¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    Everyone drew out their weapons and was ready to fight.


    <i>~step~step~step~</i>


    The sound of footsteps could be hearding from the front. The footsteps were strange, and it felt like whatever wasing was heavy as the sound was deep. The disciples gulped and looked on intently at the front.


    Lin Mu, Jing Luo, and Elder Weimin had already seen the beast through.


    "What is this thing?" Jing Luo muttered in confusion.


    The beast in question looked like a t beetle but had a pale white exterior. It had a long spined tail that extended from the back and mandibles that were like wide scythes. The most eye catching feature of it was a ck and blue crystal that was located on its back.


    The Crystal''s edges were ck but its center was dark blue in color. It was nothing like what Lin Mu had seen before and made him confused. Which was strange as he had read about a lot of strange beasts in the memoirs of the Lost immortal and others that he had read.


    "Senior, do you know what they are?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They don''t seem like any particr species. What you said about them being native seems to be right. They are probably some normal beasts that were mutated by something and have now proliferated enough to be a dominant species." Xukong answered.


    "Mutant beasts huh¡­ if they can continue to grow, that means the mutation was stable and sessful¡­" Lin Mu remembered.


    "There is another problem¡­ I cannot estimate its strength." Elder Weimin suddenly spoke.


    "What?" the disciples were surprised.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and tried to sense the beast in question, only to find that while he could feel its presence and body, he could not find a cultivation base.


    "What is this¡­ they have no Dantian?" Lin Mu realized.


    Seeing the situation was getting even stranger, everyone became nervous.

 Chapter 829 - Testing The Beasts

    Lin Mu had not heard of any beast that didn''t have a Dantian and was now confused. Xukong on the other hand, narrowed his eyes as something appeared in his mind.


    "Could they be¡­ no, that''s not possible." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "What''s the matter, senior? Do you know something?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That beast¡­ it''s simr to a race of creatures that are found in the universe. I mean them having no Dantian and not their appearance." Xukong replied.


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    "So they can be linked? Did they mutate from that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No, that does not seem possible. Those creatures I''m talking about¡­ they cannot possibly appear in this world. But them having no Dantian seems familiar. Do you see that crystal? That thing is simr to a core that a being can form in the core condensation realm." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm¡­ so that means that beast is at the core condensation realm?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not exactly. Those crystals are basically a form of modified vessel that works as a Dantian for them. If you take them out, they should die rather quickly. But I doubt they will be easy to get to." Xukong replied.


    "I see¡­ I''ll attempt this first." Lin Mu said and in the next moment, he blinked to the top of the beast.


    "Huh?" hispanions were a bit surprised but then saw Lin Mu thrust a short sword towards the beetle like beast.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    A loud sound was heard and it was like metal hitting metal.


    "Damn, its carapace is very strong. Even a high grade spirit sword is unable to pierce through?" Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    He had simply used the force of the sword and had not particrly used his own strength or spirit Qi. This was because Lin Mu wanted to see how the others would fare against the beast.


    He was sure that he could kill the beast, but it was more important if the others could do so as well.


    <i>~SKEEEEEE!~</i>


    The beast let out a strange screeching sound and was angry at seeing Lin Mu hit him. It even sounded a bit hurt, and it was obvious that even if there was no damage on the surface, the beast had definitely been hurt internally by the impact.


    Blink!


    Lin Mu teleported to the back of the beast and swiped the short sword at the joints of the beast.


    <i>~slick~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~SKWEEEEEEEE~</i>


    This time the attack was sessful and managed to cut off the tail of the beast. Dark blood sttered from the joint, spilling on the ground.


    "So joints are its weak point¡­" Lin Mu said before he teleported again and let the beast squirm in pain.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    The next moment, his short sword was thrust against the open mouth of the beast. It first struck its mandibles, which were broken and then pierced the interior of its mouth.


    "Mouth is another weak point, though the mandibles might be harder for others to get through¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he flickered and dodged the swipe of the beast''s sharp leg.


    Appearing above its body, Lin Mu stabbed straight down to the ck-blue crystal embedded into its back.


    <i>~SHATTER~</i>


    The moment Lin Mu''s sword hit it, the crystal shattered like ss and scattered around the beast.


    <i>~SCREEEEEEEE~</i>


    The beast thrashed around and squirmed for a few seconds before falling silent, dead.


    Lin Mu scanned the beast with his spirit sense onest time to ensure that it truly was dead. He could feel the active aura of the beast fading away, which confirmed it for him that it was dead.


    "Truly strange¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    <i>~shua~? </i>


    A few momentster, he could feel the spirit Qi in the area increase.


    "Huh? The crystal fragments¡­ they''re evaporating?" Lin Mu noted.


    The crystal fragments were letting out spirit Qi as they evaporated and also some bluish gas that faded away after a few seconds. Lin Mu tried to sense what the gas was but could not really identify it.


    He walked back to everyone that had been observing and spoke.


    "I reckon you all know where to attack now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "We do senior!" The disciples said in unison.


    "Good. And if you want to, you can also try to get the crystal from their bodies. They have spirit Qi in them and can be used for other things as well. Though don''t force yourself since the beasts can be strong." Lin Mu advised.


    "Yes, senior!" The disciples replied in unison.


    With this done, Lin Mu continued to take the lead and walked forward. Jing Luo joined him at the side while Elder Weimin stayed at the very back to ensure they were not ambushed.


    "So what else did you learn from that beast?" Jing Luo asked.


    He knew that Lin Mu was testing out the beast and probably had picked up on something.


    "Those crystals on their backs are the vessel that they used to store spirit Qi and as long as you break them, they will die." Lin Mu replied.


    "I see, like a Dantian then¡­ but how do we judge their strength? The disciples may be in trouble if they fight a beast stronger than them." Jing Luo asked.


    "I''ll be fighting each different of the beasts that we encounter first and judge their strengths. The one that I fought just now was at least at the Nascent soul realm considering its general speed, but the defense is rather high too." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ encountering a Nascent soul realm beast right away¡­ its not right." Jing Luo muttered.


    "Yeah, I don''t think they should have appeared right at the front. From all that we''ve heard, they only appeared mid way to the next floor. We''ll need to be careful since the situation in the ruins has certainly changed since thest time." Lin Mu warned.


    "Yes¡­ I''ll keep an eye out too." Jing Luo said and went back.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and focused on the beasts that were about to just appear.

 Chapter 830 - Teaching Experience And A New Finding

    <i>~SKREE~SKREEE~SKREEEE~</i>


    Several cries were heard all at once and made some of the disciples wince in pain.


    "Heavens! They''re so horrible!" A female disciple closed her ears with her hands.


    "Pay attention, if you keep your hands like that, you won''t be able to react as quick." Jing Luo warned.


    He knew how important sense was and a smallpse could be the straw that broke the camel''s back.


    "Y-yes senior!" The female disciple replied.


    "Do you know sensory suppression techniques? Use them to reduce your hearing if the screeches are too much for you to bear." Jing Luo added.


    "Uh, we¡­ don''t know them."


    "I know one!"


    "I know too!"


    "Those that know should teach the others after this fight." Jing Luo stated and focused on the beasts that had just appeared.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Lin Mu was already fighting the beasts that had appeared. This time there were three beasts and all of them were different from the beetle like beast that had just appeared before having pale white body parts.


    The first beast looked like a dog, but had six legs and a long jaw. It had a crystal on the back of its neck but it was ck and green in color than ck and blue. The beast was also smaller than the beetle beast from before.


    The second beast was a long lizard that had the ws of an eagle and the neck of a bird. It had the same ck and blue crystal on its back. It was about the same size as that of the beetle beast.


    The third beast was the same size as the lizard, but was far more bulky. It looked like a ball of fat and moved around by rolling. It had dense fur on it, that popped out like sharp needles.


    Its mouth was on its stomach and had sharp teeth in it. The crystal that it had was located in the middle of its eyes and was ck and blue in color as well.


    "This dog like beast is far weaker than the one before." Lin Mu said as he easily broke the beast''s limbs with a pat of the short sword.


    <i>~UWEEEEEE!~</i> N?vel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.


    The dog beast let out a cry filled with utter pain. With the loss of its limbs, all it could do was to lie on the ground and twitch now.


    "It''s equivalent to a core condensation realm beast, I guess¡­" Lin Mu noted and went to take care of the other beasts.


    <i>~swish~</i>


    The lizard beast swiped its tail at Lin Mu, but he quickly dodge it with blink while the Fat ball like beast rolled towards Lin Mu, trying to crush him.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    Before the fat beast could even get close to Lin Mu thought, it was sent flying by a red blur.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The fat beast exploded into a bloody mess and was now scattered around the wall.


    <i>~GRRR!~</i>


    Little Shrubby growled as he gave an angry look in the empty corridor. He could see the other beasts that were biding their time and gave them a warning.


    Like saying, ''if you try the same thing, this will happen to you.''


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    The disciples who saw this couldn''t help but swallow their saliva. The ease with which Little shrubby had utterly destroyed that beast was stunning to them since even Lin Mu was not doing something like that.


    Though they did know that the way Lin Mu was fighting right now was so that they could see the weak points of the beast and had an easier time.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    Lin Mu broke the legs and tail of the lizard as well and left it writhing on the ground.


    "All of you can now kill them and see how these beasts are. Test out your strength and judge it for yourself." Lin Mu said as he went ahead.


    "Yes, senior!" The disciples said as they quickly got to fighting the now incapacitated beasts.


    While they were doing so though, Elder Weimin came to stand beside Jing Luo and spoke.


    "Does he have experience with teaching students before?" He asked.


    "As far as I know, no." Jing Luo replied.


    "You sure he hasn''t taken any disciples before?" Elder Weimin asked doubtfully.


    "No. He never had the chance¡­ and I don''t think he''s looking to take any, either. He himself is just learning." Jing Luo replied.


    "Hmm¡­ I never would have thought. He does have the skills of a good teacher. He can be a good master if he decides to take disciples of his own." Elder Weimin praised.


    "Maybe¡­ but with his personality, I doubt that will happen any time soon. And the burden that he bears is not something that will allow others toe too close to him." Jing Luo stated.


    "I see¡­ I''ll look forward to his aplishment in the future. I''ll be honored if I can simply be seen as an acquaintance in the future." Elder Weimin said calmly.


    "Indeed." Jing Luo nodded his head and thought of his grandfather.


    ''He truly was wise to befriend Lin Mu. Others would die to have an ally like that¡­'' Jing Luo thought to himself.


    While he was doing this, Lin Mu was now surveying the area in the next hall. He was hidden near the ceiling of the roof, in one of the supporting pirs.


    "There''s way more beasts here¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he counted over twenty of them.


    "Hmm¡­ the disciples should be able to handle some of them. I''ll let them fight and take care of the rest." Lin Mu said as he returned to the previous hall.


    By now, the disciples had finished killing the two incapacitated beasts and even had the crystals extracted.


    "Senior Lin Mu! Look!" Hu Yun held up the crystals.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    He probed it a bit and spirit Qi started to leak out of the crystal along with the bluish gas as well. He stopped doing that and the spirit Qi stopped as well.


    "Huh, so it''s like a spirit stone." Lin Mu took note.


    He then touched the bluish gas that was close to dissipating in the air and suddenly felt something.


    "What?"

 Chapter 831 - The Grey Egg Desires!

    The bluish gas in the air gave Lin Mu a strange, cold feeling. It felt both familiar yet unfamiliar to him, and he could not tell what it exactly was. But when he touched it, it wasn''t just him that showed a reaction.


    The Grey egg that had been calmly lying on a pillow in the ring''s space suddenly started to shake the moment Lin Mu touched the bluish gas.


    "Huh, what?" Lin Mu could feel the egg call out to him for the first time.


    So far he didn''t know if he had managed to make a taming link between him and the egg like he had done with Little Shrubby. The egg was mostly dormant and would only show an effect when he fed it beast Qi every day.


    The process had be like breathing to him and he finished it in less than a minute. He did it at nearly the same time every day and didn''t even realize that he was doing it most of the time because it had be habitual to him.


    But the egg calling out to him was a very sharp feeling. It showed its emotions and made Lin Mu feel anxious at the same time.


    "It¡­ want''s this bluish gas?" Lin Mu understood.


    At that moment, Lin Mu made his decision.


    "Can I take these crystals?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Uh, of course! You can have them senior!" Hu Yao immediately replied.


    Lin Mu was the one who had incapacitated the beasts, so it wouldn''t be unfair for him to take them. Plus, no one would mind if Lin Mu took some things from them. After all, they owed a lot to him anyway.


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    Lin Mu took the crystal and looked at them for a few seconds before speaking, "wait for me here. I''ll be back in five minutes." Lin Mu spoke and blinked away.


    He appeared in another room hidden behind the walls of the current hall. It was mostly empty other than some broken furniture and debris that was scattered in there. Lin Mu paid no attention to it and quickly took out the Grey egg from his ring.


    Sitting down, he ced the egg in hisp and took out the two ck blue crystals before activating them with his spirit sense.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    In the next moment, spirit Qi and the bluish gas started to leak out from the crystal. The movement it trembled and sucked all the spirit Qi and the bluish gas towards it. In less than a second, it had already absorbed it all and was pulling out more from the crystals.


    Lin Mu too sped it up and decided to shatter both the crystals, releasing all of its stored energies.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The egg absorbed all the contents released by the two crystals and went back to its dormant state. Though Lin Mu could still feel that the egg wanted more.


    He touched the egg and felt that it felt a bit denser than before.


    "Does this help in its growth?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "This is rather strange¡­" Xukong suddenly said.


    "What is it, senior? Do you know what this energy or bluish gas is?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That''s the thing. I can''t tell what it is either. It''s definitely some derivative type of spirit Qi but it''s hard to estimate due to it being impure." Xukong answered.


    "Impure? It wouldn''t cause harm to the egg, would it?" Lin Mu asked, feeling concerned.


    "That''s unlikely. If the egg managed to absorb it sessfully and wanted it on its own, then it should be fine. Plus, even I can''t tell just what kind of a beast is within that egg. At this point, we can safely confirm that fact.


    That egg will certainly not birth a Fire Fang Snake or a ck Water snake. Its bloodline has certainly changed far too much for it to be the same." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ I see. Perhaps we should collect more of those crystals and see what happens." Lin Mu stated.


    "You can try. There are a lot of those beasts here, anyway." Xukong replied.


    "Very well." Lin Mu said before teleporting back to the ce where everyone was waiting.


    "I have something to say," Lin Mu said, pulling everyone''s attention.


    "I would like it if everyone gives me the crystals you get from those beasts. They are useful to me. Also, I willpensate you fairly, so you don''t need to worry about that." Lin Mu announced.


    "There''s no need for that Junior Lin Mu. You can take those crystals if you want to. The disciples are already in your debt. If this helps in paying a fraction of that off, then it is the best." Elder Weimin stated and then looked at the disciples.


    "I believe everyone is in agreement?" He asked.


    "YES! We are fine with the arrangement." The disciples quickly replied.


    "Alright. We''ll continue onward then." Lin Mu said and took the lead again.


    This time he was more excited as he had obtained another method to elerate the growth of the Grey egg. He knew that while the beast Qi increased the power of the Grey egg and also improved the bloodline it had; the time needed for it to hatch also increased with that.


    It had already been nearly two years since Lin Mu had gotten the egg and it had stayed the same, other than having absorbed a ton of beast Qi. If this could help speed up that process, Lin Mu would be pleased.


    While Lin Mu was thinking about this, Jing Luo approached him.


    "What''s the use of the crystals? Did something happen?" He questioned.


    "The Grey egg¡­ it seems to like them. The crystals can help speed its growth." Lin Mu answered.


    "That snake egg you''ve been carrying around all this time? It really is useful for it?" Jing Luo asked, feeling doubtful.


    "Yeah. I''m surprised too. It has never acted like this." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "Hmm¡­ then it''s good. Though I want to see what those crystals can do myself as well. They seem interesting.." Jing Luo replied.

 Chapter 832 - Not Holding Back

    With the new discovery, Lin Mu''s drive in hunting down the beasts was now increased. Under his guidance, everyone started to hunt down the beasts as they encountered them.


    The routine was simple. If it was an unknown beast, Lin Mu would be the first one to fight it and would figure out its abilities and weakness while letting the others know of it. As for the ones that were already known, the disciples would handle them.


    So far, only two kinds of crystals had been found by Lin Mu in the beasts. The ck-green and ck-blue crystals. Both of them released the same bluish gas upon being broken, but the ck-blue crystal had a higher amount of it.


    They had now been fighting for over twelve hours now and had collector over a hundred such crystals. Lin Mu himself could kill them rtively easily, but the disciples struggled with the beasts that had ck blue crystals.


    Multiple disciples had to team up to kill them. It was mostly due to the fact that breaking their defenses was not easy, and some of them were very fast. Therge variation in the beasts also made it a bit moreplex for them to adapt to it.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    <i>~boom~</i> N?vel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.


    Lin Mu hit the carapace of arge bull like beast with this fist, sending it flying. The beast was about to attack a disciple and he hade to block it.


    "Watch your backs!" Lin Mu warned before going to deal with the beast.


    Blink!


    Appearing directly on top of the beast, Lin Mu gripped the crystal that was embedded on its back and ripped it out directly.


    <i>~GUWAAAAAAAA!~</i>


    The bull like beast let out a pain filled cry as blood spilled out from the ce where the crystal was ripped out. But after a few seconds, the beast fell silent and died.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath and looked back to see that most of the other beasts had been killed as well. Only a few were left, but the disciples were close to killing them.


    "Where do you think Elder Liqiang is trapped?" Jing Luo asked Lin Mu.


    "So far, we''ve had no clues to his location. This only makes me think that the malfunctioning formations may have directly pulled him into the deeper parts. Perhaps we will only see him on the next few floors." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ the Kushao Ruins are said to have five floors in total, and we are on the second one. We can only imagine what other things we will see on the other floors." Jing Luo muttered.


    "At least they are getting some benefits here." Lin Mu said as he saw a few disciples plucking out a spirit herb that was growing in one of the areas.


    These were spread around sporadically, and some of the herbs were rather valuable and hard to find in the world. There were even a few rooms that contained hidden treasures in them.


    "While they are getting them, I fear the time when they find something that may be dangerous." Elder Weimin suddenly spoke.


    "You''re right elder. Plus, we haven''t encountered the remains of the cultivators that failed to escape the ruins five hundred years ago. It means we aren''t even close to that ce." Lin Mu added.


    "We can only keep on soldiering on. Plus, we don''t know how long we have before the others that are waiting outside the ruins enter it. Once they do, we won''t have as many opportunities to act." Elder Weimin said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and tried to think of what to do. Elder Weimin on the other hand seemed to want to say something but was hesitating.


    "Junior Lin Mu, I know you''ve been holding yourself back here for the sake of the disciples. I do not want you to do that anymore. They''ve already gotten enough to learn in this time, it would be far more beneficial for us if we speed up our mission.


    If the others manage to enter too, they will be able to reach our position very quickly since we have all but removed the obstacles that would have blocked them." Elder Weimin requested.


    Lin Mu heard his words and thought over it before nodding his head.


    "Alright¡­ perhaps I should have done this from the start." Lin Mu replied.


    He had already known the ces where the beasts were and could have gone to kill them quickly. But he had not done so for the others as they were progressing together. But now he realized it was just wasting their time.


    "I agree. If you can speed it up, perhaps we might be able to get to the bottom of this." Jing Luo stated.


    "Very well. Take care of the disciples. I''ll clear out the rest of the areas¡­" Lin Mu said before disappearing into thin air.


    Once he was gone, Elder Weimin stared at the ce where Lin Mu was at.


    "How does he always do that?" He couldn''t help but wonder.


    "Trust me¡­ I ask that myself every day as well." Jing Luo said as he got to work.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Little Shrubby left as well and appeared next to Lin Mu, a few halls away.


    "We kill?" He questioned.


    "Yes¡­ we kill. But save the crystals on their back." Lin Mu answered.


    <i>~ZING~</i>


    The moment Little shrubby heard this, he disappeared in a blur. Soon sounds of explosions and breaking were hearding from the corridor.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Lin Mu cracked his knuckles as he stared down at the mass of beasts below him.


    "Time to get to business¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he descended upon the beasts.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Various sounds of conflict were heard as Lin Mu fought the beasts with little restraint. Other than protecting the crystals from getting damaged, no other part of the beasts were left intact or while.


    About a day passed while Jing Luo, Elder Weimin, and the disciples waited in one of the corridors for Lin Mu to return.


    "Where is he?"


    "Will he be fine?"


    There were many questions in their mind, and they all wondered where Lin Mu was.

 Chapter 833 - A Beast With A Navy Blue Crystal And Trap Entrance

    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    "WHAT''S THAT?!" The disciples were startled upon hearing a noiseing from the depths of the corridors.


    A while back, they had stopped hearing the cries and sounds of the beasts because Lin Mu had killed the ones that were around them first. Thus, they were in the dark about it all and thought it was just a normal thing.


    But now there was a loud sound, as if someone was charging towards them.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    "GET BACK!" Jing Luo shouted as he pulled two of the disciples that were at the very front.


    Elder Weimin got the others and they all retreated from the debris that was shooting towards them. The wall in front of them had been split apart by a great force, which then shattered it entirely.


    "HALT!" Another voice was hearding from the darkness.


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    <i>~BANG~</i>


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A sh of light was seen sparking from the shadows and moved towards the being that had just appeared in front of them.


    "W-what is this beast?" The disciples were startled.


    In front of them was a beast bigger than any that they had ever seen. It was at least thirty meters tall and towered over them greatly. It had the head of a wolf and the body of a goat.


    Spiny scales were spread across its body and long fangs protruded from its mouth. It was in all senses a terrifying beast and the aura exuding from its body was also a proof of that. But that aura quickly changed when a word was heard.


    <strong>"DEVASTATOR!"? </strong>


    A pink ribbon of energy seemed to have materialized out of the darkness and went into the body of the beast. It entered from one end ande out the other, while taking away the life of the beast.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    With a loud thud, the beast copsed in front of the disciples with a loud thud, knocking up a lot of dust. The blood and gore had unfortunately sttered over the bodies of the disciples and some of them had faces that werepletely red now.


    <i>~step~step~step~</i>


    Finally, from the darkness appeared Lin Mu. Blood dripped from his fist and his robes seemed to be a bit damaged, but other than that, he was mostly fine.


    "Sorry, it took me a little extra time dealing with this guy." Lin Mu said as he pointed to the beast.


    "Just what was this beast?" Hu Yun couldn''t help but ask.


    Lin Mu walked to the neck of the beast in response and revealed the navy blue crystal that was hidden between the spiky scales.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    Jamming his fingers in the gaps, Lin Mu ripped out the crystal before showing it to them.


    "This is a different crystal? It''s not like the ones we''ve seen till now." Hu Yun realized.


    Jing Luo and Elder Weimin furrowed their brows and realized what Lin Mu was holding in his hands.


    "This was a¡­ Dao Shell realm beast?" Elder Weimin asked doubtfully.


    "Well, it had the strength equivalent to one, but isn''t exactly a Dao Shell realm beast. I''ve seen enough of them and now know that they have a different cultivation path than us. They don''t cultivate the same way we do and don''t have the same realms.


    Their powers are mostly physical and so far I haven''t seen any that can use anything like a Qi skill." Lin Mu exined.


    Jing Luo furrowed his brows and checked up on the beast. Arge hole was carved into the beast and not much of it was left. Lin Mu had used a low powered Devastator but even then it had managed to kill the beast and cause so much damage.


    ''Even five percent is pretty strong now¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He looked at his fist, that was bleeding. There was a small cut on his knuckle from where the ribbon of energy hade out.


    "This should be enough¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he popped a healing pill into his mouth.


    "How many beasts did you exactly kill?" Jing Luo asked.


    "All that I came across. There were about ny eight beasts with a ck blue crystal, four hundred, sixty nine with ck green crystal, and then this one beast with a ck and navy blue crystal." Lin Mu answered.


    <i>~Sssss~</i>


    The disciples that heard his words couldn''t help but gasp in shock. Elder Weimin was also a bit taken aback. He had seen how the Dao Shell realm beast had died and he was sure that if it were him in the position, it would take him a while to even injure the beast.


    ''He just keeps on giving us more and more shocks, doesn''t he?'' Elder Weimin thought to himself.


    While Elder Weimin was thinking this, Jing Luo looked around for someone in particr.


    "Where''s little shrubby?" He asked.


    "Hmm, he should be on his way." Lin Mu said and looked in the distance.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    A few secondster, the sound of wind blowing could be heard and a red blur became visible.


    <i>~SCREECH~</i>


    Little Shrubby''s ws dug into the stone floor as he braked and slowed down.


    "Did you get all of them?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yup!" Little shrubby replied with a nod.


    "Good, we can head to the next floor now." Lin Mu said.


    "Wait, isn''t the entrance this way?" Elder Weimin asked.


    "That''s a trap." Lin Mu said and casually kicked a piece of the wall towards the entrance.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The moment it entered it, scorching mes filled it, melting the stone almost instantly.


    <i>~gasp~</i>


    "How did we not see?" Jing Luo asked.


    "You won''t be able to see it unless you get close enough. The masking formations on it are rather good." Lin Mu replied.


    The disciples couldn''t help but feel a bit fearful. They had been waiting here because they were convinced this was the next entrance.


    "Where is the real one, then?" Elder Weimin questioned.


    "It''s that way. This beast was guarding it." Lin Mu answered.


    It now made sense to them that a strong beast would be guarding it and they followed after Lin Mu as he brought them to the next floor.

 Chapter 834 - The Third Floor

    Everyone was tense as they entered the third floor. They knew that the danger would only increase the more they went down. Lin Mu had already killed a beast that was equal to the Dao Shell realm and they only imagined more of them being here.


    <i>~snap~</i>


    "EEK!" A female disciple flinched as she heard something break.


    <i>~shua~ shua~</i>


    "What was that?" the others asked as different illumination techniques were used.


    But the moment they saw the floor; they felt chills going down their backs.


    "Are these¡­"


    "Yes¡­ they are the remains of the ones that failed to escape." Elder Weimin said in a grave tone.


    The entire floor was seemingly littered with numerous bones and it was hard to tell who the bones belonged to. Some of them looked like normal human bones, and some of them were either toorge or too long.


    Some of them also had some strange shapes, which made them think that these may have belonged to beasts or some other creatures.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and looked around, trying to see if he could find any clue or something like that here.


    "Everyone stay close and keep an eye out on the remains on the floor. Pick up anything that looks like it''s important." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, senior!" They all replied.


    Lin Mu had already spread his spirit sense around, but realized that it was being suppressed again.


    "Dammit, they got another formation array that restrains spirit Qi here." Lin Mu cursed.


    "There wasn''t one on the previous floor, though. It''s rather strange¡­ perhaps they are set on alternate floors?" Jing Luo guessed.


    "That could be possible, but it only increases the danger even more as I won''t be able to react quickly." Lin Mu replied.


    "We''ll try to stay as alert as possible." Jing Luo said, and took out a couple of spirit tools from his spatial storage ring.


    The spirit tools looked like a pair of sticks and were rather normal. But on their surface, one could see several fine runes carved.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Just wait and watch. This might be the perfect ce to use them." Jing Luo said and held out the stick in his two hands.


    He raised his hands and then hit the sticks perpendicr to each other.


    <i>~Humm~</i>


    Instead of the usual sound, a rather harmonious humming could be hearding from it. Wang Xiong then took out arge piece of sheepskin and ced it on the ground before holding the sticks on it.


    Lin Mu looked on in intrigue and wondered what Jing Luo was exactly doing.


    "No way, are those¡­ True Sound Dowsing Sticks?" Elder Weimin seemed to have recognized the spirit tools.


    "Oh? Elder Weimin actually knows about them?" Jing Luo was a bit surprised.


    "Yes, I do. I had the fortune of seeing a pair of them a long time ago when I was a junior. It was held by an elder of the Centennial sword sect and I saw it during one of the conferences back then.


    The elder had organized a lecture on different spirit tools and I got to learn a bit about them." Elder Weimin replied.


    "What are they?" Lin Mu asked.


    He looked at the sticks and saw that they were moving on the sheepskin. It looked as if they were moving on their own and other than some spirit Qi fluctuation that were rather faint, nothing could be felt from them.


    They were still humming and light vibrations could also be observed. The sticks moved on the sheepskin and a few markings started to appear on the sheepskin.


    "This is a special kind of spirit tool called as a True Sound Dowsing rods. They are made with Sonorous Harmony Feather brassbined with a mixture of woods. They can create unique humming sounds and that spread around in the area and are then reflected back.


    Thesebined with certain formations allow the sticks to trante that into an appropriate medium like this sheepskin. It is basically using sound to map out the area." Jing Luo exined.


    "Oh? Isn''t this how bats move around in darkness too?" Lin Mu remembered having learned this from Senior Xukong.


    "Indeed. This spirit tool takes inspiration from their ability. Though its uses are rather limited. The special kind of brass used in its making gets damaged with just a few uses and makes it so that the spirit tool does not work again." Jing Luo replied.


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    "I see¡­ no wonder you didn''t use it on the first floor." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes. Even if I did, it wouldn''t have helped much as the area was abyrinth and the sound would not map out very well due to too many walls." Jing Luo said.


    "I understand." Lin Mu said and observed as a map was etched out on the sheepskin.


    About five minutester, the sheepskin had turned into a sheepskin map instead. Lin Mu observed it along with Jing Luo and Elder Weimin trying to find their path ahead.


    "Wait, what''s this mark?" Lin Mu asked as he pointed to what looked like a circle that was a bit oblong.


    "Huh¡­ that can''t be¡­ that mark¡­ it is for a person." Jing Luo answered.


    "A person? Can it be Elder Liqiang?!" Elder Weimin asked hurriedly.


    "No wait, that''s not just him¡­ there are more of those marks." Lin Mu soon pointed out the other such circles that were very faint.


    In all, they could count at least twenty such markings on the map and it made the man bit confused.


    "How are there so many people here? Did others manage to enter before us?" Hu Yun, who was watching from the side, spoke.


    "Perhaps it might be the people that were pulled in along with Elder Liqiang?" Elder Weimin suggested.


    "Whatever it may be, we need to be careful. For all we know, this could just be a trap instead." Lin Mu warned.


    Elder Weimin and Jing Luo nodded in response before making a n to act.

 Chapter 835 - Northern Tribes

    Carefully stepping out into the next area, Lin Mu spread his spirit sense as much as he could.


    ''At least they can''t sense us either. Even if we might have made a little noise, it can still be attributed to the other beasts here.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    On the map, they could see several beasts here as well. Their sizes varied and Lin Mu could determine that they were mostly ck Blue crystal beasts with a couple of ck Navy blue crystal beasts spread around.


    The only difference was that the humans that were in the area seemed to have set up a strange kind of a barrier that was hiding them from the beasts. Only because it was a solid barrier could the True Sound Dowsing rods even detect them.


    Lin Mu and the rest didn''t know if these people were friendly or not. For all they could know, it could be some other beast that might have a humanoid form and the spirit tool detected them as humans.


    After all, the True Sound dowsing rods could only detect it based on the size and shape of the object, other than that they could not tell if the thing was alive or not. If there was a statue of the same size, they would have looked the same.


    Though Jing Luo confirmed that it was indeed a living thing since the markings had moved a little during the making theft map, creating a slight blur effect.


    Lin Mu was fully alert at this point and had his focus at the peak.


    "Wait here," He whispered to the others.


    Then in the next moment, he blinked to to the next room and Phased into one of the walls.


    "Phasing here is difficult too¡­ the walls are interfering with it." Lin Mu took note.


    He went up the to ceiling and then peeked out below. There were several torches and some spirit tools burning in the hall. Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he finally saw the people who were here.


    "Who are they?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder upon seeing their attire.


    They were wearing thick wool clothes and animal furs on their body. Their skin was also lighter than most of the people that Lin Mu had seen till now. Various ornaments were hanging on their clothes as well, and their hair was long.


    Some of them kept their hair braided and had essories in them as well, while some kept it in a simple ponytail. Their eyes were blue, unlike most of the people of the Great Zhou continent, and they were tall as well.


    It didn''t take Lin Mu more than a few seconds to recognize who they might be.


    "The Northern Tribes¡­" Lin Mu whispered.


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    Lin Mu''s fist clenched, and a vein popped up on his forehead. If it weren''t for his mind telling him to stop, his body would have already descended and started a ughter.


    ''I can''t do that¡­ need to find out why they are here first¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself and chanted the calming heart sutra silently.


    A few secondster, he felt the vtile thoughts fade and he could focus on the situation again. He noted the faint spirit Qi fluctuations that wereing from them and found that all of them were at the Nascent Soul realm.


    ''Twenty nascent soul realm cultivators¡­ that''s a lot and unusual.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The assumption they had till now was that Elder Liqiang had identally been pulled into the ruins. But now Lin Mu couldn''t help but think otherwise. It was far less likely that all twenty of the men would be pulled into the ruins at once.


    "Do they have something to do with the ruins?" Lin Mu wondered.


    But this thought also gave him a little anxiety, as it would mean that the Northern tribes had more knowledge about this ce than they did. And the one thing Lin Mu had learned from Senior Xukong the most was that knowledge was power.


    It was why he learned everything he got his hands on and was always curious about new things.


    Noting all of the men here, he moved to the other hall where more people were located. The True Sound Dowsing rods weren''t fully urate, and it was better for Lin Mu to check the area himself.


    After all, the sound could get dampened by the multiple walls and barriers that came in the way. And in the next hall, his conjecture came out to be true. There were ten more Northern Tribe members here, though one of them was a woman this time.


    She seemed to be far older than the rest of them and had while hair that was tied into multiple braids. But the most eye catching thing was the spirit Qi fluctuations that were emanating from her.


    "Dao Shell realm¡­ that too at the Shellpletion stage at the very least." Lin Mu estimated.


    The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the woman were many times stronger than Elder Weimin''s. The only one who coulde close to it was perhaps Elder Liqiang himself, but he was at the Shell Genesis stage.


    This made Lin Mu assume that she was definitely above him. He looked around and saw another man in the hall. He was greatly injured and was bleeding from all over his body. His legs seemed to be broken and he was slumped against the wall.


    "Hehehe! Are you ready to speak now?" The old woman suddenly spoke.


    The man who was lying on the ground opened his bloodshot eyes. Anger could be seen in them and perhaps if it were not for his injuries, he might have already killed the woman.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Suddenly, the man moved and flew at great speed towards the old woman.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    But before he could reach halfway to her, a barrier sent him flying away and made him crash back into the wall.


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    The man spit out blood and struggled to look at the woman.


    "NEVER!" He yelled.

 Chapter 836 - The Secret Of Kushao

    Lin Mu saw everything that happened with a cold expression on his face.


    His eyes fists trembled lightly but he did not move. Instead, he looked towards the barrier that was trapping the man who was none other than Elder Liqiang.


    "Hehehe! Seems like your stubbornness is still not broken." The old woman said as she waved her hand.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    With the wave of her hand a red energy manifested in the barrier''s interior and spread into it before turning into several chains and whips.


    ~<i>CLANG~</i>


    <i>~WHACK~</i>


    The chains wrapped Elder Liqiang and pulled on his limbs, stringing him up like a dead animal carcass. The red whips thenshed on to this bare flesh, tearing it apart even more as the blood spurted out of it.


    Elder Liqiang grunted in pain but did not cry out. He simply looked at the old woman in utter fury.


    The whippingsted for five minutes, after which Elder Liqiang had grown rather weary and his eyes were swollen.


    "Will you speak now, little rat?" The old woman spoke.


    "N-no¡­" Elder Liqiang muttered.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    "What''s that? I didn''t hear you?" The Old Woman said out loud as another whip hit the back of the man.


    <i>~Hiss~</i>


    But he still did not speak.


    "You know, the earlier you tell us where the Noon Grass sect is located, the earlier you will be able to face death. If not, I''ll simply show you terrors you''ve never heard of," The old woman said in a cold tone.


    But seeing that Elder Liqiang did not answer even now, the old woman simply harrumphed and turned to face the other men that were in the room.


    "Hold him for the time being. Perhaps we might use him as the perfect sacrifice. His cultivation and soul should be enough to open up the fifth level of the ruins." The old woman ordered.


    "Yes, chieftess!" The men replied.


    "Mmm¡­ also keep an eye out for the others. Our little carps are already here, ready to be caught. Make sure they don''t get a whiff of anything." The old woman stated.


    "We''ll ensure nothing happens, Chieftess." One of the men replied.


    "I''ll be on the fourth floor working on the formation," The old woman said before leaving for the next floor.


    Lin Mu followed her and soon found her entering one of the walls of the ruin. The wall spun open to show a stairwell, from where she descended. It closed behind her and Lin Mu continued staring at her for a few minutes.


    "I''ll show you¡­" he muttered before blinking to the men in the hall where elders Liqiang was caged.


    The men seemed to be talking about something right now and Lin Mu decide to eavesdrop on them.


    "¡­ we should be done by tomorrow, right?"


    "Perhaps¡­ the formation arrays of the ruins while the same as our records have degraded a bit over time. If chieftess can get them repaired. We might not have to struggle the extra bit."


    "But is it really true? Is there really the inheritance of an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator here?"


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    "Of course. Who do you think our Ku n is? Ancestor Kushao was the top genius of his generation and managed to infiltrate the Great Zhou continent''s people with his great intellect. He was our greatest spy and secretly killed so many experts back then.


    He even bet his life on setting up the secret teleportation array here. This is the closest we''ve ever gotten to the Southern continent. This was the lifelong dream of our people and he was the man who put a lot of effort into making sure it came true."


    Hearing the contents of their conversation, Lin Mu was astonished.


    ''What? Kushao is from the Northern Tribes?'' Lin Mu was stunned.


    He had never expected there to be this sort of a secret behind the ruins. All the information that they had about the man turned out to be false from the very root.


    "Hmm¡­ seems like this man Kushao managed to make an image as a reclusive expert in the Great Zhou Empire while he was a spy of the Northern tribes. I have to say that was a smart move.


    People often respect cold and distant experts. That might have gotten him more reputation than excepted." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "This has changed everything now, though. Everyone that entered the ruins has basically entered a massive trap. They have baited us all with the ruins." Lin Mu said.


    While Lin Mu was conversing with senior Xukong, the men were also conversing amongst themselves. But now Lin Mu could tell that while these were all from the Northern Tribes, they weren''t from the very same tribe, but from different ones.


    The man who was answering the questions was from the Ku tribe and Kushao belonged to this tribe as well.


    Lin Mu tried to recall the information about the Ku tribe, but could note up with much. He had learned about several important tribes of the Northern continent, but the Ku n wasn''t particrly impressive or eye catching.


    ''The Ku n was a participant of many wars and had several Dao Shell realm experts along with a few Dao Treading realm experts as well. They held some territory in the eastern side of the continent for a while as well before being pushed back.'' This was the information that Lin Mu could remember about them.


    "Seems like the entire Ku n was keeping their true ability hidden. Their strongest expert was here acting as a spy¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    This also made him wonder about the cultivation base of Kushao. From the conversation of the men, he knew that there was an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator''s inheritance here. But he didn''t know if it was Kushao''s or someone else.


    "How did Ancestor Kushao make this ce, anyway? I don''t think it would have been possible at that time with all the sect monitoring use of resources." One of the men asked.


    "Haha, he didn''t need to. He was smart enough to not do that. Instead, he found the tomb of an expert who had passed before that time and used that as an inheritance ground. Though he was sure that there was an immortal ascension realm experts remains here.." The Ku n man answered.

 Chapter 837 - A Silent Ambush

    Lin Mu did not act immediately as he wanted to listen to more information from them. He had already waited for half an hour for what he had already gotten and decided to wait for a bit more.


    His attention was also on Elder Liqiang and his condition. While he certainly was heavenly injured, he was not going to die anytime soon. He was, after all, a Dao Shell realm cultivator and would not die that easily.


    The Northern tribe people had evidently taken away the spatial storage treasure of Elder Liqiang, otherwise, he would have been able to heal himself with the pills he had. He would have even been able to use his other spirit tools to breakthrough the barrier that restrained it.


    After all, Elder Liqiang was a formation master himself. While he might have been able to dismantle a normal barrier formation without the use of any supportive spirit tools, the barrier that blocked him right now was nothing like that.


    While Lin Mu had not taken a detailed look at it, even he could tell that there were more functions to it thane was apparent on the surface. Besides, if anything really happened, Lin Mu had the confidence that he could save Elder Liqiang immediately.


    ''Just wait for a bit more, Elder Liqiang. I need to get to the bottom of this. Once that is done, I assure you that they will pay deeply for it¡­'' Lin Mu said in his heart.


    While Lin Mu was thinking about this, the northern tribesmen were still conversing.


    "Do we know whose remains are here?"


    "No, that''s why chieftess hase here herself. She''s going to open the seal the contains it all and it will allow us to get it. And perhaps¡­ this Noon Grass sect rat will serve as the fuel for it too."


    "I see¡­ but what about these weird beasts? I''ve never seen anything like them before nor read about them."


    "We don''t really know either. What we know is that they are mad for the most part and cannot be controlled directly. At most, we can control the formation arrays of this ce and redirect them towards others."


    "Oh? Haha! It will be fun when we get to see the Southerners squirm and die!"


    The tribesmenughed out loud.


    Lin Mu listened to them silently and decided their fate at that moment.


    "Time to finish this¡­" Lin Mu muttered and disappeared once again.


    In the previous room, the twenty Nascent soul realm experts were doing their duty and keeping a guard on everything. Five of them were on each side of the wall and would patrol it, making sure that nothing approached the area.


    Their gazes were sharp and alert, as if ready for everything. But all of a sudden, their gazes went dull and their faces nk. They stopped moving as a faint chant was heard in the hall.


    The chant was strange and stirred one''s mind before emptying it out entirely.


    Twenty ded weapons appeared in the hall and hovered behind the twenty men.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Then in one swift motion, twenty heads were lopped off. All of them fell to the ground at the same time and made a slightly higher noise than normal.


    "Huh? Did you hear that?" Someone in the next room said.


    "Did something fall?"


    "Go check it out," The leader ordered.


    "Yes!" one of the men said and started to move towards it.


    "You fool, don''t go alone. Take more people with you. Do you want to be ambushed?" The leader scolded.


    His men looked at him apologetically for their mistake, but their expressions flipped entirely the next second.


    "What?" The leader questioned, seeing the weird looks his men were giving him.


    "T-That¡ª" But before his men could say anything, he felt some grip his neck.


    His breath was halted in that very second and he felt himself being lifted off the ground. His eyes bulged out, and he felt like his neck was put in a vice.


    "You were correct about an ambush¡­ but it was not them getting ambushed." Lin Mu said in a low voice.


    "Lead¡ª"


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The men were about to shout but could not as their heads suddenly rolled to the ground. The leader watched on in utter shock and his bulging eyes bulged out even more, making him look like a squished frog.


    A faint glimmer of light could be seen rising from the headless bodies of the men that Lin Mu had just killed, but before the glimmer could increase anymore, the spirit weapons acted again.


    Spirit Qi fluctuations emanated from the weapons, showing their power. Each and every one of them was a high grade spirit weapon, which was a bit surprising to the leader. He watched as the spirit weapons destroyed the Nascent souls of his men that were trying to escape.


    "No¡­ you¡­ kill¡­ can''t¡­ do¡­ away¡­" The man struggled to speak, but it was all in vain.


    His tongue tried to move, but the pressure on his neck only increased more.


    "You don''t need to move your tongue now. You will do it when I order you to do itter. For now¡­ shut your mouth." Lin Mu said, his voice cold like the cer of a tyrant''s castle.


    <i>~swish~</i> N?vel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.


    Lin Mu''s hand moved like the wind and struck the man in multiple ces.


    <i>~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~</i>


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    In just a second, the man''s bones were split apart, and his limbs were broken. His spine was shattered from the waist as well, leaving him crippled. The sudden pain was enough to knock him out, and Lin Mu let go of him.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    His body fell down like a rag doll and his legs were bent at some awkward angles. Lin Mu looked at it coldly before he disappeared. A minuteter, he returned with the rest of hispanions.


    All of them had tense expressions on their face due to the aura that Lin Mu was emanating right now. He had only told them one thing, and it was to ''follow''.. And now they saw the reason for that, they were utterly taken aback.

 Chapter 838 - Helping Elder Liqiang

    "S-Senior Lin Mu¡­ what is this?" The disciples asked nervously.


    They could see the mass of dead bodies everywhere, and they did not look like they had a good end. All of them had been decapitated in one swift stroke and a bloody aura was spread in the room as well.


    "Northern Tribes." Lin Mu answered simply.


    The answer was like cold water pouring over their heads, and they understood the gravity of the situation. Jing Luo and Elder Weimin were quick to assess it and recognize the outfits that the men were wearing to be simr to the traditional outfits of the Northern Tribes.


    "They''re all from the Northern Tribes? But how?" Elder Weimin was confused.


    "Come." Instead of answering that though, Lin Mu simply ordered them to follow them.


    They went a little ahead and saw Lin Mu walking towards an empty area. A me appeared on Lin Mu''s hand and illuminated the area and thest injured person that was lying there.


    The moment the people of the Noon Grass sect saw him, their eyes went wide.


    "ELDER LIQIANG!" They all shouted out in unison and rushed towards him.


    But their lunge was brought to a halt as Lin Mu raised his hand.


    "Wait," He ordered.


    Lin Mu extended his hand and touched the barrier that had faded away. It reappeared and showed its form, along with the chains that were trapping Elder Liqiang in ce.


    "I-I''ll deal with¡ª" Jing Luo was just about to offer some help but was interrupted by a loud noise.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    A gust of wind blew the hair off everyone in the room as Lin Mu destroyed the barrier in front of him. A single punch was all it took to absolutely break a barrier that had managed to hold a Dao Shell realm cultivator.


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    "Such¡­ power¡­" one of the disciples muttered.


    Even Elder Weimin could tell from the appearance of the barrier that it was nothing simple. And Jing Luo, who was the expert in this, knew exactly howplex the barrier was. But then Lin Mu destroyed it easily.


    <i>~step~step~step~</i>


    Lin Mu walked towards the injured man, who was held by the chains, and gripped his hands around the chain.


    His biceps bulged as a massive power was exerted.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    The chains snapped like they were made out of twigs and Lin Mu caught the injured Elder in his hands. He quickly took out a pill bottle from his ring and opened its cap. A fragrant aroma spread in the hall as a round yellow pill with spiral patterns appeared in his hands.


    "The Four Vessels Restoration pill?" One of the Disciples recognized it.


    Lin Mu fed the pill to the injured man first beforeying him down on the ground and checking his condition. Elder Weimin and Jing Luo also arrived by his side during this time and did their own checks.


    Elder Weimin took a breath of relief after having figured out Elder Liqiang''s condition.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "His cultivation base is fine. It''s just his body that is injured. We can fix that in some time." Elder Weimin spoke.


    Even though Elder Liqiang had multiple broken bones and open wounds, the Four Vessels Restoration pill was already starting to fix him.


    "Take care of him," Lin Mu said as he handed a box of pills to a disciple standing beside him.


    He stood up and walked to the Leader of the Northern Tribesmen that was lying unconscious on the ground. The man had been ignored at the start, but then Lin Mu brought attention back to him.


    Picking him up like a bag of trash, Lin Mu threw him towards Jing Luo.


    "You know what to do." Lin Mu spoke.


    Jing Luo''s expression turned serious and nodded his head. He kicked the man and turned him over to see his face.


    "I''ll get everything out of him¡­ every¡­ little¡­ thing." Jing Luo said with an ice cold glint in his eyes.


    Elder Weimin and the disciples also looked towards the man and only anger could be seen in their eyes.


    "They did this to Elder Liqiang?" someone asked.


    "Not just them¡­ there is one more." Lin Mu said before exining the situation in short to them.


    He knew that the old woman might find out that her people had died here, or that something had happened. Thus Lin Mu needed to act quickly.


    "You get the woman, we''ll take care of the rest here." Jing Luo replied.


    "I''lle too!" Elder Weimin hurriedly said.


    "No," Lin Mu interrupted. "We don''t know if they have more people here or if they are hiding somewhere. You should protect them, I''ll deal with the old woman." He stated.


    Elder Weimin pursed his lips, but then nodded his head.


    "Alright, be careful¡­" He said in a concerned tone.


    Then without responding, Lin Mu Blinked away and disappeared. Everyone got to helping Elder Liqiang while Jing Luo pulled the one surveying Northern Tribesmen away.


    "You will sing today¡­ the final song of your life¡­" Jing Luo muttered as a few ideas appeared in his mind and a grin pulled on his lips.


    ***


    Lin Mu''s body phased through the wall, and he entered the stairwell that the old woman had taken. Making his way down, he realized just how deep it went. Skipping the stairs, he directly sank into the stairs.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    In five seconds, he had reached the bottom of the spiral stairwell and saw a wide open hall in front of him. This hall was vastly different from the ones he had seen before. It was smaller and was also a bit more circr in shape.


    His spirit Qi was not restrained here, thus he let it wander freely, not caring that the old woman could probably do the same. The interior of the hall formed in his mind as his spirit sense observed everything.


    And at the same time, it came in contact with some powerful spirit Qi waves.. The moment Lin Mu''s spirit Qi touched it, it was struck back.

 Chapter 839 - Ku Waowen

    Ku Waowen hade from a long line of Chieftains and had be the chieftess of her n after her grandfather died. She was the first person from her n who was ever acknowledged from the tribal alliance and had thus been chosen for the mission.


    The mission was something she herself had been looking forward to a long item. Kushao was an ancestor of her Ku n and was considered to be a legend in the northern tribes. Yet even then, his existence was kept a secret from the younger and weaker members.


    This was to keep the information spreading to the Great Zhou Empire. After all, Kushao had sacrificed a lot to infiltrate it and make the ruins, along with the teleportation formation array.


    He had made it with a long term goal. The one thing all sects liked was to get more resources and allow their disciples to gain experience from inheritance grounds. Thus, making the tomb of an old expert into his own and turning it into a trial ground was the best way he could have taken.


    Of course, the cost to make it was really great, but in the face of his goals, it was nothing.


    The Northern Tribes had used the ruins multiple times in the past to get the sects to sacrifice their disciples. They would only think that they died in the ruins of natural consequences, and would never find out what happened.


    All that happened with no suspicion for a long time until five hundred years ago, when the sects have had enough of it. They mounted a secret mission to get to the bottom of it.


    Of course, the Northern Tribes were already aware of it and decided to make use of it while turning it in their favor. They were already prepared at the ruins and managed to kill all those that had entered the tomb secretly.


    And just as they had expected, the sects kept this loss a secret for the fear of losing face.


    But it came at a cost and the formation arrays of the ruins ended up getting damaged.


    Ku Waowen looked at theplex formation array in front of her and sighed.


    "All these years we''ve waited to gain the secrets and it''s finally here. Ancestor sealed the teleportation array along with the main inheritance of the tomb to protect it from the sects. We''ve waited such long and we finally have the opportunity¡­" Ku Waowen muttered to herself.


    She stared into the Formation array and saw the hollow bottom. The hall was circr in shape and had a hole in the center of it. From this hole, one could look down into the fifth level of the ruins.


    It was now that she felt something she had never expected. Her spirit sense was spread around in the hall and felt another spirit sense appearing. Her face turned stern, and she immediately intercepted it.


    ''Who? Did they have some problem?'' Ku Waowen thought.


    But then she looked in the direction and saw a young man standing near the staircase. She furrowed her brows and questioned herself if she was seeing correctly. But no matter how much she wanted to believe that this was one of their people she could not.


    "Who are you and how did you get in here?" Ku Waowen questioned.


    She already had a guess about what had happened up there, but she needed to buy some time to manage some things on her end. Her spirit sense secretly split and changed certain parts on the formation.


    Lin Mu, who knew he had already been detected, calmly approached the woman.


    "You don''t need to know that. As for how I got here, you should already know." Lin Mu said in a cold tone.


    "I see¡­ looks like your head will have to pay the price for this¡­ NOW DIE!" Ku Waowen shouted and waved her hand.


    <i>~shing~shing~shing~</i>


    Three small ck spikes shot out of her fingers. They moved at a great speed and were almost invisible to the naked eye. Lin Mu though, simply blinked to the right ten meters away and dodged it with ease.


    Ku Waowen kept a still face, but internally she was a bit surprised.


    ''Speed? No¡­ even a Dao Treading realm expert might not be able to do that¡­ then what¡­'' she wondered.


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Her mind worked at great speed, while Lin Mu continued to approach, she responded by sending out more spikes but Lin Mu dodged them with ease too.


    "You done?" Lin Mu asked, "My turn then!"


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The short sword and several more spirit weapons appeared around Lin Mu. He sped his hand around the short sword''s handle and blinked ahead. In less than two seconds, he was already next to Ku Waowen.


    She widened her eyes and pushed her palm out, creating a shield that looked like a bowl.


    "Defense of the Chant bowl!" She recited.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    Lin Mu''s short sword hit the bowl and created a loud noise. Ku Waowen felt the power exuding from him and finally understood what she was facing.


    "Dao Shell realm?" She muttered.


    Till now she had been unable to fully sense Lin Mu''s cultivation base, but now she could. And the revtion was astounding to her. It was due to the fact how young Lin Mu looked. She knew for sure that even if Lin Mu had managed to maintain his youth, he would have to be at least a hundred years or more to have such an appearance.


    But even then a Dao Shell realm expert might not necessarily achieve that. It was absolutely iprehensible to her how such a person could exist.


    "Who are you? A sect''s chosen?" Ku Waowen immediately assumed.


    To her, a person who could reach the Dao Shell realm at this young age must have been carefully nurtured from the very start. They would have to begin from before he was even born and was still in the womb.


    They would have to provide great nutrition to the mother before that so that her child could have a great talent. Not to mention the parents would have to have good talent as well for the child to be talented.


    It would take centuries of preparation and a ton of resources to even nurture a single person like this. To Ku Waowen, only the top three sects could do something like this. If it were any other sect, they would have already known about it.


    "No." Lin Mu simply replied as she flipped back, neutralizing the recoil from the bowl like shield.


    ''Iron Thorn Spear!'' Lin Mu activated its skill.


    <i>~shing~shing~shing~</i>


    ck des shot out of the Iron thorn spear as it showed its power. The spear itself shot forward as well and attacked the bowl like shield.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The bowl started getting pushed back and the ck des tried to swerve around it.


    "Oh no, you don''t!" Ku Waowen as she brought her left hand''s middle and index finger together before making a pattern in the air.


    The pattern materialized and turned into a whip that flicked the ck des away. There were tens of ck des, yet the whip could block each and every one of them. It moved at a lightning speed and by the time it was done blocking all of the attacks, only a few fragments of it were left.


    <i>~tch~</i>


    "Seems like a kid like you has a lot of good things¡­ the sects certainly didn''t spare anything I see¡­" Ku Waowen stated.


    She made a gesture with her hand and red mist spread in the area. Just like she had done with Elder Liqiang, the red mist turned into more whips and chains before they started attacking Lin Mu.


    The chains morphed to have spikes on their ends while the whips had thorns along their length. Both of them looked fierce and gnarly.


    "Humph! This won''t work on me." Lin Mu said as he blocked the attacks one by one.


    But the attacks only kept on increasing in speed and intensity. Lin Mu switched from his short sword to another long sword. Now his left hand held the short sword and his right held the long sword.


    They moved around inplex trajectories, guided by his spirit sense, and shed against the attacks.


    "Let''s see if you can handle double that¡­" Ku Waowen made a few hand seals and the whips and chains were divided into two.


    The intensity of attacks on Lin Mu increased once more and he had to spend even more effort in blocking them. But at a certain point, he could not keep up and a few attacks managed to hit him.


    <i>~boom~</i>


    "Hahaha!" Ku Waowenughed as she saw Lin Mu getting stuck by the spiked chain.


    But her expression changed rather quickly upon seeing a brown armor appearing around Lin Mu. The mortal strengthening scripture worked to defend Lin Mu and he frowned.


    "Seems like I''ll need to put more effort¡­ A Shell Expansion stage Dao Shell realm cultivator is certainly worth its title." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    That''s right, Ku Waowen was at the Shell Expansion stage. The fact was confirmed now that Lin Mu was fighting with her.


    "How?" Ku Waowen questioned.


    To her, the technique that Lin Mu had just used seemed to have been activated almost instantly. Which was strange to her, as she should have seen Lin Mu do something for it at the very least.


    ''Is that a spirit tool?'' Ku Waowen wondered.


    Blink!


    But then Lin Mu disappeared in front of her eyes. She looked around, but her spirit sense could not feel him anywhere in the hall.


    <i>~SLASH~</i>

 Chapter 840 - The Battle Heats Up

    The whirring of a de tearing through the air could be heard by Ku Waowen and her eyes went wide. She could feel goosebumps at the back of her head and immediately lunged forward while creating a scarf made out of the red mist around her head.


    <i>~ck~</i>


    The short sword missed Ku Waowen''s neck, but managed to hit the red scarf. It was as if made out of iron wires and managed to trap the short sword.


    "You won''t get me that easily, you''re a few centuries too early!" Ku Waowen said as she quickly made a hand seal.


    <i>~Guga~</i>


    The red scarf moved like a snake and wrapped around the entire short sword before reaching Lin Mu''s hand itself.


    "Humph!" Lin Mu grunted and pulled on the Short sword, tearing it from the grip of the red scarf.


    The old woman''s eyes darted around in a few locations before a smirk appeared on her face.


    "The sects spent such arge amount of time and resources in nurturing you, it would be a shame if you died here." Ku Waowen spoke.


    But Lin Mu paid no attention to her words and curled his left hand.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The Axe that had been floating in the corner, blocked by Ku Waowen''s Red mist finally flew out and was sped in his hand. The short sword went to float near his shoulder and started to attack the red mist on its own.


    "Your talk is useless now¡­ you will talkter when I want the things I desire." Lin Mu replied and jumped up.


    The Axe was raised straight up before being curled back along with Lin Mu''s hands. Spirit Qi swirled around the Axe before more of it was injected into it from Lin Mu''s meridians.


    It soon changed color and a red hue appeared around him.


    "FLAME SPLITTER!" Lin Mu chanted as a Qi skill was activated.


    Since Lin Mu had gotten fire attribute spirit Qi in his arsenal now, he could use some of the Qi skills and techniques that he had in his storage. There were many that he had obtained and they were memorized by him.


    Using them now was the perfect opportunity.


    The Axe suddenly grew two times in size as mes bloomed on it. The ming Axe shed down, creating a long arc of fire that was at least thirty meters in length.


    <i>~Sizzle~</i>


    The red mist seems to have been affected by it and was burned away. Both the Axe and the Qi skill were high grade and thus were able to cause quite a bit of damage. Ku Waowen narrowed her eyes and pulled out a bottle of transparent liquid from her storage.


    Taking arge gulp and downing it all at once, she spat out a cloud of frost from her mouth.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i> Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    The cloud of frost was very cold and ice formed on the ground where it passed. The mes made by the Axe were suppressed by it easily while the red mist quickly retreated behind it.


    Then something surprising happened that Lin Mu had not expected. The frost actually climbed over the Axe and reached the wooden handle. Lin Mu hurriedly let go of the Axe as he could still feel the chill from it despite the Mortal Strengthening scriptures armor.


    ''What is this?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    The Axe was fully covered in ice and fell to the ground lifelessly. Despite it being a spirit weapon, Lin Mu discovered that he could not control it. The ice was like a barrier that had forcefully disconnected his spirit sense link with the Axe.


    If it were any normal person, they probably would have sustained some internal injuries due to this. But Lin Mu''s spirit sense was far too refined to break so easily. Thus, it was simply disconnected rather than being torn.


    <i>~Shatter~</i>


    "How?!"


    Lin Mu then saw the Axe shatter into pieces upon touching the ground.


    "Eheheheeh! You think just because you have high grade spirit weapons, they are unbreakable. You are naive!" The old woman taunted.


    Though it really was a bit surprising to Lin Mu. While the Axe wasn''t particrly a very strong spirit weapon even in the High grade weapons and could notpare to the Short sword in durability, it was still stronger than most other weapons.


    It breaking like this was astounding to Lin Mu, and made him think about the attack that had caused it to be like this.


    "That frost cloud¡­ it''s not simple." Lin Mu muttered.


    His eyes gazed at the frost cloud that was still floating around. Though its size had decreased by half now.


    "Seems like I need to punish you a bit before you will be willing to listen," Ku Waowen said as she gestured with her hand and brought them towards her face.


    <i>~HUUUUUUUUU~</i>


    Making an ''O'' with her lips, she deeply breathed in the air. The red mist surged into her mouth while the frost cloud stayed as it is. Lin Mu put distance between him and the cloud just in case and tried to analyze what it could be.


    ''It only appeared after she drank that transparent liquid. So that liquid must have something to do with it.'' Lin Mu thought.


    When the red mist was fully inhaled by the old woman, her nails turned red and so did her hair.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    She tapped her nails together and they made a metallic humming sound. The Frost cloud seemed to react to the sound and started to move. She then pulled on her hair and ripped out half of it in one go.


    Ku Waowen moved her hands at a rapid speed, using her nails to weave the hair. The hair quickly stiffened in her hand and turned into red rods that looked like they were quite sturdy.


    Her eyes nced at the wary Lin Mu and a smile appeared on her face.


    "I''ll ask onest time, will you heed?" She questioned.


    "No," Lin Mu replied.


    With this response, Ku Waowen''s expression turned fierce and she threw out the red rods.


    "Xieye Yun Frost Cage!" Ku Waowen chanted.

 Chapter 841 - Caged And Lies

    Upon her chant, the red rods moved like rockets towards Lin Mu. He weaved through them and sessfully dodged them, but that was not Ku Waowen''s goal at all.


    <i>~ng~ng~ng~</i>


    All of the red rods were impaled into the ground around Lin Mu and the Frost cloud was attracted to them like a ma.


    <i>~swoosh~</i>


    The frosty wind brought on by the cloud was chilly and frost settled on to Lin Mu''s Armor. Even then he could feel the chill prate it and spread to his skin.


    "How is this going past the Armor?" Lin Mu was confused.


    ''There was certainly something strange amount that liquid she drank.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He tried to move, but realized that it was alreadyte. Ice had covered the ground and the top as well. The rods worked like the bars of a cage while the frost became the concrete that coated them.


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Lin Mu was now fully enclosed in the ice and was unable to move around much. The speed at which the ice spread was astounding, and it was as if the red rods had catalyzed them in some way.


    "You should have taken the offer, now you can only me yourself." Ku Waowen said with a chuckle.


    Lin Mu didn''t take that standing though and started to hit on the ice. The short sword that was close to him was now being used as an ice pick. The other weapons of Lin Mu fell to the ground controbly due to the frost restraining his spirit sense.


    <i>~bang~bang~bang~</i>


    The icy cage was far tougher than Lin Mu had expected and did not budge at all. His expression turned serious as he tried to find a weakness in the skill that had just been used.


    "It''s definitely not a formation, thus I can''t use the normal method. I''ll have to find some other way." Lin Mu muttered to himself and use his spirit sense to test out the cage.


    But no matter how much he tried, his spirit sense could not prate the walls of the cage. They were simr to the repelling effect that was shown by the walls of the ruins that could restrain spirit Qi, but these went a step further and could even inflict damage.


    The icy chill exuded from the cage''s walls, threatened to drill through Lin Mu''s spirit sense and prate his body. It was a scary feeling that made Lin Mu quickly withdraw his spirit sense; knowing this might not be the way.


    Gritting his teeth, Lin Mu clenched his fist and hammered them down on to the walls.


    <i>~BANG~BANG~BANG~</i>


    The entire cage shook like a bull was raging within it, but even then there were no signs of damage that could be seen on it.


    "Hahahah! My Xieye Yun Frost Cage isn''t something the likes of you can break. It has the True Frost Essence of our tribe, which has been refined for over a thousand years. Even if you were at the Shell Expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm, it still won''t be affected." Ku Waowenughed.


    Hearing the name of the liquid that she had drank, Lin Mu''s mind quickly worked. He felt like he had heard something simr to that before.


    "It should be simr to the Arctic Essence." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head as the memory appeared in his mind.


    "Indeed, the Lost immortal once traded arge amount of fortune to obtain the Arctic essence. It is said to be one of the coldest materials one can buy and is very useful for those with ice physiques.


    But it is also used in restrictive poisons and meridian freezing pills. No wonder it can prevent my spirit sense from passing through." Lin Mu replied.


    "Not just that, those red rods made from her hair. They aren''t simple either. They are providing the structure for it. And perhaps that is how she''s controlling it too." Xukong suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ yes, now that I think of it, she didn''t control the frost cloud with her spirit sense. She simply blew it out and even when it respondedter, it only did to the sound. If the True Frost Essence is simr to the Arctic essence, then it should be impossible for her to do anything, not to mention swallow it like that.


    She would have turned into an ice block if she even touched that bottle. This is probably an inferior version of it." Lin Mu replied.


    A few ideas appeared in his mind, but then he saw something that changed his thoughts.


    ''She''s not acting? Is she waiting for something? No¡­ it''s not that she''s waiting, but rather she can''t do anything!'' Lin Mu understood.


    "She might have already strained herself using their technique. Though with her cultivation base, if she could restrain you like this, she might have also been able to kill you with something lethal, after all, you are trapped.


    But she hasn''t done that." Xukong added.


    "She has some other thoughts." Lin Mu muttered.


    He looked at the old woman and decided to interact a bit.


    "Fine¡­ what is it that you want?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hahaha! So the camel finally decides to bend, huh?" Ku Waowen snarked.


    But Lin Mu kept his face still. The ice was very transparent and thus he could still be seen clearly. It was almost like a ss.


    "So then¡­ which sect are you from?" She questioned. "If they managed to hide you for this long, and you appeared, you must have found out about us, haven''t you?"


    Lin Mu already had a few answers ready for times like this spoke.


    "I am from the Zither Wind alliance." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing this, the old woman frowned.


    "LIES! There is nothing they can do that we won''t find out." Ku Waowen said out loud.


    "Oh? You mean the people being controlled?" Lin Mu said with a raised brow.


    "Ahah, seems like we truly managed to fool the Northern Tribes. We already have a way to hide from your surveince.. The people you control aren''t all being controlled!" Lin Mu dered, stunning her.

 Chapter 842 - Trickery

    Lin Mu''s words were of course were shocking to Ku Waowen, but at the same time, hermon sense spoke to her that Lin Mu was simply trying to throw her off and was lying.


    "Brat, do you really think I was born yesterday? Such simply bluffs aren''t something you can use on me." Ku Waowen countered.


    "Huh, you really think I''m lying? What if I told you we have our own spies in the Northern Tribes?" Lin Mu stated, throwing Ku Waowen off.


    But this time, he didn''t give her the time to respond and continued to speak.


    "We know all about you. About how Gu Yao has supposedly taken control of the Zither Wind alliance, how you all called another invader through some trader from a different world, and even how many people you have." Lin Mu stated.


    Now Ku Waowen couldn''t help but think that her conjecture might have been wrong. Knowing not to rush into a trap, she decided to probe a bit more.


    "If you really know about our people, then you must know our power, right? Why don''t you tell me that and I might just believe you." Ku Waowen said in a taunting tone, though her nervousness was leaking a little bit.


    "Sure." Lin Mu said very casually.


    "The Northern Tribes have Eleven Dao Treading Realm cultivators and Three Immortal Ascension realm cultivators. As for their locations, most of them are concentrated around your grand capital including two of the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators, while one of the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators is situated to the south of the Grand capital near the Pear''s belt in some mountains." Lin Mu revealed.


    N?velDrama.Org: owner of this content.


    "Wh-what¡­" Upon hearing Lin Mu''s detailed answer, Ku Waowen was absolutely stunned.


    She was expecting there to be some guesses, even including the fact that Lin Mu might bluff and saw they had Immortal Ascension realm cultivators. But the exact locations of them were not something she had expected for him to know as well.


    "Hahaha! Seems like you all aren''t that well prepared either." Lin Mu teased. "You didn''t even know we had spies in your ranks and neither did you know we got out of Gu Yao''s control. You all don''t even know how deep you are into the ocean."


    Ku Waowen did not reply and continued to think to herself. This was a great shock to her. Since she was allowed toe here on such an important mission, she certainly knew some of the high ranked secrets of the Northern Tribes.


    They were secrets that, other than her, only a handful of people knew. Thus, for them to get leaked, they would need to have someone in those handfuls of people working as spies.


    The moment, this thought came to her, a cracking sound was heard.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    She had unknowingly clenched her fist hard enough that one of her ornamental rings had cracked.


    "Tell me who are the spies and you will have a chance to live." Ku Waowen decisively spoke.


    "Oh? Changing your mind so quickly?" Lin Mu raised his brow.


    "Your life is in my hands. Even if you don''t speak, our ancestors have methods to extract memories from unwilling people. You don''t need to be fully alive for that either." Ku Waowen said, her voice dripping with venom.


    "Coming to threats now, are we? Well sure, I''ll throw you a bone. Two of the spies are in your Dao Treading realm cultivators. haha!" Lin Mu chuckled.


    Ku Waowen''s mind immediately got to working on who could be behind it. She didn''t even question the fact if Lin Mu was lying, since he had stated far too much information for him to even bother doing something like this.


    To Ku Waowen, the most important thing right now, even more important than Lin Mu, was to send word to the Northern Tribes. But that was an immensely difficult task as of now.


    While they did have ways to quickly transmit information to the Northern Tribes, that information was sent by rying it to multiple people. But with the information Lin Mu had just revealed, she couldn''t trust that ry set up they had either.


    To her, it meant that it would just end up alerting Lin Mu''s allies and telling them that he was in danger and had been found out. After all, she couldn''t guess on the fact if they didn''t have spies in the people that had already entered the Great Zhou Empire either.


    ''Will ancestors even respond to my call? It will be a great disrespect to use that, but this is now a grave emergency.'' Ku Waowen decided.


    She looked at Lin Mu, that was still standing and smugly looking at him, and gritted her teeth.


    "I swear I''ll rip out your lungs, once I''m done with this¡­" She muttered to herself.


    While Ku Waowen was doing this, Lin Mu was doing something else. His mind was split in two and was doing different tasks. On one hand he was keeping an eye on the Old Woman''s every move and on the other hand, it was trying to find some other solution.


    Lin Mu had to maintain a staunch attitude as the more he did that, the more Ku Waowen got nervous and the better chances for her to make mistakes.


    ''She finally moves,'' Lin Mu thought to himself and saw Ku Waowen turn around.


    She started to walk towards the formation array in the center and work on something.


    ''Time to test it¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself and pretended to contact someone using a Jade slip.


    Seeing that she had not noticed him or had looked at him, Lin Mu decided to be a bit more daring. He directly took out a pile of peak grade spirit stones and looked at Ku Waowen.


    ''Huh¡­ so she really can''t sense anything inside either¡­ PERFECT!'' Lin Mu smiled upon discovering this.


    "Seems like not only is my spirit sense restricted by this cage, the same applies to hers as well. This will work in our favor.." Lin Mu muttered to himself and enacted his new n.

 Chapter 843 - Escape And Counterattack

    Ku Waowen was quickly working on a different thing than what she hade here for originally. Her ns had seemingly been flipped on its end, due to Lin Mu''s appearance. And in addition to that, the revtion about the spies was far too much for her to bear alone.


    Her clingers flitted across the formation array as she made one change after the other. There were some runes being added, and some removed, though she didn''t change anyyers of it.


    Lin Mu observed this and guessed what she was doing.


    ''She''s trying to draw spirit Qi from it?'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    He was a bit confused as this was aplex thing to do as a formation array would hide sensitive functions like this deeper into its middleyers. This would prevent anyone from essing it.


    And what Ku Waowen was doing was certainly that. But it was stranger since she was not altering anyyers at all and was only working on the surface.


    "How is this possible?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "She may have a key to the formation array. Since it was set by their ancestor, they likely have something that allows her to control it." Xukong suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ seems like it. But I can''t sense what that is from here. Not without my spirit sense." Lin Mu replied.


    But Lin Mu couldn''t wait for something to happen on its own. He needed to take the initiative.


    ''I can''t let her do as she feels. She''s probably trying to make contact with the Northern Tribes. Even if she does make it, she can''t reveal who caught her. The information reaching them might be a good option and will throw them off though.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With a n ready, Lin Mu decided to be even more daring.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu looked around him and tried to memorize everything he could. Then the very next moment, he disappointed into thin air.


    "Fade," Lin Mu appeared in the parallel world.


    The vast emptiness of the strangelyforting to him and he paused briefly before moving again.


    "It should be about here¡­" Lin Mu said, recalling theyout of the hall.


    He moved to a certain location and came to a halt before deactivating fade. Since the Xieye Yun Frost Cage could restrict spirit Qi, Lin Mu didn''t know entirely if Fade would work or not, since Flicker, Blink, and Phase didn''t work in there.


    Meld was out of the option too, as using it this close to his body could gravely injure him.


    But seeing Fade work like normal was relieved and allowed him to finally escape it. Appearing near the ceiling of the hall, Lin Mu instantly entered an offensive stance. Vital energy stirred within his arm as Lin Mu poured arger than normal amount into it.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: First Form- Impact!


    He descended from the ceiling like a meteor, and Ku Waowen was toote to stop him.


    "NOOO!" She yelled as Lin Mu reached the top of the formation array.


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    The defensiveyer that had automatically activated by the fomentation array shattered almost immediately and the ones that appeared after that were shattered as well. Lin Mu''s attack breached the initial defenses and finally struck the uppermostyer of the array.


    The impact broke it apart and the spirit Qi contained within it exploded uncontrobly. The explosion of a formation was often very dangerous, as the spirit Qi contained within it was very structured.


    But when this structure was forcefully shifted, it would lead to the spirit Qi channels within it conflicting and leading to a vtile reaction. Most formation arrays would have a safety for preventing this even if ayer was broken, but that safety was unless when Lin Mu had directly attacked it.


    "AAAARHGH!" Ku Waowen spat out a mouthful of blood as she was shot to the other corner of the hall.


    Lin Mu was simrly sent to the opposite corner and sustained some damage as well.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~SHATTER~</i>


    The Armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture broke almost instantly and his body had to bear the rest of the damage. Protecting his head with his hands, Lin Mu soldiered on as he finally mmed into the wall.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    His body created an indent into the wall as cracks spread around from it.


    "UGH!" Lin Mu grunted in pain.


    His back, arms, and head ached in protest, but he forcefully endured it. Spreading his spirit sense around, he quickly assessed the situation in the room, while also eating a bunch of healing pills simultaneously.


    "YOU!!!!! YOU SWINE!!! YOU BROKE IT!" An enraged voice could be hearding from the back of the smoke cloud.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    With the sweep of her hand, Ku Waowen blew away all the smoke and cleared her field of vision. She then saw Lin Mu standing on the other end. Her anger spiked as she sped ahead.


    A silvernce appeared in her hand and she aimed it towards Lin Mu''s head.


    "YOU''LL PAY FOR THIS!" She shouted as her eyes turned bloodshot.


    Lin Mu observed the blood leaking from her lips and nose and knew that he had managed to injure her far more than before.


    ''Her spirit sense should have gotten injured as well since she was connected to the formation array when it exploded.'' Lin Mu reckoned as he took out a shield from his storage.


    Putting it in front of him, his body was entirely hidden behind it.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The Silver Lance hit the broad shield for a fraction of a second before piercing through with ease.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    Thence directly pushed the shield along with it and was stuck half way through it before embedding into the wall behind it. But Ku Waowen did not fall for it and immediately flipped around to intercept another attack.


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    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    "You can''t fool me twice!" She said as Lin Mu used a long sword to attack her.


    Their eyes locked as the battle entered a sensitive period.

 Chapter 844 - The Odds Flip

    Ku Waowen was incredibly angry, and her fury was now overflowing. Her original intent about trapping Lin Mu and extracting more information from him was long gone and all she wanted to do now was to kill him.


    "YOU WILL DIE TODAY!" She yelled and spun thence in a circle.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    A glowing circle was formed due to the spinning of thence and was shot out like a spinning de.


    <i>~zing~</i>


    Lin Mu flipped in the air, dodging the ring while keeping his gaze locked onto the old woman. For some reason, he felt like there was a problem with her.


    ''Even if I did break that, her anger seems a little too much.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "Perhaps you broke something that allows the ess to the inheritance of the Immortal Ascension realm cultivator." Xukong suggested.


    "That shouldn''t be possible. The ess formation for that will be deep in the middleyers of the array, there is no way aplex formation like that will be broken with an attack like that." Lin Mu replied.


    Even if Lin Mu knew his attack was strong, he knew its limits as well. Besides, he himself did not want to use an attack that was too strong as that might result in an explosion that would gravely hurt him too.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    The short sword and the Iron Thorn Spear made their return and blocked the next attack that had reached Lin Mu. Lin Mu had linked back up with all of his spirit weapons that were fallen on the ground.


    "She didn''t think to confiscate the weapons¡­ not like it would have mattered much, I got more." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He now understood just how shocked Ku Waowen really was. Any experience cultivator like her would have confiscated weapons as soon as they got the chance. But it was evident that Lin Mu''s words had pushed her a little too much.


    "Once I get rid of you, the sects will all suffer. Their souls will join you in the mes of torture! JUST IMAGINE THE MAGNIFICENCE!" Ku Waowen said out loud.


    ''I''m not even from sects.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and kept on dodging.


    The battle continued on as Lin Mu and Ku Waowen exchanged attacks back and forth. Lin Mu''s Mortal Strengthening Scripture had also recovered his armor and he could ignore most of the blowback from her normal attacks.


    But a direct attack would still break his armor. He had understood that much. Lin Mu also got to learn quite a bit from Ku Waowen. Since he hadn''t fought any cultivator that was at the Dao Shell realm yet, his understanding of their skills and methods wascking.


    The only ones he had fought were Dao Shell realm beasts, thus the same factors would not apply to this fight. Lin Mu was also not going all out as he felt like something bad would happen if he did that.


    His instincts were telling him to hold back. Plus, thatbined with the fact that Ku Waowen had still not hurt him significantly despite having a very high cultivation base suggested to Lin Mu that she was nning something.


    His spirit sense was already scanning around to find if there was any trap set, but he could not perceive any at this point.


    ''Is it really just her being unable to catch up with me? Or is there really something else?'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    After about fifteen minutes, both Lin Mu and the old woman had sustained some injuries on their bodies. In this time, Lin Mu''s armor had been broken at least three times from attacks he could not dodge.


    Ku Waowen had a skill that allowed her to elerate her normal attacks and techniques by ten times and it would be done randomly. This caught Lin Mu off guard and it ended with his Mortal Strengthening Scripture''s armor breaking.


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    Thankfully, at his level, only the part that was struck would break, and not the entire armor. Thus repairing it was just a matter of time and earth elemental spirit Qi, which he had a sufficient amount of.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    Suddenly Ku Waowen tapped hernce on the ground and spun mid way through her attack.


    <i>~Rip~</i>


    <i>~stter~</i>


    "Huh? What?" Lin Mu said in confusion.


    Ku Waowen had made a strange move that didn''t make sense. If she had continued onwards, she would have been able to block his attack or at least parry it, but turning around mid way had caused her to get injured by Lin Mu''s short sword instead.


    A deep gash had been cut out onto her waist and the flesh within it could now be seen.


    "Haha!" The old womanughed instead of wincing in pain.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and knew that something was wrong. A surge of spirit qi was felt by him and his pupils became pin point.


    "FADE¡ª" Lin Mu tried to use the skill, but was interrupted before that.


    "Ahahaha! AHAHAHA!" Ku Waowenughed again, seeing Lin Mu fail.


    "How''s this possible?!" Lin Mu was puzzled.


    Taking the chance while Lin Mu was a bit distracted, Ku Waowen made a few hand seals.


    <i>~shua~shua~shua~</i>


    Her fingers moved like a blur and created various runes in the air. Then the very next second, she joined her palms and spun them like a blooming lotus.


    <i>"With the Ancestors Blood, With the Ancestors Bloodline, Calling the Bloodline, Calling the Will!"</i> Ku Waowen chanted.


    <i>~Ripple~</i>


    The blood that had spilled out from the old woman''s body started to gather together. Globs and spheres of blood rushed up from the ground and turned into hundreds of streams that split in the air and rushed back towards the ground.


    But this time they entered very specific ces. Lin Mu''s spirit sense had stopped working and he could only look around to see what was happening. The streams of blood entered the crevices and indents that had been made during the battle.


    Lin Mu''s anxiety increased while Ku Waowen smiled widely, showing her missing teeth.

 Chapter 845 - Humiliation And Anger

    In the hall, not all of the indents and scratches were filled with blood.


    Only very specific ones were filled with the blood and once Lin Mu saw all of them, he could make out a very specific shape. It was not like any character or letter he had seen, and neither was it any pattern he was familiar with.


    ~WEEENG~


    The pattern lit up and glowed in a blood red light.


    ~HUALA~


    A very strange energy erupted from the pattern and snuffed out all of the spirit qi in the air. The energy rushed towards Lin Mu and coated his body. Lin Mu could not dodge it and found his control over spirit qi falling rapidly.


    "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!" Lin Mu eximed.


    He could understand if the spirit qi in the air was restrained, but even the spirit qi in his own body was not in his control anymore. His dantian was soon covered in the same strange energy and he was unable to use any spirit qi at this point.


    "Ehehehehe! Do you like that? DO YOU FEEL THAT!" Ku Waowen said out loud.


    A deep frown appeared on Lin Mu''s face and knew that he had been fooled.


    "She was making this thing the entire time¡­ She never wanted to kill me from the start, she was just making it seem like it." Lin Mu understood.


    "She used the same method that you used earlier." Xukong spoke.


    His voice though, was eerily calm. Lin Mu didn''t particrly notice it as he was more focused on the situation at hand. He felt both humiliated and lost at this.


    ''I thought I had everything under control.'' Lin Mu realized he had done the very thing he had long decided not to do: underestimating his opponent.


    Gritting his teeth, Lin Mu mmed his foot creating spiderweb like cracks in the floor and shot towards Ku Waowen.


    "I DON''T NEED SPIRIT QI TO DEFEAT YOU!" Lin Mu said staunchly.


    Ku Waowen was a taken aback by Lin Mu''s action.


    ''This kid¡­ how is he doing this?'' Ku Waowen thought.


    While she had understood that Lin Mu was strong, she didn''t know that his strength didn''t juste from spirit qi. Lin Mu was a body cultivator as well and had the same strength as that of an Adult Soul Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator that was at the very peak just with his body.


    A casual punch of his could break apart boulders and turn them to dust, which was something that normal cultivators would need to use spirit qi to do. They would have to first amplify their body with spirit qi and reinforce it, or they would end up injuring themselves.


    But this effect was temporary and would onlyst as long as they maintained that state. It also consumed their spirit qi continually as long as they kept it active. But Lin Mu was not like that. Even if he had no spirit qi, he would still stay like that.


    Not only that, if he ever lost his spirit qi cultivation base, his body cultivation would always be there. Crippling that was not a simple thing.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    Lin Mu''s fist buried into the ground where Ku Waowen was standing and missed her.


    "Dammit!" Lin Mu cursed and looked around to find her again.


    With the loss of his spirit sense, he couldn''t react as fast as before either.


    "Seems like there are more secrets to you than I thought. You will be the perfect gift for ancestors. They will be happy to pry out each and every secret of yours!" Ku Waowen said in a happy tone.


    Lin Mu saw her standing in the air on the opposite side.


    Her hands moved again and made a few patterns.


    "Totemic Dungeon Seal! UNLEASH!" Ku Waowen recited.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    <i>~CLANG~CLANG~</i>


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    The moment her chant ended, tens of chains that were bloody rose up from the ground. They sped onto Lin Mu and wrapped around his body.


    Three chains wrapped on each of his limbs, four wrapped on his waist, navel, chest, and neck.


    The chains were then stretched taut and Immobilized Lin Mu. His neck was pulled back, making him feel very ufortable.


    "Ehehehe! I thought just restraining your spirit qi would be enough, but this monkey has more tricks than that. Let''s see what you can do with our Totemic Seal." Ku Waowenughed.


    Lin Mu''s eyes darted around as much as they could in his orbits and tried to find a solution. He couldn''t find anything that seemed like it would help him and he didn''t recognize the pattern to be a formation either.


    ''What is this? It''s not a formation, and neither is it a qi skill¡­'' Lin Mu was lost.


    "It''s a totemic technique. They are simr to bloodline skills but have far greater restrictions on them." Xukong informed.


    "Huh? What restrictions does this one have then?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I don''t know." Xukong tly answered.


    "What do I do now?" Lin Mu asked, his tone low.


    "That is up to you. This is now a trial for you. You will have to figure out a solution for yourself. You got into this and you will have to get out of it yourself." Xukong stated firmly.


    Lin Mu''s expression fluctuated, but he gritted his teeth. He knew that it was his mistake he had let it continue this far.


    ''If only I stopped her earlier, this would not have happened¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He tried to pull on the chains and exerted his strength, but was unable to do anything.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    Instead, the chains only tightened their grip on his body, making him grunt in pain.


    "Ahahaha! There is no use. Breaking the Totemic Seal of my n is impossible for your kind!" Ku Waowen insulted.


    Numerous thoughts, including self me went through Lin Mu''s mind. He was reminded of hispanions that were still waiting for him upstairs and what their end would be like if Ku Waowen got to them.


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    This lit a fire in Lin Mu''s heart and his eyes turned bloodshot.


    "I¡­ can''t let that happen¡­ NO! I WON''T LET THAT HAPPEN!" Lin Mu dered out loud.

 Chapter 846 - The Terrorized Ku Waowen

    Ku Waowen was pleased at seeing Lin Mu fall into her trap. While it had taken quite a bit out of her to n it out and execute it, she had finally seeded. The mental pressure of Lin Mu having information about spies was simply too heavy.


    She knew that there was no way she could kill him, just like that. Especially since her earlier attempt at sending a message to her superiors had failed due to Lin Mu interrupting. While she had indeed added the content that she needed to send, she did not know if it was sent out sessfully or how much of it was sent.


    Either way, she knew that only by keeping Lin Mu alive and extracting information from him was the option for her here. Any other option would lead to grave danger on their end.


    They would not know how their foes were nning against them. In a prolonged war, the most important part was information and once someone had a grasp on it, the war was as good as half won.


    ''His skills and abilities are also very impressive. He will be something the ancestors will certainly be interested in. Especially his body. How did he make it this strong? He''s like a beast.'' Ku Waowen thought.


    While she thought this all, Lin Mu was struggling in the chains that were restraining him.


    <i>~ng~ng~ng~</i>


    "Still not giving up? It''s useless! The more you struggle, the tighter they will get." Ku Waowen said.


    But Lin Mu paid no attention to it and kept on struggling and pulling on the chains.


    <i>~HAAA~</i>


    "I¡­ Have¡­ To¡­ Get¡­ Out¡­ Of¡­ Them¡­" Lin Mu said to himself between breaths.


    But even his peak Nascent soul realm strength was not enough to break them apart. Not only that, but he felt that the longer he was held by them, the weaker he was getting.


    "Without spirit Qi, you are nothing! Every cultivator will falter. You are simply naive!" Ku Waowen scoffed as she walked towards him.


    By the time she reached Lin Mu, he had stopped struggling.


    "Finally done?" Ku Waowen asked in a teasing tone.


    "¡­not," A? low whisper was heard by her.


    She leaned in slightly and asked, "you said something brat?"


    "I''m not¡­"


    "Oho? Still got a little kick in you?" Ku Waowen chuckled.


    <strong><i>~SLAP~</i></strong>


    A fierce p hit Lin Mu''s face as blood dripped from his mouth.


    "Let''s see how long you can keep up with that." She said in a cold tone.


    But at that moment, her heart shuddered.


    <i>''Ga¡­''</i>


    "Huh?" Ku Waowen became alert and checked the area with her spirit sense.


    Her instincts were telling her that something had changed, but she couldn''t tell what.


    <i>''Ko¡­ Na¡­''</i>


    <i>~tremble~</i>


    But even after checking everything, she couldn''t find anything. Everything seemed to be the same.


    <i>"Mi¡­"</i> A whisper was heard.


    "Sha¡­" another appeared after that.


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    Ku Waowen''s ears perked up and tracked the whispers to none other than right in front of her.


    ''Him?''


    <i>"Zu¡­"</i> the whispers continued.


    They didn''t make sense to Ku Waowen and seemed to be in apletely differentnguage she had not heard.


    <i>"Ge¡­ Yu¡­ La¡­ Di¡­ Mo.."</i> Lin Mu''s lips kept on chanting.


    Ku Waowen felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck standing. She didn''t feel like moving and kept on listening to the faint chantinging from Lin Mu''s lips.


    ''What is this¡­?'' Ku Waowen was in a strange state.


    She felt like she needed to listen to the chants, but at the same time, she felt like her heart was telling her to run away this very instant. Her brain also started telling her that she needed to stop Lin Mu from doing whatever he was right now.


    <i>~tremble~</i>


    She raised her hand as it trembled, but couldn''t bring it to hit Lin Mu. A sense of terror filled her body and paralyzed it.


    She didn''t know how long she was in a state. It could have been for a few seconds, or perhaps even hours. Time had be a fleeting existence and could not be perceived by her at that moment.


    Ku Waowen then felt her vision narrowing and new words starting to sound in her ears. She still couldn''t understand them, but the emotion she was getting from them was very oppressive.


    ''What is this¡­ malevolence?'' Ku Waowen thought.


    It was then that those words turned into an understandable dialect, but when she heard them, it was as if her entire being shook.


    <strong><i>"Ignite thy heart as a furnace, let your rage fuel your strength and unleash rampage upon the worlds!!!"</i></strong>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    A loud noise woke her up from the trance and she saw Lin Mu looking up at her. Blood dripped from his face as a malevolent gaze assaulted her. His eyes glowed in a red hue and looked almost filled with blood.


    <i>~KAKAKA~</i>


    "Impossible!" Ku Waowen said as she saw the chains that bound Lin Mu being forcefully pulled outwards.


    Lin Mu''s fists were clenched, and his knuckles directly popped out of his skin. The white bony knuckles were stained with blood, looking gruesome.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    Lin Mu pulled on the chains, curling his body and making the chains creak.


    "HOW!?" Ku Waowen shouted in confusion and fear.


    "You said I am nothing without spirit Qi¡­ You were wrong¡­ Like I said before¡­ I need no spirit Qi to defeat you!" Lin Mu said, his voice hoarse.


    <i>~GRAAAAAAA~</i>


    A beastly growl was let out by Lin Mu as a newfound power filled him.


    <i>~KACHA~KACHA~KACHA~</i>


    The chains that bound Lin Mu snapped at that moment and he was released.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    His body fell to the ground and spread cracks in it.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Lin Mu mmed his fist into the ground as his body trembled nonstop. Ku Waowen stepped back in horror and felt like she was now facing something that was beyond herprehension.


    The more she watched, the more she got scared.. In front of her, Lin Mu''s body warped and turned before starting to erge.

 Chapter 847 - I… AM… VENGEANCE!

    Lin Mu was feeling a tremendous amount of pain right now. He could onlypare it to when he assimted the Great Slumber Bear''s bloodline and was enough to make him cry out in pain.


    <i>~RUAAAAAAAAA~</i>


    Though the cry was more like a roar when it came out of his throat and echoed in the entire hall.


    But pain was not the only thing that he was feeling. What filled his body even more was pure rage that had no ce to go. It circted in his body and stirred the vital energy in his body.


    When he was bound by the chains, he had felt even his vital energy getting suppressed and drained. But now¡­ he felt like he had a volcano inside of him that was ready to explode.


    <i>~Dub~DUB~<strong>DUB!~</strong></i>


    His heartbeats thundered like a war drum and could be heard very clearly. They joined his roar and created a soul chilling symphony.


    Vital energy kept on pouring out of the depths of his body and rushing into his blood. All the meat and food he had eaten till now was showing its effect.


    The Nameless Technique of the Lost Immortal suddenly became active, and endless vital essence started pouring out of his stomach.


    Lin Mu had never felt like this before and could only let things progress as it is.


    <i>~CRACK~CRACK~</i>


    His bones and joints creaked along with his trembling body. His muscles started to bulge out of irregrity and warped his body. He contorted in pain and looked like a horrifying ghoul at this moment.


    Within his Dantian, another change was happening. While the energy that suppressed his spirit Qi was still there, a relentless roar could still be hearding from Dantian. It was as if it was trying to force its way out, but was still unable to do it.


    But the roar resonated within his body and made Lin Mu''s blood heat up. Lin Mu could feel something additional happening to him. It was not just the Burning Heart Sutra that was acting now.


    Ku Waowen, who was watching the entire change was shaking like she was standing naked in the freezing winter. A Deep Crimson Aura started exuding from Lin Mu and became corporeal.


    It looked a bit simr to the red mist that she used, but was far denser than that. Plus, she could tell that it was not made of spirit Qi, but something else entirely.


    ''Ancestors save me¡­ what is this being¡­''


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    She hadn''t even touched the aura, but could sense that it was something that would wrench the life out of her. Even though it was just an aura and could not harm her directly, the Malevolent intent within it was very apparent.


    The Deep Crimson covered Lin Mu till he could not be seen at all. At the same time, Ku Waowen saw another part of the Deep Crimson aura separating out from it. The aura rose up and started to take a shape.


    It grew at least ten meters tall and three meters wide before details started to appear on it. She watched as it turned into arge beast. It was standing on two legs and had two arms with twelve inch long ws that were no less than knives.


    It had long canines that were prominently disyed in its mouth and a triangr pattern that was present on its chest.


    "A bear?" Ku Waowen finally recognized what the beast was.


    But it was not just any bear. It was thergest bear beast she had seen and the gaze with which it looked at her made her shrink back even more. What she didn''t notice though, were two small horns that had started to grow out from the side of the bear''s head.


    The bear raised his head as if it was taking a deep breath and stretched its arms.


    <strong><i>~ROAR!!!!!!~</i></strong>


    Finally, an earthshaking roar was let out by the bear that forced Ku Waowen to close her ears with her palms. But even then, a thin streak of blood could be dripping down the sides of her ears.


    <i>~EEEK!~</i>


    Ku Waowen shrieks in fear as she saw the beast about to pounce towards her. She jumped back but then realized that nothing had happened. Pulling every bit of courage she had, she looked back and saw that instead of attacking her, the beast was instead being sucked back into the main body of the aura.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The Deep Crimson aura started to shrink back and turned into a more spherical shape. It stayed in this form momentarily before finally being sucked back into the person that was within it.


    <i>~HUUUUUUUU~</i>


    A breath that was like the tearing wind was heard and a new being appeared in front of the old woman. It towered over her at over four meters and was ten times the size of a man. Its arms were as thick as tree trunks and so were the legs.


    There were three inch long and sharp ws that were red and grey in color. The chest of the being was broad and thick, which made him look like a towering wall. The dense muscles that were packed into it though, exuded sheer strength.


    His shoulders were wide and fine lines could be seen going all along with them. They joined up to form a pattern which then spread around his body. The pattern looked like an inverted triangle on his chest but an inverted pentagon on his back.


    The hair of the being was also long, reaching his lower back. It was pitch ck in color and had a metallic sheen to it as well.


    <i>~GRRRRRRR~</i>


    A rumbling growl came from the being''s mouth as its fangs were revealed. They were beastly and could easily tear any flesh to shreds.


    Ku Waowen stared into the eyes of the being and almost copsed, seeing the crimson pupils and ck sclera.


    "W-What¡­ What¡­ What are you?" Ku Waowen finally questioned with thest bit of courage that she had.


    <strong>"I¡­ AM¡­ VENGEANCE!"</strong>

 Chapter 848 - Tough Battle

    Lin Mu''s words rumbled in Ku Waowen''s ears and scared her to no end. But at the same time, her flight and fight instincts activated and she started to fly back.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    But before she even went a meter away, Lin Mu appeared to block her path.


    "S-so fast!" Ku Waowen was stunned.


    Then without caring, Lin Mu swiped his ws at Ku Waowen. The old woman''s pupils shrank in fear and she immediately threw out a small ornament that looked like a stick figure of a man.


    The stick figure changed its form rapidly and turned into Ku Waowen.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    The transformed stick figure exploded instantly the moment Lin Mu''s ws stuck it, showing just how much power was contained in that attack. Ku Waowen''s heart ached at the loss of the Stick figure, but she was also grateful for escaping.


    That stick figure was a high grade spirit tool that was a consumable. It could only be used once, but it could protect one from even a Dao Treading realm cultivators attack. Normally it should be activated beforehand so that it was ready.


    But Ku Waowen ended up doing it midway through the fight. If it was done beforehand, the enemy would not be able to tell that the figure in front of them was not a real person. It was a treasure that Ku Waowen had obtained after a lot of work.


    ''That was given to me by ancestor¡­ But now I had to use it here¡­'' Ku Waowen through while gritting her teeth.


    She continued to fly back, but at the same time, she knew that this fight was not something she could avoid.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    Lin Mu shot out of the smoke made by the explosion and attacked Ku Waowen again. His attacks were crude and no longer had any particr skill that they did when he was in his normal form.


    Right now, Lin Mu could only think of a limited number of things and was mostly controlling his body through his instincts. There was a river of pure rage flowing in his mind which muddled his thoughts.


    He didn''t even think about himself and what he had be at this moment.


    His ws rubbed against Ku Waowen''snce and pressured it to bend. The old woman pushed back with all her force but was still being unable to move Lin Mu. The ws on his feet dug into the stony floor, locking him in a ce like an immobile wall.


    <i>~HUMPH~</i>


    Lin Mu blew out hot steam through his nose and jumped up using one of his legs, while his other leg swiped at the Lance in one spinning motion.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Thence was kicked out of Ku Waowen''s hand and sent flying into the wall where it became embedded. Taking the opportunity while Ku Waowen was unbnced, Lin Mu mmed his foot down on the ground like a sledgehammer.


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    The floor that had managed to maintain its integrity for the most part was directly split apart from the attack. Large cracks spread through it and the floor exploded. Dirt and debris shot everywhere, injuring Ku Waowen as well.


    The small stone fragments were like bullets, not to mention the ground that had been shaken. It made the Old woman stumble and almost fall, but she managed to maintain her bnce at thest moment.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    She took out another spear from her spatial storage tool and counterattacked. Lin Mu didn''t care for it at all and directly met it with his hands.


    <i>~Clench~</i>


    The spear tip was directly sped in his palm, and he squeezed it.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    <i>~SHATTER~</i>


    The spear was not high grade like thence from before and was only at the mid grade. It could not bear Lin Mu''s strength and directly shattered.


    "This¡­" Ku Waowen''s eyes went wide at this and before she could react to it anymore, a bone crushing kick hit her chest.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    "AAAAAHHHH!" Ku Waowen cried out in pain as several of her ribs were cracked.


    <i>~st~</i>


    She spat out a mouthful of blood as the impact rocked her insides. Five bloody holes could also be seen on her chest, formed by Lin Mu''s ws. The ws in Lin Mu''s feet, while not being as long as his fingers, were still very sharp.


    Blood spilled from the five holes and weakened the old woman. Lin Mu lunged forward and directly bashed into the old woman, who was still not able to control herself.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    She was sent flying once again and crashed into the wall. Spitting out more blood, she looked at Lin Mu with dread in her eyes.


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    ''What is this¡­ thing? That is no longer human¡­'' Ku Waowen thought.


    She took out a few healing pills from her spatial storage tool and ate them. While they couldn''t heal her injuries right away, they could still reduce the bleeding and heal them eventually.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    But she could only spare a second as Lin Mu attacked her right away.


    <i>~BANG~ BANG ~BANG~</i>


    She was barely able to dodge Lin Mu''s attacks that kept on pushing her back. The non stop attacks were tiring her out far faster than she would prefer, not to mention the injuries were only slowing her down.


    ''I need to do something, can''t let this go on for long. If I do that, my injuries will only get worse and he''ll be able to kill me.'' Ku Waowen thought.


    Various thoughts went through her mind, but in the end, she could onlye up with one solution.


    Lin Mu was mid way through a punch when suddenly he was sent flying by a strong impact.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    His body created a deep imprint on the wall and he could not even be seen clearly. When the dust faded away, one could see arge sphere in front of Ku Waowen. The sphere was nearly four meters wide in size and was a pale white color.


    "ENOUGH!" Ku Waowen yelled as she wiped the blood from her lips.


    "THIS ENDS NOW!" Ku Waowen shouted as she threw out her Dao Shell again.

 Chapter 849 - Dao Shell... BREAK!

    Summoning her Dao Shell was the final gambit that Ku Waowen could use. All of her techniques and skills had already been used, and none of them were effective against Lin Mu.


    His strength was certainly superior to hers and their speeds were almost the same. But the more she fought, the more Lin Mu was gaining an advantage. The only thing she could not rely on was something that was far more powerful than everything that she had used until now.


    And that thing was her Dao Shell. One must know that she was at the Shell expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm and thus the full power of her Dao Shell could be used.


    This was significantly different from when Lin Mu had faced the Dao Shell of the Troll Demon beast. That was iplete and this one waspleted as well as expanded.


    Ku Waowen raised her hand and gestured for the Dao Shell to rise as well. Then pointing forwards with her index and middle finger, she shot the Dao Shell straight towards where Lin Mu had been located.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    The Dao Shell mmed into the same ce where Lin Mu''s had been embedded and further pushed him into the wall. Despite being five meters thick, the walls of the ruins were unable to bear it and Lin Mu was pushed deeper into the soil outside.


    <i>~ROAR!!!!~</i>


    An unwilling roar could be hearding from the wall and a secondter a blurry figure shot out of it.


    "Oh no, you don''t!" Ku Waowen sent the Dao Shell to hit Lin Mu.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    <i>~SHUDDER~</i>


    Lin Mu bashed into the Dao shell and shook the air. Visible tremors could be seen going through the ground as the sh of two powers spread.


    <i>~THUD~ THUD~</i>


    Lin Mu''s feet exerted power and thruster into the ground for support. Having anchored himself, Lin Mu held his ground and even started to resist the Dao Shell this time.


    "IMPOSSIBLE!" Ku Waowen was stunned.


    She knew just how strong her Dao Shell was. It was not only many times tougher than her own body, but the impact from it was enough to destroy a mountain. She had killed a Shell Genesis stage Dao Shell realm beast with a single hit of the Dao Shell before.


    Its force was enough to crush the beast into a pancake. And yet, Lin Mu barely seemed to be injured. It was both confusing and terrifying to her.


    ''Such offense and defense¡­ no normal technique can offer this¡­ is he using a sacrificial technique?'' Ku Waowen wondered.


    "HAAAAYAAAAAAAA!" Lin Mu who was still resisting the Dao Shell, increased his power and halted the Dao Shell in its ce.


    No longer was he being pushed back and was like a sturdy peak instead.


    A Ferocious expression appeared on Lin Mu''s face as he extended his ws and gripped onto the Dao Shell. Hugging it like arge ball, Lin Mu let his vitality burst forth.


    "BREAK FOR ME!" A Demonic Voice was let out by Lin Mu''s lips as a stunning power exuded from his body.


    Ku Waowen anxiously tried to pull the Dao Shell back, but was unable to.


    "He can''t just hold on to the Dao Shell like that. RETURN!" Ku Waowen ordered.


    <i>~WEENG~</i>


    The Dao Shell tried to heed her call and move back, but couldn''t escape Lin Mu''s clutches. Lin Mu and the Dao Shell were almost the same size, with Lin Mu being a head taller.


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    He could grasp the Dao Shell in its entirety and hold it in ce like an anchor. No matter how much Ku Waowen tried, the Dao Shell was stuck. Lin Mu gazed at her maliciously and a chill spread through the old woman''s body.


    A premonition appeared in her heart and her fear grew.


    "GRAAAAAAAA!" Lin Mu let out a Demonic Cry and used as much of his power as he could.


    The vitality overflowed and nourished his body, letting his muscles exert more strength than they normally could. His body glowed in a crimson light and made him appear like a demon that had stepped out of a bloody sea.


    <strong>"DEMONIC MIGHT!"</strong> Lin Mu uttered.


    <i>~BADUM~</i>


    In that moment, it was as if time had frozen, and everything stood still. Ku Waowen watched on unwillingly as cracks started to cover her Dao Shell. With each fraction of a second, the cracks spread more and more until finally, the Dao Shell was reduced to fragments.


    <i>~SHATTER~</i>


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" Ku Waowen let out a blood curdling cry as a deathly pain spread all over her body.


    The loss of a Dao Shell was not something that a cultivator could bear easily. While there was still the possibility of them being able to remake it, there was a higher chance for them to simply run out of longevity before that.


    A Dao Shell realm cultivator could live for about two thousand years on an average and even if one became one at the age of eight hundred years, which was still an early estimate, they would only have twelve hundred years left to live.


    But for Ku Waowen, that number was far less. After all, she had spent many years in cultivating her Dao Shell and expanding it. Her current appearance was actually natural, and she possibly had less than a hundred years left to live.


    This number would have been higher if not for the skills that used up her lifespan in exchange for power. The Xieye Yun Frost Cage was once such a skill and had taken at least fifty years of her longevity to be used.


    It was a gamble she had taken, but now it had only proved to be her bane. Plus now that she had lost her Dao Shell, she couldn''t do much.


    <i>~HUU~HUU~HUU~</i>


    Lin Mu took deep breath as he looked at Ku Waowen. He seemed to be quite tired than before and it was evident breaking the Dao Shell had taken him a lot to do.


    "Time for my vengence¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he walked towards Ku Waowen.

 Chapter 850 - Interrogating

    Ku Waowen could barely move at this moment. The bacsh from the destruction of her Dao Shell had sent a surge of pain that all but paralyzed her meridians. Moving even an inch made her body cry out in pain.


    But the pain didn''t bother her as much as the deadly gaze that Lin Mu was giving her. It was now that she realized she didn''t even know the name of her foe.


    "W-who¡­ are¡­ you¡­" she asked with difficulty, feeling lost at this moment.


    But Lin Mu could not care for that. All he wanted was for his own questions to be answered.


    <i>~SLASH~</i>


    "AAAAAARRRHHHHHHG!" Ku Waowen yelled in pain as tears streamed down her face.


    Her left arm had just been ripped out as copious amounts of blood flew out. Lin Mu''s ws were no less than knives right now and could sever anything from flesh to metal.


    "Speak." Lin Mu stated.


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    But Ku Waowen was far too busy writhing in pain to answer that.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    Seeing it, Lin Mu simply frowned and stepped onto her foot, crushing it entirely.


    "ARGH!"


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The old woman directly fell to the ground and rolled in pain, unable to bear so much all at once. Normally, a cultivator of her level would be able to bear such pain with rtive ease and won''t show such a reaction.


    But with the destruction of the Dao Shell and the bacsh she received, the pain right now was amplified much more than normal. Not to mention, spirit Qi served a big role in suppressing the pain and healing the damage caused.


    But her spirit Qi could not work at all right now. Her Dantian was effectively empty and the Dao Shell which was the main source for her was destroyed. In simply terms, she was all but crippled and only the Nascent soul was keeping her alive.


    Even the Nascent soul could not do much for her, since the Dantian was more like a jail for it right now. And She didn''t dare release it either as it would be herst saving grace if she died here today.


    Her Nascent soul would at least allow her to escape¡­ even if that chance was minuscule.


    "Speak! Who are you and what was your goal here?" Lin Mu shouted in a hoarse voice.


    Seeing that he received no answer even now, he raised his leg and was just about to stomp it down on the leg again.


    "NOOO! WAIT!" Ku Waowen hurriedly said, snot and tears streaming down her face.


    "I''ll speak! Just¡­ give¡­ me a moment," She requested.


    Lin Mu simply stayed silent and stared at her with a killer gaze that stirred the fear in her heart again.


    "I''m¡­ Ku Waowen, the chieftess of the Ku n of the Northern Tribes and one of the outer members of the Great Tribal Council." The Old Woman spoke with difficulty.


    She tried to regte her breathing so that she could suppress the pain somewhat and focus on answering.


    "I''m here to repeat what we did five hundred years ago and also obtain the inheritance of an Immortal Ascension realm expert that was hidden here by my Ancestor Kushao." She continued.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    "More¡­ tell me everything in detail." Lin Mu said as he stepped on her shin, crushing the bone into fragments.


    This time Ku Waowen didn''t cry out and simply gritted her teeth to bear the pain. Her breath gotbored and her chest started to heave. She took a deep breath and used whatever vital energy there was within her body to try and reduce the pain.


    After that, she started to speak. She knew there was no use bargaining with Lin Mu. She had seen a lot in the years that she had lived and knew which people could be bargained with.


    And Lin Mu in front of her was certainly not one of them. To her, he was no less than a monster and even looked like one, though she didn''t know how this was all possible.


    ''Just what skill is this¡­ even the Berserker Totem Ancestor Lugan has doesn''t allow this kind of a transformation.'' She wondered.


    Lin Mu simply stood there and continued to listen to all that Ku Waowen had to say.


    She started from the past and how the Northern Tribes had lured all the sects and their people into the ruins before trapping and killing them. They had done this for over thousands of years and only in thest five hundred years did the sects decide to do an in depth operation.


    Seeing so many of their disciples die had made them understand that there should be something sentient controlling it all. They thought that if this thing could be controlled, the danger would be eliminated and they would obtain all the fortune that was in the tomb.


    Unfortunately for them, it was not some sentient formation or anything like that,? but rather the Northern Tribes themselves. And thus when they found out about this, they only got happy.


    In this operation, a lot of strong members of the sect would be taking part. And thus, if they could kill them all, it would help weaken them even more. Their n even went as they had decided, but at the veryst moment, a problem happened.


    They had miscalcted the damage that might happen to the formation array for it to contain so many cultivators with high cultivation bases all at once. The way of containment was the same as what Ku Waowen had used on Lin Mu right now.


    The formation array could fully immobilize the spirit Qi in this hall. It was an ancient formation array that was an original part of this ruin, and Ancestor Kushao had simply modified it so that they could use it.


    The damage to the formation ended up causing the ruins to sink back into the ground uncontrobly.. The Northern Tribes did manage to escape, but their means of harassing the sects and the inheritance of the immortal ascension realm expert was lost in that.

 Chapter 851 - Getting Answers

    Lin Mu had been listening to Ku Waowen and memorizing all the information to his best. His control of spirit Qi had returned, as well as the formation array restricting him had stopped working with Ku Waowen getting all but crippled.


    He thus took out a jade slip and recorded all that she was saying in it. He knew that in his current state, his mind was unstable and he might not remember everything, thus he let it be recorded.


    In fact, Lin Mu didn''t even know what had happened to him. He hadn''t got the chance to check himself and now needed to focus on the Old woman in front of him. He was doing his best to make sure his mind was as controlled as it could be.


    But that was a mountainous task for him.


    "What exactly is the inheritance here?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Ku Waowen swallowed the saliva in her mouth, to calm her dry throat, though it wasn''t as useful as she thought. Gritting her teeth for a moment, she started to answer.


    ''This difort is better than getting my bones crushed by him.'' She reckoned.


    "We don''t know which expert the inheritance originally belongs to as it has existed here for thousands of years. While it was considered that the number of Immortal Ascension cultivators was well known in the past, it was not so.


    There were actually a few that kept out of conflicts and stayed in seclusion the entire time. For all we know, it could be someone that broke through and decided to stay hidden the entire time, but then ended up reaching the end of their life and made a tomb to keep their inheritance.


    The one thing Ancestor Kushao did inform us about was that the tomb was rather strange with the type of beasts that it had. They couldn''t be controlled at all and grew strong at a rapid speed.


    This made him wonder how it was possible, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. He discovered that there was a source hidden in the bottom mostyer of the tomb. It was behind the beast''s growing strong and also powered the entire tomb.


    He couldn''t unearth it, as it was hidden behind a dense formation array that might copse the entire ce if he prodded it too much. Thus, instead of doing anything to the source itself, he redirected the energy that rose from it and used it to power a teleportation array.


    He spent centuries building it and used up a majority of the fortune he had gathered in doing it. Finally in the end, hepleted it and returned to the Northern tribes." Ku Waowen exined.


    "He actually returned? He''s alive?" Lin Mu asked, feeling shocked.


    He had thought that the man was dead the entire time.


    "This was a secret kept by the higher ups of the tribe and the juniors don''t know that he did. But while he did return to the tribe, he did not live for long. Just two years after he returned, he died due to a strange illness that had spread to him.


    All that we got from him was that it was something in this tomb that had led to him getting sick like that. It was also him that warned us not to go into the lowest floor until we were fully prepared, or we would suffer the same thing.


    That was why in all these years we did not use the Teleportation array. We needed to wait for a time when our alliance was strong enough to im the empire." Ku Waowen answered.


    Hearing this Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    ''Something that can make a Dao Treading realm cultivator like him sick? Not poisoned but sick¡­ that''s strange.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "What was Kushao''s cultivation base before his death?" Lin Mu asked for rification.


    "He was at the very peak of the Dao Treading realm. Everyone was sure that he would reach the Immortal Ascension realm, as he was not that old either, being just above two thousand years old.


    But then his death was a tragedy for us and also rmed us about the sickness. If it could kill a talented expert like him, then others would probably die way easily." She replied.


    Lin Mu thought for a bit before asking more questions.


    "What of these strange beasts? What do you know about them?" He questioned.


    "We don''t know much about them either, other than the fact that they grow very rapidly. They can reach the Dao Shell realm in less than five hundred years. They don''t have Dantians or normal meridians, but just a strange crystal that acts as a vessel.


    After they die, their bodies don''tst for a long time either. If the crystal is removed, the speed is increased exponentially and the body will dpose in less than a day." Ku Waowen answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu furrowed his brows and looked into the ring. In there, he got his confirmation.


    ''It really is dposing¡­ this is very fast.'' Lin Mu said, seeing the hundreds of corpses that he had in there.


    This was strange as in the ring usually things didn''t dpose easily. Lin Mu had a lot of other beast corpses in it that were the same as the day he put them in there.


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    ''Seems like their bodies are far too different. Those crystals are the main thing that allows them to exist and provides them power. Plus, if they can grow to the Dao Shell realm in less than five hundred years, it is a terrifying situation.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "Why did the tomb hide away after appearing for years before the incidence five hundred years ago?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "While we don''t know the exact answer for that, over the years, we assumed that the beasts were behind it. The tomb does not open up so that one can get the inheritance in it, but rather to let out the beasts.


    The tomb basically appears when the number of beasts in it reaches a high enough number.." Ku Waowen answered, clearing Lin Mu''s doubt.

 Chapter 852 - Crippled!

    Hearing that the tomb''s appearance depended on the number of beasts made Lin Mu think of something he had read in the Lost Immortal''s memoirs.


    ''Perhaps this is not even an inheritance ground¡­'' Lin Mu thought as his brows furrowed.


    Ku Waowen felt a bit scared as she couldn''t tell what Lin Mu was feeling from his expression. Each change in his expression seemed angry or ferocious to her in this form, and there was nothing she could perceive.


    She could only hope that he wouldn''t rip her head off in anger randomly. After about a minute of silence, Lin Mu asked another question, this time a very important one.


    "What of the teleportation array? How was it made and where is it located?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Teleportation array¡­ it is in the level below us. But to get there, I need to unseal the entrance first. But doing that would take a long time on my own, thus I was going to use the cultivation bases and souls of others that would enter the tomb as a sacrificial fuel.


    As for how it''s made, I do not know. It was made by ancestor Kushao and links to the main teleportation array in the grand capital of the tribal alliance." Ku Waowen answered promptly.


    Having heard this, Lin Mu understood that he would have to see the array himself to get a better idea of it. But doing that with Ku Waowen here would be problematic, not to mention he needed to figure out what was happening to himself as well.


    He thus stepped towards Ku Waowen, who trembled on the ground.


    "W-what, do you want?" Ku Waowen asked, feeling scared.


    But Lin Mu did not answer her, instead, he simply thrust one of his ws into her abdomen.


    "AHHHHHHHH!" Ku Waowen cried out in pain.


    The pain she felt this time was worse than before, and she felt terrified at what Lin Mu had just done.


    "MY DANTIAN! YOU CRIPPLED IT!" She yelled.


    Right away, spirit Qi started to leak out of Ku Waowen''s wound and her cultivation base started to fall. But before it could progress anymore, Lin Mu stuffed a pill into Ku Waowen''s mouth.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The pill immediately melted and showed its effects. The medicinal properties spread around her body, regardless of the fact that her meridians were not exactly in the proper condition and her cultivation base now was useless.


    Her arm that Lin Mu had ripped out healed over but did not grow back. Only the skin stopped bleeding and a thick scab formed. Her legs on the other hand, healed fully and her bones were mended.


    The same could be said for the other minor wounds she had sustained, along with the stab wound in her abdomen. It closed up as well and the spirit Qi stopped leaking from it.


    Ku Waowen found the pain from her body fading away, though the loss of her Dantian was still there. She felt confused and sad at this as she looked at Lin Mu.


    ''That should keep her from dying and also prevent her from doing anything.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He knew that even if Ku Waowen''s Dao Shell was shattered, she still had the power of a Shell initiation stage Dao Shell realm expert at that point. She could still cause unnecessary problems once her condition got a little better.


    He didn''t want anything untoward to happen, thus took this decision. But, on the other hand, crippling her Dantian meant that her cultivation would regress and she would not cultivate ever again.


    This also meant that once she lost sufficient of her cultivation base, she would die. Lin Mu couldn''t let that happen either as there was a lot more information they needed to extract from her, thus healing her with a Four Vessels Restoration pill.


    It was the perfect pill for it as it could heal physical wounds, but was unable to heal the Dantian.


    Lin Mu could see Ku Waowen staring at him with eyes filled with despair and dead. He then took out another pill and stuffed it into her mouth again. As soon as she ate the pill, it made her fall asleep.


    "The Deep Somnolence Pill should be enough to keep her asleep for a while. I can deal with other things in this time¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    With Ku Waowen taken care of for a while, Lin Mu checked his own condition. His spirit sense scanned every inch of his body and let him know what had happened.


    "This¡­ is certainly not what I expected¡­ that pattern and the shape¡­ The Great Slumber Bear''s bloodline?" Lin Mu recognized.


    The Volume of Lin Mu''s body had increased by several times and had led him to be a small giant. While he was not as tall as a Great Slumber Bear, he was still four meters tall, which was quite a lot for a human.


    If¡­ he could even be called that at this point. His skin, hair, and nails all pointed to him not being a normal human at this point. The same could be said for his facialponents as well.


    Lin Mu looked down at his hands with sharp nails and didn''t know what to do about himself.


    "How¡­ how do I return to my normal self now? Is it even possible?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


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    Due to his thoughts being a bit muddled and slow, he didn''t remember the solution that he had already found a long time ago. But after about half an hour of thinking, he finally recalled it.


    "Of course! The Calming heart sutra helped with the effects of the Burning heart sutra earlier, thus it should work with this too. After all, this was due to it as well." Lin Mu said to himself, feeling a bit happy.


    Though he was still not fully sure if it would work. After all, the current effect of the Burning heart Sutra was way beyond what it had shown before.. It almost felt like an entirely different technique now.

 Chapter 853 - Understanding The New Form And Returning

    Lin Mu was currently sitting down cross legged in the hall. His lips lightly moved as he chanted the Calming heart sutra in a low voice.


    He was trying to see if the sutra could return his body to the normal again. He chanted the Calming Heart sutra for about an hour before he could feel any effect. At first, the change was very minor and unnoticeable.


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    But in just five more minutes, it was rapidly increasing. Lin Mu''s body started to shrink and his skin color returned to normal. His nails retracted and became the usual white-pink color while his fangs changed to normal teeth.


    His eye''s also changed back to the usual ck color and his muscles nearly returned to their original mass. After about an hour, Lin Mu had mostly returned to his normal looks, though his body still seemed a bit bigger than before.


    Namely, his muscles that were far bulkier than before. He was more on the slender side before, but now he was a bit buffer. Though this was more noticeable right now, since his body was bare.


    The top half of his robes had been torn and only his legs and waist had managed to keep their shape. Lin Mu looked at his body and saw that the few injuries he had before had healed over as well.


    Though along with this, he got a different feeling as well.


    "The hunger¡­ it is returning¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he felt his stomach signaling to him.


    He was a bit worried about it as he knew this would not be the normal hunger he had. It would be the painful starving hunger that he got a couple of times before. It was a very difficult state to be in and made thinking difficult.


    ''It''s still a while away, but I''ll need to deal with it soon enough.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He was also estimating just how much the transformation had taken out of him if it had drained all the vitality and nutrients that had been stored in the past year or so. Lin Mu had eaten a lot of beasts and herbs that contained copious amounts of vital energy.


    It was that which assisted in his transformation along with healing his wounds. Technically, Lin Mu had eaten several hundred times his body mass in spirit beast meat. But even then, the entire store had been consumed in that single transformation.


    "Will this be the normal now? Can I transform back into it or not¡­" Lin Mu wondered.


    And just as he said this, another voice was heard.


    "Finally! I can contact you again." Xukong spoke out loud.


    "Senior?" Lin Mu responded. "What happened?" he asked.


    "Your state was unstable and our link was suppressed. I couldn''t contact you, no matter how much I tried. That state you were in¡­ it was overflowing with malice. Your thoughts kept on spilling into themon mind space, but I couldn''t talk to you at all.


    It was like swimming against the river current, and your thoughts were the river." Xukong replied.


    "I¡­ I didn''t know that." Lin Mu muttered.


    "It was certainly unexpected, but it did lead to some gains for you." Xukong stated.


    "I guess it did. But this form¡­ it does not seem safe." Lin Mu said with concern.


    "Perhaps now it is like that but once you gain a better understanding of it, you will not feel like that." Xukong replied.


    "Hopefully it is as you say, senior. But the change in the burning heart sutra¡­ It wasn''t like this before." Lin Mu said feeling doubtful.


    "When you used it, I could feel the aura of the Demonic path in the ring again. There were even hints of some Demonic Qi back then. I reckon it triggered the same strength increase you normally have, but due to the furious state you were in, it increased it even more.


    But then the bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear interfered. After all, when you were being suppressed, the effect reached all the way to the bloodline. This only infuriated the bloodline aspect and made it awaken.


    It is not something that should be possible for a human most of the time but it did for you. And when it did, it responded to the call of the Demonic path, letting to transform further and amplify the strength to a previously unseen level." Xukong exined his interpretation.


    Lin Mu thought over Senior Xukong''s words and found them to be making sense.


    "So the Burning heart sutra can do more than just the normal strength increase¡­ though it is certainly reliant on the vital essence rather than spirit Qi. Maybe my increase in body cultivation also influenced this new form." Lin Mu guessed.


    "That is very likely. And if it really follows this, then you may see more changes the further your body cultivation increases." Xukong agreed.


    "Hmm¡­ it is really powerful. But the cost of using it is also dangerous. Losing control of myself in the middle of a fight isn''t necessarily good. It could only lead to more problems." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    "That''s correct, and it''s exactly why you need to gain control over it. Once you have that, you won''t need to be worried about it at all." Xukong added.


    Having understood this now, Lin Mu decided to call the others. He still needed to explore the rest of the tomb and see what was hidden there. Plus, he needed someone to keep an eye over the old woman as well.


    Lin Mu could only hope to extract as much information as they could from the old woman. He knew that with her ranking; she had most, if not all information about the northern tribes and their n.


    But Lin Mu didn''t call them right then and there. First, he meditated and made sure his condition was fully normal and changed into a new pair of robes. While he knew he could trust hispanions, he reckoned it was still better if he didn''t let others find out about his transformation.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    He let out a deep sigh before returning to the third floor.

 Chapter 854 - Concern And The Final Floor

    "It''s been a day. Will senior Lin Mu be fine?" One of the Noon Grass sect''s disciples questioned.


    "He should be fine. If anything happened to him, we would know." Jing Luo replied.


    He then looked at Little Shrubby, who was staring at the staircase from the start.


    "But those tremors before. It felt like something big happened." Another disciple expressed his concern.


    "Maybe he needs our help?" Another one asked.


    "Yeah! We should head down to check!"


    "We can''t leave him alone when he helped all of us so many times."


    One by one, the disciples spoke out.


    "No, we won''t until we know for sure." Jing Luo stated.


    "He''s fine isn''t he?" He questioned Little Shrubby.


    The beast who had been worried about his master looked at the man he didn''t particrly like and stared silently at him.


    "You can sense him, right? Tell us if he''s fine." Jing Luo questioned.


    "GRR!" Little Shrubby growled lightly in response.


    "I''ll take that as if he''s okay?" Jing Luo asked to be sure, to which Little Shrubby nodded his head.


    "Good! We wait then." Jing Luo stated.


    The disciples couldn''t protest now and could only listen to Jing Luo and wait. Elder Weimin had heard everything but did not interfere. He could understand the disciples'' concern and knew that they were only thinking well of Lin Mu.


    Rather than Lin Mu, he was more concerned about Elder Liqiang right now. Despite having his injuries healed, the man had not woken up yet.


    ''We need to get him back to the sect as soon as possible.'' Elder Weimin thought to himself.


    A few minutester, Jing Luo and the rest heard some steps behind them and immediately became alert. Little Shrubby''s ears perked up and it sniffed the air. A secondter, his expression eased up and he knew who had appeared.


    <i>~step~step~step~</i>


    Lin Mu gazed at everyone staring at him intently and didn''t know what to think of it.


    "Everything fine?" He questioned.


    "S-Senior Lin Mu!" The disciples shouted out in a concerned tone.


    "Are you okay? It took you longer than I thought it would take." Jing Luo asked as well.


    Little Shrubby, on the other hand, simply approached Lin Mu and nuzzled against him. He could feel a little change in Lin Mu but could not tell exactly what.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu could only sigh in response to their questions before shaking his head.


    "It will be easier to just show you all." Lin Mu stated. "Follow me." He ordered.


    Jing Luo and the rest nodded before following behind him. A couple of disciples put the unconscious Elder Liqiang on a stretcher and carried him at the back. They reached the next floor soon and saw the scene of devastation.


    <i>~Gasp~</i>


    "What happened!?" A few disciples couldn''t help but shout out in shock.


    Jing Luo and Elder Weimin though scanned the hall for the one person of interest. Who they soon found lying on the ground some distance away.


    "You fought with that old woman?" Jing Luo questioned with raised brows.


    "Mmm, I did." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "I thought you were just going to observe her first." Elder Weimin asked.


    "Things changed." Lin Mu simply responded.


    But he could see that they all had a lot of questions and that they would not be satisfied by just this.


    "Let me tell you what happened then¡­" Lin Mu said before starting the series of events that took ce.


    The more they heard, the more shocked they got. They couldn''t even imagine Lin Mu would defeat a Shell Expansion Stage Dao Shell realm expert like this. Both Jing Luo and Elder Weimin knew what that entailed.


    But what they were more shocked hearing was the truth about the ruins, as well as how the Northern Tribes had fooled all the sects. It was a terrifying revtion, and they finally understood just how much of a danger the Great Zhou Empire truly was in.


    Lin Mu kept some things from them though, that he thought shouldn''t be spread to others. These things just pertained to him and were not something that would cause problems if they were hidden.


    He also avoided saying the finer details of the battle which both Elder Weimin and Jing Luo picked up on. Though they knew better to speak about it, as they understood everyone had their secrets.


    ''All that matters now is that she won''t be a problem anymore.'' Elder Weimin thought.


    ''Did grandfather know he would reach this point one day?'' Jing Luo wondered.


    About an hourter, Lin Mu was finally done exining everything and took a deep breath.


    "I need to check what exists beneath this floor. It is likely to be key to the mystery of the tomb and there is a great chance the teleportation array is behind it as well." Lin Mu stated.


    "Of course. Do you need help with the formation array?" Jing Luo asked.


    "No¡­ we don''t have time for the conventional approach." Lin Mu said as he recalled all that Ku Waowen had said.


    "I want you all to be ready to leave at any moment. I don''t think this ce is stable anymore... or safe for that matter." Lin Mu stated.


    Elder Weimin and Jing Luo nodded while the disciples had no disagreements about it. At this point, they would ept anything that Lin Mu would say. This was the level of faith Lin Mu had developed in them with his actions.


    Though it wasn''t even his original aim.


    "S-senior!" It was now that one of the disciples spoke out.


    "Mm?" Lin Mu hummed in a questioning tone.


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    "T-the two elders who died here in the past. You didn''t tell us if you found out anything about them. And it doesn''t seem like they are here either. We didn''t find their remains upstairs either." The disciple said in a nervous tone.


    "Ah, that¡­" Lin Mu responded, and pointed to the old woman. "You can get that out of her. Feel free to use any method." He added.


    The disciples understood, and a serious expression appeared on his face. Elder Weimin was already quite angry but had been keeping a calm face for now. Still, his actions showed that he was angry as he quickly grabbed the unconscious old woman''s hair and pulled her off to the side.


    If it were not for the fact that he knew the old woman was crippled, he would have simply kicked her away. But at this point, that would just obliterate her body and they would not get the information that they wanted.


    Elder Weimin knew enough tricks to get information out of someone. Even if he was not part of the disciplinary hall, he had lived long enough to learn quite a few techniques; though some of them might be considered unorthodox and cruel.


    Lin Mu though, didn''t care about anything and simply headed towards therge formation array in the center of the hall. It had be transparent since the one controlling it had lost it and had be dormant.


    Though Lin Mu could still feel its precess there.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and let his spirit sense probe the formation array.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The runes reappeared and let out a pale yellow glow. It illuminated the rtively dark hall and showed its presence.


    "Whoa!" The disciples were surprised to see the formation array.


    It was different from any formation array they hade across till now, and it looked veryplex to them.


    "Heavens! Just how manyyers are in there?" Someone eximed.


    Even Jing Luo furrowed his brows upon seeing the formation array and knew why Lin Mu had rejected his offer.


    ''Even with the two of us, it would take a week to unravel this. And that''s IF we can do that. I don''t recognize several of those runes.'' Jing Luo thought.


    Though after thinking for a bit, he could recall seeing some of those runes in the information Lin Mu had passed on to him on behalf of his master. A serious expression appeared on Jing Luo''s face, as he understood just howcking he truly was.


    "There is always a mountain behind a mountain and an ocean bigger than a sea¡­" Jing Luo muttered.


    While he was doing this, the disciples watched on with curiosity as Lin Mu started to act.


    "Will we get to see him unraveling it?" A female disciple that was interested in formations asked.


    "Perhaps. It will be our great luck!" Another onemented.


    But what they saw waspletely different from their thoughts.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and brought his two hands together before touching only the finger tips and pulling his palms apart.


    <i>~Humm~</i>


    A strange humming could be felt in the air and it was made from spirit Qi. The disciples felt their clothes fluttering even though there was no wind in the hall. Then in the next second, Lin Mu Opened his eyes wide and split apart his hand in a wide gesture.


    "Meld!" He recited.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    Intense spatial fluctuations appeared in the hall and even Elder Weimin had to turn back to look. Keeping his left hand in its position, Lin Mu pulled his right to the center again.


    Then extending it to the front like a long sword, he raised it up into the sky.


    He took a deep breath and focused before bringing the hand down like a sword.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    An almost visible light shot out of his hands like a sword strike and passed through the formation array like a hot knife through butter.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>

 Chapter 855 - Sword Qi And True Qi

    "Sever!" A low voice was heard from Lin Mu.


    The disciples who just watched Lin Mu split apart a Formation array like it was a piece of paper. They didn''t know how Lin Mu had done it, but Jing Luo and Elder Weimin had a clue.


    ''Sword intent? He already has sword intent?'' Jing Luo thought to himself.


    While Lin Mu had started developing his sword intent a long time ago, most of it was hidden within his attacks and was rarely seen. It would silently increase the power of his attacks whenever he used sword type weapons.


    That was also why he used his short sword more often than his other weapons. It was not only a strong weapon on its own, but the extra power from the sword intent made it stronger.


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    Lin Mu could technically use his sword intent without a sword, but he never did. Simply because it became far too weak to be significant. Of course, it could still cut apart the flesh of a normal person, but a cultivator would be able to resist it with just their normal defenses.


    What Lin Mu had done here was slightly different from that. He had learned the limitation of Meld that he had at his current proficiency and knew that if he wanted to manipte such aplex formation array, it would be very difficult.


    After all, it could interfere with his skills with spirit Qi and a formation array usually contained arge amount of it. Thus he could at most affect a few tens ofyers at once if he used meld directly.


    Thus, to ovee it, he used a different method that he hade up with. After using Meld to ''grab'' the space, he used his hand to sh it open using his sword intent. He even used severing heart sutra on top of it to increase the power slightly.


    And it truly turned out to be a sess.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief and saw the end result.


    ''It truly did work. The amount of sword intent I could use at once increased as well¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Your body has been constantly improving all this time. I reckon you already had the capability to do this, but you simply never had the chance to try it." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ after that transformation, I do feel like there are some extra things within me I did not sense before. It''s hard to exin them, but they now feel like they''ve existed for a long time." Lin Mu replied.


    "If you were able to further improve your sword intent, it wouldn''t be hard for you to condense sword Qi as well. Or more urately sword spirit Qi, condensing true Sword Qi is beyond what you can do right now." Xukong exined.


    "True Sword Qi? There is a difference?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Of course. As you know, there are different forms of Qi in the world. The ones of different qualities, the elemental ones and the derivative one, these are the three types. In the different qualities, you have things like spirit Qi and the Immortal Qi. Then in that, you have the elemental qis and derivative sis.


    So there can be fire elemental spirit Qi as well as fire elemental immortal Qi. The same applies to the derivative qi''s like Sword Qi." Xukong answered in detail.


    "I see. But then what do you mean as True Sword Qi?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That is something thates directly from the sword path. It is not something that one cannot just gain from cultivating normally. It can only be obtained fromprehending the Sword Dao and walking on the Sword path.


    True Sword Qi is something that can overpower other types of Qi even if a cultivator is weak." Xukong replied.


    "How far does that extend to senior? Like¡­ what can a Qi refining realm cultivator thatprehended True Sword Qi do?" Lin Mu questioned after thinking for a second.


    "Hmm¡­ killing someone at the Immortal Realm wouldn''t be a problem if someone can trulyprehend and Condense True Sword Qi." Xukong said shocking Lin Mu.


    "REALLY?! Then isn''t that very strong?" Lin Mu said in a shocked tone.


    "It is very strong indeed. But it''s not something that anyone can do. A Qi refining realm cultivator gaining True Sword QI is just a hypothetical situation that would never really ur in the universe.


    To even start on the sword path, they would need to condense a Dao Embryo andprehend the traces of the Sword Dao. Which is something that a cultivator can only do at the Dao Treading realm.


    And even then, a Dao Treading Realm cultivator would barely be considered to have started on the sword path. It could not even be said to be one step it; it was simply standing at the beginning point.


    Comprehending the Sword Path to a point where one can condense True Sword QI would take thousands upon thousands of years. There are many steps thate before that, like obtaining sword intent, then refining sword Qi, and many more that can''t be exined to you at this stage." Xukong exined in detail.


    Hearing all this information, Lin Mu was both intrigued and shocked. He understood just how much he had beyond him and where he stood at this moment.


    "Then if the Sword Path has True Sword QI, do the other paths have their own versions? Like True Demonic Qi or True Beast Qi?" Lin Mu questioned, havingprehended a bit.


    "Correct!" Xukong answered. "Every Path will have its own True Qi and it will takeprehending that particr path to gain it. Even gaining True Qi of a single path would be enough to make that person worthy enough to stand on top of the world."


    Lin Mu''s eyes glittered as he couldn''t help but imagine himself in that position one day. It was an attractive dream, but he also knew it wouldn''te easy.. The peak of the cultivation was built on top of harsh hard work and tireless effort.

 Chapter 856 - The Fifth Floor

    Having learned new things from Senior Xukong, Lin Mu felt a little better and the slight depressive state he had after the fight had faded away. Learning new things would always fix his mind and help improve his mood.


    "You should head on now. It''s not good to tarry anymore." Xukong reminded Lin Mu.


    "Ah yes!" Lin Mu said and jumped into the gap that had been created in the formation array.


    While it seemed like Lin Mu had talked to senior Xukong for a while, in reality, it had barely been five seconds since he split open the formation array, thus it didn''t seem that different to the others that were watching.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Ten seconds after Lin Mu entered the formation array, it closed up behind it and went back to its normal state. Lin Mu looked at it and nodded his head.


    "Just as I thought. The moment meld''s effect ended, the split formation array''s realigned." Lin Mu muttered.


    While it did look like Lin Mu had destroyed the formation array, it was not so. Rather than that, he had simply dislocated them and expanded the space between them. Meld was still working and the sword intent was simply used to force the opening to be created.


    Other than that, the fomentation array was intact. What Lin Mu had done here was the same as him ripping open the barrier surrounding the ruins. Expect here the target was aplex formation array that would cause a lot of damage to him and the surroundings if he attacked it directly, unlike the rtively simple barrier.


    In simple words, he got the same result using a different method.


    Once Lin Mu was gone and the formation array closed behind him, the disciples were nervous.


    "Will he be fine?" A male disciple questioned.


    "If he was sure of doing this, he should be fine." Someone answered.


    The disciples looked at the person who was none other than Jing Luo and nodded their heads. Here Jing Luo was the closest person to Lin Mu. Of course, this excluded Little Shrubby, but he wasn''t exactly a ''Person''.


    "Though¡­ is it just me, or did Senior Lin Mu look different?" A male disciple questioned.


    "What do you mean?" Hispanion asked.


    "Now that I think of it¡­ he did seem ''bigger''." A female disciple chimed in.


    "He did! Didn''t he?" The male disciple agreed.


    "Nonsense. How can he just grow bigger all of a sudden? You two must be mistaken." Another disciple said in a dismissive tone.


    The two disciples who seemed to be in agreement, looked on awkwardly and realized that it did seem unlikely to have happened.


    "I think it was just the robes that he was wearing that made it seem like that. He changed them from the ones before." The disagreeing female disciple added.


    "Oh yeah, that must be it. Those robes were probably the cause." They said after thinking for a bit.


    Jing Luo who had heard this little conversation too, thought over it and felt like Lin Mu was different as well.


    ''Hang on¡­ his shoulders got wider. They are a bit closer to my own now.'' Jing Luo realized.


    ***


    While the people were having different thoughts and conversations outside of the Formation array, Lin Mu was looking around the fifth floor.


    "This is wider than the previous one¡­ though still smaller than the third floor." Lin Mu said as his spirit sense spread around and assessed the area.


    He realized that there were some areas where his spirit sense could not enter and was being restricted, simr to the upper floors.


    On top of him existed the formation array which formed the roof of the entire floor. Unlike the previous one, it was always active and visible here. Itsyers could also be seen far more in detail.


    Lin Mu could see run down rooms in front of him. Most of them seemed to be closed, but a few of them had doors that had either crumbled over time or hadpletely disappeared. He turned back and saw a dimly lit passage at the other end of which he could only see a dark blue sphere.


    A cold and unease aura radiated off the sphere, and he felt like he should not approach it carelessly.


    "Is that what''s being hidden by this tomb?" Lin Mu wondered.


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    While he felt like he should check it right away, he knew that was not the right choice.


    ''I should see what else exists here. Going there straight might just be a trap, after all this ce was controlled by Kushao for a long time. Who knows what he has done with it.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu decided to check the rooms in front of him first. There were easily over fifty rooms here currently and they were all of simr sizes. Walking into the first room that had no door, Lin Mu could see some ruined Stone furniture.


    There was what clearly looked like a bed and a shelf carved into the wall itself. Then there was a mottled cloth lying on the floor, which turned to dust the moment Lin Mu stepped onto it.


    "Just how old is this stuff?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question.


    Having observed that there was nothing in this room, Lin Mu went on to the next one.


    ''This one still has its door intact.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He ced his hand on the door handle and pushed it as hard as he could. At first, it was a bit difficult, but once he added some extra force, it finally moved.


    <i>~CREAK~</i>


    A very rough grating sound was heard and it felt like gravel was being crushed. Dust fell from the door and a couple of secondster, it finally opened.


    The moment Lin Mu stepped into the room, he red his nose.


    "That stinks!" Lin Mu said as he held his breath.


    He looked around and saw a simryout to the previous room, except one addition.. There were a couple of pill bottles kept on the shelf.

 Chapter 857 - A Stinky Pill!

    Lin Mu''s attention was pulled to the two pill bottles. Not only because they were the main point of interest in this room, but because one of them was emitting the foul smell that was assaulting his nose.


    He approached the pill bottles and looked at them closely. The one that was emitting the pungent smell had its cap broken.


    "So that''s where it''s leaking from¡­" Lin Mu understood and quickly stored the bottle in another container he took out of his ring.


    <i>~CLACK~</i>


    The container was closed tightly, and the pungent smell stopped after a few seconds.


    "Oof! Even with it gone, the stink won''t leave my nose." Lin Mu said while wrinkling his nose.


    He took a look at the second bottle that was perfectly sealed and saw a single pill thatid in it quaintly. It was a faint white color, with some shades of blue and Grey mixed in that created a ripple pattern.


    "Do these two bottles have the same pill?" Lin Mu wondered and looked into the sealed container.


    Both the pill bottles had the same shape and form, but the contents were different. One of them had the pill intact while the other one had a sticky liquid in it.


    "Seems like that pill dposed and liquefied," Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and took out a pleasant smelling spirit herb from his ring. It was a small red flower and let out a floral smell that was far better than the stink in his nose right now.


    Lin Mu crushed the small flower between his fingers and rubbed it below his nose.


    <i>~sniff~</i>


    "That''s way better!" Lin Mu said, taking a literal breath of relief.


    Lin Mu knew of the dposition of pills. While some alchemical pills could be kept intact for a long time, they needed to be stored in special containers. It was these containers that decided their perishing rate.


    If they were made from a high quality material and had formations that prevented them from deteriorating, the pills stored in them wouldst for many, many years. But even then, these containers had a certain limit to them.


    Over time, they would still get weathered and damaged. After a certain point, they would be unable to work properly and the pill would start deterioration. Then there were some pills that can be corrosive due to deterioration and cause further damage to the container they were in.


    The stinky bottle was an example of that situation in which the pill had corroded the cap. It would not have been this bad, but due to being enclosed in this room for an indefinite amount of time, the smell only got concentrated.


    Perhaps if the room was open, the pill would have beenpletely gone by this time.


    "What kind of a pill could smell this foul after dposing?" Lin Mu wondered and checked the intact pill.


    <i>~Pop~</i>


    He opened its cap and rolled out the pill onto his hand. He lightly sniffed it and found it to have no smell.


    "Can''t tell anything from the smell." Lin Mu said before he probed the pill with his spirit sense.


    Upon doing so, he could feel fine and condensed mass of different properties within the pill. They were very hard for him to identify, since he wasn''t that proficient in alchemical arts or pill refinement.


    Even with the vast number of records that he had read by now, identifying a random pill like this was close to impossible.


    "Do you know what pill this is, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, it could be anything. But if you store it in the ring, I can take a closer look." Xukong answered.


    "Alright," Lin Mu responded, and stored it in the ring.


    About a minuteter, Xukong spoke again.


    "I think I have a guess about what this is. Though I might still be wrong." Xukong stated.


    "Oh? What is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It might be a Bone Enameling Pill. There are various versions of this that can have different target effects, though its main function is to make a change to the bones of a cultivator." Xukong replied.


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    "Change to the bones? Like strengthening them?" Lin Mu asked.


    "For some versions, yes. Some are used as an adjutant to enhance the effects of other pills. For example, a Bone Enameling Pill can be used with themon Bone Melding Pill to speed up the process of healing.


    Some version of it can even weaken bones, so that special hardening pills can prate deep into the bone and transform the bones into a stronger version." Xukong exined.


    "Oh, that''s rather useful. It''ll probablye in useter. If not for me, for others." Lin Mu replied.


    "Perhaps¡­ though you can use it as a toxin too. You saw how the other pill ended up, right? It should be the same Bone Enameling pill, but seeing how it is now, it is likely to be a version that weakens the bones of a cultivator.


    You can feed it to someone else and their defenses should be weaker." Xukong suggested.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu raised his brows, but noted it in his mind. He knew how many enemies he had and how strong they were. He wouldn''t be averse to using some underhanded means if it meant he would be able to save the world.


    Done with this room, Lin Mu checked the next one. This one did not have a door either and was empty. Though it did not have a bed either, and simply had a stone table and a broken chair that was lying on the ground.


    ''The other two must have been bedrooms, while this is a study room.'' Lin Mu thought as he saw six bookshelves in the room. The bookshelves were empty and only a thickyer of dust was left on them; the books have perished a long time ago.


    Shaking his head, Lin Mu checked out ten more rooms, most of which were empty, and the ones that did have something were heavily damaged and useless.. This included a lot of dposed pills that Lin Mu sealed away in a separate container.

 Chapter 858 - An Octagonal Room And Secret Of The Fountain

    It had been about an hour since Lin Mu arrived on this floor and he had gone through over half the rooms that were here.


    "Can this even be considered an inheritance ground at this point? All signs point to it not being that¡­" Lin Mu said, feeling strange.


    No matter what room he checked after the second one, they would have nothing by trash and dirt, if not more stinky pills. Those couldn''t even be differentiated and just looked like ck sludge.


    Lin Mu reckoned they had been lucky enough to even find the one Bone Enameling pill in the second room.


    ''At least I''ll have plenty of poison to use in the future¡­'' Lin Mu consoled himself.


    He continued to break down five more rooms before he finally came across another object that seemed in a better condition.


    "A wooden board?" Lin Mu picked up the dust covered board from a table.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    He blew some air on it, and the dust was cleared out. A few deeply carved words could now be seen on the wooden board. The words were a bit rough looking and it looked like someone had carved them with whatever they could get their hands on.


    It was certainly not done with a proper tool or a carving knife. Lin Mu flipped the board upside down and read the content.


    There were only three words written on it, but they were written in an older script of the Great Zhou Empire. Lin Mu had seen it before and learned it a while ago, thus could read them with ease.


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    But those three words did not serve to please him.


    "Leave¡­ We¡­ Failed¡­" Lin Mu recited the three words.


    The ominous feeling that came from thebination of the three words affirmed the truth of this ce in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "This was not a ce that was ever supposed to be opened¡­ was it?" Lin Mu reckoned.


    He probed the board with his spirit sense, trying to estimate how old it was or if there was anything else hidden in it. While Lin Mu didn''t find anything hidden, he did get a rough approximation of the age of the board.


    Lin Mu had at first thought that this might be something left by the sect people who were trapped in the ruins five hundred years ago. Since the room it was in was open from the start, it was a possibility that could not be denied.


    But after checking the board, Lin Mu was sure the carving was at least two thousand years old.


    "This does not bode well¡­" Lin Mu spoke.


    "It may be time to speed up and end this mission. I do not feel like this is a good venture either now." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and quickly checked the rest of the rooms. This time, he didn''t pay as much attention to detail as before and rushed through all of them. He had already gotten enough proof that whatever was in here was either damaged or useless to him.


    But when he arrived in the secondst room, he discovered a newyout. The previous rooms were either bedrooms, or study rooms. They were set in an alternate pattern, as if the people that lived here were assigned one bedroom and study room each.


    But the secondst room was different. It wasrger on the side than the other rooms and had an octagonal shape. There were a few stone shelves carved into four of the sides of the room and various tables on the other four sides.


    In the center of the room thought there was a octagonal trough. It was very shallow, being only two feet in depth, and was empty. A small spout could be seen in its center from which water must havee out at a certain time in the past.


    "An indoor fountain?" Lin Mu muttered and furrowed his brows.


    His spirit sense checked the room and found the fountain to be the most peculiar part. His spirit sense could not prate it like the other walls of the floor, so he did not know what there was hidden underneath it.


    But he could certainly feel a very faint auraing from the fountain.


    Lin Mu thus walked over to the foundation and touched the top. It was then he felt the difference in texture. He lightly pressed and the entire fountain stem sank in.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    Some kind of a mechanism was activated and Lin Mu found the floor rotating beneath him. He too, spun with it and found himself descending into the floor. He immediately flew up, wanting to avoid any trap that might have been set up.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    A few secondster, the sound of stone hitting stone was heard as the floor finally settled. Lin Mu peered into the octagonal hole that had reced the fountain and could only see the darkness inside.


    <i>~spark~</i>


    Lin Mu created a small orb of fire and dropped it into the hole. It illuminated the area and allowed him to get a good look at what was below.


    "Its¡­ Normal?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Seeing that there was nothing, Lin Mu spread his spirit sense and flew down as well. This was a secret room built under the main one and was about half its size. It waspletely empty, other than what looked like a mottled pedestal on the other end.


    Lin Mu''s eyes lit up as he saw the box that was ced on the pedestal.


    "It''s actually of a good quality!" Lin Mu took note.


    He checked the area once more to ensure there were no traps and approached the box. Lin Mu carefully touched the box before picking it up. It was the size of amon spice box and was slightly heavy, being at least ten kilograms in weight.


    Lin Mu knew that there was something good in it, since it was just made of some Light Spirit Oak wood.


    ''There should be something substantial in it!'' Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 859 - True Gold Body Forging Arts

    Discovering the box felt good to Lin Mu, and he got the same feeling as if he had found treasure during the treasure hunts he did when he was a child. It was amon game that the children yed and the treasures they would hunt were just somemon things like unique looking rocks, candies, and the like.


    But the excitement and joy of finding one were still enough to entertain them for a long time. Lin Mu smiled, feeling this and couldn''t wait to open the box.


    "There is no lock or hinge on it. Guess it is just a normal lid." Lin Mu said before lifting the lid and opening it.


    The sound of wood rubbing against wood could be heard before the box was finally opened. Lin Mu''s smile and curved eyes soon turned into a frown and narrowed eyes as he observed the item kept in the box.


    "This¡­ not more trash." Lin Mu said as he looked at what looked like a ruined book inside it.


    The book was made out of an unknown material that had degraded enough to be indistinguishable.


    "Ugh¡­" Lin Mu shook his head and tried to take out the book.


    But just as he expected, the book turned to dirt in his hand fell through his fingers. Though in the next second, he touched something hard.


    "What?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He blew on the remnants of the book and they flew away like dust, leaving behind a metal sheet. The sheet was slightly smaller in size than the book, but was very dense considering its weight.


    "Interesting¡­" Lin Mu picked up the metal sheet and put the box down on the pedestal.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    He lightly tapped the sheet with his finger and it let out a sonorous hum. But at the same time, he felt something on the other side of the metal sheet. Lin Mu flipped it over and saw fine words carved into it.


    "Dao script? There''s actually Dao Script here!" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Dao script was something that was incredibly rare in the Xiaofan world. By now Lin Mu had understood that if there was anything that had Dao Script, it would have to be either very ancient or must havee from a different world.


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    It was a mystery that would only be solved once Lin Mu learned what was written on the metal sheet.


    After reading the first few lines, Lin Mu''s eyes lit up.


    "A Technique! It''s actually a technique!" Lin Mu eximed.


    He continued reading it and learned more about it. And by the time he reached the end of it, his expression had be a bit still.


    "What''s the matter?" Xukong questioned.


    "You take a look as well, senior." Lin Mu replied and let his memories enter themon mind space.


    Xukong took a quick look and was surprised, too.


    "A Body cultivation technique?" Xukong understood.


    "Indeed. But its requirements and method of practicing it are very strange if not downright deadly." Lin Mu spoke.


    Xukong finished reading it by the time Lin Mu spoke and was in agreement too.


    "This looks like one of the more primitive body cultivation techniques, but at the same time not." Xukong said.


    "Maybe it is an inferior version derived from some top tier technique?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "That could certainly be possible. Though you can still use it. You are in need of elemental ones, aren''t you?" Xukong said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and thought that it was at least another step towards progress.


    "True Gold Body Forging Arts: Refine the gold, Refine the body, Quench the flesh, Coat the bones; Be Imprable!" Lin Mu recited the title and the intro of the technique.


    At first, it sounded simple, but thetter exnation of the technique showed him just how dangerous andplex it was. The technique involved the use of gold, to temper one''s body.


    One would have to melt gold that was twice as heavy as their weight and refine it till it was half the volume of what it initially was. They would then have to apply the liquid gold over their skin and let it be burned away.


    Once that was done and the gold hardened after cooling, they would have to use their own strength to bend the gold without using any other body part or other forms of assistance.


    For example, if they applied it on their right arm, they would curl it to bend the goal. If they were sessful in doing this, it meant that they had seeded in the first stage. And if they couldn''t do it at start, they would keep the gold as it is and cultivate while focusing on that part of the body.


    They had to do this until it was strong enough to bend the gold. Only if they seeded, could they repeat it for the second time. They would have to do it over and over again, until their entire body had gone through the gruesome process.


    Once that was done, they could move on to the next stage, which was to cut open their flesh and coat their own bones with the gold. But this time the gold would have to be four times their weight and had to be refined till it was just a quarter of its starting volume.


    By that time, it would be extremely dense and even a finger nail size piece would be as heavy as a kilogram. Not to mention the process of pouring liquid gold onto one''s bones, just cutting open one''s flesh was a horrifying thing that most would not want to do.


    The same process would be repeated till all the bones had gained a coat of gold. Once this was done, they would wait till all their wounds healed. This was where the process relied greatly on luck.


    If they healed, they could proceed. But if it didn''t, they would fail and nothing could be done at that point.. The gold in their body would either be a crippling hindrance to them, or they would just die from despair.

 Chapter 860 - A Cruel Technique

    If one found out their path was cut off after the struggle of bearing the first and second stages of the True Gold Body Forging Arts, they would prefer to be dead than live to be in pain longer.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but shudder at reading it all.


    ''And it''s not even the final step¡­'' Lin Mu thought as his gaze went to thest two lines.


    The final step started with the refinement of the gold as well. But this time, one needed forty times their weight in gold, which then needed to be reduced to just ten percent of its volume.


    Once this was done, they would have to jump into the molten gold and bepletely submerged in it. They would then stay it in and let the gold cool and harden. This was the most decisive step in the technique.


    N?vel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.


    Ny nine percent of the people that reached this point would die, and only one percent would live. Once the gold waspletely solidified, it would be roughly in the shape of the body with the outline of the container within which it was melted.


    The cultivator that was within the gold would then have to further cultivate while being encased in the gold. They would have to learn to ''breathe'' through the gold. Once they seeded in that, they would then start to see that the gold was responding to them.


    Eventually, if they kept it up, the gold would start to shrink and if they were sessful, the gold would havepletely been absorbed into their body. Their skin would gain a golden sheen, and their defenses would skyrocket.


    It would make them imprable!


    Though Lin Mu had doubts about just how ''imprable'' one would be. He had read a lot and gained a lot of knowledge from Senior Xukong and knew just how many powers there were in the world.


    There was no power that could im to be number one in the universe, and there would always be something that could counteract it.


    "Even if all this works out¡­ just what kind of a defense would they gain in the end? Would it be enough to sustain an attack from an Immortal?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A long sigh escaped his lips and he wondered if it was even possible for him to practice something like this. And as he thought of this, he grasped a few more things.


    "Hang on¡­ the amount of gold that this takes¡­ even if we consider a conservative amount and take the weight of a cultivator as 100 kilograms, the initial amount they would need would be 200 kilograms.


    The subsequent stage would take 400 kilograms and the final stage would need 4000 kilograms!


    The final total came to about 4600 kilograms!" Lin Mu calcted.


    While Lin Mu certainly had more than enough gold to attempt this, he understood that it was not a technique that just any cultivator could even think to afford.


    "You''re wrong." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "I''m wrong? Where?" Lin Mu asked.


    "After the first step, they would apply the gold to their skin. That would add 200 kilograms to their initial 100 kilograms, taking it to 300. Then the second step would need 1200 kilograms.


    And the third and final stage would need 40 times that which is 48,000 kilograms of gold." Xukong replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt lost and tried to reread the entire thing. After doing that a couple of times his expression fell.


    "This is vile!" Lin Mu said in a tone of difort.


    "No wonder so many would fail this technique! They would get the measurements wrong from the very start!" Lin Mu added.


    "Indeed. It''s a clever trick of words that can''t be understood with ease. While it looks like the technique is very harsh on the body, that''s not all, it is also harsh on the mind. One would not only have to be physically strong but also mentally, so that they would pick up on the trickery at the start.


    Only that would grasp it correctly would seed in the end. As for the ones that made a mistake at the start, they would be forever doomed to fail." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu frankly felt a little terrified of whoever made this body cultivation technique. After all, in order to make a technique like this, one would have had to go through many trials and errors.


    Lin Mu had learned very well how difficult it was from the Nameless Technique of the Lost immortal.


    "Its creator would have to be many times harsher on himself than others to be able to devise something like this. His willpower must be simply¡­ undying." Lin Mu muttered.


    While thinking of this, another facet of the technique struck Lin Mu.


    "Hang on¡­ the weight of the gold¡­ it''s increase with each step and stays with their body. Then doesn''t that mean that by the end of it¡­ they would be nearly 50 tons in weight?" Lin Mu analyzed.


    "Possibly. Though it is not something that''s too unnatural in the world of cultivation. There are plenty of beasts that are heavier than that, not to mention they wouldn''t even have to have that high of a cultivation base." Xukong added.


    "Oh right! With the size of Xiaobao he should be at least twice that weight." Lin Mu recalled.


    "Exactly. Plus, if they are really cultivating through each stage steadily, their bodies would have already gotten used to that weight. Living with that much weight would be nothing but a natural thing for them at that point." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu felt the entire session to be very enlightening though now he didn''t know what to do with the technique. He was obviously going to keep it with him, but the actual question was about his Five Treasures realm cultivation.


    He didn''t know if this body cultivation technique could even be used for it or was even suitable for it.. While Senior Xukong asked Lin Mu to ponder on it for some time on his ownter, it was still not confirmed whether it was useful.

 Chapter 861 - The Intricate Teleportation Array

    In the end, Lin Mu could only push it toter for now. He had neither the time nor the luxury to ponder on it as of now, and there were more pushing matters to attend to instead. The situation with the ruins had not been solved yet, and they were all in danger.


    "I should check the final room and get to that¡­ eerie thing." Lin Mu muttered before leaving the underground room.


    He flew up and came to stand in front of thest room. This room had a door as well, but it was different from all the others he had seen until now. It was certainly not made of the same stone that the rest were made of.


    In addition to stone, there were also metal fittings and iys embedded into the stone, which reinforced it. Lin Mu could even see the fine engravings on the metal parts which showed that these doors were once strengthened further with formations.


    Though they had now all but faded away to the annals of time.


    <i>~pat~pat~</i>


    Lin Mu ced his hands on the two doors and pushed them.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~CREAK~</i>


    At first, the sound of something getting struck was head. It was like metal hitting an edge, but it soon turned into a creaking sound. One thing Lin Mu could tell from this was that the door had been used recently.


    "This one was smoother than the others¡­ did Kushao set up the teleportation array in here?" Lin Mu wondered.


    A couple of secondster, the doors were open and Lin Mu could observe the dark insides.


    <i>~spark~</i>


    Creating another ball of fire, Lin Mu illuminated the area.


    The moment that happened, he could see a marvelous scene.


    "WHOA!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    In front of him was something that was no less than an art piece. Dense and intricate runes carved whichever from the floor to the roof. They were directly engraved into the stone before being filled with special ink to solidify their properties.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu felt bad stepping on them, so he simply hovered in the air. He lightly touched the wall and the runes came alive.


    <i>~HONG</i>~


    Some of the runes turned out to be part of an illuminating formation and provided proper lighting in the room. This allowed Lin Mu to see the beauty of the runes properly. It left him speechless, and he could easily say that it was one of the best rune work he had seen till now.


    At least if one considered direct engravings and carvings. There were many more intricate ones that were simply built using spirit sense and other materials.


    Lin Mu felt a little lost in the carvings and didn''t know where to start and where to end it. It had no apparent beginning point and neither was there an end point. As if an unending loop had been formed, one would be helpless to find the center.


    "Is this really the teleportation array?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question.


    He had seen the teleportation array in the Kong ne''s Nexus and while it was ratherplex too, it didn''t have as many runes on it. Most of its formations had been directly melded into the structure of the nexus and thus were hard to understand.


    "It is indeed a Teleportation array. A very tedious andplex one, but a functional one regardless." Xukong confirmed.


    "It''s different from the one in Kong ne." Lin Mu said while looking around.


    "Well, there is a difference in the distance needed to cover, not to mention this one does not transport you between different worlds and nes. It simply moves you within a single world.


    Theoretically speaking, it is of a lower grade than the one you saw in the Kong ne, but practically this is not something that will be easy to make. In fact, there would be far more efficient methods of doing this.


    Whoever made this certainly had a limited number of options." Xukong said.


    Lin Mu''s eyes glimmered as he looked at the formation array. But about a minuteter, his gaze turned cold.


    "We need to get rid of it¡­ if the Northern Tribes really decided toe, they would be taking this array, won''t they?" Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes, you do need to destroy it. But first, I reckon you should record it in a slip. It wille in handy for you. Some of the runes used in them can help you in spatial maniption further on." Xukong suggested.


    "Alright senior." Lin Mu said before he took out a jade slip.


    It was one of themon jade slips that was used to store things like documents, notes, and pictures. One could both record, write and send information if they had the need to do so. Lin Mu had kept several different jade slips of various capacities so that he could make benefit from them whenever it was needed.


    Lin Mu had often recorded the books and documents he hade across in the jade slips. He had several small ones that had long since been filled, and now this formation array was perfect for a new jade slip.


    Lin Mu spent about an hour doing this before finally taking a breath of relief.


    <i>~phew~</i> Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Even if nothing has happened till now, it felt like everything would disappear like a dream if I blinked.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With the teleportation formation array sessfully recorded, Lin Mu decided to destroy it. But the moment he raised his hand, the formation reacted as well.


    <i>~HUMM~</i>


    A tripleyered barrier appeared around the walls and the runes protecting them from being so much as scratched. At least before Lin Mu could touch the walls, but now his hands were restricted from going any further.


    This made him surprised and prompted him to find the cause of this first. After a few minutes of nothing through, an idea appeared in his mind.


    "Hang on¡­ the source of spirit Qi¡­ it needs to be removed. Without it, the formation array would perish.." Xukong chimed in as well.

 Chapter 862 - The Suppressed Beasts That Hold The Ruins

    Hearing Senior Xukong''s suggestion, Lin Mu decided to do exactly that.


    "I have a good hunch where the formation array''s spirit Qi source is¡­" Lin Mu said before he looked towards the other end of the floor.


    While it could not be seen directly from here, Lin Mu was dead sure that the runes should definitely link up with other runes in the corridor and then they finally reached the sphere that was located on the other side.


    Lin Mu used his spirit sense to check all the runes in this room before finding theyout for the spirit Qi channeling formation that was included in it. Though the moment Lin Mu figured it out, he felt angry.


    "Dammit, other than the direct links on the surface, all the rest are hidden and melded with the ruins." Lin Mu said.


    While it was not an absolute sign of failure, Lin Mu could still figure out a certain pattern to them and he reckoned if he spent a certain amount of time with them, he will figure them out.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Let''s see what it really is like on the other side." Lin Mu muttered and moved like the wind through the corridors.


    A short whileter, he ended up facing the dark blue sphere. Here the ufortable aura was many times stronger and he felt the hair on his hand stand up. He chanted the calming heart sutra and wiped away the feeling before taking another look at it.


    This time his eyes could perceive the fine runes that joined up with the dark blue sphere, but it seemed more like multilevel clothes. If you wanted to remove oneyer, he would have to remove the topmostyer.


    While Lin Mu was analyzing the formations and runes, Xukong was focusing on the dark blue sphere.


    "Just what is this¡­ A Dao Crystal? Epiphany Crystal or¡­ An Ascendancy crystal." Xukong went through a few options.


    Other than the Dao Crystal, Lin Mu had no knowledge about these things. Besides, they were not something Lin Mu could learn at this point in time, either. He had neither the cultivation base nor the basic understanding to learn about them.


    Xukong would certainly not let this be known to Lin Mu and didn''t think he should burden him with it.


    "For a world like this, the options are quite less. Other than those three, nothing makes sense. What could cause some power to seal and hide it away?" Xukong wondered.


    Lin Mu spent a few hours doing this and the longer he went, the deeper he fell into the mystery of the formations. He unknowingly started chanting the calming heart sutra as a means to get better focus and found a certain node of the formation that seemed to be the most essible.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense extended at that moment and touched that node. The moment he did that though, he felt a string of memories entering his mind. His vision turned nk before something else had reced it.


    Instead of the fifth floor, Lin Mu found himself what could only be somewhere underground outside of the ruins. But what Lin Mu saw surprised him. Below the ruins, there were thousands if not tens of thousands of beasts hidden.


    All of them were seemingly asleep and all of them had a crystal on their bodies. They were faintly absorbing some kind of an energy and growing. The most shocking thing was their cultivation speed.


    Lin Mu saw what were just a handful of pill worms turning into a dog sized beast before condensing a crystal in their forehead and continuing to grow into a ferocious beast, the like of which Lin Mu had seen before.


    Lin Mu focused on their crystals and could estimate their cultivation bases from them.


    ''Core condensation, Nascent soul, and Dao Shell realm beasts. Though there is something strange here.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


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    Continuing his observation, he soon found the biggest beast of them all. It had very Dark Pupils and had a body that was massive. It had a purple core embedded in its head and was emanating a killer aura.


    "Dao Treading realm beast!" Lin Mu muttered.


    He looked at the other ces that were suppressing the beasts and preventing them from waking up as well. Lin Mu''s mind traveled wide, and he saw the outer part of the ruins.


    The entire ruin was built on top of a pir of strange beasts. Seeing this, a few thoughts came to Lin Mu.


    "Doesn''t this mean¡­ the reason why the ruins appear and disappear is due to the beasts? If their numbers increase and reach a certain point, the ruins rise and appear on the surface.


    Once the cultivators kill a certain number of beasts, the ruins fall back down. And that Dark Blue sphere¡­ it''s the condensed aura and energy that has leaked out from all the beasts this entire time." Lin Mu analyzed.


    Having learned this all, Lin Mu felt a bit anxious and knew that he needed to leave this ce.


    <i>~shua~? </i>


    His connection with the formation was severed, and he returned to the real world.


    "Did you find something?" Xukong questioned, having sensed the change in Lin Mu.


    "Yes, I did senior. Please take a look." Lin Mu answered.


    Xukong checked the memories and saw the massive number of beasts being suppressed beaten the ruins. Their aura and energy would leak to the top before being used by the teleportation array and other formations to work.


    "It is certainly more than we expected. But our initial hypothesis turned out to be true. This is not an inheritance ground, it is a seal to stop some evil beasts from appearing here." Xukong replied.


    "Yes. Guess we need to leave quickly now." Lin Mu said before he moved to the room with the teleportation array.


    His gaze was like a sharp knife and it felt like it would cut anything. Lin Mu''s spirit sense quickly isted the formation he needed to sever and in the next second, it was done.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    Soon, great changes started in and around the ruins.

 Chapter 863 - A Quake

    In the camps of the sects above the Kushao ruins, a group of disciples were heading to a tent.


    "Elder, may wee in?" One of the disciples spoke.


    "Enter," A voice was heard.


    The three disciples lifted the p of the tent and entered it. In there, they could see a rtively simple interior, with a bed, a table, a chair and a mediation pillow. An elder was currently sitting at the table and reading through a jade slip.


    His eyes were closed, but his spirit sense was alert.


    "What is it?" The elder asked, while keeping his eyes closed.


    "Our progress has been steady and we are expecting to be able to enter the ruins by tonight." The leading disciple spoke.


    Hearing this, the elder opened his eyes and gazed at the disciples.


    "And the normal opening of the ruins?" the elder asked next.


    "We think it might open tomorrow." A second disciple replied.


    "Hmm¡­ so we get a day''s lead¡­ good! That will be enough for us to gain an advantage." The elder said with a smile.


    "Shall we inform the others to get ready?" The leading disciple asked.


    "Hmm, get our sect disciples ready first. We will inform the allies an hour before we go." The elder said in a sly tone.


    The disciples understood his meaning and cupped their hands in greeting before turning around to leave.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    But just as they were stepping out of the tent, the ground started to shake. The sand around the ruins rippled, and it looked like a cmity was about to happen.


    "EARTHQUAKE!"


    "GATHER UP! GATHER UP!"


    People became startled by the sudden phenomenon and tried to save themselves. Thankfully, this was a desert and there weren''t really things that could fall on them and hurt them.


    Plus, the sand below them could act as a cushion too. But that was if there was no danger underneath them.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    <i>~SWOOSH~</i>


    "AHH! SAVE ME!" A couple of disciples shouted as they started to sink into the sand.


    They were merely in the Qi refining realm and thus could not fly up directly. Plus the area that was sinking was rather vast and did not allow them to escape in time.


    "All disciples are to fly up! Don''t stay onnd!" The elders swiftly gave out their orders. "Those that can fly are to rescue the ones stuck!"


    <i>~shing~ shing~</i>


    Various spirit tools appeared in the air as people were rescued from the sinking sand.


    The elder sitting in the tent furrowed his brows and waved his hand.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    A wave of energy spread from his hand and the tent was ripped open with ease. The wave of energy spread in an area of two hundred meters around him and covered the people that were present there.


    He then stretched his right hand forward and brought the index and middle fingers together before curling them upwards.


    "RISE!" He ordered.


    The moment he said that, pirs of sand rose up below each person that was covered with his energy and was raised to the sky. The elder then stepped onto the air and rose up to take a look around.


    Several more such elders appeared in the sky as well and were looking for the cause behind this urrence. Thankfully, under their supervision, no one had died yet.


    "Elder Xieyan!" A middle aged man approached the elder.


    "Elder Ren," Elder Xieyan acknowledged him.


    "There seem to be some strange things happening at the ruins. You wouldn''t happen to know why, would you?" Elder Ren questioned.


    "Oh? What are you implying, Elder Ren?" The old man asked.


    "I''m not implying anything. I just know that the Sky Precepts sect has the highest chance of unraveling the formation array of the ruins. Thus if anything happened, you are likely to know more." Elder Ren stated.


    "Hmm¡­ has the Rainbow pill sect started to dabble in Divination arts too? You have started to predict things now¡­" Elder Xieyan replied in a straight tone.


    His expression was calm as well, but the auraing from him was a bit turbulent. Elder Ren secretly clenched his fist, but held his ground.


    "Regardless, I think this will be a bit of a problem. If the sand has started sinking, it means there are hollow areas underground. Or the quake has shifted things. We don''t know how the ruins will be affected." Elder Ren said, trying to change the topic.


    Elder Xieyan stayed silent and simply nodded his head.


    "Just be ready to act¡­ we might not have enough time this cycle." Elder Xieyan said after a few seconds.


    "Of course." Elder Ren replied.


    While the people on the surface were somewhat panicking, the same was happening on the fourth floor of the ruins.


    "What do we do, Elder Weimin!?" one of the disciples called out anxiously.


    Unlike the surface, the floor here was shaking even more intently. They could see runes flickering on the walls and roof, seemingly getting unstable by the second.


    "Where is Lin Mu?" Jing Luo asked Little Shrubby.


    He knew that something had happened and it was not a good situation for them.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    Little Shrubby gestured towards the floor.


    "What?" Jing Luo did not fully understand it.


    Little Shrubby furrows his eyes and then thought of an idea.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    In the next second, a stream of fire shot out of his mouth. He aimed it like a circle around him and created a ten meter wide area. Elder Weimin and the rest saw it and were confused, but Jing Luo got the clue.


    He looked toward the disciples and shouted, "Everyone, get away from the circle!"


    The disciples that were there didn''t question it and quickly moved away. Just two seconds after they did that, an explosion happened.


    <i>~KABOOM~</i>


    It was as if a ribbon of fire had just erupted from the floor. It was zing hot and melted the floor and the roof above like it was wax. Red hot molten stone dripped down as the formations reinforcing them broke apart.


    The disciples were left with their jaws hanging, and Elder Weimin made a gesture with his fingers.


    <i>~Woo~woo~woo~</i>


    The disciples that were about to get pelted with debris were quickly yanked away and protected from getting injured.


    <i>~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~</i>


    The ming ribbon pierced through the roof and reached the third floor, before continuing onwards to the second one. It continued doing that until it pieced all the way out of the ruins.


    <i>~WEENG~</i>


    A figure floated up from the hole that had just been created and pulled everyone''s attention.


    "Come on! We have to leave right this instance! This ce won''tst long!" Lin Mu shouted.


    The disciples were quick in response and took out their respective spirit weapons and got onto them. Elder Weimin stayed at the back while Jing Luo joined up with Lin Mu at the front.


    The group then ascended and left the ruins through the hole that Lin Mu had just made. He didn''t even stop for a second there and quickly headed towards the boundary of the ruins.


    Blink!


    Lin Mu had a stern expression on his face as he used blink consecutively and reached the barrier before the others.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    He clenched his fist and punched out, shattering the barrier and opening a hole for them to pass through. It was much easier for him than before, as the formations had gotten weaker now.


    ''Severing the power was enough to weaken the formation arrays by at least 50%.'' Lin Mu estimated.


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    With this done, he turned around to look at the rest that were still on their way here.


    "Don''t stop! Continue on and keep on heading straight! We have to get away as far as possible. Don''t stop even if the other sects or cultivators try to speak." Lin Mu ordered.


    "YES SENIOR!" The disciples replied promptly.


    Jing Luo gave a nod to them and guided them out of the barrier. His spirit sense spread around and was keeping track of everything that approached them. A few secondster, all the disciples were out and so was Elder Weimin.


    Lin Mu started flying forward again and Elder Weimin came to fly beside him.


    "What''s exactly happening?" He questioned.


    "Beasts! Hundreds of thousands of beasts. Perhaps even in the millions! I may have a made a mistake with a formation array." Lin Mu replied.


    He knew that while he had severed the power source to the teleportation array, it had also caused the seal on the strange beasts to get a bit weaker. Lin Mu only found that out after he did that, thus he had no chance but to rush out.


    Lin Mu had hoped something like this would not happen and that his mistake would now be causing a lot of problems for everyone.


    "What about the teleportation formation? Is it gone?" Elder Weimin questioned.


    "Yeah, that is destroyed. But there were a lot of beasts sealed underneath the ruins, they have now been released." Lin Mu answered.


    Elder Weimin furrowed his brows and let his spirit sense reach the ruins again. They were still close enough that his spirit sense tendril could reach the very bottom of the ruins.


    With the hope that Lin Mu had made and the weakened formation array,s there was nothing that could fully restrain his spirit sense anymore.


    The moment his spirit sense reached the bottom of the ruins where Lin Mu was before, his eyes went wide. He quickly reeled in his spirit sense as a horrified expression appeared on his face.


    "This¡­ how do we stop this?"

 Chapter 864 - Two Elders

    In the scope of Lin Mu''s spirit sense, he could see hundreds if not thousands of beasts bursting out of the seal. Thankfully, the seal was not fully broken, so not all of them had been released all at once.


    But the ones that were being released were still more than Lin Mu had killed in the entire ruins till now. He and the team kept on running away and five minutes quickly passed.


    "Is this far enough? We need to halt and asses our situation. Plus, I don''t think the disciples can keep up such speed any longer." Jing Luo spoke up.


    Lin Mu checked up on the disciples and saw that the ones that were in the core condensation realm were already showing signs of being tired. It was normal since they had covered a long distance in a very short time.


    It was fine for Lin Mu to be able to keep up that speed in the core condensation realm, but the same could not be expected for the disciples. Even with their spirit tools, it was difficult for them to fly for extended periods of times and would be taxing on their spirit Qi.


    "All disciples are to quickly replenish their spirit Qi. Use as many spirit stones as you have to!" Elder Weimin quickly ordered, knowing the situation.


    "The beasts will be pouring out in droves soon enough." Lin Mu informed.


    "What do we do now?" Elder Weimin questioned.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and considered the different possibilities that might happen.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    But just as he was doing that, he heard a loud explosions happening in the distance. Narrowing his eyes, he could see a ck dot speedily approaching the ruins.


    "A Dao Shell realm cultivator?" Lin Mu sensed.


    He could also tell that this person was strong and was at least at the shellpletion stage of the Dao Shell realm, if not higher. The man seemingly used some technique and arge red sword appeared in the sky.


    <i>~Crackle~</i>


    Everyone could hear the sharp sound of embers crackling.


    "Ember Dawn de! That''s a technique of the Centennial Sword Sect!" Elder Weimin recognized.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon seeing this, but at the same time felt a bit relieved.


    "As long as they don''t discover us, we might not have to do anything." Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~ZING~</i>


    The Dao Shell realm cultivator from the Centennial sword sect weaved his fingers in the air and therge red sword followed its path.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The sword lights shot out of therge red de and created explosions that destroyed the ruins. But at the same time, another sound was heard.


    <i>~SKREEE!!!~</i>


    The screeching sound of a beast could be hearding from the depths of the ruins.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The ruins burst open as arge beast flew out of it. It had a navy blue crystal on its neck and looked like a monkey with white scaly skin and long fingers that looked like tentacles.


    "A Dao Shell realm one¡­" Elder Weimin also recognized.


    The beast and the man facing it started to fight and soon a battle ensured. Therge red sword waved through the air and shed at the monkey beast, but was unable to do much damage.


    The beast''s scales were far too strong and could easily withstand the very attacks that had broken through the ground. It was something that would stun the other sects if they ever saw it.


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    The Ember Dawn de was one of the top five techniques of the centennial sword sect and was very strong. The average Dao Shell realm beast or cultivator would be split apart with even one of its attacks.


    The Dao Shell realm cultivator furrowed his brows and realized that the beast in front of him was different from the others that they had information about. While they knew about the crystal and the peculiarity of the beasts, the toughness of this beast was still beyond their expectations.


    "Humph! It''s just a matter of attempts. If one doesn''t work, I''ll do hundreds!" The man said before shing out many more times.


    The attacks were very fast and the ape beast was unable to fully keep up with them. After about a minute, the man finally managed to make the very first injury on the ape.


    <i>~SKREEE!~</i>


    The beast cried out in pain as one of its legs was chopped off.


    The man smiled seeing this and spoke, "so I just need to focus on a single part till it''s cut off!"


    The beast became angry in pain and started to rampage, attacking randomly.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    While the elder of the centennial sword sect was busy in dealing with the monkey beast, the ground started to shake again.


    <i>~kiiii~</i>


    <i>~ziziziziziz~</i>


    Various sounds could be heard, as the ruins were broken even more.


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    Soon, hundreds of different beasts came out of the debris. They were covered in blue ck blood and some body parts of other beasts could also be seen sticking to their bodies. It was as if they had dug their way out of a pile of corpses.


    "Humph! So there were more of them there?" The Elder said.


    "Violet Myrtle Drop!" Another voice was hearding from the back as a second person appeared.


    This was a middle aged man and held a small cup in his hand. Above that cup, a small drop of liquid was floating. It was violet in color and looked rather vibrant. The man looked at the beast with a lofty gaze and poured the cup towards them.


    The violet drop flew out of the cup and started to fall towards them. There was no sound made from it, but even then, the pressure exuding from the drop was different. Even Lin Mu could feel the strangeness that made him wrinkle his brows.


    <i>~st~</i>


    The drop finally struck the ground in the middle of the beasts and showed its power.


    <i>~FIZZ~</i>


    Almost immediately, it started to spread and covered all the beasts.. In the next second, the beasts started to melt and disappeared within thirty seconds.

 Chapter 865 - Decisive Retreat

    Seeing the entire series of events, Lin Mu was stunned.


    "How''s that little drop so powerful? Is it a poison?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    "That''s the Violet Myrtle Drop, one of the more¡­ unorthodox techniques of the Rainbow pill sect. Its said that it can melt flesh and metal like it was wax and takes years to refine." Elder Weimin exined.


    Lin Mu had not heard of a technique like this and was intrigued by it. It was a very powerful one, as could be seen and he was certainly interested in it. Not only for his own but also because there was always a chance that he might have to go against it someday.


    The best option was to know the enemy and their skills so that Lin Mu would be able to ovee them.


    Back at the ruins, after the beasts were melted away, the man looked at the Centennial sword sect elder.


    "Elder Kijian''s Ember Dawn sword is certainly as impressive as I''ve heard." Elder Ren praised.


    "Hmm¡­ I could say likewise for your Violets Myrtle Drop too, Elder Ren. Though¡­ was this the right time to use it? Wasn''t this a waste of it?" Elder Kijian replied.


    "Haha, I know what you mean. But no¡­ I don''t have the same restrictions as others." Elder Ren said before he stretched out the hand that held the cup.


    He made a scooping gesture with the cup and the liquid that had spread all around started to gather.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    It rushed towards a single point and condensed back into a single violet colored drop. It then rose up into the sky and went back into the same position it was at in the cup.


    "Oh? You already reached that stage?" Elder Kijian was surprised.


    "It''s just some tricks. You don''t have to worry about it, elder Kijian." Elder Ren chuckled before putting away the cup.


    Elder Kijian narrowed his eyes at the hypocrisy, but decided it was not worth talking to the man any longer. Instead of that, he observed the area around them and felt more auras appearing from the depths.


    "Are the other elders done yet?" Elder Kijian questioned with a frown.


    "They should be soon. The beasts that appeared around the camp are already being taken care of. The disciples will have retreated soon enough." Elder Ren replied.


    "Mmm¡­ we will have more to fight. I doubt it will be enough for just the two of us." Elder Kijian said frankly.


    Hearing this, Elder Ren raised his brows. His spirit sense was slightly inferior to that of Elder Kijian but even then he could let it reach the depths of the ruins. When it finally reached the fifth floor that was now fully revealed, his expression changed.


    "Looks like this is not an inheritance ground anymore. The destruction within it was way beyond what we imagined. There is no distinction between floors now. Plus, the beasts make it impossible to proceed, anyway." Elder Ren spoke.


    "We will take out the stronger beasts and let the disciples handle the rest. That will have to suffice for their training this time around." Elder Kijian replied.


    "The Centennial sword sect seems to have benefited this time. These kinds of situations are just perfect for your style of training." Elder Ren said as he withdrew a pair of fans from his spatial storage bracelet.


    The fans were folded and were about a meter long in lengths when closed. There were fine runes carved on it as well and a strong spirit Qi fluctuation could be felting from it.


    Even Lin Mu could sense it from here.


    "A High grade spirit tool? No¡­ it''s almost at the peak grade." Lin Mu assessed.


    "It can reach peak grade as long as a few more improvements are made to it." Jing Luo added.


    Seeing that there was an elder of the Rainbow pill sect with such a spirit tool, Lin Mu was sure that the current situation was a bit more different from what he thought.


    ''With so many strong people, these beasts might really be manageable.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But this also made him understand that he wouldn''t need to deal with the beasts on his own.


    At this point, he made up his mind.


    "We shall leave now!" Lin Mu stated.


    "Are all disciples ready?" Elder Weimin asked.


    "Yes Elders!" The disciples replied.


    "GOOD! We shall leave upon the next order." Elder Weimin dered.


    Jing Luo looked at Lin Mu and asked, "you sure about this?"


    "Yes, with all the sects here, I don''t think we need to involve ourselves. Plus, this will give us an advantage. While the sects control the situation here, we can be done with our work at the Noon Grass sect as well." Lin Mu replied before looking at a certain old woman.


    "Plus¡­ we have her to get more information from as well." Lin Mu pointed towards Ku Waowen, that was tied to a pole and was being carried by two disciples.


    Elder Weimin had used a rope spirit tool that could restrain the power of a cultivator as well as their movement ability on her. This way, there was next to no chance of her escaping.


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    Ku Waowen was still asleep, as Elder Weimin could not get any answers from here while she was unconscious. He did want to wake her up to get some answers, but could not do so due to the rapid change in the situation.


    "We will be able to get Elder Liqiang to the sect to recover faster this way as well." Elder Weimin added.


    "Very well." Lin Mu said before turning to look at the disciple.


    "We shall head to the noon grass sect and won''t stop till we reach it. Everyone is to watch their backs and theirpanions'' backs. Make sure that both of you are safe and in a good condition." Lin Mu gave out an ordered.


    "YES SENIOR!" The disciples replied in unison.


    With this done, everyone left for the Noon Grass sect with Elder Weimin leading them at the front this time.

 Chapter 866 - Entering The Noon Grass Sect

    Lin Mu and the rest traveled non stop to the Noon Grass sect and finally reached it after two days.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu came to a stop at a small hill and looked at the sect in front of him. Simr to a lot of other sects, the noon grass sect was primarily built on top of mountains, but these were not natural mountains.


    It was said that the founder of the Noon Grass sect started with a single mountain that he built upon a spirit stone mine with the use of a great Earth technique called as Mountain Raising Scripture.


    With that single mountain, came into existence one of the top ten sects, The Noon Grass sect. From there on, the number of mountains increased and it finally reached the current thirteen peaks.


    Though from these thirteen peaks, only five of them were official peaks where elders and other sect buildings were located. The rest of the peaks were used as a residences for the disciples and for other purposes such as spirit herb gardens and farms.


    There were also beast farms built to raise special beasts that could be used for various uses in multiple fields.


    Plus unlike the other top sects, the noon grass sect didn''t really have a formal entrance test. And neither did it formally recruit disciples at regr time periods. Instead, the disciples were all either picked by the elders when they went out or they were brought in by the disciples.


    The sect still had the right to reject the candidates, of course, but it was something that seldom happened. The Noon Grass sect was the most secluded of all the top ten sects and rarely participated in events that happened in the secr world, or even among the other sects.


    Only when they were officially sent messages and requests would they appear. Having them to voluntarily appear for events was a matter of luck.


    This was mostly due to the philosophy that the sect propagated among their members of keeping to themselves and focusing on self improvement without caring for the opinion of others.


    "We''re finally here!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    "This is our Noon Grass sect and its thirteen peaks." Elder Weimin introduced.


    Lin Mu looked around and got a sense of the area. He could feel the spirit Qi in the air being slightly higher than normal, but it was barely 30% of what was in the Kong ne. He could also feel a dense life aura around the entire sect.


    Not only that, but the more he focused on the south, the greater life he could feel there.


    ''This is truly a marvelous ce. The southern forest is right beyond the sect, so the vital energy fluctuation in the region is quite strong too. It quite the opposite of the desert we were in earlier¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Come on, I''ll take you to the main peak. The disciples who are not assigned duties right now will return to their respective posts." Elder Weimin stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and followed behind Elder Weimin as he brought them to the main peak of the Noon Grass sect. The main peak was located far from where they were standing and was closest to the great Southern forest.


    "So this is where the boundary between the former Central Continent and the Southern continent exists." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He had long since been curious about the former continents and had been learning about them. This was his first time entering an area that was not originally part of the Central continent.


    While flying over the sect, Lin Mu could see the various paths that were paved with unique rocks of the area. They were pockmarked and looked rather strange. But when many of them were put together, they gave off a rather calming vibe.


    Lin Mu could see the winding paths forming a rather harmonious pattern around the peaks. It was as if they were in tune with the heavens, and the Feng Shui of the area was optimum.


    He could even feel the change in his mind just by being here.


    "This is different¡­" Lin Mu said, seeing the changes.


    "Haha, new guests do feel like this whenever they visit our sect. The paths and various buildings you are seeing below are all in the form of a giant formation array. It is called as the Earthly Harmony Formation Array." Elder Weimin exined.


    Lin Mu raised his brows upon hearing this. He had learned about the Earthly Harmony formation array and knew that it was one of the Formation arrays belonging to the rare category of Mental enhancement formations.


    They were rtivelyplex to set up and often needed perfect areas to create them.


    ''Since the sect was made artificially, it makes sense that they could use this formation array.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Usually, a cultivation sect would prefer to set a spirit Qi gathering formation array in the interior of the sect so that they could increase the concentration of spirit Qi in the sect. But the Noon Grass sect did not do the same.


    Rather than that, they followed their unique philosophy and chose to set this array that could help the disciples improve their mental fortitude and temperament. One must know that it was one of the most important things that a cultivator needed to have.


    After all, a cultivator with a weak temperament and fortitude might not even be able to reach the Core condensation realm. The higher they went, the better patience and fortitude they needed.


    Not only would it keep them on the right path, but it would also prevent them from having mental demons, or perhaps even heart demons.


    In the middle of the sect, Lin Mu could see a thin but very noticeable demarcation line that was made with a dark ck rock.


    "What''s that?" Lin Mu pointed.


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    "That is the true boundary of the Central and Southern Continents. The Noon Grass sect is the only one that exists in two former continents at the same time and since they have different geomancies, we use this line to mark that.." Elder Weimin answered.

 Chapter 867 - Supreme Elder Hua Langya

    Lin Mu knew that geomancy was an important aspect in the setting ofrge-scale formation arrays. He had not yet done any progress on that aspect simply due to the fact that he had not gotten to setting any of them himself.


    While he had indeed manipted and changed them, he had not created them from the start. And since Geomancy was something that needed practical experience in order to learn it, Lin Mu had no proficiency with it yet.


    Thus, he was interested in the demarcation that was made in the sect. After crossing over to the next side, Lin Mu could feel the change in the aura as well and faintly sensed the flow of energy in the environment.


    ''It is certainly different.'' Lin Mu took note.


    The border soon passed, and Lin Mu arrived at the main peak. The main peak was rather empty looking and no one could be seen on it.


    "Is this ce like this most of the time?" Lin Mu asked, remembering how the other peaks of the sects were.


    "The main peak only has the sect patriarch, his personal disciples, and the supreme elder residing on it. The other members of the sect only go there when summoned or if they need to ask something.


    Plus, our sect is very vast and has a lot of space with proportionately fewer disciples. The disciples get a lot of space for them to live privately; thergest in any of the top sects." Elder Weimin exined, with thest part being said proudly.


    "Ah, I see." Lin Mu responded, but then thought of something.


    "But if Patriarch is not at the sect, who are we going to talk to here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The supreme elder of course." Elder Weimin answered.


    "Huh? Has he recovered already?" Lin Mu asked, raising his brows.


    "He still has a while to recover fully, but this should not be a problem for him. After all, he can still deal with the sect matters rting to the normal decisions since he doesn''t need his cultivation for it.


    While the sect patriarch is out, the supreme elder is the in charge." Elder Weimin replied.


    Lin Mu could only nod his head in response and head into therge hall that was located at the top of the mountain. It was rather peculiar looking since it hung off a cliff and half of it was suspended in the air.


    Lin Mu entered the building under the supervision of Elder Weimin and was quickly brought to an inner room. This was not the central area where all the matters were discussed, but rather a separate room in it.


    "The Supreme elder resides in his own residence in the hall. Plus, since he''s injured, the room is especially conducive to healing." Elder Weimin spoke.


    "That''s rather good." Lin Mu said and finally came to stand in front of the door.


    Jing Luo looked at Lin Mu and nodded at him in assurance.


    "Pleasee in," A voice came from inside, before Lin Mu even got the chance to say anything.


    "We areing in, Supreme elder." Elder Weimin said as a formality before opening the doors.


    The two doors slid apart and the interior was revealed. In there, Lin Mu could see a few formations that were painted onto the floor and were lightly glowing. They let out very faint vibrations that were hard to sense normally.


    Buting into contact with them, Lin Mu could feel some of his injuries healing faster.


    ''This is better than I thought. I need to take note of this.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "It won''t really do you much benefit though." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Huh? What do you mean, senior? It seems to be working pretty well." Lin Mu replied.


    "It is for now, yes, but the healing will only be temporary and for your surface wounds. For normal cultivators, this would be very good, but for you who has the Xiantian physique and body cultivation of two treasured organs, it would barely make a dent." Xukong exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu understood.


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    "So in simple terms¡­ I''m beyond the capabilities of the formation." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Yes¡­ at least for a formation of this level. There are other healing formations that will be effective on you of course." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu hummed in agreement and finally gazed upon the man who was sitting on a mediation pillow in the back of the room. He rested his back against a bolster and had his eyes closed.


    In his hands, a set of beads could be seen. He was rolling the beads between his thumb and index finger, as if praying. The man opened his eyes and gazed at the youthful face of Lin Mu.


    "Greetings, Junior Lin Mu. I have been wanting to meet you for a long time now." The supreme elder spoke.


    "Greetings, Supreme elder. It is nice to finally meet you too." Lin Mu replied.


    "No, no¡­ the pleasure is all mine. I am very grateful to you and owe you my life. After all, if it were not for you, Hua San and Hua Wu might have never found thousand year old Hong Lin trees.


    If I am alive here today, it is because of you." The supreme elder spoke.


    He then stood up and cupped his hands before bowing his head. Seeing this, Lin Mu was rather surprised and the eyes of the disciples that had apanied them went wide.


    "This¡­ there is no need for this," Lin Mu wanted to stop the elder.


    "No¡­ this old man named Hua Langya will forever be grateful to you." The supreme elder said.


    Jing Luo lightly patted Lin Mu on the back and gestured him to go ahead.


    "Please stand up Supreme Elder Langya, this is enough." Lin Mu said, finding it a bit overwhelming for him.


    The old man finally epted and stood back up normally.


    "Please sit, we shall talk about what happened." The old man gestured.


    A pair of disciples rushed in at this point and quickly set up the pillows for everyone to sit in the room.. It was all very efficient.

 Chapter 868 - Elder Liqiang Wakes Up!

    Lin Mu and Elder Hua Langya''s conversationsted a long time. A day passed by and they didn''t even realize it.


    <i>~CHIME~</i>


    The sound of light bells could be heard all of a sudden and pulled the attention of Lin Mu, who had been speaking.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu''s ears perked up.


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    <i>~CREAK~</i>


    The door of the room opened and an old woman entered. She was wearing the robes of an elder and seemed to be in her fifties.


    "Elder Yi? What''s the matter?" Hua Langya questioned.


    "Elder Liqiang has finally woken up." She answered.


    Hearing this, everyone''s eyes lit up. Elder Liqiang had been carried over to the alchemy peak to be taken care of. He was being personally being taken care of by the elders there to ensure that there was no problem with him.


    "GOOD! We shall all head over." Hua Langya stated.


    "Yes, let''s go! I have some questions to ask him too." Lin Mu spoke.


    "We shall go back elder, I don''t think it would be appropriate for us to disturb Elder Liqiang." The disciples who had been sitting at the back spoke.


    "Very well. Your part here is done, anyway. You can return." Hua Langya dismissed them.


    The only reason they had been asked to stay back was that the elder wanted to assess their experiences along with the second perspective of events that woulde from the disciples.


    After all, no matter how insightful Lin Mu, Jing Luo and Elder Weimin were, there were bound to be things that they may have missed, but others might not have. Thus, these disciples were here for that reason.


    But in the time that Lin Mu had spoken, almost all the events were discussed and there was no use for them. Plus, it would not be appropriate for them to be in the presence of the injured elder either.


    The now smaller group left for the alchemy peak and arrived there in a few minutes. Usually, guests would not be brought this easily to the alchemy peak, as it was a rather sensitive area, but considering Lin Mu''s identity, there was no issue now.


    Plus, Elder Hua Langya had talked and listened to Lin Mu enough that he was convinced of him and fully approved of his leadership. The most he was impressed with was Lin Mu''s strength that was beyond that of a normal cultivator of the same level.


    The old woman came to a stop in front of a building that was built from white and grey stones. There was a board that was hung on top of it which read: Healing Hall.


    "Unlock!" Elder Yi chanted.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A few formations appeared in the air for a moment before disappearing.


    "We can proceed now," she said and they could finally enter.


    ''Guess they have higher security here due to the injured people.'' Lin Mu thought.


    It was made this way since they could not protect themselves easily on the off chance that someone infiltrated the sect. This way the enemies would not be able to target the patients.


    It was a smart choice ording to Lin Mu and he approved of the caution, especially since there was someone like Gu Yao who could control people. In that way, they wouldn''t even have to infiltrate the sect and simply needed to control someone from the sect itself.


    Lin Mu and elder Hua Langya were quickly brought to the room where Elder Liqiang was recovering.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The door of the hall opened, and Lin Mu could see a faint smoke in the room. It was rising from the four censors that were ced in the four corners of the room. The smoke that they let off was lightly aromatic and had a calming effect on the mind.


    "Spirit Rose Frankincense?" Lin Mu recognized what was being burned.


    He recalled that it was a special type of Frankincense that was made from the sprint Rosewood that grew only in the Great Southern Forest. It had the effect of calming the mind and promoting spirit Qi harmony in the body.


    It was in fact simr to the formation array that was in the supreme elder''s room, but was far more effective. Though it was also limited by the amount of Spirit Rose Frankincense that was used and could not be activated indefinitely like the formation array.


    Elder Liqiang was currently resting on a bed and had his back against a triangr pills that supported it. It was reclined at a 45% angle and allowed him to look at everyone with far morefort.


    "Greetings, Elder Liqiang!" Lin Mu said out loud with a smile.


    Elder Liqiang simrly smiled and cupped his hands in greeting.


    "Allow me to offer you, my gratitude Brother Lin Mu," Elder Liqiang said, changing the designation he used.


    He also bowed at the same time and raised his hands in a salute above his head.


    "No need for that, Elder Liqiang. I simply fulfilled my duty as an ally." Lin Mu stated.


    "No, you went above and beyond what was needed of you. Even if you never came, it would have been reasonable. After all, you were treading in uncharted territory and had nopulsion to enter a dangerous situation.


    Yet even then you chose toe to help me out and save me. For this, I will be eternally grateful." Elder Liqiang said with pure gratitude in his eyes.


    Lin Mu could only nod and ept the words as he knew that saying anything else would be insulting the trust that the man had showed in him.


    "While the thanks are good, we still need to know the entire story behind your capture. So¡­ tell us what happened." Elder Hua Langya interrupted.


    "Ah yes! How did you end up in the Ruins Elder Liqiang?" Lin Mu questioned.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Hearing this, Elder could only sigh.


    "It was a series of unfortunate events." Elder Liqiang replied.


    "I can imagine," Lin Mu nodded his head in agreement.


    All that they hade across could only be exined by luck at this point.

 Chapter 869 - The Unfortunate Events And Elder Liqiang’s Decisiveness

    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Elder Liqiang drank some water from the cup that was kept on the side of his bed and let out a breath.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "It was all going well ording to our n, and I was heading back to the sect, but when I entered the Broken Sand Desert, I sensed a few people flying across the sky at great speed.


    If it were not for the special detection spirit tools I had for the installing of the teleportation gate, I would have never even found those people. Since the tool was sensitive to spatial fluctuations, it sensed the people that were hiding under an invisibility formation array.


    Finding it very suspicious, I followed the signals and soon reached an empty area. But there I found myself trapped in a bewildering formation array. I couldn''t even tell how or when it surrounded me and I was lost.


    After trying to escape it for a few minutes, I was forcefully pulled to the inside of the Kushao ruins. I was confused at first, but seeing the strange beasts in the ruins, I realized where I was.


    I was fighting the beasts when I was discovered by the people of the Northern Tribes. They managed to overwhelm me with a sneak attack and trapped me. Seeing that I was an elder of the Noon Grass sect, they tried to extract information about our sect.


    To me, it seemed like their goal was to infiltrate the sect. And hearing what Gu Yao could do reminded me of the level of threat we would face if she found out about the location of the sect.


    They might ambush some disciple or elder when they leave the sect and then use them to infiltrate the sect. It would be a simple yet effective strategy considering the ability of Gu Yao." Elder Liqiang answered.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu and the Supreme elder couldn''t help but frown.


    "For them to be able to hide their presence that well, it''s surely a spirit tool at the Peak grade or a special talisman." Supreme Elder Hua Langya suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu found it to be strange as well as he knew the spirit too made by Jing Luo were used to find a good ce with stable spatial fabric. If the teleportation gate was built in an area with unstable space, it would either not work or break upon use.


    That was the entire reason why Jing Luo had made that spirit tool.


    "What happened after you got trapped?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm, well they beat me up and tortured me, trying to gain information, but I did not give in. After a few attempts, they realized that they could take another approach. Thus, that old witch tried to steal my spatial storage ring!" Elder Liqiang spat out with fury.


    "I knew that if I was fully restrained and unable to move, the ring would be as good as lost.


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    But at the same time, it contained theponents for the teleportation gate, as well as our sensitive information. I could not let it fall into the hands of the enemy and thus I destroyed my spatial storage ring." Elder Liqiang answered.


    Hearing this Lin Mu''s face became serious. He knew that destroying a spatial storage treasure of any kind in this world was a difficult thing and would definitely cause pain to someone who wasn''t used to dealing with formations and high grade spirit tools.


    Not only that, but if a mistake was made during the process, the spatial storage ring might self implode and tear the fabric of space around it. That was a situation that had urred many times in the past, with most times being very disastrous.


    The destruction of the spatial fabric was the same as a great cmity and could cause damage to almost any cultivator if they were not prepared or knowledgeable about them. For most people, it would just be dead as they would be reduced to pieces.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but be reminded of the massive spatial tears caused due to the destruction of a spatial storage tool he had read about in the Lost Immortal''s memoirs.


    Not only that, but even Elder Xukong had specifically told Lin Mu to be safe from things like that. As even if Lin Mu could control them with rtive ease, there were still many faces of danger he could not fight with against at this time.


    "I see¡­ so theponents for the Teleportation are gone?" Jing Luo asked.


    Since he was the one who had made them all, he was a bit disappointed.


    "Yes. Since the ring was self-destructed by me, the items should forever be lost in some fragment of space." Elder Liqiang replied.


    It was at this time that Lin Mu spoke up.


    "Not necessarily!" he said out loud.


    "Oh? What do you mean, brother Lin Mu?" Elder Liqiang questioned.


    The supreme elder also wanted to know what Lin Mu was up to and looked on with interest.


    "Do you have any fragments or leftovers from the spatial storage ring that you destroyed?" Lin Mu asked instead.


    "Hmm¡­" Elder Liqiang furrowed his brows.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    He then extended his hand to a side table and opened its drawer. In there, a bunch of things could be seen. This included a set of tattered robes and ornaments along with a few small metal fragments.


    "I have this. The broken ring itself, I managed to keep some of its fragments even after it shattered." Elder Liqiang answered.


    "Perfect!" Lin Mu eximed, confusing the people in the room.


    "What¡­ do you mean?" Supreme elder couldn''t help but question.


    "Well, we might not have to worry about the Teleportation Gate and itsponents. And neither will Elder Liqiang have to worry about the other things of his spatial storage ring.


    "I can bring back the items." Lin Mu said, absolutely shocking them.


    "WHAT!?" Elder Liqiang and Hua Langya were shocked.


    "Yes. I just need the broken parts and some time. Once I have that, I will be able to retrieve the lost object.." Lin Mu stated with confidence.

 Chapter 870 - Retrieving The Lost Items

    Lin Mu knew that retrieving lost objects from the minor void was a rtively easy task for him. Though for almost all others, it might be an impossible task depending on how long or where the object was lost.


    Usually, the destruction of a spatial storage treasure meant that the things kept in it were as good as destroyed, but some could eject the objects into the minor void instead. There were even specialists whose main upation was to retrieve these objects.


    Of course, someone that did this needed to be an expert in not only formations but also have a good affinity for the spatial element. The first requirement was sufficiently easy to fulfill, but someone having an affinity for the spatial element was incredibly difficult.


    Thus, the specialists who could do this were in high demand. While they could not be found in the Xiaofan world, there were others that could be found in the higher world. And Lin Mu was about to be Xiaofan world''s very first object recovery specialist.


    "Here it is." Elder Liqiang handed the fragments of the ring to Lin Mu.


    He nodded his head and took them before closing his eyes. He chanted the calming heart sutra and used his spirit sense to carefully analyze the metal fragments. There were almost no traces of spirit Qi left in it after all this time, but after about half an hour, Lin Mu managed to find a very tiny link.


    It was vtile and seemed like it would disappear at any time.


    ''Rather than a link, it''s more of a loose string¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He tried to follow the path of the link and opened his eyes, that faintly flickered. Spatial perception activated and Lin Mu''s gaze extended past the reality. The others that were sitting around and watching him didn''t know what he was doing.


    ''Why is he just staring nkly?'' they wondered.


    But then, five minutester, they saw Lin Mu extended his hand.


    "Open," Lin Mu wordlessly said.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Then under the stunned gazes of everyone, the space in front of Lin Mu started to distort. As if some fabric was being wrinkled, the space moved, then a secondter it tore apart.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    "How¡­" Elder Weimin and Elder Liqiang were stunned.


    "Marvelous¡­" The supreme elder was amazed. ''Even those people from the Sky precepts sect can''t do this, can they?'' he thought.


    Lin Mu''s hand then entered the spatial crack that had just opened in front of him and searched inside. His spirit sense entered it as well and quickly found the objects that they were looking for.


    "Got it," Lin Mu said before withdrawing his hand.


    When Lin Mu''s hand came out, one could see a long rod like object in it.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    Lin Mu put it down on the side and reinserted his hand into the spatial crack to find the other objects. About a minuteter, Lin Mu was done pulling out all that he could find in there and finally decided to close it.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The ck hole in the fabric of space started to shrink before it mended itself, and everything returned to normal.


    "Brother Lin Mu this¡­" Elder Liqiang was at a loss for words.


    "Ahahha!" Jing Luo couldn''t help butugh. "This isn''t even the most absurd thing he''s done."


    "Brother Lin Mu''s attainments in the spatial element are truly great." Hua Langya couldn''t help but say.


    "They''re just so-so. I have yet to learn a lot of things." Lin Mu replied calmly.


    "Ahahah, Brother Lin Mu is simply too humble." The supreme elder said with a smile.


    "We can set up the teleportation gate now." Jing Luo said after checking that theponents were all right.


    "Mm, please get it ready. It''s best we are done before Patriarch Hua returns." Lin Mu agreed.


    "What''s the input on patriarch? Has he made any progress yet?" Elder Liqiang questioned.


    He was the one who was out of the loop for the most part and thus wanted to know if their n was going well or not.


    "Thest I heard, they are almost done with the initial negotiations. A few representatives from the Long Cloud Sect will be willing to talk to us under special conditions.


    What those conditions are though, we will only know after the patriarch returns." Hua Langya informed.


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    "Hmm¡­ tell them to head to the Hong Lin kingdom. They can use the teleportation gate there and use that to return to Noon Grass sect. They''ll save a lot of time that way." Lin Mu stated.


    "I should be done setting it up in a couple of days, just before they are done with their work as well." Jing Luomented.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and let Jing Luo leave to begin his work.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    While they were talking, a low rumbling sound was heard.


    "Hmm?" They all looked towards the source and saw that it hade from the outside.


    Lin Mu raised his brows and sensed something.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    He opened the window and peered outside, only to see the figure of Little Shrubby.


    "Master look!" Little Shrubby called out.


    The others heard his growl too and came to see what was happening. Their eyes went wide seeing the scenes.


    "Where did you get that bird?" Lin Mu asked, seeing therge beast that Little Shrubby had with him.


    The beast looked like an oversizes ostrich and had a frog like bulge on its throat that moved up and down. The beast was currently being held by its neck by one of the prosthetic hands and looked to be in a pitiful state.


    "A Howler Ostrich?" Elder Weimin recognized the beast.


    "I found a few of them wandering on the outside of the sect. I was looking around and this one came to fight me. I thought it would taste good, so I brought it!" Little shrubby said happily.


    <i>~GROAN~</i>


    The Howler Ostrich on the side didn''t seem pleased upon hearing his words though and cried in displeasure, though only a groan could be heard? due to its neck being clutched.

 Chapter 871 - An Annoying Bird’s End

    A small banquet was currently being held at the Noon Grass sect, and the guest of honor for this banquet were none other than Lin Mu and hispanions.


    "Ahahah! That annoying howler ostrich finally met its match!" One of the eldersughed out loud.


    "I still remember it pecked out my new robesst year. The bastard runs away before we can catch it. He''s too fast for most of us!" another elder chimed in.


    Lin Mu had been hearing all theints that the people had about the Howler ostrich.


    "Never thought one beast would cause this much trouble to an entire sect. And this is when it didn''t even kill anyone." Lin Mu said.


    "Of course, though it hase close to doing that a few times. It has also injured some disciples heavily before." Another elder spoke.


    "So it was just an overall nuisance." Lin Mu replied as he took a bite out of a b of meat.


    "Indeed." The elder replied as he munched on a fatty epic of meat.


    "A big thanks to Little Shrubby for catching that annoying bird. Eating it is the best revenge we could have had!" the elder who had his clothes torn said with joy.


    <i>~Growl~</i>


    Little Shrubby responded with a growl as he continued to eat.


    Lin Mu simply smiled and shook his head, finding it all to be rather ridiculous. The bird beast called the howler Ostrich was one of the beasts that lived in the southern forest. It usually lived inrge herds, but this one wandered off to the sect.


    The beast was at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm and was significantly strongpared to most people from the sect. Not only that, but it was very fast and barely anyone could match its speed in the sect.


    The beast would often take advantage of this and raid the sect for spirit herbs and fruits that they grew. It would simply barge into the protective formation arrays and eat whatever it wanted before running away.


    The disciples had tried stopping it many times and even killing it, but they were unable to. It got so severe that many missions were issued, only for everyone to fail. In the end, the elders had to act themselves, but even then they ended up failing.


    The speed of the Howler ostrich was faster than the average Nascent soul realm beasts and could even reach that of a Dao Shell realm beast. Thus, the only people in the sect that could catch the beast were the high elders that were in the Dao Shell realm or above.


    But of course, there were very few such elders and they were mostly busy in their affairs. Plus, the attacks of the Howler Ostrich were random and unexpected, thus having a high elder keeping an eye at all times was unreasonable.


    The howler ostrich had only be more and more confident over time, and finally his luck hade to an end. It ended up meeting his match in Little shrubby who had an easy time catching it.


    The beast taunted Little Shrubby, and he simply snatched him up before bringing him to Lin Mu. And thus they could all now enjoy a feast of High quality Nascent soul realm beast. Even the elders didn''t eat something like this often.


    They were incredibly happy with Little Shrubby and even gave him a lot of gifts. The gifts varied from various pills to spirit herbs. Since he was a beast, that was all they could think of that would make sense for a beast to have.


    To them, giving a spirit tool or something like that was not the right choice. Little shrubby of course didn''t mind it and took everything.


    Everyoneughed and talked during the banquet, having an overall great time. This helped relieve the stress they had been under and even Lin Mu felt like he needed this after going through all he had earlier.


    His wounds had also started to heal and he reckoned they should be fully healed in a few more days. While it looked like he was fine on the surface due to the healing pills, Lin Mu still had injuries internally.


    Plus, he had used some self damaging attacks during his fight and had internal problems due to it.


    ''That transformation due to the Burning Heart Sutra still makes by bones ache at times¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had already consulted Senior Xukong and was told that it was the side effect of his body growing rapidly. In a way, it was just growing pains that a person would naturally experience.


    And since it was such arge change, even Lin Mu''s superior body couldn''t help but hurt.


    Lin Mu wanted to test it out again, but knew that now was not the time. His body was still recovering and using it now will just cause more problems.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    He secretly sighed to himself and thought, ''guess I''ll take a break these few days. At least until the Patriarch and the others return.''


    The banquet finally ended after the entire Howler Ostrich had been eaten. Not even bones were left behind as Lin Mu and Little Shrubby munched them down as well. While it was fine when Little Shrubby did that, the others were certainly a bit taken aback by how Lin Mu ate the bones like they were crispy fried dough sticks.


    Their teeth hurt just by seeing Lin Mu do that, and they avoided looking at it after the first couple of looks.


    After the banquet ended, Lin Mu retired to a courtyard that he had been assigned and took a bath before going to sleep. He had not slept in a long time and finally got the chance to do it.


    And of course, sleeping meant he appeared in the Sleepscape.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he looked around the Sleepscape. He calmly walked to the two graves thatid in a serene space and knelt there for an hour.


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    "It has been a while¡­ Father, Mother¡­"

 Chapter 872 - Visiting The Graves

    It had been a while since Lin Mu paid respects to his parent''s graves. He sat there for hours and simply talked about all that had happened. He didn''t care about anything and simply wanted to bare his heart.


    The loss of his parents was something he had somewhat dealt with, but there were still times when he felt their need. These days he was far too busy to think about something like that, but now that today he had the opportunity, he decided to do this.


    Lin Mu didn''t even realize when morning came and had talked non stop.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "It was nice talking to you again, father, mother¡­ I''lle visit soon." Lin Mu said as he stood up.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A few secondster, his vision faded to ck and when it returned, he was staring at the ceiling of the bedroom.


    <i>~crack~crack~crack~</i>


    Rising up from the body, Lin Mu''s joints and bones popped. It was all the pent up stress that had umted and resulted in stiffness that was finally being released.


    This showed that even if Lin Mu had a decent cultivation base and was even a body cultivator, it didn''t mean that his body was fully resistant to fatigue and exhaustion. It only meant that he would not face them as quickly as what normal humans did.


    Not to mention, Lin Mu had quite literally been working for over a month without resting. He had gone through harsh battles that brought him close to death. It was more than enough to mentally tire out most people.


    Perhaps if it were not for the mentality he had developed over the time, he might not have been in this state.


    "Let''s read up on some things¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he took out the books about formations.


    He had never stopped improving and after experiencing everything in the Kushao ruins, Lin Mu only felt an urge to get better and better at formations.


    He spent the rest of the day in this and didn''t go out. No one disturbed or visited him either, and he was left alone to himself. This was something he had requested himself and was quickly epted by the Supreme elder.


    Besides, it wasn''t like there was anything particr that Lin Mu needed to do right now for the sect. Jing Luo was already setting up the teleportation gate while Little Shrubby was out hunting.


    The disciples of the Noon Grass sect had taken a liking to the beast and would take him out to all the spots they knew of. Plus, they could now take advantage of Little Shrubby and get rid of the more problematic beasts that were living around the sect.


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    Little Shrubby got payment for it as well of course, and a share of the rewards, since the disciples were also gathering some spirit herbs and materials during their ventures.


    It wasn''t like they could ignore Little Shrubby''s contribution and not pay him. After all, he was stronger than every disciple of the Noon Grass sect. This even included several elders of the sect and only the high elders would be able to defend against him.


    In that sense, Little Shrubby was practically on the level of an high elder and the disciples had to respect him in that way too. Lin Mu of course had knowledge about Little Shrubby''s every move and could sense him all the time.


    He could also feel Little Shrubby''s cultivation base progressing slowly.


    "It won''t be long before he reaches Dao Shell realm¡­" Lin Mu muttered as heid on the bed.


    He stretched out his hand and looked at the ring that quaintlyid on his middle finger.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It maybe time for me to proceed on the second stage of the Dao Shell realm as well. Though I need more time to confirm the details of the shape¡­" Lin Mu spoke before closing his eyes.


    A minuteter he appeared in the Sleepscape and opened his eyes.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu sorted his thoughts and sat down on the ground with his back to the spirit apple tree. The tree had grown again and now half of it was covered with spirit apples.


    "It''s been a while. Wonder how they taste now?" Lin Mu said and causally plucked one of the spirit apples.


    His use of the spirit apples had be zero a long time ago, as they could no longer help him as much as they could before. Just a single breath of his was enough to replenish many times the amount of spirit Qi that was present in the Spirit apple.


    <i>~Munch~</i>


    Taking a bite, Lin Mu felt the sweet and sour juices of the spirit apple spreading in his mouth. A sense of nostalgia filled his mind, and he inevitably smiled. Finishing the fruit in a couple more bites, Lin Mu closed his eyes.


    He stayed in that state for hours and did not move one bit. His breaths were steady and if one looked at him right now, they would think that he was deep in meditation.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A distortion appeared some distance away from him and a Grey orb appeared. The Grey orb split apart to reveal none other than Xukong.


    "He''s in the Sleepscape and the mental link stopped? How?" Xukong was confused.


    While Xukong had been checking up on Lin Mu from time to time, he didn''t need to appear for most things now. He knew what Lin Mu was doing and was fine with all that he did.


    The only reason he even appeared now was the link between him and Lin Mu stopping again. Something like this only happened when the ring did something or if Lin Mu experienced some kind of a change.


    "The altar was still fine and the ring''s inside was fine. Which means¡­ he''sprehending something?" Xukong analyzed.


    Xukong stared at Lin Mu for a long time, waiting for him to wake up.. But even after an entire day passed, it didn''t happen.

 Chapter 873 - The Sleepscape Shakes And Remembering A Dream

    "Hisprehension state if getting deeper?" Xukong who had been observing all this time, noted.


    He could feel the faint auraing from Lin Mu dim down even more. If before it was like the smokeing off an joss stick, now it was like the invisible vapors of water that was kept at room temperature.


    ''Its been over two days now and he hasn''t woken up once. It''s certain he''s not in deep sleep or the Sleepscape would have been broken. But now¡­ its as stable as before¡­ or rather it has be even more stable with him here.'' Xukong thorough as he started over the horizon.


    His spirit sense expanded and covered the entire Garden of Karma in a single breath.


    "It''s expanding¡­" Xukong muttered.


    There were not many points of reference for Xukong to see, and the main ones he could see were the Spirit apple tree and the Grave of Lin Mu''s parents. Both the objects were getting farther from each other.


    Though the speed of this happening was slow.


    "If it keeps this up, the space would increase by an entire meter by the weekend." Xukong guessed.


    While it seemed like the increase of a meter was small, it was actually not when one considered it was the entire Sleepscape expanding by a meter. The cumtive area that increased was substantial and was about ten percent of its current size.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Guess it''s a game of waiting again." Xukong said as he came to float in front of Lin Mu. He didn''t want Lin Mu to experience some kind of a problem or Qi deviation, and that was exactly why he was there.


    More time passed and Xukong could feel the entire sleepscape shake all of a sudden.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    "Is it finally time?" Xukong looked at Lin Mu, whose eyelids were trembling.


    The shaking continued to increase more and more, until all the spirit apples fell down from the tree.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    And when thest spirit apple fell, Lin Mu opened his eyes.


    <i>~hum~</i>


    A faint energy fluctuation spread and calmed the shaking Sleepscape. At the same time, a scene could be seen being reflected in Lin Mu''s eyes. Seven colors glittered in a circle and arge ravine could be seen on its back.


    The seven colors spun around calmly and looked domineering.


    "Are you okay?" Xukong suddenly spoke.


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    Lin Mu blinked his eyes upon hearing senior Xukong''s voice and the scene in his eye disappeared.


    "I''m okay¡­ I just remembered something." Lin Mu spoke.


    "What did you remember?" Xukong asked, feeling intrigued.


    "A dream¡­ one that I don''t know when I had." Lin Mu replied.


    "Dream? What was it about?" Xukong questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ it''s hard to tell. All I saw within it was a circle of seven colored lights that spun as if they were dancing and a ravine that reached high up into the sky." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing this, Xukong couldn''t help but narrow his eyes.


    ''A mere dream made the entire Sleepscape shake and stop our link? It is certainly nomon dream.'' Xukong thought.


    He tried to recall if he had heard anything like this before, but could note to any substantial idea.


    "So seven colored lights and a ravine¡­ those are far too vague to find a concrete exnation." Xukong said after thinking for a bit.


    "I know¡­" Lin Mu said, his gaze a bit dull. "Why don''t you take a look as well, senior?" he added and sent the memory to the shared mind space.


    Xukong closed his eyes and essed the memory. The moment he did that, he felt the surrounding change. It felt like his body had disappeared and only a fuzzy feeling existed in ce of it.


    He opened his eyes and looked in front of him, only to find darkness. He looked up and saw that the darkness was not as strong above him. It actually weakened and allowed him to see that the darkness was due to the wall that existed in front.


    His gaze kept on going further upwards and soon spotted the end of the wall.


    "Huh¡­ so we''re at the bottom of a ravine?" Xukong understood. "But where''s the seven colored lights?" he wondered.


    Just as he thought this, he felt a humming sound and a circle with seven colors appeared in the sky. The circle had twoyers now that Xukong looked closely. They simply spun too fast and thus it was hard to tell that there were actually twoyers.


    The firstyer had five colors in it; blue, red, brown, yellow, and green. While the secondyer only had two colors, Azure and Purple.


    "Elemental lights?" Xukong muttered to himself.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The moment he said that though, the dream ended and he found himself back in the Sleepscape.


    "Did you learn anything, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ like you said, it''s hard to tell. But I think they were elemental lights." Xukong answered.


    "What''re those?" Lin Mu questioned with a tilt of his head.


    "They are simply the colors that represent the elements. Red for fire, blue for water and so on and so forth." Xukong answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu rubbed his chin and muttered to himself. "The five colors pertain to the five mortal elements, but then what about the other two?"


    "Those belong to the wind and lightning. Azure for wind and Purple for Lightning element." Xukong stated.


    "I see¡­ but why would I get a dream like this?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "We can''t really tell. The seven colors aremon and anyone can dream about them. The same could be said for that ravine, it was simply tall." Xukong said, "but what can''t be considered being normal is the entire Sleepscape growing and shaking." He added.


    "Huh? What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    Xukong then told him what happened while he was in the strange state. His guess about Lin Mu being in aprehension state turned out to be wrong and even Lin Mu didn''t know what he hadprehended.. Instead, he had just remembered an old dream.

 Chapter 874 - A Calling?

    Having heard everything from Senior Xukong, Lin Mu didn''t know what the issue was behind this.


    "I don''t even feel like I''ve been dreaming for that long. To me, the dream was very brief, being less than a minute long." Lin Mu said.


    "That''s a bit problematic." Xukong replied.


    "Why so senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "If the dream was that short and you were in that dazed state for this long, it means something else happened during that period which you are unaware of." Xukong replied. "And the other option is that you saw something more, but you forgot it already; like people do after waking up from a sleep." He added.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and wondered what could be behind this. Usually for a dream, there needs to be a basis and depending on that, there was a chance one might forget it or not.


    "Maybe I''ll remember the dream I forgot now,ter sometime in the future." Lin Mu said, feeling unsure.


    "Perhaps¡­ if it really was a dream." Xukong spoke in a doubtful tone.


    Realizing that this was a mystery they could not really do much about, Lin Mu decided to shelve it for now.


    "Ah yes, in that dream, what did you feel? Do you remember that? A dream is more than just seeing things, there area often feelings involved; varied sensations and much more." Xukong questioned.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and started to think. A minuteter, he opened his eyes that had only gained an even more confused look.


    "I remember feeling something¡­ something strange and confusing." Lin Mu answered.


    "Can you describe it a bit better?" Xukong inquired.


    "Hmm¡­ it was like a message¡­ No, a calling! Yes, a calling! It felt like those lights were calling to me." Lin Mu stated.


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    "A calling huh¡­" Xukong said and started to think.


    Several ideas came to his mind, most of which he did not like and was notfortable with.


    "What do you think, senior?" Lin Mu asked. "Could it be rted to the Xiaofan world?"


    "Perhaps¡­ seeing as you are the world''s ordained, there is a very significant chance that it was rted to it. It wouldn''t be out of the blue for someone like you to be called.


    Like I said before, one of the benefits of being a world''s ordained was the help it can provide which can even be something as simple as fortune." Xukong exined.


    "Then we should go after this, shouldn''t we?" Lin Mu said, feeling curious about it now.


    "If we can figure out where that ce is, it would be for the best. But the question is whether you still have that calling?" Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu pursed his lips as he tried to recall that feeling. But even after ten minutes, he couldn''t tell anything.


    "I don''t feel it anymore." Lin Mu said finally.


    "If you don''t feel it anymore, then going after it will be a wild goose chase. You will need some clues to find that ce and for now, we only have that ravine as a clue." Xukong stated.


    "I''ll try and see if I can find a ravine like that anywhere in the records." Lin Mu said.


    "Mm, maybe not now. You can ask others and ease the task." Xukong suggested.


    "Ah yes, perhaps others might know more." Lin Mu agreed.


    He then turned to look at the graves of his parents that had gotten about a meter far from where he was sitting and the tens of spirit apples that were lying around him.


    "This ce really shook hard huh¡­ Even the spirit apples fell down." Lin Mu said as he picked up one of the apples that was still raw.


    "Thews of this ne are getting a bit more stable. If it was before, you would not be able to eat the apple while in here and neither would they have been able to fall this easy. Your cultivation base has affected it and now this growth might also add to that." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu simply nodded his head in response as he collected all the spirit apples. Even if he didn''t really have a cultivation use for the spirit apples, he could still use them as a voring ingredient for dishes that Little Shrubby and he cooked.


    ''And eating one every now and often is nice too¡­ makes me think back to when I was still a child¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as a hint of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.


    He was now over twenty years of age and while it was short in terms of a cultivator; it was still quite long for amoner. Lin Mu had progressed very quickly in that time and thus it still felt rather substantial to him.


    Most experts would bitterly cultivate for hundreds if not thousands of years before they reached the same level that Lin Mu was at right now. Thus, they would have the temperament to resist the sense of nostalgia.


    But for Lin Mu, that was still a long time ago.


    "What''s the time outside now?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Its night time, so far no one hase to ask you anything." Xukong informed.


    "Hmm¡­ so it''s already night time. May as well stay here then." Lin Mu muttered.


    His body would automatically cultivate while he was asleep due to the Well of Slumber and he didn''t need to particrity activate the bloodline ability now. At least not in the full force.


    Lin Mu had already eaten quite a lot of meat in the past couple of days before he slept and during the banquet which had allowed him to replenish all that he had lost when he transformed using the Burning heart sutra.


    The sense of hunger that stayed in his belly had finally disappeared after that. But to satisfy that, Lin Mu had to eat over ny Nascent soul realm beast carcasses.


    If anyone else were to hear this number, they would be utterly shocked.. But for Lin Mu, who had a stock of ten times as much as this, it was nothing.

 Chapter 875 - A Runaway Sword

    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    <i>~ng~</i>


    "Phew~ I didn''t even realize I had gathered so much trash in there." Lin Mu said as he looked at the various piles of items.


    "Well, the space within the ring is¡­ immeasurable, so it doesn''t even matter if you remove these things." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu had decided to sort through all the items that there were in his ring. He had not done so in a while and the things had be a bit messy. While he could ess them with just a thought and they would appear, there were still things in there that Lin Mu had no idea or memory of.


    He had stored a lot of things in passing without thinking much and thus didn''t know what they were. Not to mention there were even a few resources and treasure that he had not checked properly and didn''t know what they were.


    Like before, Lin Mu had separated them out into piles of useful and useless things. The useless things were mostlyposed of things like, literal trash and scraps along with a lot of soil, rocks and other materials.


    The useful things were in a single pile and were then divided into several, depending on their purpose. Some were things that could be used for cultivation, like pills and spirit stones, that were sorted in one pile.


    Then there were other things like metals, ores, crystals, spirit herbs and more things that were also useful for cultivation, but not directly. They were divided into other piles of their own.


    By the time Lin Mu was done, he had ended up with over fifteen different piles of things.? The spirit apple tree couldn''t even been seen now, due to being hidden behind a couple of item piles.


    "Seems like we are done." Lin Mu said as he looked around.


    "Hmm¡­ no wait, we got a couple more things." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Oh? I thought we have everything here." Lin Mu replied.


    "Well, the things that were together are here, but there are a few things that move around on their own in the ring too." Xukong reminded.


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    Upon hearing this, it struck Lin Mu.


    He closed his eyes and sensed the items in the ring before brining out the first one.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    In the next second, arge great sword appeared in front of him and fell to the ground. The stand that it was originally on was broken, and now there was nothing to hold it.


    Lin Mu''s eyes reflected the glitter of thousands and thousands of runes that swam on its surface. Every single inch of the great sword was covered in formations and it was the most, if not one of the mostplex specimen of formations Lin Mu had ever seen.


    "I almost forgot about this great sword." Lin Mu said as he looked at the sword intently.


    He had gotten this from Jing Luo and had not gotten to study it much. Jing Luo had been at loss with the sword and had spent a great deal even acquiring it. The sword was strange and had a certain will.


    It would run away if anyone touched it, and neither Lin Mu nor Jing Luo could understand why. And since it did that, Jing Luo couldn''t touch it and study it. Lin Mu had not done much with it either, since he didn''t want to lose it somewhere if he took it out in the real world.


    "It should be fine to touch it here, right? Not like it can escape anywhere, plus it will return to the ring when I leave the Sleepscape automatically." Lin Mu said before deciding to do it.


    "Just be careful. Even I can''t tell what kind of a sword it is. It has a strange defensive barrier around it that can prevent out spirit senses from touching its main body." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and understood the danger.


    ''If even Xukong can''t use his spirit sense on it, then it must be something really powerful.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Xukong was having some thoughts about the sword as well.


    ''With the avatar''s current level, I can''t do much. That barrier on it is certainly not simple¡­ is it an immortal weapon or something more?'' Xukong wondered.


    Normally, even Immortal Weapons wouldn''t be able to hide from his perception and spirit sense, but this sword had managed to do that. This was certainly was surprising and only made Xukong more interested in it.


    Lin Mu looked at the great sword and extended his hands towards it.


    "Let''s see¡­" Lin Mu muttered and wrapped his fingers around the handle of the great sword.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    The moment he did that, the runes on the great sword lit up and a powerful aura emitted from it. The aura only appeared for a fraction of a second and disappeared quickly, but it was enough to startle Lin Mu and make him loosen his grip on the great swot.d


    <i>~SWOOSH~</i>


    And just like that, the great sword flew out of Lin Mu''s hand and went in the distance.


    "Damn, it really is impossible to hold." Lin Mu said as he watched the great sword go far before circling around the entire Sleepscape and return.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Having done an entire turn, the sword felt like it was enough and went to sleep. It fell to the ground, making a small indent below it.


    "Let''s try one more time." Lin Mu said as he went to grab the great sword again.


    <i>~WHOOSH!~</i>


    "Whoa!" This time the response was even faster and the great sword flew out like a marksman''s arrow.


    Lin Mu flew behind it and tried to catch it, but astoundingly it only sped up more. Even after using Blink to assist him, he could not catch up to the great sword.


    "This is certainly not something I can hold." Lin Mu said after giving up.


    He had tried for five minutes and it was evident to him that this much time was certainly not enough.

 Chapter 876 - The Spirit Apple Tree Is Sentient?

    Lin Mu had given up on the great sword and knew that it was something he would have to store away for the time being.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "No use." Lin Mu said with a shake of his head.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The Great Sword flew past him and finally crashed into ground some distance away. Lin Mu didn''t even bother looking at it and left it as it is. The sword would return to the ring when he left the Sleepscape anyway.


    Lin Mu decided to focus on the second object that could move around in the ring. Though it hadn''t done that as much.


    "Is that Wood spirit tulip still failing around?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It did at first, then it found some soil and buried itself inside it. Butter it moved and found some spirit stones. It then pulled them into the soil and moves around every so often once the spirit stones run out of spirit Qi." Senior Xukong answered.


    "Huh¡­ it became a scavenger." Lin Mu muttered and withdrew the Wood spirit tulip from the ring.


    <i>~smash~</i>


    "Huh?" In front of Lin Mu, a pile of dirt had just fallen.


    <i>~wiggle~</i>


    It then started to move, before something very fast shot out of it.


    <i>~p~</i>


    Lin Mu blocked the iing attack with his hand and grabbed onto it.


    "It hasn''t changed one bit¡­" Lin Mu said as he gripped the roots of the Wood Spirit tulip.


    "Come on out!" Lin Mu said and pulled hard.


    <i>~zip~</i>


    The Wood spirit tulip started to il its roots around as it was pulled out of the soil. But it was now that Lin Mu saw something peculiar.


    "Is that¡­ a peak grade spirit stone!?" Lin Mu said with surprise.


    The Wood Spirit tulip had wrapped its roots around a block of peak grade spirit stone that Lin Mu had extracted a while back. It was holding on tightly and didn''t seem like it would let go easily.


    "Hmm¡­ it has certainly grown a bit more than before. The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from it are almost at the Nascent soul realm now¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    But as Lin Mu was holding the wood spirit tulip in his hand, something happened to it.


    <i>~rustle~ rustle~</i>


    Its leaves started to tremble and move. A few secondster, its stalk bent towards a certain direction and it started to exert more force.


    "It wants to go there?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "You may as well let it free and see what it does. Not like it can leave the Sleepscape." Xukong suggested.


    "Ah, right," Lin Mu said before letting go of the Wood spirit tulip.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    The wood spirit tulip rushed out like a gust of wind and directly went to the Spirit apple tree. Seeing this, Lin Mu was intrigued and wanted to see what exactly was it that the Wood spirit tulip wanted.


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    <i>~p~</i>


    But just when the Wood spirit Tulip was about to touch the Spirit apple tree, it was ruthlessly pped down.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~rustle~</i>


    "What the¡­" Lin Mu and Xukong were both surprised.


    The Wood Spirit tulip that had been mmed into the ground tried to stand up and went towards the Spirit apple tree again, but then a branch of the tree moved and pped it down again.


    <i>~SLAP~</i>


    This time, the p was far more powerful than before and directly buried it into the ground.


    "The Spirit apple tree¡­ it moves?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "Seems like it is sentient too¡­" Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu approached the Spirit apple tree, wanting to see what was up with it. His spirit sense extended towards the Spirit apple tree, but couldn''t sense anything. It was as if the spirit apple tree was just air and his spirit sense passed through it unimpeded.


    "It is the same as before¡­ I can''t even sense anything from it." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Same here. It is different from before though." Xukong said as they watched the Spirit apple tree beating the Wood Spirit tulip down.


    The Spirit herb tried to attack the tree, but to no avail. It was as if a chick was trying to attack a wolf. The only result of that was it getting beat down ruthlessly.


    Lin Mu approached them and touched the Spirit apple tree with his hand, finding it to be the same as before. He even touched the branch that it had used to attack the Wood Spirit tulip, but didn''t find anything different.


    <i>~SLAP~</i>


    A different branch moved to p the Wood Spirit Tulip when Lin Mu was holding onto the earlier branch. It seemed like no matter what happened, the Spirit apple tree wouldn''t let the Wood Spirit Tulip get close to it.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu shook his head and looked at the Wood Spirit tulip that was rather sorry looking now. Its leaves seemed down and its stalk was bent.


    "Will it die if this keeps up?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It''s a spirit herb, so its tenacity should be high. Even if it looks injured, it should heal itself after a while. It can''t die this quickly unless severe damage is inflicted onto it, or its body is cut apart." Xukong answered.


    "That''s good. Don''t want it to die before we get some benefit from it." Lin Mu said and looked at the spirit apple tree.


    "Can you understand me?" Lin Mu asked the Spirit apple tree.


    He watched on in anticipation but received no response.


    "Can you head me?" Lin Mu asked again, but received no response.


    "Hmm¡­ shake a branch if you can hear or understand me?" Lin Mu suggested something else.


    He waited for a minute but still didn''t receive any response.


    "Does it not want to answer?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "I don''t know either. Technically, this is a Garden of karma and it''s under your ownership. Anything that happens here should be under your sense, but this apparently is not." Xukong replied.


    "Mmhmm¡­ it''s certainly strange. Maybe this is due to the growth of the Sleepscape?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "It could be possible. Maybe we''ll see more thingster on.." Xukong agreed.

 Chapter 877 - The Wood Spirit Tulip Grows! New Discovery!

    The discovery that the Spirit apple tree was sentient was rather interesting to Lin Mu. He tried to test out some things with the Spirit Apple tree and learned more about it.


    The first thing he learned was that it didn''t like spirit herbs getting close to it. It wasn''t just the wood spirit tulip, but some spirit herb that Lin Mu ced near the Spirit apple tree would get either smashed into the ground or pushed away.


    Though there was also a rule to that. The Spirit apple tree only responded if there were spirit herbs that were either newly harvested or still had enough vitality to be considered ''alive''.


    "Hmm¡­ so basically it doesn''t wantpetition from other spirit herbs?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "That does seem understandable. Even normal trees in nature will reject other nts that grow near them and will try to suppress their growth if not kill them. They usually do this by covering the area with their trees or sucking out the nutrients from the soil." Xukong replied.


    "Could be possible. But doesn''t this also mean that the spirit apple tree thinks other spirit herbs and nts can grow in this ce?" Lin Mu realized.


    "That¡­ might just be possible. It didn''t work when youst tried nting spirit herbs here, right?" Xukong said.


    "Yes, the soil would just push out the spirit herb or the seed, whatever I nted. The Sleepscape would oppose the changes I made. Only the Graves of my parents and the spirit stone vein were freely taken in by it." Lin Mu spoke.


    "If it took the both of them, then it means there is a certain level of sentience to it. It can listen to you, but only in certain conditions it seems like." Xukong stated.


    "Hmm, then we need to figure out what those conditions are." Lin Mu replied.


    "Well, the first test can be done right away, after all you have a test subject right here." Xukong pointed to the Spirit Wood Tulip.


    Lin Mu smiled and went to grab the Spirit wood tulip. He then brought it some distance away from the Spirit apple tree and dug a hole in the ground. Unlike what normally happened, the hole didn''t fill up automatically and he could finish digging a sufficiently deep hole.


    "Here goes nothing¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he ced the Wood Spirit tulip in the hole.


    <i>~creep~</i>


    The roots of the Wood Spirit tulip moved again, but didn''t attack Lin Mu this time. Instead, they withdrew into its body and then drilled into the ground. At first it was slow, but then, as if it had found something good, it started to rapidly grow.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu eximed as the Wood Spirit tulip started to change.


    The two leaves on top that were wilted, became healthy looking and the bent stalk became straight again. The stalk then started to grow upwards as more leaves sprouted on it.


    One, two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty two!


    Only after the number of leaves reached thirty two and the stalk became a meter tall did the Wood Spirit Tulip stop growing.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and checked the Wood Spirit tulip with his spirit sense.


    "So it broke thorough¡­ its equivalent to a Nascent soul realm being now." Lin Mu said after sensing the spirit Qi fluctuations.


    <i>~rustle~</i>


    The leaves of the Wood Spirit tulip peacefully swayed in the air and it looked to be happy. Lin Mu carefully extended his hand and touched the Wood Spirit tulip.


    "Huh, it actually doesn''t attack now." Lin Mu said with surprise.


    "It has probably found a steady source of spirit Qi from the soil." Xukong spoke.


    "Oh yes, the spirit source vein! It is probably providing it with spirit Qi that caused this breakthrough." Lin Mu realized.


    "This should have elerated its growth by at least a coupled hundred years." Xukong reckoned.


    "Maybe. The one that the author of that book saw only had ten leaves. But it also had a flower." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps the flower''s growth depends on something else." Xukong guessed.


    "Hopefully it grows. Though.. Now that we know this works, let''s try with other herbs too." Lin Mu stated.


    "Go on," Xukong prodded.


    Lin Mu took some of the recently harvested spirit herbs and seeds that still had a lot of vitality and tried to nt them. While he was able to make a hole in the soil, the nted spirit herbs and seeds were pushed out by the Sleepscape''s soil.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "This doesn''t work." Lin Mu said, feeling a bit disappointed.


    "Well, this is another learning point. Now we know not just any live spirit herb or seed will work." Xukong replied.


    "Mm¡­ perhaps only those that are sentient like the Wood Spirit tulip can be grown here." Lin Mu guessed.


    "You''ll have to find another such spirit herb to confirm that point." Xukong stated.


    "Yes, we are near the Great Southern forest, so we have the best chance of finding one. I''ll ask the elders of the Noon Grass sect to see if they have any clues." Lin Mu said.


    "That will make it a bit easier." Xukong agreed.


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    Having learned these new things, Lin Mu felt good and finished sorting all the items before putting them back into the ring. It was safe to say, Lin Mu had enough fortune right now to build an entire sect on his own if he never needed.


    Not only did he have the direct cultivation resources like spirit stones and other materials, be he also had a substantial number of cultivation techniques and various Qi skills.


    He even had auxiliary cultivation knowledge like alchemical pill refinement records, formation creation records and the weapon forging records.


    While Lin Mu had no intention of making a sect and neither had he really thought about it, he wouldn''t be averse to doing something like that in the future. Though he didn''t know if putting down roots and settling was something for him, since he wanted to explore and learn about the many worlds.


    The universe was vast and he had many worlds to walk on¡­

 Chapter 878 - Asking Elder Pigu

    The next morning, Lin Mu left the Sleepscape upon waking up and went to look for the supreme elder. He reckoned the best person to ask about something like this might be the man currently in charge.


    "Oh? Brother Lin Mu is ready to finally go out?" Hua Langya questioned.


    For the past couple of days, Lin Mu had not appeared in the sect and had stayed in the courtyard assigned to him. To others, it was just Lin Mu resting and thus they didn''t mind it at all.


    "Ah yes. I''ve had enough of rest and think it''s time for a little outing." Lin Mu answered.


    "That''s good. Hopefully, it was enough to for you to recover. But if Brother Lin Mu says so, it is alright." Hua Langya spoke. "Though where do you intend to go?" he asked.


    "That''s what I am here for. I wanted to ask you if you know of any spirit nts or herb that are sentient." Lin Mu questioned.


    Hearing this, Hua Langya raised his brows.


    "Hmm¡­ a sentient spirit herb is very rare and hard to find." The Supreme elder said while rubbing his beard.


    "Does the Noon Grass sect have any?" Lin Mu asked, just in case.


    "Ahaha, if we had any, I would have dly offered you them. But unfortunately we don''t. We did have one a long time ago, but it was used in the refinement of a pill and no longer exists.


    After all, the mostmon reason for obtaining such a spirit herb would be to refine a pill. Rearing them on our own is not something the Noon Grass sect has the capability to do. We aren''t specialized in pill refinement, thus we don''t grow any spirit herbs or fruits that are of high quality.


    Rather, we just go and harvest them from the forest since we live next to it. That''s one of the benefits of being so close to the Great Southern forest." Hua Langya replied.


    "That''s understanding." Lin Mu said with a nod.


    "Though, do you have any clue as to where one can be found? I mean, there should be some in the forest, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The supreme elder furrowed his brows before pulling out amunication jade slip. He held onto it and closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again.


    "I''ve called Elder Pigu to help you. He handles the spirit herb farms that we have in our sect and is also the head of the Pill pavilion. He is more knowledgeable in this regard than me, since I''m mostly in seclusion or handling internal matters of the sect." Hua Langya answered.


    "Very well." Lin Mu replied and waited for the Elder to arrive.


    He had already met Elder Pigu before during the banquet and was thus acquainted with the man.


    Five minutes passed as Elder Pigu finally arrived at the hall.


    "Greetings Supreme Elder, Brother Lin Mu." Elder Pigu spoke.


    Elder Pigu was a portly looking man and had a rather round face. He had no beard, but had a long mustache. He was middle aged and had light ck hair with some Grey mixed in. Over all he looked like a neighborhood uncle who one would see watering their nts.


    "Greetings," The Supreme elder And Lin Mu replied in greeting.


    "So, Supreme elder says Brother Lin Mu needs my help with something?" Elder Pigu questioned.


    "Indeed, I need to find a sentient spirit herb." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s¡­ a bit too wide of a term. What exactly do you need it for?" Elder Pigu questioned.


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    "Hmm¡­ it''s to experiment on something. I need it for some techniques as well." Lin Mu answered.


    "I see¡­ well, there is indeed no shortage of such spirit herbs in the Great Southern Forest, but acquiring them is a difficult task. Brother Lin Mu must already know that sentient spirit herbs are usually herbs that have lived a long time and have gained cultivation bases rivaling that of at least Nascent soul realm creatures.


    But most will have strength equaling that of Dao Shell realm creatures at the very least. The areas they live in are not really good to enter either and are very dangerous. Death is looming in every corner and harsh environments are plenty." Elder Pigu exined.


    "I understand that. I don''t mind the danger, I am confident in being able to take care of myself. I just need a location." Lin Mu stated.


    "Very well. Then I do have three options for you." Elder Pigu said, surprising Lin Mu and Hua Langya both.


    "There are actually three sentient spirit herbs we know of?" Hua Langya asked.


    "Yes, supreme elder." Elder Pigu replied.


    "Then why has no mission been issued for them yet?" The supreme elder asked, as this was the normal course of action that the sect followed.


    If something good was found, even if there was danger, the elders would formte a nt that would allow them to acquire the said item as safely as possible. If the disciples were not enough, the elders themselves would join in on the mission.


    This was something that was done even now when the supreme elder was suffering from Qi deviation and the disciples were sent out to search for rare herbs that the sect didn''t have. They had already scoured the depths of the southern forest for some of them and were thus experienced.


    "There are several reasons for that Supreme elder. All three herbs are located beyond the second border of the forest, and two of them are located in forbidden zones. Only one of them is somewhat essible and even that is guarded by a beast.


    We only got the information about them because the disciples went to look for spirit herbs that would heal you." Elder Pigu answered.


    "I see¡­ this will a tough venture then." Hua Langya muttered.


    "It doesn''t matter. I''ll try to see if I can get one.. Can you tell me their locations exactly and what those herbs are?" Lin Mu asked.

 Chapter 879 - Three Spirit Herb Options

    Elder Pigu took out a scroll from his spatial storage tool and opened it on the table.


    "Like I said there are three such sentient spirit herbs that we know of right now. We don''t know what their strength is though, and that will be a potential point of caution for you.


    For Brother Lin Mu, I reckon something at the Shell Expansion stage of Dao shell realm will be manageable, but I doubt you would want something at the Dao Treading realm." Elder Pigu spoke.


    "Indeed. I would like to avoid that." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Though are there really such spirit herbs there in the forest?" he asked.


    "There are yes. The most famous one in recent times was a Two faced Por that is now reared by the Rainbow pill sect. It has the strength equivalent to that of a Dao Treading realm cultivator.


    This was obtained by the Rainbow Pill sect about six hundred years ago, so its current strength has probably increased." Elder Pigu spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ they haven''t refined it for pills?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No. Since the Two Faced isn''t a usual Spirit herb and is an entire tree, it is best used in a different manner. The leaves of the tree are used in pills, its wood and branches are used for the creation of spirit tools and its flowers are used in special inks that are used for talismans.


    It is far more beneficial for the Rainbow pill sect to make use of it in this way. The value of the Two Faced Por is also far higher than the usual sentient spirit herb because of all this." Elder Pigu exined.


    "I see." Lin Mu understood.


    "Now for the spirit herbs. The three that I''m talking about are located beyond the second border of the Great Southern forest." Elder Pigu spoke.


    Lin Mu knew about the borders of the forest. The borders were not actual demarcation, but just something the people had set as a way to determine the danger level. The very first border was the ce where the Noon Grass sect was located.


    The second border was located several hundred kilometer beyond the Noon Grass sect while the third and final border was located half way to the end of the forest. The area beyond the third border was thergest and also the most dangerous.


    It was said to have never been fully explored and only those at the Dao Shell realm would dare to enter it. Anyone below that had a great chance of dying before they even reached the border.


    Of course, the number of Dao Shell realm cultivators in the empire was limited, and they were all people of great status, being either the elders of sects or heads of various organizations and ns.


    "The first one that is the closest is located in a forbidden area called as the Rust Wood Bog. It is an area filled with wet soil that can corrode you skin if you are not careful enough. The beasts that live in the area have simr properties and can easily kill most creatures.


    The second one is the safer option that is not located in a forbidden area. This is located further in from the Rust Wood bog but is filled with Bile Cask Beetles. We don''t know what these three spirit herbs are but they were seen moving around, so we do have confirmation that they are sentient.


    The second herb is likely being protected by a guardian beast, seeing as how it still exists despite the many Bile Cask Beetles that live there. Those beetles have a tendency to chew up most trees and nts theye across.


    The third spirit herb is located five hundred kilometers from the second spirit herbs locations and is in another forbidden area. It''s called as the ck Spire Tar fields and is dangerous for obvious reasons.


    Even breathing there is difficult, as the air is filled with toxic gases. The spirit Qi there is contaminated and thus staying there for long periods is also not possible." Elder Pigu exined in detail.


    Having listened to all three options, Lin Mu knew that this would not be an easy task.


    "Hmm¡­ how long does it take to reach the spirit herb, the Rust Wood Bog?" Lin Mu asked.


    "If you fly there, it will take you about two days." Elder Pigu answered.


    ''Hmm, so for Little Shrubby it will take a little less than half a day. That''s doable.'' Lin Mu thought.


    While it was fine for Lin Mu to go and find the spirit herbs, he also didn''t want to be away for too long. He wanted to be here for the arrival of patriarch Hua, so that they could get started on the other parts.


    "And what about the second location?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That location doesn''t have a particr name, but is just identified by the Bile Cask beetle nest. It''s about a day''s travel from the Rust Wood Bog." Elder Pigu replied.


    Lin Mu felt like that was a very viable option as well and had already decided on that one, but still decided to ask for the final option.


    "How far is the third one?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That¡­ will take a month to reach." Elder Pigu answered.


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    "What? Isn''t that too much of a difference?" Lin Mu asked, feeling surprised.


    "Yes, the first two locations are barely in the first five percent area of the Great Southern forest but this one is at the fifty percent mark." Elder Pigu replied.


    "Ah, so that''s why. Yeah, that one is definitely out of option." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "Well then¡­ which one will you go to? I''ll send someone to guide you. Finding it on your own will take you longer." Elder Pigu suggested.


    Lin Mu thought over the option and reckoned that having someone guide him there would be a better option, even if he wanted to go there alone first.


    "Sure, but they will have to be strong enough to keep up with me." Lin Mu stated.


    "Haha, you won''t have to worry about that.." Elder Pigu said with augh.

 Chapter 880 - Connecting And Startling

    "So who is it that will being with me?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "For this, Hua Yi will be the one guiding you. He''s be there before and is also at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm, thus he will be able to handle himself." Elder Pigu answered.


    Lin Mu of course knew Hua Yi, who was the first disciple of Patriarch Hua and had met him before.


    "Ah, him. Yeah, I''ll be fine with him." Lin Mu epted.


    "Very well. I''ll inform him then." Elder Pigu said before contacting Hua Yi with amunication jade slip.


    Hua Yi and the others were currently cultivating in the Kong ne. With the new teleportation gate ready, they could be contracted at any time. Jing Luo had finished setting it up just a day ago.


    Though with Lin Mu here, they could have gone to the Kong ne at any time they wanted to.


    "He''sing," Elder Pigu said after a few seconds.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll call Little Shrubby as well then." Lin Mu said before standing up.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Not even five seconds passed before Little Shrubby''s aura could be felt outside the hall.


    "Oh, seems like the beast is here already." Elder Pigu spoke, some surprise present in his eyes. "It''s almost as if he read you mind."


    "Yes?" Lin Mu responded.


    "Huh?" Elder Pigu said in confusion. "What do you mean, yes?" he questioned.


    "He did read my mind¡­ in a way." Lin Mu responded.


    "Wait, what? How''s that possible?" Elder Pigu was taken aback.


    "He is brother Lin Mu''s tamed beast, so it is expected of course, haha." Hua Langya chuckled.


    "No, I don''t mean that. I mean¡­ how is that even possible? Even if it''s a tamed beast, they need verbal orders." Elder Pigu said.


    "Ah, I don''t need that. I just have a link with him, so we can share our thoughts." Lin Mu replied.


    "That¡­ just what kind of a beast taming technique is that?" Elder Pigu couldn''t help but question.


    Even the supreme elder seemed interested this time.


    "They don''t know about the deeper connection that a tamer can have with their beasts. They won''t understand it. They use shallow beast taming techniques, so it''s understandable." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu thought over it and realized that exining it was not really a useful venture.


    "It''s a technique I got from my master." Lin Mu said as an excuse.


    "Oh, brother Lin Mu has a master too? I didn''t know that." Elder Pigu said.


    "And neither did I," The supreme elder chimed in.


    "Ah yes. I think Patriarch Hua knows about it. Maybe he didn''t tell you yet." Lin Mu replied.


    "Where is your master though, brother Lin Mu? I mean¡­ you are, or rather we are, in a rather sensitive situation currently with Gu Yao and the Northern Tribes. He should be helping you out, shouldn''t he?" Elder Pigu questioned.


    Supreme elder raised his brows in regards to this question and spoke, "Elder Pigu, you should frame your words better."


    "It''s fine." Lin Mu responded, having expected such as question long time ago.


    He had already been asked the question several times before by several different people and was not bothered by it.


    "My master is usually in seclusion and will onlye out when the time is right. He wants me to deal with the trouble on my own so that I can learn and grow. In his words¡­ he doesn''t want me to be a ''flower in a greenhouse''." Lin Mu answered.


    "That is an admirable approach from your master." The Supreme elder said in a content tone.


    "Though we don''t need to worry as he is watching everything." Lin Mu added.


    "He is? Even now?" Elder Pigu asked.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Elder Pigu couldn''t help but feel a bit nervous and check the area with his spirit sense. He was a hundred percent sure that there was no one other than them here.


    "How is that possible?" Elder Pigu asked, feeling doubtful.


    "I don''t know that either." Lin Mu simply replied.


    "Huh?"


    "My master is reserved and only speaks when necessary. I don''t know how he does it or what technique he uses, but he can observe my every move." Lin Mu exined.


    "Brother Lin Mu''s master must be a peerless expert for him to be able to do this." The Supreme elder praised.


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    "He certainly knows when to tter. Guess ites with his age and experience." Xukong said with a chuckle.


    Having known that Xukong was watching the entire time, Hua Langya knew what he said could matter and thus giving free praise like this was beneficial potentially.


    Lin Mu who heard Xukong''s words, couldn''t help but chuckle internally as well.


    "Haha, you could say that." Lin Mu spoke, knowing that it was a fact.


    Even he didn''t know what Xukong''s cultivation base was. But he did know it was above that of the Immortal Realm. He had seen Xukong''s true form in the Grand Void and knew that beings known as celestials would be nothing in front of him.


    If anything, Lin Mu could understand that the word celestial was powerful and beyond what he had learned till now. It was such that he couldn''t even speak the word due to the restrictions of the world.


    While this was happening, the gaze of the supreme elder and Elder Pigu went dull. Then the next second, horrified expressions appeared on their face.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Elder Pigu stumbled a little and had to grab onto the table for support.


    "Are you okay?" Lin Mu asked, seeing their strange condition.


    He found it to be a bit familiar but couldn''t tell what it was exactly.


    "I''m fine! I''m fine. Brother Lin Mu need not worry." Elder Pigu hurriedly said.


    "Yes, yes. It''s all fine. Brother Lin Mu should get ready to leave now, I think. I''ll ask the disciples to prepare some supplies for your journey." The Supreme elder added.


    Lin Mu found it to be a bit strange seeing the change, but nodded his head and headed out.

 Chapter 881 - A New Harness

    After Lin Mu went to get the supplies for the journey, which mostly consisted of maps and some records, since actual resources were not really needed for him, Elder Pigu and Hua Langya let out a breath.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    They started breathing heavily, and it seemed like they had just been through a tough situation. Only after five minutes did they manage to catch their breaths.


    "Supreme elder¡­ that¡ª" Elder Pigu wanted to say something but was interrupted.


    "STOP! Hold your tongue! Do¡­ Not¡­ Speak a word!" Hua Langya said in a strict tone.


    Elder Pigu quickly held his mouth and stopped.


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    "There are some things that are best not said. Don''t ever talk about that and it''s best if you forget it." Hua Langya stated. "It is not something we are qualified to even know about." He added.


    "I¡­ understand Supreme elder." Elder Pigu said with his head lowered.


    ***


    Unaware that something had even happened, Lin Mu met with a couple of disciples that handed him the needed records.


    "This should be enough for you, senior Lin Mu. And if you need anything more, please don''t hesitate to ask." The female disciple said with a smile.


    "Sure." Lin Mu replied before the disciple left.


    With her gone, Lin Mu closed his eyes and spoke, "did you do something senior?"


    "I may have¡­ nothing happened though, it was just a little joke." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows, but didn''t know what to say at first.


    "Alright¡­ if they''re fine, then it should be okay." Lin Mu said at the end.


    To him, if senior Xukong had done something, there must have been some reason behind it; even if he said that it was just a joke.


    Lin Mu focused on the records instead and read up on the information about the area that he was gonna head to. He also checked the maps and got the sense of the location.


    ''The distance is reasonable, but it is the obstacles in between that will dy us. Hopefully, I can just avoid them.'' Lin Mu thought.


    On the map, Lin Mu could see several areas that were marked as being dangerous. While they weren''t forbidden areas, they were still areas of concern due to being nests of some beasts or having dangerous topography.


    Most of these weren''t really problems for cultivators, depending on their cultivation bases. For example, for a Qi refining realm cultivator, a mountain might be a problem, but the same for a core condensation realm cultivator would be easy to cross since they would be able to fly over it.


    The same could be said with the beasts. If one had a strong cultivation base, the beasts were just some leeks on a chopping block.


    Still, Lin Mu didn''t underestimate them and ensure that he knew as much about them beforehand and even cross-reference it with the other records he had. By the time he was done with all this, Hua Yi finally arrived.


    "Senior Lin Mu," Hua Yi greeted with cupped hands.


    Lin Mu turned around and looked at the man. Hua Yi was middle aged and was far older than Lin Mu or even Jing Luo. Lin Mu checked the man with his spirit sense and realized that his cultivation base had been elevated slightly.


    "Oh? Seems like you have had some gains in the Kong ne." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed, senior. It''s all thanks to you." Hua Yi replied.


    "You had to have worked hard to gain this. No need to be humble." Lin Mu replied, to which Hua Yi nodded his head.


    "So, supreme elder informed me that we are heading to the second border?" Hua Yi asked.


    "Indeed. We are going to get some spirit herbs." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I see. I''ve been there before. Most recently, to gather some spirit herbs for supreme elder''s condition, so I can definitely take you there." Hua Yi said with confidence.


    "Very well. We shall head there then. But first, I need to get something." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh? What are we waiting for?" Hua Yi asked.


    "Something that will help us get there in less than a day." Lin Mu replied, prompting Hua Yi to feel surprised.


    "What is it?" Hua Yi asked, feeling curious.


    Lin Mu didn''t speak, but just stood there with a smile. A few secondster, a figure could be seen approaching from the distance.


    "You should have said it earlier. I had it ready for the most part, but just needed to add some final touches." Jing Luo said uponnding.


    "I knew you could handle it on short notice." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.


    "Still¡­ I wanted to add a few more things. Guess we can do thatter." Jing Luo replied.


    "Just the basics are enough for now." Lin Mu said, making Hua Yi even more curious.


    "Go on now, call him." Jing Luo prompted.


    Hua Yi looked on in confusion, until he saw a red blur appear next to Lin Mu. He took a step back, but then understood that it was just Little Shrubby.


    "What did you get?" Little Shrubby asked, though the others only heard a growl.


    "Give it," Lin Mu said to Jing Luo.


    The man nodded and took out an object from his spatial storage treasure. Little Shrubby saw it and felt pleased.


    "A harness?" Hua Yi realized.


    "Indeed." Jing Luo nodded his head. "The old one wasn''t really something that can take more than a single person. Plus, it was getting weak due to being strained all the time." He added.


    <i>~grrr~</i>


    Little Shrubby withdrew the old harness which appeared on his body. Lin Mu swiftly took it off and put on the new one. Thetest harness was more appropriate for Little Shrubby''srger body.


    After all,pared to when Lin Mu got the first harness, Little Shrubby''s size had increased by over twice. Even with the adjustable straps, it was already reaching the limits of what the harness could handle.


    If Little Shrubby increased his speed by a little more, the harness might just snap from the force.. Plus, with the new one, another person could also sit on the back if needed; which earlier was not possible since Little Shrubby was smaller too.

 Chapter 882 - A Speedy Ride For Hua Yi

    With the harness upgraded with a superior version, Lin Mu was now ready to leave.


    "The Harness should be able to bear the speed easily. Plus, even if it gets damaged from any stray attack, it would be able to defend on its own. I added some defensive formations on it too." Jing Luo spoke.


    "That''s good. The earlier one needed to be protected from attacks." Lin Mu replied.


    Jing Luo basically had a mountain of materials to make things from and thus, making a harness like this was rather fast. They had hunted thousands of beasts, many of which were at the Nascent soul realm as well, thus the harness was made from a very good quality spirit beast leather.


    "Okay, little shrubby. Link up with it and brand your spirit sense on it." Lin Mu ordered.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby replied, and did just that.


    He then tested by putting the harness into one of his many spatial storage treasures and withdrawing it again, just to see if it was perfectly fitting or not. Jing Luo had upgraded the belt on Little Shrubby''s neck to amodate more spatial storage tools.


    This was so that Little Shrubby could store the other beast corpses he hunted down and some extra things that he had like spirit stones and pills. Of course, none of those spatial storage treasures were as good as the ring that Jing Wei had repaired, but having a multiple of them fixed the storage space problem.


    "We''ll take our leave now." Lin Mu said with a nod.


    "Very well. I''ll inform you if somethinges up. The jade slips should work even at that distance." Jing Luo replied.


    With their goodbyesplete, Lin Mu and Hua Yi strapped onto Little Shrubby''s back and he started moving.


    "Hold on tight, it might be a bit fast at first, but you''ll get used to it." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay senior." Hua Yi replied and prepared for it.


    He was a Nascent soul realm cultivator and was thus not afraid of injuries, but he was still a bit unprepared for the speed that Little Shrubby was about to disy. He started off with a light run, which soon turned into a full blown sprint.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    After a certain point, a gust of wind tore through the trees and made them bend when Little Shrubby ran over them.


    "This¡­ is¡­ really¡­ fast¡­" Hua Yi said with difficulty as wind poured into his mouth.


    "We''re just starting." Lin Mu said, unaffected by the buffeting wind.


    Hua Yi looked at him and saw a faint brown light encasing him. The mortal Strengthening Scripture could even protect Lin Mu from the air resistance while traveling fast.


    Though Hua Yi didn''t expect it to be even faster than this.


    ''Just how fast will he go? This is already more than my speed¡­'' Hua Yi was shocked.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Little Shrubby''s powerful and muscr legs gathered power before pressing down onto the grounds and shooting ahead with even greater speed. Craters were created where ever his feetnded from the force, but his speed only increased more.


    "GAH!" Hua Yi was forcefully bent backwards from the inertia and barely managed to straighten back up.


    If it were any normal human or even a cultivator at the Qi refining realm, they might have just broken their backs from this. A hint of fear appeared in Hua Yi''s eyes for the first time as he shut his mouth and held on tightly to the harness.


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    Even if the harness was holding him securely, he still felt a little afraid that he might be sent flying. His Nascent soul realm cultivation base might not be enough to bear the force of this and he would still get injured.


    He certainly did not want to happen and used all his power to make sure of that.


    Lin Mu knew what was happening to Hua Yi, but let it happen. There wasn''t much he could do other than trying to block as much of the wind as he could with his body. After all, not everyone had a Body cultivation at the two treasured organs stage of the Five Treasures realm.


    Just Lin Mu''s bare body was enough to bear the attacks of a Adult Soul Stage Nascent soul realm cultivator with no damage and even exceed their strength by a certain percentage.


    Perhaps if Lin Mu was not sitting in front of Hua Yi, the man might have already passed out or fallen off Little Shrubby''s back. Still¡­ there was nothing the man couldin about and simply gritted his teeth to keep on holding.


    About an hourter, Hua Yi felt a lot better and had gotten limatized to the speed.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He took a rxed breath and slumped his back. The tenseness he had from the fast travel finally made him tired. Hunching his back slightly to make it a bit morefortable, Hua Yi started to look around.


    He had also gotten used to seeing the surroundings moving at a great speed and could now guide Lin Mu on the paths.


    "Go north east from here Senior." Hua Yi informed.


    "Okay," Lin Mu said, and ryed the information to Little Shrubby.


    Even if he was scanning the area with his spirit sense, it was still a little hard to match the real directions with a map. Thankfully, Hua Yi could guide him rather well. In the end, six hours passed and they finally reached the second boundary of the Great Southern forest.


    "We''re close now, senior Lin Mu. We should slow down from here or we might miss them." Hua Yi stated.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said and transmitted the information to Little Shrubby, who changed direction ordingly.


    <i>~BOOM~ BOOM~</i>


    But even something as mundane as changing direction while running made craters in the ground and thus, the control needed for this was higher.


    About ten minutester, the first forbidden zone finally appeared in Lin Mu''s eyes.


    "So this is it¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he saw the damp and stuffy air.

 Chapter 883 - The Rust Wood Bog And Acid Dart Toads

    <i>~thud~ thud~</i>


    Little Shrubby came to a stop as his paws dug into the ground, creating four long gullies in the ground.


    <i>~ck~</i>


    Lin Mu unhooked the straps and got down from Little Shrubby. Hua Yi did the same and took a minute to reorient himself after the speedy journey.


    "This really was under a day¡­ this kind of travel is simply marvelous and fast." Hua Yi couldn''t help but praise.


    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    "I know it of course!" Little Shrubby replied, which Hua Yi could estimated what was said.


    "The Rust Wood bog does suit it as a name. There are a lot of trees here and also some dead decaying bodies there." Lin Mu said as he looked around.


    The trees were all of a medium height, but the most eye catching feature of the trees was the rusty colored fuzzyyer on them. It looked a bit creepy and would make one''s skin tingle if one got too close to it.


    <i>~fizz~</i>


    "Ugh, I don''t like this." Little Shrubby said as his paws started to boil the moisture in the soil.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and looked at his boots, that had started to corrode as well. This was a bit surprising since his boots were mid grade spirit tools.


    "We shouldn''t stay here for long. The outer area is still fine, but the deeper you go, the stronger the corrosion gets." Hua Yi said.


    He himself was floating in the air and avoided touching the soil.


    <i>~SKREEE~</i>


    Just as he said that, a loud screeching sound could be hearding from the bog. Lin Mu and Little Shrubby both became alert as a brown blur shot towards them.


    <i>~WOOOO~</i>


    Little Shrubby spat out arge fire ball that burned everything in its path and blocked the brown blur.


    <i>~Sizzle~</i>


    It could now be seen that the brown blur was a liquid of some kind that had been sprayed toward them.


    "Acid Dart Toads!" Hua Yi noticed.


    Lin Mu had already read about the beasts and knew that they were native beasts of this area. Even though they were only at the core condensation realm, their spit was still corrosive enough to hurt and kill Nascent soul realm beasts.


    <i>~Ptui~ptui~ptui~? </i>


    Multiple sounds were hearding from all around Lin Mu and the others. Lin Mu furrowed his brows and waved his hand. Spirit weapons appeared all around him and his spirit sense expanded in a circr radius.


    <i>~Deng~deng~deng~</i>


    The iing corrosive spit was blocked off by the spirit weapons all at once, and not even a single drop managed to reach them.


    <i>~fizz~</i>


    Lin Mu heard bubbling soundsing from some of the spirit weapons and felt his link with them weakening.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    A handful of the spirit tools fell to the ground lifelessly as their surfaces started to melt in a bit. The ones that were made of weaker materials had already been melted through, and holes were now seen in them.


    "You were right, low grade spirit tools and weapons don''t stand a chance against this." Lin Mu said as he saw the state of the weapons.


    He had used a variety of weapons in blocking the attack and wanted to see the extent of the effects on different ranks of spirit tools. The high grade spirit tools and weapons were able to resist it, while the medium ones could resist it slightly, but the low grade ones were directly molten.


    Lin Mu didn''t mind the weapons that had been destroyed, as he had more than enough of them.


    "This is enough. Now begone!" Lin Mu said and pointed out with his hand.


    <i>~SHING~SHING~SHING~</i>


    The spirit weapons all shot towards multiple locations and soon throngs of death were hearding from there.


    <i>~REEEEEEEEE~</i>


    Five secondster, silence descended in the area and no more attacks came towards them.


    "That should take care of it." Lin Mu said before making a curling gesture.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    The various spirit weapons returned to his side. Some of them impaled the Acid Dart Toads that they had killed and brought them back, allowing Lin Mu to get a closer look at them.


    Lin Mu briefly nced at them before storing them along with the spirit weapons, thinking he might learn a bit moreter when he was free.


    "How do we get to the location of the Bile Cask Beetles from here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "There is a side path that goes from the edge of the Rusty Wood Bog. Follow me," Hua Yi said and guided Lin Mu and Little Shrubby.


    On the way, they were attacked a few times but different beasts, but Lin Mu defended them every time.


    "This is too bothersome." Little Shrubby said, feeling pissed.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    He raised his head and let out a thundering roar that echoed throughout the entire area. It was filled with his bloodline aura that Little Shrubby let freely flow as a warning to every beast that was in the area.


    Little Shrubby had learned to contain his bloodline aura for the most part recently and kept it like that so that others did not detect him as easily. But there were times when it was more useful to just let it erupt.


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    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    A few other beast cries were also heard in response to Little Shrubby''s roar, but they were simply of a warning nature. Hua Yi who saw it all, could only hold his breath. The pressure exuding from Little Shrubby was a bit oppressive for him too.


    ''As expected¡­ of Senior Lin Mu''s tamed beast.'' Hua Yi thought.


    "Humph, we can go without being interrupted now." Little Shrubby said smugly.


    Lin Mu could only smile and shake his head, hoping that it would be correct.


    ''Though there might be some beast that might not take this well.'' Lin Mu thought and kept his spirit sense extended to the max so that he would know if anything came close to them.


    Thankfully nothing happened, and an hourter they had sessfully left the Rust Wood Bog.

 Chapter 884 - Bile Cask Beetles

    "There it is! That''s the Cask Bile Beetle''s territory." Hua Yi pointed.


    Lin Mu observed the area in front of him that was vastly different from the other forests. In addition to the trees, there were thousands upon thousands of vines covering them. In some ces, the vines were dense enough that one could not differentiate what was a vine and what was a tree.


    The sky was almost entirely hidden as the vines covered the canopy of the trees and made a densework.


    "This is certainly different¡­" Lin Mu said as his spirit sense extended.


    It was not just the appearance of the area that was different, but its feeling was different as well. While Lin Mu could feel themon vitality and life of a forest from the area, the silence that was filling the area was unsettling.


    "Don''t be mistaken Senior Lin Mu. This is just because it is day time right now. The Cask Bile beetles are sleeping at this time. But once it is day time, they will start pouring out in droves and you will find yourself irritated by the constant noise." Hua Yi exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu replied, recalling the information that he had read about the said insect beasts.


    "They are also rather foul smelling, aren''t they?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Oh, they are indeed." Hua Yi said, wrinkling his nose, as if the memory offended him. "I still feel nauseous when I think of them."


    "I can understand¡­ I recently had an encounter with something that was rather foul as well." Lin Mu said in sympathy.


    The two checked the area with their spirit sense before proceeding.


    "We should try to get as close to the center as possible before night. It will be very difficult after that." Hua Yi said.


    "Very well," Lin Mu said before withdrawing several spirit weapons.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    All of the spirit weapons shot out and chopped all the vines that were obstructing their path.


    "These vines¡­ they aren''t normal, are they?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. They are actually a form of a low grade spirit herb too, but they are mostly not used for anything. They cause bad reactions when refining pills, thus they are not worth when there are morepatible ingredients avable." Hua Yi replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and continued onwards. Their path was straight for the most part, but the number of vines they had to chap was immense. Plus at the same time, they needed to constantly check the area for the presence of the sentient spirit herb.


    "This spirit herb; you''ve seen it before haven''t you? Tell me more about it," Lin Mu asked.


    "While I did see it, it was just a momentary nce. The spirit herb disappeared before I could observe it properly. Senior already knows how they can be, thus we might have to look in all directions including underground, since they can hide there.


    Though about the spirit herb, I can tell this one thing¡­ it is not small." Hua Yi answered.


    "It''s not small? How big is it exactly?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "At least two meters tall¡­ from what I could tell from its blurry silhouette." Hua Yi answered.


    "Hmm¡­ I see. At least that narrows it down for us. A bigger target will be easier to sense than a small one." Lin Mu responded.


    <i>~sniff~ sniff~</i>


    "I smell something bad," Little shrubby said with a growl.


    "What''s the problem?" Lin Mu asked, turning to Little Shrubby.


    "There are a lot of bad smelling things nearby. I can''t smell anything else due to it." Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and let his spirit sense extend as far as possible. But even at the full range, he could not find anything.


    "Senior?" Hua Yi looked on in confusion.


    "There might be Bile Cask Beetles nearby." Lin Mu informed.


    "How far do you estimate?" Hua Yi asked as a serious expression appeared on his face.


    "At least eight kilometers away." Lin Mu replied.


    "Eight kilometers? That''s strange¡­ thest time I came here they were more spread than this. They seemed to have moved more to the depths." Hua Yi said.


    "Oh yeah, from what I read, we were supposed to encounter them by now, weren''t we? Even if they are sleeping, we should still see them on the trees." Lin Mu responded.


    "Exactly senior. There might be some change we are unaware of." Hua Yi replied.


    "Let''s be a bit more careful then." Lin Mu said before looking at Little Shrubby.


    "Watch your fire, we don''t want to burn the sentient spirit herb thinking it was an attacking beast." Lin Mu warned.


    "<i>Okay~</i>" Little Shrubby replied with a nod.


    The party of three continued onwards and finally reached a foul smelling area after fifteen area.


    "Ugh! This is disgusting." Lin Mu said as he scrunched his nose.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    <i>~POOF~</i> Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    Little Shrubby huffed in irritation and directly ignited a me on the tip of his nose. Once the me started burning, his expression eased up.


    Hua Yi who saw it, couldn''t help but feel envious.


    ''Smart,'' he thought.


    Lin Mu decided to try copying the idea and closed his eyes.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    He opened his eyes a few secondster as another me burned under his nose, covering the nostrils fully.


    "Whoa! You can do that too, senior?" Hua Yi was surprised.


    "It looks a bit tricky, but as long as you can control your nasal meridians, and know how to use fire attribute spirit Qi, it''s easy." Lin Mu said.


    The me on his nose burned away the foul smell selectively, yet allowing him to breathe as normal. Hua Yi understood the concept but couldn''t replicate it. He was neither that skilled nor did he have control over the fire attribute spirit Qi.


    He could only wrap a cloth around his nose that was rubbed with some aromatic oil. With the precaution taken, the trio walked ahead and finally saw the source of the stench.


    "So these are the Bile Cask beetles¡­" Lin Mu muttered as his eyes gazed over the creatures.

 Chapter 885 - Foul Smell And Wild Fire

    There were hundreds of them all sleeping in front of him. The beetles were as big as a palm and were covering the ground, the trees, and even the canopy above, hanging upside down.


    Their bodies were unlike any other insect beast that Lin Mu had seen till now. There was a cylinder shaped growth on the beetle''s back that seemed to be filled with some kind of a fluid.


    The ''container'' or the ''cask'' was translucent, like that of a mosquito''s belly, and the liquid inside could be seen.


    "So that''s their ''bile''." Lin Mu pointed.


    "Indeed, senior. They will explode that cask when they are attacked and spray the bile everywhere. While it is not corrosive or toxic, it is still strong enough to knock a person out.


    Even Nascent soul realm cultivators have fallen prey to these beetles, despite them being weak." Hua Yi informed.


    Lin Mu raised his brows as he felt the cultivation base of the beetles, finding them to be barely at the Qi refining realm. There were a couple that were at the core condensation realm and biggest of them all.


    "How do we proceed from here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Usually we would go around an area like this, but unfortunately for us the area that we want to go is beyond them." Hua Yi spoke. "They aren''t this concentrated like a wall and we would have been able to find an empty path out, but we can''t in the current condition." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ I see." Lin Mu replied and tried to think of a solution.


    His spirit sense scanned the area and checked if there was anything else in there. After a minute, Lin Mu made up his mind.


    "Little Shrubby¡­ Burn it all down." Lin Mu stated.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Not even a momentter, the beast obliged and spat out a stream of mes that burned through everything that was on the path.


    <i>~CHIIIIIIIII~</i>


    The loud chitter of the Bile Cask beetles could be heard as they were very rudely awakened. But before they could move or fly around, the mes devoured them and reduced them to ashes.


    The foul bile in their bodies was also rapidly burned before it could spread in the area and cause them any trouble. The trees were not safe either and burned down with the beetles that were living on them.


    "Enough," Lin Mu said, after sensing that all the beetles had been burned.


    <i>~Crackle~</i>


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    But now another problem had presented to them¡­ the trees were burning and the mes would not stop spreading.


    "Senior Lin Mu! This¡­" Hua Yi was a bit taken aback.


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    He had certainly not expected Lin Mu to take such a crude yet direct approach to the problem.


    "We can''t let the fire spread!" Hua Yi urged.


    The Great Southern Forest was important to everyone in the world, right from themoners to the cultivator since a lot of resources were brought from there. Themoners didn''t know this but a lot of formation arrays that protected the viges and towns they lived in needed materials that were often sourced from here.


    Thus if a wild fire broke out, it will cause a lot of problems. Not because it would harm the forest, since that was almost impossible. The forest had a strong vitality and the trees would grow back again soon.


    The main problem was in fact, due to the beasts that lived there. If a fire spread, while it would stop after a certain point, the beasts that lived in the area would be angered. Some might die and some might leave their habitats.


    And when something like that happened, it was called a migration. Arge scale beast migration that would be caused due to a wild fire could lead to even more serious consequences¡­ such as a Beast tide.


    The Noon Grass sect was located right next to the Great Southern Forest, thus a beast tide would be something they would have to deal with. If they were lucky, a beast tide would only have some Nascent soul realm beasts, and a majority would be weaker beasts.


    But if they were unfortunate and some more sensitive areas were burned, Dao Shell realm beasts might even appear. If that happened, the sect might lose some of their disciples.


    And that¡­ was something they certainly did not want to happen.


    This is why the sect had rules about causing wildfires in the forest.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of it." Lin Mu assured.


    He flipped his palm, and the short sword appeared in his hand.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu closed his eyes. A few secondster he opened them and they were filled with a sharp aura.


    "Sever," Lin Mu lightly said and swung the short sword.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    An arc of energy shot out of the short sword and expanded as it traveled outwards. If one looked closely, they would realize that the arc of energy was actually just there for an instant and a few meters after that, it was just wind that was spreading.


    Still, the wind was sharp enough to cut through all the trees that were in its path, while also blowing out the mes that were burning on them.


    <i>~crash~ crash~ crash~</i>


    One by one, all the trees that had been cut, copsed to the ground, creating a demarcated area that septate the burning trees from the normal trees.


    Hua Yi, who witness the fine disy of swordsmanship, couldn''t help but feel impressed.


    ''Such control¡­ and power.'' Hua Yi thought.


    Once the final tree fell to the ground, their path was cleared, and they were now free to continue.


    <i>~poof~</i>


    The mes on Lin Mu and Little Shrubby''s nose disappeared and they could breathe normally again. The foul smell tainting the air had been purged by the mes, providing them relief.


    "That was amazing!" Hua Yi said.


    "Let''s go on now.." Lin Mu said with a smile and took the lead once again.

 Chapter 886 - Breeding Cycle And Finding The Spirit Herb

    Lin Mu and the rest had to travel for a few more kilometers beyond that ce where they had burned the Bile Cask Beetles. On the way, they encountered more of the beasts, but they got rid of them the same way.


    "There has certainly been some kind of a change. The Bile Cask beetles have all gathered in here. Usually there shouldn''t be such high numbers of them." Hua Yi stated after Lin Mu burned down the fourth such group.


    "Hmm¡­ do you think that sentient spirit herb might have something to do with it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That may be possible. Other than that, I don''t know what else could cause something like this." Hua Yi replied. "Though¡­ there is also a chance that it might be their breeding season?" he guessed.


    "Their breeding season? Oh yeah, insect and other beasts do have that don''t they?" Lin Mu realized.


    "Indeed. But I don''t know what that is for the Bile Cask Beetles." Hua Yi replied.


    "Let me check if I have anything about them." Lin Mu said before taking out a few records and going through them.


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    He had already checked a few of them beforeing here, thus knew which ones to skip and which ones he had already read.


    "Should we take a break, then? It''s already sun set and the beasts will start getting more active. It''s best we form a camp." Hua Yi spoke.


    "Yeah, we should do that." Lin Mu agreed.


    "I''ll set up a defensive circle while Senior can find the information about the bile Cask Beetles till then." Hua Yi offered.


    "Sure." Lin Mu agreed. "And Little Shrubby can make some dinner for us." He added.


    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    Little Shrubby replied with a growl, agreeing to the work. It was something he did out of his own desire everyday thus he didn''t mind it at all.


    "I have some new beasts I caught, that I wanted to cook. I can use them now," Little Shrubby said and took out a few beast corpses from his own storage and prepared them.


    Hua Yi went on to set up the defensive circle which was just a formation array that was per built usingponents. It was amon one that was used for camping by many cultivators and was avable in many versions, depending on the level of defense one wanted.


    The one that Hua Yi set up was enough to repel beasts up to the Nascent soul realm and defend up to Core condensation realm. After all, they didn''t really have a need for a defensive array as much as they needed something that could hide them.


    All three of them were strong enough to kill the Bile Cask beetles with ease, but what they didn''t want was for them to overwhelm them with their bile. Thus, it was better for them to just hide in a formation array like this where they won''t be detected by the insect beasts.


    Hua Yi was done setting it up in just ten minutes and then watched Little Shrubby cook instead.


    "No matter how many times I see this, it''s still amazing." Hua Yi muttered to himself.


    He could smell the pleasant aroma of the dish that Little Shrubby was cooking and felt tempted to taste it. Still, he was a cultivator and his will power was strong enough to resist it.


    Though the average cultivator might not find that easy, since the ingredients being used for cooking were anything but average. There was Nascent soul realm beast meat, spirit herbs being used as spices, and several spirit fruits being used as side ingredients along with just some normal vegetables.


    While Hua Yi was watching Little Shrubby cook, Lin Mu finally found the information he was looking for after about an hour''s search.


    "Here it is!" Lin Mu spoke, "The Bile Cask Beetles will have a breeding season once very three to five years depending on certain conditions such as the avability of food and wood attribute spirit Qi.


    If there is surplus of them, the breeding season will arrive early and if there is a deficit, it will take longer."


    Hua Yi who heard this, furrowed his brows and Lin Mu could tell that there was some problem now.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "This information is either incorrect, or there is certainly something influencing the beetles. As far as I know, thest breeding season for the Bile Cask Beetles wasst year. I remember there being missions assigned to clear out their poption that was spreading to our usual harvesting areas." Hua Yi replied.


    "You''re right. If it was just a year ago, it doesn''t satisfy the minimum or the maximum condition. This is simply to early." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Looks like we''ll only know once we reach the depths." Hua Yi said, to which Lin Mu nodded.


    With the cause still unknown, the trio ate their dinner, which Hua Yi enjoyed a lot and felt a slight improvement in his cultivation base as well. He couldn''t help but wish he would get to eat food like this every day.


    ''This is no less than eating alchemical pills.'' Hua Yi thought.


    The three of them spent the rest of the time doing their own thing, and time quickly passed. When morning finally arrived, the forest went silent again, and the Trio were free to move.


    "We should continue now." Lin Mu said and Hua Yi took down the formation array.


    Their travelsted for two more hours and they encountered one more cluster of Bile Cask Beetles before they finally reached the suspected location of the sentient spirit herb.


    "Be alert from here, we don''t know what kind of a spirit herb it is and if it is violent, it might hurt us." Lin Mu warned.


    If a spirit herb could survive in an area filled with Bile Cask Beetles, there was bound to be something that allowed it to do that and its strength would not be low at all.. If anything, the spirit herb might be quite strong.

 Chapter 887 - Successful Capture

    <i>~sniff~ sniff~</i>


    "I can smell it!" Little Shrubby suddenly said.


    Lin Mu looked towards him in anticipation and asked, "where?"


    "Follow me," Little Shrubby said, and brought them through the maze of trees and vines.


    The heat radiating from his body directly dried out and burned the vines that came in front of him and proved to be no obstacles. A minuteter, they finally reached a clearing of the forest.


    "Whoa!" Hua Yi said as he looked at the area in front.


    There were no normal trees for about half a kilometer diameter, but at the very center a different kind of a nt could be seen.


    "Is that the spirit herb?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "That¡­ does seem simr to the silhouette I saw. But¡­ it''s a bit bigger than that too." Hua Yi answered.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and used his spirit sense to probe the spirit herb in front of him.


    The herb was over two meters tall and had leaves shaped like sickles. It also had flowers that were located in clusters and were rather small. They were purple in color and let out a pleasant fragrance.


    But in addition to the flowers, there were a few pod shaped things hanging from the spirit herb as well. Lin Mu could see smaller versions of the pods growing from the flowers that were starting to wilt, prompting him to think that they were actually the fruit of the spirit herb.


    "It''s actually bearing fruits¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he tried to probe the spirit herb.


    But the moment his spirit sense touched the herb, it trembled.


    <i>~Rustle~</i>


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    Then in the next moment, all its leaves curled and wrapped around its stem, pulling the the flowers as well before it shrank into the ground.


    "It got startled!" Hua Yi eximed and tried to detect the spirit herb.


    Little Shrubby sniffed the air and quickly found the position of the spirit herb.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    He raised his right leg and wed out in the air, creating a w imprint the zed the ground some distance away.


    <i>~RUSTLE~</i>


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The sentient spirit herb shout of the ground in fear and changed its direction. Little Shrubby''s attack had created a deep cut on the ground that was now burning. It was at least five meters deep and was enough to stop the sentient spirit herb from retreating.


    "It can''t go deeper than five meters, it seems. It has a limit to how far it can dig. We just need to stop it from going away from this area!" Lin Mu quickly understood.


    "I''ll block the left!" Hua Yi said and quickly flew.


    Little Shrubby didn''t speak anything and just ran in a circle quickly, creating a wall of fire around the area.


    "That''ll make it a bit easy." Lin Mu said as his spirit sense entered the ground, searching for the spirit herb again.


    "THERE!" Lin Mu lunged towards a certain spot before punching down.


    <i>~BOOM~</i> Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    His fist directly created a crater in the ground, spreading cracks around the areas.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    About a meter from the edge of the crater, a bulge appeared and a certain spirit herb was pushed out.


    "Now I got you!" Lin Mu said before he quickly blinked to the spirit herb and firmly grasped it.


    <i>~sha~sha~sha~</i>


    Upon doing this though, Lin Mu infuriated the spirit herb, and it unfurled its branches and leaves.


    <i>~shingling~</i>


    The leaves suddenly turned rigid and sharp before shing at Lin Mu.


    <i>~DENG~ DENG~ deng~</i>


    Sparks were created as the sickle like leaves hit the Mortal Strengthening Scriptures armor. Lin Mu was unaffected and simply watched on in amusement as the spirit herb struggle.


    "This thing isn''t weak at all¡­" Lin Mu said as he felt the pull of the spirit herb.


    It was trying its best to escape, but could not leave Lin Mu''s grasp.


    Hua Yi approached Lin Mu, feeling surprised at the pace at which Lin Mu caught the spirit herb. He recalled how it had taken their sect over a month to catch a spirit herb like this before.


    At that time, he had just joined the sect and was barely at the body tempering realm. It was a long time ago, and he only learned all of that due to being a disciple of the Patriarch.


    "At what level do you estimate its strength to be senior Lin Mu?" Hua Yi questioned.


    "Hmmm¡­ it is at least equivalent to a Nascent soul realm creature. Those leaves are very sharp too and will cut through steel. Even a Nascent soul realm beast might be injured." Lin Mu answered.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    Hua Yi couldn''t help but swallow his saliva hearing this. The spirit herb''s spirit Qi fluctuations seemed to be far weaker than what its actual power was. It could very well make a cultivator lower their guard and then kill them.


    "Let''s get this over with." Lin Mu muttered and stored the spirit herb into the ring.


    He specifically put it in an area that had some soil and spirit stones that had been kept together. Lin Mu had learned from the Wood Spirit Tulip and knew what the spirit herbs liked.


    ''That should keep it fine for the time being.'' Lin Mu thought.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "That was way quicker than I thought it would take us." Hua Yi spoke after taking a breath of relief.


    "Indeed. This n went just as I had hoped it would." Lin Mu said, feeling pleased. "Not many of my ns have been going as I expected these days, so one going perfectly feels good." He added.


    "ns are always subject to change and fate will often gamble with our ns¡­ this is something I often heard Master say." Hua Yi stated.


    "That is true." Lin Mu said with a nod, recalling the words of senior Xukong as well that were rather simr.


    "Do we go back now?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Indeed. We head back. And this till we''ll be even quicker, since we don''t have to be on the ground." Lin Mu answered with a smile.


    "ALRIGHT!" Little Shrubby said before the upgraded harness appeared on his back.

 Chapter 888 - Speedy Return And A Pleasant Reception

    Lin Mu and Hua Yi were now on Little Shrubby''s back, heading to the Noon Grass sect.


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    "What was that spirit herb though, senior? Do you know of it?" Hua Yi questioned.


    "I thought you would know more," Lin Mu replied instead.


    "Hmm¡­ I don''t know. I''ve never seen or read about it before." Hua Yi answered.


    "We''ll take a closer look once we''re back at the sect then. It shouldn''t take long." Lin Mu said to which Hua Yi nodded.


    But while Lin Mu said this, he still started to check the records on his own. There were plenty in the ring that he had still not read and it was literally a hill of them ced there.


    ''I should get some shelves perhaps¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Still, he could use the jade slips with little to no problem and thus just held them while Little Shrubby carried them back. Lin Mu''s spirit sense would read through them and he would gain more information.


    They traveled for about half a day before they finally reached the sect. The disciples from the sect were quick to detect them, simply due to the fact that there was just one beast they knew that could move that fast.


    "They''re back!" someone called out.


    Jing Luo who was working on some things, heard themotion as well and looked out of the hall he was in.


    "Oh? That was rather fast." Jing Luo said and left the hall to meet up.


    <i>~thud~ thud~</i>


    Lin Mu and Hua Yi got off Little Shrubby, and thetter stretched his body. Sitting on a fast moving beast for that long would cause some tenseness in his body even if he was at the Nascent soul realm.


    "That will certainly take some time getting used too." Hua Yi said. "But still, thank you for this experience, senior Lin Mu. I got to learn quite a few things." He added.


    "And thank you for guiding me. It would have taken me quite a long time if I were to go there on my own." Lin Mu replied.


    <i>~step~step~step~</i>


    "Wee back seniors!" The disciples finally gathered around them.


    "Greetings." Lin Mu causally said.


    "I honestly thought that it would take you way longer than this." Jing Luo appeared from the crowd.


    "I did too. But for the first time in a long while, a n went as I wanted it to." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s good. At least luck in on our side again." Jing Luo said in a relieved tone.


    "And¡­ the harness was helpful, too. I doubt I would be able to reach the location without Hua Yi guiding me and he would not be able to keep up without the new harness. Thus you were a big help in this as well." Lin Mu didn''t forget to praise where it was deserved.


    "That was nothing. Give the harness back to me. I''ll add the remaining things to it as well. It will be even better then." Jing Luo said with a chuckled.


    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    Little Shrubby turned around to let Lin Mu remove the Harness before it was handed to Jing Luo.


    "You should go meet up with the supreme elder. The patriarch and other elders might be arriving by tomorrow." Jing Luo added.


    "Very well." Lin Mu replied.


    "I''ll take my leave too, senior. Please don''t hesitate to ask for me if you need any help." Hua Yi said.


    "Will you be going to the Kong ne?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, I''ll wait to meet master first. Plus, I think the others will being here as well for them." Hua Yi answered.


    "Hmm, makes sense. Once the patriarch arrives, it will be time to start the next step of our n." Lin Mu said as aplex expression appeared on his face.


    "I shan''t take any more of your time then, senior." Hua Yi said before taking his leave and flying away.


    Lin Mu also made his way to the Supreme elder''s hall and reached there in a couple of minutes. Little Shrubby on the other hand, was surrounded by a few disciples who were asking him questions.


    Ever since they found out Little Shrubby could understand them, they were interested in finding out more. A couple of elders had taken notice of this too and encouraged for the disciples to learn from Little Shrubby.


    They hoped that they would gain some insights into beasts which could help them in taming a beast for themselves as well.


    Having a tamed beast was a good way to increase their potential power and was the same as increasing their numbers. Plus, depending on the type of beast they tamed, they might get some extra things like beast materials in the form of hair, feathers, fur and horns too.


    While there were a few disciples that had tamed beasts in the sect, they were a very small number, being able to be counted on two hands. Plus the beasts they tamed were not strong either and were just used for convenience or materials.


    The mostmon was a bird beast that helped them in surveying an area where their spirit sense didn''t reach. It could also be used to send messages or small items.


    Thus, Little Shrubby was a bit popr in the disciples, even if he couldn''t outright speak. The disciples found other means to talk with him. For simple yes or no answers, he could just nod and for others, they would just write and show him.


    Which was even more shocking, as they just didn''t know how Little Shrubby learned to read. They even thought that it was Lin Mu who had taught the beast this, which he never did.


    In fact, Lin Mu didn''t even know that part.


    Back at the Supreme elder''s hall, the old man had also found out that Lin Mu returned.


    "I hope you were sessful in your venture?" Hua Langya questioned from the inside.


    "I did indeed," Lin Mu said upon opening the door.

 Chapter 889 - An Excited Elder Pigu

    "Would you like to see the spirit herb, Supreme elder?" Lin Mu questioned upon seeing the curiosity in the old man''s eyes.


    "Why not?" Hua Langya replied.


    "Sure, but before that¡­" Lin Mu said as he looked around. "I think it would be better if this ce is locked up, just in case." He added.


    The supreme elder simply made a few seals with his hand and runes appeared in the air.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The runes turned into formation arrays that secured the hall.


    "That should be enough." Lin Mu said before making some distance.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    In the next second, a blurry distortion appeared in the air before it turned into the figure of the spirit herb. Seeing it, Hua Langya''s eyes went wide.


    The spirit herb was currently rooted in some soil that was covering a block of peak grade spirit stone. It gently swayed in the air and looked to be calm. Even Lin Mu was surprised upon seeing this.


    "It has certainly befortable¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    Hua Langya approached the spirit herb and extended his hand towards it.


    <i>~SLAP~</i>


    But before it could even get within a meter of the spirit herb, it was ruthlessly pped away.


    "That''s a strong spirit herb," Hua Langya said as he looked at the scratch on his hand that was just made by the spirit herb.


    "Yeah, you need to be careful around it. As long as you don''t try to touch it, it should stay calm." Lin Mu reckoned.


    "I see¡­" Hua Langya said and gazed at the spirit herb.


    "By any chance¡­ does supreme elder know about this spirit herb?" Lin Mu asked, hoping that the man would know.


    "Hmmm¡­ I''ve read about something familiar but I don''t know for sure." Hua Langya said with furrowed brows. "I''ll call in Elder Pigu. He''ll be more than happy to figure that out." He added.


    "That''d be good," Lin Mu epted, and the other elder was called.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    "I''m here! I''m here!" Elder Pigu''s voice was heard in less than thirty seconds. "Where''s the spirit herb! Where''s the sentient spirit herb!?" he said with excitement.


    It was very evident that the man was very passionate about seeing the spirit herb.


    "Come in," Hua Langya said before waving his hand and opening the barrier temporarily.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The doors slid open and in walked the portly elder. As soon as his eyes settled on the spirit herb, the pupils in them went wide.


    "MARVELOUS! AMAZING! THIS¡­ THIS¡­" Elder Pigu eximed out loud and approached the spirit herb.


    "Wai¡ª"


    <i>~p~</i>


    Lin Mu wanted to warn the man, but it was a bit toote.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Elder Pigu was pped away and hit the wall of the hall.


    "Are you okay, Elder Pigu?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "I''m fine!" Elder Pigu replied and quickly stood up, a smile on his face.


    He didn''t even mind the whip like mark that was on his face now. It was turning red very rapidly but it didn''t seem like he felt any pain.


    <i>~drip~</i>


    A drop of blood slid down the elder''s lips.


    "Are you sure you''re okay, Elder Pigu?" Lin Mu asked again.


    I''m good! Don''t worry, I just want to take a look at this marvelous specimen." Elder Pigu said.


    "Umm, as long as you don''t get within a meter of the spirit herb, it won''t attack you." Lin Mu informed.


    "Ah, I see. So it''s responsive to distance too. I''ll note that." Elder Pigu said before making circles around the spirit herb and observing it in detail.


    He didn''t even blink for five minutes and simply nodded to himself while whispering something under his breath.


    "Um¡­ do you know what spirit herb this is then, Elder Pigu?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I don''t." The man admitted.


    "You don''t?" The supreme elder said in confusion. "I could recognize some of the features, but I wasn''t sure if it is the same nt." He added.


    "I mean, I can tell that too. But the reason I don''t know about this spirit herb is because it has never existed before." Elder Pigu replied.


    "What?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "This spirit herb¡­ it has the features of a couple of different spirit herbs." Elder Pigu informed.


    Hearing this, the supreme elder was surprised even more.


    "You mean to say a new hybrid?" He questioned.


    "Possibly. Though it could just be a species, we never encountered as well." Elder Pigu answered.


    "Can you exin more, Elder Pigu?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He had read a few more records, but didn''t find anything matching this spirit herb. thus thought that elder Pigu might have some more insights into it.


    ''If he can tell just the name, I should be able to find it on my own too.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "This spirit herb, I can see the traces of at least two other spirit herbs in it. The first one is the Sickle Leaf Grass and the second one being the Purple Amaranth Herb." Elder Pigu answered.


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    "Oh? What are they good for?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "The Sickle Leaf Grass is actually a sentient spirit herb, too. Just not on the same level as the usuals one. It can attack whatever gets near it with its sharp sickle like leaves. They attack beasts with it and the blood that drips down is absorbed by them as nutrition.


    In a way, you could say that it is a carnivorous spirit herb. Though other than this, it actually has little to no medicinal value.


    The Purple Amaranth herb ispletely opposite to this one, though. It is a very good spirit herb that is rich in wood attribute spirit Qi and is used in a lot of different alchemical pills.


    Since it is so rich in wood attribute spirit Qi, it is often used a a substitute when there are weaker ingredients used, or they need to counteract a strong ingredient with the Earth attribute." Elder Pigu exined.


    Elder Pigu exined a few finer details which intrigued both the supreme elder and Lin Mu, making them think that this spirit herb was rather unique.

 Chapter 890 - Purple Sickle Amaranth

    Having understood the properties of the base spirit herbs, Lin Mu was now feeling a bit better about the nt.


    ''At least I might be able to use it for cultivating if the need so arose.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "I think it is now time for a very important thing." Elder Pigu spoke.


    "What is it, Elder Pigu?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The name for this new spirit herb, of course. You were the one that captured it thus you have the right to name it." Elder Pigu answered.


    Lin Mu raised his brow upon hearing this and wondered what he should name it.


    "Once you name it, I''ll make an official record of the spirit herb. Though for the special properties of the spirit herb, you will have to check for that. Or if you want to, I can do it for you too, but it would mean leaving the spirit herb with me." Elder Pigu added.


    "I''m sure brother Lin Mu would prefer to do it on his own. This is a unique opportunity that doesn''te that often." Hua Langya chimed in.


    "Hmm, yeah. I''ll learn more about it myself." Lin Mu agreed since he needed to try nting this spirit herb in the Sleepscape.


    "That''s fine. Though have you decided on a name Senior Lin Mu?" Elder Pigu questioned.


    Lin Mu responded with a little nod.


    "I''ll name it, Purple Sickle Amaranth. Keeping it simple will be the best and allow us to rte it with the basal spirit herb it was formed from." Lin Mu stated.


    "That''s a good name!" Elder Pigu agreed.


    "Great Choice brother Lin Mu." Hua Langya agreed as well.


    "It is decided, then. This spirit herb shall now be known as the Purple Sickle Amaranth and Senior Lin Mu''s name will go down in history as the person who obtained and named it!" Elder Pigu dered.


    After this was done, Elder Pigu took some notes about the spirit herb and then let Lin Mu leave. They had to prepare for the arrival of the Patriarch as well and thus they were busy.


    Lin Mu quickly returned to the courtyard he was assigned and lied down to sleep. There were still a couple of hours before it would be night time, but it was not really a problem for Lin Mu to sleep if he wanted to.


    In just a couple of minutes, Lin Mu fell asleep and appeared in the Sleepscape.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A Grey orb of light appeared on his side and from it came Senior Xukong.


    "Time to see if your hypothesis is correct or not now." Xukong said.


    "Here goes nothing¡­" Lin Mu replied before digging out a hole in the ground some distance away from the Wood Spirit tulip.


    He knew that there was a great chance the two nts would act violent towards each other and considering the strength, the Purple Sickle Amaranth would beat up the wood spirit Tulip pretty easily.


    After a sufficiently deep hole was dug, Lin Mu withdrew the Purple Sickle Amaranth.


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    <i>~Whip~</i>


    The spirit herb flinched and attacked Lin Mu due to the chance in scenery, but Lin Mu blocked it easily.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    But that attack was just momentary as the spirit herb quickly moved towards the hole that was dug in the ground. It felt like her purple sickle amaranth had found its calling and couldn''t wait to fulfill it.


    Its roots quickly drilled into the ground and it pulled the peak grade spirit stone with the soil it was holding onto with it.


    <i>~tremble~</i>


    The ground moved slightly, and it looked like there was something wiggling in the soil.


    ''The roots are spreading¡­'' Lin Mu understood.


    The two of them watched as the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the spirit herb started to increase little by little.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Then, as if a dam had broken, a strong spirit Qi wave gushed out of the Purple Sickle Amaranth. Its stem started to grow more before it split into two. Then on the new stem, more leaves grew and purple clusters of flowers appeared as well.


    Its height increased by a few of centimeters? finally and reached two and a half meters.


    "It had the same effect." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Seems like the Sleepscape does have a slight enhancement effect on sentient spirit herbs." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and started to observe the Purple Sickle Amaranth. His next task was to learn what the nt could do and what its uses would be. This was not just for the records that the information would be added to, but also so that it would be of a befit to him.


    He started by touching the spirit herb, and did not get a violent reaction from it.


    ''It certainly calmed down by a lot¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    He then felt each and every part of the spirit herb with his spirit sense to see if he could discover any properties that were not obvious, like the sharpness of the leaves and the rich wood element in the flowers.


    Lin Mu observed the spirit herb for a couple of hours and finally had the biggest discovery of all till now.


    "Hang on¡­ did the spirit Qi in the air change?" Lin Mu asked.


    Xukong spread his spirit sense and analyzed the air before nodding.


    "It did change¡­ while the concentration of the spirit Qi in general is the same¡­ theposition is not." Xukong stated.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and felt that there was more than just attribute less spirit Qi in the air now.


    "I can''t believe it¡­ Wood elemental spirit Qi!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    "You seem to have found a really good spirit herb. Its value is a lot more than just a normal spirit herb that can provide materials. This can provide a sustained source of wood elemental spirit Qi." Xukong replied.


    "Indeed¡­ I can sense that it is absorbing the normal spirit Qi and converting it into the elemental from.." Lin Mu understood.

 Chapter 891 - Wood Element Qi Conversion?

    With a new and great discovery, Lin Mu felt even more pleased with his decision of exploring the characteristics of the Sleepscape.


    "If it can do this¡­ then there should be a lot more things that we are unaware of. It''s obvious that being able to produce wood attribute spirit Qi was not a normal ability that the Purple Sickle Amaranth had before this." Lin Mu said.


    "Actually¡­ that might not be entirely true." Xukong interrupted.


    "Oh? What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Those Bile Cask beetles you saw there in the forest. Those beetles need a certain amount of spirit Qi to reproduce, right?" Xukong replied.


    "Umm¡­ yeah they do. But what''s that to do with this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "What if the spirit Qi that they need is not just attribute less spirit Qi, but wood attribute spirit Qi?" Xukong revealed.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt enlightened and pulled out a corpse of a Bile Cask beetle. He probed it with his spirit sense and could really feel the traces of wood attribute less spirit Qi in their carcasses.


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    "You''re right senior!" Lin Mu agreed.


    "It might be a qualitative situation. If they don''t have enough wood attribute spirit Qi, they can make do with the normal spirit Qi but it will take it longer for them to enter the breeding cycle, but if there is wood attribute spirit Qi that cycle can be shortened." Xukong exined.


    "And that would mean that the Bile Cask beetles were only gathered around the Purple Sickle Amaranth because it could produce wood attribute spirit Qi. Even if the original quantity produced was less, it is still higher than the normal concentration in the air." Lin Mu borated.


    "That''s correct. Plus, now that you have nted it here, the Sleepscape had an amplifying effect on the spirit herb, not only making it grow a bit more, but also improving its abilities." Xukong added.


    "This is certainly very good. At least now we have a steady source of wood attribute spirit Qi. Even if it is a weakpared to the Billion Flower Meadow." Lin Mu replied.


    Lin Mu then went on to see if there were any additional properties in the parts of the Purple Sickle Amaranth. He very carefully plucked a single leaf, a small twig, and one of the tiny flowers from the cluster.


    He checked them with his spirit sense and then used a few alchemical reagents to test their medicinal properties. Even if Lin Mu was not as proficient in Alchemical pill refinement, what he did now were just some basic tests that even students that have never learned could do.


    It didn''t need any specific techniques or control over the spirit sense. All it needed was some basic reagents and add them to the spirit herb to test out what they could do.


    Lin Mu noted down the things he learned and would hand them to Elder Piguter on. He could tell that the portly man was very enthusiastic about the spirit herbs and just alchemy in general.


    Some timeter, Lin Mu was done with it and started on the next task he had on pending for a while.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Lin Mu withdrew the Egg from the ring and observed it.


    "It seems to be unchanged, huh¡­" Lin Mu said after looking at it.


    "try to sense its life force. Its vitality is a bit more strong." Xukong


    Lin Mu chanted the severing heart sutra to enhance his perception and sensed the Egg''s condition again. He opened his eyes after a minute and felt a bit happy.


    "It is certainly a bit more vibrant than before. The heat and cold I felt from it has also changed." Lin Mu said.


    "That changed too?" Xukong questioned.


    "Yes. While the heat is about the same, the cold is not. It used to alternate between the two sides, right? But the difference in intensity was the same for both temperatures. But now, it seems like the cold is stronger than the heat." Lin Mu exined.


    "Hmm¡­ seems like that blueish gas helped it in growth but added some new changes." Xukong spoke.


    This reminded Lin Mu of the crystals he had obtained and looked in the ring for one.


    "Whoa! Where are all of them?" Lin Mu asked, feeling surprised.


    "The Egg has been absorbing them continuously. I think only a couple of them are left now." Xukong replied.


    "Still¡­ it absorbed a lot in this short time¡­" Lin Mu said.


    Lin Mu took out one of the crystals and asked, "what do you think that gas is exactly senior?"


    "Well, it is definitely some kind of a Qi, that much is obvious. The only question is which one exactly." Xukong replied.


    "Seeing as how it increased the coldness of the egg and how one of the parents was a ck Water Snake, could it be water attribute spirit Qi?" Lin Mu asked, feeling doubtful.


    "No¡­ you''ve felt that before. The Dao Crystal that you gave to Xiaobao would be the best example of it. It is certainly not water attribute spirit Qi." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ then could it be Ice elemental spirit Qi? It is cold too and the blue color would make sense." Lin Mu guessed.


    "That¡­ might be possible." Xukong said after thinking for a bit. "Maybe you can test for it." He added.


    "Test? How?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well, if you influence a specific type of Qi with its opposing element, it would either cancel out or suppress the element it''s being influenced by." Xukong hinted.


    "Of course! Fire elemental spirit Qi!" Lin Mu grasped.


    He then stimted his Dantian and let a small stream of fire elemental spirit Qi flow out to his hand. Then with his other hand he grasped the navy blue crystal and held it over the fire elemental spirit Qi that was being emanated from his hand.


    The master and disciple watched closely as something started to ur. The crystal started to directly sublimate and the fire elemental spirit Qi was quickly being consumed by it.


    <i><strong>~boom~</strong></i>

 Chapter 892 - The Origin Of The Universe

    Suddenly, a small explosion appeared, and Lin Mu''s hand was pushed back.


    "This¡­ I did not expect this¡­" Xukong said.


    Lin Mu could hear the shock in his master''s voice and knew that he probably discovered something beyond what was in the normal scope of things.


    "What''s the matter, senior? Is it not Ice Elemental spirit Qi?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­ it''s not." Xukong said, his voice low.


    "Then¡­ what is it?" Lin Mu questioned as he looked at the crystal that was half gone.


    The fire elemental spirit Qi in his hand had also been consumed entirely by it. Lin Mu couldn''t tell if this was a test that was positive or negative. With no clear conclusion on his hand, he could only wait for the master to answer.


    "This Qi¡­ it''s actually Yin spirit Qi¡­" Xukong stated.


    "Huh? Yin spirit Qi?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    While he knew about Yin itself, he didn''t know about the yin spirit Qi itself. He couldn''t recall it being an element either.


    "What is that, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Everything in the world was born from the Infinity we call Wuji. Then from Wuji came the Supreme ''Taiji.'' And finally, from the Taiji were the Duality ''Liangyi''. This Duality is nothing but the dual aspects of Yin And Yang.


    Everything else that we see in the world was said to havee from the duality and can be expressed in their form; Water is Yin, fire is Yang; Hardness is Yang And Softness is Yin. There are an infinite number of examples I can give you.


    Themon elemental spirit Qi you see can have two forms as well. Even if we consider Water as belonging to the Yin side primarily, it also has Yang aspects to it, such as its ability to give life.


    The same can be said about fire. Even if it is primarily of Yang, there are also Yin fires that are associated with death.


    But the Yin spirit Qi is different from all of them. It epasses the essence of Yin of all the elements and attributes, reaching the position of top." Xukong exined in detail.


    The information was a bit too much for Lin Mu and he had to ponder on it for several minutes to get a grasp on it. But after an hour, he finally felt like he had some understanding.


    "Then does this mean¡­ in Yin Spirit Qi, all other types of spirit Qi that fall on the yin side can be found?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, that''s right!" Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu thought over it a bit more and several questions popped up in his mind.


    "Then if wepare the four categories of the elements or attributes¡­ where do the Yin and Yang fall?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "This is a bit difficult to exin and for you to understand. Even great Daoists who have had hundreds of millenniums of cultivation have not understood it fully.


    Though if I were to say it in crude terms, both Yin and Yang are considered to be in the category of derivative elements." Xukong answered.


    "I see¡­ but seeing as how they epass all elements and contain them within them, how strong are they? Are they as strong as the three primordial elements?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Hmm¡­ while they do contain all mortal, heavenly and derivative elements, they are still notparable to the three primordial elements. At most, they cane close to the same level, but they still won''t be equal." Xukong replied.


    "Why''s that? From what you''ve said, they are the source of everything in the world." Lin Mu asked feeling doubtful.


    "Ahaha!" Hearing this, Xukong couldn''t help butugh, making Lin Mu feel strange.


    "Did I ask something, wrong senior?" Lin Mu asked, feeling concerned.


    "No, no¡­ I just recalled something." Xukong said, as a hint of reminiscence passed through his eyes.


    N?velDrama.Org: owner of this content.


    "There was once a time when I had asked this same question." Xukong spoke.


    "You did?" Lin Mu asked with wide eyes.


    "Indeed. I was very young at that time, and confused too. I was learning my ce in the universe and didn''t know a lot of things, even if was considerably strong. It was at that time I met a certain person.


    He was the one who guided me and taught me different things. I spent a lot of time with him, until finally the situations changed and we parted." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu felt like this person that Xukong was talking about must have been really special to him.


    "Was this person¡­ Your master, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "My master? No¡­ but perhaps a teacher. That person has had many disciples in his life but I was not one of them." Xukong answered.


    "Oh? Did you not want to be one?" Lin Mu asked.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "It is not something you can understand now. Perhaps I''ll tell you about that in the future." Xukong said in aplex tone.


    Understanding that he may have asked something sensitive, Lin Mu decided to hold back.


    "Now then¡­ for your question about the three primordial elements¡­" Xukong said before taking pause.


    "There are many stories about how the entire universe came into being and there are many versions of it. Every civilization will have its own version and they will believe in it. But those that pursue the path of cultivation will start to learn the truth.


    In fact, there are many experts who cultivate not to live for an eternity and be immortal, but rather to learn the mysteries of the universe and find out about its origin.


    There is indeed amon version that most experts approve of though." Xukong continued.


    "And what is that, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He felt a drive to know it more than ever before. He didn''t know why, but it was a calling for him. Lin Mu couldn''t even consciously tell that he had that. It was simply existing.


    Neither Xukong nor Lin Mu noticed the fact that the ring on Lin Mu''s hand was faintly glimmering.


    "Listen carefully then. This is something that might help you a lot in the future and maybe even serve as a guide." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu watched on with rapt attention and didn''t even blink as he waited for him to start.


    "Like I said before, everything came from the Taiji which isposed of Yin and Yang. But do you know where Wujies from?" Xukong questioned.


    "No, I don''t." Lin Mu responded.


    "It is said that when nothing existed, the void came into existence. This void had nothing in it and there was no quality to it.


    Then came into existence what we call as Chaos. But this chaos was different. It did not move or do anything. It was frozen in existence.


    Until finally¡­ Time started to flow.


    These were the three elements, Space, Time and Chaos. When all three existed together, it was only then that the universe started to be born.


    Chaos expanded within the space as time allowed it to move. An unknown amount of time passed until finally the chaos had expanded enough that it could no longer contain itself.


    It exploded into an infinite mass that continued to expand more and more. That was nothing but the Wuji. And from that, everything that we know came into being.


    Thus, you could say that the three primordial elements are the source of Yin and Yang. They couldn''t havee into existence if even one of them was missing. Those three elementspose the base of our universe or even the cosmos itself!" Xukong exined in detail.


    Lin Mu could almost see the entire birth of the universe happening in front of his eyes as Xukong spoke.


    He could see the vast emptiness filled with nothingness before a ''void'' appeared. Then he could see a ball of chaos appeared. Time started to flow and got things working. It was then that the chaos turned into a vtile mix of everything and changed its appearance constantly, making it hard to tell what its color or shape was.


    Lin Mu didn''t even realize that he had entered a state of trance. But Xukong did discover it quickly.


    He didn''t stop his exnation then though and finished it, before letting Lin Mu continue his trance.


    "This child¡­ hisprehension is monstrous at times¡­" Xukong muttered to himself.


    He simply decided to observe Lin Mu while also checking up on the ring.


    ''Hmm¡­ the altar is rather calm¡­ this means it''s not the ring that''s doing anything this time. But rather¡­ Lin Mu himself¡­'' Xukong thought.


    Hours passed like this, until an entire day passed. But even then, Lin Mu did not wake up from his state of trance. Xukong couldn''t perceive the outside either, thus just kept on watching Lin Mu.


    It mattered little what happened outside, and it was more important for Lin Mu to break his trance on his own.


    ''Who knows what his gains will be this time¡­ though there might not be any apparent gains at all too.'' Xukong thought.


    "Many have embarked on the path to find the origin, but none have sessfully reached the end. Even those old monsters at the top are lost and can''t progress any further¡­" Xukong muttered to himself as a few memories shed past his eyes.


    Silence descended in the Sleepscape as the three nts in it gently swayed. The spirit apple tree kept on growing apples at its own pace while the Wood Spirit Tulip absorbed spirit Qi and cultivated.


    Finally the newest addition, the Purple Sickle Amaranth continued converting the normal spirit Qi into wood attribute spirit Qi, increasing its concentration in the air.

 Chapter 893 - How To Hatch The Egg

    Two days passed by before Lin Mu finally woke up from his trance.


    <i>~shudder~</i>


    His eyelids trembled and his body shook as he gained control again.


    "W-what¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "What happened?"


    <i>~Grunt~</i>


    But just as he did that he felt a rush of memories in his mind. He recalled all that he had learned and soon a calm expression reced his distressed one.


    "Are you fine now?" Xukong questioned.


    "I am¡­ Senior." Lin Mu answered after a second.


    "Did you see?" Xukong asked.


    "I did¡­ everything." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ you did see it, but it''s not everything. You''ll see moreter as you grow. But for now that''s enough." Xukong said, keeping things vague.


    By now Lin Mu understood that the secrets of the cosmos were not to be pried into easily and it was best to keep one''s distance, lest one was pulled into it and torn apart. The weight of it was not something light to bear.


    Lin Mu instead focused on the thing that had started all this: The egg.


    "I now know how to make the egg hatch, senior." Lin Mu replied.


    "You do?" Xukong asked, feeling surprised.


    "Indeed. The egg is certainly special¡­ it absorbed the impure yin spirit Qi from the crystals and grew. But that is not enough¡­ only half of the progress is done.


    If it is to be hatched, it will need something to bnce the Yin spirit Qi." Lin Mu replied.


    "Yang spirit Qi¡­" Xukong muttered.


    "Exactly. Only after the egg is fed a certain amount of Yang Spirit Qi would it regain the bnce and hatch.


    From what I understood, if we had never given it the crystal, it might have not needed Yang Spirit Qi. But at the same time, it would have taken an exponentially longer time to hatch on its own.


    But this will help shorten that time. As long as we can feed it some Yang spirit Qi, it will hatch eventually." Lin Mu exined.


    "That will not be an easy task. While Yin and Yang Spirit Qi are literally everywhere in the universe, the problem is in refining it. Even that impure Yin spirit Qi from those crystals would take hundreds of years of refinement to obtain." Xukong said.


    "Yes¡­ it will be a tough task. But thankfully we are in no rush for it. We simply need to continue on and wait for the right opportunity." Lin Mu said a smile.


    This was a fact, since there was nothing really dependent on the egg hatching. It was just an extra thing that Lin Mu was keeping with him, hoping that something good woulde out of it, eventually.


    Plus, Lin Mu had far too important things to deal with currently.


    "How long has it been, senior?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that he had lost track of time when he was in trance.


    "It should be a little over two days," Xukong answered.


    "Hmm¡­ not too much. This is far more reasonable." Lin Mu said before standing up.


    He then checked the nts in the Sleepscape and found the small change.


    "It seems to be slowly increasing the wood attribute spirit Qi in the air too. This might really be a good ce to cultivate the five treasures realm, perhaps." Lin Mu spoke, finding it pleasant.


    "Actually¡­ you might not even need to consciously cultivate for this." Xukong said and saw that Lin Mu wanted to know more. "I don''t know if you''ve felt it. But the spirit Qi that is generated here is automatically taken in by your body after a certain point."


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and tried to remember if he had felt anything like that.


    "I can''t tell." Lin Mu admitted.


    "That''s understandable. You natural speed of absorbing spirit Qi passively is already quite high, thus the addition of this is almost impossible to spot for you. But this ce has been adding additional spirit Qi to you all this time.


    And keeping that in mind, I think the same would have with the wood elemental spirit Qi eventually. Though cultivating in here directly would still be a bit higher than the passive gain." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu had an expression of realization and felt pleasantly surprised.


    "That will be very good. No matter how small the increase, every little bit helps." Lin Mu said.


    "You will still need to find an appropriate body tempering technique of the wood element though." Xukong added.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll try. Though we do have the one that we got in the Kushao ruins." Lin Mu stated.


    "The True Gold Body Forging arts will take a lot out of you. Are you sure you want to use that?" Xukong questioned.


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    "I might as well if I have nothing else. I do have enough gold for it. And if its about the refinement, I have the assistance of Jing Luo''s notes about weapons forging and refinement.


    Compared to that, this refinement is far simpler and I can take help of him as well." Lin Mu answered.


    "Very well. You can try it out when you feel like it. Though you should also get started on finalizing the shape of your Dao Shell that you have been designing all this time." Xukong spoke in a concerned tone.


    "Ah that¡­ I am indeed close. I just have a few minor changes to make and I should be fully ready to enter the Shell Genesis stage of The Dao Shell realm." Lin Mu said with confidence.


    Xukong nodded in agreement before disappearing into a Grey orb of light.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Let''s go back¡­ the Patriarch and others might have already returned as well." Lin Mu said before he controlled his body to leave the Sleepscape.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    His vision darkened for a moment and when it returned, he had already woken up.


    Lin Mu immediately spread his spirit sense around and found several people standing near his courtyard.


    "Seems like I am a bitte¡­" Lin Mu said as he rose from the bed and walked out.

 Chapter 894 - Three Elders Of The Long Cloud Sect

    "Senior Lin Mu!" someone called out.


    "He''s out!" a disciple spoke,


    Lin Mu walked towards the small group of disciple that were waiting near his courtyard and could guess why they were here.


    "Has the patriarch arrived already?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Y-yes Senior! They arrived yesterday. Senior Jing Luo tried to contact you but you were unresponsive thus they sent us here to wait for you." The disciples answered.


    "Alright. Where are they now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They are at the main hall, senior. They''ve been there since they arrived and have been waiting for you." The disciple directed.


    "Thank you." Lin Mu said before flying to the main hall of the sect.


    The courtyard that he was living in was on the same peak as the main hall, thus he didn''t have to go far. In fact, the main hall could be seen from the courtyard itself, since it was located at the very top.


    In just a minute, Lin Mu was already at the front of the hall.


    <i>~CREAK~</i>


    The doors of the hall opened for him automatically, and Lin Mu walked in.


    Several pairs of eyes looked at him upon entering, a variety of expressions visible in them.


    "Wee Junior Lin Mu!" Patriarch Hua greeted in a loud voice.


    "Wee, Senior Lin Mu!"


    "Wee Brother Lin Mu!"


    One by one, everyone started to greet him in their own method and ording to the rank they had. Lin Mu could see that there were some people that were not of the Noon Grass sect here too.


    Those people didn''t greet him right away and seemed to be watching in silence instead.


    "Were you busy? You didn''t respond yesterday." Jing Luo asked with concern.


    "You could say that, yes. I was working on something and learned a few things." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh? You did?" Jing Luo asked feeling interested.


    "Yes. I believe Elder Pigu would like this." Lin Mu said before withdrawing a jade slip from his ring.


    "OH! Is it what I think it is?" Elder Pigu asked with excitement.


    "Yes, it''s the details about the Purple Sickle Amaranth." Lin Mu replied.


    "Excellent! I can''t wait to read it." Elder Pigu replied and took the jade slip from Lin Mu.


    He briefly scanned through the jade slip and felt pleased at the new information.


    "This will be a very important contribution to the study of spirit herbs and alchemy. I''ll ask the disciples to add this to our library right away." Elder Pigu said in a content tone.


    This conversation had pulled the attention of the three people that were not from the Noon Grass sect. Lin Mu couldn''t tell if they were from some other sect or not, since they were not wearing a uniform.


    "Oh? May we ask what kind of discovery this is?" One of the men questioned.


    "Ahahaha, you might be pleased to know that Brother Lin Mu discovered a new kind of spirit herb. This should be the characteristic and proprieties of that spirit herb." Supreme elder Hua Langya spoke.


    "And who might you all be?" Lin Mu questioned, wanting to know more about the three guests.


    "Allow me to introduce them, Junior Lin Mu." It was at this time that Patriarch Hua spoke up.


    "Please," Lin Mu gestured to continue.


    "This is Elder Boqin, Elder Peizhi and Elder Wenyan." Patriarch Hua Introduced.


    "I am the external affairs elder of Long Cloud sect." Elder Boqin stated.


    "I am the guest elder of Long Cloud sect." Elder Peizhi spoke.


    "I am also a guest elder of Long Cloud sect." Elder Wenyan spoke.


    "Greetings to the three elders of the Long Cloud sect." Lin Mu said while cupping his hands.


    The three elders seemed pleased at the respectful attribute shown by Lin Mu and had felt far better than before.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Since you three are here, I''m guessing Patriarch Hua managed to convince the sect?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ we are almost there." Patriarch Hua said, surprising Lin Mu.


    While he had expected obstacles in this, seeing three elders from the Long Cloud sect made him think otherwise.


    "What is the issue?" Lin Mu asked straight away.


    "I''d like to speak about this." Elder Boqin stated.


    Patriarch Hua gestured for the man to go ahead and he nodded.


    "We''ve heard the concerns of Patriarch Hua and the stand of the Noon Grass sect but we still have some doubts. The request for an alliance will not be made until those doubts are resolved." Elder Boqin spoke.


    "Might I ask what these doubts are?" Lin Mu questioned. "I''ll try my best to resolve them."


    "Elder Peizhi," Elder Boqin gestured to the next man.


    The elder took out a long scroll in response to this and opened it for everyone too see. On it, Lin Mu could see a portrait of none other than himself. But that was not all, there was a lot of text written underneath it and at the bottom, two more smaller portraits could be seen.


    Upon seeing those two portrait though, Lin Mu''s expression tensed and a slight frown appeared on his face.


    "While Patriarch Hua did exin to us that you have been framed and that there is a conspiracy from one Gu Yao. We still cannot help but be careful." Elder Peizhi spoke.


    "Didn''t patriarch Hua give you the proofs of all that has happened? Even the formation of your alliance was only due to the machination of Gu Yao." Lin Mu replied.


    "Our sect is not that stupid that it would y ording to the whims of some random man." Elder Wenyan scoffed.


    "Junior Lin Mu didn''t mean that, Elder Wenyan." Patriarch Hua hurriedly said.


    "No, the Long cloud sect is not stupid." Lin Mu said, before continuing. "It is simply ignorant."


    "You!¡­" Elder Wenyan and the other two seemed rather upset upon hearing this.


    "The sects have be far toocent after years of peace. They do not see danger even when its right in front of them.." Lin Mu said frankly, agitating the three elders even more and stunning the rest in the hall.

 Chapter 895 - Complacent And Ignorant

    Nobody had expected that the rtively mild mannered Lin Mu would have some fierce words to say today.


    Every one other than Jing Luo had the same surprised expression. Jing Luo on the other hand, had a straight expression, as if he was fine with it all.


    "Truer words have never been spoken." Jing Luo chimed in.


    "What is the meaning of this disrespect!" Elder Wenyan said in an elevated voice.


    "Patriarch Hua, is this the thing you brought us here for?" Elder Peizhi said in an antagonistic tone.


    "See¡­ this is exactly what I''m talking about." Lin Mu said out loud. "The sects think only they are right, and everyone else is wrong!"


    "What do you know? Our Long Cloud sect has rich history and has been a prominence power for thousands of years. Even if you might have some background, it cannot bepared to our sect, or the other top ten sects for that matter." Elder Peizhi stated.


    "Humph, what background! Elder Peizhi you are too genial." Elder Boqin said and pointed to the open scroll.


    "We know very well what kind of a background he has. See this, his parents are nothing. A mortal father that was barely at the Seventh stage of the body tempering realm and an orphan mother that doesn''t even have a family name.


    This is the lowest of low. You have no standing other than some random master you have." Elder Boqin said crudely.


    "ELDER!" Hua Langya shouted at this point, his face a mix of anxious and concern. "Watch you words. Do not say things like that!"


    Some of the elders felt like Hua Langya was being a bit more fearful that he should have been, which made them confused. But Elder Pigu knew exactly why and had the same expression.


    "ENOUGH!" Patriarch Hua thundered.


    He then looked at Lin Mu in an apologetic manner before speaking, "seems like I failed you this time, junior Lin Mu. We were clearly not prepared for this."


    Everyone looked at Lin Mu, wanting to know what his response would be, but only saw a still expression on his face as if not even the falling sky would shake him.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "If this is how the Long Cloud sect truly is¡­ then we have no need for an alliance." Lin Mu said firmly.


    "Senior Lin Mu! Please think it through!" the other elders quickly said.


    A strange silence descended in the hall and no one spoke for a minute; everyone simply stared at each other, not knowing what to do. The limbo was very ufortable for two people in the hall, Elder Hua Langya and Elder Pigu.


    Those two were as if scared for their lives and wanted nothing more for this to end.


    "Patriarch, please do something. We cannot let this go on. Brother Lin Mu, he¡­ he cannot be disrespected like this." Hua Langya sent a transmission.


    The patriarch was a bit surprise upon receiving the message like this.


    "I understand that, but why are you so anxious? I''ve never seen you like this." The replied.


    "You don''t understand. They insulted brother Lin Mu''s background¡­ that¡­ that¡­ I cannot tell you like this. Just trust me on this; if this goes unresolved nothing good wille out of it." Hua Langya stated.


    Patriarch Hua''s brows furrowed and knew that there was more to it than he knew. While he wanted to understand why Hua Langya had said this, he trusted his junior brother and agreed for now.


    "Elders, we should not leave things at a sour stage like this. Even if you are doubtful about it all, you have to admit that there have been very strange situationstely. If anything, the Long Cloud sect must know of the Kushao ruins and the beasts that rose from it." Patriarch Hua tried to persuade.


    "What has the ruins got to do with anything?" Elder Boqin questioned.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    "I''ll exin it!" At this moment, another voice interrupted as the door at the side opened with a bang.


    In walked in a man who seemed a little weak and hisplexion was pale. It was evident that he was not well and had possibly suffered from injuries.


    "Elder Liqiang!" the other elders recognized.


    <i>~step~step~step~</i>


    "Why are you all acting like this when we have the best evidence of it all!" He said out loud.


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    "BRING IN THAT WOMAN!" He shouted with venom in his voice.


    The people were a bit confused, but then they saw an injured woman being brought in. She was in a very bad condition and had injuries all over her body.


    "What is the meaning of this?" Elder Wenyan asked.


    "Who is this mortal woman?" Elder Peizhi questioned.


    To everyone in the hall, Ku Waowen just seemed like amoner and had no spirit Qi fluctuationsing from her. Her vitality was rather weak too and felt like a candle me in the storm that could go out at any time.


    "Ku Waowen," Lin Mu spoke lightly and looked at the foe he had fought just a few days ago.


    The old woman weakly lifted her head and looked towards the man who had just said her name. But upon seeing it, her weak face turned horrified.


    "NOOO!! NOOO!! GET AWAY FROM ME! DON''T COME CLOSE!" Ku Waowen shouted with new found strength.


    She wed at the disciples that were holding her, but they only increased their grip on her instead.


    "Shut up!" Elder Weimin who had also appeared, said fierily.


    Ku Waowen held her mouth forcefully, even though the fear in her eyes had not disappeared yet.


    "I think you will be more than convinced after you hear what she has to say." Elder Liqiang said.


    The three elders of the Long Cloud sect seemed confused, but showed some willingness in knowing more.


    Elder Weimin looked at Ku Waowen and yelled, "SPEAK WOMAN! SAY EVERYTHING YOU HAVE TOLD US TILL NOW!"


    The old woman anxiously looked around but only met the cold gaze of Lin Mu.


    "I¡­ I''ll speak.." She said fearfully.

 Chapter 896 - Convinced

    Ku Waowen''s exnationsted a long time, and the three elders were rather serious after hearing it all. It didn''t take them long to verify a lot of facts, since Ku Waowen could also tell some of the secrets of the Long Cloud sect.


    These secrets were enough to send them into a tizzy. They couldn''t help but want to inform the sect right away about the potential spies there were within them.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Everyone couldn''t help but take a deep breath, having heard everything.


    "Now, do you understand what kind of a situation our world is in?" Lin Mu asked. "This is not the time to be involved in petty squabbles of the sects. We need to focus on the important parts!"


    The three elders stayed silent and did not speak. Their silencested for five minutes after which Elder Boqin was the first to speak.


    "Fine¡­ we''ll inform the others in our sect." Elder Boqin said. "But on one condition," He added.


    "Ask away." Lin Mu replied.


    "We need that old woman. The elders of the Long Cloud sect would like to do a more thorough interrogation." Elder Boqin stated.


    "Sure. Feel free to take her with you. We are done with her here, anyway." Lin Mu replied. "Just make sure she doesn''t try to kill herself, she''s already tried that before." He added.


    "You don''t need to worry about that, we have our means to ensure she lives¡­" Elder Boqin assured.


    "Besides¡­ we don''t even need her to be able to speak. All that we need is her brain." Elder Wenyan said as a cold glint appeared in his eyes.


    To them, if all this was even half true, it would be the greatest scandal that would have happened in the cultivator world of Xiaofan world in a long time. They knew that if everything turned out to be true, the very fabric of sects would have to change.


    And this was just in the case of the alliances; once the Top three sects found out, they would be in an uproar and would want to get back the face they had lost. A war would be the smallest thing that would happen.


    They were potentially looking at an entire upheaval.


    "Very well. Considering the implications of it all, it is best we leave for our sect as soon as possible." Elder Boqin spoke.


    "That''s right. But you won''t be leaving alone." Jing Luo suddenly spoke.


    "What do you mean?" Elder Peizhi questioned in confusion.


    "You three have already seen the Kong ne, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Ah yes! That was something we had not expected for you to have." Elder Boqin replied.


    "So you already know the advantage it has in coveringrge distances. For that, I want to establish another teleportation gate in the Long Cloud sect. This way we would be able to travel to our allies quickly and provide support when needed." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ While that is indeed useful, I''m not sure the sect would allow that to be ced inside due to the security aspects of it." Elder Boqin replied.


    "That is already in our considerations. No one can enter the Kong ne without my approval or without the key they need for it. Besides, I will be demanding an oath from everyone involved, just to ensure that Gu Yao does not control them and to weed out potential spies." Lin Mu said.


    "An oath like that cannot be taken lightly. Besides, there are ways to break them and even fool it." Elder Wenyan said with concern.


    "Not if I''m the one who heads the oath," Lin Mu said in a strange tone.


    The moment he said that, a pattern appeared on his forehead and a pressure exuded from his body. The pressure descended on everyone in the hall and made them feel as if they were being watched from every inch.


    They couldn''t express it easily and felt like the air had gained eyes.


    "This¡­ what is this?" Elder Peizhi said, feeling a bit scared.


    The three of them were simply Adult Soul stage nascent soul realm cultivators, thus they had not felt Lin Mu''s cultivation base yet. But now it was in full disy, along with the ordainment of the world itself.


    "Dao shell realm¡­" Elder Boqin muttered before swallowing his saliva.


    The three elders gazed at each other before looking at Patriarch Hua, who looked at them with knowing smiles.


    "Patriarch Hua certainly likes to tease us. Why did you not inform us that Senior Lin Mu was a Dao Shell realm expert?" Elder Boqin said with a wry smile.


    While patriarch Hua looked like a genial old man, he was still very experience and shrewd. If not for that, there was no way he would have been able to run one of the top ten sects and still maintain its position.


    He had very cleverly held back certain bits of information which he knew could be used as leverageter on. One such thing being Lin Mu''s cultivation base. If the Long Cloud sect knew he was at the Dao Shell realm, they would have sent other elders who were equivalent to that to negotiate, but now they couldn''t help but be in a passive position.


    And it was not like they could have expected this either. In no reality would they have thought that Lin Mu would be at the Dao Shell realm. To them, he was at most in the Nascent soul realm, which was still a bit understandable.


    There were a lot of questions that arrived in their mind including the fact that Lin Mu was very young. While there were a lot of false rumors at the start about him being an old expert disguising as a teenager, they sects would be very stupid to believe them without verifying it on their end.


    That was the reason why they had the information about Lin Mu''s parents as well, since they had actually gotten everything about his background verified.


    ''This¡­ the high elders won''t be able to resist now¡­'' Elder Boqin thought.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 897 - Onwards To The Long Cloud Sect

    "Patriarch Hua certainly yed his cards right." Jing Luo spoke.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Indeed. It was the right decision to let him handle that." Lin Mu replied.


    Jing Luo and Lin Mu were sitting in his courtyard currently. The meeting with the three elders of the Long Cloud sect had ended six hours ago, and they were now preparing to leave for the sect.


    "Never thought I would have to make up an act like this today." Lin Mu said, finding it all a bit embarrassing.


    "If anything, you were good. Thankfully, Patriarch Hua had already informed us of the negative inclination of the elders beforehand. Being a little strong handed was necessary." Jing Luo replied with a chuckle.


    "But what Senior Lin Mu said was not false either. If anything, that was the greatest truth." A third person said.


    This was none other than Elder Liqiang, who was helping Jing Luo in making theponents for the teleportation gate. While most of them were already prepared, there were still some minor adjustments and finishing touches to be done.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps. Still, this is not the end. We still have to meet the actual elders of the Long Cloud sect and perhaps even their patriarch before we cane to a final decision. Hopefully everything goes well and we can start the next step." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yeah¡­ I''m ready on my end with the entrance token as well." Jing Luo stated.


    "Oh? You finally finished it?" Lin Mu said with surprise.


    "Yes, I did it yesterday. Now we can head to the ancestral grounds at anytime and meet with grandfather." Jing Luo said in a slightly emotional tone.


    It had been over fifty years since he had seen him and he had been yearning for his family now.


    "You will be going to meet Ancestor Jing Wei?" Elder Liqiang said with surprise.


    "Yes we will." Lin Mu replied.


    "I''ve heard stories of him before, though I''ve never met him myself. But he is a great expert." Elder Liqiang said with veneration on his face.


    "Once we get in contact with him, you will be able to meet him too if you want to." Jing Luo replied.


    "Really?" Elder Liqiang asked.


    As a formation master himself, he had heard a lot about Jing Wei and his skills. Even if his specialty was in weapon forgoing, the man was a formation grandmaster too. Only if one was well versed in formations, would they be able to make strong spirit weapons and tools.


    "We''ll definitely go there. Plus, with the teleportation gates we will be able to make travel very efficient. It won''t make it hard for us to travel between the different locations." Lin Mu added.


    "Then I''ll look forward to that day." Elder Liqiang spoke with faith in his voice.


    Lin Mu nodded his head while Jing Luo continued to work on theponents. They spent the rest of the day getting everything ready and finally night arrived.


    Elder Liqiang felt themunication jade slip on his waist hum and he held it for a moment.


    "They are ready now," Elder Liqiang spoke.


    "Time to leave then¡­" Lin Mu said as he stood up and sent a message to Little Shrubby.


    "Let''s go, no use in tarrying." Jing Luo said.


    The three of them left the courtyard and made their way to the main hall of the sect. In less than two minutes, they were inside where everyone was waiting for them.


    "Don''t hesitate to inform us if you need anything, junior Lin Mu." Patriarch Hua said.


    "I will if the need arises, Patriarch Hua." Lin Mu replied with a smile.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    And just as he said that, a red blur appeared next to him.


    "There you are," Lin Mu said to Little Shrubby, who had rushed in.


    <i>~step~</i>


    The three elders of the Long Cloud sect were a bit taken aback by the beast and couldn''t help but take a few steps back.


    "What is this?" Elder Wenyan asked.


    "This is my tamed beast, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu answered.


    "That is a tamed beast?" Elder Boqin said in a stunned voice.


    The three of them could very well feel the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from Little Shrubby that were far stronger than them. Even if all four of them were at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm, it was very apparent that Little Shrubby was still beyond them.


    ''The man was already enough, now even his beast is stronger than us¡­'' Elder Peizhi thought, finding it all rather absurd.


    They could only ept it for now and continue to what they were doing.


    The entourage entered the secure hall where the Teleportation gate was set and quickly entered it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    One by one, five people and one beast passed through the gate. The three elders felt their bodies going through a strange tunnel and their vision darkened for a moment. When it returned, they found themselves standing in a ratherrge cave which was carved out into an borate hall.


    "Even if this is my second time, it is still strange." Elder Peizhi said in an amazed tone.


    "I still can''t tell what formation arrays these are¡­ they are simply marvelous. Such intricate spatial formations are hardly ever seen." Elder Wenyan added.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo calmly heard their praise but did not respond to it much. They could tell that it was their way of gaining back a little favor, seeing how they had acted with Lin Mu earlier.


    ''Senior was right¡­ as long as one has power, everyone would want to respect them. And if not respect¡­ fear works too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "This way," Lin Mu said as he activated another gate.


    This gate was for the Hong Lin kingdom and the elders hade through there before as well. Lin Mu quickly sent a message informing the Adviser that they wereing there.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    They walked through the gate and finally arrived in the secure hall of the Hong Lin royal pce.


    "Wee! Senior Lin Mu.." Adviser Liu greeted.

 Chapter 898 - New Traces Of The Invader

    Lin Mu and the group were met with the adviser Liu and quickly brought to the main hall.


    N?velDrama.Org: owner of this content.


    "Forgive me Adviser Liu, but we cannot stay here for the time being and it''s best if we go on to our mission at once." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Of course, senior Lin Mu. That is not the reason why I brought you here, there is something else." Adviser Liu replied.


    "Oh? What is it?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    In response to this, Adviser Liu went to the side where something was kept under a sheet. He lifted the sheet and revealed a closed box underneath it.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    He pulled on the lid and the nails were pulled out along with it, before he ced it at the side.


    "This was found by our guards at the border of the kingdom. We don''t really know what this is and it is certainly suspicious. I wonder if you know what it is?" Adviser Liu said as he pointed to the contents of the box.


    "This¡­ can it really be that¡­" Lin Mu said in disbelief.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    He tilted the box and let the object fall out of it, which was then revealed to be a beast''s carcass.


    "Heavens¡­ what kind of a beast is this?" Elder Boqin couldn''t help but exim at the grotesque appearance.


    The beast looked like a monkey beast, but it seemed to have horribly mutated. It had ck slimy skin and bone spurs protruding out from everywhere, and teeth that grew haphazardly out of its mouth.


    Its nails had grown to unnatural length and were nearly a meter long. Its tail had changed too and no longer covered with flesh and skin. Instead, there were bones fully revealed and had some small patches of flesh on the joints of it.


    A frown appeared on Lin Mu''s face as he saw the beast and he had a bad feeling.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Suddenly, a character appeared on his forehead and shone brightly.


    "What''s happening, Lin Mu?" Jing Luo asked in a concerned tone.


    "Invader¡­" Lin Mu said in a low voice.


    "INVADER?" Elder Wenyan eximed.


    Jing Luo finally understood what Lin Mu was talking about and looked at the beast closely.


    "What do you mean Invader, Senior Lin Mu?" Elder Boqin asked.


    "You were told about the invader that was brought on by the Northern Tribes, right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course¡­ You don''t mean to say¡­" Elder Boqin realized.


    "Yes¡­ as much as I don''t want it to be, this is another host of the invader." Lin Mu stated.


    <i>~gasp~</i>


    Loud gasps could be hearding from everyone as they finally knew what kind of a situation this was.


    "When did they find this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The guards found it about two days ago and it just arrived this morning. I would have informed you earlier but since you wereing here anyway, I reckoned it would be better to just show it to you." Adviser Liu replied.


    Jing Luo furrowed his brows and kneeled beside the corpse to check up on it.


    "I have no way of estimating the time of death of this beast. This¡­ it is horribly mutated that I can''t tell if the flesh has dposed or not." Jing Luo said.


    "Mmm¡­ I''vee across a few examples of them before. They too were mutated rather strangely, but this¡­ this one certainly takes the top spot." Lin Mu spoke.


    "What do think caused its death?" Elder Wenyan asked.


    Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and probed the beast to see what could be the issue, since there were no physical wounds on the corpse. But even after checking it throughly he could not grasp it.


    "I can''t tell how it died. There are no wounds nor any internal injuries in its body. There is no vitality left in its body either, which is strange since there should be some lingering vitality left in the flesh." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Can we get the exact location where this was found?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Of course. I had the guards cordon off that area and there are a few of them watching over it as well." Adviser Liu answered.


    "Good¡­ If this thing has appeared, it means there is more than one of them out there. After all these years¡­ they are finally starting to appear again." Lin Mu said in a straight voice.


    "Thest beast you saw who was infected was the bear, right?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Indeed. Your grandfather and Duan Ke wiped out all the other beast''s back then. We thought all the traces were gone, but it is certain now that it is not true." Lin Mu replied.


    "If it has spread this far south, then¡­" Jing Luo muttered. "Someone brought it here."


    The three elders of the Long Cloud sect furrowed their brows and looked on in confusion.


    "Could it be the Northern tribes?" Adviser Liu wondered.


    "Hmm¡­ that might be possible." Lin Mu said before he turned to look at the unconscious old woman who was tied up on Little Shrubby''s back.


    "She never said anything about it, did she?" Elder Peizhi asked.


    "No, she didn''t." Lin Mu replied.


    "Could she have hid it?" Elder Wenyan wondered.


    "I doubt¡­ but we can''t say for sure." Lin Mu replied.


    "We''ll know more at the sect. We have certain means to extract information that the person didn''t even know they had." Elder Boqin chimed in.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and thought that it might be the proper choice.


    "This is where the corpse was found." Adviser Liu said before handing them a map.


    Jing Luo took a look and realized that it was in the north western side of the kingdom.


    "This is just slightly away from our path. We can take a look there on our way to the Long Cloud sect." Jing Luo suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ yeah, we''ll do that. This is not something we can ignore." Lin Mu agreed before looking at the three elders.


    "We''re fine with that. I want to see what it exactly is too." Elder Boqin approved.


    "Very well. Let''s leave then." Lin Mu stated before he pushed the beast''s corpse back into the box and then stored it in his ring.


    They left the hall and flew up from the outer gardens directly.


    Lin Mu had a frown on his face the entire duration of the journey and no one could tell what he was thinking. Jing Luo looked at him with concern but knew that there was not much he could saw right now.


    It took them about seven hours before they reached the location where the corpse was said to have been found.


    "That should be it." Jing Luo said, spotting the soldiers who were guarding a barricaded area.


    The guards spotted them very quickly and were rmed, but then realized who they must be.


    "Elders," All the guards saluted with cupped hands that were raised above their head.


    "At ease." Lin Mu said as he looked at the barricade.


    "Show us the site." Lin Mu spoke.


    "At once, please follow me." One of the guards said and brought them to the inside.


    They walked to a small clearing where there were no signs of any physical conflict or something else.


    "This is where the corpse was found, elders." The guard pointed to a spot on the ground.


    Lin Mu could see the traces on the ground that looked like footsteps and an indent, which showed that the beast had copsed on the ground there.


    "Did it rain before?" Jing Luo questioned, seeing the indent which normally wound not be found since the soil was dry.


    "Yes senior, it rained about a week ago. But there has been no rain after that." The guard replied.


    "Hmm¡­ so it died here about a week ago. The traces in the mud would not have been here otherwise." Jing Luo estimated.


    Lin Mu let his spirit sense wander and scan everything in the area. It went deep into the ground as well, making sure he didn''t miss anything. After about five minutes, Lin Mu opened his eyes that had slight confusion in them.


    "Did you find anything?" Jing Luo asked.


    "No¡­ there is nothing." Lin Mu replied. "I can''t tell where this beast came from or went."


    <i>~Sniff~ sniff~</i>


    It was at this time that Little Shrubby moved. He sniffed the area and turned towards a certain location. Lin Mu looked there as well, and his expression eased.


    "Looks like we have something to go on, after all." Lin Mu spoke in a pleased tone.


    "Oh?" Elder Boqin inquired.


    "Little Shrubby found a trace of its scent." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Really? That''s good then." Jing Luo replied.


    "Hmm¡­ but this also means that there is another such beast." Lin Mu said, which confused the three elders.


    "The invader infects and corrupts the bodies of its host. And since this one died for some reason, the invader would try to find another host. Which means¡­ it has been carried away by something else.." Lin Mu exined.

 Chapter 899 - Tracking The Invader

    Hearing the exnation of Lin Mu, the three elders felt enlightened.


    "Um, elders¡­ do we need to do something?" The guard asked, understanding that this must be far more troublesome.


    Even though they did not have the same level of knowledge as that of the ministers, they could still asses that there was a great problem from Lin Mu''s words. They also knew Lin Mu''s identity as the guest elder of the Hong Lin Kingdom and that his status was right next to their own king, thus his words held great weight.


    "Yes," Lin Mu said, looking towards the guards. "Inform adviser Liu about this and start to increase the number of soldiers guarding the borders. Do regr patrols and inform if you see anything like this." He ordered.


    "I shall do as you ask, elder." The guard responded.


    "Another thing¡­ if you all encounter a beast or being simr to that¡­ either kill it entirely and burn away its corpse into ash. If that does not happen, and that thing injures you, make sure the person who is injured is isted and quarantined.


    If you don''t do that and they were infected by any chance, we would have a far greater problem on our hands." Lin Mu instructed.


    "Yes, elder!" The guard said before quickly heading off to pass on the instructions.


    The three elders of the Long Cloud sect looked at Lin Mu and didn''t know what to say. To them, it was proving to be more and more serious as the time passed.


    "These being''s infected by the invader¡­ just how strong are they?" Elder Boqin questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ their strength depends on several factors, the main one being whether their ''host'' epts thempletely or not. If they do, the power of the host will increase by a lotpared to their normal cultivation base.


    For example, a Nascent soul realm beast, the Blight Dust beast, was infected by the invader several years ago. That beast could produce dust that could poison things. Normally this was limited to a close range, but¡­ once it was infected by the invader, its toxicity increased and the range of it increased exponentially as well.


    It caused a gue in my hometown which was over seven hundred kilometers from its nest." Lin Mu exined.


    Jing Luo''s expression turned strained as he knew what Lin Mu had lost in that gue.


    "I think I know about it. Wasn''t it the Tri Cauldron peony sect that destroyed that beast? But they just told everyone that it was a mutated beast." Elder Wenyan spoke.


    "No¡­ that is false. The Tri cauldron peony sect barely managed to resist the beast and even then, many of their men died. It is only became of Jing Luo''s cousin Duan Ke, who intervened to get rid of the beast did they survive.


    Perhaps if it were not for her, we would have had an even bigger disaster several years ago." Lin Mu said in a cold tone.


    "I see¡­ then we should deal with this quickly." Elder Boqin replied.


    "Indeed. That is why I''ve been telling you that all this is beyond our petty squabbles. This means the survival of the entire Xiaofan world." Lin Mu stated.


    "Xiaofan world?" Elder Peizhi repeated, feeling unfamiliar.


    "That¡­ is the name of our world." Lin Mu answered.


    "What?!" Elder Boqin and Wenyan were surprised.


    "I''ve read the records of the history of the world, but there are no such words for our world." Elder Peizhi replied.


    "Then do you think our world has always been nameless?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, we just called it our world." Elder Peizhi replied.


    "No¡­ that might have been correct a long time ago. But not anymore¡­ the world has spoken¡­ and its name is Xiaofan world!" Lin Mu dered.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The character of ordained glimmered on Lin Mu''s forehead once more in approval and dimmed down in a couple of seconds.


    The three elders clearly had some understanding about the world''s ordained and had already seen the character a few times on Lin Mu''s forehead. They were a bit disinclined to give into all of Lin Mu''s demands since they didn''t consider that a fair bnce.


    Back when there were other ordained in the past, everyone strong power had at least one person of their own. But now¡­ there was just Lin Mu, which greatly tilted things in his favor.


    Even if this had to do with the survival of the world, the sects would still be hesitant about giving up their benefit and power. But if others like Lin Mu appeared within their midsts, they would then cry out for a ''fair chance''.


    It was highly hypocritical, but that was just how the sects had built up their power over the thousands of years they had lived. The generation that withstood the invasions had long since passed away and there were only a few that knew the true reality of it.


    Thus, they were disillusioned and thought that they could do as they want to, thinking that they had enough power to support themselves.


    The three elders had been instructed ordingly to negotiate the terms in their favor. Even if Lin Mu was the world''s ordained, he was just one man, and they were an entire sect. ording to them, there was no way he could go against them alone.


    <i>~Grrr~</i>


    Little Shrubby growled and gestured towards a certain direction, telling Lin Mu something.


    "We need to hurry. Whatever it is, the scent is getting faint." Lin Mu said as brows furrowed.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    Then without a word, everyone followed behind Little Shrubby as he led them towards the source. Everyone had their spirit sense probes at full range and were keeping an eye for anything unusual.


    Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    The path they followed was not straight and there were a lot of curves and turns. But after about a day''s travel, they realized that the ce they were heading towards was their original destination anyway.


    "Why¡­ is this going towards our sect?" Elder Wenyan questioned.

 Chapter 900 - Long Cloud Disciples In Distress!

    The Long cloud sect was located a thousand kilometer away from the Hong Lin Kingdom and it would take a Nascent soul realm cultivator two to four days to reach it. Of course, if someone had faster speed or greater spirit Qi stores they could reach it far quicker.


    In the case of Lin Mu and his entourage, everyone was at least at the Adult Soul stage of the nascent soul realm. Thus a journey this long was easy for them to cover without much strain.


    They were a day in with their search when the elders realized that they had gone half way to the sect already.


    "We are near the sect?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We are about half way there." Elder Boqin spoke and pointed to a set of hills in the distance. "Those are the four sister hills, a half way marker to the sect."


    "Hmm¡­ little Shrubby, how much father is it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The strength of the scent is about the same, so it should be farther." Little Shrubby answered.


    The others looked on, wanting to get the answer from Lin Mu as well.


    "The intensity of the scent is still the same so we are definitely not close." Lin Mu stated.


    "If it really is like that and seeing as we are half way to the sect¡­ perhaps the infected being is really near the Long Cloud Sect?" Jing Luo analyzed.


    "Impossible. If it were really anywhere close to the sect, our people would have long since detected it. Our formation arrays can detect each and every being that is within a hundred kilometers from the borders." Elder Boqin stated.


    "While that might be true, there is a chance that the beast is still out of that range. Plus, we don''t know if it has some other abilities that hide it from the perception of a formation array. Remember, the invader can enhance their abilities depending on what they had originally." Lin Mu reminded.


    These words tensed the three elders, and they couldn''t help but think negatively.


    "Let''s continue onwards then." Elder Boqin spoke.


    "I''ll inform the sect to keep an eye out for someone suspicious as well." Elder Peizhi added.


    He took out themunication jade slip and contacted the people at the sect in a few seconds.


    "They are sending out disciples to increase the patrol radius." Elder Peizhi informed.


    Lin Mu nodded in approval and they continued flying. This time they sped up even more, knowing that the situation might not be as good.


    While they were flying, Lin Mu was having some thoughts.


    ''How could the Invader appear after all this time, if its traces were removed?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "The most obvious reason should be the Northern Tribes. Perhaps they found some traces of the invader and released them back here? Or they might have even gotten more of them." Senior Xukong suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ but if they really got some new sources of the invader, then it means they have a way to interact with other worlds. That merchant who was killed by Gu Yao was the original one who brought the invader along with the Great Slumber Bear.


    But he was forced to release the invader during the fight and even lost the beast storage treasure that broke and released the Great Slumber bear, which then lead to the subsequent events.


    They might have really gotten someone else to arrive in this world if they are really serious." Lin Mu understood.


    "Another thing we can take note of is that they only did it after so many years passed, which means they have a restriction on using the teleportation formation that connects to other worlds.


    They probably can''t activate it as they want and needed to wait this long." Xukong analyzed.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows as a few scenarios formed in his mind.


    "If they intentionally spread the invader, it would mean they are intensifying their efforts and are bringing their final gambit out soon." Lin Mu said.


    "Possibly. And¡­ it would also mean that they have some means to restrain the invader. Otherwise they won''t be safe from being infected either." Xukong inferred.


    "Hang on¡­ if they really have something that can prevent the invader from controlling and infecting someone¡­ then doesn''t that mean it could also be used to break people out from Gu Yao''s control?" Lin Mu guessed with excitement.


    "Hmm¡­ it might be possible. Not right away of course, and we might need to modify it, but it would be a good point to start from." Xukong said after thinking for a bit.


    "That''s it! We will definitely seize whatever they have that they used to protect themselves." Lin Mu dered.


    The people that were traveling with him didn''t know that Lin Mu just had such a revtion, nor that a big decision had been made in his mind already. If they did, they would be rather taken aback seeing the train of thought that led to the decision.


    It was made from a lot of assumptions and derivations, but it was still significantly important and was not easy toe up with.


    Eight more hours passed, during which the team didn''t find anything. But just a few minutes after that, they heard something shocking.


    "No!" Elder Wenyan suddenly yelled.


    "What happened?" Everyone looked at him with concern.


    N?velDrama.Org holds text ? rights.


    "The disciples are under attack!" Elder Wenyan said, holding themunication jade slip.


    "What?!" Elder Boqin and Peizhi said in shock.


    "The ones who were patrolling met someones that was suspicious and didn''t respond to them when they talked with them. When they tried to get close, they were attacked and some of them were killed.


    More disciples are gathering there, but they cannot hold back." Elder Wenyan informed.


    "Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu shouted as the beast quickly turned and the harness appeared on his back.


    "I''ll head on first!" Lin Mu said before he strapped in and shot ahead at a blinding speed.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    The three elders could only watch on with grave expressions and muttered, "heavens save our sect¡­"

 Chapter 901 - Imminent Death

    "HAAA!!!!"


    "BLOCK IT!"


    "NO! NO! THIS CAN''T BE!"


    Various voices could be heard shouting can crying at the scene. One could see at least ten disciples that were wearing the robes of the Long Cloud sect fighting a certain beast that was running around them.


    Then there were at least double the number of disciples dead on the ground. It was hard to tell how many there were exactly since some of them did not haveplete corpses and some were just turned into mush.


    The beast that the disciples were fighting was over three meters tall and looked vicious. Its skin was covered in a darkyer that wiggled like some kind of a fluid, making one''s hair tingle.


    It had three tails like that of a scorpion that had long barbs on the tips, but its body was that of a horse. It had ws like that of a water lizard and the head of a lion. Its fangs were long and looked terrifying.


    There were six bony horns that covered his head that were covered with blood and flesh. It was evident they had been used to gore the disciples several times. The beast''s eyes were bloodied and had square pupils.


    Steam came out of its nose with every breath, and it looked restless.


    <i>~GUO!!!!~</i>


    Its cry was strange and didn''t seem to belong to any animal that was known. It raised its head and cried before charging towards the disciples that were already weakened and filled with injuries.


    Their faces were filled with tears as they watched the beast about to end their life.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The first disciple was hit with the horse and directly exploded into a mass of minced meat. But the beast didn''t stop there and continued to charge. The disciples did their best to dodge and a couple did manage to slip away.


    <i>~SHING~ SHING~</i>


    Unfortunately for them, the relief of escape was short lived as two tails came from the back and stabbed through their chests. Vitality drained out from their bodies and they fell down lifelessly.


    <i>~GUO!!!!~</i>


    The beast cried out as if in joy and continued its attack. Another disciple that was a unfortunate and missed a step, fell to the ground. The beast directly stomped onto her and ttened it into the ground like pancake.


    "RUN!!!"


    "I DON''T WANT TO DIE HERE!"


    "ELDERS SAVE US!!!"


    The disciples shouted, but the time was not on their side.


    By now, only five of the disciple were left surviving, and they were still trying to run. They had given up on attacking, as it would take their stamina and they would miss the opportunity to dodge, since the beast basically received no damage from them.


    The small group of unfortunate men and women reached a dead end and were unable to go any further. There was a steep cliff in front of them and trees around them.


    "Quick! Fly!" one of the slightly stronger disciples shouted before taking out a spirit sword and jumping on it.


    Unfortunately, not all of the disciples could fly or were not in the condition to do so. Their spirit Qi had been exhausted and their will broken. Two of them managed to fly away to the side, but three were still left.


    It was two girls and a boy that were left to watch their death approaching.


    "The girls didn''t even have the will to cry and only had still faces as they watched the beast running at them. They were the more weaker ones out of the group and had only survived till now due to either being the farthest or being lucky enough to dodge on time.


    But luck could only support one for so long. Their hope was for the elders toe rescue them, but that would still take some time. They were over a hundred kilometer away from the sect and even Nascent soul realm elders would take ten to fifteen minutes to reach them.


    It had barely taken the beast two minutes to kill half of them and in total, it had not even been five minutes since they encountered the beast. Their time was ticking away with each step that the beast took towards them.


    The fury in the beast''s eyes was terrifying and it looked no less than a monster that had walked out of the depths of hell to them.


    All hope was lost to them and the beast was at a mere meter''s distance when something shocking happened.


    <i>~GUOOOOO!!!~</i>


    The beast cried with thrill, enjoying the feeling of killing the humans. But just as it was about to do what it liked the best, something blocked him.


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    <i>~DENG!~</i>


    The beast saw another human appearing in front of him. The human directly took the charge of the beast to his chest as the horns mmed into him.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The disciples watched in shock as the man bore the full impact of the attack. They could only imagine him exploding into a rain of flesh or being thrown away. But in the end, neither of things happened.


    A brown illusory armor appeared around him and easily bore the full brunt of the attack.


    <i>~GUO!!!~</i>


    Feeling as if it had been challenged, the beast was furious. It swung its scorpion tails at at the man, but they were quickly caught in his hands. The third tail that could not be caught due to ack of hands was then blocked in a different manner.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    The man directly head-butted the barbed tail, snapping its needle like tip and knocking it away to the back.


    <i>~GUGOGOGOGOO!~</i>


    The beast cried in pain as dark red blood dripped from the broken tip.


    The disciples watched as the man saved them from imminent death. His back was tall and his shoulder broad. To them, he was no less than an angel who had descended from the heavens to save them.


    The girl could look at the man''s face from the angle they were standing and were mesmerized by his face, forever burning it into their memories.

 Chapter 902 - In The Nick Of Time

    Lin Mu''s decision of going on ahead alone with Little Shrubby was the correct one. But even then, he was still a bitte.


    By the time he arrived, most of the disciples were already killed and their remains were strewn across the ground.


    This incited anger within Lin Mu that even Little Shrubby could feel. The beast knew his master didn''t get angry often, but when he did, it meant something truly bad had happened. And since his master was feeling angry, he too felt angry.


    In his fury, Lin Mu directly jumped off Little Shrubby''s back and blocked the strange beast that was about to kill the three disciples that were unable to dodge.


    "Foul beast!" Lin Mu said in anger as he blocked it.


    <i>~GUOOOOO~</i>


    The beast growled at him in anger, but Lin Mu cared little for him. The beast continued to push forward, but Lin Mu was like a thick iron tower; immovable!


    Lin Mu was holding onto the beast''s tail and pulled on them, passing them onto just one of his hands.


    "DIE YOU BEAST!" Lin Mu said, his voice filled with rage.


    Raising his freed hand, he mmed his elbow into the head of the beast.


    <i>~THUD!~</i>


    The beast felt his head spinning as it mmed into the ground at breakneck speed. Of course, when its head mmed into the ground, his body did the same.


    <i>~ROAR!~</i>


    Little Shrubby let out a dominating roar that sent fear drilling down the beast''s bloodline.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Little Shrubby''s ws lit up in a blinding sh as he swiped at the beast''s back, severing all the tails and burning away the flesh!


    <i>~GUO!!!!!~</i>


    The beast woke up due to the searing paining from its back and opened its eyes again. The momentary unconsciousness faded away and the familiar rage reappeared.


    Lin Mu could peer into the beast''s eyes and understood that the beast was not in control at all.


    ''Any beast should have run away at this point, either due to me or simply due to Little Shrubby''s presence. Especially after being injured this much, it would prefer to retreat. But it does not have the same level of intelligence it should anymore.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    The beast stood up and wanted to attack again, but Lin Mu would never give it that chance.


    Raising his fist, Lin Mu hammered it back down onto the ground.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    His punch directly exploded the bony horns of the beast and reduced them to fragments before burying into the head.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The head of the beast created a crater in the ground as spiderweb like cracks spread from it.


    But Lin Mu didn''t stop there.


    Raising his fist high up in the sky, Lin Mu brought it down again, this time like a sledgehammer that was hammering a fence post into the ground.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The beast''s skull certainly could not bear the force and directly exploded into bone and flesh fragments.


    With its life thereby ended, Lin Mu took a slight breath of relief. Even if this had not taken him much to do, the situation was stressful, and he did not want the disciples to die for no reason.


    "Little Shrubby," Lin Mu called out, and the beast knew exactly what he meant.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    From the corpse of the beast, a mass of swirling light came out, which them materialized into a miniature form of the beast.


    <i>~GRRR!~</i>


    But before it could fly away and escape, Little Shrubby''s jaws closed around it, snuffing it out of existence.


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    The three disciples copsed onto the ground as the stress of death passed over.


    "WE''RE SAVED!"


    The three of them directly started bawling and cried their eyes out. Thinking that something was wrong, Lin Mu went to check up on them.


    "Are you okay?" Lin Mu questioned the three with a look of concern.


    "UWAAAAAA!" but unexpectedly for him, the three disciples directly hugged his legs and continued to cry.


    "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"


    "THANK YOU FOR SAVING US!"


    "I felt like I was going to die for sure!"


    The two girls and boys said while crying. It was a little hard for Lin Mu to make out what they were saying but still managed to in the end.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "They are too traumatized to speak normally¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he let his spirit sense scan the three.


    In a few seconds he was done and found that they were not in any life threating condition. While they certainly had injuries and their spirit Qi was depleted, they were rtively fine.


    A frown then appeared on Lin Mu''s face as he scanned the surroundings.


    "1¡­ 2¡­ 10¡­ 18¡­ 24¡­" Lin Mu counted the dead bodies.


    He looked back at the three disciples, wanting to ask them some things, but gave up seeing that they had not stopped crying.


    ''Guess we''ll wait for them to arrive.'' Lin Mu thought and waited.


    In the mean time, he let his spirit sense wander in search of the other two disciples that had managed to fly away.


    "There they are¡­ and they''re passed out¡­" Lin Mu said as he sensed the two of themying on the ground three hundred meters away.


    He quickly checked their condition as well and saw that they were actually in a worse condition than the three with him. They had worse injuries and had also strained their meridians.


    ''They are not even at the core condensation realm. Flying like this would be very taxing for them even if they are the disciples of a top sect.'' Lin Mu thought and sent a message to Little Shrubby.


    "Bring them here and be careful." Lin Mu ordered.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby responded before running away.


    He reappeared twenty secondster with the two fainted disciples on his back. They were being held on by the five prosthetic hands just so that they would not fall off while he ran.


    Lin Mu''s attention was pulled back to the three crying disciples and he shook his head. His lips lightly moved, and some faint chants were heard.


    The three disciples became still upon hearing it and then quickly fell asleep.


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    "They''ll be fine after they wake up now."

 Chapter 903 - The High Elders Arrive

    Having put the disciples to sleep, Lin Mu could finally put his attention on the corpse of the beast he had just killed. He stepped closer and came to kneel beside it.


    "Hmm¡­ it is certainly simr to the beast corpse we found earlier, but this one is even bigger. And it doesn''t have as many bone spurs or just exposed bones in general." Lin Mu said as he probed the beast with his spirit sense.


    He couldn''t find any apparent vitality in it, which made him think that the invader did more than just take over a beast''s body.


    N?velDrama.Org holds text ? rights.


    "Though what beast is this? I don''t think I''ve seen one like this before." Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    At the same time, the sound of wind could be heard and Lin Mu sensed a few people appearing in his range.


    "Finally they''re here¡­" Lin Mu muttered and stood up to look at Jing Luo and the three elders.


    "ARE YOU OKAY!?" Jing Luo called out loud.


    "I''m good¡­ the disciples not so much." Lin Mu replied.


    "This¡­" the elders took a look at the scene of massacre and their expressions darkened.


    Elder Boqin had a cold face as he walked towards the corpse.


    "Is this the beast that did all this?" Elder Boqin questioned.


    "Yes¡­ it had already killed everyone else by the time I appeared, and only those five were left." Lin Mu answered.


    Elder Boqin clenched his fist, and anger was visible in his eyes.


    "They made a mistake sending Qi refining realm disciples¡­ the beasts will always be stronger than that due to the influence of the invader. This beast was probably at the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm, but I could tell its strength was at least two stages above that." Lin Mumented.


    "They did indeed. And the cost will be ours to bear as well¡­" Elder Boqin replied.


    "Though¡­ do you all know what beast this is? I don''t think I''ve seen one like this before." Lin Mu questioned.


    "Let me take a look," Elder Wenyan said as he approached.


    He scanned the beast from top to bottom and furrowed his brows as a thought came to his mind.


    "It has certainly changed in appearance and has two extra tails, but I think this beast used to be a Horse Manticore." Elder Wenyan answered.


    "A Horse Manticore?" Lin Mu said in confusion and looked at the beast again.


    "Hmm¡­ yes, if we remove the bony horns, the dark slimy skin and the two extra scorpion tails, it is certainly one of the lesser hybrid manticores." Lin Mu confirmed as he recalled certain information.


    He knew about the beast known as Manticores and had read about them before. In fact, even the Lost immortal had encountered them before in his travels. There were many types of them and since they could breed with a lot of beasts, there were even more hybrids.


    They were simr in this aspect to the dragons and had great libido and drive to have as many offspring as possible. But then this presented another question to Lin Mu.


    "Where is this type of a beast found on our continent, though? I''m very sure that it certainly does not live near the Hong Lin kingdom. That previous beast was quite likely to be a green tailed howler monkey and those are native to the kingdom, but this beast certainly is not." Lin Mu questioned.


    "I know about them." Jing Luo chimed in.


    "Please tell us," Lin Mu requested.


    "If my memory serves me correctly, Horse manticores are usually found in the great southern forest. It is very rare to find them out of there. Unless¡­ it was under the ownership of someone else." Jing Luo spoke.


    "You mean to say¡­ this was a beast being reared by some cultivator?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It is certainly possible. The beast''s fur and ws can be used for making spirit tools, while its fangs and poison are used in alchemical pills." Jing Luo replied.


    "Rearing a Horse Manticore like this is not easy. At the very least, the person who owned it would need to be stronger than it, which would mean they need to be at the Child Soul stage or above in the Nascent soul realm." Elder Boqin spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ that narrows down the number of targets to a handful if we think of it." Lin Mu added. "It is unlikely that this was owned by some individual cultivator. Plus, since its was infected by the invader in the Hong Lin kingdom, someone had to have been transporting it for some reason."


    Hearing Lin Mu''s words gave a lot more to think for the three elders.


    "We''ll have to investigate moreter. First we need to get the disciples to the safety¡­ and prepare a funereal for the ones that died." Elder Wenyan spoke.


    "That is right." Lin Mu agreed and looked towards the distance.


    "Why are the people from the sect not here yet?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I don''t know¡­ let me check in." Elder Boqin said as he took out the jade slip.


    But just before he was about to send a message, the jade slip hummed on its own.


    "Oh?" Elder Boqin listened to the message that he had just received before looking towards the direction of the sect.


    <i>~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~</i>


    The sound of air exploding could be heard and strong spirit Qi fluctuations came from the distance.


    "They''re here." Elder Boqin stated.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo then felt spirit Qi fluctuations that were at least at the Dao Shell realm, mixed in with some weaker ones that were at the Nascent soul realm approaching.


    "WHERE IS THE BEAST!?" A domineering voice was heard roaring.


    A couple secondster, Lin Mu could finally see the people in his vision. It was two elders that seemed to be at the Dao Shell realm and six more that were in the Nascent soul realm.


    Over all it was a strong party, but unfortunately they were stillter.

 Chapter 904 - The Invaders Screech!

    "Greetings! High elders!" Elder Boqin and the other two greeted out loud.


    The two Dao Shell realm elders were the first tond and gazed at the dead bodies. Then without speaking to Lin Mu or the three elders, he gave out an order.


    "Gather the remains and send them to the sect. The five disciples will be sent to the healing pavilion right away." One of the Dao Shell realm elders ordered.


    "Yes, High Elder!" The six Nascent soul realm elders responded before they quickly got to work.


    With this done, the Dao Shell realm elders could focus on Lin Mu and his entourage.


    "Now tell what happened here, Elder Boqin." The High elder questioned.


    "It is simple High Elder Sunsen. The disciples were being killed by the beast, and Senior Lin Mu here rescued the ones that were still alive and killed the beast." Elder Boqin answered in short.


    "Hmm¡­" High Elder Sunsen looked at Lin Mu but did not speak.


    "So you are the Lin Mu that Patriarch Hua was negotiating about." High Elder Sunsen said, his thoughts unknown.


    "And the beast? This is the one I presume?" the other high elder asked.


    "Yes, this is the one." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well. It shall be taken as well." The second High elder said. "Take it away!"


    One of the six Nascent soul realm elder responded to his order and came to stand near the beast corpse. But just as he was about to touch it something happened.


    <i>~SCREECH!!!!!~</i> Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    An inhuman screech was hearding from the beast''s corpse. The screech was powerful enough that even the High Elders were forced to shut their ears.


    <i>~GRRR~</i>


    Little Shrubby felt danger and growled towards the corpse, ready to act.


    "What is this?" The Nascent soul realm elder couldn''t help but say as he felt the headache from the screech.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Then in front of them, a strange presence was felt emanating from the corpse of the Horse Manticore. It was repulsive and a sense of disgust filled everyone that was present near it.


    Lin Mu was very familiar with it and had felt it several times before, knowing exactly what it was.


    "Invader¡­" He muttered.


    The presence only increased more and more, until a dark ck smoky aura rose up from the body of the beast. The ck slimyyer that was covering the beast started to evaporate and formed a ck mass in the air.


    The mass wiggled and twisted, turning into an irregr figure that had bone spurs and skulls embedded in it everywhere.


    <i>~SCREECH~</i>


    The figure let out a bone chilling shriek that could be heard for hundreds of kilometers. Even the people inside the sect could hear and the ones that had a higher cultivation could hear it even further.


    In the Long Cloud sect, several strong experts were stunned and appeared in the sky, staring towards the source of the shriek.


    The figure kept on screeching and gazed at the Nascent soul realm elder that was the closet to it. Even though the figure had no eyes, the elder could feel a deadly reing from it.


    Lin Mu''s eyes went wide, and he shouted, "GET BACK!"


    The Nascent soul realm elder quickly flew back, but was still a bitte as the dark ck smoky aura of the figure managed to touch his hand.


    "ARGH!" The Nascent soul realm elder cried as he felt a deep pain in his hand that rose right up from his bones.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Little Shrubby spat out a searing line of fire that forcibly pushed the figure away and severed the aura that was touching the Nascent soul realm elder.


    <i>~SCREECH~</i>


    The figure let out a shriek again and seemed to be far more angry than before.


    "YOU DEMON!" The Dao Shell realm high elders were furious.


    They were unable to reach in time and their sect''s disciples had died to this being and now, even when they were right in front of it; they were still unable to stop one of their elders from getting hurt.


    In all fronts this was an insult to their face and they would not take it freely.


    The High Elder named Sunsen moved his hands in a rhythmic pattern, almost as if he was dancing and spirit Qi rose from his body. The spirit Qi wrapped around his hands and took the shape of a python.


    "Cloud Python Fist!" The Dao Shell realm elder chanted.


    <i>~HISS~</i>


    The python that had just formed around his arms shot out towards the figure of the invader and threated to bite it. The python''s jaws were wide open and its fangs prominently disyed.


    Of course, the figure of the invader didn''t stay still and counterattacked. The bone spurs on its body extended and grew, turning it into a spiky ball.


    <i>~CLANG</i>~


    The python bit onto the invaders figure and tried to swallow it whole.


    <i>~SCREECH~</i>


    The figure screamed in pain and anger as it started to shrink. It was certain that the attack was not for show and the elder was not weak at all. Lin Mu could feel the power of the attack and understood that it was something that could actually crack his Mortal Strengthening Scripture''s armor.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    And as was expected, the invader''s figure was barely able to hold for a few seconds, befog the bone spurs broke and it was crushed. The python swallowed it whole and let out a victorious hiss.


    "Is it over?" Elder Peizhi couldn''t help but say.


    But this his words turned out to be a jinx and another screech was heard, this time a bit lower.


    <i>~mush~</i>


    The python suddenly broke apart and a mass of smoke gathered back again from its fragments. It gathered together to be the figure of the Invader and regained its bone spurs and skulls.


    Though looking at it now, one could tell that it was at least thirty percent smaller and had suffered some damage in the attack.


    The figure seemingly looked at the people surrounding it and let out an unwilling cry.


    <i>~SKREEE~</i>

 Chapter 905 - Trapping The Invader

    When Lin Mu heard the cry, he could feel the very fabric of space shake.


    "NO! It''s about to escape into the void!" The second Dao Shell realm high elder realized.


    They were in the Dao shell realm and were decently learned about the space to know what this situation meant. The invader being able to pass freely through the void like this meant that they were against something really difficult.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The Elders tried to do something to restrain the invader''s figure and created a barrier around it.


    <i>~SCREECH~</i>


    But the figure didn''t care for it at all. It continued to scream and the space started to tremble even more. The barrier seemed to be helpless against it.


    "The barrier is useless! It is breaking the very space itself, we need a spatial barrier to stop it!" Jing Luo spoke up.


    High Elder Sunsen had aplex expression on his face and didn''t know what to do. Neither he nor the other elders knew of any spatial barrier, nor were they proficient in formations that could do the same.


    But just as they were about to give up, a word was heard.


    <strong>"Meld!"? </strong>


    Then under their stunned faces, the space in front of them froze. The screeching of the Invader stopped as well, and absolute silence descended in the area. The Invader''s figure stopped moving as well and its smoky aura that flowed was frozen too.


    "It''s paralyzed?" The elder who had his hand touched by the invader''s figure asked.


    "No¡­ the very space is frozen. If it was paralyzed, there would still be some movement, this is not that." The second High Elder spoke.


    They then looked at the source of the word that was spoke and saw Lin Mu with his hand extended. Strong spirit Qi fluctuation wereing from him and it was obvious that it was he that had stopped the Invader in its ce.


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    The high elders were certainly shocked as they knew how difficult something like this was, not to mention the way Lin Mu had done it.


    ''Proficient in the Spatial element?'' High Elder Sunsen thought.


    "Jing Luo, set up a restraining formation around the area!" Lin Mu ordered.


    "On it!" The man replied and quickly sent seven gs flying.


    The gs were nted around the area where meld was holding the space frozen and runes started to rise from them. Jing Luo''s fingers rapidly moved as he wrote a few runes in the air with spirit Qi.


    The runes flitted across the gs and formed a dome around the area, thereby barricading the Figure of the invader in it. The runes were like ribbons that lowered and tried wrapping around the invader''s figure.


    Lin Mu stopped meld and the invader started struggling again.


    <i>~SCREAM~? </i>


    The screeching scream of the invader was even louder this time and forced the elders to close their ears again.


    "DAMMIT! THIS LITTLE BASTARD!" The High Elder cursed and threw out what looked like a teapot.


    The teapot''s lid opened and it flipped before covering the Invader within it. The screams of the invader were greatly suppressed, allowing them to take some relief in it.


    "That is one annoying thing." The Second elder said.


    <i>~Twang~</i>


    But it seemed like their struggle had not ended yet. Like an stic string being broken, one of the ribbons that was holding the Invader snapped, allowing the invader greater freedom of movement.


    "SHIT! This won''t be enough to hold it." Jing Luo said.


    "We need to seal it in something or it will escape." High Elder Sunsen said.


    "I don''t think I have anything that can seal something like this. Normal barriers are useless as it will just escape." Jing Luo replied.


    "We can''t call in the others from the sect either, this thing will escape before that. Since it can directly enter the void, normal methods are invalid." High Elder Sunsen stated.


    "What do we do now, then?" The Elder who had been injured by the invader questioned.


    Lin Mu too had the same question in his mind and was wondering what could be done.


    "Use another beast as its host, a weaker one. Then just restrain the beast as you would any normal one." Xukong came in at thest moment.


    "THAT''S RIGHT!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "Do you have something?" Jing Luo asked seeing Lin Mu''s reaction.


    "Yes!" Lin Mu said before giving Little Shrubby amand in his mind.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The beast sprinted away at blinding speed, his destination unknown.


    "What do you want to do?" The High Elders asked.


    "We don''t need anything special to seal it. We simply need to give it what it wants." Lin Mu replied.


    "Huh?" Their confusion was understanding, but it would soon be answered.


    <i>~GROWL~</i>


    Little Shrubby returned with something on his back. It was a small rabbit beast that seemed to be terrified and trembling non-stop. Being caught by someone like little Shrubby was obviously not something very pleasant for a small and weak beast like it.


    One of the prosthetic hands moved and brought the Rabbit beast towards the invader.


    ~TWANG~


    Another ribbon broke and the Invader started moving even harder.


    "I can''t hold it much longer." Jing Luo stated.


    "You don''t have to anymore. Just release it!" Lin Mu replied.


    "Are you sure?" Jing Luo confirmed.


    "Yes!" Lin Mu said with surety.


    Jing Luo nodded and twisted the rune in front of him, releasing all the ribbons. Elder Sunsen raised the teapot as well, allowing them ess.


    <i>~Weeng~</i>


    The ribbons disappeared in a wave of spirit Qi and the invader was free again.


    "LITTLE SHRUBBY, NOW!" Lin Mu shouted.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    The Rabbit beast that was being held by the prosthetic hand was thrown towards the invader''s figure. Like a stone entering a pond, the rabbit created ripples on the surface of the invader''s figure.


    The rabbit was barely five percent the size of the invader''s figure and disappeared quickly.


    Everyone watched on intently, ready to act if the invader tried to escape again.. Lin Mu''s spatial perception was also active and he was watching it with a hawk''s gaze.

 Chapter 906 - Capture Complete!

    <i>~Glub~glub~</i>


    The sound of bubbles could be hearding from the invader''s figure as it started to shrink in front of everyone''s eyes.


    With each passing second, it''s size reduced by a percent and in just a minute, it had reduced its size by over half. But this was the point where it stopped and something else had taken its ce.


    <i>~HISS~</i>


    A sizzling sound was heard as a new beast was revealed.


    The rabbit beast that was thrown in it reappeared, but its form had greatly shaped. No longer was it its previous size, instead it was ten times as big and was about the size of a dog.


    The horns on its head had multiplied to six and went back to its neck in a straight line. Its spine protruded from its skin that had turned coal ck. Its fur had all disappeared and the slimy ckyer had reced it.


    Its feet were longer than before and were tipped with sharp, hooked ws. Its front incisor teeth had tuned into a set of fangs and its eyes were now an eerie ck with no pupils in them.


    <i>~SCREECH~</i>


    The rabbit beast let out a screeching sound, that was almost on the same level as that of the avatar''s figure, but it didn''t affect the elders as much as before.


    The spirit Qi fluctuationing from it were at the peak of the Qi refining realm and showed that it had grown a lot than before. When Little Shrubby got it, the rabbit beast was at the early stage of the Qi refining realm and was very weak.


    Lin Mu had especially told him to get a spirit beast and not just any normal beast in the body tempering realm since he was unsure if a beast at that level will even be able to bear the invader.


    Lin Mu could see that this figure of invader was far more powerful than the ones he had seen before, though still weaker than the one that had taken over the Great Slumber bear back then.


    It was from that Lin Wu knew just how strong the Invader''s power was since the Great Slumber bear''s original cultivation base was very likely to be at the Dao Shell realm or even the Dao Treading realm.


    It being able to weaken the Great Slumber bear to the Core condensation realm was plenty proof of the invader''s power. Since this invader''s figure had been able to take over the Horse Manticore, Lin Mu ced it at the same level as the one that had controlled the Blight Dust beast.


    As soon as the infected Rabbit beast let out a cry of anger, it pressed its legs into the ground, ready to jump away.


    "HUMPH!" But Elder Sunsen didn''t give it a chance.


    He directly let the teapot fall again and it covered the rabbit again.


    "Flip!" he said as the teapot turned mid air and the lid of the teapot mmed shut.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "There we go." Jing Luo said as everyone took breaths of relief.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The sound of movement could be hearding from the teapot as the rabbit beast kept on hopping inside. It tried to bash its way out of the teapot, but was unable to muster enough strength.


    "It won''t be able to break it at the current power." Elder Sunsen said with a nod.


    "That''s good. As long as it stays inside the host beast, we won''t have to worry about it escaping." Lin Mu stated.


    "Ugh!" While they were talking, the elder who had his hand hurt by the invader grunted in pain.


    They all looked towards the man and saw his hand that had turned ck. All five of his right hand''s fingers had turned ck, while half of his palm was ck as well. Then, from the parts that had turned ck, small tendrils extend further up his arm, before stopping at the elbow.


    "That thing tainted you." Elder Sunsen said.


    "How do you feel?" The second High elder questioned.


    "My arm feels like it is burning and I can''t control it at all. I don''t sense my meridians there either and my spirit Qi is being slowly drained into my hand." The elder answered.


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    "We need to cut it." Lin Mu decisively said.


    "What? NO!" The elder replied, not wanting to lose a limb.


    "We have to do it or the Invader will take over your body as well. Though that is¡­ if you survive the process." Lin Mu exined.


    Hearing this the elder got stressed and didn''t know what to do.


    "Do it! Cut it off. We can''t take the risk of taking it directly to the sect and then let it spread to others." Elder Sunsen ordered.


    The nascent soul realm elder deliberated before he finally agreed.


    "Do it for me." The elder requested.


    "Very well." Lin Mu agreed right away.


    The time was short and there were a lot of more important things they needed to attend to in this time.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    Lin Mu simply waved his hand and the short sword came flying out.


    "ARGH!" The Nascent soul realm elder cried in pain but still held on with gritted teeth.


    The short sword cleanly cut through the skin and bone, leaving the least possible gap between normal hand and infected hand.


    The hand that was cut off fell to the ground and started to twitch a lot.


    "Burn it!" Lin Mu ordered.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Little Shrubby spat out a ball of fire, that quickly turned the hand into a pile of ashes.


    The elder who had his hand cut off, ate a few healing pills and hoped that he would be healed after a bit. Thankfully, the bleeding had stopped almost instantly. While the man did care for his lost limb, he also knew that not all was lost, since he would be able to regrow the arm with the help of some alchemical pills.


    "We should head to the sect quickly. The others will want to know of this as fast as possible.." Lin Mu said.

 Chapter 907 - Entering The Long Cloud Sect

    With everyone in agreement, Lin Mu and hispanions were quickly guided to the sect. The High elders had taken notice of the old woman Ku Waowen, who was kept unconscious and realized who she was just from a look.


    It was evident that it was not their first time seeing someone from the northern tribes.


    Lin Mu noticed their look and asked, "have you seen people of the Northern Tribes here too?"


    "No¡­ well, not recently at least. Thest time I saw them was about eight hundred years ago, in thest skirmish that we had with them." Elder Sunsen replied.


    "You fought in that battle?" Lin Mu questioned with curiosity.


    "Everyone did. No sect held back in any skirmish that happened with the northern tribes. We didn''t want them to take one step into the Continent." Elder Sunsen answered.


    "Hmmm¡­ seems like that didn''t really work out. They did find a way in and have now spread all over the empire." Lin Mu said in a straight tone.


    The High elder did not give a response to that but Lin Mu could feel that he was thinking about it deeply now.


    ''Hopefully, seeing all this will make them consider everything seriously.'' Lin Mu thought.


    <i>~flicker~</i> This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu and all passed through a barrier that opened up for them in the sky. He could tell that this was the main barrier that prevented anyone from entering the Long Cloud sect.


    ''It''s a decently strong barrier, several times stronger than the Tri Cauldron Peony sect''s and about the same level as that of the Ripple Mist Sect.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    Finally, Lin Mu could see the Long Cloud sect in its full glory. Unlike most other sects, the Long Cloud sect was not based on mountain peaks. Instead, it was spread around in a vast in and looked like a winding dragon that was swallowing a cloud.


    The cobblestones that paved the roads on the ground were all white and made it look like there was a cloud below.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu''s senses picked something when liking over the thousands of buildings.


    He narrowed his eyes as spatial perception activated and his vision extended past the earth.


    ''The entire area below the sect is hollow, and that spirit Qi¡­ are all their spirit stone mines artificially ced?'' Lin Mu noticed.


    He could tell that the underground area was man made and the way the spirit Qi was distributed told him that it was not a natural spirit stone mine either. While he couldn''t urately estimate how many mines there were, he could definitely tell that they were natural in this manner.


    He could also see the vast and intricate formation array that was used to channel spirit Qi to the entire sect on the surface. In fact, the tiles and stones that wereid on the ground themselves functioned asponents of the array.


    It was a different format and style of formation array that Lin Mu got to see today.


    The sect was based on the shape of a dragon and the area where the head of the dragon was had the most spirit Qi while the area where there was the tail had the least amount of spirit Qi.


    They had entered from the tail and were now traveling straight towards the head. Lin Mu could see that most of the bigger buildings were located on the head area and the general buildings were closer to the middle area.


    The areas were also separated with barriers that were invisible but were demarcated by tall walls that prevented one from seeing into the next area. Overall, there were three areas, the outer court sect, the inner court sect and the core of the sect.


    If one were to make an outline of the sect, the dragon would be contained in an oval shape and a curved line would demarcate an area around its head. This was the core of the sect and the smallest area.


    Then there was another curved line that demarcated the inner court sect, which was the second biggest area, and then the rest of the area left was the outer court of the sect, which was the biggest area.


    Lin Mu could tell that the Long Cloud sect was one of the more nned sects and was not constructed just as it grew. It was in a way simr to the Noon Grass sect, as in how they made their own peaks, but still different.


    While Lin Mu and the high elders were passing through the sky, they were noticed by the disciples who were on the ground. Since flying was prohibited in the sect for most people, it was very easy to notice.


    "Look! Who''s that?"


    "Those robes¡­ they''re high elders, senior elders and general elders."


    "I''ve seen them before! That''s High Elder Sunsen and High Elder Jinn." A few disciples said, seeing them fly.


    "What!? Why are they out here? And who''s the other people with them."


    "Heavens! Look at that beast!" An outer court disciple eximed.


    "How is that beast following them without a problem and the elders are fine with it?"


    "Perhaps it''s a tamed beast?"


    It was certain that Little Shrubby was rather stunning to most disciples.


    "Are you dumb! Do you really think a beast as strong as that can be tamed easily? See its cultivation base." An inner court disciple scoffed.


    "Damn! That beast is at the very peak of the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm. I can feel the spirit Qi fluctuation all the way here." Another Inner court disciple realized.


    "I know, right? Just that beast along is strong enough to be a Senior elder."


    "Who''s the other people with them, though?" Someone asked.


    "That man is rather wild looking. Look at his arms, they are four times as mine." A short female disciple said, feeling charmed.


    "Forget him! That Young man is rather handsome." A Female disciple spoke with glitter in her eyes.


    "OH MY! I''ve never seen someone as handsome as that in our sect!" Soon, a lot of other female disciples noticed Lin Mu as well.

 Chapter 908 - Meeting The Long Cloud Patriarch

    The reactions of the disciples didn''t go unnoticed by Lin Mu and the rest.


    But they didn''t pay much attention to it and neither did they consider it since the current situation was rather grave.


    Though someone was thinking about some other things.


    ''If Senior Lin Mu was really part of our sect, it would be really amazing. Wonder if patriarch would go that route¡­'' Elder Boqin thought.


    He peeked at the expression of Elder Sunsen and Elder Jinjin, finding them to be tense.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ''Only after we meet up with the rest, will we know how things proceed. Though it will be good if he can join our sect. Someone as talented as him is bound to be the patriarch.'' Elder Boqin thought. ''Dammit! Why the hell did I even follow their orders and offend him at the start, should have just stuck with the normal way.'' He cursed.


    Soon they crossed the inner court and entered the Core of the sect.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    A thick barrier brought them to a stop, and they could not proceed.


    High Elder Sunsen took out an identity token and shed it at the barrier, which then opened up to give them a path.


    "Continue!" He said and everyone followed.


    Lin Mu and the rest were directly brought to the biggest building of the sect that was over two hundred meters tall. It was the grand pce of the sect and looked like it was made out of a variety of materials.


    Though if one looked from the distance, it looked to have dragon scales and horns at the top. There were even whiskers hanging from the middle floors.


    Theynded at the bottom of the building and were met with several disciples standing guard at the gates.


    "Wee high elders!" The disciples saluted with cupped hands.


    "Is the patriarch ready?" High Elder Sunsen asked.


    "He''s been waiting for you in the main hall." One of the disciples said.


    Elder Sunsen nodded his head and entered the building, followed by the others. They quickly went up the stairs and went six floors above where the main hall was located. Lin Mu saw tworge red doors that were painted with the figures of dragons, one on each door.


    <i>~CREAK~</i>


    The doors opened up to reveal the interior where several people were waiting already.


    "Patriarch," High Else Sunsen and High Elder Jinjin greeted respectfully.


    "Greetings patriarch." Elder Boqin and the other two greeted as well.


    "At ease," the patriarch replied.


    "We have brought the cultivator Lin Mu and hispanions as directed." Elder Boqin spoke.


    This prompted the patriarch to look at Lin Mu, who was standing in the middle. He was rather eye catching as his spirit Qi fluctuations were in full disy. He was no longer holding back.


    Little Shrubby was the same and did not restrain his aura. Jing Luo''s spirit Qi fluctuations could not even be perceived between these two and were too muddled to sense anymore.


    "So you are the man known as Lin Mu, one of the most wanted cultivators of our continent." The Patriarch spoke.


    "Hah! You surely jest. If you really thought I was who they framed me to be, you would have never let mee here or would have ordered my capture." Lin Mu replied confidently.


    "Who knows? I may have intentionally brought you here so that it would be easier to catch you. After all¡­ I have the power of the entire sect at my disposal." The Patriarch responded.


    "I doubt you would be that foolish after the Noon Grass sect negotiated everything with you. Besides¡­ I doubt someone like you would be unaware of all that has been happening." Lin Mu said in a calm tone.


    Silence spread in the hall and everyone other than Lin Mu and the patriarch felt tense. It was as if there was gunpowder in the air and a single word would spark it, blowing the hall into smithereens.


    The patriarch red at Lin Mu, and he did the same. Elder Boqin and the other junior elders felt nervous with each passing second and just like that, an entire minute passed.


    "AHAHAHA!" Suddenly the Patriarch startedughing.


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    He pped the armrest of his chair andughed in an unrestrained manner. Lin Mu smirked upon seeing this, and the other just felt confused.


    "Good! Good! Seems like for the first time in a long time, the Sky Precepts sect made a mistake! HAHAHA! JUST FOR MAKING THEM DO THAT, I LIKE YOU!" The Patriarch eximed.


    "At least we are on the same page." Lin Mu spoke casually.


    "Indeed. Come sit," The Patriarch gestured to a few empty chairs.


    Seeing that it was going rather well, Jing Luo was a bit surprised. He was still a bit on guard, but seeing Lin Mu take a seat made him feel rxed too.


    "Seems like Patriarch Hua didn''t say everything when he talked to me about you." The patriarch spoke.


    "Well, we have some time to get to know each other. I am here for an alliance, after all." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well. I''ll start first then." The Patriarch said, "My name is You Yi, the thirteenth patriarch of the Long Cloud sect!" he introduced.


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    "And I am Lin Mu, this is my tamed beast, Little Shrubby and mypanion Jing Luo." Lin Mu introduce as well.


    <i>~Growl~</i>


    Little Shrubby let out a little growl, and Jing Luo cupped his hand.


    "The Jing n?" Patriarch You Yi raised his brows.


    "I am the grandson of Jing Wei, patriarch of the Jing n and Grandmaster Weapon forger." Jing Luo proudly stated.


    "I see¡­ so the blood of Jing still lives on¡­" Patriarch You Yi muttered.


    "Of course, we cannot perish unless our enemies are reduced to dust." Jing Luo said staunchly.


    The patriarch and the other elders watched on with strong gazes, as they could technically be considered under what Jing Luo had just said.. After all¡­ the Long Cloud sect had also participated in some of the attacks against the Jing n.

 Chapter 909 - Doubt And Conclusion

    Lin Mu too watched Jing Luo and wondered what his response would be.


    He wouldn''t me Jing Luo if he wanted nothing to do with this all or if he wanted to me them. Lin Mu would fully respect that decision, seeing what the sects had done to his n.


    Lin Mu could understand it very well. After all, he was in a way doing it for his family too. If it were not for his father and mother dying due to the gue, which was caused due to the effect of the invader, he might not have embarked on this path.


    Everyone that knew of the Jing n and the involvement of the sects watched on with a bated breath until Jing Luo spoke.


    "While the Long Cloud sect is not free of their crimes, I know the current times call for changes. I will be ''lenient'' and wait till my grandfather can decide for himself." Jing Luo stated.


    The expressions of everyone changed upon hearing it. Some were palled while some were a bit relieved. Those who knew what Jing Luo truly meant were feeling better, but those that were not in the flow as much were stunned. To them, this was no less than a direct threat.


    "Very well. I shall wait for Daoist Jing Wei''s decision." Patriarch You Yi replied, not question the fact that Jing Wei was actually alive.


    Patriarch Hua had never included this fact in his negotiation and neither was the fact that Jing Luo existing was included. All of this was to give an advantage to them and to make things unpredictable for the sects.


    Even if Jing Luo was alone, the sects that had dealt with the Jing n knew how it truly was and what their power was. If it really came to it and Jing Wei was alive, they knew they would not have a good time.


    Even alone, Jing Wei was not a person the sects wanted to face.


    ''The old man has created or has had taken part in the creation of our top weapons¡­ if we are to fight him, we will be at a great disadvantage no matter what¡­'' Patriarch You Yi and several High Elders thought.


    "Since Patriarch You Yi doesn''t mind it, shall we discuss what is crucial now?" Lin Mu spoke.


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    "Of course, please¡­ show us that ''thing''." Patriarch You Yi replied.


    "Pardon me," high Elder Sunsen said as he waved his hand.


    The tea pot that was floating behind him came forward and increased to the size it used to be.


    <i>~clink~</i>


    The lid of the teapot opened, and it flipped over.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The infected rabbit beast fell out and was open to everyone''s eyes.


    <i>~SKREEE!!!!~</i>


    The Rabbit beast let out a furious screech and did not falter at all despite the strong spirit Qi fluctuations that were in the hall.


    Patriarch You Yi was in the Dao Treading realm and was disying equivalent spirit Qi fluctuations and yet, the beast was unresponsive to that. It was as if to it, fear did not exist and all it existed was for to kill and consume other beings.


    It literally bared its fangs at the Patriarch and hissed, showing its intentions.


    "Well¡­ this certainly is one fearless being." Patriarch You Yi spoke.


    "Not just that, it is one of the avatars of the invader." Lin Mu chimed in.


    "Oh? You know more?" You Yi asked with intrigue.


    "I do." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Please exin." The Patriarch asked.


    Lin Mu then went on to exin how the invader truly was. It was not aplete being and lived by sending out avatars to different worlds. At least this was the hypothesis that Senior Xukong had suggested to him.


    The main body of the invader existed somewhere in the void and was unreachable by normal means. It supposedly thrived on taking over beings that lived in a world and could eventually take over it entirely if given enough time.


    Lin Mu even showed them the dead bodies of the other beasts that he hade across. This was nothing but the Horse Chimera and the Green Tailed Howler Monkey corpse that they had discovered.


    Lin Mu tried to go into detail as much as possible to convince the man about the invader. So far, most of the people he had seen and met were more on the side of being cynical. He didn''t know why, but they did not believe things, even when the truth was basically hidden behind a piece of paper.


    It was as if they had gone brain dead and could not think critically. It was a crucial part as to why things became difficult and why the Northern Tribes along with the invader, were able to live for so long.


    After about two hours of speaking, Lin Mu was finally done and looked at the Patriarch for his response.


    ''At least be willing to think over it¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Hmm¡­" You Yi hummed.


    Everyone looked on in anticipation, wondering what the man''s decision would be.


    "I¡­ The Thirteenth Patriarch of the Long Cloud Sect decides that¡­ the cultivator Lin Mu is hereby considered as¡­ THE ALLY OF THE SECT AND THE ALLY OF THE LONG CLOUD ALLIANCE!" The patriarch proimed!


    Lin Mu''s eyes went wide, and so did Jing Luo''s. The elders of the sect were no less shocked by the decision.


    "Patriarch! Are you sure of this! We have no surety of his ims!" one of the high elders said.


    "High Elder Bugi, you do not know how the life was a long time ago and how the northern tribes affected us. You were one of the few ''privileged'' that did not have to experience all that.


    I myself was part of the party that went to exterminate one of the invader beast summoned by the Northern tribes a thousand years ago. I still remember the terror I felt from the beast¡­ it was far stronger than anything¡­ if it were not for Patriarch Jing Wei, we might have lost the entire empire that day.." Patriarch You Yi exined.

 Chapter 910 - Expansion Of The Alliance And Oath

    Patriarch You Yi''s words were not something the people in the hall had expected.


    In fact, the most shocked were none other than Lin Mu and Jing Luo.


    "You were there during that attack at the shrine?" Jing Luo questioned doubtfully.


    "I was, aye¡­ it is not a day I like to remember, but it is something that taught me a lot of things." You Yi replied,plex emotions visible in his eyes.


    "I see¡­" Jing Luo muttered in response, not knowing what to say.


    He still remembered what his grandfather had told him a long time ago.


    ''Thepanions that stood with me during the battle at the shrine will forever be mypanions.'' These were the words that echoed in Jing Luo''s mind.


    They weren''t much, but they were impactful to him. Thisplicated things for him and he didn''t know what to think of the Long Cloud sect anymore. Jing Wei himself had not said anything particr about the patriarch of the Long Cloud sect after the betrayal, and thus he didn''t know how to respond.


    If there was a concrete decision given to him, Jing Luo would have chosen to respond differently. But for now, he could only think to his grandfather''s past words and follow them.


    ''Once grandfather is here, I''ll let him be the judge of all. If he decrees them to be forgiven, so it shall be. And if not¡­'' Jing Luo thought as a bloody gleam dressed his eyes for a second.


    Some of the more perceptive elders and You Yi felt a murderous aura emanating from Jing Luo for a second that quickly faded away.


    ''Like begets like¡­ the grandson is no less domineering than the Grandfather.'' You Yi thought to himself.


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    With that done, Lin Mu looked on at You Yi thinking that they should start on the next step.


    "I am happy that Patriarch You Yi has the foresight to see where the best future for our world lies." Lin Mu spoke. "And to ensure that stays true, I would like everyone here to take an oath." He continued.


    "Oh? An oath?" You Yi asked.


    "Yes¡­ an oath to dere our alliance. This will also help to weed out all others that are under the influence of Gu Yao¡­ if there are any." Lin Mu replied.


    "An oath like this cannot be taken easily. Especially with so many people with high cultivation bases. It will take months to prepare the ceremony and the requirements." The High Elder named Bugi spoke.


    "I understand that¡­ and you do not need to worry about that part, Elder Bugi." Lin Mu stated.


    "W-what do you¡ª" But before the man can speak more, he was interrupted.


    "I got that covered!" Lin Mu said as a character appeared on his forehead.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    An imposing presence exuded from the character and suppressed almost everyone that was in the hall. Only the Patriarch, Lin Mu, Jing Luo and little shrubby seemed to be free from its effects, but it was still rather shocking to most.


    "What in the world?¡­" The elders were stunned.


    Elder Boqin and others that had experienced this before were still a bit better at handling and did their best in keeping theirposure. Even the few high elders that were in the Dao Shell realm found it difficult to hold it.


    In total, the Long Cloud sect had five Dao Shell realm High Elders. This included High Elder Sunsen, Jingjing, Bugi, the supreme elder and one more elder that was not present here currently.


    "Ordainment of the world''s will¡­ I never thought I would get to see it in my lifetime ever." Patriarch You Yi spoke.


    "You got that right." Jing Luo said smugly.


    "I reckon Patriarch You Yi has no doubts to me doing this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "None wheresoever. This just proves your ims." The man replied with a smirk.


    "Very well¡­ then I think no one will reject taking an oath here?" Lin Mu questioned as he looked around in an inquisitive tone.


    He was not the only one who did that, and Jing Luo was the same. A few elders that were present in the hall did the same, wanting to know who was on what side. You Yi didn''t do that though, he simply closed his eyes and waited for them to be done.


    Thankfully, while some were a bit averse to it, they didn''t reject it and eventually submitted.


    "I shall start the oath then." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Please do," Patriarch You Yi spoke.


    "I¡­ Lin Mu."


    "I¡­ You Yi¡­"


    One by one, everyone repeated their names.


    "Herby deres that I shall do my best to protect my world, the Xiaofan world and ensure its survival. I will purge the enemies that threaten its existence and eliminate all invaders that threaten its natural order.


    If I go against it all, my body shall be burned off the face of this world and my soul be banished from the cycle of reincarnation!" Lin Mu dered.


    There were a few suggestions that Senior Xukong had given to him for thetter parts of the oath, and Lin Mu had taken them without hesitation. They were good regardless and would reduce the chances of someone acting against us.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    A visible wave of energy spread from the ''Ordained'' character that floated in front of Lin Mu and spread all around the great building. It passed through everyone and put a signature on every being that had taken the oath.


    Though it directly passed through Jing Luo and Little Shrubby, since they were already under the oath. Little Shrubby didn''t even need to take the oath, since he was Lin Mu''s tamed beast and was directly linked with him.


    Everyone opened their eyes after the oath waspleted and looked around, wondering if something had happened.


    "Seems like everything is¡ª" The High Elder Bugi was just about to say when he was interrupted.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    Crushing pressure descended upon the people in the building and the roaring of thunder could be heard.


    "What''s happing?" Someone questioned.


    "The oath was broken¡­"

 Chapter 911 - Broken Oath

    Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as he looked at a particr person. Jing Luo and a few others followed his gaze and saw him looking towards High Elder Bugi.


    "W-what¡­?" The man questioned.


    Combined with Lin Mu''s earlier words, Jing Luo and others understood what had happened.


    "N-No¡­" High Elder Bugi said, finding it very strange.


    "High Elder Bugi¡­ did you¡­" Patriarch You Yi muttered.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The sound of thunder echoed once again as the entire pce started to shake.


    ''High Else Bugi broke the oath? How?'' a few elders thought.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    And just as they thought that, the sound of an explosion was heard and a bolt of lightning pierced through the protective formation arrays of the sect as if they were nothing but paper and appeared within the hall.


    <i>~BANG~</i>


    <i>~SPLAT~</i>


    It directly struck a person and reduced them to ashes before they could even say anything.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    "HEAVENS BE KIND!" High Elder Bugi cried out as he fell to the ground in fear.


    He watched as the man who was standing behind him was just turned to ashes by the lightning.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The rumbling of thunder got low and soon disappeared within a minute. Everyone stayed silent as they tried toprehend what had just happened.


    The silence was finally broken by a couple of confused elders as they spoke up, "it wasn''t High elder Bugi who broke the oath?"


    "No¡­ it was the man standing behind him." Lin Mu answered, resolving their doubt.


    Even Patriarch was confused but felt like the misunderstanding was reasonable. He had simply followed Lin Mu''s gaze and thought that he was looking at High Elder Bugi. His cause for doubt was also understandable since high Elder Bugi had been one of the High elders who had opposition to some of his opinions.


    "Who was that?" Lin Mu asked, not knowing the identity of the man.


    The person had not spoken once since they hade here and thus Lin Mu had not taken much interest in them. But now that they were killed by the lightning, he knew that there was more to it and the implications of it were serious.


    "That was junior elder Lao Ming, wasn''t he?" Elder Boqin spoke up.


    "Yes¡­ that was him." Patriarch You Yi confirmed.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and looked at the man.


    "You know what this means, right?" Lin Mu said in a serious tone.


    "Yes¡­" Patriarch said before looking at some of the elders. "I want all his interactions and connections to be investigated. I want the first report by tonight!" He ordered.


    "YES PATRIARCH!" A few elders replied before leaving the hall to of their assigned task.


    "That was terrifying¡­" Elder Wenyan said, his hands still shivering.


    "Mmm, Punishment tribtion lightning is indeed not something anyone can bear easily. It is many times stronger than the normal tribtion lightning one faces during the Nascent soul realm breakthrough." Patriarch You Yi exined.


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    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu sighed and shook his head before speaking. "At least we know that the oath works. We have seen its effect first hand."


    "Wait, does this mean Junior Elder Lao Ming was a traitor?" one of the other junior elders at the back asked carefully.


    "There is a chance. Just being a traitor is one of the conditions for breaking the oath. There are many other things they can be doing that can break the oath." Lin Mu spoke.


    Jing Luo raised his brows and looked at Lin Mu.


    "You don''t think¡­ he was under the control of Gu Yao too?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "No, he was not. Which makes it even more difficult. I did not feel any presence of the blood curse on him, but it would mean that he is either doing it willingly or his goal was something else." Lin Mu answered.


    You Yi stroked his beard and thought to himself for a bit before making up his mind.


    "I shall call all our allies. The higher ups will have to take the oath as well," Patriarch You Yi stated.


    "Of course. It''s the best if they are here as soon as possible so that there is no information leaked. We don''t want Gu Yao or the Northern Tribes to get a hint of this." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well. I''ll contact the ck Dune Sect and the Light Harmony Sect and have them here as soon as possible." Patriarch You Yi stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in approval and recalled the information about these two sects.


    The top ten sects were ranked as follows:


    1. Sky Precepts Sect


    2. Rainbow Pill sect


    3. Centennial Sword Sect


    4. Zither Wind Sect


    5. Long Cloud Sect


    6. ck Dune sect


    7. Ripple Mist Sect


    8. Light harmony Sect


    9. West Ocean Sect


    10. Noon Grass sect


    Of these, the top three sects were currently independent and then there were the two alliances. The Zither wind sect, the Ripple mist sect and the West Ocean sect formed the Zither wind alliance''s main members and along with them there were many mid and low tier sects.


    While the Long Cloud Alliance wasposed of the Long Cloud sect, the ck Dune sect and the Light Harmony sect.


    The ck dune sect was located in the north western part of the continent while the Light Harmony sect was located to the north eastern part. The ninth ranked sect which was part of the zither wind alliance, the West ocean sect was located on the west coast of the continent just like its name.


    Lin Mu calcted how long it would take for these sects to arrive for the oath, and realized that it might take up to a month for that.


    ''The ck Dune sect is located in the desert in the north west while the Light Harmony sect is in the high hills of the Eastern Ming Dynasty. At the earliest, they will take a month while if they are dyed it might take them far longer..'' Lin Mu thought to himself.

 Chapter 912 - The Other Alliance Sects

    "Patriarch, how long will it take the two sects to arrive here ording to you?" Lin Mu questioned.


    While he knew that a month was a conservative estimate, he still didn''t know what abilities or tools the sects might use.


    "The message will reach them within the hour, but for them to arrive will take a bit more than a month. While the sects can use their spirit vehicles and arrive here in two weeks, that will be high profile and be noticed by the others.


    I don''t think we want that at the current time." Patriarch You Yi stated.


    "That''s true. Thest thing we want is for Gu Yao and the northern tribes to suspect something. The less they know, the better." Lin Mu replied.


    It was evident that Lin Mu would have to wait a month before the alliance could be officially solidified. Though he was thankful that the patriarch had decisively epted the proposal.


    Them encountering the invader first hand here and the patriarch having dealt with something like that in the past had definitely in his decision though. Plus, since Lin Mu was ordained by the world, his im was even truer.


    Dismissing the wanted order was something that was quickly made by the patriarch. Even though this could not be done openly for now, the sects of the alliance will not act on the wanted orders.


    Thankfully, Lin Mu looked rather different now and thus the chances of someone identifying him were minuscule.


    His gaze went back to the invader infected rabbit beast that was restrained in the front. After it was released by High Elder Sunsen, the formation arrays of the hall quickly restrained it.


    This was the seat of power of the Long Cloud sect, thus doing something like this was a very easy task and didn''t even need the Patriarch to speak. Just a simple gaze triggered the formations to do that back then.


    "We do need to discuss about the invader through, Patriarch." Lin Mu spoke up.


    "Of course¡­ what happened today was a tragedy and it could have been worse if not for you being there." You Yi acknowledged.


    "That''s what I want to stop. But we don''t know if there are more avatars of the invader here. As far as I know, five such avatars have been exterminated already. I myself exterminated two in the past and the other three were done by Jing Luo''s family.


    If it has appeared after all this time, it means that it has probably been brought here intentionally or has wandered out. We need to trace its source and see where it might havee from.


    There is a chance that there are more such avatars hiding. Plus, we still don''t know if the avatars that are forced to escape into the void return or not." Lin Mu stated.


    "We definitely need to do it. And if it really is the northern tribes controlling and spreading the avatars, it would mean they also have the means to restrain it. We need to get that method." Jing Luo added.


    Lin Mu nodded his head as both the things were important.


    From what he had discussed with senior Xukong in the past, Lin Mu knew that the main body of the invader was somewhere in the void and it sent out its avatars. Even if the main avatar that came to the world was with the Great Slumber bear and purged by it in the end, there were still some smaller ones that spread around.


    Xukong even suggested that the invader might send more avatars on its own, having sensed the position of the world. If that truly happened, they would be in a far more dangerous situation.


    The northern Tribes would be like children in front of the Invader, whose power was certainly beyond this world.


    "That shall be done, of course. We can start right away too since we have some clues right here." Patriarch You Yi replied.


    "The beasts¡­" Elder Sunsen said, realizing what the man meant.


    "As far as we know, the first beast that was infected was a green tailed howler monkey in the Hong Lin Kingdom, then for some reason that beast died and another beast was infected by the invader''s avatar." Lin Mu said as he pointed at the Horse Manticore.


    "I don''t think just anyone would have a Horse Manticore on this side of the continent. They are found in the Great Southern Forest and very few people would be capable of owning one here since capturing and bringing one all the way here is a difficult task." Lin Mu added.


    "Has there been any information about a beast like this being sold before?" one of the elders questioned.


    Copyright N?v/el/Dra/ma.Org.


    "I don''t think so¡­ though we have had seen some of its material before." Another elder replied.


    "You have?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes. Some of the Horse Manticore Fangs were once up for sale in the capital." The elder answered.


    "And when was this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "About three years ago, if my memory serves me correctly." The elder replied.


    "Hmm¡­ a bit long, but perhaps we can find more." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Get me information about any Horse Manticore materials that are up for sale." You Yi ordered.


    One of the elders left to get the information and soon returned with it.


    "So, what did you find?" The Patriarch questioned.


    "ording to the resources catalog we were sentst month, there are indeed a few Horse Manticore materials avable for sale." The elder answered.


    "Who''s selling them?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We don''t know the true supplier of it since it is the merchants who will be selling them." The elder replied. "It will be hard to figure it out, since the merchants will hide their advantageous deals."


    "Merchants¡­ huh¡­ I think I can find that out¡­" Lin Mu said.


    "You can?" You Yi raised a brow.


    "I do have someone who can do that for us.." Lin Mu replied before taking out themunication jade slip and contacting a certain ally who was also a sly merchant.

 Chapter 913 - Contacting Jingming Shang

    Currently in arge house in the Jiao Long city a man was sitting in arge office.


    "That is the final shipment for today, my lord." A servant spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s enough. You can leave now." Jingming Shang replied and digressed the servant.


    Once the servant was gone, the man opened the box that had just arrived and checked the items inside, which looked like dried herbs and mushrooms. He read through the dossier that was brought along with the box and ensured that everything was right.


    But just as he was doing that, he felt themunication jade slip hidden in his robes hum. It was different from the one that was hanging on his waist and made his eyes go wide.


    He stumbled and hurriedly took out themunication jade slip before checking who was contacting him.


    "S-senior Lin Mu!" Jingming Shang greeted.


    "How are things going there in Fenlong kingdom?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Everything is going as n, senior. There were a few problems, but we managed to solve them." Jingming Shang answered.


    "That''s good. Prepare a report for itter, and I also wanted some information from you." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh? Do you want me to send the report to you?" Jingming Shang questioned.


    "No, not necessary. If anything, I mighte there myself in a month or two." Lin Mu answered. "Perhaps, it''s not confirmed yet."


    "I see¡­ and what information did you want?" Jingming Shang asked.


    "I want you to find out information about Horse Manticore materials. Get me everything, what materials were sold, who bought them, who supplied them and where they came from." Lin Mu replied.


    "Horse Manticore¡­ Hmm, it''ll take a few hours, but I''ll get it." Jingming Shang stated.


    N?velDrama.Org holds text ? rights.


    "I''ll wait then. Contact me when you have it." Lin Mu said before stopping.


    Jingming Shang put away themunication jade slip and quickly got to work.


    "SERVANT! I WANT ALL THE TRADE MISSIVES!"


    While Jingming Shang was getting busy, the people in the hall were all watching Lin Mu.


    "Did you contact Jingming Shang?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Mmmhmm, if it''s anyone, it would be him that can find the information. Hiswork is good enough to find a lot of hidden information. Plus, he is a merchant too, so the others are less likely to find fault with him." Lin Mu answered.


    "You''ll be able to get the information about the Horse Manticore?" Patriarch You Yi inquired.


    "Most likely, yes. If the person I contacted can''t find it, then it will be close to impossible and we will have to look for other alternatives." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I see¡­ how long till they respond?" You Yi asked.


    "It should be within a day''s time." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s quick enough. We can discuss other matters in the meantime." The Patriarch spoke, finding it decent.


    "Yes, we need to make the best use of time." Lin Mu agreed.


    "The elders had some questions, so I ask them to go ahead with them and ask." You Yi ordered.


    "I shall take the lead then, Patriarch." One of the high elders said before looking at Lin Mu.


    "I understand that this new alliance has other members in it than just the Noon Grass sect and the Hong Lin kingdom, I''d like to ask who they are so that we can properly prepare." The High elder questioned.


    "Oh yes. The other allies we have in this are the Fenlong kingdom and the ns of the Jiao Long city along with the entire merchant council." Lin Mu answered.


    "You got the entire kingdom as an ally?" The elders were surprised, as they had no inkling of something like this happening.


    "We did. Started by helping the ns of the Jinan Long city and stopping them from being killed by Gu Yao. They too, suffered under his hand. The ns then got the royal family involved and they are our allies too now." Lin Mu exined.


    The Fenlong Kingdom''s royal family bing their allies was something Miss Fen, the head of the Fen family did. She convinced them when Lin Mu helped resolved their bloodline problems and the same was done by her for the royal family.


    Unknown to the other sects and kingdoms, the power of the Fenlong kingdom as a whole had risen in the past few months as more people had broken through to the Nascent soul realm.


    This not only included the members of the merchant council but also the members of the royal family. Jingming Shang had also recruited more people into their fray, which were mostly merchants that had been troubled due to Gu Yao and his people in some way.


    Secretly, their power was expanding and they did their best to keep it hidden.


    "Regardless, the Fenlong kingdom is far too small to be of help to us. They barely have a couple of Nascent soul realm cultivators." One of the other elders listening spoke.


    "No¡­ there are about twenty eight Nascent soul realm cultivators there." Lin Mu corrected.


    "WHAT!?" This time, all the elders were surprised.


    "We have been keeping them hidden. But our power there has grown, including the royal n and the merchants." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    Patriarch You Yi looked at Lin Mu and felt like he was not looking at a young man who was barely twenty one years old, but rather at a sly old man who was at least a millennium old.


    He couldn''t help but feel goosebumps on the back of his neck.


    ''This boy¡­ he''s far too clever and his strategies are on a different level¡­ he managed to hoodwink all the sects for all these years and even raised the power of an entire kingdom on his own.


    Not to mention that''s just one of the kingdom''s he has under his influence¡­'' You Yi couldn''t help but think deeply.


    With that revtion, the elders couldn''t help but take Lin Mu far more seriously than before and had a new version of him in their eyes.

 Chapter 914 - The Powers Of Allies

    "And I reckon you have more than just the Fenlong Kingdom and its ns?" The Patriarch guessed.


    "I do." Lin Mu nodded his head. "The other big ally we have that is close to Gu Yao¡­ He is Wu Hei, the son of Wu Xun and Gu Yao''s Nephew." Lin Mu revealed.


    "Impossible!" the elders eximed.


    "That is the truth. I''ve fought Gu Yao myself and he said this to my face." Lin Mu stated firmly.


    "This¡­ this changes things¡­" the High elders muttered.


    "Now you see what I mean by Gu Yao and the Northern Tribes having deep reach? They managed to make one of their own the minister of an entire kingdom. And this is what we know for sure, there might be more that we are in the dark about." Lin Mu stated.


    "Didn''t Wu Xun die a few months ago?" A junior elder asked.


    "He did indeed. We got the official report too." Another senior elder replied.


    High Elder Sunsen seemed to have thought of something and furrowed his brows.


    "The death of Wu Xun¡­ does this have anything to do with Wei Hei and you?" High Elder Sunsen asked.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Hearing this, Lin Mu sighed and shook his head.


    "I don''t know exactly. I haven''t had proper contact with Wu Hei in a long time since he is being watched by Gu Yao and his men. He broke out of Gu Yao''s Human controlling blood curse and Gu Yao probably suspects this.


    There is a chance that he might have killed his father, though I don''t know how that would help in reducing the suspicion since he has taken over the position his father was in now." Lin Mu exined.


    Hearing this, You Yi couldn''t help but raise his brows.


    "We can try and make contact with him through our sources in the Shuang Qian capital." You Yi spoke.


    "No¡­ that might not be good. At least not until we have all our allies under the oath. But even then there are chances Gu Yao has spies within our ranks that include the lower ranked people.


    We might end up leaking his stance that way. It is better if I do it through my own contacts." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well. Do what you deem fit." Patriarch You Yi epted.


    You Yi had understood that even if Lin Mu might be young, he had a way of his own in both tactics and politics. Additionally, he had the strength to back it up, thus it could not be questioned either.


    After this, they talked for a few more hours about the different matters and Lin Mu got to know about the other two top sects that were in the Long Cloud alliance as well. While he did know about the general information of the sects, the Patriarch told him about the details and how their alliance worked, and what they dealt with.


    The ck Dune Sect was ranked just below the Long Cloud sect and was number six in the ranking. It was located to the north west part of the continent on the edge of a desert called as the Sha De desert.


    N?velDrama.Org holds text ? rights.


    It was the biggest desert of the Great Zhou continent, even bigger than the Broken Sand desert. Though it was more popted than the Broken Sand desert too. There were actually three small kingdoms that were located in the desert and the sect was there as well.


    Plus, if one went north from the ck Dune sect, they would arrive at the Centennial Sword sect. Of course, it was not close and one would have to travel for months to arrive there.


    The ck Dune sect was mostly specialized inbat and had a lot of Qi skills. Their members were said to be greatly enthusiastic aboutpeting for strength and they had a lot ofpetitions.


    The only reason why they were ranked lower than the Long Cloud sect was their foundation. The Long Cloud sect was older than them and had existed for longer, allowing them to have more experts.


    Then the third sect in the alliance was the Light Harmony sect. This too was located in the Eastern Ming Dynasty along with the Rainbow pill sect. And simr to them, they also specialized in alchemical pills.


    It was even said that the Light Harmony sect was founded by one of the disciples of the Rainbow Pill sect that was exiled from the sect. The reason for their banishment was unknown, but it is said that the disciple did not agree with the sect and decided to make his own.


    The sect too rose to prominence and managed to be one of the top ten sects. It was ranked at the eighth position, just below the Ripple mist sect. Since they were specialized in alchemical pills and had ess to the plethora of spirit herbs that grew in the Eastern Ming dynasty, they were in charge of producing and supplying the pills the alliance would need.


    In exchange, the other two sects would also provide them with support and the resources theycked. The ck Dune sectcked resources the most due to their location, but made up in terms of manpower.


    In fact, they had more disciples than the Long Cloud sect, butcked strong elders. If not for that, they might have managed to take the Long Cloud sect''s position.


    The role of the ck Dune sect was to provide their members in case a conflict broke out and they needed more people.


    The alliance of the three sects was of mutual benefit and a bnce was achieved among them. While it could not be said that everyone was contributing their 100% it was still a stable alliance.


    Lin Mu got several ideas after hearing it all and knew that the Kong ne would serve as their greatest strength.


    ''The ck Dune sect will benefit the most and we can make use of them since they will be able to provide support quickly with their members while the Light Harmony sect can support the logistics..'' Lin Mu analyzed.

 Chapter 915 - Source Of The Horse Manticore

    Several hours passed by as Lin Mu and the people of the Long Cloud sect discussed the ns when finally Jingming Shang messaged again.


    Lin Mu picked up themunication jade slip and found that it was humming non stop.


    ''Seems like he got a long message¡­'' Lin Mu thought as he held it.


    The moment he did, he could hear the long message in his mind.


    "Senior Lin Mu, I''ve found what you wanted.


    We investigated the materials of the Horse Manticore and found that many have been sold in the past two years. Of these, a majority were in the form of hair and poison. There were some more ingredients auctioned in the capital of the empire too, but its source was hidden.


    We did a little indirect tracing and learned that the materials had actuallye from the northernnds!" Jingming Shang said.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu raised his brows, as this was not what he had expected. He knew how difficult it was to control the Horse Manticore and that transporting a beast like that over such arge distance without it losing control was even more difficult.


    Generally, the beast taming abilities of this world were not that good and the methods they used took a long time to work. Thus ideally, they would have to tame the beast as soon as possible after capturing it which would be difficult if they were transporting it over arge distance.


    And taming it closer to the forest was also not a viable choice, since taming them might take months to even years. Especially a beast that was already at the Nascent soul realm and had intelligence almost on the level of a human.


    Thus, taming a beast like this should only be possible for someone that was located more close to the Great Southern Forest.


    "Are you sure it is the Northernnds?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We were confused too at first, but then realized that it was not the true source. The materials were simply being rerouted through there." Jingming Shang said, making Lin Mu think why the man had not said that directly at start.


    "So, where is the source actuallying from?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You won''t believe this, but the source was rtively close to me." Jingming Shang spoke.


    "Huh? What? In the Fenlong Kingdom?" Lin Mu questioned, finding it absurd.


    "No¡­ another kingdom near us¡­ The Kingdom of Shu!" Jingming Shang Revealed.


    "The Kingdom of Shu¡­" Lin Mu muttered and tried to think if this could be a viable location.


    ''While it is a little past the mid point, if there was more than just one person that brought the Horse Manticore there and then a strong person tamed it, the location is just within the limits of what is possible.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    Still, Lin Mu didn''t think this was all and asked more.


    "Is there anything else that you found?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes! Originally, the supply for the Horse Manticore materials was steady, but since the past year it has declined. Then all of a sudden there were reports of arge shipment of materials being sent out all over the continent which was suspicious.


    It was that shipment which helped me track the location." Jingming Shang replied.


    While Lin Mu did find this a bit strange, he still kept it in mind, as it mighte in handyter.


    "Alright. That was good! I''ll talk to youter." Lin Mu said before putting downmunication jade slip.


    Patriarch You Yi looked at Lin Mu in an inquisitive manner and knew that Lin Mu had discovered something.


    "So¡­ what did you learn?" He asked.


    "I managed to track down the approximate location of the Horse Manticore materials." Lin Mu replied.


    "Really? And where is it?" The Patriarch questioned.


    "The Kingdom of Shu." Lin Mu answered.


    "There?" Patriarch You Yi furrowed his brows.


    "There is no way the royal family or any n of that kingdom can afford to keep the Horse Manticore." One of the elders spoke.


    "No, it doesn''t have to be the royal family or a n." Another elder chimed in.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in this, as he found it to be close to his guess.


    "It has got to be a sect that owns the Horse Manticore." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing this, You Yi had a sense of realization.


    "The Mountain Brush Sect¡­" he muttered.


    Jing Luo frowned upon hearing this as he had bad memories associated with this sect. They were one of the attackers who chased him down over fifty years ago. He had enmity with them and they were one of the sects that he would not forgive.


    "It makes sense, the Patriarch of Mountain Brush Sect is at the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm and would be able to control and tame the Horse Manticore." High Elder Sunsen spoke.


    "But the question is, why would this beast be out of their sect and so close to the Hong Lin Kingdom? Ideally, they would never let such a precious source of materials out of the sect. And I don''t think it would have been cheap for them to capture this beast, either." Another Elder questioned.


    "We are forgetting another thing¡­ The Mountain brush sect is under the control of Gu Yao as well." Lin Mu spoke up.


    "Of course! The mountain brush sect joined the Zither Wind alliancest year!" high Elder Sunsen said out loud.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in agreement.


    "If that''s true, then another thing would make sense. I learned that the supply of Horse Manticore materials suddenly declined a year ago. This matches the timeline of the sect joining the Zither Wind alliance." Lin Mu spoke.


    "And that''s not all, is it?" Patriarch You Yi asked.


    "I heard from my informant that recently arge shipment of Horse Manticore Materials were sent all over the continent." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this the elders and patriarch You Yi were surprised as they had not heard of this at all.N?velDrama.Org holds text ? rights.

 Chapter 916 - A Potential Way To Find Gu Yao

    "I don''t think these materials ever reached the market, though? Such a sale would have definitely had some sects involved. Even we would have been interested in buying them." An elder in charge of the repository spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and spoke, "You are right, elder. Which is why I think these were not meant for open sale at all. But rather for some private deals¡­"


    You Yi furrowed his brows and stroked his beard as he thought of something.


    "If it is as you say, then¡­ the ces where these materials went must be to the Zither Wind alliance members?" He guessed.


    "That''s what I think as well." Lin Mu replied.


    "If that''s so, then why was the Horse Manticore near the Hong Lin Kingdom?" High Elder Sunsen questioned.


    "While I can''t say that urately, my best guess is that either it was needed somewhere else or someone specific needed it for something." Lin Mu answered.


    "You mean to say, the beast was specifically sent to be taken over by the invader?" You Yi asked.


    "No¡­ I don''t think that''s what happened. If that was so, there would have not been that other corpse before. Instead of that, I think what happened was that the Horse Manticore was supposed to be brought to somece else, but ended up meeting the monkey beast that had been taken over by the invader.


    A battle must have ensued between the person who was transporting the Horse Manticore and the infected beast. Seeing the state of the corpse, there is a chance that the beast did sustain injuries, but we could not perceive them due to how horribly it had mutated.


    The injuries must have caused it to die and then the invader chose to take over the Horse Manticore." Lin Mu hypothesized.


    Patriarch You Yi and the others thought over it and found it to be possible. While it took a little extra liberty in terms of events, these did seem to be the most likely events.


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    "Wait¡­ if all this did happen, then doesn''t it mean that Gu Yao ended up harming his own interest?" Jing Luo suddenly spoke. "If he had ordered the Horse Manticore to be moved somewhere and his allies also sent the Invader here, it would mean the ended up shing." He added.


    "That is indeed possible." Lin Mu nodded his head. "But there is another probability that the invader actually appeared there on its own. Since the main body of the invader is hidden somewhere in the void, it could have finally tracked down our world and sent more avatars."


    This was the second, more rming possibility that Lin Mu and Senior Xukong had discussed. It was far more dangerous than the Northern tribes sending the invader since it would mean there was no controlling method for it and that the true body of the invader might arrive in the world some time.


    If that rule happened, then Lin Mu was unsure if even all the powers of the world would be able to stop it with theirbined strength. An entire continent was sunk into the ocean thest time a pseudo immortal beast arrived in the world fully. If an invader that was many times stronger than that appeared, Lin Mu was sure the Xiaofan world would not be able to exist.


    ''I''d rather have the Northern Tribes brining the invader than the invadering here on its own terms¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Hearing Lin Mu''s words, Patriarch You Yi was very concerned and made some decision.


    "The whereabouts of this beast and its traces are to be investigated in detail. I order the elders to look into it as soon as possible!" You Yi ordered.


    "Yes patriarch!" the elders responded and three of them quickly left the hall to carry out their duties.


    This also included Elder Peizhi, as it included his department.


    "Can we use this to find where Gu Yao is?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Eventually, but not directly. Unless we find the person who was transporting the Horse Manticore." Lin Mu answered.


    "Why do you say so?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "I have a hunch that Gu Yao might have been calling the horse Manticore for his own use." Lin Mu stated.


    "Hmm¡­ he has used beasts before so there is definitely that chance." Jing Luo muttered.


    It was at this time that another idea stuck Lin Mu.


    "Hang on! I think I know how we can find the location of Gu Yao." Lin Mu said out loud.


    "How?" Everyone said in unison.


    "I don''t think the Horse Manticore is the only beast Gu Yao would have asked for. There must be more¡­ just a single beast won''t even be enough if he is using as he used to consume beasts before.


    And if he had reached the Dao Shell realm as Wei Hei told me before, then there is a great chance that he needs a lot of Nascent soul realm beasts to proceed ahead. We should look into the movement of such beasts." Lin Mu spoke up.


    Hearing this, Patriarch You Yi had an expression of enlightenment and he nodded his head.


    "Additionally, I think we can find out who might have been transporting the Horse Manticore too. We just need to figure out who is missing from the Mountain Brush sect. Even if the beast is tamed, it would have to be a strong elder that can transport the Horse Manticore.


    And if he is missing, I don''t doubt that they are investigating this matter too. After all, Gu Yao doesn''t like it when his things go missing. He would have definitely ordered it a long time ago." Lin Mu stated.


    "Very well. We can handle finding out information from the Mountain Brush sect. That much is not a problem for us. An elder of that status must be important in the Mountain brush sect and should be a high elder or even the supreme elder." Patriarch You Yi repelled.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu nodded and was pleased.. He finally felt like things were heading towards a proper decision and they were one step closer to finding Gu Yao.

 Chapter 917 - Growth Of Lin Mu’s Alliance And Entering Kong Plane

    A couple of days had passed since Lin Mu had arrived at the Long Cloud sect and the alliance was forged.


    The elders of the sect had already begun their work in full force and were investigating on multiple fronts. Lin Mu could finally see the efficiently of a top sect for the first time. There were many people they could contact and no one would really get suspicious, since it was a normal thing for them.


    This gave Lin Mu another idea of how being in an organization gives authenticity to someone.


    While all this was happening, he was not free either. He was either cultivating on his own as he was getting closer to the finalization of his Dao Shell''s shape. He reckoned that he would be done any day now.


    Jing Luo was busy as well and was making the Teleportation gate in the sect. There were some initial doubts from the sect about the security, but once Jing Luo told them, they could add their own security to that, they were fully convinced.


    The Teleportation gate was built in a new area underground that was specially dug out for it. Many illustrious arrays were constructed around it along with defensive arrays that could work in both sides.


    They could prevent someone from leaving the teleportation gate''s area and they could also stop someone from entering it. That way they would have assurance that the enemies will not be able to flip it on them and gain an advantage.


    This time, Jing Luo had the assistance of the entire formation hall of the Long Cloud sect and thus was able to build the teleportation gate in a record three days.


    When this was done, Jing Luo came to Lin Mu to discuss where the other teleportation gates will be built.


    This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "How many do you think we will need? I will prepare theponents ording to that." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ let''s see. The next we will need to build will be in the Fenlong kingdom, then there will be the two sects in alliance, the ck Dune Sect and the Light Harmony sect. After these, we might build another in the Shuang Qian kingdom, probably in the capital in a ce of Wu Hei''s choosing." Lin Mu replied.


    "So about four more sects¡­" Jing Luo counted.


    "We might add more, but for now, these are the ones we know for sure." Lin Mu stated.


    "Very well. I''ll prepare the sects for the ck Dune Sect and the Light Harmony sect first. I''ll also teach the assembly to the others so that they can do it on their own once they are at those sects. It might take at least two months before those will be set up." Jing Luo estimated.


    "That is a good enough time line for now. We can''t really predict much, so it''s best we take things one day at a time." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    Jing Luo nodded to himself before remembering something.


    "What will you be doing now since the sects will take nearly a month to arrive?" Jing Luo asked.


    "I might just cultivate. I''ll be in the Kong ne." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ that might just be the best option for now. We need to grow our strengths." Jing Luo said.


    "You should cultivate too. You are already at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm, try and see if you can breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm. As for any resources, we got plenty in the Kong ne for you to use." Lin Mu suggested.


    "I do find some time to cultivate every day, but If I''m done with the teleportation gateponents, I''ll focus a bit more." Jing Luo replied.


    "Very well. See how it works out for you." Lin Mu said with a nod before Jing Luo took his leave.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he thought over all that had happened briefly before activating the runes on his body.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The runes glowed, and Lin Mu disappeared in a sh of light.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    And just as he appeared in the Kong ne, a red blur arrived next to him.


    "You''re here!" Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Yeah, I''ll stay here for a while." Lin Mu replied.


    "Great! I found some more beasts that are good!" Little Shrubby said happily.


    "Good, we can have some good food tonight, then." Lin Mu said, while rubbing Little Shrubby''s head.


    Little Shrubby had been in the Kong ne for a while, as Lin Mu had asked the beast to explore it a bit more. A vast majority of the Kong ne was still unexplored and Lin Mu had not even seen ten percent of it.


    Plus, since the formation arrays of the Kong ne didn''t have an internal teleportation function, the only way they had was to travel the normal way. Thankfully, the Communication jade slips worked good enough in the Kong ne now so if any emergency arrived, he would know.


    Additionally, the number of people in the Kong ne had increased by quite a lot. There were other people, including King Hong and the Noon Grass sect disciples. These were the more talented people of the Hong Kingdom that were recently allowed to cultivate in the Kong ne.


    The results so far had been good and about twenty new core condensation realm cultivators had been created in the past month. As for the nascent soul realm, there were two new additions as the minister of war and minister of trade both broke through to the Nascent soul realm after cultivating in the Kong ne for a while.


    This in addition to the people of the Noon Grass sect, made it so that Lin Mu''s alliance was steadily growing in power.. The Noon Grass sect disciples had some additional duties as well so they didn''t have as vast gains as that of the Hong Lin Kingdom people, but after those were over and things stabilized, Lin Mu was sure there would be a lot more additions to their powerhouses.

 Chapter 918 - Shell Genesis Stage Of The Dao Shell Realm!

    <i>~huu~</i>


    <i>~huu~</i>


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    "That was¡­ something¡­" Lin Mu said between breaths.


    Sweat dripped from his face and his robes stuck to his body, which was drenched wet.


    "For a month, that progress is really good, I have to say." Xukong praised.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Lin Mu slumped down onto the ground beforeying on his back and facing the sky.


    "We do have to hurry, so I must give my all." Lin Mu replied as he tried to catch his breath.


    If one looked at him, they would find that the sleeves of his robes were torn apart and even other parts of his robes were ripped in ces. It seemed like he had been through a battle, and his surroundings would say the same as well.


    But there was one exception, there were no corpses or anything of that kind. There were just some broken trees, shattered stones and craters spread in the ground. The area of about two hundred meters around Lin Mu was basically damaged.


    Looking at his hands, they were a bit bruised too and there were cuts and nicks on them.


    "The new form of the Boulder Copsing fist, though¡­ it cannot be used in the normal manner." Lin Mu muttered.


    Xukong didn''t say anything and simply watched on in silence. He had been watching Lin Wu the entire month and had seen him progress greatly. Lin Mu did a lot of things and had even managed to finalized the shape of his Dao Shell in addition to making a new technique that he reckoned woulde in use.


    He had it for a long time in his mind, but simply didn''t have the necessary time to practice it.


    ''I still couldn''t test out the Burning Heart Sutra though¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    In all the training and cultivation he had done, he had gotten too engrossed. Plus, Xukong had often told him that when things are going in a flow, it is best not to disturb them and break the flow.


    Which was true since Lin Mu had not been able to make the new technique if it were not for the stroke of inspiration he got.


    After an hour of rest, Lin Mu sat up and closed his eyes.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He sensed the spirit Qi within his body and circted it. After a few cycles, the spirit Qi in the air around him started to stir as well and began to swirl around his body.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A illusory outline appeared above Lin Mu''s head, which was none other than the initial form of his Dao Shell. Its shape had changed from the spherical form to a more polygonal form and it was hard to describe.


    Its form was very faint and thus, until it waspleted, it would be hard to fully tell how it truly was. There were multipleyers to it and they could be faintly seen through the surface of it.


    The spirit Qi that was swirling in the air started to pour into the Dao Shell''s outline and was quickly absorbed by it. It couldn''t even be seen where the spirit Qi was going as the Dao Shell quickly devoured it.


    Twelve hours passed like this when finally¡­ the base surface of the Dao Shell changed. From its almost transparent form, it now had gained a corporeal part. Even if it was just a millimeter of change, it was still enough to show that Lin Mu had sessfully broken through.


    "Shell Genesis Stage of The Dao Shell realm¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He opened his eyes and looked at the barely noticeable change in the Dao Shell and smiled wryly.


    "This is going to take a lot of spirit Qi, isn''t it?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    "It will indeed. With your stores of spirit Qi and the Dantian size¡­ I can''t even estimate the spirit Qi that will take you to fully materialize the Dao Shell." Xukong truthfully said.


    <i>~Sigh~</i> This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Doesn''t matter. As long as I keep up, I''ll reach the necessary level eventually." Lin Mu said with determination.


    This was true, since Lin Mu was not going to expand his Dao Shell in the Shell Expansion stage. He was simply going to try and breakthrough to the Dao Treading Realm after the Shell Completion stage.


    And for him that has always had a stable foundation, the Shell Completion stage was as good ready to break the moment he reached it. Other cultivators would have to spend years solidifying their cultivation base and rectifying the mistakes they may have made.


    Different cultivation techniques brought different ws and effects that changed this time required by them greatly. But for Lin Mu, who never practiced one from the start, it was a non-requirement.


    The aura emanating from Lin Mu''s body also changed subtly and became more pronounced. But just a minuteter, the Dao Shell returned back to Lin Mu''s body and it was as if his cultivation base quickly regressed.


    If one felt him right now, they would think that Lin Mu was simply in the nascent soul realm.


    His control over aura and spirit Qi fluctuation too improved along with his breakthrough, though it was not as noticeable to himself. But Xukong did perceive it.


    ''The more he progresses, the more he gets in tune with the world. I wonder if he can reach the point of ''world and man as one''.'' Xukong thought to himself.


    He often wondered how Lin Mu would progress if he did not have to deal with the troubles of the world.


    ''cing him in one of the Immortal courts would be enough to make him a great immortal in just a few millennia. Unfortunately, fate has different ns for him. These are the tribtions set by fate and he has to go through them if he wants to grow his providence¡­'' Xukong thought with hope.


    Lin Mu wanted to continue cultivating for longer, but he was interrupted by the humming of the Jade Slip.


    He knew right then and there what must have happened.


    "Are they here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes.. It is time¡­" Jing Luo answered.

 Chapter 919 - Attacked!

    Getting the answer from Jing Luo, Lin Mu decided to leave right away.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    He stomped his foot on the ground and shot up, creating a crater on the ground. Drawing an arc in the air, Lin Mu descended towards ake below him.


    <i>~Swoosh~</i>


    mes started burning on his body and quickly turned the tattered robes he was wearing into ash.


    <i>~SPLASH~</i>


    Finally, he fell into the water with a ssh and disappeared. When he reappeared though, he was standing in his courtyard and was dressed in some fresh robes. He took a look in the bronze mirror kept on the shelf and quickly took out a ribbon before tying his hair back.


    Usually, he kept his hair open, but decided that since he would be meeting up with the other two sects, it was better to be a bit presentable.


    "Let''s head to the hall¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he stepped out of the courtyard and flew towards the main hall of the sect.


    He reached there in less than a minute and saw it being popted by a lot of people he had not seen before. They were wearing different types of robes and Lin Mu guessed that they should be the elders of the two other sects of Long Cloud alliance.


    The people of the ck Dune sect were wearing loose robes with hoods at the back, while the people of the Light Harmony Sect wore yellow and white robes with a leaf pattern on the back.


    This was the general design of the robes, and depending on the status of the members, they had some minor differences. Lin Mu saw two men talking with Patriarch You Yi and guessed that they should be the patriarchs of the two sects.


    The Patriarch of the ck Dune sect was not wearing a hood, and his face could be fully see. He looked to be a little older than middle aged and had some scars on his face and neck.


    While the Patriarch of the Light Harmony sect was an old man that looked to be in his sixties. He was not as old liking as Patriarch Hua and could be considered to be a junior among the other patriarchs.


    Even the ck Dune sect patriarch that looked younger than the Light Harmony Sect Patriarch was older than him.


    Lin Mu''s arrival did not go unnoticed by the others either, and they took a look at him as well.


    "Hahaha, Patriarch You Yi was not lying. The young man is indeed talented." The Patriarch of the Light Harmony sect said genially.


    The ck Dune sect Patriarch however, frowned.


    "Young man¡­" He spoke, catching Lin Wu''s attention. "TAKE MY BLOW!" The patriarch suddenly yelled before punching out.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The elders in the room were all pushed back a few steps as an illusory figure of a bull shot out of the ck Dune Sect''s Patriarch. Lin Mu''s eyes went wide, as he had not expected this at all.


    "What in the world¡­" Lin Mu said as he directly disappeared.


    <i>~CRASH~</i>


    The illusory bull ran forward and ended up crashing into the walls of the hall and fading away. If it were not for the fact that the walls were very strong andyered with defensive and durability formation arrays, there was no chance they would have survived.


    Jing Luo stared daggers at the ck Dune sect patriarch and had already drawn out several spirit weapons.


    "What is the meaning of this!?" He questioned.


    But the patriarch did not respond at all, simply looking for Lin Mu.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    "Yes¡­ what is the meaning of this?" A voice asked from behind the man.


    He felt a cold edge at the back of his neck and realized that there was a sword resting there. The elders who saw it all were stunned.


    "H-how¡­ how did he get there?" someone wondered.


    Lin Mu was standing right behind the ck Dune sect patriarch and had the short sword at the man''s neck. The man tried to move, but felt the sword press harder on his skin.


    Surprisingly, the sword could not cut it even though it was a high grade spirit sword. Lin Mu took note of it and sensed the faint spirit Qi circuits flowing over the man''s skin.


    ''A defensive technique¡­ not on the level of mortal strengthening scripture, but still rather strong.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    "Lower your sword, junior Lin Mu." The Patriarch of the Light Harmony sect spoke.


    "Yes, please do. This is simply the way Patriarch Shandian is. He likes to test people and only if he finds them worthy enough will he deal with them." You Yi exined.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes while Jing Luo looked on awkwardly. He had done something simr when he first met Lin Mu, though the circumstances were also different back then so he couldn''t exactly tell if it was even appropriate in this setting.


    "Fine¡­ but know that I do not like acts like these. You wanna test me and spar? That''s okay. But if you do something like this again, I will not hesitate!" Lin Mu sternly said.


    It was one of the things that Lin Mu hated. He was trying to forge an alliance and acts like these only lowered his confidence in people. Jing Luo had been trying to get him to have faith him people more and allow them to do their part, but things liker his only made that difficult.


    Lin Mu sheathed the short sword, but did not store it in the ring like usual. Sliding it down the side of his waist, the sword quickly tied itself to the waistband.


    The ck Dune sect patriarch looked at Lin Mu with an equally stern expression for a few seconds before it drastically changed.


    "AHAHAHA! GOOD! GOOD!" Heughed out loud,pletely changing his demeanor.


    "Why don''t you join my sect? You''ll be the next patriarch." He offered, shocking everyone in the hall.


    Hearing this Lin Mu waspletely taken aback and didn''t know how to react.


    "Wha¡­"

 Chapter 920 - An Astounding Offer

    Lin Mu had thought of many ways that today might go, but getting an offer to be the heir of a sect was not one of them.


    "You want me to be your disciple? I don''t think that''s possible. I already have a master." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh, you don''t have to be my disciple. It''s clear that your master is¡­ far better than me. You simply have to be a member of my sect and the position of the patriarch will be yours the moment you reach Dao Treading realm." Patriarch Shandian said with a smile.


    "That¡­" Lin Mu was even more lost.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    You Yi rubbed his forehead as if knowing something like this was expected.


    "Hey! No fair. I didn''t even get to offer my position." The Patriarch of the Light Harmony sect spoke.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu looked on weirdly.


    "I offer the same thing. Be part of my sect and you will be the next patriarch. Additionally, you can marry as many female disciples as you want. We have some really nice beauties in the sect." The Light Harmony sect Patriarch exined. "Oh, and resources are implied. You will get them as the chief disciples, anyway. All that you need. We are specialized in alchemical pills, so it should help your cultivation a lot." He added.


    "W-why? You don''t even know me?" Lin Mu questioned, finding it all absurd.


    "We know enough. We have been talking with Patriarch You Yi and Patriarch Hua for a while now and got to somethings. And they are enough to deem you worth." The Light Harmony sect Patriarch answered.


    "Not even a century old and already at the Dao Shell realm. Just that alone is enough to put you at the top of our world. I dare say that even the ancestors who became immortals cannotpare to you." Patriarch Shandian stated.


    Lin Mu looked towards Patriarch You Yi with an inquisitive expression and the man sighed.


    "I asked them to do all this after we finished the alliance ceremony, but¡­ <i>~Sigh~</i> We''ve already managed to verify a lot of your ims about the world and the invader. Hence, we now have a great base to trust you.


    And adding your qualification as a cultivator and the world''s ordained itself, no sect will deny you from bing their heir." Patriarch You Yi exined.


    "Just from this? Aren''t I still wanted by the other sect and even the top sects?" Lin Mu said, thinking that it was all too quick.


    "Perhaps you don''t understand¡­ they are simply fools who don''t know better. But once they do manage to figure out the truth, they will leave no stone unturned to bright you into their fold." You Yi replied. "And if that does not happen¡­ they will quite possibly try to get rid of you." He warned.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and couldn''t help but think.


    "He is right, you know?" Xukong finally spoke. "You are a very valuablemodity to the sects now. And if they can''t have you, they won''t want others to have you either."


    Lin Mu heard his words and thought over it for a few seconds before looking at the three patriarchs.


    "Hypothetically, I ept any one of yours offer¡­ won''t that mean the other sects will turn hostile, anyway?" Lin Mu asked. "We would just be back to square one then, won''t we?"


    "That is indeed true. But as long as we are in an alliance, they won''t do much. We are already in opposition to the zither wind alliance and they are in the control of Gu Yao, so they are out of the equation for you.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    As for the top sects¡­ they might offer you simr terms, but they will not give you the position of the patriarch with assurance. They might make you one of the candidates and you will have to prove your capability there.


    The top sects have a different method of choosing their patriarchs and it is not done by the members. Let''s just say there is no human intervention in it. Thus, even if they want you to be the heir, they can''t." You Yi exined.


    Lin Mu thought over it, but had already known his answer.


    "And I''m guessing you want the same from me too¡­ Patriarch You Yi?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well¡­ yes. But I''m not as shameless as these two to act without prudence and was waiting for the right time for it." You Yi replied.


    The two patriarchs didn''t even deny his word and simply looked on with shameless smiles.


    "So what do you say? Join my ck dune sect. While we don''t have the same amount of pills, we do have a lot of Qi skills and techniques you can freely learn. As for the women, that''s a given. You don''t even have to marry them. Female disciples of my sect like powerful men, so they will be willing to be with you anyways." Shandian offered.


    "That¡­" Lin Mu felt awkward, but knew it was best to end it here.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few seconds. All the elders watched on in anticipation, wondering what Lin Mu''s answer would be. If they were honest, they would jump on the offer if they were given it without hesitation.


    The position of a patriarch was not something that could be given easily, and yet Lin Mu was getting it. They themselves would have shed blood for their sects for hundreds of years and still might not get the chance.


    The high elders couldn''t help but feel their faces twitch and one of them in particr, High Elder Bugi was the most envious.


    Jing Luo though, was chuckling inside and was trying to hide hisugh, knowing exactly what Lin Mu''s answer would be.


    ''You fools are in for disappointment. Someone like him cannot be limited to a world like ours. Just his master alone is probably enough to make him deny everyone. All that you offer cannot be enough for him. He can probably obtain all that on his own either way..'' Jing Luo rightfully thought.

 Chapter 921 - The Answer To The Offer

    The ck Dune sect patriarch and the Light Harmony sect patriarch looked on at Lin Mu with anticipation while the rest did the same. To them, there was no reason why Lin Mu would deny an offer like this.


    Any of the three sects would be a good option, though the people belonging to each of the sect hoped that Lin Mu would join them. All of them could see the value in him joining them, but at the same time felt a little envious that the position of the patriarch after that would be all but gone for them.


    Even if these elders didn''t have that great of a chance of bing the patriarch, one could always dream. Once that was taken away entirely, it was a cold ssh that would rudely awaken them from the dream, which wasn''t exactlyfortable.


    "I¡­ Reject." Lin Mu firmly stated.


    "WHAT?!"


    "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?"


    "This is absurd!"


    "Has he gone mad?"


    A variety of question and words were let out by the people in the hall as they were absolutely shocked by Lin Mu''s answer. They had not expected for him to entirely reject them like this.


    "Are you sure you don''t want to think more?" Patriarch Shandian questioned.


    "Yes, take more time. You don''t have to answer us today, either." The Light Harmony Sect''s Patriarch added.


    But You Yi already had a knowing expression on his face.


    "My decision is final. I do not want to be the heir of the sects. I don''t think that is the right thing for me and it would be unfair to the sect as well. I cannot tell how things would go in the future and there are chances I may not be here to be there for the sects.


    Even if I do join one, my departure would only leave the duties unfulfilled. That would be a grave mistake on my part, and I do not want the sect to bear that. Additionally, all the others who may have been striving for the position and working for it would be greatly disappointed.


    If anything, this would be an insult to their effort and work. I do not want to deny them that either." Lin Mu exined.


    Hearing Lin Mu''s answer, the elders were surprised, but also felt a bit better at the same time. The answer that Lin Mu gave was shocking to them, but the exnation was enough to ay that.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    The Long Cloud Sect patriarch sighed to himself, while the ck Dune sect patriarch felt a little disappointed. The Light Harmony sect patriarch was in a simr situation and seemed to be thinking something.


    "If that is your answer, then I''m fine with it." The Light Harmony Sect Patriarch spoke. "But if you ever change your answer in the figure, the option will be open." He said before throwing Lin Mu a token.


    Lin Mu caught it and looked at what was written on it; Mingliang.


    "That is my token. It will allow you to request certain things from the sect and the same level of authority as an elder as well. Your Dao Shell realm cultivation base already puts you at the same level as a High Elder anyway. So you may as well be a guest elder." The Light Harmony Sect''s Patriarch Mingliang stated.


    "Hey, now you''re being forward!" Patriarch Shandian said before taking out a token and tossing it to Lin Mu as well.


    "I offer the same. Let this be known, Lin Mu is now a guest elder of the ck Dune Sect!" Patriarch Shandian dered.


    Patriarch You Yi simply stood there smiling while Jing Luo did the same.


    "Very well. I guess I can ept this much." Lin Mu said, thinking that it would not be good if he denied them this much as well.


    "This is good, it will allow your authority among the people of the sect to strengthen. It will help you function better in the alliance." Xukong spoke.


    "Mmm¡­ that''s why I took it senior." Lin Mu replied before looking at the three patriarch.


    "Well¡­ we should start the oath ceremony, shouldn''t we? Best to get it done." Lin Mu proposed.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Of course!" Patriarch Shandian said out loud.


    Soon Lin Mu took the lead in reciting the oath, while the others repeated after him. The ones that had already taken it, simply stood there in silence while the ceremony progressed. In just a few minutes, it waspleted and the oath was forged.


    The skies shook that day for a second and everyone in the world felt it but couldn''t tell what had happened. All over the sects that didn''t know of this ceremony thought that it might have been some rare phenomenon or just something unknown.


    There was nock of such things happening these days, and there were a lot more unexined things adding to their woes. Thus, expect for the more anxious and vignt cultivators, the rest forgot it quickly.


    ***


    In the Forbidden Continent there were vast tracts of frozennds and snow capped peaks that dotted thend.


    Between a few such unassuming peaks, there was an ancient temple. It looked like it had stood the test of time and looked very old. There were dead leafless trees spread around the temple, which was strange since the continent was always covered in snow thus the trees growing here were rarely seen.


    Then there was the most eye catching feature which as therge bronze bell that hung from the top of the temple. The bell was at least ten meters tall and seven meters wide. There were tribal carvings on the bell that looked esoteric.


    There were beasts, humans, devils and many other beings carved on it, looking mysterious.


    The bell, which had not moved for a long time, suddenly shuddered today.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    A faint wave of vibrations spread through the surroundings, dousing the frozennds with them. Several pairs of eyes opened upon hearing it, each having different expressions in them; some surprised, some serious.


    "The ancestral bell rings¡­"

 Chapter 922 - Smooth Sailing

    At the Long Cloud sect, everything went well and nothing unexpected happened like the time when they first took the oath a month ago.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel relieved that there was no one among the higher ups of the sects here that had been controlled by Gu Yao or was looking to harm the alliance or the world.


    The mystery about why Junior Elder Lao Ming was stuck by punishment lightning was still unknown today. The sect was still investigating but couldn''t find anything that seemed to be problematic on his end.


    To them, junior elder Lao Ming was doing is duties perfectly and there were nopses in his judgment either.


    This was what put Lin Mu and the patriarchs in a dilemma. They didn''t know if the oath was just this severe that it killed the elder just because he had thought wrong for a second or if it was something else.


    "No¡­ the oath won''t kill someone for a simplepse in thinking. Everyone has bad thoughts from time to time and unless one acts on it, it won''t be imprinted on their karma. They won''t be sowing karma, just be imagining things.


    If it was like that, then the heavens would have never been in peace and chaos would have eliminated all life." Xukong rified.


    "Then what could it be, senior? Was Lao Ming just thinking of betraying the sect for gains on his own?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but questioned.


    "That is something no one can answer for now. Well¡­ there is the option to use divination for that, but its close to impossible for there to be anyone with a divination technique as strong as that in this world." Xukong answered.


    "Do you know any divination techniques, senior?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "No, I don''t. That is not exactly something I''mfortable with, and neither do I have an affinity with it." Xukong replied in a straight tone.


    "I see¡­ guess we''ll just have to trust that the oath and world''s will was correct." Lin Mu said.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes to look at the discussion that was currently ongoing in front of him. The three patriarchs and several elders were talking about how things should go and how to proceed from here.


    You Yi was telling them about the ns that Lin Mu and Jing Luo had formed earlier.


    "So this ''teleportation gate''¡­ you will be cing them in our sects?" Patriarch Shandian questioned.


    "Well, your people can do it too if they are proficient in formations. I have made it so that they are mostly per-made and only some assembly is needed for the most part." Jing Luo answered.


    "Hmm¡­ you can talk with the fomentation elders and see to that." Patriarch Shandian spoke while the elders he was talking about nodded in response.


    "It shall be the same for my sect as well. All formation elders of the Light Harmony sect are to meet up with him and discuss the setup of the Teleportation Gate." Patriarch Mingliang ordered.


    "YES PATRIARCH!" The elders replied.


    Seeing that everything was going smoothly, Lin Mu was pleased.


    "Speaking of this teleportation gate, I heard that it is linked with a different ne, what exactly is it?" Patriarch Shandian asked.


    "The name of the ne is Kong ne, and it was left behind as the dying legacy of the Kong n." Lin Mu replied.


    "The Kong n, huh¡­" Shandian repeated.


    "Haven''t heard that name many times before." Patriarch Mingliang spoke.


    "So the people of the western continent are still helping us thousands of years after their death¡­" Patriarch Shandian muttered in a tone of mncholy.


    "Even if the people of the Western Continent are all gone, at least there is still something left to remember them by; their sacrifice." Patriarch Mingliang said.


    "That''s not exactly true. There are still remnants of the western continent ns in the empire." Lin Mu rified.


    "Really? Who?" Patriarch Mingliang asked.


    "The Mu n, the Fenlong n and the Fen n of the Fenlong kingdom, of course. The Mu n are the descendants of the Mulong n, one of the top ns of the western continent too." Lin Mu replied, surprising.


    "THE MULONG CLAN?" One of the elders of the ck Dune Sect eximed, making everyone look at him.


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    "What''s the matter? Is there something special about them?" An elder standing next to them asked.


    "Of course! Many don''t know but the Mulong n was the most proficient in making puppets. These puppets were of many types and were strong enough to contend even with Dao Treading realm experts.


    The most surprising part is that the one controlling the puppets didn''t even need to be at that cultivation base to do that. For example, someone at the Nascent soul realm could control a puppet that had the strength of the Dao Shell realm." The Elder exined.


    <i>~Gasp~</i>


    A lot of the other elders couldn''t help but take a breath of air after hearing this. They knew the implications of this and just how much it could change the tide of battle.


    "If they really are from the Mulong n, then they need to be nurtured well." Patriarch Mingliang spoke.


    "They still have their inheritance from the ancestors thus they are safe in that part. But some support would still be good for them." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Very well. We shall send a few disciples to assist them in what they need." Patriarch Mingliang stated.


    "As it should be." You Yi nodded his head.


    "Oh! If you''re sending them there. Can you send some Formation masters there too?" Jing Luo interjected.


    "Why?" The Patriarchs asked.


    "Well, we have yet to set up a teleportation gate there. thus if someone sets it up there, it will save us time." Jing Luo answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt like it was a great idea.


    "We should do this for other ces of interest too. It will save us a great bit of time.." Lin Mu said, calcting just how many months of effort could be saved that way.

 Chapter 923 - Two Words To Shake The Skies

    Patriarch You Yi heard it and found it to be a good option. The other two thought the same and discussed it for a minute before deciding.


    "Then it shall be done. All elders proficient in formations will learn from Junior Jing Luo, starting today!" The Patriarchs ordered.


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    Seeing that they had epted the suggestion, Lin Mu was pleased and so was Jing Luo. He could see the merit in the suggestion and knew that they would be saving a great amount of time this way.


    Jing Luo silently counted the number of sets he would need to make and also allocate the time that would be needed to teach the elders that knew formations.


    After this was done, the ck dune patriarch and Light harmony sect patriarch wanted to see something else.


    "Can you show us that¡­ Invader?" Shandian asked.


    "Of course." Patriarch You Yi spoke. "Bring it in!" he ordered.


    One of the elders contacted someone using themunication jade slip and a couple of minuteter the rabbit beast that was infected with the invader was brought in. It was kept in arge cage that was impossible for the beast to live.


    There were some scars on the beast''s body, but they seemed to be healing already. It was as if the beast had been injured multiple times and was not allowed to heal fully, which was true.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The disciples that brought the invader in ced it in front of the patriarchs and retreated from the halls.


    "Hmmm¡­ so this is that invader?" Patriarch Mingliang asked.


    "This is merely one of the avatars of the invader that has taken over this rabbit beast. There are more such like these." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh? How many do you think there are?" Patriarch Mingliang seriously questioned.


    He could tell that Lin Mu knew a lot more than he showed, and his opinions mattered a lot more than others.


    ''If what You Yi told me about his master his true then he probably has the best estimate about the invader and its strength here.'' Patriarch Mingliang thought.


    "I can''t estimate fully. So far, I know for sure that at least three such avatars were killed while there were a lot more that might have escaped. They all were fragments of arger avatar that came from a single source.


    But this one¡­ I don''t think it is from that source." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh? What do you think it is, then?" Patriarch Shandian questioned.


    "I think¡­ that the smaller avatars earlier were just the start. Those avatars that escaped gave information to the invader''s main body where our world was. This has now brought it here and it has sent out more of his avatars here.


    More might be arriving or could already be here. If that is true, then the only reason why the invader''s main body itself hasn''t entered the world is probably due to the world''s barrier." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing this, cold expressions appeared on Shandian and You Yi''s faces while Patriarch Mingliang seemed to be deep in thought.


    "Is this the same as that one thousand years ago?" Patriarch Mingliang asked.


    "No¡­ that one was¡­ different. It wasing through a teleportation array that was in one of the shrines of the northern tribes. Though it was a very strong beast too and could be the bane of our world." Patriarch You Yi replied.


    "If you are talking about the one that Old man Jing Wei fought, then it is indeed different. In fact¡­ this one might be stronger than it. "Lin Mu spoke.


    Then thinking of something, Lin Mu wanted to try it. "The invader''s main body might be possibly in the¡­ Immortal Realm."


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The moment he said those two words, skies shook and a wave of thunder could be heard streaking across it. Out of nowhere, Dark clouds appeared and the entire Long Cloud sect turned gloomy.


    The disciples who were going about their daily tasks and duties couldn''t help but feel like they were being choked all of a sudden. The pressure on their bodies increased exponentially and the ones that were weaker directly fell to the ground.


    In the main hall of the sect, the elders were in a simr situation, but due to being vastly stronger than most disciples they could bear the pressure far better. But even then, they felt like a sword was now hanging over their heads and a chill went down the spine.


    The three patriarchs who were at the highest cultivation base managed to somewhat resist it, but the words that came from Lin Mu''s mouth were enough to shock them to no end.


    They thundered in their ears louder than the thunder outside and felt impactful. The patriarchs were at the Dao Treading realm and had lived a long time, being very experienced and knowledgeable.


    They knew that there were cultivation realms above the Immortal ascensions realm but they didn''t know what the exact name was. But now that Lin Mu had spoken them, they were carved within their minds.


    They couldn''t even understand how it was possible and felt like their world was shaking.


    <i>~pant~</i>


    Of course, as the other elders also came to understanding those two words, they were stunned. Many of them couldn''t help but start panting, as this was a great event.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The thunder shook the skies again and streaks of lightning shone within the clouds, threatening to drop any moment.


    The three patriarchs were brought out of their traces due to that and looked at Lin Mu withplex expressions.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Suddenly, a white pattern lit up on Lin Mu''s forehead. It floated out from his forehead and let out a wave of energy that spread all over the area. Wherever it went, it erased the pressure that the people were feeling.


    In less than five seconds, it had already covered the entire sect and reached all the way to the clouds.


    And in ten seconds, it had wiped the clouds away as well; as if telling them there was no use for them here.

 Chapter 924 - The Change In The World And Weaker Restrictions

    The three patriarchs managed to get a hold of their wits before they looked at Lin Mu with speechless expressions.


    "This¡­" You Yi found it hard to speak.


    "Lin Mu, that¡­" the three of them mumbled for a few seconds while the white pattern disappeared back into Lin Mu''s forehead.


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    Lin Mu opened his eyes after that happened and understood a lot more than before.


    "How did you do that?" Patriarch You Yi finally questioned.


    "I didn''t do it. It was the world." Lin Mu answered.


    "Not that¡­ I mean¡­ those words." Patriarch You Yi rified.


    "That too, it was the work of the world. You could say it is¡­ growing." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It''s growing?" Patriarch Mingliang repeated.


    "Yes. The restrictions that were on us are reducing since the world is getting stronger. The things that we weren''t allowed to know previously will be understandable now. While it might not be all things, but eventually we will get to full rity." Lin Mu exined.


    "I see¡­ and how did you know that this happened?" Patriarch Shandian asked, feeling a bit confused.


    "Well, since we were talking about the invader and that it was sending out more of its avatars into our world, I concluded that the world''s barrier might be weakening. But that was not all that I thought.


    Another idea came to me and I wondered if it was true. And to confirm if it was true, all I needed to do was to see if I could reveal that I information." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this, the three patriarchs understood a bit better. At the same time, they also understood the implications of it. If Lin Mu could speak those words, it meant that he already knew of them before.


    And that was not something which should have been possible before, unless it was under very specific conditions. The patriarchs tacitly agreed not to ask or talk about that, since they knew that it was way beyond them and nothing good woulde out of it.


    If anything, they might be getting themselves into more trouble because of it.


    Xukong who had been observing everything, silently felt a little excited after seeing this too.


    "I might be able to teach you a bit more now." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu silently nodded his head and felt happy about that too.


    "So the invader''s main body will be far stronger than what any of us will be able to contend against." Patriarch Mingliang said, bringing the conversation back to the earlier topic.


    "Yes." Lin Mu spoke. "It will be a tall order for us to resist that, and I don''t know if we can even do that." He added.


    "That is true. But we can''t just wait for it, can we?" Patriarch Shandian added.


    "Of course not. But we aren''t the only ones that are worried about it. The northern tribes should be aware of it too. Perhaps even better than us." Lin Mu replied.


    You Yi stroked his beard and thought over it for a bit.


    "So you mean to say¡­ they will have a solution?" Patriarch You Yi questioned.


    "Not just will¡­ they must have a solution. Otherwise, what they are doing won''t make sense. Their goal is to take over the continent and rule it like their ancestors desired all those years ago.


    And to do that, they enlisted the help of an invader. But doing so, they must have known the risks. After all, this is not their first time doing that. They should have a way to control or restrain it.


    If not, then this would just be a lost cause for them. The invader would simply take over the world and do whatever it wants to do with it, and the Northern tribes won''t be able to do anything at all either.


    The worst thing of this all is that we don''t know what the goal of this invader is." Lin Mu answered in detail.


    The three patriarchs had faces of realization and understood Lin Mu''s thinking.


    "So we will get the way to stop the invader from the northern tribes after we defeat them?" Patriarch Shandian asked for rity.


    "That is the worst case scenario. If it reallyes to that, it means that we failed to act in time. Ideally, we would have defeated the northern tribes and the Invader''s traces would be wiped before that.


    The world will help us in this too of course, or I would not have been ordained." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this, the Patriarchs felt far better. For a minute there, they wondered if they were fighting for a lost cause, but now they felt relieved.


    ~Skwee~


    Their attention was pulled by the infected rabbit beast that was cowering in the cage. It was evident that it had been scared by the thunder.


    "Huh¡­ this is new." Lin Mu muttered. "How are the tests going with it?" he questioned.


    The Long Cloud sect had been testing the invader to see what its weaknesses were in the month that they had it. Lin Mu had given it to them so that they could learn more about it, along with the characteristic of the invader.


    The two corpses of the earlier hosts were also given to the sect to study.


    "We have had some discoveries about it indeed. It seems to be weak to fire on some level and is afraid of it though it might be more dependent on the cultivation base of the host as well.


    It takes over the host and gives it characteristics that are innate to itself, such as the dark and slimy skin along with the bony structures. It also makes the hosts resistant to minor and small injuries while increasing its healing capabilities to some level.


    It is also hungry all the time and will eat wherever is given to it. We think that the invader is gathering the cultivation base and nutrients from the host. It quite possibly drains them and there is no change in them at first, but the moment it leaves the host, the host dies.." Patriarch You Yi exined.

 Chapter 925 - Mountain Brush Sect’s Supreme Elder?

    Lin Mu felt like finding the weaknesses of the Invader was a very important part and now that he knew that it was weak to fire, he would want to try and improve his control over fire spirit Qi more.


    ''Plus, since it is killing its hosts eventually, its end goal should be different. Going between the world and the void should probably cost it a lot of energy. Perhaps it uses the cultivation base and nutrients from them to aplish that?'' Lin Mu thought.


    "Hmmm¡­ since it''s weakness is fire, we will have disciples learn fire attribute techniques¡­ at least for the ones that can." Patriarch Shandian spoke.


    "For those that can''t, we can give them spirit weapons and spirit tools that can utilize fire. Some alchemical pills that can be used as weapons might as well be given to everyone." Patriarch Mingliang chimed in.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    Hearing the suggestion of these two, Lin Mu nodded and felt that they were reasonable.


    "Oh and there is another thing we should keep in mind. It''s also a weakness, but not of the invader but Gu Yao." Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "What is it?" everyone asked.


    "The human controlling blood curse that Gu Yao uses. It doesn''t work on humans that have assimted other bloodlines. Beast bloodlines or any others should work." Lin Mu Replied.


    "Really?!" Patriarch Shandian asked.


    "Yes. I''ve seen someone being able to break the curse first hand." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this Patriarch Shandian smiled.


    "I reckon your sect has some disciples like this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We pursue power so we will try multiple methods. Of course we have them. Around thirty percent of our disciples all have assimted bloodlines." Patriarch Shandian said proudly.


    Lin Mu looked towards the other two patriarchs, wondering if they had such disciples too.


    "We do have some disciples with beast bloodline." Patriarch You Yi replied.


    "Same for my Light harmony sect." Patriarch Mingliang stated.


    "Good. The ones that have assimted beast bloodlines should be the ones fighting when near Gu Yao or the ones being controlled by Gu Yao. That way, they will have no chance of being controlled. They will also be the ones investigating things for the very same reason." Lin Mu suggested.


    "We shall do this then, it seems the right option." The Patriarchs epted.


    "Any news on who exactly brought the Horse Manticore to the Hong Lin Kingdom? They are missing too aren''t they?" Lin Mu asked after remembering it.


    "About that¡­ Like we guessed before, it was indeed someone from the Mountain Brush Sect, an elder." High elder Sunsen spoke.


    "Oh? Do we have an identity?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We do. It is none other than the Supreme elder of the Mountain Brush Sect. ording to the official information given to the sect disciples, he is simply in seclusion. But once we investigated a few of the ims by providing them some resources they had asked for a long time ago, we managed to learn that he is actually not in the sect at all.


    They have kept up this ruse for a while, but the Pressure elder left with the Horse Manticore secretly¡­ or so we think. But we still don''t know where he might have gone." High Elder Sunsen answered.


    Lin Mu looked back to the corpse of the Horse Manticore as a thought came to his mind.


    "What was the cultivation base of the Supreme elder?" Lin Mu asked.


    "From what wasst reported, Adolescent Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm." High Elder Sunsen replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Hearing this, Lin Mu shook his head.


    "The Supreme elder of the Mountain Brush Sect is dead¡­ no wonder this horse Manticore was this strong. It had actually consumed the supreme elder." Lin Mu stated.


    <i>~gasp~</i>


    Multiple people took a breath of air upon hearing this and couldn''t help but feel a chilly breeze on their body even if it was not there.


    "But how''s that possible? He was still far stronger than the Horse Manticore." Some of the elders asked.


    "Its simple, the way it can infect the others. We already have an example of the tragedyst month. The elder had to lose a hand to the beast." Lin Mu replied.


    "But even if that is true, the supreme elder would have still been able to run away, wouldn''t he?" someone else asked.


    "He should have been able to. But I don''t think he chose to run away at all. If he was controlled by Gu Yao, or had a drive toplete his mission, he might not have had the option to run away at all.


    He possibly tried to fight the Horse Manticore and get it in control, since he couldn''t kill it either. The fight ended up with him getting injured enough that he was eventually killed by the Horse Manticore." Lin Mu hypothesized.


    Hearing this theory, the Patriarchs couldn''t help but feel that it was rather usible. They thought over it and eventually nodded their heads in approval.


    "Looks like that is quite likely. But what are we to do now?" Patriarch You Yi asked.


    "For now, simply keeping an eye on the Mountain Brush Sect should suffice. I don''t think they would be able to keep still with their supreme elder missing and Gu Yao wouldn''t like his things going missing either.


    There will be bound to be some reaction from their end, and that is what we need to watch out for. It can be the clue that leads us to Gu Yao''s location." Lin Mu replied.


    "We shall do this then." Patriarch You Yi agreed.


    With this done, Lin Mu and the Patriarchs discussed several more matters until the very next night. Many important decisions were made and the ns were finally set to y. With the Oath ceremonyplete as well, they were now free to do a lot of things, and Lin Mu didn''t need to worry as much either.


    Since he wild be delegating arge number of tasks to the sects, it will be a bit easier for them.

 Chapter 926 - Setting The Plans In Motion And Jingming Shang’s Report

    Days passed by like a spring stream and Lin Mu entered seclusion.


    He felt the need to get strong as soon as possible and felt the urge to do so even more now that his workload had been reduced. With the alliances working better than ever before and tasks split up, Lin Mu had less stress.


    Jing Luo was going to train the elders that were proficient in formations how to assemble the teleportation gates and also manufacture enough of them so that they could be sent to the ces they had chosen.


    Teaching all the elders would take him nearly a week, while making the sets of teleportation gateponents would take him at least five days for each. With the assistance of the many elders, it was way faster than before, but Jing Luo still needed to work for the main parts.


    They would send out each set as soon as it wasplete and the elder would set them on the ce that was decided. The first location was none other than the Fenlong Kingdom and the teleportation gate there was set up fifteen days after thest meeting Lin Mu had with everyone.


    Since Lin Mu spent his time in the Kong ne cultivating, activating those gates didn''t take him much effort. Once the gate at the Fenlong kingdom wasplete, Lin Mu got a visitor who brought him a report.


    He was currently sitting in a forest in the Kong ne and reading the long report that was given to him.


    "Jingming Shang certainly did his due diligence." Lin Mu muttered as he started to read.


    Lin Mu learned that thework Jingming Shang had made has been expanding decently. Every week more and more people joined them and there were already rumors in the kingdoms that there was a secret power recruiting people.


    It gave them something to talk about and got them interested in it. They were lured in with the promise of profits and resources, which Jingming Shang could reasonably give them due to the revenue they were making from the expandedwork.


    While Lin Mu might have preferred to stay hidden a bit more, Jingming Shang took a different route. However, he didn''t implicate the alliance either. Only the high ranking members of his group knew of the true alliance and Jingming Shang simply manipted the rest of them.


    He was good enough to know what they desired and how to give them that.


    Jingming Shang also mentioned that he was going to run low on funds soon enough.


    "Hmm¡­ if he''s running low on funds, then perhaps it is time for him to start using the Kong ne and the teleportation gates. He did say that we can make as much as ten times the profit or even more on many items." Lin Mu muttered to himself, reading this.


    Since thework that Jingming Shang made ran on mutual interest and profits, funds were essential to run it all. Once people realized that there was no more profit to be made, the entirework mighte copsing down.


    Thankfully, the trade n Jingming Shang made keeping in mind the reach of the teleportation gate made it so that they would soon be reaping arge profit.


    Funds were essential for running anything in the world; from sects, to kingdoms, to even a war. Lin Mu and the sects needed them too and while the Long Cloud Alliance had a decent amount of them, they couldn''t just squander it all on this.


    With Jingming Shang''s work, they would have a cash influx as well as an expenditure that should bnce things out.


    Lin Mu then read the routes that Jingming Shang had nned out for the trades.


    "So the Eastern Ming Dynasty''s herbs to be sent to the kingdoms in the west. These will be taken through the Light Harmony sect''s gate and leave through the ck Dune sect.


    Same will be done for the myriad of resources that are in the Great Southern Forest. The Long Cloud Alliance will send multiple disciples to gather and harvest materials from the forest.


    There will always be a great demand for them." Lin Mu analyzed.


    He could see the benefit in doing all this and felt like Jingming Shang was very smart in doing business.


    ''Man can quite possibly own an entire kingdom one day if he keeps this up.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu kept reading more and took about an hour to finish the report. By the end of it, he was throughly impressed by Jingming Shang''s intellect.


    "Seems like we certainly made a good choice with him." Xukong who had been silent for a while spoke.


    "Indeed, senior. If things really progress as nned, our effort won''t go wasted. Plus, with more and more merchants joining Jingming Shang, he is getting closer to tracking down Gu Yao.


    They already managed to find a couple of shipments that were suspected to be sent by Gu Yao. They were heading to the Zither Wind sect and the West ocean sect." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ let things proceed, then. You have been far too involved in those matters and haven''t been able to focus on cultivating as well. Now that you have the time, it''s best to focus on it." Xukong stated.


    "Mmm¡­ once Jing Luo is done with his work, and the gates are set, we will be able to take the next step. I still have to meet up with Wu Hei and exin everything to him. He will also be our biggest link to Gu Yao and where he actually is.


    Same with the Northern Tribes. Ku Waowen''s intel is proving to be good too as well. They did manage to find a couple of spies that were hidden in the three sects as well." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s good. You should have a while till Jing Luo will be free, so we''ll make the best of it." Xukong said as he thought of some things he would be teaching Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu put away the reports and got ready.Copyright N?v/el/Dra/ma.Org.

 Chapter 927 - Danger For Progress

    Lin Mu''s goal was to gain as much power as he could in the time that he had right now. And since it was not a veryrge amount of time, the only way he had to increase that was in a rather dangerous way.


    "Are you sure you want to attempt that?" Xukong questioned.


    "Yes. It will take me a while to reach the Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm. If I focus on body cultivation, I might be able to finish the third treasured organ and directly obtain the peak level strength of it." Lin Mu answered.


    Lin Mu had finally decided to use the True Gold Body forging arts to cultivate. It was a cruel technique, but he was ready for it and had be extremely determined. But Lin Mu knew just being determined was not enough, he also needed some extra skills.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Time to finally learn the forging techniques Jing Luo gave me." Lin Mu said as he took out the jade slips.


    There was possibly thousands of years of experience condensed in these jade slips and Lin Mu knew just how valuable they were.


    ''I don''t need to learn it entirely. I simply need to learn the metal refinement part for now so that I can properly refine the gold.'' Lin Mu thought as he closed his eyes.


    His spirit sense touched the jade slip as bits of information started appearing in his mind. Lin Mu simply spent two days learning and memorizing just this information. After that, he spent three daysprehending and revising what he had memorized.


    Then on the sixth day, he finally opened his eyes.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Letting out a deep breath, Lin Mu''s eyes glimmered with excitement.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Time to test it out first." Lin Mu said as he took out a small cauldron.


    The cauldron was something that was used to refine alchemical pills, but could still work for refining metal. Such cauldrons were usually very sturdy and easily withstood high temperature that could melt the base metals.


    The cauldron in front of Lin Mu was very in and generic, made out of Iron and reinforced with runes. This was something new disciples would use to learn first and make pills.


    While it did not have any extra features nor did it provide better quality in making pills, for Lin Mu this was the perfect item since he didn''t need to focus on the efficacy of medicinal ingredients.


    He wasn''t even using it for that; he was simply refining some metal.


    Lin Mu scanned his ring and quickly found a suitable chunk of gold.


    "Hmm¡­ it should be about a kilogram in weight." Lin Mu estimated.


    He had plenty of gold and other metals he had obtained over the years and the cave in the Kong ne where the nexus was had even more gold. In fact, the gold in the inheritance cave was many times more than what Lin Mu had in his storage.


    He had let it stay in the cave since Jing Luo and others would be able to ess it when needed and won''t have to call for him every time. Of course, the ess to it was restrained and not just anyone could go in.


    For now though, Lin Mu had enough to just learn on his own.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    The chunk of goldnded in the cauldron and Lin Mu recalled the basic methods.


    "Since I can use fire spirit Qi, I don''t need to depend on external fire. Plus, the control will be better." Lin Mu muttered and ignited mes on his hand.


    Then in the next second, the mes spread out like a wave and covered the entire cauldron. Lin Mu knew that equally spreading the heat was an important part of the process, and many forgers struggled with it.


    But for him, this problem could be solved by directly covering the entire cauldron with mes. The mes licked the cauldron and soon it heated up.


    <i>~Crackle~</i>


    A strange crackling sound could be hearding from the cauldron, which pulled Lin Mu''s attention.


    "What was that?" Lin Mu said, feeling confused.


    At first, he wondered if the cauldron was damaged and breaking or something. But then using his spirit sense to check it in detail, he realized what the issue was.


    "Huh, never thought there would be such fine air pockets in the cauldron." Lin Mu said, observing the cavities that were present on the cauldron.


    They were too fine to see with naked eyes and only with spirit sense could he perceive them somewhat. The crackling sound Lin Mu heard hade from it. Thinking for the reason, Lin Mu recalled something he had learned.


    ''So it''s the air escaping with force due to heating quickly. Normally it would not do this since a cauldron like this would be heated with an external fire that would heat it slowly and make the air escape gradually as well.'' Lin Mu remembered.


    With the little scare out of the way, Lin Mu put his focus back on the gold. While it had not shown any signs of melting yet, it was starting to heat up and change color.


    Lin Mu felt like he should increase the heat more, but then recalled one of the warnings in the jade slip.


    ''If I heat it too quickly, the impurities will not be extracted properly. It needs to be gradual.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Hence following that, he let the gold heat up and change color several times. From its golden yellow color it changed to orange, then red, after which it returned to a bright yellow which was hard to look at.


    After a few more minutes, it started to soften and change its shape. Lin Mu continued to heat it until it fully became liquid. Fine bubbles could be seening out from the liquid gold as some of the impurities escaped in the form of gases.


    "The start is good, but this is just the second step.. More to go!" Lin Mu said with enthusiasm.

 Chapter 928 - Refining Gold

    Lin Mu carefully watched the molten gold and scanned it with his spirit sense. He could feel that other than gold, there were other substances mixed in it. They were not like chunks or separate particles though and seemed to be mixed finely with the liquid gold.


    "From here, I can increase the heat and let it separate out." Lin Mu muttered and increased the output of mes.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Like a forge that had just been stoked with bellows, the mes directly doubled in intensity. The iron cauldron was pretty much hidden by the mes, and it looked like there was a fireball floating in the air.


    The area around Lin Mu had already been dried up by now and the ground directly below the Cauldron was scorched ck. The liquid gold bubbled even more and the heat continued to pour into it.


    Some time passed and Lin Mu could see floating particles on top of the surface of gold.


    "There we go!" Lin Mu eximed.


    It was his first time doing it, and he had managed to remove a majority of the impurities.


    ''Now to scoop them out.'' Lin Mu began with the next step.


    He took out another tool from his ring, which was like a shallowdle. He steeped it in the liquid gold and skimmed its surface, removing all the impurities that were floating on it.


    The impurities were a mixture of colors, with the majority being ck, Grey and white. Throwing the impurities to the side, Lin Mu continued heating the gold. There were still some bubblesing from the gold and he needed to continue doing it till the gold stopped bubbling.


    Lin Mu checked it with his spirit sense and saw that it was now far purer than before.


    "Now for the final step¡­ actually refining it enough to make it reduce in volume." Lin Mu muttered in a serious tone.


    This step was also the most difficult part of the entire process, since it needed pressure and heat at the same time.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    Lin Mu put the lid of the cauldron on and rotated it so that it would lock in ce.


    This time he used both his hands and used gestures to control the heat while keeping an eye on the liquid gold inside with his spirit sense. Since most of the gases in the form of impurities were already removed, the internal pressure did not spike like it would have normally.


    The volume of gold stayed the same for the time being, but its temperature kept on increasing.


    "Focus¡­ focus¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he increased the heat even more.


    The cauldron itself started to turn red as the heat started to ovee the formations that protected it. Still, it wouldn''t break just from this and it was just the temperature maintaining formation that had failed.


    The durability and formation was still working and won''t break¡­ at least not now.


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    By the time the heat reached a new level, the liquid gold inside had change color once again. Now, it was an almost blinding white in color. The heat had reached a peak point and Lin Mu knew it was time to circte it.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu split his mind to let out spirit Qi from his hands. This time it was pure spirit Qi and was not the fire elemental spirit Qi like before. The spirit Qi was like an invisible gas and floated around his hands.


    Lin Mu used a tendril of spirit sense to guide this spirit Qi to the red hot cauldron. It passed through the restraints on the cauldron and seeped through the microscopic gaps in the iron.


    Then it finally reached the pool of liquid gold inside. There it wiggled its way down and formed a circr ring around it.


    ''Need more spirit sense tendrils,'' Lin Mu realized and produced more of them.


    Then controlling all of them, he grasped the spirit Qi, turning it into several individual streams. These streams then started to flow into the gold and pushed it. And since it was being done from all angles, the liquid gold started to move.


    Lin Mu controlled the spirit Qi streams to make it move at a deflected angle, which then made the liquid gold move in a spiral pattern. Till this point, the process was hard and taxing, but soon Lin Mu found the equilibrium and didn''t need to put as much effort.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "Now to just maintain this." Lin Mu said as he took a breath of relief.


    The liquid gold continued to stir within the cauldron and slowly absorbed the spirit Qi into it. Bit by bit, its properties started to change and it started to bubble once more.


    <i>~STRETCH~</i>


    The sound of metal being pressured was heard as the Iron Cauldron let out a low creak. The bubblesing from the gold had increased the internal pressure. But at the same time, it made the lid of the cauldron tighten due to the opposing force.


    ''Perhaps it''ll be better to use an even stronger cauldron for this¡­'' Lin Mu noted.


    Since it was going to be a first try, he thought that trying from something low leveled would be better. But he was now proved to be wrong. Which was a good thing, since it allowed him to learn better.


    At this point, Lin Mu was already satisfied and even if the cauldron broke, he wouldn''t mind it. He hade way farther than he had originally thought for the first try.


    "May as well go all in." Lin Mu said with determination and increase the amount of spirit Qi he was pouring into the gold.


    <i>~SIZZLE~</i>


    As of water was poured into boiling oil, the gold sizzled and jumped. But at the same time, it <i>absorbed far more spirit Qi than before.</i>


    <i>~thung~thung~thung~</i>


    The sound of gold sputtering inside the cauldron could be heard as the vessel started to sustain damage.


    About ten minutes passed like this until finally, the expected happened.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>

 Chapter 929 - First Success

    <i>~SPLASH~</i>


    <i>~SIZZLE~</i>


    Lin Mu blocked the hot liquid gold from sshing on him with his hands. The armor of the mortal strengthening scripture appeared and quickly stopped it with ease. The fragments of the cauldron also pelted the armor, but did no damage.


    A few secondster, Lin Mu opened his eyes and saw the scene. The fragments of the cauldron were lying everywhere, while the splotches of gold were equally spread. Still, one one of the biggest fragments of the cauldron, Lin Mu could see something.


    The bottom part of the cauldrons had been heated the most and thus it had directly cracked along the heated edges. It was like a shallow bowl that had fallen and it still contained some gold in it.


    Lin Mu took a closed look and saw that the gold was cooling. Just from watching it physically, it was hard to tell if the gold had changed, but with his spirit sense Lin Mu could clearly feel the difference.


    "Alright, so first failure." Lin Mu said, "but the next will be a sess!" he said with surety.


    He changed the location and went slightly away from the previous one and took out another cauldron.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The cauldronnded on the hard, rocky ground and slightly vibrated. Unlike the previous cauldron, this was an actual professional one that alchemists would use. Lin Mu had learned from hisst mistake and picked a good from the many he had.


    "This should be better." Lin Mu said as he took out another chunk of gold from the ring.


    He didn''t really care for the gold that had spilled everywhere and now cooled into solid form. Just collecting all of the fragments of the gold would take a long time and Lin Mu didn''t want to waste time in doing that at all.


    Thus, he simply took out a new chunk.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    Throwing it into the new cauldron, Lin Mu created the mes and started the entire process again. This time though, he could feel that the process was way smoother.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    The runes on the cauldron faintly glowed, showing that they were working as per their functions. The cauldron that Lin Mu had used this time had the functions such as heat distribution, sound dampening, vibration suppression along with the earlier ones that toughed it. It was also a bit bigger in size than the previous one and also thicker.


    Time passed as Lin Mu repeated all the steps until he reached the final step where he had failed.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    The runes on the cauldrons glowed with a greater intensity as they did their duty of suppressing the unwanted vibrations caused due to the sputtering of gold in the cauldron. Such vibrations can cause the refiner to make some mistakes, thus it was best to not have them.


    While Lin Mu wasn''t exactly refining pills, the same concept could be applied here as well. In fact, seeing theplexity that was in all this, Lin Mu was rather appreciative of old man Jing Wei.


    ''He managed to refine Green Gold from raw gold back then. I don''t know if I can fully refine it for just the technique, which isn''t even on the level of green gold.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "That is the difference between many years of experience. Don''t put yourself down. I''m sure you will be able to do it as well, if you just get more practice. Besides, the current technique does not call for Green Gold anyway. So no use thinking about that." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and replied, "you''re right senior. I best just focus on the task at hand."


    With that little counseling, Lin Mu focused on the cauldron and could feel the spirit Qi being absorbed into the gold. His spirit sense focused on the liquid metal and saw that it finally started to shrink.


    ''Interesting¡­ so the more spirit Qi it absorbs, the more condensed it gets.'' Lin Mu thought.


    While he couldn''t understand the exact mechanism behind it, Lin Mu still memorized this observation. It was at this point that he needed to supply even more spirit Qi to the gold.


    The more it got condensed, the greater amount of spirit Qi it needed. Which also got Lin Mu to think about how Jing Wei did this since his cultivation base was sealed and he didn''t really supply any spirit Qi on his own.


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    ''Maybe some other method.'' Lin Mu thought and pushed out more and more spirit Qi.


    Nearly an hour passed, after which the gold had reduced to the desired volume.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath of relief and finally opened the lid of the cauldron, that was tightly closed.


    <i>~ng~ ng~ ng~</i>


    This one had sps that held the lid instead of being screwed on. With the three sps released, the lid was easily lifted and the hot yellow gold could be seen inside it. The volume had greatly reduced.


    "Whoa! This isn''t even a ssful, this is like just a cup''s worth." Lin Mu said, seeing the actual liquid with his eyes.


    The gold was roughly twenty five milliliters in volume now. Looking at the still liquid gold, Lin Mu felt like testing out something.


    Gritting his teeth, Lin Mu dipped a finger into the liquid gold. He deactivated the Armor of the mortal strengthening scripture beforehand, though, or it wouldn''t really be a test.


    <i>~Sizzle~</i>


    The hot gold evaporated the moisture on his finger almost immediately and soon Lin Mu felt the heat.


    His eyes were tightly closed, but then ten secondster he opened them.


    "Huh?" A confused voice escaped his lips as Lin Mu saw the gold.


    "It¡­ doesn''t hurt?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    He lifted his finger out of the gold and looked at it. Other than some redness on it, there were no burns that he could see. And he didn''t feel any pain from it either.


    "This¡­ is the gold really supposed to hurt me?" Lin Mu said in confusion again.

 Chapter 930 - Tons Of Gold

    Lin Mu had not expected the reality to be like this.


    "I''m pretty sure I used to get hurt by less than this." Lin Mu said, still finding it unusual.


    "Actually that was for Qi skills, I don''t think you tested heat damage any time after your breakthrough." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and thought of it for a while before recalling that it was true. Even the recent battle that he had gotten injured in was with Ku Waowen, who was using some truly strong attacks.


    "That''s right¡­ I''ve never tested something like this before." Lin Mu said with a sense of realization.


    It also made him happy, since it meant that the part of suffering that one had to go through to practice the True Gold Body Forging Arts was gone now.


    "It''s really good for you. You will be able to progress even faster." Xukong added.


    "Indeed, senior. Now I can''t wait to do this on a mass scale." Lin Mu replied.


    Having found even better motivation, Lin Mu decided to go the full length for the next refinement. He was going to attempt the very first stage of the technique properly this time.


    ''First, I need to determine how much I exactly weigh.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Weighing himself was not something he had done before and was a new thing for him.


    "Now then¡­ how do I actually go about doing this?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Thinking for a minute, he quickly came up with a solution. He took out a few objects from the ring and started to build something. The first was a pair of metal tes that were used for forging.


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    These tes could be hammered into different shapes and were used to make armor, but here he was going to use them for a different purpose. More importantly, he picked them because they were of the same size and shape.


    Then he took out arge log that was about four meters wide. The final item he took out was some rope. He then punched some holes in the corners of the metal tes and tied the ropes at an equal length.


    Then finally he attached the metal tes with the rope to the wooden log. With this, his makeshift scale was made.


    "Now, to just have something to measure against." Lin Mu said as he took out metal bricks and ingots.


    These were all of the equal weight and it was even written on it, thus making a convenient way to measure for himself. There were many different sizes of bricks in his storage and they would serve as measuring weights.


    Lin Mu hung the long from its center to the side of a cliff and went to stand in one of the metal tes. He made sure that he was barely touching it and not exerting actual weight, as it wouldpletely tilt the scale.


    Then he threw out a brick of 10 kilograms bronze into the other metal te. This of course made them shift and go down. But Lin Mu''s body stopped the other te froming up too much.


    Using his body as a counterweight, Lin Mu kept on adding more and more bricks until he felt like the force was almost equal.


    ''Now, to get the proper number.'' Lin Mu said and fully sat down on the te without floating.


    <i>~twang~</i>


    Slight sound was made from the stretching and flexing of the scales along with their tilting. But after a few seconds they stabilize, with Lin Mu''s body being lowed.


    "I''ll add smaller ones now." Lin Mu said as he threw a few one kilogram bricks on the other te.


    At a certain point, the scales tilted on the other side, and Lin Mu was elevated. Lin Mu repeated the same process with lower weight bricks and went back and forth two more times before he got a proper bnce.


    "There we go!" Lin Mu said as he counted the bricks and estimated his weight.


    "126.5 Kilograms." Lin Mu measured.


    It was a rtively high weight for someone of Lin Mu''s stature and build, if theypared him to amoner. Someone like him would likely look way fatter, but his body cultivation skewed that result at the very start.


    Having known his weight, Lin Mu did a quick estimate of how much gold he would be needing.


    "62,122.5 Kilograms¡­ Damn, that''s a lot." Lin Mu muttered.


    And it truly was a massive amount for most people and even cultivators. Thankfully, Lin Mu had many times more than that amount with him. Some of the gold was in the form of proper ingots, while the rest was in the form of irregr chunks.


    There were even other items made out of gold that were mostly for disy, like novelty armors, statues, weapons, and many other things. But Lin Mu knew that he couldn''t use all of these without processing them, as they were often mixed with other metals.


    Instead of all those, he simply used gold ingots that were mostly pure and had no metals in them, other than some impurities that were way harder to remove.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Let''s get this started so that we can progress effectively." Lin Mu said as he sent a message to Little Shrubby.


    He will be needing some help during this all and Little Shrubby was the perfect for this. Jing Luo was also someone who could do it, but with his current duties, he had little time to even think for himself and was busy with teaching and building.


    It would take some time for Little Shrubby to return to him since he was out exploring the Kong ne. Thus, while the beast returned, Lin Mu did other preparations. He first divided the gold into three different piles that would be used in the 3 different steps.


    The first pile was 251 kilograms, the second 1506 kilograms and the third one being 60,240 kilograms.


    Soon there was a hill of literal gold beside Lin Mu, and all he had to do was wait for his help to arrive.

 Chapter 931 - Little Shrubby’s Assistance And The First Step Of The Technique

    About half an hourter, Lin Mu saw a red blur approaching from the distance.


    "There he is," Lin Mu said after spotting Little Shrubby.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Little Shrubby''s ws dug into the ground as he breaker to slow down, creating long w marks on the rocky ground. Lin Mu had especially picked this area since it was mostly covered with rocks and at its side was a rocky mountain.


    It was protected from the fire that would be involved and he wouldn''t identally set off a wildfire. Additionally, he had some more concerns due to which this ce was the better choice.


    "What are we doing?" Little Shrubby asked, looking clearly confused.


    His eyes wandered over the piles of gold and a cauldron kept near the side.


    "I''m cultivating a technique and need you help to do some things." Lin Mu spoke.


    <i>"Okay~</i> What do I do?" Little Shrubby answered without any concerns.


    "So, I''ll be heating and melting a lot of gold. I''ll need to refine it and that part is something only I can do, but after that is done, I''ll need to use the gold. And to do that, I need the gold to stay in a liquid state, so I need you to keep on heating it." Lin Mu exined.


    Little Shrubby thought it over and didn''t find it to be anything difficult.


    "So I just use fire on that cauldron?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yes. That''s pretty much it." Lin Mu replied with a nod.


    This was the only part that was bugging Lin Mu, since he would probably be in a state where he might not be able to continue heating the gold. If this resulted it in getting solidified or cooled, he would not have enough time to continue the process and will have to be interrupted.


    Lin Mu could see how this thing might have turned out to be a big problem for those that practiced this in the past. They would either need a formation array that was specifically used for forging to continually heat the gold, or have someone help them out.


    Either of those options were risky. One of the reasons being the gold would be pretty valuable for many people and there was no guarantee if someone would be greedy and covet it for themselves.


    If they really felt like that and did something to jeopardies the technique, the person practicing it would probably die. As for using a formation array that was for forging, it was also quite difficult.


    On one hand, formation arrays like those were hard andplex to make, often needing vast amount of resources and people to construct. And on the other hand, if someone did not have ess to something like that, they would be at square one again.


    By now, it was evident to Lin Mu that this technique was made with multiple difficult factors in mind. Not only did its practitioner need to be strong mentally and physically, but they also needed to have a good background and fortune.


    One of the ways Lin Mu could think of to reduce the requirements for the True Gold Body Forging Arts was to reduce their own weight. But that was not something possible for many cultivators¡­ at least not without weakening themselves at the same time.


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    Unless someone was acutely overweight or obese, there wasn''t a good enough reason to reduce their weight just so that they would need lesser amount of gold.


    Lin Mu exined a few more things to Little Shrubby before starting the refining process. Little Shrubby meanwhile, stayed at the side and observed everything. He could tell that what Lin Mu was doing could help him too.


    While Little Shrubby had great control over his fire as it innately came to him, seeing the different methods of control also seemed novel to him. Another benefit there was to Little Shrubby was that, simr to Lin Mu, he too would not be affected by the heat.


    Perhaps even if the molten gold spilled on him, his fur would be able to resist it. His fur truly was amazing and able to bear great heat. Perhaps even Jing Luo, who was used to working in hot forges, wouldn''t be able to say the same.


    <i>~ng~ng~ng~</i>


    One by one, Lin Mu tossed the ingots of gold into the cauldron. For the first stage, he needed 251 kilograms of gold and it was still a fraction of what the Cauldron could hold. Lin Mu roughly estimated that the cauldron could easily hold at least two hundred liters of fluid in it.


    ''This should be enough for me to use until the second stage. But for the third stage¡­ the amount go gold is simply massive, no way it''ll fit in this.'' Lin Mu thought.


    While he had a few options for it ready in the ring, he also informed Jing Luo, just in case. Even if Jing Luo was busy, Lin Mu reckoned the sects would have something that could amodate something like that.


    Lin Mu had seenrge pill cauldrons in the Tri Cauldron Peony sect that were used to mass refine pills. If anyone, the Light Harmony sect should probably have a few like those, and they''ll be perfect for Lin Mu to use.


    Regardless, it was going to take Lin Mu some time before he would reach that stage, thus they had a head start for that.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    The cauldron lightly hummed as the gold in it started to heat. Since the quantity was much more than before, the gases released were also higher and the pressure greater. Lin Mu quickly skimmed off the impurities that floated on the top of the now liquid gold before shutting its lid.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The three sps were tightly fitted and it was now ready for the final refinement, which was to infuse spirit Qi and reduce its volume.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    A massive amount of spirit Qi spiraled out from Lin Mu''s body and entered the cauldron, steadily being absorbed by the gold inside.

 Chapter 932 - A Bowl Of Liquid Gold

    Hours upon hours passed by as Lin Mu continued his work. Due to the vastly more amount of gold than before, it took Lin Mu more time and effort. But after sixteen hours, it was finally done.


    <i>~HISS~</i>


    Hot gas escaped from the gaps of the lid as Lin Mu opened it up.


    <i>~ng~ ng~ ng~</i>


    Each of the metal sp opened with a crisp sound, as a bright glow escaped from the cauldron. The glow was yellowish white and made it hard for most people to look at it. But for Lin Mu, who had already gotten used to it, it was nothing.


    "You are going to use this?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yes. I need it to practice the new technique I got." Lin Mu replied.


    Little Shrubby nodded his head and then watched Lin Mu proceed. Removing his robes, Lin Mu used arge metal bowl to scoop out some of the liquid gold. The over all quantity of the gold was not actually that much once it was melted down, being less than twenty five liters.


    ''It''s now or never¡­'' Lin Mu thought as a he took a deep breath and poured the liquid gold over his hand.


    <i>~Sizzle~</i>


    With the mortal strengthening scripture''s armor deactivated, the hot gold touched his skin and quickly vaporised the moisture on it. It spread over his skin as Lin Mu moved the bowl around.


    If anyone were to see this, they would quite likely want to avert their eyes, but to Lin Mu, it seemed more like he was taking a warm bath. The visual appeal was far too impactful than the actual effects.


    Soon he was done pouring the gold in the bowl and scooped up another bowl from the cauldron.


    <i>~HUU~</i>


    Little Shrubby on the other side controlled his fire to continue heating the cauldron. That way it would not cool and solidify. It took Lin Mu around three bowls to coat his hands entirely.


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    It was not a quick process since he actually needed it to harden on his hand, before he could turn it over and pour the gold on the other side.


    "Hmm¡­ I guess this is it?" Lin Mu muttered as he looked at his now rigid golden hand. It was stuck in a ''L'' shape from his elbow and didn''t really bend freely like it normally would.


    Lin Mu recalled the details of the True Gold Body forging arts and revised its mnemonics.


    ''Now to use the cultivation method on my arm.'' Lin Mu thought as he followed the method prescribed in the technique.


    He closed his eyes and put all his focus on the arm while circting spirit Qi in a very specific manner. At first it was normal and Lin Mu felt nothing, but about an hourter, he could feel as if there was something rough being pressed upon his arm; something like sandpaper.


    But it was just pressure and not like it was being grated on his skin. It was a strange feeling to describe and unless one felt it, they would find it hard to understand. Minute by minute passed and Lin Mu could feel some changes taking ce in his arm.


    He tried to move it and found it to be still difficult. While Lin Mu did have the raw strength to bend it forcefully, that was not the goal of the technique. What was actually meant by bending the gold was to let the technique itself make it freely movable.


    If one were topare it to something, it was like encasing something in wax and waiting till the wax softened enough to move automatically.


    It took Lin Mu nearly three hours before his arm moved automatically. It was still in the ''L'' Shape, but instead of being perpendicr to his body, it was now parallel.


    "It worked!" Lin Mu said.


    He continued to practice the technique and felt his hand get lighter and lighter. After about ten more hours, the gold on his skin had pretty much disappeared. It was like it had evaporated into thin air, but Lin Mu knew that was just an illusion.


    "Truly strange¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he looked at his hand, that looked no different from before.


    He even used his spirit sense to check the changes, but couldn''t tell the difference.


    "These techniques need a lot of time to show effect. You are just starting out. Additionally, your starting base is not the same as others. You not only have a Xiantian Physique but also have two treasured organs refined already." Xukong spoke.


    "I know, senior." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    But this also reminded him of something else.


    "Oh wait! Has my body cultivation progressed at all?" Lin Mu wondered.


    His spirit sense quickly entered his body and reached his lungs. In the Five Treasures realm, the lungs were the organ that represented Metal among the five elements and needed to be fully refined so that one could reach the next stage.


    Lin Mu checked his lungs as much as he could, but didn''t see any change. He couldn''t feel anything after using the Severing heart sutra and Calming heart sutra either.


    "Does it not work?" Lin Mu felt confused.


    "It was not originally a technique meant to be practiced for the Five Treasures realm. In reality, it isn''t even meant for someone that already has a Xiantian physique. I think most that practiced this technique never did any body cultivation." Xukong replied.


    "Hmmm¡­ then it would make sense that they would use a bone enameling pill. I doubt either body would ept the gold easily without it." Lin Mu said.


    "Exactly. The Xiantian Physique is a neutral physique overall and can ept a variety of resources with little to no problem. It also increases the absorption for them too and thus you were able to progress faster with the True Gold Body Forging Arts." Xukong agreed.


    "So I''m thinking I''ll need to continue this and hope that it shows the effectter.." Lin Mu said in an understanding tone.

 Chapter 933 - First Stage Of The True Gold Body Forging Arts Complete!

    Having done the refinement for the left hand, Lin Mu decided to go for the right hand now.


    "We''ll know if there are any changes after the first stage is fullypleted." Lin Mu said as he scooped up another bowlful of liquid gold and poured it on his right hand.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    A simr hissing sound could be heard as the moisture in his right hand''s skin evaporated. Still, Lin Mu didn''t feel any pain and the gold quickly spread over his hand with a little hesitance.


    Once it was fully covered and hardened, Lin Mu cultivated using the mnemonic of the True Gold Body Forging Arts and refined the liquid gold. Hour upon hour passed and just like the left hand, his right hand too fully absorbed the gold within it.


    ''Hmm¡­ still no difference.'' Lin Mu checked.


    He began the refinement of the other parts of his body, picking his left leg this time. During all this, Little Shrubby continued to heat the cauldron so that the gold stayed hot and liquid.


    It was a difficult thing for most people, as the time needed for Lin Mu to refine the gold was nearly sixteen hours. For anyone else not in the Nascent soul realm, such consumption of spirit Qi would be problematic.


    Thankfully Little shrubby was not only at the Peak of the Adult Soul stage of the nascent soul realm, his two bloodlines that had proficiency with fire element also made it significantly easier to do the same.


    In fact, the amount of spirit Qi he was exhausting and passively absorbing from the air was almost the same, thus making the use neutral. This allowed Lin Mu to properly practice the True Gold Body Forging Arts as days went by.


    It was now the sixth day since Lin Mu had started and he had refined all of his body''s skin other than the head. This was also the part he was more anxious about.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "Hopefully there is no problem¡­ it''s gonna make it hard for me to breathe too¡­" Lin Mu understood.


    Due to how the gold will be covering his head, Lin Mu would have to hold his breath for a few hours. At his cultivation base, both due to the spirit Qi cultivation and the body cultivation, even holding his breath for a day was not a problem.


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    But it was not something Lin Mu had attempted before, and things that were new to someone always made one nervous.


    "Don''t worry. If anything really happens, you can always break your way out of it. You have more gold, so refining it once more to repeat the process will not be a problem." Senior Xukong advised.


    "I understand, senior." Lin Mu said, feeling a bit better.


    "You can stop heating it now." Lin Mu spoke to little Shrubby.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby said andid on the ground, continuing to watch Lin Mu.


    He too had been nervous and worried for Lin Mu at first, but now that he had done it a few times, he was feelingfortable. Plus, little Shrubby was ready to act if anything happened either way.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu directly lifted the entire cauldron and poured the gold onto his head.


    <i>~FIZZ~</i>


    Some of his hair directly burned due to the heat of the gold, but half of it managed to stay intact. Lin Mu too, noticed this and couldn''t tell why it was like this, making him check his hair with his spirit sense.


    It was then that he discovered the part of the hair that had burned was different from the one that had not burned. It had a differentposition and seemed to be weaker.


    ''It is the hair that I grew after breaking through to the Dao Shell realm. It is stronger than the one I had before¡­ no wonder.'' Lin Mu realized.


    It was a new discovery for him and while it seemed to be small; it was an important one. Lin Mu could understand its implications in certain situations.


    After the entirety of the liquid gold was poured over his head, Lin Mu sensed something.


    ''I can feel it¡­'' Lin Mu thought, since his lips could no longer move.


    From a distance, it looked like Lin Mu was wearing a gold colored helmet. Calming himself down in a few minutes and suppressing the nervousness, Lin Mu practiced the mnemonic of the True Gold Body Forging Arts and refined the gold over his head.


    Little by little, it started to disappear into his skin and shrunk. For his head, the process was a bit slow, and it took him an entire twenty hours before the gold had disappeared.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    Lin Mu let out a breath and opened his eyes, feeling the difference within his body.


    "It did show an effect¡­ it''s minor, but it''s something." Lin Mu said as he peered with in his body with his spirit sense.


    His lungs were showing signs of refinement and the cell activity had changed. Lin Mu could feel both vitality and spirit Qi stirring within his lungs as if being attracted to it.


    "If I were to estimate the refinement rate, it is not even at one percent. But this is still good enough for a start. Progress is not easy and hard work is what will get me to the end." Lin Mu motivated himself.


    His determination was rock solid and he would not back down from ack of results so easily.


    Xukong was watching it all and felt content with Lin Mu''s mindset at this moment. He knew just how cultivating in reality was and the things that most cultivators failed to have was patience and perseverance.


    "What''s next?" Little Shrubby asked, seeing that Lin Mu was up again.


    "Now we refine more gold!" Lin Mu said as he threw the second pile of the gold into the cauldrons.


    "I''ll help!" Little Shrubby said, and started to heat the cauldron.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and appreciated it.

 Chapter 934 - The Painful Second Stage

    The second stage of the True Gold Body Forging Arts was a cruel one.


    One needed to cut open their flesh to reveal their bones and then pour the liquid gold inside to refine them. Both the act of cutting the flesh and pouring burning hot gold was inhuman to most people, and they wouldn''t even imagine doing it.


    Refining the gold for this stage was also a long process, since Lin Mu needed to reduce it to a quarter of its original volume. The amount of gold that he was refining for the second stage was 1506 kilograms, which was a significant amount.


    Putting all that gold into the cauldron put it at about half of its capacity in the solid form and when it meltedpletely, it was about one third its capacity.


    ''Nowe''s the hard part¡­'' Lin Mu thought and looked at little Shrubby. "You can stop heating it now. I need to do the rest of the parts myself. I''ll tell you when I need you to heat it again." He spoke.


    "Alright, I''ll wait." Little Shrubby replied.


    Nodding his head, Lin Mu began the refinement process that was even longer than before. With the quantity of gold, it took Lin Mu about four days before he reduced the volume of the gold by half.


    But this was not enough and he needed to reduce it even more to a quarter.


    ''The more I refine it, the harder it gets¡­'' Lin Mu understood.


    The spirit Qi consumption was also far higher than before, such that Lin Mu actually needed to use more of his stored spirit Qi. Before this, his passive spirit Qi absorption was enough topensate for the continuous use.


    Day turned to night and time passed. Another five days passed before Lin Mu was finally done with the refinement of gold. He had sessfully reduced it to a quarter of what the volume used to be.


    Though the weight of the gold was still the same.


    "Now that I think of it, the increase in my weight is almost unnoticeable." Lin Mu just realized.


    He couldn''t even tell that his weight had increased by almost three times what it was originally.


    "And after this stage, it will be even more¡­ I can''t even imagine the effect by the final stage." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Compared to Little Shrubby, Lin Mu was still rather light and thus there being no extern signs was normal. Lin Mu could imagine leaving behind deep foot prints by just casually walking.


    While he didn''t know how much Little Shrubby''s eight was exactly, it was certainly more than a ton considering howrge he was.


    ''Will he even be able to carry me and run at that point?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    "If he breaks through again and reaches the Dao Shell realm, I doubt it will be a problem for him. Even now, lifting a weight like that isn''t a problem for him or you, though running might not be possible for long distances." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ I see senior." Lin Mu replied and looked at little shrubby, sensing his cultivation base.


    Thinking for a bit, Lin Mu tried to estimate if Little Shrubby could breakthrough during this time as well or not.


    ''I don''t know how long the third stage will take. I will give little Shrubby as much as beast Qi during that time and hopefully both of us can breakthrough in that period.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Little Shrubby was a truepanion of Lin Mu and a part of his own strength, as well. His speed was one of the things that allowed him to do the many things that he had done. Without him, Lin Mu might not have even been alive by now.


    He was truly grateful to him for that and will forever be.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Taking in a deep breath, Lin Mu steeled his heart and took out the short sword.


    "This is gonna hurt." Lin Mu muttered and ced it against his skin.


    <i>~CREAK~</i>


    The sound of metal grinding could be heard as the short sword grazed against his skin. The toughness made it so that no damage was inflicted other than a faint white mark on his skin.


    "This is a problem¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    Even though he had deactivated the Armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture, it was still rather difficult for Lin Mu to break his skin''s natural defenses.


    He gripped the handle hard and poured more spirit Qi into it, amplifying the strength of the short sword. While he was doing this, Little Shrubby was watching with rapt attention, feeling both anxious and a bit afraid.


    ''Master be fine¡­'' he hoped.


    <i>~SLICK~</i>


    Finally, after pouring enough spirit Qi into the short sword, it managed to cut through the skin. But it was still not enough, as the cut was not deep.


    "Dammit! Need to push more. It has to be touching the bone." Lin Mu gritted his teeth and extorted even more force while blood spilled out from the cut.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    <i>~drip~drip~drip~</i>


    A small pool of blood was quickly formed under him as the cut was finallypleted. Currently, the entirety of Lin Mu''s left forearm, elbow and shoulder bones were exposed, looking rather ghastly.


    To most people, such a wound would be devastating and they might just faint from the paint itself. Lin Mu had been through worse pain and held on with all his might.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    The Short sword fell to the ground as Lin Mu''s hands trembled. He carefully scooped out the liquid gold that was at least a hundred kilograms heavy and poured it into his hand.


    "AH!" Lin Mu grunted in pain.


    Unlike before, when he didn''t feel any pain on his skin, the pain was certainly there when the liquid gold touched his exposed flesh and bone.


    "DAMMIT! Can''t break me this easily!" Lin Mu said with determination and started cultivating ording to the second mnemonic of the True Gold Body Forging Arts.

 Chapter 935 - Exhaustion And Blood Spring Carp

    Even though the pain made Lin Mu shiver, his will was unshakable.


    The process of the gold being assimted into his bones was a strange and painful sensation. At first it was simply like a heavy bag being tired to his bones that pulled it down. But then it felt like something was biting into his bones.


    The biting sensationter turned into a drilling pain that was significantly worse than before. His hand and even the entire body trembled as the gold continued affecting him. Lin Mu''s other hand was clenched tight, so much so that if he had notpleted the first stage of the True Gold Body Forging Arts, his nails would have dug into his palm''s flesh and drawn blood.


    He bore through the pain and continued to cultivate using the mnemonic of the True Gold Body Forging Arts. Hours passed by as the pain slowly lessened. He didn''t know if it was just him getting used to the pain, or if his body was actually adapting to it.


    The blood loss had already stopped when he had poured the liquid gold into his hand, and now it was solidified. Lin Mu was sitting on the ground cross legged, with his left hand on hisp.


    It felt rather heavy to him and since it was also a bit fatigued from the process, it was harder for him to keep it up the entire time. This time it took Lin Mu a day to finish refining the gold.


    And by the time he was done, he seemed to be rather tired looking.


    <i>~huu~huu~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu let out some deep breaths as he opened his eyes and looked at the status of his hand. The long and deep wound on his hand hadpletely closed, leaving behind a golden scar instead.


    The scar went from the base of his wrist all the way to the top of his shoulder. It looked like someone had painted a line of gold there.


    Lin Mu tried standing up and almost stumbled to the left.


    "Damn¡­ the bnce is really off." Lin Mu said as he felt the weight difference.


    His left hand drooped and made him lean to the left slightly. It looked like Lin Mu had some back injury and couldn''t stand well. He checked the bones using his spirit sense and found them to be coated with theyer of gold.


    Even his fingers and palm bones, which weren''t in direct contact with the gold, were coated with them.


    "So the gold spread there as well¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Are you okay?" Little Shrubby too woke up after hearing Lin Mu''s voice.


    A gentle smile appeared on Lin Mu''s face as he replied, "I''m okay. A little tired, but okay."


    Lin Mu looked towards the mes that were automaticallying out of Little Shrubby''s body and heating the cauldron.


    "Your control over the fire improved?" Lin Mu said with a raised brow.


    "Yes. It''s just like cooking!" Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Huh¡­ nice." Lin Mu replied as he went towards the cauldron.


    The gold inside was still in a liquid state and at the right temperature. Finding that everything was okay, Lin Mu decided to continue.


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu cut open his right hand as well. This time, he was able to bear through the pain better andpleted the cut in one swift manner.


    ''At least knowing how much strength is needed to break my skin can help me in fights¡­ though this will change once I finish practicing the True Gold Body Forging Arts.'' Lin Mu thought.


    <i>~glub~</i>


    Lin Mu scooped out the liquid gold from the cauldron and poured it into his right hand as the blood and water sizzled. Gritting his teeth, he finished pouring it and sat down to repeat the process.


    Another day quickly went by and Lin Mu had finished the process.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Lin Mu looked even more tired than before and his hand mmed into the stony ground, cracking it a little.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    He stood up and felt the bnce in his body restored again.


    "This is certainly heavy¡­ and it is just the start." Lin Mu muttered.


    He checked his body''s condition and realized that he was actually exhausted.


    "Restore your condition and rest for a bit. If you make a mistaketer, it won''t be worth it." Xukong spoke up.


    "I shall, senior." Lin Mu said as he took out some of the alchemical pills that would help him return to the peak quickly.


    "I made something, too!" Little Shrubby said as he put arge tter in front of Lin Mu.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Then on therge tter, dropped a pink fish that was at least a meter big and thirty centimeters wide.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu asked.


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    "I caught it when I was exploring the ne before you called me." Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu looked at the fish and found it to be a bit familiar.


    "I felt that it had a lot of vitality in it and it also smelled good!" Little Shrubby added.


    "Oh wait¡­ isn''t this the Blood Spring Carp?" Lin Mu remembered.


    The Blood Spring Carp was a spirit beast that had a lot of vitality contained within it. It didn''t have as much spirit Qi within its body though, but it still had a great value since it could be used to make some high grade healing pills.


    The Blood Spring carp lived a long time and umted the vitality in its body until it was the time for its breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm. It would then use this vitality to survive the heavenly tribtion and heal from its injuries sustained during that.


    It was also the reason why there were no Blood Spring Carps above the Core Condensation realm as the ones at the Nascent soul realm and above were instead called the Essence Spring Carps.


    They too were very rather valuable and were used to make peak grade alchemical pills that were even used by Dao Treading realm experts!

 Chapter 936 - Cutting Open His Spine And Intense Pain

    Having learned about the Blood Spring carps, Lin Mu was a bit surprised as he had not expected them to be in the ne as well.


    They were something the sects would very carefully raise, and it took a long time to grow. Even a single Blood Spring carp, when fed properly, would take at least a hundred years to reach maturity enough for them to be considered for harvesting.


    "Did you get more of them?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I have three more." Little Shrubby answered.


    "The ce where you got them, were there more of them?" Lin Mu asked.


    "YES! There are more. But when I went there, they got scared and entered an underwater cave. I didn''t want to go into the water, so I just got these four." Little Shrubby replied.


    "I see¡­ this maye in handyter¡­" Lin Mu took note and got to eating the cooked Blood Spring Carp.


    The rich vitality within the carp was good for Lin Mu and quickly restored his condition to the peak along with the alchemical pills he had eaten. Not only that, but the blood loss he had experienced was also taken care of and restored.


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    Lin Mu''s entire body felt warm for quite a while after eating the entire Blood Spring carp.


    "This is actually better than the pills¡­" Lin Mu realized.


    "Do you want me to make more?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Yes, that''ll help. Keep them ready for when I need them next." Lin Mu answered.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby replied as he took out the grill he had in his storage and got to cooking.


    Lin Mu meanwhile, got to practicing the True Gold Body Forging Arts and cut open his left leg. The cut went from his foot, over the shin, knee and all the way to his hip. This time the bleeding was far worse, but Lin Mu quickly poured the Liquid gold into his leg, which soon stopped the bleeding.


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu grunted slightly as he tried to focus on cultivating.


    His legs took longer than his hands and almost thirty six hours went by before they had fully assimted the gold.


    This time Lin Mu couldn''t even stand due to how heavy the leg felt. It wasn''t that he didn''t have strength but more his body feeling imbnced from the core.


    "It''s not my muscles¡­ it''s the spine that can''t handle it properly¡­" Lin Mu understood.


    Realizing that he would need to finish it all to be able to walk properly again, Lin Mu sped up. He didn''t feel the need to eat the Blood Spring Carp that Little Shrubby had pre-prepared for him and went to refine his other leg.


    Another thirty six hourster, he had finished with it as well.


    "Damn¡­ I can''t even move." Lin Mu said, feeling as if his legs were frozen.


    He could fully feel them, but controlling them seemed to be hard to do. Nothing seemed to be wrong with his body or the nerves, but Lin Mu didn''t know why this was happening.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "All wille to fruition when I''m done¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself and got ready for the next step, which was a severe one.


    Though first he finished the second Blood Spring carp that Little Shrubby had made, and restored his condition.


    Now Lin Mu needed to cut open his back and reveal his spine, after which he needed to slice his chest and expose the sternum. One''s spine was a very important part and even the slightest injury could kill oneself. While for a cultivator, this might be a bit different, it would still result in a crippling condition.


    ''I can cut my sect with ease but the spine will be a bit difficult¡­'' Lin Mu thought to


    Lin Mu first cut open his chest and poured the gold onto his sternum and let it cool. If he poured it onto his spine first, he would not be able to move at all, thus the sternum was the better choice.


    Then, Lin Mu poured a lot of spirit Qi into the short sword, enough to amplify its strength by many times, even when being controlled using his spirit sense. The short sword floated over to his back as Lin Mu sat straight and dug into the back of his neck, right below the nape.


    "ARGH!" Lin Mu cried in pain, making Little Shrubby anxious.


    Gesturing him with his eyes, Lin Mu got the beast to calm down as he continued slicing the flesh on his back. Bit by bit, the short sword slid down, revealing each of his vertebrae one by one, until finally it reached the very bottom where his cyx was.


    By now, a lot of blood had pooled below his body since the speed at which Lin Mu did this was slow. He had to be a lot more careful with his spine, so going slow was the only option for him.


    "Pour the gold little shrubby!" Lin Mu shouted, knowing that he won''t be able to move now.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The prosthetic hands flew to hold the bowl before scooping out the gold from the cauldron before pouring it down the top of Lin Mu''s neck. Lin Mu leaned forward so that the gold could properly flow down his back and now spill out.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    The sicking sound of his spine being scorched by the gold could be heard as a soul chilling pain rocked Lin Mu''s sensed. Only by chanting the Severing heart sutra could he hold on and had almost fainted.


    It took thirty minutes before the gold had cooled down enough that Lin Mu managed to start cultivating. His gaze was getting blurry, but the voice of Xukong kept him awake.


    "Do not falter!" Xukong spoke up.


    Lin Mu''s bloodshot eyes opened wide as he practice the mnemonic of the True Gold Body Forging Arts.


    Time passed by as Lin Mu stayed in the same position for four days.. He was in intense pain the entire time but soldiered on regardless.

 Chapter 937 - Second Stage Complete!

    After four days had passed, the gold that Lin Mu had poured into this chest had spread from his sternum all the way to the ribs and fully covered them. In case of his spine, it was also mostly covered, but the gold had not been fully absorbed yet.


    ''At least I can move a bit¡­'' Lin Mu thought and tried to rx his back a little bit. While his vertebrae couldn''t all move properly, there was still some scope of movement for his neck where the gold had been fully absorbed.


    "Just a little while more¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself and continued to practice the True Gold Body Forging Arts.


    Finally, after two more days, his spine had fully assimted all the gold and Lin Mu could stand up again.


    "Huh¡­ I have my bnce back¡­ so the spine really was the issue." Lin Mu realized.


    Still, Lin Mu was not done with the second stage and still had one part of his body left, the most essential part¡­ his head.


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    Thankfully, this was not as dangerous as spine even if it was his head. Unlike his spine, in which the gold would cause intense pain and move to the gaps between, for his skull, the gold would only enter from the top and then spread automatically under the guidance of the True Gold Body Forging Arts.


    But before he started with that, Lin Mu ate another Blood Spring Carp so that his condition was back to the peak. Only after he felt that everything was better did he start with his head.


    Lin Mu took the short sword and made a ''+'' shaped cut on the top of his scalp before pulling it apart and revealing the skull. It was a gruesome sight for many and the weak hearted would simply fall unconscious from the visual shock.


    Then, taking the remaining amount of the gold that was left in the cauldron Lin Mu poured it on his head.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    The blood and moisture vaporized as the hot liquid gold spread over the top of his skull. Lin Mu sat down cross legged again and began to practice ording to the mnemonic of the True Gold Body Forging Arts with all his heart.


    Three days passed by as the gold spread from the top of his skull to the sides, then to the base of his neck, joining up with the rest of the spine. From his forehead, it came down and coated his eye sockets, making them burn as if lime had been sprinkled on his eyeballs.


    Once the eye sockets were coated, the gold spread further to his cheekbones and the jaw, finally ending in his mandible. But once it was all done, Lin Mu felt a strange sense of harmony in his body.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Opening his eyes, Lin Mu finished the final part of the second stage of the True Gold Body Forging Arts.


    "The difference is massive¡­" Lin Mu said as he clenched his fist.


    While his strength had not really increased, Lin Mu could feel a firm toughness that had taken root. Even now, Lin Mu could tell that his defense was at least three times better than before.


    "Just at the second stage it is significantly better¡­ wonder what changes the third stage will bring." Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Observe your body and stabilize yourself before you start the third stage." Xukong advised.


    "Of course, senior." Lin Mu said, as he took the final blood spring carp that Little Shrubby had ready for him.


    Once he was done eating, he checked every inch of his body with his spirit sense, getting an idea of the difference. Lin Mu could see the gold covering every inch of his bones and even entering a few milliliters into the bones.


    ''Perhaps the third stage is to make it deeper?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Lin Mu observed his lungs and found that they had actually progressed in their refinement. He hadn''t even realized and his lungs were already at the 15% mark for refinement.


    Metal attribute spirit Qi could be felt stirring within some of the cells and making them more active than before.


    ''The first stage barely did 1% and now the second took me to 15%¡­ will the third even be enough?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    But while he was checking his body, Lin Mu discovered something. It could be termed as a w or not in the True Gold Body Forging Arts.


    The w being¡­ his teeth were actually not coated with the gold like his bones. The gold had only spread over the jawbone and into the teeth sockets, but not over the teeth themselves.


    "Though golden teeth might have been a bit too gaudy, now that I think about it." Lin Mu said to himself.


    While this lessened his defense on his teeth, it was not like he couldn''t regrow them if they broke. With his Xiantian physique, regrowing teeth wasn''t a problem like mortals or even other cultivators.


    Most cultivators would need special alchemical pills that could allow them to regrow teeth, but to Lin Mu all it took was some time and they would return. Thus, it wasn''t much of a concern for him.


    Besides, during the many times he had fought, he had only lost three teeth and all of them had returned a long time ago.


    The w about his teeth was an unmentioned w of the True Gold Body Forging Arts. But in addition to this w, there was another w that was clearly mentioned in it. The w being none other than the eyes.


    While the eyelids were strengthened like the rest of the skin, some of the attacks might still be able to breakthrough the defense of it. If that did happen, the cultivator would lose the eye.


    But in exchange for that, whatever kind of a weapon that was used to poke the eye would be stopped by the strengthened bone of the eye socket and thus be prevented from reaching the brain.

 Chapter 938 - A Peak Grade Spirit Tool?!

    Saving one''s life in exchange for an eye was something most people would be more than willing to give. Thus, the True Gold Body Forging Arts was still able topensate on some end for this w.


    Though in the case of Lin Mu, he had additional protection in the form of the Mortal Strengthening scripture''s armor. It could defend against a certain level of attack and will break to dissipate the force, giving Lin Mu enough time to dodge it.


    The defense of the mortal strengthening scripture was something that was now at a level that Dao Shell realm attacks and above could break it. Though it could also increase its toughness along with the cultivation base of the user.


    Lin Mu didn''t know how long the Mortal Strengthening scripture will be able to serve him and when it will be obsolete. Though he hoped that there would be some other way he could keep improving on it.


    Lin Mu spent three days to rest and recovered to his peak condition. During this time, he got used to his body as well and limatized to the increased weight. He was now more than ten times his original weight.


    Thankfully, it was a weight that was nothing for his strength and didn''t really put much of a burden on him once he got used to it. Though it still made him wonder how he will be able to get used to the weight after the third stage.


    At that time, he would be gaining more than sixty tons of weight. This was a weight that he could lift, but not do much with it.


    ''The True Gold Body Forging Arts mentions that it would be a qualitative change at that point and one would know the difference only after the breakthrough. I can only hope that all goes well¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    He had the assurance that the technique had indeed been practiced by people before. If it were not for that, he would have not attempted it. Plus, Lin Mu was already many times stronger than the people who originally practiced the True Gold Body Forging Arts.


    Thus, if weak people like those could handle a weight like this, Lin Mu was confident that he would be able to do the same as well.


    <i>~phew~? </i>


    Letting out a breath after finishing a short cultivation session to restore his spirit Qi, Lin Mu got ready to refine the gold for the third and final stage.


    "This will take a long time." Lin Mu said, seeing therge pile of the gold in front of him.


    Hepared it with the cauldron he had and knew that there was no way he would be able to fit all this in it.


    "Have they not gotten the cauldron I asked for yet?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He took out the jade slip and contacted the people who were supposed to bring the cauldron. It was then that he realized that there was already a message on the jade slip that he had missed.


    "Oh? They already had it prepared?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    It seemed like Lin Mu had not answered and the people thought he was deep in cultivation, which was true in a way and thus they didn''t disturb him anymore. Instead, they left the cauldron Lin Mu had requested for, in one of the storage cave.


    "Little Shrubby, can you go and get the cauldron from the cave?" Lin Mu requested.


    <i>~yawn~? </i>


    Little Shrubby who had been taking a little nap, woke up and looked a bit confused, but then nodded his head.


    "Okay. I''ll get it, you just rest." Little Shrubby said before standing up.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    In just a few seconds, he burst into a sprint and disappeared into a red blur.


    "I''ll go over the technique in the meantime¡­ won''t harm to revise." Lin Mu muttered and closed his eyes.


    About half an hourter, Lin Mu could feel Little Shrubby''s presence and opened his eyes, noticing the red blur that approached from the distance.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    Little Shrubby''s ws dug into the rocky ground, creating long marks as he slowed down before finallying to a stop.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    He withdrew the cauldron from the spatial storage belt on his neck and it mmed on the ground with a loud noise.


    "Whoa¡­" Lin Mu said in a surprised tone.


    The cauldron in front of him was thergest one he had ever seen, being over three times as big as the one he had seen in the Tri Cauldron Peony sect. But that was not all, as Lin Mu found a small note stuck to the cauldron.


    ''Brand your spirit sense to it before using it.'' The letter read.


    Seeing this, Lin Mu was a bit surprised. He had not needed to brand his spirit sense on the cauldron he had used till now even if it was a spirit tool, because there was no requirement for it.


    If he was refining alchemical pills, he might have done it, but in this case it seemed to be an absolute requirement.


    "Could it be?" An idea came to Lin Mu''s mind, and he quickly used his spirit sense to probe therge cauldron.


    When he did that, a string of words and some information appeared in his mind.


    "Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron." Lin Mu muttered as he heard the name in his head.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    It was not just any cauldron, but rather a special cauldron that was a Peak Grade Spirit tool!


    "They really gave me a Peak Grade Spirit tool?!" Lin Mu couldn''t help but exim.


    Other than the ring that Jing Luo had repaired, Lin Mu didn''t have any actual peak grade spirit tools or weapons with him. Now this Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron was his very first one.


    ''Why would they give this to me though, when it would be best used in refinement at the Light Harmony sect?'' Lin Mu wondered until he learned the rest of the information.


    A wry smile appeared on his face as he finally understood.


    "No wonder¡­ this thing is no less than scrap iron to them¡­" Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 939 - Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron

    The giant cauldron that had been given to Lin Mu had some very special requirements that made it unusable to most people, despite it being a peak grade spirit tool.


    "Whoever made this really made a mistake, huh¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    The thing was that the Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron was a defective product. Its creator originally wanted to make a pseudo immortal tool and thus added a lot of precious materials andponent to the cauldron along withplex formations.


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    But what happened in the end was that his skill was simply not enough and the cauldron never became a Pseudo immortal tool. Usually, if this happened to any spirit tool, they would simply be a grade lower than that, being a peak grade spirit tool.


    This was still really good and would be valuable.


    But the Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron was different in this matter. Due to the high energy threshold circuits that were added by its creator to make it reach the pseudo immoral tool level, it made it so that no normal cultivator would be able to use it properly.


    And since it was a peak grade spirit tool, only those at the Dao Shell realm and Dao Treading realm could use it, anyway. But even for them, the spirit Qi requirements were so high that it made it impossible for them to make proper use of it.


    Usually high spirit Qi consumption could be offset by the use of auxiliary spirit Qi channeling formations that could supply the spirit Qi to the cauldron instead of the cultivators themselves, but the way the formations were added to the cauldrons meant that this method was notpatible at all.


    And neither could it be offset by making multiple people use it at the same time as the cauldron only worked for the person that imprinted their spirit sense on it. With such restrictions, the Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron was left lying in the storage pavilion of the Light Harmony sect for hundreds of years.


    It wasn''t that the people of the sect hadn''t tried using it, but it was simply not worth using it when there were other cauldrons that could do the same with less effort.


    ''Hmm¡­ if its creator was someone who could even attempt to make a pseudo immortal tool, they should be pretty well known. It''s obviously not Jing Wei that made this and neither is it someone from the Jing n, then who is it?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    And when he thought this, the cauldron responded as if showing its origin to Lin Mu. He could feel some information appear in his mind.


    This was nothing but the signature the creator of the Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron had left on it. This was something a lot of weapon forgers and spirit tool refiners did and weremonce.


    "Daoist Jiadi?" Lin Mu muttered, not recognizing the name.


    He was certain that it was not someone from the Light Harmony sect, as it was already present in the information that this cauldron was not made by the sect but obtained from somewhere else a long time ago.


    Lin Mu checked the records he had just in case and soon found some information about Daoist Jiadi.


    "Oh? He was from the western continent?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "This means this cauldron is from the time when the five continents still existed¡­ this is old¡­ very old." Lin Mu muttered.


    Despite being old, the cauldron looked rather well maintained, and there were no points of damage on it. The cauldron itself was ck in color, with gold carvings imprinted on its surface.


    It had a lid with a triangr top and six ring handles around its body. The cauldron also had four legs that were shaped like a bull''s hoof. The cauldron was over three meters tall and two meters wide.


    "This is probably the work of Jing Luo." Lin Mu guessed.


    Lin Mu had told him what kind of a purpose he wanted the cauldrons for and Jing Luo might have picked this one out of the list that the Light Harmony sect gave him. Since it was technically the best one in quality out of those that fit the purpose.


    The reason that made the Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron useless for most was that they couldn''t supply the spirit Qi needed to control it, but for Lin Mu, that was not a concern.


    After all, he was not going to refine pills in it and was not going to supply spirit Qi to the formations. Rather, he would just be heating and refining gold in it. This was something he could have done with any otherrge cauldron, thus it wasn''t an issue.


    "Well¡­ since I got it, I may as well keep it." Lin Mu said.


    The Light harmony sect had quite literally gifted this to Lin Mu since they had no use for it. Instead gifting it to Lin Mu would bring them more benefits instead of just letting it rot in the storage.


    Giving a peak grade spirit tool as a gift was not something that even top sects would do easily. They too only had a limited number of such spirit tools with them and each one had a great value.


    "Let''s get started on this, then." Lin Mu said as he threw in the gold ingots into the Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron.


    <i>~DENG~DENG~DENG~</i>


    The sound of metal banging against metal could be heard as the gold ingots struck the inside of the cauldron. Once all of the gold ingots were thrown into the cauldron, they were filling it to nearly two thirds of its total capacity.


    "It should reduce by quite a bit once I melt it down¡­" Lin Mu said as he started to heat it up.


    <i>~shua~? </i>


    mes wrapped the cauldronpletely and activated some of the formations of the cauldron.


    "Oh? The passive heat spreading formations work without direct spirit Qi?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    He thought that all features of the cauldron needed active spirit Qi infusion.

 Chapter 940 - One Month Of Gold Refinement

    Learning that the cauldron still had some surprises, Lin Mu was pleased and continued to heat it as the gold ingots inside started to soften.


    Hours passed as the gold finally turned to liquid and filled half the volume of the cauldron. The cauldron was a little over six thousand liters in capacity and looked more like arge water tank instead, but was perfect for arge refinement like this.


    Once all the gold was melted, Lin Mu got to removing the impurities from it and then finally starting the refinement process that would reduce its volume.


    ''This one will be the hardest and the longest process. I need to reduce it to ten percent of the original volume¡­ seeing as it is half filled, the volume of gold in this should be around three thousand liters.'' Lin Mu calcted.


    "Then reducing it to the tenth would mean¡­ I''ll be left with three hundred liters of refined gold. Should be just enough to fully soak me inside it." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    While doing this calction in his mind, Lin Mu continued to stir the gold with his spirit Qi in a spiral while infusing it into it as well.


    Hours turned into days and days turned into weeks.


    It was the third week since Lin Mu had begun the entire process and he had been working nonstop to make sure that no error was made.


    "Just a little bit more¡­" Lin Mu said in an exhausted tone.


    Even with hisrge spirit Qi capacity, Lin Mu had to infuse a massive amount of spirit Qi into the Liquid gold. In thest two stages, the quantity was still enough that Lin Mu wasn''t strained enough.


    But now the quantity of gold was many times that and the refinement needed to be at a higher level as well.


    The more the volume that was to be shrunk, the greater the amount of spirit Qi required. If one were to calcte the amount of spirit Qi that Lin Mu had used in this, it would quite possibly reach the entirety of a small sect''s spirit stone reserves!


    But on the twenty-second day, Lin Mu had finally finished with his work.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "That was way more tough than I had expected¡­" Lin Mu muttered in an exhausted tone.


    His eyes were slightly baggy and hisplexion paler than normal.


    "You did good. For most others, this would have been very difficult or impossible to do. Even Jing Luo would have failed as he would have simply not had the spirit Qi needed to do it despite having greater skills." Senior Xukong praised.


    He knew all this was well deserved, and the feat was worthy of being praised.


    "Thank you, senior¡­ though it left me dead tired." Lin Mu said.


    "Well, that was expected. Though now that you are done, you can rest for a bit before starting with the final step." Xukong replied with a chuckle.


    "Yes," Lin Mu said and looked around for little Shrubby.


    The beast had left a couple of times during the refinement process because the people at the sect had called for him. Once he was called by the Noon Grass sect to intimidate a herd of beasts that had started harassing the disciples while the second time was by none other than Jingming Shang.


    The sly businessman needed someone to deliver some sensitive documents at the earliest possible time, and Little Shrubby was the best fit for it, since the location they were being taken to did not have a teleportation gate.


    After that time, Little Shrubby had returned but had gone out to hunt nearby.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Sensing that Lin Mu was calling for him, the beast returned in a blur, but not without bringing a tree with him.


    "Are you done?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yes, I am¡­ but what''s up with the tree?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He looked at the tree and could tell that it was just amon pine tree. Other than being ratherrge, there wasn''t anything special about it.


    "I wanted to make new skewer sticks." Little Shrubby said, and threw the tree to the side.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The tree created some cracks on the rocky ground but stayed fine itself.


    "Huh¡­ okay¡­ you can do thatter." Lin Mu stated.


    "Do you want me to take over the heating now?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yes. I want to rest and the gold needs to be kept liquid." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Alright. Don''t worry and just rest." Little Shrubby said to which Lin Mu nodded.


    With the amount of spirit Qi Lin Mu had exhausted, it would take him a while to recover it, even with the help of some resources.


    Lin Mu took outrge blocks of spirit stones and directly sat upon them as he started to cultivate. He also popped a few alchemical pills that would help in recovering spirit Qi faster from time to time as well.


    About a weekter, Lin Mu had finally recovered to the peak and was in the same state when he had started a month ago.


    <i>~Phew~</i> Copyright N?v/el/Dra/ma.Org.


    "Didn''t think that just refining the gold would end up taking this long for the third step¡­ I''m already extending past the time line I had set originally." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He checked themunication jade slip to see if there were any messages and found a few. Lin Mu and Jing Luo wanted to head to the north so that they could find Jing Wei, but that n was getting dyed more and more.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ''Not like we can do anything¡­ we simply have too many things to do.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Thankfully Jing Luo didn''t mind the wait, as he too knew that Lin Mu cultivating was very important. The man was now cultivating as well and had left a message that he too was preparing for his breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm now.


    He had already finished teaching the elders the method to assemble the teleportation gates and had made enough gates that they were all sent to the locations intended for them.

 Chapter 941 - Into The Cauldron

    "It''s good that they finally finished setting up the teleportation gates. This will greatly save us time when we need to move around." Lin Mu muttered to himself after seeing the messages.


    Overall, there were now eighteen teleportation gates that had been set up. Other than the ones in the Fenlong kingdom, the Hong Lin Kingdom, the Noon Grass sect, Light Harmony Sect, ck Dune sect and the Long Cloud sect, there were twelve more.


    These were all set strategically ording to what was suggested by the many elders that they now had to support. Overall, from what Lin Mu could now tell, they had a really good reach in at least fifty percent of the Great Zhou Continent.


    The only areas where there were no teleportation gates were in the Northernnds where Gu Yao''s influence was strong, with the exception of the Eastern Ming Dynasty since the Light Harmony Sect existed there.


    There were also no teleportation gates in the south western part of the continent where the Zither wind sect, and the West Ocean sect were located. Those were actually within the scope of the choice for a teleportation gate, but Jing Luo and the rest couldn''t find a location that would be safe enough for it.


    Jingming Shang was working to get a good location for them that would be hidden as a merchant outpost or a storage warehouse. But with Gu Yao having many spies, the process was a bit difficult as they needed to keep everything safe from even those that were free from Gu Yao''s influence, as they could still reveal things unknowingly.


    Though Lin Mu was content with the current situation, as it was already many times better than a few months ago.


    The second message that he saw in the jade slip was about the Kushao ruins. Lin Mu had told the sects about what had happened at the ruins and its truth. Plus Ku Waowen had corroborated the facts as well, making them lose all the doubts.


    This was of course, a shocking revtion to the sects and they had not expected there to be such a conspiracy. The power of the beasts that were there was also quite dangerous and if it were not for Lin Mu destroying therge source of the impure Yin Qi, there was a great chance many stronger Dao Treading realm beasts might have been born.


    Thankfully though, with the help of all the top sect people that were there that day, the Kushao ruins were fully cleared out and the remains of the people inside were also retrieved.


    It was one of the things that the top sects had wanted to do for many centuries now and they had finally managed to finish that. Additionally, it served as closure for those that had lost their families and members to the ruins.


    Most that were in this group were those of the older generations and the ones that had be elders thus, it was overall a good thing as it ended up improving Lin Mu''s reputation with the elders.


    All those that were identified were given proper funerals as for those that were destroyed beyond recognizing were still given a decent burial.


    While the top three sects had not been told about the secret teleportation formation array that was hidden there, the Long Cloud alliance knew of it now. And they were very terrified of something like that.


    If there was another such teleportation array within the Great Zhou continent, they all knew just how big of a security risk it was. Thus, one of the goals they had set up was to try and find any such areas with spatial disturbances around them.


    And doing this actually turned out to be a safe choice for them as well, such that Gu Yao would not sense anything. This was because there was already an order given out by the Sky Precepts sect to check for spatial disturbances many years ago.


    While the other top sects didn''t have to fully follow this order, and had mostly ignored it till now, the Long Cloud alliance now had a very good excuse to use it. Additionally, it helped increase the interaction with the Sky Precepts sect too.


    After being done with reading it all, Lin Mu took a deep breath, feeling the weight of all that had happened and all that had yet toe.


    ''We''vee a long way¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he looked at the boiling cauldron of liquid gold.


    He felt that he was now ready to take the final plunge and floated up into the air.


    "I''ll be gone for a while¡­ I don''t know how long, so be careful. I don''t know if I''ll be able to respond to others either, so try to see if you can handle things on your own for a while." Lin Mu spoke to Little Shrubby.


    "Go on, I can handle everything. You just get strong." Little Shrubby replied with confidence.


    "Mm¡­ and before I go. Take this¡­" Lin Mu said as he chanted the Nurturing heart sutra converting arge amount of his spirit Qi into Beast Qi.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A steady stream of Beast Qi flew out of his hand and entered Little Shrubby''s body, quickly being sucked in.


    "You can also try and breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm while I''m cultivation. Maybe we''ll both have a breakthrough." Lin Mu suggested.


    This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "I''ll try!" Little Shrubby said, feeling excited.


    This was the highest amount of beast Qi he had gotten at once and was happy. His body''s ability to handle the beast Qi had increased and thus he could take arger amount than before now.


    In fact, spirit Qi started surging from Little Shrubby''s body automatically as his bloodline started to hungrily devour the Beast Qi and improve itself.


    "Go on, I''ll be right here." Little Shrubby said as heid just a few meters from the cauldron.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and descended into the cauldron.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    "See you in a bit¡­ my friend¡­"

 Chapter 942 - The Final Stage Of The True Gold Body Forging Arts

    The moment Lin Mu touched the surface of the Liquid Gold, he felt the difference.


    It was dense enough that his body was repulsed by it a bit. If it were not for the fact that he had already absorbed a rtively high amount of gold in his body, he might not have even been able to sink into the liquid gold.


    After all, the density of gold was way higher than that of the human body, making it close to impossible to sink into it.


    Even then, the density of the liquid gold in the cauldron was way higher than the gold Lin Mu had refined before this. Thus he had to force his way into it. If he didn''t put a constant pressure, he would be pushed out of the gold.


    Thankfully, his body was no longer affected by the heat of the gold and could withstand it with ease. The previous two steps had increased his defense to handle that much with ease.


    ''Now to wait till it solidifies, so I don''t need to constantly keep on pushing myself down.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The volume of gold in the cauldron was more than double Lin Mu''s original volume, which meant that he was fully immersed in it and could sit cross legged inside it. This was also how it was described in the True Gold Body Forging Arts.


    He was supposed to be fully ''encased'' in the gold once it cools and solidifies. Only after that happened was he supposed to start cultivate with the mnemonic of the technique. It took about three hours before the gold was fully solidified.


    Lin Mu was sure that there were some qualitative changes that had happened to the gold as normal gold should solidify way faster than this. Though once it did, Lin Mu started cultivating almost immediately.


    In this step of the True Gold Body Forging Arts, the practitioner needed to cultivate within the solid gold until they could ''breathe'' in it. Once they managed to reach that point, the gold would slowly started to shrink and assimte into their bodies.


    There was no time estimate to how long this would take as more than 99% of those that practiced this technique had failed, not to mention the ones that reached this step were but just a fraction of that.


    Lin Mu and Xukong were discussing about it a while back and they hade to an estimation about the number of people that managed to cultivate the True Gold Body Forging Arts. They came to the assumption that there was a chance Lin Mu might have been one of the five or so people that reached this point.


    This figure was due to just how high the requirements and difficulty of this technique were. For Lin Mu, the requirements were greatly lowered, but for a normal cultivator they would need a lot more resources and additional pills like the Bone Enameling pill.


    The progress that had taken Lin Mu two months to reach would take others at least a year or more. Though there was still the third stage that had no time estimate as it would greatly vary depend on the individual talent and skills.


    Many would simply die because they would end up suffocating inside the gold and would be far too weak to breakout themselves. Lin Mu didn''t have that issue since if he wanted to he could break out of it forcefully with his power and could hold his breath for a very long time.


    Time started to slowly pass as Lin Mu continued to cultivate. During this time, he discovered more things just by the things that he was experiencing.


    One of the main things being, why it was mentioned in the True Gold Body Forging Arts that one had to ''breathe'' though the gold.


    ''Gold is of the metal element which conforms to the Lungs¡­ thus if one is able to ''breathe'' in the gold, doesn''t that mean their affinity to the metal element has increased?'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While this was just a theory for now, Lin Mu was sure that as long as he kept on going, he will reach the truth.


    And just like that, hours turned into days, which then turned into weeks. By now, Lin Mu had entered a state of trance. In a way, he wasn''t even conscious and his body had fully adapted to cultivating without any manual control.


    Lin Mu could feel himself in his mind and he could feel his surrounding but he didn''t have the need to control anything. To him, everything was in harmony and him controlling things would only mess it up.


    Thus he let things progress as it is, and he simply stayed as he was. More time passed like this, and Lin Mu felt a bit different.


    Simply staying there in his mind felt a little boring to him now, and he wondered if he could do something else at this time. And thus he decided on something that could be done with just his mind.


    He would be training his spirit sense and refining it further!


    Lin Mu had not done this for a long while now¡­ at least not intentionally. His spirit sense would improve on its own slowly as his cultivation base improved and he had not needed to manually improve it before this.


    Copyright N?v/el/Dra/ma.Org.


    But now this was the only thing he could do at this time and he decided to do it. Within his mind, his spirit sense started to reveal itself. It was as if there was infinite space within his mind and no matter how much his spirit sense expanded within it, there would always be more area to expand into.


    Once the entirety of the spirit sense had appeared, Lin Mu started training it using the many methods he had now.


    More time passed as Lin Mu kept both the tasks, practicing the True Gold Body Forging Arts and refining his spirit sense.


    Weeks had turned into months now and Lin Mupletely lost the track of time.

 Chapter 943 - Green Loom Kingdom And New Clues

    While Lin Mu was busy cultivating the True Gold Body Forging Arts in the Kong ne, a different series of events were happening in the real world.


    At the Long Cloud sect, a group of powerful elders were gathered in the main hall and were conversing.


    "How are the things going in the Center?" Patriarch You Yi questioned one of the elders.


    "Things are going just as he nned, Patriarch. There were some hups, but our people managed to handle them. With the help of the teleportation gates, our response time has been reduced to nearly ten percent of what it used to be in some cases.


    Even in the areas that are a bit distant, we have cut out response time by fifty percent." The elder responded.


    "Good, keep that up." Patriarch You Yi replied, feeling pleased.


    "You will also be happy to know that the merchant Jingming Shang has secured two areas that we can set up the teleportation gates in." Another elder chimed in.


    "Oh? Please do tell." Patriarch You Yi prodded.


    "Both of them are in the south western area, with one being near the West Ocean Sect''s territory and the other one being near the capital of Green Loom Kingdom." The elder spoke.


    "Oh? They actually managed to find a ce in the Green Loom Kingdom? That''s good." Patriarch You Yi replied.


    "Indeed. We will now have a streaky revenue stream from there and Jingming Shang will be seeing dividends every week." The elder added.


    "Good! Make sure that he has everything he needs in setting things up." Patriarch You Yi stated.


    "Of course, patriarch." The elder agreed.


    The Green Loom Kingdom was located to the south west of the Great Zhou Continent. It was a mid sized kingdom but was very rich due to being a major supplier of clothes to all the empire.


    The Green Loom Kingdom was literally named after the many textile mills that existed in the kingdom. The soil and climate there was perfect to grow various forms of textile crops such as cotton, Spring hair reeds, and other textile fibers like silk.


    They used to be a weak kingdom a long time ago, and the people living there were very poor. But it all changed when the royal family copsed and another n took over. This n pursued economic and business interests instead of military power, like many others, allowing them to improve the condition of the kingdom very fast.


    N?velDrama.Org holds text ? rights.


    Of course, with money came many greedy eyes, but that was taken care of by the same thing. The Green Loom Kingdom became one of the biggest supporter of the mercenaries and rogue cultivators back then.


    And once they gained more power and riches, they gained the support of one of the top sects, the West Ocean sect allowing them a firm foothold. The west ocean sect was located on the very edge of their border near the ocean and would receive tributes from them.


    Thus graining an entry point into the Green Loom Kingdom was very good for the alliance. The Green loom Kingdom exported their clothes and fabrics to the entire empire and would be used from all sses of people.


    Since they exported many qualities and grades of fabrics, there were always buyers for them. It was even said that the Imperial family of the Great Zhou Empire specifically only got their fabrics from the Green Loom Kingdom.


    This was the special gift that the Green Loom Kingdom would prepare for them every year and received some special benefits from the Imperial family for that.


    It wasn''t that these robes were just used by the mortals either, they could be used by cultivators to further refine them into spirit tools and spirit robes. Over the years, the Green Loom Kingdom had gained enough power to have their own group of specialized cultivators that made such fabrics.


    With such a wide variety of products, one could imagine the demand across the empire and the cost of it as well. The further one had to import from, the higher the cost that they would have to incur.


    Which was why the cost of Green Loom Kingdom Fabrics was the highest in the Northern Lands. And among the three kingdoms of the Northernnds, the highest rate was in the Eastern Ming Dynasty.


    Thus if Jingming Shang managed to establish a foothold there, they could procure the fabrics for a fraction of price and sell it for a few percent lower than the others in the Eastern Ming Dynasty.


    Such profits were something that even the top sects would not take lightly.


    "I have something to report as well, patriarchs." An elder from the ck Dune sect spoke up.


    "Please go ahead." Patriarch Shandian said.


    "We have been investigating the traces of the Northern Tribes ording to the clues obtained from the old woman Ku Waowen and have some leads." The ck dune sect elder repelled.


    "You did?! Tell us what you found then." Patriarch You Yi said with urgency.


    They had been investigating this for a while now and most of the leads had ended up being dead. The elders could only assume that the incident at the Kushao ruins had ended up rming the Northern Tribes and they were thus left with no other choice but to hide everything and purge their traces.


    Additionally, Ku Waowen did tell them that they were supposed to report to their superiors at least once a month and if they didn''t, they would be assumed dead and every link to them would be cut off.


    Of course, more than a month had passed since then and the Northern Tribes had evidently worked to hide their presence even more. Thus hearing that they finally had a lead was the good news they had been wanting for a while now.


    "Our disciples have been sent out to find the traces of the Northern Tribe spies and one of the groups did end up suspecting a few people.. They are currently still investigating, but this is a good start for us."

 Chapter 944 - The Gu Legion’s Reaction

    Hearing that they had finally gotten to finding some of the people, the patriarchs felt ted, but at the same time they knew it was not a matter to be excited. If anything, they needed to be far more careful than ever before.


    "That is excellent. Keep us updated about everything and hopefully we can catch them unaware without any losses on our end." Patriarch Shandian spoke.


    The Patriarch of the Light Harmony sect thought seemed to be thinking about something and spoke up.


    "Where exactly is the location of these suspects?" Patriarch Mingliang questioned.


    "It is near a town called ck Orchard in the kingdom of Shu." The ck Dune sect elder answered.


    "The kingdom of Shu again huh¡­ seems like we should consider it one of the kingdoms lost for now." Patriarch Mingling replied.


    "That will be a rming choice¡­ but also a cautious one." Patriarch You Yi responded.


    "At the current times, it is best we think a few steps ahead. Especially since we already know the Mountain brush sect is under the control of Gu Yao." Patriarch Mingling stated.


    "Hmm¡­ it shall be done, then. Only those that are safe from the control of Gu Yao will be allowed to operate there other than the elders at the Dao Shell realm and above." Patriarch You Yi dered.


    With the orders given, the elder went to do his duty while the discussion in the hall continued. It was evident that the choice Lin Mu had made was right. Now even in his absence, the duties that he was burdened with were being carried out.


    Still there were other forces in action that would not simply sit and watch.


    ¡­


    In a deste forest stood arge pavilion surrounded by hundred of buildings. All of the buildings had a crest hanging from them that held the character ''Gu'' written on them.


    The pavilion from outside looked rather simple, having almost no decorations, only defensive structures around it like walls and many formation arrays that protected it. Even the interior of the pavilion was empty, having only a singlerge hall.


    And in this hall sat a man. His dark hair was long enough to reach the floor with him sitting down and he had a red mark on his forehead. It looked like a rune of some kind, but could not be understood.


    Waves of spirit Qi regrly erupted from the man and spread in the surroundings, only to be blocked by the barrier formations of the pavilion.


    The man had his eyes closed and his breathing was even. He seemed to be rather peaceful, but suddenly his eyes opened. His pupils were dark like the night and shone in the dim hall under the light of the formations.


    "Why have youe?" The man questioned in a deep voice.


    "My lord," A person dressed in ck robes appeared in the hall.


    He was wearing a mask and looked to be rather tall.


    "A few pests have been buzzing around one of our sites." The masked man spoke.


    "And why is it that you need toe and disturb me for that?" The ck haired man asked, his tone a bit cold.


    "The pests belong to the ck Dune sect. Should we follow the same protocol as before, my lord?" The masked man replied.


    "¡­ so they finally decided to act." The ck haired man said after a pause.


    "What do we do, my lord? We have a lot of sensitive materials at the site currently and the our Northern Compatriots are also taking rest there." The masked man questioned.


    "Seems like the time hase¡­" The ck haired man spoke.


    Hearing this, the masked man seemed to be a bit surprised as his breath fastened.


    "But won''t that be going against the orders of our northernpatriots?" The masked man asked, feeling doubtful.


    "They have wasted our time for far too long now. I think it is in our best interest that we begin our own work. So far, we''ve done as they asked and gotten them the things they wanted along with the locations they wanted." The ck haired man said before taking a pause.


    "And since they haven''t evene close to fulfilling their earlier promises¡­ we have no obligation to continue obeying them¡­ at least not until the next step begins." He added.


    The breathing of the masked man seemed to have sped up again, and it looked like he was excited now.


    "Then¡­ shall we do ''that''?" the masked man asked.


    "No, that will be forter. Once I''m done here and the formation array ispleted, I will be able to breakthrough. That will be the day we will show our true force." The ck haired man replied.


    "I see¡­ so we only eliminated the pests for now and send a warning?" The masked man guessed his master''s thoughts.


    "Indeed. Do that and send a few more warnings. The Long Cloud Alliance has been spreading its wings a little too much with the leeway we gave them. Get the Zither Wind alliance to start its opposition." The ck haired man ordered.


    "It shall be done!" The masked man said as he quickly stood up and flew away.


    Once the masked man was gone, the ck haired man stood up and tapped his finger in the air.


    <i>~SHUA~</i> Copyright N?v/el/Dra/ma.Org.


    A formation array revealed its presence and appeared around the man. It consisted of several circles, all of which were linked by strings of runes on the ground. But the most eye catching part was the illusory figures that were there in these circles.


    If someone more knowledgeable saw these figures, they would be very shocked as these figures all belonged to very influential people of the empire. Some of them even belonging to the sect patriarchs and high elders of various cultivation sects.


    <i>~Humm~</i>


    But along with the circles, the illusory figure of a red crystal also materialized in the ck haired man''s hands.


    "I will soon fulfill the wishes of our ancestors, father¡­ The entire Empire will know the name of Gu Yao then and the Gu n will rise once again!"

 Chapter 945 - Lin Mu Awakens And Cultivation Increase

    Back in the Kong ne, time continued to pass as Lin Mu stayed in the cauldron. Days turned into nights and clouds disappeared past the horizon. Trees grew new leaves and shed the only as the seasons changed.


    The finally one day, it happened¡­


    <i>~Huu~</i>


    The sound of a breath was heard and echoed within the cauldron. The man sitting in the cauldron opened his eyes and looked at the dark interior of it before looking up at the dark, starless sky.


    "Finally¡­" Lin Mu let out a breath.


    He flew out of the cauldron and looked at himself, finding the great difference from before. Lin Mu''s skin gained a golden sheen that could be seen when light reflected off it slightly. The sheen was not fully stable and could fade in and out of the skin.


    <strong><i>~CRACK!~</i></strong>


    But when he finally stepped onto the ground, his feet directly sank in.


    "Damn!" Lin Mu cursed as he looked at his feet, that were now buried in the rocky ground all the way to his shins.


    <i>~CRACK~ CRACK~</i>


    Lin Mu pulled his right foot out and put it on the side so that he could pull his other foot out of the ground, but doing that only made it works.


    <i>~SHATTER~</i>


    Lin Mu''s right leg sank back into the rocky ground where he had stepped. Looking at the situation Lin Mu couldn''t help but shake his head.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I did know this was gonna happen¡­ but seems like I forgot¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Knowing that walking normally will not be an option for the time being, Lin Mu directly flew out using his cultivation base.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    He floated in the air and looked at this handiwork on the ground.


    "How will I actually walk now?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    His weight was now enough to make his legs sink into the ground with ease. If it were some other beast, it might not have been the same since the surface area of their feet would berge.


    But in the case of Lin Mu, he was still the size of a normal human and thus the pressure from his feet was enough to easily break even the rocky ground. Thinking of a solution, Lin Mu decided to try it out.


    He slowly lowered himself to the ground, while still maintaining the upwards force from his cultivation base. Then he very gentlyid his feet on the ground.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    "<i>Tch~</i>" Lin Mu clicked his tongue as he saw the cracks spreading on the ground.


    ''Need to practice a bit¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He ended up spending an hour just in this, before he finally managed to reach the perfect equilibrium of upward force so that he would be able to walk normally and not crack the ground and sink in.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "This will take some time getting used too¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he finally managed to walk around without breaking the ground.


    Now that he had fixed the immediate problem, Lin Mu could think about other things. He looked around in search of someone but didn''t see them.


    "Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu called out, but didn''t get a response.


    Closing his eyes, a wave of spirit Qi spread out from his body like a tsunami.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    Cracks started spreading simply from the pressure of his spirit Qi, as it was unleashed.


    <i>~Rustle~ Rustle~ Rustle~</i>


    The trees in the distance started shaking due to it too, as if a wind was striking them.


    A few secondster, Lin Mu opened his eyes again.


    "Not within the the hundred kilometers¡­" He muttered.


    That was right, Lin Mu''s spirit sense had been strengthened and refined further and could now directly cover a range of hundred kilometers!


    "The increase was certainly worth it¡­" Lin Mu said as he felt the increased sensitivity.


    He could feel each and every creature within the range of his spirit sense and also the other objects like rocks, soil, dead trees and a lot more. But this also put another question in his mind.


    "Wait¡­ if I managed to refine my spirit sense this much¡­ then how long has it even been?" Lin Mu questioned as his face fell.


    He quickly took out themunication jade slip and checked it for messages. But as a surprise to him, it waspletely nk.


    "What in the world¡­? How are there no messages at all? Even if nothing happened, they would still be sending me weekly updates. I''m pretty sure at least a week has passed." Lin Mu said to himself in disbelief.


    ''My cultivation!'' Lin Mu quickly checked his own body.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    His spirit sense first went to his Dantian, where he saw his Nascent soul floating above his Dao Shell and the massive ocean of spirit Qi that surrounded it.


    "The Dao Shell¡­ it''s more than fifty percentplete? HOW''S THAT POSSIBLE?!" Lin Mu eximed.


    His face fell even more, as a bad feeling rose within his stomach. Lin Mu then checked his lungs to see the refinement level and saw it had been fully refined.


    He had officially refined three treasured organs and was at the third level of the Five Treasures realm!


    Usually Lin Mu should have been very happy with all this, but he was not. It was due to the fact that the cost of time came with these increases in power as well.


    Lin Mu knew very well that it would take him a long time to progress the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm and yet, his Dao Shell was more than half ready. It meant that a sufficient amount of time had passed for that to happen.


    Even if his lungs could have been refined in a lesser time than that, Lin Mu knew for sure that his Dao Shell should have taken way longer than that.


    "There is no sign of increased spirit Qi here, which means¡­ Did the well of Slumber trigger on its own?" Lin Mu wondered.

 Chapter 946 - How Much Time Has Passed?

    The possibility that he might have slept for years unknowingly was terrifying to Lin Mu. Especially since he did not know what had happened to his friends and allies.


    "This can''t be¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    It was now that he remembered who he had with him.


    "SENIOR! SENIOR XUKONG!!!" Lin Mu shouted within his mind.


    Within the space of the ring, the ethereal altar dimly glowed as the streaks of spatial energy flitted across the skies. An egg gentlyid on a pillow kept close to the altar, unmoving as ever.


    A few hundred meters from the altar floated the figure of Xukong''s avatar. He had all his eyes closed as if deep in sleep, but the spatial energy swirling around him showed that he was still cultivating.


    His size seemed to have increased again, and he was now a few inches bigger than before, reaching a width of almost twelve inches. If any normal person saw a spider as big as this, they would certainly be shocked and afraid.


    A frantic voice called out to Xukong, making him awaken. His eight eyes opened up as he looked at the emptiness of the space.


    "Lin Mu?" Xukong called out, feeling a bit confused.


    But the confusion was momentary as he realized the current situation.


    "I can sense the outside again¡­" Xukong muttered.


    "Senior!" Lin Mu called again.


    "I can hear you now, I just woke up too." Xukong replied.


    "Senior, we might be in great trouble¡­ I reached three treasured organs and my Dao Shell is nearly sixty percentplete as well!" Lin Mu quickly said.


    "Seems like we are indeed in trouble¡­" Xukong said, understanding the implications of it all.


    "Senior, do you know how long it has been?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ shortly after you entered your state of trance, I realized I couldn''t talk to you nor could I feel the outside world. Your mind had sort of ''closed'' which locked me out as well. Thinking that this might be temporary since we had been through this before, I too focused on cultivating." Xukong said before taking a quick look at himself.


    ''And it seems like I''m in the same position¡­'' he thought to himself, noting his increased size.


    "So we have no idea¡­" Lin Mu said in a lost tone.


    He stayed in the same state for a couple of seconds, before he took out the jade slip and tried to contact others. He had already tried to contact Little Shrubby, but did not receive any reply, making Lin Mu think that he might be too far from him.


    Lin Mu could still feel his presence though and knew that little Shrubby was alive at the very least. But he couldn''t say the same about the others. He had already started to regret doing what he had done.


    His unease was apparent on his face until finally he received a response.


    "Senior Lin Mu? SENIOR LIN MU!" A voice said from the jade slip.


    "Hua Wu!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    He had tried contacting Jing Luo, Jingming Shang and a few others, but seemingly no one had been reachable. Going through his list of people, finally it was Hua Wu that ended up responding.


    "You''re finally awake, senior! We came to check up on you many times, but you were in that strange gold ball. Things started to go wrong since thest year, so we got busy and only Little Shrubby checked up on you from time to time." Hua Wu said in a concerned tone.


    "Wait! wait! How long has it exactly been since you guysst heard from me?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You don''t know? It has been two years!" Hua Wu answered.


    "Two years¡­" Lin Mu repeated. "The well of slumber truly activated¡­"


    Lin Mu didn''t know how it could have happened, but considering the state he was in, he realized even if the bloodline skill truly did activate, he would have had no way to know that.


    ''Why am I not feeling hungry, then?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "It''s the vitality in your body after reaching the Three Treasured organs. It is still enough to make you feel normal for now." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu took note of that, before asking a string of questions to Hua Wu. He had hundreds of them and Hua Wu exined everything to him. But the more Lin Mu learned, the more his face fell.


    Until finally he heard something that turned his face cold. A serious expression appeared on his face as a hint of anger flickered in his eyes.


    "I''ming." Lin Mu said inly before putting away the jade slip.


    <i>~shua~</i> Copyright N?v/el/Dra/ma.Org.


    A new set of robes appeared on his body automatically as he stepped firmly on the ground.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    A crater was created from that single step as Lin Mu shot forward like a cannonball. He flew through the sky at great speed; faster than ever before. The trees below him bent from the winds generated by his flight and the beasts that were nearby ran away, feeling terrified.


    Lin Mu flew nonstop, his destination the ne nexus of the Kong ne where all the teleportation gates were located. He looked at the over thirty teleportation gates and quickly found the one he wanted.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Injecting a stream of spirit Qi into the formation arrays, Lin Mu activated the teleportation gate and walked through it, disappearing in the portal.


    ***


    In the Xiaofan world, at a certain forest, a battle was currently raging.


    Dead bodies and body parts could be seen strewn about as the sounds of weapons shing could be heard.


    <i>~ng~ ng~ ng~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~Boom~</i>


    Various Qi skills were used, and fires and wind raged.


    The participants of the battle seemed to be many. Some wore the robes of sects, while some just seemed to be dressed in random robes not belonging to any organization. Then on the other side were people dressed in ck robes that hid their faces.


    Some of them wore masks while some simply covered them with cloth.. But the one thing that wasmon in all was the character ''Gu'' written on their backs.

 Chapter 947 - A Harsh Battle - I

    "How did they find us this quickly?" A Long Cloud sect disciple questioned.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Another disciple shot a arrow that shed with the shield of a Gu Legion member that was about to attack hispanion.


    "Focus on the fight! We''ll leave reasoning to the elders!" The Long Cloud disciple with the bow shouted.


    "DAMMIT!" The first disciple crushed the leg of the Gu legion member that had stumbled. "This was supposed to be a normal mission. We were simply supposed to protect the supplies being transported."


    Some distance away from them, a couple of elders of the Long Cloud sect were fighting as well.


    "Cloud python Whip!" The elder chanted as a python made out of clouds whittled at the barrier of a Gu n member.


    Both of them seemed to be in the Nascent soul realm and their strengths were almost equal.


    "The Long Cloud alliance will soon know its ce. You have had too much fun in the past few months, humph!" the Gu Legion member said as he threw out small knives that passed through the barrier as if it didn''t exist.


    The knives split apart like dandelions and multiplied. The Long cloud sect elder''s eyes went wide as he moved the cloud whip around at a blinding speed.


    <i>~Shua~ Shua~ shua~</i>


    But as a surprise to him, the small knives passed through his Qi skill, making him realize that they were illusory.


    "ARGH!" The elder cried in pain as a knife struck his leg.


    Blood spilled from the man''s calf where the knife had stuck. He had managed to dodge or block most of the knives, but this one had managed to slip through.


    "You''re done. It''s best you submit to our lord Gu Yao. Then perhaps you might be spared and will get to see the glory of the Gu Legion in the future soon enough." The Gu legion member said proudly.


    It was evident that there was no fear in his eyes despite the fierce battle that was underway. There were tens of people dying from both the sides, and yet no one could pay much attention due to being engrossed in the battle.


    About half a kilometer from this ce, another group of disciples was fighting. They were fighting in a different manner than the others and seemed to be cooperating properly and not fighting individually.


    "Move in the square pattern!" the leading disciple ordered.


    He was at the peak of the core condensation realm while the other disciples with him were all at the core condensation realm as well. But the ones they were fighting were stronger than them.


    Going against them were four Gu legion members, with one of them being at the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm while the rest were at the core condensation realm. Normally such a line up would mean the death of all those with the weaker cultivation base.


    But this time, the Long Cloud disciples seemed to be having the upper hand.


    The disciples all executed a few hand seals as formations lit up around them.


    <i>~shua~? </i>


    "NO!!!!" The nascent soul realm Gu Legion member shouted in an unwilling tone.


    "Breakthrough the restriction and pull the elder out!" the core condensation members yelled as they tried to attack the barrier.


    But their effort was for naught as the formation array showed its full power and spirit Qi stirred like a grinder.


    <i>~DENG~ DENG~ DENG~</i>


    Spirit Qi turned into sharp des like sabers and sword before cutting apart the Nascent soul realm Gu Legion member into chunks of meat.


    "GET THE REST OF THEM TOO!" Having killed the strongest foe, the Long Cloud disciples were now free to kill the rest.


    One of the disciples threw a javelin that skewered through the neck of a Gu Legion member, while another one directly used his fists to break the neck of another. But during this time, a mishap happened and one of the female disciples made a mistake.


    "Ming Ming! NO! GET BACK!" The leader shouted, but it was toote.


    "You all won''t get out alive either! AHAHAHA!" A Gu legion member shouted madly as he tightly hugged the Female Long Cloud disciple even though he was currently being stabbed by her sword.


    "DETONATE!" The man shouted as a strong spirit Qi wave emanated from his body before being pulled back.


    This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    His core suddenly ignited and released a power that he would have been incapable of doing on his own.


    <i>~SPLAT~</i>


    The female disciple didn''t even get to say a fewst words before she was blowing to bits and her body parts were all thrown across the forest. The disciples that tried to save her were not safe either, with two of them losing a limb and being thrown away.


    The leading disciple gritted his teeth as he saw the scene of ughter.


    "Gu Legion! I''ll eradicate everyst one of you!" The disciple swore as embers of rage sparked in his eyes.


    This was but just one of the tragedies of the battle that were witnessed by the many members here today. And it possibly won''t be thest one either. The battle had already been going for over six hours now and even the stronger disciples withrger spirit Qi reserves were getting tired.


    The elders that were battling other Nascent soul realm Gu Legion members were exhausted as well and had used up a significant amount of their spirit Qi. They were currently outnumbered by the Gu Legion members, and they didn''t know how long they couldst.


    "Heavens! Just how many of them areing now? Were they already pinning to attack us from the start?" One of the elders couldn''t help but question.


    "No matter what, we have to hold on. We can''t let the sacrifices of our disciples go to waste like this." The elder who seemed to be the strongest of them all spoke.


    But even he was only at the Child Soul stage of the nascent soul realm.


    "AHAHAHA! This is all futile effort," A hoarseughter was heard from the distance as a Dao Shell realm spirit Qi wave was felt.

 Chapter 948 - A Harsh Battle - II

    Sensing the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the distance and the voice, the faces of the Long Cloud elders fell.


    They were all Junior elders of the Long Cloud sect and were at the nascent soul realm. There were currently no high elders near them and even if they wanted to ask for help from theme, they won''t be able to arrive in time necessarily.


    "What do we do now, elder Liu Cai?" one of the elders asked as he gripped the spirit axe in his hand tightly.


    "What else? WE FIGHT ON! We''ll explode out nascent souls if we have to, if it means killing that man!" The leading elder said with determination.


    Hearing this, the others seemed to be a bit hesitant, but the cries of the disciplesing from all around them made them strengthen their resolve.


    "Looks like today is the day that I have been preparing for. I''ll be going ahead first, elder Liu Cai." A white haired elder said in a mncholic tone.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    He was the oldest looking one among them, but was only at the Infant Soul stage of the nascent soul realm. There were also several injuries on his body, the most severe one of them being arge one in the side of his chest that revealed his bleeding lungs inside.


    Hearing the words of the white haired elder, the others looked on solemnly.


    "If we live past today, the Long Cloud sect will never forget your contribution, Elder Sai." Elder Liu Cai said.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    "If your melodrama is over, then be ready to die!" The Dao Shell realm member of the Gu legion finally arrived.


    Unlike the others, he was not wearing a mask and his face was open for all to see. Though his robes were the same as all others, being ck with the Gu Legion character imprinted on the back.


    "Your opponent is me!" Elder Sai shouted as he ate a pill.


    The pill was pitch ck in color and let out a foul smell. If anyone were to smell it they would find their head feeling dizzy and if they smelled it for a bit too long, they might just fall unconscious.


    And yet, Elder Sai ate it as if it was nothing.


    "HAAA!" Elder Sai yelled as a newfound power coursed through his body.


    ck veins popped all over his body and his flesh started to shrink rapidly. By the time he was halfway to the Dao Shell realm cultivator, he was all but skin and bones.


    "I wasn''t as talented as others, but I still managed to be an elder of the Long cloud sect. With all that the sect has given me and nurtured me, it is now my time to pay back." Elder Sai said to himself as a fierce glint appeared in his eyes.


    <i>~PSHHHH~</i>


    He ruthlessly bit off his own tongue and spat out dense blood essence from his mouth. The blood essence was heavy like mercury and filled with dense vitality. Having done that, the chest of the old man burst open and from it shout out a small infant.


    The infant was barely the size of a palm, but when it passed through the blood essence, it rapidly grew and aged in the blink of an eye. From an infant, it turned into a young man.


    The Dao Shell realm Gu legion expert who saw all this felt danger in that moment as his pupils constricted.


    "Don''t you dare¡ª" but before he could say much, the nascent soul reached him.


    "CLOUD FATHER ERADICATION!" The nascent soul of Elder Sai shouted before exploding.


    <strong><i>~KABOOM!~</i></strong>


    The sound of the explosion was loud enough to be heard for several tens of kilometers and all those that were within its range had to forcefully shut their ears for the fear of going def.


    The ones that were right next to it though, had it the worst and their ears were already bleeding. The Long Cloud sect elders who knew what was going to happen were a bit prepared though, and were able to defend to a certain extent.


    Dense cloudy smoke filled an area of five hundred meters, making anyone hard to see what was happening there. Even the spirit sense was useless here as the cloudy smoke was filled with spirit Qi fluctuation that were chaotic enough to injure it.


    "He did it¡­" Elder Liu Cai said in a low voice.


    His expression was that of seriousness, yet a hint of respect could be seen in his eyes. The other elders that were with him had simr expressions, though there was also worry mixed in with that.


    "I never thought I would ever get to see the Cloud Father Eradication being used in my life. And now I have¡­" One of the elders muttered.


    "Though it might have been best if we never got to see it." A female elder added. "The cost of it is too great."


    <i>~woong~</i>


    But just as they said this, a wave of energy was felting from the center, rming them all.


    "No way¡­ it can''t be¡­" Elder Liu Cai gasped.


    "FUCK YOU, LONG CLOUD SECT!" A hoarse voice yelled as a gust of wind forcefully pushed away all the cloudy smoke.


    "He''s really alive!" Elder Liu Cai said in an astonished tone.


    "How can he live after that exposition of the Cloud Father Eradication? Even a Shellpletion stage Dao Shell realm expert would die." The female elder said as dread appeared in her eyes.


    <i>~Kacha~</i>


    The sound of ss breaking could be heard as a small object crumbled in the hands of the Dao Shell realm expert.


    "You all piss me off like hell! You even made me use up the Great Rampart Talisman¡­" The Dao Shell realm expert cursed.


    Seeing that the self sacrifice of theirpanion and fellow elder had gone to waste, the Long Cloud sect elders didn''t know what to do but feel lost.


    "You shall all pay for this with your lives and your disciples''s lives! Your souls and bodies will strengthen our lord!" The Dao Shell realm expertughed out loud.

 Chapter 949 - Lin Mu’s Descent

    Despair could be seen on the faces of the Long Cloud Sect elders. The sacrifice of the elder had ended up with nothing and they didn''t know what they could do.


    "We won''t go down this easily!" Elder Liu Cai said with anger and threw out six talismans of his own.


    <i>~Boom Boom~</i>


    The talismans were explosive ones that could create small explosions along with a lot of smoke. Elder Liu Cai knew that this was obviously not going to do much, the reason he used it was to distract the man for a bit.


    "NOW!" Elder Liu Cai shouted.


    The other elders split up before attacking with their weapons. The weapons carried clouds with them and had far greater might than normal.


    "Cloud Armament ughter Formation!"


    The weapons joined together and weaved to form a that restrained the Dao Shell realm expert. The weapons shed with the hands of the Dao Shell realm expert and were deflected off. The brows of the Long Cloud sect elders furrowed but they didn''t stop there. They kept on attacking incessantly and tried to hold the man off.


    "Don''t stop for even a moment!" Liu Cai shouted.


    The Dao Shell Realm expert got angrier by the minute and was pissed off due to the attacks. When he came here he was fully confident that he would be able to handle these few Long Cloud sect elders with ease.


    ''Dammit, if the others find out about this I''ll lose all face. I already said to them I''ll win this with ease and the lord will have plenty of bodies to sacrifice.'' The Dao Shell realm expert thought.


    He waved his hand as a ck halberd appeared in his hand.


    "ENOUGH!" The Dao Shell realm expert shouted.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    The halberd tore through the air as if it were a fabric and then stuck the weapons of the Long Cloud sect elders.


    "ARGH!" The elders cried out in pain.


    Blood spilled as deep cuts were made on their bodes. Some were shed on their hands while some were shed on their torso. But no matter what, this was a severe injury for them. Not to mention just this one attack had turned the tide of the battle.


    For a minute there they were suppressing the Dao Shell realm elder all on their own but now, the battle had flipped.


    ''Are we really this mismatched?'' the elders thought.


    <i>~tch~</i>


    "You all are really annoying. Seems like I''ll just have to kill you. While I would have preferred if you were alive, the lord shouldn''t mind as long as Ipensate quality for quantity." The Dao Shell realm elder stated with a smirk.


    "No¡­" Liu Cai muttered in an unwilling tone.


    He wanted to resist but the pressure exuding from the Dao Shell realm expert was now strong enough to freeze him. Not to mention the force of the previous attack had broken their formation that sent their spirit qi into chaos. Controlling it was now difficult and they needed a moment to do that.


    But the Dao Shell realm elder wasn''t going to give them this chance after all.


    "Now die!" The Dao Shell realm expert dered as he raised his halberd to the sky.


    Energy gathered on the de of the halberd as its size increased by two times. An illusory figure of an ape appeared on top of it exuding a crushing presence. It was evident that this was no normal spirit weapon and was a high grade spirit weapon that had its own skill.


    The eyes of the Long Cloud sect elders turned dull as they awaited their end.


    <i>~KABOOM!!!!~</i>


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    But the end they were expecting never came.


    "W-Wha¡­" The elder''s jaw was left open as they gazed upon the scene in front of them.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "How?¡­ who?" Liu Cai questioned in confusion.


    A mass of dust had covered the area in front of them, making it hard for them to see. But what they could tell was that there was now another person there in front of them. The appearance of this person had evidently stopped the attack that was about to kill them. But the question was who could do this.


    "Did the high elders arrive?" The female Long Cloud sect elder wondered.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    From the dusty cloud, they could see a golden shine. It was very eye catching and made them wondered what it was.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    A Gust of wind blew from the center of the dust cloud as the scene finally cleared up for all. There they saw what would be forever be imprinted in their minds and be forever be carried in their memories. They would probably tell this story for years toe and their descendants would take this day as a legend.


    The person standing there was of course none other than Lin Mu. His body glimmered with a golden sheen under a ray of sunlight and made him look like a god''s idol. His body had gotten bulkier than before and he had gotten an inch taller as well. The outline of his muscles was visible under his robes and a dominating presence was felt from him.


    His eyes were cold as they nced at everything. But what was even more shocking was what was below him.


    "T-the¡­ The Dao Shell realm expert of the Gu Legion, he¡­ he''s dead?" One of the Long Cloud sect elders muttered.


    The others too saw the utterly crushed body of the Dao Shell realm expert. It looked as if he had been pressed into the ground from the top of his head and was ttened into a pancake. Blood, guts and brains were sttered around his ttened body as if he were a watermelon that were smashed.


    But that was not all as all this was within a crater that had been created around the dead body and Lin Mu. Simply Lin Mu''s weight was enough to crush the man into a paste not to mention the force with which he had descended.


    "W-who are you senior?"

 Chapter 950 - One Move To End Them All

    Lin Mu looked around at the scene of devastation, thinking the worst.


    "Senior? Who are you?" The Long Cloud sect elders asked.


    But Lin Mu didn''t answer them. His mind was far to upied by his own voice that incessantly spoke to him, telling him that he was toote.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    The Long Cloud sect elders were forced to take a few steps back as a strong spirit qi wave spread out from Lin Mu''s body like a tsunami. The ground cracked even though it was not being attacked directly. But that was the least of all, as the more the spirit qi spread, the more the pressure increasing.


    "Such strong spirit sense¡­ it has almost turned physical¡­" Elder Liu Cai gasped.


    Every cultivator within a hundred kilometer radius of Lin Mu felt the imposing spirit sense probing them. They all felt as if their secrets were exposed and dread rose within their minds. To them, it was as if a predator was now watching their every move.


    Some distance away from where Lin Mu was, a group of Long Cloud sect disciples had just finished their battle against the Gu Legion members. They had won, but at a great cost.


    "What was that?!" The cried out in fear.


    To them, such a presence meant that it was a very strong expert that had appeared. This could mean either of two things for them, either that there was a high elder from their sect who hade to help them. Or¡­ they were going to meet their end soon and the Gu Legion got even more reinforcements.


    "Heavens save us¡­" They muttered.


    <i>~SHING</i>~


    And just as they said this, the humming of a sword was heard.


    "A short sword?" one of the disciples with a strong perception saw a blurry figure moving at a great speed.


    His eyes caught it just for a moment, but he could tell that it was a weapon. The short sword passed from in front of them and spun back to enter the forest.


    <i>~st~</i>


    The sound of liquid spilling and sttering could be heard as they saw fountain of blood shoot up into the sky.


    "What in the world¡­" the gasped as their jaws fell open.


    That was just the first of the blood fountains as more of them could seen ining from the treetops. Sometimes if they were lucky they could even see a head or two flying in the sky. All of the heads had something inmon though, their eyes were filled with fear and confusion while their faces were frozen in despair.


    Back where the elders of the Long Cloud sect were, the pressure exuding from Lin Mu finally stopped as he withdrew his spirit sense.


    "Return¡­" Lin Mu lightly spoke.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    The cry of a sword could be heard as the short sword flew back at equally great speed. It floated around Lin Mu and hummed, as if it had missed him for a long time and was happy to work for him.


    It soon disappeared into thin air as Lin Mu stored it in the ring.


    "Seems like I really waste¡­" Lin Mu said with a hint of regret.


    "That short sword¡­ and that face¡­" Liu Cai finally got a hold of his wits and jogged his memory, recognizing the features of Lin Mu.


    "A-Alliance leader Lin Mu?" Liu Cai muttered in disbelief.


    Most of the members of the alliance had not seen Lin Mu for a long time and the general information was that he had entered seclusion. Even after two years had passed he had not appeared and some of the alliance members had started to doubt him. A small minority even thought that Lin Mu had ran away and was hiding somewhere.


    Of course due to the presence of Jing Luo and Little Shrubby most members still had trust in Lin Mu. They knew both of them were closepanions of Lin Mu and Little Shrubby was even his tamed beast.


    The patriarchs of the Long Cloud alliance also needed to somewhat cate their members by telling them that Lin Mu had put Little Shrubby to do his work while he was in seclusion. While some guessed that he was off on some secret mission that could not be told to them.


    A lot of rumors had popped up about Lin Mu among the alliance members, specially after Gu Legion began its open assault on the Long Cloud alliancest year. Thus many people were curious about Lin Mu and his abilities.


    They all knew that the patriarchs had all asked Lin Mu to be the chief disciple and the heir of the sect. They were willing to make him the next patriarch, thus his importance could be seen from that.


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    The other elders heard Liu Cai''s words and finally put the pieces together. They had all seen Lin Mu at least once before and now they could match his current appearance with his past one.


    ''What happened to him?'' The elders wondered.


    The golden sheening off his skin was not something that could be ignored. And neither could the crushing spirit qi emanating from him along with the domineering aura.


    Lin Mu who finally heard him being called looked at the elders and replied, "take this." He said before throwing the elders some healing pills.


    "T-this¡­" the elders were a bit surprised seeing this.


    "Thank you senior Lin Mu." Liu Cai said in a grateful tone.


    They had used up a lot of their healing pills in the past battles and were now almost out. The pills that Lin Mu gave them was something that had been desiring anyway.


    "Senior Lin Mu! You need to help the disciples too! They are in danger with the other Gu Legion members." The female elder said recalling that the others were not out of danger.


    Lin Mu turned to look at her and shook his head.


    "I took care of it¡­ they''re already dead." Lin Mu said in a cold tone.


    "They''re¡­ Dead?" The elders were confused and spread their spirit senses around, finally bing stunned.

 Chapter 951 - Two Teams To Support

    Lin Mu''s words both, confused and scared the elders. One on hand, they could mean that the disciples were dead, and that there was no use in helping them, and on the other hand, it meant that Lin Mu had already killed all the Gu Legion members.


    ''It can''t be, can''t it?'' Liu Cai thought to himself and spread his spirit sense.


    Even if his spirit sense was not as strong and far reaching as Lin Mu, it was still enough to reach a few of the areas nearby where the disciples were fighting. His spirit sense quickly picked up on the scene and he was relieved.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "The Gu Legion members¡­ they are all dead as senior Lin Mu said." Elder Liu Cai confirmed.


    The other elders checked it on their own as well, just to be sure and all took breaths of relief. To ones who had already prepared to die here today, this was an unexpected oue that relieved them more than they had ever felt like.


    Plus, Lin Mu''s presence here meant that a lot of things would change.


    "I can''t even begin to tell you how grateful we are because of your arrival, senior Lin Mu." The Long cloud elders all spoke.


    "Spare me the pleasantries¡­ I do not deserve them. I was still far toote. A many are dead because I was not present." Lin Mu said in self-deprecating tone.


    "No senior!" Liu Cai said sternly.


    The female elder could see the pain in Lin Mu''s eyes and quickly grasped the arm of Elder Liu Cai. She could tell that his mind was not in the right ce and that Lin Mu needed to be cated.


    "It is not your fault, Senior Lin Mu. This was something that was bound to happen one day. Besides, it is the Gu Legion that is at fault here. They ambushed us somehow and found our location.


    Not only that, but they even sent a Dao Shell realm cultivator to end us all. It meant that they were very serious about it all." The female elder exined.


    Lin Mu listened to it all, as a few questions popped up in his mind.


    "How long was the battle going for?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Over a day now¡­ more and more of the Gu Legion members arrived with time and the situation only got tougher." One of the other elders answered.


    Lin Mu thought over it and knew that he couldn''t wait here any longer. From the information that he had received from Hua Wu, it wasn''t just these Long Cloud disciples and elders that were being attacked.


    There were many more ces that the entire alliance was being targeted.


    "I need to leave now and look for the others. Can you point me to the next closest battle ground?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The elders could see that Lin Mu wasn''t really in any mood to talk.


    ''Though it is understandable. We need all the help we can get and there is no time to waste.'' The female elder thought.


    "I know two of them. From the updates we got during the battle, an elder from the ck Dune sect is leading a group of their disciples to defend a merchant outpost of our alliance three hundred kilometers to the north west.


    Then there is also the team from the Fenlong kingdom fighting six hundred kilometers to the east." Elder Liu Cai quickly spoke.


    Lin Mu thought over the two options and wondered which side should he help once. He truly wished that he could split into two so that he could help both sides at once, but it was not a reality.


    "How many people does the Fenlong kingdom''s team have and how is their situation?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We do not know. But since they are rather close to the kingdom''s borders, they do have a steady support. As for the ck Dune sect''s elder and disciples¡­ they are in a rather distant area and any support from the sects will take a while to arrive.


    Their battle though, hasn''t been going on for that long. The first report we got about them was twelve hours ago." The female elder answered.


    "Very well¡­ I''ll go to support the ck Dune sect first then." Lin Mu said and bent his knees.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    <i>~BOOM!~</i>


    With just a single step, Lin Mu made a crater in the ground and shot up like a cannonball. The elders were forced to retreat a few meters and had to stabilize their spirit qi that was sent in a tizzy again.


    "How has he be like this?" The elders couldn''t help but wonder.


    They looked at the crater and were surprised by the deep imprint on it.


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    "Just how much spirit qi is he even using to create such craters? It wasn''t even an attack¡­" The female elder questioned.


    Though in response to this Elder Liu Cai furrowed his brows as he thought of something.


    "I don''t think that was spirit Qi at all¡­ I didn''t feel any spike in spirit Qi fluctuations when he took off¡­" Elder Liu Cai said, confusing the other elders.


    But then a few secondster, they had a moment of realization.


    "You don''t mean to say¡­" The female elder muttered in disbelief.


    "He didn''t use spirit Qi at all¡­ that was all raw physical power¡­" Elder Liu Cai said.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    The other elders that heard it were taken aback as they knew just how much power it would need. With spirit Qi, they too had a confidence in doing something like this, but without it they might only leave a shallow depression in the ground.


    Lin Mu''s mysteries only grew deeper for them, and they couldn''t help but wonder how much more would be revealed in the future.


    <i>~rustle~</i>


    The sound of bushes could be suddenly heard as the elders were startled and they looked towards it.


    "Who goes there!" The elders said.


    "I-It''s me! Elders it''s me!" A rather young looking disciple appeared from the bushes.


    He was injured and seemed to be out of breath.


    "You won''t believe it! All the Gu Legion members died out of nothing!"

 Chapter 952 - A Mistaken Obstacle

    Lin Mu was rapidly making his way to the ck Dune elder''s location.


    "If I recall correctly, his name is Elder Xuzhou¡­" Lin Mu recalled.


    He had met several of the elders of the three sects and had picked up on their names back then. He knew of this elder Xuzhou and had exchanged a few sentences with him. Lin Mu remembered that elder Xuzhou was an Adult Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator and was from thebat pavilion of his sect.


    They were the people that mostly took care of the missions outside the sect and were also the department that had the highest manpower along with general strength.


    His current location was about six hundred and ny kilometer north of the Long Cloud sect. It was actually rather surprising to him that the Gu Legion would attack people of the alliance this close to the Long Cloud sect.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    ''No¡­ from the information Hua Wu told me earlier, the Gu Legion has now gone on an all out offense. Not only are they fighting in the open now, they''ve gotten the Zither wind alliance to hold the three sects back in their own frontiers.'' Lin Mu thought.


    It was due to the Zither Wind alliance attacking the three sect''s areas that the Gu Legion had been able to ambush the other teams due to them being upied. If not for this assurance, they might not have gone out this quickly.


    Though this also made Lin Mu wonder about the stance of the top three sects. While he wanted to know more from Hua Wu, he also knew that he needed to leave as soon as possible to help the others.


    "At least I know why they cannot be reached on themunication jade slips¡­ the Northern tribes have used jamming formation arrays to preventmunication jade slips from working in many ces¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself as a hint of anger shed on his face again.


    Apparently, the Gu Legion and the Northern Tribes had gotten very suspicious about the fast growth and movement of the Long Cloud alliance. And since they were making a lot of possess all of a sudden as well, they decided to pull this trump card.


    It was in a way double edged de, as the jamming formation arrays could stop their own means ofmunication too. Not to mention that it will also hinder the other people that might have to use the areas.


    This would apply to the top sects as well, especially since they were within the range of these jamming formation arrays as well¡­ or so they thought.


    ''Until we get a direct confirmation from the different locations, it will be hard to tell just how far it is.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.


    He didn''t know where Jing Luo and little Shrubby were either.


    ''At least for Little Shrubby, I can vaguely tell that he is somewhere in the north¡­ very far up in the north, almost at the border of the northernnds.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    All this only made him more anxious and urged him to speed up.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Another gush of spirit Qi rushed out of his body as he sped up another level. Lin Mu''s breakthrough in his body cultivation had essentially put him at the peak of Dao Shell realm''s power.


    Thatbined with his own spirit Qi cultivation, meant that his speed was not less than that of a Dao Treading realm cultivator. Though it also made him miss Little Shrubby that much.


    ''Even with my increased speed, it is still notparable to him.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as a hint of longing could be seen in his eyes.


    While thinking all this and traveling at a high speed, Lin Mu didn''t even realize the areas that he was passing over. He had already passed over multiple towns and viges, shocking the people of those settlements.


    There was nock of people that had been knocked on their butts just from the bursts of winds Lin Mu made while flying; this applied to bothmoners and cultivators alike. Themoners were kind of used to this, but the cultivators were utterly stunned, for they knew that the person that passed over their heads was no normal expert.


    So far, Lin Mu had been uninterrupted, but now he was nearing a rather sensitives location. Normally, he would not have missed such critical information, but the current urgency made him skip out on a lot of these things.


    A few minutester, the scenery in front of Lin Mu changed, and instead of a forest a vast and sprawling city appeared. But just as Lin Mu saw it, a dome of light appeared around it as well.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    <i>~whoosh~ whoosh~ whoosh~</i>


    Then one by one, streams of light appeared on top of the light dome, exuding spirit Qi. Lin Mu''s gaze went to them and he realized that they were all cultivators.


    But that was not all as the lineup was nothing weak either.


    "HALT! YOU HAVE VIOLATED THE RULES OF IRON BULL CITY!" The cultivators floating in the sky shouted.


    But seeing that Lin Mu didn''t slow down at all, they increased their power.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    All of them seemed to be synchronized as they made several handseals at once.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Hundred and hundreds of runes appeared in the air before arranging themselves into a long chain. The chain curved around the area in front of the cultivators, as if acting like a barrier.


    Not wanting to deal with them, Lin Mu simply increased the height at which he was flying.


    <i>~Boom~</i>


    He stepped mid air, creating a gust of wind that tore through the air all the way to the ground, creating a gully there. This changed his height to at least a hundred meters higher.


    But this seemed to have enraged the cultivators instead.


    "YOU DARE!? You dare try to run away after breaking our rules! This is thend of the Empire! Not even the sects shall dare act like this!" They yelled.

 Chapter 953 - Suspicious Actions

    Lin Mu looked at the cultivators blocking him and was a bit surprised. His own cultivation base was on full disy as a way to make them aware that this might not be a fight they would like to pick, but they were certainly bent on doing it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense spread like a tide and quickly enveloped every person within a ten kilometer radius. The barrier blocked his spirit sense, but Lin Mu could already feel some of the formation nodes that were present on the barrier''s array.


    If he wanted to, Lin Mu realized he could dismantle the barrier, but that was not his goal anyway. His goal was to get to the ck Dune sect''s team as soon as possible.


    "Do not block me." Lin Mu said to all.


    They could feel his voice clearly, and yet they seemed to not listen.


    "How dare you try to leave after being warned!" The cultivator at the front said before making a hand seal.


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    <i>~ng~</i>


    The chain that was floating in the air moved like a snake and headed towards Lin Mu. Its speed was fast, as if a whip had been cracked!


    "Restrain him! Mayor Tie Niu will judge him," The cultivators said.


    "You are making a mistake. I''ll give you onest warning. Do not block my way and no one will get hurt." Lin Mu replied.


    "Humph! Even if you are a sect elder, you will have to listen to ourmands! How can you even think ofing within ten-kilometer of Iron Bull city while flying?" The leading cultivator scoffed.


    Lin Mu knew right there that there was no use in talking to them. They would not listen and only stop him, regardless. Besides, his spirit sense had picked up some suspicious things in the city below.


    ''No normal cultivator will offend another Dao Shell cultivator. Even if the rules are broken, at most a certain level of fine would have to be paid as long as no crime wasmitted.


    The way they are acting is strange¡­ what gives them the confidence?'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And while thinking all this, the chain kept on flying towards him and Lin Mu dodged it every time. With blink there was no way the chain would ever be able to catch him.


    "You dare struggle even now!? Give up ande with us quietly! You will have to serve a proper punishment!" The cultivators said.


    But while they were talking, Lin Mu sensed a different aura for a moment there.


    ''No wonder¡­'' Lin Mu realized.


    His eyes gazed at the city below and spatial perception was activated. The buildings and houses in the city below disappeared and the flow of spirit Qi could be seen by Lin Mu. It was faint, but Lin Mu could see the strangeness in it.


    There was a strange kind of aura mixed in with the spirit Qi that swirled in the city below. He turned to look at the cultivators blocking his way and realized that a simr aura was present on them as well.


    "It can actually hide from spirit sense?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "No, it''s not hiding. More like it appears as normal spirit Qi to your spirit sense." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ must be some kind of a spirit tool or a talisman." Lin Mu replied as he dodged the chain once more.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    The chain streaked by the top of his head, merely being an inch away.


    "Enough!" Lin Mu said, as he didn''t dodge this time.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    The chain hit him and Lin Mu simply caught it in his hands. Surprisingly, a few cracks could actually be seen on the armor of the mortal strengthening scripture. Though the armor had already started to repair itself instantly.


    "He caught it?" The cultivators controlling the chain were surprised.


    "How is this possible? Even a Peak Dao Shell cultivator will take damage from the Bull Whip Chain Formation." Another cultivator said.


    Lin Mu could feel the chain''s energy stirring. It was trying to break free from his grasp, but there was no way he was going to allow that. The runes that made up the chain were all flickering as more spirit Qi started being poured into it.


    ''Its spirit Qi consumption is certainly quite high. No wonder it needs these many people to control it.'' Lin Mu understood.


    This piqued his curiosity, as he knew that a offensive formation like this was not easy to make and neither was it easy to maintain on top of the other barrier formation that was protecting the city.


    Lin Mu tried to remember information about the city below and realized that he was at the very edge of the main territory of the empire. Just like how the kingdoms were all divided and yet were under the empire, the same way the Great Zhou Empire had its own private territory as well.


    This private territory was nothing but the old Zhou Kingdom that had been expanded. And the city that Lin Mu was near right now, the Iron Bull city, was located at the very northern tip of the Empire''s territory.


    But that was not all that made it special, it was also a city that was a military base and had a lot of strong cultivators guarding it.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Perhaps I should have taken a different route¡­ but at the same time, this ce is not normal either." Lin Mu muttered as he dragged the chain.


    At first Lin Mu had suspicion that these people were under the influence of the Human Controlling Blood Curse too, but Lin Mu couldn''t sense its aura. Rather than that, he could feel a different aura here.


    It was unknown to him, and he didn''t know what it actually did. But seeing the actions of the cultivators, he could tell that there was more than met the eyes here.


    ''It might have been an area we would have needed to investigateter anyway..'' Lin Mu thought as his eyes narrowed.

 Chapter 954 - Retaliation And Question

    The cultivators who were controlling the Bull Whip Chain formation were currently whispering amongst themselves.


    "We can''t let him go. The mayor will not be pleased with it." One of them spoke.


    "Of course we can''t. Haven''t you seen his strength? He''ll be the perfect candidate for the mayor to use." Another cultivator said.


    The leading cultivator felt themunication jade slip on his waists hum and he checked it for a message.


    "What is it?" the others asked.


    "It''s the mayor. He informed the lord and they definitely want him." The leader replied.


    "Do they know who he is though?"


    "No¡­ but that doesn''t matter. The conflicts are ongoing and it is the right time. We shall fish in the muddied waters while the others are busy. Once it is all over, none will be the wiser." The leader stated.


    Hearing this, the cultivators nodded, and a serious expression appeared on their faces.


    "Let''s do it then." They said before making a wide hand seal.


    A glowing streak of light was released from the city below as it rose up into the sky. The streak of light merged with the formations of the Bull Whip Chain Formation and made it transform.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    The chain trembled in Lin Mu''s hands as he felt something different from it.


    <i>~WOONG~</i>


    The chain suddenly turned into runes and slipped out of Lin Mu''s hands, as if grains of sands slipping past his fingers. They reformed back into the chain some distance away and then split apart even more.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    <i>~shing~</i>


    <i>~shing~</i>


    Now, instead of one chain, three of them appeared and let off a humming sound. The ends of the chain started to morph as well and transformed into a sharp spike.


    "The amplification will onlyst a short while before we''ll lose control. We need to finish it before that." The leading cultivator said to hispanions.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    The chains shot towards Lin Mu like a dangerous viper and attacked him. He dodged around with Blink but realized that the speed of the chains was many times more than before.


    "The spirit Qi powering it has multiplied? What was that thing which merged into it?" Lin Mu questioned as his brows furrowed.


    One of the chains made a circle around Lin Mu''s back and attacked from below, to which Lin Mu kicked it.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    As if a bell had been hit, the chain recoiled and bent back. A look of surprise appeared in the eyes of the cultivators controlling it.


    Taking this opportunity, Lin Mu blinked and grasped the chain that had gotten out of their control temporarily and held it tightly in one hand.


    "PULL IT BACK!" The leading cultivator shouted.


    "No, so fast¡­" Lin Mu said as he raised his fist up high.


    Spirit Qi swirled around his hand as a massive power gathered within it.


    Lin Mu brought down his fist where the two links of the chain met and struck it hard.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The runes flickered haphazardly as the force of the attack spread through them.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    But Lin Mu didn''t stop there and mmed his fist onto it again.


    "Don''t let him continue!" The leader said and controlled the other chains to attack Lin Mu while he was busy with his attacks.


    <i>~CLANG~ CLANG ~CLANG~</i>


    The Two free Bull Whip Chains pped across Lin Mu''s back but dealt him no damage.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    "Look! His armor is breaking! Just a little more," The cultivators controlling the chain noticed.


    They increased the speed of the attacks, and Lin Mu did the same. Three secondster, it finally happened.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    "His armor broke!" the cultivators rejoiced, but their joy was short lived.


    <i>~SHATTER~</i>


    The chain Lin Mu was attacking broke apart as well, and the runes scattered into the air.


    <i>~COUGH~ COUGH ~COUGH~</i>


    The cultivators controlling it felt the impact, and some of the weaker ones directly coughed out blood. Rage could be seen on their faces as they continued to attack Lin Mu.


    <i>~shua~? </i>


    Taking opportunity of the fact that Lin Mu was a bit vulnerable after breaking one of the chains, the cultivators quickly wrapped one of the free Bull Whip Chains around Lin Mu''s body.


    Lin Mu was like a Rabbit caught by a boa and was tightly coiled. But to this Lin Mu had a surprising response. He simply stopped flying and let gravity do the work.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    As a surprise to the cultivators controlling the Bull Whip chain, the weight on the chain multiplied all of a sudden.


    "What is happening? Is he pulling it down?" The leader was confused.


    But what was even more surprising was the fact that they couldn''t feel any spirit Qi being used or a Qi skill being executed.


    "What kind of an ability is this?" The cultivators were confused.


    <i>~CREAK~</i>


    The chain creaked under the sheer weight of Lin Mu and was forcibly bent downwards.


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    "Hold it!" The leader said as he gestured.


    <i>~WEENG~</i>


    But that was of no use, as a gap was created between the links of the chain. That was all Lin Mu needed and he simply punched out.


    "Boulder Copsing Fist: First Form - Impact!"


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    A heavy force struck the chain, forcing it to unravel. It was like a coiled spring being released and whipped back, hitting the other free chain in the process as well.


    <i>Blink!</i>


    Lin Mu disappeared at that moment and grasped onto another chain before hammering it with his fists, shattering it apart.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    Not giving the cultivators any time to rest, Lin Mu did the same with the other chain too, while the cultivators struggled to control the formation under the strong attacks and the backsh they were suffering.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    With thest chain shattered, Lin Mu was no longer being stopped.


    <i>~cough~ cough~</i>


    The cultivators spat out more blood as their faces turned pale.


    "Where did he go?" One of them noticed that Lin Mu had disappeared right in front of them.


    <i>~Bam~</i>


    His question was answered with a blow to the back, which sent him flying while several of his bones broke in the process.


    <i>~Crack~ Crack~ Crack~</i>


    "Now that the chain is gone¡­ let''s talk¡­" Lin Mu stated in a cold tone.

 Chapter 955 - A Short Interrogation

    The cultivators gazed at Lin Mu with abination of fear and anger in their eyes.


    They couldn''t believe that the Bull Whip Chain formation that had been able to defeat many Dao Shell cultivators till now had failed to stop another one that was actually only at the Shell Genesis stage.


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    This was what they perceived from Lin Mu''s spirit Qi fluctuations.


    Of course, this was all their assumption since they couldn''t actually tell that Lin Mu body cultivated either. Additionally, Lin Mu''s body didn''t let off the same clues as before either, making it even harder to tell.


    The gold in Lin Mu''s body had turned him into a metal vessel, making it hard for others to perceive anything easily. Even Lin Mu himself didn''t know much about it yet and hadn''t had the time to check up on it.


    But to him, testing things out in practice was fine as well.


    ''I''ll take things as theye, but¡­'' Lin Mu thought and gazed deep into the eyes of the cultivators finding something stirring there.


    "You all¡­ what is your rtionship with Gu Yao." Lin Mu questioned.


    "Y-You dare do all this? The city mayor will nor spare you!" One of the more courageous ones retorted.


    Lin Mu didn''t even look at the man, but the man seemed to have fallen on the ground somehow. At the same time, his hands seemed to be bent at awkward angles and his legs were now backwards.


    "ARGGHHHHHHHH!!!! MYYYYYY LEGSSSSS! MY ARMLESS!" The man finally felt the pain and the change in his body.


    ''How¡­?'' all the cultivators had the question in their mind.


    "Anyone else want to dodge the question?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You cannot do this! Do you know what you are doing?"


    "You are challenging the authority of the Mayor of Iron Bull city!"


    "If this reaches the capital, you will have to answer to the emperor himself!"


    The men tried to scare Lin Mu, but he did not care about it. Lin Mu''s perception was clearly telling him that these men were not right.


    "Hmm¡­ I see¡­ so if you think I am challenging the authority of the mayor¡­ why is he not appearing? Or even better, why don''t you bring me to him?" Lin Mu replied calmly.


    "You think just because you say, you will get to meet the mayor?!" The leader of the cultivators shouted.


    "Oh?" In that moment, Lin Mu could feel a reup of a strange aura from the man.


    ''I see¡­'' a thought appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Alright then¡­ if you don''t bring me to the Mayor, I''ll force you to¡ª" Then before the men could even respond, they felt pain all over their bodies.


    Lin Mu had disappeared right in front of their eyes and suddenly it seemed like there were tens of him all around them. They attacked them at a speed hard for them to perceive and soon they were reduced to the same state as the other two that were injured.


    <i>~thud~thud~thud~</i>


    "ARGH!!!"


    "NOOO!"


    A mix of cries and grunts were heard as the bodies of all cultivators fell to the ground uncontrobly. A few that were a bit unfortunate were directly knocked out from the pain. It didn''t matter that they were nascent soul realm cultivators, but they were still the same.


    This was another thing Lin Mu was surprised by when he saw them. All of them were nascent soul cultivators, which was arge number, even for a major city of the empire. Rather than being part of the empire, these men could easily make many sects of their own, gaining a lot of fortune that way.


    But they didn''t, which felt both suspiciously loyal and usual when there were so many of them. Additionally, Lin Mu had heard the words and whispers of a few men, knowing that this might not be the first time they had done this.


    <i>~grab~</i>


    Lin Mu picked up one of the more ''less'' injured of the cultivators by his neck and started into his eyes. The cultivator trembled like a chicken grabbed by their neck and couldn''t even struggle.


    "Show me the way," Lin Mu ordered.


    "¡­ N¡­ N-no¡­" The man still said.


    "I see¡­ need a little more push." Lin Mu said as he noted the aura once again.


    He closed his eyes and a faint chant came out of Lin Mu''s mouth. The chant was the hum of a sword that had been sharpened and polished for hundreds of years, making one''s hair stand on its ends.


    The man that Lin Mu was holding felt his vision turning cloudy and soon his expression was that of a daze. He felt as if there was nothing left in the world for him and everything he did was useless.


    Five secondster, Lin Mu stopped upon feeling the weakening of the aura.


    "Now then¡­ will you show me the way?" Lin Mu asked.


    The man''s gazed expression cleared up and a lot more fear appeared on it. Instead of the mix of anger and fear, now there was just pure terror left.


    "D¡­ D-don''t kill me! I''ll show you! I''ll show you! Please don''t kill me!" the man frantically spoke.


    "Good, now then¡­ where do we go from here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "D-down there." The man pointed with his eyes.


    Since his hands and legs were broken, he was unless in that manner. Of course, Lin Mu didn''t care for it and could understand it enough.


    ''So that big building huh¡­ guess the mayors never change their preference, no matter the kind of a city.'' Lin Mu thought and started to move.


    "Wait! You need to remove the barrier first. If you pass through it forcefully, it will kill both of us from the recoil!" the man horridly spoke.


    But Lin Mu paid no attention to it. He simply touched the surface of the barrier and under the stunned eyes of the crippled man, the barrier automatically opened up for him.


    "H-how?!" the man was utterly stunned now, knowing opening the formation was only possible from the inside.

 Chapter 956 - Surprise Attack And Entering The Residence

    Lin Mu continued onwards into the city from there and saw the scene.


    ''The number of people is actually high? No, wait¡­ there are a lot of infants here?'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    His spirit sense could pick up that there seemed to be a lot of newborn infants in the city. All of them were less than a year old and all of them seemed to have been born around the same time.


    Originally, Lin Mu had thought that the number of people in the city would be less, but it was evidently not so.


    "Why are there so few cultivators here in the city?" Lin Mu questioned, noticing another point.


    This was extremely strange since the Iron bull city was supposed to be a military base. If anything, there should have been lot more cultivators living here, all part of the army. While Lin Mu was currently walking through the streets of the residential district, it was still easy for him to sense the situation in the rest of the city.


    Though there was one ce that was preventing his spirit sense from entering, this being none other than the Mayor''s residence.


    "The others¡­ they''re gone¡­" the man answered while trembling.


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    "Gone? Gone where?" Lin Mu asked more.


    "I don''t know¡­ the mayor sent them off on some mission like the others, and they never came back." The man replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was quite sure what might have happened.


    ''Though being able to keep all this hidden from the eyes of the empire¡­ Gu Yao has certainly expanded hiswork greatly in this time.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He looked back at the crippled man and probed him with his spirit sense once again. This time, trying to see what was different about him. His search gave him some interesting pointers.


    ''His spirit Qi is not stable¡­ as if it is not his own. Something else is powering it,'' Lin Mu noted.


    Even the nascent soul of the man seemed to be strangely colored, being a shade of red and blue that was mixed together heterogeneously. It looked like pain splotches had been sprayed upon the normal white nascent soul.


    "You¡­ you didn''t cultivate normally to reach the nascent soul realm, did you?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Upon hearing this, goosebumps appeared on the man''s skin. His eyes trembled while his teeth chattered.


    "-h-how¡­ who told you that?" the man asked, feeling scared.


    "That doesn''t matter. Just tell me if it''s true or not." Lin Mu said in a cold tone.


    "Eek!" the man felt terrified and found it hard to breathe by the second.


    Only after Lin Mu looked away from his eyes did he feel any respite.


    "He¡­ the¡­ the mayor¡­ he gave us the pills¡­ they allowed us all to breakthrough." The man answered hesitantly.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "What kind of pills?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I don''t know. We were simply told to use them if we wanted to get stronger." The man answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu knew that it was useless asking this man anymore. There were probably a lot of things that the man did not know, or there was something restraining him from knowing them.


    ''Best to get them from the source directly¡­'' Lin Mu thought and sped up.


    The streets were empty, while the windows and doors of the houses were all tightly shut. It was evident that the activation of the barrier had scared all the citizens. Lin Mu''s spirit sense could observe them hiding within their houses.


    The shops were the same, with some of them even leaving behind their wares carelessly in open.


    ''So they are truly terrified of the barrier appearing.'' Lin Mu noted.


    Finally, after a couple of minutes, Lin Mu reached the residence of the mayor.


    It was simr to many other opulent residences he had seen by now and didn''t care for much, other than the invisible barrier that was surrounding it.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    But the moment he got close, weapons appeared out of thin air and attacked him.


    Lin Mu easily dodged them all, but the crippled man in his hands was not so fortunate.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    He couldn''t even let out a cry before his head was skewered by ance. Thence poked out from the back of his head and was barely a few centimeters away from Lin Mu''s own neck.


    Lin Mu felt danger all around him and directly used phase to disappear underground.


    <i>~THUD~ THUD~ THUD~</i>


    More weapons struck the ce where he was atst and disappeared after a few seconds. It was evident that they were not material.


    "An offensive formation array?" Lin Mu raised his brow.


    He didn''t feel any spirit Qi fluctuation in that moment that seemed to belong to that of a formation, making him confused.


    "No, a Qi skill. It''s got to be¡­" Lin Mu guessed.


    The speed of the weapons was very fast, and they papered just a meter or two away from Lin Mu''s body, making it a very close call to dodge without blink. Of course, when Lin Mu was holding the crippled man, thus he dodged simply using his body as blinking with the man was not possible.


    But even then, the man had ended up dying. While Lin Mu didn''t care for the man''s life, he did care for the fact that the speed of the attack made it hard to react to.


    ''The security of this city is certainly high in terms of formation array, even with this attack included. I doubt many Dao Shell realm cultivators would even be able to resist for more than a few minutes.'' Lin Mu thought as he continued moving through the ground.


    He quickly reached the mayor''s residence and found a suitable formation node that could be used to open up a small crack in the formation.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The invisible barrier materialized and an opening appeared right in the middle of the residence, looking a bit eye catching.


    <i>~step~step~</i>


    Lin Munded on the ground, slightly cracking the tiles, and spread his spirit sense around.


    "Found you¡­"

 Chapter 957 - Confronting Tie Niu

    Within Lin Mu''s perception, appeared a man who was clearly controlling the formation arrays of the entire city right now. He was sitting in the center of arge room with several statues that were channeling spirit Qi into the arrays.


    There were runes inscribed on the floor of the ground directly while different ribbons hung from the walls, all carrying various formations on them, acting as additionalplements of the entire array.


    Just from all this, Lin Mu could tell that it was a ratherplex array and one that would be very expensive to set up.


    ''It''s on the same level as that of the sects¡­ perhaps even the top sects might not have such formation arrays depending on the ce.'' Lin Mu thought.


    But that was not all that caught Lin Mu''s attention. He could also feel a steady stream of spirit Qi flowing into the man that was sitting in the center of the formations. The man was at the Dao Shell realm too.


    "The same aura as the others¡­ rather it''s even more concentrated in him." Lin Mu muttered.


    But just as he appeared in the hall, the man opened his eyes.


    "How did you enter my residence?" the man said in a calm voice.


    It seemed as if he was not worried about Lin Mu at all and deemed him of to be of no worth.


    Text ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "I walked through the doors." Lin Mu causally said.


    "Lies¡­ though I must say it is brave of you toe right up to my doorstep. Others would have chosen to run away." The man said before thinking a bit more. "But this might just be the foolish decision you have made too."


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The moment he finished speaking, the formations shone on the walls and weapons started materializing around Lin Mu.


    "Hmm¡­ so I wasn''t entirely wrong. It isn''t just a Qi skill, rather it''s abination of a Qi skill and a formation." Lin Mu muttered as he blinked away to dodge the weapons that had shot towards him.


    The dodging window was rather narrow since the weapons materialized within a meter or less from Lin Mu. For any normal cultivator, even those in the Dao Shell realm, they probably won''t be able to dodge it entirely and would have to defend instead.


    Blocking might give them the chance to get out of the encirclement.


    And this was what the man controlling the formations had thought, but it turned out to be a new surprise for him.


    "You''re fast. No¡­ that''s not just speed¡­" the man said, as his eyes narrowed.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    Lin Mu didn''t just keep on dodging and threw out the short sword to counterattack. The short sword swirled around the man before attacking him from the back. But before it could even get within two meters of the man, it was blocked by a shield that had automatically materialized.


    "That''s a rather nice formation array for you to control alone. I wonder how you got something like this¡­ I doubt even the empire would have something like this. And even if they did, they won''t give it to just any city mayor, would they? Tie Niu?" Lin Mu replied.


    Tie Niu''s eyes narrowed, and he brought his fingers together in a sword gesture.


    "SLASH!" he said before a long sword materialized above his head.


    The long sword was ratherrge, being five meters long and ten centimeters wide. It seemed to be made out of spirit Qi that had been hardened with the effects of the formations.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    The attack was faster than the previous attacks, so much so that even Lin Mu was unable to use Blink before that.


    His pupils constricted as he saw the sword shing at his head.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    But then an astounding thing happened. Tie Niu felt his world view change as the attack was blocked.


    "Impossible! A full powered attack from the Hundred ughter Grand Formation can even injure a Dao Treading realm expert? How can someone like you even block it?!" the man was stunned.


    "Oh? So you were having confidence all this time due to this one move?" Lin Mu said as a smile appeared on his face.


    He had to admit that even he was a bit anxious in taking an attack like this. If this was the Lin Mu of past, he would have certainly been injured, if not lost a limb. The mortal strengthening scripture''s armor had already been broken by the force of the attack.


    Even though the part that was broken was just on his hand, it was still a testimony to the fact that it could break the entire armor on his body if it hit some ce else.


    But this time, Lin Mu had an additional thing in his arsenal.


    <i>~CLINK~</i>


    Lin Mu''s fingers gripped harder as the surface of the long sword rubbed against his skin. The sound of a de being ground was heard as Lin Mu kept on increasing his force.


    ''The True Gold Body Forging Arts truly live up to its name.'' Lin Mu said to himself.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    "W-who¡­ no¡­ W-what are you?" Tie Niu questioned, seeing the golden glow that had started toe off Lin Mu''s body.


    In the rather dim hall, it was very easy to perceive, and the sheen was like that of the highest polished gold.


    ''An armor? No¡­ it is directly his skin that seems to be blocking it. A skill? What is it?'' Tie Niu had a lot of question that he was unable to get answers for.


    s, even if he wanted them, he would not be lucky enough to get them; for his fate was about to change very soon.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    Tie Niu''s eyes went wide as he saw the cracks forming on the long sword''s de.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    Spirit Qi started leaking out of the cracks, as the runes forming the long sword dimmed down.


    "Time to end it. Thanks for giving me a way to test myself." Lin Mu said as he fully exerted his force.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    <i>~SHATTER~</i>

 Chapter 958 - Beating Tie Niu Into Submission

    Tie Niu watched as the long sword shattered apart in Lin Mu''s hand as if it were made of ss. The long sword turned into a mess of runes that scattered away into nothingness. The man felt the bacshing from the action, but held on with the help of the array''s support.


    "DAMN YOU!" Tie Niu shouted, feeling the drain on his cultivation base.


    A part of his cultivation base had just been cut off due to the bacsh. While the array had manage to block most of it, losing one''s cultivation base was always painful and frustrating.


    He raised his hands as if he held a sledgehammer in it.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Spirit Qi swirled in the air as more runes materialized. And along with this, the other weapons still kept on being formed and attacked Lin Mu non-stop.


    <i>~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~</i>


    The weapons struck Lin Mu''s body, but to no avail. Having learned that his defenses were overwhelming against such an attack, Lin Mu didn''t even dodge them anymore.


    "Time to end this. I don''t want to waste anymore time." Lin Mu muttered.


    "What do you¡ª?" But before Tie Niu could finish speaking or evenpleting his attack, his eyes went wide.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    "AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" Tie Niu shouted in pain as he was forced to kneel.


    His knee was now folded backwards, due to the virtue of Lin Mu kicking him on his knee. The attack looked simple, but the might contained in it was nothing to scoff at. One must know that Lin Mu''s body was now several tens of tons heavy.


    Even a single leg of his was at least ten tons heavy and when he kicked with it, the force generated would be many times more than that. Breaking someone''s knee, even if they were at the Dao Shell realm was as easy as snapping a toothpick.


    "Let''s make you a bit more bnced." Lin Mu said before raising his leg again.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    <i>~SPLAT~</i>


    "Oops, I miscalcted." Lin Mu said as he saw his handiwork.


    Instead of just bending the knee backwards, Tie Niu''s left leg was directly reduced to mush.


    The man continued to scream as snot and tears streamed down his face. Lin Mu ced his hand on his head and simply lowered the upward force he constantly applied to his body.


    ''What in the¡­ how is his hand so heavy?¡­'' Tie Niu couldn''t even speak at this point, as he felt the crushing weight of Lin Mu''s hand.


    <i>~Crack~</i>


    The floor below Tie Niu and Lin Mu directly cracked, and an indent appeared in it. Tie Niu''s neck was being forced inwards and the weight would snap his neck if it increased anymore.


    "Stop¡­ I¡­ I''l¡­ I''ll die!" The man cried out.


    Lin Mu stared into his eyes as he used his spirit sense to probe the man''s body, finding out all his secrets. Tie Niu could feel a surging spirit Qi piercing through his body''s defenses as if they were paper.


    Even if he was physically injured, his body''s natural spirit Qi defenses should have held up. But it looked like they were nothing under the strength of Lin Mu''s highly refined spirit sense.


    Once Lin Mu''s spirit sense entered his body, Lin Mu discovered several things.


    ''His vitality has been mixed with that strange aura as well. It is present everywhere in his body.'' Lin Mu noted.


    The spirit sense tendril continued onwards and soon reached the man''s Dantian. Here, as a surprise to Lin Mu, he actually met some resistance.


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    <i>~hiss~</i>


    A strange aura exuded from the Dantian and blocked Lin Mu''s spirit sense from entering it. But Lin Mu simply increased the power slightly and it pierced right through it once more.


    "Ugh!"


    <i>~COUGH~</i>


    Tie Niu coughed out another mouthful of blood and felt the spirit Qi in his body going haywire. Even his vitality was in a chaos and he felt as if his blood would start to flow backwards.


    Once inside his Dantian, Lin Mu could see what looked like a muddy sea.


    ''This¡­ what happened to it?'' Lin Mu was confused.


    Within Tie Niu''s Dantian, the reservoir of spirit Qi looked like a dirty swamp instead of a clearke. Spirit Qi was supposed to be clear as long as it was attribute-less. Even Earth elemental spirit Qi that was brown colored didn''t look like the spirit Qi here.


    "Seems like it has been contaminated greatly¡­ by some strange energy nheless." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense moved around and quickly found Tie Niu''s Nascent soul floating in the center of the muddy swamp. Its color was simr to the man he had seen before and had splotches of red and blue all over its body looking strange.


    Then there was the Dao Shell of the man. Tie Niu was actually in the Shell Genesis stage, but had only entered it recently. His Dao Shell was themon sphere shape and about forty percent of it seemed to have been materialized.


    The color of this Dao Shell was the same as that of the spirit Qi in the Dantian. It looked more like a y bowl instead of a Dao Shell right now. Plus, its size was exactly the size of a bowl as well.


    "The Dao Shell is also rather small¡­ isn''t it?" Lin Mu realized.


    "It does seem to be smaller than the average Dao Shell." Xukong agreed.


    The starting size of one''s Dao Shell could differ depending on several factors. The three main ones being the cultivation technique used, the talent of a cultivator, and then the foundation of the cultivator.


    In case of Lin Mu, his Dao Shell was already about two meters wide at its maximum. This was a size that many cultivators took centuries to reach. They would keep on expanding their Dao Shell in the Shell expansion stage and take a lot of time.


    And yet, this was the starting point for Lin Mu; which was another reason why it made sense to him that he didn''t really need to practice the Shell expansion stage. Instead, he could directly prepare for the Dao Treading Realm!

 Chapter 959 - Hypocrisy And A Hunger For Power

    Seeing the state of Tie Nie''s cultivation base, Lin Mu knew that the way he cultivated must not have been normal.


    "If you don''t want to die, speak." Lin Mu said in a cold tone.


    "W-what do you want to know?" Tie Niu asked while stuttering.


    The pain was still making him tremble, and thinking straight was hard for him as well. He couldn''t remember when was thest time he had ever felt such pain. He had been the mayor of the iron bull city for over a hundred years now, and his family had owned the city for even longer.


    Since they had contributed a lot in the past wars, they were directly given this city by the then emperor of the Great Zhou Empire. Their military might was considered to be great such that they were even said to have Dao Treading realm experts among their n.


    But that was all in the past. Now, Tie Niu''s n still existed but wasn''t as strong as before. The strongest person in their n was just a peak adult soul stage nascent soul realm cultivator and he didn''t know how long he would like either.


    With this on his mind, Tie Niu knew that the reign of his n in the Iron Bull city might end after his generation. His children were not any good either, and none of them seemed to have enough talent to reach the Nascent soul realm, which was the bare minimum one would need to have to own the city.


    While a couple of his younger children managed to join the sects, they were just mid grade sects and couldn''t reach any great status. Plus, since they had be the disciples of the sects, even if they reached Nascent soul realm in the future, they would still be disqualified from bing the mayor.


    Tie Niu was sure that he would have no hope for the future until he finally got an opportunity he had never thought he would see.


    And while Tie Niu felt his memories sh by, he heard Lin Mu''s voice again. Lin Mu stared into the man''s eyes, making them trembled as tears continued to streak down.


    "Tell me everything¡­ each and every detail as to what happened in this city, how you gained power, the others that reached the nascent soul realm using the strange method and why the poption of the city is so skewed towardsmoners." Lin Mu answered. "Don''t miss even a single word¡­ or the next thing you''ll miss is your head." He warned.


    Terror flowed through Tie Niu''s heart as if a dam had broken and he only felt despair. He had thought that after reaching the Dao Shell realm, he would be strong and be able to do whatever he wanted, but that reality was broken apart like a mirror.


    Even with the support of strong formation arrays, he was unable to defeat Lin Mu who wasn''t even at the Dao Treading realm.


    "I''ll give you thirty seconds, think deeply." Lin Mu said, giving the man a chance to revise his memories.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    <i>~huu~</i>


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Tie Niu felt his heart beating faster and faster with each passing second, and his body felt cold. He wanted to run away, but couldn''t. He wanted to be saved, but there was no one to save him.


    ''Today was supposed to be a good day. How did it end up like this?'' Tie Niu thought as he finally gave up.


    "I¡­ I''ll speak¡­" Tie Niu muttered in a lost tone.


    Lin Mu looked at the man, feeling the change in his emotions. This was very perceptible to Lin Mu, since the strange aura within the man''s body had weakened as well.


    "It all started a year ago¡­ my fifth son is an inner sect disciple of the Blue Ribbon sect. He came to visit me and told me about a great opportunity. An opportunity that would allow me to breakthrough my bottleneck and reach the Dao Shell realm.


    You must understand¡­ my n was in danger of being removed from our position soon. I don''t know how long I would have been able to hold on. Especially after the sickness of the Emperor, the schemes of the Imperial court have only gotten more dangerous.


    The ministers and the emperors concubines all want a share of the pie and are vying for supremacy. The Iron Bull city has always been one of the more important cites of the Empire''s mainnd and they one who controls it would have a great source of revenue along with arge part of the army to be controlled.


    The military base here houses over a hundred thousand soldiers, a majority of whom are cultivators.


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    I could not let that happen. My n sacrificed a lot in the past wars to reach its current position¡­" Tie Niu said and took a deep breath.


    It was evident that saying all this was difficult for him, but Lin Mu could feel the hypocrisy in his words.


    ''How many times have I heard such words before?'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    All people that were in power wanted to stay in power. Once they had a taste of it, it was hard to let go and they would do whatever it was possible to stay in that position and keep their power.


    "What was this opportunity your son spoke about?" Lin Mu questioned, urging the man.


    "He¡­ he told me that one of the elders in his sect had chosen him as his disciple and that he would get a reward for that. The reward in question was a bottle of pills¡­ he consumed just one of them and reached the nascent soul realm as if it was nothing.


    But he was told that it was just the initial effect of the pills. If one continued to eat them, their power would only increase more. And thus, he brought a few pills to me.. That was the opportunity¡­" Tie Niu answered, feeling the chill in his heart deepen.

 Chapter 960 - Interrogating Tie Niu

    Hearing that it was actually pills that managed to make Tie Niu and others breakthrough their bottle necks, Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    ''Those kinds of pills are not easy to obtain and are very expensive to make. Even one of the pills that can allow one to reach the nascent soul realm from the core condensation realm would be priced for tens of thousands of spirit stones.


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    Not to mention, one''s that can allow one to breakthrough to the Dao Shel realm. Those kinds of pills might not even be avable for sale¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    He looked at Tie Niu and asked further, "So you simply ate those pills without checking?"


    "Of course, what else could I do? I had no reason to suspect it since my son was the best proof they worked. I knew very well that he did not have the talent to reach the Nascent soul realm. His road was supposed to end at the Core condensation realm.


    And yet¡­ he proved me wrong. How could I not grab the opportunity when it had served itself on a silver tter?!" Tie Niu said in an agitated tone.


    Yet a single re from Lin Mu, shut his mouth and made him calm down forcibly.


    <i>~gulp~</i>


    The man swallowed his saliva and took a deep breath before continuing.


    "I ate one pill and could instantly feel the new power flowing in my veins. My Dantian that had long since reached a bottleneck started to stir and even my Nascent soul started to absorb spirit Qi once again.


    With just that single pill, I reached the very peak of the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.


    Feeling the impressive effects of the pill, I couldn''t stop. One by one, I ate more pills until I had finished all four pills¡­ after that¡­ I finally broke through. But after the breakthrough, I realized something.


    My cultivation base¡­ it didn''t seem to be fully in my control. My Dao Shell seemed to be a small and even my Nascent soul had changed in its color and form.


    I inquired my son, but he just told me that this is the price of using the pills. They can help someone that has reached the end of their road breakthrough once more. Even I knew I couldn''t breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm so I didn''t mind it after thinking for while." Tie Niu exined.


    "And so you destroyed your foundation and your effort," Lin Mu added.


    Tie Niu felt his heart hurt at those words but knew that he could not deny those words.


    "You don''t know how it feels¡­ the feeling¡­ the feeling that you have nothing to reach, nothing to achieve. That no matter what you do, your current state is the highest you would reach.


    Being at the peak of one''s life, when it is so mediocre, is cruel!" Tie Niu eximed.


    "HUMPH! You say a life of being the mayor of one of the major cities of the empire is cruel and mediocre?!" Lin Mu scowled.


    <i>~SLAP~</i>


    A tight p hit the man''s face, breaking away half of his teeth.


    <i>~st~</i>


    If it were not for the fact that Lin Mu needed more information from Tie Niu, he would not have held back. Otherwise¡­ it wouldn''t have just been the teeth that had been broken.


    "ARGH!" Tie Niu cried in pain, feeling the loss of his teeth.


    The pain was still something he could not ignore, even if he would be able to heal the teeth with just a few pills in the future. It was the added fear of Lin Mu standing in front of him, that made it that much worse.


    He was like the sword of Damocles hanging over his head, ready to chop it off at any moment.


    "What about the others? How did they get pills?" Lin Mu questioned the man and prodded him on to speak more.


    "After tasting the effect of the pills, I wanted more. I had just reached the Shell initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm and wanted more. There were many elders in the sects that were at the Dao Shell realm and they would be stronger than me.


    But I wanted to be stronger than all of them. I wanted to be strong enough that the imperial court would not be able to take away my rightful property.


    And to my surprise, I didn''t even need to ask my son for it. It was as if he knew what it thought and had the next option ready. He told me that the elder of his sect would be willing to sponsor us with more pills if we did some of the things he wanted.


    If we did as he told, not only would he give us enough pills to cultivate even further, he would even give a surplus such that others under me would be able to grow stronger too." Tie Niu replied.


    "I doubt you would be willing to give up those pills to others, though," Lin Mu said in a low voice.


    "Of course, I didn''t want to give the pills to others, I wanted them all for myself. But then¡­ when I heard what the elder wanted of us, I knew it was not something I would be able to do on my own.


    I would need more people that would support me through it. And they needed to be strong too¡­


    The cost of it all though... was too high¡­ the work that the elder asked of us was for me to send cultivators to a ce they specified. They didn''t tell us much at once, just that they would be taken care of and no one would ask any questions.


    But this also meant that the people I would send have to be the very ones I would need to do all that. This was not something I could do openly. If I tried that, the empire would have my neck the very next day!" Tie Niu exined.


    "And thus you willingly sent them, likembs to be ughtered.." Lin Mu said as his eyes flickered in a cold light.

 Chapter 961 - A Volunteer Dao Treading Realm Prisoner?

    Lin Mu''s words were like daggers, and its intent was sharp like one too. Tie Niu couldn''t help but regret all that he had done. He went silent and didn''t speak anything until Lin Mu ordered him again.


    "SPEAK!" Lin Mu yelled and stomped his foot on the ground.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    Another crater was created on the ground, while a foot imprint was left at the center of it. Seeing the force of the stomp, Tie Niu quickly started speaking for the fear that the next thing getting stomped might just be him instead.


    "Yes¡­ at first I just had some suspicions. Butter I got to know that all of them were being sacrificed. They were how the pills were made¡­" Tie Niu epted.


    "What did you do next?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "We¡­ we continued what we did. But we came across several obstacles. A lot of my subordinates and the people of the city didn''t want to go along with my n. They wanted to rebel against me.


    Thus¡­ I killed them and sent them to be sacrificed as well. But this meant that I would not have enough people under me, for which my son gave me a suggestion. He told me to make use of others that were in the same condition as us; those stuck at bottlenecks.


    And thus I called some people who would be willing to follow us with no problems. They were desperate for straws, drowning in the sea of despair, and we would be giving them an entire ship.


    They quickly epted our offer, and we gave them the pills." Tie Niu spoke.


    "But these pills weren''t the same, were they?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­ they were made slightly differential and had some other effects." Tie Niu admitted hesitatingly.


    "What were those effects?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "In addition to increasing the cultivation base, these pills also made the consumer subservient to others that used a certain technique." Tie Niu answered, surprising Lin Mu.


    The cogs in Lin Mu''s mind turned as ideas started to appear in his mind.


    ''It can''t be¡­ did Gu Yao find a way to make other''s control people for him? That too without the Human controlling blood curse?'' Lin Mu wondered.


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    "How does this technique work, exactly?" Lin Mu questioned, his voice deeper.


    "For the technique to work, I need to inject a wisp of my spirit sense into the person who had just consumed the pill. Once they consume the pill, their cultivation base enters a vulnerable state, and we make use of that.


    They don''t even realize that all this has happened and that our spirit sense has entered their dantian. Once that is done, we can give them orders though our spirit sense. Though it is not fully urate.


    Many times, the orders just work as suggestions. Because of this, I needed to make use of other method so that they followed me. Giving them some more benefits, like a proper position in the city, was enough to do that.


    Plus, the greed for more pills was also good enough of a motivator. Most of them had no scruples with what we did and more people joined uster on; some of them even being sent by the elder of the Blue Ribbon Sect." Tie Niu answered hurriedly.


    "This elder? What is his name?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "I don''t know. My son simply calls him master, and since his cultivation base is far higher than me, I didn''t dare to ask either." Tie Niu replied.


    "Did you even meet him face to face before?" Lin Mu asked, feeling doubtful.


    "No¡­ I''ve never seen him directly. I''ve only heard him talk with themunication jade slips." Tie Niu replied.


    "For a man who held such a position as yours, you are incredibly stupid¡­" Lin Mu said straightforwardly.


    Lin Mu did know about the Blue Ribbon sect, but didn''t know that they were under the influence of Gu Yao as well. It was a mid level sect as well and was located some distance away from the border of the Iron Bull city.


    ''Seems like we need to add another sect to the list¡­ though it might just be me being unaware. The others might have known of this already.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He looked at Tie Niu and asked him something else this time.


    "Do you know of Gu Yao and the Gu legion?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I do¡­ I''ve heard that he is an even greater senior that the elder from the Blue Ribbon sect follows." Tie Niu replied.


    "Dammit¡­ just as I thought." Lin Mu cursed.


    Tie Niu could see the anger in Lin Mu''s eyes. It was even stronger than when he fought him and was bordering on murderous.


    "I¡­ I-I¡­ I''ve spoken to him." Tie Niu said, while stuttering.


    "You do?!" Lin Mu raised his voice in question.


    "Y-yes¡­ you see, in addition to the elder from the blue Ribbon sect, Gu Yao also gave us some orders. These only came after we had gathered enough of manpower. He was the one that asked us to start capturing other cultivators and experts.


    It didn''t matter how we did it, whether it be by abusing thews or just falsely implicating someone. We just captured every strong cultivator that passed within ten kilometers of the Iron bull city." Tie Niu answered quickly.


    "And how many have you captured till now?" Lin Mu asked, his face darkening.


    "A-about ny¡­" Tie Niu spoke and took a pause before continuing. "Of those ny, eighty one were Nascent soul realm cultivators, nine were Dao Shell realm cultivators and one¡­ was a Dao Treading realm cultivator."


    "You captured a Dao Treading Realm cultivator too? Who and how was that even possible?" Lin Mu asked, finding it to be a bit absurd.


    A Dao Treading realm cultivator was very rare and each of them would be a well known powerhouse.


    "Well¡­ we didn''t exactly capture him¡­ more like he came to us on his own.." Tie Niu spoke.

 Chapter 962 - Daoist Yulong

    Lin Mu felt strange that some Dao Treading realm cultivator would walk into a trap like this.


    ''No¡­ even if one did, they would be able to escape or at least create enough of amotion that others would find out. Plus, no Dao Treading realm cultivator would be without a background here.'' Lin Mu pondered.


    "And what was his name? Who was he?" Lin Mu asked impatiently.


    "He called himself Daoist Yulong. As for who he was, I don''t know. I''ve never heard of any Dao Treading realm expert of his name and don''t know of any sect that has anyone of that name." Tie Niu replied.


    "Daoist Yulong?" Lin Mu repeated, finding the name familiar.


    ''It can''t be that Yulong¡­ he was a former elder of the Zither Wind sect. But he has been dead for a long time now. No¡­ it must be someone else.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu had seen the number of Dao Treading realm experts in the World Nexus and knew that other than the ones that were openly known by the world and were members of the sects, there were still a few others hidden away.


    ''And it can be some rouge cultivator too¡­ after all, if they find an inheritance ground that is in a minor ne, they can hide away there for a long time.'' Lin Mu concluded.


    Having thought of this, Lin Mu had another questioned.


    "What happened to that Daoist Yulong? Did you kill him too?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­ we aren''t technically supposed to kill the ones we capture. Gu Yao prefers them to be alive. And since Daoist Yulong went along calmly with it all, even when the people of the Gu Legion came to take him, there was no conflict." Tie Niu answered.


    "Huh? Didn''t you find that strange? Why will a Dao Treading realm expert be so casual with it all?" Lin Mu asked, finding it clearly suspicious.


    "I did indeed, and so did the people of the Gu Legion. But then the man said something to them, after which they changed their attitudes and were epting of his words." Tie Niu rified.


    "Is that so¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he thought over it.


    This Daoist Yulong was another new card on the battlefield that Lin Mu had no idea about. He was at the Dao Treading realm thus could have significant effects on the entire situation. Plus, each person going towards Gu Yao was another one they would have to kill.


    ''No, wait¡­ could it be someone from the Northern Tribes? It would make sense that they would not do anything to him if he was from there.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While the old woman Ku Waowen had revealed the names of the Dao Treading realm cultivator the Northerns Tribes had, there was no assurance that they would use the same name here.


    ''Yes, it would make sense that they were just using a fake name when they were here on the continent. There must be a reason why they came to the Iron Bull city into an obvious trap rather than going to Gu Yao directly.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    Knowing that not much woulde out of thinking about this needlessly, Lin Mu decided to continue the interrogation.


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    "And when did this Daoist Yulonge to get captured?" Lin Mu asked.


    "About eight months ago. It was a surprise to us too, as before that the highest level cultivator we had captured was a Shell Genesis stage Dao Shell realm cultivator. And even then there were just two that we had captured.


    The people from the Gu Legion were seemingly pleased with this and gave us a lot of resources in addition to those pills." Tie Niu replied detail.


    Lin Mu made a rough timeline of events in his mind and asked more questions from Tie Niu about all that had happened in the past two years.


    ''May as well take this opportunity to find out more.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Tie Niu then started to speak and Lin Mu learned quite a lot of things, many of which were shocking.


    Soon after he practiced the third stage of the True Gold body forging arts, the Gu Legion had intensified their efforts. Apparently Jingming Shang''s efforts hade to fruition, and he had discovered several of Gu Yao''s supply points.


    The Long Cloud alliance quickly mounted an offense against these ces which turned out to be none other than locations that were controlled by either the Zither Wind alliance''s people or some smaller powers that were in the same fold.


    They of course, didn''t back down and it ended up in a full blown battle. While the Long Cloud alliance had a victory in this, and it was even known widely due to the nature of conflict where tens of thousands of people had died, it was also the spark that lit the fuse.


    An official war between the Long Cloud alliance and the Zither wind alliance broke out. Earlier, while they were shing, no official decree of war was given. But now, both parties had openly announced this to the world.


    And once this happened, all hell broke loose. All bets were off and both parties started their propaganda with the Long Cloud alliance, exposing Zither Wind alliances'' links to the northern tribes through Gu legion.


    The Zither Wind alliance of course, denied this in the open since they didn''t want the top three sects dropping their stance and attacking them outright. Plus, the top three sects were still reluctant in believing that the Northern Tribes could still mount and offense after so many defeats.


    The Zither Wind alliance instead proimed the Gu Legion as an orthodox force and supported it, acting on its behalf as allies and saying to the world that they were simply ensuring justice won.


    There was no limit to the lies and hypocrisy that were said that day, after all everything was fair in love and war.


    The empire took a neutral stance in this as long as its interest were not damaged andmoners were not affected.

 Chapter 963 - Unintentional Good And Intentional Bad

    Lin Mu continued to listen to Tie Niu and learned more of the happenings of the empire.


    The emperor continued to get sick, and now he was in a critical state. The empress was pushing for her son, the crown prince, to be made the emperor as soon as possible while the other concubines tried to put obstacles.


    The biggest im they had was the fact that the current crown prince was weak and only had a cultivation base at the peak stage of the core condensation realm.


    ''Oh, I remember him¡­ back then he was the youngest person to have broken through to the Core condensation realm at twenty.'' Lin Mu recalled.


    Since that day, about nine years had passed and with the crown prince had reached the peak stage of the core condensation realm. This was a great increasepared to even a lot of top sect disciples.


    But at the same time, Lin Mu could only imagine how many resources it would have needed for him to speed ahead of others.


    ''Though he is a crown prince, so has nock of fortune.'' Lin Mu thought to himself,pletely forgetting how much he had consumed or how fast he had progressed.


    The crown prince had recently turned thirty years old and if he became the emperor, he would be the youngest one to have be an emperor. While there had been a few emperors before him, the youngest one to be an emperor was still over one fifty years old.


    The crown prince was breaking that record, and if he truly became an emperor, he would also be the one with the lowest cultivation base. Earlier, the weakest one to be an emperor was at the Child soul stage of the nascent soul realm.


    The current emperor who was sick, was said to be at the Dao Shell realm, but only at the shell initiation stage. Compared to the earlier emperors, he was said to be the weakest ones, but now his son might take that stage.


    Though Lin Mu still found it strange that they never managed to stop the emperor from being poisoned.


    "Doesn''t the imperial family have support from the rainbow pill sect? Then how is the emperor still so sick?" Lin Mu questioned Tie Niu.


    "You don''t know what happened?" Tie Niu questioned, feeling bewildered.


    "What?" Lin Mu asked, having a bad feeling.


    "The Rainbow pill sect and the Emperor had a falling out. The emperor found out that he was being poisoned and used the rainbow pill sect of that. The empress was very upset with it all and tried to plead to the sect, but they did not ept it all.


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    They ended up cutting off contact. Though the empress is still said to be in contact with them." Tie Niu answered.


    "Dammit¡­ seems like the Long Cloud sect couldn''t get the information to the emperor on time." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Or it could be that the emperor is already too deranged to understand. It would make sense if the poison wasn''t just affecting his body, but his mind too. That would be a smart move to do too.


    After all, if your mind is still functioning well, you can think of ways to heal, but if that is sick too then even with a good body you are nothing." Xukong chimed in.


    Listening to this, Lin Mu found senior Xukong''s words to be logical. Though he still wondered why the Long Cloud alliance was unable to rectify the situation. If it was between Gu Yao and the Rainbow Pill sect having an influence on the Imperial court, Lin Mu would much rather have it be the Rainbow Pill sect.


    An hour passed like this as Tie Niu continued to tell Lin Mu whatever he asked about. And when he was finally finished, Lin Mu had another question.


    "What about the babies? Why are there so many of them in the city?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He had already understood the reason for less number of cultivators in the city, since Tie Niu and his people had sent quite a lot to be sacrificed under the guise of being recruited for many jobs.


    It was a clever way to keep the masses calm and yet make use of them. And when they asked where they were after a few months or years, Tie Niu could simply make up a conflict and tell the families that they died there.


    It wasn''t like there was ack of conflicts these days anyway.


    "Oh, the infants¡­ yeah that has nothing to do with me." Tie Niu answered, surprising Lin Mu.


    "Huh? They why is it so that nearly every woman that can give birth has given birth in the recent time in your city?" Lin Mu asked, finding it strange.


    "That¡­ might just be due to the increased rations and lesser taxes." Tie Niu replied.


    "What do you mean by that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well¡­ since the number of cultivators we had on our payroll decreased by over 90% we had a lot of fortune saved up. Then there was the additional profitsing from the businesses and Lord Gu Yao.


    I also knew that since a lot of families will lose their members that were cultivators, their ie might reduce. This would lead them to be displeased and they may ask unpleasant questions in the future.


    Thus, I just reduced the tax while increasing the rations that were sold. Also, the price of goods went down recently since we started hunting down cultivators, which included a lot of the bandits in the nearby regions.


    This allowed more merchants toe here safely, with lesser losses. This then reduced their prices even more." Tie Niu exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was truly dumbstruck.


    ''This man he¡­ he fixed the lives formoners in a really roundabout way¡­ a bad way but still it fixed it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Plus, I still needed more people in the future so themoners will continue to fill the ranks." Tie Niu added.


    Lin Mu didn''t know what to think of Tie Niu for what he had done. Overall, he really was a bad man, but he had done something good unintentional.. Though it could also be said that it was to serve his own goals in the end.

 Chapter 964 - Spatial Block And Tie Niu’s Fate

    Tie Niu too stared at Lin Mu, wondering who this man was as well. So far, Tie Niu had no idea at all. The battle earlier had happened far too quickly, and even the one outside was fast.


    He neither had the time to ask others about it, and neither did he have enough time to check up on any other records he may have had. To him, Lin Mu was an enigma that there was no information about.


    ''With the power he has shown, he has to be some well known expert¡­ but I don''t think I''ve ever heard of him.'' Tie Niu thought. ''It is the same as that time with Daoist Yulong. Both of them being strong, yet unknown.''


    Time passed and now Lin Mu had been silent for about ten minutes. Tie Niu was getting ufortable even though the pain had been somewhat numbed for him. Since Lin Mu hadn''t actually crippled his cultivation base, his body had started the healing, and the pain had reduced.


    But that didn''t mean that Tie Niu was in any shape or form to resist right now or even in theing few days. Even with the help of some strong healing pills, it would take him at least an hour to recover to his normal state.


    Tie Niu did have a lot of such healing pills and had even tried to use them before, but as a massive surprise to him, the spatial storage ring that he had didn''t respond to him. Or more like themunication between him and the ring had been blocked off.


    He could tell that it was not cut, or he would have felt it; it was simply ''blocked''. It was like the things he stored inside were behind a ss wall. He could see them, but not get them.


    And if he wanted to break that ''ss wall'', he needed to be strong enough to attack it, which he had no strength to do.


    Of course, Tie Niu didn''t know that Lin Mu had blocked off his ess to the spatial storage ring the moment Lin Mu had crippled him. It was an easy task for Lin Mu, especially when Tie Niu''s spirit sense was so weak.


    Lin Mu had remembered to use this move in his mind for a while now. Blocking off the enemies'' ess to their spatial storage treasure could cut off their only means of survival or perhaps even offense and defense.


    After all, many cultivators kept their spirit tools and spirit weapons in their spatial storage treasures. And without them, a major portion of their power would be removed. This also included the spirit stones they might have used to recover themselves.


    Though this tactic had a restriction too.


    For Lin Mu to be able to lock down someone''s spatial storage treasure, three conditions needed to be fulfilled.


    First of all, the spatial storage treasure needed to be of a low enough level. So far, Lin Mu was sure that even if it was a peak grade spatial storage treasure, he would be able to block it off. And since there were rarely any spatial storage treasures of that level in Xiaofan world, Lin Mu was mostly covered for this condition.


    The second condition was that the spirit sense of the cultivator that owned the spatial storage treasure needed to be weaker than that of Lin Mu. At Lin Mu''s current level, this was a condition that would be fulfilled for most of the cultivators, with only the exceptional ones at the Dao Treading realm and Immortal Ascension realm his match.


    Then the third and the final condition was that they needed to be within Lin Mu''s range too; or more urately, the range of his spirit sense, which was already over a hundred kilometer right now. Thus, unless the enemy was able to escape past that limit, they would still be unable to use their spatial storage tool.


    Of course, these were the only three conditions that were mostly applicable that Lin Mu knew of right now. There could be other unknown situations that might arise in the future that he would have to watch out for and adjust ordingly.


    Considering all those, this skill was rather useful and Lin Mu had mostly grasped it on his own with a few pointers from Senior Xukong.


    With his proficiency with spatial element increasing, the number of things he could do increased as well. With this skill being one of them. Xukong had told him that this was one of the moremon spatial abilities that cultivators who specialized in the spatial element used.


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    The name of it being rather simple: ''Spatial Block''.


    This could be considered being one of the first active Spatial elemental skills Lin Mu had learned on his own and was not given by the ring.


    "What happens to me now?" Tie Niu questioned, seeing that Lin Mu had not spoken even after an hour and was now just sitting on the side.


    Lin Mu broke out of his thoughts and looked at the man.


    "Your fate is decided, but the flow of it may change depending on what you can provide me with." Lin Mu spoke.


    "What do you want? I already told you all that I know." Tie Niu replied.


    "I want the location of Gu Yao¡­ or anything rted to him, his people, his ns, anything you know." Lin Mu said.


    He knew that while Tie Niu had spoken a lot of things and had exined to him about the situation of empire in the past two years, the recent events were yet to be covered.


    "I¡­ I don''t know the location of Gu Yao. He''s never appeared in person and nor have I gone to meet him." Tie Niu said, but shivered upon seeing Lin Mu''s cold face. "But I do know where some of his subordinates are! They are the ones who take the cultivators we capture!"


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt a bit pleased, but no change was seen on his face.

 Chapter 965 - Tie Niu’s End

    Lin Mu knew he could not let go of this information and wanted it at any cost.


    "Tell me where they are." Lin Mu stated, with no option of being denied.


    "T-they''re¡­ they''re in a vige to the west, about two hundred kilometer from here. Its called as Coal Fall vige. There is an old coal mine nearby, they use that as their hideout." Tie Niu quickly spat out.


    Lin Mu''s mind quickly worked to remember the map and could recall seeing a vige there. While he didn''t know the name exactly, there was only one vige that had a coal mine nearby.


    Tie Niu wondered what will happen to him now. He knew that death was the most likely option and will probablye for him. But Lin Mu''s earlier words had also made him a bit confused.


    Lin Mu nced at the man for a second as he waved his hand.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Tie Niu felt a strong spatial fluctuation around him. Stronger than he had ever felt before¡­


    "Wha¡ª" But before he could understand what it was, his consciousness faded away.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    <i>~stter~</i>


    A couple of secondster, his body fell apart in two sections. It was equally split right down from the middle of the head, with his Dantian, nascent soul and Dao Shell being cut apart as well.


    "You may have done some good, but the sacrifice that you did for that deems you unworthy of life¡­" Lin Mu muttered and waved his hand once more, storing his corpse into the ring.


    He wanted to see if more information could be gathered from the man''s remains, considering how the effects of the pills were. There were still some mysteries about the pill and Lin Mu had not learned about that from Tie Niu since he himself didn''t know about it.


    ''The elder of the Blue Ribbon sect and those at the Coal Fell town might be the only ones who''ll have an idea.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    His spirit sense spread in the entire area and quickly searched every nook and cranny of the residence. Finding a few spots of interest, Lin Mu blinked to them and passed through the walls and locks using Phase.


    He collected all the resources and pills that were left in the vaults and safes before leaving the residence. Though he still left behind the things that themoners will need to live in the city.


    Lin Mu appeared above the residence and gazed upon the vast city. If he couldpare the size of the Iron Bull city, he would say that it was just slightly smaller than the capital city of the Shuang Qian kingdom.


    It was a shocking thing for amoner to see that a non-capital city of the empire was as big as that of the capital of a kingdom. But Lin Mu didn''t mind that as much. What he was worried about was the people of the city.


    The barrier that was protecting the city like a dome had already faded away due to the death of Tie Niu. With him gone, there was nothing running it as the owner and the other sub-controllers were dead under Lin Mu''s hands, too.


    His spirit sense spread all over the city and scanned every person that was in the city.


    "Hmmm¡­ so a few of them are still hidden here, huh." Lin Wu muttered before disappearing.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A few secondster, he appeared in front of amon looking house. It was two stories tall and had a shop on the bottom.


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    Lin Mu pushed open the door and stepped in.


    "Oh! A customer!" A man hurriedly greeted.


    In front of Lin Mu was an average looking man. He wasn''t even a cultivator and was barely at the fifth stage of the body tempering realm.


    "Did the emergency end already? I was taking a nap and didn''t realize." The man spoke while peeking out of the window and looking up at the sky.


    "Yes, it has ended." Lin Mu replied as he looked around the shop.


    "That''s good. These days have been tough for us. Every couple of weeks there is something like this, though the mayor and his guards are good at keeping the troublemakers away." The shopkeeper said in a relieved tone.


    "Mmm¡­" Lin Mu simply hummed in response and kept on looking around.


    "Uh, so what is it that customer needs?" The shopkeeper asked. "We have a lot of things that a warrior or even a cultivator might need. We have weapons, healing salves, herbs, spirit fruits, pills, and even some spirit tools." He introduced.


    It was a bit surprising to see the difference of standard between the kingdoms for Lin Mu. In the Shuang Qian kingdom, even the capital only had a few shops run by cultivators that could sell such things.


    But here, even a normal shop was able to sell things rted to cultivators.


    The shopkeep kept on speaking about his wares, but noticed that Lin Mu''s eyes were locked on to the floor for some reason.


    "Umm, sir customer are my wares not up to the mark?" The Shopkeeper asked.


    "I just need a different thing. I wonder if you are willing to sell it?" Lin Mu replied.


    "As long as it is in this shop, I''ll be willing to sell it." The shopkeeper replied.


    "Then how about the entire shop." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing this, the shopkeeper was stunned and wondered if he had thought wrong.


    "You want all my wares?" The shopkeeper asked doubtfully.


    "No¡­ I want the entire shop, including the building." Lin Mu rified.


    "That¡­ I don''t know how I can do that, sir. Even if I do want to do that, we still need approval from the city''s administrative department. All sale of property within the city needs to be regted by them and registered with them." The shopkeep exined, still finding it unusual.


    He could see that Lin Mu was dressed in rather good clothes and was also very handsome.


    ''He doesn''t look like a crook at least¡­'' the shopkeeper thought.

 Chapter 966 - A Surprise Under A Shop

    Seeing that the shopkeeper was still wavy, Lin Mu took out something from his ring.


    <i>~ng~ ng ~ng~</i>


    A circr object flew and fell on the counter, making a sonorous sound.


    "That should be enough to supersede the requirement of the city administration, I believe." Lin Mu stated calmly.


    The shopkeep was a bit surprised by seeing Lin Mu toss the object, but when he saw what it was he was absolutely stunned.


    "L-lord mayor''s token?!" The shopkeep was absolutely stunned.


    Every person in the city knew what the authority of the person holding this token meant, and they were taught this very well. After all, there was more than one incident when someone had made use of the token to issue certainmands.


    ''If he has the token then¡­ he works for lord mayor?'' The shopkeeper understood.


    He immediately bowed down and spoke, "Forgive me for not recognizing you my lord."


    "You can buy my property surely, my lord." The shopkeeper added.


    "Mmm¡­ this should be enough I suppose." Lin Mu said as he ced something on the counter again.


    <i>~DENG~ DENG~</i>


    A golden reflection could be seen in the eyes of the shopkeeper as an entranced look appeared on his face.


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    "O-of course! This is more than plenty! Thank you for your generosity, my lord!" The shopkeeper said before taking a look at Lin Mu and his still expression.


    "Umm¡­ when do you want me to leave?" The shopkeeper asked.


    "Right this moment." Lin Mu said, with no option of negotiating.


    Seeing the firmness in Lin Mu''s voice, the shopkeeper knew that there was more to this than he knew.


    ''Fuck that! I don''t wanna put my head on the line for something I don''t need to deal with.'' He thought to himself.


    "I''ll leave right away!" The shopkeeper hurriedly replied before picking up the two gold bricks that were kept on the counter.


    The man stumbled slightly from the weight and realized that it was worth even more than he had originally thought. He slid them into a leather bag and slung it across his back before moving towards the door.


    Lin Mu followed behind him and the two of them came to stand outside.


    "Is someone else going toe to possess this property my lord?" the man asked, feeling curious.


    But Lin Mu didn''t speak anything. Instead, he extended his right hand forward as the air around him shook.


    Then, a word was lightly spoken¡­


    "Meld,"


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The Shopkeeper felt a chill go down his spine and gulped his saliva. Then under his stunned gaze, the building that he used to own started to rise up into the air.


    "The building¡­ it''s flying?" The shopkeeper was absolutely shocked.


    He couldn''t help but take another look at Lin Mu as realization struck him.


    ''What kind of an expert did I get to meet today?'' the shopkeeper wondered.


    Since he sold spirit tools and other things that cultivators used, he was informed about them and knew about the cultivation realms up to the nascent soul realm. While he didn''t know of Dao Shell realm, he did know that there were some realms above the Nascent soul realm.


    It was something way beyond them, thus he never thought much about it, but he did wonder about it from time to time. And now today he was finally getting to see the power of one of them.


    He had seen the power of Nascent soul realm experts on more than one asion since the fights happened nearly every week outside the city and above it, but such power and skill wasn''t shown by any other cultivator, which only made him wonder how strong Lin Mu truly was.


    But this was not the end of his shock, as what he saw after the building was lifted up was even more shocking to him.


    "WHAT IN THE HOLY NAME OF HEAVENS IS THAT?!" the shopkeeper shouted before falling to the ground, utterly terrified.


    "Seems like their method of controlling has gotten better¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he starred at the mutated being that was revealed.


    Below the building, there was a wide open underground area. It was clearly man made and there were chiseled stone tiles on the walls as well as the floors. But that was not all as there were fine runes carved everywhere.


    But that was not all, as there were more things in the underground room.


    At the very center of it was what looked like a ck stone pool. It was filled with red and Grey liquid that seemed to be stirring. The pool was about five meters wide and had six pirs around it.


    Each pir had runes carved onto it as well and chains extended from them. These chains were attached to a certain creature that was slumbering in the pool. It looked humanoid, but had gnarly skin with warts and postures.


    There were bone spurs protruding from its back, head, and arms. There might have been more of them on the legs and lower part of his body, but Lin Mu could not see them under the liquid.


    The creature seemed to be asleep, but a malevolent aura was stirring around it. Lin Mu could feel a strange kind of contaminated energy exuding from it that he had felt only in one ce before.


    ''He even made use of the Kushao ruins¡­'' Lin Mu realized.


    It was an energy simr to that of the crystal that Lin Mu had destroyed at the Kushao ruins, along with the beasts that had appeared from there.


    Lin Mu''s spirit Qi, extended and probed the mutated creature. But when he did that, it suddenly opened its eyes. They were pitch ck, with no pupils in them.


    <i>~hiss~</i>


    A breath was let out from its nose that seemed to be rather pointed.


    It raised its head and looked towards Lin Mu, who was descending towards him.


    "Cultivator¡­ Food¡­ Kill¡­ Master¡­ need¡­" The mutated being said in a hoarse tone.


    Lin Mu could tell that the being in front of him was not weak.


    "Already at the Dao Shell realm? What has Gu Yao made now?"

 Chapter 967 - A Humanoid Mutant

    Lin Mu gazed at the being in front of him and knew that it was not natural in any way.


    "There are even the traces of an invader in it?" Lin Mu sensed.


    His instincts were telling him to end this being as soon as possible, and that was exactly what he was going to do.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    The humanoid mutant flexed his hands and the chains were stretched taught.


    "GRAAAA!" The humanoid mutant shouted.


    His cry was heard across the entire Iron bull city, shocking most of themoners that were there. But those that were cultivators felt something more. They could sense the cultivation base of the being in its cry.


    A few of them directly fainted while some of them coughed out blood.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense captured everything and he knew that this was not good.


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    ''Gu Yao has certainly reached a different level in manufacturing such beings¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he used blink and appeared at the back of the mutant humanoid.


    sping both his fists, Lin Mu raised them high before bringing them down like a hammer.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~SPLAT~</i>


    The head of the humanoid mutant burst apart like a watermelon and its contents sshed over Lin Mu and his surroundings. Thankfully, there was the Mortal Strengthening scripture''s armor which prevented the disgusting fluids from touching his clothes and skin.


    <i>~Clink~</i>


    The chains were rattled once more, as the body fell forward.


    <i>~SPLASH~</i>


    Then with a ssh itid t in the red and Grey fluid that was in the pool. A serious expression appeared on Lin Mu''s face as he saw something even more shocking.


    <i>~HISS~</i>


    The red and Grey fluid started to move on its own and started to pour into the neck of the humanoid mutant. Under the surprised look of Lin Mu, the injury of the humanoid mutant which was life-ending, started to heal!


    The flesh started to regrow and the bones started to mend. First, the veins extended before the bone rose from its spine. More flesh started to bud and grow from the base before the skull started to form as well.


    Lin Mu continued to watch, feeling that this was important and saw the head being reformed in about five minutes.


    "This¡­ this is beyond normal¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Such vitality is truly abnormal for a being of this cultivation base¡­ the things thatpose this humanoid mutant are not normal. It seems like Gu Yao has used the impure Yin Qi and the invaders remnant to form this being¡­" Xukong said.


    Once the head was fully formed, its eyes opened up and it looked at Lin Mu again. This time, though, it didn''t have the slight hint of intelligence that it used to before. This time, it lookedpletely feral.


    "GFRAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"


    The humanoid mutant let out a head shaking roar and terrified themoners even more. The shopkeeper who had seen it first, was nowpletely unconscious and was just some distance from his former property.


    Lin Mu had felt the presence of something unusual in the city and hade here. His spirit sense could only tell that it was some kind of a human, but couldn''t fully perceive it due to the strange energy muddling it.


    But now that he had seen it, Lin Mu knew for sure that this was an experiment that was unknown by most.


    "Tie Niu probably was never informed of this¡­ why is this thing kept here, then?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    The humanoid mutant pulled on the chains which restrained it again and this time they got weaker.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    The chains''s finally snapped under the strength of the being and the runes surrounding them glowed.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    A formation array suddenly materialized as the spirit Qi in the area started to churn.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    A vortex formed above therge hole and spirit Qi started to pour downwards into the humanoid mutant.


    "A spirit Qi gathering array?" Lin Mu recognized and was surprised.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    Lin Mu disappeared in that moment and reappeared above the humanoid mutant''s head. His legs were pulled up high, ready to kick the creature below. Spirit Qi gathered in his legs, amplifying his great strength even more.


    Lin Mu then stopped controlling the weight of his body, and let it fall down while kicking as well.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The sudden force generated from it was enough topress the air and rip it apart, creating a sonic boom. The liquid below was directly blown away before the humanoid mutant was even touched.


    Even then, the air pressure was enough to break part of its tough skin and create tears in it. Lin Mu''s leg shone with a golden sheen that was masked by the brown armor of the mortal strengthening scripture.


    The sh of the two skill colors made it look rather strange, but it did little to hide the true power <i>that was contained within it.</i>


    <i>~CRASH~</i>


    Finally, Lin Mu''s heel touched the humanoid beast''s head, shattering it into fragments of bone and flesh before continuing downwards to its neck. It didn''t stop at all and shattered the corbones, the spine and the ribs along with the sternum, all the while tearing all the organs in its body to mush.


    <i>~SPLATTER~</i>


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Lin Mu''s leg went all the way through the body of the humanoid mutant fully breaking it apart and finally struck the empty pool below. There it broke the stone floor and directly created an oblong crater that was five meters deep.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The runes were also working at the same time, forming into a reinforcing formation. But even then, they could barely reduce the damage that was done to the hall.


    <i>~kacha~</i>


    And in the end, the formations broke apart from the force as well, letting the remaining power dissipate in the surrounding area.


    The walls crumbled like they were made of chalk while the nearby houses and buildings developed cracks.


    "AHH!!!"


    "MY HOUSE!!! ITS BREAKING!!!"


    Manymoners ran out for the fear of their lives, even though they had heard some terrifying cries outside.

 Chapter 968 - A Swift End

    Once themoners were out, they couldn''t help but notice therge hole near their houses.


    "What the hell? When did that appear?"


    "And what was that cry?


    "Forget that. Why did our houses crack?"


    There were many questions they had, and they didn''t know if they were ever going to get any answers.


    "Do you think we should check what''s there?"


    "Are you crazy? There''s still some weird soundsing from there."


    "Hang on! That''s old Lu''s shop!"


    "Fuck, that''s Old Lu lying there too!"


    A few people went to the unconscious shopkeeper that was lying nearby. They check to see if he was alive first and finding him breathing, they took breaths of relief.


    "What the hell is going on today in our city?"


    "I know, right? First, the barrier and fight happens, and now this¡­"


    Many were lost and didn''t know what to do. They could only wait for the guards to appear, which they still hadn''t.


    "Why are the guards not out yet? They usuallye with one of the elders, right?" someone wondered.


    His question made everyone''s curiosity peak, and they looked around, to not find any guard.


    While themoners were talking amongst themselves nervously, Lin Mu was checking to see what had happened to the humanoid mutant.


    ''The attack certainly should have killed him and yet¡­ I can sense some vitality.'' Lin Mu thought as he spread his spirit sense around.


    The body of the humanoid mutant was broken apart into several fragments and pieces of flesh. Lin Mu looked around and found that the pieces that hadnded in a puddle of the red and Grey liquid were still wiggling slightly.


    Some of therger ones were even absorbing the liquid and growing.


    "It really is very resilient." Lin Mu muttered.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A me ignited in Lin Mu''s hand before he threw out several fireballs.


    <i>~poof~</i>


    The intense heat of the fire burned all that it touched and the pieces of the humanoid mutant were burned. One by one, more of the fragments were reduced to ashes until one final one was left.


    Lin Mu didn''t burn this thought. Instead, he picked it up and scooped up some of the red and Grey fluid into the box. Having put both inside it, he closed it and chanted a few words. His finger then moved on the box, drawing several runes on it.


    About a minuteter, he was done and the box shone with the glow of runes.


    "That should keep it sealed." Lin Mu muttered.


    "That''s a good choice. As much as we have to eliminate the invader, we do need to know what Gu Yao hase up with." Xukong chimed in.


    "Yes, I hope that the others can figure out some things." Lin Mu replied before storing it in the ring.


    The seal was actually not to keep the fragment of the humanoid mutant contained, but rather to protect it from the environment of the ring. There was a great choice: it would die before they could test it, thus Lin Mu chose to seal it first.


    There were many ideas that came to Lin Mu''s mind, the worst of which making him think that this was just a failed experiment.


    ''If Gu Yao made something like this, there would be some benefit to him rather than just having an extra servant.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Done with his work here, Lin Mu floated up and appeared in the vision of all themoners.


    "Look! Who''s that?" Themoners spotted Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu saw the confusion, fear and anxiety in their eyes, understanding their thoughts. He took out a token from his ring and shed it to themoners.


    "GUARDS!" Lin Mu called out.


    The token shone with a faint light and just in a minute, several guards came rushing to the area. They were clearly shocked and scared and were not that dissimr to themoners.


    At least in the case of the guards, there were several cultivators.


    "Who among you has the highest rank?" Lin Mu questioned in an authoritative tone.


    From the guards came forward a man. He was wearing a different helmet than others and had a cultivation base at the early stage of the core condensation realm. Lin Mu understood that he might be a captain or something.


    He gazed at the guard, making him shiver.


    ''Who is he? He can fly¡­ and the pressure from him¡­ plus themand token of the mayor¡­'' the guard had several questions, but he didn''t dare ask.


    He could tell that Lin Mu was way stronger than him, not just him, but themoners knew that very well too.


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    Though he was also confused about why no other official under mayor Tie Niu had appeared. Usually they should have been the ones to give themmands, but now there was not one of them here despite the fact that something big had happened.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense probed the guard, checking him to see if he was one of Gu Yao''s or if he had some influence on him, too. Even though Tie Niu had told him about all that he knew, it was obvious that Gu Yao and his people had kept more secrets from


    The humanoid mutant was the best example of this. So Lin Mu wanted to be sure of it.


    ''Hmm¡­ he''s clean. And the others are too¡­'' Lin Mu confirmed.


    "You are to maintain peace in the city for the time being. Someone else wille over to take over in a while. Till then just keep things running." Lin Mu ordered.


    The guard captain had several questions, but seeing the look on Lin Mu''s face made him not ask.


    "A-as youmand, lord!" The guard captain said while quickly kneeling on one knee.


    "AS YOU COMMAND!" the other guards joined in as well, kneeling on one knee.


    Themoners bowed their heads in respect as well, knowing it was for the best.. Them offending someone powerful just because they didn''t know them would never end well.

 Chapter 969 - Reaching The Coal Fell Town

    Having dealt with the situation at the Iron Bull city, Lin Mu headed to the Fell Coal Vige immediately. As much as he wanted to help them a bit more in calming the chaos, he knew that he didn''t have the time for it.


    ''I''ll have to let the alliance handle themter. Thankfully, Tie Niu told me about the token and its uses.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


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    Lin Mu had taken themand tokens from Tie Niu''s ring. There were several of them with a different level of authority. The one that was the highest one gave one the same authority as that of Tie Niu and would be considered the mayor.


    Other than Tie Niu, no one could hold it unless the current mayor was dead. And Since Lin Mu was holding it back then, the guards all considered him on the same level as Tie Niu.


    As for the one that he had shown the shopkeeper: Old Lu, that was a rank below the highest one. It was the highest ranked token that could be given to others, and only a couple of Tie Niu''s trusted people had that.


    And both of those people were killed by Lin Mu''s hand, giving him those as well. He had gotten a sufficient amount of fortune from the people he killed today here and it would seem that they were getting a lot of resources from Gu Yao, considering their position.


    Though Lin Mu was only that much anxious about it.


    ''If Gu Yao can continue to provide these many resources, then there must be a source. Did them crippling their supply lines not work?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He continued to fly ording to the location he had gotten and reached the Coal Fell vige soon.


    "So this is Coal Fell Vige¡­" Lin Mu gazed upon the vige from far up, not finding anything unique about it.


    His spirit sense swept the vige and checked for anything suspicious.


    "Nothing here¡­ the people are allmoners, with just a couple of warriors reaching the sixth stage of the Body tempering realm." Lin Mu confirmed.


    Having checked this, Lin Mu went to look for the location that was more important, the old coal mine.


    Lin Mu found the coal mine about twenty kilometers away, tucked away in a barren patch ofnd. This coal mine was directly on the ground, with no hill or mountain attached to it.


    From what Lin Mu could see, it went down in a spiral pattern, and any coal that was dug from it was brought up on these spiral paths. Though there was also a pulley tripod in the middle of the hole which was broken for a long time.


    The coal mine had been depleted for the most part, and the empire had stopped mining here. Now only the nearby vigers mined there for coal that they needed for their daily use. Which also made it the perfect ce for someone to hide.


    Till a few years ago, there were bandits that would make this ce their hideout, but the empire would regrly wipe them out. But now, it seemed like Gu Yao had done his magic and no one checked there.


    ''Though it might also be the stronger cultivators¡­ those bandits would never hold a candle to these experts.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense scanned the coal mine and felt the formation array that was protecting it.


    "Two illusory formations, one to mask and one to misguide, one defensive formation array and one¡­ self-destructing formation?" Lin Mu identified.


    Seeing the presence of the self destructing formation made Lin Mu a bit cautious. Not because he was afraid of getting harmed, but because it meant that whatever was hidden in the mine was worthy of being destroyed rather than being revealed.


    His spirit sense couldn''t go into the mine either due to the defenses of the formation array, but Lin Mu quickly got to fixing that.


    "Let''s see¡­ shouldn''t be that hard." Lin Mu muttered as he gazed upon the invisible formations.


    His spirit sense touched them and revealed the hidden runes. Lin Mu closed his eyes and chanted the calming heart sutra, increasing his concentration to the peak as his fingers started to move.


    The touched, they tapped, they dragged, and they tore¡­


    Fifteen minutester, a faint flicker wave spread across the formation array and a hole two meters wide appeared in front of Lin Mu.


    "Perfect." Lin Mu said before he descended down the hole.


    He didn''t set foot on the ground, sensing the rming formations that wereid there. He kept on floating in the air as he continued onwards. He wanted to catch the Gu legions people unaware and also learn what was actually being done here.


    His spirit sense split apart into tens of tendrils and went into all the tunnels of the mine. In just a few seconds, Lin Mu grasped theyout of the mine as well as learning where everyone was.


    "Huh? The people here¡­ they''re not that strong." Lin Mu muttered with furrowed brows.


    While there were over a hundred Gu legion members here, there were only three that were even at the Nascent soul realm, and even from them, two were at the Infant Soul stage and one at the Child soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.


    To current Lin Mu, they were no different from dry grass that could be ripped and burned as desired. His spirit sense kept exploring and discovered a couple of areas that were blocked off for it.


    "That must be what they are keeping hidden here. If there are specific isting formations here for them, then they should be rather important." Lin Mu reckoned.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    He then waved his hands and summoned thirty three spirit weapons. They were nothing special and weren''t ones that Lin Mu usually used. It wasn''t like Lin Mu needed great power here anyway. What he needed was swift and concise action.


    "Go!" Lin Mu said before the spirit weapons were sent forth to ughter.

 Chapter 970 - Spilling Blood And Answers

    <i>~kacha~</i>


    <i>~poosh~</i>


    <i>~Slick~</i>


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    A mix of low noises were heard echoing through the tunnels as a silent ughter was initiated. The victims didn''t even get a chance to let out a cry before their lives were ended. Lin Mu would never give them time to speak theirst words, for he didn''t think they were worthy of that mercy.


    "Now to check on the ones that can actually speak¡­" Lin Mu said as he flew toward one of the tunnels.


    He weaved through the many tunnels that crisscrossed and forked, before finally reaching a wide open cave.


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    <i>~cough~</i>


    "W-who¡­"


    In this caveid three men. Two of them had their throats slit and only one was somewhat alive. But even then, his life was hanging by a thread and he would die any time now.


    The way the man was lying on the ground, he couldn''t see Lin Mu, but he could very well feel the wind blowing. This was strange since there shouldn''t be any wind in the tunnels deep down.


    Finally, Lin Mu came to stand in front of the half-dead man.


    "Do you want to live?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Y¡­ y-yes¡­" The man barely spoke as blood continued to gurgle from his throat.


    He couldn''t understand how all this had happened. It was very quick, and he didn''t even realize that he was attacked. And by the time he did, it was toote and he was already lying on the ground.


    His tendons had been severed in all of his limbs, leaving him like a worm¡­ wriggling on the ground. If not for the fact that the spirit weapon that slit the throats of hispanions didn''t go deeper, he would have already had his head lopped off.


    Even then, he didn''t lose hope and tried to use his healing pills. But it was then that despair settled in for him¡­ he couldn''t even feel the presence of his spatial storage treasure.


    Besides, his hands couldn''t move very well now either way.


    Lin Mu had used Spatial block the moment he had spread his spirit sense inside the mines.


    Gazing at the bleeding man as if he were a bug, Lin Mu picked him up by his hair before shoving a healing pill inside his mouth.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The effect of a high grade healing pill was very quick and in just five seconds, the bleeding stopped. Lin Mu held him mid air for a few seconds until his injuries were sufficiently healed.


    Then when the man tried to stimte his cultivation base, he felt intense pain again.


    <i>~SPLAT~</i>


    "Not so fast¡­" Lin Mu said as he pulled back his hand from the man''s abdomen.


    <i>~drip~ drip~</i>


    More blood spilled from the man''s abdomen as he felt his dantian breaking apart.


    "W-why¡­?" the man didn''t even have energy to scream and could only utter a few words.


    "You are not worthy of an answer. You will only speak when spoken to, and only answer when questioned." Lin Mu stated in a firm voice.


    His tone was cold and felt like daggers in the ears of the Man.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    "ARGHHHH!" The man cried out in pain as a hot me scorched his flesh, stopping the bleeding abdomen.


    "That should make you hold out for a bit." Lin Mu said before he dropped the man on the ground.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    Dust was knocked up as the man weakly gazed at Lin Mu, fear flowing through his eyes.


    "Now then¡­ where was I?" Lin Mu said before taking a look at the blue sphere of runes in one of the corners of the cave.


    It seemed to be hiding something inside it and it couldn''t be seen from the outside.


    "The first question I have is¡­ what is the Gu legion doing here?" Lin Mu asked.


    The man didn''t speak and seemed to be lost at first, but then he felt pain again.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    "AHHHHHH!!!!" the man screamed in pain as his foot was shattered.


    Lin Mu made sure not to break skin and flesh so that the blood would not leak out. This way the man would stay alive longer.


    ''Besides, he''s a Nascent soul realm cultivator, he should have enough vitality to hold on. Those elders of the Long Cloud sect were in a much worse state and yet they were battling at full force¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as the coldness in his eyes increased.


    "You avoid a question or say something wrong, you''ll feel pain. You answer right and I''ll give you a healing pill¡­ understand?" Lin Mu stated.


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    "Y-yes¡­" The man said while stammering.


    "Good¡­ now answer my previous question if you don''t want more of your bones shattered." Lin Mu said.


    Hearing this, the man felt a burst of fearful energy and quickly started speaking.


    "We were here doing our duties as assigned by lord Gu Yao. We are to gather the sacrifices from nearby regions to be prepared for refinement." The man said hurriedly spoke.


    "Sacrifices? What exactly are these and what do you mean by refinement?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We refine the sacrifices, which are the human cultivators, into the Rebirth blood. This is all done by lord Gu Yao''s refinement arrays." The man answered while coughing a few times.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense could tell that something had changed in the man. His vitality had suddenly dipped before rising back up. But it seemed like the man was unaware of it.


    Keeping this in mind, Lin Mu continued asking the man questions.


    "And what is the use of this¡­ Rebirth blood?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The Rebirth blood is used to make the Reborn¡­ Only Lord Gu Yao knows how to make those though. They need a Rebirth Seed in addition to the Rebirth blood to be made. Though there aren''t many that survive that.


    Though even the waste and failed products have uses." The man said, giving Lin Mu a bad feeling.


    "What happens to the ones that failed?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They get recycled into cultivation base boosting pills.." The man said, infuriating Lin Mu.

 Chapter 971 - Potential Location Of Gu Yao?

    Lin Mu was truly angry upon hearing the use of the failed experiments. Not only were a lot of humans sacrificed to make the Rebirth blood, even then there was no guarantee and the these cultivation base boosting pills were made.


    "Do the ones who take these pills know about it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "N-no¡­ most don''t. At least the ones that are not part of the Gu Legion directly don''t know. We are not allowed to tell anyone this¡­<i>~cough~</i>" The man said as he coughed again.


    Lin Mu''s eyes narrowed as he sensed the further changes in the man''s body.


    ''Does he not sense them?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    His senses were fully alert and he would know if the man did anything. Even something as much as a flicker in the heartbeat would be felt by Lin Mu. Thus, he would know if the man ever lied.


    But so far, he had been saying everything truthfully.


    "How many pills can be made from one of the failed experiments?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I¡­ don''t know. We simply get them from the heads. Even I only know how the Reborn are made because the method is not as protected as before. Till a few months ago, other than lord Gu Yao, no one knew anything about it." The man answered, sensing Lin Mu''s impatience.


    "Now then¡­ tell me where is Gu Yao? Where is the location where he is hiding and where are the locations of all your other bases?" Lin Mu asked, his grip on the stone table nearby tightening.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    The table couldn''t bear the force anymore and shattered in Lin Mu''s hands. With that as a warning, the man hurriedly spoke.


    "I don''t know¡­ no one knows where he is. As for the other bases, I don''t know either. That information is protected and other than those at the headquarters, only those that reside in those bases know about the actual location.


    The same could be said for this base. No one other than us knows about it." The man replied.


    "You''re wrong¡­ Tie Niu knew about this ce." Lin Mu replied.


    "He can be considered a part of us, that''s why he knew. But anyone under him wouldn''t know about it." The man exined.


    Lin Mu thought for a few seconds and recalled something else.


    ''Since I didn''t see Gu Yao on the world nexus before, it means he is hiding somewhere in a different ne.'' Lin Mu thought to himself before staring into the eyes of the man in front of him.


    "I know for sure that Gu Yao is somewhere in a minor ne and you should know that too since you''ve met with him. Then don''t lie and tell me that you don''t know where that is." Lin Mu said while breaking the man''s other leg.


    <i>~ARGH!~</i>


    The man cried in pain but held on, knowing that he''ll just be tortured even more if he didn''t answer in time to the question.


    "I said I didn''t know the exact location of it. If we want to enter the minor ne though, there are several ways." The man said, trying to get a hold of his breath.


    "What are those ways?" Lin Mu asked with no chance for a bargain.


    "There are set locations from where one can utilize a teleportation array to go to the main headquarters. Then there is also the talismans which can be used to enter there. Though these can only be used once." The man replied.


    Hearing this Lin Mu''s eyes lit up.


    ''If it''s either of these, our chances of infiltration will be far higher.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Where is the ce where the teleportation array is located?" Lin Mu questioned. "And do you have any of those teleportation talismans?" he added.


    Either of them would be fine for him as he would be able to enter it with the help of his ring as needed. Lin Mu only needed one of those talismans, and he would be able to track it all the way to its source.


    R¨ºAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only


    But he would still be fine with the location of the teleportation array.


    "The teleportation array I know is located in the Zither wind sect, though there are others that I don''t know about. The information we have is limited unless we need to know about it.


    As for the teleportation talismans¡­ only those that are of a high rank can have those. I don''t evene close to that." The man spoke.


    Hearing that the teleportation array was located in the Zither Wind Sect, Lin Mu realized that it must have been rather obvious, but at the same time hard to guess.


    ''If they have it in the Zither Wind sect, it means they have no scruples being out in the open now and have the entire sect and all of its disciples under them.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu thought over who could potentially have such a teleportation talisman, and an idea appeared in his mind.


    "Is the position of Wu Hei high in the Gu Legion?" Lin Mu questioned. "Will he have one of those teleportation talismans?" he asked.


    "Wu Hei? Lord Gu Yao''s nephew?" The man was surprised that Lin Mu knew about him.


    "Yes, him." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "He¡­ should definitely have one of them. His rank is definitely among the top five in the Gu Legion. <i>~COUGH~</i>" The man said before coughing loudly.


    This time though, there was ck blood present while coughing too.


    Seeing this the man waste surprised.


    "No. This can''t be!" The man suddenly shouted.


    He looked at the blood he had coughed out and looked to be scared out of his wits. Lin Mu checked it with his spirit sense and found the same traces of that strange aura on the blood.


    "You''re part of it too, huh¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "No¡­ no¡­ no! I never took those! How can I have this?!" The man cried out loud.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    And just as he said this, a loud rumbling sound came from his chest.

 Chapter 972 - Auto-Destruction

    Lin Mu watched as the man went crazy in front of him. Taking a few steps to the back, he saw the man scratching at his chest. He ripped apart his robes, revealing his bare chest on which a ck mark had appeared.


    The mark was strange and didn''t look anything like what Lin Mu had seen till now. The man looked at the man dumbfounded and his eyes looked to be dull as well.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    But the man did not answer.


    <i>~glug~glug~</i>


    Instead, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and bloody foam starteding out of his mouth.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The man fell to the ground lifelessly and wentpletely still.


    "Huh? Was he poisoned?" Lin Mu felt confused.


    But just as he was about to touch the man, he felt the body tremble ever so slightly.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    <i>~POOF~</i>


    Suddenly the body started to swell and strong spirit Qi fluctuations came out of it. The spirit Qi fluctuations were very vtile and Lin Mu knew exactly what they meant this time.


    "What in the!" Lin Mu quickly used fade and left the mine that way.


    By the time he reappeared in the real world, Lin Mu was about a hundred meters high up in the sky.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    He looked below and saw a massive explosion that had just happened. Bloody smoke came out of the now copsed mine and the formation arrays started to flicker out of existence as well.


    "Damn! This is going to increase even more!" Lin Mu realized.


    He could feel the self destruction formations activating and gathering power. The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the mine were going far and wide, showing that theing explosion would not be as small as the one that had urred just now.


    ''If this blows up the vige nearby will be caught in it too¡­'' Lin Mu assessed.


    He quickly scanned the formation, checking to see if there was any way to stop OT.


    "There''s no use. You don''t have enough time to stop it nor dy it. Rather, if you interfere in it right now, it might reduce the time needed for it to explode or it might evens explode right away." Xukong warned.


    Having learned this, Lin Mu immediately made his decision.


    <i>~WOONG~</i>


    Lin Mu rushed towards the Coal Fell vige at great speed. The sound of his flight could be heard all the way in the vige, making the vigers wonder what was happening.


    Today was going to bet the strangest day in the lives of the vigers. First, they heard the loudest explosion they had heard in their lifespan and then they saw a man flying at blinding speeds.


    The man appeared in the vige and disappeared suddenly. He would then appear again, this time in some other location in the vige. But the one thing that wasmon in all this was that all the houses or areas from where the viges were grabbed were in the eastern part of it.


    In Less than a minute, Lin Mu had moved out over eighty percent of the Coal Fell vige''s poption. They didn''t even get the chance to get their belongings and items before leaving.


    In fact, it could even be said that Lin Mu had involuntarily gotten most of the vigers out of the city.


    <i>~KABOOM!~</i>


    And just when Lin Mu was about to go back into the city, the explosion finally happened.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    Even Lin Mu was sent flying back from the shock wave and ended up hitting a hill nearby. His body was embedded in the hill, but no damage was felt by him in reality.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    <i>~TREMBLE~</i>


    The tremors of it spread far and wide, with over half of the Coal Fell vige getting wiped out of existence.


    "What happened?"


    "Did the skies explode?"


    "Are the heavens falling?"


    "ITS THE END! ITS THE END OF THE WORLD!"


    There were many questions the unaware vigers had. They hadn''t even realized that the houses they had lived for so many years didn''t exist anymore.? At the distance they were, only arge cloud in the shape of a mushroom could be seen.


    A couple of minutes passed like this as the vigers finally came around. They looked at each other, realizing that almost everyone from the vige was there, including every child, woman and old person.


    "Did anyone see my husband?" A middle aged woman asked.


    Her expression was anxious and she didn''t know why, but fear was rising in her mind as well.


    She didn''t even get to take a look at Lin Mu before she was taken away and left here. Lin Mu was simply too fast to see for them.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    And just as the vigers were getting even more restless, they heard the flutter of robesing from the distance.


    "Immortal!"


    "It''s an immortal!


    They all shouted, as if they had seen god.


    To them who were from backwards environment, a cultivator was a rare existence, and one that could fly was even rare.


    One must know that in their vige, there were no cultivators above the Qi refining realm. To them just reaching the first stage of the Qi refining realm was enough. They neither had the capital nor the talent to do either of those things though.


    Lin Mu looked at the vigers down below and saw the expressions.


    ''This¡­'' Lin Mu felt a bit conflicted now.


    ''In a way, this is so much simr to how I was when I had met a proper cultivator back then.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.


    "Lord Immortal¡­ do you know what happened there?" an elderly man asked.


    He was wearing different robes than many other people and looked to be a bit on the fatter side.


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    "An explosion happened. I took you all out before the vige was destroyed." Lin Mu answered sincerely.


    Hearing this, a lot of the men didn''t believe it all. But then it happened¡­


    "NO!!!!" A woman started to cry loudly and others soon joined in.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu didn''t know what to do here other than give them somepensation.

 Chapter 973 - A Flurry Of Thoughts

    Lin Mu was on his way to the outpost where the people of the ck Dune sect were fighting. He had been dyed by a day in all this and he didn''t know how they were faring now.


    There was no way to contact them since themunication jade slips were still blocked.


    ''Leaving those vigers is still quite ufortable¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After saying a few words offort to the vigers and giving them some gold, Lin Mu had left. He had to hurry to the outpost or there might be more troubleing his way. He also saw the vigers searching for their loved ones who had not made it.


    Lin Mu was unable to get all of them in that time and about five percent of the poption of the vige had died. While the other five percent that was left behind in the vige was injured.


    Some were lightly injured with some of them being crippled for life due to the houses and other things copsing on them. The force of the explosion was truly strong and Lin Mu understood how severe the consequences of using a self destructing formation could be.


    "Not just the formation¡­ the man himself¡­ how could I not tell there was something that would make himself detonate?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He had checked the man and didn''t find any such danger. While he had felt a strange aura in the man, Lin Mu thought that it was the same as that of the others that had taken the pills or other things that Gu Yao had made.


    "It isn''t really your fault. There are many was to hide from spirit sense and Gu Yao has been able to find one of them it seems. At least now you know to be alert whenever that aura is felt.


    For others they might not even be able to detect that aura." Xukong consoled.


    Lin Mu went silent for a while before finally nodding his head.


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    "You''re a right senior. I have a lot to do rather than hang my head here." Lin Mu replied.


    "Though I have to admit¡­ this Gu Yao¡­ he''s a genius too and talented in refinement, as well as technique creation." Xukong spoke.


    "That¡­ is true." Lin Mu admitted, recalling all that Gu Yao had done.


    He had been infected by an invader''s avatar once and had managed to repel it. Not only that, he had also grasped a concept from that and made the human Controlling Blood curse.


    And now he had made even more dangerous mutated humanoids, that he called the ''Reborn''. The creation of rebirth fluid, refined from the blood and bodies of cultivators, was an evil technique through and through.


    Then there was also the cultivation base boosting pills that could be made as a waste product from the failed Reborn. This ability to make up for failure was what made the technique so much more dangerous.


    If there was no way to reuse it, the Rebirth fluid would not be much of a problem. But now that the pills could be made from it, it meant that Gu Yao won''t be wasting any resources on it.


    With this, he could recruit even more people under him, without even needing to use the Human Controlling Blood curse.


    Lin Mu didn''t know how strong or expansive the human Controlling Blood Curse was now. Before the strongest Gu Yao could control was the Dao Shell realm cultivators. But now that he was probably at the Dao Shell realm as well, he would be able to control Dao Treading realm cultivators.


    While the numbers were still unknown, even one of them being controlled depending on their position would be terrifying.


    A lone rogue or itinerant Dao Treading realm cultivator was still fine, but a Dao Treading realm cultivator that was the patriarch or the supreme elder of a sect was apletely different game.


    Controlling a Dao treading realm cultivator like that meant he would have a majority of the sect under him.


    ''The only saving grace is that he can''t control any Immortal Ascension realm experts, or this would have already ended a while ago. Gu Yao having control over the top three sects would be the worst thing.


    Thankfully, hisck of control is still the factor which has prevented them from being enved.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The northern Tribes could basically invade the Great Zhou continent at any time and they would have free ess to it in its entirety if Gu Yao controlled even one Immortal Ascension realm cultivator.


    ''But seeing as he has not made a move on the top three sects, it means that the ancestors of the top three sects are still alive and well. If they weren''t, Gu Yao would probably have started controlling their Dao Treading realm experts too.'' Lin Mu reckoned to himself.


    While Lin Mu was thinking all this, Xukong was doing the same.


    ''Gu Yao might be another talented individual. If he was given enough time, it won''t be unusual if he really became the ruler of this world.


    And considering the many examples of the many worlds, it won''t be unusual or out of the normal either. There is nock of such experts in the universe.


    There is no evil technique¡­ all are the same¡­


    It is the Heavenly Dao that can be biased at times, but the Great Dao will always be neutral. What god and what devil¡­ they''re all equal in the end.'' Xukong thought to himself as he reminisced some memories.


    Xukong turned to look at the ethereal altar in the distance and muttered, "and where will you stand? Whatever you are?"


    No response was heard to his question, and the ethereal altar stayed the same.


    "Seems like only time will tell¡­" Xukong said before he closed his eyes and went back to cultivating.


    Lin Mu continued his journey for another couple of hours before he finally reached his destination.


    "Finally¡­" He whispered.

 Chapter 974 - Meeting The Black Dune Sect’s Group

    Lin Mu was standing high up in the sky, and the clouds were beneath him.


    This was the highest he had ever reached flying on his own and it would have been a surreal expression if not for the fact that Lin Mu was here for a serious situation. Peering through the clouds, Lin Mu''s eyes gazed upon the few buildings below.


    Around the building, there were several hundred tents, half of which were broken and destroyed. There were fires raging in some of the areas, while some areas were filled with ground that had been upturned.


    The signs of battles were clearly present, though no battle seemed to be currently ongoing.


    "Where is everyone?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He couldn''t see anyone on the ground just from his eyes thus he extended his spirit sense.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    In the next moment, his spirit sense rained down like hail and covered the entire area before prating deep into the ground, showing him all that was hidden.


    There, Lin Mu finally found the people he had been looking for.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    In the next moment, Lin Mu stopped flying and let his body drop down.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    His speed of falling continued to increase until he broke through the sound barrier, creating a sonic boom. The sound was loud enough for the people hiding underground to hear it as well.


    "What was that?" A disciple wearing the robes of the ck dune sect asked.


    There were several injuries on his body, and one of his eyes seemed to be missing as well.


    "Dammit, is it another group of those Gu Legion bastards?" Another disciple scorned.


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    All the disciples quickly became alert and started to prepare for whatever that wasing. But not even a secondter, they heard a faint voice in the underground hall where they were.


    "Phase¡­"


    "WHO!?" A bald elder wearing a hood shouted.


    There were bloodstains all over his robes, but he himself didn''t seem to be injured. His aura was also rather strong, being at the Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm. But then they all saw a man materializing in front of them.


    As if appearing out of thin air, Lin Mu looked mystical to them at that moment. His body had gottenrger and his muscles had increased in size as well. His face was handsome and his jaw bone looked like it was chiseled out of the finest marble.


    His long hair hung loosely over his back as a golden sheen highlighted it. The golden sheen wasing from none other than Lin Mu''s skin, making him look like a deity that had appeared.


    While all the disciples of the ck Dune sect were staring at Lin Mu, he too nced at them.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    His spirit sense did a quick sweep, overwhelming the disciples enough that they all took a step back.


    "Fifty six with light injuries, thirteen with heavy injuries and two dead¡­" Lin Mu assessed.


    Upon hearing his voice though, an identity appeared in the minds of the disciples.


    "Alliance leader Lin Mu!?" They all said in unison.


    Even if Lin Mu''s appearance might be different, they could never forget his voice. After all, the oath that he had taken with many others had been recorded and reyed in all three sects.


    The disciples had already taken him as an idol and there was nock of those that wanted to learn from Lin Mu either.


    Back then, it was mostly the elders who had seen Lin Mu face to face, but the elders had gotten portraits of Lin Mu to be shown to the disciples. So now every disciple knew of Lin Mu.


    <i>~step~step~step~</i>


    "Greetings alliance leader Lin Mu¡­ I can''t tell you how grateful I am for you to be here," The Dao Shell realm elder of the ck dune sect said while cupping his hands.


    "GREETINGS ALLIANCE LEADER LIN MU!" Hearing their elder talk, the disciples joined in as well.


    "It is nice to meet you all too¡­ though I wished it was under different conditions." Lin Mu said with a tinge of regret.


    "It is all good now that you are finally here, alliance leader Lin Mu." The disciples said with joy.


    Even the ones that were injured seemed to be happy all of a sudden. Still, it wasn''t enough to put a smile on Lin Mu''s face.


    "I would have liked to talk more, but we have more pressing matters at hand. The elders of the Long Cloud sect told me you needed help?" Lin Mu stated.


    "Of course, it ispletely understandable." The Dao Shell realm elder spoke.


    "We did need help before, but we managed to push the Gu Legion members back." One of the disciple standing next to the elder spoke.


    He had a cultivation base that seemed to be the highest among the disciples here right now, being at the Child Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.


    "You did? What exactly happened? I didn''t get any details before." Lin Mu said in response.


    "Very well. Please,e to my quarters. I''ll brief you on it." The elder said before turning to the disciples. "You all should rest and recover. We don''t know how long we''ll have before they return."


    Lin Mu nodded in agreement and followed behind the elder. The disciples all split up and went to do their respective. Some went to heal their injuries while some helped them. Other than the elder, the disciple at the Child Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm also came to the quarters.


    "Please take a seat, Alliance Leader." The elder spoke. "My name is¡ª"


    "Elder Zhan, I remember." Lin Mu interrupted the bald man.


    The bald man raised his brows in surprise and smiled before taking a seat as well.


    "I''m honored that you remember me, even though we only had a short acquaintance back then." Elder Zhan replied.


    "If I am to be an alliance leader, isn''t it important for me to remember the names of my allies?" Lin Mu stated with a hint of respect in his eyes.

 Chapter 975 - No Traces Of Bodies

    The two men stared at each other for a moment in appreciation before stopping.


    "Well then, I should start the briefing." Elder Zhan spoke.


    "Yes, please tell me all that happened here." Lin Mu replied.


    "Basically, this ce was one of the outposts the merchants who are the members of the Merchant alliance used. The buildings on the surface were the facade while the actual storage ces were these ungrounded rooms.


    We have been using this for a long time and this ce was one of the outposts supplying to the cities and towns nearby.


    There would be regr caravansing here and leaving here to the different ces. They would store some of their goods here while some would exchange it here. Of course, the normal merchants were also allowed to use this outpost, though they didn''t know the secret underground areas.


    That was also how we were making more profits. Since our merchants could leave a part of their merchandise here to be exchanged with other external merchants. It saved them both time and effort, whileting extra profit.


    All was going well until Gu Legion found out about it somehow. They mounted an offense here and attacked the outpost." Elder Zhan exined.


    "And I''m guessing you all were heading here with another caravan as a guard?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You''re right. Thankfully, we were nearby or many more merchants would have died. Currently, half of the merchants that were here at that time died under the force of the Gu legion and the other half managed to escape.


    We split a part of our group to help them escape and they should be rtively far by now." Elder Zhan replied.


    "Hmm¡­ I noticed. Though it still makes me confused that there are no bodies up on the surface. How''s that possible?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That¡­ is something the Gu Legion hase up with. We don''t know what they do to their bodies, but their members thate of offensive missions like these don''t leave behind bodies.


    After they die, their bodies turn into liquid and seep into the ground. Some part of it even turns into vapors and floats away into the wind, leaving behind little to no traces.


    I''ve heard of certain poisons and acids being able to do that to bodies before, but seeing this happen automatically after death is strange." Elder Zhan said.


    Hearing this, several thoughts came to Lin Mu''s mind and he remembered something simr.


    "Didn''t the beasts of Kushao ruins do the same? Their bodies disappear after a certain time too." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes, we did find it to be simr to that as well. But in the case of Gu Legion members, the speed of these bodies dissolving is very fast. Not even a couple of minutes after dying their bodies will start to melt.


    Not just that, but all the clothes and other items they have on themselves will melt as well." Elder Zhan replied.


    "Really? They don''t leave behind any spirit tools or spirit weapons either? Not even a spatial storage treasure?" Lin Mu questioned, finding it unusual.


    He knew that the other items shouldn''t damage so much that they would directly disappear.


    "Yes, everything disappears into the puddle their bodies turn into. And yes, not even a spatial storage tool survives." Elder Zhan answered.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he wondered if this was intentional or not.


    "These Gu Legion members¡­ would you say they are stronger than the average cultivator?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of they definitely are! At least the ones that attack us are all of a decent level. They are good enough to almost go against trained sect disciples." Elder Zhan replied quickly.


    "Hmm¡­ seems like the Gu Legion is afraid of leaving behind traces." Lin Mu muttered.


    "There are some exceptions to this too though, Alliance leader Lin Mu." Elder Zhan added.


    "Yeah, I noticed that. The Gu Legion members I fought in the previous area where the Long Cloud sect was fighting were not like this. Their bodies didn''t disappear." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes, that''s the thing. We don''t know why there is a difference or what makes this difference. We''ve assessed dead bodies but were unable to find the reason behind it. While there are certain poisonous alchemical pills that can have the same effect, we''ve never seen any Gu Legion member take them.


    It''s almost like it is built into them." Elder Zhan said with frustration.


    Lin Mu thought over it for a few seconds before speaking again.


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    "I think I might have an idea what makes that difference, though we''ll need more evidence to confirm it." Lin Mu said.


    "OH! You know that? Please do tell," Elder Zhan hurriedly said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and then told him about what he had done in the past day. He had saved the Long Cloud sect''s people, killed Tie Niu and took over Iron Bull city as well as wiping out a hideout of the Gu legion''s people near the Coal Fell Vige.


    Hearing all this, Elder Zhan was stunned.


    "You did all this in just a day?!" the disciple watching them said with shock.


    "Yes¡­ well, approximately." Lin Mu agreed.


    <i>~Gasp~</i>


    Elder Zhan and the disciples standing next to him couldn''t help but take in breathes of air wondering just how had Lin Mu done it all. To them, his progress in cultivation was very fast and his skills were excellently strong too.


    "Gu Yao has certainly gotten brazen over the months. Making a mutant humanoid like that is very evil. The karma of the people will not let him live in peace¡­" The Nascent soul realm disciple said in a low voice.


    "This is also the problem we need to deal with. Now that the Iron Bull city is without a leader, Gu Yao will learn that soon and might want to take over it again. It''s best we send some to guide them." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Very well! I''ll go there myself with a few more of the disciples.." The Nascent soul realm disciples said.

 Chapter 976 - Impressed Elder Zhan

    Hearing the words of the Nascent soul realm disciple, Lin Mu agreed.


    "Very well¡­" Lin Mu said before tossing him a metallic token. "Take this,"


    "What''s this thing?" The nascent soul realm disciple asked.


    "It is themand token of the mayor of the Iron Bull city. If you have it, your authority is that of the mayor." Lin Mu casually replied.


    The disciple nodded his head and took the token from Lin Mu.


    "Core disciple Fa is a good leader and has experiencemanding and managing multiple people. He shouldn''t have much trouble in managing the city." Elder Zhan assured.


    "If you say so then, it''s really good." Lin Mu felt better with apetent person taking over for the time being.


    "I won''t disappoint you Alliance Leader Lin Mu." The disciple named Fa said with determination.


    "OH! Another thing¡­ the Coal Fell vige is no more, so I''d like you to deal with the vigers as well. They are homeless for the time being and have nowhere to go." Lin Mu added.


    "I''ll deal with that as well. Our disciples can handle something like that with ease, they have plenty of experience¡­ though if it were any time, I would have preferred for them to not have to go through all this." Elder Zhan stated.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu said, feeling curious.


    "It¡­ it''s not the first viger or town that Gu Yao has eradicated. Or has been eradicated under the effect of Gu Yao. We''ve had to rehabilitate several ces over the past two years." Elder Zhan exined.


    "I see¡­ it truly is grim the level of sufferingmoners have to go through for the ys of the cultivators." Lin Mu muttered in a sad tone.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "The only thing we can do is stop Gu Yao and make sure that others don''t suffer the same in the future." Elder Zhan stated.


    Silence descended in the room for a couple of minutes after which they all looked towards each other.


    Feeling a bit awkward, Core disciple Fa spoke again.


    "I shall take my leave then, elder and Alliance leader." Core disciple Fa spoke.


    In the next second, he had left the hall and went to do his duty.


    "I want to know more about what happened." Lin Mu spoke, seeing that they had kinda left the earlier topic iplete.


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    "Ah, yes¡­ Well, after we got the request for help, we rushed here and found a small group of Gu Legion members attacking the outpost. We mounted out offense and quickly wiped out half of them due to our superiority.


    But then, they suddenly got more reinforcement and the battle got tougher. We kept on fighting them again and again, while they too kept on bringing in more reinforcements.


    With my cultivation base as the Dao Shell realm cultivator, I was able to stop them for the most part, yet some of the disciples still managed to die along with the merchants.


    At the expense of their lives, our dispels escorted the merchants away." Elder Zhan finished.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but clench his fist upon hearing this and he wished it had not happened at all.


    "You said they retreated¡­ how did that happen?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Umm, about that¡­ we don''t exactly know. Though there were a few disciples who managed to listen to the conversations of the Gu Legion members and learned of something that had happened nearby to the Gu Legion''s base.


    They hurriedly retreated, allowing us time to rest and recuperate." Elder Zhan answered.


    "The Coal Fell mine¡­ of course!" Lin Mu eximed, having linked both of them.


    "Yes, considering the information you''ve given me Alliance leader Lin Mu, the Gu legion members might have truly left because of that." Elder Zhan spoke.


    "But that also means that they can monitor the situation distantly despite theck ofmunication jade slips working." Lin Mu replied.


    "That is something we''ve known for a while but were not able to tell what sprint tool they are using that allows them to talk despite the jamming formations." Elder Zhan said with frustration.


    "I''ll try and see what kind of a method they truly use as well as try to get that method." Lin Mu spoke after thinking.


    Elder Zhan was in agreement and felt better that Lin Mu was with him here.


    The two of them discussed a bit more and Lin Mu learned the other things that had happened in the past two years. Elder Zhan was at the Dao Shell realm and thus had ess to a lot more confidential information.


    The two of them talked for about an hour, during which the elder told Lin Mu about all that he knew.


    Right from the conflict that ignited after Lin Mu''s seclusion, to the rapid spread of Gu legion and the conquest of the Zither Wind alliance.


    Even now the three sects of the Zither Wind alliance were suppressing the Long Cloud alliance''s sects making them unable to leave their sect''s territory. Only a few that were already out were doing missions.


    Though if the need arrived, some were sent out using the teleportation gate.


    This was one of the things Lin Mu was feeling fond of. The teleportation gates had already be a stable factor that had allowed the alliance to progress and protect the world.


    "Right now, those that are at the teleportation gates convey the messages that cannot be send due to themunication jade slips being blocked. Though it also restricts the messages to be sent to those ces that are already on the teleportationwork." Elder Zhan said.


    "That''s good. Though we''ll have to find a solution to this blockage." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed¡­ we have been looking for one for a while now. With you here, I feel like we now have a chance against them all." Elder Zhan admitted.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and took a pause momentarily before continuing the conversation and learning more about the Empire''s condition.


    Another two hours passed in the blink of an eye doing this.

 Chapter 977 - Elder Jing Luo And The Savior Beast?

    Having conversed and discussed the current situation, Lin Mu and Elder Zhan finally came up with the n of action.


    "I will then pursue the Gu Legion members and if I find them, I''ll extract all the information I can from them. Perhaps we''ll also get the information about themunication jamming formations and where they are hidden." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That''ll be the best." Elder Zhan replied. "Though once you do that, you should also head to the Hong Lin kingdom and asses the situation there. Thest we heard from there, some conflicts were ongoing there." He added.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, as he was intending to do that very thing. Besides, heading to the Hong Lin kingdom was a simple thing as he could just go there using the teleportation gates.


    "Also¡­ by any chance do you know where Jing Luo and Little Shrubby are?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ Elder Jing Luo has been supporting the different fronts and moves around a lot. You might have to go to all the ces and ask around from the teleportation gates. He has mostly stayed close to the locations where the teleportation gates are since we need to protect them.


    We already had two of them broken before." Elder Zhan added.


    From his words, Lin Mu picked up a couple of bits of information that surprise him.


    "Two teleportation gates were broken? How? I thought all of them were supposed to be secret." Lin Mu questioned.


    He had seen the gates at the nexus and while there were indeed more than before, he couldn''t tell if any were destroyed and removed since they could be changed around.


    "Yes, one of the Teleportation gates at the Green Loom Kingdom was destroyed and one at the very frontier, at the edge of the Shuang Qian kingdom, was destroyed as well. We managed to rebuild the Green Loom Kingdomter on, but the one at the Shuang Qian kingdom is still the same and is broken.


    As for them being discovered¡­ thankfully, that didn''t happen. Their destruction was more or less coteral damage rather than being intentionally targeted.


    The Zither Wind alliance basically bombarded arge area where they suspected our people to be hiding and ttened it entirely. This was the case for the Green Loom Kingdom''s teleportation gate. This impacted the finances of the Alliance for about six months before we finally managed to rebuild.


    As for the one at the border of the Shuang Qian kingdom and Eastern Ming Dynasty, it was not destroyed due to the Zither Wind alliance, but rather due to the Northern Tribes. The location we picked was rather vtile, and they had been doing some kind of an experiment there.


    One day, that ce spontaneously exploded¡­ we lost about 120 of our people there, sixty of them being from the Light Harmony sect." Elder Zhan exined.


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    Lin Mu''s expression darkened upon hearing this, and he could onlypensate the souls of the deadter on.


    "And what about Jing Luo¡­ why did you call him Elder?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "Oh, everyone calls him that since he is unofficially the second inmand of the Alliance. His skills with formations and spirit weapons make him really strong, even stronger than several Shell Genesis stage Dao Shell realm cultivators and even some Shellpletion stage cultivators!" Elder Zhan replied.


    "You mean to say¡­ he reached the Dao Shell realm?" Lin Mu asked, his eyes excited.


    "Yes! He''s had rapid progress, shocking enough for the alliance. Even I''ve never seen anyone reach the Shell Genesis Stage of the Dao Shell realm this fast¡­ he was barely in the Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell Realm for a month before he reached the Shell genesis stage." Elder Zhan replied, veneration apparent in his eyes.


    Hearing that Jing Luo had not only reached the Dao Shell realm but even progressed to the Shell Genesis stage made him feel amazed.


    "That''s good¡­" Lin Mu muttered, before he remembered Little shrubby.


    He lightly closed his eyes and tried to sense Little Shrubby again, but it was the same as before being a faint link. Other than knowing that little Shrubby was alive, Lin Mu couldn''t tell his cultivation base, nor could hemunicate with him.


    ''Is he really that far?'' Lin Mu wondered before looking back at Elder Zhan.


    "Umm¡­ do you not know about Little Shrubby? I asked before," Lin Mu questioned again.


    "Alliance Leader''s Tamed Beast?" Elder Zhan recalled the name.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded.


    "OH! I couldn''t recognize the name¡­ he goes by a different title now. Every calls him that respectfully." Elder Zhan spoke.


    "He does? What is it?" Lin Mu said in surprise.


    He had not expected Little Shrubby to have gained a title in this time either.


    "He''s now known as the Saviour Beast." Elder Zhan said.


    "Huh? How that did that titlee about?" Lin Mu found it to be far different from expected.


    "Well, with the number of people he has saved, it was understandable. With his speed, he is the first one to reach wherever there is trouble." Elder Zhan exined. "His strength is terrifying too¡­" he added, a hint of fear visible in his eyes.


    "What''s his cultivation base now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We¡­ don''t know. We think that it is at the Dao Shell realm since he''s battled and killed two Dao Shell realm experts before. But other than that, no one has been able to verify his actual cultivation base.


    I think elder Jing Luo might know though, he is the only one who can somewhatmunicate with the Saviour beast." Elder Zhan answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu understood what might be the reason.


    "He''s having the same situation as you. His aura is strong enough to restrain other''s spirit sense probes. Though it might also be his bloodline having a different effect. We don''t know if his breakthrough gave him a new ability or not.


    He might have developed it on his own too.." Xukong spoke up.

 Chapter 978 - Frontier And Eradication!

    Hearing that the two closest people to him, Jing Luo and Little Shrubby were fine, Lin Mu felt more relived than he had thought. While he had hoped that they would be alive at the very least, getting the confirmation was still pleasing to him.


    N?velDrama.Org holds text ? rights.


    "So where is Little Shrubby? Or Saviour beast, as you call him now." Lin Mu asked.


    "He should be at the frontier. He''s been there the past two months or so." Elder Zhan replied.


    "The frontier!?" Lin Mu was shocked.


    The frontier was the most dangerous ce right now and was also very far from where they were. Lin Mu had oncee close to it a long time ago when he went to kill the Great Slumber bear.


    But now that frontier had unofficially been shifted toward, entering into the Great Zhou empire even more due to the advance of the Northern Tribes. Of course, the Top three sects were still in denial and didn''t ept that even if the Long Cloud alliance told them this.


    It didn''t help that the zither wind alliance was undermining their attempts at every step either.


    But now the top three sects had developed the attitude that this was just a y by the two alliances to get them distracted or get their support. Thus, they chose the path of neutrality again and kept to themselves.


    The more Lin Mu heard of them, the more he felt disgusted with the Top three sects.


    "Yes¡­ Elder Jing Luo told him something and after that he went there. None of us knows what he is doing or what he was told. It''s not like we can question him, either." Elder Zhan answered.


    Hearing this Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Seems like I''ll have to find Jing Luo first, then¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    Done with the nning, Lin Mu decided to not waste anymore time and leave.


    "I''ll head out then. My guess is that the Gu Legion''s members should be heading somewhere near the Coal Fell vige. But it also means that the vigers might be in danger." Lin Mu said, a bad feeling rising in his heart.


    "That does seem likely. The others have already left to support them, so you get to see them along the way." Elder Zhan replied.


    Lin Mu gave the man a nod before disappearing into thin air.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Elder Zhan could only look on and sigh to himself.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Such responsibility and pressure¡­ I don''t think I''d be able to keep up with it ever¡­" Elder Zhan muttered to himself.


    ***


    Back in the sky, Lin Mu reappeared a kilometer away from the outpost.


    <i>~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~</i>


    The air tore apart as Lin Mu increased his speed non stop. The sounds of explosions echoed throughout the forest and scared beasts and humans alike. Even if Lin Mu knew that this might alert the Gu Legion members potentially, he had to hurry at any cost.


    Especially since there was a great chance that the Vigers of the Coal fell viger might be in trouble. And if anything happened to them after Lin Mu had saved them, he would not feel good.


    Several hundred kilometers were covered by Lin Mu, his speed the highest he had used till now.


    ''Seems like this is my current limit¡­ even whenbining both my cultivation bases.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    His speed was still enough to overtake most Dao Treading realm cultivators and no one below it should be able to match or overtake it below that. Excluding Little Shrubby, of course.


    Lin Mu''s was now close to the former location of the Coal Fell vige and his spirit sense was already spread around. He had kept it extended the entire time, looking for any suspects.


    Lin Mu had even seen teams of ck dune sect disciples that had been dispatched to the Coal Fell vige and the Iron Bull sect. He had overtaken both of them, and they were certainly surprised to hear the sonic booms in the sky.


    Even though they had left earlier than him by many hours, Lin Mu still ended up being the first one to reach the scene.


    And when he finally saw it, he wasn''t pleased.


    "They¡­" Lin Mu said in a low voice as sparks of anger appeared in his eyes.


    "NO!! PLEASE LETS US GO!"


    "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?"


    The vigers pleaded to their captors, the Gu Legion people.


    They were currently being held captive, and most were tied up. A few of them were dead, having been killed as examples.


    <i>~SLAP~</i>


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    "SHUT UP! Or do you want to join them as well?" One of the Gu Legion members said as he pped a woman hard enough to uproot several of her teeth and break her jaw.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The woman directly fainted and fell to the ground.


    <i>~Shing~</i>


    Suddenly, all of the Gu Legion members felt a chill at the back of their necks.


    "WHO!?" They had been trained and fought long enough to develop battle instincts that warned them of impending danger.


    Unfortunately for them... it was not enough.


    "Die!" A cold voice filled with killing intent echoed.


    <i>~Thud~</i>


    <i>~SPLAT~</i>


    The Gu Legion member who had pped the woman found his field of vision changing rapidly and he could even see his own body, which was now headless.


    ''Huh? How?'' The man wondered to himself, but his voice never came out for he had no lungs attached to him.


    Thepanions of the man didn''t even get to witness this as they too died simrly. But the ones who did see it would remember it forever in their minds.


    Them being the vigers.


    Today, they saw a slew of weapons that rained down from the sky. There were sword, spears, axes, sabers and many more in them. But all of them had one thing inmon: they killed their target in one hit.


    One swipe to sever a head, one stab to pierce their hearts and one m to tten their bodies.


    In less than ten seconds, the entire Gu Legion''s detachment of over a hundred members was eradicated.

 Chapter 979 - Off To The Hong Lin Kingdom

    Lin Mu didn''t want to admit, but today his anger had made him lose control again. He gazed at the scene of ughter below, but couldn''t feel regret.


    ''What was I supposed to do?'' Lin Mu questioned himself.


    But when he looked at the faces of the vigers, he knew that this might have been for the best.


    Copyright N?v/el/Dra/ma.Org.


    "There''s more of them, so you don''t need to worry about missing any information. You can probably find more go Gu Legion memberster on." Xukong consoled Lin Mu.


    "I know¡­" Lin Mu said and descended onto the ground.


    The vigers looked a bit afraid at first, but then recognized Lin Mu to be the one who had saved them before. They had a lot of questions for him, and Lin Mu slowly answered them while tending to those that were injured.


    He first freed them all, then used some of the pills and healing items he had to fix the injured vigers.


    By the time Lin Mu was done, the detachment of ck Dune sect disciples that were heading towards the vige had arrived, too.


    "A-alliance leader Lin Mu!" the disciples were surprised.


    "Take care of the vigers and get them settled. I have to go ahead¡­ also, see if you can gather any information from the dead bodies too." Lin Mu said. "At least the ones that are still intact."


    He had already scanned the dead bodies when he had killed them, but couldn''t find much on them. He also got to see how they were liquefied first hand. After he killed them, they started to melt just after five minutes.


    They turned into a red puddle that was soaked up by the soil and the rest of it evaporated into the air, leaving behind almost no traces. Lin Mu had to admit, whatever this was, it was definitely some kind of a poison.


    Though he could also sense the same strange aura among those that were killed.


    ''They were using the cultivation boosting pills made from the failed Reborn too.'' Lin Mu noted.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    He left the vigers and the disciples behind while making a circle around the area. He didn''t know if there was anyone left and wanted to check, just in case. With his wide range of spirit sense, it didn''t take Lin Mu long and he was quickly done.


    "Nothing¡­ guess I''ll just have to continue on for now." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He took a deep breath and activated the anchoring runes on his back. A faint white glow appeared under his robes and a couple of secondster, Lin Mu disappeared into the light. When he reappeared, he was in the nexus of the Kong ne.


    Lin Mu took a moment to assess the area and realized that there were now twenty six different teleportation gates.


    "That''s¡­ certainly a lot more than when we started." Lin Mu muttered.


    He read thebels for them and saw that they covered most of the southern part of the Great Zhou Empire, a significant part of the central part and some areas in the northernnds as well.


    The ones that covered the northernnds were three, with one being the main teleportation gate in the Light Harmony sect, one that was located near the capital of the Eastern Ming Dynasty and another one located at a merchant outpost.


    So far there were no such teleportation gates in the Shuang Qian kingdom or even the ck dawn kingdom since those two ces had be strong hold of the Gu Legion and the Northern Tribes'' spies.


    The Eastern Ming Dynasty was still hard for the Northern Tribes to tread into due to the presence of the Light harmony sect. Additionally, the Eastern Ming Dynasty''s royal family actually took the threat of the Northern Tribes far more seriously than the empire of the top three sects.


    While they couldn''t outright show it, the warnings of the Light Harmony sect were enough for them to take some precautions. Additionally, with the Light Harmony sect''s members checking things regrly, their activity there had been less.


    Though if the Rainbow pill sect also joined them, things would have been far easier.


    ''They won''t be swayed easily without the use of benefits, though.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he looked at the teleportation gate marked for the Eastern Ming Dynasty.


    It was a ce he had heard quite a lot about, and even wanted to visit it at least once.


    The Eastern Ming Dynasty was said to be the most beautiful kingdom in the empire if one considered architecture and colors. It was also one of the richest kingdom among the Empire and definitely the richest out of the Northern Lands.


    Plus, it was the only kingdom that had two top ten sects located within its borders, making it very high in its reputation. A lot of cultivators went to the Eastern Ming dynasty with the hope of getting recruited into either the Light Harmony sect or the second ranked Rainbow pill sect.


    Lin Mu also didn''t forget the fact that the Eastern Ming Dynasty was one of the losing parties in the rise of the Great Zhou empire. They had suffered both injustice and humiliation in order to survive.


    This was despite the fact that they had contributed in resistance against the Northern Tribes and even had their troops dispatched at the frontier at all times. It was even said that over a quarter of the Vermillion Legion soldiers were from the Eastern Ming Dynasty that guarded the frontier.


    ''Though the frontier is pretty much a joke right now. Who knows if its all just a facade that the Northern Tribes have let be so that Gu Yao can continue his growth.'' Lin Mu thought.


    With this thoughts passing, Lin Mu turned toward the teleportation gate he actually wanted to go to.


    "Here we go¡­" Lin Mu muttered and walked into the teleportation gate that led to the Hong Lin Kingdom.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    When Lin Mu''s vision returned, he saw a familiar scene in front of him.

 Chapter 980 - Meeting King Hong Again And A Surprise

    At the Teleportation gate of the Hong Lin Kingdom stood several guards. None of them were weak, with the lowest cultivation base among them being at the initial stage of the core condensation realm.


    In any other kingdom or even sect, such cultivators would be strong enough to be inner court or even core disciples. And yet, they were being used as guards here.


    But it was all for an important reason. After all, the existence of the teleportation gates was? as secret and the trump card that was allowing the alliance to go against Gu Yao and the northern tribes.


    Thus it was important to keep them safe and such guards were normal.


    But today, the guards had a slight scare.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The Teleportation gate suddenly activated, startling them all.


    "Huh? What?" one of the guards said in confusion.


    "Was there anyoneing today? I don''t think there was anything on the roster." Another one asked.


    "No¡­ pretty sure not. But it could be someone with direct ess." Another Guard said.


    Despite all this, they were all ready to act if it was someone not authorize to use the gate.


    But when the person finally came out of the gate, they were not expecting it.


    "A-alliance leader Lin Mu?!" The guards were startled.


    Out of all people, Lin Mu was thest person they would have thought of since he had been in seclusion for so long. If not for the fact that these guards had themselves cultivated in the Kong ne and quickly increased their cultivation base, perhaps they wouldn''t even have recognized Lin Mu.


    For themoners, Lin Mu was still somewhat of a secret.


    "Where is King Hong?" Lin Mu asked.


    He had already been informed by Elder Zhan that King Hong was out of seclusion, too. Or rather, he had been for a while. Instead of staying there all the time, he would go in and out of Kong ne every once a week, allowing him to fulfill his duties as a king.


    Though in recent times he''s had to stay in his Kingdom due to the conditions changing, which was understandable.


    "King Hong is in the throne room! I''ll take you to him!" The guards hurriedly responded after remembering that they still needed to be disciplined.


    "No need. I can find my way." Lin Mu nodded his head as he said that and directly blinked into the throne room.


    "He¡ª he''s gone¡­" the guard said with slight disappointment.


    In the Throne Room, King Hong was having a briefing with his ministers when a person suddenly appeared in the middle of the hall.


    "And like we¡ª" Their conversation was abruptly halted as they looked at the person who had appeared out of the blue there.


    No one spoke for about ten seconds, after which an uproar happened.


    "ELDER LIN MU!"


    "Alliance Leader Lin Mu!"


    "He''s Back! He''s finally back!"


    Several minsters eximed seeing Lin Mu. King Hong on the other hand stood up, joy clearly visible on his face.


    He walked up to Lin Mu before hugging him without a care.


    "AHAHAHA! You''re finally here! Finally here!" King Hong said.


    "Yes¡­ sorry, it took so much time. I gotte¡­" Lin Mu apologized.


    "No, no¡­ it''s all good." King Hong replied.


    "It''s not¡­ if I was here earlier, many wouldn''t have had to die." Lin Mu stated.


    "That is not on you, it is the Gu Legion who is to me and the Northern Tribes that are behind it all." King Hong assured.


    "See, I told you." Xukong chimed in as well.


    King Hong then let got of Lin Mu and invited him to sit beside him.


    "We have a lot to catch up on, but I have a few things I want to ask before that." Lin Mu said, feeling impatient.


    "Of course! Ask away." King Hong replied.


    "Jing Luo, where is he?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Elder Jing Luo should be supporting the Fenlong Kingdom against the Kingdom of Shu. I think he went there to reinforce their formationsst week." King Hong answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt relived.


    ''At least now I know where he is. And he''s not that far either.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He could get to the Fenlong kingdom easily with the teleportation gate.


    "What aboutmunication jade slips? Do they work here or there?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Thankfully, they still do. The Hong Lin kingdom has mostly kept up its defenses, and we didn''t have any incidences with the Gu Legion yet. Though there is also the fact that the Fenlong Kingdom is the one who blocks them first." King Hong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s good. We should be able to contact Jing Luo then." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It might or might nor work depending on his exact location. Some of the ces north of the Fenlong kingdom are being jammed too. If Elder Jing Luo is there, you won''t be able to reach him.


    Though we can still contact the others in the Fenlong kingdom and have a messenger sent there." King Hong exined.


    "Hmm¡­ no need to call him here. Just confirm his location. I''ll head there myself." Lin Mu stated.


    "As you wish. It''s not really a problem." King Hong epted.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and looked at the excited faces of all the ministers.


    "So then¡­ what did I miss?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well for one¡­ you missed my grand feast six months ago." King Hong replied.


    "A grand feast? For what?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Why don''t you see yourself?" King Hong said before a wave of energy came out of his body.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu felt the change in his aura and the spirit Qi fluctuations that came from him as well.


    "You¡­ You reached the Dao Shell realm too?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "I did indeed." King Hong acknowledged.


    "How? From the estimate we got, I thought it would take you far longer than that." Lin Mu asked.


    He had never expected King Hong to have reached the Dao Shell realm in such a small time either.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 981 - King Hongs Fortunate Encounter And A Fossil

    King Hong could understand Lin Mu''s confusion, as many others were the same. Even he himself had not thought that he would reach the Dao Shell realm this quickly. He had barely been in the nascent soul realm for three years before reaching the Dao Shell realm..


    This was a record that would easily stand for a long time in the empire. While it didn''te as close to Lin Mu''s own record, it was still very impressive. Now, in addition to Little Shrubby and Jing Luo, there was another close ally of Lin Mu that was at the Dao Shell realm.


    This increased their offensive power by quite a bit.


    "Well, I had a little help and got to reap some fortune back in the Kong ne as well. You should see the new records we''ve made. There is a lot more to the Kong ne we''ve yet to see." King Hong spoke.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu got an idea. Even back when Little Shrubby had gotten the Blood Spring carp, he knew that there were some really good locations in the Kong ne where treasures were just waiting to be found.


    And King Hong''s words made sense considering the fact that with his bloodline and talent, it wouldn''t be hard for him to speed ahead and reach the Dao Shell realm.


    From the spirit Qi fluctuations, Lin Mu had sensed from King Hong. He could tell that he was at the Shell initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm. Though he didn''t know how far he was from reaching the Shell genesis stage, as that would need input from King Hong himself.


    Or at the very least, Lin Mu would have to take a look at the Dao Shell. If King Hong was going with the default Spherical Dao Shell, it wouldn''t take that long to reach the Shell genesis stage.


    R¨ºAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only


    Lin Mu went on to talk with King Hong more in detail about what he found and how he actually reached the Dao Shell realm.


    The main reason behind his breakthrough was actually the remains of a dead beast. After continually cultivating, King Hong''s senses were getting better and better and along with that his perception for the fire element also increased.


    His talent already increased that, along with his Dauntless Ember Physique, but he was now getting control over it. And due to this, he felt something far away from him. His physique was resonating with it and made him desire to go find it out.


    He didn''t go there at first as he needed to deal with the matters of the Hong Lin Kingdom too. Butter on, the urge only increased more and more, such that he reckoned he wouldn''t be able to hold back.


    Thus, he requested help of Jing Luo and made it so that he would have some time to explore. Jing Luo even gave him the improved spirit boat that helped King Hong travel way faster than he could with his own cultivation base.


    He ended up traveling for about a week into the depths of the Kong ne before finally finding what was calling out to him. The thing was buried deep within the ground and was encased in rocks.


    When he finally unearthed it and broke apart the rocks, he discovered what it was, fossilized bones.


    From what King Hong could tell, the bones contained something that his body desired. The fossil looked like they belonged to some kind of a lizard beast. It was once massive but due to being fossilized, its size had greatly decreased.


    King Hong still memorized the shape of the fossil so that he could find out more about itter on.


    Then when he finally touched the bones, his body automatically reacted!


    mes sprouted on his body and quickly flew to the fossilized bones, reducing them to fine ashes. King Hong didn''t know how this happened, as it wasn''t under his control at all. But when the mes had finished their work, they returned to King Hong.


    As soon as they entered back into his body, he could feel a massive power surging into his body. He right away started cultivating to assimte this power and a monthter he directly reached the Dao Shell Realm!


    "That¡­ is certainly a fortunate encounter alright. If you physique responded like that, then it must have been some really powerful beast too when it was alive. Even after being for so long and being fossilized, it had power left behind in its bones." Lin Mu spoke, feeling impressed.


    "I also have the records I researched. I wanted to see if I can find out more about the beast so that I might be able to use them moreter. But I couldn''t find out much. It''s as if the beast never existed." King Hong spoke.


    "Can I take a look?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course! Myst hope was that you might have some idea about what the beast might be." King Hong replied before passing a jade slip to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu quickly took a look through it and saw a lot of notes that King Hong hade up with. He had evidently read through a lot of beast records and checked for simrities in the bone structure of the beast.


    But at most, he was able toe up with the conclusion that it was a lizard beast that had an affinity with the fire element.


    ''Let''s take a look at the bones¡­'' Lin Mu thought and saw the sketch that was drawn from King Hong''s memories.


    Lin Mu saw what looked like a lizard beast that was at least as big as Little Shrubby. It had Four limbs, with different set of ws. The fore limbs had three ws on the frontal side and one on the back, while the hind limbs had two ws on the front and one on the back.


    Its skull and tail were simr to most lizard beasts and made it hard for Lin Mu to differentiate.

 Chapter 982 - Drakes And Dragons

    Lin Mu looks through the many records of beasts he had and still couldn''te up with much. Other than the fact that the ws of the beast were in a different set than the other lizard beasts, Lin Mu couldn''t find anything in the records he had.


    ''Seems like I''m lost here too. Can you see if you know anything about it Senior Xukong?'' Lin Mu said his mind.


    Xukong who had been cultivating, opened his eyes upon hearing Lin Mu''s voice, looked though his memories and understood what he was asking about.


    "Hmm¡­ it''s a big vague to tell since it has been fossilized a lot, but seeing the ws of the beast, I''m guessing that it is some kind of a low ranked Drake." Xukong replied.


    "A Drake? What are those senior?" Lin Mu questioned, finding the word a bit familiar.


    "Drakes are basically beasts that contain a faint trace of a Dragon''s Bloodline." Xukong answered.


    "A DRAGON?!" Lin Mu eximed in his heart.


    "Yes, a dragon." Xukong confirmed.


    Even if Lin Mu didn''t know about Drakes, he very well knew about dragons. In the memoirs of the Lost Immortal, there were several mentions about dragons. Not only that, but the Lost Immortal had even fought against several dragons before.


    After all¡­ the Nameless Technique of the Lost Immortal was formed after the Lost Immoral Studied many different creatures and some of these creatures were Dragons!


    Lin Mu also knew that there were many different types of dragons having varying levels of strengths. The Lost Immortal had fought dragons that were as weak enough for him to kill them with a single p and ones that were strong enough that he had fainted just from being in their presence.


    The Lost Immortal had several run-ins with Dragons too. In fact, a couple of times when he was pushed to the brink of starvation was due to the dragons!


    Once it was because he had been chased for long enough that he got trapped in a minor dimension he couldn''te out of for many years. Then the second time was when he had been intentionally caught by another dragon.


    Lin Mu couldn''t read much after that, as the information seemed to be hidden from him for some reason.


    He had beening upon with such restricted information a lot these days and understood that this must be due to him having an insufficient cultivation base. Like senior Xukong, the wooden slip that contained the memoirs of the Lost Immortal seemed to be able to restrict its contents depending on Lin Mu''s cultivation base.


    The stronger he got, the more information he would get to learn. Not just that, but he could revisit the old records that he had already read and find more information that he had not understood before.


    Lin Mu had never stopped reading the Memoirs of the Lost Immortal and did so whenever he had free time. Whether he be flying somewhere or sleeping. He would often read on Little Shrubby''s back whenever they were traveling somewhere.


    It allowed him to grow stronger in knowledge without wasting any moment of time.


    Lin Mu knew that he was at a disadvantage whenpared to those that were blessed by the heavens and lived in the higher worlds. Thus, if he ever wanted topete against them, he needed to work several times harder than them.


    He had never stopped persevering because of that.


    "What kind of a drake do you think this could be, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That is hard to tell. Just as there are many variations of dragons, there are even more variations of lower ranked dragons and the other species that contain their bloodlines. Dragons as such are¡­ rather passionate and leave behind a lot of offspring.


    Their bloodline is also rather dominant and can take over others, making it easy for them to breed with many different beasts. It is said that Dragons were among the first beasts to ever be born and thus could be considered one of the first ancestor of the beasts.


    This allows them a superiority that not many beasts have. And it also makes itplicated to find out what their bloodlines are since they can get mixed with others very easily and hide.


    In fact, the bloodline of the dragons isn''t as rare as one would think; they are quitemon. What''s truly rare is a bloodline that is actually active and useful. Even themon fishes, snakes and many other reptiles have dormant traces of the Dragon bloodlines." Xukong exined, surprising Lin Mu.


    Dragons were something even people of the Xiaofan world knew and were seen as legends. Some were directly revered as deities, and their depictions were seen in many ces and kingdoms.


    Even though a real dragon had never been seen in the Xiaofan world.


    "Themon feature of the Drakes is the pattern of their ws. This tells us that it is a drake, though I''m thinking that if that beast was still alive from its appearance, it would look rather simr to a lizard beast.


    Only from its aura and bloodline would one be able to identify if it really is a drake." Xukong added.


    This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "I see¡­ then if King Hong has assimted this power, won''t we know if he can disy is aura fully?" Lin Mu suggested.


    "That might be possible. If we are lucky, the aura of the Drake''s bloodline might still be present in him. Though it might have disappeared by this time, too." Xukong replied.


    "We may as well try it." Lin Mu said before looking at King Hong.


    Ten minutes had passed since Lin Mu had been looking through the records and King Hong didn''t know he was talking with Xukong.


    "King Hong, can you fully unleash your cultivation base and aura? I might be able to learn what beast it really was." Lin Mu asked.


    "Sure¡­ but it might be better if we move somewhere more open. I don''t want to damage the pce again.." King Hong spoke remembering the many idents he''s had over the past couple of years.

 Chapter 983 - Invoking The Hidden Trace Of The Bloodline

    Lin Mu and king Hong moved to the back of the ce, where there was no danger of damaging property.


    "This should be better." King Hong said as he took a deep breath.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu watched as the aura of King Hong rose like the tide on a full moon.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Then like a dam had been broken, Lin Mu could feel the spirit Qi gushing out non-stop from King Hong''s body. The quantity was certainly high and it was rather dense as well, showing that King Hong''s cultivation base was rather stable.


    Lin Mu could tell that King Hong was many times better than the average cultivator, having a higher spirit Qi capacity as well. And along with the cultivation base being disyed, Lin Mu also saw the illusory figure of a sphere rising from the body of King Hong.


    It was currently in the shape of a slightly dented sphere but Lin Mu could tell that this was due to King Hong molding and designing the shape of his Dao Shell. The color of his Dao Shell was different too, being an amber red in color.


    "There''s no doubt, that''s a Low Ranked Drake." Xukong spoke.


    "Mm¡­ I''ll try to see if I can resonate with the bloodline and sense it now." Lin Mu said.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and invoked the Great Slumber Bear''s bloodline within him. This was the method that Xukong had told him about. While sensing the bloodlines in others didn''t really need for one to have a bloodline, sensing a bloodline that only had a trace of it left in one''s aura was very difficult.


    The only way one could do this without a specialized spirit tool or treasure was to use the beast''s bloodline resonance. Lin Mu had already experienced it several times before with Little Shrubby, and other beasts.


    It was the effect a bloodline had on another bloodline, depending on the ranking and strength. In most cases, a strong bloodline would suppress a weak bloodline, and equally strong bloodline wouldpete against each other.


    And when there were bloodlines that were unknown and interacted with each other for the first time, they would even cause a bloodline battle. It was a special event that one might never see in their lifetime.


    Lin Mu had only read about it in the records of the Lost immortal before but never seen it in person.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    Within Lin Mu''s Dantian, the figure of the Great Slumber bear silently appeared. It looked to be asleep, but Lin Mu''s beckoning was waking it up.


    <i>~tremble~</i>


    Lin Mu''s entire body trembled as veins popped up on his skin all of a sudden. As if his blood pressure had shot up in an instant, Lin Mu''s face turned red and his eyes bloodshot.


    <i>~Roar~</i>


    A suppressed roar could be hearding from Lin Mu''s body, and everyone in the area could hear it. Even those that were in the pce heard the roar of a beast in their ears. The roar was low, and yet it sent shivers through their body.


    The ones that were weaker felt their blood flowing faster and their legs weakening. And the ones that were stronger felt a hint of dangering from all around them, despite the fact that there was no one there.


    King Hong was the same and felt his instincts warning him about something. They told him whatever was in front of him, it wasn''t something he could challenge.


    ''What even is this?'' King Hong felt both a bit confused and afraid at the same time.


    King Hong had the Dauntless Ember physique. This not only affected his body but also his mentality, making him Dauntless and brave. And yet, he could feel the fear which was very unusual for him.


    The fear traveled through his body in waves and reached deep inside.


    <i>~RAAAA~</i>


    When the fear had fully entered the depths of his blood, King Hong felt something stirring there. It was were weak and looked like it would be snuffed out with a little blow. But then its power increased and he felt a drain on his vitality.


    King Hong''s eyes went wide, and he panicked slightly. Letting one''s vitality be randomly be drained was not a good thing and could lead to a lot of problems. For any normal cultivator, this was an issue of great importance, yet King Hong soon realized that his body didn''t seem to be against it.


    Normally his body should have warned him about this too, and should have resisted the drain, but right now, it was not. Instead, it let the vitality be taken up by the unknown presence that had appeared in the depths of his blood.


    <i>~GUAAAAAA!~</i>


    King Hong then heard another crying from his blood. It wasing from the same presence that had drained some of his vitality and it was growing in its size. A few secondster, King Hong felt his vision change, and he saw something forming in front of him.


    The presence in his blood rose and took the shape of a drop. It then continued to absorb the vitality and turned into mist. The blood colored mist expanded more and more before morphing into a different shape.


    It elongated, and five protrusions appeared from it. One protrusion elongated even more, turning into a tail while the other four elongated an almost equal length and became limbs. Then the head was formed as the mist split apart to form the wide jaws.


    Horned scales sprouted on the top of the head before scaly spines spread along the back of the illusory figure. Four ws grew on the beast''s fore limbs and three on the hind limbs. Its scales then started to get more detailed before taking on color.


    The original blood colored mist switched to a more detailed figure of a beast. The beast had scales of varying brown shades, along with orange scales around its head and ws.. Its eyes were white with vertical ck pupils in them.Content held by N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 984 - Rising And Falling Excitement

    While King Hong was observing the figure that had appeared to him as an illusion, Lin Mu was having a simr experience.


    But in his case, instead of seeing it in front of him, he saw it in his mind. There, two figures were currently present. The first was none other than the Great Slumber Bear that seemed to be irritated upon being woken up and the second one was the illusory figure of the beast King Hong was seeing.


    The two figures gazed at each other with wary eyes and their auras shed.


    "So this is a drake¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he observed the two beasts'' bloodlines.


    <i>~flicker~</i>


    But just as Lin Mu was observing the drake''s figure, it started to get blurry. Then in the next second, it faded away and its aura disappeared as well. Like amp that had run out of oil, its me died out and the figure disappeared like it never existed.


    The Great Slumber Bear closed its eyes and disappeared soon after that too, prompting Lin Mu to open his eyes in the real world.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath, remembering the scene from just before.


    "So what do you think, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There''s no doubt that is a me Pool Drake." Xukong answered.


    "A me Pool Drake, huh¡­" Lin Mu repeated, and tried to see if he could find any records about it.


    "You probably won''t find it that way. The me Pool Drake''s are rtively rare among the Lesser drakes. But what you might be able to find information on is a me Smander." Xukong interrupted.


    "Oh yeah, I think I know about them." Lin Mu said, recalling some information about me Smanders.


    They were beasts that were found even in the Xiaofan world. They chiefly lived in hot areas such as deserts, volcanoes, mines and even hot springs. They were beasts that had a varying cultivation base, ranging all the way from Qi refining realm, to the Dao Treading realm.


    Though of course, there had been no recent records about a Dao Treading realm me Smander existing in the current times. Though Lin Mu did end up finding information about the Lava fields of the Western Continent.


    They were basically a group of volcanoes that had been destroyed a long time ago and had turned into a somewhat t ground. Instead of a normal cone shaped volcano, they were more like tnds filled withvakes all around.


    This was an area that was fatal to mostmoners and even cultivators. Only those which high cultivation bases or other specialized methods could go there. The region was a treasure trove of many cultivation resources, along with the different beasts that resided in that area.


    Of course, this was all a long time ago before the copse of the Western continent.


    The me smanders weremon beasts that made theva fields their habitat. Their poption used to be rather high and they were considered to be amon beast. But after the copsed of the Western continent, a majority of their poption was wiped out and now only a few were left on the Great Zhou Empire.


    The ones that were left were now mostly found in the deserts and small volcanoes of the Former Southern continent''s region.


    People often ignored the existence of the deserts and volcanoes that were present in the Great Southern forest due to the just how expansive the forest was. It made it hard to tell that deserts and volcanoes could also be present there.


    "But what do me smanders have to do with me Pool Drakes, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, the me Pool Drakes are quite likely to evolve from the me Smanders. The me Smanders have the traces of Dragonic Bloodlines and can be considered to have slightly higher concentrations than other lizard and reptilian beasts.


    Their unique environment sometimes allows them to awaken this trace. If they do manage to do that, they will turn into a me Pool Drake. This is of course, a rare urrence and very few me Smanders will actually be able to survive this process.


    But those that do will be the kings of all the other beasts that are living there unless there is another superior beast present." Xukong answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu finally understood better and could even guess as to why King Hong managed to find a fossil of such a beast in the Kong ne.


    The man in question looked at Lin Mu, wondering about what he had discovered. From the changes on Lin Mu''s expression, King Hong could tell that he had learned something.


    "Did you find anything?" King Hong questioned.


    This snapped Lin Mu out of his thoughts and made him focus on the man in front of him.


    "Oh yes, it did. The fossilized bones you found belong to a beast called as the me Pool Drake." Lin Mu answered.


    "A me Pool Drake?" King Hong said, feeling a bit confused.


    Seeing this, Lin Mu went on to exin a bit more about the beast and how it came to be. Having heard all that, King Hong felt a lot more excited.


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    "Then you mean to say¡­ I have a Dragon''s Bloodline inside me?" King Hong questioned excitedly.


    "Well¡­ Yes, but no. You did have it till now¡­ but it was pretty much a fragment of a trace. But now that we had forcefully invoked it, it has faded away." Lin Mu answered.


    "Oh¡­" King Hong''s excitement plummeted almost instantly.


    "But it''s a good thing. If it really was a proper bloodline, you might have died and exploded." Lin Mu consoled.


    "W-wait! What do you mean explode?" King Hong was taken aback.


    "Well, from what I know, almost all Dragonic bloodlines are vtile and domineering. More often than not, the person or beast that tried to assimte it injures themselves or just dies.


    Even the me Smanders that have the highest chance of awakening the me Pool Bloodline die ny percent of the times.." Lin Mu rified, making King Hong feel relieved.

 Chapter 985 - At The Fenlong Kingdom And Miss Fens Strange Actions

    Having learned from Lin Mu about the me Pool Drakes, King Hong felt his curiosity being satisfied. Though at the same time, he felt a little disappointed that he didn''t have a dragon bloodline.


    Lin Mu and King Hong returned to the court, where they talked for a couple more hours before he decided to leave.


    "I''ll head off now. You should keep an eye out for any suspicious things." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I will. I''ll also get our allies at the Long Cloud sect informed of that humanoid mutant you found." King Hong replied.


    Lin Mu had told him about what he had found at the Iron Bull city and the possible implications of it. He had a hunch that there might web way more of such Humanoid mutants in the empire.


    But the ces they were hidden away would be a very difficult thing to find out. Lin Mu would certainly not be able to do it on his own alone and would need the assistance of the alliance.


    Though right now they too were in a difficult situation with the ongoing conflict with the Zither Wind alliance. All three of the sects had been stopped in the borders of their sects and were being prevented from leaving by the three sects of the Zither wind alliance.


    ''I need to get that solved too¡­ it might have to be a radical choice too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu intended to cover all the losses that had happened in the time he was in seclusion and wanted to fix things back to normal. With his new found strength, he had a lot more confidence.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The teleportation gate activated in front of Lin Mu and he entered it, leaving behind King Hong.


    <i>~phew~</i>


    "Now that he''s finally back, we can begin our counterattack¡­" King Hong muttered as a determined expression appeared on his face.


    "MINISTERS!" King Hong called out.


    "Yes, King Hong!" they all replied.


    "It''s finally time for payback. Get ready," King Hong said with a smile.


    "YES!"


    ¡­


    Lin Mu entered the teleportation gate that took him to the Fenlong kingdom from the nexus and arrived in a ce he had not been to before.


    "Huh? This is the¡­ Fenlong pce?" Lin Mu guessed.


    From what he remembered, there was originally going to one teleportation gate in the Jiao Long port and one in the capital of the Kingdom. But ording to what he had heard from King Hong, Jing Luo was somewhere in the capital, helping them reinforce the formation arrays of the kingdom or something like that.


    "Wee! Alliance Leader Lin Mu." There were already people waiting for Lin Mu at the teleportation gate.


    This time King Hong had informed them of Lin Mu''s arrival and thus they weren''t as shocked as the others. It also saved Lin Mu time on the pleasantries and formalities as they knew the goals that he was here for.


    "Greetings." Lin Mu spoke and took a look at the wee party.


    There were two old men that looked to be somewhat high ranking from their robes. Their cultivation bases were also at the Nascent soul realm.


    "You''re finally here." A woman''s voice pulled Lin Mu''s attention to the side where he found someone walking in.


    "Miss Fen." Lin Mu cupped his hands in greeting.


    "Pardon me for the hurried wee. I hope alliance leader Lin Mu does not find it inadequate." Miss Fen said in a formal tone, making Lin Mu feel strange.


    "These things do not concern me, Miss Fen. And neither do I care about such formalities. Besides, time is of the essence for us and it is best if I get to work." Lin Mu stated.


    "Of course." Miss Fen said, her expression the same. Though a faint twitch in her hands could be seen.


    She then took out a jade slip from her spatial storage treasure and handed it to Lin Mu.


    "This should contain all the information that you wanted." Miss Fen spoke.


    Lin Mu took a quick look through the records in the jade slip and nodded his head. This was mostly the recent developments in the Fenlong kingdom and how things had been faring here.


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    "Now then, can you tell me where is Jing Luo?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You''ll find Elder Jing Luo beyond the border of the Fenlong kingdom. He has been helping the other elders of my n in setting up the second ring of defense against the Kingdom of Shu." Miss Fen replied.


    Lin Mu''s brows furrowed, but he nodded his head. He had heard of the conflict before and had some idea about it. That was also why he had gotten the jade slip, as it would help him figure out the situation.


    "I shall leave then." Lin Mu said tly.


    "Oh, before you go, alliance leader." Miss Fen interrupted. "Once you go past fifty kilometers from the border, themunication jade slips will stop working. Thus, if you want to send any messages, you will have to get a messenger to do it for you."


    "I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu replied and disappeared.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Miss Fen sighed to herself and shook her head.


    "Perhaps that is really a tall goal. We''ll have to postpone it till after everything is resolved. He''s too busy with all that is happening now." Miss Fen muttered to herself before leaving to do her own work.


    While it looked like Lin Mu had left, he had actually not. Instead, he had just blinked and hid within the ground. He had sensed the strangeness of Miss Fen''s actions and felt suspicious about it.


    And now that he heard her words, he knew something was up.


    ''What is going on?'' Lin Mu felt confused.


    He spread his spirit sense around and checked everyone around him for any traces of human controlling blood curse and the signs of Invader.


    "Hmm¡­ nothing here. Thankfully." Lin Mu muttered with relief.


    "But then, what is up with them?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question.

 Chapter 986 - Reunion With Jing Luo

    Lin Mu was now on his way to the northern border of the Fenlong kingdom.


    "Now that I remember, I''ve never been through here, have I?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Thest time he hade to the Fenlong kingdom, he had taken the long route to avoid the Kingdom of Shu and hade through the coastal part. Which was also why he had directly ended up near the Jiao Long port.


    But now he was going through the main road that was used by most people entering Fenlong kingdom. Of course, he wasn''t actually on the road and was merely following it from the sky.


    The capital of the Fenlong kingdom was about two hundred kilometers from the border and Lin Mu had already covered over half of it in less than thirty minutes.


    "I should reach the border in half an hour more and then the second ring of defense shouldn''t be that far." Lin Mu estimated. "May as well read the records till then," he decided.


    Lin Mu took out the jade slip that Miss Fen had given him and quickly read through all the reports and documents recorded in it.


    ''They''ve certainly grown in strength alright¡­'' Lin Mu muttered.


    The Fenlong Kingdom now had over fifty Nascent soul realm cultivators, the majority of them being from the merchant council and the royal family. After The fen n helped the royal family with their bloodline issue, they too progressed very quickly.


    The rtionship between the Fen n and the Fenlong royal family was also resolved due to this, and now they were almost considered the same. For their service, the Fen n was recalled back into the royal family and was the same.


    ''No wonder I saw her there at the pce. She is technically a princess now.'' Lin Mu muttered.


    Then there were the other nascent soul realm cultivators that hade due to the efforts of Jingming Shang. These cultivators were actually rich merchants who were convinced by Jingming Shang and threw in their lot with the Fenlong kingdom.


    And since they got what they were promised in terms of profits, they were fiercely loyal too.


    The Mu n was also progressing promisingly and had grown a lot stronger than before. They too had 5 Nascent soul realm cultivators now, and they had greatly benefited due to their ns''s legacy.


    "I''ll get to see their puppets in action soon enough. They are with Jing Luo at the border anyway." Lin Mu muttered.


    He was certainly curious about their puppets, as it was said that the stronger puppets they controlled could even match the strength of the Nascent soul realm cultivators. And these puppets could be controlled by those in the core condensation realm.


    This was a great advantage that could not be ignored at all.


    Lin Mu then learned the situation with the Kingdom of Shu. There had been several skirmishes that had urred between the Fenlong kingdom and the Kingdom of Shu''s army.


    While most of these ended in draw at first, in thetter times, the Fenlong Kingdom actually had to retreat. This was due to the fact that the power of the soldiers had suddenly increased.


    ''There''s no doubt there is involvement of Gu Legion in this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Time quickly passed as Lin Mu continued to fly through the skies. The Fenlong kingdom didn''t have as many settlements as other kingdoms and thus Lin Mu didn''t really encounter any towns or cities while passing by.


    "That must be the border." Lin Mu muttered as his spirit sense felt the formation arrays in the distance.


    There was no formation array like this when Lin Mu had originallye to the Fenlong Kingdom and it had been added two years ago when the alliance was fully formed. It had helped prevent and detect any intrusions in the Fenlong Kingdom and was rather useful.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu easily passed through the formation array and sensed the presence of arge number of people in the distance.


    "That should be them." Lin Mu guessed and flew ahead.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    A single step was enough to propel him over two kilometers in a few seconds and he continued doing that till he was at the temporary outpost that had been made.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    The people below had sensed Lin Mu''s appearance as well. After all, he had created plenty of noise ining here. His steps weren''t exactly¡­ ''stealthy''.


    Lin Mu''s eyes went to a certain man with arge build looking up at the sky. His long hair swayed in the wind as the beads that kept them tied into multiple bunches rattled. The slightly wild looking man''s eyes gazed at Lin Mu and a wide smile appeared on his face.


    "AHAHAHA! AHAHAHA!" Jing Luo startedughing, startling all others.


    They didn''t know that Lin Mu was arriving since there was no way tomunicate other than messengers and Lin Mu was way faster than a messenger, anyway. Thus, it was a surprise to them.


    "Is that¡­" A young man gasped.


    "Yes¡­ there''s no doubt." Another one muttered.


    "Senior Lin Mu!" A man familiar to Lin Mu spoke up.


    Lin Mu looked at the person who called out and recognized him to be none other than Mu Tao, the heir of the Mu n.


    Lin Mu descended on to the ground and was shortly tackled by Jing Luo.


    "HAHAHA!" Jing Luo held Lin Mu in a tight hug. "I knew you would be back soon, brother!"


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    "Sorry I gotte." Lin Mu apologized.


    "Forget that! All that matters is that you are here now. We''ve held the fort and are ready to pass the reins back to you." Jing Luo said with a wide smile on his face.


    "Thank you¡­ I don''t know what I would have done without you." Lin Mu said, a smile finally appearing on his face after a long time.


    "Thank you to all of you that have helped us all this time!" Lin Mu said to rest with his hands cupped.

 Chapter 987 - Hundred Sense Slaughter Array

    With the quick reunion done, Lin Mu and Jing Luo quickly got to the actual work.


    "So what is it that you are actually doing here?" Lin Mu questioned after the two of them went to some ce a bit more private.


    Lin Mu knew that while Jing Luo might have said that he was just installing some more formation arrays around the Fenlong Kingdom, that wasn''t exactly the reason. There might have been more to it that Jing Luo could have done.


    "I''m installing an Auto-detecting ughter formation. I call it the Hundred Sense ughter Array." Jing Luo answered.


    "What?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "I finally finished its ending bits a couple months ago. And considering the offense the Gu Legion has put up, I reckoned it was time to start using it. The Fenlong Kingdom was the perfect choice for it since it is the smallest and won''t take me that long to set it up." Jing Luo exined.


    "Won''t that be a bit too dangerous for our side too?" Lin Mu asked. "Can it target only those from the Gu Legion or Northern Tribes automatically, or does it need someone to manage that part?"


    "Of course, I won''t let it attack innocents. I have two modes for that in the formation array. There are two targeting formations in the array, one of them being controlled manually by the formation master and another one that can act interdependently depending on certain factors.


    For example, we can add the information about someone''s spirit Qi signature or even their face and let the formation array automatically attack." Jing Luo exined in detail.


    "That¡­ that''s amazing!" Lin Mu eximed.


    He could clearly see the benefit of something like this. The current formation arrays that were set up were mostly detecting and defensive formation arrays that surrounded thends of their allies.


    Setting up an entire barrier around a kingdom wasn''t always a viable option simply due to the sheer amount of resources needed to set it up. That''s why a detecting formation array was ced instead which could send a signal to warn the owners about intruders.


    But smaller areas like the sects could be entirely protected using the defensive formation arrays since they were way smaller than kingdoms in size and also had a lot of resources.


    If one were topare the sects and kingdom, the sects normally had oner resources than the entire kingdom, but less area under them. On the other hand, the kingdom had less resources but arge territory and poption.


    "Of course, I''m the one who made it, after all!" Jing Luo said proudly.


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    Thinking of this suddenly gave Lin Mu an idea.


    "Wait! Do you have a method to recognize the signature of the Gu Legion?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I don''t right now. But I can put in the signature for the Invader. We''ve already made a formation that can detect them¡­ well, somewhat." Jing Luo answered.


    "I think I can help. I have just the right thing for you to perfect it. And I might even be able to add the ability to recognize the people under Human controlling blood curses control." Lin Mu replied.


    "You can?! How?" Jing Luo was surprised.


    Lin Mu then narrated to him about all that had happened in the past two days, he hade out of seclusion. It was a lot of things in the short span of two days and were certainly shocking for Jing Luo.


    "That Gu Yao¡­ will he never stop?" Jing Luo muttered in angers.


    "He won''t. That''s why we will have to." Lin Mu replied with determination.


    "Yes. Then it''s best we get to it." Jing Luo stated.


    "Yeah, point me to the node and I''ll add it." Lin Mu spoke.


    Jing Luo nodded his head and took Lin Mu to the ess node and let Lin Mu do his thing. Lin Mu first used his spirit sense to ess the formation array and added the ability for it to recognize the people being controlled by the Human Controlling Blood curse.


    Since Lin Mu was the only one who could sense that, he was also the only one who could transmit the specific sensation of that to the formation array. For another human it might be difficult to sense the signature, but for a neutral thing like a fomentation array, all it needed was the specific programming and it would be able to sense it too.


    Lin Mu simply had to set it ording to how he felt when encountering those with the Human Controlling blood curse.


    This formation that Jing Luo had made was something that he had told Lin Mu about a long time ago. In fact, the original developmental research about this was done hundreds of years ago by the Jing n.


    The true version of this formation array was even used in the Myriad Armament Canopy abode. What Jing Luo had done here was to simplify it and make it so that it could work with fewer resources and a wider area as well.


    He had even worked on it during the fifty years or so he was trapped in the minor ne that was torn off from the Ripple Mist Sect''s sacred ground.


    After about an hour, Lin Mu was done with the addition of the Human Controlling Blood curse''s sensing capability, he added the next one for the Gu Legion. Since they all used the cultivation boosting pills made from Rebirth blood and the failed reborn, they too had a unique signature.


    The muddy looking spirit Qi was very easy to recognize as long as one looked into their Dantian. Adding this didn''t take Lin Mu long since he had plenty of samples to add to it seeing the numbers that he had killed.


    Then came the final addition. It was the detecting capability for the invaders. While Jing Luo had already added one, Lin Mu reckoned he would be way more urate.. Plus, he had another sample he could add. It was from the humanoid Mutant!

 Chapter 988 - Ruthless To Himself

    While Jing Luo had heard about the Humanoid Mutant from Lin Mu before, actually seeing that sample has still stunned him. The ck tar like substance was strange and emanated a repulsive feeling that made him want to subconsciously go away.


    ''Truly disgusting.'' Jing Luo thought to himself.


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    This time it took Lin Mu about two hours to add the new sample. But once he was done, the entire formation array flickered.


    "There, done." Lin Mu said as he took onest look at the formation array.


    "Looks good. The others will finish the rest of it and add the anchor points around the kingdom. Half of them have already been installed and the rest should be done in a couple of days." Jing Luo said. "And after that, we''ll see the true capability of the Hundred Sense ughter Array."


    "I''d like to see it too. Though what is the power it can exert?" Lin Mu asked.


    It was an important question, as the power of the array would determine its use. It would be rather useless if the only cultivators it could go against would be the weak ones at the Qi refining realm and the core condensation realm.


    "Oh, you don''t have to worry about that. Unless a Dao Treading realm cultivator appearers it will hold up on its own. No Dao Shell realm cultivator will be able to resist it and will probably die under it." Jing Luo replied. "With the exception of you, of course¡­ what did you even do to your body? Why do I feel such strong metal attribute from you?" he questioned.


    "You can feel that?" Lin Mu asked, feeling surprised.


    He didn''t even know that he was releasing such a feeling from him.


    "Yeah. It is like you are a walking beacon. Anyone that has proficiency with the metal element would know. You feel like¡­ a literal mountain of metal walking around." Jing Luo exined.


    "Well¡­ it''s a bit hard to exin." Lin Mu replied.


    "Try me." Jing Luo said.


    "Maybe showing you would be easier." Lin Mu replied before controlling his body.


    He stopped controlling the weight of his body and also let his skin show its full appearance.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    Lin Mu directly sunk into the ground all the way up to his waist and a golden sheen could be seening off his body. The sunlight that reflected off his skin made him look like a golden statue.


    With the exception of his ck hair, white teeth and eyes, the rest of his body let off a golden luster.


    <i>~shua</i>~


    But Jing Luo felt something else along with it. It wasn''t just a change in appearance, Lin Mu was now letting off an entirely different aura.


    "Heavens!" Jing Luo eximed.


    Even though Lin Mu wasn''t releasing his spirit Qi and was had restrained it, it was still a overwhelming scene. Even the others that were quite some distance from them felt a change in the air that suddenly felt heavier to them for some inexplicable reason.


    "Such strong metal elemental aura and that golden color? Did you fill your entire body with gold or what?" Jing Luo questioned, feeling shocked.


    "Well¡­ yeah." Lin Mu answered.


    Jing Luo was taken aback by the answer and could only say, "What?!"


    "Well... You should take a look at this." Lin Mu said and handed Jing Luo the True Gold Body Forging arts.


    Jing Luo''s eyes narrowed, and he took the metal te from Lin Mu''s hand. He could tell that it was carved from a single metal sheet, but when he tried to read it, he couldn''t recognize many of the words.


    Lin Mu saw the confusion on his face and spoke, "oh wait, I have a tranted version."


    He then gave Jing Luo a jade slip with the technique in it. As part of learning and studying Dao Script with senior Xukong, Lin Mu would often trante things to and from Dao Script. This was to increase his own knowledge and proficiency with Dao Script.


    Cultivation techniques were one of the best things to learn to use since they wereplex even in the normalmon tongue. Lin Mu would have to understand the technique himself first before he would even be able to find the character needed to trante it into Dao Script.


    Thus it was an all epassing way of making Lin Mu learn.


    But when Jing Luo read through what was written in the technique, his face turned from shock to terror.


    "THIS IS MADNESS!" Jing Luo said out loud.


    "Yeah," Lin Mu couldn''t exactly deny that.


    Anyone that would try it would either be very confident in themselves, or be insane enough to try a self mutting technique like this.


    "You did all this to yourself?" Jing Luo asked, feeling both pity and afraid of Lin Mu.


    To him, anyone who could do this to themselves was ruthless and if they could be this ruthless to themselves, then to their enemies, they would be hellish to say the least.


    ''But can he really be like that?'' Jing Luo thought.


    He knew Lin Mu''s character well and understood him enough over the years.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Finally in the end, Jing Luo could only sigh to himself and let it go.


    "I don''t know what to say¡­ grandfather would say that you were foolish. But you actually seeded." Jing Luo muttered.


    "I know¡­ but that is the price for power I needed to pay¡­ had to pay." Lin Mu replied.


    Jing Luo nodded his head, finding himself to becking.


    ''So his two years of seclusion were far more painful than the suffering we had gone through.'' Jing Luo thought. ''The others don''t even know the effort and sacrifices he has been doing for us.''


    "Enough about this." Lin Mu said, wanting to change the topic.


    "Tell me this. King Hong told me that you sent Little Shrubby out to the frontier. Why is that?" Lin Mu asked, desiring to know.


    "That¡­ well. It was a task only Little Shrubby could do.." Jing Luo replied.

 Chapter 989 - Little Shrubbys Important Task. Wu Hei And Wu Tengs Situations

    Hearing that the task was important and only Little Shrubby could do it, Lin Mu was intrigued.


    ''Well, Little Shrubby does have a lot of advantages that others don''t.'' Lin Mu thought to himself before Jing Luo started to speak.


    "Little Shrubby is at the frontier, spying for us. He''s a beast, so no one will suspect him even if he gets spotted, and he can just mix in with the other beasts that live there anyway. Atmost, the people of the Northern Tribes will think that he is a Dao Shell realm beast that has made that area his territory." Jing Luo spoke.


    Lin Mu could only nod hearing this, as it was a very appropriate option.


    "And in addition to that, he will also be picking off any Northern Tribesmen he spots or any Gu Legion people. With his speed and abilities, it is something that is best suited to him. At the very least, he has no problems in killing Nascent soul realm cultivators in less than a second and the Dao Shell realms can be battled by him." Jing Luo added.


    "What about the rescues that Little Shrubby had been doing? I heard from Elder Zhan of the ck Dune sect." Lin Mu asked.


    "While that was indeed good. Having him block off the enemies at the very entry is an even better option. We don''t even know how many threats he has also stopped from entering from the frontier." Jing Luo replied. "The only foe that is left in the empire is Gu Yao."


    Lin Mu thought over it and realized that unless it was a Dao Treading realm cultivator that actually appeared, there was little to no chance Little Shrubby would be in trouble. He could always run away with his speed.


    From Lin Mu''s estimation of Little Shrubby''s speed growth, at his current cultivation base outrunning a Dao Treading realm cultivator would be easy.


    ''And this is still when he hasn''t used the Seven Beasts Burst skill. If he does that, his strength will increase even more and so will his speed. He might be able to fight off a Dao Treading realm cultivator long enough to injure or run away.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While it wasn''t so that Little Shrubby couldn''t be trapped at all, to do that, the Northern Tribes will need information about Little Shrubby. At the very least, they would need to know he even existed.


    "Seems like Little Shrubby has been doing a lot of work then." Lin Mu muttered.


    "He has indeed. With you gone, he was great help." Jing Luo agreed.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Lin Mu sighed to himself, finding himself missing the beast.


    "Well, not anymore. I''ll do what I''ve been skipping out on." Lin Mu stated.


    "Good!" Jing Luo pped his hands. "So what is it that you want to do first?" he questioned.


    "Well, we''ve had a few things we''ve been dying for a while. We should get them done. And some of those things can be done in one direction." Lin Mu answered.


    "I''m guessing meeting up with Wu Hei?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yes. And also your grandfather, of course." Lin Mu replied.


    "Of course! I''ve been ready for years now." Jing Luo said, feeling excited.


    "Before we go though, has there been any news about Wu Hei? I find it strange that he never tried to make contact." Lin Mu replied.


    "No, there has been none. Even our spies in the Shuang Qian Kingdom are unable toe up with much. As far as we know, Wu Hei mostly stays hidden in his residence and does whatever he wants through his subordinates.


    My guess was that it isn''t him doing this voluntarily, but rather Gu Yao or someone else authoritative putting him under house arrest." Jing Luo answered.


    "Huh? Wasn''t Wu Hei the second highest one in the Gu Legion? Just below Gu Yao." Lin Mu asked, finding it strange.


    "That is still true, but Gu Yao has probably developed suspicions over the previous ones that he already had. Wu Hei killing his father is the most obvious thing that could have been assumed.


    And there is also a chance Gu Yao has a hunch that Wu Hei is not under his control and has been testing him. After all, Wu Hei isn''t that strongpared to many other Gu Legion members and the Northern Tribesmen entering the Great Zhou Empire." Jing Luo exined.


    "I see¡­ and do we have any idea what Wu Hei''s cultivation base is?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "He is definitely in the Nascent soul realm, but the exact stage is unknown. But the most likely thing is that he shouldn''t be that strong being at either the Infant Soul stage or the Child Soul stage." Jing Luo answered. "Either of those two stages could have been enough for him to have great authority in the past, but with Gu Yao''s changes, there are a lot more like him."


    "So in simple words¡­ he''s not special anymore." Lin Mu stated.


    "Exactly. Perhaps the only reason he is even alive and has his rank is simply due to the fact that he is Gu Yao''s family." Jing Luo replied.


    "I see¡­ but he isn''t the only nephew, either. What happened to his mother and Wu Teng?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We have no news about the mother of Wu Hei and as for Wu Teng¡­ he''s back in the Vermillion Legion." Jing Luo answered.


    ''The Vermillion legion?'' Lin Mu thought to himself as an idea struck him.


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    "They''re using him as the mole in the Vermillion legion¡­ there is no doubt." Lin Mu said, feeling confident.


    "Are you sure?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yes. Wu Teng was part of the Vermillion Legion in the past, too. It would be less suspicious for him to be there and Gu Yao will be able to extract any information from the Vermillion Legion." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­" Jing Luo''s expression darkened as he saw the possibility in Lin Mu''s words.

 Chapter 990 - Another Alliance Meeting And Deciding The Course Of Action

    Lin Mu and Jing Luo discussed a few more ns about how to proceed.


    The main goal was to get rid of Gu Yao, but they were unable to find his location. Until he was not gone, there would always be threats from the Northern Tribes.


    "Are we still not anywhere close to finding Gu Yao''s location?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Unfortunately no. There was a time when we came really close and unearthed arge hideout of the Gu Legion and even attacked it with the alliance, but by the time we were done, and the Gu Legion members were dead, we didn''t find anyone else there.


    We think that we might have been close to Gu Yao, but he escaped while the others dyed. We did bring a lot of people, enough to overwhelm Gu Yao thus, I reckon that''s why he chose to escape rather than fight." Jing Luo answered.


    "Hmm¡­ you won''t find him outside. He is most definitely in a minor ne." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yeah. We just hoped that we would have found an entrance or a clue to the minor ne there." Jing Luo replied.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "We''ll just have to kill every Gu Legion member until he is forced toe out, it seems." Lin Mu said as a hint of killing intent glowed in his eyes.


    "Yes!" Jing Luo agreed. "Though there is another person who might be able to help us track him." He added.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu wondered who.


    "My grandfather, of course! He should be able to make something that can track Gu Yao, especially with the help of my cousin Duan Ke. She is an expert in investigative skills. Combining both of them, we should definitely be able to find him!" Jing Luo said with confidence.


    Lin Mu''s eyes lit up and he could see the merit in this idea. It was something they were doing anyway, and it would work out for them.


    "Though before we do that¡­ we might have to take some precautions." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, we can''t let Gu Yao get a clue about this." Jing Luo replied.


    "We''ll have to get the alliance to maintain the current stalemate. This should keep Gu Yao upied. Then we''ll go and get Wu Hei and your grandfather in that time. I''ll be able to call Little Shrubby once I''m close enough to the Shuang Qian Kingdom, as well." Lin Mu suggested.


    "That will be the best. As much as we want to push those bastards back, the current situation will give us the chance to secretly get them." Jing Luo agreed.


    "Mmmhmm¡­ guess we need to talk with the patriarchs." Lin Mu said.


    "We''ll do it in a bit. We''ll be done with the formation array and then we can head off." Jing Luo asked to wait.


    Lin Mu agreed and helped out Jing Luo with the final finishing touches of the fomentation arrays and once they were done, both of them entered the Kong ne and headed to the Long Cloud sect.


    Lin Mu was of course, met with great fanfare there too and the people there were greatly excited to meet him. But the patriarch quickly calmed them down so that they could discuss the ns.


    At first, the patriarch of the ck Dune sect was in disagreement with Lin Mu''s n of dying the fight, but then was convinced after hearing why Lin Mu and Jing Luo needed to do that.


    The four patriarchs of the alliance, Patriarch You Yi, Patriarch Shandian, Patriarch Mingliang and Patriarch Hua, all conversed with Lin Mu for the entire day so that they coulde up with the concrete n of action.


    Only when that was done could Lin Mu take a rest.


    "You should rest and prepare for tomorrow. You will have a long journey ahead." Patriarch Hua said.


    "Yes¡­ I''ll retire for the night then." Lin Mu replied.


    "You should leave too, Jing Luo. We''ll continue your work and make sure all goes well." Patriarch You Yi said as well.


    "Very well." Jing Luo epted.


    The two men left and went to rest in each of their courtyards.


    The night was filled with twinkling stars and Lin Muid on the roof of the courtyard staring at the sky. He felt reluctant so sleep now and had a fear that if he slept, the next time he woke up would be yearster.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "The Well of Slumber is indeed a double edged sword. I thought I had it in control, but that seems unlikely." Lin Mu muttered.


    "There is also a chance that it was actually done by your own body, too. It might have understood that it would be far more beneficial to use the Well of slumber and let your body amodate both things at once." Xukong suddenly spoke up.


    "Huh? How can my body do that when I''m in control of it?" Lin Mu asked feeling confused.


    "People do think they are in control of their bodies, but that is not always true. There is more to your body than just your consciousness. In addition to you, your body also has the bloodline in it. Every being in the universe has a bloodline and it will have thousands upon thousand of years of memories contained within them.


    These are the experiences your predecessor would have gone through and they would be hidden within your bloodline. It is these very experiences that forge the natural instincts of your body.


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    Sometimes these can also make you do things without your control." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu fell in deep thought upon hearing it. He raised his right and gazed at the mysterious ring.


    No one knows what he thought, but he closed his eyes and just rested like that for the rest of the night.


    Hours passed, and soon it was daybreak. Lin Mu''s eyes snapped open at the first light of the sun and he disappeared from the roof of the courtyard.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    He took a deep breath as he looked in the distance towards North.


    "I''ming¡­ Wu Hei, old man Jing¡­ Duan Ke."

 Chapter 991 - Towards The Northern Lands And A Short Visit To The Light Harmony Sect

    Lin Mu and Jing Luo were on their way to the Northern Lands right now.


    "It feels surreal returning after all these years." Jing Luo muttered.


    "Indeed¡­ even though it''s been far less time for me, it still feels so long." Lin Mu replied.


    Both Lin Mu and Jing Luo hadn''t been to the Northern Lands for a while. Lin Mu''s home was in the Shuang Qian Kingdom while Jing Luo''s didn''t exist anymore. Still, the only thing for Jing n that was still there was their ancestralnd that was located in the ck Dawn Kingdom¡­ or the edge of it.


    They had started their journey from the Long Cloud sect and had now entered the Kong ne.


    Coming to stand in front of the different teleportation gates, Lin Mu gazed at them.


    "So then¡­ which one should we take?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Patriarch Mingliang rmended we go through the one in his sect. It is the closest location to the Shuang Qian kingdom and we will already be in the Northern Lands that way. You might even be able to contact Little Shrubby right away." Jing Luo replied.


    "Hmm¡­ that does seem like the best option. We shall take that then." Lin Mu agreed.


    He activated the teleportation gate and saw as the runes came to life. A portal opened between the two pirs and swirled nonstop.


    "Let''s go." Lin Mu said as he stepped into the portal.


    Jing Luo followed behind him and their vision darkened for a few seconds before it finally returned.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Stepping out of the portal, Lin Mu looked at the old elders standing in wait for him.


    "Greetings, Alliance Leader Lin Mu; Elder Jing Luo." The elders greeted with cupped hands.


    Lin Mu didn''t know who these elders were as he had never met them before, but from their Nascent soul realm cultivation base, he could tell that they were junior elders. Which made sense why he didn''t know them.


    All the Senior and High elders had met with Lin Mu before at the Long Cloud sect as they needed to take the oath in person.


    "Greetings." Lin Mu responded as well.


    "Patriarch informed us of your arrival and told us to prepare somethings." The old elders said before one of them took out a storage bag.


    "Please take this. It maye in handy on your journey." The elder handing the storage bag spoke.


    Lin Mu took the bag and asked, "what''s this?"


    He peered into the storage bag, finding a few things inside.


    "There are two identity tokens inside it. They shouldn''t be needed, but in case something happens, you can use them. We know that your identity is sensitive and is best kept hidden. This will instead show your affiliation as an elder of the Light Harmony sect.


    You won''te across any trouble this way¡­ though considering your standing, I believe that might not be a problem either way." The elder spoke.


    Both Lin Mu and Jing Luo were in the Dao Shell realm and there would be very few people left on the continent that would be able to create trouble for them.


    "It is better to be prudent. These tokens will be good to have, just in case." Lin Mu agreed.


    "There is also an updated map and a few more informative records along with that, which maye in handy." Another elder added.


    "That''ll definitely be useful." Jing Luo stated.


    Having taken them, Lin Mu bid his farewell to the elders.


    "We shall take our leave then, elders." Lin Mu spoke.


    "We wish you sess in your endeavor, Alliance Leader Lin Mu." The elder said while bowing their heads.


    Lin Mu gave them a gentle nod and left the hall. Appearing outside, he saw that he was actually in arge pagoda, and the hall was merely a small part of it. They continued onwards and left the pagoda, finally appearing in the actual Light Harmony sect.


    "So this is what the Light Harmony Sect is like huh¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he saw the stunning scene.


    There were pagodas everywhere in the sect and long stacks of colorful smoke could be seen rising from multiple locations. The aroma of spirit herbs could be smelled from a long distance, and the crackling of pills could even be heard.


    "This is truly a sect that specializes in alchemcial pills, alright." Jing Luomented.


    "Have you been here before?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not really. Never had the chance before." Jing Luo replied.


    "I see¡­ well, that''s another thing of the list then." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Though I''ve been to the Eastern Ming Dynasty before." Jing Luo added.


    "Oh? Really?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes. It is really a beautiful ce. Wait till you leave the Light Harmony sect''s borders, the rest of the kingdom is no less beautiful." Jing Luo said, inciting Lin Mu''s curiosity.


    "Well then, no use waiting." Lin Mu said before he flew up.


    <i>~shua~</i> R¨ºAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only


    Jing Luo followed behind him, and the two of them soared across the sky. Normally, something like this would be considered an offense in a sect, but Lin Mu and Jing Luo were technically elders of the Light Harmony sect.


    Even if they were guest elders. Thus, no formation array was triggered and the two of them easily left the sect after about an hour. This only made Lin Mu realize just howrge the Light harmony sect was.


    "If we consider area wise, the Light Harmony sect is perhaps the thirdrgest in size. Due to it being a pill making sect, they need a wide area so that the pill refinement is not disturbed. Explosions can often happen due to failure and different disciples might disturb each other due to this.


    Thus, having some distance between them is better." Jing Luo exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu knew of the sizes of the sect and the Rainbow pill sect was thergest sect area wise even though it was ranked second.. While the Sky Precepts sect came second in area size while being the first in sect rankings.

 Chapter 992 - The Beautiful Eastern Ming Dynasty

    "Whoa!" Lin Mu eximed, seeing the vibrant and sprawlingnds of the Eastern Ming Dynasty.


    "I told you right, it''s amazing." Jing Luo chuckled.


    There were tall snow-capped peaks, that were in the distance and a colorful forest that spread to the very horizon. There was a long river that flowed towards the north and came from the southwest.


    Millions upon millions of flowers were blooming currently even though it was already autumn. Usually the flowers should have reduced in numbers due to the iing winter and yet it was not so.


    Bird flew across the sky, going about their day while the beasts hunted on the ground. The cycle of life continued, and it didn''t seem like there was any darkness looming here.


    ''We truly are small in therge world. None of these beings know about the iing doom and yet they live their lives. There is bliss in ignorance and yet that very bliss is a deadly poison that will kill them slowly.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    "Huh?" Lin Mu looked at his hand as he felt the ring hum ever so slightly.


    ''What happened?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    But even after a few seconds, nothing was felt from the ring, so Lin Mu just let go of it. It had happened multiple times and Lin Mu didn''t know what to make of it. He knew it was better to focus on the task at hand rather than wasting his time wondering about the unknown.


    ''The ring will tell me if it really is something truly important.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Since Lin Mu didn''t have Little Shrubby, and Jing Luo was apanying him, the journey would be a lot slower than he was used to. It would take them about a week to reach the border of the Shuang Qian kingdom and then another week to get to the capital where Wu Hei actually was.


    Still, two weeks was a frighteningly short amount of time considering the long distance they were traveling. If it was the average cultivator at the Qi refining realm, it would take him at least three months to do the same.


    And if it were amoner, it would take them even longer. Perhaps even six months would not be enough. After all, the path was not just difficult because of the distance, but also because of the dangers that existed there.


    The paths passed through mountains, rivers and forests, all of which were the habitats of beasts. One needed strength to be able to safely pass through them all. Amoner wouldn''t even be able to take such a journey and would probably end up dying before reaching the final destination.


    Which was also whymoners traveled along with the merchant caravans as they had cultivators for protection.


    "It''s a shame we won''t get to see the capital of the Eastern Ming Dynasty, though. Their Azure roofed buildings are an amazing sight." Jing Luo suddenly spoke.


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    "We can always go thereter. I want to see it sometime in the future, too." Lin Mu replied.


    The Light Harmony sect was located southwest of the Eastern Ming Dynasty''s capital and they were heading further west, thus there was no way they would get to see the capital.


    "Though we will pass by the location of the destroyed teleportation gate, right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. It is on our path." Jing Luo said with a serious expression.


    The destruction of the teleportation gate was a loss of both life and finances. And since it was due to the Northern Tribes, Lin Mu definitely didn''t want to let go of it easily.


    "Do you know more about that ce? How did the explosion happen and all?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I do know some. The ce was selected originally as a merchant outpost too and also a way for us to get closer to the Shuang Qian kingdom. But what we didn''t know was that the Northern Tribes evidently had the same idea and had picked the same region as their base.


    Both our outpost and the base of the Northern Tribes were within a hundred kilometers of each other. We didn''t encounter each other for the first three months, but then the very first conflict turned serious.


    Three of our people died then and several more of the Northern Tribes died. At first we didn''t know that they had a base there and just thought they might have been passing through. But then over theing months, we ended up encountering them more and more.


    Three monthster, the entire area had basically turned into a battlefield. But then one day, out of nowhere¡­ the explosion happened. We had a clue that the Northern Tribes were doing something there, but we didn''t know what exactly.


    But whatever it was, it must have been quite vtile to have caused an explosion that obliterated an area of over a hundred kilometers." Jing Luo exined.


    "Damn¡­ could it be the rebirth blood or the reborn that they make?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Since we don''t know how they are made, it could be possible." Jing Luo relied.


    "Has anyone else gone to check the area since the explosion?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We did send some scouts, but there was pretty much nothing left to check. The entire area has been ttened and charred ck. You will know when you see it. Arge ck patch on this beautiful greennd." Jing Luo answered.


    Lin Mu''s expression darkened, and he subconsciously sped up.


    Their journey went mostly uneventful, and they didn''t really have any troubles except for the one time that they passed by the territory of some beasts which got startled and ended up starting a stampede.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo then had to stop that since the beasts were heading towards a town nearby. While it was a little hup in their journey, it did replenish Lin Mu''s stock of meat again.


    ''I need to eat moreter¡­ my stores of vitality are down since I woke up..'' Lin Mu noted.

 Chapter 993 - Better Cultivation Efficiency?

    "We should reach the border in about two more days." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Yeah, we''ll get to check on that destroyed outpost too." Lin Mu said before taking a bite.


    There was arge bonfire burning in front of him and floating above it were bs of meat. They were floating on a grill that was actually a spirit tool!


    It was a low grade spirit tool that Lin Mu had found in the spatial storage ring of the cultivator he had killed in the Iron Bull town. It was supposed to be a restrictive spirit tool that could trap someone, but now Lin Wu was using it as a grill.


    "This is really convenient, though. I don''t need to set up an entire stove, just have it float and ignite a fire below it." Lin Mu spoke while eating.


    Jing Luo had been watching Lin Mu eat and didn''t know what to say. In the hour of break they''ve had, Lin Mu had already finished over thirty beasts. And Jing Luo couldn''t help but shudder hearing the crunch of bones that came from Lin Mu''s mouth from time to time.


    "Are you sure you''ll be fine eating like that?" Jing Luo couldn''t help but ask.


    "Yeah. I''m used to it. I need to restore my stores of vitality. I didn''t eat for two years after all." Lin Mu replied.


    ''Still¡­'' Jing Luo didn''t speak further.


    He looked at the side where a pair of spirit swords automatically moved and butchered beast corpses. There was a pile of such beast corpses next to it and they would get picked up before being butchered and then thrown onto the grill.


    This was just three spirit tools working in tandem and Lin Mu could control a lot more now. In fact, he didn''t even know what his limit was right now. With his increase in his spirit sense and it getting strengthened, there seemed to be no limit to him.


    Lin Mu already had over six hundred spirit tools he had branded with his spirit sense and it wasn''t even a quarter of the number of spirit tools and weapons he had in his storage. Only those that were good or had some particr use were branded by him.


    Lin Mu continued to eat until all the beast corpses were gone and digested. He didn''t even need to assimte the vitality and spirit Qi from the meat he had eaten, since his body was already used to it.


    Plus being having three treasured organs passively boosted his body''s metabolism as well. Additionally, having his lungs as the third treasured organ also increased his overall speed of cultivation since it depended a lot on breathing.


    With the refined lungs, his efficiency of breathing and absorbing the spirit Qi in the air increased exponentially.


    Lin My guessed that it might have been one of the reasons why he progressed so fast while the well of slumber was active. He knew from his past experience that even if the Well of Slumber worked, he would still take at least 10 more years to aplish the same.


    But his lungs became treasured organs sometime before that and ended up boosting the speed at which he cultivated. It was a benefit to him in the end, and he couldn''t reallyin about that.


    In fact, Lin Mu was confident that if he only cultivated, he could breakthrough to the Shellpletion stage of the Dao Shell realm in just a month. He wouldn''t even need to use the Well of Slumber.


    He was mostly done with it anyway now.


    ''I''ll find the right opportunity and breakthrough. Hopefully, we get that between all this chaos.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Having rested enough, both Lin Mu and Jing Luo replenish their stores of energy and set off on their journey again. They zed through the skies and didn''t stop anywhere this time.


    The region they were passing over was filled with beasts and there were barely any human settlements here for around five hundred kilometers. This was also the region which was the most difficult to traverse.


    This was exactly why they had chosen to establish an outpost here so that the merchants would be able to save time and get better profits. The goods that were obtained from the Eastern Ming Dynasty could be sold at at least five to six times the price if they were taken through their route.


    With the outpost set up near the border, the merchants could basically skip on the entire difficult journey if they belonged to the trusted ones that they allowed through the gates. For all others, they could travel without goods and simply collect them at the outpost.


    This was way faster than having to haul the goods with them.


    Lin Mu could soon see the vast ck expanse in the distance. It was a stark difference from the vibrant green forest and the clear blue rivers.


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    "So this is the site of explosion." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Mmhmm. Even though I''ve never been heres and only read the report, there is no mistake it is this." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and looked around.


    "Which direction do you want to start from?" Jing Luo asked.


    He knew that they were to search this ce and see if they could unearth some clues. With the level of destruction that had happened, they couldn''t even figure out where the secret base of the northern tribes was.


    But Jing Luo got an answer from Lin Mu he had not expected.


    "No need¡­" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Huh? You don''t want to search it?" Jing Luo asked, feeling confused.


    "I already found it." Lin Mu replied, opening his eyes.


    "Already found it? How¡­" Jing Luo wondered before he understood.


    He felt the vast spirit sense moving in the air. The entire time Lin Mu had it spread around this Jing Luo hadn''t felt the difference, but now that it actually moved he could perceive it.


    ''What even is this? Do even Immortal Ascension realm cultivators have such spirit sense?'' He couldn''t help but wonder.

 Chapter 994 - Unearthing The Collapsed Area

    <h4>Chapter 994 - Unearthing The Copsed Area</h4>


    Lin Mu gazed towards a particr location, having discovered something there.


    "Let''s go." Lin Mu spoke and Jing Luo followed behind.


    The two of them appeared over what looked like broken ground. It was a verymon scene considering the explosion that had happened and looked no different than the many other areas.


    Jing Luo extended his spirit sense but didn''t find anything there.


    "It''s really here?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Oh yeah, it''s here." Lin Mu replied.


    "I can''t feel anything, though." Jing Luo spoke.


    "That''s understandable. It''s not in this world." Lin Mu replied.


    "Huh? What do you mean?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "It''ll be easier to show you." Lin Mu answered and descended.


    He extended his fist downward and punched out.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    A burst of spirit Qi traveled straight down and dug the ground apart, leaving behind a two meter wide hole that went at least ten meters deep.


    Jing Luo raised his brows in surprise at this disy of power. While he could do the same at his cultivation base, it would certainly not be this casual.


    Lin Mu hadn''t even used Boulder Copsing fist this time.


    He descended downwards and punched again when they reached the bottom of the hole and there was nothing there.


    <i>~Boom~ Boom~ boom~ </i>


    Lin Mu ended up doing this three more times until he finally reached the ce they were looking for. It was a mostly copsed hall, and it was hard to tell that it was even a ce that was actually a base before.


    The explosion had really removed any signs of it.


    "No wonder I couldn''t find it. If its this damaged, it would be impossible to spot." Jing Luo said.


    "I would be the same if not for the faint spatial fluctuationsing from here." Lin Mu replied.


    "Huh? Spatial fluctuations! You mean to say¡­" Jing Luo said with surprise.


    "Mmhmm¡­ they might have a minor ne hidden here." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing this, a thought immediately came to Jing Luo''s mind.


    "Wait! Can it be¡­" Jing Luo was about to speak, but Lin Mu interrupted him before that.


    "There is a chance that it is here. I''ll have to see. It could also be that this was one of the entrances." Lin Mu exined.


    Jing Luo nodded his head and let Lin Mu do his thing.


    <i>~step~ step~ Step~</i>


    Lin Mu walked towards a particr area that had some traces of runes and inscriptions left on the ground. The surrounding rubble had simr runes carved on them too, but it was hard to properly tell now.


    "It''s near, no doubt." Lin Mu said as he closed his eyes.


    His spirit sense scanned the area in detail before he extended his right hand towards it.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The ring activated and showed its power under Lin Mu''smand.


    <i>~Rip~</i>


    Soon, the air in front of them started to tear apart as a ck crack appeared there. The ck crack kept on expanding until an opening in the void was established.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "There we go." Lin Mu said, while taking a deep breath.


    Jing Luo carefully peered into the tear in the space and felt cold sweat appearing on his back. He had never been this close to an unsecured entrance to the Lesser void and even if he was at the Dao Shell realm, he was no less nervous.


    "I¡­ don''t see anything here." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Yeah, it seems to have copsed, mostly." Lin Mu replied. "But there are still some traces left." He added before extending his hand into the tear.


    Jing Luo watched carefully as the spatial energy leaking out of the void started to stir around Lin Mu''s hand. Lin Mu stood there with his hand inside the tear for about five minutes before finally they saw something.


    "W-what is that?" Jing Luo spotted the object appearing from the distance.


    "Whatever is left of that minor ne¡­ or it would be more urate to call it a pocket dimension instead; simr to that of a spatial storage treasure." Lin Mu replied.


    The object got closer and its appearance became cleared. The void was mostly dark, though from time to time streaks and sparkles of light could be seening randomly from the distance.


    Thus, it was often hard to make out what was actually in there unless it was close to your sight.


    Once the object fully reached where the tear was, both Lin Mu and Jing Luo got to observe it properly.


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    "An¡­ Altar?" Jing Luo realized.


    What floated in front of them was a partial altar. It had evidently been broken off during the explosion or perhaps even before that during the spatial copse.


    But that was not the most important thing. What was more important was a pale red crystal that was kept on it. The crystal was held in ce with six metal prongs that firmly sped it in ce.


    Those prongs were perhaps the only reason why the crystal had not separated from the partial altar.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu pulled the altar out and rested it down on the ground before closing the spatial tear. It was always unsafe if an unsecured spatial tear was left open. Even if it was Lin Mu who had opened it, there were always chances of an ident.


    Jing Luo and Lin Mu studied the altar and the crystal on it.


    "The stone this altar is made from is porous basalt that has been refined in earth mes. A rather unique choice of structural material." Jing Luo spoke.


    "What do you think about the prongs that hold the crystal in ce?" Lin Mu questioned, unable to recognize the metal.


    "Hmm¡­" Jing Luo probed the prongs with his spirit sense, but was unable to figure out what it exactly was.


    "Seems like an alloy of at least six metals. I''ll have to smelt it down if I want to tell what they are." Jing Luo said in the end.


    "I See¡­" Lin Mu said before trying to touch the pale red crystal.


    <i>~humm~</i>


    But the moment he did, he felt something stir within the ring!

 Chapter 995 - Benefit For The Grey Egg

    <h4>Chapter 995 - Benefit For The Grey Egg</h4>


    "Huh?" Lin Mu''s attention was quickly pulled towards the ring.


    This was the first time he had felt this sensation.


    ''I can feel the insides of the ring like this?'' Lin Mu was confused.


    Until now, whenever Lin Mu wanted to check inside the ring, he would have to actively look into it to know if there was any change. Or it would be Senior Xukong who would tell him if there was something happening.


    If the change was too big or rted to the ring itself, Lin Mu would feel the ring stir too, and it would inform him directly. But this time, the situation was different. It was as if he felt a calling from inside the ring and not the ring itself.


    "Let''s take a look."


    Lin Mu peered into the ring and his spirit sense appeared where the sensation hade from. This ce was of course, near the Ethereal altar but not exactly from it.


    "The Egg?!" Lin Mu saw.


    <i>~shua~ </i>


    Xukong seemingly appeared next to the egg as well and checked on its unusual activity.


    "Seems like it wants you to take it out." Xukong spoke.


    "Hmm, alright." Lin Mu said before withdrawing the egg.


    Jing Luo watched as a Grey egg appeared in Lin Mu''s hand. He had seen the Egg several times before and always wondered what beast it belonged to. Lin Mu had told him that it was a snake egg but seeing how long it had stayed in the form of an egg confused him.


    ''Is that egg even alive by now?'' Jing Luo wondered.


    <i>~Tremble~</i>


    As soon as the egg appeared in Lin Mu''s hand, it started to trembled. Lin Mu observed the faint movement on it that made it tilt in a certain direction.


    "The crystal¡­" Lin Mu muttered, and a thought appeared in his mind.


    He brought the egg closer to the crystal and saw the crystal shake as well.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    Suddenly, the pale red crystal started letting off wisps of energy from it. Feeling a bit rmed, Lin Mu withdrew his hand back, but the egg seemed to be pulling the energy towards it.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    The pale red energy started being absorbed into the egg rapidly and the crystal too kept on producing it.


    "What is this energy?" Jing Luo questioned.


    Lin Mu probed it and found it to be unusual. But at the same time, it was a bit familiar to him.


    It felt vigorous like fire or blood, but at the same time different. There wasn''t any ''heat'' of the fire or the ''Vitality'' of the blood in it.


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    "Yang Qi?" Lin Mu muttered in wonder.


    "That is indeed Yang Qi¡­ just impure. Simr to those Impure Yin Qi crystals you had found at the Ku Shae ruins and from those beasts." Xukong confirmed.


    "Isn''t this what we were looking for all this time!" Lin Mu eximed.


    Lin Mu had been looking for Yang Qi so that the Egg could be hatched. They had already known that after absorbing a certain amount of Yin Qi, the egg had be satiated and to bnce it out, needed Yang Qi.


    This would speed up the time in which it could hatch and currently its speed was really slow. Even if Lin Mu was giving it Beast Qi, it would still be slow. Besides, Lin Mu hadn''t given the Egg any beast Qi in the past two years, he was asleep.


    So in a way, the egg could be considered to be hungry.


    Xukong reckoned that if Lin Mu had never given the egg beast Qi, it would have not even developed to the point it is now. It would have stayed as it is until it was given Yin And Yang Qi.


    The beast Qi was somewhat acting as a recement, but wasn''t enough for the egg. Actual Yin and Yang Qi were still the best nourishment it could have. Thus Yang Qi was highly desirous for them.


    "That egg is absorbing that? Is that fine?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yeah¡­ it''s good for it." Lin Mu said, a hint of excitement in his voice.


    The two of them watched as the Egg continued to absorb the Impure Yang Qi from the crystal. It took ten minutes before the Impure Yang Qiing from the pale red crystal, was fully exhausted.


    <i>~kacha~</i>


    The crystal''s color also changed to a pale grey, and cracks appeared on it. The egg stopped trembling and now seemed to be as still as a rock.


    "That''s it?" Jing Luo asked.


    "For now¡­ yes." Lin Mu replied and probed the egg.


    He realized that he was still unable to prate the shell, and it was impervious to his senses.


    "Senior, can you see if you can check the egg now?" Lin Mu requested.


    "Sure. Send it in." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu ced the egg back into the ring and Xukong tried to check to.


    "No, it still doesn''t work." Xukong said, feeling a bit surprised himself.


    "You can''t sense it either, huh¡­" Lin Mu wasn''t as shocked.


    He knew that egg was special since it could even elude the senses of Senior Xukong.


    "More like I can''t sense it without harming it. I fear that if I forcefully try to probe it, the egg might die. The shell is protecting it for a reason. Whatever is in there needs such protection to grow and be born." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ guess we''ll just have to wait till it actually hatches." Lin Mu stated.


    His gaze lingered on the egg for a bit more before he withdrew his senses from the ring.


    "Seems likeing here was beneficial to you at least." Jing Luo spoke up.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head and his thoughts went back to the pale red crystal.


    "I wonder what this crystal is? And if we can find more of them." Lin Mu said with a hint of desire.


    "Well¡­ there should be more of them. And we know who would have them.." Jing Luo replied.

 Chapter 996 - Potential Divination Skills? And Sign Of Little Shrubby

    <h4>Chapter 996 - Potential Divination Skills? And Sign Of Little Shrubby</h4>


    Now that Lin Mu knew that the Northern Tribes or Gu Yao had crystal that could provide Yang Qi, he had another reason to go after him. In fact, it was only a bigger incentive for him to raid their bases.


    "But we''ll need to find them first." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That''s true. But I don''t doubt in grandfather''s and Duan Ke''s abilities. If anyone can track them, it would be those two. Duan Ke especially has the inheritance of her father''s n.


    The Duan n was said to be at the peak in investigation and tracking skills." Jing Luo praised.


    "That''s true. I''ve seen her skills once before. She told me she found the invader''s tracers back then." Lin Mu replied.


    "See? If she could do it back then and we''ve been toiling for so long without any results, it is best we get them." Jing Luo agreed. "Perhaps she might have even learned the divination skills by now, haha!" he chuckled.


    "Divination skills?!" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Yeah. You didn''t know? It is said that the techniques and skills that were in the Duan n''s inheritance were actually descended from a great divination technique. But those were very difficult to practice and were thus adapted into tracking and investigative skills.


    Though there was always a rumor that if someone talented enough was born in the Duan n, they would be able to finally use the divination skills." Jing Luo exined.


    "That''s¡­ really amazing." Lin Mu acknowledged.


    But this also gave Lin Mu some questions. He knew how rare and difficult the Divination skills and techniques were. He had read about them in the Lost immortal memories and knew that even weak ones that could be used below the Immortal realm were incredibly difficult to use.


    The reason was that it wasn''t just a matter or practice or proficiency; Divination greatly depended on talent. In fact, the stronger techniques could only be practiced by people who could only be one in a billion.


    But then there was also the difficult part of finding them. The talent for cultivation and divination didn''t go hand in hand. There could actually be someone born that was incredibly talented in divination but have crippled meridians from birth.


    If it was like this, even finding them and teaching them would be impossible, not to mention the rarity of their existence.


    One would need someone that was both talented in divination and cultivation for them to be able to be of any use.


    Of course, all this was for the very extreme example. Lin Mu didn''t really need someone like this. Even a normal diviner might be able to do the work here.


    "If it really is like this, then with the information and insights I gave her, she might really be able to learn some divination." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "You really think so, senior?" Lin Mu asked, feeling hopeful.


    "Yes. Even if she is able to divine a vague location or some time period at which we might find the enemy, with the power you have there will be no issue in capturing them or killing them, whatsoever." Xukong replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt even better than before and motivation appeared in his heart.


    "Though the question stands¡­ what were they actually doing with a crystal like that?" Xukong posed.


    Lin Mu''s expressions turned serious as he thought about it.


    "First the Yin Qi and now the Yang Qi¡­ I don''t need to tell you that this doesn''t bode well." Xukong continued.


    "I know, senior. Guess we''ll just have to speed up our efforts." Lin Mu stated.


    He looked towards Jing Luo, who was checking the runes on the altar, trying to figure out their functions.


    "Let''s go. We should leave now. We got enough. I don''t think we''ll find anything more here." Lin Mu said.


    "Yes, no use in wasting time here anymore." Jing Luo agreed.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The two of them flew up and left the hole. They turned to the west and continued onwards.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Soaring across thendscape, Lin Mu and Jing Luo soon went past the charred area. The vibrant green forest appeared again, and they felt a bit morefortable here. Lin Mu was still on the lookout for the Northern Tribes or the Gu Legion people.


    ''There''s no way they never came to check up on this ce. Though there were no traces of them there either.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He wondered if they were waiting somewhere outside the range of that explosion site. It was, after all a base and there was a reason they had built a base there. They could have built another one around here in that time.


    But the area was really vast and even with Lin Mu''s strong spirit senses, he couldn''t look past his limits. And he didn''t have time to fly around scanning each and every ce. He needed to reach the Shuang Qian Kingdom''s capital.


    Their journey went on for another day, after which they finally saw the mountains appearing in the distance.


    "There! The East Shuang Mountains. That''s the border." Jing Luo spoke up.


    The East Shuang Mountains acted as a natural border between the Shuang Qian kingdom and the Eastern Ming Dynasty. Seeing those meant that Lin Mu was almost in the Shuang Qian kingdom now.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu sped up and soon covered the mountains.


    But just as he passed over a certain point, he felt something and stopped.


    "What happened?" Jing Luo questioned, seeing Lin Mu''s strange state.


    "Little Shrubby¡­ I can finally sense him." Lin Mu answered.


    "You do? That''s great!" Jing Luo eximed.


    "Yes. Let me try contacting him." Lin Mu said and closed his eyes.


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    He tried to use the link between him and Little Shrubby and sent him a message. He knew that since the distance was still very far; it was better to just send a short message.


    And that is exactly what he did. He only said two words: I''m here.


    Having sent those, Lin Mu held his breath in anticipation. For two minutes, nothing happened until he finally felt it.


    "I''M COMING!"

 Chapter 997 - Hiding Right In Front Of Ones Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 997 - Hiding Right In Front Of One''s Eyes</h4>


    Seeing the message from Little Shrubby sent a wave of excitement through Lin Mu''s body and he couldn''t wait to meet him.


    "Do you want to wait here?" Jing Luo asked.


    "No, we''ll continue onwards. Little Shrubby will catch up with us before we even finish half our journey to the capital." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well. It doesn''t matter since we can''t match his speed anyway. Haha." Jing Luo chuckled.


    The two of them started flying again while Lin Mu kept on checking up on Little Shrubby. He could feel the link between them strengthen by the minute, just a little. But that little amount was still enough to make him feel happy.


    ''It means he''s getting closer.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It also made him wonder about another thing, just howrge little shrubby was now.


    "Oh yeah, you were thest one who saw little shrubby, right? How big is he now?" Lin Mu questioned. "Was he bigger than the time I was still awake?"


    "Yeah, he did grow a bit after you entered seclusion." Jing Luo replied.


    "Ah, I see." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Though despite hearing this, Lin Mu had a hunch that he might be in for a surprise soon.


    But there was another thing that happened which Lin Mu had not expected, even after half a day had passed, Little Shrubby had yet to reach him. Jing Luo felt the same and was a bit concerned.


    "This is strange. With his speed, he should have reached us in this time from the frontier." Jing Luo spoke. "Did he get caught up somewhere?" He wondered.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and felt Little Shrubby, still sensing the link getting stronger.


    "No, he''s certainly getting closer. And it has been a constant speed from what I can tell." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s strange." Jing Luo furrowed his brows but then an idea appeared in his mind. "Unless¡­ he went beyond the frontier?"


    "Beyond the frontier? Did you tell him to do that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ going beyond the frontier would be of no use. Or rather it could cause more problems. The barrier there is something we know little about. It was madeter on and is set up by the Northern Tribes, so there can be some unknown traps around and beyond it." Jing Luo replied.


    "A barrier? You mean the pear''s belt?" Lin Mu asked, finding it unknown to him.


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    "No, this barrier is new. It wasn''t there before. We don''t know when exactly it was made since no one has actually entered the forbidden continent in many centuries, but our guess is that the Northern Tribes set it up for something entirely else." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu thought to himself and wondered why the northern tribes would do something like this. After all, they were the ''prisoner'' and the wall was built to keep them in. Why would they build a wall of their own?


    But then it struck Lin Mu.


    "No way¡­ can it really be that simple?" Lin Mu muttered in disbelief.


    "What? What did you think?" Jing Luo inquired.


    "If someone reached the Immortal Ascension realm, for example¡­ the other stronger cultivators in the Great Zhou continent, maybe the sects or at the very least the three Ancestors of the top three sects should have felt it, right?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that Jing Luo should have some more information about being from the Jing n or at least a basic understanding.


    "Yes. They will very much know it! It is no joke when someone reaches the Immortal Ascensions realm. From what I learned from Grandfather a long time back, the very skies themselves would call out the day someone reached the Immortal Ascension realm.


    There won''t be a tribtion, but every cultivator in the world would sense something had happened, even if they were merely at the Qi refining realm. The very spirit Qi of the world would shake and tremble at the birth of another Immortal Ascension realm cultivator." Jing Luo answered detail.


    "Just as I thought¡­ Then let me ask you this¡­ would it be possible to hide something like this?" Lin Mu asked.


    Jing Luo''s brows rose up high before furrowing deep into a valley as his expression darkened. He too guessed what Lin Mu was getting at with his words here.


    "Hiding the phenomenon¡­ it hasn''t been done before. Though I guess that was because there was no reason to hide something like that¡­ but I reckon with enough preparation, study and resources, a formation array could be set up that could restrain all this.


    Perhaps evenpletely iste the region where the cultivator is having a breakthrough." Jing Luo exined.


    "Seems like that''s it then¡­ it was right in front of us too¡­" Lin Mu muttered, finding it ironic.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Seems like we were fooled¡­ this entire time." Jing Luo spoke.


    "What can I say? It was the obvious thing to think of¡­ But I guess the Northern Tribes really did outy us. No one would expect them to do something like this." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Though¡­ doing something like this won''t be easy. The level of skill needed to make a formation array like that. I can only estimate it would need someone on my level." Jing Luo replied.


    "The Northern Tribes have done far greater things in the past with their knowledge of formations. Perhaps they even got some knowledge from the higher worlds on how to set up better ones that could be made by weaker cultivators.


    Though despite all that, the Northern Tribes certainly did have talent with formations." Lin Mu stated.


    "Hmmm¡­ We''ll need to inform this to the alliance. Can you send me to the Kong ne?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Sure." Lin Mu replied.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The runes shone on his back and took both of them to the Kong ne where Jing Luo quickly sent a quick message to the alliance and both of them returned.


    But when they did, they found a shadow towering over their location.


    "Huh?"

 Chapter 998 - Little Shrubbys Return!

    <h4>Chapter 998 - Little Shrubby''s Return!</h4>


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo had barely been gone for ten minutes and thus finding a shadow towering over them was rming to them.


    But when Lin Mu actually realized who it was, his expression massively changed.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    Before he could speak though, he was tackled to the ground!


    This was no joke, and not easy to do. Lin Mu was after all over six tones heavy. Moving him was like moving a small hill.


    <i>~PURR~</i>


    "AHAHAHA!" Lin Mu thought didn''t mind it and startedughing.


    "MASTER!!!!!!!" Little Shrubby cried out.


    Little Shrubby rubbed his head on Lin Mu, embedding him deeper and deeper into the ground.


    Jing Luo who saw all this, was stunned though.


    "Oh, boy¡­ that is not the same beast Ist saw." Jing Luo was shocked. "How in the heaven''s name did he grow that big?!"


    Just Little Shrubby''s head alone was bigger than Lin Mu''s entire body now. Seeing that size, it would be easy for little Shrubby to just devour several humans whole in a single bite.


    Jing Luo had read and seen several beasts in his lifetime, but he could easily say that Little Shrubby was among the top fivergest beasts he knew of.


    He kept on watching as the Master and beast rolled around on the ground, creating depressions after depressions with their weight. A few trees around them were broken apart and it was like arge bowling ball had mowed them down.


    Finally, after five minutes of ''cuddling'', Little Shrubby stopped. It was a cuddle that could easily kill most people. Jing Luo was not confident that he''d be able toe out of it uninjured either.


    Lin Mu too stood up and wiped away the saliva that was sttered on to his face and robes. Little Shrubby had pretty much drenched him in it. He tried to evaporate the saliva with fire but realized that it could do nothing to it.


    Then he realized that this was saliva that stayed in Little Shrubby''s mouth from where he literally spat out mes. There was no way just simple mes would be able to dry him out.


    In the end, Lin Mu just had to change his clothes and quickly wash his face.


    Even the armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture was unable to bear the cuddles of Little Shrubby and had shattered easily. Otherwise the saliva would have fallen off Lin mu''s body rather easily.


    Night had already descended by now, thus the two men and a beast decided to take a break for a while.


    <i>~ng~ ~ng~ ng~</i>


    The sound of metal hitting metal could be heard lightly. This was of course, the sound of Little Shrubby stirring arge pot of stew. Or rather one of the prosthetic hands doing it.


    "There are ten of them now?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Oh yeah, I made more for himter on." Jing Luo informed.


    Lin Mu checked all the hands and realized that they were far better than before. In fact, each of them was now a high grade spirit tool!


    Even the old ones were upgraded and were stronger than before.


    Lin Mu looked at the giant Little Shrubby and was still surprised. He was now nearly seven meters tall when standing and was pretty much the size of a building. While the length of his body was ten meters long.


    "He''s heavier than me too¡­" Lin Mu realized upon remembering the weight with which Little Shrubby tackled him.


    It was surely more than Lin Mu who was over sixty thousand kilograms heavy.


    "So then, are you gonna tell me how you became this big?" Lin Mu asked.


    "After the breakthrough, I grew a little, but once I went to the Frontier, I ate a lot of stuff and grew faster." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    His spirit sense spread out and he checked Little Shrubby''s body, discovering a lot of things.


    ''He''s almost at the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm, too.'' Lin Mu discovered.


    While little Shrubby was still in the Shell Initiation stage, Lin Mu could see the faint outline of the Dao Shell in his Dantian. The Dao Shell had changed its shape and now looked like a cube that had five long extensions on one half of it.


    ''Is that¡­ a hand?'' Lin Mu found the shape to be vaguely like that of a hand.


    "Or a w." Xukong suddenly spoke up. "Seems like his bloodline is also directing the shape of his Dao Shell. That is good, he won''t have to spend time in figuring out a shape for himself." He added.


    "Mm, that can indeed be helpful. Wonder if it will be the same for his Dao Embryo in the future." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh, it definitely will. There is now way with seven strong bloodlines he would have a hard time forming a Dao embryo. I''m sure the moment his bloodline feels his Dao Shell is ready, it would quickly form an appropriate Dao Embryo." Xukong spoke.


    "And that Dao Embryo, it would most likely be a fire rted one, right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Quite likely. I don''t see any other that could be formed. Though we can''t say much. His other bloodlines can influence it too. After all, he has other elements than fire in him now." Xukong replied. "And speaking of that¡­ I can feel some difference in his aura." He added.


    "A difference?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    He tried to sense it but couldn''t tell much. Little Shrubby''s aura and cultivation base were both vastly different than before, so it was hard for Lin Mu to tell right away.


    "I think one of his bloodlines has strengthened again. And from the increased wood elemental spirit Qi in his body, I think it is the Fume Wood Panther." Xukong exined.


    "The Fume Wood Panther''s Bloodline¡­" Lin Mu closed his eyes and chanted the calming heart sutra to enhance his perception.


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    He opened his eyes after a minute and indeed felt the difference.


    "Little Shrubby¡­ by any chance, did you learn a new skill?"

 Chapter 999 - New Ability?

    <h4>Chapter 999 - New Ability?</h4>


    While Lin Mu didn''t know for sure if Little Shrubby had actually awakened a bloodline, he had a hunch that it might be so. The Fume Wood Panther bloodline''s strengthening had indeed increased the wood elemental spirit Qi in his body.


    Lin Mu could feel it clearly and wondered if it came with an ability, too. Since awakening the Seven beasts Burst innate ability, Little Shrubby hadn''t gotten any new ones.


    "I have." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "You do?" Lin Mu asked, feeling surprised.


    "He does?" Jing Luo too picked up on what the two were talking about from Lin Mu''s words.


    "Yup." Little Shrubby nodded his head.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    In response to this, Little Shrubby moved. Lin Mu watched him curiously as his eyes went wide.


    "What in the¡­" Lin Mu said in surprise.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Jing Luo was stunned too, as he saw therge figure of Little Shrubby disappear all of a sudden.


    <i>~mew~</i>


    Lin Mu looked at the little cat on the ground in front of him and was speechless.


    "That¡­ That''s you?!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "Its me, yup!" Little Shrubby replied with a purr.


    "How?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "Indeed, how?" Jing Luo was disoriented, thinking of it.


    "I just can," Little Shrubby spoke.


    Lin Mu raised his brows and kneeled down to pick up little Shrubby.


    "Huh? He''s light? Extremely light!" Lin Mu discovered.


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    "That cannot be!" Jing Luo said.


    He took Little Shrubby from Lin Mu''s hand and checked it for himself. But even then the result was the same.


    "He¡­ he''s the same weight as a normal cat?" Jing Luo muttered.


    Lin Mu was still confused and didn''t know how this worked.


    "Can you turn back to normal?" Lin Mu asked.


    "<i>Okay~</i>" Little Shrubby said before his body started to grow rapidly. In less than five seconds, he was back to his normal size of seven meters.


    The size difference between the two forms was massive, pretty much being exponential.


    But it was now that Lin Mu noticed something.


    "Wait, do that again. Shrink back." Lin Mu asked.


    "<i>Okay~"</i> Little Shrubby replied and did it again.


    Lin Mu observed it closely using his spirit sense and felt the difference.


    "It''s¡­ it''s not just his body¡­ his cultivation base¡­ it reduces too." Lin Mu muttered in realization.


    "It does?" Jing Luo checked for himself and realized that Lin Mu was speaking the truth.


    The spirit Qi fluctuations and even the auraing from Little Shrubby were the same as that of a Qi refining realm beast now.


    "Vitality Reversal¡­ there''s no doubt¡­ its Vitality Reversal." Xukong suddenly spoke up.


    "You know what the ability is, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, it is actually amon ability many nts have. You''ve already seen something simr to it in the Wood Spirit Tulip and the Purple Sickle Amaranth before." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu thought over it and understood what Xukong was talking about.


    "The ability to grow their parts spontaneously?" Lin Mu said, recalling the way the Wood Spirit Tulip used its roots tosh out and the Purple Sickle Amaranth its leaves.


    Both the spirit herbs could use their body parts and make them grow and contract. Lin Mu had not paid much attention to it and didn''t really have much to question it back then, but now hearing it from Xukong gave him some other thoughts.


    "Yes, that''s one part of it. But what Little Shrubby has is a bit moreplex." Xukong replied.


    "How so senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You know how nts can let themselves wither during bad conditions like a harsh winter and they grow back again when the right condition appear? Thats what I''m talking about.


    Some nts can go even further and kill their bodies and leave behind some seeds which will then endure the tough conditions before sprouting again.


    This is just the ability of the normal nts and trees, for spirit nts this goes beyond it. They can return to their younger forms and turn dormant for long periods of times. This way they can save up on their lifespans and still survive whatever tough condition they are going through.


    This very ability is called Vitality Reversal. Despite being verymon in nts, it is not something that has been seen much in animals. Or humans for that matter. Even if the said human has assimted that nt beast''s bloodline somehow." Xukong exined.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was surprised, he had not expected Little Shrubby to gain something like this.


    "This ability certainly came from the Fume Wood Panther didn''t it? With its nt like form I guess it has this too." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes. But for it to awaken in Little Shrubby is astounding. There must be some other changes to it that we don''t know yet. I doubt it can be exactly the same." Xukong replied.


    "We''ll have to learn more about it." Lin Mu said as he took a look at Little Shrubby.


    After thinking over for about if be minutes, Lin Mu came up with some possible tests.


    "Little Shrubby when you are in that small form, what''s the maximum power you can exert?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Umm¡­ <i>~Poof~</i>" Little Shrubby spat out a fireball as an answer.


    Lin Mu looked at the small fireball that was the size of a chicken egg and could feel the power from it.


    "So it''s really the same as that at the Qi refining realm, huh¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "That is understandable, the Vitality Reversal is technically a sealing skill¡­ a Self-sealing skill. It seals your life and cultivation, reverting it to the younger from or even returns to the unborn form.


    Little Shrubby''s cultivation will be restricted too at the same time if he uses the skill." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm¡­ that makes the use rather limited¡­ unless¡­" Lin Mu said and looked at Little Shrubby.


    "Can you control, how much you can shrink?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No. I''m either big or I''m small. It''s also how I boost my speed sometimes.." Little Shrubby said, giving Lin Mu another question.

 Chapter 1000 - Little Again

    <h4>Chapter 1000 - Little Again</h4>


    While Lin Mu felt a little disappointed that little Shrubby couldn''t control his size, it did give him another thing to wonder about.


    "What do you mean, boost your speed? Doesn''t your speed decrease if you reduced your size as it also reduces your cultivation base?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Oh, I just run very fast in my full form them shrink quickly while running. When I do that, my speed multiplies for some reason and go faster than ever." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was once again intrigued.


    "How does that work?" Lin Mu wondered about it.


    "I can show you." Little Shrubby said, and increased to his full side.


    He flew up to the sky and started running. In a moment, he was at least a kilometer away from where he originally was. Then he started running towards Lin Mu again, but just as he had picked up enough speed, he quickly shrunk down.


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    <i>~BOOOM!~</i>


    And when he did that, the air tore apart with a sonic boom. Little shrubby''s small form shot forward faster than ever before, covering almost thirty kilometers in the blink of an eye.


    "Just how fast is even that?" Lin Mu and Jing Luo were stunned.


    "I think I can exin that." Xukong spoke.


    "Please do, senior." Lin Mu said in his mind, finding it rather interesting.


    "What is happening here is that the momentum that Little Shrubby builds while running stays the same while his body weight rapidly reduces to a fraction of what it was. Hence, this multiplies the velocity, sending him flying faster than before.


    It''s like you are pushing a rock with just the right amount of force to make it move, but then it turns in a feather, but your force is the same. The power exerted would be greatly different." Xukong exined in a way Lin Mu could understand.


    Lin Mu pondered over it for a bit and finally wrapped his head around it. It even gave him some other ideas that he wondered if they could be used.


    Lin Mu exined it to Jing Luo as well, who understood it even faster than Lin Mu.


    It was easier for Jing Luo since he actually knew about the concept itself, just didn''t know that this was the same.


    Little Shrubby returned in this time too and went back to cooking. The food was mostly done, and the hands were still stirring. Surprisingly the hands had not stopped working even if Little Shrubby''s cultivation base reduced.


    Lin Mu noticed this too when Little Shrubby went to serve the food.


    ''How did the hands not stop working? Doesn''t reducing his cultivation base also prevent him from using so many high grade spirit tools at the same time?'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    He thought while thinking and came up with a potential answer.


    ''Of course! The technique reduces what is in his body. But the spirit sense is not fully a part of the body. It is also attached to the mind and is mostly separate. It can also grow and be severed if needed.


    It already has the same properties like that of Vitality Reversal.'' Lin Mu concluded.


    With enough spirit Qi that was already poured into the spirit tools and a strong spirit sense, the hands could work on their own with themands that were already given to them.


    Though Lin Mu did notice the pause in their working when Little Shrubby had gone beyond a ten kilometer radius. The hands didn''t fall lifelessly though and simply floated in the positions they werest in before the spirit sense link disconnected.


    It was another interesting discovery for him and made him look forward to learning moreter in the future.


    "If Little Shrubby awakens other abilities too, I wonder just how much a difference it will make." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Right now Little Shrubby had his speed that he got from the sh Fire Liger and the Thunderbolt Cheetah, the control over fire that he got from sh Fire Liger and Scorch w tiger along with the Vitality Reversal that he got from the Fume Wood Panther now.


    The Seven Beasts Burst was an innate ability that was independent from all the bloodlines though.


    With just these many abilities, Little Shrubby''s power was great. Adding more to them might make him far stronger than now.


    Lin Mu recalled the different abilities of the other bloodlines that Little Shrubby had in his body. All of them were powerful beasts in their own sense, and each of their abilities could be considered very good.


    "Seems like I''ll have to up his portion of Beast Qi again." Lin Mu said to himself.


    "Beast Qi!?" Little Shrubby''s ears perked up at the smallest mention of the words and he immediately rushed towards Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu chuckled upon seeing this and made a streak of Beast Qi before giving it to Little Shrubby.


    "There you go." Lin Mu said as Little Shrubby happily devoured the Beast Qi.


    He was in the small form so could lie in Lin Mu''sp with ease. It reminded him of the days when he was still small.


    ''Maybe it''s not so bad after all¡­'' Lin Mu thought as he stroked Little Shrubby''s fur.


    "You''re Little again¡­" he muttered lightly.


    Little Shrubby didn''t mind his words and continued to eat. Lin Mu too, returned to eating and ate arge amount of food, having missed Little Shrubby''s cooking. With the eightrge cauldrons of food that Little Shrubby had made, Lin Mu had plenty to refill his expended vitality.


    While it was not at the same level as before, he reckoned it won''t be long before he''d return to that point if he kept on eating the same way.


    Morning came, and it was now time for them to leave.


    "This will be quick now." Jing Luomented.


    <i>~grrr~</i>


    Little Shrubby let out a low growl before transforming into his full form.


    <i>~thud</i>~


    Therge body made deep pawprints in the soil and made its presence known.


    "Let''s go, Wu Hei has been waiting for too long.." Lin Mu said with a sense on anticipation.

 Chapter 1001 - Entering The Shuang Qian Capital

    <h4>Chapter 1001 - Entering The Shuang Qian Capital</h4>


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo traveled rapidly over thend with the help of Little Shrubby. They could witness the speed of Little Shrubby that had increased once more. Jing Luo was relieved that he had made a better harness for Little Shrubby, or he feared that he might have been sent flying from the force.


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    "It''s good that you are not slowed down by my weight, either." Lin Mu said, seeing that Little Shrubby could maintain his speed either way.


    "This much is okay." Little Shrubby replied while running.


    They continued for a few hours and went past several towns, viges and even cities before they reached their intended destination, The Capital of the Shuang Qian kingdom.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    Little Shrubby slowed down a few kilometers away from the city so that Lin Mu and Jing Luo could get off.


    <i>~step~ step~</i>


    Getting down from Little Shrubby''s back, Lin Mu gazed at the city in the distance. Now the city looked small to him after seeing the many other kingdoms and sects.


    "Let''s see how the situation in the city is now¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he extended his spirit sense.


    They were barely seven kilometers away from the city and would not be noticed easily this far if there was anyone strong in the city. Besides, Lin Mu''s spirit sense had enough range to cover the entire city and go many more kilometers ahead.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    His spirit sense quickly spread as he started to scan the city. Multiple tendrils of spirit sense probed the many people that were in the city unknown to them. Even those that were at the Nascent soul realm were unaware that there was someone watching them right now.


    Lin Mu finally got the full understanding of the city and what its power was at this moment. Though he also came across several areas that blocked spirit sense.


    "Hmm¡­ three mansions, the royal pce, and two unknown underground areas¡­" Lin Mu noted the ces that had formation arrays that blocked the spirit sense.


    Having noted the ces of interest, Lin Mu got to seeing if there were any people being controlled by Gu Yao in the city, which there obviously were and it was known to Lin Mu. What was not know was the exact number and who they were.


    Additionally, he wanted to know if there were any hidden secrets as well. Though he reckoned those might be found in the ce that could restrain his spirit sense.


    "Several Nascent soul realm cultivators in the city¡­ almost all are being controlled. Then there are also two Dao Shell realm cultivators here." Lin Mu informed Jing Luo.


    "The Dao Shell realm cultivators are out of the pce?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yes, it is strange¡­ they should be in the pce, right? Unless they had something important for which they needed to leave." Lin Mu replied.


    "Possibly, but there are far too many things changing. It will be hard to tell unless we can get it out of them." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s understandable." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Though, did you find Wu Hei?" Jing Luo asked.


    "I haven''t sensed him, but he should be in the mansion that he has. It is also one of the mansions that restricts the spirit sense." Lin Mu replied.


    "The other two might also have something important. Not to mention the underground ces." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Mm-hmm, we''ll meet up with Wu Hei first and see what he knows. Then we can go ahead and check the other ces. Perhaps he has some insights that will save us some time." Lin Mu stated.


    "Alright. Let''s head in then." Jing Luo said.


    Lin Mu looked towards Little Shrubby and spoke, "be small again. This time you can see the city."


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby said, a hint of excitement present in his voice.


    Back when Lin Mu hade here earlier, Little Shrubby had to wait outside the city. Not just here, but he had to do that many times before, too. Only when Lin Mu made the alliance was Little Shrubby able to see the many cities.


    Of course, spotting him was often hard if he was running. Right now only those in the alliance knew of his existence, while mostmoners were unaware of him other than the ones in the Hong Lin Kingdom.


    Thankfully for the Hong Lin Kingdom, there was little to no chance of this information leaking with the security measures they had set up.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Little Shrubby quickly shrunk down and jumped into Lin Mu''s arms. Now he simply looked like a spirit beast pet that Lin Mu might be rearing and not a Tamed Dao Shell realm beast that could very well tten the capital.


    Jing Luo watched the two and couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "You know, if I didn''t know, I would just think that you were some snob from a sect going out for a walk with your pet." Jing Luo joked.


    "Huh¡­ do I really look like them?" Lin Mu asked, a golden sheen sneaking out from the side of his neck.


    "Now that I think of it, nope¡­ They can''te close to your bearing." Jing Luo replied.


    "Of course! Master is the best!" Little Shrubby said with a roar.


    Though the roar only sounded like a louder mew.


    Lin Mu rubbed Little Shrubby''s head with a smile and the three of them finally headed towards the city.


    Both of them restrained their spirit Qi fluctuations to Core condensation realm and easily managed to enter the city. This was an important skill that Lin Mu and Jing Luo hade to use.


    Those that could not use it would be very easily caught. After all, the capital wouldn''t just let in unknown cultivators at the Dao Shell realm who could easily threaten its safety from the inside.


    Lin Mu could control his spirit Qi fluctuation on his own, while Jing Luo used a restraining spirit tool.


    Though upon entering, both of them pulled some attention.. Both of their appearances weren''t something that were often seen after all.

 Chapter 1002 - Center Of Attention

    <h4>Chapter 1002 - Center Of Attention</h4>


    "Who''s that Young master?"


    "Is he a lord?"


    "Look at therge man!"


    "Damn, his arms are as big as my waist! He can probably curl me with a finger."


    Chatter could be heard as various people observed Lin Mu and Jing Luo who had just entered the city. They had not even entered that far in and were the center of attention.


    Little Shrubby was not free from it either.


    "AHH! SO CUTE!!!!!"


    "I WANT A CAT LIKE THAT TOO!"


    "Do you think you can even afford that? That cat is a spirit beast at the Qi refining realm."


    Some of the girls couldn''t hold back from crying and squealing upon seeing Little Shrubby who was nestled in Lin Mu''s arms. The beastid calmly as he observed everything with its red eyes that gleamed like rubies.


    His red and ck fur that was smooth and soft lightly waved in the breeze that was blowing, making him look only that much cuter.


    <i>~YIP~</i>


    But while the girls were having reactions like this, the animals and other beasts in the city were having different reactions. Lin Mu wasn''t the only one with a spirit beast here as a pet, after all.


    Other people could also be seen walking around with such spirit beast pets. Most of them were cultivators, though a few of them were alsomoners who were rich merchants or from aristocratic ns.


    All of their beasts were currently showing simr reactions.


    The dog beasts let out scared yips and couldn''t help but hide their bodies behind their owners.


    "What happened Da Huang? Why are you acting like this?" A cultivator said to his dog.


    Hispanion looked at it too and found it be acting very different from normal.


    "Is it¡­ scared?" Thepanion said. "How can this be? Isn''t he a Fierce w Spirit hound at the mid stage of the Qi refining realm?"


    "I don''t know¡­ he''s usually very brave." The owner of the spirit beast said, unaware that a certain beast was staring at his pet.


    Little Shrubby lightly nced at the Fierce w Spirit hound and huffed.


    <i>~YEEEEEOOOO~</i>


    The Fierce w Spirit hound couldn''t hold back anymore and ran away breaking its leash.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The owner was also caught off guard and fell to the ground after being pulled along by the hound.


    "Dammit!" The man could only curse before getting up and running after his beast.


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    <i>~flick~</i>


    "Stop scaring the beasts. We don''t want extra attention." Lin Mu flicked Little Shrubby''s head.


    "Okay¡­ they looked at me weird¡­" Little Shrubby muttered.


    Despite his cultivation base and aura being restrained, the other spirit beasts could still feel a strange pressure in the area. They were beast after all and their instincts screamed at them that it was not safe.


    But once Lin Mu chided Little Shrubby, the beasts too found the pressure disappearing.


    "Perhaps it would have been better if I just sneaked in." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That could have worked, but it would be bad in this situation. The Gu Legion will be looking out for spies but I doubt they''ll be looking for two men at the core condensation entering the city.


    Besides, this is amon scene that happens all the time when some sect disciples enter the city or something. You''re just not used to seeing it. It''s not as big of a deal as you think. It won''t alert anyone important either." Jing Luo exined.


    "Oh? Really?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    He had gotten so used to hiding all the time he felt strange at the attention, not knowing that others went through this too¡­ although it might not be as much as his.


    "Yeah. Don''t worry." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, and they continued onwards to the inner district of the Capital.


    This was the ce where most of the aristocrats and rich people lived along with some of the more luxurious shops and establishments.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo''s destination was a certain hotel that was located somewhat closer to the residence of Wu Hei.


    Of course, by closer, they meant about a kilometer away. Wu Hei was still a minister of the Shuang Qian kingdom and thus his ranking was quite high. Even among the aristocrat he could be said to be several notches above.


    Additionally, with Gu Yao''s influence, it was certain that the power of his position had increased a lot more than normal. Lin Mu was unsure whether the one ruling was even the king or not now.


    Jing Luo and Lin Mu took a room at the hotel as an excuse to stay near there before Lin Mu left Little Shrubby behind and sneaked out using Phase. Jing Luo on the other hand, went to the restaurant downstairs to gather intel in his own way.


    There were plenty of people down there and just by simply sitting, he would be able to gather quite a bit.


    "A little wine should smoothen out their tongues¡­" Jing Luo chuckled as he called the waiter.


    Lin Mu quickly made his way to the Mansion where Wu Hei was living and stopped outside the barrier made by the formation array.


    "Indeed¡­ this is very strong." Lin Mu discovered.


    The formation array protecting the mansion''s borders was strong enough to actually hold back several attacks from a Dao Shell realm cultivator. Just this was enough to inform Lin Mu about the capability that Wu Hei might posses.


    "They certainly didn''t have anything of this level back then¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He quickly used his spirit sense to analyze the formation array before finding a vulnerability in a node and opened up a crack for him to enter through. With the crack closing behind him, none was the wiser and Lin Mu was free to check everything with his spirit sense now.


    <i>~shua</i>~


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense spread out from his body and densely covered the entire area. Hundreds of spirit sense tendrils scanned the area and told Lin Mu about each and every secret that hid there.


    "There you are¡­ Wu Hei."

 Chapter 1003 - Meeting Wu Hei

    <h4>Chapter 1003 - Meeting Wu Hei</h4>


    It wasn''t hard for Lin Mu to find Wu Hei. He was currently sitting in his study while several long scrolls and registers were left open on the desk.


    ''Still the same as before.'' Lin Wu thought.


    But he didn''t directly go to Wu Hei, as that could be problematic. Lin Mu also checked who else was present in the mansion. There, he found several more people that were mostly servants and other staff.


    ''Oh? His mother is here too? Guess he just kept her with him, probably safer that way.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Wu Hei''s mother, Zhen Sui was currently in her room all alone. Her expression seemed to be still and made Lin Mu think that she wasn''t exactly right. But just as he was observing her, he found the door of the room opening.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    In walked another woman who was actually family to Lin Mu.


    "How are you feeling today, madam?" Hei Wan asked.


    But she received no answer and Zhen Sui sat silently without moving.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    A light sigh escaped Hei Wan''s lips as she lightly shook her head. She came sit next to Zhen Sui and muttered.


    "One day you''ll return to normal, madam. Lord Hei is doing his best to save us." Hei Wan said.


    After that, she called for some servants that brought food and fed it to Zhen Sui. The woman was like a puppet and only ate on instinct.


    Seeing it all made Lin Mu feel that something truly happened to Zhen Sui. Lin Mu''s spirit sense probed her, but didn''t really find anything wrong in her body.


    "Her Dantian and meridian are all fine¡­ there are no traces of Gu Yao''s control on her either?!" Lin Mu almost eximed.


    He knew that Zhen Sui had been controlled by Gu Yao in the past as well and only Wu Hei was the one who had managed to break out of it. But his conditions were something that could not be easily replicated and would not work on someone that was already under the effect of the Human Controlling Blood curse.


    "Seems like Wu Hei might have tried to break her out of Gu Yao''s control and ended up injuring her brain?" Lin Mu guessed.


    That was the best he coulde up with for now.


    Lin Mu''s attention spread to the rest of the mansion. He wanted to see if there was any danger there. Lin Mu did find several people that were under the control of Gu Yao or were filled with the same ''muddy'' spirit Qi.


    ''They took those pills too¡­ Gu Legion members.'' Lin Mu noted them all.


    The strongest of them all was actually a Dao Shell realm cultivator!


    He was meditating in one of the hidden rooms. Lin Mu didn''t probe him directly, as he reckoned it might alert him. Though Lin Mu did feel a simr vibe from him as Mayor Tie Niu of the Iron Bull city.


    "This must be the protector or rather the warden Gu Yao has put to watch over Wu Hei." Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu finally checked Wu Hei with his spirit sense and discovered that he was at the Adolescent soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.


    ''He did progress quite a bit as well¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    But just as he probed Wu Hei, the man moved.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    His eyes darted around and his spirit sense spread out from his body, too. He didn''t speak or create an uproar though, instead he watched everything carefully.


    "Oh? He actually sensed me? Seems like his skills are not bad either." Lin Mu said, finding it impressive.


    There weren''t that many people below his cultivation base that would be able to sense Lin Mu''s spirit sense around them. Even those at the Dao Shell realm would find it hard, though if he directly probed them, they would definitely find out.


    "Guess I''ll meet him¡­" Lin Mu muttered before disappearing.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The next location he appeared in was directly below Wu Hei''s floor.


    Blink!


    Lin Mu appeared behind Wu Hei, rming the man.. His eyes went wide as a white glow appeared on his hands. His fingers tightened into fists and he threw a punch without hesitation.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    But then he felt an even greater shock as his hand was caught. It was another hand that was holding onto his hand, and it was like a vice restraining him. No matter how much force he put, he couldn''t move it at all.


    Wu Hei punched out with his other hand but found it getting caught as well.


    "Stop Wu Hei, it''s me." Lin Mu spoke.


    But Wu Hei still seedbed to be agitated and struggled.


    "It''s me, Lin Mu!" he said a bit louder.


    Doubt appeared on Wu Hei''s face, still not believing him entirely.


    "It''s really me, look." Lin Mu said as the short sword appeared next to him.


    Finally, looking at the short sword, Wu Hei calmed down.


    "You¡­ You''re really here¡­" Wu Hei said, a hint of disbelief still present.


    "Yeah¡­ I am." Lin Mu said, letting go of Wu Hei''s hands.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Wu Hei let out a long breath and sat back down on the chair.


    "You really scared me there¡­ I thought the assassin finally managed to get in." Wu Hei spoke.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu couldn''t help but raise his brows.


    "Gu Yao is sending assassins after you?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "What? Gu Yao? No, he''s the one actually protecting me by putting a Dao Shell realm expert here." Wu Hei answered, making Lin Mu even more confused.


    "Hang, tell me from the start." Lin Mu spoke.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Wu Hei took a long sigh and stood up before going to a shelf. He opened the shelf and took out an exquisite jar from it. The jar was made from the finest ceramic and had mountains and clouds painted on it.


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    Its lid was sealed with a paper talisman though, and faint spirit Qi fluctuations could be felt from it.


    "I''m gonna need a drink for this," Wu Hei spoke.

 Chapter 1004 - Shock

    <h4>Chapter 1004 - Shock</h4>


    Wu Hei gestured to the lounger and asked Lin Mu to sit while he sat on one end as well.


    "Is it fine for us to just talk here like this? Won''t the others find out, or will there be a problem?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a bit unsure.


    "That won''t be a problem. The Gu Legion members don''te here and have orders not to as well. And neither can they spy in here because of the isting formation set up.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu felt a bit relieved.


    <i>~tear~</i>


    Wu Hei tore off the paper talisman that sealed the lid of the jar before opening it.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    Dense aroma of wine spread out from it along with strong spirit Qi.


    <i>~ck~</i>


    Wu Hei put down two cups and poured the wine into both.


    "Have a toast with me. I reckon it''s worth it for this meeting." Wu Hei said.


    "That does seem right." Lin Mu said as he picked up the cup.


    "To Uniting!" Wu Hei toasted and drank the entire cup in one go.


    "To Uniting!" Lin Mu did the same and downed the wine.


    ''Oh?'' But when he did, he was surprised.


    ''This doesn''t have the same burn as normal wine¡­ this is pretty much like a spirit Qi elixir.'' Lin Mu thought as he felt the dense spirit Qiing from the wine in his stomach.


    It let off a cooling feeling,pletely unlike normal wine would. It was evident that this was no normal wine. Lin Mu could even tell that consuming this one cup was almost the same as using a high grade pill.


    "Good wine!" Lin Mu couldn''t help but praise.


    "It is indeed. Father has been keeping it for decades." Wu Hei said as a hint of sorrow appeared on his face.


    "Well then, what happened this entire time?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Once you disappeared from the Tri Cauldron Peony sect, hell broke loose. The Tri Cauldron Peony sect lost arge amount of its stores of resources to you and ended up having to join the Zither Wind alliance.


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    Of course, this was all just on the surface, while in reality, this was the intention of the patriarch from the start. Though it did work as a legitimate excuse for the other elders who weren''t under Gu Yao''s control and also the other sects.


    Gu Yao took the opportunity to increase his influence more and more." Wu Hei replied.


    "This much I knew, but what happened to your father? Why did you kill him so suddenly?" Lin Mu finally questioned.


    Hearing this, an astounded expression appeared on Wu Hei''s face.


    "I didn''t kill my father. Those were all rumors." Wu Hei answered, much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "Why? I mean, we were supposed to kill him eventually, right?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    "Yes, we did. But that was not the right opportunity after all. I wouldn''t kill him then andpromise my situation even more. I was going to wait till I had a bit more power and freedom before trying that." Wu Hei replied.


    "Then who killed your father?" Lin Mu asked.


    "An assassin." Wu Hei replied.


    "An assassin? How did that happen?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "One day we heard father''s shout in the night. The guards rushed to check and so did I, but when we got there, we found the Father and another man fighting. The man was unknown to me and was very strong.


    With just a wave of his hand, he pushed back the guards along with me, killing some in the process. Father couldn''t dodge his attack either and ended up dying.


    The assassin madlyughed before breaking through the roof and flying away." Wu Hei exined.


    "That¡­ is very strange and dangerous." Lin Mu replied.


    "What''s even more strange is that that assassin didn''t even bother to hide his face. His mannerisms made it feel like he was doing it all on a whim." Wu Hei spoke.


    The more Lin Mu heard, the more he felt that there was another party that was working in the shadows other than them.


    "Why do you think it was an assassin, then? An assassin would be someone sent by another party, wouldn''t it? This makes me think it was all that man''s own doing." Lin Mu replied.


    "I thought that at first, too. Until we learned that it wasn''t just father who was killed. Over the months, more influential people died." Wu Hei added. "All killed by the same man."


    "This¡­ how did we not know this? I mean, the Long Cloud alliance should have known." Lin Mu said in disbelief.


    "You are part of the Long Cloud alliance?" Wu Hei asked.


    "Yes, I am the alliance leader." Lin Mu replied.


    "Of course¡­ I should have expected. Their actions were far too precise in going against the Gu Legion. Even before they came into light fully. I thought it was someone else that had discovered the truth, but it was actually you." Wu Hei replied.


    "What did you think happened to me?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I had thought the worst at first, that you died. But then considering that you sessful escaped and had still not appeared after all these years, I reckoned you were badly injured and still recovering in hiding.


    I didn''t dare search for you for the fear of that either. I thought that if Gu Yao caught on he would try to kill you in your time of weakness." Wu Hei answered.


    "No¡­ I was building power. I knew going against Gu Yao would be impossible along. So I gathered some allies." Lin Mu replied.


    "That makes me relieved." Wu Hei said, his body visibly releasing.


    "Tell me about the assassinated people more? How did no one find out?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, we simply suppressed the news. All those that died were influential members of sects and other kingdoms being controlled by Gu Yao. Thus, we couldn''t let this be revealed andprise our situation even more.." Wu Hei answered.

 Chapter 1005 - Jiao Fang, An Assassin?

    <h4>Chapter 1005 - Jiao Fang, An Assassin?</h4>


    Learning about the existence of an Assassin like this was surprising to Lin Mu. One might think that this was beneficial to their side, but in reality, it could be far more problematic instead.


    "This assassin¡­ you said that he didn''t hide his face?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, he didn''t." Wu Hei replied.


    "Do you perhaps have a portrait of him or something?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Of course! We made several of them and even spread them around in case he was found somewhere." Wu Hei answered before taking out a roll of paper from his spatial storage ring.


    He unrolled it on the table and allowed Lin Mu to take a look. And when he didn''t his brows furrowed.


    "This guy¡­ how can it be him?" Lin Mu was shocked.


    "You know him?!" Wu Hei said with surprise.


    "I do indeed¡­ I even had a cooperation with him back at the Tri Cauldron Peony sect." Lin Mu replied.


    "What!?" Wu Hei was even more shocked now.


    "His name is Jiao Fang. He is one of the disciples of the Tri Cauldron Peony sect." Lin Mu revealed.


    "He''s from the Tri Cauldron Peony sect? No wonder¡­ no wonder the Gu Legion didn''t find anything since they didn''t even look at their own people." Wu Hei muttered.


    "Let me check in more." Wu Hei said before he took out amunication jade slip and sent out a message.


    Five minutester, he got a response and furrowed his brows even more.


    "What did you find?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The information I got is conflicting¡­ this Jiao Fang¡­ he''s supposed to be dead." Wu Hei answered.


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    "What? How''s that possible?" Lin Mu asked.


    "From the information I got, Jiao Fang and several other disciples of the Tri Cauldron peony sect along with several elders, were dispatched on a mission. The mission was to unearth a certain inheritance that had been found.


    But some sort of an ident happen, and most of the people that were dispatched died. Only a single elder and two disciples survived from the thirty that were sent. This Jiao Fang was one of them." Wu Hei replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu found it to be suspicious.


    ''Considering his past actions¡­ Could it be he faked it?'' Lin Mu thought.


    "And this report is verified at the end of the Gu Legion as well. After all, it is the order from the Gu legion which initiated the mission. Since the Tri Cauldron Peony sect lost a lot of their resources, they were asked to take on more missions and gather them.


    Targeting potential inheritance sites and areas filled with natural treasures was another one." Wu Hei exined.


    "Looks like he managed to hoodwink the sect and the Gu Legion. Won''t be his first time, anyway." Lin Mu replied.


    "What do you mean?" Wu Hei inquired.


    Lin Mu then went on to tell Wu Hei about all that he had done in the past. How he gained an inheritance by chance and killed hispanions to hide that. And how he continued to steal from the sect while also fooling them at the same time.


    There was a significant amount of wealth that Jiao Fang had looted and Lin Mu had seen it all clearly in his residence.


    Lin Mu also told Wu Hei about Yulong, who was supposedly an elder of the Zither Wind sect and how his inheritance was what propelled Jiao Fang forward.


    "Wait Yulong? I think I''ve heard of him." Wu Hei spoke.


    "You have?" Lin Mu asked with interest.


    "Hang on, let me check." Wu Hei said before he took out a scroll.


    He looked through therge quantity of information and names written on it before his gaze finally settled on a certain line.


    "There it is, no doubt about it." Wu Hei said.


    Lin Mu peered into the scroll and saw that the scroll actually contained the names and information about the spies of the Northern Tribes!


    "This Yulong was a spy!?" Lin Mu was shocked.


    "Indeed. This is the list of spies that the Northern Tribes sent out over the years. Though most of them have died by now." Wu Hei answered.


    "This¡­ did Jiao Fang know this?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    "I doubt. The spies of the Northern Tribes won''t leave behind any concrete destination for their identity, even if they are dying. Even in an inheritance ground, I highly doubt they would leave something like this." Wu Hei stated.


    "Hmm¡­ guess we''ll have to learn it from Jiao Fang." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Though this doesn''t makeplete sense. The inheritance he got from Yulong was supposedly at the Nascent soul realm and yet he managed to reach the Dao Shell realm?" Wu Hei wondered.


    "It is probably the other inheritances he took as well. Though Jiao Fang himself is talented. Even if not cultivation wise, he is certainly very clever. I don''t doubt him finding some way to boost his cultivation base." Lin Mu stated.


    Wu Hei rubbed his chin while his beard got a bit crooked.


    "This Jiao Fang character is certainly interesting. Though he is also vtile and might cause us problems." Wu Hei spoke.


    "That''s true. We don''t even know why he is targeting the Gu Legion, either." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes. And seeing what you told me till now, I doubt it is a specific enmity." Wu Hei replied.


    "Considering his history, he might just be killing to get more resources. Was there anything missing when his victims died?" Lin Mu asked.


    "There were several things, but that was something they didn''t really check much. After all, killing those influential people was not worth the resources that were stolen." Wu Hei replied.


    Lin Mu found that to be valid and yet he couldn''t feel that there was something missing that they didn''t know.


    "Looks like we''ll have to be on the lookout for Jiao Fang now. I''ll inform the Long Cloud alliance about him. Perhaps they know more.." Lin Mu said.

 Chapter 1006 - Showing Wu Hei The Kong Plane

    <h4>Chapter 1006 - Showing Wu Hei The Kong ne</h4>


    Hearing that Lin Mu was about to contact the Long Cloud alliance, Wu Hei was surprised.


    "You can contact them from here? I thought they blocked the transmission with jamming formations?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "They have. I just won''t be using a jade slip here." Lin Mu answered.


    "They how?" Wu Hei asked, feeling curious.


    "Oh, you want toe with me?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Come where?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "A minor ne." Lin Mu answered.


    "WHAT!?" Wu Hei was stunned now.


    "Wait, you need to take the oath before that though." Lin Mu spoke.


    "An oath? Why?" Wu Hei asked.


    "It''s to ensure that you won''t be controlled by Gu Yao and the Northern Tribes and also won''t harm the Long Cloud alliance''s interest while also keeping the Xiaofan world safe." Lin Mu replied.


    But seeing that Wu Hei was still a bit confused, he exined to Wu Hei about it a bit more. After hearing it all, Wu Hei was relieved.


    "Let''s do it!" Wu Hei said with confidence.


    Taking the Oath was a rather surreal experience for Wu Hei. He had not expected to feel such a strong presenceing from the skies. He knew it was something big, something great.


    ''This is the world¡­ our world.'' Wu Hei understood.


    "Let''s head to the Kong ne now." Lin Mu revealed the name.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The anchoring runes of Lin Mu''s back glowed and came to life as Wu Hei felt a force pulling on him. His vision suddenly went dark, and he felt like he had been thrown across arge area for a moment.


    But when his vision returned, he saw that he had arrived in an entirely different ce.


    "This¡­" Wu Hei couldn''t help but feel shocked.


    He had known about different teleportation methods and even sacred grounds, but he had not expected there to be such a method that could take one directly without the use of a talisman or a formation array.


    Lin Mu gave Wu Hei a short introduction about the ce before he quickly sent the information to the Long Cloud alliance. They couldn''t stay in the Kong ne for Long since there was a chance the Gu Legion members at the Mansion find out about his disappearance.


    Even if they couldn''t sense what was going on in Wu Hei''s study, there were still ways to detect if he was simply present there or not. It was fine if the Dao Shell realm cultivator didn''t actively check it, but if he did, he would probably detect it.


    Once they were done in the Kong ne, Lin Mu took Wu Hei back to the Study.


    <i>~knock~ knock ~ knock~</i>


    And just as they appeared, they heard the door being knocked frantically.


    "Minster Wu! Minister Wu! Are you there!? Please answer!" someone said from behind the doors.


    "Let me take care of this, you hide." Wu Hei said as his expression turned serious.


    "Sure." Lin Mu said as he faded away into thin air.


    Wu Hei paused for a second seeing this but pushed the surprise aside for the time being.


    "Come in!" Wu Hei spoke and waved his hand.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A few runes appeared on the door before it unlocked automatically.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    Once the door opened, in walked several people. Though there were some guards among them too.


    "Are you fine, Minister Wu? We didn''t get any answer from you when we came to deliver the reports." A steward spoke.


    Wu Hei felt the gazes of the guards who were Gu Legion members on him and knew that they might be suspecting something.


    "It is fine. I was simply having some wine," Wu Hei said and gestured to the open jar of wine on the table.


    The faint fragrance of the wine was still spread in the air and helped serve as additional proof.


    "A-alright. I''m relieved you are fine, my lord." The steward said.


    "You can put the reports and leave. I do not want to be disturbed for the rest of the day." Wu Hei said.


    The servants looked at Wu Hei''s expression and guessed that something might have happened. The Steward''s eyes lingered on the jar of wine and recognized its value.


    "Quick, everyone leave! Let the minister have some time alone." The Steward said, understanding that Wu Hei might not be in the right mind space.


    ''Lord Minister has been working hard and has been stressed for a long time now. Perhaps it is finally catching up to him.'' The steward thought.


    The servants and guards quickly left while the Steward closed the door on his way out.


    Wu Hei kept on looking for a minute more while using his spirit sense to ensure that they were all gone.


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    Waving his hand, he locked the door with a formation again and spoke, "you cane out now."


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu reappeared beside Wu Hei in the very next moment.


    "I can never get used to your skills." Wu Hei said, finding them both surprising and impressive.


    He understood by now that Lin Mu was definitely manipting space and not just that his talent in that was evidently very high.


    "That steward is rather good, too. He tacitly understood, it seems." Lin Mu replied.


    "Steward Kai is one of the good ones. He is not from the Gu Legion and was assigned to father by the king. He apparentlyes from a long line of royal stewards that have been serving the royal family and the associated nobles for hundreds of years." Wu Hei stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and sat down on the lounger again.


    "Looks like despite being surrounded by the Gu Legion, you still managed to get some good people. I saw that Hei Wan is here too now." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Ah yes¡­ I managed to get lucky, I suppose. As for Hei Wan¡­ that was a bit difficult. But I needed her here. There was no one else I could entrust my mother to." Wu Hei replied.


    "About your mother¡­ what happened?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That¡­" Wu Hei muttered as he poured out more wine into the cups and downed them.

 Chapter 1007 - Zhen Suis Condition

    <h4>Chapter 1007 - Zhen Sui''s Condition</h4>


    Seeing Wu Hei''s actions, Lin Mu could very well tell that this was perhaps a bad memory for him.


    "Mother¡­ I¡­ I harmed her¡­" Wu Hei spoke with difficulty.


    "Harmed her? I checked her and her body seems fine. There are no injuries." Lin Mu replied.


    "If you saw her, then you must have also seen her behavior¡­ she is like a doll now. She does not speak, she does not respond, she only acts on instinct. I don''t even know if she can think anymore." Wu Hei spoke.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing this. He knew that this was a condition that was rted to a person''s brain. But Lin Mu had checked Zhen Sui''s entire body, including her brain, and there were no injuries on it either.


    ''Which means¡­ it''s a mental issue?'' Lin Mu realized.


    "Did this happen when trying to get her out of the grasp of Human Controlling Blood curse?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes¡­ I was too¡­ Impatient. I should have waited longer." Wu Hei replied.


    "What did you do?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I''ve been looking for a way to get rid of the Human Controlling Blood Curse since the day you disappeared. We knew one method which was having a bloodline assimted beforehand, but I couldn''t use that method for mother.


    Thus, after spending a long time searching and experimenting with different methods, I came up with one that worked¡­ or so I hoped. I tried to take as many precautions as I could, but it was still not enough.


    The method I used ended up getting rid of the Human Controlling Blood Curse but also injured mother. She almost went insane, hurting herself, and her cultivation also became unstable.


    Her spirit Qi ravaged her body, wreaking havoc on it." Wu Hei answered.


    Lin Mu stayed silent, letting Wu Hei speak at his own pace. Lin Mu could somewhat understand the man''s condition. He himself had seen his mother die and suffer the entire time, if it was up to him and he could save his mother, perhaps he might have attempted the same.


    "We managed to save mother. I used all the resources I could to heal her and even seeded. But just in the case for her physical injuries. I could even return her cultivation base and heal her meridians.


    But her mind¡­ that stayed broken¡­ No matter what I try, there doesn''t seem to be any solution. It''s like¡­ her entire mind was wiped out due to the method that wiped out the Human Controlling Blood curse." Wu Hei continued.


    Hearing this Lin Mu''s expression darkened. To Lin Mu, this meant a lot more as this allowed him to understand the depths of the human Controlling Blood curse.


    Lin Mu couldn''te up with any solution on his own. This waspletely beyond his understanding, and he didn''t know if even healing alchemical pills could help. Since Wu Hei had already used them all, he didn''t know if this was possible anymore.


    Additionally, the mind was always the mostplex part of a being. If it was harmed, even if someone had the strongest of body or peerless cultivation base, they would still be useless.


    It was also the reason why cultivators feared mental demons the most. They could kill one no matter how strong one became and thus the best method to survive them was to prevent them in the first ce.


    Heart Demons could still be resolved, but mental demons were very hard to repel not to mention kill. They were, in the end, part of the cultivator themselves, and thus could not be truly killed.


    Coming at this dead end, Lin Mu only had one person he could turn to.


    "Senior, can you help here? I don''t know anything about this, and it''s beyond me." Lin Mu spoke.


    Xukong who had been observing everything from the start, sighed to himself, for he too knew he was helpless here.


    "I''m afraid I cannot help you here either." Xukong spoke.


    "You can''t tell what''s wrong with her either? At least if we know what the problem is, we will have a direction to search for." Lin Mu replied.


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    "I won''t give a guarantee, but my best guess is her soul¡­ her true soul might have been dissociated from her body." Xukong spoke.


    "Her true soul? But if that happened, wouldn''t she be dead? She isn''t even at the Nascent soul realm to let her True Soul separate from her body." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s not the same thing. Dissociation is different from entire separation. You can think of the body as a carriage and the True soul as its driver. Right now it is like the soul has decided to sit inside the carriage but is not holding on to the reins.


    Her mind is effectively nk and her brain only holds onto the in information that she might have learned over her life. But even if it has information, it cannot apply to them. She might be able to do the basic functions of life like eating since they are directly imprinted into the body as instincts, but higher order functions of life like thinking is impossible for her." Xukong exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu found it a bit hard to understand but after pondering over it for a bit, he could somewhat grasp it.


    "Then¡­ if we find a way to ''reconnect'' her True soul to her body, she would return to normal?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "In a way, yes. But even that is a long shot. What I said about her soul being dissociated is not a guarantee, like I said. There is a chance her mind might have been shattered and her True Soul damaged as well.


    The Realm of souls is a deep field that I have no experience in. Even if I do know a bit about it, the workings of souls and how to heal them is beyond me.


    If you want someone that can deal with, you will need someone called a Soul Physician.." Xukong answered.

 Chapter 1008 - Soul Physician And A False Promise

    <h4>Chapter 1008 - Soul Physician And A False Promise</h4>


    Lin Mu had never heard of the term ''Soul Physician'' and this was despite the fact that he had read a lot of things in the Memoirs of the Lost Immortal.


    "What''s a Soul Physician Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They are people who are experts in all matters dealing with souls. Whether it be True Souls, Nascent souls or a myriad of other things rted to souls. The souls areplex constructs that are very difficult for most cultivators toe in contact with.


    Nascent souls are the very basics of what a cultivatores in contact with. Even those in the Immortal Realm are barely qualified toe in contact with True Souls.


    Thus, the upation of a Soul Physician is one of the rarest in the entire universe. Only very few can do it and even fewer actually have the right talent for it. The number of inheritances that exist for Soul Physicians can actually be counted on one hand, being only five." Xukong answered.


    "Only five?!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    Lin Mu knew that even for those peerless techniques and skills, there were easily hundreds of thousands if onepared the entire universe. But seeing that there was something so less in one field was surreal.


    "This¡­ then if we want to help Wu Hei''s mother, we will need a Soul Physician?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes¡­ but finding one is harder than finding a specific grain of sand in an ocean. There were very few powers that employ a Soul Physician and even those that do won''t work for just anyone.


    The ones that work independently will charge such a price that most cultivators and sects might just go bankrupt. In a way, you could say they basically hold a monopoly in the entire universe." Xukong answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt lost.


    "But then, how do cultivators heal their soul injuries? I''ve read in the memoirs of the Lost immortal that even his own soul got injured a few times." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Soul Physicians are basically the utmost of experts in souls. But that is not the only way to heal souls. There are some special resources, like rare fruits and herbs, that can do the same.


    Though the problem that urs here is diagnosing the problem with the soul. A cultivator might find the medicine that can heal the soul, but getting to use it properly or even confirming whether it''s the right medicine is the tough part." Xukong stated.


    Realizing that Zhen Sui might really be gone now, Lin Mu felt his heart drop. He had already felt the loss of his mother and knew just how heavy it was.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu steeled his resolve.


    <i>~pat~</i>


    "Don''t worry, we''ll find a cure for your mother. It might take time, but I promise you that we will find it eventually!" Lin Mu lied.


    He knew that this was a promise he would not be able to fulfill, but he also couldn''t bring himself to hurt Wu Hei this way. Telling him that his mother''s condition was a lost cause would hurt even himself.


    Wu Hei looked at Lin Mu, feeling a bit of afort.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I don''t know if it will be possible, but I guess I can just keep on caring for her." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Yes! Just care for her and hope that we get it in the future." Lin Mu reiterated.


    With a false promise of hope made, Lin Mu calmed Wu Hei''s turbulent heart.


    "Though all is not lost here." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Huh? What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Just because Wu Hei couldn''t fully save his mother doesn''t mean the method is a failure. We can still improve on it and make a method that doesn''t harm someone''s mind like this." Xukong answered, making Lin Mu realize the more important thing here.


    "OF COURSE!" Lin Mu''s eyes lit up.


    Lin Mu didn''t forget that they now had thousands of experts backing them. Even if Wu Hei and he couldn''t do it, he didn''t think that with multiple sects and their experts working together, they wouldn''t be able to find a better solution.


    In fact, what Wu Hei had done might have just saved the world.


    Even if his attempt might be failure, it didn''t mean the next version of that procedure will be a failure too.


    Lin Mu told Wu Hei about this and he too was stunned.


    "With the Long Cloud alliance and the rest of the experts helping with this¡­ We might really make it work¡­" Wu Hei muttered to himself.


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    The cogs in his brain turned as he thought about it all.


    "Why don''t you start by showing me what you actually did?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course! I have it all documented with every little detail noted down!" Wu Hei said, enthusiasm appearing in his tone.


    <i>~THUD~THUD~THUD~ THUD~</i>


    With a wave of his hand, a hill of documents, scrolls, books and wooden slips rained down at the side.


    "This¡­ might take a while to get through." Lin Mu spoke.


    "You can start reading and I can give you the short version of it." Wu Hei added.


    "That will be a bit easier." Lin Mu said as his spirit sense started to read the contents directly.


    Wu Hei too started to exin what he had done.


    The process was a very long one and involved several different resources along with some techniques and formation to get rid of the Human Controlling Blood curse.


    The first thing that one needed was a Formation Array that could contain the person affected by the curse and also keep them stable. Then there was the absolutely crucial item that actually worked to purge the curse.


    This was the extract of a toxic nt called as the Searing Aspect Vine. It was a very dangerous nt that could even kill cultivators.. Its thorns contain a poison that could make it seem like one''s entire blood was boiling and burning.

 Chapter 1009 - The Cure For The Human Controlling Blood Curse

    <h4>Chapter 1009 - The Cure For The Human Controlling Blood Curse</h4>


    Lin Mu had not expected that Wu Hei would find a way to make use of a dangerous nt like this. Wu Hei had evidently turned poison into medicine!


    Though it was obviously not without side effects either.


    It was this very poison of the Searing Aspect Vine that made the person lose their mind. Wu Hei had tested it on other people before Zhen Sui too and most had gone mad before the poison even showed half its effect.


    Not to mention, just getting the person under the grasp of the Human Controlling Blood curse was a challenge in itself. It was only because of his authority that he was able to get his older test subjects to obey him.


    But now all of them were as obedient and there were bound to be some that got suspicious. They would try to resist and make the whole procedure even more difficult. The Poison of the Searing Aspect Vine was literally burning off a part of them in a way.


    The Human Controlling Blood curse went far too deep than anyone could have expected.


    Hearing all this only made Lin Mu that much more wary about Gu Yao. He was now starting to understand that perhaps Gu Yao might be even more dangerous than the Northern Tribes if given enough time.


    After all, it was Gu Yao''s efforts and creation of the Human Controlling Blood Curse that they were even able to proceed in their infiltration. If not for the man, they might still be struggling to enter.


    The Formation Array and the Searing Aspect Vine''s poison were only two of the many more requirements that were needed to nullify the Human Controlling Blood curse.


    The third requirement was an alchemical pill. Or rather any herb that could achieve the same effect. The effect being tranquilizing. The pills that Wu Hei had used were Night Downing Pills for this.


    They were strong enough to knock even Nascent soul realm cultivators out, but obtaining them was rather difficult. Mostly because they were used in the past to drug and assassinate several people.


    If not for his authority, Wu Hei might not have ever gotten them.


    There were other herbs that could be used as substitutes, but Wu Hei hadn''t had enough testing done with them. He needed to be fast, thus took the option that was the quickest then.


    Then there was the fourth requirement which was to prevent or at the very least heal the injuries that the person suffering from curse would sustain during the entire procedure. They would il around and injure themselves and not just that even their own spirit Qi would go haywire and attack their body.


    One needed to take care of this part too. Thus, even if they were tranquilized, they would still end up waking up due to the Pain from the Searing Aspect Vine.


    There were also a few more additional herbs that Wu Hei added to stabilize the Searing Aspect vine, but these weren''t that hard to procure. Rather, it was the specificbination and quantity that was the hardener toe up for him.


    But he had a working ration that would save them a lot of time.


    After hearing about all of it, Lin Mu felt a lot more confident in this. There were indeed more details in the documents, but Lin Mu reckoned the sect''s experts would have a better time figuring out the finer rectifications from them.


    "You did make rather good progress." Lin Mu couldn''t help but praise.


    "Still, it''s notplete. What use is the cure if it turns the person into a doll?" Wu Hei replied.


    "No, it''s a good start. Right now we''re many more steps ahead than I was literally yesterday. I didn''t even know I would get a cure from you and was still dreadinging up with that in the future.


    I even wondered if that was possible or not and whether there would be enough time for us to do that. But you¡­ you turned that hope into reality." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing this, Wu Hei felt a bit better, but then he recalled more uncertainties of the process.


    "No wait, there is more!" Wu Hei suddenly said.


    "Oh? Go ahead." Lin Mu replied.


    "The entire thing¡­ it''s only been tested on people who are at the Core condensation realm and below. I do not know if this would work on cultivators stronger than that. Even if the Searing Aspect Vine''s poison is strong and could work on a nascent soul realm cultivator, I don''t know if the power will still be enough.


    The toughness of the cultivator at those levels will be a double edged sword. While I think that they will have a greater chance at survival, I think it will also make it harder for the curse to be dispelled.


    But then we don''t just have Nascent soul realm cultivators that are being controlled, we have those at the Dao Shell realm too. And I know for sure the Searing Aspect Vine''s poison will not work against someone like that.


    Even if it did, the effect might not be strong enough to work as a cure." Wu Hei exined.


    Hearing this Lin Mu furrowed his brows. He thought to himself for five minutes before he spoke.


    "So what I''m getting is that¡­ the problem is mainly with the potency of the Searing Aspect Vine?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes. You can say that." Wu Hei answered.


    "Then have you tried to concentrate this poison more or further refine it, perhaps?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I don''t have any confidence in refining something like this, and neither did I want to risk killing myself in the process of concentrating the poison." Wu Hei replied.


    Hearing his words, Lin Mu could understand his concern. Wu Hei obviously needed to consider his own safety before he tried anything. There were alway chances of sabotaging oneself because of overconfidence and inadequate preparation.


    The one thing that Lin Mu had learned for sure in all this time is that one could be over prepared for something but being under prepared was the worst.


    "I''m sure the Pill refinement elders of the Long Cloud alliance will have more than experience in refining such a poison. Even if¡­ it might be unorthodox." Lin Mu said after thinking.


    "Hopefully they do. Otherwise, we will be at an impasse. Even if we do manage to cure those that are at the core condensation realm and below, the main forces of Gu Yao are all above that.


    Even Core Condensation realm cultivators are no less than cannon fodder to him." Wu Hei replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in agreement. He had already seen the groups of the Gu legion and there were plenty of Core condensation realm cultivators in them.


    But then this reminded Lin Mu of another thing.


    "Speaking of this¡­ You must know about the ''cultivation boosting pills''?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Those disgusting pills?" Wu Hei asked.


    R¨ºAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only


    "So you know¡­ yeah, those ones." Lin Mu replied.


    "Humph! Gu Yao calls them the Pills of ''grace''. Says that it is the embodiment of his grace given to every person that follows him loyally." Wu Hei said before spitting, <i>~ptui~</i> "All lies! All lies I say!" he eximed.


    "Seems like you''ve had some close encounters with them?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course! That man made me take one of those too. Which, now that I think of it must have been one of the earlier test versions of it." Wu Hei replied.


    "He made you take them? But I thought he''d be a lot more cautious?" Lin Mu asked feeling surprised.


    "Oh, he is alright¡­ but at the same time he is prideful. He thinks that nothing can go wrong with his skills and has great confidence in them. He gave it to me, thinking that it was perfect in boosting cultivation.


    But when I ate it, I fully felt it¡­ those pills muddy your spirit Qi and make your foundation unstable. Those who continue to take it will end up with highly unstable foundations that can only be increased by the use of those pills.


    This also makes them addicted to them due to how fast the can increase the cultivation base." Wu Hei exined.


    "Do you know how they are made?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No one knows the exact details of how they are made other than Gu Yao, but his¡­ ''refiners'' still do the ending stages for it." Wu Hei answered.


    "Mmm¡­ I got some information as to how they use cultivators to make the Rebirth blood and then use that to make the Reborn. But those that fail to be reborn get remade into the pills." Lin Mu then told Wu Hei about how he interrogated Tie Niu and then raided the base of the Gu legion.


    Hearing it all Wu Hei was a bit shocked but at the same time he felt several things clicking.


    "So it was you who did that¡­ We wondered how the Long cloud alliance got that brazen and learned to interfere in the empire''s territory." Wu Hei said.


    "Oh? You got the news already?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course we did. The response was very quick. Destruction of a base that big is hard to miss not to mention that we lost contact with Tie Niu too. While I didn''t have direct contact with him, we were still informed of it." Wu Hei replied.


    "But this¡­ Reborn¡­ I don''t know about them." Wu Hei revealed.


    "What? Even you don''t know?" Lin Mu was taken aback.

 Chapter 1010 - Five Steps Forward

    <h4>Chapter 1010 - Five Steps Forward</h4>


    Lin Mu had not expected that even Wu Hei wouldn''t know about the existence of the Reborn.


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    "I''ve never heard of them¡­ I did know that Gu Yao was doing something extra, but I never expected it to be this." Wu Hei replied.


    "So he limited the information to only a few people¡­" Lin Mu understood.


    "But if they really are this strong, then we can''t just ignore them." Wu Hei replied.


    "Indeed. Eliminating them will be very important, or we might just end up failing long before that. So far the Reborn I saw had the strength equivalent to that of a Dao Shell realm cultivator. But we don''t know if that is even their limits. What if they can reach the Dao Treading realm?" Lin Mu stated.


    "This¡­ that will flip the entire face of the conflict." Wu Hei replied.


    "Exactly." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Wu Hei went silent and thought to himself.


    "You said the ones who told you about the Reborn were also the ones who made the pills, right?" Wu Hei inquired.


    "Yes. They were preparing them in the base that I destroyed." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well. I can make use of this. While I don''t know where the Reborn are, I can find out where the members who make the pills are. If I can find them, I might be able to extract the information from them." Wu Hei spoke.


    "That will be for the best." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    The two of them continued to discuss and Lin Mu told Wu Hei about the strange stone altar and the pale red crystal that was filled with impure Yang Qi.


    "I think I know of this. Gu Yao was looking to make an experimental weapon of some kind. But an ident happened during that and it all failed. That spatial pocket should be one of the formation arrays of the Northern Tribes that carve out a part of the world to hide it in the void.


    It is both a safety feature and keeps them hidden as well." Wu Hei exined.


    "I expected that¡­ At least the weapon is no more." Lin Mu replied. "Though the headquarters of the Gu Legion are also in a spatial pocket like that, right?" he questioned next.


    "No¡­ that''s is actually hidden in a true minor ne. It is not as big as the Kong ne, but it is indeed a minor ne." Wu Hei answered.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I wished it was not so. But do you know where it''s location is?" Lin Mu asked.


    "There are several entry points for it. The one I''ve used is located some distance from the capital here. But the issue is that they move these entry points around. The one that is near the capital was also moved.


    We only get information when we need to go there. Even I have only gone to the headquarters once in all these years." Wu Hei replied.


    "Damn¡­ Gu Yao really prepared well." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Well, there is a way to find it still. Even if there are multiple entry points, these are nothing but teleportation points to reach the actual location. That minor ne is not like the Kong ne that can be essed from anywhere.


    You guys have a far more advanced method of entering the Kong ne. Thus, as long as we find the true location of the minor ne, it doesn''t matter how much they move the entry point, we can just go to that location and enter from there itself." Wu Hei suggested.


    Hearing this Lin Mu''s eyes lit up. He knew that as long as he was close to the ce, he would be able to tear open the space and enter the minor ne directly. Heck, he might not even need to fight Gu Yao if all things went. He had another method to deal with him.


    "If you can find the true location and Gu Yao is in the minor ne at that time, I can stop him without needing to battle him." Lin Mu stated.


    "Huh how?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "I will directly uproot the minor ne from this world!" Lin Mu answered directly.


    Hearing this, Wu Hei was stunned. He didn''t even know this was an option that could be taken.


    "How?" was all Wu Hei could ask.


    "I will simply uproot it and disconnect it from the Xiaofan world. They can do all they want in the lesser void¡­ if they survive that." Lin Mu replied.


    "Uprooting a minor ne like that¡­ can you really manipte space to that extent?" Wu Hei couldn''t help but doubt.


    "Trust me, I can do it!" Lin Mu said with confidence.


    A serious expression appeared on Wu Hei''s face as he nodded his head.


    "Very well! I''ll do my best to find out where the true location of the headquarters is." Wu Hei replied.


    Feeling that they were finally progressing in their ns, Lin Mu felt a lot more confident than before. The two of them continued to discuss until the very next day. In this time, Lin Mu told him about the rest of their ns and what they were going to do in the ck Dawn kingdom.


    They only stopped because Jing Luo contacted Lin Mu.


    "I''m guessing it went well? You''re not back yet?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Oh yeah. We are at least five steps ahead than we were yesterday." Lin Mu replied with a smile.


    "Then should I meet with Wu Hei too?" Jing Luo asked.


    "We can have a brief meeting in the Kong ne, but he can''t leave this ce for long without alerting the Gu legion." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright. We''ll do that." Jing Luo stated.


    Lin Mu informed Wu Hei the same and the two of them met up with Jing Luo in the Kong ne.. Lin Mu had to do double trips to first take Jing Luo to the Kong ne, thene back to the mansion and take Wu Hei there as well, but it was all worth it in the end.

 Chapter 1011 - Determining The Location Of The Gu Legion

    <h4>Chapter 1011 - Determining The Location Of The Gu Legion</h4>


    Four days ended up passing as the coboration between Wu Hei and the alliance was officially initiated. The exchange and dissemination of information was important and was done properly.


    The four patriarchs of the Alliances all got to work and were made aware of the dangers that existed along with the potential locations of Gu Yao. Over the time, Wu Hei knew where the minor ne where the headquarters of the Gu Legion were obviously not and where it could be.


    This allowed the alliance to narrow down the areas and with the assistance of Jingming Shang''s own investigations through the tracking of goods, they deciphered that there were only three regions where the headquarters of the Gu legion could be hidden.


    The Southern part of the continent was directly excluded and this was told by Wu Hei himself as he had a solid reason.


    His reason behind that Gu Yao wanted to be as far from the southern region as possible due to the presence of the Sky Precepts sect. Of all the sects, they were the ones with the highest attainments in spatial element and formations.


    They could very well figure out if an unknown minor ne was hiding near them with the detection tools they had.


    The second major area that they exuded was the Eastern Ming Dynasty. As much as they wanted, the Eastern Ming Dynasty was simply a bit too remote for Gu Yao to control the entire Gu Legion from.


    Plus, the Light Harmony sect had alreadybed the area and even the merchants had shown no suspicious movement of goods there. This excluded it as well.


    The first area that they thought was quite likely to hold the headquarters was the ck Dawn Kingdom. Or at least somewhere in its periphery. There were plenty of reports of strange movement of goods there and even Wu Hei had told them that there were several outposts of Gu Legion and even Northern Tribes there.


    The ck Dune sect immediately sent out their elders and disciples to the locations that Wu Hei revealed to be taken care of.


    The second possible area was the central area of the continent. This ce contained deserts, forests and even the volcanic area, making it treacherous for the normal person to tread through.


    But it was also that which made it a good ce for the headquarter to be hidden. But what gave them the highest suspicion about this ce was the fact that this was also the ce where several sects used to exist in the past.


    Not to mention, many kingdoms too fell in this region and were assimted into the current existing ones. Lin Mu learned that even the Duan Kingdom from which Duan Ke hailed from was here¡­ or at least used to be.


    And since so many powers had perished here, there was a great chance a minor ne could have been existing there for a long time. It could have been missed by the kingdoms and sects all this time and then taken advantage of by Gu Yao as he wouldn''t need much effort to use their skill of carving out the world to ess it.


    Then there was the area that was the most surprising for Lin Mu. It was the eastern edges of the continent. This would be the area where the Kingdom of Shu, the Hong Lin Kingdom, the Ripple Mist sect and the two ind nations, along with the Fenlong kingdom existed.


    Since the powers here, excluding the Ripple Mist sect, were weaker than most of the continent, they didn''t think that there could be a minor ne here. Especially since the Kong ne already existed there.


    But then Lin Mu realized that even if there might have been a minor ne there, its presence could have been masked by the Kong ne. From what Wu Hei told, the headquarters were located in a rather small minor ne.


    In fact, it was about the same size as that of the Northern Town where Lin Mu was from. Considering that size and the Kong ne, it was the same asparing a seed to an entire mountain.


    This rmed all the patriarch and Lin Mu, making them call King Hong immediately to raise their defenses. The Long Cloud sect sent out their people there to search the area and try to find any signs of the minor ne.


    But they couldn''t do it overtly either, as the sects of the alliance, excluding the Noon grass sect were all under assault by the Zither Wind Alliance.


    From all this, Lin Mu and Wu Hei determined that Gu Yao most probably used their method of carving out void and used it to open up ess to a minor ne. Though this also made Lin Mu doubtful about whether his suggestion of uprooting the ne from the world would work or not.


    Even if the anchor from this world was removed and they were left in the void, there was a chance they survived and used their skills to open up another route into the world.


    ''I can''t let that happen either¡­ Seems like we''ll have to totally eliminate them¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself at the end.


    This was the most viable option, and the others agreed with him too.


    But this was not the end of the surprises. Wu Hei still had onest one. It was a surprise which could have been missed if not for Wu Hei pulling out a certain document along with hundreds others.


    This document was nothing but a portrait of Gu Yao.


    "Huh? This is Gu Yao?" Lin Mu said in surprise.


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    The patriarchs all saw it and were surprised too. Lin Mu had made them a portrait of Gu Yao a long time ago so that they knew who their enemy was, but now it looked to be rather different.


    "Yes¡­ he has¡­ changed." Wu Hei replied.


    "How? Or why?" Lin Mu asked as he looked at the appearance of Gu Yao on the sheet.


    He was now bald and his skin had tanned greatly as well.

 Chapter 1012 - Gu Yaos Change

    <h4>Chapter 1012 - Gu Yao''s Change</h4>


    Lin Mu didn''t know why or how the man had changed this much. The others were surprised by it too and realized that if they didn''t find out now, even if Gu Yao was right in front of them, they might have missed him entirely.


    "He became like this over thest year. I''m thinking it''s most likely due to his cultivation technique or something." Wu Hei answered.


    "That does seem like the usual suspect." Patriarch Yi spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head as well. He was after all an example of this too. His body had changed several times due to cultivation and now he looked rather different from the past. Thought it could also be attributed partly to his own growth and aging.


    He was barely fourteen when he started cultivating and now he was about twenty three.


    ''Almost ten years¡­ hard to believe it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was a surreal experience now that he thought of it and he would have never expected in the past he woulde this far along. He had both suffered and prospered in this time. With both aspects going to the very extremes.


    From amon vige orphan boy, he was now the leader of an entire alliance that spanned over top sects and kingdoms. To anyone, this kind of growth would be considered stunning or downright unnatural.


    The discussion continued for a while more but not before Lin Mu dropped off Wu Hei back at the mansion. He could only bring the man over for a short time to the Kong ne since there was always a chance of others finding out.


    This was rather troublesome and Wu Hei couldn''t do much right now since it was something that was his own doing. He was the one who had requested protection due to the assassin.


    When the patriarchs were told that there was such a person going around killing their enemies they didn''t know whether to concern him a friend or foe. Regardless, they decided to keep an eye out for him.


    If things worked out and they found him, they would extend a hand out to him.


    But that was all in the future and Lin Mu needed to continue onwards for now.


    "I shouldn''t hold you back any longer. You two need to go on your task too." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Indeed. It has been dyed for quite a while now." Lin Mu replied.


    "Between here and the ck dawn kingdom, the Gu legion and Northern tribes have several outposts, and so there are open lines ofmunication. If you are discovered in one of them, they will alert the others, so it''s best you avoid them.


    Though if you are detected¡­ you may as well destroy them all. If possible of course." Wu Hei suggested.


    "I will." Lin Mu nodded before he remembered something. "Wait, if themunication is possible, then you mean there are no jamming formations here?" he asked.


    "No, the ones that exist are along the border of the ck dawn kingdom to the south. There shouldn''t be any problem in youmunicating with me here." Wu Hei replied.


    "That''ll make things easier. We will keep you updated on things." Jing Luo said.


    "And I''ll do the same." Wu Hei agreed.


    In the end, Wu Hei gave them some reminders and let them leave. Lin Mu sent Jing Luo to the Kong ne and went back to the room they had rented. Little Shrubby had been waiting for them there¡­ or more like taking a nap.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu reappeared in the room along with Jing Luo and woke up Little Shrubby in the process.


    ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "You''re back. Is it time to leave?" Little Shrubby guessed.


    "Yup. We are ready." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright!" Little Shrubby said with excitement.


    "We can take this route," Jing Luo spoke as he took out a map. "I gathered some information downstairs and there are several smuggling small caravans that go through this path to avoid paying taxes on the border." He revealed.


    "Huh¡­ that''s neat." Lin Mu muttered. "You got this kind of information downstairs?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "There''s a lot you can gain if you lighten some tongues with wine. The good for nothing nobles downstairs can''t help but brag the little sess they start to get." Jing Luo chuckled.


    "If it works in our favor, I guess it''s good." Lin Mu couldn''tin.


    With their n set, Lin Mu decided to leave at night. But before that, he wanted to do onest thing. He wanted to survey the entire capital and see if there were any ''Reborn'' hidden here.


    In addition to that, he also wanted to get an ount of all the people who were under the grasp of the Human Controlling blood curse here. He was even looking to infiltrate the royal pce and check there.


    Wu Hei had already given him the authorization token and it would allow him free entry through the formation arrays. It would save him time on unraveling it and even give him direct entry to the royal court.


    While Wu Hei had already told them about the people controlled by Gu Yao in the capital, from the current revtion that even Wu Hei was not fully informed of things, there were bound to be other secrets here.


    Lin Mu left the room and started his surveince. There were six hours till night time and it was more than enough time for him to cover the entire city. In just three hours he was done with themon areas of the city and had found several people that were under the Human controlling blood curse and even more that had taken the ''pills of grace''.


    And when he moved to the noble distinct, the number only increased more.


    ''Gu Yao certainly strengthened his grasp here¡­'' Lin Mu thought as he made his way towards the royal pce.


    Using phase to move through the ground left Lin Mu uninhibited, and he quickly arrived at the pce.

 Chapter 1013 - An Infected Beast Under The Stables

    <h4>Chapter 1013 - An Infected Beast Under The Stables</h4>


    When he appeared in the pce though, Lin Mu felt an ufortable aura.


    "This¡­ can''t be¡­ are they really hiding one here?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    The aura he had felt was of the Invader no doubt. Lin Mu went to the source right away and found it to be hidden below the stables of the pce at the side.


    ''Huh¡­ this is a rather open area¡­ is the invader even restricted?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    The entrance to the underground area was hidden under hay and opening the hatch would allow one ess to the short tunnel that led to there. Of course, Lin Mu had no need for this but still kept it in mind for reference.


    His spirit sense spread around and quickly found the source of that ufortable aura.


    "There it is¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he saw the being corrupted by the invader.


    The being this time was also a beast, but it was far weaker than the ones he had seen before.


    "Barely at the Infant soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm?" Lin Mu assessed the sleeping beast.


    The beast looked to be about the size of a cow, but looked like a malformed dog. It had two heads and six tails. It didn''t look like any beast that Lin Mu had seen before, but he guessed that it must have mutated.


    "No use letting this thing continue to live¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he extended his hand.


    <i>''Meld''</i>


    The infected beast didn''t even realize that there was someone attacking it right now. It was split apart into several segments which Lin Mu stored away into the ring before they could even touch the ground after the deactivation of meld.


    <i>~shua~</i> ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    Lin Mu peered into the ring and saw the severed body of the beast writhing in the ring. The flesh and blood trembled as the invader tried to leave the body. Lin Mu decided to continue watching and saw a dark brown and grey colored Nascent soul flying out of a segment of the corpse.


    <i>~swish~</i>


    The nascent soul tried to look around for a suitable vessel to rest in, but couldn''t do so. It was fully disorientated and confused at this.


    ''The invader took the nascent soul as a vessel? It can do this too?'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    So far, the invader had only lived in the body and this was the first time he was seeing it merging with a Nascent soul.


    The Nascent soul tried to fly up a little to get a better view, but that turned out to be a mistake.


    <i>~SKREEEEEEEE~</i>


    The Nascent soul couldn''t even let out a cry before it was torn apart by a stray streak of spatial energy. One must know that the skies of the ring were filled with terrifying streaks of spatial energy that even Lin Mu would get injured by if not for the protection of the ring.


    Even the spirit nts like the Wood spirit tulip and the Purple Sickle Amaranth didn''t dare to go up high, as their instincts told them it would kill them. Though there was also the fact that Xukong was also there to prevent that.


    "That''s terrifying¡­" Lin Mu muttered, seeing the scene.


    It was the first time he had seen the streaks of spatial energy actually harming something, and it showed him just how dangerous they truly were.


    "This is why you need to always be careful when dealing with space." Xukong reminded.


    "I know se¡ª" But before Lin Mu couldplete his words, he saw something happening.


    From the remnants of Nascent soul, a dark energy came out. The energy looked like smoke and gathered up into a small cloud that was barely the size of a palm.


    "The invader survived that?!" Lin Mu was shocked.


    The cloud of smoke then did something surprising. It tried to pull a streak of spatial energy towards it. Xukong too watched it curiously.


    The streak of spatial energy rushed towards the dark cloud and it then tried to absorb it into it.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was shocked again.


    "Foolish." Xukong scoffed.


    The cloud was torn apart by the spatial energy streak and was torn once more. This kept on repeating until the entire cloud was eliminated. No trace of it was left and Lin Mu''s spirit sense didn''t detect any change there either.


    "What¡­ why?" Lin Mu was confused as to why the cloud did that.


    He could tell that it was the invader, but doing something like this was nothing but suicidal.


    "The invader likely has some proficiency in space, as we know. It probably felt the spatial energy and tried to absorb it so that it could leave the world like it had in the past. But this time, it was confused.


    This is no spatial spirit Qi that can be absorbed¡­ this spatial energy is on apletely different level. Trying to absorb is a futile effort." Xukong exined.


    "If¡­ I attempt that, will it be the same?" Lin Mu asked.


    "At your current level? Yes." Xukong replied. "In the future, maybe. Far into the future, no." He added.


    ''If I consider senior Xukong''s standards of time, then¡­ far into the future¡­ just how many thousand years is even that?''


    Lin Mu understood that a long lived being like senior Xukong perceived time differently. For him, the ten years he had spent with Lin Mu could be considered a drop in the life he had lived.


    It also gave Lin Mu an idea into just how much he would have to cultivate to be able to absorb such spatial energy directly.


    ''It also shows the difference in starting points¡­ Senior Xukong can do it even though this is just an avatar that doesn''t have the same cultivation base as his main body.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He withdrew his senses from the ring and left the underground area. There were no traces of him or even the invader being there and it looked like this area had been empty since the start.


    Done with this little detour, Lin Mu entered the main building of the royal pce.

 Chapter 1014 - Into The Black Dawn Kingdom

    <h4>Chapter 1014 - Into The ck Dawn Kingdom</h4>


    The royal pce of the Shuang Qian kingdom used to seem really huge to Lin Mu once upon a time, but now Lin Mu had seen sect buildings that were several times bigger than this. Even the Tri cauldron peony sect''s main peak buildings were bigger than the pce.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense spread around as he quickly grasped the aura of those that had taken those pills as well as those controlled by Gu Yao.


    "Oh? The king is actually not controlled?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Lin Mu had originally thought that the King of the Shuang Qian kingdom would be definitely be under the control of Gu Yao, but it seemed like that was not true anymore. Though when he checked the man a bit more, he did find traces of the pills of grace on him.


    "Hmm¡­ since he''s weaker, Gu Yao probably didn''t deem him worthy of having the Human Controlling Blood curse on him." Lin Mu muttered, noticing the king Infant soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivation.


    It was rtively weak, as there were several more people stronger than him in the pce.


    ''No, wait¡­ seems like he really is rather weak. Even with the use of the pills his cultivation is still this low.'' Lin Mu realized that the Shuang Qian kingdom might have just been doomed from the start.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "They never stood a chance¡­" Lin Mu sighed and understood why even the mutated beast infected by the invader hidden here was weak too.


    Finally, having caught up with everything, Lin Mu left the pce, returning to room. Once there, he quickly sent the report with all the information he had gathered to both Wu Hei and the alliance.


    "All ready?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Yes, had some surprises, but we can leave now." Lin Mu answered.


    "Alright. Let''s head off!" Jing Luo said.


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    The two of them with Little Shrubby, left the city and flew out to the west. Their destination was a certain pass slightly to the north west from where they were currently. It was a path that some merchants used to smuggle in high value goods so that they wouldn''t be taxed.


    While something like this didn''t really matter to Lin Mu and Jing Luo since they could literally just fly over the mountains, what they did care for was that this path mostly avoided any dangers that might dy them, at the very least.


    Another thing being that there were no Gu Legion hideouts on this path. So they wouldn''t be detected by them either.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Little Shrubby erged into his full size once they were a sufficient distance away from the city.


    "Let''s go!" Little Shrubby said with excitement.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said as he got onto Little Shrubby''s back.


    Jing Luo did the same, and both of them hooked into the harness.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Little Shrubby started to run and soon picked up a speed that was faster than ever before. Jing Luo found it hard to even see anything, despite the fact that he was at the Dao Shell realm too.


    His dynamic vision should have been good enough to keep up with a lot of things, but with Little Shrubby''s speed it was not. Lin Mu didn''t have the same problem, though. But it did strain him a little bit, which just made him take this as a training opportunity.


    Their travel was barely of three hours before they ended up reaching the pass.


    "That should be the one." Jing Luo said as they looked down at a narrow pass.


    It was nestled between two cliffs that almost touched each other. The mountains between which the path was located were tall enough for most humans to not be able to traverse normally. At the top of the mountains, snow could even be seen, showing just how tall they were.


    But if one looked beyond the mountains, they would see a vast expanse of cknd.


    This was the ck Dawn Kingdom!


    The soil of the ck Dawn Kingdom was what gave it the name. It was rich in certain nutrients which made it grow a lot of crops. But at the same time, it gave the opportunity for many strong beasts to grow here as well.


    It was said that the people of the ck Dawn kingdom were rather hardy, even if it was just themoners. To them, encounter with beasts was a normal thing and even peasants would have to fight with such beasts almost every day.


    Beasts wandering into the farms and stealing their cattle was amon thing that the peasants would defend against. Over the thousands of years the kingdom had existed, its residents had already grown ustomed to this.


    Now killing a beast when they were six or seven wasn''t unheard of, even if the beast was just at the first stage of the body tempering realm. The children would go out to y and bring back some beast corpses to eatter in the night.


    It was good practice for the future and would also nourish their bodies.


    Lin Mu passed over many viges and towns, taking in the sights. With his spirit sense, he could quickly take in the scenes of themoners all at once. He saw their struggles and pains.


    Their joys and sorrows as were well obvious to him. He felt a like he had just seen his own past in that moment.


    His eyes stilled, and his heart stilled as well. His mind became tranquil as his lips started to move gently. Jing Luo who had been sitting behind, suddenly heard faint chants in his head.


    He didn''t even realize when he started repeating after them in his mind, even though he didn''t understand the esoteric words. Unconsciously his spirit Qi started flowing smoothly in his meridians, speeding up his rate of cultivation.


    But he wasn''t the only one who experience this. Wherever Lin Mu passed, this effect spread.. Themoners who never cultivated before felt a rity in their minds that they had never felt before.

 Chapter 1015 - A Moment To Change Destinies

    <h4>Chapter 1015 - A Moment To Change Destinies</h4>


    Lin Mu didn''t know that he had just changed the destiny of tens of thousands of people today.


    With the rity that they had gained in that brief moment, they felt like they knew what their goals in life should be. Those that were muddled about their aims suddenly knew what they wanted.


    Those that were indecisive about the royal schr exams suddenly found the sybus to be easy to grasp. The poor and downtrodden suddenly found their lives getting easier despite the fact that their burdens were the same.


    Just that small moment was enough to elevate them, and allow them to go on; possibly allowing them to be great in the future.


    The cultivators that were stuck for a long time at the same point suddenly felt their bottlenecks loosening. It was as if they very heavens were helping them as the spirit Qi started flowing into their bodies automatically.


    Hundreds of people broke through at the same time.


    These were themoners, the average cultivators who would have never had the chance to join sects. Many of them were at the end of their lifespans while some were just starting their journey, which was possiblying to a quick end.


    And yet today, all of them were given a new lease on life.


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    Little Shrubby kept on running, unaffected by Lin Mu''s chants though. He was possibly the only one here that was used to them and would not be affected easily. He had heard them more than anyone in the world possibly.


    Besides, to Little Shrubby as long as he had his master, he had no other qualms. He had not to bottleneck to breakthrough, and neither did he have any sorrows. The chants were like air to him.


    Six hours passed in the blink of an eye.


    Little Shrubby had already crossed a quarter of the ck Dawn Kingdom in this time.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu suddenly woke up from his trance.


    He looked around and saw that they were now in an entirely different region. His spirit sensepared they of thend with the maps he had and estimated that he was near one of the major cities of the ck Dawn kingdom.


    The city was called as the Amber Wold city. It was named after the wold1 it was located on. This area was slightly different from the other ces and didn''t have ck soil. Instead, it had a faint amberyer of soil on top of it.


    "The Amber Wold City, huh¡­ been a long time since I''ve been here." Jing Luo had woken up by now as well.


    He understood that he had just gained a lot in these brief six hours, but he didn''tin. He didn''t even wonder how it happened, just epting it as a fortunate encounter.


    His cultivation base had certainly progressed and the growth of his Dao Shell had increased as well by a percent. For a mere six hours, this progress was massive.


    "What did youe here for before?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Thest time I came here was over seventy years ago. I was still in the Qi refining realm and hade here with my uncle." Jing Luo replied.


    "Oh? Did youe to find some resources again as well? Like in the Hong Lin kingdom?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "You got that right. We came here to get some of the Ambers that can be found in this region. Amber Wold city is the biggest ce to get them and they are traded in thousands here." Jing Luo replied.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Lin Mu cursorily nced at the city and scanned it over with his spirit sense.


    His expression turned stern after a few seconds, though.


    "What happened? Did you find something?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "I did¡­ another mutant beast." Lin Mu answered.


    Jing Luo''s expression turned serious as well.


    "How many is that now? Three?" Jing Luo said.


    "Yes¡­ one under each major city." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Looks like a pattern to me." Jing Luo replied.


    "Indeed. Gu Yao might be keeping them as trump cards." Lin Mu guessed.


    "Of course. Release them all when pushes to shove and let them wreak havoc. The sects and kingdom''s forces will be forced to deal with them while he can do whatever he wants." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu simply nodded in response to this. To him, Gu Yao would certainly keep a tactic like this hidden.


    "You gonna deal with it?" Jing Luo asked.


    "It''ll just take five minutes." Lin Mu said as he disappeared.


    His body rapidly descended while teleporting, undetectable to the naked eyes. He passed through the formation array of the city as if it was nothing but paper and quickly entered the ground.


    He appeared in an underground cave that was clearly man made and looked at the mutated beast that was chained here. It was simr to what he had seen before and there were hundreds of thousands of runes carved into the walls and ceiling.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    The chains were tugged slightly as the beast woke up. It looked up and found Lin Mu floating there.


    "GR¡ª" But before it could even let out a roar, it was suppressed.


    "Silence." Lin Mu stated as a crushing pressure descended on the beast.


    The mutated beast had a strength equivalent to that of the adult soul stage of the Nascent soul realm and could very easily hurt a lot of people if it was unleashed. Not to mention, normal Nascent soul realm cultivators would not be its match at all and would be infected by it as well.


    Even a Dao Shell realm cultivator would find it a bit difficult to deal with. But this city didn''t have any Dao shell realm cultivators at all, which only meant that when this beast was released, it would basically be the death sentence.


    Lin Mu pointed with his hand and the space around the beast froze. Waving his hand, he split apart the beast into several pieces before storing them all in the ring and letting them be purged by the spatial energy.


    Wold Is ay of open uncultivatednd.

 Chapter 1016 - Eliminating Threats Along The Way

    <h4>Chapter 1016 - Eliminating Threats Along The Way</h4>


    Lin Mu was quite liking this method of eliminating the invader. It was fast and fierce, yet there were limitation.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "If only it worked on all¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    While meld seemed rather strong, there were still limitations to it. The broader the area of effect, the greater the consumption for Lin Mu. Not to mention that if he used Meld on beings with cultivation base, they could actually resist it.


    The level of resistant varied depending on the difference there was between Lin Mu''s own cultivation base and the other being on which the skill was being used. Right now, Lin Mu could use Meld on those at the Nascent soul realm with no problem at all.


    He reckoned that he would be able to use it on enemies at the Dao Shell realm as well, though the stronger one''s might be able to resist it a bit more and struggle, making him expend more spirit Qi on it.


    It was a skill that was best to be used in limit or it could greatly exhaust Lin Mu. After all, Meld didn''t use a set amount of spirit Qi like his other skills. Rather, it used up a percentage of his entire spirit Qi at once.


    It could quickly get out of hand if Lin Mu didn''t regte it well enough.


    Lin Mu nced at his hand momentarily, looking at the ring. His gaze lingered for a second more before his body disappeared once more, reappearing in the skies above the Amber Wold City.


    "Oh? You''re done way quicker than I thought." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Mmhmm¡­ let''s continue." Lin Mu said before taking a pause. "Should we¡­ pass through the major cities on the way?" he asked.


    Jing Luo''s brows furrowed, but he understood Lin Mu''s question.


    "You really think there would be more of them?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Yes. The pattern seems to be there. We can''t just let them all be unsafe like this." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright. If it''s only going to take this much time, then we may as well." Jing Luo stated.


    "I''ll inform the allianceter, and get them to do a formal searchter on." Lin Mu said as he got onto Little Shrubby''s back.


    "Yeah, though I doubt it is the same for other regions, too. The ck Dawn Kingdom and the Shuang Qian Kingdom are greatly under the influence of the Gu Legion, so it makes sense that they were able to hide such beings without alerting anyone.


    Plus, we''ve passed over other cities before too, right? And you didn''t sense anything there." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu thought over it and found it to be a valid assumption.


    "Besides, I doubt these ''reborn'' are that easy to make. Even Gu Yao should be having a limited supply of them. Perhaps he can make a lot of them, but he will still need time to make them I presume." Jing Luo added.


    Lin Mu thought over to how weak the two Reborn he saw in the ck Dawn Kingdom were and reckoned that they were simply new reborn or inferior ''products''.


    "You are probably right. Maybe we''ll find more cluester." Lin Mu said.


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    "Yeah. And you have the remains of these Reborn too, right? The more you have, the easier it would be for Duan Ke and Grandfather to track them down." Jing Luo stated.


    Hearing this Lin Mu''s eyes lit up, and he felt even more motivated.


    "Let''s go, Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu ordered, directing Little Shrubby towards the next city.


    The next city was about thirty minutes away for Little Shrubby, and upon arriving, Lin Mu quickly scanned the entire area inch by inch. He didn''t want to miss a mutated beast, just because it was hidden a bit too deep.


    The people of the city felt a strange feeling that day and goosebumps appeared on nearly everyone.


    "Why did it get chilly all of a sudden?" someone said.


    But a momentter, the goosebumps faded and so did the ufortable feeling. They were unaware that it was Lin Mu''s spirit sense that had just passed over them.


    Even those that had higher cultivation bases only felt the spirit Qi in the air go still for a moment, before it returned to normal. The time duration was far too short for them to tell what exactly had happened.


    They could only guess that it was some natural phenomenon.


    After all, not many would think that someone like Lin Mu at the Dao Shell realm was scanning the entire city at once with his spirit sense.


    "Hmm¡­ nothing here." Lin Mu said as his brows eased.


    "See, I told you. Even Gu Yao with his power, can''t afford to put them in every city." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Though I did find others controlled by Gu Yao here too." Lin Mu said.


    "Oh yeah, those¡­ will just need to be marked for now." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head before asking Little Shrubby to continue onwards. They passed over six more cities and didn''t find anymore Reborn. Though Lin Mu''s list of people controlled by Gu Yao only increased.


    This epassed both the people under the Human Controlling Blood curse, who were under Gu Yao''s direct control, and those that were addicted to the pills of grace. Albeit the number of those under the Human Controlling Blood curse was rather low.


    It was both a good and bad thing, but there was little they could do about it right now.


    Thus, Lin Mu continued on his journey and finally reached the northern end of the ck Dawn Kingdom.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    "We''re finally here¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he observed the vast ins.


    Yellow grass and shrubs covered the ins, making it look like a yellow and ck sea. The contrast between the soil and vegetation was rather unique.


    "Now where do we go from here?" Lin Mu questioned Jing Luo.


    There was nothing here and Lin Mu couldn''t sense any spatial fluctuations here either.

 Chapter 1017 - An Unexpected Village

    <h4>Chapter 1017 - An Unexpected Vige</h4>


    Jing Luo gazed at the yellow ins with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes before turning to Lin Mu.


    "A bit further¡­ at least until we hit the ocean. Then we need to search along the coast." Jing Luo answered.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said as they continued onwards.


    The yellow ins went by really quick. If one observed from their point of view, it looked like a yellow nket was quickly being pulled back. The more it was pulled back, the more the blue bedsheets hidden underneath could be seen.


    These blue bedsheets was, of course, the ocean.


    At first it was like a distant blue line which soon expanded into a blue crescent. The closer they got, the bigger the ocean got. And when they were finally at it, they witnessed the endless ocean, the ends of which could not be seen at all.


    There was mist floating around the area, making it only harder to see. If not for Lin Mu''s spirit sense, he wouldn''t be able to even tell how vast the ocean really was.


    "This is the side of the continent that not many get to see." Jing Luo said as he got off Little Shrubby''s back.


    "Indeed¡­ it''s like a different world." Lin Mu muttered.


    There didn''t seem to be many beasts here either, and the area looked a bit deste.


    This area was considered to be restricted to most humans of the ck Dawn Kingdom. They all knew about the Northern Tribes and didn''t want to be close to the area that they supposedly lived in.


    The Forbidden kingdom was beyond this ocean and even if it was unlikely for them to cross over from here, they still didn''t feelfortable. That was the main reason why there were no settlements here.


    The beasts also seemed to be in an agreement from what Lin Mu could see. The beasts that resided here were rather weak, with most of them being in the body tempering realm. And the only ones in the Qi refining realm he found were aquatic beasts living in the ocean.


    "Now we just search around here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes¡­ or at least I hope so." Jing Luo replied.


    "Okay, let''s begin." Lin Mu said as the trio of men and beast walked along the coast.


    This time, they couldn''t use Little Shrubby''s speed as Lin Mu needed to focus on fine spatial fluctuations that would get muffled if they ran on Little Shrubby''s back. The Jing n was afraid that their hidden ancestral grounds could be found and they were a bit paranoid.


    Which was why they set up the best isting and masking formation arrays that they could.


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    Even Lin Mu would need to put effort into finding it.


    The token that Jing Luo had forged only provided the entry to the ancestral grounds but couldn''t find them. The location of the ancestral grounds was always kept hidden, and only the patriarch of the Jing n would know it.


    This was so that no one could threaten, ckmail or torture the information out of a n member. And if this happened to the patriarch, it would mean that the n was already at an endpoint and there was no chance to survive, thus it wouldn''t matter anyway.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo decided to start from the very western tip of the ck Dawn Kingdom''s northern coast and then head east from there. Upon reaching their first start point, they were surprised to see a vige there.


    "Huh? There''s actually a vige here?" Lin Mu said with surprise.


    "I don''t think there was one here before¡­" Jing Luo replied as he checked the maps. "Yeah¡­ there''s nothing."


    Looking at the vige, Lin Mu could tell that the vige was newly built. Most of the huts were made out of straw and mud, with only a few houses made from stone and wood. There weren''t that many houses here either, only about forty.


    And considering that they were rather small in size too, the vige was easily condensed in an area of two hundred meters. There were small rafts that the vigers were using to fish in the ocean too.


    This was unusual since no normal peasant would dare to get near the coast due to the danger of aquatic beasts. They were considered to be far more dangerous thannd beasts, mostly due to the fact that once they decided to target them, there would be less chance of escape.


    After all, humans were way faster onnd than they were in water. Even if they had a raft, there wasn''t a good chance of escape. Most Aquatic beasts would be able to wreck the rafts with a causal attack.


    Lin Mu observed the vigers, who seemed to be rather rugged looking. They were even more rugged than the average ck Dawn Kingdommoner. Their skins had an even tan, as if they spent most of their time out under the sun.


    Looking at the sky, Lin Mu could actually see a clear sun out too, which was different from the misty look on the other areas of the coast where the skies were cloudy.


    "Definitely a different area, huh¡­" Jing Luo said.


    <i>~step~step~step~</i>


    But while they were wondering about the vige, a few people approached them from the behind.


    "Travelers? This far?" one of the viger said upon seeing Lin Mu and Jing Luo.


    "AHH!!!!!" But soon a scream could also be heard as their eyes went to the beast that was standing some distance away.


    "BEAST! SPIRIT BEAST!" The vigers cried out.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo felt a little awkward at this. They had not expected to find a vige here, and thus Lin Mu had not sent Little Shrubby away either.


    "Calm down, he is my tamed beast." Lin Mu said as he lightly floated into the air.


    Looking at his handsome face and the aura exuding from his body, the vigers quickly understood the situation.


    "Ah! Forgive us, Lord Cultivators!" The vigers hurriedly bowed.

 Chapter 1018 - A Northern Tribe Village

    <h4>Chapter 1018 - A Northern Tribe Vige</h4>


    Lin Mu gazed at the vigers that had appeared and found them to be a bit different.


    The vigers hurriedly crossed their hands and bowed. Seeing this strange method of paying respects Lin Mu was startled.


    Jing Luo who saw it also got alerted, his eyes went wide while the veins on his arms bulged.


    ''This method of greeting¡­ isn''t this¡­''


    "Lord Cultivators, may we have the grace of knowing which tribe are you from?" the viger questioned.


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    "They are¡­" Jing Luo muttered as faint spirit Qi waves came from his body.


    But just as he was about to act, he heard a voice.


    "Hang on¡­ let''s not act so fast." Lin Mu spoke lightly.


    Jing Luo stopped and lowered his hand that was half way raised. The vigers couldn''t see it with their heads bowed, or they would have been alerted as well.


    Lin Mu looked at the vigers who were obediently bowing and thought to himself before speaking, "we cannot tell you that."


    The vigers trembled slightly before replying, "pardon us for the disrespect. It''s just that¡­ we wanted to ask where we are."


    ''Huh?'' Both Lin Mu and Jing Luo were confused upon hearing this but didn''t show it on their faces.


    "Hmm¡­ before I answer that, I''d like to ask what you all are doing here? I don''t recall there being a vige here." Lin Mu said, pretending to be familiar.


    The vigers were a bit startled, and slight hesitation could be seen on their faces.


    "Forgive us my lords, but¡­ it would be better if you talk to our vige head first. We do not have the authority to speak to someone of your ranks." The vigers stated.


    "Very well, take us to him." Lin Mu replied, not minding this since more information was his goal anyway.


    The vigers then brought Lin Mu and Jing Luo to the vige, while Little Shrubby stayed behind. He was simply too¡­ eye catching and Lin Mu didn''t want there to be additional disturbances, just in case.


    The other vigers were surprised to see Lin Mu and Jing Luo here. But they didn''t dare to talk or gossip in their presence. They simply bowed their heads while doing the same gesture as the previous ones.


    Lin Mu lightly gazed at them as he confirmed his suspicion.


    ''Sure enough¡­ they are from the Northern tribes¡­''


    The vigers brought them to the very back of the vige. This was located along a small cliff that rose at the very side of the ocean shore. Here the secondrgest building in the vige stood.


    Even then, it was merely a shack built with straw, stone and some wood. It took the support of the cliff and had a nted roof.


    "Vige head, lord cultivators are here!" The vigers called out.


    <i>~thud</i>~


    The sound of sudden movement came from inside as frantic footsteps could also be heard.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    The door of the shack opened quickly as a nervous looking face looked out. Lin Mu observed it too and saw that it was a middle aged man. He too had dark tanned skin, but in addition to that, he also had what looked like a small tattoo on the side of his forehead.


    He had long hair, a small bunch of it being braided while the restid free. There were three beads in the braid as well that looked to be made from stone and shells.


    Recognizing this particr way of dressing up, Lin Mu understood who this person was.


    ''One of the lowest ranked Northern Tribe warrior.'' Lin Mu understood.


    The northern tribes had many customs and rituals, one of which was the way someone''s rank was designated.


    The different ranks all wore beads in their hair, and the number and quality of the beads decided what their designation would be. The man in front of them who was said to be the vige head was barely at the lowest rank of an official Northern Tribe Warrior.


    This rank needed for one to be at the very least, the seventh stage of the body tempering realm. Lin Mu found that this man was the strongest among all the vigers and the only one at this strength as well.


    There was no threat to Lin Mu, nor Jing Luo here, which was why Lin Mu stopped him from acting. If they wanted, to they could eliminate all these vigers with a casual wave of their hand.


    But Lin Mu didn''t want that. He understood that there was something strange happening here and it would be in their best interest to know how exactly did these vigers that were from the northern Tribes ended up here.


    If these vigers had a cultivation base, Lin Mu would have at least understood. But these were far too weak to even be able to cross over from the forbidden continent. Lin Mu reckoned that they would have perished in the harsh weather even before they crossed the pears belt.


    Not to mention, Lin Mu greatly doubted that the Northern tribes would really send such weak people here. It wasn''t that it waspletely impossible, but the fact that it would not be worth for them to put the resources to send them here.


    This was the point that made Lin Mu wonder about it all and also why the vigers were still alive now.


    "L-lord cultivators! Y-you''re finally here!" The vige head spoke with difficulty.


    Lin Mu could tell that the man was really surprised.


    ''It''s almost as if¡­ he''s d we''re here?'' Lin Mu felt.


    "Have youe to finally take us back?" the vige head questioned.


    Hearing this a few ideas appeared in Lin Mu''s mind but he didn''t dare to confirm either of them.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps. But I''d like to know what''s happening here and why are all of you here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Hearing this, clear shock could be seen on the vige head''s face.. As if what Lin Mu had asked was shattering his heart or killing his hopes.

 Chapter 1019 - A Reason For Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 1019 - A Reason For Arrival</h4>


    An encounter with the Northern Tribes''moners was certainly not what Lin Mu had expected today.


    He would have understood if it were the Northern Tribes'' cultivators or soldiers, but these were clearly the peasants.


    But after the vige head exined everything to Lin Mu and Jing Luo, they understood why such a strange situation had taken ce and why the vige was here.


    "So you''re telling me a priest from the Kiwa tribe came and told you that he would take your vige to a betternd?" Lin Mu asked after hearing the ount from the vige head.


    "Y-yes, my lord!" The vige head hurriedly replied.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu rubbed his chin as he thought over the entire thing which seemed a bit absurd to him.


    What had happened to these vigers seemed a bit of a pity to Lin Mu.


    The vige head was apparently from one of the many subordinate viges under the Kiwa tribe. The Kiwa Tribe was one of the big ns of the Northern Tribes and its patriarch was one of the Dao Treading realm members.


    Lin Mu knew all this since he had gotten quite a lot of information from Ku Waowen.


    The vige this man lived in was among the very small ones and only had a poption of barely two hundred. They lived in a bad patch ofnd and didn''t have many resources. They could barely even afford to feed themselves not to mention trade.


    Thend was barren and frozen, not allowing them to grow any crops. Their only means of sustenance were thekes near their vige that had plenty of fish. Thus their vige was a fishing vige that greatly depended on it.


    Thus upon hearing that a priest from the Kiwa tribe was offering them a chance to relocate to a better ce, the vige head took it right away.


    Thend in the Forbidden continent was harsh, and thend which was fertile and could grow things was the most valuable. Thus ording to thews of the Northern Tribes, it was strictly forbidden for the vigers to move their vige without the permission of a priest or a tribe chieftain.


    Besides, the vigers were not in a position of moving around anywhere nearby either as their vige was already in a good ce for their region. If they went anywhere else, they would only be moving in a bad area.


    All the areas that were good were long since upied. And the few that were still free were in distant locations and filled with dangers.


    The priest offered to move the vigers on one condition, it being that they do not ask any questions and if anyone else asks them, not to answer them either. The priest then took them to a particr location, that was an old shrine.


    The shrine was big enough to amodate all the vigers and contained arge formation array. One by one, the vigers were sent into it and they all disappeared. They were told that this thing would take them to the best location for them.


    "When you arrived you say there were only eighty of you left?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes¡­ I¡­ we¡­ don''t know where the others went. We tried searching around in the past years, but were unable to get any traces of them." The Vige head spoke. "We feared¡­ they had died during whatever happened at the time." He added, his voice feeling heavy.


    "I see.. And that''s how you all ended up making a vige here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, my lords." The vige head confirmed.


    Silence descended in the room as the vige head waited for Lin Mu''s response. But instead of him, he got a question from someone else.


    "This ce you all arrived at¡­ we''d like you to take us there." Jing Luo stated.


    "O-of course! It would be our pleasure!" The vige head replied.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo turned around and started to walk, while the Vige head quickly hurried behind them.


    "Umm¡­ my lords, the ce is a bit far from here. Would it be fine if I take some supplies with me?" the vige head asked.


    "How far is it approximately from here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "About two hundred kilometers." The Vige head answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu understood why the vige head was a bit afraid. This distance was rather long even for a seventh stage body tempering realm warrior like the vige head and it would take him a couple of days to travel that much.


    Besides, there was also the fact that there was a difference in status between that man and Lin Mu, thus he didn''t think that Lin Mu would lower himself to carry him or something.


    But he was in for a surprise.


    Lin Mu looked at Jing Luo and spoke, "take that out."


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Jing Luo waved his hand and an old item that Lin Mu had not seen for a while appeared.


    "This¡­" The vige head was shocked.


    In front of him was a boat that was better than anything he had ever seen in his lifetime. And not just that, it was a boat that could float in the air.


    He rubbed his eyes, thinking that he might have still need dreaming. But then realized that it was all real.


    ''A boat like this¡­ a spirit vehicle¡­ just who are these esteemed lords? Are they from the capital?'' the vige head wondered.


    "Get in." Lin Mu ordered.


    "Right away!" the vige head said before jumping into the spirit boat.


    Jing Luo and Lin Mu did the same as the boat started to rise up. The other vigers too saw it and were stunned. Some of them directly kneeled on the ground and kowtowed, saying things in anguage Lin Mu didn''t understand.


    Though he could tell that they were basically nothing but prayers for the Northern Tribes.


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    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    The spirit boat flew away at a rapid speed.


    "You said it is in the south from here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Y-yes.." The vige head answered, trying to keep hisposure.

 Chapter 1020 - An Old Array

    <h4>Chapter 1020 - An Old Array</h4>


    The vige head was still not able to believe that he was flying at such a fast speed. And not just that, but that he was now riding in a spirit boat!


    He had once been to the capital of the Northern Tribes before and had seen the power of the great elders there. They spirit tools that could achieve the same and he once dreamed about experiencing them.


    And now he finally had the opportunity to do so.


    The journey that would have taken him over two days toplete was finished in less than thirty minutes now!


    The vige head thought that this was rather fast, not knowing that Lin Mu and Jing Luo were able to go many times faster than this, but doing so would probably not be fine for the vige head, with no cultivation base.


    "There! That''s the ce!" The vige head pointed.


    But when Lin Mu looked at the ce, he was confused.


    "There''s¡­ nothing here." Lin Mu spoke.


    "On the ground, there are some writings on the ground." The vige head replied. "We''ll need to go down."


    Lin Munded the Spirit boat and looked around the area. This ce was on a wide hill and was covered with grasses and shrubs like most of the other ces. It looked rather normal and if one didn''t visit this ce before, they wouldn''t even be able to tell that this ce was special.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense spread around and checked the ground.


    ''There is indeed inscriptions below this¡­'' Lin Mu realized.


    Jing Luo too detected it and cleared out the soil with a wave of his hand.


    It turns out that there was actually a broken rock tform below the soilyer. Over the years, an inch thickyer of soil had settled on it making it hard to differentiate. But now the hidden runes were all visible.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense traced the edges of the tform and found that it was at least a hundred meters wide. Its original shape was impossible to make out due to how much damage it had sustained.


    "I don''t recognize these inscriptions. Can you?" Jing Luo asked.


    Lin Mu tried to read the damaged runes and barely managed to tell their functions. They were simply too faded to differentiate and since there were runes in the Dao Script included in it too, the meaning of the runes would be difficult to decipher if it was not intact.


    "A Teleportation array¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "It really is that?" Jing Luo was surprised.


    He knew of the history of the Great Zhou Empire and how the Northern Tribes had tried to invade the empire with the use of hundred of teleportation formations in the past. Nearly all of them were destroyed over the years, either by the kingdoms or the sects.


    But there were still a few that were hidden all this time, lucky to have been missed.


    "An old one¡­ from thest great war¡­" Jing Luo spoke.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    The vige head didn''t know what Lin Mu and Jing Luo were talking about but didn''t interfere in it. He simply stood there silently, so as to not offend two cultivators who might be elders.


    He was not a fool and could tell the difference in power between the other warriors and cultivators he had seen in the past and Lin Mu. There was simply an aura that made him feel suppressed, even if he was not being targeted.


    He had only felt that when he faced great beasts in the wild and escaped by the skin of his teeth.


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    "Is this still functional?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Doesn''t seem like it." Lin Mu said, but still tried to inject some spirit Qi into the rune, testing if they were even receptive.


    After a few seconds, Lin Mu shook his head.


    "Yeah, it ispletely damaged. There is no repairing it." Lin Mu stated.


    <i>~Phew~</i>


    "That is for the best. We don''t want theming here." Jing Luo replied.


    Hearing this, the vige head was a bit confused.


    ''Were we not supposed toe here? But it was the priest who told us to¡­'' he thought.


    "I want to check a bit more. Let''s wait a bit." Lin Mu spoke to Jing Luo.


    "Sure go ahead." Jing Luo agreed.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them. His vision turned blurry for a moment as the scene in front of him changed.


    ''Hmm¡­ no traces of any spatial fluctuations at all¡­ though it has been nearly two years since these vigers arrived here, so it does kind of make sense.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The vige head had told them when they had arrived here. They had tried to find other ces to live but were unable to go past a certain distance due to the beasts that lived there.


    One of their rtively strong members had set out to find more ces, but had almost died from the beasts that wandered the ins. After that, they simply didn''t dare to go any further and decided to live here at the coast where there were few beasts.


    And even the beasts that did exist here were weak enough to not threaten the lives of the vigers.


    Even the aquatic beasts were rtively tame as long as they didn''t wander out into the ocean too much. And they didn''t need to either, as there were plenty of fish and other aquatic beasts just next to the coast.


    The vigers realized that while they may have been isted from the others, they still got what they had set out for¡­ betternd.


    Though it was another fact that they barely had any seeds to start farming with. Right now, they were only cultivating some wild vegetables they had found and still depended on the ocean for their sustenance.


    Having checked the entire tform in detail, Lin Mu concluded that the arrival of the vigers might have whittled down thest bit of the durability the runes had.

 Chapter 1021 - The Location Of The Ancestral Land!

    <h4>Chapter 1021 - The Location Of The Ancestral Land!</h4>


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo returned to the vige and dropped off the Vige head there.


    The man had invited the two of them for a feast in their honor, but Lin Mu simply rejected them, citing that it would be better to save up the resources for themselves. Even if they were people of the Northern Tribes, Lin Mu wasn''t dumb enough to think that they were the same as the ones that were invading.


    Themoners and cultivators of the Northern Tribes were rather different and also had different goals.


    Themoners were just trying to survive on the meager resources they had, while the higher ups of the Northern Tribes wished to invade the Empire.


    Lin Mu wasn''t stupid enough to think that it was just the Northern Tribes'' fault that there was conflict. He knew that the true reason for enmity on both sides was because of the greed of the three continents of the past.


    But it was still on the Northern Tribes for bringing invaders into the world. That was a crime for which the world could not forgive them for.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo departed the vige shortly after to discuss what needed to be done.


    "So, what are we going to do about them?" Jing Luo asked.


    "I don''t think we need to do anything. They were clearly fooled into being test subjects by the Northern Tribes'' priests. I''m thinking they were testing out old teleportation arrays to see which one worked." Lin Mu replied.


    Jing Luo thought over it too and agreed with Lin Mu. There was no threat from the Innocent vigers even if they were from the Northern Tribes. He could understand that these were mere pawns in the hands of the elders of the tribes.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Still¡­ this only means that the Northern Tribes are looking for more ways to get into the empire." Jing Luo stated.


    "Indeed¡­ first the Kushao ruins and now this¡­ who knows how many more such teleportation arrays are left in the empire." Lin Mu replied.


    "There shouldn''t be many¡­ at least not the ones that are still working. There is a reason why the northern tribe elders were unwilling to test the arrays on their own and instead used these vigers." Jing Luo said, after thinking for a moment.


    The teleportation arrays needed to be secure or there was always a chance of one being sent to the void instead. In worst cases, they would simply be torn apart mid transmission.


    Another thing was that, even if an array was functional after being damaged, there was a limit to how many people it could send or how many times it could work before stopping entirely.


    These vigers were the best example of that, considering that half of them never arrived here. And since there were no spatial fluctuations in the area around the array either, Lin Mu reckoned that the space had stabilized fully now.


    Even if he tried to open up a rift there, Lin Mu wouldn''t find anything there.


    The two of them discussed for a little while more before deciding to leave. They didn''t speak to the vigers anymore and left them as it is. It was best for both parties. If Lin Mu and Jing Luo brought them to other ces, there was a great chance the vigers would be killed anyway.


    It was safer for them here.


    Continuing their search, Lin Mu and Jing Luo moved along the coast. It felt rather slow to Lin Mu after moving around so fast all this time, but he knew that there was no other choice.


    They would easily miss the location if they went too fast.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense was fully spread and constantly probing the area for signs of the Jing n''s ancestralnd.


    About a week ended up passing like this until Lin Mu finally detected something.


    "Huh? It''s actually there?" Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "You found it?!" Jing Luo said with excitement.


    "I¡­ think so¡­" Lin Mu said in a slightly doubtful voice.


    "You''re not sure?" Jing Luo asked, his tone deting.


    "There are indeed some spatial fluctuations there, but the locations is¡­" Lin Mu said before pointing towards the ocean.


    "The ocean? It''s in the ocean?" Jing Luo asked in confusion.


    "More urately, it''s there¡­ on that rock." Lin Mu pointed in the distance.


    Jing Luo narrowed his eyes and barely spotted a lonely rock that protruded from the ocean. It was hard to see, and the moving waves made it disappear from time to time under the water.


    "We may as well check it out then." Jing Luo stated.


    "Yeah, let''s go." Lin Mu said before flying there.


    Jing Luo and Little Shrubby followed behind him, and they quickly arrived at the rock.


    The rock was very small, so much so that only a single person would be able to stand on it. The ce was almost half a kilometer into the ocean and was actually at the top of a hill that was underwater.


    "Let''s see¡­" Lin Mu came to stand above the rock and used his spirit sense to feel the area.


    His eyes too scanned and his spatial perception detected some signs too.


    "Seems like this is the ce." Lin Mu stated.


    "Only one way to confirm it, then." Jing Luo said as he took out the Entrance Token he had made.


    He injected some spirit Qi into the token, and it flew out of his hand.


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    <i>~shua~</i>


    Seeing this, Lin Mu''s eyes lit up.


    "This is a good sign." Lin Mu muttered.


    The token seemed to fly around in the area randomly, as if searching for something. It did so for about two minutes while Lin Mu and Jing Luo stayed put.


    And when it finally came to a halt, a humming sound was hearding from it.


    "WE FOUND IT!" Jing Luo eximed.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    The entrance token let out a bright light as runes came out of it. The runes spread around into a formation in the air before the space started to flicker!

 Chapter 1022 - Entering The Ancestral Lands

    <h4>Chapter 1022 - Entering The Ancestral Lands</h4>


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo watched as a small dot of light appeared in the air.


    It hovered there lightly before it elongated into a vertical line.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Then suddenly, it expanded horizontally, turning into a light curtain. And when it was fully expanded, the three of them felt a strong force tugging at them.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Lin Mu, Jing Luo and Little shrubby were all sucked into the light curtain and disappeared. The Light curtain too faded away, leaving behind nothing. Lin Mu felt his vision turning white.


    He could not see anything else than a bright white light. Even after he closed his eyes, the light which had burned into his retinas was still there. He felt as if he was soaring through the air, but didn''t feel any air touching his skin.


    It was a strange feeling of weightlessness which Lin Mu had only felt once before when he had escaped the fragment of the Ripple Mist Sect''s sacred ground. A minute passed by like this before Lin Mu finally felt like he had stopped moving.


    He slowly opened his eyes and saw the new scenery in front of him.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu was surprised.


    In front of him was a vast sea, the end of which could not be seen. The horizon extended infinitely, but Lin Mu could tell that this was a mere illusion and it wasn''t actually like this. If he actually traveled in that direction, he would end up hitting a barrier at the end.


    He looked in the other direction and saw vast ins, hills and mountains. There was lush greenery spread everywhere along with flowers that were filled with the colors of rainbow. Small spirit beasts roamed around the ins and the melodic cries of birds could also be heard as they flew through the skies.


    "Despite hearing about the ancestralnds from grandfather in the past, this ce is even more beautiful. His words were not enough to describe the ce''s beauty¡­" Jing Luo spoke.


    <i>~sniff~ sniff~</i>


    Little Shrubby sniffed the air, trying to get a sense of the area and what beings were here.


    Lin Mu too spread his spirit sense around and quickly grasped they of thend. And when his spirit sense was fully extended, it directly hit the barrier of the minor ne.


    ''So it extends about fifty kilometers in the direction of the sea huh¡­'' Lin Mu took note.


    On the other side, Lin Mu discovered that the area was wider than a hundred kilometer. Though he also realized the curvature of the coast, making him think that this ce was actually an ind!


    But after scanning as much area as he could with his spirit sense here, Lin Mu didn''t find the people he hade here for.


    "I don''t sense them here¡­ where are they?" Lin Mu muttered as his brows furrowed.


    "Come, the ancestralnds of the Ji n are very wide. We need to travel further deep to find it." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said as the three of them started to move.


    They didn''t ride on Little Shrubby though, as they wanted to search everything a lot more carefully. And it was worth it for Lin Mu, too. He saw a myriad of spirit herbs and fruits along the way, some of which were even extinct in the Xiaofan world.


    Though he also discovered the fact that the ce wascking in spirit beasts. The strongest beasts here were merely at the core condensation realm and most were simply at the Qi refining realm.


    The Trio traveled for about an hour before they reached a mountain that was rather peculiar. It looked like there was an additional peak sprouting from the original one from the angle they were standing at.


    "Hang on¡­ isn''t that¡­" Lin Mu finally recognized.


    "The Myriad Armament Canopy Abode¡­" Jing Luo said as he gazed at the pseudo immortal spirit tool.


    The Myriad Armament Canopy Abode was attached to the side of a mountain and looked like a mountain in itself. At the top of it, a t teau was seen on which the great mansion was located.


    "Are they there?" Lin Mu wondered while he scanned the area with his spirit sense. R¨ºAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only


    But upon reaching the Myriad Armament Canopy abode, he found it to be empty.


    "They are not there either." Lin Mu said with slight confusion.


    "Oh yeah, if they are at the ancestralnds it wouldn''t make sense to stay at the Myriad Armament Canopy abode when they have an even better ce to live." Jing Luo replied.


    "What is that ce?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I''ve only heard stories about it from grandfather a long time ago, and he told me that there is arge castle with several courtyards in the middle of the ancestralnds. It is the true heart of the Jing n." Jing Luo answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt rather interested in this. He already knew that the Myriad Armament Canopy abode was filled with dense spirit Qi that helped greatly in cultivation. And if the area told by Jing Luo had even better spirit Qi, it would be very powerful.


    He couldn''t wait to reach it.


    "How far is it? What do you think?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "If the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode is here, it shouldn''t be too far. I''m sure we are almost at the center of the ancestralnds now." Jing Luo answered.


    "Let''s continue then." Lin Mu said, and they went further.


    After about five minutes, Little Shrubby spoke.


    "I can smell new scents." Little Shrubby said.


    Jing Luo was surprised and wondered what this was about, so Lin Mu tranted for him.


    "He can sense them. They are nearby." Lin Mu replied.


    "Let''s speed up then!" Jing Luo said.


    The three of them started to run and when they finally crossed a tall mountain, they could see the great castle that was hidden behind it.. It wasn''t like anything Lin Mu had seen before, and even Jing Luo was lost for words.

 Chapter 1023 - War Castle Jing!

    <h4>Chapter 1023 - War Castle Jing!</h4>


    The castle looks liked it was built on top of a massive shield that floated in the air. The four corners of the castle looked to be built by using giant spears while the central building of the castle was built around an even bigger sword.


    Chains extended from the ground and attached to the massive shield below the castle, keeping it in ce.


    Around the castle, tens of other courtyards could also be seen.


    ''Just how great it would have been in the heyday of the Jing n¡­'' Lin Mu couldn''t even imagine.


    It was clear that this ce was built to house at least fifty thousand, if not a hundred thousand, peoplefortably.


    "It really does exist¡­" Jing Luo muttered. "War Castle Jing!"


    "War Castle Jing? That''s the name?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yeah. Like the Myriad Armament Canopy abode, the entire thing is a weapon and filled with formation arrays that can attack and defend. The Myriad Armament Canopy Abode was actually made as an improvement for this since the War Castle Jing can''t really move.


    Though if wepare the raw power, the War Castle Jing certainly has a lot more power. But despite that, it is not aplete spirit tool." Jing Luo answered.


    "Huh? If the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode is weaker than this, they how is War Castle Jing not at least a Pseudo Immortal tool?" Lin Mu asked in confusion.


    "As you can see, the entire War Castles made from differentponents and is not a whole spirit tool individually. The n''s goal was to make a strong castle where its people coulde to take shelters in times of distress.


    The ancestor wanted to make a version that could do all that the War Castle Jing could do and thus the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode came into existence. It took several generations of elders working on it before it reached the current level." Jing Luo exined.


    "I see¡­ still, this is no less of an achievement." Lin Mu said, feeling impressed.


    He could tell that the Jing n already had enough background to easilypare with a top ten sect.


    ''No wonder the sects were so wary of the Jing n. Them eliminating all of them in one go was the only way they could stop them from rising up.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    "Come, the entrance seems to be from this part." Jing Luo said as he gestured towards a gate.


    The gate was strange as it had no walls surrounding it. There were simply two pirs on top of which a beam was erected. Fine carvings could be seen on it too, and it was clear that this was all part of a formation array.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense probed the gate and realized the reason for the absence of the walls.


    ''The gate is indeed just a gate. The walls don''t exist because they are in the form of formation array barrier.'' Lin Mu undertook.


    He could feel the strong barrier that even he would have a hard time breaking, covering the entire area. The War Castle Jing as well as the surrounding courtyards were all protected within the barrier, which could defend against Dao Treading realm experts with ease.


    ''If this castle could really be moved around like the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode, it would be enough to eradicate several sects and kingdoms with ease.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He felt that it was a shame it could not be moved.


    If it could, Lin Mu thought it would serve as a great deterrent for the Northern Tribes as well as the Gu Legion.


    He walked towards the gate and stopped in front.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    A formation appeared on top of the gate as runes flowed out of it. The runes flew around Lin Mu and Jing Luo, as if searching for something.


    "Don''t move. The formation might attack us if it detects us as a threat." Jing Luo warned.


    After a few seconds, the runes all surrounded Jing Luo and went into his body.


    <i>~HUMM~</i>


    The entire formation array vibrated as a light shone from Jing Luo''s body. An opening appeared in the barrier where the gate was after this.


    "Come, this is it." Jing Luo directed.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, wondering if it would stop him there and Little Shrubby too. He could tell that this was an Identification formation that would only allow those of the Jing n in.


    "Will it allow us to?" Lin Mu asked, just in case.


    "It will now. I can control it somewhat. It gave me the authority just now." Jing Luo replied.


    "Oh, that''s great." Lin Mu said as he followed behind him.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Little Shrubby shrunk down as well, as he was a too big to pass through the gate. Returning to his small cat form, he went and sat on Lin Mu''s shoulders. Lin Mu didn''t mind this anyway and the three of them continued under the guidance of Jing Luo.


    They passed by the empty courtyards that were still clean and well maintained, evidently due to the formation arrays working this entire time. A look of pain appeared on Jing Luo''s face as he was reminded of his n, which no longer existed.


    The three of them reached the bottom of the War Castle Jing, before flying up directly.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    But just as they were about to reach it, they felt danger.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    An explosion happened where they were just standing and they had barely managed to dodge it. Lin Mu was surprised too, since the attack was really fast.


    ''No¡­ it''s not the attack that is fast¡­ my speed is being restricted¡­'' Lin Mu felt a faint restriction on his body.


    He couldn''t even tell when it was applied and was shocked.


    "HALT! WHO DARES ENTER THE ANCESTRAL LANDS OF THE JING CLAN!?" A woman''s voice could be heard.


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    It was filled with utter rage, but there was also a hint of confusion in it.. The voice seemed to echo from far but still seemed close.

 Chapter 1024 - A Tearful Reunion

    <h4>Chapter 1024 - A Tearful Reunion</h4>


    When Lin Mu heard the voice, his eyes lit up. He could after all, recognize the voice and knew it well enough. Jing Luo was the same, and tears almost appeared in his eyes.


    Both of them felt close to the voice, and yet distant. Lin Mu''s spirit sense scanned the area and yet he couldn''t tell where exactly it hade from.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    But before he could search any more, he felt another attacking towards him. This time though, Lin Mu didn''t even dodge and took the attack head on.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    "WHAT!?" The woman''s voice said in shock.


    She had just witnessed the intruder running straight into the attack instead of trying to avoid it. She knew just how powerful that attack was and it could even injure a Dao Treading realm cultivator!


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    The cloud of smoke was suddenly cleared, and the body of Lin Mu was visible again. Not one bit of a scratch could be seen on his shimmering golden skin, but his sleeves were torn from the attack.


    "Wait! It''s me Duan Ke!" Lin Mu called out.


    He had taken the attack head on, so that he could trace it back. This allowed him to discover anotheryer of formation barrier that was hiding Duan Ke behind it.


    ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME!? WHO ARE YOU!?" Duan Ke shouted, feeling absolutely stunned.


    She couldn''t recognize the man with the golden shining skin in front of her at all. He was tall and had a well built body. And along with him was another man who was evenrger in build than the first man.


    Neither of them were familiar to her. Not to mention, even if they were familiar, them being here in the Ancestral Lands of the Jing n was ridiculous in itself. As far as she knew, only she and her grandfather were the ones with ess to it.


    ''Did some great formation master break in? There is no other way they would be able to bypass the fomentation arrays¡­'' Duan Ke thought.


    But just as she was thinking this, she heard the voice of the young man again.


    "Its me, Lin Mu!" He announced.


    But Duan Ke didn''t believe him one bit. She had not forgotten about the teenage boy who had brought them many surprises. She would never forget him. After all, they were in debt to him.


    ''Could it really be?'' Despite that, after a few memories resurfaced in her mind, she couldn''t help but feel hesitant.


    Lin Mu understood Duan Ke''s thoughts a bit and quickly took out something that could easily prove his identity.


    "It really is me, Lin Mu." He said again. "Look!" The short sword came to float in front of Lin Mu and he showed his right hand too, on which a golden ring with green streaks was present.


    Seeing them, Duan Ke''s eyes went wide.


    "No way¡­ it can''t be¡­ how?" Duan Ke said with confusion. "How can you even enter this ce?"


    "That''s because of me." Jing Luo spoke.


    Duan Ke''s attention was pulled to him, and a strange feeling stirred within her heard. The voice of the other man tugged at her memories again, but she couldn''t tell where she had heard them before.


    "It''s me, Ke''er¡­" Jing Luo continued.


    As soon as he said that, Duan Ke''s head spun. Memories came rushing back, memories of her and her cousin who had seemingly died a long time ago. She couldn''t believe it when she had lost him in the past, and now that she was hearing it again, she found it hard to believe it too.


    "No! That can''t be... Jing Luo is dead!" Duan Ke yelled, her voice trembling.


    "I know it''s hard to believe. But I never died¡­ I escaped and was trapped." Jing Luo exined before showing something to her. "Look, the entrance token to the ancestralnds."


    Her eyes went to the token in Jing Luo''s hand''s carefully scanning it.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    She waved her hands as a few runes came to touch upon the entrance token. And when they did, the token resonated in response.


    "Do you really think anyone else would be able to make the Entrance token of our ancestralnd? Even in our own n, there were only a handful that can make it." Jing Luo added.


    "It really is¡­ you." Duan Ke said, finallying around.


    "Show yourself to us, cousin. I want to see you¡­ it''s been too long¡­" Jing Luo said, his eyes reddening.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The barrier hiding Duan Ke dissipated and her body became visible. She was standing some distance away from them, atop a triangr te. She wore a pale green dress with yellow tassels hanging on the edges of her sleeves and cks.


    Her hair was divided into three sections, with one part being tied up in a bunch on the back of her head, while two sections were left to flow freely behind her back. There was a coiling gold hair ornament holding the hair on her head while another tassel hung from it.


    Lin Mu looked at her and found her to be the same as before, though her demeanor had slightly changed to be more domineering. The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from here were also many times stronger than before, being at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.


    Such power was a great difference from when Lin Mu left her. Back then, Duan Ke was barely at the Peak stage of the core condensation realm. But with the insights for cultivation that Xukong had passed onto her through Lin Mu, she had progressed at a very fast speed.


    Not even ten years had passed since then and she was at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm. Such progress was indeed quite fast and Lin Mu would have thought so too, if he didn''t know multiple others who had achieved the same.


    The two men and one woman stared at each other, memorizing every single inch of their faces.. Hoping that this was not a dream and that they truly were here.

 Chapter 1025 - Playful Banter

    <h4>Chapter 1025 - yful Banter</h4>


    "How¡­ what¡­" Duan Ke didn''t know what to say and was at a loss for words.


    Jing Luo though, didn''t mind that and flew towards her. Duan Ke didn''t move and let him embrace her, her expression still frozen the same.


    "Don''t worry, I really am here." Jing Luo spoke calmly in her ears.


    In that moment, Duan Ke''s eyes started tearing up and low sobs could also be heard.


    <i>~squeeze~</i>


    She wrapped her arms around Jing Luo as well and hugged him as hard as she could. She didn''t want it all to be a dream. She didn''t want him to be gone anymore and she would do anything to keep that from happening.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby watched the tearful reunion from the distance silently.


    ''I''ll give them some time.'' Lin Mu thought as he looked behind Duan Ke.


    When she had disabled the barrier that was hiding her, she had also revealed the rest of the area that was hidden along with her. Lin Mu could now see the rest of the area of the War Castle.


    The one that they had seen before was actually an illusion to make it look like there was no one there and no activity was present either.


    But now, Lin Mu could seeponents of formation arrays as well as spirit tools lying around haphazardly. There were raw materials and a lot of other things here too, including beast pelts and ores.


    It was certainly not as clean and pristine looking as it did from the outside.


    Five minutes passed like this, when Lin Mu decided that it was time to intervene.


    <i>~cough~</i>


    "Are you two okay?" Lin Mu asked lightly.


    "Uh¡­" Jing Luo and Duan Ke finally separated.


    Duan Ke''s face was particrly red, and the embarrassment was apparent. Jing Luo though, was fine and a wide smile was present on his face.


    "You have certainly grown since thest time I saw you." Jing Luo said with a chuckle.


    <i>~Pat~pat~</i>


    He lightly patted her head, to which Duan Ke quickly reacted.


    <i>~smack~</i>


    "Hey! I''m no longer a child." Duan Ke said.


    "You will still be a child to me. We are after all, fifty years apart, haha!" Jing Luoughed.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was surprised.


    "You are¡­ fifty one years old?" Lin Mu said to Duan Ke upon hearing this.


    He had known Jing Luo''s age already and it was at about 101 years old. It was very young whenpared to most cultivators of his cultivation base who would be around seven to eight hundred years old.


    Deducting fifty years from that age gave Lin Mu the age of Duan Ke. Which was surprising to him, considering how young she looked.


    ''Doesn''t the aging only stop when one reaches Nascent soul realm?'' Lin Mu was a bit confused.


    "Female cultivators are just like mortal women and will try to do their best to keep up their looks¡­ at least the majority of them. Thus even if they are not at the Nascent soul realm, they would still look younger.


    Cultivation still does slow down aging for them." Xukong chimed in.


    He had been silent for a rather long time and had only woken up upon sensing a strong attacking towards Lin Mu. While he was confident of Lin Mu being fine, he still paused his cultivation for that just in case.


    ''I see¡­'' Lin Mu replied, keeping it in mind.


    But Duan Ke didn''t take Lin Mu''s words kindly, and an irritated expression appeared on her face.


    <i>~humph~ </i>


    She turned away, not wanting to look at Lin Mu''s face.


    "The excitement faded away so soon?" Jing Luo joked. "I thought you''d be a lot more happy seeing him." He added.


    "Cousin!" Duan Ke was even more embarrassed at hearing his words.


    "What? I approve of him. If you want to, he has the go ahead." Jing Luo said brazenly, confusing Lin Mu and making Duan Ke blush even more.


    "Uhh¡­ what?" Lin Mu said in confusion.


    "He''s a child!" Duan Ke said in response to Jing Luo.


    "Ahahha! It won''t matter in a few centuries." Jing Luo continued.


    Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion while Duan Ke felt her face burning.


    <i>~step~step~step~</i>


    While this was happening, Little Shrubby had taken the liberty of getting down from Lin Mu''s shoulder and walking towards Duan Ke.


    The small form of Little Shrubby looked up at the red face of Duan Ke and tilted his head too.


    <i>~mew~</i>


    He let out a cry, pulling Duan Ke''s attention. But Lin Mu heard the actual meaning of it.


    "This woman is better than that man. She''s red like me too!" Little Shrubby said.


    <i>~chuckle~</i>


    Lin Mu couldn''t hold back and chuckled, too. Jing Luo who heard it, felt irked and knew that something must have been said behind his back.


    "What did the cat say?" Jing Luo narrowed his eyes.


    "Just that Little Shrubby likes her more than you." Lin Mu answered.


    Duan Ke looked at the small cat and lowered herself to pick him up. Little Shrubby let her do it as well.


    <i>~pet~</i>


    She lightly stroked Little Shrubby''s head and spoke, "this beast is smart."


    "Hey!!!" Jing Luo protested.


    <i>~mew~ </i>


    Little Shrubby didn''t care for any words and simply enjoyed behind stroked.


    Duan Ke felt a little better seeing her cousin being embarrassed now and a slight smile appeared on her face too.


    "So this cute beast is named Little Shrubby?" Duan Ke asked.


    "Yeah, he is." Lin Mu answered.


    "He''s not so cute and not so little¡­ you''ll see." Jing Luo snarked.


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    <i>~smack~</i>


    Jing Luo was smacked on the shoulder by Duan Ke again.


    ~Poof~


    And then a small fireball lit his beard on fire.


    "YOU!!!" Jing Luo was infuriated by the actions of both.


    "Come on now, you two." Lin Mu stopped them, before they went into one of their squabbles.


    Jing Luo stopped while Duan Ke red at him, and Little Shrubby simply stuck out his tongue.

 Chapter 1026 - Where Is Jing Wei?

    <h4>Chapter 1026 - Where Is Jing Wei?</h4>


    With the yful banter over, Lin Mu finally asked the question that he had been wanting to ask for a while.


    "Where is Old man Jing?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Duan Ke looked over and replied, "he''s¡­ been in seclusion."


    "He''s cultivating?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not exactly¡­" Duan Ke replied.


    "Then what''s he doing in seclusion?" Lin Mu asked, feeling even more confused.


    "Well, he''s¡­ Forging. He has been for the past five years and I don''t know what." Duan Ke answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu found it strange, but Jing Luo seemed to have some insight.


    "Oh! Grandfather went into one of his forging bouts. He used to do this in the past too. Whenever he reached a certain point of breakthrough in his skill, he would start forging and won''t stop until he finally aplished it." Jing Luo exined.


    "Ah, really?" Lin Mu had not expected this.


    Duan Ke too looked on in interest, having not known this.


    "You were too young back then and didn''t live at the n. I even heard from father that once before thest great war, grandfather started forging and didn''t stop for over a hundred years.


    It is said that the n even thought that he had gone mad. While the outsiders thought that he had died in seclusion." Jing Luo reveled.


    "This¡­ he won''t just stay like that for a century again, will he? We need him." Lin Mu said with concern.


    "Don''t worry, I''m sure he''ll stop once we''re there." Jing Luo replied.


    "Yeah, there''s no way he won''t want to meet you." Duan Ke said with a nod.


    "Well then, bring us to him. There is a lot¡­ a lot, that has happened and we need your help." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing Lin Mu''s tone, Duan Ke''s expression turned stern.


    "What is it?" Duan Ke questioned.


    "It will be better if we exin to you and your grandfather together." Lin Mu answered.


    "Alright, follow me then." Duan Ke replied, and turned around with Little Shrubby still in her hands.


    The beast seemed to have befortable and was resting his neck on the soft chest of Duan Ke.


    They continued inward as more formation barriers were lifted. Lin Mu could tell that the security here was the strongest he had ever seen, even whenparing the top sects. In fact, after seeing the entire area and the spirit Qi here, Lin Mu was sure that the Jing n could itself be a top sect.


    They did after all have the background, the resources, the fortune and the techniques to back it all up. The only thing theycked was people and also that they had a lot of enemies.


    If not for that, Lin Mu was sure that the Jing n could rise were quickly. A few thoughts came to Lin Mu with respect to this too.


    ''When I leave this world¡­ what do I want to leave it as?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Having be the world''s ordained, he knew that he had a responsibility to the Xiaofan world. But he also knew a fact that he could not stay here. He wanted to see a lot more, and explore the many worlds.


    That day, which once seemed distant, was approaching fast. Lin Mu could tell this much.


    ''Once the Northern Tribes and Gu Legion are dealt with¡­ I''ll find ways to leave the world. Even if I don''t, I simply need to cultivate till the Immortal Ascension realm and leave the world naturally.


    That will also give me enough time to get my affairs in order.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He was fully prepared to enter seclusion and cultivate until he reached the Immortal Ascension realm. Though he didn''t yet know how he will be doing that. His Dao Shell was close topletion stage and he had already started feeling the hints of Dao.


    He had a instinctual feeling about what Dao Embryo he would be condensing as well. This was something Lin Mu couldn''t exin how, it was as if it was built directly into his soul.


    While having these thoughts, Lin Mu was brought to the depths of the War Castle Jing. It was really huge in the inside as well and there were easily thousands of rooms and halls in it.


    Lin Mu even wondered if there were spatial expansion formations being used here. Though when he tried to look for them, his perception was being blocked by the many formation arrays.


    It wasn''t that they were all strong, but that there were simply so many of them that when stacked they became too opaque to look through.


    <i>~DENG~ </i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Finally, Duan Ke came to a stop in front of a pair ofrge doors. They were ten meters tall and looked simr to the ones in the Myriad Armament Canopy abode. The faint sound of metal nging against metal could be hearding from inside.


    Duan Ke extended her hand and ced it on the door.


    <i>~shua~</i> ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    A small formation lit up on it before the doors started to move.


    <i>~Creak~</i>


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The whole area shook as if an elephant was running around there. The opening of the door seemed to have removed some sort of a damper that stopped these vibrations.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    When the doors were eyeful open, Lin Mu felt a gust of hot air hit his face.


    "That''s rather warm¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he gazed into the glowing room.


    There were tools flying around, while runes surrounded them. Tens of formations were working non stop, while mes raged around in the ten forges that were in there. The roof was pulling the smoke and channeling it some ce else while the floor was automatically cleaning the soot and dust that fell to the ground.


    Then in the center of the hall, stood an old man. He had a crazed look on his face, with his hair and beard being covered in ash and ck oil.


    "NO! NO! NO! NO! THIS IS NOT ENOUGH! I NEED MORE!!!!" The old man yelled.

 Chapter 1027 - The Crazed Old Man

    <h4>Chapter 1027 - The Crazed Old Man</h4>


    Jing Wei seemed to be lost in his work and was continuously talking to himself. He would scream at some times, and whisper at others. It was extremely strange and if any normal person saw it, they would certainly think that the old man had gone senile.


    But if a person with some insights into spirit tool refinement and weapon forging heard them, they would feel their whole world view shake. Each and every sentence of Old Man Jing was filled with a deep meaning that many others would take thousands of others to reach.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    And just as Jing Wei was working on a b of metal, it suddenly exploded.


    "DAMMIT! THE HEAT IS STILL NOT ENOUGH!!" he cursed.


    Gritting his teeth, he mmed his fists on the ingots of metal kept on the side in frustration.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    The ingots were directly bent from the force, but after a few seconds, they reformed into their original form.


    "Again!" Old man Jing said and waved his hand.


    Making gestures with his fingers, he created runes. The runes flew around in the air in a peculiar pattern and went to several materialsying around the hall.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    <i>~shing~</i>


    Various materials started to fly when the runes touched them. They came towards Jing Wei and floated around him. Extended his hand, the old man grasped a sheet of metal that was at least an inch thick.


    It was unknown what kind of a metal it was, but it seemed to be rather tough.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Old Man Jing mmed the metal sheet on the forging tform and pulled on the door of the forge.


    <i>~HUAAAAAAAA~</i>


    Scorching mes shot out from the mouth of the forge, threating to burn everything down.


    "Suppress!" Old man Jing made a hand seal, and the mes became a lot tamer.


    And yet their heat had not been suppressed, what had been suppressed was merely the unruly shape of the mes. Now the mes were smooth, like a ribbon made from the finest silk fluttering in the wind.


    Old Man Jing controlled the mes to meticulously spread over the metal sheet and heat up its surface. Once it was red hot in color, he closed the door of the forge and picked up the hammer thatid on his side.


    The hammer was thick and dense, but looked rather in. There weren''t even any runes on it. But if anyone sensed the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the hammer, they would realize that the hammer was nomon hammer.


    It was in fact, a Peak grade spirit tool!


    One hit from such a hammer was enough to tten a hill into a in. And just like that, the hammer rose up in the hand of Jing Wei and came down like the first thunder of summer.


    <i>~DONG!!!!!!!~</i>


    A sonorous sound was heard as the entire metal sheet vibrated from the strike. An imprint of the hammer''s face appeared on the sheet''s surface. But that was simply the start as Jing Wei lifted his hand again and again, striking the metal sheet over and over again.


    In just a minute, he had hit the metal sheet enough times that it had been ttened even more. It was now only half as thick as before, being elongated in size instead. When this was done, Jing Wei flipped the sheet on its side and struck it from the very edge.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    This hit was more powerful than the earlier hits and directly bent the sheet in half. He then pressed it further, making sure that the edges matched perfectly, and it was like half folded sheet of paper.


    <i>~HUAAAAAA~</i>


    The door of the forge opened again as mes shot out from it, heating the metal sheet again. Old Man Jing repeated the hammering process again, before folding the sheet in half again.


    "Umm¡­ should we stop him?" Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    It didn''t look like the old man had even noticed the presence of Lin Mu and others, despite that fact that it had been half an hour. They had even been chatting amongst themselves, but the old man didn''t seem to be aware of it at all.


    His heart and soul were in his work and it didn''t look like he woulde out of it easily.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    Duan Ke shook her head.


    "I''ve had to tell him for over a week before he finally took a breakst time." She stated.


    "Should I try?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Go head." Duan Ke replied.


    Lin Mu walked a bit ahead, but didn''t go too forward since that area was protected by the formations.


    "Old Man Jing! It''s me Lin Mu! I''ve returned!" Lin Mu called out.


    They waited to see if Jing Wei would respond, but there was no response.


    "I''ll try, he should respond hearing me at least." Jing Luo said.


    It would certainly a matter of shock if Jing Luo, who was supposedly dead for over fifty years, were to suddenly return. They all thought that it should truly be enough to move the old man.


    "GRANDFATHER I''M BACK! LUO''ER IS BACK!" Jing Luo yelled with excitement.


    A minute passed, but the response never came.


    "It''s no use¡­ he''s too deep." Jing Luo said with a crestfallen face.


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    "It doesn''t work. And we can''t get close either. Only grandfather can lift that heat barrier." Duan Ke spoke.


    "Does that barrier block sound to by any chance?" Lin Mu wondered if they had missed such an obvious thing.


    "Of course not! It only blocks the extreme heat from the forge. If any of us get close, we''d be burned to ashes rather easily. Even a Dao Shell realm expert is not safe from it." Duan Ke replied.


    "Huh¡­ so that''s all?" Lin Mu said in a rather casual tone.


    "What do you mean?" Duan Ke asked before her eyes went wide. "WAIT!¡­ DON''T!" she yelled as she saw Lin Mu getting closer to the barrier.


    "It''ll be fine." Jing Luo stated. "Just watch."


    Under the shocked eyes of Duan Ke, Lin Mu easily walked past the barrier and into the scorching heat of the forge.

 Chapter 1028 - Jing Weis Vow!

    <h4>Chapter 1028 - Jing Wei''s Vow!</h4>


    Duan Ke''s heart shook as she watched Lin Mu step past the barrier. She fully expected him to burn up. She had not gotten the chance to know his cultivation base and didn''t even have that in her mind.


    After all, ording tomon sense, there was no way Lin Mu would be at the Dao Treading realm which would be needed to resist the heat. Which in reality, he wasn''t. But Lin Mu had other ways to resist this heat with the great defenses of his body.


    "How?" Duan Ke was at a loss for words, seeing Lin Mu fine.


    Not even his robes were burning as a brown light armor could be seen appearing around it. It was effortlessly resisting the heat.


    ''The earth element?'' Duan Ke could at least recognize that Lin Mu was using some kind of a skill.


    Lin Mu continued to walk forward until he was merely a meter behind Old Man Jing.


    "Old man Jing, I''m here." Lin Mu spoke lightly and extended his hand.


    The hand lightly tapped on the old man''s rugged back, causing a bigger reaction than expected.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The light tap had interrupted Jing Wei''s hammer strike, and made him use inadequate force. This ended up with him mming the hammer with extreme force and itpletely warped the metal sheet.


    "DAMMIT! WHO?" Old Man Jing was infuriated.


    But when he turned around, he saw Lin Mu who was not the person he was expecting to see there.


    "Ke''er? When did you be a man?" Jing Wei said with confusion.


    "AHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" Jing Luo who heard it, burst outughing.


    "GRANDFATHER! HOW CAN YOU EVEN THINK THAT!?" Duan Ke shouted.


    With his attention off from the forging, Jing Wei finally heard the voice of the other two. He looked at them and then back at Lin Mu.


    "What is happening here? Why are there two more people than there should be? Am I finally going senile?" Old Man Jing muttered to himself. "Even Luo''er seems to be here. I should really be going insane."


    Lin Mu who heard this, understood the man was really a bit too confused. He had been working non stop for a little too long and was disoriented to say the least.


    "You aren''t going senile old man¡­ you can''t go insane either, at least not now when we need you." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Who are you?" Old Man Jing asked, not feeling threatened with the appearance of a random person at all.


    "Why don''t you tell me?" Lin Mu replied before withdrawing the Short sword from his ring.


    <i>~shing~</i>


    When the short sword appeared in front of him, it vibrated lightly and let out resonating sound. It felt like the sword was feeling happy seeing its old owner again.


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    The old man too locked his eyes onto the short sword and narrowed them.


    "It''s this?" Jing Wei said as he looked back at Lin Mu. "And you¡­ that boy¡­ Lin Mu?!" Old Man Jing finally recognized.


    "You got that right." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    "Then¡­" Old Man Jing seemed shook for a second as he turned towards Jing Luo stiffly.


    "Who are¡­" Jing Wei couldn''t believe his eyes.


    "It''s me, grandfather¡­. Jing Luo, your grandson." Jing Luo said, as his eyes reddened slightly.


    "But¡­ how?" Jing Luo seemed to be truly confused right now.


    His hands trembled while his fingers twitched, holding the peak grade spirit tool hammer in his hand.


    "We have a lot to catch up on. Why don''t we go somewhere morefortable to talk." Lin Mu suggested.


    Old Man Jing simply nodded and was still lost in his thoughts.


    Duan Ke brought them all to the upper lounge, where Old Man Jing sat silently as Jing Luo narrated what had happened to him. Lin Mu didn''t say much during this time either, as he knew the shock of Jing Luo being alive was the greatest for old man Jing.


    On some level, Jing Wei had always med himself for his grandson''s death and wished that time could turn around so that he could save him. But he also knew that it would never happen. He could only regret for years toe.


    And thus when Jing Luo finally appeared in front of him again, he was at a loss. He had fully epted that Jing Luo was dead and knew that the only time he might see his grandson in the future would be when he was dead.


    Thisbined with his bottleneck made him think that he had Qi deviation or some other problem which killed him swiftly and that he was now in the afterlife.


    Only after the detailed exnation by Jing Luo and several proofs did he believe them.


    "This¡­ Heavens have blessed me again¡­" Jing Wei muttered.


    He brought his hands to his face and pressed it hard while taking a deep breath.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    A minuteter, he put down his hands and looked at a particr person.


    "Seems like the debt that we owe you will never decrease." Jing Wei spoke with great emotion in his voice.


    "Not only did you give us new insights, but you even saved my grandson and returned him to us. This grace¡­ the Jing n shall never forget." Jing Wei said with a firm voice.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    All of a sudden, a dagger appeared in front of Jing Wei, surprising everyone. The dagger had a short handle but a sharp, almost needle like de. Old Man Jing firmly grasped it and before anyone could respond, thrust it toward his heart.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    "GRANDFATHER!!!" Duan Ke and Jing Luo screamed.


    But much to their shock, the dagger turned ethereal before it touched Jing Wei. He pulled it back out and there was only a small drop of blood on it that glowed lightly with a white shimmer.


    "I Jing Wei, the patriarch of the Jing n hereby deres Lin Mu, the eternal saviour of the Jing n.. For theing one thousand and one generations, the Jing n shall be under his grace!" He dered.

 Chapter 1029 - The New Approach

    <h4>Chapter 1029 - The New Approach</h4>


    Jing Wei''s words resounded in the entire hall and even beyond it. In fact, they continued to resonate and echo long enough that they extended beyond the reaches of the War Castle Jing and throughout the entire ancestralnd.


    It seemed to have caused some strange phenomenon where the skies of the ancestralnd started to tremble.


    The glowing drop of blood on the tip of the needle like dagger flew up and shot into Lin Mu''s forehead before he could react. And when that happed, Lin Mu felt an inexplicable link forming between Jing Wei, Jing Luo, Duan Ke and him.


    It wasn''t like the link he had between Little Shrubby and him, nor was it like the ordainment of the world''s will. It was entirely different from it. It was as if the three of them could never harm him and if he said so, the three of them would die.


    ''What even is this?'' Lin Mu found it to be a bit terrifying.


    "Now I didn''t expect this to happen¡­ A Vow of servitude taken upon an entire n''s bloodline." Xukong suddenly spoke, his voice containing hints of surprise as well.


    "What is this, senior?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling lost.


    "You can basically consider it as an oath. Simr to the one you took with others for the alliance. Except this one is far stronger¡­ this basically turns the Jing n into your servants¡­ if you want to of course." Xukong answered.


    "WHAT!? Why would he do something like this?" Lin Mu was utterly shocked.


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    "Well, I don''t know either. But it seems your help has deemed it important enough for Jing Wei to do this. I''m more surprised he even knew how to do this." Xukong replied.


    And just as he said that, Lin Mu saw something happening to the needle like dagger.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    The dagger shattered into three fragments before shooting towards Jing Wei, Jing Luo and Duan Ke. But just like before, it turned ethereal before entering either hearts.


    "The vow has been made¡­" Jing Wei said, opening his eyes.


    Jing Luo and Duan Ke were stunned at the whole situation, not knowing what it was at all.


    "What¡­ what was that, grandfather?" Duan Ke asked.


    "It was repayment¡­ or at least an attempt." Jing Wei replied.


    "Did you really need to go that far?" Lin Mu questioned, having learned about the whole thing from Xukong.


    "I''m afraid even that is not enough. You may not know the significance of what you have done for us. What I''ve done is perhaps only the beginning for the repayment of debt. I only hope that ourtter generations will be able toplete it." Jing Wei stated.


    "Stop that!" Lin Mu protested. "You do not owe me a debt. I only did what I thought was right." He replied.


    Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on Jing Wei''s face.


    "This is exactly why I made the decision. You are worthy of our vow. The Jing n will be at yourmand from this moment onwards." Jing Wei answered.


    "But¡ª" Lin Mu wanted to say more but was interrupted.


    "Don''t try anymore. This is actually good." Xukong spoke. "Besides, as long as you don''t take unfair advantage of them, there won''t actually be any difference from before, will there?" he asked.


    "That¡­" Lin Mu found senior Xukong''s words to be rather understandable.


    "Just because he took a vow of servitude for his n doesn''t mean you really have to treat them as servants. In fact, it will be better if you treat them as you have all along." Xukong continued.


    Hearing Senior Xukong''s words, Lin Mu understood that perhaps this was the best way to approach this. He could only ept it and take the gratitude of Jing Wei.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "Fine¡­ but please don''t do anything more like this. I don''t think I''ll be able to handle more." Lin Mu said.


    "Alright." Jing Wei chuckled.


    "Now then¡­ we should probably get to the more important things¡­" Lin Mu said.


    "Of course¡­" Jing Wei said, as his expression darkened.


    "I had never expected the sects would not learn the lessons after all these years." Jing Wei spoke. "At least some of them are wise though¡­ the Long Cloud Alliance was a good decision." He added.


    Lin Mu nodded his head before exining more things to Jing Luo. He told them about everything that had happened; the invader, Gu Yao, the Northern Tribes, the immortal ascension realm cultivators, the mutated beasts as well as the reborn.


    The more they heard, the stiffer Duan Ke and Jing Wei''s expressions got.


    "Can''t believe the world would change this much in just a decade¡­" Duan Ke muttered, finding it all absurd.


    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    "I wish all I said was a lie. Things would be so much better that way." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed. I''ve wracked my head thinking about how things could go this bad this quickly after a long time of peace." Jing Luo added.


    "The fates have a fickle reputation of flipping the odds when we get the mostfortable. Seems like it is just a repeat of that again." Jing Wei said in mncholic tone.


    "Can you help us about this then, old man Jing?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course! It is our duty! Not only due to the vow, but the old duty that the Jing n took several thousand years ago!" Jing Wei stated.


    Lin Mu''s eyes lit up upon hearing this and he nodded his head extendedly. Duan Ke too, let out a smile while Little Shrubby simply curled up more in her embrace. The beast had been taking a nap without a care in the world.


    "When can we start?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Right away. With the issue of tracking down the Invader''s traces, Duan Ke can help you. I believe her breakthrough has given her some new abilities. As for the issue of themunication jade slips being jammed, I can help make something that''ll revert that.." Jing Wei replied.

 Chapter 1030 - Jing Weis Strongest Weapon

    <h4>Chapter 1030 - Jing Wei''s Strongest Weapon</h4>


    Lin Mu and Jing Wei continued their discussion for a while and a lot of ns were made in that time. After having done this, Lin Mu wanted to inform the Alliance right away, but when he tried to go to the Kong ne, he realized he couldn''t.


    "Huh? I can''t enter it?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "It won''t work if you are in another minor ne. You need to be in the main world for it to be possible." Xukong informed.


    "Oh, I see¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    He had not known this so far, but it was good to know now. It was in fact rather important information as he could end up getting trapped in some other minor ne and be unable to leave just because he made a mistake of thinking that he could always enter the Kong ne.


    "What''s the problem?" Jing Luo asked, seeing that Lin Mu was still here.


    "I can''t go to the Kong ne from here. I''ll need to go back to the Xiaofan world." Lin Mu replied.


    "You can''t? That''ll be a problem then." Jing Luo stated.


    "Yes, you won''t be able to leave the ancestralnds right now, either." Duan Ke added.


    "Huh? Why?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "It''s for the safety of the ancestralnds. The formation arrays restrict the entry and exit from the ancestralnds. We can change that, but we had it set to a week till now. Or rather, it was set as default." Jing Wei exined.


    "So I won''t be able to leave for another six days?" Lin Mu questioned, finding it rather troublesome.


    He knew that he could always use the ring to tear open a rift, but that was still a wild card, as he could just end up in some other ce in the lesser void. It would be a problem if that happened.


    "I''ll remove that limit, but it won''t change the restriction just now. You will still have to wait six days more." Jing Wei spoke.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and wondered if this would be good. He couldn''t help but feel anxious about not being in contract with the alliance.


    "It should be fine, we were in contact the entire month till now and nothing problematic happened. Not to mention we actually increased the security due to the information we got from Wu Hei." Jing Luo spoke, understanding what Lin Mu was thinking.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and nodded his head.


    "Yeah, it should be fine." Lin Mu agreed.


    "If even four top sects can''t hold back for a mere week, then those nipoops deserve to perish." Jing Wei scoffed.


    He was still a bit biased against the sects and couldn''t forgive them right away. Though his anger against them had significantly reduced after Lin Mu and Jing Luo''s exnation.


    Hearing it though, Lin Mu could only let out a wry smile.


    "Regardless, we can still work on the ns at this time. I''ll need to refine the remains of the invaders to know how to track them first, too." Duan Ke interrupted.


    "Oh yeah, here you go." Lin Mu said as he took out the corpses of the mutated beasts and the reborn.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    The remains fell to the ground and looking at them, Duan Ke couldn''t help but furrow her brows.


    "They certainly are ugly¡­" Duan Ke muttered.


    Jing Wei checked the remains with his spirit sense too, as a frown appeared on his face.


    "These... Are vastly different from what I expected." Jing Wei spoke.


    "Oh? What''s the issue, grandfather?" Jing Luo asked.


    Lin Mu was intrigued too as he knew that Jing Wei was the most experience here and had even fought against an invader in the past. While that invader had been unable to fully appear in the Xiaofan world, it was still valuable experience.


    Not to mention that invader was rather strong too, having said to be above the immortal ascension realm.


    "This thing¡­ it makes me uneasy. It''s as if¡­ the one we fought in the past was like a childpared to this." Jing Wei answered.


    "What? Was the one you all fought in the past simr to this?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "No¡­ it was not like this at all. That was a beast. This though¡­ I can''t even tell what creature this is. Is it a beast? A ghost? Or what? This has gone beyond the normal understanding.


    But from what the traces of leftover aura are there on this¡­ they are vastly more sinister than the one I felt before from the previous invader.


    It''s like¡­ the one in the past was merely a beast that had wandered into an uncharted territory and was lost. But this¡­ this feels downright malevolent." Jing Wei exined.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he understood that perhaps they needed to consider they may not win against this thing. At least not safely¡­


    Jing Wei rubbed his beard and thought about the entire thing.


    "Seems like I might really need toplete it soon¡­ we will need it if we are to go against this invader." Jing Wei spoke.


    Lin Mu raised his head and wondered what Jing Wei was talking about.


    "What are you talking about?" Lin Mu asked.


    "A weapon. It would be the strongest spirit weapon I would have ever made. The best in this continent." Jing Wei replied.


    "Really?" Lin Mu was surprised, but felt like it would really help them.


    With a strong being such as the invader that just did not die easily, a weapon like that would be necessary.


    "What''s the problem you are facing then, grandfather? We saw that you were struggling back in the forge." Jing Luo asked.


    "I¡­ have reached a bottleneck. Even with the insights Lin Mu''s master gave me, I still can''t find the proper ways to apply to it such that I finally breakthrough to the new level.. I don''t want to just make a Pseudo Immortal weapon¡­ I want to make an Immortal weapon!" Jing Wei dered.This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

 Chapter 1031 - A New Affinity

    <h4>Chapter 1031 - A New Affinity</h4>


    Hearing Jing Wei''s ambitious words, both Lin Mu and Jing Luo were surprised.


    But both their eyes lit up as they understood just how powerful an immortal weapon could be. While Jing Luo had not known about its power and could only imagine it from the name, Lin Mu knew about it.


    He had after all, read about a few in the Memoirs of the Lost immortal. While it only gave some simple descriptions about the power of the immortal weapons, they were still nothing to joke about.


    For example, Lin Mu read about an immortal weapon that the Lost Immortal had used, which was an arrow. It was just a single arrow without a bow to use it with.


    And yet¡­ when he had thrown the arrow with his hand, the arrow had pierced through an entire mountain range before stopping!


    Just from that, Lin Mu understood the power of an immortal weapon could not be joked about. Spirit weapons and immortal weapons were on an entirely different level and even a million peak grade spirit weapons would notpare with a true immortal weapon.


    But with all this, Lin Mu also remembered something.


    ''Unless he himself is in the Immortal realm, it would be very difficult to make an Immortal grade weapon.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "What do you need, grandfather? I''ll help you! Not to brag, but I''ve progressed quite a lot in my forging skills too. Plus, now I''m in the Dao Shell realm, so it won''t be a problem for me to go on for months." Jing Luo stated.


    "I will definitely need more help." Jing Wei replied.


    Jing Wei nodded his head. He had already learned from Jing Luo that his grandson had reached the Dao Shell realm. Not just him, but Lin Mu had reached the realm before him. It was honestly a bigger shock to him than Jing Luo being alive.


    But despite hearing that, Jing Wei still felt that Lin Mu had a lot of secrets.


    ''Not to mention¡­ that metal element auraing from his body¡­ why is there so much of it? He doesn''t even use that. He has an affinity with the earth element.'' Jing Wei wondered.


    It was now that Jing Luo spoke again.


    "And Lin Mu can help us, too. He has some achievements in refinement as well. He actually refined gold to just ten percent of its original volume!" Jing Luo added.


    Hearing this, Jing Wei raised his brows.


    "That is indeed impressive. If you can do that, you should be able to refine green gold too." Jing Wei spoke.


    Lin Mu knew that he could indeed refine green gold. The only reason why he had not before was because he had not used the correct type of gold. In order to refine green gold, one needed raw gold ore rather than already forged gold.


    Green gold was actually a higher quality gold naturally present in gold and needed to be refined from the ore itself. And besides, the technique didn''t call for green gold and thus he didn''t have a need to do that.


    But it was now that Jing Wei had a thought.


    "Why did you refine that much gold, though? Did you need to make some spirit tool?" He asked.


    "This man did something far more insane." Jing Luo said as he exined the True Gold Body Forging arts to his grandfather, while Lin Mu could only listen wryly.


    After hearing it all, Jing Wei was certainly stunned.


    "No wonder¡­ your body... it has transformed entirely." Jing Wei spoke.


    "Mmhmm¡­ though it does bring some good benefits." Lin Mu replied and let his skin glow again.


    Jing Wei suddenly felt the metal elemental aura from Lin Mu spike and it felt like there was a mountain of hold in front of him.


    "This¡­ is on some other level. I''ve never felt so much metal elemental aura from anyone. Even though that have affinity with metal elemental and cultivate metal attribute cultivation techniques aren''t like this." Jing Wei couldn''t help but speak.


    "Yeah¡­ Jing Luo said the same." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Perhaps¡­ have you checked your elemental affinity again?" Jing Wei asked.


    "Oh? Why?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I think you might have the affinity to the metal element too now." Jing Wei replied.


    "What? But I only have it for the Earth element." Lin Mu stated.


    "It might haven been so. But with such an absurd transformative technique, I don''t think adding another elemental affinity would be too much of a problem." Jing Wei replied.


    After he said this, he took out something from his spatial storage bracelet.


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    Lin Mu saw the object and found it to be a hexagonal metal block of some kind.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Try sensing the metal elemental spirit Qi in it. It''s a container for Metal spirit Qi." Jing Wei replied.


    "Yeah, try it!" Jing Luo prodded on.


    Lin Mu took hold of the container and closed his eyes. His spirit sense came out of his hand and entered the container. At first he didn''t feel anything, but just after five seconds, he could feel something sharp passing by his spirit sense probe.


    His brows furrowed as he tried to sense it again. Ten seconds passed by after which he felt the same kind of sharp energy. This time, it was far more defined. Lin Mu continued trying it and by the fiftieth try he finally made contact with the sharp energy.


    And the moment he did, the energy traveled along his spirit sense and to his hand before quickly entering his meridians.


    Lin Mu''s eyes opened wide at that moment as he felt a new type of spirit Qi in his body. More and more metal spirit Qi kept on pouring out from the container after that, as if a dam had been opened.


    It all surged into Lin Mu''s Dantian, before condensing into liquid form and making a pool of metal spirit Qi in the ocean in his Dantian.. It was yellow colored and lightly shimmered.

 Chapter 1032 - The Obstacle In Forging

    <h4>Chapter 1032 - The Obstacle In Forging</h4>


    Lin Mu was not expecting that he would have really gained the affinity to the metal element, as it was not part of the True Gold Body Forging arts. It was not mentioned in any part of the technique, and it could not have been either.


    Gaining an affinity to an element just from a technique was not something that was easily possible.


    Most people either had elemental affinities right from the birth, or given to them by a physique or bloodline. This could be seen in the case of Little Shrubby, who had multiple elemental affinities by the virtue of his seven bloodlines, but even then the fire elemental affinity was the strongest.


    Lin Mu had the earth elemental affinity innately and had been using it with the Mortal Strengthening scripture. That was the reason why the armor of the technique was so strong and quick to regenerate.


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    If it was someone without the earth elemental affinity practicing it, the effect would not have been as great.


    Then there was the fact that Lin Mu also used fire spirit Qi. For this he didn''t have an affinity either, but only his ability to sense it had increased due to the Embrace Of Hong Lin.


    It was not on the same level as that of an elemental affinity.


    But now Lin Mu had truly gained the affinity to the metal element. The surging metal spirit Qi into his meridians was its proof. If he didn''t have the affinity, the spirit Qi wouldn''t act on its own to enter his body.


    "It really works¡­" Lin Mu finally said after having confirmed it all.


    Jing Wei too, looked surprised at it all and then nced at the hexagonal container in Lin Mu''s hand.


    ''I told him to sense it¡­ and he drained all the metal spirit Qi from it¡­ Damn, at least I have two more of those left.'' Jing Wei thought.


    He wasn''t really upset with Lin Mu about the use of the metal spirit Qi, as it was nothingpared to what he had done for them. Still, he used that metal spirit Qi for making spirit weapons, and as such, it was a bit important.


    The good thing was that it could be refilledter, it would just take some time.


    "Hahaha! This is excellent!" Jing Luo congratted.


    "I guess so¡­ it''ll take a while for me to get used to it, though." Lin Mu replied.


    "Since you have the affinity, you will learn it quickly. Metal affinity is the easiest to use if you already use swords and other weapons. It can be used to amplify the power of most spirit weapons, especially the ones that are of the pure forging type.


    With the short sword, you should be able to increase its power by at least two times if you use it with it." Jing Wei exined.


    Hearing it, Lin Mu nodded his head.


    This was not the only method he had thought of either. Lin Mu knew that he had another technique, the Boulder Copsing first.


    Lin Mu had used it with fire spirit Qi before and had seen its effect. He had also tested it with the earth spirit Qi before too, but had not used it in a battle yet. The metal spirit Qi could be used in a simr way.


    ''The only issue is the effect of it¡­ the difference between boulder copsing first used with fire spirit Qi and earth spirit Qi was vastly different. The same will probably be the case for metal spirit Qi.


    I best test it so that I''m not caught off guard in a battle. Not to mention the side effects of it can still be damaging.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Guess you can help us too, though there is another issue I''m having." Jing Wei spoke. "Which I doubt any of you can help with." He added.


    "Oh? What kind of an issue, Grandfather?" Jing Luo asked.


    He was rather surprised that even with three talented people working on it there were still more issues.


    "Its more of a limitation in our case, I could say. The forge¡­ it''s not stable enough." Jing Wei replied.


    "The forge?" Jing Luo repeated, wondering if he had heard wrong.


    The forge that Jing Wei had been using in War Castle Jing was the best forge that the Jing n owned. Not to mention the Jing n, perhaps in the entire Xiaofan world there might not be a better forge.


    "Yes. The forge is the problem." Jing Wei replied.


    "If it''s really the forge, then you mean to say the heat is less?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "It''s not the heat that is the problem. Our forge can generate plenty of heat. The issue is more on its stability. Even with the formation arrays controlling it, there is still a very fine difference in controlling it myself." Jing Wei answered.


    "Then why don''t we just upgrade the formation arrays?" Jing Luo asked.


    "That¡­ is not something we can do either. I''ve already upgraded it as much as possible with the new insights I got. While it is still upgradeable beyond that, we either don''t have the resources for it, or it is simply not possible at our levels.


    That is to say¡­ the next upgrade of the formation arrays would put them on the same level as immortal grade." Jing Wei exined in detail.


    Hearing this, Jing Luo finally understood the dilemma. To make an immortal grade weapon, they needed immortal grade formation arrays. But then to make an immortal grade formation arrays they neither had the resources neither the cultivation base.


    Which if they did, they wouldn''t have had a problem making the immortal grade weapon in the first ce.


    "Well, that will leave us in a loop." Jing Luo shook his head.


    He knew that even his skills would not be able to match that of his grandfather and he wouldn''t be able to upgrade the formation array, either.


    It was now that Lin Mu spoke.


    "I may have another method to do it."

 Chapter 1033 - An Unexpected Solution

    <h4>Chapter 1033 - An Unexpected Solution</h4>


    Lin Mu''s words had certainly invoked their interest as both Jing Wei and Jing Luo had learned by now that he often had ideas that worked surprisingly well. It was an approach that could not be thought by them easily.


    "Please go ahead." Jing Wei spoke.


    "The issues is with the formation array being inadequate with its control, right? What if we rece that with someone who can manually control fire?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I thought that too. But for a high level operation like this, we would need someone with fire elemental affinity that also has great skill with it along with refinement. Thebination of those three is difficult to get.


    Neither I nor Jing Luo have fire elemental affinity." Jing Wei replied.


    "I have someone exactly like that." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh? Really? That would be great." Jing Wei couldn''t help but say.


    "Still, we can''t bring them here due to the restriction on entry." Duan Ke doused their expectations.


    "Oh the person I''m taking about is already here. Or rather than a person¡­" Lin Mu then gestured towards Duan Ke.


    She was confused but then saw that Lin Mu was actually pointing towards something else on herp.


    Jing Luo understood it immediately and his eyes lit up.


    "Of course! He can do it too!" Jing Luo exmation.


    "Why are you looking at the beast?" Duan Ke questioned.


    Jing Wei had the same question.


    "Little Shrubby is the perfect to do it all. Not only is does he have a great affinity to fire he is also used to finely controlling fire." Lin Mu answered.


    "This little beast? He barely has a cultivation base though." Duan Ke said.


    "Ahahah! I told you before, he''s not so little." Jing Luo chuckled.


    Jing Wei was still confused, but his interest was certainly piqued.


    <i>~yawn~</i>


    Little Shrubby woke up from his nap after hearing Lin Mu call for him.


    "Little Shrubby, time to work." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Alright~" Little Shrubby saidzily.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    Under the surprised eyes of Duan Ke and Jing Wei, the beast jumped from herp and rapidly erged some distance from them. From the small size of a cat, Little Shrubby became taller and taller as his size increased.


    By the time he stopped growing, he was almost touching the roof of the hall.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    And along with him returning to his full size, his aura and cultivation base was also released, shaking some of the objects kept in the hall.


    "Whoa¡­" Duan Ke was awed by the sight of it.


    She could still find the beast rather majestic. There was a faint heating from Little Shrubby as well that raised the temperature of the entire hall in just a few seconds.


    Little Shrubby nced at the woman in whosep he was napping until a second ago and gave a little smile. It was another thing that the smile looked more threatening instead with multiple sharp fangs on disy.


    ''The beast¡­ I''ve never seen quite like it. This aura¡­ its almost on the same level as that immortal beast. And it''s not even at that realm yet.'' Jing Wei thought to himself.


    "Little Shrubby is at the Dao Shell realm?!" Duan Ke was stunned after sensing his cultivation base.


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    "Of course he is. He''ll be sufficient to help us. He cooks a lot, so has good control over his fire." Lin Mu praised.


    Jing Wei and Duan Ke were a little taken aback after hearing that Little Shrubby''s control came from cooking rather than refinement, but they didn''t disregard his skill. They wanted to see if it really was that good considering Lin Mu had said that.


    "Alright, guess we can work with this." Jing Wei agreed.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and all of them headed to the forge while Duan Ke went to do her own side of work. Tracking down the invaders'' traces would take some time for her too, and she would need to do a lot of preparations before that.


    Finally, in the forging hall, Jing Wei got to witness the skill of Little Shrubby. It was better than he had expected and with just a little more practice and directions, it increased even more.


    That was exactly the level they needed for the forging and they could finally start.


    The work that they needed to do was divided ording to the skill of everyone, with Lin Mu getting the part for assistance in refinement.


    Jing Luo was going to directly help in forging and will prepared the additional resources to be thrown in during the process.


    And Jing Wei of course, was going to be the one doing the main part while Little Shrubby will provided his mes. Jing Wei also activated spirit Qi gathering arrays so that all of them could stay in their best shape for as long as possible.


    With all the preparation done, they could finally start.


    Though Lin Mu was surprised to find out that the weapon that Jing Wei was making was actually half way there already. Jing Wei had gotten stuck at that part and was practicing using other materials so as to not damage the main materials.


    Jing Wei was making a sword, as that was the weapon he was best versed in and also the most proficient in.


    The mes raged in the forge for six days and night straight, during which sounds of metal nging, hammers hitting and coals crackling could be heard.


    All of them got into a flow and poured their hearts into what was going to be the first ever Immortal Weapon of the Xiaofan world. Lin Mu greatly looked forward to it as Xukong had told him that if they really managed to make it, he might end up getting to see some immortal Qi!


    Immortal Qi was something incredibly difficult toe up in lower worlds like these, and only those at the Immortal realm had the chance to refine it.. Even those in the Immortal Ascension realm would onlye into contact with it when they ascended into a higher world.

 Chapter 1034 - Shifting Currents

    <h4>Chapter 1034 - Shifting Currents</h4>


    While Lin Mu was helping out Jing Wei and Jing Luo in the forge, he didn''t know that out in the Xiaofan world, sinister currents had started to churn.


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    At an unknown location in the southern part of the Great Zhou Empire, certain individuals were gathering up.


    <i>~rustle~ rustle~</i>


    The trees rustled as the night breeze blew through them while a group of individuals dressed in dark robes stood under them. It was unknown what the goal of these individuals was, but from their eyes that were revealed under their masks, a cold feeling could be perceived.


    They were hard to see in the darkness and unless one was close to them, no one would be able to tell that they were hiding there.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    The dark robed individuals waited until something passed over their heads.


    "There," One of them whispered. "Follow that man."


    With the order given, all the dark robed individuals ran behind the person who had just flown past them. If it were not for the cover of the night and the distance between the two parties being rather wide, the man flying in the sky would have sensed them.


    The dark robed individuals continued following the flying man for about three hours before they finally stopped.


    "This is enough." The leader of the dark robed individuals spoke.


    "Should we get a closer look? We don''t know how much further their sect is hidden." One of the dark robed men asked.


    "No¡­ Look," The leader pointed towards a specific tree.


    The dark robed men looked towards the tree and their spirit senses probed it. After a few seconds, they gasped.


    "No wonder they are so hidden¡­ there are multiple formation arrays of the same kindyered." The dark robed man muttered.


    "Indeed, if we went any further, we would have been detected." The leader replied.


    "Alright. Time to inform the lord." The other dark robed man stated before taking out amunication jade slip.


    ¡­


    At the headquarters of the Gu Legion, a bald man with a beard and darker skin sat in a meditative position.


    Concentric circles of runes glowed beneath him as a dark red energy floated around him. The dark red energy would circte around his body for a few seconds, then pour into his body before leaving it a few secondster.


    This cycle would continue without a stop until finally the bald man woke up.


    "Mm?" The man took out amunication jade slip from his robes.


    "Lord Gu Yao¡­ we found it." A message was heard.


    As soon as the man heard it, a smile appeared on his face.


    "Ahahah! You''ve hidden quite well all this time... Noon Grass sect, but no more. I''ll start the culling from your sect first. You''ve already created enough problems for us¡­" Gu Yaoughed.


    He stood up and walked out of the hall he was sitting in till now. There were ten men waiting for him outside, ready to take his orders.


    "Prepare your men. It is time to attack." Gu Yao spoke.


    "As you wish, my lord. And the other sects, we increase the suppression?" One of the men replied.


    "Yes, time to use a few of our trump cards." Gu Yao stated.


    "It shall be done." The men saluted with cupped hands before leaving.


    Once they were gone, Gu Yao started at the empty starless sky while his eyes glowed in dark.


    "Soon¡­ all will fall."


    ¡­


    Back in the War Castle Jing, the process of the forging was almosting to an end.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    mes kept oning out of Little Shrubby''s mouth and heated the long piece of metal thatid on an anvil.


    "Just a bit more¡­ we are almost a the end." Jing Wei spoke.


    "HAA¡­ Ha¡­. Ha¡­ Never thought it would tire me out this much." Jing Luo said, while trying to catch his breath.


    His clothes were drenched in sweat and were stuck to his body.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    The sound of a metal contained shifting could be heard as Lin Mu lifted up what looked like arge barrel.


    "It''s indeed rather intensive, though it is to be expected with an Immortal weapon." Lin Mu agreed.


    "You aren''t even tired, are you though?" Jing Luo asked, seeing Lin Mu, who was the same as when they had started the entire process before.


    His robes werepletely fine, and he wasn''t sweating like Jing Luo and Jing Wei were either.


    "I can go on for a while more." Lin Mu replied, making Jing Luo a bit jealous.


    While he had said that he could work for over a month without stopping with his cultivation base, he hadn''t realized just how strenuous forging an Immortal Weapon was like.


    His spirit Qi was being drained rather quickly with all the tasks he had to do. Only Lin Mu could keep up with the continuous drain, as he was also replenishing it at the same rate. So overall, there was barely any difference for him.


    "Come on now, focus. This is thest part," Jing Wei said, as he hammered the de of the sword.


    The de didn''t have an edge yet, but a faint energy could be felting from it already.


    This sword was going to be a pure forging type of an Immortal Weapon, since neither of them would be able to inscribe the formation arrays needed for the other two types. Doing that would require them to be at the Immortal Realm themselves or need veryplex formation arrays that they couldn''t make.


    Plus with the restrained amount of resources, they couldn''t waste any either.


    The requirements for all the resources were very high for an Immortal Weapon and despite the fact that Lin Mu and Jing Luo had a lot of them, the quantity of the grade of resources they needed was very low.


    So much so that they could only attempt this all only once.


    "Now!" Jing Wei shouted and Lin Mu poured the barrel full of molten metal over the base sword de.

 Chapter 1035 - Done With The Forging!

    <h4>Chapter 1035 - Done With The Forging!</h4>


    <i>~HISS~</i>


    The sizzling of liquid metal could be heard as it coated the base of the sword de. Even though the liquid metal was still very hot due to being liquid, the sword de was far hotter.


    "More!" Jing Wei ordered.


    Lin Mu tilted the barrel again and more liquid metal poured over the sword de. By now, the entire sword de was doused in the liquid metal and it was hard to even see it. It didn''t make sense to see liquid metal being poured over a sword.


    This was after all, not a normal method that a weapon forger would use. Jing Wei hade up with this on his own, and it was entirely new.


    And the effects of the new method were seen soon.


    "It works!" Jing Luo said out loud.


    The liquid metal that was being poured on the sword de was being absorbed into it bit by bit. It was rather strange, as nothing like this had been done before.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Runes appeared in the air as they helped guide the liquid metal into the sword de.


    Jing Wei watched the entire process with a hawk''s gaze and made sure that nothing untoward happened.


    Lin Mu kept on pouring more liquid metal from time to time as the sword de absorbed more.


    An hour passed like this, after which the entire barrel was finally empty.


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Lin Mu ced the metal barrel down and gazed at thest drops of liquid metal that were now being absorbed into the sword de. When that was finally over, the sword de lightly hummed.


    <i>~HUMM~</i>


    Lin Mu could hear the humming of the sword deep in his head, as if it was trying to speak.


    "Is it¡­?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    But just as he said that, the sword stopped humming.


    "Not yet. Though we have finished the actual forging of the de." Jing Wei replied.


    "We have? But the de has no edge or a proper shape yet." Lin Mu replied, feeling confused.


    "The creation of its edge and its shape will take a while more. I''ll have to do that on my own. You two are now free." Jing Wei stated.


    "You don''t need anymore help, grandfather?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "No. The remaining part is mostly dependent on time now. The sword will temper itself in the forge and the edge will be formed by itself. The same can be said by the shape. Whatever it feelsfortable to be, it will be." Jing Wei answered.


    "This means the spirit of the sword is already there?" Lin Mu asked.


    "A wisp of it should have been born now. The hum we felt was that." Jing Wei replied.


    Hearing it, Lin Mu was intrigued. He knew that the biggest difference between spirit weapons and Immortal Weapons was the immortal Spirit. It could also be said to be the ''soul'' of the weapon.


    Only when the soul was born would the Immortal Weapon be truly made.


    This was what the Myriad Armament Canopy Abodecked. It was still unable to give birth to its own Immortal Spirit and needed for someone to control it.


    The ability to automatically work was one of the biggest advantages of Immortal Weapons. One didn''t need to divert their attention to control the Immortal Weapon. They could attack on their own and think as well.


    Additionally, as long as the full power of an Immortal Weapon was not used, it would be able to restore its own Qi. This freed up the cultivator a lot more and they could fight longer.


    Of course, if one wanted to use an Immortal Weapon to the full potential, they still needed to control it manually and use their own Qi with it.


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief after being done with it all and couldn''t wait to see the finished product.


    "How long till it will bepleted, Old Man Jing?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That is hard to tell. Though it should be not be too much. This is all new for us and I can''t estimate the time either." Jing Wei replied.


    "Let''s just hope it is done as soon as possible." Jing Luo said in a joyful tone.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "You two should go recover, or whatever you want to. In the meantime, I''ll get the anti-jamming talismans ready." Jing Wei suggested.


    "Yeah, that''ll good grandfather." Jing Luo agreed. "Lin Mu can go check up on the Alliance too in this time." He added.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and turned around to leave.


    "Come on, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu called.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The beast shrunk back to its smaller form and jumped onto Lin Mu''s shoulder. They left the forging hall and exited War Castle Jing as well. Flying out of it, they headed to the exit of the Ancestralnd.


    It was right where Lin Mu had entered from before and since they knew about the location, he could quickly rush there.


    "Here we are." Lin Mu said as he looked at the empty location.


    "It should be almost time¡­ I think." He muttered.


    Jing Wei had told him before that once the time limit for the entry and exit was lifted, an outline of a gate should be present there.


    About ten minutester, the air in front of Lin Mu started to flicker.


    "Oh! Seems like it''s about to start." Lin Mu got ready.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Runes appeared in the air as they arranged into the outline of a gate. Lin Mu extended his hand towards the gate and took a deep breath.


    "Here we go¡­" Lin Mu said before his body disappeared, along with Little Shrubby.


    He felt his body bing weightless for a few seconds as his vision turned dark. And by the time it returned, he felt the ground in below him changing.


    <i>~HUMM~</i>


    But the moment he appeared, the jade slip on his waist started to hum non stop.


    "Huh? Did something happen?" Lin Mu wondered.


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    But when he listened to the message, his eyes went wide.

 Chapter 1036 - Sudden Assault!

    <h4>Chapter 1036 - Sudden Assault!</h4>


    Lin Mu had never thought that the worst thing he could have thought upon entering the Ancestralnd hade true.


    The message he got was exactly that.


    "LIN MU! I can finally contact you!" Wu Hei''s frantic voice could be heard. "The Gu Legion! They found the location of the Noon Grass sect and have mounted a full force attack!"


    "WHAT!?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    He knew that from all the top ten sects, the Noon Grass sect''s location was the most secretive. It was mostly intentional on their part as it not only allowed them to survive all this time and kept them safe from conflicts.


    The noon grass sect was important for the whole alliance as they were helping the other three sects of the alliance and provided cooperation, as well as a lot of resources from the Southern Great Forest.


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    The financial superiority the alliance had gained in the recent time came greatly from the Noon Grass Sect''s help too. Especially since the valuable resources from the Great Southern Forest could be shipped to all over the empire in a very short time.


    This allowed them great profits and gave them the free hand to suppress Gu Legion all this time.


    The Noon Grass sect''s unique position had made it so that the other sects too understood the importance and kept its location secret. The disciples of the Noon Grass sect were even directed to never leave the sect from its borders, since there was a chance of others finding them.


    Instead, they were directed to use the Kong ne to leave from other directions.


    Still, after the initial shock from Wu Hei''s words faded away, Lin Mu remembered something.


    "Wait, if the Noon Grass sect is being attacked, what are the Long Cloud sect and others doing? Haven''t they provided support?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That''s the problem! This attack is nothing like we''ve seen before. I don''t know how, even I was in blind. No information was passed among the divisions of the Gu Legion. The order was given suddenly!


    The other sects can''t help at all¡­ There are Dao Treading Realm experts attacking!" Wu Hei answered in an anxious tone.


    "Huh? Did The Zither Wind Alliance send out their Supreme elders or something?" Lin Mu still didn''t understand how this was possible.


    "No¡­ that''s the thing. These Dao Treading Realm cultivators are all new! There are over eleven of them attacking the four sects of our alliance!" Wu Hei exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt his heart drop. He knew that even if the sects of the alliance had their own Dao Treading Realm cultivators, like their Patriarchs and Supreme elders, their numbers were limited.


    Evenbining the powers of the Four Sect''s they barely had Nine Dao Treading Realm experts. With each expert holding down one, there would still be two that were free.


    "I''ming!" Lin Mu knew the situation was severe. He couldn''t even inform Jing Luo and Jing Wei now.


    He didn''t know if the time would permit that. Wu Hei too did his best to tell him everything that had happened while Lin Mu journeyed to the Noon Grass sect.


    The attack had started about three days ago and hade out of nowhere. While the Three sects of the Long Cloud Alliance were continually being suppressed and prevented from directly leaving their sects, the situation was still reasonable with them being able to use the Teleportation gates.


    But then the Gu Legion had taken out a trump card of their own. This was something Wu Hei knew about in detail. It was a set of formation arrays that could forcefully block out a range of area.


    They were very expensive and could imprison even Dao Treading realm experts for a certain time. And if there were others pouring their spirit Qi into it, the duration could be extended.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard this, he knew that Gu Yao had been assisted by the Northern Tribes with this trump card. He had after all, suffered from a simr one in the past. The Imprisoning Seal went so far as to lock down space itself, preventing even the Teleportation gates from functioning.


    The Gu Legion had obviously suspected that the Long Cloud alliance had possibly gained a way to move around with teleportation arrays or something. They were not stupid, and Gu Yao was possibly one of the smartest people in the empire.


    It wouldn''t take long for him to figure out the sudden advantage that the Alliance might have gained.


    This inbination with the Communication Jade Slip jamming formations, made it so that even finding out about the attack was greatly dyed.


    Though one thing was for sure, the target of this entire operation was the Noon Grass sect. The Gu Legion had sent out Dao Treading realm experts to lock down the three sects of the Long Cloud alliance while also attacking the Noon Grass sect.


    The defensive formation array of the sect had managed tost for about a day and a half, but now even that had broken. Wu Hei had been trying to contract Lin Mu from the very moment he had gotten the information about the attack from Gu Yao, but it was certainly a bad time for them.


    He had even tried going to the Kong ne but was unable to go to any of the sects.


    At most, Wu Hei managed to ask for help from the Hong Lin Kingdom and the Fenlong Kingdom. The ns of the Fenlong Kingdom had already sent out people to support the Long Cloud sect.


    Hong Lin Kingdom had instead gone to support the Noon Grass sect. But without the teleportation gates, the time needed for them to reach the locations was long. So far, none of them had reached there and were still on their way.


    Lin Mu''s fists clenched as he left the Kong ne through the Hong Lin Kingdom''s gate. This was the closest location, and he''d need to hurry.


    "Little Shrubby¡­ We need to give it our all!"

 Chapter 1037 - Desperate Rush

    <h4>Chapter 1037 - Desperate Rush</h4>


    Lin Mu didn''t even stop to look at the people guarding the teleportation gate at the Hong Lin Kingdom and directly flew out from the castle. Though with a quick scan of his spirit sense gave him all the information that he needed.


    He had already known that King Hong had left the Kingdom to support the Noon Grass sect already. Right now, Adviser Liu was the one taking care of the kingdom and they were all alert.


    Since the sects had been attacked, there was no guarantee that the Hong Lin Kingdom wouldn''t be attacked either. The Fenlong kingdom had already been attacked a few times till now.


    This was mostly from the Mountain Brush Sect''s people and the Kingdom of Shu army. Though they had been able to hold them back rather easily. The Mountain Brush Sect was not as strong as it used to be and their numbers had been lessened in the recent times.


    Though the reason for it was unknown.


    In fact, if not for the input from Wu Hei, they wouldn''t have even known this. It was certain that the Horse Manticore had probably caused some issues in the Mountain Brush Sect. Though the exact reason was still a mystery.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Little Shrubby returned to his full size, and Lin Mu strapped on to his back.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    Little Shrubby started running as his each step shook the ground. His thick legs were like the trunks of trees and the muscles rippled with power as they pushed him further and further.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    After a certain point, a loud sonic boom was heard as little Shrubby broke through the sound barrier.


    Lin Mu leaned forward and held onto the harness while his eyes gleamed with a dark look. A myriad of thoughts went through his mind and multiple scenarios formed in his head. He was not sure what kind of a scene he was going to see once he was there and wanted to be prepared.


    Jing Wei''s words echoed in his mind. While he might have said it as a joke, Lin Mu truly didn''t want his absence to have caused such an issue.


    ''No that''s not all¡­ the Dao Treading realm experts, how did they suddenly appear? Are they from the Northern Tribes? If so, then why have the top three sects not acted? I''m sure no matter what, they won''t hold back of Northern Tribes'' experts appear.


    Not even Gu Yao would be able to hide their presences.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "What if they aren''t from the Northern Tribes?" Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Hearing this Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    "The Pills of grace¡­ Did they somehow manage to push them to the Dao Treading realm?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    "It is indeed possible. They might have been preparing for this since the start. And it might have been their main goal too." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu found merit in the worlds.


    If these new Dao Treading Realm cultivators were really from the sects of the Zither Wind Alliance, and the Gu Legion, the Top three sects wouldn''t have a valid reason to interfere. While they would be really wary after this, since the power dynamic would certainly change, the Noon Grass sect would be history till then.


    Never the less, Eleven Dao Treading Realm experts were a really great number and even with the top three sectsbined they would barely match the numbers.


    Each of the Top three sects had three Dao Treading Realm experts. At least in the open. There might be more hidden. But even those that are hidden won''t be enough, as the Zither Wind Alliance would still have their patriarchs and supreme elders who too were at the Dao Treading realm.


    Thus in reality, the number of Dao Treading Realm experts was higher than eleven. It could very easily be at twenty.


    Compared to the Noon Grass sect, this number was massive. After all, they only had a single Dao Treading realm expert, Patriarch Hua.


    There were no secret elders or ancestors that the sects of the alliance had. All of them had perished over the years, and the Noon Grass sect was the same. While this information was kept secret, it was still found out by the Gu Legion and thus they were brazen in their attack.


    Lin Mu didn''t know what more they had learned in this time.


    The one saving grace Lin Mu and the alliance had right now was that the cultivation bases of their disciples were still decent. The Kong ne and other resources had served them enough to push their cultivation bases forward.


    If anything, the disciples would have a greater chance of holding them back, at least.


    ''But in face of five Dao Treading realm cultivators, will this be enough?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Each of the three sects in the Long Cloud alliance was being held back by two Dao Treading realm experts who imprisoned them with the formation array. This meant six Dao Treading realm experts blocked the other sects, while five of them attacked the Noon Grass sect.


    Even the upgraded defensive formation arrays of the sect will only block them for so long.


    Lin Mu simply hoped that he would get there in time. Even if he didn''t know what he was going to do there, getting there was the first priority.


    ¡­


    The people of the Noon Grass sect were currently in their biggest battle ever.


    "HOLD THE LINES! DON''T LET THEM ANY FURTHER!" Hua Yi shouted.


    Standing alongside him were hundreds of disciples of the Noon Grass sect. They had barricaded themselves around one peak, while the Gu Legion members surrounded them.


    "FOOLS! You are only dying the inevitable!" An elders spoke from the sky.


    Dao Treading realm spirit Qi fluctuations came from him while the tens of Gu Legion members attacked the barrier, protecting the disciples incessantly.


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    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    "See that?" The Dao Treading realm elder taunted. "Once your patriarch is dead, you all will be dead too!"


    In the distance, an injured old man could be seen being knocked away by four Dao Treading realm experts!

 Chapter 1038 - Cornered Like Rats

    <h4>Chapter 1038 - Cornered Like Rats</h4>


    The disciples of the Noon Grass Sect could only watch with dread as the old man was assaulted from multiple sides.


    "Master¡­" Hua Yi muttered with fear.


    It had been nearly two days since the Gu Legion had managed to break into the Noon Grass sect and their master, Daoist Hua had been fighting since that very day. He alone was handling five Dao Treading realm cultivators, which wasmendable.


    While they didn''t know what the exact stage these five Dao Treading realm cultivators were at, they guessed that they must not be at the same level as their master at the very least.


    Most of the sect might not have known this, but Hua Yi and his other fellow disciples knew that their master was not just any Dao Treading realm cultivator, rather he was at the third and final stage of it, the Dao Comprehension stage.


    While they were unqualified to know just what it meant to be at that stage, they did know that in the current world, this was possibly the highest cultivation base one could achieve by normal means.


    There was indeed the Immortal Ascension realm above this, but it was something their master had told them only a few could ever hope to reach. Even he himself didn''t know the requirement and the others that had reached it in the past weren''t really open to speaking about them either.


    Of course, there were other records from the past that talked about it and there were some theories that the requirements for it were greatly different for everyone. Then there was the fixed theory, which was often epted as the most authentic one.


    The theory said that the fewer numbers of Immortal Ascension realm cultivators were not because of ack of cultivation talent or handwork, and neither was it due to theck of resources.


    But because there could only exist a certain number of them in a world at a single point in time.


    And because of that, a lot of higher ups of sects and other powers epted that until at least one of the Current Immortal Ascension realm cultivator died, no new ones could reach that realm.


    Of course this didn''t stop anyone from trying. The top three sects keeping the information about their immortal Ascension realm cultivators didn''t help either.


    But then there was the fact that in the past there were greater than just three Immortal Ascension realm cultivators. And after the death of the Northern Tribe Immortal Ascension realm cultivators, themon consensus about this was that there was indeed space for more Immortal Ascension realm cultivators.


    It was all too convoluted, and most never needed to worry or think about it. And the ones who did need to think about it were greatly privileged.


    And despite the fact that Daoist Hua was one of these privileged one he was still being beaten by the weaker Dao Treading Realm cultivators.


    ''Master was able to hold all five of them back before, but now he can only hold four of them back. This fifth one now has us cornered here¡­'' Hua Yi thought.


    Daoist Hua holding them back was also the reason why all the disciples had managed to survive till now. And not just that, but they had also defeated a lot of other Gu Legion members.


    After all, the Gu Legion didn''t just attack with these five Dao Treading realm cultivators, they brought a lot weaker cultivators, all the way from Qi refining realm to the Dao Shell realm.


    They had managed to kill a majority of the weaker ones since the Noon Grass sect still had numbers on their side. But the Dao treading realm cultivators were not something the disciples could kill.


    The elders had managed to kill over half of the Dao Shell realm cultivators as well, but now they had reached a stalemate with the injuries piling up.


    Even Daoist Hua was injured and this gave one of the Dao Treading realm elders to go after the disciples.


    Thankfully Jing Luo had been diligent in setting up the formation arrays around the sect and had prepared for something like this, just in case. One such was the defensive formation array that they were using.


    There were multipleyers to it but the Gu Legion had already broken through most of them, leaving them with only the peak they were holed up in.


    <i>~Shua~</i>


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The attacks of the Gu Legion continued as they bombarded the barrier. They didn''t even need a formation master here as it would be faster for them to wear down the barrier rather than unravel it.


    "Senior brother! The west side is getting unstable!" A cry was heard from the distance.


    "Dammit!" Hua Yi cursed.


    Looking towards the distance, he could see the runes getting weaker. Outside on that side of the barrier, he could see three Dao Shell realm cultivators attacking together.


    They were using some kind of a skill thatbined the power of all three. That was the reason why they could affect the barrier so much.


    "Again! They won''t be able to hide much more." One of the Dao Shell realm cultivators said as he brought his hands together.


    His hands glowed in a dark grey aura before he thrust them forward. Hispanion Dao Shell realm cultivators did the same and simr grey aura appeared on their hands.


    <i>~shua~</i> ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    As the aura shot forward, a violent spirit wave spread along with it. The three''s attacksbined into one before morphing into what looked to be a pair ofrge horns. The horns charged towards the barrier as if it really were a beast carrying them and let out a rumbling sound.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The barrier thrummed with spirit Qi, doing its best to hold back, while the disciples continued providing as much spirit Qi as they could.


    Seeing this, Hua Yi knew that it would only get difficult for them from now on.


    "Hua Er! Go and help them." He ordered.. "I''ll hold this ce."

 Chapter 1039 - The Elders Resolve

    <h4>Chapter 1039 - The Elders'' Resolve</h4>


    While the Disciples were doing their best to survive, the elders of the Noon Grass sect were starting to lose ground.


    "Elder Sun, we need to retreat." One of the Dao Shell elders of the Noon Grass sect spoke.


    "We can''t afford that. If we do, men will go and attack the disciples too!" Elder Sun replied.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    And just as the elder said that, an attack was sent his way.


    "You all are getting toocent! As if you will be able to escape us anyway!" One of the Gu Legion members yelled.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    A shield managed to block the attack before it ever reached Elder Sun, but the spirit tool sustained damage as well.


    "Are you okay, elder Sun?" Elder Pigu asked.


    He was the one who had blocked the attack.


    "Barely¡­ we are outmatched here." Elder Sun replied as he wiped the blood dripping from the side of his eye.


    All the elders were injured, with Elder Sun being the most injured. The one saving grace that they did have though, was that they were yet to have any casualties on their end. It only showed how much their preparation was effective.


    Even though they were now being pushed back, the Gu Legion was still the only one with any casualties.


    It was something that had surprised even the Gu Legion members and infuriated them as well.


    ''How are we still unable to kill any of them? Master said the pills will make us more powerful?'' The Gu Legion members thought.


    "Enough!" A Dao Shell realm Gu Legion member said as he used a powerful technique.


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    The very air itself shook as a mass of ck energy formed above the man''s head. The elder created waves in air and sucked in all the spirit Qi that it could.


    "Careful!" Elder Pigu warned a couple of elders that were directly in the line of attack.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    The mass of ck energy shot forward and increased its speed more and more.


    "GAH!" One of the elders was unable to fully move and one of his legs was caught in the attack.


    <i>~SPLAT~</i>


    As if it were a beast, the ck energy devoured the elders leg instantly and continued onwards. The elder barely managed to hold his scream in as he focused on retreating.


    "NO!!" Elder Sun shouted, seeing the elder losing his leg.


    "AGAIN! OTHERS JOIN IN TOO!" The Gu Legion member who had just attacked ordered.


    Several different techniques and weapons were thrown at the elders while they attempted to block and dodge. The one elder who had lost his leg was unable to continue on and was finally caught in the barrage.


    "NOOOO!!!!!!" The Noon Grass Sect''s elders shouted as they finally saw one of them die.


    The elder who was struck with the attack was entirely eliminated and no remains were left of him.


    "CURSE YOU GU LEGION!" The elders yelled.


    "We won''t let you get away with this!" Elder Pigu said, his face filled with rage.


    "Ahahaha! As if it matters once you all meet the same fate!" They taunted.


    "Enough!" Elder Pigu said as he gritted his teeth.


    His hand withdrew a pill bottle from his sleeve and its cap was quickly opened at the same time.


    The elders who were near him saw this and were surprised, for they knew what was in the bottle.


    "You can''t use that Elder Pigu." Elder Sun said with disbelief.


    "I have to. Only I can handle the pills effect, the others might not be able to fully take advantage of it." Elder Pigu replied darkly.


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    Then without giving the others to speak anything, he threw the pill into his mouth.


    "WAIT¡ª" Elder Sun tried to say more but it was toote.


    As soon as the pill entered Elder Pigu''s mouth, it melted and flowed down his throat. For a moment there, it was as if the entire area had fallen silent, but then in the very next instant a low pitched sound was heard.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    As if the bells of a temple were ringing, the heart of Elder Pigu thudded non stop. A powerful aura surged from him and all the injuries he had sustained till now were healing visibly.


    And that was not the end of it either. The wrinkles on his face and hands disappeared, as if he was returning to his youth. In just a few seconds, Elder Pigu turned from a middle aged man to a young man who had barely crossed his teens.


    The Gu Legion members who saw it all were stunned. Not just because Elder Pigu had turned young, but also because the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him were rapidly rushing.


    "AAAAAAAAA!" Elder Pigu let out a loud shout as his Dao Shell appeared above him.


    The Dao Shell was only halfplete, yet now it was quickly turning into aplete sphere.


    "WE HAVE TO STOP HIM!" The Gu Legion members frantically shouted.


    "DON''T EVEN THINK!" Elder Sun and others countered.


    Just a minute was all that Elder Pigu needed as soon, his Dao Shell waspleted. And when that happened, he opened his eyes that were utterly bloodshot.


    "This has been enough¡­ time to end this." Elder Pigu said in a hoarse voice that surprise his fellow elders.


    That was because while his appearance looked young, his voice was now older. Far older than it had been before.


    Elder Pigu extended his hand and made a handseal.


    <i>~shaha~</i>


    A bright orange me burned in his hand. He moved both his hands in aplicated gesture as spirit Qi fluctuations intensified. And just when he was done, he brought his hands together, with just the tips of his fingers touching each other.


    "Never though I would reach this point only with a pill¡­ I am a failure.." Elder Pigu muttered to himself.


    <i>~HUALA~</i>


    He parted his fingers as a small me appeared between them. But what was different about the me was that it was no longer orange, it had turned a deep blue.


    "Time to show you how Pill Alchemists truly battle!"

 Chapter 1040 - Flames Of His Life!

    <h4>Chapter 1040 - mes Of His Life!</h4>


    There was a great resolve in Elder Pigu''s eyes as a newfound power filled him.


    The deep blue mes on his hand were letting off a scorching heat. Even the Dao Shell realm cultivators of the Gu Legion that were standing some distance away could feel it. The grass on the ground had already dried up andbusted simply from the residual heat.


    And it didn''t stop there as the ground surrounding Elder Pigu started to get scorched ck as well. This was when the me wasn''t even touching anything. It was on an entirely different level and was surprising to the Gu legion members.


    "Careful!" A Gu Legion cultivator warned hispanion.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    Flicking his index finger towards the Gu Legion member, Elder Pigu sent forth a small me. It was very small, being only the size of a candle me, and yet¡­ the speed and heat it carried with it was devastating.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    The small candle like me stuck the Gu Legion member before he could escape and exploded. It instantly covered his entire body and ate through all the defenses.


    "AHHHHHHHH! GET IT OFF ME!!! NOO!!!!!" The Gu Legion member cried out in pain as all his defensive skills were unless against it.


    His robes were reduced to ashes, and soon his skin started to melt. Within five seconds, a Dao Shell realm cultivator was reduced to a pile of ashes.


    The other Gu Legion members couldn''t help but feel a chill going down their backs, despite the intense heat in the area. Some of them tried to step back, but Elder Pigu instantly locked onto them.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    He flicked his middle finger towards them, and the me that was burning on it shot towards another Gu Legion member.


    "RUN!!!"


    "Don''t let it touch you!!!"


    They all shouted, but the me was still very fast. Despite their great speed at the Dao Shell realm, they were like turtles in front of the me that moved like a cheetah.


    The second me struck a Gu Legion member and the same scene as before repeated. This man was able to survive for slightly longer,sting for ten seconds, but in the end he still burned to ashes.


    Elder Pigu''s fellow elders looked at him and were stunned. The fierceness with which he had attacked the Gu Legion members was entirely different.


    Usually, they were used to the jovial and happy Elder Pigu. He was a portly man that was also the head of their pill and herb pavilion. But today, he was different. He was a deadly warrior who could reduce his enemies to ashes with a flick of a finger.


    But if one observed him closely, they would realize that what he was doing came at a great price. There was already a slight decrease in his aura with just two attacks. Additionally, when he had first ignited the deep blue mes on his hands.


    There were ten such wisps of mes there, one on each finger. But now that he had used two, those fingers were gone as well.


    That''s right! Elder Pigu''s fingers hadbusted and reduced to ashes too!


    And yet, there was no sign of pain or regret on his face. All there was present on his face was determination¡­ determination to win and save his sect!


    "SUMMON YOUR DAO SHELLS!" One of the Gu Legion members shouted.


    "DO IT! WE CAN''T HOLD BACK ANYMORE!" He yelled again, seeing that his fellow members were hesitant.


    "DAMN THIS!" They cursed and gestured with their hands.


    There were six of them left, and they were in great danger now. The two weakest members among them were killed quickly, but they were also at the Shell initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm, thus didn''t have Dao Shell''s to use as trump cardster.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    Strong spirit Qi fluctuations came from all six of them as illusory spheres came out of their bodies. Two of these spheres were fully solid, two were about 90%plete, while thest two were only halfplete.


    "HUMPH! You think just your Dao Shell''s can save you from my mes! THESE ARE THE FLAMES OF MY LIFE! THEY SHALL BURN EVEN THE DEFENSES OF A DAO TREADING REALM EXPERT!" Elder Pigu scoffed.


    <i>~shua~ shua~</i>


    He directly used both his hands and flicked out four wisps of mes. They came from his pinkie fingers and ring fingers of both hands.


    <i>~HISS~</i>


    The very air itself hissed as the moisture started to heat up. The water from the nearby trees was also boiled out, turning into steam. But this steam was continually heated and reached a great temperature.


    The heat from the four wisps of the deep blue mes made the steam travel along with it like a missile towards the Dao Shell Realm cultivators of the Gu Legion.


    "Steam Burst Grinder!" Elder Pigu chanted.


    It was now evident that this wasn''t just a casual attack, but rather a proper skill!


    In fact, it was a skill that wasn''t originally meant for battles at all. Rather, it was a pill refinement skill used to extract water from spirit herbs and rapidly use the pressure to pulverize the same herbs.


    This was supposed to be used in the confines of a pill refinement hall with proper safety formation arrays. Even the cauldron used for refinement needed to be very strong, and only the best Pill alchemists could even use this technique.


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    And yet Elder Pigu managed to convert it into an actual battle skill!


    "BLOCK IT!" The Gu Legion members shouted.


    <i>~Rumble~</i>


    The strongest two brought forward theirpleted Dao Shells and bore the full brunt of the attack. The ones weaker than them, backed by thepleted Dao Shell''s making sure they weren''t pushed back too much.


    Then thest two did the same and suppressed the secondary damage from the wave of steam that was surging at them from all sides.


    "HAAA!!!!!" The Gu Legion members struggled to bear the force.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    But in the end¡­ they were unable to withstand it anymore.

 Chapter 1041 - Till His Last Breath

    <h4>Chapter 1041 - Till His Last Breath</h4>


    The elders of the Noon Grass sect watched as the Dao Shells of the Gu Legion members cracked.


    They were honestly stunned by the power shown by Elder Pigu and even Supreme Elder Hua Langya wasn''t sure he''d be able to reach the same level of power. Though he was also injured quite a lot among the elders, as the initial assault had been blocked by him.


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    <i>~Sigh~</i>


    ''If elder Pigu can live after this, he would have been able to reach great heights¡­'' Hua Langya thought with pity.


    All the elders knew that Elder Pigu had used a self sacrificial technique in exchange for power. Right now, perhaps the strength of Elder Pigu was already at the Dao Treading realm.


    Though he couldn''t be considered a true Dao Treading realm cultivator, as he didn''t have a Dao Embryo. At most, only the pure power exerted by him could reach that level. Additionally, the mes he was using were a level above the intermediate rank , it was the advanced rank Qi me.


    Something like this was not easy to achieve and perhaps in the entire Great Zhou Empire, the number of people who could ignite such mes could be counted on one hand. The ones that were greatly known for it were the patriarch, and the supreme elder of the Rainbow pill sect, the patriarch of the Light Harmony sect, both of which were pill sects.


    Then there was one elder of the Sky Precepts sect who could do the same. Finally¡­ now there was Elder Pigu who had achieved the same. But it came at great cost. Burning his very life force was the price to ignite such mes.


    But its power was evident¡­


    One had to know that they needed Advanced Rank Qi mes to even think of refining Pseudo-immortal rank pills.


    Such pills were very rare in the empire and only a handful had ever been made. Theplex part was that there were people who had the advanced rank Qi me to refine a pill like that, but theycked Immortal grade spirit herbs.


    The heat of the mes could melt even Immortal Grade metals, so the Dao Shells of the Gu Legion members were nothing.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    "ARGH!!!!" One of the Gu Legion members couldn''t withstand the bacsh from their Dao Shells exploding and directly died.


    The other one pulled out all his trump cards, using talismans after talismans, while also popping pills like a maniac before he was able to keep his life. But even then, his Dao Shell was gone and so was his cultivation base.


    The ones behind him were slightly better, but even then there were great cracks on their Dao Shells. Only the two weakest Dao Shell realm Legion members were fine now. But this was only pertaining to their Dao Shell. Their skin and robes were still burned from the steam.


    Large boils could be seen on their skin and face, some of which started to pop from the rippling air.


    "Haaaa¡­. Haaa¡­ Haaa¡­" The Gu Legion members panted, hard for breath, and felt woozy.


    Now the two weakest Dao Shell Gu Legion members were the strongest among the six. With the four in front of them falling behind in cultivation base.


    "We¡ª" The Gu Legion members wanted to say something, but Elder Pigu didn''t give them a chance.


    "DIE!" He decisively threw out two more wisps of the deep blue mes and burned the remaining six Dao Shell realm Gu legion members to death.


    By now, Elder Pigu''s left fingers were all gone and only the index and middle finger of his right hand were left.


    His aura had also fallen by half and it was evident that he wouldn''t be able tost much longer.


    <i>~Pant~</i>


    Elder Pigu took deep breath as he stumbled lightly.


    "Elder Pigu!" Supreme Elder Hua Langya quickly helped him.


    "You need to rest Elder Pigu, you''ve done enough." Elder Sun said with great concern.


    "No¡­. I can''t¡­ not at this point¡­" Elder Pigu said between his breaths.


    He looked at the two wisps of deep blue mes on his renaming fingers for a second before standing up again.


    "I need to use them¡­ perhaps we''ll be able to get rid of another chunk of those vile beasts." Elder Pigu said.


    "You''ll die, Elder Pigu, you can''t do this!" Elder Sun protested.


    "I''ll die even if I don''t do it¡­ at least this way, I''ll die for a cause I''m dedicated to¡­" Elder Pigu said.


    And before anyone could speak again, he flew away towards the peak where all the Disciples were holed up.


    "FOLLOW HIM! We can''t let him do this alone!"


    "Yeah, we need to save the disciples too!"


    The elders flew after Elder Pigu, but were still slower than him. With the boost Elder Pigu had, his speed was blinding. In just under a minute, he was already at the peak and gazed at the scene.


    "YOU SHALL ALL DIE!" He shouted with rage as he saw a few disciples dying.


    In the time that the elders were fighting, the Gu Legion members had managed to create an opening in the barrier.


    "Huh?" The Gu Legion members were surprised by the sudden arrival of the young man with an old voice.


    The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member though felt his instincts shouting, and he felt danger.


    "NO! GET BACK!" he immediately shouted to his subordinates.


    Unfortunately for him, he was a tad toote.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    A single wisp of me shot from Elder Pigu''s middle finger and ran through the Gu Legion members like an ocean tide. Wherever it went, piles of ashes fell to the ground.


    The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member anxiously tried to retreat, but Elder Pigu wasn''t gonna give him the chance.


    "I''ll kill you even if I have to use myst breath!" Elder Pigu said as he shot the final wisp of deep blue me towards the man.


    <i>~WOOM~</i>


    The Dao Threading Realm elder summoned several spirit tools to defend as a great explosion happened.

 Chapter 1042 - One Life For Thousands

    <h4>Chapter 1042 - One Life For Thousands</h4>


    The fellow elders of Elder Pigu watched everything with pained hearts.


    They were slower than him for the time being and weren''t able to assist him at that time. But Elder Pigu never had the intention to take any help. He was ready to exchange his single life with hundreds of thousands of others.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    <i>~DENG~</i>


    Various spirit tools and talismans exploded as they were unable to bear the might of Elder Pigu''s final attack. Thest Deep Blue me he had sent out contained the final wisps of his life and increased its power by several times.


    "AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member let out a yell as he tried to resist the attack.


    He was the weakest among all the current Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members that hade here, and could barely be considered a step into it. Considering his and Elder Pigu''s power, they were almost the same.


    If it were not for the Dao Embryo, the man had birthed, he would be eliminated instantly.


    "This can''t be!! I won''t ept this!!!" The Gu Legion member shouted.


    Gritting his his teeth, he summoned his Dao Shell, and along with it, his Dao Embryo!


    When the two objects appeared, thest defensive spirit tool he had used broke apart.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The mes rushed towards him, threatening to devour him. One could even the several faces in the mes. But in the next moment, they would disappear. They looked like a hallucination, and all the faces were of none other than Elder Pigu.


    The faces were filled with rage that powered the fire.


    "DAO SHELL! DEFEND!" The Dao Treading Realm Gu Legion elder called out.


    The Dao Shell shot forward to protect him. But looking at the Dao Shell, one could tell that it wasn''t particrly normal. It was of a strange muddy brown color and mixed in it were gray splotches.


    The Dao Embryo lying within it couldn''t even be seen easily. The Dao Shell too wasn''t that big, being merely 90 centimeters in diameter. This was smaller than a lot of Dao Shell''s, since most cultivators would try to expand theirs to at least a meter wide.


    Perhaps only those that ended their Dao Shell realm at the Shellpletion stage would be at this point. At this man was the same, having been pushed to the Dao Treading realm in some strange way.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    The Dao Shell let out a light which turned into a dome. The illusory dome acted as a shield and blocked the tongues of deep blue mes. But even then, it didn''t seem to be enough¡­


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    "WHAT?!" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member was stunned.


    The Shield created by his Dao Shell had actually developed his crack.


    ''Didn''t they say that Dao Treading realm cultivators were supreme? No one could challenge them easily and those below them could only die like worms. Then how?! HOWWWWW!?'' The Gu Legion member shouted in his mind.


    Gritting his teeth, he knew he now had no choice. The cracks were starting to spread on his Dao Shell''s shield and the deep blue mes didn''t show any signs of slowing down.


    "DAO EMBRYO! RISE!" The Gu Legion member shouted.


    R¨ºAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only


    He knew that using his Dao Embryo prematurely like this will probably stunt his cultivation right here. But he didn''t care for that anyway. He was already a man who had lost his way in cultivation and was unable to progress past the Dao Shell realm in the past.


    He couldn''t even expand his Dao Shell and was stuck in the Shellpletion stage. He was possibly one of the weakest Dao Shell realm cultivators and his lifelong dream was to reach the Dao Treading Realm.


    He thought that he would be forever unable to and now he had finally achieved his goal. With the help of his lord, he rose. And he fully intended on fulfilling his lord''s goals since his own had beenpleted.


    Such was the dedication that was incited within him by his lord Gu Yao!


    <i>~RUMBLE~</i>


    A strange sound was hearding from the Dao Shell of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member. It trembled and let out a cry!


    <i>~SKREEE~</i>


    Then in the next moment, cracks appeared on the Dao Shell!


    This was a shocking thing and if it happened to anyone else, it would be the same as their cultivation base regressing or even getting crippled!


    And yet, the cultivation base of the Gu Legion member seemed to stay the same.


    The Dao Shell continued to crack, and if one looked closely, they would see that the cracks were not spreading randomly. Rather, the crack was a smooth circr crack that covered the top of the Dao Shell.


    Then¡­ as if a lid had been opened, the top of the Dao Shell rose.


    <i>~slick~</i>


    A strange, ufortable sound came from it as a gooey mass flew out of it. A brown tarry liquid wiggled and writhed in the air.


    "Unholy Blood Puddle! Consume!" The Gu Legion member ordered.


    <i>~SKWEE~</i>


    This strange brown tarry liquid was none other than the Dao Embryo! And it was called as the Unholy Blood Puddle!


    The Dao Embryo suddenly expanded and turned into arge curtain. The curtain exceeded past the limits of the shield made by the Dao Shell and covered it. But it didn''t stop there either.


    The muddy curtain continued to spread and went past the deep blue mes, covering them entirely.


    <i>~SLACK~</i>


    Then as if arge mouth had been closed, the mud curtain closed its seams and shut the Deep Blue mes within it. The mes tried to escape and released great heat, and yet they were unable to do anything.


    The bulging mass of curtain wiggled, trying to contain the deep blue mes. After a few seconds, it finally calmed down and the bulge ttened. Once that was done, the curtain shrank and turned back into the original form of the Unholy Blood Puddle.


    It quickly returned to the Dao Shell as if afraid.

 Chapter 1043 - Fueling Vengeance

    <h4>Chapter 1043 - Fueling Vengeance</h4>


    The Dao Treading realm Gu legion member had turned pale after using his Dao Embryo and was visibly tired. He looked at his subordinates below and saw that barely ten percent of them were now left, the rest being turned to ashes by the Deep Blue mes.


    "Dammit! We were supposed to win this¡­" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member said angrily.


    This was the single biggest loss they had suffered in one blow ever since the start of the assault. All the others that had died were at least at the hand of an equal offense by the Noon Grass sect.


    But this¡­ this was all done by one man.


    Though if the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member were to know that several more Dao Shell realm members of theirs had also died under the hands of the same man that killed the subordinates, he would cry tears of blood.


    Unfortunately for him, he was going to meet them soon.


    "DIE!" Just before the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member could recall his Dao Shell with his Dao Embryo, a cry was heard.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    "GAH!" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member spat out a mouthful of blood.


    He looked at his chest that was burning with pain, and saw a spear jutting out of it.


    "DIE!"


    "DIE!"


    "DIE!"


    "DIE!"


    Several more cries were heard as four more weapons stabbed into his body. One went into his stomach, one to his spine, one to his lungs, and finally one to the skull.


    Before the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member could even react, his life was extinguished. Even his Nascent soul was destroyed at the same time with the power of multiple spirit weapons coursing through his Dantian.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    The corpse of the man fell lifelessly to the ground as the Elders of the Noon Grass sect finally appeared. Their faces were red with anger and their eyes bloodshot.


    "CURSE THEM ALL!" Supreme elder Hua Langya yelled in rage.


    He spat at the dead Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member and looked at his fellow elders.


    "Elder Pigu''s sacrifice wasn''t in vain, he finished the goal he set out to." Elder Sun said.


    All the elders wanted nothing more to shout, but they still had duties to do.


    "Take the body of Elder Pigu. We will need to have the funeralter." Supreme elder Hua Langya spoke.


    One of the elders quickly went to take the burned and damaged body of Elder Pigu, that was lying at the foot of the peak. Storing it into his Spatial storage tool, he returned to the other elders.


    The elders gazed at the remaining Gu Legion members with a cold look.


    The disciples who were holed up on the peak had simr expressions too. They had after all, witnessed Elder Pigu sacrificing himself for them.


    The other sects often thought that the Noon Grass sect was weak and was like greenhouse flowers, unable to survive in the true world. This was perhaps true on some level and Daoist Hua and other elders knew this.


    The current generation was rather peaceful aspared to the past. Some of the elders had fought in the wars and knew how they truly were.


    The newer generation had barely started to witness it after Lin Mu created the alliance and yet¡­ they had not gotten the reality stabbed into their brains yet.


    And finally¡­ that was shown to them.


    Maybe it was Elder Pigu''s goal as well, but that is something which went away with his life.


    "Elder Pigu¡­" A few disciples said in low voice, their throats feeling as if they were being squeezed.


    Hua Yi and his fellow juniors clenched their fists, their nails digging into their palm and drawing blood.


    The lips of Hua Er trembled as she stared daggers at the Gu Legion members that were still left.


    "KILL THEM ALL! LEAVE NONE ALIVE!" Hua Yi gave out the orders.


    Then, in less than a second, the barrier of the peak was lowered as the disciples fearlessly rushed into the fray. They didn''t care that there were still stronger Gu Legion members left there. They simply wanted to kill and reap lives.


    They wanted revenge! THEY WERE OUT FOR BLOOD!


    The Gu Legion members were quickly overwhelmed by the sudden assault of the disciples and couldn''t even react. The elders of the Noon Grass sect watched their disciples fighting with great fervor for the first time.


    "Elder Pigu might have given our sect more than we thought¡­ he gave the new generation vengeance to pursue." One of the elders muttered.


    "Perhaps we might see the show of talent from many disciples¡­ this should do them good." Elder Sun spoke.


    "Still¡­ was the cost worth it?" Hua Langya asked, but none replied, for they knew the answer very well.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    Another explosion was heard in the distance and pulled the attention of the elders.


    <i>~TREMBLE~</i>


    They watched as one of the peaks in the distance started to move and finally copsed.


    "The third peak!"


    "PATRIARCH!"


    The elders hurriedly flew towards it. They still had to support Patriarch Hua while the man fought against the four remaining Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members.


    "HURRY! HURRY!" Supreme elder Hua Langya urged.


    They knew that even if they were not a match for the Dao Treading realm Gu legion members, they still had to try and support the patriarch. Even if they couldn''t kill those Gu Legion members, they could at least take of some part of weight from their patriarch''s back.


    ¡­


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    Near the third peak that had just copsed, a bloodied and skinny old man rose from the rubble. There were several injuries on his body and one of his eyes was gone as well.


    <i>~ptui~</i>


    Spitting out a few teeth he red at the enemies in front of them.


    "How long will you struggle Daoist Hua? Don''t you see? Your end is already here!" one of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members taunted.


    "Never! The Noon Grass sect shall not perish to the likes of you traitors!"

 Chapter 1044 - Noon Moon Paling

    <h4>Chapter 1044 - Noon Moon Paling</h4>


    Daoist Hua would be lying if he didn''t admit that he wasn''t afraid. He was afraid of losing his sect, losing the life that he had built and disappointing the many that relied on him. More than that, he knew that if his sect fell, it would be a great blow to the alliance.


    And if something weakened the only thing stopping the doom of the Xiaofan world, the doom would only speed up.


    "Look at your sect! It is burning, it is crumbling and your disciples are dying! Feel it! FEEL IT ALL!" The Gu Legion members'' continued to taunt.


    "YOU DARE!" A mix of shouts was heard at this time as five elders appeared.


    Daoist Hua spotted them, and his eyes went wide.


    "What are you all doing here? Get away!" Daoist Hua warned.


    "HAHAHA! More bugs for us to kill!" The Gu Legion members said.


    "Do you think it will be that easy?" Supreme Elder Hua Langya scoffed.


    All the elders gathered their powers and executed a formation array. They had known very well that challenging multiple Dao Treading realm cultivators would be a mistake. They might be able to handle one of them, but not more than that.


    Additionally, they were here to help their patriarch and not burden him with the need to keep them safe as well.


    The five elders stood together in a circr order and created hand seals, with the supreme elder taking the lead.


    "Noon Moon Paling Formation Array!" The Supreme elder chanted.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Under the control of the five elders, five lines of runes shot up from above their heads. The lines soared into the sky and could be seen from several kilometer away.


    "What is that!?" A disciples at the peak said in surprise.


    A few that were paying attention in that direction spotted it quickly, too. This included Hua Yi and Hua Er.


    "Isn''t that?" Hua Er furrowed her brows.


    "It is indeed¡­ Seems like the elders are going against the really strong ones now." Hua Yi replied.


    "How much does that formation even cost? When master taught us five that, he gave us over a thousand high grade spirit stones each to practice it. And even then, we were barely able to execute it once after several years." Hua Er wondered.


    "Whatever it may be¡­ even if it drains our sect, it will be worth it. Besides, the elders have had many decades of practice, several more than us. They should be able to handle it." Hua Yi replied.


    The two direct disciples of the Patriarch were the only ones who were free enough to talk right now. The other three disciples were busy killing thest remaining dregs of the Gu Legion. They had already killed most of them and only a handful were remaining now.


    Under the incessant and fierce ughter, the Gu Legion members were unable to bear it. Even those at the Dao Shell realm were barely enough to hold them back and even then, one of them had died.


    Thest one was on his final breaths and was simply defending, unable to attack anymore.


    Hua Yi and Hua Er focused on the battle in the distance, hoping that their master and elders could win. And just as they were watching, they saw the five lines starting to move. They started to bend in the sky and joined up.


    <i>~HONG~</i>


    As if a bell had been rung, the five lines collided and the runesposing them merged together into arge sphere. The sphere was at least twenty meters wide and was illusory. Spirit Qi started to pour into it from the air, but it didn''t seem like it was enough to condense it fully.


    "DO IT NOW!" The Supreme elder shouted.


    Then, on his order, the elders started to pour out all their spirit stones. The supreme elder did the same and the spirit stones floated in the air. As if the sphere in the sky had be a ma, the spirit stones shot towards it.


    <i>~Whoosh~</i>


    Tens of thousands of spirit stones of all qualities rose in the sky at great speed, looking like fireworks. They were quickly pulled into the sphere as it started to condense into a physical form.


    ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "Don''t let them try anything more. Attack now!" A Gu Legion member urged.


    "Die!" One of them attacked the five elders while the remaining three held back Daoist Hua.


    The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member''s attack was in the form of an illusory first imprint. It was the size of a bull and contained great power. It destroyed the objects in its path, and as long as something was within ten meters of it, it would be pulverized!


    The five elders were fearless, though. They didn''t even so much so as blink and watched it with stern eyes. Even when it was mere inches away from them and was about to hit them, they didn''t react.


    And it was at this very moment that something happened.


    <i>~KLANG!~</i>


    A ray of light appeared out of nowhere and stuck the fist imprintunched by the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion. It seemed tinypared to therge imprint and yet¡­ the result was astounding.


    "What?!" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion who had attacked was stunned.


    The fist imprint was like a ballot deting as the light ray erased itpletely.


    "Humph! Our Noon Grass sect isn''t without inheritance either!" One of the five elders scoffed.


    "Behold our legacy! Noon Moon Paling Formation array!" The Supreme elder gestured at the sphere in the sky.


    "IS THAT A MOON?!" More disciples had taken notice of the battle in the distance and spotted the appearance of the new object in the sky.


    "They did it¡­" Hua Er muttered.


    "I never knew it could be this big." Hua San said in surprise.


    Daoist Hua smiled seeing the five elders'' actions and knew that this was thee back they needed.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    His fingers cracked and popped, as he clenched them into fists.


    "Time to end this!"

 Chapter 1045 - Noon Of Life

    <h4>Chapter 1045 - Noon Of Life</h4>


    The four Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members were at a loss seeing the appearance of a new moon above them. They knew that it wasn''t a realm moon and was merely a formation array construct, but the feeling of danger they were getting from it was no less threating than the old man they had been battling since the start.


    Even if they had been taunting and humiliating the old man since the start, they also knew that they were unable to kill him outright. If it were not for the fact that the old man was trying to contain them here and preventing them from causing damage to ces where disciples of the sect might be hiding, he would have probably managed to kill at least one of them.


    They had not forgotten the warning of their lord before.


    ''Even if you all have reached the Dao Treading realm with my grace, don''t take the Patriarch of the Noon Grass sect lightly. He is from the same generation of the old experts that repelled the Northern Tribes in thest great battle.


    He has faced a great beast above the Immortal Ascension realm and lived to tell the tale. Even if he had faced it with many others, that is no less of an achievement. He has lived long¡­ longer than most patriarch and elders of the top sects.


    Don''t think that he hasn''t umted any trump cards.'' The words of Gu Yao echoed in their ears again.


    And now, they were witnessing the same. But they had not expected that the patriarch didn''t keep his trump cards to himself, but entrusted it to his people instead.


    "HAIL!" The Supreme elder Hua Langya chanted and pointed at the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members.


    <i>~HUALA~</i>


    The moon in the sky trembled and several spots appeared on it.


    <i>~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~</i>


    Tens of light rays shot out of it and targeted the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members. One of them who was a little slow to dodge, got hit with one of them and felt pain in his hand.


    "What?" The man was stunned to find a hole in his hand now.


    The hole was small, just slightly bigger than that of a crochet needle, but it was still something terrifying.


    He looked up and was unfortunately struck with another light ray.


    "ARGH!" This time, the light ray struck him in the shoulder, piercing cleanly through.


    <i>~picha~</i>


    A small jet of blood gushed out along with the attack, creating a clear trajectory in the air.


    "DON''T LET THE LIGHT RAYS HIT YOU!" one of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion warned.


    All of them started to fly around, doing their best to dodge and defend them. One thing they had seen was that their personal defensive treasures were unless against these light rays. They could pierce through the defenses as if they didn''t even exist.


    Unfortunately for them, this was just the start and there was one person they had momentarily forgotten about.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    "ARGH!" One of the Gu Legion members let out a grunt of pain and was knocked away.


    In his ce appeared none other than Patriarch Hua. His fists were tightly clenched and his aura soared like never before.


    "Time to end this!" He said fiercely as his eyes turned bloodshot.


    His bony and skinny body let off vitality that was unusual and unnatural for him. Till a few seconds ago, he seemed to be half a step into the domain of death and now he was like a youthful man filled with endless vitality.


    "NOON OF LIFE!" One of the five elders recognized.


    "Patriarch finally used it!" Another one of them said.


    "This is the best time for it. No use keeping it sealed for any longer." The supreme elder nodded his head and continued his attacks.


    He pointed at the moon and then brought the finger towards the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member, as more rays of light rained towards them.


    Daoist Hua too, didn''t pause and let off one attack after the other. With a single punch, he sent another one of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members flying and with a kick, he split the already crumbled peak into half.


    ''What is this power? Did the old man consume some drugs?'' the Gu Legion members were astounded.


    And it was a proper reaction as it truly was a skill that was worth it.


    This was the top technique of the Noon Grass sect. It was called as the ''Noon of Life'' and only the patriarch and his direct disciples could practice it. The technique was something that had a long cool down and strict requirements.


    This was also why only the patriarch could learn this, or rather only the person who could learn this technique would be the patriarch of the Noon Grass sect.


    Noon Of life was actually part of the true cultivation technique of the Noon Grass sect and the ones who were the most talented in it would be able to learn the top level skill such as it.


    It worked by storing a part of the users'' spirit Qi and vitality sealed in their bodies. This energy would keep on stockpiling for at least a decade. That was the minimum amount that was needed to use it once.


    Its upper limit was two hundred years and beyond that it needed to be unsealed. Of course, one didn''t need to unseal itpletely. Merely letting off a part of it was enough. It was simr to emptying an overflying tank.


    Its benefits were obvious. Noon Of life allowed the user to gain a great amount of power for a limited time period. At an umtion of two hundred years, one could even battle an expert entire realm above them!


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    This was an absolutely terrifying ability when used properly and and the right time.


    And in case of Daoist Hua, who had sealed it for just a few years less than two hundred years, it''s power was even greater.

 Chapter 1046 - Tilting The Scales Of Battle-I

    <h4>Chapter 1046 - Tilting The Scales Of Battle-I</h4>


    Daoist Hua channeled his power and raised his hand that faintly glowed.


    "REND!" He said as he moved his hand like a sword.


    A sh shot out of his hand, splitting apart everything in its path, along with a Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member''s arm!


    "ARGH!" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member cried in pain.


    His right hand had been severed, and it flew off. But that was not all. The hand that had been severed was further hit by the light raysing from the Noon Moon Paling''s moon in the sky.


    This utterly destroyed the hand and left no option for the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion to ever get it back. If it was still intact and he managed to get it back, he might have had a chance to reattach it in the future.


    Even if he was at the Dao Treading realm, regrowing an arm was many times harder than reattaching one. In fact, the higher one''s cultivation base went the harder it would get to regrow a limb or body part.


    This was due to the fact that there was a greater distance that needed to be crossed whenparing the quality of a cultivator''s flesh. The higher one went in cultivation, the better their body would be and the more it would cost to rece a limb.


    This was why most experts were fine with bodily injuries, as long as they weren''t on the level of losing a limb or other part entirely. The holes that the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion had sustained in their bodies were something that could be eventually healed.


    But not the loss of a limb.


    "DAMMIT!" the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member who had lost an arm cursed and swallowed a couple of pills to stop the bleeding.


    But his eyes went wide as the Patriarch appeared beside him in the blink of an eye.


    Daoist''s Hua''s fingers were all straightened as the thrust his hand towards the side of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member.


    "NO!" The man shouted and tried to defend.


    He threw out a talisman that created a temporary shield, but it was useless.


    <i>~kacha~</i>


    The shield shattered under the stab of the patriarch Hua''s hand and the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion barely manged to dodge it. Even then, the tip of the patriarch''s middle finger managed to prick the man, drawing blood and cracking one of his ribs.


    "Don''t think you''ll get luck anymore." Daoist Hua said as he sprinted towards the other Dao Treading realm Gu Legion who was near him.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    He moved like a shark through the water and let out multiple attacks.


    <i>~boom~ </i>


    <i>~Bang~</i> Content held by N?velDrama.Org.


    <i>~ng~</i>


    The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members did their best to block them, but their injuries kept on piling up. Daoist Hua''s attacksbined with the suppression from the Noon Moon Paling made it very difficult for the Gu Legion.


    The Noon Moon Paling''s light rays didn''t cause much damage, but they did cause the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members to divert their attain a little too much. This was very dangerous when the patriarch was attacking them.


    ''This won''t be enough¡­ I don''t know if we can make him exhaust the time limit of his skill at this rate.'' One of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members understood.


    He could very easily tell that the patriarch''s skill was possibly something simr to a self sacrifice skill. But at the same time, it was far too stable to be called as the same. He reckoned that it woulde to an end at a certain point, but they couldn''t rely on that.


    If the time was beyond an hour, they were sure to die.


    Then there was also the fact that the Noon Moon Paling was attacking incessantly under the control of the five elders.


    They had tried attacking the five elders to get he formation array to stop, but even that was impossible. The Noon Moon Paling surrounded the five elders and created an unreachable domain.


    A very strong attack, many times stronger than the normal light rays would strike them and it was something that may not kill them, but injure them just enough so that Daoist Hua would be able to take them out.


    And that was now an oue they wanted, of course. Even if one of them died here, they knew for sure the others would die too. They were only able to keep up their barrage because there were four of them to bear the burden.


    "Release your Dao Embryo''s! We can''t afford a stalemate anymore!" the leader of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members, stated.


    Hearing this, the others were certainly astonished, but they knew they had to do this.


    The five elders were surprised upon hearing this too, but for different reasons.


    "Patriarch! Be careful of their Dao Embryos! If they are anything like the other Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member that Elder Pigu killed at the cost of his life, it would be able to consume attacks!" Supreme elder Hua Langya warned.


    "WHAT?" Both Daoist Hua and the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members were shocked upon hearing this.


    Daoist Hua because Elder Pigu had died, and the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members because they didn''t even know their fifth member had died already.


    They were thinking of even regrouping with him if given the chance and increase their offense, but now that was not an option. And they didn''t think that the Supreme elder was bluffing either, otherwise the ability of their Dao Embryo wouldn''t be known to them.


    This was a secret ability that they gained after their Dao Embryo was born. All of them had the same Dao Embryo, and it was due to the efforts of Lord Gu Yao that they gained it too.


    "DO IT NOW!" The leader of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion ordered.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    At that moment, several Dao Shells appeared!


    Seeing the tide of the battle changing again, Daoist Hua reacted quickly.

 Chapter 1047 - Tilting The Scales Of Battle-II

    <h4>Chapter 1047 - Tilting The Scales Of Battle-II</h4>


    <i>~huu~</i>


    Daoist Hua took a deep breath and condensed an orb of spirit Qi between his palms. By cupping them together, he shaped the orb and created what looked like a long hook.


    The spirit Qi bursting from his body formed into a thin chain that attached to the hook and the patriarch swung it towards the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members who had just summoned their Dao Shells.


    "Not so fast!" Daoist Hua said as he activated his ability.


    <i>~WHOOSH~</i>


    The long hook soared through the air andtched onto the Dao Shell that was closest to it. The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion whom the Dao Shell belonged to tried to dodge it, but the hook was like a needle being attracted to a ma.


    The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member whose Dao shell was hooked was shocked and tried to resist.


    "LET GO!" He said, but his control over the Dao shell was weakening.


    "Vein Ripper Hook! TEAR!" Daoist Hua ordered.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    Suddenly the chain attached to the long hook tightened and started to pull.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    The hook directly tore open a wide crack on the Dao Shell, inflicting damage on the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member as well.


    <i>~COUGH~</i>


    The man coughed out blood due to the bacsh, but didn''t stop what he was doing. In fact, now that the Dao shell had another bigger crack, the Dao Embryo within it managed to leave even quickly.


    <i>~slick~</i>


    <i>~SKWEE~</i>


    The strange puddle like Dao Embryo let out a cry which was really annoying and irritating.


    "PIERCE!" The Supreme elder didn''t let this chance go and controlled the Noon Moon Paling to release another attack.


    This attack was the strongest it could unleash and was a light beam that condensed into a spear and shot towards the Dao Embryo.


    <i>~SHING~</i>


    The Light spear pierced the Dao Embryo with ease, making it cry out in pain.


    This was a very strange and unusual scene for all of them, as they knew very well Dao Embryo didn''t behave like this. Even if they had some level of sentience, it was at most on the level of a spirit weapon.


    A Dao Embryo was part of a cultivator and couldn''t be fully conscious, as it would go against thews of nature. Rather, it would be really bad as it was the same a split personality being created in a person''s mind.


    For cultivator this would be simr to a mental demon being born. And since it would be their Dao Embryo itself, which could very quickly affect their cultivation base, it would cause even greater damage.


    If it could wrest control from the cultivator, it would pretty much cripple the cultivator and return them to the Nascent soul realm if not out right kill them.


    But just as the five elders were feeling good about dealing damage to the Dao Embryo, it started to writhe more.


    <i>~GUA~</i>


    A mouth opened up on the Dao Embryo and it started to consume the Light Spear that was struck in it. The supreme elder and patriarch watched with surprise as it sessfully managed to consume the light spear.


    And not just that, it actually recovered from the injury that the very same light spear had dealt it.


    "HAHAHA! YOU ALL WILL NOW SEE THE TRUE POWER! THE TRUE POWER OF THE UNHOLY BLOOD PUDDLE!" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member whose Dao Embryo this wasughed madly.


    One could see that the backsh had created some mental effects already and there was a great chance the man would not be able to recover from that easily. His aura was already getting unstable.


    <i>~CRACK~</i>


    But while all this happened, it had also given the three Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members enough time to open their Dao Shell''s and let out their Dao Embryos.


    <i>~SKWEE~!!!!</i>


    An irritating cry was let out by all four Dao Embryos. It was loud enough that even the disciples in the distance could hear it.


    "Disgusting fiends!" Daoist Hua cursed and threw the long hook towards the Dao Embryos.


    <i>~SHUA~</i> Content held by N?velDrama.Org.


    Its speed was still rather quick and a Dao Embryo got caught in it immediately. But just as the patriarch was about to pull the hook and tear the body of the Dao Embryo, something different happened.


    <i>~st~</i>


    The other three Dao Embryos all rushed towards the Dao Embryo that was being attacked and merged with it.


    "What in the name of heavens¡­" Elder Sun said, feeling a little afraid.


    The aura of the Dao Embryo spiked, and a very repulsive feeling rose from it.


    <i>~CLANG~</i>


    The chain attached to the long hook was stretched taught and the Dao Embryos, which had nowbined, started to pull the hook into it.


    <i>~THUD~</i>


    Daoist Hua directlynded on the ground and dug his feet into the ground, making it so that it was hard for the Dao Embryo to pull further.


    <i>~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~</i>


    But just as he was starting to defend, a bunch of attacks suddenly hit him.


    "HAHAHA! Do you think we''ll just let you do whatever you want? FEEL THIS!" One of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members taunted as he threw out several spirit weapons.


    Since the Dao Embryos were now attacking independently from the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members, they were free to attacks as they wanted. This was the same as gaining a new member and a new stalemate had now been reached.


    In fact, the situation was now tilting a bit towards the Gu Legion again.


    Daoist Hua was stuck there, trying to pull back the Vein Ripper Hook while the five elders used the Noon Moon Paling to prevent the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members from getting close to them.


    But even then, the four of them were now gaining ground. They had adapted to the attacks of the Noon Moon Paling and were able to dodge better.


    "Your end is near Noon Grass sect!" The Gu Legion members taunted.


    But just as they were about to attack with full force, a sound echoed.


    <strong><i>~ROAR!!!!~</i></strong>

 Chapter 1048 - Suppression

    <h4>Chapter 1048 - Suppression</h4>


    Once the Roar came, the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members, along with Daoist Hua and the five elders, felt like their world was shaking.


    But this was merely the start of it all. Along with the roar came two auras. One of them was infused into the very roar itself, and was fiery like the fiercest of volcanoes. While the second was different. It was cold, sharp, and murderous.


    If the first aura was beastly and represented domination, the second one was utterly terrifying and only meant to kill. All the people that were in the area felt their souls shaking. Even the disciples in the distance at the peak felt something change.


    "Why am I getting this feeling?" Hua Er muttered as she saw the goosebumps on her hand.


    Hua Yi and Hua San felt something too, shivering lightly.


    "This¡­ does not feel right." Hua Yi muttered.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    And just as he said that, everyone could witness a fiery explosion in the distance where the elders were.


    "What?!"


    The five elders witnessed the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member who was about to reach them, being knocked away by a ming w. The w let off scorching heat and if it were not for the Noon Moon Paling protecting them, they might have burned as well. The ming w sent the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member flying while also injuring him.


    His defenses were broken though and and his robes were burning now. The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member could not be seen due to the speed at which he had been sent flying. The senses of the elders couldn''t even feel it happening. Additionally, the spirit qi in the air was far too turbulent now, making it only that much harder to sense anything.


    <i>~GRRRRRRR!~</i>


    A rumbling growl could be hearding from a small distance away from where the five elders were. Everyone looked at it and were stunned to see arge beast that towered over them all.


    "The savior beast?!" The five elders recognized.


    ''Was it this big?'' one of the elders who had seen Little Shrubby before could see the difference.


    Little Shrubby bared his fangs at the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members without fear. Even though he was still at the Dao Shell realm, he didn''t fear them at all. As long as he had his master by his side, he could go against anyone in the world.


    "Wait, he''s not alone." Supreme elder Hua Langya could sense the cold auraing from the back of Little Shrubby.


    It was clearly contrasting against Little Shrubby''s own, and as long as one paid a little attention, they would be able to see it too.


    Daoist Hua was surprised at this sudden change of situation and was a bit afraid too. Not because that help had clearly arrived, but because he could sense something wrong with the help itself.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    From the back of Little Shrubby, floated up none other than Lin Mu. His expression was still like the frozen seas and gazed upon the three Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members that were left here.


    "Little Shrubby, kill." Lin Mu spoke in a low voice.


    <i>~ROAR!!!~</i>


    Little Shrubby instantly understood and flew away to the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member he had sent flying earlier.


    "W-who are you?" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members left here were confused and anxious.


    They could clearly tell from the spirit qi fluctuations that wereing from Lin Mu that he was merely at the Dao Shell realm, lower than them. And yet, they felt terrified of him. It was a deep feeling that came from within them. Even their Dao Embryos that were currently fused together were warning them.


    The beast that had interrupted their attack too was simr and they felt a fearsome oppression from it, despite the fact that it too was at the Dao Shell realm. Still, their instincts told them that the beast could still kill them if not harm them.


    But despite all that, the greatest fear they felt from was not from the fierce and dangerous looking beast. But rather from the young man in front of them. His still face was handsome, but it felt like the handsomeness of a devil that hade to reap lives.


    "What does a brat like you want? Go away if you don''t want to die too!" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members warned.


    As much as they wanted to attack him directly, they couldn''t help but want to say this and see if he actually went away. Even though Lin Mu''s cultivation base was lower, they didn''t want to say that out directly either.


    Firstly, they couldn''t tell who Lin Mu was at all. Anyone this young being at the Dao Shell realm was something that should be known across the entire Great Zhou Continent. Before they had set out on their mission, or even before that, they had been informed of all the well known experts of the continent.


    This was so that they would know what they were to face. Especially considering they were attacking other top sects. They were bound to face such people. Additionally, Gu Yao wanted to get these young experts under his control too. He would much rather have them under him than get them killed.


    And if they resisted too much, there was always the option of sacrificing them and their cultivation base in exchange for a new Reborn.


    They would get the power of those young experts one way or the other. Resisting was futile against the Gu Legion and the Northern Tribes.


    And yet¡­ they were about to learn the meaning of that feeling today.


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    Lin Mu didn''t answer these men at all, and merely took a nce around.


    <i>~SHUA~</i>


    His hair flew around as a powerful spirit qi wave spread from him. The very air shook as winds blew.. Lin Mu''s spirit sense spread around, revealing all the secrets they were hiding.

 Chapter 1049 - Killing Blows

    <h4>Chapter 1049 - Killing Blows</h4>


    The eyes of all the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members went wide as they felt a spirit sense stronger than ever before. It broke through their defenses as if they were air and quickly entered their bodies. Feeling as if they had been vited, the anger appeared on the faces of all the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members here.


    "I see now¡­ no wonder you all reached the Dao Treading realm¡­" Lin Mu spoke in a low voice.


    "Y-you!!!!" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members were furious at his act and were feeling humiliate.


    But before they could do anything, Lin Mu acted first.


    Extending his right hand towards the Dao Embryos, he lightly uttered a word.


    "Meld¡­"


    As soon as that word was said, the fused Dao Embryos let out a cry


    <i>~skweee~</i>


    The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members wanted to retreat at that moment and withdraw their Dao Embryo''s, feeling the greatest danger of their lives. It was many times greater than now when they were facing Daoist Hua after his Noon Of Life was activated.


    Then, under the stunned eyes of all, the Dao Embryo was split apart.


    "HOW!?" The five elders let out a surprised shout.


    Even when the Noon Moon Paling''s strongest attack had hit the Dao Embryo, it had only caused damage momentarily and it had healed. But now the entire Dao Embryo had been split apart.


    Lin Mu didn''t stop at that either, and gestured with his fingers in a sideways motion.


    <i>~SKEWEEEE~</i>


    The Dao Embryo let out more cries as it was bisected once again. Now it was split apart into four segments that continued to wiggle and writhe.


    <i>~SKWEEE~</i>


    The four segments were now increased to eight as Lin Mu moved his hand once more.


    <i>~SKWEEE~</i>


    He did it again, and now there were sixteen segments. Lin Mu didn''t stop doing it and the Dao Embryo kept on getting split into smaller and smaller fragments.


    The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members were helpless and couldn''t even react in time. To them, while it all looked long, merely two seconds had passed. Lin Mu''s hand had in fact moved at great speed and it was merely the fear that they were feeling which had heightened their senses temporarily.


    The adrenaline running through their veins slowed down time for them, but their bodies couldn''t react at the same speed.


    Once the Dao Embryo was reduced to over sixty segments, Lin Mu disappeared from where he was standing and appeared right next to where the Dao Embryos were.


    "WHAT ARE Y¡ª" The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members tried to stop Lin Mu, but it was toote.


    A heart wrenching pain assaulted all of them as their Dao Embryo disappeared into thin air.


    <i>~cough~</i>


    <i>~cough~</i>


    <i>~Cough~</i>


    The three Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members suddenly coughed out copious amounts of blood. Their noses, ears and eyes started to bleed as well and their aura started to weaken.


    "You¡­ what¡­ what¡­ what did you do?" one of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members asked with difficulty.


    They could tell what had happened, but it was impossible for them to believe it. Their links with the Dao Embryos had been broken abruptly. This was different than when they let out their Dao Embryos from their Dao Shells. They were still linked to them at a deeper level and even if they went further, the Dao Embryos would continue to stay linked to them.


    But now they were broke apart entirely. Even when the Dao Embryos were split apart multiple times, they had not been destroyed entirely and there was still their link with them.


    Unfortunately for them, Lin Mu didn''t deem them worthy enough to answer. He simply turned to face them and a golden glow suddenly appeared on his body.


    <i>~SWOOSH~</i>


    He stepped onto the ground and lunged forward.


    <i>~BOOM~</i>


    A crater two meters deep formed in the ground from that single step as spiderweb like cracks spread from it. Lin Mu appeared in front of the armless Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member and pped out his hand.


    <i>~St~</i> This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.


    His hand struck the head of the armless Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member and instantly exploded it. The man couldn''t even realize when it happened and was too slow to react.


    "What in the¡­" The five elders were stunned at this scene.


    The Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members they were trying so hard to kill was eliminated with a single attack. Not to mention this was Dao Treading realm experts they were talking about. Even if they were weakened, their bodies were still strong enough to resist several attacks, and yet it all seemed to be different.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A faint flow appeared on the chest of the now dead Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member as its Nascent soul tried to escape.


    "Where do you think you are going?" Lin Mu quickly caught the Nascent soul in his hand.


    The face of the Nascent soul was that of absolute horror. It tried to struggle, but in Lin Mu''s grip it was useless.


    Lin Mu stared at the Nascent soul and saw how muddied it looked as well.


    "Useless to even be eaten¡­" Lin Mu scoffed and crushed the Nascent soul in his hand.


    <i>~Poof~</i>


    The nascent soul disappeared as if it never existed and Lin Mu gazed the remaining two Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members. They looked at him and found him standing next to them in the next moment.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    Lin Mu''s hand moved again, but this time the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members actually managed to dodge. It was a close dodge, but they still did it.


    Lin Mu tilted his neck towards them and disappeared again, reappearing above them.


    "DAMMIT!" They cursed and tried to move again.


    One of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member managed to slip by, but one was still caught.


    Lin Mu clenched the man''s neck in his hand and lifted him up like a chick. Gazing into the man''s eyes, he squeezed it until both the head and body were separated.


    <i>~thud~thud~</i>

 Chapter 1050 - Ferocious And Cruel

    <h4>Chapter 1050 - Ferocious And Cruel</h4>


    Lin Mu''s ferocity was not something the elders had expected to see today. So far, they had seen him being amicable and even a bit dominating, but today''s disy was entirely different.


    To them, it was as if this was an entirely different person.


    ''No¡­ perhaps this is him. Or at least¡­ the one that is truly determined.'' Daoist Hua couldn''t help but think.


    <i>~thud~ thud~</i>


    The head and body of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member fell on the ground, separated by Lin Mu squeezing his neck till there was nothing left. Blood and flesh was left on Lin Mu''s hand, but the Armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture made it so that it never stained his robes or his skin.


    But just as the body fell to the ground, Lin Mu stomped on its chest.


    <i>~SPLAT~</i>


    The chest instantly caved in and the Nascent soul that was about to wiggle out was exterminated along with it.


    "N-no¡­ No! Stay back! STAY BACK!!" The final remaining Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member was now filled with absolute terror.


    Gone was his arrogance and feelings of power after reaching the Dao Treading realm. Right now he felt like a small rabbit encountering a massive wolf. The wolf stared into his eyes, striking fear right into his soul.


    He could even feel something in his ears.


    ''What is that¡­?'' The man felt voices in his ear.


    The voices were faint, but cold. An eerie aura surrounded him and made him shudder.


    <i>~whoosh~</i>


    He was taken out of his stupor by the wind that was hitting his face. His eyes snapped wide open as he spotted a golden first heading his way.


    "W-wai¡ª" Before he could fully dodge though, his arm was hit.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    The bones in his arm were instantly shattered and a sickening sound was heard. The man wanted to cry out, but the air was knocked out of his lungs in that moment.


    <i>~SPURT~</i>


    Another golden fist hit is abdomen, crushing his organs and shattering the ribs in the process. Blood and minced organs burst out of his mouth and nose while a soul shaking pain filled his brain.


    It overwhelmed him enough that he couldn''t even register the pain. His brain couldn''t process all the input at once and got overloaded. Unfortunately for him, this was just the start.


    Lin Mu spun around with his leg stretched. The leg struck the leg of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member and split it in half. Keeping the momentum, Lin Mu spun again, and hit the other leg before the man even copsed.


    <i>~KACHA~</i>


    <i>~SPLAT~</i>


    With both the legs removed, the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member fell to the ground helplessly as blood and guts kept oning out of his mouth. His eyes watered and turned red, but at the same time there was a dullness to them, as if he was no longer there.


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    Lin Mu gazed at the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member who was copsed on the ground, lying on his front as if it was an ant. Lifting his left, Lin Mu nted it right on the hip of the man, shattering his pelvis bit by bit.


    If this was done by any normal person, it would seem like the motions of a massage, but with Lin Mu''s weight, he was shattering the bones.


    "GLA¡­. GLA¡­." No longer having any lungs or a diaphragm to speak, only the sound of entrails spilling out from his mouth could be heard.


    Lin Mu''s face was still as he eventually extruded all the innards of the man using his foot.


    "T-this¡­ Alliance leader Lin Mu¡­ stop, that''s enough." Supreme elder Hua Langya couldn''t watch it anymore.


    All the elders had faced bloody and fierce fights before, but what Lin Mu was doing was on apletely different level.


    But it seemed like Lin Mu had not heard the man at all and continued doing what he before. By now, the body of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Member had been ttened, and it looked like animals that had been road killed and ran over by hundreds of vehicles.


    <i>~gulp~ </i>


    All the elders swallowed their saliva and felt a fear rising from the bottom of their guts. They didn''t feel like moving at all, and it was as if they had been frozen in ce.


    Patriarch Hua thought furrowed his brows and approached Lin Mu. He extended his hand and ced his hand on Lin Mu''s shoulder.


    "This is enough. He''s dead." Patriarch Hua spoke in a calm tone.


    Lin Mu moved his neck to look at the old man and stunned the old man.


    In that moment, Daoist Hua saw something in Lin Mu''s eyes. It was as if they had unending depths to them, like the very abyss was hiding behind them. The illusory figures of unknown beings appeared in them, having horns, sharp teeth and strangely shaped bodies that let out eerieughs.


    "Jiejiejiejiejie¡­.. Jiejiejiejiejiejie¡­.jiejeiejiejiejie" Hearing theughter, Daoist Hua felt his blood turn cold.


    Even the increased aura and power from the Noon of Life seemed to be affected and was suppressed.


    At this moment, the ring on Lin Mu''s right middle finger hummed lightly.


    Inside the space of the ring, another scene was happening. Above the Ethereal Altar, a few pitch ck runes appeared. These looked like they were made from ws scratching on a surface and were very fierce.


    There was a deadly feeling in those runes that made whoever look at it feel ufortable. It was like having a knife hovering over you whenever you slept. The runes hovered over the altar for a few seconds before moving around the area.


    They went to the barrier that surrounded the altar and tried to leave it, but were unable to. Returning to the altar, they started shrinking and turned into a needle before shooting straight up into the sky and disappearing.


    The Altar hummed a few times, alerting Xukong and rousing him from his trance.


    He felt anxious all of a sudden and checked upon Lin Mu.

 Chapter 1051 - A Darkness Within

    <h4>Chapter 1051 - A Darkness Within</h4>


    Xukong skimmed through the shared memories and saw what Lin Mu had done. Knowing that these were not his normal actions, he knew something was wrong in that moment.


    "What happened?" Xukong was a bit confused, but then felt a strange aura from the Altar in the distance.


    "Of course!" Understanding that the alter must be rted to it, he rushed to the altar and saw the scene there.


    In front of him, several pitch ck runes formed above the altar. They were the same as the ones that had appeared before and started to shrink soon after forming. They would shrink to the size of a needle before shooting into the sky and disappearing.


    <i>~shua~</i>


    A faint aura would rise from the altar whenever this happened and Xukong could feel it.


    It made him feel ufortable as well and rmed his instincts.


    "What is this now? Is another part of the Nine Divine Heart Sutras about to be awakened?" Xukong wondered.


    ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    By now, he had understood that there were certain triggers and requirements for a sutra to awaken. Lin Mu had possibly fulfilled them and it might be time for it to awaken. But then Xukong saw something else in Lin Mu''s memories.


    It was nothing but Daoist Hua touching him and the eerieughter that was echoing. The effect of the gaze and theughter suppressing Daoist Hua''s aura was also seen by Xukong. It was this that rmed him the most, knowing nothing good woulde out of it.


    Xukong had understood by now that the Nine Divine Sutras were very powerful, but they also had side effects that could be very dangerous at the same time. This was both for Lin Mu and anyone else that might be present near him.


    Another factor being that the sutras wouldn''t be controble by Lin Mu right away, either. Thus, the effects of every new sutra were unknown and potentially fatal.


    "LIN MU STOP!" Xukong shouted, shaking the very space itself.


    Out in the real world, Lin Mu shuddered as a shout echoed in his mind. Thankfully, his mind had not blocked out the link between Xukong and him, allowing him to still hear him.


    "What?" Lin Mu''s e expression changed that to of confusion as the deep darkness in his eyes disappeared as well.


    <i>~step~step~</i>


    Daoist Hua too snapped out of his state and quickly took a few steps back.


    <i>~huu~huu~huu~</i>


    He didn''t even realize that he had started panting and his hands were trembling as well.


    ''What in the name of heavens was that?'' Daoist Hua was lost.


    He could recall seeing the strange figures that looked rather¡­ malevolent as well as the eerieughter. His very soul was crying out to run, but he was unable to. It was as if he had been stuck to Lin Mu, until the moment he woke up as well.


    "Are you okay?" Lin Mu asked Daoist Hua, not realizing what had happened.


    "I-" Daoist Hua saw the entirely different expression of Lin Mu and understood that this might not be something Lin Mu even knew he did.


    Adding it to what Lin Mu had done before and the ferociousness he had disyed earlier against the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion Members, he held back on saying anything about it.


    In fact, there was a fear in his mind that if he said something, that thing might happen again.


    "I''m fine. It''s all over now." Daoist Hua replied quickly.


    "Over?" Lin Mu looked around and saw the scene of gore.


    "They''re dead?" Lin Mu was a bit lost until his memories resurface.


    His brows furrowed as he realized what he had done.


    ''Why did I do that?'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This level of cruelty was not something he would show or even attempt. Especially since his goal here was to save the Noon Grass sect and stop the attacks. Normally he wouldn''t spend any time on the enemies once they were dead and would rather check the other ces for more threat.


    "Another part of the Nine Divine Heart Sutras might be awakening soon¡­ your earlier actions might have been due to it." Xukong spoke.


    "What? Really?" Lin Mu was shocked.


    Lin Mu didn''t even stop a moment before disappearing in front of all the elders.


    "Where did he go?" The elders were confused.


    Elder Sun noticed the strange state of Daoist Hua and approached him.


    "Are you fine, Patriarch?" Elder Sun questioned.


    "Did you get injured somehow?" Hua Langya asked.


    "No¡­ I''m fine¡­ at least physically." Daoist Hua replied.


    One of the elders couldn''t help but gaze at the ''artwork'' Lin Mu had made on the ground and swallowed his saliva in nervousness.


    "Does anyone know why he did this? The man was dead after the first couple of attacks." One of the elders asked.


    "Yeah¡­ Alliance Leader Lin Mu¡­ became different." Elder Sun spoke.


    "He¡­ has changed¡­ or something changed within him." Daoist Hua stated.


    "What happened there, patriarch? I saw that when you touched him, you went rather still. Your aura too¡­ its reduced." Elder Sun asked.


    "I don''t know¡­ I saw somethings¡­ terrifying things¡­ heard them too¡­" Patriarch Hua replied.


    Hearing this, Hua Langya was reminded of something.


    "Patriarch¡­ you might want to know this¡­" He said before whispering his and Elder Pigu''s experience from the past.


    "Ten golden eyes? No¡­ what I saw was nothing like that. I couldn''t even tell properly what I saw¡­ all I remember are vague figures, ws, horns and teeth. And thatughter¡­ I''ve never heard aughter like that before¡­ at least I don''t think any human canugh like that." Patriarch Hua Shuddered after remembering it all again.


    Hua Langya furrowed his brows and looked at the ce where Lin Mu was standing earlier.


    "Whatever it may be¡­ something has changed within Lin Mu. Only time will tell, if its good or not." Hua Langya stated.


    "Indeed¡­ there is a darkness within him¡­ perhaps it has been there since the start and only showed itself now¡­" Daoist Hua agreed.

 Chapter 1052 - Not Ready

    <h4>Chapter 1052 - Not Ready</h4>


    Unaware of the conversation between the elders and Patriarch Hua, Lin Mu appeared in the space of the ring. Appearing in the dark yet ''starry'' space was always a surreal experience.


    The silvery streaks of spatial energy continued to move around, fading in and out of existence, while the Ethereal altar''s glow could be seen in the distance. The glow was like a long pir of light that was gently radiating out of the light.


    Lin Mu flew towards the altar, knowing that Senior Xukong was waiting for him there. Upon reaching there, Lin Mu saw the strange phenomenon that was taking ce there. Or more like he was forced to see it.


    The strange auraing from the altar was hard to miss. Especially the pitch ck runes that kept on materializing and turning into thin needles that shot up and disappeared.


    "What is going on, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I have no idea¡­ but seeing as the altar is possibly doing this and your state before, its likely to be another part of the Nine Divine Heart Sutras." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and approached the altar. He was the only one who could actually get close to it, and even Xukong was unable to break through the barrier. It was on an entirely different level and he had no confidence to do it even if he used his main body.


    Approaching the barrier, Lin Mu tried to go past, but was unable to.


    <i>~thud~</i>


    "Huh? Why is it stopping me?" Lin Mu was lost.


    The barrier had always existed, but Lin Mu could pass through it with ease. But now he was unable to.


    "Is it not ready?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He stayed there watching the altar, trying tomunicate with it. But even after five minutes of trying, he got no response. The ring too was silent and didn''t show any signs of response either.


    It only made Lin Mu more confused. He had always been able to get the ring to respond at least on certain level, but this was like ignoring him entirely.


    "Seems like it might be preparing something. It''s hard to tell what exactly though. It could be both a new skill or the next part of the Nine divine sutras. Since it''s not responding to you at all, it might be something not permitted to you right now." Xukong said after analyzing.


    "Hmm¡­ it does seem like that." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    This was a new aspect of the ring that he was seeing for the first time. The ring had always been mysterious and even Xukong couldn''t tell its origins or how it was made. Even with the great power his main body had, he could barely influence it.


    At most, Xukong was only able to restrain the spatial fluctuation that always came out of the ring passively.


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    Lin Mu watched the pitch ck runes forming and shooting into the sky for a few more minutes before shaking his head.


    ''I''ll have to wait for when it''s ready. But if what I had done earlier is linked to this, then¡­ it might not be something that is easy to use.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With the power that came with the nine divine sutras, there was also a great cost. The calming heart sutra, the severing heart sutra and the nurturing heart sutras were perhaps the milder of the sutras.


    The Burning heart sutra was the perfect example of how terrifying its power could get. Another thing Lin Mu had noticed was that the ring only gave him sutras when it reckoned he could bear it.


    For example, Lin Mu guessed that the burning heart sutra was only given to him because he already had the calming heart sutra to bnce and control it. He didn''t even know what would happen if there was no calming heart sutra.


    Lin Mu reckoned that there was a great chance he would end up killing himself if he didn''t have it.


    ''If that pattern stays true¡­ then either Ick the way to counteract this new part, or it is far stronger than what my body can simply bear on its own.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With this done, Lin Mu had his thoughts on line and decided to take a leave. He took a nce at the grey egg that was calmly resting on a pillow near the barrier and saw that the auraing from it had increased as well.


    "Just wait a bit more little guy, I''ll find a way to hatch you¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself before leaving the ring.


    He had already reached the limits of how long he could stay in the ring, anyway. The more his cultivation base grew and his senses got better, the more Lin Mu understood how inhospitable the environment of the ring was.


    The shredded Dao Embryos of the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members he had sent here had already been eradicated by the spatial energy here.


    ''Now that I remember it, putting the Dao Embryo''s here forcefully was also rather exhausting. It used up quite a bit of my spirit Qi¡­ almost twenty percent.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was a massive amount of spirit Qi since he barely needed any for most things. If he was forcing someone into the ring, they would resist and Lin Mu would need to use more spirit Qi.


    And since the Dao Embryo was still part of a living person, that too a very strong Dao Treading realm expert, the cost would be equally high. Lin Mu remembered the first time he had to forcefully put a servant in the ring. It had almost drained all of his spirit Qi.


    Compared to then it was certainly and improvement.


    ''Though I now have a way to deal with Dao Treading realm experts too¡­ as long as they reveal their Dao Embryos, I can seal them off here and disable the experts..'' Lin Mu thought to himself.

 Chapter 1053 Weakness And Desire

    With slightly better understanding of the ring and a new method to battle the Dao Treading realm experts, Lin Mu returned to the real world.


    "You''re back!" Elder Sun spoke, seeing Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu gazed at the injured old man. Elder Sun was someone he didn''t have as much of an interaction with before and only had a few sentences exchanged. Lin Mu looked around and saw that only Elder Sun was waiting here for him.


    Lin Mu sensed Little Shrubby as well and found him to be near some disciples, helping them. Little Shrubby had easily killed the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member that it had tackled.


    "The others went to check up on the disciples and nurse their injuries." Elder Sun informed, guessing what Lin Mu must be thinking of.


    "I see¡­ what are the¡­ casualties?" Lin Mu asked with difficulty.


    ~Sigh~


    Hearing this, Elder Sun let out a tired sigh, but still spoke.


    "Most of our disciples are still alive, with less than two hundred actually perishing. This is all due to the better formation arrays and upgrades we did in thest two years. But despite that, we have lost our elders.


    Elder Ni, Elder J, Elder Wedian and Elder Pigu being the more prominent ones we lost." Elder Sun answered.


    "Elder Pigu died?!" Lin Mu was shocked.


    He recalled the portly elder who had helped him a lot before.


    "Yes¡­ he made the greatest sacrifice¡­ using his life in exchange to kill a Dao Treading realm Gu Legion member, as well as hundreds of weaker members." Elder Sun stated.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt his heart getting heavier. He knew that this was the cost of a battle, but losing even one person was significant. To him it meant, that he was still weak and needed to grow stronger.


    ~Crack~


    Lin Mu clenched his fists, his knuckles popping in the process. A new drive appeared in him, this time like a searing fire. It made him feel an itch, a difort, an urge¡­ to get stronger.


    "Come, let''s go see the others." Elder Sun spoke, knowing that it will take a while for Lin Mu to get on terms with it all.


    Lin Mu silently followed behind the man and they reached the peak where the disciples of the Noon Grass sect had held back the assault. There, he saw the scene of devastation and death.


    Even if it was mostly the bodies of the Gu Legion members, there were still the bodies of Noon Grass disciples mixed in it. Due to the coteral damage to the area, most of the bodies had been crushed and damaged beyond recognition.


    Only from the shredded fabric pieces that were left behind from the robes of the disciples could it be made out that they were indeed here. Otherwise, the flesh and blood of all mixed together, making it seem like a ughterhouse.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu breathed in the slightly salty air, filled with the scent of blood and felt an anger sparking within him again.


    Silently chanting the calming heart sutra, he stabilized his mind and focused on the task at hand.


    "Look! It''s alliance Leader Lin Mu!" The disciples of the Noon Grass sect spotted him.


    Elder Sun and Lin Munded and were soon surrounded by the disciples. Lin Mu also felt Little Shrubby appear there. The beast took off several disciples from his back and dropped them off in the care of others before going to get more.


    There was a lot of excited chatter going around, and a lot of words spoken to Lin Mu. He answered them almost mechanically, not knowing he even did it. His mind was elsewhere and he couldn''t bring himself to speak to them fully.


    "Disciples, let us leave for now. Alliance Leader has more things to attend to. You all should also rest for now. We shall have an announcement for a meetingter on." Elder Sun stated.


    The disciples calmed down after that and let Lin Mu and elder sun proceed. The two of them went up the peak and reached the main building that was at its top. Lin Mu could feel the spirit Qi fluctuation of the remaining elders there along with the high elders and Daoist Hua.


    The people inside too felt Lin Mu.


    ~Creak~


    The door of the hall opened automatically and the people inside saw Lin Mu. Everyone could tell the change in Lin Mu. It was subtle, yet it was enough for these experienced elders to sense.


    ''Its like the soldier who returns home from his first war¡­'' Daoist Hua could tell that change.


    He was after all in the same position once upon a time and had gone through it several times since then.


    "We are greatly indebted to you, Alliance leader Lin Mu." Supreme elder Hua Langya spoke.


    "Indeed, if it were not for you, we all would have possibly perished." The other elders joined.


    Lin Mu kept his silence and didn''t know what to say to it. He felt like he could not ept these words. He had missed out on helping them in the correct moment that they needed him in.


    Several thoughts came to him at that moment.


    ''What if he had dyed going to the Ancestral ground for just a couple of more days?''


    ''What if he had waited longer?''


    These questions echoed in his head, and the answer to that was both known and unknown to him.


    After thinking over it, Lin Mu realized that it all came down to one fact; the fact that he wascking power. It was power for which he went to the ancestralnd of the JI n so that he could have more allies.


    The elders went silent too, seeing that Lin Mu was not responding to them.


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    "Is there something wrong?" Daoist Hua asked.


    "I''ve made a decision." Lin Mu said, his voice rather calm.


    "What?" they all asked.


    "I''ve realized I can no longer wait¡­ I need to grow stronger faster¡­ many times faster than I am right now." He replied, his tone growing heavier.

 Chapter 1054 No Seclusion

    Lin Mu''s words were both a bit concerning as well as understandable for the elders and Daoist Hua. They too felt like they were weak and their foes were getting stronger, way faster than they were.


    This gave them an urge to get stronger, too. Though it still made them wonder how Lin Mu was about to do this.


    "I understand that, and what will you be doing for that? Going to enter seclusion?" Patriarch Hua questioned.


    "Seclusion? No¡­ the time for seclusion is long gone¡­ and if I enter it again, I might note out for who knows how long." Lin Mu replied. "I do not wish for a repeat of this again." He added.


    Hearing Lin Mu''s answers, the elders and Patriarch didn''t know what Lin Mu was going to do. There were limited ways to increase one''s power rapidly, and entering seclusion and cultivation with full focus was the most essible one.


    There were these such as using some alchemical pills, spirit herbs, spirit fruits, or other fortunate encounters. But those weren''t something that could be used whenever one wanted. Even obtaining them was greatly dependent on one''s fate.


    If one was not fated, they would not gain them. And even if they did, they might not gain any benefit, perhaps even getting injured from it.


    Thus, seclusion was the usual option for most. Though the location of the seclusion could greatly vary and depending on the arrays used, it could be on the same level as that of a fortunate encounter.


    This is what Daoist Hua had thought. And the ce in their minds was none other than Kong ne.


    It had a higher concentration of spirit Qi than most ces and even had untouched resources that could greatly help one. It would make sense for Lin Mu to go there for seclusion. He had already done this before after all.


    But seeing that he was not speaking about that, they were confused.


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    "If not seclusion, then what are you going to do, Alliance Leader Lin Mu?" One of the elders asked, unable to figure it out.


    "It is something I wanted to prevent at first¡­ but I hope you all can forgive me..." Lin Mu answered.


    "Huh? What do you¡ª" Daoist Hua wanted to ask more, but before he could do that Lin Mu disappeared.


    The elders looked around, unable to find. They even spread their spirit sense, but didn''t sense Lin Mu anywhere within a few kilometers.


    "Let it be¡­ he''s gone too far for even me to sense him." Patriarch Hua said, as his expression fell.


    "Patriarch¡­ what is he¡­" Elder Sun was a bit afraid.


    Lin Mu''s current expressionbined with the earlier disy was very concerning for them now.


    "Whatever he is doing, it will be fine. And if it is not¡­ that will just have to be a cost we bear. He''s already done more than enough for us. It is our time to support him now." Daoist Hua spoke. "Besides¡­ I think the time to hold back as gone as well. If the Gu Legion is taking such an aggressive approach, then we need to match it as well." He added.


    "What are we to do then, patriarch?" Hua Langya asked.


    A few ideas were already in his mind, but he didn''t want to be mistaken.


    "For now, we hold the fort and inform our allies. Then, we make sure that nothing else happens until Lin Mu returns." Patriarch Hua replied.


    "Very well, we shall do as you instruct." Hua Langya replied.


    Daoist Hua nodded his head and looked out of the windows. His gaze went to the bottom of the peak where a certain beast dropped of more disciples. The beast paused for a second as his ears perked up.


    Then in the next second, it disappeared in a blur heading to the north of the sect.


    ''I bid you luck in your endeavors Lin Mu. May you reach the heights we never could and save this world¡­'' Daoist Hua prayed in his mind.


    ¡­


    ~ROAR~


    A thunderous roar echoed across the forest as a herd of beasts were scared away by it. As soon as they scattered, a red blur passed through where they were before. The beasts shuddered as they saw the trail left behind by the beast, scared.


    Little Shrubby traveled at great speed, heading to where Lin Mu had called him. He had sensed his master leaving his vicinity and wondered where he was going without it. But as soon as he heard his call, he knew it was time to leave.


    He had already brought all the disciples of the Noon Grass sect that were scattered around and injured to the peak and had left them in the care of others. With his task finished, Little Shrubby had no need to stop anymore and could go to Lin Mu.


    ''Master does not seem happy¡­'' Little Shrubby thought to himself.


    He could tell that Lin Mu had changed in the battle before and there was a hint of angry aura around him now. Little Shrubby felt angry too because of it and wanted to get rid of whatever had made his master like that.


    If his master was not fine, he wasn''t fine either.


    Little Shrubby covered several kilometers in the matter of seconds and finally reached the ce where Lin Mu was.


    This ce was a solitary hill about a hundred kilometers north of the Noon Grass sect. There was nothing around him other than same trees and an empty circle of about a kilometer was present as well.


    It was andmark used by many while traveling and was an important location.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The wind blew as Little Shrubby arrived at the top of the hill. Lin Mu was standing there as well, staring in the north western direction, his face calm and cold.


    "What are we doing, master?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "We are going to take a few trips¡­ time to cull some cattle that have be a pest now." Lin Mu replied, his eyes glinting in a fierce light.

 Chapter 1055 The West Ocean Sect

    On the western coast of the Great Zhou continent existed a sect.


    This was named as the West Ocean Sect and was one of the top ten sects, being ranked ninth in the rankings, just above the Noon Grass sect. Along with this, it was also the member of the Zither Wind Alliance and its higher ups were under control by Gu Yao.


    The disciples of the sect were going about their day, and everything was normal there. There was no sign of any conflict or anything unusual there at all. It wasn''t as if the alliance they were part of had justunched a full offense against the Noon Grass sect.


    It almost seemed like a dream.


    Some distance away from the border of the sect, a man and beast stood in the sky.


    Lin Mu''s eyes scanned the sect, which was built along a long cliff. The cliff extended for over five kilometer and some buildings of the sect were hanging from its side, while the rest were built on the other side of the cliff.


    Additionally, arge building was built upon the water, just half a kilometer away from the rest of the sect. This was the grand hall of the West Ocean sect and was where the high elders and patriarch of the sect resided.


    "Clueless and conceited¡­ but not for long." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu took a step forward and rapidly fell from the sky like a cannonball. But instead of crashing into the ground, he entered it like it was water. Little Shrubby stayed behind in the sky, and hid in the clouds, waiting for further orders from Lin Mu.


    Though his senses were fully alert as well, and his aura seething around him, ready to act at any moment.


    Upon entering the ground, Lin Mu''s spirit sense extended and quickly entered the sect. The formation array protecting the sect was still there, but before it could detect the spirit sense, it disappeared.


    "Fade¡­" Lin Mu disappeared along with it as well, and when he reappeared, he was already within the limits of the sect.


    He stayed underground and let his spirit sense spread, scanning each and every person that was present inside the sect. His instincts had already felt a few auras that he knew exactly what they were, but he needed to know more than that.


    "Got the locations¡­ under the ocean huh¡­" Lin Mu said as he opened his eyes.


    Lin Mu rapidly moved underground and continued falling even deeper before finally moving to the west towards the ocean side.


    ~blub~


    When he left the cliff, he was inside the water. The armor of the mortal strengthening scripture was already active and prevented any water from actually touching him or his robes.


    A few beasts were detected by him, but they quickly ran away upon sensing danger. Lin Mu didn''t even need to act for these aquatic spirit beasts, had a great instinct for danger.


    The water rippled and bubbles appeared in the water, left behind in the trails of the beasts.


    Lin Mu didn''t care for this though and looked towards where his goal actually was. The water here was dark, and the visibility was reduced to merely a few meters in front. But that was nothing to Lin Mu''s spirit sense that could observe for him.


    Tens of spirit sense tendrils mapped out the topography of the underwater area for Lin Mu and gave him the route he needed to take.


    Some distance away from him was actually an underwater mountain. It was on the top of this mountain that the grand hall of the West Ocean sect was built. It was built such that it appeared to be floating, but it was not.


    Additionally, illusory formations prevented others from seeing the mountain under the water too. If not for Lin Mu''s spirit sense, it would appear invisible to others even if they were standing right next to it and illuminated the path with light.


    This mountain was the biggest secret of the West Ocean sect and also their treasure trove.


    After all, there would have to be a great reason for a sect to make their grand hall in the dangerous waters of the ocean, instead of the safety of thend.


    And the reason was that there were three Spirit stone mines hidden in the mountain.


    Spirit stones could be found in many locations around the world and weren''t just present onnd. They could also be found underground and deep under water as well. This mountain was one such example of it.


    This information was not known by anyone other than the higher ups of the sect, and not even the disciples knew it. They thought the sect owned mines were somewhere else ind. Which was true, but that wasn''t all of the spirit stone mines. And neither were they the best ones either.


    The best ones were hidden underneath the great hall of the West ocean sect, underneath the ocean.


    Lin Mu''s targets was this ce, and he quickly made his way there. The formation arrays on the mountain were of least concern to Lin Mu, as he could simply take another path. After all, the people of the West ocean sect couldn''t cover the entire ocean floor, could they?


    Simply finding another location some distance away from the mountain, Lin Mu looped around and entered the mountain.


    Once inside the mountain, Lin Mu saw the vast and wide tunnels that took one to the depths of the ocean floor. It was obvious that this area had been mined clean, but from the traces of spirit Qi here, it was evident that this ce once contained a lot of resources too.


    Lin Mu imagined it to be the same as the mountain they had excavated in the fragment of the minor ne of the Ripple Mist sect.


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    This was not his goal though. Lin Mu rapidly fell through the ground using phase and reached the very depths of the mountain. He was now official below the ocean floor!

 Chapter 1056 Three Spirit Stone Mines

    Wading through the solid rock, Lin Mu finally entered the area that was the greatest treasure of the West Ocean sect, the three spirit stone mines!


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu left the ground and could breathe in dry air again.


    The entire area was filled with spirit stones and various crystals embed in the ground and the ceiling. There wasn''t even a clear ce to walk and one would feel afraid to damage the spirit stones.


    Lin Mu looked around and scanned the area, finding that this spirit stone mine was certainly many times bigger than the one he had excavated with Jing Luo in the past. And this was simply one of the three.


    Currently, Lin Mu had no information about this ce or what this ce held. But that could be solved easily if he found the right person.


    "Hmm¡­ there are actually people here." Lin Mu sensed the presence of others.


    There were nearly forty people in this mine, but they were beyond several walls made of solid spirit stone. Lin Mu was actually in the very depths of the mine where no one had ever gone.


    It was like the empty space inside a geode and was blocked by all sides. If not for Phase, Lin Mu would not be able to enter this ce easily. At least not without breaking the walls.


    "Since they are in here, they should have a better idea¡­ at least have maps for the mine and a bit more information." Lin Mu muttered and disappeared.


    Blinking several times in a row and using phase to traverse the walls, Lin Mu finally appeared in a chamber that was mostly mined out. There were barely any spirit stones left here and only a few isted segments were left, which would probably be mined outter too.


    Lin Mu observed using his spirit sense and saw that the people here were not weak at all.


    "They aren''t from the sect¡­ that muddy aura¡­ Gu Legion here too? No, wait¡­ they have probably inted their power with the pills of grace." Lin Mu guessed.


    Having found out about this, Lin Mu didn''t care for them anymore.


    ~shua~


    Appearing behind a man, Lin Mu stabbed out with his short sword, piercing the man''s skull. A stream of spirit Qi also spread through the man, breaking his nascent soul along with it. The others didn''t even sense the anomaly, letting Lin Mu continue his work.


    One by one, the number of cultivators starting decreasing.


    "Guo Min! Guo Min! Look, I found an Aquamarine Spirit jade!" One of the cultivators suddenly shouted.


    He held a small crystal in his hand that shone in a blue light. It was barely the size of a fingernail but still looked rather brilliant.


    "Guo Min?" The man said again, not hearing any response from hispanion. "Huh?" looking around, he didn''t see any of hispanions there.


    The mining area was separated into several smaller chambers and he was in one of the middle ones. There were about three more people with him, but they were not there anymore.


    "Where did they go?" The man wondered and walked to the entrance of the next chamber.


    But as soon as he peeked into it, he saw a stunning scene.


    "WHAT!?" in front of him, one of hispanions was being stabbed.


    ~shing~


    The edge of the short sword reflected the light from the floatingmps and created a stunning contrast with the blood on it. Holding the sword was none other than Lin Mu, his expression still.


    He looked at the man who had just appeared, without caring that he had been found.


    "Who are you!?" The man questioned. "No, how did you get in here?"


    Several questions popped up in the man''s head. He couldn''t understand how someone could enter a high security area like this. Even the people of the west ocean sect didn''t know about it other than a few.


    Even they were only allowed in here after they used special contracts to bond their lives. Without that they would have never been allowed in here.


    Unfortunately for the man, his questions were not going to be answered.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu disappeared and reappeared right in front of him.


    ~CRACK~


    A fist hit his chest, directly breaking through the flesh and bone, before piercing out the back.


    ~cough~


    ~st~


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    Copious amounts of blood spilled from his chest and mouth as the man tried toe to terms with his situation.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu released some mes that burned the insides of the man''s body while also eradicating his Nascent soul. He could never let them escape.


    Storing the body into the ring, Lin Mu checked all the items he had gained. With just a thought, all the spatial storage treasures and other items these men were using were summoned in front of Lin Mu.


    He looked through them and quickly found the information he was looking for.


    "I see¡­ out of the three mines. One is a peak grade spirit stone mine and the other two high grade mines. The west ocean sect had barely used ten percent of the first mine and only when Gu Yao arrived did he start to use more of them.


    So the west ocean sect has been a major source of spirit stones for him, huh¡­" Lin Mu read though the manifests and directives the men had.


    All of them were at the Nascent soul realm and were given orders to mine for spirit stones. They were also not from the Gu Legion and were truly disciples of the West ocean sect. But they had been given pills of grace to increase their cultivation base forcefully.


    And since they were disciples who weren''t as talented and were stuck at the core condensation realm for a long time, they dly epted it while also binding themselves to a contract.


    With this assurance, they were made to mine in the spirit stone mines.


    "The more pain for Gu Yao, the better¡­" Lin Mu stated before starting his work.


    Meld!

 Chapter 1057 Abrupt Chaos

    Everything was going fine in the West ocean sect until chaos abruptly broke in the formation array control hall of the sect.


    "ELDERS! THE ARRAYS! THE ARRAYS ARE FAILING!" A senior disciples shouted.


    "WHAT? HOW!?" The elders were stunned.


    They had been cultivating as they normally would while the disciples handled the day-to-day tasks. Only when some issue arose would they act. And now they were given a rather rude shock.


    They looked at the screens and saw the runes that were going haywire.


    "This¡­ this isn''t a failure¡­ the arrays are shutting down!" The elders realized.


    "Shutting down?" the disciples were confused.


    He could understand the arrays failing due to some damage or error, but them shutting down was not possible unless it was done manually.


    "Did any of you mess with the activation formation?" one of the elders asked, his eyes blood shot.


    That was the only way it could happen if someone identally closed the formation.


    "N-no elder¡­ we can''t even ess that part." The disciples said, feeling scared.


    "DON''T YOU DARE LIE!" The elder shouted, startling the disciples.


    "Wait, the disciple is not lying." Another elder spoke.


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    "What? How is that possible if these imbeciles didn''t mess up something?" The enraged elder asked.


    "Look at the sensory formation¡­ the concentration of spirit Qi¡­ it is almost gone." The elder answered, his voice shaky.


    The enraged elder looked at the said fomentation and was stunned. It was all true, the concentration of spirit Qi had almost reduced to zero. Now it was barely a fraction of what one percent output would give them normally.


    "This is impossible! Utterly impossible!" the enraged elder yelled.


    The other elders were trying to analyze the problem, but were unable toe up with anything.


    "Won''t this only happen if¡­ if¡­ if the spirit stone mines were depleted?" an elder spoke while stuttering.


    The very thought of it was terrifying to them. But at the same time, it seemed absurd to them as they knew very well, the spirit stone mines wouldn''t be depleted like this. Even with the rate of mining they were doing, it would take decades before any issue happened.


    And that was IF they did unreserved mining and damaged the source vein of the mines. Usually the core of the mine would be left untouched, so that the spirit stones could grow back again.


    This way, the sect could rotate among the three mines over multiple years and ensure that they didn''t mine too much.


    "ALERT THE PATRIARCH! WE NEED TO GO TO THE DEPTHS!" The enraged elder ordered.


    ¡­


    Lin Mu was unaware that his actions had caused utter chaos in the West ocean sect. Though that was part of his goal in the end too. He wanted to remove the pests that had gotten troublesome and remove their base.


    "That should be thest of it." Lin Mu said as he stored anotherrge chunk of source vein into the ring.


    He had cleared out all three mines and along with it the other resources that were present there too. After all, spirit stone mines didn''t just contain spirit stones, they actually nurtured other materials too.


    For example, any metal ores or gemstones that were present in the area round the mine would be affected by the rich spirit Qi and transform over time. This was the case for materials that already existed.


    Along with this, new materials such as spirit jades that were used in various spirit tools likemunication jade slip were also born in the mines.


    With this done, Lin Mu decided on his next course of action.


    "This should remove the base of the West ocean sect and weaken Gu Yao''s influence." Lin Mu said, "but its not enough!"


    His eyes gazed up at the ceiling and his spirit sense pierced through it all, directly going into the sect. Without caring for all those that sensed it, Lin Mu scanned everything, every location that was in the sect, and everyone that was there as well.


    From an unranked servant all the way to the very patriarch of the West Ocean sect, Lin Mu probed them all.


    "WHO DARES!!!!!!" A loud shout was heard echoing across the sect.


    The shout came from the great hall of the sect that was located on the water.


    "WHAT AUDACITY!" The other elders felt it too and were enraged.


    In their sect, only those higher ranked them could probe them like this. And if that happened, they would know. But there was a limit to that. Especially since even the patriarch was probed.


    ~BOOM~


    An explosion happened as an old man wearing blue, and white robes appeared from the great hall. He had just gotten the report that the formation arrays of the sect had stopped working and had tired of contacting the miners down there.


    But he received no response from them. This gave him a very bad feeling, and he was about to order some elders to go and check it out when he felt the spirit sense. It came out of the depths and spread all the way around the sect.


    It both enraged and rmed the patriarch, for he knew what it meant. If there was someone this bold as to use their spirit sense in the sect, they would need to have the strength to back it up.


    The west ocean sect''s area wasn''t that big and even some of the elders could cover the area with their spirit sense, so that wasn''t the problem either.


    "What is happening?"


    "Why are the elders enraged?"


    "Was that the patriarch!?"


    The disciples were all startled and running around like headless chickens.


    While all this was happening through, the suspect behind it all had already left his previous location.


    "This should be the vault of the sect." Lin Mu said as he appeared in the middle of a secured room. It was located in the great hall of the west ocean sect and was several floors below the main court.


    "WHO!?" The guards noticed a stranger appearing and were startled.

 Chapter 1058 Against The Patriarch

    This was the vault of the West Ocean sect. It was the most secure ce in the sect, at least openly. Not many knew about the mines below the sea. No one would think that any person would dare to even think of infiltrating this ce.


    And yet, against all conventions, the guards saw someone actually there, right in the middle of them all. It frankly made them feel as if they were dreaming or maybe seeing an illusion.


    But the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the man confirmed it all. It was a real person.


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    "WHO ARE YOU!? HOW DARE YOU INTRUDE UPON THE VAULT HALL OF THE WEST OCEAN SECT!?" The guards shouted.


    Lin Mu could care less about them, though. He simply waved his hand and summoned several spirit tools that killed all the guards in a matter of seconds.


    ~shua~


    With another wave of the hand, all the spirit weapons returned, with the corpses still attached to them. Lin Mu stored them back in the ring and took a nce inside, finding that these corpses didn''t actually melt like before.


    "Hmm¡­ so not all of them that took the pills of grace will melt. The cultivators that were mining down there melted though¡­" Lin Mu noted.


    He was sure that these cultivators had taken the pills of grace since they too had that same aura caused due to the muddy spirit Qi.


    ''Perhaps there is another addition to those pills?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    So far, the ones who had melted were all in sensitive positions that could be taken advantage of if they were captured. It made sense that the Gu Legion would make it so that they could not be taken as prisoners of war.


    In the case of these guards though, there was no such issue. Even if they were guarding the vault of the West ocean sect, they were still mere guards. Additionally, they had been guarding since before the Gu Legion rose, so there was no issue for them to use that.


    "At least little Shrubby can have an extra meal." Lin Mu reckoned and continued towards the vault.


    ~HONG~


    A barrier appeared in front of him, blocking his path. The vault''s formation array was independent from the sect''s main array so that it couldn''t be breached even when the sect fell.


    But for Lin Mu, that didn''t really matter.


    Coating his hands in spirit Qi, Lin Mu stabbed them directly into the array.


    ~CLANG~


    A metallic ng was heard as the golden skin of Lin Mu''s body struck the barrier.


    ~CRACKLE~


    The barrier did its best to stop it, but Lin Mu didn''t stop. Exerting more force, he ripped into theyer and directly tore the runes apart.


    ~BOOM~


    Unable to handle the sudden instability caused due to the breaking of runes, theyer of the barrier exploded. To any other cultivator, this would greatly injure them, but Lin Mu came out of it unscathed and did the same to the other barriers that stopped him as well.


    In less than a minute, he had broken apart ten such barriers and was in front of the vault door. The door itself was a simple wooden door that opened without an issue. It didn''t have any restrictions or formations on it and neither was it made from any rare tough materials.


    After all, the formation arrays that Lin Mu had broken earlier were already enough to make it one of the toughest vaults here.


    ~CREAK~


    The door of the vault opened and the contents of it were visible to Lin Mu. The vault was basically anotherrge hall that was filled with tens of thousands of items. There were shelves upon shelves of items, as well as boxes and chests kept.


    Then there were piles of spirit stones just lying around on the ground in the open. Several spirit weapons were also present here, with the majority being mid to high grade spirit weapons. There were no peak grade spirit weapons here, though.


    Lin Mu quickly went through the vault and cleared it out.


    While he was doing this though, the people of the West Ocean sect were searching for the intruder.


    "WHERE IS HE!?" The patriarch of the West ocean sect questioned.


    He looked around but couldn''t see anyone suspicious. He wondered if the intruder was hidden.


    ~BOOM~


    That was, until he heard an explosioning from the great hall.


    His expression fell and he couldn''t believe his eyes.


    mes burned on three floors of the great hall and the figure of a certain person rose though them.


    "YOU!!!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU''VE DONE!?" The Patriarch yelled, mes of rage burning in his eyes just like the great hall.


    Lin Mu looked at the man rushing towards him with a still face and calmly spoke, "crippled your sect."


    Hearing the words of Lin Mu, the patriarch of the West ocean sect couldn''t hold back.


    "AAAAHHHHHH!!!!! I MA JUN HAVE NEVER BEEN HUMILIATED LIKE THIS BEFORE!" The patriarch screamed in madness.


    His spirit sense had already checked the great hall, and he knew that the vault was absolutely destroyed and along with it, two more floors were destroyed. These floors contained various Qi skills, and cultivation manuals, along with other documents and books as well.


    With how intently the mes were raging, he knew that all of them were reduced to ashes already, not knowing that Lin Mu had taken them all away.


    This was understandable too, since even the higher capacity spatial storage tools would not be able to keep all the contents in them. To the patriarch, it was clear that this person hade here to destroy their sect.


    Feeling furious, the patriarch directly withdrew a whip from his spatial storage treasure. The whip was long and emanated strong spirit Qi fluctuations, clearing on the level of a peak grade spirit weapon!


    "Shark Punishing Whip, GO!" The patriarch controlled the whip andshed out at Lin Wu.


    The whip expanded in the air, elongating as if it had no limit, and struck towards Lin Mu.

 Chapter 1059 Facing A True Expert!

    <h4>Chapter 1059 Facing A True Expert!</h4>


    The patriarch''s angry shouts and attack had already pulled the attention of almost everyone in the sect.


    "Who is the patriarch fighting?" An outer court disciple asked.


    "Heavens! I''ve never seen the patriarch this angry before." A frightened disciple said.


    "That should be the intruder they were shouting about earlier." One of the more informed disciples spoke.


    The elders of the sect had also noticed it and were gathering around, ready to mount an offense against Lin Mu in support of their patriarch.


    "WHOA!" someone eximed. "The patriarch took out the Shark Punishing whip! Isn''t that our sects best spirit weapon?"


    "Indeed. It''s a peak grade spirit weapon, that was made bybining the tendons of ten nascent soul realm beasts. The patriarch had made it when there was a Dao Shell realm shark beast attacking the sect hundreds of years ago.


    He had used that very whip to kill the beast and then used the teeth of the sharks to reinforce the whip. That is how it got its name." One of the more informed disciples exined.


    "That intruder is dead. No one can go against the Shark Punishing whip." The disciples were feeling very confident.


    And understandably so since the patriarch was at the Dao Treading realm and was the strongest expert of their sect. Not only that, but he was also using a peak grade spirit weapon to attack, thus his power was great.


    The shark punishing whip glowed in a deadly light as the sharp shark teeth embedded in it threatened to cut apart everything.


    ~BOOM~


    The whip finally struck Lin Mu and an explosion happened with the spirit Qi from the whip sting out.


    "HAHA! THAT''S WHAT HE DESERVES!" An elderughed.


    Everyone could see the power of the attack and the explosion that happened after that was enough for even a Dao Shell realm cultivator to be greatly injured.


    "Patriarch Ma Jun is indeed the greatest in our sect." The disciples praised.


    "No way¡­ how?" But just as they were rejoicing, someone noticed something.


    ~whoosh~


    The winds blew away the smoke and dust, revealing the true situation.


    And what they saw left them with wide open mouths. Even Patriarch Ma Yun was stunned.


    "How? IMPOSSIBLE!" in front of Ma Yun''s eyes stood Lin Mu.


    The Shark Punishing Whip was firmly grasped within his hands that shone in a golden light. It was as if a golden deity''s statue was floating in the air; untainted by the mortal air.


    "Thats all you have?" Lin Mu scoffed. "Perhaps is should have let go of my concerns earlier and culled the sects at the very start. Perhaps then the others would not have suffered this much." He added.


    "What even¡ª?" Before the patriarch could speak anything through, he felt a great force tugging at the whip.


    Lin Mu''s hand wrapped around the Shark pushing whip as faint grinding sounds could be heard from the shark teeth rubbing against his skin. The armor of the mortal strengthening scripture was not going to bear this attack, thus Lin Mu had withdrawn it at the very start, letting his own body bear it.


    It was a test for himself and he wanted to see how far his body could go alone. In the previous fight against the Dao Treading realm experts of the Gu legion, Lin Mu had basically overwhelmed them before they could attack him.


    Not to mention, they were not proper experts who had cultivated normally. They had been boosted to their state and had unstable foundations, not being able to use their strength properly.


    The opponent this time was not like that thought. Patriarch Ma Yun was an authentic cultivator who had reached the Dao Treading realm by cultivating steadily stage by stage, realm by realm.


    While there was still the Human Controlling Blood curse on him, there was no actual effect or corruption of his cultivation base. Thus, the power he exerted was true and pure.


    And it was this very power Lin Mu wanted to feel.


    The Patriarch pulled back the Shark Punishing Whip but found it impossible to do so. It was as if there was a mountain attached to the whip and he could not pull it back.


    ~HUU~


    He took a deep breath and amplified his strength with his spirit Qi before pulling hard.


    ~CLANG~


    This time, he managed to do better and actually made Lin Mu move a few meters.


    "shy tricks! You won''t survive long!" The patriarch said as he used a skill.


    ~SPLASH~ SPLASH~ SPLASH~


    Three pirs of water rose up from the sea before swiveling in the air and turning into a bull shark that attacked Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu''s eyes nced at the attacking from the corner of his eye and lifted his left hand. His right hand was still wrapped around the whip and prevented it from moving.


    "Boulder Copsing fist: First Form- Impact!" Lin Mu punched out with his left hand as vital essence surged within his hand.


    ~WOOOO~


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    The Bull Shark let out a cry as it fiercely bit Lin Mu. And just as it did, the inside of its mouth was hit with Lin Mu''s fist.


    ~KABOOM~


    The impact of the punch traveled through the Bull Shark''s body,pressing the water within it and directly exploding it into a burst of water.


    "Impossible!" the people watching were stunned.


    They knew what the Bull Shark made from water was. It was one of their sect''s top Qi skills!


    And yet it was destroyed by a single punch.


    The patriarch gritted his teeth, seeing that his attack was destroyed, and readied another one. He understood that the opponent this time was not simple. Even though the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from Lin Mu were merely at the Dao Shell realm, his power was almost equal to his own.


    The patriarch used the skill again, this time creating three such water Bull Sharks.


    "This will waste too much time¡­ best end it quick." Lin Mu stated.


    Since he knew where he stood against the others in a direct conflict, he didn''t need to hold back anymore.

 Chapter 1060 Overwhelming Metal Spirit Qi

    The patriarch of the West Ocean Sect had been feeling strange since the moment the chaos had started. As soon as he found out that the formation arrays had stopped working, he had assumed the worst.


    But the worst in his mind was that his lord Gu Yao hade and did what he had told him before. As his lord, he didn''t need his permission and could enter the mines whenever he wanted.


    That was also why he had not acted personally and gone to the mine, merely sending others to check up on it. Though that was still doubtful for him, since his lord would at least notify him, even if it was at the veryst second.


    He knew what was happening outside the sect and that his master had mounted an offense against the Noon Grass sect openly this time. He had been informed of it and had been told to prepare for a retaliation from the other sects as well.


    There was no saying if the top three sects might act at this point, as they all knew openly going against the Noon Grass sect and restricting the Long cloud alliance directly by unknown experts will definitely bring attention to their heads.


    But when the explosions happened and the vault was attacked, he was sure that this was not his lord. This was some other intruder and perhaps from the Long cloud alliance too.


    And seeing Lin Mu, he was sure that it was thetter. After all, there was no way someone would attack their sect like this.


    "Time to end this¡­" Lin Mu muttered and flicked his hand.


    ~CLANG~


    The Shark Punishing whip snapped back and was sent flying to the side. Ma Yun immediately swung the whip again, but it hit nothing but air. The three Bull Sharks also ended up hitting nothing and seemed to be searching for their target.


    "Huh? Where did he go?" Lin Mu was no longer there.


    "Patriarch! Behind you!" the elders shouted.


    They tried to help him too, but were a bit too slow to reach him.


    "Slow." A voice was heard behind the patriarch.


    "Wha¡ª" the patriarch barely turned around and saw the figure of Lin Mu standing behind him when a golden fist came towards him.


    ~CRACK~


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    He was hit in the chest and felt his bones crack. The golden first was like a heavy il hitting him at full swing.


    "Argh!" The patriarch cried in pain as he was sent flying.


    "PATRIARCH!" The elders shouted and rushed towards him.


    ~shua~


    But before they could do much, Lin Mu disappeared again and appeared behind the patriarch.


    "How is he doing that?!" The elders were confused.


    Lin Mu''s golden fist mmed into the back of the patriarch, breaking more bones and making the man spit out blood.


    ~COUGH~


    The patriarch was sent flying once more.


    "GET TO THE PATRIARCH!"


    "ACTIVATE THE OCEAN END SLAUGHTER FORMATION ARRAY!"


    The elders quickly got into action. Knowing that the man in front of them was not simple, seeing as how he could move fast and catch their patriarch off guard.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu appeared at the location where the patriarch was flying towards and kicked out, making the patriarch bend like a cooked prawn.


    ~BOOM~


    ~KACHA~


    More bones broke in the patriarch''s body as his spirit Qi turned chaotic.


    ''Why can''t I react? What is this man?'' Ma Yun was lost.


    He was doing his best to react and mobilized his spirit Qi to defend, but Lin Mu was giving him no chance. Before his spirit Qi could even finish one circuit to execute a Qi skill, it was broken apart by his attack.


    Even his attacks were strange. At first there was no outer effect to it, as if it were a pure physical attack. Even then, the power of the attack was no less than that of a powerful Qi skill.


    If it was just that and the patriarch was injured, he would be able to handle it. He was faster all a Dao Treading realm expert and could use his spirit Qi faster than most could think.


    But then after the punch made contact with his body, sharp spirit Qi would suddenly appear out of nowhere, assaulting his meridians, breaking apart the spirit Qi he had mobilized.


    The sharp spirit Qi was like hundreds of des, shing apart his own spirit Qi.


    ''How can the spirit Qi enter my body, though? It is impossible to break my defenses like that. I didn''t even sense them being broken.'' Ma Yun thought.


    And while he was thinking this, another kick hit him from the back, this time shattering his leg and making it bend at an unnatural angle.


    "GAH!"


    Unfortunately for Ma Yun, he didn''t know that this was something Lin Mu had learned very recently.


    ''Never though metal spirit Qi would work like this for me¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu had spent some time learning about the properties of the metal spirit Qi and knew that it could be used in many ways. The mostmon method being, amplifying the sharpness and power of spirit weapons.


    But there were other ways to use it as well. For Lin Mu, who had a body which was basically covered with gold, using metal spirit Qi was as easy as breathing. Thus, taking his entire body as a weapon, Lin Mu amplified it and this gave rise to a new effect.


    His spirit Qi could breakthrough the defenses of a cultivator and attack them internally. This was why it was so hard for the patriarch to resist. But Lin Mu also knew that if he cked even a bit, the man would be able to recover quickly.


    The only reason why Ma Yun was helpless right now was because this was his first time seeing something like this. Lin Mu wasn''t so stupid as to think that a long lived expert like him would not be able to find a solution before that.


    ''Need to end it before that.'' Lin Mu decided as he gathered more power.

 Chapter 1061 Metal Devastator!

    <h4>Chapter 1061 Metal Devastator!</h4>


    "HURRY! HURRY! WE NEED TO HELP THE PATRIARCH!" The elders shouted frantically.


    They were trying to activate the Ocean End ughter Formation array. It was the strongest array they had in their sect, and it needed the support of thousands of experts to activate. Even the elders alone could not activate it and needed the disciples to join in.


    The advantage of this was that they didn''t need any extra resources to activate the array, and it would activate as soon as everyone was in position. Unfortunately for them, Lin Mu was faster than them.


    ~POP~


    Lin Mu clenched his fist and cocked it back.


    Spirit Qi and vital essence swirled within his first, turning into a spiral. But during this more spirit Qi joined in, this time it was yellow colored metal spirit Qi!


    Recing the normal spirit Qi, it filled up and spun with the red vital essence. The two continued to spin until they touched and merged together!


    The yellow color of the metal spirit Qi mixed with the red vital essence and turned into a new color.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s golden first shone in a new light. It was as if a sun was being born!


    Like the orange rays of light during a sunrise, Lin Mu''s first glowed in bright orange light.


    "Boulder Copsing Fist: Third Form- Metal Devastator!" Lin Mu chanted.


    An orange beam shot out of Lin Mu''s fist, soaring through the air. It was bright and made it hard for everyone to look at it. Just the pressure exuding from it was enough to destabilize the runes of the formation array that were about to be formed.


    The orange beam traveled at a great speed. One couldn''t even tell when it had already traveled a hundred meters far.


    Ma Yun who had been knocked away by Lin Mu''s previous attack, was barelying to control his body, when he felt danger.


    "NO!" Sensing it with his spirit sense, Ma Yun tried to run.


    ~SPLAT~


    But he was toote¡­


    "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"


    ~GRIND~


    ~SLASH~


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    The orange beam pierced through the patriarch''s back, grinding his skin, flesh, bones and organs into a paste. The energy from the orange beam invaded his body rapidly and swam through his meridians.


    The spirit Qi within his meridian was like poor vigers whose vige was caught in the middle of a flood.


    It was overwhelmed and drowned out.


    The meridians were shed apart by the energy, turning into mere dregs.


    "PATRIARCH!!!!!"


    "NO!!!!"


    "HEAVENS!"


    Several elders and disciples cried out. The weaker disciples bursting out crying as they saw the gruesome scene.


    The patriarch''s chest was directly pierced through the orange beam and arge hole was left in it. The orange beam traveled far and struck the ocean in the distance, exploding and creating a spout of water that shot almost a kilometer in height.


    Red color could be seen in the water along with small bits of flesh and organs in it. The beasts in the ocean that had unfortunately been in the strike zone had been reduced to mincemeat, the water tainted with their blood!


    ~HONG~


    Just as Lin Mu was about to attack the Patriarch again, he was blown away.


    ~BOOM~


    A huge tide hit him and swept him away.


    "QUICK! GRAB THE PATRIARCH!" The elders ordered as they controlled the formation array.


    The Ocean End ughter array had already beenpleted!


    Two elders rushed at their greatest speed and grabbed the patriarch before bringing him into their safe area. There were elders surrounding them and thousands of disciples surrounding the elders.


    This was the safest ce the patriarch could be.


    Ma Yun''s bloodied eyes could barely see but he could still here.


    Even with Lin Mu''s attack, he had still survived. He was after all, a Dao Treading realm expert who had lived long and had a high cultivation base. Perhaps if he had gone all out from the start, releasing his Dao Shell and using his Dao Embryo, Lin Mu might not have been able to overwhelm him like this.


    "Healing pills! Healing pills! FOR HEAVEN''S SAKE TAKE OUT THE HEALING PILLS!" The leading elder ordered.


    He was controlling the array and couldn''t move from his position. Seeing that the others were watching the patriarch in a frozen manner, he had to shout out at them.


    "AH YES!" one of the elders took out several pill bottles and poured out as many pills as would fit in the patriarchs mouth.


    The patriarch''s mouth bulged like a squirrel stuffing its cheeks with nuts. The elder then took out a gourd. When its cap was opened, rich fragrance of wine could be smelled. He then poured the wine into the patriarch''s bulging mouth, helping him melt the pills and making it easier to swallow.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    Meanwhile, the other elders used the Ocean End ughter Array to userge waves to keep on pushing Lin Mu back.


    "How''s the patriarch!?" The leading elder questioned.


    "He¡­ he''s stabilizing. But the wound is not healing." The others informed.


    Hearing this, the leading elder furrowed his brows. He was the supreme elder of the West Ocean sect and was at the Shell Expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm. He didn''t know why the pills were not taking any effect, despite the fact that they were the best healing pills one could find.


    ~COUGH~ COUGH~


    "Patriarch!" The elders eximed in shock.


    Ma Yun coughed and looked around. His vision returned slightly.


    "You will be fine patriarch, just focus on recovering. We''ll hold the intruder back." The elders said.


    "Y-you¡­ You¡­ you all¡­ don''t understand¡­" The patriarch tried hard to speak.


    "Don''t exert yourself, patriarch," they advised.


    "N-no¡­ run¡­" Ma Yun spoke.


    "What?" the elders were confused.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Ma Yun gathered whatever energy was left in him and mustered his will.


    "Run¡­ away¡­ leave this ce¡­" He said.


    "No patriarch, we can''t leave you here. We have to stop the intruder!" they said.


    "No¡­ I¡­ this is not stopping¡­ I won''t live¡­" Ma Yun said.


    "Pat¡ª" The elders wanted to say something but were interrupted.


    ~SHUA~


    The patriarch''s body suddenly glowed in an orange light!

 Chapter 1062 An Unexpected Explosion

    The elders holding Patriarch Ma Yun were caught off guard and didn''t know what was happening when his body started to glow in an orange light. But soon their screams could be heard as the energy started burning them.


    "ARRGGHHHH!!"


    "NOOO!!!!"


    Tens of screams were heard as the energy damaged the elders directly. They didn''t have their guard up with their patriarch and it had directly affected their bodies.


    "HOW!?" The Supreme elder standing some distance away saw the situation and was left stunned.


    He could sense the strong energy fluctuation, but was helpless to do anything.


    ~KABOOM~


    In the next second, the energy seemed to have reached a peak and exploded!


    ~RUMBLE~


    The shock wave spread at a speed faster than sound, knocking away and killing all those that stood in its way. The supreme elder was one of the few that had his guard up and barely managed to defend himself.


    But even then, he was sent flying.


    The Ocean End ughter formation array stopped almost immediately with its controllers being dead or knocked out. The disciples were the most unfortunate, having been killed without even knowing what happened.


    The tides that were pushing Lin Mu back faded away without the formation array, giving him the chance to retreat quickly. He had already sensed that something was wrong with the patriarch when the orange light started toe off his body.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense was stronger than anyone in here, which was also why he detected it quickly. That was also why he had chosen to get swept away by the tides, even though he had multiple methods to dodge it.


    Sensing the anomaly in the patriarch''s body, Lin Mu knew he had to be at a safe distance, but at the same time he didn''t want to retreat outright as it might give the others some idea about a trap.


    Thus, he let the formation array push him, while also putting distance between everything.


    "The explosion was unexpected¡­ I thought it would just kill the patriarch." Lin Mu muttered, seeing the chaotic cloud of spirit Qi that damaged everything.


    There were traces of metal spirit Qi in it, but the majority was just attribute less spirit Qi. Though Lin Mu also sensed the Patriarch''s aura in it, which made him think that this was all the spirit Qi from his body.


    Lin Mu soared into the sky and observed as the damage continued to spread. The explosion seemed to have triggered some kind of a chain reaction and all formations that were in its path were destabilized before exploding as well.


    And with this ce being a sect, there were plenty of formations everywhere, from normal durability formations that protected the buildings and paths, to spirit Qi gathering formation arrays.


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    The effect continued for about a minute, after which all the spirit Qi was exhausted. Only a scene of devastation and death was left behind after that.


    "This¡­ was not exactly what I intended¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he saw the dead bodies, most of which had been damaged beyond recognition.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense scanned for survivors and could only find a few. But even those were on the brink of death and could die at any moment.


    Only when he extended his spirit sense farther did he find survivors. These were the disciples, who were located away from the expulsion radius. They were mostly outer court disciples and servants who weren''t really qualified to join the ocean end formation array.


    Most of them were only at the early or mid stage of the Qi refining realm with the servants not even cultivators.


    They were left with expressions of dread and fear as they witnessed the devastation of their sect.


    Lin Mu wordlessly flew towards them and gazed at them from the sky, his face still.


    The disciples on the ground saw Lin Mu and were filled with terror.


    "FIEND!"


    "MONSTER!"


    "DEVIL! HE''S A DEVIL!"


    "RUN!!! RUN!!! HE''S COME TO KILL US ALL!"


    Cries of desperation were heard as the disciples broke out of their stupor and started to run. Some stumbled and fell to the ground, injuring themselves but stood out without a care and continued to run.


    ~Sigh~


    Seeing this scene, Lin Mu didn''t know how to feel and could only let out a sigh.


    "Little Shrubby," Lin Mu called out.


    ~SHUA~


    A red blur appeared next to him at that moment, and Lin Mu looked at him.


    Little Shrubby was the same as always, and his thoughts were calm too.


    "Was what I did fine, Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked.


    "If master did it, then it must be fine." Little Shrubby replied.


    ~Sigh~


    ''I don''t know if it was though¡­'' Lin Mu thought before getting onto his back.


    "Let''s go¡­ we need to get stronger." Lin Mu said in a low voice.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby said, and started running.


    In a few seconds, he was but a mere blur and disappeared on the horizon.


    Lin Mu didn''t know that his actions today would send the entire great Zhou empire into a tizzy.


    Never had there been a time when a top sect had been wiped out in a single day. Even during the past, when great wars still raged, sects were destroyed, but not in a single day. It would take weeks or months for the same result.


    And yet¡­ it had happened today.


    The survivors of the West Ocean sect soon spread the news, and it spread like wildfire. Everyone from the south of the continent to the very northern tips knew about it. And when other powers sent their people to confirm the news, they were left shocked and scared.


    After all, this was the work of a single man.


    And if a single man like that could eradicate an entire sect like that, what''s to say that he wouldn''t do the same to their own sect or kingdom?


    The identity of the man was unknown until the portraits were made. The face of the man was unknown to most, other than the Long Cloud alliance.


    After all, the man behind the ughter was their leader.

 Chapter 1063 Shocking News And Aftereffects Of The Slaughter

    In the Long Cloud sect, a solemn atmosphere was present.


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    "Are we sure this is all urate?" Patriarch Mingliang asked.


    "There is no doubt anymore¡­ I send my own personal disciple to inquire about it. We also used several techniques to test the survivors of the West ocean Sect and checked their memories.


    Everything is true¡­ it really was Lin Mu." Patriarch You Yi stated.


    "I can understand stopping the sects part of the Zither Wind Alliance, but this¡­ is on an entirely different level." Patriarch Shandian said.


    All the elders sitting in the hall were having strained expressions. It had been a week since the West Ocean Sect massacre and the entire Great Zhou Continent had been shaken.


    The imperial court had been rmed and had called for the top sects to catch the culprit. The top three sects had condemned the act and had already deemed the culprit behind the massacre the greatest foe.


    This ended up putting the Long Cloud alliance and Lin Mu''s alliance in a tough position.


    The Zither Wind alliance had already cried out foul and had med the Long Cloud alliance behind the massacre. Though that opinion was greatly weakened due to the fact that a great offense had been mounted against the alliance.


    The Noon Grass sect also dered that the Zither Wind alliance was behind their attempted massacre and that ayed the problem for a bit, forcing the Zither Wind alliance to distance themselves from the Gu Legion on the outside.


    Tensions were high and there was no telling what would happen next.


    "How''s the condition of Patriarch Hua?" Patriarch You Yi asked Hua Langya, who was also in attendance.


    "He''s still recovering from the battle, but he should be fine in a few days. He was also affected by the news of what Alliance Leader Lin Mu did and has been silent since then." Hua Langya replied.


    The brows of Patriarch You Yi furrowed as he thought to himself.


    "Has there been any sess at contracting Lin Mu?" He asked the others.


    "I''ve been trying and others have been trying non-stop, but he doesn''t seem to be contactable at all. His jade slip is simply not detectable." The one who spoke was elder Liqiang.


    "Could he not be in here anymore?" One of the elders asked. "Perhaps he''s in the Kong ne?"


    "If he was anywhere in our reachable distance, we would have already found him. But if he is in the unchartednds of the Kong ne, then we are out of luck. Our disciples have been exploring for a while and have encountered more Dao Shell realm beasts.


    I would have sent elders, but we are currently dealing with the aftermath." Elder Liqiang replied.


    "Hmm¡­ The ck Dune Sect will send our elders to assist you. If he really is in the Kong ne, then we need to find him. The Dao Shell realm beasts will be suppressed if they attack us." Patriarch Shandian stated.


    "Will that be fine, Patriarch? With our current situation, we need people here." One of the high elders of the ck Dune sect asked.


    "I''m not asking to send all of them. Only a couple of them will be enough." Patriarch Shandian stated.


    "Very well, the Long Cloud sect shall send two elders as well." Patriarch You Yi added.


    "And so will the Light Harmony sect." Patriarch Mingliang joined in too.


    "This will make things easier then, thank you patriarchs." Hua Langya and elder Liqiang said.


    "And what about Jing Luo? Has hee out of his ancestralnd yet?" Patriarch You Yi questioned.


    "No patriarch, but we''ve already sent a few elders to the supposed locations. They will inform them the moment theye out." One of the high elders of the Long cloud sect replied.


    "Good¡­ Jing Luo is the closest person to Lin Mu. He might be the only person who might have a way of finding and contacting him. And if Senior Jing Wei can help us, then it might be even easier." Patriarch You Yi stated.


    The discussion of the alliance members continued for a while as they tried toe up for solutions.


    Lin Mu had created a situation none of them had expected or ever thought of.


    But while the alliance was troubled, the same could be said for the Gu Legion.


    In the headquarters of the Gu legion, Gu Yao was having a meeting with his subordinates too.


    "How is this possible? We lost everything in the West ocean sect. All the resources were wiped out and so were our people there." One of the subordinates said.


    "First the loss in the Noon Grass sect and now this¡­" another member said.


    Gu Yao had his eyes closed, his thoughts unknown.


    A few minutes passed like this while his subordinates talked and gave various reports. The supply lines of the Gu Legion had been temporarily broken, with the West Ocean sect getting wiped out.


    They were getting around a third of their resources from them and thus it was a ratherrge blow to them.


    "Enough!" Gu Yao suddenly spoke.


    "Lord¡­" The members all went silent.


    "This¡­ person¡­ is dangerous for us¡­ we need to speed up our efforts." Gu Yao spoke.


    "What do you suggest, my lord? We are already stretched thin after using the disciples of the Ripple mist sect. Around half of them have already been exhausted." One of the subordinates spoke.


    "Doesn''t matter. Use all of them if you have to. I want ten more Dao Treading realm experts!" Gu Yao ordered.


    "A-as youmand, my lord." The subordinates replied.


    Gu Yao''s words were thew and none of them were going to reject him or go against him. They were truly devoted to the man and would stop at nothing to fulfill hismands.


    Gu Yao left the meeting after that and reappeared in his personal hall.


    He looked opened a secret stairway and went down, appearing in a new area. In here, arge formation array was working, as pale red energy gathered in arge pool.


    "Soon¡­ I just need more time¡­" he muttered.

 Chapter 1064 Shell Completion Stage Of The Dao Shell Realm

    In an empty and deste cave, a certain man and beast rested. Their auras were strong¡­ stronger than most beings in this world and were getting even more strong by the minute.


    Lying around the two beings were tons of spirit stones. Or more like, there were literal hills of spirit stones around them. They ranged from top grade spirit stones all the way to low grade ones.


    The air around them was filled with dense spirit Qi, that had reached a concentration high enough that the air seemed humid. The spirit Qi shimmered lightly under the glow of the beast''s fur.


    The beast''s fur had sparks and small red mes burning on it every so often. Even the human was not free from this, having tinges of golden glow on his skin shining every now and then.


    No matter who saw it, the scene was rather stunning and not what most would expect.


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    These two were of course, none other than Lin Mu and Little Shrubby.


    It had now been over two weeks since the massacre at the West ocean sect had happened. The people had gotten aware about it, and even themoners were informed about it at this point.


    Among themoners, there was now a new fear. Or one could say a new bogeyman.


    This was of course, none other than Lin Mu.


    They would tell their children, if they did not behave, the devil of Zhou woulde and take them away.


    That was the title that had been given to the killer of West ocean sect.


    The Devil of Zhou!


    It was hard to tell if it was fine or not, but since the sects did not deny it, themoners went with it. Additionally, since the portraits of the Devil of Zhou were present all over the empire, the people became even more scared.


    Most people had bogeyman as faceless beings that they could use for inciting fear.


    But the Devil of Zhou wasn''t like that¡­ he was an actual person who could do all the things that they imagined about.


    The people who were already this scared about the Devil of Zhou didn''t know that the person was only getting stronger.


    ~SHUA~


    Waves of spirit Qi rose from the spirit stones lying around Lin Mu as they rushed into the Dao Shell that was floating above him. With the high concentrator of spirit Qi in the area, the Dao Shell was looking far more visible than before.


    ~HONG~


    The Dao Shell resonated with Lin Mu''s call and started to rapidly absorb the spirit Qi in the air.


    ''I need to get stronger¡­ and the first step to that is to increase my cultivation base. The ones who died under my hand are my sin to bear, but they will also be the whetstone to my cultivation base.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    For the past week, he had been at a loss as to what he had done and if it was worth it.


    In the end, Lin Mu came to a conclusion on his own that it was all inevitable. At the rate at which things were going, the West Ocean sect would have contributed to a far worse situation than they had been at that point.


    It was only a matter of time and the death rates would spike once again.


    Lin Mu''s intervention might have dyed or entirely prevent thousand if not hundreds of thousands of deaths with it.


    With this burden on his mind, Lin Mu continued his goal of getting stronger. And the one joining him in this endeavor was none other than Little Shrubby. Both of them were in the Dao Shell realm and needed spirit Qi to progress.


    Lin Mu''s Dao shell was already at almost 70%pletion, while Little Shrubby''s was at about 30%pletion. Either of those were rather good, but Lin Mu was not satisfied by it.


    ''The foes I face are strong and more will appear the longer I wait. If I cannot even match their speed, what use will I be off. The Xiaofan making me the ordained will be a joke then.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he chanted the severing heart sutra.


    His heart stilled as his rate of absorbing spirit Qi increased.


    ~shua~


    The Dao Shells did their work and started to absorb as much spirit Qi as they could.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense went to the ring and came upon therge stores if alchemical pills he had gotten. He had not ssified them yet, but with an initial look, he could tell what pills did what.


    "Doesn''t matter if I use the technique of the Lost immortal. All will be the same in the end!" Lin Mu said to himself as he took out tens of bottles of alchemical pills.


    ~CRACK~


    With a light shake of his hand, the bottles all cracked and Lin Mu poured their contents into his mouth without a care.


    If anyone else were too see this scene, they could dere Lin Mu to be insane. After all, consumption of alchemical pills in this manner was no less than that. If any average person did this, getting Qi deviation was the least of their concerns.


    More than that, they would have to pray that they didn''t just exploded into meat shreds instead.


    But for Lin Mu, nothing mattered.


    Within his stomach, the fines of runes worked and spun, letting the Lost immortal''s nameless technique work at its best.


    Vital energy was absorbed and converted into vital essence while Spirit Qi was rapidly assimted into his body as well.


    ~shua~


    Above his body, the multi-sidedplex looking Dao Shell was also growing.


    Its illusory shape started to turn corporal as it absorbed more and more spirit Qi. With each passing hour, it became more and more solid. But the more it absorbed, the slower the process got.


    Eventually, another week passed by...


    ~HONG~


    One certain day, the Dao Shell floating above Lin Mu let out a loud sound.


    His Dao Shell had finally reached the Shellpletion stage!

 Chapter 1065 Coming To Terms

    "Master?" Little Shrubby woke up from the sound.


    He was deep in cultivation and wouldn''t be disturbed easily, but the sounding from Lin Mu was simply too loud.


    Looking at Lin Mu, he saw the Dao Shell shining. It let out a bright light and seemed to be swirling in joy.


    ~HONG~


    Another humming sound was let off by the Dao Shell, prompting Lin Mu to open his eyes.


    "Come," Lin Mu ordered.


    ~shua~


    The Dao Shell slowly descended and came to float in front of Lin Mu, giving him the chance to fully observe it. Even if Lin Mu had spent a long time designing his Dao Shell, this was still his first time seeing it in the real world.


    He wanted to be familiar hit it, for it was his Dao Shell and he would have to depend on its powers. Additionally, the way he had chosen his Dao shell''s shape was also different, thus he needed to ensure that everything was ording to his standards.


    "So this is my Dao Shell¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    The Dao Shell had eight sides to the main body, along with an additional part that protruded from one side. It vaguely looked like the shape an acorn would have. It was tter on both sides and there was a circr part in its center, having a wider space in it.


    The Dao shell was a pale white in color and looked rather tough, being two meters long and a little less than two meters wide.


    Lin Mu observed the Dao Shell for a few minutes, getting familiar with it. He could sense the connection between the Dao Shell and his body. It was on an intrinsic level and could be easily controlled with a thought.


    ''Just like senior Xukong said¡­ a proper Dao Shell will be like the limb of a cultivator, able to move with just a thought,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Did you breakthrough master?" Little Shrubby finally asked, seeing that Lin Mu seemed to have returned to normal.


    Lin Mu turned to look at hispanion and noticed the Dao shell floating above him. It was shaped like a fan and had five sectors extending from its central sector. It vaguely looked like the shape of a hand.


    "I did." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And it seems like you are close to it as well." He added.


    "Mmhmm¡­ I just need some more time." Little Shrubby replied.


    Looking at Little Shrubby''s Dao Shell, Lin Mu could tell that he was at about the 70% mark.


    ''About the same as me when we started,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The speed of progress for both Lin Mu and Little Shrubby was very fast. Especially considering the fact that it had merely taken them two weeks to reach this point. This was something others spend decades or centuries to aplish.


    And yet, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had done it in less than that. Though the cost for it was great too¡­ no sane sect would expend all their resources in pushing two experts to the Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm.


    Though the resources used by Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were a little too much.


    For any other expert, the amount of resources taken from the West ocean sect were enough to make them reach all the way to the Dao Treading realm. Forget them. Even if someone picked some random child from the streets and poured the resources in them, they too would reach the Dao Treading realm all the way from being amon mortal.


    And even then, there would be plenty of resources left. Perhaps the resources would be enough to nurture multiple Dao Treading realm experts.


    The standards of cultivation for Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were simply too high. One could attribute this to the cost of talent. One could cultivate fast without bottlenecks with great talent, but one would also have to consume an appropriate amount of resources.


    "Hmm¡­ there''s still a quarter of the resources left." Lin Mu muttered after taking a look around.


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    Most of the things that were left were either spirit stones or raw spirit herbs and fruits. Of course, this was only when considering consumable resources. Other items like spirit ores, metals, crystal, and such weren''t considered by Lin Mu.


    They were still lying around in his ring and weren''t taken out.


    Lin Mu thought to himself, what he should do next.


    ''ording to the goal Senior Xukong set for me, I''m supposed to directly skip the Shell expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm and reach the Dao treading realm. But if I want to do that I need to give birth to a Dao Embryo¡­ I would do that no doubt, but how am I supposed to do that?'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    And just as Lin Mu was thinking to himself, he heard a voice in his head.


    "Oh? You are already at the Shellpletion stage?" Xukong said in a surprised voice.


    He had been deep in cultivation since the strange ck runes the Altar was making, and had not spent much attention to Lin Mu. And since Lin Mu didn''t contact him for anything either, he left him to his devices.


    Xukong was letting Lin Mu make his own decision, considering that there wasn''t as much danger to him as there was in the past. Plus Lin Mu had learned enough about the cultivation world that he didn''t need constant assistance.


    "I¡­ did senior." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmmm¡­ that''s good. But wasn''t this too fast?" Xukong said.


    "Well¡­ some things happened, and it just ended up like this." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this, Xukong quickly took a look through the memories and saw all that Lin Mu had done.


    ''Now this is not what I expected¡­'' Xukong thought to himself.


    Seeing that Xukong had not said anything for a while, Lin Mu was a bit anxious.


    "Are you upset with me senior?" Lin Mu questioned, knowing that Xukong knew everything now.


    "Upset? Why would I be upset? Ahahaha! For a measly thing like eradicating a small mortal world sect?" Xukongughed.

 Chapter 1066 Karma And Decisions

    Hearing Senior Xukong''s words, Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


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    Xukong easily guessed Lin Mu''s train of thoughts and decided to give him some more to think about.


    "You destroyed the West Ocean sect after a long consideration didn''t you? You already had the capability to do so a long time ago, but held out for another solution. That was already giving them many chances." Xukong spoke.


    "There will be many situations that you will face in your life that will be many times moreplex than this, many times more deadly than this and will also test your will greatly. They might make you pay an even bigger cost, and put a great strain on you.


    Regardless of what happens, you are not to falter. Remember, those who are strong do not necessarily survive till the end, but those that survive in the end are all strong!


    So do whatever you can to live and achieve your goals." Xukong said as his sagely voice echoed in Lin Mu''s ears.


    Lin Mu''s mind shook slightly as he understood the other side of senior Xukong''s words. Xukong had not said it openly and had left for Lin Mu toprehend it on his own. The positive words had a negative back to it.


    It was up to Lin Mu, whether he would ept it or not.


    "Besides¡­ the effects of karma on you would be negligible." Xukong added.


    "Karma? Like the sins?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You could say that. But it is not that simple. The heavens are controlled by the Heavenly Dao and the karma dictates how it will behave. Even merits can beget sins and merit can rise from sin.


    For example, sometimes the sacrifice of a few can save the lives of many. Or letting a small tyrant reign might prevent tens of other tyrants from appearing and causing more harm to people.


    In your case, you have an even better excuse. You are the world''s ordained and all those that go against the world''s will would be ignored by the karmic will of the world." Xukong answered.


    "What use is this karma for us senior?" Lin Mu questioned feeling even more interested.


    "Hmm¡­ you could say it affects your fate and density." Xukong answered.


    "Like doing good deeds will get us good fortune and vice-a-versa?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That is the general logic used by most, but that is not urate. The true workings of karma are infinitely moreplex, and even I cannot deduce it.


    The karma of a small worm can affect the karma of a great heaven''s chosen that might be reigning over hundreds of worlds. Though for most cultivators, the workings of karma don''te into y until quitete.


    By the time you reach that point where you can sense it, you would have already lived quite a long time and umted a lot of karma.


    That is the reason why many experts all over the universe dictate that one should prevent sowing any karma. That is why many sects prefer their disciples severing their ties with the secr world.


    It is not that they are afraid that they wouldn''t be able to reach a high cultivation realm, but rather if they have too much karma, they wouldn''t even be eligible for it.


    And since karma is infinitelyplex, most experts agree that having no karma is the best." Xukong exined in detail.


    This certainly gave Lin Mu a lot to think about, and will for the years toe. But for now, he had a different question.


    "And what do you agree on senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Hearing this, Xukong couldn''t help but chuckle.


    ''The kid got it, huh¡­ good.'' Xukong thought to himself.


    "For me¡­ I''d say do whatever you want. Whether it be good karma or bad karma or no karma, if you keep on worrying about that, you will forget your present and lose out on many opportunities and rtionships that you might benefit fromter." Xukong stated.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu couldn''t help but smile.


    "Thank you, senior¡­ now I know what to do." Lin Mu replied.


    "Mm¡­ cultivate as you will, do as you want. I''ll be here if you need a second opinion, Hahaha!" Xukong said before going back to his own cultivation.


    Xukong knew that lightening the weight on Lin Mu''s mind was necessary today. He didn''t want Lin Mu to fall into the same cycle that orthodox and unorthodox paths followed. Going with one of them was the norm that many ended up taking without even knowing.


    It was a trap that was cleverly woven, that many entered with full knowledge of.


    Avoiding it was difficult and taxing, but the final results of it were far too great to ignore.


    Xukong had already experienced it first and was stuck in it too, and had barely managed to get out of it.


    ''Perhaps if it were not for the old monster, I''d be like that too¡­ is this what you wanted me to do?'' Xukong thought to himself.


    Lin Mu looked at Little Shrubby and the remaining resources and made up his mind.


    "We are going to continue cultivating." Lin Mu said.


    "We will?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yes¡­ we need to at least get you to the Shellpletion stage of the Dao Shell realm too." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby said in agreement.


    Lin Mu too, made his decision.


    ''I''ll cultivate till I''m out of resources¡­ doesn''t matter if I was going to silk the shell expansion stage, I still need to form a Dao Embryo and that''ll take time. Until I reach that level ofprehension, may as well expand my Dao Shell.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    ~shua~


    He waved his hand and more spirit stones appeared around them. The concentration of spirit Qi rose even more and the man and beast started absorbing it at a great speed!


    Lin Mu''s Dao Shell was now inside his Dantian and was slowly growing. The rate of growth was slow, and barely and change could be seen even after a week, but Little Shrubby was nearing a breakthrough!

 Chapter 1067 Strengthening Bloodlines And Little Shrubby’s Breakthrough

    <h4>Chapter 1067 Strengthening Bloodlines And Little Shrubby''s Breakthrough</h4>


    "He''s close¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he observed Little Shrubby.


    The Dao Shell was now almostpletely corporeal and merely a fraction of a percent was left.


    About two weeks had passed since Lin Mu''s breakthrough and he had basically exhausted all the resources he had taken from the West Ocean Sect that were consumable. He had even stopped cultivating himself so that Little Shrubby could get thest push needed.


    Minutes felt as long as hours to Lin Mu, with thest step taking longer than before.


    ''Is there a problem?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He was just about to use his spirit sense to check, when it happened.


    ~SHUA~


    Suddenly, the air heated up and massive spirit Qi waves started to emanate from Little Shrubby.


    Compared to Lin Mu''s own breakthrough, Little Shrubby''s was far more impactful.


    ~HONG~


    The Dao Shell floating above Little Shrubby hummed and started to change color. From its pale white color, it turned red. mes soon appeared on it as fire attribute spirit Qi was infused into it as well!


    Little Shrubby himself was still deep in a trance, his eyes closed.


    ~ROAR~


    But regardless of that a loud roar was hearding from deep within his body.


    ~HUALA~


    The effect started to spread as a phenomenon manifested. The spirit Qi outside the mountain Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were cultivating started to stir. Even the clouds started to move and the sky darkened.


    The beasts living in the vicinity were terrified and ran to get as far from it as possible.


    The mountain was deep in the forest, thus there were no humans nearby, or they would have been greatly shocked too.


    Little Shrubby''s body glowed in a red light as seven illusory figures appeared out of it, The illusory figures expanded and turned into the seven bloodline beasts that Little Shrubby had.


    "The bloodlines appeared again?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "You should take this chance to strengthen the bloodlines once more." Xukong felt the changes and woke up too.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu nodded his head. In fact, the seven illusory bloodlines figures were already staring at him with a hint of desire in their eyes.


    "Look, even they haven''t forgotten that." Xukong added.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he chanted the Nurturing heart sutra. The spirit Qi within his Dantian started to quickly transform into streaks of Beast Qi. Lin Mu decided to go all out this time and strengthen all of them.


    ''Since little Shrubby''s cultivation base increased, the bloodlines should have gotten more stable than before. Strengthening them shouldn''t be a problem.'' Lin Mu thought as he let out two wisps of Beast Qi.


    More Beast Qi was already being made in his Dantian while he shot the two streaks towards Little Shrubby.


    ~shua~


    One of the Beast Qi streaks went to the sh Fire Liger bloodline and the other to the Scorch w Tiger Bloodline. These two were the most dominant ones that Little Shrubby had and gave him his strength and speed.


    The other bloodline figures watched in envy as the first two got to enjoy the Beast Qi.


    "I got moreing up, you all just maintain your appearance." Lin Mu spoke.


    The bloodline figures had a certain level of intelligence and understood his words; suddenly increasing their presence.


    ~shua~ Shua~


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    Lin Mu sent two more streaks of beast Qi towards the Bloodlines, with one going to the Thunderbolt Cheetah and one to the Fume Wood Panther.


    The Thunderbolt Cheetah also contributed to Little Shrubby''s speed, but didn''t give him the elemental affinity yet. While the Fume Wood Panther had only recently shown an effect on Little Shrubby, giving him the Vitality Reversal skill.


    While the Skill didn''t have any direct effect on his strength, it did give Little Shrubby momentary boosts in speed and also allowed him to change his size. Which in turn, was effective in hiding his appearance.


    Though the bloodline also gave Little Shrubby the ability to absorb wood elemental spirit Qi which he hadn''t gotten from the Thunderbolt Cheetah Bloodline.


    But what Lin Mu wanted Little Shrubby to obtain from The Fume Wood Panther Bloodline was its healing and regeneration innate abilities. Spirit nts and nt type beasts all had great regeneration abilities.


    It made them resilient and hard to kill. For them most injuries were just temporary and could be healed, given enough time and nutrients. It was a top level ability for any cultivator to have.


    Additionally, Lin Mu had also been told by Xukong that the more Little Shrubby''s speed increases, the greater strain his body will endure. For now, it was not an issue, but the long term use can cause some problems.


    One of the ways to ovee this naturally would be to have a healing or regeneration ability.


    After these four bloodlines, the ones that were left were the Brood Mane Lion, The Hundred Mirror Leopard and the Midnight Lynx. These bloodlines had not shown any effect at all, thus he wanted to see if they could do so in the future.


    He gave them one streak of beast Qi each, before making more of it. This time though, he only gave it to the first four bloodlines and had to stop at that point.


    "Seems like this is the limit for his current cultivation base." Lin Mu muttered.


    The illusory bloodline figures had gotten unstable and were about to turn to a mote of light.


    The bloodline figures seemed unwilling, but in the end couldn''t resist.


    ~shua~


    The Illusory figures merged back into Little Shrubby''s body and the spirit Qi waves started to calm down.


    It had been less than ten minutes, and yet it looked like a long time had passed, though the work that Lin Mu had done in these ten minutes was already worth a lot. Directly strengthening bloodline likes this was not easy to do at all.


    The benefit Little Shrubby had gotten from a direct beast Qi infusion like this was a 100 times better than what he would get by absorbing it normally!

 Chapter 1068 The Change In Ripple Mist Sect

    ~Grrr~


    Little Shrubby stirred from his trance and woke up. His eyes gleamed in a fiery light, while his vibrant red fur shimmered with small sparks of fire. His aura started to leak out as the spirit Qi waves reappeared.


    ~ROAR!!!!~


    Taking a deep breath, Little Shrubby let out a thunderous roar.


    The roar spread for over five hundred kilometers, rming all beasts and humans that were living in that radius.


    "Heavens! What is that sound?" A group of cultivators was hunting near the edge of a forest.


    "That sounded like a beast''s cry! RUN!" One of them quickly turned tail and ran to the outskirts.


    "FUCK! That is no normal beast cry! Run for your lives!"


    Without even checking if there really was a beasting towards them, the humans ran away. A simr scene could be seen in other areas too where there were humans. The beasts were already running away from the mountain that the roar hade from.


    A few Nascent soul realm beasts that lived in the forest directly fainted from the bloodline aura that had risen from Little Shrubby. The weaker beasts couldn''t sense it so they were ironically safe.


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    A vige that was located twenty kilometers from the forest too heard the roar and its people decided to directly abandon it. Women, children, and old people were evacuated while the able bodied men and warriors stayed begin.


    And when herds of beasts started running out from the forest, the humans truly realized that something had happened in the forest. It was unknown what kind of a beast could cause this, but they knew it was best to stay as far away from the forest as possible.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were unaware that anything of this sort had happened. With just a cry, thousands of humans were disced and tens of thousands of beasts fled.


    But even if they did know, it wasn''t something they would care for now. There were far greater things they needed to worry about.


    "Congrattions on your breakthrough, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu couldn''t help but praise.


    "Thank you, master. I''ll be stronger and more strong! Then we''ll eat for a hundred years and no one will stop us!" Little Shrubby stated his little dream.


    ~chuckle~


    "Sure," Lin Mu couldn''t help but chuckle upon hearing Little Shrubby''s words.


    "What do we do now, master?" Little Shrubby asked.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows as the next few steps appeared in his mind.


    "Since you want to keep on getting stronger¡­ we will do exactly that." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby agreed straightaway.


    "Come¡­ we have more ces to go." Lin Mu said, and the two left the mountain.


    ~BOOM~


    In a few seconds, a loud explosion was heard as Little Shrubby sprinted away with Lin Mu on his back.


    Dayster, several cultivators would visit this ce to check the anomaly but would find nothing other than a cave that had the aura of a strong Dao Shell realm beast.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby ran toward the north east direction now. Their destination was a ce they had been to once before. Lin Mu had even fought there before.


    It was none other than the Ripple Mist Sect!


    ~SHUA~


    A sea of clouds flowed high up in the sky, as two dots that were almost invisible to the naked eyes appeared among the boundless clouds.


    Lin Mu gazed upon the sect that seemed a bit different to him. His brows furrowed and he looked around.


    "Strange¡­ why are there so few disciples here?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Thest time he was here, the number of disciples was easily over a hundred thousand. And that was only the ones that he could see out in the open. There might be more in the thousands of building that dotted the sect.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense probed the barrier of the sect and easily passed through it. The barrier which had mistaken it was the same as before and let his spirit sense pass through.


    ''They never rectified it, huh¡­'' Lin Mu reckoned. "At least it makes things easier for us."


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense brazenly spread across the sect, the sects of all disciplesid bare. He listened to their conversations and learned what had been happening in the sect. And it didn''t make him feel calm.


    "The disciples have been sent to mandatory seclusion and haven''t left for two years?" Lin Mu learned.


    Apparently, the Ripple Mist sect had ordered a majority of their disciples to enter seclusion, with the im that they were weak and tough times were ahead of them. The disciples were disinclined, of course, but couldn''t defy the orders of the elders.


    The ones that were sent into seclusion first were the disciples that were lower in the rankings. But over the years, more and more were sent, and now even some of the core disciples were sent to the seclusion.


    "ALL INNER COURT DISCIPLES ARE TO REPORT TO THE SECLUSION PAVILION WITHIN ONE HOUR!" Suddenly an announcement as heard echoing throughout the sect.


    Hearing this, the faces of several inner court disciples fell and they didn''t know what to do now. While most were fine with the seclusion, but as more and more of the disciples were sent into seclusion, many were starting to get suspicious.


    It was inevitable, and a few disciples had even tried to leave the sect.


    Of course, they were caught and then imprisoned for breaking the sect''sws. After getting caught, they were never heard of again.


    "Heavens! I don''t want to enter seclusion, I barely entered thete stage of the Qi refining realmst year." A discipleined.


    "How are the elders even thinking? What use will be seclusion without any resources?"


    "Yeah! We were not allowed to go on any missions for the past year and didn''t get any merit points. How are we to continue cultivating?"


    More disciples startedining amongst themselves.


    "SILENCE!" But soon a loud voice was heard.


    ~SHUA~


    An elder appeared from the main peak of the sect and stared upon the disciples with anger in his eyes.


    "DO YOU ALL DARE TO QUESTION THE ORDERS OF THE SECT?" He roared.


    "N-no elder!" They all hurriedly replied.


    "THEN GET YOUR ASSES TO THE SECLUSION HALL!" The elder ordered.


    The disciples all scampered off to the seclusion hall until there was almost no one left.


    Lin Mu who observed it all, had a bad feeling about it.


    "Master." It was now that Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Yes? What is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I can smell something from thatrge building there¡­ it''s familiar¡­" Little Shrubby replied.


    "Familiar? Familiar to what?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The humans we fought at the Noon Grass sect. Their bodies had a scent simr to this." Little Shrubby answered.


    Hearing this, the thoughts in Lin Mu''s mind linked, and he knew what Little Shrubby was talking about.


    A frown appeared on his face as he made up his mind.


    ''I need to see it for myself¡­ if it really is like that then¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "I''ll go down and see. I''ll call for you if I need you." Lin Mu stated.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby replied. "I''ll watch from here."


    "Oh and if you sense any others with a scent like that¡­ don''t let them leave." Lin Mu added. "Or just kill them if they attack you."


    Little Shrubby nodded his head, and Lin Mu descended to the ground. He easily passed through the barrier and went into the ground. With him gone, Little Shrubby continued his watch.


    But after a while, he spotted something in the corner of his eye.


    ~sniff~


    Smelling something, his eyes glowed and he went to the eastern direction, following behind a man that had just left the Ripple Mist Sect.


    While Little Shrubby did his own little investigation, Lin Mu continued his search. With his spirit sense spread around, he quickly got the understanding of the area. But in his search, he found something surprising too.


    "Oh? There''s actually someone that managed to hide from the elders and is defying their orders?" Lin Mu''s spirit sense stumbled upon a certain disciple that was hiding in the ground too.


    Lin Mu got a bit closer and found the disciple to be a bit familiar.


    "Hang on¡­ isn''t this guy¡­ from that time?" Lin Mu recalled giving this disciples a mid grade spirit stone as a reward for letting them leave the barrier.


    ''He made a few isting formations and pped as many talismans he could on top of them huh¡­'' Lin Mu figured out the method the disciples had used.


    A few secondster, Lin Mu decided to pay the guy a little visit. Seeing his actions of defying the sect, Lin Mu reckoned there was a great chance the man might give up more information that Lin Mu couldn''t learn by just using his spirit sense.


    In a small area underground, Zhu Zhu had been hiding for about half a year now.


    "Fuck! Fuck! The elders are really getting close now. How do I leave this ce?" Zhu Zhu said to himself.


    Seeing the situation, he had decided to hide away, even if the elders got suspicious. He would then bide his time and find an opportunity to escape. But even after all this time, he had not gotten it.


    And now there was basically no disciple left in the division, all the inner court disciples were called.


    He had heard the announcement too, as the formations only hid his presence but couldn''t iste sound.


    "If you answer my questions, I''ll allow you to escape the sect." Suddenly, a new voice was heard.

 Chapter 1069 Meeting A Certain Foolish Disciple Again

    Zhu Zhu almost fell when he heard the voice behind him.


    "DON''T KILL ME ELDERS!!!!" Zhu Zhu cried out on instinct.


    Lin Mu observed the startled man, who seemed to be hiding his head in his knees. He simply stood there and waited for the man toe to his senses. Thankfully, it didn''t take long and Zhu Zhu felt something was wrong when he didn''t get the wind knocked out of him in five seconds.


    Lifting the fingers off his head, he tilted it and sneaked a look at the person standing in front of him. At first, he only saw the legs and they were draped in robes that were not recognizable to him.


    ''That doesn''t seem like any elder''s robes¡­'' Zhu Zhu thought.


    Finally, building up a little courage, he wholly lifted his head and looked at the young handsome man standing there. There were spirit Qi fluctuationing from him that were no weaker than most elders.


    But poor Zhu Zhu didn''t know that this was only because Lin Mu was holding them in. He didn''t want to alert the sect and make things more tiresome for himself. At least not when there was a chance that there was something sinister happening here.


    "W-who¡­ Who are you?" Zhu Zhu questioned.


    "That does not matter¡­ what matters is what I can offer you." Lin Mu stated inly.


    Tens of thoughts ran through Zhu Zhu''s mind as he tried to wrap it around this situation. He couldn''t understand how someone could appear here in the room he had made in the ground.


    Especially since it was closed off entirely and even he would need to dig his way out. There were only some small openings that would bring in air and some sound from the outside.


    ''Wait¡­ there are no openings¡­'' Zhu Zhu looked around at the small room, seeing no ce broken.


    Lin Mu easily guessed what the man was thinking, but didn''t mind it.


    "Now then¡­ I understand that you want to leave the Ripple Mist sect?" Lin Mu asked, pulling the man out of his thoughts.


    "Y-yes¡­ I want to leave¡­ the sect elders have gone crazy." Zhu Zhu replied.


    "Crazy you say? Can you tell me more?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They¡­ they force us to enter seclusion but don''t give any resources that they are supposed to. Then there is the fact that all those that entered it have never been heard from again." Zhu Zhu replied.


    "From what I know, seclusion is supposed to be like that. No contact, so that one could fully focus on cultivation." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes, that would be fine. But¡­ there were many discrepancies in this¡­ the biggest one that made us suspicious being¡­ the death of a few that was hidden from us." Zhu Zhu replied.


    "Deaths? What kind of deaths?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well¡­ the deaths of many were hidden from us. It wasn''t as if deaths during seclusion weremon either, as only those that were secluding themselves at the end of their lifespan would die like that. Or rarely those that made mistakes during cultivation and died from Qi deviation.


    These were¡­ unexined deaths.


    Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    I and my fellow disciples heard of them for a while but when one of ourpanion died and we asked the elders, we were reprimanded about questioning them and challenging the rules of the sect." Zhu Zhu answered.


    "How were you all so sure of yourpanion''s death?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Thepanion of ours that died¡­ he had a betrothed¡­ someone he had promised to be Daopanions with. He had left a life wick with her. She broke down when she saw the life wick burning out all of a sudden one day.


    The shocking thing was, it was merely two days after he entered seclusion. And there was very little chance of him dying in there as he was only in the mid stage of the Qi refining realm, not in any risk stage of breakthrough. He wasn''t at the end of his lifespan either and didn''t have any other issues." Zhu Zhu replied.


    Lin Mu knew what life wicks were. They were simr to the soul light pearls and other such treasure that were used to tell if the owner had died or not. Many people used these to keep track of their family or loved ones.


    Though life wicks were considered to be one of the more lower quality ones and wouldn''t work if the person who had lit them went too far from it. But even in that case, they wouldn''t go out, but just keep on burning for a hundred years before dying out.


    But seeing as the man''s life wick went out when both were within the sect itself, it didn''t make sense that it had stopped working naturally.


    Lin Mu found it all to be rather suspicious indeed.


    "And you say they deny that anyone died?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Y-yes¡­ they sternly deny it all and tell us that we should not question them at all. They all changed¡­ the elders might have been strict in the past, but they turned utterly crazy three years ago after that incident when our ten of our elders died." Zhu Zhu replied.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu knew that incident was none other than him leaving the sect after killing some elders in the process.


    "The elders were greatly enraged, and the patriarch gave them some ordered before entering seclusion himself. Since then, radical changes happened in the sect and the number of resources we got reduced as well." Zhu Zhu stated.


    ''The Gu Legion¡­ no doubt they are re-routing the resources from here.'' Lin Mu easily guessed.


    "Do you know where the sect keeps resources? And also, do you know where the sect''s spirit stone mines are?" Lin Mu brazenly questioned.


    "W-why do you want to know that?" Zhu Zhu asked, having a bad feeling.


    "To take down this sect, of course." Lin Mu causally spoke.


    Hearing that, Zhu Zhu''s eyes went wide and he couldn''t help but feel like there was a lump stuck in his throat.

 Chapter 1070 Sending Off Zhu Zhu

    Zhu Zhu was terrified of Lin Mu and ended up spilling all that he knew. He passed Lin Mu everything he had about the sect, including the ess tokens, maps, the sect booklets and more.


    Most of it was useless, but Lin Mu took it none the less.


    "Can¡­ can we leave now¡­ the more we wait the greater chances of the elders finding us." Zhu Zhu said. "I did what you asked." He added, wondering if Lin Mu was intending to renege on his words.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said, satisfied with the information he had obtained.


    While there were limits to the information that Zhu Zhu had, it was still enough to paint a rather vivid picture in Lin Mu''s mind. This information,bined with the rest that he had about the Gu Legion, was enough to give a good idea to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu even asked Zhu Zhu if they knew what was asking out in the world, and he was entirely clueless. They didn''t even know that the Noon Grass sect had been attacked, and neither did they know anything about the Gu Legion.


    This made Lin Mu confirm his doubts about how the sects were truly being controlled. But there was also variation in the information given, since the West Ocean Sect seemed to be in a much better condition than the Ripple Mist sect.


    "How are we going to leave, though? If we go out, the elders will find us." Zhu Zhu asked doubtfully.


    "That won''t matter. They are going to die either way." Lin Mu said as he ced his hand on the wall.


    ~THUD~


    With a slight push, the entire wall copsed before the roof started to fall as well. Zhu Zhu covered his head but was still hit with rocks and stones. His face was covered in dirt now and his robes were colored brown.


    Lin Mu though, was entirely fine and immacte as before, with the armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture preventing the dirt and stones from touching him.


    ~cough~ cough~


    Zhu Zhu coughed out the dust he had inhaled and looked at the sunlight that was warming his body. It had been over six months since he hadst felt the sunlight, after all.


    "Come," Lin Mu said as he took out a spirit sword.


    Zhu Zhu hesitated a bit before jumping onto the spirit sword.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu rose up into the sky with the spirit sword following behind him.


    ~Flicker~


    The formation array of the sect suddenly flickered as a few runes appeared around Zhu Zhu.


    "OH NO! THEY DISCOVERED US!" Zhu Zhu cried out.


    Lin Mu lightly nced at the runes and flicked his finger.


    ~KACHA~


    The runes broke apart like ss and faded away.


    Then without a word, he elerated while the spirit sword continued behind him.


    "Whoa!" Zhu Zhu almost fell off from the spirit sword.


    ''Just how far is this going?'' Zhu Zhu could only see the blurry surroundings and the barrier of the sect that was rapidly approaching.


    Seeing the barrier, his eyes went wide.


    "Wait! Wait! We''ll crash into the barrier!" Zhu Zhu cried out.


    But before he could continue his words, he saw Lin Mu punch out.


    ~BOOM~


    A ten meter hole was punched out in the barrier and Zhu Zhu was left with his jaw wide open.


    It was understandable since the barrier was a sect protecting barrier that could take blows from a Dao Treading realm cultivator, after all.


    They easily went past the barrier and were finally out of the sect.


    Zhu Zhu looked back and felt like this was all a dream.


    "Are we really out?" He couldn''t believe his eyes.


    "Yeah, we''re out." Lin Mu replied.


    And just as Lin Mu said that, a loud voice was heard.


    "WHO DARES!!!!!"


    ~EEEK!~


    "It''s the high elder!" Zhu Zhu cried out.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense quickly found the high elder approaching from the main peak of the sect. He turned to Zhu Zhu and curled his middle finger.


    "Hold on tight, I''ll send you further away." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Huh? You''re not running?" Zhu Zhu found it absurd.


    "Nope." Lin Mu said and flicked the pommel of the spirit sword with his middle finger.


    ~CLANG~


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    A crisp sound was heard before the spirit sword was sent flying at a great speed.


    Zhu Zhu didn''t even get to cry out as his mouth was filled with wind. He could only hold on for his dear life while the spirit sword continued to fly without Lin Mu being there. He had already given the weapon amand and it should be able to manage without him.


    With Zhu Zhu gone, Lin Mu turned back to face the elder that was approaching.


    "Who dares vite the barrier of the Ripple Mist Sect and intrude in its territory!?" The High elder questioned in a fierce voice as Dao Shell realm spirit Qi fluctuations rose from him.


    Looking at the scene, he made the assumption that someone was trying to intrude into the sect by breaking the barrier. After all, he would never think that someone was actually trying to escape the sect and that Lin Mu had broken it from the inside.


    However, Lin Mu didn''t care for the man. Without even speaking a word, he blinked towards the elder and punched out.


    "Wha¡ª" Before the elder could react, he was struck with a golden fist!


    ~BOOM~


    The Dao Shell realm elder was nothing in front of Lin Mu''s attack as his head directly burst apart like a watermelon.


    ~thud~


    His headless corpse fell to the ground as a Nascent soul wiggled out of it.


    Seeing the muddy color of the Nascent soul, Lin Mu wrinkled his brows and stomped.


    ~SPLAT~


    The Nascent soul was snuffed out of existence, while the body of the high elder turned to mush as well.


    ~Wooo~


    Lin Mu soared into the air and brazenly headed to one of the peaks.


    "Time to start my work¡­" Lin Mu muttered as his spirit sense scanned the hidden vault.

 Chapter 1071 The Seclusion Hall

    The death of a high elder in the Ripple Mist sect went strangely unnoticed. Lin Mu had not paid much attention to it since he was busy clearing out the stores of the sect, but when there was no response, even after thirty minutes, he found it to be highly suspicious.


    ''If they haven''t responded even now, then there is either something stopping them¡­ or they are nning something else.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He didn''t know whether the first option was worse or the second. To him, a normal response and open conflict would be better than to dodge a hidden danger or scheme that they may be hatching.


    Still, in thirty minutes, Lin Mu had basically cleared out all the resources that the Ripple mist sect had out in the open. There were more of them hidden underneath the main peak of course, and that was where he was about to head to.


    "The back of the main peak is also where they built that seclusion hall¡­ time to take a look there, too." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    ~shua~


    He took flight and openly entered the main peak. Standing high up in the air, he let his spirit sense check everything and found that the peak was actually empty!


    "This is certainly not normal¡­" Lin Mu understood.


    His spirit sense continued down and went to the back of the Main peak where the seclusion hall was built. It was there that he sensed the spirit sense fluctuations. And it wasn''t just a handful of them, but rather thousands of them.


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    But at the same time, his spirit sense met resistance and couldn''t go beyond a certain level of the building.


    "A dense barrier like that is not something one would ce in a seclusion hall. That seems more like a prison instead." Lin Mu said, as his eyes narrowed.


    Approaching from the side, Lin Mu phased into the building but didn''t reveal himself, instead hiding himself within the ground. There was no problem doing that, as the gap between each floor was of more than two meters.


    Just this thickness of floor showed Lin Mu that this ce was more of a prison than a seclusion hall.


    In the first floor of the hall, he saw a few disciples that were lined up and a few elders that were taking down their names. In the second floor, he found more disciples but they were simply sitting down and waiting for something.


    Lin Mu recognized most of them to be the same disciples that had been called in with thest announcement. This floor wasrger than the one above and could easily amodate ten thousand disciples at once.


    And when Lin Mu tried to head to the third floor of the Seclusion hall, he faced resistance. A thick barrier made from formation arrays as well as hard rock were blocking his way. Even phase couldn''t pass though it as it was a formation array.


    "Wouldn''t stop me much longer." Lin Mu said as his expression turned serious.


    Directly cing his hand straight on the barrier, he pushed.


    ~CLANG~


    A strange sound, as if metal pressing against metal echoed all over the area.


    "What was that?" The disciples were surprised.


    "Go check," One of the elders instructed a junior elder.


    But when he checked everywhere he didn''t find anything. After all, Lin Mu wasn''t entering through any normal ces, but rather he was hidden in the ground itself. And there was no way the junior elder would think there was someone in the middle of the solid ground.


    ~CLANG~


    But the sound repeated, this time even louder.


    ~CLANG~


    ~CLANG~


    The sound continued to echo until finally it seemed like something had been broken.


    ~KACHA~


    "Go down and see if anything happened there!" The elder immediately ordered other elders.


    Without caring for this, Lin Mu entered through the hole he had made in the solid rock reinforced with formation arrays.


    ''That was tougher than the sect''s main defensive formation array¡­ If they are using it here, then there is certainly something to hide here.'' Lin Mu felt sure.


    And when he finally descended into the third floor, his doubts were cleared.


    "What in the¡­" Lin Mu was left shocked as he saw pools upon pools of blood spread around the third floor.


    The third floor was thergest of them all, and easily spanned over a kilometer in area.


    But that was not all that shocked Lin Mu, what shocked him was the condition of the blood pool. Some of them contained bodies of cultivators that were wearing the robes of the disciples floating in them.


    Others only contained bones, and some didn''t even have that.


    The various pools had different levels of dposition of corpses and all of it was being merged into the blood pool.


    Breathing the very air made Lin Mu feel sick, but at the same time, it ignited the fury within him. For he recognized what these blood pools were.


    "The rebirth blood¡­ they are using their own disciples as the fuel for rebirth blood¡­" Lin Mu muttered as his voice turned cold.


    His spirit sense scanned the entire area in a moment''s notice and found several elders of the sect adding more disciples to the blood pools. They would first slit their throats and then poke out their hearts, making sure as much blood flowed out of them as possible.


    "I think we will reach our quota early this time. Lord Gu Yao will be pleased." One of the elders that had Dao Shell realm fluctuationsing from him spoke.


    "Indeed¡­ after thest time''s fiasco, he should be pleased with us." Another elder with spirit Qi fluctuation at the Dao Treading realm replied.


    Just as these two elders were talking, three more elders appeared from the staircase nearby.


    "Supreme elder! Is there any problem going on? We heard something break on the floor above." One of the elders asked.


    "Oh? Nothing happened here. The sacrifices are going as normal¡ª" Just as the man was about toplete his words, he saw something that made him stop.

 Chapter 1072 Murdering The Unworthy

    ~SHING~


    ~SPLAT~


    ~THUD~


    ~BOOM~


    In the dimly lit third floor of the seclusion hall, a series of noises echoed.


    Each was apanied by waves of spirit Qi and from time to time, a golden glow could be seen as well. The people waiting above in the second floor didn''t even know that a battle was raging below them.


    Though more than a battle, it was more urate to call it a ughter.


    "Filthy¡­"


    "Unworthy¡­"


    "Traitors¡­"


    "Fiends¡­"


    Several words came out of Lin Mu''s mouth, each tinged with the sharpest intent of murder.


    And murder was indeed what was done here. Though perhaps the more orthodox powers would deem it as justice instead.


    "Why is it taking so long?" One of the disciples waiting on the second floor asked.


    Since the elders had been sent downstairs to check what was happening, they had been made to wait here. But it had now been five minutes and there was still no response.


    The two elders who were here in the second floor were feeling the same and had just finished registering thest of the names.


    "Should we check too?" A junior elder asked.


    "Perhaps we sh¡ª"


    ~BOOM~


    And just as the elder was about to finish his word, the floor beneath them exploded!


    "AHH!"


    "WHAT!?"


    The disciples were all startled due to it and some of them were knocked away from the explosion. They were injured of course, but were more in shock as they saw two peopleing out of it.


    "W-who?!" the other elders couldn''t help but question.


    The one who hade out was none other than Lin Mu of course, and the man grasped in his hand was the supreme elder.


    The supreme elder wasn''t in a good shape either. One of his arms was missing while a leg was broken and bent backwards.


    He was bleeding from several spots, and some of his teeth were missing as well.


    "Speak! Where is your patriarch!?" Lin Mu questioned.


    To Lin Mu, he was sure that Gu Yao was directing it. And now that he had seen the actions of the Ripple mist sect, he deemed them unworthy of living any longer. But to do that, he needed to eliminate all the elders, since they all were under the control of Gu Yao, willing or unwillingly.


    Though here, he could tell that most of them were being controlled willingly. He hadn''t sensed the presence of the Human Controlling Blood Curse. Which only told Lin Mu that I was probably ced on the patriarch of the Ripple Mist sect.


    And thus he needed to get rid of that man too, if he wanted to stop them all.


    ~COUGH~


    "I will never tell you!" The Dao Treading Realm supreme elder rejected.


    "Very well¡­ you chose this." Lin Mu said before stabbing his hand straight into the elder''s abdomen.


    ~SHUA~


    The supreme elder''s eyes went wide as he felt the metal spirit Qi directly pouring into his Dantian and rushing into his remaining meridians. He had already felt the power of Lin Mu''s golden fists and the other elders had been killed in mere singr blows.


    Even he had been caught off guard and before he could react, multiple attacks rendered him incapacitated. The metal spirit Qi turned his own spirit Qi chaotic and damaged his meridians.


    He couldn''t even focus his mind enough to restrain that damage, as it was simply too much for him. Additionally, the thoughts of Lin Mu suddenly appearing were also absurd to him. He didn''t even understand how he could enter the sect and even go all the way to their seclusion hall with no problem.


    It was as if all the defensive formation arrays were nothing to him.


    Unfortunately for the man, his thoughts were useless, and he was as good as head now.


    "WHO ARE YOU?!"


    "LEAVE THE SUPREME ELDER!" The reaming elders stupidly called out.


    They had spoken on instinct, but failed to realize how Lin Mu had already killed all the elders and had badly beaten up their supreme elder.


    The disciples had noticed the dead bodies of the other elders downstairs as the hole Lin Mu hade out of left everything exposed.


    But along with that, they also saw the blood pools and thousands of bodies that floated in them. Some of the weak-hearted ones directly fainted while those with weak stomachs vomited out theirst meals.


    Lin Mu looked gave a look to the two elders before tossing the supreme elder lightly into the air.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then a golden leg tore through the air, kicking the falling body of the supreme elder straight through the roof, into the first floor and then out into the sky!


    ~SHUA~


    The supreme elder helplessly flew up into the sky and soon felt the abnormality in his body.


    ''My Nascent soul¡­ Dao shell¡­ Dao Embryo¡­'' he couldn''t even let out a peep as his body started to glow in a orange light.


    ~KABOOM!~


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    Finally, his body exploded into smithereens in the air as spirit Qi turned chaotic.


    The disciples and elders watched with stunned expressions as they felt the spirit Qi fluctuations of the supreme elder disappear.


    Lin Mu watched it all with a cold gaze and didn''t care for it at all.


    ''Lowering the quantity of metal spirit Qi by half still has good effects.'' Lin Mu noted.


    By lowering the initial output and reducing the range of attack to point nk, he had gained the same after effect with less cost.


    Lin Mu was merely testing it out and had not expected it to be this good. Though it had certainlye at an expense that others would find soul shaking. After all, he had tested this on a Dao Treading Realm expert!


    Seeing the death of their supreme elder, the disciples were too shocked to move. But the remaining four elders weren''t like that. One of them trusted his instincts and directly decided to run away.


    ~SHING~


    "GAH!"


    But just as he had taken a few steps into the air, a short sword stabbed through his back.

 Chapter 1073 Showing The Reality

    ~THUD~


    The dead body of the elder fell to the ground, as blood gushed out of his chest. With his heart pierced, there was not much time left for him. No voice came out of his mouth either, as his lungs felt too weak to work.


    Lin Mu gestured with his finger and the short sword returned to his side, causing more blood to spill out from the elder.


    The disciples who watched everything were stunned.


    "W-why¡­ Why are you doing this?" One of them couldn''t help but ask.


    They were terrified and were thinking that they would be killed too. After all, since Lin Mu had killed elders with such ease, there was nothing stopping him from killing them too.


    "You''re really asking that?" As a surprise to them though, Lin Mu actually replied.


    But his reply was a question.


    "Huh?" They were confused and didn''t know how to react.


    The actions of Lin Mu had already made them forget about some things they had seen just a few moments ago. Though on some level, they remembered it but just didn''t want to believe it.


    Lin Mu looked at the disciple who had asked the question and his spirit sense quickly scanned the man.


    The disciples shivered as he felt a spirit sense more powerful than everything probing him. He felt as if he was naked and all of his secrets were revealed.


    "Hmm¡­ at least you''re clean." Lin Mu muttered. "Fine¡­ you all should know the truth." He continued.


    "Truth? What truth?" They asked.


    "The truth about what your sect has been doing¡­ what your elders have been doing." Lin Mu replied.


    The three elders that were still alive fell pale after hearing that. Out of the three, two were already under the influence of the Pills of Grace, while one was a junior elder who was caught on with greed and wanted the same as the elders.


    The elders had been able to greatly progress their cultivation base, thanks to the pills of grace, and there was no way they would want to let go of such an attractive item at all. The others that knew of it got envious too and wanted to try them out.


    "Look!" Lin Mu pointed to therge hole in the floor. "Look down there¡­ see the heinous acts of your sect elders¡­ see what they use you all for in the name of seclusion!"


    ~gulp~


    The disciples couldn''t help but feel intimidated by Lin Mu''s authoritative voice, but they still turned around to take a look.


    There were actually a few disciples that had already seen it all but had fainted from the sheer sight of it. Perhaps that could be a small mercy to them.


    "HEAVENS!"


    "WHAT IN THE NAME OF ANCESTOR IS THAT!?"


    "BLOOD? AND BODIES! BONES TOO!?"


    "SUI SHA! SUI SHA! THAT''S MY SUI SHA! WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU!"


    A cacophony of cries was heard as the disciples saw the scene on the third floor. The familiar bodies of their friends,panions, lovers and fellow disciples were enough to give them a good idea.


    "How can this be?" A disciple fell to his knees. "This is the workings of a demonic sect¡­ why is it happening in our sect!?" he screamed.


    While this was happening, the three elders at the back tried to leave.


    ~SHING~


    But before they could take even a single step, a ck spear blocked their path.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    More spirit weapons circled them, stopping them from moving even a finger. If they tried they would be pierced at a moment''s notice.


    "Disciples of the Ripple Mist Sect!" Lin Mu called out. "Look at your elders, they dare to escape while you all are helpless here."


    The disciples turned to look at the three elders and saw that they were dodging their eyes. Seeing that guilt look on their faces was enough to convince the disciples. After all, they had seen the arrogance of the elders before and the current face was greatly different than that.


    "HOW COULD YOU ALL DO THIS!?" A disciple who had lost his Dao Companion couldn''t hold back and rushed one of the elders.


    He didn''t even care for the spirit weapons surrounding the elders and directly punched out.


    ~Pow~


    The punch hit the elder squarely in his face, but didn''t do any damage. The pitiful disciple was far too weak to even put a scratch on the elder''s face.


    "UNFILIAL DISCIPLES! You dare attack your elders!" The elder yelled in response instead.


    "What impudence!" Lin Mu scoffed.


    ~SHUA~


    Curling his fingers, he controlled the spirit weapons and made them cut the elders in several ces.


    "ARGH!"


    "NO!"


    "Don''t do this! We''ll give you whatever you want!"


    The elders pleaded for mercy while their flesh continued to be cut. The spirit weapons didn''t stop there at all and sliced the flesh of their bodies bit by bit. It was not enough to kill them, but enough to send them in an agonizing spell.


    ~SPLAT~


    Low grade spirit swords pierced through the shoulders of the three men and made them cry out in pain even more.


    "Come," Lin Mu ordered as the three elders came to float in front of him with the spirit swords carrying them.


    He then turned to the disciples of the Ripple Mist sect and spoke, "take a close look, I''ll show you what your elders deemed worthy to sacrifice your lives for." Lin Mu said, horrifying the disciples even more.


    "What¡­ what do you want to do?" The Nascent soul realm elder questioned.


    But Lin Mu didn''t answer him. Instead, he extended his hand like it was a de and directly stabbed into the abdomen of the man.


    ~COUGH~


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    The man coughed out a mouthful of blood as he felt the attack pierce his flesh, bones and enter his Dantian!


    "NO!!!!" the elder cried as he felt Lin Mu''s hand wrap around his Nascent soul


    The elder tried to suggest, but Lin Mu gave him no chance, ripping out his Nascent soul!

 Chapter 1074 Venting Their Anger

    The disciples watched the scene with rapt attention as they saw a Nascent soul being drawn out.


    "A Nascent soul can be pulled out like this?" They couldn''t believe their eyes.


    They didn''t even know something like this was possible at all, and this was their first time witnessing something like this.


    "No, wait! LOOK!" A disciple that was standing closer suddenly pointed.


    "THE NASCENT SOUL! Why does it look like that?" The disciple who had tried to attack the elder said.


    He was the closest to Lin Mu and the dead elder, merely two meters away, and saw everything clearly.


    "The Nascent souls of the elders are all tainted. All those that used the pills made from the sacrifice of your fellow disciples will all have such nascent souls. This is the evidence of their crimes!" Lin Mu exined.


    The disciples heard Lin Mu''s words, and they felt them burning into their memory. They came closer and felt a very repulsive feelinging from the Nascent soul that was trying to wiggle its way out of Lin Mu''s grasp.


    But that was all for naught, and it was a fruitless effort. Lin Mu''s grip wasn''t something just anyone could escape from. Even Dao Shell realm cultivators would have a great time, not to mention mere Nascent souls that had already lost most of their capabilities.


    "Look! Watch it closely and remember it all." Lin Mu spoke, showing them the Nascent soul.


    He pinched it in his fingers like a chick and showed it around.


    The disciples couldn''t help but gulp seeing this. They knew that even if this was just a Nascent soul, it could still kill them at their cultivation realm!


    Only in the grasp of Lin Mu was the Nascent soul helpless, like a baby chick.


    The disciples felt appalled at it all, and a feeling of betrayal filled them. The sect they had devoted their life to had done this to them. They had never expected that the glory they had felt upon joining one of the top ten sects woulde crashing one day like this.


    While all the disciples wereing to terms with it, a few of them felt rage.


    "DIE!" A female disciple rushed out and stabbed a knife thorough the other elder''s heart.


    He was still suspended by the low grade spirit swords and couldn''t move, thus letting the disciples have a free shot at him.


    "KILL THEM ALL!" someone shouted as tens of disciples rushed towards the two remaining elders.


    The junior elder watched with despair but couldn''t move at all. He was too stunned to even speak and only let out a sound when seven des were already stuck in his chest.


    Lin Mu watched everything from the side and let the disciples vent their anger.


    He had felt the same rage, or perhaps even greater than that, thus he knew very well how frustrating it was to be unable to deal with it.


    Under the nonstop attacks of the disciples, even the Nascent souls of the elders were destroyed, and they were unable to do anything. And by the time the disciples were done with them, merely a pile of flesh was left behind, unable to be identified as a human corpse.


    ~THUD~ THUD ~THUD~


    Having vented their rage, the disciples copsed to the ground. Some shivered, someughed, some cried, and some simply stared on nkly.


    Lin Mu watched them with a calm face and crushed the Nascent soul that was still in his grasp.


    "They deserve to know the truth, no matter how hurtful it might be¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu decided to give the disciples a little help. His lips moved like the rustling of leaves and a harmonic chant came from them. The chant spread in the area and entered the ears of all, sending them into a calming trance.


    The Calming Heart Sutra started its work and Lin Mu stopped chanting after a minute, finding it enough.


    Knowing that the disciples might take a while toe out of the trance, Lin Mu decided to continue his work. With his cultivation base increase, the effect of the sutras had also increased.


    Additionally, this was Lin Mu''s first time using the Calming heart sutra on others, and even that on weaker cultivators, the strongest of which were barely in the core condensation realm.


    This gave a deep and profound effect, making it a bit hard to estimate how long it would take for them to wake up.


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    Lin Mu dived into the ground and directly went to the Spirit stone mines hidden underneath the peaks. The Ripple mist sect used to have five spirit stone mines, but Gu Yao''s orders for increased mining had basically depleted four of the mines, leaving only one.


    Thankfully, that one was still peak grade spirit stone mines and was good enough for Lin Mu''s use.


    It didn''t take long for Lin Mu to finish stripping it clean and storing it all in the ring. Leaving the mine, he came to stand in the sky above the Ripple Mist sect.


    "There is still the sacrednd of the Ripple Mist sect, isn''t there?" Lin Mu remembered.


    He closed his eyes as spatial perception activated. Opening his eyes, he looked around and saw faint traces of spatial distortions. He knew the old gate was unless to enter the sacred ground as it merely functioned as an exit unless it was the right time for its opening.


    But when Lin Mu saw the right location, his brows furrowed.


    "That¡­ does not seem right." Lin Mu said.


    He could barely make out the section of space that had an entry point to the Sacrednd.


    "It should be manageable at your level. You are far more capable than before, try opening a rift again and focus on joining the edges of the rift to the sect directly. You can use the arrays of the old gate and make them act as a temporary anchor." Xukong advised.

 Chapter 1075 Making A Portal And Entering The Sacred Lands

    At first, Lin Mu was unsure of being able to open the rift all the way to the sacred ground. He had already seenst time that there was a distance between the Xiaofan world and the Sacred ground in the lesser void.


    And since the sacred ground had its own schedule of opening and closing, it would get farther and farther away from the Xiaofan world until it was the time for it to open. It was still several years for it to open again, thus the Sacred ground was quite some distance away.


    But after hearing the words of Senior Xukong, Lin Mu felt a lot more confident and decided to try it. And the suggestion of Senior Xukong was enough to give him a method to do so with better safety, too.


    There was always the issue of anchoring the rift, and usually Lin Mu would just let it float around. This method was rather unstable and the rift would not stay open for long. The world would try to stabilize the space and return it to its normal form as soon as possible.


    The only exception was when a proper formation array or treasure was used to anchor it. Once that was done, the rift would be stable and the world would not consider it an anomaly.


    "Alright, senior. I''ll do that." Lin Mu said.


    He then flew to the ce where the gate of the Sacred ground was located and used his spirit sense to probe it. He quickly found the specific nodes that he needed to use and spent and hour to modify them.


    With his strong spirit sense, the restrictions ced by the Ripple mist sect''s formation masters were nothing.


    It was a strange situation since Lin Mu was not an official formation master yet. While he had indeed learned about formations, he had not taken the formal examination. Lin Mu had wondered if he should ever do it.


    But then Xukong had just told him that it was a waste of time. The certification of a formation master from this world would be useless. Only after Lin Mu was in the immortal realm, would it be better.


    He would have to find the authority in charge of certification in an immortal world to get it. Only then would it be useful and his prestige would increase.


    Of course, this was only if Lin Mu wanted to make use of the certification. Otherwise, there was no issue in him never taking those examinations. He could very well have the skill level of the best formation master in the entire universe and not have a certification.


    As long as he used it for himself, it didn''t matter.


    The certification was more of a thing of convenience. If others needed a formation master for a certain task, it was easier to just look at someone''s certification and know that they were good for the task rather than having to judge them by some other method.


    And it wasn''t just the upation of the formation masters that had such a certification, either. A majority of other upations did too. Though some major ones didn''t, the biggest example being the beast taming upation.


    In the case of beast taming though, it was essentially because it greatly depended on the beast in question too. There were far too many inconsistencies in it, thus it was a big upation that had no certification officially used.


    Other than that, alchemists, tool refiners, weapon forgers all had certification and associations that handled it.


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    Once Lin Mu was done with the gate''s formation array, he began the process of opening the rift.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s see how it goes¡­" Lin Mu took a deep breath and used spatial perception again.


    He then activated the ring and directed it to open a rift. Spirit Qi started to flow into the ring and Lin Mu could tell the drain was greater.


    ''Its far higher than before¡­ opening a proper portal is indeed different.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The ring finally activated, and its power showed its effect.


    ~RIP~


    The air in front of Lin Mu started to tear as a small ck spot appeared. Lin Mu moved his hands and gestured in a widening gesture. The small ck dot was pulled along with Lin Mu''s hand and turned into a long line.


    Done with this, Lin Mu brought his hands together and then spread them wide part.


    ~HONG~


    The space trembled as the ck line started to expand into a window. It continued to expand as Lin Mu continued pouring more and more spirit Qi into the ring. Once it reached a sufficient size, his spirit sense quickly activate the formation array.


    "LINK!"


    ~SHUA~


    The fomentation array lit up as hundreds of thousands of runes spread all around. The Ripple mist sect seemed like it was in a spotlight with the great amount of lighting from it.


    "HAAA!" Lin Mu grunted as he pulled the space forward.


    ~WOONG~


    A humming sound was heard as runes spread from the formation array into the ck window''s edges. The runes were like chains and firmlytched onto the edges of the ck window.


    More runes appeared and strengthened the chains before starting to pull more.


    ~SHUA~


    The ck window started to expand even more, but now its color started to change too!


    From the ck color, it first became grey, then white. The runes continued their work and began the anchoring process. Five minutes passed like this and the white color changed to a scenery instead!


    Like a dense mist parting and revealing the bountiful valley, the sacrednd was revealed and the spatial rift was fully turned into a portal!


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath, feeling a bit exhausted. It wasn''t that his body was tired but rather his mind. This was possibly one of the mostplicated procedures he had ever attempted.


    "I did it¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he saw his handiwork.


    "You did indeed. Good work!" Xukong praised.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and did some more checks to ensure that the portal was all good before deciding to enter.


    ~SHUA~


    It was like he passed through a thick membrane as the portal flicked and bulged. First his hand passed through it, and then his head. Finally the rest of his body entered, and he had sessfully entered the Sacred Grounds of the Ripple Mist sect.


    Lin Mu breathed in the air rich in spirit Qi and could tell that this was actually on the same level as that of the Kong ne.


    "It''s actually a little higher than Kong ne too¡­" Lin Mu estimated.


    Though he also knew that this was only because the Sacred Land of the Ripple mist sect had been closed for a long time and was also smaller in size. With a smaller size, the amount of spirit Qi produced might be less, but the concentration would rise quickly too.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense spread around while he soared into the air, wanting to take a proper look at the Sacred Ground.


    He found himself to be in the middle of a deep valley, with rows of mountains extending in both directions.


    "These are certainly man made." Lin Mu guessed.


    There were various kinds of trees growing in the valley and many spirit beasts roaming around too. Lin Mu sensed several spirit fruits and spirit herbs here too. His spirit sense kept expanding and reached its very limit of hundred kilometers, but even then the sacrednd was not fully revealed.


    "It should be several times that¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    Withdrawing his spirit sense, he changed the direction of search and let it pierce the earth. It quickly burrowed into the soil, and scanned for any spirit stone mines.


    "Nothing here. Time to move." Lin Mu said and flew ahead.


    He picked a random direction and started to search for the spirit stone mines. That was his main goal ining here after all. He also hoped to find them quick, so that he could return quickly as well.


    He didn''t know if Gu Yao might act upon finding about the Ripple Mist sect. There was a chance that he might have found out already. There was no guarantee.


    ''Little Shrubby should be able to handle if anything happens, though.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was one of the reason he had not brought Little Shrubby with him. Then there was also the uncertainty that if something happened to the portal, it would be hard to bring him with him.


    Lin Mu was confident of escaping himself, but bringing another person, or a beast in this case could prove to be difficult. He didn''t want to take that rust and thus thought that it was best for Little Shrubby to stay behind.


    After about an hour, Lin Mu finally found the first spirit stone mine.


    "There we go," Lin Mu said as his eyes locked onto the in ground.


    This spirit stone mine was not beneath a mountain, but rather underneath some ins.


    It was a mid grade spirit stone mine though and wasn''t that big either. But Lin Mu wasn''t going to say no to it. He dived into the ground and only needed half an hour to extract everything he could from it.


    He then moved to find the next and found it after another half an hour. This one was better than before, a peak grade spirit stone mine. But it was hidden within a mountain.


    Knowing that it would take quite a while to excavate, Lin Mu decided to take a different route.


    Lin Mu pulled his fist back as energy swirled within his hand.

 Chapter 1076 Collapsing A Mountain

    Lin Mu''s hand shone in a gold light while dense energy condensed within it. Vital essence and spirit Qi swirled and merged together turning into a pink ribbon filled with great power.


    Once it reached its peak, Lin Mu punched straight down from the top of the mountain!


    "Boulder Copsing First: Third Form- Devastator!"


    Lin Mu had used a greater amount of spirit Qi and vital essence than normal. This was a way for him to test his new limits, as well as see how far the effect would be. After having cultivated the True Gold Body Forging Arts to the peak, Lin Mu had not gotten injured after using Boulder Copsing Fist.


    He was finally in a state where his body could handle it without much problem. But this was when he was using it on the normal level. Lin Mu could adjust the power input of the technique and it would increase the output when it was activated.


    It was the bacsh from that which caused damage, and right now he could handle that. But Lin Mu wondered just what was the new upper limit for it.


    What was the power limit that he could use without getting injured?


    A pink ribbon streaked through the air, letting off energy waves that were like the tides during a storm.


    The ribbon spun in the air and easily drilled into the mountain peak.


    ~RUMBLE~


    For the first couple of second, only a rumbling sound could be heard. The Pink ribbon was like a ming hot poker piercing through a b of butter, having no restrictions.


    But then five secondster, a massive change happened.


    ~KABOOM!!!!~


    The pink ribbon of energy went as far as it could be before finally exploding!


    The explosions rocked the mountain, and cracks spread across it. The upperyer of the mountain directly cracked and fell apart while the internal parts started to shift. The energy wave continued to spread, and the mountain started to crumble.


    ~BOOM!~


    Finally, the structural integrity of the mountain fell, and it copsed like a pile of cards.


    Lin Mu observed his handiwork and nodded in approval.


    "Twenty percent is actually fine¡­" Lin Mu was surprised.


    He looked at his fist and saw no signs of damage. One must know that using twenty percent of his vital essence and spirit Qi was no small amount. It was entirely different from the past twenty percent.


    Compared to the past when Lin Mu first used the Third form of the Boulder copsing first against Gu Yao, the amount of spirit Qi and vital energy he had used now was perhaps enough to execute the same skill over a hundred times.


    The Boulder copsing fist was a skill that scaled with Lin Mu''s cultivation level because its concept was in and simple. While it was crude, it was the perfect skill for Lin Mu, who had a tough physique and arge storage of spirit Qi and vital essence.


    Though this only made Lin Mu wonder about the full extent of the boulder Copsing Fist.


    ''The manual was missing most of its pages, but it did say that boulder copsing fist was merely the first level of the technique, the lowest one. If it can reach this level of power, then what are the other levels like?'' Lin Wu wondered.


    He somewhat knew how the next levels of the skill went as it said to increase the number of energy spirals, but Lin Mu didn''t know how to even attempt that. Even maintaining a single spiral was difficult.


    The three forms he had made were an extraption of the skill and weren''t the true method of using it anyway. Still, it did give Lin Mu further insights into it, and Xukong had told Lin Mu that as long as he continued practicing, cultivating andprehending, he might actually be able to figure out the next level on his own.


    ''Though there is also a chance I might find it in a higher world.'' Lin Mu thought.


    If he really did find it in the higher world, it might make the work really easy for him. Additionally, it wasn''t like it would bring him any trouble either. From the introduction of the technique, it didn''t have any warning that it must not be practiced by anyone else.


    Most sects or experts that made techniques would usually put some warning there if it was only meant for specific people.


    Lin Mu could possibly get some people to look for it in a higher world too. He had read in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal that there were many ces in the higher worlds that held and sold Qi skills and cultivation techniques.


    They even helped people find the ideal technique for them for the right ce. Lin Mu reckoned that since they could do that, they may even be able to find the rest of the Boulder copsing fist.


    And just while Lin Mu was thinking all this, he felt a stream of dense spirit Qiing from below.


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    "Let''s get to work¡­" Lin Mu descended and cleared out all the debris in his way.


    In a minute, the true treasure hidden underneath the mountain was revealed, the spirit stone mine!


    Lin Mu''s attack had shattered the spirit stone veins and made it easier for Lin Mu to store it directly in the ring.


    "This is significantly faster than breaking it, like I was doing it before." Lin Mu took note.


    Lin Mu ended up getting several tons of spirit stones, and also some other rare materials that were found in the spirit stone mines.


    Lin Mu flew up into the sky and held a chunk of spirit stone in his hand. While flying, he absorbed the spirit Qi from the chunk in his hand, restoring all that he had used. His stomach was also restoring the vital essence he had used up and released the massive amounts of vital essence that was stored in it.


    By the time Lin Mu reached the next spirit stone mine, he was in peak condition again!

 Chapter 1077 A Strange Spirit Qi Spring And The Border Of The Sacred Grounds

    <h4>Chapter 1077 A Strange Spirit Qi Spring And The Border Of The Sacred Grounds</h4>


    Lin Mu continued his work for several hours and in 20 hours, he had uprooted and stored five spirit stone mines.


    Of these five, three were peak grade spirit stone mines while two were high grade spirit stone mine. This was a great fortune, and Lin Mu could understand how the Ripple Mist sect became such a top sect.


    "If I recall correctly¡­ even the Long Cloud sect doesn''t have a sacred ground with so many spirit stone mines in them." Lin Mu had heard from Patriarch of the Long Cloud sect, Yi You that they too had a sacred ground.


    But their sacred ground wasn''t the best one. It merely had a single peak grade spirit stone mine hidden in it and two high grade spirit stone mines. Justpared to the Ripple Mist sect, it seemed to be inferior.


    And yet, the Long Cloud sect was ranked higher than the Ripple Mist sect.


    ''I guess just the spirit stones and resources are not enough, the techniques and guidance is too¡­'' Lin Mu could only attribute that to the ranking of the Long Cloud sect.


    Of the top sects, not all of them had sacred ground. For example, the Noon Grass sect, the West Ocean Sect, the Light Harmony sect, didn''t have Sacred grounds. That was also one of the reason why they were ranked at the bottom of the ranking.


    Other than them, all the sects had their own sacred grounds. Though the quality of their sacred grounds was debatable since the urate information about them was unavable. After all, no sect would like to show their secrets like that.


    Seeing the Ripple Mist sect''s sacred ground proved that to Lin Mu.


    "No wonder the Kong ne helped them so much. It is far better than any of their sacred grounds¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself and continued on his way.


    He had traveled nearly a thousand kilometers by now and was nearing the edge of the Sacred ground.


    Lin Mu''s senses could soon feel the end of the sacred ground. This was also where Lin Mu found thest spirit stone mine.


    "This spirit stone mines seems to be rather weak¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He could tell that the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from here were even weaker than that of a low grade spirit stone mine.


    "It might be a newly formed one." Xukong spoke.


    "Perhaps¡­" Lin Mu said as he descended to check.


    This spirit stone mine wasn''t in a mountain, thus he didn''t need to do what he had been doing all along. Rather, it was located within ake!


    Theke wasn''t that big either, being merely a hundred meters wide. But the spirit Qi got saturated in the water, giving rise to some unique effects. All the nts around theke were lush, and the fishes and aquatic beasts living in theke had be vibrant.


    Their scales reflected clearly and a fresh aura could be felt from them, too.


    This was one of the signs of a newly formed spirit stone mine. A mine that was more matures would be more isted and would not leak out this much spirit Qi. It could even be said that a spirit stone mine that leaked spirit Qi was a defective one.


    Descending into the water, Lin Mu scared away the fishes and beasts with just a hint of his aura. The creatures rushed to the edges of theke, scared ofing close to Lin Mu. If they could, they might have already jumped out of the water and ran away.


    Thankfully for them, Lin Mu didn''t stay in theke for long and descend further, entering the ground below it.


    From there, Lin Mu didn''t have to go much deep. Merely three meters from theke bed, he ended up in the spirit stone mine.


    "No wonder¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    In front of him wasn''t actually a spirit stone mine, but rather a spirit Qi spring. Though along with the spirit Qi spring, he could already see clusters of spirit stones condensing at the bottom of the spring.


    "It is indeed a newly formed spirit stone mine." Xukong nodded his head.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense and discovered some unusual things here though.


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    Narrowing his eyes, he moved around and found some strange structural formations.


    "This wall¡­ why does it seem so smooth?" Lin Mu was confused.


    One side of the cave was like a smooth curved wall that went all the way to the top and then met the ceiling. From there, it turned uneven and looked like the natural cave surface, like it should.


    Lin Mu looked at the bottom of the spirit Qi spring, where it connected to the smooth wall, and saw that the number of spirit stones here was higher. In fact, they had condensed enough to form an almost t b of spirit stone.


    Using his spirit sense, Lin Mu scanned sit and discovered that the b of spirit stone actually went deeper into the wall.


    "No, that''s not all. The grade of spirit stone is higher too." Lin Mu noticed.


    The rest of the spirit stones here were low grade ones, but the ones here were mid grade.


    Just as Lin Mu was wondering about the reason for this strange formation, his spirit sense picked up on something else.


    "Spatial fluctuations!" Lin Mu understood.


    "This must have been the ce from where the fragment of the sacred ground was cut off in the past." Xukong guessed.


    "Indeed, senior. This ce must have been part of the mine in the fragment, but was cut off and finally developed into a spirit Qi spring again." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Lin Mu decided to see the edge of the sacred ground himself this time. He wanted to see how the difference in void would be here and hope to learn from it.


    Passing through the walls, he reached an invisible barrier which he crossed with the ring''s help and peered into the Lesser Void.


    But what he saw there stunned him.

 Chapter 1078 A World Fragment

    Lin Mu''s ring had managed to open a rift in the barrier of the Sacred Land. This gave him direct ess to the Lesser void outside and also allowed him to see all that existed beyond it.


    Originally, Xukong only intended for Lin Mu to bask in the sensations of the Lesser void and improve his understanding of the Spatial element. Till before, Xukong knew that Lin Mu needed toprehend what he had on his own.


    Thus, even if he had gotten him to check the void, it would not be useful as his perception would simply not be on that level. It was the same as giving an elementary school student the work of a college student.


    They might be able to read the content, but they would probably not understand anything. It was the same for Lin Mu. Until he learned and digested what he had already been taught, it would not be beneficial for him.


    But now, it was the perfect time.


    Still, Lin Mu ended up encountering something he had not expected at all, and neither had Xukong.


    "Is that¡­" Lin Mu muttered in surprised.


    "It is indeed¡­" Xukong confirmed.


    "The remnant of the Oceanic world¡­" Lin Mu said as he observed therge fragment floating in the lesser void.


    It was bigger than anything he had seen before, and dwarfed the sacrednd, with it being less than 1% its size. It was the same as an antparing itself to a mountain range.


    The fragment was perhaps about a third the size of the entire Xiaofan world and was greatly damaged. A part of it was curved, like it had been broken off from a sphere, and the other side of it was jagged and crooked, with deep valleys that ran across it and a dark abyss the depths of which could not be seen.


    But that was not all, as half of the entire fragment was covered with what looked like ice. It was a bit hard to see in the darkness of the void, but Lin Mu''s spatial perception at least allowed him to see the outline of the world.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense extended and spread into the lesser void, but was unable to reach the fragment of the world. It was simply too far. Itsrge size made it look like it was close, but it was not.


    "What do we do now, senior?" Lin Mu was at a loss for words now.


    He had seen another fragment of the oceanic world in the past, when he was escaping from the broken fragment of the sacred grounds with Jing Luo. But that fragment was certainly smaller than this.


    Another thing was that, Lin Mu could feel strange energy fluctuationsing from the fragment in front of him. He didn''t know what they were, as they were different from anything he had ever felt.


    "Hmm¡­ you now have a few options to choose from here. You can either turn back and return to the Xiaofan world and do what you have been doing till now; you can stay here and ponder on the void, and improve your understanding; or¡­ you can step into the lesser void and go to the world fragment, test out your luck and gain some fortune." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu didn''t answer Senior Xukong right away. Rather, he sat down and thought about it. He stroked his chin as several scenarios went through his mind. He knew very well what the dangers of the lesser void were and also knew how risky it was to enter it directly.


    But at the same time, he also knew the potential treasures that could be hiding in the world fragment. Lin Mu had not only heard about it from senior Xukong but also the Lost Immortal''s memoirs.


    After about ten minutes, Lin Mu made up his mind.


    "I''ve made my decision¡­ if I am to grow strong quickly, I will have to take risks. Without risk and effort, it would be useless to wish for greatness." Lin Mu stated.


    "Very well¡­ you chose well." Xukong was content with Lin Mu''s choice.


    ''If he really finds that there¡­ I might actually be able to do something when that time arrives.'' Xukong thought to himself, as he too looked at the world fragment.


    This time it was different, since Xukong wasn''t looking through Lin Mu''s memories, but rather he was directly peering into the void. His eyes gazed across the empty expanse of the void and went past an unknown amount of distance to gaze at the same scene that Lin Mu was looking at.


    "At least I''ve reached a point where I can observe the void directly with this avatar¡­ but it also means ''that'' will happen soon¡­" Xukong muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu was unaware of Xukong''s thoughts and was preparing himself now. He couldn''t just jump straight into the lesser void and needed to prepare some things.


    He first returned to the sacrednd and raised his hand while the ring hummed slightly.


    ~SHUA~


    Soon, wind started to churn around Lin Mu and was rushing towards the ring on his hand. He stood like this for about ten minutes and only stopped when the surrounding area had basically be a tornado.


    "That should be enough air for a few months." Lin Mu muttered.


    He knew that there wasn''t really much air in the lesser void and it was spread around very lightly. Even if he didn''t need to breathe for several hours after taking a single breath, Lin Mu wasn''t free from breathing entirely.


    He would need to take a breath after some time, eventually. And since he didn''t know how long it will take him to reach the world fragment, he decided to be prepared.


    "If something truly happens, I can always open a rift and leave this ce. Though the location might end up being somece random." Lin Mu thought out loud.


    This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He then checked the area around the rift that he had opened and ensured that there wasn''t any chaotic space that would tear him to shreds.

 Chapter 1079 Entering The Lesser Void

    It took Lin Mu about thirty minutes to prepare everything and once he was done, he stepped into the lesser void freely for the first time.


    ~shua~


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    The air shifted slightly as Lin Mu passed through the rift in the border of the sacrednd. He could feel the difference almost instantly.


    ''The absence of air¡­ is strange. Not having it on my skin is unusual¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was a feeling that he had never felt before. And could not have even imagined in the past, as there was simply no way for him to experience this.


    For a normal human, a near vacuum like this would kill them in less than a minute or two. Even for cultivators, traversing the void was not without danger and they wouldn''tst long without protection.


    But Lin Mu was an entirely different case. Not only did he have an affinity with the spatial element, which would help him avoid the chaotic areas in the lesser void and dodge the pockets of chaotic spatial energy that weremon in the void, but it would also be safe from the cold and the near vacuum of the void.


    Lin Mu''s two techniques, the Mortal Strengthening scripture and the True Gold body forging arts, both provided him great durability and endurance. The armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture prevented his body from directlying in contact with the airless environment of the void while the gold body Lin Mu obtained from the True Gold Body forging arts just made him impervious to most damage.


    Even if didn''t have the armor of the mortal strengthening scripture, he would be fine.


    "The absence of spirit Qi is also unnerving." Lin Mu said after he had traveled a certain distance from the border of the Sacred ground.


    "You will get used to it after a while. Many cultivators can''t adapt to it right away. Some even make the mistake of using their spirit Qi excessively, causing an imbnce in their body." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and flew towards the world fragment. This made him learn another fact.


    "Moving here is so easy!" Lin Mu said in surprise.


    "There is no gravity, nor air resistance here. Even if you don''t use spirit Qi to fly, you will still float around. And if you fly using it, you will fly faster with no air resistance and gravity pulling you down.


    Your spirit Qi consumption will actually be reduced, if you get the grasp of it." Xukong exined.


    Finding this to be rather enlightening, Lin Mu increased his speed of flying. It took him about an hour before he finally got the right output of spirit Qi.


    Usually in the normal world, the way Nascent soul realm experts flew was by pushing and pulling spirit Qi in the air around them at the same time. But in the void, the method would change.


    They would simply need to expel their own spirit Qi to move.


    One might think that this might end up exhausting their spirit Qi more, as they were simply expressing it and not absorbing it. But it was not exactly that, at least not for all.


    For most cultivators, they simply couldn''t absorb the spirit Qi at the same rate at which they were using it to fly. Unless one had a high absorption speed like Lin Mu, something like that was very difficult.


    But in the void, they only needed to expel spirit Qi at certain intervals. As the momentum they gained wouldst for a long time. One could even stop using their spirit Qi after a certain time entirely and they would keep their momentum, moving for a long time.


    As long as they were not interrupted, they would go on for months or even years.


    It was very simr to flying in the space, but the void came with even more dangers.


    Then there was also the fact that the void was far darker than the space. The space, at least had stars and other celestial bodies lighting it up to a certain extent. But the void didn''t have that.


    It did have flickers of spatial energy and other chaotic phenomena from time to time, but it was never enough to illuminate.


    The empty darkness made one feel rather lonely and ufortable.


    Having a strong spirit sense was important when traversing the void, as it would often be the chief way of observing and ''seeing'' things. Without it, one would be truly blind.


    And even if there was light in the void, there were plenty of dangers that were invisible to the eye. Even spirit sense would have a hard time sensing some of them, and there were even a few that were simply imperceivable.


    If one encountered them, they could only me their luck and perish.


    Lin Mu had his spatial perception on fully power and was also using his spirit sense at the full range. He observed every small change that happened in the void and felt the faint flow of the spatial energy.


    It was very hard to sense, and he could only feel it in intervals.


    Spatial energy was a highly refined and condensed form of the spatial Spirit Qi. It was something that couldn''t be used directly by most beings and would need to be processed into spatial Qi first.


    Thus, most people feared it rather than consider it valuable. Spatial energy could kill one without them even knowing, and even immortals and celestials were not safe from it.


    Lin Mu spent several hours in traveling like this andprehended a lot. He felt his understanding of the space increase little by little and his perception improved as well.


    His lone body floated in the void and eventually reached the destination that he had chosen.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes when he felt the faint gravitational pull of the world fragment.


    "Even at a distance this far, the gravity can still affect me?" Lin Mu was surprised to discover this concept.


    He continued on and finally started to descend to the surface of the world fragment.

 Chapter 1080 Traversing The World Fragment

    Lin Mu could feel the gravity getting stronger the closer he got to the world fragment. And by the time he reached the very surface, he was surprised to find out the gravity was far greater than he had thought.


    "It''s nearly double the gravity of Xiaofan world?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise and confusion.


    From the concepts he had learned from senior Xukong, he knew that the greater the mass of an object, the greater the gravity it could produce. But as far as he knew from observing, the world fragment was merely a third of the Xiaofan world''s entire size.


    Thus, it didn''t make sense that the gravity of the world fragment was nearly double.


    Xukong heard Lin Mu''s confusion and spoke, "the density of objects can also affect gravity. Something can have smaller volume but still be great in mass. Just like how gold is heavier than iron."


    Lin Mu understood upon hearing it, but it only made him marvel that much at the world fragment.


    "If it can really produce this much gravity being only a third of Xiaofan world, then doesn''t it meant that this third has the same mass as nearly two Xiaofan worlds?" Lin Mu concluded.


    "Indeed. Though there are other factors that can also affect it. I shall leave it up to you to learn and discover them." Xukong replied.


    "Of course, senior." Lin Mu epted.


    He much preferred learning and exploring things on his own, and wouldn''t have it some other way.


    Having stepped onto the surface of the Xiaofan world, Lin Mu first did some tests. He sensed the spirit Qi in the area and found it to be very sparse. It was barely ten percent of what it was in the Northern Town when he used to live there.


    The air in the surrounding was also non existent, though it did exist.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as the ring released more air from its storage. The air exited it and was trapped within the armor of the mortal strengthening scripture. It was functioning like Lin Mu''s very own space suit.


    The air moved along the surface of his robes and entered his nose. This allowed Lin Mu to breath with no problems. Though he might have some issues of the armor if the mortal strengthening scripture were to break.


    Lin Mu looked around the area and found himself to be on top of an old mountain. He could tell from theyout that this might have been a great underwater mountain range once upon a time.


    There were groves and crevices made on it from water currents constantly eroding it. And this was merely one of the tens of thousands of mountains that dotted the surface of the world fragment.


    "Now then, where do we go now?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He thought over all that he had seen from the distance and was interested in the frozen part of the world fragment. The rest of the area seemed to be barren, but the frozen part had great caps of ice.


    That was also where Lin Mu had felt the strange energying from.


    "Let''s head there then." Lin Mu decided.


    ~step~


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu stomped on the ground and shot forward at a great speed, covering several kilometers within a minute. He would soar across the surface, drawing an arc in the air beforending on the ground and stomping again.


    He had taken a page from Little Shrubby and used this method to move faster. This was actually faster than his peak flying speed. And since he didn''t have Little Shrubby with him here, he needed to depend on himself to traverse thend.


    Lin Mu continued to move while letting his spirit sense scan everything within his range. He also kept on sensing the faint changes in the void and the flow of spatial energy within it.


    Hispression of the spatial element increased bit by bit while he traveled. It might not be the most ideal condition, but it was better than nothing.


    Minutes turned into hours, and hours turned into days.


    By the time Lin Mu reached the icy caps of the World Fragment, it had already been three days.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and felt the gravity increase on his body.


    "This is certainly not normal¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He was safe from the cold but could tell from his spirit sense that the temperature here was actually lower than the coldest ce in the forbidden continent of the Xiaofan world!


    If not for the protective istion of the Mortal Strengthening scripture and his strong body, Lin Mu might have frozen here.


    ''Even Little Shrubby might have been affected by this cold. He might not freeze, but his speed and control of spirit Qi would have certainly fallen.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    There wererge frozen valleys spanning across thousands of kilometer while a dark abyss waited at the bottom of them. It gave one an eerie feeling if they looked at the bottom. It didn''t help that the lesser void itself was very dark and the lighting from Lin Mu was not enough to go farther than a hundred meters.


    A few orbs of fire burned around Lin Mu, illuminating the path for him.


    It wasn''t that he couldn''t just use spirit sense to observe everything, but rather he wanted light so that he could tell the color of things and tell more details that couldn''t be fully understood with just spirit sense.


    Spirit sense basically let him see things in ck and white and didn''t give other details. It was simr to using a sense of touch to chart out one''s environment.


    "Let''s see where that energy ising from¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he sat down to sense it properly.


    After about half an hour, he found and followed the energy waves to its source. Along the way, Lin Mu found the spirit Qi getting denser as well.N?velDrama.Org owns this text.

 Chapter 1081 The Chilly Depths

    Five days had passed since Lin Mu had stepped on to the World Fragment and he had finally gotten close to the location from where the strange energy waves wereing from.


    "Now that''s deep¡­ does this go all the way to the center of this fragment?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but say as he stared into the bottomless abyss that was located in the frozen caps.


    "This might have been a trench in the oceanic world. Possibly the deepest one. Some trenches can go far deeper than the ocean bed and many even go directly into the mantel of the.


    The depths of the trenches are filled with magma and fuming gases directly spewed from the heart of the." Xukong exined.


    "I see¡­ though it has certainly cooled down considerably." Lin Mu said.


    "We have no idea how long this world has been like this. We already saw a smaller fragment of the oceanic world when you left the fragment of the sacred ground with Jing Luo.


    And now there is this one that is third the size of the Xiaofan world. There are no signs of the other fragments in the lesser void and I don''t think you will find one outside the Xiaofan world either." Xukong agreed.


    "What do you think we can find here, Senior? So far, we have found nothing at all." Lin Mu spoke.


    He had hoped to find some treasure or resources, but his luck didn''t seem to favor him. Forget about resource, even the spirit Qi was rare here.


    "Destroyed worlds are always a wild card. One can never know what they will find there. It can all be for naught, or you might find your life''s greatest fortune." Xukong replied.


    "Mmm¡­ at least the spirit Qi concentration is increasing here. Perhaps we''ll have a better chance here." Lin Mu spoke.


    He looked around to see if there was anything of interest on the top first, but didn''t find anything.


    ''Time to go down then, I guess.'' Lin Mu thought and used phase.


    But then¡­


    ~thud~


    "HUH?!" Lin Mu ended up hitting the ground instead of entering it.


    He used phase again and tried to enter the ground, but found it to be hard¡­ like rock.


    "How''s this possible?" Lin Mu was confused.


    This was not the first time he had failed to pass through something with the use of Phase, but that only happened because he was restrained by formation arrays.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and activated his spatial perception. Then using phase again, he observed closely what was happening. And when he finally touched the ground again, he saw it.


    "That strange energy¡­ it can actually prevent the phase from working. It''s like¡­ it is locking down the space itself?" Lin Mu analyzed.


    Xukong who had been observing everything from the ring, couldn''t help but nod his head in approval.


    ''He caught on quickly, that energy isn''t something he can go against on his current level.'' Xukong thorough to himself.


    Lin Mu thought of something before going back to the bottomless abyss. He raised his fist and punched down.


    ~BOOM~


    ~CRACK~ CRACK~


    A three meter deep crater was formed in the ground, while cracks spread in the icy cier around him from the impact.


    "The ground is not that tough and can still be broken. It should be fine, then." Lin Mu made up his mind.


    Taking a step into the bottomless abyss, he let his body fall.


    With barely any air in the surroundings, Lin Mu''s body silently fell into the darkness.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense was observing everything around him as he continued to fall. His speed continued to increase until it reached a terminal velocity and wouldn''t increase anymore.


    In the darkness, Lin Mu found the time to be slow. Or rather, it was just his perceptive that had made it seem like that. He didn''t know how much time passed, before he finally found something.


    ~HUMM~


    A faint humming sound could be heard, which was rather striking in the silent darkness.


    "What''s that?" Lin Mu''s spirit sense picked up on a harsh chilling from a particr spot.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu stopped his fall and flew to the spot from where the chill seemed to being from. The closer he got, the lesser the temperature was. It actually reached a temperature even lower than what was on the surface.


    When Lin Mu had entered the abyss, the temperature had actually increased a bit, but then fell when he reached this ce.


    ~HUA~


    Lin Mu ignited several orbs of fire again and observed what looked like a sheet of blue ss on the wall of the abyss. He ced his hand on it and felt the chill prating the armor of the mortal strengthening scripture.


    "Oh? It can actually go through it?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Though he also found the chill to be a bit familiar at the same time.


    "Let''s see what we got here." Lin Mu said before punching out.


    ~BOOM~


    ~KACHA~


    The blue ss like surface cracked instantly and a gaping cave was revealed.


    ~WHOOSH~


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    The shattering of the wall seemed to have caused the air inside the cave to rush out, as Lin Mu felt the chilly air frosting up the armor of the mortal strengthening scripture.


    Taking a step into the cave, Lin Mu came across what looked like an icy abode. It certainly didn''t look to be made naturally, as there were signs of manual erosion on it.


    Lin Mu observed the frozen walls closely and saw the marks in the rocks behind it that seemed to be made by some kind of an appendage.


    "This was certainly carved out by something¡­ somethingrge." Lin Mu guessed,


    The carving marks were covered with a translucentyer of ice, thus made it hard to see, but after breaking some of the ice, Lin Mu could take a better look.


    "It''s certainly made by some creature. It is not man made either." Lin Mu concluded.


    He continued onwards into the depths of the cave, until finally he came across arge blue object.


    "Isn''t this¡­"

 Chapter 1082 A Glacial Shell Snail Queen

    In front of Lin Muid a rather famr object. It was pale white in color and had glowing blue lines that went along the spiral on its body.


    "Isn''t this the¡­ cial Snail Shell?" Lin Mu recognized.


    Lin Mu had found another snail shell such as this back in the Kong ne. But that was much smaller and was in the depths of an icy coldke. Which now that he thought of it, had simr characteristics to this.


    Just to be sure, Lin Mu pulled out the small cial snail shell and took a look at it.


    "Now I''m sure¡­ they are the same." Lin Mu confirmed.


    Though therge shell in front of him was many times bigger than the one in his hand. The shell was almost like a small hill and was about thirty meters tall. It was perhaps the biggest one he had ever seen.


    Additionally, the chill that was emanating from this shell was many times colder than the shell in his hand. It was also constant, unlike the intermittent chill of the shell in his hand.


    "So this ce was really a cier that has existed for a long time. Perhaps when this world was still intact because, if I recall correctly, cial Shell snails live underneathrge ciers. And this is certainly one." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    "You are correct. It seems like this might be the reason why this ce is still frozen, unlike the rest of the world fragment." Xukong spoke.


    "Mmhmm¡­ though it makes me wonder just how did this snail get so big?" Lin Mu questioned. "Do they increase in size as their cultivation bases grow too?" he wondered.


    "That''s right. Though this one is a little toorge for a normal cial Shell Snail even for a high cultivation base." Xukong replied. "Hmm¡­ I think we might havee across a cial Shell Snail Queen."


    "Oh? So it''s their leader?" Lin Mu said.


    "Rather¡­ their mother. Though it can also be termed as their leader I suppose. The cial Shell Snail''s are born from a single queen as itys millions of eggs at once. A single cial Snail Queen can potentially control an entire pr ice cap of a world." Xukong exined.


    "Whoa¡­ if it can do this then its cultivation base might also be high right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. A queen of this size should be¡­ at the peak of Immortal Ascension realm perhaps." Xukong answered, shocking Lin Mu.


    "This¡­ this is a peak Immortal Ascension realm being?!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    He had not expected to see that today. Even if it might just be the remains of one.


    "It''s strange to see a being that strong dead¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He approached the shell and probed it with his spirit sense. Even his spirit sense felt cold upon getting closer to the shell and he could also feel a pressure from it. Lin Mu''s spirit sense reached the shell and touched it before passing into it.


    But when it did, Lin Mu was surprised.


    "ITS NOT JUST A SHELL!" Lin Mu eximed.


    Xukong was a bit surprised too and checked what Lin Mu saw.


    This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Oh? It actually has all its flesh intact¡­ or rather, frozen." Xukong saw. "The unique characteristics of the cial Shell Snail have prevented the flesh from ever dposing." He analyzed.


    Lin Mu knew that a find like this was absolutely unique anding to the world fragment was the right choice.


    "It''s a shame that I can''t use it though." Lin Mu said, recalling that the cial Shell Snail was a beast of the Extreme Yin water attribute and wasn''t good for his body.


    "No¡­ you can use it." Xukong said, surprising Lin Mu.


    "What? How?" Lin Mu asked hurriedly. "Like¡­ won''t it harm me?"


    "The Extreme Yin Water element is mostly in the Shell. I said that because you only had the shell back then. But in this case¡­ there is the flesh too. You can consume the flesh. It doesn''t have the same level of Dao Traces in it, so should be fine for you." Xukong replied. "Additionally, your body has gotten stronger than before too." He added.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu''s eyes lit up, and he knew exactly what he should use it for.


    "Can I use it for further refinement of the body?" Lin Mu asked with great hope.


    "Hmm¡­ you can indeed use it. The shell would have been too vtile, but the flesh should be fine. If you''re prudent with it, you might be able to use the energy in the flesh and refine your fourth treasured organ. You won''t even need a technique for it since the energy in the flesh is already refined by the beast." Xukong said after analyzing all factors.


    "GREAT!" Lin Mu said excitedly. "Just this alone is worth the entire trip!"


    With how big the cial Shell Snail queen was, Lin Mu was sure that the energy within it would be enough to give him a good push. He was already at the Shellpletion stage of the Dao Shell realm and was spending his time in expanding the shell since he had a while to from his Dao embryo.


    Lin Mu''s goal was to expand his shell till heprehended enough to form a Dao Embryo that could be of any form. Lin Mu didn''t aim for anything particr but was guessing that it would be either rted to the Sword Dao or the Earth Dao.


    As long as one was formed, he would be able to progress to the Dao Treading Realm. And that would allow him to grow stronger and kill all his enemies that he did not want to exist anymore.


    But for a Dao Embryo to form, it would take a while and Lin Mu didn''t know just how long that would be. Instead of just waiting for that, if he could further his Five Treasures Realm cultivation, Lin Mu would greatly like that.


    After all, it would be a concrete increase in his strength.


    Lin Mu walked forward and ced his hand on the cial Shell Snail queen.


    ~KACHA~


    But as soon as he did, he found the armor of the mortal strengthening scripture shattering in a moment.


    "What the!?" Lin Mu was stunned and pulled his hand back immediately.


    "Dead or not, that is still the remains of a peak Immortal Ascension realm being. Even if its Nascent soul has dissipated by now, the powers hidden within its body are more than enough to harm you.


    You will have to suffer a bit to store it." Xukong chimed in.


    "Of course¡­ but this much damage is fine. I''ve dealt with worse." Lin Mu said with a firm voice.


    He ced his hand back on the shell and felt it losing heat. Even with the protection of his metallic skin and flesh, he still felt the chill permeating his body. Frost had already condensed on his hand and was climbing up his hand the longer he ced it on the Shell.


    "Let''s get this over with." Lin Mu said as he triggered the ring to store the shell.


    This actually took him quite some effort, as there was some resistance from the remains. It was almost like it was alive, but Lin Mu knew it was the Dao Traces that were making it difficult


    It was a bit simr to when he had held the Remnant Dao Crystal that he had given to Xiaobao. There was a simr resistance back then too. But this one was much stronger.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu exerted more power and finally stored the entire cial Snail Shell Queen into the ring.


    "HAA¡­ Haaa¡­ Haaa¡­" Lin Mu exhaled and let out big clouds of fog.


    "That was far more exhausting than I ever expected¡­" Lin Mu said, finding that he had exhausted nearly thirty percent of his entire spirit Qi stores from his Dantian.


    The ring had sucked it all up in less than a few seconds. Which only proved just howplex this task was.


    "Normally you shouldn''t even be able to touch a being of that level, so some price is to be expected. Even with the power of that ring." Xukong spoke.


    "Yeah¡­ at least we now have it." Lin Mu replied with a smile.


    But a few secondster, his smile turned still and his brows furrowed.


    "Hang on¡­ that strange energy.. The waves are still present." Lin Mu said, after sensing.


    He closed his eyes and checked again, finding that the Energy waves were actuallying from deeper in the abyss.


    "It was actually not from the cial Shell Snail?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    He had fully expected that them to being from the snail as the energy waves were indeed stronger here. But after storing it away, he could tell more wavesing from deeper.


    "The shell was probably concentrating the energy waves and passively absorbing them. Making it seem like they wereing from here." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and left the cave, entering the abyss again.


    "Looks like our journey has not ended yet." Lin Mu muttered before plunging into the darkness again.


    He didn''t know what waited for him in the depths, but was looking toward to it.


    Minutes passed by and Lin Mu kept on falling.


    Eventually, he felt like the surroundings had started to widen as he didn''t feel any walls in the range of his spirit sense.


    And about a minuteter, Lin Mu finally felt solid ground underneath him!

 Chapter 1083 A World Essence Crystal

    Lin Mu could feel the feel the uneven ground underneath him, but at the same time felt like something was different.


    ~step~


    And when he took a step, he knew exactly what was different.


    "Why is the gravity so weak here?" Lin Mu was confused as he found his body floating after his attest of taking a step.


    This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He looked around and couldn''t find anything within the range of his vision or his spirit sense. Picking a random direction, Lin Mu started to walk.


    He ended up walking for about ten minutes before he realized that there was no obstacle in his path.


    "Is this a cave? There are no walls that attached to the path up there." Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    His spirit sense could barely touch the ceiling of the underground are but not its borders. It made Lin Mu think that it might really be arge cave since even his spirit sense with a range of nearly hundred kilometer couldn''t measure it.


    Lin Mu walked for about an hour before he felt the energy waves getting stronger.


    ''They''ve gotten at least thrice as strong as before. Whatever they areing from must be near.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    And surely, the very next minute, a structure appeared within the range of his sense. Getting closer to it, Lin Mu discovered that it was actually a spike of some kind.


    "Is this a stgmite?" Lin Mu observed it with his spirit sense and estimated the texture to be simr to that.


    But at the very top of the spike, he found it to be a different material. It was far more smoother and could also repel his spirit sense. No matter how much he tried, it just wouldn''t reach the top.


    ''Now that''s interesting.'' Lin Mu thought as he approached the structure.


    And when the illumination of the me orbs spread to it, he finally witnessed what it was.


    It was a beautiful crystal the size of a thumb. Under the light of the me, it reflected a polychromatic light, making it seem as if there was a rainbow hidden within it. It was perhaps the most beautiful thing that Lin Mu had ever seen.


    "Whoa¡­" Lin Mu couldn''t help but exim.


    He brought his hands forwards and carefully touched the crystal, finding it to be slightly warm to the touch. Though it was only warmpared to the surrounding temperature that was easily below freezing.


    ~HUMM~


    And when Lin Mu touched it, he found the ring on his right middle finger trembling. It was the strongest reaction he had felt from it in a while, making him alert.


    "Huh¡­ just what is it?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He could tell that the ring wasn''t humming as a danger warning or as a desire. But rather as if to tell him that it was something powerful.


    "Looks like you really found it." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu knew that Senior Xukong had an idea of what it was.


    "What is it senior? It doesn''t match anything that I''ve read or heard of till now. And the energying from is is different too." Lin Mu asked.


    "It is not something I''ve told you about before, since it was not the right time. And I didn''t want you to think about it too much either, which I was sure you would do if you ever heard about it." Xukong replied, surprising Lin Mu even more.


    "What you hold there¡­ is a World Essence Crystal." Xukong finally revealed.


    The name sounded rather grand to Lin Mu and also expressed some meaning, but still wasn''t enough for Lin Mu''s curiosity.


    "What is it''s use senior? Can I use it to increase my cultivation?" Lin Mu questioned excitedly.


    "A World Essence Crystal is something that is formed when a world with life dies or is destroyed. It takes many years for it to from after its destruction, and it can be said to be a priceless object.


    No matter the cultivation base of a person in this universe, all of them will desire it if they know its uses.


    But ironically, it is not something that can increase their cultivation base.


    What it can do is¡­ much more frightening¡­" Xukong said and took a pause, leaving Lin Mu itching to know more.


    "On its own, a World Essence crystal can modify the restrictions of a world, empower a world, and allow one to move between realms.


    Other than this, it is can also be used in countless things, from refining spirit tools, spirit weapons, formation arrays, and a lot more." Xukong exined.


    Hearing it all, Lin Mu could easily tell just how valuable such a thing was. He couldn''t even imagine just what kind of weapons and spirit tools could be made from it, not to mention the formation arrays.


    Lin Mu might have been told the uses of the World Essence crystal, but the intrinsic properties of it would need to be learned separately.


    Though the immediate use of the World Essence Crystal was already enough for Lin Mu to think about a few options.


    "Can this¡­ be used for me to leave the Xiaofan world?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Easily. Just that alone will be enough to send you across the Grand Void and into a different realm." Xukong answered.


    "Then¡­ isn''t this basically a direct way to ascend?" Lin Mu felt himself tremble.


    "Indeed. One doesn''t need to reach the Immortal Ascension realm to move to the Immortal Realm." Xukong confirmed.


    Upon hearing it, Lin Mu almost felt like the small world essence rattly in his hand and turned into a heavy mountain. It wasn''t its weight actually increasing, but the value within Lin Mu''s mind increasing exponentially.


    "Keep it for now. It shall be a great trump card for you." Xukong ordered.


    "Y-yes, senior!" Lin Mu hurriedly stored it in the ring, afraid that it might just run away or disappear.


    He wasn''t fully sure it could do that either, with all the miraculous abilities it had!


    With the World Essence crystal safely tucked away in the ring, Lin Mu took a breath of relief.

 Chapter 1084 Leaving The Lesser Void

    Gaining the World Essence Crystal was sufficient for Lin Mu and he felt like he needed to return to the Xiaofan world. He didn''t know what would have happened in the time that had passed.


    It had already been over two weeks since he had left it, after all.


    ''Those disciples should be fine though¡­ I think.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he flew back up from the hole in the roof that he hade through.


    His little search in the cave had told him that the entire ce had no walls at all. Also it wasn''t that wide either, being about two hundred meters in radius. That''s right¡­ the entire ce was actually a sphere and floated within the cave.


    If Lin Mu went down, he would hit the ceiling and if he continued on from there, he mighte out from the jagged part of the world fragment rather than the icy caps.


    It didn''t take him that long to exit the abyss either, as he was only slow before because he was searching for things. But now that he was done, he could fly back at his maximum speed.


    Soon he had left the abyss and was in the icy cier again.


    "Sure enough, the strange energy has nearly dissipated now." Lin Mu said after sensing the faintness of the World Essence Crystal''s energy.


    "You should remember that energy signature and brand it in your mind. Because¡­ if you sense it anywhere else, you should run away at the earliest. It would most likely mean danger." Xukong stated.


    "I shall senior." Lin Mu replied, knowing exactly what Xukong was implying.


    The only way he would ever feel the energy signature like this again was if he went to a destroyed world, or¡­ if there was someone else with it. The first option might have dangers, but it was still fine. But the second option meant that Lin Mu was on a normal world and there was someone with a world essence crystal.


    A world essence crystal that they could use in a myriad of ways that could easily kill him.


    And Lin Mu certainly didn''t want that. No matter how tempting a world essence crystal might be, it would only be so in his own hands. In others'' hands, it would only be a potential weapon.


    Putting away these thoughts for now, Lin Mu flew straight up from the cier and directly exited the world fragment.


    "Can I leave the Xiaofan world like this too?" Lin Mu asked.


    "An Immortal Ascension realm cultivator might have been able to if there was no barrier. But with that barrier there, no one can." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ though since I''ll most probably ascend, it shouldn''t be needed." Lin Mu muttered.


    An immortal Ascension realm cultivator might be able to leave their world, but doing that was far more dangerous than just waiting to ascend. There was nock of such cultivators who had died from it.


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    There were countless dangers awaiting one once they left the embrace of their home world.


    One of the most basic problems one would face is theck of air and spirit Qi.


    Even if an immortal ascension realm cultivator might hold their breath for a long time, perhaps even over a year and more, with the help of specialized spirit tools, they will still run out of spirit Qi after a certain point.


    One must know that the worlds weren''t exactly close to each other. While one might be able to spot one closely, it would still be such a distance away that reaching it would take years.


    Then there was the fact that even if an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator left their home world¡­ or, they would still be in the same realm of existence. The true goal behind ascension was to reach the Immortal realm within many immortal worlds existed.


    It was only these worlds that would allow the existence of an immortal realm expert after all.


    Lin Mu continued to get farther and farther from the World Fragment and could feel the hold of gravity on his body disappearing. After about an hour, it waspletely gone and he was left to the expanse of the Lesser void.


    Feeling the slightly familiar flow of the void, Lin Mu felt strangely calm.


    Aiming toward the sacrednd of the Ripple Mist sect, Lin Mu closed his eyes and shot forward!


    He continued to sense andprehend the spatial element and based in the void. Time passed without a notice and Lin Mu entered a state of deepprehension.


    Lin Mu didn''t even realize when he had already reached the border of the Sacred Land.


    "Huh?" Bumping into the barrier woke him up and made him aware that he had covered the long journey.


    "That was fast¡­" Lin Mu muttered, not knowing it if was true or not.


    For now, he just decided to leave it. He opened another rift into the barrier of the sacrednd as he couldn''t find the old one.


    "It closed just like I had expected." Lin Mu said as he passed through the rift.


    ~HUU~


    Breathing in fresh air, Lin Mu felt a bit surreal.


    It was his first time leaving the Xiaofan world, thus it would be a memory he would never forget.


    "Time to return." Lin Mu said as he directly opened up a portal.


    With him being in the sacrednd itself, Lin Mu could return to the Xiaofan world from any point, as he could simply utilize its formation array to reject him and send him to the teleportation gate directly.


    ~SHUA~


    And sure enough, once the portal was opened, the sacrednds'' formation array directly expelled him out to the gate.


    ~thud~


    Lin Mu''s bodynded on the ground and made a little impact, but didn''t break it entirely since the gate''s floor was made out of a tougher material than normal rock.


    "I''m back Xiaofan world¡­" Lin Mu lightly said and spread his spirit sense across the sect, wanting to know what had happened.

 Chapter 1085 The Surviving Disciples Of The Ripple Mist Sect

    The first thing that Lin Mu ended up noticing was that there were actually people near the teleportation gate.


    "The disciples are awake, huh¡­" Lin Mu recognized.


    He was a bit surprised that they had not left the sect though, as he was sure that after seeing all that had happened, they would want to leave the ce as soon as possible.


    "Let''s see what they are up to then," Lin Mu said as he flew towards them.


    The disciples had been sitting around what looked like a bonfire right now. It was nighttime and there was a chill in the air. Lin Mu''s earlier actions had broken most of the formation arrays of the sect and thus they couldn''t even use the basic illumination formations that usually kept the sect lit up and warm.


    The disciples could only gather up and sit like this for now. Their faces were also filled with confusion and they were certainly looking lost.


    ~shua~


    A breeze could be felt by the disciples, prompting them to look.


    "Look! It''s the senior!" The disciples quickly recognized.


    Lin Munded and saw the disciples all standing up.


    "Why are you all still here? This ce is not safe." Lin Mu asked.


    He had hoped that they were smart enough to at least tell this much.


    "W-we know, senior. But¡­ we have no ce to go." One of the disciples spoke.


    "After we woke up, we read up on some of the documents the elders had hidden away and learned what has been happening in detail. But that is also why we didn''t dare to leave, as we were sure that there would be Gu Legion members ready to catch us if we went anywhere." The female Disciple who had lost her Dao Companion spoke.


    "Yeah, and we didn''t think that going to the Long Cloud alliance was an option either. We would be attacked there, too. And we will have no way to prove our innocence." Another disciple added.


    Hearing their words, Lin Mu understood that he had mistaken some of their concerns earlier.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu thought over and wondered what would be the best course of action here.


    He himself was busy and didn''t have the time to babysit them. And he didn''t think the disciples would be able to take a long journey on their own either, with how the situation of the continent was now.


    "If you all want a safe space, you should head to the Fenlong Kingdom." Lin Mu said before taking out a metal te from his ring.


    The te was in and had nothing on it, looking like amon iron te that would be used in making armor and forging other things. Lin Mu held the te in one hand and used the finger of other to directly carve a character on it.


    ~SCREECH~


    The metal let out a high pitched sound as it was scratched easily with Lin Mu''s finger, surprising the disciples with the ease with which he was doing it. A few secondster, he was done carving and the character wasplete.


    "Take this." Lin Mu gave the metal te with the character carved into it to a disciple near him.


    "Ordained?" The disciple read the character.


    "Show this to the people at the border and tell them Lin Mu sent you." He instructed.


    Some of the disciples were a bit hesitant and wondered if this would really work out or not.


    "We shall do as you say, senior. You''ve already saved our lives and given us a chance to avenge ourselves. We shall be forever in your debt." The disciples said, trusting Lin Mu.


    "Go on now. Getting to Fenlong kingdom from here shouldn''t take more than a few days. And if you all fly, it should be even quick. Just try to avoid the Mountain Brush Sect. They are involved in the Zither wind alliance too and might trouble you if youe across them." Lin Mu directed.


    "Alright, senior." The disciples said while cupping their hands.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to leave too, he had a lot of things to do and had to hurry.


    He closed his eyes for a second and called for Little Shrubby.


    ~ROAR~


    A minuteter, a low roar was hearding from the distance.


    "WHAT WAS THAT!?" The disciples who heard it were startled.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then a few secondster, a red blur was seen approaching from the horizon. Under the stunned eyes of the disciples, a beastrger than anything they had ever seen appeared. Red mes illuminated the majestic beast as its deep eyes nced over them.


    "Where did you go, master? I couldn''t feel you for a few days." Little Shrubby spoke through the link.


    "I had to go to a ce where our link might have gotten weak. It is fine now, though." Lin Mu replied. "Was there a problem while I was gone?" he asked, wondering if it really was like that.


    "Ah, I wanted to ask what to do with a few people that tried to enter the sect. I couldn''t contact you so I just killed them like you asked." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Killed them? Who exactly?" Lin Mu asked as his brows furrowed.


    He knew that he had instructed Little Shrubby to prevent anyoneing close, but didn''t know who might exactly try that.


    "I kept all the corpses. Let me show you." Little Shrubby said.


    Then, under the shocked eyes of all the disciples, a hill of corpses started pouring out of Little Shrubby''s storage belt.


    "Those are Mountain Brush Sect elders!" A few Ripple Mist sect disciples recognized.


    "HEAVENS! THAT''S THE PATRIARCH!" Someone pointed at a head that was missing a body.


    Lin Mu was surprised hearing that and looked at the bloodied head that had a scared expression frozen on it. Its eyes were still open, and if one looked in them, one could tell that the person had seen the greatest terror of their lives.This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1086 Little Shrubby Eradicated A Sect Too?

    <h4>Chapter 1086 Little Shrubby Eradicated A Sect Too?</h4>


    Lin Mu was not expecting to see what was basically the entirety of the Mountain Brush Sect''s leadership piled into a dead hill here.


    "What exactly did happen?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Little Shrubby then went on to exin how soon after Lin Mu entered the sect, he saw a few suspicious people leaving the sect. Little Shrubby followed them and saw them meet up with a few Gu Legion people.


    And as he was asked before, he killed them.


    But upon killing them, a certain message was sent out and it called forth more Gu Legion members, one after the other. First came the weaker members, and a few hours after Little Shrubby killed them more of them came.


    Little Shrubby killed them too and got some peace for a bit.


    He was cooking when Gu Legion members with higher cultivation tried to sneak attack and ended up spilling the pot of stew that he was cooking.


    Then in a fit of rage, Little Shrubby killed them all and followed their scent all the way to a certain location. He then broke through a barrier which let him inside a sect.


    All the people of the sect were alerted and attacked him in response, and Little Shrubby reacted simrly.


    But he also found the scent of those that were controlled by the Human Controlling Blood curse and those with the muddied Nascent souls here.


    Following the orders that Lin Mu had given, little Shrubby killed all that came after him and only left those that didn''t have the scent of the pills of grace and Human Controlling Blood curse on them.


    Lin Mu was stunned hearing it all and was at a loss for words.


    "So you eliminated the entire Mountain Brush sect on your own?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Yup. I also got some things from them. Oh, and I kept their storage treasures, you can open them, I was unable to." Little Shrubby replied causally.


    Lin Mu didn''t know what to say to it. He knew that what Little Shrubby was ultimately good, but the entire event was greatly unexpected for him.


    The disciples of the Ripple Mist sect who watched it all but were unable to understand their conversation were sitting there confused.


    To them, Lin Mu spoke some words, and Little Shrubby would respond with a growl.


    It was very unusual for them and they could only keep their mouth shut. They felt that if they interfered, it might not end well. Not to mention that Little Shrubby along was quite intimidating to them.


    And the pile of corpses didn''t help either.


    ''That beast kill the patriarch of the Mountain Brush Sect? Damn¡­ it must be at least at the Dao shell realm.'' They thought.


    Having heard it all, though, Lin Mu came upon another issue.


    "When you left the Mountain brush sect, were there still people alive?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, the ones that didn''t have the scent were still alive. They were all too weak though." Little Shrubby answered.


    "So the disciples are alone too¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He knew that leaving them alone would not be good either.


    ''Since Little Shrubby found simr aura and scent like the Ripple Mist sect there, the elders were definitely doing the same to the disciples there. They are victims too and now alone.; Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He then looked at the disciples of the Ripple Mist sect and got an idea.


    "All of you shall have a change of path." Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "What senior?" the disciples were confused.


    "The disciples of the Mountain brush Sect are victims of the same thing as you. Their sect elders were doing the same to them and now they are alone in the sect. I want you all to go to them and take them to the Fenlong kingdom with you." Lin Mu instructed.


    "What?! It happened there too?" The disciples were stunned.


    "Not just there, I think it might be for all the sects that are in the Zither Wind Alliance." Lin Mu stated.


    He had a hunch that it was exactly why Gu Yao was able to make ten Dao Treading Realm experts in a short amount of time. By upgrading from beasts to humans, he had sped up the process of making the pills of grace, as they were far morepatible than the beasts.


    The disciples whispered amongst each other and agreed to Lin Mu''s words.


    "We shall do as youmand, senior. If others have suffered like this, then they should learn the truth too." A disciple that was taking the role of a leader for the Ripple Mist sect disciples spoke.


    "Very well. Go on now," Lin Mu said before tossing them a spatial storage treasure. "Also take this. It will help you with the journey." He added.


    The disciple quickly caught it and checked what the spatial storage treasure held. Seeing many spirit stones and pills inside, he was stunned.


    "THANK YOU SENIOR!" The disciples quickly bowed his head.


    "THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP SENIOR!" The other disciples joined in ceremony.


    Lin Mu nodded in response before taking his leave.


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    Flying up, he climbed onto Little Shrubby''s back, and the two of them disappeared over the horizon.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Only a gust of wind was left behind upon their departure.


    The disciples stood there looking a bit dazed, thinking as if it was all a dream.


    "Where do we go now, master?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Hmm¡­ we need to cultivate more. I got a lot of resources." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay!~" Little Shrubby replied, feeling happy.


    Little Shrubby changed his direction and went towards the south. Their intended destination the Zither Wind sect. Lin Mu wanted to collect some information before he entered the seclusion and also wanted to be near the Zither wind sect as it would be his next target.


    He hoped to be strong enough to oppose the fourth strongest sect of the Great Zhou Continent on his own.


    It was a tall order, and he needed to be prepared.

 Chapter 1087 Pleasant News

    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby traveled for a while and using his spirit sense Lin Mu got all the information he got, which made him feel surprised and content.


    "The Gu Legion actually retreated?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    From all the information he had picked up, apparently the Long Cloud alliance was on the forward and the Zither Wind Alliance had been dealt a great blow. Not only that, but the top three sects were no longer being ignorant either.


    They too, had dered that the actions of the Zither Wind alliance were far from righteous and needed to be stopped. The fall of the West Ocean sect was viewed as an event of warning.


    To the three sects, the one who had done this was possibly an expert who had taken things into his own hands after having witnessed the atrocities.


    In addition to this, Lin Mu also learned that the fall of the Ripple Mist sect was not discovered yet. Though it would soon be known as the Top three sects were going to send their representatives to the Zither Wind alliance and all of its sects soon.


    Several sanctions were also going to be put down against them.


    "Huh¡­ The Gu Legion ended up messing up on their own with their restriction of information. No wonder the rest of the world doest know that the Ripple Mist sect is gone too, despite the fact it has been over two weeks now." Lin Mu chuckled.


    But while this came as a slight relief to Lin Mu, he was not going to stop his work. He no longer wanted to take any chances and was not going to leave it to fate. He would fully do what he had set out to.


    Lin Mu looked at the jade slip for a few seconds before putting it away.


    ~Sigh~


    He didn''t know if he could face his friends right now. What he had done was not entirely correct, but he knew it was necessary.


    ''I''ll finish my mission and then face them¡­ if I talk to them right now, I will only waver,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby continued to fly and soon reached a certain mountain about three hundred kilometers from the Zither Wind Sect.


    "Here we are¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he gazed into the distance.


    The Zither Wind sect was not visible from here, but Lin Mu could sense the faint spirit Qi fluctuationsing from arge formation array.


    The mountain that Lin Mu was currently standing above was actually an old outpost that the Hei Corps used to stay in. It had been abandoned for a long time, but Lin Mu still knew about it since Wu Hei had given him a list of them in the past.


    And now it was finallying in handy.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense spread all over the mountain and revealed all that was hidden in it. The entrance of the outpost was long since blocked and could not be essed normally. It was located midway to the top of the mountain and was now covered with a meter thickyer of soil.


    Lin Mu could see signs of a mudslide as there were fallen trees and rocks half buried in the ground. It was certain that thisnd slide had urred a long time ago as the soil that had shifted was already covered with nts and trees.


    "There should be a rocky cliff here¡­" Lin Mu flew to the side of the mountain.


    "There it is." Lin Mu spotted the cliff that he was looking for.


    It was high up on the mountain and from it several tree roots hung, making it hard to spot. Walking up to it, Lin Mu waved his hand and sent the short sword flying.


    ~SHING~


    Arge entrance was carved out on the cliff, revealing the outpost that was hidden inside.


    This was the backside of the outpost, and since the old entrance was no longer essible, Lin Mu decided to make a new one. Additionally, it faced the direction where the Zither Wind sect was and would allow him to spot anything that happened there.


    The roots of the trees hanging from the cliff hit the entrance that had been made and still looked natural.


    "Come on Little Shrubby, we got a lot to do." Lin Mu said as he flew in.


    Little Shrubby shrunk in size and returned to his kitten form as his entire body couldn''t fit through the entrance, even if it wasrge.


    Lin Mu nced at the dusty interiors of the outpost and saw the haphazardly scattered furniture and other objects. Many of which were rather damaged.


    Furrowing his brows, Lin Mu pped his hands.


    ~CLAP~


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    ~WHOOSH~


    His p generated a strong wind, that swept away all the dust and broken objects directly out of the entrance.


    "There, that''s a lot better." Lin Mu said before he took out all the things he had gotten.


    It took him a year to sort through all the spoils before he reckoned he knew what to do now.


    Lin Mu threw out a few formation gs and set up an isting formation array, preventing any spirit Qi waves from spreading out of this mountain.


    ''Jing Luo''s notes are reallying in handy.'' Lin Mu thought as he finished setting up the formation array.


    "What do we do now?" Little Shrubby asked.


    He had already returned to his full size, as there was plenty of space inside.


    "Now we cultivate." Lin Mu said. "Preferably till we have another breakthrough¡­" he added.


    "YES! We''ll be the strongest ever!" Little Shrubby said excitedly.


    He too liked getting stronger, and it was an instinctive feeling he got. The desire to get stronger was directly born from his bloodline and the stronger he got, the better he felt.


    "Indeed¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head and took out massive amounts of spirit stones and filled the entire outpost with them.


    In just a few minutes, the outpost was filled with dense spirit Qi that had turned into mist.

 Chapter 1088 Cooking And Refining The Glacial Shell Snail Queen

    The misty Spirit Qi swirled in the outpost hidden in the mountain.


    The Dao Shell''s of Little Shrubby floated in the air and continued to absorb the spirit Qi, expanding its size little by little. Despite the rapid absorption, the quantity of spirit Qi showed no signs of reducing.


    There were after all, peak grade, and high grade spirit stones filling this ce. It would take a while before they would even show any signs of depletion.


    While Little Shrubby was cultivating, Lin Mu was doing something else.


    ~DENG~


    ~phew~


    "That was far more tiring than I expected." Lin Mu said as he finished separating out all the flesh from the cial Shell Snail queen.


    Since the flesh was entirely frozen and solid, it took a while for Lin Mu to extract it. Not to mention that since it was something that belonged to a peak immortal ascension realm beast, the toughness was on an entirely different level.


    Lin Mu even needed to set up another formation array to prevent the chill from the shell spreading all over and freezing the mountain. The outpost alone would be unable to contain it.


    Then there was also the fact that he needed to keep the shell intact, as he wanted to use it in the future. There were many uses for it and it would be a waste to break it here in order to get the flesh.


    Lin Mu had also tried using Meld to get out the flesh but found it to be many times harder. The Dao Traces naturally present in the flesh and shell of the cial Shell Snail could prevent meld from working on it.


    It was like Lin Mu was trying to cut through a steel block with a butter knife. Meld simply stopped working when it touched the shell. This ended up with him needing to cut it out manually.


    The area in the outpost was a bit too small to amodate the shell and thus he had to expand that too.


    Over all, it had taken him an entire day to do it all.


    But now that he had done it, he was feeling rather contended.


    The milk white chunks of cial Shell Snail wereid on one side while therge shell was lying on the other side.


    Despite being removed from the shell, the flesh was still frozen solid and not really fit for eating. It was not that Lin Mu couldn''t break or bite it, but rather the fact that if he ate it directly, even he would be affected by the Extreme Yin water Dao traces.


    Thus, he needed to first process the flesh.


    "Guess it''s time to cook again¡­ haven''t done it for a while." Lin Mu said to himself as he took out a certain cauldron from his ring.


    ~DENG~


    Therge cauldron cracked the floor uponnding, and its legs dug a few inches into the stone floor.


    This was none other than the Thousand Ding Glitter cauldron that Lin Mu had used to refine gold before.


    "Hmm¡­ I think I''ll need to cook the flesh in three batches." Lin Mu estimated the size of the cauldron and the amount of cial Shell Snail queen flesh he had.


    "Wait!" Suddenly Little Shrubby''s voice was heard.


    "Mm?" Lin Mu looked at Little Shrubby, who had woken up.


    "I got some things! It will taste better that way." Little Shrubby took out a few spirit herbs and spices he had collected over the time.


    Lin Mu looked at them and saw that they were all items that were either fire elemental or inclined towards the Yang attribute.


    "This will certainly help bnce the Extreme yin, you should use them." Even Xukong was in agreement.


    "Alright, thank you Little Shrubby." Lin Mu said as he took them all.


    "I''ll use my fire too." Little Shrubby added.


    "Can you do that while cultivating?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yup, no problem. I don''t need to control the fire. It will work on its own after I set it." Little Shrubby replied, intriguing Lin Mu.


    ''That''s new¡­ I didn''t know he could do that too¡­'' Lin Mu thought, but then guessed that it might be due to the boost he had given to the bloodlines of Little Shrubby before.


    Regardless it was all good, and he was happy with it all.


    Soon, Lin Mu filled up the cauldron, added the spices and spirit herbs before topping it off with water taken from a pond that was located on the Earth fire vein. It was from the Kong ne and Lin Mu had stored quite a bit of it in the ring.


    Thebination of it all, helped counteract the extreme Yin attribute of the cial Shell Snail queen and made it easier to digest and assimte for Lin Mu.


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    "Do it, little shrubby!" Lin Mu spoke.


    ~SHUA~


    A stream of scorching fire shot from Little Shrubby''s mouth and stuck to the base of the cauldron. At first it was small, being only a few centimeters wide. But then it started to absorb the spirit Qi from the air and increased in size.


    In less than ten seconds, it was covering the entire base of the cauldron and even spread to the lower parts of it.


    "Oh? So this is what he meant by it being able to burn by itself." Lin Mu said after seeing the self burning fire.


    "Little Shrubby has reached the next stage in controlling the fire element. His mes can now absorb spirit Qi and will burn until he wills it to stop. This is a great sign that hisprehension of the fire Dao is increasing steadily." Xukong exined.


    "That is good." Lin Mu felt proud.


    He turned his attention to the Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron and controlled it to evenly spread the heat, making sure the flesh was processed properly. After all, he wasn''t just cooking the flesh, he was also refining it.


    With his past experience in refining, the process went smoothly and in two hours, the first batch of the cial Shell Snail Queen flesh was ready to eat!

 Chapter 1089 A New Kind Of Meat

    Lin Mu carefully picked out a piece of sulent cial Shell Snail Queen meat and looked at it carefully. The natural fat of the beast had melted and turned into oil that gracefully melded with the spices and herbs that were added to it.


    It originally floated at the top of the cauldron, above the water that had turned into fragrant soup. And when Lin Mu picked up a piece of the meat, the oil floating on top would gently coat it in just the right amount, giving it the perfect color and aroma.


    "This certainly looks good¡­" Lin Mu said before putting into his mouth.


    As soon as he did, he could feel the warmth from the hot soup and oil spreading. A taste of the aromatic herbs, matched with the fire spirit Qi rich water, made him feel like his taste buds were being given a nice massage at a spa.


    But soon, the feeling turned 180 degrees.


    ~shua~


    A mouthful of frost escaped Lin Mu''s nostrils as the warmth was swept away and a cool wave spread instead.


    Lin Mu bit down on the sulent meat and felt like it was soft yet firm. The meat was cool on the inside and felt a bit creamy as well.


    ''I''ve certainly never had something like this before¡­'' Lin Mu found it to be very different from any kind of meat that he had eaten.


    And Lin Mu had easily eaten over a thousand types of meat over the years from various beasts. He could tell that his meat from the cial Shell Snail Queen was indeed the best he had ever tasted.


    ''Of course, it should be at least this good. If it was not so, it would be a shame to be a peak immortal Ascension realm beast.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~gulp~


    Having chewed it a few times, Lin Mu finally swallowed it down.


    Upon reaching his stomach, the cool feeling spread once more. But it was a bit milder this time.


    His stomach started to work and the nameless technique of the Lost Immortal also activated on its own, helping him in absorbing all the energy from the meat.


    Lin Mu didn''t eat the next piece of meat right away, instead choosing to wait and see how it would affect his body first. He had not forgotten Senior Xukong''s warning and knew that extreme yin could harm his body.


    It was even more of an issue since they came from the Dao Traces themselves. Even after refinement, there would still be fragments of it left behind. While Xukong had told Lin Mu that at his current stage, he should be able to digest it.


    But he still wanted to be careful and cautious.


    A minute passed by as his stomach continued to absorb all the energy from the flesh. And when it was finally done, Lin Mu could feel a cool energy passing through his meridians. It was different than normal spirit Qi and was a bit more vibrant.


    ''This should be the pure water elemental spirit Qi¡­'' Lin Mu guessed.


    There were also traces of vital essence mixed into it, and turned it into a slightly different form of energy. Lin Mu reckoned that this was the reason why the flesh was something he could consume and easily use for refining treasured organ and not the shell which was just pure extreme yin water elemental.


    The energy swam through his meridians and quickly went to the Dantian. But it didn''t stop there like usual, instead it changed its route and continued before splitting apart into two.


    A few secondster, Lin Mu could feel a deep chill spreading from his abdomen and going all the way up to his neck through his spine.


    Peering into his body using his spirit sense, he could tell that the energy from the meat had already started affecting his kidneys. The effect was passive rather than active since he didn''t actually have a technique for this.


    Lin Mu assessed that from all the energy that he absorbed from the meat, only 5% could actually affect his kidneys and refine it. The rest of the energy simply passed through his kidneys and recircted through the meridians before being assimted into his body.


    "Hmm¡­ passive increase is indeed rather low. It would have been almost impossible to do, if not for the sheer quantity of meat I have." Lin Mu reckoned.


    Having seen the effects of the cial Shell Snail Queen meat, Lin Mu no longer had any hesitation. He first emptied out the cauldron into anotherrge container and then filled it back up with the second pile of meat and condiments.


    While the second batch cooked, Lin Mu started to eat the cooked meat by mouthfuls. It took him about an hour to actually finish it all, as he discovered a new effect after a while.


    A few bites of meat were nothing to him, and the cool effect was rather mild. But once he had eaten a certain amount, Lin Mu could feel his entire body cooling down as well. Even his spirit Qi cirction had be slowed, which was a bit rming to him.


    If not for that fact that the effect faded away after he took a pause, he might have had to stop it.


    After all, Lin Mu had a tough body and even many poisons would not be able to affect him easily. This meat that could cause such a strong effect was a bit concerning.


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    Regardless, the effect that Lin Mu wanted was easily shown.


    After finishing the first batch of cooked cial Shell Snail meat, Lin Mu discovered another factor.


    "My body actually can''t keep up with the absorption?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    The Nameless technique of the Lost Immortal easily extracted and absorbed all the energy, but the speed of assimtion was slower than that by several times. Thus, the energy would stay stored in his stomach, waiting for its turn toe.


    ''This is gonna take a while¡­''

 Chapter 1090 The Refinement Of Kidneys

    About a day had passed since Lin Mu had started to cook and eat the cial Shell Snail Queen meat.


    "Huu¡­ huu¡­ huu¡­" breath after breath came out of Lin Mu''s mouth as a cloud of cold air surrounded him.


    His hair had turned white from the frost settling on it, and his robes were covered in ayer of thin frost as well. His eyebrows and eyshes looked rather elegant with the snowkes dotting it and made him look like an ice immortal.


    "Just one more bite left¡­ I can do it¡­" Lin Mu tried to motivate himself.


    For the first time ever since he started cultivating, Lin Mu was actually feeling a bit averse to eating. It was the same feeling one would get when one ate too much food and more was presented to them.


    It was rather conflicting to Lin Mu, as he could tell that the Nameless technique of the Lost immortal had not reached its limit at all and he had more than enough space for more food.


    Rather, his aversion was stemming from his mind.


    No matter how good something was, one would get bored and tired of eating the same thing over and over again. And for Lin Mu, it was rather true right now. After all, he had quite literally eaten a small hillock''s worth of meat.


    Another thing that he had discovered was that Little Shrubby could not eat the meat at all. It was in direct conflict with his body and affinities, making him spit it out the moment Lin Mu tried to give some to him.


    Little Shrubby was rather sad because of it too, as he wanted to taste it seeing Lin Mu cook it.


    It could be said that Little Shrubby was quite literally the opposite of the cial Shell Snail queen. He had a high affinity to the fire element, which was of the Yang side and even had a partial affinity to the Lightning element, which was even more Yang than fire.


    Thus, Little Shrubby''s body was repelling the meat with all its might.


    Lin Mu didn''t mind it though, as he had only given Little Shrubby some since the beast was giving him a pitiful look.


    He had almost eaten all of the meat now, but it had made him feel very cold and frost had formed on his body directly. He could feel his body temperature fall greatly, and because his skin was gold, it made it easier for the frost to condense.


    ~gulp~


    Finally, Lin Mu mustered his courage and swallowed down thest morsel.


    ~phew~


    "It is finally done¡­" Lin Mu muttered as more chilly air escaped his lips.


    "You should just focus on assimting it all now. You are already at the twenty percent point, too." Xukong spoke up.


    Lin Mu checked his kidneys and confirmed that both of them were at the same refinement level that Senior Xukong had said.


    "Seems like it." Lin Mu replied. "Though the refinement is different than usual. Its strange having two organs of the same type being refined." He added.


    While it could be said that when Lin Mu refined his lungs, they were in a pair of two and could be considered two organs; the close proximity and connection made them seem like the same thing when being refined.


    But the kidneys were different than that, being further away from each other and could also function independently.


    They were unlike lungs, which expanded and contracted simultaneously. Despite being in a paid, they worked as one.


    Lin Mu continued to focus on his kidneys and noticed the difference between the two.


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    ''The right kidney is a bit slower in refinement than the left¡­'' Lin Mu noted.


    "Is it fine to let it proceed as it is senior? I mean¡­ do I need to bnce the refinement speed or something like that?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "It''s not an issue. Even if one of your kidneys finishes its refinementpletely and the other has not even started, it will be fine." Xukong ayed Lin Mu''s concerns.


    ~phew~


    "That''s good," Lin Mu felt better.


    It was the best option that Lin Mu could have hoped for, as the opposite would have left him helpless either way.


    Even if the kidney''s being refined at a different rate was a bad thing for Lin Mu, he would have been unable to address or control it since he wasn''t doing the refinement actively using a technique.


    He was merely letting his body refine it passively.


    Lin Mu quite literally had no control over it other than simply sensing where the energy went.


    He couldn''t even control it with his spirit sense or cultivation base as he had no affinity with the water element. And thisck of control was only exaggerated with there being Extreme yin being added to it.


    Lin Mu pushed the thoughts aside for now and focused on simply maintaining the bnce in his body for now. As long as he did that, there would be no obstacles in the assimtion of the energy and refinement of the kidneys.


    Little Shrubby was also cultivating on the side, and the two were now progressing steadily.


    Just like this, time continued to pass and the pair of man and beast cultivated.


    While this was ongoing, another set of events was happening in the Sky Precepts sect.


    In the grand pce of the Sky Precepts sect, the patriarch and the head elder Han were in a meeting with several others.


    The atmosphere was rather solemn, and silence was abundant.


    "How is this possible?" The patriarch spoke after a while.


    "We do not know patriarch¡­ the Ripple Mist Sect''s patriarch has cut off all contact with everyone. If not for the fact that a few disciples were spotted wandering the border of the Kingdom of Shu, we would have never gone to check the Ripple Mist sect." One of the elders spoke.


    "Still¡­ another one of the top ten sects being eradicated without us even getting a clue after days on end¡­ how have we be so ignorant?"

 Chapter 1091 The Unnerved Patriarch

    The Sky Precepts sect had only recently gotten the information about the condition of the Ripple mist sect and it was utterly absurd for them.


    "How can we have not known this at all? Where the hell is the patriarch!?" The patriarch of the Sky precepts sect almost yelled.


    "I cannot say, patriarch. Though if I may assume, it is likely that we have been fooled for a while now. I cannot help but think that the Long Cloud alliance might have been correct that the Gu Legion is behind this." High elder Han said in response.


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    The patriarch of the Sky Precepts sect went silent upon hearing this and no word was heard from him for a minute.


    "Fine¡­ I want a detailed investigation of it all!" The Patriarch shouted. "Not just the Ripple mist sect, I also want the information about the person who has attacked them!"


    "B-but patriarch¡­ there is currently no information about that person. We have already cross-referenced all that we could but there are not links at all." One of the elders in charge of the intelligence gathering spoke.


    The patriarch of the Sky Precepts sect did not take it calmly, though. "DIVINE IT IF YOU HAVE TO! I WANT IT BY THE NEXT WEEK!" He roared, shaking the entire peak.


    The shock waves spread throughout the Sky Precepts sect and startled all the disciples that were present there at that time.


    ~gulp~


    All the elders were wary after hearing the patriarch and knew that the man was truly infuriated at this point.


    ''The patriarch¡­ reached Dao Treading realm?'' A few of the elders though sensed something else.


    The one thing that was known about the Sky Precepts sect patriarch was that he was perhaps the only patriarch of the top ten sects that were at the Dao Shell realm.


    And this was when he was literally the patriarch of the top 1 sect.


    But this was due to the fact that he practiced a certain cultivation technique that restricted his cultivation base. This was what all had thought for the longest time.


    ''Did the patriarch really break through? Why were we not informed?'' the elders who sensed the power of the patriarch all wondered.


    "We shall do as you asked, patriarch." Head elder Han quickly spoke.


    "The first elder has already been informed and he shall personally divine the whereabouts of the person behind it all." Another elder hurriedly added.


    "Hmm¡­ I shall wait for the response." The Patriarch said before closing his eyes.


    Everyone in the hall left other than a couple of people that were personally trusted by the patriarch.


    ***


    Days upon days passed and nearly half a month had gone by since Lin Mu had eaten the meat of the cial Shell Snail Queen.


    Today, he finally opened his eyes as his body reached a new level.


    ~shua~


    Waves of frost emanated from his body as the entire outpost hidden in the mountain was covered with frost. Only the area taken over by little shrubby was safe as the heating from his body and spirit Qi kept it safe.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he continued to cultivate. In the past fourteen days, he had let his body assimte the energy from the cial Shell Snail queen and let his kidneys be refined passively.


    Over the two weeks, his refinement level had finally reached the 99% mark.


    But upon reaching this, Lin Mu felt like he had been obstructed.


    ''The final push will need all my effort¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he forced his stomach to release all the remaining energy of the cial Shell Snail Queen meat.


    ~HONG~


    Lin Mu''s body felt cold when the copious amount of energy was released by his stomach .


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu grunted. ''I can never get used to it.'' He internally thought as he let his body continue it work.


    The stream of energy spread through his meridians and reached his kidneys equally, pushing them further on the path of refinement.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth as the pain only increased more. He had been feeling pain since thest week and knew that it was something he needed to ovee with sheer willpower.


    Without a proper cultivation technique to further the body cultivation, this was Lin Mu''s best bet and he was willing to do whatever it took.


    Time seemed to have slowed down as the cold feeling permeated Lin Mu''s meridians and froze the bottom half of his body.


    He once again looked like an ice immortal, with his eye brows, eyeshes and hair having turned white due to the ice.


    Lin Mu couldn''t tell if the time was even passing after a certain point, when suddenly¡­


    ~KACHA~


    He was woken up from his trance as a sharp and sonorous sound echoed in his ears.


    ~HONG!!!!!~


    An echoing sound was hearding from Lin Mu''s body and even woke up Little Shrubby in the process.


    The beast was a bit astonished, but continued to watch it all from the side, knowing that Lin Mu was at a critical time of breakthrough. Little Shrubby was also in a simr position and would breakthrough soon as well.


    He was already in the Shell expansion stage and it was only matter of time before the Dao Embryo would condense for him. The same could be said for Lin Mu too as he was only cultivating in the Shell expansion stage as he needed time to form his own Dao Embryo and discover it.


    Minute melted to seconds before finally, Lin Mu woke up.


    "GAH!" Lin Mu let out another grunt as two stabbing sounds were also heard.


    ~SLICK~ CLANG~


    Lin Mu''s body recoiled back before the chilling receded back into it.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he felt the newfound power surging through his entire body.


    Looking at his hand, Lin Mu lightly clenched it,pressing the air and creating a jet that scratched the wall in the distance!

 Chapter 1092 Four Treasured Organs!

    <h4>Chapter 1092 Four Treasured Organs!</h4>


    Lin Mu''s body emitted cold waves of air as spirit Qi thrummed within it.


    He gazed at his body that was overflowing with power, power that he had never felt before. The power stirred his spirit Qi and only urged it to circte faster and faster.


    Peering into his body, Lin Mu checked the condition of his kidneys. There he found them to be full of vitality, with all its cells having been refined to an entirely new level.


    ''So this is the Five Treasures Realm Kidney¡­'' Lin Mu tried to sense what kind of improvement his kidney''s brought for him.


    Each Treasured organ would bring some level of improvement in addition to just the increase in body cultivation. When Lin Mu refined his spleen, it had improved the quality of his blood and when he refined his heart, it had improved the cirction of his blood, which in turn improved his overall body.


    Then the refinement of his lungs had improved his breathing capacity, along with stamina.


    This only made Lin Mu wonder what the kidneys could bring forth. While it might seem like these improvements were not that much, they were very important. After all, in a battle, even a difference of a fraction of a percent could decide the victory or loss.


    Thus, any improvement for Lin Mu was good.


    He continued to observe his kidneys and found the chilling from it disappear. After about five minutes, it was entirely gone. After all, it was only the residual effects from the flesh of the cial Shell Snail Queen.


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    Lin Mu actually didn''t have an affinity with the water element, thus he wouldn''t be able to control it. He only had the affinity for the Earth and the metal element. For the fire element, he was only able to use it because he had the Embrace Of Hong Lin, which allowed him to use fire.


    But in the case of the water element, Lin Mu neither had the natural affinity nor a technique topensate for it.


    As Lin Mu continued to observe his kidneys, he finally felt a new feeling from his kidneys.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was intrigued.


    He could see that his kidneys were actually affecting his blood. Not only would they remove the natural toxins from it, but they were also improving the rate at which new blood was produced.


    And due to this new improvement, Lin Mu could tell that the density of vital essence in his blood would only increase more.


    Vital essence was the very life force of a being and the more one had, the better their bodies would be. Lin Mu had gained a lot of it from the flesh of the cial Shell Snail queen and it was now being reflected in his body.


    ~shua~


    The more blood that passed through his kidneys, the richer the vital essence was setting in it. And not just this, the aura of Lin Mu started to increase as well!


    This was not the usual aura that one would have just due to the virtue of their life, but rather the aura one could develop when their vitality had reached a boundless level.


    ~HONG~


    Finally, all of Lin Mu''s blood hadpleted one cycle of cirction through his kidneys. This resulted in a chain reaction and his body let off a wave of pure vitality.


    ~Crack~


    Just this alone was enough to send cracks spreading across the floor of the outpost.


    Little Shrubby who had been observing everything since the start, felt his fur standing on its end as a deep feeling of threat rose from Lin Mu.


    The beast''s ears perked up, and only after the aura settled did he calm down. Even though Little Shrubby knew that there was no threat from Lin Mu to him, it was an instinct that was causing him to react like this.


    "Master?" Little Shrubby spoke, seeing that Lin Mu had calmed down.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath before looking at Little Shrubby. "Yes?" he responded.


    "Did you breakthrough?" Little Shrubby asked.


    The beast could tell when Lin Mu had a breakthrough in his spirit Qi cultivation, but couldn''t do the same for his body cultivation.


    "Yes. I have¡­ I am now in the fourth stage of the Five Treasures realm!" Lin Mu stated, a hint of joy and excitement in his voice.


    "GREAT!!" Little Shrubby eximed.


    Lin Mu rubbed Little Shrubby''s head and looked at the Dao Shell above that was still absorbing spirit Qi.


    Little Shrubby''s Dao Shell had reached a ratherrge size too and was two meters wide in size. Lin Mu looked at his own Dao Shell within his Dantian and estimated that it was only a little bigger than Little Shrubby right now.


    Though Lin Mu also knew that there was a difference in his Dao Shell.


    ''Little Shrubby might reach the Dao Treading realm in Qi cultivation before me most likely.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "That is expected. After all, in your case, you need to discover your Dao Embryo and form it on your own. But for Little Shrubby, his bloodline will automatically form the Dao Embryo at a certain point." Xukong spoke after a while.


    "Mmm¡­ though I have equivalent strength in the Body cultivation, so it shouldn''t matter. I can now contend against most experts." Lin Mu replied and wondered what his capabilities were now.


    After all, even if he had broken through, it would take him practice to adapt to his new strength.


    Lin Mu lightly pressed his hand on the ground and formed an imprint on it.


    "Certainly not the same as before." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Another thing he sensed was his control over his weight was better than before.


    He felt like he was ''lighter'' than before.


    This was actually not a decrease in his weight, but rather the improvement ins his strength allowed him to feel as if the weight was nothing.


    Lin Mu concentrated on his body and thought for a minute.


    ~shua~


    Then a few secondster, his body floated up, but there were no spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him!

 Chapter 1093 Continuing The Breakthrough

    Lin Mu gazed at his body that was naturally floating and knew that he had finally managed to fly with his body cultivation.


    "I can do it again." Lin Mu said, a hint of excitement in his voice.


    It wasn''t that he couldn''t fly with his body cultivation before, but rather after he had practiced the True Gold Body Forging Arts and assimted a lot of gold in his body, his weight had made it difficult to fly just with his body cultivation.


    Body Cultivators had this one disadvantage aspared to Qi cultivators and it was well known.


    In order to fly, just reaching an equivalent of the Nascent soul realm was not enough for Body Cultivators. They would need to be at a higher cultivation base than that to do the same as Nascent soul realm cultivators and fly.


    The mechanism of flying was also different for both paths of cultivation.


    Qi cultivators absorbed and expelled spirit Qi at the same time, in order to fly. But the body cultivators didn''t do the same.


    After all, they used vital essence along with spirit Qi to cultivate. And since they didn''t use their meridians the same way as spirit Qi, they couldn''t fly normally. Instead, they would have to use their vital essence and create a thrust using their aura to fly.


    This was harder than just using spirit Qi and thus they would often need a very strong aura to do this.


    And Lin Mu had reached exactly that point.


    But it was not that a body cultivator would be slower than a Qi cultivator who could fly. No, they could achieve the same space by simply running around with their legs. Not only that, but they could also leap to great heights and some could directly step on air with their sheer strength to fly!


    "Seems like I''ll need to get used to this." Lin Mu said as his gaze went to the sect in distance. "And I have the perfect target to practice with too¡­"


    But as much as Lin Mu wanted to go forth and wreak havoc on the Zither Wind Sect with his golden fists, he knew there was still more preparation to do.


    He nced around at the small hills of spirit stones that were lying around and estimated that there was still enough to push his Qi cultivation further.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps I can do more at once." Lin Mu thought to himself.


    A few ideas passed through his mind before he nced at Little Shrubby.


    "Alright, I have a new idea, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "What is it?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "We''ll speed up your process of cultivation. You can continue absorbing the spirit Qi, and I''ll also give you beast Qi at the same time. It should help you from a Dao Embryo sooner, since it is dependent on your bloodline more." Lin Mu answered.


    Little Shrubby had no qualms about it and quickly replied. "Okay~"


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    With both parties in agreement, Lin Mu quickly got to work.


    He directly pulled several bs of spirit stones under him and gathered more around him.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu startled to draw the spirit Qi from the stones at a rapid pace. The spirit Qi rushed through his meridians and settled in his Dantian, where the Dao Shell sucked a part of it.


    While doing this, Lin Mu also chanted the Nurturing heart sutra and transformed a part of the spirit Qi he had into beast Qi.


    He continued condensing it until it had turned into a thin string of Beast Qi. But he didn''t release it right away, instead letting it float around in his Dantian for now.


    ''I''ll have a stock of it ready before giving it to Little Shrubby. That way, my rate of conversion and depletion will be almost equal.'' Lin Mu thought.


    And while he was doing this, Little Shrubby also continued to absorb spirit Qi into his Dao shell directly. It was floating above his head and was red in color since the fire elemental spirit Qi had also entered it.


    Time continued to pass, and an entire day psed.


    At a certain moment, Lin Mu opened his eyes and spoke.


    "Get ready, Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu said out loud as he raised his hand.


    ~grrr~


    Little Shrubby growled in excitement and watched as a stream of Beast Qi spread out from Lin Mu''s hand.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A strong suction force came from Little Shrubby''s body and sucked in the beast Qi stream. But it didn''t stop there as more and more beast Qi kept on pouring out of Lin Mu''s hand.


    The spirit Qi from the spirit stones underneath Lin Mu started to fall rapidly and was soon reduced to half.


    With this, a new cycle had formed.


    Spirit Qi would enter Lin Mu''s body, where a part would expand his Dao Shell and the rest would convert to Beast Qi and shoot out of his hand, entering Little Shrubby. The beast would in turn, absorb the beast Qi and enrich his bloodline while also expanding his own Dao Shell with the spirit stones.


    The rate of consumption of spirit Qi reached a new level and the spirit stones started depleting at a stunning level. Soon, the spirit stones under Lin Mu had turned to dust, but he quickly added more of them.


    The same was done with the spirit stones surrounding him as well. Lin Mu had plenty more spirit stones in storage and was ready to finish them all for the breakthrough!


    Such a method of cultivation was indeed very rapid, but the cost was something that would literally bankrupt a sect. After all, the spirit stones were basically obtained from spirit stone mines and vaults of the sect.


    This was all that a sect owned and was used to nurture hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of disciples at once.


    But instead of that, all the spirit stones and resources were being used by merely two individuals!

 Chapter 1094 A Spark And Seven Motes Of Light

    Lin Mu had continued using the spirit Qi and producing Beast Qi for a while. He didn''t even realized when he had gotten into a state where he was monotonously doing everything and alsoprehending at the same time.


    Doing so many tasks at once had given him insights into how the spirit Qi worked and flowed while also allowing him to strengthen his Dao Shell. It was a surprising gain but a wee one certainly.


    Little Shrubby was progressing steadily too, and his Dao Shell had expanded by about 10% too. It was now a over two meters wide, which was an excellent size. Most cultivators would barely even reach this size after centuries of cultivation.


    But Little Shrubby had reached it in less than a span of three years.


    ~HONG~


    Lin Mu gazed at the Dao Shell of Little Shrubby as a faint humming sound could be hearding from it all of a sudden.


    His gaze was mild, but soon turned intense as the humming sound increased as well.


    "You should stop now." Xukong''s voice was heard.


    "Oh? Why Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Little Shrubby has reached a peak. Beast Qi will not help him anymore for now and might only distract his body." Xukong said before taking a pause. "Look¡­ he''s already in a trance." He added.


    Lin Mu observed closely and saw that Little Shrubby''s breathing had indeed changed. His eyes were closed, but that was quite normal while cultivating and thus wasn''t a good sign of whether one was in a trance or not.


    But having one''s breathing change was a good sign for most times. While it might not be the most urate one, it was still better than using eyes.


    And since Lin Mu was rather familiar with Little Shrubby, he could tell that he truly was in a trance and one that was different than usual.


    Lin Mu thus stopped producing Beast Qi and simply observed Little Shrubby. The beast stayed in the same state for a while, and Lin Mu wondered if nothing was going to happen.


    But just as he was about to give up, it happened!


    ~shua~


    A very faint sound was heading from Little Shrubby. It was almost like a whisper, like an ember had been lit.


    But the energy wave that came from it was massive.


    "WHAT!" Lin Mu almost felt like he would be knocked away from it.


    "There we go¡­ take this chance to observe it as much as you can. Might help youter." Xukong said with a chuckle before retreating into silence.


    Lin Mu did just as suggested and saw as the wave of energying from Little Shrubby''s Dao Shell settled down.


    Instead of the wave, there was now a small light hidden within the Dao Shell. It was very small, and almost impossible to see with a naked eye. Just like a spark from a flint, it barely let out any light.


    But just like how a spark could turn into a ze, it erupted!


    ~WHOOSH~


    Another wave of energy spread from Little Shrubby, but this time the aura of the bloodlines rose with it.


    ~ROAR!!!!~


    A strange roar was also heard, which seemed as if thousands of beasts were roaring at the same time. The roar came from within Little Shrubby and only increased with the bloodline aura.


    And when the aura reached its peak, the bloodlines themselves materialized.


    Seven motes of light shot out of Little Shrubby''s body. Red, orange, brown, green, silver, blue, and ck were their colors, with each of them exuding a different sensation.


    The Red mote was explosively hot like gunpowder while the orange mote was searing hot like a ming knife. The brown mote exuded a sense of unity. The green mote exuded endless vitality. The silver exuded a sense of reflection and mystery. The blue exuded shock and gave one goosebumps while ck exuded a sense of calmness as well as unease.


    Lin Mu didn''t know what to make of them other than the fact that he could tell what they were.


    ''The bloodlines are certainly stronger than before.'' Lin Mu thought as the motes started to expand.


    ~Rumble~


    The seven motes of light expanded rapidly and turned into seven beasts thatposed Little Shrubby''s bloodline.


    The bloodline figures all seemed imposing and far more ''alive'' than before.


    "It''s almost as if¡­ they are aware?" Lin Mu muttered in wonder.


    His wonder was answered by a look from all the seven bloodline figures as they gazed at him.


    At first, the look was sharp, but it soon mellowed down.


    ~growl~


    A unified growl came from all of them, as if acknowledging Lin Mu before they gazed at Little Shrubby''s Dao Shell.


    ~Roar~


    But from the seven bloodline figures, only two moved. The bloodline representing the sh Fire Liger and Scorch w Tiger approached the Dao Shell and touched it with their heads.


    ~HONG!!!!~


    The Dao shell started to tremble as faint runes stared to form within them.


    "Dao script?" Lin Mu recognized.


    The runes seemed to being from the two bloodline figures'' heads and were gathering together. Lin Mu tried to read the runes but found himself to be unable to do it at all.


    He could ''read'' them but not ''understand'' them.


    It was a strange sensation, and he was reminded of the first time he had started to learn the Dao script from senior Xukong.


    ''New runes that stem from the very Dao itself¡­ can''t be understood by simply reading and needsprehending to grasp.'' Lin Mu remembered the teachings.


    Giving up on reading the runes, he continued to watch as the runes seemingly merged together and formed a red blob. The blob was like water, and ripples formed on it whenever more runes entered it.


    Time continued to pass and Lin Mu didn''t even realize when it had been an hour.


    By this point, the red blob was no longer a blob and had a particr shape instead.


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    And that shape was none other than that of a hand!

 Chapter 1095 A Hand

    "He really did end up with a hand¡­" Lin Mu spoke in surprise.


    He had a hunch that Little Shrubby was intending for a w or hand shaped Dao Embryo and had even made his Dao Shell to be like that. But seeing it really came out like that was surprising to him.


    It wasn''t always that one''s Dao Embryo woulde out the same as they had intended it to be. Many Cultivators had experienced this and sometimes it was good for them and sometimes wit as bad as their Dao Shell''s might not be the right shape for it.


    Still, considered that the bloodlines themselves were guiding the formation of the Dao embryo, it was even more confusing for Lin Mu. After all, these were beast bloodlines, and they were a hand rather than a w.


    Lin Mu continued to watch as the hand gained more details and even started to change a bit.


    From its unassuming and vague hand shape, it gained contours and finer lines. The nails also formed on it and then started to grow.


    It was here that the hand took a different turn.


    "Oh? That is certainly not a human hand¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he saw the nails growing to over an inch in length.


    Not only that, but they were sharp too!


    The fingers also turned a lot more rugged and the palm became thicker, as of a hundred years of callouses had formed all at once.


    The skin of the palm was orange in color while the back of the hand was red in color instead. Then some unique patterns formed on it, starting from the base of the hand. These patterns were ck in color and stared off as a in ck spot.


    From this ck spot, a thick line extended, which then split off into five smaller lines that went all the way to the nails of the hand. The nails turned ck due to this and looked rather ferocious.


    "No¡­ that''s not all¡­ are those runes?" Lin Mu looked closer and saw that all the patterns and details weren''t just in old features.


    Rather each contour, each crease, each ridge on the hand was made out of runes!


    The runes were fine and seemed to be swimming constantly, making it hard to tell that they were even there as they blended very well. Even the ck pattern on the back of the hand was made out of runes that constantly wiggled and changed.


    Lin Mu marveled at the runes and found there to be a different meaning to each rune. This time he felt the meaning of runes rising directly within his mind. As if he intrinsically knew them.


    "How¡­?" Lin Mu was confused.


    He focused on all the runes and found himself to be sucked into them.


    He could tell that the runes were telling different things. But the mostmon thing in all of them was ''fire''. Lin Mu could make out the runes that all meant fire.


    And as soon as he understood this, he felt his mind shake!


    A burning heat rose from his dantian and rushed out into his meridians!


    Lin Mu was washed away with this wave and couldn''t control his body at all.


    "STOP!" Suddenly, a loud voice was heard in his head, rocking him out of his state.


    Lin Mu shook his head and took deep breaths.


    "W-what was that?!" Lin Mu was rmed.


    "You almost got lost to a Qi deviation." Xukong said, only scaring Lin Mu even more.


    "What? H-how did that happen? How''s that even possible?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "You tried toprehend Dao from a Dao Embryo that was not your own. This is a side effect of that." Xukong replied.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu only felt more confused upon hearing this.


    But then he recalled Senior Xukong''s earlier words.


    "Wait, didn''t you tell me to observe everything I could and learn from it, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned in doubt.


    "I know¡­ but I never expected you to be able toprehend Dao traces from it. I¡­ don''t even know how that is possible. At least not automatically, you shouldn''t have been able to sense them like this." Xukong answered.


    "Is it not something that can be done?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "No¡­ not normally. People do try toprehend Dao Traces from other''s Dao Embryo''s from time to time. But this is very rare. Senior cultivators would sometimes guide juniors with this.


    But that is something that should only be done with great caution, as thepatibility of one''s body and talent is greatly different and even unique in many cases.


    Thus even if a person has the same type of Dao Embryo as another person, they will still have a fine difference in Dao Traces that can damage others." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu had not thought that there would be such aplication to a factor like this. It was a new thing for him and he knew learning would only make him better at it.


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    Lin Mu already knew that there were an infinite types of Dao Embryo''s in the universe. But there were also some that were more mon'' among them. Many people would end up having the same Dao Embryo as they followed themon path.


    For example, a person cultivating a fire elemental cultivation technique might form a Dao Embryo that looked like a simple me, or perhaps amp.


    These were verymon forms and many might have the same form. Such Dao embryos would be well known and get their own names.


    Such Dao Embryo''s were called as Named Dao Embryos.


    Over time, most Dao Embryos in existence were already discovered and named. Even legendary Dao embryos were well known and had names of their own.


    Thus, it was extremely rare for there to be new Dao Embryo''s without a name.


    This was what made Lin Mu ask his next question.


    "Senior, is this Dao Embryo a new one? Or is it something already recorded?"


    "No¡­ it is certainly a new and unique one." Xukong answered, just as Lin Mu had expected.

 Chapter 1096 Three Peak Grade Spirit Stone Mine Source Veins

    Lin Mu had a hunch that it might be a new Dao Embryo, but hearing the confirmation was still rather shocking to him.


    "As far as I know, there are many palm and hand type Dao Embryos in the universe. But I''ve certainly not seen or heard of any that look like this." Xukong exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu replied as he gazed at the Dao Embryo that was still releasing some aura.


    He wondered how long it would take for Little Shrubby to wake up from this. Though he reckoned it shouldn''t be long as once Little shrubby got limatized to the Dao Embryo he would awaken.


    "Guess I just have to wait a while more." Lin Mu muttered and decided to do some other things in the mean time.


    Peering into his Dantian, Lin Mu could see his own Dao Shell that had reached about two and a half meter size. There was still some spirit stones left, thus Lin Mu decided to continue consuming them for the time being.


    Since he didn''t need to convert it into Beast Qi anymore, he could simply absorb it into his Dantian and let his Dao Shell take it all in.


    ~shua~


    The spirit Qi from the spirit stones surrounded him and entered his body. The spirit stones started to crumble at a visible rate and in an hour, Lin Mu had finished off thest of the spirit stones.


    ~huu~


    Letting out a breath, Lin Mu checked his storage and saw that he only had his original spirit stones left and something extra.


    "The source veins¡­ I still have three of them left¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He had not used the source veins of the peak grade spirit stone mines as he reckoned they woulde in handy for something else. Though Lin Mu was also prepared to use them if the normal spirit stones were not enough for his and Little Shrubby''s breakthrough.


    But now that he had achieved what he had set out to do so, he could go forth with the secondary options.


    "Time to see if the Garden Of Karma will ept more¡­" Lin Mu muttered before closing his eyes and sleeping.


    His vision darkened for a while and when it returned, Lin Mu found himself back in the Garden of Karma.


    "Huh?" But upon appearing there, he saw some new things.


    "When did the tree grow again?" Lin Mu said upon seeing the spirit apple tree.


    It had almost doubled in size, and several more branches had grown on it. The number of apples on it had also increased, and over half of them were already ripened.


    ~shua~


    At this moment, he felt a fluctuation behind him and saw a grey orb of light appearing. And from that orb came out none other than Senior Xukong.


    "Looks like the Garden of Karma is nurturing them further. Your breakthrough also grows the Garden of Karma." Xukong spoke after quickly observing the entire area.


    "Mmhmm¡­ though it doesn''t seem like the total size of the Garden itself has increased." Lin Mu replied.


    "That should not be so easy to increase. If it really is a minor dimension of itself, there is a great chance the conditions needed to increase are high. So far, your cultivation base increase has improved it. And now that you broke through in your body cultivation, the quality of the Garden of Karma has improved." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu thought over it and came to the same conclusion.


    "So if we follow that logic, then¡­ my body cultivation improves the state of the Garden of Karma, allowing the nts here grow better. And seeing the past, the increase in my Qi cultivation will increase its total size." Lin Mu concluded.


    "Indeed. This is what we can confirm for now. Though there might be a lot more we don''t know yet." Xukong chimed in.


    "At least it is something." Lin Mu muttered and looked around.


    The Purple Sickle Amaranth had also grown a bit, but not as much as the Spirit Apple Tree. The Wood Spirit Tulip on the other hand, seemed to be the same size.


    ''Did it really not grow?'' Lin Mu wondered and probed it with his spirit sense.


    Soon he got his answer.


    "Oh? So it grew its roots rather than its top¡­" Lin Mu understood.


    Walking up to it, Lin Mu didn''t see any other changes in it. Though the Purple Sickle Amaranth had increased the amount of wood elemental spirit Qi it was producing. The increase wasn''t anything big like double, but Lin Mu could estimate it was at least five percent more than before.


    This then made him wonder more about the spirit apple tree. While its size had increased, Lin Mu questioned whether the quality of the spirit apples had increased or not.


    "Let''s see then, shall we?" Lin Mu muttered and walked up to it.


    Plucking one of the apples, he held it in his hand and felt the spirit Qi within. Furrowing his brows, Lin Mu took out another spirit apple that he had plucked a while ago andpared the two.


    "Indeed¡­ even the spirit apples have increased in their potency." Lin Mu discovered that the spirit Qi within the two spirit apples was different and the newer spirit apple had at least twenty percent more spirit Qi within it.


    While consuming it might not make much of a difference for Lin Mu, it was still a good difference. After all, Lin Mu could still make use of them in other ways.


    ''If nothing else, I can always sell them. Might need them in the future for that.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


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    Having learned all this, Lin Mu then decided to go do what he had originallye here to do.


    "Let''s see if the Garden Of Karma will ept more spirit stone mine source veins." He said before taking out the three veins he had in the ring.


    ~THUD~ THUD~ THUD~


    The ground shook lightly as threerge chunks of crystal fell onto it.

 Chapter 1097 Rapid Growth And Change Of Plants

    The three source veins were rather massive and were much bigger than the one that Lin Mu had taken before.


    After all, these spirit stone mines had existed for longer and thus had plenty of time to grow. This led to the crystal bing far denser and richer in spirit Qi. They could thus condense the spirit Qi into spirit stones far better.


    "Now they''re out¡­ will it absorb them?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He watched it for about a minute but nothing happened.


    "It''s¡­ not doing anything?" Lin Mu was confused.


    Xukong who was watching, suggested something, "why don''t you try willing it? The Garden of Karma is linked to your soul, so should respond to something like that."


    "Of course!" Lin Mu epted the suggestion and closed his eyes.


    ''Come on¡­ absorb and assimte the crystals¡­'' Lin Mu said in his mind.


    ~tremble~


    And just as he did that, he could feel the ground shake.


    ~Rumble~


    The ground seemed to have turned soft where the source vein crystals were lying and they started to sink into it. As if all this was a swamp, the crystals quickly sank. In less than a minute, the three source vein crystals had entirely disappeared, and the ground had returned to normal as well.


    Lin Mu eased his brows upon seeing that the Garden Of karma had responded to his wishes.


    ~Whoosh~


    Then a few momentster, the air within the Garden started to churn.


    "It should be starting now." Xukong said as he observed the spirit Qi turning chaotic in the air.


    Lin Mu sat down and waited for the changes to be done.


    ~shua~


    About five minutester, the spirit Qi in the Garden of Karma started to increase. The increase was rather rapid and it was also affecting the other things here.


    ~rustle~ Rustle~


    The three nts in the garden seemed to havee alive and were moving their leaves and branches in joy. They swayed with the wind and absorbed the spirit Qi that was rising within the Garden of Karma.


    It was at this time that Lin Mu also felt the Wood Spirit Qi in the air increasing in concentration.


    "The increase is great this time," Lin Mu said as he felt the wood spirit Qi.


    Then in a span of a minute, the wood spirit Qi reached such a level that it was now ten percent of the total spirit Qi present in the Garden Of Karma.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu was surprised at this chance. "Didn''t think it could cause such an effect."


    "It was bound to happen. With the source vein crystal from three peak grade spirit stone mines added to the Garden, the quality of spirit Qi would rise greatly. Usually it would enrich the nts and living beings in its vicinity, but the chance would not be this great.


    But in the case of the garden of karma, there are only three nts here. Thus, the change is rather drastic." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm¡­ so it is the same as what I have done. Concentrating resources used by a million individuals on a mere handful." Lin Mu replied.


    "You could say that," Xukong nodded his head.


    ~shua~


    But the series of events had merely started. As the other two nts also showed some changes.


    The Wood Spirit Tulip further spread its roots and the color of its leaves became a deeper shade of green. Since it was a Wood Elemental spirit herb, it was benefiting the most from the increased wood spirit Qi.


    Its growth continued until finally a small bud appeared on its top.


    "HAH! It''s finally budding!" Lin Mu felt excited.


    The bud was small, being merely a centimeter in size. It had a dark green color and was tightly closed, giving one no clue about what was hidden in it.


    Lin Mu continued to watch it, wondering if it would blossom right away. But his expectations were broken as the bud stopped growing after it appeared.


    "I thought it would grow more¡­" Lin Mu muttered, feeling slightly disappointed.


    "This is still great. It growing a bud is a massive thing. After all, if it grew naturally, it would take it several hundred years to form the bud. The process was basically elerate by thousands of times." Xukong said.


    "But then, why is it not growing further?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Even the rapid growth has a limit to it. You could say that it is now at a bottleneck." Xukong answered.


    "Hmm, I see." Lin Mu muttered.


    He knew that the Wood Spirit Tulip was almost at the level of a Peak grade nascent soul realm cultivator before. And with the growth it had experienced right now, it should be almost at the Dao Shell realm.


    ''Perhaps when it blossoms, it will be equivalent to the Dao Shell realm?'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~thud~thud~thud~


    And while he was observing the Wood Spirit Tulip, several sounds were hearding from behind him.


    "Huh? What?" Lin Mu turned around and saw that the Spirit Apple Tree was the source of it.


    Narrowing his eyes, Lin Mu witnessed the Spirit Apple Tree shaking its branches. And when it shook them, the spirit apples hanging on them fell down.


    "Why¡­ why is it doing this?" Lin Mu said as he literately saw the branches of the spirit apple tree bending and curling to knock off the spirit apples from the other branches.


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    It was almost like a man was removing dust from his shoulders.


    The spirit apple tree was quick and had already removed all the spirit apples that were growing on it. And it had done this regardless of whether they were ripe or raw. Of all the apples that had fallen, half of them were still unripe.


    But once all the spirit apples were gone from the tree, it started to rapidly suck the spirit Qi from the air.


    "Hang on¡­ it''s not just sucking in normal spirit Qi¡­" Lin Mu said as he felt the wood spirit Qi being sucked by the tree too.

 Chapter 1098 Wood Spirit Apple

    Lin Mu continued to watch as the Spirit apple tree started to grow flowers. The flowers were white with a tinge of pink to them, but at the edge of the petals, a line of green could also be seen.


    "This is new¡­ the tree never flowered before¡­ it simply produced fruits¡­" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    He had seen the Spirit apple trees flower in the Northern town many times before, but never in the garden of Karma.


    ~sniff~


    He took a breath and felt the scent of the spirit apple blossoms spreading in the air.


    ''Reminds me of the past¡­'' Lin Mu thought as he took in the sweet smell of the blossoms in.


    It reminded him of a time long gone. He used to go to the orchards with his mother and watch her work. Sometimes he would fall asleep under the sweet scent of the blossoms, which was very calming.


    A well of feelings surged within his heart for a moment but soon stopped as he couldn''t smell the scent of the blossoms anymore. Furrowing his brows, he opened his eyes.


    And when Lin Mu opened his eyes, he saw that the flowers were already wilting and in their ce, small bulbs of apples were appearing. Five minutester, these bulbs grew into full sized apples!


    The apples were bigger than what they used to be and had different colors. Some of the apples were red like the normal spirit apples, and some were green.


    It was different from the normal green and red apples that the spirit apple tree would bear, they would simply be unripe. It was the same for the sour apple tree that Lin Mu used to eat from in the past.


    "They don''t seem to be unripe¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he raised his hand to pluck one.


    ~rustle~


    The tree lightly shook as Lin Mu took hold of the new green apple. He could smell the faint fragrance of the blossoms on it, but it was also mixed with a far sweeter feeling. Finding it to be different, Lin Mu wondered why it had changed.


    Probing it with his spirit sense, Lin Mu got his answer.


    "Huh? Wood spirit Qi?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    He could tell that these green apples were different in that they didn''t just contain normal attribute less spirit Qi. But rather the Wood spirit Qi.


    Looking at the apple for a moment, Lin Mu took a bite.


    ~CRUNCH~


    The apple was firm in texture, and when his teeth sank in it, a perfect crunch was heard. The sweet juices of the apple spread in Lin Mu''s mouth, but the vor was different than the normal one that he had tasted till now.


    ~gulp~


    After chewing for a bit, Lin Mu swallowed it down and felt the effects it.


    "No¡­ it''s not just wood spirit Qi¡­" Lin Mu was surprised.


    He could feel pure wood energy spreading through his belly.


    Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as he stared at the spirit apple tree.


    "It¡­ actually made wood elemental apples?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    He knew that the difference between a fruit that had elemental spirit Qi and elemental energy was slight, but the uses of it were greatly different.


    After all, the elemental spirit Qi could be used for Qi cultivation while the pure elemental energy, which was simr to vital energy was used for body cultivation!


    "This is good¡­ now you have a way to actually continue your body cultivation." Xukong said after witnessing everything.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and felt happy. Even if he had no body cultivation technique for his fifth treasure organ, that would be his liver, it would still be possible.


    As long as he continued to eat the wood elemental spirit apples, or other such materials, he would continue to progress passively. It was the same as what he had done with the cial Shell Snail Queen flesh.


    Though it would certainly not be as fast as that.


    "Who knows how many wood spirit apples I would have to consume for it to be equal to the cial Shell Snail Queen flesh? It might not even help me after a certain point." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Still, it was better than nothing for him and he would be content with it.


    "At least it should give you some help until you find a suitable cultivation technique." Xukong spoke.


    "Indeed. That will serve as a temporary recement." Lin Mu nodded his head.


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    He looked at the spirit apple tree and checked the other apples.


    "These ones are the same as before¡­ though the spirit Qi in them is higher than before." Lin Mu analyzed.


    Counting the number of wood spirit apples and the normal spirit applies, Lin Mu saw that the ratio was roughly one to ten.


    "Ten percent of them can be wood spirit apples¡­ though we still don''t know the growth rate of them." Lin Mu said as he started to pluck all the apples from the tree.


    After all, the tree would only make more when the already grown and ripen apples were plucked. A couple of minutester, the tree was free from the fruits and only the vibrant green leaves could be seen on it.


    Lin Mu continued to watch it for an hour more, but didn''t see any more changes or growth in it.


    "Seems like the rapid growth was only in response to the source veins. It has probably returned to its normal growth cycle." Lin Mu reckoned.


    He looked at the Purple Sickle Amaranth and knew that it was because of this spirit nt that the change in spirit apple tree happened.


    "I wonder¡­ if other elemental spirit nts that produce spirit qi are like this can also have an effect on the spirit apple tree?" Lin Mu said as a few ideas appeared in his mind.


    "Might be worth the try. But such nts that can produce elemental spirit Qi are rare and far few in between. You might not find them in this world." Xukong replied.

 Chapter 1099 A Refreshing Experience

    Lin Mu was very interested in finding such nts, but knew that the process would be hard.


    "Hmm¡­ they just don''t have to be nts that made spirit Qi. They also have to be conscious like them." Lin Mu spoke.


    "If its that, then the ones you know of in this world are only in the Great Southern Forest." Xukong replied.


    "Indeed¡­ but there is no guarantee they produce elemental spirit Qi." Lin Mu added.


    "That is true. Not just in this world, nts that produce spirit Qi are very rare. And one''s that make their own spirit are even more rare." Xukong said.


    "Wait! Their own spirit Qi? You mean not from the air?" Lin Mu said in astonishment.


    "Yes¡­ certain nts can make entirely new spirit Qi that does not stem from the world." Xukong confirmed.


    Lin Mu knew that the elemental spirit Qi the purple sickle amaranth produced didn''te out of nowhere. Rather, it was transformed by the nt using the attribute less spirit Qi present within the air.


    All beings would take spirit Qi from the world itself, whether it be in air, earth or water.


    Even in the Lost Immortal''s memoirs, Lin Mu had note across any such nts.


    "But¡­ how''s that possible senior? How can they make it out of nowhere?" Lin Mu couldn''t understand.


    "That is just the mystery that the nts hold. Unless you find them and uncover them on your own, there is no way to know." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu would be lying if he didn''t say he was greatly interested in this.


    He silently added another thing to his goals for the future.


    ''I''ll surely find a nt such as thatter.'' Lin Mu decided.


    Lin Mu and Xukong talked a little more about the current matters and ns before he decided to wake up. He reckoned it had been several hours by now.


    "Let''s see if Little Shrubby is done or not." Lin Mu muttered as he closed his eyes in the Sleepscape.


    He felt his senses fading away and when they finally returned, he was in the Realm world.


    ~Huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he recalled all that had happened. It was a refreshing experience for him as not only was he reminded of his mother''s memories from the fragrance of the apple blossoms, got a way to continue his body cultivation, but also got a goal for the future.


    He opened his eyes and looked at the beast in the distance. The Dao Shell with the Dao Embryo had already disappeared by now, which was a sign that Little Shrubby had already adapted to his new cultivation base.


    ~step~step~step~


    Lin Mu stood up and walked up to the beast that seemed to be sleeping.


    "Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu rubbed his head.


    ~grrr~


    A low voice came from the beast''s mouth, before it lightly shook. His tail moved around as the eyelids twitched.


    Then slowly, Little Shrubby opened his eyes.


    "Master¡­" He lightly muttered.


    "Congrattion on your breakthrough." Lin Mu spoke as he lightly scratched the beast''s ears.


    "Mmm¡­." Little Shrubby enjoyed the scratches for a bit before it finally got up.


    "How do you feel?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Like I can run across the world nonstop." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Haha~" Lin Mu couldn''t help but chucked but reckoned that it was urate.


    Just from the suppressed aura that Lin Mu could sense within Little Shrubby''s body, he knew the beast had reached a new level.


    "With your bloodlines being strengthened, you should certainly be faster and stronger." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "I want to see it!" Little Shrubby said with excitement.


    "Oh you will," Lin Mu said as his expression turned serious. "And we have the perfect ce to test it out." He added while gazing out to the south.


    ¡­


    "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" A man wearing the robes of the Zither Wind Sect shouted. "We have to refine all these by the end of this week."


    "YES ELDER!" The disciples replied in unison while they continued their task.


    Hundreds of them were currently working in what looked like a refinement hall. There were various cauldrons, furnaces and many more tools set up here. The disciples worked on them and refined the many materials that were being given to them by other disciples.


    Multiple spirit Qi fluctuations could be felt from the hall, as multiple things happened at once.


    Such a scene could be witnessed all over the Zither Wind sect, and the entire sect seemed to be very busy. Though the reason behind it was unknown.


    The disciples had been working without a break for the past two months and even they didn''t know why it exactly was. At first they had been told it was because they needed to supply the needed resources for the conflict, but now they were not so sure.


    "Elder brother, I tallied the shipment logs yesterday and they are too excessive." One of the disciples that was in charge of noting down the production spoke to the man standing next to him.


    The man being called elder brother furrowed his brows and looked at his junior brother.


    "Keep your voice low." He said in a stern voice. "Do you want to get into trouble?"


    ~gulp~


    The junior brother swallowed his saliva and looked around, making sure that no one was paying attention to him.


    "Come with me. We can''t talk here." The elder brother spoke.


    The two of them went to a small room in the hall which was used to store documents.


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    "Elder brother, why¡­"


    "I know already." The man was interrupted.


    "Huh?" the junior brother was surprised.


    "I''ve been suspecting something was wrong for a while now¡­ the actions of the elders have been extremely absurd. Do you really think our sect, which used to keep to itself and was rtively peaceful for hundreds of years, would suddenly decide to forge an alliance and unleash a war?" The elder brother said.


    "That''s¡­ true." The junior brother nodded.


    "We need to be prepared¡ª" Just as the elder brother was about to say something, he was interrupted.


    ~KABOOM!!!~

 Chapter 1100 Chaos At The Zither Wind Sect

    "WHAT WAS THAT ?!!!!!" The junior brother shouted as he tried to stabilize his footing.


    The Elder brother caught onto his junior brother''s shoulder and looked around.


    ~Boom~


    ~Boom~


    ~ng~


    "NOOO!! MY PILLS!!"


    "DAMMIT! TWO DAYS OF WORK HAS GONE TO SHIT!"


    Several cries of pain and frustration were heard as the work that the disciples were doing failed due tithe explosion that rocked the ground.


    "All disciples stay put!" The elders quickly responded, but were confused about the explosion too.


    "We need to check on the disciples¡ª" The junior brother was about to go but was pulled by his elder brother.


    "Stop!" He said firmly.


    "What? Why brother?" The junior brother asked.


    "We can take this chance to leave." The Elder brother said in a low voice while looking around.


    "Leave? How can we do that?" the junior brother was confused.


    "Fool. Like I was saying before, the Zither Wind sect has gone insane. If we keep on staying with them, we will only suffer. Don''t you know the West ocean sect was eradicated?" The elder brother exined.


    "But what has that to do with us? Do we just leave the sect because of fear of that?" the junior brother said. "And besides, we will be ouws if we do that." He added.


    "That is a risk we have to take¡­ and if my information is right¡­ the Zither wind sect won''t exist long anyway." The elder brother stated.


    Hearing this, the junior brother furrowed his brows.


    "Where¡­ exactly did you get information like this elder brother?" The junior brother asked, feeling suspicious.


    "You don''t need to know that for now. Let''s just get out of here first." The elder brother replied.


    "How do we go out under the gazes of the elders, though?" The junior brother inquired, seeing that the elders were already standing at the gates.


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    "Come¡­" The elder brother gestured the junior brother to follow him.


    The junior brother silently followed him, and saw that they had returned to the main hall.


    "Elders! What''s the problem?"


    "Yeah, what was that explosion?"


    "We lost so many resources in that."


    The disciples allined to the elders, watching over them.


    "Just go and do your assigned duties. The other elders will be taking care of the issues outside. All of you just need to work!" The elders firmly stated.


    The disciples were intimidated from their words and couldn''t say anything, even if they wanted to.


    Swallowing down their words, they returned to their work stations.


    The elder brother took this chance while they were distracted to take out a certain talisman from his storage treasure. He pped it onto a particr spot on the wall and quickly moved from there.


    "What did you do there?" The junior brother asked doubtfully, not being able to see properly.


    "Just follow my leadter. And be ready!" The elder brother warned.


    Then he turned and pretended to watch the disciples working and the junior brother could only observe his elder brother for now.


    If one looked closely, they would see the hands of the elder brother trembling.


    His gaze was locked onto a certain disciple that was working on a cauldron. The cauldrons had copsed, and he was setting it up straight again. Once he did that, the disciples added resources to it and was just about to activate it.


    But just when he touched the formation array that supplied the spirit Qi to it, something happened.


    ~BOOM!!!~


    "ARGH!!!!!" The disciples were sent flying as the cauldron exploded.


    "WHAT THE¡ª" The junior disciples were shocked by the sudden explosion.


    But that was merely the start¡­


    ~BOOM~


    Another cauldron nearby exploded, sending more disciples flying and igniting the resources kept in a stack nearby.


    ~BOOM~


    On the other corner, a refinement array copsed and the spirit tool that was being made was affected. It destabilized and exploded as well!


    The shrapnel cut the disciples and even injured the elders with how far it spread.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    One after the other, more and more explosions happened as the formation arrays started to break down.


    "NOW!" the elder brother said and ran towards the exit, which was now open with the elders being knocked away as well.


    The junior elder frantically ran after his elder brother and felt scared. He knew that it was his elder brother that had caused all this.


    ''Just to escape, he destroyed the entire formation array of the hall¡­ the punishment for this will be death!'' The junior brother was terrified.


    In the dust and smoke of explosions that were littered with chaotic spirit Qi fluctuations, the two brothers managed to escape the hall. But upon leaving it they saw that the sect wasn''t all good.


    ~KABOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    Several explosions were happening all over the sect and long stacks of smoke could be seen in the distance.


    The hall they were working in was isted for the most part, thus they had not heard all this happening. Which was the reason why they were confused upon being rocked by an explosions.


    "What in the name of heavens is happening?" The junior brother was left speechless.


    But the elder brother''s reaction was different.


    "Just like senior said¡­ his words were correct." The elder brother muttered and took out a small t stone from his ring.


    He held it for a few seconds before getting some information.


    "Come! We can''t stay here long!" The elder brother grabbed his junior and flew to a particr location.


    The junior brother could only be pulled along and was brought to a small servant residence.


    ~Creak~


    The entered the residence and saw several people waiting there. But the most eye catching among them was a man that seemed to have a sharp face. His body was also emitting strong spirit Qi waves.


    "D-Dao Treading realm?!" the junior brother was stunned. ''Why is someone like that here?''


    Much to his surprise, though, he saw his brother stepping forward.


    "Thank you for your information Senior Yulong!" The elder brother said with gratitude.


    "Mm¡­ Come in, we''ll leave in a short while." The man named Senior Yulong replied.

 Chapter 1101 HE IS LIN MU!

    <h4>Chapter 1101 HE IS LIN MU!</h4>


    The junior brother was utterly confused will all this. And he had many reasons for that too.


    Firstly, his senior brother had basically blown up the refinement hall. Then he had gotten them out of it without permission. And now they were here meeting a Dao Treading realm cultivator who could easily be a supreme elder in the sect.


    All of it was greatly confusing for him, and he didn''t know what to make of it.


    For now, he just decided to watch his elder brother and continue to watch, hoping that his mind would calm down somehow.


    "Senior Yulong, are all of them here?" The elder brother asked.


    "Only a handful are left. They should be here soon¡­ and if not, we have no choice but to leave." Yulong replied.


    "I see¡­ but aren''t we a little early? I thought your information said it would take a week more." The elder brother asked.


    "Yeah, we were surprised too senior." The others chimed in as well.


    "You are not alone." Yulong spoke, much to their shock. "I was caught off guard too."


    "WHAT!?" The people here eximed.


    "How is that possible?" The elder brother asked.


    "Well¡­ I was originally supposed to initiate this. But¡­" Yulong took a pause and took out arge jade slip.


    ~shua~


    The jade slip activated and a stream of runes came out of it. The runes all joined together and formed into a formation that transformed into a screen. A secondter, several scenes appeared on this screen.


    "Instead of me¡­ an unexpected person has taken the chance." Yulong stated.


    The disciples all looked at the screen and were shocked to hell.


    "Who¡­ what¡­ are they?" The disciples could barely speak.


    On the screen, they could see two beings. One man and one beast. The man had a golden sheen on his body and tens of spirit weapons flew around him.


    The beast on the other hand was massive and was covered with mes. Its true figure couldn''t be seen, but with every swipe of his ws,rge fire balls shot out, burning and destroying everything in their path.


    The disciples watched as the man in the screen, was intercepted by other elders.


    "Isn''t that the Supreme elder and the first and second high elders!?" The disciples identified.


    But what they saw only flipped their understanding of the world. The man with the golden sheen on his body, who should have been suppressed and killed with ease, beat up the elders.


    His golden fists were like hammers that pulverized their flesh and bone, leaving them crying out for mercy. But the cold look on the man''s face only terrified them even more.


    "EEEK!" A few disciples screamed as they saw an unbelievable scene.


    "The Supreme elder is dead?" They saw as the man with the golden fists knocked the supreme elder''s head clean off with a punch whose power was unfathomable.


    And just as they saw this, an explosion was heard outside.


    ~KABOOM!~


    ~RUMBLE~


    "AAAH!" The disciples were startled as they saw the corner of the residence being blown off.


    In response to this, Yulong flipped his free hand and threw out three talismans that quickly formed a triangr barrier around them.


    But with the part of the residence destroyed, the disciples could see the scene outside. And what they saw there almost made them faint.


    "A head?"


    "No¡­ that''s the supreme elder''s head!"


    Lying close to the residence was nothing but the supreme elder''s head, which they had just seen getting punched off from his neck.


    ~ROAR!!!~


    A thunderous roar shook the sect as a crushing spirit Qi pressure was released.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Several of the weaker disciples were unable to bear it and directly fell to their knees.


    "UGH!" The junior brother gritted his teeth, but still managed to hold on.


    "Dao treading realm?" The elder brother gazed at the screen and saw that the roar hade from none other than the beast.


    "Seems like my information was a bit wrong¡­" Yulong spoke before a smile appeared on his face. "It is even better than I imagined, AHAHAHA!" he suddenly burst outughing.


    The disciples were far too terrified upon hearing that it was a Dao treading realm beast wreaking havoc on the sect rather than be confused by Yulong''s actions.


    "Senior¡­ we need to leave. We won''t survive in the coteral damage!" The elder brother said hurriedly.


    "No¡­" but much to his disbelieving, Yulong denied.


    "What? WHY?!" The elder brother questioned in doubt.


    The others who were alsoing to terms were confused as well.


    "Why can''t we leave? We''ll only die if we stay here." The others spoke.


    "Ahahaha! You all don''t understand. Now that he is here¡­ this is the safest ce. If you try to leave the sect you''ll be killed before you even step in the outer court." Yulong said.


    "How can that be? Wasn''t our goal to leave in the first ce?"


    "YES! Senior, you promised us that you will help us escape the sect!" the female disciples pleaded.


    "That was indeed the case before¡­ but look," Yulong pointed to the screen.


    The eyes of the disciples stared as the scene on it changed. Now they saw droves of disciples trying to run out. But just as they reached the border of the outer court, they were all ignited!


    The small mes that were burning on the periphery and looked rather unassuaged suddenly zed and grew into a wall, burning everyone that passed through it.


    "A formation?" Someone wondered.


    "No¡­ that is pure skill." One of the Nascent soul disciples spoke in shock.


    "Indeed¡­ with that man and beast here, our goals are already fulfilled. Now we just have to stay put and wait for him to save us." Yulong stated.


    "Save us!?" Everyone was confused after hearing it.


    "Indeed." Yulong nodded his head.


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    "Who is he?" the elder brother couldn''t help but questions.


    "He is the one who destroyed the West ocean sect and the Ripple mist sect. He is the alliance leader of The Long cloud Alliance; LIN MU!"

 Chapter 1102 End Of Zither Wind Sect

    Lin Mu''s name was not something that was known outside of the alliance itself, thus the disciples who heard it were confused.


    "That''s the alliance leader of the Long Cloud Alliance? Howe we''ve never heard of him?" Someone asked.


    "Yeah, isn''t the alliance leader supposed to be the Patriarch of the Long Cloud sect, Yi You?" the junior brother asked.


    "That is what was said to be on the surface, but the true person behind it all is him." Yulong replied with a smile.


    ''Lin Mu, Lin Mu¡­ it''s been such a long time. If not for you showing me the way in life, perhaps I would have already been dead.'' Yulong thought to himself as a few memories passed though his mind.


    "What do we do now, then? Won''t we be caught in the crossfire if we stay here?" The junior brother asked and took another look at the broken roof.


    "Look at them, their attacks have already ttened half of the outer court!" One of the disciples pointed at the screen.


    On it, one could see Lin Mu standing on the ground which had caved in and turned into a crater. The ground had sunk nearly three meters deep, and the radius of the crater along was about a kilometer!


    Standing in the crater Lin Mu gazed at the two men beneath him.


    "Begone from this world." Lin Mu lightly spoke and stomped on the greatly injured bodies of the two high elders.


    He had already killed the supreme elder and the two high elders were thest of the Dao Treading realm experts that were currently present in the Zither Wind sect. Lin Mu''s spirit sense had already scanned the entire sect and he knew that there was no one else among the sect''s higher ups here.


    ''Where did the patriarch of the Zither Wind sect go? Did he go to the Gu Legion like the Ripple Mist sect''s patriarch did?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He didn''t know why the patriarch would leave their sects unattended, without a reason.


    "Gu Yao probably summoned them and have been keeping them there." Lin Mu could only think of this for now.


    ~BOOM~


    And while he was getting thinking of the next course of action, a few more explosions happened in the distance.


    ~ROAR~


    Lin Mu looked and saw Little Shrubby fighting against seven elders at once. Or rather, fighting was an overstatement, as the elders were being beaten with little to no effort. Their attacks couldn''t even touch Little Shrubby, as he could outrun them.


    And they couldn''t bear Little Shrubby''s attacks as they were filled with a heat and crushing power that broke through their defenses with ease.


    "Finish it Little Shrubby, we got more stuff to do." Lin Mu spoke.


    ~GRRR~


    "Alright!" Little Shrubby replied with a growl that terrified the four elder that were still alive.


    ~SHUA~


    ~BOOM~


    Little Shrubby moved at such a great speed that the very air tore apart, creating a sonic boom.


    "AARGGHHHHH!!!!¡ª" The elders could only let out half a shout before they were directly exploded!


    ~HISS~


    Their remains were directly turned to dust and blown away by the wind, leaving behind nothing.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby moved and appeared next to Lin Mu just a secondter.


    "I''m done~" Little Shrubby spoke.


    "Did you get their storage?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course!" Little Shrubby shook his neck and nine storage treasures fell out of it.


    They had been caught into Little Shrubby''s fur when he had attacked the elder. At his speed, one couldn''t even see when he picked all of them up.


    "Perfect." Lin Mu said before taking a quick look through their storage treasure.


    He wanted to find some more clues about Gu Yao or the patriarch or anything basically.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows as the storage treasures of the nine elders were basically empty, other than a few pills and spirit stones.


    Their spirit weapons had already been destroyed during the battle with Little Shrubby. Mid grade or even high grade spirit weapons weren''t durable enough to withstand Little Shrubby''s attacks now.


    Though Lin Mu didn''t really mind the weapons, as he had plenty of his own.


    "Did you find anything?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "No¡­ it''s strange." Lin Mu replied before taking a look through the storage treasure of the two high elders he had killed earlier.


    "Strange¡­ they have even fewer resources than the other elders. And don''t have anything else either." Lin Mu said after searching.


    "What about the supreme elder?" Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "His body didn''t have any spatial storage treasures on them." Lin Mu replied.


    "Did you check his head?" Xukong suggested.


    "His head?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows, then recalled that the supreme elder did have a hair clip tying his hair in ce.


    "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that." Lin Mu said before spreading his spirit sense.


    "There it is." Lin Mu spotted the head nearly two kilometers away in the inner court of the sect.


    Lin Mu flew towards the ce where the head was, and Little Shrubby followed after him.


    ~sniff~


    But just as they reached it, Little Shrubby sensed something.


    "There are some people here, master." Little Shrubby said through their link.


    Lin Mu raised his brows and checked with his spirit sense again, not finding anything.


    Even though he didn''t find anything right away, Lin Mu didn''t doubt little shrubby''s words.


    ''A formation array to hide themselves?'' Lin Mu guessed.


    It was rather surprising to him as a formation array that could hide from his spirit sense was not simple.


    Narrowing his eyes, Lin Mu picked up the head of the supreme elder and took the hair clip from it.


    "It''s indeed the spatial storage tool he has." Lin Mu confirmed.


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    But he didn''t check it right away, instead he gazed at the broken residence a short distance from him.


    "Why don''t you alle out? I know you all see me." Lin Mu calmly spoke.


    But even though his voice was calm, the disciples hiding in the residence couldn''t help but shiver upon hearing it. After all, Lin Mu had just killed the strongest elders of their sect without even so much as breaking a sweat!


    There were no injuries on his body, and not even his robes seemed to have been dirtied.


    Then there was also the giant beast next to him, that was ring at them. The powerful auraing from the beast was another terrifying factor to him.


    For ten seconds, no sound was heard from the residence.


    "AHahahah~" But then a man''sughter was heard.


    Lin Mu looked on as a man walked out from the residence. And when he did, the formation array isting the residence also disappeared, allowing him to perceive the disciples of the Zither wind sect hiding inside.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense swept over them, making them almost faint.


    ''Such spirit sense¡­ not even patriarch is on this level¡­'' The elder brother thought to himself as a bead of cold sweat dripped down the side of his temple.


    Lin Mu also saw all their expressions of fear and nervousness and guessed why they were there.


    ''So they took shelter there due to the battle¡­ can''tin about that.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He could also tell that these disciples were free from the Human Controlling blood curse as well as the muddy spirit Qi of the pills of grace. Thisbined meant that he had no reason to hold a grudge against them.


    Besides, Lin Mu hadn''t killed all the people of the sect either. He had not targeted themon disciples but only those that were clearly under the human controlling blood curse or had taken the pills of grace.


    Even the me barrier that Little Shrubby had set up with his new understanding of fire only targeted those that had that scent on them. The mes would react with merely a thought as Little Shrubby could smell everything that had happened around him.


    Thus, the actual loss of human life in the sect was not absolute. Though the numbers f disciples that had taken the pills of grace was still rather high. And Lin Mu couldn''t let that go.


    Hence, even with Lin Mu''s conservative efforts, over half of the sect had still be eradicated.


    But all that was put at the back of his mind as Lin Mu now had a new thing to focus on for now.


    Lin Mu watched as a man came and stood some distance away from him.


    "What''s a Dao Treading realm cultivator like you doing here? You are certainly not an elder of the sect." Lin Mu spoke as he knew each and every elder with the information he had been given a while ago.


    "You are certainly not the same as I remember you¡­ Lin Mu." Yulong spoke.


    Lin Mu raised his brows, as this was the first time he was recognized.


    "And who might you be?" Lin Mu questioned, not minding that the man knew him.


    "Ah! I almost forgot." Yulong replied before he took out a pill and ate it.


    Lin Mu let him do it as he felt no threat from the man. But a few secondster, he saw the man''s face change. It twitched and wiggled before its features started to change. The sharp jawline became a bit more curved while the eyes widened.


    The brows lifted and the nose became bigger as well. About half a minuteter, the appearance of the man had entirely changed!


    "Jiao Fang!?" Lin Mu was surprised, seeing an old acquaintance.

 Chapter 1103 Jiao Fang: Ally Or Foe?

    <h4>Chapter 1103 Jiao Fang: Ally Or Foe?</h4>


    Lin Mu had not expected to see an old acquaintance like him here. Though he didn''t know how to think about the man either. After their coboration at the Tri Cauldron Peony Sect Lin Mu hadn''t talked to the man at all as their links were broken.


    Not to mention, Lin Mu wasn''t too keen about the man''s character either, as he had known the man''s secrets and all that he had done in the past, including ughtering his ownpanions.


    And even recently, he had been the one to have killed Wu Xun. But then he had also killed a lot of the people of the Gu Legion as well as the sects of the Zither Wind Alliance. this it was also a bit in their favor.


    Jiao Fang too gazed at Lin Mu and had a smile on his face.


    "I''m pleased that you remember me, Alliance leader Lin Mu." Jiao Fang spoke. "I''ve been intending to meet you for quite some time."


    "I see¡­ and might I ask why are you here in the sect¡­ or how did youe to this sect?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Ah, of course. Though I reckon I should at least establish the fact that I do not mean you any harm, and neither do I mean any harm to the Long Cloud Alliance." Jiao Fang stated.


    "Oh? So you want to ally with us?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You could say that." Jiao Fang answered tly.


    ''He doesn''t seem very keen on this either.'' Lin Mu could tell from his tone.


    Lin Mu didn''t outright say it to the man''s face, though. He could easily guess that the man had some agenda of his own. After all, if he wanted to ally with them, he could have very easilye to the Long Cloud sect to do that. There was no way the sect would reject another Dao Treading realm cultivator joining them.


    Then there was also the fact that Lin Mu forehand suspicions about Jiao Fang and some more things he had done. Lin Mu had not forgotten that the man had been called Yulong and that there was another Yulong who had been to the Iron Bull city and how he had joined the people of the Gu Legion there.


    Lin Mu had a lot of questions and he was sure as hell going to get the answers from Jiao Fang.


    ''And if he does not give satisfying answers¡­ perhaps he doesn''t need to exist either.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as a cold look shed in his eyes.


    Jiao Fang involuntarily shivered and felt a hint of danger from Lin Mu.


    While he didn''t know why he felt it, he knew that it wasn''t a good idea to make the man who had just killed half of the sect wait.


    "Senior Lin Mu, I''ll we''ll talk soon. But I have a promise to fulfill first." Jiao Fang replied.


    "A promise?" Lin Mu asked, feeling doubtful and then remembered there were more people here.


    Jiao Fang nodded his head and turned back to face the broken residence.


    "Come out, all of you." Jiao Fang called. "Come out and greet Alliance Leader Lin Mu."


    ~gulp~


    Unified sound of gulping could be heard as the disciples in the residence felt a bit afraid. But at the same time, they knew it was not a good idea to dy at all.


    Gritting his teeth, the elder brother was the one to step out first.


    "Greetings Alliance Leader Lin Mu." The elder brother said with his hands cupped and his head bowed.


    The Elder brother was older looking to be in his mid forties. Compared to Lin Mu, he was the same age to be his father. And yet he didn''t mind activating subserviently. Or rather, seeing Lin Mu''s young appearance, he was even more terrified.


    ''Just what kind of an expert is this? There is no information about him at all and yet he is this strong? How deep and hidden must his power and influence must be?'' The elder brother thought to himself.


    He had been in the Zither Wind sect for nearly two hundred years now and had joined it back when he wasn''t even at the Qi refining realm. When he joined, he was a mere servant and had reached the position of an overseeing inner court disciple with his own handwork.


    He could even be said to be a little talented as he had reached the Nascent soul realm at the age of less than three hundred. Though he was only at the lowest stage of the Infant Soul Stage.


    But he was not alone here either. Once he rose up in status, he also helped his younger brother along. The younger brother wasn''t his blood brother, but just someone his father adopted. And yet the bond between them was no less than that of real brothers.


    Having greeted Lin Mu first, his young brother flowed after him too.


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    "Greetings Alliance Leader Lin Mu."


    With the two brothers taking the lead, the rest of the disciples appeared as well and greeted Lin Mu in unison.


    Lin Mu of course, didn''t care for such formalities and didn''t require such actions from others. But it still gave him an opportunity to assess these disciples. From their expressions, he could tell this much hat they weren''t really mad about the Zither Wind Sect being destroyed.


    Which was strange, as Lin Mu hadn''t done anything to make them act like this. After all, unlike the Ripple Mist sect, he hadn''t shown them the reality of the sect and what they had been doing.


    ''Is Jiao Fang behind this?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    And just as Lin Mu looked at the man, he understood the look and began his exnation.


    "Senior Lin Mu, these disciples are all those that have learned the truth of the Zither Wind Alliance over the years. They were suspicious and didn''t feelfortable here and were looking for a means to escape." Jiao Fang exined.


    "And I''m guessing you decided to be the one to assist them with it?" Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 1104 Jiao Fang’s Goals And Four Reborn

    <h4>Chapter 1104 Jiao Fang''s Goals And Four Reborn</h4>


    The disciples standing behind Jiao Fang nervously looked at the two of them, afraid to let out even breathe loudly.


    "Precisely." Jiao Fang spoke. "It also served my purpose, thus I gave them a means to escape. I even came here to take them personally and was going to cause some chaos to get the right opportunity." He added, and took a pause.


    "Though¡­ you came before I ever got to doing that." Jiao Fang said with slight pleasure on his face.


    "Very well¡­ since you want to get them out, you can. Though I don''t think you will face any resistance now, they should be able to leave on their own." Lin Mu replied.


    "There are still dangers lingering in this sect, Senior Lin Mu. We will have to guide them out." Jiao Fang stated.


    Lin Mu raised his brows and guessed what Jiao Fang was talking about.


    He then waved his hand and withdrew several things from the ring. "Do you mean these?"


    ~thud~thud~thud~


    In front of Jiao Fangnded chunks of ck flesh and bones. The disciples who nced at it were scared and wondered what did this belong to. But Jiao Fang knew exactly what it was.


    "You¡­ got rid of the Reborn already?" Jiao Fang was stunned.


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    "They were the first I got rid of upon entering the sect. Only after I had gotten rid of all of them did I attack the elders." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing this Jiao Fang was left confused and surprised. He knew about the existence of the Reborn hidden in the Zither wind sect. They were to act as a backup n for Gu Yao and would be unleashed when a great trouble came upon the sect.


    They could act as a sword to initiate and attack, a shield to defend from foes and as a dagger to cull any internal resistance. The Reborn were to be released out, if a specific amount of people died in the sect or if anyone that Gu Yao had deemed worthy within the sect died.


    They would also be released if the disciples of the sect started to protest and tried to escape.


    The reborn would awaken and consume all those that opposed and kick start the next stage of Gu Yao''s n early.


    Jiao Fang was sure that now that Lin Mu had basically killed all the elders of the sect, the Reborn was bound to be released. It was also the threat that would prevent them from leaving, as they were kept not in the sect but rather the outskirts.


    The Zither Wind sect also had more than just one Reborn. While Jiao Fang didn''t know the exact number, he did know that the strongest Reborn amount them was at least equivalent to the Dao treading realm.


    Even he didn''t have the confidence to kill all of them and had only nned to escape them using some skills and techniques of his. He wasn''t evenpletely sure about saving all the disciples.


    And they weren''t exactly important to him, either. He was merely using them as a means to and end. If the disciples escaped and the chaos caused by him spread, the reborn would awaken and destroy the sect.


    All this would eventually lead to the same result that he wanted.


    But now with Lin Mu''s appearance, a new route had appeared that still took him to the same result.


    "I-is¡­ is this what you warned us about, Senior Yulong?" The elder brother asked after mustering some courage.


    "Yes¡­ these are what the Gu Legion and the Zither Wind alliance have been making in coboration." Jiao Fang said before giving them a short exnation on how they were made.


    Lin Mu let the man exin himself while he scanned the area with his spirit sense.


    ''The stores of their resources were already for the most part when I came here. It also seemed like it was all done in a hurry. Gu Yao must have picked up on what I was doing and got them to shift everything away.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    When he had entered the Zither Wind sect, the first thing he had done was to look for the hidden resources. But since he didn''t find them, he was suspicious and didn''t know how that had happened.


    Later he discovered the Reborn that were hidden outside the sect''s main area, but still within its territory. There were a total of four of them, out of which two had strength that was equivalent to that of Dao Treading realm and two at the very peak of the Dao Shell realm.


    Thankfully, killing them was a very easy task for Lin Mu and only took a single attack to break them apart. And since they were in a sealed state too, it was even easier.


    With the reborn erased, Lin Mu finally decided to attack the sect. And the ce he started with was the ce that would hurt them the most: the blood pools.


    He summoned Little Shrubby and devastated them in a matter of moments. Little Shrubby finally got to show his powers that were worthy of praise.


    It was also at this time that the other elders found out about him and were quick to appear. The explosions that were heard in the refinement hall were also due to Lin Mu sting the entire blood pool hall to smithereens.


    Since the formation arrays were deeply connected with all parts of the sect, the damage dealt to it had far reaching effects. Which was the reason why the refinement hall shook and everyone was startled despite it being protected by an isting and defensive formation array.


    Lin Mu stopped his search when Jiao Fang spoke to him again and was done with the disciples.


    "The disciples will now take a leave. Do you have a ce you can rmend they can go?" Jiao Fang asked with a smile.


    Lin Mu looked at the pale faces of the disciples and knew that the truth was not easy for them.

 Chapter 1105 Circumstances Of The Past

    Lin Mu decided to do the same that he had done for the Ripple Mist Sect diciest for them.


    "Go to the Green Mill city southwest of here. There is an alliance outpost there, they will take you in." Lin Mu spoke before making a token and giving it to them.


    The disciples looked at the token and saw a character inscribed on it. They couldn''t read it, but the appearance of it was rather profound to them. Jiao Fang looked over it and narrowed his eyes.


    "Ordained?" He actually managed to read it.


    "This means ordained, Senior Yulong?" The elder brother asked.


    "Yes¡­ just keep it to yourself and do as Senior Lin Mu said. Quickly leave the sect. The farther away you are from here, the better it will be for you." Jiao Fang replied, not intending to exin to them about the character.


    "As youmand Senior!" The disciples all cupped their hands and swiftly left.


    The elder brother actually took out what looked like arge cart from his storage treasure. The cart expanded and became three times the original size. The rest of the disciples who couldn''t fly as fast as the others jumped onto the cart and the elder brother controlled it.


    ~SHUA~


    The cart took flight and disappeared beyond the hills. It was actually a spirit vehicle!


    Once the disciples were gone, Jiao Fang looked back at Lin Mu.


    "Shall we find a ce to talk?" Jiao Fang asked.


    "Yes¡­ I also need to get some clues to the Gu Legion here." Lin Mu replied.


    "I believe I can help you with that." Jiao Fang said with a smile.


    "Of course¡­ you joined them too, didn''t you?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I did indeed¡­ though for proper reasons." Jiao Fang said as he flew up. "Follow me,"


    Lin Mu followed behind the man while Little Shrubby went away to clean up. He had been given orders to gather anything valuable that he could find. Little Shrubby already had many spatial storage treasures with him, and he would be able to get tons of stuff.


    And if he found something that he couldn''t store or had reached full capacity, all he would need to do is to mark the ce and Lin Mu woulde to get itter on.


    With the master and beast splitting up work, they became a lot more efficient.


    ''He''s taking me to the main peak?'' Lin Mu noticed.


    Jiao Fang was flying towards the main peak of the Zither Wind sect. This was where all the higher ups of the sect lived and also where its great hall was located.


    In less than two minutes they were there, and nothing could stop them as all the formation arrays had already broken down by now. There were still some disciples left here, but when they saw Lin Mu and Jiao Fang they quickly ran away.


    The two of them didn''t care much for them either and let them escape. These people were no threat to them.


    Soon, the two of them were in the private chambers of the Patriarch of the Zither Wind sect.


    "We''ll talk here." Jiao Fang spoke.


    "That''s fine with me." Lin Mu causally spoke and scanned the chambers with his spirit sense.


    He still didn''t trust Jiao Fang fully and wanted to ensure that there was no trap here. Though Lin Mu wouldn''t get injured or affected by most traps now.


    "I believe you want to know why I''ve been doing all this?" Jiao Fang asked.


    "You got that right. Speak¡­ why would someone like you reach the Dao Treading realm this quickly, kill Wu Xun, join Gu Legion, and then go against them like this?" Lin Mu questioned in a row.


    ~Sigh~


    "It all started from when you escaped from the Tri Cauldron Peony sect." Jiao Fang said and took a deep breath.


    "When you had first spoken that you wanted to take things from the vaults, I had not believed you entirely. But then you proved me wrong and got everything you wanted. Not only that, but you also managed to escape the pursuit of the patriarch of the Tri Cauldron Sect and a lot of elders." Jiao fang spoke, a hint of awe in his eyes.


    "After you were gone, I saw the effects it had on the sect. I saw the tant me game that was yed among themselves. I soon understood that there was something sinister going on in the sect.


    Thus I decided to leave the sect and learn more on my own. Then with some difficulties and a little help, I managed to fake my death and left the Tri Cauldron Peony sect.


    That turned out to be the best decision I made as ater learned that most of the disciples of the Tri Cauldron Sect were forced into seclusion, quoting theck of resources due to your theft.


    The name of the ''Lightning Thief'' could often be heard among the disciples and there were many that resented you. After all, it was only after your actions that their life becameplicated and tough." Jiao Fang exined.


    Hearing his words, Lin Mu could tell what must have happened in the Tri Cauldron Peony sect.


    "Gu Yao turned the disciple into Pills of grace too, didn''t he?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes¡­ the disciples of the Tri Cauldron Peony sect were actually the first ''ingredients'' to be used for it. They were the first test subject and it was only after three-quarters of the disciples were all drained and killed did Gu Yao stop his work.


    Though the true reason behind his stopping was that he had already gained some sess with it, and didn''t need weaker disciples as much. The pills of Grace have been perfected over six years now." Jiao Fang answered, only making Lin Mu feel disgusted and angry about the traitor of the world.


    "And what about you¡­? You are in the Dao Treading realm. I don''t think that is possible to do so fast without very unique condition." Lin Mu questioned.


    Jiao Fang was sure that Lin Mu would ask him questions about his cultivation, as it was easily the most shocking part about him. Forget Lin Mu, even he himself wouldn''t have believed it in the past. And yet, it had be a fact.


    "That is another story¡­ though a part of it is something you should know already." Jiao Fang spoke.


    "Yulong? That expert of the Zither Wind sect?" Lin Mu stated.


    "Indeed. After the information I found in then sect: Yulong''s mnemonics, I went on to discover more ces where he had hidden resources and some skills. I found all of them two years after leaving the Tri Cauldron Peony sect.


    And those resources were enough to let me break through to the Nascent Soul realm.


    But when I found thest ce where the resources were hidden by Yulong, I found something else there too." Jiao Fang said and took a pause.


    Lin Mu continued listening to the man and was fully invested in his words now.


    "What I found was not any resources in that location, but Yulong himself!" Jiao Fang stated.


    "What? How''s that possible? Wasn''t Yulong an elder of the Zither wind sect and had died a while back?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, he was still¡­ dead. But a part of him was alive." Jiao Fang said, surprising Lin Mu.


    Of course Lin Mu knew that Nascent soul realm and above cultivators could survive even if their bodies were killed. They could switch to their Nascent Soul and avoid dying.


    "Did you find a Nascent soul?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­. It was actually a full soul. After Yulong reached close to the end of his lifespan, he had already prepared a method of survival. He was in reality, a spy from the forbidden continent and had been present in The Great Zhou Empire for a long time.


    And due to being from the Forbidden Continent, Yulong had ess to certain northern Tribe techniques that were unique to them. In these techniques, he found one that could allow him to survive even after death.


    And this wasn''t the death one would face after their body died. But rather one in which their entire self was wiped out." Jiao Fang said, thatching Lin Mu''s interest greatly.


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    "While I couldn''t find the technique that Yulong had used, I could still know about it from his memories.


    What the technique did was to kill the body of the user before they died naturally. Then the True Soul of the user would be transferred to their Nascent soul and all the spirit Qi and the rest of their cultivation base would be sealed in it too.


    Yulong went several steps forward and even added several precious resources to it, increasing its value by severalfold.


    Then, he left it in the tombs waiting for someone to find it." Jiao Fang finished speaking.


    "And you came up it in the end¡­ But that still doesn''t exin how you reached the Dao Treading realm as even Yulong was only at the Nascent Soul realm, wasn''t he?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "That is a part that Yulong had fooled everyone with.


    He was actually at the peak of the Dao Shell realm. It was just that he had hidden it well and prevented others from learning about it.


    And when I touched the vessel in which the soul of the man was kept in, I was merged with it directly!


    Yulong tried to take over my body and wreaked havoc on it as well." Jiao Fang answered, much to Lin Mu''s surprise.

 Chapter 1106 Forced Soul Fusion

    The takeover of a body was something that was possible to do by basically any Nascent soul cultivator. Though there were conditions for it too. A nascent soul could forcefully take over a body temporarily, but unless it found apatible body, it wouldn''t be able to stay for long.


    This could be mitigated by several treasures or by simply being stronger.


    For example, the take-over attempt of a Dao Shell realm cultivator would be more powerful than that of a Nascent soul cultivator, and that of a Dao Treading realm cultivator would be even more powerful.


    Thus, Jiao Fang managing to survive even now was no less than a miracle.


    "Then¡­ how are you still alive?" Lin Mu asked.


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    "A little luck, and a little willpower." Jiao Fang replied with a slight smile.


    "Hmm¡­ it''s not just that simple though, is it?" Lin Mu said.


    "You could say that." Jiao Fang spoke with a smile.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and closed them for a moment before opening them again. This time though, his eyes had a different look to them.


    Jiao Fang who saw Lin Mu staring at him, felt like all his secrets were being revealed. Lin Mu''s eyes looked past his body and easily searched the depths without even needing the use of spirit sense.


    And in the depths of Jiao Fang''s Dantian, Lin Mu saw a Nascent soul. If one looked at this Nascent soul with their spirit sense, they would find it to be normal and looking like Jiao Fang.


    But with Lin Mu''s enchained spatial perception, he could tell that it was all merely an illusion. Hidden within that Nascent soul was the true nascent soul!


    And this nascent soul didn''t just looks like Jiao Fang¡­ but another man as well. The two faces kept on changing from time to time, making it look like they were fighting with each other.


    ''Two fused Nascent souls?'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Xukong who had been silently observing everything, couldn''t help but speak up after seeing this.


    "A forced Soul fusion? He actually ended up in this state." Xukong spoke.


    "Forced Soul Fusion? What''s that senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "As you know that Nascent souls can be used to take over other bodies. But there are also ways to prevent that. While some treasures and tools simply repel that, there are a few tools thate with another feature.


    These tools would trigger the owner''s Nascent soul to detonate if it was forcefully token over!" Xukong answered. "Instead of letting one''s body be taken over by someone else and dying, this was a means of mutual destruction."


    "What?!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "It is a vengeful way of ending oneself, but is also considered more dignified than letting ones'' body be taken over by someone else. It is surprisingly something that the orthodox sects approve of." Xukong added.


    "How is this rted to the forced soul fusion though senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Forced Soul fusion is one of the extremely rare oues of a failed takeover. This mostly happens when the one taking over is stronger than the living cultivator. But then the living cultivator would detonate their Nascent soul, trying to kill both in the process.


    But the Nascent soul trying to takeover manages to survive the detonation¡­ at least partially. Then to preserve itself, it would fuse with whatever is left of the original owner''s Nascent soul.


    Usually this would end up in the stronger cultivator managing to take over the body, but the remnants of the previous owner would change the soul. They would get their memories switched or erased. Their personalities might change and they could even turn insane." Xukong exined.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu could now understand what must have happened with Jiao Fang. With all that he had found through Yulong''s inheritances, Lin Mu reckoned there was either some treasure or spirit tool that could allow his Nascent soul to detonate during a forceful takeover.


    "Then Jiao Fang is actually that Yulong?" Lin Mu asked doubtfully.


    "In his case though¡­ it seems like the rate of fusion is in the favor of Jiao Fang. I don''t know if he was simply lucky, or if Yulong''s soul had be too weak, but the soul of Jiao Fang managed to retain most of its part.


    From what I can tell, the true soul of Yulong that was sealed with the Nascent soul has forty to fifty percent control over Jiao Fang''s Nascent soul. But at the same time, Jiao Fang''s True Soul ispletely intact and is still in his body.


    So in all this, Jiao Fang could have been said to have benefited." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ so this turned out to be his fortunate encounter, huh¡­" Lin Mu muttered in his mind.


    While Lin Mu and Xukong had this conversation in their shared mind space, not even a minute had passed by. During this entire time, Lin Mu had been staring at Jiao Fang, making him more and more nervous.


    "Senior?" Jiao Fang couldn''t take it anymore and spoke up.


    "Are you Jiao Fang or are you Yulong? Which soul is under control now?" Lin Mu questioned inly.


    Hearing this, Jiao Fang''s pupil constricted. ''He knows?!''


    ~gulp~


    Jiao Fang gulped down forcefully and didn''t speak for a few seconds. But Lin Mu simply kept on staring deep into his eyes, making him feel more nervous than ever in his life.


    "Of course I am, Jiao Fang! All that is left of Yulong are the memories and his cultivation base." Jiao Fang answered.


    "Hmm¡­ but your Nascent soul says other wise. The two souls are fighting¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    "That¡­ that''s just the Nascent soul. I have full control over the body and the cultivation base. And the current sate of my Nascent soul is only temporary. The stronger I get the weaker Yulong''s Nascent soul will be.


    There wille a time when I''ll be able to purge out his remnant consciousness from my Nascent soul entirely!" Jiao Fang exined.

 Chapter 1107 Gu Yao’s Location

    <h4>Chapter 1107 Gu Yao''s Location</h4>


    Learning that Jiao Fang had fused with the remnants of Yulong, Lin Mu was not ready to fully trust the man.


    He had already heard from Xukong that people such as this could change personalities in the blink of an eye and others wouldn''t even know. There was no saying whether this might happen with Jiao Fang, but Lin Mu wouldn''t bet on that.


    ''The oath would not work on him either, would it, senior?'' Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ the oath affects the true soul. Thus it would only affects Jiao Fang. Thus if Yulong ever takes control, the oath would note in effect. So unless we make Yulong take the oath, it wouldn''t work." Xukong replied.


    "And for Yulong to take the oath, he would have to be in control¡­ right? No use in that either." Lin Mu muttered in his mind.


    With the options being either to kill Jiao Fang entirely or to keep him on a short leash for now, Lin Mu decided to do thetter. While there were risks to trusting Jiao Fang, his earlier actions were still inclined towards Lin Mu and showed that he was trying to be an ally.


    "Alright¡­ you won''t have my trust now, though. You will have to earn that." Lin Mu said to Jiao Fang who took a breath of relief.


    "That is fine. And I think I can do that." Jiao Fang replied.


    "And how will you be doing that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "By providing you with information." Jiao Fang replied. "About the Gu Legion and Gu Yao." He added.


    "Alright, go on speak." Lin Mu ordered.


    "I think I should first tell you how I got into the Gu Legion first, it is rted to all." Jiao Fang said, to which Lin Mu nodded.


    Lin Mu was interested about that and wondered how that had happened. After all, Jiao Fang had killed Wu Xun and several of the Gu Legion members. If anything, Gu Yao should have tried to kill him or at least get him under the Human Controlling Blood curse.


    But from what he could see, nothing of that sort had happened, which made Lin Mu rather intrigued about it all.


    "I wanted to pull the attention of Gu Legion and Gu Yao, thus I took the most obvious approach and killed their members that were important. I also did it by changing my appearance enough to look simr to Yulong.


    There were some pills in his inheritance that I found that could achieve this. Though their effects are only temporary.


    Killing the Gu Legion members and allies certainly got me in their eyes, and they started a hunt for me. After I reckoned it all the right time, I went to a ce where they had their people stationed and voluntarily walked in.


    I let them take me to a Gu Legion base. There they were going to interrogate me, but I made use of Yulong''s memories. Showing myself as the True Yulong who hade into the Great Zhou Empire a long time ago as a spy, I managed to get an audience with Gu Yao.


    The man was not trusting of me, of course and inquired about Yulong from the Northern Tribes.


    The Northern Tribes had prepared for this a long time ago, but had not expected for Yulong to actually seed in his insane n. It was the way he was truly going to switch his identity and fool even the world.


    They didn''t want the repeat of the old times when the World''s Ordained defeated them.


    With a deep spy like Yulong among the higher ups of the Great Zhou continent, they Northern Tribes would always be a few steps ahead.


    Of course, they also had ways to prevent themselves from being fooled. They set up methods to verify Yulong''s identity. But with his memories, it was a piece of cake for me to pass their check.


    With that done, Gu Yao had no choice but to ept me and take me in as an ally. And since Yulong''s n was actually very influential in the northern Tribes, being one of the ruling ns, he couldn''t forcefully put me under his control.


    If he did that he would only be breaking his rtion with the Northern Tribes and risk losing their support.


    And once he had me in his circle, the rest of the n went swimmingly." Jiao Fang exined in detail.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu was rather surprised, and a little impressed at the same time. Though he didn''t show anything on his face, and kept a in expression.


    ''At least I can tell that he isn''t lying¡­'' Lin Mu had gotten good enough to judge whether people were lying or not.


    It was determined by abination of things, including his spirit sense, to check the fine changes in their spirit Qi fluctuation and aura. These changes were so minor, that a cultivator might not even realized themselves.


    One could fake their facial expression with great detail, but they couldn''t do the same with their aura and spatial fluctuations.


    "I see¡­ that was a risky venture, for sure." Lin Mu replied after a few seconds.


    "Indeed¡­ though it was worth it. I got something that you will greatly like." Jiao Fang said with a smile.


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    "And what might be that?" Lin Mu asked in anticipation.


    "Gu Yao''s hideout. The true headquarters of the Gu Legion¡­ I know where it is." Jiao Fang reveled.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu''s eyes went wide, and he was unable to maintain a in expression. After all, this was information he had been looking for a long time and the entire alliance was spending a lot of manpower and resources in getting it.


    They had been using merchant and goods routes to trace out the location. But despite all that, they were still unable to get it.


    "Where is the hideout?" Lin Mu impatiently asked.


    "It is far to the east¡­ in the ocean. It''s a secret ne located within the borders of the Echo Conch Kingdom!" Jiao Fang revealed.

 Chapter 1108 Gu Yao’s Method Of Hiding

    <h4>Chapter 1108 Gu Yao''s Method Of Hiding</h4>


    The Echo Conch Kingdom and the First Sun kingdom were the only two ind kingdoms of the Great Zhou Continent. And they were also the smallest kingdoms in the empire. They were even smaller than the Fenlong kingdom.


    The first sun kingdom was located east of the Fenlong kingdom and was a trade ally of them. They two kingdoms were separated by the ocean for about three hundred kilometers. But the Echo conch kingdom was further south from there.


    It was over a thousand kilometer away from there and was the smallest kingdom. It also had very little interaction with the rest of the kingdoms, outside of trade. It didn''t have that many cultivators either, with the strongest cultivators among them being at the Nascent soul realm.


    It was located over five hundred kilometers from the shore and thus hadck of certain resources. It prevented there from many cultivators being born. And since there was also not muchnd mass, it prevented them from growing crops too.


    Their reliance was mostly on the ocean for food.


    Even the cultivators depended on the ocean for their supplies of cultivation resources. After all, the aquatic beasts were an excellent source for that. But then there was the issue that fighting aquatic beasts was greatly disadvantageous for human cultivators.


    Even if they could fly, there was a great chance they might lose the beast they were fighting once the beast dived deep into the water.


    Despite all that, the kingdom had still survived all this time and the people living on it thrived.


    Lin Mu never expected that it would be this ce that Gu Yao would be hiding in all this time.


    "Do you have proof of this? As far as I know, there have been no reports of suspicion about the Echo Conch kingdom. Plus, we would have known if there were any goods being routed there with Echo Conch kingdom being heavily Dependent on exports." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    There was a reason why the alliance had never suspected the two ind nations about being the hideout for Gu Yao and the Gu Legion. Since they were tracking the trade routes using merchants, the two ind kingdoms would have been detected right away.


    After all they had a very specific route of importing to them.


    The First Sun kingdom was literally located next to the Fenlong kingdom, thus any anomaly would have been found instantly. All the goods also went through them.


    AS for the Echo Conch kingdom, a part of their supplies came from the Fenlong kingdom as well. But a majority came from another kingdom that was located along the coast. It was the Silian Kingdom.


    It was a medium sized kingdom and was under the influence of the Long Cloud sect. In fact, the Long cloud sect was located on the border of the Silian kingdom too.


    With both kingdoms being in the vicinity of the Alliance powers, there was very little chance for them to be Gu Legion hideouts.


    "I know about the alliance''s attempt at investigating it all. And they aremendable. Unfortunately, Gu Yao took a different approach here. Instead of going his usual route of controlling everyone in the ce he is hiding, he let everyone free." Jiao Fang exined.


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    "Then how does he get all his supplies there? We know for sure that he has been rerouting tons of supplies from the sects and kingdoms." Lin Mu asked.


    "Spatial storage treasures. He''s been making a fool of the local fishermen and getting them to transport jewelery that is in fact spatial storage tools. There has always been a smuggling syndicate in the ind nations and along the coast, to escape the taxes, but since it is mostlyposed of mortals and doesn''t bring as many profits, the cultivators and sects don''t get involved.


    Gu Yao got a few of these smugglers acting as his henchmen. In their eyes''s he''s simply another smuggler that smuggles jewelery and gold.


    They simply bring the resources to the border of the Silian kingdom where they get transferred to the spatial storage treasure and then sealed to make them look like normal jewelery.


    They get taken into the kingdom with ease and then passed over to the fishermen who pass it over to the smugglers in the sea." Jiao Fang exined in detail.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu was at a loss for words.


    ''No wonder we had nk trails after a certain point¡­ he switched over to an unsecured way to transport the resources. We never had themoners in our sights either, thus there was little to no chance of finding them.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The borate of transport and smuggling was very smart of Gu Yao to take advantage of. But Lin Mu knew that was not all. If Gu Yao was simply hiding in the Echo Conch kingdom in the open, he would have seen it before.


    "The headquarters of the Gu legion aren''t in the Echo Conch kingdom, are they? They are on a different ne?" Lin Mu stated.


    "Senior Lin Mu certainly guessed right. Gu Yao had long since discovered an iplete ne in the Echo Conch kingdom. Using the formation arrays of the Northern Tribes, he expanded it and also added several teleportation channels to it.


    There is no physical entry to the ne either. One can only enter with a talisman and even those only allow single entries to the ne. Only Gu Yao himself can leave the ce without them.


    And there are also many escape paths set up for himself." Jiao Fang replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu''s ears perked up as it meant that a few of the ns he had made earlier would now work.


    A smile appeared on his face, that made Jiao Fang shiver and he had a bad feeling.


    "Seems like I need to head to the Echo Conch kingdom next¡­ time to end it. This has gone on for too long." Lin Mu spoke with a hint of excitement.


    "Wait! You''re gonna head there directly?" Jiao Fang was stunned.


    While he had seen Lin Mu''s power here, he was still unsure of whether he''d be able to go against Gu Yao.


    "Yes. I don''t have any reason to wait after all." Lin Mu replied.


    "That will be insane! Not to mention how will you even enter the ne? Even if you manage to get a teleportation talisman from someone, it won''t be useful as they monitor each person that enters and exits. They can simply stop the talisman from working." Jiao Fang said.


    "Who said I need a teleportation talisman? I have other ways to get in to the ne." Lin Mu said, not exining any further.


    He didn''t think it was necessary to tell Jiao Fang about his abilities beyond what he already knew. Trusting him totally was out of options too, and right now Lin Mu had already gotten all the information that he had beencking.


    "Wait! B-but¡ª" Before Jiao Fang could say anymore though, Lin Mu had disappeared.


    Knowing Gu Yao''s location made most other things irrelevant. Lin Mu now had confidence in his own strength. He had already gone against several Dao Treading realm experts and was experienced with them.


    Besides, having others with him there might only put him on the disadvantage as Gu Yao could possibly y some scheme that could catch him off guard. Lin Mu would have to split his attention between his allies and his enemies at the same time.


    For now, Little Shrubby might be the only one who could go along with Lin Mu and be an advantage to him rather than a burden. Little Shrubby''s speed was also the main factor in deciding this.


    Though before heading there, Lin Mu still decided to inform his allies. But it was not to ask them to join, but for them to stay ready for the chaos that woulde after Gu Yao was gone.


    ''I doubt the Northern Tribes would take it kindly if Gu Yao falls. Right now they are only staying put because Gu Yao''s schemes have been working. If he''s not there, they will have no reason to hold back. Especially since they have three Immortal Ascension realm cultivators too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He looked in the distance and saw a red blur approaching.


    "Are we done here?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yes¡­ we got more than we expected here." Lin Mu replied as he took out themunication jade slip.


    "Where are we going now?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Now¡­ we go and take care of Gu Yao." Lin Mu inly said.


    Little Shrubby''s eyes glowed lightly upon hearing this. He knew very well that Gu Yao was his master''s enemy and needed to be killed. And whoever was his master''s enemy was his enemy, too.


    "Come on, time to head east." Lin Mu stated.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby said before bursting into a sprint with Lin Mu on his back.


    ~BOOM~


    A sonic boom was heard and alerted Jiao Fang, who had been looking for Lin Mu.


    ~Sigh~


    "He''s already gone¡­ perhaps he really might be able to get Gu Yao to die." Jiao Fang muttered to himself.


    He looked around and sighed once more before leaving the sect, his destination unknown.


    While Lin Mu was heading to the Echo Conch Kingdom, he held the Jade Slip and contacted Jing Luo. He didn''t know if the man had left the ancestral grounds yet, but there was a great chance he had.


    "LIN MU!? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Jing Luo shouted through the jade slip.

 Chapter 1109 The Top Sects Come Around

    Lin Mu''s disappearance without a word was certainly met with unease in the alliance. But since his actions were rather open, they could somewhat guess what was happening. Additionally, Jing Luo''s return from the ancestralnds had helped the alliance know what Lin Mu was doing.


    After all, many of the things that Lin Mu did were known by Jing Luo as it was among the many ns they had discussed. Because of this, the alliance could pick up from the devastation that Lin Mu left behind and work upon it.


    Then the arrival of the disciples from the fallen sects also let the alliance know quite a lot. The disciples of the Ripple Mist sect were questioned in detail about all that had happened. And not only this, but it was all recorded and documented.


    This helped to assuage the Top three sects and make them calm down. Originally they had been greatly upset with the fall of the sects. After all, if one top sect could fall with the offense of just a single person, it would set a bad precedent in the eyes of the people.


    The top sects were unshakable powers in the eyes of themoners and cultivators alike. Even the kingdoms weren''t said to be as stable as the top sects and perhaps only the empire could stand on the same level.


    But now all of that had been flipped on its head. The people saw the reality of it all and understood they weren''t the sovereigns they pretended to be. Just like themoners who could be killed at any time, these sects now had something to be afraid of.


    And when the truth of the Gu Legion and Gu Yao was fully revealed to the top sects, they were left red faced. They had been fooled for a long item and now needed to make up the face that they had lost.


    The Long cloud alliance had been working on all this with the help of Jing Luo while Lin Mu soloed the Gu Legion and the Zither Wind alliance.


    Still, the alliance had a lot that they wanted to talk to Lin Mu about. Even if they knew that there was little chance of Lin Mu getting in trouble, him notmunicating with them left them nervous.


    And now finally, he had opened the line ofmunication again.


    Jing Luo had been working at this moment and was left frozen upon feeling the jade slip hum. It was a jade slip exclusively reserved for Lin Mu, and no one else would contact him on it.


    "LIN MU?! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Jing Luo shouted.


    "I''m on my way to the Echo Conch kingdom." Lin Mu replied.


    "The Echo Conch Kingdom? Why?" Jing Luo was confused.


    "I''ll keep it short. I eradicated the Zither Wind sect and found Jiao Fang there. He gave me the information about where the Gu Legion''s headquarters is hidden and how Gu Yao had been hiding." Lin Mu quickly spoke.


    "Huh? WAIT! You''re heading there alone?" Jing Luo hurriedly asked.


    He wasn''t shocked that the Zither Wind sect was gone, but that Lin Mu was now going against Gu Yao on his own. Even if the Top sects were powerful, by now they knew Gu Yao was in an entirely different league of his own.


    Even if he might not be that strong on his own, he had many other ways to harm someone. There was no saying what he had hidden in his sleeve.


    "I''m going with Little Shrubby." Lin Mu replied.


    "You can''t do that! Wait for us! The entire alliance wille for this! It''s too dangerous!" Jing Luo stated.


    "No, the way I''m going to do things, others being there will only put them in danger. Besides, the Gu legion''s headquarters is in a separate ne just like we talked before. And the way to enter it is only using talismans.


    I can open a rift and enter with little Shrubby, but brining more people won''t be a viable option. Not to mention, there is always a danger of the rifts going wrong." Lin Mu exined.


    "Still¡­ this is¡­" Jing Luo tried to convince Lin Mu.


    "Hang on, I''m contacting you to tell you something else. I want you to prepare the alliance for the Northern Tribes. If my hunch is right, they won''t sit still once Gu Yao is gone. Get everyone on board and prepare for an offense from their end." Lin Mu stated.


    Jing Luo gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. He knew Lin Mu well enough to trust his judgment.


    "Fine¡­ if you say so. We''ll do that." Jing Luo replied.


    Lin Mu was about to stop the link when Jing Luo spoke once more.


    "The top sects are now willing to listen to us." Jing Luo stated.


    "Oh? They finally are?" Lin Mu asked.


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    "Yes¡­ though it''s mostly to save their own face. They are not really fine with you, though. No matter what we''d tell them, they would still take your act of eradicating the three sects as a great crime.


    There are talks of giving you a death penalty too." Jing Luo said, a hint of anger in his voice.


    "Hah! They can try." Lin Mu couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "It will nevere to that. Grandfather will leave the ancestralnds soon. We can freelymunicate with them now. Once grandfather is out, the top three will have to face justice.


    Forget about targeting you. They will first have to see if they can even save the skin on their backs!" Jing Luo said with excitement.


    "Mm¡­ I''ll look forward to that. But for now¡­ I need to leave. The faster I reach there, the greater the chance of me catching Gu Yao off guard. I doubt they know about the Zither Wind sect''s falling yet.


    Once they know that, they will probably try to do something else to save themselves. It''s best they don''t leave the ce or we''ll have to run after them again." Lin Mu stated.

 Chapter 1110 Heading To The Echo Conch Kingdom

    Having finished his conversation with Jing Luo, Lin Mu felt a bit relieved.


    ''Seems like things went well even without me. Targeting the sect''s directly was the right choice.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    There was another thing that Lin Mu had recently been a little worried about.


    It was about what would happen once he was not in the Xiaofan world. It was a guaranteed fact that he would leave it one day, and while it might not be soon, it would still happen.


    And he couldn''t help but feel anxious about things going to hell once he was gone.


    He didn''t know if it was the duty given to him by the world, or his links with the people he hade to take as allies that made him feel like that.


    "If you want to leave the world without any regrets, simply remove all that could threaten the people you care for here. And that is exactly what you are going to do here, aren''t you?" Xukong spoke after seeing Lin Mu lost in his thoughts.


    "Hmm¡­ you are right, senior. It just means I have to be swift in dealing with everything." Lin Mu replied as a determined expression appeared on his face.


    Having made up his mind, Lin Mu opened the portal to the Kong ne and took Little Shrubby along with him.


    ~shua~


    When he reappeared, he was in the cave where all the teleportation gates were set up.


    "The closest teleportation gate to the Echo Conch kingdom would be the Fenlong kingdom. We''ll have to fly to the Echo Conch kingdom from there." Lin Mu spoke to Little Shrubby, who simply nodded.


    ~shua~


    The two of them walked into the Fenlong kingdom''s teleportation gate and appeared in the pce of the Fenlong kingdom.


    The guards there were stunned upon seeing Lin Mu, but before they could say anything, Lin Mu disappeared along with Little Shrubby, only leaving behind a red blur and a gust of wind that pushed the guards back.


    "Huh? That aura¡­" Miss Fen who had been working, felt a familiar aura and immediately looked outside.


    "It really is him¡­ but where is he going?" she could see a red blur disappearing over the horizon. "He''s going towards the ocean? But why? There''s nothing there¡­"


    It was only after she got a report from the alliance about their next course of action did she learn why.


    ''So the day has finallye¡­ and Lin Mu will be doing it alone too¡­ I don''t know if this is brave or foolish¡­'' Miss Fen through to herself as aplex expression appeared on her face.


    She looked in the direction where Lin Mu had disappeared and sighed.


    "If it''s you, then it should not be foolish¡­" she muttered before returning to the study.


    She had a lot of things to do now and tons of orders to give.


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    Soon, the entire Fenlong kingdom would be mobilized and themoners would get to see the true power that had been hidden for a long time now.


    This was something that would happen all over the empire across multiple kingdoms.


    And while it happened, the imperial court in the capital of the Great Zhou kingdom would be running around like headless chickens, trying to make sense of why an army bigger than the entire empire''s had suddenly been mobilized.


    Thankfully for them, envoys from the alliance would bring the decree informing them of an impending invasion from the northern tribes.


    All this had happened due to the actions of Lin Mu, but he didn''t need to bother with this decision as much. He had set the stage for the others and if he still had to do everything, then these old experts who had lived for hundreds and thousands of years would have been the greatest fools the world had ever seen.


    ~WOONG~


    The sound of waves could be heard while Lin Mu and Little Shrubby flew over the ocean. They were heading south from the Fenlong kingdom and could see hundreds of ships and boats below them.


    These ships and boats went about their day, unaware of Lin Mu and Little Shrubby that flew past their heads.


    "We should reach the Echo Conch kingdom in a short while, I think." Lin Mu muttered as he checked the map in his mind.


    He had never been to the Echo Conch kingdom and was depending on the old maps he read, along with his spirit sense. He could follow the ships in the water and roughly tell what direction to fly towards.


    After all, navigating in the ocean wasn''t really an easy thing. Onnd, one could use various markers to guide one''s path. But in the sea or ocean, other than a few inds, there was basically nothing.


    And since it was daytime, there were no stars to use as a guide either. Though it would have been useless for Lin Mu either way, since he didn''t know how to use stars for charting a route anyway.


    About an hourter, Lin Mu finally sensednd with his spirit sense.


    "That should be the Echo Conch kingdom." Lin Mu said upon witnessing small dots in the distance.


    The dots expanded in size as they got closer and soon the dots turned into more dots, with them being the hundreds of ships and boats that were sailing around the Echo Conch kingdom.


    A couple more minutester, Lin Mu finally saw the entirety of the Echo Conch kingdom. It was truly small in Lin Mu''s eyes as he could see both ends of the kingdom in a single nce.


    "So this is the smallest Kingdom of the empires¡­ and also where the worst power of the empire has been hiding all this time." Lin Mu muttered with a serious expression.


    "Let''s head up." Lin Mu said to Little Shrubby.


    They moved high up into the clouds and Lin Mu used his spirit sense to first observe everything in detail. He saw the people, the cultivators and everything that was on the kingdom''snd.

 Chapter 1111 Life In The Echo Conch Kingdom

    This was the first time Lin Mu was seeing the Echo Conch kingdom and estimated that the size of the entire kingdom was about the same size as that of Wu Lin city. Though there were also some smaller inds around the main ind. But they weren''t big enough to be called cities or anything.


    At most, these inds could house ten to twenty houses, but not much. From what Lin Mu learned about the Echo Conch kingdom, the lower ss of the people that would be the same as the peasants would live on these smaller inds. And those that were even poor would not have actualnd to live at all.


    Rather, these people would have to make do with their boats.


    In an ind nation such as the Echo Conch kingdom, every inch of thend was valuable and expensive. Even on the main ind, the ones that could live either did so temporarily or were rich enough to stay there permanently. There was also a tax system in the kingdom which made it so that those who did not have the permission to stay on the main ind permanently would have to pay the kingdom a certain amount for each day that they stayed on the main ind.


    Of course, most of the trades here happened in goods and one didn''t necessarily need to use hard currency or coins to pay the tax either. Many fishermen and traders had this tax cut at the time of the entry and whenever they sold their goods.


    ''No wonder the smuggling trade is so popr here. With a daily tax like this, not many would be able to afford it. And those that live on those smaller inds don''t have the proper supply of water and other necessities either.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The only source of fresh water was on the main ind and came from two main ces. First was the underground spring, that was protected by the kingdom''s own guards. This was said to be the protected supply of water, and only the royal court had ess to it. Other than this, there was theke located in the center of the ind.


    This was the main supply of the entire kingdom, and everyone would buy this water. There were channels dug out from its sides that would be used to water the few crops that grew here. Because thend was very rare and precious, the crops that were grown in thisnd were notmon grains or vegetables either.


    Instead what grew here was a special kind of beans. These were called as Mist Echo Beans and were a kind of spirit herbs too. What was unique about them was that they didn''t need spirit qi rich areas to grow, but rather the unique soil that existed in the Echo Conch kingdom. These Mist Echo beans were used to refine oils that were used in alchemy.


    But other than this, the Mist Echo Beans had other uses too. For example, the dried and fermented flowers of the mist Echo beans had hallucinogenic properties and could give one an euphoric high when consumed. There was also a special wine distilled from the fresh flowers that was high in demand.


    These were the high value cash products of the Echo Conch kingdom that they specialized in. Though if it were not for the fact these things didn''t really affect cultivators, there was no way the Echo Conch kingdom would have been able to keep all this safe to themselves. Rather, these products were something that the mortals used the most.


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    Lin Mu also observed themoners and their lives before checking the cultivators that were in the kingdom.


    Another thing that was special about the Echo Conch Kingdom was that there were no cultivation sects here. Nearly all cultivators of the kingdom instead worked for the Royal court or the royal family as they were the only ones that had the cultivation resources. The sales and trade of cultivation resources was almost monopolized by the royal court and if someone wanted to do any business rted to it, they would need to get permission from them.


    This was also one of the reasons why the alliance had not suspected of Gu Yao hiding here. With all the power being in the hands of the Echo Conch kingdom''s royal court, he would have to either control them all or get official permission. Either of those would have resulted in him being found out.


    Lin Mu saw less than four hundred cultivators in the entire kingdom and the number of core condensation realm cultivators was a measly thirty.


    "Three Nascent soul realm cultivators in the entire kingdom. One is in the pce, one is in the hidden courtyard behind the royal pce and one is¡­ in the water?" Lin Mu observed the ''experts'' of the kingdom.


    He could understand the two cultivators in the pce and behind it, but the one in the water made him feel strange.


    "What''s he doing over there?" Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and saw an old man.


    His body was surrounded by an air bubble, and the runes were also present around it. It was evident that he was using some spirit tool to keep the water away. Though the state of the old man wasn''t exactly fine. There were several injuries on his body and even teeth marks!


    ~SHUA~


    Deep in the water some distance from the kingdom, arge fish was swimming around. It had sharp teeth and its cultivation base was also at the Nascent soul realm. This fish and the old man were seemingly in a battle, but neither of them wereing out on top.


    But while Lin Mu was observing it all, he heard something from the ships near the area.


    "Oh? He''s the royal general of the kingdom?" Lin Mu heard from the conversations of the soldiers.


    They seemed to be worried and could see blood in the water appearing from time to time.

 Chapter 1112 A Helping Hand

    There were soldiers in the ships surrounding the area where the old man and the fish were fighting. They were apparently here to kill the aquatic beast that had been causing trouble in the past few months. And since this beast was also at the Nascent soul realm, the royal general of the kingdom had toe here personally.


    No one else was a match for the beast. Lin Mu watched the old man fight for a while before seeing him retreat in defense.


    ~REEEE~


    An inaudible sound wave spread from the fish that the old man had been battling. The sound wave moved through the water uninterrupted and spread in a wide area. Lin Mu narrowed his brows as he guessed what was happening.


    The old man reacted quickly to and directly rose up from the water.


    "RETREAT!!!! I REPEAT RETREAT!!!" The old man shouted loudly.


    His words sent the soldiers into a frenzy as they quickly raised the anchors and turned their ships around.


    ~SWOOSH~


    Unfortunately for them, they were a little toote. Out of nowhere, waves as tall as ten meters appeared!


    Several such waves surrounded the ships and mmed into them.


    ~BOOM~


    One of the ships directly cracked from the impact and many of the soldiers on it fell to the ground.


    Lin Mu who saw it all, observed the tens of thousands of fishes hidden in the waves. These fishes looked the same as the one that was fighting the old man, except they were much smaller in size, with the smallest being less than a pinky finger in size.


    "That Nascent soul realm fish can actually control its spawn to raise waves like these? Aquatic beasts are truly on a different level." Lin Mu muttered before flicking his finger as a gray blur shot out from it.


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    Back in the ocean, the old man looked at the ships in anger.


    "DAMN YOU ALL BEASTS!" He shouted in rage.


    He could see that from the ship that had sunk, over half of the soldiers were already dead and were being feasted upon by the fishes.


    In a small kingdom like the Echo Conch kingdom, man power was valuable as well, especially skilled manpower like the soldiers that needed quite a few resources and effort to train.


    ~SWOOSH~


    The old man tried to attack the Nascent soul realm fish, but it was faster than him in the water. It easily dodged his attack and controlled its spawn to attack once more.


    Several tall waves rose in the air, this time even bigger than before.


    The soldiers who watched it all were left terrified and frozen in despair.


    "Is this our end?" they wondered.


    ~SHING~


    Unknown to them, a gray streak had suddenly entered the water.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    Suddenly, the waves turned red, as if roses were blooming within them!


    "What?" the old man was confused too.


    His spirit sense spread around and detected something. Snapping his neck to the back, his eyes locked onto a particr spot.


    "How?!" The old man was stunned to see the foe that he had been battling was already dead.


    The corpse of the Nascent soul realm fish floated up, its head having been pierced and a finger thick hole present there now. Therge waves that had formed earlier had disappeared as well and melded back into the ocean, leaving behind patches of blood that were rapidly fading away in the water.


    "We¡­ we''re safe?" the soldiers couldn''t believe their eyes.


    One moment they were in the jaws of death and could only watch on in despair, and now they were free.


    The old man was the same, but he quicklyposed himself. He picked up the corpse of the Nascent soul realm beast before returning to the biggest ship.


    ~thud~


    The corpse fell on the deck of the ship, while the old mannded as well.


    "What happened, general?" themander of the ship asked.


    But the old man didn''t answer him. Instead, he cupped his hands and raised them in the air.


    "This old man thanks great senior from the bottom of his heart!" the old man exims loudly.


    His voice was heard in all the ships nearby. The soldiers who heard this were surprised at first but quickly followed after the old man.


    "WE THANK GREAT SENIOR FOR SAVING US!"


    Everyone stayed in the same position for about a minute before the old man assumed his normal self.


    "Who saved us, general?" themander asked in a low voice.


    "I don''t know either¡­ but from the way they acted and how swift they were, they should be a great expert." The old man replied.


    "Huh? Is there someone from the sect visiting us?" themander asked.


    "No¡­ there are none. This should be a passing expert who decided to help us on a whim." The old man answered.


    "Then the great senior is truly benevolent." Themander said with gratitude.


    While this was all happening, Lin Mu stood several kilometers away with a in expression. A thin gray de floated beside him, stained with blood.


    Waving his hand, Lin Mu stored it away and looked in the direction from where the swarm of fishes hade from.


    "Did you sense it too, Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Mmhmm¡­ that aura is simr to the mutant beasts." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Hmmm¡­ if those fishes had traces of their aura, it means they have been staying somewhere close to a ''Reborn''. It does make sense, Gu Yao wouldn''t stay calm without a contingency n." Lin Mu spoke. "But if there is a Reborn there, then¡­ the node of the ne should be there as well. I doubt Gu Yao would let the reborn be without his control." He guessed.


    This was the reason why Lin Mu had decided to help out the old man and the soldiers. He sensed a hint of mutant beast aura from the fishes and upon killing them, all the auras hidden within their bodies was released.


    This helped him get a proper trace of the aura and estimate where the said reborn might be hidden. After all, Lin Mu''s duty as a world''s ordained was to eradicate all traces of the invader, which would include the Reborn as well.


    Finding a node to the ne was simply an additional bonus.

 Chapter 1113 A Peak Dao Treading Realm Reborn

    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby moved to where the node was supposed to be at.


    "It''s underwater huh¡­" Lin Mu muttered and looked at little Shrubby.


    He knew that Little Shrubby had a dislike of water and wouldn''t be as goods of a help to him there. Lin Mu only needed to get rid of the reborn there anyway and get a trace of the ne''s node.


    Once he had the trace, Lin Mu would be able to open a portal to the ne anywhere.


    "Wait for me here, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby replied and watched Lin Mu rapidly descend.


    ~SPLASH~


    Lin Mu''s body hit the water and the armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture prevented him from getting drenched. He continued to sink in the water before spreading his spirit sense and going in the direction where he sensed the aura of the reborn from.


    The depth of the water in this area wasn''t as deep as where the general of the Echo Conch kingdom had fought the fish beast. This area was a lot closer to the main ind of the Echo conch kingdom and thus thend mass was greater.


    In less than a minute, Lin Mu ended up reaching the bottom of the ocean. There were coral everywhere and vibrant marine life spread all over the ocean floor. It was colorful and looked rather beautiful.


    "This is nice." Lin Mu muttered as he moved towards a particr area.


    The area was a trench hidden between two ridges. There were corals hiding the opening of the trench and thus, most people might just miss it. And even if they did notice it, it wasn''t like they would know that a reborn was hiding there either.


    Lin Mu quickly entered it and directly sank to the bottom. With his great weight, there was no problems of floating around randomly or being pushed by the water currents. He was like a heavy anchor, immovable.


    Once Lin Mu was at the bottom of the trench, he could see the water had turned a darker shade.


    "This doesn''t seem good¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    He said this because he could sense the tainted water attribute spirit Qi here. While Lin Mu couldn''t absorb it, he could still sense it due to his experience with the cial Shell Snail queen flesh before.


    In addition to the water attribute spirit Qi, which was always present in the ocean, he also sensed something else.


    ''The aura of the invader is tainting the water and in turn, affecting the aquatic beasts that live here. Guess this is another effect we didn''t know before.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Reborn he had encountered before were all onnd, and thus there was no way for their aura to affect the others easily. Unless and until they directly touched or came in contact with others, they wouldn''t infect them.


    But in the ocean, where almost everything was in contact with water, the aura was being directly infused into it and spreading to others. The only plus point was that it was diluted and wouldn''t affect other beasts easily.


    Lin Mu followed his spirit sense and saw that there was a tunnel leading to some ce from this trench. Continuing through this tunnel, Lin Mu eventually reached a wide open area.


    "There''s actually air here?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu ascended upward and left the water. He could see that he was in a wide cave, much like the ones he had seen the reborn in before. There were runes carved on all the wall and a sealing formation array was also established.


    But that was not all, as Lin Mu could see a tform that was partially covered with water and partially dry.


    It was on this tform that the being he had been looking for was sleeping. The beast was strange and certainly mutated, hanging a long body like that of a shark, but also the ws of and beast.


    Then there was its mouth that was filled with thousands of sharp teeth and tentacles that were attached to the sides of its mouth.


    Its skin was ck and tarry, just like that of the other reborn and a repulsive aura was rising from it.


    "Ugh¡­ this is the worst of them all." Lin Mu muttered.


    From the aura that he was sensing from the reborn, he could at least tell that this reborn was the strongest he had ever seen.


    ''It should be at least equivalent to that of a peak Dao Treading realm expert¡­'' Lin Mu estimated.


    Such a being would be terrifying if it were released out in the open ocean. Lin Mu could only imagine the level of devastation it would spread.


    "And that''s not all¡­ this cave¡­ is also located right below the main ind of the Echo Conch kingdom." Lin Mu realized after using his spirit sense to get a better measurement of the area.


    Lin Mu''s gazed lingered over the reborn as he assessed it for a bit.


    "Let''s get rid of it then¡­" Lin Mu said before blinking and appearing closer to the beast.


    He raised his hand and pointed it at the beast.


    "MELD!" Activating the ring''s skill, Lin Mu manipted the space.


    ~SHUA~


    With Lin Mu''s improved control over the space and increaseprehension, he could sense the fine changes and easily split the being apart several times.


    "STORE!" once Lin Mu was sure that the being was finely chopped and would have a hard time regenerating, he stored it away in the ring.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief after getting rid of the beast.


    ''The spirit Qi expenditure surely does increase for beings with greater cultivation base.'' Lin Mu thought as he measured his spirit Qi.


    The ring had used higher than normal spirit Qi for meld as he had killed a peak Dao Treading realm equivalent being. Lin Mu was sure he could have directly beaten it up too, but didn''t want to risk the beast escaping or damaging the area.


    After all, they were underneath the ocean and under an ind. It was fine if a reborn caused havoc on thend, but here, if anything happened, there was a great chance the entire echo conch kingdom might just sink.


    Lin Mu was well experienced in coteral area damage, having done a lot of it himself. With the experience of breaking literal mountains with his fists, Lin Mu knew the Reborn would have no problems sinking the entire kingdom.


    With the beast gone, Lin Mu saw the runes appearing in the air.


    "So they are linked with the beast¡­ but with it gone, they having nothing to target." Lin Mu muttered.


    "You can take this chance to tap into them. See if you can find a direct link to the ne where Gu Yao is hiding." Xukong suggested.


    "I will senior." Lin Mu nodded and quickly used his spirit sense to link up with the exposed nodes of the formation array.


    With the main dependant subject of the formation array gone, it was like an armor without a person inside. Lin Mu soon traced theyers and essed the formation nodes.


    "I got it." Lin Mu said after a few minutes, having discovered something.


    "What is it?" Xukong asked.


    "Just like we thought. Gu Yao wasn''t going to let a reborn go without his control here. He kept the formation array that sealed the reborn linked with another smaller formation. This one had traces of spatial disturbance around it." Lin Mu replied.


    "Good! Now you can simply use that to get the right coordinates." Gu Yao stated.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head and walked up to a certain part of the cave.


    There were a few obscure runes written here and were arranged into a formation. This was none other than the part linking the sealing formation array to the hidden ne.


    Lin Mu ced his hand over the formation and let the ring do the rest.


    ~humm~


    The ring hummed, and spatial disturbances appeared in the air. Lin Mu could literally see the air flicker and tear.


    "That should be enough." Lin Mu took his hand off the formation after the ring hummed again.


    "Let''s return to Little Shrubby now." Lin Mu said before directly flying up and phasing through the solid ground.


    A minuteter, he had left the ocean and appeared next to Little Shrubby.


    "You''re back. Did you find it?" Little Shrubby said.


    "I did. We were correct." Lin Mu replied.


    "Time to kill then?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Time to kill indeed¡­" Lin Mu said as a cold light shed in his eyes.


    He closed them for a moment before opening them again. His spatial perception activated and allowed him to see the weaker points in the space.


    Lin Mu wanted to keep his point of entry a little farther from the Echo Conch kingdom, as there was a chance that he might end up damaging it when he would destabilize the ne.


    After a few seconds of looking around, Lin Mu found a spot half a kilometer away from the main ind that had a weakness in the spatial fabric.


    "There, that should be good enough." Lin Mu pointed before Little Shrubby carried him there.


    Lin Mu pointed with his hand and activated the ring.


    ~SHUA~


    ~RIP~


    Spatial energy spread from the ring and showed its effect. The air in front of Lin Mu trembled before a long ck tear appeared in it.


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    Lin Mu expanded his hands and the ck tear turning into a ck crack, which eventually turned into a portal!

 Chapter 1114 Restricted Spirit Qi And A Room Of Impure Yin Qi

    With the portal having opened stably, Lin Mu first peered into it. After all, he didn''t know where the portal would lead to in the hidden ne. All Lin Mu knew was that it would link to it, but the exact location of it would be unknown.


    ''Don''t want to walk literally into a prison of some sort¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Extending his spirit sense into the portal, Lin Mu did a quick sweep of the area.


    "What is this ce?" Lin Mu found the area inside the portal to be very strange.


    ''My spirit sense is restricted?'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    No matter how much he tried to extend his spirit sense, it was as if trying to swim in mud. Even with the full force of his spirit sense, Lin Mu could only look around the immediate area around the portal.


    "What''s the issue? Is there a formation array restricting you?" Xukong asked.


    "No¡­ I don''t think it''s a formation array. The feeling is different. It''s as if¡­ there is something other than spirit Qi filling that area, making it hard for my spirit sense to move. It''s also dense¡­ as if a drop of water in a pool of mercury." Lin Mu exined.


    Xukong''s expression furrowed as he thought of possible options.


    "How about you try a recording spirit tool and see what''s inside first?" Xukong suggested.


    "Yeah, I can try that." Lin Mu replied and took out a small mirror that was about the size of a palm.


    It was a spirit tool that had formations that could record the scenes that were reflected on it. This was a rather expensive spirit tool and was ssified as a high grade spirit tool. Lin Mu had obtained it from the Ripple Mist sect earlier.


    He had several of these, but this one was the best of them and also the most durable. Which was important since Lin Mu didn''t know what was hidden behind the portal.


    ~shua~


    The small mirror entered the portal being held in Lin Mu''s hand and stayed there for a few seconds, while Lin Mu turned it around. Once he was satisfied, Lin Mu pulled it back and activated it.


    ~shing~


    A faint light flickered on the mirror, before a scene appeared on it.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu looked at the micro which showed an empty room filled with dark smoke.


    The smoke swirled around and let him nce at the empty room from between the smoke wisps. After a few seconds, Lin Mu also saw a closed door on one end of the room.


    Xukong who also saw it though was surprise.


    "That''s Yin Qi¡­" Xukong revealed.


    "THAT''S YIN QI?!" Lin Mu eximed, as this was different than he had seen.


    "Indeed¡­ it''s in impure from though. Simr to the crystal from the ruins. Though there is certainly something else added to it as well." Xukong replied.


    "I see¡­ still we can enter it if its just that." Lin Mu said.


    "If something does happen, you can always escape the ce." Xukong reminded. "Keep your ring ready."


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    "Yes senior." Lin Mu said before looking at Little Shrubby. "I''ll enter first, and tell you if its safe."


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby responded in agreement.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and entered the portal.


    ~shua~


    He could feel the spirit Qi touching his skin disappearing and recing it was the impure yin Qi. It felt like there was a weird gas hovering around it.


    "Ugh¡­ this is worse than the ruin." Lin Mu muttered as he activated the mortal strengthening scripture at full power.


    It was surprising that the impure yin Qi could still affect him over the armor and even his gold skin. Usually they would prevent anything that could harm his body from reaching him. But this seemed to be rather different.


    But now, Lin Mu could at least look at the room properly.


    "There are vents on the sides." Lin Mu noticed what looked like grill tes attacked to the sides of the ceilings.


    "Not just that, there are runes inscribed too." Xukong spoke up.


    Lin Mu raised his brows and approached the walls to check closely, finding that it was true.


    "Without spirit sense it''s hard to perceive them." Lin Mu muttered and tired to read the runes.


    After five minutes, he could make sense of it and realized what the runes were for.


    "A channeling formation and a cirction formation? Is this room an exhaust?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He had seen these formations being used in the refinement halls where alchemical pills or spirit tools were refined. Often times vtile and toxic fumes would be produced from them, that would need to be removed.


    These formations would help in that and would send the fumes to another closed room that would be the exhaust room. Here they would either be stored in some other container or be purified if it was possible.


    "Doesn''t seem like there is any secondary processing here." Lin Mu said seeing the impure yin Qi just floating around.


    "There is also a possibility that they simply have no way to process it further." Xukong replied.


    "Mmm¡­ that could be it too." Lin Mu said as he walked towards the door.


    He held the hand and tried to move it but the door wouldn''t budge. It wasn''t just that the door was physically locked, but rather there was a formation sealing it.


    "Time to take the wall then." Lin Mu casually said before he phased through it.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu could breathe fresh air again and found himself to be in an open corridor.


    "Who''re you?" A voice was heard from behind him.


    Lin Mu''s eyes snapped towards the voice before he blinked and appeared next to the person.


    "UGH!" The man grunted in pain as his neck was sped in Lin Mu''s hand.


    He looked at the man from top to bottom and checked him with spirit sense.


    ~CRACK~


    Then a secondter, Lin Mu tightened his grip, breaking the man''s neck.


    "Another tainted soul¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he stored the corpse in the ring.

 Chapter 1115 The Gu Legion’s Hidden Plane

    <h4>Chapter 1115 The Gu Legion''s Hidden ne</h4>


    The person Lin Mu had just killed was not wearing the Gu Legion''s normal robes, thus he was unsure of who the man was. But after seeing that the man also had the muddy Qi that would ur due to the pills of grace, he didn''t give him a second to live.


    "So they also have core condensation realm cultivators here." Lin Mu discovered.


    The man who he had just killed was at the core condensation. Even after the information he had gotten from Wu Hei and Jiao Fang about the hidden ne, there was no concerned information about the people that were actually here.


    The information was highly restricted and even the higher ups of the Gu legion might not know it urately.


    ''Gu Yao has gotten careful with how much information is spread to his subordinates.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~SHUA~


    His spirit sense spread out and quickly started to observe everything. The first thing Lin Mu found was that the room he hade out of from, was just one of the many exhaust rooms. There were over twenty such rooms along the corridor here, and all of them seemed to be linked to another hall that was some distance away from here.


    Along with this, there were many other personnel working here. None of them were wearing the normal Gu legion robes, though. They were a different design of robes and were possibly workers that took care of this ce.


    This entire area was actually a single building that was contained within arge formation array dome. Lin Mu''s spirit sense was restricted from leaving it and he realized that forcefully breaking it will trigger other rm and restraining formations.


    "This ce is armed to the teeth¡­ and secure too." Lin Mu said after checking the formation array in detail.


    "It is the headquarters of a major force, so that was bound to be so." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ Seems like it was wise to be cautious. If I had entered from some other ce instead of the node, I might have triggered the other detection formations. But since this ce is isted separately to keep the impure yin Qi contained, it prevented them from sensing me." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    "Indeed. Also, Little Shrubby might not be able to enter here, if it is like this." Xukong added.


    "Oh yeah, that''s right. It is better if I keep him out." Lin Mu nodded his head.


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    Lin Mu closed his eyes and send a message to Little Shrubby using their link.


    "You''ll have to wait outside, Little Shrubby. The security here is too high. I''ll inform you if I need you." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Alright! I''ll wait here. Call me whenever you want!" Little Shrubby replied without an issue.


    Lin Mu knew that he wasn''t restricted from opening a portal, and could call in Little Shrubby from pretty much anywhere. The only issue would be the chaos that came after that would be beyond his control.


    Lin Mu quickly made his way to the border of the formation array, which was also thepound wall of the building.


    "This''ll take a bit of an effort." Lin Mu said as he got to unraveling the formation array.


    He didn''t want to dismantle or break it, but simply make it so that he could phase through it.


    It took Lin Mu ten minutes before he was able to create a vulnerability in the formation array that allowed him to pass through it.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu activated Phase and passed through thepound wall and appeared outside in the midst of what looked like a city!


    Lin Mu immediately sank into the ground so as to avoid anyone seeing him. His spirit sense had already picked up on many Gu Legion members that were going about on their duties.


    ''Thankfully, this building was built on the periphery of the city, or others would have surely seen me leave.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he observed everything.


    He moved around and checked the different buildings and found that most of them were protected by the same kind of formation array that could prevent spirit sense from entering it.


    Lin Mu spent about two hours wandering around and hearing the conversation of the Gu Legion members. These two hours were enough for him to increase his knowledge about the Gu legion by leagues!


    He got to see several documents and records of the Gu Legion that were pretty much kept in open. Lin Mu only had to bypass the formation array to enter the buildings and read them.


    Five more hourster, Lin Mu now knew exactly what Gu Yao had been doing.


    "A Yang Qi pool¡­ He intends to bnce the Yin Qi with Yang Qi and breakthrough to the Immortal Ascension realm and directly reach the immortal realm?" Lin Mu felt shocked up reading it.


    "Is¡­ is this viable senior Xukong?" Lin Mu was at a loss.


    "Hmm¡­ it is indeed viable. Though it would have been the same as any cultivator cultivating spirit Qi. He is definitely using something else as a catalyst for it all. Simply Yin and Yang Qi won''t help him make a breakthrough to the Immortal Ascension realm.


    After all, he needs toprehend Dao Traces from a Dao Embryo too." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu thought over it as for a few minutes, when it finally struck him.


    "The invader!" Lin Mu eximed in his mind. "He must be intending to use the same method he used on the Dao Treading realm cultivators he helped breakthrough!"


    "That¡­ might be it. If it is a Dao Embryo that is already derived from the invader like those cultivators from before, then he might really be able to do something like this. But this also means that the Invader might be on a different level than we thought.


    Even for Immortals, helping a spirit Qi cultivator rapidly improve is not a simple task. They would still need toprehend for years on their own." Xukong exined.

 Chapter 1116 Gu Yao’s Intentions

    <h4>Chapter 1116 Gu Yao''s Intentions</h4>


    The possible chance that Gu Yao might have found a way to use the invader to rapidly increase his cultivation base was a bit unnerving to Lin Mu. While he was fully confident in being able to deal with Dao Treading realm experts, it wasn''t the same for the Immortal Ascension realm ones.


    Especially one that would be as strange and sly as Gu Yao. There would be nock of unknown abilities that Gu Yao might end up with. There was always a chance that they might be able to threaten Lin Mu.


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    And even if Lin Mu himself was safe, there was no guarantee that the people he cared for and the world would be safe from it.


    "We need to hurry and find the Yang Qi store. That pure yang crystal I got from the destroyed base should have been one of them." Lin Mu said recalling the red crystal he had fed to the grey egg.


    While Lin Mu hadn''t found much information about that headquarters yet, there were still some slivers of it present here.


    And from those documents, Lin Mu learned that the headquarters in the Eastern Ming Dynasty was actually the original test site for Gu Yao''s experiments. Unfortunately, it had exploded and the man had to move it all away.


    Still, the man had evidently learned from failures and was already growing beyond that.


    "Are you going to do as before? Rip this ne and set it free in the void?" Xukong asked, seeing that Lin Mu''s thoughts were changing.


    "I will be doing that¡­ but I need to make things a bit more secure. If Gu Yao is really able to make use of that invader, there is no guarantee that he won''t also learn how to navigate the void from it.


    We have seen that the avatar of the invader escapes into the void, and have a particr location they go to.


    What if I destabilize this ne and uproot it from the Xiaofan world, but then Gu Yao stillpletes his breakthrough and returns for revenge yearster?


    I can''t let that happen¡­" Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    "Hmm¡­ that is indeed possible. You are right, removing a problem from the roots is the best choice." Xukong agreed.


    "I won''t leave any avenues for Gu Yao to survive. I''ll take away all that he has along with his life and then throw away this ne entirely." Lin Mu replied.


    Xukong nodded his head in response finding Lin Mu''s words to be satisfactory.


    ''He''s improving his mentality little by little.'' Xukong thought to himself.


    Lin Mu didn''t pause after this and quickly began the next step of his n. After having surveyed the buildings here, he had already learned of Gu Yao''s location. It was none other than arge courtyard in the back of the city.


    At first, Lin Mu thought that the man might be in therge pce looking building in the center of the city but then learned that it was actually the main ''office'' of the Gu Legion.


    The actual residence of Gu Yao was somece else.


    The man did visit the office before, but these days he had been in seclusion for the most part and thus had not been seen. And it wasn''t like the members of the Gu Legion would question him either.


    They worked for him and not the other way around.


    Then there was also the fact that Gu Yao had a chain of orders readied for his subordinates and they had a lot to work on considering that their side was currently losing.


    Lin Mu was making his way towards Gu Yao''s courtyard when he saw a group of high ranking Gu Legion members going there as well.


    "They are at the Dao Treading realm¡­" Lin Mu noticed and furrowed his brows.


    While he didn''t fears fighting them, if they were here Lin Mu knew something must have happened.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu stopped at the Barrier around the courtyard and was forced to watch the high ranking Gu Legion members enter.


    "Dammit¡­" Lin Mu cursed as he looked at the formation array blocking him.


    He quickly tried to unravel the formation just enough to make an opening for him to pass through. Thankfully the practice from earlier buildings had made him a bit used to this type of formation array and he finished it in less than five minutes.


    ''Yes!'' Lin Mu quickly entered through the gap that had opened up for a moment.


    He needed to be careful with it since the formation would have rung an rm due to movement.


    Lin Mu kept his spirit Qi fluctuations contained within his body and also sealed his aura, leaving no chance for others to detect him.


    Speeding through the ground using Phase, Lin Mu swept through all the rooms, eventually finding the high ranking Gu Legion members standing in the central hall of the courtyard. The courtyard was prettyrge too, having nearly thirty rooms and seven halls!


    And in the main hall, Lin Mu sensed the spirit Qi fluctuation of four people. Three of them were the High ranking Dao treading realm members of the Gu Legion he had seen outside, and the final one was far stronger than them.


    The faint spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the fourth person were filled with a malicious aura that Lin Mu could feel.


    "Gu Yao¡­" Lin Mu muttered as his eyes sharpened.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu peeked his head out from the very corner of the hall, from behind a chandelier. He made sure that there was no way to see him, and only let a single eye peek out from the gap.


    The area that he was peeking out from was right behind the chandelier too thus it was very dark and masked by the bright light of themps, preventing others from noticing him easily.


    "The Zither Wind alliance has fallen, my lord¡­ our links are also disappearing."

 Chapter 1117 The Yang Qi Pool

    Gu Yao who had a cold and calm expression on his face, looked at the three Dao treading realm Gu Legion members.


    "And what are you doing for that?" Gu Yao asked calmly.


    "We¡­ we tried to repel some of the Long Cloud Alliance people, but we failed. For some reason, they always know where we are hiding and there are no signs of our intel being leaked out either." One of the Dao Treading realm members replied.


    "We even investigated whether there was any spy among us, but there are none. After all, Lord''s control over everyone simply makes it impossible." Another man replied.


    "Hmm¡­" Gu Yao rubbed his beard, thinking to himself. "And what of the top three sects?" He questioned.


    "They¡­ they''re against us now. We can no longer make use of our previous pawns to hide our origins. All of them have been captured and interrogated. I''ve even heard that the Sky Precepts sect has authorized the use of Soul Searching Techniques." The third Dao Treading realm member answered.


    "So it has finallye to that¡­" Gu Yao said as a smirk appeared on his face.


    "My lord¡­" The three Dao Treading realm felt nervous with Gu Yao''s expression.


    "What¡­ should we do? Should we call the tribal council?" One of them asked.


    Gu Yao stayed silent though, and only after a minute did he speak.


    "No¡­ there is no need." Gu Yao replied.


    "B-but, my lord¡­ if we don''t then¡­" The others tried to speak, but were interrupted by Gu Yao.


    "I said there is no need!" Gu Yao raised his voice. "I''m close to sess anyway. Just stay put for now, we shall have the finalugh soon." He added.


    ~gulp~


    The three Dao treading realm Gu Legion member''s gulped down their saliva and nodded their heads.


    "If you say so Lord Gu Yao." They said. "What should we do in the meantime then?" one of them asked.


    "Just stay put and get the rest of the members ready. My previous orders of making more Dao Treading realm cultivators are still in effect. With the Zither wind alliance gone, we will need them more than ever." Gu Yao answered.


    "We are already at a saturation point though my lord. If we increase the refinement rate of the pills anymore, we will drain the the entire source we have umted." The Dai Treading realm Gu Legion members spoke.


    "That is not an issue anymore. Use all that we have left! Drain all the pools of Yin Qi! We are going all in from this point onwards!" Gu Yao stated firmly.


    "AS YOU COMMAND MY LORD!" The Dao Treading realm members said.


    "Go off now, I''ll prepare for my part now." Gu Yao dismissed them.


    ~SHUA~


    He waved his hand and a formation array suddenly appeared.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was startled by it and realized that it was a teleportation formation.


    ''Where is he going?'' Lin Mu frantically tracked the traces of spatial disturbance caused due to it and saw that it was actually going deeper into the ground.


    ''Of course he would keep it down there. That''s just his style at this point.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He nced at the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members who left and focused back on the task at hand. They weren''t as important right now and the main goal was to stop whatever ''sess'' Gu Yao was looking forward to.


    Lin Mu waited for a bit till the Dao Treading realm Gu Legion members left, before going deeper into the ground.


    But at a certain point, Lin Mu ended up getting blocked.


    "What?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Carefully using his spirit sense without alerting anyone, Lin Mu realized that he was blocked by several barriers that had been set up in rows.


    "One¡­ two¡­ ten¡­ twenty¡­ thirty? He set up thirty barriers?!" Lin Mu was shocked.


    It wasn''t just the number of barriers that surprised Lin Mu, but also the quality of them. Each of them was as tough as the main sect protecting barriers and even with his full power would take several attempts to break.


    The number of barriers that had been set up would certainly take a ton of resource to build as well.


    ''Now we know one of the uses that Gu Yao made of all the resources he seized¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as his brows furrowed.


    He let his spirit sense wander and go around the entire barrier, discovering that it was in the shape of a sphere.


    "This''ll be hard to get into¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he tried looking for other avenues of entering.


    ~SHUA~


    And just as he was doing this, he felt a wave of energy appearing from somewhere.


    "Wait a second¡­" Lin Mu''s spirit sense moved to track the energy and discovered that it was actually entering the barriers.


    "How can it enter it?" Lin Mu wondered and observed it.


    After about a minute, Lin Mu saw that the runes were actually operating in a rather different way. Instead of blocking the energy, they were letting it enter and rece the spirit Qi they wereposed of.


    This energy movedyer byyer, getting milder with eachyer.


    "Is he¡­ filtering this energy?" Lin Mu guessed.


    The energy that wasing was certainly strong, but also impure. Lin Mu could tell that there was both Yang Qi and Yin Qi mixed into it.


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    "He''s really doing as we suspected. And this must be the catalytic method he devised for it." Xukong stated.


    "Indeed¡­ but we can''t let this progress." Lin Mu said as he raised his fist.


    "Wait," Xukong interrupted Lin Mu.


    "What senior?" Lin Mu paused.


    "Don''t break the barriers right away. It will take Gu Yao a while to absorb it all. Why don''t you take advantage of it? The Pool of Yang Qi should be nearby." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu''s eyes glowed lightly, as he knew exactly what to do.


    He tracked the energy waves and soon appeared in another section that was located half a kilometer away.


    "So this is the Yang qi pool¡­" Lin Mu muttered, looking at therge reddish orange pool.

 Chapter 1118 Draining The Pool

    The Yang Qi pool was actually smaller than Lin Mu had originally expected. The Yin Qi pools that he had seen so far had been veryrge, going so far as to be nearly a hundred meters wide.


    But the Yang Qi pool was merely two meters wide.


    "No¡­ it''s not just the size¡­ the Yang Qi in it is very pure too." Xukong spoke up.


    Lin Mu came closer to the Yang Qi pool and kneeled next to it. The Reddish Orange fluid in it was none other than the Liquefied yang Qi. While there were still some impurities in it, they were greatly reduced from before.


    "The concentration seems lower than that of the crystal we saw before though, senior?" Lin Mu replied.


    "This might be the only way he could stabilize it perhaps or keep it in a state in which it could actually be utilized. That crystal we saw before was highly condensed, but also difficult to use directly.


    But this liquid Yang Qi is the perfect material to be utilized." Xukong exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu said and curiously extended his hand towards the pool.


    His finger lightly dipped into the reddish orange liquid for merely a moment when Lin Mu felt burning energy entering through it.


    "ARGH!" Lin Mu cried in pain and quickly pulled his finger back.


    Looking at the finger, red veins had popped up on it, despite the gold skin. The Yang Qi had drilled into his finger without so much as even caring about the defense of the gold metal.


    "How is this possible?" Lin Mu was surprised at seeing his defenses being breached.


    "Pure yang Qi like this is extremely dangerous to be absorbed. There is a reason why nearly no one uses pure Yang or Yin Qi for cultivation. Bnce is very important for cultivators and even if they use elements to cultivate, there is still a certain level of it maintained in their bodies.


    But when pure Yang or Yin Qi is used, that bnce will be tilted and the cultivator will suffer. Even you can''t make use of the Yang Qi like that. This is also the reason why Gu Yao is utilizing the barriers as filters. It would allow the Yang Qi and Yin Qi to mix and get bnced before being assimted by him." Xukong exined.


    "I understand now." Lin Mu nodded his head. "But then the egg¡­ how can it directly absorb Yin Qi and Yang Qi? Is it not harmed by it." He asked.


    "That is something we will only know after the egg hatches. By now I''m sure the beast born from it won''t be normal. If it can already absorb Yang Qi and Yin Qi like this, it is bound to be one of the few exceptions that can absorb them freely." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows, but was only more curious about the egg.


    ~shua~


    Flipping his hand, the grey egg appeared in it.


    ~Tremble~


    And as soon as it did, the egg shook as if excited for something.


    "Oh? It reacted really quickly." Lin Mu said as he saw the egg shaking.


    ~HONG~


    Then a momentter, a wave of energy spread from the egg as it got incredibly cold!


    Lin Mu almost dropped it from his hand, but the egg automatically floated up.


    ~SHUA~


    The egg flew toward the Yang Qi pool and sank into it.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu was left surprised.


    ~SPLASH~


    A vortex formed in the Yang Qi pool and all the liquid Yang Qi started to swirl. A minuteter, the level of the liquid Yang Qi started to fall visibly.


    "That''s very fast!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    As if the stopper at the bottom of a tub was removed, the liquid was rapidly spinning and being drained.


    In just five minutes, nearly half of the Yang Qi had been depleted.


    And while this was happening, Gu Yao was unaware of the danger that was about to fall on him.


    He continued to cultivate within the isted space. The bnced Yin and Yang Qi floated in the air, looking like streaks of smokeing from joss sticks.


    Right now the color of the smoke was grey and looked almost the same as normal spirit Qi. Gu Yao mediated in a specific pattern and the Qi would be pulled towards him. It would then enter his body through his nostrils as well as through his pores.


    His cultivation base was also improving by the second, his aura rising.


    ''Just a bit more¡­'' Gu Yao thought to himself. ''The Qi umted in the pools should be enough for me to not just breakthrough, but also reach the very peak of the Immortal Ascension realm. Then I just need a little more help from that thing and I''ll be an Immortal!''


    But soon he felt something was wrong.


    "Huh?" Gu Yao''s eyes opened wide as he felt a tearing pain in his body.


    ~COUGH~


    "What?!" Gu Yao almost screamed upon coughing out blood.


    But that was not all, as the blood he had spat out became ck and turned into mist. It was now that he saw the Qi in the air that was no longer grey.


    "HOW! WHAT IS HAPPENING!? THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Gu Yao eximed, seeing the ck gas spread in the air.


    He knew what it was, but didn''t know how it was here.


    "Why is Yin Qi spread like this? Is the Filtering barriers not working?" Gu Yao said anxiously.


    He checked the formation arrays but found it to be hard. The Yin Qi was increasing more and more, and he couldn''t stop it from entering his body anymore. It was directly forcing its way into his skin and raging in his meridians.


    The Yin Qi was cold, but was being restrained by his body and cultivation base.


    ''I won''t have long like this¡­'' Gu Yao reckoned.


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    If he didn''t solve the issue quickly, there was a great chance he might be overwhelmed by the Yin Qi!

 Chapter 1119 Time To End

    "It''s almost gone¡­" Lin Mu said while observing the Yang Qi pool.


    The liquid in it had gone down considerably and barely a couple of inches were left at the bottom of the pool. The Grey egg was sitting in the center of it, while the liquid Yang QI continued to swirl around it.


    "It''s vitality is increasing exponentially." Xukong spoke up.


    Even he could sense the presence inside the egg now and knew that the egg was finally reaching the stage at which it would be fully developed.


    ~BOOM~


    And just as the grey egg finished absorbing all the Liquid Yang Qi, an explosion happened in the distance.


    "What was that?" Lin Mu said before he felt the chaotic energy spreading.


    Lin Mu shivered lightly, as he felt the Yin Qi trailing his skin.


    "We need to leave¡­ this does not seem right." Lin Mu said and quickly grabbed the egg.


    The grey egg no longer felt too hot or too cold. Instead, it was the perfect temperature and strong vitality could be felting from it. Lin Mu tried using his spirit sense to probe it, but was still unable to prate the shell.


    ~throb~throb~throb~


    Still, there was something else that Lin Mu felt from the egg now.


    "Are those¡­ heartbeats?" Lin Mu said, feeling a bit awed.


    "Indeed¡­ with such a strong heartbeat, the beast should be close to hatching." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu looked forward to the hatching of the egg, but stored it away for now. He had more pressing things at hand after all.


    "Time to get rid of Gu Yao." Lin Mu said as a cold expression appeared on his face.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as he was about to leave the underground space, he sensed a spatial disturbance.


    ''It''sing from everywhere¡­ are they escaping?'' Lin Mu wondered and hurried out.


    And when he finally appeared on the surface, he saw a scene of devastation.


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    "NOOO!!!!"


    "ARGH!!!"


    "RUN!! RUN!!!"


    Cries and shouts could be heard all around as the Gu Legion members ran around.


    "The yin Qi is wreaking havoc!" A few of the higher ranked members of the Gu Legion rmed everyone.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he saw ck gas that was spreading everywhere. Ayer of frost would settle where it passed before the objects started to wither and crumble. The effect of Yin Qi as strong as this was too profound and even the Dao Shell realm members of the Gu Legion were helpless.


    With each passing second, tens of cultivators died while their cries echoed in the ne.


    "I need to find Gu Yao. The others don''t matter now¡­" Lin Mu said as he quickly flew to the residence of Gu Yao.


    The Gu Legion members didn''t even pay any attention to him, despite the fact that he passed from right in front of them. They were simply far too busy and trying to save themselves.


    Thus, even if they realized that Lin Mu was an outsider, they still would not care much.


    ~Huu~


    Upon reaching the residence, Lin Mu took a deep breath and pulled his right fist back.


    Energy spun in his arm while his aura rose freely. Lin Mu no longer hid his presence and rmed everyone in the city.


    "WHO''S THAT!?" The Gu Legion members, that were a little further from the Yin Qi tainted area pointed.


    "HOW DID YOU COME HERE!?" It didn''t take long for the Dao Treading realm members of the Gu Legion to spot Lin Mu either.


    They all flew towards him, the intent to kill visible in their eyes. They weren''t going to capture him or interrogate him. There was no use for all that. Their orders were clear and solid: Kill all those that are not known in the city.


    And Lin Mu with his vastly different robes and appearance, was certainly not of the Gu Legion. Not to mention, the spirit Qi wavesing from him were very strong, easily matching that of the Dao Treading realm.


    But at the same time, they seemed a bit different. If they used their spirit senses to observe it they would realize that while the spirit Qi fluctuation were strong, they were merely so in quantity and not quality.


    Though the Auraing from Lin Mu''s body would further confuse them, as it was even stronger than that of a normal Dao Treading Realm Cultivator.


    "A peak Dao Treading realm expert? How can there be anyone else other than Lord Gu Yao here?" Someone questioned.


    "Are they some elder from the tribes?"


    "NO! They are not from the Tribes and not from our Legion either!" The Dao Treading realm elder taking the lead, dered.


    His eyes narrowed as the face of Lin Mu made him think of a particr man.


    "HE IS THE ONE WHO DESTROYED THE WEST OCEAN SECT!" The other Dao Treading realm elder shouted, having identified Lin Mu''s face.


    The Gu Legion members who heard this were stunned and froze in ce. They knew how strong an expert was if they could eradicate a sect all on their own. And now one such expert was right here in their base, intending to kill them.


    Lin Mu paid no attention to them, though.


    His Fist was ready, and a massive energy could be felt from it.


    "Boulder copsing Fist: Third Form- FLAMING DEVASTATOR!" Lin Mu used twenty percent of his stores to power this attack.


    ~SHUA~


    A searing heat spread from his fist at that moment, as a ming ribbon of energy shot out from it. It burned brightly, making it hard for one to look at it with their naked eyes. But the blinding light disappeared quickly too, with the ming ribbon disappearing into the building below.


    ~KABOOM!!!!!~


    Once the assault on their eyes was stooped, the assault on their ears began. The loud explosion tore apart ear drums of most that heard it. Only Lin Mu was fine with it, as his defenses were simply too high.


    The energy from the ribbon spread like a spider web all over the ground, and over a kilometer wide area was covered with them, red streaks being visible all over it

 Chapter 1120 Gu Legion Eradicated!

    <h4>Chapter 1120 Gu Legion Eradicated!</h4>


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense was fully spread and was allowing him to observe everything that was happening. He could see the expression of all the Gu Legion members here, but he still could not sense Gu Yao.


    ''Its too chaotic down there, my spirit sense is being pushed back.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While he didn''t know what had happened down there, Lin Mu knew that the grey egg''s absorption of the yang Qi pool had probably broken the bnce of the Yin and Yang Qi that Gu Yao was using.


    Without the fully understanding of the formation array used for filtration as well as Gu Yao''s catalyst, there was no knowing of what would happen to him.


    And thus Lin Mu decided to take the most direct approach and decimate the entire area at once!


    The most destructive attack he had was the Boulder Copsing Fist''s third form: Devastator.


    And if he used it with Metal Qi it would be even more powerful, but that needed a cultivator to act as the incubator for the explosion. Lin Mu didn''t have that option right now, not to mention that the explosion would also be dyed.


    Thus, Fire Spirit Qi was the best option for him. Not to mention, using it at the 20% mark was going to increase its power by a level he had not seen before.


    Having used that, the effects were very apparent.


    Lin Mu watched as the cracks spread across the ground and red mes burst open from them. The scene seemed as if a dormant volcano was about to erupt!


    The cracks continued to spread, and mes sprouted from them.


    ~TREMBLE~


    The ground shook non stop, making a lot of the Gu Legion members who were trying to run fall.


    And flying was not a good option either, as the plumes of fire shooting from the cracks went high enough to kill those that flew.


    But even if the entire city was being devastated, the most damaged area was none other than the residence of Gu Yao. There, a deep hole had been carved out, the sides of which were red hot.


    Molten rock and soil were dripping and bubbling non-stop while the depths of the hole could not be seen. The fate of Gu Yao was unknown while the energy from the ming ribbon continued to spread down.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Finally, it seemed like the energy had reached the peak and couldn''t stay contained anymore.


    ~KABOOOM!~


    First, a geyser of molten rocks spewed out of the residence before the entire city cracked apart entirely.


    ~BOOM~


    Large chunks of thend rose up while others sank down. Lava came out of the crevices and filled the open area.


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    A cacophony of cries and screams were heard as those that were unfortunate were burned.


    Even the Dao Treading realm members of the Gu Legion were injured and were unable to escape theva. Only Lin Mu stood there in the sky without a care, even if theva sttered over him.


    The armor of the Mortal Strengthening scripture could easily bear it, and it slid off like water. Even before he had the True Gold Body Forging arts, Lin Mu had used his bare hands to scoop upva and had dived into a volcano at the Kong ne before.


    Hence, this was nothing to him.


    Lin Mu continued to watch everything with cold eyes and saw that the lower members of the Gu legion were already mostly dead. Their buildings had all copsed and their contents were burning.


    No matter what formation arrays were set up, they all broke apart due to the sheer force of the explosion.


    Now only a few Nascent soul realm, Dao Shell realm and Dao Treading realm members were left alive.


    "Time to clear out the weeds." Lin Mu said as he disappeared.


    When he appeared, he was at the back of a Dao Treading Realm Gu Legion member.


    Lin Mu''s hand moved like a blur and sped onto the neck of the man.


    "YOU!!!" The man tried to scream, but his voice was stuck inside his throat.


    ~KACHA~


    Lin Mu didn''t give the chance to do anything and ruthlessly crushed his neck, breaking his bones and tearing apart the flesh.


    ~THUD~


    He threw away the head of the man while storing the body into his ring. Lin Mu didn''t care if the Nascent soul of the dead Dao Treading realm cultivator appeared inside the ring, as it would be quickly purged by the spatial energy there.


    ~SHUA~


    Tens of spirit weapons appeared around Lin Mu and flew out with a wave of his hand.


    ~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~


    Heads, limbs and bodies copsed as blood spilled everywhere, before being burned away by the heat and mes. The spirit weapons all danced around like a swarm of deadly locusts reaping all lives that they touched.


    But that was not all, as once someone was killed, their Nascent soul would also be purged away by the burst of spirit Qi that would eject from the spirit weapons.


    "What has descended upon us?" One of the Dao Treading realm said as all hope drained from his eyes.


    All the man could see before the end was a pair of golden fists that rained upon his head, exploding it apart.


    In less than five minutes, nearly all the Gu Legion members had been exterminated.


    Those that were a bit far away from the main area were still killed, but their Nascent souls had managed to wiggle out of their bodies.


    Unfortunately for them, they had nowhere to go. They couldn''t escape this ne without a teleportation talisman. Though even using that would be a long shot, as a lot of the arrays were broken and it would be a long shot for the teleportation array to stay intact as well.


    Lin Mu looked at the entire ce from the skies, his eyes still cold and sharp. He stood like that for about ten minutes, continually scanning the area with his spirit sense.


    ''No sign of Gu Yao¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Closing his eyes for a moment, Lin Mu activated his spatial perception and looked around.


    "Hmm¡­ no sign of him even now." Lin Mu muttered.


    Even if someone could hide from his spirit sense, hiding from spatial perception was very difficult. Lin Mu might not be able to see the exact image of a person using it, but he was still able to see the disturbance in space with it, which would give him an outline of whatever was there.


    And he certainly couldn''t see Gu Yao down there. All that was left there was molten rock and chaotic Yin Qi that was reacting with it and creating multiple explosions.


    In fact, therge explosion that had happened wasn''t just because of Lin Mu''s ming Devastator. But rather due to the yin Qi that was pouring into the location where Gu Yao was.


    The energy of the Devastatorbined with the Yin Qi and created an even greater explosion.


    ''It was certainly powerful¡­ if I could use Yin Qi myself, I could actually harness this as a proper skill.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But no matter how much he wished for that, he knew not to bite off more than he could chew.


    "The space is getting unstable, too." Lin Mu continued to look around and saw the damage to the ne had spread to its spatial borders, too.


    The Yin Qi was like a sharp knife that tore into the stabilizing arrays and caused cracks to form. Since this ce was artificially expanded by Gu Yao using several arrays, the lesser void around it was always exerting force into it.


    Just like how water would exert force on any object that was ced in it, the void exerted a simr force. But the force was many times stronger than what water could ever exert.


    The entire ne was continually being ''squeezed'' but was being held back by the arrays. And now that the arrays were all but gone, it couldn''t hold on for much longer.


    "Might as well do it properly¡­" Lin Mu said as his eyes looked around for a good location.


    ~SHUA~


    He disappeared for a second before appearing in another spot.


    "This should be good enough." Lin Mu muttered before extending his hand towards the sky.


    "TEAR!" Lin Mu activated the ring.


    His spirit Qi started to drain rapidly as the ring absorbed it. In less than ten seconds, around half of Lin Mu''s spirit Qi had been drained!


    This was a massive amount since Lin Mu''s stores had increased by many times. The amount of spirit Qi used by the ring was enough to send someone from the Qi refining realm all the way into the Dao Shell realm, perhaps.


    ~RIP~


    Soon, a wave of energy shot from the ring and tore apart the spatial fabric, allowing Lin Mu to see the lesser void behind it.


    Once the tear was inflicted, Lin Mu used his other hand and activated another one of his skills.


    "MELD!" Veins popped up on Lin Mu''s hand as massive amounts of spatial disturbances spread all over the area.


    Then, as if a ss screen had been cut, a fine line appeared in the sky. The line continued to lengthen more and more until it had reached the very end of the ne.


    Lin Mu flew up and inserted both his hands into the line, pulling it apart.


    "HAAAAAAAAAA!" His face turned red while he exerted all his power.


    "BREAK!" Lin Mu shouted as his strength ripped apart the sky!

 Chapter 1121-Shattering The Plane! End Of Gu Yao?

    <h4>Chapter 1121-Shattering The ne! End Of Gu Yao?</h4>


    This was possibly the most power Lin Mu had ever used at once. It had reached a level he had never even expected. It was the full power of his Five Treasures realm cultivation basebined with his Spirit Qi cultivation base.


    It was thebination of those two that would allow him to do something like this and it was beyond the realm of ''normal''.


    In fact, Lin Mu discovered a new thing when he did this. His Gold body, which had been mostly imprable, was actually being strained!


    And it wasn''t something external that was making it like that, but his own strength. Lin Mu reckoned that if he didn''t have the gold body of the True Gold body forging arts, he might have never been able to do this.


    His body might have destroyed itself by doing something like this.


    Though there was also the experience that Lin Mu had due to the fact that he had always used the boulder copsing fist, which was a skill that dealt damage to oneself. Originally, Lin Mu sustained severe injuries when he used it in the past.


    It was only after his body cultivation rose that he was able to sustain it without issues.


    And now that he had the gold body, he could use it almost with no effects. But despite all that, he had reached the point where even his gold body would start to creak and crack if he exerted anymore power.


    ''So this is the limit of my body''s durability. Any more than this and I''ll end up damaging myself again¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Still, physical strength amplified by the spirit Qi was almost always less than the power exerted by skills. But Lin Mu had changed that fact.


    The sky started to split as the dark void behind it became visible. The skies of the ne were always overcast grey, but now they were starting to be utterly dark. Once Lin Mu had made arge enough gap in the sky, all he needed to do was give it one final push and it would continue to rip itself apart.


    "Boulder Copsing Fist: First Form- Impact!" Lin Mu used the closebat version of the skill.


    ~BOOM~


    His fist seemed to have hit empty air, but the force of the impact shook the very fabric of space. The dark edges that were leading into the void were forced further back by the impact as therge tear in the sky started expanding rapidly!


    ~CRACK ~CRACK~ CRACK~


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    Strange sounds could be hearding from all around the ne as fine cracks developed all over the area. These cracks were on all objects too, from the ground, to buildings, to rubble, to trees and even the very air.


    But the strange thing was that these cracks weren''t on the surfaces themselves, but on a different dimensional level.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Once the cracks reached a certain level though, they started to expand individually and multiple smaller openings into the void appeared.


    "That''s enough. The ne will now be broken apart by the Lesser void automatically. You should leave now or you''ll get thrown too far away into the void. Finding your way back to the Xiaofan world might be too difficult." Xukong advised.


    "Yes, senior." Lin Mu replied right away.


    His face was still red from the strain, but the veins had stopped being as pronounced as they were before. Though his breathing was still not normal and a bit fast. Lin Mu was also feeling tired for the first time in a long time now.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    Lin Mu used to blink several times in session before reaching the point from where he had originally entered the ne. Since the ne had been destabilized, this was the safest way to exit it.


    If the ne was not in this state, Lin Mu would have been able to leave from most parts of the ne. But now he didn''t want to take that risk and end up in some part of the Lesser void.


    Lin Mu opened the portal and jumped into it, quickly entering the Xiaofan world.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and looked back at the portal. He could see the edges of it were already starting toe apart, as the anchor between the Xiaofan world and the ne of the Gu Legion became detached.


    Slowly Lin Mu could see the ruined headquarters of the Gu legion slowly being shredded apart by the lesser void and being thrown into it. The rubble flew into the lesser void, never to be seen again.


    ~shua~


    And while Lin Mu was watching this all, a red blur came from the distance. It stopped beside him and turned out to be none other than Little Shrubby, of course.


    "You''re back?" Little Shrubby spoke, feeling surprised at his master''s appearance.


    Lin Mu looked far more tired than before, and even his aura was a bit weak. Little Shrubby had not seen him like him for a long time and knew that something must have happened in the ne.


    "Mmmhmm¡­ I''m back." Lin Mu replied.


    "Was it hard?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "You could say that." Lin Mu replied but continue to look at the breaking ne.


    It was his first time seeing this, and he wanted to understand the fine changes that happened in the void and further his own understanding of it all. Little Shrubby didn''t ask anymore questions after this either and simply stood by Lin Mu, watching the ne break apart and be consumed by the lesser void.


    It took about half an hour before Lin Mu couldn''t see the ne anymore. All that was left behind was merely the darkness of the void.


    "And it''s over¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he took a breath of relief.


    It certainly felt like a weight had been lifted off his back.


    "You have finally finished one of your biggest goals." Xukong said after a while.


    "Yes¡­ but it still feels a bit empty." Lin Mu replied and became silent after that.

 Chapter 1122 The Northern Tribes Make Their Move

    Having dealt with the Gu Legion and their ne, Lin Mu felt very tired. He had after all, depleted nearly three quarters of his energy in this and needed to replenish it. Not to mention the great strain he had put on himself in his attempt at breaking the ne from the anchor of the Xiaofan world.


    "Let''s go Little Shrubby. We''re heading back¡­" Lin Mu said.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu ced a hand on Little Shrubby and activated the runes on his back.


    ~SHUA~


    The runes glowed brightly as Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were brought to the Kong ne.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu looked around the lush forest of the Kong ne and felt a bit better. The spirit Qi here was high in concentration and sped up the passive absorption of his body.


    Lin Mu simply plopped down onto the ground and Little Shrubbyid behind him as well. Burying his head in Little Shrubby''s fur, Lin Mu closed his eyes, deciding to take a bit of a nap.


    In just a few minutes, Lin Mu was fast asleep while spirit Qi swirled around his body lightly.


    "Rest well, master¡­" Little Shrubby said silently before closing his eyes as well.


    Though he wasn''t sleeping, even with his eyes closed, his senses were on alert and anyoneing close would be found by him immediately. And if it was an enemy, Little Shrubby didn''t even need to move from here.


    Merely a look from him would send forth fires that would rage with no end.


    Though something like this was not likely to happen as beasts would be instinctively scared of little Shrubby and wouldn''t dare toe close, anyway. His Aura was more than enough to startle all beasts here since he was at the Dao Treading realm now.


    So far Lin Mu hadn''t discovered any Dao Treading realm beasts in the Kong ne and neither had the alliance, thus they were safe.


    The sky started to change colors, bing orange from the blue and finally ck.


    The Night passed and day came, but Lin Mu didn''t wake up. He slept peacefully, unaware of all that was happening in the world.


    Far in the north of the Xiaofan world, the forbidden continent existed. It was the home of the Northern Tribes and their capital was located over three thousand kilometers from the border.


    And right now, the capital was in slight chaos. Several cultivators in clothes made out of thick beast furs and hides were running around and loud conversations were happening.


    In this capital, there was arge stone building. It had two floors, but it was very wide. The ground floor was hexagonal, while the upper floor was circr in shape. Its top though, was conical and was covered with red paint, seemingly made from blood.


    This was the Grand Council of the Northern Tribes.


    It was headed by the eleven main tribes of the continent who all had Dao Treading realm elders at their head.


    And in there, the eleven tribal heads were currently sitting. A bonfire raged in the center of the hall, while eleven seats were ced around in a circle.


    "It has been confirmed, the Life Bead of Gu Yao has shattered." One of the elders sitting in the circle spoke.


    "How is this possible? We literally talked to him yesterday!" Another elder shouted.


    "Silence!" The oldest looking elder sitting at the helm yelled.


    All the other elders quietened after hearing him and became pensive.


    "We all know what we were informed about in the past. Ku Waowen sent us an iplete message¡­ you all know the contents of it." The head elder spoke.


    Hearing this the expression of all the elders darkened.


    "We cannot believe that, Elder Gunkao. How are we to trust each other if we falter from false allegations of traitors." One of the elders said.


    "Oh? Elder Ku Mi? You would disparage the words of your own descendant?" Another elder asked.


    "Yes! If it threatens our stability, we cannot trust it. What if this was all a ploy of the enemy to sow discord? Don''t forget that the life bead of Ku Waowen broke over a month after this information was sent to us." Elder Ku Mi spoke.


    She was evidently the head of the Ku n to which Ku Waowen belonged to. While Ku Waowen was the chief of the Ku n, the position of the head elder was above that and it belonged to Ku Mi.


    These head elders usually didn''t take as much part in the workings on their own n anymore and would work for the council instead. And thus, they would need to assign others to be chiefs.


    "Elder Ku Mi is right. What if Ku Waowen was forced to send us this message? She could have very well been captured by some experts and controlled to do this. And once she had died, all her worth had been expended." Another elder spoke up.


    Silence descend in the hall as the elders thought about their next course of action.


    About five minutester, an elder wearing arge red horn helmet spoke up.


    "I think we should do what we had originally nned. It was Gu Yao who had gotten us to change the n, saying that he would be able to handle it all on his own. And now see where that got us." The elder in the red horn helmet spoke.


    "I agree with Elder Niu!" A few elders chimed in.


    "This might be work in our favor. If we go along with the n, if we really do have a traitor among us, they would be forced to reveal themselves." Elder Ku Mi said.


    "Alright, all those in favor of going along with our original n express your intention." Elder Gunkao stated.


    "I agree!"


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    "I agree too!"


    "Same for me!"


    One by one, all of the elders agreed to the decision.


    "Very well! With all of us in unison for this decision, we shall go forth." Elder Gunkao stated.

 Chapter 1123 Beyond Ignorance

    Lin Mu was still resting in the Kong ne when a certain person appeared over the horizon.


    "There he is!" Jing Luo said upon seeing Little Shrubby and Lin Mu.


    Little Shrubby was rather eye-catching even from this distance as hisrge red body was easy to spot.


    ~shua~


    Jing Luo quickly flew towards them and was detected by Little Shrubby. But the beast didn''t react as he could tell it was an ally.


    ~thud~


    Jing Luonded near them and nced at Lin Mu.


    "Lin Mu," Jing Luo called out, but didn''t receive a response.


    Furrowing his brows, he got closer and felt that Lin Mu''s aura was a bit weak.


    "What happened?" Jing Luo asked Little Shrubby.


    ~GRRR


    Little Shrubby simply growled in response, but Jing Luo could somewhat guess the meaning at this point.


    "The fight was difficult, I guess? And he''s exhausted?" Jing Luo questioned.


    ~Grrr~


    Little Shrubby nodded his head in response.


    "Ah¡­ if he wanted to rest, he should have just told us. ~Sigh~ I''ll inform the others. Just let him be for now." Jing Luo said before turning around.


    Soon Little Shrubby became a small dot in the distance as Jing Luo flew away.


    "Hard to believe that the problem that had gued us for so long is gone now¡­" Jing Luo muttered to himself.


    He knew that Lin Mu had seeded, because if he had not, then there was no way he would have returned here right now. Rather, Lin Mu would have endured till the mission waspleted.


    Then there was also the fact that Jing Luo could see the exhaustion on Lin Mu''s face. It was a bit subtle now that he had rested for a day, but was still visible enough to differentiate.


    ''He must''ve really spent himself, if he is this exhausted. I haven''t seen him this tired since the day we escaped the Ripple Mist sect¡­'' Jing Luo thought to himself.


    There were other changes in Lin Mu too that he couldn''t exactly perceive right now, but Jing Luo was fine with not knowing them. All he cared about was that Lin Mu was alive and the mission had seeded.


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    A whileter, Jing Luo left the Kong ne and arrived in the Long Cloud sect.


    Several of the members of the alliance were already waiting for him here and were also looking rather anxious.


    "Did you find him?" Patriarch Yi You asked.


    "Yes¡­ he is fine. He''s just tired and resting." Jing Luo replied.


    "Understandably so." Patriarch Hua nodded his head.


    "Can''t believe he really ended it all on his own." One of the elders of the Long Cloud sect spoke up.


    "Mmm¡­ he didn''t need us¡­ it was us who needed him in the first ce. Perhaps even without us he would have aplished the same." Patriarch Shandian stated.


    "We truly owe a debt to the child now, don''t we¡­ this entire world does." Patriarch Mingliang said after a bit.


    "Indeed¡­" Patriarch Yi You agreed.


    But hearing this, Jing Luo seemed to be a bit irked.


    "Unfortunately, there are others that don''t feel like this and want Lin Mu to pay for destroying the traitor sects." Jing Luo spoke up.


    "Humph! I''ll see how they do that." Patriarch Shandian said fiercely.


    "If the top three sects dare to do that, we shall all stand in opposition. You have our word!" Patriarch Yi You dered.


    "Perhaps they''ll be given a rude awakening soon. I doubt the Northern Tribes will wait much long once their pawn has been eliminated and their n exposed for all to see." Patriarch Hua added.


    Everyone''s expression darkened upon hearing this as they recalled that danger had notpletely passed yet. Or rather, there was a great chance that even stronger enemies were about to appear.


    "We need to prepare for the northern tribes'' invasion. I''ve already talked to the Fenlong kingdom and its ns, they are prepared to move north at any time." Jing Luo said.


    "What about your grandfather? Will Jing Wei be ready?" Patriarch Yi You asked.


    "Grandfather is mostly done with his preparations. He''ll be out soon." Jing Luo replied.


    "Good! We''ll need all the manpower. It would be best we can overwhelm them before they even react." Patriarch Yi You replied.


    The alliance members continued to discuss the n of action while the hours passed by. And when the discussions werepleted, the disciples of the sect all departed in droves, their destination the Shuang Qian kingdom.


    That was the ce which was decided to be the location to stop the advance of the Northern Tribes. Everyone already knew that the Vermillion Legion waspromised and thus that frontier would be useless to fight at.


    Another part of the alliance members split, a part to destroy the remnants of the Gu Legion around the empire. Jiao Fang had evidently provided some more information a while back and now the alliance had all the secrets of the Gu Legion.


    The spies of the northern tribes were rooted out and eliminated one by one.


    The Top three sects were certainly rmed by this sudden series of actions by the Long Cloud alliance and sent forth messengers to question them why. But what they didn''t expect was that the four patriarchs of the sects themselves went to the Sky precepts sect and talked to the Patriarch of the sect in person.


    The contents of discussion was unknown to most disciples who had seen the entourage of patriarchs enter the sect. But then a shocking thing happened as the Patriarchs of the Rainbow Pill sect and the Centennial Sword sect arrived at the sect.


    Currently, all of them sat in the grand pce of the Sky Precepts sect while a few high elders of the sect were present as well.


    "So you are saying the Northern Tribes will be attacking soon?" The patriarch of the Rainbow pill sect questioned.


    "Yes. That is what we''ve been telling you all for months now." Patriarch Shandian answered in an irked tone.


    "What proof do you have of that?" The Patriarch of the Centennial Sword sect asked.


    "Humph! If you still need proof after all this, then you are being more than just ignorant, Jia Chuanli." Patriarch Yi You replied.

 Chapter 1124 A Final Warning

    Jia Chuanli was the name of the Centennial Sword sect''s patriarch and he was of the same generation as the patriarchs of the Long cloud alliance.


    "Oh? Do you wish to not even give us the proper exnation?" Jia Chuanli asked.


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    "You all have already seen Gu Yao and his Gu Legion, along with all that they did. Three sects have fallen and you still don''t see the danger?" Patriarch Mingling said.


    "That was Gu Yao. Even if he is suspected to be part of the Northern Tribes, we cannot say for sure that they would attack us. There is no way they would do this when our ancestors are still holding the ground." The Patriarch of the Rainbow pill sect stated.


    "The Immortal Ascension realm ancestors of yours are no longer a good enough reason for them to hold back. We were not lying when we said that they too have their own Immortal Ascension realm cultivators now." This time Patriarch Hua spoke up.


    "And who is it that told you this? As far as I know, no signs of a breakthrough were witnessed in the past thousand years for an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator. Perhaps all these are just rumors." Jia Chuanli replied.


    "Was it perhaps the same person who is behind the extermination of the Zither Wind alliance? That¡­ Lin Mu, who told you all this?" The Rainbow Pill sect Patriarch mocked.


    "QUAN CHAO!" Patriarch Shandian said in a threatening voice.


    "So I was right. Don''t forget that man is a criminal wanted by the top three sects. If you dare to associate with him, you all will face charges rtive to that." The patriarch of the Rainbow pill sect, Quan Chao, replied without fear.


    ~Sigh~


    Seeing all this, Patriarch Hua let out a sigh. "I pity you."


    "What was that?" Jia Chuanli raised his brows.


    "I pity you all¡­ time after time you try to go against Lin Mu¡­ when he''s been saving you all. I''ll only say this once, if you go against him now, you''ll be going against us all." Patriarch Hua said firmly, his expression straight.


    "Is this the official stance of your alliance?" Patriarch Tian of the Sky Precepts sect questioned.


    "It is indeed." Patriarch Yi You answered.


    "Fine¡­ we shall decide what the fate of the Long Cloud alliance will be then." Jia Chuanli said in response, earning a re from Patriarch Tian.


    "That is not what I said, Patriarch Jia Chuanli." Patriarch Tian quickly spoke. "Do not push things into a conclusion without getting the facts right." He warned.


    "Is patriarch Tian afraid of them now?" Quan Chao asked with a grin.


    "This is enough, we will leave now. We now see how foolish it was toe here. We''ve done what we came here for though, and have warned you. What happens next will be on your head." Patriarch Yi You said before standing up.


    "Hmm¡­ you all don''t know the mistake you are making. Regardless, you all wille to regret it." Patriarch Hua said before walking out of the hall.


    Seeing him leave, Patriarch Tian furrowed his brows, but the other two didn''t care.


    "Do you feel the same, Patriarch Mingliang? Will you participate in this foolishness and support that Lin Mu?" Quan Chao asked. "Our sects have old links, so it would be bad if your sect is gone."


    "Hahah! You surely jest Quan Chao¡­ You do not even know who you are challenging. Do you really think the person who can exterminate three of the top sects can''t do it again? It is not us who have to be afraid, but you all who need to reflect.


    Repent and perhaps you might be spared. Lin Mu is not someone you want to offend." Patriarch Mingliang said in a serious tone.


    He turned around after saying that and walked to the exit of the hall. But just as he reached the doors, he paused and turned around for a moment.


    "And if you do not fear him even now, then know that he is not alone. You might be able to hold him back, but his background is something this entire world cannot deal with." Patriarch Mingliang said onest time before flying away.


    Once the four patriarchs of the alliance were gone, the top three patriarchs were left to their devices.


    "They are grasping at straws." Jia Chuanli chuckled.


    "I do not think so, patriarch Jia." This time the person who spoke was actually an elder of the Sky precepts sect. "Patriarch Tian, I think we should take their words seriously. We''ve done independent investigations into this Lin Mu and the rise in his power is not normal." High Elder Han said.


    "Please tell us what you have found, high Elder Han." Patriarch Tian asked.


    "From our older investigations that went iplete in the past, I found several links. This Lin Mu is none other than the Lin Mu, who we thought was behind the incident of the Tri Cauldron Peony sect.


    Additionally, now that we know that the man named Gu Yao was behind it all, it absolves Lin Mu of the older charges. And since he managed to kill Several Dao Treading realm cultivators with ease, I do not think Patriarch Mingliang was lying.


    Someone of this caliber cannot be without a background. He certainly has someone supporting him¡­ someone that can affect this entire world." High Elder Han exined.


    "All this is just hearsay. For all we know, this could all be a coincidence. Having a background as strong as you are describing is impossible. We are the strongest background in this world!" Quan Chao stated.


    "Oh, fear not Patriarchs. I prepared all the reports and records. I assure you that you will be satisfied. Please read them and make your own conclusions." High Elder Han replied before waving his hand.


    Several hundred scrolls and documents appeared on the table, ready for all of them to check.


    "Please look through them first, Patriarch Quan Chao, Patriarch Jia Chuanli." Patriarch Tian spoke up as well.

 Chapter 1125 A Final Warning

    Jia Chuanli was the name of the Centennial Sword sect''s patriarch and he was of the same generation as the patriarchs of the Long cloud alliance.


    "Oh? Do you wish to not even give us the proper exnation?" Jia Chuanli asked.


    "You all have already seen Gu Yao and his Gu Legion, along with all that they did. Three sects have fallen and you still don''t see the danger?" Patriarch Mingling said.


    "That was Gu Yao. Even if he is suspected to be part of the Northern Tribes, we cannot say for sure that they would attack us. There is no way they would do this when our ancestors are still holding the ground." The Patriarch of the Rainbow pill sect stated.


    "The Immortal Ascension realm ancestors of yours are no longer a good enough reason for them to hold back. We were not lying when we said that they too have their own Immortal Ascension realm cultivators now." This time Patriarch Hua spoke up.


    "And who is it that told you this? As far as I know, no signs of a breakthrough were witnessed in the past thousand years for an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator. Perhaps all these are just rumors." Jia Chuanli replied.


    "Was it perhaps the same person who is behind the extermination of the Zither Wind alliance? That¡­ Lin Mu, who told you all this?" The Rainbow Pill sect Patriarch mocked.


    "QUAN CHAO!" Patriarch Shandian said in a threatening voice.


    "So I was right. Don''t forget that man is a criminal wanted by the top three sects. If you dare to associate with him, you all will face charges rtive to that." The patriarch of the Rainbow pill sect, Quan Chao, replied without fear.


    ~Sigh~


    Seeing all this, Patriarch Hua let out a sigh. "I pity you."


    "What was that?" Jia Chuanli raised his brows.


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    "I pity you all¡­ time after time you try to go against Lin Mu¡­ when he''s been saving you all. I''ll only say this once, if you go against him now, you''ll be going against us all." Patriarch Hua said firmly, his expression straight.


    "Is this the official stance of your alliance?" Patriarch Tian of the Sky Precepts sect questioned.


    "It is indeed." Patriarch Yi You answered.


    "Fine¡­ we shall decide what the fate of the Long Cloud alliance will be then." Jia Chuanli said in response, earning a re from Patriarch Tian.


    "That is not what I said, Patriarch Jia Chuanli." Patriarch Tian quickly spoke. "Do not push things into a conclusion without getting the facts right." He warned.


    "Is patriarch Tian afraid of them now?" Quan Chao asked with a grin.


    "This is enough, we will leave now. We now see how foolish it was toe here. We''ve done what we came here for though, and have warned you. What happens next will be on your head." Patriarch Yi You said before standing up.


    "Hmm¡­ you all don''t know the mistake you are making. Regardless, you all wille to regret it." Patriarch Hua said before walking out of the hall.


    Seeing him leave, Patriarch Tian furrowed his brows, but the other two didn''t care.


    "Do you feel the same, Patriarch Mingliang? Will you participate in this foolishness and support that Lin Mu?" Quan Chao asked. "Our sects have old links, so it would be bad if your sect is gone."


    "Hahah! You surely jest Quan Chao¡­ You do not even know who you are challenging. Do you really think the person who can exterminate three of the top sects can''t do it again? It is not us who have to be afraid, but you all who need to reflect.


    Repent and perhaps you might be spared. Lin Mu is not someone you want to offend." Patriarch Mingliang said in a serious tone.


    He turned around after saying that and walked to the exit of the hall. But just as he reached the doors, he paused and turned around for a moment.


    "And if you do not fear him even now, then know that he is not alone. You might be able to hold him back, but his background is something this entire world cannot deal with." Patriarch Mingliang said onest time before flying away.


    Once the four patriarchs of the alliance were gone, the top three patriarchs were left to their devices.


    "They are grasping at straws." Jia Chuanli chuckled.


    "I do not think so, patriarch Jia." This time the person who spoke was actually an elder of the Sky precepts sect. "Patriarch Tian, I think we should take their words seriously. We''ve done independent investigations into this Lin Mu and the rise in his power is not normal." High Elder Han said.


    "Please tell us what you have found, high Elder Han." Patriarch Tian asked.


    "From our older investigations that went iplete in the past, I found several links. This Lin Mu is none other than the Lin Mu, who we thought was behind the incident of the Tri Cauldron Peony sect.


    Additionally, now that we know that the man named Gu Yao was behind it all, it absolves Lin Mu of the older charges. And since he managed to kill Several Dao Treading realm cultivators with ease, I do not think Patriarch Mingliang was lying.


    Someone of this caliber cannot be without a background. He certainly has someone supporting him¡­ someone that can affect this entire world." High Elder Han exined.


    "All this is just hearsay. For all we know, this could all be a coincidence. Having a background as strong as you are describing is impossible. We are the strongest background in this world!" Quan Chao stated.


    "Oh, fear not Patriarchs. I prepared all the reports and records. I assure you that you will be satisfied. Please read them and make your own conclusions." High Elder Han replied before waving his hand.


    Several hundred scrolls and documents appeared on the table, ready for all of them to check.


    "Please look through them first, Patriarch Quan Chao, Patriarch Jia Chuanli." Patriarch Tian spoke up as well.

 Chapter 1126 Going Out In Open

    ~yawn~


    "How long has it been?" Lin Mu yawned while entrenching his arms.


    "Two days." Little Shrubby, who had not moved from his position from the start, spoke.


    "Ah, two days¡­ guess I really was tired." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He checked his Dantian and saw that the spirit Qi had mostly recovered in this time, though his vitally was yet to fully be replenished.


    "Need to eat." Lin Mu spoke and looked at Little Shrubby.


    "On it!" Little Shrubby immediately got to work.


    In less than thirty minutes, arge cauldron full of strew was prepared while on another grill, a b of meat was being roasted.


    "Looks good!" Lin Mu said, seeing the meal.


    The aroma and taste was just to his liking and he spent no time waiting. Ten minutester, not even bones were left behind while the cauldron looked as if it had been polished clean from the inside.


    "Haaa~" Lin Mu let out a breath of fulfillment. "That was a satisfying meal." He said.


    He could sense his vitality being rapidly replenished as his stomach got to work and quickly assimted everything. The remaining bit of the spirit Qi was also topped off by the meal and Lin Mu was back to his optimum condition.


    ''Guess I should check up on others¡­ the tribes should make their moves soon.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But before moving, he first took out the jade slip and checked for any messages on it. Quickly going through them all, Lin Mu found several of them. Almost everyone that knew Lin Mu had sent him a message.


    They either congratted him on his sess, or talked about the ongoing events and preparation for the iing war.


    Then finally there was Jing Luo''s message, telling him toe meet with him to discuss the final ns.


    "Let''s head to Jing Luo, little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby responded.


    Getting onto his back, the two of them reached the teleportation gates in less than two minutes. There, Lin Mu took the gate that went to the Shuang Qian kingdom''s border and walked out.


    "Alliance leader Lin Mu!" There were a few guards waiting for him already.


    Looking at them, Lin Mu recognized them to be from the ck dune sect as they all wore their robes.


    "Elder Jing Luo and Senior Wu Hei are waiting for you at the capital." One of the guards informed.


    "Mm¡­ anything else I should know?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "The Shuang Qian capital was in chaos until a while ago. The First prince and King have died two days ago under ''mysterious'' conditions and Senior Wu Hei has stabilized it for now." The guard spoke.


    "I see¡­ thank you for the information." Lin Mu said before flying out of the hidden outpost with Little Shrubby.


    A lot of the outposts that hid these gates needed to have their exits expanded due to Little Shrubby, as he could not fit through a lot of them before. All outposts now hadrge exits or had secondary ones that could be opened for the beast. Though since Little Shrubby had the ability to shrink down, it wasn''t of much use now.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby quickly flew to the capital while Lin Mu took this opportunity to scan the area they passed over.


    ''Doesn''t seem like there are any more traces of the invader here¡­ and neither is there anyone with the Human Controlling Blood curse''s aura here either.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    One of the biggest concerns he had about Gu Yao was whether the people that were under his control would be free or not. It was possible that the curse might have some unknown effect.


    And hearing that the king and prince of the Shuang Qian kingdom had died under mysterious conditions, Lin Mu was inclined on the bad option.


    ''If the curse really kills those that were under it after the death of Gu Yao, then it''ll make things difficult.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He was concerned about Wu Hei since his elder brother Wu Teng was still under the effect of the Human Controlling Blood curse thest time he had talked to him. If he had died as well, then things would probably be bad.


    An hour passed before Lin Mu and Little Shrubby finally reached the capital of the Shuang Qian kingdom.


    Though when he entered it, a lot of shouts and cries were heard.


    "WHAT''S THAT!"


    "A BEAST!"


    "A BEAST HAS COME TO ATTACK THE CITY!"


    "RUN!!!"


    The citizens of the city were startled and scared upon seeing Little Shrubby, and it would be rightfully so. After all, Little Shrubby was far too massive to be considered a tamed beast at this point.


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    While the cultivators in the Shuang Qian city capital had their own pet beasts, none of them were this big. Usually beasts even quarter this size were at the Nascent soul realm and above thus couldn''t really be tamed ording to the normal thinking.


    Then there was also the fact that due to Little Shrubby''s size, Lin Mu couldn''t be seen sitting on his back either.


    Even the guards of the city were stunned upon seeing it and couldn''t move. These guards were cultivators and could easily sense that the beast in the sky was no normal beast. There was no way they would be able to fight this beast or even protect anyone.


    But much to the shock of the citizens, the beast didn''t stop in the sky for more than a few seconds. It quickly went to a particr mansion located at the back of the aristocratic district.


    "Huh? It''s not going to attack?" The people were confused after a minute, seeing there were no loud explosions or screams.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby who were the center of attention, didn''t really care for it and Lin Mu simply wanted to do the task at hand. And he didn''t think he needed to hide anymore either, since Gu Yao was no more.


    "You''re finally here!" A voice was hearding from the mansion just as Lin Munded in front of it.

 Chapter 1127 Aftereffects Of The Human Controlling Blood Curse

    Lin Mu looked at the slightly haggard looking man and was surprised.


    "What happened to you?" Lin Mu said, looking at Jing Luo.


    "Ah, nothing much. I just finished some work at thest moment." Jing Luo replied.


    "What kind of work?" Lin Mu asked, but then guessed that Jing Luo might have finished making some spirit tool or weapon.


    "You''re going to like it!" Jing Luo said with a smile.


    "I''ll look forward to it. But before that, where''s Wu Hei? You called me here because of him, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Come on in, he''s talking with the Royal advisers." Jing Luo answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and told Little Shrubby to shrink down.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby quickly shrunk down and jumped onto Lin Mu''s shoulders, taking his ce there.


    "What happened in the capital? How did the king and prince die?" Lin Mu asked Jing Luo while walking to the main hall.


    "We don''t exactly know yet. People have said that it might be assassination through poisoning but our guess is something else." Jing Luo said, hinting at something.


    "The Human controlling Blood curse¡­ so it really was that." Lin Mu replied.


    "Unfortunately yes. We''re still investigating more such reports, and from the initial ones that have been received, it seems like a great possibility." Jing Luo stated.


    Lin Mu''s expression darkened upon hearing this, as he didn''t know just how many people might have died. Even if they knew that Gu Yao mostly controlled people at the higher ranks, there was no saying how many there exactly where.


    No records of the official numbers were recorded anywhere in the headquarters and even Wu Hei didn''t know about it.


    "Minister Wu, we need to address the aristocrats as soon as possible! The cause of deaths of the king and the prince not being officially announced is only causing great unease among them." A voice was hearding from behind some doors that were partially closed.


    "Yes! They are even more scared and confused since Minister of war and minister ofmerce passed way in the same manner and were discovered this morning." Another person spoke.


    Jing Luo gestured to Lin Mu and opened the doors.


    ~CREAK~


    "Huh?" The people inside looked at the opening doors and saw Jing Luo appear with another man and a cat that seemed to be sitting on his shoulder.


    "Who''s that?" Some of the people whispered to each other.


    They already knew of Jing Luo and were told that he was here as an adviser to Wu Hei. But they didn''t know of Lin Mu. They were even more intrigued due to how Lin Mu looked. His demeanor and appearance made them think that he was certainly not normal and was perhaps some core disciple of a sect.


    They all could sense the faint spirit Qi fluctuationsing off Lin Mu''s body after all. Lin Mu mostly kept them restrained now, thus it made others feel like he was at the core condensation realm realm.


    "Good, you''re here Lin Mu!" Wu Hei said with a look of relief on his face.


    "What''s going on?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Who''s this, Minister Wu?" the royal advisers asked.


    "This is who we''ve been waiting or all this time." Wu Hei replied. "Lin Mu should be able to give us a concrete reason as to why they died." He said before looking at Lin Mu.


    "Pleasee with me. The corpses are kept in the refinement hall." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded, having understood what must have happened from these conversations.


    Everyone walked to the refinement hall and Wu Hei showed the corpses to Lin Mu. They were kept on two long work tables that had inscriptions carved on them. Just from one look, Lin Mu could tell that they were all preserved and cooling formations that were used to keep herbs for a long time.


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    Lin Mu looked at the corpses and saw that their faces were really pale, with traces of blood on their seven orifices.


    Furrowing his brows, Lin Mu came to stand beside the corpses. Then using his spirit sense, he checked the bodies. But when he reached their abdomen and tried to check on the Dantian, he was surprised.


    "Their Dantian is¡­ shattered?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Yes. The cause of death is a shattered Dantian, which led to their cultivation base being crippled. The blood leak from the seven orifices also shows that they experienced a Qi deviation." Wu Hei spoke.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and tried to sense for any traces of the Human controlling blood curse. After about a minute of it, he finally confirmed it.


    "It really was that¡­ The human controlling blood curse was the reason behind their death." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing this, Wu Hei''s face fell and hisplexion paled.


    "You said there were more people that died like this? Can you bring in their corpses, too?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes! I''ll call for them." One of the advisers went to get them.


    Meanwhile, Lin Mu spoke to Wu Hei in a low voice.


    "Have you talked to Wu Teng or have any news about him?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ after you killed Gu Yao and destroyed the headquarter, all chains ofmand andmunication seemed to have fallen. I''ve asked for scouts to check out the Vermillion legion, but it will take them another day to reply." Wu Hei replied.


    "Hmm¡­ the traces of the human controlling blood curse on these two have faded greatly. Thus it is a bit hard to tell if they truly died because of it. Plus, there is the muddied Qi of the pills of grace as well, I''ve read that they can have an effect like this too.


    So I''m doubtful whether it might have been caused due to it too." Lin Mu said, not wanting to decide quickly.


    Wu Hei simply nodded and looked at the corpses for a bit.


    About five minutester, the adviser returned with two more corpses in tow.

 Chapter 1128 Preparations For The War And Heirs Of The Kingdom

    The corpses that were just brought belonged to the minister of war and the minister ofmerce. Both were important positions in the royal court and had a lot of influence. If one wanted to control a kingdom, having control of just the king wasn''t enough, as these two could still oppose him to some level.


    It would make sense if Gu Yao had them under his control too, perhaps.


    "Put them here." Lin Mu gestured to the workers who were carrying the corpses.


    The royal advisers all looked on anxiously while Lin Mu checked the corpses. After about five minutes, Lin Mu''s brows furrowed, only pushing the anxiety of those men further high.


    "Is it the same?" Wu Hei asked.


    "Yes¡­ it is far more apparent in these two." Lin Mu replied, before gesturing to Wu Hei. "Come."


    Wu Hei walked closer and followed Lin Mu''s directions as to where the traces were. Wu Hei himself had studied the effects of the Human Controlling Blood curse greatly since he wanted to heal his mother, and could sense its presence.


    But now that the host of it had died, the presence of the Human Controlling Blood Curse was rapidly fading. Only those with spirit sense as strong and sharp as Lin Mu could sense it at this point.


    But with his guidance, Wu Hei managed to sense the traces as well.


    ~Sigh~


    "It really was that." Wu Hei let out a sigh. "This was all due to the work of Gu Yao. We now have confirmation of it. Let it be known to all," He ordered.


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    "Y-yes, minister Wu!" The royal advisers hurriedly replied.


    Right now, there were very few people left in the royal court who held any authority to control it entirely and manage the situation. But with how things had gone and the unexpected deaths, the other ministers were scared into hiding.


    Even the princes were useless and had all left the capital overnight. Some also had a fear of being used of assassination.


    "What are you next orders, Minister Wu? With the royal family in disorder, we do not have anyone to take the lead anymore." One of the royal advisers spoke.


    "Yes, and since they left the city in times of distress, ording to thews of inheritance that are hereby debarred from contesting the rights." Another minister added.


    Wu Hei rubbed his forehead, feeling like this was gonna be another headache for him.


    "Isn''t there still the original first prince left? Shuang Zedong?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Shuang Zedong? The first prince is alive?!" The royal advisers were stunned upon hearing this.


    As far as Lin Mu knew, Shuang Zedong shouldn''t have been caught. Wu Hei hadn''t told him about anything rting to it either, thus he was a hunch that the man might still be around.


    "Hmm¡­ indeed, he can be the best candidate. Unfortunately, I do not know where he is." Wu Hei spoke.


    "You don''t?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "No¡­ after the Tri Cauldron Peony sect incident, we were all forced to split up as you already know. The contact between us was lost back then, and it only got worse after the rise of the Gu Legion." Wu Hei replied. "I don''t know if he''s still alive or not, though."


    "Hmm¡­ maybe you can spread some news, looking for him? He might make his way to the kingdom now that the king and the prince are dead." Lin Mu suggested.


    "We''ll try that. Hopefully, he is still alive. I do not want the extra work of handling a kingdom." Wu Hei stated before looking at the royal advisers. "You know what to do now?" he asked.


    "Yes, Minister Wu. We''ll get to it immediately." The royal advisers said before taking their leave.


    Once they were gone, Wu Hei let out another sigh and sat down on the couch feeling tired.


    "Doesn''t seem like royal court is in any shape or form to handle the iing war. The Northern Tribes will be arriving at the Shuang Qian kingdom''s northern frontier." Jing Luo spoke in a concerned tone.


    "Yes¡­ we''ll need to let the alliance step in for this. I''ll also gather some people to assist for now." Wu Hei replied.


    "The Hei corps?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ that is a thing of the past now. I failed them and now they are gone. I''ll have to make use of others. Though they are or were in simr situations." Wu Hei replied.


    "Do you have anyone particr in mind?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "The remnants of the sects that weren''t under Gu Yao''s control have expressed their intent to join us. Now that the controlled ones have all died, the remaining people have be enraged by it all and how they were being controlled." Wu Hei said. "And since Gu Yao basically used the disciples as livestock, the ones that are left behind are the elders, or high ranking disciples." He added.


    "Anyone particr we know of?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Hmm, I think there is one that you know of." Wu Hei replied.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu wondered who might that be.


    "Shaoyan Qianyu, a former peak master of the Tri Cauldron Peony sect." Wu Hei answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu recalled the woman who had tested him before and he had fooled.


    "Oh, her¡­" Lin Mu was a little surprised that someone as high ranked as she had survived.


    "She is a good candidate to help in our current situation. She does have the experience." Wu Hei replied.


    "That''ll be good. You can make use of her." Lin Mu agreed.


    "I''ll send out the messages for them by evening and they should be here by tomorrow, hopefully." Wu Hei stated.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, finding it to be fine.


    The two of them along with Jing Luo, talked for a while more discussing the ns and issue that would arise. They after all, needed a solid battle n if there was going to be an all out war.


    "Can''t I just take the war to them? Enter the forbidden continent and stop them before they even move?" Lin Mu asked. "Little Shrubby did that before, didn''t he? He can help guide me too."


    "That might have been a valid option before, but now that the tribes know and are mounting an offense, it will be greatly difficult. Not to mention they will know the moment you step into it." Wu Hei answered.


    "How? I''m sure I can avoid their surveince with my skills." Lin Mu stated.


    "It''s not just that. They have other methods to make it so that they will find you. And that is merely the start. They will now bring out all their hidden trump cards, things that can even hurt you." Wu Hei replied. "Or if not hurt you, they can at least restrain you for a while. That alone might be a great disadvantage for us." He added.


    Lin Mu recalled the Xieye Yun Frost Cage and the spirit Qi prison array that could stop one from using their spirit Qi cultivation base. He had suffered from both of them while fighting Ku Waowen, and if it were not for his body cultivation and the Burning Heart Sutra, he might not have been able to leave that ce alive.


    Seeing the look in Lin Mu''s eyes, Wu Hei guessed what he was thinking about.


    "The Northern Tribes have a better version of the arrays they used on you. You might be able to escape the ones used by a Dao Shell realm or perhaps even a Dao Treading realm expert, but one used by several Immortal Ascension realm and Dao Treading realm experts will certainly restrain you." Wu Hei exined.


    "He is right, Lin Mu. We cannot take the risk of you being restrained." Jing Luo agreed.


    "Yeah¡­ it''ll be best to be a bit cautious." Lin Mu agreed as well.


    "And that is not the only thing I''m concerned about. There is something else¡­" Wu Hei spoke in a serious tone.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo raised their brows, wondering what could be even more troublesome than the issue they had just talked about.


    "Let me show you guys first." Wu Hei said before talking out arge and wide scroll.


    ~roll~


    The scroll when opened, was two meters wide and five meters long. There were several diagrams drawn on it along with words written in a differentnguage than what Lin Mu knew of.


    The scroll was rather old and many words and diagrams on it were now faded.


    "What is this?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Did you get this from Gu Yao?" Lin Mu asked, recognizing that some of these letters seemed to be from the Northern Tribes''nguage.


    "No¡­ not directly, at least. About three years ago, Gu Yao had asked the Gu legion to search for some old ruins of the Northern Tribes. These ruins were from the ancient times, back when the immortals had descended and when there were still five continents.


    We were supposed to find those ruins since they contained old teleportation arrays that could operate overrge distances. Additionally, Gu Yao also wanted to use them as a base if it was viable.


    We certainly did find those ruins, and even the remnant of the old teleportation array. But in addition to that, I found some old and tattered documents. Most of them were too damaged to even be read, but this¡­ was still intact. It''s made from the aged beast''s hide of the tribes." Wu Hei exined.


    "And what''s so important in this?" Lin Mu asked, since he couldn''t actually read the words.


    "This scrolls mentions of one ''Ancestral Bell''. It is an artifact that the Yao n brought with them." Wu hie answered.

 Chapter 1129 The Ancestral Bell

    Upon hearing the name Ancestral Bell, Lin Mu couldn''t really tell what the use of such an object was. He had note across and spirit tools or weapons that were in the form of a bell yet either.


    But the fact that it was an artifact that was brought by the Yao n made it far more serious. The Yao n was the one that had brought about the rise of the Northern Tribes in the past.


    It was them that had given them the advanced knowledge of the formations and even cultivation techniques. It was all that they hadcked in the past and also why they were easily restrained by the central, eastern and western continents in the past.


    But with the rise of the Yao n, everything was flipped on its head and they brought about the biggest revolution in the history of the entire Ming Dao world. And once that happened, the world became as it was now.


    Then there was also the fact that the Yao n was always suspected to be from a different world. Or at the very least, had been supported by the people of the different world, a higher ranking world too, perhaps.


    "What is that exactly and how can it pose danger to us?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "While I do not have the entire record of it, from the fragments of it that are mentioned here in this scroll, I can safely tell that it is a very strong artifact. Something that can affect a very wide area and is also powerful enough to decimate entire nations at once." Wu Hei answered.


    Hearing this both Lin Mu and Jing Luo frowned as they knew if this was all true then the artifact might not just be a spirit tool.


    Lin Mu looked at Jing Luo and guessed that he was thinking the same as him.


    "A Pseudo Immortal tool or perhaps an Immortal tool?" Lin Mu said.


    "Maybe¡­ until we know the exact effects or its location, it will be hard to assume." Jing Luo said before turning to Wu Hei. "What more does it say? Are there any descriptions as to what the bell looks like." He asked, seeing as there was more than just one diagram on it thus it was hard to assume.


    In response to this, Wu Hei pointed towards a certain diagram that was rtively smaller than the others.


    "This is supposedly the Ancestral bell." Wu Hei spoke.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo stared at the diagram and saw that it wasn''t just of a normal ringing bell, but rather that of an entire bell tower!


    "Is this one of the miniature spirit tools that are modeled after buildings?" Lin Mu asked, as he had seen such spirit tools that were made to look like pagodas and the like.


    "Hmm¡­ it could be possible." Jing Luo took a closer look at it. "Perhaps grandfather might have an idea. He is the only one who has gone deep into the territory of the Northern Tribes, thus he should know the most." Jing Luo suggested.


    "Yes, that''ll be better." Lin Mu agreed, as Jing Wei was truly the safest bet they had.


    "Is it fine if I take it with me?" Jing Luo asked Wu Hei.


    "Of course!" He replied right away, having no reason to deny him.


    "I''ll take it to him after I''m done with Lin Mu in a bit." Jing Luo stated.


    "That''s fine. You can keep it with you right now." Wu Hei said. "I''ve made copies of it so there won''t be an issue." He added.


    "That''s good. You should also show this to the alliance. The patriarchs had also participated in the wars of the past, so might have some idea perhaps." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Yeah." Wu Hei nodded.


    But Jing Luo''s face was still a bit irked.


    "What are you thinking?" Lin Mu asked, seeing his face.


    "Something doesn''t add up¡­" Jing Luo said.


    "How so?" Wu Hei asked this time.


    "If the Ancestral bell really is as strong and dangerous as it says here, and is something the Yao n brought in the past, then why does it still exist?


    I mean, when the immortals descended to our world they decimated the Northern Tribes and destroyed all that they had. Even now, their return was only because they had managed to hide away their knowledge.


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    But physical items such as this Ancestral Bell and other weapons were certainly destroyed in the past. I remember reading about it." Jing Luo answered.


    "Yes¡­ I recall reading about it too¡­" Lin Mu replied. "The Immortals didn''t want to leave behind any chance of another rebellion and thus shattered every spirit tool and weapon they had."


    "Exactly. And if it really is an immortal tool, then why didn''t they use it in the past against the immortals? It certainly should have been able to stall them for a bit, even if not defeat them.


    At least that way it would have been in the records." Jing Luo added.


    Lin Mu thought to himself, finding it all to be suspicious.


    "Is there a chance it was missed somehow? Or wasn''t used at all?" Wu Hei guessed.


    "That would only make sense if¡­"


    "If they couldn''t use it, even if they wanted to." Lin Mupleted Jing Luo''s words.


    "Yes. If there was a situation where they were unable to use it, or were restrained to use it, it might have survived. After all, we do know that the Northern Tribes unearthed several of their old ruins that were sealed away and thus hidden from the immortals of the past." Jing Luo agreed.


    ''Seems like we might have a wild card at our hands now¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself, wondering how to go about dealing with this.


    Though one thing was for sure that Lin Mu wouldn''t be able to take the same approach as he did with the sects until now. Barging in might only put him in danger and thus the entire world.

 Chapter 1130 An Obsolete Armor

    The information about the Ancestral bell was passed onto the rest of the alliance by Wu Hei so that they could see if there were any old records that might have been missed. And while he went to do this, Jing Luo had brought Lin Mu to show the item he had talked about at the start.


    "So what is it that got you looking like this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It''s kept here. Come on in." Jing Luo said as he opened the door to a ratherrge room.


    This was a separate refinement room that Wu Hei had given to Jing Luo for the time being. Since Wu Hei had tried to find a solution to the Human Controlling Blood curse and had used every path for that, there were several refinement halls in the mansion.


    ~Creak~


    The doors of the room opened and the two of them walked in. And as soon as Lin Mu looked at the end of the hall, he saw therge object that was kept there.


    "Is that¡­" Lin Mu could recognize what the object was.


    "Indeed¡­ that armor is ready!" Jing Luo said with excitement.


    Lin Mu looked at the grey armor with a bumpy surface. There was fur around the neck as well as on the arm guards. The armor was made out of eight pieces, with them being two boots, two gauntlets, two shoulder pauldrons, a chest piece and finally the helmet.


    It was a full set of heavy armor that looked fit for a general.


    Lin Mu walked up to the armor and scanned it. He saw the hidden inscriptions that were carved on its inside, as well as the intertwining formation method of Jing Luo. It was something the man had made himself before at the fragment of the minor ne where he was trapped.


    But there, since Jing Luo didn''t have the right materials, he could only use leaves and other things like it to make it. He had refined these leaves to the limit before imprinting formations on them. Then he had sewed them into his clothes.


    This was the intertwining Formation Method made by him. And he had applied it here by separating the armor into several pieces. It allowed more formations to be added to the armor while also reducing the conflict and vulnerabilities between them.


    In addition to that, it even reduced the spirit Qi consumption up to a certain level, making it stable in the long term.


    "This is really good." Lin Mu couldn''t help but praise.


    "Of course! This is the best armor I''ve made till now. With the hide and bones of a Dao Shell realm beast that specialized in defense, this armor should be able to bear almost anything." Jing Luo said proudly.


    "Really?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Feel free to test it out." Jing Luo said with confidence.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    While he already had his body that had been refined with the True Gold Body forging arts and the mortal Strengthening Scriptures''s earth armor, Lin Mu wouldn''t mind even greater defense.


    Thus wanting to test out the armor, Lin Mu first held onto the edge of its gauntlet. Using his thumb and index finger, Lin Mu firmly mped onto it before pinching it.


    "See it''s really toug¡ª"


    ~CRACK~


    Before Jing Luo could finish his sentence, he heard a sound that doused his pride.


    "Oh¡­" Lin Mu looked at the fragment of the gauntlet that was now in his fingers before looking awkwardly at Jing Luo.


    Little Shrubby who saw all this, couldn''t help but let out a mewl as if he wasughing.


    "I¡­" Lin Mu wanted to apologize, but was interrupted by Jing Luo this time.


    "It''s fine. Seems like I need to improve even more." Jing Luo stated.


    "The armor is great! Don''t be sorry about that." Lin Mu said, not wanting to put down the man and his effort.


    "Perhaps the armor was just a little toote for you." Jing Luo said, trying to cope.


    It was technically true, since Lin Mu had grown far too quickly for him to have been able to keep up. This armor might have been really helpful for Lin Mu if he didn''t have the True Gold Body forging arts but now his own defenses were far greater than that.


    One had to know that Lin Mu couldn''t injure himself by pinching the same way he broke the armor. His body would be totally fine with it. He would have to exert a lot of strength to be able to injure himself or use a skill that could overe it.


    "Umm¡­ Look on the bright side. You can still use the armor." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit. "In theing war, we need everyone to be strong. If you can use it, the benefit will still be there. So it wasn''t a loss to make this armor."


    Jing Luo thought over it and nodded his head.


    "Yeah¡­ I can just use the armor myself." Jing Luo agreed after hearing his words.


    While Jing Luo did have a good defense and his body was rtively tough too, it wasn''t on the same level as Lin Mu that could take Dao Treading realm expert''s attacks like they were tickles.


    "That''s it! I now know what to do!" Jing Luo got another bout of inspiration.


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    ''Since I can use it for myself, I can change the formations¡­ perhaps I can even test out my prototype arrays.'' Many ideas kept on popping up in his mind, making him more excited.


    Since he was making this for Lin Mu originally, Jing Luo hadn''t added any new formations he had thought of since they might not be stable. He wanted it to be a finished and stable product, since someone else would be using it.


    But now that he was the one using it, he could use whatever he want and if problem arises he could very easily fix it as well.


    In the end, it was still a gain.

 Chapter 1131 Heading To The Wu Lim County And An Empty Camp

    Lin Mu and Jing Luo had finished talking a whileter.


    Jing Luo went back to work on the armor as he now needed to fix it and also modify it ording to himself. Meanwhile, Lin Mu decided to take a little visit.


    "Little Shrubby let''s head to the Northern Town." Lin Mu said as he left the mansion.


    He had not been to the northern town since the day he had left it and wanted to see what it was like now. After the Red tide, the Wu Lim city and most of its people had been killed by Gu Yao, thus the city was depopted for a while.


    But the four satellite towns had survived this entire time. Though the condition of the people in them wasn''t really as good. Thankfully in the recent years, Wu Hei had helped them out and the lives of the people were returning back to normal there.


    ~SHUA~


    Little Shrubby transformed back into his full form, and Lin Mu jumped onto his back. The two of them quickly flew to the north where Wu Lim county was. It took them about an hour to reach it during which Lin Mu saw the empty roads.


    ''These roads are seldom this empty¡­ I should have seen at least a couple of caravans on it, if not the soldiers patrolling it at least.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After entering the Wu Lim county, the next location that appeared was none other than the southern town.


    "The army camp is also half empty¡­ strange." Lin Mu muttered, seeing the scene below.


    The southern town was well known for housing a camp of the Shuang Qian Kingdom''s royal army. It was meant to serve to functions, first to provide rapid support to the frontier just in case the invaders arrived, and second to keep Wu Xun in check.


    All this was all in the past though, and the army camp had lost its true meaning after the Gu Legion took control of the region. But even then, the area shouldn''t have been this empty.


    ''Did Wu Hei give some orders to them?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He hadn''t talked about this part, so didn''t know about it. Just to be sure, Lin Mu quickly messaged the man and inquired about it.


    "Wu Hei, have you ordered the soldiers in the southern town to move somewhere?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Southern Town? No, the only orders I gave themst were to stay put and be alert." Wu Hei quickly responded. "Why? Is there an issue?" he questioned.


    "Yeah¡­ I''m above the town right now and half of it is empty." Lin Mu answered.


    Wu Hei furrowed his brows, and a bad thought appeared in his mind.


    "try to see if you can find the Commanding captain posted there. If he''s not there, then there is definitely something going on." Wu Hei replied.


    "Didn''t you send a messenger to the frontier? To the Vermillion legion, did they not see this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They couldn''t have since the messenger would have left from a small outpost located to the northwest of Wu Lim city. He wouldn''t go the opposite way to encounter this." Wu Hei replied.


    "I see¡­ I''ll check up and find what''s going on." Lin Mu said before putting away the jade slip.


    "Shrink down, little Shrubby. We''ll see what''s going on down there." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay~" little Shrubby immediately turned into a small cat and jumped onto Lin Mu''s shoulder.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu flew down andnded near the gate of the southern town.


    ''Now that I think of it¡­ this is only my second timeing here.'' Lin Mu recalled the first time he had visited the southern town.


    Back then, he hade with his father to help him out. His father had gotten some work at the southern town for a week. His father would normally hunt, but since this was a rtively high paying and low effort job, his father had taken it. Even if it was just temporary.


    The work was actually at a small tavern, and Lin Mu''s father would work as a guard there. Lin Mu on the other hand, helped out as a cleaner and washed the dishes. That way, they could get some extra money.


    ''How time passes¡­'' Lin Mu reminisced for a moment.


    He focused his attention back at the task at hand and walked towards the army camp. Along the way, he certainly caught the eye of many people that lived in the town. They all discussed in hushed voices and whispered to each other.


    Lin Mu was eye-catching no matter where he went and it was the same here. Though none of these people were brave enough to talk to him directly. In the past few years, there had been too many conflicts and thus themoners stayed away from strangers.


    Especially when a stranger was obviously a cultivator. It was mostly cultivators that were the danger to them, after all.


    "Is he going towards the camp?" themoners wondered.


    "He really is!" They confirmed after seeing that Lin Mu had taken thest turn that led to the camp.


    The Army camp was nearly half of the southern town, and the other half were all themoners of it. In the half where themoners lived, there were cksmiths, taverns, restaurants, tea houses, and even brothels.


    All that was needed to make the soldiers spend money was located here.


    "Sure enough, even the guards posted around the city aren''t doing their work." Lin Mu observed.


    After walking for a couple of minutes, Lin Mu arrived at the main tent of the army camp. It was thergest tent here and was nearly a hundred meters wide. There was also the crest of the Shuang Qian kingdom hanging above it, showing that it belonged to their army.


    "Who are you?" The two guards standing outside the tent stopped Lin Mu and questioned him.


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    Even if theirmon sense could tell them that Lin Mu was a cultivator, they couldn''t help but stop him, as it was their duty.

 Chapter 1132 A Runaway Prince And Revisiting The Northern Town

    "Where is yourmanding captain?" Lin Mu questioned right away.


    "What business do you have with themander?" the guards asked.


    "Yeah, without an appointment, no one can enter." The other guard said.


    Lin Mu looked at the two guards with a calm expression.


    ''They''re certainly nervous¡­ but what might be the reason behind it?'' Lin Mu wondered before he spread his spirit sense.


    It quickly scanned the tent behind them and revealed all that was hidden in it.


    "Oh, so yourmanding captain is not here at all." Lin Mu said.


    "H-how do you know that?!" the guards were stunned.


    "Why don''t you tell me where yourmanding captain went and why is the camp half empty?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "W-we have no obligation to do that." The guards said.


    "Oh, but you do. I''m here under the authority of minister Wu, and if you do notply sufficient punishment shall be dealt." Lin Mu replied.


    He didn''t want to use force with these guards, who weren''t even cultivators and were simply doing their duty.


    ''They are afraid of something, that''s for sure.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu even took out themand token and showed it to the guards, startling them.


    "It really is minister Wu!" The guards were scared now.


    "Now then, tell me everything." Lin Mu ordered.


    ~THUD~


    The two guards immediately fell to their knees.


    "PLEASE FORGIVE US LORD!" The guards pleaded. "Themander forced us to stay here and turn everyone away."


    "Oh? And where did he go?" Lin Mu asked.


    "He¡­ didn''t tell us. But before he left, a man and a few people hade to visit him. He left after meeting them just a few minutes after that. He told us to stay here, while he took a part of the soldiers with him." The guards quickly replied.


    ''There''s no doubt these guards were left behind as sacrifices. There''s no way themanding captain wouldn''t have known that someone woulde to check up eventually.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "And which direction did the captain''s head towards?" Lin Mu asked.


    "He left from the eastern gate." The guards replied.


    "Alright," Lin Mu let the guards go.


    He scanned the entire town with his spirit sense onest time, checking to see if there was anything suspicious here, but found nothing.


    Lin Mu took out the jade slip and contacted Wu Hei to tell him what he had learned.


    "Figures¡­ it should have been one of the princes. They probably didn''t have any guards and might have bribed themanding captain to protect them while they escaped." Wu Hei said.


    "I see¡­ do I need to do anything?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No need. They''ll be dered as deserterster and the prince who took them will also be punished." Wu Hei replied.


    "Okay, I''ll leave then." Lin Mu stated.


    "Mmhmm, farewell. I''ll be having a meeting with the alliance soon enough." Wu Hei said at the end.


    Done with this, Lin Mu flew up and headed north. The two of them traveled fast and soon reached Wu Lim city.


    ''The destruction is still here.'' Lin Mu observed the destroyed area of the city. Around forty percents of the city''s buildings were in ruins while the rest were bing destitute. The current poption of Wu Lim city was barely a quarter of the original.


    Scanning the entire ce with his spirit sense, Lin Mu checked to see if there was anything suspicious left here. After all, this was the original hideout of the Gu Legion and where Gu Yao had hid.


    But after checking the area, he saw that the underground caves had already copsed and there was nothing left.


    "Even with the destruction as a cost, at least there are no traces of an invader here." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Flying past it, Lin Mu soon arrived at the Northern town. His hometown had be a lot more quaint. The hustle and bustle that was usually present at this time was not present either.


    It was nearly the end of autumn and it was harvest season for the spirit apples. Lin Mu''s spirit sense reached the orchards and saw the workers harvesting the spirit apples.


    A slightly sorrowful expression appeared on Lin Mu''s face before he thought of something. He directly flew to the orchards andnded at the ce where the supervision usually sat.


    His arrival was met with great surprise as the supervisor could clearly tell that Lin Mu was at least a Nascent soul realm cultivator, as he could fly on his own.


    "W-what brings you here Senior!?" The Supervisor who was unknown to Lin Mu, asked after hurriedly cupping his hands.


    The other servants and guards standing around quickly bowed their heads as well. They could obviously see that even their supervisor was greatly respectful to Lin Mu.


    "I just came for a little visit." Lin Mu casually said as he looked at the trees.


    The faint fragrance of the spirit apples was lingering in the air and provided a calming feeling to Lin Mu.


    But a few secondster, his brows furrowed.


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    "Why are there so few spirit apples this time?" Lin Mu asked.


    His spirit sense had checked the storage warehouse and found it to be nearly empty.


    "Um¡­ A Young Lord from the capital came by two days ago with many soldiers. They forced us to give our harvested stock and left soon after. Even after protesting that our yield this time was low, they didn''t relent and took it all." The supervisor honestly said.


    Lin Mu''s brows furrowed even more after hearing this as a few links formed in his mind.


    "My lord, by any chance were you sent by the capital? I sent aint soon after the Young lord had left." The supervisor asked.


    ''It shouldn''t be this quick though, right?'' the supervisor wondered.


    "Hmm¡­ you could say that." Lin Mu said before turning to the supervisor.


    "Little Shrubby, get all the apples down from the trees." Lin Mu spoke, much to the supervisors confusion which soon turned into shock.

 Chapter 1133 An Old Uncle

    The supervisor didn''t even see when the small cat on Lin Mu''s shoulder disappeared and multiple metal hands appeared out of nowhere. The hands flew around the orchard, startling the workers.


    "AAAH!" several workers screamed.


    "What was that?!" they cried out.


    ~SHUA~


    The metal hands were too fast for their eyes to urately grasp. But what they did see was the trees shaking and leaves falling off.


    "Look! The apples! The spirit apples are disappearing!" someone pointed.


    The others looked and truly saw the trees getting bare. One by one, they started to lose their apples. Till a few moments ago, at least half of the trees were still filled with apples, but now only a quarter were left.


    "What in the¡­" The supervisor was left stunned as a pile of spirit apples started forming nearby.


    In less than two minutes, all the spirit apples had been plucked, and the trees were now bare.


    ~thud~thud~thud~


    The servants watching it all, fell to the ground in shock. This was the fastest they had ever seen the harvest beingpleted. They were sure that it would take them at least another twenty days to finish harvesting all the spirit apples, but it waspleted in barely two minutes.


    "There we go." Lin Mu said, feeling satisfied.


    "All done!" Little Shrubby said upon appearing on his shoulder again.


    The supervisor looked at Lin Mu and was at a loss for words. "M-my¡­ My lord¡­ this¡­"


    The workers of the orchard also approached the supervisor''s post, intending to inform of the disappearance of the spirit apples, but then saw therge pile of spirit apples there.


    "Sir Supervisor! The spirit apples all disappeared!" The voice of another man was heard from behind.


    Since there were a lot of workers surrounding the post, the pile of spirit apples couldn''t be seen by him.


    "Let me through!" The man said while pushing the others and made his way to the front.


    "Sir Supervision! The spirit app¡ª" But before the man could repeat himself he saw therge pile.


    "W-what? H-how?" The man was now the same as the supervisor.


    But what he didn''t realize that there was a person looking at him now.


    Lin Mu''s eyes locked onto the face of the man, identifying him. He looked a bit older than thest time he had seen him, and had several more grey hairs on his head. His skin had also developed a lot more wrinkles and age spots.


    "Uncle Yuan Tu¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    His voice was low, but could be heard by those nearby Yuan Tu being one of them.


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    "Huh?" The man''s eyes widened in confusion.


    There was a hint of familiarity in the voice he had just heard, but at the same time, it was different. Yuan Tu looked up and saw Lin Mu standing there.


    "He¡­ Lin Gao?" A name escaped Yuan Tu''s lips. "No¡­ that can''t be¡­" he said, seeing the differences in the build of the man in front of him.


    Lin Mu who heard Yuan Tu speak the name, felt a spike of anger rising in his heart. But then he nced at the man who had now entered hister ages and let out a sigh.


    ''No meaning in being angry over it¡­ he''s no longer worthy of being thought of.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "So you do remember him after all these years?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Who¡­ Who are you?" Yuan Tu asked.


    "You fool! Be respectful!" The voice of the supervisor was heard, anger and anxiety in his voice.


    Yuan Tu was startled by the voice and was about to instinctively apologize, but was interrupted.


    "This is a Great Lord from the capital! Not only is he here to help us with theint, but has also helped us finish our harvest quickly. All of you should be thankful!" The supervisor stated sternly.


    The workers, including Yuan Tu who heard it were stunned.


    "THANK YOU O'' GREAT LORD!" The workers all said loudly.


    Lin Mu could see the true gratitude in their eyes. It was pure and unaffected. There was no trace of greed or malice in it either,pletely unlike thest he remembered them to be.


    ''Time and power truly change people¡­ if I was the same as before, they would never be like this¡­'' Lin Mu felt enlightened.


    The change in the attitude of thesemoners was far more impressionable on Lin Mu than those of the great experts of the sect. It just felt a lot more heavy to Lin Mu.


    "As I''ve always said, power will bring you respect." Xukong''s voice was heard in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Indeed senior¡­ indeed." Lin Mu replied, a few mncholic thoughts passing through his mind.


    "Great Lord, may I have the honor of knowing your name?" The supervisor requested.


    The workers all seemed interested too, especially Yuan Tu.


    ''How does he look so much like Lin Gao when he was younger?'' Yuan Tu wondered. ''Is he rted to him? Though Lin Gao never told me about having any family in the capital¡­ not to mention someone as high ranking as a great lord¡­'' he thought.


    He couldn''t help but have these thoughts. Yuan Tu knew very well that Lin Gao became an orphan after his parents had died. It was merely an upational threat since both his parents were hunters and had perished to beasts.


    It was one of the main reasons why Yuan Tu himself had left the job, but Lin Gao had kept at it.


    "I am Lin Mu." He answered, looking at the supervisor.


    As soon as this name was heard by Yuan Tu, he felt like there was thunder roaring in his head.


    "IMPOSSIBLE!" He eximed, almost screaming out.


    All the memories came rushing back, and the faces started matching for him. He recalled the orphan boy who had been left behind by Lin Gao. The same boy who called him Uncle Yuan Tu and the same boy who he had wronged in the past.

 Chapter 1134 Severing Old Karma

    Yuan Tu''s loud exmation was enough to surprise the workers all around him.


    "You can''t be Lin Mu!?" Yuan Tu shouted.


    "It''s been a while, Uncle Yuan Tu." Lin Mu said in response. "But it really is me. You remember my father, but forgot me?"


    "How¡­ how can this be?" Yuan Tu felt his world flipping.


    ''It''s not possible¡­ the boy should be dead¡­'' Yuan Tu recalled the many soldiers that hade asking about Lin Mu in the past.


    He had been questioned along with many others. They were then told that Lin Mu had done some great crime and was wanted dead or alive. It had stunned the peasants, but Yuan Tu was pleased.


    And over the years, there was no news or information about Lin Mu either. The wanted notice also disappeared after a while and couldn''t be seen in the town either, making Yuan Tu think that Lin Mu must have either been caught or killed by now.


    But seeing him alive and not just well, but thriving, left him utterly astounded.


    Lin Mu could roughly guess the man''s thoughts, but couldn''t care for them anymore.


    Instead, he just ignored him for now and turned to the supervisor, who had not expected Yuan Tu to know a powerful lord like this. After all, he could tell that Lin Mu was at least a Nascent soul realm cultivator.


    Experts with such a high cultivation base were often patriarchs ofrge ns, or in high positions such as that of a minister in the royal court.


    "How much is the harvest in deficit this time? What of the peasants'' wages?" Lin Mu questioned the supervisor.


    "My lord, the deficit is nearly 50% this time. The yield turned out to be greatly lower, as we couldn''t procure the right fertilizers. The supply of fertilizer has fallen greatly in the past two years and the number of merchants bringing it to the town had also reduced.


    We tried asking Wu Lim City official too, but they didn''t do much. And with the great tragedy there, I don''t think they could do much, anyway. I sent a request to the royal capital but received no response.


    We made do with manure, but the effect wasn''t as good." The Supervisor answered.


    "As for the peasants'' wages, it is one silver a month." He added.


    "Oh? Isn''t that half of before? And what of the bonuses?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "We¡­ can''t afford either, my lord. The Wu Lim city officials have all but given up on us and are involved in issues unknown to me. They haven''t supplied any funds like they used to in the past.


    Even the wages for the peasants now will being from the amount left over after the sale of the spirit apples." The supervision honestly said.


    Lin Mu''s brows furrowed and he took another look at the peasants.


    ''They''re certainly thinner than from how I remember them¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he tried matching those he knew here.


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    Their bodies turned skinner, and their robes were loose. Many among them weren''t wearing the usual warm clothes either, which was strange as it was already cold to warrant their use.


    ''They sold off their thick clothes, didn''t they?'' Lin Mu understood when he looked at the faces of the children that seemed malnourished.


    The children were all new to him, and he was sure that they had probably been born after he had left the town.


    ~Sigh~


    "Time to sever my old karma¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Pardon me, my lord. But did you say something?" The supervisor asked, hearing something.


    Lin Mu looked at the man, this time his expression firm. It unnerved the supervisor, making him wonder if he had irked the man or something to earn a gaze like this.


    "The peasants shall be paid four times their normal wage and will also be supplied grain, warm clothes and supplies for the winter." Lin Mu ordered.


    "M-my lord!" The Supervisor was lost.


    He knew that doing this was impossible even if he gave his entire year''s sry for this. The others didn''t know this, but even his own sry had been cut by half over the past years.


    But before the supervisor could say anything, he saw Lin Mu waving his hand.


    ~THUD~ THUD~ THUD~ THUD~


    In the next second, tens of barrels appeared. The barrels wererge enough to fit three men inside them with ease.


    "This should be enough to cover for the spirit apple deficit." Lin Mu stated.


    One of the servants standing near the barrels saw its contents.


    "ITS SPIRIT APPLES!" He eximed.


    "What?" the Supervisor questioned.


    "Sir Supervisor! All the barrels are filled with spirit apples." The servants answered.


    One of them walked forward to check and picked up one of the spirit apples from the barrels.


    "Not just that! The spirit apples are bigger than ours and of a greater quality too!" the servant said, his eyes left wide.


    The supervisor looked at Lin Mu, not knowing what to say.


    "I reckon it should be enough?" Lin Mu asked.


    "M-more than enough! It will be more than enough, great lord! This is nearly three years of harvest worth." The supervisor couldn''t believe his eyes.


    "Oh, and also¡­" Lin Mu waved his hand once more, and a bag appeared. "Take this."


    The supervisor carefully extended his hand and took the brown bag from Lin Mu''s hand. It seemed unassuming at first, but was rather heavy.


    Taking a look inside, the supervisor could see a golden glint!


    "My lord, this¡­" The supervisor instantly recognized the many gold coins inside it.


    "Use that to move the townsmen to Wu Lim city. A war ising and it won''t be safe here." Lin Mu exined.


    "A War?! So the rumors are true?" the supervisor gasped.


    "Mmhmm¡­ do it as soon as possible." Lin Mu ordered. "Oh, and¡­ if I hear anything about the misuse of the funds, then¡­ I don''t think I need to warn you more." He said in a cold tone.


    "UNDERSTOOD!" The supervisor immediately replied, feeling his heart tremble.

 Chapter 1135 Home

    Lin Mu''s appearance and abilities along had shown the supervisor that he was not someone to mess with. Not to mention, the way he had just taken out the spirit apples and the gold was enough for him to realize the man didn''t even consider them significant.


    ''There were at least five thousand coins in the bag¡­'' The supervisor guessed using the weight of the bag.


    The look on Lin Mu''s face also sent chills down his spine, and no thought of failing the given task would ever arise in his heart.


    Lin Mu gazed at the man for a coupled of seconds before looking away.


    "Good, do it well and you might just be rewarded." Lin Mu said before turning to a certain man.


    Yuan Tu was still in shock and couldn''t understand how all this was possible. Lin Mu''s capabilities hade one after the other, like a downbeat. He felt a shadow over him and looked up to see that it was Lin Mu standing in front of him. His tall figure was like a great tower, unscble and unyielding.


    "The past shall remain in past and the future shall be unrted. I''ve decided to let go of the karma of my old life and we shall have nothing to do from now on." Lin Mu stated inly.


    "What¡­" Yuan Tu could understand Lin Mu''s words but didn''t grasp the meaning behind them.


    In any case, the words Lin Mu had spoken weren''t truly for Yuan Tu but rather for himself. He had learned about the karma that would apany a cultivator throughout their life and knew how big of a weight it could be.


    Whether it be good karma or bad karma, both of them had effects that could lead one on either path. It was up to the cultivator to decide how they would go along with it. And here Lin Mu had chosen to neither take revenge nor be benevolent to the man.


    He had simply chosen to sever the karma and let bygones be bygones.


    ''Now that I think of it¡­ if he never forced me to carry that barrow of spirit apples, I might not have been forced out and neither would I have found the ring. Without the ring, perhaps I would have still been in the same position.


    So, in a way, karma with Yuan Tu was what started it all for me. It was what sent me on this path and many more that are yet to be revealed.'' Lin Mu pondered in his mind.


    Having understood this, Lin Mu felt like his mind had been widened and a fog was lifted.


    "Let''s go, little Shrubby." Lin Mu said before disappearing from the sights of all.


    The people could only watch on for a while, speechless.


    Unknown to them, Lin Mu had actually not left the town. But rather he had gone to a specific pce close to his heart.


    ~Sigh~


    A long sigh escaped his lips as Lin Mu watched the empty plot ofnd.


    "When did this happen?" Lin Mu wondered as his eyes wandered over the ce where his house used to be.


    Now, instead of his house, there was just an empty plot ofnd, with some rubble lying around and weeds growing. Lin Mu looked around and narrowed his brows.


    "It''s not just this house either¡­" Lin Mu saw that the houses next to his were also gone.


    Doing something like this was unusual, as even if a house was confiscated, one wouldn''t just destroy them. Rather, they would just sell it off or rent it to others. There would always be someone to buy them, after all.


    "Are you looking for someone?" Lin Mu heard a voice from behind him.


    "Oh?" Turning around, Lin Mu saw a man standing there.


    "Are you lost, sir?" the man''s tone changed upon seeing Lin Mu''s face and he became nervous.


    While Lin Mu was wearing rtively simple robes, his face and demeanor would easily unnervemoners.


    "Yes¡­ do you know what happened to the houses that used to be here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The man furrowed his brows and saw what Lin Mu was gesturing towards.


    "They were destroyed by the officials years ago." The man replied. "But why are you asking that?"


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    "Someone I know used to live here." Lin Mu inly spoke. "Why were these houses destroyed? Do you know?" he asked while taking out a gold coin.


    The man''s eyes glinted at the sight of gold, and a ttering smile appeared on his face.


    "Yes, yes! Of course, I do! I''ve been living here for four years now! I even saw everything happen personally!" The man hurriedly said, the greed for the coin motivating him.


    "Go on, tell me." Lin Mu said, flipping the coin between his fingers. "All that you know."


    The man nodded his head and began speaking.


    "I live right there!" The man pointed to a certain house.


    Lin Mu gazed at the house and recognized it.


    ''Isn''t that Old Granny Tuo''s house?'' Lin Mu identified.


    She was one of his neighbors and had helped out his mother a few times when she was still alive. But what Lin Mu didn''t understand was why this man was here. He was sure that this man never lived there before, as old Granny Tuo lived there alone.


    And when Lin Mu had left the town, the old woman was still alive and well.


    But upon hearing the next words of the man, Lin Mu understood why.


    "I had just moved to the house after my aunt Tuo left it to me in her will. She had gotten sick and passed away in her sleep. I used to live in the Eastern town before that. My wife and I moved here since it was good for us and had a ce for children.


    Anyways¡­ a month after I moved in, I heard a loud noise in the morning. Coming out, I saw none other than the town guards along with a lot of soldiers in the street." The man said, intriguing Lin Mu.

 Chapter 1136 Broken Home

    "And why were the soldiers here, exactly?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They were looking for some clues. Apparently, a wanted person used to live in the house and had a lot of things hidden there. They upturned the entire house but didn''t find anything.


    Not feeling satisfied by theck of the evidence, they went ahead and ransacked the other two houses too. Of course, the people living there opposed them, but they were beaten up and taken away by the guards.


    We never saw them again and didn''t dare to ask around either. A few months after that, the ce was pretty much dug out and they supposedly found something hidden underground. There was even a cave inside." The man answered.


    Hearing it all, Lin Mu knew for sure that it was the work of Gu Yao. Or was done under hismand.


    ''Seems about right. He wouldn''t care for a fewmoners. Shame that they had to die for it though¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Here you go." Lin Mu tossed the gold coin to the man and rose up into the sky.


    "Huh? He can fly?" the man was left stunned, the gold coin falling from his hands.


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    ~CLANG~


    A crisp sound was heard as the coin struck the ground.


    Lin Mu flew to the north, intending to finish up a couple more things.


    This time, he didn''t use Little Shrubby to travel through. Instead he flew on his own while Little Shrubby sat on his shoulder. He did this because he didn''t want to alert a certain group of people.


    "They shouldn''t have gotten that far even if it has been two days¡­ with the supplies they took, they should be a bit slow." Lin Mu reckoned.


    The people he was looking for were none other than the deserter prince of the Shuang Qian Kingdom and the soldiers he had taken with him. Lin Mu could have just let him go and let others handle it, but since he was going to the frontier anyway, he reckoned he might as well check it out.


    ''Perhaps I might find something else too¡­'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Lin Mu flew for about three hours and continued to use his spirit sense to track the whereabouts of the caravan. There were clear tracks on the path, which let him know that they weren''t even bothering to hide.


    ''They are definitely in a hurry¡­ or they would have at least attempted something. Just the fact that the took so many soldiers along seems strange. If he is running away, he should have kept his party as small as possible.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After a few more minutes, Lin Mu finally spotted something in the range of his spirit sense.


    "There they are¡­ why is their numbers this low though?" Lin Mu questioned, seeing only ten men.


    While Lin Mu was in the north, the alliance was working on the war n in the east.


    Two days had passed since Lin Mu had met up with Jing Luo and Wu Hei. Right now meeting was currently ongoing in the Light Harmony sect. This was the ce selected for the meeting since they were the closest to the Shuang Qian kingdom from here and could head to the border quickly.


    In attendance were the patriarchs of the alliance, as well as all their high elders and other important members such as the n heads of the Fenlong kingdom. There were even some independent figures that didn''t belong to any power, the best example being none other than Jiao Fang.


    He had officially joined up with the alliance shortly after meeting Lin Mu.


    But in among all these, the most important person was currently missing, it being none other than the leader, Lin Mu himself.


    "Elder Jing Luo, where is Lin Mu? I thought he was with you before?" Patriarch Hua asked.


    "With the war close ahead, Lin Mu has decided to do his own preparation. He said he is going to tie up some old ends and also getting some more allies." Jing Luo replied.


    "More allies? I thought we already had everyone possibly covered." Mu Tao the current head of the Mu n, asked.


    He had safely entered the Nascent soul realm and was the strongest member of the Mu n currently. Not only that, but his mastery over the Mu n''s puppets was next to none and could easily go against a Dao Shell realm cultivator just on his own.


    The others looked on in interest as well, wondering who else Lin Mu was going to contact.


    ''More allies? Just how does he get them?'' Jiao Fang thought to himself.


    "I don''t know either." Jing Luo shook his head.


    "Do you know where he is, though? We can probably guess from that." Patriarch Yi You asked.


    "He''s probably in the Kong ne." Jing Luo answered.


    "The Kong ne?" Wu Hei was surprised. "There are no new allies there, though? Only we can ess it after all." He said in confusion.


    Everyone now had the same questioned as to who Lin Mu had gone to look for but there were on answers.


    "I don''t know about that either. He''ll be back soon anyway. We just need to focus on our work." Jing Luo said after a bit.


    "He''s right. We have far more important matters at hand. If Lin Mu gets more allies, it''s all the more good for us." Patriarch Mingliang stated.


    Many of the people nodded their heads in agreement and went back to the discussion. There were far too many fronts they would need to handle and many situations that could arise.


    Wu Hei and Jiao Fang were the ones that were contributing the most about the Northern Tribes since they had the most contact with them.


    The first meeting between Wu Hei and Jiao Fang was also rather stunning to them. Wu Hei realized he had been kept in the blind by Gu Yao about Jiao Fang''s identity the whole time. It only made him hate the man even more, but was also thankful that Jiao Fang was ultimately on his side.

 Chapter 1137 The Deserter Prince

    While the meeting continued on in the Light Harmony Sect, Lin Mu continued his investigation.


    ''With the number of people to fall from nearly a hundred to merely ten¡­ something must have happened. And all that to happen in merely two days is a bit too much as well.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Little Shrubby, do you smell any other scents than these ones? Did they split up, perhaps?" Lin Mu questioned.


    ~SNIFF~


    Little Shrubby''s small nose twitched as he quickly analyzed the scents.


    "They don''t just have their own scents. There is the scent of more people on them." Little Shrubby answered. "And also blood¡­ but very little. Doesn''t seem like it came from an injury or fight, though." He added.


    Hearing this Lin Mu narrows his brows. He would understand if the scent of blood was high, as it would mean that these people had fought a battle and gotten injured. But there was still the scent of others on them.


    It was also possible that they might have had an inner conflict among themselves, but there were no signs of them splitting off either.


    "Did they kill their own members?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Lin Mu approached them while hiding on the ground. He intended to listen to them, and learn what they might be up to.


    For a few minutes, the people didn''t talk at all. But one of them finally spoke after twenty minutes of silence.


    "Prince, we should be close by now." One of the men spoke.


    ~HAAA~


    "We came all this way betting that they were saying the true. It''s good that it is, or we would have had to take a bad route." The prince spoke. "There is no way, I''d live likemoners to hide." He added.


    "You''ve paid the right prince, so I doubt they would not keep their word. It was after all, a deal your mother made for you." The man replied, to which the prince just nodded.


    "I hope the payment will be as the prince stated?" another man who was dressed in armor asked.


    "Of course you will,mander. I''ve given you my word." The prince replied, but the displeasure in his eyes could still be seen.


    "As long as the princeplies. After all¡­ my men have had to pay the price for your safe passage." Themander stated, a slight smile on his face.


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    The expression of the prince wavered for a moment, but heposed himself in the next. Turning his head away from themander, he continued walking.


    Unknown to them, Lin Mu was following them and listened to all that they had talked.


    ''The prince found a backer?'' Lin Mu understood from their words.


    It was certainly intriguing who would dare to harbor a deserter prince.


    "No¡­ even if someone was willing to do that, no one is in this direction other than one party¡­ The Northern Tribes." Lin Mu''s expression turned serious.


    The prince and his party continued walking for about three more hours before they finally reached the peaks that formed the great border between the two continents. Of course, the frontier was beyond these peaks, but the paths to reach it were only two.


    And this path was certainly not one of them. Or rather, it wasn''t a path at all, being a dead end instead.


    "Are you sure this is the right location, prince?" Themander asked.


    "It should be¡­" the prince replied, a little uncertainty in his voice.


    "Let me check the map, prince." The prince''s personal steward said before taking out a scroll.


    Upon unrolling it, a map could be seen. The map was rtively simple and was of a very small range of area. On the map were drawn several trees, and other topographical features.


    But the most eye-catching was the character written near some trees. The character was written in the tribalnguage and was unreadable by others.


    "Hang on. Doesn''t this group of trees look simr to the one on the map?" One of the soldiers said after ncing for a moment.


    The steward follow the soldier''s hand and truly saw a group of trees that looked to be in the same exact arrangement as that of the map.


    "Seems like it. We should check it out." The steward said.


    The prince''s party went to the group of trees and tried to find any clues.


    "I found something!" A soldier said after a few minutes.


    "What is it?" themander asked.


    "Seems like a letter." The soldier said, before handing it to themander.


    The prince approached themander and asked him to open it. The letter was small, and inside it only a few words were written.


    ''Wait till midnight, then ignite a fire for 2 minutes exactly.'' The instructions on the letter read.


    "Is this it?" Themander said, finding the letter to be acking.


    "Only one way to find out¡­" The prince stated. "We''ll wait till night."


    Lin Mu though, didn''t just wait around with them.


    ''If they''ve been instructed to light a fire, then the other party must be close enough to see it even in night.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    His spirit sense searched the hundred kilometer area in detail, even going deep in the ground to avoid missing anything.


    "Hmm¡­ nothing on the surface, at least. Other than beasts¡­" Lin Mu continued to check.


    After a couple of minutes, though, he finally found something.


    "Oh?" Keeping up the ''tradition'' of the Gu Legion, Lin Mu found a few people hidden at the foot of a mountain.


    There were a lot of bare trees there, and even more had been put there. The trick was that these trees were actually moved there to cover the entrance of the hideout.


    "Let''s see what they are up to." Lin Mu muttered before flying to the hideout.


    In just five minutes, he was there and observed there to be five people belonging to the northern Tribes hidden.


    Lin Mu didn''t alert them though nor did he attack them. His first goal was to find out why they were here exactly.

 Chapter 1138 A Passageway Into The Empire

    "How long do you think that guy will take toe here?" In the hideout of the northern tribes, one of the men spoke.


    "We don''t even know if he''s going toe or not." The second man said.


    "We''ll wait for two days more. If he doesn''te by then, we''ll tell the elders. No use in wasting time on him. We have other assets to make use of anyway." The man who seemed to be the leader, stated.


    "Yeah! Besides, our deal was with his mother, not him. We are already doing a favor to him by staying here this long. The council is going to act soon. We need to prepare for their smooth passage." A female tribe member spoke this time.


    "The passage should be fine. We only need to do a final check, which we''ll do by default if that prince keeps up. Once he''s paid the cost and crossed over, our duty here will be done, too. Soon, our people will have the debt repaid." Another man spoke.


    "Kaja, go and watch out for the signal. It will be night time soon. Who knows if that prince will even follow instructions or not. He might light it early." The leader of the group spoke.


    "Alright." The man named Kaja said and left through a small opening at the edge of their hideout.


    The top of it was covered with snow, making it impossible to see the opening with naked eyes.


    ~shua~


    Unknown to them, a man was currently listening to all that was being spoke about. Lin Mu appeared some distance away from there and continued observing. The man named Kaja climbed up on top of a tree and kept his gaze locked towards the direction where the prince was supposed to be.


    While it was still autumn, the temperature this far north was always like that of winter. The snow here was every present and the northern tribesmen easily hid taking advantage of it.


    They wore thick beast furs that were either naturally white, or were dyed white. This made it simply to hide within the snow. Kaja couldn''t even be seen on top of the tree. Heid on a branch such that, there seemed to only be a pile of snow umted on it.


    "Are we going to kill them?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "No¡­ why would we do that, when we have a bigger target." Lin Mu said.


    "What do you mean?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "If their words are true, then there must be a secret passage the northern tribes would be using to cross over. If we kill them now, the tribes would find out and change their ns.


    Instead of that, if we let them go for now, the tribes will follow through with their ns, allowing us to ambush them." Lin Mu exined for the beast.


    "Oh! I understand!" Little Shrubby replied, finding the n to be good.


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    If it was good for his master, then it was good for him too.


    "Oh yeah, when you were hunting the northern tribe people before, where did you go? Was it in this area?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No, I took a different path. Jing Luo told me which one to take and I just followed that. It is far to the west from here." Little Shrubby replied.


    ''Far to the west?'' Lin Mu thought over it and guessed that it must be the second route that went to the frontier.


    "But I just went over the mountains directly. There were a few beasts at the Dao Shell realm, but they ran away after a fight." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu knew that there were Dao Shell realm beasts in these mountains who actually served as another barrier for intruders.


    "Yeah, I only managed to kill two. The rest were able to run away or hide. I could have found them, but the enemies would also find out about it from the noise. The mountain snow falls down if I fight too much." Little Shrubby confirmed.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head, finding it impressive that little shrubby actually did the mission well, avoiding avnches.


    It was the correct choice as well, since a battle between Dao Shell realm creatures was almost always loud and would attract attention with ease.


    Lin Mu moved his mind back to the task at hand and asked Little Shrubby for something else.


    "See if you can find the location of the passage. They probably hid it with formations, but there might still be some scent left. " Lin Mu asked.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby replied, and returned to his full form.


    He went in one direction to search, while Lin Mu went in the other. His spirit sense was used at its full potential, scanning for any spirit Qi fluctuations that might be present in the area.


    But after two hours of no results, Lin Mu took a pause.


    "Hmm¡­ this might be harder than I thought." Lin Mu muttered.


    "If they are going to use this passage as their main entry point, then they are definitely using their best formations to hide it." Xukong spoke up.


    "You might be right, senior." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "You should just head back. It will be midnight soon. Save your energy and let the others show it to you themselves." Xukong suggested.


    "Yeah, it''s close to midnight anyway." Lin Mu agreed and called back Little Shrubby.


    The two of them returned to the hideout of the northern tribe members and waited till midnight before the smoke signal could be seen in the distance. It was dark, but the sharp eyes of Kaja urately spotted them.


    "They''re here¡­" he took out a jade slip and sent a message to hispanions.


    ~SHUA~


    The snow parted and the four northern tribe members popped out of the opening.


    "Let''s go pick our guests up." The leader said before taking the lead.


    The prince and the people apanying him were certainly shocked by the sudden appearance of the tribesmen. They weren''t even allowed to speak and were gestured to follow them in silence.

 Chapter 1139 A Gate With The Cost Of Blood

    "Are you sure they are the right people?" Themander whispered to the prince.


    "Of course they are. Do you think just anyone else would appear at the right time mentioned on the note?" The prince replied.


    "But¡­ these guys¡­ their clothes and appearance¡­ aren''t they from the¡­" Themander was certainly nervous after seeing the northern tribes'' people.


    "Shush!" The prince warned themander.


    "Do not speak that which you cannot bear to hold against. Times change and allies change with that." The prince said in a low voice. "Do you not want to survive this?" he asked.


    Themander certainly felt a bit surprised at the sudden change in the prince''s attitude but gritted his teeth and nodded his head.


    ''While this is unexpected¡­ the tribals have not attacked us yet. Just what did the prince do to make this possible?'' themander wondered.


    The remaining soldiers that hade with themander were still in confusion, but kept their tongues in check. They knew that while theirmander might have some freedom in speaking to the prince like this, they certainly didn''t.


    If they weren''t prudent like this, they would have long since died. There was a reason why they were still here, while their formerpanions were chosen to be ''sacrifices''.


    Lin Mu who was watching them all, was a bit surprised but also impressed by the tribesmen.


    "Their demeanor is certainly different." Lin Mu muttered.


    "They don''t smell like the invader either." Little Shrubby added.


    "Right¡­ they are actually ''clean''." Lin Mu said, not sensing any muddied Qi of the pills of grace on them either.


    Observing the discipline and methods that they operated on, Lin Mu could tell that these men were cut from a different piece of cloth. Their choice of maintaining silence with the prince and the soldiers was a wise one.


    Lose lips and free conversations can often cost one''s head in these kinds of situations. After all, knowledge was power and the less one let others know about them, the greater advantage they would hold over them.


    ''Considering what I heard from the northern tribesmen in their hideout, I can safely assume that they are from a higher division of the tribe''s warriors.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Lin Mu could easily tell that these tribesmen weren''t that strong either. The man who seemed to be their leader was at the Nascent soul realm, but the rest were only at the core condensation realm.


    He could very well eliminate them at a mere thought, but the current situation demanded for something else.


    The tribesmen took the prince and his followers about fifty kilometers away from where they originally were. Lin Mu also kept his senses alert, looking for anything that might be hiding here.


    ''I''ve already checked this ce, and didn''t discover anything. It''s certainly hidden well.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The leader of the northern tribesmen raised his hand, gesturing all to stop.


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    He turned around and looked at the prince.


    "Where is the toll?" The man asked.


    "Isn''t that supposed to be given after a safe passage?" The prince asked.


    "No¡­ that was never specified." The leader stated.


    The prince furrowed his brows and felt doubtful.


    "I can''t fully trust you to just give it to you right away. What if you do not keep the promise?" the prince said.


    Lin Mu was a bit impressed by the prince''s words.


    ''He might be a deserter, but he''s certainly not weak.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "This prince might have just made the best possible choice that was presented to him at his current situation. Everyone looks to survive, and he is simply doing that. Sometimes doing that might make one a coward, but it will allow one to live." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu thought upon the words for a bit, before internalizing it forter. He knew the words held great weight, and could be pondered on for a long time. But now was not the right ce or time for it.


    "HUMPH! Do you think we will break the promise officiated by the elders?" The female member of the group scoffed.


    While she seemed a bit upset, the leader and the rest still had the straight faces as if they didn''t care.


    ~Sigh~


    "The toll isn''t the price to let you escape, it is the price to enter the very passage itself. Without the toll, even we cannot enter it." The leader said.


    Hearing this, the prince was surprised.


    ''Not like I''m in any position to debate here.''


    He thought for a moment before nodding his head. "Alright." He said before turning to themander.


    "Take out all of them." The prince stated.


    "You heard him!" Themander spoke to the rest of the soldiers.


    "YES COMMANDER!" they all replied in unison before taking out small bags that were hidden in their armor.


    The bags were made from some kind of beast hide and there were fine inscriptions written on it. As soon as they appeared, Lin Mu''s eyes locked onto them.


    "Oh? A sealed spatial storage tool? No wonder I didn''t detect these bags on them." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The sealed spatial treasures made it so that no spatial fluctuations were released from them. But it also quite literally ''sealed'' them. Making them unable to be used.


    The soldiers used their des and shed the bags open.


    ~THUD~ THUD~ THUD~ THUD~


    In the next moment, several bodies fell out of the bags. There were exactly ny five of them, just the exact number that were missing from the group. And that was not all. Lin Mu discovered something else surprising.


    ''They''re actually alive? There''s no way they would have stayed alive for this long in a spatial storage treasure like that. Not to mention the seals would have had to be broken if they were to be given air at any time.'' Lin Mu thought in surprise.


    "Kaja, check them if they''re all ''fresh''. The dead ones won''t be of any use." The leader spoke.


    The man named Kaja quickly did as was told and checked on all the soldiers that were kept unconscious.


    "They''re all fine, leader. The dose of the Life Waning Frost Powder was just right." Kaja replied.


    "Good. Get them prepared. We''ll open the gate in exactly ten minutes." The leader said.


    Hispanions then gathered the unconscious men and ced them around in a unique pattern. Lin Mu who saw this pattern, found it to be familiar.


    "Hang on¡­ isn''t this a¡­ Gate reversal formation?" Lin Mu identified.


    This method of cement was used for the Gate Reversal Formation. It was nothing but a counterpart to a locking formation and could be used in many different variations. But the basics of it were the same and otheryers would be put on top of it to make itplex.


    Usually, the materials used for the base were spirit stones, formation gs, or even certain kinds of herbs. But Lin Mu had a guess about what was going to be used here and his expression darkened.


    At the very least, Lin Mu could take sce in the fact that the soldiers would have been killed as deserters anyway. Thus, he could just sit back and watch them be killed.


    Soon the unconscious soldiers were ced in the pattern and everything as ready.


    "NOW!" the leader of the northern tribesmen ordered.


    The four other members all took out a talisman and threw it out.


    ~SHUA~


    The four talismans flew to four corners of the formation that had been outlined and glowed in a red light.


    ~WOOOO~


    A strange wind started to blow and a ck smoke came out of the talismans. The smoke formed a wall around the entire area and hid everything that was behind it. In the white snow, it looked ringly abstract.


    The smoke filled the area but avoided the prince and hispanions. The same was said for the northern tribesmen too. The sacrificed soldiers though were drowned in the smoke and started to wither at a visible rate.


    Soon they were turned into nothing more than dessicated corpses.


    Lin Mu''s brows furrowed, as he knew very well where this method hade from.


    Once all the corpses were drained to the limit, the smoke started to condense. It turned into a ck ink liquid that fell down to the ground. Wherever it went, the snow melted while the ground below it was stained.


    The liquid flowed in a certain pattern and formed an array.


    ~SHUA~


    Once the array waspleted, it let out a humming sound and a rumbling sound was heard.


    Lin Mu felt spirit Qi fluctuationsing from it at that moment and knew that the isting formation was now deactivating.


    ~HONG~


    A minuteter, the formation array was fully activated and the isting formation disappeared.


    ~FLICKER~


    The air turned fuzzy and blurry. The hills that were situated in the front turned into mist and disappeared.


    "What!?" the prince and themander were left stunned.


    Lin Mu was the same and had not expected it to be like this.


    "The passage¡­ it''s not a tunnel and nor is it underground." Lin Mu muttered in disbelief.


    "So the passage is nothing but another route into past the mountains?" The prince said in surprise.


    "Indeed." The leader nodded his head.


    "How¡­ was this hidden? The experts used to do regr checks here if I recall it correctly? If it was made, they would have found out." Themander couldn''t help but wonder.


    Since he was in the royal army, he knew of the protocols that were followed at the frontier.


    "What makes you think this was built recently? This has existed since the times of our ancestors."

 Chapter 1140 A Path Hidden For Ages

    "What makes you think this was built recently? This has existed since the times of our ancestors." The leaders of the northern tribe group revealed.


    "WHAT!?" Hearing this, almost everyone in the prince''s group along with the prince were stunned.


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    Even Lin Mu who heard it, was surprised.


    "How is that possible? This should have been discovered by the experts, right?" The prince couldn''t help but say.


    "Yeah, and if there was such a path, why have the northern tribes never used it before?" themander asked as well.


    "That is something I do not know. It is beyond my authority and was not informed. I only know that this path existed for a long time and has a cost to be used." The leader of the northern tribes spoke.


    Hearing this all, Lin Mu furrowed his brows and couldn''t help but take a look at the surrounding mountains.


    ''There are certainly no signs of them being excavated or moved. And neither are there any traces of spirit Qi or simr things. The formation array runes are hard to examine and I can''t tell how old it is either¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "If you want to identify the age of a formation array, you need to examine the power source for it. This is easy in the case of fixed power sources like spirit stones and mines, but not so much in the case of the environmental spirit Qi." Xukong exined.


    "Does this mean there is still a way? Even if it''s hard?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed¡­ a formation array that uses the environmental spirit Qi pulls it towards itself and absorbs it. This inadvertently creates a higher concentration of spirit Qi around it. And what do you think happens to that area?" Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu thought over it and realized it in a few seconds.


    "The soil, rocks, trees or anything that''s around it would increase in spirit Qi!" Lin Mu answered.


    "Exactly! This part is still easy. The tricky part is to differentiate how much spirit Qi would naturally be present in them and how much was added due to the effect of the arrays. The natural spirit Qi concentration can vary greatly in areas and even a small distance such as a meter can have a significant difference." Xukong exined further.


    "Then how do I do this urately?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Unfortunately, there is no easy way for this. The only way you can get good at is with experience. Once you know thepositions of different kinds of areas and materials, you might get used to it and get better.


    But don''t worry if you don''t get it urate right now. It takes thousands of years to get good at it. This is a very high level analytical skill." Xukong answered.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Just having information about a skill like this was good for Lin Mu and now he would pay attention to her different kinds of areas whenever he traveled.


    With this done, Lin Mu followed behind the northern tribesmen. They crossed the path that had opened up between the mountains and took about an hour to go past it.


    ''This is only because they have people that can''t fly. Even core condensation realm experts will be able to cover this distance in a matter of minutes,'' Lin Mu estimated.


    He himself would be able to cross it in less than two minutes and with Little Shrubby even faster.


    He needed to keep this travel time in mind, since it was important.


    ''If the army of the northern tribes is toe from here, it will take approximately the same time. And that is the time period we will have to act in and take advantage of.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The high level experts of the northern tribes weren''t something that Lin Mu was considering when he talked about this path. After all, those experts could very easily traverse the mountains.


    It is the low leveled members that were the main users of this path. After all, they were in the majority and formed nearly 90% of the army. They needed a proper path to cover it and would not be able to traverse the mountains¡­ at least not fast enough and with a guarantee of survival.


    Lin Mu followed the prince for about ten more kilometers when Xukong suddenly spoke up.


    "Lin Mu Stop!" Xukong hurriedly warned.


    "What is it senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There is a sensory barrier here. And not just any¡­ but one made by at least an immortal tool perhaps." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu''s expression turned serious as he looked at the north. He knew what the immortal tool might be.


    "Yeah, it is an immortal tool, I can feel its presence." Xukong confirmed.


    "Hmm¡­ it should be the Ancestral Bell that Wu Hei told us about." Lin Mu stated.


    "Indeed." Xukong agreed.


    "What does this barrier do, senior? Does it just inform the user of the immortal tool if someone passed through it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That might just be one of the functions. We don''t know what else it can do. It''s best not to test your luck now. If there is an offensive function to it as well, it could very well target you from this range." Xukong answered.


    "I see¡­ they must have used the ancestral bell to set up the barrier since the time for war is so near. We just got another proof of it in this way." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, and now you can n ordingly." Xukong replied.


    "Exactly¡­ no way we are going to let this opportunity go." Lin Mu said before returning back to the official territory of the Great Zhou Continent.


    ~Rumble~


    Spirit Qi fluctuations were felt once again as the mountains and hills that had disappeared materialized again. A minuteter, it was as if they were always here. And just to be sure, Lin Mu even went up to the mountain and physically touched them, examining if they are real.


    "They really are real?" Lin Mu was surprised.

 Chapter 1141 Calling Forth The Alliance’s Formation Masters

    <h4>Chapter 1141 Calling Forth The Alliance''s Formation Masters</h4>


    Finding out the mountains were actually real was shocking to Lin Mu.


    "How can they be real if they are supposed to be an illusion? They don''t show any signs of being that either?" Lin Mu was muddled.


    "In a way, they are and in a way they are not. This is certainly a very high leveled illusory array since it can form actual physical objects. It was definitely not set by anyone below the immortal realm." Xukong said, much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "You mean to say¡­ the northern tribes had someone at the immortal realme to the Xiaofan world and set it up?" Lin Mu was a bit anxious hearing this.


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    "It is possible, but what is also possible is that a single use immortal tool might have even been used to set this up. Something like a talisman. If they got Immortal Talismans, then even Dao Treading realm experts would be able to set it up. Though that is still a far shot." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm¡­ seems like we''ll only know more once we actually get to interrogate the tribals." Lin Mu muttered.


    All this information was really important and Lin Mu didn''t forget to record it all in a jade slip. This was to be given to the alliance so that they could n and prepare ordingly.


    Done with this, Lin Mu first contracted none other than Jing Luo.


    "I need you to get as many formation masters as you can get. I''lle fetch you guys after that. There is something big I found out." Lin Mu said in a quick message.


    Jing Luo who was still at the Light Harmony sect, was a bit surprised on hearing this but didn''t hesitate for more than moment.


    "ALL FORMATION MASTERS GATHER UP! ORDERS FROM THE ALLIANCE LEADER LIN MU HIMSELF!" Jing Luo called out both physically and through the jade slips.


    His voice echoed in the entire Light Harmony sect and was heard by everyone including the patriarchs, who quickly approached the man.


    "Lin Mu contacted you?" Patriarch You Yi asked.


    "YES! He seems to have found out something big and has called for formation masters." Jing Luo replied.


    You Yi could easily guess what the use of formation masters would be. The mostmon use right now would be to set up traps.


    "His will shall be done." You Yi said, and sent out his own orders as well, calling forth the sect elders that were also formation masters.


    Usually they were upied by their assigned duties, but even they were called forth now.


    In less than fifteen minutes, over nine hundred formation masters had gathered in the Kong ne!


    Such a number was massive and theirbined abilities would put the entire Great Zhou continent to shame, perhaps.


    After all, these weren''t any low leveled formation masters or disciples of sects. All of these were experienced elders who had lived for at least two hundred years. And even those were merely the lesser experience elders.


    There were many more with Nascent soul realm cultivation base and that was the median power among them. Even Dao Shell realm cultivators among them were above forty, with Patriarch You Yi joining himself!


    "We''re ready Lin Mu." Jing Luo sent the confirmation.


    ~shua~


    Within moments of speaking, a cluster of runes appeared some distance from Jing Luo was standing. The runes glowed brightly, and Lin Mu appeared from within the mass of light.


    "What did you discover, Lin Mu?" Patriarch You Yi asked.


    "Take a look." Lin Mu gave the records to the man.


    You Yi merely took a few seconds to nce through it while Jing Luo did the same.


    "This¡­ how could we have missed such a gravepse in security?" Patriarch You Yi couldn''t believe it.


    "None are to me for this, Patriarch You Yi. The northern tribes were clever and kept this hidden from even their own people, it seems like. They used the influence of an immortal to do this. It is not unusual for us to not realize this.


    Even if couldn''t tell, the illusion was there. You all will know once we''re there." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ the northern tribes probably kept this as theirst trump card or something. And seeing as it needs so many sacrifices to use, they probably couldn''t activate it easily either." Jing Luo hypothesized.


    "That''s seems right. The northern tribes didn''t have a high poption in the past. At least not high enough that they could use them to open the path for long enough. From what I saw, the path is open for a little over an hour with about 90 sacrifices.


    Arger army will need far longer to cross and will need to sacrifice more people. Not to mention the fact that they will be noticed if the path opens too many times." Lin Mu exined.


    "Yes, it should be their conditions that probably forced them to not use it." The others agreed as well.


    "Alright, let''s head there now. Everyone hold on to each other. I''ve never taken so many people at once before." Lin Mu spoke.


    Lin Mu had truly not tested how far his limit was when using himself to travel between the ne and the Xiaofan world. The max number of people he had taken before was around fifty.


    "Are you sure this will be a fine senior?" Lin Mu asked oncest time.


    "At your current cultivation base it should be possible for you to do this. Though the cost of it will be a bit higher, of course." Xukong relied.


    "Okay¡­ that''s better than doing multiple trips anyway." Lin Mu said.


    If it was Lin Mu alone traveling to the Kong ne, it didn''t take any spirit Qi for that. But if he was taking others with him, it took some spirit Qi as a cost. And the more there were, the higher the cost was.


    "We''re ready!" Everyone said a minuteter.


    "Hang on tight!" Lin Mu said before he activated the runes on his back.

 Chapter 1142 Setting Gates And Traps

    With so many people being teleported at once, the strain on Lin Mu was rather heavy. But he could still manage it.


    "Easier than ripping apart a ne at least¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he controlled the runes to take everyone with him.


    The process wasn''t exactly smooth and if it were weak cultivators that were going through it they might have gotten injured quite likely. Thankfully, all the formation masters here were strong and at the peak of core condensation realm at the very least.


    And even among them, the majority was acutely at the nascent soul realm.


    The resources provided by the alliance had given all of them a good opportunity to speed up their rate of cultivation and had made it so that many who were teetering on the edge of breakthrough finally did it.


    It was amon and known fact that most cultivators will get stuck at the peak of the core condensation realm and be unable to breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm. Some of themcked talent, somecked the drive. But all of this could bepensated with the resources.


    The Kong ne and its resources had greatly contributed to this and had increased the number of Nascent soul realm cultivators significantly.


    Everyone felt the pull on their bodies when they were being teleported and it was vastly different than using the gates to enter the Kong ne. Thankfully, it onlysted a few seconds and when their vision returned, they had already appeared in the Xiaofan world.


    ~phew~


    Many of them let out breaths of relief, including Lin Mu and Jing Luo.


    "Is it just me, or was this a little too¡­ rough?" Jing Luo asked.


    "I felt that too," Patriarch You Yi replied.


    "Its due to the fact that I alone was pulling you all. And I haven''t teleported so many people at once. The strain was expected." Lin Mu spoke.


    His face was a little flushed, but his breath was stable.


    ''It actually took twenty percent of my spirit Qi stores¡­'' Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    This was the greatest consumption of spirit Qi in the case of teleportation that he had incurred till now.


    The formation masters looked around and observed the snow covered ground and mountains. Many of them had nevere this far in the north and didn''t even know it would be this cold.


    "Alright, I want you all to build severalrge teleportation gates around here. They should be about a kilometer from here, though." Lin Mu stated.


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    "How big do you want them to be?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Enough for Little Shrubby at his full size to pass through." Lin Mu estimated ording to the intended users.


    "That big?" Jing Luo was surprised. "Why do you need it to be that big?" he asked curiously.


    "It is for our new allies, of course. Who I''ll be adding soon." Lin Mu replied.


    "The one''s you were going to get from the Kong ne? Have you not done that yet?" Jing Luo asked.


    "I haven''t. I got upied with this all. This was too important to just let go." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh yeah, that''s true." Jing Luo agreed.


    "Anything else you want to do? If this is the ce that the northern tribe is going to enter from, shouldn''t we add traps?" Elder Liqiang suggested.


    "That''s the next thing I was going to ask. Set up some restrictions and traps as you see fit." Lin Mu said.


    "I''ll take care of that." Elder Liqiang epted.


    With this done, the tasks were properly assigned, with one team working on the teleportation gates. This was mostly the ones who were more experienced or had built it before, including Jing Luo.


    The rest focused on building the other formations that were going to be used as traps. There was, after all, a lot to do here. And it was going to take a while to set everything up, even with so many formations masters working on it.


    There were some things that couldn''t just be sped up with manpower and had a rate-limiting step. With all that done, Lin Mu was about to head to the Kong ne when he got a message.


    "The messenger from the Vermillion legion has arrived!" Wu Hei''s voice was heard from the Jade Slip.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu stopped in his tracks and instead of heading to the wild areas of the Kong ne went to the nexus. There he took the teleportation gate to the Shuang Qian capital and went to meet Wu Hei.


    In less than three minutes, Lin Mu was in the mansion and directly phased through the walls to appear next to Wu Hei.


    "I''m here." Lin Mu said, startling the man for a moment.


    "Ah! Perfect." Wu Hei said as he handed the letter to Lin Mu.


    "You haven''t opened it yet?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ it just arrived five minutes ago. And you appeared rather quickly too, so you may as well open it." Wu Hei replied.


    "Okay¡­" Lin Mu replied before taking a deep breath and cracking the seal on the letter.


    ~huu~


    ''Here we go¡­'' Lin Mu hoped for the best.


    "Lieutenant Wu Teng was been posted in the western section of the pearl''s belt and is¡­ alive¡­ He''s Alive!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "HE IS?" Wu Hei was shocked.


    While he was hoping for this, he had still epted the fact that he might never see his brother again. But against all odds,, he had still survived.


    "Indeed¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head while continuing to read. "And it seems like he isn''t the only one under the control of Gu Yao that is alive." He added.


    "That''s good¡­ but what is their condition?" Wu Hei asked.


    "It says here that Wu Teng and several more members are currently in the infirmary of the Vermillion legion. They are being treated for sudden onset amnesia." Lin Mu answered. "The infirmary is strained and overwhelmed due to many soldiers experiencing this, along with several higher ups that died."

 Chapter 1143 Wu Teng’s Survival And A Secret Gambler

    <h4>Chapter 1143 Wu Teng''s Survival And A Secret Gambler</h4>


    With the good news that they had gotten, Lin Mu and Wu Hei were certainly pleased. But this good news also left them questioning several things.


    "Why is it that some of them died while Wu Teng and the others are still alive?" Wu Hei couldn''t help but wonder.


    "Hmm¡­ we can''t say for sure until we see them in person, but from the information that is given here, the ones that died are all those in the Nascent soul realm." Lin Mu said.


    As soon as Wu Hei heard this, an idea appeared in his mind.


    "Hang on¡­ only Nascent soul realm?" Wu Hei furrowed his brows.


    Lin Mu watched on as Wu Hei thought of something to himself. But after not speaking for a minute, Lin Mu decided to ask him.


    "Did you figure out something?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Perhaps¡­ but I''ll need to confirm it." Wu Hei answered.


    "We can do that." Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes¡­ but to do that, we need to go somewhere." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Where? No ce is too far for us now." Lin Mu replied.


    "Prison."


    ¡­


    Lin Mu had not expected that he would be making a trip to the Great Zhou Empire''s capital for such a reason before.


    Wu Hei had told him that they needed to go to a prison, but the prison he was talking about was located in the capital. It was none other than the biggest prison on the entire continent.


    This was where most of the prisoners with life sentences were kept. These were the ones that weren''t deemed worthy of an execution and had crimes that weren''t that heinous. Though it was also the ce that housed the nobles and aristocrats that could not be ced in other prisons.


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    These people usually had enough of an influence that they might just escape using that, thus it was best to keep them under close observation of those that could not be easily bribed.


    "So who are we here for?" Lin Mu asked as he walked through the stone corridors of the prison.


    "A man named Lu Gan." Wu Hei replied.


    "Lu Gan? Hmm¡­ I don''t think I know of him." Lin Mu spoke.


    "He''s not someone you would havee across. Besides, he''s been in prison for over twenty years now." Wu Hei replied.


    "Twenty years?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    But after thinking about it, found it to be strange.


    "Wait, if he was in here for twenty years, what use is he to us?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well, since we are looking to test out that theory, we need someone that was under control of Gu Yao and still isted from others. Someone who was not found out by anyone else." Wu Hei answered.


    "He was under Gu Yao''s control? Why would he get a prisoner under his control?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask. "And even if he did, why let him stay in prison even now?"


    "Its the ce he''s supposed to be¡­ it''s basically a home to him, a ce where he can be safe." Wu Hei replied.


    "Home? In a prison? Thats ridiculous." Lin Mu chuckled.


    "Well, you know what they say¡­ home is the ce where you feel safe at. And for Lu Gan, prison is the safest. If he gets out, he will be killed within minutes of leaving it." Wu Hei stated.


    "He has enemies?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed¡­ far too many. Lu Gan was, or rather is¡­ a big businessman. But he was also a great gambler. His skills were certainly top notch in gambling and got him a lot of gains. He was so good that others would loan him money so that he could multiply it for them and also get a cut from it." Wu Hei answered.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s something¡­ but what''d he do to get in prison?" Lin Mu asked.


    "He offended the very people that loaned him the money. Or rather¡­ he almost bankrupted them. Lu Gan was not just a businessman and gambler, but also a big con artist. All his wins weren''t just due to his skill, but rather due to the fact that it was all an borate setup.


    Lu Gan was secretly the owner of many gambling dens and was manipting a lot of things. He made it so that the wins were always skewed in his favor. This gave him a cut of profits that he could pour back in." Wu Hei replied.


    "That isn''t really sustainable, though." Lin Mu could see the facy of this n.


    "Indeed. It wasn''t something he could keep up. His final goal was to get the aristocrats to loan him a massive amount, which he would never repay. And he never did either. He faked his death and disappeared with the amount.


    No one knew that he was in the prison this entire time." Wu Hei exined.


    "How would he do that? You said that he would be killed if he stepped out," Lin Mu asked in confusion.


    "You see¡­ Lu Gao had another identity¡­ the name Lu Gao itself was just something he had made up. Lu Gao was actually the illegitimate son of the emperor." Wu Hei revealed.


    "What?!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "Yes¡­ he is actually the oldest son too¡­ but due to being born from a maid, could not be shown legally. Even the emperor''s many wives and concubines don''t know about Lu Gao. And neither do the princes.


    The Emperor had made sure to keep it a deep secret. Which was only helped with the fact that the man never interacted with Lu Gao directly." Wu Hei exined further. "Still, the emperor gave Lu Gao enough fortune to set up his businesses¡­ and Lu Gao went ahead and made gambling dens instead.


    It was also the Emperor''s favor that he managed to stay in prison. There is a great chance that the moment he gets out, he''d be found out. His true identity is also what is a shackle on him and would keep him scared enough to never leave this ce." Wu Hei borated.

 Chapter 1144 Lu Gao

    Lu Gao''s existence was rather unique, and it was also a mystery to Lin Mu as to why others didn''t find out about him earlier. After all, an illegitimate son of the emperor was still important enough for the alliance to have some records on him.


    ''I certainly didn''t read about him in any of the documents¡­ strange.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Looking at Wu Hei, Lin Mu now wondered how he knew of it.


    "How did you find out about this Wu Hei? Even the alliance didn''t know about it." Lin Mu questioned.


    "I wouldn''t have known of it either, if not for the fact that the Gu n had worked with the emperor before." Wu Hei spoke.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was not expecting this.


    "You do know of the Gu n and its workings over fifty years ago right?" Wu Hei asked.


    "I''ve been made aware of them, yes." Lin Mu replied. "And wasn''t it the emperor himself that got them eliminated in the end?"


    "Yes¡­ but what many don''t know is that the emperor made a lot many deals with the Gu n than were let on. Several of them were highly sensitive and if the information about them was leaked, the empire might have beenpromised.


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    That was one of the reasons why the Emperor could not let the Gu n exist for any longer." Wu Hei exined.


    "I see¡­ then did the emperor make use of the Gu n in this, too?" Lin Mu asked again.


    "Yes¡­ The emperor needed to get Lu Gao several resources and more. For this, he couldn''t use his own people as it would have a great chance of revealing his position and the existence of Lu Gao.


    Thus, he made use of the one power that would do anything as long as they were paid¡­ this being the Gu n.


    It was the Gu n that transferred the wealth to Lu Gao as an intermediary, as well as helping him set up the Gambling dens." Wu Hei exined further.


    "No wonder¡­ and since the Gu n was gone and most of their information eliminated, there was no way for others to find out either." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Yeah. After the return of Gu Yao, and the rise of the Gu Legion, he made sure to bring in all the old debts. Lu Gao was one of the best pawns to use and the Gu Legion made use of him to transfer a lot of wealth to them.


    Him being in their control was essential to all this. And since he was kept in the prison, he would stay safe as well, not needing to worry about him." Wu Hei added.


    While the two of them talked, they had already gone past several jail cells. These jail cells were isted and the prisoners inside couldn''t see or hear who was outside, thus Lin Mu and Wu Hei didn''t need to worry about being seen or heard.


    As for the guards of the prison, they weren''t here due to the fact that most of this ce was controlled with formations. Of course, the guards still patrolled it several times a day, but it was mostly to send food.


    Wu Hei easily managed to enter the prison due to the authority he had.


    It was a surprise to Lin Mu that the warden of the prison was also a part of the Gu Legion. And it wasn''t that he was being, but he truly was a member. The original warden had been killed, and this man had taken his ce.


    Of course he too was killed, and the authority was passed on to another person, but Wu Hei''smand token still stood. Allowing him entry to the prison. He just couldn''t take anyone out of here.


    "Here it is," Wu Hei said, stopping at a wall.


    "Here?" Lin Mu narrowed and observed it finding that it was actually a false wall.


    Wu Hei took out amand token and touched it on the wall.


    ~SHUA~


    The wall disappeared with that, and another corridor was revealed behind it.


    "This is a prison room?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    At the end of the corridor there was arge hall rather than room and was decked with luxuries. Arge bed, several couches, golden curtains and many more things could be seen.


    "Like I said before¡­ this is Lu Gao''s home. The rest of the prison is more like a ''safety wall'' around it." Wu Hei answered.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu didn''t expect there to be such privilege for a prisoner.


    It truly was just like Wu Hei had said, Lu Gao was in his home.


    Lin Mu''s eyes darted around but didn''t see anyone in there.


    "Is he even in here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "He should be¡­" Wu Hei furrowed his brows.


    The two of them walked closer and finally entered the hall.


    "LU GAO!" Wu Hei called out.


    ~CRACK~


    ~SMASH~


    The sound of something falling and breaking was heard, making Lin Mu check it.


    "FINALLY!" A shout was also heard.


    ~rustle~


    The golden curtains parted and from behind it a man appeared. He looked to be middle aged and had a well kept beard. But his expression seemed to be a bit crazed right now.


    "Do you know how long I''ve been shouting? Why are you guys not following the regr routine? It''s been six days! Where are the ledgers?" Lu Gao ran his mouth.


    Lin Mu looked at the man in confusion while Wu Hei seemed to be in understanding.


    "We''ll get to that if you tell me one thing Lu Gao." Wu Hei spoke.


    "What?" Lu Gao asked, feeling a bit pissed.


    "What year is it?" Wu Hei questioned.


    "What kind of a question is that? It''s the fifty-seventh year of Emperor Zhou Wan''s reign." Lu Gao answered.


    Hearing this, both Lin Mu and Wu Hei smiled, knowing that it was actually the sixtieth year.


    "We were right¡­ he doesn''t remember." Wu Hei spoke.

 Chapter 1145 The Preparations Come To Term

    Lin Mu felt pleased at the discovery and the confirmation of their theory.


    "Indeed¡­ I can sense the traces of the curse on him, but they are rapidly fading. And his cultivation base is also at the peak stage of the core condensation realm. He fits all the requirements." Lin Mu replied.


    Lu Gao watched the two of them talk amongst themselves and felt confused.


    "What''re are you two doing? Give me the ledgers now! You are supposed to bring them every three days." Lu Gao demanded.


    "What is he asking about, though?" Lin Mu asked Wu Hei, ignoring Lu Gao.


    "Oh¡­ Lu Gao used to get his business ledgers from his workers. Telling him the updates and how the businesses are operating. All that stopped after Gu Yao took control of him though, as he got Lu Gao to pass on the authority of business to another member of Gu Legion." Wu Hei answered.


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    "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL TALKING ABOUT AND WHY ARE YOU IGNORING ME!?" Lu Gao shouted, unable to bear it.


    "Oh yeah? What do we do with him?" Lin Mu asked Wu Hei.


    "He doesn''t really have any uses left. All his businesses and gambling dens were transfered over to the Gu Legion anyway. I think the alliance should be taking care of them, too." Wu Hei replied.


    "So he''s just broke now?" Lin Mu chuckled.


    "Certainly." Wu Hei agreed.


    "DAMN YOU! YOU INSULT ME TO MY FACE?!" Lu Gao couldn''t take it anymore and swung his fist at Lin Mu.


    The poor man couldn''t sense Lin Mu and Wu Hei''s cultivation base since they were suppressed and made the mistake of thinking that they were just some mortals.


    Lin Mu''s eyes tracked the man''s fist with ease, finding it to be slow. He was far too used to fighting way stronger cultivators now, and Lu Gao''s attack was like a baby''s punch.


    ~SHUA~


    Spirit Qi waves spread out from Lin Mu at that moment, filling the entire hall and turning it turbulent. Lu Gao''s eyes widened at that before closing.


    ~THUD~


    The man fell face first onto the ground and passed out, unable to bear the pressure.


    "Can''t believe someone as rich as he was unable to reach the Nascent soul realm." Lin Mu said.


    "It was intentional on his part. If he needed to breakthrough, he could do it easily. But if he did that it would attract attention. He was actually going to wait for a hundred years or so before leaving the prison. By then, most of his enemies should have given up on him and another emperor would have taken the throne as well." Wu Hei exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Having confirmed their theory, Lin Mu and Wu Hei had no reason to stay here, thus they left and swirly returned to the Shuang Qian capital via the Kong ne.


    "I''ll get Little Shrubby and go back to the Kong ne. Got some things to do." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I''ll begin the rest of the windup as well. Now that we know the core condensation realm cultivators can survive, we need to get them in order. There were many good people that were controlled by Gu Yao, so we need to sort them out." Wu Hei said.


    "Alright, I''ll leave that to you then." Lin Mu said before disappearing.


    Little Shrubby was still with Jing Luo and the others. Lin Mu had left him behind just in case something happened. It wasn''t that the people there weren''t strong, but rather that Little Shrubby would be able to sense and react to any disturbance faster than anyone there.


    It was better to be cautious since they were dealing with the northern tribes and there was no telling what they would do. There was after all, a chance that the people of the tribes might find out and attack them.


    The ambush might be resisted but at the cost of a few people, which was not what they wanted at all.


    ~shua~


    A red blur could be seening over the horizon, which was none other than Little Shrubby.


    Lin Mu had simply called him over rather than travel all the way to the border. After all, the teleportation gate wasn''t built there yet.


    "Come on, time to head to the Kong ne. I''ll need you there." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby growled in reply.


    cing a hand on Little Shrubby''s back, the two of them disappeared from the Xiaofan world.


    While Lin Mu went to try his own n in the Kong ne, the rest of the alliance was also hard at work.


    Day after day went by as the alliance prepared for the iing war. The sects also seemed to have been jolted alert by this time, and were cooperating, albeit a bit slowly. It was not known what had convinced them as the Patriarchs of the alliance were sure that they had failed before.


    In the northern tribe''s capital, simr scenes were seen and people were moving around, carrying goods, armors and many weapons.


    Every man, woman and child was involved in it, with nobody cking behind.


    The council members were currently in meeting as well.


    "All the preparations are close to done." One of the elders spoke.


    "And how is the search for traitors going, Elder Ku Mi?" Elder Gunkao asked.


    "No sign of them yet, elder Gunkao. Either they are really biding their time or there is no one. They should have appeared by now, since the formal invasion will start soon enough." Elder Ku Mi replied.


    "Hmm¡­ let''s hope that stays." Elder Gunkan nodded his head before looking at another elder.


    "What about our little guest from the south?" Elder Gunkao asked.


    "My nsmen brought them to the capital justst night, Elder Gunkao. And the prince certainly has a lot of news to tell us." Elder Chiu replied.


    "Oh? What kind of news?" Elder Niu questioned.


    "Seems like we will be facing some opposition and the southerners won''t be as broken as we wanted them to be." The Elder answered.

 Chapter 1146 The Vermillion Legion’s Fall And Imperial Court’s Panic

    <h4>Chapter 1146 The Vermillion Legion''s Fall And Imperial Court''s Panic</h4>


    Time passed by and it had been a week since Lin Mu had ventured into the Kong ne.


    At the Capital of the Great Zhou empire, the ministers were all sitting in the imperial court. Not just the ministers, but several important members of the aristocrats, and even the sects were here.


    The expressions of a few ministers were tense, and the man dressed as the imperial adviser was sweating visibly.


    "What have we been called here for so urgently?" One of the sect ambassadors asked.


    The sects actually had a few ambassadors from them assigned to the capital. These people would usually have no authority ior a duty other than to listen to the exceedingly important announcements given by the Emperor or the imperial court.


    Nearly every major sect had an ambassador posted at the capital. It was not often that they were called to the court as there were other ways to send of information. But if they really were called, it meant that the situation was gravely important.


    "Yeah? Has something happened to the emperor?" One of the sect ambassadors asked.


    "No¡­ the emperor is still fine." The Imperial adviser spoke.


    He was the person who was the closest to the emperor. In a way, he would be the emperor''s secretary and would help carry out his orders and more. But since the emperor was currently sick and unable to work on his own, the adviser would do it in cooperation with the ministers.


    "Then what is the reason for this?" this time a minister asked.


    "I have called you all here to inform you that¡­ The Vermillion legion has fallen." The imperial adviser said, his hands trembling.


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    As soon as his words were heard, the hearts of everyone shook.


    "WHAT?!" the ministers screamed out.


    Meanwhile, the sect ambassadors furrowed their brows. There were sect ambassadors from the Long Cloud sect, and others in their alliance too, thus had an inkling of what was happening.


    "So it has started¡­" The sect ambassador from the ck Dune sect muttered.


    "Indeed¡­" The sect ambassador from the Light Harmony sect nodded his head. "Do we even need to inform the alliance?" he asked.


    "We may as well, as is our duty. Even if the elders probably found out about it already." The sect ambassador of the Long Cloud sect replied.


    A few sect ambassadors that were standing around them and ministers heard their conversation and were surprised.


    "Wait! You three knew about this?" A minister asked frantically.


    "We did indeed." The sect ambassador of the Long Cloud sect replied.


    "YOU KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN AND YOU DIDN''T THINK TO WARN US?!" The minister ofw got agitate and rushed to take hold of the sect ambassador.


    "You should behave minister of Law¡­" The sect ambassador stated.


    "IT IS YOU WHO SHOULD DO THAT!" The other ministers blew up.


    The aristocrats were now trembling and didn''t know what to make of this.


    "Wait! Please tell us more imperial adviser. If the Vermillion legion fell, what does this entail?" They asked.


    While the nobles and aristocrat had an idea about the deaths happening all over the continent and some were even aware of the actions of the Gu Legion, they didn''t want to assume the worst.


    After all, even the Vermillion legion had the strange deaths and some people were even said to have lost their memories. So unless they had a straight answer, they didn''t dare to believe it all.


    "The Vermillion legion fell because they were attacked¡­ by the northern tribes!" The Imperial adviser stated truthfully.


    ~Gasp~


    Several loud gasps where heard and a few people simply fell to the ground in shock.


    "H-how¡­ how is this possible?" they wondered.


    "It is your ignorance that you never listened to the alliance. Nothing can be done now." The sect ambassador of the Long cloud sect said before freeing himself from the minister ofw,. "Let''s go. Our work here is done."


    "Mmhmm¡­ they will either join and ept the reality, or perish to the annals." The sect ambassador of the Light Harmony sect said.


    "Maybe it might be better too¡­ the Zhou empire hassted for far too long¡­ haha~" The sect ambassador of the ck Dune sects said.


    The words said by the ambassadors were treasonous and if these were normally spoken, they would have faced grave consequences. After all, even criticizing the emperor or the imperial court could only be done in moderation, especially not to their face.


    If the same was said by the high elders of the sect, it would have been fine and the emperor would not be able to do much. But these were merely ambassador that barely had the cultivation base at the peak stage of the core condensation realm.


    It wasn''t that the sects didn''t have someone stronger to send, but that the imperial court wouldn''t allow Nascent soul realm and above individuals this close to the court. The danger would be a lot more, after all.


    Each and every person in the court had heard their words, but they couldn''t really bring themselves to oppose it either. The initial shock was still too strong. And seeing the condition of the imperial adviser, they knew the situation was really grave.


    After all, the soldiers in the vermilion legion were among the best in the empire and if they had all fallen, then thing were looking bleak. While the main imperial army did have better experts in them, there was still a limit to what they could do.


    Not to mention, even if they wanted to rece the vermilion legion''s people with themselves, reaching the frontier was not an easy task and would take a long time.


    Unfortunately for the imperial court, there was nothing they could do other than despair. Unknown to them, the alliance was already in preparation and they wouldn''t truly be left to die.


    At least, themon citizens wouldn''t be forced to suffer like that. As for the ministers and aristocrats? They would be left to their own devices.


    With the emperor in the current condition, the imperial court was a toothless tiger.

 Chapter 1147 Battle On The Horizon

    "It is time¡­" Lin Mu opened his eyes as he heard the message.


    He had been cultivating and optimizing himself for the final battle, and now it had finally arrived.


    ~GRRR~


    A growl was hearding from the distance, and a red blur floated over from the distant mountains.


    "Time to hunt?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Indeed¡­ time for the final hunt." Lin Mu replied as he stood up from the rock.


    He had used up every cultivation resource he could use to further himself and was now at his best.


    ''Hopefully this will be enough¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he got onto Little Shrubby''s back.


    The two of the flew towards the nexus and took a newly built teleportation gate.


    ~SHUA~


    When they reappeared, they were standing atop a small hill that was hidden with several illusory formation arrays.


    "You arrived just on time." A voice was heard, making Lin Mu turn around.


    "How could I bete for this?" Lin Mu chuckled at Jing Luo.


    "Mmhmm¡­ and neither is anyone else, thankfully." Jing Luo said, his eyes looking at the horizon.


    "Everything went well, I assume?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "On our end? Yes. The empire? Not so much." Jing Luo answered.


    "Oh? Did they cause any trouble?" Lin Mu asked, while furrowing his brows.


    He knew well that the imperial court was mostly in turmoil since the poisoning of the emperor and him being unable to do anything. The princes were already trying to capture power and the nobles were looking to cut out a part of the cake for themselves.


    The objective that Gu Yao had set out to do with respect to the emperor was already aplished.


    "More like they are crumbling. The Vermillion Legion has been annihted." Jing Luo replied.


    "What?" Lin Mu was surprised, but then a certain person came to his mind. "Is Wu Hei?"


    "The soldiers with injuries and those that were in the infirmary are fine. They were moved by Wu Hei beforehand." Jing Luo answered.


    "That''s good¡­" Lin Mu said, but his brows didn''t ease up.


    He thought for a moment before speaking.


    "Why would the northern tribes attack the Vermillion legion? Wasn''t their n to use the passage?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We don''t know¡­ but what we do know is that after attacking the Vermillion legion, the northern tribe''s people didn''t actually go further. They seemed to have retreated." Jing Luo answered.


    "Hmm¡­ this doesn''t seem right¡­ if they eliminated the vermilion legion, they have an open route." Lin Mu spoke. "At least they think they do, we after all, have our people hiding there too." He added.


    "We discussed about it and can only guess that it was a power statement; a threat." Jing Luo said.


    "That does seem like something they might do." Lin Mu replied. "Or¡­ maybe it''s a distraction?" Lin Mu suggested.


    "A distraction from the passage? Hmm¡­ that does seem reasonable. After all, even if they think the passage is secret, they still can''t bet on it. I would probably do the same in their ce." Jing Luo said, understanding Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Exactly. And it also helped to panic the imperial court. They are now useless. If we were not in the alliance, it could have been a great blow." Lin Mu agreed.


    "What about the new ''allies''?" Jing Luo asked.


    "Oh, they are ready. They''ll be here in a minute''s notice. We simply need to wait for the right time." Lin Mu replied.


    "Good¡­ you should talk to the rest till then. Who knows¡­ it might be thest." Jing Luo said.


    Lin Mu''s expression turned firm, and he nodded. Even though Lin Mu hoped to win, he still knewing out of this with no casualties was impossible. Even high level experts of theirs would perish inequitably.


    Lin Mu thus looked around and saw a lot of his friends and acquaintances that he had gathered over the past few years.


    There were the patriarchs, the elders, the n members of the Fenlong kingdom, several merchants who were also strong and had decided to participate, some independent powers and even mercenaries!


    Lin Mu didn''t even know that the mercenary unions which had been forced by Gu Yao to disband through trickery were now working for the alliance. There were simply too many people in the alliance, thus Lin Mu couldn''t know all of them.


    About ten percent of their manpower wasposed of the independent experts and powers who had joined. This also included itinerant cultivators and people like Jiao Fang.


    Lin Mu spent a couple minutes with each important person, talking about the present and future.


    But in all these, Lin Mu realized that there were two people missing. Returning to Jing Luo, Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "Where''s your grandfather and Duan Ke?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Oh, they will be arrivingter¡­" Jing Luo answered in a low voice.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu could guess the rest of the part. "And they''ll be hiding till the right moment?"


    "Indeed¡­ after all, grandfather holds one of our biggest trump cards. It is not something that can be easily revealed. That sword will alert every strong cultivator in the world upon its appearance. Which would also mean the northern tribes." Jing Luo stated.


    "That is for the best. There is still the ancestral bell we need to be careful about." Lin Mu agreed.


    ~SHUA~


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    And just as he said that, Lin Mu sensed a very faint flicker in the space.


    His eyes sharpened and he looked at the sky in distance.


    "What happened?" Jing Luo asked, seeing Lin Mu''s sudden actions.


    "I¡­ don''t know¡­ but the space just trembled weakly." Lin Mu replied.


    He was about to use spatial perception to check for anomalies, when a strong wave of spirit Qi was felting from the distance.


    "THEY''RE HERE!!! THE HILLS ARE DISAPPEARING!" A voice announced loudly.


    Lin Mu and Jing Luo''s eyes snapped at the hills, while Lin Mu''s spirit sense soared quickly and reached the area.

 Chapter 1148 The Army Of The Tribes Arrives

    The announcement was merely a formality and everyone that was here could see that the enemy was about to arrive. The hills and mountain started to disappear and arge path opened up there.


    It was nearly four kilometers wide, giving more than enough space for arge army to pass in a single wide rank or several narrow ranks. But that was not all, as Lin Mu and the rest could see arge number of people appearing.


    "What in the¡­" The Patriarchs of the Alliance couldn''t believe their eyes.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and sensed several auras that were rming to him.


    "This¡­ is far more than we estimated." Jing Luo spoke.


    "Indeed¡­" Lin Mu agreed as his spirit sense extended as far as possible, scanning over all the enemies that had appeared.


    The area behind the path was covered entirely with ck dots. These were none other than the people of the northern tribes that looked small from this distance. But the sheer number of them was massive.


    "How much is this?" Someone couldn''t help but wonder.


    "Roughly around five million¡­" Lin Mu said, before taking a pause. "And moree." He added upon sensing more appearing from the barrier surrounding the forbidden continent.


    His spirit sense could go up to a hundred kilometers but not here as it was stopped by the barrier. He could sense more and more of the northern tribe members appearing from it.


    "Heavens! Did they bring in their entire poption?"


    As far as they knew, the number of able bodied cultivators in the Northern Tribes shouldn''t have been this many. It was simply impossible due to theck of resources. Even if Gu Yao had been supplying them with resources in these few years, these many humans simply could not be birthed and grown in that time.


    The number in the army thus seemed to be a little too much.


    But a minuteter, Lin Mu finally sensed something.


    "The pills of grace¡­ They''ve used pills of grace!" Lin Mu discovered.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    "What? So many of them?" Patriarch Mingliang asked in surprise.


    "Yes, but it is mostly the leveled cultivators that are at the Qi refining realm and core condensation realm that have taken them. They might have used the pills of grace to inte their numbers.


    They''ve really forced their normal tribesmen to join in this fight." Lin Mu exined.


    His spirit sense could probe the bodies of the northern tribesmen and sense the muddied Qi of the pills of grace in it. Thankfully, the ones that had taken it were just the weaker cultivators.


    "They might have split the pills for the lower members instead of focusing them on a few to raise Dao Treading realm or other high leveled experts." Jing Luo guessed.


    "Seems like it. They do need the low leveled cultivators as the major part of their army." Lin Mu agreed.


    From what Lin Mu could observe, around sixty percent of the army of the northern tribes wasposed of Qi refining realm cultivators, thirty percent were core condensation realm cultivators and the rest was higher realm cultivators,


    Lin Mu couldn''t really probe those higher realm cultivators as of now as that might rm them, thus simply estimated using the others. The Qi refining and core condensation realm cultivators couldn''t sense him after all.


    The army of the tribes was progress faster that what a normal army would, but it was still taking them a while to reach the point at which the alliance could begin its attack.


    ''Our numbers are not a match quantitatively, but we might be able to match with quality. So far we do seem to have the higher number of Nascent soul and higher realm cultivators,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The alliance roughly had two thousand Nascent soul realm cultivators among them right now. This was a massive number and it had only risen to this level in the recent couple of years.


    It was the Kong ne and the resources that arrived from it that which helped raise many to such a level. Just two years before, the number of Nascent soul realm cultivators in the entire alliance, including the independent powers, would have been at merely eight hundred or so.


    Of course, right now, most of the Nascent soul realm cultivators were only at the Infant Soul stage. With only the minority being in the adult soul stage, most of them being from the sects.


    As for the Dao Shell realm cultivators, they numbered in the fifties, greatly lower than the amount of Nascent soul realm experts. And as for the Dao Treading realm cultivators, there were only thirteen.


    This included Lin Mu, Little Shrubby, Jing Wei, Daoist Hua, Patriarch You Yi, Patriarch Mingliang, Patriarch Shandian, Jiao Fang and the rest being the supreme elders and high elders of the sects.


    They had tried their best to match the expected number of Dao Treading realm experts of the Northern tribes, which from what they knew about their council was at eleven. Though they also had doubts that there would be more and were prepared for it too.


    Lin Mu watched on as more and more tribals arrived, now their numbers, including higher realm cultivators at the Dao Shell realm as well.


    His brows furrowed as he spoke, "The top three sects¡­ are they going to join or not?"


    Lin Mu was truly infuriated by them at this point and if they really didn''te even now, he wouldn''t leave them be after all this was over. If Lin Mu failed, they would get destroyed anyway too.


    Jing Luo''s expression turned stern upon hearing this as well and he replied, "they have been cooperating before and were told of the location for the ambush as well. If they have any sense, they should have arrived¡­ but it seems like they haven''t yet."


    Seeing the number of the northern tribesmen, Lin Mu knew that they needed as much support as they could get and the three top sects being here would certainly help out a lot.

 Chapter 1149 Massive Numbers!

    <h4>Chapter 1149 Massive Numbers!</h4>


    Even if Lin Mu was highly confident of being able to take out a lot of the experts on his own, with his experience of fighting the multiple Dao Treading realm experts from before, he didn''t think the same would apply to the Immortal Ascension realm experts of the tribes.


    "I just got some news!" Daoist Hua spoke up.


    "What?" Lin Mu and many others looked towards him.


    "The Ancestor of the Centennial Sword sect is on his way!" Daoist Hua announced.


    "Good." The people couldn''t help but say.


    "What about the other two?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Even if they don''t arrive now, once they sense the presence of the Tribes Immortal Ascension realm experts, they shouldn''t sit still. They will be the first ones to arrive, even if their own patriarchs and elders don''t." Daoist Hua answered.


    "Mmhmm¡­ even if the current leadership of those sects is crooked, the ancestors have lived through the wars of the past. They know about the true dangers and will act the moment they deem it worthy." Patriarch Shandian chimed in.


    "Still¡­ to wait this long." Lin Mu said, feeling unsure.


    "I have my doubts that it is not that they don''t want to appear, but they might be forced to. All this only makes me think that the ancestors of the Sky precepts sect and the Rainbow Pill sect aren''t fine. They might already be running out of their lifespan." Patriarch You Yi expressed.


    "So this might as well be theirst hurrah?" Jing Luo said, his expressionplex.


    He knew that his grandfather was simr to that too and actually didn''t have that long to live. That was if¡­ he didn''t breakthrough.


    Pushing these thoughts away for now, he decided to focus on the task at hand.


    Lin Mu did the same and started calcting the right time to activate their traps.


    ''At the rate they are moving, they should reach the decided point in about five minutes. Though with their increased numbers, the traps might not be enough.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He looked at the multiplerge gates in the distance and only hoped that they work just as he hoped.


    ''If they arrive at the right time, we might have the issue of numbers solved for the time being.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Everyone''s expression were tense as they started at the approaching army. With numbers this high, this might as well be the biggest war the Xiaofan world has seen in several thousand years.


    Perhaps only the great war against the invaders might match it or exceed the numbers.


    Time seemed to be fleeting and everyone was on the edge when the northern tribesmen finally reached the chosen location.


    "Should we start?" The formation masters asked.


    "Hold!" Lin Mu said.


    "Are you sure?" Patriarch You Yi and the others looked on in doubt.


    "Yes¡­ the old location won''t be right for so many. Let them approach more. We''ll be able to get more of them that way. Plus, our new ''allies'' will arrive soon too¡­" Lin Mu exined.


    "Alright, alliance leader." The leader of the formation masters said.


    They were the ones in charge of activating the traps and thus would listen to Lin Mu''smands.


    Two more minutes passed as the army continued onwards.


    Within the Northern Tribe''s army, their elders were alert.


    "Seems like our passage was fine." One of the elders said.


    "Hmm¡­ it was a good idea to keep our juniors posted here. They ensure that this ce was not discovered." Another elder said.


    "Don''t forget the attack at the Vermillion legion. That should have thrown off the southerners. They are likely thinking we are going toe through there." An elder at the Dao Treading realm spoke.


    "Yes, of course. Still¡­ I never would have thought that our ancestors would have kept such a secret hidden. I just hoped that we could have used it in the past." A Dao Shell realm elder said.


    "That would have been too much of a waste. We all know we simply didn''t have enough power back then. Our people were also too weak and could not have made good use of this opportunity." Another Dao Shell realm elder replied.


    Several elders nodded in agreement, finding that their original n truly was the best one.


    "Still¡­ we can''t forget Gu Yao''s contribution. Even if his n still failed in the end." A Dao Treading elder that had bones wrapped around his arms spoke upon his arrival.


    "That is true. He will get his revenge as a reward. Even if he is dead, he shall be vindicated."


    "HAHAHA! Perhaps as a tribute to him, we''ll build a monument with the bones of the southern experts!" Someone said with excitement.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    "That does sound rather nice." The elders couldn''t help but agree.


    Each and everyone here held a deep grudge against the southerners and had it imprinted into their very bloodline itself. Their life''s end goal was to get rid of the southerners and take revenge for all the humiliation their predecessors had suffered.


    ~whoosh~


    A gust of chilly wind could be felt, making most of the people nearby shiver. All the elder present quickly cupped their hands and looked towards the back as a new person arrived.


    "Greetings Council Elder Gunkao!" The tribesmen all said with fervor.


    "Put your focus on the conquest at hand. Do not getcent just because we''ve had some initial sess." A cold voice was heard.


    Elder Gunkao was the strongest elder of the council, and his cultivation base was said to be very close to the immortal ascension realm. Many even expected him to breakthrough soon enough and some even said that he was already half step into the Immortal Ascension realm.


    He was the absolute authority of the Northern tribes, below the Immortal ascension realm elders who mostly kept to themselves.


    "We shall do as the elder say¡ª" The people were just about to reply when a cacophony of screams and explosions were heard.


    ~KABOOM!!!!~

 Chapter 1150 Triggering Traps

    Lin Mu had his eye on everything and was waiting for the right moment. The army of the Northern Tribes progressed steadily at first, but the newer ones that wereing from the back had slowed down a bit.


    "Who is that?" someone questioned.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense suddenly picked up on several strong spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the back and his eyes went wide.


    "Dao Treading realm¡­ They are the council members!" Lin Mu announced.


    There were about four Dao Treading realm cultivators that he could sense openly, but he was sure that more were hiding or keeping their spirit Qi fluctuations controlled. That was normal since there was always a chance that they might affect their own people with it.


    A high leveled cultivator would exert passive pressure on lower leveled cultivators just by the mere virtue of their presence. This was usually fine when they were in low numbers, but when multiple of them were present, this pressure would multiply.


    And in a setting such as where an entire army consisting majors of Qi refining and Core condensation realm cultivators was marching, this could get very problematic.


    Having known this, Lin Mu tried to track the other Dao Treading realm cultivators. Even if he couldn''t sense their spirit Qi fluctuations, there were other ways to find them after all.


    The easiest being to observe how the others behaved with them. The soldiers would be venerated towards these elders. Soon enough, Lin Mu found three more Dao Treading realm elders hidden among the army.


    "There are seven Dao Treading realm experts among them right now. More might being." Lin Mu stated.


    Jing Luo and the others nodded their heads, taking note of this information as it was really importance.


    Another minute passed, and Lin Mu raised his hand.


    "They are in position, ACTIVATE THE TRAPS!" He ordered.


    "ACTIVATE!"


    "ACTIVATE!"


    Several formation masters gave out the subordinate''s orders and almost simultaneously thousands of formations were activated.


    ~KABOOM~


    In less than a second, the sounds of explosions could be heard as the explosive trap formations were the first to activate. The effect was almost instantaneous as blood and flesh sttered around as hundreds of Qi refining realm and core condensation realm cultivators died all at once.


    More and more explosive traps activated, and themanders in the army started to realize the situation. They wanted to give the order to rush and scatter, but didn''t know just how far the traps were spread apart.


    Many of the soldiers ran on instinct, but were still caught in the explosions.


    After about twenty seconds, the explosion came to an end as all the explosive traps were used up. But that was not the end.


    "RUSH OUT! RUSH OUT!" Themanders in the army ordered, not wanting to stay here any longer.


    They could easily guess at this point that they had been ambushed and that the enemy knew exactly where they wereing from.


    "Elders! What do we do?" one of the higher rankedmander asked the Dao Treading realm elders.


    The Dao Treading realm elders were at the very back and were not afflicted by the formations. In fact, there were no formations present here either. If there were any, they would have definitely sensed it.


    This was also the reason why Lin Mu had not asked to put traps at the very back as they would only get found out.


    It was evident that the effect on the Dao Treading realm elders was very profound as anger appeared on their faces.


    "WHO DARES!!!!" One of them shouted before rising up into the sky.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The very air shook as strong spirit sense scanned over the area. In just a few seconds, the elder found out about the traps and discovered where all of them were.


    "FUTILE EFFORT!" The elder shouted as he took out a long bone.


    The bone was polished on one end and sharped into a stake on the other. The elder held the bone firmly and chanted something before throwing it towards the ground.


    "BREAK!"


    ~RUMBLE~


    The bone stake drilled into the snow covered ground and let out a strong wave of spirit Qi. The ground shook lightly, making one think as if it were a weak earthquake. The Qi refining realm cultivators that were close to the ce where the Bone Stake fell directly spat out blood and fainted.


    The pressure was simply too much for them. The elder didn''t care for this either as they had already sustained casualties. If he didn''t stop the traps quickly, many more would fall.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    As the wave of spirit Qi from the bone stake spread, the runes started to reveal themselves.


    But when the Qi refining and core condensation realm cultivators saw this, they were stunned.


    "This¡­ what is this¡­ the entire field is filled with formations?"


    Since they could see all the trap formations clearly now, they saw the other traps that were yet to be activated.


    ~SHUA~


    But they didn''t get to look on for long as the formations started to break down. With the bone stake as the center of the circle, the wave of spirit Qi spread from it, broke apart every trap formation in its path.


    "What do we do now?" The formation masters questioned.


    "Activated all of the traps, even if the enemies are not in range. They are going to get destroyed anyway." Lin Mu ordered.


    The formation masters nodded and tapped the formation tes nted into the ground. This was the control center of it all and could manage all the formations they had nted all over the field.


    ~HUMM~


    In the next second, the second flurry of traps activated. But this time it was a mixed bag as various effects urred.


    mes raged, winds blew, ice spread, poisons burst out!


    Most of these had been weakened by a bit since the supporting formations were broken, but the effect was still enough to kill a couple thousand more Tribals.

 Chapter 1151 The Beast’s Join

    <h4>Chapter 1151 The Beast''s Join</h4>


    Even one extra man killed was one less foe for them to fight after all. So the rapid activation of traps was not a loss. Optimally, they would have activated them in sequences and ording to the best situation so that a better effect was obtained.


    But that was clearly not an option now.


    "DAMN THE SOUTHERNERS PIGS!" The Dao Treading realm elder shouted in rage.


    Themanders looked on in anger as well, trying to figure out the next course of action.


    Around twenty percent of their soldiers had been killed just now. This was a massive number as many armies''s stopped fighting once the number of soldiers on one end fell to less than seventy percent.


    Of course, this was usually the thing for mortal armies and not for cultivators, but it was still arge enough number to make a massive difference in the final oue. After all, the northern tribes were effectively going against a poption many times higher than theirs.


    Even a minor loss might be dangerous for them in the long term. And while they were prepared to lose them in the battles, it was basically a waste now, since this was no battle.


    It was a shame for them to see their men fall without even having to fight. And there was no army in front of them to fight either.


    "How did they find out about the passage?!" The elders couldn''t believe their eyes.


    "The Juniors! Did they end up revealing it to someone hidden?" They wondered.


    And that was exactly what had happened. But they didn''t know that Lin Mu had learned more about their ns and was ready for exactly that.


    One of the council members flew up and looked around, trying to see if there was anyone nearby.


    ''If they activated the formations just now, there must be someone nearby. They would have to know the exact time to do that so it was definitely not an automatic activation.'' The council member thought.


    Meanwhile, the other Dao Treading realm cultivator who had thrown the bone stake and broken the formations was now setting up his own formations. He threw out several gs and scattered some dust in the air.


    The dust was pitch ck and looked like ground up coal. But at the same time, it looked a little liquid seeing how it floated in the air.


    "Elder Nine!" The Dao Treading realm elder, using the dust called out. "Assist me!"


    "ON IT!" The elder titled Elder Nine appeared out of the army, showing Dao Shell realm fluctuations as well.


    Lin Mu who was observing it all narrowed his eyes as he found it a bit strange.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    ''Why does the Dao Treading realm cultivator need the assistance of a Dao Shell realm one?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    But his doubts were soon answered as he saw what they did next.


    The dust using elder gathered two fistfuls of ck dust from a pouch on his waist and threw it in the air.


    "GHOST DUST REVELATION!" he chanted as a few runes appeared in the air and merged into the dust.


    "GO!" Elder Nine, on the other hand, pped his hands and sent out a strong gust of wind, blowing away all the dust.


    It was as if a dust storm had formed in the air as the ck dust started to cover the entire five kilometer wide area.


    "Everyone, be careful!" The patriarchs warned.


    They certainly didn''t know what the dust was, and it may very well be a poison. In less than a few seconds, the dust reached the hill, hidden with an illusion, and came to a halt. Normally this should not be possible and normal dust would have justs blown through, as if there was nothing there.


    But the ck dust as clearly blocked.


    "THERE! THEY ARE HIDING THERE!" The Dust using elder shouted.


    "CHARGE!" Themanders ordered, before throwing a g toward the direction of the hill.


    This was the method of showing everyone where to attack.


    The army rushed towards the hill, where Lin Mu and the rest were hidden, their full force being exerted.


    "It is time¡­ ACTIVATE THE GATES!" Lin Mu ordered.


    "ALL TELEPORTATION GATES HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED!" Elder Liqiang stated.


    ~HONG~


    Suddenly the air in the field flickered. The lower leveled cultivators didn''t feel much, but the Dao Treading realm and Dao Shell realm ones certainly did.


    Elder Gunkao who was the strongest elder of the council felt the tens of spatial disturbances around them and knew that something was wrong. His eyes went wide when he sensed the space tear apart.


    "RETREAT! I SAID RETREAT!" The elder hurriedly ordered.


    Unfortunately, it was toote as they were not up against traps this time.


    ~ROAR!~


    ~HOWL~


    ~SCREECH~


    ~CHIRP~


    Various sounds of beasts crying were heard as strong waves of spirit Qi appeared out of nowhere.


    The elders looked towards where the spatial fluctuations hade from and saw what looked like swirling ck portals in the distance. And from those portals came out beasts.


    "Beasts?" The Nascent soul realm soldiers flew up and looked in the distance as well, finding the beasts appearing.


    "No¡­" But soon they realized something more. "It''s not just beasts¡­"


    There were many different levels of spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the beasts, but none of them were weak. Even the weakest was at the core condensation realm with the majority being at the Nascent soul realm.


    "D-Dao Shell realm beasts! THERE ARE DAO SHELL REALM BEASTS!" The soldiers shouted.


    The elders watched as a beast tide now surrounded them from two sides. There were Dao Shell realm beasts in the lead, with the weaker beasts at the back, clearly being controlled by the authority of a strong beast.


    ~SHUA~


    "WHO!?" The dust controlling elder suddenly felt the dust in his control waver.


    He looked toward the hill and saw ripples appearing in the air. Then in the next second, a man appeared from it. The man raised his hand and threw out something towards the army.


    "TIME TO EAT!"

 Chapter 1152 A Rain Of Beast Qi

    What Lin Mu had thrown out looked like a ball. But it was no normal ball, its surface was flowing and twisting as if it were liquid. Its color was also changing from white, to blue, to green, to many more.


    The Dao Treading realm elders who had sensed the ball appearing couldn''t even touch it and when the ball of energy reached high up above the army of the northern tribes, it exploded!


    ~Boom~


    "EVERYONE DEFEND!" Themanders of the northern tribes ordered.


    They had no idea what the ball was and it may as well be another Qi skill meant to kill them. The ball burst apart into numerous drops of energy that fell all over the army like rain. They tried to block it with their spirit tools and skills, but it was all useless.


    "What?!" The Dao Treading realm elders were surprised when even their skills couldn''t block it.


    They all became extremely tense as the drops of energy entered their bodies quickly. The Dao Treading realm and Dao Shell realm experts were the first to act and checked their bodies for the strange energy, wanting to expel if before it became problematic.


    "Wait¡­ its¡­ its not harming us?" Elder Gunkao realized. "It''s just some kind of Qi?"


    ~ROAR~


    But instead of having an effect on them, the energy seemed to have a different effect on the beasts that were surrounding them. A frantic and excited look of hunger appeared in the eyes of the beasts.


    Their auras fluctuated madly as if they didn''t care for their lives anymore.


    ~HOWL~


    The first beast to attack was arge wolf beast that was at the Dao Treading realm. It was simr to the Bronze Tribe Wolf that Lin Mu had hunted first in the Kong ne, but was slightly smaller than that.


    This was a wolf called as the Barren Tail wolf. Its tail had no fur and was thin like that of a rat. It was known for its ferocious nature and would attack anything that it desired. It was even brave against other beings, stronger than itself.


    The Barren Tail Wolf was also different in the fact that it didn''t really live in a pack. It mostly wanted alone and at most would have another wolf with it that might be it mate. But this one was alone.


    Perhaps that might be the reason why it was so eager to attack.


    The Barren Tail Wolf''s ws descended like a hurricane, ripping apart all that stood in its way. Its jaws opened wide and swallowed men whole, not even caring to chew them.


    ~HOWL~


    After eating a couple of tribesmen, it seemed to have be even more aggressive and attacked non stop.


    The soldiers of the northern tribes tried to resist, but they were far too weak to go against the beast.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    "ATTACK! ALL DAO SHELL ELDERS ARE TO RESIST!" Elder Gunkao himself gave the order.


    ~ROAR~


    ~CHIRP~


    It was at this time that the other Dao Shell realm beasts also jumped into the fray. And with these leading beasts attacking, the rest joined as well. Now it was truly a beast tide, a really dangerous beast tide.


    The members of the alliance who were watching all this happen were left stunned.


    "W-what was that?" Elder Liqiang couldn''t help but ask.


    "You asked us to makerge teleportation gates for beasts?" Jing Luo questioned.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "They will be our allies for now."


    "How did you get them to cooperate?" Patriarch You Yi asked.


    "Just like how you would train a pet, entice them with a treat." Lin Mu replied.


    "Treat?" Patriarch Mingliang was then reminded of the ball of energy that Lin Mu had thrown earlier.


    "Was it what you threw earlier?" Patriarch You Yi guessed.


    "Yes, that was Beast Qi. Something that is irresistible to beasts." Lin Mu answered.


    "Beast Qi¡­ this is the first time I''ve ever heard of something like this." You Yi said, wondering about it.


    "There are truly many things we don''t know of¡­" Elder Liqiang muttered.


    "How long will this effectst?" Jing Luo asked the more important question.


    "Oh, its permanent." Lin Mu answered.


    "Permanent!? Even strong alchemical pills might not have such an effect." Patriarch Mingliang who was an expert in this said.


    "Well, permanent as in the sense that the people of the northern tribes will be greatly tempting to the beasts. And they will do everything in their power to eat them. They will only stop when they have consumed them all." Lin Mu exined a bit more.


    Hearing this they were stunned. As it truly was a dangerous effect. If such beast Qi was spread in a city, it would be sure to pull in a beast tide after a while.


    "Can you do it again?" Patriarch Shandian asked curiously.


    He could see the potential of this. After all, getting beasts to fight in their stead was a great tactic that saved their own strength and prevented their lives from being lost as well.


    "I technically can¡­ but refining that amount of Beast Qi will take me over a week." Lin Mu answered truthfully.


    Lin Mu had actually spent only two days in making that ball of beast Qi, but it had taken his entire store of spirit Qi from his Dantian to refine and condense an amountrge enough to cover an entire army.


    But this was with him replenishing his spirit Qi with other materials. If it was done normally, it would take him multiple days to cultivate and replenish the spirit Qi lost by his body.


    "A Week is still too powerful¡­" Patriarch Shandian couldn''t help but say.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And just as he said this, a loud sound was hearding from the battlefield.


    "Huh? A TSUNAMI?" The people were stunned.


    Arge wave nearly fifty meters tall had arrived out of no where in the middle of the battlefield.


    "RUN!!!" The soldiers tried to run but were helpless against the tsunami.


    "Xiaobao''s here!"

 Chapter 1153 A Turtle’s Chance At Revenge

    <h4>Chapter 1153 A Turtle''s Chance At Revenge</h4>


    On the edge of the battlefield, where the teleportation gate was, a small hill could be seening out of it. It had just appeared out of the gate and arge amount of water was apanying it.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    "Let''s help Xiaobao out a bit, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay~!" Little Shrubby replied before turning to the snowy peaks in the distance.


    The alliance members watched as Little Shrubby spewed out his own Tsunami. But this Tsunami wasn''t made out of water, but fire!


    "FIRE! WHERE THE HELL DID THIS FIRE COME FROM?!" Elder Ku Mi, who had just joined the battlefield said in confusion.


    "Elder Ku Mi! Suppress the fire, our men will be killed otherwise!" Elder Gunkao ordered.


    Elder Ku Mi quickly acted without responding to the old man. She created several hand seals as a frosty aura spread from her body. Soon, dark blue Qi was swirling around her, letting off a chilly air that froze the moisture in the air, making it fall back as snow kes!


    "Frost Mountain Palm!" Elder Ku Mi executed her Qi skill, sending out a palm imprint that turned into a frozen mountain mid air.


    The frozen mountain seemingly sucked all the snow in the surrounding towards it and turned it into ice, erging its own size. In less than five seconds, it had already be three times asrge as its original size and was now twenty meters tall.


    The frozen mountain flew towards the me tsunami that had seeminglye out of nowhere.


    "WHAT!?" but when it came in contact with the me tsunami, it did nothing.


    Rather, the me tsunami split apart and made way for the Frozen mountain to pass through it. The frozen mountain continued onwards and crashed into the forest behind.


    Elder Gunkao tracked the path of the me tsunami and saw that it''s target was actually not the army now. Instead, it was heading towards the snowy mountains at the back.


    He furrowed his brows and thought, ''Did the attack miss? Or did it get deflected by Ku Mi''s skill?''


    ~BOOM~


    A couple of secondster, the me tsunami struck the many mountains in the back, melting all the snow that was covering them.


    ~GUSH~


    The snow melted and turned into water, which soon gathered into arge river flowing down the mountains!


    The water gathered in the battlefield, making it harder for the soldiers to move around. Those that could fly were already floating in the air, but the rest were forced to be drenched in the chilly water.


    "There we go." Lin Mu said as he looked towards the small hill that had finally existed the teleportation gate.


    "Time for your revenge too, Xiaobao! These are the same people that killed your parents!" Lin Wu shouted.


    ~GOOOOONG~


    A loud sound was hearding from the hill as a rocky protrusion rose from its side.


    "What is that hill?" Someone from the alliance wondered.


    "That is no hill¡­ thats a turtle. A Turtle beast named Xiaobao." Lin Mu answered.


    And just as he said this, the rocky protrusion rose up above the hill, as two blue eyes opened up on its end.


    ~GOOOOOOOONG~


    Xiaobao let out another cry as he gathered up his power. The water that had just gathered up on the battlefield turned it into the habitat that Xiaobao was used to and increased his powers!


    ~SWISH~


    The water started to flow and seethe as twisters formed within it.


    ~SWOOSH~


    Soon water spouts also rose from them, churning and turning in the sky!


    The two phenomena that might be cmities in nature were under the control of Xiaobao and ravaged the army. Whether it be Qi refining realm, core condensation realm or even Nascent soul realm cultivators, all of them were affected.


    Perhaps only the Dao Shell realm cultivators could resist it, while the Dao Treading realm cultivators were safe from it.


    "A MERE BEAST DARES USE WATER AGAINST THE NORTHERN TRIBES!" Elder Ku Mi was now furious.


    Gesturing with her hands, she called forth stormy frost winds that blew forwards. The water that was touched by these winds was frozen and turned solid. Even the twisters and water spouts were affected by them, freezing solid in ce before crumbling to shards.


    Even then, Elder Ku Mi realized that her skill was not as good as it should have been. She was a Dao Treading realm elder who was specialized in ice elemental skills. With her capabilities, she should have been able to turn this entire battlefield into solid ice.


    "What''s the problem, Elder Ku Mi?" Elder Gunkao asked, seeing that the effect was not on par with her capabilities.


    "That beast¡­ it can control the water to a terrifying level. Even at the Dao Shell realm, it is able to resist my power of freezing." Elder Ku Mi said as she gritted her teeth.


    While she was still able to freeze the water, it took more energy that it normally should have, thus exerting more spirit Qi.


    Elder Gunkao was surprised and looked at the small hill in the distance.


    "It truly is arge beast¡­ thergest I''ve ever seen." Elder Gunkao said, as he tried to probe the beast.


    But his eyes went wide as he found it impossible to prate the beast''s shell.


    Lin Mu who was watching it all, couldn''t help butugh.


    "Haha! They think getting past Xiaobao''s defenses is easy." Lin Mu said, recalling that even he was unable to do that in the past and even now, it was not possible for him.


    Xiaobao had the bloodline of two great beasts and had great potential to reach the immortal realm one day. Even now, since he had assimted the Remnant Dao Crystal of his father Bao, his capabilities were beyond what a normal Dao shell realm beast had.


    While he may not be able to defeat a Dao Treading realm expert, it was not an issue to defend.


    Meanwhile, the alliance members were in awe of the turtle beast being able to restrain a Dao Treading realm expert on its own while the other beasts ughtered the rest.

 Chapter 1154 An Immortal Ascension Realm Expert’s Might!

    <h4>Chapter 1154 An Immortal Ascension Realm Expert''s Might!</h4>


    The effect brought upon by the inclusion of beasts in this battle was apparent and no one could doubt it.


    The patriarchs of the alliance, while having faith in Lin Mu, were unsure about his choice to add allies at thest moment. Especially from an unexplored ce like the Kong ne. Even after all these years, the Kong ne was yet to be fully explored.


    There were far too many secrets hidden in it and over time it had grown several beings inside it that were strong. There were also dangerous areas within it that could threaten even Dao Treading realm cultivators, thus one needed to be very careful.


    Perhaps only Lin Mu, who had control over it and could exit it anytime, was safe to explore it.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    ~BOOM~


    Xiaobao lifted one of his giant legs and stomped hard.


    ~CRACK~


    The earth cracked apart as arge fissure appeared. Normally, water should have disappeared into it, but instead of that, more water shot out of it!


    "RETREAT! RETREAT!" The northern tribes frantically gave out orders, but their Qi refining realm cultivators and core condensation realm cultivators were still getting downed.


    By now, nearly thirty percent of the army had been whittled down.


    "ENOUGH!" A thunderous voice was heard echoing across the field.


    It was louder than the beasts and shook the skies. The clouds turned fragmented from it and fierce winds blew.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu felt the shaking of space. "No¡­ not just that¡­ the spirit Qi¡­ it''s turning¡­"


    ~WOONG~


    Suddenly, the clouds seemed to have turned white, as if they were made out of pure snow. The fragmented clouds gathered together and turned into a massive palm that covered a span of nearly four hundred meters!


    "FROST DEITY PALM!" The thunderous voice chanted.


    ~BOOM~


    The palm made out of snowy clouds descended like the fiercest of blizzards. The chilling from it froze all the water all at once, and even Xiaobao couldn''t restrain it anymore.


    Ku Mi who had been struggling this entire time, looked up and smiled.


    "AHAHAHA! WELCOME MASTER!" she greeted. "Now you all southerners will know our true might!"


    And just as she said that, the palm struck the earth!


    ~RUMBLE~


    It was as if an earthquake had urred along with a blizzard simultaneously. Snow covered everything in a kilometer''s radius and was nearly a hundred meters thick!


    All the beasts that were caught underneath it could not be felt anymore along with several members of the Northern Tribes that were unfortunately caught within it. But that was not all, as the impart of the attack created a shock wave that reached the hill where the alliance was hiding.


    "Everyone, reinforce the barrier!" Patriarch You Yi ordered.


    Lin Mu joined in as well and poured his spirit Qi into the barrier.


    ~KACHA~


    Despite all that, the barrier shook as cracks appeared on it. Runes flickered nonstop, and it seemed like the barrier wouldst'' be able to withstand it any longer. The formations masters that were directly controlling it all bled from their noses and ears as a great strain pushed them.


    Still, after a few seconds, they managed to hold back, and the impact didn''t reach them.


    ~pant~


    ~Gasp~


    The sounds of loud panting and multiple gasps were heard as the alliance members felt the strain.


    "What was that?" Someone asked.


    "That was¡­ An Immortal Ascension realm expert." Patriarch You Yi spoke, his eyes serious.


    "They''re already here!?" Elder Liqiang questioned anxiously.


    "No¡­ the expert is not here¡­ he is still over fifty kilometers away." Lin Mu spoke, having sensed an old man that had appeared far away.


    He had appeared from a different direction than the army of the Northern tribes, which was strange.


    "What!? He''s not even here and could still create such damage?" The people of the alliance were stunned.


    "Such is the power of an Immortal Ascension realm expert. And if not for the fact that he probably didn''t want to affect his own people, the attack would have been far stronger than this." Patriarch Shandian said this time.


    "You mean to say¡­ he held back?" Hua San asked.


    The five Hua disciples were also present here with their master patriarch Hua and had been working to maintain the formations.


    "Indeed." Patriarch Hua nodded his head.


    "Sssss! How can we go against that?" Hua Er said, finding it to be terrifying.


    Looking at the battlefield that was now half snow, it was a stunning scene.


    The snow had raised the height of the battlefield by over a hundred meters. The smaller hills nearby were directly buried and the forest was also gone.


    And if not for the barrier protecting the hill that the alliance was in, they would have been buried in the snow as well.


    Lin Mu''s brows furrowed as he scanned the battlefield.


    While he knew that the immortal ascension realm cultivators would eventually join the battle, after seeing their effect, he was truly shocked.


    ''Senior Xukong did tell me about how powerful they could be, but this¡­ almost all the Dao shell realm beasts are dead already.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Other than Xiaobao who was really resilient and tough, all the other Dao shell realm beasts had either died or were frozen solid. They might be able to escape, but would be greatly weakened from the chill that prated them.


    Lin Mu could sense the chill and knew that if not for him consuming the flesh of the cial Shell Snail queen, even he would have had a hard time with the cold.


    Lin Mu''s mind ran quickly as multiple thoughts appeared about what to do next.


    Back at the side of the northern tribes, Ku Mi was controlling the snow and ice and saved some of their people.


    "Thank you, elder Ku Mi!" they all said in gratitude.


    "Mm¡­" Ku Mi simply hummed in response before looking towards the hill where the alliance was hiding.


    "You all have hidden very well, but no more!" She said before flying up.

 Chapter 1155 Master White Mountain

    The cracks in the formation covering the hill were still there and actually made it more obvious that there was someone hiding there.


    "Hold the formation! Only when we can''t hold on anymore will we begin our direct assault!" Lin Mu ordered.


    If not for the presence of the Immortal Ascension realm expert appearing, Lin Mu would have attacked them himself. But now he couldn''t afford the risk that woulde with it.


    "Is your grandfather near?" Lin Mu questioned Jing Luo.


    Jing Luo anxiously held the jade slip and tried to contact Jing Wei. But a secondter, his brows furrowed.


    "I can''t contact him like this. The spirit Qi in the air is too turbulent and is making themunication jade slip fail." Jing Luo said.


    Lin Mu checked it with his own jade slip and found that it was true. Normally this shouldn''t have been an issue, but with an Immortal Ascension realm expert attacking, the chaos in the spirit Qi was not easy to pass through.


    In fact, if not for the protection of the formation, the pressure in the air itself would have rendered the weaker cultivators helpless.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and wondered if he needed to jump in early on.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    Patriarch Hua and the others were watching Lin Mu and had heard everything. They could easily guess what Lin Mu was intending to do.


    "Wait, we still have the Immortal ascension realm cultivators of the top sects." Patriarch You Yi said.


    "Yes! They should have already sensed it the moment the Northern tribes'' Immortal Ascension realm expert approached the border." Patriarch Shandian added.


    Lin Mu didn''t know if the three sects were to be believed or if it was worth to do that. But in the current situation it was the best option.


    ''I still have the final option anyway.'' Lin Mu remembered.


    He had note without multiple backups, but didn''t want to use them right away.


    "Alright, we''ll hold on until they appear. Just continue reinforcing the formation array for now." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes alliance leader!" The formation masters stated.


    With that decided, the formation array glowed as new runes appeared in the air, repairing the cracks. And while this happened, the Immortal Ascension realm expert of the Northern Tribes finally appeared on the battlefield physically.


    The expert was an old man as expected and was carrying an ash white cane in his hand. His back was straight though, unlike his bearing. His eyes were sharp and gazed around the battlefield like a hawk, taking everything onto him at once.


    "Seems like you weren''t unfairly suppressed, Ku Mi." The old man spoke. "That turtle beast is not simple. I can sense the Dao traces of Water from it."


    "What? How can a beast at the Dao Shell realm already have that?" Ku Mi was surprised. ''No wonder it could resist my control.''


    "It is hard to say, but one thing I can tell is that beast is possibly older than you. It might also be its bloodline. But whatever it is, you cannot take it lightly." The old man said.


    "I understand Master White Mountain." Ku Mi replied to her master. "But now that you''re here does it matter?" She added with a grin.


    "It certainly does not." Master White Mountain said with an arrogant expression.


    He turned towards Xiaobao who was trying to turn the ice into water again and raised his hand.


    "You might have lived long, but its time to die now, beast." Master White Mountain said and executed a skill.


    His index and middle fingers joined with his thumb to be a tripod like shape. He then twisted them and pulled his hand back.


    ~SHUA~


    Chilly air condensed within the fingers as a small object seemingly formed. The object was thin like a chopstick and was almost the same length, but one of its side was sharp while the other was nged.


    "Let''s see if your shell can withstand my Ice Edges Dart!" Master White Mountain threw out the dart.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The dart soared across the battlefield, creating long trails of ice underneath it. In less than three seconds, it had already reached therge turtle.


    ~GOOONG~


    Xiaobao let out a furious cry, knowing that he was being attacked. But just as the dart was about to touch its shell, the beast disappeared into thin air.


    ~SHLAK~


    The Dart struck empty ground and exploded, creating icy spikes that were nearly a hundred meters tall.


    "WHAT?!" Ku Mi eximed.


    Master White Mountain furrowed his brows as his spirit sense checked the area from where the beast had disappeared from.


    "Strange¡­" At first, he didn''t sense anything. "Spatial fluctuations?" But when he delved deeper, he realized something.


    "Master White Mountain, these beasts had appeared out of nowhere earlier, too. I think they might have teleportation arrays hidden somewhere here as well." Ku Mi stated.


    "Is that so?" Master White Mountain lifted his cane and seemingly chanted something under his breath.


    Chilly spirit Qi swirled around him as the ice elemental in the air concentrated like crazy. The ash white cane started absorbing it all, and a few momentster had sucked it all in.


    "SHATTERING GLACIER CANE!" Master White Mountain threw the cane toward the ground.


    ~CRACK~


    Surprisingly though, the cane didn''t directly drill into the ground. Instead, it was only embedded into it, about three inches deep.


    ~KACHA~ KACHA~ KACHA~


    But then the ground started to freeze at a blinding speed and more and more ice formed over it. The cane rose along with the ice and stayed on top as the entire battlefield became a cier.


    The army of the Northern tribes was fine though and the old man controlled his skill to simply lift them along with the ice.


    The effect of this skill was soon seen.


    The first to break down were the teleportation gates. They simply couldn''t bear the cold and turned brittle from it. So much so that the gusts of wind alone were enough to break them.


    But that was merely the start.


    "THE BARRIER IS FALLING!" The formation masters of the alliance shouted.

 Chapter 1156 Centennial Sword Ancestor!

    <h4>Chapter 1156 Centennial Sword Ancestor!</h4>


    The attack of Master White Mountain was beyond the limits of almost everyone here. And with the barrier array falling, the alliance members wouldn''t have much of a space to hide. It wouldn''t be unusual for them to sumb to the attack as well.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as the barrier was about to go past the point of no return, Lin Mu appeared.


    ~DENG~


    Threerge piles of spirit stone chunks fell around him, and he directly channeled the spirit Qi into the array.


    "Good! You''re back!" Jing Luo said in relief.


    "We were surprised seeing you disappear. One moment you were here and then you were not." Patriarch You Yi said, finding it confusing as they had not sensed it at all.


    "I had to save Xiaobao. I could not let him die here since I promised Kong Hutao before. I sent him back to the Kong ne before he was struck." Lin Mu exined.


    While Lin Mu didn''t mind the other beasts dying here, as that was entirely his purpose in bringing them here, he couldn''t let the turtle die. He was part of the legacy that Kong Hutao had left behind.


    Besides, Lin Mu couldn''t help but be reminded of Little Shrubby. From what he had heard, the rtionship between Kong Hutao and the father of Xiaobao was the same, of a master and beast.


    Lin Mu wouldn''t want Little Shrubby to suffer, and thus decided to save Xiaobao from the attack. While he had no idea whether the turtle could bear the attack of the immortal Ascension realm expert or not, it was best not to take any chances.


    Additionally, Lin Mu also got to witness the power of the attack first hand.


    ''I avoided it at the veryst moment, but that feeling of threat was still there. I will not die from it but I will certainly be injured.'' Lin Mu assessed.


    It could certainly be said to be an important experience for him and allowed him to know where he stood now.


    ''But now to focus on the problem at hand¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he channeled all the spirit Qi from the peak grade spirit stone chunks.


    He had saved up a few of them, just for situations like these, and they were perfect for this.


    "The array! It''s holding up!" The formation masters were stunned.


    What Lin Mu was doing was the same as essentially patching up a leaking dam with some mud. It would not hold for longer than a moment and was not very effective, but doing it fast enough made it so that the leaks were still being held back.


    "We don''t need to repair it fully, just hold on for a bit more¡­" Lin Mu said, having sensed another presence appearing on the horizon.


    Master White Mountain who saw his attack behind resisted was surprised.


    "They certainly do notck skill¡­ let''s see if they can resist my next attack then!" Master White Snow said as he threw out another palm imprint.


    Chilly air spread and froze everything in its path. The might of the Immortal Ascension realm expert was clearly disyed. The attack not only contained the power of spirit Qi, but also Dao Traces!


    That was what brought the qualitative difference between the attacks of a Dao Treading realm expert and an Immortal Ascension realm expert!


    While a Dao Treading Realm expert was also able to use theirprehension of the Dao Traces and implement them with skills, it was barely anythingpared to an Immortal Ascension realm expert.


    It was like trying topare the drawing of a child in kindergarten and an art school student. While both could draw, the difference in quality was almost iparable.


    Such was the might of the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators and why they were titled ''Master'' in the Northern tribes.


    They had reached a point where there were no longer referred by their names, but rather the title of master. They would get different titled depending on their skills and abilities. In the case of Master White Mountain, he was the peak expert of Ice Dao in the Northern tribes and thus he was given the title of White Mountain!


    He was not only the master of elder Ku Mi, but had also made many Qi skills and other ice attribute techniques that the northern tribes used.


    The alliance members watched as therge palm imprint approached at a blinding speed, threatening to freeze them.


    But just when it was halfway to the barrier, a miracle happened.


    "CENTENNIAL SLASH!"


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    A sword light appeared from the south and pierced through the palm imprint.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    The icy palm imprint was split apart into a hundred segments from the sword light, dispelling its power.


    "I was doubtful if I would get to fight a worthy opponent again. But seems like I wasn''t lied to." A voice was heard as the clouds parted.


    "Centennial Sword Ancestor, so you finally decided to act." Master White Mountain recolonized.


    ~WHOOSH~


    From the clouds appeared the figure of an old man. His back was straight, while his shoulders were broad. His long hair hung from his back, held in ce with a steel pin while his long brows were like hanging sword.


    His white beard looked almost like the snow and couldn''t be differentiated easily. He was dressed in slim robes, like what a wandering swordsman would wear. Then there were two words written on the back of his robes.


    They read: Centennial Sword!


    He was none other than the ancestor of the Centennial Sword sect, one of the three Immortal Ascension realm cultivators of the Great Zhou Continent!


    "He''s finally here!" Patriarch You Yi, and the others were relieved.


    Lin Mu gazed at the newly arrived old man and found him to be different and familiar at the same time.


    "That sword aura¡­ almost reminds me of the Severing Heart sutra''s aura. It is weaker, but still close to it." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "And the sword intent¡­ he certainly has it!"

 Chapter 1157 Sword Intent

    Centennial Sword Ancestor exuded a simr feeling to when Lin Mu used the Severing heart sutra. But at the same time there were major differences as well.


    ''The severing heart sutra is more¡­ Fierce. The Centennial Sword ancestor does give of that feeling but the intensity is not the same.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Other than the major difference in cultivation base, perhaps the effect would be the same for Lin Mu. His aura might be even stronger than that of the Centennial Sword ancestor.


    The man in question held a rather in looking sword in his right hand and gazed at Master White Mountain.


    "So you know who I am." Centennial Sword Ancestor spoke.


    "How can I not know one of our greatest enemies? Though I was hoping you all would be ignorant for a while more. Would have made things easier for us." Master White Mountain taunted.


    But the Centennial Sword Ancestor did not mind it at all. His expression didn''t change at all and he continued to gaze at the opponent.


    "And you are called Master White Mountain¡­ Hmm¡­ I''ll remember that." The Centennial Sword Ancestor said before raising his sword.


    ~SHING~


    The sword hummed lightly before it was shed out.


    ~HUALA~


    The winds tore apart as the sword lights shot towards Master White Mountain.


    "Humph!" The old man though simply harrumphed and threw out several palm imprints.


    Each palm imprint met a sword light and they canceled each other out. It was evident that the two old men were rtively matched in strength.


    "Good, at least now I know I can go further." The Centennial Sword Ancestor said with a smile.


    He raised the sword up high, as a heart stilling aura rose form him. The aura condensed upon the sword before turning into the figure of a sword as well.


    The alliance members that were watching it were stunned.


    "Sword Intent¡­ that is true Sword Intent!" Jing Luo recognized.


    Lin Mu''s eyes locked on to it, observing it deeply. He too had the potential to develop sword intent, but he hadn''t done so because he was not focused on it as much.


    Originally, Lin Mu had picked the sword as a weapon for him because it was the mostmon weapon to him. Butter he got the thousand armament de Scripture and he thought that knowing how to use several weapons was better.


    And while this dide in handy for him and was useful, recently he couldn''t help but think that just using his body along was good too.


    He found the Boulder Copsing Fist to be his choice of skill to use. But that was when his own raw strength was not enough, which most of the times it was. His body was after all,parable to that of a Dao Treading realm expert at his peak, and perhaps even more.


    And whenbined with his Qi cultivation base, it had gone even past that.


    This had also put a strange dilemma before himself. The many weapons he had weren''t actually able to withstand his strength!


    Only those that were high grade spirit tools and weapons could do so for now and even among them, only those that were pure forging type, like his short sword, were able to do so with no issues.


    Lin Mu knew that if he exerted his full power, his spirit weapons might simply break from the force.


    He became greatly aware of it when he broke the armor made with the remains of the Troll Demon beast. If even a spirit tool made with the sole purpose of withstanding damage could not bear his strength, then spirit weapons meant for offense certainly wouldn''t be able to.


    One of the ways to go past this was to condense weapon intent.


    Lin Mu had learned that not only could it increase the strength of weapons but also made them greatly durable.


    It was even said that masters with great weapon intents could use anything as their weapon. For example, a swordsman with sword intent could utilize a de of grass or a random stick as a sword and it''s might not necessarily be less than a peak grade spirit sword!


    Lin Mu had confidence that he wouldprehend and condense his own sword intent if he worked on it for a bit with the help of the severing heart sutra. But now that the opportunity had presented to observe someone who had not onlyprehended and condensed sword intent, but had raised it to a good level, Lin Mu did not let it go.


    He observed how the Centennial Sword Ancestor fought and how each of his shes contained the intent.


    The sharpness within them was astounding, and they represented something entirely new. Lin Mu seemingly entered a trance and his lips started to move automatically. Faint chants came out of his lips, but others could not hear it over the noise of the battle going in the front.


    Minute by minute passed as Lin Mu''sprehension only deepened.


    Jing Luo who had been focused on the battle as well, suddenly felt a sense of dangering from near him.


    "What?" he quickly turned around, only to see Lin Mu staring at the battle.


    His eyes were a little dull, but the auraing from him was strange. It was as if danger and stillness intertwined and fluctuated within it.


    "Lin Mu?" Jing Luo called out lightly, but received no answer.


    A minuteter, he was just about to move head and nudge Lin Mu, when a change urred.


    ~HUMM~


    Lin Mu''s eyes gained a sharp tone as his aura transformed.


    ~KIA~ ~KIA~ KIA~


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    The low cry of swords was heard as everyone felt goosebumps appearing on their body. Jing Luo who saw the change in Lin Mu was shocked.


    "S-sword intent? He''s developing sword intent, too?" Jing Luo was surprised.


    ~HONG~


    All of a sudden, Lin Mu''s aura spiked and condensed into the illusory figure of a sword. The sword shot up into the sky and exploded into sharp winds that rained upon the army of the northern tribes!

 Chapter 1158 Intermediate Sword Intent

    In the battle between the Centennial Sword Ancestor and Master White Mountain, no one dared to interfere. They were fighting in the area between the Alliance and the tribes'' army. This made it so that they couldn''t fight directly for now.


    And since they couldn''t do that, they were simply watching the fight between the two immortal ascension realm experts. After all, this was something that could only be witnessed once in several lifetimes for them.


    Most of them might not even live ten of their lifetime to see something like this. Thus, they decided to learn from it and hope that they too could improve from it.


    Because of how focused they were on the fight, the soldiers of the northern tribes couldn''t react when a rain of sharp winds ughtered them.


    "ARGH!"


    "NOOO!"


    "WHY!!!"


    A cacophony of cries could be heard as blood was spilled, and limbs flew apart. Those that were unlucky were directly reduced to mincemeat and couldn''t even let out a word before they were killed.


    The alliance members were stunned too as the sound of painful death cries were hard to ignore.


    "What?" The patriarch''s of the alliance saw a part of the army getting ughtered and also felt the aura of Lin Mu.


    Their brows furrowed before their eyes went wide.


    "SWORD INTENT!" They all said in unison.


    Jing Luo, who was the first to witness Lin Mu condensing Sword Intent was surprised too.


    "You developed sword intent?" Jing Luo couldn''t help but want to confirm it first.


    "Seems like it." Lin Mu replied as he looked at his short sword which was constantly emitting waves of energy.


    This energy was different from spirit Qi. Lin Mu recognized this to be the ''sword intent''. It was strange as it needed no Qi to work and neither did it need vital essence or vital energy. It seemed to be running without a source.


    "Weapon intents don''t need Qi or other kinds of energy to work. While they can be enhanced and amplified with them, they don''t absolutely need them and can work on their own.


    What they are influenced by however, is¡­ the will power andprehension of the user. As long as yourprehension of the sword increases, your sword intent will grow and as long a your willpower is firm, the sword intent will never end." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    He had been deep in cultivation for a while and knew that he was close to a breakthrough thus had been focusing on that. But the awakening of Lin Mu''s sword intent had woken him out of his trance.


    After all, he couldn''t really focus on cultivating when the ethereal altar in the ring''s space was letting off a sword aura.


    Lin Mu who heard Xukong''s word intrinsically, understood them and his understanding went even deeper.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu muttered and looked at the army of the tribes.


    Splitting apart his five fingers, he pointed them to the skies.


    "Rise!" Lin Mu called out as his short sword shot into the sky like an arrow.


    But it wasn''t just the short sword that did that. Every spirit sword that Lin Mu had in his storage all shot out simultaneously without him even needing to control them. Most of them weren''t even branded with his spirit sense and were random ones that were simply there after he had collected them from the spatial storage treasures of others or other such ces.


    "Direct sword control¡­ its not just sword intent, it''s intermediate sword intent!" Patriarch Shandian spoke.


    He too had weapon intent of his own, but his wasn''t sword intent, but rather Axe intent. Still, he knew how the weapon intents were and that there were differences in their levels.


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    Weapon intents were separated into several grades, depending on how deep theprehension of a person was. Most swordsmen who had a certain level of understanding of the sword will develop preliminary sword intent.


    It couldn''t really have any direct effects on the sword, and was merely something that enhanced their understanding of sword skills. This was something Lin Mu had developed long ago when he had met Wu Hei at his mansion in the Wu Lim city.


    After this was the Novice Sword Intent. In this one could use sword intent to enhance the power of their swords. But they still needed to use their spirit sense to control them.


    In the case of Lin Mu, he had never actually reached this stage and had halted before that.


    Then came the Intermediate Sword intent, in which one didn''t even need spirit sense to control a spirit sword. They would simply respond to the user''s will as long as the user''s sword intent could reach that far.


    Lin Mu had progressed to this level directly after havingprehended sword intent for a bit and observing the Centennial Sword Ancestor disy his own sword intent.


    The Centennial Sword Ancestor though, was on a higher level. His sword intent was on the advanced level and at this level, one didn''t even need spirit swords to disy the same power.


    Even normal swords would work the same as spirit swords and could be controlled. Along with this came the increase in power and intensity as well.


    Seeing the hundreds of swords floating in the sky above Lin Mu, the alliance members were awed.


    ''Grandfather''s intuition was right¡­ No wonder he was willing to give him the short sword.'' Jing Luo thought to himself.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu gestured towards the army and all the swords hovering in the sky shot forwards. The ughter began once more, and the tribals couldn''t do much other than running and defending.


    "DAMN YOU!" The Dao Shell and Dao Treading realm elders of the northern tribes were furious and used their own skills to protect their men.


    "ANCESTOR SAVE US!" The northern tribesmen couldn''t help but call out in fear.


    Master White Mountain had witnessed it all as well, but was upied with the fight earlier.


    "ENOUGH!" Now he couldn''t hold back anymore.

 Chapter 1159 The Direct Battle Begins

    The deaths of so many members of the northern tribes early on was not eptable to the elders. By now they had lost nearly 40% of their numbers, which was far more than they had ever expected.


    They knew that a war would ensue some time after they entered the Great Zhou Continent. Even if it was not right away, there would certainly be a reaction some timeter from the southerners.


    And this would inevitably lead them to lose their people.


    But losing them right at the cusp of entry was simply unthinkable to them. And that too without any of the southerners actually suffering either. It was one of the worst insults that could have been delivered to them.


    "ENOUGH!" Master White Mountain could not take it anymore and made a few hands seals, erecting a dome around the army.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Ice rose like saplings sprouting from the ground and twirled around the northern tribesmen, forming arge dome that not only defended from the iing swords, but also repelled the ones that were already there.


    All the weaker swords were pushed back almost instantly and only those that were either mid grade or high grade were still holding their ground. The short sword even managed to carve out a part of the ice dome before it was forcefully sted away by an icicle.


    "DIE!" The Master White Mountain shouted as he sent serveral palm imprints towards where he had sensed the sword intent from.


    After all, Lin Mu''s sword intent was oppressive for most and could be felt easily. It was like a beacon of light shining in the darkest of nights.


    ~BOOM!~


    But before the attacks could reach Lin Mu, they were stopped. In fact, the attacks had not even reached the barrier, they were stopped by the Centennial Sword Ancestor. He himself had jumped in front and nullified the attacks with a flick of the sword.


    No damage was done and the force was only reversed.


    "Attacking juniors now? Even being a tribal, you must have some honor, right?" The Centennial Sword Ancestor taunted.


    "Humph! You southerners are not worthy of that." Master White Mountain retorted.


    "I see¡­ Then I must force you then." The Centennial Sword Ancestor stated before raising his sword.


    ~HUMM~


    A blue glow covered the sword as turbulent winds shook the area. Even the barrier started to tremble and crack under it, and this was when it wasn''t even being targeted.


    "Ten Lakes Splitter!" Centennial Sword Ancestor shed out.


    ~WOONG~ WOONG~ WOONG~


    It was as if ten shes were done, but only one was performed. The ten shes rained down upon Master White Mountain, who was forced back. The intensity of the attacks made it so that he could only defend and not attack.


    "Ten Lakes Splitter!" The Centennial Sword Ancestor didn''t stop there, though.


    He kept up his tempo and continued to use his sword skill, not letting Master White Mountain have time to react.


    A few attackster, the two Immortal Ascension realm cultivators had traveled over a hundred kilometer away while fighting.


    "Come on now! Time to join in ourselves!" Lin Mu called out.


    "YEAH!!!" All the alliance members shouted as the barrier lowered.


    Tens of thousands of cultivators were revealed to the Northern Tribe''s army as the alliance joined the fray.


    Elder Gunkao and Ku Mi were surprised at seeing such numbers.


    "They have almost the same number of experts as us." Elder Ku Mi spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ but the number of lower leveled cultivators among them is lower." Elder Gunkao replied.


    "Seems like we are gonna have an open battle." Elder Niu said as he readied himself.


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    Pulling out a huge mace from his spatial storage treasure, he directly rose into the sky.


    "ATTACK!" He yelled as the mace exploded with great power.


    "ATTACK! JOIN THE ELDERS!" Themanders of the army also ordered.


    The army of the northern tribes moved, and the soldiers unleashed their fury.


    ~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~


    Lin Mu released his sword intent once more and the hundreds of swords all joined him once again. Gesturing with his hand, the swords shot toward the army.


    "Not so fast." But before they could reach the army, the were interrupted.


    Elder Niu of the northern tribes, moved in before the attack could reach the soldiers and swung his mace.


    ~HONG~


    His mace rocked the very air, and several orbs of energy spread out from it. Each of these orbs transformed into what looked like beetles and blocked the swords.


    The sh of the swords and energy beetles was fierce, but Lin Mu was still blocked in the end.


    ''He''s not weak¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He knew how much power was in the swords, but all of them were still blocked by the man alone. This was something that another Dao Treading realm expert, Elder Ku Mi was unable to do so and had needed the help of Master White Mountain to block.


    "Who might you be? I don''t think I''ve heard about you." Elder Niu questioned.


    The elders of the northern tribes certainly knew about the strong experts of the Great Zhou continent. It was the basics of what they needed to know after all, since they were going against them.


    Especially when considered those that were in the Dao Treading realm, everyone needed to be aware of them.


    But Elder Niu was sure that Lin Mu wasn''t mentioned in any of the information. Anyone with such strong sword intent should have been well known. Not to mention, they had seen him appear earlier as well when he had thrown the ball of Beast Qi at the army.


    They were still confused about what that was, as they were actually not harmed by it.


    Even Elder Niu had a drop of beast Qi in his body from that surprise attack, and didn''t know what that was.


    "I am Lin Mu." He said before disappearing.


    Elder Niu''s eyes narrowed as his senses rmed him.


    ~shua~


    "And I am the alliance leader of the Great Zhou." A voice spoke from behind him.

 Chapter 1160 Small Victories

    Lin Mu appeared behind Elder Niu, surprising him.


    "Wha¡ª" And before Elder Niu could react, he was struck by Lin Mu''s fist.


    ~DENG~


    Surprisingly the sound of metal hitting metal was heard and Lin Mu''s golden fist hummed. Elder Niu was sent several tens of meters back, but still managed to hold up.


    "No Qi in that attack?" Elder Niu was even more surprised.


    His hand tapped on his back where he had been hit and stroked something there.


    ~thud~thud~thud~


    Several small fragments of a metal te seemingly fell down from within his fur robes. Lin Mu who saw it finally understood why the man had actually managed to bear his attack like this.


    ''Most other Dao Treading realm experts should have had their bones broken from that. That was definitely some armor.'' Lin Mu thought.


    His spirit sense swiped over the fragments of the armor, sensing the traces of a formation on it, confirming that he had indeed been protected by it.


    "To withstand my attack, that armor must have been strong." Lin Mu said, before lunging at the man again.


    ~BOOM~


    "Won''t let you do that again!" Elder Niu said as he defended with his mace.


    ~CLANG~


    Metal hit metal once more, but this time the impact was far from the same.


    ~CRACK~


    "IMPOSSIBLE!" Elder Niu watched as a crack spread from the top of the mace.


    Lin Mu didn''t just stop at that attack either, he flipped and spun on his right leg, using his left leg to kick Elder Niu on his nk.


    ~CLANG!~


    Once more, it seemed like Lin Mu had hit metal again. A few fragments of a metal armor fell from Elder Niu''s robes once more, making him nervous.


    "Let''s see how long your armor canst." Lin Mu continued to attack non stop, using blink to change his position in between, making it hard for Elder Niu to predict.


    His attacks continued for two minutes, putting Elder Niu on the passive and preventing him from doing anything. The man could only focus on defending himself and couldn''t even use any other Qi skills than defending himself.


    ''Dammit! What the hell is this man? Is he really the leader of them all?'' Elder Niu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu was confusing to him since his power of his attacks was at the Dao Treading realm, but no spirit Qi fluctuations could be perceived from his body. Elder Niu even tried to probe Lin Mu, but couldn''t even reach his body since it moved so fast.


    The best he could do was to try and track the course of his attacks, but even that was only useful for blocking.


    ~KACHA~


    After five minutes passed, thest segment of Elder Niu''s armor was broken.


    "My Hundred Facets Armor!" Elder Niu felt his heart ache.


    The Hundred Facets Armor was a peak grade armor that was one of the original treasures of the Northern tribes. It was something that was given to only a select person and the elders of the councils might be one of the few that were able to use it.


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    Elder Niu had been given it a long time ago and was suited to using it since he was specialized in fighting directly.


    But it seems like he had met the antithesis of his specialty with Lin Mu.


    Finally he couldn''t hold on anymore and Lin Mu''s fist struck his chest!


    ~KACHA~ KACHA~ KACHA~


    "ARGH!" Elder Niu directly spat out a mouthful of blood.


    His sternum and ribs were shattered as Lin Mu''s fist dug into his flesh.


    "Die." Lin Mu spread apart his fingers and directly stabbed into Elder Niu''s chest using them.


    Elder Niu couldn''t do anything to stop Lin Mu and resisting was useless against his strength. In less than a second, Lin Mu''s hand had burrowed into the man''s chest and was now wrapped around his heart.


    "No¡ª"


    ~SQUELCH!~


    Elder Niu could barely let out an unwilling cry before his heart was crushed into paste.


    ~THUD~


    Elder Niu''s body fell to the ground lifelessly before Lin Mu stomped on his abdomen, eradicating his Nascent soul as well, truly killing the man.


    "One down, several more to go¡­" Lin Mu said as he turned his attention to the others.


    While it was a bit surprising to him that Elder Niu could hold on for this long under his blows, he also understood that the man was just a little lucky with the armor he had. Even Jing Luo''s Peak Grade armor made with the Troll''s remains was unable to bear Lin Mu''s force, after all.


    Other fights were ongoing as Lin Mu finished his.


    The Elders of the northern tribes were shing with the alliances''s Dao Treading realm elders and were almost equally matched.


    ~ROAR~


    At that moment, a loud roar was heard and intense heat was felt.


    Lin Mu''s eyes snapped towards that direction and he saw Little Shrubby.


    "What beast is this!?"


    "How is it this fast?"


    Little Shrubby was fighting with one Dao Treading realm elder and four Dao Shell realm cultivators of the Northern Tribes at once. And that too, with ease. With his speed, the northern tribe''s cultivators could only hope to defend.


    ~ROAR!~


    But their opportunities for defending weren''t useful any longer as Little Shrubby charged up his attacks. His long ws glowed brightly, almost turning white in color as a scorching heat spread in the air.


    ~HISS~


    The snow around them directly melted and the snowke falling from the sky stopped instantly.


    "RUN!" The Dao Treading realm elder of the Northern tribes warned hispanions upon sensing the power of the attack.


    Unfortunately though, he was too slow and Little Shrubby''s ws struck.


    ~shua~


    The super heated ws swung and tore through the air and ripped apart the defenses of the elders like they were paper.


    "AAAHHHH!!"


    "IT BURNS!"


    They could only cry in pain as Little Shrubby''s mes ate up their flesh and bones.


    "No¡­" The Dao Treading realm elder watched in horror as hispanions turned to ash in just a few seconds.

 Chapter 1161 A Petrification Skill And You Yi In Trouble

    Little Shrubby''s mes raged like the fires of hell and burned everything they touched to ashes.


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    The Dao Treading Realm elder watched on and couldn''t even react in time when his own back was shed apart.


    ~CRACK~


    His spine and ribs were ripped apart from the back and turned into ck coke. No blood or flesh was spilled as it was burned away instantly.


    "ARGH!" He cried in pain, and tried to resist, but it was toote.


    The mes spread throughout his body and turned him into a living torch in a matter of seconds. Even his Dantian and Nascent soul couldn''t survive and was burned away as well. The Dao Traces of Fire in Little Shrubby''s fires weren''t something that could be resisted just by anyone.


    Not to mention his power was built upon the foundation of multiple bloodlines, all of which were powerful. Having two bloodlines that specialized in the Dao of Fire alone meant that no one would be able topare to him in terms of that.


    Elder Gunkao sensed when two of their elders died within moments of each other and was stunned.


    "What in the world?" Elder Gunkao looked over and saw Lin Mu ughtering though the army with ease.


    It was the same for Little Shrubby and he was even more efficient than Lin Mu. Lin Mu at least targeted the higher ranked experts that were at least at the Dao Shell realm first, but Little Shrubby eradicated anything that came in his path.


    The best thing was he didn''t even need to attack them directly, just heating from his body would burn most of them and the residual mes that sparked form that heat also burned most of those that were at Core condensation realm and below.


    Even the Nascent soul realm cultivators were significantly injured and unable to fight well after that, thus giving the Alliance an advantage.


    ~SHUA~


    "You should probably focus on me. It is bad manners to look away from your opponent." Patriarch You Yi said as he made a w with his hand and shed at the elder.


    "YOU!" Elder Gunkao was infuriated and pushed back, defending from the attack for now.


    All of the Dao Treading realm elders of the Northern Tribes had been upied by the Dao Treading realm experts of the alliance and they were now equally matched. Especially with Lin Mu and Little Shrubby killing two of them.


    ~DENG~ DENG~ DENG~


    Patriarch You Yi''s hand was covered in a white smoke that had solidified. It almost looked like a beast''s w and erged his hands.


    "You southerners will pay for this!" Elder Gunkao said before he threw out several stones.


    The stones grew in size and turned into boulders that mmed into Patriarch You Yi.


    "Ugh! You certainly are worth being the strongest elder of the northern tribes," Patriarch You Yi said as he reeled from the impact.


    "Humph! You haven''t seen anything yet!" Elder Gunkao said as he threw out more stones that turned into boulders.


    Patricia You Yi struck the boulders with his solid smoke ws but found it hard to break them.


    ''Strange, they are too tough to be normal boulders. Is this a skill? But it doesn''t have any spirit Qi fluctuations¡­'' Patriarch You Yi was confused.


    The two of them battled for a few minutes before Elder Gunkao smirked.


    "This should be enough. STONE ANCHOR SHACKLE!" Elder Gunkao chanted.


    Patriarch You Yi became alert and felt a strong spirit Qi fluctuationing from his body. It wasn''t his own, and he knew he had been tricked.


    "Heavy!" He felt like his body was belong weighed down by a mountain and he couldn''t move at all.


    "HAHAHA! You think I was fighting you weakly? No!" Elder Gunkao said, as he made several handseals. "Stone heart seal!"


    Patriarch You Yi felt his body turning still and a stonyyer started to spread from the bottom of his feet.


    ''Petrification? Wasn''t this the original skill of one of the immortals Ascension realm experts, that were killed in the past?'' Patriarch You Yi was stunned.


    As far as he knew, this was a skill that one of the immortal ascension realm experts of the Great Zhou continent had. He had perished in the great battle against the northern tribes and thus it was a mystery as to how this man obtained it.


    The stoneyer reached Patriarch You Yi''s chest in a matter of seconds and continued to spread rapidly.


    "Your cultivation base and soul will serve as a fine sacrifice." Elder Gunkao said with a smile.


    Patriarch You Yi wanted to call for help, but was unable to move even a muscle. Even his spirit Qi was getting stagnant and wasn''t responding to his mind.


    ''It truly is that skill!'' Patriarch You Yi was rmed.


    His eyes darted around, looking for a way to save himself.


    "It is useless. All this is temporary and resistance is futile. The northern Tribes shall im the South as a whole soon!" Elder Gunkao proimed, the confidence in his voice eerie.


    ~shua~


    But then in the next moment, someone appeared next to Patriarch You Yi.


    "WHO?" Elder Gunkao was rmed at the sudden appearance and couldn''t understand why he had not sensed the other person approaching.


    It was as if he had appeared out of nothingness.


    "Eat this, Patriarch You Yi." Lin Mu said as he pushed a pill into the man''s mouth.


    Patriarch You Yi forced his throat to swallow the pill and almost immediately felt its effects.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    The stoneyer on his body that had spread due to the petrifaction skill crumbled to dust and he was freed.


    "HAAA!" Patriarch You Yi too a breath of relief and cold sweat appeared on his forehead.


    "Thank you, Lin Mu." Patriarch You Yi said before focusing on Elder Gunkao.


    "You should thank Patriarch Mingliang. He saw you and passed me this pill for you." Lin Mu replied before he punched out towards Elder Gunkao.


    Elder Gunkao defended against the attack, but was still pushed back. "YOU BASTARD!"

 Chapter 1162 Cloud Dragon Lift, And Battering Elder Gunkao

    <h4>Chapter 1162 Cloud Dragon Lift, And Battering Elder Gunkao</h4>


    A stone shield had appeared in front of Elder Gunkao but was inadequate against Lin Mu''s punch, crumbling into fragments upon impact.


    "Oh? You use Earth Elemental skills and spirit Qi too, huh?" Lin Mu sensed the earth spirit Qi from the man.


    It was in a different state though and was a lot more condensed than him. But at the same time, it felt dull and mixed to Lin Mu. This was the second person he was encountering that could use earth elemental skills and spirit Qi like him, thus he was intrigued.


    ''That petrification skill was of the earth element too?'' Lin Mu wondered if the man had it on him.


    And While Lin Mu thought all this, Elder Gunkao had recovered and raised his hand high, summoning a rock hammer and mming down on Lin Mu, who skilfully dodged it. Keeping up the momentum, Lin Mu stomped with his leg mid air and flipped, sending out tens of spirit swords to assault Elder Gunkao.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~ CLANG~


    Even with the assistance of the sword intent, Lin Mu''s attacks were still being blocked, which showed the strength of Elder Gunkao.


    Patriarch You Yi on the other hand had taken this period of respite to heal himself and restore his own condition.


    It was at this time that Patriarch You Yi was contacted by patriarch Mingliang and was told to be careful of the petrification skill.


    "Avoid that at all costs, I do not have another pill to heal that." Patriarch Mingliang warned.


    Petrification was a unique condition that could be inflicted by several methods, such as poisons, curses and even skills. While the method might vary, the end effect was often the same, causing the target to be rigid and stone like.


    And depending on the degree of petrification, it might be on the surface level, such that it might just restrain a person. Or, it could be internal as well, causing them to die. The lucky ones might just lose their bodies and if they were at the Nascent soul realm and above, they would be able to escape with it.


    But in the case of more severe petrification, it might even lock the nascent soul of a cultivator inside the body which had turned into a stone statue, and leave it to die slowly. It was a horrible condition and would be the same as imprisoning them in their own bodies.


    That was exactly what Elder Gunkao was intending to do, as it would still keep Patriarch You Yi''s cultivation base intact along with his soul. It would be the best condition for the use of a sacrifice.


    ''Can''t risk the same thing again, need to end this quickly.'' Patriarch You Yi thought as he took a deep breath.


    Bringing his hands together, he touched them and spread them apart in a triangle such that only the tips of his fingers and thumbs were meeting. Then he twisted his hands with his thumbs as the axis and created a few runes.


    Spirit Qi spread out from his body in waves as his aura rose rapidly.


    ''Seems like I finally get to use it again after all these years.'' Patriarch You Yi thought as more smoke appeared around him.


    The smoke started to concentrate and gather around him, and after a minute it had reached such a level that it now looked like clouds.


    It was at this moment that Patriarch You Yi called out to Lin Mu. "Dodge now!"


    ~SHUA~


    Patriarch You Yi swiped up with his hands, as if he was flicking a wet cloth.


    "CLOUD DRAGON LIFT!" The clouds around Patriarch You Yi rushed forward and twisted.


    Turning into a vortex, they crashed into Elder Gunkao.


    "What?!?" Elder Gunkao was caught a little off guard by this but still managed to erect a barrier around him at thest moment.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But surprisingly no damage was actually done to him. Lin Mu watched on in confusion, wondering why Patriarch You Yi had used such a skill. He got the answer after just a couple of seconds.


    "Attack him when he''s at the peak. He won''t be able to move during that time!" Patriarch You Yi instructed.


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    Just like he said, Elder Gunkao was carried directly into the sky with the vortex of the clouds surrounding him.


    ~WOONG~


    The sounding from the clouds was rather loud now and caught everyone''s attention.


    "Is that what I think it is?!" A few disciples of the Long cloud sect spotted the clouds moving up.


    "It''s the Cloud Dragon Lift! I can''t believe we get to see the peak signature technique of our sect today!" The disciples felt a little excited.


    Cloud Dragon Lift was a skill that came with the cultivation technique of the Long Cloud sect. It was aplex skill that didn''t deal much damage, but was very good at trapping a person inside it.


    The vortex formed from it would carry the target high up into the sky, even going up to a height of several kilometer!


    But if this was all it could do, then the skill wouldn''t be much effective on those that could fly. It was the secondary effect of the skill that was the main killer move. The Cloud Dragon vortex formed due to it was full of turbulent spirit Qi that prevented the target from using any skills!


    Even Spirit sense was useless, as it would simply be ripped apart by the vortex.


    It was the same for Elder Gunkao as he found himself being sent flying without any control.


    "DAMN YOU ALL!" He tried to struggle, but couldn''t get past the dense cloud vortex.


    It was nearly a hundred meters thick at this point, and Elder Gunkao couldn''t even be seen clearly behind it.


    And just when Elder Gunkao reached a height of over two kilometers high, Lin Mu was ready.


    "That''s enough Patriarch You Yi." Lin Mu said while in a stance as his hand thrummed with great power.


    You Yi nodded his head and stopped the skill, letting Elder Gunkao fall.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Third Form- Metal Sword Devastator!


    Lin Mu punched out, and a ribbon of dense energy shot, illusory swords mixed with it!

 Chapter 1163 Exploding A Peak Dao Treading Realm Expert!

    <h4>Chapter 1163 Exploding A Peak Dao Treading Realm Expert!</h4>


    The Metal Sword Devestator was something that Lin Mu hade up with on the spot. Or more like it felt the most natural to him to do it this way. Swords were innately considered to be of the metal attribute and the Sword Dao gave birth to Sword Qi which was a derivative Qi made from metal spirit Qi and many others.


    Since Lin Mu hadprehended the Sword Intent, he didn''t need much effort to attach it to the Metal Devastator. In fact, unless he had reached the Advanced level of the sword intent, they would have been unable to create such sword imprints.


    They were simr to the Sword Lights shot out by the Centennial Sword Ancestor and wereposed of pure sword intent made with a sword. But in Lin Mu''s case, it was different. Instead of the pure energy form of a sword light, they had turned into physical imprints that apanied the metal devastator.


    The Metal devastator had the property of sharpness and severance which was highlypatible with the Sword Dao and thus the Sword intent, allowing it to meld with it effortlessly.


    Not only did this take the power of the Metal Devastator to the next level, but also helped enhance Lin Mu''s own understanding of the Sword Intent.


    ''So it can resonate with the power of severance like this¡­ and it''s not just the power, there is more¡­ a trace of Dao?'' Lin Mu pondered while using the skill.


    For him, time seemed to have slowed down as he entered a momentary trance.


    He would have liked to spend more time in this, but unfortunately for this was not the time or ce for it. He automatically left the state of trance when the Metal Sword Devastator reached Elder Gunkao.


    Cloud Dragon Lift''s restrictive effects were still present even if the vortex itself had stopped, but it was enough for the Elder to not be able to dodge.


    ~RIP~


    Elder Gunkao''s eyes went wide as the Ribbon of Metal Sword Devastator tore into his body as if it was tofu. The sword intent imbued into it directly tore apart his defensive tools, while the energy itself infiltrated into his meridians.


    There it swam and shed, ravaging them all before finally reaching the Dantian.


    Elder Gunkao felt endless pain filling his body, but he was unable to let out even a peep. It was the kind of pain that would leave one breathless and paralyzed.


    ~BOOM~


    After a momentary pause, the back of Elder Gunkao sted open as a part of the energy along with the imbued sword intent exploded out, spraying minced flesh, bone and blood.


    The rain of blood stained the white snow below, turning it a pale red.


    The people of the northern tribes that witnessed this were left bbergasted while the other elders couldn''t help but let out shouts of unwillingness.


    "NOO!!!"


    "HEAD ELDER GUNKAO!!"


    "You Bastards! DON''T THINK THIS IS THE END!"


    "EVEN IF YOU KILL ELDER GUNKAO, OUR ENDEAVOR WILL NOT END!" Elder Ku Mi yelled.


    ~THUD~


    Elder Gunkao fell to the ground and sank into the red snow stained with his own blood.


    ''The snow is so cold and yet¡­ I feel so hot¡­'' Elder Gunkao thought as the burning pain kept him awake.


    Throngs of northern tribe members rushed to him while Lin Mu stopped Patriarch You Yi from going after Elder Gunkao.


    "Why are we stopping?" Patriarch You Yi questioned, feeling confused.


    "The attack is not over yet. It''s best we retreat before the main phase of the skill activates." Lin Mu answered while also sending out a message to prevent the alliance members from approaching the area.


    "Main Phase?" Patriarch You Yi repeated in doubt, before a thought appeared in his mind. "You mean that wasn''t the full extent of your skill?" he asked, while continuing to retreat alongside Lin Mu.


    "Mmhmm, the skill has a dyed effect. And it''s perfect for when there are so many foes around the target." Lin Mu said as he kept his gaze on the dying elder.


    ''It seems like the Metal Sword Devastator is even better than I thought. The man can''t even speak unlike the patriarch of the West Ocean Sect.'' Lin Mu remembered.


    The people of the northern tribes had already tried to feed Elder Gunkao pills, but they seemingly had no effect, their medicinal efficacy being destroyed by the energy of the metal sword devastator almost immediately.


    And just when Lin Mu and Patriarch You Yi had retreated to the hill, it happened¡­


    ~KABOOM!!!!~


    Elder Gunkao''s body exploded at a moment''s notice and a force unlike anything before was seen. It was even stronger than the attacks of the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators who had fought before and killed everyone that was around it almost instantly.


    "This¡­ what in the name of heavens is that¡­" Patriarch You Yi was left speechless.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    "That is the same as the self detonation of peak Dao Treading Realm cultivator." Lin Mu exined.


    ~gasp~


    Patriarch You Yi couldn''t help but take in a mouthful of cold air, as he was sure that even he would be reduced to smithereens if he was within the radius of that attack.


    The self detonation of an expert that was close to the immortal ascension realm was no joke. Its power could easily reach the level of the Immortal Ascension realm and was terrifying.


    If not for the fact that Lin Mu and Patriarch You Yi had reached far from the main site of the battle, the people of the alliance would have perished as well. Lin Mu had decided to use the Metal Sword Devastator only after checking for others around it.


    But even then, the area of effect was a little too much and beyond his expectations as the people of the alliance along with the northern tribes were pushed back from the impact.


    The snow melted and evaporated directly from the explosion and the bare soil was scorched until it was ck. Deep cracks were even left behind as the entire battlefield looked nothing like before.

 Chapter 1164 The Battle Intensifies

    The scene of devastation was stunning for most people and made them pause their battles. It was simply too big of amotion to ignore.


    Even the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators who were fighting far from the battlefield sensed it. After all, their spirit senses could reach a hundred kilometers with ease, just like Lin Mu''s.


    Master White Mountain''s expression darkened, and his hands trembled in rage.


    "You all¡­ shall pay¡­" He said in a low voice, focusing on attacking his opponent.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    The Centennial Sword Ancestor on the other hand, smiled widely.


    "Oh? Seems like an interesting junior¡­ is he that infamous Lin Mu?" The Centennial Sword Ancestor muttered to himself.


    ''And intermediate sword intent? That is impressive for a junior like him¡­ why is no junior from my sect even half as good as him? Doesn''t seem like he had focused on the sword either and yet he has greater attainments in the sword Dao.'' The Centennial Sword Ancestor couldn''t help but get impressed.


    He could see the power of the attack and feel the fluctuation even here. And from the explosion he sensed the intermediate sword intent that was imbued into the Metal Sword Devastator.


    When Lin Mu hadprehended and used the Intermediate Sword Intent earlier, the Centennial Sword Ancestor had indeed sensed it, but had little attention to pay since he had an equal opponent in front of him.


    But now, despite having the same opponent, he couldn''t ignore it and had to acknowledged.


    "Seems like once this is over, I''ll have to have a word with Jia Chuanli and other juniors of the sect¡­ their judgment has been getting worse and worse over time." The Centennial Sword Ancestor muttered to himself. "They would have almost killed themselves if they went ahead with their original ns."


    The Centennial Sword Ancestor obviously knew about the ns of Jia Chuanli, the patriarch of the Centennial Sword Sect and the others. But he didn''t interfere in it, nor did anything, simply staying in seclusion.


    As an ancestor, he wasn''t supposed to interfere in such matters after all. He had done his share of the work in the past and was now absolved of it. The only time he would act was if a huge crisis that threated the world arrived or if he felt like there was a worthy opponent for his sword.


    And now both of the conditions had been fulfilled, thus there was no way he couldn''te.


    Seeing the end of a Peak Dao Treading realm expert like Elder Gunkao, who had a great chance of bing another Immortal Ascension realm cultivator, made the centennial Sword ancestor aware that the people of his sect would stand no chance against Lin Mu.


    And if they went ahead with their ns of antagonizing Lin Mu, they would most certainly end up dead; possibly before he could even react.


    ''Perhaps this invasion was a blessing in disguise, at least the foolishness still has a chance of being rectified.'' The Centennial Sword Ancestor reckoned.


    ~HONGLONG~


    But while he was thinking all this, the loud ringing of a bell was heard!


    "WHO DARES KILL GUNKAO!" A booming voice echoed across the mountains.


    It was so loud that massive avnches urred across four hundred kilometer of the mountain range. The rocky faces of the mountains that had been hidden for thousands of years were revealed today due to the snow sliding off from the avnches today.


    ~HUA~


    The pupils of the Centennial Sword Ancestor constricted as he sensed a powerful wave of spirit Qiing from the distance.


    "So they were telling the truth¡­ there are more of them." The Centennial Sword Ancestor muttered to himself.


    He had been informed earlier that there were three Immortal ascension realm experts among the Northern tribes as well. And as much as he trusted the information, he still hoped that it was not true.


    But now that had just been proved, and the Centennial Sword Ancestor could only intensify his attacks.


    "HAHAHA! YOU ALL ARE DONE! ONCE THE ANCESTRAL BELL ARRIVES, YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED!" Master White Mountain rejoiced upon hearing the loud voice.


    Back at the battlefield, there was no one that had not heard the booming voice or felt the spirit Qi wave that turned their knees weak.


    Lin Mu''s brows furrowed, as he knew exactly what this meant.


    "Where are the ancestors of the Sky Precepts sect and the Rainbow pill sect? We need them more than ever¡­" Lin Mu said as he sensed another presence in addition to the one that had spoken.


    That was right! Lin Mu had felt not one, but two Immortal Ascension realm presences approaching!


    Patriarch You Yi''s face fell as he frantically contacted the others.


    "No way¡­ themunication jade slip doesn''t work," Patriarch You Yi said.


    "What?" Lin Mu took out his own jade slip and tried to contact others but found it useless.


    The effect was simr to the jamming formations that the Northern Tribes had set before, but Lin Mu was sure that this was not due to any formations. Because if it was, he would have known well beforehand.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The ringing of a bell was heard once again as the air thrummed along with it. Lin Mu could sense his skin tremble with the sound of the bell and knew that their worse scenario was possiblying true.


    "Be ready Lin Mu, that is definitely an Immortal Tool!" Xukong warned.


    "I know senior, what do you think its effects are? There is certainly a restrictive effect from what we can see now." Lin Mu quickly asked.


    "From the initial impression, I can guess that it is an immortal tool withposite effects. It should be able to restrain and control areas. That barrier blocking the entry to the Forbidden continent was definitely made by it as well." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu''s brows furrowed, as he knew that things were about to get really tough.


    A crystal appeared in his palm and he stared at it, unable toe to a decision.

 Chapter 1165 Master Cull Mountain

    ~SIGH~


    Lin Mu stared at the crystal for a few seconds before letting out a sigh.


    "Not now¡­ we still have time." Lin Mu muttered as he stored it back into the ring.


    He raised his head and gazed in the distance, sensing the two immortal ascension realm presences getting closer. But after a minute, Lin Mu realized something.


    "One of them is slow?" Lin Mu said in confusion.


    "One of them? THERES MORE?!" You Yi heard him and almost yelled.


    "Yes, there are now two Immortal ascension realm cultivators approaching." Lin Mu replied. "And one of them is using an immortal tool which is restraining themunication jade slips." He added.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    "DAMMIT! WHAT TOP SECTS! USELESS!" Patriarch You Yi couldn''t hold back anymore and cursed.


    With two more Immortal ascension realm cultivators approaching, Lin Mu knew that only the other two immortal ascension realm cultivators would be able to hold them back. And even if Jing Wei did join in, Lin Mu didn''t know how much the immortal tool would be able to assist with it all.


    Not to mention, the northern tribes had their own immortal tool as well, and they didn''t know the difference in the grades either. If the sword made by Jing Wei was not adequate enough for it all, they might not be able to get through it all.


    Time turned into a raging river and passed away quickly. Soon the first of the two immortal ascension realm cultivators could be seen on the horizon.


    "Go! Kill them all!" A woman''s voice was heard.


    The second immortal ascension realm cultivator that had just appeared was an old woman that looked to be in her fifties. One could see from her appearance that she was certainly talented, as most other cultivators looked a lot older than her.


    Perhaps only Lin Mu and Jiao Fang were younger looking than her, but they weren''t at the Immortal ascension realm either.


    But what caught Lin Mu''s attention the most wasn''t her appearance, but the fact that she had just given out orders.


    ~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~


    All of a sudden, several figures appeared in the sky out of thin air. Lin Mu''s eyes narrowed as he could see that they had just been hiding behind a formation simr to what they had done with the hill earlier.


    But the problematic fact was that these were all emitting the spirit Qi fluctuations at the Dao Treading realm!


    "One¡­ ten¡­ twenty two!?" Lin Mu counted and was left stunned. "All Dao Treading realm¡­ twenty two Dao Treading realm experts?"


    His words were heard by Patriarch You Yi and he quickly shouted out to the others, informing them of the arrival of reinforcements by the northern tribes.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and knew that he would now have to go all out.


    "Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu called out in his mind. "We''ll have to fight hard now."


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby''s roar was heard from the distance as he just killed another Dao Treading realm, elder of the Northern tribes. He looked towards Lin Mu and then at the reinforcements.


    "I''m ready!" Little Shrubby replied as massive spirit Qi waves rose form him.


    The area around him heated up and the snow all melted into water. But even the water couldn''tst long and turned into steam that quickly rose into the skies. Little Shrubby''s body started to bulk up and swelled.


    His aura continued to rise as a dominating pressure was exerted all around him.


    "What is happening to the beast!?" The nearby northern tribes'' members were scared.


    ~ROAR!!!~


    Little Shrubby raised his head and let out an earthshaking roar. It was loud enough to forcefully pull the attention of everyone on the battlefield, including the newly arrived immortal ascension realm expert.


    The woman stared at where Little Shrubby was and felt her skin prickle.


    "What is that beast?" She could feel a great sense of danger from the beast.


    Deciding to trust her instincts, she sent out an order. "Get rid of that beast first! It''s too dangerous to be left alive."


    "As youmand, Master Cull Mountain!" The Dao Treading realm experts replied.


    The woman was titled Master Cull Mountain and was one of the three Immortal Ascension realm experts of the Northern Tribes, along with Master White Mountain. Now there was only one of them left to arrive.


    While the Dao Treading realm experts were approaching Little Shrubby, the beast had continued to change. mes ignited all over his body and increased his size even more. The mes were also of different colors as well.


    A major part of his body was filled with orange mes, but his ws were covered with red mes. On his head a pattern was formed with yellow colored mes mirroring the pattern that was naturally on his fur.


    Lin Mu watching Little Shrubby increase in size, was impressed. Little Shrubby was now the same size as that of Xiaobao. The massive beast towered over the entire battlefield while scorching heat melted all the snow around.


    The snow close by to him had directly evaporated, but the snow that was distant was now turning into streams and rivers that flowed to the south. It was possible that a flood might ur somewhere down south now.


    The nearby northern tribes'' members all died from the heat, while those that were strong were burned before they retreated in panic.


    "Master Cull Mountain was right! The beast is too dangerous! Everyone surround it!" The Dao Treading realm experts spoke amongst themselves.


    Despite being at varying stages of the Dao Treading realm, all of them felt pressured by the beast. While they could tell that Little Shrubby was also at the Dao Treading realm, the dominating auraing from him was something that even their immortal ascension realm experts didn''t have.


    It was an entirely different feeling that could onlye from a true predator that could extinguish their lives.


    Little Shrubby on the other hand, felt no pressure despite twenty two Dao Treading realm experts rushing at him.


    He only felt excited.

 Chapter 1166 The Power Of Seven Beasts Burst

    A power far greater than before flowed through Little Shrubby as the Seven Beasts Burst activated once more after years.


    ~GAOOOH!~


    It was as if seven beasts were roaring at once and announcing their authority.


    The cultivators that were weak hearted directly fell unconscious upon hearing it, while those that were a bit more firm, shook in their boots. Only the most valiant and brave could withstand the oppression contained in the roar.


    Even Lin Mu could feel it, as the Great Slumber Bear Bloodline within his body stirred upon hearing it.


    "It''s truly powerful¡­ I felt that deep in my soul." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ The Seven Beasts Burst unearths thetent potential of little Shrubby when it''s used. With the improvement from the Beast Qi has been giving him, the quality should have increased greatly.


    And we can certainly see it now." Xukong spoke up as well.


    The Dao Treading realm cultivators of the northern tribes that were heading towards little Shrubby couldn''t help but pause in their tracks momentarily. But they quickly recovered and even increased their speed.


    ''We can''t let the beast take the initiative first.'' They thought.


    "Die foul beast!" One of the Dao Treading realm cultivators took the lead and attacked little Shrubby.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But before they could even react, the man who had just attacked, disappeared.


    "Huh?"


    "Where did Lao Zia go?" hispanions were left confused.


    ~HISS~


    A secondter though, scorching heat spread in the area, burning the robes of the Dao Treading realm who hade a little too close.


    ~BOOM~


    But that was just the start as a loud explosion was heard, as if the very air had been torn apart.


    "ARGH!" the Dao Treading realm experts that were closer were knocked back and felt the impact of the shockwave.


    Master Cull Mountain, who was watching from afar, trembled slightly upon witnessing it all. While others might not have seen it, she had seen it all clearly.


    ''That beast¡­ just what speed is that? Its many times faster than even mine,'' Master Cull Mountain realized.


    "Retreat! Retreat! Activate the formation array!" Master Cull Mountain ordered, knowing that the Dao Treading realm cultivator she had just sent out were no match for the beast.


    Even if they could overpower the beast with collective numbers, it would be impossible for them to match up with that speed. And speed was something that would easily flip the odds of the battle.


    After all, even if they could match in quantity, with Little Shrubby''s speed, he would take them out individually and the others won''t be able to react at all.


    Master Cull Mountain had seen the Dao Treading realm who had taken the lead in attacking little Shrubby die instantly. And what had killed him was a w, little Shrubby''s w.


    The shock wave from the w was what had knocked everyone away and spread the scorching heat as well.


    Back at the scene of battle, Little Shrubby''s ming eyes gazed upon the humans that had approached him.


    "One killed, twenty one to go." Little Shrubby spoke, though it could only be heard as a growl to everyone other than Lin Mu.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby finally moved, turning into a minget that streaked across the skies.


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    "No!" Master Cull Mountain saw that her men would not be able to retreat in time.


    Gritting her teeth, she took out what looked like a withered branch. There were no leaves on it and the bark on the branch was peeling off.


    She held the branch with both her hands and firmly snapped it.


    ~CRACK~


    As soon as the sound of the crack spread, it was as if the world had stood still.


    Master Cull Mountain disappeared from where she was standing and appeared in the path of Little Shrubby.


    ~Boom~


    Propping up her hands at the front, Master Cull Mountain blocked Little Shrubby who mmed into her.


    "Ugh!" Even then, she was pushed back several meters, but the beast had been halted.


    Lin Mu felt the spatial fluctuations in the air and knew that Master Cull Mountain hadn''t just moved fast.


    She had teleported!


    "What was that branch?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "I believe that was a branch of the Broad Expanse Void Tree. How it got into her hands, though, is mysterious." Xukong spoke, finding it all to be strange as well.


    This was not the first time Lin Mu was hearing about the Broad Expanse void Tree either. He had read about it in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal and knew that it was one of the few trees that were of the spatial element.


    The tree was unique in that it grew in ces where there were natural spatial cracks. Its roots would spread over the crack and absorb the spatial energy from the void. It was technically not a rare tree, but obtaining a branch from it was very difficult.


    The tree itself was surrounded by spatial energy that would destroy most things and damaging the tree would be even more problematic as it would react appropriately, killing all that wandered next to it.


    "How would she get a branch here?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    "There is no doubt the northern tribes have been obtaining them from the higher worlds. The branch she used was an old dead branch that had been shed by the Broad Expanse Void Tree, so it cannot be used for much, but even then, this is rming." Xukong replied.


    Seeing that he had just obtained more proof of the northern tribe''s interaction with the higher worlds, Lin Mu decided to rush into the battle.


    The Dao Treading realm cultivators who had just been saved by Master Cull Mountain now became Lin Mu''s targets.


    Little Shrubby had already moved away from Master Cull Mountain and was now running around, attacking her whenever there was an opening.


    Master Cull Mountain could only block for now, while trying to find openings during which she could attack.


    "Give it your all! The Savior Beast and Alliance leader are holding them back for us!" Patriarch You Yi said to the alliance members.

 Chapter 1167 Earthen Devastator

    With Little Shrubby holding up Master Cull Mountain, Lin Mu was free to attack the twenty one Dao Treading realm cultivators. While their numbers meant that Lin Mu might not be able to kill them all quickly, it also meant that they wouldn''t be able to do much to him either.


    The Dao Treading realm cultivators were currently gathering in a certain order and setting up a formation array. Each of the Dao Treading realm cultivator was a node of the array and it was hard to tell what kind of a formation array it was.


    Lin Wu would have liked to stop them before they managed to set it up, but the constant movements of Master Cull Mountain and Little Shrubby had made it difficult. But now that they had settled on one part of the battlefield, Lin Mu could finally act.


    ''First to get them split up¡­'' Lin Mu thought as he rose up in the sky.


    His hand was pulled back as vital essence and spirit Qi stirred within it. But the spirit Qi this time was different, and was not attribute less. And neither was it fire or metal elemental spirit Qi.


    This time, the spirit Qi swirling within his hand was brown in color and gave off a feeling of heaviness.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Third Form- Earthen Devastator!


    Lin Mu punched out as a brown ribbon of energy shot out from his fist. On the first nce it looked the ribbon was a muddy stream, but it seemed to be changing its state, turning from solid to liquid and vice a versa.


    This was the Devastator that was made with Earth spirit Qi in it. Lin Mu hadn''t really used it in a battle before, even if he had been able to for a long time, because the way it worked was rather different.


    It wasn''t like the ming Devastator or the Metal devastator that could be used on a single target directly.


    And if one looked at the area that Lin Mu was aiming at right now, they would find that it wasn''t actually any enemy. But rather an empty spot on the barren ground.


    "Careful!" The Dao Treading realm cultivators of the Northern Tribes shouted.


    But much to their surprise, the attack didn''t strike them.


    "What?" The Dao Treading realm were confused at first, but then their pupils constricted.


    The brown ribbon of energy directly entered the ground, and no explosion or loud sound was heard when it did. It was vastly different from the other three variants of the devastation, and no quick effect was disyed either.


    For about ten seconds, the Dao Treading realm cultivators were alert and watched out for any sneak attacks, wondering if Lin Mu was simply pretending. But once the ten second passed they met the true power of the attack.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The ground shook as if a quake was approaching and then in the next second, hundreds of spikes rose up from the ground, spreading out in a circle from the site of entry.


    The spikes grew faster than what the Dao Treading realm could react to and quickly spread to a radius of about two hundred meters!


    N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    Only those that were outside this area actually managed to dodge this attack, but the rest were not so fortunate.


    "ARGH!"


    "NO!"


    Pain filled cries were heard as the Dao Treading realm cultivators were stabbed and struck by the spikes. The spikes were of various thickness and sharpness. Some were as thin as a chopstick at the top, while others were as thick as a barrel.


    Such differences made it hard for the Dao Treading realm to react.


    If they defended using some barrier or other spirit tools, they would be pierced by the sharp spikes while some would be knocked up into the sky from the blunt barrel sized spikes.


    Either way, they were hurt and their process of making an array was foiled.


    "Dammit! The nodes are all misaligned now!" The Dao Treading realm that were out of the radius of the attackined.


    Since the spikes all shifted the ground, the nodes that were set up for the arrays were now all moved around, thereby making them useless.


    "Perfect!" Lin Wu said in joy as his goal was aplished.


    The destruction of the array was his main goal right now, and killing the Dao Treading realm coulde after that. After all, if the array was established and was controlled by the twenty one Dao Treading realm cultivators, its power would be really great.


    If it was an offensive array, it would even be able to get through Lin Mu''s defenses.


    Lin Mu certainly didn''t want that and got rid of it using the Earthen Devastator.


    Though it had actually not killed any of the Dao Treading realm cultivators that were stuck by it. That was the issue with the Earthen Devastator. It was actually the weakest one out of the four variants.


    But its other effects could be really useful like in the current situation. Not to mention, even if it had not killed any of the Dao Treading realm cultivators, it had still managed to injure them.


    Lin Mu teleported next to one of the Dao Treading realm and shed with his short sword, chopping off the arm of the man.


    ~SPLAT~


    "ARGH! WHY YOU!!" The man cried in pain as he quickly ate an alchemical pill to stop the bleeding.


    Unfortunately for him, Lin Mu was able to teleport around and moved onto the next target.


    ~BOOM~


    ~BAM~


    ~BANG~


    Lin Mu''s golden fists rained down upon the different Dao Treading realm cultivators, either hitting their bodies, defensive spirit tools or Qi skills. Some of these broke apart while some managed to hold back.


    ''Just how strong is this man? How can his fists withstand so many of our defensive methods?'' The Dao Treading realm cultivators were left wondering.


    Lin Mu didn''t give them much of a chance to think though and let his fists do the talking.

 Chapter 1168 Dao Embryo’s Released!

    <h4>Chapter 1168 Dao Embryo''s Released!</h4>


    Lin Mu''s golden fists shone from time to time as they mmed into the Dao Treading realm cultivators of the Northern Tribes.


    "Dammit! What kind of a man is this? Why can''t we even put one scratch on him?" one of the Dao Treading realm cultivators said in frustration.


    They had been fighting for a bit now and were unable to get through Lin Mu''s defenses. It was rather terrifying for them as despite being many times in numbers, their powers were still not enough.


    ~CLANG~


    ~CRACK~


    "Oh no!" another Dao Treading realm cried as his spirit sword finally shattered under Lin Mu''s fist.


    ''A chance!'' Lin Mu blinked to the man''s side and let his fist meet the man''s temple.


    "ARGH!" The man cried momentarily before being knocked out.


    His temple cracked and blood spilled from it.


    ''He''s tough¡­ normally this should have burst his head open.'' Lin Mu thought.


    This was the biggest thing he had discovered about these Dao Treading realm cultivators he was fighting. They seemed to be a lot more tougher than the ones he had fought before. Not just that but their fighting experience also seemed to be higher, as they could actually keep up with Lin Mu.


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    They had already seen Lin Mu teleporting around and had be wary about it. While it was shocking to them initially, they soon adapted to it. After all, hesitating in a battle like this would spell their death.


    Which was also why Lin Mu couldn''t just keep on using blink and teleport around, attacking them. With the numbers these Dao Treading realm experts had, they could take turns in blocking him, if Lin Mu attacked one of them.


    Little Shrubby had only managed to kill one of them instantly due to the great speed and increase in power he had experienced after activating his innate skill of Seven Beasts Burst. Even now, the beast was fighting the Immortal Ascension realm expert, Master Cull Mountain and keeping her in one ce.


    This allowed Lin Mu to hold back these experts. Though he didn''t know how long this was possible as he could sense the third Immortal Ascension realm expert approaching.


    ''How is he so slow?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Lin Mu couldn''t fully check on the expert since he was being guarded by a barrier through which his spirit sense couldn''t prate. It was the strong spirit qi fluctuationing that were telling Lin Mu that the man was approaching.


    But what confused Lin Mu was how slow he was. In the time it had taken for the man to travel this far, even a Qi refining realm cultivator would have reached the battlefield. Which only made Lin Mu think that perhaps there was something else slowing him down.


    This was extra worrying to him as there was no telling if some big scheme was being plotted by the Immortal Ascension realm expert.


    "Defend him!" The Dao Treading realm experts of the Tribes shouted upon seeing theirpanion being hit by Lin Mu.


    ~shua~ shua~ shua~


    All of them rushed towards the man, but Lin Mu was faster than them.


    "Toote." Lin Mu muttered as he flicked his hand.


    ~SHING~


    Six spirit swords shot out in a formation, with the short sword being at the center. All of them were joined together through a made from Lin Mu''s sword intent. This was something that was mentioned in the Thousand Armament de Scripture but Lin Mu had rarely used it.


    And now that he had sword intent, the true power of these small sword formations were unleashed!


    ~CLANG~


    The five spirit swords protected the short sword and amplified its power while warding off the attacks of the Dao Treading realm experts.


    "SHIT!"


    ~SPLAT~


    The short sword burst through the unconscious Dao Treading realm experts chest, destroying his heart and spine in the process. But it didn''t just stop there, the short sword did a quick U-turn and stabbed into the Dantian of the man from the back, erasing his Nascent soul that was trying to wiggle out as well, thereby killing himpletely.


    "Twenty left to go¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he looked at the furious faces of all.


    He knew that the speed at which he was killing was just not enough and he needed to be a lot faster. He wanted to reduce their numbers as much as possible before the arrival of the third Immortal Ascension realm cultivator of the tribes.


    At the same time he was cursing the top sects being sote. He had heard that they were arriving soon and had be hopeful at seeing the Centennial Sword Ancestor''s appearance but now it wasn''t like that.


    As for Jing Wei, Lin Mu had another guess.


    ''He''s waiting for the Immortal Tool of the Tribes to appear. He''s definitely going to suppress it first.'' Lin Mu thought.


    It wasn''t hard for Lin Mu to guess it and Jing Luo had done the same before. It was also the right option as Jing Wei was supposed to be their trump card. The Northern Tribes knew about the top sect''s Immortal Ascension realm ancestors, and could prepare for them. But they couldn''t do the same for Jing Wei who was thought to be dead to them.


    "Enough! We have to kill him at once, or we won''t be able tost long."


    "Yeah we still have a long conquest ahead of us."


    The Dao Treading realm cultivators of the northern tribes made their decision and suddenly their aura''s spiked. Strong spirit qi fluctuations came from them and Lin Mu became alert.


    "Dao Embryo Release!" The Dao Treading realm experts made different handseals of their own.


    Spherical shells rose up from the top of their heads and expanded to berge. Most of them were around two meters wide, but some had reached a width of nearly five meters which was ratherrge for a Dao Treading realm expert.


    But what was even more surprising was that each of the Dao Shell''s contained the same kind of Dao Embryo!

 Chapter 1169 Snow Bell Dao Embryos

    Lin Mu nced at the Dao Shell''s and saw the Dao Embryos within.


    All of them were shaped like bells and their size was the same as well. This was strange since the size of their Dao Shell''s varied.


    ''Why are they the same size? Shouldn''t the ones with bigger Dao Shell''s form bigger Dao Embryos?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Thest time he had seen so many Dao Embryos of the same time was when he fought the Dao Treading realm cultivators who had been forcefully nurtured using Pills of grace. But those cultivators were very weak and had the same sized Dao Shells as well.


    Their foundation and quality couldn''tpare to the Dao Treading realm cultivators Lin Mu was fighting right now. These were true Dao Treading realm cultivators who had cultivated from scratch. Lin Mu could not sense even a trace of the muddied qi of the Pills of grace and neither did he feel the trace of invader on them.


    The Dao Shells all floated up and a wave of energy spread from them.


    "Snow Bell Embryo resonance!" The Dao Treading realm cultivators chanted.


    ~DING~


    The bells in the Dao Shells all rung at the same time and a melodic chime was heard. Lin Mu''s spirit sense was alert and was scanning for danger at all times but didn''t sense any threat from this.


    "What are they¡ª" but soon Lin Mu felt the change.


    He looked at his hand and saw ayer of ice covering it.


    "How?" But that wasn''t all as his leg was soon covered by ice too.


    Realizing that he needed to reassess the threat Lin Mu used Fade and disappeared, leaving the Dao Treading realm cultivators confused.


    "Where did he go?"


    Back in the parallel world, Lin Mu broke off the ice on his hand and leg.


    "How the hell did they do that? There was no spirit qi in that attack and I didn''t sense any threat either?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question.


    "They executed a Dao embryo skill. Normally you would have felt it, but since they are using it in unison, its power is amplified." Xukong answered. "And not just that, because it is not a qi skill, your spirit sense won''t sense it either. It is a pure Dao skill, albeit only a weak one that works on Dao Traces."


    "I see¡­ but how can they all have the same kind of Dao Embryos?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It is quite possibly due to themprehending it all from the same thing. Not all of Dao Treading realm cultivators form their Dao Embryos on their own, some might take the guidance of a senior expert or some might even use a tool to gain an insight from." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps the immortal tool did this? Could they have gained their insight from it?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "It is certainly possible. And it makes it even more dangerous. Inrge numbers like this same Dao Embryos can resonate and increase their power to levels that are beyond what could be possible normally for them. You should be careful this time. Dao Skills cannot be defended against easily." Xukong warned.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and had already experienced it. Normally he should not have even been affected by it and the mortal strengthening scripture''s armor would have blocked it. But when ice formed on his hand and arm, it had directly bypassed the armor and covered both the armors and his skin.


    If it were not for the fact that his body cultivation was also at the Dao Treading realm and he had cultivate the True Gold Body forging arts, he might have lost both his limbs.


    "I think you should use it too¡­ it is ready right?" Xukong suggested.


    "Mmhmm¡­ after the breakthrough I could instinctively feel it that I can use it." Lin Mu replied.


    "Good, use it then. No sense in hiding it anymore." Xukong stated.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said as his eyes glinted with determination.


    He then moved some distance away from his initial location and deactivated Fade, reappearing back in the Xiaofan world.


    "THERE!" As soon as he appeared, the Dao Treading realm cultivators sensed him.


    They were left confused and wondered if Lin Mu had left using teleportation. That was one thing they couldn''t guard against and were betting that Lin Mu would not leave without a fight.


    And just as they had guessed, Lin Mu returned soon after.


    "Don''t let him escape again!" the Dao Treading realm cultivators said out loud.


    ~DING~


    The Snow Bell Embryos chimed once again, the melodic sound spreading in the surrounding.


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    ~CRACK~ CRACK~


    But this time Lin Mu was prepared and broke the ice just as it formed on his body. Spirit qi continually poured out from his body, creating an outward pressure, preventing the ice from forming.


    "It won''t work anymore." Lin Mu said as he distanced himself a little from the Dao Treading realm cultivators.


    "Again!" the Dao Treading realm cultivators controlled their Dao Embryos and rang the bells non stop.


    ~DING~ DING~ DING~


    It felt like tens of wind chimes were ringing in strong winds and the melodic sound turned a little irritating.


    ~shua~


    Icy winds blew all around the area, freezing it. The bare ground which had been revealed due to Little Shrubby was now covered in white snow again. But the snow onlysted off a moment before turning into solid ice under the effect of the bells.


    Even Lin Mu felt his spirit qi curtain weakening. What he was doing was actually pushing out his store spirit qi out of his body in order to prevent the ice from forming on it. This process was really wasteful and was the same as letting one''s spirit qi that was collected after tireless cultivation free.


    Only Lin Mu was someone who could willfully waste spirit qi like this. It wasn''t like he would have a hard time absorbing it back anyway.


    "You aren''t the only one''s who can use Dao Embryos, you know?" Lin Mu said as a heavy aura spread from him.

 Chapter 1170 True Earth Heart Dao Embryo

    As the heavy aura spread from Lin Mu, a yellow and brown object rose from his head, shining brightly like a flood light in the night. A few secondster the object became clearer and everyone could see it now.


    The object was none other than Lin Mu''s Dao shell. And it was in the form of a Seven sided shield. There was a t circr indent in its center as well. The different sections of the shield had two different colors. Four of it were yellow in color while three section were brown in color.


    The circle in the center though was clear and could be seen through. And there was actually another object hidden inside it.


    "What kind of a Dao Embryo is that?" The Dao Treading realm cultivators of the northern tribes wondered.


    ~badum~


    ~badum~


    ~badum~


    But that was not all as a peculiar sound could was hearding from the Shield like Dao Shell.


    "Is that¡­ a heartbeat?" the Dao Treading realm cultivators finally realized.


    The sounding from the Shield like Dao shell was the same as heartbeats. Albeit heartbeats that were loud enough to be heard in the entire area. Not just that but with each beat, they felt like the pressure on them was osciting.


    Lin Mu gazed up at his Dao Shell and let it expand.


    One meter. Two meters. Three meters. Four meters. Five meters. Six meters¡­ ten meters!


    The Dao Shell had reached a massive ten meters in size now. The Dao Treading realm cultivators could only watch on in shock as the heartbeatsing from the Dao shell intensified as well.


    "Dao Shell condense!" Lin Mu called out.


    ~Rumble~


    The Dao Shell shook before starting to condense. It''s size reduced until it became two meters wide. Though at the same time, the Dao Shell became a lot more denser. The heartbeatsing from it also became a lot more clear, and now felt like drum beats.


    Then under the shocked eyes of everyone, Lin Mu took out a spear from his spatial storage. It was none other than the Iron Thorn Spear and stabbed it into his Dao Shell!


    "WHAT!?" the Dao Treading realm cultivators were confused and wondering why Lin Mu was harming his own Dao Shell.


    But much to their surprise, the scene of the Dao Shell cracking or getting damaged was not seen. Instead. The Iron thorn spear freely inserted into the Dao shell, as if it was meant to fit it from the start.


    Around one third of the spear disappeared into the Dao Shell before Lin Mu held it in his hands.


    "True Earth Heart Dao Embryo!" Lin Mu chanted.


    ~Hong~


    The Dao Shell shook once more and let out waves of energy that covered the entire Dao Shell. The energy solidified around the Dao Shell while the outline of an object could be seen.


    The object was none other than Lin Mu''s Dao Embryo which was in the shape of a heart!


    The Dao Embryo looked like a heart made out of rocks and stones, with soil clumped around its surface forming the fine veins and arteries. It throbbed nonstop and liberated a lot of energy.


    This was the Dao Embryo that Lin Mu had birthed after havingprehended the Dao of Earth!


    It was a unique Dao Embryo that even Xukong had not seen before and Lin Mu instinctively knew its name when it was born within his Dao Shell.


    He had broken through to the Dao Treading realm not long ago, and had been stabilizing his qi cultivation base. It was also why he had not used it right away. But now he felt like it had be just perfect.


    This was one of the reasons why Lin Mu had gotten interested in Elder Gunkao who also used the earth element. Lin Mu wanted to know just how much of a difference there was between their Dao Embryos.


    And now he had seen several Dao Embryos and was confident in his own. Even more so for the Dao Skill that he had automaticallyprehended when he had broken through.


    Lin Mu''s understanding of the Dao of earth had deepened and the Dao Traces present in his Dao Embryo was great. The concentration of Dao Traces in his Dao Embryo was supposedly a lot more than there normally should have been, ording to Xukong.


    Of course Lin Mu didn''t mind it and was rather happy with it. As it only meant that his capabilities would be that much higher.


    And now, he was about to disy those very capabilities.


    "HAA!" Lin Mu held the handle of the Iron Thorn spear that was now attached to the entire Dao Shell and poured in his spirit qi into it.


    The spirit qi reacted with the energying from the True Earth Heart Dao Dao Embryo and solidified turning into rocks that covered the entire Dao Shell as well as the shaft of the Iron Thorn spear.


    The two things were nowbined and had taken an entirely different form.


    True Earth Heart: Great Sword Form!


    In Lin Mu''s hands was now a Great Sword over three meters long. Its stony de was two meters long while the handle alone was a meter long. Sword intent rose from Lin Mu''s body and infused into the Great Sword.


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    ~Crumble~


    The two edges of the Great Sword chipped and crumbled under the power of the sword intent, forming a razer sharp edge. Lin Mu''s Sword intent had ground the rough and blunt edges until they were proper.


    ~SWOOSH~


    Lin Mu swung the great sword through the air and propped it up on his shoulder. Therge Great Sword lookedicalpared to Lin Mu''s size as it wasrge enough to hide three of him behind it.


    "Now then¡­ where were we?" Lin Mu muttered as he gazed at the Dao Treading realm cultivators of the northern tribe that turned nervous from the pressureing from Lin Mu.


    ~shua~


    Then in the next moment, Lin Mu jumped up into the sky, swinging the Great Sword.

 Chapter 1171 One Great Sword To Shake The Earth

    The Great sword tore through the air while rising up, not even giving a hint of the weight that it carried.


    ~DENG~


    Finally the Great Sword struck its first target, a Dao Shell.


    ~Cough~


    The Dao Treading realm cultivator to whom the Dao Shell belonged to directly coughed out mouthfuls of blood as cracks spread over his Dao shell.


    ~KACHA~


    The Dao shell couldn''t bear the force and was directly split apart, with the edge of the Great Sword hitting the Snow Bell Dao Embryo inside, shattering it as well!


    "Noooo!" the Dao Treading realm cultivator unwillingly cried out, but couldn''t stop Lin Mu in time.


    The others tried to do it as well, but Lin Mu''s momentum was simply too fast.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu stepped off a broken half of the Dao Shell and shot towards another enemy.


    ~CLANG~


    This time though he met a barrier and was blocked by several of the Dao Treading realm cultivators.


    "We won''t let you do as you please any longer." They said as rage overflowed from their faces.


    Lin Mu paid no heed to their words though and simply spun around with the Great Sword, gaining circr velocity and turning into a top.


    ~WOOO~


    Winds blew from the momentum, as Lin Mu elerated towards the barrier again.


    ~DENG~


    "BREAK!" Lin Mu exerted more power as the Great Sword shone in a brown and yellow light.


    "Hold it! Hold it!" The Dao Treading realm cultivators said as they too poured their powers into the barrier.


    While they did that, the other Dao Treading realm cultivators approached Lin Mu from the behind, intending to attack him. Lin Mu though, was tracking their every move and knew where they were at all times.


    Flicker¡­ Blink¡­ Phase¡­ Flicker


    One skill after the other was used as all of their attacks were dodged with astonishing efficiency. Lin Mu appeared behind one of the Dao Treading realm cultivators and used the man''s back as a pivot and swung sideways, not only shing the man but also hispanion that was ten meters away.


    ~SLASH~


    The power of the sh was astounding, creating a clear imprint in the air with the amplification from the sword intent.


    "ARGH!"


    "Don''t let the sword get near you! It will make you sluggish!" one of the Dao Treading realm cultivators finally understood what the effect of Lin Mu''s Dao Embryo was.


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    The True Earth Heart Embryo was a unique type of a Dao embryo and since even Xukong didn''t know about it, Lin Mu would have to depend on himself to understand it.


    When the Dao Embryo had been born, Lin Mu had innately understood some aspects of it as well as the initial Dao Skill that came with it. But there was a lot more to the Dao embryo than just that.


    First of all, the basic ability of the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo was to use the Dao Traces within it to convert spirit qi into a solid form, turning it into any form of earth, whether it be soil, stones or rocks.


    Then there was the skill that came with it, that allowed Lin Mu to exert a ''heavy'' aura on those that were near him. Currently the limit of this skill was just two meters around Lin Mu, but he hoped to increase it after using it enough times.


    These two thingsbined made a terrifying Dao Skill which Lin Mu had termed as Earthen Armament Aspect. It allowed him to create certain weapons with the use of his Dao Shell and spirit weapons.


    The Dao Skill borrowed the structure of the Dao Shell and the qualities of the Spirit weapon to form an entirely new weapon. The True Earth Heart Dao Embryo would be the ''core'' of the weapon or more urately its ''heart'' allowing it to directly exert a power that could not be blocked by conventional methods.


    The strength of his Dao Embryo and Dao shell was now presented immactely as he tore though the enemies, breaking their Dao shells and splitting their bodies.


    ~BOOM~


    ~BANGS


    ~THUD~


    A cacophony of noises were heard as Lin Mu''s battle became a lot more boisterous. Not just that, but the cries of paining from the Dao Treading realm cultivators of the northern tribes were also attention grabbing.


    "Enough! Defend against him now! We can''t be on the offensive like this." The leader of the Dao Treading realm cultivators'' group spoke.


    ~DING~


    "Snow Bell Embryo: Icy Fields!" The Dao Treading realm cultivators chanted in unison as the bell like Dao embryos all rang together.


    A chilly aura spread all over the area while snow and ice started to appear. The energy wavesing from the Snow Bells was affecting the entire battlefield changing its looks once more.


    "Humph! The ice is useless now." Lin Mu said as he raised the Great Sword up high.


    ~KACHA~


    He brought it down with all his power, splitting apart the solid ice that was trying to block him. And not just that, but even the ground itself was split apart, creating a deep fissure that extended for nearly five hundred meters!


    "AAAAAAA!" the Dao Treading realm cultivators caught in the area of the attack were knocked back while ice shards and fragments broke off from the ground, shooting far into the distance.


    "Watch out!" Lin Mu warned his allies.


    He had not expected his attack to have such a wide reaching effect and even some of his allies were caught in it.


    "WHOA!" Lin Mu''s voice alerted them and they barely managed to dodge the iing ice shards.


    If this was just normal ice, they would have had not issues. But this ice was made from a Dao skill executed by the Dao Treading realm cultivators and thus could pass on the freezing effect onto their bodies.


    It was best to avoid it as any injuries sustained would only make them weaker.


    ~HAA~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and rested the Great Sword on his shoulders as he observed his body.


    ''Using the Dao Embryo is certainly a lot more tiring than I expected.'' He thought to himself.

 Chapter 1172 Master Bell Mountain

    Lin Mu could feel his powers exhausting a lot more than normal when using the Dao Embryo. The exhaustion was not only just for his spirit qi either, but also his mind.


    ''Guess this is the strain that I need to bear when using Dao Traces¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Done with his momentary period of rest, Lin Mu charged forth again, brandishing the Great Sword and shing apart the foe in front of him.


    "Die quickly so that I can move on to the next one." Lin Mu said as he sped up his attacks.


    ~HONG~


    But his momentum was interrupted by the ringing of a loud bell!


    ~DENG~


    "Enough of this! You southern wretches need to be shown your ce!" A booming voice was heard alongside the ringing bell.


    Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as he felt a crushing pressure descend all over the ce. It was strong enough to make him descend to the ground forcefully and the same thing happened to everyone else as well.


    Seeing that even the northern tribes'' members were affected, Lin Mu guessed that this might be not be a targeted skill.


    ~shua~


    His spirit sense which was also being restricted somehow felt the strong spirit qi wave nearby.


    "The Third Immortal Ascension realm expert is here!" Lin Mu sensed.


    In his fight and use of the Dao Embryo, he hadn''t sensed when the Immortal Ascension realm expert had spend up and arrived at the battlefield.


    "Master Bell Mountain!"


    "Master Bell Mountain is here!"


    The ted shouts of many Northern Tribes'' members could be heard as they all looked towards the north above the mountains.


    There stood a withered old man. His back was crooked and his limbs bony and thin. His skin looked like the bark of a dead tree while his eyes couldn''t even be seen with how sunken they were. He had no hair on his head nor on his face as it had all fallen out over the ages.


    Despite him looking old and weak though, strong spirit qi locutions could be felting from him. They were so strong that the undtions could be seen in the very air itself!


    "What''s that behind the mountains!?"


    "A tower?"


    "No its a temple!"


    The voices of the alliance members could be heard as they all discovered arge figure appearing above the mountains. The figure was blocking the view behind the mountains as it only got bigger and bigger.


    But soon they realized that the object wasn''t getting bigger, it was simplying closer.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The loud ringing of a bell could be hearding from the object and soon it became clear what it was. It was a temple floating in the sky, with a tall bell tower attached to its top from which an ancient looking bell was hanging.


    There were esoteric patterns carved on the bell that showed demons, humans, beasts, and various other beasts fighting and warring. Along with this there were many old runes that were hard to read.


    "A temple with a bell tower?" Lin Mu''s eyes narrowed.


    "That''s an immortal tool for sure¡­ you need to be ready to use that now. This has gone beyond what you might be able to handle further." Xukong''s voice was heard.


    A frown appeared in Lin Mu''s face as he knew just what they were facing now.


    The third Immortal Ascension realm cultivator, titled Master Bell Mountain gazed upon the battlefield as the bell on the temple kept on ringing behind him.


    ~shua~ shua~


    One of the Dao Treading realm elders of the tribes rushed to the side of the Master Bell Mountain.


    "Greetings Master Bell Mountain! We are honored to have you grace us with your presence and the protection of the Ancestral Bell." The Dao Treading realm elder greeted.


    Right now the entire battlefield seemed to have frozen as barely anyone could move from the pressure. Only Master Cull Mountain who was fighting with Little Shrubby in the distance as well as Master White Mountain and the Centennial Sword Ancestor could move around.


    But even Little Shrubby was getting a little restrained as his speed had fallen too from the pressure. But he wasn''t stopped the same as Lin Mu who was feeling like a great anchor had been put upon him.


    "How is it that we still suffered such losses even with so much preparation?" Master Bell Mountain questioned.


    "M-master¡­ it was the Southerners they all were ready. It seems like our preparations were still not enough. But that''s not all, they seem to have some exceptional people and beasts among them." The Dao Treading elder answered feeling a little anxious under the gaze of the old man.


    The Dao Treading realm elder trembled slightly as the gaze of the old man was hard to bear. It quite literally was crushing to him and he wondered if he would be punished.


    "Hmm¡­ seems like I need to take it all into my hands." Master Bell Mountain said before raising his hand in a praying gesture.


    He brought them all the way to the top, before pulling them apart as a string of runes condensed from his palms, forming a long ribbon.


    "O'' Ancestral Bell bestow upon us the Spirit Sealing Array!" The old man prayed as the string of runes hanging from his palms started to change.


    The string seemingly weaved itself into a small fabric before flying off towards the Ancestral Bell and attaching to the eaves. If one looked closely, they would see hundreds of small fabrics hanging off from the eaves of therge temple.


    ~HONG~


    A pattern lit up on the Ancestral bell as it rang.


    ~HONG~


    The pattern then flew out from the bell and expanded in the sky, turning intorge formation array that spanned for kilometers on end!


    ~shua~


    The formation array descended upon the ground and merged into it, disappearingpletely.


    "My spirit qi¡­ I can''t control it!?"


    "The spirit qi in the air¡­ it''s gone!"


    Cries of panic were soon heard all over the battlefield as the alliance members shuddered.N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.

 Chapter 1173 Spirit Sealing Array

    The disappearance of spirit Qi was something that was the most terrifying thing for most cultivators of the battlefield. But what was even more terrifying was that they were unable to use spirit Qi while their foes still could.


    And that was exactly what was happening here.


    "AHAHAHA! Master Bell Mountain is in Invincible!" The Dao Treading realm elders of the Northern Tribes said out loud.


    "The Spirit Sealing Array is the northern tribe''s legacy array! No southern can match it or go against it." Master White Mountain said while fighting the Centennial Sword ancestor. "You won''t be able tost much longer and nor will your people will live for long." He taunted.


    The Centennial Sword Ancestor pursed his lips but didn''t say anything. Though he tried to contact the other ancestors secretly, but was unable to.


    ''Dammit, they are restraining allmunications too¡­ that immortal tool is too much.'' The Centennial Sword Ancestor thought to himself.


    He knew about the powers of immortal tools and how dangerous they could be in the hands of an immortal ascension realm expert. Their own sect didn''t have an immortal tool, and neither did they have a pseudo immortal tool.


    ''I wish the sword of the first ancestor was still intact¡­ if it was then I might have had some chance.'' The Centennial Sword ancestor thought to himself.


    The sword he was using right now was a peak grade spirit sword and was very good. But it was still not enough to match against an immortal tool. He could match a pseudo immoral tool if hebined his sword intent with the peak grade sword, but going another level above was impossible.


    It was simply an impassable wall.


    The same could be said for the other two top sects. They didn''t have an offensive pseudo immortal weapon or tool either. At least, not one that could be used here.


    The Rainbow pill sect''s pseudo immortal tool was a cauldron that was used by the patriarch to refine the top quality pills, while the Sky Precept''s pseudo immortal tool was even more restricted.


    It was a pir that was restrained to the sect itself and could not be moved. It was a defensive treasure that was very limited in use.


    Lin Mu, who was watching Master Bell Mountain levy this spirit sealing array, couldn''t help but remember the time when Ku Waowen had done the same.


    ''That array was definitely made with this one as an inspiration. But that one had a lot of restrictions¡­ this one, though¡­ was set up without much trouble. Not to mention its scope and power is too great.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The weight put on everyone was also simr to the chains that restrained Lin Mu back then. At least now, Lin Mu could bear to go without spirit Qi as he had his body cultivation too.


    Having refined four treasured organs, Lin Mu would still be able to fight if he got past this restriction.


    ''Just what restriction is it? A Qi skill or a formation?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "It is the work of that immortal tool, no doubt. If it was a Qi skill, you would have sensed it already. From all that we''ve seen till now, I can ascertain that the Bell immortal tool is a restrictive and supportive immortal tool.


    It can apply vast formation arrays with no preparations needed, stop the flow of spirit Qi and suppress spirit sense while also creating a dominating field that can suppress the movement of everyone." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu''s lips curled in a frown as he didn''t want all this to happen.


    "I can''t even use the crystal like this¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "You simply need to tear through this restriction with enough strength. Just like Little Shrubby is doing right now. Though I think his bloodline and aura is contributing in resisting it all too." Xukong suggested.


    And just as Lin Mu was considering the Xukong''s suggestion, a series of cries were heard.


    "AAAH!"


    "NO! STOP!"


    "Let go of our disciples!"


    Lin Mu''s eyes darted around but couldn''t find the source of cries as they were behind him. With his spirit sense restrained, he couldn''t check it all either.


    "Save me, elders!" a disciple of the alliance cried out before he was shed in half.


    "HAHAHA! How do you like now that Ancestor is here too!" A tribalughed as blood dripped from his sword.


    "You all are useless without your experts aren''t you?" the others joined him inughing as well, seeing that they were now free to kill.


    "SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!" The Dao Treading realm elder Ku Mi ordered.


    She was now free from the attacks of the Alliance''s Dao Treading realm members and had already killed her foe.


    Lin Mu though saw it all happen as Ku Mi was in the field of his vision. And the one who had died was a Dao Treading realm elder from the ck Dune sect. But he was merely one of the hundreds that had died in that minute.


    With their movement and spirit Qi restrained, there wasn''t much the alliance members could do. They were simply fish on a chopping board now, helpless and fettered.


    "HAAA!" At the same time, another cry was heard in the distance. "DAUNTLESS EMBER FURY!"


    ~boom~


    An explosion happened as a burning figure tore through the ranks of the Northern Tribes.


    "Who said that we are helpless!" King Hong''s voice was heard.


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    His body was glowing and his hair looked like it was literally on fire. The patterns on his body were also glowing and a fiery aura was felt from him.


    "How?" Elder Ku Mi was surprised.


    "Hmm?" Even Master Bell Mountain was not expecting someone to be able to escape the restriction. ''Another one? I thought the beast alone was an anomaly¡­''


    "Kill him first." Master Bell Mountain said in a low voice.


    "As youmand!" The Dao Treading realm elders nearby replied, flying towards King Hong.


    "Come on! I''ll kill you all!" King Hong said fearlessly.

 Chapter 1174 The Dauntless King Hong

    "Humph! We''ll see how long you can stay arrogant!" A Dao Treading Realm Elder said as he swung his Axe.


    "A mere Dao Shell realm cultivator dares to go against us?" a second Dao Treading Realm Elder said as he executed a Qi skill, creating a bull imprint.


    King Hong didn''t falter against them though and met their attacks head on.


    ~ng~


    ~boom~


    The Axe met King Hong''s palm, which was burning with red mes. The mes spread out from his palm and shot forth like a jet, creating a cushion that prevented the Axe from touching him.


    ~hiss~


    The metal surface of the axle sizzled under the heat as it was subjected to the jet of mes.


    "Hah! Got you!" King Hong gripped the sides of the axehead with his fingers.


    The Dao Treading Realm Elder who was using the Axe was surprised and felt the burning heat over his hand.


    But this was just the first attack. The second Dao Treading Realm Elder who had used the Qi skill and created a bull imprint was also blocked. King Hong directly used his head and mmed into the bull imprint''s head.


    "Too weak!" King Hong said with a wide grin and pushed back the bull imprint.


    "No way¡­" The Dao Treading Realm Elder using the bull imprint, said.


    But then a momentter he recovered and poured more spirit Qi into the bull imprint.


    Much to his shock though, King Hong didn''t move at all. Or rather, he extended his free hand and curled it over the Bull Imprint''s head, gripping its horns. Then pivoting his legs he twisted, causing the Axe and the bull imprint to collide.


    ~BAM~


    "HAHA!" King Hong jumped back with a flip, letting the attacks of the Dao Treading Realm Elders cancel each other out.


    The resulting impact from the two attacks, stunned the Dao Treading Realm Elders for a couple of seconds, which King Hong didn''t forget to take advantage of. He lunged towards the Dao Treading Realm Elder who had used the bull imprint and clenched his neck from the back.


    "Let me know whether the mes of hell are hotter than mine." King Hong said, and let his hands ignite.


    They turned bright orange before turning red, looking like coals in a furnace.


    "AHH!" The Dao Treading Realm Elder cried as he felt his defensive barriers break and burn.


    The next to burn was his skin, which didn''t evenst for a second and his flesh started to burn next.


    "Impudent!" The Axe using Dao Treading Realm Elder, recovered in this time and swung his Axe at King Hong again.


    Seeing the Axee, King Hong didn''t dodge as doing that would mean letting go of the Dao Treading Realm Elder elder that was in his hands already.


    ~Slick~


    The Axe cut into his flesh, and blood was drawn.


    ~Sizzle~


    The hot blood dripped to the ground and sizzled. The Axe stuck on the right side of King Hong''s chest looked gnarly, but the man in question seemed unfazed.


    He didn''t wince in pain, but rather smiled.


    "Got you," King Hong smirked.


    The Dao Treading Realm Elder felt danger and was about to let go of his Axe but was too slow. King Hong freed one of his hands from the neck of the other elder and curled it around the neck of the Axe wielding one.


    For the other elder too, he changed his grip from his hand to the entire arm.


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    "Let me give you a nice warm hug." King Hong said as he pulled both his hands together brining the two Dao Treading Realm Elder close to him.


    "L¡­ let¡­ let go¡­" the two Dao Treading Realm Elder could barely breathe under the crushing grip of King Hong.


    While King Hong wasn''t a Body cultivator, due to his physique and the Bloodline of the me Drake, the quality of his body was very high. It was safe to say that just his physical strength alone would be enough topare to that of a Peak Nascent soul realm cultivator.


    The other Dao Treading Realm Elder who were watching the sh, were left overwhelmed. In less than thirty seconds, the entire situation had been flipped on its head.


    With the two Dao Treading Realm Elder in his grasp, King Hongughed out loud and chanted.


    "Dauntless me Pir!"


    ~WHOOSH~


    In the next second, his entire body lit up in mes and rose high up in the sky. King Hong looked like a living, breathing torch!


    "NOOO!!!"


    "AAAHHHH! IT BURNS!"


    The two Dao Treading Realm Elder suffered under the mes and couldn''tst long. Each of their defenses melted like ice, and so did their skin and flesh.


    A few secondster, their cries were nothing but echoes in the wind and King Hong let go.


    ~thud~


    ~thud~


    ~Crumble~


    Two ck bodies fell to the ground and crumbled into fragments of coke.


    The two Dao Treading Realm Elders were no more!


    "You dare!" Elder Ku Mi was infuriated.


    And she wasn''t alone either. Six Dao Treading Realm Elders all rushed towards King Hong, not wanting for him to live any longer.


    "Yes, I dare!" King Hong retorted as he brought his hands together.


    A ming ball condensed within it before he threw it out.


    ~Boom~


    The fire ball exploded half way to the Dao Treading Realm Elders, having been blocked by one of their skills.


    "Tch! Again!" King Hong threw out more fireballs, but they were all blocked.


    Soon the Dao Treading Realm Elders managed to reach him and the three of them entered closebat with him, while the other three inducing Elder Ku Mi attacked from a distance using Qi skills.


    Blow after blow was exchanged, and injury after injury was sustained by King Hong as he fought valiantly.


    All the members of the alliance who watched it were filled with fury as well, wanting nothing more than to cut down the foes that made their ally suffer.


    Unfortunately, even if King Hong was brave, he was but one man against six Dao Treading Realm Elders.


    ~SHING~


    "Ugh!" An ice spear tore through his stomach.

 Chapter 1175 Sudden Reversal

    The multitude of attacks were a lot for King Hong to bear and eventually he couldn''t keep up, ending up in his current situation.


    ~cough~ Cough~


    "Damn¡­ already?" King Hong spat out a mouthful of blood.


    The ice spear stuck in his chest was already starting to melt under his body''s fiery heat, but the damage done was still there. Even with his enhanced healing, a wound thisrge and deep couldn''t be healed automatically.


    He would certainly need pills and other supportive measures to heal himself.


    ''I can''t even use my spatial storage ring with my spirit Qi restrained,'' King Hong thought as he looked around.


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    The Northern Tribes'' people looked at King Hong like hyenas gazing at an injured deer.


    While it seemed like King Hong was using his mes as a Qi skill, it wasn''t like that. All his spirit Qi was still restrained, and the only thing he had broken out of was the physical restriction.


    The mes and strength he was using wereing directly from his physique and bloodline. And to use it, he was exhausting his vital energy in exchange. Doing something like this for the normal cultivator was very dangerous.


    Only those like Lin Mu and King Hong with massive vitalities could do it. For others, if they used up their vital energy beyond a certain level, they would start burning away their very life itself.


    The prospects of this were understandable and King Hong might end up the same if he didn''t stop fighting soon enough. The injury he had sustained only made things harder for him now, too.


    "Finish him quickly. We have a lot more to go through." Ku Mi ordered.


    The other Dao Treading Realm experts rushed at him and one attack after the othernded, injuring him further.


    King Hong''s entire body turned bloody in a minute and the mes on his body had dimmed a lot as well. He now looked like amp that was about to go out and could barely keep his eyes open.


    "Haaa¡­. Haa¡­ HAA¡­. Bastards¡­ just need a little more time¡­" King Hong panted.


    "More time? No, it''s now time for you to die." One of the Dao Treading Realm cultivators said as he stabbed towards King Hong with a knife.


    ''I can''t move¡­ shit!'' King Hong thought as his eyes went wide.


    His legs felt like they were filled with lead and his body itself felt like a mountain was put on it. He knew that he had expended too much of his vital energy in order to use the mes.


    King Hong could only watch on helplessly as the tip of the knife reached for his throat. The alliance members who were watching it felt humiliated and furious. They too felt helpless at being unable to rescue theirrade who was doing his best to buy them more time.


    The Dao Treading Realm elders of the alliance felt like this status and cultivation base was all useless and they were sham if they couldn''t even rescue one person with a lower cultivation base than them.


    ''It just had to be the original spirit sealing array¡­ if it was one made manually, I might have been able to break it. But with an immortal tool applying it, its impossible.'' Jiao Fang thought to himself.


    Since he had gotten the inheritance of Yulong who was a spy from the Northern Tribes and even had his soul and memories merged into him, he knew a lot more than others. And he certainly knew about the spirit sealing arrays as well as the method to break them.


    But even those spirit sealing arrays were of different types andplexities. It just so happened that the spirit sealing array activated by Master Bell Mountain was the original spirit sealing array on which all the others were based on.


    This one had no ws that Jiao Fang or Yulong knew about, thus all he could do was watch.


    ~RUAAAAAAAA!!!!~


    It was at this moment that an earth shaking roar was heard.


    It didn''t feel like it belonged to a beast or a human though, it was entirely different. And when that roar echoed in the battlefield, the people on it felt fear. It was the primal fear one would feel when encountering a predator, but it went a step beyond it.


    It was as if the existence of the being that had just appeared was essentially created to kill them all.


    A blood curdling and deep crimson aura rose from a certain location on the battlefield, shrouding it entirely.


    "AGH!" King Hong took advantage of this opportunity where his attacker was distracted and tilted his neck just enough.


    ~slick~


    The knife still cut the side of his neck, but didn''t hit any artery preventing him from dying right away.


    ~BAM~


    King Hong gritted his teeth and knocked onto the hand of the Dao Treading Realm cultivator with the knife, making him drop the knife and letting King Hong retreat.


    The man didn''t miss a beat and was ready to retaliate, feeling a little vitality return to his body. But then he saw the state of his foes and found them to be stunned.


    Narrowing his eyes, King Hong looked in the distance and only saw an area filled with deep crimson fog. It was as if the blood hundreds of being had been turned into vapor and was filling it.


    ~shiver~


    But that was merely the start of it. A momentter, everyone felt shivers going down their spine, King Hong even more so.


    ''What''s this feeling¡­ why does it feel like my bloodline itself is screaming out to run?'' King Hong wondered, trying to calm his frantically beating heart.


    ~ROAR!!!~


    It was at this time that another roar was heard, from the area filled with deep crimson fog.


    "The fog¡­ its moving!" someone said out loud.


    Unknowingly, everyone that was frozen until now moved! The restraints on their body loosened up, and they turned their necks to face the deep crimson fog.

 Chapter 1176 For Whom The Bell Tolls?

    <h4>Chapter 1176 For Whom The Bell Tolls?</h4>


    Patriarch You Yi had been battling one of the elders of the northern tribes'' council but had frozen like many others after Master bell Mountain appear. He had struggled a lot to get free of the control, but was unable to.


    That was until¡­


    "Huh? I can move again?" Patriarch You Yi felt confused.


    It wasn''t just him either. All those that were at the Dao Treading Realm were the first ones to be freed as their cultivation bases were the highest. The ones to be freed next were those at the Dao Shell realm and so on and so forth.


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    And just like everyone else, Patriarch had heard the roar as well and soon felt the soul chilling aura.


    "What is¡­" Patriarch You Yi turned to face the direction and saw the mass of deep crimson aura that was churning and roiling.


    His words stopped in his mind as he knew what the location entailed.


    ''Wasn''t Lin Mu there?'' Patriarch You Yi recalled.


    ~WHOOSH~


    While Patriarch You Yi was thinking of this, the deep crimson aura started to move. It condensed together and took shape of a ten meter tall figure. The figure had a broad and tall body covered in fur, with ws that were twelve inches long, looking like knives.


    Then there were two patterns on its body, an inverted triangle on the chest and an inverted pentagon on the back that joined together with lines that extended from this vertices over the entire body.


    But that was not all, as on the head of the figure two small horns could also be seen. The horns were about five inches long andpared to its head, were quite small. Even the fangs in the figure''s mouth were longer than that.


    ~ROAR~


    A Bear''s roar was heard as the figure lifted its head and let out an earthshaking cry.


    The roar swept over the entire battlefield, wiping away the influence of Master Bell Mountain''s physical restrictions from everyone. Though the spirit Qi restriction due to the Spirit sealing array was still there.


    ~DENG~


    Master Bell Mountain looked back in surprise as he heard the Temple bell ring on its own.


    ~DENG~


    ~DENG~


    ~DENG~


    The bell continued to ring, as if responding to the roar of the deep crimson bear figure that had just appeared.


    A thought came to Master Bell Mountain as he recalled something from the past.


    "This is just like back then¡­ a decade ago¡­ the ancestral bell rang just like this." Master Bell Mountain muttered to himself.


    He was especially surprised since the bell was doing this of its own volition. While Master Bell Mountain could control it, the control was actually limited. The Ancestral Bell was said to have its own sentience and could do things on its own as well.


    That was also why it was a true immortal tool, since it had its own ''spirit'' or consciousness.


    The Bell tolled and spoke in its own manner. It was not understood by others, but Master Bell Mountain understood it very well.


    "A warning?" Master Bell Mountain said as he looked up at the bell.


    ~DENG~


    It rang again, but this time, a few runes appeared on it. The runes swam on the surface of the bell until they settled on a specific pattern and merged into it.


    ~shua~


    The pattern lit up in a bright blue light, enhancing its appearance. Without the glow, it would be hard to urately tell what the pattern was due to the weathered surface of the bell. But now it was fully revealed.


    "Demon? A demon here? How is that possible?" Master Bell Mountain said in disbelief.


    He turned back to look at the deep crimson figure of a bear, which had now started to shrink. The aura condensed rapidly before it was only half as tall and wide. Therge bear turned into a five meter tall being, that didn''t look exactly the same.


    It had long hair that reached its lower back and had a metallic sheen. The same inverted triangle and pentagon patterns on its chest and back, along with long ws that were six inches long.


    Sharp fangs jutted out of its lips, while crimson color spread over its skin.


    What was different from the bear''s figure though, was the thin golden lines that spread all over his body, reaching each and every finger and toe.


    The three colors, ck, crimson and golden, contrasted forming a mix that sparked fear in one''s heart.


    Finally, the newly formed being opened its eyes, revealing red sclera and yellow pupils that gazed with a malevolent look.


    ~GUAAAAAA!!!~


    The figure raised its head and let out a war cry. The dense muscles on its body ripped with pure unadulterated power that almost overflowed and shook the air.


    ~CRACK~


    The figure pressed upon the ground with its feet before rising up into the air like a rocket!


    ~BOOM~


    The ground shattered as spiderweb like cracks spread all over it. The crimson figure tore though the air like a bullet before falling towards a certain location, drawing an arc in the sky.


    ~BANG~


    Uponnding, the figure directly made the ground beneath him copse five meters deep. But this didn''t slow him down at all as the figure lifted its head and gazed straight into the eyes of the Dao Treading realm experts of the northern tribes.


    "You¡­ what¡ª" Before one of them could speak though, his head was split apart.


    No noise was heard as the cut was smooth. The head of the man split apart into slices just like a watermelon would under a fine cleaver.


    ~SPLAT~


    The crimson figure didn''t just stop there though. He stabbed his long ws through the torso of the headless Dao Treading realm expert and picked it up before shoving it down into his mouth.


    ~CRUNCH~


    Chewing a couple of times, he swallowed the entire body down and looked at the rest.


    A terrifying hunger was present in its eyes and the Dao Treading realm experts were the food it desired.


    King Hong who saw it all closely, shuddered.


    "Lin Mu?"

 Chapter 1177 A Demon

    King Hong had a hard time believing that the being in front of him was Lin Mu. But in the end, he could only trust his instincts.


    Even if he had greatly changed and looked like a monster, King Hong could still feel the familiar trace of Lin Mu''s aura from him. It was an aura unique to Lin Mu, and King Hong was sure of it.


    After having awakened the Dauntless Ember Physique and getting the me Drake Bloodline, King Hong was highly sensitive to auras, simr to strong beasts. And Lin Mu was someone to whom he owed a great debt. There was no way he wouldn''t recognize him, even if he died and reincarnated.


    The confusing thing for him though, was how did Lin Mu be like this exactly?


    The difference was massive, and it was obvious that Lin Mu wasn''t a human at all in this moment. The hunger in his eyes and the deadly aura spreading along with his own natural aura was simply not something a human could have.


    ~GRRR~


    A low growl was hearding from Lin Mu''s throat that woke up King Hong from his trail of thoughts.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s ws moved at a blinding speed, tearing thorough the air and skewering two Dao Treading realm cultivators of the Northern Tribes at once.


    The victims were far too stunned to react or even speak in time before Lin Mu simply stuffed them down his jaws, where they were crushed and mashed in a couple of bites and swallowed.


    Not even the Nascent soul of the Dao Treading realm cultivators could survive this and was directly consumed into Lin Mu''s body, leaving no chance of revival.


    "RUN!" Elder Ku Mi said after gathering her wits.


    She knew very well that the being in front of her was not something she could deal with. Killing the Dao Treading realm of cultivators like this and even consuming them with ease was beyond normal.


    ''What is that? Beast? Monster? Demon?'' Ku Mi tried to rack her brain but couldn''te up with an answer.


    The strange thing was, she couldn''t sense any cultivation base from the being either. All she could sense from the being was endless amounts of vitality and an aura that could knock one out.


    ~DENG~


    The Ancestral bell continued to ring in the sky, as if beckoning and warning everyone.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Ku Mi and one more Dao Treading realm elder retreated, taking advantage of the moment when Lin Mu was eating the other two corpses. Even if Lin Mu ate them quickly, it still took him ten seconds to swallow them entirely.


    Ten seconds was more than enough time for the Dao Treading realm cultivators to run away.


    Unfortunately for them, Lin Mu never cared for if they ran away or not.


    ~BOOM~


    ~WHOOSH~


    In the next moment, Lin Mu gathered strength in his legs, veins bulging on his calves and thighs as great power was spread out from the base of his feet. The ground cracked and split apart, making even King Hong stumble.


    ''He''s certainly Lin Mu¡­ seems like he still has his consciousness in that state.'' King Hong thought.


    While King Hong was shocked and also a little scared of Lin Mu''s state right now, he didn''t detest him. He understood that the situation demanded for it and no power would be worth denigrating.


    If he could do it too, he would have already done it no matter the cost.


    "ARGH!" Another cry was heard in the sky as Lin Mu mmed into the Dao Treading realm cultivator who was just behind Ku Mi.


    The impact directly broke the man''s back, as well as several of his bones.


    ~RIP~


    Lin Mu''s ws then grabbed him from the back, and tore through his chest and abdomen, splitting him in two.


    ~GUO!!!~


    Lin Mu let out a taunting cry and stuffed the two halves of the man into his mouth, swallowing it down.


    Having killed another Dao Treading realm cultivator, Lin Mu rushed towards Ku Mi who was just a short distance away. But just as he was about to reach her¡­


    ~CLANG~


    Lin Mu mmed into a barrier that had materialized out of thin air. He stared past the barrier and saw an old man appearing close by. He waved his hand and made a grasping gesture at Ku Mi, pulling her towards him with ease like a straw doll.


    "Master Bell Mountain!" Ku Mi was relieved at being saved.


    "This isn''t what you juniors can handle anymore." Master Bell Mountain said, his expression serious.


    Ku Mi saw the look on his face and felt a little taken aback. She could tell that even Master Bell Mountain was wary of the being killing them.


    "Master Bell Mountain¡­ do you perhaps know what that thing is?" Ku Mi asked, her voice trembling slightly.


    "That thing is for whom the Ancestral Bell tolls¡­ Nearly a decade ago the Ancestral Bell did the same." Master Bell Mountain replied.


    Hearing this, Ku Mi recalled the warning that had been issued in the tribes. They were told to prepare for a disaster that mighte any time by Master Bell Mountain. And yet, even after a month of wait nothing had happened.


    They had mostly forgotten about it as there was no other urrence like that again over the years. Even Master Bell Mountain had thought that it was merely a fluke or maybe the danger that the Ancestral Bell was warning them about had disappeared somehow.


    But now¡­ after nearly a decade, the Ancestral Bell rang once more, warning of the being.


    "That thing¡­ just what is it exactly?" Ku Mu asked, feeling afraid now.


    She knew what it all entailed after all. If even the Ancestral Bell was warning them, it meant that the thing in front of him could perhaps even threaten the Ancestral Bell itself.


    "I cannot tell for sure, but the Ancestral Bell has given its signs. The Ancestral Bell has signaled that the thing is¡­ A Demon."


    "A Demon!?" Ku Mi shuddered upon hearing that word.


    She knew about demons and how they were. In fact, nearly every person in the world would know what a demon was. The only thing different was that their perception of demons and their information was greatly different.


    As a Dao Treading realm expert and an elder of the council of the Northern Tribes, she had ess to information that most others didn''t have.


    Not to mention, the Northern Tribes weren''t unacquainted with Demons either. After all, they had summoned a Demon Beast from another world in the past. It was this very same Demon Beast that had detonated and caused the copsed of the entire Western Continent.


    That was a matter of great pride among the Northern Tribes and was one of their biggest victories. But at the same time, it was a warning for the tribes themselves. They had witnessed the effects of their summon and knew just how dangerous the Demons were.


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    If one had been summoned to theirnd somehow and went to wreak havoc, it would possibly meet the same fate as the Western Continent of the past. And it wasn''t like their Immortal Ascension realm ancestors would be able to protect them either.


    After all, they had the example of the Western Continent''s own Immortal Ascension realm ancestors who had perished in the explosion.


    If it could happen to them, it could very well happen to them as well.


    One needed to know the dangers of the weapon that they used, for the very sword they used to kill others might return to y them one day.


    "How is a Demon here? There are no demons in this world, right? Did someone summon it somehow?" Ku Mi questioned.


    "This Demon wasn''t summoned¡­ it was already here." Master Bell Mountain said as he watched Lin Mu hammering the barrier.


    Lin Mu attacked the barrier non stop, making it tremble and shake while sparks flew off from each attack. It was evident that the barrier blocking him was not going tost.


    Master Bell Mountain made a gesture with his hand and channeled more power into the Barrier, reinforcing it more. He could have attacked the Demon right away, but he needed to know more about it first.


    He couldn''t be careless about a being like that and risk being injured somehow. If he was gone, the Ancestral Bell would lose most of its capabilities and the Northern Tribes would only return to their previous disadvantage.


    Master Bell Mountain hadn''t missed the fact that the Demon in front of them wasn''t using spirit Qi at all. It was doing everything entirely with its physical strength. Not just that, it was even flying without using spirit Qi!


    It was a matter rather surprising to Master Bell Mountain, as he couldn''t figure out the method at all.


    "How can it already be here, Master? Did ite back then?" Ku Mi questioned, not being able to figure out.


    "No¡­ it didn''te from elsewhere. Rather, it was someone who turned into a Demon." Master Bell Mountain answered, his gaze darkening.


    ''The Demon is tearing through the weak points in the nodes? How can it even sense them?'' Master Bell Mountain noted.


    "Turned into a Demon? Who can do that?!" Ku Mi was even more terrified now.


    "It was that young man they called Lin Mu¡­ the same one who killed most of our elders at the start." Master Bell Mountain answered, much to Ku Mi''s surprise.


    ~CRACK~


    And just as she heard that, the Barrier was broken!

 Chapter 1178 Pushing Back And Wariness

    The barriers breaking was something a little out of expectation for both Ku Mi and Master Bell Mountain.


    ''I just reinforced it. How?'' Master Bell Mountain was surprised.


    While he knew that Lin Mu was targeting the weak points in the nodes, with the reinforcement that he had done, it should have still taken him a while more to do this. And till then, he would have reinforced the barrier once more.


    In fact, Master Bell Mountain was actually changing the form of the barrier and turning it into a dome that was secretly surrounding Lin Mu. It was an illusion that made it look like a t wall, when in reality it was only t for a small distance and the rest was curling around Lin Mu at a certain radius.


    While it was a good n, it was unfortunately left iplete after reaching the 60% mark. And not just that, Lin Mu directly shattered the barrier!


    "DIE!!!!" Lin Mu''s distorted voice was heard.


    It was vastly different from his normal voice and felt like it had been scratched and turned hoarse.


    "It speaks?" Ku Mi was surprised.


    Lin Mu''s eyes locked onto the woman and diverted towards her. She was the weakest person here and if he took her out, it would be easier facing the Immortal Ascension realm Master Bell Mountain next to her.


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    "Humph! You think you can harm my people in my presence?" Master Bell Mountain was infuriated.


    While he was wary of Lin Mu and his demonic appearance, Master Bell Mountain couldn''t just watch on and let one of his people die.


    He wed towards Lin Mu, creating waves in the air.


    ~DENG~


    ~WHOOSH~


    The Ancestral Bell rang in sync and a gust of wind assaulted Lin Mu. The wind was like arge w that pushed back Lin Mu.


    But he was not one to back down from this at all. Gathering strength into his waist, Lin Mu twisted and kicked out, splitting apart the wind w. Then, stepping on the air once more, Lin Mu lunged forward.


    Ku Mi frantically retreated while creating tens of ice walls in front of her, trying to block as much as possible.


    ~CRACK~ CRACK ~ CRACK~


    The barrier was the same as ss to Lin Mu and broke apart with ease.


    "He isn''t affected by the ice spirit Qi either?" Ku Mi wondered.


    Each of the ice barriers was made from ice spirit Qi and had the side effect of tainting anyone who touched them with the cold frost. The frost would slow them down and might even affect their cirction of spirit Qi if it reached deep enough.


    But all that seemed to be useless on Lin Mu as the frost couldn''t evene close, seeming dissipating just upon touching the violent aura.


    ~CLANG~


    This time Ku Mi had to physically defend against Lin Mu and took out a blue rod from her storage. The blue rod was another inheritance treasure of the Northern Tribes and she was given the authority of wielding it.


    And worthy of being a legacy treasure, it actually managed to block Lin Mu.


    "AH!" Unfortunately, while Ku Mi blocked Lin Mu''s ws from touching her, the impact from the attack wasn''t something that would just dissipate automatically.


    The force transfered through the blue rod and spread through her arms and then into her body, sending her hurtling back. Her arms felt very sore, almost as if they had been broken. But upon checking, she could tell that they weren''t broken, just that the flesh around her wrists was strained.


    "Enough!" Master Bell Mountain acted, throwing out six small talismans that were barely the size of a coin.


    "O'' Ancestral Bell, bestow upon us the Hexathorn Formation!" Master Bell Mountain chanted.


    ~DENG~


    The ancestral Bell rang in response and a pattern lit up on the bell. Then a small tapestry hanging from the side of the temple flew out. It was the size of a handkerchief and had a diagram drawn on one side of it, while on the other runes seemed to be written.


    The tapestry flew towards the six small talismans at a great speed, almost looking like it had teleported. It then attached to the six small talismans, which started stretching out from the tapestry.


    In just a couple of seconds, it turned into a three meter wide tapestry and the diagram on it became clear. It looked like a wide hoop that had six long thorns on the inside.


    The tapestry flew over Lin Mu and turned to dust, which then transformed into runes and brought forth the real formation.


    ~shua~


    Just like the diagram that had been drawn on the tapestry, a hoop formed around Lin Mu and thorns rose from its inside.


    ~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~


    Lin Mu collided with the inner side of the hoop, with the thorns, and was stopped in his ce.


    "AH!" Feeling irritated, Lin Mu hit the hoop but didn''t deal any damage to it.


    Instead, the thorn started to grow more and locked Lin Mu in the center of the hoop.


    "Your efforts are futile. The Hexathorn formation can even trap and kill a pseudo immortal ascension realm cultivator." Master Bell Mountain spoke, his tone cold.


    One of Lin Mu''s arms was also locked in ce from a thorn, while the other was free. Lin Mu gripped the thorn and tried to break it but found it hard to do. It was as if the thorn was made out of tempered iron and was impossible to bend.


    ~CRACK~


    Soon the thorns increased their force and finally pierced into Lin Mu''s body.


    "Finally." Ku Mi who watched it all from a distance, felt relived.


    Lin Mu was no less than a bomb to her that could explode at any moment and needed to be contained.


    ''The Hexathorn formation should pierce through him entirely soon enough¡­'' Master Bell Mountain thought.


    But just a few seconds after he had this thought, his eyes narrowed.


    "How?" he questioned upon seeing the surface of Lin Mu''s skin crumble.

 Chapter 1179 Breaking The Hexathorn Formation

    Chapter 1179 Breaking The Hexathorn Formation¡¡¡¡ording to Master Bell Mountain''s understanding, the Hexathorn formation should have already pierced through the entire body of Lin Mu. But that didn''t happen. Instead, the surface of his skin crumbled like ster.


    And once that part of the skin fell off, one could see the pure golden surface beneath it that stopped the thorns from progressing!


    "HAAA!" Lin Mu continued to exert counterforce to the thorns and stopped them from growing any further.


    Master Bell Mountain and Ku Mi, who saw the golden skin underneath the crimsonyer were stunned. And it wasn''t just because of the color, but because they could feel a pure metal energy from it.


    "How is that even possible? Pure metal energy like that is only formed when materials containing them are refined endlessly. And it isn''t something that can be put in a body like that? It''s simply ipatible." Ku Mi couldn''t wrap her head around it at all.


    "Who knows? He''s a demon. Maybe it''s possible for demons." Master Bell Mountain can only guess this much.


    "At least he''s still restrained by it, even if the formation can''t kill him." Ku Mi said, finding it all to be overwhelming.


    She had never expected the southerns to hide such a trump card. If it were in the hands of their northern tribes, they would have made use of it long time ago. Even the Invader that they had used seemed to be inferiorpared to a demon for her.N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    ''Though they did have the advantage of having multiple beings at once.'' Ku Mi thought.


    But just as she was thinking this, Lin Mu seemed to have done something new.


    Lin Mu raised his free hand as energy gathered within it. It was pure vital energy and was being amplified by the aura released by his body. Master Bell Mountain who saw him act was surprised at first, but then when he felt the energy fluctuations that wereing from Lin Mu''s hand, he knew he couldn''t let him proceed any further.


    "No¡ª" but before he could take any action, Lin Mu struck the thorn.


    ~BANG~


    The concentrated vital energy spread through Lin Mu''s ws and tore through the thorns as if they were straws.


    ~CRACK~


    The hoop holding the thorns cracked as well, and three of the thorns broke off from it.


    "HAA!" Lin Mu pushed the hoop with his free hands and got out from its restraints.


    With three of the thorns broken, it was easy for him to get out using the extra space created.


    "DAMMIT!" Master Bell Mountain made a gesture with his hand and was about to summon another formation when he was interrupted. "AH!"


    His hand was struck with something and actually started bleeding!


    Ku Mi who barely saw the iing object, realized what it was. "The thorns from the Hexathorn formation?"


    Lin Mu''s red eyes narrowed for a moment, seeing the effect of the thorn and an idea presented to him.


    Instead of letting the thorns and the hoop fall off, Lin Mu grabbed them and started throwing them.


    First, he threw four thorns each in the four cardinal directions and then the final thorn toward Ku Mi.


    The woman''s pupils turned into pinpoint as she saw the Thorn shooting towards her at a blinding speed.


    "EEK! Shit!" She tried to dodge, but still got hit on her nk. The thorn tore through her skin and exposed her organs and bones underneath.


    She tried to take out and eat a healing pill while being careful about Lin Mu, only to realize that he wasn''t even looking at her. Instead, he had broken the hoop into two semicircles and hurled them towards the Ancestral bell.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    The two halves of the hoop urately struck the Ancestral Bell and disturbed its rhythm. Lin Mu had noted that the Bell didn''t just toll randomly. There was actually a pattern to it. And while he didn''t know the exact mechanism of it, he had a hunch that breaking this pattern might just do this.


    He was in a desperate situation anyway and anything was up for an attempt.


    "NOO!" Master Bell Mountain though, let out an unwilling cry, as if something really bad had happened.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu didn''t pause there and rushed towards Ku Mi, who had just consumed a healing pill.


    "You¡ª" Resistance was futile for her as Lin Mu''s charge shattered her bones and smashed her head apart.


    Grabbing the remains of her body, Lin Mu crumpled them like a badly made meat ball and stuffed it into his mouth, restoring a part of the energy he had expended.


    ~SHUA~


    And just a momentter, a strange fluctuation spread in the entire area.


    ~RUMBLE~


    ~CLANG~


    ~CLANG~


    ~CLANG~


    ~CLANG~


    From the four cardinal directions, sounds of something being hit was heard.


    ~KACHA~


    "LOOK! There are cracks appearing in the air!" A few of the alliance members who were on the periphery noticed.


    The cracks were apanied by a rumbling sound, as if the very air itself was shaking.


    Master Bell Mountain''s expression darkened as he knew his n had failed.


    ~BANG!~


    But the cracks were only the start, as the sound of an explosion was heard. It was strange as the sound seemed to being from just next to the cracks, but there was nothing there.


    The sounds of explosion didn''t stop and continued, getting louder by the second.


    Master Bell Mountain scrambled to get to the Ancestral Bell and made several runes trying to fix the situation.


    "LITTLE SHRUBBY! THERE!" Lin Mu shouted hoarsely.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby responded with a roar, and left his foe aside for a moment. He had been keeping Master Cull Mountain upied and had prevented her from interfering in the battle for while.


    Both Little Shrubby and Master Cull Mountain had sustained injuries, but they couldn''t be seen on Little Shrubby''s body since it was hidden under the mes.


    Master Cull Mountain took the chance to strike Little Shrubby, but the beast didn''t care. He instead rushed to another spot where the air had cracked and hit it with all his strength.

 Chapter 1180 Shattering The Secret Barrier!

    Chapter 1180 Shattering The Secret Barrier!¡¡¡¡~BOOM~


    Little Shrubby''s impact created a shockwave that caused the air to crack even further. The cracks now covered an area of over a hundred meters. The cracks weren''t spread out in a t surface either, instead they seemed to be curving around the area.


    "HAAA! BREAK!" Lin Mu did the same and stuck another spot that had cracked.


    ~BOOM~


    The cracks expanded there as well and grew denser.


    In the distance, the Centennial Sword Ancestor was still fighting Master Bell Mountain. The two of them barely had paid attention to the battlefield due to being too involved with each other.


    Their sh was deadly and the area''s topography had already been changed due to their sh several times.


    But with the hugemotion that Lin Mu made, they ended upon looking over as well.


    "This can''t be¡­" Master White Mountain gritted his teeth.


    Meanwhile, the Centennial Sword Ancestor had a realization.


    "That''s it!" He quickly turned around after shing at Master White mountain and gathered his sword intent.


    "Hundred Years sh!" The Centennial Sword Ancestor executed his sword skill, sending out a sword light over a hundred meters long.


    It was vertical and sped towards another crack near him.


    ~BOOM!~


    ~KACHA~


    The effect was evident as the cracks started to extend there as well.


    "Everyone, attack the crack behind us! Give it your all!" Patriarch You Yi gave the order.


    While he didn''t exactly know why Lin Mu and the others were doing it, he followed height suit and got everyone to attack at once.


    ~SHUA~


    ~SHING~


    ~BOOM~


    They attacked with anything they had. Some threw out their weapons, some threw talisman, some even detonated their spirit tools and weapons.


    With their spirit Qi being restrained, this was all they could do.


    But the power was simply too low to affect the crack much. It was now that another voice was heard.


    "Everyone get back!" Jiao Fang ordered.


    He was holding his hand over his chest, and something was floating over it. If one looked closely they would see that it was none other than his Nascent soul!


    Jiao Fang then did something astounding. He used his fingers and directly ripped off a hand from his Nascent soul.


    "ARGH!" He grunted in pain but held on while gritting his teeth. ''Just work¡­'' he thought.N?velDrama.Org copyrighted ? content.


    The arm of the nascent soul quickly turned into a small ssy marble, which he then threw out with all his strength.


    The marble collided with the cracked air, and a fearsome pressure spread from it. It was as if the very air was churning and getting sucked towards it.


    Then¡­ after a momentary stillness, the marble imploded!


    ~KABOOM~


    The people who watched it were forced to close their eyes due to the bright explosion. It wasn''t fiery or hot, just very bright to look at. Most of its destructive power came from the air being expanded rapidly.


    Most of the cultivators were confused as to what Jiao Fang had done, but the Dao Treading realm experts were a little aware.


    ''He detonated a part of his nascent soul? That''s a risky and crazy move¡­'' Patriarch Hua thought, but at the same time he couldn''t help butmend the man for his determination.


    Normally something like this should have been impossible for most cultivators with nascent souls. But Jiao Fang had already experienced fusion and interaction of souls, thus he could control it enough such that he didn''t harm his own nascent soul too much.


    If someone inexperienced tried something like this, getting crippled would be the best oue and death the most likely one.


    ~KACHA~


    Regardless of the repercussions, the explosion of the marble did what it was intended too and cracked the air apart even more.


    ~WOONG~


    The ancestral Bell thrummed in a strange and awkward pattern, feeling more like noise instead.


    "This shouldn''t have happened¡­ how is this even possible? How did they crack the Grand Confinement Array?" Master Bell Mountain was lost.


    He still continued his attempts at establishing control over the Ancestral Bell once more, but his efforts were too slow and inadequate for it.


    ~CRACK~ CRACK~ CRACK~


    The cracks from the four cardinal directions swam through the air like worms and joined together.


    ~Shatter!~


    Then, like a thousand year old cier copsing, the entire thing shattered apart!


    ~Crumble~


    Fragments of solid air fell down, still having the image of the scenery behind it. The fragments didn''tst long and soon dissipated into a mix of runes and disappeared.


    "FINALLY!"


    "THE BARRIER IS BROKEN!"


    "CHARGE!"


    As if an illusion had been dispelled, millions of people appeared around the battlefield.


    Patriarch You Yi and the other patriarchs saw it and recognized them all.


    "Rainbow Pill sect is here!"


    "Centennial Sword Sect is here!"


    "The Sky Precepts Sect has arrived!"


    The armies of the top three sects finally appeared ran towards the Northern Tribes members.


    "My spirit Qi, I can use it again." The people of the alliance felt the restrictions over them fading away as well, and their cultivation bases returned.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    Two streaks of light flew out from behind the army of the top three sects. One could faintly see two figures hidden within them and they were exuding strong spirit Qi fluctuations.


    One of these streaks of lights headed towards where Little Shrubby and Master Cull Mountain were.


    Hundreds of pills were thrown out by the figure who appeared from the light streak. It was an old man dressed in multicolored robes and had a seven colored leaf cor attached to his neck.


    "My, my, this will be some good practice for my old fingers." The Rainbow Pill Ancestor spoke as he snapped his fingers.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    All the pills that he had thrown exploded, creating dense smoke that covered Master Cull Mountain.


    Meanwhile, the other streak of Light stopped near the Centennial Sword Ancestor and waved his staff, creating hundreds of runes that shot towards Master White Mountain and stuck to his clothes and skin.


    "So you''re finally here, old Man Sky." The Centennials Sword Ancestor spoke.


    "There were some unexpected dys, but it seems like you all held on well enough." The Sky Precepts Ancestor replied.

 Chapter 1181 The Alliances Reinforcements Are Here!

    Chapter 1181 The Alliance''s Reinforcements Are Here!¡¡¡¡The arrival of the top three sects and the two ancestors was a wee surprise to everyone of the alliance.


    "Cursed heavens! All the effort has been wasted!" Master Bell Mountain shouted in anger.


    Everyone could hear it and were a little confused. Patriarch You Yi looked at the patriarchs of the top sects that were approaching them.


    "What exactly happened?" Patriarch You Yi questioned.


    "There was arge barrier surrounding the entire area. We''ve been trying to break it for a while now, but it was simply to tough. Even the Ancestors couldn''t do much to it." Patriarch Tian was the one who answered first.


    "These Northern tribes people have gotten simply unfathomable if they have means like these." Patriarch of the Rainbow Pill said, a hint of irritation present on his face.


    He had been opposed to the proposal of the alliance in the earlier meeting and despite having been convinced by the facts shown by the high elder of the Sky Precepts sect, he didn''t like it.N?velDrama.Org copyrighted ? content.


    It wasn''t as about being right or wrong, rather that he had been opposed.


    Still, there was nothing he could do for now and simply focused on the situation at hand.


    "We were racking our brains in breaking the barrier, but then suddenly, cracks appeared on it. It didn''t take us long to figure out that attacking those points would break the barrier. The ancestors joined us and we finally managed to break it." Patriarch Jia Chuanli said.


    "At least you all are here. That''s all that matters now." Patriarch Mingliang''s voice was heard.


    He had just killed his foe and gotten free from the conflict for a moment.


    "That''s right, we can chit chatter. For now, we need to kill these savages!" Patriarch Shandian said as he raised his Axe and swung at the army of the Northern Tribes.


    Patriarch You Yi and the others nodded, joining back into the fray.


    With the reinforcements of the alliance here, the battle changed its flow once more, and the Northern Tribes fell into a disadvantage.


    Master Cull Mountain was being upied by Little Shrubby and the Rainbow Pill Ancestor while Master White Mountain was being upied by the Centennial Sword Ancestor and the Sky Precepts Ancestor.


    With two of the Immortal Ascension realm experts of the tribes locked in battles, the only one that was left free was Master Bell Mountain himself.


    He was currently trying to get a hold of the ancestral bell and was frantically fixing the errors.


    "HAAA!" A few secondster, he let out a strained grunt and took back the control of the Ancestral Bell.


    An angry expression was present on his face as he gazed at the alliance.


    "I had to split my attention with the barrier, and couldn''t act with all my power, but now that ends!" Master Bell Mountain said as he raised his hands high.


    ~SHUA~


    Thousands of runes formed in the air and swirled around the Ancestral Bell while crushing spirit Qi waves spread out from it. The waves were strong enough that the hills below it were directly ttened.


    "NOW DIE!" Master Bell Mountain controlled the Ancestral Bell and let it fly forward.


    The bell shot through the air along with the entire temple while letting out crushing waves.


    ~DENG~ DENG~ DENG~


    Each time the Bell rung, a wave of energy was released and attacked the people of the alliance.


    "ARGH!"


    "MY LEGS!"


    "No!"


    Various cries of pain were heard as hundreds of alliance members were affected. The patriarchs of the alliance wanted to stop Master Bell Mountain, but they were being blocked by the other Dao Treading realm experts of the tribes.


    There were still fifteen Dao Treading realm experts of the northern Tribes left and if left on their own devices, they would kill all the juniors of the alliance.


    "Dammit!" Patriarch You Yi cursed as he saw several of the juniors die.


    "Sky Precepts Ancestor! You should go and block Master bell Mountain, I''ll handle it here." The Centennial Sword Ancestor said, seeing the situation turning bad again.


    The Sky Precepts Ancestor nodded his head and rushed towards the Ancestral Bell.


    ~HONG~


    He made a few hand seals and executed an unknown skill. Ribbons of spirit Qi formed in the air and made circles around the Ancestral Bell.


    ~DENG~ DENG~ DENG~


    "Humph! You think that little trick can stop me?" Master Bell Mountain was pissed.


    The ribbons of spirit Qi actually managed to contain the crushing waves of energying from the Ancestral bell, much to his surprise.


    ''Guess he''s not the ancestor of the Sky Precepts Sect for nothing.'' Master Bell Mountain thought.


    The Sky Precepts sect ancestor was the oldest exert here right now and was even older than Master bell Mountain himself. It was unknown just how long the man had lived, but seeing his condition, it was evident that he didn''t have long to live.


    The patriarch of the Sky precepts sect knew this very well and was not happy with it all. There was a reason why the Sky Precepts Sect had kept to themselves for a long time, the reason being that their Immortal Ascension realm ancestor was at the end of his lifespan.


    No matter how much he tried, the old man found no way to breakthrough to the Immortal realm and was forever stuck there. And in the recent years, he had entirely stopped trying.


    The reason behind that the Sky Precepts sect couldn''t afford to lose an immortal ascension realm expert to ascension. After all, breakthrough meant that the Sky Precepts sect ancestor would be forcefully sent to a higher world, leaving the Xiaofan world behind.


    Without the support of an immortal ascension realm ancestor, the Sky Precepts Sect would no longer be in the top three ranking. There was simply no one to take the ce of the ancestor and the patriarch was far from the Immoral Ascension realm.


    The Sky Precepts sect originally wanted to hold back for as long as possible, but the invasion by the Northern Tribes left no choice for them. With how things were going, if they didn''t act now, forget about keeping their position in the rankings, their entire sect might not exist.


    The Centennial Sword Sect and the Rainbow Pill sect were in a rtively secure position and their ancestors still had enough lifespan left thus they were not as desperate.


    But Patriarch Tian knew that once this war was over, their ancestor might not live for long.


    ~BANG~


    ~DENG~


    The sounds of shing were heard while the Sky Precepts Ancestor and Master Bell Mountain fought nonstop. Still, the power of the Ancestral Bell was too much in the end and it pushed back.


    "ARGH!" Sky Precepts Ancestor cried in pain and was knocked back several meters.


    "You should have just stayed put. At least you might have lived longer that way, now you''re just going to die at my hand." Master Bell Mountain said as he controlled the Ancestral Bell to ram into Sky Precepts Ancestor.


    ~HONG~


    The bell let out a loud hum and rushed towards Sky Precepts Ancestor.


    ~SHING~


    But just when it was a few meters away from the old man, the sound of metal grinding against metal was heard.


    "What?" The people watching were surprised to see the Bell stopping in ce.


    "So this is the Immortal Tool you northern tribes people have¡­" A new voice was heard over the battlefield.


    "Who''re you?" Master Bell Mountain couldn''t help but question.


    His eyes narrowed, and he assessed the person in the distance. The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him were at the Dao Treading realm, but that was not all.


    The old man in the distance was holding a sword by its handle, but what was shocking was the de of the sword. The sword''s de was holding the Ancestral Bell in ce!


    "What? Just how long is that sword?" The people watching were stunned.


    "Immortal¡­ Immortal Weapon?!" Sky Precepts ancestor, who got to see the sword de, closely felt the energy emanating from it.


    At first, he couldn''t believe his eyes and had to do a double take. But no matter how many times he checked, he got the same result.


    "It really is an immortal weapon!" Sky Precepts Ancestor said out loud.


    "Impossible!" Ancestor Bell Mountain too felt the energying from the sword and was rmed.


    Even the Ancestral Bell was humming in response, warning him.


    "How can they have an immortal weapon!? They promised they would never sell to anyone else!" Master Cull Mountain couldn''t help but say.


    "Oh? So someone sold you the Immortal Tool¡­ Interesting." Rainbow Pill Ancestor took note.


    A few ideas appeared in his mind and their earlier assumptions of how the Northern Tribes had chanced upon an Immortal tool were almost proved.


    "Grandfather!" Jing Luo called out, as his eyes brightened.


    The one who had appeared was none other than Jing Wei, the person he and Lin Mu had been waiting for a long time.


    Jing Wei nced at his grandson and spoke, "Go assist Ke''er. We''ll get rid of them all at once."


    "Where is she?" Jing Luo asked.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as he did, the air started to shake. Then, in the next moment, it was as if a crack had appeared in the sky.


    ~HONG~


    The crack expanded and from it appeared a massive structure. The structure was over a kilometer in size and covered the sky of the battlefield.


    "What is that!?" Everyone was stunned upon seeing therge structure.


    "Myriad Armament Canopy Abode is here!" The voice of a woman was heard while Jing Luo flew toward it.

 Chapter 1182 The Jing Clans Support

    Chapter 1182 The Jing n''s Support¡¡¡¡The appearance of the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode was a great surprise to everyone. Not only was it huge, the power it was exuding was next level.


    "Is that an immortal tool, too?" The people couldn''t help but wonder.


    There was already the Ancestral Bell and the Sword that Jing Wei was using. A third immortal tool would be a little too much for their understanding.


    "Hmmm¡­ it''s power is close to that, but it is not a true Immortal tool yet." Patriarch Hua said after thinking for a bit.


    ~HONG~


    While they were talking about the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode, a woman had appeared. She stood upon therge manor that was built in thend of the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode, and looked impably beautiful.


    "Who''s that?" Many men couldn''t help but wonder.


    A woman this beautiful was hard to find and one that was exuding a power like this even more so.


    "I-its¡­ It''s her!?" There was one man among the crowd that recognized her, though.


    "You know her?" One of the high elders asked.


    "Yes¡­ that''s the granddaughter of Jing Wei, patriarch of the Jing n." Wu Hei answered.


    He had after all met her a long time ago, and while she looked a little different now, he could still recognize her. Additionally, Lin Mu had talked to him about her as well.


    "Jing Wei''s granddaughter¡­ then that man¡­ Is really him?" The patriarch of the Centennial Sword Sect Jia Chuanli said with awe in his eyes.


    If there was someone that looked unto Jing Wei, then it was the people of the Centennial Sword sect. Jing Wei was someone who had once pursued the art of sword and was a great swordsman who hadprehended the sword intent.


    Not to mention, he was also the best cksmith in the world and any spirit sword made by him was highly prized. To the people of the Centennial Sword sect that pursed the sword, he was someone they would kiss up to no matter what upation.


    In his peak days, Jing Wei had created a lot of legends that the people of the Centennial Sword sect still read about. Even if the rest of the world had mostly erased the information about the existence of the once great Jing n, they still kept it.


    In fact, the Centennial Sword sect still had swords made by Jing Wei.


    ~humm~


    And one such sword was currently present on the battlefield.


    "Huh?" The Centennial Sword Ancestor felt the spirit sword in his hand suddenly hum.


    He looked towards the distance and saw Jing Wei blocking the Ancestral bell.


    "It really is him¡­ Jing Wei is alive." The Centennial Sword Ancestor muttered to himself before looking at his sword. ''Is this why you are excited? You want to meet your creator?''


    The peak grade spirit sword that the Centennial Sword Ancestor used was actually made by Jing Wei himself. It wasmissioned by the Centennial Sword Sect a long time ago and had since been in the hands of the ancestor.


    It was their inheritance treasure at this point and would be passed down to the next heir when the time was right.


    Complex emotions appeared in the eyes of the Centennial Sword ancestor''s eyes and regret was present in it.


    ''We should have never allowed that to happen¡­ if the Jing n was still present, perhaps this situation would have never happened.'' The Centennial Sword Ancestor thought to himself.


    ~ng~


    "You should focus on the battle at hand. Hump!" Master White Mountain threw an ice disc toward the Centennial sword Ancestor, taking advantage of the momentary pause.


    The Centennial Sword ancestor still blocked it at thest moment and focused on the fight from here on.


    ''If Jing Wei is here, then we don''t need to worry as much. I should first get rid of this foe first.'' He thought.


    ~SHUA~


    Back in the sky, the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode glowed brightly as hundreds upon hundreds of formations appeared over it. There were many kinds of formations in them, with the majority being offensive kinds of formations.


    "Ke''er!" Jing Luo called out upon reaching the borders of the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode.


    "Come in," Duan Ke said and opened up a path for him.


    A small gap opened up for Jing Luo and he flew in, taking his ce alongside Duan Ke.


    "Let''s get this started. No use in letting the underworld wait for them." Jing Luo said as his eyes turned sharp.


    "Indeed¡­" Duan Ke said while her gaze swept all over the battlefield, searching for a particr person.


    "Where''s Lin Mu?" She lightly asked.


    "Lin Mu? He should be¡­" Jing Luo was about to reply when he realized he couldn''t find Lin Mu anywhere. "Huh? Where did he go?"


    "When did youst see him?" Duan Ke asked, a little nervousness in her voice.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    "He was right there. He was the one who had begun the attacks on the hidden barrier." Jing Luo replied.


    Narrowing her brows, Duan Ke looked at the supposed site where Lin Mu should have been, but didn''t find him there.


    "Use the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode''s offensive formations to begin the attacks. I''ll search for Lin Mu." Duan Ke stated.


    "Okay!" Jing Luo agreed.


    As much as he wanted to look for Lin Mu, he knew that it was important to continue the battle.


    And thus, Jing Luo controlled the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode and all the offensive formations outside it activated.


    Thousands of attacks were shot out from the formations as a myriad of effects were presented.


    Fire balls rained, thunder sted, waves drowned, rocks fell and wind tore. Thebined effect of thousands of offensive formations being activated all at once was terrifying.


    "WATCH OUT!" an elder of the alliance warned his disciples upon seeing a few attacks reaching them as well.


    "Huh? What?" But much to his surprise, the attacks automatically changed direction and only struck the enemies.


    "HAHA! I''m not controlling the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode just for show!" Jing Luoughed as he saw several such scenes.

 Chapter 1183 The Profundity Carving Shield

    Chapter 1183 The Profundity Carving Shield¡¡¡¡While the alliance saw the barrage of attacks raining from the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode, Jing Wei was still fighting.


    The Sky Precepts Ancestor had joined him by his side, and the two of them were teaming up against Master Bell Mountain.


    "So you are that vile Jing Wei¡­ I remember you. You tore through ournds and ravaged our cities." Master Bell Mountain spoke.


    "That is correct. But I don''t know you. Who even are you? I''m sure there was nothing like you back when we sieged the tribes." Jing Wei replied, not caring about the taunting tone in Master Bell Mountain''s voice.


    "Humph! Impudent." But master Bell Mountain didn''t reply to him, only finding the man displeasing to his eyes. "A mere Dao Treading realm cultivator like you thinks you can stop me just because you have an immortal tool. You are dreaming." He added.


    "Oh, that''s where you are wrong. I don''t just think¡­ believe!" Jing Wei said as he shed out the extremely long sword once more.


    But much to everyone''s surprise, the extremely long sword shrank!


    The de receded, and it turned into a normal sized sword. But this was only until Jing Wei was half way through his sh and pulling his hand back. When the sword was shed out, the sword elongated once more, springing forth like a bamboo in the spring.


    ~SHING~


    The sword tore through the air and touched the side of the temple on which the Ancestral Bell was hanging.


    ~CRACK~


    ~CRUMBLE~


    The stone walls of the temple cracked and a few fragments fell off from it.


    "You!" Master Bell Mountain was left enraged.


    "So it really is aposite immortal tool. No wonder you all could hide it till now." Jing Wei understood.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    When he had appeared, the first thing he had done was to assess the so called Ancestral Bell that the Immortal ascension realm Master Bell Mountain was using. And upon doing so, he learned a few things.


    Such as the fact that while the immortal tool was called the Ancestral Bell, it was actually a whole temple. If it was like that, then they should have named it differently, like the Ancestral Temple or something.


    But they didn''t, which prompted Jing Wei to look deeper and discover that the energy signatures of the Bell and the temple it was attached to were actually different!


    There was a clear discrepancy between them, which was only detectable by someone like Jing Wei, who was not just a spirit tool refiner but also an Immortal tool refiner. The Ancestral bell itself had a field around it that hid most of its fluctuations.


    This prevented others from knowing how it operated exactly.


    And after seeing how the Ancestral Bell could lock down arge area covertly and create a barrier that could block even Immortal Ascension realm experts, Jing Wei had understood its functionality.


    He understood that the actual Immortal Tool was simply the Bell that hung on the temple, while the temple was a separate tool. The temple itself was a pseudo Immortal tool and was seemingly the secondponent.


    Jing Wei already had the perfect example topare it with: War Castle Jing.


    And if he could use the same understanding he had about War Castle Jing, Jing Wei was sure that the Ancestral bell had a lot more to it than could be perceived.


    Jing Wei and Master Bell Mountain shed several times while the Sky Precepts Ancestor supported him.


    Unlike the other two ancestors of the top sects, the Sky Precepts ancestor wasn''t actually someone that specialized in offense. Rather, most of his skills were centered around support and defense.


    "Profundity Carving Shield, Deploy!" The Sky Precepts Ancestor chanted and threw out a small metal shield that was barely the size of a palm.


    "Profundity Carving Shield, Deploy!"


    "Profundity Carving Shield, Deploy"


    Surprisingly when he did that, he wasn''t alone. All the elders of the Sky Precepts sect, including the patriarch, threw out a simr palm sized metal shield.


    The people of the alliance and the enemies were a little confused upon seeing this, but were still alert.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    The multiple palm sized shields all arranged into a pattern in the sky, before glowingly brightly.


    ~HUALA~


    Jing Wei nced at therge array that was forming in the air and was intrigued.


    "Your sect actually managed to finish the first form of the Profundity Carving Shield?" Jing Wei asked with interest, while continuing to fight against Master Bell Mountain.


    His opponent was a irked seeing how Jing Wei could be this causal in a fight. But he had to admit that the power of the sword in his hand was really dangerous. The Ancestral Bell kept on informing him about the damage it was sustaining.


    "We actually finished it a decade ago." The Sky Precepts Ancestor said while controlling the shield with his gestures.


    The many palm shields suddenly released strings of light that interconnected with each other, forming a that soon solidified. A few secondster a massive shield had condensed in the air.


    It had several facets and had eighteen sides!


    "GO!" The Sky Precepts Ancestor thrust his hand forward and the Profundity Carving Shield followed hismand.


    ~DENG~


    The shield and bell collided, creating a harsh screech that forced the weaker experts to block their ears.


    It was simply too loud and created ripples in the air. The snow and rubble in the area around it was sted away from the impact as well.


    "It really is something worthy of being left behind by an immortal." Jing Wei muttered.


    He actually knew about the Profundity Carving Shield and its origin. This was something that the Immortal from the Sky Precepts Sect had left behind when he had descended in the past.


    The Sky Precepts Sect had been working to make it ever since then.


    ''If its this good when it''s only partially made, then how strong would it be in its true state?'' Jing Wei wonders, knowing that the shield in front of him was not itplete form.

 Chapter 1184 The Potential Of Allies Is Displayed

    Chapter 1184 The Potential Of Allies Is Disyed¡¡¡¡The Profundity Carving shield like its name, was truly profound.


    It was a tool that could be expanded modrly. The entire tool wasposed of several palm sized shields like what the Sky Precepts sect members had used. Each of the shields had profound runes carved on them that were different from Dao script.


    These runes were said to have been originally created by a great existence in the immortal world. They couldbine to grow in power and had many functions.


    The Profoundity Carving Shield that could be seen right now was barely in its first form. But even in its first form, it was at the pseudo immortal tool. And its maximum potential was said to be legendary, being able to even stop the falling skies!


    Though letting it reach that level was not an easy task and even if the Sky Precepts sect was the top sect in the Xiaofan world and had a ton of resources, it was not possible for them to do so.


    Simply letting it reach the first level had taken them several thousand years after all.


    Jing Wei knew about the Profundity Carving shield because the Jing n had once been asked to take a look at the refinement method. The Sky precepts sect hadmissioned them to help a long time ago.


    This was long before Jing Wei was even born and the current conflicts were nonexistent, with the rtionship between the Sky Precepts Sect and the Jing n being genial.


    But despite the assistance of the then Jing n, they didn''t have much sess. Due to thepletely different runes being used in it, the Jing n had no basis to work on other than to start learning them from scratch.


    Many things happened back then and the exact series of events were unknown, but at a certain point the coboration had simply stooped and the sect had put the Profundity Carving Shield on the back burner.


    The appearance of it was quite surprising to Jing Wei and if this was during the normal time, he would have liked to take a closer look at it.


    In fact, seeing the hybridposite nature of the shield, Jing Wei was sure that the War Castle Jing itself might have taken some inspiration from it. After all, War Castle Jing was aposite spirit tool as well and was also at the pseudo immortal grade.


    Regardless of the origins of the profundity carving shield, now that it had appeared, the battle had be a lot more stable for them. N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    Jing Wei used his immortal grade sword and continued to strike the Ancestral Bell, while the Profundity Carving Shield blocked the attacks that came from it. Thebination of a sword and shield was as old as history and certainly proved its worth here.


    Still, a stalemate was achieved here, as neither party could gain an advantage right away.


    With the strongest parties upied, the rest of the alliance was now free to act on their own and battle the foes.


    Even among the battlefield, several groups had formed. Each of these groups were none other than the different powers thatposed the alliance. This included the top sects, the subordinates and middle grade sects, the ns of the Fenlong kingdom, the Hong Lin Kingdom, the mercenary union and servant independent powers.


    Each of these groups disyed their unique powers and abilities against the foes.


    The Mu n unleashed their puppets that scuttled through the battlefield, weaving around enemies and attacking them. There were many kinds of puppets too, with some looking like boxes that had legs attached to them and some that were shaped like various animals.


    The strongest among them though was none other than therge puppet being controlled by none other than Mu Tao, the current head of the Mu n. The boy that Lin Mu had met a long time ago was no longer naive and had be a young man at the Peak of the Nascent soul realm.


    But even if he was just at the Peak of the nascent soul realm, his capabilities extended beyond that. He controlled arge puppet that had three heads, and six arms. Its legs were like that of a monkey while several weapons were held in its arms.


    It battled across the battlefield and contended against the Dao Shell realm experts of the northern tribe.


    And this wasn''t just Mu Tao either. Almost all experts of the Mu n could fight above their realm using their puppets.


    But this left their bodies vulnerable, which were then protected by another group. This was none other than the Fen n, which had awakened its innate bloodline and gained greater power.


    They defended the Mu n while also attacking the Northern Tribes with Miss Fen, the head of the Fen n taking the lead.


    She herself was also at the Peak of the Nascent soul realm and was actually very close to the Dao Shell realm. But when adding the power of her bloodline, she could contend with the Dao Shell realm cultivators as well.


    Then there was King Hong who had been battling to his heart''s desire. The Undaunted Ember Physique was something that not only changed the body of a person, but also their personality.


    It turned them dauntless and made them a warrior that would never back down. Thus, King Hong was like a shark in the ocean, killing and fighting freely.


    Wu Hei too fought, unleashing all of his skills that had been hidden for long. The inheritance of the Taiji Celestial was profound and mysterious, and Wu Hei had obtained a part of it.


    Its effects were impressive, with each of his fists sting back foes. They could even reflect attacks to a certain extent, and he could infuse his energy into weapons as well.


    Jiao Fang had also joined back after recovering a bit and used a myriad of skills, some that he had obtained himself, while some that originated from the northern tribes themselves, which greatly confused the people of the tribes.

 Chapter 1185 Duan Kes Search

    Chapter 1185 Duan Ke''s Search¡¡¡¡Still, while the many groups of the alliance fought back against the Northern Tribes, there was a certain person missing.


    This being none other than Lin Mu, the leader of the alliance himself.


    His disappearance had not gotten unnoticed either as many people such as the patriarchs, Jing Luo, Wu Hei and even Jing Wei had sensed it. And thus to find him, one person had set out.


    ''How could he just disappear randomly?'' Duan Ke wondered.


    She looked back to the west and saw Little Shrubby battling against Master Cull Mountain along with the Rainbow Pill Ancestor. Duan Ke was certainly surprised by Little Shrubby''s increase in power.N?velDrama.Org copyrighted ? content.


    ''I would have never imagined the small beast would turn out to be thisrge¡­'' Duan Ke thought to herself.


    "But if he''s there and battling with no issues, then Lin Mu should be fine. If he was not, the beast would have certainly not stayed on fighting." Duan Ke reckoned.


    She had seen the bond between Lin Mu and Little Shrubby and could tell that it was beyond anything that was recorded in their library. No beast tamer had ever reached that level of connection or understanding.


    The two could sense each other no matter how far they were and evenmunicate that way.


    Little Shrubby was someone who only cared about Lin Mu and would not take it if something happened to him.


    The whole reason Little Shrubby had even participated in the alliance''s work and be the Saviour beast during Lin Mu''s own seclusion was due to his master''s words.


    If it were not for that, Little Shrubby had no reason to fight at all.


    To him, his master''s enemies were his enemies.


    And thus, if his master was hurt, he would stop and help him as the very first thing.


    This prompted Duan Ke to wonder if Lin Mu was upied due to something.


    The first ce Duan Ke decided to search was the location where Lin Mu wasst seen. It didn''t take her long to reach there while also staying hidden under the effect of a skill. She certainly didn''t want to attract the attention of a strong foe while she had her mind distracted.


    The location in question was a patch of broken trees and rocks that were originally part of a hill that had been smashed into fragments.


    "This is definitely where the boundary of the barrier started to break from¡­" Duan Ke said upon sensing the faint energy traces in the air.


    Her spirit sense was already scanning each and every location but was unable to find Lin Mu. Narrowing her eyes, she took out apass from her spatial storage tool.


    Thepass was made out of wood and had six needles attached to the periphery. There was a spherical indent in the center, which was currently empty, and many runes were also inscribed on thepass.


    "It was good that we kept some of his blood." Duan Ke muttered and took out a ss vial as well.


    The vial was filled with dark red blood and was under several preservative formations that kept it fresh.


    ~Shua~


    The woodenpass automatically floated in front of Duan Ke and she was free to use her hands.


    ~pop~


    Opening the vial of blood, she poured it out on the woodenpass. Once that was done, she took out a marble and ced it in the central indent of thepass.


    ~HISS~


    The blood covering the woodenpass started to sizzle and bubble. It flowed along the many runes that were carved on thepass and finally reached its center, covering the marble entirely.


    The transparent ss marble turned blood red, and the runes on thepass became active as well.


    ~HONG~


    A wave of energy was let out from the marble that spread through thepass before reaching the six needles.


    ~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~


    The needles twitched and spun on the periphery of the needle crazily before settling into specific positions.


    Three of the needles came close and pointed in the same direction, while the remaining three randomly pointed in other directions.


    Duan Ke furrowed her brows, having not expected this result.


    "Even with his own blood, thepass cannot find him urately? How is it possible?" Duan Ke wondered.


    Normally, the six needles reacted ording to the significance of the tracking material used. And blood from a person was something that was rtively very urate for tracking, thus thepass should have had all six needles pointing in the same direction.


    "I''ll just have to take what I get now," Duan Ke decided, and followed the unified direction the three needles were pointing.


    The location wasn''t that far from where she was and led her to the mountains bordering the north of the battlefield.


    Once she was here, the needles moved once more, and tilted downwards.


    "Down there?" Duan Ke let her spirit sense check it and discovered that there was actually rubble underneath the ice and snow.


    ~BOOM~


    Duan Ke pped out with her palm stuck to the ground, sting away all the snow and ice, revealing the rubble hidden underneath.


    Upon seeing it, her eyes noticed the runs carved on it as well as the faint trace of spirit Qi in the air.


    "No wonder¡­ these runes seem to be part of a sealing and isting array. While it has been broken, they can still hide a limited number of presciences." Duan Ke understood.


    She descended while monitoring thepass and saw that the needles were still pointing down. Waving her hand, she broke apart the rubble even more and excavated the ground, revealing arge tunnel that was hidden underneath.


    "This¡­ isn''t it the secret tunnel that the Northern Tribes had made?" Duan Ke identified.


    Continuing onwards, she illuminate the darkness and soon found what she was looking for.


    "Lin Mu?" Duan Ke felt like she was dreaming at first, upon seeing the sight in front of her.


    ~GRRR~


    "Don''t¡­e¡­ close¡­" A voice was heard.


    Duan Ke observed therge being lying on the ground. This was none other than Lin Mu in his ''demonic'' form, but he didn''t seem to be fine.

 Chapter 1186 Volatile State

    Chapter 1186 Vtile State¡¡¡¡~Gasp~


    Duan Ke couldn''t help but watch in shock.


    She had not seen this form of Lin Mu''s ever before, but she was sure that it was not normal. If it were not for the fact that the woodenpass was pointing to him and confirmed his identity, she would have never believed her eyes.


    "Lin Mu? W-what happened to you?" Duan Ke asked, taking a step forward.


    ~HISS~


    But just as she did, the red aura that was surrounding Lin Hushed out at her.


    "ARGH!" Duan Ke barely managed to block it with her sword but even then she felt the impact and was knocked severe meters back.


    "I said stay back!" Lin Mu warned once more.


    This time, Duan Ke heeded it and watched from afar. Taking a closer look at Lin Mu, she could see he was in a strange state. Even if she was unfamiliar with his ''demonic'' form, she could tell he was not fine.


    There were several injuries on his body and they didn''t seem to be inflicted by someone else.


    ~KACHA~


    "Huh?" Then in front of Duan Ke, a crack appeared on Lin Mu''s body.


    More of the Red aura escaped from the crack and joined the rest of it swirling around him.


    "What''s happening to you?" Duan Ke questioned, feeling nervous.


    "I can''t control it any longer. If I let this form stay, I might not be able to return to normal. I need to suppress it." Lin Mu replied, his voice hoarse and vastly different from normal.


    He had never expected that there would be such a change in the effects of the burning heart sutra. While it certainly provided him with great strength and even gave him this form, it came with great disadvantages as well.


    Lin Mu only discovered them now that he was experiencing them.


    He had known that Burning Heart Sutra was not a chant he should use casually since the power increase it offered came at an expense. Not only did it consume his Vital essence rapidly, but it was also greatly taxing on his mind.


    Along with an increase in physical power, the Burning Heart Sutra also amplified Lin Mu''s emotions, with the main one being anger. And now that he had maintained the form for this long, it wasn''t just amplify the rightful anger, but the irrational anger that was ever present.


    Slowly Lin Mu realized he was losing control of his body and didn''t know what would happen if he stayed like this for any longer. He had been trying to get a hold of himself, but found it very difficult.


    Even Xukong''s link with him had been blocked and they couldn''tmunicate right now. This was something that had happened before as well, and Lin Mu knew that the ring''s skills could overwhelm his mind like that.N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    Another thing that was happening was that Lin Mu felt like he was getting ravenous by the minute. He had already consumed several Dao Treading realm experts directly, and they were already digested by his body and converted into pure vitality that further fueled this form.


    But that gain was depleting rapidly. Even the many beast corpses and spirit herbs he had eaten beforeing to the battle had been exhausted in this form.


    Just seeing Duan Ke was making him hungry as well, and he was doing his best to hold back.


    "W-what can I do to help you?" Duan Ke asked, knowing that the situation was dire.


    She didn''t run away, as that was not something she would ever do. She owed Lin Mu a great debt and there was no way she would abandon him here like this.


    "I¡­ I¡­ I can suppress this form¡­ but¡­ I need a way to hold back this wild aura." Lin Mu spoke with great difficult, beastly growls escaping between his words.


    "Surpass that aura?" Duan Ke muttered as she observed the red aura.


    Her spirit sense moved and tried to touch the red aura, but was quickly repelled by it.


    "SSS~" She hissed in pain and held her head. ''Even using my spirit sense is not an option here?'' The red aura was far too vtile and injured her spirit sense with ease.


    Her mind worked quickly as she tried to figure out a method to help Lin Mu.


    Duan Ke had spent years onprehending the information that had been passed on to her by Xukong. In doing that, she had improver her skills by many times and had the confidence to use abilities she had never attempted before.


    "I have to try that¡­ It has to work!" Duan Ke muttered to herself as determination appeared in her eyes.


    In the next moment, she flicked her hands and threw out eight stakes that were filled with densely carved runes.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    The eight stakes flew out and embedded themselves into the ground around Lin Mu.


    ~THUD~ THUD~ THUD~


    The red aura around Lin Mushed out towards the stakes, but the stakes were durable enough to hold on. From this, one could tell that the aura was violent against everything that approached it and held no proper sentience.


    Once the stakes were embedded into the ground firmly, Duan Ke uttered several iprehensible sybles before drawing out tens of runes with her hands. Her brain worked on multiple things as she kept on muttering and making runes with her hands.


    Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead as the runes increased in number.


    Then at a certain point, she gritted her teeth and brought her fingers together in a hand seal.


    "Aural Binding Chains!" Duan Ke uttered, executing the skill.


    ~SHING~


    The runes turned into chain links and flew towards the eight stakes, joining with them. The chain linkstched onto each other before turning into long chains that swirled in the air.


    "BIND!" Duan Ke clenched her hands together.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    The chains stabbed through the red aura and seeminglytched onto it. They then pulled back, stretching the aura thing such that it couldn''tsh out anymore.

 Chapter 1187 Reverting And Calmness

    Chapter 1187 Reverting And Calmness¡¡¡¡Duan Ke felt like a weight was put on her head as she struggled to maintain the Aural Blinding Chains.


    "NOW! I''ll restrain them!" Duan Ke shouted.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes the moment he heard her and started to chant something. At first no voice came from his lips, but soon esoteric chants were hearding out from it. The chants were low, almost like a whisper but grew louder bit by bit.


    And in less than thirty seconds, they were as loud as the chants of an entire monastery full of monks.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    Duan Ke who heard the chants felt the weight on her mind lighten up and her heart felt a lot calmer as well. It wasn''t the first time she had felt something like this before either and Lin Mu had used it on her once before.


    ''Just like that¡­ back then too¡­'' Duan Ke recalled.


    ~WHOOSH~


    She was soon brought out of her thoughts and saw a change in front of her. The red aura started to churn and was being sucked back into Lin Mu''s body. The red aura entered through the very same cracks it had escaped and when a certain amount entered, the crack sealed up as well.


    What Lin Mu was chanting was none other than the Calming Heart sutra, which was the counter to the Burning heart sutra. Earlier, he was unable to do this since the red aura that escaped from his body would interrupt him every time he did that.


    But now that it was restrained, he was free to chant it at full power.


    The effect of it the Calming Heart sutra reversed the effects of the Burning Heart Sutra and started to revert Lin Mu''s body.


    At first his body shrank and the upperyer of red skin turned into mist that surrounded him. Nothing could be seen underneath it and only the esoteric chants could be heard. The chants continued for another minute before the mist dissipated and along with it the chant.


    ~CLANG~


    The chains made out of runes fell to the ground and Duan Ke dismissed them.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    The eight stakes seemingly broke apart too, having exhausted all their durability. It was evident that this skill put a lot of strain on them.


    ''Eight Binding Stakes at the High Grade were used up just like that¡­ and it wasn''t even used to suppress an actual being, just some aura.'' Duan Ke thought to herself, finding it all stunning.


    The Binding Stakes were amon type of resistive spirit tool that were used by cultivators. They could be used independently as weapons or in formations to make binding arrays.


    They were avable right from the low grade to the peak grade. The ones that Duan Ke had used were at the high grade and were refined personally by Jing Wei. They weren''t normal Binding Stakes and were his own unique product thus were stronger and much more versatile.


    But even then, they had been broken. And thous was when Duan Ke had used the Aural Binding Chains. It was a skill that was originally used to restrain the aura of a person or an entire ce to prevent others from detecting it.


    Duan Ke had guessed that since the vtile mist was also an aura, it should work on it. Her bet turned out to be correct,, but even then the effort needed was massive. Duan Ke had ended up expending nearly a third of her entire spirit Qi store.


    ~HAAA~


    Snapping out of her thoughts, Duan Ke looked back at the young man, who had returned to his normal appearance.


    Lin Muid on the ground and took deep breaths, feeling exhausted.


    ~step~step~


    Duan Ke approached Lin Mu and took out several pills from her storage.


    "Eat them. They should help." She spoke.


    Lin Mu lightly nodded his head and shoved all the pills into his mouth. And he didst'' stop there either. He took out several more pills from his own storage and started eating them as well.


    These were pills that were used for healing, but since they also had a lot of vital energy within them, they could technically be used as food rations. And that was what Lin Mu''s body was desiring right now.


    His stocks of beast meat had been depleted a while back, thus he couldn''t eat that either.


    ''And here I thought my stomach had enough energy stored in it¡­ just a single use of the burning heart sutra and the transformation used up a majority of it¡­'' Lin Mu was a bit lost too.


    He understood that the amount of energy that was used up this time was a lot more than thest time he used the Burning Heart Sutra against Ku Waowen.


    ''Why did the energy consumption increase?'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    "Finally! The connection works again." Xukong''s voice was heard once more.


    "Senior!" Lin Mu replied.


    "Looks like the increase in your body cultivation directly affects the burning heart sutra too. That ''demonic'' form of yours has changed ordingly as well. But I think you noticed that." Xukong spoke.


    "Mmhmm¡­ yeah. The defenses were certainly a lot more higher, so the True Gold Body Forging Arts definitely modified the ''demonic'' form." Lin Mu replied, recalling the gold lines and the goldyer that was underneath the carapace like surface.


    Even the toughness and sharpness of his ws had increased by a lot from what he had experienced.


    This gave Lin Mu a lot to think of and he realized that the Burning Heart Sutra will need to be tested whenever he improved his body cultivation. Or if he used them at times like this, he might get caught off guard.


    He also understood that the only reason he started to lose control was because he spent too long in the demonic form and used up a lot of vitality. The more he lost, the more hungry he got and the weaker his control got.


    Duan Ke was unaware of the conversation that was ongoing in Lin Mu''s mind and thought that he was just assimting the pills.

 Chapter 1188 Toppling Battle

    Chapter 1188 Toppling Battle¡¡¡¡Lin Mu and Xukong conversed for a few more minutes until he felt like his body was a bit more stable and the hunger wasn''t as strong. Even after eating so many pills full of vitality, Lin Mu''s body wasn''t satisfied and he would have to eat lots of meat to help replenish it allter.


    Until that was done, he was going to be feeling perpetually hungry.


    ~Huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and opened his eyes, prompting Duan Ke to look at him in concern.


    "Are you okay now?" She questioned.


    "Mm¡­ I''m stable." Lin Mu nodded his head.N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    ~SHUA~


    Then in the next second a wave of spirit Qi spread from him, as his spirit sense extended rapidly. It scanned all over the area, observing all that was happening and that which had already happened.


    ~Phew~


    Seeing the current situation, Lin Mu took a breath of relief.


    "So the battle has reached a tipping point for us." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Yes, grandfather and the rest of the sects are holding up against the northern tribes right now." Duan Ke replied.


    Lin Mu had been worried for a bit and wondered if the battle had changed too much in his absence. And while it had, it was in their favor, which was good.


    ~Step~


    Lin Mu stood up and gazed up at the hole in the roof. The cloudless sky could be seen clearly behind it.


    "Let''s join back. It''s best to act now that we are holding the lead." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes!" Duan Ke agreed and flew behind Lin Mu.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu sped up and appeared high up in the sky, Duan Ke at his side.


    Looking at him now, it didn''t seem like he was in a serious condition at all. Which in a way, was true. After all, using the burning Heart Sutra had only used up the stored vitality of his body. His actual spirit Qi stores were still plentiful.


    Not to mention, his body cultivation made it so that he would stay powerful regardless of it all. Even with no Qi, he would be able to hold back against several enemies.


    That was the greatest benefit of body cultivation, as crippling them was extremely difficult and one couldn''t just dissipate their cultivation base by destroying their meridians and Dantian.


    Lin Mu looked around and picked the opponent to fight. The most dangerous were none other than the three Immortal Ascension realm experts, but they were currently upied letting the rest of the alliance to fight the Dao Treading realm and other experts on their own.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    Then there was the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode in the sky that kept on raining down thousands of attacks per minute. Its attacks were greatly targeted as well and didn''t affect the allies, providing the perfect support to them.


    In the time that Lin Mu was away from the battlefield, the army of the northern tribes had actually been whittled down to less than half!


    "Let''s take out the weaker ones first before getting rid of the stronger ones." Lin Mu said as a few targets appeared in his eyes.


    ~SHUA~


    Then in the next moment Lin Mu disappeared into thin air, while Duan Ke went on to join Jing Luo in the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode. Once she joined him there, the attacks became even more intense.


    After all, the Myriad Armament Canyon Abode was meant to be controlled by several formation masters to be used at a its full potential. Granted, with a talented formation master like Jing Luo at the helm, the retirement of manpower wasn''t as needed.


    But Duan Ke''s support still made it more efficient for him. She took over the targeting part of the attack, while Jing Luo controlled the abode to actually attack. Their pace of attacking doubled and the Northern Tribes started to suffer even more.


    ~RUMBLE~


    ~CLANG~


    ~DENG~


    While the battle was fought on the ground, the battle of the experts was in the sky.


    "You southerners will pay for everything! EVERYTHING!" Master Bell Mountain said as he witnessed the death of his people.


    The appearance of the top three sects and their ancestors, along with Jing Wei and the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode had already toppled the battle in their favor.


    "Humph! The northern Tribes have failed tens of times in the past and will fail once more. This time you the grave sin of bringing forth an Invader that event the world does not ept.


    Do you really think you would be able to live in peace even if you won?" Jing Wei scoffed.


    Hearing Jing Wei state the truth only made Master Bell Mountain more furious, and he intensified his attacks. The Ancestral Bell rang nonstop, creating more and more attacks while the old man controlled it.


    The attacks were very strong, rocking the sky and if it were not for the Profoundity Carving Shield blocking any stray attacks from reaching the battlefield, the allies would have probably died several times over.


    Still, Jing Wei swung his sword non stop, preventing Master Bell Mountain froming closer.


    The immortal sword in his hand was simply too strong, and its abilities were also unique. It could extend and retreat at will, even being able to curve and bend without a change in its power.


    ~KABOOM~


    But as the battle continued, arge explosion was heard on the ground.


    "What?!" Even the immortal ascension realm experts felt the energy fluctuations and had to look for what had happened.


    "NOO!"


    "AAHH!"


    The cries of the Northern Tribes experts were heard as they died one after the other. mes and turbulent winds littered the ground as arge crater was created.


    Within the crater stood Lin Mu, holding the dead bodies of three Dao Treading realm experts in his hand. Or more like whatever was left of the bodies.


    "Three down, neen to go." Lin Mu said as his gaze locked onto another Dao Treading realm expert in the distance, making the expert shiver.

 Chapter 1189 A Breakthrough!

    Chapter 1189 A Breakthrough!¡¡¡¡"DAMMIT!" The three immortal ascension realm experts of the Northern Tribes cursed out in unison.


    They had felt their elders dying at once and knew that something must have changed once again.


    They were rtively fine with the lower leveled soldiers dying and even if Dao Shell realm experts died, they could bear it with a pained heart. But Dao Treading realm experts were not the same.


    They took at least a thousand years of nurturing and a lot of resources to raise. The current numbers they had were secretly grown under thebined effort of the three immortal Ascension realm experts.


    But that wasn''t all. Even with Immortal Ascension realm cultivators guiding the juniors, a Dao Treading realm expert was still too difficult to be created.


    Especially when they wanted a ''true'' Dao Treading realm expert and not a mere pupped like the ones Gu Yao had made.


    After all, in order to breakthrough to the Dao Treading realm, one needed to grasp a part of the Dao Traces and give birth to their Dao Embryo. Reaching the Dao Shell could be done by simply pouring in enough resources, butprehending the Dao could only be done individually.


    The method that the Northern Tribes used to nurture was none other than the Ancestral Bell!


    It could be said that the Ancestral Bell was their lifeline for everything. The bell was how they gained ess to the higher worlds and traded for resources. The Ancestral bell could also impart a certain understanding of the Dao due to the many patterns carved into it.


    Each of the patterns carved into it weren''t just for formations, they were also the representation of Dao Traces.


    And with how many patterns there were on the bell, it was easy to tell that it was no simple Immortal Tool.


    It was a mystery as to how the Northern Tribes even managed to get the Ancestral Bell at all.


    "Master Bell Mountain, we can''t let this go on anymore. We have to stop them at all costs." Master Cull Mountainmunicated with a jade slip.


    "I can stop the Centennial Sword Ancestor for a short time, and assist you in holding back Jing Wei. But you need to act in that time." Master White Mountain spoke.


    He was the only one who was facing a single opponent right now, thus was in the best conditionpared to the rest. Master Cull Mountain and Master Bell Mountain were both being held back by two foes each.


    "ALRIGHT!" Master Bell Mountain replied, as he gathered his strength.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~CRACKLE~


    And just as he did that, a bone chilling wind blew from the other side of the battlefield.


    Master White Mountain''s eyes turned bloodshot as he conjured his Dao Shell.


    ~SHUA~


    The Centennial Sword Ancestor narrowed his eyes and retreated some distance after shing out a few times.


    ~DENG~ DENG~ DENG~


    But this time, his shes were stopped by the chilly winds that blew from Master White Mountain and were dispelled into stray Qi.


    "HAAA!" Master White Mountain let out a cry as he released the power of his Dao Embryo.


    "Absolute Whiteout Domain!" he chanted as the Dao Embryo within his Dao Shell lit up.


    The Dao Embryo that Master White Mountain had was shaped like a snowke and looked to be fragile, but it emitted a bone chilling energy that made one feel like they would freeze just by looking at it.


    The snowke like Dao Embryo shone in a bright light as pure energy of the Dao traces rose. A Dao Skill was executed by an Immortal Ascension realm expert and its power was earth shaking.


    The entire area around him froze solid and even the Centennial Sword Ancestor was frozen solid in the ice. He was stuck in the pose of shing and looked like an immacte sculpture.


    "NOW!" Master White Mountain shouted.


    ~DENG~


    Master Bell Mountainmanded the Ancestral Bell and a ck pattern lit up on it. The pattern looked like a strange beast that had the head of a dog and the body of a crab.


    "Fields Of Decimation!" Master Bell Mountain used a skill he had not used until now.


    "Careful!" The Sky Precepts Ancestor warned Jing Wei as the dark energy rushed towards them.


    The Profundity Carving Shield could still block the effects for the ancestor, but the same was not for Jing Wei.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Not to mention, the icy winds of the Absolute Whiteout Domain had already reached them and were already slowing them down.


    The Sky Precepts Ancestor controlled the Profoundity Carving Shield and protected the allies below, but couldn''t do the same for Jing Wei.


    The dark energybined with the chilly winds swept the area in the blink of an eye, making it look like a dense haze had descended.


    "Jing Wei!" The Sky Precepts ancestor called out anxiously.


    For a few seconds, no sound was heard and a pin drop silence descended.


    ~DING~


    Then all of a sudden a sonorous hum was heard.


    A small dot of light appeared in the haze, which quickly expanded and turned into a star!


    ~SHUA~


    But that was not all as strong spirit Qi waves also came after that, which stunned both the Sky Precepts Ancestor and Master Bell Mountain.


    "Impossible!" Master Bell Mountain said in disbelief. "Immortal Ascension Realm?!"


    ~Shing~


    A sh of a de flickered before appearing right next to the Ancestral Bell.N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    ~CLANG~


    ~BOOM~


    The Ancestral Bell was knocked back, and even Master Bell Mountain was forced to retreat.


    The Sky Precepts Ancestor looked at the old man who had reappeared.


    Arge Dao Shell floated above his head and a Dao Embryo that looked like a hammer floated in it.


    "You¡­ You reached the Immortal Ascension realm?" The Sky Precepts Ancestor asked, feeling shocked.


    "Haha! I''ve been waiting for this moment! I knew I needed the right battle toprehend it! But now I know!" Jing Weiughed out loud.


    "Now I know what I shall name you! From now on, you shall be called the Ever-reaching de!" he dered as he gazed at the Immortal Sword in his hand.

 Chapter 1190 Flipped Odds!

    Chapter 1190 Flipped Odds!¡¡¡¡Jing Wei was someone who had always pursed to learn more about weapons and how to make them. It was the goal of the Jing n and what most of their people had inherited as well.


    His pursuit of weapon refinement and forging was so high that even his Dao Embryo was in the form of a hammer. In order to perfect his understanding of weapons, he took them up, even going so far as toprehend his own sword intent.


    For he knew, to make a good sword, he needed to first learn it.


    Jing Wei was no different from the many that hade before him. But he was the first one who had reached the level of making an Immortal weapon.


    Reaching the Immortal Ascension realm was a mystery for most. There was no single concrete method of reaching it and most that did so was due to luck. There were many theories as to how one reached that realm.


    Some said that simply cultivating hard enough was the key to doing it, while some needled to look for fortunate encounters. But among these theories, there was one that was often considered as the key.


    This theory was none other than fulfilling one''s goal and going beyond it.


    This goal could be anything, from revenge, to bing kings, to even something as simple as seeing some new ce.


    And for Jing Wei, it was this theory that proved to be true. For when he made the Immortal Sword, he knew he was close to a breakthrough, but he had not realized it. Only when he came close to death and the sword helps fight against, it did he realize it.


    That was also when he deemed himself worthy of naming the sword.


    Names held power, and when something was named, it was given an aspect of existence. Immortal Tools and Weapons held consciousness and were sentient. Giving them names was the final step topleting them.


    Reaching his breakthrough with the Sword was what Jing Wei needed, and a name was thus made.


    The Ever-Reaching de.


    A de that would reach as far as the wielder willed it.


    ~WOONG~


    Stormy spirit Qi churned around Jing Wei as his power only increased more and more. Spirit Qi in the air danced and gathered around him, fueling not only his own power, but also the Ever-reaching de.


    "I shall consecrate this immortal de with your blood!" Jing Wei said, while the Ever-reaching de hummed in excitement as well.


    It too desired the same, for it as it had inherited its creator''s will!


    Master Bell Mountain was overwhelmed by it all, as he could feel that Jing Wei was far too powerful than expected.


    The Immortal Association realm didn''t have any sub stages within it and was said to be aplete realm in itself. The difference in power within them could be vastly different and it was very hard to differentiate it.


    But there were always some people who went above and beyond their peers. When they reached the Immortal Ascension realm they would be far stronger than other Immortal Ascension realm cultivators who had been in that realm for many years longer than them.


    Master Bell Mountain felt afraid that Jing Wei was one of them.


    ~SHING~


    The Ever-reaching de extended in the blink of an eye and reached the man''s head, almost cutting his ear off.


    ~slick~


    Still, a small nick was left, and the man''s earlobe was chopped off from the residual energy.


    "Ugh! Damn this!" Master Bell Mountain could feel the energy of the Immortal Weapon lingering on in his ear.


    Even after injuring him, it had not faded and was still trying to enter his head and he had to block it off using his own Qi.


    "ARGH!!" But just as Master Bell Mountain was considering his own condition, another cry was heard.


    His eyes went wide as he looked to the other direction, only to find out Master White Mountain had just been hit with what looked like a long cortex of metal spirit Qi.


    ~BOOM~


    "Now!" Lin Mu called out.


    ~SHATTER~


    The ice that was trapping the Centennial Sword Ancestor was broken and the man was freed.


    ~SLASH~


    Continuing his earlier attack, during which he was frozen, the Centennial Sword Ancestor shed out. The sword light emitted from his sword was different from normal, it was as if it held starlight within it and shimmered endlessly.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    Master White Mountain was too busy trying to get a hold of himself from the surprise attacks and couldn''t defend in time. After all, he also had a mass of Metal spirit Qi trying to ravage his body at the same time.


    Normally he should have been able to defend against an attack like this, but he was still reeling in from using his Dao skill, which had also been repelled by Jing Wei earlier.


    Additionally, the turbulent spirit Qi from Jing Wei''s breakthrough had also sent him in a tizzy. Master White Mountain felt his inferior cultivation base aspared to Jing Wei.


    He was truly weaker than Jing Wei, who had just reached the Immortal Ascension realm!


    In the hundreds of thoughts that littered his mind, the thought of dying appeared many times, and he soon got to experience it.


    ~SPLATTER~


    Centennial Sword Ancestor''s sh reached Master White Mountain in the form of a sword light and split apart his body in half. His defenses were already wrecked by Lin Wu''s Metal Devastator and left him vulnerable to the sword sh.


    "NOOO!!!!" Master Bell Mountain let out an unwilling cry which caught the attention of Master Cull Mountain too.


    The woman lost her focus upon seeing this and got struck by Little Shrubby''s ws.


    ~HISS~


    Her flesh sizzled under the mes powered by the Dao traces of fire and the attack of the Rainbow Pill Ancestor followed soon after.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    Clouds of colorful smoke surrounded her in the next moment, arresting her energy.


    ~KABOOM~


    A few secondster, Master White Mountain''s body exploded under the aftereffects of the Metal Devastator!

 Chapter 1191 Two Dead Experts

    Chapter 1191 Two Dead Experts¡¡¡¡The sound and force of the explosion rocked the entire battlefield.


    But this time around, the weaker cultivators had learned from the earlier experiences. They had already started to move to the back of the battlefield seeing what had been happening.


    Besides, their part in the battle had already ended with over 90% of the cannon fodders of the Northern Tribes dead under the bombardment of the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode.


    And because of their retreat, they had managed to stay awake to witness it all this time. They saw everything from the start to the end, carving it deep into their souls, for they would pass on their story to their descendants for eons toe.


    With the explosion of Master White Mountain''s body, Lin Mu had already disappeared into the parallel world using Fade. Even he wouldn''te out unscathed from the explosion of an Immortal Ascension realm experts body and had to do that.


    The Centennial Sword Ancestor on the other hand, pulled out all the defensive talismans he had while getting back as well, preventing himself from getting injured in it.


    "AHAHAHA! THE FIRST ONE IS DEAD!" Jing Luo''s loudughter could be heard in the sky, amplified by the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode''s power.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu moved through the parallel world without stopping, heading towards Little Shrubby.


    He had originally intended to kill the Dao Treading realm experts first, but Jing Wei''s breakthrough and the subsequent distraction from it gave him the best chance to act. Lin Mu''s spirit sense had already been alert and scanning for everything, thus he knew the best opponent to attack.


    Master White Mountain was in the worst position and became his target, allowing the Centennial Sword Ancestor to finally finish him off.


    Additionally, the explosion of Master White Mountain''s body also killed of the four Dao Treading realm experts of the Northern Tribes that were nearby. Those from the alliance on the other hand, were still under the protection of the Profundity Carving shield.


    Albeit, even that was now cracking.


    ~KACHA~ KACHA~


    Several cracks covered the Profundity Carving shield and some of its sub-shields were already broken.


    Its power was falling by the minute and it wouldn''t be long before it dissipated entirely.


    Back on the side of Little Shrubby, Master Cull Mountain felt her energy being blocked as a mass of multicolor smoke surrounded her.


    "Haha, the oldest rule in the book is to never lose focus in battle. And you did that very thing." The Rainbow Pill Ancestor couldn''t help but mock.


    "You!" Master Cull Mountain gritted her teeth in fury as she stared daggers at the man in multicolored robes.


    Her own robes were scorched and a long w mark could be seen on her exposed back. It had been seared ck and faint embers could still be seen glowing in it, the Dao Traces of fire still trying to reignite.


    ~PTUI~


    Master Cull Mountain bit her tongue forcefully and spat out a mouthful of blood. Herplexion turned pale, but the restriction on her energy was lifted.


    Her body started to age and within a few seconds, her hair turned snow white while her skin became wrinkled like an old tree''s bark. If before she looked to be in her fifties, she now looked like she was in her nies!


    "Oh? You actually burned away your lifespan?!" It was the Rainbow Pill Ancestors'' turn to be shocked this time.


    By forcefully igniting her vitality, she created her own pulse of energy that broke the poison''s shackles. The multicolored smoke was made by the pills that Rainbow Pill Ancestor had thrown out.


    All of them were peak grade pills that on their own were greatly beneficial to a cultivator.


    But when they werebined, their effect changed. From a medicine, they became a poison and worked to block the spirit Qi and energy of an expert. Even an immortal Ascension realm expert wouldn''t be free from its effects.


    And if they wanted to dispel its effects, they would either need a peerless healing technique or the cure made by Rainbow Pill Ancestor.


    No one would have expected for the old woman to burn away her precious lifespan for it. From the vast change in her appearance, it could be seen that she had burned away arge part of it too.


    "This is all for the glory of the tribes!" Master Cull Mountain said out loud as she gathered her power.


    The sacrifice in her lifespan had provided her with a boost in her strength too, and the energy fluctuationsing from here were creating cracks on the ground far below.


    ~SHING~


    ~COUGH~


    "How!?" But then to her horror, a sword protruded through her chest.


    "LITTLE SHRUBBY, DO IT!" Lin Mu ordered.


    ~ROAR!~


    Little Shrubby pounced towards the old woman and mped his ming jaws around her and Lin Mu himself.


    "AHHHHHHH!" The old woman cried out in pain and tried to struggle, but she was being held in ce by Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu''s robes had already turned to dust, but his gold skin could hold back against the mes. Additionally, Lin Mu had the affinity to the fire element too and his resistance was good.


    Little Shrubby could have avoided burning Lin Mu even if he was in his mouth, but in the current situation he needed to use all his power. Lin Mu had told him to do so as well and that he would be fine.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    The old woman''s cries continued for a few seconds before they died down, her tongue and vocal cords having been burned away.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    Fragments of ck coke fell from the ming jaws of Little Shrubby, being none other than the remains of an Immortal Ascension realm woman.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby opened his jaws, and the ming figure of Lin Mu walked out, the short sword in his hand.


    The burning figures struck a terrifying chord in the eyes of everyone that watched it. Even Master Bell Mountain felt like he had made a mistake in attacking the South now.


    ''The Ancestral Bell was right¡­ the warning was far greater than I made it out to be¡­''

 Chapter 1192 A Seed And Unending Danger

    Chapter 1192 A Seed And Unending Danger¡¡¡¡While regret and fear filled Master Bell Mountain''s heart, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby stabilized themselves.


    Both of them had expended a lot of energy in killing Master Cull Mountain after all. Little Shrubby especially had to exhaust even more energy due to the fact that he was already in the Seven Beasts Burst form and was directly using the power of his Dao Embryo.


    Normally, killing an Immortal Ascension realm expert, even with the pure power of a Dao Embryo like that, was not possible. It was actually Little Shrubby''s unique Dao Embryo that allowed this to be possible.


    The Dao Embryo erupted with mes that were like the mes of hell, directly burning away the old woman as well as her Nascent soul, not letting her have a chance at escaping. The mes even used her own energy and spirit Qi as the fuel.


    This left Little Shrubby with no body nor soul to consume, but it was a cost that they had to ept.


    ~shua~


    Therge ming body of little Shrubby started to shrink as the mes started to dissipate.


    "I''m¡­ exhausted master." Little Shrubby said through their link.


    The mes soon disappeared entirely, and Little Shrubby''s true body was revealed. Several injures such as cuts, tears and open wounds could be seen on it. It was evident that while it looked like the beast was fine, it was only being masked by the mes.


    In reality, he had sustained a lot of injuries fighting against an Immortal Ascension realm expert on his own. After all, the beast had one something that should have been deemed impossible by most others.


    But the change didn''t just stop there. Little Shrubby''s body kept on shrinking more and more until he turned into a small kitten. He was even smaller than his normal cat form and now looked like a newborn kitten.


    Lin Mu''s eyes narrowed as this change was a little too drastic and he was worried if the beast was fine or not.


    "Little Shrubby, are you okay?" Lin Mu asked anxiously.


    But he received no answer, Little shrubby had already fallen asleep.


    ~rustle~


    But then suddenly, a mass of green energy emitted from Little Shrubby. The energy gave of a feeling of freshness and vibrancy.


    ''This smells like flowers¡­?'' Lin Mu was confused.


    The green energy coated Little Shrubby''s body and started to condense. And before Lin Mu could react, the energy solidified, turning into vines that tightly covered Little Shrubby within.N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    ~shua~


    The ball of vines with little Shrubby inside it started to fall, but Lin Mu quickly caught it.


    "What happened?" Lin Mu was afraid now.


    If it were not for the fact that he could still feel the link with Little Shrubby in his mind, he would have assumed the worst.


    "Using Seven Beasts Burst has exhausted a lot of his power and also taxed his bloodline. His ability from the Fume Wood Panther, the Vitality Reversal, is protecting him now." Xukong exined.


    ~Phew~


    Lin Mu let out a breath of relief. He had almost forgotten about the Vitality Reversal, but this time around; the difference was also quite great, so it was obvious as to him not figuring it out quickly.


    After all, Little Shrubby had never reverted to such an age before. And then the vines covering him were even more surprising.


    "Little Shrubby looks like a seed now that I think of it." Lin Mu spoke, recalling the how the ability worked.


    "Send him to the ring. I''ll watch over him." Xukong suggested.


    "Yes, that''ll be better." Lin Mu agreed.


    Since little Shrubby was now in a dormant state and was simr to a nt, storing him in the ring was no issue. Plus, if something did happen, Xukong would be able to act to fix the situation.


    ~shua~


    Therge ''seed'' in Lin Mu''s hand disappeared and when it reappeared inside the ring, it was resting on a soft cushion.


    The seed wasn''t alone either. There was apanion to it. A grey egg that was emitting rich vitality, looking as if it would be born soon. From time to time, faint flickers of light could even be seen on its surface as if fireflies in the night.


    ''Rest well, Little Shrubby. You''ve done enough.'' Lin Mu said in his heart and looked towards the final enemy remaining.


    Master Bell Mountain was still being pressured by Jing Wei while being supported by several others including the Sky Precepts Ancestor, the Rainbow Pill Ancestor and the Centennial Sword Ancestor.


    Surrounded by four Immortal Ascension experts along with the Immortal Weapon, the Ever-reaching Sword, Master Bell Mountain knew it wouldn''t be long before he lost.


    ''All the efforts of our ancestors¡­ the cost of our descendants¡­ and yet¡­ it was for naught.''


    Master Bell Mountain felt regret.


    Though he didn''t feel regret that they had chosen to attack the South, but rather that they had acted too quickly. He reckoned that they should have waited after hearing about the death of Gu Yao.


    Gu Yao was a man that even Master Bell Mountain had to take seriously. While Gu Yao wasn''t as strong as him, his ability to scheme and n was terrifying. After all, Gu Yao was the one who had elerated their ns by several years due to his efforts.


    "Give up and be ughtered. Perhaps then you might have the chance to pay for your sins." The Centennial Sword Ancestor spoke.


    "Your people have already fallen and there is nothing left for you to do." Jing Wei said. "You really should have thought well."


    The taunting words of everyone sparked a strange anger within Master Bell Mountain''s heart.


    "ENOUGH!" He shouted.


    "Careful! He might detonate!" The Sky Precepts Ancestor warned.


    "Humph! Even if he does, we can easily resist that. The juniors have already escaped anyway." The Rainbow Pill Ancestor said.


    Jing Luo had used the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode to pick up the weaker members of the alliance and those that were injured as well. Of course, the bombardment had not stopped either and now barely three Dao Treading realm experts of the tribes were left.


    Their morale had already copsed, and they were barely hanging on. The patriarchs on the ground, as well as the other Dao Treading realm elders, were ganging up on the three, and it wouldn''t be long before they died.


    ~HONG~


    But much to their surprise, Master Bell Mountain did not detonate.


    Instead, the Ancestral Bell started ringing in a deep tone. The vibrations from the bell made the very space tremble and an ominous feeling filled everyone''s hearts.


    "STOP HIM!" Jing Wei''s instincts told him that the man was up to no good. ''This feeling is just like back then¡­''


    Jing Wei recalled the war that had happened over a thousand years ago. He had fought on the front lines back then and the northern Tribes were on the losing side as well. But they had done something terrifying.


    They had used one of the ancient relic shrines and tried summoning a beast from beyond the worlds.


    Jing Wei and the others had barely managed to stop them back then, and the experience was still heavy in their hearts.


    ~RUMBLE~


    "You all will pay for this! If the tribes can''t have this world, then¡­ NO ONE CAN!" Master Bell Mountain yelled as he directly jumped, not the Ancestral Bell.


    The bell continued to ring as a strange fluctuation of energy spread from it. Master Bell Mountain started to bleed form his seven orifices and it became evident now that the man was sacrificing himself.


    ~SHUA~


    Then much to everyone''s shock, the Ancestral Bell inverted, with its mouth pointing to the sky. A ck dot appeared inside it which soon expanded and filled the entire mouth of the bell.


    Swirling ck aura poured out of it and the surrounding space started to crack.


    "He''s summoning something!" Jing Wei warned, as he shed out with the Ever-reaching Sword.


    ~CLACK~ CLACK~


    The others attacked as well, but their attacks never reached the Ancestral Bell. They froze a few meters away from the bell as if there was nothing beyond it.


    "Spatial Lock!?" The Sky Precepts Ancestor realized.


    The Ancestral Bell had sealed up the space around itself, preventing anyone from disturbing it.


    There was no way Master Bell Mountain could do something like this and only an Immortal Tool could achieve this.


    ~WUGUGUGU~


    From the swirling ck aura of the Bell''s mouth, a strange sound was heard. It felt like something was iling around in waters but at the same time it was different.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as his spatial perception activated. He soon saw what was happening and was stunned.


    "A portal?" Lin Mu''s eyes could see beyond the ck aura and saw the spatial portal that had opened up there.


    He was familial with them, having opened several himself after all. But this portal seemed different from the ones that he had opened. The spatial fluctuationsing from it were highly unstable and were eroding the space around the bell.


    ~SLICK~


    Then a few momentster, something long and ck rose from the portal. It looked like it was made out of ck tar and was sticky. But that was merely the start as more and more such tentacles rose from it, before finally arge ck blob was pulled out.


    There were many bones and skulls stuck inside it, while an ominous aura spread from it that shook everyone''s heart.


    Lin Mu felt rmed at this and the mark of ordained shone on his forehead.


    "The invader!"

 Chapter 1193 Gu Yaos Return

    Chapter 1193 Gu Yao''s Return¡¡¡¡Lin Mu felt the mark of the ordained thrumming on his forehead. It was as if the world itself was warning him about who had just appeared.


    Lin Mu''s eyes scanned the being standing on the Ancestral Bell and observed it closely. The Invader had several tentacles that appeared from its tar like glob body and also had many bones that moved around it.


    Sometimes these bones would disappeared into the tar and sometimes they would appear on the surface. But they never actually fell out of its body.


    A dark aura surrounded it that felt simply repulsive to Lin Mu and could be felt even from here. And when he tried to use his spirit sense to check further, it was simply repelled.


    ''It''s defenses are too high¡­ and this pressure too.'' Lin Mu thought as he started to feel something new from the invader.


    "AHAHAHA!" but just as he was analyzing the invader, a burst ofughter was hearding from it.


    "It can speak?" The people were surprised, including Lin Mu.


    So far, all the avatars or fragments of the invader that Lin Mu and the others had encountered were simply acting on instinct and weren''t really ''intelligent''. Of course, Lin Mu knew that these fragments weren''t the true form of the invader.


    The true invader had always been hiding somewhere in the void, but it was unknown where it exclude was. With its spatial abilities, the Invader could easily swim around the void and hide its presence.


    Besides, the Invader wasn''t in the lesser void. Lin Mu didn''t even know which upperyer of the void it was truly hidden in. Even Xukong couldn''t really estimate it with his avatar, since its senses were limited too.


    Lin Mu''s main goal had always been to eliminate the invader, and the Xiaofan had given him the same duty as well. But he had not encountered any traces of the invader after getting rid of Gu Yao.


    It made Lin Mu think that perhaps Gu Yao was the one who held the true ess to the Invader, and with him out of the picture, the invader was also unable to appear. Theck of invader during the fight also made him think the same as the tribes should have made use of the invader if it really was within their grasp.


    It simply made no sense to hold back at all.


    But soon the people realized that theughter didn''t belong to the invader at all.


    ~SLICK~


    A bulge appeared on the side of the invader and started to expand.


    ~POP~


    Then once it reached arge enough size, it popped like a pustule.


    ~SPLAT~


    ck tar like fluid sprayed everywhere and more dark aura appeared. But what was the most shocking was the person who had appeared out of the broken pustule.


    It was a bald man with a short ck beard. His skin was tanned like he had been working in the harsh desert sun for ages. His pupils were deep red and glimmered like rubies. He was wearing robes that matched his character, having red inner robes and ck outer robes with ck boots.


    "HOW!?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but exim.


    "Gu Yao!? You''re alive!?" Master Bell Mountain spoke, his voice trembling.


    He had stopped bleeding from his seven orifices now, but the blood was still there on his face. While he had not died yet, it was evident that he didn''t have long to live now, as his cultivation base was falling like no tomorrow.


    It wouldn''t be long before he became amon mortal.


    "That''s Gu Yao!?"


    "Wasn''t he killed by the Alliance Leader?"


    "How''s he still alive?"


    A mass of confusion soon spread among the alliance, along with a hint of fear as well. After all, one of their most dreadful enemies had turned out to be alive.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    "Ahh~ so you are the one who kicked my ns off course and destroyed my minor ne." Gu Yao spoke, his voice eerily deep.


    "How are you alive? I''m sure the destruction of the ne killed you." Lin Mu questioned the man outright.


    "Oh that? I did die." Gu Yao said, much to their shock. "But in death¡­ I found my new master." He continued.


    "That thing¡­ the Invader." Lin Mu guessed.


    "Hahaha! Indeed. I had experienced the abilities of my master several times before and had even adapted them as my own, but I never thought that they were merely a drop in the ocean.


    After my death, my master found me and revived me with his powers, giving me a part of them." Gu Yao proudly said.


    Lin Mu found it all to be strange, as Gu Yao''s tone was a little too confident.


    ''Why is he not just attacking?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    ~RUMBLE~


    And just as he was thinking that, he felt the space shake once more.


    "What in the¡­" Lin Mu quickly found the source of the disturbance, finding it to being from right behind the invader.


    ~RIP~


    The tentacles of the invader moved like whips and struck the air. But they were actually aiming for something else entirely. They actually hit the fabric of the space, or the boundary of the world itself!


    The tentacles had managed to poke a hole through it and were now tearing it apart even more.


    "WE NEED TO STOP IT!" Jing Wei shouted, knowing what the invader was trying to do.


    After years of experience, he knew how the invaders couldn''t fully enter the world due to the restrictions it held. Not to mention a world would innately reject an invader that was too powerful for its residents.


    Thus to ovee this, the invader had to take a different approach. It sent out weaker fragments of its avatars to taint the world''s senses as well as its beings. After enough time, it grasped the restrictions of the world and figured out a way past them.


    The Invader certainly had intelligence, and it was beyond what they had all thought.

 Chapter 1194 The Invaders Plan

    Chapter 1194 The Invader''s n¡¡¡¡The invader didn''t just need raw power to get into the world, but to also adapt to it. After all, even if it could brute force his way into the world, the world would also not just wait idly.


    In dire straits, a world could conjure a power that was beyond what any immortal couldprehend. It could call down storms that would st apart an immortal, or even spew the mes of its core, burning down everything.


    But this was only when its baselinews were vited. The Invader overcame them all by bing a part of a being that was originally a resident of the world. Now, even if the world wanted to expel the invader by any means, it couldn''t.


    As it would mean harming one of its residents, which it could not do. This was a naturalw that it was born with and simply could not be vited at all.


    ~CRACK~


    ~CRACK~


    The three Immortal Ascension realm ancestors of the top sects attacked while Jing Wei shed at the Invader. But the attacks didn''t reach the invader at all. I stopped the attacks of the three ancestors before they even reached the invader by the spatial lock, while Jing Wei''s attack barely went a few inches deep before being stopped as well.


    "Humph! you think being a mere immortal Ascension realm expert is enough to go against my master? You are all fools!" Gu Yao said before waving his hand.


    ~SHUA~


    A dark red aura spread out from his body and expanded past the limits of the spatial lock.


    "Retreat!" Lin Mu ordered everyone.


    The experts of the alliance that were still there all flew back and avoided the dark red aura. Lin Mu didn''t know what it exactly was, but could tell that it was not good. Surprisingly though, the dark red aura didn''t seem to be targeting the alliance members.


    "What is he doing?" Lin Mu wondered as he saw the red aura spread over the ground.


    But he couldn''t pay attention to it for long as the Invader was still tearing open the space.


    "What are you doing?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You''ll see soon." Gu Yao said and turned back to face the spatial crack that was being expanded.


    Lin Mu didn''t stand there and moved towards Gu Yao and the invader fearlessly. If there was anyone who could battle against spatial abilities, then it was him.


    Lin Mu''s eyes twitched as spatial perception activated at full power. He could now see the spatial lock around the invader, Gu Yao, and the entire Ancestral Bell. It was like a dense that was directly embedded into the fabric of space.


    He came to stand next to it and ced his hand on it, trying to sense any ws in it.


    Not finding any of them outright, Lin Mu tried to use his own abilities. Blink simply didn''t work as the two spaces were technically separated and neither did Phase. Lin Mu even tried Fade and went further ording to the distance there was, but when he deactivated it, he found himself on the other side of the spatial lock instead.


    "Those abilities won''t work since the Spatial lock has essentially isted the two spaces." Xukong exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu tried to use the ring''s ability to open a portal, but even that didn''t work.


    ''While it is separated, it''s not actually in the void¡­ I can''t use the portal to ess it¡­ then how¡­?'' Lin Mu racked his brains to figure out a method while the invader continued its work.


    The crack had now expanded to be over a hundred meters tall and a smile was on Gu Yao''s face.


    ''Won''t be long now..'' Gu Yao thought.


    ~WOONG~


    Soon the crack started to widen and its inside could now be seen. Upon seeing it, Lin Mu found it to be different than the void he had seen so many times now. Instead of just the darkness of shimmering spatial energy inside it, this spatial portal was different.


    There was an eerie green haze flickering inside it along with the darkness and streaks of green lightning also pulsed by. This green haze even came out of the portal like an aura. And when it did, the spatial crack expanded as if it were some acid that was corroding it all.


    A few momentster, arge presence was felt inside the portal.


    ~SLICK~


    The sound of something sticky wiggling and moving was heard which Lin Mu first thought was the invader. But it was actuallying from the spatial portal.


    "What in the¡­" Soon, the appearance of the presence could be seen inside the spatial portal.


    It looked simr to the invader that was in front of them, but it was many times bigger. In addition to ck tar, there were also masses of flesh and thick blood mixed in it, along with many kinds of bones and skulls.


    The bones and skulls didn''t seem to belong to just humans either, and there were many other creatures mixed in it.


    "That was not the invader?" Lin Mu finally realized.


    "It''s Summoning its true body!" Jing Wei and the Sky Precepts Ancestor said in unison.


    Lin Mu had thought that the invader was already here, but this turned out to be a mere avatar in the end. Even though it was strong, he was unable to tell just how strong it exactly was.


    After all, his spirit sense was unable to get near it.


    "Shit!" but when Lin Mu felt the aura of tree being appearing from the spatial crack, he knew it was beyond anything he had felt before.


    "An immortal¡­ we are doomed¡­" Patriarch Hua muttered in disbelief.


    ¡­


    While this was happening on the northern part of the Great Zhou Continent, another chain of events had been triggered far to the East of the continent. Deep in the great ocean, where the storms churned endlessly, there was a dark hole.


    At the bottom of this dark hole, there was a coffin that was chained to the ocean bed.


    Upon the intrusion of the Invader and its aura spreading, this coffin started to tremble!This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.

 Chapter 1195 A Coffin In The Storm

    Chapter 1195 A Coffin In The Storm¡¡¡¡The coffin was rather strange looking, and no one knew of its existence. It was about the right size for an average man and looked to be made out of wood.


    There was something written on it, but it could not be seen due to the many chains that were binding it. The chains themselves looked to be rusted and mottled, and yet they held a power that was simply unimaginable.


    The chains wrapped around the coffin several times, almost covering it in its entirely before attaching to the ocean bed. There, they were seemingly tied to twenty posts that were made out of solid rock.


    The posts had dense runes carved into them that seemed to be otherworldly. They weren''t written in Dao Script and neither were they written in themonnguage of the Xiaofan world.


    And if one gazed at them for too long, they would find a chill going down their body and their hearts would turn cold. It was simply too ufortable to watch the runes. Thankfully, they were hidden deep in the ocean, within a storm that not even an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator would be able to cross into.


    There was no life here, either.


    There were no aquatic beasts or nt life within a thousand kilometers of the border of the storm, not to mention the area that was underneath it. The conditions were far too harsh for any kind of life to develop here, after all.


    ~CLANG~


    The sound of chains being pulled was heard as the coffin trembled. It moved slightly at first but soon it got louder.


    ~CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!~


    The sound of the chains was heard non-stop until finally¡­ the first chain broke.


    ~KACHA~


    A single chain link shattered, freeing one of the posts to which the Coffin was attached to.


    This allowed the coffin a lot more freedom to act and it continued to struggle, this time having a far greater power.N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    ~CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!~


    The coffin moved in the direction of the broke chain and tugged at the rest of them a few times before another chain broke!


    ~KACHA~


    With two chains in the opposite direction broken, the Coffin moved even more vigorously until four chains snapped at the same time!


    ~CRACK~ CRACK~ CRACK~ CRACK~


    After this, the coffin got a lot more freedom of movement and it broke the rest of the chains one after the other. In just a short while, all the chains had been broken, and the coffin let out a wave of energy.


    ~SHATTER~


    The chains wrapped around its lid and base crumbled like chalk and it was now free.


    ~WHOOSH~


    It directly flew up and shot out from the ocean.


    ~BOOM~


    The massive storm surrounding it was dispelled from its force, and the ocean became eerily calm in a matter of seconds. It was as if the storm never existed there and therge hole in the ocean wasn''t there either.


    The coffin paused high up in the sky for a few minutes, as if sensing something, and then flew towards a certain direction to the northwest. Its speed was faster than anything in the Xiaofan world, even exceeding that of Little Shrubby.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    The sound of a sonic boom was heard as it tore apart the very air itself. And if one looked closer, they would see faint cracks appearing in the space wherever it passed.


    Back on the battlefield, Lin Mu and the rest were still struggling against Gu Yao and the invader, trying to get past the spatial lock.


    "Dammit! Even Meld doesn''t work¡­" Lin Mu cursed.


    He had now tried all of his skills, but none of them were effective against the spatial lock. It wasn''t that the skills didn''t work, but that Lin Mu was simply against something that had a far greaterprehension of the space than him.


    If he had more time and a higher cultivation bases, he might have been able to ovee this, but this was not the time.


    "Lin Mu¡­ Get ready to use that." Xukong''s voice rang in his head.


    Lin Mu''s expression turned cold upon hearing that and a trace of unwillingness also appeared on it.


    "I don''t want to abandon them, senior¡­" Lin Mu said.


    "I''m not telling you to do that¡­ there is another way to use the World Essence crystal¡­" Xukong spoke something to Lin Mu, eliciting a new wave of shock in his mind.


    While Lin Mu and Xukong conversed in his mind, the Invader was seemingly appearing in the Xiaofan world. Its tentacles extended from the portal and merged into the already existing avatar of the invader there.


    Like two drops of water merging, they were soon indistinguishable from each other.


    ~GONG~


    Then for the first time, Lin Mu heard a sound from the invader. It was strange and certainly didn''t seem like a human, or a beast for that matter. It was simply¡­ unworldly.


    "Wee master!" Gu Yao spoke, a wide smile on his face.


    The Invader seemingly wiggled in a receptive manner and ''gazed'' at everyone. The way it did so was also strange as the skulls floating in its body moved and ''watched'' at things for it.


    Everyone felt a chill going through their bodies at that moment, as a pressure greater than anything before was released.


    "Heavens save us¡­" Patriarch You Yi muttered, his breath wavering.


    Many others felt the same and since they couldn''t even resist, they were feeling even more helpless.


    "Gu Yao! What are you doing?!" Master Bell Mountain suddenly shouted.


    "I''m simply doing what you wanted." Gu Yao replied.


    "Then why are you¡ª" before Master Bell Mountain could reply, the earth shook and everyone stumbled.


    Some fell and some barely managed to hold on.


    "AH! Master has already begun his work." Gu Yao said, as he nodded his head.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Then under the Invader, arge fissure appeared. The fissure was at least a few hundred meters deep as its bottom was pitch ck and nothing could be seen at all!

 Chapter 1196 The Shadow Gloom Bone Lord

    Chapter 1196 The Shadow Gloom Bone Lord¡¡¡¡"What''s that thing doing!?" Patriarch Shandian questioned.


    The others had the same question as well, and even Lin Mu wondered.


    "All of you should feel honored that my master has chosen this world and has deemed it worthy." Gu Yao said in a fanatic tone.


    "Just what are you intending to do Gu Yao?" The Sky Precepts Ancestor demanded.


    "Me? I''m not doing anything. I''m simply here to serve as my master''s voice. Everything shall be done by my master." Gu Yao replied casually.


    "And what might that be?" The Centennial Sword Ancestor said as he pulled his sword back and shed again.


    "Tch~ Tch~ Tch~ You should just give up and sit down from now. All of you will serve as the perfect appetizer for the master before he eats this world." Gu Yao stated.


    "Eat this world?!?" Jing Wei was surprised.


    "You aren''t destroying it?" The Rainbow Pill Ancestor was surprised.


    "Destroy it? Why do that? It would be such a waste." Gu Yao chuckled. "This world has been nurtured for such a long time and even has the best kind of resources that my master needs. Why throw away a perfectly good meal?"


    Silence descends on the battlefield as no one had expected for this to be the case. All of them were sure that the invader wanted the world''s resources and perhaps destroy it. But not only did the invader want to consume all the resources in the world, but also the world itself.


    ~TREMBLE~


    Another quake was felt as the earth shook. The fissure under the Invader grew wider and it was unknown just how deep it had be now. The invader''s body was stilling in from the spatial portal and going into the fissure.


    The invader''s body above the fissure was still the same mass, but the fissure was slowly being filled.


    In a couple of minutes, the an entire three kilometer wide area of the fissure was filled with the body of the invader. All that could be seen inside it was a mass of wiggling tar and bones that floated in it.


    "What is the name of your master?" Lin Mu spoke after a bout of silence.


    Gu Yao who was focused on his master''s work, looked towards Lin Mu and raised his brows.


    "Hmm¡­ you are certainly an enigma¡­ a little familiar too." Gu Yao said instead. "You killed me once, but that aura¡­ now that I sense it, I have felt it before." He continued and didn''t answer Lin Mu.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    "How about you tell me your master''s name and I''ll remind you who I am." Lin Mu suggested.


    The patriarch and ancestors were a little confused as to why Lin Mu was asking this, but reckoned that he must have some n. Jing Wei nced at him and understood his actions.


    ''So we are to buy time¡­ will that being be acting?'' Jing Wei recalled a terrifying memory.


    Wanting to support Lin Mu, Jing Wei withdrew the Ever-reaching de and started to gather power in it secretly.


    ''You shall erupt with the greatest power I''ve ever mustered.'' Jing Wei spoke to the sword in his heart.


    ~humm~


    The sword lightly hummed in his hand but could only be heard by those that hadprehended Sword Intent.


    The Centennial Sword Ancestor looked towards the immortal weapon and instinctively understood it as well. The level ofmunication was something on an entirely different level. It was like anguage that only those that hadprehended Sword Intent could use.


    ''Perhaps today''s the day for it¡­ time for my end. A worthy end!'' the Centennial Sword Ancestor said in his mind, and a determined expression appeared on his face.


    Gu Yao watched Lin Mu for a few seconds after he had spoken and suddenly startedughing.


    "HAHAHA! Do you think you are even worthy of that?" Gu Yao said out loud.


    "I shall speak first then. Perhaps then you will realize if I''m worthy." Lin Mu said confidently.


    "Go on then¡­ tell me about you. You might have killed me before and have some ability, but you are nothing in front of my master." Gu Yao said in a prideful tone.


    "You are right, that I foiled your n and killed you. But that wasn''t the only time I did that. Rather, it was the second time I did it directly. We''ve fought before too and I defeated you as well¡­ forced you to change everything." Lin Mu taunted.


    As soon as Lin Mu finished his words, Gu Yao felt his memories turn and a certain memory appeared in his mind. It was a still vivid in his mind and the ten glowing eyes still made him shudder.


    "So it''s you¡­ Lin Mu. I never thought it would be the same kid as back then." Gu Yao said, as a hint of anger appeared on his face. "Good!"


    "GOOD! GOOD! GOOD!" Gu Yao eximed loudly. "Now I''ll get to pay back the debt. Your master humiliate me before and now I''ll shall do it to you!"


    "Because you know what?! MY MASTER IS STRONGER THAN YOURS!" Gu Yao said as he raised his hands. "FOR HE IS THE SHADOW GLOOM BONE LORD!"


    ~RUMBLE~


    The name seemingly made the very skies shake and the earth tremble. The Invader even let out a screech that could be heard everywhere in the Xiaofan world. The screech was somthing that was heard within the minds of every being in the world, striking a level of fear that was never existing before.


    At that moment, everyone came to know of the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord as it announced its presence.


    "Now that you know of my Master¡­ time to die!" Gu Yao said and sent out a palm attack towards Lin Mu.


    ~BOOM~


    A red and ck aura gathered around Gu Yao''s palm and shot forth, making the space shake.


    Lin Mu flickered and dodged it with Blink though, irking the man.


    "Humph! So you have some capabilities, but it won''t allow you to live lo¡ª" Just as Gu Yao was threatening though, an object appeared in the sky.


    "A coffin?"

 Chapter 1197 A Strange Skeleton

    Chapter 1197 A Strange Skeleton¡¡¡¡The appearance of the Coffin was the most unexpected for everyone.


    Not only because it was a coffin, but due to the fact that no one had sensed it appearing. One must know that the battlefield was filled with the strongest cultivators in this world and their senses would know everything around them.


    Thus, the appearance of the coffin was highly suspicious. Even Gu Yao furrowed his brows and held back his words as he saw the coffin. On the lid of the coffin, a few words were also written but could not be read by anyone here.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    "What ploy is this?" Gu Yao guessed that it was the work of Lin Mu and the Alliance, no doubt.


    ~CREAK~


    He didn''t get to think long as the sound of the coffin opening was heard. It felt like someone was prying apart the lid and the body of the coffin with a crowbar and the nails holding down the lid were being forcefully pulled out.


    "Is this your work, Lin Mu?" The Patriarch''s asked Lin Mu through the jade slips.


    "No." Lin Mu replied, feeling confused.


    "Then what is it?" They asked.


    "I have no idea¡­ I can''t sense it¡­ it''s as if it doesn''t exist at all¡­" Lin Mu said, finding it all too rming.


    He was about to do what Senior Xukong had told him to do, but had to do a double take when the coffin appeared. Just like Gu Yao thought, this was Lin Mu''s work, he thought it was Gu Yao''s work.


    Just as they all wondered about the mystery of the Coffin, it moved once more.


    ~THWACK~ ~THWACK~ ~THWACK~ ~THWACK~


    Twenty rusty nails were pulled out along with the lid of the coffin as it started to slide to the side.


    "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~" A long wispy breath was hearding from the coffin.


    It was strange, as if someone was trying hard to breathe but could not. It could even be said to be closer to a wheeze rather than a breath.


    ~ck~ ck~ ck~


    The sound of bones could be heard as a hand peered out from the side of the coffin. The hand was just bones, having no flesh or skin on it. The skeleton fingers sped onto the edge of the lid and pushed it asidepletely.


    This revealed the inhabitant of the coffin.


    "A Skeleton?!" Everyone was stunned upon seeing it.


    The skeleton was dressed in unique white robes that had gold endorsement on its sleeves, shoulders, and waist. It even had a strange golden talisman hanging from the top of its skull.


    The talisman had runes written on it that were far too small for one to read. But the most eye-catching part was the intricate ornament that it was wearing on its torso. It looked like a long ne that had five golden and silver discs.


    There were two disks near its neck, two below those around its chest and then one finalrge disc that was near its abdomen. The four upper discs were cross linked with the same golden thread that strung the entire ornament.


    ~ck~ ck~


    The bones of its legs made sounds as the skeleton moved forward and came out of the coffin.


    It moved around its neck and gazed at the people on the battlefield. But in the end, its gaze came to settle on three people, Gu Yao and the Invader, as well as Lin Mu.


    And when it looked at Gu Yao, the man felt fear. It was a strange fear that came from the depths of his soul.


    "ATTACK!" Gu Yao struck out without a thought in the next moment.


    A wave of red energy sprayed out at the Skeleton and everything that was behind it.


    But much to everyones shock, the skeleton merely put his palm upfront.


    ~HONG~


    The red energy wave that wasing towards it was dispersed as if it were nothing.


    "WHAT?!" Gu Yao was extremely rmed.


    Then the skeleton moved its hand and pointed at Gu Yao with its forefinger.


    "Eliminate." The skeleton spoke.


    A dot of light appeared on the tip of its bony finger and soon turned nearly a meter wide!


    "IMMORTAL QI!?" Gu Yao shouted in fear.


    "What?" Even Lin Mu and the other Immortal ascension realm experts were stunned.


    "Get back Lin Mu," Xukong urged.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    Lin Mu directly used Blink several times in a row and retreated half a kilometer away. The Immortal Ascension realm ancestors did the same, and Jing Wei retreated as well. All of them could tell that the Qi fluctuationsing from the skeleton were not spirit Qi at all.


    The Qi seemed far more powerful than spirit Qi and gave one a feeling of pressure just by existing. It even went so far as to directly pull in all the spirit Qi around it and consume it.


    Or rather, it could be said that the spirit Qi moved into the Immortal Qi of its own volition. It was like two mas being attracted due to having opposite poles.


    The ball of light on the skeleton finger reached a critical point and exploded!


    ~BOOM~


    A beam of light shot forth from the ball and struck Gu Yao.


    "AHH!" Gu Yao shouted in pain.


    Everyone watched on in a mix of confusion and fear as the Skeleton attacked Gu Yao,pletely suppressing him.


    A few secondster, the attack faded away, and the Skeleton lowered its hand.


    "Haa¡­. Haa¡­ Haa¡­. YOU! HOW DARE YOU!" Surprisingly Gu Yao was still alive!


    Lin Mu and the rest looked at him, finding that his lower half of his body had been melted away. And even his torso was greatly damaged.


    Being alive in this state was very unnatural and when Lin Mu watched Gu Yao closely, he realized why. His body wasn''t really made out of flesh and blood, but rather the same substance the Invader''s body was made out of.


    It was merely imitating the appearance of a human body and how its anatomy was. Gu Yao had long since given up on being human!

 Chapter 1198 The Immortal Of The Western Continent

    Chapter 1198 The Immortal Of The Western Continent¡¡¡¡The revtion of Gu Yao''s body as well as the Immortal Qi of the skeleton was too much for everyone.


    Immortal Qi was something that only immortals could use and would not exist in a low leveled world like the Xiaofan world. After all, it was directly against the naturalws of the world and if Immortal Qi appeared here, it would directly pull in all the ambient spirit Qi towards it.


    While this might be fine, if there was a small amount of Immortal QI, it would be like that for long. If enough time was given to it, the Immortal Qi would absorb more spirit Qi and increase in quantity, thereby absorbing even more spirit Qi.


    Then there woulde a time where there would be simply no spirit Qi left in the world.


    This was the same as the growth of the world being halted directly!


    It was uneptable! And thus against the naturalws!


    If a world''s naturalws were to change to amodate Immortal Qi, the world would have to steadily grow step by step. Only by doing this would it reach a point of allowing the co-existence of Spirit Qi and Immortal Qi.


    But all this meant that the Skeleton in front of them was simply an anomaly.


    ~WOONG~


    The Invader didn''t feel pleased by the appearance and attack of the Skeleton and swung a tentacle at it. The tentacle moved with the power to shatter mountains and struck the Skeleton.


    ~BANG~


    The skeleton blocked it with its left hand but was still pushed back several steps.


    "My master will not let you off, whatever you are." Gu Yao said as he retreated a little.


    The red energy he had spread around the area started to gather back toward him and clung to his fragmented body. It slowly started to repair and the ''flesh'' regrew.


    While the Skeleton and the Invader battled, Lin Mu was analyzing the situation.


    "What even is that, Senior? How can a skeleton like that move? And why does it have Immortal Qi?" Lin Mu questioned nonstop.


    "There are many ways to make a skeleton of course, a lot more than I can list right now. But looking at this particr skeleton and the level of sentience it has, it seems like a puppet." Xukong answered.


    "A puppet?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "Like those of the Mu n?" he asked.


    "It is simr to that in concept, but a lot more power. Considering the fact that it is using Immortal Qi to attack, it was made from the body of an Immortal Realm cultivator. And if I add the other things such as the coffin and the talisman on its head, I am sure that it is an Immortal Puppet." Xukong exined.


    "How can it exist in the Xiaofan world? Did ite from a higher world too? But then I don''t feel the same rejection from the world''s will." Lin Mu said in confusion.


    "There can only be one reason for that¡­ That skeleton, or whoever it belonged to, used to be a resident of this world and was born in it." Xukong replied.


    The only time a world would not fully reject an Immortal expert was if they originally belonged to the world and had left it after their ascension. They could technically return to their home worlds, but only temporarily.


    "Seems like there were many restrictive seals added to the skeleton puppet to allow it to exist in Xiaofan world without it being rejected." Xukong added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu said as a few ideas appeared in his mind.


    With the information that Xukong provided, he coulde up with a few scenarios of his own as to why the Skeleton puppet appeared now.


    "I RECOGNIZE THAT!" just as Lin Mu was thinking to himself, someone eximed.


    Looking at the source, Lin Mu found it to be the Sky Precepts Ancestor.


    "What? What did you recognize?" Jing Wei and the others inquired.


    "The robes that the skeleton is wearing. Do you all recall the story of of the four immortals?" The Sky Precepts Ancestor replied.


    And when he said this, Jing Wei had an expression of realization.


    "How can this be¡­ didn''t they all leave the world?" Jing Wei said in confusion.


    "Only three of them did. One did something else, remember? The immortal from the Western continent." The Sky precepts Ancestor spoke. "We never got to know for sure what happened to him. We simply know that he disappeared. We just assumed that he must have left like the others." He added.


    When Lin Mu heard this, he corrted it with Xukong''s words and felt it all linking up.


    "Could it be¡­ the Immortal of the former Western continent turned himself into a puppet?" Lin Mu found it absurd. "But wouldn''t it mean he killed himself to do this? Why would an immortal do that?"


    "Attachments can force oneself to do a lot of things that are often against logic and hard toprehend. We don''t know what kind of a state he was in, so there is no way to confirm it all. Perhaps it was even possible that he was close to death and did this to preserve himself in a manner. And even protect his home world." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu thought it over, and it did seem somewhat reasonable to him. But even then it was a little confusing over all.


    ~BANG~


    Everyone''s focus was pulled back to the battle as the dust settled. The Skeleton and the Invader were in a strange stalemate now. A strange barrier surrounded the invader and the attacks of the Skeleton were being blocked by it.


    "Should we assist it somehow?" Lin Mu asked.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    But just as he said that, the skeleton looked towards him.


    "Threat! To be eliminated!" The skeleton spoke all of a sudden and pointed at Lin Mu.


    ~WOONG~


    Immortal Qi gathered on its forefinger and the same attack as before was readied.


    "SHIT!" Lin Mu cursed. "Why''s it targeting me? I''m of this world."


    "It might be because of your abilities. They don''t exactly fit the level of this world. The Skeleton puppet probably considered them as a threat to this world, which it is supposed to protect as well and it attacking you now." Xukong said, his tone a little worried as well.


    ~BOOM~


    The ball of energy exploded on the Skeleton''s finger and shot toward Lin Mu.


    "FADE!" Lin Mu directly used Fade to enter the parallel world.


    Even he wasn''t confidence to tank the attack made with Immortal Qi. Lin Mu''s body might be strong enough to go against an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator, but it certainly wasn''t strong enough to go against an Immoral realm expert.


    Even if the expert was dead and was a mere puppet, it could still use Immortal Qi, which Lin Mu''s body and skills won''t block. The only way he could survive was to evade it entirely.


    ~KABOOM~


    The beam of energy struck the ce Lin Mu was in moments ago and created a twenty meter deep crater.


    Lin Mu returned some distance away and took a breath of shock.


    "You can''t do this on your own. Not anymore." Xukong spoke. "You need to do that now¡­ Use the World Essence Crystal!"

 Chapter 1199 The World Comes To A Stand

    Chapter 1199 The World Comes To A Stand¡¡¡¡It would have been the best if the Immortal Skeleton had taken care of Gu Yao and the Invader, but it was evident that it was no longer safe.


    The Skeleton had deemed Lin Mu as a threat as well and was trying to attack him as well. With the first attack dodged, Lin Mu knew there was no way he could take the risk.


    ''We were going to do this before anyway, so it doesn''t change it much. The number of targets has increased by one at most.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he continued to retreat.


    ~BOOM~


    Another attack came towards Lin Mu as the skeleton targeted him again. Lin Mu barely dodged it it using Fade.


    While retreating, a crystal appeared in his hand. It was clear but prismatic light could be seening from it time to time. A strange energy also swirled around it that was different from any kind of Qi.


    If one observed it for a while, they would realize that the power exuding form it was even greater than that of the Immortal Qi that the Skeleton was using. It was simply unfathomable.


    This was of course, nothing but the World Essence Crystal!


    It was something desired by nearly every great power in the world and was always in short supply. And when it appeared in his hand, nearly everyone could feel it presence.


    "What is that?!" The patriarchs felt their hearts shake.


    Even Gu Yao looked towards Lin Mu and felt the strange energying from him.


    ~KREEE~


    The Invader let out an angry cry and gave out orders to Gu Yao.


    "DIE!" Gu Yao was urged by his master to Kill Lin Mu or that something terrifying would happen.


    ~CRACK~


    But before Gu Yao''s attack could even be released, the crystal in Lin Mu''s hand was broken!


    ~SHATTER~


    The World Essence Crystal crumbled into fine dust that flew into the air and disappeared. At that very moment, it was as if the world stood still and time came to a stop.


    The ancestors watched with wide eyes as their bodies became frozen; the same was experienced by others. But the most shocked was Gu Yao, who felt the very space tremble.


    ''This isn''t like what the master just said.'' Gu Yao understood.


    His master had told him that the crystal that Lin Mu just took out would push them out of the world. But that didn''t happen at all. Instead, it felt like the target of the crystal wasn''t them but the entire Xiaofan world, which didn''t make sense to him.


    After all, Lin Mu was supposed to be protecting the world as the world''s ordained and not trying to harm it.


    ~KACHA~


    While he wondered about this, a fine crack appeared high up in the sky. The crack was barely the thickness of a hair, but soon started to expand. Its size increased to cover the entire sky, from the horizon in the east all the way to the horizon in the west.


    It was almost as if someone had split the sky in half!


    Everyone across the world could see the crack and wondered if this was the end of the world?


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then wind started to move, and stormy clouds formed.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Peals of thunder raged across the sky, as if angry about something.


    "Are those Tribtion clouds!?" The cultivators were confused and scared.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    But instead of striking the earths, the tribtion lighting went towards the crack in the sky. All of it seemed absurd to them, and it was as if their understanding of the world had been flipped on their head.


    They always thought that the lightning only fell to the ground. But this time it was hitting the skies!


    "Ancestors save us!" The peasants in viges huddled around their loved ones watching the sky break apart and the thunder rage.


    In the Sky Precepts sect, severalplex formation arrays, including the Start catching formation array which had newly been repaired, were broken. They all broke apart under an unknown force but the people running them were strangely unharmed.


    Strange phenomenon urred all over the world and people didn''t know what to do.


    Even the animals were left in a tizzy as they ran around randomly, unable toprehend anything. All their instincts were screaming at them, telling them that a cmity was approaching.


    But where could they run when the very world itself seemed to be breaking?


    ~GONG~


    Suddenly, the lightning bolts that were striking the sky let out a strange sound. It was like a bell had been struck, but it was not so.


    Ayer of light appeared around the entire Xiaofan world and could be seen from the space. The barrier was translucent at first and countless runes swam in it. The runes were mystical and were a mix of Dao script as well as several other runes.


    Theplexity of them was beyond anything that the people of this world could do, and it was certainly made by Immortals.


    "HEAVENS! THE WORLD BARRIER!" The Sky Precepts Ancestor eximed.


    The people of the Sky Precepts sect were quaking in their boots upon seeing the scene. After all, they had a close rtion to the world barrier and had been given a duty to maintain and protect it.


    One of the creators of the world barrier was none other than the Immortal from the Sky Precepts sect. They had watched over it all these centuries, ensuring northing happened to it.


    The World barrier itself was invisible and shouldn''t appear even if it was attacked or something passed through it. But today they saw it reveal its true appearance for the first time ever.


    "It is marvelous¡­" High elder Han couldn''t help but say.


    Simr thoughts appeared in the hearts of everyone as they saw the marvel that had protected their world for thousands of years.


    ~SHATTER~


    But all of it turned to despair when the barrier shattered apart!


    "NO!!!" The ancestors of the sects cried out.


    Even if the Sky Precepts Sect was in charge of the world barrier, all of them knew that without the world barrier, they wouldn''t be able to be safe for long.


    If this one invader was this troublesome to deal with, what would they do when tens of such invaders arrive without the barrier to protect them?


    And while all of them feared for their world, the crack in the sky started to expand. Pitch ck darkness could be seen behind the crack and no one could tell what was hidden there. The mortals couldn''t even see till that distance anyway.


    The only ones who could were strong experts and cultivators.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The clouds and lightning that were striking the sky disappeared in that moment, sucked into the crack.


    It was as if someone had used a vacuum to suck it all away. But this was merely the start as the crack continued to expand. In a short time, the crack covered the entire sky, making one feel as if it was night time.


    The sun disappeared, while the blue sky was no more. Only pitch ck darkness was witnessed above them.


    All this felt even more terrifying than the Invader that was in front of them.


    "Master¡­ what is this¡­" Gu Yao questioned, feeling lost but received no answer.


    Instead, he could feel a stream of fearing from the link he had with his master.


    ''Master is afraid?'' Gu Yao thought.


    ~CLACK~ CLACK~ CLACK~


    "THREAT! WORLD BARRIER IS BROKEN! ELIMINATE!" The Immortal Skeleton on the other hand, knew no fear.


    It changed its target from Lin Mu to the crack in the sky.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    Several sts of pure immortal Qi were shot out by the Skeleton. They were even more powerful than when it had attacked the invader or Lin Mu. It was clearly taking this as the greatest threat.


    ~poof~


    But the result of it was anticlimactic as the sts of immortal Qi simply disappeared into the dark sky.


    ~WENG~


    This was soon changed though, as the sky shook once more.


    Ten Golden Yellow lights appeared in the darkness, as if new suns adorning it. But the humans who saw it all turned horrified.


    "Are those¡­ eyes?"


    The ten Golden Yellow lights were clearly not just lights since they had pupils inside them! They were eyes!


    The eyes nced upon the people of the world, making them feel as if they were mere insects before it.


    "W-what¡­ what is this¡­" The ancestors of the sects feltpletely lost.


    But there were a few that found it all to be familiar.


    "I can''t believe it¡­ he did it¡­ he really did it¡­" Jing Wei muttered and stammered.


    He recalled the fearful memory of the past when he was warned by these very eyes.


    Gu Yao was the same as he too experienced it, but it was far too strong this time.


    Finally, a voice was heard in the heavens.


    "Lin Mu¡­ I can only do this once¡­ Observe!"

 Chapter 1200 Pull Of The Weaver

    Chapter 1200 Pull Of The Weaver¡¡¡¡The dark sky looked ominous, and the voice that came from it was even more ominous.


    But when it spoke to Lin Mu, the people of the Xiaofan world were left stunned.


    "W-why¡­ why is that¡­ that being speaking to Lin Mu? Why does it know him?" The Sky Precepts Ancestor questioned.


    The others had simr thoughts and wondered why something so powerful and otherworldly would talk to Lin Mu, that too something that had destroyed the world''s barrier and even shattered the skies.


    Lin Mu was supposed to be protecting the world and now he was acquainted with someone that was destroying it?


    This only made everyone confused.


    ''What is happening in this world? First the invader, then the Immortal Skeleton, and now the ten golden eyes? What secrets are hidden in this world?'' Master Bell Mountain who was lying on the ground thought.


    His cultivation base had basically been dispelled, and his body had aged greatly. Even now, he was only holding on through sheer will. If it were not for the fact that he was still within the range of the ancestral Bell and was being protected by it, he would have died from the mere appearance of the invader and the great being in the sky.


    "That thing you all see in the sky¡­ that is Lin Mu''s backing¡­ That is his master!" Jing Wei answered.


    "His master?!" each and everyone was left speechless.


    To them, an immortal realm expert was already something beyond their understanding, but now there was a new being that could easily exceed the immortal realm. Just from the mere pressure it was exuding on the world, it was evident that it was strong beyond the limits of this world.


    ''Observe and learn Lin Mu.'' Xukong instructed.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, knowing that this was an opportunity that was very hard to find.


    ~HONG~


    The ten golden eyes that reigned in the dark void shone brightly and illuminated the expanse. Soon, the surroundings of the golden eyes became visible. The first to appear were massive white pirs that flickered in and out of existence.


    They even shone with a prismatic light, looking beautiful. The white pirs were of various sizes, some looking like mere hairpared to therger ones that were like mountains. These pirs were seemingly holding up the very void itself.


    Covering these pirs and attaching them at the base were intricately woven threads. Only those at the Immortal Ascension realm could even see them somewhat clearly since they were too far.


    Once the entire background became visible, the people realized that the vast and dark expanse in the sky wasn''t just empty; it was actually a giant temple!


    And within that temple stood a being bigger than the entire Xiaofan world. Bit by bit, the body of Xukong was revealed. His massive head with ten golden yellow eyes and long fangs that alone were enough to pierce through the world.


    His colossal body that could eclipse the sun and the moon and long bony white legs that were like the legendary pirs that held up the heavens. Each and every thing was awe inspiring and at the same time struck a fear that was carved into the souls of everyone that watched.


    Gu Yao trembled nonstop, feeling twice the amount of fear that others were. Not only did he feel his own fear, but the fear that came from his master. The worst part of it all was that, his master the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord, seemed to be even more scared than him!


    "What realm is that being in, master?" Gu Yao couldn''t help but ask.


    Unfortunately, he received no answer at all. Or even if he did, there was a great chance he simply might not be able toprehend it at all.


    ~SHUA~


    While everyone trembled in fear, and the immortal Skeleton continued its attacks, Xukong made his move. One of his legs moved slightly and pointed towards the Xiaofan world. A thin thread detached from one of the pirs and shot towards the world.


    It seemed to being from very far and yet covered the distance in the blink of an eye. And when it passed from the void into the border of the Xiaofan world, it suddenly erged by several times.


    It was like a hair had turned into a bamboo!


    But that was simply an illusion. It wasn''t that the thread had erged, but rather it was always this size. It was simply looking small due to how far it waspared to the Xiaofan world, just like how a sun seemed small, even though it was exponentially bigger than a.


    Therge thread looked like it would fall upon the Xiaofan world, but when it got close it seemed to have passed through everything.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    It turned ethereal and directly passed through the Immortal Skeleton as well as therge body of the Invader, even going beyond that and reaching into the Forbidden continent!


    An ominous feeling filled the minds of Gu Yao and the Invader, while Lin Mu''s eyes turned sharp as they observed everything. Merely the movement of the thread from the void into the Xiaofan world had already taught Lin Mu a lot more than he hadprehended on his own.


    He could sense the changes in the space as well as the movement of the void. The fabric of space reacted differently too and the fine intricacies of the space were shown to him. His eyes continued to track the thread until it could no longer be seen.


    Millions of fine threads spread out from the main thread and covered the area. They directly entered the spatial fabric and wove themselves into it.


    It was at this point that it felt like the thread hade to a stop, but then¡­ Xukong''s voice was heard once again.


    "Pull of the Weaver: Unraveling the Void!"


    The main thread suddenly retracted and disappeared at a moment''s notice.


    ~SCREECH~


    Then¡­ it happened.


    The space around the immortal skeleton and the invader started to unfurl.

 Chapter 1201 The Final Push

    Chapter 1201 The Final Push¡¡¡¡"WHOA!" Lin Mu let out a voice of sheer awe at the act of Xukong.


    The Immortal Skeleton was still in its ce and was in the motions of attacking again, but its attack never activated. Instead, its body started to fragment and dissipate. As if old straw had started to fray, the skeleton''s bones turned into thin fments and broke apart.


    Its robes suffered a simr fate and in less than five seconds, it had been erased from existence. The same thing happened to the area around it, and the ground, trees, and rocks were all erased, leaving behind a dark void.


    Therge body of the invader let out an unwilling scream and forcefully cut off itself from the base. The top part of the body met a simr fate as the Immortal Skeleton and turned into fine fments before disappearing in the dark void as well.


    The mountains behind it and arge tract of area all the way to the forbidden continent suffered the same damage. It was as if everything was being erased from reality.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    Lin Mu''s spatial perception worked at full power and he saw each and everything. While it seemed like everything that met the power of Xukong turned into fments and disappeared, Lin Mu knew that it was not so.


    His eyes could see what others didn''t and saw the profundities of space and the Dao of space being demonstrated to the greatest extent.


    For example, when the skeleton turned into fments, Lin Mu saw that the fments were actually individual ''units'' of the spatial fabric. It was this fabric which contained the matter of the world and kept it together.


    What Xukong''s attack had done was simply removing the bindings that kept these ''units'' together. With nothing to hold the basic fabric of space together, how can anything continue to exist in it?


    It was like removing all electrons from a body. It would no longer stay together and fly apart, turning into fine particles that would continue to wither until they reached a very small stable state.


    The way Xukong had interacted with the fabric of space was enlightening to Lin Mu. After all, one of the skills he had did the same too.


    Meld was simr in this aspect that it could directly cut apart the spatial fabric.


    But theparison between Meld and Xukong''s skill was far too wide. It was likeparing the cut made by a butcher''s knife to nuclear cleaving done by aser.


    While Meld too cut the spatial fabric, it couldn''t maintain that state. The spatial fabric wasn''t weak either, after all. If it was weak, then nothing would ever exist in the world. After meld cut the spatial fabric, it would mend itself momentster.


    But Xukong''s attack went many steps further.


    If meld was like a scissor creating a cut in the middle of a cotton sheet, then Xukong''s skill was pulling at the free edge of the sheet, unraveling it. It was basically reversing the existence of the sheet, returning it to its original form of a cotton thread.


    ~HONG~


    While Lin Mu and the rest watched the aftermath of Xukong''s actions, the being in question started to disappear. Hisrge body faded away andrge white pirs did the same. The dark expanse in the skies also closed up, letting the blue skies return.


    It was as if nothing had happened at all and even the sun had reappeared, casting its light over everything.


    ~SKREEE~


    But the silence was soon broken by a loud screech that came from therge fissure.


    ~BOOM~


    Arge blob of ck tar filled with skulls and bones rose again, letting out an angry screech.


    "It''s still alive!? How!?" Lin Mu, and many others were confused.


    "AHAHAHA! I''m alive!" Gu Yaoughed in joy and rose from the ck tar pool.


    He had forcefully hid in the deep fissure, with the hopes of avoiding the attack, and he really had. But the truth was, Xukong had never targeted him from the start. Or rather, he couldn''t do that without viting more rules of the world.


    The ones that he had targeted were the Invader and the Immortal Skeleton, both of which who weren''t the beings of the Xiaofan world. This was the leeway that the Xiaofan world allowed him after the use of the World essence crystal.


    "The rest is up to you, Lin Mu. You need to get rid of Gu Yao." Xukong''s voice was heard in his mind.


    This time the voice hade from Xukong''s avatar in the ring rather than the main body directly.


    "Yes, senior." Lin Mu replied as a determined expression appeared on his face.


    He knew that even if Xukong had personally attacked, there were limits to it. He couldn''t go beyond a certain level or the Xiaofan world would suffer. And while Xukong''s attack had surely injured the invader, it hadn''t killed it entirely.


    The Invader had tenacious and stubborn vitality and could live on even when torn into shreds.


    It was at this moment that Lin Mu spoke to everyone.


    "Everyone¡­ The only way to defeat the invader is to kill Gu Yao. He is the link that is allowing the invader to exist in this world. But he is also being kept alive and will be revived continually by the invader''s powers." Lin Mu exined.


    "We shall kill him together, then!" Jing Luo said with confidence.


    "Yeah!"


    "WE SHALL DEFEND UNTIL OUR LAST BREATHS!"


    Everyone replied, having gathered their wits after seeing everything earlier.


    "No¡­ I can''t let you all do that. As we speak, the invader is draining the world of its energy. Gu Yao and the invader will stay alive due to this loop. The only way to stop it all is to remove Gu Yao from this world once and for all." Lin Mu stated.


    "How will we do that?" Patriarch You Yi questioned.


    A bad feeling rose in the hearts of several people as they felt that Lin Mu''s tone was different this time.


    "I have to¡­ I have to bid you all farewell now. I don''t know when we will meet again, but I promise you I will return one day." Lin Mu said, filling everyone with dread.


    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING LIN MU!?" Patriarch Hua and several others questioned in fear.


    But Lin Mu didn''t answer them, instead flying towards Gu Yao at great speed.


    "Humph! With your master gone, do you think you are my match!? Think you can kill me?!" Gu Yao taunted with new found spirit.


    He understood that Xukong had held back to prevent the world from being destroyed. But Lin Mu couldn''t kill him here either.


    "I don''t have to kill you to defeat you!" Lin Mu replied as he stretched his right hand and activated the ring with all his power.


    ~HONG~


    The ancestral bell that had be silent suddenly rang once again and activated.


    "What are you doing? How can you control the bell!?" Gu Yao questioned.


    Lin Mu didn''t care for it though and simply grabbed onto Gu Yao in a crushing grip.


    ~WOONG~


    A portal opened up with the ability of the Ancestral Bell and the power of the mysterious ring, its destination unknown.


    "AAAAAAA!" Lin Mu cried out as he pushed forth with all his power while Gu Yao continued to struggle.


    ~BOOM~


    Finally, he pushed Gu Yao into the portal along with himself, disappearing from the sights of everyone.


    "LIN MU!!!!!"

 Chapter 1202 No Regrets

    Chapter 1202 No Regrets¡¡¡¡~GROAN~


    A groan of pain was heard in what looked like an empty cavern.


    The only other sound that could be heard was that of a small stream that passed thought it.


    There was barely any light here and the little illumination that did exist came from the fine glowing moss that grew on the ground.


    "Ugh! My shoulder¡­" A proper voice was heard this time, belonging to a young man.


    If one looked carefully, they would see a person lying face down, a short distance away from the small stream. His body was riddled with injuries and the clothes he was wearing were tattered, almost turning to shreds.


    The worst injury though, was on the man''s shoulder where golden bones could be seen peeking out from the flesh. And not just a that, a fine crack could even be seen on the golden scap.


    "HAAA!" Lin Mu let out a grunt and made himself turn to his side.


    He stayed in that position for a minute, before mustering more strength to make himself sit up.


    "UGH! Where am I?" Lin Mu said with a grunt and winced in pain.


    He opened his eyes but could barely see anything in the area. Other than the faint lighting from the moss that reflected off the small stream, there was little to see. This was strange to Lin Mu since he knew with his enhanced senses he should be able to see in this level of light far more clearly.


    Unable to see anything or anyone, Lin Mu decided to focus on himself first.


    "I need to treat my injuries¡­ this is the first time I''ve gotten this injured after cultivating the True Gold Body Forging Arts." Lin Mu said to himself.


    He was about to use his spirit sense to check when he realized that he was unable to.


    "Huh? Why''s my spirit sense not working?" Lin Mu was confused.


    He tried to extend it from his body when he realized it simply did not leave the confines of it. Furrowing his brows, he tested it a little more and discovered something more.


    ''It works fine inside my body at least¡­ still, this is too strange.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He went ahead and scanned his own body, only to find out the vast amount of injuries that he had.


    "How did I end up like this?" Lin Mu questioned, unable to remember much.


    "No wait! What was I even doing before this?" Lin Mu tried to recall, only to feel a headache.


    He didn''t give up though and started from the next closest memory he had.


    ''Senior Xukong intervened and killed the immortal skeleton. Then Gu Yao¡­ UGH!'' Lin Mu winced in pain once more, but this time, the memories started to return.


    He recalled activating the Ancestral Bell forcefully with the ring and opening a spatial portal before pushing Gu Yao into it along with himself.


    And just as he did this, he felt the remaining memories appearing as well.


    ¡­


    "You will die too if you do this! And you still dare to do it!?" Gu Yao shouted while hammering away at Lin Mu.


    "Doesn''t matter to me! You will die regardless!" Lin Mu shouted and held Gu Yao in his grip.


    The two of them were moving at a great speed. And looking around, one could see streaks of light passing by like blurs. There were also strong spatial fluctuations all around them, but they were kept in ce by what looked like a thin membrane.


    Gu Yao paused for a moment and looked around, finding a strange energy around him.


    "DID YOU JUST PUSH ME INTO THE GREATER VOID!?" Gu Yao realized, as an expression of fear appeared on his face.


    "I have no idea whichyer of the void we are in." Lin Mu said, much to the man''s irritation.


    But all this was merely Lin Mu buying time so that he could figure out his next step. Gu Yao''s attacks were certainly doing damage to his body, especially since the man was rather strong after having been revivied by the invader''s power.


    Lin Mu could easily estimate that Gu Yao now had the strength of an Immortal Ascension realm expert at the very least. If it were not for the fact that his body was very durable, he would have been unable to live under the constant attacks.


    But while doing this, Lin Mu finally had an idea.


    "HIYA!" Lin Mu twisted his body and turned to the side.


    It was very difficult due to being in motion and that too at a great speed, but he still did it. This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    "NO!" Gu Yao saw what Lin Mu was intending to do and shouted out in fear.


    "HA!" But Lin Mu didn''t care for the man''s thoughts and kicked him in the chest with all his might, sending him flying to the other side.


    "CURSE YOU!!!" Gu Yao shouted as his body was flung aside.


    It flew a short distance before finally hitting the thin membrane that was surrounding the spatial channel that they were traveling through.


    Unfortunately for Gu Yao, touching the membrane meant that his body now needed to bear the full brunt of the spatial energy of the void.


    "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" An ear piercing cry was heard as Gu Yao''s body literally started being shredded against the spatial energy outside the membrane.


    It was as if a man was being pushed against a wall while being hung out of a train''s window. His skin and flesh were grated against it and turned into a paste before finally turning into fine motes of molecules that were neither flesh nor Qi.


    This was thest scene Lin Mu saw before he fainted, unable to bear his exhaustion. Not only was his vital energy drained from using the Burning Heart Sutra and being in the Demonic form, but forcefully controlling the Ancestral Bell and opening the spatial portal had consumed a significant portion of his spirit Qi as well.


    It was only through sheer will that he had been able to push away Gu Yao.


    His eyes closed and when they opened, he found himself in this dark cavern.


    "That was¡­ really risky¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he recalled everything.


    Still, it was a risk that he was willing to take and would never regret. Because if he had hesitated, Gu Yao and the invader could have very well escaped and hid in the Xiaofan world.


    And while Lin Mu and the rest might have been able to find them eventually, they didn''t need to hide for long. After all, the goal of the Invader was to absorb the core energy of the Xiaofan world.


    With the power that it had, even if it was injured by Xukong it only needed a few days to recover it all and even go beyond. But by that time, all would be lost and the Xiaofan world would start to break down in its entirety.


    Lin Mu certainly couldn''t allow that to happen.


    ~Sigh~


    "At least it''s over¡­" Lin Mu said to himself.


    Having understood his situation, Lin Mu first decided to heal himself. He had a lot of injuries that needed to be cared for and even his spirit Qi wascking right now.


    "At least there is spirit Qi here¡­" Lin Mu said with a little relief in his voice.


    He sat in a cross-legged posture and started to absorb the spirit Qi around him. At the same time, he took out all the remaining healing pills he had in the ring and ate them all.


    Lin Mu sat in that position for a few days, while his body healed slowly. Even cultivating took longer for him due to the injuries to his meridians. He had greatly strained them during the battle and not even realized it.


    Thankfully, the damage was not something permanent and would heal on its own with enough time.


    At a certain point, Lin Mu felt like he had healed enough and decided to move around.


    ''I have about half my usual spirit Qi stores¡­'' Lin Mu checked.


    While it was not optimal, it was enough for him to defend himself. Additionally, the injuries on his body had mostly healed, except the one in his shoulder. The flesh itself had healed, and the skin had regrown, but the bones underneath it would take longer to heal.


    This was the side effect of the True Gold Body Forging Arts that Lin Mu only discovered now. While it would make one''s body extremely tough and dense, it also made it so that it was harder to heal the bones once they actually broke.


    Lin Mu was still in the advantage here though with his bloodline of the Great Slumber bear silently promoting his natural healing ability.


    But there was still the issue of his spirit sense being restricted.


    "I can barely scan an area of ten meters ahead of me¡­" Lin Mu estimated.


    While he wasn''tpletely in the blind like before, and the spirit sense did extend outside his body, it was nowhere close to his range from before.


    Lin Mu didn''t know if it was because he was still injured or there was something else. But he knew that he needed to explore more to figure out why.


    ''Senior Xukong will also not be able to help me for a while¡­'' Lin Mu didn''t forget.


    Xukong had already warned him that once he intervened, his avatar will be forced to enter a dormant state to recover.


    Now Lin Mu needed to understand his situation without the guidance of his master.

 Chapter 1203 All Alone In Darkness

    Chapter 1203 All Alone In Darkness¡¡¡¡"AHH! Just how big is this ce!?" Lin Mu shouted in frustration.


    Rubbing his face he plunked back down on the ground.


    "How many days has it even been? I can''t even tell the time here." Lin Mu said to himself.


    He had been walking for what seemed like several days, but he had reached no end. The area was perpetually in darkness and there were no other topographical changes to the area either.


    Or even if they were, Lin Mu''s spirit sense was simply too short for him to detect it.


    ''My body is mostly healed other than my shoulder and my spirit Qi is also at 75% capacity. Considering these developments, maybe it''s been around a month now?'' Lin Mu estimated to himself.


    It had now been around a month since he had left the Xiaofan world and since the battle had ended. So far, Lin Mu didn''t know where he was, and neither did he know how to get out of here.


    There were several new restrictions on him that weren''t there before, and it was rather frustrating to him.


    At first it was even worse for him, since he simply couldn''t see anything once he left the cavern he was in. The cavern was faintly illuminated by the moss growing there and helped him a bit at first.


    Lin Mu even took some of the moss with him and used it as a light source out of the cavern. Itsted long enough for him to recover and be able to use his own spirit Qi to create a fireball for illumination.


    But continually letting it burn was not faring well from him. This was when he realized the second restriction he had on him. Whenever he used a Qi skill, his spirit Qi consumption was almost tripled than usual.


    This was really absurd since he could tell that it wasn''t even his body''s injuries that were causing this, but rather the Qi skill itself had be ''inefficient'' somehow.


    Thankfully, Lin Mu had more than one way of illumination. He had several midnight sun shards with him. These were basically a kind of luxury spirit tool that could absorb the sunlight in the daytime and glow in the night time.


    These of course, needed sunlight to work normally, but with some modification in the formations by Lin Mu, they worked on spirit Qi as well.


    This was when he discovered another new thing. While the consumption of spirit Qi by Qi skills had increased by a lot, that was not the case for the formations or spirit tools. They still worked on the same amount.


    Thus Lin My made several more modifications to the midnight Sun shards and turned them into a multifacetedmp.


    This helped to illuminate an area of several meters around him and was even wider than the range of his spirit sense.


    This was how he had continued his travel. But there seemed to be no end to it.


    ~Sigh~Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    ''Perhaps I need to reassess my situation.'' Lin Mu thought to himself after chanting the calming heart sutra for a bit.


    "Let''s start over again¡­ the area around me is barren and is mostly made up of rocks and soil. The rocks themselves are like smooth pebbles in some parts and broken stones in others areas. The soil is also rather soft and dark brown in color." Lin Mu voiced out his thoughts, hoping that it would help him think better.


    "Then there is that small stream in the cavern I woke up next to. Its existence means there was supposedly a river here. The smooth pebbles might also be due to that." Lin Mu analyzed little by little.


    The small stream he had seen in the cavern ended a short distance from the exit of the cavern. It simply pooled into a pond and went deeper into the ground, probably joining an underwater aquifer.


    Lin Mu had originally hoped to follow the stream to find some people or a settlement, but it was unless.


    It didn''t help that he couldn''t fly here either. That was the third restriction he had discovered. At first he thought it was due to his injuries that he couldn''t do it. Butter he realized it simply didn''t work.


    Thankfully, he was also a body cultivator and even while injured, his body was tough enough to endure a long journey on foot.


    Another factor that was affecting Lin Mu, which he had not expected, was theck of someone to speak to. Before this, he always had Senior Xukong or Little Shrubby to talk to and consult.


    But now there was nothing. All he was met with was silence.


    And it was going to be like this for a long while most probably. Having checked up on both Little Shrubby and Xukong, Lin Mu knew they were still recovering.


    Xukong''s avatar was simply in a dormant state and was surrounded by a mass of spatial energy, while Little Shrubby was still in the shrunken state of being a seed.


    Lin Mu could not estimate how long it would take for either of them to wake up. His only hope now was to find some other people.


    "Still, it''s strange that there is no animal life here. There is spirit Qi here, so there should have been at least some life. I''ve seen the glowing moss, but it only grows in that cavern. I haven''t seen it anywhere else." Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    Laying down on the ground for a bit, Lin Mu let his thoughts wander and his body rest.


    An hourter, he stood up and got to walking again.


    An unknown amount of time passed before Lin Mu finally saw something different.


    "Huh? What''s that?" Lin Mu''s eyes saw a tall wall in front of him.


    The top of the wall could not be seen and neither could its edges. Walking closer to it, Lin Mu could see that the wall was rocky with no weeds or nts growing on it either.

 Chapter 1204 A Strange Sky

    Chapter 1204 A Strange Sky¡¡¡¡Finding the rocky wall was a good development for Lin Mu.


    He had already walked in perpendicr direction to the wall before he hade all this way. He had even done it for several days to see if there was anything there, but there simply was nothing.


    Or even if there was, it was so far that Lin Mu may as well pick a random direction to walk in. Which was exactly what he had ended up doing and how he had found this wall.


    "I should go to the top of the wall to see what''s around here." Lin Mu decided.


    One thing that Lin Mu could confirm was the fact that he wall was natural. In fact, it couldn''t even be said surely if it was a ''wall'' or just a tall mountain of some kind.


    Regardless, as long as Lin Mu reached the top, he reckoned he would have a better view of the area and maybe even find some people. Or just some life.


    ~CRACK~


    ~THUD~


    ~CRACK~


    ~THUD~


    Climbing the wall was simple for Lin Mu. He simply used his hands and legs and directly dug them into the solid rocks. His body was a lot more tougher than the rocks the walls were made out of and he started to climb.


    What he didn''t guess was the time it would take him to reach the top.


    "GODDAMMIT! This is taller than the tallest mountain in the Xiaofan world, for sure." Lin Mu cursed in frustration.


    This time around, Lin Mu had kept counting to see just how much time had passed. And he had given up after over a week had passed.


    ~THUD~


    "Ugh¡­ I''ll rest for a bit and start again¡­" Lin Mu said to himself.


    He had started to talk to himself a lot more after these days and had unknowingly gotten used to it. This way he didn''t feel as lonely as before either.


    As for resting, Lin Mu was currentlyying on a narrow ledge that protruded from the unending rocky wall. These were natural ledges that were just broken parts of the rocks thatprised of the wall.


    "Back to it then!" Having rested for a couple of hours, Lin Mu started climbing once more.


    But this time around, he discovered a new thing.


    "Huh? Is this¡­ fog?" Lin Mu could feel fine particles floating in the air.


    Below this point, all Lin Mu had felt was darkness, but there was no such fog. The air was rather clear down there. But from the confirmation of his spirit sense, Lin Mu was sure there was fog around him now.


    ''Am I at a very high altitude?'' Lin Mu thought that perhaps he had climbed to a height where clouds would cling to mountains.


    "No, wait¡­ this is not water vapor¡­ this is something else." Lin Mu said after analyzing the fog a bit more.


    He couldn''t tell what kind of particles they were, but he could cross out dust, smoke and water from the list. Whatever it was it some something entirely new.


    But discovering the fog also made him realize something else.


    "Maybe this fog is the reason why there is darkness everywhere? Maybe there is sunlight above this." Lin Mu reckoned.


    With this new found motivation, Lin Mu sped up and after climbing for around two hundred meters more, he finally felt the fog disappearing.


    "LIGHT! THERE IS ACTUALLY LIGHT!" Lin Mu shouted out loud.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    Swiveling his head around, Lin Mu saw a vast sky above him. Granted, the sky was cloudy and overcast with the light itself being a strange reddish shade. At the same time, he saw the end of the rocky wall which was barely a hundred meters away.


    But when he turned to look at the back, Lin Mu saw a stunning scene.


    "Whoa!" In front of Lin Mu was a vast sea of darkness.


    It was sprawling endlessly and extended in three directions. Other than the wall that he was clinging to, all other ces were filled with the darkness, or rather a dark fog. It prevented one from seeing the bottom and obviously no light passed through it, either.


    ''I should get to the top first.'' Lin Mu sped up and soon reached the top.


    "HAAA!" Lin Mu let out a breath of relief andid on the t surface on top.


    Above him was a vast sky filled with endless clouds. It was colored in a strange dusky shade of red and no sun could be seen, evidently being hidden by the clouds.


    "No wonder it was so dark down there, the sky itself is dim and the amount of light that reaches theyer of dark fog is a fraction of that. Not to mention the dark fog is over two hundred meters thick and prevents any light from passing whatsoever at that point." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    It was a strange relief to him to figure out the mystery of his ''entrapment''.


    "I shouldn''tg on, lets see what more is around here." Lin Mu stood up and looked around.


    The area around him was basically two different topographies. On one side was a massive depression filled with dark fog, which was where Lin Mu hade out from. Then, on the other side, there was a vast barrennd.


    The ground was a mix of red and grey soils with plenty of rocks and stones in it as well. Then there were Mountains that could be seen far away, possibly several hundred kilometer away!


    Though there were also some hills nearby that were significantly shorter than the mountains.


    "Damn¡­ did I just walk out of a valley?" Lin Mu finally figured out.


    It was shocking to him that he had just climbed out of the depths of a valley that was deeper than the tallest mountains of the Xiaofan world.


    Just from this alone, Lin Mu realized that he was in a massively different world from what he was used to.


    "This is just the start¡­ let''s see what more I can find."

 Chapter 1205 Four Legged Strange People

    Chapter 1205 Four Legged Strange People¡¡¡¡The discoveries were certainly quite a lot for Lin Mu, but they also made him excited at the same time. He wanted to see what was special about this world and why it was like this.


    ''And I still need to find some food too¡­ I''m out of all the stored food. My vitality is barely at 30% at its usual capacity too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    There were no beasts in the dark valley, so Lin Mu was not able to hunt any. But now that he was out of it, he wanted to find some to eat.


    "Hmm¡­ still, where do I go now?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Looking around, there was basically a wastnd in front of him. There were no nts or animals anywhere and the sky was overcast, too.


    ''The only life I saw was the glowing moss¡­ but even that was in the valley. I can''t see any water around here too, or that would be a good ce to search.'' Lin Mu analyzed his choices.


    After thinking for a bit, Lin Mu made his decision.


    "Let''s just head to that hill first. Maybe I''ll find something from a higher location?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He started to run towards the nearest hill and reached it in about half an hour. From there, he spent another half an hour to climb it.


    ''Perhaps calling it a hill is a little underestimating¡­ but considering the mountains are a lot taller here, guess this is a hill?'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    The hill that he had climbed was still pretty tall and about the size of an average mountain. Thankfully, it was free of any beasts that could interrupt him or any nts that would force him to take an alternate route.


    The only obstacle for him was the loose rocks that fell sometimes when he tried to climb them. Though it was not much of an issue for him since the rocks were simply shattered upon hitting his body.


    His body was far tougher than the rocks, after all.


    Upon reaching the top of the hill, Lin Mu finally got a better look at the area.


    ~Phew~


    "This is really vast¡­" Lin Mu said as he marveled at the sky piercings mountains in the distance. They extended from one side of the horizon to the other, going around the dark valley that was behind him.


    Speaking of the Dark valley, Lin Mu finally saw the other ends of it. It extended right from the edges of the mountain range to the ce where Lin Mu had climbed from. Though the sidepletely opposite to it was not visible to Lin Mu as it was simply too far.


    Even the Mountain range could not be seen on that side, simply turning into a thin line at that point.


    ~WHISTLE~


    But while Lin Mu was assessing the area, his ears picked up a low sound. His eyes narrowed, and he immediately used blink.


    ~DENG~


    The ce where he was just standing was struck by what looked like a long javelin. It was over six meters long and seemed to be made out of solid rock that had been whittled down.


    "Enemy!" Lin Mu understood.


    He looked around but didn''t see anyone on the ground.


    ''Where are they?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    ~WHISTLE~


    The low sound was heard as well, and Lin Mu dodged once more.


    ~DENG~


    Another javelinnded on the ce Lin Mu was standing at. It was the same as the one before, made out of rock. But this time, Lin Mu had a little more information.


    "It came from a different side." Lin Mu noticed.


    His eyes traced the possible trajectory based on where the two spears hadnded and finally figured out where they came from.


    "The hills!" Lin Mu saw three spears shooting up from the other hills in the distance.


    The spears rose into the sky soundlessly, but when they started to descend after drawing an arc in the air, they would create a low sound. It was something that most people wouldn''t even pick up on it.


    It was easy to understand that these spears were intentionally made to be as silent as possible.


    "Let''s see who''s targeting me." Lin Mu said with a smile, not feeling afraid at all.


    He had checked the spears and knew that they were nothing special. They had no spirit Qi infused into them, nor any other skill. Even if they hit Lin Mu, they wouldn''t do much to him, anyway.


    Lin Mu gathered power in his legs as his thighs bulged, and calves tightened.


    ~BOOM~


    Heunched into the air like a spring and covered over five hundred meters before finally falling downwards. Clenching his fist, Lin Mu dived towards the hill below him.


    ~KABOOM~


    The entire hill shook from the impact as cracks spread over it. A fewrge boulders at its edged directly rolled off while a deep crater was created at its top.


    "$&%H&(**)&^" A strange voice was heard by Lin Mu, making him turn to the side.


    The voice was speaking some unknownnguage, but Lin Mu could tell that the tone was anxious.


    "Let''s see who you are¡­" Lin Mu walked towards the source of the voice.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as he was walking towards it, an attack came towards him.


    ~THUD~


    ~CRUMBLE~


    Lin Mu didn''t move though and let it hit him. The iing projectile was a rock that had been carved into a cannonball shape. It simply shattered upon hitting Lin Mu.


    "@^&(#&(&" Some unknown words were spoken again, this time shock clearly visible in it.


    Lin Mu raised his brows as he assessed the power of the attack.


    ''Roughly equivalent to the peak of the Nascent soul realm¡­ the javelins were thrown with a lot more force, though. Different enemies then?'' Lin Mu concluded.


    And as Lin Mu got closer to the source of the sound, more voices were heard, this time though they were getting closer.


    ~CRACK~


    Lin Mu swiped his hand and knocked away the boulder that was blocking his path. And when it was swept away, he finally saw the ''enemy'' standing behind it.


    "Huh?" But Lin Mu was surprised by the appearance of the enemy.


    It was humanoid, but wasn''t exactly human. It had two arms, a head and torso, but there were four legs on its body. The legs were oriented in a cross shaped form. The creature in front of Lin Mu was dressed in clothes that camouged it well, with several rocks and soil attached to its clothes.


    The enemy stood up towering over Lin Mu. It was nearly four meters tall!


    But even if it was taller than Lin Mu, there was an expression of fear and shock on its face. Thankfully, the face of the creature was nearly the same as a human except it was a dusky grey in color and had rough patches that looked like scales on it.


    Its ears were long and from them hung bone earrings.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    Lin Mu walked up to the ''enemy'' and casually picked it up using its clothes.


    "Why did you attack me?" Lin Mu questioned.


    ~THUD~ THUD~ THUD~


    It was at this time that three more enemiesnded behind Lin Mu. They looked the same as the enemy that was in Lin Mu''s hand, but were carrying several stone javelins on their back.


    "^(^8#^@^&#" They spoke, wariness present on their face.


    One of them slowly approached Lin Mu, putting down the spear in its hand.


    "##^(@*&(&" It spoke, this time its tone a little gentle as if trying to cate.


    Lin Mu raised his brows in surprise.


    ''They''re trying to surrender?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    ~ng~


    ~ng~


    He then watched the others put down their weapons as well.


    "Huh, want to do this peacefully? Fine, then." Lin Mu let go of the creature in his hand as well.


    The guynded on the ground and fell on its butt, fear in its eyes.


    "@^(#&&#" The strange people spoke again, but Lin Mu understood nothing.


    ''Ah, themon tongue won''t work here¡­ they are of a different race.'' Lin Mu understood.


    "Umm¡­ Can you understand me?" Lin Mu spoke again, this time in Dao script.


    And when he did though, the strange people were surprised. Even more than when Lin Mu was holding theirpanion in their hands.


    "Do you not understand me?" Lin Mu asked again, wondering if they didn''t know Dao Script either.


    He was hoping that they could, as this was a different world. The only hope Lin Mu would have atmunicating was Dao script, as it was something that any world with cultivators should have.


    ''No, wait¡­ considering how they look, they might not have reached the point ofprehending Dao script, perhaps?'' Lin Mu thought.


    The strange people weren''t really dressed in any ''decent'' or ''civilized'' clothes. It wasn''t even a matter of different cultures, but that the clothes were quite literally made from stitched rocks and mud stered on them.


    "Noble¡­?" And while Lin Mu was wondering how to talk to these strange people, he actually heard a word that he understood.


    It hade from the guy he had taken hostage of temporarily. It had spoken a word that was from Dao Script!


    "Oh? You understand me?" Lin Mu asked to confirm.


    "Li-Little¡­ Noble¡­ Speak¡­" The strange person stuttered, clearly having a hard time finding words.


    "Hmm¡­ this''ll be a problem." Lin Mu muttered.


    "N-Noble¡­e¡­" the strange person spoke again and gestured with his hands in a certain direction.


    Then it spoke to itspanions and they too gestured in the same direction.

 Chapter 1206 The Haima Tribe

    Chapter 1206 The Haima Tribe¡¡¡¡Seeing the actions of the strange four legged people, Lin Mu understood they were asking hims to go some ce.


    ''Probably their settlement.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    While it might seem a little suspicious to follow these strange people who had attacked him just a few moments ago, Lin Mu didn''t feel any danger or malice from them. Or rather, now that he looked at them again, they seemed to be looking at him with a hint of respect.


    This feeling of respect hade out of nowhere, which confused Lin Mu a little.


    ''The man said the word for Noble and that was certainly referring to me¡­ but why would they call me a noble?'' Lin Mu thought to himself, but decided to go along.


    "Alright, show me the ce you want to take me to." Lin Mu stated.


    The four legged strange people nodded their heads and one of them took the lead. Lin Mu watched on as the four legged person crouched, as if gathering power in his legs. After two seconds, the strange person straightened them and leaped into the air like a frog!


    ~SHUA~


    He streaked across the air, covering an impressive amount of distance. The second one did the same while the third one gestured to follow him.


    "Let''s just do as they are, then." Lin Mu too gathered power in his legs and leaped forth like a spring.


    But his reach was even greater than the four legged people. So much so that he had already overtaken them by twice the distance.


    "^*^&(*@##%$&" Unknown words were spoken with a hint of shock and awe in them.


    Lin Mu looked back to see the four legged strange people trying to speed up. They caught up to him in less than ten seconds, letting Lin Mu leap once again. He didn''t want to leave them too far back, after all.


    There were possibly hidden dangers in the area that he might encounter. But if these strange people were guiding him, the chance of that happening was less.


    Just like this, Lin Mu and the Four legged strange people continued to leap and jump for about an hour before they finally came to a halt.


    "Come¡­ Home¡­" The Strange person spoke in broken words.


    "Okay," Lin Mu said as he took a look around.


    His spirit sense was scanning the area, but with the range reduced to ten meters he didn''t really find anything. There was another hill here, which was a lot taller than the others.


    The strange people walked to the middle of this hill and used their javelins to knock on a rock. They tapped it in a specific pattern, after which they stopped.


    ''Is there a hidden entrance here?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    His spirit sense scanned the area and found a depression on the hill. It was covered with severalyers of rocks that had been carved into the shape of a wheel. Only the top most rock that was on the outside of the hill looked natural.


    ~Tremble~


    Vibrations could be felt in the ground as Lin Mu saw the rock wheels being moved one by one. Soon, he saw six more Four legged people appearing. They were the ones in charge of opening the ''entrance gate''.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    "@^(**&#^" one of the six guards saw the three strange people and spoke something to them.


    They conversed among themselves before pointing to Lin Mu, who was standing next to them.


    "#^(R#&$#(&¡­ Noble" The four legged person said.


    The six guards had an expression of surprise on their face before nodding.


    "Come¡­ In¡­ Meets¡­ Elder¡­" The strange person said.


    "Oh? We are going to meet your elder?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Y-yes¡­" the strange person nodded.


    ''Maybe this elder can speak more coherently than this guy.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was the only reason he could think of them asking to meet the elder.


    Lin Mu thus followed behind the strange Four legged people and entered the ''cave''. The corridor was wide enough for three of these people to walk side by side as well as tall enough to let them walk normally.


    Lin Mu nced at the rocks that were being used as pirs to hold up this corridor as well as a certain kind of ster that had been lined on the walls, making it look a bit proper.


    ''This is rtively nice.'' Lin Mu thought.


    After walking for about ten minutes, they finally reached the end of the corridor. And when they did, Lin Mu saw a vast settlement in front of his eyes.


    "Wow¡­ Didn''t expect this¡­" In front of Lin Mu were thousands of houses sprawled across the area.


    There were torches andmps everywhere, illuminating the settlement as well as thousands of four legged people going about their day. They were doing normal tasks and jobs, such as cleaning, weaving, cooking, and conversing in general.


    "No matter what angle I look at this from, this is aplete civilization." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He continued to walk after the four legged people as they brought him through therge settlement. It wasrge enough topare to Wu Lim city and possibly had the same amount of people.


    The area wasn''t t either, having ridges and elevated ces. There were different buildings built on them as well, with a myriad of paths that interwove.


    Lin Mu observed the four legged people and found them to be wearing clothes made from t stone tes that were attached to each other with strong strings made out of an unknown material.


    The clothes that these strange people wore in the settlement looked a bit better than the ones that brought Lin Mu here.


    ''Maybe they are soldiers or something? Their clothing is also a lot more camouging than these people in here.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    It was certainly a new experience for him to witness this all. And he wasn''t the only one having a new experience either, as the four legged people in the settlement too watched him with a variety of expressions, the mostmon being interest and surprise.


    They didn''t seem rmed due to Lin Mu, nor did they have any enmity against him. All this only made Lin Mu think that perhaps the three people had attacked him due to a mistake of some kind.


    ''Or maybe they were just defending theirnd.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    It was something normal to prevent intruders from entering one''snd, after all. And Lin Mu couldn''t me them for trying to do their normal duties.


    Though while walking though the settlement, Lin Mu was confused due to something.


    ''These people¡­ they don''t have a normal cultivation base.'' Lin Mu discovered.


    Even the three that had brought him here didn''t have the same spirit Qi fluctuations that Lin Mu felt from cultivators. But what Lin Mu did sense from them was vital energy. It was in a far higher concentration than most cultivators Lin Mu had encountered.


    ''They were as strong as Nascent soul realm experts and don''t have the same level of spirit Qi fluctuations. Rather, they are only half as strong as that. But then the vitality is also far stronger than a normal expert of that level.


    It''s almost as if¡­ these two arebined?'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    Lin Mu would have thought that they were even body cultivators, but couldn''t confirm it just from that.


    ''Hmm¡­ just like the memoirs of the Lost immortal¡­ there are many paths of cultivation in the world, and I seem to have encountered a new one today.'' Lin Mu thought to himself with a look of interest on his face.


    He ended up walking for around a kilometer distance before the four legged people brought him to arge building. It was built on a small teau that rose to a height of fifteen meters tall.


    This was certainly one of the tallest buildings in the entire settlement.


    "Looking at its quality, it is certainly something made for a higher ranked person." Lin Mu muttered.


    "%#^($&#$(&" The strange person who spoke in broken Dao script said something out loud before tapping his spear on the ground.


    Lin Mu watched on in interest as the door of the stone building opened after a minute.


    ~CREAK~


    A loud creak was heard as the hinges of the stone door ground with no lubrication. And from the door walked out another Four legged person. But this person was a lot older, having a dry straw like beard.


    He wore a woven hat on his head with robes made out of a simr material. This was the first person Lin Mu had seen here, wearing clothes made out of some kind of a textile.


    But that wasn''t all as Lin Mu could feel significant spirit Qi waves from this person.


    "At least at the Dao Treading realm¡­" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    This confirmed one fact for Lin Mu; he was now in a higher world than the Xiaofan world. After all, a Dao Treading realm expert would normally be the peak of power in the Xiaofan world and would be enough to run arge sect or even a kingdom.


    And yet there was one in what was clearly a ''primitive'' tribe.


    "Are you the elder?" Lin Mu asked in Dao script.


    "The children weren''t mistaken¡­ A noble." The elder said with a hint of surprise in his voice.


    The surprise was momentary though, as he soonposed himself.


    "We wee the Human Noble to our tribe, The Haima Tribe!" The Elder greeted out loud


    Hearing the name of the tribe and the words of the elder, calling him a noble, Lin Mu was intrigued.

 Chapter 1207 Land Of Exile

    Chapter 1207 Land Of Exile¡¡¡¡Lin Mu watched on as the Elder weed him.


    "I am Lin Mu." He introduced himself.


    "Ah, so the noble is named Lin Mu. How marvelous!" The elder spoke. "I am Elder Niji."


    Hearing this only made Lin Mu feel strange since he didn''t think there was a reason to go this far to praise him when they barely knew each other.


    ''Maybe it''s the tradition for this tribe?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "Come in. We can talk infort. I''ll let the children take care of the rest." The elder said and gestured for Lin Mu to follow him.


    "Alright." Lin Mu followed the old elder into the house he had walked out from.


    ~CREAK~


    The door creaked loudly once more, as the two entered the building. In there, Lin Mu saw a rtively in looking room with a low table and stone seats in the center. There were stairs to the side as well that went upstairs.


    Taking a seat at the table, Lin Mu looked at the Elder intently.


    "I reckon you have some questions to ask? I''d recognize that look anywhere. " The elder said, seeing Lin Mu''s expression. "Don''t worry, this is usual for people thate here for the first time." He added.


    "What ce is this, exactly?" Lin Mu asked, seeing that the elder was open to questions.


    "This ce is the Land of Exile. Though this is just the general term that is used for it. There are more areas within the Land of Exile, such as the Rust Hail Mountains, the Barren ins and finally the Broken Chasm." The elder answered.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and guessed that the Mountains in the distance he saw were the Rust Hail Mountains as for the valley he came from was the Broken Chasm.


    "Then this tribe is located within the Barren ins?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Precisely." The Elder nodded his head before stroking his beard.


    A thought came to him after listening to Lin Mu speak, and he questioned something.


    "Nobel Lin Mu, are you perchance not from this world?" Elder Niji questioned.


    "Oh? How did you figure that out?" Lin Mu asked in turn.


    "At first I thought that you were simply a noble that knew about this ce, but simply didn''t recognize it. That is something that is usual, since no one woulde to the Land of Exile of their own volition.


    But seeing that you don''t even know about the Land of Exile itself, there is a great chance you are not from this world." Elder Niji exined.


    "You are correct. I am indeed not from this world." Lin Mu admitted. "Which brings me to wonder why you call me a noble? If I''m not of this world, how am I still a noble?" he asked next.


    "You are a noble, since you speak the tongue of the nobles." Elder Niji answered.


    "But aren''t you speaking it too?" Lin Mu replied.


    "I am indeed¡­ but mine is merely an imitation. I speak the tongue but I have notprehended it. Besides, only the humans are deemed to be nobles, unlike us of the Haima tribe." Elder Niji exined further.


    This was interesting information for Lin Mu, as he had not expected there to be something like this. Especially since the Elder was speaking basically the same as what Dao Script was supposed to be like.


    "You have notprehended the Dao Script?" Lin Mu said in slight confusion before talking out a sheet of paper with a few sentences written on it. "So you can''t read this?" N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    "Yes, I cannot. I was merely taught to speak the words. But this was simply memorization." The elder borated.


    "I see¡­ but still, why is it that only humans are deemed nobles?" Lin Mu questioned. "Can you or your people not get the same status?" he wondered.


    "Well¡­ one does not give the rank of a noble to a ve, do they? Our Haima tribe is inferior to that of the humans and we have been servants for many generations." Elder Niji said before his expression fell. "Or we were¡­ once upon a time. Now we are merely exiles banished and forgotten¡­" he added, his tone forlorn.


    Lin Mu raised his brows, finding it strange. As far as he could tell, the Haima Tribe didn''t really seem to be inferior to humans. At least not from the strength they had shown him already.


    ''No¡­ this world is different. The standard for humans might be far greater than the Xiaofan world.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Thinking over this, he felt curious about the Haima tribe as well as the Land of exile. After all he had been here for over a month now¡­ though most of it was spent in the dark valley.


    "Can you tell me more about the Land of Exile and the ces within?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Of course. We almost never get visitors and this is the first time in my life that I''m actually getting to talk to someone in noble tongue. This was one of the wishes that I''ve had for a long time, so feel free to ask as much as you want." Elder Niji spoke.


    His tone was filled with excitement, just like old people would show when they found someone new to talk to after a long time.


    "The Land of Exile, just like its name states, is meant for people who had been exiled. Either as a punishment, or refuge. While most that are sent here are criminals, there are still some thate here to hide.


    Unfortunately, this isn''t a ce of peace and safety. There is danger aplenty. The worst of which is the Broken Chasm." Elder Niji exined.


    "The Broken Chasm is the dark valley, right?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a little confused about the elder''s words.


    "Yes. Though calling it a valley isn''t really correct." Elder Niji replied.


    "What''s the danger there, though? I''ve been there for over a month and didn''t even see any beasts there." Lin Mu finally asked.


    "YOU, WHAT?!" Elder Niji suddenly eximed.

 Chapter 1208 The Broken Chasm

    Chapter 1208 The Broken Chasm¡¡¡¡Lin Mu was taken aback by the sudden exmation of Elder Niji, making him wonders if he had spoken something wrong.


    "Is there something wrong?" Lin Mu asked in a concerned tone.


    "Did you really spend a month in the Broken Chasm?" Elder Niji asked in disbelief.


    "Yes¡­ there''s nothing down there. No beasts or any other life¡­ no wait, there is some moss growing there." Lin Mu answered.


    "How is that possible?" Elder Niji said under his breath.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "What kind of a danger is there in the Broken Chasm, anyway?" Lin Mu asked, wanting to know more.


    "It is the greatest danger of the Land of Exiles¡­ The Chasm Beasts. They are strange illusory beasts that don''t have solid bodies. They live in the Broken Chasm ande out from time to time, spreading across the Barren ins, hunting for anything living." Elder Niji answered, much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "I¡­ didn''t see any of them down there. Is there something more to them?" Lin Mu was even more confused now.


    "I¡­ don''t know¡­ there should be Chasm beasts living there, I''m sure of this. I''ve seen theme out of there with my own two eyes." Elder Niji replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu realized there was a discrepancy here.


    "Wait, by seeing it yourself, do you mean you saw the bottom of the Chasm? Like you saw the beasts climbing all the way from the base?" Lin Mu asked for rification.


    "Of course not. The Chasm is bottomless¡­ or so we''ve thought all these years. Our people who went there, either identally or intentionally, never returned." Elder Niji stated.


    "Well, the chasm certainly has a bottom. And I''ve explored some of it. Sure, it is very deep, and it took me a little over a week to even climb it. The Dark fog spread at its top makes it hard to figure out directions too. Thankfully, I had some illumination tools to help me." Lin Mu borated.


    "The Dark fog? You mean the Chasm Miasma isn''t filling the chasm entirely?" Elder Niji was surprised once more.


    "No, it is only floating on the top. And even then it''s merely a fraction of the entire chasm''s height. It was only around two hundred meters thick. A majority of the chasm down below is actually clear." Lin Mu revealed.


    "This¡­ changes everything¡­" Elder Niji was stunned. "Though this doesn''t exin why you didn''t encounter any Chasm Beasts."


    "Perhaps you were just mistaken about it too?" Lin Mu said while striking his chin. "You said you''ve seen theme out of it, right? Like from the dark miasma?" he asked.


    "Indeed. Everyone has seen theme out from there and this has been so for over a hundred thousand years of our tribe''s existence here." Elder Niji stated.


    ''They''ve been in exile for a over a hundred thousand years? That''s possibly longer than the entire history of the Great Zhou Empire and its people¡­'' Lin Mu was shocked, since this was just one tribe of an entire world.


    If an exiled n had a history of over a hundred thousand years, Lin Mu wondered what the main residents of the world were like.


    Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, Lin Mu focused on the topic at hand.


    "Maybe you are not wrong about the source of the Chasm beasts. They doe from the Broken Chasm, but maybe not from the bottom." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    "What do you mean? Where else would theye from?" Elder Niji wondered.


    "The Miasma itself. You''ve said they have no solid form. Then perhaps they are made out of this miasma? It would exin why I saw none of them down there." Lin Mu exined.


    Hearing this, Elder Niji had a face of epiphany and he seemed to have figured out something.


    "The Chasm Beastse out in waves every so often. This time the interval has been long, and they haven''t been seen for over two months now. If what you say is correct, then¡­ the Chasm Beasts are only in existence for a specif amount of time." Elder Niji spected.


    While Lin Mu had never seen the Chasm Beasts till now, it wasn''t as if he didn''t know of other simr existence. Lin Mu had read about a few such creatures that were formed from different energies or materials.


    They woulde into existence under specific conditions and that might be the same case here.


    Lin Mu thought about it more, wondering what the reason might be for the existence of Chasm beasts.


    "Why has the interval been this long? Was there anything different this time?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "Hmmm¡­ there was indeed something. Something fell from the sky two months ago. It crashed into the reservoir, but when we went to check it we didn''t find anything. All that was left there was a deep hole, the bottom of which could not be seen. Oh, and the water in the reservoir was gone too, possibly drained into the hole." Elder Niji answered.


    "Fell from the sky?" Lin Mu''s brows raised as a thought came to his mind.


    "Did anyone see what the object was? Or how it came?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "It came from beyond the clouds and created a hole through them when it fell. It was surprising as we seldom see the sky above, so the children noted it well. As for the object that fell, they said that the object glowed in a golden light.


    But due to the speed at which it fell they couldn''t watch it for long." Elder Niji replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu all but confirmed what must have happened.


    "I think I know what the object was and also where it went¡­" Lin Mu said with a wry smile.


    "What?" Elder Niji questioned.


    "That was me¡­" Lin Mu answered, letting his golden body glow.


    The glow which was usually hidden, spread in the hall, illuminating it faintly.


    "I was knocked out when I fell, so I didn''t remember all this. But that was definitely me falling and crashing."

 Chapter 1209 A High Ranked Immortal World And World Ascension

    Chapter 1209 A High Ranked Immortal World And World Ascension¡¡¡¡Lin Mu''s words were certainly shocking to the Elder, but after thinking over it and witnessing everything, he had no choice but to believe it.


    "So you really dide from another world¡­ Still crashing into the Land of Exile was possibly one of the worst possible oues." Elder Niji said, a frown on his face.


    Hearing this brought Lin Mu to another one of the questions he''s had on his mind. As far as he had seen, there wasn''t really anything blocking them in here. He had seen the Rust Hail Mountains in the distance, and while they were tall, they still seemed to be traversable to him.


    Additionally, since the Land of exile was considered like an ''open prison'', the people here should be looking to escape at all times. Especially considering that there was basically no warden or any authority looking over them.


    ''Or perhaps they are and I just don''t know.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "Is there no one that has left this ce? I mean, can''t they just cross the mountains or fly over them?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­ at least over the hundred thousand years of our tribe''s history, there has been no one that escaped the Land of Exile. Flying is simply not possible for us mortals. While Immortals can still fly here, they can''t go past height, especially not above the level of the Rust Hail Mountains." Elder Niji answered.


    Lin Mu had seen that there was no way to fly in this world with his current cultivation base. Even using a spirit weapon to fly didn''t work, as they would simply fall down. Forget flying, Lin Mu couldn''t even use his spirit sense to control the weapons here.


    If he wanted to fight using them, he would have to use them with his own hands. It felt like he had returned to when he was starting out as a cultivator in the past, and it felt a bit humbling to him at the same time.


    ''Perhaps this is the difference in the level''s of the world¡­'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Still, it wasn''t as if Lin Mu didn''t know about this would be happening. Senior Xukong had told him about the restrictions he might face and he had also read about them in the Lost Immortal''s Memoirs.N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    But the issue was, the restrictions in this world seemed to be a little too harsh even for a world with immortals in it.


    Lin Mu had read a few experiences of the Lost Immortal and in them, the man was in an immortal world, but could still fly despite being below the Immortal Realm. Then there was atter entry that showed something else to Lin Mu.


    In that, the Lost Immortal was already in the Immortal Realm, and was in a different world. In this world several cultivators of spirit realm also existed alongside immortals. And in this world, they too were unable to fly.


    The levels of an Immortal world that allowed a cultivator below the immortal realm to fly and one that didn''t were vastly different.


    ''Senior Xukong even said a term for it¡­ A World Ascension¡­'' Lin Mu recalled.


    World Ascension was a unique event that very rarely happened. It was already known that there were manyyers of the void, and eachyer had multiple subyers. It was in the differentyers of the Greater void that the realms existed.


    These realms were split ording to the quality of the worlds that existed, whether they be simples or otherplex forms of worlds. In this, the worlds would be grouped together in amon realm.


    For example, the realm that the Xiaofan world existed in would have other worlds of the same level, or a couple levels above and below it. This range of different leveled worlds was rtively narrow.


    But there came a time when a world would continually grow to a point where thews of the realm where it existed in couldn''t contain it. This was the period where the world would start to push against the limits of the realm and eventually ascend to a higher ranked realm.


    All this was veryplex, and many experts had spent their entire lives in learning and studying it. And yet it was not enough.


    It was all controlled by the will of the Heavens and was mysterious as to how it worked.


    If one considered a simplifiedparison, it was like an Immortal ascension realm expert breaking through and reaching the immortal realm. But this time, it wasn''t a human but an entire world doing the same.


    But there was a reason this was so rare, despite the fact there were an uncountable number of worlds in the cosmos.


    It was that most worlds that reached the point of World Ascension would simply fail. And in the process they would also destroy that entire realm and the other worlds that existed within it.


    It would eventually lead to a realm copse and the contents of that realm would return to the void.


    Then perhaps in the future, this matter would condense once more and the space would stabilizes to give birth to a new realm.


    This was the cycle of the myriad worlds and realms.


    And in all this, only the void was the constant. It was the foundation on which everything was allowed toe into being and without it, nothing would exist.


    Lin Mu''s mind pondered on many possibilities in a matter of seconds. But in the end, he understood that the only way he would be able to figure out his next move would be to gather even more information.


    ''Besides, it isn''t like there isn''t a benefit to a world that is on the edge of reaching World Ascension. It only means I can find better resources than an average immortal world!'' Lin Mu thought to himself as a smile appeared on his face.


    Looking at Elder Niji, he spoke once more.


    "Please tell me more about the Land of Exile and what is beyond this?"

 Chapter 1210 Stone Flesh Mushrooms

    Chapter 1210 Stone Flesh Mushrooms¡¡¡¡Lin Mu''s desire for more information was met with a warm response from Elder Niji.


    "Of course, I''ll be happy to. I seldom get to talk to others this much. The children in the tribe are also too distant from me and have their own duties to fulfill. Besides, I don''t want to expand their ideas too much or they would just be disappointed at their reality." Elder Niji said, a trace of mncholy in his voice.


    Lin Mu could see the benefit in this too.


    ''If they knew there was bounty in the world but they were never fated to see it, they would certainly be depressed.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    He would have not found it good, and would have even thought it oppressive to keep information like this. But knowing that the Haima Tribe had been trapped here for over a hundred thousand years, perhaps it was better this way.


    Even with the conflicts in his heart, Lin Mu knew better not to judge them, as he did not know what they had gone through.


    "So, why is it that one cannot get past the Rust Hail Mountains? What kind of danger prevents them from crossing?" Lin Mu questioned.


    ~THUD~ THUD~ THUD~


    "@^(&#$(&"


    Just as Elder Niji was about to answer him though, a few taps were heard from the outside and a few words were also spoken in thenguage of the Haima tribe.


    "Ah~ we can continue this with our meal. I reckon you must be hungry?" Elder Niji asked.


    "Famished." Lin Mu replied.


    He really was hungry and was looking for a settlement mainly, so that he could find something to eat. Though he had gotten distracted from all the information aftering to the Haima tribe.


    "Good, let''s head to the dining circle, then." Elder Niji said and brought Lin Mu out.


    ''There are no beasts here, and I didn''t really see any nts other than the glowing moss before.'' Lin Mu was certainly interested in seeing what the Haima tribe actually ate.


    Though he knew that the tribe had ess to fuel as he had already seen burningmps and torches here.


    In a couple of minutes, they reached an area that was circr in shape. There was arge fire pit in the center and a circr stone table surrounded it. There were stool like stone seats set around this table, made without any backs so that the four legged Haima tribe people could sit on it.


    This was amon thing Lin Mu had seen sinceing here. There were no seats with back support here. Or any normal chairs, either. It was justmon stool like seats. The bodies of the Haima tribe didn''t permit the normal human furniture.


    Near the ''dining circle'', Lin Mu saw a few other members of the Haima tribe there. He recognized two of them being the ones who had brought him. They were carrying stone baskets filled with something and cing them near the fire pit.


    "Please take a seat." Elder Niji said and Lin Mu followed it.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    The two familiar Haima tribe members then opened up the baskets and revealed their contents.


    "Stones?" Lin Mu was puzzled.


    In the basket were objects that looked like stones around the size of a normal palm. They were of different colors and ranged from deep brown to a light blue.


    ''They seem like pebbles one would find in a river¡­'' Lin Mu thought. ''Hang on¡­ does the Haima tribe eat stones?'' he had almost forgotten that different races might have different dietary habits.


    While Lin Mu watched on with a puzzled look, the two Haima members picked out the brown colored and darker stones out from the basket and ced them on the table.


    "You can start with these, as they are ripe. The children will cook the rest for us." Elder Niji stated.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu finally asked and picked up a brown colored stone.


    It felt hard to the touch and had a smooth texture.


    "These are Stone Flesh Mushrooms. They are the only food source that grows stably in the Land of Exile." Elder Niji said. "Try and break them," he prompted.


    Lin Mu held the Stone Flesh Mushrooms and exerted some force.


    ~CRACK~


    A firm crack was heard, almost like someone had broken an egg. The Stone Flesh Mushroom in Lin Mu''s hand split in two and the interior of it was revealed. Unlike the hard and stony exterior, the interior was a mix of red and pink, almost looking like flesh.


    Lin Mu could also smell a faint fragrance from the Stone Flesh Mushroom that felt, unlike anything he had ever smelled.


    "You can eat the soft flesh inside it and leave the hard exterior." Elder Niji demonstrated.


    Unlike Lin Mu though, he didn''t split the entire Stone Flesh Mushroom in half. Instead, he skillfully tapped the mushroom in a specific spot and simply peeled the entire thing off in one go, leaving the flesh inside intact in one piece.


    Lin Mu scooped out the two halves of the flesh and put one of them in his mouth.


    "Mm?" Tasting the new type of food, Lin Mu certainly found it different.


    The taste wasn''t bitter or sour, but there was some sweetness and a hint of savoriness to it.


    "Not bad¡­" Lin Mu said after swallowing it.


    ~Crackle~


    While he tried his first piece, the two Haima members were cooking other light colored Stone Flesh Mushrooms in open mes. They slowly started to turn darker and crackled in the heat.


    Once they were done, they ced those mushrooms in front of Lin Mu as well.


    "The hot ones taste a bit different. Maybe you''ll like them better." Elder Niji said, prompting Lin Mu to try them as well.


    Lin Mu cracked them open, not minding the scorching heating from them, and smelled a more savory fragrance from them. Putting them into his mouth, Lin Mu found a peppery taste.


    "They do taste better when hot." Lin Mu said, finding them more to his taste.

 Chapter 1211 Entertainment For The Tribe

    Chapter 1211 Entertainment For The Tribe¡¡¡¡Having eaten a few of the Stone Flesh mushrooms, Lin Mu started to feel their effect.


    His eyes widened as a burst of spirit Qi, and vitality gushed out in his belly. It spread around rapidly as if wanting to escape, but Lin Mu''s stomach seemed to have awakened as well. It controlled both of them as if a master cracked a whip and tamed it down.


    The vitality started flowing into his cells first, getting them to the optimum level that they should normally be at. The spirit Qi, on the other hand, directly flowed through his meridian, directly turning into a liquid form without any need to do it manually.


    By the time it reached the Dantian, it was like a tap had been turned on. His depleted spirit Qi levels started to restore, and Lin Mu felt a lot better than before.


    "Marvelous¡­ these alone are better than high grade spirit pills¡­" Lin Mu was left stunned.


    While he knew that higher ranked worlds would have better resources, he had not expected even a literalnd of exile would have better ones than a top sect.


    "I reckon you liked them?" Elder Niji asked, seeing the face of Lin Mu.


    "Plenty," Lin Mu said as he sped up his pace of eating.


    One by one, the Stone Flesh mushroom started disappearing down his mouth. By the time the first basket was finished, Lin Mu had eaten over a hundred such Stone Flesh Mushrooms.


    "We have more." Elder Niji saw that the young man was still hungry and willing to eat more.


    The second basket was already prepared and Lin Mu didn''t shy away from eating, quickly stuffing them down his throat as if afraid that they would run away. His speed of eating only got faster while the vitality in his body reached the peak.


    At this point, his cells had reached the optimal levels that they should be at and the rest of the vitality was directly being stored by his stomach. The nameless technique of the Lost Immortal activated silently and stockpiled all the vital energy.


    In less than ten minutes, the second basket was also finished.


    Then the third was finished.


    The fourth!


    The fifth!


    The sixth!


    The seventh and the eighth!


    By now, Elder Niji couldn''t even speak and only gawked at the scene. The Haima tribe members bringing the baskets of Stone Flesh Mushroom were also left stunned. But they didn''t stop their work and called for more baskets to be brought.


    Soon, a supply line of Stone Flesh Mushroom baskets was formed as more and more Haima Tribe members joined to marvel at the act. This was something they had never seen before in their lives.


    Their lives were mostly monotonous to start with, thus any form of new stimulus was fascinating to them.


    Thus, they did their best to keep the supply line working and more and more Stone Flesh Mushrooms arrived.


    ''What in the name of ancestors is this? I never knew humans could eat this much¡­ how does it even amodate in his body?'' Elder Niji was left confused.


    At least in his case, he knew about the humans decently. But the other members of the Haima tribe only knew a fraction. Their understanding was barely at a surface level such that they only knew humans existed and that they were strong.


    Constant chatter could be heard going on between them as they talked about Lin Mu.


    "Do all humans eat like this?"


    "Maybe they do. Perhaps that''s why they are so strong."


    "The Elder told us that even in humans, there are many kinds. Weren''t there some that were thrown into the Land of Exile and we saw them die in a few minutes to the Chasm beasts?"


    "That human isn''t just amon human though, he speaks noble tongue, so he must be special."


    "Yeah, and Jehu even said that he can jump higher. He actually jumped better than Jehu and his brothers, leaving them behind."


    "If he can jump like that, then he must be very strong!"


    The Haima tribe members talked amongst themselves, wondering just how Lin Mu could do something like this.


    The one''s that had a higher cultivation base among them though felt the energy fluctuationsing from him.


    "His energy¡­ it''s getting stronger¡­"


    Lin Mu''s vitality had already been umted to the optimal level in his body''s cells and now only his stomach was stockpiling it. But this also had the passive effect of increasing the energy fluctuation.N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.


    Not just that, but the rest of his body also started to change on a molecr level. It was as if his cells were interacting with the environment though the aura and learning about it. Bit by bit, they started to change their structures, adapting to the new world.


    His Xiantian Physique showed its advantage here, bing what it should have been.


    The Xiantian physique was what the stronger powers in the higher worlds started with by default. And it was something that was adapted to the condition of their worlds that were of a high level.


    Lin Mu was in the Xiaofan world and his Xiantian physique was thus ''tainted'' by it. But it was slowly starting to return to its intended form.


    It was like taking someone from a polluted smog covered city and cing them on the clear green mountains filled with the freshest air possible.


    An hour had passed since Lin Mu had started eating and now the crowd watching was in the thousands. Elder Niji had been surprised too many times and now he only counted how many more baskets Lin Mu could eat.


    Thankfully, the Haima Tribe had a massive stockpile of the Stone Flesh Mushrooms and what Lin Mu had eaten was barely a dent in it. The Haima Tribe had over a hundred thousand members after all, and everyday they would consume many times more than what Lin Mu had done just now.


    Thus, to keep that many people well fed, they needed the production to be pretty great as well.

 Chapter 1212 Restoration And Mutual Shock

    Chapter 1212 Restoration And Mutual Shock¡¡¡¡~THUD~


    "Haa~ that was a good meal¡­" Lin Mu finally finished eating andid down thest basket.


    At one point, he had directly started eating from the baskets instead of the trays and now there were tens of them lying around him.


    If one counted the number of baskets, they would find them to be fifty four!


    One must know that each basket appropriately contained a little over a hundred Stone Flesh Mushrooms and the size of each mushroom was between five to fifteen centimeters. If all of them were piled together, Lin Mu had basically eaten the same mass as a small house in one go.


    Which was actually not the highest amount he had ever eaten before. Lin Mu had eaten literally tons of beast meat in the past after all. But the difference this time was of quality. Not only were these Stone Flesh Mushrooms vastly richer in Spirit Qi and Vitality, but they were also quick to be processed.


    Thus, the amount of Spirit Qi and vitality he obtained from them right now wasparable to the hundreds of Beast corpses he might have eaten.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he felt the fine changes in his body. He could sense his injuries healing, mainly his shoulder that was injured the worst. Along with that, the hidden seque in his body were also disappearing.


    ''My shoulder should be fully healed in a week at this rate.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    While a week seemed long inparison to Lin Mu''s healing abilities, it was actually very short considering the golden body he had. Being very durable also meant that it would be that much harder to heal once injured.


    Having rested for a minute, Lin Mu opened his eyes and finally noticed therge crowd watching him. He nced over at the tens of baskets lying around him and the bewildered look on Elder Niji''s face.


    It was then that he realized what he had done.


    ''Shit! I did it again.'' Lin Mu cursed himself.


    "I''m sorry! Did I eat too much of your stores?" Lin Mu asked.


    He knew what kind of a ce the Haima tribe lived in and he didn''t know if they could grow food well enough. Or even if they did well enough to feed their tribe and even had a stock, Lin Mu guessed that he might have eaten enough to deplete that.


    At first Elder Niji didn''t respond as he was still recovering from the entire thing. But when Lin Mu repeated, he finally woke up from his stupor.


    "N-no¡­ we have plenty more. Do you want to eat more?" Elder Niji asked, wondering if the man could still each more.


    "No! No!" Lin Mu frantically said, thinking that he might have offended them. "I''ve had enough."


    "Oh, I see." Elder Niji replied.


    "Will¡­ your tribe be okay? Will there be ack of food for the rest?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "Huh? No, no! We have a lot more." Elder Niji hurriedly replied.


    "Really?" Lin Mu was doubtful.


    "Of course." Elder Niji assured. "Come, I''ll give you a look around the tribe to prove it." He added.


    "O-okay¡­" Lin Mu walked after him while the crowd parted.


    A few of the Haima tribe members still followed after them though, feeling curious while the rest dispersed and returned to their duties. They had already taken an hour''s break while watching Lin Mu and there was more work to be done.


    "This is the living areas of our tribe, but you should have already seen them." Elder Niji gestured with his hands.


    It was the very first area that Lin Mu had seen and there wasn''t anything special to it.


    "After the living area, is the Elder hill where my house is. You''ve seen that too, so I''ll take you to the harvest grounds of our tribe." The Elder spoke before speeding up.


    Despite looking old, the elder could walk more vigorously than a young man. After all, even if he was old he had a cultivation base that was equivalent to that of a Dao Treading realm cultivator.


    Lin Mu had sensed their cultivation bases and already knew that they followed a different path of cultivation that he didn''t know about. And while they did have spirit Qi and vital energy in their bodies too, they utilized it differently.


    He actually couldn''t find any normal cultivation technique signature in them either. Making him think that it was actually simr to that of beasts, where it was just natural. They simply lived, ate and rested, and their cultivation automatically increased with time.


    Then there was also the fact that even in a barren area like the Land of Exile, the concentration of spirit Qi was very high. It could easilypare to that of the special cultivation pavilions of the top three sects.


    Simply cultivating here without any resources and depending only on the atmospheric spirit Qi would be the same as using several high grade spirit stones in a row.


    This was the difference in standard of an Immortal world and a mortal world.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    Elder Niji introduced some of the minor areas that came along the way before the two of them reached a narrow entrance at the back. It looked like there were several tunnels carved through it and there were many Haima tribe members passing through them.


    There were several rows of such tunnels too, andrge stone carts were being brought through them.


    After going through one such tunnel, Lin Mu and Elder Niji reached their destination.


    "This¡­ is the Harvest Grounds of our tribe." Elder Niji spoke.


    Lin Mu saw a vast open cave that had bs of solid rock suspended with rock pirs. Each of these bs was at least fifty meters wide and had several rows of soil ced on it. And on this soil grew thousands upon thousands of mushrooms.


    The mushroom varied in size too and the biggest of them reached a size of over a meter in width!

 Chapter 1213 The Areas Of Haima Tribe

    Chapter 1213 The Areas Of Haima Tribe¡¡¡¡Some of the Stone Flesh Mushrooms were light blue in color while some were a dark brown. The Haima Tribe members tended to small ones and harvested therge ones that were fully grown.


    "Whoa¡­ just how big is this?" Lin Mu was once again left stunned by the sheer scale of the harvest grounds.


    These were easily bigger than most of the farms of the Xiaofan world. And all this was underground in a deste area. Therge scale farms of the Xiaofan world on the other hand, were all based in and around the fertile deltas of the main rivers.


    "There are three more such sections. They are separated into different caverns." Elder Niji replied.


    "Why not join all of them?" Lin Mu asked curiously, seeing that it might make things easier.


    "We would, but that would cause the roof to be unstable. The separating walls also act as load bearing supports that prevent it from falling. Then there is also a water spring here, which might burst if we disturb any of the walls.


    All this you see here was slowly carved and expanded over thousands of years. When our tribe was first exiled, there was nothing. They struggled a lot and back then, they were merely a thousand.


    Over the years, several died and after around two hundred years, only half were left. It was then that they encountered the cave that we live in today. The protection offered by it allowed them to survive longer.


    It was also here that they found a few Stone Flesh Mushrooms growing. Finding it edible, they started to cultivate it, eventually learning more about them and expanding it to the scale you see today.


    With the poption of the Haima tribe we have today, we need to keep the cultivation of these Stone Flesh Mushrooms as high as possible." Elder Niji exined in detail.


    Hearing the history and founding of the Haima tribe''s settlement here was a little inspiring for Lin Mu.


    He reckoned if a tribe of less than 500 people could reach such a level over the years, then perhaps losing hope should be more distant than he thought. After all, giving time, any intelligent being will start to find ways to get strong.


    And if they utilize the resources around them optimally, they will certainly grow stronger and stronger.


    Elder Niji continue to show him things before they finally reached a new tunnel. This tunnel went up instead of down, making Lin Mu wonder if it was an exit as well.


    ''It really is another exit.'' Lin Mu soon saw the light after reaching its end.


    Several wheel like doors were blocking the way, but each of them had a small square window carved into it, allowing one to peer outside. Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    "This is our outpost for watching over Chasm Beasts." Elder Niji spoke before rolling the doors one by one.


    ~Rumble~


    Once the doors were open, Lin Mu saw the vast open barrennds in front of him. In the distance, he could also see the Broken Chasm. As for their current location, they were actually on the top of a small mountain.


    It was further away from where Lin Mu had originally entered from and melded into the background with the many other such mountains. No one would even be able to find this entrance unless they explicitly knew its location.


    ~Crumble~


    Lin Mu walked a further and a little soil and stones fell off from the edge of the cliff.


    "Climbing this way is not possible either. Even for beasts¡­" Lin Mu said.


    "Indeed. It took our tribe thirty five thousand years to get here and establish this outpost. Before that we would simply hide in the cave until we felt it was safe to go out when the Chasm Beasts rampaged.


    But it was tough, since the only source of water they had back then was located outside. And since they didn''t know just how often the Chasm Beasts attacked, there was often a shortage of water.


    Of course, eventually they learned more and even made several water reservoirs in case of emergencies." Elder Niji replied.


    "I see¡­ was the reservoir I crashed into also made by the n?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, that one was a natural reservoir, one of the many. They are just holes really, and get filled up with water whenever it''s monsoon season." Elder Niji answered.


    "It rains here?" Lin Mu was surprised. "This isn''t a desert?" he asked in confusion.


    "Haha, I know it looks like one. While it is called the barrennds, it isn''t because of ack of water or resource. It is actually due to the Chasm beasts. Theye out in tides and ravage everything, leaving nothing to thrive and no nts to grow.


    Otherwise, there is actually plenty of water here. And even some nts grow, they are just hard to find and reach.


    As for underground, there is a lot more hidden there, which is why our tribe digs tunnels so much, despite the fact we can traverse much better on the surface." Elder Niji exined.


    "Oh yeah, your tribe can jump really far." Lin Mu replied.


    "We can run quite fast, too. It is one of our innate abilities." Elder Niji said before his expression grew a little disappointed. "That is all we have since we cannot cultivate."


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was confused hearing this. "But all of you have a cultivation base? Even the children seem to be in the Qi refining realm at the very least."


    "That is something we have naturally and due to the Stone Flesh Mushrooms. We actually do not have a cultivation technique. When our n was banished here, all our inheritance techniques were destroyed, and so were our elders that had the knowledge.


    Only a few juniors were actually the survivors that were exiled and didn''t really have the true knowledge of the tribe. Over the years we''ve tried to grow it, but it hasn''t been that good." Elder Niji exined.

 Chapter 1214 Uniqueness Of The Haima

    Chapter 1214 Uniqueness Of The Haima¡¡¡¡Learning that the Haima tribe had reached the Dao Treading realm without a cultivation technique was stunning for Lin Mu.


    While he himself didn''t have a cultivation technique in the general sense either, he still cultivated ording to a method he had devised himself. But the Haima tribe was basically doing it all passively.


    "If you don''t mind, can I check your body? I want to see how your cultivation actually is like? It is certainly not the same as humans." Lin Mu asked, doubtful if the man would ept.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    Elder Niji tilted his head as if not understanding Lin Mu''s question.


    "Can''t you see it already? How will you check it?" Elder Niji asked in confusion.


    "Umm¡­ with spirit sense?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Spirit sense? What''s that?" Elder Niji asked, much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "So you really don''t know¡­" Lin Mu said before giving the man a short exnation about it all.


    Having heard about it from Lin Mu, Elder Niji felt stunned.


    "There is such a marvelous ability?! If we had it, so many lives would have been saved." Elder Niji said with a hint of regret.


    "Since your tribe didn''t have a cultivation technique, refining spirit sense was probably out of question." Lin Mu spoke. "Though in these terms of how your tribe can passively grow in cultivation but still not have spirit sense, it varies from beasts." He added.


    Beasts had innate knowledge in their bloodlines, along with bloodline memories that they would automatically learn once their cultivation base increased. Thus, they even had the ability to refine their own spirit sense, or rather it happened automatically as well in some cases.


    At first Lin Mu had thought of the Haima Tribe''s condition to be a bit simr to that of beasts in terms of the passive cultivation. But theck of spirit sense showed something else.


    "We don''t have the founding knowledge of our tribe, none of our heritage or inheritances. We are a mere fragment of our past glory. And heavens know if we can ever recover that." Elder Niji said with a sad face but shook it off after a minute.


    "Though you can certainly check my body. Perhaps I''ll learn more too this way." Elder Niji said next.


    "Very well." Lin Mu nodded his head and extended his spirit sense.


    It was still in the same state as before and had not improved in range. At most Lin Mu could cover ten meters of area with it, but right now this was more than enough.


    ~shua~


    His spirit sense entered Elder Niji''s body with a little resistance. Though he could tell that this was just the natural defense of the body. Getting past it was easy enough and Lin Mu soon saw the condition of the body.


    ''The organs are mostly the same as that of humans, but they are tougher and more durable. Can easilypare to that of a tenths stage body tempering realm human in quality.'' Lin Mu checked the first objective.


    After the organs, he went to the blood vessels that were following the same paths as those of humans, but had split in the lower part of the body due to double the amount of legs.


    But it was also in the legs that Lin Mu found the difference. The muscles and tendons of Elder Niji were a lot more developed than other parts of the body. And could actuallypare to that of someone at the 12th or at least the 13th stage of the body tempering realm.


    ''So one part of the body developed better than the other.'' Lin Mu understood.


    For the next part, he went to scan the meridians, which were a little harder to detect. Soon Lin Mu charted them, being careful not to damage them in the process. Since Elder Niji didn''t actually cultivate normally, he didn''t have the normal control over his meridian that a cultivator would have.


    If someone probed a normal cultivator and checked their meridians, they would be fine, since their spirit Qi would prevent the meridians from being affected. But in the case of Elder Niji, the meridians were ''helpless'' and would get harmed very easily by being unable to defend against Lin Mu''s spirit sense.


    ''Their meridians are certainly different. Their thickness is less than that of humans, but their numbers are greater. The circuits are also vastly different¡­ human cultivation techniques won''t even work for them.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    Next, Lin Mu went deeper into the body, finally reaching the Dantian. It was here that the things got stranger.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was audibly surprised.


    "Is there a problem?" Elder Niji asked with concern.


    "Not exactly¡­ its just different than I thought." Lin Mu said as he observed the Dantian.


    Elder Niji''s Dantian wasn''t in the normal circr shape like most beings. Instead, it was a three lobed circle. Simr to a triangle if they were made by joining three circles. The top lobe was the biggest, being three times bigger than the lower two lobes.


    The two smaller lobes had several meridiansing from them, that specifically went to the legs alone. Lin Mu could see from this that there was a rich supply of spirit Qi to the legs of Haima tribe.


    ''Wait if it''s like this¡­ then doesn''t it mean they can still use Qi skills?'' Lin Mu had an idea.


    Lin Mu peered into the Dantian, but did not find any Dao Embryo or a Dao Shell there. There wasn''t even a Nascent soul there.


    ''So he is onlyparable to a Dao Treading realm cultivator in terms of sheer spirit Qi quantity but does not have the same qualities.'' Lin Mu understood.


    Normally, this should have been impossible since the spirit Qipression was close to impossible without a cultivation technique. But with the support of the Stone Flesh Mushrooms, Lin Mu reckoned they didn''t even have to do that.


    Plus, the three lobed Dantian and higher number of meridians naturally increased their upper limit of spirit Qi storage.


    Opening his eyes, he looked at Elder Niji.


    "What did you learn?" Elder Niji asked.


    "Quite a bit. "

 Chapter 1215 Why To Help?

    Chapter 1215 Why To Help?¡¡¡¡Lin Mu wouldn''t say that he was an expert at the anatomy of many races, but he had seen enough of them over the years that he could somewhatprehend a new one and not be in the blind.


    In the case of the Haima tribe, their other than their body''s meridians and Dantian being more focused on the legs, the rest was the same as that of a human. But that didn''t mean that the same cultivation techniques could be used by them.


    If they tried to use them forcefully, they would quite possibly end up injuring themselves, or if they were lucky they simply wouldn''t be able to use the technique in the first ce.


    Lin Mu exined all this to Elder Niji, letting him understand the intricacies of the Haima tribe people.


    ~Sigh~


    "Seems like we are still at a loss¡­" Elder Niji spoke and shook his head.


    "I don''t think so. I have arge repertoire of cultivation techniques as well as skills that you might be able to use. As long as I have some time to scan more of your people and analyze what works the best, I might find something that works for your tribe." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this, Elder Niji was a bit surprise.


    "Why¡­ Why would you help us to that extent?" Elder Niji questioned.


    To him, their tribe was an exiled tribe that was being punished. They had lived in this destend for millenniums and were used to being miserable at times. Even the other people that they encountered in this time, whether they be humans or other races, were violent against them.


    This was the first time they had seen a human noble and brought them to their tribe. And it surprisingly turned out to be good for them. But it could also be said that they had felt no malice from Lin Mu.


    This was new for them and they were very sensitive to things like this. They might not have spirit sense, but their instincts were quite honed living in a harsh ce like this. After all, they fought with Chasm beasts as well as violent criminals who were banished here as well from time to time.


    Of course the criminals didn''t really survive the Land Of Exile since they had no knowledge of it. The Haima tribe knew of the only possible ce of safety in the entire ce and also had a source of sustenance and water.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    Combining all of these, they survived for many generations.


    These many generations all suffered the same, trying to better their lives, but there was nothing here to guide them. And it wasn''t like they could learn from the other criminals that were thrown here either.


    The criminals were thrown into thend of exile with basically just the clothes on their back and had no supplies with them either. Which meant no books or documents to learn from and neither any cultivation techniques.


    The Haima tribe had thus been living in ignorance for the most part, with only a little knowledge of their ancestors still remaining among them.


    "You helped me first, gave me food, and told me about this ce. This is the least I can do. Besides, it is my own desire for knowledge that makes me want to do this too. The more I learn about other creatures and races, the better I think I''ll be able to improve." Lin Mu calmly said.


    "I¡­ I see¡­" Elder Niji was lost for words. "Human nobles are really cut from a different cloth, it seems¡­ our ancestors were right."


    "That might not be correct." Lin Mu corrected. "What I speak is the Dao script and it is something that can be learned by anyone. They can be good or bad, so you shouldn''t hold on to that understanding or you and your people might fall in trouble." He stated.


    "Ah! I shall keep that in mind." Elder Niji noted it in his heart.


    Hearing Lin Mu''s warning only made him that much respectful to him.


    "Now then¡­" Lin Mu turned around, "can you tell me why we can''t go past the Rust Hail Mountains?" he questioned.


    Lin Mu definitely didn''t want to be trapped in this ce and wanted to find ways to leave it. The mountains seemed the most direct option, even if there was a little danger there.


    ''Is it immortal realm creatures that are the threat there?'' Lin Mu wondered if it might be that.


    If that really was the issue, then he might really have to wait to increase his own cultivation base first.


    "The Rust Hail Mountains are very tall and a path that can be traversed isn''t present. One can directly climb them, of course, but they would be killed by the Rust Hail." Elder Niji replied.


    "Rust Hail? Hail made of rust?" Lin Mu asked for rification.


    "It is basicallyrge chunks of rocks that fall from the skies. They fall at a great speed and will kill most beings that try to cross it. Immortals might be able to bear the impact of it, but they won''t be able to withstand the air there.


    We don''t exactly know what is in the air there, but breathing bes hard when it hails. The visibility also bes very less and one will lose their path. And when that happens, one wrong step would mean falling from the Rust Hail Mountains." Elder Niji exined.


    "Hmm¡­ if the hail is that strong, then how are the mountains still intact?" Lin Mu questioned. "The hills and rocks around here are tough, but certainly not that tough." He added.


    "We don''t know. But the Rust Hail Mountains are a lot tougher than the hills and rocks here. On some level they match the rust hail that falls from the sky." Elder Niji said. "My grandfather used to say that the Rust Hail Mountains are actually condensed over a long time from the hail that falls from the sky. Though I don''t know if it''s just an assumption or the truth."

 Chapter 1216 The Rust Sky World

    Chapter 1216 The Rust Sky World¡¡¡¡Hearing the reason from Elder Niji about why the Rust Hail Mountains were hard to cross, Lin Mu found more questions rising within his mind.


    "Wait, if the mountains are so hard to cross¡­ then how do the new criminals arrive here?" Lin Mu questioned. "They must have some way of sending them here, right?"


    "We¡­ don''t know. They just appear in the Land of Exile. Our ancestors also said the same in records. One day, they just found themselves here and knew why they were sent here." Elder Niji answered.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows, having a good guess.Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Seems like a teleportation formation of some kind. That seems to be the only method to sending them without anyone knowing how." Lin Mu said.


    "The thing that immortals used to traverse the worlds?" Elder Niji asked. "I''ve read about them before."


    "Yes. There are many kinds of them, and some can indeed be used to traverse the worlds." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "Then did youe to this world using it, too?" Elder Niji inquired.


    "I did indeed¡­ though this world wasn''t exactly a choice." Lin Mu replied. "I just entered a portal that happened to bring me here. You could say it was an idental thing." He added.


    "Ah, I see¡­ no wonder you would want to get out of here fast." Elder Niji understood.


    After all, he would want to leave this ce with his n too.


    "Still, if it really is a teleportation formation that brings in criminals here, then I might actually be able to find a way to get us out of here." Lin Mu said.


    "What?! Really?" Elder Niji was shocked.


    "Yes. Though I need to see the Teleportation formation first. As long as I can analyze it, I might be able to find a way to reverse it." Lin Mu answered.


    "That¡­ will be amazing. If you really do manage to do that, our tribe will forever be in your debt!" Elder Niji said in an excited voice.


    For the first time in over a thousand years, Elder Niji was feeling hopeful about his tribe''s future.


    "I''ll try my best. But first I''ll need to gather information¡­ lots of it." Lin Mu replied with a smile.


    "Me and my tribe shall assist you in this the best we can." Elder Niji nodded his head.


    "Very well¡­ though, do you know what''s beyond the mountains, perhaps?" Lin Mu asked.


    "YES! I do. Our ancestors mentioned it in the records too. Beyond the Rust Hail Mountains, there is a great sea. Thus, even if one escapes the mountains somehow, they will still be unable to get past the sea.


    The only way might be to fly, but only those in the Immortal realm can do that. Additionally, the sea is not free of dangers either apparently. It is filled with great Immortal beasts that can eat up whole ships." Elder Niji exined with enthusiasm.


    "Ah¡­ that¡­plicates things a bit¡­" Lin Mu said, feeling that he might need to work on a lot more to get out of here, perhaps.


    The two of them continued to talk for a while more, as Lin Mu asked more questions to learn about the ce. The more he learned, the more he felt interested.


    Lin Mu even learned the name of the world that he was in right now.


    This world was called as the Rust Sky world. It was named aptly ording to the appearance of its sky.


    Lin Mu asked more about the sky and why it was like this, but even Elder Niji didn''t know the answer. All Lin Mu got was that the sky had always been like this and there was simply no exnation.


    But one thing that Lin Mu did learn from Elder Niji was that there were a lot of differentnds in this world. And it was certainly a lot bigger than the Xiaofan world in size. Then there was also the fact that this world wasn''t just inhabited by humans either.


    There were several other races living in this world too, some even having entire kingdoms and empires of their own.


    "Oh yeah, are there cultivation sects here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    From all that he had learned from Elder Niji, he had not once heard the mention of any sect.


    "No. Cultivation sects have been prohibited since times immemorial. The nobles of the human kingdoms do not allow the existence of any sect. The greatest authority of this world is held in the hands of the empires and kingdoms." Elder Niji answered.


    Lin Mu was certainly surprised upon hearing this. He had learned from the memoirs of the Lost Immortal that sects existed in most worlds, even if they might not bemon. But hearing that a world had directly ouwed sects was a new thing for Lin Mu.


    "If there are no sects, then how do the cultivators learn and gather in this world?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They all need to join a kingdom or other royal powers to do that. They are the only ones that hold the things needed for cultivation. This is all that our ancestors have mentioned. There might be more, but we are in the dark about it." Elder Niji stated.


    "I see¡­ guess we''ll just have to learn more once we get out of here." Lin Wu said, but then quickly turned his neck to gaze at something in the distance. "Or perhaps we get to learn something today itself."


    "Huh?" Elder Niji followed where Lin Mu was pointing at and saw a small dot in the distance.


    It was moving slowly, and a small shadow was also cast behind it that was barely visible.


    "It''s another exile." Elder Niji confirmed.


    "Mmhmm¡­ Can we go get it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Sure, I''ll call the warriors." Elder Niji answered right away and shouted through the doors of the outpost.


    Within five minutes, ten warriors had arrived and were ready to heed theirmands. The target on the other hand, was still moving somewhere aimlessly and was within their sights.

 Chapter 1217 Peace In Death

    Chapter 1217 Peace In Death¡¡¡¡Lin Mu and Elder Niji set out to reach the target in the distance while the rest of the warriors followed. He finally got to see just how fast the people of the Haima tribe sprinted and it was certainly fast.


    While it might not beparable to that of Little Shrubby or Lin Mu''s own speed, it was certainly a lot faster than any other cultivator at the same level. Then there was also the fact that he had yet to see other humans of this world and judge their standard, but Lin Wu wouldn''t have to wait long now.


    His group reached the target in about five minutes and soon saw it clearly.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu came to a halt and was surprised by the person in front of him.


    It was certainly a human, but he was not in a good state at all. His legs and arms were scabbed over as if they had been bleeding for a long time and his ribs were exposed from deep gashes.


    It was a miracle as to how the man was even moving, even now. His eyes were dull and were half covered with matted hair that was caked in dust and dirt.


    "Hey! Are you okay?" Lin Mu called out in Dao Script but received no answer.


    He tried to speak a few more times, but the man didn''t respond at all and continue to walk aimlessly.


    "It''s no use." Elder Niji ced a hand on his shoulder. "We''ve seen many others like him before. They are close to dead at this point and are living a hellish existence."


    "W-what happened to him?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Chasm Beasts¡­ he shed with them and was injured. He survived, but their toxins have basically wiped out his mind. Now he is only living on instinct." Elder Niji answered. "This is what the Chasm Beasts end up doing to those that survive their attacks."


    "Then¡­ does the Haima n also have such victims?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ we can''t let them live on like that, so we help them find peace¡­ in death." Elder Niji replied.


    Lin Mu''s expression fell, but he understood this was a better choice than letting them suffer. At the same time though, he now wondered just what kind of an existence the Chasm beasts were.


    He had a hypothesis that the Chasm beasts were made out of the dark fog that filled the upper part of the chasm. But he himself had passed through it unaffected.


    ''If they have toxins too, then it should be part of the fog, right? How was I not affected?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He could guess that it might be because of his body cultivation, but he couldn''t confirm it. Looking at the effects of it, Lin Mu certainly found them terrifying.


    "What do we do now, Elder Niji?" The Haima Tribe members that had apanied them asked.


    "We go to the mountains from here. Our guest needs to see them too." Elder Niji stated before looking at Lin Mu, who had walked up to the injured man.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense extended and scanned the man''s body, making sure that he missed nothing. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    "This man¡­ He''s at the Immortal Ascension realm!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "Even immortals meet the same fate, Noble Lin Mu. They might survive longer, but they eventually end up the same. The Chasm Beasts spare no one. The only way to survive is to run and hide." Elder Niji exined.


    "Doesn''t your tribe fight the Chasm Beasts too?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "We only do so when theye too close to the settlement, but even that is only when the tide has receded. We fight the stragglers that are left behind after a majority has returned to the Chasm.


    Usually these are the weaker ones that can be killed by us. The truly strong ones easily kill Immortals." Elder Niji answered.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu now had a slightly better grasp on the situation.


    Still he knew that this was not enough, and he needed to do more.


    ~grip~


    cing his hand on the injured man''s chest, Lin Mu injected metal spirit Qi into him. The metal spirit Qi directly cut the man''s heart as well as his Dantian, ending his life swiftly.


    ~shua~


    A me lit up on Lin Mu''s hand next, which surprise the Haima Tribe warriors quite a bit. They stared and pointed at it, while chattering amongst themselves. After all, not everyone in the tribe had seen the different kinds of Qi skills.


    And while the Haima tribe could make fire, it was only through the use of normal methods. They then watched Lin Mu throw a fireball on the dead body, burning it into ashes in a minute.


    "We don''t know what kind of a man he was, but may he find peace in the next life¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Come. Let''s go to the base of the Rust Hail Mountains." Elder Niji spoke.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He had asked Elder Niji to do this before and since their excursion for the human had turned out to be a failure; he decided it may be better to explore the ce more.


    Lin Mu was interested in the Rust Hail Mountains and wanted to see just what made it special. He also wanted to see the toughness of the material it was made out of.


    ''If it is the same as the other rocks, I might just be able to st it apart. Not like I''ve done it before¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Rust Hail Mountains were still a couple of hours away from their current location, and it was best for them to be as fast as possible. While Elder Niji had agreed to take him there, there was still the danger of Chasm Beasts.


    While it was rtively ''safe'' on the periphery of the Barrennds, near the Rust Hail Mountains, the Chasm Beasts would still reach them eventually. The period of safety was only as long as the time needed for the Chasm Beasts to run up to them.


    Other than that, they would also have to watch out for any Rust Hail that might cause rock slides. Falling boulders and such were verymon.


    After about two hours of travel, Lin Mu and the group finally reached the Rust Hail Mountains. This was the closest part of the Rust Hail Mountains, and extended in both directions for as far as one''s gaze went.


    With how far they extended into the sky, it was hard to even see anything beyond them. They directly pierced into the dark and rust colored clouds, leaving nothing to be observed. Lin Mu estimated that these mountains might be more than ten times taller than the tallest mountain in Xiaofan World.


    Lin Mu knew that one couldn''t even fly that high in the Xiaofan world as they would be restricted by the world itself.


    ''Even the world barrier was located lower than that¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "It certainly is nothing like I''ve ever seen before¡­" Lin Mu said as he stood face to face against the mountain.


    ~step~step~step~


    Walking up to the steep wall of the Mountain, Lin Mu touched it.


    ~huu~


    Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.


    The Haima Tribe warriors looked on in confusion as Lin Mu stayed in that state for over ten minutes.


    "Elder Niji, what is the noble human doing?" They asked.


    "Trying to find a way for us to leave this ce." Elder Niji replied without moving his gaze from Lin Mu.


    "What!?" The Haima Tribe Warriors were stunned.


    Elder Niji then exined to them what Lin Mu had he had discussed. It took the old man about half an hour to do so, during which Lin Mu didn''t move at all, still staying in the same position.


    By the time Elder Niji was done exining, the look in the eyes of the Haima Tribe Warriors had changed entirely. They now looked at Lin Mu with hope, hope that one day he would get them out of here.


    And just as they were watching him, Lin Mu lifted his hand from the mountain wall.


    "Did you learn something?" Elder Niji questioned.


    "There is certainly uniqueness to this mountain. I can feel the Element of Earth within it, but it is not pure¡­ there is something else within it that makes it different." Lin Mu answered.


    Lin Mu had actually been using his Dao Embryo to sense the mountain. He wanted to see if he could control the earth within it to find a way out, but it didn''t seem to respond to him at all.


    While there was the Earth Elemental energy within it, it was not pure and was likely in a derivative form.


    "What do you want to do now?" Elder Niji asked.


    "Now? Now we take the crude way." Lin Mu said as his gaze sharpened.


    "Everyone get back." He ordered.

 Chapter 1218 A Crude Method

    Chapter 1218 A Crude Method¡¡¡¡Upon hearing Lin Mu''s words, Elder Niji got everyone to stand back.


    "Further away," Lin Mu spoke again.


    "More?" Elder Niji was surprised since they were already standing ten meters away from him.


    "You might be able to withstand the aftershock, but they won''t." Lin Mu exined.


    "Alright." Elder Niji then got the Haima Tribe warriors to go further back.


    Only when Lin Mu told them, it would be fine did they stop, but even that was already a hundred meters away. Once they were in the safety, Lin Mu began his move.


    Standing in a horse stance, Lin Mu gathered power within his right fist. Vitality rushed out of his blood and flowed into his arm, before turning into the liquid vital essence and swirling within it.


    Then spirit Qi mixed into it, turning it into a pink ribbon of energy that spun non stop within his arm. But it didn''t end there.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Waves of spirit Qi spurn around Lin Mu''s entire body, getting concentrated around his arm.


    "This is new¡­" Lin Mu had not experienced this before. "No, wait¡­ the spirit Qi constitution¡­ it''s not high?" he was surprised.


    So far what Lin Mu had learned was that he needed nearly three times or more spirit Qi to use a Qi skill in the Rust Sky World. But this turned out to be different for the Boulder Copsing fist.


    ''Is it because I''m also using Vital Essence with it?'' Lin Mu wondered and realized he might need to test it out moreter.


    He had not tested the Boulder Copsing Fist ever sinceing to this world, as there was simply no reason to. It was a move with high energy consumption and Lin Mu didn''t want to use it needlessly when he was alreadycking energy.


    But now that he had replenished it all with the Stone Flesh Mushrooms, he could freely use the skill again.


    As waves of spirit Qi swirled around Lin Mu''s body, they became visible. A faint white energy could be seen moving and looked ethereal to all those watching. This was the first time Elder Niji or the Haima Tribe members were seeing the physical form of spirit Qi.


    Not just that, but they also felt the presence of the energy.


    "So this is what spirit Qi is like¡­" Elder Niji focused his attention on it.


    The Haima Tribe Warriors on the other hand, were stunned. The pressure exuding from Lin Mu was otherworldly to them, and even the Chasm Beasts didn''t seem toe close to it.


    And just as they continued to watch Lin Mu, he pulled his hand back.


    ~SHUA~


    The energy reached a peak before Lin Mu finally punched out!N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Third Form- Devastator!


    A pink ribbon of energy shot out of Lin Mu''s fist, revolving endlessly. It pulled the air along with it, coloring it a shade of pink as well. But that was not all as the spirit Qi in the air too felt attracted to it, directly infusing into before turning into a long spiral.


    The pink ribbon was now surrounded with a light pink colored spirit Qi spiral, giving it an elegant appearance. But within this elegant appearance was hidden a power that could eradicate everything that was in its path.


    The Haima Tribe warriors felt like fainting just from watching it. Even at the distance they were standing, the spirit Qi within their bodies was threating to burst out. It was like needles being attracted to a strong ma.


    Elder Niji was in a better state, but even he felt the pull of the spirit Qi in his body.


    ''No wait¡­ the spirit Qi in my body is moving in a specific manner?'' Elder Niji noted something else.


    He focused on the spirit Qi and soon saw the paths that it took. He was actually learning his meridians circuits!


    Elder Niji had never expected he would get to figure out how his meridians were without spirit sense. It was a fortunate encounter for sure, something that even Lin Mu didn''t expect he would cause.


    Lin Mu didn''t know that he was causing this effect either, as his attention was focused on the mountain in front of him. The Pink ribbon of energy surrounded by the spirit Qi spiral seemed to have paused in air for a moment, but that was merely an illusion.


    ~BOOM~


    The afterimage disappeared abruptly as the Devastator struck the Mountain. The area shook and trembled while the energy spiral drilled into the solid mountain wall.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A rumbling sound was heard continually as the Devastator drilled into the hard rock. Dust and dirt filled the air, making it hard to see. Even Lin Mu was unable to grasp the scene with his spirit sense as the Devastator had roused the spirit Qi in the air, making it too chaotic to sense.


    The attacksted for about five seconds, after which a loud explosion was heard.


    ~KABOOM~


    The explosion spread outward and threated to hurt Elder Niji and the Haima Tribe members, but Lin Mu simply threw out a circr shield. It was one of the many defensive spirit tools that he had in the ring.


    He had basically never used it since he never actually had to. His own defenses were far greater than the shield and even in the case of others, he never had to protect them since they would have their own defensive skills and tools.


    But the Haima tribe had nothing of that sort, making it Lin Mu''s work to protect them from the aftershock, which was stronger than he had originally expected.


    Even at a distance of over hundred meters, the Haima Tribe members would have been struck by the fast moving debris from the explosion. These rock fragments were sharp and moved at a great speed.


    It was the same as a Frag Grenade exploding and its fragments impacting everything in a spherical radius.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~ CLANG~


    The rock fragments struck the barrier created by the shield, creating sounds thatsted for about two seconds.

 Chapter 1219 Change In The Boulder Collapsing Fist

    Chapter 1219 Change In The Boulder Copsing Fist¡¡¡¡Lin Mu waved his hand forcefully and cleared the dust in the air.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Once it was swept away, the aftermath of his attack could be seen. A ten meter wide hole could be seen in the tough mountain wall. But upon seeing this, Lin Mu''s brows furrowed.


    His eyes focused on the center of the hole, trying to assess its depth. And when he finally did, he shook his head.


    ''Even Devastator isn''t enough for this¡­ the mountain is too tough and the impact reduces over the area.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The hole had a conical interior, and at its deepest point; it was over two hundred meters deep. This might seem like it was quite deep, but whenpared to the size of the Rust Hail Mountains, it was nothing.


    Besides, one must not forget the power of Devastator. This was the same skill that Lin Mu had used to destroyed literally mountains in the Xiaofan world before. And yet, here they didn''t do the same amount of damage.


    Granted, the mountain here was many timesrger and tougher, the effect was still underwhelming.


    "This¡­" Elder Niji was at a loss for words.


    Even the damage that Lin Mu had done to the mountain was still iprehensible to Elder Niji. He could barely see the end of the hole that had been drilled into the Mountain wall. Or rather than a hole, it was more urate to call it a tunnel instead.


    ''A single attack did this to the mountain wall¡­ if this struck someone, what would happen to them?'' Elder Niji couldn''t help but wonder.


    The attack was simply too powerful for him. He recalled the attacks of the other immortal cultivators that had been banished to the Land of Exile and realized that even those didn''tpare to this.


    After all there had been nock of exiled trying to escape this ce. The Rust Hail Mountain was a barrier that they all wanted to cross but were unable to. Thus, they took the choice of making a tunnel and dig as much as they could.


    And yet, they had failed more than once.


    Many couldn''t even break the rocks of the Rust hail Mountain, forget drilling a hole.


    As for the Immortals who had tried this, while they could certainly damage the Rust Hail Mountain like this, it was not to this extent. At most, they might make a hole that was a couple of meters deep, or a bit more.


    But it was not an entire tunnel that was ten meters wide!


    ~Sigh~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and walked close to check the mountain wall again. Elder Niji and the rest approached him as well, while the Haima Tribe warriors trembled with each step.


    "Noble Lin Mu¡­ this power¡­ I''ve never seen it before." Elder Niji spoke.


    "Mm¡­ this is a different kind of a Qi skill." Lin Mu replied.


    "No, that''s not what I meant¡­ I''ve not seen such power even from an immortal." Elder Niji stated.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu raised his brows and heard the past attempts at doing what he had done.


    "They weren''t even able to go more than ten meters deep?" Lin Mu asked doubtfully.


    "Yes, even an immortal was unable to do this. At digging that far took them many days and eventually they had to stop because of Chasm Beasts." Elder Niji answered.


    "Hmm¡­ I see." Lin Mu said, thinking that the Boulder Copsing Fist was certainly different.


    It was something he had gotten from a spatial rift and may very well have been from a higher leveled world. After all, while it did say that anyone could practice it and any kind of energy could be used for it, the standard it had was for one to have a very strong body.


    Those with weak body could certainly use it, but it woulde at the expense of injuries.


    Lin Mu himself had shattered his hand the first time he used it. Even after tempering his body, it took him a long time before he could use it without any injuries. N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    Something like this was not reasonable for most cultivators at all.


    Perhaps there was more to the technique, but the majority of its pages were missing. Luckily, there was still the starting part and the introduction of the skill left. Without it, Lin Mu might never be able to learn it at all.


    Though this was just for the initial part, the three forms that Lin Mu had made were entirely new. There was no telling if it was part of the booklet too, which could be possible, but the many different elemental forms were probably his own.


    Then there was the change in the appearance of the Boulder Copsing fist.


    ''The pull of spirit Qi was there in the Xiaofan world too, but it was not this strong.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Furrowing his brows, Lin Mu pulled his fist back again and gathered energy in it.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: First Form: Impact!


    ~BOOM~


    Another hole was punched next to the already existing hole. But this time it was a lot more shallow and narrow. The hole formed was two meters wide and about four meters deep. Additionally, there was no suction force.


    Elder Niji and the Haima Tribe warriors were startled from Lin Mu''s sudden attack, but they were not affected by the same pressure like before.


    "Hmm¡­ interesting." Lin Mu rubbed his chin. "You all should retreat again." He said to the Haima Tribe people.


    They quickly ran back, without even needing to know the meaning of Lin Mu''s words. They could understand the intent very easily, seeing what he had just done.


    Lin Mu got into the horse stance again and gathered spirit Qi within his arm.


    ~WHOOSH~


    This time an even greater pull was felt by everyone and when Lin Mu punched out the needle of energy turned into arge spike instead!


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Second Form- Piercer!


    ~SHING~


    The needle of energy drilled into the mountain wall and for ten seconds, nothing was heard.


    ~BOOM~


    Finally, an explosion was felt, but its sound was rather muffled.

 Chapter 1220 Three Choices

    Chapter 1220 Three Choices¡¡¡¡Along the explosion a plume of fine dust was shot out of the hole created by piercer. It was evidently the crushed material and was rather fine, almost like dust.


    Lin Mu observed it and found it to be a lot deeper than the hole created by Devastator. But at the same time it was narrow and definitely could not be entered like therge tunnel. This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    ~Sigh~


    "While its deeper, its not usable." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    While he observed his handiwork, the Haima Tribe people walked up to him feeling shocked. They couldn''t muster any words to speak and knew that the person in front of them was very powerful.


    One of them was especially terrified, this being none other than Jehu, the Haima warrior who could speak in broken Dao script. He had fought with Lin Mu and so had the other two warriors.


    While they had surrendered after seeing him overwhelm them easily before, realizing that he was simply holding back was even more terrifying for them. They had never seen anyone that could cause this much damage to the Rust Hail Mountains, and it was chilling to imagine what would happen if an attack like that struck them.


    Perhaps even their bones and souls would be reduced to nothingness.


    "A-are you done, Noble Lin Mu?" Elder Niji finally spoke.


    "Yes¡­ though it seems like our endeavor would be a lot difficult than I thought." Lin Mu replied.


    "But you managed to create such arge hole." Elder Niji said in doubt.


    "I know¡­ but this is not enough. Even if I continually do this, which I cannot, the time needed to drill through the entire mountain would take far too long. Besides¡­ there is another problem," Lin Mu said and pointed to the edges of the hole. "We might have a chance if the hole stayed as it is¡­ but this is recovering."


    Elder Haima looked closer and saw that the rock was actually growing back!


    It was slow, but the longer they watched, the faster it was getting. While it was not closing abruptly, Lin Mu could estimate that the entire hole might close up in a few days. As for the hole made by Piercer, it would take even less time, perhaps just a few hours.


    With this disappointing discovery, Lin Mu guessed that he might need to take the route of using a teleportation formation. But for that, they would need to be lucky enough to catch someone that had just been banished here.


    Doing that was a lot more difficult than just talking about it. The teleportation array would only appear for a brief moment, then one would also need to get there in that time. At least Lin Mu had the confidence of locking onto the array, as long as his spirit sense touches it once.


    Then even if it diapered, he might slit be able to decipher it.


    Elder Niji who had been watching Lin Mu who was thinking intently, felt a little lost.


    "Do we not have a solid chance?" Elder Niji asked.


    "We might¡­ or might not currently. But we definitely will in the future." Lin Mu said with confidence.


    Lin Mu after all, had more than just his own expertise to depend on. As long as Xukong awakened, Lin Mu was sure that he would be able to figure out some solution.


    ''Then there is also the factor of adapting. Once my body has gotten used to this ce, I might be able to do a lot more.'' Lin Mu thought and raised his hand towards the mountain wall.


    "Meld¡­" Lin Mu lightly spoke and waved his hand.


    ~shua~


    The mountain wall was soundlessly cut!


    Elder Niji barely noticed it but the Haima tribe warriors didn''t.


    ~step~step~


    "Hmm¡­ manipting space here is indeed harder¡­ the spatial fabric is tough." Lin Mu noted.


    The cut in the mountain wall was about a meter deep and was smooth, just like meld had done before. But this cut was made with Lin Mu''s full force of Meld. On Xiaofan world, Lin Mu barely needed this much power to use Meld or cause damage with it.


    Which only showed him the different levels of spatialws in higher worlds. Xukong had already informed him about this and it was just Lin Mu confirming it.


    ''So now I have three paths¡­ either find a teleportation array and reverse it, st the mountain apart with Devastator or cut it with meld.'' Lin Mu assessed his choices.


    All three of them would need time for him to work with. But thetter two options were something that were sure shot. All Lin Mu needed was more time, and he would eventually be able to do it.


    "Let''s return for now." Lin Mu said.


    "Alright." Elder Niji agreed, not even bothering to ask how Lin Mu had cut the mountain there.


    ''He didn''t even touch it, and unlike before, there was no powerful pressure. It was silent and undetectable¡­ a lot more dangerous.'' Elder Niji thought.


    The group returned to the outpost and descended into the Haima tribe from there. Lin Mu talked with Elder Niji for a few hours before he was given a ce to sleep.


    It was an entire house that was close to Elder Niji''s own house and was good enough for Lin Mu.


    "The bed is ratherrge¡­ though guess it is meant to amodate the tall bodies of the Haima tribe people." Lin Mu said, seeing the bed that was over two meters tall and four meters wide.


    Though the bedding on it was not something that Lin Mu would prefer. Thankfully, he had a lot of soft mattresses stored in the ring. Simply putting one on the bed frame, Lin Mu was ready to do something he had not done for a long time: Sleep.


    Ever since walking up in the cavern down in the Broken Chasm, Lin Mu had been awake. It had now been over two months and it was about time he rested.

 Chapter 1221 Growth Of The Plants Of Sleepscape

    Chapter 1221 Growth Of The nts Of Sleepscape¡¡¡¡Lin Mu quickly fell asleep and found himself in the Sleepscape.


    The ce looked mostly the same as he had left before, but there were still some chances in it. The biggest one being the tree in front of Lin Mu.


    "That''s a lot of spirit apples¡­" Lin Mu was surprised.


    The spirit apple tree was covered with spirit apples of both types, the normal ones and the wood energy rich ones. This was unusual, as Lin Mu knew it would only grow a specific amount before the limit was reached and they would need to be plucked.


    But now even the newer wood energy rich apples were filling half the tree. Not to mention, all of them were fully ripe.


    "Guess it makes sense since I haven''t been here in a few months¡­" Lin Mu remembered thest time he came here was a week before the start of the War in Xiaofan world.


    That was almost four months ago, and it was normal for the spirit apples to umte to this extent.


    This was not the only change in the Sleepscape either though.


    ~Huu~


    Breathing in the air, Lin Mu felt that the spirit Qi in the air had increased even more. Not just that, but even the concentration of wood spirit Qi had increased.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu gazed at the Wood Spirit Tulip and saw that it had change.


    Instead of just swaying leaves, it now had a bright flower on top of it. The flower was a deep red in color and released a faint fragrance that filled the entire Sleepscape. If one looked closer, they would even see fine streaks of wood spirit Qi being absorbed into the flower.


    "It actually bloomed¡­" Lin Mu had not expected for they Wood Spirit Tulip to bloom for a while.


    While it had certainly grown up fast in the Sleepscape, the sudden change was unexpected, since Lin Mu and Xukong had estimated it would take at least a year or more to do this.


    Walking closer to the flower, Lin Mu touched it. He was fully expecting to be pped, but surprising the Wood Spirit flower didn''t respond at all. It continued to sway gently and looked like any normal nt.


    Its facade was almost perfect, if not for the fact that Lin Mu sensed the roots of the nt wiggling in the ground, nervously.


    "Oh wait! My spirit sense works at its earlier range again!" Lin Mu discovered.


    This confirmed his doubt that it really was the Rust Sky World that was causing his spirit sense to be limited.


    "I should check more things." Lin Mu went on to test his Qi skills and found that the consumption was back to the earlier level.


    "It is the effect of the Rust Sky world, for sure." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He felt like a lot of his doubts were now resolved and a feeling of relief also filled him.


    ~rustle~


    A faint rustling sound attracted Lin Mu''s attention and he turned to search for it. The sound hade from none other than the third spirit nt in the Sleepscape, the Purple Sickle Amaranth.


    "You haven''t changed much." Lin Mu observed the nt. "Hmm¡­ you do have a few more leaves, though. Guess that counts as growth." He noted.


    Lin Mu then took a walk across the entire Sleepscape, not finding any other change in it. The size of the Sleepscape was also the same asst time. In the end, he came to a stop before the Spirit apple tree and plucked all the fruits from it.


    Holding a half green spirit apple in his hand, Lin Mu pondered for a bit.


    ~Crunch~


    Then in the next minute, he took a deep bite, eating a quarter of the apple in one go. The juices of the spirit apple spread in his mouth, along with a sweet and sour taste. The wood spirit Qi and wood elemental energy too appeared quickly spreading through his body.


    His stomach worked quickly at assimting it all. The wood spirit Qi was simply stored in his Dantian, but the Wood elemental energy was instead guided to his liver, where it was used to refine the organ.


    The effect was minuscule, but it was still there, which was better than nothing.


    Not to mention, it still filled Lin Mu''s belly.


    "It would have been good if I could havee to the Sleepscape earlier. I wouldn''t have had to be hungry for that long." Lin Mu said to himself.


    This was one of the options he certainly had after having run out of all the food in his ring. But Lin Mu didn''t do this because of a big reason; he didn''t want to identally trigger the ability of the Great Slumber bear.


    If that happened, when he was alreadycking vitality, he might never wake up again. It was a very dangerous condition and it was best he stayed awake. Even though the chance of it happening was very low ever since Lin Mu had gotten control over it, there was no telling what the Rust Sky World''s new rules might have on it.


    ''It was a risk that was best not taken¡­ besides I managed to get the food in the end.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    ~Crunch~


    Lin Mu took another spirit apple rich in wood element and ate it as well. Without stopping, he ate all of them, leaving only the normal apples forter use.


    The effects of the spirit apples were shown soon, as his liver started to get refined again. The increase was very slow, like a snail''s pace, but it was something that still made Lin Mu pleased.


    "If I keep this rate of progress, I might breakthrough to the fifth treasured organ before I reach the Immortal Ascension realm with my spirit Qi cultivation base." Lin Mu reckoned.


    The fifth treasured organ was the body cultivation equivalent of the Immortal Ascension realm and would make Lin Mu stronger, cing him at the baseline for this world.

 Chapter 1222 Rest And Comprehension

    Chapter 1222 Rest And Comprehension¡¡¡¡Lin Mu felt a littlefortable after having eaten all the Wood elemental spirit apples.


    This was simply the natural characteristic of the wood element. The wood element was analogous with life and vitality. Without it, life could barely exist and the world would lose their vitality.


    nts were the basic beings that were born from the wood element and belonged to it. There were other beings that were simrly born from the wood element too, or aligned with it.


    Overall, the wood element gave one a feeling of freshness andfort. It was also the most gentle element among them all.


    The fire was fierce; the earth was firm; the metal was sharp; the water was ever-changing; the wind was formless, and the lightning was explosive. Such was the aspect of the elements and each hid more among the top.


    Lin Mu''sprehension of the wood element grew as he pondered on this and even hispression of the other elements increased very slightly. Reaching the Dao Treading realm allowed one to open up to the Dao and gainprehension from it.


    Even if one only practiced one of the Dao''s other Daos could still be sensed from them. After all, all Dao''s were born from one and lead to a single path in the end. They were inextricably linked and the closer they were in rtion, the easier it would be to understand them.


    For example, in Lin Mu''s case, hisprehension of other elements increased because they were part of the basics of the world. Each element promoted and suppressed the other elements, forming a cycle.


    From this, one could continue on to feel the other elements as well.


    Thoughprehending other elements like this was not a simple thing. Many cultivators could peer into this, but actually getting any significant gain was difficult. For Lin Mu, this was only possible since he had cultivated the Five Treasured Organs and had used the five elements.


    In the many elements, he didn''t feel the Lightning and Wind element as prominently as he did the five mortal elements. Which was normal since the five treasure organs corrted with the five mortal elements.


    Lin Mu didn''t know if there was some other way to integrate the Lightning and Wind Elements into his body as well.


    ''Perhaps it is the next step in body cultivation¡­ The Lightning and Wind elements are part of the four heavenly elements and are above the five mortal elements. ording to that, the Five mortal elements coincide with the ''mortal realm'' then the four Heavenly elements should do so with the ''Immortal realm''.'' Lin Mu continued to ponder more and more.


    He entered a state of trance and stayed like this for a while. By the time he woke up, he realized it had been three days already.


    "I should return to my body, Elder Niji might be concerned." Lin Mu muttered to himself.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    Closing his eyes in the Sleepscape, Lin Mu opened them in the real world.


    ~huu~


    Talking in a deep breath, Lin Mu felt a lot better than before. The three days of rest had improved his mentality as well as dissipated the stress that had been lingering deep in his mind.


    He had after all, been in one tense situation after the other when he was in the Xiaofan world. The duty as the World''s ordained weighed on him and the shadow of the Invader loomed constantly.


    While leaving the Xiaofan world like that was a little regretful to Lin Mu, it also allowed him to be a little carefree.


    "Let''s take a look outside¡­" Lin Mu opened the door and saw that there was a Haima tribe member standing there.


    He didn''t recognize him, thinking that the man might have been asked to stand guard.


    "^(&(*&(" The Haima tribe member was a bit startled and spoke something in hisnguage.


    Seeing that it was Lin Mu, he shook his head and thought for a couple of seconds.


    "N-noble¡­ Elder Niji¡­ Call¡­" The man spoke with some difficulty and gestured to the building where Elder Niji lived.


    "Ah, I understand." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He had already guessed something like this might happen and went along with the Haima Tribe member.


    ''If I''m going to stay here a while, I should learn theirnguage¡­ maybe Elder Niji might be able to teach me.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It shouldn''t be that difficult for Lin Mu to learn thenguage, as he had already learned Dao Script. Xukong had told him that once one knew Dao Script, they could learn pretty much any othernguage easily with some time.


    At least this applied to thenguages that could be spoken with the normal speech organs. Learning other uniquenguages such as Beast Tongue and others had extra requirements and might be difficult for normal humans.


    By the time he added this task to his list, Lin Mu was already at Elder Niji''s residence.


    ~CREAK~


    The stone door opened with a loud creak like always, and Lin Mu entered it.


    He was the only one who was allowed free entry into the elder''s residence and the other tribe members could only wait patiently outside unless invited.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense quickly found Elder Niji in a room upstairs.


    "Now that I think of it, I''ve never actually seen the other parts of this house." Lin Mu recalled.


    Talking the stairs to the right, Lin Mu went upstairs and walked down the short corridor, reaching the room in which Elder Niji was located.


    ~Creak~


    This stone door creaked as well, pulling Elder Niji''s attention.


    "You called for me?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Ah! Noble Lin Mu you are awake. I reckoned you were tired and needed some good rest, so I didn''t disturb you before." Elder Niji replied.


    "Yes, I was a bit tired. Now I''m better." Lin Mu stated.


    "That does seem to be the case. Yourplexion looks a lot better." Elder Niji nodded.


    "So what is it that you called me here for? Was it something specific?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Chasm Beasts have appeared."

 Chapter 1223 The Long Distance Scout Team And Chasm Beast Sighting

    Chapter 1223 The Long Distance Scout Team And Chasm Beast Sighting¡¡¡¡Lin Mu raised his brows upon hearing this.


    "When did this happen?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The day after we returned." Elder Niji replied.


    "So suddenly? We should have spotted some of the early ones, right?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "We should have yes, but it seems like the spot of resurgence this time is far from the tribe. The only reason we even know it in advance is because the long distance scout team returned." Elder Niji exined.


    "I see¡­ but what''s the long distance scout team?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You could say they are our bravest warriors. They''ve volunteered to patrol the Barrennds to check for the first signs of the Chasm beasts. They set out on their task whenever a Chasm Beast tide recedes and only return when they spot the first Chasm beast again.


    Of course, the site of resurgence of the Chasm Beasts can be anywhere in the Barren Lands along the Broken Chasm, but the further one is away from the tribe, the more danger they would encounter.


    Thus, the Long distance scout team''s work is especially dangerous. Their current leader, Kulo is the second strongest Haima, just below me." Elder Niji answered in detail.


    "Oh? That''s interesting. I should meet them then, if they are strong, their bodies would be a lot more developed and I might be able to obtain some insights." Lin Mu stated.


    "Of course, you''ll get to meet them soon. We are going to discuss the matter of the Chasm Beasts anyway." Elder Niji agreed.


    Lin Mu then followed after Elder Niji and they went to another building that was located in the central area of the Haima tribe. It was not that tall, but it was certainly the widest building in the Haima tribe.


    In some ways, it could also be considered as the Tribe''s center.


    "@$@$*@&&^"


    "$^#(Q&$"


    Elder Niji and Lin Mu were greeted by the Haima Tribe members waiting for them.


    "They are waiting for us." Elder Niji tranted.


    Entering the building, Lin Mu felt like he had somewhat returned to a council room of his home world. In there, he spotted several Haima Tribe members sitting around, some of them old, and some middle aged.


    There were both men and women and even a few young members standing at the back.


    Elder Niji walked up to his seat at the head of the circle, while Lin Mu sat next to him.


    At first, Elder Niji and the Haima Tribe members discussed amongst themselves and a few even nced at Lin Mu from time to time. He had already be quite well known in the tribe by now, especially since the warriors who had apanied them on thest expedition spread the story of his power.


    The other Haima tribe members had been interested in seeing him after learning all that, but they couldn''t since he was sleeping ever since returning from them. And now they could finally do this.


    Lin Mu too observed them and could grasp from their mannerisms that they were talking about him too. Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Elder Niji said the head of the Long distance Scouts should be here too. Which one is he?'' Lin Mu''s spirit sense wandered around and checked the cultivation bases of everyone.


    Surprisingly enough, the average cultivation base here was equivalent to the Nascent soul realm while the weakest was at the core condensation realm. The ones at the core condensation realm were none other than the young members of the tribe.


    But the strongest after Elder Niji was a single middle aged man that was sitting on the opposite side. His face had several scars, and so did his body. He wore a different styled armor than the others and even had several patterns painted on it.


    ''Roughly equivalent to the Dao Shell realm. Certainly strong enough to be the second in the tribe.'' Lin Mu soon found the man.


    "Noble Lin Mu, the Chasm Beasts will probably start to pour out of the Broken Chasm in about a week''s time. If you want to take a closer look at them, now''s the right time." Elder Niji suddenly spoke.


    "Have theye close to the tribe?" Lin Mu asked.


    "A few stray Chasm Beasts were spotted by the outpost scouts just an hour ago. Head Warrior Kulo just informed me of this." Elder Niji replied.


    "Good. We should leave as soon as possible, then." Lin Mu was ready.


    He had been intending to take a look at the Chasm Beasts from the start. While he had heard quite a bit about them, seeing them and observing them directly was an entirely different experience.


    It would also him the most information.


    "Head Warrior Kulo will apany us too." Elder Niji stated.


    "That''s fine." Lin Mu was intending to interact more with the man anyway.


    He was interested in the man''s experience as a warrior. Even if Elder Niji was the strongest in the tribe, his role was ultimately that of leading the tribe. He wasn''t necessarily the best at fighting, that title would be for the head warrior.


    Lin Mu reckoned that if he observed and analyzed how the head warrior fought, he might be able to discern some Qi skill or cultivation technique best suited to the Haima tribe. And perhaps he himself might get to learn something new too.


    The three of them left the tribe right away and appeared on the surface after a few minutes.


    "%&^%E@**" Head Warrior Kulo spoke something and pointed in the distance towards the Broken Chasm.


    "Kulo says that they spotted six stray Chasm Beasts wandering there." Elder Niji tranted.


    "How strong are they?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Our average warrior would be able to kill at least one of them." Elder Niji replied.


    "So at the Qi refining realm¡­ that should be no problem, then." Lin Mu said.


    The three of them started running, and Lin Mu discovered that Head Warrior Kulo was quite fast too. In fact he was faster than Elder Niji, who was stronger than him.

 Chapter 1224 The Chasm Beasts

    Chapter 1224 The Chasm Beasts¡¡¡¡Lin Mu continued to observe Head Warrior Kulo, realizing that he certainly had a way of maneuvering the roughndscape.


    ''It''s almost like a footwork technique, but without any specialized spirit Qi circuits.'' Lin Mu thought.


    This also gave him the idea of picking a footwork and movement technique for the Haima tribe. From what he could see they already had a natural skill in this, and their agility was good. Adding a footwork and movement technique would be the same as adding wings to a tiger and they might be a lot stronger.


    ''Though there is still the issue of ipatibility. Hmm¡­ maybe a technique that only utilizes the meridians in the legs might work? It is isted enough that the interference from other circuits might not be there.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    In his ring, Lin Mu quite literally had a library full of skills. These skills epassed all that the alliance had, even some of the iplete and damaged skills were there. The patriarchs of the Alliance had gifted him this long before the final battle, but he had yet to get a proper look through it.


    "I should search through it, there must be something." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "@#%&%^$" Then in the next second, he heard Head Warrior Kulo speak something.


    "We halt here." Elder Niji tranted.


    They came to a stop, and Head Warrior Kulo stood on top of a mound observing the distance.


    "@#%&#%@&" The head warrior said something in a low voice.


    "He says, the Chasm Beasts are circling something in the distance." Elder Niji stated.


    "Circling something? They caught someone?" Lin Mu too climbed up on the mound and gazed in the distance following Head Warrior Kulo.


    There he saw some small ck figures moving around in circles.


    "I thought the Chasm Beasts didn''t behave like normal beasts and were aggressive against all prey?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "Yes¡­ which is why this is strange. We should be cautious." Elder Niji said with a serious face.


    Something that could cause the Chasm Beasts to change their normal behavior was possible extraordinarily. The group of three approached the area cautiously, and Lin Mu finally got to take a proper look at the Chasm Beasts.


    The ones in front of them were the size of dogs and were considered the smallest Chasm Beasts. Their skin was furless and had a dark ck texture that seemed to be dusty. There were eight of them going around in circles.


    They had six legs, all of which had three ws on them that were perfect for tearing flesh. Instead of a tail though, they had a ridge on their back that extended outwards from where the tail should have been.


    This protrusion was rigid and did not move like a tail. It wasn''t that long either being only ten centimeters long. The most eye-catching feature though was their head. Their lower jaw was like that of a crocodile, having fangs that jutted outwards.


    But their upper jaw was different, being shaped like a beak and having no teeth on it. The end of this beak was hooked and a sharp metallic glint could be seen on it. The eyes of the Chasm Beasts were an empty ck, as if there was no actual eyeball in the sockets.


    Their forehead was also broad, propping upwards like a shield.


    ncing at the Chasm beasts though, Lin Mu felt like they were a bit familiar.


    ''Did I read about them somewhere?'' Lin Mu thought to himself but couldn''t recall where.


    "What''s that?" Elder Niji said as he pointed at an object that was lying in the center.


    The object shone slightly and reflected a faint light. Lin Mu''s eyes focused on it and discovered that it looked like a broken chest te.


    "An armor?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    "#*&%#*^" Head Warrior Kulo spoke something at this time.


    "We should take this chance to attack the Chasm Beasts while they are distracted." Elder Niji tranted.


    "Alright." Lin Mu didn''t have any problem.


    He too wanted to get closer and sense just how the bodies of the Chasm Beasts were. His spirit sense couldn''t reach them from here, and he wondered what mysteries they held within them.


    Barely a minuteter, Lin Mu and the two were already close to the Chasm Beasts.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The first to attack was Head Warrior Kulo as he leaped up and struck down with a stone spear, directly impaling one of the Chasm beasts.


    ~GUZAAAA~


    A strange roar was let out by the Chasm Beasts and they became agitated. The huffed out ck smoke, looking angry, and charged at Head Warrior Kulo. But before they could go any closer, Head Warrior Kulo threw two javelins at them.


    ~SHUA~ Shua~


    The Javelins soared through the air and urately struck two Chasm Beasts. It went smoothly though their head all the way to the base of their tail.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    The next attack came from Lin Mu as he directly appeared at the back of the Chasm Beasts. Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo were shocked at this sudden appearance.


    ''Wasn''t he right next to me a moment ago?'' Elder Niji was confused.


    They watched as Lin Mu directly punched with his fists. They struck the sturdy backs of the Chasm Beasts and cracked it effortlessly. The two fists were directly buried into the flesh of the Chasm Beasts and ended their life.


    Elder Niji got out of his shock as well and killed two more Chasm Beasts with the staff he had been carrying around all this time.


    Now only one Chasm Beast was left, and it looked at the humans wearily.


    "Wait." Lin Mu spoke. "I want to see what it does." He added.


    "We can''t wait for long as other Chasm beasts mighte soon from their cry earlier. They can sense their kin dying nearby." Elder Niji replied.


    "Won''t take long." Lin Mu said as he directly used blink and appeared on top of the Chasm Beast.


    ~THUD~


    His weight directly pressed the beast onto the ground, cracking its back.

 Chapter 1225 Birth Of The Chasm Beasts And Cracks

    Chapter 1225 Birth Of The Chasm Beasts And Cracks¡¡¡¡The Chasm Beast was in a sorry state after being pressed upon by Lin Mu. It couldn''t even let out a cry and faint ck gas could be seening out of its cracked back.


    Even then Lin Mu controlled his weight so that he didn''t just tten the beast and kill it. Thankfully even if he couldn''t fly, he could still use spirit Qi to lessen his weight. It didn''t count as going against the restrictions of the world and was still possible for him.


    Otherwise, he''d be leaving craters everywhere he walked.


    When the Chasm Beast was suppressed, Lin Mu used his spirit sense to scan it. At first, he could tell the outer structure and body of the beast, but when it entered deeper Lin Mu discovered that the Chasm Beast had no organs!


    It was simply a solid body that seemingly worked somehow.


    ''Hmm¡­ Its insides are made of out the same dark fog that''s in the Broken Chasm, but its outer features are like that of a normal beast. Is this a change that is only triggered under certain conditions?'' Lin Mu already made up several hypotheses about the Chasm Beasts.


    He then nced at the Chasm Beasts that were already dead and saw that they were dissipating into a dusty ck fog. It looked like something that woulde out of the exhaust of a badly maintained truck that had no catalytic converter.


    The dead bodies of the Chasm Beasts first shrunk while the outer parts were intact and when they reached the halfway point, they disappeared as well.


    "Oh?" It was now that Lin Mu noticed something peculiar.


    Instead of just fading into the air, the dusty ck fog actually gathered up and flew in the direction of the Broken Chasm.


    "Interesting¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    ~CRACK~


    Shattering the body of the Chasm Beast under him, Lin Mu killed it and also stored the broken chest te in his ring to check onter. Then he followed after the Dusty ck fog that rose from the dead body. Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo also followed after him, feeling a little concerned.


    In less than five minutes they reached the edge of the Broken Chasm. Lin Mu''s eyes had not looked away from the dusty ck fog at all and soon saw it pour into the Broken Chasm. It merged into the rest of the dark ck fog and was like a river returning to the sea.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But just as Lin Mu was observing the fog, a change happened.


    The fog started to churn as if a storm was seething within it.


    "This is bad! We need to leave now!" Elder Niji said hurriedly. "More Chasm Beasts are about to be born!"


    Head Warrior Kulo tightened his grip on the two spears and was ready to act at the first sign of danger.


    Lin Mu on the other hand closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. Spatial perception activated and he peered into the dark depths of the fog. It was then that he discovered something there.


    ''Just as I thought, there is more to the birth of Chasm Beasts.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He could see multiple small spatial cracks opening up in the dark fog. They were somewhat simr to the cracks that would appear when a heavenly tribtion descended but was a lot smaller.


    Another simrity they held was the fact that these cracks were leaking out a certain kind of unknown energy. The energy mixed with the Dark fog and soon a spherical mass would be condensed around the wisps of this unknown energy.


    The spherical masses were of different sizes too, with some being only a meter wide and some being over four meters wide. The spherical masses then started to change shape and condensed.


    In less than five seconds they had already taken the shape of a Chasm Beasts.


    The whole process from the forming of spherical mass to and formation of the Chasm Beasts took less than ten seconds, showing Lin Mu just how fast it was.


    "This is very strange¡­" Lin Mu wondered where the unknown energy wasing from.


    Since there were spatial cracks, there was bound to be something behind it.


    ''It''s certainly not the void behind those cracks¡­ I don''t sense them. A minor ne maybe?'' Lin Mu guessed.


    ~RUMBLE~


    But just as Lin Mu was pondering on the spatial cracks, the newly born Chasm Beasts within the fog moved.


    ~GUZAAAA~


    A loud roar could be hearding from the fog. It was thebination of all the Chasm Beasts within it and they were roaring in a unison.


    "Alright, let''s leave!" Lin Mu said, having seen enough.


    Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo started to run without a word and Lin Mu followed after them. At the same time, he nced back from time to time, watching out for any surprises.


    Soon the three of them started to leap directly, coveringrge tracts ofnd at once. This also allowed Lin Mu to observe the situation behind in a bit more easily.


    ~WHOOSH~


    It was then that he saw multiple Chasm Beasts leaping out of the Broken Chasm. Some were the same dog sized ones as before, but bigger ones were here now too.


    "Curses! That''s a bad one." Elder Niji noted thergest beast. "It can even kill someone on the level of Head Warrior Kulo." He informed.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu had not expected the Chasm beast which was about the size of a bull to be that strong.


    In Xiaofan world any beast in the Dao Shell realm was significantlyrger. This was another qualitative difference he learned now.


    Thankfully that was thergest Chasm Beast among them all and Lin Mu still had the confidence to go against them. The only reason he was not killing them was there was no reason to right now.


    After all, more such beasts might be born anytime, and some of them might be a lot stronger than these ones. Lin Mu didn''t want to encounter one that could even go against immortals at his current level.

 Chapter 1226 Large Scale Tide

    Chapter 1226 Large Scale Tide¡¡¡¡Lin Mu, Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo sessfully managed to escape and didn''t need to sh with the Chasm Beasts again. They had run away at the right time and thus the Chasm Beasts didn''t attack them.


    There were some strange interactions among the Chasm Beasts when they reached the surface. They grunted at each other, as ifmunicating in some manner. Lin Mu was sure that they had seen them, at least one of them might have, but even then they were not pursued.


    ''This is different from what Elder Niji said. The Chasm Beasts pursue any creature as long as they sense them. We were clearly discovered and yet they did not do this?'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He wondered what might be the difference this time around, because he doubted the long term records and observations of the Haima tribe might be wrong about something basic like this. He could see them not knowing about the spatial cracks, but this was something anyone would figure out after a while.


    Especially the Haima Tribe, who had been shing against the Chasm Beasts for thousands of years and had devised several methods of avoiding them.


    "Elder Niji, have the Haima tribe members seen the Chasm Beastse out of the Broken Chasm before?" Lin Mu questioned after they reached the outpost.


    "Yes, they''ve done so several times." Elder Niji said.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and told Elder Niji about what he had noticed.


    "This is strange¡­ I''m sure they don''t act like this." Elder Niji was surprised.


    Head Warrior Kulo also asked what Lin Mu had said and Elder Niji exined to him. Hearing this, though, the warrior had an expression of remembrance on his face.


    "$@^%##&" Head Warrior Kulo said in confusion.


    Elder Niji was surprised by his words, and Lin Mu wondered what he said.


    "Head Warrior Kulo says that he has seen this before." Elder Niji tranted for Lin Mu.


    "Really? Can he recall the details about it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Elder Niji nodded his head and exined what Head Warrior Kulo said. After about ten minutes, Lin Mu finally had slightly better understanding of the Chasm Beasts.


    Turns out thest time Head Warrior had seen this was nearly a hundred years ago. And in that year arge scale tide of Chasm Beasts had appeared. A Beast Tide of that level was rare, only happened randomly.


    Even in the long history of the Haima Tribe, such arge scale tide was only witnessed 13 times.


    This gave Lin Mu a guess about what it might be rted to.


    ''If the Chasm Beasts acting like that is really the early signs of arge scale tide like that, then we need to get ready for it.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He expressed his concern to Elder Niji and the man was shocked. Head Warrior Kulo also felt like it might really be the case as Lin Mu had said. Besides, even if it was not so, they would much rather spend some extra resources and take the precaution rather than waiting for therge scale tribe to arrive.


    "I''ll get the warriors to prepare. If arge scale tribe is reallying, then we need to reinforce the defenses of the tribe." Elder Niji spoke.


    "Even more than the current level?" Lin Mu asked, as he knew that finding the tribe and entering it was quite difficult.


    "Yes. Every time there was arge scale tide like this, a few Chasm Beasts managed to enter the tribe. They either smelled us out, or stumbled across a fissure that took them to the peripheral caves of the tribe." Elder Niji exined.


    "I see¡­ then I''ll help you with it then." Lin Mu said. "I''ll set up some formation arrays before that." He offered.


    "Formation arrays? You can make formation arrays?!" Elder Niji was surprised once again.


    The Haima tribe certainly had the information about formation arrays and knew how powerful they could be. After all the many kingdoms and empires were protected by them. Some of them had even seen the people that were exiled here use them a few times before.


    "Yes, I can. While I can''t guarantee they will hold up against a bigger Chasm Beast, the ones on the level of head Warrior Kulo should be unable to get in." Lin Mu stated.


    "That should be enough." Elder Niji nodded his head.


    He''d take anything at this point. In fact, just knowing that arge scale Chasm Beast tide wasing in advance was a great benefit to them. They could easily reduce the injuries and victims in the tribe with it.


    Upon returning to the tribe, Elder Niji quickly gave out orders and mobilized the entire tribe. Head Warrior Kulo also gathered the warriors and went around to set up some preliminary barriers around the possible entrances of the tribe.


    Another part of the tribe members were tasked with the duty of ensuring they had enough supplies tost for the duration of this tide. While they certainly had enough food in the form of Stone Flesh Mushrooms, there was still the issue of water.


    There was enough water in the tribe right now and they could take more from the underground spring, but if the iing tide caused tremors and damaged the aquifer that supplied the spring, things would be tough for the tribe.


    Thus, the tribe members started filling up the reservoir in one of the areas as well as all the vessels that they had. They wanted to have enough saved in reserve so that even if the spring dried upter.


    While the tribe did all this, Lin Mu returned to his residence. He needed to make a fewponents first before he could deploy the Formation array after all.


    "For an area this big, I''ll need quite a lot." Lin Mu realized it was his first time setting up suchrge scale a formation array.


    They didn''t know how much time they had, thus Lin Mu started his work without a pause.N?velDrama.Org content rights.

 Chapter 1227 Earth Fixing Array

    Chapter 1227 Earth Fixing Array¡¡¡¡About six days had passed since the day Lin Mu discovered a possiblerge scale Chasm Beast tide that was about toe.


    The Haima tribe had already stocked up on the supplies and the warriors had also increased the physical defenses as much as possible.


    ~shua~


    In his residence, Lin Mu finished drawing thest set of runes and stretched his arms.


    "This should be enough¡­ if not, I can probably use some of the extra items from the ring." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Storing theponents in the ring, Lin Mu went out to meet Elder Niji.


    "I''ve gotten it ready." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Ah! You can start making the formation array then." Elder Niji said anxiously.


    The scouts on the outpost had already sent several reports of Chasm Beasts appearing in the distance. This only increased the possibility of the Large Scale Beast tide and had all but confirmed it now.


    "Are all the preparations ready? Because once I set this up, getting out of it would be difficult." Lin Mu asked.


    The formation array Lin Mu was intending to make was called as the Earth Fixing Formation Array.


    It was arge scale defensive array and was rarely used in the Xiaofan world. The reason being that it restrained entrance and exit and also had some strict requirements to make. The main one being that the area where it is being deployed needed to be mostly free of all elements other than earth.


    This was perfect for the Barrennds as the area was deste and barely any nts grew here. Water was also not abundant around this time and there was obviously no source of natural fire here.


    One could see why this was not used much in the Xiaofan world before. There were very few areas that fulfilled these condition making the array less useful. But now that very array was proving to be the best.


    "The tribe is ready, noble Lin Mu. You can start as soon as possible." Elder Niji confirmed.


    "Alright, I''ll get to it then." Lin Mu said before leaving the residence.


    He went around the tribe, cing severalponents of the array. Theponents varied from simple formation gs toplicated restriction tes. Lin Mu nted them ording to the shape of the tribe''s territory and also carved several runes into the wall, connecting them.


    The Haima tribe members were very curious about what Lin Mu was doing. They knew that it was something being made to protect them, but it was a new thing for them to witness. The children followed after Lin Mu, watching him work and even the adults came to do the same from time to time.


    Lin Mu drawing mystical runes was magical to the Haima tribe people and they wondered how it was all done.


    The whole process took about two days, even though Lin Mu worked non-stop. But once it was done, the array needed little to be activated.


    ~HONG~


    Everyone in the tribe heard a strange buzzing sounding from everywhere. They could hear iting from the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling of the tribe.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Then the entire ground shook, as if a quake was imminent. This terrified the tribe members and they started shouting, but the guards calmed them down quickly. They had already been informed that some unusual things might be happening and that they would be safe.


    Lin Mu on the other hand, stood on top of the outpost along with Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo.


    "This is¡­ stunning¡­" Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo were stunned.


    All around them, a brown colored energy swirled and flowed. This covered a vast tract of area and seemed to being from the very earth upon which they stood. The brown energy moved and condensed around the borders of the Haima tribe.


    ~HUALA~


    The streaks of energy turned solid, turning into walls. At first, it looked like the Haima tribe had gained a boundary wall on the surface. But then this wall started to rise and curve.


    "Align!" Lin Mu continuously drew runes in the air, controlling the array and guiding its formation.


    The walls continued to rise and soon started to bend in a certain direction. Minute after minute passed as Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo watched the wall grow tall. After five minutes, the wall was already tall enough topete against the hills!


    Ten minutester, it was twice as tall as the hills!


    "Merge!" It was at this time that Lin Mu sent the finalmand through runes.


    ~SHUA~


    The tops of the walls that had turned as tall as a small mountain, came together, joining at a central point. Now if anyone looked at it from the outside, they would think that it was a normal mountain.


    ~phew~This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    "There we go¡­" Lin Mu let out a breath of relief.


    The whole process hat taken a lot of spirit Qi toplete. After all, Lin Mu was doing this alone when the array was supposed to be set up in arge group. If it were not for hisrge spirit Qi stores, he might have initiated the starting process, but he wouldn''t be able to guide it to properly cover the entire tribe.


    Even now, his spirit Qi stores barely stood at 20%.


    "You made an entire mountain?!" Elder Niji was stunned.


    He knew that there was going to be a defensiveyer around the tribe, but an entire mountain was not something he had guessed at all.


    "It looks like a mountain, but it will be tougher than the normal rocks around the area. And it''s not just on the surface, the underground area of the tribe has also been reinforced.


    Now if any Chasm Beasts breach the underground, they would be detected by the array and killed by it. The entire area around the tribe is now a spike trap." Lin Mu said, much to their shock.


    The Haima Tribe members below were also wondering why the walls had turned darker in color.

 Chapter 1228 Changes In The Haima Tribe

    Chapter 1228 Changes In The Haima Tribe¡¡¡¡The effect brought on by the Earth Fixing Array was soon witnessed.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu waved his hand and a translucence window appeared in the air. Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo were intrigued by it as it looked quite different from anything before. Then in the next moment, the in white scene in the window changed to that of the outside.


    "Is that the area outside the array?" Elder Niji recognized.


    "Indeed. This way we can observe what is happening outside without needing to go there ourselves." Lin Mu confirmed.


    The Earth Fixing Array had basically buried the Haima Tribe even deeper into the ground with the new mountain on top of it. This meant that they could not see anything and there was only a faint light from the swirling runes here.


    Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo watched the window and saw a few Chasm Beasts on it. These were themon Chasm Beasts that were small and were roughly equivalent to a core condensation realm cultivator.


    They were like the ones that Lin Mu had killed earlier.


    Currently, these Chasm Beasts were wandering aimlessly, but had soone close to the border of the Array.


    "Seems like we''ll get to see the defenses of the array first hand." Lin Mu spoke.


    Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo watched intently, not wanting to miss anything. A minuteter, the Chasm Beasts eventually stumbled into the protected area of the Earth Fixing Array.


    ~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~


    Several spikes automatically rose from the ground, piercing the Chasm Beasts. The process was very fast, and it didn''t stop. More and more spikes rose until the Chasm Beasts were basically shredded.


    The array then detected that the intruders were dead, thus the spikes started to change. They first widened at the top, before joining and covering the corpses of the Chasm Beasts. Then they retreated into the earth, pulling the corpses with them.


    Once they were gone, the ground looked as natural as always, with no sign that a few beasts had just died here or that hundreds of spikes had appeared. It was the cleanest scene of ughter.


    "Amazing." Elder Niji praised.


    Even Head Warrior Kulo was stunned to see something like this. They were worried a little upon hearing that spikes would be attacking enemies. After all, the appearance of spikes will make the area look ''unnatural'' thus attracting attention.


    This was the one thing they were trying to avoid. But now that they saw that the spikes were rather ''smart'' they were relieved.


    ~shua~


    But then a few secondster, they saw something else. ck dusty smoke automatically rose up from the earth where the Chasm Beasts had died. This was the same smoke they released when their bodies dissipated.


    Lin Mu raised his brow, as he had not expected the smoke to be able to escape even after being restrained by the array.


    ''Certainly need to learn more about them.'' Lin Mu thought.


    With the little demonstration done, Lin Mu decided to return to the Settlement below. He needed to rest and recover after all.


    "Noble Lin Mu, will we be able to watch the exterior area like this in the tribe, too?" Elder Niji asked.


    "Yeah, I''ll make some observation mirrors. You should be able to use it effortlessly then." Lin Mu replied.


    Since the Haima tribe members couldn''t use formations, Lin Mu didn''t teach them the method of operating the array. If they could do that, making a window like Lin Mu did would be as simple as waving a hand.


    But now Lin Mu needed to make a secondary tool for them to be able to do the same.


    ''It shouldn''t take much though.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    After returning to the tribe, Lin Mu first recovered his spirit Qi for two days and then made the mirrors that he had talked about. The mirrors were simple and were made out of spirit ss that was inscribed with the linking formation that allowed one to use the observation feature of the Earth Fixing Array.


    Lin Mu made several such mirrors just in case. Two would be used by Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo and a few extra would be kept as spare. This was Lin Mu''s first time making them and there was no saying if they would break.


    Plus, the Haima tribe members were also using items like these for the first time, so there was always a chance of them making a mistake and breaking the mirrors.


    With the mirrors in their hands, Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo now had the new task of watching them all day.


    ''This is so much better than letting the scouts observe from the outpost. A lot safer too. We can prevent our people from dying.'' Elder Niji was very grateful.


    In times ofrge scale Chasm Beast tides like this, staying alert was very important, thus they always had someone keeping an eye on the Chasm Beast. That was a dangerous job and only a few did it.


    But now they could do the same thing while staying within the safety of their tribe.Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    The other members of the Haima Tribe soon got used to the Earth Fixing Array and its changes. They were told to stop expanding the underground area of the tribe for the time being and to simply focus on other tasks like growing food.


    Besides, it was not like they could continue to dig with how tough the walls had be. A few of the workers who were working at the time of the Earth Fixing Array''s activating simply broke their tools.


    The other tribe members soon learned about the new rules about what they could and could not do during this time period.


    Thankfully there wasn''t much of a change than their usual life so they had no issues.


    Now the only thing they wondered was just how long this Large Scale Chasm beast tide wouldst. From the past records, the period varied greatly between four months to over a year.


    No one knew how long it would take and in the blink of an eye two months had passed since therge scale Chasm Beast Tide arrived.


    In this time, several small changes had happened in the Haima Tribe. Excluding the new rules that were to be followed, the people of the tribes found a few new things to do in their time of ''seclusion''.


    But among these tasks, there was one that greatly interested everyone. This was the task of attending the ss organized by Elder Niji.


    In this, they would learn about the Chasm Beasts and how they actually behaved. While each and every person in the tribe knew about Chasm Beasts, their understanding of the Chasm beasts varied a lot.


    Only the warriors and older members of the tribe actually knew about them in detail. There were in fact, many members of the tribe who had never actually left the tribe and stepped onto the surface.


    This was the theme since many years ago, the Haima tribe members would be born in the tribe and die in the tribe without even seeing the sky.


    It could be perceived as a very bad life, but over the many generations, they simply knew nothing else. Even the warriors who went out on the surface felt a lot morefortable underground in the tribe.


    But with the observation mirrors Lin Mu made, Elder Niji could now show the Chasm Beasts to the rest of the tribe.


    Every day, they would father inrge numbers and watch it in a wide circle while Elder Niji talked about the beasts. He taught them the different sized Chasm Beasts and what their strengths were like.


    But after a few weeks, Elder Niji had run out of things to teach about the Chasm beasts. While the tribe members still liked toe and watch the beasts wander, it was not that useful.


    Even children had mostly learned about the Chasm Beasts now and some could even recite Elder Niji''s words from memory.


    Instead of simply reverting back to their usual duties, Elder Niji decided to do something else. Under the books provided by Lin Mu, he started to teach the n about the world of cultivation and the basics that one needed to know if they were to live in the outside world.


    Elder Niji too learned some things from Lin Mu as he couldn''t figure out all things on his own and needed some help to understand.


    Lin Mu found his efforts to bemendable and he could see that Elder Niji was definitely one of the smartest people he had met. While he might be restricted by his environment, the drive to learn was still there.


    There was a reason why he was the one who had be the Elder of the Haima Tribe.


    As another two months passed by, Lin Mu realized that perhaps he should take a different path in finding a solution for the Haima tribe. This was the solution for them to be able to cultivate and be able to control the spirit Qi and use Qi skills.


    Of course, Lin Mu was still unable toe up with a proper cultivation technique for the people of the Haima tribe, but he reckoned that there was still something they could learn to do.


    Thus, he taught Elder Niji the method to sense the spirit Qi within them and around them. This was one of the most basic exercises thatpromised of a breathing method taught to children in cultivation sects and ns.


    It was harmless, and pretty much anyone could practice it.

 Chapter 1229 A Calm Tribe And An Impatient Egg

    Chapter 1229 A Calm Tribe And An Impatient Egg¡¡¡¡The addition of the basic breathing techniques in the daily life of the Haima Tribe brought about a profound change.


    The Haima Tribe people could be seen meditating everywhere.


    It barely took a week for everyone to learn the technique, and this was only in terms of reach. Learning the technique itself took barely an hour for every individual. Upon learning it, they continued to practice it.


    The more they did so, the better they felt. It was as if their body was refreshed and a ''weakness'' was washed away.


    A mere hint of this ''refreshing'' feeling was all it took to get the Haima Tribe hooked to it. So much so that they much rather mediate than do other unnecessary tasks like talking and or ying.


    In fact, if it were not for the fact that they had duties that they absolutely needed to do, the entire tribe might just mediate all day.


    It was a strange scene for Lin Mu to witness. The tribe which had been anxious with therge scale beast tide all this time, was now in a very calm state. One wouldn''t be able to tell that they were close to danger at every movement and would think that their lives were always peaceful.


    Observing all this actually gave Lin Mu insights into himself and his understanding of the world. He sat on the roof of his residence and observed the entire tribe before him. His eyes could perceive everything clearly, and the distance didn''t matter at this point.


    Several thoughts were currently going through his mind.


    ''The way the Haima tribe achieved this state is very unusual¡­ what''s even more usual is that they were able to achieve this meditative state for the entire tribe. It would be fine if a fraction of individuals were attenuated to mediating like this, but the entire tribe?


    That''s not normal.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He had seen the top sects and ns of the Xiaofan world. They too taught their children something simr to this. While their meditative and breathing techniques might vary and some might even be better than this, the end goal was still the same.


    The goal was to achieve a peaceful and focused state that was optimum for cultivation. There were different levels to this too, with some only faint into it and some in aplete trance.


    Lin Mu himself could achieve this easily with the Calming Heart Sutra and the Severing heart sutra. But the majority were unable to even reach the halfway point to trance. They could only rely on some external resources or enlightenment to achieve that.


    Those who could enter this state had a better sense of their self and their bodies. This allowed them to grasp the energies and finally allowing them to sense the spirit Qi within them as well as around them.


    ''What''s the difference that the Haima tribe has that the other great powers don''t have?'' Lin Mu pondered on next.


    To him, the Haima tribe was in a worse state than even some of the viges of the Xiaofan world. They had ack of things that could not be exined in a few words. They didn''t justck in terms of resources, but also thinking, experience and knowledge.


    "Wait¡­" It was at this time that Lin Mu realized something.


    ''If they can enter this deep state even with a basic breathing technique, then perhaps it is because of the same things theyck?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    With theck of things to stimte and entertain them, the Haima Tribe didn''t have that many things to think about. Of course, they did have their own games, songs and stories, butpared to the vast amount of it that was avable to themoners of Xiaofan world, it was minuscule.


    Even something as a basic variation of food was something that the Haima Tribecked. While they had plenty to eat, it was greatly limited. From what Lin Mu had seen so far, the Stone Flesh Mushrooms were highly nutritious, but they were also the only staple of the tribe.


    A few other nts did grow around the Barren Lands, but they were very rare. In fact, the only other crop that the Haima Tribe grew in their tribe other than Stone Flesh Mushrooms was a type of grass that could be woven into threads.


    This was the very same grass from which the clothes that Elder Niji wore came. And considering how only one person wore clothes made from it showed the rarity of it. The grass barely grew and even when it did, only a handful of strands of fiber could be taken from it.


    With the production levels of the grass, it would take over a decade or more to make enough fabric to wave the clothes that Elder Niji wore. And even then, these clothes weren''t that durable and would deteriorate over the years.


    Perhaps this was the reason why only the elder of the tribe was given the chance to wear them. And the reason why it became a sign of authority.


    ''The absence of these things perhaps allowed the Haima Tribe to be a lot more focused naturally. Since they don''t even know the existence of such things, their minds won''t wander and they would be a lot more calm.


    Perhaps this is what the old experts say about severing the secr ties and avoiding the mortal indulgences. They would taint the mind and weaken their mentality, hindering their cultivation in the process.'' Lin Mu understood even more.


    He continued to learn more while days continued to pass and his insights developed as well.


    But that wasn''t all Lin Mu did. He also focused on his own cultivation. More and more Wood energy rich spirit apples would grow on the tree in his Sleepscape, allowing him to slowly progress the refinement of his liver.


    With his stomach satisfied and sufficient vitality stored in it, Lin Mu didn''t need to worry about entering the Sleepscape or sleeping anymore.


    There, he would continue his practice and learning. At the same time, it was a method for him to wait for the people he cared about; mainly Xukong and Little Shrubby.


    Both of them were in a dormant state now, and Lin Mu had no idea when they would wake up.


    ''Considering how much Little Shrubby taxed his bloodline and the source of the Vitality reversal technique, it might take at least a year before he wakes up again.'' Lin Mu reckoned as he observed therge seen in front of him.


    Whenever he came to the Sleepscape, he would take out the seed that Little Shrubby had be and talk to it. There was also the fact that the seed absorbed the spirit Qi in the Sleepscape naturally which Lin Mu thought would help it open earlier.


    Thus he took it out regrly, just like one would water nts.


    But for Xukong''s condition, Lin Mu was entirely helpless. He had tried talking to him through their shared mental space but was unable to do that. It was as if there was a solid wall standing in between the two minds.


    ''Is this what Senior Xukong felt when I was in an unnatural state of the Nine divine heart sutras?'' Lin Mu wondered.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    Still, there was nothing he could do to predict how long it would take for Xukong to wake up. At least for Little Shrubby Lin Mu could directly check him with his spirit sense, but doing that for Xukong was simply impossible.


    Xukong''s avatar was surrounded by a shell of dense spatial energy of the ring and evening within a hundred meters of it would destroy everything.


    If it were not for the fact that Lin Mu couldn''t take this energy out of the ring, he might have a weapon that could easily tear apart worlds. But then it would also be a weapon that would kill him upon using it.


    ~rustle~


    While observing the space inside the ring though, Lin Mu suddenly felt something moving.


    "Huh?" His attention wandered before it finally came to settle on a moving object.


    Perhaps moving was a little understatement, as the object was simply trembling in one ce.


    "The egg''s moving!" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.


    The Grey egg had been developing steadily ever since it consumed all the Yang Energy from Gu Yao''s hideout. Lin Mu had only checked on it a couple of times ever sinceing to the Land of Exile since there wasn''t much to do.


    But when he checked itst time, he was sure it wasn''t moving like this.


    ~shua~


    The grey egg appeared in his hands and Lin Mu took a closer look at it.


    "It''s vitality is a lot greater than before." Lin Mu could instantly tell upon touching the egg.


    The vigorous vitality was almost overflowing and perhaps if it weren''t for the shell, it would have already spilled out.


    But that wasn''t all that Lin Mu felt. He also felt something more.


    "That''s a heartbeat!" Lin Mu could now hear pronounced heartbeatsing from the egg.


    They were like the low sound of drums, as if someone lightly tapped on them. Even if it was low, it could still be heard audibly.


    Lin Mu could feel the heartbeats getting louder and louder with the vitality intensifying too.


    ~tak~tak~tak~


    Then a few momentster, he could hear a tapping sounding from the egg.


    ''It''s trying to break out.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He quickly left the Sleepscape and returned to his body in the real world.


    If the egg hatched in the Sleepscape, Lin Mu didn''t know if there would be any idents, thus he wanted it to do that in the real world.

 Chapter 1230 Uncertainty And Precaution

    Chapter 1230 Uncertainty And Precaution¡¡¡¡Lin Mu sat up from the bed and quickly took out the egg from the ring.


    ~tremble~


    It continued to shake nonstop as if it would explode. Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he didn''t quite know how to deal with this. The behavior of the egg was not what a normal beast egg would have at all.Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu had read about a few strong beast eggs in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal.


    This was an entry in which the Lost Immortal was traveling a vast sea. He chanced upon a small ind there and found a nest there. Unfortunately for him, the nest belonged to a Dragon!


    Just as he figured that out and wanted to escape, the solitary egg in the nest hatched. An energy, stronger than the Lost Immortal''s leaked out from the egg, making the man freeze in his steps.


    And when he turned to look at the egg, he saw a moist head peeking out of the egg. The vertical slits-like eyes on the head nced at him like he was prey and made him afraid.


    The Lost Immortal forced his body to run and the infant dragon also rushed out of its egg. Breaking it apart, the infant dragon that was the size of a giant bull pounced on the Lost Immortal.


    ''But even that Dragon egg wasn''t as restless as this¡­ just how restless would the beast inside it be?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Thinking of the Haima Tribe people living nearby, Lin Mu''s brows furrowed even more. He left the residence and appeared in the yard outside.


    "At least this area is still in the outer boundary of the tribe. I''ll inform Elder Niji to secure the area just in case." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He took out one of the mirrors he had made and quickly sent a message through it. While the Haima Tribe people couldn''t use spirit tools, the mirrors Lin Mu had made didn''t really need spirit sense to control.


    As for his current case, he was only sending a one sided message which would appear on the other mirror without the other party needing to do anything. Lin Mu didn''t just stop at this either, he quickly set up a small defensive perimeter around the residence.


    He didn''t know what kind of a beast would being out of the egg after all. It had gestated for a very long time and it was certain that it would not be a normal snake beast. Even Xukong had told him so.


    Taking the experience of the Lost Immortal as a warning, Lin Mu decided to prevent the beast from running away somehow. He wasn''t afraid that the beast would be able to do anything to him, but there were others that could be easily hurt.


    While Lin Mu could forcefully restrain the beast, there was no saying if it would get hurt because of his strength. So it was best to use a lighter hand.


    ''I don''t know if the beast would listen to me either.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had already intended to tame whatever beast that came out of the egg, but making the imprint would still need the best to first be calm. And it certainly didn''t seem to be calm right now.


    Lin Mu set the egg down and sat next to it, watching its every movement. He also tried to use his spirit sense to probe the egg and see its internal condition but found it to be the same as before, impervious.


    Second after second passed by and Lin Mu only got more nervous. The Haima Tribe people living near Lin Mu''s residence were already ordered to get some distance away from there. Elder Niji had evidently acted quickly especially seeing the anxious tone of Lin Mu.


    "Why were we told to leave our houses Guard Zuni?" One of the Haima Tribe members that lived around Lin Mu''s residence questioned one of the guards.


    This was something that never happened, so the members of the tribe were very confused. From what they could see, there was no apparent danger either.


    "I don''t know either, Elder Niji ordered us to do so." The Guard named Zuni answered.


    Many residents had the same question and they all looked toward their houses. The more time passed, the more confused they became. Some even wondered if Chasm beasts had entered the area or something.


    The guards went to ask Elder Niji after seeing the growing concern among the people.


    "Elder Niji, can the people return now? Nothing seems to be happening." One of the guards asked.


    "Not until noble Lin Mu specifically tells us. Otherwise it is dangerous to go there." Elder Niji replied.


    He was standing on the roof of his residence and gazing in the direction of where Lin Mu lived. There was now an opaque ssy dome covering the area, making it impossible to see what was going in within.


    "But what is the cause of the danger? The people of the tribe are worried. Can we at least tell this to them?" The guards asked.


    They weren''t minding the order itself, but rather the reason for it. If they knew the reason, they wouldn''t worry that much.


    "I don''t know either." Elder Niji shook his head. "Noble Lin Mu simply informed me that we need to urgently evacuate the people around his house since something dangerous might happen soon." He exined.


    "Noble Lin Mu said so?" The guard was surprised.


    They had thought the order came from the Elder himself, but it was not so. The guard walked forward and looked in the direction of Lin Mu''s residence, noticing the opaque dome covering it.


    "When did that appear?" the man was confused having not seen it since he was standing in the doorway before.


    ~SHUA~


    But then in the next moment, he was stunned by a short burst of light.


    ~KACHA~


    A cracking sound was apanied by the light, surprising everyone. But the next scene simply left them shocked.

 Chapter 1231 An Explosive Birth

    Chapter 1231 An Explosive Birth¡¡¡¡~BOOM~


    Everyone that was in the Haima Tribe heard a loud sound that was like an explosion. Soon they saw a pir of ck and white light shooting out from the ce where the sound hade from.


    "What''s that!?" The people of the Haima Tribe wondered.


    To them, a light pir like this was new and scary.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    But their shock was only beginning as the light pir continued to ascend eventually reaching the ceiling of the tribe.


    "It''s gonna hit the top!"


    ~SHATTER~


    The light pir directly broke through the hard rock ceiling of the tribe, making the entire area shake. A few momentster, a hole could be seen in the ceiling, the brown energy of the Earth Fixing Array visible through it.


    "Shit!"


    A loud voice was heard by the people standing at the secured perimeter.


    ~SHUA~


    They then saw a person shooting straight up. Some of them quickly recognized who it was as well.


    "It''s Noble Lin Mu! Look!" some shouted.


    There was no one who didn''t know about Lin Mu in the Haima Tribe now. Right from the children to the elderly, they had all seen him at least once. They also knew it was because his help that they were having such a safe time during the Large Scale Chasm Beast tide.


    And gratitude towards Lin Mu was growing by the day.


    Elder Niji who had been watching it all was shocked as well. He first saw the opaque dome barrier around Lin Mu''s residence shatter and the light beam that appeared next. Then seeing that it had already broken through the ceiling of the tribe, he gave out his orders.


    "WARRIORS! TO THE OUTPOST!" Elder Niji shouted.


    Meanwhile above the tribe, Lin Mu had just left through the hole that had been made in the ground.


    "What the hell is happening?" Lin Mu was the most confused out of everyone.


    He had seen the egg hatch in front of him, as cracks formed on it one by one. At first, it was slow, but all of a sudden the light pir shot out of it. Lin Mu was caught off guard and before he even registered it, the light pir had already pierced the defensive barrier he had ced.


    This was greatly surprising to Lin Mu as the barrier was tough enough to stop the attack of a peak Nascent soul realm expert with ease. Even Dao Shell realm cultivators would need some effort to break it.


    It was the strongest barrier Lin Mu could make in that short amount of time with the formationponents he had left in spare. Besides he didn''t think he would need anything stronger as he certainly didn''t expect a newborn beast to cause such a phenomenon.


    But that wasn''t all as the light pir continued without a stop even drilling through solid rock. It was at that time Lin Mu understood, that the beast in the light pir simply could not be judged with normal ideas.


    ''Just like Senior Xukong said, the constant injection of Beast Qi has made the beast a lot stronger than it should have been otherwise.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he chased after the beast hidden within the light pir.


    "It shouldn''t be able to go much far now¡ª" But just as Lin Mu thought the Earth Fixing array would stop the newborn beast, he was left speechless. "No way!"


    ~CRACK~


    The light pir was unstoppable and actually broke through the Earth Fixing Array as well!


    The rust colored sky could be seen through the opening the beast had made. The long light pir started to fade at this point, starting from the bottom.


    "Shit! This is bad." Lin Mu could not think of anything worse to happen right now.


    The Chasm Beasts were plentiful outside the limits of the Earth Fixing Array and a loudmotion like this was bound to attract them in droves. And now the Earth Fixing Array was also damaged partially.


    While it could repair itself after a bit, the damage was still there and might increase the danger they faced. Gritting his teeth, Lin Mu leaped once more, passing through the crack in the array.


    ~thud~


    Lin Munded on the ''mountain'' made by the Earth Fixing Array and searched for the newborn beast. It wasn''t hard to find as it was literally like a beacon in the dim sky.


    ~GUZAAAA~


    All this was enough to bring the attention of all the Chasm Beasts nearby. Lin Mu''s eyes darted around, watching for any Chasm Beasts that wererger than a certain size. These were the ones that were equivalent to Immortal Realm cultivators and also the ones that posed the most danger to him.


    "It came to a stop?" But just as Lin Mu was wondering what to do next, he saw the ''beacon'' stop in air.


    Instead of a light pir, it looked like a light orb and floated soundlessly for a moment. Then as if it had found something interesting, it moved towards it.


    "No stop!" Lin Mu saw the Chasm Beasts moving towards the light orb.


    And it looked like the light orb was also moving towards the Chasm beast. But then in the next second, something wildly unexpected happened.


    ~SHUA~


    The light orb turned into two ribbons, one ck and one white. The ribbons twirled around each other while also flying forward.


    They directly shot towards the Chasm Beasts and before Lin Mu could even think of the next step, he saw the two ''ribbons'' tearing through the Chasm Beasts!


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~"


    The two ribbons were like an unstoppable arrow, piercing through tens of Chasm Beasts at once. But after reaching the end of the Chasm beasts, they actually turned around before piercing through more Chasm Beasts.


    Lin Mu simply stood there and watched it with his eyes wide open. The two ribbons were shooting across thend, piercing more and more Chasm Beasts, killing all of them in one hit.


    Even therger ones that were equivalent to Dao Shell realm experts were killed.

 Chapter 1232 Twins

    Chapter 1232 Twins¡¡¡¡Lin Mu watched with wide eyes as the ck and white ribbon continued to tear though the swarm of Chasm Beasts. There were easily hundreds of them here and yet all of them were killed in just a minute''s time.


    He himself was confident of doing the same, but would not expect the same for a new born beast.


    "Just what is this beast?" Lin Mu still could not see its form.


    Though the danger that he was worried about had been eliminated by the beast. All the Chasm Beasts that were nearby were killed by it and it would take at least a few minutes for more of them to arrive.


    Lin Mu couldn''t see any in the distance either, which was a good thing.


    ''I should have enough time to catch the beast and return to the tribe.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With this in mind, Lin Mu changed the Nurturing Heart sutra, quickly refining a string of Beast Qi. Running after the newborn beast would take too long and the Chasm Beasts might arrive in that time, so it was best to call the beast to him instead.


    ~shua~


    A string of Beast Qi appeared out of his hand and floated between his palms.


    "Come on now, get here!" Lin Mu called out.


    ~THUD~


    As if sensing the appearance of the Beast Qi, the spinning ribbons stopped in their tracks before swerving around using a boulder and breaking it in the process. The two ribbons reached their peak speed in less than a couple of seconds and rushed towards Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu''s eyes narrowed, and he got ready to catch the newborn beast.


    It was just like a fielder waiting to catcher a ball flying towards them from a long distance.


    ''Now!'' Lin Mu grasped the moment when the beast was just a few inches away from his hand and mped his hands.


    ~shuu~


    The sound of air being pressed was heard before Lin Mu finally felt the beast in his hands. He could also tell that the string of Beast Qi he had made had already disappeared, having been consumed by the newborn beast.


    But at the same time, Lin Mu felt a bit confused due to the feeling he was getting from his hands. It was like there was a ball in his hands, which Lin Mu reckoned must be the newborn snake curled up.


    ''Why does it feel like there are two tongues licking my palm?'' Lin Mu slowly opened his hands, taking a peek.


    "WHAT!?" Lin Mu was in for another shock.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    Two small heads poked out from between his hands. One of the heads was white, while the other was ck. Pink tongues slithered in and out as the two heads stared at Lin Mu with curiosity.


    Lin Mu slowly opened his hands more, allowing him to take a proper look. It was now that he realized it wasn''t just two heads, but two entire bodies in there. The white and ck bodies curled and wrapped around each other before balling up in his hand.


    "It''s twins?" Lin Mu finally realized.


    He could tell that the two weren''t joined, but were two independent snakelets. Somehow twins had been born from the single grey egg.


    "You two don''t look like your parents at all¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The grey egg hade from the Fire Fang Snake, who was the mother and the father was the ck Water snake. While one of the baby snakes was ck too, it was considerably different from the ck Water snake in both features as well as characteristics.


    The ck Water snake had ck and blue scales, but the baby snake only had pitch ck scales. Not to mention, they had a fine sheen to them, as if they were polished to perfection.


    As for the white baby snake, it was even more different, having white scales that neither of its parents had. Their other characteristics were also different from their parents, such as the shape of their head and their eyes.


    The two snakes had the same sized head and shape, but the difference was in their eyes. The white snake had ck eyes with grey pupils while the ck snake had white eyes with grey pupils.


    It was like they were the opposites of each other, despite being twins.


    But while Lin Mu was observing the two baby snakes, their attention was pulled to something else. The ck baby snake especially extended its head out and gazed towards the side.


    Lin Mu noticed this and saw that the ck baby snake was gazing at the bodies of the Chasm Beasts that were dissipating. Suddenly a change was felt in the ck snake, and Lin Mu saw a hint of hunger in its eyes.


    ~slither~


    The ck baby snake suddenly jumped out of his hands and hovered in the air somehow.


    "Wait!" Lin Mu thought that the snake was trying to run.


    But then in the next moment he saw the ck baby snake open its mouth wide.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A gale whipped up around it as spirit Qi waves spread out from the snakelet. It was now that Lin Mu felt its cultivation base.


    "Nascent soul realm? It''s already at the Nascent soul realm?" Lin Mu was shocked for the nth time today.


    The shock didn''t stop there though. The winds spun around the ck baby snake before a vacuum was created around it. The dusty ck smoke rising from the dead bodies of the Chasm Beasts was pulled along with the wind and surged towards the mouth of the ck snakelet.


    Lin Mu''s eyes stayed locked on the infant beast as he saw it devour all the dusty ck smoke. All of it was consumed in less than a minute and once it was done, the ck snake let out a breath offort.


    ~whoosh~


    It turned back and returned to Lin Mu''s hand before curling up with its sibling once more.


    "What did you do?"

 Chapter 1233 Hungry Snakelets

    Chapter 1233 Hungry Snakelets¡¡¡¡The actions of the ck baby snake were confusing to Lin Mu. He could tell that the beast had been hungry, but to randomly consume the dusty ck smoke that the Chasm beasts were made out of was a bit too much.


    After all, Lin Mu didn''t know what kind of effects this would have on the beast. What if it was toxic?


    ~hiss~


    Just as Lin Mu was about to figure out his next step, he saw the white baby snake hiss gently at its twin. Then, as if understanding something, the ck baby snake moved its head and raised it up straight.


    ~shua~


    Then in the next moment, it spat out white smoke.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu watched on in wonder as more and more white smoke came out of the ck snake''s mouth.


    His spirit sense probed the white smoke, and he realized that it wasn''t smoke at all. It was actually spirit Qi!


    "Wait¡­ isn''t this?" Lin Mu''s brows furrowed as he found the spirit Qi to be a bit different from he had expected.


    At first he thought that it was the normal attribute-less spirit Qi, but it was not so. It was actually elemental spirit Qi.


    "Yang spirit Qi?" Lin Mu finally guessed.


    He had seen the impure Yang Qi in Gu Yao''s hideout, but its color was greatly different than this. But even if the colors were different Lin Mu could sense the simrity in the two. There was no doubting it, the energy was Yang spirit Qi.


    "Not just that¡­ it is pure¡­ the Yang Qi that Gu Yao used in the past is mudpared to this." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The white baby snake opened its mouth and started to suck all the Yang spirit Qi that was in the form of white smoke. The processsted for about five minutes before the ck baby snake stopped.


    ~hiss~


    ~hiss~


    The two siblings lightly hissed at each other before curling up and falling asleep. Lin Mu could sense the energy of both snakelets equalizing in that moment.


    A few thoughts came to him as he discovered this.


    ''The ck snake shared the energy it got from consuming the dusty ck smoke? But the forms were greatly different. Did it somehow digest and convert it to Yang spirit Qi?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    There were a lot of question in his mind but he understood that he would only be able to learn more after he observed the twin snakes. He probed both their bodies with his spirit sense and discovered them to be in the Nascent soul realm, or more urately, at the Infant soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.


    He could even see their tiny nascent souls floating in their Dantians.


    "Their Dantians are massive!" Lin Mu discovered another thing.


    In fact, they were far greater in size than Little Shrubby and perhaps Lin Mu himself. Lin Mu couldn''t even tell how such arge Dantian would be formed when the beasts were only infants.


    ''And how much would they be able to expand once they grow more?'' Lin Mu questioned.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    ~Rumble~


    And while he was thinking all this, he felt a faint rumbling sounding from the distance.


    "The Chasm Beasts areing. I best get back to the tribe." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    ~THUD~


    ~CRACK~


    Gathering power in his legs, Lin Mu leaped up high, soaring towards the ''mountain''. He passed through the opening in the ground and made a temporary patch to the array.


    ''This should hold it till the array recovers on its own.'' Lin Mu thought to himself before making his way to the outpost.


    There, Elder Niji and the guards of Haima Tribe were already standing. And from the looks of it, they had just left the outpost.


    "Noble Lin Mu!" Elder Niji called out.


    Lin Mu came to a stop near them and saw them to be quite anxious, which was understandable considering the chaos that had just happened earlier.


    "It should be fine now. The Earth Fixing Array should repair itself. I''ve patched the hole as well." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Is that so? That''s good then." Elder Niji took a breath of relief.


    The Haima tribe guards calmed down as well seeing that their elder was relieved.


    "What about the Chasm beasts? When I checked thest time, there were a lot of them outside the mountain." Elder Niji asked.


    "They are all dead, though more should be arriving soon." Lin Mu replied, much to their surprise.


    "They''re dead?" Elder Niji had not expected that. "How?" he asked.


    The first thought he had was that Lin Mu might have killed the beasts, but then there was no reason for him to do that, since the array would protect them anyway.


    "Well¡­ the same thing that caused the hole in the array killed the Chasm Beasts." Lin Mu replied.


    "The light pir?" Elder Niji asked in confusion.


    "Yes, but they''re not a light pir." Lin Mu said and opened his left hand in which the twin snakes were balled up..


    Elder Niji nced at the calmly sleeping snakelets and was surprised.


    "These¡­ what are they?" Elder Niji questioned while the guards looked on curiously.


    It was their first time seeing a snake, not to mention even Elder Niji had only read about them before.


    "Well¡­ They''re snake beasts. But I don''t know what kind of snake beasts they are yet." Lin Mu answered.


    "And they caused all the light pirs and killed the Chasm Beasts?" Elder Niji found it to be unbelievable.


    "Yes, it was their birth that caused the light pir. As for the Chasm Beasts, they were seemingly hungry and ate them all¡­ well, the dusty ck smoke thatposes them." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing all this, Elder Niji only found it all to be even more unbelievable. It was simply iprehensible to him how such small creatures could cause this much chaos.


    And what was even more surprising to him was that now those very troublemakers were calmly sleeping in Lin Mu''s hand, without a care in the world.

 Chapter 1234 True Blood Imprint

    Chapter 1234 True Blood Imprint¡¡¡¡Lin Mu had returned to his residence after talking with Elder Niji for a bit.


    Thankfully, other than the yard''s ground cracking a bit, no actual damage was done to the residence itself. The two culprits behind the cracks were also with him, currently sleeping soundly.


    ~Sigh~


    "Who would have thought these tiny ones will do cause such panic?" Lin Mu shook his head.


    The Earth Fixing array was now automatically fixing itself, while the hole in the roof of the tribe was going to be dealt with by the workers of the tribe. They were actually used to fixing stuff like this since the Chasm Beasts would asionally dig into the tribe before.


    Then there were also the general cracks and copse that would happen naturally when they expanded the tribe''s area. Lin Mu had offered to fix it of course, but Elder Niji told him there was no need to spend extra time in that.


    Thus, Lin Mu was now free to take care of the two baby snakes. He checked them with his spirit sense and realized that they were a pair of brother and sister.


    "I need to put an imprint on them both first. Without that, it might not listen easily." Lin Mu reckoned.


    Currently, the two snakes might have only listened to him because he was the one who had provided the beast Qi, but there was no telling what might haveter. Plus, with the two snakes having such great potential, it was best to put the beast taming imprint in them as soon as possible.


    After all, there was always a chance that the process of imprinting might fail if the beast was resisting or was too strong. Some beasts that had a low cultivation base but strong bloodlines would also be able to resist this.


    And from what Lin Mu could tell, the two snakes certainly had a really powerful bloodline.


    With all this in mind, Lin Mu started the process.


    ''Since they are newborns I should use the other method that Senior Xukong taught be before.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu first lowered the defenses of his finger and then cut it enough so that blood started toe out. He then put a drop of blood each on the heads of the two baby snakes. Once that was done he sat in a lotus pose while holding them in his hands.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu entered a calm state first. The method of imprinting he was using today was different from the normal method of beast taming. It was also different than the method Lin Mu had used on Little Shrubby.


    This method was called as the True Blood Imprint. It was supposedly and old method of Beast taming and had long since been forgotten. The normal beast imprints were such that they could still be broken by different methods.


    Lin Mu didn''t need to worry about Little Shrubby and his link breaking, since it went beyond just a normal imprint. Even if someone managed to break the link and dispel the imprint, it wasn''t as if Little Shrubby was going to turn against him.


    But the same could not be said for the two snakes. Lin Mu could very well tell that they were unique and seeing their dramatic ''birth'' today had already shown him the value of them both.


    Plus, being in a high leveled world like this also meant that there would be other experts that would desire such strong beasts. Lin Mu definitely wouldn''t want to have his tamed beast stolen, whether it was for others to keep as their own, or for materials.


    Thus, the True Blood Imprint was the method to go for.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    The advantage of this method was that it simply could not be broken through normal means. And even the methods that did exist to break it were now lost to the annals of time, considering how old this method was.


    Another advantage of this method was that it would allow the beast and master to develop a deeper link between each other. It was simr to the one that Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had.


    One might think that if Lin Mu had developed a link like that with little Shrubby, he could do the same with the baby snakes too. But there was no guarantee for that. It took a lot of time, investment and trust for a link like that to even start to develop, not to mention fully establish.


    Another reason why Xukong suggested this method to Lin Mu was because of the Great Slumber Bear bloodline. It was an oppressive bloodline that could even affect beast and make them fear him when used to the full extent.


    This meant that if Lin Mu used it in the presence of tamed beast, even they might get scared and simply faint, making them a burden during the fight. The True blood imprint would ensure that this didn''t happen.


    In fact, the True blood Imprint would allow the tamed beast to carry a trace of the master''s aura, warning others.


    Lin Mu continued to meditate for an hour before he finally entered the right state for the next step.


    ~shua~


    An empty space appeared in his mind and Lin Mu''s body materialize in this space as well. His body was illusory and didn''t have any solidness to it.


    "Now I''m supposed to call the two baby snakes here through the resonance of my blood." Lin Mu recalled the next step.


    He sensed the two drops of blood and quickly found them.


    ~HONG~


    It was as if the chime of a bell was heard and two motes of light appeared in the empty space. One of the lights was ck and the other was white.


    If one looked closely, they would see tiny figures of the snakes in each of the motes.


    "Will you form a bond with me?" Lin Mu walked up to the two motes of light and asked.


    The motes of light floated around soundlessly for a few minutes until finally they moved.

 Chapter 1235 Xiao Yin And Xiao Yang

    Chapter 1235 Xiao Yin And Xiao Yang¡¡¡¡Lin Mu watched the two motes of light cautiously. He knew they were the representation of the two baby snakes and he didn''t want anything to happen to them because of his mistake in the process.


    He stood still and let the motes of light approach him slowly.


    They first came to a stop just a few inches away from him, as if observing him. Five minutes passed like this before they suddenly shot out a small ray of light. The ray of light moved fast and entered Lin Mu''s illusory body.


    ~shua~


    An imprint appeared on his chest at that moment. The imprint was that of two snakes entwined and represented the twin snakes.


    "It worked!" Lin Mu was pleased.


    The two motes of light faded away after that, and Lin Mu''s illusory body also became unstable.


    ''Guess this is the longest the two snakes can maintain a mental link for.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The requirement to making that empty space was to unite the minds of the tamer and the beast. Even if one sessfully managed to enter the space, there was no guarantee they would be able to stay long enough for the beast to do the same.


    Thankfully with the experience Lin Mu had, it wasn''t that hard.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and opened his eyes in the real world. The twin baby snakes were still sleeping in his hands, but now he could feel a deeper connection to them. It was almost as if he could listen to their thoughts, but they were too faint to perceive.


    "Hmm¡­ they are still too young to be able tomunicate, I guess." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He could also feel the position of the twin snakes just like he did with little Shrubby. And once they grew a bit, he would be able to converse with them as well.


    Done with all this, Lin Mu finally came upon an important task.


    "I need to name them¡­ Hmm¡­" Lin Mu held his chin and thought for quite a bit, going through multiple options before finally deciding.


    "Alright! They shall be named¡­ Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang." Lin Mu decided.


    There were several reasons as to why he had picked the names. He had picked ''Xiao'' as their surname, as it was the same as Little Shrubby. Lin Mu thought they could then be like a small family that way.


    As for their first names, Lin Mu named the ck snake Xiao Yin considering how it had consumed the ck dusty smoke of the Chasm Beasts. Then there was also the fact that the ck snake was a female, so the first name ''Yin'' fit her perfectly.


    The white snake on the other hand, was male and was given the first name ''Yang''. It had consumed the white colored pure yang spirit Qi and was clearly had the affinity to the Yang attribute.


    Additionally, the way they stayed up curled together, Lin Mu found them to look simr to the Taiji symbol. Which only affirmed his choice of picking their names.


    Feeling content with the names, Lin Mu decided to do a little research.


    ''I should see if there is any information at all about snakes such as these. Even if there is none in the books and records I have from the Xiaofan world, maybe there is something in memoirs of the Lost Immortal.'' Lin Mu thought and got to work.


    But first he took out a small pillow and put the baby snakes on them, letting them continue their sleep. He knew that they would be sleeping for quite a while, as that is what most snakes did after a big meal.


    Sometimes, this sleep would evenst for weeks on end.


    And now that he had established the True Blood Imprint, he wasn''t worried about losing them as he''ll be able to track their location at all times.


    Taking out the long wooden slip thatposed the legacy of the Lost Immortal, Lin Mu started to read.


    While he was searching for more information about the twin snakes, he didn''t know that there was someone else doing the same; far, far away.


    In a distant world, a blue sun cast its dim light all over the that revolved around it. There were elevens revolving around it, having different sizes. Some were fiery hot and some were frozen solid, but there were also some that had life on it.


    Among the elevens, four of them were like this, having plenty of life. But one of these four was the most eye catching of them all. One side of it was filled with buildings upon buildings and the other side was filled with dense forests and mountains.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    Then there was another thing that made this unique. There was actually a green moon revolving around it. It cast a gentle green light and imbued the world with its serenity.


    And if one looked closer at the moon, they would see a pattern on it. The pattern was that of arge serpent with a draconic head biting its tail. The pattern circled the entire moon and was mysteriously visible from any angle.


    If this pattern was seen by anyone knowledgeable in the myriad worlds, they would know what it meant.


    This was the Serpent Moon World! And the power that owned it was the Serpent Moon Sect!


    Within the headquarters of this sect, hundreds upon hundreds of people could be seen frantically running around. Some of these were human, while some were of other races. Some had the features of beasts while having a humanoid body, while some were entirely different.


    But each and everyone of them wore clothing the same symbol as the moon.


    "Matriarch! Matriarch!" A group of cultivators rushed into the main hall of the grand pce while shouting.


    In the center of the hall, a woman was sitting. Her hair was white, but her skin had no wrinkles at all.


    "What is the meaning of this? Why are you shouting?" The matriarch said without opening her eyes.

 Chapter 1236 The Serpent Moon Sect

    Chapter 1236 The Serpent Moon Sect¡¡¡¡A hint of anger could be seen in the eyes of the Matriarch and it made the iing cultivators freeze in ce. Their bodies shivered like they were standing in the freezing cold without clothes and their legs trembled like a newborn calf.


    They cultivators were stuck like this for a couple of seconds before the Matriarch finally withdrew her gaze.


    ~Gasp~


    The group took a breath of relief and felt their control return.


    "Now tell me why you shouldn''t be punished for intruding in my hall without permission?" The matriarch demanded.


    "M-Matriarch! It''s something that warranted this intrusion, please forgive us." One of the cultivators said.


    "And what might that be?" The matriarch said, easing up a little.


    While it was certainly a vition of rules to enter this chamber without permission, the matriarch knew that there wasn''t anyone who would dare to break it without a significant reason.


    "We areing right from the temple of the serpents, the Statues of the Ancestral Serpents have opened their eyes!" They finally said.


    Hearing this, a look of seriousness along with anxiety appeared in the eyes of the matriarch.


    "Statues? Not a statue?" She asked firmly.


    "Y-yes! Two statues to be exact. Now three of the seven statues have opened their eyes." The cultivators replied.


    "I have to see this myself." The matriarch said before she turned around and teleported.


    She reappeared with in a dark hall. Its roof was held up by hundreds of pirs that looked like snakes were winding up on them. This was none other than the Temple of the serpents, one of the holy sites of the Serpent Moon sect.


    At the end of this hall, one could see a circr area. The matriarch had appeared right in the center of this area. Around her seven statues could be seen. Each of the statue was over a hundred meters tall and was exquisitely made.


    Each statue represented a different kind of a serpent and had fine details carved onto it. Every scale, ever curve and every ridge was perfect, making it seem like the statues were all alive.


    If it were not for the fact that these statues did not emit the slightest bit of vitality, it would be easy to think that they were simply petrified.


    But among these seven statues, there were three that had their eyes opened. Not just that but these eyes were all glowing.


    One of the statues with the glowing eyes had a long and bulky body with six legs. Each of the legs had three ws on it and they were curled up around the serpent''s body right now.


    The other two statues on the other hand were different. They didn''t have any legs, but instead they looked to be mirror images of each other. They were also located right next to each other.


    When the matriarch saw that it was these two statues that had opened their eyes she was stunned.


    "How can it be these two? They''re supposed to be thest to awaken¡­" The matriarch muttered to herself in disbelief.


    She stood there, trying to wrap her mind around the fact.


    ''The Saintess! I need to tell her right away!'' The Matriarch thought to herself.


    ~shua~


    Then, in the next moment, the space rippled around her before she teleported away.


    Across the, there stood a tall mountain. It was the tallest mountain on the entire and towered high above the clouds. The Matriarch had appeared about a thousand kilometer away from this mountain.


    She started to fly towards the mountain and covered arge amount of distance every second. Yet even then, there was no change to the mountain. It seemed like the Matriarch was still in the same ce.


    An unknown amount of time passed before the Matriarch finally reached the base of the mountain. From her point of view, the mountain looked like a heavenly wall that reached all the way to the heavens.


    Nothing could be seen beyond it and all the sides seemed to be covered by it. The space seemingly warped and twisted, not allowing one to have a proper sense of things. And with the dense forest that covered the mountain, it only made things difficult to figure out.


    The forest was filled with towering trees that were easily a few kilometers tall in height. And even then, they looked like normal sizedpared to the entire mountain. Just from this, one could understand how tall the mountain really was.


    The sounds of beasts could be heard in the forest and thousands of eyes could be seen piercing through the darkness.


    ~gulp~


    The matriarch swallowed her saliva, knowing how dangerous this ce was. Even with her status and cultivation, she wouldn''t be arrogant enough to take the denizens of this ce lightly.


    From this point on, the Matriarch didn''t fly, but ran on foot. Despite that, her speed wasn''t the least bit affected and she could traverse it smoothly. Weaving through the towering trees and interweaving vines was as easy as walking down a in for her.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    And yet the cries of the beasts made her keep her guard up.


    ~HISS~


    But by the time she reached half way to the mountain, a cold hissing could spread across the area.


    "It''s me, senior!" The Matriarch stopped in her ce and bowed while cupping her hands.


    ~rustle~


    ~Crack~


    The trees moved and bent while the leaves rustled. A massive presence could be felt approaching from the distance. If one looked from above, they would see the towering trees parting to make way for somethingrge.


    Soon, a pair of dark yellow eyes could be seen glowing in the shadows. The eyes wererger than an elephant and red at the Matriarch.


    ~hiss~


    "What have youe here for? The Empress has not opened the sacred mountain to anyone!" A voice filled with a murderous aura spoke.


    The Matriarch was afraid, but still spoke.


    "Holy Guardian, the Saintess needs to know that two more Ancestral serpents have appeared in the world!"

 Chapter 1237 Yin-Yang Twin Serpents

    Chapter 1237 Yin-Yang Twin Serpents¡¡¡¡The words of the Matriarch were enough to dispel the murderous aura of the being in front of her.


    ~Rumble~


    The silhouette of arge head rose above the trees and the dark yellow eyes moved along with it. Soon the head clouds be clearly seen. It belonged to a serpent that was grey and green colored and had horns on its head.


    It opened its mouth before letting out a low hiss that traveled far and wide. Thousands of sharps teeth could be seen within its mouth, along with four long fangs that were like pirs and shone under the green moonlight.


    "Go forth, the rest of the guardians will let you though." The massive snake stated.


    "Thank you, Holy Guardian." The Matriarch finally lifted her head and continued running up the mountain.


    But throughout the entire process she didn''t nce at the massive serpent for even a moment. It wasn''t that she would be admonished for it, but rather that she was terrified to look at it.


    She had heard about therge serpent thousands of years ago. In fact, the first time she heard about them was when she was a mere child and her parents told her about them to scare her into obeying.


    Coming in contact with such a being that was once the nightmare of her childhood was gravely terrifying.


    ''Despite my millenniums of cultivation, the holy guardian is still beyond my perception.'' The Matriarch thought to herself.


    She didn''t waver from her task though and continued to run. This time her journey was a lot faster, and it felt like the very space was shrinking beneath her. The amount of time it took her to reach the halfway point was over a hundred times the time it was taking her to cover the remaining half of the distance.


    It was simply iprehensible.


    "The sacred mountain is allowing me faster passage? Does it sense too?" The Matriarch was surprised.


    The Sacred Mountain was rumored to be sentient and legends said that it even had its own spirit. Throughout the long history of the Serpent Moon sect, the Sacred Mountain had been the only constant that had never changed.


    It still housed the ancient nts, and beasts that had long gone extinct in most of the worlds.


    If it were not for the fact that it was the most sacred ce of the Serpent Moon sect, it would probably have been useful as a resource farm.


    Though that was only if they could actually go against the guardians that lived here too. Even the Matriarch herself would onlyst a few minutes against a single guardian, not to mention there were more than one.


    As for their numbers? It was simply unknown.


    Even the strength of the guardians was unknown. But what was known was their legends. The guardians had protected the Serpent Moon World for an unknown amount of time. They were the guardians before the Serpent Moon Sect was even created.


    The Matriarch pondered on the sacred mountain and the mysteries of the guardians for a few minutes before she finally reached the top.


    Here a quaint temple was built. A multitude of glowing fireflies could be seen moving around in the sky. These glowing fireflies gently illuminated the temple, making it seem like an untouched existence.


    The Matriarch felt her soul calm down just by seeing this scene.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    ~thud~


    After her momentary pause,, she quickly kneeled on the ground and mmed her forehead into the stone tiles with a loud thud. She lifted her head and was just about to kowtow again when a faint voice was heard.


    It felt like bells were chiming along with it and they enthralled one''s heart.


    "Come in."


    The Matriarch was stunned by this as it was different from what she had been told before by the ancestor.


    "Y-yes!" She stood up but kept her eyes low.


    Crossing the temple''s threshold, the Matriarch could feel the change in the air.


    ''This is an entirely different existence¡­ thews here are so profound¡­'' the Matriarch could barely believe her senses.


    Without pausing, she continued and came to a halt before the main building of the temple.


    "The Hundred and fiftieth Matriarch of the Serpent Moon Sect greets the Saintess!" The Matriarch said with a voice filled with utter worship.


    A slight breeze blew, and the Matriarch''s hair fluttered back.


    "Lift your head." The chiming voice spoke once more.


    The Matriarch did as wasmanded and looked up, only to be dazzled by the beauty in front of her. Words were not enough to describe the woman that stood in the temple''s doorway.


    Her red hair hung like a waterfall of mes while her emerald green dress looked like it was carved straight from gems!


    Faint snake scales could even be seen flickering on the dress and gold ornaments adorned it, increasing its charm by many times. Bountiful peaks were hidden behind the dress and above it a slender neck rose.


    Finally, a face that could only belong to that of a goddess was seen.


    Green eyes graced it with slit like pupils that could charm anyone, whether it be man, beast or a devil.


    "I shall forever be thankful for allowing me to bask in your presence, Saintess!" The Matriarch said from the very bottom of her heart.


    It had long since been her dream to meet the Saintess and this was the very first time she had the opportunity. There were many matriarchs in the past who never had the opportunity to meet the Saintess, despite their long lives.


    "Mmm¡­ What do you have to say? And where is your ancestor?" The Saintess questioned.


    "The ancestor is currently in the southern Immortal court on our sect''s business. She wouldn''t be able toe in time to tell you about this urgent matter." The Matriarch answered quickly.


    "I see¡­ and what is it? Did you find out about more ancestral serpents?" The Saintess replied.


    "Yes! Yes we did! This time there are two!" The Matriarch said with excitement.


    "Two? Which ones?" A hint of excitement could be seen in the eyes of the Saintess as well.


    "The Yin-Yang Twin Serpents!"

 Chapter 1238 The Saintess And The Matriarch

    Chapter 1238 The Saintess And The Matriarch¡¡¡¡The Saintess had a look of excitement mixed with anxiousness in her eyes upon hearing the name.


    "The Yin-Yang Twin Serpents? At this time?" The Saintess furrowed her brows.


    "Y-yes. I was confused too and checked it myself. I would not daree speak to you before that." The Matriarch confirmed.


    "For the Yin-Yang Twin Serpents to appear before all the other Ancestral Serpents have awakened is strange¡­ it''s not ording to what was said in the old prophecies." The Saintess muttered.


    "I''m quite confused about this too Saintess. At first I thought there might be more to the prophecy and hoped that you might be able to shed more light on this." The Matriarch stated.


    "Hmm¡­" The Saintess didn''t reply and instead took out a hexagonal mirror.


    The mirror was about the size of arge tter and had borate designs on it along with intricate runes that were iprehensible to most people. At the edges of the mirror, there was a gold and silver frame on which several serpents wrapped.


    At the bottom of it though, one could see arge white gem set in a socket. The gem was perfectly spherical and could actually move in its socket!


    ~gasp~


    Seeing the mirror, the Matriarch was surprised.


    "I-is that¡­ the Prophetic moon mirror?" The Matriarch recognized.


    "Indeed. Is it your first time seeing this?" The Saintess asked.


    "Yes¡­ W-well in person. I''ve seen its portraits before, but this is the first time I''m seeing it with my own two eyes." The Matriarch said while her eyes reflected the image of the mirror.


    Hearing this, the Saintess was a bit intrigued.


    "How long have you been the Matriarch for?" The Saintess inquired.


    "It''s been about three thousand years since I was epted as the Matriarch, Saintess." The Matriarch respectfully replied.


    "And in that time your predecessor never showed you the Prophetic Moon mirror?" the Saintess asked.


    "No. Unfortunately I never got to see it. Thest I heard of it, it was supposedly in the hands of the ancestor." The Matriarch replied.


    "I see¡­ and then the ancestor brought this in with her thest time she came here." The Saintess remembered.


    This matter was only of a momentary interest to the Saintess and she quickly got to the important task.


    She lifted the Prophetic Moon Mirror up in the sky and aligned it with the green moon.


    ~HONG~


    The moment it did, a sonorous hum came from the Prophetic Moon Mirror.


    "Lend me your sight, mother." The Saintess muttered in a low voice.


    The Matriarch could clearly hear the words of the Saintess even if they were low and was astounded.


    ''Mother? The Saintess really is¡­ that¡­'' The Matriarch decided to keep this hidden in her heart.


    She knew the information she had heard could cause a great upheaval across the worlds. But at the same time she felt touched that the Saintess thought her worthy enough. If she didn''t then there was no way the Matriarch would have known this bit of information.


    The spherical moon socketed into the Prophetic moon mirror started to slowly turn. With each turn, stars appeared in the mirror. The moon spun faster and faster and soon became hard to see.


    The scene in the mirror also becameplex, turning into entire gxies spread across the expanse of the universe.


    Once it reached this point, the Saintess let go of the Prophetic Moon mirror, letting it float freely in the air.


    "Now we wait¡­" The Saintess said.


    "How long Saintess?" the Matriarch asked, not knowing.


    "I cannot tell this either. It can take minutes¡­ or months." The Saintess replied.


    "I-I see¡­" The Matriarch was fine with anything.


    Secretly, she was even happy that she would get to spend time with the Saintess.


    ''The light and hope of the Serpent Moon Sect is the Saintess, basking in her grace is the best gift I can ever get.'' The Matriarch thought to herself with devotion.


    But while she was in her thoughts, the Saintess moved.


    ~Ripple~


    She lightly tapped the air, creating water like ripples in it. The ripples contorted and moved, before condensing into water vapor. The water vapor had unnatural proprieties and was firm to touch, not dissipating like normal clouds.


    ~shua~


    The vapor turned dense and took on aplete cloud like appearance before assuming the shape of a table and two chairs.


    "Absolute insights¡­ Dao of Water¡­ Dao of Clouds¡­ Dao of wind¡­" The Matriarch could nce at the profundities form this small action of the Saintess.


    She suddenly shook out of her short trance and hurriedly cupped her hands.


    "THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME THIS CHANCE TO PONDER ON THE DAOS! SAINTESS!" The Matriarch said in an overwhelmed tone.


    But the Saintess slightly furrowed her brows upon hearing this, and her ears twitched.


    "Lower your voice. I do not like actions like these." She said firmly.


    "I''m sorry Saintess! Please forgive me!" The Matriarch hurriedly replied.


    "Mm¡­ just make sure it doesn''t happen again." The Saintess said before gesturing with her eyes. "Now, sit."


    "At once," The Matriarch quickly followed the words, taking them as an absolute order.


    A few minutes passed in silence while the Saintess rested her eyes. The matriarch didn''t even dare to breathe, afraid that she might disturb the Saintess.


    "Tell me¡­ about the sect¡­ what has happened since the ancestors visit." The Saintess spoke.


    "Ah, I shall tell everything from that day then Saintess. Please bear with me." The Matriarch said before taking a deep breath.


    "After the ancestor returned from seeing you, she asked for the fossilized form of the Three wed Terra Python to be brought to her. And as youmanded, she took it back to you before the revival was done." The Matriarch said and took a pause to nce at the Saintess, ensuring that there was no displeasure on her face.


    "Once the Three wed Terra python was revived, the ancestor brought it back to the Temple of the Serpents. We put the Ancestral serpent in its designated chamber to let it recover it strength.


    Ever since that day, the Three wed Terra Python has been resting. We have not tried to disturb it either, even though a few elders wanted to gain enlightenment from it. I also put stringent requirements for all those going to the chambers to prevent any mishap from happening." The Matriarch exined.


    "That''s good." The Saintess agreed. "There is nothing more important than gathering the Seven Ancestral Serpents and ensure that they return to their peak strength."


    "Of course, and we shall do everything in our power to do that." The Matriarch vowed.


    The Saintess nodded her head before saying, "continue."


    "After the Three wed Terra Python was secured, the ancestor gave me orders to monitor the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord. I understand he is an old enemy of the sect and I did as wasmanded.


    We had two million disciples assigned to monitor the movement and traces of the Shadow Gloom Bone lord. This also included the disciples, which are posted at the different powers of the four Immortal Courts as well as the Celestial Realm.


    About two years passed before we picked up news that a certain group of world pirates were transporting old relics rted to the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord. Of course, back then we thought that they were simply some misceneous items with distant link to the foe." The Matriarch said before taking a pause.


    "But then¡­ our raid brought us some shocking results. The goods they were transporting weren''t just some misceneous items, but rather the ''Avatar seeds'' of the Shadow Gloom Bone lord." The Matriarch added.


    And when she said this, the Saintess opened her eyes, a hint of disgust appearing in them.


    "So he really managed to stay alive¡­ despite all that." The Saintess said, anger visible in her eyes.


    ~gulp~


    The Matriarch felt pressure from the me haired woman in front of her but held her courage.


    "We then erased all of the Avatar seeds of the Shadow Gloom Bone lord as per the ancestor''smands." The Matriarch said.


    "But that''s not all¡­ is it?" The Saintess Inquired.


    "Unfortunately not. Upon investigating the world pirates more, we learned they affiliated to the Indigo World Hegemony. They are a power that has risen in the past fifty thousand years." The Matriarch replied.


    "Mm¡­ I know of them." The Saintess said.


    "You do?" The Matriarch was surprised.Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Indeed¡­ they''ve actually existed since before that. Just under a different name." The Saintess replied.


    "What was that?" The Matriarch asked curiously.


    "They were the remnants of the Hundun Imperial Order." She answered.


    Hearing this, the eyes of the Matriarch wide.


    "Those fiends! I thought they were exterminated by the joint powers of the celestial realm." The Matriarch said in disbelief.


    "Things are not always how they seem to the eyes. And alliance are not fixed either." The Saintess stated.


    "You mean to say¡­ they were intentionally left alive?" The Matriarch was doubtful.


    "That is what I think. The politics of the celestial realm are too much of a bother for me to deal with. My duty is not that." The Saintess stated.


    "Of course!" The Matriarch nodded her head. "The Saintess should not be involved in lowly matters such as that." She agreed.


    "What did you learn after that?" The Saintess asked further.


    "Ah yes. Upon investigating further and wiping out a few branches of the Indigo World Hegemony, we discovered some documents which pointed to some secretive deals. These evidently go against the regtions of the Immortal and Celestial courts.


    The Indigo World Hegemony was supplying a power from the mortal realm¡­ A world only known as the Xiaofan."

 Chapter 1239 Finding The Signs

    Chapter 1239 Finding The Signs¡¡¡¡The information was surprising to the Saintess.


    "They circumvented the celestial and immortalws?" The Saintess asked doubtfully.


    "It seems so. From the documents we learned that they did so by sending weakened members among them. They seem to have crippled the cultivation base of a few lower ranked members and let them raise it back to below the Immortal Ascension realm.


    That is how they smuggled the goods into a mortal world." The Matriarch exined.


    "And what was it that they smuggled?" The Saintess asked, her face showing dislike for the information.


    "They smuggled quite a few things, including cultivation techniques, Qi skills, resources and different formation manuals. But the most illegal thing they have smuggled in an Immortal tool!" The Matriarch revealed.


    "An immortal tool!? That''s not something that should have been done. Does that world even have any immortals?" The Saintess inquired.


    "There were a few that once came from that world. We checked the Ascension tform records in the Immortal courts and there are records of four immortals ascending from that world.


    They apparently returned to the world too, evidently to solve a problem that was beyond the abilities of the Xiaofan world''s residents." The Matriarch spoke.


    Hearing this, the Saintess furrowed her brows.


    "A problem caused by the smugglers?" The Saintess guessed.


    "That''s what it seems like. They provided illegal resources which a mortal world should not have and raised a local power in exchange for harvesting rights." The Matriarch confirmed. "But what''s strange is that out of the four immortals, only three returned." She added.


    "Hmm¡­ one of them might have been a casualty. If the local powers were provided and immortal tool, it isn''t surprising that one of them died." The Saintess nodded her head.


    "The documents of the Indigo World Hegemony also showed that their ''trade'' didn''t stop just after that. They continued it even after the immortals returned. Though it seemed to have slowed down considerably.


    There was apparently a restriction on the Xiaofan world that prevented them. A barrier of some sorts. I don''t know how they got past it, though. If they forcefully broke it, the resulting bacsh from the world would be far too great.


    At least the immortal courts and even the celestial court would notice it at that point." The Matriarch said, confusion visible on her face as well.Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    The two of them sat in silence while the Saintess thought to herself. After fifteen minutes though, the Saintess seemed to have thought to something.


    "Where exactly is this Xiaofan world located?" The Saintess questioned.


    "ording to the navigation maps we confiscated from the world pirates, it''s located under the western Immortal court''s mortal realm division. And within the mortal realm, it''s located in the Fands, among the newborn worlds." The Matriarch urately recalled.


    "Wait¡­ In the Fands¡­" The Saintess seemed to have grasped something.


    "What''s the matter Saintess?" The Matriarch questioned.


    But instead of responding, the Saintess waved her hand, summoning another mirror from the temple. This mirror was a lot bigger and spanned an entire three meters in size.


    "Return." The Saintess chanted.


    ~shua~


    The mirror glowed with the light of the runes as the scene within it changed. Soon gxies swept past and stars twinkled. World upon world passed before a very specific set ofs could be seen on it.


    "It really is that¡­ it''s the same world¡­" The Saintess muttered.


    "What''s this ce Saintess?" The Matriarch asked and tried to see if she could match any of the features of thes to those that she knew of.


    "That is the gxy where the Xiaofan world is¡­ and that''s the Xiaofan world." The Saintess pointed to a specific blue that had a clusterednd mass on one side.


    Hearing this, the Matriarch was surprised. "How did you find it this quickly?" she asked.


    "Because this isn''t the first time I''m seeing it. Thest time I saw it was with your Ancestor¡­ and it was in regards to the Shadow Gloom Bone lord too." The Saintess replied, her tone serious.


    The Matriarch linked the situations and figured out the issue.


    "Is this¡­ the world ancestor talked about then? The ce where the signs of the Shadow Gloom Bone lord were detected?" The Matriarch inquired.


    "Yes¡­ and I think the Shadow Gloom Bone lord is also how the world pirates gained into the Xiaofan world again. That fiend is a well known invader and has many tricks up his sleeve to get into world barriers." The Saintess replied.


    "What? If it was that serious, then why didn''t the ancestor tell us to act?" the Matriarch was lost. "For a problem this big, we could have very well gotten permission from the Immortal court."


    "I left it and only told her to track it because there was another being in that world that would have taken care of the Shadow Gloom Bone lord''s avatar." The Saintess stated.


    "Another being?" The Matriarch wondered. "Who?"


    In response, the Saintess simply waved her hand, and the scene in the mirror changed. This time, an image appeared in it. The image was that of a being sorge that was hard to clearly see what its body was like.


    But what could be clearly seen were its ten golden yellow eyes that shone like greatnterns in the night sky.


    "That¡­ isn''t this¡­" The Matriarch gasped, covering her mouth.


    "The Pirs of the Void, The Holder of Space, The Void Weaver Spider¡­ Xukong." The Saintess uttered with a mix of reverence and fear.


    The Matriarch trembled in her ce as she heard the name.


    "Why¡­ why would¡­ why would someone like him be there¡­ in a mortal world like that?" The Matriarch questioned in utter confusion. "C-can a mortal world like that even withstand his presence? He alone would cover the entire world."


    "I do not know why or how he could stay there. But with him there, the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord is but a mere pest." The Saintess replied.


    ~HONG~


    At this moment though, the smaller hexagonal mirror suddenly let out a sound.


    ~HONG~


    Just as the Matriarch was trying to wrap her mind around the information that had been revealed to her, the mirror in front of her trembled.


    "It stopped spinning?" the Matriarch saw the spherical moon socketed into the mirror freeze.


    The Saintess turned around in surprised and nced at the hexagonal mirror.


    "That¡­ was unexpectedly fast." She muttered before waving her hand, bringing the mirror closer.


    "Did you find something, Saintess?" the Matriarch asked excitedly.


    "Seems like we have luck on our side. The Yin-Yang Twin Serpents have appeared in a high ranked immortal world." The Saintess spoke, allowing the Matriarch to take a look as well.


    In the mirrors, they could see arge nt that was surrendered by several rings of asteroids. The looked rusty brown in color and had countless smaller asteroids covering its upper atmosphere.


    Behind it, several mores could be seen and at the very back, a yellow sun was also burning.


    "I know this world!" The Matriarch said out loud. "It''s the Rust Sky world. They''ve been put under the monitoring of Northern Immortal court because the world is close to ascension." She stated.


    Hearing this, the Saintess was intrigued. But just as she was about to say something, she noticed something.


    ~tremble~


    The small moon socketed into the mirror started to tremble and ck marks appeared on it.


    "What''s happening to the Prophetic Moon Mirror?" The Matriarch asked anxiously/


    ~Crackle~


    Suddenly sparks appeared in the mirror and the scene in the mirror flickered non-stop.


    ~BUZZ~


    Then, a beam of energy shot out from the hexagonal mirror and struck the otherrge mirror that was floating in the air.


    ~HONG~


    Both the mirrors started resonating and the scenes on both of them flickered non stop.


    "This can''t be¡­ why are they linked?" The Saintess said in shock.


    "Why? What happened Saintess?" the Matriarch asked, feeling even more nervous now.


    "The Yin-yang twin serpents¡­ they seem to have traces in the Rust Sky World as well as the Xiaofan world. Or rather, they have old traces in the Xiaofan world." The Saintess replied while her me red hair swayed in the wind.


    "I-I''ll send our disciples to the Rust Sky world right away, Saintess!" The Matriarch stated.


    "No!" The Saintess ordered.


    "Wh-what? Why?" The Matriarch asked.


    "If the Xiaofan world has old traces of the Yin-Yang Twin serpents and the Rust Sky world has the current presence of them, then¡­ this matter is too sensitive. Don''t forget that being was supposedly on the Xiaofan world." The Saintess replied.


    The Matriarch''s eyes shone in realization and a cold sweat appeared on her back.


    "If there is any¡­ ANY link with Xukong then we need to approach this very carefully. While we need to look for him too, there is no saying how he''ll take this. I cannot leave this to mere disciples." The Saintess stated.


    "Then¡­ I''ll go there myself Saintess." The Matriarch volunteered.


    "No¡­ you need to be at the Sect. It cannot be left without leadership." The Saintess rejected.


    "Should I ask the Ancestor then? She''ll rush there right away on your orders." The Matriarch suggested.


    "No¡­ if there is Xukong involved, then I need to do this myself. No one else is qualified to meet with someone like him." The Saintess said, much to the shock of the Matriarch.


    "Why would you go so far, Saintess?" The Matriarch couldn''t believe this.


    "If we are to request something of a great being such as Xukong then¡­ It shoulde from myself¡­ Under my authority as the Saintess¡­ And The Serpent Empress Akide!"

 Chapter 1240 Research And Epiphany

    Chapter 1240 Research And Epiphany¡¡¡¡Lin Mu was unaware about the great power that was now searching for the Yin-Yang Twin serpents as well as Xukong. To him, the two baby snakes were certainly interesting and strong, but not to the level where he would think that it would have alerted a great sect.


    Currently he was lounging in his residence, reading through a pile of documents.


    ~Sigh~


    "Doesn''t seem like this will work for the Haima Tribe either." Lin Mu shook his head.


    He had been going through all the cultivation manuals as well as Qi skills he had to figure out something that might work for the Haima Tribe. Their progress with the breathing technique had been good, and some of the higher ranked members of the tribe had already be used to it.


    In fact, some of them like Elder Niji and Head Warier Kulo could already sense the flow of the Spirit Qi within them as well as control it to a certain extent. But this control was only in terms of elerating it and slowing it down.


    But even then, it was enough to increase their strength by a new level.


    Simply by elerating the flow of spirit Qi, they could exert greater power in their attacks momentarily. And on the other side, by slowing down the flow of spirit Qi they could reduce their energy consumption there by raising their stamina while also reducing their ''presence''.


    The ability to reduce one''s presence was considered highly by the Elder as well as Head Warrior Kulo. Since the Scouts often went out to scour the areas and check for the presence of the Chasm Beasts, they sometimes ended up shing hit them too.


    By reducing their presence, they would be able to escape sessfully, thereby allowing them to have a greater survival rate.


    But even though they had learned these two applications, Lin Mu knew this wasn''t even scratching the surface.


    ''They have so much potential and yet they cannot mobilize it¡­ they even have the resources but they cannot utilize it efficiently¡­'' Lin Mu thought deeply.


    "Seems like the Lost Immortal''s memoirs might be the only method of figuring out a solution for the Haima tribe." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    It wasn''t that he hadn''t looked through the memoirs already; he had actually read it for over a month now. But the issue with the Lost Immortal''s memoirs was that he couldn''t just flip to the end like a book and find what he needed.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    The Lost Immortal''s memoirs had a restriction on it, which only allowed Lin Mu to go forward in a specific manner. New information would only appear after he had finished reading the current set of information.


    The new information that appeared was entirely out of Lin Mu''s control and could be random.


    ''If it was in a chronological order, it would have been somewhat helpful. At least I''d be able to estimate just how long I would have to read until I reached a possible point of interest. But the events in the memoirs are set in a strange order.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The Lost Immortal had recorded the memoir in a way that provided information to Lin Mu, limited to his level of understanding and cultivation. It didn''t just tell him about the great cultivation realms or techniques like that.


    In fact, it barely scratched on actual cultivation techniques of Qi skills. Instead, it mostly showed the experiences of the Lost immortal and his thinking. What Lin Mu was doing was the same as searching the vast dark ocean for a singr type of a fish.


    It was very difficult, and he had no way to urately track his goal.


    ~phew~


    Deciding to take a break for today, Lin Mu stood up from the bed.


    His eyes trailed over to the pillow kept on a small stone table. There, two baby snakes were sleeping soundly. Their breaths were rhythmic and were in an order. While one twin inhaled, the other twin exhaled.


    This cycle repeated continuously and Lin Mu only noticed it recently.


    "It''s been a month since they''ve been asleep¡­ when will they wake up?" Lin Mu wondered.


    The Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang had fallen asleep after killing and consuming the remains of the Chasm Beasts. Lin Mu knew that snake beasts would rest and digests their meal for days at an end, but for baby snakes he still found it to be a little too long.


    ''If Senior Xukong was awake, perhaps he might have been able to give me some insights¡­'' Lin Mu wished.


    He gazed at the twin snakes for a few minutes, seemingly lost in thought.


    But at a certain instantly he suddenly shook out of his thoughts.


    "WAIT! That might just work!" Lin Mu had a moment of epiphany.


    About half an hourter, Lin Mu now stood in the training square of the Haima Tribe. In front of him were several Haima tribe members, including Elder Niji as well as Head Warrior Kulo.


    "What did you call us for here, Noble Lin Mu?" Elder Niji asked curiously.


    He was going about his duties when he was suddenly called by Lin Mu and told to gather the strongest warriors of the tribe at the training square.


    And now that he had done that, he saw Lin Mu staring at the warriors intently.


    "Today I have called you here because I want to teach you something new." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh? What might that be?" Elder Niji was surprised and a little excited at the same time.


    The same interest could be seen in the eyes of the rest too. Evidently, they had been learning Dao Script from the elder. And it wasn''t just them, either. In fact, a lot of tribe members had shown great interest in learning it after seeing Lin Mu.


    They wanted to learn from him and understand what he talked about.


    "I am going to teach you an experimental technique I havee up with. If it works, all of you might be able to finally cultivate!" Lin Mu revealed.

 Chapter 1241 A Breakthrough For The Tribe

    Chapter 1241 A Breakthrough For The Tribe¡¡¡¡"WHAT! REALLY?" Lin Mu''s words were no less than a quake to Elder Niji.


    He had long since marveled at the powers of the various experts. While Elder Niji himself could match against in raw strength against many, he also desired the more ''shy'' moves like making fire and summoning thunder.


    Not to mention, there was also the added benefit of a life span increase. Even with the passive increase in the spirit Qi that the Haima Tribe members had, their lifespans were still the same as humans.


    Not to mention, there was the upper limit of Dao Treading realm for the Haima Tribe. While there might have been many experts above the Dao Treading realm in the past and some in the Immortal realm as well, now there were none.


    This also meant that the Elder of the Haima Tribe only had less than 4000 years to find his sessor who also had to reach his level. Unfortunately for Elder Niji, three thousand years had already passed and while there were strong members like head warrior Kulo, there was no one that could inherit the knowledge that he held.


    For that, the potential elder needed to learn Dao Script good enough tomunicate freely.


    Even though many tribesmen were now showing interest in learning Dao Script after Lin Mu''s arrival, it was still not enough. With only a thousand years left in his lifespan, Elder Niji was not confident of teaching a disciple.


    After all, he himself had only learned Dao Script from thest elder after over fifteen hundred years.


    But now that he had a chance to increase his lifespan, he would have a better chance at finding a new elder. And if he was lucky, with the increased number of members showing interest, he might even have multiple candidates.


    "What do we need to do then, Noble Lin Mu?" Elder Niji asked hurriedly.


    "I''ll teach you the method first and then you can exin to the rest." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright." Elder Niji nodded his head.


    Lin Mu then spent an hour exining a technique he hade up with.


    It was a rtively simple method which expanded on the speeding and slowing down the flow of spirit Qi. Since the Haima Tribe was already getting proficient with this, Lin Mu reckoned this would be the best way.


    The chance that he made in this was that one needed to do both speeding up the flow of spirit Qi as well as slow it down at the same time. At first one would split the flow of spirit Qi in their body in half and divided it into two circuits.


    Then they would speed up the flow in one circuit, while slowing it down in the other. This would create a point of focus that should potentially draw in spirit Qi from the air. Once one managed to do it by splitting the circuits in two half, they would then reduce the size.


    Instead of splitting the circuits in 50-50 parts, they would do so in 75-25 parts. Then once equilibrium was achieved in this fraction too, they could go smaller and smaller.


    Lin Mu had even gone further and guessed that in thetter stages, one could then create multiple smaller circuits instead of just two of different sizes. The greater the number of circuits, the greater the number of focus points.


    Lin Mu didn''t know how far it could be scaled up, as there was no way to theoretically check it. The only way to do it would be a practical demonstration.


    ''Now the only hurdle is if the Haima Tribe and gain a control over this¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    He had seen them achieve a meditative state of great focus, which was unusual for most experts, thus he had great hopes for them.


    "This is certainly new noble Lin Mu. I''ll try it out first myself, then I''ll instruct the others." Elder Niji stated. "I think I''ll be able to exin better that way."


    "Yeah, you can do that." Lin Mu agreed.


    Elder Niji first asked the warriors to wait patiently and then got to practicing. Lin Mu too sat nearby, watching him closely. His spirit sense was close to elder Niji''s body, but didn''t enter it for the fear of affecting the man''s practice.


    If anything happened, Lin Mu was confident of acting in time.


    His eyes stared at elder Niji and traced the fine movements of spirit Qi in the air. For the first fifteen minutes, nothing happened and there was no change to the spirit Qi in the air. But after fifteen more minutes passed, Lin Mu sensed a wisp of spirit Qi.


    The wisp of spirit Qi was moving in an irregr manner and it was the only one to do so.


    "It should be starting now¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    Minute after minute passed as he sensed the irregr wisps of spirit Qi increasing in number. When 45 minutes passed, a qualitative change happened.


    ~shua~


    All of a sudden, all the wisps of spirit Qi rushed towards Elder Niji''s chest.


    ~Hu~


    A wave of spirit Qi directly spread in the area and was sensed by all the warriors nearby.


    "He managed to do it!" Lin Mu smiled.


    Elder Niji opened his eyes, feeling the infusion of spirit Qi into his body. It was a familiar yet new feeling for him. They were long since used to spirit Qi being absorbed after eating the Stone Flesh Mushrooms, but now directly absorbing it though their skin was refreshing.


    "It is a marvelous feeling¡­" Elder Niji muttered to himself as he gazed at his body.


    "Congrattions, you did very well." Lin Mu spoke with a smile on his face.


    "It is all due to your help, noble Lin Mu." Elder Niji didn''t dare take the credit.


    "Now, now, we got a lot more to do before we rejoice." Lin Mu chuckled.


    "Of course." Elder Niji smiled and turned to the warriors.


    He spent the next hour teaching them the method in their own tongue before they began the practice.


    And just an hourter, Lin Mu saw the progress.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    ~SHUA~


    "He broke through?"

 Chapter 1242 Continual Improvements

    Chapter 1242 Continual Improvements¡¡¡¡In front of Lin Mu, one of the warriors had just achieved a breakthrough.


    Lin Mu had seen him before, but didn''t know the man''s name. The only thing he knew was that he was one of the stronger warriors of the Haima tribe and was roughly at the start Nascent soul realm.


    But now, the man had actually broken though and the spirit Qi wavesing from him showed that he was at the middle of the Nascent soul realm.


    ''From the Infant Soul stage to Child soul stage¡­ this breakthrough is good.'' Lin Mu estimated the gain that the warrior had.


    Elder Niji and the rest also observed the man, sensing the increase in his strength. The breakthrough caused waves of spirit Qi to spread from the man, allowing everyone to feel it clearly.


    Usually a breakthrough would not be this apparent as the spirit Qi in most Haima Tribe members would stay contained in their bodies. But now that it was done though an actual cultivation technique, the effects were clear.


    "$#^($&&(?" The Haima Tribe warrior who had just broken through was surprised as well.


    "Who is he?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "This is Warrior Tum." Elder Niji answered for Lin Mu.


    "Warrior Tum, congrattions on sessfully cultivating as well as breaking through." Lin Mu spoke.


    The man in question didn''t understand all of Lin Mu''s words, but then Elder Niji tranted for him. Once warrior Tum understood them, he saluted Lin Mu in respect. He was truly grateful to Lin Mu for teaching them this.


    He could after all sense the increase in his strength. Even if it was small, it was still a good increase which would normally take him several years to achieve. And yet that long-term gain was obtained in less than two hours.


    In all cases, it was worth a lot to them.


    Even for Lin Mu, this was a lot of new study and research material. With this initial sess, he now knew what path to take for the future.


    ''I never would have thought the two baby snakes would allow me to have this epiphany¡­ fortunate encounters can truly present in the most unexpected ways¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He let the warriors continue cultivating and observed them. From time to time, he would give them some advice and make a correction in their circuits. Even for Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo, there were a lot of suggestions.


    And in just three more days, ten more warriors had broken, though. While it was just a minor breakthrough, it was still better than anything they had felt before. During this entire time, Lin Mu could see some ws in the technique he had made as an experiment, too.


    It allowed him to learn more and deepen his own understanding about cultivation, thereby increasing his own expertise. Then, after analyzing these mistakes and changes, Lin Mu improved on them further enhancing the experimental technique.


    Two weeks passed in this and the warriors of the Haima Tribe continued to improve. It was around this time that Lin Mu discovered another issue.


    "How will they form a Nascent soul?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Many of the warriors that Lin Mu was teaching right now already had cultivation equivalent to that of at least the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm. There was no one else lower than that as the test candidates were only those that were strong.


    ''The cultivation of the Haima Tribe is mostly passive and is somewhat of a mix between body cultivation as well as Qi cultivation. But it doest not give them the abilities of either path. But now that they are actually cultivating with a technique, they are still unable to follow the normal path of Qi cultivation.'' Lin Mu pondered.


    Forming a Nascent soul was very important for qi cultivator as they would be unable toprehend the Dao Traces without it. A nascent soul allowed one to dissociate oneself from the normal cycle of ''mortals'', giving them a chance for rebirth.


    Their true souls would be able to make use of the Nascent soul and sense the profundities of the Dao, allowing them to progress further.


    Theck of a Nascent soul was also what Lin Mu estimated as the reason for ack of progress. Even Elder Niji was only stuck at the peak of the Dao Treading realm in terms of the spirit Qi he had.


    He was unable to progress any further despite hundreds of years of consumption of Stone Flesh mushrooms. The minimum requirement for reaching the Immortal Ascension realm was one needed to touch upon the Dao traces.


    For Qi cultivators, having no Dao Embryo basically made it impossible. And for a Dao Embryo to form, they needed a Nascent soul.


    And it wasn''t like they could take the body cultivation path, either. While the body cultivation path had no need to form a Nascent soul or Dao Embryo, it would still do the same, but though a different route.


    The refinement of the five treasured organs was very difficult without the right techniques and resources.


    While Lin Mu had managed to make an experimental Qi cultivation technique for the Haima Tribe, he sure as hell wouldn''t be able to make a body cultivation technique.


    ''There are still some provisions for mistake correction in Qi cultivation¡­ but for body cultivation the range for mistakes is very narrow. Not to mention I do not have enough references to make anything.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The only reason he was even able to make the experimental technique for Qi cultivation was because he had literally thousands upon thousands of cultivation techniques and manuals in his storage.


    Not to mention the many more documents and books that gave one insight and tips for cultivation.


    As for body cultivation, Lin Mu had a grand total of two techniques; the mortal strengthening scripture and the True Gold Body forging arts. It was already a miracle that Lin Mu could use the passive effects of other techniques to reach his current body cultivation.


    And it wasn''t like Lin Mu hadn''t tested the use of Mortal Strengthening scripture for the Haima Tribe either. The results of that had only shown it to be ipatible with them. Thus, with all the failures, the only path left was Qi cultivation.


    Days upon days passed like this and Lin Mu continued his research.


    Two more months went by when Lin Mu finally had some significant progress with the experimental technique.


    "Of course! I need to follow the example of the Great Slumber Bear. Senior Xukong told me that immortal beasts that were directly born in that realm merely needed to will it and their Nascent souls would be born." Lin Mu said out loud.


    In front of him, arge stone board could be seen. Runes could be seen written on it, and they glowed with a faint white light.


    Lin Mu used his fingers as a writing tool and quickly added more runes onto the board.


    ~shua~


    Once he did, a qualitative change seemingly happened and the runes automatically assembled themselves into a unique order.


    "There¡­ let''s see if this works." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He quickly called Elder Niji and asked him to bring in some weaker members of the tribe. Five minutester, the elder had appeared at his doorstep along with five Haima Tribe members.


    ~Creak~


    Lin Mu opened the door and gazed at the new candidates, finding them to be roughly equivalent to the mid tote stage of the core condensation realm.


    "They will work perfectly." Lin Mu said.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    "What do you need them to do, noble Lin Mu?" Elder Niji inquired curiously.


    "They will cultivate with the new version I have made." Lin Mu inly said before exining it to the Haima Tribe members.


    In the past few months, Lin Mu had been steadily learning the Haima Tribe''snguage. And while he had not mastered it, he was at least able to converse in thenguage.


    "Is this all we need to do, noble Lin Mu?" The Haima Tribe members anxiously asked.


    "Yes. As long as you follow this method, you should see some gain." Lin Mu replied in the Haima Tribe''snguage.


    "O-okay." The members agreed right away.


    They quickly sat down and first mediated for a few minutes to optimize their condition. A majority of the tribesmen had mastered the breathing method taught by Lin Mu, thus there were no issues in that.


    Once that was done, they finally followed the experimental technique and made two circuits in their body. The slow circuit and fast circuits quickly pulled the spirit Qi in the air, forming a point of focus on their bodies.


    ''It''s certainly faster than the first version.'' Lin Mu could see the improvements right away.


    Thirty minutes passed as the members steadily absorbed the spirit Qi, until finally¡­ one of them formed a core!


    ~HUALA~


    The spirit Qi within the body quickly turned into a core, but didn''t stop there.


    ~RUMBLE~

 Chapter 1243 Tribulation Scaring The Chasm Beasts

    Chapter 1243 Tribtion Scaring The Chasm Beasts¡¡¡¡Lin Mu had not expected the reaction to be this fast. He had seen cores being formed many times before and they were never this fast to condense. Even if there was a lot of spirit Qi, it was still a gradual process and took some time.


    But for the Haima Tribe member, it was almost in an instant. This opened up a lot of new possibilities for Lin Mu, allowing him to guess further possibilities.


    ~Rumble~


    Though his surprised didn''t just stop there. As the rumble of thunder could soon be heard. It had passed all the way through the Earth Fixing Array and reached the tribe underground.


    "It really is like I thought¡­ those that have not reached the equivalent of Nascent soul realm can still form their Nascent souls and it would also trigger a Heavenly Tribtion." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he continued to observe.


    Far above the Broken Chasm, clouds had started to gather. These were different from the Rusty brown and red clouds that normally covered the sky. These clouds were dark and I could see arcs of light running through them.


    ~GUZAAAA~


    The Chasm beasts that roamed around the area were rmed by the presence of the tribtion clouds. They all looked up at the sky and roared at it, as if warning it that this was theirnd.


    Theirck of intelligence was demonstrated here as a few of the stronger Chasm beasts decided to directly challenge the new ''enemy'' that had appeared in the sky. Not to mention, they could sense great energy in the sky, which was a sign of food for them.


    The Chasm Beasts that were at equivalent to the Immortal Ascension realm were the first ones to act.


    ~GUZAAAA~


    They leaped into the sky, forming a ck blur in the air.


    ~RUMBLE~


    But just as they were half way to the clouds, a bolt of lightning fell down.


    ~BOOM~


    The body of the Chasm Beast was directly sted into dust by the lightning bolt. The dark clouds in the sky kept on rumbling and the roar of thunder could be heard far and wide. The sound soon increased in intensity and an oppressive feeling descended.


    ~GULALALLAL~


    A change in the Chasm Beasts could be seen at this point. They had a hint of reluctance in their voice and they quickly turned back.


    "The Chasm Beasts are afraid of Tribtion lightning?" Lin Mu had been watching the entire series of events through one of his mirrors.


    Elder Niji and the rest witnessed it too and were pleased. They watched as the entirety of the Chasm Beasts in the area started to return to the Broken Chasm. They jumped into the chasm as if afraid that they would be sted to death by the tribtion lightning as well.


    ''The punishment tribtion lightning is indeed stronger here¡­ or perhaps it adjusts its power ording to the being it is facing.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Though he also had a hunch that the reason why the Chasm beasts were repelled might be something to do with the fact that they were of the Yin attribute. And the tribtion lightning was that of the extreme Yang.


    It wouldn''t be unusual for both of them to cancel each other out even if the Chasm Beasts were strong.


    "Seems like we might have another potential weapon against the Chasm Beasts. We now have a grasp on their weakness." Lin Mu said as ideas already started to form in his mind.


    While he himself didn''t have any Qi skill that could make lightning, what he did have were the methods to make formations that could release lightning. There were even a couple of spirit weapons Lin Mu had that produced lightning.


    Though these weapons weren''t as strong and were merely mid grade spirit weapons. But this didn''t mean that they wouldn''te in handy. Lin Mu already had ideas about enhancing them further, or making entirely new weapons of the lightning attribute from the get go.


    He certainly had a few materials that were of the Lightning element.


    ''And if that doesn''t work, I might just use the tribtion lightning itself for this.'' Lin Mu had some dangerous ideas about a new form of a weapon.


    ~RUMBLE~


    But all of these thoughts were out on pause for the moment since the tribtion clouds were gaining power.


    "Everybody get back! Create some distance from him." Lin Mu ordered.


    The Haima Tribe warriors responded quickly, and there was now a distance of at least 500 meters from the warrior that was undergoing the breakthrough.


    Surprisingly though, the man wasn''t scared. He only seemed to be confused.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    "What is happening?" Nulo asked.


    "You will be struck by lightning soon. But don''t worry, your body is tough enough to bear it. And once you survive, you will be a lot stronger than before." Lin Mu encouraged.


    "A-alright noble Lin Mu." Nulo replied.


    "Do well, child. You shall create a new history for our tribe." Elder Niji encouraged as well.


    Elder Niji knew more than the warriors and had plenty of information about heavenly tribtions. Lin Mu had told him about this before, after all. He also knew how dangerous it could be, butpared to the Chasm beasts that they had faced for years, this danger was nothing.


    If they had an opportunity to exceed their old limits, they were willing to go to any length.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu controlled the Earth Fixing array and opened up a small hole at the top of the mountain. He knew that the tribtion lightning would tear through the array otherwise and damage it.


    With a hole there, it would pass through it, thereby taking the path of least resistance.


    ''Though the roof might need to be patched againter¡­ perhaps is should make it retractable?'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A thunderous sound tore though the skies and a sh of lightning blinded all those that looked up at that time.


    ~BOOM~


    The lightning bolt finally fell!

 Chapter 1244 True Nascent Soul Realm

    Chapter 1244 True Nascent Soul Realm¡¡¡¡The power of the lightning bolt was great and created ripples in the Earth Fixing Array when it passed through the hole.


    If Lin Mu had not made the hole, perhaps the Earth Fixing Array might have ended up getting greatly damaged. While Earth was good at withstanding lightning, one must forget this was still an array and was operated by thousands upon thousands of runes.


    Each rune was made with spirit Qi which would be broken apart by the violent power of the tribtion lightning. After all, the Earth Fixing Array''s function wasn''t to stop or reduce the power of the Tribtion lightning.


    Something like that was done especially through formation arrays like the Tribtion attenuation formation array. Thus even if the Earth Fixing array was technically stronger than the Tribtion Attenuation Formation Array, it couldn''t bear the tribtion lightning bolts.


    They Haima Tribe people were still stunned by the lightning bolt that tore though the roof of the tribe.


    Thankfully, their fear was short lived as the lightning bolt quickly reached its target and dissipated.


    Nulo who felt a great force hitting his head was almost knocked out. He didn''t even register the violent power theft lightning hammering his newly formed core. If it weren''t for the naturally tough bodies of the Haima tribe, perhaps Nulo might have really lost controlled and died.


    But that didn''t happen.


    ~KACHA~


    Instead, the sound of clear cracking was heard.


    "It worked!" Lin Mu said with joy.


    ~BOOM~N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    The next lightning bolt arrived shortly, striking Nulo again. This time though, the man was a lot more prepared and gritted his teeth to hold on. The power of the lightning directly entered his three lobed dantian and hammered the core once more.


    ~KACHA~


    This time, half of his core was covered in cracks.


    "Just a little more, you can hold on." Lin Mu motivated the man.


    "You can do it brother Nulo!" The other Haima Tribe warriors also cheered him on.


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    Two more lightning bolts fell from the sky and struck Nulo.


    ~SHATTER~


    And finally, his Core shattered into pieces and from within rose the Nascent soul. It looked like a small infant that had four legs and two arms. Surprisingly though, the Infant had a differently textured skin than the normal Haima.


    It had wave like patterns on its skin that undted with spirit Qi.


    ~SHUA~


    With the birth of the Nascent soul, the Tribtion clouds quickly started to dissipate while a spirit Qi vortex formed above Nulo.


    His cultivation base started to rise rapidly, and so did his Nascent soul. It grew from an infant to a child before finally stopping.


    ''They truly have a lot of untapped potential¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The rest of the Haima warriors cheered out loud seeing theirpanion finally breakthrough.


    "Your name shall be forever recorded in our tribe''s history, Warrior Nulo." Elder Niji congratted.


    "T-thank you elder." Nulo replied, his breaths a bitbored.


    "Let him rest and stabilize his cultivation base for now. It''ll take some time getting used to it." Lin Mu instructed.


    "Yes, noble Lin Mu." The warriors responded and one of them helped Nulo get to his residence.


    It wasn''t that Nulo was feeling weak, but rather he had too much power in his limbs now. So much so that he couldn''t muster it to follow his will right now. Lin Mu reckoned it might have something to do with the sudden transition from the absence of a Nascent soul to the presence.


    "What do we do now, Elder Niji?" the warriors asked. "Should we continue?"


    "Noble Lin Mu, what do you say?" Elder Niji asked in turn.


    They knew that this was supposed to be an experiment. And now that there was some result, they didn''t know if they had to stop. After all, Lin Mu had told them that he needed to gather more information from observing them.


    "I don''t see why not. Continue!" Lin Mu said with a smile.


    He had already checked the body of Nulo and didn''t see any problems in there. Plus he could sense that there were others that might reach the same point as Nulo as long as they continued.


    ''The more information I gather, the better I''ll be able to improve the technique.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "As youmand, noble Lin Mu!" the Warriors were happy.


    They too wanted to experience the growth in power and could even feel a new found desire in their hearts. It was the desire to grow strong and let their tribes rise!


    The entire group of Haima Warriors sat down at an equal distance. Seeing the tribtion lightning, they already guessed that it was best to put some distance between each other just in case more than one person broke through at the same time.


    If that happened, they wouldn''t be able to move in time and possibly get injured.


    While they didn''t know Lin Mu could intervene in a case like that and tank the lightning bolt for them, it was still a good decision.


    Six hours passed by before the next warrior reached the point of breakthrough. Just like Nulo, his core formed in an instant and the Heavenly Tribtion came soon after. Thankfully, elder Niji had already informed the rest of the tribe to not panic because of this.


    ~SHUA~


    Ten minutester, there was now a second Nascent soul realm Haima Warrior in their midst.


    Three more hourster, there was another.


    And Six hours past that, there were five!


    The number kept on growing bit by bit and four days went by like this.


    ~RUMBLE~


    This time the tribtion clouds in the sky were massive and covered the entire Broken Chasm. This was due to the fact that six Haima Warriors were having a breakthrough at once!


    Thankfully, they were also thest remaining members of the test group and there was more than enough space in between them.


    ~SHATTER~SHATTER~SHATTER~


    Six cores shattered at once, giving birth to six nascent souls that all looked simr to each other, having undting wave like patterns on their skin.

 Chapter 1245 Devising New Methods From Old

    Chapter 1245 Devising New Methods From Old¡¡¡¡The breakthrough of six Haima Tribe members was enough to shake the entire broken chasm. The spirit Qi waves spread across the tribe, and were felt by everyone. Even the children had felt them since they too practiced the breathing method.


    "Perfect." Lin Mu said after seeing them seed.


    He had gathered enough data from this that he would be able to tune the experimental technique further. Another thing he also figured out from this was how to get the others who already had spirit Qi equivalent to the Nascent soul realm and above to breakthrough.


    ''I''ll have to see which path works the best.'' Lin Mu thought to himself while the Haima tribe members were taken back to their residence.


    These were thest of the experimental group thus Lin Mu didn''t need to watch over any for now.


    "When do you want me to prepare the next group noble Lin Mu?" Elder Niji inquired.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll tell you the exact dateter, but it will be at most in a month''s time." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright. There''s also a chance that we might get to practice on the surface." Elder Niji stated.


    "Indeed¡­ the Chasm Beasts are mostly gone now. Though we don''t know if they''ll return after the clouds dissipate." Lin Mu agreed.


    Due to the constant presence of heavenly tribtion clouds as well as the lightning strikes, the Chasm Beasts had returned to the Broken Chasm. Lin Mu and Elder Niji both had observed on the mirrors how the Chasm beasts tried to challenge the clouds and were killed.


    From this, Lin Mu had all but confirmed that the lightning was a weakness for the Chasm Beasts. Though he didn''t exactly know if it was all kinds of lightning or just the heavenly tribtion lightning.


    Regardless of that, knowing this was a great gain for the tribe. Even if they couldn''t apply it right now, it didn''t mean they wouldn''t be able to do thister.


    For now though, Lin Mu returned to his residence and slept for a night. He needed a clear and well rested mind to analyze theing few things. He didn''t even enter Sleepscape for this and truly had a full nights sleep.


    The next day though, Lin Mu went fully into analyzing all that he had observed while also making multiple smaller experiments at the same time. He would call Haima members from time to time, and ask them to practice something while he observed their Qi circuits.


    Little by little, he was progressing and the experimental cultivation technique was getting optimized. Plus, since this was Lin Mu''s first time making an entirely new cultivation technique, he was learning a lot about his own cultivation, too.


    The number of insights he gained from this was simr to the number he got from Xukong. Sometime it was even higher. He could feel his own foundation of cultivation getting stronger too and his perception became clearer.


    Ten dayster, Lin Mu finally devised a stable method for the stronger members of the Haima tribe to breakthrough.


    "Can''t belive something from the Northern Tribes woulde in handy here¡­" Lin Mu said as he continued to write in the air.


    The method that Lin Mu ended uping up with was in a way to dissipate the cultivation of Haima tribe members. For any normal cultivator, this would be very bad and their hard work would all go to waste.


    But in the case of Haima tribe members, it wasn''t the same.


    Because they never cultivated a cultivation technique in the first ce, they couldn''t be subjected to the same methods. Dissipation of cultivation was different from crippling, as crippling often involved the destruction of Dantian and meridians.


    Lin Mu didn''t want that, and it would be the opposite of what he was intending to do.


    Since the Haima Tribe people only had spirit Qi equivalent to the amount that other cultivators had and no abilities like this, all Lin Mu needed to do was seal their spirit Qi. And the method to do this came from the Northern tribes.


    It was none other than the Spirit Sealing Array that the northern tribes had used to suppress the army of the alliance in Xiaofan world. Of course, something on that scale wasn''t what Lin Mu would be able to set up here.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    Not only did heck the detailed method of making the formation array, he also didn''t the materials needed for it. But what he did have was the information he had taken from Ku Waowen a long time ago.


    There was a method of making a small scale version of the Spirit Sealing Array. But even this wasn''t something that suited Lin Mu''s needs exactly. He would need to modify it in such a way that it would only restrain the spirit Qi that a cultivator already had in their bodies and not the spirit Qi in the air.


    ''As long as it works, the spirit Qi that the Haima members have can be restrained and they can breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm the traditional way. Once that is done, the seal can be lifted and their preexisting spirit Qi can be integrated, thereby speeding up their rate of cultivation.'' Lin Mu finalized his draft.


    ~shua~


    Thest rune was written in the air, and it quickly joined the others in a line. The runes resonated with each other and the spirit Qi in the air thrummed. Lin Mu then took out a jade slip and held it up to the air.


    ~whoosh~


    All the runes floating in the air rushed into the jade slip, securing the data forter.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath of relief and stretched his fingers. He''d been using the air as a writing board and his fingers as a pen for a long time now. They now needed some well deserved rest.


    About eight hourster, Lin Mu felt a lot better. "Time to get it started then¡­"

 Chapter 1246 Spirit Cultivation Attenuation Formation Array

    Chapter 1246 Spirit Cultivation Attenuation Formation Array¡¡¡¡"Whoa!"


    "How does noble Lin Mu do it?"


    "So many pretty lights!"


    The children of the Haima tribe were gathered around an open square. This area had been made recently since Lin Mu had requested for it. A few small hills had to be ttened for arge enough area to be obtained.


    And currently above thisrge square thousands upon thousands of runes were hovering in the air. Some were arranged into small formations, while some were simply floating around independently.


    But to the children of the Haima tribe, these were just pretty lights that moved. While they were quite curious, they didn''t go past a distance. They were sternly instructed not to disturb Lin Mu while he was at work by their parents.


    There were also several warriors standing around the area, just as a precaution.


    In the middle of the square, Lin Mu was sitting on the ground while eight formation gs floated around him. There were ten more gs lying next to him along with an Inkstone that was half filled with ink.


    In his hand was a fine brush made from spirit beast fur and high quality wood. Faint spirit Qi fluctuations could also be felting from it. And not just the brush, there were spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the Inkstone and the ink as well.


    It was evident that all these were spirit tools, or more urately spirit tools that were meant for formation masters.


    Lin Mu had quite a few of them in the ring, but he had seldom used them. He mostly used his own spirit sense as a brush or even his fingers to make runes. But now that it was restrained in the Rust Sky world, he resorted to the spirit tools that had been lying around gathering dust.


    The modified spirit sealing formation array that Lin Mu was making needed a lot more than just in runes and smaller formations. It needed otherponents like formation gs, rune stones as well as formation tes.


    The requirements could certainly be reduced but that would take a lot more research and optimizing. For now though, Lin Mu only wanted to set up the array once and let it be used for as long as possible.


    "And done!" Lin Mu finished writing thest set of runes on the formation gs and put down the writing brush.


    There were now a total of sixteen fomentation gs floating around him in two sets. One set had six gs and one set had ten gs, each set having different properties.


    The formation gs were especially important for this array since they were in charge of actually making it work. The runes and formations floating in the air were merely connective and auxiliary in nature.


    From the two sets of gs, the set with six gs was in charge of suppressing the spirit Qi of the cultivators that would stand inside the array. As for the set with the ten gs, it was in charge of injecting and channeling spirit Qi into the array from the surrounding air.


    Lin Mu stood up and gesture with his hands.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    Three suppressive formation gs flew out first, imnting into the ground in a triangr shape.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    Waving his other hand, Lin Mu sent out five spirit Qi channeling formation gs. These formed a pentagonal shape the sides of which touched the points of the triangr shape of the suppressive gs.


    ~HONG~


    Once these gs were set, the runes in the air resonated in response before automatically formation long rope like constructs that linked to these gs.


    "So far, so good. Doesn''t seem like there is any instability for now." Lin Mu''s eyes carefully observed the array, looking out for any errors.


    Only when he was sure that there were no issues forming, he went with the next step. He gestured with his hand again, sending thest three suppressive gs. These formed arger triangle that was opposite in orientation to the previous one.


    It encased the pentagon from before and caused a turbulent stream of spirit Qi to form.


    ''I need to be quick before the equilibrium breaks¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He quickly controlled thest five spirit Qi channeling formation gs. They formed a pentagon again, but in the opposite orientation from the previous pentagram.


    Now there were two sets of mirror shapes set up concurrently.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    ~HUALA~


    The stream of turbulent spirit Qi suddenly split apart into multiple strings and merged into the sixteen formation gs.


    "It should be stable now." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    The runes and formations in the air continued to change, creating a rather attractive light show for the Haima tribe children that were watching. Even the warriors acting as guards were amazed.


    "Now for the final part." Lin Mu took out a formation te and buried it into the center of the entire array.


    ~HONG~


    A sonorous sound was heard in the area and a sudden shift in spirit Qi was felt.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Wind started to spin around the entire array before entering through five points. This wind was nothing but the spirit Qi in the air being pulled by the channeling gs. Seeing it work as intended, Lin Mu smiled.


    He observed the array for a few minutes, after which a thought came to him.


    ''I should name it¡­ but what should it be?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    And after a couple of minutes, he had made his decision.


    "Since it is meant to seal one''s spirit Qi for ''readjustment'' of cultivation base, I shall name it¡­ Spirit Cultivation Attenuation Formation Array." Lin Mu dered.


    ~HUMM~


    And as if to respond to his decision, the formation array resonated. A few runes automatically appeared above it that read, ''Spirit Cultivation Attenuation Formation Array''.


    The words lingered in the air for a whole minute before merging into the array, forever making it known what it was and who its creator was.


    Lin Mu walked out of the square and went to Elder Niji''s ce.


    "Hope the warriors are ready. We shall start tomorrow."

 Chapter 1247 Intentional Suppression

    Chapter 1247 Intentional Suppression¡¡¡¡"We are all here, Noble Lin Mu!" The warriors of the Haima tribe said in unison.


    They were standing in front of arge green tent that seemed to be illusory. There were faint runes flowing along its surface as well.


    ~shua~


    A long line appeared on the tent before it widened to be a doorway.


    "Five people cane in at once." Lin Mu spoke from the doorway.


    The illusory green tent was none other than the Spirit Cultivation Attenuation Fomentation array. It merely looked like a tent, but it wasn''t actually one.


    The warriors of the Haima tribe discussed among them for a few seconds before deciding who would be the first five to go forth. All the warriors that were present here had spirit Qi that was equivalent to that of a Nascent soul realm cultivator at the very least.


    There were about a hundred of them present right now and more woulde after this batch had finished passing. This was all instructed by Lin Mu yesterday to Elder Niji and had been followed ordingly.


    ~step~step~step~


    The five Haima warriors walked into the array nervously and reached its middle.


    "You all can sit in those circles." Lin Mu instructed.


    There were five glowing circles on the ground and were situated at an equal distance from each other.


    "Yes!" The warriors quickly obliged.


    ''Learning the Haima Tribe''snguage was certainly a good decision. Makes things a lots more efficient.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Over the past couple of months, he had been learning from Elder Niji and had quickly learned thenguage. While he wouldn''t say he was as proficient as a native, it was still enough tomunicate in simple words.


    Once the five Haima Warriors took their ce, Lin Mu walked to the center of the array where a small illusory pir was present.


    ~shua~


    cing his hand, Lin Mu activated the entire array.


    ~HONG~


    As soon as that was done, the entire array let out a humming sound that felt like a bronze bell ringing. Lin Mu left the array using blink and came to a designated area.


    "How long will it take?" Elder Niji, who was waiting here for Lin Mu, questioned.


    "Shouldn''t take longer than a few minutes for their spirit Qi to be suppressed. As for the breakthrough, that''ll depend on their individual talent." Lin Mu answered.


    "I see¡­ hopefully our people will not disappoint you." Elder Niji replied.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "They haven''t so far. Or rather, they have only exceeded my expectations." Lin Mu honestly stated.


    "That''s good¡­" Elder Niji said with a smile.


    He too, was excited about the entire process. He wanted to see his tribe breakthrough their shackles that had been unknowingly set up. It was hard to know if these were intentional or not, but regardless of it all, he would ensure that his tribe grew strong.


    And for that, Elder Niji had willingly allowed the weaker members to go for the breakthrough first.


    Lin Mu had actually offered him to be the first person to breakthrough. After all, the Haima Tribe would grow strong faster if they had a strong person in the lead. But Elder Niji had rejected him after hearing the details.


    The one who was inside the array would be unable to leave until they had a breakthrough. And the time needed to do this would increase greatly depending on the initial amount of spirit Qi contained within their bodies.


    For people like Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo, who were the strongest in the n, this process might even take days to weeks.


    The old man couldn''t let his juniors wait like that, and wanted them to be the first to experience it all. Plus to him, it didn''t matter if it were the weaker tribe members that went though this first or him, the end result would be the same.


    With that in mind, he told Lin Mu to let the others do it first. And now, the process was already underway.


    ~SHUA~


    "AAAHHHHH!" A mix of cries could be hearding from the array suddenly.


    The expression of the Haima people turned tense and Elder Niji''s brows furrowed. "Will they be alright?" he asked with concern.


    "Pain like this is bound to happen since the array is currently suppressing their spirit Qi. It''s like forcibly taking away a part of your blood." Lin Mu replied.


    "I see¡­" Elder Niji nodded his head. "My tribesmen aren''t that weak to falter just from this. They shall soldier on bravely." He stated proudly.


    "I think so too." Lin Mu agreed.


    His eyes stayed locked onto the array while his spirit sense was continually monitoring the array. Lin Mu could sense the changes urring inside and knew that the Haima Tribe warriors were under a significant amount of pain.


    Their expressions were also contorted, and if anyone watched them right now, there was a great chance they would be terrified.


    ''It was good to make the array opaque. If the other warriors saw this, they might get discouraged. Thus, even if they went in after that, they might fail simply because they weren''t determined enough.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was a slightly tough decision that one could even consider a little cruel. But Lin Mu knew it was important for the tribe. In fact, even if the situation inside wasn''t hidden, the tribesmen would still go forth with it.


    But by hiding it, Lin Mu could keep their morale high, thereby allowing them better chances.


    Plus, there wasn''t any actual harm being done to the Warriors. The Pain they were feeling was mostly from the meridians that were screaming out due to the disappearance of the spirit Qi.


    But in reality, the spirit Qi was just being suppressed deep within their bodies.


    Ten minutes passed like this, and the sound of cries had stopped long before.


    ~SHUA~


    It was at this moment that the second part of the array activated and a massive amount of spirit Qi was injected into it!

 Chapter 1248 A Successful Experiment

    Chapter 1248 A Sessful Experiment¡¡¡¡"And here it starts." Lin Mu said upon seeing the spirit Qi being pulled into the array.


    "That was fast." Elder Niji said in surprise.


    "Indeed¡­ I was expecting a little dy." Lin Mu agreed. ''I''ll adjust it ording to a weaker cultivator next time. It should be even faster then.'' He noted.


    Lin Mu''s mind quickly observed and analyzed the changes beforeing up with solutions on the spot. The more he worked like this, the more amazed he was. Lin Mu could realize the mystery and joy of formations.


    It greatly helped his learning pace and allowed him to improve at a faster pace.


    After all learning from practical experience was a lot more insightful than just doing rote memorization.


    Two hours passed like this before, a change was felt. It was very subtle, and other than Lin Mu and Elder Niji, no one else noticed it.


    "The first person to breakthrough has appeared." Lin Mu spoke.


    "So that was a breakthrough? What realm did they reach?" Elder Niji inquired.


    "This should be the formation of a core. With a Nascent soul realm breakthrough we will see the tribtion clouds again." Lin Mu replied.


    "Mmm¡­ the Tribtion clouds are rather good for us too. They are helping scare the Chasm Beasts away." Elder Niji said.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and knew that this was an unexpected gain of it. While they didn''t know how long therge scale beast tide wouldst, the presence of the heavenly tribtion seemed to have a suppressive effect on the Chasm Beasts.


    Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo had observed the outside of the mountain in the past month, during which Lin Mu was researching. They had learned that the Chasm Beasts didn''t appear for about three days after the tribtion clouds went away.


    From this, they assumed that each time a heavenly tribtion appeared, it would grant them about three days of respite from the Chasm Beasts. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    And in their current situation, when the Large Scale Chasm Beast tide was underway, the more they could shorten it, the better it would be for them. In fact, Lin Mu himself had made a point of observing the situation outside during the tribtion.


    ~shua~


    Thirty minutes after the first Haima warrior reached the core condensation realm, another warrior did too. And an hour after that, two more broke though. The fifth and final warrior broke through fifteen minutes after that, and now all of them were in the core condensation realm.


    With this, Lin Mu now had a baseline to set for next time.


    ''Now to see how long it takes for the first person to reach Nascent soul realm. With their natural talent and the boundless supply of spirit Qi, it shouldn''t take long.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Fifteen hours passed before the Haima Tribe heard the sound of thunder in the sky.


    ~RUMBLE~


    "There we go¡­ still a little faster than I expected." Lin Mu muttered and took a note.


    He then waved his hands and controlled the Earth Fixing Array to open a hole at the top. There was already a hole in the tribe''s ceiling fromst time and it would be enough for the tribtion lightning bolt to pass though unhindered.


    ~BOOM~


    The first lightning bolt arrived within a minute and passed through the Spirit Cultivation Attenuation Formation Array with ease. The array didn''t suffer any damage at all and simply allowed the bolt to pass through.


    ~Phew~


    "At least the array works as intended even in tribtion." Lin Mu took a breath of relief.


    He was a bit nervous and unsure about this part, but now he had the confirmation for it all.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    Four lightning bolts was what it took for the first person to breakthrough sessfully.


    The spirit Qi fluctuations of a Nascent soul realm cultivator soon appeared and were felt by every nearby tribesmen.


    ~Ding~


    Lin Mu took out a metal te and tapped on it, making a crisp sound.


    ~thud~


    In the next second, a Haima tribe member appeared on the outside of the green tent.


    "Carry him away!" Lin Mu ordered.


    This warrior who had appeared was none other than the first Haima Tribe member to have broken through. Currently, hisplexion was a bit pale and his head was charred ck. But other than that, his life was safe, and he was even conscious.


    It was just that the man was unable to speak because of exhaustion.


    The warriors on standby quickly carried their kin to safety and let him recuperate.


    Lin Mu focused his attention back on the array and observed it nonstop for two more days. On the third day, the final warrior reached the Nascent soul realm and the array finally paused its work.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and walked towards thest warrior, who had just been ejected by the array.


    Three days of continues observation without a break had exhausted Lin Mu. Though it was mostly mental exhaustion, since he was making fine changes and analyzing the array as well. With how much he used his brain, it was bound to happen.


    But his work was not over yet.


    "There''s still onest thing left¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself and checked the body of thest warrior.


    His spirit sense probed the man and gave Lin Mu an image of his Dantian.


    There, a Nascent soul with a wave like undting patterns floated above a sea of spirit Qi silently. And at the bottom of the spirit Qi sea, Lin Mu could see a tiny marble.


    ''Thepression of the array is even greater than that of a core.'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    The tiny marble was none other than the suppressed spirit Qi of the warrior. Though Lin Mu found it to be a little too small.


    ''Hmm¡­ this can''t be all of it.'' Lin Mu searched through the rest of the warrior''s body and saw more such marbles.


    ''So that''s way¡­ if it is like this, then their further progress will only be better.'' Lin Mu concluded.

 Chapter 1249 A Year In The Rust Sky World

    Chapter 1249 A Year In The Rust Sky World¡¡¡¡It had now been over a year since Lin Mu had arrived in the Rust Sky world.


    After he had found the method to let the strange Haima Warriors breakthrough, the tribe''s power had steadily increased. Around a third of the Haima tribe members had a Nascent soul now.


    And not just that, but the average cultivation base of the tribe had also risen greatly, reaching the core condensation realm now. If not for the fact that there was a limitation to how many people could use the spirit Qi gathering array at once, this number might be even higher.


    The experimental cultivation technique that Lin Mu had made also be a lot better. It not only allowed the Haima tribe members to cultivate normally, but a few members had even begun to form their own spirit sense.


    This was currently limited to the strongest members of the tribe of course, but it was growing as well.


    The first ones to master this were none other than Elder Niji and Head warrior Kulo, along with other warriors that were below him. The two strongest members of the tribe had also gained their own Nascent soul in this time.


    As for the restriction that was ced by the Spirit cultivation attenuation formation array, it was slowly dispersed over a month. This allowed the Haima tribe members to reintroduce their older spirit Qi to their bodies and fully assimte it into their new cultivation base.


    Though there were still some restrictions depending on their older cultivation bases.


    In the case of Elder Niji, while he still had the same spirit Qi stores as that of a Dao Treading realm expert, he couldn''t exert the same level of power. As of now he could only exert the same strength as that of a Shell Initiation stage Dao shell realm cultivator.


    Elder Niji was also the first one to form a Dao shell, even if it was just an outline for now. He was steadily adding his older spirit Qi to this and solidifying its form. Lin Mu had advised him to simply form a spherical Dao shell since he had no idea what affinity they would haveter on.


    He was hoping that Elder Niji''s breakthrough to the Dao Treading realm would allow the tribe to gain a guideline for the Dao Traces. Lin Mu had no idea what their affinity to the Dao was like, though he had estimated that it shouldn''t be bad.


    Another thing that Lin Mu was confused about was the Nascent souls that the Haima tribe members had formed. They all had the same undting wave like patterns, but Lin Mu was unable to identify what the meaning of that was.


    They didn''t show any direct affinity to an element either, so it had left Lin Mu at a loss. He reckoned that perhaps when Elder Niji reached the Dao Treading realm, he would be able to figure it out.


    His best guess was that the patterns on the Nascent soul might have something to do with the Dao Traces that the Haima Tribe had a natural affinity to. Since all of them had the same type of a Nascent soul, it was unlikely for there to be any other possibilities.


    Other than the growth of the Haima Tribe, there were many other changes too.


    The biggest one being the fact that therge scale Chasm Beast tide was now over. Elder Niji was sure that it had ended early due to the regr appearance of the Heavenly tribtion.


    Even now, someone would undergo a heavenly tribtion every other day.


    Lin Mu reckoned that if the Haima tribe existed in the Xiaofan world and had the same level of growth, it would have single handedly overtaken the entire world with their sheer number of experts.


    It only humbled him about the different standards of the worlds.


    The passage of the Chasm Beast tide also meant that Lin Mu and the Haima tribe could now go out. And at this moment, they were standing outside therge mountain made by the Earth Fixing array.


    ~DENG~


    ~DENG~


    ~ng~


    ~ng~


    The Haima Tribe members were currently sparring with each other. They couldn''t do the same in the tribe underground, because of an increase in strength before.


    ''It was a good idea to do this outside¡­ their power would have caused a lot of damage otherwise. Especially for those that are not fully in control yet.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He was sitting on a ledge on the mountain and was observing the sparring session of the warriors. Head Warrior Kulo was guiding the warriors and correcting them whenever they made an error.


    ~step~step~step~


    The sound of steps was heard, and Lin Mu sensed someone approaching.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    "How do you feel about the children, Noble Lin Mu?" Elder Niji asked.


    He too sat down beside Lin Mu and watched the sparring that was happening at the bottom.


    "They are really fast at mastering the martial arts I''ve given them." Lin Mu stated.


    "That''s good. As long as they don''t disappoint you, I''ll be pleased." Elder Niji said with a smile.


    Lin Mu had given the Haima Tribe some basic martial arts to practice. Since they still couldn''t practice any Qi skills, Lin Mu reckoned this was another way for them to get stronger.


    If anything, it would increase their raw fighting skills. Another factor that made him choose the basic martial arts was the fact that they were made with humans in mind.


    One thing the Haima Tribecked was experience in fighting humans. They were mostly proficient in going against the ferocious Chasm beasts. But Lin Mu knew this could be a really problematic thing if they came across the humans outside the Land of Exile.


    Here they could overwhelm the human exiles simply thought of numbers, but the same tactic won''t work when the humans were in majority.


    Not to mention, the Haima tribe was exiled too and there was a great chance they woulde in conflict with the human empire that did that to them.

 Chapter 1250 The Hungry Twin Snakes

    Chapter 1250 The Hungry Twin Snakes¡¡¡¡Lin Mu had the concern that when the Haima tribe left thend of exile, they would be attacked.


    They didn''t know what was outside of thend of exile, and it was likely to be dangerous. For all they knew, there could be guards or an entire army posted there at all times. Which was why Lin Mu needed them to be proficient against humans too.


    ''Even if the Haima Tribe has a simr form like normal humans, their battle style is still different. Though their speed should help them in oveing this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he continued to observe the spars.


    Lin Mu''s own understanding about formations, cultivation and even the Dao had increased in the time that he had spent in helping the tribe.


    Even though he didn''t cultivate fully in this time, his cultivation base had still grown. In fact, it was faster than when he cultivated normally, so there was basically no loss to his own progress, either.


    Lin Mu could even feel his understanding about the Dao of earth deepening.


    ''If I had this level ofprehension back then, I would have been able to save a lot more people¡­'' Lin Mu thought, as a hint of sadness appeared on his face.


    Elder Niji noticed this but did not ask about it. He knew from his years of living that it was best not to ask certain questions. If Lin Mu wanted to, he would tell them himself.


    "Noble Lin Mu! Noble Lin Mu!" a frantic voice was suddenly heard, prompting Lin Mu to turn around.


    "What''s the problem?" Lin Mu asked, seeing the anxious expression of the Haima member that hade running.


    From the path that he had taken, Lin Mu could tell that he hade right from the tribe.


    "The snake! The baby snakes have awakened!" The Haima member replied. "They''re bouncing around and have copsed half of your residence!"


    "Huh?" Lin Mu raised his brows in surprise.


    After the first time that Lin Mu met the twin serpent, the two of them had fallen asleep and not woken up. He had been wondering when they would, and they finally had.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a moment and checked his link with them, sensing an emotioning.


    "Of course¡­ they haven''t learned how tomunicate yet. Otherwise, I would have known the moment they woke up." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He got up quickly entered the mountain before descending to the tribe underground.


    ~BOOM~


    ~CRACK~


    The residence that was given to Lin Mu was in a bad state now. Two of its rooms were turned to rubble and more walls were under demolition. The casual of it all was two streaks that were piercing through them all.


    ~SHUA~


    The two streaks sped up and targeted another wall.


    But just as they were about to hit it, they hit a golden object instead.


    ~CLANG~


    "Stop it now, you two." Lin Mu said in a stern voice.


    His hands firmly held onto the two snakelets, making sure they didn''t slip out.


    ~hiss~


    Only after he felt that they didn''t struggle anymore did he open his fingers to take a look. He could feel their tongues licking his palm too.


    "Now then, what''s got you two so restless?" Lin Mu asked through the link.


    But he got no answer while the twin snakes only stared at him nkly. After a minute, though, Lin Mu felt a wave of emotion from them and recognized it this time.


    "You two are hungry?" Lin Mu realized. "Don''t worry, I got some food." He said before taking out a basket of Stone Flesh mushrooms.


    The baby snakes stared at the mushroom as if not knowing what to do.


    "Oh wait, let me show you." Lin Mu picked up one of the mushrooms and showed the two snakes how to eat it.


    Seeing this, their eyes glinted before they pounced at the basket. In less than thirty seconds, the basket waspletely emptied out.


    But Lin Mu''s brows didn''t ease up at all, as he could tell they were still hungry. He checked them with his spirit sense and realized that there was basically no difference in their status.


    The two snakes then hissed at each other lightly and raised their heads.


    ~SHUA~


    Two wisps of energy rose from their mouths. One of the wisps was ck, while the other was white. The ck wisp hade from the white twin and the white wisp hade from the ck twin.


    The wisps were quickly sucked in by the matching twin and they looked at Lin Mu again.


    "Yin spirit Qi and Yang spirit Qi?" Lin Mu recognized what the two wisps of energy were.


    ''But this time it was very little¡­ do the Stone Flesh Mushrooms not provide them enough?'' Lin Mu realized that there might be another problem for him.


    From observing the two snakes, he could tell that each twin only absorbed the elemental Qi that matched its own body. It would either release the opposite element of convert a part of the energy for the other twin.


    "Hmm¡­ just the stone flesh mushrooms isn''t enough huh¡­" Lin Mu pondered.


    Thest time when they had eaten, they had consumed the remains of the Chasm Beasts, which was of the Yin element. The ck twin snake had consumed it all before converting a part of it for the other sibling to consume.


    After analyzing this, Lin Mu was sure that the twin snakes needed food that was rich in either Yin or Yang elemental Qi.


    ''With such a low efficiency of conversion, I don''t think it''ll be good to depend on the Stone flesh mushrooms. It might be fine for a couple of times, but in the long term it would be bad. Not to mention, the tribe needs to stockpile for the future when we leave thend of exile.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Having thought this, Lin Mu understood there was only one thing to do now.


    "Let''s go hunt some Chasm Beasts." Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1251 A Quest For Food

    Chapter 1251 A Quest For Food¡¡¡¡Lin Mu held the twin snakes in his hand while leaving the tribe.


    ''I''ll need to move the house again¡­'' Lin Mu realized.


    It was his third house and even that had been broken by the snakes. The earlier two had been broke during his experiment with the formation arrays and the cultivation techniques. Even his third one was made some distance away from the other houses just to make sure others wouldn''t be affected by it.


    Thankfully, the Haima tribe people weren''t bothered by it and there were plenty of houses to go around. Before Lin Mu''s arrival, the people of the tribe had limited things to do, thus the builders among them would continue to make more houses even if there wasn''t any particr need for them.


    If anything, it was a way for them to endure boredom and pass time.


    Which was why, over a quarter of the houses in the Haima tribe were empty. Though there was also the fact that most houses were just made out of stone and mortar, so there wasn''t any extra expense to building them.


    With this passing thought, Lin Mu appeared on top of the mountain again. This time though, Elder Niji was waiting for him there. He had heard from the messenger what had happened and wondered just what was happening.


    "I''ll have to head out for a bit." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Head out? Where are you going noble Lin Mu?" Elder Niji questioned.


    "These children need to eat. They''ve eaten the Chasm Beasts before and need to eat them again, I''m going to go find some for them." Lin Mu answered.


    Elder Niji looked at the two small snakes wrapped around Lin Mu''s palm and was surprised. While he had been told that they two snakes had wiped out chasm beasts, he didn''t expect them to desire more.


    "I see¡­ but if you are going out, you should take some of our warriors with us." Elder Niji suggested.


    "I shall apany Noble Lin Mu." Head Warrior Kulo spoke from afar. "I know ces where the Chasm Beasts are almost always present." He added.


    "Alright, that will be good." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He still didn''t know much about the Land of exile and its ces beyond what he had seen, so having a guide would help.


    "Also, may I impose on Noble Lin Mu and let the younger warriors apany us? They need to learn about the barrennds too. Many of them haven''t gone further than a few kilometer from the tribe." Head Warrior Kulo asked.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Sure, it''ll be fine." Lin Mu agreed. "Perhaps they''ll get to expand their experience too."


    "They surely will." Head Warrior Kulo nodded his head and quickly called for the warriors who were sparring below the mountain.


    After arge scale beast tide passed, there was a time of temporary peace. During this period, the number of Chasm beasts would greatly decrease and thus it was the best time for the Haima tribe to scour the barrennds.


    Lin Mu also knew of this, but he reckoned that even if they didn''t find any chasm beasts, the two snakes might still be able to consume the dark dusty fog that filled the top of the Broken Chasm.


    After all, the beasts were formed form that and the ck snake had consumed the same thing before.


    ''Though maybe there is more to the beasts that makes them desirable to the snakes¡­'' Lin Mu pondered.


    Five minutester, the Haima tribe warriors were ready and a group of ten novice warriors was gathered. These were the ones who had basically never gone out of the tribe much and would be the next generation of the warriors.


    While Lin Mu and Elder Niji intended for the Haima tribe to leave thend of exile, it didn''t mean that they couldn''t get any experience from this excursion. After all, there was a good chance they would face an even greater danger outside thends of exile.


    "Take care Noble Lin Mu. While there is ack of Chasm Beasts during this time, we never know what other dangers might pop up in the Land of exile." Elder Niji said with concern.


    "I shall keep that in mind." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    With that done, the group of twelve left the tribe''s borders and set out to search for Chasm Beasts.


    "It''s best we walk alongside the broken chasm. If there are any Chasm Beasts, they would usually linger near its edges." Head Warrior Kulo stated.


    "Alright, I need to check something there anyway." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Warriors keep up with us! LEAP!" Head Warrior Kulo ordered before gathering power in his legs.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He soared into the air and took the lead. Lin Mu followed after the man and leaped as well. The younger warriors did the same, but they were unable to leap as far as Lin Mu and Head Warrior Kulo.


    Even though they were at the Nascent soul too now, they wouldn''t be able to keep up with Head Warrior Kulo, not to mention Lin Mu.


    ~hiss~


    While moving, Lin Mu felt the twin snakes wiggling in his hand. He eased up on the grip and saw them move along his hand. They reached up to his neck and coiled up around it.


    "Guess that''s morefortable for you two." Lin Mu said as he saw the two small heads from the corner of his eyes.


    Since they didn''t talk normally yet, he needed to understand from their cues.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but recall the first time he had met Little Shrubby and how long it had taken for him tomunicate effectively with him. Though once he had done that, it had be smooth.


    ''Hmm¡­pared to Little Shrubby back then, these two are very young.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    He had once asked Little Shrubby how old he was, but even the beast didn''t know the answer, not having a sense of time early in his life. But ording to Xukong''s estimate, the beast should have been at least ten years old when Lin Mu first met him.

 Chapter 1252 A Surprise Arrival

    Chapter 1252 A Surprise Arrival¡¡¡¡Lin Mu and the group were now about a hundred meters from the Broken Chasm. This was the closest part of the Broken Chasm near the tribe.


    "I want to check something first. Just wait here for me." Lin Mu said before taking off.


    Head Warrior Kulo watched on calmly, while the younger warriors shook at the sight of Lin Mu jumping into the Broken Chasm.


    "Head Warrior Kulo! Why is noble Lin Mu going down there!? We need to save him!" The Young warriors didn''t fully know that Lin Mu had gone down the Broken Chasm before as well.


    "It will be fine. Just wait here." Head Warrior Kulo stated.


    In the Broken Chasm, Lin Mu stabbed his hand into the wall while falling to slow down.


    ~CRACK~


    The wall cracked under the momentum, and a long channel had been dug out due to this. The channel was about two hundred meters long, as that was how much it took to stop Lin Mu''s fall.


    "Just about the right position." Lin Mu said as he saw the dark dusty fog just a short distance away from him.


    He looked at the two twin snakes and spoke, "do you two want to eat that?" Lin Mu pointed.


    The two snakes nced at the dark fog, before the ck twin opened its mouth.


    ~WHOOSH~


    It sucked in the air, pulling in the dark fog with it.


    ~ACK~ACK~ACK~


    But just after taking in a small part of the fog, the ck snake stopped and coughed out what she had sucked in.


    ~HISS~


    She hissed in distaste and curled back up.


    "Huh¡­ guess this doesn''t work." Lin Mu understood.


    He narrowed his eyes and activated spatial perception. He had already known that the reason why the Chasm Beasts were formed had something to do with the energy that came from a different ne.


    ''The dark fog here is more like a construction materials. It only bes ''alive'' when the energy from the other ne is inserted into it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. "Perhaps only when the two arebined can the snakes eat it." He determined.


    ~Sigh~


    "Guess we''ll have to take the tougher route." Lin Mu sighed.


    ~SHUA~


    He pushed the hand that was struck in the wall and sent himself flying out of the Chasm.


    ~THUD~


    His bodynded on the ground, cracking it in the process.


    "He''s fine?" The young warriors were surprised and relieved at the same time.


    "Did you find what you wanted?" Head Warrior Kulo asked.


    "Mm¡­ the Dark fog is really inert at this time. Almost harmless." Lin Mu replied.


    "Maybe we''ll never learn the mysteries of the Broken Chasm." Head Warrior Kulo said before looking in the distance.


    "Mmhmm¡­ though it won''t matter much once we leave this ce." Lin Mu replied.


    The younger warriors simply stayed silent, as they knew it wasn''t their ce to speak right now.


    "We should continue. It will take us a while to reach the first possible location." Head Warrior Kulo stated.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head before taking a leap.


    The warriors began the journey for sure this time and continued traveling for about ten hours non-stop before taking a break. While Lin Mu and Head Warrior Kulo were fine and could go on for longer, the younger warriors needed time to recuperate.


    "They''ve gotten faster." Lin Mu said while sitting on a boulder.


    "It''s all thanks to you. This batch of warriors is as strong as others who''ve had decades of experience." Head Warrior Kulo replied.


    "Mmm¡­ though the older warriors should have also be a lot stronger than before." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That they have indeed. Though I''ve noticed that the younger members are faster at learning the martial techniques." Head Warrior Kulo said after thinking.


    "Its just the result of an empty and fresh mind. Since they haven''t learned anything before, they aren''t as affected as the older warriors." Lin Mu reckoned.


    "I just hope that they one day exceed us and be the glory of the tribe." Head Warrior Kulo muttered.


    They rested like this for about an hour before the younger warriors were full of energy.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "Continue!" Head Warrior Kulo ordered, and started leaping again.


    This time, they traveled for about four hours before they encountered what they hade for.


    "Chasm Beasts!" The Younger warriors said with a hint of nervousness.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and counted their numbers.


    ''About ten of them¡­ will that even be enough?'' Lin Mu had seen the twins eat over a thousand Chasm beasts worth of Yin spirit Qi before.


    ~SHUA~


    The twin snakes shot forth from his neck and attacked the Chasm Beasts before Lin Mu could even say the next sentence.


    "Guess it''s already a miracle that they were patient for over fourteen hours." Lin Mu shook his head.


    The younger warriors could only see two streaks of light traveling fast and piercing through the Chasm Beasts within seconds. Before they could evenprehend it, the chasm beasts copsed and turned into dark dusty fog that started to drift towards the Chasm.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The ck snake opened her mouth and inhaled all the fog. Since there was barely a fraction of the previous amount, it took her less than five seconds to suck it all.


    ~SHUA~


    The two snakes returned to Lin Mu, and the ck twin released Yang spirit Qi for the white twin to consume.


    The whole process took less than a minute to be done, leaving the Haima Warriors dumbstruck.


    Lin Mu watched the snakes, and saw that they didn''t fall asleep this time. Instead, they felt a bit more restless.


    "Let''s continue. We need more Chasm Beasts." Lin Mu stated.


    "LEAP!" Head Warrior Kulo ordered, and they traveled further.


    Six hourster they encountered another isted group of Chasm Beasts, which were quickly killed and consumed by the ck snake.


    This process repeated about ten more times, during which three days had passed.


    ~HUALA~


    But while they were taking rest, strong energy fluctuations suddenly appeared apanied by spatial disturbance.


    "Someone''s arriving!"

 Chapter 1253 A Lord In Exile

    Chapter 1253 A Lord In Exile¡¡¡¡Lin Mu had felt the spatial energy fluctuations which were the biggest sign that a teleportation portal had opened. And there was only one reason why there would be a teleportation portal in the Land of Exile.


    Someone had just been exiled.


    Lin Mu''s eyes darted around and his spirit sense was extended as well. Even if its range was limited, he would at least detect any attacks within that range and be able to react to it.


    "There!" Head Warrior Kulo was the first to spot the portal.


    He was a lot more experienced in this and had seen several portals open in the past. Lin Mu too noticed it, and saw that the runes were very faint and hard to read.


    ''They''ve been hidden intentionally¡­'' Lin Mu discovered.


    It was possibly made with Formation masters tempering with it, so they simply kept the runes hidden. Doing this for arge andplex array like this was very difficult as well as expensive.


    This was no different from encrypting the runes, forming the arrays and preventing anyone from figuring them out.


    Lin Mu might have been able to study them even if they were hidden, but their appearance itself was short term.


    ~SHUA~


    A couple secondster, they finally saw the person who had appeared from the portal.


    It was a man, who seemed to be in his thirties. He had short brown hair that was cut straight. His face was clean shaven, showing a few scars that were present on his chin and nose.


    He wore yellow and ck robes with a deer motif on the back and chest. The deer motif itself was very detailed with its horns woven with golden threads and its eyes made out of pearls.


    Though other that the robes that he was wearing, the man had nothing else on him. He wore no jewelry, and neither did he have any spatial storage tools on him. That was the next thing that Lin Mu checked.


    ''So they really do take everything other than clothes from the exiles before sending them here.'' Lin Mu confirmed.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu and the Haima warriors watched the man with caution as hended on the ground.


    The man opened his eyes and seemed a little disoriented. But soon gathered his wits after he saw that there were others around him.


    "State your identities!" The man said with an air of authority.


    A wave of energy spread from him as well, rming Lin Mu and Head Warrior Kulo.


    "Immortal Ascension realm¡­" Lin Mu understood at that very moment.


    His brows furrowed and his thoughts flowed like a fast river. Multiple scenarios formed in his mind and he calcted the best way to proceed. The one thing that he was happy about was that the man in front of them spoke in anguage that was understandable to Lin Mu.


    ''It''s not Dao script but is certainly derived from it.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    The Haima warriors talked amongst each other, wondering what the man had just said. To them the words spoken by the man were iprehensible unlike Lin Mu. Even Head Warrior Kulo could only understand a single world: Identity.


    But just as he was about to speak, Lin Mu took the lead.


    "They are the members of the Haima tribe." Lin Mu stared into the man''s eyes directly without wavering.


    "And who are you? Where are you from?" the Man questioned next.


    He could see that Lin Mu had not even blinked once after they made eye contact. Just from this, he could guess his attitude and realized that he was not simple. As for the four legged strange people that were there with him, he waspletely lost.


    "I am Lin Mu. I''m a wandering cultivator."


    The man furrowed his brows, thinking about something.


    "Why don''t you tell us who you are? It''s only fair that you do the same." Lin Mu asked next.


    "Humph! I''m Huyun Chuan, Lord of the Huyun County." The man said proudly.


    Seeing this Lin Mu raised his brow.


    ''Is this man serious? Why''s he acting like this here?'' Lin Mu couldn''t understand.


    And just as he was wondering at the man''s words, he was baffled at the next.


    "Well then, why aren''t you all kneeling?" Huyun Chuan asked.


    "Why should we?" Lin Mu asked simply.


    "Why? You dare ask the lord of a county why? You dare not follow the etiquette of venerating your superiors?" Huyun Chuan retorted with anger.


    "What lord?" Lin Mu couldn''t hold his chuckle anymore. "You are in the Land of Exile now. That makes you no different from all those that came before."


    "You dare insult me!" Huyun Chuan was infuriated. "This is merely a temporary thing! I will soon be brought back!" he stated.


    "Oh? You have a special arrangement?" A smile appeared on Lin Mu''s face.


    "Of course! Do you think a great lord like me would belong to a wastnd like this? I''m here merely because of someplex circumstances." The man spoke without a care.


    At this point, Lin Mu was wondering if the man was not entirely sane. It didn''t make sense for someone to act this pompously even if they were at the Immortal Ascension realm. Even the three Immortals of the Northern Tribes were better in demeanor than this man.


    ''Compared to them, he acts like a¡­ child.'' Lin Mu suddenly recalled something that he had read in the records of the Lost immortal. ''Wait¡­ he isn''t one of those, is he?''


    In the records of the Lost immortal, the unfortunate man had the misfortune of encountering several characters who were influential and rich. They threw around their background and money acting pompously.


    And whenever they met a disadvantage or failed, they called their elders to act for them. They were of many types and identities, but themon factor in all of them was that they were self conceited.


    While Lin Mu was thinking this, Huyun Chuan was watching them with an irritated expression.


    "BAH! Guess peasants like you all only understand once you are crushed under a shoe!" Huyun Chuan shouted before attacking.


    His palm glowed in a yellow light and created five sabers that shed at the Haima Warriors.


    "Get back!" Lin Mu shouted before he appeared in front to block.


    His speed was surprising to Huyun Chuan, not to mention the fact that Lin Mu had blocked his attacks with his bare hands. Even though the five sabers had gone after different targets, Lin Mu was still fast enough to block them all.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~ CLANG~


    The sound of metal hitting metal was heard each time the sabers hit Lin Mu''s hands. His sleeves had been torn from this, but his hands were still safe.


    "Who are you?" Huyun Chuan asked in shock. "How can you block my family''s Five Huyun Saber palm?" Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    Head Warrior Kulo lead the younger warriors to leap away from the area. He had understood right away that the man in front was someone they could not fight against.


    ''Even if I can go against him for a bit, the younger warriors will be hurt in the process.'' Head Warrior Kulo thought as he decisively retreated.


    His tribe had faced aggressive people like this in the past, but most were those that had already been in the Land of Exile for some time. It was his first time facing someone who had just appeared in the Land of Exile.


    Then there was also the fact that Huyun Chuan''s clothes were a little too good for someone who had been exiled.


    ~huu~


    Once Lin Mu saw that the Haima people were a sufficient distance away, he took a breath of relief.


    "Since you''re acting like this, I don''t need to hold back either." Lin Mu said as he withdrew the short sword.


    Seeing this Huyun Chuan was even more shocked.


    "How can you have a weapon here!? And a spatial storage tool too!?" It was the man''s turn to be baffled now.


    As far as Huyun Chuan knew, the Land of exile was basically the same as an eternal prison for most. And just like a prison, one couldn''t have any weapons or other such things with them.


    Of course, this was hard to apply to cultivators as they had more methods than just weapons to fight with. One method would be the cripple their cultivation before sending them to the Land of Exile, but that didn''t suit the punishment that was intended.


    In the first ce, the Land of Exile was supposed to be a punishment in which the prisoner would be faced with helplessness. They were intentionally left with their cultivation intact, just so that they could despair upon facing the dangers of the Broken Chasm.


    It was multiyered punishment, that only prevented the prisoners from taking any weapons, or other aids such as pills, spirit tools and more.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And just as Huyun Chuan was wondering about all this, he felt a pressure rising from Lin Mu.


    "Sword Intent?!"

 Chapter 1254 Huyun Chuan

    Chapter 1254 Huyun Chuan¡¡¡¡Sword Intent was something that was considered as a talent. Whether it was acquired talent or naturally present, didn''t matter. Any cultivator that hadprehend sword intent would get respect for the most part.


    There were often many that could reach the immortal realm but still be unable toprehend sword intent. As a lord of a county, Huyun Chuan knew what having sword intent meant.


    Even in hisnd, there weren''t many that hadprehended it.


    He knew of the power that an expert with sword intent had as well as the danger that they could pose.


    ''He not only has ess to spirit weapons, and spatial storage tool but also sword intent¡­ how is someone like this in the Land of Exile. They wouldn''t send someone like that here¡­'' Huyun Chuan was both confused and concerned now.


    "Don''t worry, as long as you surrender I won''t kill you. I''ve got plenty to ask of you anyway." Lin Mu said before swinging his sword.


    He clearly stated his intentions, wondering if the man would understand.


    ~SHUA~


    A clear sword light shot out from Lin Mu''s short sword tearing the air. Huyun Chuan''s eyes narrowed and he waved his palm again creating five sabers.


    ~CRACK~ CRACK~ CRACK~


    This time though, the sabers were barely able to hold on before being cut apart by the sword intent infused sh. It was also now that Huyun Chuan detected Lin Mu''s cultivation base.


    Lin Mu''s spirit Qi fluctuations were highly contained thus it was almost impossible for others to detect his cultivation base if he didn''t reveal it. Plus the restrain on the spirit sense also meant that most couldn''t probe him directly.


    When Huyun Chuan had appeared, Lin Mu had ensured that there was no spirit sense near him to avoid his abilities being revealed. Even if he had confidence in being able to hide his cultivation base, it was best for him to be cautious in an immortal world.


    There were always new and mysterious abilities that he might not know of and get caught off guard.


    "Even if you have sword intent, you are merely at the Dao Treading realm. You think you can go against me?" Huyun Chuan felt a little more confident seeing that Lin Mu was still below his cultivation base.


    While he was a little worried about the sword intent, which could technically allow Lin Mu to fight above his level, it was unknown to him just what level ofprehension Lin Mu had.


    ''As long as its only at the novice level, he won''t be able tost long.'' Huyun Chuan thought.


    He dodged another one of Lin Mu''s shes and raised his palm high, creating arge saber imprint in the air.


    "Huyun Five Saber! Air render!" Huyun Chuan chanted.


    The image of the saber turned solid, looking like it was truly made out of iron. It was about three meters long and stood proudly in the air. Then in the next moment, it fell like the de of an executioner!


    The air in front of it tore apart, forming a razor sharp air de. It came towards Lin Mu and seemed to be following him.


    ''It can track?'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    But his surprise didn''tst as he simply used Blink and appeared behind the path of the air de.


    "He''s fast¡­" Huyun Chuan muttered in surprise and clenched his other fist.


    Lin Mu''s sharp ears picked up on the man''s words, giving him a little more information.


    ''He didn''t recognize me teleporting¡­ his senses aren''t that good.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Unknowingly Huyun Chuan had given Lin Mu another advantage.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    The two of them continued fighting and Lin Mu kept his attacks the same. At this point, he realized that the man in front of him wasn''t as big of a threat as he had originally thought. In just five minutes, Lin Mu could recognize several ws in the man''s fighting style.


    ''He''s certainly not that experienced in fighting like this. Either that or he''scking a weapon to use? Perhaps he''s specialized in using sabers?'' Lin Mu continued to analyze.


    His past few months of experience in learning about the condition of the Haima tribe people and making formations had put his brain in an analytical mode. He couldn''t help but feel curious about the Immortal world and its people.


    Huyun Chuan was his first proper subject in that way. And considering that he was not willing to talk peacefully, this was the next best way to get information from it.


    For example, just in this fight Lin Mu could tell that Huyun Chuan had trulye from a position offort and wealth. If the man could reach the Immortal Ascension realm and yet have such ack of battle experience, he was likely to have reached his current level simply due to the higher rank of the world.


    ''Either that or he simply gorged on cultivation resources¡­'' Lin Mu guessed.


    While Lin Mu was observing and analyzing Huyun Chuan, the man was doing the same to him. Albeit not on the same level.


    To Huyun Chuan, Lin Mu seemed like an enigma. By all conditions, he should not be in the Land of exile. He even wondered if Lin Mu was an exile or not.


    ''Is he perhaps one of their officers?'' Huyun Chuan wondered. ''No, that can''t be¡­ they would never fraternize with subhumans like those four legged things.'' He rejected his thoughts.


    ~HONG~


    Fifteen minutes passed since their battle had started when Lin Mu suddenly changed his behavior.


    "Alright, that''s it. You don''t have anything more to show." Lin Mu said as he put away the short sword.


    "What are you doing?" Huyun Chuan was taken aback by this. "Are you surrendering?" a smirk appeared on his face.


    "No," Lin Mu said before disappearing into thin air.


    "Wh-what¡ª" then in the next moment, Huyun Chuan felt an impact on his back,


    ~COUGH~


    He felt like wind had been squeezed out of his lungs while blood sprayed out of his mouth.

 Chapter 1255 A Weak Immortal Ascension Realm Cultivator

    Chapter 1255 A ''Weak'' Immortal Ascension Realm Cultivator¡¡¡¡"Several Nascent soul experts fight better than you¡­" Lin Mu''s spoke in pity.


    He knew just how many strove to reach the cultivation base Huyun Chuan had. Many reached bottlenecks but still continue to train nonstop. If they couldn''t gather Qi, they would train their bodies, learn new skills, but they wouldn''t stop.


    Compared to their efforts, Lin Mu found the man in front of him to becking. Despite having an Immortal Ascension realm cultivation base, all he could do was repeatedly use his Qi skill.


    And even that Qi skill was only used in one manner, with no adaptation or change. Even the Haima Tribe''s younger warriors had better sense for a battle than Huyun Chuan ording to Lin Mu''s judgment.


    Having seen the people of Haima Tribe struggle and train despite all the difficulties they faced, Lin Mu simply couldn''t respect Huyun Chuan or his strength. It felt like giving a strong weapon to a child.


    The child might be able to use it to some extent, but an adult would still outmaneuver them with ease if given the chance.


    "So many would die from disappointment if they turned out like you¡­" Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    "Y-you D¡ª" Huyun Chuan wanted to retort but was struck with a straight punch to his face.


    ~KACHA~


    His nose broke and bent at an unnatural angle. Blood continued to pour out of Huyun Chuan''s nostrils while tears streamed out of his eyes from the pain.


    "Stwap¡ª" The man tried to stop Lin Mu, but was hit with another fist.


    ~SPLAT~


    A mouthful of blood sprayed out from his mouth, while Lin Mu''s golden fist met the man''s jaw.


    The attacks continued, and Lin Mu continued to batter the man for about five minutes. Huyun Chuan''s performance only became worse and worse, unable to even counter attack once due to the pain.


    Only when the man couldn''t speak anymore did Lin Mu stop.


    "Hmm¡­ that should be enough." Lin Mu muttered as he gazed at the unconscious man at his feet.


    His robes and fists were spotless, but the ground around them had blood sttered everywhere. The red and brown soil mixed with blood gave a strangely beautiful look if one were to stare at it long enough.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    ~HISS~


    ~HISS~


    The twin snakes popped their heads out from Lin Mu''s cor.


    "Oh? Sorry, were you two scared?" Lin Mu gently asked.


    The two snakes had been appeared around his neck the entire time, and when Lin Mu started fighting, they had simply hidden under his robes near the neck.


    Lin Mu also ensured that no attack came near them. After all to him, they were still infants and were only at the Nascent soul realm. The attacks of Huyun Chuan could still hurt them and Lin Mu certainly didn''t want that.


    ~hiss~


    But instead of showing signs of being scared, the two snakes stared intently at the unconscious Huyun Chuan.


    Lin Mu could then feel a wave of emotion spread from them through the link.


    "You want to eat him?" Lin Mu guessed from the hunger they were presenting.


    "You can''t¡­ at least not before I get some information out of him." Lin Mu said. "Perhaps we''ll decide on how he behaves after this." He added.


    ~hiss~


    The twin snakes lowered their head and looked pitiful.


    "Don''t worry, we''ll get you more food." Lin Mu rubbed their heads and assured them.


    With that, the two snakes calmed down andid down on Lin Mu''s shoulders.


    ''Now to take care of this guy.'' Lin Mu turned his focus to Huyun Chuan and got to restraining him physically.


    After that, Lin Mu thoroughly checked the man''s body to ensure that he didn''t have anything dangerous on him. Even though Lin Mu knew Huyun Chuan didn''t have a spatial storage tool, it didn''t hurt to check again, just in case.


    "He really has nothing with him¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "Though his robes are of a good quality. Though the defensive formations that were cast on it have been removed." He noted.


    Lin Mu could sense the remnant of runes on the man''s robes. It only made him think that even these robes were defensive spirit tools, but had been turned into ''normal'' robes when the man was sent here.


    Despite that though, their quality was high enough such that an attack from a Qi refining realm cultivator or even a core condensation realm cultivator would do no damage.


    ''I should check what they are made out ofter. I don''t recognize the materials¡­'' Lin Mu made another note.


    ~pop~


    He then flipped his hand and took out a small bottle from his ring before opening its cap. Two dark green pills with a ck leaf like patterns appeared in his hand, which he then fed to Huyun Chuan.


    ~TREMBLE~


    Huyun Chuan''s body spasmed like he was having a seizure for a few seconds before stopping. And when it stopped, the spirit Qi wavesing from his body almost stopped. Even the flow of spirit Qi in his body had slowed down to a snail''s pace.


    "That''ll keep him from doing anything unnecessary." Lin Mu muttered before tying the man''s arms and legs with a rope.


    The rope was also a mid grade spirit tool and was specifically used for restraining cultivators. It was effective even for nascent soul realm cultivators, which was more than enough for Huyun Chuan, who would basically be the same as a mortal for now.


    ''Hmm¡­ I doubled the dose of the poison considering he''s in the Immortal Ascension realm. So it shouldst at least a few days.'' Lin Mu calcted.


    The poison pills he had fed Huyun Chuan were something that could block the meridians of even a Dao Treading realm expert. They were very valuable and even Lin Mu only had a few of them in his storage.


    "The gifts of the alliance are finallying in use." Lin Mu chuckled before calling for the Haima warriors.


    The warriors appeared a minuteter, with Kulo taking the lead.


    "It''s fine now. He won''t be able to do anything."

 Chapter 1256 Return To The Haima Tribe

    Chapter 1256 Return To The Haima Tribe¡¡¡¡The warriors of the Haima tribe had seen Lin Mu fight from the distance. As people of the Haima tribe, they had developed naturally good eyesight. The good eyesight was also the reason why they could throw spears at a long distance with great uracy.


    Thus, they had observed everything from a distance clearly.


    At first, they were nervous as they could see that the power of the newly exiled human was quite strong. But the more time passed, the more they realized the man was a joke. Even the head warrior could have taken him on as long as Huyun Chuan didn''t use his Qi skills.


    While they couldn''t understand the man''s words, they could understand from his expressions and tone that he was humiliating and insulting them. They couldn''t help but feel pleased with seeing the man beaten up like this.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    And upon seeing his pummeled appearance from a short distance, the young warriors of the Haima Tribe felt a chill on their backs. It was simply too pitiful to look at.


    "Are you fine, noble Lin Mu?" Head Warrior Kulo asked with concern.


    Even if he could tell that Lin Mu had won the fight, he didn''t know if there were any other problems that might have happened. After all, after having obtained the information about cultivation and various aspects of it, Kulo knew there were a lot of things he simply could not perceive yet.


    "I''m fine. Thank you for your concern, though." Lin Mu replied.


    "And what about the man? What did he want?" Head Warrior Kulo asked.


    "Well¡­ I think he was just delusional. He attacked for a silly reason. I''ll tell you moreter." Lin Mu answered. "Though he will be useful to us." He added.


    "Useful? Shouldn''t we kill him to prevent any danger?" Head Warrior Kulo questioned.


    "Oh, he won''t be able to do anything. I''ve restrained his cultivation base and even his body is bound now. Even the children of the Haima tribe should be able to snap his bones." Lin Mu answered with a chuckle.


    "But since we want to get out of thend of exile, we need more information. We need to know what is out there." Lin Mu said before looking towards the Rust Hail Mountains in the distance. "This man should have some information for us."


    "Alright. Do we return now?" Kulo inquired.


    "No¡­ the snakelets are still hungry. We will hunt more Chasm Beasts." Lin Mu replied.


    "We''ll do as you say. I''ll get the young ones to carry this man." Head Warrior Kulo obliged.


    Then, under Head Warrior''s Kulo''s orders, one of the warriors came and picked up the unconscious Huyun Chuan like a sack and hung him over his shoulder.


    With the build and broad shoulders of the Haima people, it was no issue for them to carry a human like this. After all, Huyun Chuan wasn''t as heavy as Lin Mu. In fact, he was lighter than some of the stone spears and weapons that the Haima people typically carried.


    The fight was but just a little hup in the journey and they continued searching for Chasm Beasts for about two more days before the twin snakes finally felt satisfied. However, they didn''t sleep like they had before.


    ''Hmm¡­ even though they are satisfied it isn''t the same level as thest time.'' Lin Mu could tell from the amount of energy they had exchanged.


    Once the twin snakes felt satisfied, they turned back and made their way back to the tribe. They encountered a few Chasm Beasts that had newly formed during the return and were quickly eaten by the twin snakes.


    Their return journey didn''t take as long, and they were back in less than five days. Though what was a little surprising to the Haima warriors was that Huyun Chuan had not woken up even for a second during this entire time.


    Despite the fact that he would soar across the air while on the back of the warriors. If it were any normal person, they should have possibly woken up.


    But when they were near the mountain of the tribe, Lin Mu asked the warriors to stop.


    "Put him down. We won''t take him inside the tribe." Lin Mu instructed. "I''ll make a prison array for him outside."


    "Do as noble Lin Mu says." Head Warrior Kulo also felt like keeping the man outside was better.


    ''I don''t want the tribesmen to feel scared about this¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He knew that Huyun Chuan might not give out all the information he had with ease and thus Lin Mu would have to use certain tough procedures to make him oblige.


    Once Huyun Chuan was put down, Lin Mu quickly got to making a simple prison array for him. Since the man was already crippled to some extent, the prison didn''t need to be that strong.


    The main reason for Lin Mu to set it up was actually to prevent any stray Chasm Beast from killing Huyun Chuan. If that happened before he got all the information, Lin Mu would regret it.


    ''Though he''s been asleep for a little too long, isn''t he?'' Lin Mu realized.


    He could tell that the man was still alive, and his vitality was still rtively stable. The poison wasn''t killing him or anything.


    Plus, his injuries had also stopped bleeding for the most part.


    "Maybe he''ll wake up after he''s a little healed." Lin Mu reckoned and fed him a few healing pills.


    But Huyun Chuan didn''t wake up after he was healed, either. Lin Mu waited an entire day before the man finally showed signs of consciousness.


    "Ugh¡­" Huyun Chuan groaned and felt like his body was filled with lead.


    Even moving his eyelids made waves of pain flow through his body. His lungs still felt like they werecking air and each breath made them burn.


    Two minutes of struggle was what it took for Huyun Chuan to open his eyes. And when he did, he saw Lin Mu sitting in front of him.


    "Oh, no¡­ not you!"

 Chapter 1257 Questioning Huyun Chuan

    Chapter 1257 Questioning Huyun Chuan¡¡¡¡While Huyun Chuan was knocked out, he was still in pain.


    The pain assaulted his mind and reached all the way into his dreams; turning them into nightmares. In them he was constantly beaten up, burned and crushed. No matter how much he tried, he simply couldn''t escape it at all.


    And the one doing all that to him was none other than the man in front of him.


    He struggled in the nightmares but was unable to ovee them. And when they finally ended, he saw the source of the nightmares standing before him.


    ~STEP~


    Lin Mu stood up and walked to Huyun Chuan.


    ~shua~


    His spirit sense rose and probed the man, scouring through his meridians, muscles, and Dantian, like a burr going through one''s belongings.


    Huyun Chuan felt highly ufortable, but no matter how much he tried, he simply couldn''t muster the spirit Qi within his body to work.


    "Hmm¡­ the poison works perfectly even when your body is healed. It''s better than I thought." Lin Mu nodded his head in satisfaction.


    ~shiver~


    A chill went down Huyun Chuan''s back and he shook on the ground.


    "Y-you¡­ what do you want?" the man asked with a trembling tongue.


    "I want you to tell me everything." Lin Mu replied.


    "Everything?" Huyun Chuan repeated in confusion.


    "Everything that you know¡­ About yourself, yournd, your people, your rulers, your kingdom, your continent, world¡­ everything." Lin Mu borated. "Oh, and don''t forget your cultivation techniques and skills too." He emphasized.


    ~gulp~


    Huyun Chuan couldn''t help but feel like one of the prisoners he had interrogated before. As a lord of a county, he had been targeted quite a few times but had alwayse out on top. As for the one''s who schemed against him, they had suffered instead.


    But now he was on the opposite side today, not quite liking it.


    "And¡­ what if I don''t tell you?" Huyun Chuan asked, regretting the moment he did.


    ~CRACK~


    A footnded on the man''s finger lightly, almost like a feather. But even that light feather was like a hill; directly crushing the finger into fragments and the flesh into pulp.


    "ARGH!!!" Huyun Chuan cried out in pain.


    With no spirit Qi there to reinforce his body or help him heal, his pain was unlike anything he had felt before. At least when Lin Mu was pummeling him, he still had his spirit Qi to help suppress it.


    But now he felt like a mortal facing a beast.


    "I only used a quarter of my weight and your bones broke. You''re really fragile for an immortal ascension realm cultivator, huh¡­" Lin Mu literally took note.


    It couldn''t be helped, as he wascking a great ton of information about this immortal world. At first, he thought the cultivators here would be better than the ones from the Xiaofan realm at the same level.


    But seeing Huyun Chuan had created a lot of doubts.


    Thus, Lin Mu had decided to record every little bit of information, intending to analyze and go over itter in detail.


    "Enough! Enough! I''ll speak!" Tears streamed down Huyun Chuan''s face, which was barely rising from the ground.


    He was lying on his stomach, so it was hard for him to look up.


    "See, that wasn''t so hard, was it?" Lin Mu used his leg and lifted the man from his neck.


    ~thud~


    This time, he was sitting on his butt.


    "Now then, start speaking." Lin Mu ordered.


    "W-what do you want to know first?" Huyun Chuan stammered.


    "Start from yourself. Who are you and where are you from?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I am Huyun Chuan. I''m the lord of Huyun County and have been ruling over it for the past forty years. I belong to the Huyun n of the Purple Sparrow Kingdom, and they are one of the sixteen noble ns." He started with the basics.


    "Good. Continue." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    The man continued to speak and exined a lot of things to Lin Mu. He was fine was saying all this information and had no hesitation, since it was all general information that basically anymoner would know.


    ''Why does he want to know all this, though? It isn''t anything valuable.'' Huyun Chuan wondered, but didn''t ask Lin Mu this, fearing that he''d be beaten up again.


    He had already been scared by how Lin Mu had crushed his finger. He was scared, especially due to the fact that it was no skill that had injured him. Lin Mu had crushed his finger with sheer weight with no use of spirit Qi.


    It only made Huyun Chuan that much terrified. Though it also gave him a slight idea about who Lin Mu might be.


    Lin Mu on the other hand, didn''t mind whatever might be going though the man''s mind right now. He was fully engrossed in absorbing and noting down the information that Huyun Chuan was giving.


    He learned quite a lot of things from this and also confirmed a lot of the information that he had gotten from Elder Niji.Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    Such as the fact that this world was indeed named the Rust Sky world, and it had looked like this since times immemorial. Another thing that he managed to confirm was the fact that the Land of Exile was actually a unique location.


    It wasn''t actually ruled by a single power, but was instead used by several kingdoms collectively as a unified prison.


    But what Lin Mu learned after this made him furrow his brows.


    "The Land of Exile is located on arge ind. It is one of the many inds that is located in the Sea of Muxuan. The sea itself is surrounded by eight kingdoms, the secondrgest of which is the Purple Sparrow kingdom." Huyun Chuan revealed.


    "A sea? How far are the kingdoms from the Land of Exile?" Lin Mu asked next, his brows still furrowed.


    "The closest kingdom is about six months away if we take a ship." Huyun Chuan answered.

 Chapter 1258 Sea Of Muxuan

    Chapter 1258 Sea Of Muxuan¡¡¡¡Hearing about a sea basically spilled water on Lin Mu''s original ns. He had originally decided to make use of the excellent speed and stamina of the Haima tribe to traverse thend beyond the Rust Hail Mountains.


    While the aspect of getting away from the Rust Hail Mountains was secondary, and would onlye after they actually managed to get past them, knowing that there was no solid path outside only made things harder.


    After all, even if they got out of the Rust Hail mountains, they would have to figure out how to get past the sea. Lin Mu doubted that they would be able to use just any ship and that they would have a free ship just there for their taking.


    ''Considering that they even send immortals into exile here, the ships should be protected as well. I need to know more.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After thinking for a minute, Lin Mu straightened a few factors and spoke.


    "How did you get to the Land of exile? Or rather, where did you teleport from?" Lin Mu questioned Huyun Chuan.


    "I was sent here though the major teleportation array that is set up in our Purple Sparrow kingdom. Each kingdom surrounding the Sea of Muxuan has such an array which they use to ess thend of Exile." Huyun Chuan answered.


    "What about the ships, then? You said they take six months to reach here." Lin Mu asked next.


    "There are indeed ships thate here. But those are mostly used to transport prisoners inrge groups. It is also something that''s mostly used for weaker cultivators." Huyun Chuan said.


    "Specify weak." Lin Mu asked with a rushed brow.


    "Those below the Immortal realm." Huyun Chuan rified.


    "Then why were you sent through the array? Don''t you fall in the category of weak, too?" Lin Mu doubted.


    "Well, I¡­ I had the befit of being a from a noble n. So they sent me through the array." Huyun Chuan said, but seeing that Lin Mu didn''t seem to be satisfied, he exined further. "You see, the cost of using a teleportation array is quite high. At least it''s not worth using for normal prisoners. Thus, they would only use them when the risk of sending the prisoners with a ship is too high."


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu understood a bit better.


    "Tell me about the sea of Muxuan. What are the risks of traveling?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "The Sea of Muxuan is one of the most dangerous areas of the Rust Sky world and is certainly the most dangerous sea among all eight seas of our world. Even the great ocean isn''t as dangerous as this.


    Even the ships that sail in the Sea Of Muxuan are especially made to withstand its environment and dangers that range from terrifying beasts, harsh weather, all the way to mysterious phenomenon.


    Every ship that sails to the Land of Exile needs to have at least an immortal at the Fourth Tribtion stage at the helm and several more immortals to guard it. Simply running the ship with all its defenses is difficult without multiple immortals powering and controlling it.


    The other weaker cultivators only manage the misceneous tasks above the ship, as well as guarding the prisoners inside.


    And when a ship is anchored at any port of the Land of Exile, it is to be quickly emptied of the prisoners. Basically, they are advised to stay as little as possible on the ind before sailing back." Huyun Chuan exined.


    This gave Lin Mu a wider view of the problem at hand.


    ''An immortal at the Fourth Tribtion realm, at the help of multiple other immortals running the ships¡­ there is no way we can take over a ship. Doing that will be the same as jumping to our deaths.'' Lin Mu realized.


    With this, one option was cut off from his possible solutions. He quickly needed to find other solutions.


    "Tell me about the sea itself. What kind of beasts reside in it? And the other dangers too." Lin Mu asked next.


    He knew knowing this would be the basis on which he could n the next step.


    "There are countless beasts in the sea of Muxuan. They range from as weak as the Nascent soul realm all the way to the peak of the Immortal realm. As for the weather, it is unpredictable and storms are the mostmon climate.


    One can get lost very easily in the sea, and specialized tools are needed to guide the path of a ship. There are always over fifty ships that get lost in the Sea and many more that get destroyed.


    Then there are mysterious rifts that can transport you to random parts of the sea. We do not know how these rifts appear, but they are almost always guarantee death to those that enter them.


    There are very few that have survived going through a rift and returning to civilization. And there is said to be no limit to where these rifts would lead one inside the sea. Some are even said to take one directly to the depths of the sea.


    If one takes such a rift, they can only hope that the immense pressure kills them swiftly. If not them, the turbulent energies of the deep sea would invader their bodies, killing them little by little and shattering their souls." Huyun Chuan exined, raising Lin Mu''s interest.


    "Rifts you say¡­ Hmm¡­" Lin Mu felt he might after all have a solution.


    ''If I can find a pattern to these rifts and fight the right one, I might be able to get out of the sea. Or at the very least, get very close to the shore.'' Lin Mu added this potential solution to his list.


    "Do you know how these rifts appear?" Lin Mu questioned, hoping that there would be more information.


    The more he had, the better his chances of making use of it sessfully. He had, after all, traversed the void several times before, and had some experience in it. At the very least, he could trust the ring to open up a new rift if one didn''t appear naturally.


    While he didn''t know if this rift would work like the other rifts, there was at least some choice there.


    "I¡­ do not know." Huyun Chuan shook his head.


    ~Sigh~


    Lin Mu felt disappointed.


    "But I once heard an old legend." Huyun Chuan spoke upon seeing Lin Mu''s expression.


    So far, he had been fine because Lin Mu had been satisfied with his word.


    ''Who knows what he''ll do to me, if I don''t give him the right information¡­ I have to give him something.'' Huyun Chuan was nervous.


    "What legend?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The Legend about how the Sea of Muxuan got its name. It''s said that there was once a great beast who lived in the oceans of the Rust Sky world. It lived during the ancient times and was even worshiped as a god by some people.


    But this worship was not taken kindly by the believers of other faiths that inhabited the world at that time. Back then, the cultivators were not somon and Immortals were simply myths, thus faith in the gods was abundant.


    The people of these other faiths considered the great beast a demon and called its worshipers heretics.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    This led to many conflicts until finally they waged a great war against them. Many lives were lost in this war, and the numbers of the Great Beast''s worshipers fell greatly. It is unknown how long thissted for but by the end of it, less than a hundred such heretics were left.


    These heretics prayed to the great beast day and night, begging it to save them from the constant attacks. But their saviour never came.


    With the fall in the number of the worshipers, the ''crusade'' of the other faiths eventually lessened. The people who worshiped the great beast also hid themselves away from others. The ones that still lived in the cities hid the fact that they were heretics and simply gave up on their faith.


    But there was one among them that did not falter. Until he very death, he kept on praying and when he was finally about to die, his call was answered.


    A Great Tempest came into being. The skies tore apart while lightning fell through the cracks. Winds eroded the mountains and quakes sank the ins. The Great beast rose from the middle of the continent, bringing with it the disaster of ages.


    It destroyed all the kingdoms of the faiths that had crusaded against its believers and sank it into the ground, creating a new sea in its ce.


    The Mu, in Muxuan is Coffin, while Xuan is said to be the name of thest believer of the great beast''s faith.


    The Sea of Muxuan is the final resting ce of Xuan along with the kingdoms that offended the great beast." Huyun Chuan exined in detail.

 Chapter 1259 The Empires And Kingdoms Of Rust Sky World

    Chapter 1259 The Empires And Kingdoms Of Rust Sky World¡¡¡¡Learning about the myth of the Sea of Muxuan was enlightening to Lin Mu. He couldn''t help but wonder just how strong that beast might have been for it to be able to do something like this.


    But Huyun Chuan had not finished speaking yet.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    "The greatest danger is said to be none other than this beast. As far as I know, and the legends state, the great beast was never actually killed. And neither were there any signs of it dying nor leaving the world." Huyun Chuan stated.


    "So you mean to say it is still residing in the Sea of Muxuan?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    "There is a chance¡­ it might be small but there is indeed a chance." Huyun Chuan replied.


    But Lin Mu didn''t find it to be urate.


    "How long did you say all this happened?" Lin Mu asked again.


    "Its supposedly ancient times." Huyun Chuan replied.


    "How about a hundred thousand years?" Lin Mu suggested.


    "A hundred thousand? No, that is too short. It should be at least ten million years ago." Huyun Chuan spoke.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows at hearing this. He wanted to see if the history of the Haima tribe somehow corrted with this, but now he knew that the Rust Sky world had a history that was far too old.


    ''Even the Xiaofan world hasn''t existed for longer than two hundred thousand years, as far as Senior Xukong estimated.'' Lin Mu recalled. ''And even among those two hundred thousand years, humans only came into existence around the middle of that.''


    This was all something Lin Mu had asked the alliance patriarchs about this before and even they didn''t have much information beyond the appearance of the four immortals. Thus Lin Mu asked Xukong since he might have more experience in estimating it.


    ''Just the sheer amount of time difference between the two worlds is massive. That great beast should have died by now, even if it was in the immortal realm. Though¡­ if it managed to reach the realm above that, it could have potentially lived longer.'' Lin Mu pondered in his mind.


    There was quite ack of information, and with Xukong being unavable, Lin Mu could only depend on himself to analyze this.


    "Hmm¡­ since that Great Beast has not appeared for such a long time, I doubt it is even in this world." Lin Mu stated. "After all, for it to live this long, it should have broken through to a higher realm. And I do not think any cultivator, whether man or beast, would be able to stay in an immortal world if they reached that." He exined.


    "So you think it''s not here?" Huyun Chuan couldn''t help but feel intrigued too.


    While he had a lot of information due to the virtue of being from a noble n and having ess to it, he still didn''t have information about higher realms. Even Lin Mu didn''t have that, but he did know they exist, as well as the limitations of the Immortal realm.


    A cultivator who had entered the Immortal realm would be able to live for at least 12,000 years as long as he overcame all the tribtions that one had to face. There were seven Immortal tribtions each at a 1000 year gap.


    Only if one survived would they live on. Being in the Immortal realm didn''t make one Invincible after all, it only allowed them to continue living. But the heavens wouldn''t allow that as per itsws and send the heavenly tribtions to test and kill the cultivators.


    There were ways one could survive even after failing the tribtion, of course. But doing that meant that they would only get an extra 1000 years. And the tribtion that came at the end of those 1000 years would be a lot stronger than before.


    If by some chance they used the method to avoid death once more, the next tribtion would be exponentially stronger. The heavens would not take tricks like these as a joke and punish others equally.


    Hence Lin Mu was sure, no beast or human would be able to live in the Rust Sky world for that long.


    ''At least we know there is one less danger.'' Lin Mu took note.


    He looked at Huyun Chuan and asked him to continue. The man had a lot of things to say and continued to do so for an entire day an night. As an Immortal ascension realm cultivator, even if his cultivation base was restrained, he wouldn''t die from this.


    In fact, he would be able to work for an entire month without a break and would still be fine. Not to mention, Lin Mu had healed his injuries already.


    Huyun Chuan exined about the various kingdoms that were surrounding the Sea of Muxuan, as well as their powers. He even knew about the other continents that were beyond the ocean at the borders of the kingdoms.


    In total, the Rust Sky world had four continents. The continent that Lin Mu was on right now was the secondrgest and was called as the Eight Kingdom alliance continent. East off this continent was thergest continent of the Rust Sky world and was ruled by the Dao Wind Empire.


    It was simply named after the empire and was called Dao Wind continent. Then east of the Dao Wind continent there was the Huiqing Continent ruled by the Huiqing empire. The finally, west of the Eight Kingdom alliance continent, was the smallest continent, the Holy Topaz continent.


    Huyun Chuan had never been out of the Eight Kingdom alliance but knew enough about the powers of the other continents too. Roughly, the continents were all the same in strength.


    But the Holy Topaz Continent ran by the Holy Topaz dynasty was the strongest due to the fact that they had existed the longest. Having understood the various political powers of the worlds, Lin Mu hoped that he wouldn''t have to face the same thing he had in the Xiaofan world.


    ''Leading an entire alliance is too hard¡­ and time consuming.''

 Chapter 1260 A Way Out From Exile

    Chapter 1260 A Way Out From Exile¡¡¡¡It had now been four days since Lin Mu had started interrogating Huyun Chuan. The man had been promptly answering everything thus Lin Mu had no reason to ''encourage'' him with some pain either.


    But just as Lin Mu was about to ask the nth question, he heard a voice.


    "Noble Lin Mu, here''s some food for you." A Haima tribe member came to hand some baskets of Stone Flesh Mushrooms.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu waved his hand and let the Haima membere into the barrier.


    "We already cooked them as you liked. Elder Niji said that you will be here for a while, so he suggested sending them to you directly instead of calling you down to eat." The young Haima member stated.


    "Thank you. Elder Niji''s right." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Once the Haima member left, Huyun Chuan spoke up. "What are they?"


    "I thought I told you before. They are the people of the Haima tribe." Lin Mu replied while cracking a Stone Flesh mushroom in his hand.


    "The Haima tribe? Did a tribe like that exist?" Huyun Chuan furrowed his brows.


    Lin Mu looked at the consensus on the man''s words and decided to ask him more.


    "You don''t know about the Haima tribe?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­ there is no tribe like that in any of the eight kingdoms." Huyun Chuan answered. "Even considering the other continents where subhumans live, I don''t think a tribe like them exists." He added.


    Lin Mu had heard about the Subhumans already before. They were basically other races that had humanoid forms but weren''t actually humans. This included a few beastman races as well as some misceneous ones.


    This would be Lin Mu''s first time seeing any of them, after all. Though there weren''t any such settlement of subhumans present in the Eight alliance Kingdoms, as most of them were used as ves and servants here.


    The identity of Subhumans was low in the Eight Kingdom alliance and their oppression was quite harsh.


    ''It is a little surprising considering that the subhumans that Huyun Chuan talked about are usually stronger than humans. If they are suppressed like this, then it means that they probably came to this worldter or something else happened that lead to them being in this situation.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    He had read about the Subhumans in the memoirs of the Lost immortal before. They were actually called by many names, such as Demihumans, humanoids, beastlings, beastkins, Demonkin ands lot more.


    But the Rust Sky world simply chose to call them as Subhumans.


    "You''ve never heard people like them before? That''s strange. They''ve been living in the Land of Exile for over a hundred thousand years now." Lin Mu said, much to the man''s shock.


    "What?!" Huyun Chuan couldn''t believe it. "How can someone survive that long in the Land of exile?"


    "Well, they have. With enough strategy and skill anyone can do it." Lin Mu replied. "Though what I find confusing is that there is no records of them?"


    "No¡­ at least I don''t know. There might be some records, after millions upon millions have been sent to the Land of exile in all the years." Huyun Chuan replied.


    "Mmm¡­ I see. Then is there any ce that might have records about all those that have been exiled?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I think each kingdom should have its own set of records." Huyun Chuan answered. "Though there are also sometimes when the inhabitants of the inds send their prisoners here. I do not know if those are documented or not." He added.


    "There are other inhabitants?" Lin Mu was surprised, since the man hadn''t spoken about this at all.


    "Yes, there are a few. Most of them are just rogue cultivators or n that want to stay independent. They can''t do that in the kingdoms or empires, so they chose the wild option of staying on the inds of the Sea of Muxuan." Huyun Chuan replied.


    "How far is the nearest inhabited ind from here?" Lin Mu asked, feeling like he might have just found a new solution for their escape.


    "I don''t know about the independent inds, but there is a supply ind of the Ring Mist Kingdom three days away from here." Huyun Chuan stated.Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Three days away, huh¡­" Lin Mu remembered that.


    Hundun Chuan looked at the calctive expression on Lin Mu''s face and wondered if he was nning what he was thinking about.


    "You aren''t nning to escape thend of exile, are you?" Huyun Chuan asked.


    "I am." Lin Mu honestly answered. "Does that matter to you?"


    "You should give up. There is no one who has gotten out of here before." Huyun Chuan stated.


    "Huh? Didn''t you say your people were going toe get you from here? Doesn''t that mean there is a way?" Lin Mu said with intrigue.


    "That¡­ is different. I''m not a permanent exile. I am just here because there was no option. Once the situation in mynd cools down, my people wille fetch me." Huyun Chuan revealed.


    "And how will they do that exactly? You just said there is now way." Lin Mu interrogated.


    Huyun Chuan could feel a sharp gaze on him and knew that Lin Mu was really serious about this.


    "The array¡­ the teleportation array. While the long distance array only works one way, if you are on the ind itself, you can use its short distance array. It only functions to send one across the Rust Hail Mountains.


    They are going to use that to get me." Huyun Chuan revealed.


    "Interesting¡­ Seems like you will get to live after all." Lin Mu now knew he had the key to getting out of here.


    ~gulp~


    Huyun Chuan couldn''t help but swallow his saliva in fear.


    "Tell me more about the people that areing to get you. As well as why you were sent here. I want all the details." Lin Mu demanded.


    After all, if he was going to use Huyun Chuan as his the bait, he needed to know what he was catching first.

 Chapter 1261 Huyun Chuans Situation

    Chapter 1261 Huyun Chuan''s Situation¡¡¡¡Lin Mu was quite interested in how Huyun Chuan had ended up in the Land of Exile. From his demeanor and actions, he was clearly a noble and had even said that he was. But then him being send to this ce didn''t make sense.


    Especially the fact that he was actually going to return to his kingdom and that people would being to fetch him.


    ''From what Elder Niji has said, nothing of that sort has ever happened in the past. Could it be that he is simply being lied to?'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    Huyun Chuan thought to himself for a few seconds before speaking. He knew just speaking without considering his own situation correctly mightnd him in trouble.


    "As I''ve stated before, I''m the lord of the Huyun County of the Purple Sparrow kingdom. It is one of the counties that is located three thousand kilometers from the Great Wave kingdom border." Huyun Chuan started.


    Lin Mu nodded his head as the information was matching what the man had exined about the kingdoms before.


    There were two kingdoms next to the Purple Sparrow kingdom. On it right was the Giant Wave kingdom which was also the thirdrgest kingdom in the alliance. Then on its left was the Cloud Fall kingdom.


    "The Huyun County is actually one of the many counties that is owned by my Huyun n. Though it is the very first county that our n was bestowed a long item ago, thus it was named after the n.


    But due to being small, it didn''t bring as many profits thus fell in value for the n. In all the counties that my n owns, this one is ranked at the bottom and is not as important. I was made its lord several decades ago ording to the lineage order of my n.


    I am from the second main branch of the Huyun n, but number twenty fifth among the heirs. With my ranking, there should have been no way for me to be a lord like this, but due to the other heirs in the line being busy with other tasks, I ended up getting this position.


    I had been working as a lord with the help of the officials and didn''t have any issues at all in this time. And neither was there any disadvantage to my n or kingdom in this time.


    But thenst year something happened¡­" Huyun Chuan exined, his expressions getting sadder by the minute.


    "What happened?" Lin Mu asked, with great interest.


    "A Female noble from the Great Wave kingdom had been called to the capital of the Purple Sparrow kingdom for the marriage ceremony of the fifth princess. But when she was passing through my county, she was attacked.


    It waspletely unexpected and nothing like that had happened before. Due to the regr patrols and actions of our kingdom guards, bandits never dared to attack. After all, it was quite close to the border, thus any issue would be met with the full offense of the border guard.


    But¡­ it still happened.


    The death of a foreign noble in the kingdom is always aplex matter and led to a diplomatic incident. The noble family that the woman belonged to demanded answers. But upon hearing that this was caused some unknown bandits they exploded.


    What was even more troubling was that their family actually had an elder at the Sixth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm. Someone like that can easily lead and entire province and would be a great minister or general in the kingdom.


    Compared to me, his status was very high.


    Even if our Purple Sparrow kingdom is a little stronger, they still wouldn''t offend a sixth tribtion stage Immortal realm expert just for me. My uncle thus came up with a potential way to save me.


    With the help of his connections in the royal court, I was given the punishment of exile. Upon hearing that I was going to be sent to the Land of exile, the Great Wave kingdom''s nobles were satisfied.


    My uncle assured me that they would only send me to the Land of exile temporary. After all, they couldn''t really monitor the situation inside thend of exile so wouldn''t know if I died or lived." Huyun Chuan continued to exined.


    Upon hearing all this, Lin Mu felt like it didn''t seem right. ''All this seems a little too suspicion¡­''


    "And how are they intending to get you?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, my uncle said that after sending me in here they will have to wait for a while. It might be a few months but they will send immortals to fetch me here. They simply told me to hide until that happened." Huyun Chuan answered.


    ''Yeah¡­ seems like he was fooled.'' Lin Mu thought, but didn''t say.


    "I get that they will enter the Land of Exile, but how will they get back out along with you? As far as I know, the Rust Hail Mountains are dangerous even for immortals." Lin Mu asked.


    "It is actually possible to get out using special teleportation talismans. They would have given me one directly, if it weren''t for the fact that the people of the Great Wave kingdom were monitoring my sentence.


    They ensured that all rules were followed, and I had no weapons or other aids with me when I was sent here. As that is the protocol. But with my ns'' influence, it wouldn''t be an issue to smuggle some things in here with immortals.Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Once they are here, they will find me and use the talismans to return outside. After that, it is simply a matter of getting a ride on one of the ships." Huyun Chuan exined.


    Lin Mu pondered on all this for a bit and couldn''t help but feel that Huyun Chuan might really have been fooled.


    ''Did he n simply make use of him as a scapegoat?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    After all, from his earlier words it did seem like he didn''t have that high of a status among his n.

 Chapter 1262 Experts Of The Rust Sky World

    Chapter 1262 Experts Of The Rust Sky World¡¡¡¡Lin Mu asked Huyun Chuan more about his n as well as the Noble n from the Great Wave kingdom that he had offended. He couldn''t help but feel that there was a lot more to this and Huyun Chuan had simply been kept in the dark.


    He learned that the female noble of the Great Wave kingdom that had died actually came from a branch of their ruling royal family. Not just that, she was apparently in charge of several export deals and had a decent status.


    Hearing these two things made Lin Mu quite sure that there was some foul y at work.


    ''Did someone from the two kingdoms want that female noble dead?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    The most obvious culprit behind it seemed to be none other than the royal family of the Purple Sparrow kingdom itself.


    By simply sacrificing some lower member of a noble n, they would be able to get rid of a decently strongpetitor and also cate the other kingdom. And with their status, they might only need to pay the Huyun n some extrapensation to make them agree.


    Even Huyun Chuan''s status as a lord of the county seemed suspicious.


    ''There''s no way seven heirs before him would simply reject the position. Even if it''s the smallest county, it is still quite useful for lower ranked heirs who would not inherit any direct position in the n.


    Plus, Huyun Chuan isn''t even that talentedpared to his other siblings and cousins.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    Huyun Chuan had also exined the power structures of the Rust Sky world.


    At the top were the Seventh Tribtion Immortal Realm experts. At that point, they would only face tribtions at an interval of two to five thousand years. The time interval of these tribtions greatly depended on the cultivator''s talent.


    Some talented ones might face these tribtions at a maximum of five thousand years and the less talented ones will get it at two thousand years. The difficulty of these tribtions was also not fixed and could vary quite a bit.


    But the experts who had exceeded the Seven Tribtions were very rare in the Rust Sky world. Just those on the Seventh Tribtion stage were countable on two hands and were the rulers of the kingdoms and empires.


    While those on the Sixth stage were kings of smaller kingdoms as well as their reserve elders.


    It was currently known that only three experts above the Seventh Tribtion stage existed. But Lin Mu was sure there might be more.


    ''But there is also the next realm above that¡­ can they not breakthrough?'' Lin Mu recalled Xukong mentioning this.


    While Lin Mu didn''t know the name of the realm, he did know it existed. Once a person reached that realm, they wouldn''t have to face tribtions and would really be able to live on as long as the worlds existed.


    There might be restrictions on it, but they were unknown to Lin Mu.


    ''Perhaps reaching that realm needs something extra. Maybe one needs to leave the Rust Sky world to achieve that. That might also be why there are only three such ''transcendent'' experts in the world.'' Lin Mu guessed.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    But these were the peak people of the world and were the minority among the minority. The true base of this world was the experts that were in the First and second tribtion stage of the Immortal realm.


    Anyone that reached the immortal realm in less than five hundred years was considered a genius. But this was without any resources. With resources like the Huyun n had, one should be able to reach it in 200-300 years.


    All this was quite mind-boggling to Lin Mu since in 500 years it was already a miracle for one to reach the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.


    "At what realm do the people of this world start?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He already knew from the Lost Immortal''s memoirs that depending on the level of the world, the newborn infants there might be born at different cultivation bases. This was even more drastic for the Rust Sky world that was close to world ascension.


    "Most of the infants are born in the Core condensation realm. Even themoner mortals all birth Core condensation realm offspring. The same applies to beasts and other races. After being born, the children are restrained from cultivating until they grow to a certain age.


    Since reaching the Nascent soul realm would fix their appearance. Doing this at a young age would give trouble to most people. But this doesn''t apply to the children of nobles or those with decent wealth.


    They can simply consume some Body Maturation pills and directly grow themselves. The children of the nobles continue cultivating and reach the Dao Treading realm by the age of 100.


    Even if they still look like 10-13 year old children it doesn''t matter since they don''t need to do any other duties till then. The true test of talent begins from the Dao Treading realms as they would allprehend on different pace.


    Those that breakthrough the earliest are considered extra talented and are finally given the Body Maturation pills." Huyun Chuan exined.


    "Hmm¡­ but don''t Immortal worlds like the Rust Sky world not have the need for Immortal Ascension realm?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes¡­ that is true for those thatprehend their own Dao Traces and form a Dao Embryo with no assistance. But for those that were helped by a Dao treasure or Dao Essence crystals, they will still end up in the Immortal Ascension realm." Huyun Chuan replied.


    "Then how do they reach the Immortal realm?" Lin Mu questioned with some confusion.


    "Well¡­ there are two ways. First is that the person would automatically breakthrough after some time. But if they don''t they can take an Ascension spirit pill to do that. But the use of the pill makes one''s foundation weaker.


    Only those that have no talent use those. They might get stuck as false immortals too and die to the first tribtion that they face." Huyun Chuan said with some embarrasment.

 Chapter 1263 Teleportation Gates

    Chapter 1263 Teleportation Gates¡¡¡¡Lin Mu had gotten two important bits of information from Huyun Chuan right now.


    The existence of the Body Maturation Pill and the Ascension Spirit Pill was the answer to several questions that Lin Mu had in the past. Of course he had no use for the Body Maturation pill, but the Ascension Spirit Pill was something that mighte in handy.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    ''I don''t know if I''ll be able to have a normal breakthrough. After all, I was not born in an immortal world and neither did Ie here after the normal ascension.'' Lin Mu realized he was in a strange state of unknown limbo.


    Of course he hoped that he would be able to breakthrough without the use of external methods.


    "Say¡­ if someone from a mortal world arrives in an immortal world before they reached the Immortal realm. And they weren''t in the Immortal Ascension realm either. Would they be able to reach the Immortal realm on their own?" Lin Mu asked, after thinking for a bit.


    "Huh? Someone from a mortal world in an immortal world?" Huyun Chuan was confused.


    "I¡­ don''t know. I don''t even know how someone from a mortal world would arrive in Immortal world." Huyun Chuan really didn''t know anything about this.


    "Hmmm¡­ do people from other worldse to the Rust Sky world?" Lin Mu asked instead.


    "Yes, they do. There are specific teleportation gates which are used by the travelers." Huyun Chuan replied.


    ''At least now I know this world is really open to the other worlds.'' Lin Mu noted.


    "And where are these gates located?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The teleportation gates are highly regted. There are three such gates in our world, one each in Huiqing Empire, Holy Topaz Empire and Dao Wind Empire." Huyun Chuan answered.


    "Oh? There isn''t one in the Eight Kingdom alliance continent?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    He knew that he would have to one day leave this world too and go further, thus knowing the method to getting out was important. Lin Mu didn''t know if he would be able to return to the Xiaofan world in the future but he did want to visit it at least once.


    "No there is none. The Eight Kingdom alliance did not qualify for one to be built here." Huyun Chuan stated.


    "Huh? There is someone that determines this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yeah, the Immortal court. How do you not know that? Evenmoners should know that?" Huyun Chuan had been wondering why Lin Mu was asking so many questions.


    At first he thought that it was just to make him unable to figure out the real things he wanted to know. But now he wasn''t so sure.


    ''The questions about the Rust Sky world were still fine, considering he might havee from another world. But not knowing about the Immortal court? That is impossible¡­'' Huyun Chuan thought.


    "You don''t need to know that." Lin Mu inly stated, making Huyun Chuan drop it.


    There was not even a single thought in his mind that Lin Mu might be from a mortal world. After all, to him, a person as strong as Lin Mu shouldn''t be from a mortal world. He had defeated him who was in the Immortal Ascension realm while being in the Dao treading realm.


    In Huyun Chuan''s opinion, something like that could only be done by someone that was a genius of the Immortal world. Even among his own siblings, there were such geniuses. He had fought a few of his more talented siblings and had lost to them even though they were at a lower realm than him.


    Lin Mu decided to stop the interrogation for now and left the man in the prison. He had gained a lot of information and needed to go through it again before analyzing it. Huyun Chuan was left sitting there on the ground, still bound with the ropes.


    ''I need to inform Elder Niji about the possible arrival of Immortals. If we want to get out, they will be the first option. As long as I can get my hands on the teleportation talismans, I''ll be able to make replicas.


    Or at the very least, use the ring to open a path. Just the coordinates would be enough too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had made the promise that he would get the Haima Tribe freedom from the Land of Exile and he was going to follow through it.


    With this in mind, Lin Mu went to meet up with the Elder.


    ~knock~ knock~


    "Noble Lin Mu? Did you finish interrogating with that man?" Elder Niji opened his residence door quickly.


    "Yes¡­ there are a few things I need to tell you. We will need the people of the tribe to be prepared." Lin Mu replied.


    Elder Niji''s brows furrowed, but he nodded his head.


    "Let''s get Head Warrior Kulo and others here too. Will make it easier for us." Elder Niji suggested.


    "Yes," Lin Mu agreed.


    Elder Niji simply sent out a message on the mirrors and ten minutester, all the higher ups of the tribe were assembled at his residence.


    "I have several things to talk to you about. Including how we will be getting out of the Land of Exile." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing this, the expressions of the Haima tribe people became serious. It had been their lifelong dream of several generations to get out of here, and they finally had some hope to do that.


    Lin Mu went on to first exin what the Land of Exile was and how it was surrounded by a sea. He also told them the dangers as well as the kingdoms that ruled over it all. It was a stunning revtion to the people and also a bit disappointing.


    Many of them didn''t even know what a sea was, and Elder Niji had to exin to them. The Land of Exile was already quite vast to them, andprehending just howrge the Sea of Muxuan was just difficult.

 Chapter 1264 Points Of Consideration

    Chapter 1264 Points Of Consideration¡¡¡¡The Haima Tribe was filled with a newfound drive after Lin Mu''s revtion.


    They learned how big the world really was and what they would have to do to get out. But it was just the starting point for them. Even if they got out, they would still need to face the other human empires.


    And from Huyun Chuan''s words, Lin Mu was quite sure that they wouldn''t take kindly to the Haima tribe that wasn''t human.


    A life of very wasn''t something that they wanted. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It would be the same as jumping out of a one prison into another. And it was hard to tell which one was worse. Additionally, there was still the fact that the people who originally exiled them might still be around and might not take kindly to them being out.


    Lin Mu though, was worried about something else.


    ''If the kingdoms learn that, the people can actually get out of the terrifying Land of Exile; or even be able to survive this long, they would feel like they had lost face. It would no longer be as useful as a ce of punishment and that wasn''t something they would want.


    It would just embolden their convicts instead,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The punishment of being sent to the Land of exile was mental, as much as it was physical. From Huyun Chuan''s words, the prisoners and criminals would be told that they were being sent to the Land of exile a long time before they were actually sent.


    They wanted them to suffer and continually think about the hell that was the Land of Exile. After all, something unknown was a lot more terrifying and could be used as a good pivot point for threats.


    But once it got out that people lived and survived there for over a hundred thousand years?


    That threat would no longer hold weight.


    Not just that, they would also learn the methods to survive and fight against the Chasm Beasts. While it would still be a punishment and a quite dangerous one, they would still have a chance.


    With this information, they might be able to strategize before that and be prepared. They would have hoped to escape and survive.


    "Considering all this, the Haima tribe certainly can''t live in the Eight Kingdom alliance¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself while standing on the roof of his residence.


    He had been watching the tribe and the people who were working hard, cultivating so that they could get stronger.


    They all knew about the standard of the Rust Sky world and how they needed to be in the Immortal realm to even be considered something. Right now, the strongest person in the tribe was Elder Niji, but even he was onlyparable to that of a Dao treading realm expert in spirit Qi and Nascent soul realm in actual cultivation.


    Neither of which was enough to fight against the humans of the kingdoms.


    ''There is still a chance that they could hide in some remote part of the kingdoms, but we first need to get there.'' Lin Mu continued to ponder.


    He had made a few points that needed to bepleted before the Tribe would be able to survive.


    The first was to have a sufficient number of Immortal realm experts. This was something that would happen naturally, and all that they needed was time. With their innate talent, it was all but inevitable.


    The second was to secure a way out of the Land of Exile.


    While Lin Mu was doubtful as to whether Huyun Chuan''s people would reallye to save him, he still didn''t put down that option. Because if they were reallying, Lin Mu would do everything in his power to capture them and get the teleportation talismans.


    If he had them, it would allow him to wait till the tribe was strong enough. And he himself would grow stronger too in that time.


    The third point was actually getting off the ind on which the Land of Exile was located. The Sea of Muxuan was treacherous and filled with beasts. They were going to need a ship to do that.


    ''No¡­ we''ll need several ships with the poption of the tribe.'' Lin Mu estimated from the information.


    Huyun Chuan had said that while there were many different sizes of shipsing here, thergest was still not enough for a hundred thousand people. At most, thergest ship might hold thirty to forty thousand people.


    ''Even if we get a ship thatrge, we will need at least three of them.'' Lin Mu''s lips pursed.


    Considering that the ships were controlled by immortals at the fourth tribtion stage, it was going to be a really tough job.


    The other possible solution to the ships was the rifts that appeared in the sea. Lin Mu was hoping that he could use the ring to lock down the coordinates of the other inds. He would then jump from ind to ind using the rifts and make a stable path.


    But that was something that would take a lot of effort and skill.


    The fourth point was only valid if all the previous points were sessfully covered. It was to find a ce for the tribe to live in. They might not be safe if several people saw them. A few tribesmen would still be fine as they could disguise as ves, but an entire tribe would be rming.


    The reason they needed to find a ce to stay was so that their tribe could go stronger. Without that, they wouldn''t be able to get off the Eight Kingdom alliance continent.


    ording to the information obtained from Huyun Chuan, there were two main routes of going to other continents. First was to simply use a teleportation array that led to the other continent.


    But using them was expensive, and transporting an entire tribe was even more problematic.


    The second option was without restrictions from the powers. They would take to the ocean on their own and sail to the other continents!

 Chapter 1265 Making Use Of Old And New Loot

    Chapter 1265 Making Use Of Old And New Loot¡¡¡¡The Haima Tribe was now in overdrive.


    Their cultivation bases rapidly increased and the number of Nascent soul realm cultivators amongst them had reached nearly 40%. Lin Mu estimated that at the current rate the entire tribe would be at the nascent soul realm in about a month''s time.


    ''Their progress is fast, but what we need are the top tier experts. At the very least they need to be at the Dao Treading realm to evenst against enemies.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    In front of him was arge register. There were thousands upon thousands of names in them along with more information written next to it. The names and the information was changing every few minutes and multiple runes glowed on it.


    "At least they managed to finish the Tribe register¡­ this will make it easier to manage the tribe and its manpower." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The register in front of him was actually a high grade spirit tool. But it wasn''t an offense, defensive or supportive spirit tool. It was in fact an administrative spirit tool used by sects andrge organizations.


    As long as one smeared some blood on it their information will be recorded. There were several functions such as monitoring cultivation base, checking their locations and even their body''s state.


    Of course this spirit tool wasn''t without restrictions either. It needed to be constantly supplied with spirit Qi and it only worked in a certain range. For the Haima tribe, it was just perfect as its maximum range was twice as big as the tribe.


    ''No wonder Gu Yao had such good management of his subordinates with this.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    He had obtained this register from the Gu Legion headquarters. At that time, Lin Mu had stuffed whatever he got into the ring and hadn''t really taken a proper look until quiteter. But even then he had missed this register, which looked like a mundane book.


    If it weren''t for the fact that Lin Mu was scouring the ring for different cultivation manuals as well as other such books to help the tribe, he would have never found this register.


    After finding it he had given it to the warriors outside and had instructed them to get everyone from the tribe to imprint their blood on it. They had finished the task in less than two days, and it was now free for Lin Mu to monitor and use.


    With the Spirit cultivation attenuation Formation array working on its own, he didn''t need to personally go and monitor it.


    "Huyun Chuan is also registered now." Lin Mu noted the name at the very edge of the page.


    It was the name that seemed to be stable and was unmoving due to the man''s suppressed state. It was also set at the lowest point due to effectively being at the Qi refining stage right now.


    Lin Mu had already extracted as much information as he could from Huyun Chuan. This included the cultivation technique and Qi skills he knew, too. But Lin Mu found out something different about them.


    The cultivation techniques that Huyun Chuan, or rather his n, cultivated had an inbuilt restriction of the lineage. Unless one belonged to the Huyun n, the cultivation technique would cause harm to the body.


    Lin Mu asked the man about this and discovered that this was amon thing set by many ns and powers. It made it possible for them to restrain the spread of their techniques and protect it even when it was leaked out.


    Thankfully, the Qi techniques and skills were still usable.Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    As one a member of one of the noble ns of the Purple Sparrow kingdom, Huyun Chuan had ess to a lot of Qi skills. Lin Mu had obtained a total of twenty four Qi skills from the man.


    And nearly every one of them was better than the Qi skills from the Xiaofan world. The only pity was that Huyun Chuan didn''t have the proper manuals for these Qi skills with him. Otherwise, Lin Mu might have been able to learn a lot more.


    After all there were certain nuances in written text which weren''t passed on through oralmutation and vice a versa.


    Lin Mu didn''t dare give these to the Haima tribe, fearing that they might hurt themselves instead. After all, their physiology was still different that''s humans on a certain level. It was best for Lin Mu to test them all first.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s try this one¡­ I already know a simr technique¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself before extending his hand.


    He kept his palm open facing upwards and circted the spirit Qi ording to the prescribed circuit.


    ~Crackle~


    A few sparks appeared over his palm and fizzled out. The first try failed.


    "Again¡­" Lin Mu attempted it again, this time keeping his focus on his spirit Qi.


    ~Crackle~


    Sparks appeared once more, but this time, they were a lot more pronounced.


    ''Alright, now to maintain this.'' Lin Mu kept his focus and soon the sparks started to increase in amount.


    Then a few secondster, as if a stove had been lit, a long me ignited on Lin Mu''s hand.


    "There we go! The first step isplete." Lin Mu was pleased.


    This was simr to the basic fireball technique that Lin Mu had learned a long time ago. The major difference was that the basic fireball technique was merely a low grade Qi skill and was for beginners.


    The one that Lin Mu was using right now though, was a high grade Qi skill.


    "Searing me Tongue Technique!" Lin Mu muttered.


    Unlike the previous technique, which only created a small ball of fire in his hand, this one created a long me that flicked around like a tongue. Its heat was also a lot more intense and so was its reach.


    The basic fire ball would only work till a certain range before it faded away. But it wasn''t the same for this technique. It would continue to burn as long as Lin Mu supplied it spirit Qi and could even extend to several tens of meters.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu flicked his hand and the me tongue shot forth. It extended for nearly twenty meters before it started to list its structure, prompting Lin Mu to stop it.


    ''This should be enough for most fights.'' Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Uponing to the Rust Sky world, Lin Mu realized that he was actuallycking in lower and mid level attack techniques. While the Boulder Copsing Fist was good, it was a little too good. Its consumption was also higher, and it wasn''t suited for long battles.


    Then Lin Mu had his ring''s skills, but they were more supportive in nature. Even meld which could be used offensively was not a regr use skill due to how much spirit Qi it consumed. The exhaustion of spirit Qi with Qi skills was higher here anyway.


    Finally, there was Lin Mu''s own body. A weapon that would be there almost always and could be used as long as he had the energy to do so. Even if he exhausted spirit Qi, it didn''t matter as his body would still hit hard.


    The weightbined with the hardness made his body a terrifying bludgeon that could break with a single strike. Lin Mu''s fists were like hammers that could shatter bones and stones alike.


    His body was something that could be used constantly without any major issues on his consumption, but it was a little too shy.


    ''Like the Lost Immortal said, hide your true skills and strike when the enemy expects the least.'' Lin Mu recalled the man''s memoirs.


    With the many unfortunate experiences of his life, the Lost Immortal had learned to hide his true capabilities. He would use weaker skills with low consumption of energy, unless he absolutely had to use something stronger.


    Lin Mu realized that he needed to do the same. And while he had plenty of Qi skills in his ring, almost all of them were iparable to the ones from this world. Even the ones that were good, like the inheritance techniques from the top sects, were only efficient if they also cultivated their own cultivation technique.


    Thus, Lin Mu reckoned it was better to just obtain new Qi skills from the Rust Sky world. Something that was ording to its higher standards.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    The Searing me Tongueshed through the air like a whip a few times before Lin Mu dispelled it.


    "That''s good, now the next one in list." Lin Mu said with contentment on his face.


    He expended his fingers and circted the spirit Qi through them. A few secondster, a faint figure appeared between each of his fingers. There were four such figures, and they looked too vague to make out.


    ~foosh~


    Suddenly, the figures became unstable and disappeared. The Qi skill had failed.


    Lin Mu tried it again, but failed once more. He kept on repeating without thinking about the failures and got better and better.


    A couple of hourster, the four illusory figures became a lot more defined and they could be identified. They looked like small birds with sharp beaks.


    "Now the final step, infusing elemental spirit Qi." Lin Mu channeled the fire attribute spirit Qi from his Dantian and let it fill the figures.


    In less than ten seconds, the four bird figures grew red ming feathers and took on the form of a sparrow.


    Once this was done, Lin Mu''s eyes glowed, and he flicked out his hand.


    "Searing Sparrow Darts!"

 Chapter 1266 Modifying And Making A Qi Skill

    Chapter 1266 Modifying And Making A Qi Skill¡¡¡¡The four bird like darts between Lin Mu''s fingers flew out swiftly and struck the rock wall in the distance.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The four darts directly made four holes in the rock, and molten stone dripped out of them. Their speed was quite fast, and it was hard to track them. But the effect was very obvious.


    "Damn¡­ while it isn''t as strong as the second form of the Boulder Copsing fist, the piercing power and speed of Searing Sparrow Darts is really good. The consumption is also a fraction of what I need for Boulder Copsing fist." Lin Mu felt impressed by the Qi skill.


    The two skills Lin Mu had used so far were the best ones out of the twenty four Qi skills he had obtained from Huyun Chuan. They were also the most suited for him and matched the other skills that he already had.


    As for the rest among the twenty four, there were only a couple more that Lin Mu thought could use properly since the rest had different requirements that he simply didn''t fulfill.


    While there was always a chance that Lin Mu might be able to decipher a method to learn them too, the time needed for that wasn''t what he had now.


    ''Perhaps in the future I''ll learn more. For now, I need to focus on those that can quickly increase my fighting potential.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu looked at one more Qi skill, wondering if he should try it out as well. While it had requirements that he fully qualified, the Qi skill wasn''t an offensive or defensive skill. In fact, Lin Mu couldn''t even tell what it qualified as.


    "The Winding Wind Style?" Lin Mu looked at his recorded notes.


    The skill involved using special footwork to create winding drafts that could boost one''s speed as well as confuse others. The skill had three levels and at the highest level it was said that one could even control a foe''s movement, pulling them towards them or sending them away.


    ''Hmm¡­ it''s like abination of restrictive as well as supportive Qi skill.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The requirements for the skill were also a bit strange, needing one to have not cultivated a wind attribute cultivation technique.


    Though Lin Mu wasn''t fully sure whether he should learn this. It wasn''t a skill that could be learned quickly, like the Searing me Tongue or the Searing Sparrow Darts.


    "Guess I''ll go through it every once in a while." Lin Mu said before putting away the jade slip with all the recorded techniques.


    These would serve well as a future reference for Lin Mu to further his understanding of various other Qi skills and techniques.


    Though it didn''t mean that there wasn''t any quick use to these Qi skills, Lin Mu had actually found something that would benefit the Haima Tribe well.


    "I just need to make some changes to this and they''ll be able it with no problems¡­ I hope." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He got to work and his fingers started to move like a brush, drawing runes in the air. Fifteen minutester, the basic form for a Qi skill appeared in the air. The form was something that not many people would be able to understand.


    After all, it contained more than just instructions on how to use a Qi skill. It contained the diagrams of Qi circuits, quantity and flow of spirit Qi to be controlled, as well as some idiopathic factors that were simply there.


    While most could read and practice a Qi skill directly, not many could dpress form like this and further analyze this. All this fell into the field of not just formations, but directly into the workings of the Dao traces to some extent.


    Lin Mu''sprehension of the Dao script and formations had made it easier for him to do this.


    He observed and analyzed each part of the form for over thirty hours before he finally found points which he could manipte and modify.


    The main goal of Lin Mu was to make this Qi skillpatible for the Haima tribe.


    The skill in question was actually a mid grade kicking technique. It was called as the Bronze Might Kicking technique and was a hard hitting skill. It was slow, but when struck, it would crush the opponent''s bones and organs.


    Simply put, it was a trump card like skill that should only be unleashed when the foe was vulnerable. But now Lin Mu was modifying the same skill to be a general use skill.


    He had picked it for an important reason. The Qi skill utilized the cultivators Dantian to generate momentum. It would basically circte spirit Qi within the Dantian andpress it until it had almost turned solid before rpsing it into the meridians of the legs.


    This was the reason why it was a slow skill. One needed quite some time to gather that kind of a momentum. Another requirement of the skill was that it needed one to have tough legs. An average cultivator would probably end up injuring themselves if they used this skill.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    The burst impact created by the skill was enough to crack one''s own leg bones if they weren''t careful.


    Seeing this requirement even made Lin Mu think if the Qi skill was made for body cultivators. But there was no such mention on it, and the utilization of meridians also showed that it was meant for those on the spirit Qi cultivation path.


    "Hmm¡­ maybe this Qi skill is also iplete. Huyun Chuan did say that he obtained this technique as aplementary offer with some other things he purchased. If they were willing to give it for free, then there was definitely a catch." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The entire reason Huyun Chuan even remembered this technique clearly was due to the fact that it was thest technique he had obtained before being exiled. The man had done his own preparations beforeing here, as he was informed in advance.


    He spent some money on obtaining techniques and skill that would help save his life here. Since talismans, other resources and tools would be out of option and be taken away, such skills would be the only thing he could keep with himself.


    The man even had a self healing technique with him which Lin Mu was happy about. Even if the said self healing technique needed at least a year to actually learn.


    Lin Mu continued to go through the form and made changes ording to the Haima tribe''s physiques.


    ''To change the technique from a slower trump card to a faster, normal use skill, I''ll have to address the issue of gathering momentum.'' Lin Mu found the solution after about twelve hours.


    "I''ll need to test it first to see how much the spirit Qi roils¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself before getting into a stance.


    The stance was simple and one just needed to stand straight with a leg raised to their chest.


    The next step was to take a breath of spirit Qi from the air, letting it enter the legs and swiftly rush through the meridians of the legs. This would create the initial momentum and then one would dump it all into the Dantian.


    Lin Mu did as per the instructions and soon felt the rush of spirit Qi within his Dantian. It had taken up a small spot near the edges of his Dantian and was like a spinning fan. The more it spun, the faster it was getting.


    But after every few spins, the circumference of its spin was getting wider. And when it widened, its speed would fall until it picked up again.


    Usually, one would continue to expand the circumference until it was asrge as one''s Dantian, but in the case of Lin Mu it would take a long time. Not to mention, there was a lot of liquid spirit Qi in Lin Mu''s Dantian already.


    It was enough to form an entire sea and thus the newly arrived spinning spirit Qi was like a paper boat.


    If Lin Mu wasn''t careful, this small part of the spirit Qi would be drowned out by the sea of spirit Qi and assimte into it. Thus he could only let it float above the sea of spirit Qi, lest it be pulled into it and dissipate.


    Lin Mu did this for about a minute before he felt like it was enough for a test.


    He opened his eyes and released the spinning spirit Qi into the meridian of his leg that was raised.


    ~WHOOSH!~


    The sound of a surging river was heard and a strong wave of spirit Qi spread from Lin Mu''s leg.


    Lin Mu kicked downwards at that moment, letting the Qi skill finally activate.


    ~humm~


    A faint glimmer of bronze color light appeared on his leg before it met the ground.


    ~KACHA~


    His leg directly split apart the ground, creating a twenty meter long and half a meter wide crack!

 Chapter 1267 The Haima Tribes First Qi Skill

    Chapter 1267 The Haima Tribe''s First Qi Skill¡¡¡¡Lin Mu''s eyes widened as he gazed at his handiwork.


    "This is a little too effective, isn''t it?" Lin Mu was not expecting such a great difference.


    The amount of spirit Qi he had used in this was quite less. It could roughlypare to that of a low grade spirit stone. It was frankly more than should have been possible for the technique.


    "Hmm¡­ it should be the added weight of my body and just the general toughness." Lin Mu guessed.


    There were bound to be a lot of actual difference when one cultivated a technique. These were the normal variations that were simply unavoidable and were actually quiet important in the long run.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    Many techniques and skills made by cultivators had actually arisen out of preexisting techniques that showed natural variations in different cultivators. The talented ones could take these minor variations and turn them into something great.


    Lin Mu had set out to make the Bronze Might Kicking techniquepatible and optimized for the Haima tribe, so this discovery was useful for him.


    ''The Haima people also have tougher bodies with good vitality, while the effect won''t be as strong, it should still be decent.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    The next part that he needed to deal with was the way the spirit Qi gained momentum in the Dantian. The Haima people had a different styled Dantian. Instead of being just a single vessel, it was three lobed.


    The biggest and main lobe of the Dantian was the same as any other, but the two smaller lobes that were attached to it were a quarter of the main. This meant that the Haima tribe effectively had one and a half timesrger Dantians than the average expert.


    But it also meant that spirit Qi wouldn''t gain momentum the same way it would in a normal Dantian. The circumference of the spinning spirit Qi would touch the two lobes, and would get disturbed because of its walls.


    There were three methods that Lin Mu coulde up with at the start.


    The first was to simply keep the circumference small such that it never touched the walls. But this meant that the full potential of the technique would not be utilized.


    The second method was to simply have a Dantian that wasrge. That way, even if they didn''t fully expand the circumference, the impact would still be the same or greater. This came with restrictions and only talented members with higher cultivation base would be able to do it.


    It was against the original goal of Lin Mu of allowing anyone from the Haima tribe use it.


    The third solution Lin Mu came up with was a simple yet difficult to implement. It involved creating not one, but three such spinning sets of spirit Qi. There would be one of such in every lobe and its size could also be adjusted ordingly.


    That way, while the circumference would be smaller, when the momentum from all three lobes wasbined it would be greater than just a single Dantian. This method came with the greatest benefit and optimization but also needed the user to be skilled at controlling spirit Qi.


    Lin Mu pondered over it for a bit before deciding on the third solution.


    ''With their talent and dedication, they should be able to execute the third method sessful. Besides, it isn''t like they just have to start from that. They can start with the first method and when they feel that they could control more, they would expand to other lobes.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    Now that he had a direction, Lin Mu got to modifying the form and spent about five days in making it. There were many fine changes he had to made as the Haima tribe had two sets of legs, making the force to be split.


    Lin Mu made it so that the could either use both legs at once, or channel the entire momentum into just a single leg for an even greater impact. Then on the sixth day, Lin Mu finally looked at his result.


    "Time to test it out." Lin Mu quickly called one of the warriors standing near his residence.


    "What do you me to do Noble Lin Mu?" The warrior asked.


    "I have a Qi skill that your tribe should be able to use." Lin Mu said before exining the skill to the man.


    It took a few minutes for the man to memorize it, but he was ready to perform it right away.


    "Let''s go to the backyard." Lin Mu said, recalling the crack he had put on the ground there.


    He didn''t want a crack to be put on the floor of his residence even if it might be smaller.


    "I''m ready," The Haima warrior said and stood in the posture.


    It was even easier for them since they had extra legs to bnce. The warrior merely lifted one of his left legs and took a deep breath. A stream of dense spirit Qi quickly entered his lungs and then into his meridians.


    The Haima tribe members were now greatly used to the breathing technique that Lin Mu had taught them, thus doing something like this was easy. Once that stream of spirit Qi entered his Dantian it quickly spun in the main lobe in a small circle.


    It momentum increased as more and more spirit Qi joined it, being pulled into the vortex.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense was observing everything, noting fine differences and errors that urred. These might not affect the utilization of the skill, but once the errors were hammered out and the flow optimized, the final result would be even better.


    After all, even if the difference was as small as 0.5%, that little fraction could spell the difference between life and death during a battle.


    ~SHUA~


    Finally, the vortex reached a sufficient circumference and the warrior channels the spirit Qi into his leg. Intense wave of spirit Qi rose from it as ayer of bronze light appeared.


    ~KACHA~


    The warrior kicked and struck the ground, directly burying it half way to his knee!

 Chapter 1268 Improving And Finalizing The Bronze Might Kick

    Chapter 1268 Improving And Finalizing The Bronze Might Kick¡¡¡¡The expression of the warrior was stuck in a daze, just like his leg was stuck in the ground.


    "Uhh¡­ Noble Lin Mu¡­ Is this supposed to happen?" The warrior was confused.


    While he was told that he would be able to exert a force far greats than before, he never thought it would directly shatter the stone ground like this. One must know, the stone ground was naturally tough and was made even more durable once Lin Mu had set up the Earth Fixing array.


    The Warrior in question was at the mid-stage of the core condensation realm and was considered one of the weaker ones among the tribe. And even someone like him had created enough force to kick through solid rock.


    Lin Mu, who watched it all with a sharp eye, nodded his head.


    "It is good." Lin Mu spoke. "Don''t worry, just pull your leg out."


    ~Crumble~


    A few small pieces of the stones fell from the warrior''s foot but no actual damage was present on his leg.


    "My leg is fine?!" The warrior was surprised.


    He thought that it should have at least scraped his skin with how much force had been used, but there was seemingly nothing. It was extremely exciting and shocking at the same time for him.


    ''A few minor adjustments are still needed. But they should be done quick.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Just by observing how the Haima Warrior used the modified Bronze Might Kicking technique, Lin Mu had learned of more ws. The ws were either rted to the irregr fluctuations of energy during the start of the kick, which lead to a slight loss of momentum.


    It wasn''t anything that would break the skill, but eliminating it would still improve the skill more. The next w that Lin Mu noted was in the bronze light that formed over the leg.


    The bronze light actually had a function and wasn''t just there for show. It was in fact, the instantaneouspression of spirit Qi that would provide the rigid surface for the hit. It also protected the legs of the person, preventing them from getting damaged.


    Even with the good defense of a Haima warrior, hard surfaces would still cause them some damage. Especially in the case of a weaker warrior at the core condensation realm.


    Noting these down, Lin Mu dismissed the warrior and told him to practice on his own. He then returned to his residence and got to hammering out the ws. This time the process was fast and in just a couple of hours, Lin Mu was done.


    "That should improve the flow as well as keep the defense intact." Lin Mu rubbed his bristled chin.


    His beard had started to grow back and was growing faster than ever before. If it weren''t for the fact that Lin Mu had been shaving it every couple of days, his face would have been covered in hair.


    ''At least it doesn''t take me longer than a couple of seconds to do it.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The way he shaved was by letting metal attribute spirit Qi imbued with sword intent flow over his face. It would perfectly shave off the hair and save his time.


    "Maybe I''ll just let it grow after a while¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he walked out of the residence.


    And just as he was about to holler for a guard, one came rushing towards it.


    "Nobel Lin Mu! You''re already done?" this was none other than the Haima Warrior, who was the first to learn the kicking technique.


    "Oh you''re here still. That''ll make it a bit easier topare." Lin Mu said with a nod.


    "Compare what?" the Haima Tribe warrior asked.


    "Just remember what I''m about to teach you for now. It''s simr to the skill from before, but just with some adjustments." Lin Mu said before exining the new and improved version of the Bronze Might Kicking Technique.


    Having learned it once already, it barely took the warrior any time to memorize it. The changes were only minor in the manual, but the effect would still be apparent.


    "Demonstrate the new version for me now.." Lin Mu instructed.


    "Yes, Noble Lin Mu!" The warrior responded promptly.


    In the short two hours that Lin Mu had spent in tweaking the final aspects of the technique, the Haima Warrior had already gone around showing it off to other members of his n.


    If it weren''t for the fact that he was an assigned guard, he would have long gone around the tribe, showing off his new skill and power.


    But Lin Mu''s authority kept him in ce. Not to mention, he didn''t want to go away at all after learning the power of the skill.


    ''The more I stay with Nobel Lin Mu, the more might learn. I should stay with him.'' The warrior thought internally.


    Lin Mu didn''t know what was going through the man''s mind and neither did he knew just how much excitement he had created for the man. His focus returned and he nced at the Haima Warrior utilizing the Qi skill.


    This time both of his left legs were raised, with one of them even straightened out upwards.


    ~SHUA~


    A momentum started to build up in the warriors Dantian before it reached the maximum circumference and was unsealed into his legs.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~


    Two craters were created in the ground at once, and spider web like cracks spread across its area. While the impact wasn''t as deep as before, Lin Mu could see that the warrior was a lot better at controlling it.


    He had also increased the speed slightly.


    "The improvement is significant on just the second try." Lin Mu was pleased.


    "Go, call for everyone. It is time for a mass lesson." Lin Mu ordered.


    "I shall do it at once!" The Haima Warrior ran through the streets, heading straight for Elder Niji''s ce. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu simply sat there and watched as an entire tribe gathered near his residence within the hour.


    "Now we''ll start the real lesson!"

 Chapter 1269 Rising Talent

    Chapter 1269 Rising Talent¡¡¡¡~HAAA~


    ~BOOM~


    ~HAAA~


    ~BOOM~


    The sound of grunts and small explosion were heard non stop around the mountain of the Haima Tribe. Tens of thousands of Haima tribe members were spread around, covering arge span of area.


    They had spread so much that the furthest Haima Tribe member was within a hundred meters of the Broken Chasm. Something like this would normally be avoided as much as possible, but now there was a member practicing his moves.


    The tribe members all raised one of their legs and kicked down, cracking the ground, creating craters or even making fissures.


    What happened to the ground depended on the skill and strength of each member. All of them followed the same method, or rather the Qi skill that Lin Mu had modified; the Bronze Might Kicking Technique.


    About a month ago, Lin Mu had finished the final version and taught it to the entire tribe. And now today, almost everyone had mastered the basics while a handful few had already reached the highest level with it.


    Lin Mu had divided the Modified Bronze Might Kicking Technique into three levels. The first was called One Lobe Circle. In this the Haima member would only gather momentum in one lobe of their Dantian. It was the easiest but also the weakest.


    The second level was the Two Lobe circle, in which they would gather momentum in two of their lobes. Keeping the order, the third level was called Three Lobe Circle and used all three lobes of their Dantian.


    With each lobe being added, the power of the skill would multiply. One the Two Noble Circle, the power would be twice as the first lobe, while on the Three Lobe Circle the power would be Three times as much as the Second Lobe.


    Thus the difference between One Lobe Circle and Three Lobe Circle was of about six times!


    ~BOOM!~


    Within the many explosions and ground cracking kicks, one stood out explicitly.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu who was standing upon the mountain and observing everyone caught it. "Another one reached the Three Lobe Circle." He noted.


    In the distance, Lin Mu could see a Haima warrior with dense spirit Qi waves circling around him.


    "Ah, one of the scouts. No wonder." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    The scouts were the strongest warriors of the tribe and were right below Head Warrior Kulo. After learning to cultivate, their cultivation base was the highest in the tribes and nearly half of them had already reached the Dao Shell realm.


    This scout was one of them and had justprehended the final level of the Bronze Might Kicking Technique.


    "To the Second Group!" Lin Mu called out, his voice traveling directly to the ears of the scout.


    The man looked up and cupped his hands in salute before walking to the side of the mountain. Here all those that had reached the Three Lobe Circle were sparring. This included Head Warrior Kulo.


    "Aolo!" The sparring warriors saw a new person joining them.


    "You''re here too. Good!" Head Warrior Kulo praised.


    "Shall I spar with someone?" Aolo asked.


    "Of course, I''ll do it myself. Let me witness your improvements." Head Warrior Kulo said as he walked to the other side.


    "I hope I do not disappoint you." Aolo replied.


    Kulo looked at his junior warrior and entered a battle stance. Almost immediately his aura changed to that of strength. He was like a valiant general ready to fight till the end of his life.


    Not just that, but the spirit Qi wavesing from his body were also great. They were already at the peak of the Dao shell realm.


    ''If it weren''t for the fact that he needs toprehend the Dao traces to give birth to a Dao embryo, he might have already reached the Dao Treading realm.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    In this past one month, he had seen the Haima people progress at a breakneck speed. It easily exceeded his own cultivation speed and was simply iparable to most humans. The more the Haima cultivated, the more their potential was unearthed.


    Instead of slowing down after some growth, it only kept on increasing. Lin Mu was quite sure it would teau at a certain point, but that had not happened yet.


    "For a tribe this talented and strong to be exiled¡­ something really great must have happened." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He knew that the Haima Tribe had the ability to cultivate in the past and was stipted in their tribe history as well. But after being exiled they had lost all their inheritance of cultivation.


    To Lin Mu, it didn''t seem like such a strong tribe would have been exiled easily.


    "Considering their current growth and past height, they definitely had immortals among them. It''s a bit fishy¡­" Lin Mu guessed.


    Whatever it may be, Lin Mu and the tribe would simply have to wait until it is revealed. Even if their history was wiped out in the kingdoms, there was bound to be some records left over.


    ~WHOOSH~


    "AH!"


    Lin Mu was brought out of his thoughts, by a sudden grunt of pain. He looked over and saw that one of the sparring warriors had been knocked away by his partner. It was nothing unusual and had already happened several times before.


    But what happened next made Lin Mu raise his brows.


    "I won''t lose just like that!" The warrior who had been sent flying backwards said mid-air.


    If he kept his current trajectory, he would fall on his head. But instead of that, the man propped himself on his hands and stood on it. Then while doing a handstand, he actually executed the Bronze Might Kicking Technique!


    Lin Mu''s brows rose even more when he saw the way the warrior was using it.


    Two opposite legs of the warrior glowed in a bronze light before he kicked out. But instead of hitting something, it only made him spin like a top and sent him flying forwards at a great speed.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Using his hands as the pivot, the warrior kept on spinning and was like a fast top. His legs continued to glow in a bronze light and flickered. Lin Mu found it to be a bit strange, so focused on it closely, figuring out why.


    ''He''s alternating using different legs, to keep on kicking. That way he''s maintaining the momentum¡­'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    The spinning warrior''s partner was caught off guard and the distance between them was narrowed down within two seconds. The spinning motion actually allowed the warrior to move faster than their sprinting speed.


    It was rather surprising since their normal sprinting speed was already quite fast.


    ~thud~thud~thud~thud~thud~


    Finally, the spinning warrior struck his opponent, hitting him several times in a second before sending him back flying.


    ~shua~


    With that, the spinning warrior finally came to a stop and let his body down.


    "Damn! Are you okay?" The formerly spinning warrior asked, realizing he might have gone a little far.Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "I''m okay¡­ just sore now." His opponent replied from the distance whileying on the ground.


    The other warriors went to pick the man up, and saw bruises on his body.


    "I think I have some cracked ribs¡­" the injured warrior said, feeling pain in his chest.


    ~thud~


    Lin Munded next to them and spoke, "let me take a look."


    His spirit sense extended and checked the internal injuries.


    "Mmmhmm, cracked ribs indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to do that. I got lost in the fight." The spinning warrior said.


    "It''s okay. I don''t me you." The injured warrior said with a smile. "But what was that attack? How did you do that?" he questioned.


    "Yeah, that was really different!" the others chimed in as well.


    "Looks like you learned something even I didn''t think of." Lin Mu praised.


    "It just came to my mind. I realized when we kick out, our bodies are also forced in that direction. Which made me think, if I use opposite legs, I might be able to increase the momentum even more." The warrior said.


    "You''ve gotten smarter, Shilo." Head Warrior Kulo said, feeling happy.


    "Haha," Shiloughed, feeling happy at the acknowledgment.


    "You should teach that to others. I reckon it will allow you all to have another great skill." Lin Mu suggested.


    "I shall, Noble Lin Mu." Shilo replied.


    "I''ll heal him in the mean time." Lin Mu said before cing a hand on the injured warriors chest.


    ~Huu~


    He then took a deep breath, and executed the Healing skill he had obtained from Huyun Chuan. It had taken Lin Mu some time to learn it and while he wasn''t even at the first stage of the healing technique, it was still enough to heal injuries like this.


    Lin Mu''s hand glowed in a gentle green light as wisps of healing energy entered the chest of the injured warrior. The waves of energy were like the gentle touch of a mother and caressed the cracked ribs.


    They started to heal at a visible pace and five minutester, all damage was eliminated. Even the bruises on his skin had faded away, leaving behind the normal tone.


    "There you go." Lin Mu lifted his hand.


    "Thank you, Noble Lin Mu." The warrior said with gratitude.


    "You can return to practice now." Lin Mu said before returning to his watch post.


    He had learned quite a bit from the Haima Tribe''s practice, and this new method was only making him more excited.


    "Who knows what more they willprehend¡­" Lin Mu muttered with a slight smile on his face.

 Chapter 1270 Heavy Anxiety And Burning Desire

    Chapter 1270 Heavy Anxiety And Burning Desire¡¡¡¡Lin Mu had returned to his residence after night had fallen upon the Land of Exile. The day of training for the Haima tribe ended, and they all returned to rest and cultivate as well. Tonight Lin Mu was also going to rest.


    ~huu~


    "Been a while since I properly slept¡­ I just analyzed and learned in this time." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he sat on the bed.


    He nced at the twin snakes sleeping on the pillow next to him and nodded his head.


    ''They''ve been asleep for a week too.'' Lin Mu recalled.


    He had learned little about the twin baby snakes since the time they had been born. Till now, he only knew that they needed to consume food that was rich in Yin or Yang Qi to nurture themselves.


    Lin Mu had also given them some Beast Qi, but it didn''t actually satisfy their hunger. It actually didn''t show any effect on them. This prompted Lin Mu to think that perhaps they were beyond the point where Beast Qi would help them.


    ''Or the amount of Beast Qi they need to consume in order for there to be any effect is a lot more than before.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Another thing Lin Mu learned about the Twin snakes was their strength. While their cultivation base was at the Nascent soul realm, their actual power was enough to go against even a Peak Dao Shell realm cultivator or beast.


    And even that was something Lin Mu only knew because they had killed Chasm Beasts of that strength. Lin Mu guessed that they might be even stronger, but since there was no stronger Chasm Beast that they hade across, there was no reference.


    ''I can''t test them out in a fight myself either. They can definitely get injured.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Thus Lin Mu had basically run out of references topare the Twin snakes against. He could only hope that he might find some record about them somewhere. Perhaps even in this world.


    ~Sigh~


    "Let''s just go to sleep for now¡­ who knows when the people will being to get Huyun Chuan." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he took out his favorite White Bolster andid his head on it.


    The White Bolster had been with him since the very start and was one of the starting things he had obtained from the rifts. It was definitely the best pillow he had felt and its materials were truly good.


    After resting his head on the bolster, Lin Mu soon fell asleep. He didn''t enter the Sleepscape and simply slept normally.


    Lin Mu saw several dreams. Memories of his past, his childhood, and of hispanions from Xiaofan world. Some were good, some sad, but they all were a part of him. His sleeping face even had a gentle smile on it.


    But somewhere along the string of dreams, Lin Mu''s smile turned into a frown.


    All of a sudden, the dream that he was in shattered into fragments, leaving him in an empty dark space.


    "Find¡­." A longing voice echoed.


    "What¡­" Lin Mu looked around but couldn''t see anything.


    He couldn''t even tell where the voice wasing from.


    "Find¡­" The voice echoed again.


    This time, it felt like it wasing from all directions.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu couldn''t tell. ''Doesn''t feel like a dream.''


    He looked at his hands and body, finding them to be clearly visible. This was strange since the entire area was pitch ck and yet his body could be seen by him. It only served to confuse him.


    "Let''s just wake up for now¡­" Lin Mu decided.


    Having gone to Sleepscape hundreds of times, waking up was like turning on a switch to Lin Mu.


    "Huh! What?!" But as a shock to him, no matter how much he tried, he couldn''t wake up at all.


    Just as Lin Mu was wondering what was happening, he felt a pain in his chest.


    "ARGH!" He cried out.


    The pain was strange, a mix of heavy anxiety and sheer unease.


    "What is¡­ happening¡­" he unknowingly started to pant.


    "Find¡­ it¡­" The voice echoed once more.


    Lin Mu''s ears registered the second word and focused on it.


    "Find it¡­ Find Me¡­"


    "Find you?" Lin Mu spoke in confusion. "Who are you?"


    "Find it¡­ Find Me¡­ Find the rest of me!" The voice spoke, getting louder.


    Now Lin Mu knew that there was someone contacting him; through what means though, he didn''t know.


    ~SHUA~


    Then in the next moment, a blinding sh of colors assaulted Lin Mu''s eyes. The pitch ck space was illuminated and a scene was presented to him.


    In front of Lin Mu was arge mountain range and two concentric circles of multicolored light floated in the air.


    The outer circle was split into two colors, one being purple and the other being azure, while the inner circle was split into five colors: green, blue, red, brown, and yellow.


    Seeing them, a memory resurfaced from the depths of Lin Mu''s mind.


    "This¡­ I remember this!" Lin Mu recalled a dream he had seen a long time ago.


    It was back when he had gone out to hunt Steel Back wolves, along with the people of the Hei corps. He was resting in a tent when he had seen this dream. Though when he had woken up, he had basically forgotten about it.


    Lin Mu didn''t know why he had forgotten it, nor did he know why he was seeing it now. A few momentster though, the scene changed a little, as a silhouette appeared next to Lin Mu.


    "Who''s this?" Lin Mu wondered. ''Is it me?''


    But looking closely, he found the figure to be shorter than him. The figure was about five foot four inches tall and looked like that of a child.


    "That''s not me¡­ even when I had that dream before, I was taller than that." Lin Mu remembered.


    He kept on observing the figure, trying to make out who or what it was. The only thing that Lin Mu could somewhat tell was that it was a male figure. A few secondster, the figure moved and took a step forward. Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and was on alert for anything dangerous.


    He couldn''t use any of his cultivation base or even his physical strength here though, which only made it tough for him to figure out how he would fight if the situation arose.


    But surprisingly, that didn''t happen.


    Instead, he saw the figure walking towards the glowing circles of light anding to a stop below them. He then extended his hand, reaching out to the concentric circles of light.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And when he did, the circles turned into a single ray that rushed towards the figure''s hand.


    "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" Lin Mu cried out.


    A burning desire filled his heart, making him feel like he was losing something. The desire was for the circle of lights, but there was no reasoning behind it. Lin Mu simply ''desired'' it innately.


    The desire came from deep within him, making him feel lost.


    He started to run after the figure, but before he even reached half way to him, the entire scene turned into dust and faded into nothingness.


    "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! NOOO!" A roaring cry echoed across the entire Haima tribe as Lin Mu woke up screaming.


    It sent waves of fear in the tribe and alerted the higher ups.


    "What happened!?" The warriors of the tribe rushed to Lin Mu''s residence.


    Elder Niji who was deep in cultivation, had woken up just moments before Lin Mu''s scream, feeling uneasy. And when he heard the scream, his heart fell.


    "Noble Lin Mu!" he directly broke through the roof of his residence, leaping across to Lin Mu''s residence.


    He didn''t know what had happened to Lin Mu, but it didn''t feel anything good from the scream.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    Within seconds of Lin Mu''s scream, Elder Niji had entered his residence. The other warriors of the Haima tribe were also rushing towards it, while Head Warrior Kulo could be seen soaring over the tribe.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    The door was directly broken as Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo rushed in.


    There they saw Lin Mu.


    His fingers and hands were twitching while he stood with a strange expression. It felt like a mixture of rage and anxiety, while a violent aura surrounded him.


    "What is this¡­" Elder Niji was at a loss.


    ~HISS~


    Even the twin snakes woke up and gazed at Lin Mu warily.


    Lin Mu felt like there were bugs crawling all over his skin, and it felt incredibly itchy. Not just that, but an intense desire filled every bit of his body while a distant calling was heard in his mind.


    The itch felt like what an addict would feel from withdrawal, and the desire was equally great.


    But what was the addiction or the desire?


    Even Lin Mu didn''t know that. All he knew was that he needed to follow the calling if he wanted this feeling to go away.


    "You called for me¡­ fine then¡­ I''lle find you¡­" Lin Mu said, his voice like the freezing water of the arctic.


    Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo who heard Lin Mu''s voice, trembled.


    ''What happened to his voice¡­ why does it feel like it isn''t him speaking¡­?'' Elder Niji wondered.


    But Head Warrior Kulo felt something else.


    ''Why does it feel like it isn''t just his voice¡­ there seem to be more people speaking¡­'' Kulo thought.


    All this while, Lin Mu''s aura continued to re, expanding more and more. It covered Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo, until it finally covered the entire tribe!

 Chapter 1271 Unease And Fear

    Chapter 1271 Unease And Fear¡¡¡¡The Haima tribe had a violent aura looming over it.


    Every person within it could feel it and the closer they were to the source, the worse they felt. On some level, the aura felt more dangerous than the Chasm Beasts. The warriors of the tribes who had battled them often could easilypare this.


    ''What is happening?'' the warriors didn''t know that the source of the aura was none other than Lin Mu whom they were running to check on.


    Only Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo knew of the reality as they were witnessing it with their own two eyes.


    "Noble Lin¡ª" And just as Elder Niji was about to speak up, the violent aura faded away in an instant.


    It was as if it never existed. But the cold sweat covering their backs and foreheads showed that they all had really felt it. It was not an illusion, nor was it a hallucination. The Haima tribe members all took a breath of relief.


    Those that were weaker directly copsed, while those that were stronger held on. But even then, they all felt quite tired. It was as if they had worked for a day non-stop and were exhausted from that.


    But that was simply not true. The exhaustion was the effect of the violent aura that had suppressed them. Even if it was just for a few seconds, it was still impactful.


    "Noble Lin Mu, what¡­" Elder Niji wanted to speak but was gestured by Lin Mu to stop.


    "Leave me be for a while¡­ do not let anyone get close to this ce." Lin Mu stated firmly.


    "I¡­ I understand." Elder Niji replied hesitantly.


    He turned around and gestured for Kulo to follow him with his eyes.


    They left the residence and walked some distance away where they saw the warriors of the tribe waiting.


    "What happened, Elder?" They questioned in confusion and fear.


    "Everything is fine. You all need to concern yourselves." Elder Niji answered. "Noble Lin Mu wants to stay in seclusion for the time being, so ensure nobody goes to disturb him." Hemanded.


    "Y-yes!" the warriors hurriedly replied while Elder Niji walked away.


    Head Warrior Kulo followed behind Elder Niji, and did not speak until they reached the elder''s residence.


    "Elder Niji, that was not normal." Head Warrior Kulo spoke.


    "I know¡­ but we shouldn''t interfere in his matters." Elder Niji replied.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    "But you''ve seen that aura¡­ it was of pure violence. It was as if I was facing a Great Chasm Beast, one that couldpare to an Immortal." Head Warrior Kulo said, a hint of fear on his face.


    "That is true. But we know that Noble Lin Mu can be trusted. He''s already helped us all this time, and there is no reason for him to cause us harm." Elder Niji spoke.


    "But that demeanor, I don''t know if Noble Lin Mu is fine." Head Warrior Kulo said with concern.


    "You saw his face then, too. It was that of anger. Tell me, when would some have that level of anger on their face?" Elder Niji asked.


    Head Warrior Kulo thought to himself for a minute before speaking.


    "When something or someone precious to them is harmed?" Head Warrior Kulo guessed.


    "Mmhmm¡­ that was anger that was directed towards someone. While we do not know who that is, we can say for sure it is not any of us." Elder Niji replied.


    "But how can you be so sure, elder?" Kulo asked.


    "Do you think any of us would be alive right now if that anger was really directed towards us?" Elder Niji asked in repose.


    "That¡­ is true¡­" Kulo couldn''t deny it.


    He had seen Lin Mu''s strength more than once and knew just how strong the young man was. If he really wanted to, he could probably tten the entire tribe on his own.


    "Besides, you heard what he said before that, right?" Elder Niji questioned.


    "Y-yes¡­ something about finding someone?" Head Warrior Kulo answered.


    "Exactly. That might be the reason why he was so angry." Elder Niji reckoned.


    "But there isn''t anyone here. How could someone have enraged Noble Lin Mu like that?" Head Warrior Kulo wondered.


    "There are many methods of sending a message among the immortals. I wouldn''t be surprised if someone used that to taunt noble Lin Mu or do something to him unknown to us." Elder Niji guessed.


    "Mmm¡­ we can only wait then." Head Warrior Kulo replied.


    "Yes, wait and watch. While also following the objectives given by Noble Lin Mu." Elder Niji stated. "He''s already taught us how to get stronger, so we should do that. The stronger we are, the better our chances of survival when we leave this forsakennd." He added.


    "That is indeed true." Head Warrior Kulo agreed. "I shall return to prepare forter then."


    "Go ahead. I''ll deal with some matters here on my own." Elder Niji said before returning to his study above.


    Faint light spilled from the hole in the ceiling, illuminating the stairs and the floors.


    Unknown to Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo, Lin Mu was still standing in his residence. His expression had turned nk now, but the uneasy feeling around him had not gone away yet.


    The twin snakes were especially concerned and couldn''t take it anymore.


    ~hiss~


    They leaped from their pillow and wrapped around Lin Mu''s neck before rubbing against him.


    Lin Mu gazed at them, and his expression eased up.


    "That''s right¡­ I can''t get carried away like this." Lin Mu spoke. "I need to focus¡­ just what could be the source of this intense and burning desire?" he wondered.


    The itchy and anxious feeling still filled his body and irritated his skin. If it weren''t for Lin Mu''s high tolerance to pain and difort, he might have just scraped away his skin.


    Closing his eyes, Lin Mu first chanted the Severing Heart Sutra, cutting away the intense desire. Then he chanted the Calming Heart sutra, nullifying any remnant effects of the dream.


    Only then did he take a breath of relief.

 Chapter 1272 Embryo Growth Stage Of The Dao Treading Realm

    Chapter 1272 Embryo Growth Stage Of The Dao Treading Realm¡¡¡¡Lin Mu''s brain was hard at work, trying to find out what it was that waspelling him to go to the east.


    He could sense a calling in his mind, and it was vaguely pointing him in a certain direction which Lin Mu knew was east due to the information provided by Huyun Chuan.


    ''Considering that dream¡­ or whatever it was, this desire is probably for those two light circles. But why? Why do I want it so much?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    But no matter how much he thought, he couldn''te up with a reason. It was like a mystery that was obscure to him.


    ~Sigh~


    "Seems like the only way is to head out and find it myself¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    But even if he didn''t know what the object of his desire was, he did know that it was current in the hands of someone else.


    ''There is bound to be conflict, if I''m to take it from that person¡­ And considering that standard of the Rust Sky world, there is a great chance they are in the Immortal realm. I can''t just go against them at my current level. I''ll need to get stronger¡­'' Lin Mu pondered.


    Even if that person wasn''t in the Immortal realm, Lin Mu still needed to get stronger as there were a lot of dangers in the Rust Sky world. Just to get out of the Land of Exile along would be a hellish task.


    If anything, the stronger Lin Mu was, the easier it would be to aplish his goals.


    If one looked at him right now, they would see that Lin Mu''s eyes were filled with a drive that almost bordered on obsession. One could even say they were tinged with hints of insanity, but that would be hard to confirm.


    But Lin Mu''s actions showed that he really was obsessed. He cultivated non stop and gathered as much spirit Qi as he could. The Haima tribe didn''t even send him any stone mushrooms as he didn''t want to be disturbed.


    Lin Mu simply depended on his own absorption speed to continue cultivating.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    Perhaps it was due to his burning desire. The speed of his spirit Qi absorption had reached a new level. The Haima tribe''s members could see a vortex of spirit Qi constantly spinning above Lin Mu''s residence.


    This actually served to make them relived as well as motivate them to cultivate harder too. To them, the reason why Lin Mu had gone into seclusion was to simply grow stronger. They all wanted to leave the Land of Exile one day and hoped that it woulde soon.


    But to ensure that they could live to that day, they had to grow stronger. Stronger at any cost!


    While Lin Mu''s spirit Qi reserves continued to climb, hisprehension of the Dao Traces was also growing. He didn''t know why, but he could now sense them a lot clearly and felt the profundities of the Earth within his Dao Embryo.


    The True Earth Heart Dao Embryo was a unique Dao Embryo, and thus it was up to Lin Mu to unearth its secrets.


    Lin Mu could feel it gently beating within his Dantian. With each beat, each throb, he felt like the earth spoke to him. It whispered its secrets and mysteries within his ears, making him lost within them.


    Unknowingly, Lin Mu entered a state of trance and didn''t realize the change in his Dao Embryo. It was now slightly bigger than before.


    This continued to happen while Lin Mu''sprehension deepened. It wasn''t until an entire month passed did he finally wake up from his trance.


    ~SHUA~


    ~THUD~ THUD~ THUD~ THUD~


    And when he did, a wave of pressure spread all over the tribe. Everyone felt like the air had gotten heavier and even their own bodies felt twice as heavy.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes, and they glowed in a brown light. Looking deep into them, one would be able to nce at the countless profound runes that flickered in and out of existence, presenting the secrets of the Dao.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu inhaled deeply and calmed down the fast beating Dao Embryo.


    ~shua~


    The pressure exuding from it also faded away with it, allowing the members of the tribe to calm down. Most of them didn''t know what had happened, but there were a couple that had a hunch about it.


    Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo looked towards Lin Mu''s residence.


    "He broke through¡­" Both of them had the same words.


    And it was indeed true. Lin Mu had achieved a breakthrough after a long time and was now at the Embryo Growth Stage of the Dao Treading realm.


    "Seems like my Dao Embryo is fifty percentrger¡­" Lin Mu observed it within his Dantian.


    After watching it for a few seconds, he willed it to appear outside.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s Dao Shell flew out of his Dantian and came out of his abdomen. Then, from itspressed size of a marble, it expanded to about five meters wide. This was thergest it could grow while fitting inside the residence.


    But even this was enough for Lin Mu to observe his Dao Embryo carefully.


    The Heart made out of rocks, soil and mud continued to beat, and each beat was like the thrumming of the earth. It was not something that could be exined, but only felt.


    Looking at the True Earth Heart, it was about the size of a hand with its fingers stretched wide. Before this, it was about the size of a normal human heart.


    Lin Mu raised his hand and ced it over the Dao Shell, controlling the Dao Embryo within.


    ~HONG~


    Then in the next moment, a heavy pressure appeared underneath it. Even though the Dao Shell was floating in the air, the floor under it still saved in.


    ~CRACK~


    A circr depression about five meters wide was created under it.


    "So this is the Full form of the Dao Embryo skill of the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo: Aspect of Heaviness." Lin Mu understood.

 Chapter 1273 Aspect Of Heaviness

    Chapter 1273 Aspect Of Heaviness¡¡¡¡Back when Lin Mu had originally birthed his Dao Embryo, he only knew of its name and the basic ability which allowed it to make various forms of earth, like soil, rocks, stones and mud.


    Later on, as he learned more about the True Earth Heart, he learned of its Dao Skill. It allowed him to form a Heavy Aura around the Embryo as well as himself, which could extend to a certain extent, slowing down things that came into the range.


    Only during the battle with the northern Tribes when he fully activated and used it against cultivators did he realize that there was more to it. His understanding increased even further when he saw the head elder of the Northern tribe use his own earth attribute skill.


    It was petrification and would also slow down whoever that was affected by it. The effect of ''slowness'' was still there, even though the method was different. Lin Mu pondered on this and increased hisprehension even more.


    Until now, when he finally had his breakthrough to the Embryo Growth stage did heprehend the Dao Skill further. Lin Mu realized that the Heavy Aura was barely him scratching the surface.


    It was just the preliminary form of his Dao Skill.


    The Full form was actually revealed now, it was the ''Aspect Of Heaviness''.


    Lin Mu discovered that with the Dao Skill, he could increase the weight of any object within a five meter range. The increase in weight would depend on the type of object as well as how much energy Lin Mu was willing to put into it.


    For objects that were under someone else''s control, such as arrays, spirit tools, or even other''s bodies, Lin Mu would not be able to affect them fully. But for inanimate and uncontrolled objects he would be able to affect them greatly.


    As for the objects that he owned and controlled, he would have the maximum effect on them.


    "Let''s test it out then¡­" Lin Mu muttered before getting to work.


    He had already tested the basics out on the floor in front of him. The floor was an inanimate object and thus the effect on it was great. But there was still the question of how much the difference in weight really was.


    Thus to figure that out, Lin Mu first picked and took out a scale and some metal ingots from his ring. They had been there for a long time and would be perfect for his use now. The ingots were all of various weights, but the ones that were of 1 Kilogram would be perfect for his use.


    Lin Mu first ced it on the scale and calibrated it to make sure that it really was 1 kilogram. Then he used the Aspect Of Heaviness on it.


    ~CLANG~


    The pan in which the ingot was kept in directly sank, hitting the bottom of the scale. Then while keeping it active, Lin Mu put ingots of 1 kilogram on the other side of the scale, increasing the weight one by one.


    "Hmm¡­ about five kilograms." Lin Mu was surprised.


    The Aspect of Heaviness had multiplied the weight of the ingot by about five times. While the increase from one kilogram to five kilograms might not seem, if the initial weight was increased, the multiplying weight would also be greater.


    For example, a 500 Kilogram heavy carriage would be 2500 kilograms heavy. This wouldpletely make it unusable. Not to mention, it might just break apart from its own weight.


    Lin Mu didn''t know what the upper limit of this was, but he was sure he would eventually discover it. After all, if he could increase the range and apply it to arge object like a mountain, he might just be able to make them crumble under its own weight.


    Done with the first test, Lin Mu moved on to other types of objects. After testing out different materials Lin Mu confirmed that the effect was the same for all kinds of objects in the same category.


    Then came time for Lin Mu to test the objects that he owned himself.


    "The short sword will be perfect for this." Lin Mu muttered and took it out.


    The short sword floated and came to sit on the pan of the scale. It allowed Lin Mu to see its weight which was about 2.5 kilograms. The short sword had always been light but fast to use.


    "Aspect of Heaviness¡­" Lin Mu applied the Dao Skill on the short sword and saw an increase.


    ~CLANG~


    The pan of the scale hit the bottom instantly and created a rather loud sound.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    Lin Mu then added weights to the counter pan, getting the current weight of the sword.


    "Twenty five kilograms¡­ This is ten times¡­" Lin Mu was shocked.


    It was double the amount of weight increase for the inanimate objects.


    ''If it''s ten times increase for the objects that I own, then it should apply to my own body too, right?'' Lin Mu thought and decided to test it out.


    He already knew his own body weight from before, but knew he wouldn''t be able to test the weight after the Aspect of Heaviness was applied to it. There simply wasn''t any equipment he would be able to use to test it.


    But so far from his tests, he knew that the effect was absolute. What he needed to test was whether he himself could handle the increase or not.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath first and focused on himself. His spirit sense was alert and monitoring every inch of his body. After all, the aspect of Heaviness applied to every part equally, so his normal defenses might not be enough to bear it.


    After all, his toughness came from his Skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. They were also the ones that prevented any damage from passing into his body. But considering the effect of the Aspect of Heaviness, it wouldn''t just apply to them, but also his internal organs.


    Having a Xiantian Physique and also being at the fourth level of the Five Treasures Realm, Lin Mu had a tough body and tough organs, but there was still a limit to what the organs might be able to bear without getting damaged.


    "HAA!" Lin Mu let out a grunt as the Aspect of Heaviness activated, making him feel the increase almost instantly.


    ~KACHA~N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    The ground below him sank and caved in with Lin Mu''s body sinking nearly ten meters before stopping.


    Just Lin Mu''s normal weight was enough to crack and sink the ground with every step, making him nullify it by using his cultivation base as the counter force. It was simr to flying, but the force was just on his body alone.


    Lin Mu was lucky that in the Rust Sky world he was still able to use this effect despite the fact that he couldn''t fly here. At first, he was confused but then realized that the inability to fly was actually to do with the spirit Qi spread in the air rather than his own body.


    Thus he could still use spirit Qi as a counterforce to make his body''s weight manageable.


    But now that he had used the Aspect of Heaviness, he was no longer maintaining the Counterforce. Or rather, he simply couldn''t as the weight had gone beyond the limit that Lin Mu could handle.


    "Ugh! This is too much." Lin Mu felt like he was holding a mountain with every inch of his body.


    It was different than carrying something heavy as the load from that would only be on his bones, muscles and skin. But right now it was being exerted on every organ, every cell of his body!


    Lin Mu couldn''t even move a finger, not to mention move at this point.


    ''I have to stop this!'' Lin Mu''s spirit sense detected fine tears appearing on his organs, prompting him to deactivate the aspect of Heaviness.


    "Haa¡­ HAA¡­ Haaa¡­" Lin Mu panted with exhaustion as pain filled his body.


    He crawled out of the hole he had made with his body andy on the ground. His face and back were covered with sweat while his eyes were bloodshot. Some vessels had even burst and blood spots could be seen in his eyes.


    "Yeah¡­ this is not usable like this¡­" Lin Mu reckoned.


    The danger was far too much. The risks outweighed the gains of using the Dao Skill like this.


    Lin Mu had originally thought that he could use the Aspect of Heaviness on his body and use it while attacking. It would greatly increase the force of an attack.


    But now he knew that doing that might just hurt himself more. Even his body cultivation wasn''t enough to bear such an increase in weight.


    ''The main issue is with my vessels, organs and other soft tissues of my body. My muscles, bones and skin are fine¡­'' Lin Mu concluded.


    "If I''ve to use it, I need to modte the range of the effect."

 Chapter 1274 Modulation With Focus

    Chapter 1274 Modtion With Focus¡¡¡¡At the current range of the Aspect of Heaviness, Lin Mu would find it impossible to use. But if he managed to reduce it or limit, it effects only certain parts of his body, he might still be able to make use of it.


    "Hmm¡­ I can certainly reduce the range of it." Lin Mu said after resting for a bit.


    He stood up and targeted one of the many stones that were lying around after his previous actions. The stone was about half an inch in size and was mixed with several tens of other stones of varying sizes.


    With a little focus, Lin Mu effectively targeted only one out of the many others.


    ~TACK~


    A faint sound was heard as the stone tilted on its broken edge before rolling down the bent ground. It was evident that the increased weight had finally made it move and also confirmed Lin Mu''s guess.


    "Well¡­ no issues in controlling a small area by reducing the range." Lin Mu nodded his head. "But this is for an independent object. Will this apply to only a part of the object?" he wondered.


    Lin Mu continued his trials, and it took him a few hours before he actually managed to reduce the effect to only a part of an object.


    "This is a lot more difficult to control. If I lose focus for even a second, it spreads all over the object." Lin Mu muttered to himself before wiping away the sweat from his nose.


    It took Lin Mu hundreds of tries; he be had finally managed to reduce the effective area of the Dao Skill. Albeit he could only maintain the control for about five seconds. But five seconds was more that''s enough for him to use it on his body.


    ~Huu~


    "Let''s try it on my body now. That''s the main goal after all." Lin Mu perked himself up.


    He focused on his fist before activating the Dao skill.


    ~BANG~


    "SHIT!" Lin Mu was unable to handle the sudden increase in the weight and fell down, hitting the ground and cracking it once more.


    His right fist was like a sledgehammer pounding a new hole into the ground.


    ''Need to do it again... This time be a little more prepared.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he deactivated the Dao Skill.


    He tried it all again, but didn''t fall likest time.


    "There we go¡­ that''s better." Lin Mu gazed at his hand, that was lightly glowing in a brown and yellow light.


    The affected area of his hand was only till his wrist, thus Lin Mu could now use it freely. And unlike before, when he felt like all his organs were being torn, it didn''t feel painful at all.


    Other than some difort due to the increased weight, Lin Mu was fine.


    After all, the weight of his fist was a lot lower than the weight of his entire body, even if it had been increased by ten times.


    Having felt it properly for the first time, Lin Mu cocked back his arm and punched out.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Just the sheer force of the hand pushed away the air, creating a draft that made dust fly around him.


    "Mmm¡­ I''ll test out the specifics outside. Doing here is¡­ a little too much." Lin Mu said as he looked around at the damage that had been spread in his residence.


    Thankfully, his bedroom was still spared, so it didn''t matter. But Lin Mu didn''t want to go too far and make the entire ce copsed. It was already doubtful with the ten meter deep hole that had been made in the floor.


    The cracks from it were already spreading all around the area.


    ~HAAA~


    Lin Mu let out a tired breath and decided to just rest for the day.


    "I''ll do the test on controlled and owned objects tomorrow." Lin Mu said before dragging himself to the bedroom.


    He fell asleep quickly and appeared in the Sleepscape.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as he did, he felt a gust of wind covering his body.


    "Wait for a second¡­ this isn''t wind¡­ this is¡­ Wood attribute spirit Qi?" Lin Mu felt a refreshing feelinging from the wind.


    It swiftly entered his body and made him feel a lot morefortable. Even the fine ache that he still felt in his body was being wiped away with it.


    ''It wasn''t like this thest time I came here¡­'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    It had been a few months since Lin Mu had entered the Sleepscape. Thest time he entered it was long before he had that dream, which filled him with an unknown desire. Since that day, he couldn''t bring himself to sleep normally.


    Only now when he felt a little aplished with his breakthrough and the exhaustion did he feelfortable enough to enter it.


    "Still¡­ this is rather nice." Lin Mu smiled and looked around.


    The grass on the ground was lush green while the few nts in the Sleepscape were almost bursting with vitality. The spirit apple tree close to Lin Mu was covered with tens of Spirit apples.


    Its leaves were a vibrant green while its branches swayed lightly in the air.


    "The number of spirit apples seems to have increased once more. The Wood elemental spirit apples have basically more than doubled." Lin Mu noticed.


    He then turned around and looked in the distance, spotting the other two nts in the Sleepscape.


    The Wood Spirit Tulip was growing nicely and the flower on top of it had be evenrger. Its petals released a faint fragrance that soothed one''s senses while its leaves absorbed the Wood elemental spirit Qi from the air.


    From all sides, the Wood Spirit Tulip seemed to be enjoying its life.


    ~rustle~Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu heard a rustling sound and looked opposite from the Wood Spirit Tulip.


    "Oh? When did you be so big?" Lin Mu saw the Purple Sickle Amaranth, having almost tripled in size.


    It absorbed the attribute-less spirit Qi from the air and let out Wood elemental spirit Qi, nourishing the life here.

 Chapter 1275 Rich Wood Spirit Qi And Growth Of Plants

    Chapter 1275 Rich Wood Spirit Qi And Growth Of nts¡¡¡¡The growth of the nts in the Sleepscape was a pleasant surprise to Lin Mu.


    ''I knew that increasing my cultivation base seems to be the key to growing the Sleepscape, but this change is quite big.'' Lin Mu thought.


    After thinking for a few seconds, Lin Mu realized it might have to do with the Dao Treading realm itself.


    ''The Dao Treading realm deals with the Dao traces and makes oneprehend them. Only be deepening our understanding can we progress further. In this realm we don''t need to focus on spirit Qi as much as we have to do on learning.'' Lin Mu pondered.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    In short, the Dao Treading realm was focused on a ''Qualitative'' gain rather than a ''Quantitative'' gain though spirit Qi.


    Sensing the increased Wood elemental spirit Qi gave Lin Mu an idea at this point.


    ~shua~


    He flipped his hand, and a pillow appeared in it. But what was important was the object that was resting on the pillow, it was seed.


    The seed looked like a bundle of vines and was rather strange. But it emitted a rich aura that seemed to be hiding something great within. If anyone looked at it, they would never realize that this was actually a dormant beast.


    "Little Shrubby should have some benefits by staying in a wood spirit Qi rich area." Lin Mu reckoned.


    He ced the pillow with the seed near the Purple Sickle Amaranth, where the Wood elemental spirit Qi was the richest.


    Upon doing so, Lin Mu saw the effect.


    "Just as I thought¡­" in front of Lin Mu, the wood elemental spirit Qi gathered around the Purple Sickle Amaranth started to move.


    It was slow at first, but soon it became faster. A major chunk of the wood spirit Qi directly clumped around the ''seed'' and was pouring into it.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He didn''t know when Little Shrubby would awake, but Lin Mu wanted it to be as soon as possible. He had been missing him for a long time now and would like to hear his grown and feel his fur again.


    Letting Little Shrubby absorb the spirit Qi, Lin Mu turned around and went to the Spirit apple tree. There he plucked the entire tree clean of spirit apples, both normal ones and wood attribute ones.


    He hade to the Sleepscape after such a long time that basically every apple on the tree was ripe. That was not the case usually, as a few were small and unripe.


    "Now is the best time to use them. The faster I can grow, the better." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he kept the wood elemental spirit apples while storing away the rest.


    His spirit Qi cultivation base might have reached a point where it didn''t grow through consumption of resources, but his Body cultivation was not the same. As long as he had enough resources, Lin Mu could consume them to further his Five Treasures Realm.


    "I may as well continue to refine my liver. If I refine it entirely, I''ll have a bodyparable to an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    This was the biggest advantage that Lin Mu had over others. He cultivated the path of the body as well as the Qi, giving him far greater strength and durability. It allowed him to go against those of a higher cultivation base than them and made him peerless in the same realm.


    ''Considering this is an Immortal realm, the resources here might be good enough that I can fully refine my liver without needing a proper wood elemental body cultivation technique.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "But for now, I''ll just make do with the apples." Lin Mu picked up the wood elemental spirit apples and started munching.


    With four or five bites, he swallowed the entire apple, whether it be skin, or flesh. The spirit apples had no seeds in them, so there was no issue for him to eat it entirely.


    This was something that had stumped Lin Mu, as he had not expected for a fruit to have no seeds. He had even asked Senior Xukong and got the answer that the spirit apple tree was unique.


    Since it wasn''t exactly formed from a seed beforehand, it had no seed. In all aspects, the Spirit apple tree was constructed by the Sleepscape itself. Even Xukong didn''t know if it really constituted as a nt or not.


    But the other two nts in the Sleepscape truly were nts. This created a clear demarcation between the nts that were brought in by Lin Mu and those that might grow naturally here.


    As for what the condition for natural growth was, Lin Mu didn''t know.


    ~munch~ munch~ munch~


    Lin Mu continued to eat the wood elemental spirit apples and finished all of them in a few minutes. His stomach quickly processed them and different energies were extracted by his body.


    There was attribute less spirit Qi, Wood elemental spirit Qi, pure wood energy as well as Vital energy.


    The vital energy was converted to Vital essence and stored in his stomach, while the attribute less spirit Qi and Wood Elemental spirit Qi entered his meridians before traveling to his Dantian and merging with the ocean of spirit Qi there.


    Thest remaining energy, the pure wood energy, was instead channeled into his liver. It traveled alongside his blood, bringing forth rich vitality with it.


    "Mmm¡­" Lin Mu felt a refreshing feelingbined with coolness in his chest.


    Little by little, the wood energy was brought to the liver and started refining it.


    Previously, Lin Mu''s liver was about ten percent refined. This was the culmination of all his effort from the past few years. But now that number started to increase visibly.


    10.1¡­ 10.2¡­ 10.3¡­ 10.9¡­ 11!


    It increased an entire percent in less than an hour. But it didn''t show any signs of stopping there either.


    12%!


    13%!


    14%!


    .


    .


    .


    .


    26%!


    Only when it more than doubled and reached the twenty-six percent mark did the refinement stop.

 Chapter 1276 Calm Months

    Chapter 1276 Calm Months¡¡¡¡Lin Mu felt the effects of the refinement within his body.


    Even though the Liver wasn''t fully refined, Lin Mu could already feel the amount of wood spirit Qi in his body increasing. Plus, since the Liver was of the Wood elemental and was representative of life and vitality, it made Lin Mu feel a lot more refreshed.


    Each of the Treasured organs gave Lin Mu different secondary effects, and the liver was the same. It provided Lin Mu a higher rate of detoxification while also speeding up his rate of digestion.


    Though the part about digestion wasn''t really needed for him with his stomach. It was already beyond a level that could be understood, leaving even Xukong confused as to how it did that.


    "This is rather nice¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he sensed the energy stir within his body.


    In less than six hours he had refined his liver more than he had in the past two years. The feeling of growth gave him pleasure and made him happy. It also helped him forget the intense desire he had been feeling for a while.


    ''If I can keep this pace, I might reach thepletion for the Five Treasures realm soon.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The increase in the wood spirit Qi in the Sleepscape had brought forth a multiplicative effect. Though Lin Mu also knew that the effect of the Wood spirit apples would stop after a certain point, or at the very least slow down to a snail''s pace.


    "At least I know that I can depend on the apples till then. And once I reach that point, I''ll just seek out wood elemental herbs or fruits here. This is an Immortal world so there definitely are a lot." Lin Mu said to himself.


    Lin Mu had even asked Huyun Chuan about this, but the man was not as knowledgeable in this regard. He had mostly cultivated using alchemical pills, but never really dabbled in spirit herbs or their refinement methods.


    While he did know the names of somemon spirit herbs and immortal herbs, they were limited in number. If Lin Mu wanted to know more, he would have to buy apendium of herbs from one of the many shops.


    ~Sigh~


    "I''ll deal with that when it''s time. For now, I need to grow stronger and also guide the Haima tribe in getting stronger." Lin Mu said with determination.


    He spent a few more hours in the Sleepscape watching Little Shrubby who had turned into a seed as well as reading the memoirs of the Lost immortal.


    Reading memoirs were important for Lin Mu right now since they were his biggest source in higher level information from the Immortal worlds. Thus Lin Mu wanted to read as much as possible, and hope that he found some jackpot worthy information within it.


    By the time the day arrived and Lin Mu woke up, there were already people of the Haima tribe waiting outside his residence.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu could sense the people outside and opened the door.


    "Noble Lin Mu! You''re awake." The Haima tribe member said with a little surprise.


    "Yes, I just woke up." Lin Mu replied.


    "Forgive us foring here, even though you had said not to. But the elder couldn''t help but feel anxious about your condition. He himself came by several times by, but you didn''t respond." One of the Haima people spoke.


    "Yeah, so he just asked us to wait here and inform him if there was any chance." Another person stated.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu replied before looking at their faces, finding them to be nervous.


    "It is fine. You didn''t break any ruleing here." Lin Mu ayed their worries. "As for Elder Niji, I''ll head out to meet him now." He added.


    "O-okay. And thank you Noble Lin Mu." The Haima people spoke in unison.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, but just as he was about to step out, he heard a sound.


    ~HISS~


    He turned around and saw the twin snakes calling out to him.


    ~WHOOSH~


    They jumped from their pillow and wrapped around Lin Mu''s arms.


    "Oh, you two are awake too?" Lin Mu said and felt the emotioning from them.


    It was a mixture of hunger and uncertainty. This made Lin Mu realize that it had indeed been a while since theyst ate.


    ''I need to feed them too. I was going to head out anyway, so this works out.'' Lin Mu thought before leaving the residence and going towards Elder Niji''s.


    The old man was pleased the moment he set eyes upon Lin Mu. Not just that, but he was also surprised when he felt a new feeling from Lin Mu.


    "We saw the changes and were guessing that you had a breakthrough. But it seems like it really is true." Elder Niji said as the first thing.


    "Mmhmm¡­ I did breakthrough." Lin Mu acknowledged.


    "May I ask, what your cultivation base is now?" Elder Niji questioned with curiosity.


    While he did know of all the cultivation realms and their names, he didn''t know what they felt like. Even while having the spirit Qi equivalent to that of a Dao Treading realm expert, Elder Niji didn''t have the same senses.


    "I''m at the Embryo Growth Stage of the Dao Treading realm." Lin Mu answered without hesitation.


    "AH! That''s great!" Elder Niji was even more surprised.


    "Anything happen while I was in seclusion?" Lin Mu said changing the topic.


    "The training of the army is going well and our people are getting stronger quickly. Around half of the tribe is now at the Nascent soul realm too." Elder Niji spoke.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Half? That''s impressive." Lin Mu knew such a number was enough to outnumber the nascent souls realm experts of any sect of the Xiaofan world.


    "Not just that, but their skills and battle sense is also growing. We are actually managing to push back the Chasm Beasts that are appearing in greater numbers again." Elder Niji spoke, much to Lin Mu''s surprise.

 Chapter 1277 Rising Chasm Beast Numbers

    Chapter 1277 Rising Chasm Beast Numbers¡¡¡¡"The Chasm beasts are appearing in great numbers again?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing this. "How great do you mean by this?" he asked for rity.


    "Yes, they have started to appear more often now. While the numbers aren''t the same as when there was arge scale tide, there are still more Chasm beasts than usual for this time of the year." Elder Niji replied.


    "I see¡­ how much do you think they would be whenpared to therge scale beast tide?" Lin Mu questioned, after thinking for a bit.


    "Hmm.. About eight to ten percent?" Elder Niji estimated.


    "Eight to ten¡­ that''s arge number." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    "That is indeed true." Elder Niji agreed, knowing that the normal number of Chasm beasts was barely around 1% of therge scale tide most of the time.


    "Are there any casualties?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    "Injuries? Yes. But no actual Casualties so far. Our people have grown stronger and now even a child is able to defeat a Chasm Beast." Elder Niji answered with a little pride in his tone.


    Lin Mu was still worried though and asked more questions to the old man.


    During this he learned that a few small tides of Chasm Beasts had actuallye close to thend of the Haima. Mostly attracted due to therge army practicing and sparring outside in the wastnd.


    They desired nothing more than the flesh of the creatures and would do anything to get it. But even then they were cautious and would avoid to appear in front of arge number of foes.


    ''This doesn''t add up. There is nothing that mentions about such a change in the history of the Haima tribe. And neither is there anything about the sudden increase in Chasm beast numbers.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~Hiss~


    He heard the light hiss from his neck and decided to deal with two problems in one go.


    "I''ll head out to check it myself, then Elder Niji. Maybe we''ll get insights into the behavior of the Chasm Beasts." Lin Mu stated.


    "If you wish to do so, please feel free. You can also take any of the Haima members on the surface up there. They will dly follow you." Elder Niji replied. "Plus, they are now experienced and strong, so you shouldn''t have to babysit them." He added.


    "I''''ll see what to do. Though I won''t be needing them." Lin Mu said before pointing to the baby snakes. "They are the ones going to be doing the hunting."


    "No wonder." Elder Niji already knew that the twin snakes liked to consume Chasm Beasts.


    They were still young and needed to grow with lots of nutrients. Thus, this was the best choice of action.


    "I shall head out then." Lin Mu said before leaving through the ''hatch'' at the top of the mountain.


    Upon leaving, he saw two guards standing right next to the gate of the Haima tribe.


    ~HAAA~ HAA~ HAA~ HAAA~


    And at the bottom, Lin Mu saw the Haima tribe people sparring and practicing. He saw both familiar and unfamiliar faces, with most of them being the Scout members.


    "Noble Lin Mu!" the Haima people spotted him quickly and Head Warrior Kulo was the first to reach him.


    "Where are you going?" Head Warrior Kulo asked curiously.


    "The twin snakes need to be fed again." Lin Mu answered shortly.


    "Ah, I see." Head Warrior Kulo replied. "Would you like me to apany you?" he asked.


    "No. It won''t be necessary. But I would like some help in pointing out where the Chasm Beasts are the greatest in numbers." Lin Mu asked instead.


    "That''ll be easy. As long as you walk alongside the border of the Broken Chasm, you will continue to encounter Chasm Beasts. There is arge limit to them, it seems." Head Warrior Kulo stated.


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied but didn''t head out right away. "And what about our little ''guest''? How does he fare these days?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    "He is well. We give him Stone Flesh mushrooms every week and he eats them without ain." Head Warrior Kulo answered right away.


    "Is that so? Guess I''ll talk to him too before leaving." Lin Mu went to the ''prison'' set up by him.


    The prison was just a short leap away, and upon entering it, Lin Mu saw the prisoner fast asleep.


    "Hey! Wake up!" Lin Mu knocked at the man.


    "Ugh!" Huyun Chuan groaned and looked tired from all the beatings.


    It was evident that the Haima tribe had taken good ''care'' of the man in Lin Mu''s absences.


    "It''s Y-you!" Huyun Chuan was startled.


    He had not seen Lin Mu for a while now and was wondering if he had left. But it was clearly not so.


    "Looks like you''ve had a nice rest here." Lin Mu said, finding the man''s situation quite pitiful.


    "It is eptable." Huyun Chuan said with a straight face.


    "So far, there is no information about the peopleing to get you. Are you sure they will really be arriving?" Lin Mu questioned seriously.


    "Of course! They would do anything to get me back." Huyun Chuan replied in a confident tone.


    "Hmm¡­ guess we''ll have to wait more." Lin Mu replied before leaving without another word.


    He had exhausted all the information that Huyun Chuan had given him. The only use Lin Mu had for the man was to obtain a way out. Once that was done, Huyun Chuan''s life would be up for a debate.Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~hiss~


    The twin snakes hissed lightly, and Lin Mu felt another wave of emotion from their link.


    "Something approaching?" Lin Mu deciphered their emotions.


    He continued to watch for a minute before finally spotting a group of Chasm Beasts approaching.


    "Perfect. We can start with them." Lin Mu said as he leaped into the air.


    ~WHOOSH~


    His body soared through the air and was spotted by several Haima tribe people. Lin Mu didn''t mind them for now and simply focused on getting to the iing Chasm Beasts.


    ~ZOOM~


    Then, when he was close enough, the twins struck out!

 Chapter 1278 Where Are The Chasm Beasts Going?

    Chapter 1278 Where Are The Chasm Beasts Going?¡¡¡¡The Twin snakes were like two ribbons of light soaring across the sky.


    The Chasm beasts in the distance were around a hundred in number, but when the two snakes reached them, they started to dwindle. Just like before, the twin snakes pierced through the Chasm beasts as if they were cotton.


    It looked like nothing could stop them and no matter the cultivation base of the Chasm Beast, they all died the same.


    "There really is no difference. It''s as if they can nullify the natural defenses of the Chasm Beasts." Lin Mu said while observing the scene.


    He was still midway to falling and all this had happened in the short time of descent.


    ~THUD~


    ~Crack~


    Lin Munded on the ground, cracking it only to see that half of the Chasm beasts had already been killed.


    "That saves time." Lin Mu only had to watch for about a minute more before the Chasm Beasts were all dead.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The two ribbons of light returned to Lin Mu and coiled around his arms.


    ~hiss~


    The ck twin, Xiao Yin opened her mouth and sucked in the air like a vacuum.


    ~SHUA~


    All the ck dust and fog rising from the Chasm beast''s dead body was sucked in with the air and two minutester there were no traces of any Chasm Beasts left. But Xiao Yin didn''t stop there.


    She transformed a part of the Qi and released a white streak of pure Yang spirit Qi for her brother. Xiao Yang consumed the Yang Qi and let out a satisfied hiss.


    "If we keep this pace, it shouldn''t take us that long." Lin Mu reckoned and could tell that the twins weren''t satisfied just yet.Owned by N?velDrama.Org.


    They could eat a lot more than just that. After all, they had eaten several thousand Chasm Beasts thest time they had gone out for feeding.


    Lin Mu continued to leap and traverserge tracts ofnd at once. During this, he encountered several groups of Chasm Beasts. Somerge, some small, but themon thing was that they were roaming with some aim.


    Lin Mu didn''t know what that was, but so far he had seen that they all followed a specific direction.


    ''It''s strange¡­ they are all going towards one point. It doesn''t seem to be the Haima Tribe either¡­'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He could approximately analyze the path that the Chasm beasts were taking and it was several degrees off from the location of the Haima Tribe.


    "Maybe the beasts that the Haima Tribe encountered weren''t even from the main group. They might have just been the small groups on the periphery." Lin Mu thought after a while.


    He guessed that if they followed the path of these Chasm beasts they might end up finding more of them. And not just that, Lin Mu would also learn what was it that was attracting them.


    "Let''s just follow them then. We''ll be hunting more Chasm Beasts anyways." Lin Mu reckoned.


    Thus Lin Mu changed his direction and started to track the Chasm Beasts. It wasn''t that difficult to find where they were going since they left footprints everywhere. Plus the twins could sense their prey when they were close enough.


    Lin Mu traveled for about six days like this, hunting thousands of Chasm Beasts in the process. The twin snakes had plenty to eat, and even though their hunger was satisfied by this point, they could still eat more.


    Since they could still eat without any issues, Lin Mu let them eat.


    ''They are getting stronger too. It wouldn''t be long before they breakthrough.'' Lin Mu realized.


    The aura of the twin snakes was suppressed like his own most of the time. If it weren''t for the fact that they had a link, Lin Mu would have a hard time sensing their cultivation base.


    It was already at the Peak of the Nascent soul realm and was showing no signs of stopping at all.


    It felt like they had no bottlenecks at all and the only thing they werecking was nourishment.


    ''It''s just like Senior Xukong said. Immortal Beasts will have no bottleneck until they reach the Immortal realm and will progress as long as given enough time. Even the Great Slumber Bear from back then was just a juvenile and still in the Immortal realm.


    If it weren''t for the fact that it was infected by the Invader, Shadow Gloom Bone lord it would have been the strongest being on Xiaofan world back then.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Then after another day''s travel, Lin Mu finally reached the location that the Chasm Beasts were searching for.


    And how did he know this for sure?


    "Well¡­ damn. That''s a LOT of Chasm Beasts." Lin Mu was stunned.


    He was standing on top of a small hill and observing what was basically a nket of Chasm Beasts spread for nearly two to three square kilometers. They were all circling around a specific area, but that was a little too far for Lin Mu to see clearly.


    Not to mention, the Chasm Beasts at that distance were very strong, being at the Dao Treading realm along with a few Immortal Ascension realm ones mixed in. Lin Mu couldn''t sense that directly with his spirit sense, but the mass of auraing from there was the obvious warning.


    But much unlike his reaction, the Twins were excited. Their eyes glowed with hunger while their tongues kept on flickering nonstop. If it weren''t for the fact that Lin Mu was holding them back, they would have already pounced ahead.


    To them, it wasn''t an army of Chasm Beasts, but rather arge-scale unlimited buffet.


    "Hmm¡­ doesn''t seem like there are any Chasm beasts that are equivalent to an Immortal here right now." Lin Mu concluded.


    He could tell this for sure because if there were any, he would see them.


    ording to the records of the Haima tribe, the Chasm Beasts that were equivalent to that of Immortal realm cultivators were huge, being over ten meters tall!

 Chapter 1279 The Twins Breakthrough And Continued Slaughter

    Chapter 1279 The Twins Breakthrough And Continued ughter¡¡¡¡Having made sure that there were no ''Dangerous'' Chasm Beasts here, Lin Mu decided to let the Twin snakes free.


    "Go on, you two. I''ll be right behind you." Lin Mu permitted.


    ~hiss~


    The twins zoomed ahead in the very next instant and began their routine of piercing through the Chasm Beasts nonstop. The Chasm Beasts at this point were weak, being equivalent to around Qi refining to core condensation realm beasts so Lin Mu had no worries.


    "I gotta keep up with them though." Lin Mu sprinted through the empty corridor created by the twin snakes.


    The Chasm Beasts were startled by the sudden intrusion of Lin Mu and the Twin snakes.


    ~ROAR~


    ~GUAGAUAGUAGAUG~


    A cacophony of cries and roars were heard as the Chasm Beasts nearby all pounced on the twins and Lin Mu. Unfortunately for them, they were far too weak to do anything to them.


    The twin snakes were like a sharp scythe cleaving through dried crops during a harvest. Hundreds of Chasm beasts were killed every second and soon an empty circle of about two hundred meters wide was created.


    At the center of this circle stood Lin Mu who beckoned for the twins to return.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The two snakes wrapped around Lin Mu''s arms and looked at their handiwork. While more Chasm Beasts were rushing towards them, it would still take them a minute to do that. And that was more than enough time for what they wanted to do.


    "Go on, eat. I''ll hold them back if they get close." Lin Mu said.


    ~hiss~


    Xiao Yin sucked in all the dark dusty fog and cleared out the entire area in less than twenty seconds. In this time, the Chasm beasts had covered around half the distance towards where they stood.


    But there was still enough time for Xiao Yin to convert a part of the energy into pure Yang spirit Qi and feed it to her brother.


    ~ZOOM~


    By the time the twins were done eating, there was still some time left, time that the twins'' didn''t want to wait and rushed back into the fray.


    This process of harvesting and consuming continued five more times, before the numbers of the Chasm beasts had thinned a little.


    "Hmm¡­ around seven hundred meters wide." Lin Mu estimated the distance from the closest Chasm Beast.


    The twins returned to Lin Mu''s arms, but this time they were undergoing a change.


    "Oh? Ready for a breakthrough?" Lin Mu sensed the rise in their energy and aura.


    Dense spirit Qi fluctuations came from their bodies and resonated with the spirit Qi within the air.


    If anyone looked at this scene they might not believe their eyes. What was basically an army of Chasm Beasts tried to drown out Lin Mu and the snakes, while they causally had a breakthrough without a care for the danger.


    Lin Mu sensed their Dantians and saw two Dao Shell outlines forming.


    ''That was fast!'' Lin Mu felt like he had merely blinked and there was already an outline floating above their nascent souls.


    The outline was ratherrge too, spanning nearly eight meters.


    One must know in the Shell Initiation stage, an outline was not fixed and was usually small. It might not even be a foot wide for a lot of cultivators. And yet, the twin snakes both had Dao Shell outlines at the eight meter point.


    A majority of the Dao Shell realm experts couldn''t even expand their Dao Shells to four meters not to mention eight meters. But here there were two infant snakes defying themon understanding.


    Lin Mu almost felt a little jealous of their speed of breakthrough.


    ''Their bloodline is certainly not normal if they can progress this fast.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~GUAUAUAUAUAUUA~


    The Chasm Beasts Terre greatly agitated now, and the stronger one''s among them were approaching. The number of the Chasm beasts that were at the Nascent soul realm and below were already thinned out to the low hundreds, leaving only the stronger kin to attack them now.


    "Let''s get started then." Lin Mu had to join in the fight at this time.


    ~ZOOM~


    The twins sped out again, beginning their reaping process, albeit a little slower this time. But even that slow speed was still at one Chasm beast every couple of seconds. It was only the Chasm Beasts at the Dao Shell realm that made them slow down.


    As for those equivalent to the Dao Treading realm?


    ~GUAGAUGAUGAUGA~Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    The Twins were attacked by one such Chasm Beast that was about eight meters tall. It was many timesrger than them in size, but to the twins, it was the same as any other prey. Just that it was a little bigger and would feed them longer.


    The chasm beast swung its ws at the twins but was unable to get close to them. It couldn''t even be in a one-meter range since the twins were just too fast for it to react to.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The twins made circles around the Dao Treading realm chasm Beast, making it disoriented before shrinking their spinning radius. It reached the body of the Chasm beast, and they basically ground the Beast into a mangled mess.


    ~THUD~


    The Dead body of the eight meter tall Chasm Beast fell to the ground, and the twins went on to the next target.


    If it weren''t for the fact that the Chasm Beasts didn''t feel the usual kind of fear, they might have already run away.


    ~SHING~


    ~SLICK~


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu who was a short distance from the twin snakes watched their performance while killing another eight meter tall Chasm beast on his own. All it took was a single flick of a sword and the neck of the Chasm beast slid off easily.


    ''The efficiency is way better than before¡­'' Lin Mu realized.


    His control over Sword Intent had increased due to his breakthrough. And now, he could kill Dao Treading realm creatures the same way as a Nascent soul realm creature.

 Chapter 1280 Another Small Breakthough And The Target Of Search

    Chapter 1280 Another Small Breakthough And The Target Of Search¡¡¡¡This expedition was also a way for Lin Mu to hone his skills more and get used to his new strength. While he had tested and trained while he was in his residence at the Haima tribe, it wasn''t the same as testing it out against actual enemies.


    The twin snakes continued to kill more and more Chasm Beasts and Lin Mu did the same. But unlike their tactic of directly piercing through the Chasm beasts, Lin Mu used a variety of methods.


    At first, he focused on his sword and utilizing the Sword intent to amplify his shes. But after killing a handful of Dao Treading realm Chasm beasts, he felt like he had hit a teau.


    He would need to fight stronger opponents to get anything more from it.


    Thus to not hang back, Lin Mu switched to his own fists. A golden color filled his fists as they started to strive against the various Chasm Beasts. His power was already at a level enough to kill a single Chasm Beast with a punch.


    It was only the Chasm Beasts at the Dao Treading realm that needed a few punches to kill.


    "Hmm¡­ the efficiency is a little lowpared to using Sword Intent. At least it doesn''t use as much of my energy and stamina." Lin Mu continually analyzed his fighting style.


    He needed to know how each method fared, so that he knew which one to use in future fights. If he knew the optimum method to use, he would have a greater chance of survival. And that was of the peak importance.


    Lin Mu and the twin snakes'' killing spree continued for about an hour before they were finally out of targets to kill.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and paused. His robes were a bit disheveled, but there were no injuries on his body. The twin snakes also returned to his arms, feeling exhausted as well. After all, even if they hadrge stores of spirit Qi, they weren''t used to prolonged fights like this.


    Especially one in which they needed to go against multiple stronger opponents.


    "You two can eat to your heart''s content now." Lin Wu said as he looked at what was basically a nket of corpses.


    The Chasm Beast corpses were dissipating into their dusty ck fog form and the air was tainted with it. If anyone were to look at these scene. They would find it rather sinister. Even mortals would think that it was a scene from their nightmares.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Xiao Yin opened her mouth wide and breathed in all the dark fog. This time, though, she couldn''t suck all of it at once. She inhaled a part of it, before converting half of it to Yang spirit Qi and gave it to her brother.


    Then while her brother digested that, she went back to sucking in more of the dark fog. This repeated four times before all the Dark fog had been consumed by Xiao Yin.


    ''So their limit is about ten Dao Treading realm equivalent Chasm beasts in one serving.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    From what he had observed, Xiao Yin only consumed a quarter of the Chasm beast''s dark fog at once. That consisted of about ten Dao Treading realm beasts and several more Dao Shell realm beasts that Lin Mu couldn''t be bothered to count.


    Regardless, though, it was a massive number.


    ''I think I''ve killed more Dao Treading realm beings today than I did in the entire Xiaofan world.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Of course the Chasm Beasts couldn''t reallypare to a true Dao Treading realm beast or cultivator, but that didn''t mean they didn''t have a lot of power. In fact, if it weren''t for the fact that Lin Mu had a high resistance to the toxins of the Chasm beasts due to his physique, it would be very dangerous.


    Lin Mu guessed it might be abination of his body cultivationbined with the True gold body forging arts that made him almost immune to the toxins of the Chasm Beasts.


    ''Perhaps the only way I would get poisoned would be if I directly ingest the toxins. But even then, my stomach might restrain that too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This made him realized that ever since he had truly started cultivating, he hadn''t actually been poisoned. This was despite the fact that he had gone against several experts or beasts that did use poison.


    Lin Mu might have even been secretly poisoned from food, and simply didn''t register it.


    "Now that I think of it¡­ can I even get poisoned by eating things? I''ve eaten literal rocks and soil and that didn''t do anything to me. The only other way would be to injure my flesh directly, but doing that is also difficult due to my defenses." Lin Mu muttered and rified his mind.


    Unknowingly, he had developed an ability and stayedpletely unaware about it. Or perhaps that more urate answer would be that Lin Mu had always had a certain level of resistance.


    But the more he cultivated, the more this resistance increased and kept up with the tougher and tougher situations that he came across. Thus, even if he had been poisoned, he was simply too durable for that.


    ~hiss~


    Lin Mu''s attention was pulled by the twin snakes once more as they called out to him.


    "Done eating?" Lin Mu rubbed their little heads.


    His spirit sense extended and probed the bodies of the twins. Upon reaching their dantian, Lin Mu was shocked.


    "Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm already?!" Lin Mu saw that their Dao Shells were now half solid.? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    But then, when he thought over it again, it made sense. ''They did collectively eat about a hundred Dao Treading realm beings.''


    With that amount of ''nourishment'' even Lin Mu might have had a breakthrough. s, the Chasm Beasts were unfit for his consumption.


    With this situation sorted out, Lin Mu turned to investigate the main reason he hade here for.


    "So, what were they searching for?"

 Chapter 1281 A Proto-Fissure

    Chapter 1281 A Proto-Fissure¡¡¡¡From what Lin Mu had seen from the distance, the Chasm beasts were circling around a specific location. It was too far for Lin Mu to see it clearly, and now that he was in the middle of the area, it was hard to perceive.


    This was due to the fact that the Chasm Beasts were all gone and there was nothing demarcating the area of interest.


    "Hmmm¡­ if I recall correctly, it should be a little further from here?" Lin Mu used his memory and tried to track back the path.


    ~hiss~


    And when he reached a certain point, the twin snakes let out a wary hiss. Their pupils became narrow slits while their necks were stiff.


    "What did you sense?" Lin Mu asked the two.


    From their link, Lin Mu felt rm and anxiety. Considering their strength and fearlessness before, their current state was a cause for rm. Beasts had greater senses and instincts than humans at times, and Lin Mu knew to trust them.


    After all, Little Shrubby had helped him in this aspect many times and had solidified Lin Mu''s faith in beast instincts.


    "It''s even more concerning if the twins with their strong bloodline is reacting like this¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    His spirit sense was extended to the max and was sensing an area of ten meters around him. Lin Mu continued to walk, and soon felt something.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu hade to a halt in the middle of an empty spot.


    There was literally nothing here, no rock, no stone, no hill, nothing. Lin Mu thought that there might be something underground, but even when checking the depths of the earth, he found nothing.


    ~hiss~


    The twins continued to hiss at the air, as if there was something invisible there.


    "Hang on¡­ can it be?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows as an idea came to his mind.


    He closed his eyes for a second before opening them. This time his spatial perception was fully activated, and allowed him to see the secrets of space in front of him.


    "No wonder they felt wary, but there was nothing here on the surface." Lin Mu muttered as he observed the area in front of him.


    With his spatial perception activated, Lin Mu saw what looked like a thinyer of cracks in the air. They were fine like the cracks of a ss mirror, but at the same time; they emitted almost negligible spatial fluctuations.


    Otherwise, someone like Lin Mu who was proficient in the spatial abilities, would have sensed it quickly.


    "Hmm¡­ isn''t this called as a proto-fissure?" Lin Mu recalled some information.


    A Proto-fissure was actually a form of spatial instability. It was the preliminary stage before the fabric of space would be torn apart. And when that happened, it would turn into a portal into the void.


    Usually Proto-fissures were highly unstable and would rapidly turn into portals or an entire spatial crack.


    Only when the space was cracking in a very steady manner would such a proto-fissure would be formed.


    But there was another cause behind the formation of a Proto-fissures that came to Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Is there a ne behind this?" Lin Mu guessed.


    Another reason why a promo-fissure might appear is if there was actually a minor ne attached to the world. Since the links between the ne and the world would be fixed, the formation of a fissure would be streamlined and smooth.


    This would make the space turn into a Proto-fissure. But then, if this became a lot more unstable, it would turn into an entire Spatial Fissure. Something like that was dangerous enough to wipe out entire countries at once if left unchecked.


    After realizing all this though, Lin Mu had another discovery.


    "Why would something like this be in the Land of Exile though?" Lin Mu couldn''t figure that out.


    He waited and continued to observe the Proto-fissure for a few minutes before deciding to process further.


    "I''ll only learn more if I explore the insides of that ne." Lin Mu said to himself. "That is IF, it''s even a ne."


    Having made up his mind, Lin Mu got closer.


    ~hiss~


    The twins were anxious, but Lin Mu soon calmed them down.


    "It''ll be fine. Don''t worry, you two." Lin Mu petted them for a bit.


    Once that was done, Lin Mu extended his right hand and activated the ring.


    ~shua~


    The space in front of him turned blurry before the Proto-Fissures became visible to the naked eye. The ring continued to drain Lin Mu''s spirit Qi while trying to open a stable portal to the supposed ne.


    ''The consumption of spirit Qi is a lot greater now. Not just that, the space seems to be a lot more ''durable'' too. Guess that is the difference between a mortal world and an Immortal world.'' Lin Mu discovered.


    It took him about five minutes before the ring seeded in opening a stable portal. While this could have been opened in less than a minute, if Lin Mu just forced it, the portal might not be stable with that.


    "Let''s check it out then." Lin Mu stepped into the portal, appearing in a new area.


    Right away he could tell that the ne and the Rust Sky world were closely attached.


    ''There was no sense of travel this time. It was more like passing through a curtain again¡­ which means this minor ne might have just been manufactured.'' Lin Mu concluded.


    But that also means that Lin Mu would have a lot of things to explore.


    But after taking a few steps inside, Lin Mu''s brows furrowed.


    "This¡­ is rather¡­ small." Lin Mu said.


    There were very clear spatial boundaries just four meters away from Lin Mu. The entire area was like a small square with four meter long sides.Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu touched the ''walls'' of the ne and sensed the vtile spatial energy behinds it.


    "Yup¡­ that''s the void, alright." Lin Mu said before focusing on the main point of interest.


    It was a broken statue that only had the bottom half of its legs remaining.

 Chapter 1282 A Fast Wisp

    Chapter 1282 A Fast Wisp¡¡¡¡Lin Mu looked at the broken statue in detail, making sure that he didn''t miss anything. The statue was that of legs that were cut off just below the knee. Or rather, they were broke from that point.


    It was unknown where the rest of the statue was, but from the way it was broken, he could tell it was struck by something hard. Or perhaps, the statue had just been built like this. There was a certain mystery to it that could not be revealed.


    No matter what angle Lin Mu looked at the broken statue from, it seemed rather normal. There were no spirit Qi fluctuationsing from it and neither was there any other kind of energying from it.


    "Just what is it?" Lin Mu wondered.


    The twin snakes were still a bit wary, but Lin Mu also felt a hint of confusion from them. It was as if even they didn''t know what they were worried about before. This made Lin Mu feel relieved too.


    ''I guess they were just wary of the Proto-fissure rather than the actual statue inside.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    It made sense that the instincts of the twins were good enough to make them careful about space and the void. Both were dangerous when not stable and could kill even the strongest of cultivators.


    Fifteen minutester, Lin Mu was sure that the broken statue had no peculiarity. Even the material it was made out of seemed to be a normal stone. Though Lin Mu had not given up on it entirely.


    ''Since it is here in such a space that was quite certainly manufactured, there is bound to be some secret to this.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He considered it for a bit before deciding to touch it with his hand. The spirit sense was also useless in this situation as it simply passed through as if it were air. It meant that there were no defensive or security arrays on the statue.


    Having confirmed this, Lin Mu decided to just keep it for the time being.


    ''Perhaps, I''ll learn more about it in the future¡­'' He thought.


    Lin Mu''s hand extended and his index finger finally touched the surface of the broken statue.


    ~HUALA~


    And when he did, Lin Mu felt rmed.


    "NO!" Lin Mu''s blood raged and several of his abilities activated.


    The golden body glowed bright and the armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture appeared. Even his sword intent awakened, protecting Lin Mu unconsciously. The True Earth Heart Dao Embryo within his beat like a war drum.


    ~ROAR~


    Even the bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear awakened, as the illusory form appeared over his body, roaring at the broken statue.


    Despite all these abilities and defenses though, Lin Mu realized that he had failed.


    A barely perceptible wisp entered his body. It was almost transparent and if it weren''t for Lin Mu''s instincts telling him, he might not have even found it. Lin Mu''s spirit sense tried to follow the wisp and soon sensed it enter his Dantian.


    But once it was there, it halted.


    This allowed Lin Mu to see the form of the wisp clearly. It was smaller than a rice grain in size and yet its presence was quite imposing. How could something this small cause such and effect was a mystery to Lin Mu.


    What was even more shocking was the speed of the wisp.


    ~WOONG~


    But just as Lin Mu was watching the wisp, a new energy pulled onto it. This energy forced the wisp to split apart, telling it that it was not wee


    ~RIP~


    It was at that time that a change urred. The wisp was torn apart into two fragments. One of them was pulled along the tendril of energy that had appeared in Lin Mu''s body while the other rushed into the Nascent soul.


    There the fragment of wisp turned into a small bracelet that hung on the Nascent soul''s wrist. The second fragment though, continued to be pulled away.


    ''Where is it going?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Tracking the path of the energy tendril, Lin Mu found it to be entering his right hand. Or more urately the hand with the ring.


    ~HUSH~


    The fragment of wisp entered the ring and disappeared inside. But Lin Mu didn''t stop there, he was after all, worried about what it was. Hence, with a single thought, Lin Mu''s mind arrived in the ring.


    There, Lin Mu finally saw what was pulling the fragment of the wisp.


    It was actuallying from the grey orb of spatial energy!


    "Senior?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Xukong had been in a dormant state for a long time now and that great orb of spatial energy was where he was located. His avatar continually absorbed the spatial energy as an means to grow and recover.


    While Xukong hadn''t told Lin Mu how long he would be in a dormant state, he had started to think that it should not be too long. And now that he saw this scenario, he was feeling like that even more.


    ''Did Senior Xukong interfere to protect me?'' Lin Mu wondered.Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ~POOF~


    The wisp was quickly pulled into the grey orb of spatial energy, evidential being consumed by the being inside or something.


    The surroundings felt eerily silent after that happened, and Lin Mu simply stood while observing everything. Ten minutes passed like this and there was no change to the grey orb of spatial energy.


    ~Sigh~


    "Guess I was just hoping too much¡­" Lin Mu said with a sigh.


    He withdrew his spirit sense and peered back into his Dantian, focusing on his Nascent Soul.


    ''It turned into this bracelet?'' Lin Mu confused upon seeing the object.


    As far as he knew, Nascent souls were not solid and any normal object would pass through it. And yet there was now a physical bracelet hanging from the Nascent soul''s hand.


    Lin Mu brought the Nascent soul closer, wanting to look more, but then he heard a voice.


    "Lin Mu¡­"


    "Senior!"

 Chapter 1283 A Temporary Awakening And A New Channel

    Chapter 1283 A Temporary Awakening And A New Channel¡¡¡¡Hearing Xukong''s voice was like a melody to Lin Mu.


    "Senior!" Lin Mu called out anxiously.


    "Mmmhmm¡­" A weak and muffled voice was heard in response.


    "Are you okay senior?" Lin Mu asked with great concern.


    "I¡­ can''t wake up¡­ for now¡­" Xukong spoke slowly.


    "Then when will you wake up? And how did you do it now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That¡­ thing¡­ gave energy¡­ My Avatar will¡­ ready¡­ soon¡­ Not much time¡­ is left¡­" Xukong continued to speak but Lin Mu found it hard to listen.


    It felt like there was a lot of disturbance between Xukong speaking and his voice reaching Lin Mu.


    ''It almost feels like it ising from¡­ afar?'' Lin Mu suddenly realized something. "Wait¡­ perhaps it really ising from afar!"


    As far as Lin Mu knew, the body that Xukong had ced in his ring was just an avatar that he had made. Xukong''s main body was still intact and lived in the Grand Void somewhere. He had appeared for a few moments when Lin Mu had used the World Essence crystal and after that there were no signs of him.


    Lin Mu had wondered, just how did something like that work. But now that he had seen how Xukong wasmunicating, a thought came to his mind.


    ''Senior Xukong is technically switching between his bodies. The avatar and the true body. Thus if he needed the assistance of the World Essence Crystal to use his main body, he would need to weaken the limitation of the world.


    And what was exactly what he had done.


    But it hade at a cost, the cost being none other his ability to use the avatar and staying close to Lin Mu.


    Xukong was not worried about himself though. After all, he was at a point where he could always recover and the only thing he needed was time. The one who couldn''t recover from great trouble was Lin Mu.? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    "But if that strange wisp shortened the time needed for Senior Xukong''s avatar to awaken, it must have some benefits for the mind¡­" Lin Mu reckoned.


    He nced at the bracelet hanging on his nascent soul''s wrist and wondered if he could make use of it too.


    But his initial attempts at making contact with it were a failure.


    "Hmmm¡­ I''ll have to figure it outter." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Still, even if Lin Mu was never able to make use of it, he was already satisfied since Xukong had woken up. Even if it was just temporarily. At the very least, it was some extra hope for him. Hope that he would get to learn more about this world soon.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu opened his eyes finding the broken statue to still be there. He tilted his head and nced at the twin snakes as well, finding them to be nervous.


    "It''s fine. I''m fine." Lin Mu petted their heads for a bit.


    It was certainly shocking and scary for them. Not only had Lin Mu erupted with many of his abilities, but even the bloodline of the Great Slumber bear had been awakened. The oppression of that bloodline was actually ineffective on the Twin snakes, but with them being infants, there was still some fear.


    ~SKRESSS~


    While Lin Mu was calming down the twin snakes though, he heard a strange sounding from behind.


    "WHAT?" Lin Mu turned around in a snap, gazing at a particr wall.


    His eyes narrowed and Spatial perception activated, revealing the scene behind it.


    ''The spatial energy is being pushed aside?'' Lin Mu saw the violent spatial energy of the void parting.


    Something like this was almost always unnatural and was probably triggered by something as well.


    ~CRACK~


    But while Lin Mu was observing it, he found cracks starting to appear.


    "Oh no¡­ that does not seem good." Lin Mu turned around and was just about to leave the minor ne when he had to pause.


    ~BOOM~


    The spatial boundary copsed and in came rushing two small jets of spatial energy. It seemingly twirled around each other before settling down and weaving together.


    "Whoa! It''s forming a channel!" Lin Mu had never seen a spatial channel being formed like this.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Once the channel waspleted, it created a suction force and directly pulled in the broken statue. Lin Mu was off guard and couldn''t react in time to catch the statue.


    "No¡­ it might have just broken if I forced it to stop. It''s good that it was pulled without a hitch." Lin Mu reckoned.


    His fingers firmly held onto the twins snakes, preventing them from leaving his body. Though that might just be a little extra, as the twins could technically hide anywhere in his body.


    A new situation intrigued Lin Mu now.


    A new ''pathway'' had opened up for him. He felt very curious about it and wanted to enter it. But he didn''t forget the lesson he had learned just a few minutest ago. Lin Mu checked the pathway for any instability issues and found several.


    Thankfully for Lin Mu, telling if something was spatially stable was a piece of cake. And if he made uses of the ring, his prediction would be even more urate.


    "Hmm¡­ it would be a shame to go back without a proper look." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Having made his mind up, Lin Mu extended his left hand first before poking at the new pathway.


    The surface of the pathway was smooth and unassuming.


    ~flicker~


    And when Lin Mu''s hand passed through it, he felt like he wasing out of a boundary.


    "Hang on¡­ this doesn''t seem¡ª" The force on him suddenly multiplied, pulling him across the teleportation channel.


    "Shit!" Lin Mu cursed.


    He could now only hope to wait the situation out, or make his way back.


    Though both of them would be too difficult at this conjecture.


    ~THUD~


    About a minuteter, Lin Mu fell on his butt.


    He was in arge room which had even more rooms attached to it.

 Chapter 1284 A Damaged Building And Ten Apertures Blood Vein Flowers

    Chapter 1284 A Damaged Building And Ten Apertures Blood Vein Flowers¡¡¡¡"Ugh¡­" Lin Mu groaned as he felt a bit queasy.


    "Rough Teleportation like this is never good¡­" Lin Mu tried to shake off the feeling.


    He had just been forcefully teleported to a location that he didn''t know much about. While Lin Mu had indeed tried to resist it, the effect had been too strong for him to react in time.


    ''It was almost as if it was lulling me into lowering my guard. And when I felt like it was fine, it suddenly increased the force and initiated a teleportation.'' Lin Mu thought over the situation.


    It was true that he had been fooled, but at the same time he realized that this had happened due to ack of information and his own skill.


    "I need to improve my spatial perception more¡­ if I had it at a higher level, I might have detected this trap." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    After all, while Lin Mu could indeed see through Space and Void, there were limitations to his current understanding. If a more skilled person wanted to hide something, they very well could. And seeing theplexity of this ce, Lin Mu was quite sure it was made by someone skilled at spatial maniption.


    ~hiss~Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    The twin snakes hissed while hiding within his sleeves.


    "It''s fine. Don''t worry." Lin Mu calmed them down before standing up.


    ~sigh~


    ''Since I''m here, may as well explore the area. Perhaps I''ll find something useful or learn more.'' Lin Mu thought before looking around.


    His spirit sense was already extended, but couldn''t reach the boundaries of this ce. Lin Mu was standing in arge room that was about a hundred meters tall and equally wide. There was nothing here, but more entrances could be seen attached to its walls.


    The floor of the room was made out of normal earth, but the walls were made from solid rock. There were also pirs at the corner of the room, holding up the ceiling. The pirs were perfectly square and had five segments of about twenty meters tall each.


    Seeing the construction, it was evident that this ce had been made by a human.


    "Hmm¡­ let''s go there first." Lin Mu picked an entrance that was to the very left and began exploring.


    There was no surprise in this room and it was just empty.


    "Hmm¡­ there''s quite a lot of dust here." Lin Mu noted.


    He checked the dust with his spirit sense and discovered something.


    "Oh? It isn''t just dust¡­ there''s ash too." Lin Mu saw several ash particles.


    And when he looked through more dust, he found small fragments of paper too. They were very old and it was certain that this ce contained a lot of them once upon a time.


    "Did they all burn down somehow?" Lin Mu wondered.


    This room wasn''t as big as the one he hade from, being about twenty meters tall, but fifty meters wide. Unable to find out anything more than that, Lin Mu went back and picked another entrance this time. It was right next to the first one, but its insides were different.


    Instead of dust and ash, Lin Mu found wet wooden flooring. And not just that, but there was even some rotting furniture here.


    "Huh¡­ this looks like an office." Lin Mu could see the remnants of what were probably wooden desks as well as several shelves here.


    The wood had rotten too much, and most of the furniture here was in shambles. Even the flooring was soft at this point and Lin Mu''s feet would sink in every time he stepped toward. The wet squelching sound was rather ufortable to hear too.


    Seeing this had given Lin Mu a few ideas about what this ce might be. But he didn''t want to go wrong with his guess and decided to look at the other rooms as well.


    The next room that Lin Mu entered was the same as the first room having dust mixed with ash. And the room after that had wet rotting wood floor as well as mottled furniture. This pattern repeated and a total of ten rooms were alternating in this pattern.


    "There''s no doubt, this ce was probably arge administrative building." Lin Mu guessed.


    One room was probably filled with shelves all stacked with documents and books and an office apanied it. Several such rooms formed sets of offices, filling up the entire building.


    Discovering this posed another question to Lin Mu.


    ''Why would there be a teleportation channel linking to this building? And why would the rooms with shelves be burned down while the offices rotting with water?'' Lin Mu questioned himself.


    Lin Mu now looked for an exit to this ce, but didn''t find any obvious exit. Even when probing the walls with his spirit sense he didn''t find anything.


    "Do I need to use Phase to get out?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    He didn''t want to use Phase and identally end up trapping himself in some difficult ce. Not to mention, he also had the twin snakes with him who couldn''t exactlye along with him.


    "Hang on¡­ do you two feel anything around here?" Lin Mu decided to see if the instincts of the twin snakes had something to tell.


    Hemunicated with them though the link, trying his best to make them understand. Thankfully, he was able to make use of the ''food'' emotion and make them find a route out.


    ~hiss~


    This time it was the White twin who had found something.


    "What it Xiao Yang?" Lin Mu asked.


    In response, the white twin flew out of his sleeve, jumping straight to the top of therge room.


    ~CRACK~


    The roof seemingly cracked under the sheer power of the little snakes body and he drilled through it. Lin Mu furrowed his brows in worry and jumped after Xiao Yang.


    ~crack~crack~crack~


    His fingers stabbed straight into the rock ceiling and ripped apart chunk after chunk. His spirit sense was scanning ahead but only found more rock.


    ''Is this ce underground?'' Lin Mu was puzzled.


    He continued following behind Xiao Yang and after about two hundred meters of digging, Lin Mu finally sensed something new.


    ~Crumble~


    The rocks above him crumbled apart after losing their foundation, allowing Lin Mu toe out on top.


    ~shua~


    The familiar feeling of the space filled Lin Mu''s senses.


    Looking around, Lin Mu saw where he was.


    "The Lesser Void?" Lin Mu could see a faint ''wall'' isting this area which was basically arge chunk of the earth.


    It was like an asteroid floating in the vast expanse of the space, but in this case it was the void. There was a bubble like membrane isting the entire area from being affected by the energies of the void.


    But the surface of this ''asteroid'' was rather contrasting against the darkness of the void.


    "Flowers?" Lin Mu could see a garden of orange flowers spread all around him.


    The flowers were about the size of a palm and had ten petals. Their stalks were green with a red line going through it while their leaves were triangr with dark red veins on them. A rather prominent energy could also be felting from them.


    All this created a rather ''warm'' environment, which almost made one forget that they were in the Lesser Void and not on a world.


    "Xiao Yang! Wait!" Lin Mu suddenly shouted, seeing the white twin about to swallow a flower.


    ~snap~


    Still, Lin Mu was just a momentte. Xiao Yang swallowed the entire flower with its stalk and leaves.


    ~hiss~


    It then turned around and spat out a small streak of ck energy.


    "Yin spirit qi?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    ~SWOOSH~


    Xiao Yin spent no time waiting and inhaled the small bit of Yin spirit qi. Seeing that both of them were fine, Lin Mu took a breath of relief.


    ~Phew~


    ''Seems like this ce is a garden of some sort.'' Lin Mu walked around and let the twins continue their meal.


    Lin Mu knelt next to one of the flowers and examined it in detail. The more he looked, the more he felt like the flower seemed to be familiar.


    "Wait a second¡­ isn''t this¡­" Lin Mu quickly took out the memoirs of the Lost immortal and flipped to one of the old entries.


    "Yes, yes¡­ this is it¡­ The Ten Apertures Blood Vein flower." Lin Mu confirmed.


    It was a rare flower that could be ssified as an Immortal Herb. But many didn''t know it was an even better herb for body cultivators. It was rich in Yang energy and could be utilized to make high grade elixirs that could be used by those at the Immortal realm!


    As soon as Lin Mu realized this, he turned around.


    "Oh no¡­ I need to hurry!" Lin Mu used all his speed and collected as many of the Ten Apertures Blood Vein Flowers as he could before Xiao Yang ate them all.

 Chapter 1285 Value Of Immortal Stones

    Chapter 1285 Value Of Immortal Stones¡¡¡¡Xiao Yang had already finished half of the flowers in the garden which alone was arge number. There were easily over a hundred flowers in the garden which would be a terrifying number if they were brought to be sold. The Ten Apertures Blood Vein flowers were something that could actually be sold for tens of Immortal Stones.


    Immortal Stones were simr to spirit stones, but contained Immortal qi instead of spirit qi. One could say they were an upgraded version of spirit stones and were only found in Immortal worlds and above. They were a lot more valuable than spirit stones.


    Even if someone had a million high grade spirit stones, they might not be able to exchange it for a single low grade immortal stone. It wasn''t even a matter of cost, but rather the change it could bring forth.


    Even if Spirit qi cultivators couldn''t make use of Immortal stones, they could still use it to power some Immortal weapons. There were some lucky individuals in the myriad of worlds who held immortal weapons while they themselves were below the immortal realm.


    With such weapons under their control, they could reign supreme for a long time. Even a Nascent soul realm cultivator might kill entire armies with the swing of an immortal weapon and y Immortal Ascension realm cultivators. It was the equivalent of having a nuclear bomb.


    Of course, such a thing only applied to the spirit cultivators who didn''t have any immortal qi of their own and needed to depend on the Immortal stones to utilize such weapons.


    For a false immortal who had not yet survived his first Immortal tribtion, he could still kill a spirit cultivator with an immortal weapon. The transaction of spirit stones to immortal stones would only be done between spirit cultivators after all, and for immortals it was needless to even consider.


    In Lin Mu''s case, Immortal stones would be quite useful for him. Even if he didn''t have any immortal weapons, he could still utilize the Immortal stones in the most basic way: Currency.


    Money was something one would need everywhere, and in the Rust Sky world, Lin Mu would definitely need it when he entered normal civilization. He would also need it to exchange for several resources that he couldn''t get otherwise.


    The Ten Apertures Blood Vein flowers would be a good way to kick start his venture into this world.


    ~Phew~


    "Forty three¡­ I managed to save forty three flowers." Lin Mu plopped down feeling rather scared.


    He felt like he had almost lost a lifetime of a fortune but had still managed to grab back a handful. Lin Mu looked at the culprit behind his anxiety and saw him casually crawling back to him.Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Had your fill?" Lin Mu asked, unable to get angry at the child.


    ~Hiss~


    Xiao Yang nodded his head as if to answer him before slithering up his arm and hiding under his sleeve to sleep. The other twin Xiao Yin had already fallen asleep after getting some Yin Spirit qi from her brother beforehand.


    ''Hmmm¡­ They''re getting stronger already¡­'' Lin Mu sensed the bodies of the twin snakes.


    The Dao shells of the twins had already be half solid. This progress was really shocking and had been achieved in less than three days. If anyone from a mortal world were to see this, they might just die out of envy.


    "If they keep this pace, they might end up leaving Little Shrubby in the dust in terms of cultivation base¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The twins had great potential and talent, such that Lin Mu even wondered if they would reach the Immortal Realm before him.


    "I won''t be that slow, will I?" he wondered.


    Regardless of whatever it might be, Lin Mu didn''t mind it in the long term. The twin snakes would forever be attached to him, and the stronger they were the better it would be for Lin Mu.


    After all, they were attached to him through the beast taming technique which couldn''t be broken.


    "Still¡­ how can there be so many Ten Apertures Blood Vein flowers growing here? The condition here are less than ideal for them to grow." Lin Mu felt confused.


    ording to the memoirs of the Lost Immortal, the Ten Apertures Blood Vein flower needed a steady supply of blood along with rich amounts of qi.


    The current location didn''t seem to have any source of blood anywhere, and the closest source would be across the void in the Rust Sky world.


    ''Were they nurtured through some other method?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    But after thinking for a bit, he realized that it was unlikely for the Ten Apertures Blood Vein flower to have been cultivated by someone. The flowers were growling in a random pattern thus it was not possible for some herbalist or alchemist to have nted them here.


    If someone intended to nt them, they would do so in a specialized and spaced out field that would give the best possible conditions to the Ten Apertures Blood Vein flower.


    The more Lin Mu thought about this entire ce, which was basically an asteroid, they more confused he got.


    ''An underground office with rooms alternating between flooding and burning. A garden filled with over a hundred Ten Apertures Blood Vein flowers as well as a membrane that protects it from the vtile energy of the void.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    No matter what he thought, the scenario was just to strange for him to figure out an exnation.


    "Guess I need to continue exploring¡­" Lin Mu reckoned.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu moved away from the garden. The asteroid was several kilometers in size and thus there was plenty of space for Lin Mu to explore. Picking a random direction, he started to walk.


    About ten minutes of walkingter, Lin Mu saw a new structure appearing in front of him.


    It was simr in design to the underground pce he had see, but seemed to be greatly damaged. Plus it was situated on the surface instead of underground.

 Chapter 1286: Unearthing A Wall And A Strange Danger

    Chapter 1286: Unearthing A Wall And A Strange DangerLin Mu found it rather peculiar that the bricks were this different.


    ''Aren''t they supposed to be protecting the core of the temple? Why are there no offensive formations on them. Not just that, they are different in quality than the previous bricks.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    His spirit sense had already probed the bricks, finding them to have no formations nor any runes on them. They didn''t emit any spirit qi fluctuations either. If not for the fact that there were high quality bricks with strong formations earlier, Lin Mu would have thought this was just a crude temple.


    After confirming that therge bricks were safe, Lin Mu finally touched them with his hands. And when he did, he felt something.


    "This¡­ how did I not feel it before?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Each of the bricks seemingly contained arge amount of earth essence. The earth essence was the higher form of earth energy and was rare to find in a mortal world. Even in an immortal world one might need to spend quite a lot of fortune to obtain a small quantity of it.


    And yet, there was a lot of it contained within these bricks.


    "No wait¡­ the earth essence is flowing?" Lin Mu could tell that it was moving around.


    He had not sensed it with the spirit sense, which made him think that perhaps it was beyond his current understanding. Perhaps it already fell in the range of ''immortal'' instead of ''spirit''.


    The only reason Lin Mu was even able to sense it after touching it was because of his high affinity to the earth element. He continued to sense the flowing earth essence and discovered that the earth essence was actually flowing in a specific pattern.


    This made Lin Mu furrows his brows as it was unknown to him.


    ''It isn''t any kind of a formation I know, this is something new¡­'' Lin Mu was confused.


    He hade across another thing that was not within the scope of his knowledge.


    "I need to take this with me. At the very least, the Earth essence is very useful for me." Lin Mu decided.


    His ced his hand on one of the bricks and tried to push it.


    "HAA!" unexpectedly though, the bricks didn''t budge.


    Lin Mu didn''t falter there though and used even more strength.


    "Ugh¡­ this doesn''t work." It was disappointing to him.


    After all, Lin Mu had great physical strength and Huyun Chuan had to admit that even an Immortal might not have such strength if they didn''t use their cultivation base. This prompted Lin Mu to delve deeper into why it maybe like this.


    Spending three hours in this, Lin Mu finally understood the reasoning.


    He had tried to sense the movement of the Earth Essence within the bricks when he was pushing them. By doing this, he discovered that the Earth Essence would spread apart uniformly in a triangr repeating pattern.


    This patter formed a rigid matrix within the brick wall. The matrix linked up all the bricks and prevented them from being moved.


    "Can I store them directly into the ring?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He ced his hand on the brick wall again and tried to store it, but nothing happened.


    "Won''t work. Do I need to unearth the wall?" Lin Mu wondered and started to dig around the wall.


    After a few minutes, Lin Mu had dug around fifty meters. Though more urately it was him punching the ground to break it and then storing it away to excavate it quickly.


    "Now let''s see¡­" Lin Mu ced his hand on therge bricks once more and willed it to enter the ring.


    ~shua~


    "It worked!" Lin Mu was pleased.


    The entire string of wall had now been stored in the ring since it was connected. Lin Mu had to dig out the entire periphery of the wall to make it able to be stored though.


    "These wille in handy quite a bitter, I hope." Lin Mu said to himself with a smile.


    Ever sinceing to this ce, Lin Mu had obtained three benefits. The first being the Ten apertures Blood Vein flowers, the second the new kinds of formations from the secondyer of wall and third therge stone bricks with earth essence within them.


    Just these along were worth the trip here. Though Lin Mu didn''t forget that he still needed to find a way out.


    ''With the Lesser void right above me, I should be able to link up with the Rust Sky world. Though it might take a few tries.'' Lin Mu thought while looking at the ''sky''.


    His eyes eventually went to the central structure of it all, feeling curious as to what it really was.


    "The pirs have channels built into them¡­" Lin Mu could sense the energy channels that could carry any type of qi or other types of energies within them.


    But when he checked the ground for it, he found that they were cut off there.


    ''Strange, aren''t channels like these used to draw energy from spirit veins? Even if this pce had been cut off from what was probably the main world, there should still be some linking remnants in the ground.'' Lin Mu was confused.


    Aparable example would be the spirit qi channeling formation array that supplied spirit qi to the various buildings and residences in a sect. But such things needed what was basically a pipeline made from runes.


    But that was clearly not present in the ground, making the structures practically useless.


    "Unless, there is something more to it?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He touched the pirs wondering if there was something simr to therge bricks in them, but this time there was nothing unexpected.


    ~GELELELLELELE~


    But just as Lin Mu stepped into the central structure, he heard a strange sound. The sound felt like it had ran directly in his mind and didn''te through his ears.


    He became alert and was ready to act at any moment.


    ~GELELELLELELE~


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    The sound was heard again, but this time Lin Mu heard it in his ears to.


    "It''sing from the front?" Lin Mu didn''t see anything there at first.


    ~Whistle~


    Then suddenly wind started blowing and spun around the area, forming some sort of a vortex.


    "This doesn''t seem good¡­" Lin Mu directly used blink to bypass the barrier and get away from the structure.


    "Wait¡­" A whisper could be heard.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu''s ears perked up but he didn''t drop his guard.


    "Come to me¡­" a voice spoke from the structure.


    "Who?!" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Come to me¡­ be part of me¡­" the voice spoke eerily.


    "Yeah, no." Lin Mu turned around finding it incredibly suspicious.


    ~SWOOSH~


    But before he could go any further, a cold wind blew him back.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Another wind vortex formed, preventing Lin Mu from proceeding any further.


    "Why are you leaving me?" The voice spoke again.


    "Don''t leave me alone¡­"


    "Be with me¡­"


    "Forever¡­"


    Lin Mu felt chills going down his spine and his instincts shouted danger.


    "Shit!" Lin Mu used blink to put more distance between him an the structure but more wind vortexes continued to appear.


    ~HONG~


    It was at this point that the chiming of small bells could be heard. Lin Mu nced at the source and saw an indigo colored ball of light appearing there. There was a ck outline around the ball, and a creepy aura was exuding from it.


    "We shall be here¡­ together!" a voice came from the indigo colored ball.


    A stream of energy poured out of the ball making Lin Mu feel anxious.


    ''What is that?'' Lin Mu couldn''t tell.


    It was unlike anything he had seen before.


    ~SHUA~


    The stream of energy poured into the pirs and entered the ground. It then seemingly spread all over the area before the ground started to shake.


    ~tremble~


    ''Those channels weren''t meant to pull energy from the ground¡­ they were to send energy into it.'' Lin Mu realized.


    ~Rumble~


    The ground started to move and several mounds appeared. These mounds continued to rise and then changed shapes. Soon they took the form of beasts.


    "Wait a minute, aren''t they¡­" Lin Mu recognized the form of those beasts. "Chasm Beasts!?"


    The beasts formed from the earth had the same shape as the Chasm Beasts he had fought before, with the only difference being that they were made of earth rather than the dark dusty fog of the Broken Chasm.


    Thankfully their strengths weren''t great, being at the Dao Shell realm. Lin Mu could sense this simply from their aura.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Several weapons appeared around Lin Mu before he waved his hand.


    "Go!" Lin Muunched the weapons at the earth beast.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~ CLANG~


    Upon hitting the beasts, the spirit weapons made solid sounds. But the power contained within them was still enough to break the beasts apart.


    ~Crumble~


    The beasts broke into fragments and fell to the ground. But Lin Mu didn''t feel relieved at that.


    ''Their aura hasn''t disappeared yet¡­''

 Chapter 1287: Fatal Encounter!

    Chapter 1287: Fatal Encounter!The broken fragments of the earth beasts were shaking on the ground, as if they weren''t dead yet.


    "This is going to be a pain." Lin Mu got ready for a potentially tiring fight.


    ~Rumble~


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    The broken fragment ''melted'' into the ground before reforming into the beasts.


    ~GUOAAAAAA~


    The beasts roared at Lin Mu this time, anger and violence apparent in their eyes. They lunged at him, wanting to rip him to shreds.


    ~BOOM~


    But the moment the first earth beast came close, it met Lin Mu''s fist instead. Its entire body shattered and was shot back. The smaller fragments pelted the other earth beasts behind, damaging them in the process.


    ~SHING~


    The spirit weapons flew around, shing the beasts apart once more. But that was not enough as more such beasts took their ce. The broken beasts simply returned to the earth for a few seconds before reforming.


    "Is there no end to them?" Lin Mu said after killing six waves of the earth beasts.


    They were seemingly immortal but Lin Mu knew that was not possible.


    ''They were made by that indigo ball in the center so if I get rid of it, that should stop them from reforming.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Deciding to end it in one attack, Lin Mu entered the stance for the Boulder Copsing Fist and spun the energies within his arm. A few secondster, his aura red up and strong energy fluctuations emanated from his arm.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Third Form- Devastator!


    A pink ribbon of energy shout out of Lin Mu''s hand and spun in a spiral while destroying everything in its path. A two meter deep gully was left on the ground even though the energy had not touched it at all.


    The Earth beasts that were in its path were turned into dust as well and the pink ribbon of energy reached the target effortlessly.


    ~BANG~


    The pink ribbon of energy struck the indigo ball of light and it was as if the air was cracked. A barrier had appeared around the indigo ball, blocking the path of the Devastator.


    "Won''t be stopped that easily." Lin Mu could sense that the barrier was being eroded by the pink ribbon of energy.


    ~GELELELLELELE~


    As if sensing that it was on the failing side, the indigo ball let out a cry. This triggered a wave of pressure to fall over the area, and cracks stared to spread all over the ground.


    "You will not leave!"


    "Your soul will be mine!"


    The voice spoke once more, but this time it was a lot more clear.


    ''Is that a woman?'' Lin Mu could now differentiate the voice and found it to be feminine.


    ~shua~


    And just as he thought that, he saw the aura around the indigo ball re up. It changed shape and took the form of a woman. The figure had no features and even its clothes could not be made out.


    It was like a simple outline of a woman with long hair.


    But what was not simple was the energy fluctuationsing from her.


    "What is that even¡­" Lin Mu was scared at this point.


    And it wasn''t because of the eerie appearance of the woman, but because of the strange energy she was seemingly releasing. It was certainly beyond any spirit cultivator, and seemed to be greater than an Immortal cultivator too.


    ''It may not be on the same league as Senior Xukong, but it is definitely not any average immortal cultivator either.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    From the many descriptions and information about the immortals he had obtained till now, Lin Mu was dead sure the woman''s figure wasn''t just at the First, second or any Immortal Tribtion realm.


    "If anything, it might be at the peak¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    For the first time in a long while Lin Mu was feeling fear. His back was covered in cold sweat and goosebumps covered his skin.


    ''I can''t stay here any longer, I need to leave!'' Lin Mu decided.


    ~SHUA~


    Deciding to put caution to the wind, Lin Mu poured as much spirit qi as he could into the ring triggering it to create a spatial portal.


    ~RIP~


    Though instead of a stable portal, what appeared in front of Lin Mu was a spatial tear.


    A spatial tear was and portals were technically the same thing, they only difference was in their stability and safety. A portals was a safe way to traverse the void, while a tear was a risky and unstable mode.


    One took a lot of energy to stabilize while the other created a tear haphazardly in the weak points of the spatial fabric. Considering Lin Mu''s dire situation, he needed the process to be fast and thus even a tear was fine for him.


    ~SCREECH~


    The woman''s figure let out an inhuman screech, seeing that her prey was about to escape. Dark tendrils shout out from her back, chasing down Lin Mu. And just as he was about to enter the tearpletely, he was caught!


    "ARGH!" Lin Mu felt a searing pain on his foot.


    It was his left food that had been caught and it felt like burning coals had been ced on it. Lin Mu''s great defenses were seemingly nothing against the dark tendrils.


    ''Her energy¡­ its is of a way higher quality than the spirit qi. My defenses are like paper against it.'' Lin Mu struggled to pull his foot out of the tendrils grasp, but was unable to do much.


    "You will not leave! Your soul is mine!" The woman''s figure roared.


    No matter how much Lin Mu tried, his strength was simply not enough to go against the dark tendrils. He felt like he was an ant trying to pull a carriage.


    ''Her cultivation base is way beyond my state right now.'' Lin Mu realized.


    He tried to call for Senior Xukong, but he was still in his dormant state. Lin Mu had hoped that he might be able to wake up considering he had done so just a while ago, but there was no sess.


    Lin Mu was starting to fall into despair, unable to find a solution. He used all the skills he had, even going so far as to use his Dao Embryo to break the dark tendril.


    Right now his Dao Embryo was the strongest method of attacking that he had, but even that was useless against this.


    ~shua~shua~shua~


    More tendrils starteding towards him, and just a couple secondster another one wrapped around his other leg.


    "MELD!" Lin Mu used more of his spirit qi, wanting to directly sever the tendrils using meld.


    ~SPARK~


    But much to his dismay, the power of the spatial skill seemingly stopped upon touching the tendrils. Or more like, they were resisting the change to the very space itself.


    Lin Mu''s heart fell upon seeing this, as he knew what this entailed. He recalled Xukong''s words.


    ''A strong enough cultivator can resist and even freeze the changes in space even if he or she does not have skill with the spatial element.''


    While wondering how he could get out of this predicament, Lin Mu didn''t realize a change in his Dantian. Or more urately the new bracelet that was on his nascent soul.


    It let out a bright light which traveled out of his Dantian and then extended out from his body!


    ~HISS~


    The dark tendrils were like y meeting the sea and directly melted away from the light.


    "NOOOO!" the woman''s figure screamed in pain.


    Lin Mu didn''t dare to think what had just happened and decided to take the opportunity to escape.


    ~shua~


    His body sessfully passed through the spatial tear and entered the lesser void. He was now out of the ''atmosphere'' of the asteroid from earlier.


    Turning around Lin Mu could still see the asteroid in the distance. His legs were still burning in pain, but he simply ignored it for the time being, knowing that it was imperative to find a way back to the Rust Sky world.


    ''Doesn''t seem like she cane after me here¡­'' Lin Mu''s eyes were locked onto the asteroid which was now covered with dark clouds.


    Faint screams were also hearding all the way here, only making Lin Mu more anxious.


    ''If that light was just a few secondster, I might not have survived.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He realized his mistake and etched this fact into his mind.


    "I''ve becent in the Xiaofan world. I cannot behave the same way here¡­ it is not at the same state anymore. I am but a mere ant here¡­" Lin Mu said to himself.


    Furrowing his brows, Lin Mu found himself running out of air.


    ''The ring should have more air.'' Lin Mu pulled out some stored air from the ring and breathed it, extending the time he could stay in the lesser void.


    His eyes narrowed and spatial perception activated so that he could find a way back.

 Chapter 1288: Analyzing Failure

    Chapter 1288: Analyzing FailureLin Mu kept on looking over his shoulder to make sure that the woman didn''t actually follow him out. By now he was nearly twenty kilometer away from the asteroid but even then the screams of the woman could still be heard.


    The almost fatal encounter had made Lin Mu a lot more anxious than before. But at the same time he was now feeling enlightened.


    He had obtained a ceholder that he could use as his target. That figure of woman was certainly at the peak of the immortal realm, or perhaps even beyond that. But at the same time it was restrained for some reason.


    ''Why is it that she can''t leave that asteroid? Is she trapped there? Or perhaps sealed?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    With the level of strength she had seen, Lin Mu didn''t know for sure if she could dominate the Rust Sky world, but at the very least she should have been able to break her confines.


    "Even if I consider that she had been sealed, then how strong must that person be?" Lin Mu was greatly intrigued.


    He continued to analyze the situation of the woman as well as the Asteroid.


    Empty hall¡­


    Offices with rotting wood¡­


    Rooms full of ashes¡­


    A n worship temple¡­


    Walls made out of high quality spirit bricks¡­


    And a woman''s illusory figure that could ''create'' life¡­


    Combining all these points only made things confusing andplex for Lin Mu. Several questions popped up in Lin Mu''s mind.


    For example: why would there be a n worship temple on top of a set of offices?


    Or why were the offices rotting with dampness and the document storage rooms burned?


    Even the high level defenses of the n worship temple were a bit strange. Lin Mu didn''t know if it was because they had been broken down, or if they were always like that, but he now felt like they were actually not meant to defend against ''external'' forces.


    ''Were they intended to keep that woman¡­ or whatever that is inside?'' Lin Mu considered this possibility.


    "No¡­ that can''t be. Those defenses aren''t much for her power." He rejected that option.


    Even Lin Mu himself would be able to break them at his current level given enough time, not to mention someone on the level of that woman.


    Continuing to think of this, a rather absurd idea came to Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Wait¡­ could it be that the defenses are really meant for outsiders? And seeing that it is a n worship temple, people should have worshiped there. So this was meant to keep those worshipers outside?" Lin Mu deliberated.


    It didn''t make entire sense, but it there was also the factor of missing information. All the guesses that Lin Mu was making was on the basis of iplete information. There were likely to be a lot of things that might shine a light on this matter somewhere else.


    ''Still, there is one thing I can confirm for sure.'' Lin Mu thought as his eyes glinted.


    "The Chasm Beasts are definitely made by that woman. That energy she uses can imbue life or perhaps some level of consciousness into matter. And that dark dusty fog is some kind of material that is being used by her to make Chasm Beasts." Lin Mu noted.


    "And considering that the Chasm Beasts were out searching for that small square of hidden ne, it should be on the orders of that woman. She wanted that broken statue of legs, or more urately that wisp that was hidden in it." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    His spirit sense entered his Dantian and nced at the bracelet that was on the Nascent soul''s wrist. Its glow had dimmed a little, and its presence also seemed to be weaker.


    ''That thing protected me and melted away that woman''s powers. I can safely assume that they are foes in some regard. This would make sense if the woman was searching the statue out to destroy it.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He wondered if that wisp was also sealed in that broke statue, perhaps. And the reason it came out of it was because of Lin Mu being there and touching it.


    The bracelet couldn''t help but seem like a special thing to Lin Mu now.


    "The power it contains is mysterious yet powerful. It could even help Senior Xukong''s avatar recover faster." Lin Mu reckoned.


    While Lin Mu continued to think about the woman and what the strange wisp was, he was also searching for a way out of the lesser void.


    The thing was, there was a very clear way to get back to the Rust Sky world. But that also meant going back to the asteroid where the woman was. This wasn''t something that Lin Mu wanted, as it would only mean his death.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    There was only one option left for him, and that was to find another ce that might be close enough for Lin Mu to open up another portal. Or at the very least, a crack and possibly slip out of here.


    Thankfully, he had sufficient supplies of air in the ring along with spirit stones, so he didn''t need to suffer for long. His spirit Qi stores were restored and most of his injuries were healed with the help of pills.


    And for the first time since getting the golden body of the True gold Body forging arts, Lin Mu had a scar. Or rather, two scars.


    The scars were spiraling around Lin Mu''s legs all the way from his ankles to his knees. This was the same spot where the tendrils of the woman had wrapped and burned him.


    ''Even after the skin is healed, the scar is still there. Though the effect of the True Gold Body forging arts is also active and the scared area is as tough as the rest of my body.'' Lin Mu noticed.


    As it was just a cosmetic w, Lin Mu didn''t mind the scars being there. If it was something like the scarred area being weaker than the rest of his body, he would have to be worried quite a bit.


    At that point, it would be his Achilles Heel. Or rather, in his case ''Achilles leg''.


    That would be really unfortunate and Lin Mu would have to change a lot of his tactics in order to make his vulnerability less severe.


    ~Thud~


    ~CRACK~


    Suddenly, Lin Mu heard the sound of something colliding.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu''s eyes tried to find the source of the sound in the darkness of the void.


    ~Crack~


    Thankfully, the sound was heard again, allowing Lin Mu to lock onto it.


    ~Shua~


    Lin Mu amped up his spatial perception to the maximum and looked at the area where the sound hade from. There he saw two ''blots'' on the spatial fabric. One of the blots was several times bigger than the other and they seemed to be touching each other.


    Lin Mu flew towards them, wanting to take a closer look.


    ''Maybe it will be the solution I need to get out of here.'' Lin Mu hoped.


    It was a saving grace that Lin Mu could still ''fly'' in the void. Though it might be more urate to call it floating instead.


    In the Rust Sky world he was forced to stay onnd due to thews of the world. In the Lesser Void, while he was still technically under its rules, there was one thing missing: Land.


    Without Land there wasn''t any specific ''direction'' to the gravity and therefor no way for Lin Mu to be forced in some position.


    One could also say that Lin Mu was simply a weightless feather that was being propelled by the spirit Qi being spread out from it.


    A couple of minutester, Lin Mu finally reached the two ''blots'' that were visible in his Spatial perception. He switched back to his normal vision and created a fireball to illuminate the area.


    "More Asteroids?" Lin Mu discovered that the two ''blots'' were in fact, two more asteroids.


    They were considerably smaller than the one before but were still quiterge.


    The bigger one of the two was about half a kilometer in diameter, while the smaller one was just a hundred meters in diameter.


    The smaller asteroid seemed to be hitting the bigger one every so often and was the source of the sound that Lin Mu heard. Looking closer, Lin Mu saw the cracks that had been created on therger asteroid along with the equallyrge crater.


    "The smaller asteroid is tougher than therge one, huh¡­" Lin Mu saw norge cracks or craters on the smaller asteroid.


    But just as he was observing them, he felt a very faint fluctuation in the space. Narrowing his eyes, Lin Mu got closer and tried to track the fluctuation he felt.


    ~THUD~


    The small asteroid mmed into therger one again. The sound produced from it coincided with the spatial fluctuation!


    "THERE! That''s a node between the lesser void and the Rust Sky world!"

 Chapter 1289: Narrow Escape

    <h4>Chapter 1289: Narrow Escape</h4>


    Lin Mu''s eyes locked onto the ce where the smaller asteroid was hitting therger one.


    At first it seemed normal, but in Lin Mu''s Spatial perception he could see a node hidden there.


    "No wonder they two asteroids keep on colliding. It isn''t themselves are causing that, but rather the node there. It''s making an attractive force that causes this." Lin Mu understood.


    Having understood this, Lin Mu became a bit more cautions. After all he knew if something could cause suchrge asteroids to sh, it must have some great force. He didn''t know what would happen if he got in between them when they were about to crash.


    ''That would not be a good way to test my durability for sure¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He continued to fly towards the two asteroids and reached them after about ten minutes. They were farther than they appeared to be.


    "Just as I thought, the node is really there." Lin Mu could sense the spatial fluctuations a lot more clearly now.


    ~THUD~


    ~CRACK~


    He also got to experience the crashing of the two asteroids. Since he was standing on therger asteroid, the entire ground shook like an earthquake was happening. But Lin Mu was immovable.


    "This makes it easy." Lin Mu said after letting his body''s weight be fully released.


    It kept him anchored to the ground and he didn''t fall either.


    ~crack~crack~crack~


    Each step he took created cracks on the ground. Lin Mu soon started to run and the cracks from his steps also got wider. Evidently he was exerting a lot more force than before.


    ''Just a little more¡­'' Lin Mu''s eyes were locked onto the small asteroid.


    He was calcting the time it would take to crash again. Since he wanted to open a portal and slip in through the node, he needed to do it at a precise time.


    "NOW!" Lin Mu took a leap and activated the ring.


    ~SHUA~


    His spirit Qi started draining rapidly as a force exerted from his hand. The location of the node started to flicker before a thin but long tear appeared in the air.


    "Just a bit more¡­" Lin Mu watched as the smaller asteroid kept on getting closer and closer.


    It even seemed to be speeding up the closer it got. Lin Mu was standing in the crater created from the constant crashes and thus had some extra time before the smaller asteroid would strike the ground.


    The air rippled as the thin tear started to expand slowly.


    "Come on,e on¡­" Lin Mu urged the ring to work faster, and poured even more spirit Qi into it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The smaller asteroid wasing closer and was about a hundred meters away from Lin Mu.


    100 meters¡­


    90 meters¡­


    80 meters


    ..


    .


    Owned by N?velDrama.Org.


    .


    .


    .


    20 meters¡­


    10 meters!


    A dark shadow now covered Lin Mu as the smaller asteroid hid everything behind it.


    "OPEN!" Lin Mu shouted and jumped into the narrow portal that had barely opened up.


    It was just enough to let him pass sideways, but he managed to do it.


    ~BOOM~


    The smaller asteroid finally crashed into the ground, and the portal dissipated with that too.


    "Haa¡­ HAA¡­ Haaa¡­" Lin Mu panted and looked back at the ce where the portal was there just a moment ago. "I made it¡­"


    Lin Mu felt his heart beating fast like a horse. It took him a minute to calm down, but the anxiety faded away with that too.


    Taking this chance, he looked around the area.


    "Where is this ce?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question.


    He certainly knew he wasn''t in the lesser void anymore and was back in the Rust Sky world. The space around felt firm and wasn''t as unstable as that of the lesser void. But at the same time, Lin Mu was surrounded in darkness.


    His spirit sense extended, but didn''t find any walls around him. The only solid surface was underneath him.


    ~shua~


    "Let''s brighten this ce up a bit." Lin Mu ignited a fire ball on his hand.


    With the light from the mes, he could finally see his surroundings.


    "Oh, hang on¡­ isn''t this¡­" Lin Mu could now see stone walls in the distance.


    But not just that, he could see chiseling marks on the walls too.


    "I''m in one of the tunnels carved out by the Haima Tribe, aren''t I?" Lin Mu guessed.


    Lin Mu knew that the Haima Tribe had a lot of underground tunnels and caves excavated over the years. Other than the main cave where the tribe was, there were several branches of smaller tunnels and caves extending from it.


    There were even a few that had copsed over the years and some that were invaded by Chasm Beasts. Such tunnels were closed up by the Tribe so that no more beasts would get through.


    "Seems like I''m in one of the copse tunnels." Lin Mu came across a lot of rubble, along withrge boulders that were blocking the path forward.


    From the looks of it, the tunnel was naturally copsed.


    ''Hmmm¡­ at least I won''t have to travel far back to the tribe. Though its surprising that I ended up this close despite the fact that I entered the Lesser Void quite far away.'' Lin Mu pondered to himself.


    But then after a minute, he realized something.


    "No, I was far away originally when I entered the small ce with the broken statue. But then I was pulled into the lesser void and went through a teleportation channel." Lin Mu mut


    tered, analyzing his situation.


    ''Guess that was what sent me this far back. But then, doesn''t that also mean that woman is rather close to the Tribe?'' Lin Mu felt a lot more worried now.


    ~Sigh~


    "I should first get out of here." Lin Mu said before getting to moving the rocks.


    Since the twin snakes were sleeping under his sleeves, Lin Mu couldn''t really use Phase. Otherwise, getting through here would be rather easy.


    About ten minutester, Lin Mu had cleared out enough rubble to let him pass thorough.


    "Who''s there?!" After getting out though, Lin Mu heard a voice.

 Chapter 1290: Elder Nijis Dao Embryo

    Chapter 1290: Elder Niji''s Dao Embryo


    Lin Mu felt pleased upon hearing the voice. Property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "It''s me Lin Mu!" he said in the Haima Tribe''snguage.


    "Noble Lin Mu!?" The Haima tribe member that was patrolling the tunnels was surprised.


    This tunnel was properly illuminated and the Haima tribe was also carrying a torch with him.


    "How are you here? Didn''t you go out from the surface?" the Haima felt confused.


    "It''s a long story." Lin Mu shook his head. "We should first head back to the Tribe." He suggested.


    "Alright. Please follow me. I''ll take you back." The Haima tribe member replied.


    "Where are we, though? This doesn''t seem to be the normal tunnel routes." Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "We are in the farthest tunnels of the tribe. No one reallyes here after the Chasm Beasts dug in once. While we killed them back then, we still avoid this area. Plus, there isn''t really a use being here." The Haima member replied.


    "Why dig this far, then?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    "There was a mineral ore vein nearby. That was the reason why this area was further excavated. We wanted to see if there was more to mine here, but we didn''t get anything. Only the first ore vein we found was valuable enough to mine.


    After that was depleted, this area became useless." The Haima Tribe member answered.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head. ''Since it''s one of the farthest tunnels of the tribe, it should still be fine.''


    The two of them traveled for about half an hour beforeing across more Haima members.


    "Noble Lin Mu! It''s Noble Lin Mu!" the Haima members shouted upon seeing Lin Mu appear from one of the tunnels.


    The shout attracted everyone''s attention, and now Lin Mu had over a thousand people staring at him.


    "Hello!" Lin Mu waved his hand, finding himself in one of the caves where they grew Stone Flesh Mushrooms.


    A few members approached them and asked the Haima, who had brought Lin Mu some questions. They were wondering why Lin Mu was here too.


    "I''ll head on to meet Elder Niji first, need to tell him some important things." Lin Mu stated, not wanting to talk to them right now.


    There were a lot of questions in Lin Mu''s mind, which he hoped Elder Niji might be able to shed light on.


    ''They also need to know the source of the Chasm Beasts.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He ran through the halls and reached the main area of the tribe in just five minutes. From there, a single leap was all it took for him to reach Elder Niji''s residence.


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense felt the energy fluctuations in the air, making him realize something.


    ;


    "He broke through again?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    ~CREAK~


    The door of the residence opened without Lin Mu having to do anything.


    "Wee back, Noble Lin Mu." Elder Niji had a smile on his face.


    "I see that you''ve had some progress." Lin Mu said, trying to estimate the man''s cultivation base now.


    "I have indeed¡­" Elder Niji nodded his head.


    ~SHUA~


    He waved his hand, and a small sphere flew out of his chest. The sphere was light blue in color and had wave like patterns on it. This was none other than Elder Niji''s Dao Shell.


    But what was surprising was the object that was present inside it.


    "You formed a Dao Embryo?" Lin Mu noticed the small rhombus shaped object inside.


    "I did indeed. Justst week." Elder Niji nodded his head.


    This was faster than Lin Mu had originally expected. While he knew they would adjust to the spirit Qi soon enough, actually forming a Dao Embryo was an entirely different matter. After all, one needed to sense andprehend the Dao Traces to make one.


    Lin Mu had left the Tribe about two months ago, thus Elder Niji''s progress was quite good.


    ''The workers in the farm also seemed to be at the Nascent soul realm, now that I think of it¡­'' he recalled.


    Lin Mu nced at the Dao Shell and the Dao Embryo within it, trying to figure out just what it was.


    "My Dao Embryo is called the Tide Scale." Elder Niji spoke, guessing Lin Mu''s thoughts urately.


    "Tide Scale?" Lin Mu was confused. "Tide as in a water tide?" he asked.


    "Yes¡­ My Dao Embryo came from the Dao Trace of Water." Elder Niji confirmed.


    "The Dao Trace of water?" Lin Mu found this rather unexpected.


    "How did you develop something like this? It doesn''t make sense¡­ you haven''t even seen a sea or anyrge water body." Lin Mu questioned.


    "I¡­ don''t know either. I just had an epiphany out of nowhere and by the time I came out of that state, I already had the Dao Embryo." Elder Niji answered.


    "Huh¡­" Lin Mu knew this wasn''t something normal. ''If he had enlightenment and the Dao Embryo formed automatically, then¡­ isn''t this an innate Dao Trace?'' he reckoned.


    The Haima Tribe had lived in thend of exile for a long time. Thus, most of them never even heard of a sea, not to mention see anyrge water body. While they did indeed see water, as there was enough of it underground, it was still unexpected.


    After all, usually one would only form a Dao Embryo rted to the things one had experience.


    "Also," Elder Niji wasn''t d


    one yet.


    ~SPLASH~


    He waved his hand and spirit Qi rose from his body. It turned corporeal before taking on a blue shade. The spirit Qi then flowed forward, turning into water!


    "I can make water now." Elder Niji stated.


    "This is impressive¡­" Lin Mu started to think of how this could be made use of.


    "How far does your ability go? Can you also manipte water?" he asked.


    "Of course. Creating it is the hard part. If there is already some water present, I can control it like a limb." Elder Niji waved his hand once more and three streams of water came out of the house.

 Chapter 1291: Informing Elder Niji And Others

    Chapter 1291: Informing Elder Niji And Others


    "So what you are saying is, there is some being that is behind the creation of the Chasm Beasts?" Head Warrior Kulo asked.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head for the eighth time. -Sigh-"All this is..." Head Warrior Kulo sighed. "Too much, I know." Lin Mu nodded again. "This is still good for us. At least we now ''mow the mystery behind the Chasm Beasts." Elder Niji spoke up. "Perhaps, but it gave us another mystery. Who is that woman or whatever being that is and why is she on that asteroid?" Head Warrior Kulo replied. The three of them had been talking for a while and Lin Mu had called them to Elder Niji''s residence to talk about the Chasm Beasts. He exined everything he had seen, right from the broken statue all the way to the n worship temple and the illusory woman that came from the indigo light ball. Lin Mu had hoped that Elder Niji might have some insights, but there was no use. They too, were as lost as Lin Mu was.


    "Guess you are going to talk to Huyun Chuan about this now?" Elder Niji asked after a while.


    "Yes, he''s the only one left we can talk to. Though I would not want to tell him everything directly." Lin Mu answered.


    "That might be for the best. That thing you saw on the asteroid is too dangerous." Even Elder Niji found it best to restrict this information.


    "I''ll see if we can get anything from him. Besides, I need to ask him about his ''rescuers'' too. It''s been a while and there are no signs of them." Lin Mu replied. "Yeah, we''ve kept a watch as you asked, and there are also patrols searching for them. If anyone appears, we''ll know." Elder Niji stated.


    With this done, Lin Mu headed out of the tribe and went to see Huyun Chuan. The man was doing rtively well for a prisoner and mostly spent his time in his cell sleeping. He was given stone flesh mushrooms as food every so often and didn''t seem to beining anymore.


    -shua


    Lin Mu appeared outside the prison and waved his hand, opening a gate for himself.


    "Huh?" Huyun Chuan who was lying on the ground, looked up to see Lin Mu. "Guess you have some furniture here too now." Lin Mu saw the stone bed and stool that were in the cell.Property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "The tribesmen brought me these in exchange for telling them some stories." Huyun Chuan answered.


    "I see..." Lin Mu didn''t really mind this. Huyun Chuan had no chance of injuring them and was the same amoner now. Even a child from the tribe would be able to pummel him to death. Plus the strength of the tribe had greatly increased in this time with Nascent soul realm bing the average cultivation base for everyone.


    "So what are you here for today?" Huyun Chuan questioned. "1 got a few things to talk to you about." Lin Mu said before sitting down in front of him. He then took out a jade slip and passed it to the man. "Take a look and tell me if you find it familiar or know anything." Lin Mu instructed. "Okay..." Huyun Chuan held the jade slip and went through its contents. In it he saw several images, some of which made him a little scared. "What the hell was that!?" Huyun Chuan asked. "That is what I wanted to ask Find anything familiar?" Lin Mu replied. "No! There''s nothing normal in that." Huyun Chuan said, finding it absurd. "Where did you even see all this? And that... woman."


    "1 encountered here... somewhere here in the Land of exile." Lin Mu stated inly.


    "That thing is here?" Huyun Chuan felt a chill going down his spine. "How strong do you think she was?" Lin Mu asked next. "She''s easily at the peak of the Immortal realm. After all, shemanded a great control over energies. She was directly using the power of the Dao to do all that. I''ve only seen generals and old ministers of the Kingdoms use that. All of them are at the very least sixth tribtion immortals." Huyun Chuan replied, confirming Lin Mu''s suspicions.


    ''So it really is as I thought_ I''ll need to be a lot more careful,'' Lin Mu noted. "Is there anything you find familiar or something you can tell me about from that?" Lin Mu asked again. "Hmm... other than that temple, I don''t know much." Huyun Chuan replied. "Oh? You know about that temple?" Lin Mu said with intrigue. "Well, I don''t know what that woman was or to whom the temple was made for, but I do recognize that style of temple." Huyun Chuan replied. "Yeah, it''s a n worship temple for ancestors, right?" Lin Mu asked. "Not just that, it''s actually in a style that is specific to the old kingdoms. It''s not popr anymore and they don''t make them like that anymore." Huyun Chuan answered. "Whatever you saw was really old, like at the very least a million years old." He added. "I see..." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "The architectural style has changed now. I don''t know much about it myself, but I can tell it''s old since there are some ruins of a simr style in the Purple Sparrow Kingdom too." Huyun Chuan exined.


    "Then is there anyone who might know more about this?" Lin Mu asked with a little hope. "The best ce to find such information would be the kingdom''s old libraries. If you can manage to get into the royal library, you will find detailed information about old ns, their administration methods, as well as history. Architecture should be included in that somewhere." Huyun Chuan said after thinking for a bit.


    "Alright." This gave Lin Mu some more hope. While he didn''t necessarily need to find more about the woman, Lin Mu still wanted to know just how strong she was and what methods she was using After all, the key to getting strong was to obtain more knowledge and expanding the scope of understanding..

 Chapter 1292: Losing Aim And Finding New One

    Chapter 1292: Losing Aim And Finding New One


    Lin Mu obtained a few more details from Huyun Chuan before getting to another thing that had been pending for a while.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like anyone¡¯sing to rescue you.¡± Lin Mu stated.


    Huyun Chuan¡¯s expression fell upon hearing this, but he quickly forced a straight face.


    ¡°They just need more time. They are probably being monitored even now and need to wait longer. They wille get me, just you watch.¡± Huyun Chuan reiterated.


    ¡°Mm¡­ but even if theye, how will they exactly find you here? This ce is vast and full of dangers. Are they even sure you would live long enough to be rescued?¡± Lin Mu said, depressing the man even more.


    ¡°Even if they get here, they will be limited how long they can search for. You surely don¡¯t think they will keep on searching for you non-stop without any clue?¡± He added.


    Deep down, Huyun Chuan knew Lin Mu¡¯s words were reasonable, but he didn¡¯t want to believe them. He wanted to keep on hoping that someone would reallye to get himter.


    ~Sigh~.


    ¡°Guess we¡¯ll just wait then. We¡¯ll get out some other way, if they don¡¯te.¡± Lin Mu said before taking his leave.


    Huyun Chuan stayed without moving, depressive thoughts going through his head without a stop.


    It wasn¡¯t that Lin Mu didn¡¯t want to believe in Huyun Chuan¡¯s people.


    ¡®It would be a lot easier if they came to get him. As long as I have a look at the talisman, I should be able to make more of them. Maybe even an array that can directly get the tribesmen out.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    For now, he could only do his best to prepare and let the n develop.


    They need a firm footing if they were to venture outside. There was no telling the dangers they would face right after leaving the Land of exile.


    ¡®At least we have the saving grace with Elder Niji. His affinity for Water Dao is really unexpected. Even seems to be innate on some level.¡¯ Lin Mu remembered.


    ¡°Perhaps we¡¯ll learn more once the others breakthrough. Though maybe I can try and teach them some water elemental Qi skills or techniques?¡± Lin Mu pondered.


    He did have a lot of them that were collected over the years, but having to change them to fit the Haima Tribe¡¯s requirements was going to be difficult.


    ¡°There¡¯s no harm in trying. We got time anyway¡­ as long as I that desire doesn¡¯t re up.¡± Lin Mu¡¯s face darked.


    He had not forgotten that day, which had forced him into a state he didn¡¯t like. The feeling of having something stolen from oneself was hard to deal with. Especially one that incited pure rage within him.


    Even now, Lin Mu could feel that desire if he focused his mind. It was something he would have to inevitably search for.


    While thinking about all this, Lin Mu returned to his residence.


    He put the twin snakes on their pillow and decided to rest as well.


    ¡®It¡¯s been months since I slept.¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    Thest time he had slept was when that incident happened. He didn¡¯t dare to sleep after that.


    ¡°It should be fine now, right? Even if something happens, I¡¯m at least a bit more experienced now and won¡¯t be caught off guard.¡± Lin Mu said to himself before lying on the bed.


    Closing his eyes, he dozed off quickly.


    It seemed like luck was on his side, and he didn¡¯t encounter the same situation as before.


    ¡°Guess I was worried about nothing¡­¡± Lin Mu said in a hoarse voice after waking up.


    He stretched his body and went to take a look around the tribe. He returned a few hourster and started to cultivate.


    For Lin Mu cultivation was trying to deepen his understanding of the Dao Trace of Earth now. It would also help him learn more about his Dao Embryo and perhaps even take it to the next level.


    He sat and mediated while the Dao shell floated in front of him.


    Right now, the Dao Shell was in its miniature form and was about the size of a watermelon. The Dao Embryo within it though, was just the right size to observe. It was about the same aside as a human heart and allowed one to observe it in detail.


    ~lub~dub~lub~dub~


    The True Earth Heart Dao Embryo continued to beat lightly, allowing Lin Mu to focus on it. He felt like this might be the best method to increase his understanding.


    In the Dao Treading realm, there was no set method of doing things. Even if there were manuals, they merely described some general steps that one could take.? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    Only for Dao Embryos that were well established and recorded, were there any concrete methods.


    But for Lin Mu, who had a unique Dao Embryo, he had to learn and discover everything on his own.


    The more he listened to the True Earth Dao Embryo, the more connected he became to it.


    Each vein, each beat, each vibration was being melded into Lin Mu¡¯s being.


    ¡®What is the meaning behind my Dao Embryo? Every Dao Embryo has a meaning behind its form, so where does minee from?¡¯ Lin Mu came upon this question.


    ¡®True Earth Heart¡­ a Heart made truly from the earth. A heart is the core of one¡¯s body. It pumps the blood, which gives everything energy. Without it, one would be dead.


    A Heart of Earth should do the same then?


    But what can it supply instead of blood?


    Something as important as continuing life¡­ can it do that?¡¯ The more Lin Mu thought, the more questions presented to himself.


    He didn¡¯t feel like these questions were bad though. To him, it only felt like more doors were appearing, each showing a new facet of his Dao Embryo.


    Lin Mu continued to cultivate and ponder like this for several days on end, time turning into a mere afterthought.

 Chapter 1293: Reaching The Dao Comprehension Stage

    Chapter 1293: Reaching The Dao Comprehension Stage


    Lin Mu had entered a trance and had no sense of time.


    While this was a little troublesome, it was also beneficial to him at the same time. His Dao Embryo that was floating in the Dao Shell in front of him kept on expanding slowly. Millimeter by millimeter it, grew.


    Such was the Embryo Growth stage of the Dao Treading realm.


    The more one¡¯s Dao Embryo grew in this stage, the better theirprehension of the Dao Traces would be. And the more theyprehended the Dao Trace the more their Dao Embryo would grow.


    It was a looping cycle that started slow but sped up the longer one managed to maintain the state.


    Lin Mu was in that condition. Perhaps it was because he was in a high leveled Immortal world that was on the precipice of World Ascension, the Dao Traces were very active. Lin Mu was progressing at a shocking pace and so was his cultivation base.


    Two months passed like this and Lin Mu¡¯s Dao Embryo had nearly doubled in size now. It was now the size of a human head and looked very lively. The aura of earth spread from it, covering Lin Mu with a brown glow.Property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Only when this glow faded away did Lin Mu open his eyes.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu exhaled, and brown colored Qi escaped his mouth. This Qi was heavy and directly sank to the ground.


    ¡°Earth¡­ Heart¡­ and Truth¡­¡± Lin Mu chanted.


    ¡°Find the Truth of Earth and make it like one¡¯s heart¡­ Comprehend the Dao of Earth and epass the world¡­¡± A strange mnemonic appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind..


    ~SHUA~


    Spirit Qi surged like a tide and drowned out Lin Mu¡¯s entire residence in one go.


    The Haima Tribe members that were nearby all felt the sudden rise in spirit Qi and almost knelt on the ground. To them it was like they were suddenly pushed into a deepke and the water was making it hard to move.


    But this was just the start.


    The spirit Qi started to surge into Lin Mu¡¯s body, but this didn¡¯t reduce the pressure of the people around. Instead, the pressure of the spirit Qi was reced by a heavy aura. This aura expanded from Lin Mu¡¯s body and kept on growing.


    First it was only spread in a two meter area around him, but then it covered the entire residence. Spreading further, it took in the nearby houses within its grasp and then the entire neighborhood.


    Ten minutester, the Haima Tribe was covered with the heavy aura and each member felt like their weight had doubled. Fine cracks could even be seen developing on the ground, and the Earth Fixing Array was working hard to fix it.


    The Array too was changing under this aura.


    At first it was unaffected, but then the runes on it started to flicker. This changed to the array suffering under the aura, before adapting and being strengthened by it instead.


    ~TREMBLE~


    Right now if one looked from the sky, they would see a mountain rising up from the ground.


    This was the same mountain that was formed by the Earth Fixing array, but now it was growing too. Every second, its height increased by one foot.


    What was basically hundreds of years of phenomena was finished in mere seconds. The Mountain rose into the sky, bing nearly five thousand meters tall!


    At this point, it was as if a bottleneck had reached and it could no longer rise.


    The rise had not juste with a height increase either, but also a width increase. The mountain which only covered the ground surface above the tribe, was now five times as wide.


    The prison cell Lin Mu had made for Huyun Chuan with a formation array was also included in this and was seemingly assimted by the Earth Fixing Array.


    ¡°What the hell is this?¡± Huyun Chuan didn¡¯t know the situation.


    All he knew was that his body was iparably heavy and that the illusory cell walls had suddenly turned corporeal. Instead of prison bars made out of illusory runes, they were now made out of solid rock.


    The entire prison cell looked to be carved out of a single piece ofrge rock, looking aesthetically pleasing.


    Huyun Chuan though didn¡¯t have the time to appreciate it as he was rather ufortable. His cultivation base was sealed which meant that he had to bear the brunt of the increased weight himself.


    Even breathing was hard to him right now, and if it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had fallen on his back, he might have just choked to death lying on his chest.


    The Broken Chasm which was originally quite some distance away from the mountain was now a couple hundred meters away. The area around it also seemed to have naturally merged with the mountain.


    If one looked at it right now, they would think that it had always been there and hadn¡¯t just grown in a short period of time.


    Perhaps even Immortals might not be able to tell the difference.


    Back inside the tribe, the only ones who were still standing rights now were the members who had reached the Dao Shell realm.


    As of now, there were less than fifty such members which included Elder Niji, Head Warrior Kulo and several Scouts.


    ¡°Elder Niji¡­ Noble Lin Mu is¡­¡± Head Warrior Kulo didn¡¯t know what to think.


    ¡°He is having a breakthrough again¡­ It is certainly a bit troublesome.¡± Elder Niji said with furrowed brows.


    ¡°Then the tribe¡­¡± head Warrior Kulo said with concern.


    ¡°The tribe will be fine, they can endure this much. Perhaps they might even get to learn form this.¡± Elder Niji stated.


    ¡°Still¡­ isn¡¯t this a little extreme? Even your breakthrough wasn¡¯t like this.¡± Head Warrior Kulo said with doubt.


    ¡°That is true. But at the same time, while both Noble Lin Mu and I are in the Dao Treading realm, we are in different stages. I¡¯m merely at the Embryo birth stage.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°What about Noble Lin Mu? What stage has he reached?¡± Head Warrior Kulo asked.


    He was quite interested as he himself had reached the Dao Treading realm recently, bing the second person to do so. The more Dao Treading realm cultivators there were in the Haima tribe the better it would be for them.


    Not to mention, with their breakthrough they would be able to record important information and then guide their junior tribe members with it. With the lost history of the Haima Tribe, this was a very important thing.


    Lin Mu had instructed them to record every bit of their progress too. Even the smallest tips in cultivation were very important after all. And despite Lin Mu¡¯s research into cultivation techniques for the Haima Tribe, there was a lot of uncertainties left behind.


    Only by collectively learning would they be able to find new heights in cultivation.


    Elder Niji thought about Head Warrior Kulo¡¯s question for a minute before determining.


    ¡°There is no doubt¡­ he had broken through to the Dao Comprehension Stage of the Dao Treading realm.¡± Elder Niji stated.


    ¡°Really? Doesn¡¯t the Embryo Growth Stage along take hundreds of years to cover?¡± Head Warrior Kulo inquired.


    This was something they had heard not just from Lin Mu, but Huyun Chuan had also confirmed this for them. The human nobles that progressed fast only did so by birthing familiar embryos that their ns or elders had grown as well.


    Basically, they were copying other¡¯s path and were being guided ahead. Their progress was bound to be faster than someone who was basically exploring and searching for their own path.


    ¡°That might be so for the average person, but Noble Lin Mu is far beyond that.¡± Elder Niji said before looking towards the direction of Lin Mu¡¯s residence.


    Head Warrior Kulo had a solemn look on his face as he looked at Lin Mu¡¯s residence too.


    ¡°Take this opportunity to observe. Perhaps we¡¯ll have an easier timeter.¡± Elder Niji advised.


    Head Warrior Kulo merely nodded in head, while the others in the room could only do so whit their eyes.


    They were transfixed and simply waited for the situation to pass.


    Though deep within their bodies, fine changes could already be seen happening. Spirit Qi surged before being weighed down under the heavy aura. This resulted in it being condensed further, and increasing its quality.


    This was something that only happened for those below the Dao Shell realm though. The one¡¯s above it had already concentrated their spirit Qi enough to make it ipressible for now.


    Unless they reached the Dao Shell realm, they wouldn¡¯t be able to condense it further.


    Back at Lin Mu¡¯s residence, the source of all this was calmly observing it all.


    ¡°So this is the Dao Comprehension stage¡­¡± Lin Mu muttered before raising his hand.


    ~SHUA~


    Earth spirit Qi gathered within his hand and condensed into a small pebble.


    ¡°It truly is marvelous¡­¡± Lin Mu praised before controlling the aura and retracting it back into his body.

 Chapter 1294: Hidden Details In The Dao Traces

    Chapter 1294: Hidden Details In The Dao Traces


    Lin Mu could feel like a whole new world had opened up to him. He blinked several times and could see a new perspective around him.


    ¡°The Dao Traces of Earth are everywhere around me¡­¡± Lin Mu softly muttered.


    All around Lin Mu, small specks of brown particles could be seen floating. They were rather different from the Earth Spirit Qi too, having a presence that gave one a feeling of firmness. Not just that, but when Lin Mu looked closer at the Dao Traces, he could see something more.


    ¡°Is that¡­ a character?¡± Lin Mu¡¯s eyes continued to focus on the Dao traces and soon recognized the tiny character that was written on them.


    ¡°No¡­ they aren¡¯t written on them. They are the same¡­¡± Lin Mu focused even more, finding that the character seemingly disappeared and turned into a single brown speck.


    But when he observed it longer, the brown speck turned into the character. It was simr to how there were runes floating in the air when using formations and arrays.


    The more Lin Mu observed the character the more details he found within it. The character itself seemed to be simple, but there were actually finer parts to it that were cleverly disguised.


    ¡®The character itself is made out of several smaller characters¡­¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    He spent two hours like this before he finally recognized one of the sub characters that made up the main character on the brown spec..


    ¡°Earth! That¡¯s the Dao Script Character for Earth!¡± Lin Mu finally confirmed.


    But this was merely the start of it all. While it seemed normal that the Dao Script letter for Earth would be within the Dao Trace, it was just one of them and there were more different characters hidden alongside it.


    Three more hourster, Lin Mu recognized another character. ¡°Stone¡­¡±


    This time it was the Dao Script Character for Stone.


    ¡®Of course, stone is also a form of earth and thus should be a part of it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Hours passed like this and Lin Mu continued to recognize more and more sub characters hidden within the brown specs of Dao Traces.


    Earth¡­


    Stone¡­


    Mud¡­


    Soil¡­


    Boulder¡­


    Marsh¡­


    Mountain!


    After seven sub characters, Lin Mu had reached a bottleneck.


    ¡°Why can¡¯t I perceive more of them?¡± Lin Mu was confused.


    Now that he tried to observe the sub characters, he found them turning blurry. While he could still read the seven sub characters from the Dao Script, he could not read more.


    ~huu~


    Letting out a breath, Lin Mu decided to stop for now.


    ¡°I should rest and tryter¡­ forcing won¡¯t do me any good.¡± Lin Mu softly said to himself.


    He lightly blinked, and the brown specks of Dao Traces that were floating around him all disappeared. It was as if they were never there.


    ¡°The Dao Comprehension Stage is truly a unique level of cultivation¡­ No wonder progressing from here is hard for so many people. It is simply too vast¡­¡± Lin Mu reckoned.


    At this point in cultivation, one wouldn¡¯t absorb spirit Qi to further their cultivation base. Instead they would have toprehend the Dao Traces, until they reached a point of epiphany and broke thorough to the Immortal Ascension stage.


    Of course for Lin Mu, now that he was in a high leveled Immortal world like the Rust Sky world, it shouldn¡¯t be that difficult. He had after all formed a unique Dao Embryo and as per Huyun Chuan¡¯s information should be able to breakthrough automatically.


    He wouldn¡¯t be like others who make use of Dao Treasures of Dao Essence crystals. And Neither would he be using an Ascension Spirit pill. His foundation was truly stable and should allow him to breakthrough directly at a certain point.


    ¡°Still¡­ how do I reach that point? What is it that triggers a breakthrough to the Immortal realm?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    He knew that one needed toprehend Dao Traces, and seeing how he had found fine characters within the Dao Traces, Lin Mu reckoned it was something to do with that.


    ¡®Even the documents and cultivation manuals from the sects of the Xiaofan world only describe the cultivation up to the Embryo Growth Stage of the Dao Treading realm. After that, the rest is up to the luck of the cultivator as well as theirprehension ability.¡¯ Lin Mu continued to ponder.


    But no matter how much he thought, there was clearly no path that seemed to be presenting to himself other than to continue learning more characters.


    ¡°Maybe a change will happen once I observe all the sub characters.¡± Lin Mu guessed. ¡°Mmm, I¡¯ll do that then.¡± He decided.


    ~SHUA~


    At this moment though, Lin Mu felt a wave of spirit Qiing from the distance. Normally he wouldn¡¯t feel it at this distance, but the breakthrough had made him a lot more sensitive than before.


    ¡°Oh? Someone is reaching the Dao Treading realm?¡± Lin Mu noticed.


    He left his residence and jumped up to the roof. From there, it was easy for him to observe every corner of the Haima tribe.


    ¡°It¡¯s on the outer gate of the tribe.¡± Lin Mu recognized.


    The outer gate was where the main exit of the tribe was located and the people stationed around there were guards.


    ¡°Who could be breaking through there?¡± Lin Mu leaped in that direction.


    His body soared though the air and quickly coveredrge distances with it. In just a few leaps, Lin Mu had already reached the outer gate.


    There he saw several Haima members standing around a person. Lin Mu nced at him and found him to be one of the members of the ¡®elite¡¯ guards that had trained with him once before.


    ¡°Warrior Midi is also having a breakthrough today. Seems like today is a very lucky day for our tribe.¡± The people standing around said while gazing at theirpanion.


    No one had noticed Lin Mu who was standing on a building nearby though. He didn¡¯t disturb them either, leaving after the Haima member had his breakthrough.Material ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1295: Self Development Of The Tribe

    Chapter 1295: Self Development Of The Tribe


    ¡°The Haima Tribe all seem to have an affinity to the Dao of water.¡± Lin Mu confirmed after seeing Warrior Midi breakthrough.


    While he had a good hunch after seeing Elder Niji breakthrough, he didn¡¯t know that several others had also broken though in this time. Otherwise Lin Mu would have known that this fact had already bemon knowledge in the tribe.


    Wanting to discuss more about this, Lin Mu was currently on his way to Elder Niji¡¯s residence.


    ¡°There he is.¡± As if expecting his arrival, Elder Niji was already standing outside his residence.


    ¡°Your guess is right as always elder.¡± And not just Elder Niji, but Head Warrior Kulo was also there.


    ~thud~


    Lin Munded a short distance away from them, having an expression of intrigue on his face.


    ¡°You two sensed me?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°We did indeed.¡± They spoke..


    ¡°Spirit sense?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you let us demonstrate it ourselves?¡± Elder Niji said while Head Warrior Kulo nodded his head.


    ~shua~


    Then in the very next second, Lin Mu felt a thick tendril of spirit sense approaching his body. A couple secondster, he felt a second tendril appearing as well, this one half as thick as the first one.


    ¡°This is good progress¡­ almost five kilometers?¡± Lin Mu estimated the range of their spirit sense.


    ¡°Yes. We¡¯ve been practicing and refining it further.¡± Elder Niji answered.


    ¡°We¡¯ve also figured out a proper method for it Noble Lin Mu. And in our tests with other members it has proved to be rather useful.¡± Head Warrior Kulo added.


    ¡°Oh? That¡¯s amazing.¡± Lin Mu had originally thought that he might need to make up a new method for them to develop and refine spirit sense, but they had done so on their own.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk inside, I understand you have somethings to say too?¡± Elder Niji suggested.


    ¡°That is indeed true.¡± Lin Mu nodded, walking in with the two of them.


    Taking a seat at the table, Lin Mu spoke first.


    ¡°I saw Warrior Midi having a breakthrough to the Dao Treading realm just now. Guess your tribe has an innate affinity to the Dao of Water.¡± Lin Mu said.


    ¡°Yes, in the past fifty members that have broken though, everyone has the same Dao Embryo as well as the same abilities.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°Fifty members? There are more?¡± Lin Mu was surprised.


    ¡°Of course. Several members have broken though in the past three months. Noble Lin Mu has simply been too busy to notice it.¡± Elder Niji chuckled.


    ¡°Ah yeah¡­¡± Lin Mu smiled wryly.


    ¡°But noble Lin Mu seems to have had a rather great breakthrough too.¡± Head Warrior Kulo praised. ¡°Are you an immortal already?¡± he asked curiously.


    ¡°Immortal? No¡­ I¡¯m still some distance away from that.¡± Lin Mu shook his head in disappointment.


    ¡°Really? You do give off a feeling like an Immortal though now.¡± Head Warrior Kulo spoke.


    ¡°What?¡± Lin Mu was surprised.


    ¡°I think Noble Lin Mu cannot sense it after all this time, but your aura has changed once more.¡± Elder Niji rified. ¡°Earlier your aura covered the entire tribe. But that was different than your normal aura that you have now¡­ it is a lot more¡­ firm.¡± He exined.


    ¡°Huh¡­ I didn¡¯t notice that.¡± Lin Mu was surprised, taking a second look at himself.


    But even then he couldn¡¯t tell much of a difference. To him, it felt just like normal.


    ¡°I hope I didn¡¯t cause any trouble though. Due to my breakthrough¡¯s I mean.¡± Lin Mu said with concern.


    ¡°Oh no, it was fine. While there were a few reports of fainting, it was okay over all.¡± Elder Niji dispelled his concerns.


    ¡°Not just that, but a few of us that were on the precipice of a breakthrough actually did it. Your aura and breakthrough acted like some kind of a catalyst. Even the spirit Qi of the entire area has risen by a level due to you. Allowing the weaker members to cultivate faster too.¡± Head Warrior Kulo stated.Owned by N?velDrama.Org.


    ¡°I see, guess the tribe is pleased.¡± Lin Mu replied after noting the change.


    ¡°That we are.¡± Elder Niji said with a smile.


    He then took out several jade slips, all filled with different kinds of information.


    ¡°I¡¯m guessing you want to know what happened in this time, so I already have it prepared.¡± Elder Niji stated.


    ¡°Perfect. I¡¯ll take a quick look.¡± Lin Mu was pleased at the promptness.


    Picking the first Jade Slip, Lin Mu scanned it, finding information about all the Haima Tribe members thats had reached the Dao Treading realm. There were a total of twenty three such members in the tribe, which was a massive gain.


    One could even say the strength of the Haima Tribe had literally been multiplied by fifty times!


    But that wasn¡¯t all.


    Reading the other Jade Slips, Lin Mu learned that the Haima Tribe had great progress with their skills too. The modified Bronze Might Kicking technique had been fully mastered by the tribesmen now.


    The Spinning variant of the Qi skill made by Warrior Shilo had also be a staple of the tribe¡¯s warrior now. It had be a lot more stable and its strength had also increased.


    ¡®Bronze Might Spin Kicks¡­ So they gave it a new name.¡¯ Lin Mu read, finding it decent.


    The next thing he learned was the spirit sense refinement method that they had developed. The moment Lin Mu read it though, he realized why they could learn it that fast.


    ¡®It¡¯s unique method that only the Haima Tribe would be able to use.¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.


    The way they had refined their spirit sense so fast was by weaving three wisps of spirit Qi at once. Even controlling once wisp was hard for most beginners, so three was definitely not possible for many.


    And yet, due to the unique three lobe Dantian of the Haima tribe, they had managed to do this difficult task. And now just that, this method was actually easy for them and truly suited their physique.

 Chapter 1296: Four New Humans Arrive

    Chapter 1296: Four New Humans Arrive


    With the ability to use spirit sense, the overall strength of the Haima tribe had risen more. After all, spirit sense was a very important part of one¡¯s abilities. Without it a cultivator might as well be blind.


    Oftentimes, they would detect an attack with their spirit sense first rather than their eyes or other senses. Plus, it allowed them to scan a vast area all at once, which could not be done with just eyes.


    It was easily one of the best methods of qualitatively increasing one¡¯s strength.


    ¡°This is good. You¡¯ve done well.¡± Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but praise them..


    ¡°Thank you Noble Lin Mu. It is all due to your initial guidance.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°The juniors of the tribe are quickly learning this too. Since they don¡¯t need to be at a specific realm to learn it, we are intending to have them learn it from the very start.¡± Head Warrior Kulo stated.


    ¡°Of course. The earlier they learn the better. Just refining spirit sense isn¡¯t enough either, one needs to adapt to it and get proficient in its use. That is something that can onlye after time.¡± Lin Mu agreed.


    ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll do that then.¡± Head Warrior Kulo spoke.


    Lin Mu continued to look though the jade slips and learned a few interesting bits of information too, like the fact that a few more humans had been seen far from the tribe..


    ¡°Oh? More humans arrived? Are you sure they aren¡¯t the ones that Huyun Chuan is looking for?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°No, they are different from the appearance Huyun Chuan said. They area also a lot weaker, none of them are immortals.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°I see¡­ still, it would be better if we go meet them.¡± Lin Mu stated.


    ¡°Well¡­ we tried to do that. From the four humans that appeared, two of them ran away thinking of danger and ended uping across Chasm Beasts that killed them in an instant.¡± Elder Niji said with a wry smile.


    ¡°Ah¡­ shame.¡± Lin Mu couldn¡¯t me them either.


    ¡°As for thest two, they too tried to run but our warriors eventually caught up with them. This ended up in a battle, and no matter how much we tried to calm them down, they simply didn¡¯t listen.¡± Elder Niji exined.


    ¡°Then¡­ are they dead too?¡± Lin Mu questioned. ¡°Did the warriors kill them?¡±


    ¡°No, of course not. Rather than be forced to kill them, we let them leave.¡± Elder Niji answered.


    ~phew~


    ¡°That¡¯s better.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head. ¡°Do we have their location?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we have been keeping tabs on them. A few scouts are in charge of observing them from the distance and also killing any Chasm Beasts that get close to them.¡± Elder Niji answered. ¡°So far there haven¡¯t been any strong chasm Beasts that would threaten us or them.¡± He added.


    ¡°Alright, guess I¡¯ll go take a look. We need all the information we can get about the outside world. Just one person isn¡¯t enough.¡± Lin Mu spoke.


    ¡°Do you need someone to guide you there?¡± Elder Niji questioned.


    ¡°Won¡¯t be needed. I can get there on my own.¡± Lin Mu answered. ¡°Besides, I may as well take the twins to feed.¡±


    Thinking of the twins, Lin Mu wondered if they¡¯ll wake up if he called for them. They seemed to be rather full after therge meal they had before and weren¡¯t even affected by Lin Mu¡¯s breakthrough.


    Leaving the elder¡¯s residence, Lin Mu headed back to his own.


    ¡°Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, let¡¯s go get you some more food.¡± Lin Mu called out.


    He waited for five seconds, but the two snakes didn¡¯t wake up at all.


    ~huu~


    ¡°Guess I¡¯ll just keep them with me.¡± Lin Mu picked up the two infant snakes and put them in his robes.


    It was better to keep them with him while they were sleeping, rather than to let them wreak havoc upon waking up and not seeing him.


    Appearing on top of the mountain above the Haima Tribe, he got to take a look at its new form.


    ¡°Damn, it increased a lot more than before.¡± Lin Mu¡¯s eyes scanned it all.


    On one side of the mountain, he could also see the figures of the Haima warriors practicing. Due to howrge it had be, they had to go farther to practice now.


    ¡°Their practice seems to be going well¡­¡± Lin Mu took a quick nce before leaping away


    ~THUD~


    ~SHUA~


    His body soared across the air, traveling faster than before.


    ¡®Hmm, my strength has increased. It isn¡¯t as much as body cultivation, but it¡¯s still good.¡¯ Lin Mu discovered.


    Speaking of body cultivation, Lin Mu didn¡¯t forget that he still had to further it.


    ¡®The Wood elemental spirit apples should have grown back in this time.¡¯ Lin Mu decided to consume them after returning.


    He continued to leap and traversedrge tracts ofnd. His destination wasn¡¯t as far as hisst expedition, but it was in a different direction.


    ¡°Its good that they ran in this direction, at least they won¡¯te across as many chasm Beasts.¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    The two humans had gone opposite to the location of the broken Chasm, which would help them somewhat.


    ¡®Though the water sources are also negligible in that direction¡­ most of the water reservoirs are located near the Broken Chasm.¡¯ Lin Mu also recalled.Property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    While they were cultivators too, there was a limit to how long even they could live without water.


    ¡°Hmm, Elder Niji said the two of them were roughly at the Dao Shell realm and arrived here about a month ago. It shouldn¡¯t be a problem for them to live a couple more months without water.¡± Lin Mu estimated. ¡°Of course that is if they are not injured or under distress¡­¡±


    Hours passed like this, and about a dayter, Lin Mu finally came across the location where the humans were supposedly situated.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu?¡± The Haima Scouts in charge of observing the humans were surprised to see him here.

 Chapter 1297 Seeking Out The Human Exiles

    <h4> 1297 Seeking Out The Human Exiles </h4>


    ¡°Elder Niji told me about the humans, I¡¯vee to get them.¡± Lin Mu informed the six scouts.


    ¡°Oh that¡¯s good. We were getting tired of watching them.¡± The Haima scouts replied.


    ¡°They are being bothersome?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    From what he could see the Haima scouts were all at the Dao Shell realm. It was easily enough to overpower two human cultivators.


    ¡°Yeah, they keep ongoing further and further. One of us has to always keep an eye to ensure we don¡¯t miss them while cultivating.¡± One of them spoke.


    ¡°Yeah, this is making it hard for us to cultivate calmly.¡± Another one of them said.


    ¡°Ah, I see...¡± Lin Mu had almost forgotten that all the Haima members had now be obsessed with cultivation.


    Putting them on a observing and protecting mission like this was the worst for them. It prevented them from fully focusing on their cultivation and made them slowerpared to their peers.


    Right now, thepetition among the Haima warriors had gotten rather huge. Even if there was no actual prize to this, they still wanted to be the strongest among the tribe.


    And since this was serving as further motivation to them, Elder Niji also didn¡¯t think of it as detrimental and let them do as they please.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you shouldn¡¯t have to bother with them any longer.¡± Lin Mu assured.


    ¡°That¡¯s good! Thank you Noble Lin Mu.¡± The Scouts said with gratitude.


    ¡°Now can you point me to the two humans are?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°They are right there, Noble Lin Mu.¡± They¡¯ve dug a hole and are hiding there.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Mu was a little surprised. ¡®How did I not sense them?¡¯ his spirit sense swept over the area a couple times but didn¡¯t sense them.<sub> </sub>


    ¡°Are you sure they are there? I can¡¯t seem to sense them.¡± Lin Mu asked again.


    ¡°Yes, they are there. We missed them a couple times before too, but they are indeed there. We don¡¯t know how they are hiding like this though.¡± The scouts said.


    Their spirit sense wasn¡¯t as long as the Elder or Head Warrior Kulo, thus they had never actually used it to observe the humans. They were always using their eyes to observe them. If they had used their spirit sense, perhaps they would have realized the unusualness of the situation.


    ¡°Let me take a look then.¡± Lin Mu approached the hole where the humans were hiding with light steps.


    ¡®This is a good opportunity to test out my Dao Comprehension too...¡¯ Lin Mu didn¡¯t forget his new ability.


    Property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He closed his eyes for a second and opened them. Now he could see the tiny brown specs of light around him. But their numbers were a lot less than they were in his residence.


    ¡®Hmm, just as I thought. They are concentrated in the Tribe underground. Not as many in the air,¡¯ Lin Mu thought before looking down.<sub> ¦Ñ?????(?)?? ? </sub>


    In the ground, he could see ten times as many of the brown specs. Each of those were Dao Traces of earth and Lin Mu could clearly sense them now.


    ¡°Perfect. Let¡¯s see if this method of hiding works.¡± Lin Mu took a deep breath and willed the True Earth Heart to work.


    Within his Dantian, the sound of heartbeats could be heard, but outside his body there was absolute silence. Only invisible waves of energy were being released by the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo.


    These waves of energy directly interacted with the Dao Traces and mobilized them.


    The Dao Traces in the air moved before being pulled towards Lin Mu. The same happened with the Dao Traces in the earth and they soon covered his entire body.


    To a normal person or even a cultivator, there was nothing surrounding Lin Mu. Only those at the Dao Treading realm might be able to see faint energy fluctuations around him. But even those would be hard to sense.


    ~shua~


    This onlysted for a few seconds, though, as soon after Lin Mu¡¯s appearance changed. He now looked like a rock!


    All his aura had been hidden away and even his spirit sense fluctuations would not be felt.


    And if someone tried to use spirit sense and probed this ¡®rock¡¯ they would only find it to be normal.


    ¡®Let¡¯s see if this is worthy of being a stealth skill...¡¯ Lin Mu sped up his approach.


    Due to how the Dao Traces were linked up to the earth, one wouldn¡¯t even think that the rock was moving. Instead, it felt like the rock was already there.


    One would easily miss it even if they tried to pay attention.


    Lin Mu could have easily used his ring¡¯s skills, but he reckoned he may as well test out his new abilities.


    ...


    ¡°Hey Kunzi, what do you think those four-legged freaks are?¡± Within a hole, a man spoke.


    The hole¡¯s top opening was only wide enough to let a two men stand in it, but if one looked inside they would see that it was rather wide. Four or five men could easily sleep in this hole, which could even be called as a small cave at this point.


    ¡°Who knows? We just need to stay away from them. You¡¯ve heard the stories about thend of Exile. There is danger everywhere.¡± The man named Kunzi spoke. ¡°You¡¯ve already seen the other two die from those strange beasts. Don¡¯t tell me you want that to happen too, Little Gian.¡± He continued.


    ¡°Of course not. I¡¯m just curious as to what they are. They are clearly intelligent creatures.¡± The man named Little Gian replied.


    ¡°Mmm... just focus on keeping an eye out for now. We don¡¯t know if they will sneak up on us.¡± Kunzi stated.


    ¡°Won¡¯t you find them with your spirit sense though?¡± Little Gian asked.


    ¡°You fool, what if they have some skill that can allow them to hide? We are in the blind here, so need to be careful.¡± Kunzi replied. ¡°Now stay alert! I don¡¯t want a repeat ofst year. If you had been alert, we wouldn¡¯t have been caught.¡± He scolded.

 Chapter 1298 Little Gian And Kunzi

    <h4> 1298 Little Gian And Kunzi </h4>


    Little Gian didn¡¯t mind the words of Kunzi.


    The two of them had been friends since a long time and were brothers in crime. Besides it had indeed been his fault that they had been captured that time.


    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure that I don¡¯t make the mistake again.¡± Little Gian stated.


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    ¡°Good. Now watch the surroundings while I prepare more things. I can only do so much without any materials.¡± Kunzi replied before getting to work.


    He sat back down and picked up bs of stones that were roughly shaped like a square. If one looked closely though, they would see that there was actually a small crystal in the center of the stone b.


    The crystal was pale white in color and looked simr to spirit stones. But at the same time, there were no spirit Qi fluctuationsing from it.


    Kunzi held the stone b between his palms and channel his energy into it. A couple minutester, he put the stone b down. The pale white crystal on it had increased in size slightly and cracks were also present around its edges now.


    ¡®If only I had proper materials I would have been able to make better talismans. I can only use this crude method for now...¡¯ Kunzi thought to himself before picking up another stone b.


    While he did this, Little Gian was peeking his head out of the hole and watched the surroundings.


    The camp of the Haima Tribe scouts was a few kilometer away and also behind arge boulder so Little Gian could not see it. But he did know those strange people were still observing them.


    Kunzi had been preparing so that they could fight against them better, but to do that they needed more time.


    There was no saying when they would be attacked, thus they needed to be fast.


    ¡®Are there really no humans other than us here? What happened to the ones that arrived before us?¡¯ Little Gian wondered.


    While doing this thought, he suddenly felt like something flickered at from the corner of his eye.


    ¡°Huh?¡± His eyes narrowed, and he gazed in the distance, finding things to be normal.


    ¡®Was that rock always there?¡¯ Little Gian shook his head. ¡°Everything looks the same here...¡±


    But just to confirm it, he spread out his spirit sense. Taking Kunzi¡¯s advice Little Gian didn¡¯t forget to be thorough and checked the rock that he had seen too.


    ~shua~


    His spirit sense probed the rock, finding it to be normal. There was nothing behind it and neither was there anything in it. It was just... rock.<sub> </sub>


    ~Phew~


    ¡®Nothing there.¡¯ Little Gian took a breath of relief.


    He then turned around to look in the other direction. After all, they were in a hole, so anything coulde from a 360 degree angle and every spot needed to be monitored. And since he wasn¡¯t as talented with spirit sense as Kunzi, Little Gian depended on his eyes more.


    A couple minutester, Little Gian turned around again, repeating the cycle.


    p??(?)? ?o??? ¡°Huh?¡± But this time he felt like he had really seen something.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Kunzi heard the Little Gian¡¯s voice and stopped his task.


    ¡°Can youe up here a second?¡± Little Gian wondered if he was mistaken.


    Kunzi stood up and looked out of the hole.


    ¡°Do you see those three rocks?¡± Little Gian pointed.<sub> ¦Ñ?????(?)?? ? </sub>


    ¡°Yeah, what about them?¡± Kunzi asked. ¡°Did you see someone there?¡±


    ¡°No... but I think there were only two rocks just a minute ago.¡± Little Gian replied.


    ¡°Two rocks?¡± Kunzi said in confusion. ¡°Let me check.¡± He narrowed his eyes and extended his spirit sense.


    It traveled quickly and soon reached the three rocks that Little Gian had pointed.


    All of them were unassuming and easily melded in the vast barrenndscape of the Land of Exile.


    This was another thing that caused a lot of people to die. They would simply get lost due to ack of markers. Even if they had found a source of water, they would have to run away due to Chasm beasts eventually, and then they weren¡¯t able to find their way back.


    ¡°Did you find anything?¡± Little Gian questioned.


    ¡°No... they seem to be fine. They¡¯re just rocks.¡± Kunzi said having checked them with his spirit sense.


    ¡°Guess I was just mistaken then.¡± Little Gian replied.


    ¡°Hmm...¡± Kunzi hummed in response and was just about to sit back down, when he thought of something. ¡°Hang on, did you see anything like this before?¡± he asked just in case.


    ¡°No. I did feel like some rock had appeared where it was not before, but when I checked it was fine.¡± Little Gian answered, evoking doubts in Kunzi.


    ¡°Where was that rock?¡± Kunzi questioned.


    ¡°There,¡± Little Gian pointed in the distance.


    Kunzi followed his gaze and saw the unassuming rock lying there lifelessly. His spirit sense extended once more, but came up with the same conclusion.


    It was just a rock.


    ¡°Strange...¡± Kunzi didn¡¯t find anything there either, but he felt like there was still something wrong.


    It wasn¡¯t normal for Little Gian to feel mistaken twice in a row that too in a short period of time.


    While he may seem a little silly, one mustn¡¯t forget the man was still a Dao Shell realm cultivator and had good senses.


    ¡°Let me confirm it just in case.¡± Kunzi said and bent down to pick up something.


    Little Gian watched him pick up one of the stone bs.


    ¡°Huh, what are you doing with that?¡± Little Gian asked in confusion, but the realized. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you are going to use one right away?¡± he knew just how much effort it took to make those.


    ¡°Better safe than sorry. We don¡¯t know what kind of dangers hide here, it may be something unknown that can hide well.¡± Kunzi said before lifting his hand back and throwing the stone b.


    ~shua~


    The stone b soared through the air and uratelynded where the three rocks were located.


    A couple secondster though, it activated.


    ~BOOM~

 Chapter 1299 Sudden Appearance

    <h4> 1299 Sudden Appearance </h4>


    The stone b that Kunzi had thrown looked unassuming at first. But uponnding between the three rocks, the pale white crystal within it let out a faint light.


    A mere moment was all it took for it to release arge amount of energy and explode!


    ~BOOM~


    The explosion was loud enough that the scouts of the Haima Tribe in the distance heard it too.


    ¡°What the hell are those humans doing?¡± One of the scouts said upon seeing the dust rising in the distance.


    ¡°Who knows?¡± Another one spoke.


    ~Sigh~


    ¡°Let¡¯s just hope they don¡¯t trouble Noble Lin Mu much.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, the faster he captures them the better for us. I wanna go back to the tribe and cultivate under the array again.¡±


    Back at the ce where the explosion had happened, no sign of the three rocks could be seen. All that was left there was a shallow crater that was about six inches deep and some fragments of stones.


    There was no burning or scorching of the ground either, showing that the explosion wasn¡¯t caused by heat or fire.


    ¡°Seems like there wasn¡¯t anything there.¡± Kunzi confirmed.


    ¡°Yeah... thankfully.¡± Little Gian replied. ¡°Though do you think this will pull attention to us?¡± he asked.


    ¡°If you mean those four-legged freaks, then yeah. But then they¡¯ve already been tailing us for a month now. So there is no way they didn¡¯t know where we were since the start.¡± Kunzi replied.


    ¡°Then do you think they¡¯lle close?¡± Little Gian asked next.


    ¡°No, I think this should serve as a good enough warning to them.¡± Kunzi replied.


    ¡°Yeah...¡± Little Gian agreed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get back to work.¡± Kunzi sat down and was just about to pick up the stone b he was working on when he felt a chill go down his back.


    ¡°This is some interesting stuff.¡± A voice suddenly spoke in the darkness.<sub> </sub>


    ¡°Who?!¡± Little Gian heard it too and looked down knowing that this wasn¡¯t Kunzi¡¯s voice at all.


    There they saw a pair of eyes that were barely illuminated by the dim lighting from the hole.


    What was most shocking though was the fact that they were barely a meter away from Kunzi.


    ¡®Who... what is that?¡¯ Kunzi wondered.


    He couldn¡¯t understand how anything could get in here. Logically speaking, there was just one entrance to the little cave they had made and there were no signs of anything digging in either.


    ~shua~


    A small me lit up in the air next to the pair of eyes, revealing its appearance.


    ¡°A man?¡± Little Gian finally saw.


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    p???? ?O???.?O? ¡°A human?¡± Kunzi felt a little relieved at the fact that it was a human and not some other strange creature.<sub> ¦Ñ?????(?)?? ? </sub>


    ¡®No, I can¡¯t lower my guard. If he can get in, then he must be dangerous!¡¯ Kunzi realized he had almost made a mistake.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Kunzi asked warily.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t do anything to you.¡± Lin Mu spoke. ¡°As long as you two don¡¯t do anything stupid.¡± He added.


    ~gulp~


    ¡°And why should we believe you?¡± Little Gian questioned, while secretly circting his spirit Qi.


    He was ready to act the moment anything happened.


    ~shua~


    ¡°Well, for starters.¡± Lin Mu lightly spoke before a wave of spirit Qi spread from him. ¡°If I wanted to, I could have suppressed you two from the start.¡± He stated.


    ¡°D-Dao... Dao Treading realm.¡± Little Gian and Kunzi both recognized.


    ¡®This pressure... He¡¯s close to bing an immortal too.¡¯ Kunzi who had better senses, realized.


    ¡°Correct.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head. ¡°Now then, why don¡¯t we all peacefully talk? You two have made my friends chase you for quite a while now.¡±


    ¡°Your friends?¡± Little Gain said in confusion. ¡°But we didn¡¯t see anyone else?¡±


    Kunzi though, seemed to have guessed.


    ¡°Those four legged creatures... those are your friends?¡± Kunzi asked warily.


    ¡°Yes. They¡¯ve been trying to talk to you since the start, but you all just kept on running,¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Humph, you really expect us to believe some strange things in the Land of Exile, of all ces?¡± Kunzi retorted.


    ¡°That... does make sense.¡± Lin Mu nodded. ¡°Though I assure you, they only meant to talk to you.¡± He said, but it didn¡¯t make the Kunzi and Little Gian feel any safe.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do it like this. How do I make you trust me?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    Kunzi furrowed his brows and thought for a few seconds before replying. ¡°Tell us who you are and what those creatures are first. Then what is it that you want with us?¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± Lin Mu agreed. ¡°I am Lin Mu, and those people so saw earlier are the members of the Haima Tribe.¡±


    Kunzi didn¡¯t forget to pickup the word ¡®tribe¡¯, which made him raise a brow.


    ¡°A tribe? You mean to say, there is an entire tribe of those creatures?¡± Kunzi found it hard to believe.


    Themon knowledge about the Land of Exile dictated that there was danger everywhere and most people would not survive for long. For a tribe to have formed in that time was astonishing. Especially considering that they were certainly not human.


    ¡®If it was a human tribe, I would have understood, as it would just mean the exiled humans have banded together. But those Haima tribe members... I¡¯ve never heard or seen any of them before. Either they are very rare, or... natives of this ce,¡¯ Kunzi quickly analyzed.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. They do have a tribe, and it is also where I¡¯m residing. You shoulde with me. There is plenty of food and water, along with shelter from danger.¡± Lin Mu answered. ¡°And just to prove to you...¡± he then took out a basket full of Stone Flesh Mushrooms.


    ~thud~


    Lin Mu also put down a barrel full of water.


    Seeing this, the two humans were surprised, but didn¡¯t take things directly.


    ¡°What do you want in exchange?¡± Kunzi asked carefully.


    ¡°I want to know information. Such as who you two are, where you came from and what is the situation outside.¡± Lin Mu stated inly.

 Chapter 1300 Kunzi And Little Gians Crimes

    <h4> 1300 Kunzi And Little Gian''s Crimes </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s question was not something Little Gian and Kunzi had expected. To them, it was almost nothing to ask in exchange for safety.


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    ¡°Alright, we¡¯re willing to speak.¡± Kunzi decided, and Little Gian nodded in agreement as well.


    ¡°Good. We can talk outside, at the camp nearby. You two can eat as well.¡± Lin Mu stated.


    ¡°Okay, that is fine with us.¡± Kunzi replied and the three of them left the hole.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t forget to take a look at the stone bs that Kunzi was working on. They looked unlike any formation tes or talisman to him and he was intending to ask about themter.


    After leaving the hole, Lin Mu didn¡¯t walk straight to the camp though. He instead used Blink went to the first rock that Little Gian had spotted. There he picked up the twin snakes. He had left them there upon seeing that he may have been seen by the two humans.


    Not wanting to take any chances, Lin Mu hid the sleeping twins using the Earth Dao Traces and continued onwards. His caution turned out to be right as Kunzi directly threw an explosive and blew up the ce he was in.


    If not for that fact that he had left behind the twin snakes, he would have left them at the site of explosion after using Blink. Without them though, he was free to move around using his skills.


    That was one of the restrictions he had while keeping the twins with him. He could use his ring¡¯s skills but they would not allow the twins toe with him.


    And while he could have directly reached Kunzi and Little Gian using Phase, Lin Mu didn¡¯t do that. His aim was to train his proficiency with the Earth Dao Traces and the new method of stealth he had made.


    If he could develop it more, it might be one of his very useful skillster.


    Though to Kunzi and Little Gian, his methods seemed very mysterious.


    ¡°How is he doing that? Is it a moment type Qi skill?¡± Little Gian asked.


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell... it¡¯s too fast for me to tell.¡± Kunzi replied. ¡°Regardless, it is very concerning. We can¡¯t offend him easily.¡± He said firmly.


    ¡°Mmm...¡± Little Gian agreed.


    ¡°Look! It¡¯s noble Lin Mu.¡± The Haima Scouts soon spotted them approaching from the distance.


    ¡°He has the two humans with him too.¡±<sub> </sub>


    p??(?)? ?o??? ¡°Seems like they¡¯vee to an agreement.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. At least we can head back to the tribe now.¡±


    The Haima Scouts were pleased and happy with the fast progress.


    ¡°Wee, Noble Lin Mu.¡± The Scouts greeted him.


    ¡°Can you cook some of the stone flesh mushrooms while I talk to the two humans?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°Of course. It¡¯ll be our pleasure.¡± The scouts said before getting to work.


    They quickly set up a stove and began to cook the Stone Flesh mushrooms. In the mean time, Lin Mu sat down with Kunzi and Little Gian.


    The two of them guzzled down two liters of water each before feeling better.<sub> ¦Ñ?????(?)?? ? </sub>


    ¡°Ahh~ that was good.¡± Little Gian said.


    ¡°The two of you ran opposite to where the water reservoirs are. If you went far enough, you would have just died of thirst.¡± Lin Mu said, much to their surprise.


    ¡°Guess it¡¯s good we didn¡¯t then...¡± Kunzi didn¡¯t want to think in that direction, wanting to keep a strong mind.


    Done with the pleasantries, Lin Mu decided to start questioning them.


    ¡°Now then, can you tell me who you two are?¡± Lin Mu asked first.


    ¡°I¡¯m Kunzi, an itinerant cultivator.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Gian, also an itinerant cultivator.¡±


    ¡°So both of you are... Hmm, why are you two here, then?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°That...¡± Little Gian seemed to be a little hesitant to speak.


    ¡°We were caught stealing. By the Soldiers of the Cloud Fall kingdom.¡± Kunzi answered instead.


    ¡°Oh? Caught stealing what?¡± Lin Mu asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think the punishment of exile is proportional to theft.¡±


    From what Lin Mu had been told by Huyun Chuan, the conditions needed for a criminal to be sent to the Land of exile were high. Just normal theft wouldn¡¯t be enough to do this. After all, sending someone to the Land of Exile also cost quite a lot of resource.


    The time to reach it was long and needed quite a lot of manpower too. Thus, it didn¡¯t make sense to send someone this far.


    ¡°We... Stole cultivation techniques and some Qi skills from an auction house.¡± Kunzi answered.


    Lin Mu raised a brow upon hearing this. He knew just how sensitive cultivation techniques and Qi skills could be. If a sect¡¯s or n¡¯s original and signature techniques were stolen, whoever stole it would be their worst enemy.


    Death was often the end for those thieves.


    ¡®Considering these were being sold in an auction house, they mustn¡¯t be highly sensitive. At the most, they would be very valuable.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu also didn¡¯t forget the fact that the Rust Sky World had no sects in it. Only the kingdoms and empires existed and were the chief sources of cultivation rted information as well as resources.


    At the same time, they the highest centralized authority, and thews were dictated by them.


    ¡°You two were saved by the kingdom¡¯sws?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°In a way, yes... The people of the Auction house wanted us to be killed since we had seen the content of those cultivation techniques and Qi skills. But ording to thews of the Cloud Fall kingdom, it didn¡¯t levy a death penalty.


    But it was still enough for us to be exiled.¡± Kunzi answered.


    ¡°Hmm... I see.¡± Lin Mu felt satisfied that the two weren¡¯t some really heinous criminals.


    Theft was something he could tolerate. After all, he himself has stolen quite a ¡®lot¡¯.


    ¡°Also, do you know the two other humans that were exiled? The ones you came here with?¡± Lin Mu questioned next.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know much. We simply happened to be together when they sent us in here.¡± Kunzi replied.

 Chapter 1301 Situation At The Shore

    <h4> 1301 Situation At The Shore </h4>


    Lin Mu had been wondering how things went outside the Land of Exile. Or more urately just outside the Rust Hail mountains.


    He had learned from Huyun Chuan that there was actually several ports all around the shores of the Ind on which the Land of Exile was located. These ports were utilized by the eight kingdoms to drop off their convicts.


    Then there was actually a local authority that took care of these prisoners and controlled the array that was used to send them into the Land of Exile.


    But this was all that he knew, he didn¡¯t know how the prisoners were actually sent inside or how the order was decided. If they wanted to get out of here, they needed to know all this, or the n would beplex.


    Thus who else better to ask than the convicts who had been sent recently.


    Even Huyun Chuan didn¡¯t know how the things went on the ports since he was directly sent to the Land of Exile though the long distance teleportation array.


    ¡°So you didn¡¯t know the other two humans at all?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°Well... we do know that they were thieves too. But we don¡¯t know what they had stolen.¡± Kunzi answered.


    ¡°Hmmm... then is there some order to how they send you in? A way to group up convicts or is it random?¡± Lin Mu inquired.


    ¡°There¡¯s a register!¡± Little Gian was the one who spoke this time.


    ¡°Oh, a register?¡± Lin Mu was interested.


    ¡°Yes, I saw it when they were shuffling us around.¡± Little Gian confirmed.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. They don¡¯t send us in right away. Depending on how long the backlog of the convicts is, we will usually be kept in the local prison for about a day or two. They will take our details and also confirm them with the details that are provided by the authorities of the eight kingdoms.


    As for how they sort us, I think it is by crime. I recall seeing different marks on our shackles when we were brought in. Little Gian, I and the other two men that were sent in had the same type of a mark.


    I think it meant the crime for it was thievery. I also saw several others with the same mark on their shackles.¡± Kunzi said, after thinking for a few seconds.


    ¡°Hmm, so those that were sent earlier had different marks than you?¡± Lin Mu asked for rity.


    ¡°Yes, their numbers were less though. But they were pushed to the front of the queue and sent right uponnding. Those should be the worst of the convicts.¡± Kunzi answered.<sub> </sub>


    ¡°Strange... if they were sent before you, then we should have seen them appear.¡± Lin Mu muttered. ¡°Were there any more appearance of humans?¡± he asked the Haima scouts.


    p-?-?-?-?-?-0-?-?-?¡¢?(??) ¡°No, Noble Lin Mu. We haven¡¯t seen any and neither have others.¡± One of the scouts answered.


    ¡°Then is there other ces where they can appear?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°Yes! Thend on the other side of the Broken Chasm. Our people almost never go there since its too far, but humans have said to have appeared there too.¡± The scout replied.


    ¡°I see...¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    Kunzi and Little Gian saw Lin Mu talking in the Haima Tribe¡¯s tongue and were lost.


    ¡°Whatnguage is that?¡± Kunzi asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s the Haima Tribe¡¯s own tongue.¡± Lin Mu replied. ¡°Most of them do not understand Dao Script.¡±<sub> ¦Ñ?????(?)?? ? </sub>


    ¡°Huh, that¡¯s surprising. What, or rather... Who are they?¡± Kunzi asked the questions that had been bugging him for a while now.


    ¡°Well... at this point you can probably call them the longest living exiles of the Land of Exile.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Longest living?¡± Kunzi narrowed his eyes. ¡°How long exactly?¡±


    ¡°Over a hundred thousand years now.¡± Lin Mu answered, stunning Kunzi.


    ¡°Impossible!¡± he couldn¡¯t help but utter. ¡°How can someone live that long in and like this?¡±


    ¡°It does seem like that. But they managed to survive... and grow.¡± Lin Mu replied with a hint of mncholy. ¡°They are also perhaps the most knowledgeable about this ce.¡±


    ¡°That is astounding... if the kingdoms were to find out about this, it would cause a lot of issues.¡± Kunzi quickly understood.


    ¡°Indeed.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head.


    ~Sizzle~


    At this time, the scouts had finished cooking the Stone Flesh Mushrooms and brought them to be eaten. They were still sizzling hot and looked a bit strange to Kunzi and Little Gian.


    ¡°Are they stones?¡± Little Gian asked.


    ¡°They may look like them, but they are edible. They are called Stone Flesh Mushrooms.¡± Lin Mu replied before picking up one of them and cracking it open.


    ¡®Interesting...¡¯ Kunzi had never seen such a mushroom before and picked one up after Lin Mu ate.


    It confirmed that the mushrooms were indeed edible and safe to eat.


    ~Munch~


    But as soon as they took the first bite, they were speechless.


    ¡°MMMHMM!!!!!?¡± One bite was all it took to indulge them in the plentiful spirit Qi and vital energy.


    The stone flesh mushrooms were indeed quite good, and they directly forgot that they were supposed to answer Lin Mu¡¯s questions.


    Lin Mu let them be and allowed them to eat for the time being.


    Though that wasn¡¯t long either, as Kunzi and Little Gian finished the basket full of Stone Flesh Mushrooms in less than ten minutes. While the quantity couldn¡¯tpare to what Lin Mu usually ate, it was still more than what a normal human would eat.


    ¡°These are marvelous! How can there be something like this here? That is absurd.¡± Kunzi couldn¡¯t wrap his head around why there would be such good quality food here.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this alreadyparable to high grade spirit fruits?¡± Little Gian said with surprised.


    ¡°Easily! No wait! Even more.¡± Kunzi said, after thinking for a moment.


    Lin Mu raised his brows and questioned, ¡°how much do you think one of these would sell for?¡±


    ¡°Like Twenty-forty high grade spirit stones? Maybe even more if sold in auctions.¡± Kunzi answered.Property ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1302 A Relieving Confirmation

    <h4> 1302 A Relieving Confirmation </h4>


    Kunzi¡¯s answer had made Lin Mu smile widely.


    ¡®Looks like the tribe won¡¯t have to worry about living costs for a while, even after leaving the Land of Exile.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Haima Tribe had been growing the Stone Flesh Mushrooms for several millennia now and had mastered the art of cultivating them. If they could cultivate them in a barren area like this, they could very well do the same in fertile ground.


    Lin Mu had even given some of the soil that he had lying around in his ring to let the farmers try out. The results were about the same as the barren soil here. The Stone Flesh Mushrooms grew no matter the kind of soil.


    It could even be said to be a miracle crop.


    ¡®Even if we take the lowest cost of Twenty High grade spirit stones for one Stone Flesh Mushroom, the tribe will make a fortune. They grow thousands of them every week.¡¯ Lin Mu knew the prospects of the tribe would be good as long as they were careful.


    ¡°But what¡¯s the use in knowing that? This will never get out of here.¡± Kunzi said with a sad face.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t tell him what his n was, and wanted to know more information from them first.


    ¡°Tell me more about the port outside. How many people are there and what are their cultivation bases?¡± Lin Mu questioned, since they had already finished eating.


    ¡°Wended at thergest port of the ind, thus it had the highest number of people. They range from as low as the nascent soul realm all the way to the Fourth tribtion immortals.


    The guards are mostly at the Dao Treading realm and above, with the elite guards all being First Tribtion Immortals.¡± Kunzi answered.


    ¡°And what about those at the second tribtion stage and above?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    p??-??-?0???.??? ¡°They are assigned especially to convicts with that cultivation base. And apany them when they are sent here. Though the convict with the highest cultivation base I saw was at the second Tribtion stage as well.<sub> </sub>


    I think he had two third Tribtion Stage Immortals guarding him.¡± Kunzi replied.


    Hearing this Lin Mu furrowed his brows. It only told him that the security at the port was very high and it would be very dangerous if they appeared there.


    ¡°What about the other ports?¡± Lin Mu asked next.


    ¡°They are smaller and don¡¯t have that many convictsnding there, so the numbers are definitely low.¡± Kunzi replied. ¡°I think Port number six is the smallest, but it¡¯s also on the eastern penins of the ind.¡±


    ¡°Eastern Penins?¡± Lin Mu realized he couldn¡¯t really tell cardinal directions in this ce.


    While Huyun Chuan had described the kingdoms and their positioning ording to the directions too, he couldn¡¯t really tell what it was like in the Land of Exile.<sub> ¦Ñ?????(?)?? ? </sub>


    ¡°Can you tell what direction we are facing right now?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    To this, Kunzi shook his head.


    ¡°The Sky above the Land of Exile is especially cloudy. At least in the Sea of Muxuan, we were somewhat able to spot the sun. Here it¡¯s impossible to make out.¡± Kunzi answered.


    ¡°Then where was the port that younded at?¡± Lin Mu asked instead.


    ¡°Oh, that is the port number one and is located on the Western shore of the Ind. There is a natural bay which allows docking of tens of ships, unlike the other ports which can only dock one or two at once.¡± Kunzi replied.


    Lin Mu wondered if the ce one arrived was dependent on the direction of the port too.


    ¡®Since they arrived from the Eastern port, they might have been sent to the eastern part of the Land of Exile as well. But if that is true, then the other convicts should have arrived here too.¡¯ Lin Mu didn¡¯t know how it worked.


    Using apass was useless too, since the needle pointed at random directions depending on where one walked. The Maic field of this area was simply too messed up.


    ¡®Seems like the peopleing to rescue Huyun Chuan might be the only solution for us.¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned. ¡®Considering Purple Sparrow Kingdom is also in the east, the people of the Huyun n most likelynded on the Number one port too.¡¯


    He looked at Kunzi and took a hopeful breath before asking. ¡°While you were at the port, did you hear anything about the people of Huyun n of the Purple Sparrow kingdom? Or them being at the port?¡±


    ¡°The Huyun n?¡± Kunzi furrowed his brows.


    ¡°Kunzi, isn¡¯t that what those three men were arguing about the night we arrived?¡± Little Gian prompted.


    ¡°Ah yeah! I remember now.¡± Kunzi spoke with a little enthusiasm. ¡°Those three were arguing with one of the local staff. Something to do with special entry.¡±


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    ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Mu¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°By any chance were they were robes like these?¡± he handed them a jade slip.


    Lin Mu had gotten Huyun Chuan to record the appearance as well as the crest of the Huyun n in it so that they would have an easy time recognizing it.


    ¡°Yes! This is it. The three of them were wearing these robes.¡± Kunzi confirmed.


    ¡°Perfect.¡± Lin Mu smiled.


    ¡°Why are you asking this, though?¡± Little Gian asked, feeling curious.


    ¡°They are important for us.¡± Lin Mu said without telling the whole story. ¡°Let¡¯s head back to the tribe for now. I have some things to prepare.¡±


    Kunzi and Little Gian could only obey Lin Mu for now. After all, he was a lot stronger than them and following him seemed to be the better choice right now. At the very least, they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about food and shelter.


    The Haima Scouts leaped across thend, with Lin Mu taking the lead. Kunzi and Little Gian found it a little hard to follow, but eventually managed to find a pace they were conformable with.


    And by the time they had reached the Mountain of the Haima Tribe, Kunzi and Little Gian were utterly exhausted.

 Chapter 1303 A Beacon To Catch Attention

    <h4> 1303 A Beacon To Catch Attention </h4>


    Kunzi and Little Gian had not expected for there to be such arge mountain here. Not just that, but as Dao Shell realm cultivators they could also feel the massive formation array that seemed to have been set up here.


    ¡®Is this really a ce in the Land of Exile?¡¯ Kunzi found it hard to believe.


    To him, it felt more like the array of a city instead of some barrennd.


    ¡°Is this the ce?¡± Little Gian asked, feeling a bit confused as he couldn¡¯t see any settlement around the mountain or on it.


    ¡°We¡¯re just a little far.¡± Lin Mu said before taking them to the entrance of the Tribe.


    With the mountain having expanded, the Haima Tribe had no option but to change the entrance too. While they still had the outpost exit that was halfway up the mountain, it wasn¡¯t reallyrge enough.


    As for the original entrance?


    p?n?a (n??)? l It had long since been buried under the expanded mountain. Thus the Haima tribe had to make a new one. Thankfully, with the Earth Fixing Array under Lin Mu¡¯s control, it didn¡¯t take them long to make a viable one.


    ~SHING~


    ~SHUA~


    ~HUA~<sub>p????-?(0??)?.??m</sub>


    ¡°What¡¯s that sound?¡± Kunzi and Little Gian heard something.


    ¡°That should be the Haima warrior¡¯s training.¡± Lin Mu replied. ¡°They are on the other side of the mountain.¡±


    From what Kunzi and Little Gian could hear, there seemed to be at least a hundred warriors training.


    ¡®Or perhaps even more. There¡¯s no way the sound would reach till here otherwise.¡¯ Kunzi thought.


    ~THUD~


    Arge stone door was moved, revealing the true entrance to the Haima tribe. Walking through the dark passageway that was lit up by several torches they finally reached a fork.


    ¡°We go left.¡± Lin Mu instructed and brought them to a newly built area.


    There were a couple of newly constructed houses here, but they were all located within arge cavern.


    ¡°All this was dug out by the tribe?¡± Kunzi was surprised. ¡°No wonder they could stay safe here all this time.¡±


    ¡°You can say that.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head. ¡°You two will be staying here for the time being.¡±<sub> p???? ?(O)??l</sub>


    ~Creak~


    And just as he said that, the doors of one of the residences opened.


    ¡°You¡¯re back?¡± A man dressed in torn clothes spoke.


    ¡°Another human?!¡± Little Gian and Kunzi were surprised once more.


    ¡°Huh, you brought more prisoners?¡± Huyun Chuan asked, making the other two nervous.


    ¡°No.¡± Lin Mu denied. ¡°Unlike you, they came without a fight.¡±


    ¡°Tch~ whatever.¡± Huyun Chuan said with a shrug.


    ¡°Though, they did bring some good news.¡± Lin Mu added.


    ¡°What?¡± Huyun Chuan said without much interest.


    ¡°The people of the Huyun n. They are at the Number one port.¡± Lin Mu answered.<sub> ¦Ñ?????(?)?? l </sub>


    Huyun Chuan¡¯s expression changed almost instantly with his eyes turning wide and his fists clenching.


    ¡°WHERE ARE THEY?!?¡± Huyun Chuan almost rushed at Lin Mu, but was stopped by the formation. ¡°Ugh, these chains.¡± He grunted.


    The residence that Huyun Chuan was living in right now was where his prison cell was originally located. Due to the expansion of the mountain, it ended uping under it and thus this cave was made.


    The Haima Tribe simply made some residences here and made one for Huyun Chuan too. Though he couldn¡¯t go any farther than the doorstep of the residence.


    ¡°Who¡¯s he?¡± Kunzi was a bit baffled.


    From this conversation, he could easily tell that the man was Lin Mu¡¯s prisoner and had been made one because of a fight.


    ¡®His cultivation base also seems to be nonexistent.¡¯ Kunzi realized, but then looking at the illusory shackles that were holding Huyun Chuan, he reckoned it might just be a restriction.


    ¡°He¡¯s the one for whom the Huyun n¡¯s people are looking for.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    He had decided that he could now tell the two a little more.


    ¡°Huh? Looking for him? Did he go missing?¡± Little Gian questioned.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t go missing, they know I am here! They¡¯reing to get me.¡± Huyun Chuan said with a little impatience.


    ¡°What!? How can they get you from here? No one gets out of the Land of Exile.¡± Kunzi said firmly.


    ¡°Formoners perhaps. But I am a noble!¡± Huyun Chuan said proudly.


    To this Kunzi raised his brow.


    ¡°Even for nobles, I¡¯ve never heard anyone getting out of here. First of all, is there even a way out?¡± Kunzi was sure there wasn¡¯t any method of doing that since the array worked one way only.


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    ¡°There actually is a way, apparently.¡± Lin Mu spoke this time.


    ¡°Really?¡± Kunzi was still doubtful.


    ¡°There are talismans that can teleport one back outside. They simply need to enter using the normal method and then use them to get back out.¡± Lin Mu answered.


    Kunzi furrowed his brows. To him, it felt farfetched, but then seeing the people of the Huyun n meant that there was some truth to this.


    ¡®He doesn¡¯t have any reason to lie either. There is no benefit to that.¡¯ Kunzi thought while ncing at Lin Mu.


    ¡°You say they areing to get him here, but then how will they even find him?¡± Little Gian stated.


    ¡°Yeah, since we got lost here right from the start, I doubt they would find you.¡± Kunzi agreed.


    Getting in the Land of Exile was the easy part. And with the talisman they might even be able to get out. But how would they find someone in the Land of Exile where there was no sense of direction and nopass worked?


    ¡°They will find me! They¡¯ll find a method!¡± Huyun Chuan said stubbornly.


    ¡°Or, there is another way.¡± Lin Mu suddenly spoke up.


    Kunzi and Huyun Chuan watched him, wondering what it might be.


    ¡°We simply have to make it easy to spot us.¡± Lin Mu stated. ¡°Putting a beacon that reaches all the way to the clouds might just work.¡±


    ¡°That... might be viable. Still, to make something like that you¡¯ll need resources.¡± Kunzi said.


    ¡°I got that covered.¡± Lin Mu smirked.

 Chapter 1304 An Offer To Escape And Confessing Crimes

    <h4> 1304 An Offer To Escape And Confessing Crimes </h4>


    ~shua~


    With the wave of Lin Mu¡¯s hand, several formationponents as well as spirit stones were withdrawn.


    Kunzi was now utterly shocked.


    Not because Lin Mu just showed they had resources, but because how Lin Mu had brought them out.


    ¡°Y-you... You have a spatial storage treasure?¡± Kunzi stuttered.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Lin Mu simply replied.


    ¡°H-how? They take everything from you before sending you in here.¡± Kunzi asked.


    ¡°They didn¡¯t send him in here. He came from somewhere else.¡± Huyun Chuan answered this time.


    ¡°This was certainly not what I expected.¡± Kunzi was taken aback.


    ¡°Why would youe to the Land of exile though? You¡¯re not even a convict are you?¡± Little Gian too had several questions.


    ¡°Well, it wasn¡¯t my intention toe here. I just... ended up here somehow.¡± Lin Mu shrugged.


    ¡°And I¡¯m guessing you want to get out?¡± Kunzi asked.<sub>p????-?(0??)?.??m</sub>


    ¡°Of course.¡± Lin Mu agreed. ¡°But not just me.¡±


    ¡°Not just you?¡± Kunzi looked at Hundun Chuan.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu has promised to take our entire tribe out of the Land of Exile.¡± A new voice was heard from the back.


    Kunzi and Little Gian turned around to find a new person in the cave. Or rather, a Haima member.


    ~gulp~


    But Kunzi swallow his saliva sensing the powering from the new person.


    ¡®Dao Treading realm? That too not at the initial stage. At least at the Embryo growth stage?¡¯ Kunzi wondered.


    ¡°Ah, Elder Niji. You came at the perfect timing.¡± Lin Mu said with a smile.


    ¡°I heard your words already. Seems like our luck is finally turning around.¡± Elder Niji replied.


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    ¡°Indeed. The first of our solutions seem to be close now.¡± Lin Mu spoke with hope.


    ¡°Then we should speed up our preparations too.¡± Elder Niji stated.<sub> p???? ?(O)??l</sub>


    ¡°Of course. We need to hurry. I¡¯ll get the beacon ready first and hope that those Immortals from Huyun n spot it.¡± Lin Mu picked up a few materials. ¡°How about I write arge banner that says ¡®Huyun Chuan is here¡¯.¡± He suggested.


    ¡°Ahah, that is bound to catch their attention.¡± Elder Niji chuckled.


    ¡°Are you... really going to leave thend of Exile?¡± Kunzi asked in a serious tone.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ~THUD~


    But then in the next moment Lin Mu was taken aback.


    ¡°Please... take us with you.¡± Kunzi directly kneeled on the ground.


    ~thud~


    Little Gian followed his lead and joined him in kneeling. ¡°Yes! Please take us out of here too.¡±


    ¡°I...¡± but before Lin Mu could even reply, Kunzi interrupted him.


    ¡°I¡¯ll offer you everything that I¡¯ve obtained from the auction! All the cultivation techniques as well as immortal skills!¡± Kunzi offered right away.<sub> ¦Ñ?????(?)?? l </sub>


    ¡°This...¡± Lin Mu raised his brows in surprise.


    He wouldn¡¯t have minded taking the two of them with him since he was taking an entire tribe. But getting something in exchange was certainly a wee. Plus, since the two weren¡¯t any heinous criminals there wasn¡¯t any guilt either.


    ¡®Though just to be sure,¡¯ Lin Mu¡¯s expression turned cold in that moment.


    Kunzi, Little Gian and Huyun Chuan all felt a heavy pressure on them. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Kunzi and Little Gian were already kneeling, they might have just fallen on the ground from the pressure.


    ¡°Before I ept your offer, I want to ask you something.¡± Lin Mu stated.


    ¡°P-please ask...¡± Kunzi stammered.


    ¡°Have youmitted any heinous crimes? You know what kind I¡¯m asking.¡± Lin Mu asked firmly, a dangerous aura spreading from him.


    Kunzi had felt such an aura several times in the past. It was pure killing intent which could only be developed after years of battle and killing.


    ¡®He might just kill us if I don¡¯t answer him.¡¯ Kunzi realized.


    ¡°And just to warn you... I¡¯ll know if you lie.¡± Lin Mu added.


    ¡°N-no... We¡¯ve only ever stolen.¡± Kunzi answered, but then seeing the look in Lin Mu¡¯s eyes he almost yelped. ¡°We¡¯ve also killed people. But not as bandits! We¡¯ve never robbed someone by killing.¡± He empathized.


    But Lin Mu¡¯s cold look never moved from him.


    ¡°The only times we killed was when we were in danger or were threated. You must understand the life of a cultivator!¡± Kunzi almost shouted.


    For a few seconds, Lin Mu¡¯s gaze continued to linger on them. Breathing had be almost impossible and even their eyes were starting to turn red.


    ¡°Hmm... truth.¡± Lin Mu withdrew the pressure.


    p??-??-?0???.??m ~thud~thud~thud~


    Kunzi, Little Gian and Huyun Chuan all three copsed onto the ground, unable to stay in their posture.


    ¡°Haaa... HAA... Haaa...¡± The three of them panted, feeling like their lives were almost snuffed out in that moment.


    ¡°Well then, seems like we have rtively decent humans for a change this time.¡± Elder Niji pped his hand and stepped forward with a smile.


    Unlike the three humans, Elder Niji waspletely unaffected. Or rather, Lin Mu had simply contained his area of effect.


    ¡°Indeed. I¡¯ll take you up on that offer, Kunzi.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°O... okay...¡± Kunzi replied, turning his head on the ground.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get started on the beacon Elder Niji. Can you get them updated?¡± Lin Mu requested.


    ¡°Of course Noble Lin Mu.¡± Elder Niji knew what Lin Mu meant.


    ~shua~


    Then with a nod, Lin Mu disappeared.


    Elder Niji let Kunzi and Little Gian recover for five minutes before speaking, ¡°you two should know how we¡¯re going to proceed them.¡±


    While elder Niji talked to them about the n, Lin Mu had appeared at the top of the mountain.


    ¡°This should be good enough. Though I¡¯ll need to add more anchor points.¡± Lin Mu started nning the beacon.


    About fifteen minutester, he had the initial n.


    First there was going to be a sky piercing light beacon and then an illusory banner made from runes would hang from it. The banner would read ¡®Huyun Chuan is here¡¯ in veryrge words.


    ¡®If this doesn¡¯t attract their attention, then we might just be out of luck.¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.

 Chapter 1305 The Deployed Beacon And A Little Refocusing Needed

    <h4> 1305 The Deployed Beacon And A Little Refocusing Needed </h4>


    ¡°There we go.¡± Lin Mu said as he finished nting thest formation g.


    ¡®With this we should be able to finish our goal.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu¡¯s work on the beacon was done rtively quickly.


    Three days was all it took for him to integrate it into the existing Earth Fixing Array. And not just that, he even added some extra precautions to it. After all, the beacon won¡¯t just pull the attention of the people of the Huyun n, it will do that for everyone.


    Lin Mu made sure that their defenses were as good as possible. Even going so far as to reinforce the Earth Fixing Array with supplementary formations. With so many defensive formations ready, Lin Mu was now confident of defending against even a second tribtion stage immortal.


    One might ask how he was confident of this?


    It was simple. Lin Mu simply asked someone who was experienced with this. This person being none other than Kunzi.


    Much to Lin Mu¡¯s surprise, Kunzi was actually quite experience with formations. In fact, he was even capable of getting through Immortal arrays!<sub></sub>


    That was how he had stolen the immortal cultivation techniques as well as immortal Qi skills from the auction house. He had used several of his special tools to get through them despite being in the Dao Shell realm.


    This was all due to the sheer amount of time he had lived.


    Lin Mu got to know that Kunzi was actually over 1500 years old. His life¡¯s start was somewhat simr to Lin Mu¡¯s being born in a poor family.


    Not having enough resources to cultivate, he had to struggle a lot to reach the point where he was at right now.


    One could tell from this that even in an Immortal world at the level of the Rust Sky world, the struggles of people were almost the same. The only difference was the staging of struggle was at a different section.


    Commoners in the mortal worlds struggled to reach the Qi refining realm, while themoners of Immortal worlds struggled to reach the Immortal realm.


    This was the same for Kunzi and Little Gian.<sub> </sub> Property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Both had teamed up due to the same goal of bing immortals. They were simrly old too, with Little Gian being a hundred years younger than Kunzi. Which was also why he was called ¡®little¡¯.


    Thus, with Kunzi¡¯s observation, Lin Mu had managed to set up proper defenses.


    This way, even if some unruly immortals arrived, they would still be able to deal with them.


    Now all that was left was for the Immortals of the Huyun n to spot them.


    ¡®Since they have been waiting for over a month to get it, they are probably restrained by a person from the Great Wave kingdom,¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    The reason why Huyun Chuan was unable to bring any items into the Land of Exile was also due to the fact that the Great Wave Kingdom¡¯s people had someone monitor him. They made sure that he couldn¡¯t bring any resources or tools to help him there.


    And from the information Kunzi and Little Gian had provided, there were indeed people of the Great Wave kingdom on the Ind.<sub> pandan(o)vel </sub>


    This was simply how the Land of Exile was run.


    The eight kingdoms sent a rotating set of people to run the Land of Exile. This was to make sure that no single kingdom suffered a loss in doing so. After all, the Land of Exile was in a precarious and dangerous location.


    But they still wanted to make use of it, and making sure that everyone had equal responsibility was the best way to maintain it.


    This time around though, the Great Wave kingdom had volunteers to take over another kingdom¡¯s turn. All to ensure that Huyun Chuan received the proper punishment. But even this had a limit. The Great Wave kingdom had posted their people here for nearly a year now.


    Ned that wasing to an end. As soon as the people of the Great Wave Kingdom were gone, the people of the Huyun n will be able to bribe their way in.


    ~step~step~step~


    The sound of steps could be heard while Lin Mu was pondering on how things would go next.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t strain your mind too much, Noble Lin Mu. What¡¯s written in fates will surely happen. All we can do is prepare the best.¡± Elder Niji¡¯s voice could be heard.


    ¡°Ah...¡± Lin Mu found the words rather familiar.


    ¡°Someone... once told me simr words before.¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    ¡°They did?¡± Elder Niji asked.


    ¡°Indeed, and they were true.¡± Lin Mu replied with a nod.


    ~huu~


    ¡°You¡¯re right. I shouldn¡¯t stress too much.¡± Lin Mu stood up. ¡°Rather than that, I should put more effort in getting stronger.¡± He added.


    ¡°Mmhmm, our tribe will do the same. The stronger we are the better chance of us getting out of here.¡± Elder Niji agreed. ¡°Plus now we have some more helpers with us.¡± He added.


    ¡°Kunzi and Gian?¡± Lin Mu spoke.


    ¡°Yes, the two humans are good. They are willingly helping out in the n in addition to helping you.¡± Elder Niji replied. ¡°At least better than that, Huyun Chuan.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s... urate.¡± Lin Mu did find the two a better sight than Huyun Chuan.


    Plus, Huyun Chuan had already told Lin Mu as much information as he knew about the Rust Sky world. Kunzi and Gian had yet to do that.


    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll go talk to the two.¡± Lin Mu said, feeling a little better.


    ¡°Sure, do that. Our Tribe is also ready. We¡¯ve already moved all the supplies into the storage tools you provided.¡± Elder Niji said, shing the bangle and ring on his hand.


    ¡°That¡¯s excellent. As soon as the people of the Huyun n arrive, and I get to study their talismans, I¡¯ll find a way out.¡± Lin Mu said with confidence.


    ¡°You surely will. We have faith in you.¡± Elder Niji said with absolute trust.


    ¡®Back to cultivation then...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 1306 The Wood Spirit Tulips Request

    <h4> 1306 The Wood Spirit Tulip''s Request </h4>


    ¡°More...¡±


    ¡°More... More...¡±


    ¡°I need more...¡±


    Lin Mu¡¯s brows were furrowed while he sat cross legged. Rich wood energy and wood spirit Qi swirled around him endlessly. Some streaks of them would enter his body, while some would simply dissipate upon touching his skin.


    Some distance away from Lin Mu, the Spirit apple tree could be seen. But right now it was barren, having no fruits and only leaves. It was evident that Lin Mu had plucked all of them before consuming them.


    ~shua~


    The swirling energies around Lin Mu stopped abruptly, creating a brief gust of wind.


    ~Sigh~


    ¡°I really can¡¯t absorb the wood energy without a body cultivation technique meant for that.¡± Lin Mu said with a sigh.


    A month had passed since he had made and deployed the beacon above the Haima Tribe. So far, no one had approached it other than some Chasm Beast. Since just waiting would do no good, he decided to cultivate.<sub></sub>


    He had been deep in cultivation for a week now and decided to further his body cultivation.


    If one looked at his liver right now, they would see that nearly 90% of it had been refined. Three out of four lobes of his liver were filled with great vitality, while over half of his fourth lobe were refined.


    ¡°Even the wood spirit apples aren¡¯t helping now...¡± Lin Mu said, swallowing thest apple he had left.


    ~gulp~


    ~shua~


    A bust of wood spirit Qi and wood energy spread in his belly before being quickly absorbed by his body. They reached his liver, but no change happened to it after that.


    Lin Mu had been hoping that he would be able to refine his liver with just the help of the Wood spirit apples, but he had reached a bottleneck. It seemed that the amount of wood energy contained within the apples was no longer enough to break it.


    ¡®If only I had a body cultivation technique appropriate for this...¡¯ Lin Mu dreamed.


    He had even asked Kunzi if he had any such technique. But the man shook his head the moment he heard that Lin Mu wanted a body cultivation technique.<sub> </sub> Owned by N?velDrama.Org.


    Apparently, a majority of the Body cultivation techniques were highly restricted in the Rust Sky world. Only the nobles could practice them, but even then, it was limited to the thirteen stages of the body tempering realm allowing them to obtain a Xiantian Physique.


    After that, they simply cultivated the immortal techniques which were considered a lot more superior.


    The Body cultivation techniques that would allow one to reach the five treasure realm were highly limited and in the grasp of a few noble families in the Rust Sky world. But even then, it was unlikely for Lin Mu to find something that would belong to the Wood Element.


    But that wasn¡¯t all that Lin Mu had learned about body cultivation from Kunzi.


    ording to the man, while body cultivation techniques were rare, there was still one ce where they were abundant.


    This ce being none other than the Holy Topaz Empire of the Holy Topaz Continent. They were the oldest existing power of the Rust Sky world and had deep roots.


    There were even rumors that the Holy Topaz Empire had a great influence in the Immortal Courts.


    Kunzi even went so far as to say that the signature cultivation technique of the Holy Topaz Empire was actually a body cultivation technique!


    And it was one that allowed one to cultivate all the way to the equivalent of the Seventh Tribtion Immortal.<sub> pandan(o)vel </sub>


    ¡°Will I really have to go to the Holy Topaz Empire to resume my body cultivation?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    After all, even if he got out of the Land of Exile and manage to obtain some resource rich in wood energy and fully refined his liver, he would still halt at that point.


    ~rustle~rustle~rustle~


    The sound of something shifting could be heard, making Lin Mu open his eyes.


    ¡°Mm?¡± To his surprise, he saw the Wood Spirit Tulip right in front of him.


    ¡°Why are you here? Why did you move?¡± Lin Mu was confused.


    ~rustle~ Rustle~


    The sentient nt shook its flower in response, as if nodding.


    Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion, not understanding what the penitent nt wanted.


    The Wood Spirit tulip shook its flower again, even using its leaves trying to say something, but Lin Mu couldn¡¯t understand it.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± Lin Mu asked again.


    ~fweeeee~


    As if frustrated by its attempts, the Wood Spirit tulip twisted its stem, letting out a strange whistling sound.


    ~HUALA~


    But then the whistling sound seemed to have triggered something as all the wood spirit Qi in the air started to rush towards the Wood spirit tulip.


    Lin Mu became alert, wondering if the sentient herb was having a breakdown. But the more he watched, the more he realized it wasn¡¯t a breakdown but rather a breakthrough.


    Swirling wood spirit Qi gathered around the wood spirit Tulip, simr to how it was for Lin Mu.


    ¡°Are you... By any chance asking me to help you?¡± Lin Mu finally understood.


    He quickly sat back down and used the basic method of gathering wood spirit Qi. But this time, instead of absorbing it himself, he directed it into the direction of the Wood spirit tulip.


    ~SHUA~


    With that, the absorption speed of the wood spirit tulip increased twofold.


    A sweet scent spread from the flower on top of it before two more shoots appeared at the side of its stem. Not just that¡¯s, but a tiny bud could even be seen sprouting on at the base of its giant flower head.


    ~HONG~


    The vortex of wood spirit Qi got stronger, this time without Lin Mu¡¯s help.


    ¡°It¡¯s about to breakthrough!¡± Lin Mu understood this was all the sentient herb wanted.


    He stepped back, letting the herb continue its work.


    About five minutester, the aura of the Wood Spirit Tulip rose by three times, and a new type of scent spread from it. This time though, Lin Mu spotted faint liquid appearing from its petals.


    The source of this scent was this liquid.


    ¡°Wait a second, this...¡±

 Chapter 1307 Pure Wood Essence

    <h4> 1307 Pure Wood Essence </h4>


    The scent of the liquid was sweet as if the finest of honeys. But at the same time it gave one a refreshing feeling, that dispelled all the fatigue. Lin Mu had only ever read about a liquid like this and wondered if he was mistaken.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be that can it? It¡¯s not something that can be produced by a nt... or can it?¡± Lin Mu wondered while watching the Wood spirit Tulip produce more and more of the liquid.


    ~SHUA~


    About five minutester, the Wood spirit Tulip had finished its breakthrough and its cultivation base had reached the peak of the Dao Shell realm!


    It had not just broken through to a minor realm, but through several reaching the very peak. Something like this should have been impossible, but it was evident that some kind of a change had been experienced by the Wood Spirit Tulip.


    ¡®Not just that, perhaps it is the change of the entire Sleepscape that has resulted in this.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath, enjoying the sweet scenting from the liquid. It had stopped being produced now, and a lemon sized glob of the sweet liquid was present on the flower head. It had a green and yellow hue while its consistency was like that of thick honey.


    ~rustle~rustle~<sub></sub>


    The Wood spirit Tulip shook its flower head, as if gesturing Lin Mu to take it.


    ¡°Okay...¡± Lin Mu took a breath before using a ssdle to scoop it up.


    The ssdle was something that was especially used in alchemy and herb refinement for sensitive materials as well as corrosive materials that might react with metal or burn wood. After scooping it up, Lin Mu very carefully put it in a crystal jade vial.


    He then used his spirit sense to observe it.


    The moment his spirit sense touched it though, he felt vibrant wood energy gushing out. It was as if he was sitting in the heart of a forest and a pleasant feeling filled his heart.


    ¡°It really is that...¡± Lin Mu said softly. ¡°Pure Wood Essence...¡±


    Just like how Vital Essence was the higher form of the Vital Energy, Wood Essence was the same to wood energy. But unlike Vital Essence it couldn¡¯t just be refined by the human body even if it had Wood Essence. If one wanted to obtain it, they would need to refine it themselves.


    The materials needed to refine Wood Essence were all precious and needed a lot of skill to process. Not to mention, the cost alone might be prohibitive to most. And even then the refined Wood Essence might not be pure. There were bound to be impurities present in it.<sub> </sub>


    If one wanted to obtain Pure Wood Essence, they could only do so through sheer luck.


    Lin Mu had read that the Lost Immortal had found Pure Wood Essence on two asions. Once he had found it in the core of a giant tree that had been growing for millions of years. And the second time he had found it in an old tomb, possibly present there for a long time.


    Both were rare opportunities and the amount of Pure Wood Essence that the Lost Immortal obtained was just half of what Lin Mu had with him.


    This lemon sized blob of Pure Wood Essence along was enough to buy an entire kingdom and in some cases even a sect.


    But to Lin Mu, the worth of this Pure Wood Essence was entirely different.


    ¡®Pure Wood Essence if one of the best resources for Body cultivation. This is the same as giving a thirsty traveler an oasis!¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had thought to himself, that he would have to go out and wander the Rust Sky world to find the wood elemental resources for him. But now the opportunity hade knowing on his door itself.


    Not to mention... it wasn¡¯t a ime opportunity.<sub> pandan(o)vel </sub>


    Lin Mu could somewhat feel that its intelligence might have increased a bit more since its reaction was faster than before. Plus Lin Mu could also sense a hint of Dao Traces from the herb.


    ¡°Can you make more of this?¡± Lin Mu questioned the Wood Spirit Tulip after thinking for a bit.


    ~rustle~rustle~


    To this the sentient n nodded its flower head. But Lin Mu knew this was not the entire answer.


    ¡°How often can you make this?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ~rustle~rustle~rustle~


    ¡°Three months?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    To this, the flower shook its head.


    ¡°Three years?¡± Lin Mu asked again furrowing his brows.


    ~rustle~


    Thankfully, it nodded its head this time, makings its petals sway.


    ~Phew~


    ¡°Three years is fine... no three years is great!¡± Lin Mu said feeling pleased.


    But after a few moments, he realized another thing.


    ¡°And what do you need to make this?¡± Lin Mu questioned once more.


    To this, the Wood Spirit Tulip replied with a spurt of qi.


    ¡°Oh? You just need Wood Spirit qi?¡± Lin Mu asked for confirmation.


    ~rustle~


    ¡°Perfect!¡± Lin Mu saw its agreement.


    Pure Wood Essence was something that was obtained through luck after all. Even if it took three years to obtain it, it was at least confirmed and regr.


    ¡°Also the amount that it produced... even a quarter of it would be more than enough for me...¡± Lin Mu assessed.


    The best thing about Pure Wood Essence was that, there was no specific requirement to use it. Technically speaking, even a mortal baby could consume it with no negative effects. But how much of it could be utilized greatly varied.


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    The Pure Wood Essence would simply enter one¡¯s body and stay dormant within it, before being slowly released. This was for those that couldn¡¯t assimte it all at once. At the very least, it was a good tonic for one¡¯s body and could even increase lifespan by a certain extent.


    But for Lin Mu, assimting would not be an issue at all. It would be the perfect supplement that he had beencking.

 Chapter 1308 Five Treasured Organs Completed!

    <h4> 1308 Five Treasured Organs Completed! </h4>


    The Pure Wood essence was rather tantalizing and the more one looked at it the more one desired it.


    ~gulp~


    Lin Mu had a hard time holding back too. He had tomand his brain to hold back or his body might just down it all in instinct.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start then... No need to wait around.¡± Lin Mu said to himself feeling a mix of excitement and unease.


    But he didn¡¯t consume the Pure Wood Essence directly though. He first took out a jug of clean water before adding five drops of the Pure Wood Essence to it.


    ~shua~


    The Pure Wood Essence dissolved readily into the water coloring it pale green with hints of yellow.


    ¡°It almost looks like tea with some honey...¡± Lin Mu muttered. ¡°Some really expensive tea...¡± he added.


    Gazing at it for a couple more moments, Lin Mu took a sip. A gentle sweetness spread in his mouth which soon turned to a burst of energy.


    ~gulp~gulp~gulp~


    That was all it took for Lin Mu to falter and he chugged the rest of the jug in a hurry.


    ¡°Ahh~! It really is amazing.¡± Lin Mu said as he plopped down onto the floor.


    Sitting cross legged, Lin Mu could feel the Pure Wood Essence being absorbed into his stomach before being channeled into his Liver. The process was fast and it barely took him ten seconds to absorb all of the Wood Essence. He had diluted it to make this very thing possible.


    But another factor was that he wanted to use it sparingly. After all, he only needed a minimum amount to breakthrough. As long as that was fulfilled, Lin Mu didn¡¯t need to consume more of the Pure Wood Essence. It would be too much of a waste to use it without any further Body Cultivation technique.


    ~Shua~


    The cells of his liver surged with vitality before starting to replicate. The old cells were destroyed before being reced by the newly refined cells. These cells were exponentially better than the old ones and had a quality unlike before.


    And just like that Lin Mu¡¯s bottleneck was broken and he finished refining the liver.


    ¡°That was quick...¡± Lin Mu muttered before sensing more changes.


    His eyes went wide as a cascade of effects presented within his body.


    ~sizzle~


    A sizzling heat was let off by his heart, making it pump vigorously and circting the blood.


    ~shing~


    This in turn triggered his lungs and they let off a sharp sound. They expanded like strong bellows, sucking inrge amounts of air.


    ~hu~


    It then stimted the liver, making it let off the sound of a thousand trees. And just like the leaves of the trees filtered the air, the liver started to purify the toxins within blood.


    ~tremble~


    The Spleen was like a firm mountain, unmoving and unyielding. With those characteristics it parted the blood, only letting those cells that were perfect and healthy, breaking those that were defective.


    ~ripple~


    Finally the kidneys awakened, as if a calm sea had been stirred. They filtered out all the impurities and toxins that had been umted in his blood and hade from throughout the body.


    The five organs resonated with each other, forming a new harmony.


    Lin Mu had felt the benefits of the refined organs before too, but now he could sense that the increase was even more dramatic. Each organ was promoting and assisting each other.


    This seemingly multiplied its effects, raising the overall quality.


    ¡®Just like how the five elements promote and prohibit each other, so do the organs. When they are in bnce, they are promoting and when they are in imbnce they inhibit. Now that all five of them have been refined, they are in the right bnce.¡¯ Lin Mu understood.


    ~HONG~


    Then as if the heavens themselves had given him approval, the tune of Dao could be faintly heard. Whispers of secrets that only heavens knew could be heard if one focused hard enough.


    Lin Mu could hear several words but wasn¡¯t able to fully make them out. But even in that mishmash of words, he still heard five words clearly: Fire, Water, Metal, Earth, and Wood.


    Five characters materialized within Lin Mu¡¯s mind, with each character having tens of more charterers hidden within. Of these, Lin Mu had already seen the Character of Earth before.


    After all, he had a Dao Embryo that was based on the Dao Of Earth and had seen the Dao Traces too. Each of the Dao Traces contained simr characters hidden within them.


    Unlike before though, Lin Mu could see more than just the Dao Traces of Earth. He could now see it for all the five mortal elements.


    The Five organs became the Five Treasured organs because of this.


    ¡®Doesn¡¯t this mean, as long as I canprehend these characters I¡¯ll be able to grasp all five elemental Dao Traces?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    From this heprehended the path of Body Cultivation.


    In Qi cultivation, one pursued the Dao through one, but in Body Cultivation one pursed the Dao through all. Whether it be one or all, they all returned to the unity and became the Grand Dao!


    Having understood this, Lin Mu triggered a heavenly phenomena.


    Outside the Haima Tribe, a five colored mist had condensed. It twisted and toiled, slowly covering the entire Mountain under which the tribe was located. The Haima Tribe people who saw it were left amazed.


    They had never seen something like it before and it was very novel to them.


    A couple minutester, the five colored mist permeated the very mountain itself. It spread into the caves inside as well, making one think there were clouds underground!


    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s happening? Did he make some other formation?¡± Huyun Chuan wondered upon seeing the mist.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    But a momentter his eyes narrowed, ¡°no wait... that feeling... Metal Dao Traces?¡±


    He wasn¡¯t the only one who sensed them either. Kunzi and Little Gian felt faint Dao Traces hidden within the mist too.

 Chapter 1309 Thousand Breakthrough

    <h4> 1309 Thousand Breakthrough </h4>


    ¡°Kunzi, what is happening?¡± Little Gian asked, feeling a bit anxious.


    ¡°A... Heavenly... Heavenly Phenomena?¡± Kunzi though was shocked and didn¡¯t answer Little Gian right away.


    ¡°A Heavenly Phenomena?¡± Little Gian heard hispanion¡¯s words finding them a little familiar.


    He seemed to have heard them in the past, but couldn¡¯t remember correctly. Thankfully he didn¡¯t have to strain his brain too much as Kunzi soon spoke again.


    ¡°A Heavenly Phenomena in a ce like this? This can¡¯t be... Unless someone managed to reach the Immortal realm through their body...¡± Kunzi muttered.


    ¡°Immortal Realm through body?¡± Little Gian furrowed his brows. ¡°Didn¡¯t Lin Mu ask you about body cultivation methods and where to find them some time ago?¡± he asked.


    Kunzi¡¯s eyes went wide as he finally felt the things click into ce.


    ¡°It really is him... he actually did it.¡± Kunzi was stunned.


    He had thought that Lin Mu was simply looking for a body cultivation technique as a supplement. He didn¡¯t know that he was already close to the end for the Five Treasures Realm.


    After all, all such body cultivation techniques were highly regted and most people couldn¡¯t even obtain them. As for the higher ranked body cultivation techniques that would allow one to be an immortal were controlled by a single power, the Holy Topaz Empire.


    ¡°How did he do it? It should be impossible...¡± Kunzi couldn¡¯t figure it out.


    ~GONG~ GONG~


    But while Kunzi was in his thoughts, he suddenly heard a ringing sound. He looked to the side and saw hispanion in the middle of swinging arge mace.


    ¡°Little Gian, what?¡± Kunzi¡¯s eyes went wide realizing something.


    ¡°Kunzi! Look! Look! I reached the next step of Violent Breaker Mace Technique! I can directly condense it!¡± Little Gian said with excitement.


    ¡°How did you do that? You were stuck for over a hundred years now.¡± Kunzi asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was looking at the mist and felt like trying it once. I used the Violent Breaker Mace Technique and suddenly this happened.¡± Little Gian replied.


    ¡°A Heavenly Phenomenon that can allow one to deepen theirprehension?¡± Kunzi realized and quickly sat down.


    ¡°Quick! Comprehend and focus on all your techniques. Quickly while the miststs! We might not get an opportunity like this again!¡± Kunzi shouted.


    ¡°O-okay!¡± Little Gian sat down.


    For a few minutes several lights and figures papered around Kunzi and Little Gian along with some runes as well. It was evident that they were using all the Qi skills and techniques that they knew.


    After five minutes passed though, they had reached a critical juncture.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    Two vortexes manifested above their heads as the spirit Qi started pouring into their bodies. At the same time within their Dantian, a different scene was ying out.


    Faint Dao Traces appeared within their Dantian spontaneously and entered their Dao Shells.


    As soon as a decent amount of them had entered, the Dao Traces condensed before taking shape!


    For Little Gian, it turned into a small mace that looked rather crude. While for Kunzi, it turned into a brush!


    The brush had its body made from a single piece of bamboo while its head was made from fine bristles. Over all, it looked like a brush some mortal painter might use.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Then a couple more minutester, both of them broke through, reaching the Dao Treading realm!


    Opening his eyes, Kunzi couldn¡¯t believe it.


    ¡°I broke through just like that? And here I thought it would take me another three or four hundred years toprehend enough Dao Traces to form my Dao Embryo.¡± Kunzi muttered in disbelief.


    Being in the Dao Shell realm Kunzi had a lifespan of about two thousand years. Of these, he had already expended fifteen hundred, leaving him with less than five hundred to live. Which was just enough time toprehend a Dao embryo.


    But even if he did manage to do it, he would do so with only a handful of years left. It would be a very tense situation for him, but now that was just a matter of past.


    ¡°AHAHAHA! I BROKE THROUGH! I BROKE THROUGH!¡± Unlike the calm Kunzi, Little Gian was jumping around in celebration.


    While he had a hundred years more than Kunzi, he was actually worse than him in terms ofprehension. And yet, he was now at the same point as Kunzi.


    The progress of the two humans was witnessed by another human that was actually standing quite close to them.


    Huyun Chuan couldn¡¯t believe the scene in front of his eyes.


    ¡®This five colored fog can really help one breakthrough! So the Dao traces I felt weren¡¯t just a fluke!¡¯ Huyun Chuan sat down to cultivate as well.


    Even if his cultivation base was sealed, it didn¡¯t matter. After all, what he would be doing right now was to deepen hisprehension. He was already in the Dao Treading realm and had his own Dao embryo.


    What he now needed to do was to use the rich presence of Dao Traces to enhance his own understanding.


    ¡®My Dao Embryo is rted to the Saber Dao and considering there are Metal Dao Traces in the mist, I should be able to gain at least something.¡¯ Huyun Chuan thought.


    The Saber Dao was a Weapon Dao simr to the Sword Dao. Both of them were derivative Dao¡¯s that were born from the Metal Dao. Thus Huyun Chuan¡¯s thought of using the metal Dao to deepen his own understanding was valid.


    And within his Dao Embryo, the small saber could actually be seen growing too!


    The prisoner/noble was truly progressing his Dao Embryo.


    Such a scene was actually being seen all over the Haima Tribe. In fact, it was even more absurd than just two people reaching the Dao Treading realm at the same time.


    Because in the Haima tribe it wasn¡¯t just two, it was TWO HUNDRED reaching the Dao Treading realm right now!


    The members of the Haima tribe were naturals gifted in their cultivation ability and had goodprehension. They were even faster than the three humans in realizing the worth of the five colored mist.


    And since they had an innate affinity to Water element and water Dao, their gains were even greater.


    For the three humans, their Dao Embryos were not directly of the five elemental Daos, they were from derivative Daos. Thus their gain was less.


    But for the Haima Tribe who were clearly established to have a Water Dao affinity, the dense Water Dao Traces present in the mist were a great boon.


    As if they were injected with Steroids, their Dao Embryo¡¯s started to grow at a rapid rate. All of them had the Tide Scale Dao Embryo, and it was themon Dao Embryo for the entire tribe.


    The over two hundred members that had just reached the Dao Treading realm directly progressed to the second stage, the Embryo Growth stage!


    All this happened while several weaker members were continually breaking through too. In less than thirty minutes, half of the Haima Tribe had reached the Dao Shell realm while a quarter had reached the Dao Treading realm!


    This was a massive number! It could cause great waves even in an immortal world like the Rust Sky world. And there were no signs of it stopping right now.


    The Haima members kept on progressing more and more.


    The top ranked members such as Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo were even more exaggerated. Their Dao Embryo¡¯s had grown exponentially and were now upying half of their Dao shell¡¯s directly.


    There was no more room to grow their Dao Embryos. So what did they do? They simply reached the third stage, the Dao Comprehension Stage.


    The five colored mist was the best environment a Dao Treading realm cultivator could ask for.


    Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo didn¡¯t even have to try and the Dao Script character for Water directly condensed in front of them.


    Greatly experienced with a state of trance, they fully immersed themselves into pondering on the character.


    Soon Elder Niji realized that the Character for Water had more characters hidden within it. But among the hidden characters, one of them called to him the most.


    ¡°Tide... Tide Call... Tide Fall... Tide Surge...¡± Elder Niji started to chant unknowingly.


    ~shua~


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    The Character for Water glowed before a smaller character directly sprouted from it. The smaller Character was none other than ¡®Tide¡¯.


    The Character first became clearer before entering the Tide Scale Dao Embryo, imprinting on it.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Elder Niji¡¯s eyes opened and glowed with a blue light. His pupils were like the deep sea and tides of great might could be seen within it.


    His Nascent soul glowed as well and the wave like patterns on it became a lot finer.


    The glow of the Nascent soul permeated his body, and it started to change too. The wrinkles on it lessened and hair started to grown on his head once more.


    He had started to gain longevity!


    Elder Niji had reached the Immortal Ascension realm!

 Chapter 1310 The Phenomena That Cannot Be Contained

    <h4> 1310 The Phenomena That Cannot Be Contained </h4>


    The breakthrough to the Immortal Ascension realm was not a normal affair. The effects caused by it were not something that could be hidden.


    Elder Niji¡¯s aura spread everywhere, dispelling all the other aura¡¯s within the tribe. It was strong enough to suppress the effects of others breakthrough. If before it felt like there were hundreds of people breaking through at once, now it felt like there was just one.


    But even if Elder Niji¡¯s aura overwhelmed others, there was one person it could not move. Lin Muid on the bed quietly while his body changed and reached the Completion of the Five Treasures Realm.


    Elder Niji¡¯s wave of aura was like a gentle breeze to him, that wasn¡¯t even registered.


    Still, the massive number of breakthroughs that had happened in the tribe was certainly not normal.


    In fact, the sheer amount of spirit Qi that was being pulled into the area alone was causingrge-scale phenomena. The five colored mist was only present in the Land of Exile, but the vacuum caused by the spirit Qi being absorbed by a hundred thousands people at once was had to miss.


    Above the Land of exile,rge amounts of spirit Qi could be seen moving. All the people that were present at the ports of the ind were left stunned.


    In thergest port of the ind, there stood a tall tower that was nearly two hundred meters tall. On this tower stood a man dressed in light blue and white robes. His hair was tied in a long ponytail while his face was clean shaven.


    On his back, arge shield was hung and on the surface of that shield, a crest was painted. It was that of a great wave that was crashing upon a mountain.


    This was the crest of the Great Wave kingdom!


    The man in question was gazing at the sky just like everyone else, his expressionplex.


    ~step~step~step~


    ¡°My lord, the guards are anxious about the change. The prisoners seem to be plotting something as well. This is not good. We are short on manpower this month too.¡± A guard captain appeared from the steps behind the man.


    ¡°I know.¡± The Lord spoke. ¡°But this is indeed something worthy to be anxious about.¡±


    ¡°Huh? You mean to say you know more, my lord?¡± The guard captain asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know... but I do have a guess.¡± The lord replied. ¡°This is a time of unease, for sure. Something has awakened in the Land of Exile to cause such a vacuum of spirit Qi.¡± He added.


    ~gulp~


    ¡°My lord... if it is just a spirit Qi vacuum, shouldn¡¯t it be fine? After all, if its spirit Qi being drained, it¡¯s just someone below the Immortal realm.¡± The guard captain stated.


    ¡°If that was all, it would be fine. But the scale of this is toorge for it to be simple.¡± The lord said before raising his hand.


    ~whoosh~


    The spirit Qi around him gathered into his hand before being condensed. It turned into visible vapor, before falling onto his palm like gentle rain. But it didn¡¯t stop there. The drops of liquid spirit Qi collected together before turning into a tiny piece of crystal.


    If anyone from a mortal world were to see this, they would be left stunned. After all, the tiny piece of crystal in the man¡¯s hand wasparable to a peak grade spirit stone in purity!


    He had just made a spirit stone!


    ¡°Just this much? This is... rather severe.¡± The lord¡¯s brows furrowed.


    The guard captain also saw the crystal on the lord¡¯s hand and broke out in a sweat.


    ¡®The condensed spirit Qi crystal is that small? But... the lord is a fourth tribtion immortal. With his power, it should easily be as big as a watermelon.¡¯ The guard was left speechless.


    What the lord had just done was actually one of the methods to check the spirit Qi concentration of an area. Of course, it was a method only immortals could use. For a spirit Qi cultivator, doing this was simply impossible because one needed to have control over immortal Qi to do it.


    After a minute of silence, the guard captain finally gathered his wits.


    ¡°My lord... do you think this is just the start? Will this happen to Immortal Qi too?¡± The guard captain asked.


    ¡°Yes... whatever it is, it is devouring the spirit Qi greedily. Even I as a fourth tribtion immortal, would find it hard to do that. Whatever it is, its capability is greater than me.¡± The lord answered.


    ¡°Then... why is it not doing the same for immortal Qi?¡± the guard captain asked.


    ¡°Perhaps it is simply consuming whatever it can. The Land of Exile is deste and immortal perish there too. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising that there are some restrictions there that prevent immortal Qi from being used.¡± The Lord replied after thinking for a bit.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean whatever it is... it has the capability to go against these restrictions too?¡± The guard captain was scared.


    ¡°Eventually, yes.¡± The Lord said with furrowed brows.


    ¡°Can we do anything?¡± the guard captain asked. ¡°A majority of our guards here are below the immortal realm. They still need spirit Qi to cultivate. If the concentration drops even more, how will they stay here?¡±


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we can do anything other than wait and watch. Going into the Land of Exile is out of the option, obviously.¡± The Lord said in a frustrated tone.


    ¡°I see...¡± the guard almost sighed but held back for respect.


    ¡°Should I speed up the sending to prisoners? I think it is best we don¡¯t keep any with us, just in case things go bad.¡± The guard captain suggested.


    ¡°Yes... do that. I permit you to speed track all the prisoners and send them into the Land of exile.¡± The lord ordered.


    ¡°As youmand, my lord!¡± The guard captain hurriedly left to carry out the orders.


    Once the captain was gone though, the lord shook his head.


    ¡°I picked a really bad time to take this post...¡±

 Chapter 1311 A Fortunate Encounter For Convicts

    <h4> 1311 A Fortunate Encounter For Convicts </h4>


    Unaware of the events happening outside the Rust Hail Mountains, the Haima tribe was in a state of joy and satisfaction.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    But there were other people who had seen the phenomena located within the limits of the Rust Hail Mountains. These were none other than the convicts that were sent into the Land of Exile.


    Usually they would be unable to make out right from left in the Land of Exile, but now that there was a mode of attraction even greater than the beacon that Lin Mu made, they had found a ce to go to.


    ¡°Hey look! All the five colored mist is gathered there.¡±


    ¡°We should go there. There is definitely some treasure there.¡±


    ¡°HAHA! Looks likeing to the Land of Exile will be a fortunate encounter for us.¡±


    The convicts were rather excited to see something like this in the Land of exile. But some of them didn¡¯t fall to the greed that quickly.


    ¡°Hang on though. Don¡¯t head off just yet.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, why should we wait and waste this opportunity?¡±


    They argued, not wanting to hold back.


    ¡°Did you forget what kind of a ce this is? This is the Land of Exile.¡± The man stopping them spoke. ¡°Wait till the rest are here too. There is strength in numbers.¡±


    Hearing this suggestion, the others calmed down. It was indeed a lot more reasonable to go there in arge group.


    ¡°Thankfully, we won¡¯t have to wait long. Those guards got scared in the ports and are sending all the prisoners in a speedy manner.¡± A convict who had appeared shortly spoke.


    ¡°Oh? Is that so? No wonder all of us appeared at the same ce, or at least close by.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve heard that the array will put us in a random location, but since it is being kept active, it will put all of us around the same ce.¡± Another convict rified.


    While the new convicts waited around for the rest to appear, some other convicts had discovered them.


    ¡°What the... how are there so many appearing at once?¡±


    ¡°Come, let¡¯s go talk to them. Doesn¡¯t look like they are looking for a fight right away.¡± The older convicts spoke.


    Soon the two parties met up, and surprise was experienced by both parties.


    ¡°Huh? How did you all get teleported that far?¡± the newer convicts asked.


    ¡°We came here ten days ago.¡± One of the older convicts spoke.


    ¡°We were going after the ce were the mist is gathered and came upon you all.¡± They added.


    ¡°Huh... that makes sense.¡±


    ¡°Though... why are so many of you being sent in this fast?¡± the older convicts questioned.


    ¡°Yeah, even when we were sent in one batch, we came at an interval of fifteen minutes.¡± They wondered.


    ¡°Something strange is going on outside the Rust Hail Mountains.¡± They replied.


    ¡°Strange? Things are always strange in the Sea of Muxuan.¡± The older convicts didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Not that. It¡¯s actually a phenomena... the concentration of spirit Qi has fallen greatly.¡± They answered.


    ¡°What?¡± the older convicts were surprised.


    ¡°Yeah. The guards were getting rmed so were given orders to clear out all the prisoners as soon as possible. Which is why we are all being sent in here non stop.¡± They rified.


    ¡°But still... fall in spirit Qi? How does that make sense?¡±


    ¡°Where would it go? It can¡¯t just disappear.¡± The convicts wondered.


    ¡°I know where!¡± A convict who had just been sent in five minutes ago chimed in.


    ¡°Where?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, tell us.¡± They prodded him on.


    ¡°When I was being processed for sending, I heard the guards talk about the Land of Exile. Apparently the lord of the port discovered that all the spirit Qi is being sucked into the Land of Exile.¡± The newer convict answered.


    As soon as they all heard this, they were shocked. But the sharper ones among them quickly understood the reasoning.


    ¡°That five colored mist... there is definitely some link between the two.¡±


    ¡°It does make sense now.¡± They discussed.


    ¡°Hang on. Since you guys have been here for ten days already, do you know when that five colored mist appeared?¡± the newer convicts asked.


    ¡°About two hours now?¡± one of them spoke.


    ¡°We only noticed it recently since it grew in size. It might have been there for longer too.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, the sky got covered by it so we discovered it.¡±


    Hearing the answers of the older convicts, the newer ones found it strange.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t the spirit Qi concentration only drop like an hour ago?¡± they wondered.


    ¡°Yeah, I think that¡¯s about it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s correct, I felt it drop quickly too.¡±


    The convicts kept on appearing, and about ten minutester no one new appeared.


    ¡°Alright! Since no more are appearing, I¡¯ll tell everyone what we are doing.¡± One of the convicts who was at the First Tribtion Immortal realm spoke up.


    Evidently he was the one with the highest cultivation base here and the rest of the convicts tacitly took his lead.


    ¡°You all have seen that five colored mist and also know of the dangers of the Land of Exile. Thus we are going to band together and go there.¡± The man stated. ¡°And I, Immortal Taegu! Will be your leader!¡± he dered.


    ¡°YES!¡± The convicts knew not to argue here, and directly agreed.


    ¡°Well then, set off!¡± Immortal Taegu ordered.


    And just like that, a small army of convicts was formed that sought out the fortunate encounter.


    But it wasn¡¯t just them that had discovered this either. There was an independent group that was heading to the site of the five colored mist as well. The group was a lot smaller though, having only three people in it.


    All of them wore the same type of robes and looked to be a lot more familiar with each other.


    But the most eye-catching feature about them was their cultivation base. All three of them were at the Second Tribtion stage of the Immortal Realm!


    ¡°Seems like we have a target now. Young master Chuan might be there.¡±

 Chapter 1312 Waking And Adapting

    <h4> 1312 Waking And Adapting </h4>


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and finally rose from his slumber.


    He was entirely unaware of all that had happened in the time he had asleep. He simply knew that he had broken through, but didn¡¯t know that his open breakthrough had triggered a great phenomenon that had caused others to breakthrough too.


    ¡°This power... it truly is something on a different level.¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    Every muscle, every tissue, every cell of his body was rejoicing as dense vitality flowed through it. With every passing second, it seemed to be improving even more.


    ¡°This should be the adaption that Senior Xukong was talking about before. I didn¡¯t adapt to the Immortal world but this breakthrough gave my body the right opportunity.¡± Lin Mu understand.


    Usually this adaption was something that was naturally experience by a cultivator from a mortal world when they broke through from the Immortal Ascension realm and truly ascended.


    It was the period between crossing the realms as well as the Ascendancy tform that allowed them to adapt to the new environment. Lin Mu had never gone through this since he hadn¡¯t really ¡®ascended¡¯.


    He had basically barged into an immortal world, that too the one that was close to World Ascension.


    Strictly speaking, he had gone to the very extreme that was possible.


    If it weren¡¯t for that fact that he had a strong body and cultivate both body and Qi, he might not have been able tost this long. He might have even experienced Qi deviation and died.


    With the five Treasured Organs reaching a harmony, his body adapted and grew stronger.


    And it wasn¡¯t just in a physical sense either. Lin Mu could slowly feel the range of his spirit sense widening.


    ¡®Just as I thought... it really was the environment that was stopping it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    But as his spirit sense started to extend, Lin Mu discovered several things. The biggest being the massive amount of spirit Qi that kept on pouring into the tribe. Then he discovered the Haima Tribe members who had all broken through.


    Now the weakest member of the tribe was at the Adult Stage of the nascent soul realm!


    As for the strongest, well... that was a huge surprise for Lin Mu too.


    ¡°Immortal Ascension realm... Elder Niji reached Immortal Ascension realm!¡± Lin Mu¡¯s eyes went wide.


    Though his shock onlysted for a short while as it soon turned into excitement.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Lin Mu to get aplete grasp on the situation after that. He saw the five colored mist that was still present around the tribe. Albeit, by this time it was starting to fade.


    Lin Mu also sensed the Dao traces of the five mortal elements within it.


    ¡°So this is the reason behind the breakthrough... Those at the Dao Treading realm broke through due to the high amount of Dao Traces. This breakthrough caused spirit Qi to rush towards them, which also caused others to absorb this rich spirit Qi.


    Finally, it snowballed into the situation that we are seeing now.¡± Lin Mu quickly analyzed it.


    He had to say though, he would have never expected his breakthrough would cause a huge effect.


    ¡°I definitely to thank and reward the Wood Spirit Tulip for this... if it hadn¡¯t given me the Pure Wood Essence I would have never broken through and the other¡¯s either.¡± Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    But when the matter of reward came to his mind, Lin Mu couldn¡¯t tell what would be a good reward for the sentient spirit herb.


    ¡°Maybe more wood rted resources?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    While Lin Mu thought about this, the five colored mist had thinned out considerably. The Mountain above the Haima Tribe which had be hidden in the mist, was now visible again.


    It was obvious that the mist would be fully gone in a few more minutes.


    ~shua~


    But all of a sudden, Lin Mu sensed a stray spirit Qi fluctuation.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Lin Mu raised his brows.


    He focused on this stray spirit Qi fluctuation finding it to havee from outside the tribe. Not just that, it was rather mixed, telling him that there were actually multiple sources that were the cause of it.


    ¡°This is strange... such a spirit Qi fluctuation shouldn¡¯t be possible in the Land of Exile... it would need several cultivators present together for it to form.¡± Lin Mu pondered. ¡°And that too, strong cultivators...¡± he added.


    Lin Mu then closed his eyes and extended his spirit sense even more.


    By now his range had already returned to the five kilometer mark. This was a great improvement from his older range, which restricted him quite a bit.


    ¡°What!?¡± Lin Mu soon sensed the source of the spirit Qi fluctuation.


    It hade from none other than humans.


    ¡°Human Exiles... tens of them. All of them are heading here too...¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    He quickly realized that while the five colored mist had been a good phenomenon for them, it had also acted as a great source ofmotion. It was even more attractive than the beacon that Lin Mu had set up.


    After all, the beacon could only be seen from a limited range. At most one might see it from fifty kilometer away.


    But the five colored mist was a lot more pronounced. After all it had covered the entire sky and formed a pir that reached down before covering the mountain of the Haima Tribe.


    It basically screamed out e over and find what I¡¯m hiding!¡¯


    ¡°This is gonna be problematic...¡± Lin Mu¡¯s lips pursed.


    While he had set up defenses against Immortal Cultivators, it was only for a limited amount of them.


    From the number of sources that were approaching, Lin Mu was unsure of its capabilities.


    ¡°No, wait... it is not that bad...¡± Lin Mu suddenly recalled something. ¡°The Haima Tribe... it is several times stronger than before.¡± He smiled.


    Quickly sending out several messages to the tribe, Lin Mu prepared for the iing battle.

 Chapter 1313 Opportunity For the Juniors

    <h4> 1313 Opportunity For the Juniors </h4>


    ¡°I once read that fortune hides slivers of misfortune within and does note easy. Seems like that was true.¡± Elder Niji spoke while gazing at a screen made by a monitoring formation.


    ¡°That is defiantly true... I¡¯ve experienced it more than once...¡± Lin Mu agreed.


    In the hall, Elder Niji and several higher-ups of the Haima Tribe were situated. Joining them were the two humans, Kunzi and Little Gian.


    All of them had gained from the phenomenon and grown stronger. While they wanted to express joy and thank Lin Mu for it, now was not the time for it.


    ¡°As you all can see, we got a group of human exiles heading our way. And their goal is quite obvious.¡± Lin Mu spoke.


    ¡°What are the chances of them turning away after finding out that there is nothing of interest here?¡± Little Gian asked.


    ¡°If all that I¡¯ve seen holds true, there is no way they would ept that. They would rather uproot the mountain and find nothing more than to believe our words.¡± Lin Mu answered.


    ¡°Figures...¡± Kunzi shook his head.


    Other than Lin Mu, he would be the person with the most experience in the cultivation world, having lived over 1500 years. And being a ¡®thief¡¯ who had sought out such fortune encounters often, it was even more obvious to him.


    ¡®Even I wouldn¡¯t stop without confirming it with my own two eyes. There is no way they would either.¡¯ Kunzi thought.


    ¡°Thankfully, this time we are in luck.¡± Lin Mu spoke, turning his head to face the Haima people.


    Elder Niji smiled, knowing what Lin Mu meant.


    ¡°I think this will be a good opportunity to let the young ones experience a battle.¡± Elder Niji spoke.


    ¡°Yes. While the warriors are used to fighting, the others are not. The rest of the tribe will get to learn what a real fight is.¡± Head Warrior Kulo was in approval.


    It was a matter that had been wing at his mind for a while. He knew that while they were going to leave the Land of Exile eventually, the danger outside might be no less than here.


    In some forms, they might even be worse.


    While the warriors could hold the fort in the Land of Exile, it would not be the same once they left this ce. Every member of the Haima Tribe would have to hold out on their own even if there would be others supporting them.


    Plus, humans were vastly different from the Chasm beasts. Their fighting methods were different as well, and so was their intelligence.


    The earlier the members learned how to fight them, the better it was. And now, the perfect opportunity had arrived right at their doorstep.


    ¡°Mmhmm, I suggest letting the members at the Dao Shell realm begin the offense. Then the Nascent soul realm children will join.¡± Lin Mu instructed.


    ¡°What about the Dao Treading realm, members? All of us?¡± One of the warriors questioned.


    ¡°You all will be watching. Only join in when you feel the weaker members can¡¯t hold on. Elder Niji and I¡¯ll be doing the same. We¡¯ll act once the Immortal cultivator among them attacks.¡± Lin Mu answered.


    ¡°We want this to be a rotating battle, right?¡± Elder Niji asked.


    ¡°Yes, the more people that get to experience a fight, the better. Once they feel tired or get injured, tell them to retreat. We have over sixty thousand Dao Shell realm members, so all of them need to get at least some practice.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Sixty thousand versus about two hundred... this is too skewed.¡± Little Gian counted the exiles on the monitor.


    It was indeed quite absurd to let such arge number of members fight at once.


    With their numbers, there was basically no danger. Even with the Immortal realm expert present, Lin Mu and Elder Niji could assure there would be noplications.


    ¡°What about the people of the Huyun n?¡± Kunzi expressed his doubts.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing this. Even he was a little lost about what to do about them.


    ¡°So far, there are no signs of them. But considering the five colored mist covered the entire sky, they should have definitely seen it... if they are alive.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Then why have they not appeared yet? There is also therge banner above. It¡¯s literally telling them toe.¡± Kunzi asked next.


    ¡°The only reason I can think is that they are too far. And will take longer toe. Plus, if they are on the other side of the Chasm, they will need time to cross as well. There will also be the Chasm Beasts they would have to deal with.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Hmm... that does make sense.¡± Kunzi agreed.


    ¡°At the very least, we have to make sure this group of human exiles is taken care of before they arrive. While we are confident of taking care of them, once the Immortals of the Huyun n join in, things might get moreplicated.¡± Lin Mu stated.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Kunzi had no doubts.


    They continued their discussion for a few more minutes before the n was finalized. The higher-ups of the tribe all left to give out orders to the members of the n while Lin Mu made somest-minute tweaks to the Earth Fixing array as well as the other supportive and defensive arrays that he had added to them.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    With his improved cultivation base, he realized he could make some quick adjustments that will only make them stronger. Not to mention, he also wanted to test out his own power too.


    ¡®Should I go to my maximum strength right away? Or should I slowly increase it?¡¯ Lin Mu couldn¡¯t decide.


    With his body and Qi cultivationbined, Lin Mu could easilypare to an Immortal at the first tribtion stage. But he didn¡¯t know the upper limit of this.


    ¡°Guess I¡¯ll decide on the flow of the battle. If things go south, I¡¯ll have to be prepared to intervene.¡± He muttered to himself.

 Chapter 1314 The Human Exiles Arrive

    <h4> 1314 The Human Exiles Arrive </h4>


    ¡°What do you think that mountain is?¡± Someone among the convicts asked.


    ¡°Hard to tell, but it¡¯s certainly hiding something in there.¡± Another convict spoke.


    ¡°Still... that banner on top. Isn¡¯t that a clear indication of a trap?¡±


    Right now, the group of convicts was standing about two kilometers away from the mountain of the Haima Tribe. All of them watched the mountain within which the Five colored mist had disappeared into.


    ¡°Considering the sources of the mist were this mountain, there is quite obviously hidden inside.¡±


    ¡°Are wete then? Did someone else get to it first?¡± they started to have doubts.


    ¡°Yeah! Maybe that¡¯s why the mist disappeared. They took the treasure that was causing this.¡±


    ¡°Silence!¡± Immortal Taegu shouted. ¡°All of you are wrong. Did you forget it wasn¡¯t just the five colored mist that was present, there was also a spirit Qi vacuum? And that had existed since before we came here.¡±


    ¡°Besides... Even if someone has taken the treasure, we simply have to snatch it from them.¡± Immortal Taegu stated.


    ¡°YEAH!¡± they all shouted in excitement.


    It wouldn¡¯t be the first time they¡¯ve done something like this after all. Many of them were literally sent here due to several such crimes like that.


    ¡°Immortal Taegu, what about that banner, then?¡± Someone asked among the crowd.


    ¡°Huyun Chuan is here? Why would someone put a banner like that there?¡± They asked.


    ¡°Does it matter? All we have to do is uproot the mountain if we have to.¡± Immortal Taegu simply said.


    With this, they had nothing else left to say. It was clear that the Immortal Taegu was a rtively crude man. Even his appearance didn¡¯t suit the term ¡®immortal¡¯.


    His clothes were torn in several ces, and dirt was covering them. His hair was disheveled and he was balding from the back. Scars also covered his arms with the biggest one being on his nose, going all the way to his chin.


    Rather than an immortal, he looked like amon bandit instead.


    Still, his First Tribtion Immortal cultivation base proved that he really was one.


    ¡°What are you all waiting for then? GO!¡± Immortal Taegu ordered.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    All of them started running towards the mountain, greed shing in their eyes. Even if they had been exiled and sent to the Land of Exile, they were still the same deep down and could not forget their ways.


    ~HUALA~


    But when they were one kilometer away from the mountain, they suddenly felt energy fluctuation in the air.


    ¡°Hmm, an array?¡± A Dao Treading expert among them was the first to sense the array.


    Not even a second after that though, they saw a formation circle appear at the base of the mountain.


    ¡°What¡¯s that!?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a Transportation Gate?¡±


    ¡°Why would there be a Transportation Gate here? Who can even make it?¡±


    The convict was confused.


    A Transportation Gate was a type of a formation that did what its name meant. It opened a gate that would allow one to be transported a short distance. It was basically used to travel into and out of a closed barrier.


    In a sense, it was simr to a teleportation array. But it was a lot more simple. Any formation master could make it and most barrier arrays came with a Transportation gate formation built in.


    This wasn¡¯t the reason why the convicts were confused, though. The reason they were confused was the existence of a Transportation Gate.


    After all, if it was there, then there must be someone using it.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± The convicts at the very front were to spot.


    ¡°Another convict?¡± Immortal Taegu narrowed his eyes.


    But upon observing the person who had just appeared, he realized it wasn¡¯t a human.


    ¡°Four legs? A four legged human?¡± The convicts observed.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t look human either. Look at its face and body. That is not the texture of a human body!¡± The convicts were now sure.


    ¡°Whatever! Capture that four legged freak! We¡¯ll question it!¡± Immortal Taegu ordered.


    That was all, what was needed for the convicts to rush towards the four legged person. But they didn¡¯t realize the kind of a surprise they were in for.


    ¡°Haima Tribe, first group assemble!¡± The four legged person spoke in anguage unknown to the others.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    In the next moment, hundreds of Transportation gates appeared around the four legged person.


    ¡°What in the...¡± The convicts were stunned.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    In a matter of seconds, the convicts were now face to face against what was basically a small army. All of them were of the same race and had four legs. They were even wielding the same type of a weapon, being stone spears hanging from their backs.


    ¡°What are they?¡± Immortal Taegu was taken back.


    The Land of Exile was supposed to be a barren ce where life did not thrive. The appearance of so many people like these was astonishing to them.


    The only other life forms the convicts hade across since arriving in the Land of Exile was the Chasm Beasts and nothing else. Even those Chasm beasts were quite weak and could be taken care of with theirrge numbers.


    Immortal Taegu who was the strongest among them, didn¡¯t even have to act. Because of this, they weren¡¯t worried.


    But now they had a rather huge reason to worry.


    ~HUALA~


    Dense spirit Qi waves came from the four-legged people that had appeared.


    ¡°Dao Shell realm? All of them are at Dao Shell realm?¡± The convicts were surprised.


    They never expected to find an army of cultivators at all.


    Property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Immortal Taegu furrowed his brows and swept the area with his senses, finding it to be restrained.


    ¡®The area is under arge scale array... seems like this really is a trap... or the territory of these freaks.¡¯ Immortal Taegu thought.


    He looked at his own army of exiles and thought something up.


    ¡°CHARGE KILL THOSE THAT RESIST AND CAPTURE THE REST! WE HAVE THE ADVANTAGE OF HIGHER CULTIVATION BASE!¡± Immortal Taegu spurred them on.

 Chapter 1315 A Practical Battle Test

    <h4> 1315 A Practical Battle Test </h4>


    Immortal Taegu¡¯s order was taken as absolute and all the convicts charged towards the Haima Tribe group. Both of them were about the same in numbers, with the four-legged people being slightly higher.


    But if one considered tree cultivation base alone, it was obvious that the overall cultivation base of the humans was a lot higher than that of the Haima Tribe.


    ¡°Die!¡± The first human that reached the battle field shouted while thrusting out his fist.


    The being that he was going against thought seemed to not care much about it


    ¡°Haha! They are dumb! They don¡¯t even know how to defend!¡± The man said in joy.


    ~Thud~


    But when his fist met the body of the opponent, his expression fell rapidly. From a wide toothed smile, it went to a clenched twitch.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHH!¡± The man shouted as his fingers broke.


    His opponent on the other hand, stood as before simply gazing at the human.


    ¡°Weak?¡± It seemed like the four-legged person was also confused.


    Then in the next second, the four-legged person turned before punching out.


    ~THUD~


    The man who had punched first also got blown to the back as first. It was a decent record for the Haima Tribe and it could be seen as humiliating for the opponents.


    ¡°AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!¡± The convict cried out in pain while feeling his vicle and ribs shattering.


    With just one punch, he was sent over a ten meters away.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    If it was just limited to that, it might have been fine, but it certainly was not. One by one, a string of human convicts were sent back flying.


    Granted, these were the weaker ones among the humans, they were still at the Dao Shell realm at the very least.


    ¡°What the...¡± Immortal Taegu had never expected this.


    Seeing the human convict being sent back the Haima Tribe people seemed to have gained a lot of confidence.


    ¡°All to arms!¡± The leader of the group spoke.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    In the very next moment all of them drew out one of their stone spears. They then stretched back their arms beforeunching all of them.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Over two hundred spears wereunched at once, creating a whistling sound in the air.


    ¡°ARGH!¡±


    ¡°NO!¡±


    ¡°My leg!¡±


    A variety of cries were heard as the spears struck the unfortunate victims.


    ¡°Do not falter! Keep on marching!¡± Immortal Taegu ordered.


    The human exiles did as they were told and prepared for an offense. Over half of the spears were blocked, but there was still some damage that was inflicted.


    ¡°Dao Treading realm experts! Show your worth!¡± Taegu ordered with his body seemingly moving back.


    ¡°HAAA!¡± The Dao Treading realm experts attacked with their various skills.


    Even those that didn¡¯t know any martial skills did something, and manifested various forms of illusions.


    ¡°Hahaha! They are just like us!¡± The Human convicts spoke.


    Multiple of the Haima members were injured from this string of attacks. Some of them even having deep gashes that would get badly infected in an area like this.


    ¡°Keep it up! Kill them all!¡± Immortal Taegu ordered once more.


    The Human convict rushed forwards, the stronger among them preparing for the offense while the injured ones trying to dress their wounds. And just like they had thought, the four legged person started to get injured.


    Property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Some of them broke bones whee some of them spat out blood. While it seemed to be a severed set back to this army, Taegu was baffled.


    ¡®Is it just me or the numbers are decreasing?¡¯ Taegu started to count them all again.


    But right when he was halfway to counting all the Haima tribes he heard a voice.


    ¡°Haima Tribe! Second group Assemble!¡± A person shouted.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    As soon as that was spoken, all the Haima Tribe members that were present in the battlefield started to disappear. It was the same as they had arrived, the transportation gate seemingly took them back to where they hade for.


    The Humans couldn¡¯t even do a proper take and analysis for this since it was too fast. Within a matter of seconds, more transportation gates started to appear, and from them more Haima people appeared.


    Immortal Taegu had a doubled expression on his face at this moment. The four-legged freaks were rather simr to each other in appearance so it made it hard for him to identify. Their cultivation base was also the same, taking it up a notch.


    But form the density of spirit Qi fluctuation they were releasing, Taegu soon recognized a patterer.


    ¡°What? These freaks... they aren¡¯t... the same!¡± Taegu almost shouted.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    By the time he had even recognized this, another batch of the Haima people had already arrived on the battlefield.


    Just like before, a sh of fists and bodies urred, with the Haima Tribe taking the lead again. But simr to before they also faced a setback when the Dao Treading realm human experts attacked.


    Immortal Taegu had a smile seeing this, as he knew they wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on for long.


    ¡°Haima Tribe: Third Group Assemble!¡± A voice was heard once more.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The Transportation gates appeared once more, taking away the injured members while recing them with new ones. With the new members appearing the battle continued.


    Immortal Taegu had realized by this time that something was wrong. And not just basic wrong, but his understanding changing wrong.


    ¡°This is not normal... we might have just walked into hostile territory.¡± Immortal Taegu muttered to himself.


    His voice was only heard by a few people, both form the human convict as well as Haima tribe people.


    Some human convicts even looked at him, wondering why he was not helping. What they didn¡¯t know was that while Immortal Taegu might look like a brute or a bandit, he was not the same.


    He was actually decently smart as without it he would have not survived this long at all.


    ¡°Haima Tribe: third group Assemble!¡± But much to his surprise another new group arrived.

 Chapter 1316 Used As Training Dummies

    <h4> 1316 Used As Training Dummies </h4>


    By now even Immortal Taegu could tell that something was wrong. While he could not understand thenguage of the four legged people, he certainly could recognize when something simr was being said.


    ¡®This is not right...¡¯ Immortal Taegu thought.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Then in front of him, more Transportation gates opened up with more four legged Haima Tribe people arriving.


    As soon as they appeared, they broke into a fight going against the human exiles. This was when they finally felt the huge difference. Even if there were more Dao Treading realm cultivators among the human exiles, the four legged people were still overpowering them.


    It was simply iprehensible to them.


    They didn¡¯t even realized it when nearly ten percent of them had been wiped out.


    ¡°How are they not getting injured?¡± Some of the human exiles who were at the back hadn¡¯t realized that their opponents weren¡¯t the same.


    ¡°Haima Tribe: Fourth Group Assemble!¡± As soon as a part of them were barely injured, they retreated.


    Within a matter of seconds, a new group of the four legged people were ready to fight.


    ¡°Yeah... this ain¡¯t right...¡± Immortal Taegu was sure.


    The more he watched the more he confirmed his doubts.


    Fifth Group...


    Sixth Group...


    Seventh Group...


    Eighth Group...


    Ninth Group...


    Tenth Group...


    ¡°Fucking hell... ain¡¯t no way there are so many of them...¡± It was safe to say Immortal Taegu had lost his cool by now.


    He had literally seen what was basically over two thousand of the four legged people appear. But that was not the worst part of it at all.


    The worst part was the fact that the human exiles under him were getting more and more injured with each new wave. While the four legged freaks retreated even on the slightest of the injuries.


    Immortal Taegu even wondered if he should join the fight, but his instincts told him otherwise. While he might look like a brute, Immortal Taegu didn¡¯t have the intelligence of a brute.


    After all, he had managed to be an immortal and doing that clearly needed quite a lot of intelligence. Of course there were always cases of dumb people bing strong and cultivating to a higher cultivation base, this was often limited to the Nobles and aristocrats.


    They were propped up by a steady supply of pills and resources, which would even turn a pig into an immortal at that point.


    On the other hand,moners and peasants who had be cultivators and immortals often had better life experiences. They needed to levy their intelligence to gain all the resources to cultivate after all.


    But on top of this, one thing that was needed to survive in the Jiang Hu was good instincts. Instincts could decide whether one would live or die and also if they would be fortunate or unfortunate.


    And right now, Immortal Taegu¡¯s instincts, which were honed over hundreds of years of battles and fights, were rming him. He felt like he would be making a grave mistake if he jumped into the fray himself.


    ¡®Let¡¯s watch a little while more...¡¯ Immortal Taegu decided.


    While he was hesitant to leave right away, he also felt a little curious about what these four legged people were.


    ¡°Haima Tribe! Sixteenth group Assemble!¡± the voice was heard again, and the Transportation gates opened up, taking away the old and bringing in the new warriors.


    Immortal Taegu looked over at the exiles under him and seemed to have realized something.


    ¡°Hang on... While they are all injured... none of them are actually dead?¡± Immortal Taegu muttered in surprise.


    ¡°Helps us!¡±


    ¡°Immortal Taegu! Please help us, we can¡¯t hold on anymore!¡± The Convicts called for him.


    But Taegu skilfully ignored them, instead observing the Four legged people instead. He was trying to figure out their reasoning behind doing all this.


    And by the time it was the twentieth wave of warriors, Taegu was sure of it.


    ¡°Heavens... they aren¡¯t just defending their territory... they are using us as training dummies!¡± Immortal Taegu realized.


    His battle skills clearly told him that the four legged people weren¡¯t as experienced in battle. While they had a Dao Shell realm cultivation base, they didn¡¯t have smooth movements in the battle.


    It was like a tiger cub fighting. While it had inborn strength, it was not adapted to it and could only fight to a limited extent.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    But this thought came with another rming revtion.


    ¡®A training like this can only be conducted under specific condition. They are far too coordinated to have not been taught this. Plus, there is that one person giving out orders.¡¯ The cogs in Taegu¡¯s mind started to turn.


    He then sensed the cultivation base of the man giving out orders and learned he was actually at the Dao Treading realm. While it wasn¡¯t that huge of a difference since they had several Dao Treading realm experts in their team, it was still concerning.


    ¡®So far, only Dao Shell realm warriors have appeared, but are there more?¡¯ Taegu looked at the mountain in the distance.


    ~SHUA~


    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ???????.???. website.


    As if his thoughts were taken by the heavens as truth, the Transportation gates opened once more. But this time they brought forth an entirely different level of cultivators.


    ¡°Dao Treading realm... Two hundred Dao Treading realm warriors?¡± Immortal Taegu swallowed his saliva in shock.


    It wasn¡¯t just because of their numbers and cultivation base, but rather because he could tell on sight these warriors were cut from a different cloth. They weren¡¯t inexperienced like the others. They were true warriors.


    ¡°ATTACK!¡± This time, a fiercemand was given.


    ~BOOM~


    The warriors stomped their feet on the hard ground, caving it in, before being shot forth like a bullet.


    But just before they reached the humans, they seemingly flipped mid-air,nding on their hands.


    ¡°What in the world?¡± The convicts were confused by this.


    ~HONG~


    Then in the next moment, the flipped warriors spun like tops, their legs glowing in a bronze light.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~THUD~

 Chapter 1317 Taegus Submission

    <h4> 1317 Taegu''s Submission </h4>


    For the first time, Immortal Taegu got to learn what fear was.


    Facing arge army of four legged people that he knew nothing about. Endless repeating waves of them that never stopped and more kept on spawning.


    And now another wave of Dao Treading realm experts that had great strength. It all left him at a loss, especially seeing the technique they were using.


    ¡°What in the name of heavens is this?¡± Immortal Taegu could only mutter this much.


    In front of his eyes, the group of exiled convicts were all knocked away like bowling pins.


    The spinning Haima Tribe members kept on demolishing their group without even giving them a chance to resist.


    In less than a minute, the entire group had been wiped out.


    Some of them tried to use their Dao Embryos and Dao skills, but it had been far toote to do anything. The speed of the Haima tribe was not something that could bepared to the average cultivator after all.


    ¡°I can¡¯t stay here... I need to leave!¡± Immortal Taegu decided.


    Even if he was an immortal, going against a coordinated attack from an army of Dao Treading realm experts wasn¡¯t something he could do. Not to mention, there was still some lingering fear in his heart.


    ¡®There¡¯s no way this is all there is. There are certainly more... if an army of immortals pops up, I won¡¯t even be able to run.¡¯ Immortal Taegu was now sure all this was a huge trap.


    While running away, his mind went to therge banner that was floating above the mountain. The Banner literally told one toe get someone named Huyun Chuan.


    ¡°FUCK! I¡¯ve been a fool, that was literally calling for a trap.¡± Immortal Taegu cursed himself.


    He had been too blinded by fortune to have taken it seriously. And now, he was in a grave situation.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    But just as he was a kilometer away from the battlefield, the sound of several swords flying could be heard.


    ¡°Dammit!¡± Taegu dodged as soon as he heard, knowing that someone was using spirit swords.


    This only confirmed his conjecture that this was a trap.


    ¡°If they can have spirit tools in the Land of Exile, they are not simple at all...¡± Immortal Taegu said to himself.


    ¡°Why not take a break ande with me peacefully?¡± Suddenly a voice rang out in Taegu¡¯s ears.


    ¡°Who?!¡± He turned back, but saw nobody there.


    But then he felt something with his spirit sense.


    ¡°Shit!¡±


    Immortal Taegu turned around once more, finding a new person within the scope of his perception.


    It was a young man that looked to be in his early twenties.


    But this was merely his appearance, Taegu could tell that this was no less than deceptive as the spirit Qi fluctuations ced him at the Immortal Ascension realm. At the same time though, he felt like his perception was being clouded.


    ¡®Is he at the Immortal Ascension realm or not?¡¯ Immortal Taegu wondered.


    This was something that everyone would have to experience when they saw Lin Mu. His cultivation wasn¡¯t focused on one path and took both Body and Qi cultivation as the principals.


    It was unknown what the end result of this all would be. But so far, Lin Mu was satisfied with his growth and decided that this was the route he wanted to go forth with.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    The tens of spirit weapons that were blocking Immortal Taegu¡¯s path spoke a different tone though.


    ¡°There is no other way out is there?¡± Immortal Taegu asked.


    ¡°That is up to you. Eithere peacefully, or struggle while I test something out.¡± Lin Mu answered honestly.


    Immortal Taegu gazed at Lin Mu, pondering on his choices and weighing the benefits.


    ~HUALA~


    But while he as thinking about this all, he felt a new wave of spirit Qi.


    He then saw a sphere rising form Lin Mu¡¯s body. The sphere expanded greatly before stopping at the ten meter mark.


    ¡®What in the... a ten meter wide Dao Shell?¡¯ Taegu was stunned.


    His shock was only the start as in the next moment he witnessed a Dao Embryo rising from the Dao Shell. The Dao embryo was unique in shape and continued to created sound.


    ~LUB~DUB~LUB~DUB~


    The True Earth Heart Beast non stop, creating an imperceptible pressure.


    ~DENG~


    Just as Immortal Taegu tried to analyze it, he felt like his body was turning heavy.


    ¡°Wait a second... Please¡ª¡± Immortal Taegu wanted to say something, but then felt a crushing pressure being exerted on his body.


    ~THUD~


    His feet directly sank into the ground, going down about 6 inches before stopping. While this result was quite less than the past performance of Lin Mu, it was still more than enough to overwhelm a new immortal who had just reached the First Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm.


    ¡°No more! No more! I yield! I yield!¡± Immortal Taegu shouted immediately.


    His instincts screamed at him once more, advising him that this was a losing battle. If he went against the this any more, he would be on the losing and dying end.


    Thetest_epi_sodes are on_the ???????.???. website.


    Thus, to avoid that, Taegu took the humiliating but life saving option.


    It could be seen, he was a lot more intelligent than the others who had fought with Lin Mu so far.


    ¡°Oh? That was fast...¡± Lin Mu had not expected this either.


    ~HUA~


    Not wanting to give up his guard, Lin Mu decided to meet the man first hand.


    ¡°I am Immortal Taegu, I am¡ª¡± The moment Taegu saw Lin Mu, he decided to take the formal route.


    But before he could say much, his hands were grabbed by Lin Mu.


    ¡°Oh? This isn¡¯t that different from a Dao Treading realm expert.¡± Lin Mu¡¯s voice could be heard.


    His hands held Taegu¡¯s hands while his spirit sense observed everything within the man¡¯s body.


    This time though, he saw something new.


    There wasn¡¯t just spirit Qi within Taegu¡¯s body, but also Immortal Qi!? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.

 Chapter 1318 Examining Immortal Taegu

    <h4> 1318 Examining Immortal Taegu </h4>


    Lin Mu had long since been interested in searching through an Immortal¡¯s body. But before this he had never had a proper chance.


    The Immortals that he had encountered before were either too strong, like that strange indigo woman in the lesser void, or were close to death like the immortal they found dying in the Land of Exile.


    And now Lin Mu had the perfect candidate in front of him.


    Immortal Taegu was someone who had recently entered the Immortal realm and had ovee his very first Immortal Tribtion. This gave Lin Mu the best chance to observe the changes that happened in one¡¯s body after bing immortal.


    The first thing that Lin Mu encountered was a new type of Qi.


    It was none shorthand Immortal Qi!


    ¡°So this is Immortal Qi... Truly different...¡± Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Previously he had only refined Four Treasured organs in terms of body cultivation and Dao Treading realm in the Qi cultivation. Thus even if there was Immortal Qi around, he would be unable to sense it.


    But once one was in the Immortal Ascension realm one would have the chance to sense Immortal Qi.


    In fact, this was one of the requirements to bing an Immortal and breaking through to the Immortal Realm. Once one sensed Immortal Qi and absorbed even a sliver of it, they would turn into a False Immortal.


    And only when they overcame their first Immortal Tribtion would they be a true Immortal Realm cultivator.


    While Lin Mu¡¯s Qi cultivation was still in the Dao Treading realm, his body cultivation was the equivalent of Immortal Ascension realm. And not just that, but the very peak of Immortal Ascension realm.


    Thus while Lin Mu still wouldn¡¯t be able to sense the Immortal Qi in the air, it it was contained in some object, or vessel, he would be able to observe it.


    And that was what he was wanted right now.


    Flowing within Immortal Taegu¡¯s meridians were wisps of Immortal Qi.


    ¡®Still isn¡¯t this too low?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Having looked through the man¡¯s meridians Lin Mu learned that a majority of Immortal Taegu¡¯s Qi was still Spirit Qi. The Immortal Qi that he had was barely a fraction of it.


    If Lin Mu were to estimate it, they Spirit Qi was about 95% of his total Qi and Immortal Qi was just 5%.


    ¡®No wonder he was letting of spirit Qi fluctuations despite being an immortal. Even an Immortal will mainly use spirit Qi since the amount of Immortal Qi they had would be less. I reckon they only use the Immortal Qi when they absolutely have to.¡¯ Lin Mu analyzed.


    While he didn¡¯t know the exact conditions or times to use the Immortal Qi, he could somewhat derive more from the older information he had.


    Lin Mu looked at Immortal Taegu, making the man tremble.


    ¡®He directly probed my body without even being restrained by my defenses... just how strong is his spirit sense?¡¯ Immortal Taegu was surprised.


    After all, he could tell that the young man in front of him wasn¡¯t an immortal yet. And despite that he had defeated him and restrained now. He was merely a chicken on the chopping block now.


    ¡°Why do you only have this much Immortal Qi?¡± Lin Mu questioned directly.


    ¡°I... I have a normal amount for my level.¡± Immortal Taegu replied.


    ¡°This is a normal amount?¡± Lin Mu raised his brows.


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve only reached the Immortal Realm four years ago. I prepared for the Immortal Tribtion for about three years while staying as a False Immortal. All the Immortal Qi I umted in that time was used up in order to defend against the Immortal Tribtion.¡± Immortal Taegu exined.


    ¡°Hmm... doesn¡¯t that still leave you with a year¡¯s worth of time to recover more Immortal Qi?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°That... While I was undergoing the Immortal Tribtion, I was discovered by the soldiers of the Lush Stream Kingdom. They figured out my identity and the bounty I had on me. Then while I was weakened from the Immortal Tribtion, they caught me.


    After being caught, didn¡¯t get to recover much of the immortal Qi and was sent to the Land of Exile.¡± Immortal Taegu answered in detail.


    ¡°Huh...¡± Lin Mu had not expected such a series of events.


    It could be said that Immortal Taegu was caught at the worst moment possible. Despite bing immortal he didn¡¯t get the time to make use of it.


    ¡°The Immortal Qi I have right now is also higher than the time I came here first. I¡¯ve spent some time absorbing it in the Land of Exile too. But the concentration here is quite less. This was also why I wanted toe to this mountain since there was a higher concentration of Immortal Qi here.¡± Taegu added.


    ¡°There¡¯s a high concentration of Immortal Qi here?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    He didn¡¯t know there was something like that happening.


    ¡°Well, there was. When the five colored mist was still present, and the Spirit Qi was gushing, the concentration of Immortal Qi had risen greatly as well. But now it is back to the low concentration.¡± Taegu answered.


    ¡°I see...¡± Lin Mu furrowed his brows, wondering if the heavenly phenomena caused by his Five Treasures realm could even attract Immortal Qi.


    ¡®It is normal for the spirit Qi to rush here with so many people breaking through, so why did Immortal Qi increase as well?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    A few momentster, he had a decent assumption.


    ¡®Is it the Dao Traces?¡¯ Lin Mu guessed.


    With this another thought came to his mind, which prompted him to look into Immortal Taegu¡¯s Dantian.


    ~shua~


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    <o>,m Taegu shivered as he felt a strong tendril of spirit sense directly entering his body before reaching the Dantian.</o>


    Lin Mu observed the condition inside the Dantian and saw Immortal Taegu¡¯s Nascent soul, Dao Shell and Dao Embryo.


    The Nascent soul though looked to be a bit different, with there a red halo around it.

 Chapter 1319 Halos And Longevity

    <h4> 1319 Halos And Longevity </h4>


    The discovery with the Nascent soul was new to Lin Mu.


    ¡°What¡¯s this...¡± Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    The feeling he got from the red halo was familiar and yet different.


    ¡®It¡¯s almost like the remnant feeling after a Tribtion is over... could it be from the Immortal Tribtion?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered before deciding to ask Taegu.


    ¡°What was your first Immortal Tribtion?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°Fire... I endured a Fire Tribtion.¡± Immortal Taegu answered.


    ¡°No wonder...¡± Lin Mu looked at the red halo again.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    The feeling Lin Mu got from it was definitely simr to a Heavenly Tribtion, but then there was the trace of fire in it too. Which was why Lin Mu had be confused.


    ¡°Do you know about the red halo on your Nascent Soul?¡± Lin Mu asked the man.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s from the Immortal Tribtion. All Immortal Tribtion¡¯s will leave on corresponding to the element it belonged to.¡± Taegu answered.


    He was really nervous right now and answered everything that Lin Mu was asking, scared that he might do something to him otherwise. Which was a wise option and better than stubbornly resiting and getting injured further.


    Lin Mu was pleased by this too, and the more information he got the better he felt. Especially information that directly rted to cultivation.


    ¡®So each level in the Immortal Realm will be denoted by these halos.¡¯ Lin Mu noted.


    In the immortal realm, a cultivator further tempered their Nascent souls, turning them into immortal souls.


    And in order to do that, they needed to let their Nascent soul endured the wrath of the heavens. Unlike the spirit realm where they only did this once, now they needed to do it at every step.


    Some experts even said that, in the spirit realm, the heavens spurned the cultivators. But in the immortal realm, the elements of the universe themselves would spurn them. One needed to survive the tribtion of seven elements to truly nurture an Immortal Soul.


    Each elemental tribtion will add a new halo to the Nascent soul.


    Red for fire, green for wood, blue for water, brown for earth, yellow for metal, azure for wind and purple for lightning.


    Only when all seven of these elements were withstood, could one call themselves a true immortal with an immortal soul. Each elemental tribtion would bestow one with about a thousand years of lifespan.


    While it might seem smaller than the increase from the Dao Treading realm and Immortal Ascension realm, one must not forget that the lifespans stacked.


    A cultivator had 1000 years of lifespan at the Nascent soul realm, 2000 at the Dao Shell realm, 4000 at the Dao Treading realm and about 6000 years at the Immortal Ascension realm.


    Thus if one reached the Immortal realm before they had used up their earlier lifespan, they still had those years.


    Compared to one that reached the Immortal realm at the very end of their lifespan who would only have 1000 years to undergo their first Immortal Tribtion, the others would have a lot more.


    This was also why to mortals, the cultivators in the Immortal realm were called Immortal.


    Even a False immortal would have lived for at least 6000 years which was massive.


    The question about longevity was something that had often confused Lin Mu. He had reached the Dao Treading realm for his Qi cultivation and Immortal Ascension realm for his body in less than twelve years.


    Right now, Lin Mu was close to turning twenty-six. And if he kept his current pace, it wouldn¡¯t be long till he became an immortal too. This left him a bit lost as to what he would do.


    He basically had more time than he knew what to do with.


    For a majority of the cultivators, cultivation was slow and torturous at times. But for Lin Mu, it had been rtively smooth process with a few bumps here and there. With Senior Xukong being there, he wasn¡¯t as lost as others and found a method to progress no matter what.


    Having seen the many convicts right now, as well as Kunzi and Little Gian, Lin Mu was once more lost about his life.


    Those men had lived more than a thousand years to get where they were. Considering the sheer amount of life experiences they had, Lin Mu knew he wascking. And it was also that which he needed to cover.


    Immortal Taegu didn¡¯t know the thoughts that were going through Lin Mu¡¯s mind. To him, Lin Mu simply had his eyes closed and was observing his body.


    ¡®When will he stop?¡¯ Taegu wondered.


    ~knock~ Knock~ Knock~


    Just as he was thinking about this, Lin Mu opened his eyes. The sound of something being hammered could be heard.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu, we¡¯ve done gathering them all. They should be chained up soon enough.¡± A voice was heard.


    ¡°Good job, Shilo.¡± Lin Mu replied. ¡°Take them to the cells.¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± Shilo replied before pointing at a small pile of bodies to the side. ¡°What about the dead ones?¡±


    ¡°Hmm...¡± Lin Mu gazed at the dead bodies that were the most injured.


    His spirit sense swept over them and checked them for any hidden things. Lin Mu didn¡¯t find any secrets on them, and realized they were just normal cultivators.


    ¡®If there were immortals among them, I might have had a reason to keep their bodies.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    ¡°Since they were just weaker experts, we may as well make use of them.¡± Lin Mu spoke before lifting his hand from Taegu.


    ¡®Is he releasing me?¡¯ Taegu wondered, but then shivered in his ce.


    ¡°What are those?¡± Taegu saw something move under Lin Mu¡¯s sleeves.


    ¡°Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, meal time!¡± Lin Mu called out.


    ~hiss~


    The twin snakes let out a pleased hiss as they appeared from Lin Mu¡¯s sleeves.


    Then under the shocked eyes o-f Immortal Taegu, the twins short forth and swallowed all the corpses whole.


    The shock on Immortal Taegu¡¯s face turned into utter horror at that moment.


    ¡°How do humans fare for you two?¡± Lin Mu casually asked.

 Chapter 1320 Scaring Taegu

    <h4> 1320 Scaring Taegu </h4>


    ~thud~


    ¡®What in the world are those snakes!?¡¯ Taegu fell to his butt.


    He had seen many spirit beasts as well as Immortal beasts, but this was his first time seeing beasts so small consuming what was basically two hundred times their body mass within a minute.


    It was simply terrifying.


    But what was even more terrifying was that these beasts were seemingly chilling within Lin Mu¡¯s sleeves.


    ~Whoosh~


    ¡°Was that good?¡± Lin Mu questioned the twins. ¡°Do you need to exchange Qi again?¡±


    ~hiss~


    To this, the two snakes actually nodded their heads.


    ¡®They¡¯re getting smarter... that¡¯s good...¡¯ Lin Mu was satisfied.


    ~SHUA~


    Soon after Xiao Yin lifted her head before spitting out a white cloud while Xiao Yang spat out a ck cloud.


    Immortal Taegu who saw the two clouds was confused. He couldn¡¯t sense them clearly and other than that it was Qi, he couldn¡¯t identify them.


    ~SHUA~


    Once the two clouds were spat out, the appropriate snake sucked into their mouths.


    ¡°Good.¡± Lin Mu petted the heads of the twins.


    By now he had somewhat understood how Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang functioned. Each of them belonged to one of the Dualities of Yin and Yang and would expel the duality that was not of their bodies.


    This expelled duality could be used by their sibling counter part instead.


    In a way, it was like recycling the energy. Any food them consumed; for example the humans this time, would have various types of energies within them. But all energies could ultimately be divided into the Yang or Yin aspect.


    Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Thus the twins could fully convert them to these energies.


    To most cultivators, this would be simply absurd. Such high efficiency should be close to impossible for them. And yet, it was being done by two infant snakes.


    The same was for Immortal Taegu. ¡°Who... W-what are they?¡± He couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    ¡°They¡¯re my tamed beasts.¡± Lin Mu simply answered while continuing to stroke their heads.


    The twins enjoyed it while gently flicking their tongues.


    The two scenes of them eating a mass of corpses and enjoying pets were simply unthinkable. They were two extremes and were not normal to Taegu.


    ¡®If he can tame such dangerous beasts, he is not simple...¡¯ Immortal Taegu was now sure.


    What baffled him even more was the fact that he couldn¡¯t tell what the cultivation base of these snakes was. Other than a powerful aura, he couldn¡¯t sense their spirit Qi fluctuations.


    ¡°Go on, rest for now.¡± Lin Mu put the twins back into his sleeves.


    He then looked up at Immortal Taegu. ¡°Come with me, I have more questions for you. As long as you don¡¯t struggle, I¡¯ll let you keep your cultivation base.¡± Lin Mu stated inly.


    Taegu shivered slightly, but nodded his head.


    ¡°I-I¡¯ll follow.¡± Immortal Taegu epted.


    The Haima Tribe people had already started taking the convicts to the tribe by now. To the prisoners, it was an embarrassing and depression situation at the same time. They had been prisoners before and were caught again now.


    ¡°Even in the Land of Exile we are prisoners once more...¡± Someone muttered.


    The weak hearted ones among them already had tears in their eyes too.


    Immortal Taegu was the only one who was not in chains, but he still felt like there were chains on his body. His steps felt heavy and his back was covered in sweat. The short journey to the new prison was rather long to him.


    ~SHUA~


    Eventually, all the prisoner were sent in through the Transportation gates and appeared in the same ce where Huyun Chuan was located.


    ¡®So this is their base inside the mountain.¡¯ Immortal Taegu looked at the many buildings.


    All of them were built from stone and were rtively new.


    ¡°So these are the new convicts... Seems like the training went well.¡± Immortal Taegu heard another human.


    ¡°Huh? There are more humans?¡± He was surprised and snapped to look at them.


    He saw none other than Kunzi and Little Gian appearing.


    The two of them had be trusted in the Tribe and thus were moved into the main area. Their residences were next to where Lin Mu lived in the tribe now.


    Huyun Chuan was once again left alone in the prison, but now he¡¯ll have more ¡®neighbors¡¯.


    ¡°Yes, it went well.¡± Lin Mu replied. ¡°They served their purpose well.¡±


    ~gulp~


    Immortal Taegu swelled his saliva. ¡®I knew it! They really were using us as training dummies!¡¯


    ¡°Hmm... and this is the Immortal among them?¡± Kunzi asked while observing Taegu.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Lin Mu replied before realizing that Kunzi had a look of familiarity on his face.


    ¡°Do you know him?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ve heard of him.¡± Kunzi replied. ¡°I saw a few posters a while back. I think about five years or so ago.¡± He thought before speaking.


    ¡°Oh? Is this guy well known?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    <o>,m Immortal Taegu started sweating even more after hearing this.</o>


    ¡°If I recall correctly, he was charged with several crimes. But the posters I saw were for him, raiding a caravan that was transporting the good for the kingdom as well as just banditry in general.¡± Kunzi stated.


    ¡°Is that right?¡± Lin Mu questioned Taegu.


    ¡°Y-yes...¡± Taegu confirmed.


    ¡°But that is not all is there? Even if you did all that, it isn¡¯t enough to warrant an exile here. You would just be sent to the local prisons there.¡± Kunzi said, making Taegu nervous again.


    ¡°Oh? So there is more?¡± Lin Mu looked at Taegu with a raised brow.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know Senior Lin Mu, but he might have been in for murder or more...¡± Kunzi said.


    ¡°Is that urate?¡± Lin Mu¡¯s eyes narrowed while the pressure on Taegu rose.


    ¡°N-no! They... they caught me because I use an unauthorized cultivation technique to be an immortal!¡± Taegu quickly spoke.


    ¡°An unauthorized technique? You mean an Unorthodox path technique?¡± Lin Mu questioned further.


    ¡°Nothing like that.¡± Taegu quickly shook his head.


    ¡°He means those techniques that are ouwed in specific kingdoms. Not all kingdoms will prohibit the same techniques.¡± Kunzi exined.

 Chapter 1321 Forced To Become A Criminal

    <h4> 1321 Forced To Be A Criminal </h4>


    Lin Mu was both confused and intrigued upon hearing Kunzi¡¯s words.


    ¡°Ouwed in some and legal in others?¡± Lin Mu asked for rification.


    ¡°Yes. The kingdoms of the Eight Kingdom alliance all have certain cultivation techniques that they have banned within their kingdoms. There are several reasons for it. But on the surface, they say that they have banned techniques that had been used by great criminals in the past.


    But in reality, most of the techniques they ouw are those that are counters against their royal cultivation techniques. Which is why there are different banned techniques in different kingdoms.¡± Kunzi gave a quick exnation.


    Just from hearing this, Lin Mu quickly deciphered the ploy of the kingdoms.


    While it seemed like ouwing a technique that went against their own was fine, it had greater implications. After all, if they were so worried they could very well modify their own techniques to have a counter to that.


    Owned by N?velDrama.Org.


    ¡®No... they probably have that already. This seems to be a much wider thing...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ¡°All of it is just ridiculous. I am from the Ridge Valley kingdom, and the technique I use is perfectly legal there. But then I was forced by some local officials to leave the kingdom and went to the Lush Stream kingdom which is located just next to it.


    I never knew the technique was illegal there and was then caught.¡± Immortal Taegu spoke up seeing that Lin Mu didn¡¯t seem to be unreasonable.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow, smelling the foul y at work.


    ¡°Tell me, were you always a bandit?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°Of course not! I was born a peasant and joined a shop as an assistant. I stayed as one for fifty years before I joined under a traveling merchant as an apprentice. After learning from him for about two hundred years, I established my own caravan and became a proper merchant.¡± Taegu spoke, pride clearly visible in his voice.


    Lin Mu could tell that the man was filled with honor when he spoke about his past.


    ¡°Then what made you resort to banditry?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    Taegu¡¯s expression darkened at this point, and a hint of frustration also appeared on it.


    ¡°After establishing my own merchant caravan, it grew well in just a hundred years. But I also invited the ire of several merchants and businessmen with that.¡± Taegu took a deep breath and sighed.


    Lin Mu could understand this as conflicts in business were rathermon. Merchants would often resort to underhanded means when things weren¡¯t ording to their liking. Of course, this was only limited to those that had the capability to do that.


    ¡°My rivals bribed several city officials and implicated my caravan in transporting adulterated goods. All of it was false!¡± Taegu almost shouted.


    ¡°I had to pay a great fine, but they weren¡¯t satisfied with that. Eventually, I realized, that if I continued to do business there I would be taking great loss. A few of the city officials though advised me to take my business to the Lush Stream kingdom.


    I thought they were really advising me, but it was in fact a trick. My caravan was raided on the border and all that I had was taken from me. The officials said it was the work of bandits, but I knew it wasn¡¯t so.


    Having realized that living an honest life was simply not enough and even if I did my best I would be pushed around, I decided to use force. I cultivated as much as I could and grew stronger.


    Then I raided the very same merchants who had once forced me to leave!¡± Taegu exined, his eyes red at this point.


    ~Sigh~


    Kunzi too sighed upon hearing this, finding it to be a rathermon story.


    ¡°But that isn¡¯t the end is it?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°No... it seemed like the city officials knew about my cultivation technique. They also knew that it was a banned technique in the Lush Stream kingdom and told me to go there, hoping that I would be naturally arrested by them.


    But that didn¡¯t happen for a long time since I simply stayed in seclusion to get stronger. It wasn¡¯t until I started raiding the merchant caravans did they identify me again and sent out arrest warrants.


    Then when I finally broke through to the immortal realm, they managed to catch me.¡± Immortal Taegu replied in a tired tone.


    ¡°I see...¡± Lin Mu understood all of it to be nothing but corruption and greed.


    It was nothing special and could even be said to bemon. And Taegu was a victim of it while also a perpetrator of revenge.


    Kunzi looked at Lin Mu and had a look of hesitation on his face. But after a minute, he made up his mind to speak.


    ¡°Senior Lin Mu, why don¡¯t we take him with us as well? I¡¯m sure he will be of some help. At the very least having an Immortal will give an extra safety factor to the tribe.¡± Kunzi suggested.


    ¡°Take me? Where?¡± Immortal Taegu was confused by their words.


    But he didn¡¯t receive his answer right away as Lin Mu was still considering it. After five minutes, Lin Mu reckoned there wasn¡¯t much of a problem.


    ¡°Alright, you can get him up to speed and exin everything to him. Only if he is willing to give his all will we take him.¡± Lin Mu stated before taking his leave.


    But just as he was about to reach the exit he stopped and spoke, ¡°oh and you may as well interrogate the rest of the convicts. Pick out those that have some use and are also rtively ¡®innocent¡¯.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll do that.¡± Kunzi agreed.


    Lin Mu and Kunzi both knew that the Haima Tribe would need help from the humans when they were outside the Land of Exile. This was so that they could be resettled properly as well as limatized to the society outside.


    The humans would also be able to trade on their behalf for the start.

 Chapter 1322 The Huyun Clans People Arrive

    <h4> 1322 The Huyun n''s People Arrive </h4>


    While the orientation for the convicts went on, Lin Mu was meeting up with Elder Niji.


    ¡°Seems like we¡¯ll be having more people assisting us.¡± Elder Niji spoke.


    ¡°Yes, as long as they don¡¯t cause trouble.¡± Lin Mu replied while observing the screen floating above them.


    Elder Niji too looked at it and shook his head lightly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we can wait for more time. And even if those immortals from the Huyun n don¡¯t arrive we¡¯ll still figure out some other way.¡± Elder Niji calmly spoke.


    He didn¡¯t want Lin Mu to worry about the matter all the time and wanted to let time take its course.


    ¡°And we won¡¯t.¡± Lin Mu suddenly said while pointing to the screen, ¡°they¡¯ve been here all along.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Elder Niji looked at the screen but didn¡¯t see anything in the location that Lin Mu was pointing to.


    ¡°I... don¡¯t see anything.¡± Elder Niji said in confusion.


    ¡°Because they aren¡¯t there, they are using a spying spirit tool to watch the mountain from afar.¡± Lin Mu spoke.


    ¡°A spying spirit tool?¡± Elder Niji asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see it once we go out.¡± Lin Mu said before activating the Transportation formation.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    Both he and Elder Niji were sent out of the mountain and arrived on the side where the end of the Broken Chasm was. This was the area that Lin Mu had climbed out of and where the scouts had found him.


    ¡°Come,¡± Lin Mu said before walking towards to spot in the ground.


    ~CLANG~


    After reaching it, he kicked the air seemingly hitting an invisible object.


    ¡°Just as I thought.¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    He narrowed his eyes and looked around. His spirit sense also spread up, trying to see if there was anyone else hiding.


    ¡°Come on out, I know you all are here.¡± Lin Mu said while looking at the object that was lying on the ground.


    This object was what Lin Mu had kicked before. It was a one meter tall metal rod that had a t circle on its top. The circle had the pattern of an eye carved on it and was also the spying spirit tool.


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense scanned the tool, finding it to be rather interesting. It had a camouging formation on it that allowed it to turn invisible.


    But to Lin Mu who could use spatial perception, it was useless. He had noticed the ¡®solidness¡¯ of space on the screen, where it should have been moving air.


    ¡®This is new... I don¡¯t think I would have detected this in the past. At least not on a screen made by another formation.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    He realized his understanding of the Spatial Dao Traces was also increasing which in turn allowed his spatial perception to increase to the next level. He didn¡¯t know what the limit of his current spatial perception was but he knew it would be a lot higher.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    About thirty seconds after Lin Mu called out, three men appeared from the distance. They were flying, which clearly showed that they were immortals. Additionally, they were all wearing simr robes with the crest of the Huyun n on them.


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    ¡°So you three are the ones that have been asked to bring in Huyun Chuan.¡± Lin Mu inly stated.


    ¡°We are...¡± One of the Immortals of the Huyun n spoke.


    The other two had a hint of confusion on their faces, probably wondering how Lin Mu had found out about them.


    ¡°You shoulde with me, to meet Huyun Chuan.¡± Lin Mu suggested.


    ¡°How do we know it¡¯s not a trap?¡± a second immortal asked.


    ¡°Even if it is a trap, is there anything you three can do?¡± Lin Mu replied. ¡°And you must have already seen the battle earlier if you were spying from here instead of barging in directly.¡± He added.


    The immortals pursed their lips at having their n being seen through.


    It was evident that while these three immortals were a lot more careful than Immortal Taegu and the other human convicts. But despite that, they had still been caught by Lin Mu.


    And it wasn¡¯t like they could just leave without getting Huyun Chuan either.


    It might have been fine if they did so being unable to find him, but now that they knew clearly the man was here, they couldn¡¯t go back. If they did, it would be viting the mission and their elders would know.


    Lin Mu had already obtained more than enough information from Huyun Chuan to know how things went in his n and other noble ns. They all had techniques to verify information as well as pick out truths and falsehoods.


    It was a very important thing to have that, or the n would suffer great losses.


    ¡°What do you want from us?¡± The first immortal questioned.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    ¡°You made that huge banner above the mountain. There is no way you don¡¯t want something from us. This is all clearly meant to draw us in.¡± The third immortal who had been silent till now spoke.


    ¡°Then there is also the five colored mist and the heavenly phenomena. All these don¡¯t clearly add up.¡± The seconds immortal chimed on.


    ¡°You will know more as long as youe with me. As for what I want, it is the same as your young master. To leave this ce.¡± Lin Mu stated.


    ¡°Impossible.¡± The first immortal spoke.


    ¡°You cannot leave this ce. You seriously think we will give you our teleportation talismans?¡± the third immortal scoffed.


    ¡°I do want your teleportation talismans, but I¡¯m not going to use it myself. I only need them to study it. I¡¯ll return them to you intact.¡± Lin Mu stated honestly.


    He knew there was no way they would be leaving without Huyun Chuan. And if they wanted him, they would have to go to the mountain.


    Also from their careful demeanor, it was also obvious that they weren¡¯t ones to directly resort to violence.


    ¡®They are certainly smarter than Huyun Chuan in this regard...¡¯ Lin Mu recalled the man¡¯s tendency to pick fights.

 Chapter 1323 Convincing The Three Immortals

    <h4> 1323 Convincing The Three Immortals </h4>


    The three immortals certainly weren¡¯t inclined to just hand over the teleportation talismans because that would be simply senseless.


    ¡°How can we give that to a criminal exile like you all?¡± One of the immortals spoke.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    In response to that though, Lin Mu simply summoned several of his spirit weapons. They floated around him while releasing spirit Qi waves. And not just that, the swords among them were emitting traces of sword intent that was enough to make the Immortals reassess the situation.


    ¡®He has weapons and also spatial storage?¡¯ They were surprised.


    ¡°You really think I am an exile?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°Hmm, this is certainly unexpected.¡± One of the immortals said.


    ¡°How did you enter the Land of Exile?¡± the first immortal asked, wondering if there were more entrances.


    ¡°Teleportation ident.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Just how skewed was the teleportation?¡± they third immortal asked.


    A Teleportation ident was the most probable reason why someone would end up in the Land of Exile withouting through the actual ports.


    ¡°Enough that I may as well have ended up in the void if it was any more skewed.¡± Lin Mu cryptically replied.


    ¡°Alright... We¡¯lle with you for now. But if we sense any trouble, we¡¯ll leave this ce right away. Even if it costs us demerits from the n.¡± The immortals stated.


    ¡°That is fine. I wouldn¡¯t want you to leave before I get to see the talismans either.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    Having managed to convince the three Immortals of the Huyun n, Lin Mu felt satisfied. He could only praise the Huyun n for sending sensible people for a mission like this.


    ¡®Though now that I think of it, for something as sensitive as breaking someone out of a prison, they do need someone sensible. If they sent a brute, they may as well be sending more people to prison instead.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It didn¡¯t take them more than a couple minutes to reach the mountain. Where Lin Mu simply triggered the Transportation gates to take them inside. And when they were finally inside, the three immortals sensed the secure arrays that were protecting everything.


    ¡°No... not just that... the spirit Qi is also rather high here...¡± One of them muttered.


    ¡°Immortal Qi too...¡± the second one said while closing his eyes.


    ¡°A spirit Qi channeling array as well as rich Immortal Qi? This can¡¯t be made without arge amount of resources.¡± The third immortal analyzed.


    They were from an aristocratic n and had seen plenty of things over their life. Thus it was easy for them to assess everything at a nce. Lin Mu also paid attention to their words, finding some parts interesting.


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    ¡®So the concentration of Immortal QI has increased too. Just like Immortal Taegu spoke. Is it also due to the five colored mist?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    ¡°So where is Eleventh Master Chuan?¡± The immortal asked.


    ¡°So he¡¯s the Eleventh master?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow. ¡°Not a young master, just master?¡±


    ¡°Yes. You don¡¯t know?¡± The immortals had fully thought that Lin Mu had kept Huyun Chuan captive because he knew of his worth.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell me more, while we reach him?¡± Lin Mu asked wanting to know more.


    While Huyun Chuan had indeed told Lin Mu as much as he knew, there were still quite a lot of things the man didn¡¯t know. And from the immortals words, it was obvious that he didn¡¯t know some things about his own n either.


    ¡°Eleventh Master Chuan¡¯s generation is no longer the younger generation. He was the youngest in his generation and now that several of his nephews and nieces have also be immortals, the generation is said to have progressed.¡± One of the immortals exined.


    ¡°I see.¡± Lin Mu could understand this since it was the same as Xiaofan world.


    When a sufficient number of cultivators of a generation reached a watershed stage, they would be considered the older generation. Of course, this might vary depending on the average cultivation for the world they lived in.


    For Rust Sky world, it was evidently the Immortal Realm. When the children of an older generation reached the immortal realm, they would be considered the youngest generation.


    ¡®Though it also shows that Huyun Chuan is in a rather bad situation.¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.


    The man was worse than his nieces and nephews who had already be immortal, while he himself was still at the Dao Treading realm. But at the same time, Lin Mu felt that the amount of value being put on him was a little too high.


    ¡°Why would the Huyun n spend so many resources on getting him out of here?¡± Lin Mu questioned next. ¡°As you¡¯ve said he¡¯s no longer a young master and his cultivation base is also low. With just these two things, he shouldn¡¯t have that much of a value in the n.¡±


    ~Sigh~


    Hearing this, the three immortals sighed.


    ¡°Eleventh Master Chuan is... Special. Or rather his position in the n is special.¡± The first immortal spoke.


    ¡°Special how?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°Even if his talent and cultivation are low, it doesn¡¯t mean that his backing is low.¡± The second immortal replied.


    ¡°His backing? You mean his uncle?¡± Lin Mu recalled Huyun Chuan singing praises of his uncle.


    ording to him, he was also the person who was going to send people to get him out.


    ¡°Third Elder does care for Eleventh Master Chuan but that¡¯s not all. It is his mother that is the main reason behind this.¡± The first immortal spoke before taking a pause as if the next part was heavy.


    ¡°Eleventh Master¡¯ste mother was a great immortal... the second sister of King Que, the current reigning King of the Purple Sparrow Kingdom!¡±


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but raise a brow hearing this.


    ¡°So not only is he from an aristocratic n, he is also a direct nephew of the king?¡± Lin Mu stated.


    ¡°Yes... which is why the n can¡¯t afford to leave him.¡±

 Chapter 1324 A Deal

    <h4> 1324 A Deal </h4>


    Having obtained rather intriguing information from the immortals, Lin Mu was pleased.


    ¡®Who would have thought that I would keep a king¡¯s nephew for ransom in a ce like this.¡¯ Lin Mu almost felt likeughing.


    But at the same time, he also realized that there must be more to this. Since even Huyun Chuan didn¡¯t know this information, it was bound to have been kept secret from him intentionally.


    ¡®With his personality he might have just thrown around the identity of a King¡¯s nephew all the time.¡¯ Lin Mu could easily imagine the scene.


    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Elder Niji interrupted Lin Mu¡¯s thoughts.


    The three immortals looked at the wide cave that had several stone residences built inside it. All of them had barrier formations set up around them as well as offensive formations that could retaliate in need.


    ¡°So this is the prison...¡± The third immortal muttered.


    ¡°He lives here,e.¡± Lin Mu took them to the residence that Huyun Chuan had been using for a while now.


    Even though he had gotten more ¡®neighbors¡¯ it didn¡¯t seem like he was inclined to see them any time soon.


    ¡°Come on out, Huyun Chuan. Your people are here.¡± Lin Mu called out.


    ¡°Eleventh Master Chuan!¡±


    ¡°Eleventh Master Chuan! We¡¯re here!¡±


    ¡°Pleasee on out!¡±


    The three immortals called out as well.


    ~THUD~


    ~CRASH~


    The sound of someone falling and something breaking could be hearding from the inside. Then in the next second, sound of hurried footsteps echoed before the stone door opened with a creak.


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    Huyun Chuan¡¯s gawked at the people standing at the gate feeling as if he was in a dream.


    ¡°Its you... it¡¯s all of you... it really is you...¡± Huyun Chuan muttered.


    ¡°Yes we are here, now Eleventh Master.¡± The immortal spoke.


    ¡°AHAHAHA! I KNEW YOU WOULD COME!¡± In the next moment, Huyun Chuan did a 360 and eximed out loud.


    ¡°Are you fine, Eleventh Master?¡± One of the immortals asked while the second checked him with his spirit sense.


    But a few seconds after that, his expression darkened.


    ¡°You crippled his cultivation?!¡± The Immortal turned around to face Lin Mu.


    ¡°It¡¯s just sealed. He was too troublesome. If he was as cooperative as you three, he could have just walked in.¡± Lin Mu casually stated. ¡°I can unseal his cultivation too. He just needs to eat an antidote pill.¡± He added.


    ¡°Give it then,¡± they demanded.


    ¡°Not so fast. First, I want the Teleportation talismans.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯ll just use them and run away.¡± The immortal¡¯s wouldn¡¯t trust him this quickly.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to give all three of them, just one would do. I¡¯ll study it and give you back. Until then, you can wait here with Huyun Chuan.¡± Lin Mu said calmly.


    The immortals seemed to be hesitating and looking at each other.


    ¡°Give it to him, he¡¯ll do as he says. At least that¡¯s what he has done so far...¡± Much to their surprise, Huyun Chuan actually vouched for Lin Mu.


    ¡°But Eleventh Master¡ª¡± The immortals wanted to say soothing but were interrupted by Huyun Chuan.


    ¡°Also, fighting against him here would not be a good idea. The entire array is enough to stop even a second tribtion immortal and the army of tribals is also enough to push you all to the brink of death.


    He alone is also strong...¡± Huyun Chuan said in a low voice.


    The three immortals had seen the battle outside the mountain and the power of the army. They knew there were several more such warriors hidden in the mountain and that Lin Mu wasn¡¯t just lying.


    Plus the Arrays were apparent to them too and they could assess its strength.


    With all thisbined the three immortals finally gave in to Lin Mu¡¯s demands.


    ¡°Fine... But you need be quick. We can¡¯t stay here for long.¡± The immortals seemed to be in a rush.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try to be as fast as possible.¡± Lin Mu said, but he didn¡¯t really know how long it was going to take in reality.


    If things really took too long and the Immortals became restless, he would just lock them in here until he was done. He had already prepared for that and was willing to take drastic steps to fulfill his goals.


    He couldn¡¯t let go of it aftering this far after all...


    The three immortals simply let out a sigh, before one of them took out an object from their spatial storage tool.


    ¡°Take this,¡± The first immortal handed it to Lin Mu.


    Holding it in his hand, Lin Mu could finally take a quick look at the Teleportation Talisman.


    ¡®It is certainly different from all others I¡¯ve seen before...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    The Teleportation Talisman was rather thin, seemingly made out of some kind of fabric. It didn¡¯t look like silk, cotton, leather or hemp to Lin Mu. There weren¡¯t any visible runes or letters written on it either.


    If it weren¡¯t for the minute traces of spatial fluctuations around it, Lin Mu would have doubted the authenticity of it.


    ¡°Be very careful with it. If you activate it, there is no way to stop it. Also, once it is triggered, the Huyun n will know too. So don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be able to run away with it.¡± The third immortal warned one more time.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Using it like this would be a waste for me.¡± Lin Mu said before walking away.


    He left the immortals with Huyun Chuan, not worried that they might run away. After all, he could monitor them for anywhere as long as they were within the Mountain. Not to mention, the arrays would trigger at the slightest sign of trouble.


    ¡®At the worst, I can use the Earth fixing Array and turn that entire cave into a tomb, burying them.¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.


    With his increased understanding off the Earth Dao, it wouldn¡¯t be that difficult for Lin Mu to achieve this now.


    ¡°Now to just figure out this talisman... the faster the better...¡±

 Chapter 1325 A Unique Method Of Making Talismans

    <h4> 1325 A Unique Method Of Making Talismans </h4>


    Lin Mu returned to his residence to take a better look at the Talisman. Though he didn¡¯t forget to ask head warrior Kulo to keep an eye on the three immortals either. While there was Elder Niji with them, it was better to have a hidden person watching them.


    The monitoring mirrors that Lin Mu had made were perfect for this.


    ¡°Now let¡¯s see... just what material is this?¡± Lin Mu observed the talisman made from fabric.


    Unlike a normal talisman, there were no runes written on it. And even when he used spirit sense to check it, Lin Mu didn¡¯t find any runes written with spirit Qi directly.


    ¡°How does this work?¡± Lin Mu was baffled.


    At first he thought that they might have been made by using Immortal Qi as the ink, but then seeing the spirit Qi fluctuations from it made him think otherwise.


    ¡®I wouldn¡¯t have felt anything if there was Immortal Qi used in its making.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He flipped the talisman over and over again, wondering if he missed anything. An hour passed before Lin Mu had another idea.


    ¡°Are the runes very small?¡± Lin Mu recalled a few formation making methods that utilizedyering methods.


    In this, the runes were first carved or written on smallponents of the main tool. For example, in the case of an armor, they would write individual runes on the hinges, studs, rivets, and the main parts before joining them all together.


    Then there was the very high leveled andplex method that Lin Mu had once read about in Lost Immortal¡¯s Memoirs.


    The man hade across a whip spirit weapon. And the way it was made was by twisting several cords of horse tendons together. The special part was each of these tendon cords were made from strings ripped from the tendons.


    Braiding these all together gave them great tensile strength.


    But what made it special was that each string of each cord was inscribed with runes!


    And when all of them were braided together, the runes couldn¡¯t be seen easily.


    ¡®They might have used a method like that for a Spatial teleportation talisman. It is certainly a peak grade talisman from its energy fluctuations.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He split up his spirit sense tendril into small strings and observed the talisman on a microscopic scale. This slowed down his pace, and it took him an entire two hours to finally find something.


    ¡°Hang on... there are no runes written or carved in these... rather than that they utilized a method that is functionally the same but different in appearance.¡± Lin Mu finally felt like he was getting close.


    The method that had been utilized in this talisman was unique.


    Instead of writing runes, they had ¡®woven¡¯ them into the fabric. But since the material for both the runes and the fabric were the same, it was very difficult to see. It was only when Lin Mu observed the differences in the Warp and Weft of the fabric did he find the irregrity.


    ¡®This is on another level entirely... one wouldn¡¯t just need to be a formation master to make this, they would also have to be an expert weaver...¡¯ Lin Mu felt his understanding expand.


    ¡°Is this what they call a mortal skill turning Immortal?¡± Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but mutter.


    A weaver was the upation of a mortal and didn¡¯t really have much to do with cultivation. But when they took it to the extreme, it could be applied in the work of an immortal as well.


    This was a kind of sublimation that could only be achieved after one reached the peak in their art.


    ¡®I can work with this... I don¡¯t need to replicate this after all, just need to figure out the runes and formations that allow it to link up with theplete teleportation array of the Ind.¡¯ Lin Mu now had a direction.


    At first it was difficult for him to observe the runes, but the more he watched them, the more he started to see the details.


    After six hours, Lin Mu could now see the patterns on the fabric just by his naked eyes. The minute irregrities in the threads were allowing him to see the shape of the runes.


    ¡®So this is how they link it up... instead of making a direct channel they are using the chaotic spatial disturbances.¡¯ Lin Mu figured it out.


    Usually the way a Teleportation talisman worked in a closed array setting like the Land of Exile was to use preexisting channels. These were locked and could only be used if one knew the exact configuration of runes.


    But the talismans that the three immortals of Huyun Chuan had brought weren¡¯t official ones. After all, they were breaking out a convict in the general sense. So they needed another method.


    This ended up being something that Lin Mu had experience before already.


    ¡°So they do know about the existence of the spatial disturbances in the Broken Chasm.¡± Lin Mu recalled the asteroid he had ended up on.


    He was pulled there through a weak part of the spatial fabric after all. And this led to there being spatial disturbances.


    But this gave Lin Mu some different thoughts.


    ¡®I don¡¯t think they know about the indigo woman in the lesser void. They simply know of the weakness in the spatial fabric... Still this is good for us. If it was through direct channels they might have detected so many people leaving.


    But since this is utilizing the chaotic spatial disturbances to make a new channel, they would not be able to detect it. Plus theck of personnel outside the Rust Hail Mountains should also make this easier...¡¯ Lin Mu analyzed it slowly.


    Having understood how it worked, Lin Mu now needed to apply this to their situation.


    After all, he couldn¡¯t just use a talisman for the entire tribe. He would need something a lot more concrete... he needed a proper array.


    ...


    Two days had passed since the arrival of the three Immortals of the Huyun n. They had been waiting for Lin Mu to be done, but so far there had been no news.


    ¡°How long is he going to take?¡± one of the immortals said with frustration.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu is still working on it. Just wait patiently. A few more days is nothing to an immortal.¡± Elder Niji said calmly.


    He was sitting in the area of the convicts and was in charge of watching over the immortals. His eyes stayed closed though, and he simply responded to them without looking.


    ¡°Let it be, we can afford to wait some more.¡± The second immortal said in a low voice.


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    Hearing this, the first immortal had a tense expression on his face. He reached towards hispanion before whispering.


    ¡°You do know the longer we wait around here, the less time we will have to get back? What if the war starts before that?¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t... The armistice will not be broken this fast. They have guaranteed at least ten years. We still have three months left.¡± The second immoral replied.


    ¡°This only for the Purple Sparrow Kingdom. We cannot trust the Great Wave Kingdom to do the same.¡± The first immortal said with nervousness.


    ¡°Shhh! We shouldn¡¯t let this be known. Speaking about it is taboo. Even Eleventh master cannot know about it.¡± The third immortal warned them.


    With that the three immortals kept silent, not knowing that all of it had been recorded by the monitoring formation.


    ¡°A war between the Purple Sparrow Kingdom and the Great Wave kingdom? Noble Lin Mu will definitely want to know this.¡± Head Warrior Kulo who was monitoring the mirrors muttered.


    Intending to do this, Kulo went to meet up with Lin Mu at his residence. A couple minutester, he turned up at Lin Mu¡¯s residence, but found it to be empty.


    ¡°Huh? Where did he go?¡± Kulo was confused. ¡°He was here just an hour ago...¡±


    Head Warrior Kulo spread his spirit sense and soon spotted Lin Mu.


    ¡°What¡¯s he doing there?¡± Kulo found Lin Mu to be near the empty area of the tribe.


    This was the area where the excavation work had been stopped. There were no buildings here and neither were there any Haima Tribe people there.


    Ever since they had found out that they could leave the Land of Exile, they had stopped all excavation work, thus the workers had had reason to be here. All of them worked hard on cultivating and getting stronger instead.


    Upon reaching the area though, Head Warrior Kulo saw Lin Mu working on the ground.


    In his hand he held a short sword and spirit Qi seemed to be covering his other hand.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    ~CRACK~


    Lin Mu shed out the short sword, creating marks on the ground. Then when these marks were proper enough, he would inject spirit Qi with his other hand turning the marks into runes!

 Chapter 1326 An Excuse For War And Array Assistance

    <h4> 1326 An Excuse For War And Array Assistance </h4>


    Kulo carefully watched Lin Mu while he worked. Only when ten minutes passed and Lin Mu still seemed to be oblivious did he call out to him.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu.¡± Head Warrior Kulo said in a low voice so as not to startle Lin Mu.


    ¡°Ah! You¡¯re right on time!¡± Lin Mu replied, gazing at the man.


    ¡°I am?¡± Kulo asked.


    ¡°Yes, I was just about to ask the tribe to send some helpers.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°You need helpers? For the array you are making?¡± Head Warrior Kulo asked, feeling a bit surprised.


    This was due to the fact that in the n, there was no one that could match up with Lin Mu¡¯s skill in formations. Only Kunzi mighte close to it, and even then it was doubtful whether the man could help in the case of a spatial type array.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing difficult. I just need ten people to help channel their spirit Qi into the stabilizing poles.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Ah, that can be done.¡± Head Warrior Kulo said before calling for a few people.


    ¡°Did you have something else to say to me? Seeing as you are here, I reckon it has to do with the Huyun n immortals?¡± Lin Mu questioned, putting down the formation g in his hand.


    ¡°Yes... I heard something concerning.¡± Head Warrior Kulo answered in a serious tone.


    ¡°And what might that be?¡± Lin Mu asked, paying attention to the man fully.


    ¡°The immortals of the Huyun n were urging Elder Niji. They asked when you would be done and that they were in a hurry to leave. Elder Niji cated them though, and they calmed down.


    But when the three of them left to go elsewhere, I heard their conversation.¡± Head Warrior Kulo said before taking out the mirror and letting Lin Mu watch it.


    Since the monitoring arrays recorded everything within its range, the interactions of everyone in the prison section were free for Lin Mu to observe.


    ¡°A war and an armistice...¡± Lin Mu¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°I knew there was more to this. There is no way Huyun Chuan being sent here was just a power y by the Great Wave kingdom. They had some other goal to aplish.¡± He said in a serious tone.


    ¡°Do you think the forced arrest of Huyun Chuan was a way for them to incite a war?¡± Head Warrior Kulo also managed to grasp the crux of the situation.


    ¡°That might just be possible. After all, Huyun Chuan is the king¡¯s nephew thus there would be a great chance they would be willing to go to war for an offense like that.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°But they didn¡¯t do that, did they? They sent Huyun Chuan here.¡± Head Warrior Kulo said, feeling a bit conflicted.


    ¡°That they did. Which was definitely to prevent a war from breaking out immediately.¡± Lin Mu confirmed.


    ¡°Why would the great wave kingdom want to incite a war with the Purple Sparrow Kingdom? Aren¡¯t the eight kingdoms in an alliance?¡± Head Warrior Kulo was at a loss.


    ¡°Whatever it might be, we just need to stay away from it.¡± Lin Mu inly said.


    ¡°Hmm... should we interrogate them?¡± Head Warrior Kulo inquired.


    ¡°No, that would not be good. Just let them be and keep on watching them. If Huyun Chuan can be a potential trigger for a war, we have to make them wait here as long as possible.¡± Lin Mu stated. ¡°At the very least, they can¡¯t leave unless we have the teleportation array ready, too.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Noble Lin Mu.¡± Head Warrior Kulo agreed.


    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~


    In this time, the ten Haima members that Kulo had asked for arrived.


    ¡°Follow the orders of Noble Lin Mu properly.¡± Head Warrior Kulo said while taking his leave.


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    ¡°What do you need us to do, Noble Lin Mu?¡± The Haima members asked.


    All of them were at the Dao Shell realm and were quite strong now.


    ¡°I need you all to take each of those poles.¡± Lin Mu pointed to the stack of poles kept on the side.


    The poles were made out of an unknown material new to the Haima members. They didn¡¯t question it though, and followed what Lin Mu was telling them.


    Lin Mu had already finished setting up the core of this formation a while back and now only needed the help of the Haima members to do the next part.


    ¡°We¡¯ve done it, Noble Lin Mu.¡± The Haima members replied.


    ¡°Now go and stand on the ten spots you seen on the ground. There are five on each side.¡± Lin Mu instructed and watched them do it.


    Lin Mu too worked on the central part of the array and was rapidly making runes. The runes flew off into the air before merging into the main array. This continued for thirty more minutes; by this time, the Haima members were tense.


    ¡°Alright, on the count of three, I want you all to stab the rods into the ground.¡± Lin Wu stated. ¡°One... Two... Three... Now!¡± he ordered.


    ~HAA~


    ~QIYAAA~


    A mix of various cries was while the Haima tribe members stabbed the rod into the ground sessfully.


    ¡°Good, now inject your spirit Qi!¡± Lin Wu ordered next.


    ¡°Yes, Noble Lin Mu!¡± they Haima tribe members controlled their excitement before doing as they were told.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, the rods glowed brightly, turning into what looked like a massive floodlight. The light from them illuminated the tribe¡¯s area and extremes. The convicts might have seen it too, if they didn¡¯t fully block the effects.


    Which was the first thing that Lin Mu had done: setting up a primary perimeter.


    The Haima tribe members had to close their eyes, unable to see.


    ¡°Keep at it!¡± Lin Mu urged them on.


    He too worked on the array, his eyes closed due to the bright light. Instead, his spirit sense weaved thorough the air, working on his behalf and observing for him.


    This continued for about an hour before the entire work was done.


    ¡°You can stop now.¡± Lin Mu permitted.

 Chapter 1327 Their Wait Is Over

    <h4> 1327 Their Wait Is Over </h4>


    Three more days passed and the Immortals of the Huyun n were still waiting.


    ¡°How many more days do you think he¡¯ll take?¡± The first immortal asked.


    ¡°Considering he¡¯s trying to analyze a teleportation talisman of that level, I doubt he even has the basic understanding of its production method yet.¡± The second immortal replied.


    ¡°Still... should we go and urge them again. Best to keep them on their toes.¡± The first immortal said.


    ¡°We may as well.¡± The third immortal stood up from his seat.


    He made his way to the door of the residence and was just about to open the door, when he felt the door move.


    ¡°Huh?¡± the third immortal raised a brow in surprise.


    ~CREAK~


    ¡°Oh? Seems like you were on your way out.¡± The one who had opened the door was none other than Elder Niji.


    ¡°What is it?¡± The second immortal asked, finding it strange that the old man hade to them this time.


    For the past three days they had been the ones going to him. They repeated the pattern of urging them, but today it seemed to be different. Over all, it had now been a week since the Huyun n¡¯s Immortals had arrived at the tribe.


    ¡°I have the news that you have been waiting for.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°Huh? What?¡± The first immortal was surprised by this.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu is done studying for now, you can take the talisman and leave now.¡± Elder Niji answered.


    ¡°Really?¡± the third immortal found it to be strange. ¡®Did he just give up on it?¡¯ he thought.


    ¡°Yes, you all are free to leave. You can take your Eleventh master away.¡± Elder Niji permitted before handing the Teleportation Talisman back.


    The three immortals were silent and froze for a moment before recovering.


    ¡°Eleventh master! Come!¡± the third immortal quickly called for Huyun Chuan while the first immortal approached the elder.


    ¡°What about the Eleventh master¡¯s sealed cultivation base?¡± the first immortal questioned.


    They couldn¡¯t forget that the man still had his powers sealed after all. Without them, he would be in a really bad situation in the n.


    ¡°Of course, that promise shall be kept.¡± Elder Niji said before taking out a small pill bottle. ¡°Take this.¡± He handed it to the first immortal.


    The first immortal looked at the pill bottle and found there to be three pills inside it.


    ¡°There are three doses of the antidote. He needs to take one every day and by the third day his cultivation base will have returned.¡± Elder Niji exined Lin Mu¡¯s instructions.


    By now Huyun Chuan had also arrived in the room.


    ¡°We are really leaving?¡± Huyun Chuan was excited.


    ¡°Yes, but before that.¡± The first immortal opened the pill bottle and took out one pill. ¡°Please eat this.¡±


    ¡°Is this the antidote for my cultivation seal?¡± Huyun Chuan had a good guess.


    ¡°Yes.¡± That was all it took Huyun Chuan to quickly snatch the pill and swallow it.


    He didn¡¯t even care to check if it was a real pill or some fake. At this moment, even if a poison pill had been given to Huyun Chuan, he would still eat it the same. With how long he had been imprisoned here, he knew there were many opportunities to kill him.


    So now, there was no reason to give him anything bad. In a way, it could even be called blind trust.


    ~gulp~


    For ten seconds, there was no change in Huyun Chuan. But then half a minuteter, a faint wave of spirit Qi appeared around him.


    ~shua~


    His spirit Qi fluctuations rose and reached the Qi refraining realm. And another minuteter, they reached the core condensation realm.


    ¡°Ahahah! It is returning!¡± Huyun Chuan was pleased.


    Being unable to use his strength was really frustrating to him and even if only a portion of it had returned, it was still a lot better than before.


    ¡°See, it works. Two more pills and he¡¯ll be back to normal.¡± Elder Niji said with a mild smile.


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    But the immortal didn¡¯t just stop there, he used his spirit sense to scan Huyun Chuan for any problems.


    ¡®Things seem to be fine... no wait!¡¯ The immortal soon found something different in Huyun Chuan¡¯s Dantian.


    Narrowing his eyes, he checked it in detail finding it to be rather unexpected.


    ¡®His foundation... it became stable?¡¯ the immortal could tell that Huyun Chuan¡¯s cultivation base and foundation had be stable.


    Not just that, but his Dantian and meridians seem to be tougher than before too.


    Everyone in the n knew that Huyun Chuan wascking in talent, but now it felt like he was no less than the talented members of the n.


    ¡®How¡¯s this possible?¡¯ the immortal didn¡¯t know, but decided to leave it be for now. ¡®The first priority is to return to the n.¡¯


    ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Huyun Chuan asked.


    ¡°No... nothing eleventh master.¡± The immortal shook his head.


    ¡°Let¡¯s leave then.¡± The second immoral replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll send you out.¡± Elder Niji waved his hand, controlling the array of the tribe.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Four transportation gates appeared under the Huyun m members and sent them out of the mountain.


    ¡°We¡¯re out?¡± Huyun Chuan was at a loss.


    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t wait any time.¡± The third immortal said, taking out his teleportation talisman.


    The others nodded and took out their talismans too.


    ¡°Use this with us, Eleventh master. Make sure you hold it firmly and don¡¯t let go.¡± The first immortal instructed.


    ¡°I know how to use a teleportation talisman. I¡¯ve done it before.¡± Huyun Chuan took the talisman.


    ¡°One, two, three... NOW!¡± The first immortal shouted.


    ~HONG~


    The four talismans were activated at once, and a suction force appeared around the Huyun n members. It caused them to be pushed out of the world and into a teleportation channel.


    A couple secondster, no traces of them were left.


    ~step~step~step~


    A momentter, three people appeared there.


    ¡°Is that fine, Noble Lin Mu?¡± Elder Niji asked.


    ¡°Yes... I¡¯ve locked onto their location.¡± Lin Mu said with a smile. ¡°We can get out of here too now. Announce this to the n!¡±

 Chapter 1328 Teleporting Out

    <h4> 1328 Teleporting Out </h4>


    Lin Mu had intentionally sent Elder Niji to talk to the Huyun n¡¯s immortals as he had another task.


    He had been waiting outside the tribe and watched the Huyun n¡¯s people use the teleportation talisman. This allowed him to lock on to it right away and he could now use that as a reference of the teleportation array he had built.


    ¡®Finding a safe ce tond would have been difficult and we would have to leave it to luck. But with these four reaching it safely, I¡¯ll know what route to take...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Turning around Lin Mu faced Elder Niji and Head Warrior Kulo.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go ahead and scout out a ce for us tond. Get the tribe ready till then.¡± Lin Mu spoke.


    ¡°Will you be able to return though Noble Lin Mu?¡± Head Warrior Kulo was confused.


    ¡°If it was the others, they wouldn¡¯t be able to since the array only works one way. But I can do it manually too.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    With the ring¡¯s help, it wasn¡¯t that difficult for Lin Mu to simply travel back through the same teleportation channel. Of course, this was only applied to him and others wouldn¡¯t be able to do the same.


    The Haima tribe would still take a little time to gather everyone up, which was more than enough for Lin Mu to scout ahead.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll get the tribe.¡± Elder Niji agreed.


    With that, the three of them returned to the n and Lin Mu quickly went to the Teleportation Array. Head Warrior Kulo apanied him and was intending to stand guard at the entrance.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a few minutes.¡± Lin Mu said as he activated the array ording to the reference coordinates.


    ~SHUA~


    The runes glowed brightly as a circr portal opened in front of Lin Mu.


    ~huu~


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope that luck is still on our side...¡± Lin Mu muttered before taking a step forward.


    ~SHUA~


    His body was sucked into the portal, and the array stopped working.


    Lin Mu found himself in a teleportation channel, but couldn¡¯t see much before he reached its end. After all, this channel was only connecting two ces within the Rust Sky world rather than different worlds.


    The distance traveled was short through the teleportation channel.


    ~THUD~


    In just a few seconds, Lin Mu found himselfnding on a wooden floor. His spirit sense spread immediately, giving him lots of information at once. And as soon as he got that, he was disappointed.


    Fade...


    Lin Mu¡¯s body entered the parallel dimension and quickly stepped away. Twenty secondster, he returned to the world, this time hiding behind a tall building.


    ~phew~


    ¡°Almost got seen...¡± Lin Mu took a breath of relief.


    The ce he had arrived was evidently one of the nine ports of the Ind. And from therge g, Lin Mu could tell it was port number four.


    ¡®Didn¡¯t they decide to make everyone leave? Why are there still people here?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    The ce he hadnded was smack dab in the middle of the port. Just ten meters away from Lin Mu, there stood several cultivators. Thankfully, they were all at the Dao Shell realm or the Nascent soul realm, allowing Lin Mu to hide his presence.


    And even if they had sensed the spatial fluctuations, it was toote for them to realize someone hade out of it.


    ¡°Huh, seems like they are quite nervous.¡± Lin Mu could see the cultivators walking around with stiff expressions.


    He tried to look for Huyun Chuan and the three immortals, but didn¡¯t find them here.


    ¡°That¡¯s strange... how are they gone already?¡± Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


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    Since he had followed their coordinates, the Huyun n¡¯s people should havended there too. And even if they were immortal, it should have taken them some time to get away. Barely a minute had passed since they had left, and Lin Mu had been quick too.


    ¡°Unless...¡± Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, activating spatial perception.


    ~HUALA~


    Within his vision, several faint specks of light could be seen. Most of these were pale white in color and were ignored by him, but there was one speck that was ck in color. It was also the only one that had the spatial fabric around it weakened.


    ¡°So they had another teleportation talisman... this time a long distance one.¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu had been wondering how the Huyun n¡¯s people were intending to take away Huyun Chuan from between the eyes of so many people. There were only two ways out of the Ind after all.


    The main method was to take a ship, and the second was to fly.


    But one must not forget,ing to the ind was different. There was one more method, the third one being teleportation. Huyun Chuan had arrived using this method, after all.


    ¡®It does make sense for their n to have a long distance teleportation talisman that can allow them to return to the kingdom,¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.


    Unfortunately for Lin Mu, there was no way to utilize this. The coordinates were far too apart for him to sense and they had been gone as well.


    Instead of that, Lin Mu decided to learn why the cultivators here were nervous. And it didn¡¯t take long for him to hear some interesting tidbits.


    ¡°How can a random portal open on the port? First the falling spirit Qi and now this...¡±


    ¡°Who knows? We just need to wait for a while more. Once the second ship arrives, we can leave too.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re lucky that the port lord gave out his orders quick enough. If it took any long, we would have missed the roster for the ships.¡±


    The cultivator guards were discussion amongst themselves.


    ¡®So they are nervous because of Huyun n¡¯s people. I guess them using the long distance teleportation array must have startled them all. Though it does make sense since they are already worried because of theck of spirit Qi.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 1329 Leaving The Land Of Exile

    <h4> 1329 Leaving The Land Of Exile </h4>


    Lin Mu continued his survey of the port and found that there weren¡¯t that many people on it now. There were a total of thirty nine cultivators here, the strongest of whom was a cultivator at the Immortal Ascension realm.


    He was also the vice-port lord.


    ¡°Hmm... this port will not be of much use. There are no ships here...¡± Lin Mu decided to take his leave.


    Running away, Lin Mu quickly circled around to the next cliff.


    ¡°This should be far enough...¡± Lin Mu activated the teleportation channel again using the ring¡¯s power as well as a formation te.


    ~SHUA~


    The portal sucked him in and a few secondster, Lin Mu was back in the Haima tribe.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu!¡± Head Warrior Kulo saw Lin Mu reappearing. ¡°Is everything fine?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Safety wise yes. Though I haven¡¯t found any ships on the port, I appeared at.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Are you going back again?¡± Head Warrior Kulo asked seeing Lin Mu turn around.


    ¡°Yes, I need to find at least one ship for us. Even if we take turns swimming, there still needs to be a ce for us to rest.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Of course...¡± Head Warrior Kulo nodded.


    This was the n they hade up with. If they found enough ships for all of them, it would be all well and good. But if not, then they needed at least one ship. The Haima Tribe members were all attenuated with the water element and would be at home in the sea.


    But there was still a limit to that as beasts might attack them. Then the weaker members also needed to rest and recover.


    This was the final n they had to choose. They had even considered building their own ship with the wood that Lin Mu had in storage. But after learning from Kunzi that the ships used in Sea of Muxuan were special, that option had to be dropped.


    The ships were all peak grade spirit tools on their own with some even reaching the Pseudo-immortal grade. They had several formations on them that allowed them to conceal their presence.


    There were also defensive arrays on them that could allow them to be protected from aquatic beasts¡¯ attack. This was the scope of protection that was needed for a ship to sail the sea of Muxuan.


    ~SHUA~


    Another portal opened before sucking Lin Mu into it. The familial feeling of speeding through the channel was felt once more.


    ¡®Seems like I¡¯m getting used to it... I no longer feel the pressure I felt before.¡¯ Lin Mu momentarily thought before arriving at another port.


    This time though, he was prepared and directly entered the ground using Phase. It all happened in one smooth motion and made it seem like no one had appeared. Only when he was several meters deep did Lin Mu use his spirit sense to scout out the area.


    ¡°Huh... its empty.¡± Lin Mu returned to the surface upon learning this.


    The port was deserted, and it looked like the people had left hastily. The doors of the buildings and warehouses weren¡¯t locked either. Which was rather suspicion considering even the door of the prison was open.


    ¡®Though it doesn¡¯t matter since they sent all the prisoners in before that...¡¯ Lin Mu guessed.


    This port was rather small and was numbered six. But it still held a surprise for Lin Mu.


    ¡°A ship! Perfect!¡± Lin Mu spotted the ship docked at the jetty.


    The ship was still decentlyrge, being nearly two hundred meters long. For a mortal world, this would be a massive warship, but for an immortal world, this was something mundane.


    ¡°It should suffice for our use. Housing at least a quarter of the tribe shouldn¡¯t be a problem if they squeeze in.¡± Lin Mu reckoned.


    They couldn¡¯t care forfort right now after all. Their priority was to get away in the first ce.


    Lin Mu then checked the ship with his spirit sense, getting familiar with the arrays.


    ¡°Hmm... While it is intended to be used by an immortal, we should still be able to power it with our spirit Qi.¡± Lin Mu muttered.


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    He had quickly understood how to operate the ship through the arrays. One merely needed to use their spirit sense to manipte the array and the ship would move ordingly. In some ways, it could be said to be a lot more simple than sailing a mortal ship.


    Though this ship was intended to be powered by an immortal and its main fuel was immortal Qi. Spirit Qi work, but with lowered efficiency.


    ¡®I¡¯ll brand it just in case... don¡¯t want someone else taking it away.¡¯ Lin Mu took some precaution.


    Done with this, he quickly activated the teleportation channel and returned to the tribe.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu!¡± A mix of thousands of voices was heard.


    Lin Mu raised his eyes, watching the entire Tribe waiting for him.


    ¡°Ah, you all are ready?¡± Lin Mu asked before realizing he had already spent an hour at the sixth port.


    ¡°We all are ready, Noble Lin Mu!¡± Head Warrior Kulo stated.


    ¡°Very well, no use in waiting around.¡± Lin Mu gestured to the tribe. ¡°Dao Treading realm member¡¯s head in first.¡± He instructed.


    ¡°Yes!¡± one by one, the Haima tribe members started being teleported away to the sixth port.


    Lin Mu had already locked onto it, and the array would only send them there now instead of other ports.


    Even if the teleportation array was fast, it still took about fifteen minutes for the entire tribe to be sent out to the port. Lin Mu was thest to walk in with Elder Niji and Kunzi.


    ~SHUA~


    Appearing on the hard wood dock, Kunzi looked around in disbelief. The scent of salt filled his nose, confirming the fact that he was indeed on the port.


    ¡°We really are out!¡± Kunzi was excited.


    ¡°Yes, we are...¡± Elder Niji¡¯s said a wide smile on his face.


    ¡°Come, let¡¯s get to the ship.¡± Lin Mu stated with a simr smile.

 Chapter 1330 Hai As In Ocean, Ma As In Horse

    <h4> 1330 Hai As In Ocean, Ma As In Horse </h4>


    The Sea of Muxuan was something most Haima tribe members had only heard about and never seen. The younger members didn¡¯t even know the term sea until just a few months ago, when the scope of their education was expanded.


    ¡°WOW!¡± The Haima tribe members couldn¡¯t help but exim as they saw the vast sea.


    No matter where they looked, all they saw was water. The Sea of Muxuan was dark blue in color, and even at the edge of the ind, the depth was significant. This was also the reason why there was no beach on this ind nor a rocky shore.


    But this was not the end of their surprise.


    ¡°This feeling... it is... Homely...¡± Elder Niji spoke.


    ¡°Indeed... Quite unusual...¡± Head Warrior Kulo agreed.


    Both of them were the highest ranked experts of the Haima Tribe and were thus the most sensitive to the Dao of Water.


    ¡°I still remember the first time I saw a sea, it certainly was an amazing experience...¡± Lin Mu recalled his time visiting Jiao Long City.


    That time, he had Jing Luo and Little Shrubby with him and he was only at the nascent soul realm, too.


    ~Sigh~


    Shaking off the feeling of nostalgia, Lin Mu looked ahead. But then he saw some of the Haima tribe members touching the sea.


    ¡°It¡¯s cold!¡±


    ¡°Come,e! Check this out!¡±


    ¡°Ugh! It tastes weird.¡±


    The Haima tribe members were certainly quite interested in the sea. While they knew water very well, it was their first time having sea water that was saline. In the Land of Exile, they didn¡¯t really have salt.


    Whatever salt they got in their diet was the naturally present salt in the Stone Flesh mushrooms as well as dissolved salts in the water. It was a low concentration, so they didn¡¯t even taste it.


    Even something as basic as salt was a novelty to the tribe now.


    A few minutes passed like this as the Tribe got used to the sea. During this time, some members of the tribe were setting up the Ship with the help of the prisoners. The prisoners had been promised freedom in exchange for their help.


    The more ¡®problematic¡¯ and unforgivable prisoner had already been eliminated in the tribe, and only those with pardonable crimes were present now. This made their work quite a lot easier.


    ¡°So what do you think, Elder Niji?¡± Lin Mu asked, seeing the old man gazing at the horizon.


    ¡°There is certainly some link between us and the sea.¡± Elder Niji said slowly.


    ~SHUA~


    He waved his hand, and the water rippled. Then in the next second it rose up like a pir, following elder Niji¡¯s control perfectly.


    Lin Mu had already seen this back in the tribe, but he could tell that something was different this time.


    ¡°It is a lot better.¡± Lin Mumented.


    ¡°Not just that...¡± Elder Niji replied. ¡°It¡¯s an entirely new feeling.¡± He said before stepping into the water directly.


    Lin Mu raised his brows, but then saw that the old man was actually standing on top of the water instead of sinking.


    If this was all there was, it would be fine, but more changes continued to happen. Thin streams of water climbed up from Elder Niji¡¯s four legs and covered them entirely. The water reached his waist, then torso, and finally the head.


    With his entire body coated in water, Elder Niji seemed rather different. He closed his eyes and entered a state of trance, closely sensing the water all around him.


    ¡®Is he gaining enlightenment?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    Not wanting to disturb this, Lin Mu let the others continued their work while he observed the man silently. Regardless, the ship would need some time more to be ready.


    Since it was originally meant to bemandeered by an immortal, the power needed to run it was also higher. Plus, one needed to be familiar with the channels that were used to power it so as to not make a mistake.


    This was exactly what the members of the tribe, as well as the prisoners, were doing. After all, they weren¡¯t as well versed in formations like Lin Mu and needed time to understand them. And this was after Lin Mu had given a quick manual to them.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu was brought out from his thoughts as he heard the wind starting to blow.


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    ~RIPPLE~


    The sound of water was nowing from Elder Niji and his body was glowing in a blue light as well. The water covering him directly seeped into his body, chasing its color.


    Now instead of the dull grey brown skin, Elder Niji had taken on a blue grey hue. And not just that, faint wave like patterns were also appearing on his skin, simr to how there were on the Nascent souls of all Haima Tribe members.


    Lin Mu raised his brows, finding it all to be rather extreme.


    ¡°His aura is changing as well...¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    The other Haima tribe members were stunned by this scene as well. But at the same time, they felt a familial connection forming between them and Elder Niji. It was as if they would know where he was at all times and vice versa.


    ~HUU~


    Elder Niji took a deep breath and opened his eyes. They too had changed, taking on an aquamarine tone.


    ¡°So that is it... now I know...¡± Elder Niji muttered before raising his head.


    ¡°We are the Haima tribe. We belong to the seas and oceans... Hai as in ocean, Ma as in Horse. We reigned upon the seas like the horses in a prairie. This is our home and our domain!¡± Elder Niji dered.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Upon his deration, the sea shook and the skies trembled!


    Lin Mu felt Elder Niji¡¯s aura rising even more as the clouds started to churn.


    The other Haima tribe members were also shocked, all of them stopping their work and gazing at the scene. The same could be said for the prisoners as well.

 Chapter 1331 Immortal Tribulation!

    <h4> 1331 Immortal Tribtion! </h4>


    Elder Niji¡¯s deration was something that only Lin Mu understood. This was because they were said in Dao script and its meaning was a little cryptic. Only those that had deeply learned it would be able to understand it.


    ¡°So the name of Haima held such a deep meaning...¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    Since it was a new word and had no written character, Lin Mu didn¡¯t even know it belonged to the Dao script. But elder Niji¡¯s words had allowed Lin Mu to fully understand it.


    ¡°Hai as in the ocean and Ma as in a Horse... so this is the true meaning of the name Ocean Horses, the ones that reign upon water.¡± Lin Mu muttered in understanding.


    Now that he thought over it again, it did seem rather obvious. The Haima tribe had four legs and were rather fast too. This could bepared to a horse, but them their jumping ability was quite high too which was not something normal horses had.


    ¡®Guess we canpare that to an Immortal Beast horse?¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.


    ~GUSH~


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    The water gushed and Elder Niji rose from the sea. The clouds continued to churn as a feeling Lin Mu was familiar with appeared.


    ¡°Tribtion?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow. ¡°No, wait... it¡¯s not a Heavenly Tribtion...¡±


    ~HUALA~


    A vortex of spirit Qi formed in the skies and continued to churn.


    ¡°He¡¯s breaking through... he¡¯s breaking through to the Immortal realm. That¡¯s an Immortal Qi vortex!¡± Immortal Taegu¡¯s voice could be heard from the ship.


    ¡°He¡¯s really breaking through?¡± Lin Mu was surprised.


    Elder Niji had reached the Immortal Ascension realm not long ago and now he was already progressing to the next level.


    ¡®Guess the sea was the trigger for this.¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.


    He couldn¡¯t sense the immortal Qi vortex but he could very well see the spirit Qi vortex. It was quite big and all of it was pouring into Elder Niji¡¯s body.


    ~HONG~


    A humming sound was heard as Elder Niji broke through to the False Immortal realm!


    This breakthrough was rather quick as all one needed to reach the False Immortal Realm was to absorb some Immortal Qi into their bodies. Only when they overcame their Immortal Tribtion would be truly in the Immortal Realm.


    And from the current situation, it seemed like Elder Niji was fully intending to do it right now.


    The Immortal Tribtion appeared soon too, as the heavens showed their might.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In just a second, a mass of giant clouds gathered above elder Niji and burst out with rain. The rain water was heavy with each drop weighed thousands of kilograms.


    ~SPLASH~ SPLASH~ SPLASH~


    Whenever a drop fell to the sea, it created a loud ssh with water reaching a height of nearly a hundred meters. One could tell from this that if Elder Niji hadn¡¯t gone away from the Haima Tribe members, they might have easily gotten injured from this.


    The heavy water fell on Elder Niji¡¯s body, but he was unaffected. To him, it was as if this was just normal rain. The drops of water felt like feathers instead of heavy lead.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Having endured this, Elder Niji looked rather calm. But the heavens were not so.


    ~WHOOSH~


    All the drops of heavy water that had fallen till now rose back up from the sea. They flew up before covering Elder Niji in it. The amount quickly reached arge quantity, soon turning into a fifty meter wide sphere of water.


    And at the center of this sphere was none other than Elder Niji!


    ¡°He¡¯s actually triggered this Immortal Tribtion?!¡± Immortal Taegu seemed to be surprised.


    ¡°Is there something different to this?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    Since this was Lin Mu¡¯s first time seeing an immortal tribtion, he wanted to observe and analyze everything. He could easily tell that Elder Niji was taking the water elemental Immortal Tribtion.


    But he didn¡¯t know that there was something special about this. If not for Immortal Taegu¡¯s words, he would think that this was how all water Immortal tribtions were.


    ¡°It is... this is not just a normal water Immortal Tribtion. Its actually a Three Phase Water Tribtion!¡± Immortal Taegu said with a hint of fear in his voice.


    ¡°Immortal Tribtions are also of different types and not everyone experiences the same kind. The seven elemental immortal tribtions are merely generalization for the tribtions.


    For each individual element, there can be several different kinds of tribtion. There is the most basic tribtion that a majority of individuals were experience and then more deadly variants that kill most people.¡± Immortal Taegu exined.


    ¡°Is there any difference between those that ovee the normal immortal tribtion and a variant?¡± Lin Mu questioned with interest.


    ¡°More often than not, there is no difference. Rather, one is considered to be fortunate if they have a basic type of tribtion. They are the easiest to ovee and are more predictable.


    For most immortals, whether they survive a basic or variant tribtion, their strength after that is almost the same.¡± Immortal Taegu spoke.


    ¡°So, there is no advantage?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°There is... but not many can take advantage of it.¡± Immortal Taegu replied.


    ¡°Those that experience variant Immortal Tribtions also have a chance toprehend the Dao directly. After all, when an immortal tribtion is underway, the Heavens are directly opening themselves to us.


    This is the ideal time toprehend the Dao. Thus, those who can take this opportunity toprehend it while also holding back the Immortal Tribtion will gain a lot.¡± He exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head upon learning this. It was simr to variant and unique Heavenly Tribtions, expect one could directlyprehend the Dao.


    When a Heavenly Tribtion happened, one didn¡¯t really have a chance to do the same since they simply hadn¡¯t reached that point. Only upon entering the Dao Shell realm would one even think about the Dao.


    ~HISS~


    While Lin Mu was thinking about all this, the condition of Elder Niji changed.


    The sphere of water started to freeze!

 Chapter 1332 The Awakening Of Haima

    <h4> 1332 The Awakening Of Haima </h4>


    ording to Immortal Taegu, the immortal Tribtion of water that Elder Niji was undergoing was called as the Three Phase Water Tribtion.


    It involved the water attacking an immortal in three different phases.


    The first phase was the heavy rain that would strike one¡¯s body.


    The second phase was the sphere that would form around their body and try to drown them.


    And finally, the third phase was what Elder Niji was experiencing right now. The freezing phase that would try to kill an immortal by freezing them solid.


    One could even say that it simted the natural cycle of water. It started with the spring rain that would fall to the earth. It would then gather into ake in summer before freezing up in the winter.


    ¡°He... he¡¯s fine?¡± Immortal Taegu said in a shocked voice.


    Elder Niji who was contained within the frozen sphere seemed to be fine. His eyes were open and he casually waved his hand through the solid ice. To him, the hard ice was the same as air, and was cracked up with ease.


    ~KACHA~


    The ice sphere shattered, freeing Elder Niji who gazed at the skies with calm eyes.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A gust of wind blew from the east, taking away all the clouds in the sky.


    ¡°He passed it... He passed it just like that...¡± Immortal Taegu was speechless.


    He had never heard of anyone passing an immortal tribtion like this. Not to mention a difficult variant immortal tribtion like the Three Phase Water tribtion.


    ~HUALA~


    Having ovee the tribtion, Elder Niji epted the gift of the heavens that came in the form of an infusion of Immortal Qi. His meridians were nourished by the Immortal Qi and his tissues greedily sucked it in as well.


    It as if his body had undergone a baptism.


    His white hair which had only recently grown back started to change color. In just a minute, it went from white, to grey to ck. And not just that, the deep wrinkles on Elder Niji¡¯s face eased up as well and the age spots lightened.


    The old man who looked to be in his seventies was now looking to be in his fifties instead.


    ¡°Congrattions Elder Niji. You are an immortal now.¡± Lin Mu said feeling really happy.


    ~Sigh~


    ¡°To think just a year ago I was worried about finding an heir for my position. And now I have more than enough lifespan to raise several heirs.¡± Elder Niji said with a sigh.


    When Lin Mu originally met Elder Niji, his total lifespan was four thousand years and he was close to the end of it. But then he broke through to the Immortal Ascension realm, letting his lifespan increase to six thousand years.


    And now that he had finally be a first tribtion immortal directly, he had a grand total of four thousand years more.


    Elder Niji¡¯s next Immortal Tribtion wouldn¡¯t being for those many years, allowing him to stabilize the situation of the tribe.


    ¡°Seems like all you and your n needed was to leave the Land of Exile.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know the extent of it Noble Lin Mu.¡± Elder Niji shook his head. ¡°Coming out to the sea didn¡¯t just allow me to reach the Immortal realm... it awakened memories... memories that were hidden deep within my tribe¡¯s bloodline.¡±


    ¡°You awakened Bloodline Memories?!¡± Lin Mu was stunned.


    While he knew that the Haima tribe had a unique physique, he didn¡¯t expect them to have a bloodline with bloodline memories either.


    ¡°Yes... I did. It was also why I actually managed to reach the Immortal realm. I now know the truth.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    Lin Mu raised his brows, guessing what Elder Niji was getting it.


    ¡°The truth of the tribe origin?¡± Lin Mu questioned with interest.


    ¡°Indeed.¡± Elder Niji nodded his head. ¡°The Haima Tribe is a tribe that has dominion over water, whether it be the seas or the oceans. Only when we are truly within their scope can we awaken our abilities.¡± He exined.


    ¡°Then... does this mean others can awaken it just like you?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°They can indeed... Eventually. One needs to reach the Immortal Ascension realm to trigger the awakening.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°I see... guess the tribe needs to hurry up then.¡± Lin Mu chuckled.


    ¡°We¡¯ll do our best!¡± The Haima tribe¡¯s members all shouted in unison.


    They had heard the entire conversation between Lin Mu and Elder Niji after all. And it could be said that they were feeling rather proud at this moment.


    The Haima tribe had once lived in fear of immortals attacking them, and now their own tribe had its immortal.


    Not to mention, they had just learned that their tribe wasn¡¯t some weak exile, but rather the dominator of the seas and oceans.


    It wasn¡¯t that they were weak, just that they were in the wrong habitat.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start our journey then. I¡¯ll help out with driving the ship.¡± Elder Niji urged.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Lin Wu agreed before turning to Immortal Taegu. ¡°You should get to the helm and start it up.¡±


    ¡°Y-yes!¡± Immortal Taegu quickly rushed to the ship.


    He didn¡¯t dare to waste even a moment of time now.


    ¡®Too strong... simply too strong... no one can afford to offend them now...¡¯ Immortal Taegu thought to himself.


    To him the talent of the Haima Tribe seemed to be monstrous. Not to mention, he had also heard Elder Niji¡¯s words earlier.


    ¡®If they really are what they said, then... won¡¯t we have a new overlord in the Rust Sky world¡¯ Immortal Taegu thought.


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    Kunzi was having simr thoughts too, but his went a step further.


    ¡®Just the Sea of Muxuan alone is arge area filled with resources. If the Haima Tribe fully controls it, they will have more than enough resources to make their own kingdom. And if they manage to expand past it... the Rust Sky World is nearly 70% water.¡¯ Kunzi felt speechless.


    He could almost see the rise of a new empire on the horizon.

 Chapter 1333 Sailing Into The Sea

    <h4> 1333 Sailing Into The Sea </h4>


    ¡°Rise!¡± Elder Niji gesture with his hand, making the sea water rise up around the ship.


    ¡°What are you doing Elder?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°Expanding the ship.¡± Elder Niji replied while controlling the water.


    The sea water covered the ship and expanded its size. It now looked like the wooden ship was encased inside arger water ship. The most surprising part was that the water ship was actually firm.


    One wouldn¡¯t sink inside it even if they stood on it.


    ¡°Truly marvelous...¡± Lin Mu said as he touched the surface of the water ship.


    It felt like a spongy bubble to him.


    ¡°How long can you maintain this?¡± Lin Mu asked, guessing that this ability must have some high consumption.


    ¡°Almost indefinitely.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°Huh? What?!¡± Lin Mu had not expected that.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really expending any energy on this. The only energy I needed was to make its initial form. Maintaining it is automatic, and it is under the control of my Dao Embryo.


    ¡°Your Dao skill already reached this level?¡± Lin Mu knew that Dao Skills could improve, but such a vast increase was unusual.


    ¡°Awakening my tribe¡¯s bloodline has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the Dao of water.¡± Elder Niji stated. ¡°When the other tribe members also gain a body like mine, they will have awakened.¡± He said pointing to the dark blue and grey skin.


    ¡°I see...¡± Lin Mu nodded his head.


    ¡°All Haima Tribe members are to stay in the water part of the ship. Only the humans will stay in the wooden ship. You all are to take this chance to cultivate and sense the Dao Traces of water.¡± Elder Niji ordered immediately.


    ¡°Yes, elder!¡± The Haima tribe members had already seen the gains of Elder Niji, thus they wanted the same.


    ¡°S-should... Should I start the ship?¡± Immortal Taegu asked, still feeling scared.


    ¡°Yeah, do it. We are all set up.¡± Lin Mu replied before taking a seat.


    ¡°Alright.¡± Taegu spoke before cing his hands on the steering wheel.


    ~SHUA~


    A formation array appeared around the steering while to which Immortal Taegu connected.


    ¡°Forward!¡± Lin Mumanded.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Therge wood water hybrid ship took to the sea and started sailing.


    Elder Niji and Lin Mu sat in the observation row behind Immortal Taegu keeping a watch over the horizon.


    Lin Mu had also connected with the ship¡¯s array, allowing him to monitor all its functions as well as its defensive integrity.


    He looked back at the ind with aplex expression on his face.


    ¡®I would have never thought I would spend nearly two years in a ce like this...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While watching the ind, Lin Mu¡¯s gaze went to the dock which was already growing smaller with them getting far.


    ¡°Elder Niji, can you destroy that dock while making it look like a wave hit it?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°I can, but why?¡± Elder Niji asked curiously.


    ¡°It will be best to remove our tracks. If we make it look like arge wave destroyed the dock, the people of the kingdoms will not suspect anyone leaving the Land of Exile. At least for now.¡± Lin Mu exined.


    ¡°Hmm... that does make sense.¡± Elder Niji replied before raising his hand.


    ~SHUA~


    He flicked out his hand, and the wave rose from the sea as well. The wave reached a height of nearly two hundred meters before it came crashing on the dock.


    ~BOOM~


    Just like a tsunami would do, the wave devastated the dock while also taking away a portion of the ind¡¯s shore with it.


    Now there was almost no way for anyone to tell what had happened there. This would serve as an additional factor of safety for Lin Mu and the Haima Tribe.


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    ¡°Umm... What direction do you want us to go to Senior Lin Mu?¡± Immortal Taegu asked.


    They had gotten about five kilometer away from the Ind and were simply traveling in a straight line.


    ¡°Hang on, let me check.¡± Lin Mu closed his eyes and essed the ships arrays.


    Since the ship was meant to sail the Sea of Muxuan, it had several important features in it. The most important ones were none other than the navigation features.


    The best part was the fact that Lin Mu could now tell the cardinal directions!


    He now knew where north, south, west and east was. Something as simple as this had evaded him for nearly two years, and now it felt pleasing to learn again.


    ¡®Hmm... the Purple Sparrow Kingdom is located to the west while the Great Wave Kingdom is located to the northwest. We certainly cannot go to them and need to avoid that area entirely.¡¯ Lin Mu calcted the path they were taking.


    ¡°Turn to the northeast for now.¡± Lin Mu ordered.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Immortal Taegu epted.


    ¡°We need a ce for the tribe, Noble Lin Mu. Somece that is close to the sea but also having resources.¡± Elder Niji spoke.


    ¡°I had the same thought.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head. ¡°Kunzi, you said there are various inds nearby?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes, there are several of them. We should have gone to the nearest one for more ships, but considering the ¡®upgrade¡¯ I don¡¯t think we need to risk that.¡± Kunzi replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Lin Mu agreed.


    ¡°So I think the best option is to directly head east. There are hundreds of uninhabited inds that are full of resources. Normally these would be very dangerous for humans, but for the tribe... I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be a problem.¡± Kunzi suggested.


    ¡°As long as we are in the sea, the danger we¡¯ll face will be minimal. I can even mask our presence from other beasts. It¡¯ll be as if the ship is just a part of the sea.¡± Elder Niji added.


    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Lin Mu was now sure that fate was on their side. ¡°We shall head east then.¡± He decided.


    ¡°Though there is one thing we need to worry about.¡± Kunzi warned. ¡°The rifts in the sea are still dangerous.¡±

 Chapter 1334 A Month Of Sailing

    <h4> 1334 A Month Of Sailing </h4>


    The rifts in the Sea of Muxuan were quite notorious.


    Many ships and cultivators had been lost in them and every year there would be at least a hundred reports of this happening. And this was when they were witnessed in the first ce, no one knew how many were not known at all.


    ¡°What do you know about the rifts?¡± Lin Mu questioned Kunzi.


    ¡°Pretty much the same as everyone. They are spatial anomalies and can send one into random ces including the very bottom of the sea. Though there are also rumors they can send one into the great ocean directly.


    But there is no way to verify the authenticity. Plus, these rifts are random, appearing anywhere and changing their positions. Other than therge rifts which don¡¯t really move, the rest of them are pretty random.¡± Kunzi answered.


    ¡°Wait, there are actually rifts that don¡¯t move?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    ¡°Yes. There are apparently twelve such rifts in the entire Sea of Muxuan. Well, at least the ones that are discovered. Everyone avoids them at all costs and they are advised to keep a hundred kilometer distance at the very least.¡± Kunzi replied.


    This was new information for Lin Mu as even Huyun Chuan had not told him about them.


    ¡°Do you know where they are?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°Oh, they should be recorded in the navigation data of the ship. Telling where the are without the navigation arrays is very difficult. Of course this is when you are away from them, if you get within a few kilometers of it, you will certainly see it.


    Not to mention, there are often storms apanying them.¡± Kunzi answered.


    ¡°I see...¡± Lin Mu immediately essed the ship¡¯s array and found the navigation data.


    The information was stored in a rather unique way too.


    Normally when sailing on the sea, the sailors would usepass as well as the position of the stars to navigate. But on the Rust Sky world, the sky was always overcast and no stars could be see.


    This made sailing a lot harder. Even if one used apass, there was still a need for reference locations to navigate properly.


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    Thus to ovee this problem, the people of the Rust Sky world hade up with a rather novel method.


    Since the Sea of Muxuan was andlocked sea, all the kingdoms of the Eight Kingdom alliance had built specialized lighthouses on the coast. These Light houses didn¡¯t just shine light, but also specialized energy signals.


    These were simr to the howmunication jade slips worked.


    There were over ten thousand such lighthouses doing the same forming a 360 degree encirclement around the Sea of Muxuan.


    How they took advantage of this was by adding a specialized array to the ships. This array would calcte how strong or how weak each signal was and then mark the location of the ship.


    Of course, it wasn¡¯t perfectly urate. One could still get lost even when using this, due to the fact that these energy signals could be affected by external factors like storms and the rifts.


    Despite all this, it was better than nothing and could be used for the better part of the journey.


    Having learned this, the travel became easier for them.


    Furthermore, with the ability of Elder Niji to mask their presence, the travel was also a bit safer. While they encountered several aquatic beasts, these beasts didn¡¯t reallye close to them. Not to mention, they also avoided them as much as possible.


    Lin Mu got to see several different kinds of aquatic beasts too.


    Some were like normal looking, normal sized fishes and then there were gigantic ones the size of a whale. There wererge crabs and other crustaceans as well as tentacle d beasts like octopuses and squids.


    This was just the normal looking aquatic beasts. There were also those that seemed to be a mix of multiple beasts both aquatic andnd based.


    For example, Lin Mu saw a house sized beast that had the front legs of a bull, head of a catfish and the lower half of a lobster. It was simply a brand new experience for him, allowing him to expand his horizons.


    But this wasn¡¯t all either. The cultivation bases of these aquatic beasts varied greatly took.


    A majority that they encountered on the surface of the water were either at the Dao Treading realm or the First Tribtion Immortal realm. But from time to time, they could also see a deep sea beast appear.


    These were the strongest beasts in the Sea of Muxuan. The highest cultivation base that Lin Mu and the rest encountered was at the sixth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm!


    Such a cultivation base was almost at the peak of the Rust Sky world and could be a king or prime minister in any of the kingdoms. Unfortunately for them, they didn¡¯t really get to see the form of the beast.


    It was hidden within arge tornado that was traveling over the water thus they didn¡¯t dare toe close to it. Doing so would only mean going to their deaths. But they certainly did feel the pressure of a sixth Tribtion Stage immortal from that distance.


    It was strong enough to make Lin Mu shiver. It also allowed him to get aparison with the indigo woman on the asteroid. She was certainly a lot stronger than the beast they had encountered.


    Day upon day passed like this and all they saw was the endless sea along with some storms and waves.


    The Haima tribe members continued to grow stronger, with more of them entering the Dao Treading realm. It seemed like their progress was even faster now that they were out of the Land of Exile and in the sea.


    Simr to Elder Niji, the Dao Treading realm members wereprehending the Dao Traces of water a lot faster than before. Lin Mu too continued his cultivation and deepening his understanding of the Earth.

 Chapter 1335 The Strength For Independence

    <h4> 1335 The Strength For Independence </h4>


    Time passed in the blink of an eye and the second month rolled in. The Haima Tribe now had no Nascent soul realm members left. Everyone was at the Dao shell at the very minimum and even then they were in the minority.


    Over seventy percent of the members were in the Dao Treading realm with the rest in the Dao Treading realm. But among all these, only Elder Niji was at the immortal realm.


    ~SHUA~


    But soon, another change was felt.


    ¡°Seems like it is starting.¡± Elder Niji opened his eyes and looked at the back of the ship.


    Lin Mu too, woke up from his cultivation and saw that Head Warrior Kulo was having a breakthrough.


    ~HONG~


    A few minutester, the man had sessfully stepped into the Immortal Ascension realm!


    ¡°Congrattions head warrior Kulo.¡± Lin Mu praised.


    ¡°It is nothing, I just did as was expected of me.¡± Head warrior Kulo replied.


    ¡°Mmhmm, you should continue to do so. Now that you ares n the immortal Ascension realm, you should feel the bloodline of our tribe calling out to you soon enough.¡± Elder Niji suggested.


    ¡°I shall do that, yes.¡± Head Warrior Kulo sat back down, not wasting even a moment of time.


    Lin Mu looked around the ship, finding everyone other than the humans hard at cultivating.


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    ¡°Hmm... at least we haven¡¯t had any problems with the convicts.¡± Lin Mu spoke.


    ¡°They¡¯ve learned their ce. Plus, they also know they would be dropping the Axe on their foot if they did anything. Even if they manage to take control of the ship, they can¡¯t really sail very long. They don¡¯t have any immortals strong enough to protect them from the beasts either.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. And removing the more problematic ones back in the tribe was probably one of the reasons.¡± Lin Mu agreed.


    ¡°Some of them are also willing to follow the n.¡± Immortal Taegu¡¯s voice was heard from the front.


    The man had calmed down a bit in the past two months, having gotten used to the sea as well as to the presence of Lin Mu and Elder Niji. He didn¡¯t feel like he was walking on eggshells anymore, either.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow. ¡°They are?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Many of them cannot return to their homes for obvious reasons, and some don¡¯t have any homes left. Thus, they want to continue following the tribe. They have understood the situation of the tribe at this time as well.¡± Immortal Taegu exined.


    ¡°Hmm... that¡¯s good.¡± Lin Mu was satisfied with this.


    ¡°Perhaps we can make use of them while interacting with other humans.¡± Elder Niji suggested.


    This was one of the issues they were bound to happen soon enough. If the humans discovered them, or they themselves went to other humans, they were bound to question who they were.


    And it would be hard tomunicate when a majority of the tribe still didn¡¯t speak fluent human tongue.


    Then there were humans who would be bound to be interested in who they were and might even pry further.


    This might be fine if the tribe was strong enough to endure all problems that came their way. But that time was still far. The members of the tribe were still getting strong and would continue to do so.


    But to reach the level of proper independence and selfsufficiency, they needed to have several immortals within their midst.


    Lin Mu had pondered about this a lot while also discussing with elder Niji, immortal Taegu and Kunzi. He first understood what the average strength of the kingdoms and the number of immortals they might have was.


    While they couldn¡¯t really tell how many first, second, third or fourth tribtion immortals they had, they could estimate the number of fifth tribtion immortals or higher.


    The survival rate of a cultivator went down after each tribtion and thus the numbers would decrease the higher their cultivation went.


    Thus, the fifth tribtion was somewhat of a watershed. All the experts at that level and higher were the backbone of the kingdoms.


    Those at the fifth tribtion realm were the very elite soldiers of the kingdoms and empires, while those at the sixth tribtion realm were enough to be generals and kings.


    As for the seventh tribtion stage, that was the peak that could be achieved here. The total number of seventh tribtion immortals was said to be less than twenty in the entire Rust Sky world, but there might be other hidden experts.


    ¡®At least ten thousand first tribtion immortals, five thousand second tribtion immortals, one thousand third tribtion immortals, two hundred fourth tribtion immortals, fifty fourth tribtion immortals, ten sixth tribtion immortals and one seventh tribtion immortal.¡¯ Lin Mu recalled the average strength of a kingdom.


    If the Haima tribe were to truly go against them all, they needed to be at this level.


    It was certainly not something that could be achieved in a short amount of time, but it was a goal they would have to aim for.


    ~Sigh~


    ¡°Better take this in short strides... no use in over thinking.¡± Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    ~SPLASH~


    And just as he thought about that, a loud ssh could be heard in the distance.


    ¡°LAND! I SEE LAND!¡± A few of the humans shouted.


    Lin Mu immediately looked at the horizon, discovering a vague silhouette. It was almost evening, thus it was hard to see what it was clearly. But a few minutester, it became clear enough.


    ¡°An ind!¡± Immortal Taegu said with excitement.


    ¡°Let me check what it is...¡± Lin Mu quickly essed the navigation and found what the ind was.


    ¡°Huh... it is an unnamed ind. There are also no humans living on it.¡± Lin Mu said, his eyes brightening.


    ¡°Great! Shall wend there?¡± Immortal Taegu asked.


    ¡°I think we ca¡ª¡± But just as Lin Mu was about to give his permission, he paused. ¡°TURN BACK!¡± he shouted.


    ~SHUA~


    But before they could do anything, the sea and air in front of them flickered and a tall rift opened up!

 Chapter 1336 Great Trouble! Pulled Into A Rift

    <h4> 1336 Great Trouble! Pulled Into A Rift </h4>


    The appearance of the rift was very abrupt and Lin Mu couldn¡¯t detect it in time.


    By the time he sensed the spatial disturbance, it had already started to manifest.


    ¡°Shit!¡± Lin Mu cursed as he felt the pull of therge rift.


    They had seen rifts before, but this was certainly the biggest one they had seen before.


    ¡°How is there such arge rift like this? It¡¯s not even a recorded one!¡± Kunzi eximed.


    The rift was nearly three hundred meters tall, and was expanding in width. The more it expanded the more sea water was sucked into it. This also caused the ship to be pulled alongside the water.


    ¡°REVERSE!¡± Elder Niji quickly got to work and tried to amend the situation.


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    He directly controlled the sea water and forced it to flow backwards.


    ~SHUA~


    The ship rose up into the air along with arge wave.


    ~GUSH~


    Unfortunately this didn¡¯t help as they had thought. The rift only kept on increasing size and more sea water was pulled into it.


    ¡°I can¡¯t hold it back anymore!¡± Elder Niji shouted.


    Lin Mu spread his spirit sense, trying to see if he could deal with the space itself somehow.


    ¡®Dammit, what kind of a rift is this? The spatial fabric around it has turned into soft cheese.¡¯ Lin Mu discovered.


    The spatial fabric was too weak at this moment. Lin Mu reckoned if a strong enough attack hit the general area, it might tear the fabric even more. Not to mention, if Lin Mu used any of his spatial skills, there was a great chance of the entire area copsing on itself.


    ¡°What are the options now... think... coordinates! Yes spatial coordinates!¡± Lin Mu quickly tried to memorize the area¡¯s space.


    He knew there was no way to avoid the rift as of now, but he could still find a way out of they knew the coordinates.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t get much time to do this though, as the ship was soon sucked into the rift.


    ¡°Everyone hold on tight!¡± Lin Mu shouted while doing the same.


    Elder Niji heightened his control over the water part of the ship as well, to ensure the Haima members wouldn¡¯t be thrown overboard.


    ¡°This won¡¯t be enough...¡± Lin Mu knew the space would only get more turbulent.


    By now the rift was nearly six hundred meters wide, and looked like a giant maw opening up on the sea. Its inside was also grey in color, making it hard to tell where it led to.


    ¡®Considering the high force of this and the weakness of the spatial fabric, there is a great chance for it to be another ne.¡¯ Lin Mu reckoned.


    He could at least tell that the rift wasn¡¯t one of those that led them directly to the bottom of the sea.


    In just five seconds, the rift devoured the entire ship.


    The Haima members as well as the humans screamed in fear. The convicts were sure that their lives would be forfeit soon enough. The environment around them changed quickly upon their entry into the rift. From the dim light of evening, it directly became pitch ck, terrifying them to no end.


    Lin Mu though still had his spatial perception active so he could ¡®see¡¯ the area around him.


    ¡°A teleportation channel? No... its too unstable to be one.¡± Lin Mu could see that the weakness in space had carried over here as well.


    While the spatial fabric was weak outside, in here the walls of this tunnel seemed to be weaker too, having holes and tears in it.


    In this time, Immortal Taegu used the ship¡¯s arrays to illuminate the area. He was still steering the ship and needed at least some light to figure out where they were going. This allowed the people on the ship to see where they were now.


    ¡®This should be a temporary spatial channel that didn¡¯t stabilizepletely...¡¯ Lin Mu saw sea water falling through the ¡®cracks¡¯ and holes in the tunnel.


    ~ROAR~


    ~CRY~


    The people on the ship could even see a few unfortunate aquatic beasts get swept into the holes if the tunnel. And once they fell out, they were shredded into a bloody mist from the chaotic spatial energy outside the tunnel.


    This was the most terrifying part of entering the void that many only heard of. But today they were getting to witness it firsthand.


    ~RUMBLE~


    ¡°ARGH!¡± Immortal Taegu and many others grunted in pain as the ship was rocked hard. ¡°No!¡± The ship suddenly started to swerve to the side.


    ¡°Turn! We¡¯ll fall into the crack!¡± Head warrior Kulo urged.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying! I can¡¯t change the direction. The water is flying into the crack and pulling us along!¡± Immortal Taegu replied.


    Elder Niji tried to control the water directly and change the direction too, but the force of space was simply too strong.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and raised his right hand.


    ¡°MELD!¡± Lin Mumanded.


    A patch of space that they had just passed by, was ¡®gasped¡¯ by Lin Mu at that moment.


    ¡°MOVE!¡± Lin Mu sped his right hand with his left while pulling at the space.


    ~THUD~


    He was just about to be lifted into air from this force, but then he stopped controlling his body weight.


    ~CREAK~


    The entire ship creaked from the sudden weight being forced onto it.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Lin Mu kept on pulling at the space, slowing down their movement.


    ¡°ARGH!¡± Lin Mu grunted and increased his strength even more.


    He was now directly grasping the very space itself, having condensed a part of it using meld.


    ~GUSH~


    But the flow of the water was going diagonally now, making Lin Mu lift into the air again.


    ¡°I won¡¯t allow that! Aspect of heaviness!¡± Lin Mu directly quadrupled the weight of his body, using it as a crude anchor.


    ¡°We... Stopped?¡± Immortal Taegu was stunned.


    ¡°HAAA!!!! SHIFT!¡± Lin Mu gathered all his power in the right hand before pushing away.


    ~RUSH~


    The ship was forcefully diverted from its path!

 Chapter 1337 Xukong Wakes Up!

    <h4> 1337 Xukong Wakes Up! </h4>


    ~CREAK~


    The ship created loudly while the water part of it deformed around it. Elder Niji exerted more of his power and got it back into control though. If he had lost focus even for a second, a part of the Haima tribe might have just fallen out into the void.


    Lin Mu¡¯s forceful action had managed to save them from falling into the void for now.


    ¡°Haa... HAA... ha...¡± Lin Mu panted from the exertion.


    Both his body cultivation as well as Qi cultivation had been utilized to bring forth such an action. He had truly used all of his might in doing this.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Unfortunately for them, the trouble had not stopped yet. They were still in the spatial tunnel and the water was flowing forward. The ship started to move again while Immortal Taegu continued to steer it.


    For a minute, they managed to travel with no issues and avoided the cracks and holes. But then they came across a wide crack that covered half of the tunnel¡¯s base.


    ¡°Ugh, not again!¡± Lin Mu stood up and used meld once more.


    This time though, he had to pull the ship for quite some distance before they managed to avoid the crack.


    Even with Lin Mu¡¯s quick recovery and high stamina, such a massive action was tiring. And this was despite the fact that Immortal Taegu was actively steering the ship and Elder Niji controlling the water.


    They were now feeling like a bug that was being swept away by water in a pipe.


    Lin Mu diverted the direction of the ship, three times and every time, they were barely brushing past the crack or hole. But the next one they came across was too hard to ovee.


    ¡°HAAA!¡± Lin Mu sped onto the space using Meld again, but the ship was already teetering on the edge of the hole.


    The Haima tribe members and humans were all watching him anxiously. Elder Niji and Head warrior Kulo were feeling useless not being able to help him as well.


    ¡®I can¡¯t let go... If I do we¡¯ll fall through!¡¯ Lin Mu gave 101% of his effort, but there was still a limit to it.


    ¡°No!¡± Lin Mu felt his sp weakening at that moment.


    ~SHUA~


    Suddenly, the ring on this right hand let off a yellow light. The yellow light flew out from it directly entering the tunnel.


    ~HUALA~


    Then much to their shock, the crack that was threatening to swallow them closed up!


    ¡°What in the...¡± Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what was happening at first, but then he saw the yellow light moving again.


    ~SHUA~


    The light turned into a long streak, zigzagging across the tunnel. It illuminated the path as well revealing the dangers on the tunnels path.


    ¡°Follow my lead!¡± Lin Mu then heard a voice he had been yearning for a long time.


    ¡°SENIOR XUKONG!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Focus on the task at hand!¡± Xukong urged.


    ¡°Y-yes!¡± Lin Mu let go of the space and let the ship continue onwards.


    ¡°I¡¯ve highlighted the stable path on the spatial tunnel. You need to follow that.¡± Xukong said before another streak of yellow light shot out from the ring.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    This time the light didn¡¯t take a zigzag trail on the path. Instead, it stuck to the walls of the tunnel and marked several spots on it. It left behind yellow glowing markers that were fully visible to everyone.


    ¡°Use that as an anchoring point. They are stable parts of the tunnel, and as long as you divert the ship beforehand, it won¡¯t fall into the cracks.¡± Xukong instructed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡± Lin Mu quickly raised his hands grasping at the space.


    ~HONG~


    ¡°Take hard right!¡± Lin Mu grasped onto the first spot using Meld and pushed to the right.


    Immortal Taegu and Elder Niji followed his orders and controlled the ship to go right. It followed the illuminated path exactly and sessfully avoided the crack in the tunnel.


    ¡°We did it!¡± Immortal Taegu eximed.


    ¡°Not so fast. We have several more to ovee.¡± Elder Niji didn¡¯t dare to lose focus even for a moment.


    Lin Mu let go of the anchoring point and waited for the right distance to be covered. Only when that was reached did he grasp out again.


    ¡°Push!¡± Lin Mu didn¡¯t need to exert as much strength as before.


    After all, what he was doing before was the same as pulling the ship out of a hole through sheer force. But here he was simply deflecting the ship using its own momentum. The two actions had a vast difference in energy expense.


    One by one, they dodged the holes and cracks in the spatial tunnel. After the tenth hole, Lin Mu had gotten used to the control method. Immortal Taegu and Elder Niji were also getting in sync and it became easier to steer the ship.


    The illuminated path helped them the most, though, as they now knew what to follow.


    Over all, it took Lin Mu and the rest ten minutes to cross the entire tunnel.


    ¡°Look! There¡¯s light there!¡± They all spotted a slit of light in the distance.


    ¡°That must be the exit.¡± Immortal Taegu stated.


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    ¡°Elder Niji,¡± Lin Mu turned and spoke to the old man.


    ~SHUA~


    In response, the old man waved his hand, spurring the ship towards the exit.


    ~WHOOSH~


    They sped up, and the slit of light expanded for them. By the time they were right at its cusp, the slit was no longer a slit and had turned into a five hundred meter wide rift opening!


    ~SPLASH~


    The ship fell out of the rift andnded straight onto more water.


    ~TREMBLE~


    The people in the ship managed to hold on firmly and didn¡¯t sustain any injuries this time.


    ¡°We... We¡¯re out...¡± Lin Mu said, his tense nerves easing up.


    The light around them was kinda bright, so it took a few seconds to adjust to it. But when they finally did, they found themselves in a rather strange ce.


    ~Gulp~


    ¡°What in the name of heavens is that!¡±

 Chapter 1338 Great Ocean Hippocampus

    <h4> 1338 Great Ocean Hippocampus </h4>


    The people on the ships didn¡¯t even get that long to rx before witnessing another shocking sight.


    Lin Mu too was startled but managed to keep hisposure.


    ¡°Is that... A beast?¡± Immortal Taegu questioned in shock.


    In front of them was what could only be described as a beast the size of an entire mountain range. It seemed to be lying down, but even then, the highest point on its body was nearly a kilometer tall.


    There were hundreds of such ¡®peaks¡¯ on its body that extended from one side of their vision to the other. Even if they turned around entirely, they were still unable to tell just howrge the beast was.


    ~huu~


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~SPLASH~


    But just as they were all watching the beast, they saw it moved. It was as if the mountains were rising and the seawater around them was falling.


    ¡°Is that beast breathing?¡± They realized.


    ~HUALA~


    ~TEAR~


    But when the beast breathed, it created chaos in the area.


    ¡®The space is trembling?¡¯ Lin Mu looked around while his spatial perception activated.


    He could see several weak points appearing in the spatial fabric. It would be fine if they were naturally present there, but Lin Mu witnessed perfectly stable parts of the spatial fabric tearing apart.


    ~GUSH~


    One such tear appeared 500 meters from where the ship was, and more sea water gushed out from it.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be...¡± It was now that Lin Mu realized something.


    ¡°That beast... and the rifts... they are linked. The rifts are appearing because the beast is breathing. Just that lone causes the space to tear apart, forcefully pulling in energy and water from the Rust Sky world.¡± Lin Mu said in a shocked tone.


    The others who heard here words were left stunned. The beast was definitely the biggest one they had ever seen in their lives and its cultivation base couldn¡¯t even be perceived by them.


    In fact, there was no auraing from the beast.


    The spirit Qi fluctuations around the beast were also mild, save for the gush of fresh spirit Qi that came from the rifts. This prompted Lin Mu to turn to Elder Niji and ask something.


    ¡°Is there immortal Qi here too?¡± He questioned.


    ¡°Yes... it seemed to be concentrated around the beast. But it is not that harsh... its rather stable.¡± Elder Niji answered.


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    This basically confirmed Lin Mu¡¯s conjecture that the beast was very high in cultivation base.


    ¡°What kind of beast is this? For it to be thisrge?¡± the humans wondered.


    All they could see was the top half of the beast¡¯s body right now. The another half of its body was sunken under the water and was probably quite big too. The beast¡¯s head was also not apparent, probably being curled up on the side.


    Lin Mu tried to use his spirit sense to observe the beast and finally saw its full appearance.


    The beast only had two limbs that were on the front of its body. These were its legs that looked like that of a horse and had steel colored hooves. Then on its back there was a fish like tail instead of hind limbs.


    The fish tail looked rather muscr and with its size could probably tten a few mountains at once. Then there was its head which was about the size of a mountain too. It looked like a mix between a horse and a catfish.


    There were long whiskers on its head, while barbells hung from its chin. Hot steam could be seening out from its nostrils with each breath.


    ¡°What is this beast?¡± Lin Mu couldn¡¯t find any information in his memories about a beast such as this.


    He hadn¡¯t seen it in the Memoirs of the Lost Immortal either.


    ¡°A Great Ocean Hippocampus... You don¡¯t see them often.¡± Xukong¡¯s voice was heard.


    ¡°Huh? You know what beast it is Senior?¡± Lin Mu questioned recalling that Xukong had awakened now, and he didn¡¯t need to struggle.


    ¡°Yes, I know. This is a Great Ocean Hippocampus. It is quite a rare beast and is certainly not seen in this part of the universe. And this one is even more special... it has reached a size that I personally haven¡¯t seen before in beasts like these.¡± Xukong answered.


    ¡°Are they not this big usually?¡± Lin Mu asked in wonder.


    ¡°Among the beasts called as Hippocampuses, the Great Ocean Hippocampus are thergest ones. But no... the average individuals of their species are about the size of a small hill. Thergest ones can reach the size of a mountain.


    But this one... this has exceeded that by several times reaching the size of a mountain range.¡± Xukong replied.


    ¡°Wait, so there are other variants of this beast?¡± Lin Mu was curious.


    ¡°Yes. Just like there are probably a million variants of wolf or othermon animals in the form of beasts, this unique beast has variants too. The mostmon Hippocampuses aren¡¯t that big, being thrice the size of a normal horse.¡± Xukong rified.


    ¡°Whoa... then it really is massive.¡± Lin Mu marveled. ¡°I can¡¯t even tell its cultivation base.¡±


    ¡°Hmm... Seems like this beast is already at the highest cultivation base it can reach.¡± Xukong spoke.


    ¡°It has? Then is it close to a breakthrough?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°This beast is in a ratherplex situation. It has reached the absolute peak of what this world can allow. Topensate for this on some level, it probably came to this minor ne where thews won¡¯t be as strong.


    Which might also be why it has managed to reach such arge size. Since it couldn¡¯t breakthrough normally, it probably umted all that energy and Qi in its body, causing it to grow to unseen lengths.


    And this didn¡¯t ur in a short time either. For such arge size difference, this beast has probably been here for hundreds of thousands of years. For it to breakthrough it needs to enter a higher leveled world.¡± Xukong exined in detail.

 Chapter 1339 Catching Up With Senior Xukong

    <h4> 1339 Catching Up With Senior Xukong </h4>


    Lin Mu finally felt the familial relief of having Xukong by his side.


    If it was before, he would have to figure out what the beast was all on his own, and probably struggle for quite some time. But now there was no problem like that. While Xukong didn¡¯t im to know everything in the world, he certainly knew a lot of things.


    And Lin Mu had a lot to question too. But before that, he decided to get the situation under control.


    ¡°Elder Niji, get an assessment for all the tribe members. Kunzi, you do it for humans. There are bound to be some injured, so it¡¯s best to take care of that quickly.¡± Lin Mu ordered.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll get to it right away.¡± Kunzi replied before going to check.


    ¡°I¡¯ll ensure the juniors are fine.¡± But before Elder Niji could say anything, Head Warrior Kulo spoke up. ¡°Elder Niji should secure our surroundings first. He is an immortal so flying will make it easier for us.¡± He suggested.


    Lin Mu found the suggestion to be a valid one and quickly epted it.


    ¡°Very well. Elder Niji you should take a look around. The beast seems to be deep in sleep, so shouldn¡¯t be a danger for us. But you should still keep some distance from it as well as watch out for the rifts.¡± Lin Mu stated.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll do that.¡± Elder Niji said before flying off the ship.


    The minor ne was still quite vast and looked like a sea for the most part. The only other thing they could see here was therge beast in front of them. It would be best for them to know just what kind of a ce they were in for now.


    With them gone, Lin Mu could now talk to Senior Xukong and get things in order.


    ¡°When did you wake up Senior?¡± Lin Mu questioned. ¡°Thest time you woke up was months ago.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. That wisp of soul essence helped me restore the connection between the avatar and my main body.¡± Xukong answered.


    ¡°So that was Soul essence?¡± Lin Mu asked for rification.


    He had heard about the term before but didn¡¯t know what it was exactly other than the fact that it was rted to souls.


    ¡°Indeed. That was the Soul essence of some expert. There was even some remnant will attached to it, but I purged it.¡± Senior Xukong replied.


    ¡°Remnant will? Did that soul essencee from a Nascent soul?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    ¡°No... it came from an expert who had transcended past the need for a Nascent soul. Someone beyond Immortal. Only someone like that could have soul essence strong enough to restore the connection between my avatar and main body.¡± Senior Xukong exined.


    Hearing this made Lin Mu think back to the broken statue. There were only legs left of the statue, thus he could only think that it might have belonged to the man that had died.


    ¡°Where did you find that soul essence wisp in the first ce?¡± Senior Xukong questioned.


    ~Sigh~


    ¡°It¡¯s a long story...¡± Lin Mu then went on to exin how he came across a Proto-fissure and the broken statue.


    Xukong also took a quick look through their shared mind space, and went through all the memories. Ten minutester, Xukong had learned all that had happened since Lin Mu arrived in the Rust Sky world.


    ¡°A world close to its ascension... never would have expected you to end up here...¡± Xukong found Lin Mu¡¯s story rather wild. ¡°Still you did good so far. I doubt many would be able to survive the same ordeal.¡± He praised.


    ¡°Thank you senior. It is all due to your teaching and guidance in the past.¡± Lin Mu said with gratitude.


    ¡°The best of all, youpleted the five treasures realm.¡± Xukong said with a hint of pride in his tone.


    ¡°Mmhmm... it was a little unexpected for me too. I almost fell lost with theck of a Wood elemental body cultivation technique.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°It was your fortune. The Wood Spirit Tulip was your fortune too. Having kept and raised it, you raised your fortune.¡± Xukong spoke. ¡°Besides, your Qi cultivation has also increased. Youprehended your Dao Embryo and obtained the Dao Skill as well.¡± He added.


    ¡°That I did. Though I¡¯m still a bit confused as to what I¡¯m supposed to do to reach the Immortal Ascension realm for my Qi cultivation base.¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t a problem for you now. All you need to do is continueprehending the Dao of Earth. You have no bottlenecks, so you should breakthrough soon enough.¡± Xukong answered.


    ¡°And what about the Immortal Realm Senior?¡± Lin Mu asked next. ¡°Will I not need a cultivation technique for that?¡±


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    ¡°The method that you practiced for spirit cultivation will work for the Immortal realm too. This is the benefit I talked about at the start. You don¡¯t need a new Qi cultivation technique since you are using one that fits all.


    This is the wonder of the primordial path. The first cultivators walked it and figured out the mysteries of cultivation. They didn¡¯t even know of bottlenecks back then, and yet they reached the peak of the world.¡± Xukong exined, making Lin Mu feel rather amazed.


    ¡°I never expected that...¡± Lin Mu felt pleased. ¡°But I¡¯ll still need one for the body cultivation right?¡± he asked.


    ¡°That... you will indeed.¡± Xukong confirmed.


    ~Sigh~


    ¡°Do you have one senior?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°Yes I do.¡± Xukong replied, making Lin Mu feel ted. ¡°But they have some extra requirements and conditions.¡± He added.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind if they are painful senior. I can handle it.¡± Lin Mu quickly replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s not even that. The techniques themselves are rtively painless. The requirement is in the form of external resources. None of the ones I know can be practiced on their own. They all need something to practice.¡± Xukong said, making Lin Mu¡¯s excitement fall by half.


    ¡°That... We can manage. We might be able to find the resources on the Holy Topaz Continent.¡±

 Chapter 1340: Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets

    Chapter 1340: Tyrant Bull Marrow SecretsLearning that Senior Xukong knew of Body cultivation techniques was a huge relief for Lin Mu.


    Back in the Xiaofan world, Xukong couldn''t really teach him any due to the fact that none of the techniques he had were suitable for Lin Mu''s cultivation base, nor the world that he was in.


    All of them were at the immortal realm at the minimum, with the Mortal Strengthening Scripture being the only one that could be considered as the lowest technique. But even then, the Mortal Strengthening Scripture wasn''t aplete body cultivation technique.


    Rather, it was meant to be a defensive technique that just happened to have a passive effect of strengthening one''s body.


    But now Lin Mu could fully utilize the techniques that Xukong knew.


    Qi cultivation techniques were not something that Lin Mu needed since he was cultivating his own method, taking the primordial path. But he still needed the body cultivating techniques to progress further.


    "As long as you have body cultivating techniques senior, even if we have to wander far it won''t be much of a problem." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s true. But the Holy Topaz continent, that is one of the main powers of this world right?" Xukong asked.


    "Yes. From what I''ve heard, they are also the oldest independent power in the Rust Sky world and have existed for a long time. Their inheritance also focuses on body cultivation to a certain extent thus they are said to have the most resources for that." Lin Mu answered.


    "Very well, we can look there then." Xukong agreed.


    "That being said, what are the body cultivation techniques that you have senior?" Lin Mu was very interested in this.


    After all, he would be cultivating them, and he couldn''t hold himself back from learning more about them.


    "Ahahah¡­." Xukong couldn''t help butugh seeing Lin Mu''s eagerness. ''Guess he has still stayed the same inside.'' He thought.


    "Very well, I''ll tell you then." Xukong replied before taking a pause. "In truth, I know several body cultivation techniques. Possibly in the hundreds." He revealed.


    "Hundreds!?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "Yes¡­ but among them the ones that can be used at the immortal realm are less than a half. And in those chosen one''s, there are only two that I think are worthy of you." Xukong confirmed.


    "Just two? Why so, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "With your talent, it would be a shame if you cultivated the inferior ones. After all, if you have top grade techniques, why would you cultivate low grade ones?" Xukong answered.


    "Ah, yes! That does make sense." Lin Mu understood, nodding his head.


    "Though¡­ there is a third technique that is also on the same level as them. But the requirement to practice it are simply too high." Xukong added.


    "Too high? Please tell me more senior." Lin Mu asked.


    "Well¡­ I guess I should start with the first technique. Let you know about all three of them." Xukong replied.


    "That would be great!" Lin Mu''s eyes brightened.


    "The first technique is a body cultivation called as the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets. It is in the highest grade immortal body cultivation techniques one can practice. It is a technique that was originally made by a great expert called as the Bull Tyrant." Xukong started to exin.


    "The bull tyrant?" Lin Mu found the name strange.


    "Yes. He was actually an expert that was born from a beast and a human. Thus he was half beast, half man. Just due to this, he had a naturally tough body and high talent. At the same time though, it was said that his human parent had low Qi cultivation talent.


    It just so happened that the Bull Tyrant was unable to progress much in Qi cultivation, no matter how much he tried. Thus to progress further, he resorted to body cultivation.


    In earlier stages, his progress was rather fast, but after he reached the immortal realm, he faced a barrier. He couldn''t use normal body cultivating techniques. This was due to his mixed lineage.


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    A tough body meant that he couldn''t use normal body cultivation techniques to cultivate. His body would simply resist it. He needed something that could ovee that and make him even tougher." Xukong exined, in detail.


    Lin Mu was interested in this too and listened silently.


    "But the bull tyrant''s endeavor came with a great difficulty. Within the limited scope of his world, he couldn''t find a body cultivation technique like that. His own blessed body had be a curse for his progress.


    Thus, he ended up resorting to his own experience. He tapped into his own bloodline and unearthed its secrets. He figured out a technique that could even affect his bloodline and managed to make his own body cultivation technique.


    That¡­ was the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets. It made use of the weakness of his bloodline and used that to temper his body further." Xukong finished his exnation.


    "That is rather intriguing. But what is the catch for this senior? You said this technique needs something extra to cultivate?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. Like I said before, he used the weakness of his bloodline to cultivate and make his new technique. And this weakness was another beast and its bloodline. It was called as the Tyrant Bull.


    To cultivate the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets, what you need is none other than the marrow of a Tyrant Bull." Xukong answered.


    "Huh¡­ that was rather¡­ obvious I guess." Lin Mu said.


    "Don''t take this lightly though. The Tyrant Bull is an Immortal beast that can tten hundreds of kilometers ofnd in a single sprint. The highest cultivation base its kind can reach is above the Immortal realm.


    For you, even finding a juvenile or young Tyrant Bull would be difficult." Xukong borated.


    "Are they rare beasts, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not specifically. They vary from world to world, but you might still be able to find an inter-world trader that might be selling it." Xukong answered.


    "Ah, that''s better. At least we have a chance at finding it." Lin Mu was relieved.

 Chapter 1341: Three Apertures Invoking Technique

    Chapter 1341: Three Apertures Invoking TechniqueLin Mu was rather enthusiastic now.


    "As long as you find an inter-world trader specializing in beast materials, you will be able to start cultivating the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets technique." Xukong spoke.


    Lin Hu nodded his head, noting down this beast in his memory.


    "And what about the second technique, senior?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    "The second technique is different in that it doesn''t need materials from a beast to cultivate. Instead, it needs special herbs and natural treasures to cultivate." Xukong answered. "It is called as the Three Apertures Invoking Technique." He revealed.


    "Three Apertures Invoking Technique¡­" Lin Mu muttered under his breath before asking. "What''s special about this technique?"


    "The Three Apertures Invoking Technique is actually the more orthodox body cultivating technique. It has existed for an unknown amount of time, and is older than the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets.


    Many experts use this technique, and you might meet them in the many worlds too. This will also make it a bit easier for you to find the needed resources for it." Xukong''s words made Lin Mu a lot more hopeful about it.


    "Though, with how many people cultivate this technique, the resources might still be in scarcity." Lin Mu''s hope lowered a bit upon hearing Xukong''s words.


    "What does this technique need, senior?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "This technique needs Immortal Energies and Immortal Essences!" Xukong revealed.


    "I think I''ve heard of them. I''ve seen that the Wood Spirit Tulip can produce Pure Wood Essence. That is a type of Immortal Essence right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. The Pure Wood Essence is one of the elemental variants of the Immortal Essences. You can also use it for cultivating this technique, but it would be too much of a waste. This isn''t a wood elemental body cultivating technique, after all." Xukong replied.


    "Ah¡­ so I shouldn''t use it?" Lin Mu wondered what else he needed.


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    "The reason why this is one of the more orthodox body cultivation techniques is due to the fact that is only needs neutral, non-elemental immortal Essence. This is so that anyone can use it to cultivate, provided they got the resources." Xukong stated.


    "So where can I find the resources for this? Or rather¡­ what form will they be avable in?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, the basic form you can find them in is the Immortal Essence crystals. Simr to Spirit stones and immortal stones, these crystals are also found in mines. But they are a lot rarer than Immortal stone mines.


    For an Immortal Essence Crystal mine to form, an area needs to have boundless vitality and a lot of life. Only then will these crystals be formed. Of course, there are other ways to make them too, but they aren''t that efficient either." Xukong answered.


    "And what are the other forms? Immortal Essence crystals aren''t the only ones, are they?" Lin Mu questioned in doubt.


    "Of course they aren''t." Xukong replied. "Another form of the resource is none other than alchemical pills. Or more specifically pills that are rich in Immortal Essence." Xukong answered. "And you are in luck here, since you have one of the materials needed to make such pills." He added.


    "The Pure Wood Essence?" Lin Mu guessed. "But didn''t you say this technique isn''t of the wood element?" he asked doubtfully.


    "Indeed. But even if it is a wood elemental material, it can still be used for it. A skilled Immortal pill alchemist who specializes in Body cultivation pills will be able to make suitable pills.


    Such alchemists can very well convert the rich wood elemental essence into neutral immortal essence." Xukong exined further.


    "A pill alchemist that specializes in body cultivation pills¡­ that is not going to be easy, is it?" Lin Mu read between the lines.


    "Yes. Bing an Immortal Pill Alchemist already takes a lot of talent, not to mention one that specializes in body cultivation pills. These are harder to find since the energy involved is not Qi.


    They need to spend extra effort in learning to observe, analyze and manipte the immortal essence. This needing longer time for them to be proficient in this.


    With the time needed to do this, many alchemists would rather just churn out Immortal Qi pills and make a fortune. Honestly, I cannot me them either, as it would be simply too much extra effort to learn them.


    Which also makes finding such pill alchemist difficult." Xukong rified, not letting Lin Mu have empty hope.


    "But¡­ Since the Holy Topaz Empire is said to be specialized in body cultivation, there should definitely be such pill alchemists among them. I highly doubt they would be able to grow that much in body cultivation without at least a few hundred of them." Xukong added.


    "Of course!" Lin Mu''s eyes lit up once again.


    Just learning about these two techniques had expanded Lin Mu''s horizons pertaining to body cultivation. It only made him that much more curious about the third body cultivation technique that Senior Xukong had spoken about.


    "And the third one senior? What makes it so difficult to cultivate? Are the materials needed for them extremely rare?" Lin Mu asked with great curiosity.


    ~Sigh~


    Upon hearing this, Xukong sighed.


    "This one¡­ the third technique I spoke about is rather different. It doesn''t need external resources in the form of beast materials, or herbs, or even pills. What is needed is actually a very specific environment." Xukong answered.


    "A specific environment?" This was the first time nil Mu was hearing about such a requirement.


    "Yes¡­" Xukong took a pause. "The Name of the technique is Deep Nether Vitriolic Baptism. It needs a Caustic Nether Spring to cultivate." He revealed.


    "Is it that hard to find?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not just that¡­ it has a lot of difficulties," Xukong spoke. "First of all¡­ It is a very, very¡­ VERY Painful body cultivation technique. And secondly, it belongs to the unorthodox path. Users of this technique will quite likely be targeted if discovered." He exined.

 Chapter 1342: Caustic Nether Spring

    Chapter 1342: Caustic Nether SpringXukong''s words were enough to rm Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu had see plenty of Unorthodox Technique and even had a few memorized. Despite that, he knew better than to use one. Orthodox techniques were those approved by almost all paths and the unorthodox ones were the opposite of that.


    "What is a Caustic Nether Spring, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned. "Why is a technique like that forbidden?"


    "The Nether Vitriolic Baptism is a Body cultivation technique that utilizes one''s entire potential while levying the external powers." Xukong spoke. "But that isn''t why it is forbidden." Xukong added.


    "Then why senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Nether Vitriolic Baptism Is a body cultivation technique that is not of this world." Xukong spoke. "Or rather, it doesn''t belong to any of the normal immortal worlds." He stated.


    "Not of this world?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "Yes¡­" Xiong confirmed.


    "Then can you tell me why is the Nether Vitriolic Baptism consider as a body cultivation technique senior?" Lin Mu questioned. "And that too an unorthodox one on top of that." Lin Mu added.


    "That is because to cultivate the Nether Vitriolic Baptism technique, one needs caustic Nether spring. And that is not something that is easily found." Xukong stated.


    "Among the many people here, I doubt even a fraction have heard of it." Xukong added.


    "What makes a Caustic Nether Spring special, senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "A Causticher Spring is a type of a natural energy spring only found in a minor amount of worlds. The reason why it is so rare is the fact that its is sourced from theher worlds." Xukong revealed.


    "Nether world?" Lin Mu was tunned.


    While he did know of theher world, his understanding was limited to the memoirs of the lost immortals and the other legends.


    "A Caustic Nether Spring is a very toxic energy spring that can melt down a majority of things in the world."


    First of all, a Caustic Nether spring is born from the Nether world itself." Xukong spoke.


    "Theher world? What''s that?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Just like there is the mortal world and the immortal world¡­ there is the Nether world. It is the ce where most of the lifees to an end." Xukong replied.


    "Lifee''s to an end? Then why can there be life there? It doesn''t make sense? Lin Mu questioned next.


    "It is simply too farplex to answer. There are too many aspects to this."Xukong answered.


    "What is the Caustic Nether Spring then, Senior?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "A Caustic Nether Spring is a special spring of energy that directly links up with theher world. Just like the mortal and immortal world, the Nether world is another dimension.


    This world can directly link up with the power of theher world and strengthening an individual.


    The reason why it is forbidding and considered Unorthodox is the same too. Many that cultivate this technique end up bing individuals that are far too dangerous. There was nock of mad men who killed leagues of immortals to establish their presence." Xukong exined.


    His words were bought to warn Lin Mu.


    Though it still left him wondering about the reason why,


    "Why though, senior? What is this Causticher Spring?" he questioned.


    "Like I said, The Caustic Nether Spring is a form of energy spring that only forms in a few worlds. And those that it does in are great worlds. The minimum requirement for a bond such as this to form is none other than a cross dimensional world link." Xukong answered.


    Xukong could see that Lin Mu was still quite confused and exined further.


    "Let''s just say that the Causticher Spring can only be formed in worlds with a significant link to the Nether world," Xukong spoke up.


    "Does theher world really exist, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It does indeed." Xukong nodded his head. "And there is a lot more to it, too. You will learn that eventually." He answered.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but marvel at the existence of an entirely new world. He had heard about the Nether world a lot of times before. Not just in the memoirs of the Lost immortal but also the normal stories of his own Xiaofan world.


    But despite that all, he had never learned much about it in detail.


    Lin Mu pondered about it for a few minutes before figuring out a question.


    "Why is this technique considered as a forbidden one, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The answer is simple. This body cultivation technique stems from a great body cultivation immortal who belonged to the unorthodox. He directly relied on death and despair of the many lives." Xukong replied, making Lin Mu confused.


    "The technique is something that directly taps into the power of death of all life." Xukong contented before creating an illusion.


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    Lin Mu felt the illusion take form in front of him and started to learn.


    "The Caustic Nether Spiring is water that is nurtured directly by theher world. All those that can withstand it are considered as the beloved of those worlds," Xukong continued.


    "This technique was made by a long lost immortal and was meant to be a final gambit for Unorthodox worlds." Xukong dressed.


    "Then why did you tell me this was a worthy technique, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Like I said originally. It really is a great technique. Its potential is limited by the Caustic Nether spring. But other than that, one can cultivate to a great point." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu finally felt that he had great prospects at cultivation.


    "So I can''t use the third technique at all." Lin Mu mutter.


    "Yes." Xukong confirmed. "Though you have a lot more to learn." He added.


    "Like what senior?" Lin Mu asked,


    "The Haima Tribe. Do you truly know what they are?" Xukong questioned.


    "No¡­ though I do know that they are very strong. And also the fact that they seemingly have a very high affinity to the water element." Lin Mu answered in detail;.


    "This is all true." Xukong replied. But you fail to recognize the most obvious source." Xukong answered.


    "The most obvious source?" Lin Mu was befuddled.


    "Yes¡­" Xukong nodded his head internally. "Have you not seen the ce they are in?" Xukong asked.


    "Wait¡­ you don''t mean this ce? And the beast in front of us?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Exactly." Xukong confirmed. "The beast you see in front of you is a Great Ocean Hippocampus."


    "And how are they linked with the Haima tribe?" Lin Mu was sure Xukong wouldn''t lie to him.


    "Well¡­ the understanding I have is that the Haima Tribe and the Great Ocean Hippopotamus are the same. Or more urately, their bloodline is the same." Xukong''s words shook Lin Mu.


    This was something that even Lin Mu had guessed, but never actually dared to confirm. But now that Xukong himself had confirmed it all, there was no reason for Lin Mu to doubt it.


    "Wait, a minute¡­" Lin Mu recalled some of the old memories. "Doesn''t this mean that¡­ the Haima tribe is¡­" Lin Mu didn''t dare to confirm right away.


    Instead, he called for several of the experts.


    Elder Niji and Warrior Kulo were the first to appear, along with many others.


    "What is the issue, Senior?" Elder Niji asked.


    He had been called in between the finalizing of his work.


    "I hope I didn''t disturb you, Elder Niji." Lin Mu stated with a straight face.


    "Of course not. While I did find some unique things, none of them are worth your time." Elder Niji stated inly.


    The convicts and humans that heard this were rather stunned and pondered on.


    "I have something important to state." Lin Mu spoke up.


    "And what is that, Noble Lin Mu?" Elder Niji questioned.


    "The Dao treading realm¡­ what is the Dao Embryo you practice?" Lin Mu asked but then realized that it might not be foully appropriate. "I''ll start in a different way." Lin Mu answered. "Tell me¡­ is your legacy established?" he asked.


    Elder Niji stayed silent for a bit figuring out what Lin Mu meant. But finally he was able to answer his question.


    "The Dao Treading realm for the Haima tribe is indeed different. It allows one to be an immortal or expert while having dominion over several elements. This is even if one managed to witness them fully.


    "But despite this, I can say for sure that the Dao Treading realm allows the Haima tribe to form its own Dao Embryo. For us, this is none other than the Tide Scale Embryo." Elder Niji answered.


    "No wonder." Lin Mu replied and gazed at the scene.


    Elder Niji could feel several streams of information rushing into his mind. It was something he had never experienced before but he could tell that all the information was profound.


    "Elder Niji¡­ The beast that is front of you." Lin Mu dered. "It is something your bloodline knows." Lin Mu sated.


    Elder Niji didn''t want to believe it at first, but now he had no option.

 Chapter 1343: Great Bloodline Resonance

    Chapter 1343: Great Bloodline Resonance"That beast really is from our bloodline¡­" Elder Niji could feel a deep connection forming between him and the beast.


    It was something primal and intrinsic.


    ~shua~


    Just as he was pondering on this connection, his Dao Embryo automatically came out from his body. The Tide Scale Embryo shone inside the Dao shell, letting off a blue glow.


    ~SWOOSH~


    Then before Elder Niji couldn''t think of anything, the Dao Embryo automatically flew out of his Dao Shell.


    "What?" the people watching it were stunned.


    They had never known something like this could happen. A cultivator''s own Dao Embryo would fly out and leave them. But before they worried about it, they saw the destination of the Dao Embryo.


    "The beast? Of course!" Elder Niji had an expression of enlightenment.


    "All Haima tribe Dao Treading realm and above experts! Release your Dao Embryo''s!" Elder Niji ordered.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    With that one order, thousands of Dao Embryos appeared in the sky.


    This was a scene that the human convict would never forget. Thousands of blue Tide Scale Embryos soared into the sky. It looked like the scales were drops of water and rushed back into the sky; an inverted rain.


    But the Tide Scale Dao Embryo''s didn''t stop there and rushed towards therge body of the Great Ocean Hippocampus.


    ~HONG~


    There, Elder Niji''s Dao Embryo took the lead and let off a wave of energy. This energy looked like water, but was actually made out of Water Dao Traces!


    The other Dao Embryos joined in this, turning into arge tide that reached the same height as the Great Ocean Hippocampus.


    ~HUALA~


    It was now that a secret was revealed.


    The scales of the Great Ocean Hippocampus let off a blue light too, as if resonating with the Dao Embryos.


    "Look! The scales¡­ it''s the same as the Tide Scale Dao Embryos!" Immortal Taegu said in surprise.


    "So it really is like that¡­ they are of the same origin¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He had failed to see the obvious connection that was present right in front of him.


    ~humm~


    The body of the Great Ocean Hippocampus glowed in blue light, illuminating the sea and the sky. And when this light fell on the bodies of the Haima tribe people, they all fell into a trace.


    Unknowingly they entered a profound state, spirit Qi revolving around them and Dao Traces of water rushing in as well.


    "This is¡­" Lin Mu was astounded by this scene.


    "A Bloodline Resonance¡­ their bloodlines are resonating with the Great Ocean Hippocampus, having found its origin." Xukong exined.


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    "How long will they stay like this?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question.


    He could already see the weaker members of the Haima tribe progressing rapidly. Those that were left in the nascent soul realm, quickly reached the Dao Shell realm, while those in the Dao Shell realm broke through to the Dao Treading realm.


    And from their pace, it didn''t seem like they would be stopping any time soon.


    Even Elder Niji was experiencing growth and Immortal Qi swirled around his body, rapidly being absorbed into it.


    "As long as the bloodline resonance is maintained, they will stay in this state. It is a great fortune for them." Xukong replied. "Though you should take this chance toprehend too. The Dao Traces of Water are highly concentrated right now, and so is the Immortal Qi. Even if you don''t have a water Dao Embryo, it is still a good chance to learn more about it." He advised.


    "Yes, senior." Lin Mu wouldn''t miss a chance like this, so he sat down to cultivate andprehend.


    The other humans did the same, finding that their progress was many times faster than before.


    The Haima tribe had once experienced such a rapid growth before, but for the humans this was the first opportunity. The ones that were injured among them started to heal. The same happened for those in the Haima tribe that were injured.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes and spread his spirit sense, intending on sensing the Immortal Qi and the Water Dao.


    He would eventually have to face an Immortal Tribtion that would be of the water element. Thus having a better understanding of its corresponding Dao would only be good and not bad.


    Minute after minute passed while the cultivation base of the Haima Tribe continued to grow.


    By the time an entire day had gone by, the Haima tribe''s lowest cultivation base was the Dao Treading realm. Subsequently, the number of Tide Scale Dao Embryos resonating in with the Great Ocean Hippocampus had increased as well.


    ~SHUA~


    It was at this point that another person had a breakthrough. But this breakthrough was from the Dao Treading realm into the Immortal Ascension realm!


    ~SHUA~


    Not even a minute after that, the second Immortal Ascension realm breakthrough happened.


    ~shua~


    Third!


    ~shua~


    Fourth!


    ~SHUA~


    Fifth!


    One by one, more of the Haima tribe members started to breakthrough. This number continued to grow until finally over two hundred members of the Haima tribe were at the Immortal Ascension realm!


    ~HUMM~


    A humming sound was let off by the tens of thousands of Dao Embryos. As if reaching a limit, the Dao Embryo''s all scattered and returned to their respective owners.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes upon sensing this change.


    "So it finally ends¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    While he hadn''t gained much from this directly, Lin Mu had still grasped certain aspects of the Dao Traces of water. At the very least, he was a lot more experienced than before.


    Though for Immortal Qi, he was yet to sense it fully. Lin Mu did feel there was some unknown energy moving between the spirit Qi, and he guessed that this was none other than the Immortal Qi.


    ''It won''t be long before I''ll sense it. I just need to continueprehending my Dao Embryo.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~HUALA~


    The final Dao embryo to return belonged to none other than Elder Niji. And when it returned, the man opened his eyes as well.

 Chapter 1344 Origin Of The Haima

    <h4> 1344 Origin Of The Haima </h4>


    ¡°Elder Niji,¡± Lin Mu called out to the man.


    The Haima Tribe¡¯s elder looks at Lin Mu, his eyes glinting with knowledge as well as awareness that was not there before.


    ¡°I now know...¡± Elder Niji spoke. ¡°I now know... the origin of our tribe.¡±


    Lin Mu could somewhat guess Elder Niji¡¯s thoughts. ¡®Did he awaken some memories?¡¯ he wondered.


    ¡°And what is it elder?¡± Lin Mu asked with great curiosity.


    ¡°As you said before, our bloodline is certainly sourced from the beast in front of us... the Great Ocean Hippocampus. It is the great horse of the ocean, just like we are supposed to be the dominator of the oceans.


    Our poweres from it, and so does our name. Hai as in Ocean, Ma as in Horse... the name of our tribe was bestowed by the Ancestral Beast in front of us.¡± Elder Niji replied, a hint of emotion on his face.


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    ¡°So this beast... really is your ancestor?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°Yes... it is this beast that protected out ancestors and bestowed its bloodline upon them. It is what allowed them to be the dominator of the ocean. From the bloodline resonance, I learned of old memories... history that had been erased...¡± Elder Niji answered.


    ¡°The history of the Haima tribe... is it the same tribe that Muxuan belonged to?¡± Lin Mu quickly started to link up the information he had gotten in the past.


    ¡°Indeed... Muxuan was the first ancestor of our tribe. He was also the first person to have been bestowed this bloodline.


    All this happened long time ago. Back when great wars were waged and kingdoms shed. Our tribe used to worship the Great Ocean Hippocampus long before. But back then, our tribe was scattered and had humans from many ces.


    Over time, under the oppression of other kingdoms and empires, we fell apart. In the end, only Muxuan was left and sacrificed himself. This lead to the deity of our tribe worshiped, the Great Ocean Hippocampus to awaken.¡± Elder Niji answered in detail.


    ¡°Wait... why didn¡¯t the Great Ocean Hippocampus help them before the tribe was made to fall apart?¡± Lin Mu had been wondering about this for a long time now.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that the Great Ocean Hippocampus didn¡¯t intend to help us. But rather, it simply didn¡¯t know we were being killed. It was deep in seclusion... just like it is now.¡± Elder Niji answered. ¡°It was the dying will of our tribesmen and Muxuan that crossed the barriers of the world, reaching the ancestral beast and bringing forth its rage.¡±


    ¡°I see... then it really was a great tragedy.¡± Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but say. ¡°Though, if Muxuan was supposed to have been killed, how did your tribe survive?¡± he asked in doubt.


    ¡°Our first ancestor Muxuan did indeed die, but his Nascent soul and true soul survived. The ancestral beast protected it and allowed him to be reborn with the new bloodline as well as an appropriate physique to withstand it.¡± Elder Niji rified.


    ¡°No wonder...¡± Lin Mu felt like all the things were now falling in ce.


    ¡°This is also the reason why our bodies are so much different than normal human. With the bloodline of the Great Ocean Hippocampus, it caused mutation that gave us four legs and great strength.


    It even caused our Dantian to mutate and gain two extra lobes. Ancestor Muxuan changed his identity after being reborn and hid away. He spent years gathering his strength and cultivating.


    He even managed to revive many of the tribesmen who had been killed in the past. While they had died, many of their nascent souls were still being kept safe elsewhere. Ancestor Muxuan had kept them hidden, hoping that in the future he might get to revive them.


    And eventually that time came.¡± Elder Niji exined further.


    ¡°So Ancestor Muxuan rebuilt the entire tribe?¡± Lin Mu asked, hoping to learn more.


    ¡°He did indeed. After a significant number of the tribesmen were revived, he took them away to the depths of the great ocean. The Ancestral Beast left too, as it still needed to cultivate further and breakthrough its limits.


    Our tribe stayed hidden for over a thousand years, before reappearing in the Rust Sky world. This time though, we had several million members and tens of thousands of immortals.


    The time to take revenge hade and thus ancestor Muxuan mounted a great offense against the kingdoms and empires that had wronged them. This was what actually led to the formation of the Eight Kingdom alliance.


    But it didn¡¯t end there... Seeing that the Eight Kingdom Alliance was unable to deal with our tribe, the Holy Topaz Empire set out to fight too. After all, they had hurt our tribe too in the past and knew that Ancestor Muxuan woulde after them, eventually.


    Thus the Holy Topaz empire, the Huiqing Empire, and the Dao wind empire all joined up in a temporary alliance.


    Still... our Haima tribe had dominion over the ocean, leaving them helpless when they ventured out into the ocean. We could simply destroy their trade routes and more, preventing them from doing anything.


    Thissted for a hundred years, and a stalemate was reached.


    But then... something unexpected happened.¡± Elder Niji said and took a breath.


    ¡°What was that, Elder?¡± Lin Mu inquired, wanting more.


    ¡°The Peak experts of all the empires left their seclusion and directly utilized a great array to seal the ocean. This suppressed our power, allowing them to kill our tribesmen once again.


    Of course, they knew that this wouldn¡¯tst, so they had to hurry. Finally, when only a few hundred thousand members of our tribe were left, Ancestor Muxuan couldn¡¯t take it anymore.


    On his final breath, he proimed that the death of the Haima tribe would awaken the Ancestral Beast once more.


    Thus, to prevent this from happening, the Empires collectively decided to exile us. They killed all the elders of the tribe, and erased our legacy while banishing the younger generation to the Broken Chasm.¡± Elder Niji revealed.

 Chapter 1345 A Safe Haven For The Tribe

    <h4> 1345 A Safe Haven For The Tribe </h4>


    Elder Niji spent more than an hour narrating the history of the Haima tribe.


    All that had been erased by the empires was now unearthed from the bloodline memories.


    ¡°The empires would have never known that their effort would alle to a waste... Even if they erased the physical history, the bloodline would never forget it all.¡± Elder Niji ended his exnation.


    Lin Mu couldn¡¯t understand the hundreds of thousands of years of grudge that had been borne within the bloodline. After all this time, it would now have the chance to be repaid.


    ¡°What are you going to do now, elder Niji?¡± Lin Mu knew their goals would be a lot different.


    Before their bloodline was awakened, all they wanted was to hide away and settle in peace. But now... that was not so preferable.


    ¡°Now... is there even an option?¡± Elder Niji replied.


    Lin Mu shook his head in response. ¡°Indeed... your bloodline will not allow you all that.¡±


    ¡°Yes... this karma will have to be repaid.¡± Elder Niji said while looking at the Great Ocean Hippocampus. ¡°Even the ancestral beast wishes the same.¡±


    ¡°It does?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    ¡°It cannot state it outright, but I can sense the anger and frustration within the bloodline. Though it doesn¡¯t seem like the Ancestral beast can awaken right now, either.¡± Elder Niji stated.


    Lin Mu gazed at the Great Ocean Hippocampus and the rifts that were being caused by its breath.


    ¡°Senior Xukong, when can the Great Ocean Hippocampus awaken?¡± Lin Mu questioned in his mind.


    ¡°That is something that will depend on the world itself now. Only when the world finishes its ascension would the beast be able to awaken. Right now, it has reached the point where the world cannot amodate it already.


    Which is also why it needs to stay in this ne.¡± Xukong answered.


    ¡°Is that why... the rifts are appearing?¡± Lin Mu asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think this beast is proficient enough to cause space to break directly, right?¡± he added.


    ¡°You are correct. The Great Ocean Hippocampus isn¡¯t a beast that is proficient in space. The only reason the rifts appear is that his cultivation base has reached beyond the peak. The world itself is like paper to it.


    His breaths pull high amounts of energy, which causes the space to break. Not to mention, itsprehension of the Water Dao and the Ocean Dao is very deep. Deep enough that it can utilize their power to break apart the space.


    This can be considered to be a crude method of manipting space. This is also how it managed to make this ne. It simply forced the ocean to and stimted the Daos, making an independent space.


    And now this ne is being maintained not by the fabric of space but a counterforce from its body. Since it cannot be expelled back into the Rust Sky world, it is now in an equilibrium here.¡± Xukong exined.


    ¡°I see... guess this is both a blessing and a curse.¡± Lin Mu replied.


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    ¡°That is true. But for the Haima Tribe, this will be rather good. It is not often that one can observe such a strong beast and the Dao around it.¡± Xukong spoke.


    ¡°They can repeat the state of enlightenment again?¡± Lin Mu was surprised.


    ¡°Not exactly. That is something that can only be done once. What they can do is spend time here and ponder on the body of the Great Ocean Hippocampus. As an Immortal beast that is on the cusp of transcending it, the influence of Dao on it is very high.


    With their naturally high affinity to the water Dao, they can spend time here toprehend. Not to mention, they might even be able to derive their own skills from the beast.


    After all, a lot of Qi skills are made after observing and analyzing the natural and innate skills of beasts.¡± Xukong exined.


    ¡°That is indeed a good option. But only for the Haima tribe. The other humans won¡¯t be able to stay here for long.¡± Lin Mu said after looking around.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. They will have to leave.¡± Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu thought about the situation a bit more and came upon a doubt.


    ¡°Will the Haima tribe be able to return here, Senior?¡± Lin Mu asked. ¡°After all, I had to guide them here safely.¡±


    ¡°Now that they have awakened their bloodline, they won¡¯t need to struggle as much. Even with the chaotic space, as long as they follow their bloodline link, the breath of the Great Ocean Hippocampus will allow them to return.¡± Xukong replied.


    ¡°Though... if you find a suitable point for anchoring, you can also build them a stable channel,¡± Xukong added.


    ¡°Yes! That¡¯ll be perfect.¡± Lin Mu would much prefer that.


    It would be far too much of a waste for the Haima tribe to not take advantage of their Ancestral beast.


    While Lin Mu and Xukong¡¯s conversation seemed to havested for a while, it was actually very quick. Within their shared mind space, the thoughts were almost instantaneous, thus their discussions were also very fast.


    To others, it might seem like Lin Mu was thinking for a couple of minutes.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu, we¡¯ll have to rely on you to find us a path out of here.¡± Elder Niji suddenly spoke.


    ¡°You want to leave?¡± Lin Mu asked. ¡°The Haima tribe can cultivate quite well here too.¡±


    ¡°I know... I can feel it already. But there is something we must do first.¡± Elder Niji replied. ¡°A ce where we need to go.¡± He added.


    ¡°A ce? Where?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°Before this, we were wondering where we would stay. We hoped to find somece within the human empires or kingdoms. But now... now we have a proper ce to stay.¡± Elder Niji replied, making Lin Mu a little confused.


    ¡°You see, within our bloodline memories, there is a ce. A safe haven for our tribe. The same ce where the Haima tribe of the past lived in.¡± Elder Niji revealed.

 Chapter 1346 Leaving The Plane

    <h4> 1346 Leaving The ne </h4>


    It could be said that Elder Niji¡¯s words had resolved the issue that Lin Mu had thought of. Even he needed to rest and organize his gains over the past two years. He also needed to take that time to reach the immortal realm.


    Thus finding a suitable ce was important.


    ¡°There is a ce like that?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow. ¡°It¡¯s not within the Eight Kingdom alliance is it?¡±


    ¡°No... Ancestor Muxuan moved the tribe away as soon as he had retrieved their hidden Nascent souls.


    With his new body and cultivation base, traversing the ocean was easy. Not to mention, he also had the aura of our ancestor on him, making it so that no aquatic beast would even daree close.


    Thus he spent some time finding a suitable ce for the tribe to recover. I have the location of this pace in my bloodline memories. The bloodline itself is a beacon for it.¡± Elder Niji answered.


    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Lin Mu now realized he could implement Senior Xukong¡¯s suggestion too.


    ¡°But first we will need to leave this minor ne. From the bloodline memories, I know for sure that these rifts are not just native to the Sea of Muxuan. They are actually spread all around the Rust Sky world¡¯s oceans.¡± Elder Niji stated. ¡°We simply need to take one of those rifts out.¡±


    ¡°I was thinking the same. And I might even be able to make a stable channel back into this ce once we reach the safe haven.¡± Lin Mu added.


    Hearing this, Elder Niji¡¯s smile widened. ¡°You certainly are the greatest saviour our tribe could have asked for.¡±


    ¡°You helped me first, so I don¡¯t mind it. Plus, I would also like a ce to rest and cultivate more.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Elder Niji replied before looking at the tribesmen. ¡°Everyone... You know what we have to do now, right?¡± he questioned.


    ¡°YES ELDER!¡±


    ¡°WE SHALL REPAY THE GRUDGES OF THE PAST!¡±


    The Haima tribe people shouted.


    ¡°Good, good, you all have the bloodline memories.¡± Elder Niji was pleased. ¡°We will now be heading to the Haima tribe¡¯s safe haven... the Deep Ocean Fortress!¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°YEAH!!!¡± the tribesmen all shouted in joy.


    They knew exactly what Elder Niji was talking about since they now shared the bloodline memories.


    ¡°Deep Ocean Fortress? Is this ce located underwater?¡± Lin Mu guessed.


    ¡°Indeed.¡± Elder Niji confirmed. ¡°It is located on the ocean bed and is the reason why it was so safe. Even now, it should be intact.¡±


    ¡°How will we get there?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    He could understand an ind, but an underwater ce was difficult to reach. Not to mention one that was located as deep as the Oceans of the Rust Sky world.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Noble Lin Mu, there is a special way of getting there. I can assure you that everyone will be able to reach it.¡± Elder Niji replied.


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    ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll depend on you to guide.¡± Lin Mu agreed.


    The Haima tribesmen quickly gathered up and the ship was powered on. The human convicts had also recovered during this time, and some even increased their cultivation base a little.


    Though it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that they were rather confused about their next destination. Lin Mu simply left the part of exining to Kunzi and asked them to be ready as soon as possible.


    ¡°Alright... how will we do this?¡± Lin Mu observed the spatial rifts.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when I sense a suitable rift, Noble Lin Mu. I should be able to sense the location from the right rift.¡± Elder Niji stated before flying up.


    He hovered in the air and sensed the flow of water Qi and water Dao traces. Lin Mu took kept alert and watched for the man¡¯s announcement.


    Thankfully, with the fast rate of rifts opening and closing, they didn¡¯t have to wait that long.


    ¡°There! That one, Noble Lin Mu!¡± Elder Niji pointed out.


    ~shua~


    The water rose up from the sea and directly formed a ¡®road¡¯ to the rift under his control. This acted like a wedge, preventing it from closing abruptly.


    ¡°I¡¯ll hold the rift!¡± Lin Mu quickly got to work.


    Meld!


    The ring exerted its power, grasping the space around the rift and preventing it from closing or turning too unstable.


    ~SHUA~


    The ship started moving at that moment, with Immortal Taegu controlling it. It rushed though the water road and entered the rift in a matter of seconds.


    Once inside, Lin Mu didn¡¯t let go of the rift right away.


    ¡°Follow my guidance,¡± Xukong spoke promptly.


    ~shua~


    The ring glowed in a yellow light as a streak of energy shot out from it. The line of energy marked a safe path for Lin Mu to follow.


    ¡°Steer the ship along the path!¡± Lin Mu ordered.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Immortal Taegu replied.


    Lin Mu too managed the spatial disturbance along the way, but this time he didn¡¯t need to force himself.


    But this gave Lin Mu another question.


    ¡°Wait, Senior Xukong how can you help me like this now? I mean, directly?¡± Lin Mu realized.


    ¡°Did you forget? We are in an immortal world that is close to ascension. The level of help I can provide you is also higher now since I don¡¯t need to worry about the world being affected as much.¡± Xukong replied.


    ¡°Of course!¡± Lin Mu had almost forgotten this. ¡°You should also be able to tell me information that was restrained before right?¡± he asked next.


    ¡°Indeed. There is a lot more to tell you.¡± Xukong responded. ¡°And... I also have several things to ask.¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡± Lin Mu inquired.


    ¡°The two snakes around your hands... where did theye from?¡± Xukong asked.


    ¡°Oh? They¡¯re Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang. They hatched from the grey egg, senior.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°The grey egg?¡± Xukong was surprised.


    ¡°Yes, it was unexpected.¡± Lin Mu replied. ¡°Take a look.¡± He then allowed Xukong to ess some of his memories.


    Xukong spent a few minutes looking through them and was confused and shocked.

 Chapter 1347 Even Xukong Doesnt Know About The Twins?

    <h4> 1347 Even Xukong Doesn''t Know About The Twins? </h4>


    The Grey Egg had been a source of wonder and confusion for Lin Mu and Senior Xukong since a long time.


    They had known about the parents of the egg, the Fire Fang Snake and the ck Water Snake. Both were beasts that were well documented and there was plenty of information about them.


    But the Grey egg that was born from them was simply a mystery.


    Lin Mu had fed the egg copious amounts of Beast Qi over the years and no one knew just how much that had affected it. The time needed for the egg to hatch had also exceeded greatly than what should have been possible.


    Xukong even wondered if the Egg was defective and would never be born.


    And now that it truly had been born, he was even more shocked. As there wasn¡¯t one, but two beasts born from it.


    ¡®Twin snakes born from a grey egg... having powers of Yin and Yang... truly an enigma.¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    Lin Mu waited for a few minutes for Xukong to say something about the twin snakes, but it never happened. Even when three hours passed by, there was no response, making him wonder what happened.


    ¡°Did you learn something Senior? From the memories?¡± Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    ¡°I did learn quite a lot... but also did not understand some parts.¡± Xukong replied.


    ¡°Oh? Do you not know what the snakes are?¡± Lin Mu didn¡¯t think that even Xukong would be unable to recognize the kind of a beasts they were.


    ¡°Unfortunately not.¡± Xukong denied. ¡°I tried looking into their bloodline and find their origin through it, but I simply could not ess it.¡± He exined.


    ¡°You couldn¡¯t ess it? How¡¯s that possible with your strength senior?¡± Lin Mu was stunned.


    ¡°There can only be two reasons for that. Either the origin of their bloodline is stronger than me, or... it is something that never existed before.¡± Xukong replied. ¡°I¡¯m leaning towards thetter option.¡± He added.


    ¡°Something that never existed before... So it really is a new bloodline...¡± Lin Mu had considered it as one of the options in the past, but never expected this to really be it.


    ¡°I think your constant feeding with the Beast Qi might have brought forth a catalytic change. And this change didn¡¯t just happen in the egg, but started from the parents themselves.


    After all, you fed them the Beast Qi before the egg was born. Then after the birth of the Grey egg, you continued to feed it more.


    This hassted for man years and now the effects are unprecedented.¡± Xukong exined.


    ¡°Then... doesn¡¯t this mean, we can make more such eggs or beasts?¡± Lin Mu asked. ¡°Little Shrubby had some great effects too.¡± He added.


    ¡°It might be possible, but it will be hard. The change in the twin snakes is far too drastic to be possible even with Beast Qi. Chances are it is something you might never be able to replicate.¡± Xukong rified.


    ¡°Why so senior?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°You¡¯ve seen the abilities of the twin snakes. They can directly absorb and convert Yin and Yang Qis.


    Property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Both are considered as the source of all elements and things in existence. Among the myriad of beings in the entire universe, there are only a handful that can aplish the same.


    Sure, many cultivators had the ability to control Yin and Yang, but no one had such innatepatibly. And on top of this, they are seemingly able to transform Yin into yang and vice-a-versa.


    That is even more absurd than their high affinity to the Yin and Yang.¡± Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu was left speechless for a few minutes after hearing this.


    He understood just how special the twins really were.


    ¡°Their progress has been really fast too senior. If they continue as they are, I think they might exceed me soon enough. They are already at the peak of Dao shell realm too.¡± Lin Mu spoke after a while.


    ¡°Hmm... you used the beast taming method I taught you, right?¡± Xukong asked.


    ¡°Yes senior. I used the True Blood Imprint on them.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°The Great Slumber Bear¡¯s bloodline might be able to maintain the True blood Imprint for enough time then. It shouldst till the twins reach the very peak of the immortal realm. You won¡¯t have to worry till then.¡± Xukong spoke. ¡°Hopefully by then, you will have developed a natural link with then and then the imprint wouldn¡¯t have to matter at all.¡± He added.


    ¡°I hope so too senior.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head and thought of another question.


    ¡°Still senior, won¡¯t I have to find more information about the twins? I mean, even if they are a new species, they are still snakes, so there should be some relevant information about them, right?¡± Lin Mu questioned. ¡°Something that might help me understand them.¡±


    He hoped that this information will allow him to develop a bond faster.


    ¡°There should be many ces with such information.¡± Xukong replied. ¡°You can start with the Rust Sky world itself.¡±


    ¡°There will be information about them here, too?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    ¡°Normal libraries and sect stores might not have it, but I know some ces that will be bound to have information.¡± Xukong stated.


    ¡°A ce bound to have information? What kind of ce, senior?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°The temple of the four guardian beasts. Most immortal worlds have them and this world has it too.¡± Xukong answered.


    ¡°Temple of the four guardian beasts?¡± Lin Mu felt his memories stir.


    He recalled some information he had read in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal. They talked about four mythical beasts that had existed in the universe since primordial times.


    These beasts were also considered as the four guardian beasts.


    ¡°Yes... The four guardian beasts. The ck Tortoise, The White Tiger, The Vermillion Bird and the Azure Dragon.¡± Xukong revealed. ¡°They protect and provide guidance to a myriad of worlds, and their representation is the temple of the four guardians.¡±

 Chapter 1348 The Temple Of The Four Guardians

    <h4> 1348 The Temple Of The Four Guardians </h4>


    The information about the four guardian beasts was something that had eluded Lin Mu since he had arrived on the Rust Sky world. Even the people he had met here, like Huyun Chuan and Kunzi had not told him about this.


    ¡°Hang on a second... why did no one tell me about it?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    ¡°Is the existence of such a temple kept secret, Senior?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°No... quite the opposite, actually. They prefer for everyone to know about them, so that they can obtain their worship.¡± Xukong replied. ¡°Evenmoners can pray to them freely and no one can restrict them from doing so. This has been decreed by the four guardian beast ns themselves.¡± He borated.


    ¡°Then... how did no one tell me such important intimation?¡± Lin Mu was doubtful.


    ¡°Well... why don¡¯t you just ask them?¡± Xukong suggested.


    ¡°Yeah! I should do that.¡± Lin Mu opened his eyes and called for Kunzi.


    ~step~step~


    The man appeared to meet Lin Mu rather quick.


    ¡°Kunzi, do you know about the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ve heard of it.¡± Kunzi said after thinking for a bit.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me about it before?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°Umm, I don¡¯t know much about it either. The only thing I know is that they are a religion that is worshiped by two of the three Empires; the Dao Wind Empire and the Huiqing Empire.¡± Kunzi replied.


    ¡°There aren¡¯t any such temples located in the Eight Kingdom Alliance?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    ¡°No. There are only temples in the three empires.¡± Kunzi replied.


    ¡°Even in the Holy Topaz Empire? I thought you said it is worshipped in only two empires?¡± Lin Mu asked for rification.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know the exact situation. I¡¯ve only heard this in passing from merchants from the other empires. Some of them were worshipers of these temples.¡± Kunzi replied.


    ¡°I see...¡± Lin Mu felt confused.


    He dismissed Kunzi and asked Immortal Taegu the same question. Lin Mu reckoned, since the man used to be a merchant too, he might have better information. And the answer he got from the man was a definitely better than Kunzi¡¯s.


    ¡°The Four guardian beasts are actually worshipped in all three empires. The only differences is that for the Huiqing empire and the Dao Wind Empire, it is the main religion. In the Holy Topaz Continent their main religion is different.


    The Four guardian beasts are worshipped along with the ancestor of the Holy Topaz Empire. They take ancestral worship as their priority. Or at least the royal family and nobles do.


    Themoners mostly worship the four guardian beasts.¡± Immortal Taegu exined in detail.


    ¡°I understand now...¡± Lin Mu felt it clearly. ¡°Though why is it that there is no temple in the Eight Kingdom alliance?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But the main religion here has always been Ancestral worship. Perhaps that¡¯s why no new temples were ever made.¡± Immortal Taegu guessed.


    ¡°He is probably right.¡± Xukong spoke at this time.


    ¡°He is? So it¡¯s not needed for the entire world to worship them?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°No... the four guardian beast ns are not arrogant enough to ask for exclusive worship. Further more since they are aligned to the orthodox path, almost no orthodox power has conflicts with them.


    Or rather, most powers will want to try to curry favor with them. After all, the benefits they provide are quite big.¡± Xukong replied in detail.


    Hearing about benefits made Lin Mu¡¯s ears perk up.


    ¡°What kind of benefits?¡± Lin Mu inquired.


    ¡°The temples of the four guardians often holdpetitions and allow the winners to obtain some reward from them. This reward can be in the form of cultivation technique, Qi skills, raw resources or more.


    But the one that is most sought after is none other than their bloodline essence.¡± Xukong answered.


    ¡°Wait... they offer their bloodline?¡± Lin Mu was stunned.


    By now he had understood that the four guardian beasts would be really strong and were literally worshipped. This meant that whoever obtained their bloodline would be very strong and have great talent as well.


    Offering such a reward was not light either. After all, to do bloodline assimtion one needed to kill a beast and extract its bloodline essence. Doing that meant that such guardian beasts would have to be killed.


    This seemed rather opposite to their existence.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    ¡°Yes, they do. Though it isn¡¯t pure.¡± Xukong confirmed. ¡°Which is also why they can be assimted by humans. If it was pure bloodline essence, it would be too strong for most cultivators to bear.¡± He added.


    ¡°They don¡¯t need to die to get this?¡± Lin Mu was still stuck on that part.


    ¡°Of course not. For beasts on the level of the four guardians, even a strand of their fur would contain their bloodline. Passing this on as a reward basically costs them nothing.¡± Xukong exined.


    ¡°No wonder...¡± Lin Mu took a breath of relief.


    For normal beasts, one needed to utilize their entire body to get the bloodline essence. And even then, the chances of a proper bloodline essence crystal forming weren¡¯t 100%. One might need to do multiple tries before making a proper one.


    Lin Mu himself had made them before and knew how difficult they were to refine and make.


    But this information gave Lin Mu another thought. One that was a lot more ambitious.


    ¡°Then can I obtain their bloodline too?¡± Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but wonder. ¡°It should be above the Great Slumber Bear Bloodline, right?¡±


    ¡°If you are in luck, you might be able to obtain it indeed.¡± Xukong said giving Lin Mu hope. ¡°But it won¡¯t necessarily beparable to the Great Slumber bear bloodline. Don¡¯t forget what they give out as reward isn¡¯t a full or pure bloodline. Your Great Slumber Bear Bloodline alone is enough to take you to the peak of Immortal realm and perhaps even above it.¡±


    ¡°Though... it is still a good thing to visit the temple. You can still obtain their techniques and skills.¡±

 Chapter 1349 Benefits Of The Temple, And The Source Of Desire

    <h4> 1349 Benefits Of The Temple, And The Source Of Desire </h4>


    Xukong¡¯s suggestion to visit the Temple of the Four Guardians was enough to make Lin Mu determined. He was now fully intending on obtaining something from it, even if he didn¡¯t get a technique or skill.


    But it did make Lin Mu interested in what kind of things they had.


    ¡°What techniques and skills do they impart Senior?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°It could be said that the Temple of the Four guardian has one of the biggest repertoire of Cultivation techniques, Qi skills and more in the entire universe. Disregarding the limits of the world a temple is located in, all of their libraries and stores can be said to be linked.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    This allows them to disseminate techniques and skills with an efficiency that most sects can¡¯t even think of.


    Of course, obtaining these techniques isn¡¯t free. One needs to exchange them with suitable merits. The temples don¡¯t even sell them in exchange for resources. After all, they have no such need for them.


    All they want is their tasks and missions to bepleted. Though people that are really devoted to worshiping them might also obtain suitable rewards.¡± Xukong answered.


    ¡°I see... so I will have to do their missions.¡± Lin Mu understood.


    ¡°If they are avable. These missions are often snatched up quickly by cultivators. While those that are notpleted are simply too difficult for most experts. So you will need luck, that¡¯s for sure.¡± Xukong added.


    ¡°And what about the tournament?¡± Lin Mu asked again.


    ¡°These are usually held at different times. But if one is being held, you will be bound to hear about it. Many experts from all over the world flock to it.¡± Xukong replied.


    ¡°Alright... I¡¯ll have to see if luck favors me this time.¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    ¡°Though... before you go searching for the Temple, I think it¡¯s better to resolve something else.¡± Xukong spoke in a serious tone.


    ¡°Resolve what?¡± Lin Mu raised his brows in confusion.


    ¡°It¡¯s good that you can forget about it. If you can ignore that burning desire even now, that means you have more time.¡± Xukong¡¯s voice became a bit relived.


    Hearing this though, Lin Mu immediately recalled the burning desire and despair he had felt before. The feeling of something precious to him being stolen and the anger he had felt at that moment returned.


    ¡°ARGH.¡± Lin Mu though held it in this time, just letting out a muffled grunt.


    ¡°Good, good. As long as you can continuing managing it, you won¡¯t form a Heart Demon.¡± Xukong said seeing Lin Mu¡¯s actions.


    ¡°Do you... have any idea what that... burning desire was, senior?¡± Lin Mu questioned, realizing he had truly forgotten about that.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what really caused you to feel such a thing, but I do know that the consequence of it. You are now far more likely to develop a heart demon.


    The best I can guess is that it might be a karmic link of some kind. I am not versed in divination nor in the Dao of Karma to decipher how you formed this. Or if someone else did it for you.


    But I do know that you need to resolve it as soon as possible. It is not good to let it stay pending.¡± Xukong answered.


    The Dao of Karma was something Lin Mu had read about in the Lost Immortal¡¯s memoirs. After all, the man had the broken fate physique and often wondered why he had an almost endless string of misfortune.


    He knew there was some karma associated with him, and tried to find a solution. He went to many experts that knew or were proficient in the Dao of Karma and yet he didn¡¯t find a proper solution.


    The Dao of Karma was one of the most illusive Daos and also very difficult toprehend. Those who couldprehend it fully held the fates of worlds in their hands. They merely needed to see where karma flowed and who owed what to change the tides of fortune.


    It was a truly terrifying power.


    Divination was somewhat simr to that and often utilized the Dao of Karma. Ultimately, though it was a type of a skill and had many applications. Finding someone that could do divination was a lot easier than finding someone proficient in the Dao of Karma.


    After all, even the best Diviners were only taking the aid of Karma and couldn¡¯t fully grasp it. Those who could grasp it would go beyond their limits.


    ¡°Seems like I¡¯ll have to search for it first...¡± Lin Mu muttered, turning towards a particr direction.


    Xukong noticed this and spoke, ¡°you can tell where it is?¡±


    ¡°Yes... now that I was reminded of it, the feeling has be a lot more apparent.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean... You are sensing it even in the Spatial Channel.¡± Xukong reminded Lin Mu.


    ¡°Oh, wait... I am...¡± Lin Mu said as his eyes went to the ring on his hand.


    ¡°Looks like you have your culprit.¡± Xukong said. ¡°It was the ring all along...¡±


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows not understanding why it had done so. Seeing that he could feel the link even in the void only meant that the ring was acting as a conduit for it. Otherwise he should not have felt the link.


    Or rather more urately, it should have felt direction less to Lin Mu. But since it had a particr direction, there was only two ways it would be possible. Either Lin Mu¡¯s proficiency with Space had reached a level where he could directly spread his senses beyond it, or... there was a tool working as an interface.


    Lin Mu knew that he was stillcking in his proficiency with space and could not do that. This only left the second option as viable... the mysterious ring was behind it all.


    ¡®What kind of reason would you have to make me think I lost something?¡¯ Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but question.


    All he received in response though was silence from the ring.

 Chapter 1350 Target: Holy Topaz Empire!

    <h4> 1350 Target: Holy Topaz Empire! </h4>


    ~RUSH~


    The sound of sea waves crashing could be heard as the Ship finally fell into the ocean.


    ¡°HAAA! WE ARE OUT!¡± Immortal Taegu eximed feeling relieved.


    The travel through the Spatial Channel had been very intense and nerve-wracking. Even if Lin Mu was guiding them through the channel, having to control the ship and steering it along that path was quite tough.


    And this was after the fact that he had Elder Niji to help him guide the water. Thankfully, they were now out of it, and he wouldn¡¯t need to be as tense as before.


    ¡°Is this the ocean!?¡± The Haima tribe warriors wondered.


    All of them could feel an instinctive connection to the water around them. They could vaguely tell that this was a lot bigger than the Sea of Muxuan.


    ¡°We are indeed in the great ocean of the Rust Sky world.¡± Elder Niji confirmed.


    His connection with the safe haven of the tribe had just been strengthened and he could now feel more than just that. Niji felt like he could now navigate through the ocean on his own.


    It was as if the water itself spoke to him, telling were to go. It was a feeling that could not be describe easily.


    ¡°How far are we from our destination, Elder Niji?¡± Lin Mu who had been sitting in silence for a while now, asked.


    Elder Niji looked at Lin Mu, finding his demeanor to be a bit more serious now. He didn¡¯t mind it much though, thinking hat it might just be due to the exhaustion. After all, Lin Mu had guided them out for a long time now.


    ¡°ording to my estimates, we¡¯ll reach the safe haven in less than a week. This is if we don¡¯t encounter any trouble and are able to maintain out speed.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°I see... And can you point out the directions to me?¡± Lin Mu asked. ¡°And where our location is?¡±


    The Navigation formations of the Ship had now be useless. They were only made to work in the sea of Muxuan after all. Putting the ship in the ocean basically made it blind and needed to be navigated manually.


    ¡°I can,¡± Elder Niji nodded his head.


    He then jumped down from the ship and directly sat on the ocean surface. Closing his eyes, Elder Niji mediated for a few minutes. Lin Mu waited patiently in this time, and the rest of the people on the ship also got the chance to rest a bit.


    Their travel through the Spatial Channel was difficult after all.


    After about twenty minutes, Elder Niji opened his eye and returned to the ship.


    ¡°We are now in the ocean between the Huiqing Continent and the Dao Wind Continent.¡± Elder Niji answered before pointing to a certain direction. ¡°That is north.¡±


    ¡°And in what direction is the Dao Wind Continent?¡± Lin Mu asked next.


    ¡°There,¡± Elder Niji pointed once more, ¡°to the west.¡±


    ¡°I understand now...¡± Lin Mu quickly formed a map in his mind.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    From what he had learned till now, East of the Eight Kingdom alliance was the Dao Wind Empire, and to the east of that was the Huiqing Empire. As for the Holy Topaz Empire, it was located west of the Eight Kingdom alliance.


    Technically, one could reach the Holy Topaz Empire by going further East from Huiqing Empire too, but it was a journey rarely taken. This was due to the fact that there were very few resting stops between the Huiqing Empire and the Holy Topaz Empire.


    The Stretch of Ocean between Huiqing and Holy Topaz was rather vast and getting lost in it was possible. Not to mention that there would be dangers there too. Theck of inds to resupply and restock also made it difficult.


    Besides all this, one must know that sailing from the Eight Kingdom Alliance to the Holy Topaz Empire already took more than two years. One the other hand the distance from the Huiqing Empire to the Holy Topaz Empire was more than twice this.


    ¡®More than four years to reach it... I don¡¯t want to travel that long.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Elder Niji noticed Lin Mu¡¯s expression and recalled something from before.


    ¡°Do you have somece to be Noble Lin Mu?¡± Elder Niji questioned.


    ¡°I do indeed.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head. ¡°The Holy Topaz Empire.¡±


    ¡®I wouldn¡¯t have thought that I¡¯d be shooting two birds with one arrow going to the Holy Topaz empire...¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    The two birds he thought of were the need for body cultivation techniques and his burning desire.


    As for how Lin Mu determined the desire wasing from the Holy Topaz Empire?


    It was simply due to the connection he was feeling. If it was in the Dao Wind Empire, he would have felt the link calling him to the west. And if it was in the Huiqing Empire, he would have felt it in the East.


    But what he was feeling was a connection from both sides, with the eastern side being a little stronger.


    Eight Kingdom Alliance was already out of the count since he had sensed the connection there too. And now that he knew of the directions, Lin Mu knew it was calling to him from the West there.


    This all narrowed it down to one ce, the Holy Topaz Empire of the Holy Topaz continent.


    ¡°Ah yes, you asked for body cultivation techniques. Is that why you want to go there?¡± Immortal Taegu asked and Kunzi looked in interest as well.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Lin Mu simply replied.


    Elder Niji though could tell there was more to this. But he didn¡¯t want to pry into things Lin Mu didn¡¯t exin first himself.


    ¡°Alright, Noble Lin Mu. We¡¯ll do our best in getting you there.¡± Elder Niji simply replied.


    ¡°Oh, if you are intending to go to the Holy Topaz Empire, you don¡¯t have to sail there.¡± Little Gian who had not spoken for a while said. ¡°You can simply take a teleportation array from any of the two empires. I¡¯ve heard of people doing that.¡± He reminded.

 Chapter 1351 A Stranger Arrives

    <h4> 1351 A Stranger Arrives </h4>


    Little Gian was not as smart or knowledgeable as Kunzi and the man knew this too. But at times, he had a presence of mind that many would not grasp.


    ¡°Of course!¡± Lin Mu said, almost forgetting that there was this option too.


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of the Teleportation arrays too, there is one each in the three empires. But using them is very expensive.¡± Immortal Taegu spoke up.


    ¡°How expensive?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°I don¡¯t exactly know, but I¡¯ve heard from travailing merchants that some immortals spend a thousand years or so just to umte enough fortune to pay the fee.¡± Immortal Taegu answered. ¡°Compared to that, it is often more profitable to simply sail across the ocean.¡± He added.


    ¡°Hmm... a fortune that takes a thousand years to umte?¡± Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    ¡°Ahahah!¡± Elder Nijiughed at this time. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Noble Lin Mu, the Haima Tribe still has enough fortune to sponsor you.¡±


    ¡°Alright... let¡¯s see what we can work with after reaching the Safe haven of the tribe.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head.


    They continued their journey while eagerly talking about the future. Lin Mu was conversing with Senior Xukong too and the topic finally came to a very dearpanion of Lin Mu.


    ¡°Senior, have you taken a look at Little Shrubby?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°I have, yes. You don¡¯t need to worry about him, he¡¯s fine.¡± Xukong replied.


    ¡°Then why is he still in the seed form?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°It is due to the fact that he used that innate ability fully for the first time. Vitality Reversal in itself a nt ability. There is no telling what kind of effects it would have on beasts.


    Little Shrubby could use it to reduce his size, but using it to recover fully might take longer. Thankfully, it is very stable and I don¡¯t see any problems.¡± Xukong answered making Lin Mu feel a little better.


    ¡°I¡¯ve also been giving him wood spirit Qi from the Sleepscape.¡± Lin Mu added.


    ¡°That is good. It¡¯ll help him recover fast and he might even breakthrough by the time he wakes up.¡± Xukong replied.


    ¡°Really? That¡¯s great.¡± Lin Mu felt pleased.


    ¡°You should also start to expand your scope of strength. I will now start your lessons on higher leveled formation arrays...¡± Xukong stated. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the Sleepscape.¡±


    ¡°Yes senior!¡± there was nothing more that Lin Mu could ask for more than this.


    Sleeping was now instinctual to him and a mere second was all it took for him to enter the Sleepscape.


    There the teacher and student met in person once more and began their lessons.


    And while this was happening in the middle of the ocean, something else was urring in the continent close by.


    Dao Wind Continent, the Great Capital of Dao Wind Empire.


    A vast city was spread for nearly a thousand kilometers. There were endless buildings all over the ce, covering both hills and ins simrly. Eighteen rivers could be seening from the outskirts of the city and merging at the very center.


    This merger of rivers formed argeke, that was about a hundred kilometers in radius. In the center of thiske, there was arge tform covered withplex patterns and runes.


    If anyone knowledgeable about runes and arrays were to see it, they would realize that this was a teleportation array. And not just any teleportation array, but a Great Teleportation Array that could take one to a different world!


    This was also the official Teleportation array that linked the Rust Sky world to the Northern Immortal Court!


    Hundreds of cultivators were currently present on the tform with over half of them wearing the Royal Guard armor of the Dao Wind Empire.


    But that was not all, as the cultivation base of all these guards was at the fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm!


    Such a group of cultivators would be the elites of an army and yet they were doing guard duty here. This alone showed the importance of the array.


    Other than the guards though, there were other experts present too.


    They were dressed differently than the guards, wearing various kinds of cloth robes. They also held several different tools, seemingly working on the array.


    A man stood near the center of the array. He had the highest cultivation base in this entire tform and seemed to be at the sixth tribtion stage of the immortal realm. And not just that, he also seemed to be the head of this ce.


    ¡°All formation masters ready!¡± The man called out.


    ¡°READY!¡± they all replied.


    ¡°The next batch will be arriving soon, start the array!¡± the man ordered.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon thatmand all the formation masters activated their immortal tools. These were tools that were specially used to control arrays and formations. Any of them could easily be sold for hundreds of immortal stones in the market.


    And yet there were several hundred of them present here and being used all at once. This was not a scene that would be seen often.


    ~HONG~


    A humming sound was heard as all the formations thatposed the array activated. Multi-colored runes floated around the air and various patterns appeared. For a normal person the sight would be rather beautiful, but to a cultivator it would be filled with numerous profundities.


    Strong energy fluctuations spread from the formation, and threated to affects the area outside theke. But just as they reached the border of theke, another barrier appeared, keeping them contained within.


    A massive amount of immortal Qi was consumed by the array in that moment and this triggered a change in the space.


    ~HUALA~


    Several circr discs made from runes appeared on the tform while space rippled around it. If someone proficient in spatial Dao were to see this scene, they would realize that there were movements in the void.


    ~SHUA~


    Finally, the spatial fabric tore open and the Great Void behind it was revealed!


    Several such tears appeared on the tform, with each being located on the discs. Some tears were as nearly a hundred meters wide while some were just a meter wide. The discs on which they appeared were also of a matching size.


    If one looked at this from the sky, they would see that it actually formed arge pattern.


    Thergest discs in the center formed a flower like pattern with the interweaving arrays, while the smaller discs outside it formed arge corona that looked like arge bouquet.


    The multicolored runes and formations only made it that much more dazzling.


    This dazzling scenested for a minute during which several people appeared from the spatial rifts. Some people were alone, some were in groups and some had brought along goods with them.


    The goods were stacked up inrge boxes that were easily hundred cubic meters in size. Just from this, one could tell that these were the extremely rich merchants that could afford inter-world travel!


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    ¡°Power it down!¡± The formation master leading it all, ordered.


    ~WOOOO~


    A low blowing sound was heard as the immortal Qi concentration in the area rapidly fell. And along with that, the glow of the formations and runes also faded away, letting the Great Teleportation return to its inactive form.


    Once all this was over, the appearance of the people could finally be seen. It was safe to say that they were all a mixed bag of people. Some were dressed like nobles, some were dressed in Daoist robes and some were even dressed in tattered robes.


    Their cultivation bases were also varied, with the weakest among them being at the third tribtion stage of the immortal realm. But the strongest among them was at the seventh stage of the immortal realm!


    The man leading the formation masters noticed this and approached the said person.


    ¡°The Head of the Great Teleportation Array of the Dao Wind Empire wees the guests to the Rust Sky world!¡± The man said ording to the etiquette.


    He cupped his hands perfunctorily before turning to the rest of the people that had arrived.


    ¡°All Independent travelers are to register before leaving and present their identifying tokens!¡± the man announced. ¡°And the merchants are to dere the goods that have been brought at the merchant union right away.¡± He added.


    Done with his work, the man turned back to meet the seventh Tribtion stage immortal.


    ¡°My Prince...¡± The man bowed this time.


    ¡°Master Suzi, I didn¡¯t expect you to be here today.¡± The prince replied.


    ¡°How can I not be here to receive the prince? It is my duty as the Head Formation master of our empire.¡± The man stated.


    ¡°Mmm... Though I see that there are quite a lot of people this time around?¡± The prince looked around.


    ¡°Ah yes... many cultivators are arriving in droves for the tournament next year.¡± The man replied. ¡°Though why did you end your training early prince?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I heard that a certain trash prince of the Holy Topaz Empire has rise in status? I felt interested so came to take a look.¡±

 Chapter 1352 A Genius Prince And A Rumored Trash Prince

    <h4> 1352 A Genius Prince And A Rumored Trash Prince </h4>


    The Prince¡¯s words around the head formation master Suzi¡¯s interest.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    ¡°The prince¡¯s scope of intelligence is really vast...¡± Head Formation Master Suzi spoke.


    ¡°Ahaha, it¡¯s nothing. Toe across such information in the Northern Immortal Court is rather easy. People sell it for a dime a dozen.¡± The prince chuckled.


    ¡°Still... to make the price end his training early? I thought you would stay at the Northern Immortal Court for another hundred years.¡± Head Formation Master Suzi said with confusion. ¡°Is there something more to this... Trash Prince?¡± he asked.


    ¡°That is what I want to verify. His rise has been sudden... From what I heard, he used to be at the Immortal ascension realm and suddenly broke through directly reaching the Immortal realm.¡± The prince replied.


    ¡°But isn¡¯t that normal? Even if it is a trash prince, the Holy Topaz Empire has more than enough resources to nurture mere mutts into an immortal, not to mention a prince.¡± The Head Formation Master Suzi said in doubt.


    ¡°If that was all to it, I wouldn¡¯t care. But the condition of this trash prince was different... he was born with mutated meridians that were further damaged by pill toxins in his childhood. This left him unable to progress beyond the Immortal Ascension realm.


    But then he reached the immortal realm and directly triggered not one but two immortal tribtions, direct reaching the second tribtion stage of the immortal realm.¡± The Prince exined.


    ¡°Hmm... mutated meridians and pill toxin umtion are both hard to deal with... even for the Holy Topaz Empire, a healing pill needed to fix that would easily be at the sixth or seventh immortal grade.


    For a trash prince I doubt¡¯ they would use one unless he brought some merit.¡± Head Formation Master Suzi pondered.


    ¡°Exactly.¡± The Prince nodded his head. ¡°Not to mention... I also heard some unverified rumors. The newly broken through prince actually defeated two immortals at the Fourth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm.¡± He added.


    ¡°Fighting two realms above him?¡± The Head Formation master was stunned. ¡°Even if it is an unverified rumor, I can see why the prince would be interested.¡± He said after thinking.


    ¡°Indeed... I¡¯d like to see that trash prince with my own two eyes and see... just what fortune he obtained. If it is good enough, I¡¯d like it for myself... it¡¯lle in use for the next Gathering of Immortal Geniuses.¡± The Prince stated.


    ¡°The Gathering Of Immortal Geniuses!¡± The Head Formation Master Suzi was stunned and a hint of amazement appeared in his eyes. ¡°My Prince, you... you obtained the qualifications?¡±


    ¡°Ahahaha, yeah... I can now truly say that my training in the Northern Immortal Court didn¡¯t go to waste. Which is also why I could end it early. I realized I may as well visit mother and father, while also bringing some friends I made there on a vacation.¡± The Prince confirmed.


    In response to this, the Head Formation master looked at the people that were standing behind the Prince. These people had arrived with the prince, but Suzi hadn¡¯t paid much attention to them.


    All of them were dressed in rather high quality robes; some looking like nobles and some like daoists of immortal sects.


    The Rust Sky world had ouwed sects since ancient times and thus it was very unusual to find Daoist of the immortal sect here. Many even avoided the Rust Sky world, since they had ouwed the sects.


    Though itinerant and wandering cultivators didn¡¯t care for it either.


    ¡°Ah! I see. All of Prince¡¯s friends are the honored guests of the Dao Wind Empire. The Head Formation master of the Dao Wind Empire greets you all.¡± Suzi greeted the rest.


    The Prince turned around to face his friends and nodded his head as well.


    ¡°This is Head Formation Master Suzi. He has been a great help to me and was my Formation teacher once too.¡± The Prince stated.


    ¡°So it is Master Suzi. This Daoist pays his respects.¡± A man wearing in white Daoist robes greeted. ¡°You can call me Daoist Chu.¡±


    ¡°Wee Daoist Chu.¡± Suzi greeted.


    ¡°Greetings master Suzi, I am princess Wei of the Shang Dao Empire.¡± A girl dressed in the robes of nobility spoke.


    Her vibe was fiery and so were her clothes, that were all red. Even her aura seemed to be rather fiery, making one think that they were standing in front of a zing bonfire.


    ¡°Princess Wei of the Shang Dao Empire? From the Three Aster World?¡± Master Suzi was surprised by this.


    ¡°You are right, Master Suzi.¡± The princess nodded her head.


    In response to this, Master Suzi looked at the prince with a little hesitation on his face.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t tell father and it¡¯ll be fine.¡± The Prince whispered.


    ¡°This... alright... Just make sure to keep the princess away from the main pce Prince. The Emperor will not be pleased to hear someone from the Shang Dao Empire is here.¡± Master Suzi warned with a little concern.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± The Prince assured. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±


    The otherpanions of the Prince also introduced themselves, each of them having a rather influential name. But that was not all, as their cultivation bases were all strong, with the weakest being at the Fifth Stage of the Immortal realm!


    It could be said that all of them were a genius in their own self and yet there were so many of them here.


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s head out. We don¡¯t need to register here.¡± The Prince said and took the lead.


    The surrounding cultivators who had arrived along with them heard the Prince and Master Suzi¡¯s conversations feeling rather stunned.


    ¡°I never would have expected that I¡¯d see so many geniuses here.¡± Someone spoke.


    ¡°Not just geniuses, didn¡¯t you hear? They all came from the Northern Immortal Court and were training there. That is not something just anyone can do.¡± Another person spoke.


    The prince and the rest didn¡¯t care for the whispers of the people, as they were used to it all. But among these newly arrived traversals, there was a veiled woman that stared at them with interest.

 Chapter 1353 The Saintess Duty

    <h4> 1353 The Saintess'' Duty </h4>


    The Prince and hispanions passed through the registration checkpoint without stopping and continued onwards. The rest of the travelers though didn¡¯t have the same benefit.


    They needed to spend some time registering their identity. Without that, they wouldn¡¯t be allowed to leave. Such was thatw that everyone needed to follow... at least in the normal case.


    Some people looked at the prince with a little envy, but didn¡¯t mind. Being the prince of the very Empire they had arrived in meant that he could easily have these benefits. Plus with his identity, what¡¯s the use of registering it?


    Everyone would know it as long as they saw his face.


    But while some people watched the prince and hisparison with envy, there was one person that gazed at them with interest.


    It was a beautiful veiled woman who could make anyone swoon over her, whether it be a man or woman even without seeing her face. But the most surprising thing was that no one could see her.


    Even if she was standing in the middle of the crowd, she should have been eye-catching with her green robes and red hair. The veil did little to hide her innate beauty that simply couldn¡¯t be hidden.


    ¡°Hmm... They¡¯ve just arrived, so it¡¯s unlikely for them to have any link to the Yin-Yang Twin serpents...¡± the woman muttered.


    She then looked at the rest of the people, an invisible energy spreading from her. The energy covered the entire tform then went past it, even oveing the barrier that isted theke.


    It covered half of the capital before it stopped.


    ~Sigh~


    ¡°I can¡¯t do much with these restrictions... Sealing cultivation base like this is really shackling...¡± the Woman sighed before gazing at the sky that was perpetually overcast.


    ¡°For the Ancestral serpents to appear in a world like this... what secrets does it hold? Even most of the celestial worlds aren¡¯t qualified to bear the Ancestral serpents and a mere immortal world births two?¡± The woman wondered to herself, her voice not heard by anyone.


    ¡®I¡¯ll just have to bear it for a while. To avoid the Celestial court¡¯s spying, it is best I keep a low footprint... I cannot afford to offend the Void Weaver either... I¡¯ll have to reserve myself.¡¯ The woman thought as she stepped towards the registration counter.


    ~shua~


    The formations flickered slightly as she passed by them unhindered, but they didn¡¯t sound any rm.


    ¡°Weird...¡±


    The guards who were working at the counter furrowed their brows. But then shook it off, seeing there was no problem happening.


    The woman easily stepped out of theke, her steps turning into blurs. Each step she took carried her nearly a kilometer forwards. Once she was out of theke and past its barrier, the woman stepped into the air, rising into the sky.


    ~shua~


    The clouds surged around her, forming a tform on which she stood.


    ¡°Peak of the Immortal realm is still enough to use in this world, that¡¯s good.¡± The woman muttered as she looked at her hands.


    Fine runes and Dao insights swirled around it, gathering without any effort.


    ¡°Now to do my duty as the Saintess,¡± The woman picked a direction and started flying there, disappearing in mere seconds.


    But just when she had left though, someone stirred in the Royal ce below.


    ¡°My Emperor, is there a problem?¡± In the Grand ce of the Dao Wind Empire, a minister spoke with concern.


    A short distance from him sat a majestic man. This was none other than the Emperor of the Dao wind Empire! A peak immortal realm expert!


    ¡°I don¡¯t know... something felt strange... but I think I¡¯m just mistaken.¡± The Emperor replied.


    The minister had a solemn look hearing this.


    ¡°The First Prince is said to have just arrived. Several other travelers have arrived too.¡± The minister spoke.


    ¡°Oh? He arrived today?¡± The Emperor had a pondering look on his face. ¡°Call him then...¡± he stated.


    ¡°At once,¡± the minister epted.


    ¡°Also... Investigate all those that have arrived today.¡± The Emperor added.


    ...


    Lin Mu and the rest didn¡¯t know of the happenings in the Dao Wind Empire. Neither did he know that there was now someone looking for him actively.


    To him, the only thing in sight right now was a multitude of runes.


    ¡°As long as you master these runes, you will be able to decipher and use most of the low to mid grade Immortal formations.¡± Xukong continued his lesson.


    ¡°I understand senior.¡± Lin Mu said as he quickly got to work.


    A few days had passed and Lin Mu had just stayed in the Sleepscape whiles earning from Xukong. His understanding of the runes was increasing rapidly, more so with the new ones being added to his scope of knowledge.


    In fact, Lin Mu felt like some of the old difficulties he had were being resolved by learning the new runes. Even if they wereplex, their essence was the same and their base was something Lin Mu had learned.


    They were expanding on the foundations and thus made it easier to resolve older difficulties.


    Lin Mu continued his lesson for a few hours, before he felt like someone was calling him.


    ¡°We should end it here for now.¡± Xukong spoke. ¡°Seems like we¡¯ve reached the destination.¡±


    Lin Mu nodded his head and left the Sleepscape, his consciousness returning to his main body.


    ¡°Did you have a good rest, Noble Lin Mu?¡± Elder Niji who was standing next to him asked.


    ¡°I did.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head before looking toward¡¯s the head of the ship. ¡°So we are finally here.¡±


    ¡°Indeed...¡± Elder Niji nodded his head. ¡°The Safe Haven of the Haima Tribe... Deep Sapphire Ind.¡± The man introduced.


    Lin Mu saw a rather deste looking ind in the distance that didn¡¯t seem to match its name.


    ¡°So we head underwater from here?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°No, first we head to the ind. The array that will take us underwater is hidden there.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°Very well. SPEED UP!¡± Lin Mu called out.? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.

 Chapter 1354 The Truth Of The Island

    <h4> 1354 The Truth Of The Ind </h4>


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    The sound of waves hitting the coast could be heard as the ship neared the deste ind.


    Lin Mu and the rest had finally reached their intended destination after over a week of travel. While there were a lot of dangers like aquatic beasts and more on the way, with Elder Niji¡¯s guidance and the ability of the Haima, avoiding them was a breeze.


    If this was any other ship, they might have been wrecked several times over in this time. The same distance that they had covered in seven days might have taken them over four or five months since they would have to either go around a lot of the dangers or wait till they passed.


    ¡°So this is the Safe Haven?¡± Kunzi asked seeing the deste ind that had little life on it.


    ¡°This is merely the outer appearance of this ind. Plus the Safe Haven isn¡¯t this ind, but is located on the ocean floor.¡± Elder Niji said as he controlled the ship and let the people get down from the ship.


    Once the Haima members were down, Elder Niji dissipated the water part of the ship, letting it return to its normal form. Only then did the rest of the passengers, mainly the convict humans got down.


    ¡°I can sense some arrays... the energy distribution here is rather erratic.¡± Lin Mu spoke while squinting his eyes.


    His spirit sense was unable to sense any formations here, but with his spatial perception, Lin Mu managed to ¡®see¡¯ the energies moving around. The pattern they were moving around was an easy clue for a formation.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu is right. There is a huge illusory array on the ind. This array hides the main area of the ind.¡± Elder Niji spoke. ¡°Though this ind has no particr name. Ancestor Muxuan didn¡¯t name it since he wanted it to stay unknown.¡± He added.


    ¡°I see...¡± Lin Mu and Kunzi nodded their heads.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see how it really is then.¡± Lin Mu felt a little excited and jumped down from the ship.


    Elder Niji sped ahead and took the lead, guiding them into the ind.


    The path was no fixed as the ind was mostly made out of rocks. Some sea weed was seen growing from the cliff walls and the rocks on the shore, but other than that, there was little to no life on the ind.


    Even themon bird beasts flying around the ocean didn¡¯tnd on the ind to rest. Instead, they avoided the ind entirely, taking arge circle around it.


    Lin Mu continued to look around while spreading his spirit sense, taking all the sights in.


    ¡®It really is quite deste... all I see are rocks, stones and boulders... even the soil here is mostly stone dust...¡¯ Lin Mu observed.


    After about ten minutes though, therge group came to a stop in front of a small boulder. The boulder was about three meters tall and four meters wide, having an irregr oval shape.


    It looked utterly mundane in appearance, and yet it stood out due to the fact that there was just this one boulder in a 100 meter wide t area.


    ¡°What is this?¡± Lin Mu asked, his spatial perception only telling him that the energy density here was highest and so were the number of runes.


    ¡°This is the entry point to the actual ind.¡± Elder Niji spoke before walking to the boulder. ¡°Hai as in Ocean and Ma as in Horse...¡± he muttered while cing his hand on the boulder.


    ~HUALA~


    As soon as he did that, a pulse of energy was felt by everyone.


    ~ZING~


    Suddenly, a light blue glob of energy shot straight up from the boulder. It reached high up into the sky and a long blue line could now be seen. It looked like someone had built a blue pir in the air.


    ¡°Open.¡± Elder Niji ordered.


    ~HONG~


    The tall blue pir seemingly expanded in the air, making it look like translucent curtains were being pulled apart.


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    ¡°This is a peak immortal grade illusory array.¡± Lin Mu identified.


    With his recent lessons with Xukong, it would be a shame if Lin Mu couldn¡¯t even do this much.


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Xukong confirmed as well. ¡°Whoever set this was at the very peak of the Immortal realm once. Though the array seems to have weakened over the years.¡± He added.


    ¡°It has really weakened senior? Even when I could barely sense it?¡± Lin Mu was surprised.


    ¡°It is precisely due to the fact that it was weakened were you able to sense its presence. If not for that, even your spatial perception would be unable to tell. At its full potential, this illusory array can even hide from the senses of a spatial Dao expert.¡± Xukong replied.


    ¡°Whoa... I should perhaps study this.¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    The other Haima tribe members as well as the human convicts were stunned at this scene too. Only when the ¡®curtain¡¯ was fully opened did they gather their wits.


    ¡°Beautiful...¡± Lin Mu couldn¡¯t help but say seeing the true appearance of the ind.


    It was a lot bigger than it appeared on the outside and was full of life!


    There were millions of nts growing everywhere, and both animals and beasts could be seen running around on the ind as well. Not just that, but the concentration of spirit Qi and immortal Qi was rather high here.


    ¡°Come, we have a little more distance to cover.¡± Elder Niji stated.


    The group continued onwards while marveling at all the scenes.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Sun Drop Magnolia?¡±


    ¡°And that is Blue Mist Azalea!¡±


    ¡°Heavens! Is that a Long Horn Bark Immortal Antelope!?¡±


    The humans convicts soon started to recognize some of the things that were present here. Not only was there a bound of herbs here, there were some immortal beasts spread around the ind!


    Lin Mu took looked at the Antelope beast in the distance, only to find it disinterested in them. The Immortal beast ran away without caring for them.

 Chapter 1355 Deep Sapphire Island

    <h4> 1355 Deep Sapphire Ind </h4>


    While everyone marveled at the Ind, Lin Mu found the twin snakes moving under his sleeves.


    ¡°Oh? You two woke up as well?¡± Lin Mu lifted his hands, as the twins came out of it.


    ~hiss~


    The twins let out a low hiss before climbing up his arms anding to rest on his shoulders.


    ¡®They seem to be interested in this too, huh...¡¯ Lin Mu thought. ¡®They are not hungry at least... it won¡¯t be good if they go on a hunting spree here without us knowing more about it.¡¯ He reckoned.


    ¡°The twin snakes are certainly different, the way their aura is and its nature is extremely unique.¡± Xukong spoke seeing the twins.


    ¡°It is right? I thought so too.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Mmmhmm, in my lifetime I¡¯ve seen countless creature, but none of their aura is like this. They are certainly unique... the first of their kind that I¡¯m seeing with my eyes.¡± Xukong stated.


    He had been rather interested in the twin snakes too, since he was unable to find their origin. For someone like Xukong, this had to be almost impossible. After all, even if their origin was entirely unique, there should have been fractional simrities with other beings.


    And yet... there were none.


    While Xukong was thinking this, Lin Mu asked a question. ¡°What do you think about this Ind Senior? It seems like a good ce to cultivate.¡±


    ¡°Hmm... the Qi concentration here is decently high. Both the Immortal Qi and Spirit Qi is good enough for most sects to like it. While it isn¡¯t good enough to be a sacrednd, it is still descent.¡± Xukong gave his opinion.


    Of course, this opinion was in content with an immortal world like the Rust Sky world. If this same ind waspared to the Xiaofan world, it would be the utterly bestnd for cultivation.


    The group continued onwards and soon exited the forest,ing upon argeke in the center of the ind. The water of thiske was crystal clear, allowing one to see its depths vividly.


    And it was here that the people were stunned.


    ¡°Is that... a hole?¡± Immortal Taegu asked in surprise.


    Since theke water was very clear, one could see a deep, dark hole in its center. The hole wasn¡¯t abruptly formed though, instead it seemed to be progressively nting from the edges of theke.


    The bottom of theke started to taper until it formed into a hole in the center.


    Still, in context with theke that was nearly a kilometer in size, the hole was about a hundred meters wide. The crystal clear waters of theke contrasted with the ck patch in the center, making it look a little eerie.


    ¡°This is the entrance to the true safe haven of the Haima tribe.¡± Elder Niji spoke.


    ¡°How do we get there, then? Are we supposed to swim?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°Let me just show you,¡± Elder Niji said and came to stand on top of theke.


    His feet firmly propped him on top of the water, not letting him sink.


    The elder then spread his arms apart, making theke water tremble under him.


    ~SHUA~


    A few secondster, the water started to part, forming a ¡®V¡¯ shaped area. It looked like a water fall had suddenlye into existence in the center of theke and looked rather amazing.


    The water was now falling into the hole in the center, making it look somewhat like a water slide at an amusement part.


    ¡°Everyone just needs to jump in. The water will take you to the very bottom of the ocean.¡± Elder Niji instructed.


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    ~gulp~


    Though the humans weren¡¯t fully sure about this.


    ¡°Is this... Umm... safe?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, isn¡¯t the ocean bed supposed to be hundreds of kilometer deep?¡±


    The humans had several questions.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the water isn¡¯t just for show. There is in fact, a formation array controlling it all. It will safely take you all to the bottom.¡± Elder Niji assured.


    ¡°Come on now! I¡¯ll take the lead.¡± Lin Mu spoke, stepping toward.


    He was in fact, excited to do this.


    ~STEP~


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu stepped off the edge of theke, jumping directly into the falling water.


    ~GUSH~


    ¡°WOOOO~¡± Lin Mu felt like a child again, going down the water.


    His body was protected from the water due to the Mortal Strengthening Scripture¡¯s armor, so he didn¡¯t need to deal with wet clothes at all. In all senses, it was the perfect way to enjoy a water slide.


    Lin Mu soon reached the mouth of the hole and was carried into it along with the water.


    ¡°Oh? The water isn¡¯t actually going down straight?¡± Lin Mu found himself to be carried in a spiral.


    The water was swirling around an invisible tube of some kind that Lin Mu couldn¡¯t perceive directly. His spirit sense simply felt like there was a barrier of some kind there, but couldn¡¯t tell what.


    ~SNAP~


    Lin Mu ignited a bright ball of fire in his palm, illuminating the area and dispelling the darkness.


    ¡°Whoa!¡± it was now that he saw a dazzling scene he would remember for a long time toe.


    The light of fire spread to several kilometer away into the water, allowing Lin Mu to see that there was actually a restriction all around him. This restriction wasn¡¯t exactly like a barrier, but instead served to repel the ocean water.


    This made an empty pocket of air that allowed one to travel through it. But thisbined with the spiraling water made it feel like arge an borate water slide.


    ¡°There are so many beasts!¡± Lin Mu¡¯s eyes wandered around, taking the sights of the ocean in.


    He could see fishes of many kinds rushing past the ¡®tube¡¯ along withrge aquatic beasts. There were crabs the size of hills scuttling past them while a school of fish beasts chased them.


    Then there was arge octopus nearly two kilometers long circling around the ¡®tube¡¯.

 Chapter 1356: A Splashing Entry

    Chapter 1356: A Sshing EntryThis was the first time Lin Mu was seeing so many aquatic beasts and he was rather amazed by them.


    Some looked likerger version of normal aquatic animals, while some had strange features and body parts.


    For example, there was arge fish that had six fins on each side and swam at a blinding speed. Then there was the octopus that had gone past the ''tube. Not only was it veryrge, it also had tentacles that were covered in vibrant red fur.


    It seemed rather strange to see fur on an aquatic creature, but it was still new.


    "There''s so many beasts¡­ they are rather strong too¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself in awe.


    All the beasts that Lin Mu saw were at the Immortal realm. There seemed to be basically no spirit beasts in this part of the ocean. Even a prawn the size of a dog was seemingly at the Immortal realm.


    Granted, most of the Immortal realm beasts in here were weak and were barely at the First Tribtion stage of the immortal realm, there was still a lot of them.


    "Just what kind of effect would one have if they ate beasts like these every day?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    Subconsciously his stomach stirred too, desiring meat. It reminded Lin Mu that he had not replenished his stomach ''fully'' for a while now.


    ''Having broken through again, I should have an even greater capacity. The absorption rate should be better too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself, fully intending on eating the beasts.


    Though he also knew that he wouldn''t be able to eat all the strong ones from the start nor did he knew what kind of effects it would have on him.


    "Senior is it fine to Eat Immortal beasts when I''m not at the Immortal realm? The Immortal Qi in their body won''t be a problem right?" Lin Mu questioned, just in case.


    "It won''t be a problem at all. If anything, it will allow you to grow quickly. There''s also a chance that the bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear might get stimted again." Xukong answered.


    "It would get stimted?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "Yes. You already know that the Great Slumber bear''s are born at the Immortal realm. And can go past the peak of the Immortal realm. The one you consumed and assimted was barely a juvenile, so you should be able to progress this a lot more." Xukong exined.


    "Ah yes! That''s right." Lin Mu recalled. "Then I''ll try to get as much Immortal beast meat as I can." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Lin Mu at least knew that he could fight a First Tribtion Stage Immortal beast on his own. Combining his body cultivation and Qi cultivation provided more than enough strength to go against one and perhaps he might even be able to contend against someone at the Second Tribtion stage.


    ''I''ll only know this once I get to it. For now, let''s reach the Deep Sapphire Ind first.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He continued to slide down in a spiraling path and observed the beasts outside. After ten minutes of sliding, Lin Mu felt a little strange.


    "How long will it take?" Lin Mu still couldn''t see the bottom of the ''tube''.


    The twin snakes on his shoulders were also looking around with great interest. Since they were basically infants, their curiosity was at the peak. It was already lucky that they had not jumped off from Lin Mu''s shoulder and went out to look themselves.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    ''Seems like the twin snakes have already formed a bond with Lin Mu. That''s good, at least they won''t wander off without him.'' Xukong observed.


    "This is a little inefficient, isn''t it?" Lin Mu said. "Like if one want''s to get to the Deep Sapphire Ind and back up again, it would take quite some time."


    "That''s true, but this is also a safety feature. This ''tube'' you are sliding through is being maintained due to the presence of the Haima Tribe. Elder Niji is controlling it, and can also close it.


    This will help if there are any intruders in the future. This tube could be closed and the intruders will either drown, be crushed under the pressure of the ocean or be simply devoured by the many aquatic beasts.


    Additionally, it is a lot more efficient than an active defense like a formation array. This uses less energy and can defend using normal topology. This is a perfect example of establishing arrays ording to the geography and topology of the area.


    You should learn from it and keep it in mind for the future." Xukong exined.


    "I understand senior." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    While he couldn''t fully sense how the tube was made, he could at least learn from its structure and more. But after thirty minutes passed, Lin Mu realized something new.


    "Wait a second¡­ did the speed increase?" Lin Mu felt like the speed of sliding had increased by several times.


    He could tell that the flow of water was higher too. But this was merely the start as the speed increased even more. It continued to do so until Lin Mu couldn''t even see the beasts outside of the tube.


    Everything looked like a blue blur and even the me on Lin Mu''s hand started to flicker.


    ~hiss~


    The twin snakes hissed in displeasure being swayed left and right.


    "Come back into my sleeves you two." Lin Mu instructed before raising his hands.


    ~hiss~


    The twins followed hismand and quickly entered the sleeve, though it was obvious that they were eager to do so as well.


    When it was the three hour mark, Lin Mu finally saw the bottom of the ''tube''.


    "Oh no¡­" Lin Mu said in nervousness.


    ~SPLASH~


    He fell out from the tube and sshed into argeke the same size as the one on the ind above.


    "Ugh¡­ they definitely need to amend this." Lin Mu muttered and swam out from theke.

 Chapter 1357: A True Haven

    Chapter 1357: A True HavenUponing out of theke, Lin Mu finally saw the ce that was the Deep Sapphire Ind.


    "Whoa¡­" Lin Mu eximed as his eyes went wide.


    The Deep Sapphire Ind was just like its name. Sapphire lights glowed everywhere, whether it be the coral like trees or therge dome that covered the sky.


    The sapphire light illuminated the entire area, allowing Lin Mu to see it clearly. Thousands of coral-like trees with glowing sapphire crystals surrounded the ce he was at right now.


    Past these coral like trees, Lin Mu saw a group of buildings made from various materials. Some were made of stone, some of wood, some of metals and some were made of corals as well.


    There were motifs of the Haima n carved on several towers that dotted the cityscape. These towers were nearly a kilometer tall in height, watching over everything.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s spirit sense spread to the maximum range, and still couldn''t reach the edge of the city.


    "Just how big is this ce?" Lin Mu wondered.


    While breathing, Lin Mu could also feel dense water spirit Qi entering his body. It was a denser than any other ce that Lin Mu had been to and he reckoned that it would be the same for the Water attribute Immortal Qi as well.


    "This is truly a haven for the Haima tribe¡­ Even the Water Dao Traces here are naturally present." Lin Mu muttered, sensing several such traces around the coral like trees.


    ~RIPPLE~


    Just as Lin Mu was about to go around though, he felt theke beside him ripple.


    "Ah! You''re here, Elder Niji." Lin Mu said, seeing the man who was standing on top of theke''s surface.


    He didn''t make a ssh like Lin Mu as he could simply stand on water.


    "The others should being in a minute or so as well. We should wait for them." Elder Niji said before stepping towards the shore.


    "This ce is amazing." Lin Mu spoke. "It truly is a haven."


    "Indeed. There is a reason why Ancestor Muxuan built this ind. The Sapphire Corals trees here are a natural treasure and can allow one toprehend Water Dao Traces." Elder Niji spoke.


    "So that''s what they are called." Lin Mu memorized.


    "Not just that, but due to being this deep, the concentration of all water elemental Qis is high here. The Dome also has arrays that concentrate it further, by acting as a one-way gate. It allows Qi inside, but doesn''t let it escape." Elder Niji exined.


    "Mmm¡­ And since there hasn''t been anyone here for a long time, the concentration has reached a very high level." Lin Mu guessed.


    "Actually, that''s wrong." Elder Niji shook his head.


    "Its wrong?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "This is the normal concentration of Qi. It is set at this level by the array. The rest of the Qi that is umted will be stockpiled elsewhere." Elder Niji replied. "You''ll see itter. I''ll show you around."


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I''ll look forward to it."


    ~ripple~ripple~ripple~


    Soon, Lin Mu saw the rest of the people arrive.


    The first to reach were the Haima tribe members who simply stood on the surface of theke.


    ''Now I know why there is ake as anding area¡­ the Haima tribe members have no problem with it in the first ce.'' Lin Mu realized.


    ~SPLASH~SPLASH~SPLASH~


    But then the human members arrived, sshing into theke and getting wet. Unlike Lin Mu, they didn''t have the armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture that kept him isted from the outside elements and thus they were drenched.


    It didn''t help that since they had been thrown into the Land of exile without any belongings, so the only clothes they had were on their backs.


    "Ugh¡­ it just had to be anotherke¡­" the convicts were feeling cold.


    Even if they were cultivators, one must not forget that the water her was rich in Qi. So even with their defenses, they would still feel cold on some level.


    Thankfully, by the time everyone was out, Lin Mu ignited a fire to dry them all in a mere minute.


    "This is truly marvelous¡­" Kunzi said with awe in his eyes.


    Immortal Taegu and the rest had simr reactions now that they had dried themselves off.


    "Come on, we''ll enter the city now." Elder Niji said and guided them.


    The bloodline memorizes the Haima tribe had obtained were rather detailed, and it was almost as if they had lived here for their lifetime.


    They passed through the forest of Sapphire Coral Trees and the road beneath them changed. From the in sand, it turned into paved limestone.


    "So this is the true home of the Haima¡­" Lin Mu saw the buildings closely, finding them to be well maintained.


    "Looks like the Formation arrays worked perfectly even now." Elder Niji said with a hint of joy.


    In front of them, arge gate stood. The gate was made out of solid rock and had hundreds of runes carved into it. Not just that, but there were two statues set on its two sides as well.


    The statues were of a familiar beast too, the Great Ocean Hippocampus!


    ~RUMBLE~


    And just when they entered through therge gate, the entire Deep Sapphire Ind shook.


    ~DING~DING~DING~


    A loud bell rung from the center of the city, as if weing them.


    ~SHUA~


    A slew of lights appeared on the dome, showing down glittering particles on top of everyone.


    "This¡­ the city is happy?" Lin Mu could feel the emotion travel through the very air.


    "This city is alive, after all." Xukong spoke up.


    "It''s alive?!" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Didn''t you feel it? This entire city is arge Immortal artifact. Possibly one at the Peak of the Immortal realm." Xukong replied. "It should have developed a spirit too¡­"


    ~HONG~


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    And just as Xukong said that, the lights on the dome gathered together and a figure began to appear.

 Chapter 1358: An Artifact Sprit

    Chapter 1358: An Artifact SpritEveryone present watched as the figure began to form. The blue lights first formed a head that looked like a woman. It had long ck hair and deep blue eyes. Its neck was slender while a dress made out of blue scales was on her torso.


    The bottom of her body though was not human. It wasn''t like that of a Haima tribe member either, having four legs. Instead, it was like that of a fish!


    The woman that had just came into being was a mermaid! ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    She was about the size of a normal human, but had an illusory body.


    "This¡­ is an artifact spirit?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    He had learned about artifact spirits from both Elder Xukong as well as the Lost Immortal''s memoirs.


    An artifact spirit was a special type of lifeforms that would be born after thousands of years of nurturing. It could only be born in an immortal weapon or tool or above. But it didn''t just form right away after the tool was made.


    It took many years of time and nurturing to form. There were of course some unique treasures that could allow one to be born right from the start, but they were far and few in between.


    Not to mention, the level of artifact spirit could vary greatly too.


    For a low and mid grade immortal tool, the artifact spirit might just be a blob of energy that had gained sentience. Only high and peak grade immortal tools could form artifact spirits that had proper forms.


    But even then, these spirits were still illusory and not real. They existed within the tool and could help one control it. And when they were under a master''s brand, they could operate independently while following the master''s orders.


    Not to mention, being an artifact, they had full control over it and had the highest proficiency with it. A cultivator that obtained an immortal tool or weapon might take years to get used to it, and a lot more to be fully proficient with it.


    But for an artifact spirit, they had a high proficiency right from the start. Having them with one was the same as having a second person fighting for you. This would pretty much double the battle ability of an expert.


    This was also why the cost of an immortal tool that had artifact spirit was exponentially higher.


    For example, a low grade immortal tool that had an artifact spirit might have the same price as a high grade immortal tool without an artifact spirit.


    This was also why many experts liked to pick a proper immortal tool that waspatible with them. Once they found one such tool, they would nurture it until it developed an artifact spirit.


    Since developing and artifact spirit took a long time, experts couldn''t just do it for multiple immortal tools at once. It needed dedication and effort for one to be born, not to mention that it might take a great amount of resources too.


    In many cases, the resources needed to nurture an artifact spirit might exceed the original cost of the immortal tool by several magnitudes.


    Of course this also depended on the immortal tool and its type.


    Some artifact spirits such as those in swords didn''t develop simply from resources. They actually needed to be used in battle and bathe in the sword intent of the owner. Only then would they truly give birth to an artifact spirit.


    Such a method of developing and artifact spirit didn''t have an upfront cost, but still needed a lot of time to nurture, not to mention it would also need the appropriate owner to develop it.


    Thus seeing an artifact spirit that was born from a peak grade immortal artifact was very rare. And yet, Lin Mu had the chance to see one right before him.


    His eyes met the mermaid''s and she trembled. She quickly looked at the others and had a simr reaction.


    "Haima¡­ Haima¡­ The Haima¡­ The Haima are really back!" The mermaid said with great emotion.


    Her voice bordered on happy and trembling, but soon turned into a weak sob.


    "You''re back¡­ you all are really back¡­" Tears started to fall out of the mermaid''s eyes, making her look rather delicate.


    If anyone looked at her face right now, they would feel great weakness and would want to make her feel better.


    "Who are you?" Elder Niji asked, clearly not recognizing her.


    His brows were furrowed, and he wondered if the bloodline memories weren''t there entirely.


    The mermaid didn''t answer right away though; she continued sobbing while approaching them. She descended from the sky and came to a stop before all of them.


    "Do you know how long I''ve waited!" She almost screamed.


    "How long?" Lin Mu asked wanting to know.


    "Eighty thousand years! It''s been over eighty thousand years! No one came to see me when I was born¡­ I was all alone¡­ why did they leave me?" The mermaid cried non stop.


    ~Sigh~


    Elder Niji shook his head, knowing that while the spirit in front of him might be older than him, its mentality was still that of a child. After all, having no one around it, the spirit never had the chance to fully develop its mentality.


    While it might have intelligence on the same level as that of a human, its personalty was not fully developed. This was a secondary form of nurturing that needed interaction from the owner to develop.


    And since the citycked any inhabitants, she was always alone.


    "Wait¡­ eighty thousand years?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "So you weren''t there during the time of Ancestor Muxuan?" he questioned.


    "Mm?" The mermaid looked at the human male in front of her. "You''re a human?" she wondered.


    "Yes, I am." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    ~shua~


    The mermaid quickly neared Lin Mu, checking out every side of him.


    "So this is what a human looks like¡­"


    She looked at the others in the distance too, but found Lin Mu to be the most pleasing.

 Chapter 1359: Lanbao The Mermaid

    Chapter 1359: Lanbao The MermaidThis was the first time the mermaid artifact spirit was seeing a human and the only reason she even reorganized it was because she had faint memories from the time when people still lived here.


    Even if her spirit body hadn''t formed back the, she still had a level of consciousness. This consciousness umted the words and voices of the people that lived in the city, taking it as nourishment.


    Only when it had all reached a certain level, would it form its own ''being''.


    In some ways, it could be said that the Artifact spirit of the city was a culmination of every inhabitants memories and energies.


    "So who are you?" Lin Mu asked the mermaid again.


    "Me? I''m Lanbao and I''m Eighty thousand, six hundred and twenty years old." She introduced herself.


    "Lanbao¡­" Lin Mu muttered, finding it simr to the city''s name Deep Sapphire.[1]


    Elder Niji looked at the mermaid, wondering if she knew anything about his ancestors.


    "You said you''ve been here for over eighty thousand years. Does that mean you never say any Haima before?" Elder Niji questioned.


    "No¡­ when I was born, I was all alone. The voices I heard when I didn''t have a form were all gone¡­" Lanbao said in a sad voice.


    "So no one was here?" Lin Mu asked again, finding it a bit weird.


    "No¡­ no one." Lanbao shook her head.


    ''How''s that possible? Without anyone here, how can the artifact spirit be nurtured?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "It doesn''t necessarily have to be like that. The artifact might have already gained enough from the earlier presence of the Haima people. That is also why she knows of their existence and can speak. Its primitive form of consciousness had absorbed it all.


    Having that, all it needed was enough time and energy to take form. Which happened a few thousand years after the departure of the Haima people." Xukong exined.


    "I see. But didn''t it take a little too long, senior? I mean, if a peak grade immortal tool takes more than fifty thousand years to develop an artifact spirit, no Immortal realm cultivator would be able to nurture an artifact spirit of that level." Lin Mu questioned.


    "There are several factors thate into y here. While peak grade immortal tools do take longer to develop Artifact spirit, you mustn''t forget there are difference even between them.


    For example, this artifact spirit Lanbao is formed from an entire city. The size difference alone would make it worth several immortal tools and thus the time needed to nurture would also take long." Xukong answered.


    "Oh, I understand now." Lin Mu replied. "Does this mean any city can form an artifact spirit like this over time?" he asked.


    N?velDrama.Org copyrighted ? content.


    "You''ve already seen the formation spirits, right? They are moremon in cities. A true born artifact spirit like this is very rare. Most spirits for cities are formed from the arrays that govern the city.


    Not to mention, the city also needs to be in harmony for it to be considered a proper peak grade immortal tool. Otherwise it would be aposite immortal tool and wouldn''t be able to birth an artifact spirit." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu had already seen Composite tools before, with the War Castle Jing being one. It was even on the pseudo Immortal level, and could have be an immortal tool if it had better harmony.


    The Myriad Armament Canopy Abode though had a great chance of turning into an immortal tool as well as developing an artifact spirit. After all, it had been developed and improved by several generations of the Jing n.


    Lin Mu missed the Jing n a little now. But knew that this was not the time for it and thus focused on the situation before him.


    "Lanbao, what happened to the people here? I mean, from when you still have some memories?" Elder Niji asked instead.


    "Mmm¡­ I remember there being a lot of unease in the city and its people. That was one of thest memories I have of them. I could feel the unease filling me and itsted until one day it disappeared.


    But along with it, all the people had been gone too. My mind fell into a slumber soon after that, and when I came to my senses, I had been born." Lanbao replied, impressing Lin Mu a little.


    ''She certainly has decent intelligence to answer a contextual question like this.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Elder Niji though, had a different reaction. He went through the bloodline memories and knew what had really happened.


    "Thest memory of hers was of about 113,000 years ago." Elder Niji said afterparing the time line.


    "Are you sure?" Lin Mu asked doubtfully.


    "Yes. Lanbao entering a slumber also coincides with the great suppression of the empires. The array they used restrained the very oceans themselves, which might have had an effect on the city as well." Elder Niji replied.


    "I see¡­ that''s why she doesn''t have a proper memory of them leaving." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Ah yes! Lanbao almost forgot!" The mermaid suddenly spoke loudly. "The ceremony! The ceremony needs to be done!" she said.


    "Ceremony? What ceremony?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The Ceremony to transfer ownership, of course." Lanbao replied. "The city can only be owned by someone of the Haima tribe. Unless the ceremony is done, the city will not fully open." She exined further.


    "She means the branding. Have Elder Niji put a brand on the core of the city, only then will they be able to fully utilize the city." Xukong suggested.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and looked at Elder Niji.


    "You''ll need to do this, elder Niji. Let the Deep Sapphire Ind return to its true owners." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Of course. It has been too long." Elder Niji agreed.


    "Lanbao, take us to the core of the city." Lin Mu requested.


    "Sure! Come with me!" Lanbao replied with a smile, her tears having disappeared.


    Since she was a spirit, her tears had been illusory since the start.


    [1] Lanbao means sapphire in chinese.

 Chapter 1360: Core

    Chapter 1360: CoreLin Mu and Elder Niji followed behind Lanbao the mermaid, who soon took them to the depths of the city where they chanced upon arge temple.


    This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    The temple was unlike what Lin Mu had ever seen before. With its size and eloquence, it looked more like a pce rather than a temple. It had tall coral pirs that had various patterns of beasts carved on it.


    Then there were the many statues that were erected on the edges of the roof, looking like eternal guards that would watch the temple''s safety.


    The dense runes that were hidden within them showed that these statues weren''t just for show and could actually transform into puppets that could show great strength. Lin Mu couldn''t sense the energy within the formations, making him think that these were all immortal formations.


    ''Each of the statues also seems to be equal to an Immortal realm expert as well. Though I can''t tell what stage¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    And when they were just on the precipice of the temple, a thin membrane opened up.


    "A spatial barrier?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    It wasn''t his first time seeing a spatial barrier, but he was more shocked by the fact that he hadn''t sensed it at all.


    "It''s an immortal grade spatial barrier, your spatial perception might not sense it until it is actually activated. When it is in the neutral state, it blends in with the spatial fabric of this area, making it look normal.


    One can even enter it directly, but they would soon find that they aren''t in the temple but a small pocket of space and be imprisoned there." Xukong exined.


    "That''s a rather ingenious way of doing this¡­" Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel impressed by the ancestors of the Haima tribe.


    Lin Mu could also see that all of this was under the control of Lanbao right now. She was making all these changes and allowing them in. Without her, even Lin Mu might not be able to find a way in, directly.


    "It''s here." After they were finally inside the temple, Lanbao spoke.


    Elder Niji and Lin Mu gazed at the structure in the center of the temple hall, finding it to be a seven-sided tform. And on this tform, a small shrine was ced that had a blue glow to it.


    "Elder Niji needs to put his brand on the core which is inside the shrine. Even I can''t open it, only a Haima member can do that." Lanbao instructed.


    "Even you can''t open it?" Lin Mu was surprised once more.


    Narrowing his eyes, Lin Mu used his spatial perception. At the start, he didn''t see anything, but after a few seconds, he saw faint strands of energy that were hidden within the fabric of space.


    ''Another spatial restriction¡­ this one is fused with an array though.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    "I''ll do it then." Elder Niji walked unto the shrine and ced his hands on the doors.


    ~HONG~


    A humming wave of energy spread from the shrine and covered Elder Niji. It made the man freeze in ce for a minute, making Lin Mu feel uneasy.


    "Is that normal?" Lin Mu asked Lanbao.


    "I don''t know¡­ this is the first time it is being transferred after all. Before this, the Deep Sapphire Ind had always been under the ownership of Ancestor Muxuan." Lanbao replied having a confused expression on her face too.


    ~HUALA~


    Finally, the energy wave dissipated and allowed Elder Niji to move again.


    "Haa¡­. That was scary¡­" Elder Niji said. "That energy probed my bloodline and verified it." He revealed.


    "No wonder Lanbao can''t open it. If it directly analyzes the bloodline, she as an artifact spirit can''t open it at all. She doesn''t have a physical body." Lin Mu replied.


    "You should open it, I want to see what''s inside it." Lanbao urged.


    "Mmhmm¡­" Elder Niji nodded his head and exerted a little force on the doors.


    They were actually quite heavy and wouldn''t be opened by an average cultivator.


    ~THUD~


    A few secondster, the doors were finally opened up, allowing them to observe its insides.


    "This¡­ This is the core of the entire ind?" Lanbao was stunned.


    Lin Mu gazed at the ''core'' and recognized it.


    "A scale¡­" he muttered.


    "It''s the scale of the Great Ocean Hippocampus¡­ not just that it''s the origin scale that has the essence of the ancestral beast within it." Elder Niji could feel his bloodline resonating just by being in its presence.


    Lin Mu and Lanbao watched with bated breaths as Elder Niji ced his hands on therge scale. It was about the size of a small house, being nearly ten meters in size. And yet, the energy contained within it was almost blinding.


    Even Lin Mu could feel his heart beat faster the more he gazed at the scale.


    ~HONG~


    As soon as Elder Niji ced his hand on the scale, arge reaction happened. The scale let off a massive wave of energy, that spread all the way to the edge of the Deep Sapphire Ind.


    A blue streak of energy rose from the scale before entering Elder Niji''s body at the same time. It bypassed his defenses as if they were non-existent and directly reached his Dantian.


    There the blue streak of energy rushed into the man''s Nascent soul, forming arge-scale imprint on the chest.


    Elder Niji found it a little hard to breath, as if a heavy weight had just been put on his chest. The feelingsted for about thirty seconds before the process wasplete.


    "Huh¡­ I didn''t need to do much, it worked automatically?" Elder Niji could sense that his true soul, Nascent soul, and the scale all had an imprint on it.


    The scale or the core had his own imprint, while his souls had the scale''s imprint.


    ~HUMM~


    Another wave of energy spread, but this time from Elder Niji''s body. At the same time, elder Niji felt a new stream of information appearing in his head.

 Chapter 1361: Shinies

    Chapter 1361: ShiniesLin Mu continued to watch elder Niji, knowing that it might take a little while for him to be done.


    "It''s finally happening!" Lanbao said with joy. "After all these years, the city is back under Haima!"


    "You''ve really missed them, haven''t you?" Lin Mu could feel the truth in her emotions.


    "Of course! I was made for the Haima and I exist for the Haima. Without them, I am iplete." Lanbao said with tears in the corners of her eyes.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, looking at elder Niji.


    "How long will it take for this to be done?" Lin Mu asked Lanbao, wondering if she knew.


    "I don''t know fully either. Elder Niji is now learning all the information that is stored in the city''s array archives. Additionally, he''ll also need to get used to the expanded sense of consciousness." Lanbao replied.


    "Expanded sense of consciousness?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Yes. As the owner and a Haima, he can sense anything that happens on the ind. His consciousness will merge with the ind''s arrays, allowing him to control it directly. While he won''t be able to do it on the same level as me, he''ll still be the strongest person here." Lanbao answered.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    "Strongest person¡­ so he''ll have the strength of a peak stage immortal?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "With the offensive arrays of the Deep Sapphire ind, he does have that ability. Not to mention, his cultivation base should rise quickly too as the energies of the ind will be channeled into him at all times.


    This is the benefit thates with being the owner of the ind." Lanbao exined.


    Lin Mu was amazed by this, feeling that the Haima tribe might be able to rise to their previous glory much faster than expected.


    After a few minutes had passed and Elder Niji hadn''t moved, Lin Mu decided to take a look around the temple instead.


    "Is it fine if I take a look here?" Lin Mu asked for permission.


    "You are trusted by elder Niji, thus you can do that," Lanbao said with a smile. "Though¡­" she suddenly appeared right next to his face.


    "I''ll apany you," Lanbao said with a little excitement.


    Having someone new to talk to and see meant that the lonely spirit wouldn''t be bored.


    "Alright, you can tell me about this ce then." Lin Mu nodded, thinking that having a guide would be a lot better.


    "En!" Lanbao nodded her head like a chick pecking rice.


    Lin Mu picked a random direction and started walking. He took in the sights of the temple as well, finding there to be a lot of runes and formations hidden in them.


    "Even spending a year might not be enough to study these all¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "It is said that ancestor Muxuan made this temple from the bones of an Immortal whale beast. Its bones had natural rune markings on it which now act as the conduits for the array that operates in the temple." Lanbao exined.


    "Natural rune markings on bones?" Lin Mu was interested. "I don''t think I''ve heard of this before¡­"


    "I read in the library before that there are some great beasts that can form natural runes on their bones. This only happens when they have gained a lot of Dao insights though." Lanbao introduced.


    "Wait! There is a library?" Lin Mu was now excited too.


    "Yes! There is arge library in the city. I''ve spent a lot of time there reading when I had nothing to do." Lanbao said.


    This gave Lin Mu another thought about the spirit.


    "What else did you do here other than reading?" he was curious about what the spirit could do.


    The artifact spirit didn''t really cultivate in the first ce, so that option was not on the list.


    "I either read at the library, went to the beach to gather seashells, watched the beasts y, and gathered shinies," Lanbao replied.


    "Shinies?" Lin Mu didn''t understand her. "What do you mean by that?"


    ~Hu~


    In response to that, Lanbao waved her hand creating a ripple in the space. Then, her hand directly entered the space stunning Lin Mu.


    "These," Lanbao pulled out her hand, and showed it to Lin Mu.


    In her hand were shining objects and items. Most of them were small stones, but Lin Mu instantly realized they weren''t normal at all.


    "This¡­ aren''t these treasures?" Lin Mu said sensing the amount of energy that was emitting from the shining stones.


    "I call them shinies!" Lanbao chucked. "They turn up on the coast every so often." She added.


    "They do?!" Lin Mu was really shocked now.


    This was due to the fact that the stones in Lanbao''s hands weren''t just normal stones. Instead, they were a mix of Water Essence crystals, Water elemental ores, and gems. Each of them was precious and could sell for a lot.


    "Yeah! Do you like them?" Lanbao asked.


    "They are nice¡­ yeah." Lin Mu could only say that.


    But then in the next moment, Lanbao grasped his hand. "Here you go then! You can take these. I got more." She handed the ''shinies'' to Lin Mu.


    "Wha¡ª" Lin Mu was taken aback by the sudden gift.


    Any of these items were worth a lot of immortal stones. Lin Mu didn''t know the exact value, but knew that it wouldn''t be cheap.


    Especially the Water Essence crystals were something that was very useful for body cultivation. And if used to make alchemical pills, they could be used for Qi cultivation as well.


    Lin Mu could use it for both paths, granted he had an alchemist specialized in that. At the very least, he could use them for his normal use or exchange themter on.


    "Thank you¡­" Lin Mu said after gathering his wits.


    "It''s okay! You''re the first friend I made." Lanbao replied with arge smile.


    "Friends?" Lin Mu muttered unconsciously.


    "Are we not?" Lanbao''s face fell sad.


    "We are! We are!" Lin Mu hurriedly said.


    "YAY!!!" Lanbao danced around in joy hearing that.

 Chapter 1362: Overflowing Storage

    Chapter 1362: Overflowing StorageLin Mu didn''t know what to truly think about the artifact spirit in front of him.


    On some level she was possibly one of the strongest beings he had met so far and at the same time she might have the youngest mentality of them all. If it weren''t for the fact that the Deep Sapphire City had restriction that only allowed Haima and trusted people inside, it wouldn''t be out of the norm for someone to take advantage of her.


    Lin Mu had already seen something like this before in the Memoirs of the Lost Immortal. But that was an even greater danger than this. The memoirs didn''t mention it in detail, but it talked about a great sword that was the size of a sky-piercing mountain.


    The sword was something many people knew of and was considered to be an ancient artifact that many people visited in hopes of obtaining some fortune. The Lost Immortal was one such person too and even gained some insights from it.


    But during that time, there was someone who managed to uncover the secrets of the sword and awaken its artifact spirit. The person then made use of the artifact spirit to massacre an entire world, using the dead to further his cultivation base.


    The Lost Immortal was lucky that he had left just a short time before all this had happened. He had left this incident as a warning to whoever would find the memoirs. It would make them be wary about such possible incidents.


    ''At least Elder Niji will now have the proper control over it all¡­ plus the chances of anyoneing here are quite less¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    He continued to walk around the temple, while Lanbao exined some of the statues and scriptures that were carved on the walls and pirs. She told him about the different kinds of beasts they were and also the stories that were written on the walls.


    It was quite useful for Lin Mu and he intently listened to it all. A few hours passed like this before they felt a wave of energy sweeping over them.


    "Elder Niji''s awake¡­" Lin Mu could instantly tell that it was him.


    "Let''s head back!" Lanbao pulled him along.


    Back at the shrine, they saw Elder Niji standing with a thoughtful expression on his face.


    "Congrattions Elder Niji." Lin Mu greeted the man.


    "Thank you, Noble Lin Mu. All this would not have been possible without your help." Elder Niji replied with gratitude.


    Having imprinted his brand on the core of the city, he knew about all the powers and abilities he had in it. As well as the fortune that was hidden in the city for thousands of years.


    All of it was enough to make any immortal or emperor in this world envious. For him and his n to obtain it could only be called the heavens'' favor.


    "Though, what were you thinking about?" Lin Mu asked with interest.


    "I was thinking about all the stores of the city, there are many like the Immortal Qi storage, Immortal stone storage, treasure storage and more." Elder Niji replied, "we need to open these up. Especially the ones that are overflowing." He added.


    "They''re overflowing?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "Yes. The Immortal Qi storage is the main one that is overflowing. This storage has several arrays on it. Some of them gather it, some condense it while some collect and convert it into Immortal stones.


    But over the years, the Immortal stone storage has reached a very high level and thus the buffer storage of the Immortal Qi storage cannot keep up with the Immortal Qi that is absorbed." Elder Niji replied.


    Lin Mu''s brows were raised in surprise hearing this. Not just due to the fact that they had an array that could convert Immortal Qi into immortal stones, but the fact that even this was overflowing.


    "Well then, we should check it out." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, but before that, I''ll let the rest of the tribe in." Elder Niji said before looking at Lanbao. "Can you open up the residences and allow the tribesmen ess?" he asked.


    "Of course," Lanbao replied closing her eyes for a moment and writing something in the air. "It''s done." She said opening her eyes.


    "That was fast¡­" Lin Mu was impressed with the efficiency of the Artifact spirit.


    "Let''s head on over to the storage then," Elder Niji said while making a gesture with his hand.


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    ~shua~


    Water drops gathered under them and formed a small tformrge enough to hold the three. It then floated into the air before zooming in a certain direction.


    "This is convenient," Lin Mu said sensing the runes within the water tform.


    He knew this was actually one of the functions of the city''s grand array.


    "I now have control over most parts of the city. The rest I''ll need time to grasp and I''ll also need to wait till my cultivation base increases to ess some parts." Elder Niji revealed.


    "Don''t worry, you''ll be able to grasp them soon enough. After all, Lanbao said that the city will naturally channel Immortal Qi into you, allowing you to cultivate faster." Lin Mu replied.


    "Not just me, every Haima that is in the city will have the same benefit. Just not on the same level." Elder Niji agreed.


    "Oh, they will?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Mmhmm, right now the number of Haima that are present are too few. This city is meant to support over fifty million citizens with all of them having such a passive benefit. We can amplify this effect to just the members currently present." Elder Niji exined.


    "Fifty million¡­ that''s huge." Lin Mu was surprised.


    "That''s not all, there are specific cultivation areas which have an even greater amplification effect." Lanbao added.


    Lin Mu now looked forward to all the secrets that this city held within its limits.


    A couple of minutester, they finally reached therge storage area of the Deep Sapphire City.


    "Whoa¡­" Lin Mu eximed seeing it.

 Chapter 1363: A Cove

    Chapter 1363: A CoveThe storage area of the city was in the form of arge cove.


    This cove was attached to ake that extended further out into the border of the city before merging into the ocean. It was a stunning sight to find ake and cove under the ocean.


    Inside this cove were several sections that were being used as a warehouse. One of the warehouses was used as the Immortal stone storage, while several others were used as Immortal Qi storage and condensing sections.


    They were even located in a row, acting as a ''production line''.


    The first warehouse would first gather the immortal Qi and would start transferring it to the next one after it was about 90% filled. The second one would do the same and transfer to the third upon reaching the 90% mark as well.


    But from the fourth warehouse onwards, there was no 90% limit. Instead, the immortal Qi was allowed to flow freely between the fourth and tenth warehouses, forming arge buffer space.


    The Eleventh warehouse situated after the tenth had direct channels to all the warehouses in the buffer section, and would absorb immortal Qi and condense it. After it was sufficiently condensed, it would pass onto the twelfth warehouse which would then condense it further into immortal stones.


    Once an immortal stone was formed it would be pushed out into the thirteenth warehouse which would store them indefinitely. Property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It was a systematic storage line and had arge array monitoring it. In fact, the moment Elder Niji, Lin Mu, and Lanbaonded, they saw a screen made of runes appearing in front of them.


    It showed them the status of each warehouse as well as the overflowing loss on the side.


    "This¡­ just how much is it leaking?" Lin Mu was confused as there was no specific number there.


    "If we condense the amount of immortal Qi that was lost in the past year alone, it would form at least a thousand high grade immortal stones." Elder Niji answered.


    Simr to the Spirit stones, immortal stones had grades too and they were the same as before, ranging from low, mid, high and peak.


    Each grade had ten times the amount of Immortal Qi as the previous grade.


    If one converted it to numerical values, Low-grade immortal stones would be 1, Mid grade 10, high-grade 100, and Peak grade 1,000.


    A loss of 100, high-grade immortal stones was a big loss. Many Immortal cultivators might not even gain that many immortal stones in a thousand years.


    Not to mention, even one high-grade immortal stone was enough to buy a mid-grade immortal tool. And one hundred high immortal stones would be enough to buy 1 high-grade immortal tool.


    All this was just a year''s loss. There was no telling how much immortal Qi had been lost over the thousands of years this overflow had been going on.


    "How would this overflow even happen though? Isn''t there some sort of a mechanism to keep it from happening?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There is. But it involved the stones being used by the members of the tribes or being used for trading. With no one in the city, nothing could be done and the immortal stones continued to umte." Elder Niji answered.


    "No wonder¡­" Lin Mu understood.


    "I don''t know how to best make use of this though. We can obviously take out all the immortal stones, but the buffer storage of immortal Qi would still continue leaking. The Immortal Qi condensing array isn''t capable enough to keep up with the fast supply." Elder Niji stated.


    "Hmm¡­ Why don''t you use it for your own cultivation?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Even that won''t be enough. There will still be continued leakage." Elder Niji shook his head, knowing his current limits.


    Lin Mu too wondered what could be done additionally to solve this and soon heard Senior Xukong''s voice.


    "You can just use this to establish a stable channel to the minor ne where the Great Ocean Hippocampus is slumbering," Xukong suggested.


    "Can I do that at my level Senior?" Lin Mu asked doubtfully.


    Since he was in an immortal world, the spatial fabric andws were harder to ovee. He couldn''t do everything with the same ease that he had in the Xiaofan world.


    "You''ve learned the formations and runes enough to do it now. For any other difficulties, I''ll guide you." Xukong replied. "Besides, there is no better way to learn and progress other than to actually apply your knowledge." He added.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu nodded his head before turning to Elder Niji.


    "I know what we can do with this Elder Niji. And I think it should use up most of the buffer storage if immortal Qi." Lin Mu spoke.


    "What?" Elder Niji was interested and so was Lanbao.


    "I''ll do what I told you about before, the spatial channel to the Great Ocean Hippocampus." Lin Mu answered. "The Haima tribe will be able to make use of it as a sacrednd for cultivation."


    "That would be perfect!" Elder Niji agreed, but Lanbao had a look of confusion on her face.


    "The ancestral beast? You know where it is?" She was surprised.


    "Yes, we were there just a few days ago." Lin Mu replied before narrating their experience.


    "Wow! I wanna see the Ancestral beast too. I''ve only ever seen its statues before." Lanbao said with excitement.


    "That might be possible." Lin Mu said, not wanting to give false hope to the artifact spirit.


    "What do I need to do, Noble Lin Mu?" Elder Niji asked.


    "You''ll just need to channel the immortal Qi out of the storage once I''ve established the spatial Channel." Lin Mu replied. "Though before that, we need to find a suitable ce for that. Some ce at least a kilometer wide and as t as possible." He stated.


    "I know a ce like that!" Lanbao responded. "Come, I''ll take you." She said forming another water tform and dragging them away.

 Chapter 1364: A Bounty Of Food

    Chapter 1364: A Bounty Of FoodLin Mu felt like he was soaring across the sky at a greater speed than before.


    ''Guess is the difference between Elder Niji''s proficiency with the arrays and Lanbao''s own proficiency.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    They streaked past the Deep Sapphire City, and went to the other corner of the Ind. In the first ce, the Ind was several hundreds of kilometers wide, allowing many kinds of areas to be made within its limits.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder if this was naturally formed or if it was made by the ancestor of the Haima tribe, Muxuan.


    ''There are no specific signs pointing to it. The only confirmed artificial part seems to be the Deep Sapphire City itself.'' Lin Mu pondered.


    The Deep Sapphire Ind wasrger than the city after all and had a lot more areas. Most of which were not seen by Lin Mu and the rest. Perhaps only Elder Niji could sense all of them due to him being the owner of the ce now.


    A vast Sapphire Coral tree forest went past under them before they finally reached the location Lanbao wanted to show them.


    "Will this ce work?" Lanbao asked, gesturing with her hands.


    Lin Mu and Elder Niji could see a vast in under them. The ground was made out of a solid rock of some kind. It waspletely barren and t, seemingly looking like something had been chopped off here.


    "This seems a little unusual¡­ was there a mountain here?" Lin Mu muttered, finding the area usually t.


    "Yes! The mountain here was sliced off by Ancestor Muxuan in the past and the rocks and other materials in it were used to make the Deep Sapphire City''s buildings." Lanbao exined.


    "No wonder¡­" Lin Mu understood, getting some rity about it all.


    He now knew the ind was naturally formed, but the city was made from this mountain artificially.


    "Will this area work, Noble Lin Mu?" Elder Niji asked.


    "Yeah, it''ll be perfect." Lin Mu nodded his head. "We just need to make the channels for the immortal Qi to reach here." He added.


    "That''s good. Though you should rest a bit before starting. We have just arrived here." Elder Niji suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ I think I''ll just rest here for the time being. I''ll start making the formations in a day''s time. After they are done, we''ll connect the channels." Lin Mu replied. "Elder Niji, you can get the Tribe situated till then and also assign some tasks to the convicts." He suggested next.


    "That works. But you only want a day''s break?" Elder Niji asked feeling doubtful.


    "Yeah, a day will be more than enough." Lin Mu said with surety. "Though¡­ I would like some food too." He added a moment alter.


    "Food? Can you eat beasts? Or do you need herbs and fruits?" Lanbao asked curiously.


    "I can eat all of those." Lin Mu replied.


    "Ah! You should have said so." Lanbao said and quickly waved her hands.


    ~HONGLONG~


    In the next second, a long water whip formed close to them. The water whip extended endlessly, directly piercing past the dome protecting the ind and entered the ocean. Lin Mu was taken aback by this, wondering if the dome was fine.


    ''Since she''s the artifact spirit, it should be fine.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


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    He continued to watch the water whip and saw it continue to extended. A few secondster, it wrapped around several of the aquatic beasts that were going about their day and captured them.


    All these beasts were Immortal beasts but didn''t even have a moment to struggle against the whip. Lanbao''s power was too domineering for them to do anything at all.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Having captured a handful of beasts, the Water whip returned to the ind, pulling the aquatic beasts along with it.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The aquatic beasts were thrown a short distance away from the group and trembled in their ce. Among these aquatic beasts, there were a coupled of fish beasts who could only flop around.


    Then there were two crab beasts that scuttled around, but found themselves trapped in a water bubble that appeared around them. But the biggest and strangest among them was arge beast that looked like a mix between an elephant and an angler fish.


    It had an elephant''s body, but its head was that of an angler fish and instead of a trunk, it used its angler.


    "Will they be fine?" Lanbao asked with a smile.


    Lin Mu raised a brow, having not expected such an offer.


    "Y-yeah¡­ they''ll be perfect." Lin Mu replied.


    But Lanbao was not done there, her hand directly pierced into the space and pulled out several more objects. These looked to be differently shaped fruits and were unlike anything Lin Mu had seen before.


    There were also entire herbs that she pulled out. These herbs were bundled together as if it was a bunch of spinach in a grocery store. But the energy waves they emitted were enough to show that all of them were Immortal herbs!


    By this point, even Elder Niji couldn''t stop his eye from twitching. Everything that Lanbao had taken out were treasures and would be worth a decent sized fortune.


    Since he had ess to the Array, he could tell exactly how many things were kept in it as well as when they were withdrawn. And so far, none of the objects that Lanbao had taken out were from it.


    ''I don''t think these are from the storage either¡­ these were privately kept by Lanbao¡­'' Elder Niji realized.


    "There you go, some herbs and fruits as well." Lanbao handed them to Lin Mu.


    "T-thank you¡­" Lin Mu didn''t know what else to say.


    "Tell me if you need more! I got tons of them. I can''t eat the beast so I didn''t collect them, but I can use the fruits and herbs." Lanbao spoke.


    "Wait, you can eat even in this form?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Yeah, I just need to convert the fruits and herbs into pure energy and consume them." Lanbao replied.

 Chapter 1365 Prepping For The First Immortal Meal

    <h4> 1365 Prepping For The First Immortal Meal </h4>


    Lin Mu had thought that being an artifact spirit with an illusory body, Lanbao wouldn¡¯t be able to consume anything. But this method was not entirely unthinkable either.


    ¡°I see... still thank you for all this.¡± Lin Mu said with gratitude.


    He expected eating these all would give a huge boost to him and the Nameless technique of the Lost Immortal might start get its satisfaction too. Lin Mu could subtlety feel that his next ¡®hunger¡¯ state would being soon enough.


    The hunger stage was when he would feel like he was starved for years and would want to eat everything. It was a side effect of the technique, but he could stave it off as long as he continued to eat.


    The more nutrition dense food it was, the better for it.


    ¡°Well then, since Noble Lin Mu has everything I¡¯ll return to the city.¡± Elder Niji spoke.


    ¡°Of course, please feel free. I¡¯ll contact you when I¡¯m ready.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ~shua~


    With that Elder Niji created the tform and flew back to the city. He had quite a lot of things to do after all, including settling down the Haima tribe members along with the humans.


    The Haima members were still fine, since this was their natural home, but for the humans this would still be an anxious situation, especially since they had not seen the two of them for over a day now.


    Once Elder Niji was gone, Lin Mu decided to start his cooking session.


    ¡°Hmm... How will they be best cooked?¡± Lin Mu muttered to himself. ¡°The fishes can be grilled, and I¡¯ll boil the crabs but the hybrid beast...¡±


    While the aquatic beasts couldn¡¯t understand Lin Mu¡¯s words, they couldn¡¯t help but shiver. An uneasy feeling filled their body, which was only amplified by the presence of Lanbao there.


    ¡°Alright! I got it!¡± Lin Mu finally made up a n. ¡°Grilled fish, streamed crab and Stewed Elephant Angler!¡± he decided.


    It didn¡¯t take Lin Mu to be lost in his cooking prep and it left Lanbao watching with interest. She didn¡¯t speak and mostly watched him do his work.


    ~DENG~


    The first thing Lin Mu did was to take out arge cauldron. This was none other than the Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron Lin Mu had received as a gift before. It was a peak grade spirit tool and had been used several times by him.


    ~CLANG~


    The next thing he took out was a wide metal sheet. It was made out of Hundred Tempered Iron and was used for making armor and other spirit tools. He continued to take out several other materials, leaving Lanbao confused.


    ~SPLASH~


    Lin Mu first filled up the cauldron with spirit water and ignited a mer underneath it.


    ¡®It would have been easier with Little Shrubby...¡¯ Lin Mu missed his oldpanion.


    While the cauldron heated up, he set up the grill. He used the Hundred Tempted Iron sheet as a grill, propping it up with several stone chunks. He then threw some spirit wood underneath it and ignited it as well.


    ¡°There we go, the first step is done.¡± Lin Mu said before turning to the aquatic beasts. ¡°Can you release them one by one?¡± he asked Lanbao.


    ¡°Sure...¡± Lanbao said, releasing a fish beast first.


    ~Ripple~


    The bubble rippled and a fish beast jumped out of it. Its helpless appearance quickly turned fierce, and it lunged at Lin Mu, fully intending to fight him.


    Seeing this, Lanbao was just about to act when Lin Mu spoke up, ¡°it¡¯s fine. I can deal with it.¡±


    ~shua~


    Then in the next moment, Lin Mu disappeared from Lanbao¡¯s vision. ¡°Huh?¡± She couldn¡¯t help but be confused.


    ~SHING~


    A secondter, she sensed Lin Mu appearing right underneath the fish beast, a long spear in his hand.


    ~CLANG~


    The Iron Thorn Spear shed against the scales of the Fish beast, unable to pierce.


    ¡°Seems like my old weapons might not be enough... I can still make them work though.¡± Lin Mu directly activated his Dao Skill.


    ¡®Aspect of Heaviness!¡¯


    ~DENG~


    The fish beast suddenly found its body turning heavy beyond normal.


    ~KACHA~


    ~SLICK~


    Then in the next moment, its scales broke under the sudden force allowing the Iron Thorn Spear to pierce it.


    ~THUD~


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    The spear pierced though its head clean, directly ending its life.


    ~Hu~


    But then a momentter, a wisp of light rose from its body.


    ¡°Careful!¡± Lanbao replied seeing that the nascent soul was appearing.


    ~HISS~


    But before she could do anything, she saw two ribbons shoot out of Lin Mu¡¯s sleeves. The ribbons directly stabbed through the Nascent soul, ending its existence. They then turned to Lin Mu¡¯s shoulder, allowing Lanbao to take a proper look at them.


    ~SHUA~


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang opened their mouths, sucking in the Nascent soul of the dead fish beast. The Nascent soul dissipated into wisps of energy and was consumed by the twin snakes.


    ¡°See... there was nothing to worry about.¡± Lin Mu assured.


    ¡°Who are they?¡± Lanbao asked seeing the twin snakes.


    ¡°They¡¯re my tamed beasts, Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang. They¡¯re twins.¡± Lin Mu introduced.


    ¡°Ooo... they¡¯re cute.¡± Lanbao said approaching them without fear.


    The twins also looked at her with curiosity, not understanding what she was. They didn¡¯t sense hostility from her and couldn¡¯t smell any scent from her either making them think that she wasn¡¯t even a creature.


    ¡°One down, five more to go.¡± Lin Mu said turning to the bubble. ¡°Release the others too.¡± He asked again.


    ¡°Alrighty!¡± Lanbao released the next fish beast which met the same end as before.


    The crab beasts were tougher to kill for Lin Mu as even the Aspect of Heaviness didn¡¯t provide enough force to pierce their shell with the spear so he simply switched to the short sword.


    With the amplification of sword intent, Lin Mu sliced off the joints of the crab beasts.


    Finally the Elephant Angler Beast was the only one left. It was also the strongest, so Lin Mu directly used the Boulder Copsing Fist¡¯s Second form: Piercer to kill it.

 Chapter 1366 Immortal Meal

    <h4> 1366 Immortal Meal </h4>


    With all the beasts killed, Lin Mu was now ready to cook them.


    He started with the Fish beasts and sliced them up into fillets. Lin Mu also kept the bones on the side, as they could be refined into weapons or tools. He had the Weapon refinement methods from the Jing n, that he could potentially use in the future.


    If not that, he could always sell them offter in the future. He had an endless amount of storage space anyway, so it didn¡¯t matter.


    Having sliced the fish beasts, he sprinkled some spices and herbs on the fish steaks adding extra vor.


    ~SIZZLE~


    As soon as he put therge fish steaks on the grill, it started to sizzle loudly.


    ¡°Seems good enough...¡± Lin Mu then began with the next dish.


    He took some of the herbs that Lanbao had given him and tasted them to check their vor. He found some of the perfect for the stew and thus tossed them into therge boiling cauldron.


    He also added some of the other spices he had to make it proper. Once that was done, he chopped up the Elephant Angler and put the meat in the cauldron as well. But he didn¡¯t stop there.


    There was still the third and final dish left, the crabs.


    Lin Wu had already prepared the Crab beasts and was intending to steam them. In order to do so, he punched holes into another hundred tempered iron sheet. He then cut it into a circle that was just about the size of the cauldron and put it on top of it.


    This was now his makeshift steamer that would use the steam from the stew below to cook. It would add extra vor and make it better.


    He put all the crab beast parts on it before cing the lid of the cauldron on top, closing it up.


    ¡°There we go, now to just wait a bit.¡± Lin Mu said and went to flip the fish steaks.


    About half an hourter, the fish steaks were ready, and he set them aside.


    ¡®If I cook them too long, they might be a bit tough.¡¯ Lin Mu took care.


    A few more minutester, the steamed crab beasts were also ready and Lin Mu took them out of the steamer. From their previous dark green color, the crab shell had now be a vibrant mix of orange and red.


    But that was all, as the tantalizing aroma from the stew had made it difficult for Lin Mu to hold back.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just start! The stew will be done in a bit too.¡± Lin Mu began his meal with the Fish steaks.


    Tearingrge chunks of the flesh, he stuffed them into his mouth. With how soft the meat was, he didn¡¯t even need to chew that much and it would simply melt in his mouth. What was about a few hundred kilograms of fish meat was finished in mere minutes.


    Lanbao watched it all from the side feeling amazed.


    ¡®Do all humans eat this much?¡¯ Lanbao wondered.


    She had seen beasts eat the amount that Lin Mu did but then their size was also a lot bigger than Lin Mu. It left her a little confused as to how Lin Mu was doing this.


    ¡®I¡¯ll ask him after he¡¯s done... he seems really hungry...¡¯ Lanbao thought.


    Soon Lin Mu was finished with the fish steaks and started on the steamed crab.


    ~Crack~crack~crack~


    Using his fingers like iron pliers, Lin Mu cracked apart the shell. This shell would have been strong enough to be used as armor, but in front of Lin Mu¡¯s strength it was easy to break now.


    When the crab beasts were alive, they could actively reinforce their defenses, but not anymore.


    ~slurp~


    Rich juices dripped from the crab meat, but Lin Mu slurped it all up, not wasting anything. The taste was enough to get him entranced. He ignored the energy that was rising up from his stomach and let the Nameless technique of the Lost Immortal handle it all.


    The meat was being rapidly processed in his stomach, faster than ever before. Not just that, but the number of obscure runes that were present on his stomach were also increasing rapidly.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t pay attention to it though, simply focusing on eating more and more.


    Ten minutes passed like this and the steamed crab was finished and a pile of crab shells were lying on the side. Storing it in the ring for now, Lin Mu turned his negation to the Cauldron.


    ~CLINK~


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    He opened thetch of the lid and lifted it.


    ~shua~


    A burst of steam rose from it, filling the entire area with a rich aroma. It was a lot more intense than thest time when Lin Mu had opened it to remove the steamed crab. The stew in the cauldron was yellow, and red oil glistened on top of it.


    Chunks of meat and bone floated in it, looking mesmerizing.


    At this point, Lin Mu didn¡¯t even care for the right utensil and directly picked up the hot cauldron. To him, the heat was not mentioning at all. He ced the cauldron¡¯s edge on his lips and directly started gulping down the stew.


    The meat chunks were also small enough that they were eaten up by Lin Mu at the same time.


    ~Crack~


    ~Crunch~


    ~Crack~


    Even the bones were not spared as Lin Mu chowed down on them. They too were rich in nutrition and Lin Mu¡¯s stomach could handle digesting them, too. Finishing the entire cauldron took Lin Mu the longest time out of all three dishes, as an entire hour passed before he was done with it.


    ~DENG~


    He ced the cauldron back down and wiped the traces of oil from his face.


    ¡°Ahh~ that hit the spot!¡± Lin Mu felt rather content with the meal.


    ~SHUA~


    His attention was quickly pulled to the energy storm that was forming within his belly, prompting him to sit down cross legged and chant the Calming heart sutra in the next moment.

 Chapter 1367 Immortal Breakthrough!

    <h4> 1367 Immortal Breakthrough! </h4>


    Even Lanbao was sure that normal humans didn¡¯t eat the same way as Lin Mu did.


    ¡®Forget humans, even beasts don¡¯t eat the same amount that he did just now...¡¯ Lanbao was at a loss for words.


    At first she thought Lin Mu simply ate more than normal humans, then she thought that he ate the same asrge beasts. But now he had gone past all limits, having eaten over a hundred times his body weight.


    As for how that much mass could be contained within his body?


    Lanbao could not understand.


    ¡°Lin Mu?¡± But just as she was about to talk to him, she found him sitting down.


    Faint chants starteding from his lips, spreading a feeling of calmness in the area.


    ¡°This is... rather... nice...¡± Lanbao felt good.


    It gave her a sense of peace that she had not felt for a long time. Thest she could recall was when the Deep Sapphire city was still inhabited by the Haima tribe. She had not yet taken form and could barely remember the faint emotions from back then.


    And now that the Haima tribe had returned, she had felt the joy but not the peace. But with Lin Mu¡¯s chanting, that feeling of peace was filling her entire being.


    Unknowingly she too closed her eyes and soundlessly floated in the air.


    But while everything looked peaceful in the area, inside Lin Mu¡¯s body, there was an opposite situation.


    A storm of energy was currently raging inside his body having been sourced from his stomach.


    ¡®This... Such rich vital essence...¡¯ Lin Mu felt the vitality first.


    It was like a waterfall that would just not stop. He focused on his body and let all his cells and tissues absorb it to the maximum. Once they were saturated to the maximum, Lin Mu utilized his five treasured organs.


    Having reached thepletion of the five treasures realm, his organs had a terrifying level of vitality. And now more of it was being channeled into them, which they dly epted.


    If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Lin Mu was a body cultivator too, he wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb such arge amount of energy all at once. If this was any other Qi cultivator, they might have already exploded from the overflowing vitality.


    All the five treasured organs were being nurtured by this vital essence and were soon filled to the brim.


    ¡°This won¡¯t do... there is still tons of it left over.¡± Lin Mu realized.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as he was getting worried, he found that his stomach had reacted ordingly.


    ¡®This is new...¡¯ Lin Mu noticed the new runes that were forming on the surface of his stomach.


    Each rune was obscure and he couldn¡¯t understand it. This wasn¡¯t his first time seeing it, but it was certainly the first time he saw them long enough to observe it clearly.


    ¡®They don¡¯t seem to be from the Dao Script...¡¯ Lin Mu noted.


    The runes seemed to be a form of energy storage method that was unknown to Lin Mu. The more runes there were, the more energy was absorbed. But even when his entire stomach was covered with the runes, the energy had not ended.


    ¡°What now?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    ~HUA~


    But then he saw something new.


    The runes that covered his stomach glowed in a grey light and rose from the surface. They then started to shrink and turned into thin lines that imprinted back on the stomach¡¯s surface.


    Once the lines were imprinted, more new runes could be formed. And when these runes were saturated again, they wouldpress into lines. This cycle repeated a total of about six times before all the vital essence was stored into his stomach.


    ¡°The spirit Qi is already stored...¡± Lin Mu saw that the spirit Qi he had obtained from the beast meat was the first to have been assimted.


    It was directly absorbed into his Dantian and filled it while the overflowing amount was taken up by his Nascent soul.


    ¡°Is it over? Wasn¡¯t there Immortal Qi in the beast meat too?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    While he couldn¡¯t sense it fully, he knew it was bound to be in the meat due to them being Immortal beasts.


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    ¡°Oh, wait... GAH!¡± he didn¡¯t need to wonder for long as he soon felt a piercing pain in his gut.


    His spirit sense quickly dived into his abdomen, trying to find the source of the pain but it couldn¡¯t pinpoint it.


    ¡®It¡¯s as if it ising from everywhere...¡¯ Lin Mu discovered.


    His didn¡¯t falter though and continued to chant the Calming Heart sutra.


    On the surface, it looked like Lin Mu was still sitting peacefully. No one would be able to tell the pain and energy storm that was seething within his body at this moment.


    Five minutes passed like this before Lin Mu felt a change.


    ~HONG~


    Lin Mu¡¯s attention was quickly pulled to his Dantian.


    ¡®The Dao Embryo? Its... Resonating?¡¯ Lin Mu saw.


    It let off a humming sound that filled the entirety of his being. It even traveled through his spirit sense, allowing him to gain a new perspective.


    ¡°Wait this... this... this is...¡± Lin Mu realized that he could now sense an entirely new type of energy within his body.


    He also realized that the pain he was feeling hade from this new energy too.


    ¡°Immortal Qi! There is no doubt, this is Immortal Qi!¡± Lin Mu was now sure.


    It had a translucent form spike spirit Qi but its quality was many times higher. It was simply on a different level.


    ¡®I can¡¯t lose focus now! I need to channel this Immortal Qi!¡¯ Lin Mu understood.


    Lin Mu knew that he simply had to do what he had done with spirit Qi. He focused his will on the Immortal Qi that was spread across his body and guided it into his meridians.


    Little by little, they started to move and about an hourter, all the Immortal Qi was in his meridians.


    ~HUALA~


    And finally, Lin Mu broke through!

 Chapter 1368 False Immortal Realm, Immortal Sense!

    <h4> 1368 False Immortal Realm, Immortal Sense! </h4>


    Lin Mu had been close to the peak of the Dao Treading realm for quite some time now and was only waiting for his Dao Embryo to reach the limit. Only when it did would he be able to enter the Immortal ascension realm and be able to sense Immortal Qi.


    But Lin Mu had not done that. Instead, the consumption of Immortal Qi rich food had allowed him to obtain Immortal Qi before he even reached the Immortal ascension realm.


    Normally, if a cultivator forcefully consumed Immortal Qi in any form, whether it be in the form of beast meat, immortal fruits and herbs, or even immortal pills, it would be useless.


    At the best, the immortal Qi would dissipate automatically as their bodies would be incapable of holding it. And at the worst, they would explode from the immortal Qi and die from it.


    For Lin Mu though, there were additional factors in y. The first was the fact that he wasn¡¯t just a Qi cultivator, he was also a body cultivator which was at the peak of the five treasures realm.


    This gave him the physique that could withstand the pressure of the Immortal Qi which was furtherpounded by his defenses.


    Then came the second factor which was the Nameless technique of the Lost immortal. This technique had transformed his stomach into an entirely new kind of organ that could absorb and contain nearly every type of energy.


    It would greedily suppress all energies, whether they be elemental, natural or Qi in form. Simrly, there was no way his stomach would let go of Immortal Qi. Normally it should have leaked out of his body, but the stomach forcefully held it in ce.


    This allowed his body to limatize to it and eventually the immortal Qi was pushed out into the rest of the body. Since Lin Mu had not cultivated with the Immortal Qi before, it couldn¡¯t fully enter his meridians and Dantian.


    So there was no automatic cirction of immortal Qi like there was for spirit Qi.


    But this resulted in another effect. It allowed his Dao Embryo to progress quickly and Lin Mu directly gained the ability to sense the Immortal Qi. With that, he skipped over the Immortal ascension realm and reached the False Immortal realm.


    And now, Lin Mu had gathered all the Immortal Qi that was spread in his body into his meridians. Usually, this immortal Qi should have been in the form of wisps, but with the sheer amount, Lin Mu had absorbed, it directly started to condense into a liquid form.


    Once it was condensed, it dripped down into his dantian and formed a pool of itself.


    ~RIPPLE~


    Lin Mu suddenly felt the ocean of spirit Qi within his Dantian tremble.


    ¡°Huh? What is it...¡± Before he could observe it though, the ocean of spirit Qi started to stir.


    Ripples appeared and turned into waves before they started to move. The spirit Qi ocean directly parted from the middle, creating a depression in it, and in this depression the liquid immortal Qi started to umte.


    ¡°The immortal Qi exerted its influence?¡± Lin Mu didn¡¯t know it could do something like this.


    Little by little, the Immortal Qi started to gather in the depression. This also exerted a pressure on his Dantian, as it had already reached its maximum capacity.


    ¡®No wonder I felt the ache. Its due to the Dantian expanding...¡¯ Lin Mu could feel the limits of his Dantian extending slowly.


    His Dantian was already veryrge and was bigger than several expertsbined. But it was not the limit for him and could continue to expand even more. The only difference was that to expand it, a great force was needed.


    Before this, Lin Mu had already reached the limits of what he could achieve with his spirit Qi, but now there was a new form of Qi that could further affect it. And since his Dantian was already quiterge, the speed of expansion was slow.


    ¡°I just need to focus and let it happen naturally...¡± Lin Mu understood and fully immersed himself in it.


    A minute after minute passed and the Immortal Qi continued to condense. His stomach also released the excess Immortal Qi that had been suppressed in it, and now it was automatically channeled into his meridians.


    Lin Mu also started to get familiar with the Immortal Qi. The first difference he found between spirit Qi and Immortal Qi was the natural density. The Immortal Qi felt ¡®heavier¡¯ than spirit Qi.


    If hepared a drop of Immortal Qi and a drop of Spirit Qi, the weight difference was exponentially higher. This also gave Lin Mu more thoughts about the immortal Qi and its properties.


    ¡®If it is already this dense when it¡¯s in the liquid form, can it bepressed further? Can it be turned into a solid form?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    In the core condensation realm, one condensed the liquid spirit Qi into a solid core in order to give birth to a Nascent soul. But there was no such thing in the Immortal realm. Lin Mu knew this too but just wanted to know ¡®What If¡¯ he did something like that.


    He was already sensitive to weight due to learning the Aspect of Heaviness and wondered how far it could be taken.


    If someone didn¡¯t have this, they might not have even felt the weight difference between the two types of Qis. This type of understanding was the natural variation brought upon by the myriad types of Dao Embryos that existed in the universe.


    Others might find different kinds of changes in the properties of the Qis.


    Lin Mu continued along with this thought and let himself enter a trance. The immortal Qi continued to umte and finally reached the 10% mark.


    Now ten percent of Qi in his Dantian was immortal Qi!


    At this point though, the immortal Qi also stopped umting. Lin Mu had already condensed all the immortal Qi there was, and his stomach had also released all that was stored within it.


    Now the only wisps of immortal Qi that were left in his body were in the meridians. They naturally circted and formed a cultivation circuit for Lin Mu.


    ¡®The Primordial path... follow your body and let the fates guide you to the path of cultivation...¡¯ Lin Mu learned the method he needs to follow in the Immortal realm.


    This was a method that would be unique to him and his body. No one other than him would be able to use it, nor would they be able to learn it. This was a method formed by his own understanding andprehension.


    ~HONG~


    As if a bell had been rung, Lin Mu¡¯s body resonated with the immortal Qi in the world. His spirit sense spread and pierced through the surrounding immortal Qi, no longer being suppressed.


    But after reaching the fifty kilometer limit, it stopped!


    <strong>~BOOM~</strong>


    Then it exploded!


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense had been shattered apart!


    This was something that should have been a cause of great anguish to most experts, but to Lin Mu, it felt like a mere breeze. He didn¡¯t panic either, feeling as if this was merely natural.


    ~HUALA~


    Finally a change happened. The exploded parts of the spirit sense mixed with the immortal Qi in the air before starting to return. Wisps of Immortal Qi were pulled along with these fragments and started to join up.


    Just like Spirit Qi wisps could join up to form a tendril of spirit sense, Immortal Qi could also join and develop a new form of sense... The Immortal Sense!


    Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense was sacrificed to make way for the immortal sense. But the refinement level of both was not the same.


    In the rust sky world, Lin Mu¡¯s spirit sense could reach a maximum of Ten kilometers but after sacrificing itself and condensing Immortal sense, the reach was just a hundred meters.


    But one must not be mistaken by this, as it was a qualitative change.


    The benefits obtained from this would be simrly great. Besides, Lin Mu could also refine his Immortal sense further. Even the hundred meter long tendril he had formed alone was unique.


    Most cultivators didn¡¯t even form their Immortal sense when they broke through to the Immortal realm. They needed to learn it all over again and then form their Immortal sense.


    For example, Immortal Taegu was in the first tribtion realm and even then he didn¡¯t have Immortal sense. He simply didn¡¯t have the understanding needed to refine it yet.


    So far, only Elder Niji and the three immortals of the Huyun n seemed to have Immortal sense. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know what it was back then, but now he could instinctively grasp what their sensory ability was.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath, making the Qi in the air stir and returning his Immortal sense.


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    ¡°So this is the False Immortal realm...¡± Lin Mu opened his eyes and nced at himself.


    He looked the same, but his demeanor had evolved.

 Chapter 1369 Formless Dao Shell

    <h4> 1369 Formless Dao Shell </h4>


    Lin Mu could sense the qualitative change in his strength.


    Before this, his Qi cultivation had beengging behind his body cultivation so most of his strength came from his body. But now his Qi cultivation had taken the lead once more and was probably going to stay ahead for a while.


    After all, Lin Mu now had a full path for the Immortal realm in terms of Qi cultivation, but for body cultivation, he stillcked techniques. One plus point he did have was the fact that he had clues that he could pursue.


    ¡®The feeling of getting stronger... Breaking through... and more... I¡¯ve been missing it...¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    ~shua~


    His immortal sense spread out in the next moment, allowing him to perceive everything around him.


    ¡°Immortal Qi... Spirit Qi... Water elemental spirit Qi as well as Immoral Qi... and, Dao Traces.¡± Lin Mu analyzed the invisiblesplements in the air urately.


    But along with them, he realized he could sense something else. To him, it felt like there was a thinyer of some kind superimposed everywhere. It could be selectively ignored by him if he needed, but he could also pin point it now.


    ¡°Is this what Senior Xukong was talking about?¡± Lin Mu muttered and closed his eyes.


    When he opened it again, his spatial perception activated, revealing the faint fluctuations in space as well as the spatial fabric itself!


    ¡®Just as I thought, it really is the spatial fabric. I can now directly sense it.¡¯ Lin Mu understood.


    Before this he had to actively use spatial perception to see the spatial fabric and use his spirit sense to interact with it. Now he didn¡¯t need to do that either. Even if he didn¡¯t see it in his normal state, he could still feel its presence.


    This alone was more than enough to do a lot with it.


    ¡°Congrattions. I didn¡¯t expect you would automatically refine your immortal sense.¡± Xukong had been watching Lin Mu since his breakthrough and was truly pleased with his progress.


    ¡°Thank you, senior.¡± Lin Mu smiled. ¡°Also does this mean...¡±


    ¡°Yes! You can now truly cultivate the Spatial Dao.¡± Xukong confirmed.


    ¡°Great!¡± Lin Mu had been desiring this for a long time and finally had the chance. ¡°When should I begin?¡± he asked.


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    ¡°Practically you have no need to wait now. You¡¯ve fulfilled more than enough requirements for it.¡± Xukong replied with content.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu sat back down immediately. Closing his eyes, his consciousness directly descended in his Dantian.


    ~HUALA~


    The spirit Qi that had turned calm for a moment started to stir once more. This time though, it was gathering in a specific point. Second after second passed and soon the outline of a sphere could be seen in his Dantian.


    Lin Mu had now formed the outline of a second Dao Shell!


    ¡°What shape do I want it to be?¡± Lin Mu questioned himself.


    ¡°Ask yourself what does the spatial Dao mean to you? The Dao shell wille to you automatically.¡± Xukong advised in a light voice.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and started to ponder on it while the spirit Qi continued to stir within his body.


    He first thought to how he had first obtained the ring and its skills. What it allowed him to do and how he used it. The more Lin Mu thought about it, the more Lin Mu felt like he knew what his path should be.


    ~HONG~


    The Dao Shell outline within his Dantian started to flicker. It started to morph, taking on asymmetrical shapes as well as symmetrical shapes.


    It felt like it wasn¡¯t hard like a shell but soft like y.


    ¡°The path that I pursued was... Freedom. Freedom from poverty... Freedom from weakness... Freedom from restrains... if Freedom is what I pursue, why should I restrain myself to one form?


    My Dao shell shall be... Formless!¡± Lin Mu dered.


    ~HONG~


    At his deration, the outline of the Dao shell disappeared. But it wasn¡¯t that Lin Mu had lost his Dao Shell, as the spirit Qi was still pouring into the point where the Dao shell used to exist.


    ~HUALA~


    A vortex of spirit Qi formed around the spot, and it started to disappear into nothingness.


    Lin Mu let it flow freely, didn¡¯t mind that the drain on his spirit Qi was getting rather fast.


    ¡®If I want to, I can absorb more spirit Qi whenever...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He willed it and half of his entire Dantian¡¯s spirit Qi roiled. It poured into the vortex, directly disappearing into nothingness. This continued until Lin Mu¡¯s spirit Qi stores fell to 30%.


    This was a massive number as the amount of spirit Qi he had in his Dantian could evenpare to an entire spirit stone mine!


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and sensed that he had seeded.


    ¡°Reveal.¡± Lin Mu lightly spoke.


    In the next moment, the space inside Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian twisted and a prismatic object appeared from it. It changed colors non stop, looking like a rainbow sometime and dark like coal sometimes.


    But that was not all, as its shape changed continually as well. It became t, then a sphere, then a square before turning into an icosahedron and then bing entirely iprehensible.


    Its forms changed without a sense or reason, but it didn¡¯t reduce its aura at all.


    This was Lin Mu¡¯s Dao shell, it had formless and could take any form he desired. It wasn¡¯t hard and rigid, but was instead soft and pliable.


    Lin Mu observed it for a few moments, before summoning it in front of him. It rose out from his abdomen and floated in front of him. It was about a meter wide right from its formation.


    ¡°Harden,¡± Lin Mu lightlymanded.


    ~SHING~


    The Dao shell in front of him turned rigid at that moment, as if it was a crystal.


    ¡°Sharpen.¡± Lin Mu ordered next.


    ~SHING~


    The Dao shell shrunk and turned into a long thin de.


    ¡°Narrow.¡± Lin Mu spoke again.


    ~SHING~


    The Dao shell elongated and shrunk at the same time, turning into a four meter long needle.


    Lin Mu continued to change its shape, letting to flow freely. He could make it go anywhere he wanted freely as long as it was within the range of his Immortal sense.


    ¡°So this is what I¡¯ve gained...¡± Lin Mu muttered, returning the Dao shell to his Dantian.


    Xukong who had been watching it all was stunned.


    ¡®He¡¯s outdone my expectation again... A formless Dao Shell... if this was shown to any of the old experts, they would think it is downright absurd. And yet, he has proved a legacy that is several billion years old wrong...¡¯ Xukong thought to himself.


    But his thoughts didn¡¯t end there, as he realized this was Lin Mu simply making a Dao Shell. He hadn¡¯t even made his Dao Embryo of Spatial Dao yet!


    ¡®What kind of surprise will he present me next?¡¯ Xukong wondered.


    ~HUALA~


    And while Xukong was thinking all this, Lin Mu hadn¡¯t stopped. He started to absorb all the spirit Qi from the air around him. It entered his body and directly condensed within his Dantian.


    The spirit Qi didn¡¯t get any time to rest either, as it was quickly channeling into an empty spot. It was once more disappearing into nothingness.


    Lin Mu was now directly skipping to thest step of Dao Shell. He was expanding it!


    As he had kept it formless, there was no need for the Shell Genesis stage of the Shellpletion stage. It could directly be expanded at will!


    The spirit Qi continued to be consumed at a great speed, and a vortex formed above Lin Mu¡¯s head too. Thankfully, he was in the Rust Sky world, and that too in the Deep Sapphire Ind where there was nock of spirit Qi.


    Lanbao, who had been watching Lin Mu since the start, was amazed. While she didn¡¯t understand everything, she could tell that Lin Mu hadprehended something new.


    ¡°He needs spirit Qi?¡± Lanbao noticed.


    She then waved her hand, creating several runes that filled the air. They rose into the sky and triggered the array of the ind.


    ~HONG~


    In the next minute, a torrent of spirit Qi descended on the area.


    Lanbao had focused the spirit Qi gathering array on Lin Mu alone!


    The invisible vortex of spirit Qi turned corporeal, looking like a swirling storm cloud. Lin Mu too noticed the sudden rise in spirit Qi but didn¡¯t open his eyes. He simply focused on absorbing it.


    Massive amounts of spirit Qi poured into his body and Dantian, before disappearing into nothingness. This processsted ten hours before Lin Mu opened his eyes and stood up.


    ¡°That will be enough, Lanbao.¡± Lin Mu spoke.


    ¡°It¡¯s enough? Are you sure? The array is barely working at 10%.¡± Lanbao replied.


    ¡°Yeah it¡¯s more than enough.¡± Lin Mu said before raising his arm.


    ~SHUA~


    Above him arge prismatic sphere appeared. It was over a hundred meters wide and emitted dense spirit Qi pressure.


    ¡°I think this is more than enough.¡±

 Chapter 1370 Choice Of An Immortal Weapon

    <h4> 1370 Choice Of An Immortal Weapon </h4>


    When Lin Mu had made his first Dao Shell, it had reached a maximum size of Ten meters. That alone was a huge aplishment, not to mention that it wasn¡¯t a normal sphere Dao shell, but rather had a unique shape.


    But now, Lin Mu had exceeded that by ten times!


    This was a massive increase that shouldn¡¯t even be possible by normal means. It was said that reaching Ten meters was the sign of great talent, and reaching twenty meters was the absolute limit, but Lin Mu had gone past that.


    Even in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal, Lin Mu had never read about a Dao Shell that was as big as this. After all, even thergest of Dao Embryos could be amodated within a twenty meter sized Dao shell.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t care for this though. What he wanted to see was the absolute limit of a Dao Shell.


    The twenty meter limit wasn¡¯t wrong either in a sense. What it didn¡¯t apply to was the kind of Dao shell.


    If it was a normal rigid and hard Dao Shell, twenty meters would indeed be the limit. But for a formless Dao shell, that was soft and pliable?


    The limit was increased greatly.


    Lin Mu discovered it to be around a hundred meters. He could technically increase it more, but that would also increase the instability. Hundred meters was the sweet spot where the stability was perfect and the sizerge.


    With such arge size, Lin Mu would certainly have no issues amodating a Dao embryo while also using the Dao Shell directly.


    He had already tested out its offensive capabilities before and knew it was a lot more versatile than his Earth Dao Shell.


    ¡®The True Earth Heart can turn the Dao shell into a weapon that is more conventional, but this Dao shell can be used covertly. No one would expect it after all...¡¯ Lin Mu began to think of various ways he could apply it in a battle.


    ¡°Forget expecting it in a battle, no one will even recognizing that it is a Dao shell.¡± Xukong spoke up at this time.


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    ¡°They won¡¯t?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    ¡°Look at it, your Dao shell goes against all known understanding. To others, it isn¡¯t a Dao shell but rather an entirely new Qi skill at this point.¡± Xukong exined.


    ¡°Hmm... I guess we can consider it a Qi skill too. But a Qi skill that can also amodate a Dao Embryo within it.¡± Lin Mu said after thinking.


    ¡°That is indeed true.¡± Xukong agreed. ¡°I look forward to what kind of a Spatial Dao embryo you will be able to create now.¡± He said with great expectations.


    ¡°Me too, senior.¡± Lin Mu nodded before looking at Lanbao. ¡°Thank you for your help.¡± He said with gratitude.


    ¡°It was nothing. That was the least I could do.¡± Lanbao replied with a smile.


    ¡°Still, thank you. Without your help it might not have been this smooth for me.¡± Lin Mu stated.


    ¡°Haha! You can perhaps repay it by helping the Haima Tribe.¡± Lanbao chuckled.


    ¡°I was going to do that either way.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head and clenched his fist.


    ~shua~


    Therge Dao shell floating above him quickly shrank and turned into a small fist sized glob. It floated beside Lin Mu and soon turned invisible.


    But in reality, it wasn¡¯t exactly optical invisibility. Only Lin Mu could ¡®see¡¯ that it actually aligned with the spatial fabric. This made it seem like it was part of the fabric itself, making it invisible.


    ¡°Do you need anything for the formation array?¡± Lanbao asked.


    ¡°I will be directly carving the runes, so I won¡¯t need any extra materials.¡± Lin Mu shook his head.


    ~SHING~


    He summoned his short sword and held it in his hand.


    ~HUMM~


    The short sword hummed in joy, as if happy that Lin Mu had broken through. And when he poured a stream of Immortal Qi in the short sword, it suddenly glowed.


    ~HONG~


    Faint runes appeared on the short sword and absorbed the Immortal Qi.


    Seeing this Lin Mu smiled.


    ¡®So Immortal Qi still works for the short sword. I thought it wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    ¡°It¡¯s a pure refinement type Spirit weapon so it can take the Immortal Qi. If it was a skill or hybrid type, it wouldn¡¯t be able to take it.¡± Xukong exined.


    ¡°I see... at least I don¡¯t need to look for an Immortal weapon right away.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Picking an immortal weapon is different from a spirit weapon though. You won¡¯t just be able to use any Immortal weapon. Since they have developed a level of intelligence, they can resist being used by you.


    And even if you use them forcefully, the effect won¡¯t be as good. Thus finding a suitable immortal weapon and tool takes time.¡± Xukong rified.


    ¡°Yes, I read about that. Though I think as long as it is a sword I shouldn¡¯t have a problem. I have sword intent after all.¡± Lin Mu stated.


    ¡°That is indeed true. Most Immortal swords will ept a swordsman that has developed Sword intent.¡± Xukong agreed.


    ¡°But even if you can do that, you should pick an immortal weapon that you will nurture directly carefully. After all, those that develop an Artifact spirit in the future would be a lot more powerful.


    They will also be attenuated to you, allowing you to use far greater power than normally possible.¡± Xukong stated.


    ¡°I see... I¡¯ll do my best to pick the right weapon. I just hope I can find it in time.¡± Lin Mu said with hope. ¡°Who knows how long the short sword will be able to serve me.¡± He looked at the sword that had apanied him for years.


    Lin Mu had gotten used to the short sword and hade to like it. It was the weapon that had allowed him to obtain his revenge and had also been used by him the most. If possible, Lin Mu wouldn¡¯t want to abandon it.


    But the reality was different. Havinge into contact with Immortals, Lin Mu knew the short sword wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand their attacks after a certain point. Even if it was a pure refinement-type spirit weapon, it was only at the High Grade.


    Perhaps if it were a peak-grade weapon, he might have been able to continue using it longer and if it was a Pseudo Immortal weapon, he would have straight away nurtured it.


    ~Sigh~


    ¡®Perhaps if I learned more about Weapon forging, I might have been able to rebuild the short Sword.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he raised the short sword.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    In the next second, he turned his wrist and flicked out a few times. shes flew out and started carving runes on the stone ground. With Lin Mu¡¯s immortal sense serving as a guide and his sword intent working as a scalpel, carving these runes was the same as writing on paper now.


    There was arge area for Lin Mu to cover and an evenrger formation array to make.


    The array that Lin Mu was making wasposed of several formations. Since he wanted to link up with the minor ne, Lin Mu needed to add a spatial stabilization formation, a spatial molding formation, a spatial linking formation, and a spatial channeling formation.


    These were just the main formations that would have several sub formations as well as auxiliary formations working in tandem.


    Only after the functions of all these formations werebined would the new spatial array would form.


    Then there was also the fact that the array that Lin Mu was making had no specific name. It was a custom array that he was assembling himself. With thetest lessons he got from Xukong, Lin Mu felt a lot more confident.


    Runes after runes appeared on the ground, all of them varying in size. Some were as small as a peanut while some were asrge as a melon. Some were integrated together while some were distinct.


    Lanbao floated a few meters above Lin Mu and watched him work. As an artifact spirit, she had an innate understanding of formations and runes and thus could tell that Lin Mu was making something entirely new.


    ¡®This going to be reallyplex... How will he even fit them all in this area?¡¯ Lanbao wondered.


    Having recognized the formations Lin Mu intended to carve, she knew they wouldn¡¯t fit in this area despite it being kilometers wide. But she didn¡¯t ask Lin Mu either as that would mean disturbing him.


    She let him work and simply observed from the top.


    This could actually be considered a form of cultivation for her too. Being an artifact spirit she didn¡¯t cultivate in the normal way, she needed to further her own arrays to be stronger.


    And being a peak immortal tool meant that any progress was going to be as slow as a snail.

 Chapter 1371 The Formation Creation Occupations Grades And Improvements

    <h4> 1371 The Formation Creation upation''s Grades And Improvements </h4>


    Lin Mu¡¯s work wasn¡¯t easy andsted a long time.


    Day after day passed by while Lin Mu worked tirelessly. The only time he took a break was when he paused to observe the progress and to rectify any mistakes. But other than that, he had been working non-stop.


    If it were any other formation master, they might have just copsed from the exhaustion. Lin Mu¡¯s body cultivation they allowed him to have a stamina that would allow him to work for literally months on end.


    Not to mention he was feeling really energetic after the breakthrough.


    It as a form of training too, as it allowed Lin Mu to get familiar with his new cultivation base. Regr use of Immortal sense was also allowing Lin Mu to get limatized to Immortal Qi itself.


    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    During this time, several other people also paid Lin Mu a visit. This included Elder Niji, Kunzi, and Immortal Taegu.


    But no one disturbed him or spoke to him, seeing that he was working. Lanbao also created a temporary istion barrier around the entire area so as to avoid any sudden sound disturbing Lin Mu.


    It wasn¡¯t exactly necessary as Lin Mu¡¯s focus while using calming heart sutra was peerless, but Lanbao didn¡¯t know that. To the mermaid, Lin Mu was working with great dedication and was worth learning from.


    ¡®Is this what having a teacher is like?¡¯ Lanbao wondered.


    Being an artifact spirit meant that she was never taught and all knowledge she had was from the arrays themselves. It was knowledge integrated by the ancestor of the Haima n, Muxuan.


    Andter on, when she was born, she hadn¡¯t learned from people but rather from books directly. The millions of books in the library of the city had given Lanbao plenty to learn about.


    She didn¡¯t care what they were about either soaking up all knowledge like a sponge.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know that Lanbao was learning from him either. And it wasn¡¯t like he would mind that anyways. To him, this was practice and he was deepening his knowledge of runes as well.


    Eventually, ten days passed by and Lin Mu finally carved the final runes on the ground.


    ~SLASH~


    A sword light struck the ground, carving a curved run on it, finishing the array¡¯s structure.


    ~HAAA~


    Lin Mu let out a breath feeling slightly tired. This fatigue wasn¡¯t physical though, but rather mental. Having to think andpute these many runes was indeed a great challenge and was exhausting.


    ¡°At least the formations are done... will have to see how well they integrate though.¡± Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    ¡°You did decently.¡± Xukong finally said.


    He too had been observing and was satisfied with Lin Mu¡¯s work.


    ¡°For your first attempt, this is more than enough.¡± Xukong praised.


    ¡°Thank you, senior. But I can see that I need a lot more improvement.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Can you point out the areas where you need to improve?¡± Xukong questioned, knowing that this awareness was quite important.


    ¡°I do senior.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head. ¡°The first point would be that I need a lot more precision with the runes. Even with the sword intent being used to carve and the Immortal sense to guide it, there are still mistakes in it.


    They don¡¯t appear until after I¡¯ve carved the rune.¡± He stated.


    ¡°Good, good. This is correct.¡± Xukong acknowledged. ¡°You can only improve on this point by practicing more.¡±


    ¡°The second point I need improvement is the arrangement of the formations themselves. I felt like they can be further optimized to fit on a smaller area. The current arrangement is too awkward.¡± Lin Mu said next.


    ¡°This is correct as well. But improvements of this kind are on a higher level. When you can sessfully implement these, you will be an Immortal Formation master.¡± Xukong replied.


    Hearing the words Immortal Formation master reminded Lin Mu that his information had been restricted before. Xukong couldn¡¯t tell him about this back in the Xiaofan world.


    ¡°Oh yeah, senior. Can you now tell me about the official ssification of the Formation creation upation?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°Ah yes, it is about time I exined to you in detail.¡± Xukong spoke. ¡°You can say that the formations you¡¯ve learned before the immortal realm are merely the beginning of it all.


    As you know, those who can use spirit Qi to make runes are called as Spirit Formation Apprentices, those who can make entire formations are Spirit Formation Masters, and those who can makeplete arrays are called as Spirit Formation Grandmasters.


    Above these are the Immortal Formations that utilize Immortal Qi and other immortal materials to make.


    At this level formations now have official grades that range from Minor, lesser, great, greater, and grand. The ssification of the Immortal formation masters is determined on how many such formations they can utilize to make an array.


    An Immortal Formation Apprentice is merely someone who can carve some runes and maybe make a few immortal talismans that fall in the minor and lesser grade.


    An Immortal Formation Master is someone who can make an array that utilizes at least three formations at the Great grade andbine to make an array.


    An Immortal Formation Grandmaster though is someone who can make an array that utilizes three Grand grade formations to make an array.


    The higher you go a formation grade, the more difficult it gets. Right now you are using spirit formations thus you aren¡¯t a proper Immortal Formation master, though you can be considered an Immortal Formation Apprentice.¡± Xukong exined in detail.


    Lin Mu paid great attention to all the information, memorizing it quickly.


    ¡°I see, so to reduce the size of the arrays and rearrange them, I need to reach the Immortal Formation Master level.¡± Lin Mu spoke after internalizing the information.


    ¡°Yes, you will need the understanding of that level to sessfully implement it. Though since you will be utilizing immortal Qi to power this array, you will be able toprehend more.¡± Xukong replied.


    ¡°I understand senior.¡± Lin Mu felt anticipation for the next step.


    What Xukong didn¡¯t tell Lin Mu though was the level of difficulty that Lin Mu was practicing with.


    The average formation master wouldn¡¯t just carve runes onto a raw rock and expect them to be proper. No, they used proper materials such as spirit stone, spirit jade, formation gs, and more as the medium.


    And not just that, they also used specialized formation tools to carve these runes and connect the formations. But Lin Mu wasn¡¯t doing that.


    He was fully relying on himself to aplish the same.


    He didn¡¯t use external resources and fully relied on skill.


    It wasn¡¯t that normal materials couldn¡¯t be used to make formations, they could be used. But the difficulty would be a lot higher due to factors such as uneven materialposition, inadequate Qi conduction, and just the overall durability.


    Only the formation masters that were really poor would usually utilize a method like this to make formations. But even that was only when they had nothing left. Once the formation was made, they could sell it off to get some proper materials.


    One could even say that Lin Mu¡¯s method of making formations wasn¡¯t efficient or proper, but what it provided him was a lot greater. It allowed his skills and proficiency to rise a lot faster than it would with other aids.


    ¡®As long as he continues on this path, he¡¯ll have fewer difficultiester on.¡¯ Xukong thought as he internally smiled.


    ¡°Are you done?¡± Lanbao¡¯s voice was heard after a while.


    Lin Mu raised a brow and looked up, finding the mermaid floating in the sky.


    ¡°Ah yes! I¡¯m done.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head. ¡°I just need to establish a link between the array and the Immortal Qi storage.¡± He added.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. It is already prepared.¡± Lanbao replied, confusing Lin Mu.


    ¡°It¡¯s done? When, how?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°Elder Niji came by several times but you were busy with the array. So I just asked him to make the linking formations. The human named Kunzi guided Elder Niji and Immortal Taegu to make them.¡± Lanbao replied.


    ¡°I see...¡± Lin Mu didn¡¯t worry that the linking formation might be wrong either.


    It was a simple formation that most Spirit formation masters should be able to make. Kunzi was even more experienced and could be considered a Spirit formation grandmaster. And now that Elder Niji was at the Immortal realm, learning some formations was also easy for him.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell Elder Niji to release the Immortal Qi then,¡± Lanbao spoke seeing that Lin Mu was fine with it.


    ¡°Yes, do that. I¡¯ll monitor the array for any issues.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head and spread his immortal sense again.


    Lanbao closed her eyes and sent a message to Elder Niji.


    Back at the Deep Sapphire City, the man looked at the Immortal Qi storage and its screen that was floating on top.


    ¡°So it is done... let¡¯s see how good Noble Lin Mu¡¯s work is.¡±

 Chapter 1372 Activating The Spatial Array And Comprehending Space

    <h4> 1372 Activating The Spatial Array And Comprehending Space </h4>


    It would not be wrong to say that Elder Niji had an almost absolute belief in Lin Mu at this point. After all, not only had he managed to get them all out of the Land of Exile but he had also helped them return to their real home.


    With this in mind, Elder Niji wondered how Lin Mu would be making the Spatial Channel he had talked about.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start then...¡± Elder Niji said before making a few runes in the air, sendingmands to the formation array.


    ~SHUA~


    The linking formations were in the form long a long line of runes that looked like a tube in shape. The runes were rtively simple and their main function as to just carry the qi. It didn¡¯t matter whether it was spirit qi or Immortal qi either as the formation was rtively universal.


    The only difference would be that this version was originally meant for spirit qi and the speed of Immortal qi transfer would be lower. But with the amount of Immortal qi that was there in the storage they didn¡¯t really need to worry about that.


    It was the same as attaching a narrow pipe to arge water tank. Merely the force of the water might be enough to pierce open a new hole in it.


    ~HONG~


    A loud sound was heard as the Immortal qi came out pouring into the Linking Formations!


    Elder Niji watched as the nearly ten such formations were filled up in merely a second.


    ¡®If Kunzi didn¡¯t say that we might need these many, the supply might have broken this...¡¯ Elder Niji thought.


    The supply of Immortal qi rushed several kilometers through the linking formation and reached the Spatial Array within a minute¡¯s time.


    ~hu~


    The runes glowed in response as they started absorbing all the Immortal qi.


    ¡°Look! It¡¯s working!¡± Lanbao jumped up and down.


    Lin Mu gazed at this work and hoped that it would work as intended.


    ¡°It still needs to be fully activated. The spatial channel also needs to open sessfully.¡± Lin Mu spoke before closing his eyes for a moment.


    When he opened them again, his spatial perception was active, allowing him to sense the fine changes in the space. His immortal sense was also spread over the array, monitoring for any problems.


    Thankfully Lin Mu¡¯s efforts had been worth it and all the mistakes had been rectified beforehand.


    ¡®So far so good...¡¯ Lin Mu saw that all the runes had been lit up now.


    ~HONG~


    The runes linked up, turning into several formations that brought forth their effects.


    ~Ripple~


    It was at this moment that the fabric of space started to ripple. Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he watched it intently.


    ¡°Come on... open calmly...¡± Lin Mu muttered lightly and raised his hand, a few runes swirling around it.


    These runes were none other than the coordinates of the minor ne where the Great Ocean Hippocampus was sleeping. Lin Mu kept them ready and when he felt like the right moment had been reached, he sent them out.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The runes flew out and merged into the spatial fabric, allowing arge ¡®gate¡¯ to appear. The gate was made out of runes and was the entrance to the Spatial Channel that would take one to the Minor ne.


    ¡°Just a little more...¡± Lin Mu observed the gate and the spatial fabric.


    The fine changes on it allowed him to further deepen his understanding of space as well, giving him a boost in theprehension of a Dao Embryo. Lin Mu could already feel that he was on the cusp of finding his Dao Embryo, he only needed a little more progress.


    ~RENG~


    Finally the spatial fabric within the ¡®gate¡¯ split open cleanly. There were no stray spatial energy fluctuation and neither were there any turbulent waves of qi. It had opened perfectly and its stability could be seen just from this.


    The spatial fabric shrunk like a door was opening and revealed the Spatial Channel hidden behind it. The flickering lights of the Lesser Void were presented to Lin Mu allowing him to obtain more insights into the Dao of Space.


    ¡°Focus a bit more, you should be able to sense the Spatial Dao Traces at this point.¡± Xukong advised.


    ¡°Yes Senior!¡± Lin Mu gazed deep into the Spatial Channel and let his Immortal sense enter it directly!


    At first his Immortal Sense faced a little resistance from the gate, but Lin Mu pressed it ahead. With that, the resistance disappeared and he could now observe the interior of the Spatial Channel. In there, the first thing Lin Mu felt was a strange coldness.


    This coldness was not felt by him when he had traveled through it just a few days ago.


    ¡®It isn¡¯t physical coldness, but rather... illusory coldness...¡¯ Lin Mu thought as he continued to sense this coldness.


    The more he focused on it, the more Lin Mu realized that this wasn¡¯t coldness at all. Rather it was something else that was presenting to him as coldness.


    ¡®No... rather the closest feeling I could associate with it was coldness... what I¡¯m sensing right now is...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he closed his eyes. ¡°Its the Spatial Dao Traces!¡± he eximed.


    Lin Mu felt a rush of understanding feeling his being as the Spatial Dao Traces started to cling to his Immortal Sense.


    ¡®The coldness was the ever present Spatial Dao Traces. As long as something exists in the universe, it will be within the confines of the many voids. And when something is in the void, it cannot hide from the Space.


    ¡°Ever present... Hidden... Amodating, and... Free!¡± Lin Mu felt an image forming within his mind.


    Deep in his Dantian the newly formed Dao Shell also reappeared. It flickered and twisted before pouring out of Lin Mu¡¯s body. It turned into a winding string that traveled along Lin Mu¡¯s Immortal Sense, directly jumping into the Spatial Channel.


    Once it was inside the Spatial Channel, the Dao Shell expanded rapidly while using the Immortal Sense as a tether. It quickly reached its size of a hundred meters and released a wave of energy. Then in the next moment it morphed and took on a unique shape. It looked like two cones that had been joined together at the pointed end.


    ¡°Absorb!¡± Lin Mu opened his eyes wide.


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    ~SHUA~


    The Dao Shell created a strong suction force, pulling in the Spatial Dao Traces into it.


    Lin Mu wasn¡¯t going to let the Spatial Dao Traces umte into his Dao shell passively. He was going to directly take away the Spatial Dao Traces that were present in the Spatial Channel!


    Such a forceful action might be considered unusual or perhaps even unorthodox, but Lin Mu knew it was perfect for him.


    ¡°I¡¯ve taken the path of freedom, so I may as well not follow what others do.¡± Lin Mu stated to himself.


    The Spatial Dao Traces rushed into the Dao Shell while more Dao Traces were pulled in from the lesser void outside the Spatial Channel. To the Spatial Dao Traces, the barrier of the Spatial Channel didn¡¯t matter. After all, they were the representation of space and a formation built on space couldn¡¯t stop them.


    The Spatial Dao Traces were invisible but the change in the Shape of the Dao Shell signified that they were being umted within it. The two sided cone started to bulge from the middle.


    Now it looks like two frustums were attached to an oblong sphere.


    The more Spatial Dao Traces it absorbed, the more its shape changed. The bulge in the middle continued to expand and soon turned into arge sphere with two flipped hemispheres attached to it.


    Lin Mu continued the process until the Dao Shell had taken aplete Spherical Shape. Its insides werepletely filled with Spatial Dao Traces and were stirring within it.


    ¡°No, this isn¡¯t enough... it can take on more... more...¡± Lin Mu forcefully continued to absorb more Spatial Dao traces, making the Dao Shell expand beyond its limit.


    At this point, it was clear that it couldn¡¯t suck in anymore Dao Traces.


    But Lin Mu was not ready to give up at all.


    ¡°If there isn¡¯t space, then I¡¯ll make space...¡± Lin Mu muttered and raised his right hand forward.


    ¡°Meld!¡± Lin Mu directly used meld to grasp onto the space.


    The entirety of the Dao shell and the Dao Traces within it were now in Lin Mu¡¯s grasp. He took a few moments to sense the right position before he took the next step.


    ¡°CONDENSE!¡± Lin Mu brought his two hands together in a ball squeezing gesture.


    The Dao shell started topress.


    Lin Mu could see fine cracks appearing on the surface of the Dao shell but he simply poured more Spirit qi to fix it. A sharp pain also assaulted his senses upon the tearing of the Dao shell.


    But to Lin Mu, this pain could be considered negligible, he had borne far worse before.

 Chapter 1373 Sublimating Spatial Dao Traces

    <h4> 1373 Sublimating Spatial Dao Traces </h4>


    Bearing through the pain, Lin Mu continued to press the Dao Shell.


    His effort seemed to bear fruit a minuteter as the Dao Shell managed to reduce to a fraction of its full size. But that wasn¡¯t the only thing that had happened. The most surprising change was to the Spatial Dao Traces that had been gathered within it.


    They had been forcefullypressed along with the Dao shell and had be condensed.


    While they were still invisible for the most part, a translucent flicker could be seen in the center of thepressed Dao shell.


    ¡°Sess!¡± Lin Mu felt incredibly pleased.


    He had done it on a whim and had managed to condense the Spatial Dao Traces.


    ¡®Now to see if they hold together...¡¯ Lin Mu pulled his hands away, letting the Dao Shell expand once more.


    While doing this, he also maintained Meld, so that the Spatial Dao Traces wouldn¡¯t expand explosively and break apart the Dao shell.


    ¡°Good, good... now to repeat it again.¡± Lin Mu morphed the shape of the Dao Shell into two frustums attached to a sphere and sucked in the surrounding Spatial Dao Traces again.


    A few minutester, he had once again filled the Dao Shell to the maximum level and it felt like they wouldn¡¯t stay together anymore. To Lin Mu though, this was the point of catalytic change.


    Meld!


    ¡°Condense!¡± Lin Mu instantly expanded the scope of meld to cover the entire Dao Shell again before pressing it into a smaller size with his hands.


    The cracks appeared on the Dao Shell once more, but Lin Mu didn¡¯t even register the pain. The excitement was overwhelming his sensation for pain at this point.


    Minute after minute passed as the Dao Shell started topress, while the Spatial Dao Traces within it were condensed. This time the process took longer as Lin Mu needed to do it with a lot more caution.


    But eventually, he managed to do it for the second time.


    ¡°It is working,¡± Lin Mu could now see the Spatial Dao Traces with naked eyes.


    If before they were a translucent flicker, now they looked like a faint vapor.


    ¡®What will happen if I keep on doing this? Will a entirely new form appear?¡¯ Lin Mu¡¯s brain started to run wildly.


    Intending to follow through with this, he let the Dao shell expand once more and take its suction form. He sucked in more Spatial Dao Traces before condensing them through meld.


    He repeated this process again and again, resulting in the Spatial Dao Traces within it bing more and more visible.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t even realize the passage of time at this point. To him it felt like a breeze while to others that were observing him it was five days.


    ¡°How long will he do this?¡± Kunzi couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    ¡°I have no idea... whatever he¡¯s doing is certainly... dangerous.¡± Elder Niji said, his brows furrowed.


    He hade to see the progress of the Spatial Channel and found it to be working perfectly. But at the same time he found Lin Mu standing in front of him, seemingly in a trace.


    Dense spirit qi and immortal qi swirled around him at the same time with a portion pouring into his body and another creating a barrier around him.


    But that wasn¡¯t all, as everyone could feel dangerous spatial fluctuationsing from Lin Mu.


    ¡°No one should get close or they might get ripped apart by the spatial energy.¡± Lanbao had warned them before.


    She was the only one who had watched Lin Mu from the start and understood that he was now cultivating something new. Elder Niji also informed her that Lin Mu had intended to cultivate on the ind for a while, but they didn¡¯t think that he would be doing that in this manner.


    ¡°Regardless, he¡¯s fulfilled his promises so we can just let him be.¡± Elder Niji stated. ¡°We¡¯ll cordon off this area for the time being.¡±


    ~SHUA~


    Lanbao merely made a few gestures and a new barrier was set up around the area. ¡°Done.¡± I¡¯ll watch over him, others won¡¯t be able to handle it if the space bes chaotic.¡± She warned.


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Elder Niji nodded.


    He knew the strength of the Artifact spirit and also that she would be unharmed by the space. After all, she didn¡¯t have a physical body and wouldn¡¯t really ¡®die¡¯. Her actual body was the entire Deep Sapphire City itself.


    Unless the city was destroyed, nothing would happen to Lanbao. And being a Peak Grade Immortal weapon, even damaging her was a huge task on its own.


    Lin Mu¡¯s cycle of absorption and condensation had now reached the fifteenth attempt.


    ¡®It¡¯s taking a lot longer to fill up too...¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    By now, he was satisfied by his work and was simply wondering how far he could take this. The Spatial Dao Traces within his Dao shell had already turned into the form of a cloud.


    If an average cultivator looked at it, they might think that it was simply a harmless mass of water vapor. But if anyone touched it they wouldn¡¯t even have a chance to realize that they had died.


    Normally Spatial Dao Traces wouldn¡¯t do anything to any creature. They were inert in nature as they were naturally present everywhere. Mortals woulde into contact with them and never know about it.


    But with the heavypression that Lin Mu had done, they had revealed their dangerous characteristic.


    One could evenpare it to basic water too. At its normal state it was harmless and wouldn¡¯t do much. Turn it into vapor and it would still be rtively harmless. But then change that to steam and it would be dangerous.


    Compress the hot steam and it would turn deadly!


    The effect that the Spatial Dao Traces brought about after beingpressed and condensed like this was simr to this. If anyone that was not versed in the Spatial element was toe close to this cloud, they would be ripped apart by it.


    Lin Mu felt like he could take it further so he continued his cycle ofpression.


    And finally, by the 20th try the Dao Traces had reached an absolute limit. The cloud now amodated the entirety of the Dao Shell and no matter how much Lin Mu tried, he couldn¡¯t press it.


    ¡®Meld has reached its limit... No, it¡¯s actually me who has reached the limit of my understanding of Space.¡¯ Lin Mu realized.


    His face was calm and he looked at the Dao Shell contently. He was pleased with his work and the new discovery hew had made would bring forth more gains to him.


    ¡°This will be my key to furthering my understanding...¡± Lin Mu muttered while gazing at the cloud of the Dao Traces.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath he didn¡¯t even realize he was holding back and released his control over the Dao Shell.


    ~HONG~


    As soon as he did that though, the Spatial Dao Traces didn¡¯t expand. Instead the condensed further!


    ¡°Huh? How¡¯s this happening?¡± Lin Mu was confused.


    ¡°Seems like you reached the point of sublimation.¡± Xukong finally spoke.


    He had observed Lin Mu¡¯s research and work, feeling greatly impressed.


    ¡°Point of Sublimation?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    ¡°You¡¯ll know soon enough.¡± Xukong replied. ¡°Just let go of all inhibitions, and let your heart guide you.¡± He suggested.


    Lin Mu narrowed his brows but then nodded his head.


    ¡°Alright...¡± Lin Mu fully let go, causing the Dao Shell to crack a little.


    Without his will power holding it together, the Dao Shell was bound to crack. But much to the surprise of all, the Dao Shell didn¡¯t continue to crack. Instead, it healed automatically while the Spatial Dao Traces started pulling into itself.


    ~RAM~RAM~RAM~


    A strange moving sound was heard which soon turned into explosions!


    ¡°They Spatial Dao Traces... they¡¯re cracking the space?¡± Lin Mu noticed.


    But before he could be anymore worried he saw a shining white dot appear in the cloud of Spatial Dao Traces.


    ¡°A star?¡± Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    This was merely the start though as the sound of explosion happened again, this time another star appearing.


    ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Lin Mu felt like Xukong had hinted at something.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM


    More booming sounds were heard as several stars appeared in the clouds one by one. At the same time, the clouds were turning darker in color. About five minutester, it had turned into an ck purple shade.


    The stars glowed within the ck purple mass of clouds and released a pure energy waves. It was like the energy was directlypelled to reach Lin Mu as he didn¡¯t have time to dodge.


    The Dao Shell dived into his body beforeing to his Dantian.


    ¡°Wait a second this feeling... A Dao Embryo is about to be formed.¡± Lin Mu said in excitement.


    N?velDrama.Org copyrighted ? content.


    And as if it had been waiting for him to acknowledge it, the cloud transformed!

 Chapter 1374 Four Faceted Nebula

    <h4> 1374 Four Faceted Neb </h4>


    From the ck purple cloud, rose a vibrant red color. Then came a calming blue color and finally a shining golden color. The colors stained the cloud and it be four colored.


    Each of the colored parts of the cloud gathered their energy and formed more stars within. Some were in white in color, some red, some yellow and some blue. The stars moved around in the cloud before taking their ces and settling down.


    ~HONG~


    A sonorous hum spread from the stars, filling the entire area. When this hum reached Lin Mu, he felt a few words appearing in his mind.


    ¡®Four Faceted Neb...¡¯ Lin Mu heard a name within his mind.


    He opened his eyes and willed his Formless Dao shell to appear. The Dao shell looked a lot different than before though. Now it looked like a cloudy mass of four colors. Several stars could also be seen shining in it.


    ¡°The Dao Shell is formless and so is the Dao Embryo... both fit each other even when they have no shape... Harmonious.¡± Xukong said after observing it all. ¡°Another Unique Dao Embryo too. I might not know about other Dao Embryo¡¯s but I know almost all Spatial Dao Embryos. There are very few of them after all.¡±


    ¡°How many are there Senior?¡± Lin Mu asked, sensing that his own Dao Embryo seemed to be rather strange.


    The True Earth Heart Dao Embryo was also unique, but Lin Mu had known about its basic properties from the start. He even knew how to use its abilities too. But for the new Dao Embryo he formed, the Four Faceted Neb, Lin Mu was in the blind.


    Other than the name of the Dao Embryo, Lin Mu didn¡¯t learn anything else directly. While he had confidence that he will learn about it eventually, knowing more about the other Spatial Dao Embryo¡¯s will still help him.


    ¡°Unlike the other Daos, the Spatial Dao, the Time Dao and the Chaos Dao have a total of ny nine Dao Embryos. Thirty three for each Dao of the three Primordial elements. These are also called as the Primordial Dao Embryos and no new Dao Embryo has appeared since Primordial times.


    But now you... Have made the 100th Dao Embryo.¡± Xukong spoke, stunning Lin Mu.


    ¡°This... is this why I can¡¯t feel the characteristics of the Dao Embryo right away?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°It is definitely one of the reasons. If it was any other Spatial Dao Embryo, I would have known about it. But you have made an entirely new and unique one. This has brought forth a qualitative change that is unseen.


    You will have toprehend and understand it on your own. Even I can¡¯t seem to be able to peer through its secrets.¡± Xukong replied feeling surprised too.


    Lin Mu looked at his Dao Embryo and the stars that shone within it.


    ¡®I formed the Dao Shell to be free and I pursued freedom with it... The Dao Embryo formed in response too. Then it means that it carries the character of freedom. It will not be given directly to me and I¡¯ll need to pursue it as well...¡¯ Lin Mu pondered on it deeply.


    The more he thought about it, the more he felt like this was the right way to go about it.


    After a few minutes, Lin Mu lifted his hand and ced it onto the Neb.


    ~HONG~


    The Neb throbbed with energy as if reacting to Lin Mu¡¯s contact. A few secondster it shrank and disappeared into nothingness, having returned to its rightful ce in Lin Mu¡¯s Dantian.


    ~SHUA~


    The Spatial channel that had been open for over ten days now also closed up, with no one to keep it open directly. While it still did have the supply of Immortal qi, it wouldn¡¯t stay open. It was like a door that could be locked when not needed.


    ¡°Lin Mu, are you okay?¡± Lanbao quickly appeared next to him.


    She was the only one who had observed all of Lin Mu¡¯s work as even Elder Niji didn¡¯t dare toe close after a while. He could only watch from the distance and hope that everything went well.


    To him the massive amount of Spatial energy and Spatial Dao Traces around Lin Mu were simply deadly. It was his instincts and even bloodline telling him not to go near.


    And since he was unable to ¡®see¡¯ it all, he was even more terrified. As for the others like Kunzi and Immoral Taegu, they were asked to stay even further.


    Lin Mu looked at the mermaid that seemed to have a hint of true worry on her face and nodded.


    ¡°It¡¯s good. I just had a little breakthrough andprehended the Dao.¡± Lin Mu exined.


    ¡°Ah yes, you dabbled in the Spatial Dao?¡± Lanbao replied.


    ¡°You know about it?¡± Lin Mu asked with interest.


    ¡°Yes! I¡¯ve read about it. Ancestor Muxuan was also said to have slight affinity to the Spatial Dao.¡± Lanbao stated.


    ¡°Oh? Is this due to his bloodline?¡± Lin Mu asked just in case wondering if it was linked to the broken statue he had found in the Land of Exile.


    Now that he knew it was where the start of the Haima tribe had started, he also figured there would be a lot many things linking it.


    ¡°No.¡± But much to his surprise, Lanbao shook her head. ¡°Ancestor Muxuan left behind his diaries and he¡¯s written that originally he had affinity to water and only when he was revived by the Ancestral beast did he learn about it.¡±


    ¡°So the affinity came to him from the start?¡± Lin Mu asked for rification.


    ¡°Yes, it should have been part of his original affinities. But he never got far with it, other than the Dao of Water and Dao of Tides.¡± Lanbao stated.


    ¡°Hmm... I see...¡± Lin Mu made a note to take a look at the diaries.


    ¡°I¡¯ll call over the others too, they¡¯ve been worried.¡± Lanbao added.


    ¡°Oh sure, I need to show them how to use the portal too.¡± Lin Mu replied before getting in a long conversation with several people.


    And while Lin Mu was talking with Lanbao, another series of events were happening on the continent east of him.


    At the Capital city of the Dao Wind Empire, a group of tense schrs were walking up to the Grand Pce. Their footsteps were light, but their nerves were stretched taut. If not for their hundreds of years of administrative work and experience, they might have just ended up fainting soon.


    They were carrying a tray full of official sealed scrolls and looked to be heading to the Emperor¡¯s private study.


    As an emperor of an Immortal World empire, Emperor Feng didn¡¯t have much in terms of free time. After bing an emperor, even entering seclusion was forbidden in most cases. They needed to be present to take control if the situation demanded for it.


    This was also why the seat of an emperor was said to havee with an equal amount of rules.


    They could have the greatest power, but would not be able to cultivate fully due to being busy all the time. It was the reason why, bing an emperor was a great and difficult task. One not only needed great talent and strength, but they also needed to know that they wouldn¡¯t be using it after a while if they became an Emperor.


    But for Emperor Feng of the Dao Wind empire, all this didn¡¯t matter now. He was a Transcendent Immortal, having survived the seven Immortal Tribtions. This gave him a very long lifespan which had allowed him to rule the Dao Wind Empire for nearly three thousand years now.


    Something like this was not seen in other empires as the requirements for bing a emperor were high, but one only needed to be at the Sixth Tribtion immortal realm as a minor qualification that was needed for it.


    But Emperor Feng had exceed them by several times.


    Not only was he a talented youth who had reached the peak of the Immortal realm in less than three thousand. Then there was the fact that he had lot of life cycles umted.


    He was also thest person to have ovee a Transcendent tribtion in the recent eight thousand years.


    A Transcendent Tribtion was the tribtion one would have when one had finished seven immortal tribtions. It had no set time and could strike at any time. But if you managed to survive it, you would have a great chance for higher strength.


    Not to mention, the lifespan of a Transcendent Tribtion Immortal was between 8000-30000 new years.


    And because of that, Emperor Feng ended up bing the strongest.


    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    People would quake in their boots when they heard about him and now these schrs were heading to meet him as well.


    ~CREAK~


    Therge door opened as the schrs entered with a loud sound.


    ¡°Oh? You¡¯re here,¡± Emperor Feng who was reading.


    ¡°My Emperor, the information you asked is here.¡± The first person asked.


    ¡°Hmm... now lets see what brings my son to this world after hundreds of years.¡±

 Chapter 1375 Emperor Fengs Thoughts

    <h4> 1375 Emperor Feng''s Thoughts </h4>


    Emperor Feng opened the sealed scrolls one by one, reading them thoroughly.


    Even if he had one of the hugest cultivation bases in the Rust Sky world, he still preferred to read documents in the style of a mortal. And since he was an Emperor his people had to prepare ordingly.


    Often times they needed to prepare several sets of documents for him. One was the written form that were the scrolls and the second was the jade slips that could store a lot of information at once.


    And while he read through them, no one dared to disturb him. They didn¡¯t even so much as breath in his presence. Some might think that it was a little too much to not even be allowed a breath, but one must not forget that even these schrs were all immortals.


    To them, going on for an entire day on just a single breath was easy.


    ¡°I see, so my son has finished his training already... He seems to be on the path of exceeding me.¡± Emperor Feng muttered.


    There were no specific emotions in his voice and it was as if he was just talking about some stranger and not his son.


    ¡°Oh? He brought back several people?¡± The Emperor said with a little interest this time, but then his expression turned colder. ¡°A Princess of the Shang Dao Empire... there is now way old Rat Shang would send one of his daughters here willingly, seems like she has sneaked out here.¡±


    The Emperors words were clearly heard by the schrs and recorded in their minds.


    While it might seem that the Emperor was talking to himself, he was actually giving out orders. It was up to the schrs toprehend them and then implement them.


    This was also why the Imperial schrs were often sleepless. They didn¡¯t know when the Emperor would get a series of scrolls and they would have to listen to him give his not wholly urate orders.


    The only sce they had was that the Emperor didn¡¯t really punish them if they made a mistake. Though they would never dare to ck off even if they had not faced any major punishment. Even thinking about that might lead them to their doom.


    Plus being an Transcendent Immortal, Emperor Feng had a long reign ahead of him.


    There was little that could truly make him furious as there were no major conflicts ongoing either.


    The Imperial Schrs continued recording the Emperor¡¯s words as he moved onto the next scrolls.


    ¡°The Holy Topaz Continent¡¯s Trash Prince?¡± The Emperor raised a brow. ¡®He suddenly had a double breakthrough and rose in status, even defeating 2 fourth Tribtion Realm experts... interesting.¡¯ He pondered on it.


    To Emperor Feng, a fortunate encounter like this was nothing. He had seen some wild things in his lifetime and even if this was a rapid increase, he knew of the kind of monsters there were in many worlds.


    There were several that had exceeded him at a far younger age. A mere double breakthrough from a cripple was not something that would make him yearn for his fortune. But what did interest him was the fact that his first son would actually return from the Immortal Court for this.


    ¡®He worked tirelessly to get the qualifications to enter the Immortal Court. Even if he¡¯s finished his training, he still had plenty of time left to stay there. To leave it early also means giving up the high quality cultivation environment.


    Hmm... is there perhaps more to this?¡¯ Emperor Feng¡¯s mind sorted through the information.


    After a few minutes, he looked up from the scroll and gazed at the schrs.


    ¡°Tell me about this ¡®Trash Prince¡¯ of the Holy Topaz Empire.¡± Emperor Feng questioned.


    The schrs were already prepared with all the information the Emperor might ask so one of them quickly answered.


    ¡°Trash Prince is the title that has been given to the eleventh prince of the Holy Topaz Empire, Huangyu Shiyi. He was born with mutated meridians that slow down his cultivation progress to a snails pace.


    He relied on the alchemical pills provided by his family to progress but got stuck at the Immortal Ascension realm for a hundred years. But a few months ago he suddenly broke through, even defeating the stronger immortals.¡± The first schr spoke.


    ¡°But that¡¯s not all is it?¡± Emperor Feng asked.


    ¡°No, my Emperor. Due to his sudden rise in strength, he has been challenging one expert after the other. His value to the Holy Topaz Empire has also risen and they might actually start promoting him more.


    This gave rise topetition from his siblings. There are also rumors that the Tenth and ninth princes have already started their ploys, with the ninth prince even attempting assassination on Huangyu Shiyi.¡± The second schr replied.


    ¡°And he has survived I guess?¡± The Emperor said in an emotionless tone.


    ¡°He did... that too from a fifth Tribtion Realm Immortal¡¯s attack. Some eye witnesses state that the Eleventh prince ughtered the assassin, exploding every inch of his body bit by bit.¡± The schr said. ¡°The exact method by how the prince aplished this is unknown. But they did find seven elemental traces on the remains of the assassin.¡± He added.


    ¡°Seven Elemental Traces? Which ones exactly?¡± The Emperor asked, raising his chin.


    ¡°The five mortal and four heavenly elements, My Emperor.¡± The schr replied.


    Hearing this the emperor went silent.


    ¡®To use the mortal and heavenly elements to that extent... this does not seem a usual mastery. It might work on a spirit cultivator, but to do the same on a fifth tribtion stage immortal while being at the second? Simply too hard to believe.¡¯ Emperor Feng thought to himself.


    He pondered on the different possibilities ranging from the Holy Topaz empire actually resolving the problems of Huangyu Shiyi while disguising it as a fortunate encounter all the way to the prince hiding his cultivation base since the start.


    No matter what option that the Emperor thought of, they seemed to not fit the current situation that well.


    After an hour of thinking, the Emperor gave out his order.


    ¡°Let Feng Hao do as he pleases for now. Just keep tabs on him.¡± Emperor Feng stated.


    ¡°It shall be done.¡± The schrs replied with their heads bowed.


    But then one of them spoke up, ¡°My Emperor, are we to also let Princess Wei of Shang Dao Empire roam around?¡±


    ¡°She hasn¡¯t done anything and neither does she have the strength needed to meddle in our affairs. Let Feng Hao deal with any trouble that arises. She shall be his responsibility.


    He won¡¯t tell me who he brings, fine. But if he brings guests, he has to bear them too.¡± Emperor Feng stated.


    ¡°As you wish, Emperor.¡± The schrs agreed.


    ¡°Also... what about the new travelers that arrived recently? I asked for their details.¡± Emperor Feng asked.


    ¡°They have been sent for vetting to Master Suzi, but we do have the raw records if you desire to see them right away.¡± The schrs said carefully.


    ¡°Just give them to me.¡± The Emperor didn¡¯t care for it and took the jade slip from the schr.


    He scanned through the jade slip, finding detailed information in it. But while it was detailed, it didn¡¯t mean it was all relevant. Many of the parts were useless and didn¡¯t need to be known to the emperor.


    ¡°What¡¯s this deviation in the number of travelers? The array¡¯s records state 206, but the physical register states 205?¡± Emperor Feng quickly picked up on the irregrity.


    ¡°My Emperor, that was a normal error. The merchants have brought a lot of ¡®live¡¯ goods this time and one of those goods might have also been counted by the Array.


    This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Master Suzi was present at the tform at the time of their arrival and has personally verified that there were only 205 people.¡± The schr exined.


    The Emperor nodded his head but didn¡¯t seem to be fully satisfied. And when five minutes passed without the schrs being dismissed, they wondered if there was some issue.


    ¡°Your majesty, did we make a mistake?¡± The schr standing at the front asked doubtfully.


    ¡°And what kind of mistakes can you make in this situation?¡± The Emperor asked in a calm tone.


    ¡°That the error in the number might not be false.¡± The Schr replied.


    ¡°Hmm... the day everyone arrived, I felt something. I thought it was a random reup of qi, but I think it might be something else.¡± Emperor Feng stated.


    ¡°This... My Emperor, you don¡¯t think someone might have sneaked into the Empire?¡± The schrs asked, faint sweat appearing on their brow.


    ¡°That is up to you to confirm. If not here, they might havee through another teleportation tform. I want the data from all empires.¡± The Emperor stated firmly.


    The Schrs felt relived and cupped their hands.


    ¡°It shall be done, as you desire.¡± They replied.


    ¡°Very well, you are dismissed.¡± With that, the schrs quickly dispersed, leaving the emperor to this thoughts.


    ¡°Just what do you want to truly do, Hao¡¯er...¡±

 Chapter 1376 The Seven Immortal Tribulations

    <h4> 1376 The Seven Immortal Tribtions </h4>


    ¡°Will this be all, Noble Lin Mu?¡± Elder Niji asked, holding a long sheet of paper.


    ¡°Yes, that should be enough to resolve most of the issues you might face for this.¡± Lin Mu confirmed.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Though I¡¯ll take your advice and learn more about the formations too.¡± Elder Niji nodded his head.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it all till then. Don¡¯t worry, I know enough about formations too.¡± Lanbao added.


    After having made a new Dao Embryo Lin Mu had returned to meet with the rest of hispanions. He rested a day after that and talked to them, exining about his new gains.


    None of them had ever heard or seen something like that before, thus they were quite interested in it all. Especially due to the fact that anyone have a Spatial Dao embryo was considered rare in the many worlds.


    This was something Lin Mu took to a new level by making an entirely new type of a Dao Embryo. Something that even he himself was learning about.


    Thus in order to further his own understanding, he decided to explore more though the formation he had made. He made a long and extensive list about the improvements that could be made to it in the future as well as any possible damages that might happen to it.


    After considering all these, hepiled them all into a single document and handed them to Elder Niji to learn from.


    ¡°The Haima Tribe will be eternally grateful to you Noble Lin Mu. You are our next savior after Ancestor Muxuan. Just like he brought us back from the brink of extinction, you brought us back to our homnd.¡± Elder Niji said with great gratitude.


    Lin Mu simple smiled and nodded head.


    ¡°I just did what I felt like I should do elder Niji. I¡¯ll leave it to fate and see how everything goes.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    They talked about some minor things before the topic finally came to Lin Mu¡¯sing departure.


    ¡°Will you be leaving soon, Lin Mu?¡± Lanbao asked.


    ¡°I might yes. I have broken through already and might be able to breakthrough once more.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°You feel the Immortal Tribtioning?¡± Elder Niji asked with a raised brow.


    ¡°Yes...¡± Lin Mu nodded his head. ¡°I feel like I can trigger it at any time.¡±


    ¡°How? You should have a few years left for that.¡± Elder Niji was confused.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. If I want to I can suppress it. But I would much rather break through to the First Tribtion Immortal stage as soon as possible.¡± Lin Mu exined. ¡°Plus I think it won¡¯t be a problem for me.¡±


    ¡°Oh? What tribtion are you intending to pick as your first?¡± Lanbao asked. ¡°If you want any tips, there are descriptions for various elemental tribtions in the library.¡± She added.


    ¡°There are? Can you get them for me?¡± Lin Mu requested.


    ¡°Of course,¡± Lanbao said with a smile and snapped her fingers.


    ~ck~


    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    A three inch thick book fell to the table in front of them. It had a in ck cover and had the insignia of the Haima Tribe on it. After picking and opening it, Lin Mu realized that it was all hand written.


    ¡°Huh, it¡¯s in pure Dao Script.¡± Lin Mu realized.


    This was the first time he was seeing such pure Dao Script here in the Rust Sky world. While he had seen many other books, they weren¡¯t as pure as this, often having words from themon tongue or smaller dialects mixed into it.


    ¡®I can¡¯t find even a single word that isn¡¯t from the Dao Script in it.¡¯ Lin Mu flipped through the book.


    At the same time, he started reading it to learn more about the Immortal Tribtions.


    For most experts, there were only 7 types of Immortal Tribtions. And after one ovee these, they could undergo the Transcendent Immortal Tribtions.


    ¡°The Transcendent Immortal Tribtions vary from the norm and can invoke the other Daos pulling their assistance to exact the justice of heavens...¡± Lin Mu read a veryrge warning that was written on it.


    From what he could understand, the seven Elemental Immortal Tribtions were mostly straightforward and would have the same kind of effect on different experts.


    The Fire immortal Tribtion would try to burn the expert.


    The Water Immortal Tribtion would try to freeze the expert.


    The Metal Immortal Tribtion would try to sh apart the expert into minced meat.


    The Wood Immortal Tribtion was a little different and would instead drain away the vitality of the person, withering them and turning them into a husk.


    It was even said that those who were fully drained of it would look no different than bark, making it one of the more feared tribtions to observe.


    The Earth immortal Tribtion was also lightly different, but it instead made one submit to the earth. It would exert a massive gravity on the person and if they didn¡¯t endure it they would be crushed into a t pancake.


    Next there was the Wind immortal Tribtion. This was considered tough for most to ovee since it would involve tribtion winds that would directly target their Nascent souls.


    Finally, there was the Lightning Immortal Tribtion. It was something that almost all cultivators were experienced in as they had been through something simr once.


    If they had gone through the Nascent soul realm, normally they would have survived it and known its power.


    But for the Immortal Tribtion, the lightning would take on a fearsome form and would shatter everything it touched. This was also why most Immortals only took the Lightning immortal Tribtion at the very end.


    And unless they had no other option, they would try to avoid it. Only those that were very confident or had affinity to the Lightning element, would dare to take it before that.


    ¡°Looks like I know what I¡¯m gonna take.¡± Lin Mu said with a smile realizing that he had already experienced a weaker form of it before.

 Chapter 1377: No Hesitation, Full Confidence

    Lin Mu recalled the time when he hadpleted cultivating the Mortal Strengthening Scripture and finished the First Treasured Organ. He had felt a crushing pressure on his body that had almost ttened him.


    ¡®I¡¯m sure of it, it must be simr to that.¡¯ Lin Mu thought.


    ¡°What Elemental Tribtion do you want to pick? If it is Water, we have good ces for that.¡± Lanbao suggested.


    ¡°No,¡± Lin Mu shook his head. ¡°I want to take the Earth Elemental Immortal Tribtion. It is my innate element and I have 100% confidence of getting through it.¡± He stated.


    ¡°I see¡­ Do you need anything particr for that.¡± Lanbao asked again.


    ¡°Nope, nothing.¡± Lin Mu said before standing up.


    ~shua~


    In the next second, he disappeared and appeared about a kilometer away.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just start right away.¡± Lin Mu felt a drive.


    He recalled the yearning he felt for strength and wanted more. The faster he grew stronger the better he¡¯ll reap.


    Not to mention, the burning desire was still at the bottom of his heart, waiting to rise up once more. Though Lin Mu didn¡¯t know just how strong it would be next time.


    All he knew was that he better be strong enough to fulfill that desire or surpass itpletely.


    Elder Niji and Lanbao watched Lin Mu appeared in the distance and were surprise.


    ¡°He isn¡¯t gonna¡­ just go and take it right away, is he?¡± Lanbao said in disbelief.


    ¡°Seems like it¡­ he is definitely confident for sure.¡± Elder Niji chuckled.


    ~TREMBLE~


    As soon as he said that, the two of them felt like the very air around them had turned denser.


    ¡°It¡¯s starting¡­¡± Lanbao muttered and looked towards Lin Mu.


    The young man stood calmly in the center of opennd. It was away from the Deep Sapphire City and would not affect others allowing him to be as free as possible.


    ¡°Show me¡­ Show me if I¡¯m correct.¡± Lin Mu said to the air.N?velDrama.Org copyrighted ? content.


    ~HUM~


    In response to him, the very heavens replied.


    ~CRACK~


    Lin Mu¡¯s body directly sank an inch into the ground as cracks spread from where he stood. The fine corals that formed the patterns on the ground were ttened, making them look like t tiles.


    ¡°This is nothing, I¡¯ve borne worse.¡± Lin Mu was actually fine with all it.


    ¡®Aspect of heaviness can do even greater pressure than this.¡¯ Lin Mu recalled when he had almost crushed his own organs with this.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    But it seemed like this was just the start as the pressure on him directly doubled.


    ¡°There we go, now that¡¯s something better.¡± Lin Mu said as he felt the energy within his body stirring in response.


    The vitality roiled and rolled in his tissues, allowing them to withstand the pressure. Spirit qi also rushed across his meridian providing them an extra force of bnce.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t all is it?¡± Lin Mu wondered as he slowly lifted his hands feeling the pressure normalizing for him.


    ~STEP~


    Lin Mu tried to take a step forward making an inch deep hole on the ground.


    ~STEP~


    ~CRACK~


    But when he lifted his other foot, it cracked the ground more and made him sink four inches deeper.


    ¡°This actually feels good¡­¡± Lin Mu felt like the qi within his body was getting consolidate.


    ¡°You can take this chance to adapt to greater gravity. It will be equal for your entire body, and will allow you to use the Aspect of heaviness better.¡± Xukong advised seeing the perfect opportunity.


    ¡°Ah yes! This is perfect for it.¡± Lin Mu couldn¡¯t wait now.


    He spread his feet apart and stood in a horse stance. Brining his fists to his waist, he held them in position befog taking breath.


    ~HUUUU~


    A jet of air rushed into Lin Mu¡¯s reinforced lungs, sounding like a short gust.


    With his stance ready, Lin Mu raised his fist and punched out.


    ~BOOM~


    The air in front of his knuckles was pressed creating a fist imprint that tore through the air.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The imprint rushed forth for about ten meters before dissipating.


    ¡®Good¡­ if I can do it with this load, I can do better without itter.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    Having understood that, Lin Mu executed an old training regimen he had used in the past. It was very basic and he had even taught it to the Haima Tribe before.


    Bit by bit, his fist imprints started to get clearer and clearer eventually extending further.


    ~RUMBLE~


    But after a minute, the pressure on him increased once more. This time his True Gold Body Forgoing Arts activated and his golden body shone like a brightntern.


    ¡°A little difficult, but nothing I can¡¯t get used to.¡± Lin Mu kept a smile on his face and kept on punching out.


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    Even if the pressure increased on him every few minutes, Lin Mu didn¡¯t care and continued training.


    If anyone else were to watch him right now, they would not think that he was undergoing an Immortal Tribtion. They would think that he was standing in a Training Ground and practicing by himself.


    What he didn¡¯t know was that major changes were happening due to his Tribtion.


    The skies above the ocean shook, as the Rust colored particles moved. From the bottom, they looked like mere specks of dust, but if one went up they would realize that they were not.


    Winds were shorn as the Rust colored meteorites parted from their home in the sky and answered the orders of heavens. The gravity on them multiple several times and they started their descent.


    A cone of air formed around all of them which soon turned into a plume of fire that covered them. The Rust Colored Meteorites started burning up, and their size reduced little by little.


    The distance they needed to travel was ratherrge and even if they were just free falling, it would still take them several minutes to reach Lin Mu.

 Chapter 1378: Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribulation

    Lin Mu had no idea of the threat that was approaching him at break neck speeds.


    ~SHUA~


    The pressures on him continued to increase and he limatized to it as if it as normal. That wasn¡¯t all either as after a certain point, all his defensive techniques activated at the same time.


    ~KACHA~


    The Armor of the mortal Strengthening Scripture was once Lin Mu¡¯s main defensive technique, but at this point it was the same as ss. While he might be able to bear attacks from a Dao Treading realm cultivator on it, it would not bear an attack from an immortal.


    He would need to rely on the Golden body of his to do that.


    ¡®Why¡¯s it appearing now? I didn¡¯t activate it?¡¯ Lin Mu wondered.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~


    Cracks appeared on the armor due to the increased gravity as it started to shatter. Lin Mu had not activated it for this very reason.


    ~SHATTER~


    A few secondster it finally broke apart, unable to bear the pressure.


    ~sigh~


    ¡°It was what started me on this journey and now its too weak tost¡­¡± Lin Mu lightly sighed.


    ~HONG~Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    But in a few momentster a change happened.


    ¡°Immortal Qi vortex, its finally forming.¡± Elder Niji and Lanbao watched from the distance.


    The immoral qi formed a translucent mist above Lin Mu and spun like a cyclone gathering more and more.


    ¡°Let me help him a bit.¡± Lanbao said before closing her eyes. ¡°Land of Haima, Bless the human for he has saved your people¡­¡± she muttered lightly.


    The Deep Sapphire Ind responded to her plea as motes of blue light rose into the sky. The sapphire coral trees opened up their buds, releasing an enthralling essence.


    Water Immortal qi also appeared from the top of the array, mixing with the Immortal qi vortex increasing its size.


    Even if Lin Mu didn¡¯t have an affinity to the water element, he could still absorb and used it as it is during an immortal qi infusion.


    ~DENG~


    As if a gong had been rung, the air shook. The sound hade from Lin Mu, pulling Elder Niji and Lanbao¡¯s attention.


    ¡°The Tribtion isn¡¯t stopping?¡± Elder Niji gazed at the scene finding it unusual. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t it stop at this point? Unless¡­¡± he then realized.


    ¡°He isn¡¯t having a normal immortal Tribtion, he is having a variant Tribtion!¡± Lanbao spoke up, nervousness appearing on her face.


    Elder Niji had gone through the Three Phase Water Tribtion and knew just how dangerous it could be. While he had survived it with great ease, he also knew that it was mostly due to the fact that he had the support of his bloodline.


    And as far as Elder Niji knew, Lin Mu didn¡¯t have a bloodline that could help him the same way. Even if Lin Mu did have great defenses there was no saying what might end up happening with a variant immortal Tribtion.


    ¡°Do you know what kind of Variant Tribtion Noble Lin Mu is having?¡± Elder Niji questioned Lanbao.


    Having read many books, he reckoned she was the most knowledgeable about this.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to tell¡­ so far it looks to be the same as the basic form of the Earth Immortal Tribtion. But then it seems to be still running. It might be a Crushing Earth Immortal Tribtion or Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribtion.¡± Lanbao answered after thinking.


    ¡°What are those two?¡± Elder Niji had no idea and he could barely nce a bit from the name.


    Even in his bloodline memories there was nothing about it, which meant that it was far from the needs of his bloodline.


    ¡°Both of them are rather deadly forms of the Earth Immortal Tribtion, even more so than the Three Phase Water immortal Tribtion that you overcame Elder Niji.


    It is so dangerous that, in our records there are said to be just five people who them. Four managed to survive the Crushing Earth Immortal Tribtion and only one that managed to survive the Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribtion.


    The Crushing Earth Immortal Tribtion is simr to the basic earth immortal tribtion but in it, the earth will try to swallow up the cultivate and crush them within its bowels.


    As for the Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribtion there is only one record of someone surviving it. It is said that this person had the bloodline of an Earth Drake and relied on it to survive it. Then there was also the fact that he took it as hisst Immortal Tribtion before turning into a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal.


    The worse part about it is that it cannot be defended against, especially in the Rust Sky world that has a denseyer of Asteroids covering its atmosphere.


    The Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribtion will attract these asteroids, turning them into meteors that would try to smash the cultivator.¡± Lanbao exined in detail.


    ¡°This¡­ If its the Crushing Earth Immortal Tribtion, Noble Lin Mu will manage but if it is the Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribtion, I doubt we¡¯ll be able to do much¡­¡± Elder Niji said before looking up.


    ¡°But will the meteors even reach down here?¡± Elder Niji asked in doubt.


    ¡°They will¡­ The attracting force acting on them will bring them to Lin Mu no matter where he is. In fact, the force will only keep on getting stronger until they finally strike the cultivator.¡± Lanbao replied.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t this mean, the more distance there is between the cultivator and the sky the greater the force of the meteors will be?¡± Elder Niji almost broke out in a sweat.


    ¡°Yes¡­ it¡¯s indeed greater. If Noble Lin Mu did this on the surface he might have been able to bear it too, but if he¡¯s this far deep¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Lanbao said her fists clenching.


    Elder Niji saw her reaction and knew that she might be thinking the same as him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t act, if we interfere the Immortal Tribtion will only get further agitated. We might end up getting targeted too.¡± Elder Niji stated.


    ¡°I know¡­ I just hope Lin Mu can make it¡­¡± Lanbao said with a sad expression.

 Chapter 1379 Immortal Strengthening Scripture!

    <h4> 1379 Immortal Strengthening Scripture! </h4>


    ¡®There is something wrong...¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He looked at his body and the shattered armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture.


    While it looked to be shattered, its pieces had actually not dissipated like normal. Instead, they were lying around him and seemed to be getting crushed into a finer powder form.


    If this was all, Lin Mu would not have thought about it much, but what bothered him more was that a part of the immortal qi was being channeled into this.


    ¡°It¡¯s absorbing the immortal qi?¡± Lin Mu saw but couldn¡¯t tell how it was possible.


    ~DENG~


    The pressure on Lin Mu doubled once more, forcing his body half way into the ground.


    ¡°Ugh, I need to focus...¡± Lin Mu gathered his will and continued to circte the immortal qi and vitality within his body in order to maintain a bnce.


    Then there was also the continuous infusion of Immortal qi that was happening from the top. Lin Mu noticed wisps of blue immortal qi slipping into his Dantian too.


    ¡®Seems like Elder Niji and Lanbao might have done this.¡¯ Lin Mu quickly guessed.


    ~HUALA~


    A few secondster, the powdered armor fragments of the Mortal Strengthening scripture rose like swirling dust. It was unexpected since the gravity around Lin Mu was very high right now. He couldn¡¯t even estimate how many times higher than normal it was.


    ¡°Hang on a minute, aren¡¯t these the runes that make up the form of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture?¡± Lin Mu saw that the ¡®dust¡¯ had formed several runes.


    These runes were familiar to him.


    After all, he had studied them to learn the Mortal Strengthening Scripture in the first ce.


    But now a change was happening to the runes.


    ¡°These weren¡¯t part of it before... did it break or malfunction?¡± Lin Mu wondered before realizing there was no irregr qi cirction for him.


    ~HONG~


    Finally, the runes made from the dust multiplied before turning darker. From their normal brown color they became ebony. The drain on Immortal qi increased by another level and was infused into the Ebony colored runes.


    ¡°A new form? This skill isn¡¯t mortal strengthening scripture anymore...¡± Lin Mu could see an entirely new set of qi circuit mixed into the skill.


    This wasn¡¯t a spirit qi circuit either as Lin Mu felt the Immortal qi within his body recing it. As time went by, Lin Mu realized that the Skill he had cultivated disappeared before a new one reced it entirely.


    ~CRACKLE~


    The runes let off a crackling sound and rushed onto Lin Mu¡¯s skin.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    Every time they hit his skin, they made a ringing sound due to the golden body.


    At first Lin Mu was worried that the two techniques might be interfering with each other, but then a minuteter his worry disappeared when he saw that the runes passed easily.


    Soon all of the runes had been imprinted onto Lin Mu¡¯s skin, allowing a string of information appearing in his mind..


    ¡®<strong>Only a mortal who has turned into an immortal will reveal the secrets of this technique. Now stand in the face of danger and roar at it, for the Immortal Strengthening Scripture will bear all blows!¡¯ </strong>Lin Mu heard a brazen voice in his head.


    Then as if on instinct, Lin Mu raised up his head and let out a roar.


    ~ROAR~


    ¡°Eek!¡± Lanbao was started by it and even Elder Niji was taken aback by the roar.


    It seemed to be inhuman, as if a great beast was challenging the skies.


    N?velDrama.Org copyrighted ? content.


    ~SHUA~


    Along with Lin Mu¡¯s roar the immortal qi vortex sped up and was sucked into his body within a second.


    ~RUMBLE~


    And finally, he saw a few dots appearing in the top of the dome. They were glowing red and intense bubbles wereing from it. Lin Mu also sensed a feeling of heat, making him realize that they weren¡¯t just red but were actually hot!


    These dots expanded to look likerge rocks that were boiling the water around them.


    ¡°Are those the meteors? They are actually unaffected by the ocean?!¡± Elder Niji was shocked.


    The biggest difference seemed to be that the meteors had shrunk in size greatly and were now just a few feet wide. Despite this though, a great mass was contained within them and they were incredibly heavy.


    Lin Mu witnessed them touching the dome of the Deep Sapphire Ind but then passing through it unhindered.


    ¡°Of course... they are a form of Heavenly tribtion and cannot be restrained by formations.¡± Elder Niji muttered to himself.


    ¡°LIN MU!¡± But Lanbao was worried that these meteors were about to strike Lin Mu.


    She knew the truth about them and how dangerous they really were. They might look small, but they had been made like that intentionally due to the Immortal Tribtion.


    Lin Mu raised his hands in response propping them up as if he was holding up arge load above his body.


    <strong>¡±Immortal Strengthening Scripture: Sky Prop!¡± </strong>


    ~HUM~


    The runes of the scripture burst out of his body and formed a pir like shell around him. The shell was formed just a moment before the meteors struck his body.


    ~BOOM~


    The sound of the first meteor striking it was like that of a great explosion. The ground below him shattered and his body was embedded even further.


    ~BOOM~


    The second meteor directly caused a shock wave that turned the ground into a crater. And at the center of this crater was the pir like shell.


    It still stood solid and was unwavering.


    ~BOOM~


    Then the third meteor arrived, pushing it into the ground even more.


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    It was as if Lin Mu was a nail and the Meteors were the hammer. They kept on hammering him into the earth, hoping to send him directly into the bowels of the earth.


    Elder Niji and Lanbao watched in horror as the Meteors just didn¡¯t stop. Looking up they saw hundreds more that seemed to be arriving.

 Chapter 1380 The End Of Immortal Tribulation

    <h4> 1380 The End Of Immortal Tribtion </h4>


    The fall of the meteors was greatly changing the area that Lin Mu was located in.


    The crater kept on expanding before more of them started to form. Five minutes went by and over a hundredpressed and dense meteors had struck Lin Mu¡¯s position by now, leaving Elder Niji and Lanbao nearly speechless.


    ¡°How can someone even survive this?¡± Elder Niji wondered. ¡®Even with the support of my own bloodline there isn¡¯t any chance for me to bear it at all.¡¯ The man thought to himself.


    Lanbao was simrly worried and had her small fists clenched. She wanted to help Lin Mu but knew that doing that would only make it worse. Interfering in an Immortal Tribtion was a taboo and the heavens would target all those that tried to do it.


    And with Lanbao being a Artifact spirit, the target wouldn¡¯t be limited to her but the entire Deep Sapphire Ind. She couldn¡¯t threaten the lives of the entire Haima tribe by doing that.


    ¡®Survive Lin Mu...¡¯ Elder Niji and Lanbao both thought.


    ~BOOM~


    After a few more minutes though, the final meteor appeared and struck the ground,bining all the small craters into onerge crater. This meteor was thergest one and was supposed to be the end of the Immortal Tribtion.


    Smoke and dust covered the scorched craters, hiding the scene behind it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll clear it!¡± Lanbao could feel the pressure of the Immortal Tribtion disappear, knowing that she could not act.


    With the wave of her hand, a wind blew and took away the dust and smoke with it, revealing the scene behind it.


    The ground had been impacted enough times that it had depressed by nearly a hundred meters. Pockmarks like craters covered the surroundings of therger crater in the center, making it look like the surface of an unprotected.


    ¡°Where is he?¡± Elder Niji spread his senses, trying to grasp Lin Mu¡¯s position.


    ¡°There!¡± Lanbao quickly spotted the deep hole that was in the center of the crater.


    It was dark and contrasted against the Grey and blueish ground of the Deep Sapphire Ind.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In the next second, the two of them appeared right next to the deep hole. It was about a meter wide in size and looked to be perfectly cylindrical. It was just like they had thought, Lin Mu had been nailed deep into the ground.


    But how far? The didn¡¯t know yet.


    ¡°Can you sense him? Mine can¡¯t reach that far.¡± Elder Niji asked anxiously.


    Lanbao closed her eyes and activated the formation array¡¯s sensory capabilities allowing her to have an almost omniscient view of the Deep Sapphire Ind. It didn¡¯t matter if Lin Mu was deep underground, the array was made to cover nearly a hundred kilometer underground as well.


    Not to mention, the Deep Sapphire Ind had several arrays that actually extended deeper into the ground. One of them being none other than an Earth Fire array that was used to power some parts of the ind.


    It could also be used to forge tools if need be as there was an area specially meant for that.


    ¡°I found him!¡± Lanbao said with excitement.


    ¡°Can you pull him out?¡± Elder Niji asked, knowing that she had the best skills here for that.


    In response to this, Lanbao expanded her hands. A thinyer of water vapor appeared around her arms that quickly took the form of several long chains. They floated in the air and extended down into the deep hole.


    Elder Niji tracked the chain for a certain part of the distance before losing sight of it after it exceeded his range.


    ¡°Got him!¡± Lanbao grasped onto a solid pir like object. ¡°Lifting him now.¡± She raised her hands, retracting the chains.


    ~CREAK~


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    ~SCRATCH~


    ~GRIND~


    Various sounds of scraping could be heard as Lanbao pulled the pir like object up to the surface. It took her about a minute to fully pull it out, allowing Elder Niji to see it.


    ¡°He... How is he?¡± Elder Niji saw the figure of Lin Mu standing with his hands raised above his head.


    He was in the same posture as he was before and the pir like object was the shell that had been formed by the Immortal Strengthening Scripture. But now a change could be seen on it as fine runes that looked to be irregr swam on it¡¯s surface.


    These runes were not still and were absorbing various particles from the area around them. Some of them being none other than the fine powder like fragments of the meteors that had descended.


    ¡°He¡¯s absorbing them?¡± Elder Niji watched in confusion.


    ¡°Seems like he hasprehended something or its this technique behind it.¡± Lanbao guessed.


    Neither of them knew about the Mortal Strengthening Scripture that Lin Mu had practiced thus for them it seemed like it was Lin Mu learning something knew.


    ¡°Noble Lin Mu! Can you hear us?¡± Elder Niji called out.


    ¡°I can sense his aura inside, it is still active. So he should be awake.¡± Lanbao narrowed her eyes.


    ¡°Perhaps we need to wait for him to be done,¡± Elder Niji stated.


    ¡°Mmhmm, I¡¯ll keep watch.¡± Lanbao quickly replied.


    ¡°And I¡¯ll go assuage the others. They are bound to be scared due to all this.¡± Elder Niji said before flying away.


    With the amount of meteors that had fallen and the explosions that happened, there was no doubt that the humans and Haima tribe members were anxious if not scared.


    After all, the scene of meteors entering could be seen from all around the Deep Sapphire Ind.


    Lanbao awaited for hours watching as the runes on the Pir like shell got denser and denser. As an artifact spirit herself, she could track the changes on it with some skill.


    ¡®This is a qi skill? How is it working without forming its qi circuit though?¡¯ Lanbao couldn¡¯t understand.


    There was only a raw form forming on the shell, and in a form that few would be able to understand.

 Chapter 1381 A Secretive Technique

    <h4> 1381 A Secretive Technique </h4>


    Now over a day had passed since the Immortal Tribtion had beenpleted by Lin Mu. He was still in his pir like form and his body could not be seen due to being hidden behind the pir.


    Several changes had happened to it, such as the fact that it had turned from a translucent form into an opaque form. From time to time, Lanbao would also see random pieces of stones being attracted to the pir, before being consumed by it.


    These stones were what were turning the pir opaque, giving it a more physical form.


    It was unknown just how many materials had been consumed by it either. But it did allow Lanbao to guess another thing.


    ¡®The meteors... were they absorbed by him too? At least one part of them certainly were or we would have seen more fragments of them scattered around.¡¯ Lanbao reckoned.


    Finally on the start of the second day, Lanbao saw a change on the pir.


    ~SHUA~


    The runes were stimted by something and quickly merged into individual symbols. These symbols then shrank and disappeared into the depths of the pir.


    ¡°It¡¯s shrinking?¡± Lanbao next saw the pir itself shrink.


    It caved in from the top and bottom first, taking the form of a oval and two longer tubes. Then it shrank from the middle, taking the form of a rectangr box and two more curved tubes attached to it at the top.


    One could now see that it was taking on the same form that Lin Mu had while executing the skill.


    ~Crack~~crack~crack~


    Finally, when the entire pir had shrank down into what looked like a coating, it cracked. Lin Mu¡¯s skill and clothes were revealed from the gaps in the crack and slowly the spread more.


    ~KACHA~


    A few secondster, it all shattered revealing Lin Mu who was still standing in the same posture. His eyes were closed but the stern expression on his face showed that he was still in a trance of some sort.


    ¡°Lin Mu?¡± Lanbao lightly called out.


    Hearing the sound, Lin Mu¡¯s stern expression changed and his eyes twitched.


    ¡°W-what... where...¡± his eyes flickered open as he nced at the mermaid standing in front of him. ¡°Lanbao?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re awake! You¡¯re finally awake!¡± Lanbao jumped around in joy.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brow and tried to recall what had happened.


    ¡®The Immortal Strengthening Scripture... The Earth Immortal Tribtion... Tempering of the skill...¡¯ Lin Mu felt a few memories appearing in his mind.


    After about thirty seconds, he finally gathered his wits, understanding all that had happened.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Lanbao asked, seeing that Lin Mu had not spoken much even now.


    ¡°Y-yes... Sorry for making you all worry.¡± Lin Mu apologized. ¡°I didn¡¯t know it would turn out like this.¡± He added.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, no one got hurt so that¡¯s good.¡± Lanbao nodded her head.


    Lin Mu looked around the area as a frown appeared on his face. ¡°But this ce has been damaged greatly.¡± He spoke.


    ¡°This is nothing, it¡¯ll recover on its own.¡± Lanbao assuaged his worries. ¡°Don¡¯t forget I¡¯m the artifact spirit so I know the best.¡±


    ¡°Really? Were the arrays not damaged from the tribtion?¡± Lin Mu looked at the sky not finding any holes in it.


    ¡°Since it was an Immortal Tribtion it cannot be stopped by normal arrays. The defensive dome of the Deep Sapphire Ind might be strong but it cannot stop a tribtion either.


    It simply passed through it unhindered.¡± Lanbao exined.


    ~Phew~


    Hearing this, Lin Mu took a breath of relief. He would have hated it if the Deep Sapphire Ind was damaged because of his actions.


    ¡°Congrattion on surviving a Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribtion.¡± Lanbao finally said.


    ¡°A Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribtion?¡± Lin Mu raised brow. ¡°That¡¯s what it was called?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Its a variant Earth Immortal Tribtion that only one person has survived. At least ording to the records of the Haima Tribe.¡± Lanbao replied. ¡°Though now that number is up to two.¡± She added.


    ¡°Hmm... seems like it.¡± Lin Mu gazed at his hands as tiny runes flickered on its surface. ¡®So there was such a secret hiding in the Mortal Strengthening Scripture.¡¯


    ¡°Looks like my choice was right at the start. This technique was perfect for you.¡± Xukong¡¯s voice appeared in Lin Mu¡¯s mind.


    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    ¡°Perhaps senior. But it wasn¡¯t just that I also had great luck.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Oh? Did the skill also give you more information?¡± Xukong questioned. ¡°Even I didn¡¯t know the skill was going to be like this. None of the users seem to have reached this point.¡± He added.


    ¡°That is true. The number of conditions that need to be fulfilled for this to happen are quite high after all.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Oh? What are they?¡± Xukong asked with interest.


    It was not often that such a great part of information was hidden from him. ¡®Did even they not know about it?¡¯ Xukong recalled the time when he had obtained this skill.


    Not knowing Xukong¡¯s wonder, Lin Mu continued to speak.


    ¡°The first condition to progress this skill is to have fullypeted the Mortal Strengthening Scripture to its peak. The second condition is to have a natural affinity to the earth element.


    The third is to reach the Immortal Realm and on the first tribtion I have to take would have to be the Earth Elemental Immortal Tribtion. If I had taken any other, I would have not activated the next form of the skill at all.¡± Lin Mu exined.


    ¡°Hmm... looks like the skill was truly underestimated.¡± Xukong spoke.


    ¡°Yes... the defenses it offers are far greater than before.¡± Lin Mu spoke as a faint ebony colors light flickered on his body.


    ¡°And it has qi skills contained in itself too right?¡± Xukong asked recalling the posture that Lin Mu had used.


    ¡°Yes. It has several of them, but I only learned the first Sky Prop. It allows me to activate its defenses to the maximum which can allow me to endure the Immortal Tribtion.¡± Lin Mu answered.

 Chapter 1382 Onwards To Stability

    <h4> 1382 Onwards To Stability </h4>


    Listening to Lin Mu¡¯s words, Xukong understood that the technique was not as simple as the Mortal Strengthening Scripture.


    ¡°But that¡¯s not all is it? It absorbed a part of the meteors.¡± Xukong asked Lin Mu.


    ¡°Yes, it can absorb materials. Its one of the ways it grows stronger. And also how I¡¯m supposed to unlock the other qi skills.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Do you know how many qi skills are contained in it?¡± Xukong questioned.


    ¡°I don¡¯t... I just know that Sky Prop is the first but there are several more.¡± Lin Mu answered. ¡°And... I think I sensed something more during the Immortal Tribtion.¡± He added.


    ¡°Dao Traces? It was a variant immortal Tribtion so that is likely.¡± Xukong agreed.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t know what type of Dao Traces they were. I feel like I¡¯ll recognizing them once I see them again.¡± Lin Mu spoke.


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    ¡°Hmm... you just grasped the Spatial Dao Traces very recently so it isn¡¯t unusual to find it a bit difficult to grasp another Dao. This is normal and even the greatest of the geniuses would find it exhausting.¡± Xukong assuaged Lin Mu¡¯s worries.


    ¡°I see... that makes me feel better.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head.


    ¡°Still, Two Dao Embryos in the First Tribtion Immortal stage is a rather good start. Most experts don¡¯t start forming their second Dao Embryo till the fourth or fifth tribtion immortal realm.¡± Xukong spoke.


    ¡°They don¡¯t?¡± Lin Mu was surprised as he reckoned there should be more than enough time to do so.


    ¡°Indeed. For most experts, just surviving till then is a huge achievement. It is only the younger experts who reached the Immortal realm early that actually form more Dao Embryos.


    You are the peak example of that. You now have nearly 8000 years of longevity before you even need to undergo your second Immortal Tribtion.¡± Xukong exined.


    ¡°That¡¯s true... but I think I can ovee my second tribtion soon enough too. If I take the metal tribtion, I should be able to ovee it with my Metal Affinity as well as my sword intent.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t rush in with that for now though.¡± Xukong said in a concerned tone.


    Picking this up, Lin Mu wondered if he was going to be facing something moreplex. ¡°Will there be issues in this?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Seeing a variant immortal tribtion, that too a very dangerous one as your first is concerning.¡± Xukong replied.


    ¡°Yeah, but that was because of the technique I cultivated.¡± Lin Mu said, not seeing the problem.


    ¡°Yes, but the True Gold Body forging arts isn¡¯t a normal technique either now, is it?¡± Xukong chuckled.


    Hearing this Lin Mu realized the absurdity of the technique.


    ¡°Oh yeah... that is really not good.¡± Lin Mu had no idea of it would also trigger something.


    ¡°Not to mention, it is said that if you have a variant immortal tribtion as your first immortal tribtion, you are more likely to have them again too.¡± Xukong added, only making Lin Mu more anxious.


    ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to pick another elemental tribtion for my second one then.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°Mmhmm, you should pick an element you are not as good in. That might help normalize the chances of a variant tribtion.¡± Xukong state.d


    ¡°So that leaves me with Wood, Water, Wind and Lightning.¡± Lin Mu counted. ¡°Wind and Lightning are out of the choices, they are far beyond me to ovee. So its either wood or water.¡± He analyzed.


    ¡°You might be able to do the Water tribtion here since the Haima tribe has specialized arrays for that.¡± Xukong suggested.


    ¡°Hmm... I¡¯ll do er. I first need to stabilize my cultivation base and adapt to it.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ~HISS~


    And just as he did that he felt his sleeves move and two heads popped out.


    ¡°You guys are up too... you actually slept through all that?¡± Lin Mu was surprised.


    He had almost forgotten that he had the two snakes with him through the entire Immortal Tribtion. Even when he used Sky Prop and tanked the meteors the two of them hadn¡¯t moved at all.


    ¡°This is quite unusual... they are entirely unaffected.¡± Xukong said in a confused tone.


    ¡°Wait, shouldn¡¯t they have affected my tribtion as well?¡± Lin Mu asked.


    ¡°They should have, but they certainly did not. I can¡¯t say for sure, but perhaps it is because they didn¡¯t interfere or help you in your Immortal Tribtion.¡± Xukong guessed.


    ~hiss~


    The twins rubbed their heads on his wrist finding it to be pleasing. Lin Mu could sense the emotioning from them and found it to be ¡®concern¡¯.


    ¡°I¡¯m okay. You two can go sleep again if you want to. Or just look around.¡± Lin Mu spoke.


    ~hiss~


    ~WHOOSH~


    The twins nodded their heads before they shot out of his sleeves and disappeared into the distance.


    ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s fine letting them roam around?¡± Xukong was doubtful.


    ¡°Lanbao can watch over them, right?¡± Lin Mu turned to the mermaid who was flotation around the side.


    ¡°Yep, I can. I know where they will be at all times.¡± She nodded her head like a chick pecking rice.


    Merely a minute had passed by since he hadst talked to her and the conversation between him and Xukong was very fast due to being in his mind. The mermaid had no idea that there was a third person there too.


    Lin Mu returned with Lanbao to the city to meet up with Elder Niji and the rest a few minutester. They talked for a while before deciding to retire for the day.


    There were more than enough houses for each person in the city, thus no one had an issue.


    As for Lin Mu, he was given a ratherrge mansion close to the very center of the city. There was a garden with unique nts in it as well as a a cultivation field that could amplify the immoral qi in the area.


    All in all, there was no way for Lin Mu to be displeased with it.


    ...


    A few weeks had passed by since Lin Mu¡¯s breakthrough.


    The Haima tribe had mostly settled into their true home and the same could be said for the other humans too.


    The people of the tribe had already distributed their work ordingly and had started their jobs too. Though a majority of them had to switch from their old jobs.


    Back in thend of exile, a lot of the Haima members worked as mining excavators to keep on expanding their living space as well as to obtain more metals. But here there was no need for that.


    The area of the Deep Sapphire Ind was ratherrge and Lanbao even said that there were more areas underground too. In fact, there were several mineral mines as well as an Immortal stone mine underground.


    While the Haima members took a look, Elder Niji asked them not to touch the mines for now. The reason being the fact that there were more than enough resources stockpiled in the stores. So much so that they were quite literally overflowing.


    Plus there was also the fact that most of the Deep Sapphire City¡¯s areas were automated due to Lanbao¡¯s existence and thus there was no need for a lot of the jobs there.


    This meant that other than a handful of mandatory duties such as keeping records and distributing food, most of the Haima tribe was now just focused on cultivating.


    Elder Niji distributed the cultivation resources to each tribe member, asking them to reach the Immortal realm as soon as possible. Head Warrior Kulo also became the second immortal in the Haima tribe while three more higher ranked members broke thorough subsequently.


    The Haima tribe bore a huge karma and they would repay it for sure.


    It didn¡¯t matter how many years it would take them, but they were surely going to pay it back. Now it wasn¡¯t them that needed to worry, it would be the empires and the kingdoms that would have to do that.


    In these few weeks, Lin Mu had also discussed a lot with Elder Niji about how things would be going after this.


    Their original n was to find a ce to settle the Haima tribe while keeping away from the humans. They would make use of the human convicts to trade while slowly growing their strength.


    But now it was kinda the opposite.


    The Haima tribe was safe and in the best ce the could be in with all the resources they could wish for. As for the human convicts, they were quite literally in a sacrednd of cultivation.


    Some of them were actually part of the upper echelons of the kingdom and thus had seen what those blessed areas for cultivation were like. But even with that, they had never had the opportunity to ever use them.


    And now, simply walking around the city or the Deep Sapphire Ind alone was enough to raise their cultivation base slowly


    With such benefits, there was no way they would want to be kicked out either. Especially after knowing that there was a legendary Artifact spirit watching their every move. Lin Mu had asked that Lanbao monitor them for a while just to be safe.


    Even if they had been vetted and were not that bad of a criminals, it was better to be safe than sorry. Thankfully though, it was the convicts that were more worried about it all.


    They went out of their way to ensure that no displeasure came to any Haima member and no rules were broken. And some were even willing to be servants!

 Chapter 1383 Immortal Weapon Nurturing Case

    <h4> 1383 Immortal Weapon Nurturing Case </h4>


    ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to stay any longer, Noble Lin Mu?¡± Elder Niji gazed at the young man standing in front of him.


    Lin Mu gleaned over from the side of Elder Niji and looked at the Haima tribe¡¯s people going about their way. It had been a couple months since they had arrived here in the Deep Sapphire Ind and things seem to be going well.


    Neither of them thought that they would be in a stable state like this, making the peace feel almost surreal.


    But to Lin Mu the peace felt foreboding. He just couldn¡¯t getfortable enough to continue staying here. Then there was also the desire in his heart that was slowly resurfacing. Lin Mu now had a good guess that if he kept on stalling the desire might grow and break out.


    After a few seconds of pondering Lin Mu looked back at the elder who didn¡¯t look as old now. The breakthrough to the Immortal Realm had bought Elder Niji the much needed longevity and had allowed him to regain a part of his youth.


    In fact, the more time went by the younger he was getting. For example, when he had just broken through to the immortal realm, his hair had started to grow back. But that hair was still grey in color unlike the current hair that was more salt and pepper.


    Even the wrinkles on his face seemed to be reducing little by little.


    If any other person were to see him, they would think that Elder Niji had returned to looking like a normal 60 years old man instead of a 90+ year old man.


    Lin Mu had once wondered how he would be when he turned old. He also worried about that, but now that he had over eight thousand years of longevity he didn¡¯t know how topletely feel about it. It felt safe and a little lost at the same time


    It was a feeling that could not be described and only felt when one was in that position.


    ¡°Yes... I think it is now time for me to leave.¡± Lin Mu said after a bit of hesitation.


    ~sigh~


    ¡°If that¡¯s what you want then it¡¯s okay. Though you should take plenty of supplies. You will need tons of immortal stones if you are to use the teleportation array after all.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do, thank you for them.¡± Lin Mu smiled.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ¡°WHAT! You¡¯re leaving already!?¡± A high pitched scream was hearding from the distance.


    A blue streak could be seen flying towards them, it being none other than Lanbao the mermaid. A hint of anxiety was present on her face, obviously not pleased with the news.


    ¡°Yes, I have to leave Lanbao.¡± Lin Mu replied. ¡°There are things I need to do. Answers... that I need to seek.¡± He added.


    Lanbao pursed her lips and her eyes fluttered in dislike. But a few secondster she took a hold of herself and shook her head.


    ¡°Will you be back?¡± She asked, having calmed down.


    ¡°Of course I will. I¡¯m not going away forever. Plus, I think Elder Niji might bring the others outter too.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°That I will. The juniors and I need to take a look at the human worldter.¡± Elder Niji nodded his head.


    ¡°But you can¡¯t just leave empty handed,¡± Lanbao said before she pointed out with her finger.


    They waved in the air, forming several runes. The runes merged into the air before a gate formed in front of them.


    ¡°Come with me,¡± Lanbao asked and took them through the gate.


    ¡°What¡¯s this ce?¡± Lin Mu appeared in a ce that looked like a blue ss cave.


    It was about fifty meters tall and over two hundred meters wide. There were several pools of water here forming ake and stream system. Flowers and corals grew too, making a rather strange but beautiful mixture of scenery.


    ¡°You can call this my house.¡± Lanbao said. ¡°I stay here... sometimes.¡±


    Lin Mu raised a brow as it was a little strange. Being an artifact spirit meant that Lanbao didn¡¯t need a ¡®house¡¯. Every ce she was in could be her house. After all, her body was illusory in the first ce.


    ¡°What are we here for?¡± Elder Niji asked, not understanding.


    ¡°I heard that Noble Lin Mu has no immortal weapons?¡± Lanbao asked.


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    ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t. I do have my short sword that I like the most, but it can¡¯t keep up now.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I brought you here. The best weapons in the Haima Tribe are here.¡± Lanbao said as she brought them to the very back of the cave.


    They passed by severalkes before reaching what looked like a wall of crystalline coral. It shimmered with a pale blue light and immortal qi could be seen floating around it.


    ¡°The immortal qi is visible?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    ¡°An Immortal Weapon Nurturing Case!¡± Xukong spoke up.


    ¡°This is that?¡± Lin Mu had heard about Immortal Weapon Nurturing Cases before.


    They were a ss of specialized Immortal tools that were used to nurture immortal weapons. It aided in their growth even when they were not under the use of any cultivator. It was said that a top quality Immortal Weapon Nurturing Case could nurture an Immortal weapon all the way till they gave birth to an artifact spirit.


    ¡°Not just that, this is a high grade Immortal Weapon Nurturing Case. If used exclusively by a single Immortal it will give birth to an artifact spirit in just a thousand years.¡± Xukong exined.


    ¡°Then... doesn¡¯t it mean that all weapons that had been ced in it would have developed artifact spirits by now?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    ¡°That¡¯s unlikely. It is only if it is under the exclusive use of a cultivator. This is a more broad use one that will nurture an immortal weapon to the maximum, but won¡¯t be able to push it past the level needed for developing an Artifact spirit.¡± Xukong answered in detail.

 Chapter 1384 Choice Of Immortal Weapons

    <h4> 1384 Choice Of Immortal Weapons </h4>


    Lin Mu gazed at the crystal wall finding eight weapons kept in it. Their forms kept flickering making it a bit hard to see them clearly. The water around the crystal kept on flowing, making the refractive index change continually.


    Despite this, Lin Mu could vaguely tell that two of these weapons were bows, three seemed to be some kind of poles and the rest were des.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to be that disappointed though. As long as one uses these weapons, the time needed to develop and artifact spirit won¡¯t be that long.¡± Xukong added. ¡°I can sense that they¡¯ve been nurtured for a very long time.¡±


    ¡°I see... But it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll get to pick right? It¡¯s the weapons that will choose me.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°If you want the bestpatibility then yes, you need to let the weapon choose you. Though with your Sword intent, any sword should bepatible with you.¡± Xukong stated.


    Lanbao walked up to the crystal wall and ced her hand on it.


    ~SHUA~


    Strings of runes connected to her palm and spread all over the crystal wall. Then a few secondster, the front side of the wall retracted as if a showcase was being opened. This now allowed Lin Mu and Elder Niji to take a clear look at them all.


    ¡°These are all high grade Immortal weapons that have been nurtured by the Immortal Sapphire Nurturing case. They are the best high grade immortal weapons that are in the Deep Sapphire city and they have been here since the times of Ancestor Muxuan.¡± Lanbao exined.


    Elder Niji¡¯s eyes shone upon seeing them as a hint of familiarity appeared in his eyes.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that... Ancestor Muxuan¡¯s personal immortal weapon?¡± Elder Niji¡¯s eyes locked onto a trident in the very center of the case.


    ¡°Yes! It was even used by him in the battles. He left it here after he found a peak grade immortal weapon for himself. But that weapon was broken in his final battle.¡± Lanbao replied.


    ¡°What a pity... Still, this trident alone is proof that the legacy of the ancestor lives on.¡± Elder Niji said with joy.


    ~HUM~


    And just as he said that, the trident started shaking. A faint hum was heard before the trident turned to face Elder Niji.


    ~SHING~


    Then in the next moment, it flew out of the case automatically and came to float in front of him.


    ~WUWUWUWU~


    A faint sound could be hearding from the trident, as it called out to Elder Niji.


    ¡°Hold it, the trident has already chosen you. It belongs to the leader of the tribe after all.¡± Lanbao said with a smile.


    ~HUM~


    Elder Niji wrapped his fingers around the trident¡¯s handle as afortable hum could be heard. Then, a string of energy rose from the trident and linked up with Elder Niji automatically.


    ¡°It formed a bond on its own?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    This was his first time seeing a weapon taking a master of its own choice.


    ¡°The Trident was forged from a w of the Ancestral Beast and tempered personally by ancestor Muxuan. It is intricately linked with the Haima tribe and is even considered its symbol.


    Even in the past Ancestor Muxuan used it as his personal weapon. Only in the most dangerous battles would he be forced to use the peak grade immortal weapon.¡± Lanbao exined.


    ¡°I¡¯ll dly take the mantle of the leader then.¡± Elder Niji knew his duty couldn¡¯t end here.


    ¡°You already had it, Elder Niji. You were always the chief of the tribe.¡± Lanbao chuckled as if it was obvious. ¡°The trident wouldn¡¯t have chosen you otherwise. You even have the approval of the Ancestral Beast due to his aura being on you.¡± She added.


    ¡°Ah yes! We dide in contact with it.¡± Elder Niji now knew why it was so easy.


    ¡°But for you Lin Mu, you¡¯ll have to see which one ispatible.¡± Lanbao gestured with her hands. ¡°All of them are free for you to pick from.¡±


    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    ¡°Alright... I¡¯ll try.¡± Lin Mu said before pausing. ¡°Wait... what am I supposed to do?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Just touch them with your Immortal sense. They are dormant right now and will awaken after you do that.¡± Lanbao answered.


    ¡°I see...¡± Lin Mu closed his eyes and extended his immortal sense.


    ~shua~


    It rose from his head and reached out to the seven weapons that were in the crystal case.


    On the two extreme corners there were the bows, then on the right side there were two spears and on the left there were three des.


    Each of the weapons had different designs and styles too. For example, the first spear was a trident that Elder Niji took, the second spear was a slim spear that looked rather simple and the third was two sided spear with tassels hanging off it.


    As for the des, there was arge cavalry saber, a long one edged sword and a normal sized double edged sword. In the case of the bows though, one was a long bow and the other was a short bow.


    ¡°Use your Sword intent, the swords should react.¡± Xukong advised.


    ~SHING~


    Lin Mu did exactly that and a sharp aura rose from his body. Elder Niji took a step back just to be careful. Even he wouldn¡¯t dare to be in the vicinity of free flowing sword intent.


    ~HUALA~


    As soon as Lin Mu¡¯s sword intent was disyed, the two swords started to resonate. Only the cavalry saber didn¡¯t react since it wasn¡¯t a sword in the first ce. To make it resonate as well, Lin Mu would need to have saber intent.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    In the next second, the two sword flew out from the case and came to float around Lin Mu.


    ¡°They both seem to like you.¡± Lanbao said with a wide smile.


    ¡°They do indeed.¡± Lin Mu was just about to take hold of the swords when he felt an aura.


    ~HONG~


    All of a sudden, the bow shot out of the case and knocked away the swords!

 Chapter 1385 A Domineering Bow

    <h4> 1385 A Domineering Bow </h4>


    The sudden appearance of the bow was out of anyone¡¯s expectations.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t know why it had jumped out like this and neither did he know why it was able to knock away the two swords as if they were straws.


    ¡°What¡¯s up with the bow?¡± Lin Mu was confused.


    ~CLANG~


    ~DENG~


    The two sword tried to return to Lin Mu¡¯s side but were knocked away by the bow again. It was as if the bow didn¡¯t want any other weaponing near Lin Mu.


    The bow in question was a long bow that seemed to be made out of several different materials. Its body wasposed of both metal and wood, with the wood seemingly wrapping around a metal core.


    Then on its extreme ends there seemed to be pointed feathers attached. These feathers didn¡¯t seem to belong to any beast and were refined from some unknown material.


    As for the bowstring itself, it seemed to be made out of twisted beast tendons.


    Overall, the bow looked imposing and was close to two meters wide. It was definitely one of therger bows that Lin Mu had seen. Not to mention the auraing from it was also unique.


    ¡®Its a mix of Beast... Metal... and... Wind?¡¯ Lin Mu could faintly sense Dao Traces from the bow as well. ¡°It has three Dao Traces within it? A weapon with three Daopatibility?¡±


    Even finding a weapon with two Daopatibility was often rare not to mention one with three. The bow seemed to be even more special due to the fact that it had two elemental Daos as well as the Beast Dao contained within it.


    ¡°What bow is this? I don¡¯t think the Haima tribe had it before...¡± Elder Niji questioned.


    ¡°This bow is indeed not from the Haima tribe.¡± Lanbao nodded her head.


    ¡°It¡¯s not?¡± Lin Mu asked in surprise.


    ¡°Yes its not. Originally there used to be another bow that was ced here by Ancestor Muxuan, but a few thousand years after the Haima tribe had disappeared, this bow drifted here with the currents.


    I collected it a few years after I was born and ced it here. But I didn¡¯t know that as soon as I would bring it here, the bow would destroy the original bow ced by Ancestor Muxuan.


    It was very domineering and forcefully took a ce in the Immortal Weapon Nurturing case.¡± Lanbao exined.


    Hearing about this, Elder Niji was stunned. He knew that all the weapons ced by Ancestor Muxuan were precious and getting one destroyed was very bad. Still, for a high grade immortal weapon to be destroyed a lot of force would be needed.


    ¡°How did the original bow break so easily?¡± Elder Niji questioned in doubt.


    ¡°It was simply helpless. This bow came with a naturally high sentience and destroyed the bow before consuming its core energies.¡± Lanbao answered. ¡°I reckoned since the original had already been destroyed there was nothing I could do. Plus this bow took its ce, so overall there was no loss.¡± She added.


    ¡°Hmm... since it could destroy the original bow this one is certainly stronger.¡± Lin Mu agreed. ¡°But I still don¡¯t know why it is acting like this...¡±


    ¡°Hold it, listen to what it says.¡± Xukong suggested.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s see then.¡± Lin Mu extended his hand and opened his palm.


    ~THUD~


    The bow rushed into his hand and its bowstring hummed in response.


    ~HUM~


    As if a zither was being yed, the bowstring vibrated lightly making a pleasant sound. At the same time, Lin Mu felt amunication attempt from the bow too.


    ¡®Let¡¯s see what you want to speak...¡¯ Lin Mu allowed the bow ess to his mind and soon found a bunch of memories appearing in his vision.


    The first memory was that of a small bow that looked to be rather crude. It was carved out of a single log of wood and its bowstring was made from twisted vines. Overall, it didn¡¯t look to be a bow that could be used for anything particr.


    But then a few secondster, he saw the crude looking bow being held by a child that looked to be seven years old. The child was happy receiving the bow and yed with it all day.


    Then in the blink of an eye, the child grew up into a mature man. The crude looking bow was abandoned due to being a toy and didn¡¯t see its owner for a long time.


    An unknown amount of timeter, the owner of the bow returned, broken and battered. His body was bloodied while one of his arms was missing. With his weak breath, he held onto the crude bow until he took his final breath.


    His blood stained the crude bow while his soul passed away. The crude bowid clutched in the dead man¡¯s hands for hundreds of years before finally, it cracked!


    But from the crack appeared a tender sapling. It took root and covered the remains of the bow¡¯s owner. It continued to grow until it reached a height of one hundred meters.


    This tree stood unyielding for a long time, until finally a cultivator came and chopped it. He took the core of it to make another bow, but this bow was built for the hunt.


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    This time around though, the bow didn¡¯t stay in the ownership of a single person. It kept on changing owners for many years before finally it was broken again.


    The broken bow was taken as spoils by a barbarian cultivator. Not following the normal paths, the barbarian cultivator repaired the bow using raw beast materials.


    He used beast bones to split the bow while using beast bull tendons as the bowstring.


    Unfortunately the barbarian didn¡¯t get to use the bow for long either as he perished in a battle, and his opponent got the bow. This time the owner was an immortal. He saw some unknown potential in the patched up bow and reforged it!


    After reforging it, a metal core formed its skeleton while wood wrapped it.

 Chapter 1386 Wonder Seeker, Ocean Raker, Afternoon Pine

    <h4> 1386 Wonder Seeker, Ocean Raker, Afternoon Pine </h4>


    The more Lin Mu watched the bow¡¯s memories the more he found it to be interesting. They were certainly very long and Lin Mu was now sure that the bow wasn¡¯t from the Rust Sky world either.


    Instead it had been brought over here by some traveler who had died while on sailing on the ocean.


    But what interested Lin Mu the most was the fact that the bow had been broken and repaired many times. Each time it was repaired, it seemed to be gaining something.


    Lin Mu didn¡¯t understand it at start, but after reaching the end of the memories he had a good guess.


    ¡®With each owner, it would witness their death. It would absorb a part of their soul, a part of their energies and condense its own spirit. It has seen many battles and wars. It has changed forms and been reborn... it can adapt and survive...


    And the reason why it chose me is because it finds me interesting?¡¯ Lin Mu finally understood the qualities of the bow.


    One thing that Lin Mu was sure of was the fact that the bow was strong. The reason it even had the three Dao Traces inside it was due to the many owners it had.


    If it had a strong owner that was versed in a particr Dao, it would absorb a part of it on its death. Over thousands of years it had condensed enough of it to fully disy the three Daos.


    ¡®Since I have innate affinity to metal element, I should have an easier time using it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lanbao and Elder Niji watched as Lin Mu held the bow soundlessly for a minute. He didn¡¯t move and had his eyes closed as if he was deep in thought.


    They waited for five more minutes after which he finally opened his eyes.


    ¡°So, what have you decided?¡± Lanbao questioned.


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep it.¡± Lin Mu answered. ¡°It is a strong bow and it chose me too. It also has three Dao Traces inside it, making it rather good to have as well.¡± He added.


    ¡°That¡¯s great.¡± Lanbao pped her hands in joy. ¡°Do you have a name for it?¡± she asked.


    ¡°A name for it?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    The bow had many names over the years, given to it by its hundreds of owners.


    Usually immortal weapons would only have one name and each user would know it when they made contact with it. But this bow didn¡¯t have any set name and would take on any name that its new owner decided on.


    ¡°I shall call it... Wonder Seeker.¡± Lin Mu stated.


    With the characteristics of the bow, Lin Mu felt like it was appropriate for it. It was a bow that had seen a lot and wanted to see more. It sought a way to fully form its own spirit.


    Despite having many owners and having reached the level of a high grade immortal weapon, the bow had never been able to from an artifact spirit. Lin Mu didn¡¯t know why that was either, but he reckoned just having it with him would be good enough.


    ¡°Wonder Seeker... that¡¯s a good name.¡± Elder Niji nodded in approval.


    ~shua~


    The bow seemingly hummed in joy and automatically formed a link with Lin Mu, letting his brand form.


    ¡°That was quick...¡± Lin Mu let go of the bow and it automatically floated to his back.


    He felt like he could control the bow however he wanted.


    ¡°Though Noble Lin Mu... do you know how to use bows? I¡¯ve never seen you use one.¡± Elder Niji asked curiously.


    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Lin Mu shook his head. ¡°This is also why I was confused as to why a bow would take this much interest in me.¡± He added.


    ¡°That is indeed peculiar.¡± Elder Niji didn¡¯t know what to think of it.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    As soon as the bow was out of the way, the two swords returned to Lin Mu as well.


    ¡°Seems like they haven¡¯t given up yet.¡± Lanbaoughed.


    ¡°Can I take them too?¡± Lin Mu asked, wondering if it was too much.


    ¡°Yeah you can. Since they want to go with you its fine.¡± Lanbao approved.


    ¡°Very well,¡± Lin Mu extended his hands, holding onto both of the des.


    In his right hand was the single edged long sword while on his left hand was the double edged sword.


    The long sword had blue tempering marks on its sides and was made out of a metal that Lin Mu actually recognized.


    ¡°Blue Vein Heart metal, Jing Luo talked about this once. He wanted to find a chunk of it to practice with... its is supposedly one of the best materials to make long swords with.¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    ~HUM~


    The long sword vibrated in Lin Mu¡¯s hand and resonated along with his sword intent. It wasn¡¯t even a secondter, that it had already formed a connection with Lin Mu.


    ¡°So your name is Ocean Raker...¡± Lin Mu understood it instantly. ¡®Now for the final one...¡¯ he turned his attention to the rtively normal looking sword.


    On the outside it looked like a run off the mill sword that one could find in any weapon shop. Only when one made a connection with it would they realized that its true abilities were hidden inside.


    It was forged to look average, but held qi skills within it that could be activated at a moments notice.


    ~HUM~


    Simr to Ocean Raker, the double edged sword resonated with Lin Mu¡¯s sword intent and they quickly formed a connection.


    A few secondster, Lin Mu heard its name within his mind.


    ¡°Afternoon Pine... The creator certainly wanted everyone to underestimate it...¡± Lin Mu understood.


    He held the sword with his left hand and gently flicked it out.


    ~HUALA~


    In the next second, three sword lights flew out that transformed into magnificent pine trees that rose into the sky.


    ¡®Just the first skill alone is enough to take out a Dao Treading realm expert...¡¯ Lin Mu was sure of it.This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1387 Leaving The Deep Sapphire Island

    <h4> 1387 Leaving The Deep Sapphire Ind </h4>


    Having obtained three immortal weapons, Lin Mu was very pleased. He had only tested out one of them and he was already looking forwards to the abilities of the others.


    ¡°Afternoon Pine is a qi skill type sword and Ocean Raker is a pure refinement type sword but I don¡¯t know what kind of a bow the Wonder Seeker is.¡± Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    From the memories of Wonder Seeker, Lin Mu knew it could be used with both physical arrows as well as arrows condensed from pure qi. But it didn¡¯t seem like there were any direct qi skills associated with it.


    As far as he was concerned the general operation of Wonder Seeker was the same as that of any normal bow.


    ¡°I¡¯ll store them away for now,¡± Lin Mu waved his hand and the three immortal weapons were sent inside the ring.


    Lin Mu took a quick peek inside the ring just to ensure that everything was fine before turning to Lanbao and Elder Niji.


    ¡°Thank you for the immortal weapons, they will be a great help to me.¡± Lin Mu said with gratitude.


    ¡°You just need to stay safe Noble Lin Mu, that¡¯s all we ask of you.¡± Elder Niji replied.


    ¡°Mmhmm,e back to uster. You still haven¡¯t told me many stories.¡± Lanbao said with a smile.


    ¡°I will, but its best I don¡¯t wait any longer.¡± Lin Mu said before stepping into the the portal and returning to the city.


    Once they were in the city, Lanbao took them to the storage cove where Lin Mu took plenty of Immortal stones, spirit stones, spirit herbs and a lot more materials from it. Elder Niji was very generous and wanted him to take three times as much as he had taken, but Lin Mu denied.


    Once they had gotten all this, they made their way to theke where they had entered from.


    ¡°You should take this, Noble Lin Mu.¡± Elder Niji handed Lin Mu a palm sized mshell.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ¡°It will help you control water to a certain extent. At the very least you will be able to rest on a boat if you are tired flying and still continue on your journey.¡± Elder Niji answered.


    ¡°Oh, thank you.¡± Lin Mu took the mshell which was a mid grade immortal tool.


    In fact an immortal tool with properties like this would be very valuable in the Rust Sky world. It could easily sell for the cost of a high or even a peak grade immortal tool.


    ¡°Also take this,¡± Lanbao flipped her palm and a small scale appeared in it. ¡°This scale contains the aura of the Ancestral beast as well as my own imprint. No aquatic beast will dare toe close to you as long as you have it.¡± She exined.


    ¡°Whoa! This will be a great help!¡± Lin Mu knew just how necessary this was.


    It would be saving him a lot of time as he wouldn¡¯t have to avoid the beasts.


    ¡°Though be careful, it will notst forever.¡± Lanbao warned.


    ¡°How long will itst?¡± Lin Mu asked, hoping that it was at least a few days.


    ¡°Mum... Should be about... Four years.¡± Lanbao replied.


    ¡°Four years?¡± Lin Mu raised his brows.


    ¡°Yes, is that too less?¡± Lanbao asked in a concerned tone.


    ¡°No, no! It¡¯s plenty.¡± Lin Mu responded. ¡°This shouldst me a long time and might evene in handy as a life saving treasure.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Hopefully that time neveres though.¡± Lanbao said with hope.


    Not wanting to tarry on any more, Lin Mu turned to theke, intending to go up.


    ¡°Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang! Come on, We¡¯re leaving!¡± Lin Mu called out for the twins.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In the next second, a white and ck ribbon appeared from the distance and wrapped around Lin Mu¡¯s arms.


    ~hiss~


    ¡°There we go, just stay in my sleeves it¡¯ll be a long journey.¡± Lin Mu said to the twins who got cozy inside his sleeves.


    He was just about to enter the tube, but then he got stumped.


    ¡°So... How do we exactly go out? Do I just fly up?¡± Lin Mu asked, actually feeling confused.


    Getting down was as simple as jumping down, but the distance was quite long.


    ¡°Oh, going back up is easy. I¡¯ll open the way for you.¡± Lanbao said as she tapped her finger on the air.


    ~RIPPLE~


    Theke in front of them rippled before a seat formed in it.


    ¡°Go sit, it¡¯ll take you to the top.¡± Lanbao directed.


    Lin Mu did as was told and the seat started to move.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Soon it sped up and theke disappeared into a small dot. Lin Mu rose though the long tube and could only see a blur around him.


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    ¡°This is certainly a lot faster than sliding down here.¡± Lin Mu couldn¡¯t even tell how fast this was but then a minuteter he saw the clouds on top. ¡°Already?¡±


    The seat continued to rise and then curved to let him off at the edge of theke.


    ¡°That¡¯s convenient...¡± Lin Mu leaped off the seat and rose up into the sky.


    The ind below him was silent and barely any beast could be heard.


    ¡°It¡¯s really calm... or is it due to the scale?¡± Lin Mu wondered as he looked at the fingernail sized scale.


    ¡°Keep it safe, that little scale is probably worth a few cities alone.¡± Xukong spoke.


    ¡°Yeah I should.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head and stored it away into the ring.


    The ring was the safest ce it could be and he could withdraw it at any time when needed. Lin Mu then made his way to the coast and took out apass.


    ¡°Now then, Kunzi said that I can head to the Huiqing Empire and take a teleportation array from there. It¡¯s supposed to be east of here...¡± Lin Mu turned to the direction and started flying.


    Having reached the immortal realm and regaining the ability to fly, Lin Mu was feeling free.

 Chapter 1388 A Lost Ship

    <h4> 1388 A Lost Ship </h4>


    A few days had passed since Lin Mu had left the Deep Sapphire Ind. He had been flying non stop for the most part, only pausing to check if he was going in the right direction.


    Thankfully with the items that Lanbao and Elder Niji had given him, it was a rtively simple task. Not to mention, the Huiqing Continent was closest to the ind anyways.


    ¡°With little Shrubby this would have been a lot more easier...¡± Lin Mu missed hispanion.


    He had been doing regr checks on the ¡®seed¡¯ that Little Shrubby had turned into and knew that it seemed to be on the way to recovery. Senior Xukong had the same opinion too, with him estimating that Little Shrubby might directly breakthrough when he awakens.


    ¡°I¡¯ll look for the best wood elemental resources I can for him to awaken.¡± Lin Mu decided.


    In the Deep Sapphire Ind¡¯s storage, there weren¡¯t as many wood elemental resources. Nearly 90% of them were of the water element with just a handful of wood elemental immortal herbs.


    He would have already given them to little Shrubby if not for that fact that they were immortal herbs and could not be utilized by him yet. It was a strange situation where he had better quality stuff but it was simply notpatible.


    ¡®Huiqing Continent should certainly have them though.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He kept on flying mindlessly until his attention was pulled by a small brown object in the distance.


    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s that?¡± Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he barely spotted something in the distance.


    A few secondster, he saw the brown object rise up again in the distance.


    ¡°A ship? That¡¯s strange... Kunzi said no ships sail in this route since its filled with beasts.¡± Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He hovered and watched the ship for a minute before realizing that it seemed to being closer. The closer it got, the more Lin Mu realized it wasn¡¯t just any ship, it was arge cargo ship!


    ¡°Did they get lost or something?¡± Lin Mu furrowed his brows and decided to approach it carefully.


    He half activated fade, just in case he had to dodge some really strong attack. Fade could be said to be his strongest defensive skill in a way as it literally sent him into a parallel dimension.


    It was the best way to avoid any kind of attack. Even with the newly obtained Immortal Strengthening Scripture Lin Mu would only be able to defend against attacks up to a certain level.


    He didn¡¯t know what kind of a ship this was and what level of offense it could muster. There was always a chance they might take him as a threat and bombard him or something.


    The only reason Lin Mu didn¡¯t use fade as a major defensive skill was due to the fact that it had a longer activation time. It would take thirty seconds to activate it. In a battle, he would have to buy a lot of safety to use it.


    Thus with fade ready, Lin Mu appearance the ship.


    Soon the cracked and broken surface of the ship came in his sight. There seemed to be bite marks scattered over the surface of the ship and a few chunks of meat were also stuck to it.


    ¡°They¡¯ve definitely gone through a battle, that¡¯s for sure.¡± Lin Mu now understood that they might have been forced here.


    ~GUSH~


    A minuteter though, the ship seemed to change direction and was nowing towards him.


    ¡°Seems like they¡¯ve spotted you.¡± Xukong spoke.


    ¡°Mmhmm... and so far they haven¡¯t attacked me so that¡¯s good.¡± Lin Mu said while keeping his immortal sense extended.


    He could faintly sense the aquatic beasts in the water as well. They were further than the range of his immortal sense, but Lin Mu could simply feel their auras. Having the bloodline of a beast made him more sensitive to other such auras too.


    ¡®Let¡¯s just take some precaution just in case...¡¯ Lin Mu took out the scale that Lanbao had given him.


    He held it in his hand for a few second and soon felt the auras starting to disappear.


    ¡°Hmmm... That should be enough.¡± Lin Mu quickly stored away the scale, preparing to meet the people on the ship.


    ~Hong~


    A translucent dome around the ship became visible, showing that it was indeed under protection at all times.


    ¡®If the managed to damage the surface this much, they probably managed to break their defenses. These are probably the bare minimum left or what they have managed to recover.¡¯ Lin Mu guessed.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    But then Lin Mu saw two people flying up from the ship anding to stand a hundred meters from him. It was two men that were in the Immortal realm.


    The first man seemed to be in the third tribtion stage of the immortal realm, while the second one was hard for Lin Mu to estimate. His immortal qi waves were suppressed making Lin Mu think that the man had some kind of a immortal tool on him.


    ¡°Who are you and what are you doing here in the middle of the ocean?¡± The first man asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m just a traveler and got lost due to an ident.¡± Lin Mu replied vaguely.


    ¡°What kind of an ident? Did you ship sink?¡± they asked.


    ¡°No... A teleportation ident.¡± Lin Mu replied.


    ¡°What was your intended destination?¡± they questioned next.


    ¡°Huiqing continent.¡± Lin Mu answered.


    ¡°Hmm... same as us then.¡± They whispered to each other for a bit before turning to Lin Mu. ¡°By any chance do you happen to have a navigational tool? Our¡¯s broke during a beast swarm.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll give you a free ride to Huiqing Continent if you give us one.¡±


    ¡°I do have one.¡± Lin Mu took out one of the many navigationalpasses he had taken from the tribe.


    ¡°Perfect!¡± The two men¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°With thepass we¡¯ll be able to travel at full speed again and get out of this area.¡±Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1389 Boarding The Ship

    <h4> 1389 Boarding The Ship </h4>


    Having obtained thepass the two immortals were really pleased. Thepass that Lin Mu had given them was an immortal tool too, but it was specialized in finding ocean routes. While it was a low grade one, it would still do the job.


    There were usually better quality ones on ships that were asrge as this and could even track the movement of beasts around them. But right now they would be fine with anything they got.


    ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll take you to the ship.¡± The first immortal said while the second one went to the cabin located at the top of the ship.


    It was evident that this cabin was the control center of the ship and there seemed to be several more people sitting inside it, all of the focused on the ocean around them.


    ¡°What happened to you all?¡± Lin Mu questioned.


    ~sigh~


    Hearing this the immortal sighed and shook his head.


    ¡°It was one misfortune after the other. This was supposed to be a routine shipping trip but we met with a rather violent swam of aquatic beasts.¡± The man spoke.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t your ship have strong arrays that are built to resist that? And the immortals on board too... there should be someone at the fifth tribtion stage of the immortal realm right?¡± Lin Mu asked finding it a bit strange.


    ¡°No... we only have the captain who is at the fourth tribtion stage of the immortal realm.¡± The man replied. ¡°As for the arrays, they were indeed strong. Strong enough to withstand attacks of several fifth tribtion stage beasts, but we ended up going against a sixth tribtion stage Riptide Shark.¡±


    ¡°A Riptide Shark?¡± Lin Mu raised a brow.


    He had read about it before in the records of the Deep Sapphire city and knew that it was a very fierce Aquatic beast. It was highly territorial and couldmand arge swarm of beasts too.


    One that could reach the sixth Tribtion stage of the immortal realm was most certainly the king of many Riptide sharks.


    ¡®This is strange though... even if it is a Riptide Shark, they won¡¯t attack them unless their territory was vited.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ¡°Did you perhaps trespass into its territory?¡± Lin Mu asked next.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s the thing. It wasn¡¯t us that entered its territory, but rather the Riptide Shark that was bringing the swarm of beasts around. It is highly unusual and I still don¡¯t know how it ended up like that.¡± The immortal replied.


    ¡°Hmm... perhaps something provoked it?¡± Lin Mu guessed.


    ¡°We thought that too, which is why we had to change our route. But the attack broke our navigational formation as well as the external tools we had.¡± The immortal exined.


    ¡°So that¡¯s why the ship was progressing slowly?¡± Lin Mu wondered.


    ¡°Yeah, we had to slow down because of the constant beast attacks, only this patch seems to have fewer beasts.¡± The immortal spoke. ¡°We feared that we might end up encountering more beasts and trespass their territories.¡± He added.


    ¡°That was probably right.¡± Lin Mu nodded his head.


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    While talking like this, the two of them arrived on the ship


    ¡°Wee aboard. There are several other passengers on our ship who aren¡¯t merchants, so you can just stay with them.¡± The man brought him to the second deck.


    Lin Mu took a look around and saw that this area was actually quite decent.


    ¡°There¡¯s also less damage here.¡± Lin Mu muttered.


    ¡°Of course, this is our passenger deck. We have to keep our customers safe as first priority.¡± The man stated.


    ¡°I thought you were a merchant group?¡± Lin Mu doubted.


    ¡°We don¡¯t just do trading and shipping, we also take people to different continents. After all, not everyone can afford a teleportation array.¡± The man exined.


    ¡°I see... though may I ask who are you?¡± Lin Mu finally questioned.


    ¡°My name is Zhu Hading, the vice captain of this ship. I belong to the Long Leaves Merchant Association.¡± The man revealed. ¡°And who are you, if I may ask? It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t tell me too.¡± He asked too.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was a little surprised.


    ¡°You are fine with letting me travel anonymously?¡± Lin Mu asked with interest.


    ¡°Haha! It is quite normal. Several of our customers prefer that their identities are kept secret. Some use aliases while some keep their names secret altogether.¡± Zhu Hading replied much to Lin Mu¡¯s satisfaction.


    ¡°I see... well then, you can call me Mu Lin.¡± Lin Mu decided to use his age old alias.


    He reckoned it was better to keep his name a bit hidden for now. After all, there was no telling what kind of thing he would encounterter. Then there was also the fact that he had turned up in the middle of the ocean.


    He didn¡¯t want the Haima Tribe to get linked to him and implicate them in some troubleter on. This was simply a precaution that he hoped would work.


    ¡°Immortal Mu Lin then, I¡¯ll keep it in mind.¡± Zhu Hading said before pointing to the cabins in the front. ¡°I would give you a private room, but there are none avable right now. Most of our passengers prefer to spend time in themon hall anyways.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t mind. I can just spend time cultivating.¡± Lin Mu didn¡¯t really need a private room for now.


    ¡°Alright, you can go in then. If you need anything you can tell the attendants.¡± Zhu Hading stated and turned around. ¡°You can mingle with the other passengers, it¡¯ll take us a while to reach the Huiqing Continent.¡± He added.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Lin Mu let the man leave and entered therge cabin.


    It had several doors on it, with each of them having an isting formation engraved on it.


    ¡®No wonder there is no noise or panic on the ship, the passengers probably didn¡¯t even hear it.¡¯ Lin Mu thought to himself as he stepped into the cabin.


    In there, he saw about fifteen cultivators.

 Chapter 1390: Fellow Passengers

    Chapter 1390: Fellow PassengersLin Mu''s eyes swept over the cultivators, finding there to be about five women and ten men.


    ''Hmm¡­ eight out of the fifteen are immortals, the rest are at the Immortal ascension realm and below.'' Lin Mu found them to be a bit weak for a journey like this.


    Anyone would know that traveling on the ocean was dangerous and being an immortal would save them a lot of troubles. At the very least, when a ship sank, they wouldn''t sink along with it.


    Among the cultivators that were sitting, Lin Mu could see that there were people of different status too.


    The most particr was the group of three girls who were all below the immorality realm. They were attending to another girl who was an immortal and dressed in high quality robes. Looking at her face, Lin Mu could feel a hint of arrogance in it.


    ''A noble for sure, and the girls should be her servants.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    They were trying to keep a low image but the appearance of the woman made it hard.


    ''Looks like the men sitting on both sides are their people too, guards perhaps.'' Lin Mu urately saw the bodynguage of the others.


    The next he did was to asses their cultivation base.


    Other than the noblewoman, the rest weren''t hiding their cultivation bases. The guards specially had their cultivation base on disy so as to keep any trouble makers away.


    ''Second Tribtion stage immortals¡­ Six of them.'' Lin Mu estimated. ''Over half of the people here belong to that noblewoman alone. Six guards and three servants, with her included that''s ten passengers of one party.'' He analyzed.


    He didn''t care what the goal of the noblewoman and her people was, he just hoped that he wouldn''t be troubled for no reason. Lin Mu had gotten in trouble because of some random nobles several times now after all.


    And while Lin Mu was assessing the passengers, they were assessing him too.


    "Who is that?" One of the servant girls wondered.


    "Was he always on the ship? I don''t think I saw him before." The second servant girl said.


    "Maybe he''s part of the merchants?" the third servant girl guessed.


    "Just be careful, no matter who he is, he is not simple." The Guard sitting closest to the noblewoman spoke in a low voice.


    "Oh? Sir Feiyu, you have such an assessment?" The noblewoman said with a little interest.


    "Yeah, isn''t he just at the first tribtion stage of the Immortal realm? I''m sure I can take him one too." The guard sitting on the left of the noblewoman said with a a little pride.


    "Do not take every person lower than you as easy, Guard Jujo. It will be your fall one day. Did you forget what teacher taught? Don''t just look at their cultivation base, look at their demeanor, the way they walk and their eyes¡­ the eyes never lie." The guard named Feiyu corrected.


    "Hmmm¡­ is he really like that?" Guard Jujo did a second take on Lin Mu.


    This time he looked at the young man carefully, finding him to be rtively normal. There were no essories on his body and even his long hair was tied with a simple cloth ribbon.


    ''Just a single storage ring? And no weapon on his side¡­ is he a qi skill specialist? He doesn''t seem to be a physical fighter with that body.'' Guard Jujo started analyzing.


    The noblewoman was looking at Lin Mu too, finding him interesting.


    "At least he''s decently handsome¡­ and isn''t like one of those muscr brutes." The noblewoman muttered lightly.


    The servant girls heard their miss''s name and blushed lightly. They started chatting animatedly amongst themselves, gossiping about Lin Mu and his looks.


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    And while they were talking, no sound was getting out from their space.


    ''An isting formation on the immortal level¡­ they sure are nobles.'' Lin Mu reckoned before walking towards and empty seat.


    Since there were just fifteen passengers in the cabin, there was more than enough space for twice the amount.


    ~CREAK~


    The chair was lightly pulled before Lin Mu took a seat.


    Upon sitting through he felt a gaze from his side.


    "Mmm?" Lin Mu turned to the left finding thest woman sitting on the table there.


    She was alone and seemed to be dressed in long robes. But the most eye catching part was the fact that she was wearing a veil that covered her entire face.


    ''Strange¡­ guess this is what Vice Caption Zhu Hading meant by the traveling anonymously.'' Lin Mu didn''t mind the woman and simply sat in silence.


    Closing his eyes, he gimpy focused on cultivation.


    The faint sound of breathing could be heard if one stood by and if someone sensitive to qi saw Lin Mu, they would see that a very unique qi circuit was forming around him.


    The noblewoman and the guards didn''t see it, but the woman sitting next to him did.


    In fact, she didn''t move her gaze from Lin Mu from the start and kept on staring.


    ''Someone following the Primordial path? There are still people who can do this?'' The veiled woman tilted her head slightly.


    A small lock of hair peeked out from the side of her veil, that looked like a streak of fire. It was evident that the girls hair was red in color.


    ''Didn''t think I would have gotten to see someone like this the first time I leave the sect after all these years.'' The veiled woman thought as her gazed intensified. "Could it be a co-incidence though?" she said lightly, stirring Lin Mu from his faint trance.


    "Sorry, did you say something?" Lin Mu turned and asked her.


    "What legacy are you from?" The veiled woman asked, confusing Lin Mu.


    "Legacy? Huh?" Lin Mu didn''t know what she meant.


    "It can''t be that a follower of the Primordial Path hase out of nowhere right? Which legacy sect are you from?" The veiled woman questioned, making Lin Mu a little shocked.


    "How did you know that?" Lin Mu asked, his tone turning serious.

 Chapter 1391: The Veiled Womans Peculiarities

    Chapter 1391: The Veiled Woman''s PeculiaritiesThe Primordial Path was something Lin Mu had set upon unknowingly.


    From what he had learned from Senior Xukong it was one of the oldest paths of cultivation which demanded on to forge their own way and finding their own technique. No single person would have the same technique, but an entirely new legacy could be forged from the followers of the primordial path.


    The Primordial path was old and so were its followers. Many had given up on it and some even considered it obsolete now. It brought few benefits for the cultivators in the short term and left a lot to be desired.


    But Xukong had told Lin Mu that the Primordial path had its own benefits that no other technique could grant him. It would allow him to be unhindered and not face the same kind of cultivation bottleneck that others had.


    The only thing he would be limited by is his ownprehension since for the primordial path, even talent didn''t matter.


    After all, the primordial path originated from the first cultivators who had no knowledge of the term ''talent''. For one cultivation technique the talent required could be different.


    Thus if one didn''t have a suitable talent for a cultivation technique they might not be able to practice it. But with the primordial path, one would make their own cultivation techniques, disregarding the talent.


    In fact, their status would bing the requirement for that technique.


    With intricacies such as this, there had been no one that had discovered Lin Mu''s cultivation technique. They simply thought that he was cultivating some obscure technique, not knowing that it was something entirely unique.


    This was what left Lin Mu baffled. After all, if the technique was unique, how could the veiled woman know it was the primordial path?


    Only someone as long lived and experienced as Xukong could decipher that.


    ''I highly doubt she is someone like Senior. After all the Rust Sky world would not allow someone like that within its borders¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Veiled woman gazed at the young man in front of her with an intrigued expression. Her face was hidden underneath the veil otherwise Lin Mu would have felt like it was breathtaking.


    She had heard Lin Mu''s question, but didn''t answer him. She had already confirmed that Lin Mu followed the primordial path and possibly wanted to keep it hidden.


    But she still wanted to see what the young man would do.


    At her level, there was little that could threaten her thus she didn''t not mindying bare the secrets of a stranger.


    ''It''s not often that I get to go out¡­ now that I''m here I may as well see how the humans are faring¡­'' The veiled woman thought, her lips turning into a gentle curve.


    It was a shame that it was hidden by the veil or the cabin might not be too calm.


    Lin Mu continued to stare at the woman, wanting answers but she did not speak a word. Only a minuteter did Lin Mu shake his head.


    "I now see¡­ this is not the ce." Lin Mu said lightly.


    "So you do hold some wisdom in you. You may have let it slip but you still do not wish for your shadows to be seen." The veiled woman replied.


    "Hmm¡­ still, my slip of tongue might have interested others." Lin Mu spoke cryptically.


    "Oh you don''t need to worry about that." The woman said in an amused tone. "You may have had a slip, but I have not." She added.


    "Mh?" Lin Mu raised a brow in confusion, wondering what she meant.


    "No other person will hear or know of us interacting." The veiled woman stated.


    "An isting array?" Lin Mu guessed at first, but soon realized that he had felt nothing. "No¡­ not that¡­" he narrowed his eyes.


    "So your sense are sharp too¡­ I wonder how much more you can perceive." The veiled woman was feeling slightly entertained.


    Lin Mu had several thoughts rising in his mind, some wondering what kind of intentions the veiled woman had for him. But for now, his guts were telling him that she meant him no harm. Plus he didn''t sense an lies from her either.


    ''No its not just that¡­ I cannot sense anything particr from her at all¡­ she has no aura either¡­'' Lin Mu slowly realized.


    He tried to sense the qi fluctuations around the veiled woman and discovered that they were very intricately woven. It might have been the most borate way to disguise one''s cultivation base that Lin Mu had seen so far.


    ''Such skill is not easy toe by¡­ even Ick that¡­'' Lin Mu thought before taking a look around. ''She has hidden our talks and interaction but there is no array, is there?''


    His immortal sense quickly spread to cover the cabin, only to realize that it couldn''t go past four meters from his position.


    "How?" Lin Mu could not event ell what it was that blocked him.


    There was no threat in it, no aura, no qi nor anything corporal, and yet it was able to block his immortal sense.


    "Go on, show me if you can perceive it." The veiled woman said lightly.


    Lin Mu took that as a challenge and looked around directly. He saw that the other passengers were calmly talking amongst themselves and ignoring him.


    ''Let''s try a little direct way¡­'' Lin Mu raised his hand and waved at the noblewoman that was sitting there.


    He saw that the guard looked over, but his gaze was unfocused. By logic they should have locked onto him seeing him wave his hand, but the guard simply looked away.


    The same thing happened with a few others that asionally looked over.


    "Haha¡­" A slight chuckle escaped from the veiled woman''s lips seeing Lin Mu act like this.


    Lin Mu felt a little embarrassed before deciding to take it another step further.


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    He closed his eyes for a second and started to chant something.


    The veiled woman was feeling entertained after quite literally thousand of years.


    Her visit to the Rust Sky world might have been due to her duty, but obtaining some entertainment along the way wasn''t against it. She had originally thought that she hade across an interesting human.


    Someone of the Primordial path was rare in this era and someone with senses like Lin Mu even more. It made the veiled woman wonder what legacy sect Lin Mu belonged too.


    But once he started chanting, her expression changed.


    "This¡­ This can''t be¡­" She muttered while her fingers tensed.


    Lin Mu chanted for a few seconds before opening his eyes. And this time there was a new look to them. It seemed like the very void had appeared within them and staring into them would entrap one.


    Seeing this the veiled woman''s eyes widened. "Spatial perception¡­ Reaching into the void itself¡­ this cannot be obtained easily¡­ An affinity to the space and a Dao Embryo perhaps?" she urately gaged Lin Mu''s condition


    Lin Mu on the other hand was fully focused and didn''t hear her words at all. To him only the scene in front of him existed and he peered into the secrets that were hidden in in sight.


    At first Lin Mu only saw the scene normally, but then he ''looked'' deeper and saw the spatial fabric. He looked to be stable and there were no discrepancies in it.


    ''The spatial fabric is normal so there is certainly no array interfering with it. The space has not been isted¡­ then¡­'' Lin Mu looked at the movement of immortal qi itself trying to find peculiarities.


    He was now thinking that it might be a qi skill that was behind this, but he couldn''t be fully sure.


    ''Wait¡­ it doesn''t have to be a qi skill¡­ it can be a Dao skill too!'' Lin Mu realized what he had missed.


    And when he grasped this he saw ''them''.


    Invisible strands of Dao flickered in and out of existence. They were different than Dao Traces that Lin Mu was used to. They were certainly part of the Dao but they were on a different level.


    "Higher than Dao Traces? The Dao Insights?!" Lin Mu figured out. "But what kind can they be? What Dao can allow something to look normal when its not. What can disguise both sound and sight?" he pondered on it.


    Eventually though Lin Mu grasped it. It was something that interacted with both sight and sound and could interfere with it if needed. While it would take quite some effort to do it, it wasn''t entirely impossible.


    Lin Mu had seen formations that could achieve this after all, but he knew it was not one.


    "I now know¡­ The Dao of Air. A Pure Dao Skill made from Air Dao insights. The air forms ayer that prevents sound from leaving the area while making an illusion at the same time." Lin Mu gave his answer.


    The veiled woman heard this and hummed in response.


    "Absolutely correct."

 Chapter 1392: Which Legacy Do You Belong To?

    Chapter 1392: Which Legacy Do You Belong To?Lin Mu''s words were spoke with confidence and the veiled woman felt impressed.


    She knew just how difficult it was for someone to truly perceive her Dao skill like this. It was one of the skills she had honed a long time ago so that she could hide her identity, thus it getting found out was both surprising and a little unnerving.


    ''Even if the skill is restrained due to my cultivation base right now, it is still quite impressing for the young man to be able to do it. If he can do this while also having spatial affinity, he will go very far¡­'' The veiled woman thought to herself.


    Having thought of all this, she finally gave Lin Mu a response.


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    "Absolutely correct."


    "I am? I thought I would still be a bit off." Lin Mu muttered.


    "You did well. Even celestials have mistaken it before, so you being able to sense it at the first tribtion stage of the immortal realm is greatly impressive." The veiled woman replied.


    This was very tall praise for Lin Mu, and it was alsoing from a stranger that he knew little about. It made it a little difficult for him to take, but he nodded his head nevertheless.


    "Well then, will you tell me what legacy sect you are from?" The veiled woman asked again. "If there is any relief know that I am from one as well." She added.


    Lin Mu didn''t reply to her though. And this wasn''t because he didn''t want to but because he simply didn''t know what she meant.


    "Senior Xukong," Lin Mu woke up the old spider from his trance.


    "Mmm?" Xukong immediately scanned through Lin Mu''stest memories knowing what he had just experienced.


    "Someone like this in an immortal world?" Xukong was quite surprised as well.


    Unlike Lin Mu, he could tell just what kind of a skill was needed for someone to make a Dao skill like that.


    ''Dao Insights of Air that can create such illusions with no traces¡­ and her earlier words¡­ no doubt she''s a celestial¡­'' Xukong understood.


    This made Xukong a bit alert as the woman was certainly something that Lin Mu couldn''t handle. In fact, it was the strongest person that he had faced till now.


    ''I can''t sense her properly right now, and I probably shouldn''t alert her to my presence either. No saying what will happen¡­'' Xukong had tens of thoughts at once.


    He reckoned, the best option was to just resolve Lin Mu''s inquiry first. Since she had not shown any hostility, Xukong could only hope that she didn''t want to do anything bad. Otherwise Xukong would have to interfere and it wouldn''t be good.


    ''At least this world wouldn''t break apart with my interfering. Though the Immortal Court will not be pleased.'' Xukong knew.


    "What is a legacy sect, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned, realizing that Xukong had awakened.


    "A Legacy Sect is a great sect that has existed for a long time. While there is no exact time limit for one to be a legacy sect, informally it is all those sects who rose from the cultivators of the Primordial path.


    The ancestors of these sects had made their own techniques and then established sects. Each sect that has survived till now that has direct lineage from such an ancestor can be called a Legacy sect." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu knew that most of the cultivation sects actually derived their cultivation techniques from other cultivation techniques. Thus it couldn''t be said that they were 100% original.


    Only those who hadprehended an entirely new cultivation technique after Millions of years of pondering or those that followed the Primordial path would have original techniques.


    While the two categories of original cultivation techniques seemed simr, there was actually a great difference.


    It was the fact that an entirely original cultivation technique made by an old expert was only made because the cultivator had already experienced a lot of things.


    The cultivation technique they would make would also beplete having all the steps needed to reach their current stage from the basics.


    But it was not the same for the people of the primordial path, for them their cultivation technique was an ongoing work. It would progressively get better as they continued to cultivate.


    After all, they made the technique as they progressed.


    But following the primordial path was very difficult the further one went. It wasn''t even the matter ofprehension, but the matter of survival itself.


    One would face external dangers on their cultivation journey that might make them die.


    Thus it could be said that each legacy sect was something that was made by the most sessful followers of the primordial path.


    Having learned all this, Lin Mu wondered what he should tell the veiled woman.


    "So what do I tell her senior? I''m clearly not from a sect." Lin Mu asked. "Should I just tell her I''m not from a legacy sect?"


    "Mmmhmm, while you are not from a legacy sect you can be considered part of a legacy." Xukong spoke. "Tell her you are the founder of your legacy." He stated.


    "Will that be fine?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "In cases such as this it is best not to lie. And this is certainly not a lie. You have embarked on this path alone before I even arrived. Since she can tell you follow the primordial path, she will also know if you are lying." Xukong exined.


    "Very well senior." Lin Mu looked at the veiled woman. "I am part of a legacy, but not a legacy sect." He spoke.


    "Oh? An individual legacy? Or a small lineage?" The veiled woman asked.


    She knew that Legacy sect weren''t the only people who could have followers of the primordial path. They were simply thergest group and most likely faction that one could belong to.


    Other than the legacy sects, there were also certain followers of the primordial path who didn''t start a sect. Instead they passed on their legacy to just a single disciple.

 Chapter 1393: A Celestial Saintess

    Chapter 1393: A Celestial SaintessIndividual legacies weren''t thest form of legacy either though as there were also some ns that would have founders who followed the primordial path in the past.


    These ns were very influential and would often control many worlds under them. And since they had a very homogenized group of members due to being one family, they could concentrate their power.


    This was unlike the sects which could have several factions and schools of thought forming within itself. This diffusion of power could often divide the sects and thus restrain their overall power.


    This led to the legacy ns bing great overlords of several worlds at once.


    The veiled woman was sure that Lin Mu might belong to either of these two categories as his talent and affinities were very rare. But the answer that Lin Mu gave her was not something she had expected at all.


    "I am not part of any of that. I am the founder of my own legacy." Lin Mu answered, making the veiled woman gaze at him deeply.


    ''He really isn''t lying¡­ This young man has actually done it on his own¡­'' The veiled woman was certainly surprised. "Good¡­ You deserve to have your name known." She said finally.


    "You want to know my name?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, you have obtained the honor to be known to me." The veiled woman said proudly.


    ''Isn''t she¡­ a little too prideful?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but think.


    "She does have the right to be prideful. I''ll just tell you this Lin Mu, she is not from this world. She is from an even higher world¡­ She is a Celestial." Xukong informed.


    "A celestial¡­" Lin Mu had heard the term several times before.


    And while he didn''t know what it exactly entailed, he did know that it was what one could be after transcending the Immortal realm. But this also posed him some other questions.


    "How would shee to the Rust Sky world then? Wouldn''t the world not allow her that?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "She has sealed her cultivation base. But even her sealed cultivation base is easily at the peak of the immortal realm. It wouldn''t be hard for her to flip the world on itself if she wanted to. She is easily the strongest person on this world now." Xukong replied.


    "Even stronger than the indigo woman I met in the void?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Easily." Xukong confirmed.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but take a breath after learning this. He looked at her, with a slight change on his face. Having learned of the woman''s power made him a bit nervous after all.


    "I am Lin Mu." He said truthfully.


    "Lin Mu¡­ A Forest Of Desire¡­ I shall remember that." The veiled woman muttered.


    Lin Mu raised a brow as that was the first time someone had urately grasped the meaning of his name.


    "And may I ask who are you¡­ Senior Celestial?" Lin Mu questioned. "Someone of your station being in the Rust Sky world is highly unusual." He added revealing that he knew who she was as well.


    "Oh? You can sense that much? Ahahah, good, good. That''s even better." The veiled woman chuckled.


    Lin Mu had thought that she might feel a bit offended, but she seemed to not care at all.


    "You are still far too low to know my name, but you can call me Saintess." The veiled woman spoke.


    ''She still doesn''t tell her name?'' Lin Mu couldn''t understand.


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    "Don''t take it the wrong way Lin Mu. Her name might indeed be too much for you to bear. If she is warning you it means her name might hold karma. And her being called a Saintess also means her status isn''t low at all." Xukong exined to Lin Mu, lest he got the wrong idea.


    "What does being a Saintess mean?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You can think of it as someone who is even beyond the Sect master of a sect. And since she''s said that she is from a a legacy sect too, her status as Saintess means she is the direct inheritor of the legacy." Xukong replied in detail.


    ~gasp~


    Lin Mu almost gasped visible. Being at the top of a cultivation sect while in a higher ranked world and also being a celestial; each was something that brought forth huge implications.


    And when all three werebined into one identity, it truly became massive.


    Realistically there should have been no way for Lin Mu to meet someone like her in the Rust Sky world at all. It only made Lin Mu wonder just how varied his fortune was being these days.


    "Don''t worry. I have a great hunch that one day you will be worthy to know my name." The Saintess spoke.


    "I''ll look forward to it. Also thank you for giving me guidance on the Dao." Lin Mu had truly learned from her.


    After all, there aren''t many opportunities to observe Dao Insights like this. Even if they were of the Air Dao that Lin Mu did not practice, it was still a very useful experience.


    "Mmm¡­ Respectful and humble. You''re already better than 90% of the disciples of Legacy sects." The Saintess muttered. "Tell me, do you have a master?" She asked making Lin Mu take a cold breath.


    "If you don''t¡­ I can rmend you one. While you can''te to my sect because of worldly restrictions, I can still rmend you someone from an immortal world." The veiled woman offered.


    Lin Mu was not expecting an offer like this.


    "Though if you don''t prefer to be in a sect, I can also rmend you to the Immortal Court. As long as you reach the fourth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm, you will be qualified to enter the Immortal Court''s Cultivation Pavilion." The Saintess added.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu didn''t even know what to say. It was simply too much for him to process at once.


    But then a minuteter, Lin Mu shook his head.


    "I''m grateful, but I do not wish for that. I already have a master."

 Chapter 1394: The Saintess Curiosity

    Chapter 1394: The Saintess'' CuriosityNormally an offer like the one that Lin Mu had been given would entice almost anyone.


    It didn''t matter if they were amoner or even a prince of the empires. All of them would be desirous of such an offer. After all, entering the Immortal Court was the greatest honor and opportunity that one could get in the Rust Sky World.


    Even the Emperors and kings of the Rust Sky world might not get the chance easily.


    The cultivation environment in the Immortal Court could be considered the best in the entire immortal realm which covered millions upon tens of millions of worlds.


    There were barely any sects and powers who could offer the same kind of cultivation environment since the Immortal court was in charge of running the entire Immortal world. There was a delicate bnce that could only be maintained by them.


    But the saintess didn''t think that Lin Mu would truly reject it.


    "So you do have a master¡­ I see, it does make sense sinceing this far along without one would be quite difficult. Especially considering your age, you mustn''t be older than two hundred." The Saintess replied.


    "Um, yes." Lin Mu just nodded his head.


    He didn''t want to fully reveal his age as that might lead to an entirely different stream of conversation. Besides, he wasn''t exactly lying either. He truly wasn''t older than 200 years.


    ~sigh~


    "Well that''s fine. If you desire to enter the Immoral court in the future, I think you''ll still have a good chance. They regrly recruit prodigies from all over the Immortal realm." The Saintess stated.


    "I''ll take that chance when I get it. But for now I have a few goals I need to fulfill." Lin Mu replied whit gratitude.


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    Hearing this the saintess was a bit intrigued.


    ''He has a great determination¡­ and a desire, a quite intense one.'' The Saintess could sense the hidden emotions from Lin Mu.


    The more she focused, the more she could sense it. At a certain point, she could almost see a ming presence filling Lin Mu''s heart. It was hidden very well and most people would never be able to see it at all.


    ''Such a great burning desire¡­ highly unusual. This only arises in someone if they have been greatly wronged or have vengeance to exact¡­'' The saintess thought to herself.


    She didn''t know why he was carrying such emotions but it wasn''t exactly rare either. In the cultivation worlds, killing wasmon and thus there were almost people who were searching for revenge.


    "Since your on the ship as well, you must be heading to the Huiqing continent?" The Saintess decided to change the topic for now.


    "Yes. It is my first stop." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh? What do you desire there? Doesn''t seem like your final goal is there for sure." The Saintess guessed.


    "You are right. I need to take the Teleportation Array from there to the Holy Topaz continent. Though I also want to visit the temple of the Four Guardians beasts in the Huiqing continent." Lin Mu revealed his intentions.


    He didn''t think these were anything sensitive as many others would visit the temples of the Four Guardian beasts.


    "Oh? Do you wish to participate in the Tournament?" The Saintess questioned.


    "A tournament?" Lin Mu didn''t know about this. "What kind?" he asked.


    "The tournament organized by the Temple of the Four Guardian Beasts. The winners are offered several kinds of rewards." The Saintess answered.


    "I didn''t know this. But I might try¡­ if I get the chance. When exactly is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "From what I''ve heard its next year. So in about, eight more months." The Saintess replied.


    "Eight months, hmm¡­ I don''t know if I''ll have the chance then. I might be busy with other work." Lin Mu stated.


    "I see, do try it though. With your talent you might be able to enter the temple and gain an audience with the Four Guardian Beast Spirits. They have quite a lot of rewards to offer." The Saintess advised.


    "Thank you for your advice." Lin Mu took note of all this.


    After all, he had originally intented to head there, but it was not the first priority. His first priority was to resolve the burning desire he would feel. Until it was gone, it could be dangerous to lose track of things.


    ~HUM~


    And just as he was thinking of this, Lin Mu felt it re up.


    ''Dammit! Not now.'' Lin Mu gritted his teeth.


    He clenched his fists as a golden shine appeared on his body for a moment. At the same time, he chanted the Calming Heart sutra so as to suppress the desire.


    But this brief moment was enough for the Saintess to see it all. She saw the golden shine that covered Lin Mu''s body as well as the sudden rise in vitality.


    "Oh? You''re a body cultivator too?" The Saintess was surprised once more. ''That too at a decent level¡­'' She saw.


    Lin Mu had managed to calm down by now and simply nodded his head. "I am indeed one. I am also seeking for body cultivation resources." He justified.


    "That does make sense, they are harder to find." The Saintess replied, her interest in Lin Mu rising again.


    ''I''ll just take a quick look¡­ it should be enough.'' She thought, unable to contain her curiosity.


    She gazed at Lin Mu from under her veil and narrowed her eyes. Then in an instant, her eyes changed into green while snake like slit pupils appeared!


    As soon as she did that, Lin Mu felt a chilling feeling covering him. It was like he was frozen solid.


    ''What''s this feeling¡­ as if some great beast is staring at me¡­'' Lin Mu felt baffled as cold sweat appeared on his back.


    "Mmmm? Even for a Celestial aren''t you being a little too overbearing¡­ Little girl." A cold voice filled with immense power was heard by the saintess.


    "This¡­ Divine Transmission?" Now it was the Saintess''s turn to shiver.

 Chapter 1395: A Cold Warning And Silence

    Chapter 1395: A Cold Warning And SilenceThe Saintess hade to the Rust Sky world in search for two things. Both of them beings that were quite important to her. The only difference was that one of those beings was very powerful and was the entire reason why she hade here personally.


    "Divine Transmission? How''s this possible?" She said in disbelief.


    "You shouldn''t ask what you can''t bear to know little girl. Now¡­ Keep to yourself." The cold and powerful voice warned her before disappearing.


    The Saintess held her breath at that moment, not daring to breathe at all.


    ''How can there be someone like that here? And they warned me when I nced at the young man?'' The Saintess was taken aback.


    She tried to make sense of it but she simply couldn''t.


    ''For something to pressure even me¡­ it can''t be that, can it?'' The Saintess didn''t know if luck was favoring her or not but this felt like too much of a coincidence to her.


    She simply sat in silence for a minute, and Lin Mu did the same. None of them acknowledging what had just happened.


    Unlike the Saintess, Lin Mu had already recovered.


    "What¡­ was that?" Lin Mu questioned in his mind.


    "The woman tried to use her full perception on you. Seems like she is quite interested in you now." Xukong answered.


    "Ah¡­ must''ve been the sudden appearance of my Golden Body. It was a mistake on my part too," Lin Mu replied knowing that anyone would be interested at that point when theybined his immortal cultivation as well.


    Then there was also the facts that the body cultivation techniques he practiced were also quite different.


    "Looks like, I''ll have to keep a low profile from now on. Though I don''t know how effective that would be since she has already seen through quite a bit." Lin Mu stated.


    "She won''t bother you like that again. She knows well enough." Xukong said in a calm tone. "You two can talk as you wish. Take the chance to learn more from her if you can."


    Xukong didn''t intend to stop Lin Mu from fully interacting with the Saintess either. Rather than that, he was pleased that Lin Mu had encountered someone like that, even if they might be a bit nosy.


    ''Its a great opportunity for him to see the vast scope of cultivation.'' Xukong thought as he looked at the veiled woman. ''Though she seems a bit familiar¡­ have I seen her before in the Celestial World?'' he wondered.


    He looked through his memories but couldn''t fully figure it out. It wasn''t as if he could forcefully take a look at the woman either as Xukong too was restrained by his avatar.


    Then there was also the fact that the woman was truly a celestial with her cultivation base sealed. If it was his main body, he would be able to scan her with no issuers, but in his avatar he couldn''t do that.


    ''At most I can warn her¡­ but this is just an empty warning. If she really decides to attack, I won''t be able to act quick enough¡­ A peak grade immortal I can restrain, but not a celestial¡­'' Xukong knew his limits too..


    Him warning the saintess was something that was the height of what was possible as of now.


    ~sigh~


    ''After I finish my molting, I should be able to call upon more power.'' Xukong thought.


    The silence between Lin Mu and the Saintess was maintained for many hours as both of them decided to cultivate on their own. Lin Mu wanted the time to pass quickly so that he could reach the continent and the Saintess wished it passed quick so that she could progress on her search too.


    ''Should I ask him?'' A few other thoughts were also hovering in her mind though.


    From time to time, her attention would go to Lin Mu but she would disguise it. Lin Mu couldn''t pick up on it due to the veil as well as her own Air Dao Skill that could mask her appearance.


    The hours turned into tens of hours and soon three days had passed by.


    The ship had been progressing at a decent pace and was actually gaining more an more speed. The Captain of the ship couldn''t believe his eyes as he saw the wide open ocean.


    There were no beasts on their path and neither were there any troubling conditions. Adding to this, the winds were blowing in their favor too, further speeding their progress.


    If there was one thing he could say, it was that the heavens might have just blessed them these past few days.


    Of course what he didn''t know was that there were actually two individuals that were behind this. Namely Lin Mu and the Saintess.


    The scale in Lin Mu''s hand was what had kept the aquatic beasts away while the Saintess was secretly controlling the winds, spurring them at the back of the ship and speeding it up.


    With her cultivation base, there was no way anyone on this ship would be able to sense it.


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    As for the other passengers in the cabin, they were the least bothered. The noblewoman would go to her private cabin from time to time, but a part of the guards would stay here.


    Lin Mu didn''t really care for it as they weren''t interacting with him either.


    Of the fifteen passengers, he had only talked to the Saintess so far. The Noblewoman and her guards had also lost their interest in him after this time since he just kept to himself.


    Lin Mu had entered a deep cultivation state at a point and lost the track of time. By the time he came to, he realized that the there was a lot more noise on the ship.


    "I see the port!"


    "Steer the ship! We have been allotted the ninth division!"


    "Careful! Don''t let the other ships touch us."


    A cacophony of shouts and orders were being sent out on the deck of the ship as the merchants worked frantically.

 Chapter 1396: The Twins Are Revealed

    Chapter 1396: The Twins Are RevealedThe arrival at the port was rather noisy as there were simply too many ships arriving. There were easily over two thousand ships of various sizes waiting to find their docking spot.


    Lin Mu had seenrge ports before but this was his first time seeing so many massive ships all at once. There wererge ships that were over eight hundred meters long which was the mostmon size. The ship that Lin Mu was in right now was a bit smaller than that being about seven hundred meters long.


    But the biggest ship was on an entirely different level. It was over sixteen hundred meters long and looked like a pce floating on the water. It was very luxurious and had gold decorations iid with multicolored gems.


    No matter what angle one looked at it from, it only screamed one thing: Rich!


    It wasn''t just a disy of opulent wealth either as the ship was covered with dense arrays all over. And since it was not being hidden Lin Mu could clearly see all the arrays being employed.


    "Is that an entire habitat array?" Lin Mu quickly recognized.


    And habitat array was a high grade Immortal array that was used to create artificial environments. It was usually used for cultivating special Immortal herbs with unique requirements or even for raising beasts.


    But in the current case it could be said that its use was a bit wasteful. It was being used to make the mostfortable environment for one to live in.


    This might seem normal at first but one must realize something like this would be used by immortals who would be resistant to the elements anyways. And if they wanted to make the temperature morefortable they could simply use a temperature regting formation.


    One couldpare it to using an Immortal sword as a shear to cut some wool. While it would work perfectly, it was not the best use of a good quality tool like that. As a formation master, one''s goal was to optimize the use of an array and not use one which was not the most efficient.


    But it was certain from looking at therge ship that whoever its owner was they didn''t care for something like this.


    "It''s not just those either¡­ the defensive arrays seem to be able to defend against even sixth Tribtion stage immortal realm attacks." Lin Mu judged.


    The Saintess was standing way behind Lin Mu at the other end of the ship, but she could still hear each of his words clearly.


    "So he''s versed in Formations as well¡­ what else is he dabbling in, I wonder?" The Saintess muttered to herself, trying to figure out Lin Mu.


    They had not talked after their initial conversation and the probing had only made the Saintess a lot more cautious.


    But despite that she was still interested in Lin Mu. If anything, the intimidation she had received from Xukong only made her more interested in Lin Mu. After all, one of her goals seemed to be hinting at her already.


    ''Could it really be him though? Will someone of his bearing really be willing to contain his being like this?'' The Saintess pondered to herself. "No¡­ if it is someone like Lin Mu, it does seem like he would take him under his wing. Especially since Lin Mu has affinity to the space as well."


    After reaching this conclusion the Saintess felt like it all made sense.


    "The only way to confirm is if I continue to watch him. There is no way I can directly confront him after the senior''s warning either¡­ so this will be the best choice for me." The Saintess decided.


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    With that done, she calmly walked towards Lin Mu without him really noticing him. In fact, the others on the ship barely registered either. Her skills at disguising were simply too good and Lin Mu only sensed her because she let him.


    She continued to watch Lin Mu silently, while he watched the ships around him.


    "Careful! Don''t let the barriers collide even once, we''ve already taken too much damage."


    "Tell them to change our division to the close by one, we don''t want to damage the good either."


    The merchants shouted to each other while interacting with the workers on the port. With the literal thousands of ships, it was going to take some time to get there and during this time they needed to actively steer the ship so that there was no collision.


    All the ships were gathered very closely and some were even joining up with others. The people aboard the ships merrily went to other''s ships and the others came to theirs, as if they were in a party.


    This was all new to Lin Mu and was valuable experience too.


    He could see many cultivators as well of different strengths. The strongest he could see was a Sixth Tribtion realm expert that seemed to be standing high up in the sky.


    It was evident that he was in-charge of the port and was keeping an eye on everything.


    "So many people¡­ so many cultivators and so many different auras¡­" Lin Mu muttered in marvel.


    ~HISS~


    The twin snakes also woke up from all themotion around them. They had been asleep a while and Lin Mu was a little surprised they had stayed calm all this time too.


    "Don''t go running around you two, there are many strong people here. Don''t want you getting lost or captured." Lin Mu warned while trying to express his emotions through their link.


    ~hiss~ hiss~


    The twins nodded their little heads, understanding Lin Mu''s words.


    ''They''re getting smarter and smarter, this is good. It should be due to their growth too¡­ it seems like they are close to a breakthrough.'' Lin Mu thought to guessed.


    ~CLASP~


    But then all of a sudden, Lin Mu felt both his hands getting gripped tightly.


    "What''s wrong you two?" Lin Mu asked seeing that the twins had tightened their grip around him.


    ''Anxious and¡­ fearful?'' Lin Mu sensed the emotionsing from the two.


    This was the first time they had expressed the emotion of fear as they were very fearless. Lin Mu even wondered if they knew fear as they were born not long ago.


    But now he wondered just what could it be that was making them act like this.


    ~Shiver~


    But their fear only seemed to increase more as they started to shake too.


    "Why¡­" It was now that Lin Mu heard a voice behind him.


    It was a voice that he was familiar with but this time it was rather emotionless.


    "W-what¡­" he turned around and saw the veiled woman standing there. ''When did she get there?'' Lin Mu couldn''t identify.


    He saw the veiled woman staring at him.


    He knew she was STARING at him for sure despite the veil as her gaze was very intense.


    "Why¡­ Do you have¡­ them¡­ with you?" The veiled woman said word by word, making Lin Mu shiver unknowingly too.


    Her voice had no pressure in it, not was it intimidating but the way she said it made Lin Mu feel uneasy.


    ''Senior Xukong hasn''t acted so doesn''t seem like she is offended or anything¡­'' Lin Mu was first concerned about this.


    "What are you¡­?" before Lin Mu could finish his words though the veiled woman gently waved her finger, making a strange symbol in the air.


    ~HISS~


    The twins were greatly agitated upon the appearance of the symbol and jumped out of Lin Mu''s sleeves.


    "Wait you two!" Lin Mu felt like they were about to rush out, but they stopped right in front of him.


    The twin snakes hovered around the symbol their eyes locked onto it.


    "It really is them¡­ Such luck¡­" The veiled woman muttered.


    Lin Mu was confused by it and could only watch as the veiled woman observed the snakes with great interest. The twin snakes also seemed to be in a trance as they continued to gaze at the symbol.


    ~SHUA~


    A few momentster though, the symbol flickered and morphed into a new shape. It now looked like a Taiji Symbol, but its two parts were seemingly made out of snakes instead.


    Lin Mu suddenly recognized what it was and why the twins had perhaps jumped out.


    "Why are they, like this? How do you know this symbol?" Lin Mu questioned the veiled woman.


    "I never thought a part of my search would be fulfilled like this¡­ The Yin Yang Twin Serpents, they really exist¡­" The Veiled woman muttered.


    "You know them?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "I do indeed¡­ I came here all the way looking for them after all." The Saintess replied before looking up at Lin Mu. "And it seems like you are the key behind this fortune too. There is no way it can be a coincidence either¡­" she said directly.


    Lin Mu was still confused with all this, but decided to ask.


    "What do you want with me and the twins?"

 Chapter 1397: Docking

    Chapter 1397: DockingThe Saintess looked at Lin Mu with a still gaze before letting out a breath.


    "For that I''ll first need to know how exactly did you find them?" The Saintess questioned.


    "I hatched them." Lin Mu answered.


    "You hatched them?" The Saintess raised a brow. "You mean to say you found an egg?"


    "Not just that, I knew their parents too. It was a Fire Fang Snake and a ck Water Serpent." Lin Mu answered.


    "A Fire Fang Snake and a ck Water Serpent¡­ it shouldn''t happen¡­ can such a pairing even give rise to the Yin Yang Twin Serpents?" The Saintess muttered to herself.


    "If you tell me more about the twins, maybe I''ll be able to exin more. I don''t know much about them either, other than the fact that they are of the Yin and Yang Element." Lin Mu stated.


    "Very well, since you know that, I can just tell you the rest." The Saintess spoke before looking around. "Though it''ll be best if we do it somewhere else, once the ship is docked."


    Lin Mu saw the noise and the movement and knew that it wasn''t the right ce for a conversation like this.


    "You''re right, we should get off the ship first." Lin Mu said before turning to find the vice captain in the distance. "I''ll just tell him, we''ll fly off. I don''t think they''ll mind." He got the twins to return to his sleeve for now.


    "Mmm¡­ do that." The Saintess said letting Lin Mu leave.


    Lin Mu quickly spotted Zhu Hading and flew over to him.


    "Zhu Hading, I think this is enough for me. I can go out on my own now. Thank you for your help." Lin Mu said directly.


    "Ah, Immortal Mu Lin! You are going to leave? This quick?" Zhu Hading replied.


    "Yes, I think its best I leave on my journey. I''ve been dyed already, so I would like to head off at the earliest. I can just fly off from here now." Lin Mu replied to the man.


    "Mm¡­ you will need to register at the port first though and also need to add which ship you came from." Zhu Hading informed. "But I''ll make it a bit easier for you." The man said before taking out a small wooden te.


    "You can use this to show the ship''s identity as well as that of our merchant group. It will allow you to leave in advance." Zhu Hading handed the te to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu nced at the wooden te that read ''Long Leaves Merchant association.''


    "Thank you for this," Lin Mu expressed his gratitude before taking a leave.


    The Saintess also followed after him, the others not noticing her at all. At her level, there was no need for others to even sense her presence.


    Lin Mu''s departure was noticed by the noblewoman and her people though. All of them hade out of the cabin to see how the docking process was going and saw him flying off.


    "He''s leaving already? How will he do that without registering?" The Guards wondered.


    "He talked with the vice captain earlier, they probably talked something out." The Guard named Feiyu said.


    "Hmm¡­ he must be in some hurry." The servant girls said.


    "Whatever it may be, we just need to do our jobs." Feiyu said before turning to his fellow guards. "You two go and ensure that the cargo is safe. We have to deliver it safely or the young miss''s reputation will fall."


    "At once!" The guards replied before going to the deck below.


    The noblewoman stared at Lin Mu who was flying farther and father away, a hint of curiosity on her face.


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    ''He left just as he arrived¡­ swiftly and with little notice.'' She thought.


    Lin Mu didn''t mind anyone else on the ship and simply flew off to find the registration office. It was rtively prominent and was thus easy for him to find.


    ''That''s a lot of people for sure¡­'' Lin Mu saw several lines of people waiting to get registered.


    It was a normal procedure and Lin Mu had seen it back in the Xiaofan world as well. Thus he didn''t mind going through a little paperwork.


    "Once you''re done, just find a ce where we can talk. I''ll appear there." Lin Mu heard the saintess''s voice in his ears making him a little surprised.


    ''How did she do that?'' Lin Mu wondered but soon figured it out. "So one can use wind like this too? I see¡­ furthering the reach of your voice by directing the winds¡­ smart." He muttered.


    Lin Mu felt like the more stayed with the Saintess the more he was getting to learn. And this wasn''t even intentional. It was merely a normal action and it was already helping him learn new concepts.


    Lin Mu stood in the line for a bit and it was soon his turn.


    ''At least they are rather efficient.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he came to stand in front of the desk.


    There were tens of simr desks lined up, with people working on them to register the travelers.


    "Name, origin, destination and transportation details." The officer at the desk said in a monotone voice


    "Mu Lin, from Eight Kingdom Alliance, Destination Temple of the Four Guardians, and I arrived on the Long Leaves Merchant Association''s ship." Lin Mu replied while handing over the wooden te that he had been given.


    The officer raised a brow at this though, finding it strange.


    "As far as I know the Long Leaves Merchant Association does not operate between the Huiqing continent and the Eight Kingdom alliance. This identity te also shows that their origin was from the Dao Wind Empire." The officer questioned. "Care to exin why?"


    "It wasn''t my original mode of transportation. It was actually a Teleportation array but I met an ident and was kicked out in the middle of the ocean." Lin Mu said repeating his original excuse.


    "Is that so?" the officer didn''t show any expression on his face simply writing down a few things in a register.

 Chapter 1398: Xukongs Acquaintance?

    Chapter 1398: Xukong''s Acquaintance?Lin Mu watched as the officer did his work, not expressing anything to him. They stood like this for a minute before the man finally spoke.


    "Alright, Mu Lin from the Eight Kingdom Alliance, First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, met an ident while using a teleportation array and is going to the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts." The officer narrated. "Is that all correct?" he asked.


    "Yes." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Alright. You are cleared." The officer inly said before looking behind Lin Mu, "Next!"


    Lin Mu kept a calm expression on his face, but knew that it was a little strange. ''They really let us in without the need for any other identity token¡­ that was easier than I thought.''


    "With the amount of people that pass by, there isn''t much they need to do. Besides, if there was someone truly dangerous there are already checks in ce to deal with it." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu''s mind.


    Lin Mu looked around and found that it was correct. There were several arrays and people watching over everything and most of the checks were actually automated.


    If the arrays didn''t detect anything suspicious then there was little for them to worry about.


    ''So the registration was just a formality¡­ no wonder the man didn''t seem to care much.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While it all seemed pretty minor it was actually a part of arger section of the workings of the Rust Sky world. Lin Mu got to see how much more safety there was simply due to there being high leveled arrays around.


    It also made Lin Mu a lot more aware about what he needed to pay attention too. There were arrays hidden all around in cities and he would have to be a lot more careful with them around.


    "Let''s find a ce to stay and also get some news. I''mcking on that aspect too¡­" Lin Mu asked around and was quickly directed to one of the many streets that were filled with inns and taverns.


    With the sheer number of people arriving everyday there was nock of them and a lot of foot traffic could be seen around. Lin Mu randomly picked one of the establishments that was a bit calmer and walked in.


    "Wee customer, what would you like to have? Or do you wish for a room to stay in?" The clerk at the desk asked.


    "Are there private rooms avable?" Lin Mu asked.


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    "Of course. All our rooms are protected by isting formations and also reinforced with Dark Iron Wood." The clerk replied. "Or if sir prefers something even more private, we can currently offer you a private courtyard as well." He added after taking a second look at Lin Mu.


    "How much are the prices for both?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Our normal rooms are one mid grade immortal stone for each day while the private courtyard is about ten mid Grade immortal stones per day." The clerk answered.


    "I''ll take the private courtyard then. Just for a day now, though I might extendter." Lin Mu said before handing out the immortal stones.


    With the massive amount of immortal stones that Elder Niji and Lanbao had given him, Lin Mu could be said to be rather rich. And while he would be fine with a normal room too, Lin Mu didn''t think it would be appropriate with the Saintess there.


    Plus Lin Mu wanted there to be an extra level or privacy since he had the twin snakes involved.


    "Thank you sir, pleasee with me I''ll show you to the courtyard." The clerk quickly brought him to the back of the building which opened up into a rather vastpound.


    In thepound a garden could be seen and at the end of the garden there was the courtyard. It was decentlyrge and actually looked a bit luxurious too.


    "This courtyard is usually used by our owner or his guests but it just happened to be empty, thus you can use it. You can expect for find plenty of amenities inside and if you need anything you can simply call the servants through the formation inside.


    Also let me know if you would like to have food or any drinks. We have a fine assortment of immortal wines that have freshly arrived." The clerk exined.


    Lin Mu simply nodded and didn''t ask for anything. All he wanted now was to talk to the Saintess and learn more about the snakes.


    ~CREAK~


    ~THUD~


    The door opened up automatically and Lin Mu simply walked in before letting his immortal sense cover the entire ce. He looked through the arrays and ensured that everything was fine before calling for the Saintess.


    "Are you here Saintess?" Lin Mu asked openly.


    ~SHUA~


    A few meters from him, he felt the air flicker before it parted, revealing the Saintess. Her methods were impressive to Lin Mu as he knew that she had managed to evade his sense with ease too.


    "We should sit for this." The Saintess said walking into the main building.


    Lin Mu took a seat opposite to her and released the twins from his sleeves. They were still in a trance like state and seemed to be cultivating too.


    "The Insignia will allow them to breakthrough quickly. It is best if they reach the immortal realm as soon as possible." The Saintess said.


    "How do you know all this Saintess? And why are you looking for them?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I¡­ am the Saintess of the Serpent Moon Sect. And I''m out looking for them since they are part of our Seven Ancestral Serpents. They are sacred to us and we have been waiting for their return for millions of years." The Saintess replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu found it to be unknown to him. But then he heard another voice in his head.


    "The Serpent Moon Sect¡­ so it''s her¡­" Xukong spoke in recognition.


    "You know it senior?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "You can say that¡­ the sect''s founder and I can be considered acquaintances."

 Chapter 1399: The Seven Ancestral Serpents

    Chapter 1399: The Seven Ancestral SerpentsThis was the first time Lin Mu had heard of an acquaintance of Xukong.


    Lin Mu knew that Xukong''s status was high and so was his cultivation base. There weren''t many that couldpare to him, as even the Saintess was suppressed by him. Thus it only made him wonder who could the acquaintance of Xukong be like.


    After all, if they could be Xukong''s acquaintance, they would be on his level too. Or at the very least, they would be close to it.


    "An acquaintance of yours senior? Then are they¡­ also like you?" Lin Mu questioned with great curiosity.


    "Mmhmm¡­ you can say that. The founder of the Serpent Moon Sect is also a beast like me¡­ just a different kind of beast." Xukong answered.


    "Then what about the sect? If the founder is on your level, just how strong is the sect?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "The Serpent Moon Sect is a great power and is known in billions of worlds. They have several Celestials and the number of immortals they have are simply too many.


    They also control several worlds and own them. Their own sect uses an entire as their base. And that is simply their main branch, they have several sub branches as well several subordinate sects." Xukong exined in detail.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu felt like his mind was being expanded.


    "Such a strong power and she¡­ is the Saintess of that sect? Above even the sect master?" Lin Mu was stunned. ''But despite being that strong, she is still suppressed by Senior Xukong¡­ truly amazing.'' He thought in marvel.


    But this was not the end of Lin Mu''s questions as he still had several more on his te.


    "Do you know about these Seven Ancestral Serpents, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned Xukong.


    "I do not. This is the internal information of the Serpent Moon Sect so you should just ask her instead." Xukong stated.


    "Alright senior." Lin Mu focused his attention on the Saintess back again.


    It hadn''t even been ten seconds since the Saintess had spoken, but that was more than enough for Lin Mu and Xukong to have an entire conversation.


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    "These Seven Ancestral Serpents¡­ so the twins are part of them too?" Lin Mu asked, wanting to know more.


    "Yes. You can say that they are the final two of the Seven Ancestral Serpents." The Saintess replied.


    "Then what are the other ones?" Lin Mu asked with interest. "Maybe I can help you?" he said knowing best way to obtain more information was the expression of goodwill.


    "Hmmm¡­ Other than the Yin Yang Twin Serpents, there is the Three wed Terra Python, The Million Venom Viper, The Nine Headed Nether Serpent, The Divine Light Heaven Serpent, and finally the Eternal Dream Serpent.


    These seven are our Ancestral Serpents and are sacred to us. It is our ancient goal to find all of them and is a directive that we have been pursuing for millions of years." The Saintess answered.


    Hearing all the names, Lin Mu was a little lost as he knew nothing about them. He had hoped that he might know a bit, but he knew nothing at all thus it as a little embarrassing for him to offer help.


    "I see¡­ I''m afraid I don''t know about them at all. So can you tell me about the Yin Yang Serpents first?" Lin Mu decided to take it one step at a time.


    "The Yin Yang Twin Serpents are special existences among the Seven Ancestral Serpents. To be honest I don''t know why they have appeared at all. This is not the time for them to appear." The Saintess started.


    "They aren''t supposed to appear? Did they have some specific time?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The Yin Yang Twin Serpents are said to be the final of the Seven Ancestral Serpents for a reason as they are only supposed to appear in the universe when the other five Ancestral Serpents have been born.


    And I''m sure that only one other Ancestral Serpent is in existence right now, the Three wed Terra Python which is with our sect." The Saintess exined.


    "There is such a thing too¡­ but since you said they are not in existence, how are they born?" Lin Mu asked, wondering if they arise from other snakes too.


    "Their bloodline are unique and only one of each can ever be in existence. Thus for them to be born several unique conditions have to be met. For example, in the case of the Yin Yang Twin Serpents when the other five have been born it would give rise to a special resonance.


    And when that happens, it will affect the entire universe. At that time if two snakes of the Yin and Yang dominion give birth, there is a very rare chance that the egg will turn into the egg of the twins.


    Like you already said, the Yin Yang Twin Serpent''s parents were a Fire Fang Snake and a ck Water snake. One is of the Yang Dominion due to being of the fire element and the other of the Yin being water elemental." The Saintess stated, her voice getting a little light.


    Lin Mu felt like she had a question for him now and anticipated it any second now.


    "Which is why¡­ I ask you how you managed to do hatch them? Even if an egg was formed by some miracle, it should never have hatched." The Saintess finally questioned.


    "You, are right on some level. When I got the egg, it was a in looking Grey egg. It didn''t show much activity and did not hatch for many years." Lin Mu spoke. "But that was until I discovered something¡­ the Grey egg could absorb Yin and Yang Qi.


    And when it did that, it would grow in vitality. I could feel it developing more and more. Thus I simply sought out more source of that and fed it to the egg." Lin Mu answered keeping the effect of the Beast Qi secret for now.


    Hearing this the Saintess furrowed her brows under the veil.


    ''Were the records wrong? But how could that be¡­ Mother made them herself¡­ What could make the very principles of the Ancestral Serpents change?'' The Saintess was lost as well.


    To her Lin Mu seemed more and more of an enigma now. He simply had too many surprising things and from what she could tell, he had not idea about the level of miracle he had done by letting the Yin Yang Twin Serpents be born.


    ''While the Ancestral Serpents are almost equally strong, the Yin Yang Twin Serpents are still at the top among them. At least when they are fully grown¡­ for now they are still too weak.'' The Saintess gazed at the twins that were still in a trance.


    She was brought out of her thoughts when Lin Mu spoke again.


    "So since you are collecting the Seven Ancestral Serpents, do you want them too?" Lin Mu questioned feeling a bit heavy.


    He knew if she wanted to take them away, there was nothing he could do. Even with them being tamed beast, he couldn''t go against strength that was quite literally at the pinnacle of a higher world.


    "I do¡­ our sect''s directivesmand that the Seven Ancestral Serpents be returned to the sect. You might not know, but each of the serpents are enough to reach the peak of Celestials and even higher.


    There aren''t many powers that know about them, but those that do know of them are old powers existing since old times. If they learn about the seven ancestral serpents reappearing, they will do everything in their power to get rid of them.


    In ancient times, the Seven Ancestral Serpents had shocked the heavens and suppressed millions of worlds." The Saintess answered.


    Hearing this Lin Mu''s heart got heavier.


    ''It might be futile, but I can''t just give them up.'' Lin Mu decided.


    "I''m sorry but I can''t give them to you. They are my tamed beasts and I have raised them." Lin Mu stated firmly.


    He was fully expecting the Saintess to be offended, but much to his surprise she showed no reaction.


    "That''s the thing. You have already tamed them, which has never been done before. The bloodline of the Seven Ancestral Serpents is very domineering and no one should be able to tame them.


    And yet¡­ you''ve done that." The Saintess spoke calmly.


    "Then, what are you going to do." Lin Mu asked.


    "I do not know how to resolve this." The Saintess shook her head. "You having them will bring trouble to you as well. There will be someone that will eventually recognize them. And it will be very dangerous." She warned.


    "I''ll deal with them when ites to that." Lin Mu said without fear. "What kind of a cultivator would I be if I cower in front of threats that haven''t even arrived?" he stated.


    "I see¡­ no wonder you are worthy of his tutge." The Saintess muttered.

 Chapter 1400: The Saintesss Conditions

    Chapter 1400: The Saintess''s ConditionsLin Mu''s courage was taken positively by the Saintess.


    While she had seen many brave cultivators, the ones who faced great threats despite knowing them were very few. It only made her want to see just how far Lin Mu could go. Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    ''But that alone is not enough¡­'' The Saintess thought while looking at Lin Mu. "I shall be apanying you from now." She stated.


    "Apany me?" Lin Mu was a bit taken aback.


    To him it didn''t seem normal for a woman of her status to be going around with him.


    "Why?" he asked.


    "Since you have already tamed the Yin Yang Twin Serpents, I cannot take them away from you but I still have a duty to fulfill. Ideally I would like to take you to the Serpent Moon Sect right away, but the Celestial Court will be a bother.


    It might bring more attention to the Ancestral Serpents instead." The Saintess replied.


    Her words did seem reasonable to Lin Mu.


    "Even if you did intend to bring me away, I cannot go. I have some things I have to do first." Lin Mu stated as well.


    "What is it that you want to do? Visit the Temple of the Four Guardians?" The Saintess questioned.


    "That''s one part but my main goal is something else¡­ there is something that has been taken from me. And I¡­ need to get it back." Lin Mu said a hint of desire appearing in his eyes.


    This didn''t escape the Saintess''s senses and she knew that this was the same desire she had seen before.


    ''It''s suppressed but its still there¡­ it truly is his main goal.'' The Saintess concluded.


    "Will you still follow me despite that?" Lin Mu inquired knowing that this was not fully her obligation.


    "I will yes. That is not something that can be questioned. No harm can evere to the Yin Yang Twin Serpents until they mature." The Saintess stated firmly.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    This was an advantage for him too as having a peak Celestial expert was more than enough anyone could ask for.


    "Though I have several conditions of my own too." The Saintess stated. "With my station, there are several restrictions on my actions. Technically I''m not supposed to be on this world either. If it is found out, I will have to leave most likely.


    I also won''t interfere in your conflicts unless it is beyond a certain point." The Saintess stated.


    "I''m fine with that. I also wish to be independent and battle on my own. If I don''t I won''t improve." Lin Mu replied.


    This was something Lin Mu truly wished for. He didn''t even take direct help from Xukong either and would only take some information when he was lost. Additionally if he had someone looking after himself all the time, it would not be good for his own growth too.


    Having stated their conditions, Lin Mu felt like the situation was now good. They had a basic understanding of each other and knew where their baseline was as well.


    "So where will you be heading now?" The Saintess asked.


    "My first goal is to go to the Holy Topaz Continent." Lin Mu replied. "So I''ll need to get to a teleportation array that crosses continents." He added.


    "Alright, then. When are you going to leave?" The Saintess asked.


    "I want to buy a few things here and then we can leave tomorrow. I also want to gather some information." Lin Mu answered.


    "Very well, you can go ahead. I''ll be here." The Saintess let Lin Mu go on his own.


    She didn''t need much effort to monitor the Yin Yang Twin Serpents either and thus could let Lin Mu go around. He didn''t wait for long and simply went to the city.


    With the amount of taverns and inns around, it didn''t take him long to find the information pavilion. There were many of them here due to this being a port and all of them sold information at various prices.


    "Wee sir! What kind of information are you looking for? Unique beasts? Fortunate encounters? Secret Inheritances? We got everything." The clerk standing at the entrance greeted Lin Mu very enthusiastically.


    "I want a set of information about all the continents, their powers, and I want maps too." Lin Mu quickly stated.


    "Ah! So sir wants ourprehensive intelligence set." The clerk smiled widely knowing that he hadted a big customer. "Our Comprehensive intelligence sect costs ten mid grade immortal stones and I assure you it will satisfy¡ª"


    "I''ll take it." Lin Mu didn''t mind the price and simply handed over the stones before the clerk could even finish his pitch.


    "Uh¡­ Of course sir!" The clerk quickly adjusted and went to get what Lin Mu had asked for.


    In just a minute, Lin Mu was handed a jade slip filled with all the information that he would need.


    "Now let''s take a look." Lin Mu scanned through the information, finding there to be quite literally a library''s worth of information in it.


    ''Hmm, the closest Transcontinental Teleportation array is in the Capital city of this province. It is located a week away too.'' Lin Mu now knew his destination.


    But this wasn''t all that Lin Mu looked for as he also wanted a certain type of resources. With that in mind, Lin Mu went to a shop that specialized in selling cultivation resources such as immortal herbs, immortal pills, immortal fruits and more.


    It was arge building located in the business district of the port city and there were hundreds of people going in and out of it. And when Lin Mu stepped into the building, he saw even more people.


    "Now then where are all the spirit herbs being sold?" Lin Mu looked at the many counters that were set up in a square manner.


    There he soon spotted a counter at which a distracted looking man was sitting. His eyes lookedzy and a hint of boredom could also be felt from him.

 Chapter 1401: Falling Luxuries

    Chapter 1401: Falling LuxuriesThe counter was empty and there were no customers standing there unlike the many other counters. This was the counter that sold spirit herbs and there seemed to be no one buying them.


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    ''Guess with the massive number of immortals here, spirit herbs aren''t as useful for them.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    ~step~step~


    Lin Mu came to stand in front of the counter, making the man rouse from his drowsy state.


    "Ah! A customer!" the man stood up with surprise. "What do you want sir?" the man asked enthusiastically.


    ''Finally someone willing to buy. I thought I would never fulfill the quota.'' The man thought.


    "I need a catalog of all wood elemental spirit herbs that you might have." Lin Mu inquired.


    Hearing this the man took a look at Lin Mu again, finding him to be an immortal too.


    ''Doesn''t matter, its good as long as he buys.'' The clerk thought and quickly took out a small te.


    ~clink~


    He tapped on it and several runes appeared in the air. The runes turned into a screen that showed several lists of items.


    "Here are all the wood elemental spirit herbs we have, sir. If you buy in bulk, we also offer discount." The man stated.


    Lin Mu looked through the wood spirit herbs and found them to be rtively cheap.


    ''Aren''t these herbs considered really rare in the Xiaofan world? Here they are selling for the same price as mid level herbs.'' Lin Mu saw another big difference between a mortal world and a peak level immortal world.


    They were at different standards and even herbs as rare as these were not being sold.


    ''Still, all these will be pretty good for Little Shrubby.'' Lin Mu decided his order.


    "I''ll take all of these." Lin Mu pointed out several of the high level herbs that were rare.


    "All of them?" the clerk asked for confirmation.


    "Yes, all of them." Lin Mu confirmed.


    Upon hearing this the man beamed with a wide smile. ''This is enough for theing four months of quota!''


    "It''ll get the ready right away sir, please wait here. I''ll let someone to serve you some tea." The clerk almost sprinted away with joy, making Lin Mu raise a brow.


    "That was a little weird¡­" Lin Mu said before sitting down.


    A minuteter a servant arrived to serve Lin Mu tea.


    The scent of the tea was quite good and Lin Mu could sense the spirit qi emanating from it as well.


    ''Even the basic serving tea is of a high quality. Spirit tea like this would sell for quite a lot. This is the same has consuming an elixir.'' Lin Mu was starting to see the luxuries of his past world falling to basics.


    He continued to enjoy the tea while listening to the conversations of the people. There were easily over a hundred immortals in the shop right now and all of them were here to buy different things.


    In all this though, Lin Mu picked on some interesting conversations.


    "Did the Crown Prince of Dao Wind Empire really return?"


    "Yeah, wasn''t he cultivating in the Immortal court? Why did he return?"


    "Who knows, but he''s brought several people with him too. All of them seem to be people of high status as they are all eligible to practice in the Immortal court."


    "That''s nothing, I heard that they are going to the Tournament of the Four Guardian beastster too."


    "Will they be participating too? If they do then the winners are already decided."


    "Mmhmm, the crown prince is rumored to be at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm."


    Lin Mu was interested because of the mention of the tournament but didn''t expect to hear such information.


    ''The crown prince of the Dao Wind Empire¡­ it''s thergest one on Rust Sky world and the Emperor is said to be the strongest expert too.'' Lin Mu had seen information about him in the jade slip.


    And another thing that made him curious was the fact that the crown prince had been practicing in the immortal court too. Lin Mu had been offered a position there by the Saintess, thus he knew that it was a big matter to have that.


    "Also, have you heard about the Trash Prince?"


    "What Trash Prince?"


    "The supposed eleventh prince of the Holy Topaz Empire. He has apparently be domineering after a breakthrough. He broke through from the Immortal Ascension realm directly to the Second Tribtion stage of the immortal realm in one go.


    Then he went and fought two Fourth Tribtion stage experts at the same time and won. I think it won''t be long before we''ll hear about another Immortal Court candidate." This part of the conversation was quite interesting to Lin Mu.


    ''A trash prince that would breakthrough suddenly? And that too from the Holy Topaz Empire¡­'' Lin Mu took note.


    He looked through the jade slip to learn more about the Holy Topaz Empire and soon found quite a bit.


    ''Hmm¡­ the Holy Topaz Empire worships their ancestor and the ranking in the royal family is also based on their bloodline. Those who are able to awaken the Holy Topaz Bloodline are considered as the top level members.


    The eleventh prince in question was unofficially called trash since his meridians were mutated and he umted a lot of pill toxins. Additionally


    due to the mutated meridians, the royal family considers him to have an impure bloodline.'' Lin Mu read all the present information.


    He could see that the intelligence in the jade slip did not have thetest information about the Eleventh Prince.


    "This must be a very recent thing then¡­" Lin Mu found it a little strange.


    While he didn''t know what kind of person the eleventh prince was, his domineering rise showed that he was now exacting revenge against those who had suppressed him before.


    Lin Mu continued to listen to the conversations and about fifteen minutes passed like that. It was at this point that the clerk finally returned with a pouch.

 Chapter 1402: A Mistaken Scheme

    Chapter 1402: A Mistaken Scheme"Here you go, sir. This is all the herbs you have asked for. You can check yourself." The Clerk handed the small pouch to Lin Mu.


    The clerk looked to be quite eager and Lin Mu found it to be strange even now.


    ''Is it just the normal procedure or is this man just too eager?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Still, he took the small pouch from the man. And the moment he held it, he found it to be different.


    ''Mm? This is a strange way to make a spatial storage treasure¡­'' Lin Mu sensed the spatial storage pouch to have a new type of a spatial array on it.


    It seemed to be normal at first, but if one looked at the stabilization sub formation, they would realize that it was really weak. But at the same time, it had an obfuscating formation added to it. This was highly unusual for a spatial storage tool to have, and Lin Mu hadn''t seen any.


    ''Why would they add an obfuscation formation and increase their ownplexity? It would be a lot easier to just put a better stabilization array in here.'' Lin Mu was confused.


    Even if the storage tool was meant for fooling someone with inferior goods, they weren''t doing it well enough. Usually one did this to save costs, but in this case it was increasing the cost.


    ''The runes also seem to be rather fresh¡­ as if they were just inscribed.'' Lin Mu looked deeper and found more peculiarities.


    This rmed him a bit and made him think that he might be getting scammed.


    ''The preservation formations¡­ are they bad? Or is there an illusory formation added to make the herbs look better?'' Lin Mu had several concerns popping up in his mind.


    His expression changed too and he looked at the clerk with a straight face.


    ~Shiver~


    At that moment, the clerk felt like he was facing a mountain as the aura of Lin Mu spiked in a unique way. It was only contained within a few meters of him, but it was enough to pressure the clerk.


    The man was actually an Immortal Realm cultivator too, but only at the First Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm. One could tell from this just what kind of status an organization like this held to employ a first tribtion stage Immortal realm expert for the post of a basic clerk that had no work.


    But even if Lin Mu was at the same stage as the man, the pressure he felt was on an entirely different level.


    "S-sir¡­ Please¡­ Sir¡­" The man stuttered trying to ask Lin Mu to stop.


    Internally, the man was also getting really confused.


    ''Why hasn''t the security acted? No customer can act with hostility and not be stopped.'' The Clerk thought at first, but then a few secondster his eyes went wide.


    ''No¡­ that only applies to guests at a certain level¡­ DAMMIT! I knew something was wrong! He isn''t just a first tribtion stage expert. He must be offended somehow.'' The Clerk thought to himself.


    Lin Mu continued to gaze at him with a silent look, only making the man feel more pressured. Thissted for just a minute, but it felt like an hour to the clerk.


    And when it ended, he felt a great relief.


    At the same time though, he heard Lin Mu speak.


    "Why does this Spatial Storage Pouch have a passive copsing function?" Lin Mu questioned in a firm voice.


    "W-what?" The Clerk said in a baffled tone. ''Why would someone of his status ask that?'' he wondered.


    "The pouch, why is it made to copse after a few days?" Lin Mu asked again.


    "That!?" the Clerk felt like Lin Mu''s question was absurd.


    Even Lin Mu could sense it in the clerk''s tone and knew that his question had made the man think again about him.


    "Just¡­ Tell me." Lin Mu stated again.


    ''Someone of his status should know it but I''ll just have to cooperate anyways.'' Fearing for his life, the Clerk decided to speak ording to Lin Mu''s wishes.


    "M-My lord¡­ the Spatial Storage pouches offered to our customers have the highest privacy protection functions. This is made to ensure that your goods cannot be stolen and others cannot take them for themselves after being obtained." The man answered.


    "Mmm? So it''s mean to keep away thieves?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Y-yes¡­ well for several reasons. I hope that the lord does not test me more and understands it all." The Clerk tried to plead.


    After hearing this, Lin Mu truly calmed down. The feature that he had thought was meant to scam him was in fact amon feature for deals like this.


    Since many immortals didn''t like showing others what they obtained, they would make uses of pouches like these since they left no traces of what was contained in them originally.


    This was also why Lin Mu couldn''t fully sense it at the same time and needed to go through ityer byyer.


    But in reality, the array that was present on the pouch was nothing malicious, it was just amon feature that many people liked. With there being mostly immortals buying stuff, the spatial storage tools weren''t that precious to them.


    Especially the ones that were given to customers like this. They were meant to beplimentary and they could very well make them proper spatial storage tools.


    But as immortals, most would be concerned about this and would be hesitant in trusting tools that were given to them by other people. Because of this, a cautious practice of making self erasing spatial storage tools was developed.


    This made it so that they had absolute privacy in buying things and at the same time, they could not get their goods stolen.


    It was amon concern that people would rob the customers of resource pavilions, but the use of such spatial tools made it so that anyone else using them would make the tool copse.


    This would end up with them losing the items that were kept inside, thereby defeating the original goal.


    Having heard of all this, Lin Mu felt a little embarrassed.


    But he knew showing it on his face would be detrimental to his image, thus he simply kept a straight face.


    He fully withdrew the pressure he had put on the clerk and let the man rx.


    "T-thank you my lord." The Clerk quickly said while lowering this head.


    The other people and customers hadn''t noticed this since it was a rather ignored area, plus Lin Mu hadn''t outwardly expressed his hostility either.


    Normally, ces like these had arrays that could sense hostility and high fluctuations of energies. But in Lin Mu''s case none of them arise at all.


    Even if it were another immortal standing and watching them, there would be no reaction. As the way Lin Mu experted pressure was intrinsically different than others.


    He was simply using his Dao Embryo to do it, thus there were no obvious signs.


    It was the best way to pressure others while giving no clues to the foes. Plus after grasping it, Lin Mu wanted to use it more and more so that he could gets proficient in it.


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    He knew that after a progressed more in it, he would be able to have a breakthrough in his own skill level and it would improve the skill''s power too.


    Even if he had gained the new Spatial Dao Embryo, the Four Faceted Embryo, there was no way he could forget nurturing the Earth Dao Embryo , True Earth Heart as well.


    "My lord¡­ forgive me if I''ve offended you in any way. But I assure you that I am not trying to trick you in any way. Our Resources pavilion would never do something like that andpromise our image.


    If you wish to have a proper spatial storage tool, we''ll be d to provide you one for no extra charge." The clerk quickly offered.


    At this point, the concept of ''Customer is always right'' applied. And the Clerk wanted nothing more than to cate Lin Mu.


    "Fine." Lin Mu said calmly.


    "Yes sir!" the clerk immediately went to get the spatial storage tool.


    Lin Mu truly didn''t need one, but at this point it was more about keeping up appearances.


    ~sigh~


    "I should have been more reserved." Lin Mu sighed to himself.


    "It is fine, you were just being careful. Besides, with the demonstration you''ve shown the clerk, he won''t question you either.


    In fact, if you try to apologize after this, they will find it very suspicious. This is something you will simply need to experience and learn in an Immortal world." Xukong exined to Lin Mu.


    He thought over this and found it to be reasonable. Thus not wanting to waste anymore time, he simply took the new spatial Storage tool he was gifted and left the pavilion.


    ~Phew~


    "He''s finally gone¡­ I thought I was a goner too¡­" The Clerk thanked his fate.

 Chapter 1403: A Shivering Gaze

    Chapter 1403: A Shivering GazeAfter having obtained the spirit herbs, Lin Mu just took a stroll around the city. He listened to their conversations and learned more about the situation in the Huiqing empire.


    There were a lot of things that were not mentioned in theprehensive intelligence set he had bought after all. It was mostly the concrete information about the things that would not change for a long time.


    For the most recent news though he would have to depend on the people to learn more.


    And he did learn a lot too.


    From mundane things such as which restaurant was having the best dishes, to which poet ranked the highest in the rankings and earned the pleasure of the nobles and to which genius performed the best in recent days.


    It was safe to say, that the little walk Lin Mu did enlighten him about the current situation of the Huiqing continent. It even got him the news of some fortunate encounters that were opening up in the area nearby.


    Lin Mu actually felt like it was worth taking a look, but didn''t know which one to pick simply because there were so many of them around.


    ''Just a single fortunate encounter was incredibly rare in my original world and now there are several of them being talked about like they are just somemon goods being sold on the street.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With the number of people speaking, there was a lot of information being thrown around but to Lin Mu it was easy to sort through. He took note of them since he didn''t know about what was being spoken about and was intending to look at itter.


    But while walking, he was suddenly stopped by Xukong.


    "Lin Mu, halt." Xukong spoke.


    "Huh? Is there a problem senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Did you hear that person talk about the Spiral ke Crystal" Xukong asked.


    "Yes, is it something important?" Lin Mu was now alert and focused on a person.


    "A Spiral ke Crystal is something that will be quite useful to you in training your Spatial Dao. It is one of the rare materials that are of dual elements.


    The Spiral ke Crystal belongs to the Ice as well as Spatial element. Most people use it has a material for special preserving tools, but there are other uses for it as well.


    You should get it." Xukong exined.


    The moment Lin Mu heard that the material had to do with the Spatial Dao and would be of help to him, he was already convinced.


    "I''ll look into it right away." Lin Mu turned into an alley before using phase to sink into the ground.


    He moved under the ce where the person talking about the Spiral ke Crystal was located which was a rtively small tavern. There were not many people in it, and it also looked oldpared to most of the other buildings.


    "When do you think the shipment will arrive?" A man dressed in a warrior''s armor questioned. He held arge mug of liquor and had an Axe strapped to his side.


    "I''m sure that it is already here. They are simply trying to make people more desperate so that the sale would be higher." Another person that looked like a merchant replied. He had satchel strapped to his side and had no weapons on him.


    "Bah! Those damned smugglers. It''s stolen good and they are still trying to peddle it at an inted price? Do they not think the authorities will act?" the warrior looking man scoffed.


    "As long as they grease the right palms they will be ignored." The merchant looking man replied.


    ~thud~


    The warrior mmed his mug on the table before standing up. "Let''s go,"


    "Go where?" The merchant asked.


    "To get the Spiral ke Crystal of course. If we just take it from them, not like they canin to others." The warrior replied with a smug smile.


    Hearing this the merchant also smiled, "that''ll be perfect. I also have the right customers for it." He too stood up.


    The two men walked out of the tavern and made their way to a distant area in the city. Just by looking around, one could tell that this area wasn''t a good one and the people here looked to be simr too.


    The buildings looked shady and had covered windows, while there were some that didn''t have windows at all. One could also see a few beggars lying around. But even these beggars were cultivators.


    Then there were a few that wore cors on their necks. The cors had several fine runes carved on them and one could tell that these people were ves.


    But the surprising part was none of the ves looked haggard or weak. In fact all of them were strong cultivators and were decked in immortal tools.


    Lin Mu who was observing everything from the ground was finding it strange. ''Are they ve warriors? Bodyguards perhaps?'' He thought.


    These ves were walking behind their owners and were stronger than them too. Lin Mu also realized that all the owners of the ves were young cultivators and were dressed richly too.


    As Lin Mu continued following the two men, he realized that the ves and their owners were also going on the same path. They passed one building after the other, until they finally reached what looked like arge warehouse.


    And at the top one could see arge name board that read, ck Candle Pavilion.


    "Huh, so this is the ck Candle Pavilion? It''s located in such an area?" Lin Mu actually recognized the name as it was part of the intelligence set he had obtained.


    The ck Candle Pavilion was technically a legitimate business and had branches all over the Rust Sky world. This particr one seemed to belong to the city he was in.


    But while it was legitimate on the surface, there were a lot of shady deals going on in the underbelly.


    It was even rumored that the ck Candle Pavilion had several links with Unorthodox sects in other worlds.


    One could even call the ck Candle Pavilion one of the top powers of the Rust Sky world when one considered its scope.


    "Looks like I''ll need to change my tactic here." Lin Mu parted from the two men and surfaced at a secluded location nearby.


    He couldn''t enter the pavilion without being detected as there were tons of arrays set up around it.


    ''It''ll also be risky to act with all the immortals inside.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. "Time to take out the mask again." N?velDrama.Org copyrighted ? content.


    The mask was the same spirit tool that he had used in Xiaofan world, but he knew it wouldn''t be that effective here. There were immortals with immortal sense, and if they wanted to peek at him, they could do so forcefully.


    Though Lin Mu knew, they wouldn''t do this unless a conflict arose. But keeping his face hidden would still provide him enough time to escape.


    "Buying it outright is also an option, but that''ll bring more attention to me." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He made his way back to the pavilion and followed the other people who were entering it.


    Thankfully there was no need to talk, or verify anything and thus he was granted entry quite quickly.


    "This way to the auction hall," A worker guided them to the area.


    The ck Candle Pavilion had several services and had an auction house within their pavilion as well.


    Lin Mu looked around and saw that there were several other people wearing masks as well. A few even wore masks that were Immortal tools and could fully conceal their aura and cultivation base.


    ''If it was the Saintess, she would be able to do this without the need for any tool. The Dao of Air is quite versatile.'' Lin Mu felt interested in it too.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen, I wee you all to our auction today!" A loud voice was heard pulling Lin Mu''s attention.


    He saw a fat man dressed in borate robes standing at the dais.


    "I shall be your host today and will be introducing all our items for your pleasure." The fat man said with a wide smile on his face. "For our VIP guests, the booths are already prepared and the rest can simply find a seat in the hall." He gestured with his hands.


    The people started moving ording to their status and Lin Mu was going to find a seat in the general area as well.


    But just as he was about to move in, he felt a gaze on his back. It made him shiver faintly, and he felt alert.


    ''Danger!'' Lin Mu''s muscles tensed up while his immortal sense spread around while avoiding the people.


    He turned around quickly and was ready to escape at any moment.


    "Where do you think you are going?!" A firm voice called him out. "You do not belong there."

 Chapter 1404: Belong To The Indigo World Hegemony ?

    Chapter 1404: Belong To The Indigo World Hegemony ?Lin Mu''s nerves were stretched taught and he wondered just how he had been caught.


    ''No wait¡­ I haven''t even done anything. There should be nothing that could be the cause for this. Even the entry was open for everyone.'' Lin Mu started thinking rationally.


    And when he did he calmed down. Under the mask, his face straightened and his eyes glimmered with confidence. He looked at the person who had called him out, finding him to be a middle aged man dressed in the same type of clothes as the rest of the Staff.


    The only difference was that his chest had the motif of the ck Candle Pavilion and his cultivation base was also quite strong. Just from the pressure that Lin Mu had felt, he could tell the man was at least at the fifth or fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    He was part of the higher level staff of the ck Candle Pavilion as well.


    "What''s the issue?" Lin Mu said calmly.


    Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Why is someone of your status going to sit with the normal guests? The Indigo World Hegemony''s private suite is here." The man pointed to a specific room. "You are the only guest from Indigo World Hegemony today, so you''ll have the suite to yourself." He added.


    The man''s voice wasn''t too low or too high, thus many people had looked over at that time.


    "Someone from the Indigo World Hegemony''s here too?"


    "Damn, just what would theye here for?"


    "I know right? They should have ess to better stuff through their own connections."


    "If someone like that is here, how will we even have a chance to win something. They''ll just outbid everyone."


    "Outbidding? Do you think others will bid once they see him bid? No one will want to offend the Indigo World hegemony like that."


    Hearing this, Lin Mu had several questions pop up in his mind.


    ''Indigo World Hegemony? What? How am I a part of them?'' Lin Mu couldn''t figure it out.


    "I don''t know either." Xukong said as well.


    Lin Mu thought over it for a few seconds before deciding to just ask the man. He had done nothing, so he just wanted to see what could give rise to such a misunderstanding.


    Besides it seemed like this identity might be of help to him. He thus followed the man to the private suite and discovered that it actually had a formation screen that showed the scene of the auction inside.


    ''Good and private¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    "If you want to bid you can just say it and the array will respond ordingly. You can also chose to get something directly at a buyout price if you so wish to do. The catalog of today''s items is avable through the screen as well." The man exined.


    Lin Mu quickly understood it all and nodded his head.


    "And if you need anything else, you can contact us with the te on the seat. We have several ''services'' avable if you so desire." The man added. "Is there anything else you want to inquire?" He questioned at the end.


    "Yes, I do." Lin Mu said in a in voice. "How did you know I am from the Indigo World Hegemony?"


    "There is no way I would not recognize the ring on your hand. If I didn''t I would be not be deserving of my position as the auction manager. Half of my work is knowing who''s who." The man revealed.


    ''The ring?'' Lin Mu raised a brow knowing that the man was talking about the second ring he had on his hand.


    It was the spatial storage ring he had obtained and had been repaired by Jing Wei in the past.


    "You might have disguised and changed the ring, but I can still recognize it." The auction manager chuckled.


    "I see¡­ I just wished to be a bit¡­ discreet." Lin Mu replied.


    "You do not need to worry much here. We shall not allow anything to happen to someone of the Indigo World Hegemony under our roof." The auction manager stated.


    "That''s good then." Lin Mu was pleasantly surprised. ''Looks like this Indigo World Hegemony is some really big power if the ck Candle Pavilion is being respectful like this.'' He reckoned.


    Lin Mu watched the man leave before sitting down. It was at this point that Xukong spoke again.


    "You do know what this means right?" Xukong questioned.


    "Yes¡­ the ring belonged to the man who brought the Invader to Xiaofan world. That¡­ Merchant. Now we know which power he belongs to." Lin Mu''s face darkened.


    He had not forgotten the tragedy that was caused by the Invader. And while he had taken revenge on Gu Yao and the Northern Tribes, it would still not bring back his parents or all those that had suffered.


    It also made him a bit more careful about the Indigo World Hegemony.


    ''If they can sneak in someone like that into the Xiaofan world and send the Shadow Gloom Bone lord as well, then who knows what else they can do.'' Lin Mu thought. ''Not to mention, they also had the Great Slumber Bear with them.''


    Just the fact that they could capture and bring around a Great Slumber Bear with them meant that their power was quite great. After all, while the bear that Lin Mu killed was a weakened juvenile its mother would still be around.


    A fully grown adult Great Slumber Bear was a beast that could even exceed the immortal realm. If someone could snatch a cub from it, that would mean they either killed it or managed to trick it somehow.


    But this also made Lin Mu confused as to how a mere Nascent soul realm cultivator had a strong beast like the Great Slumber bear in his grasp.


    ''It''s a shame that I only saw his skeleton. If he had an entire body left, I might have been able to nce at some clues.'' Lin Mu thought to himself before tapping the te on the armrest.

 Chapter 1405: Spiral Flake Crystal And Auction Catalog

    Chapter 1405: Spiral ke Crystal And Auction Catalog~shua~


    The formation screen lit up at Lin Mu''smand and the scene of the auction appeared.


    It had not started yet as more guests were still taking seats.


    ''May as well check the catalog for now.'' Lin Mu scrolled through the options and saw one for the item catalog.


    "That''s a lot of things¡­" Lin Mu could easily see over two hundred items on the screen.


    He picked one of them and it changed to show the details. On one side there was a picture and on the otherwise there was its description. The pricing was also shown at the bottom with there being 2 such prices.


    The first was the starting bid price and the second was the buyout price.


    "The buyout price is certainly quite high¡­" Lin Mu saw the difference between the starting bid and buyout price, finding it to be at least 20-30 times higher.


    This also varied from item to item, with unique items having a higher buyout price.


    "The pills and other such abundant materials have the lowest buyout price, but even then it''s ten times the first bid." Lin Mu muttered to himself. Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    Having understood this, Lin Mu decided to check on the price of the Spiral ke Crystal.


    "Here it is¡­ starting bid is four high grade immortal stones and the buyout price is¡­ 5000?!" Lin Mu eximed.


    That was the highest buyout price that he had seen so far. And looking at the position of the Spiral ke Crystal, Lin Mu realized that this might be the final item for the sale.


    "It is the prime attraction for today and for a good reason too. The Spiral ke Crystal is rare even in the Immortal realm." Xukong spoke.


    "Mmhmm¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head as he read the information about it on the side.


    The Spiral ke Crystals were formed in icy asteroids that were wandering out in the space. They would only form when such an asteroid passed through a spatial crack by some miracle and survived.


    Even then, it would need to absorb a lot of spatial energy to turn into a true Spiral ke Crystal. Its main use was to make Spatial storage tools that would be used to preserve very rare herbs and fruits.


    It could keep them fresh for quite literally thousands of years and was needed for some sensitive herbs as well.


    "Looks like I''ll have to pay quite a bit for this¡­ or just take it from the person who buys it." Lin Mu wondered how he should go about it.


    With the value of the item, he knew that the other buyers would be really guarded too. This made him confused as to how the other two men were going to steal it.


    ''They weren''t that strong either, just the second tribtion stage of the Immortal realm.'' Lin Mu remembered.


    He didn''t know if they were overconfident or were just bluffing. Regardless, Lin Mu knew he was not that different from them in terms of strength.


    "Wonder if there is anything for body cultivation." Lin Mu scrolled but didn''t find anything that could help him at his level. ''All these are body cultivation items that will only help below the Immortal realm.


    "Body cultivation isn''t mainstream now after all. It isn''t unusual for the higher ranked items to not be present." Xukong chimed in.


    "That''s true." With the difficulty that body cultivation had, there were few people that would follow it. And even if they did, they wouldn''t follow both body and qi cultivation at the same time.


    It would be too expensive and also time consuming.


    With the items that Lanbao and Elder Niji had provided him, Lin Mu didn''t actuallyck general cultivation resources. What hecked were specific ones needed for his techniques.


    He continued to look through the catalog and saw some interesting items. There were some cultivation techniques that were apparently found in some old tomb as well as ones that were obtained from a fallen sect.


    There were immortal weapons and immortal tools for sale as well. Lin Mu didn''t need any weapons as of now, but he did find an item that woulde in handy for him.


    "That mask is perfect recement for my current one." Lin Mu saw an Immortal tool that was in the form of a mask.


    Its price was also rtively low and he shouldn''t have a hard time buying it.


    As he continued to scroll, Lin Mu realized that the majority of items were things that could be sold in bulk or manufactured in bulk too.


    "Fifty percent of the items are alchemical pills and twenty percent are¡­ formations?" Lin Mu was surprised by thest part.


    The formations in this case weren''t instructions but rather per-made formations that could be deployed quickly. They were either in the form of a talisman, a formation te or a formation g.


    For example, there was a formation called as the Diamond Mountain Talisman that was used as a defense. There were three version of it avable for sale, the Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman, the lesser Diamond Mountain Talisman and the great Diamond Mountain talisman.


    The Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman could defend against a Dao Shell realm cultivator and there were literally a stack of a hundred avable for about a single low grade immortal stone.


    The lesser version could defend against the attack of an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator and cost about 10 Low Grade immortal stones for 100 talismans.


    Then there was the great version of the talisman which was worth about 10 low grade immortal stones. But it was only for a single talisman and could defend against a False Immortal.


    While they seemed a bit weak for Lin Mu''s level, one must not forget that these were still being sold at a high markup. After all, the materials needed for the talisman were nothing but just a normal formation stone.


    What made it valuable was theplexity of it. Thus as long as one had the skill, they could make hundreds of them at once.

 Chapter 1406: The Auction Starts And A Familiar Person

    Chapter 1406: The Auction Starts And A Familiar PersonLin Mu didn''t know who had made the talismans, but he could see that they were all made by the same person as all of them had the same signatures on them.


    This proved to the people that the talisman was made by a qualified formation master and would not be unstable.


    ''Considering they sell for such a high cost, perhaps I should look into them too. If they need less resources I might start making them too.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Even if he did have a lot of fortune in the ring, he also knew that it was best to have a continuous source of ie. And formations might just be a good opportunity.


    Not only would he make money selling them, he would also be improving his own skill too. It was killing two birds with one stone and was the perfect option for him right now.


    The only question was that he would need to obtains few such lucrative formations.


    ''It would be best if I find some that need no specific resource¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And when he thought of this, he recalled something else.


    "Wait a second, didn''t the manger say that they have more services and items for sale other than the auction?" Lin Mu changed to a different section on the formation screen and saw a separate catalog.


    This catalog was divided into multiple sections as well, with there being pills, formation, cultivation techniques and weapons being sold just like a normal shop.


    The only difference was that this section had items that were regrly avable and didn''t need an auction to be sold. And among all these, Lin Mu found the exact thing he was looking for.


    "There it is¡­ The Formation manual for the Diamond Mountain Talisman." Lin Mu discovered.


    Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    It included all forms of the Diamond Mountain talisman, right from the minor grade all the way to the greater grade one''s that could even stop the attack of a Third Tribtion Stage Immortal expert.


    "Hmm, the cost isn''t actually that high¡­" Lin Mu read it to be just 200 mid grade immortal stones.


    While this might look high, one must not forget that this was aprehensive set of manuals and was given entirely at once.


    ''I''ll mark this, and take it before leaving.'' Lin Mu decided.


    At the very least, he''ll have a good formation to practice with.


    ~DENG~


    And just as he was looking at more formations he heard a gong being rung.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen! We shall nowmence our auction." The host of the auction announced.


    Lin Mu looked at the screen which had automatically switched to showing the scene of the auction.


    On it the fat host was talking out loud, his voice being amplified with his qi. The people sitting in the hall had a mixture of emotions, with some being excited, some depressed and some that were just disinterested.


    "For the first item, we shall start with one of our ssics." The Host spoke before gesturing to a cart that was brought to the front.


    The cloth was lifted from the cart and a root could be seen ced on a tter. The root was knotty and was about ten centimeters long. There were fine hair like smaller roots growing from it as well.


    It emanated a bitter feeling and a simrly bitter smell could be felting from it.


    "Bitter Burrow Root!" The people in the hall recognized immediately.


    "Not just that, look at the knots on it! They are at least two centimeters wide, too!"


    "The length is also decently long."


    The people in the hall were quickly to analyze the features of the Bitter Burrow Root.


    "Since all of you already know about it, I''ll just give a short introduction to the rest. This is a ten centimeter long Bitter Burrow Root. It is an immortal herb that is very well known for its detoxification properties and is sought but cannot be found.


    For ourtest offering, this Bitter Burrow Root was especially imported from the Dao Wind Empire!" The Host exined.


    The more the people heard the more they got excited. One could tell that this was an item that would have no issues selling and was always in demand.


    "Hmm¡­ Bitter Burrow Root is something that can neutralize a multitude of poisons and when refined into an alchemical pill with other herbs, it can even remove pill toxins.


    It certainly is something that most people would like to have in their ownership even if they didn''t need it." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    But admits this excitement, there were still a few people that were a little on the negative side.


    "How can we be sure that this is authentic Bitter Burrow Root?" Someone sitting in the front questioned.


    "Yeah, who know''s if someone has adulterated it to grow its size. Everyone knows that any Bitter burrow Root bigger than eight centimeter is a miraculous finding.


    Even if it came from the Dao Wind Continent, I cannot help but doubt its authenticity." Another person that seemed to be dressed in the robes of an alchemist stated.


    Lin Mu wondered if it was a bad move to antagonize the auction house like this, but much to his surprise the Host didn''t seem to be offended at all. Instead, he had a smile on his face.


    "Don''t worry respected customers, I can assure you that this is an authentic Bitter Burrow Root. And as for the verification, I have the person who had brought this here for sale.


    You might chose not to trust us, but you cannot do the same for this person." The Host replied with confidence.


    "And who is this person?" the people in the hall questioned.


    "For proving the authenticity of the Bitter Burrow Root we have the Young Miss of the Cong n herself!" The host answers before extending his hand towards a certain direction at the side of the room.


    ~Shua~


    Arge drapery was originally covering the side but it was soon lifted. And from it walked out a noblewomen dressed elegantly. She had confidence on her face and yet her body seemed to be saying otherwise.


    The more experienced cultivators in the hall could look through her facaded right away, but did not oust her. For they knew someone like her was way above their status.


    As for Lin Mu, he was also surprised. But for a different reason.


    It being the fact that he had actuallye along with this woman in the ship. She was the same noblewoman who had a lot of guards as well as three servant girls that were apanying her.


    "What''s she doing here?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    He had thought that she should be under great protection and was traveling to some other ce. But not it seemed like her destination was this.


    ''She doesn''t have any of her people with her though¡­ strange.'' Lin Mu thought.


    From the way they had acted before, he was sure that she would be a flower in a greenhouse. But now seeing her in a ce like this, made Lin Mu''s view of her change.


    The young woman of the Cong n stepped forward before cupping her hands high above her head.


    "Everyone, I thank you all for attending this auction today." The woman said while taking a look around.


    Her appearance was certainly beautiful and brought her quite a lot of attention. Most of the men sitting in the hall couldn''t look away and were quite likely to be attracted to her.


    "I swear upon the name of the Cong n that this Bitter Burrow Root is truly authentic. If it is not, may by n perish in the mes of retribution!" The Young woman stated with great confidence.


    ~HUM~


    And the moment she did this, everyone could feel arge presence descending on the area.


    ''She took a Heavenly Oath? She definitely has guts to do it like this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And oath that was taken on behalf of one''s n was even more severe as breaking it would mean that they would harm not just themselves but also the n.


    Of course, there were several restrictions on this such as the fact that the person would need the authority of running a n in the first ce. And from the Young woman''s voice, Lin Mu was sure that she was not at that point.


    "She hasn''t even reached the minimum cultivation base to reach that level." Lin Mu understood.


    But at the same time, he was surprised by the fact that her n had given her an authority like this even if it might be temporary.


    "If it is the Cong n, then how can we not believe it?" the people quickly flipped their opinions.


    "Since everyone hase to an agreement, let''s start the bidding then.


    For the first item, we start at a humble cost of¡­ 500 Mid Grade Immortal stones!" The Host announced loudly.

 Chapter 1407 Rising Bids And VIP Privilege

    The start of the auction was rather explosive and the bidding began almost instantly.


    It was almost as if the 500 Mid Grade Immortal Stone cost of the Bitter burrow Root was almost nothing to the people here. Which was true since the value of the herbs wasn''t just because of the its properties.


    Rather it was because it could save one''s life in times of pinch.


    After all, even immortals could be killed by poisons and the pill toxins were something that even they could not resist. Anyone who used them would end up umting them, and the Bitter Burrow root could help resolve that.


    There was nock of people who were stuck at bottleneck simply because they had umted too many Pill Toxins. The Bitter Burrow Root could help them breakthrough by clearing that out.


    Thus no matter what angle one looked at it from, the bitter Burrow Root turned out to be a hit.


    "550 Mid Grade Immortal Stones!" A person at the front shouted.


    "600 Mid Grade Immortal Stones!" A woman at the very back shouted.


    680!


    750!


    900!


    1070!


    1200!


    The bidding war ensued and the cost of the Bitter Burrow Root had clearly more than doubled its initial cost.


    The woman from the Cong n was pleased and a smile could be seen on her face. Lin Mu also sensed a lot of excitement from her and understood that she hade here just for this.


    ''Was she sent here officially on business, or was all of this just her?'' Lin Mu questioned, but didn''t mind it that much.


    No matter what the answer was, as long as his interests were not damaged he would be fine.


    "Still, for it to reach this price this quick¡­ it won''t be long till it reaches its buyout value too¡­" Lin Mu realized.


    He checked the buyout value, finding it to be about 5000 Mid Grade Immortal stones. While it was not a big amount to Lin Mu right now, it was still quite a lot to most people.


    Once the value reached this level, it would be a lot more smarter to just give up on the item or buy it outright. But for that to happen, the right people needed the right amount of funds.


    Most were trying to conserve their funds in the first ce after all. The less they spent the better chances of them being able to buy other goods. They weren''t here for just one item after all.


    The bidding war continued for about two minutes before finally, the Buyout price had been reached.


    "5000 Mid Grade Immortal Stones!" Someone sitting in the middle row shouted with great pressure.


    "Ah! The buyout price has now been reached. Will anyone else dare to bid higher?" The host questioned while looking around the hall.


    The number of people willing to bid had dwindled to just a handful and even they were quite disinterested since the cost had reached 5000 Mid Grade Immortal Stones!


    "Bah! Paying 5000 Mid Grade Immortal Stones for a Bitter Burrow Root is too much."


    "They simply can''t stand it, can''t they? We got price gougers here."


    The people were now starting toin.


    "Any takers? 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ SOLD!" The host dered.


    And with that deration, the first item of the auction was finally sold. The person who had brought this item seemed to be quite pleased too and were almost flying in happiness.


    "5000¡­ it really reached 5000 Mid Grade Immortal Stones¡­" The woman from the Cong n muttered in excitement.


    To her this was the best opportunity that had been offered to her in a long time. As one of the many younger members of her n, Cong Shui was a ambitious. She had long since wanted to prove herself useful to the n, but had never been given the opportunity.


    Her Cong n was actually a rtively decent n of the Dao Wind Empire and had a lot of reputation and powers that sold Immortal herbs. Their n had special methods to grow them as well as the exclusive rights to some herbs.


    They also knew how to find rare Immortal herbs that could not be found otherwise. The Bitter burrow root was also one of the immortal herbs that could not be cultivated.<sub> </sub>


    It could only be found, and one needed to employ arge tract of an area to house it. Then there was always the chance that the Bitter Burrow Root might disappear or not grow much.


    This was the reason why the herbs was so hard to find and whenever it was, it would be sold almost immediately.


    "Miss Cong, pleasee with me. I''ll take you to the VIP area, for your continual viewing." One of the people called out to her.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "When will the payment be given?" Cong Shui asked anxiously.


    To her the 5000 Mid Grade Immortal Stones were arge amount. After all, as the one to present this to the ck Candle Pavilion and sessful selling it, she would be getting arge share too.


    Out of the 5000 Mid Grade Immortal Stones, she would get to keep about 3000 Mid Grade Immortal Stones for herself. That was arge amount for her who had an allowance of just 100 Mid Grade Immortal Stones.


    With this, she would be able to get a lot more items and perhaps sell them for an even more profit. With all this in mind she couldn''t help to get her hands them.


    "The payment will be given to you after the auction ends, but you can still use it as a credit if you wish to buy something." The clerk replied.


    "That''s fine then, I''ll just wait in the VIP section." Cong Shui said not wanting to spend the amount.


    ''Though it might be good to wait and watch too. Who knows what else might turn up in the auction?'' Cong Shui thought to herself.


    She followed the man to a VIP Suit that was co-incidentally next to the one that Lin Mu was in.


    "Oh? This is the VIP section for the Indigo World Hegemony?" Cong Shui was surprised seeing the light on the door glowing.


    This glowing light showed that it was current upied and one should watch out when entering one. Of course, for rooms like these, there were always precautions to prevent others from entering, but it was still a bit rude to barge in even in a locked room.


    It would be the same as banging on a door after all and could be quite offensive.


    She had not seen Lin Mu arrive and neither had she seen him being brought to the suit, thus it was surprising for her to see the VIP suit active.


    "Yes, a respected member of the Indigo World Hegemony is currently in our presence. He was even brought to his suit by the manager of our ck Candle Pavilion.'' The worker exined.


    Hearing this the woman couldn''t help but feel amazed.


    She knew that in this city, the strongest people were none other than the floor manager of the ck Candle Pavilion, thus he bringing a guest to their room was considered very respectful.


    Cong Shui had heard about the Indigo World Hegemony before and knew that they were an even greater existence than the ck Candle Pavilion. Their reach was in the entire Immortal realm and was even said to extend beyond that into distant worlds.


    Meeting one of their members could be a great fortune as well as bad luck. After all there was no telling what kind of a person they would be like. There were always people with a short temper.


    Those kinds of people were hard to handle and Cong Shui with her current cultivation base could certainly not handle them.


    "May I know who they are?" Cong Shui asked carefully.


    "Even we do not know and we did not ask. But if you wait till the end of the auction there is a chance that you might get to meet them." The worker suggested.


    "Alright." Cong Shui was now even more interested in waiting till the end.


    ~CREAK~


    The door of her suit opened and she went inside.


    Lin Mu in the other suit had no idea that someone had gained an interest in him and were now waiting for him.


    He was simply focused on the auction as more and more items were sold off. Other than the first item that took a while to be sold due to the constant bidding, the others were sold rather quickly.


    This was especially for those that were in the VIP suits as they had ess to the catalog. It was a privilege that was not offered to themon guests and only VIP had it.


    It made the others not being able to predict and save for the better itemster.


    This allowed the ck Candle Pavilion to make some extra profit which was always wee.


    Time passed and it was finally the turn of the Spiral ke Crystal.

 Chapter 1408 Playing The Auction

    Lin Mu got to see hundreds of items getting sold in the auction which allowed him to get an idea of the demand there was for things like this.


    It also got him more aware about the methods of people in the Rust Sky world. They certainly had deep pockets, but their problems were also the same as those in the mortal worlds.


    They wanted to breakthrough and were stuck; there were even some that were sick or poisoned or some that just wanted to gain more skills. Lin Mu felt like no matter where he went in the universe, these problems would never change.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    ''These are the constants of cultivation and can only be ovee by reaching the very peak¡­ but is immortality truly the peak?'' Lin Mu wondered to himself often about this.


    ~HONG~


    The sound of the gong brought him out of his thoughts as he saw the people beginning the bidding for the final item.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen! For our final item, we have a very special material¡­ I''m sure some of you already know about it, but now I''ll confirm it for sure." The host started to entice the people and gestured for the servants to wheel in the next cart.


    "The item is none other than¡­ A Spiral ke Crystal!" The host announced loudly.


    "It really is a Spiral ke Crystal!"


    "See! I told you my information was urate! You now owe me three mid grade Immortal stones!"


    "We have to get this! The next years immortal herb harvest will be good if we can make a good preserving spatial storage tool."


    The people in the hall talked loudly and were very excited. To them, the Spiral ke Crystal was a long term investment. The normal resources like herbs and pills were consumable and would run out once they used them.


    But the Spiral ke Crystal was different. If they made a spatial storage tool from it, it could serve them for thousands of years toe. This was specially important for those powers who were involved in the cultivation of immortal herbs, fruits as well as alchemical pills.


    Just the addition of this Spiral ke Crystal would help them increase their production greatly and allow them to make better quality pills.


    Not to mention, if they had no use for it themselves, they could still obtain it and rent it out to others for a good passive ie.


    No matter the person all of them wanted the Spiral ke Crystal for themselves. It was the same case for Lin Mu too, but in his case he wanted it for an entirely different reason. It was a use that others didn''t even know of.


    "Bidding for the Spiral ke Crystal shall start from¡­. Four High Grade Immortal Stones!" The host announced.


    "WHAT THE HELL!"


    "We can''t even begin to bid for this¡­" Over half of the people in the hall felt the pinch.


    It was an amount they simply could not afford with the savings they had.


    One might think that Four High Grade Immortal stones were the same as Four hundred Mid grade stones, but it was not the same exactly. While the amount of Immortal qi in each subsequent immortal stone grade rose by a level of 100, there was also the factor of rarity.


    After all, in an average immortal stone mine, only 10% of the total immortal stones might be of the high grade. Thus, their supply was always low.


    For most of the times, trading was done in mid grade immortal stones and high grade immortal stones were limited to either personal use, or refinement of other things.<sub> </sub>


    The peak grade immortal stones were even more distant, being used very sparingly and often used as a tactical resource. It was rare for them to be used as currency and even if they were, it was in for very high level items such as peak grade immortal weapons and such.


    "Eight high grade Immortal Stones!" A man sitting in themon area shouted first.


    "And here we have our first bid, directly doubling the starting bid!" The hostmented.


    "Twelve High grade immortal stone!"


    "Twenty five high grade Immortal Stones!"


    But the first man''s bid turned out to be useless the others started to double their bids one after the other. It didn''t take long for it to reach nearly a hundred high grade Immortal Stones.


    "One hundred high grade Immortal Stone! Anyone want to bid more?" The host asked, teasingly.


    He knew that there were many people itching to buy it and them more he could drive up the cost it would be better.


    "Three Hundred high grade Immortal Stones." After about ten seconds a price was thrown out.


    ~Gasps~


    The people in the hall were stunned after hearing a triple increase.


    "Who even is that?"


    "Tripling the prices? Are they insane?"


    This time it was the people in the VIP section that were taken aback.


    They had been bidding this entire time as well, but had only gotten the price to a hundred high grade immortal stones. But now it was directly 300 high grade Immortal Stones.


    This was arge amount even for them, especially since they had bought other items too. They needed to watch how much they spent or it was easy to go broke.


    "Tsk~ Tsk~ falling for something like this so easily." A woman sitting in one of the few VIP suits said.


    ~huu~


    She took a puff from the tobo pipe and blew out a long stream of smoke.


    She had a small mole under hear left eye and a long pipe was held in her hand. She was dressed in a pink and purple robe and seemed to be in her mid thirties.


    And yet, she evoked a feeling of absolute seduction. Her hair was tied in a half bun and the rest of it just fell on her back. There were no ornaments in her hair though, being tied by just a ck ribbon.


    Her nails were painted red and looked to be a bit long too.

 Chapter 1409 Rising Bids!

    The seductive woman watched as the Auction hall was sent into a tizzy by just one of her actions and rejoiced.


    "Ah~ it''s just fun watching plebeians squirm." The woman said with azy smile.


    There were two other people in the suite as well with one being a man and the other a woman.


    "Lady Kang, is this alright? Won''t the auction manager be displeased with such suppression?" The other woman asked.


    "Haha! The Auction manager? Is he even worth talking to. Simply by being in the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm does not guarantee that he can oppose me." Lady Kang chuckled not minding the words.


    "Lady Kang is right. Besides our Great Kang Pce is of an equal status as the ck Candle Pavilion." The man sitting on the side spoke calmly.


    "Mmhmm, If they dare to invite us to the Rust Sky world they have to bear the cost of me ying too¡­" Lady Kang said casually.


    "If you say so my Lady¡­" The woman sitting next to her replied meekly.


    "Let''s see who is willing to bid next." Lady Kang said while looking at the screen with amusement.


    For a minute, there were no bids, as if people were scared to speak. This was true on some level as the people in the VIP suits were often powerful and could not be messed with.


    If they bid and the people in the VIP section took it as an offense, they might just end up losing their livester. Thus they had to calcte everything properly, lest their decision brought about their doom.


    But then there was a bid.


    "Five Hundred High Grade Immortal stones." A new voice spoke.


    "WHOA!"


    "Five hundred High Grade Immortal stones! Who''s bidding that much?"


    "It came from the VIP section too."


    "It was from that room!" Someone in the hall pointed.


    "Oh? It''s the Indigo World Hegemony''s suite¡­"


    "Fuck, we should have expected this¡­" The people in the audience cursed.


    Even the people in the other VIP suites were a bit surprised by the price increase. They would have bid too soon, but the increase would be of just a few High Grade Immortal stones and not another two hundred High Grade Immortal stones.


    "I thought we just had one absurd person, but now we have two."


    "Tch, the people here have no bidding etiquette."


    The people in the VIP suites couldn''t help butin too.


    But two of these suits was surprised for different reasons.


    One of the rooms belonged to Cong Shui while the other belonged to Lady Kang.


    "The person from the Indigo World Hegemony truly is on another level¡­ he can bid such a high amount with ease." Cong Shui muttered in amazement.This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Her desire to meet such a person only increased more after this.


    As for Lady Kang, she had an amused expression on her face.


    "Hoho? There is actually someone that dares to bid like this." Lady Kang said feeling a bit pleased.


    She turned to the man on the side and spoke, "who was the one who bid?"<sub> </sub>


    The man simply looked through a small te on his wrist and saw a name on it.


    "The Indigo World Hegemony." The man informed.


    "The Indigo World Hegemony?!" The woman sitting next to Lady Kang eximed.


    Lady Kang furrowed her brows upon hearing this too and her amusement disappeared.


    "When did someone from that ce arrive?" Lady Kang questioned. "Don''t tell me they invited them too," she added.


    "No, mydy. The person from the Indigo World Hegemony arrived in disguise but was sensed by the auction manager. They haven''t invited them." The man answered.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s fine then." Lady Kang replied. "But if they had dared to invite both the Great Kang Pce and the Indigo World Hegemony together, I would not take it sitting down." A hint of anger appeared on Lady Kang''s face, making her seductive charm turn fierce.


    The woman sitting next to her gulped her saliva, knowing that theirdy''s enmity.


    "Mydy do you wish to¡­" The woman said in a low voice.


    "No¡­ let them be for now. I don''t think it is anyone we know." Lady Kang replied.


    The woman nodded and sat silently.


    "Do you wish to bid more?" The man asked next.


    "No¡­ I lost my mood now." Lady Kang said and took a puff from the tobo pipe.


    She then closed her eyes and simply rested, having lost interest in the auction entirely.


    Back in the hall, themotion had never stopped and they were still in shock about it all.


    "Hump! You think you are the only one who can afford it?" Someone in the VIP suite at the very end of the hall said out loud. "Eight Hundred High Grade Immortal stones." He dered.


    "IT HAPPENED AGAIN!"


    "Looks like we have big tycoons among us! AHAHAH!" The host was greatly pleased.


    "One thousand High Grade Immortal stones¡­" but the next bid took them by surprised.


    "And the gentlemen from Indigo World Hegemony does it again!" the host said with a wide smile.


    By now the normal people in the hall had given up and only stayed to watch the ensuing drama. They wanted to see who would be the final victor in it all.


    "You think you are the only rich guy here?" Someone shouted from another VIP suite. "1200 High Grade Immortal stones!" he stated.


    "GODDAMN! This is already worth a few high grade immortal weapons and tools." The people in the hall were feeling a rush of excitement.


    If before they were disappointed from the rising bid, now they were just intending to watch the entertainment.


    "1500 High Grade Immortal stones." Another big bid was thrown.


    "The indigo world hegemony again!" the people were now interested in just how high this would go.


    "1600 High Grade Immortal stones!" A VIP suite that had not bid so far also stated.


    "Another tycoon!"


    "2000 High Grade Immortal stones." The indigo world hegemony''s suite was now the center of everyone''s attention.

 Chapter 1410 End Of The Auction

    The bid of 2000 High Grade Immortal stones was enough to make even the auction manager of the ck Candle Pavilion stunned.


    ''We got this for about 500 High Grade Immortal stones since it was stolen¡­ I only expected a few hundred more, but now it is way beyond that¡­'' The Auction manager thought to himself.


    He gazed at the VIP suit where Lin Mu was and wondered if he should invite the man to a banquet.


    ''It wouldn''t be out of normal to invite him to the event either¡­ Though the Great Kang Pce''s people won''t take it kindly¡­'' The auction manager was in a small dilemma.


    None of this was known by Lin Mu though as he was nning something entirely different. His eyes were on the hall, and his immortal sense watched the other VIP suites as well.


    While the insides of the suites were masked, there were already people standing outside them. The VIPs wanted to see just who could be behind such high bids and allowed Lin Mu to get a look at them too.


    Lin Mu was watching just how far the others were willing to go to get the Spiral ke Crystal. He was watching their willingness to continue bidding and was adding on ordingly.


    While he did have the Immortal stones needed to buy the Spiral ke Crystal through bids, he wasn''t intending on doing that. Rather than that, he had always thought of stealing it from the buyer.


    It was stolen goods in the first ce so it didn''t matter much.


    The only issue was that he also knew that the party that bought it would resist it. While Lin Mu intended to never get caught, it was still better to be cautious.


    Thus one of the precautions he was intending to take was to drain as much of the free assets the buyer had. This would reduce their chances of recovery if they ever ended up fighting.


    Or at the very least, even if Lin Mu had to escape, he would continue running till the other party was exhausted.


    But the crux of this n relied on the others bidding. Lin Mu wondered if he had bid just a little too high before.


    ''Just a bit more¡­ one more and it''ll be fine¡­'' Lin Mu watched the people.


    For thirty seconds there was no sound, until finally¡­ someone spoke.


    ? "2100 high grade immortal stones!" A frustrated voice was heard.


    "Who bid that high?"


    "To increase it by 100 high grade immortal stones is still quiterge, especially considering it was already at 2000." The people in the hall looked for the source of the voice.


    "There! It came from the Saber Battle Union''s suite!" the people quickly found out.


    Lin Mu gazed in the direction too, finding two men standing outside the suite. But the one who had spoken wasn''t them, but the person inside.


    "This much should be fine right? I should have drained most of their funds¡­ but just who is this Saber Battle Union?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He looked through the intelligence jade slip he had obtained earlier and quickly found out about them.<sub> </sub>


    "Hmm¡­ so they are like a mercenarypany? Just that all their mercenaries are immortals." Lin Mu discovered that they were a mid level power in the Huiqing continent.


    While they might notpare to the ck Candle Pavilion in terms of status, they still had more than enough wealth to afford this. After all, they were arge mercenarypany that were hired by various powers to do their work.


    There were even times that they were given requests from the officials of the empire. While they might not be high ranked officials, just the requests alone showed that they had some level of approval from the administration of the Huiqing empire.


    "This is a good option. At the very least they are not rted to the official power of the Huiqing continent." Xukongmented.


    Lin Mu nodded in agreement. After all, if he had to pick between fighting and official power and a group of mercenaries he would pick thetter always.


    "Now all that I need to do is track them for a bit before finding a good opportunity to take the Spiral ke Crystal off them." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    With the help of his spatial perception, he could very easily sense the presence of the Spiral ke Crystal even if it was stored in another Spatial Storage too.


    In fact, Lin Mu was counting on that as stealing from a Spatial Storage tool would be a lot easier and the other party would not be able to tell exactly what happened.


    The only thing left for him was to wait for the auction to fully end.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu changed the screen and went to the section where the other services were offered.


    There he bought the entire set of Diamond Mountain Talisman''s form as well as a few other items that he found useful. These were either sets of information or just some more formations.


    Lin Mu intended on learning them and then selling them when he was good at them. At the very least, he would have a steady stream of ie.


    ''Choosing formations that are useful for nearly everyone is key to this¡­ only then will there be a constant demand for them.'' Lin Mu understood.


    ~DENG~This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    And just as he had finished ordering them, the sound of the gong was heard again.


    "And with this, we finish our auction for today!" The host of the auction announced.


    He looked at the faces of everyone with a smile, and continued.


    "All those that have won the bids for our items are invited to collect them from our staff after paying. As for the people in the VIP section, your items will be brought to you." The host stated.


    The people in the normal area quickly moved to get their items, knowing that loitering here would not do them any good. It was best to get away as soon as possible.

 Chapter 1411 An Invitation From Qiao De

    ~knock~knock~knock~


    Lin Mu heard someone knocking the the door of the suite.


    "Come in," he said, knowing who it might be.


    ~CREAK~


    "Honored guest has certainly helped the ck Candle Pavilion today." The Auction manager said with a smile on his face.


    Lin Mu had allowed them to make a profit of nearly four times on Spiral ke Crystal. Not just that, but it had also hyped up the auction itself, which would then act as good promotion for theing auctions.


    The auction manager could only imagine what the increase in profits would be for the next auction. Plus there was also the factor of someone of the Indigo World Hegemony being there.


    That alone would also bring higher prestige to their branch of the ck Candle Pavilion.


    Even if they were spread all over the Rust Sky world, the reputation of each branch was different. The better the reputation for each branch, the better their chances of having more customers as well as goods.


    "The auction manager visiting me himself? That''s an honor too, I would say." Lin Mu replied.


    "Ahaha, you surely know how to talk." The auction manager said before taking out a small bag.


    Lin Mu looked at the bag, finding it to be a Spatial storage tool. It was basically the same as the one he had gotten earlier and confirmed the fact that these weremon all over the world.


    "Here are the items you bought." The auction manager handed the bag to Lin Mu.


    He took a quick look through the bag, finding several jade slips in it as well as a mask. This was the mask that Lin Mu had seen earlier and was the only item he had won since there weren''t many people willing topete with him.


    Besides, it wasn''t like the mask was anything too important. It could be made by a immortal tool refiner if one really wanted one.


    "Mm, seems like everything is there." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "I have something more for you though, honored guest." The auction manager said.


    "Oh? What is it?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "I have an opportunity for you." The auction manager replied.


    "What kind of an opportunity?" Lin Mu was a little confused as to why he would be asked for this.


    "This is a very rare opportunity and will bring a great fortune to us." The auction manager stated.


    "Oh? If it really is like that, then why would you tell me? Wouldn''t it be best to keep it to yourselves?" Lin Mu questioned feeling suspicion.<sub> </sub>


    "Honored guest truly looks past the facades." The auction manager wasn''t offended.


    Instead he was pleased seeing that there was someone smart in front of him. If Lin Mu had epted right away he would have not liked it that much.


    "In the world of cultivation, being cautious is the least one can do. After all, what use is cultivation if one cannot even avoid basic dangers?" Lin Mu replied casually.


    "Honored guest speaks the truth." The auction manager nodded his head. "Today, I Qiao De can say that I''ve met a wise cultivator." The man revealed his name.


    Lin Mu knew the man was now trying to fish his name but he would not give in to him.


    "I won''t be saying my name if you want it... as you already know, I prefer some discreetness for now." Lin Mu stated.


    "That is no issue, honored guest." Qiao De shook his head. "All I want is for you to hear me first and then decide." He added.


    "Alright, tell me what this opportunity is." Lin Mu decided to hear out the man.


    "It''s like this... a few years ago one of our trusted sellers brought us some information. It was about a special ne that held great fortune. Of course, there is nock of such ces in our world and they pop up often, but this was was special." Qiao De started speaking. "This minor ne was said to be the personal treasure of a being above the immortal realm." He revealed.


    Upon hearing this, Lin Mu was finally interested.


    "A being above the immortal realm... A celestial''s treasure?" Lin Mu inquired in a low voice.


    "Ah! So honored guest is enlightened to the existence of celestials too." Qiao De was incredibly pleased. ''If he knows about the celestials, he is most certainly rted to the higher rankings of the Indigo World Hegemony...'' he thought.


    "I do know about them." Lin Mu simply nodded his head.


    "That''s good. Then Honored guest will know just how difficult it is to go beyond the Immortal realm. This is the main goal for us." Qiao De said with excitement. "We hope to find methods of breaking through to the Celestial Realm!"


    "Mm... but it''s not easy, is it? If not you wouldn''t be taking more people with you." Lin Mu was not as moved.


    To him, bing a celestial wasn''t a matter of how, but rather of when. With the guidance of Senior Xukong, there was basically no obstacle for him and since he followed the Primordial Path there was no need for a cultivation technique for him either.


    Plus there was also the Saintess that Lin Mu had met.


    If anything, she had already offered him a direct entry into the Immortal court and even her own sect which was a peak power of the Celestial World.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "What you said is correct honored guest." Qiao De nodded his head. "There is danger everywhere and traversing the ne will take a lot of expertise from various people. Which is why I''ve been gathering people who can help us reach the final goal." He exined.


    "I see... so how many have you gathered so far?" Lin Mu asked, not revealing his bias yet. ''Even if I don''t need the cultivation techniques, there are still other resources that mighte in handy."


    "I have gathered ten distinguished people who shall be embarking on this quest... if I include you." Qiao De shamelessly said.

 Chapter 1412 Postponing The Offer

    Qiao De''s offer was something that didn''t fully tempt Lin Mu, but he was certainly interested in knowing who will be joining them.


    "Who else ising along?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I''m afraid I cannot reveal that. Their identities are sensitive and if the news of their appearance spreads around, things will getplicated. But I can assure you that they are all strong.


    Our strongest member will be at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." Qiao De answered making Lin Mu furrow his brows.


    He was now even more reluctant to take the offer since he didn''t know the other people. Plus Lin Mu was now worried about getting into a conflict with the other members.


    After all there was no telling what might happen in a ce isted from the main world. They could do whatever they want and others will have a hard time finding out.


    "I''m afraid I have to reject you too then." Lin Mu shook shook his head. "I cannot work with people I do not know." He added.


    Qiao De''s expression tensed a bit, but he didn''t pester Lin Mu.


    "That is fine too." Qiao De didn''t force the matter. "But if you ever wish to join us, you can." The man said before handing Lin Mu a sealed letter.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu asked doubtfully.


    "The day we head out is actually still far ahead. So you will get time to think more. Our members still need time to gather, since some of them areing from other worlds, but once they do that letter will open on its own." Qiao De exined. "When it does, it is up to you to join us. The location for our meet up will appear on it as well." He added.


    Now this was something Lin Mu was fine with. He already had too many things to do as of now and didn''t want to dy them more. Plus the burning desire was something he needed to resolve as soon as possible.


    "Exactly how far is this meet up?" Lin Mu asked just in case.


    "It will take at least a year, or perhaps even longer." Qiao De replied.


    A year was not that of a long time for Lin Mu now. Especially since he had been in the Rust Sky world for over two years already now. Plus time was something he had plenty of. He quite literally had over eight thousand years of longevity left which was only going to increase more.


    "Very well then, I''ll decide when it is time. For now I have several things to attend to." Lin Mu epted the letter, storing it in the ring.


    "I shall look forward to our meeting then." Qiao De said before taking his leave.


    Lin Mu watched the man leave and once he was gone, he changed his mask.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu quickly branded the new mask with his immortal sense, making it his own. At the same time he got to learn about the mask''s functionality.<sub> </sub>


    It could hide his cultivation base by two stages while also suppressing his aura. And if someone tried to use their immortal sense to probe him, it would also fail unless they were more than three stages above him.


    But by that time, Lin Mu was sure of taking action.


    "Hmm¡­ this''lle in handy a lot." Lin Mu controlled the mask and let his cultivation be hidden by it.


    Now it looked like he was at the False Immortal realm.


    He could technically suppress it more, but doing that would bring some other unwanted issues. It was better to stay at the Immortal realm at the very least.


    Once he was done with that, Lin Mu left the room as well. Upon leaving though, he saw a man looking at him from one of the VIP suites.


    "Hmm¡­ strange." Lin Mu muttered since there was no one else looking at him right now.


    Most of the people had either left, or were in the process of getting their items from the workers.


    Lin Mu didn''t sense any threat from the man though and thought that he was just looking at him since he hade out from the suite of the Indigo World Hegemony.


    ''Didn''t think this ring woulde in handy like this¡­ though I don''t know if it will bring me trouble too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself before leaving. ''Now then¡­ where are the people from the Saber Battle Union?'' his immortal sense started searching.


    It didn''t take him long to find them as, they were a rather conspicuous group of people. They had bought quite a lot of items and their people were also in the process of gathering them.


    Lin Mu didn''t look at them for long though and simply mixed into the rest of the people. Having changed his mask, it would not be as obvious to tell he was from the Indigo World Hegemony''s suite.


    Plus there were plenty of people that were wearing different masks here. Even the people of the Saber Battle Union had people wearing masks. As for Lin Mu''s clothes, they were just simple ck robes and had no specific design on them.


    Lin Mu would have used Phase to hide underground, but in a ce like this it was still too conspicuous. Plus there was no telling if the people would sense the faint spatial fluctuations rising from it.


    ''At the very least there doesn''t seem to be anyone stronger than the Auction manager here¡­'' Lin Mu took note.


    He watched the people of the Saber Battle Union gather their items before they left.This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Hmm¡­ they seem extra frustrated.'' Lin Mu noticed.


    Once he was out of the ck Candle Pavilion, Lin Mu changed the route before sinking into the ground. It was better for him if he followed them from a distance for now.


    The strongest member in this group of Saber Battle Union was at the fourth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm, which was something Lin Mu would need to watch out for.

 Chapter 1413 Stealing The Spiral Flake Crystal

    Lin Mu was tailing the people of the Saber Battle union unaware that they had more goals than he had thought as he heard a few interesting things.


    "Are we going to do it or not?" One of the people of the Saber battle Union questioned.


    "Of course we will. Because of the Spiral ke Crystal''s we weren''t able to allocate enough funds. But we absolutely need to get the information about the Bitter Burrow Root''s cultivation method." Another person answered.


    "Do we have someone on that Cong n''s woman?"


    "I''ve sent two after them since the start. They''ll inform us in a bit."


    "What about us? Do you want to go after her too?"


    "No, we''ll head back first while the rest will take care of it. We just need to get the Spiral ke Crystal to the First Captain."


    Upon hearing all this, Lin Mu knew there was certainly something suspicious underway.


    "I need to get the Spiral ke Crystal first..." Lin Mu watched as the the group of Saber Battle Union was split in two.


    One group waited here, while the second group with the leader went ahead. This was the group that had the Spiral ke Crystal with them and Lin Mu followed after them.


    With his spatial perception active, Lin Mu could sense the presence of the Spiral ke Crystal on them. To him it looked like a piece of ice shining in the space.


    Others would not be able to see it if they didn''t have Spatial Perception that had reached Lin Mu''s level. To others, there was nothing existing there. After all, the Spiral ke Crystal was safely tucked away into the Spatial Storage Treasure.


    It was on the body of the man who looked to be the leader of the group. He was also the strongest member among them, being at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.


    ~huu~


    "This''ll be a new experience..." Lin Mu took a deep breath and chanted the Calming Heart Sutra to focus himself.


    He sped up and approached the man.


    ''There it is...'' Lin Mu could see the Spatial Storage Pouch hanging on the man''s waist.


    It was tied firmly and there was no way it could fall. And even if it did by some miracle, it wasn''t as if anyone could check the contents. The Spatial Storage Pouches had special features that would restrict the ess to the items inside.


    And if someone tried to forcefully open it, they would just end up triggering the self destruction formation and the items inside would be lost to the void.


    But these security features were useless against someone like Lin Mu, who didn''t need to tamper with the formation in the first ce. He was directly going to pull the Spiral ke Crystal from the minor void.


    With the support of the Calming Heart Sutra Lin Mu''s Spatial Perception worked at full potential and he could make out the Minor Void that was bound to the Spatial Storage Pouch.


    ''Mmm... it''srge enough to be essed from a few meters away. That''s good...'' Lin Mu felt a bit relived.


    If he had to steal it directly from the man''s waist, it was just a fight waiting to happen. But if there was no contact in the first ce, it would be hard to track anything.


    Lin Mu thus circled around the man, until he found a suitable ce to ess the Minor void from.<sub> </sub>


    The space inside the Spatial Storage Pouch was about twenty square meters wide and was enough to store quite a lot of things. But it also meant that it was connected to a space thatrge.


    If someone with Spatial perception saw this seen, they would see that the Minor Void was like a Sphere that was attached to the man carrying the pouch.


    The ce Lin Mu had chosen to burgle the Minor Void was about ten meters away. While it was not the maximum length at which the minor void could be touched, it was the best option for him.


    It couldn''t be too far or he might end up not being able to take the Spiral ke Crystal and it couldn''t be too close as he might get detected by the Saber Battle Union''s people.


    "Here goes nothing..." Lin Mu extended his hand as the ring hummed slightly.


    Its power was disyed as the space in front of Lin Mu started to trembled. Thankfully he was still underground so it could not be seen.


    ''Just a bit more...'' Lin Mu exerted more power as the immoral qi within his Dantian started draining.


    Thankfully it wasn''t that much as he wasn''t essing the lesser void, just the minor void.


    A few secondster the spatial fabric parted allowing Lin Mu to make contact with the Minor void!


    It felt like his hand was passing through different densities of cotton.


    ~HUALA~


    Finally, Lin Mu had full ess to the minor void.


    ''PERFECT!'' Lin Mu was pleased with the progress.


    He let his hand wander inside for a bit and soon found the Spiral ke Crystal. It was easy to find since it emitted a cold feeling and Lin Mu simply tracked it ording to it.


    And upon holding it, Lin Mu also felt a chill going down his arm. The Spiral ke Crystal was ice cold and even Lin Mu''s Golden Body could not resist the chill.


    ''It''s almost as if it can pierce through all barriers...'' Lin Mu found it to be unique.


    He started to realize why Xukong was insisting that he should obtain this item.


    ~SHUA~This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    But Lin Mu didn''t tarry there long, as he quickly sent the Spiral ke Crystal into his own ring and withdrew his arm.


    ~HUM~


    The spatial Fabric trembled again before starting to close. The ring had already stopped its control, allowing the space to mend itself. After ensuring that there was no signs of being detected, Lin Mu directly used Fade and entered the parallel world.


    ~Phew~


    "I did it..."

 Chapter 1414 To Safety

    Lin Mu looked around the parallel world finding it to be the same as it was before. There were no changes to it other than the fact that the topography was a bit different.


    But that was normal as it changed even in the Xiaofan lord and as long as one moved it would continue to change. Even Xukong had been unable to tell just what this ce was but Lin Mu didn''t mind it as long as he could make use of it.


    ~Phew~


    "This really is the safest ce for me¡­" Lin Mu leaned against a white and great rock.


    While the process had been quick for him, there was no doubt that it was quite nerve wracking. After all, he was stealing from a Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal while many more were present around.


    Forget them, if he was detected they could very well im theft and the city''s security would also act. This could even mean that he would catch the attention of the Sixth Tribtion Stage immortal that kept watch over the port.


    That expert was still in the air and didn''t seem to leave that ce, whether it be day or night.


    One might think that it was excessive, but for a sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal, going without sleep for a year or two was nothing. They would easily spend a couple hundred years in seclusion, thus this kind of work was normal to them.


    Lin Mu calmed his nerves for a few seconds before starting to move in the opposite direction from where they hade. He wanted to be as far as possible when reappearing, and if it was possible it would be better to be on the outskirts of the city too.


    After all, he''ll be causing some spatial disturbances when reappearing and there was always a chance that the others might detect him.


    Thankfully with his speed, it didn''t take him long to cross tens of kilometers in the brief time he had in Fade.


    While his skill was very powerful, it also came with its limits. Even in the Immortal world, its time limit was still 30 seconds and Lin Mu would be returned to the real world after that time.


    Though he could very well reactivate the skill and return to the Parallel world again.


    ~SHUA~


    Finally the time limit for Fade was reached and Lin Mu returned to the real world. As soon as he returned though, he used Blink several times in a row to get to a more secluded ce.


    Even if he had appeared in what looked like a back alley, it was best to not stay in an area where there would be traces of spatial disturbance left behind. At least this way it would make it harder for others to sense him.


    His Immortal sense was still fully extended though and he didn''t dare to lose focus even for a minute. He didn''t know when he would be targeted and it was best to be as cautious as possible.


    "Let''s take a look at the Spiral ke Crystal then¡­" Lin Mu peered into the ring.


    ? He didn''t want to take it out directly since there was a chance that the others would detect its reappearance. Lin Mu didn''t think that the powers of this world wouldn''t have a way to track the stole Spiral ke Crystals.


    Right now it was in his ring, and had been moved without reappearing in the Rust Sky world. Thus it wouldn''t leave an traces of disappearance. But if he withdrew it right now, there was a high chance for others to end up sensing it.<sub> </sub>


    Even if it was not now, it could still be sensed by the tracking skillster.


    But as along as it was in the ring, there was no one who would be able to check it. Xukong was the only one who had been able to see through the ring so far, and even that was only for a few aspects.


    The Void Weaver Spider was still unable to discover the origin of the ring, only estimating that it was an ancient artifact that had possiblye into being from an era long past.


    Though looking at the Spiral ke Crystal made Lin Mu find it a bit strange.


    The Crystal itself was irregrly shaped, but it had a pattern embedded inside it. The pattern was that of a snow ke that had spiraling rings joining its many branches.


    It emitted a coldness that could directly pierce through space and even Lin Mu''s physique couldn''t exactly block it.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''I''ll take a good time to study it once I''m away from here¡­ can''t take it out in the city.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "You can also analyze it in the Sleepscape, don''t forget." Xukong reminded. "You are going to help Little Shrubby there anyways."


    "Ah, of course!" Lin Mu nodded his head.


    All the things he had done so far had made him miss the most obvious and secretive option that he had with him the entire time.


    ''I''ll do that when I return. Though I wonder if the Saintess will mind it or not¡­'' Lin Mu didn''t forget that he now had another person apanying him.


    Lin Mu looked around and realized that he was in the very outskirts of the city. The houses here were empty and the streets were bare. There was no one around here and it looked like this part of the city had been abandoned a long time ago.


    "At least I''m in a secluded part of the area¡­" Lin Mu muttered and turned around.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But just as he was about to leave, he sensed something from the distance.


    "That aura¡­" Lin Mu felt someone familiar in the distance.


    A wave of aura had spread over the area before being dispelled forcefully. This made Lin Mu furrow his brows as a hint of danger appeared in his mind.


    He deliberated on whether it was worth taking a look or just returning to the Courtyard.


    A few secondster though, he made up his mind.

 Chapter 1415 Cong Shuis Despair

    ~CLANG~


    ~CLANG~


    ~DENG~


    The sound of weapons shing could be heard as multiple sword lights and imprints flew about.


    Swords shed, and sabers nged while fists could also be seen mixing in between. Fire and metal collided while water and blood sshed.


    This was the scene of a battle and several people were involved in it.


    "You really should not resist anymore, Miss of the Cong n." A warrior dressed in a leather armor spoke.


    He had an Axe in his hand, while blood was sttered around him. A chopped off leg could also be seen lying on his side.


    Some distance away from him stood a noble woman. Though right now her appearance looked less than noble.


    ~Spit~


    "You bastards think you can just get the core information of our n like that? You are all dreaming!" Cong Shui spat out some blood.


    Her robes were stained with blood while tears could be seen in the fabric. Her hair was a mess and an angry expression was present on her face.


    There were several people around her, three of whom were guards while two were servants. There were a few more guards, but they were now lying dead on the ground.


    "Hah! All that matters is that we get the information. Our Saber Battle Union does not care about your n at all. If not for the fact that your n is in another continent, we would have long since taken this." Another cultivator dressed in leather armor retorted.


    This man had a saber in his hand which was also stained with blood.


    "You!!! Don''t think that the Cong n will take this enmity lightly! You''ve killed the people of the Cong n, we shall have your heads for this!" Cong Shui shouted in fury.


    "AHAHAH! That''s the best joke I''ve heard in years." The man with the Axeughed. "Do you think, you''re even qualified to say all this with your cultivation base? We are clearly the superior power here."


    "Exactly. You are far from your home and unqualified to go against us. Just give up the information and we''ll let you live." The man with the saber spoke before shing out again.


    "Young Miss!" One of the guards jumped forward to block the blow but the sh cut into his chest.


    "ARGH!" the guard cried in pain and felt the attack prate his flesh.


    "Your defenses are too weak! What pathetic immortals, can''t even take a few shes from me." The man with the saber scoffed.


    "Guard Jujo!" Cong Shui said in panic.


    She had already lost half of her people and couldn''t bear to lose more. The more of them she lost, the lesser chance there was for her survival.


    But it wasn''t just that either, as these people were a lot more than that to her. They had apanied her since her childhood and were actually quite close to her. They were her sole guard and were assigned to her at birth.<sub> </sub>


    They had been trained ordingly and had protected her ever since.


    But now she had to watch them die one by one. As a protected noblewoman who had not traveled much before, taking on a mission like this was a big task. Even if it was difficult she had to do it, to prove her status.


    It was her ambition that had made her do this, but now she wasing to regret it.


    ''If I have to leave my closest people, then this ambition is not worth it¡­'' Cong Shui thought, while a new found anger rose in her heart.


    Deep down she knew, that the mission was a little too much for her. But she had decided to rely on her intelligence as well as the strength of her guards. But despite that she had still fallen in trouble and was unable to ovee it.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    ''I am too weak¡­ if I had a better cultivation base I would be able to go against them. At the very least we could escape them, but now¡­ this won''t be enough¡­'' Cong Shui regretted her choices.


    Unfortunately for her, there was no medicine for regret and time did not flow in reverse.


    She could only me herself for her faults now.


    Having thought of all this, Cong Shui made up her mind.


    Gritting her teeth, she gave out an order.


    "Sir Feiyu! I need you to escape right away. You need to inform the Cong n about this atrocity." Cong Shui stated.


    "I OBJECT!" the guard named Feiyu had defied orders for the first time in his life. "In good faith I cannot heed your orders, young miss. If I leave you behind, I would be viting the oath I made to you and to the n." He said with a strained voice.


    "Sir Feiyu¡­" Cong Shui was now at a loss.


    While she was attached to her personal attendants, so too were they to her. Sir Feiyu was her main guard and was also her teacher partly. He had taught her about cultivation while also protecting her for a long time.


    He hade from her mothers family and could even be considered her distant uncle. With all these thingsbined, it was evident as to why she would consider him the most precious.


    "Today I have lost the honor of the Cong n. If have allowed you to fall in danger and face this." Feiyu spoke from his heart. "Even if I have to die here today, I swear that I''ll allow you to live." He dered before raising his palm.


    ~THUD~


    But before he could do much, a loud smashing sound could be heard.


    "SIR FEIYU! NO!" Cong Shui shouted.


    "You really should pay more attention to your surrounding." A hammer wielding cultivator now stood where Feiyu was.


    "You all are wretches of the lowest kind! Such sneak attacks are cowardly!" Cong Shui shouted an rage.


    "So pathetic¡­ I won''t even bother to reply." The Axe wielding man said. "Capture her!"


    They approached Cong Shui while suppressing her other attendants. The noblewoman felt her world copse and despair filled her mind at this moment.

 Chapter 1416 From Despair To Salvation

    ''Why is fate like this?'' Cong Shui couldn''t help but question the heavens.


    For someone sheltered but ambitious as Cong Shui to face death was not unusual. But this was only in the eyes of all those that had seen it happen several times before.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    For Cong Shui who was experiencing it though, there was a lot to handle. Especially since she was helpless and could only wait for death to embrace her.


    ~ZING~


    At that moment, a red streak of light struck the man approaching her.


    "ARGH!"


    The red streak of light directly pierced through the man''s chest, burning it before exploding.


    ~BOOM~


    The man''s scream stopped at that moment as the top of his body was directly blown into minced meat.


    "WHAT!?"


    "WHO!?"


    The members of the Saber Battle Union were taken aback by the sudden death of theirpanion. Such a fast death was unexpected to them as the man was a Second Tribtion Stage immortal and had a lot of battle experience as well.


    He wasn''t like those sheltered nobles who had high cultivation base but little fighting experience. Instead they were itinerant cultivators who had suffered since the start ande out on top[ after a long struggle.


    Comparing the two kinds of people was simply not easy.


    And yet, one such person had perished from a single attack.


    ? The expert acting as the leader of the Saber Battle Union was the Axe wielding man. His cultivation base was at the Third Tribtion of the Immortal realm and could be considered decent in the Rust Sky world.


    ''Who attacked us?'' the man couldn''t figure it out.


    The attack hade too fast and was too powerful. And yet, it was not detected by any of them. An attack with such power contained within it would be hard to disguise after all.


    ~ZING~


    Another high pitched sound was heard before a another red streak was seen. Its speed was very high and one couldn''t tel what it exactly was, only appearing as a blurry streak.


    "No! Dodge it!"


    The Axe wielding leader shouted.


    ~HISS~


    The red streak ended up missing the chest of the target, but it still ended up in his foot.


    ~BOOM~


    Then in the next moment, it exploded!


    "ARGH! MY LEG!"


    The explosion was strong enough to fully destroy the man''s leg. Even his other leg was scorched from the mes and showed that their immortal qi defenses were not good to bear this.


    "Careful, this is Fire Elemental Immortal Qi!" One of the members recognized it finally.


    ~ZING~


    ~ZING~


    ~ZING~


    Unfortunately for them, recognizing it was of little use as three more read streaks descended from the sky. The first streak pierced into the shoulder of a Saber Battle Union member, taking half of his head in the explosion.


    The second streak missed entirely, but exploded in the middle of Cong Shui and the leader, forcing the leader back.


    Meanwhile the third streak struck the head of another member, killing him.


    The leader watched as his men fell one after the other, with him unable to do much.


    "WHO DARES! WHO DARES CHALLENGE THE SABER BATTLE UNION!?" The leader roared.


    ~ZING~ZING~


    But his words were only met with more attacks that he was forced to dodge.


    The red streaks kept on appearing, and after a minute, the leader was the only one left alive. All the other members had been killed in the barrage of attacks.


    The leader was certainly more experience and was using that to dodge the attacks. And when an explosion happened near him, he would defend using qi skill as a small shield would form around his body.


    "You can''t do it again! I now know how your attacks are! Come show yourself!" the leader shouted in anger.


    He had been blocking and dodging attacks for about a minute now and had grasped their trajectories.


    ''Dammit! If not for this being a surprise ambush, the others would have been able to survive too¡­ The Captain is going to be furious.'' The leader thought to himself.


    ~ZING~


    ~ZING~


    ~ZING~


    In response to his word, more red streaks appeared. There were nearly seven of them with some looking smaller than normal. The leader noticed this and couldn''t help but smirk.


    "Running out of juice, eh? I knew attacks of this level cannot be maintained for long." The leader realized that the attacker had gotten weaker.


    ~DENG~<sub> </sub>


    He summoned his defensive skill again, as a small shield made out of runes appeared. It blocked three of the red streaks and fully nullified the explosion as well.


    More streaks arrived but the man managed to dodge these ones.


    ~CLANG~


    But when the final streak stuck it, the leader felt an impact greater than ever.


    "What in the¡­" Before the man could react though, his shield changed.


    ~CRACK~


    A crack spread across the center of the rune shield showing that it could not bear the attack.


    "How!? This shield can defend against even a Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal''s attacks?!" The leader was confused.


    ~HONG~


    But it had not ended yet. He suddenly felt like the weight of the attack had multiple several times and it looked a little strange. The red streak had faded away leaving behind a stone construct.


    "An arrow?" the leader finally saw.


    He was sure that the red streaks he had seen before weren''t arrows but just qi constructs. They had no actual mass and wereposed of fire. But this was had an arrow hidden in the mes.


    ~CRACK~ CRACK~


    What was the most shocking part though was the fact that the arrow''s momentum had not stopped. Its weight was far greater than it should be and it was as if a hill had been condensed into a small arrow.


    "HAA!" the leader poured more immortal qi into his shield, trying to sustain it longer. ''I need to deflect this,''


    He let go of his Axe and used both of his hands to push on the shield, trying to turn it diagonally.


    ~SCREECH~


    The arrow scraped against the shield before being deflected to the side, just a couple meters away.


    ~SHATTER~


    ~TREMBLE~


    When the arrow hit the ground, it was directly pressed inward, forming a crater. The ground cracked and even shook, making Cong Shui and herpanions tremble a bit.


    ~gasp~


    "Just how heavy was that stone arrow?" Cong Shui couldn''t help but mutter in shock.


    "Haa¡­ HAA¡­ HAA¡­" The leader panted as he grasped the fact that he had narrowly escaped death. ''Even if that arrow didn''t kill me, it would have still stunned me long enough for another attack toe.''


    He turned to look at Cong Shui and knew that she was the crux of all this. ''I need to take her hostage!''


    "AAAAAAAA!" He lunged towards Cong Shui at that moment, the distance between them narrowing in an instant.


    Cong Shui watched with wide open eyes, knowing that the man wanted to take her hostage. She wasn''t stupid enough to realize that the attacks hade from someone that was trying to protecting her.


    "I¡­" before Cong Shui could say anything though, a new aura was felt.


    ~Woolongong~


    As if metal was ringing and swords were being drawn, a sharp aura spread over them.


    "This¡­ can''t be¡­" it made the leader freeze in his ce.


    It was a power that he had seen many times before, but very rarely was it like this. Cong Shui too had seen it before and knew what it meant.


    "Afternoon Pine," A voice was heard at that moment.


    It was filled with a sharp tone and felt like it could cut through iron with just words.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    "SWORD INTENT! SWORD INTENT THAT MANIFESTS!" The leader was now terrified.


    Everyone in the area saw three sword lights appearing from the distance. They were yellow in color and sword intent was infused into them as just looking at it would make one feel prickly.


    But then these sword lights morphed and dived into the ground.


    ~RUMBLE~


    And when they rose back up, three pine trees appeared!


    They were pine trees made out of sword intent and were fifty meters tall!


    The trees directly pierced the leader, tearing him apart. Each of the pine needles was like a small sword, severing his flesh while each branch was like a cavalry saber directly shopping of limbs.


    As for the trunk?


    It was like a great sword, that decapitated the man''s head!


    The man''s nascent soul was easily extinguished under the domination of the Sword Intent, leaving him no chance to revive. All his defensive treasures were destroyed as well, the power of the attack overwhelming the durability.


    Cong Shui and herpanions were left in awe as they didn''t know how all this had happened.


    Just five minutes ago, they were at the edge of death and now they had been brought back to safety.


    "Junior shall not forget this grace, Senior! Please grant us the fortune of meeting you!" Cong Shui hurriedly said.


    But all she saw was a masked man standing in the sky. He had appeared out of nothingness and held a double edged sword in one hand, while a bow floated behind him.

 Chapter 1417 No Need For Name

    Lin Mu''s appearance was awe inspiring for Cong Shui and the rest.


    Since he was wearing a mask that hid his face, they couldn''t recognize him. Cong Shui had no idea that the person she had missed meeting in the ck Candle Pavilion was none other than Lin Mu.


    While she knew that Lin Wu was also wearing a mask, the one that he was wearing now was a different one.


    ''Isn''t that the mask that was sold in the auction earlier?'' Cong Shui quickly identified.


    It made her question whether it was someone that was present in the auction helping her.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "I''m greatly thankful for your help senior!" Cong Shui decisively bowed her head while cupping her heard.


    "We thank the great senior for his help." Thepanions of Cong Shui said the same.


    They were supposed to be the ones protecting her and yet they had failed in it. And now someone else had stepped into that duty and sessfully fulfilled it.


    There was no doubt that their hearts were filled with shame. But at the same time, there was a mix of gratefulness and fear in there too. After all, they all knew what kind of person could kill so many people with ease.


    "Ugh!" it was at this moment that a pain filled grunt was heard.


    It made Cong Shui snap her head in attention as she recognize it instantly.


    "Sir Feiyu!" She rushed to the building where Feiyu had crashed into earlier.


    ~Crumble~


    Fragments fell from the wall as an injured man stumbled out of it. His face was bloodied and a long gash could be seen on his chest. The man had survived despite the damage he had sustained.


    "Are you okay Sir Feiyu!?" Cong Shui grasped the arm of the man, helping him stand.


    "Sir Feiyu!" the others also came rushing in to help their senior mostpanion.


    "I''m fine¡­ help me see the senior." Feiyu stated, finding it hard to keep his eyes open.


    "You need to take care of this injury first, sir Feiyu." The two surviving guards said.


    "It''s fine¡­ I have the healing pill." Cong Shui knew this was not a moment to be stingy and took out a pill bottle.


    The pill bottle was small and only had one green pill in it. The pill had fine drop like patterns on it while a crest was imprinted on its top.


    "Young miss, we cannot take this." The others said. "This is meant for you."


    "Nonsense! Sir Feiyu is the most injured and deserve it." Cong Shui didn''t take no for an answer and directly opened the pill bottle.


    "Miss¡­" seeing the bottle open, they knew there was no turning back.


    This was a special healing pill prepared by the Cong n and was rather sensitive to the environment. Once the cap was opened, the pill would start losing its efficacy and would be useless after a minute.


    ~sigh~<sub> </sub>


    "Thank you, Young miss." Feiyu quickly ate the pill and his bleeding stopped. "Now, I need to pay my respects¡­" the man walked forward.


    ~THUD~


    Then after a few meters he fell to the ground on his knees.


    "Let this servant pay his respects to the great senior. Today you have saved us in failing in our duties and also saved the Young miss''s life." Feiyu directly kowtowed.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    His forehead stuck the ground soundly, making a crisp noise.


    "The Cong n shall not forget this grace." Feiyu said with gratitude.


    Cong Shui also stepped towards Lin Mu, cupping her hands in respect again.


    "Senior, will you grace us with your name. My Cong n will be sure to reward you for this help you''ve provided us." Cong Shui requested humbly.


    They all watched Lin Mu with expectant eyes as he had not spoken for even a second. He just stood in the air calmly while his two weapons were with him.


    The remnant sword intent was still enough to alert the others and the bow had its own domineering aura as well. It wasn''t difficult for them to tell that both of the weapons were not simple.


    ''Two High Grade Immortal weapon on the border of reaching the peak grade and an expert with sword intent that can manifest. He also uses a bow at the same time as a sword¡­ just who is he?'' Cong Shui couldn''t help but wonder.


    To her, the cultivators that were able to form any kind of weapon intent were those that were dedicated to that weapon. But in the case of Lin Mu that was clearly not the case.


    He had sword intent, and even then his proficiency with the bow seemed to be rather good. Thebination of the two was unusual to them.


    It wasn''t that there weren''t experts who had formed two or more types of weapon intents, there were several that had aplished that. But this was usually for weapons of simr types.


    For example, a cultivator would have an easier time condensing Saber intent after they hadprehended Sword intent; or someone having spear intent would have an easier time doing the same for rod intent as well.


    But for weapons that were greatly different, for example bows and sword, it was almost never the case.


    After all, it took a long time toprehend any time of weapon intent and even longer to nurture it to the point where they could manifest it and use it with skills.


    The time spent on doing that again, could very well be spent on the original weapon, further deepening their proficiency with it.


    <o>,m Cong Shui and Guard Feiyu were sure that they were facing an unknown expert that had greatly hid his presence.</o>


    ''With his skills and using two weapons of different types, there is no way he wouldn''t be known.'' Feiyu thought to himself.


    For Lin Mu thought, none of this mattered.


    "It is fine¡­ you do not need to know my name."


    Lin Mu''s words were like cold water spilling on their heads.

 Chapter 1418 Just Because He Could

    Cong Shui and herpanions had thought that they would at least get to know his name after all that he had done for them. But now he was denying them even that. They felt sad that they couldn''t get it too.


    Cong Shui felt like she should say something, and was about to before Lin Mu spoke again.


    "And for a reward I don''t need anything from your n. I''ll just take the things from their corpses." Lin Mu stated.


    ~SHUA~


    Then in the next moment he disappeared from his location.


    "What?" Feiyu was stunned, and sensed Lin Mu appearing close by.


    He turned to the side and saw Lin Mu picking up the items from the dead bodies. But it wasn''t him picking up that stunned him, but rather the fact that his body kept in disappearing and reappearing at multiple spots.


    "How''s he that fast?" the other guards couldn''t help but mutter.


    But Feiyu knew that wasn''t something that was aplished by speed.


    ''Spatial skills? Heavens¡­ just what kind of an expert did wee across?'' Feiyu was absolutely shocked.


    Even in the Rust Sky world, the number of experts that had affinity to space were far and few in between. As for the number that could use spatial skills were many times rarer.


    And someone like Lin Mu who had sword intent, strong immortal weapons as well as spatial affinity was as rare as the feathers of a phoenix or the horns of a Qilin.


    Feiyu even wondered if they hade across some great heir of the empire.


    ''No¡­ even in all the empires their heirs do not have affinity to space.'' Feiyu recalled.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    If there was anyone with an affinity to space, there would be a lot of fanfare about it. After all, no empire would be able to resist gloating about their excellent heirs. It was a great matter of pride and respect!


    Considering this, Feiyu reckoned that Lin Mu might be from one of the ns and also a reclusive expert.


    ''For reclusive experts like those, it isn''t unusual to want to stay anonymous. He even wears a mask, so it does seem likely.'' Feiyu analyzed and got to a conclusion.


    By the time he was done thinking though, Lin Mu had collected all the spoils of his fight.


    ''This is a decent harvest. Eight Spatial storage tools and six immortal weapons along with several misceneous things.'' Lin Mu took a quick look at the items.


    He had almost forgotten just how profitable this method of ''harvesting'' was.


    ''It isn''t good to do it often though¡­ unless there is a concrete reason.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Senior¡­ is this really enough?" Cong Shui asked carefully.


    "Yes." Lin Mu replied inly.


    "But¡­ why would you save us?" Cong Shui asked the thing she was wondering about the entire time.


    Normally speaking, Lin Mu didn''t need to get into a conflict with the Saber Battle Union for them. Just watching as a bystander could also be considered normal when one was faced with stronger people.<sub> </sub>


    This was even more so for Lin Mu who had fought foes in their own territory.


    Cong Shui''s question resonated with the others too, making them wonder too.


    Lin Mu thought about the question for a few seconds before saying, "just because I could."


    ~SHUA~


    Having said that, he disappeared.


    Cong Shui and the rest started at the spot Lin Mu had stood just a few moments ago.


    "Just because he could¡­ Just because he could¡­" Cong Shui felt warm and awed at the same time.


    ''Isn''t this the kind of strength I''ve been yearning for? Being able to do whatever I want without others being able to stop me?'' Cong Shui felt a new found motivation in her mind.


    Before this she was ambitious, but it was a blurry ambition. She had a vague goal she was going towards, but it wasn''t enough to give her stability. It only made her wander until she found an ideal task to do that would help her status.


    But now, she knew what she had to do.


    "Getting stronger is the only key to sess¡­ I have to get stronger and repay senior one day." Cong Shui said to herself with determination.


    Feiyu saw his young miss getting motivated and felt touched. He could already see her rise in the future.


    ''Looks like the Cong n juniors will be having some toughpetition soon..'' Feiyu reckoned.


    Lin Mu had no idea that his casual words had such an impact on Cong Shui. To him, this battle was something that helped him test his skill against stronger opponents, while also helping someone.


    ''At first I thought she was like the nobles I''ve seenmonly. But she''s different¡­ she actually cares about the people lower than her.'' Lin Mu found Cong Shui to be a decent person.


    The battle had given Lin Mu a lot to think about too as he had finally gotten to use his new weapons practically.


    ''The bow is truly surprising¡­ Wonder Seeker has a lot more to show than it has so far¡­'' Lin Mu understood.


    It was highlypatible with other qi skills and could actuallybine them with its own skills to make a new fused skill.


    For example, Lin Mu had used the Searing Sparrow Darts Qi skill that he had made and used it with Wonder Seeker.


    The bow had responded automatically and adapted the qi skill, transforming them into arrows and even upgrading the spirit qi into Immortal qi!


    So far Lin Mu only had non-attribute immortal qi. He had not converted any of it into the elemental forms. But the bow could do it on its own, making it a lot more convenient for him.


    And this was just that start of it too.


    Wonder Seeker waspatible with Dao Skills as well!


    For example, thest arrow that Lin Mu had used to stun the leader was made from his True Earth heart''s ability to make stones and aspect of heaviness.

 Chapter 1419 The Saintesss Quick Observation

    The ability tobine multiple skills had made Lin Mu a lot more excited about Wonder Seeker than before.


    He was a bit unsure about how it would work out, but now that he knew the Immoral weapon could amodate most things, it was a pleasure to him.


    For example, the Qi skill he had made Searing Sparrow Darts was automatically adapted by the Wonder Seeker and turned into a ming arrow. The same was down with his True Earth Heart Dao embryo and it had been used to make a stone arrow too.


    The Stone arrow was imbued with the aspect of heaviness and made to turn heavy. It was how he had managed to stun his opponent, and now he would be using it to overwhelm more foes.


    He had made it so that the Scoring Sorrow Darts were used as the distracting and the Aspect of heaviness was the true trump card. It had made it possible for Lin Mu to defeat the group of Saber Battle Union people at once.


    Though he did wonder if it would have been possible with the other skills he had. After all, he had to restrict leftism from using the full extent of it. He had not used the Boulder copsing fist, and neither had he used the ring''s skill at the full level.


    Heck, he hadn''t even used his raw physical strength to fight.


    Lin Mu was basically trying to restrain himself and see how far he could go. Only by doing it would he know what his limits truly were.


    Honestly, with the cultivation he practiced and the multiple things he did at once, it had made it difficult for himself to estimate his expertise; at this point, the only method was to do it manically by himself.


    The added abilities his new immortal tools only made it that much more important to test it out. The mostplex thing was that they needed to be tested out on true opponent to be authenticated.


    For example, Afternoon Pine was an immortal tool that was of the Qi skill type. Its utilization''s depended on how strong the user''s Qi skill was and how proficient he was with it. Other than that, it was hard to truly assess how strong one was with the Qi skill.


    Lin Mu felt like he had learned in this brief time and it was the same for the loot he had obtained too. When he took a look through the spatial storage tools, he realized just how much of a profit he had made.


    "Mid and high grade immortal stones, as well as several alchemical pills and even a few Qi skills¡­." Lin Mu checked his gains.


    The items the Saber Battle union people had were limited, but it could also be attributed to their status.


    It made sense to keep a minimal amount of things with you if one was in a business that could influence their life. It applied even if they were mercenaries and were on a mission in the city.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu appeared ten kilometers away from the site of the incident and took a breath of relief.


    "It went a bit better than I had expected." Lin Mu said as he took out the spatial storage tools.


    He had obtained several of them and it was only normal to take a nce at all the spoils of wary. One might think that this was disgraceful, but in the world of Jianghu, there was little to care about stuff like this.


    Lin Mu ended up finding several things that were useful to him in cultivation, as well as a lot of associated information that had been hidden away from themoners. It allowed him to understand that even in the Immortal realm, there were many that didn''t prefer themoners reaching their level.


    This was why they exerted a soft power and prevented others from gaining any semnce of power in their efforts.


    Lin Mu though didn''t mind all this. To him, whoever went against him would be an enemy, unless they could resolve their difference.


    Done with all this, Lin Mu just decided to return to the courtyard he had rented.


    What he didn''t notice was the fact that there were actually more people watching him this entire time.


    "What do you think of this man?" one of the many people watching him spoke in a light voice.


    If Lin Mu heard this voice, he would find it familiar.


    This was because it belonged to none other than the people of the Great Kang Pce. About two kilometers from the site of the incident, a small group of people were standing. They were hidden under a Qi skill and could not be seen with the naked eyes.


    Even Lin Mu would only be able to tell them if he used some level of the Qi skill. If not for that, it was easy for them to blend in with the area nearby.


    "Miss, are you sure?" one of the workers of the pavilion responded.


    "Yes, just let it be for now. I wish to see how all these things progress." Lady Kang replied.


    To her, all this was just a value for a joke and she did not care for it much. Though it wasn''t that she was uninterested in men, the only thing was that she didn''t find someone that could fit her values.


    ''Still¡­ for him to reach this level, I can''t help but be interested in his rise.'' Lady Kang''s inner thought said.<sub> </sub>


    To her, this was also a type of an adventure, and the longer she spent in it, the better chances she would have to continue her work and learn more..


    Taking this opportunity, Lin Mu simply got back to the courtyard, he had returned.


    ~SHUA~


    ~CREAK~


    The door of the courtyard opened, and he could now see a myriad of small ck dots that were scattered around the entire mansion.


    "Now it makes sense as to wetness is present everywhere¡­" Lin Mu muttered, sensing the dense amount of water elemental Qi.


    This was a surprising revtion to the party with what was also present around the long leaves merchant ship.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It had not taken Lin Mu to know exactly where he was. He could sense that the area around him was rich in water elemental Qi and there were also a lot of clouds appearing in the sky above him.


    A few secondster, when Lin Mu finally stepped into the courtyard, he heard a voice.


    "You got into a conflict?" A voice questioned him.


    "Yes I did, Saintess." Lin Mu replied honestly, not caring about the entire thing.


    He knew that the Saintess could watch everything with her perception, thus it was better for him to just be honest.


    The Saintess watched Lin Mu from within the courtyard, sensing every fine change on his body.


    Unlike what others might think, she could tell exactly what he had gone through.


    ''More immortal tools and the presence of a Spiral ke Crystal?'' the Saintess analyzed.


    To her, the new immortal tools were nothing and she wouldn''t pay much attention to them, if not for the fact that each of these immortal tools had a remnant aura associated with them from their descended owners.


    But the Saintess was not that prodding with Lin Mu. To her, these immortal tools were nothing.


    After all, with her status, obtaining things at this level was an easy task.


    To her, it didn''t matter if it was a mid grade immortal tool or a peak grade immortal tool. They both could be considered nearly the same at her status. It was in fact, her demeanor that could determine the final status of an object.


    Instead of the Immortal tools, she was interested in the Spiral ke crystal that Lin Mu had obtained.


    ''A spiral ke Crystal is something hard to find even in the Celestial worlds. If he has managed to get his hands on one, it must be a rare encounter. No wonder he has the traces of death and blood on him.'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    Even for her, the Spiral ke Crystal wasn''t too big of a thing. At most, it would make her concerned when someone discovered it.


    And right now, the target of that was none other than Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu waited in silence, wondering what the Saintess would tell him.


    ''She might have some chiding words perhaps¡­'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    But much to his surprise, there was not much of anything.


    "Hmm¡­ there are some traces left behind from your conflict. You need to learn to erase them." The Saintess said.


    ~SHUA~


    Then, in the next moment, Lin Mu felt a wave of energy wash over his body. It was none other than the Dao of Air and covered him entirely. It essentially wiped away any traces of the Spiral ke Crystals and the other Immortal tools he had obtained recently.


    Realizing all this, Lin Mu felt surprised and grateful.


    "Thank you Saintess, for your help."

 Chapter 1420 Taking Precautions

    The Saintess nodded her head in response.


    To her, doing something like this was nothing much and could be considered the same as raising a finger.


    ''I need to learn a skill like this that can help me erase traces. The Saintess used the Dao of Air to wipe them out, but it should be possible to do the same with other methods too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He could tell that what the Saintess had done wasn''t exactly a skill but a direct application. She had used the Dao of Air to basically ''wash'' off all the traces on his body. There were other methods that could have also been used.


    But this did seem like the most straightforward method for someone like the Saintess.


    ''Hmm¡­ one doesn''t necessarily need to ''wash'' them off. I can also just lock them in, or let them be removed somehow¡­'' Lin Mu started to think.


    His mind worked quickly, and he soon had a possible solution. The solution came to him easily since he had something that could already be used to aplish it.


    ''I can just use the Spatial Abilities to do the same too. It might even be a lot more effective than using the Dao of Air as I can let the traces disappear in the void perhaps¡­'' Lin Mu knew of the way, but utilizing it was going to be a bit difficult.


    There was no direct ability present with him, and he''ll need to deepen his understanding with space to do it. The Spiral ke Crystal was going toe in handy soon enough too.


    ''Guess I''ll add it to the list of things to do.'' Lin Mu noted in his mind before looking at the Saintess.


    "I''ll head to my room now, Saintess." Lin Mu said calmly.


    "Mmhm, feel free." The Saintess said before disappearing.


    Lin Mu could faintly see a ''curtain'' covering the Saintess.


    ''It truly is a way to bend the air and disguise her presence¡­'' Lin Mu analyzed it as well.


    He didn''t do it for long though, as he quickly returned to his room. He activated the isting arrays of the room, before adding more formations from his own set. He didn''t want to depend on the per-installed ones as he didn''t fully trust their working.


    The next thing he did there was to sort through his spoils from the battle. The Saintess''s advice had made him think about the items he had obtained.


    ''There is no telling if there is something that can track them hidden within them. I should check them thoroughly¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He first took out the immortal tools and checked the runes and formations on them. If there was a tracking method, it was likely to be within them. Lin Mu spent three hours in doing this and thankfully didn''t find anything.


    "I should erase the brands on them again just in case." Lin Mu picked one of the Immortal tools and used his Immortal sense to wipe it.


    Usually, the brand of a person would disappear if they died. But there were often times that a remnant of their will could be left behind on their belongings. While this remnant will might not do much, it could still be used to determine the circumstances of a person''s death.


    Not to mention, one would be able to tell that this immortal tool belonged to someone else originally.


    Lin Mu repeated this process for every Immortal tool and weapon he had obtained. It was rtively fast and Lin Mu was done in less than an hour.


    ~phew~Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    "The first part is done¡­ now to the other items." Lin Mu didn''t forget that there were other things left too.


    These were items like some pills, herbs, and misceneous things left behind by them.


    ''The pills and herbs seem to be fine.'' Lin Mu put them away for now and moved on to the misceneous things.


    There were things like ornamental pins, a few gemstones, gold and silver coins as well as some writing quills, and brushes.


    All these were fine, but Lin Mu sensed something strange with one of the metal tokens. Each of the men had this metal token and from the carving on it, he could tell that it was their identity token for the Saber Battle Union.


    "This token is different¡­ there is an additional formation on it¡­ one that is hidden too¡­" Lin Mu had quite a lot of experience with such masking methods and thus he had found out about it.


    His immortal sense pierced through theyers of runes before finally reaching the hiddenyer.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, the token glowed, and a few runes flew out of it.


    "I see now¡­ this is indeed a tracking formation. But it isn''t meant to track the active position but just to track when someone passes certain checkpoints." Lin Mu had not seen this kind of tracking formation before, but he had certainly read about it.


    They were often used by kingdoms and empires to log the movement of merchants. This kind of formation would mark whenever a merchant passed through certain cities. This would, in turn, help the official to verify the paths of the merchants.


    ''Seems like being mercenaries, the Saber Battle Union has added this. But only one person had it on their token¡­ strange.'' Lin Mu checked the spatial storage bracelet in which he had found the token in.


    "This belonged to the leader." Lin Mu quickly recalled. "No wonder he has it," he understood.<sub> </sub>


    He thought about how to deal with this token and reckoned that the best way was to simply destroy it. It wasn''t exactly an immortal tool that was useful, thus there was no reason in keeping it with him.


    ~WOONG~


    Lin Mu directly used the ring''s power and opened a small spatial crack in front of him. He then threw in the token and quickly closed the spatial crack.


    "That should be more than enough." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    With that done, he felt a lot more relieved and decided to enter the Sleepscape.


    "Now that I think of it, I haven''t slept like this for over a month now¡­" Lin Mu muttered before lying down on the bed.


    He took out his trusty white bolster and reced the pillow on the bed. He had be far too used to it and preferred to use it than any random pillow. Even now, he was surprised to see that the bolster was the best one he had seen so far.


    This was just a fleeting thought though, and he soon slipped into a slumber.


    ~rustle~


    The sound of leaves could be heard, making Lin Mu open his eyes.


    He was now in the Sleepscape.


    The sight of the Spirit Apple Tree was calming to Lin Mu and he stood up to touch its trunk.


    "You''ve grown once more?" Lin Mu could tell that the tree had grown taller, albeit by just a few inches.


    Its branches also seemed to be a bit wider and the number of leaves had increased.


    The abundant apples on it also showed that it had been growing well. The difference though, was the fact that there were now a lot more Wood Spirit apples on it than the normal ones.


    "It''s a shame that these won''t be of much help to me now¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    ~tremble~


    As if responding to his words, the Spirit Apple Tree shook.


    ~RUSTLE~


    The branches suddenly moved and the leaves parted.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu felt a wave of energying from the Spirit apple tree and saw changes happening in it.


    "Huh? Why are the apples withering?" the spirit apples on the tree had started to shrink.


    Once they shrank, they turned into dust and disappeared. This happened with all of the apples, whether they be normal ones or the wood spirit apples.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, wondering if there was something wrong with the Spirit apple Tree.


    ~POP~


    But then a minuteter, a popping sound was heard. A small bud appeared from a central branch. It was green and tender, with rich vitality exuding from it.


    The bud bulged more before a tender twig grew out of it. The twig grew at a rapid pace until it turned into a thirty centimeter long small branch. But this wasn''t the extent of it as Lin Mu then saw a small flower blooming on it.


    It was familiar to Lin Mu, and he had seen them many times before.


    "No, wait¡­ this energy¡­" Lin Mu quickly realized that the flower wasn''t exuding spirit Qi now.


    ~SHUA~


    The flower''s petals fell off before a small bulge appeared on it. The bulge grew more and more, before turning into a green apple.


    But this apple was different from any spirit apple Lin Mu had seen before.


    "Immortal Qi? It transformed?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    The apple continued to ripen until it was a mix of green and red.

 Chapter 1421 The Immortal Apple Tree

    The sudden transformation of the Spirit Apple tree was greatly unexpected to Lin Mu.


    While he had already seen it change before by growing the Wood Spirit Apples, this change was still a bit too much. After all, by changing from Spirit Qi to immortal Qi, it was turning from mortal to immortal!


    It was a great change, especially since the tree itself had no cultivation.


    ''No, wait¡­ does it have cultivation? I do know that it is sentient.'' Lin Mu felt confused.


    The nts in the Garden of Karma all seemed to have a certain level of sentience. That seemed to be the minimum requirement for them to exist. But the thing was, other than the Wood Spirit Tulip and the Purple Sickle Amaranth which Lin Mu knew had cultivation bases, the Spirit Apple Tree had not been added to it.


    It hade into existence along with the Garden Of Karma.


    Thus it was also the most mysterious of them all.


    ~Sigh~


    "I''ll eventually find the answers¡­ I''m sure of it." Lin Mu muttered to himself before ncing at the newly formed apple.


    The apple was the perfect mix of red and, while a hint of sweet aroma could be smelled from it. The aroma was rather pleasant and Lin Mu could sense immortal Qi in it too.


    ''For it to exude this much immortal Qi¡­ it''s a little strong right?'' Lin Mu reckoned before extending his hand.


    It wrapped around the apple, before being plucked firmly.


    ~rustle~


    The branch shook lightly from the action, and the leaves rustled.


    Lin Mu felt the apple in his hand and the rich Immortal Qi that seemed to be contained within it. Then without waiting, he brought the apple to his mouth and took a bite.


    ~CRUNCH~


    The flesh of the apple was firm yet crisp, as the sweet and sour juices spread in Lin Mu''s mouth. He felt like the taste had improved by several times but it was hard to tell how that was possible.


    Then there was the immortal Qi that was already spreading in his mouth. Perhaps it was the presence of the immortal Qi that made the taste of the apple better. It was in a very simple form and was quickly absorbed from Lin Mu''s mouth.


    Unlike before, it didn''t even need to reach his stomach to be absorbed.


    ~GULP~


    Lin Mu swallowed the morsel before biting into the apple again.


    ~CRUNCH~<sub> </sub>


    While he chewed the second morsel, the first one was already in his belly. There it started to fully release the immortal Qi and the vital essence that was contained within it. It was rapidly absorbed by his stomach and quickly circted throughout his body.


    His meridians were working perfectly and the new Qi circuit he had developed was quickly refining the immortal Qi into his own. In just a few seconds, the immortal Qi was refined and deposited into his Dantian, where it merged into the pool of the original immortal Qi.


    The amount that Lin Mu had depleted earlier in the battle against the Saber Battle Union was replenished with just a single bite!


    One must know that the immortal weapons that Lin Mu had used truly consumed quite a bit of immortal Qi. Especially for someone like him who was still at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    Normally speaking, a first tribtion stage immortal simply shouldn''t have the amount of immortal Qi needed to utilize a high grade immortal tool or weapon. But with Lin Mu''s massive Dantian, that problem was automatically resolved.


    Not to mention, the immortal weapons had picked him rather than him picking them. Thus they wouldn''t fully drain him of immortal Qi and would actually assist him by absorbing immortal Qi on their own too.


    Still, with thebined use of Afternoon Pine and Wonder Seekerbined with the Scorching Sparrow Darts, Lin Mu had used a decent amount of immortal Qi. If it were to be quantified, it was around 10% of his total immortal Qi.


    This was arge number, especially considering he had only fought for a few minutes.


    Even then, he was at an advantage since he had ambushed them. If it was an open fight or if there were more people, Lin Mu might have had a tough time. Or at the very least, he would have to resort to escape right away.


    This was also why he felt surprised at the amount of immortal Qi contained within one bite of the apple.


    ''Ten percent in one bite¡­ there are at least six bites¡­ this will restore more than half of my immortal Qi.'' Lin Mu calcted, finding it to be rather good.


    He continued to eat the apple and soon finished it. And since his original capacity of immortal Qi was already replenished, he was now adding more on top of it. The pool of immortal Qi started to increase little by little and was now 40% bigger than it originally was.


    Such a fast growth was quite astonishing, but Lin Mu also knew that it was only because this was the first time.


    ''The more immortal Qi I absorb, the smaller the increase in the pool size there will be. Besides, in the Immortal realm, the cultivation base doesn''t depend on the immortal Qi itself, but rather the tribtions¡­'' Lin Mu didn''t forget the goals.


    He sat down and circted his Qi, assimting it more. A few minutester, all of it had been incorporated and Lin Mu opened his eyes again.


    The Spirit apple tree was still in front of him.


    "No¡­ it isn''t a spirit apple tree anymore." Lin Mu shook his head. "It is now an Immortal Apple tree." He renamed it.


    ~RUSTLE~


    The tree shook in response as if nodding in response too.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    "Seems like you like it at least." Lin Mu chuckled. "Though I wonder how long it will take you to grow more immortal Apples. They are certainly not going to grow as fast as the Spirit apples." He reckoned.

 Chapter 1422 Nurturing The Seed

    Having understood the change in the Immortal apple tree on some level, Lin Mu decided to just wait and watch what more it could bring him.


    "I still have more things to do¡­" Lin Mu turned around and waved his hand.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon doing that, a pillow and a seed appeared.


    The seed looked like it was a ball of vines and a rich vitality was exuding from it. It was about the size of a fist and was rtively big for a seed. One could easilypare it to a coconut.


    "Has it grown too?" Lin Mu felt like it was a bit bigger than before.


    He ced it on the ground along with the pillow before taking out all the items he had gotten for it.


    "Hopefully they are enough." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he ced all the spirit herbs and fruits of the wood element around the seed.


    There were quite literally hundreds of them, and they changed the very air of the area. The rich wood element from it made the air feel fresher and calmer.This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ~kiiiek~


    Lin Mu felt some movement before a pair of vines came flying in from the side. The target of these vines was none other than the many spirit herbs and fruits.


    "You really couldn''t hold back, huh?" Lin Mu curled his middle finger and flicked at the vines at a blurring speed.


    ~THUD~


    ~KREEE~


    The Wood Spirit tulip screeched in fear as it was sent flying in the opposite direction. It had tried to steal the herbs, but with Lin Mu being there, it was impossible.


    ~HUALA~


    Lin Mu created a few hand seals and curled his left hand, forming a formation barrier around the seed and the spirit herbs.


    The seed was hidden in all the spirit herbs as they formed a few hills around them. Lin Mu had truly bought a lot of them. He didn''t even know if this was too much or too less, but he reckoned even if he had some leftovers, he could still make use of them.


    After all, he had other nts that would be able to make use of them.


    ~KREEE~


    "Alright, alright, you can have some stuff too." Lin Mu could hear the pleading voice of the Wood Spirit Tulip.


    ~pop~


    In response, he took out a pill bottle and opened its cap. A medicinal aroma spread out from it, instantly attracting the attention of the Wood Spirit Tulip.


    "You can have these." Lin Mu tossed the pills toward the Wood Spirit Tulip.


    These were actually obtained by him from the Saber Battle Union''s members. They were technically healing pills but were still of the wood element. It was fine for Lin Mu to give them to the Wood Spirit Tulip, since these pills wouldn''t be of much use to Little Shrubby.<sub> </sub>


    ~WHOOSH~


    The vines of the Wood Spirit Tulip extended at a great speed before wrapping around all the pills. It brought them to its flower head and closed the petals around them greedily, as if afraid that they would be taken away from it.


    Once that was done, the Wood Spirit Tulip buried its roots back into the ground and turned dormant.


    "Well, I guess that''s one nt satisfied¡­" Lin Mu chuckled before looking at Little Shrubby in the seed form.


    He could see a faint wave of attraction rising from the seed. It was pulling on the herbs and fruits, and the energies contained within them were also being released due to it.


    ~Humm~


    Lin Mu sat down to watch it and saw wisps of green energy rising from all the spirit herbs and fruits. This was none other than a mixture of wood elemental spirit Qi, along with some vital energy.


    ''This shouldn''t happen normally, right?'' Lin Mu realized that the sight he was seeing was unusual.


    Normally such a stable release of energies didn''t happen and when it did, it was usually in the process of pill refinement. This was due to the fact that these energies would escape quickly if they were normally released by crushing or grinding the herbs.


    Even during pill refinement, there were often times when a significant portion of these energies was lost.


    The grade of a pill was determined by how much of the medicinal efficacy was locked within it. The loss and containment of this energy also determined just how efficient pill refinement was.


    For example, an amateur pill alchemist would only be able to refine a single pill from a batch of herbs. Whereas a skilled alchemist might refine over ten or more.


    Of course, this was just a generalization as the true number depended on the type of pill and herbs used, but this could be considered a rule of thumb.


    A skilled pill alchemist would be able to make more pills, thus be more efficient and have higher profits, too.


    But in the current case, there was no pill refinement being done. Instead, all the energy was being absorbed directly!


    Lin Mu watched as more and more energy was released from the spirit herbs. With the barrier that he had ced over it, it looked like a dome filled with green gas now. Soon, the insides of the dome were fully masked, and only ayer of green could be seen.


    "Hopefully this goes well¡­" Lin Mu prayed silently.


    Knowing that his part in this had ended, he decided to move on to the other tasks that he had.


    He was intending to study the Spiral ke Crystal now.


    Thus in preparation, he meditated for a few minutes and cleared his mind while also chanting the Calming Heart Sutra. And when he felt like he was in the optimum condition, he took out the Spiral ke Crystal from the ring.


    A wave of chill passed through his hand when he touched the crystal.


    It was just a little bigger than his palm and had an irregr shape. There was a spiral pattern on it that looked superimposed with a snowke design.


    "Let''s start then, shall we?"

 Chapter 1423 Characteristics Of The Spiral Flake Crystal

    The chill from the Spiral ke Crystal constantly entered Lin Mu''s hands, making them tremble lightly.


    He circted his Qi and vitality, in his hands making the cold feel much less apparent. Lin Mu knew that if he didn''t get used to the cold first, it would distract himter when he tried to peer into the secrets of the Spiral ke Crystal.


    Thus for the first hour, he simply let his body adapt to the coldness of the Spiral ke Crystal. Thankfully, with his strong physique, it didn''t take long. He could even modte it further by letting some fire elemental Qi circte in his body.


    Having done this, he managed to reach a point of equilibrium and decided to proceed.


    ''Let''s see what it truly holds¡­'' Lin Mu closed his eyes and chanted the calming heart sutra.


    Then a few secondster, his immortal sense rose from his head and entered the Spiral ke Crystal.


    Lin Mu felt like he was pulled into a vortex of some kind and felt his mind spin. But he didn''t let that make him waver and continued to focus. A few minutester, he felt like he could stabilize himself.


    And when he did, he discovered something bigger.


    ''This¡­ there''s arge space in the Spiral ke Crystal?'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    Lin Mu didn''t know how he had not sensed it before. But it also made him understand why Senior Xukong wanted him to obtain it.


    "No wonder¡­ this Spiral ke Crystal has a natural space within it¡­ but at the same time, it''s different." Lin Mu let his perception wander in the empty space.


    At first, he felt like it was a more isted form of spatial division. But after some time passed, he realized something else.


    "Wait a second¡­ this isn''t the void¡­ it isn''t the minor void." Lin Mu''s brows furrowed, finding it to be stranger and stranger.


    The characteristics of the minor void were not present in his space.


    ''This is ce is¡­ nk.'' Lin Mu couldn''t feel any energy fluctuations, or interference here.


    It was as if this was a ce where nothing existed.


    If it weren''t for the fact that Lin Mu knew he was just seeing this with his immortal sense, he would have been convinced that he was hallucinating a ce like this.


    ''With such a new form of space, I should be able to learn some new things.'' Lin Mu reckoned this was the reason why Xukong had asked him to get the Spiral ke Crystal.


    It had mysteries that could not be seen easily, and he couldn''t use his normal methods of probing it either. Lin Mu had used his Spatial perception before, but it only made the Spiral ke Crystal look like a glowing dot.


    He still couldn''t sense the insides of the crystal with that method.


    Lin Mu could only let his immortal sense wander inside the crystal and explore it. Hours passed like this and Lin Mu didn''t find anything.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    ''This is getting exhausting¡­ I can feel my mind tiring¡­'' It was unusual for Lin Mu to get tired this quickly.


    He had worked on formations and arrays for over a month non stop and was still fine. Thus it was surprising to him that he was tired already. Especially since his spirit sense had already been converted into the Immortal sense.<sub> </sub>


    Normally speaking, he shouldn''t be tired even if he continued to observe for weeks on end.


    But after a minute or so, Lin Mu realized that it might be due to the ce he was in.


    "Is this the characteristic of the Spiral ke Crystal, perhaps?" Lin Mu guessed.


    He didn''t know how or why it could cause something like this, but he did know that it wasn''t a big issue. As long as he rested for a bit, he should recover to his normal state.


    Having understood this, Lin Mu decided to be done for now.


    ~shua~


    He withdrew his immortal sense and opened his eyes. They flickered lightly as they gazed at the Spiral ke Crystal that was held in his two hands.


    ~huu~


    "That was a different experience for sure¡­" Lin Mu let out a long breath.


    "Looks like you''ve seen the secret of the Spiral ke Crystal now." Xukong''s voice was finally heard.


    "I did senior¡­ I never thought there would be a space like this in the Spiral ke Crystal." Lin Mu replied in surprise. "How is there a space that is not of the void?" he couldn''t help but question.


    "This is one of the reasons why I wanted you to get this. The Spiral ke Crystal is one of the few materials in the universe that can naturally form an independent space. This space isn''t linked to any of the voids and is also invisible to most people.


    Even people with Spatial Perception are unable to sense its presence and to them, the Spiral ke Crystal appeared like a shining stone." Xukong answered.


    "But what am I supposed to do with it? Just observer it? I didn''t find anything to observe inside it." Lin Mu asked next.


    "That is right. You just observe it and spend your time inside it. The Space inside it has different characteristics than the void and will actually help you hone your spatial perception." Xukong revealed.


    "Hone my Spatial Perception?!" Lin Mu said in shock. "Really?" he couldn''t help but doubt it for a second.


    "Indeed. Why don''t you try to see now?" Xukong confirmed. "Even if it was just your first time with the Spiral ke Crystal, there should still be some level of improvement." He suggested.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head before closing his eyes.


    He activated his Spatial perception and opened his eyes. They had a faint silver outline around them that was hard to see. If one didn''t stand close to Lin Mu, they wouldn''t even know there was a change in his eyes.


    But to Lin Mu, the change was visible.


    "This¡­ I can see the Spatial Fabric in higher detail!"

 Chapter 1424 Minor Improvements And Changes

    Even in the Garden of Karma, Lin Mu could see the Spatial Fabric.


    It was after all, present everywhere and matter could not exist stably without it. Even if the Garden of Karma was a different ne, the Spatial Fabric existed the same. The only difference was in its toughness andplexity.


    And right now, for Lin Mu, the Spatial Fabric appeared like aplex intersectingyer. The space merged and crossed over each other, forming a tough form of the Spatial Fabric.


    "The Spatial Fabric can be like this too?" Lin Mu had never thought of it.


    The Spatial Fabric in the real world was just a in sheet. It didn''t even appear in the eyes of normal people. Only those with Spatial Perception could truly see it.


    And since this was the first time Lin Mu was seeing the Spatial Fabric of the Garden Of Karma, he could feel his understanding of space improving. After all, observing and analyzing were the key to improving one''s knowledge base.


    Lin Mu looked around for a few seconds before deactivating Spatial Perception.


    ''My eyes feel sore now¡­'' Lin Mu felt even more tired.


    "You need to be a bit more careful with the Spiral ke Crystal. Peering into its space will drain your mental strength quickly. There have been several people who passed out while losing track of time inside." Xukong warned.


    "I''ll keep that in mind, Senior Xukong." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He stored the Spiral ke Crystal away in the ring and took a look at the dome where Little Shrubby was.


    "Looks like it ising along well." Lin Mu walked up to the dome.


    It was still filled with the green energy and nothing could be seen inside it. But Lin Mu could faintly sense that the energy was steadily being absorbed by the Seed inside it.


    "At this rate it shouldn''t take long for Little Shrubby to recover. Even I can sense his rising vitality." Xukong spoke.


    "I hope so too senior." Lin Mu replied while keeping his eyes on the insides.


    After a minute of staring though, a thought appeared in his mind. He closed his eyes for a moment before starting to chant the nurturing heart sutra. And as soon as he did a change could be seen within his Dantian.


    The spirit Qi in there started to rise and swirl. It condensed into strands of Beast Qi after a short time, and this beast Qi started to collect in a ball too. Lin Mu continued to transform more and more spirit Qi until finally all his spirit Qi was gone.


    Lin Mu didn''t fully need spirit Qi now, so it was fine for him to deplete it directly like this too. Besides, he wanted to see what kind of effect it would have on Little Shrubby now.


    ''I''ll use all my spirit Qi to make beast Qi and give him arge dose. Thatbined with the herbs should provide him with a better effect,'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Xukong was observing Lin Mu too, and didn''t stop him from doing this. To him, it wasn''t a problem and only good woulde out of giving Beast Qi to Little Shrubby.<sub> </sub>


    Lin Mu ced his hand on the dome and injected all the beast Qi he had refined. It was truly thergest quantity of beast Qi he had made ever before and appeared in the form of arge orb.


    The orb was about the size of arge watermelon and was quickly mixed with the green energy in the dome. The beast Qi orb automatically dissipated and merged with the rest of the energy.


    The green color in the dome started to change and became darker.


    Lin Mu sensed the situation inside and saw the mixture of energies being absorbed by the seed.


    ''The speed is faster now for sure¡­'' Lin Mu observed.


    Still he knew it will take a while more for all the energy to be absorbed, thus he just decided to wait.


    ''I''ll rest for the time being.'' Lin Mu went to the Immortal Apple tree and sat with his back against it.


    Closing his eyes, he lightly chanted the calming heart sutra and circted his Qi.


    Now that his Dantian had no spirit Qi inside it, the movement of the Immortal Qi had be even faster. After a while, the immortal Qi started to circte automatically. But his body''s natural absorption was also working at the same time.


    More spirit Qi was absorbed by his body from the air and automatically refined before being sent into the Dantian. But here, a conflict arose.


    As if its territory was challenged, the immortal Qi swept over the newly arrived spirit Qi and made it dissipate. But since it was all within Lin Mu''s body, it was only reabsorbed and re-condensed.This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    But this time, it wasn''t sent to the Dantian directly. Instead, it was sent to his heart, spleen and lungs!


    The three organs represented fire, earth, and metal. All elements that Lin Mu had proficiency with. And while his proficiency with the fire element didn''t reach the innate level, it was still quite high.


    The three treasured organs worked and quickly transformed the attribute less spirit Qi into elemental spirit Qi of three types. Once these were refined, the elemental spirit Qi was sent back into the Dantian.


    Here, the Immortal Qi didn''t sweep the spirit Qi. Instead, it slowly covered it, before merging with it.


    One could now see three colored pools forming in the Dantian. One pool was red, one was brown and one was yellow. The three pools had a mixture of immortal and spirit Qi mixed in, but the spirit Qi was starting to disappear slowly.


    <o>,m And when it was fully gone, the three pools were only left with Immortal Qi. This immortal Qi was pulled back into the three organs and returned to the Dantian.</o>


    But now, the immortal Qi wasn''t attribute-less immortal Qi¡­ it was Elemental Immortal Qi!

 Chapter 1425 First Time Consuming Immortal Pills

    Lin Mu hadn''t switched over to the elemental immortal Qi upon reaching the Immortal realm, since he simply didn''t have the opportunity to do so. But now, he had automatically managed to do it.


    He didn''t know if it was the work of his cultivation technique that he had made, but as soon as the spirit Qi was gone, it was quick in adapting to the new normal.


    ''Or rather, it had always been waiting for me to get rid of the spirit Qi.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Even in the Immortal realm, there were many immortals that used spirit Qi as their primary energy. They only used Immortal Qi when they really needed to or when they were using things like Immortal formations or Immortal tools.


    This usuallysted till they were at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    At that point, they would have umted more than enough immortal Qi and would be able to use Immortal Qi as their primary energy. But even then they would still keep Spirit Qi within their bodies.


    It was rtively rare for someone to fully eliminate spirit Qi from their body. Only Lin Mu who had a strong passive absorption of Qi would be able to do something like this.


    Though him following the primordial path might also be a factor that had contributed to it.


    ''Still, I need more immortal Qi if I''m to have a stable output.'' Lin Mu thought to himself before taking out a box.


    "Seems like it is finally time to use these." Lin Mu looked at the box that were given to him by Elder Niji and Lanbao.


    These boxes contained pills that were called as Immortal Pool Pills. They were one of the moremon Immortal pills.


    Their function was simple, and it was to provide the user with immortal Qi.


    But them beingmon didn''t mean they were not valuable. Rather, they were one of the highest traded immortal pill in the immortal worlds. One could even use them as a currency if they didn''t have anything else.


    They were a fully eptable alternative to immortal stones, and their value was almost the same too. The variances in the value came due to the fluctuation of supply and demand in the market, but that was a normal phenomenon.


    The Immortal Pool Pills were also one of the main pills that an Immortal Alchemist would first learn. They could be made using several different types of herbs and had multiple recipes making it possible for its supply to be stable.


    The best part was that most of the herbs used to make it weremercially cultivated by various powers.


    It could even be said that the Immortal Pool Pill was one of the most economically stabilizingmodities for the Immortal world.


    And Lin Mu had a lot of them.


    The box in front of him had nearly a hundred bottles, and each bottle had ten pills each. That was a thousand pills in one box and this was just one box out of the hundreds that Lin Mu had been given.


    Lin Mu took out one pill from the first bottle and popped it into his mouth.


    ''Let''s begin with just one and see how it goes¡­'' Lin Mu didn''t wish to rush in directly.


    And as soon as the pill touched his tongue, it melted away into a liquid. Lin Mu swallowed it and let his stomach do the rest.


    ~shua~<sub> </sub>


    Within his stomach, the obscure runes appeared once more.


    Since this was the first time Lin Mu was consuming an immortal pill, his stomach seemed to be analyzing it somehow.


    Merely in a few seconds, it had adapted to the immortal pill and quickly absorbed all the immortal Qi from the pill. It wasn''t Lin Mu''s first time consuming immortal Qi after all, as he had obtained a lot from the Immortal beast meat too.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''I have quite a lot of it left too¡­ I''ll probably keep it forter when I feel ''hungry''.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And while he thought of this, the newly arrived immortal Qi had already been assimted into his body. He didn''t even need to refine it consistently as his Qi circuits worked automatically.


    ''These pills are rather efficient.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The amount of Immortal Qi he had obtained from one pill wasn''t as much as the Immortal Apples, but it was still significant.


    ''The Immortal Apple restored ten percent of my storage, but the pill can only restore about half a percent. Hmm¡­ the amount seems small, but it might just be for me.'' Lin Mu concluded.


    Having understood this, he picked up the pill bottle and poured all of the pills into his mouth.


    ~gulp~


    Swallowing it, Lin Mu felt the rush of Immortal Qi in his body.


    ~shua~


    His stomach acted immediately and absorbed it all, while his meridians quickly guided it into his Dantian.


    Seeing the increase, Lin Mu didn''t stop and opened more pill bottles, shoving the pills into his mouth.


    If someone watched him right now, they would think that he was nothing less than mad. Even if one didn''t consider the cost of his consumption, just the way he was consuming would be considered absurd.


    If a normal immortal were to consume an immortal pill, they would have to consciously work to absorb it. If they didn''t focus properly, they might even damage their bodies.


    Not to mention, they wouldn''t be able to absorb all of the immortal Qi from the pill either.


    In fact, it wasn''t unusual for them to lose over half of the immortal Qi from a pill they consumed. That was simply the normal efficiency for most cultivators. Even for more talented individuals, this efficiency might be at seventy to eighty percent.


    Lin Mu was an exception to this rule and the Nameless Technique of the Lost Immortal was behind it all.


    It had made his absorption reach 100% efficiency and he wouldn''t lose any immortal Qi at all.


    And thus he was quickly increasing his immortal Qi stores.

 Chapter 1426 The Concern Of The Saintess

    While Lin Mu was cultivating within the Sleepscape though, there was someone observing him in the real world.


    This person was none other than the Saintess herself.


    Her illusory body stood in Lin Mu''s room, watching his body. Her green eyes shone lightly, perceiving the hidden fluctuations of immortal Qi on Lin Mu''s body.


    ''How is he doing this?'' The Saintess had a big question.


    She hade to check since she had suddenly felt Lin Mu''s immortal Qi rise.


    Normally, his energy fluctuations were all hidden by his body, but for the Saintess who was a Celestial in reality, it was nothing. Not to mention, her perception was already focused on the room since the Yin yang Twin Serpents were there.


    The twins were still in their dormant state and were cultivating, too. The Saintess was concerned about them and wanted to ensure that they didn''t face any issues.


    The situation of the Yin Yang Twin Serpents was unique and so was their cultivation method. They didn''t use the normal spirit Qi, but needed Yin and Yang Qi to cultivate. The symbol that the Saintess had created for them was enough to provide them more than enough of it, and had long since been injected into their bodies.


    This was something even Lin Mu hadn''t sensed since there was no harm being done to the twins.


    But then the Saintess suddenly felt new immortal Qi fluctuations appearing in the room, which weren''t from the snakes. She saw Lin Mu sleeping there, but his immortal Qi was rising for some reason.


    ''He''s clearly sleeping and not absorbing any immortal Qi from the air... how is it still increasing for him?'' The Saintess could not figure it out despite her many years of experience.


    It only made her more intrigued, and she continued to watch Lin Mu.


    ~SHUA~


    The amount of Immortal Qi within Lin Mu''s body started to rise faster and faster, making the Saintess furrow her brows.


    ''He''ll end up facing an injury if he keeps raising his immortal Qi at this rate.'' The Saintess thought. "Should I..." she was about to interfere but then noticed something.


    "Wait... his immortal Qi is stable even now. There are no disturbances at all. How can it be this stable?" The Saintess realized there were no signs pointing to Lin Mu potentially injuring himself.


    It only made the Saintess''s interest in Lin Mu increase.


    ''Is this also due to his grace? Being his disciple, Lin Mu should probably have some additional support.'' The Saintess wondered.


    She watched him for a few more minutes before disappearing. ''He should be fine for now...''


    But what the Saintess didn''t expect was that Lin Mu simply didn''t wake up even after three days had passed. She returned to take a look at him, feeling sure of one thing.


    "There''s no doubt... he isn''t sleeping. He''s cultivation somehow." She said to herself.


    To her, there was no way Lin Mu would be exhausted enough to sleep for this long. For an immortal, not sleeping for a few months or even a year was nothing. And even if they were constantly expending their energy by working or battling, they could stillst for a long time.


    But this still made her a bit concerned.<sub> </sub>


    ''If he cultivates like this, he''ll be vulnerable. How has hested this long?'' The Saintess wondered.


    For most cultivators, being unprotected like this could be a dangerous thing. Even for cultivators that belonged to sects, they would be protected by several arrays and even have people looking after them.This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    But Lin Mu seemed to be a bit too carefree to her.


    ''Is it his own decision, or does this confidence stem from his master?'' The Saintess was in doubt.


    Regardless of her thoughts though, she knew there wasn''t much that she could do. She let Lin Mu continue his cultivation and waited for him to be done.


    To her, who had lived for long, a few days or weeks were nothing. With how long she had lived, they seemed like mere blinks of an eye. Besides, it wasn''t like she was in a rush, either.


    Having found the Yin Yang Twin Serpents, the Saintess was rather relieved now.


    Lin Mu was unaware of what was happening in the real world and was fully focused on cultivating.


    ~THUD~


    "That was the thirtieth box..." Lin Mu closed a box and shoved it to the side.


    Five days had passed since he had entered the Sleepscape and he had consumed a lot of Immortal Pool pills.


    Thirty boxes of the pills were something that would be worth a small fortune, and yet Lin Mu had eaten them like they were rice. Still, the gains he had from it were very good too.


    Taking a look at his Dantian, Lin Mu saw the immortal Qi ocean that was now present in it. His Immortal Qi storage had now reached the same level as what his spirit Qi storage was like before.


    Of course, this was just a quantitativeparison and not a qualitative one. After all, even a fraction of this immortal Qi would haven been better than all the spirit Qi he had before.


    But this wasn''t all either, as within the ocean of immortal Qi, one could also see three smaller colored pools of immortal Qi. These were the fire, earth and metal elemental immortal Qi. Lin Mu had converted a part of his normal attribute-less immortal Qi into the elemental form.


    Now thirty percent of his immortal Qi stores were elemental, with each of the three elements taking up 10%.


    Lin Mu reckoned this was a good ratio as he could always convert more immortal Qi if the consumption rose beyond a certain level.


    ~huu~


    "That was a good cultivation session..." Lin Mu let out a breath before looking at the dome some distance away.


    The dark green energy within it had decreased by a lot and only a few wisps of it could now been seen.


    ''The seed has absorbed all of it... it''s close to awakening now.'' Lin Mu sensed.

 Chapter 1427 Little Shrubby Awakens Again

    Lin Mu had been waiting or Little Shrubby for a long time and had missed him too.


    It was safe to say that he was the closestpanion that Lin Mu had.


    "Should be soon now¡­" Lin Mu watched as only a few wisps were left behind in the barrier.


    The seed was clearly visible in the middle, and the spirit herbs and fruits had turned into dust. The seed had fully absorbed everything from the resources, leaving behind nothing at all.


    Just from this one could also see that the efficiency of Little Shrubby''s absorption was high too. At the very least, for the wood element and the fire element.


    Lin Mu didn''t have to watch for long either, as the final few wisps of the dark green energy were finally absorbed!


    ~RUMBLE~


    And when that happened, the seed shook.


    ~humm~


    An aura rose from the seed, and the image of a beast started to form from the aura. This beast was brown in color and looked like it was made out of several vines wrapping around a wooden body.


    It was none other than the Fume Wood Panther!


    ~GOWAO~


    The bloodline figure of the Fume Wood Panther let out a growl as its size started to grow. Its figure also became a lot clearer than before, and Lin Mu knew this was due to the absorption of arge amount of Beast Qi.


    The Bloodline Figure didn''t appear for long though, as after a few seconds, it shrank back and merged into the Seed again.


    ~CRACKLE~


    It was at this time that the seed cracked!


    As if it was a tender sprout was about to rise, a rich vitality was released from the cracks on the seed.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then the seed burst apart in a ssh of light as a small silhouette rushed out of it.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu was pushed back as the figure mmed into him.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "AHAHAHA! You''re out, finally!" Lin Mu hugged the little beast in his hands.


    "Master!!!" Little Shrubby''s voice was heard in his voice.


    Lin Mu felt his heart soften upon hearing it and a tender feeling filled it.


    The softness of Little Shrubby''s fur was apparent as he kept on rubbing his head against Lin Mu. He was in his kitten form and was even smaller than the usual form he used to have, which made Lin Mu a little concerned.


    He observed Little Shrubby''s body and saw two new patterns on it. Other than the ones he already had, there were now two green, leaf like patterns on the back of his ears. But that was not all, as Lin Mu could also sense the change in Little Shrubby''s cultivation base.


    "You reached the Immortal Ascension realm?" Lin Mu could feel the qualitative difference.<sub> </sub>


    He used his immortal sense to observe Little Shrubby''s Dantian and saw that the w Dao Embryo had greatly expanded. It also had a far greater presence than before and exuded an aura of ming fierceness.


    But that was not all, as Lin Mu saw something else that surprised him.


    ''Another Dao Shell?'' Little Shrubby''s Dantian had a second Dao Shell floating in it.


    It was light green in color and seemed to be empty, but Lin Mu had a hunch why it had appeared.


    ''The bloodline of the Fume Wood Panther was strengthened and his affinity with the wood element has greatly increased. Even the Dao Shell is made out of pure Wood Elemental Sprint Qi.'' Lin Mu analyzed. "Seems like you will be having a second Dao Embryo soon, too." He muttered.


    "I will!" Little Shrubby nodded his head. "I have a lot of new information in my mind." He revealed.


    "You do?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Yes, it came from my bloodline. I now know more about it." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Oh? What do you know?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "Let me just show you." Little Shrubby said before leaving Lin Mu''s embrace.


    ~shua~


    He jumped back over fifty meters in one go and started to erge.


    ~HONG~


    It was as if the very air was being pressured by Little Shrubby''s presence as he grew in size. First, he returned to his usual small size, then reached his core condensation realm level size. It continued to rise more and more until Little Shrubby was over twenty meters long and ten meters tall!


    The patterns on his fur became a lot sharper, and the leaf shaped patterns on his ear also turned into an entire tree like pattern.


    The tree pattern wrapped around his ears, while the trunk of the tree went down the side of his neck, joining up with the brown and ck pattern he had on his back.


    His aura though, had the greatest change. Before this, it was mostly an imposing and burning aura. But now there was a contrasting mixture of burning might and a vibrant vitality. Fire and wood affinities had now reached almost the same level, bringing about this change.


    ~rustle~


    But this was not the full extent of it, as Little Shrubby''s presence excited the nts in the Sleepscape.


    The Wood Spirit Tulip directly uprooted itself and moved closer to the beast, while the Purple Sickle amaranth did the same. Only the Immortal Apple Tree didn''t do that, but it still moved its branches so that most of its parts faced Little Shrubby.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, guessing the reason behind it all.


    Lightly chanting the Calming Heart Sutra, Lin Mu activated his spatial perception again. This time though, he only focused on the air around Little Shrubby.


    "Just as I thought¡­ the Dao Traces of wood are also abundant around him." Lin Mu could see faint motes of red and green floating around Little Shrubby.


    The red motes were the Dao Traces of Fire while the Green were the Dao Traces of Wood. It was thetter that was attractive to the nts.


    Even the grass under their feet seemed to be responding and grew a rapidly, quickly reaching six inches.

 Chapter 1428 Master, Beast And Masters Master

    Lin Mu witnessed all the changes and felt amazed.


    ''Little Shrubby seems at the very edge of Immortal Ascension Realm too¡­ It shouldn''t take him long to breakthrough again.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "Am I good?" Little Shrubby asked in a childlike tone.


    "Good? You''re great!" Lin Mu replied beforeing to hug therge beast again.


    Even if he could only grasp the lower part of Little Shrubby''s body, Lin Mu still lifted the beast up easily.


    "Ahahah! You''ll only get stronger from now. There are many surprises waiting for you." Lin Mu said while holding up Little Shrubby in the air.


    "Surprises? Like what!?" Little Shrubby was quite excited too.


    It couldn''t tell exactly where he was, and neither could he tell how long it had been since he wasst awake. The only thing he could tell was that Lin Mu was a lot stronger than he was thest time he saw him.


    ''Master seems different now.'' Little Shrubby thought from his own observation after being unable to sense Lin Mu''s cultivation.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as Little Shrubby had asked that, another presence appeared close to them.


    "There are surprises for sure¡­" Xukong''s voice was heard.


    Little Shrubby''s ears perked up, and he immediately perked up. His instincts were screaming at that time and his bloodline was trembling too. He felt a pressure he had never felt before in his life.


    ~grrr~


    A growl escaped his mouth unconsciously as he turned to face Xukong who had just appeared. Even though he was still grasped within Lin Mu''s hand, it wasn''t difficult for him to turn his head.


    Lin Mu sensed the rising tension and quickly moved to calm down Little Shrubby.


    "It''s fine Little Shrubby. There is no danger. This is Senior Xukong¡­ My master." Lin Mu finally revealed.


    "Master''s Master?" Little Shrubby''s unease lessened.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    He gazed at the bone white spider that was floating some distance away from them. It was slightlyrger than the size of a palm, but had ten golden yellow eyes.


    <o>,m "Yes. He''s the one who you wanted to meet before." Lin Mu reminded while stroking his fur.</o>


    Little Shrubby calmed down under Lin Mu''s cation and didn''t feel any danger now.


    "Sorry senior. He was anxious." Lin Mu lightly apologized.


    "I expected this to happen. So don''t worry. This is normal." Xukongughed. "Though¡­ I think you''ve missed something big." He added.


    "Missed something big?" Lin Mu raised a brow in doubt.<sub> </sub>


    "Yes¡­ the fact that all three of us are in the Sleepscape now." Xukong reminded.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard this, his eyes went wide.


    "OF COURSE!" Lin Mu looked around and couldn''t understand how he had missed it.


    Before this, Lin Mu had never been able to bring any beast in the Sleepscape. He could only bring in inanimate, and as for the nts, even that was limited to a few.


    But if the nts were sentient, he could still let them live in the Sleepscape and even nt them, so that they could be nurtured further.


    In case of the beasts, only Xukong was the exception and even that was because he was simply an existence that could bypass space as he wanted too. But now, Lin Mu had witnessed another major change.


    "When did this happen?" Lin Mu couldn''t figure it out.


    "It seems like when you reached the Immortal realm, the Sleepscape might have grown once more. But this time the growth wasn''t a quantitative but a qualitative growth. It can now allow beasts to enter it as well." Xukong guessed.


    "Hmm, I guess since I never tested it, I missed it." Lin Mu agreed. "Though I don''t think that''s the full extent of it. There should be more restrictions to it." He said after thinking for a bit.


    "Possibly." Xukong agreed as well. "Perhaps it is only your tamed beasts that can enter this ce. Since they have your imprint on them, they are technically your belonging and will be able to enter the Garden of Karma as well." He analyzed.


    "I see. But if it is like this, I wonder how am I supposed to take them out, or make them return." Lin Mu wondered.


    "The Garden of Karma is a part of you. If you will it, it should respond ordingly." Xukong suggested inly.


    "Yes, I''ll try that." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Also senior, can you check little Shrubby better now?" he wondered if there were things that he was missing.


    "Of course. I want to see what the child has within him too." Xukong replied, as his senses covered little shrubby.


    The beast couldn''t even feel this though as Xukong''s senses were on a different level.


    To Xukong though, a whole different set of information was presenting. He closed his eyes for a minute as he observed Little Shrubby and analyzed his body.


    "Did you learn anything new Senior?" Lin Mu questioned with great curiosity.


    "I did indeed." Xukong confirmed. "Little Shrubby has far greater potential than I originally thought. And I think it is only being amplified due to the Beast Qi you''ve been providing him." He added.


    "Really?" Lin Mu was excited.


    "Indeed. And now just that, his bloodlines are still stable despite the Fume Wood Panther Bloodline rising higher." Xukong revealed. "I think from this point onwards, as along as you don''t overpower one bloodline, his body should be able to handle them with little issues." He exined.


    "I could tell that his Fume Wood Panther bloodline has strengthened, but how are the others faring? I can''t sense them like this." Lin Mu inquired.


    "If I were to rank them, I would say that his sh Fire Liger, Scorch w Tiger, and Fume Wood Panther Bloodlines are on an equal level. After this, it would be the Thunderbolt Cheetah bloodline that is the second highest, while the rest are below it but are on an almost simr level." Xukong exined in detail.


    Lin Mu took care to memorize this information as he knew that strengthening these bloodlines would be the key to Little Shrubby''s growth.

 Chapter 1429 Lin Mu Has A Bloodline?

    Having understood a bit more about Little Shrubby and his bloodlines, Lin Mu was now sure of what route to take for the beast.


    While Little Shrubby will be able to grow and cultivate on his own too, having extra help from Lin Mu and Xukong will be critical in several aspects. Plus Lin Mu knew it was important too as Little Shrubby was a big part of his strength too.


    Just little Shrubby''s speed alone was a huge advantage that he could have. Being able to traverserge tracts ofnd at once would allow him to reach his goals quicker, too. After all, he couldn''t just use teleportation arrays everywhere.


    ''Little Shrubby''s current speed should beparable to that of an Immortal expert, but it won''t be able to match up against the stronger experts.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He had seen several of them and had also seen the abilities of Lanbao who was at the very peak of the Immortal realm. If she wanted to she could very well cover several hundred kilometers in a few minutes. Little Shrubby hadn''t reached that point either.


    But he did know that his breakthrough will help him increase his speed again.


    "The next bloodline we should focus on should be the Thunderbolt Cheetah. It''s speed will be the greatest advantage for Little Shrubby." Lin Mu stated.


    "Indeed. But not just that, the offensive abilities of the Thunderbolt Cheetah are no less either. Not to mention, Lightning is one of the four heavenly elements and Little Shrubby having control over it will only increase his power." Xukong agreed.


    "Yes, senior. I''ll focus on that from now on." Lin Mu nodded his head, knowing that he''ll have to look out for special treasure that could help bloodlines progress.


    He had read about them before and knew about them even back in the Xiaofan world. The only thing was that finding them in a mortal world would be very difficult, but it was not the case for the Rust Sky world.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''I''ll keep an eye out for any of them. Plus, Lightning elemental resources should help Little Shrubby too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~rustle~ rustle~


    The nts around them kept on swaying as they basked in the precess of the Wood Dao Traces.


    "Hmm¡­ Seems like Little Shrubby being here might be beneficial to them too." Lin Mu muttered and took note of it forter.


    The sentient herbs were definitely useful to him and he would want them to continue getting stronger. The Wood Spirit Tulip was already good even now, since it could produce Pure Wood Essence, but the Purple Sickle amaranth was falling behind.


    Even the Spirit Apple tree had improved and turned into an Immortal Apple tree.


    There were, after all, very few nts that could grow here and Lin Mu wanted more of them to be added.


    ''There should be a lot more of them here too, I should keep an eye out for them as well.'' Lin Mu thought.


    With all this done, Lin Mu decided it was time to wake up.


    ~huu~


    "This was an exciting few days of rest for sure¡­" Lin Mu said to himself as he closed his eyes.


    Xukong returned to the ring while Little Shrubby remained in the Sleepscape. Lin Mu had asked him to do so, as he wanted to know if others could stay in the Sleepscape even while he was awake, as well as if he could bring them out on a moment''s notice.


    If he could, it would provide him with another advantage and the value of the Sleepscape would rise again.


    A few momentster, Lin Mu opened his eyes in the real world as the ceiling of the room appeared in front of him.<sub> </sub>


    ~shua~


    But just as he had woken up, he saw the air in front of him blurring as the figure of the Saintess appeared.


    "What did you do?" She questioned, her elegant brows furrowed under the veil.


    "Mm?" Lin Mu was confused by her question, not understanding it. "What do you mean Saintess?" he asked.


    "Your cultivation¡­ it has risen. But you consumed no immortal Qi¡­ and yet you have more than what you had before." The Saintess asked for rification.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was a bit shocked.


    ''She could actually sense all those changes?'' this was the first time someone had actually been able to tell that Lin Mu could cultivate in his sleep.


    The Sleepscape was his hidden advantage that he didn''t wish to reveal to anyone. It was simply too rare and Xukong had already told him that there were just four such people even recorded to have it.


    They didn''t know if someone mighte to covet it.


    Thus, just like the Saintess had not revealed her name as it held Karma, Lin Mu decided to do the same.


    "It''s an innate ability I have, Saintess." Lin Mu though, had a perfect excuse for the Sleepscape.


    "An innate ability?" A hint of interest could be felt in the Saintess''s voice.


    "A bloodline ability to be urate." Lin Mu borated a bit more.


    "You have a bloodline?" this time the Saintess was surprised too. ''How does he have a bloodline? I should have known it the first moment I saw him.''


    "I do¡­ it''s a beast bloodline." Lin Mu said before taking a pause. "It''s the bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear." He revealed.


    As soon as the Saintess heard this, her eyes widened. "Impossible¡­" She said lightly.


    "I know¡­ about its side effects." Lin Mu nodded his head at her reaction. "But I''ve managed to control them to some extent." He continued before releasing his aura.


    ~HONG~


    His aura that was usually in a contained state, started to erupt, and the bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear was also revealed.


    A faint figure of the beast was formed behind Lin Mu, towering greatly.


    The Saintess could truly feel the bloodline at this moment and knew that Lin Mu wasn''t lying.


    ''He truly assimted it¡­''

 Chapter 1430 The All Inclusive Sect

    The Great Slumber Bear was a beast that even the Saintess knew about.


    While they were rare, their strength and abilities were quite famous in the higher circles. At the same time, there were nock of people that coveted it. But s, for them the bloodline of the Great Slumber had a hidden danger that would kill them.


    Before Lin Mu, there was none that had manged to survive the long slumber that the bloodline would put them into. They might survive it once, twice or even thrice. But after a few tries, they would eventually die from starvation.


    If it were not for the Nameless Technique of the Lost Immortal, Lin Mu would have ended up in the same state.


    This was also why the Saintess was astonished.


    "You managed to ovee the deep slumber?" The Saintess asked.


    "Several times¡­ it was difficult. But it gets better the more times you go through it." Lin Mu replied but didn''t help the Saintess much.


    "Still¡­ there have been several people who assimted the Great Slumber Bear bloodline and even went through multiple of its deep slumbers. But all of them fell." The Saintess stated. "You might end up in the same state, if you keep this bloodline within you." She warned.


    A hint of concern could be heard in her voice too.


    "If you wish to, I have methods to purge bloodlines. You can switch to a different beast bloodline too, if you wish too. My Serpent Moon sect have a plethora of them at the same level or higher, and many of our disciples have assimted beast bloodlines as well." The Saintess offered much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    He didn''t expect the Saintess to offer something like this, not to mention offering other bloodlines that were equivalent or stronger.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath, before shaking his head.


    "Thank you for the offer, Saintess. But I do not need it." Lin Mu replied. "The bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear fits me well, and I canpensate for its shortfalls with several other skills."


    "Besides¡­ if not for the bloodline, I might not have progressed to my current level." Lin Mu added.


    The Saintess was a little surprised, but then it urred to her. ''No wonder he can be ''his'' disciple. Perhaps this is the level of dedication and talent that is needed for that.''


    ''Though¡­ if he has his master looking over him, there shouldn''t be an issue. He''s a lot more qualified than me too¡­'' The Saintess thought.


    She looked at Lin Mu, finding him to be fully stable and understood that it really was as he said.


    "Very well. Though if you wish for other bloodlines, my offer will still stand." The Saintess replied.


    "Thank you Saintess." Lin Mu said before he had a curious thought. "About your sect¡­ are there really that many people with beast bloodlines?" he asked.<sub> </sub>


    "Of course. My Serpent Moon Sect has a long legacy and epted disciple from all backgrounds and races." The Saintess replied with a hint of pride.


    "All backgrounds and races?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "You mean there are races other than humans?"


    "Of course. There are humans, beasts, demons, demon beasts, beastkins, as the major races and several more minor races mixed in." The Saintess answered.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was surprised. He did know about the existence of cultivation sects run by many races, but they usually catered to their own race. Even for orthodox sects that allowed more races, these were usually of a simr kind and weren''t more than a handful.


    It was unexpected to see a sect that allowed several races like this. What was even more surprising was the fact that, since it was a sect, these races were clearly living in a state of harmony.


    After all, with so many races like this, there was often a sh of ideas and thoughts.


    For a sect to keep all of them in control showed just how influential they would have to be.


    "That''s amazing¡­ I didn''t think something like that could exist." Lin Mu muttered.


    "There are a lot many things that you will see in the myriad of worlds. The Serpent Moon sect is merely one of the many participants." The Saintess replied, with a hint of amusement in her voice.


    She could tell that Lin Mu had gained more interest in her sect from her words.


    "We have many aspects of cultivation that we cover in our sect which allows our disciples to always have something to that interests them. After all, even if they are of different races, they can still havemon interest and learn from each other over it." The Saintess exined a bit more. "For this very reason, we have the sect divided into different peaks and sections. They cover all the upations like beast taming, weapon forging, tool refinement, alchemy and a lot more."


    "Beast Taming? You have a peak dedicated to beast taming?" Lin Mu asked with greater interest than before.


    "Of course. The Serpent Moon Sect has a deep legacy of beasts. And thus our beast taming peak is one of the top three peaks. Most of our disciples have their tamed beasts, and sometimes, these tamed beasts are also disciples of the sect themselves.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    When it''s a case like this, we call thempanion beasts instead." The Saintess answered, satisfying Lin Mu.


    She could tell that Lin Mu had an interest in beast taming from this, if she didn''t already know that he had talent from it.


    ''If he could hatch the Yin Yang Twin Serpents and even tame them, his talent in Beast Taming must beparable to the Peak master.'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    "Apanion beast¡­ that sounds nice. Just like little Shrubby and me¡­" Lin Mu said with a smile.


    "Little Shrubby?" The Saintess raised a brow.


    "Ah, I forgot to tell you." Lin Mu realized Little Shrubby was still waiting in the Sleepscape. "I have another tamed beast¡­ my first tamed beast." He revealed.

 Chapter 1431 Introducing Little Shrubby To The Saintess

    The Saintess had not expected for Lin Mu to have another tamed beast.


    But now that she thought of it, it did make sense.


    ''For him to have tamed the Yin Yang Twin Serpents, he must have had some experience beforehand.'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    It also made her curious about what kind of beast Lin Mu had tamed before this and where it was.


    "Your first Tamed beast? Is it not here?" The Saintess questioned.


    She had not sensed any beast storage treasures on Lin Mu, so she was sure that it wasn''t being kept inside one. And while there were other methods to store beasts, they weren''t as widespread and were also difficult to use.


    Even her own Serpent Moon Sect had such methods as it had a peak specializing in Beast Taming.


    "He''s with me, I''ll bring him out now." Lin Mu replied before closing his eyes.


    This was his first time bringing something out of the Sleepscape while he was awake, thus needed more focus. Thankfully, it was just like Xukong had said and all Lin Mu needed was to will it.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, a blurry red figure appeared in front of him. It was small and could easily fit between his two hands.


    ~meow~


    The kitten sized Little Shrubby appeared in Lin Mu''s arms, and he softly held him.


    The Saintess gazed at the little beast, feeling quite surprised. The reason being, the beast looked a little too weak to her.


    ''It makes sense the Yin Yang Twin Serpents are small, because they are young. But at the same time, their cultivation base is already at the Dao Treading realm. This beast is an infant and is barely equivalent to the Core Condensation realm.'' The Saintess thought.


    Even she had been fooled by the form of little Shrubby. Though it wasn''t her fault either, as the method that little Shrubby used to reduce his form was quite effective.


    Little Shrubby used Vitality Reversal to revert to his kitten form. But it also suppressed his cultivation base ordingly. It was only the lower limit of cultivation base that varied.


    Originally, he should have reverted to the Qi refining realm if he was in the kitten form but due to his overall cultivation base increasing, even Vitality Reversal could only reduce it to the Core Condensation realm.


    If he kept this up, there was a chance that when little Shrubby reached the Immortal realm, his kitten form alone might have Nascent soul realm cultivation base.


    And while the Saintess was gazing at Little Shrubby, he was doing to the same.


    To Little Shrubby though, the Saintess felt very different. But he didn''t feel pressure like he did with Xukong.


    "She feels old¡­ very old." Little Shrubby spoke, through their link while letting out a mewl.


    Lin Mu raised a brow upon hearing this.


    "Well¡­ she must be old if she''s at her cultivation level." Lin Mu replied.


    The Saintess didn''t know themunication that was happening between the master and beast. She could only hear the kitten mewling.<sub> </sub>


    "This is your tamed beast?" The Saintess spoke.


    "Yes, this is Little Shrubby." Lin Mu said before looking at the kitten. "And this is the Saintess." He introduced.


    It only made Saintess wonder why Lin Mu had kept a tamed beast like this.


    ''While the beast is cute¡­ that doesn''t make a proper reason¡­'' The Saintess wondered to herself.


    A secondter though, Little Shrubby jumped out from Lin Mu''s arms and stood a few meters away in the courtyard.


    Till before they were in the room which had its doors open up to the garden. It gave one an excellent view of the flowers as well as the pond with several carps swimming in it. But now, Little Shrubby stood there gazing at the Saintess.


    ~shua~


    It was now that the Saintess felt the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the kitten increasing. Within a second it went from the core condensation realm to the Nascent soul realm.


    "It''s rising?" She was a bit surprised, but then saw Little Shrubby growing at a visible pace.


    ? From a kitten, he turned into a cat, then into arge cat. After this point, his cat form changed, and he took on his liger like features, growing a mane and more stripes appearing on his body.


    In less than ten seconds, Little Shrubby had reached the five meter size!


    This wasn''t his maximum size, but it was decent enough to use normally.


    Little Shrubby now towered over both Lin Mu and the Saintess, looking at them with his slit eyes. His aura was also fully on disy, and one could now tell that he was at the Immortal Ascension realm.


    The Saintess though, could see a lot more. With her perception and senses, she saw the Dao Traces of Fire and Wood floating around Little Shrubby.


    ''An affinity to Fire and Wood? What beast is it?'' She narrowed her eyes, not being able to sense right away.


    With the multiple bloodlines that Little Shrubby had, it was indeed a bit difficult to confirm what his bloodline was. After all, most people would only think of there being one bloodline and would use it to identity the kind of beast.


    But for Little Shrubby, who had a mixture of seven bloodlines, it became a lot more difficult.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "That is how he usually is." Lin Mu answered, knowing that the Saintess might be having a doubt.


    To the Saintess, Little Shrubby didn''t seem that big, as she had seen plenty ofrge beasts. It wasn''t unusual for even Dao Treading realm beasts to be a hundred meters in size or more. Thus, Little Shrubby was actually a bit small for his cultivation base.


    "He can control his size?" the Saintess asked.


    "Yes, he can grow bigger or smaller. He isn''t at his maximum size right now." Lin Mu said before gesturing to Little Shrubby.


    ~Growl~


    Little Shrubby let out a growl in agreement before growing once more.

 Chapter 1432 A Seven Bloodline Surprise

    Little Shrubby was a being careful before to not damage the surroundings, but now that he had been given permission by Lin Mu, he had no reason to stop. He fully let his body grow and reached his maximum size.


    He was now a little over twenty meters long and ten meters tall.


    His tail was long and muscr being able to snap trees in half with just a touch. His fur was a mix of red, brown, ck and green. His base fur was red, with ck stripes on it. Brown patterns formed from his paws and joined up along his back and head.


    While on the back of his ears, a green tree like pattern existed that joined up with the rest of the pattern on his body.


    His ws wererge, with each of them being over twelve inches long. But that wasn''t all as they also exuded a faint heat as could be seen from the red line that went through the middle of the ws.


    His eyes were red and yellow, with the outline and pupils being ck.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    His fangs were long and sharp, being able to swallow and entire bull in one go.


    At the same time, he exuded a domineering pressure as if a king of beasts had appeared.


    With his appearance and aura fully on disy, the Saintess could finally sense the bloodline within him.


    "A sh Fire Liger? No¡­ that''s not entirely correct." The Saintess muttered, sensing that there was more.


    "You are correct." Lin Mu replied at this time. "But there is more than just sh Fire Liger." He added.


    "More? You mean dual bloodlines?" The Saintess questioned.


    "Well¡­ not exactly." Lin Mu shook his head before looking at Little Shrubby. "Can you trigger them on your own now?" he asked.


    ~growl~


    Little Shrubby growled in acknowledgment before letting his aura roil.


    It rose before splitting into seven parts. The aura took shape and seven figures appeared in the air, each looking different.


    As soon as the Saintess saw this, she was shocked.


    "Seven¡­ Bloodlines¡­" She muttered in astonishment.


    Even in her sect which had a lot of beasts, having multiple bloodlines was rare. Dual bloodlines or even triple bloodlines were present there, but once went above that, it was very difficult to find anyone.


    In fact, more often than not, having multiple bloodlines only meant that their overall bloodline was tainted and they had low talent.


    Having one pure bloodline was often better than having multiple impure ones.


    But in Little Shrubby''s case, it seemed like the bloodlines he had were full-fledged.<sub> </sub>


    ''Seven bloodlines that are in harmony? Just how is this possible?'' The Saintess couldn''t figure it out. ''Even for the ancient guardians, they only have three bloodlines at maximum¡­'' she felt her doubts multiplying.


    "Little Shrubby does have seven bloodlines. Namely, the sh Fire Liger, the Scorch w Tiger, The Fume Wood Panther, the Thunderbolt Cheetah, the Brood Mane Lion, the Midnight Lynx and the Hundred Mirror Leopard." Lin Mu revealed.


    As Lin Mu spoke all these names, the Saintess nced at the figures ording, finding them to be exactly as he had said.


    She knew each of the beasts that Lin Mu had spoken about and had even seen a couple of them before. But among these seven beasts, the Saintess also recognized a few that were considered very rare.


    ''There is actually a Hundred Mirror Leopard bloodline that has spread outside? And the Thunderbolt Cheetah as well¡­ aren''t they very selective about their mates?'' The Saintess had several doubts about it all.


    To her, a beast like Little Shrubby shouldn''t even be possible and here it was proven wrong.


    "Seven bloodlines¡­ indeed this is unique. Even I haven''t seen so many bloodlines in one beast¡­ at least not functional bloodlines." The Saintess said after thinking for a bit.


    "They aren''t fully functional to be honest. Only four of the seven actually have any effect on Little Shrubby or have abilities stemming from them." Lin Mu replied.


    "Even then¡­ this is still astonishing. I''m sure the members of the Beast Taming peak would dly like to study Little Shrubby." The Saintess stated with interest.


    "Study?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "If you are willing, I''m sure they will spare no expense in providing you with plenty of resources. And no harm wille to Little Shrubby either. He would be far too precious for them." The Saintess exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was even more intrigued by the Beast taming peak of the Serpent Moon Sect. "I see¡­ perhaps I''ll go there one day."


    "I shall wait for that." The Saintess nodded her head before looking back at Little Shrubby. "Though, it seems like he is close to a breakthrough as well." She detected.


    "Little Shrubby? Ah, yes. I did think that he should be able to breakthrough soon enough." Lin Mu agreed.


    He could see the Dao Traces fluctuating around Little Shrubby as well as the spirit Qi that gathered. All of them were ssic signs of an impending breakthrough.


    "I''m thinking of waiting for a few more days, so that Little Shrubby can breakthrough. Once he does, he''ll make our travel a lot faster." Lin Mu suggested. "He is very fast and is also my mount." He stated.


    "Mmmhmm, the sh Fire Ligers and Thunderbolt Cheetahs are known for their speed after all." The Saintess said before agreed. "That''s fine with me. The Yin Yang Twin Serpents will also be having their breakthrough soon enough." She added.


    "Yeah, once all three of them are at the immortal realm, it will be a lot safer." Lin Mu was pleased.


    With this decision made, they simply spent a few more days at the courtyard.


    The twin snakes had already formed their Dao Embryos and were in the Dao Treading realm. This was something even Lin Mu hadn''t fully sensed, and it was a very silent breakthrough.


    Though he looked forward to how the breakthrough for Little Shrubby will be when he reached the immortal realm.

 Chapter 1433 The Troubled Saber Battle Union

    While Lin Mu was waiting in the courtyard for his tamed beasts to breakthrough, another set of events was happening in the same city.


    In the north-eastern district of the city, a building that looked like a barracks was located. It had five floors and had thousands of people going in and out of it. Just from this one could tell that this was an important building.


    At the top of this building, arge name board was hung. And on it, words were written in a fierce style.


    It read: Saber Battle Union!


    This building was the base of the Saber Battle Union in this city and currently inside it, a few people were very angry.


    ~CRASH~


    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE''S NO NEWS?!" A middle aged man which a scarred face mmed his fist onto a table, turning it into fragments.


    "Union Captain, I''m telling the truth! We''ve asked everyone and investigated the area where the deaths happened. But there are still no traces. It''s as if they were all scattered into the wind." Another man dressed in white robes spoke.


    He had a sword on his back, which should have made him look valiant, but with his current expression, it was anything but valiant. The man seemed to be on the verge of breakdown and was under great pressure.


    This was none other than the same man who had bought the Spiral ke Crystal from the ck Candle pavilion''s auction, as well as the leader of the group of mercenaries who had targeted Cong Shui.


    "DAMMIT! Who dares to offend the Saber Battle Union like this?" The Union Captain roared in anger.


    The other people in the room could only shrink their heads in fear, for they knew if they caught their Union Captain''s attention, they would certainly break a few bones. He was the strongest expert in the Saber Battle Union of the Huiqing Empire and was at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    This was almostparable to the City Lord who monitored the workings of the entire port city. While both of them were at the same cultivation base, the city lord was still a lot more senior and had lived longer, thus having more experience.


    But that was not the true strength of the city lord, his actual true strengthid in his backing, which was the Huiqing empire itself. After all, he was an official of the empire and was an aristocrat. If a troublemaker arrived that he couldn''t deal with, he was well within his rights to call forth assistance from the army.


    And once the army arrived, no kind of resistance would be enough. Even if the Saber Battle Union was a strong organization, it still couldn''t go against the ruling power of an empire.


    Plus, if they dared to make anyrge trouble in one of the empires, the other empires would also take notice and monitor them closely. It would only make their work more difficult, which was why even they followed the rules of the empire and wouldn''t go overboard.


    This was the reason why the Union Captain hadn''t gone on a rampage yet, even after losing several of his men. One must know that the men he lost were quite experienced, and that increased their value.


    Besides, them dying like that meant that there was someone stronger targeting them.<sub> </sub>


    ''Who could it be?'' The Union Captain wondered.


    "Union Captain, I looked into Cong Shui, and apparently she was seen far east near the Six Ring Mountains. One of the informants as the outpost sold us this intel." One of the other men in the room spoke.


    "So she really is alive¡­" The white robed man narrowed his eyes.


    After the death of their people, there were no signs of Cong Shui either, which had made them confused as to what had happened. But they hadn''t given up on her, and intended to use her as a source of finding out what had happened.


    Besides, they still didn''t forget that their target was the knowledge of the Cong n.


    "Send our people after her but make sure she is alive. We need the information from her." The Union Captain gave out the orders.


    "Yes, Union Captain!" The man replied before taking his leave to carry out the order.


    Once he was gone though, the white robed man looked at the union captain with hesitation on his face. After building up a bit of his courage, he spoke again.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Will it be fine if we go after Cong Shui now? She must have informed her n by now, and they must be rushing in to take her out of here." The White Robed man asked.


    "Huh? Ding Yao, have you gone soft these days?" The Union Captain said in a mocking tone. "Do you think anyone can get off free after offending out Saber Battle union?" he questioned with a hint of anger.


    "N-no! Of course not!" The white robed man who was named Ding Yao quickly shook his head. "I just wanted to suggest that we also look for other powers who might benefit from supporting the Cong n here." He quickly tried to mend the situation.


    The Union Captain narrowed his eyes and tightened his fist, but gave out a hum in response.


    "Very well. Look into the parties that have a positive rtion with the Cong n, as well as those that benefit from making us offend the Cong n." The Union Captain stated.


    "Y-yes! I''ll do it right away." Ding Yao, said wanting to leave as soon as possible.


    But just as he was about to leave, the Union Captain spoke again.


    "Before you leave though, bring me the Spiral ke Crystal." The Union Captain asked. "I didn''t get to see it when you brought it, because of that damned gathering. Why does the city lord need to call a meeting for the tournament, when we all know it''s going to happen?" the man was upset.


    "Of course!" Ding Yao quickly went to fetch the item from the vault.

 Chapter 1434 A Missing Crystal

    The Vault of the Saber Battle Union was where all the valuable items were kept.


    Most of this was in the form of immortal stones, but there were also some immortal weapons, as well as precious resources. And being a Vault, it was greatly protected and only a few people could ess it.


    Ding Yao had deposited the Storage pouch containing the Spiral ke Crystal here since the Union Captain did not have the time to check itst time.


    Originally, he was supposed to bring it straight to the man, but a sudden meeting by the city lord had prevented it. And after the Union Captain returned, he was embroiled in the issue with the death of their members and the disappearance of Cong Shui.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    But now that the man had some time, he finally desired to see it.


    "I''m here to bring in an item at the behest of Union Captain." Ding Yao stated to the guards standing outside of the vault.


    Of course, the guards knew who Ding Yao was as he was one of the higher ranked members in the Saber Battle Union here. What he said was just a formality and there was no way they were going to ask him for any extra documentation.


    "You can go ahead." The guards quickly let the man pass.


    Ding Yao opened therge doors that were sealed with a formation and appeared inside the vault.


    The vault was actually not that big and was only ten square meters in size. This allowed it to be a lot more secure and easy to move in case of trouble.


    As for the many items inside it?


    All of them were kept in individual spatial storage treasures all of which had extra safety measures ced on them. This way even if something was taken from the vault by an unauthorized person, they still wouldn''t be able to open the spatial storage treasures.


    These spatial storage treasures were sorted ording to the material they held, with there being a pile of pouches that contained the Immortal stones. Then a stack of shelves that held thousands of spirit herbs inside them and a chest that held tons of metals and other refinement materials inside.


    But in the middle of all this, there was a lone pouch which contained the Spiral ke Crystal.


    Ding Yao picked it up and quickly went back to the main hall of the building. He didn''t want to make the Union Captain wait any longer, as he knew the man would only get irritable by time. He had been in the union for long enough to know the behavior of the Union Captain.


    "Here it is, Union Captain." Ding Yao bowed his head while offering the Spatial Storage Pouch.


    The Union Captain held it and saw that the original seal ced by the ck Candle Pavilion was intact.


    "Mmm, good." The man nodded seeing that nobody had spied on it before him.


    ~shua~


    The man used his immortal sense and probed the Spatial Storage Pouch, releasing the seal and allowing him to see the contents inside it.


    His expression was normal for a few seconds and became confused after a few more.<sub> </sub>


    "Mmm?" Ding Yao noticed this and wondered what was happening.


    The other people in the hall also noticed after seeing that the Union Captain had not spoken after even a minute. He was still in the state of probing and it was unkink why he was like that.


    "Union Captain?" someone finally spoke up.


    The scarred face man looked up and gazed at them with an expressionless face.


    "Ding Yao... Would you care to tell me what you did after getting the Spiral ke Crystal?" The Union Captain asked calmly.


    Ding Yao didn''t know why the Union Captain was asking this which was known to everyone, but he still answered the man.


    "After winning the Spiral ke Crystal at the auction, I took it from the staff, verified it and left the ck Candle Pavilion. Then on the way back, I met up with our members who were in charge of going after Cong Shui.


    I briefly talked with them before splitting and returning to the Saber Battle Union. Here, I was about to head to you but learned that you were not present in the building. Thus as per the protocols set, I deposited the Storage Pouch containing the Spiral ke Crystal as is in the Vault." Ding Yao exined it clearly.


    The Union Captain heard his words and nodded lightly, making Ding Yao feel relived.


    "I see... but then why is it that this bag is EMPTY!?" The Union Captain erupted!


    "WHAT!?" Everyone in the hall shouted in unison.


    "How can it be empty?" Ding Yao was doubting his life. "I''m sure the seal on it was intact too. You checked it yourself Union Captain, it was not touched at all." He tried to exin.


    "Take a look yourself!" The Union Captain threw the Spatial Storage Pouch at the man.


    Ding Yao quickly caught it and anxiously checked the pouch. And when he sensed the empty interior, his face turned pale. Cold sweat covered his back and his legs started trembling.


    "U-union Captain... I assure you there really was a Spiral ke Crystal in it!" Ding Yao didn''t know how he would be getting out of this problem now.


    The Union Captain was furious right now, but even he didn''t know how this was possible. As much as he wanted to me someone, he also knew it wasn''t the fault of his subordinate right now.


    ''The seal was intact, and there is no way Ding Yao would make a mistake or lie to me.'' The Union Captain thought deeply, realizing that there must be something more to this. ''Cong Shui escaped and someone must have helped her... at the same time our Spiral ke Crystal went missing. The vault is secure and it definitely didn''t happen there.''


    For five minutes silence prevailed in the hall before the Union Captain finally spoke again.


    "Someone has targeted our Sable Battle Union."

 Chapter 1435 The Saber Battle Union Is Targeted?

    The Union Captain''s words were like thunder to the ears of everyone that was present in the room.


    They were spoken lightly, but were clear for everyone as if spoken right next to you. After all, the weight of those words was far too heavy for them to not focus on.


    "Someone is targeting us?" They muttered in surprise.


    "How is that possible?" Ding Yao couldn''t believe it either.


    "There is a very small chance of this happening other wise. Both the escape of Cong Shui and the disappearance of the Spiral ke Crystal must be rted." The Union Captain stated.


    "Think of it, what are the chances of someone being able to cleanly take care of our people and not leave any traces? Who is so capable that they can steal from a sealed spatial storage pouch, and not alert anyone?" The scarred faced man borated.


    Hearing this, the people in the hall finally started realizing.


    "So there was someone watching us?" someone in the hall muttered.


    "They could have been after us from the start and taken the chance to help Cong Shui just because it urred." Ding Yao said after thinking.


    The Union Captain''s expression darkened as he knew this was not as simple as before.


    ''For them to steal from a sealed spatial storage pouch, that too one that is from the ck Candle Pavilion¡­ they must be an Immortal formation master with great proficiency with space.'' The Union Captain analyzed the situation.


    But the more he thought about it, the heavier its implications got. He knew the Saber Battle Union had several foes, as well aspetitors. But the number of people that fit the criteria of the thief''s abilities were very few.


    And those few people were all those that could not be touched. They were either old experts that could tten the Saber Battle Union with a single palm, or were employed by the empires themselves.This is property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    But neither of those seemed to be people who would bother acting against the Saber Battle Union.


    ''For them, getting something like a Crystal ke Crystal isn''t that difficult. If they really wanted to, they can very easily buy it outright. We wouldn''t be able to match their wealth anyway.'' Wu Laotian had been a Saber Battle Union Captain for nearly a thousand years, but this was the first time he was facing a situation like this.


    Other than him, there were four more Union Captains and above them was the head who was the strongest expert. He was at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, and could be considered as one of the top experts of the entire Rust Sky world.


    ''I can''t tell this to Union Head without concrete proof, either. He''s still in seclusion and is preparing for the missionter¡­ he''ll be too furious if we disturb him right now.'' Wu Laotian felt a little exhausted.


    But he inferred one big thing from all this. He need to spend a lot more effort in collecting information before they could act.


    "If it was someone proficient in space and formations, it would also make sense for them to get rid of our men without leaving any traces. Heck, if there were any traces, they could very well erase them too." Wu Laotian said out loud, feeling more and more frustrated.<sub> </sub>


    The others heard this words and couldn''t help but tremble. After all, even in the Rust Sky world, the number of people who were proficient in space was far too low.


    "Is it really as you think, Union Captain?" Ding Yao asked, feeling weak.


    "It is one of the viable options." Wu Laotian replied. "Which is why I want you all to gather as much intelligence as possible. Figure out if someone has set out bounties upon us, or if there is someone that has probed information about us." He ordered.


    "Y-yes! I''ll head to the ck Candle Pavilion right away!" Ding Yao replied.


    "No!" but Wu Laotian stopped him. "Don''t go there. It is likely that they might have employed the ck Candle Pavilion to gather intel on us. Or there is even a chance that they will be watching that ce." He warned.


    ~gulp~


    Hearing this, Ding Yao swallowed his saliva in fear, knowing that he might have just walked into a death trap.


    "What should we do then?" Ding Yao asked. "ck Candle Pavilion is the only ce that''ll have information like this."


    "We won''t do this on our own. Send someone else to gather information for us on amission." Wu Laotian stated. "And send them to another branch of the ck Candle Pavilion, not the same one here." He added.


    "We''ll do that Union Captain. I''ll contact a few itinerant cultivators and see what can be done." Ding Yao replied quickly.


    But this was not the end of their concerns either.


    "Union Captain what should we do about Cong Shui then? I think it is likely they''ll be watching her too." Someone reminded.


    "That''s true. They''ll be expecting us to go after her again. In fact, they might even be watching her this time and waiting for us to make a move." Wu Laotian agreed. "We''ll have to tread carefully. For now just track where Cong Shui is going, but don''t go to capture her." He modified his earlier orders.


    "Yes, Union Captain." They nodded in agreement.


    "You all are dismissed for now." Wu Laotian said before taking his leave himself. ''I need a drink¡­''


    Wu Laotian though, had no idea how close he had gotten with his assessment of the culprit. The only thing he got wrong was that Lin Mu wasn''t as powerful as he had estimated him to be.


    And he didn''t know that the person he was looking out for was still in the city too.


    Unfortunately for him, there wasn''t much he could do other than to take things slow. And Lin Mu wasn''t going to give them much of a chance either, as he''ll be leaving the city soon enough.

 Chapter 1436 A Stealthy Breakthrough

    ~shua~


    "There we go... that should be enough for the time being." Lin Mu finished setting up a formation array and did some final checks.


    He had set more several formations on the courtyard and reinforced them by turning them into an array. The main function of this array though was to restrain the Qi fluctuations and also hide all that happened inside.


    It was abination of a strong isting formation, barrier formations, Qi restraining formations as well as an illusory formations. And the reason why Lin Mu had set it up was none other than for the uing breakthrough of his tamed beasts.


    ''They are going to be the first ones to breakthrough...'' Lin Mu nced at the twins that were coiled up in the room.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    The spirit Qi fluctuation around them had gotten quite strong and faint Dao Traces could also be seen on them. Though the surprising part for Lin Mu was that he couldn''t exactly tell what these Dao Traces were.


    He knew the reason for this was probably because they simply weren''t aspatible with it.


    "Even observing the Dao Embryo''s of the Twins was difficult in a way..." Lin Mu recalled the time when he had checked their Dao Embryos.


    The Twins had reached the Dao Treading realm some time when Lin Mu was in the Sleepscape and had cause nomotion at all. In fact, one wouldn''t even be able to tell that they had broken through if one didn''t probe them.


    Even then, it was the Saintess that had informed Lin Mu about the twin''s progress.


    One could even say the twin''s breakthrough was very stealthy.


    Of course, upon learning this Lin Mu wanted to see what kind of a Dao Embryo they had formed and had met an obstacle. When he tried to probe them, he ''saw'' a haze that almost threw him off.


    The Dantians of the Twins were different from any others Lin Mu had seen so far, and were filled with violent Qi. If this was anyone else, they would have already died from the chaotic and turbulent form of the Qi.


    But to the twins, this was nothing. Their Dantian safely contained it all.


    Xiao Yin had Yin Spirit Qi in her Dantian, while Xiao Yang had Yang Spirit Qi in his Dantian. The purity of both types of Qis was very high, but at the same time it made it violent for most beings.


    Even Lin Mu needed an hour to adjust to it. Only after that was he able to maneuver through their Dantian and observe their Dao Embryos.


    Unsurprisingly, the Dao Embryo''s of the Twins were simr to the crest that the Saintess had made for them. Xiao Yin had the yin half of the Taiji symbol and Xiao Yang had the Yang half of it. But if one looked closely they would see that they weren''t like the normal Taiji Symbol.


    Instead, they looked to be curved snakes, holding the opposite colored bead on their heads.


    This was a Dao Embryo that neither Lin Mu, nor the Saintess knew. Even Xukong didn''t know about it and he only said that it should be a unique Dao Embryo for both of them.


    Remembering all this, Lin Mu let out a breath, wondering just what kind of phenomena they would cause upon their breakthrough.


    "Hopefully, the array can restrain most of the effects..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he walked up to the twins.<sub> </sub>


    They were curled up on their usual pillow and were still absorbing more spirit Qi. The Dao Traces around them were also getting denser and Lin Mu knew they should be very close to a breakthrough.


    "Now to wait for a short while more..." Lin Mu sat down next to the twins and cultivated as well.


    He was soon immersed in cultivation as immortal Qi swirled around him. With each breath, it would enter his body and be assimted at the same time.


    Minute after minute passed, but no change urred. Lin Mu also fell deeper into cultivation and continued as it is. He knew he would wake up quickly at the moment of their breakthrough, so wasn''t as worried.


    But as more time passed, Lin Mu also lost track of it.


    It was hard to say if it was a w or not, but Lin Mu had no issues in immersing himself in cultivation. It was a natural thing to him at this point, and he could do so with little effort.


    Though there were millions of experts that would give up a lot to have the same natural focus as Lin Mu.


    And just like this, three days passed.


    At this point, even Lin Mu was feeling like something was wrong. His closed eyes trembled before opening.


    "They still haven''t broken through?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    But when his spirit sense swept over the twins, his expression changed.


    "Immortal Qi? What?" Lin Mu suddenly felt that there was Immortal Qi surrounding the twins. "When did this happen?" he decided to look deeper and probed their bodies.


    It was now that he realized something.


    ''They have broken through already?!'' Lin Mu had never expected that the twins breakthrough would be undetected.


    Especially since they were his tamed beasts, he should have felt something through his link with them. And yet, there was no change, there was no fluctuation of emotions. It was as if everything was in a state of absolute calmness.


    It was almost eerie on some level as to how calm the two were. But the Dantians of the twins showed the proof. There was Immortal Qi in their bodies!


    And not just normal immoral Qi but Yin and Yang Immortal Qi!


    Their Dantian also seemed a lot more turbulent and Lin Mu couldn''t observe it for much long. He was forced to withdraw his immortal sense, or there was a chance he might injure himself.


    "They are surely in the False Immortal Realm, but why were there no signs? No phenomena? No surge of immortal Qi? How is this possible?" Lin Mu was left confused.

 Chapter 1437 A Not So Stealthy Breakthrough

    As much as the breakthrough of the Twins was confusing to Lin Mu, he knew there was only one person who could give some answers.


    "Saintess¡­ are you here?" Lin Mu called out.


    ~shua~


    A few secondster, the air next to him turned blurry before the figure of the Saintess appeared.


    Lin Mu had no idea where the Saintess would go when she was in the Courtyard. He knew that she was inside it, but he couldn''t see her anywhere unless she actually appeared physically.


    He had wondered if she was simply staying invisible or whether she was going somewhere. But since she hadn''t said it, Lin Mu didn''t pry either.


    At the very least, she would appear when he called for her.


    "The twins¡­ They''ve reached the False Immortal realm." Lin Mu spoke, confusion apparent in his voice.


    "I know." The Saintess replied.


    "You do? When did this happen?" Lin Mu questioned feeling surprised again.


    "Three days ago." The Saintess answered much to Lin Mu''s doubt.


    "Three days ago? I''m sure they were at the Dao Treading realm back then. I had checked." Lin Mu replied.


    "They were indeed. Then they broke through. They simply made nomotion." The Saintess stated.


    "You didn''t inform me?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a little lost.


    "You were cultivating, so I didn''t think it was needed to disturb you." The Saintess responded, making Lin Mu feel a bit better.


    "I see¡­ Still, is it normal for them to have no signs of a breakthrough?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Of course." The Saintess nodded. "The Yin Yang Twin Serpents can be considered as the most mysterious of the Seven Ancestral Serpents. Even I do not know everything about them, as they have never appeared before this." She added.


    "Besides, they have no bottlenecks and their power also stems from their bloodline. Their potentially is gargantuan and simply by existing they will keep on growing." The Saintess exined a bit. "Though once it is time for their First Immortal Tribtion, you will witness the level of chaos that can happen." She added.


    "Will it be tough?" Lin Mu asked.


    "For them? No¡­" The Saintess shook her head. "For others though¡­ that''s hard to say. The suggestion I''ll give you is that it is best to be as far from civilization as possible during their breakthrough." She warned.


    "Mmm¡­ I''ll keep that in mind. Should I expect any variant or unique Immortal tribtions?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Possibly. With their potential, it wouldn''t be unusual for them to trigger Variant Immortal Tribtions. And they will be quite dangerous to the beings around them." The Saintess replied.


    "Looks like we''ll have to be careful then." Lin Mu said before looking at the twins that were still cultivating silently. "How long will they stay like that?" he asked.


    "You can wake them up if you want. They should listen to you." The Saintess spoke.


    But Lin Mu shook his head. "I''ll let them cultivate. There''s no need to disturb them for now."


    ~HONG~


    But just as Lin Mu said this, he felt a wave of energying from the outside. It was strong and had knocked up a wind that blew in front the door.<sub> </sub>


    "Wait a second¡­" Lin Mu directly teleported outside with Blink, only to see that the energy wave hade from none other than Little Shrubby!


    ~step~


    The Saintess also appeared beside Lin Mu before speaking, "seems like he''s having a breakthrough as well."


    Little Shrubby was lying in the center of the garden, and was in a smaller form. It wasn''t as small as his cat or kitten form, but was half the size of a normal lion or tiger. He had been staying here so that if he had a breakthrough, it''ll be easier for him and no damage will be done to the courtyard.


    While the courtyard was indeed protected, there was no saying just what kind of power would be unleashed during his breakthrough. Lin Mu just thought taking precautions was a lot better than leaving it to luck.


    ~HUMM~


    The pressure around Little Shrubby increased, and he was forced to revert to his full sized form.


    ~growl~Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Little Shrubby let out a growl as the immortal Qi started flowing around him. An invisible vortex was already forming in the air, and Lin Mu could tell that this was going to be arge infusion of immortal Qi.


    And surely, just a minuteter, it happened...


    ~SHUA~


    The vortex of immortal Qi poured a stream of immortal Qi directly into Little Shrubby''s body, which greedily absorbed it all. His meridians, organs, flesh, and Dantian were bathed in the immortal Qi, as the new power fueled them.


    The immortal Qi quickly reached his Dantian and bathed the Nascent soul of Little Shrubby in it. The nourishment provided by the Immortal Qi made his nascent soul roar out in pleasure as well!


    Lin Mu continued to observe and felt that Little Shrubby''s breakthrough might not end just now.


    "Seems like it was right for me to prepare¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He closed his eyes for a moment before activating spatial perception. He gazed at the cloud dappled sky and saw the spatial fabric twisting.


    "The immortal tribtion is close¡­ Little Shrubby is also going to have his Immortal Tribtion after this." Lin Mu said as he became alert.


    ~HUALA~


    The arrays that Lin Mu had set up activated automatically and prevented any energy fluctuation from leaking outside. Little Shrubby''s breakthrough to the False Immortal Realmsted for about ten minutes, after which his next breakthrough started.


    ~HISS~


    All of a sudden, the temperature of the air rose and the moisture around them started to evaporate.


    Lin Mu could sense the Spatial Fabric getting distorted all around Little Shrubby.


    "It''s here¡­" Lin Mu took several steps back and got ready.


    ~BOOM~


    A secondter, the space around Little Shrubby cracked open as searing mes jumped out of it.


    It was almost as if the gates of hell had been opened and the damning fire of hell was calling for a life!

 Chapter 1438 Immortal Shrubby

    The Immortal Tribtion that Little Shrubby was undergoing was the Fire Immortal Tribtion. Since Fire was his best element, it was obvious for him to have picked this was right away.


    The appearance of the mes though was different from any other fire that Lin Mu had ever seen before.


    It wasn''t just the color either, rather the aura exuding from the mes was unique.


    It was like the aura of a punisher that was demanding its payment.


    It was like the aura was saying, ''How dare one attempt to breakthrough!''


    Lin Mu knew this was the demeanor of an Immortal Tribtion and each was a challenge from the heavens themselves!


    His eyes were trained on the immortal tribtion, not wanting to miss anything. After all, this was a great learning experience and would allow him to have an easier time when it was his own turn in the future.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby let out a roar and resisted the mes that were threatening to swallow him. These orange and red mes jumped onto his body, and covered it quickly.


    If a normal person looked at the scene, they might think that Little Shrubby was done for. But to Lin Mu, it looked different.


    The mes were trying to burn Little Shrubby, but simply couldn''t ignite his body!


    His fur was highly resistant to heat and fire, so much so that even the Immortal tribtion couldn''t threaten it!


    Little Shrubby simply circted immortal Qi and took this opportunity toprehend the Dao of Fire.


    After all, an immortal tribtion was also a type of an opportunity and could allow one to gain Dao insights. For Little Shrubby, this was even easier since his bloodline had made it as natural as breathing for him.


    Lin Mu too sensed the faint Dao Traces around Little Shrubby and how they were being absorbed into the Dao Embryo.


    ''If he keep this up, it wouldn''t be hard for him to gain some Dao insights as well.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Dao insights were the higher form of the Dao Traces and were hard for most experts to sense andprehend. In fact, even for peak immortal realm cultivators,ing across enough Dao insights to fullyprehend them was vastly difficult.


    Lin Mu continued to watch as the tribtion mes failed again and again.


    "At least it isn''t a variant immortal tribtion." Lin Mu muttered, knowing that a variant might be a bit too much for the arrays.


    The mes continue to rage and would change its intensity from time to time. It was like they were trying to lull Little Shrubby into lowering his guard. But Little Shrubby stayed staunch from the start.


    His speed of absorbing immortal Qi also increased, and his Dantian was quickly being filled with it. Half of the spirit Qi within his Dantian was already reced with Immortal Qi. And being naturally proficient in the fire element, the immortal Qi was automatically converted into fire elemental immortal Qi as well.


    The Immortal Tribtionsted for about three hours before Little Shrubby roused from his state ofprehension.


    It was evident that he wouldn''t gain more than this and decided to finish it.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby''s body burst forth with his own mes, which pushed away the mes of the immortal tribtion.<sub> </sub>


    And when the tribtion mes tried to cover his body again, they were ''burned'' away by Little Shrubby''s own mes.


    ''Looks like his fire has strengthened again¡­ hisprehension of the Dao of Fire should have increased. Perhaps some Dao insights have formed too¡­'' Lin Mu guessed.


    Regardless of whatever it might be, Lin Mu knew Little Shrubby was going to be a great support to him.


    ~HUALA~


    Finally, the tribtion mes were all wiped away, and the breakthrough waspleted.


    Little Shrubby''s aura rose like a volcano and even the array was pressured. Thankfully, it managed to hold up, or Lin Mu was sure it would alert the other experts in the city. That was not something he wanted right now.


    A minuteter, all signs of the tribtion were gone, with only the scorched ground left behind.


    "Congrattions Little Shrubby! You did great!" Lin Mu praised the beast while rubbing his fur.


    "Now I''ll be able to help master even more." Little Shrubby replied with excitement.


    "You sure will." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He then used his immortal sense to check little Shrubby''s body, just to ensure that everything was fine. There he could see the immortal Qi that was flowing smoothly within the beast''s meridians as well as therge pool of it in the Dantian.


    Rather than a pool, it wouldn''t be wrong to call it argeke.


    While Little Shrubby''s stores of immortal Qi couldn''tpare to Lin Mu, it was still many timesrger than the average immortal cultivator. His Dantian was also massive and wasn''t even at 10% capacity right now.


    But the most important part was something else.


    Lin Mu nced at the Nascent soul of Little Shrubby and saw the red halo around it.


    This was the proof that a cultivator had survived the Fire elemental immortal tribtion.


    Immortal Taegu was also someone who had survived it and had a simr halo around his Nascent soul.


    ''Though the halo on Little Shrubby''s Nascent soul seems to be a lot bigger and also vibrant.'' Lin Mu couldn''t help butpare.


    He then moved his attention to the Dao Embryo of Little Shrubby, finding it to be a big bigger than before too.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    ''It has certainly absorbed a lot of Dao Traces¡­'' Lin Mu thought before noticing something else.


    Hidden between the fingers of the ws, Lin Mu spotted a thin sliver of red light.


    "Wait a second¡­ is that¡­" Lin Mu''s immortal sense got closer and finally saw it clearly. "It really is¡­"


    The red sliver of light was perhaps Little Shrubby''s biggest gain from all this.


    "So he managed to condense a sliver of Fire Dao Insight¡­" The Saintess could also sense it within Little Shrubby.

 Chapter 1439 A Feast Like The Old Times

    Little Shrubby''s breakthrough to the First Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm had gone unnoticed sessfully.


    While it wasn''t unusual for people to breakthrough, it was still unusual for a beast to have this level of breakthrough. And if any expert sensed Little Shrubby''s aura, they would know just how extraordinary he was.


    Lin Mu felt rather proud of Little Shrubby and desired to reward him for all this.


    ''The immortal beast meat will be perfect for this asion.'' Lin Mu thought quickly.


    "Perfect, we''ll have a feast tonight!" Lin Mu dered.


    As soon as little Shrubby heard this, his ears perked up and a glint of joy appeared in his eyes.


    "Feast!?" Little Shrubby excitedly asked.


    "Yes, a feast! And I have the perfect ingredients for it!" Lin Mu answered, making little Shrubby almost burst with joy.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    The beast greatly enjoyed cooking as well as eating and hadn''t done it for a long time now. Lin Mu even used to gather special ingredients and spices for the beast, since he could learn more and make better things.


    Back in the Deep Sapphire ind, Lanbao and Elder Niji had given him a lot of herbs and fruits. All of them would now being in handy, especially since Little Shrubby could consume immortal realm resources as well.


    "Show me! Show me!" Little Shrubby couldn''t wait to start cooking.


    It was still afternoon right now, but cooking would also take some time after all. If he started now, it should be ready by night time.


    "Alright." Lin Mu quickly took out all the Immortal beast meat he had as well as several immortal herbs and fruits.


    The Saintess was standing at the back and watching it all with a mix of confusion and intrigue.


    ''He certainly has a lot of resources for his level¡­ is this the support of that senior or his own?'' The Saintess wondered.


    If there was anyone else that saw the items that Lin Mu had taken out, they would almost faint from it. After all, this was nothing but a disy of wealth. Any of the herbs and fruits he took out could be sold for a pretty value and were easily worth a fortune.


    Lin Mu himself hadn''t used them since he had intended to cook them for better effects. And now that Little Shrubby was here too, it was the perfect opportunity to start utilizing them.


    The next thing Lin Mu did was to take out his cooking ''utensils''.


    The Thousand Ding Glitter Cauldron made its appearance once more and sheets of hundred refined iron appeared too. Then there were the hundreds of different spices that Lin Mu had obtained over the course of his journey.


    He also didn''t forget to take out the Stone Flesh Mushrooms.


    Lin Mu had kept a lot of them in the ring and had wished for Little Shrubby to try them in the future too.


    "Oh yeah, you should start with these first. They are really good." Lin Mu pointed to the Stone Flesh Mushrooms.


    "They are new?" Little Shrubby first smelled the mushrooms and assessed their vor.


    He even ate one whole and tasted its vors.


    "This is good!" Little Shrubby found it to be nice.<sub> </sub>


    "It''s even better roasted." Lin Mu showed how the Haima tribe cooked them.


    A few minutester, a basket of Stone Flesh Mushrooms was quickly ready.


    Under Little Shrubby''s mes, there were few things that wouldn''t melt and the Stone Flesh mushrooms needed even less time.


    ~Crack~


    Lin Mu cracked their outer shell, revealing the tender flesh inside. A savory aroma could be felting from it, and even the Saintess found it pleasant. Little Shrubby and Lin Mu ate a few before Lin Mu noticed the Saintess watching them.


    ''I almost forget about her¡­'' Lin Mu realized, feeling a bit embarrassed.


    He picked a few Stone Flesh Mushrooms and put them in a bowl before walking up to the Saintess.


    "Would you like to try too, Saintess? They are rather good." Lin Mu offered.


    The Saintess looked at the bowl of Stone Flesh mushrooms for a few seconds, wondering if she should reject. She was at a stage where she didn''t really need to eat much. And even if she did, it would be precious pills, elixirs of fruits.


    But after a bit of thinking, she nodded her head.


    "I''ll try them," she epted.


    ? She picked one of them and easily cracked them open. Lin Mu could see a faint ring of air cutting the Stone Flesh mushrooms before peeling them from the shell. It was very fast and efficient, making Lin Mu a little envious.


    The Saintess brought the flesh to her veil before lifting it a bit and eating it.


    Lin Mu watched on, wondering if she would like it.


    After about thirty seconds, the Saintess finally spoke. "It''s decent."


    "It''s fine as long as you like it." Lin Mu said with a smile. "Don''t worry, we''ll have even better stuff or you soon. I know you must be used to good food from the Celestial realm, but this should at leastpare in taste." He spoke with great expectations.


    The Saintess nodded her head in response while Lin Mu went to help Little Shrubby.


    ~SHUA~


    She gently waved her hand and created a set of table and chairs.


    They looked like they were made out of clouds and had a fluffy texture.


    It wasn''t Lin Mu''s first time seeing them, so he wasn''t as surprised, but Little Shrubby was curious. He made a few circles around it for a minute before going back to cook.


    The Saintess didn''t mind it either and let the beast do as he pleased. To her, the beast was like a child and had no bad intentions. Besides, she was also quite interested in Little Shrubby now.


    ''A beast that likes to cook? This''ll be my first time seeing something like this too.'' The Saintess thought as she observed little Shrubby expertly cooking.


    The various spirit tool hands flew around him, doing several tasks.

 Chapter 1440 Dao Of Cooking

    The prosthetic hands that Jing Luo had made for little Shrubby were still quite functional and could be used by him to do several tasks.


    Even if they had be a bit outdated, at Little Shrubby''s cultivation base, it was fine as long as he was using it for cooking. It was only in battle that they would not be as useful as before.


    The Saintess watched it all, finding it rather unique.


    ''A beast that uses prosthetic spirit tool hands to cook¡­ I''ve never seen such a use before.'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    It wasn''t her first time seeing a beast use spirit tools after all. There were plenty of beasts in her sect that used spirit tools, and immortal tools. Some even had them custom made ording to their bodies and physiques.


    A few hours passed like this, and an borate meal was finally ready.


    There were more than ten dishes, but the quantity was simply massive!


    There were grilled, roasted, and braised fish beasts.


    Large bs of beast ribs that were perfectly zed and barbecued as well as threerge pots of stews.


    The aromaing from all the dishes was heavenly and would make one drool. The Saintess was not as affected though and kept her calm demeanor.


    "And here we go!" Lin Mu finished cooking thest block of meat and Little Shrubby extinguished the fire.


    He had been using his own fire to cook everything, so the control was impable. Everything was cooked to perfection, and the meat was absolute tender. One could already see the bones slipping out of the meat as if they were jelly.


    But Lin Mu didn''t start eating it right away.


    Instead, he decided to serve the Saintess first. It would be the proper thing to do and he definitely needed to give her the due respect.


    "Here you go Saintess, you can have as much as you like." Lin Mu said as he served up several tes and bowls to her.


    He didn''t know how much she would eat, and gave her the normal portion that a person would eat. Still, even this normal portion was something that would kill a mortal if they ate it.


    All of the food was made from Immortal beast meat mixed with several spirit herbs as well as a few immortal herbs. If a normal person ate it, they might just exploded from one bite. Even for Dao Treading realm cultivators, thus food might be too much.


    Perhaps only an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator might be able to bear it, and even then they might end up breaking through to the Immortal realm simply due to the immortal Qi entering their bodies.


    Of course, whether this breakthrough would be stable or not would be hard to tell. It would also depend on the cultivators'' own talent to stabilize their cultivation.


    This was also the reason why Immortal Ascension realm cultivators didn''t carelessly breakthrough by consuming immortal materials. As the bacsh from a mistake would be too much for them to bear.<sub> </sub>


    "Thank you." The Saintess said lightly, to which Lin Mu nodded.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    The Saintess lifted her hands, and air automatically condensed in her hands before forming a pair of chopsticks. They were simr to the table and chairs that she had made and were made out of clouds.


    She picked up a piece of milky white flesh that came from a fish beast.


    This fish beast had been braised to perfection and its flesh glistened under the sweet and savory sauces. An equally impressive aroma apanied it and stimted one''s appetite. Even the scene of the Saintess eating the fish was a work of art and could easily be turned into a painting and sold for millions of immortal stones.


    "It''s good." The Saintess spoke after eating the first bite and looked at Little Shrubby. "He''s done well¡­ Comparable to the chefs in my sect." She actually had tall praise!


    "Hahaha! If there''s one thing Little Shrubby is good at other than running, it is cooking." Lin Muughed, feeling pleased.


    He gestured with his hands and suggested the Saintess to try more. "I''ll let you enjoy Saintess,"


    "Alright." She replied shortly before returning to eating.


    She tried all of the dishes, one by one, finding them to be equally good.


    ''All the dishes have a decent bnce of energies. The flesh has been broken down and tempered enough for the Qi and vital essence in it to be gentle.'' The Saintess was analyzing everything.


    She knew just what level of talent was needed to cook beast meat like this. In fact, it was actually one of the big skills that a cultivator could nurture.


    After all, dishes made from high-level ingredients could evenpare with alchemical pills!


    And in some cases, they might even be superior to the alchemical pills, since they wouldn''t have pill toxins. It was even said that there were some legendary experts who had reached the peak of the Dao of Cooking.


    They could create dishes that were basically panaceas and could have a myriad of effects. They could allow one to breakthrough their bottleneck, reach the heavens in one bite or even reverse death!


    Of course, all this was a legend and it was hard to tell if anyone could reach the same level now.


    Still, this didn''t reduce the demand for Immortal Chefs that could cook such dishes. Empires, sects and many other powers would recruit such experts and they would get quite a lot of respect as well.


    ''If he really pursues this, Little Shrubby might have the chance to be the first beast that treaded on the Dao Of Cooking.'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    She didn''t tell this to Lin Mu though, as she wished for things to progress naturally. And as far as she could tell, there wouldn''t be much guidance needed for Little Shrubby to do so.


    "With several strong bloodlines and a talent for cooking¡­ certainly a unique beast you have picked, Lin Mu¡­" The Saintess lightly muttered, her voice inaudible to everyone.

 Chapter 1441 A Shared Immortal Meal

    While the Saintess was having her meal, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were doing the same.


    ? Except in their case, it wasn''t as elegant nor picturesque.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby didn''t seem that different right now and were eating like beasts. Lin Mu bit awayrge chunks of meat and only needed to chew a few times before swallowing it.


    The same could be said for Little Shrubby who had shrunken back so that he could enjoy the food for longer. After all, if he was in hisrge size, he wouldn''t be able to savor the food as much and would finish it quickly.


    The master and beast ate like maniacs, even chewing on bone that crumbled under their teeth.


    Lin Mu''s speed of eating was even faster than Little Shrubby, making it difficult to tell who was the true beast here.


    By the time Lin Mu had finished ten servings, Little Shrubby was only on his fourth and the disparity only seemed to increase as time went by.


    The Saintess who witnessed all this became speechless.


    A stiff expression was hidden underneath her veil and no one could tell what thoughts were going through her mind right now.


    After watching Lin Mu and Little Shrubby eat like savages for a minute, she lowered her eyes and simply focused on the food she had been given.


    ''No wonder he can endure the innate ability of the Great Slumber Bear... with an appetite like that he''ll even put the beasts of the Serpent Moon Sect to shame...'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    She also noticed the stable energy fluctuations around Lin Mu, showing that he was actually absorbing all of the Qi and vital essence from the food. Usually, there should be a fraction that would be lost, but there was none here.


    The same could be said for Little Shrubby, and he didn''t have any loss either. Though one could also attribute it to the food, as it was cooked in a matter that ''softened'' the energies within while also keeping them locked in.


    It was the perfect bnce of tenderness and firmness.


    The amount of food that Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had made was enough to cover the entire garden of the courtyard. But now it was being emptied at a rapid rate. Only the empty vessels were left behind that looked spotless.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were simply too efficient and didn''t waste anything. After all, even a few leftover drops of soup couldpare to an immortal Qi restoration pill on some level.


    About two hours passed by before Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had finished their meal.


    By now, the sky was pitch ck and a gentle breeze was blowing.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu put down therge barrel that had been filled with soup just a few minutes ago.<sub> </sub>


    "Ah~ that was good." Lin Mu said as he relished in the feeling of satiety.


    It wasn''t that he couldn''t eat more, but he still had a feeling of satisfaction that he hadn''t for a long time. Perhaps it was because he had eaten food made by Little Shrubby that he felt like this.


    Or it might also be due to the fact that they had shared and eaten it together that made him feel better.


    Still, it was a feeling that he had missed for a long time and was quite dear to him.


    Little Shrubby was in a simr state, but he was actually full. The beast sprawled on the grass with his bulging belly facing the sky. There was no domineering aura on him right now and if anyone watched him right now, they would think that it was just an over-sized fat catzing around.


    Of course, the same over-sized fat cat could crush their bones and reduce them to cinders all before they said ''fat''.


    Lin Mu cleaned up the courtyard and put away all the vessels before returning to his room to assimte his gains. The Saintess had long since disappeared too, but the table and chairs made out of clouds were still there for some reason.


    ~thud~


    Lin Mu sat on the bed and chanted the calming heart sutra for a bit.


    Once he felt like he was in the optimum state, he started to cultivate and guided the immortal Qiing from his stomach. Of course, his stomach was already working on it from the start and had quickly contained all the energy within it.


    All Lin Mu was doing now was to guide it into his meridians before letting it be deposited in his Dantian.


    A simr process was done for the Vital Essence, except in this case it was channeled into his treasured organs. His flesh was already saturated by vital essence, and the only way he could add more of it was to let it be stored in the treasure organs.


    Of course, this was just the active store that he would use during battles, as he had the biggest storage in his stomach itself. It contained a massive amount of energy and it was unknown even to Lin Mu as to how much energy there was in it.


    Though it didn''t matter to Lin Mu right now, as the stomach would release the energy when there was its need.


    Lin Mu continued to cultivate silently while the twin snakes also slept nearby on their cushion.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    They had not moved much since the past few days and were still getting stronger. They didn''t even need to absorb the immortal Qi from the surrounding as the crest that the Saintess had made for them was more than enough.


    Still, both of them were just in the False Immortal realm for now and the Immortal Tribtion was yet toe.


    At that time, the more immortal Qi they had, the better it would be for them.


    Lin Mu also looked forward to that day and hoped that it woulde soon. But till that time, he would continue to focus on his growth as well as learning more from the Saintess and Xukong.

 Chapter 1442 A Delay And Continued Learning

    "Hmm¡­ this rune doesn''t seem to work as well?" Lin Mu muttered.


    He was surrounded by several sheets of papers along with a few spirit stones and other materials that would be used for formation making.


    "What seems to be the issue?" Xukong questioned upon appearing.


    "This thing Senior." Lin Mu pointed to a specific section of the formation. "When I shrink the formation, this rune seems to stop working normally. The spirit Qi output suddenly decreases and the entire formation stops working." He exined.


    "Let me see¡­" Xukong took a look and understood what Lin Mu meant. "No wonder¡­"


    "Do you know why senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes¡­ the thing is¡­ You''ve reached the limit of its size." Xukong replied.


    "The limit of size? That shouldn''t be so¡­" Lin Mu looked at the formation that was about the size of a palm.


    This was something that Lin Mu had been working on improving. Shrinking the size of formations to smaller forms. It was actually amon skill of formation masters and was one of the things they needed to learn.


    Thus Lin Mu was training himself by reducing the size of several formations that he knew. It was the method that he had been practicing in the recent days when he wasn''t cultivating.


    Of course, right now he was in the Sleepscape as it would double his efficiency. Not only could his body continue to cultivate while he was sleeping, but he could also increase his proficiency with formations and more.


    "It is though. Not all formations can be continually reduced. Some are simply at their limits after a certain size." Xukong spoke. "This formation that you are trying to make is a suppression formation and is used to reduce the spirit Qi fluctuations.


    It is meant to be inscribed onto walls for forging rooms, and on the cauldrons for alchemy. Both of those have wide surface areas that are more than enough for this formation. But once you reach this size, the runes will interfere with each other and end up causing issues." Xukong exined.


    "I see¡­ guess I just need to use some other formation to train further." Lin Mu spoke. "Perhaps I''ll get started on the Diamond Mountain Talismans. We still have a couple more days till the lock down is lifted anyway." He added.


    "Indeed." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu was supposed to leave the city the day after they had their feast. But when he was about to, he ended up facing an unexpected issue.


    The port city had issued a lock down!


    Peopleing from the ocean could still enter the city, but they couldn''t leave through thend route. It was a confusing thing for many people and the merchants were in an uproar. After all, each day of dy could cause them losses.


    But under the orders of the City lord, there wasn''t much they could do.<sub> </sub>


    Of course, the merchants wouldn''t take it silently and demanded for a reason for this. The city lord wasn''t unreasonable and gave an official response to everyone in the city.


    The reason was that the ck Candle Pavilion had been targeted!


    When the people heard this news, they were stunned. After all the ck Candle Pavilion was a rtively strong power and there weren''t many that would dare to target it.


    Apparently something had been stolen from the ck Candle Pavilion and thus they had sought out the city lord for their assistance.


    After hearing this, the people calmed down and some even became nervous. After all, someone capable of stealing form the ck Candle Pavilion wasn''t someone that they could take lightly either.


    One must know the ck Candle pavilion had high security and stealing from them was the same as signing their own death warrant. But now someone had gone ahead and done it, making the other merchants concerned.


    After all, if the thief could steal from the ck Candle pavilion, who''s to say he couldn''t do the same to them. This was especially problematic for the merchants who had high value goods with them.


    They were worried about it and had raised their own security as well.


    Because of this the atmosphere of the entire city was tense, and no one could leave. In fact, if someone came within five hundred meters of the city exits they would be monitored. And near the two hundred meter mark, they would face the barricade.


    ? No one could go past it and there were Immortal cultivator guards posted everywhere. Not to mention, the city array was also activated adding another level of defense to it all.Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.


    When Lin Mu had heard all this, even he was surprised. After all, the managed of the ck Candle Pavilion could be considered an acquaintance of his. He had even invited Lin Mu for a fortunate encounterter.


    Plus Lin Mu had seen the security in the ck Candle Pavilion first hand, knowing how it was. While he could escape with his spatial skills, others won''t be as safe.


    Then there was also the fact that no one knew what was actually stolen. The ck Candle Pavilion had only told the city lord and thus the matter was kept confidential. Though it wasn''t hard to guess that it must be something really sensitive for even the city lord to keep it secret.


    Lin Mu could have technically left the city with his skills, but since he had registered upon entering here, they could technically g him as missing. And if they checked the timings, it might be problematic.


    Besides, waiting a few more days was no issue to Lin Mu.


    He was training anyways and would continue to improve his skills. At the same time, he too was a bit curious as to who might have stolen from the ck Candle Pavilion.


    For now, he would simply continue to improve his skills, until it was time to leave.


    And in the Sleepscape, time passed quickly as Lin Mu was fully engrossed in his training.

 Chapter 1443 End Of Lockdown And Limitations Of The Sleepscape

    ~Haa~


    "That should be enough¡­" Lin Mu ced another talisman on the stack he had next to him.


    He had spent the past three days in making Minor Diamond Mountain Talismans.


    This was what he had done in the past five days since the lock down was initiated. The first two days were spent in learning to shrink formations, but that had reached a limit. Thus Lin Mu switched over to another formation to do the same.


    The Diamond Mountain Talisman was one of the recent ones the had bought and had wanted to learn it anyways. So this was the same as shooting two bird with one array and Lin Mu decided to do this.


    But so far, he had only managed to memorize the methods for all the grades of the Diamond Mountain Talisman, while being able to make Minor and lesser Diamond Mountain Talismans.


    Which was exactly what he had done. He was focused on improving his speed and proficiency by starting with the lowest ranked version that was the Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman.


    There were nearly a hundred of them in front of him and were all stacked in a neat pile.


    They didn''t have much of a value here, but they were still decent for Lin Mu to practice with. Besides, they didn''t cost much for Lin Mu to make. He was simply drawing them using the basic talisman paper, which was cheap to get.


    "This is more than enough. You should move onto the lesser version next." Xukong suggested. "Though it should also be the end of the lock down soon." He reminded.


    "Oh, yeah!" Lin Mu calcte the time that had passed and realized that it was almost that time. "Guess I should wake up now." He stated.


    "You should, yeah. Check on up the situation of the city and if it is good, you can leave." Xukong agreed.


    "Mmhmmm," Lin Mu nodded his head and closed his eyes.


    ~shua~


    In the next moment, he opened his eyes in the real world.


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu spread his immortal sense, checking the situation around him. The first thing he sensed was the presence of his tamed beasts.


    The Yin Yang Twin Serpents were still sleeping on the pillow next to him, and Little Shrubby was out in the garden. The beast was also cultivating and faint energy fluctuations could be felt from him.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t even think of being able to sense the Saintess and simply looked ahead. Out of the courtyard, Lin Mu sensed a few servants going about their day, along with a couple of guests belonging to the inn.


    Lin Mu could hear their conversations too, and learned some news.


    ''Hmm¡­ so the lock down has been lifted.'' This was the first thing Lin Mu noted. ''Though the thief hasn''t been caught. There were no clues so far, and many are assuming that the thief had long since left the city.'' He heard next.


    With these two sets of information, Lin Mu knew for sure that he could now leave.


    "Seems like five days is the limit of how long they can close the city. This is a big port city after all, any dy in trade will cause losses. Even the city lord''s heart would ache from this." Lin Mu muttered to himself.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    ~CREAK~


    He slid open the door and walked towards Little Shrubby.<sub> </sub>


    The beast was in his smaller form and was curled up in a sunny spot. Small embers could be seen flickering on his fur from time to time and immortal Qi was also floating around him with a few wisps being absorbed steadily.


    ~mew~


    Little Shrubby was roused after sensing Lin Mu''s presence. "Master?"


    "Mmhmm, it''s time for us to leave." Lin Mu informed.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby stood up while stretching his body.


    His sharp ws popped out for a moment during this before hiding back in his paws.


    "Saintess?" Lin Mu called out, knowing that she should be around.


    ~shua~


    A couple secondster, he saw the air flickering and a figure materializing.


    "You are ready to leave?" the Saintess asked.


    "Of course." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I''ll take the twins and then we can leave."


    Lin Mu went back to his room and scooped up the twins, who were still sleeping. He slid them into his robes, and let them continue to sleep. He would normally keep them in his sleeves, but for now, his robes would have to do.


    "I''ll send you to the Sleepscape for now, Little Shrubby. It''ll be better that way." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby rubbed his head against Lin Mu''s hand.


    In the next second, Little Shrubby turned into a red blur and faded away into nothingness. This was the effect of Lin Mu sending him to the Sleepscape and it was quite different than storing something in a spatial storage tool.


    Lin Mu had spatial perception, so could sense the object moving between the real world and the minor void.


    But when he sent something in the Sleepscape, it seemed different. There was no change in the spatial fabric and neither were there any spatial disturbances. Things would simply¡­ ''disappear''.


    Of course, this could be seen as an advantage, as others wouldn''t be able to sense this at all. This was also the reason why Lin Mu was interested in keeping Little Shrubby in the Sleepscape.


    He had even tried sending the twins in the Sleepscape but was unable to. After a little discussion with Xukong, Lin Mu figured out the reason. While the Sleepscape could amodate beasts, there was a limit to it.


    He could either send Little Shrubby in, or one of the twins in. But not both twins or all three of them.


    It showed him the current limit of beasts being at 1.


    And as far as Xukong could guess, the limit would increase with his cultivation base.


    "There we go, let''s head out then, shall we?" Lin Mu left the courtyard and flew up, while the Saintess followed along with him in her invisible state.

 Chapter 1444 The Forgotten Comfort Of Speed

    With the lockdown lifted, Lin Mu had no need to stop anywhere.


    He directly left the city and few for at least two hundred kilometers more before stopping.


    "This should be far enough," Lin Mu said before calling for Little Shrubby.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, Little Shrubby materialized in front of him, having returned from the Sleepscape.


    "Where are we going?" Little Shrubby knew that there were supposed to go somewhere.


    "East from here." Lin Mu answered.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby was actually really excited to run again.


    He wanted to see just how fast he had gotten after the breakthrough and was feeling a surge of energy within him. The harness appeared on his back automatically and Lin Mu climbed onto it before strapping himself in.


    Though while doing this, a few thoughts appeared in his mind.


    ''I should rece the Spatial Storage belt that little Shrubby has and the harness too.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The Spatial Storage belt didn''t have that much capacity even if it had been upgraded by Jing Luo in the past. With the amount of beasts they hunted and the stuff they gathered, Little Shrubby needed a much bigger storage.


    Then there was the Harness which was reaching the end of its usage. If was good in the past, but now there were several factors that were pushing it to its limits. The first was the simple fact that Little Shrubby''s size had grown too much.


    Even at its maximum limit, the Harness was barely fitting him and thus Little Shrubby needed to stay in a smaller form. Then there was the fact that the durability of the Harness wouldn''t be enough to bear the speed of Little Shrubby as well as Lin Mu''s own weight.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t actually need a harness to sit on Little Shrubby for now, and could use his own strength to hold on. But the Harness simply made things a lot more convenient andfortable.


    ''Plus I was able to sleep without an issue too¡­ I''ll see if I can get another harnesster.'' Lin Mu thought. ''Or I might just make one myself¡­ I do have plenty of materials¡­'' he recalled the immortal beast materials he had in the storage.''


    While Lin Mu hadn''t practiced spirit tool refinement much, not to mention immortal tool, he still had all the notes from Jing Luo. He had memorized all of them over time, but hadn''t put it into practice as much.


    ''A harness is rtively simple, so I should still be able to use the spirit tool refinement methods for it. The concepts and general principle will be the same after all. Plus, with the immortal materials, just their basic durability should be a lot better than the old harness.'' Lin Mu decided forter.


    These thoughts passed within a few seconds and Lin Mu spoke, "Let''s go!"


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby let out an excited roar, and his aura surged. Then in the next moment, his limbs turned into a blur with him elerating at a blinding pace.


    ~WHOOSH~<sub> </sub>


    Within ten seconds, Little Shrubby had reached a speed where he could only be seen as a red blur streaking across thendscape.


    And Lin Mu who was on his back reminisced the old memories. A sense offort returned to him, one that he had forgotten ever since he arrived in the Rust Sky world.


    "This is what I desired¡­ Freedom to explore and freedom to learn¡­" Lin Mu lightly muttered, his voice muffled by the strong winds.


    His hair flew along with the wind, while his robes fluttered nonstop.


    ~BOOM~


    A minuteter, Little Shrubby created a sonic boom, reaching a new level of speed.


    But this was merely the start.


    The more he ran, the faster he got. Little Shrubby tapped into his body''s potential, increasing his speed more and more.


    The forest around them zipped by, and soon they were in the mountains. Little Shrubby leaped across the mountains, impaling cliffs and creating craters here and there as he traversed the mountains.


    The beasts and other inhabitants were left confused and scared as they could only see cracks and craters appearing out of nowhere. They couldn''t even see Little Shrubby, as he was too fast.


    Even his aura had been muffled with it, making it harder for the immortal beasts to know. The ones that had their immortal sense spread around found it very difficult too. For them, it felt like a very strong gust of wind had passed by and their immortal sense couldn''t even pick up in the immortal Qi fluctuations.


    The mountains Lin Mu was passing through were very vast. In fact, they were the biggest mountains Lin Mu had ever seen, as even the northern Mountains of the Xiaofan world couldn''tpare.


    ''Considering Little Shrubby''s speed, and the rate at which we''re crossing thend¡­ this mountain range is already the size of several countries.'' Lin Mu could onlypare it with his home world.


    He knew that little Shrubby''s speed had reached a new level and was more than twice his previous speed. In just ten minutes, Lin Mu estimated that they had crossed a few thousand kilometers already.


    But this was nothingpared to the size of the Huiqing Continent.


    The Rust Sky world itself was countless times bigger than the Xiaofan world and there were no proper estimates as to how big it really was.


    ''Only with Little Shrubby''s help will I be able to travel faster. Otherwise, flying on my own will limit me quite a bit,'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Not to mention, the other beasts don''t seem to be able to sense him at this speed,'' He noticed.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    These two factorsbined made for the perfect duo and Lin Mu soon saw the end of the mountain range.


    "Whoa¡­ that''s arge teau¡­" In front of Lin Mu appeared an elevated tract ofnd at least a hundred kilometers wide and four hundred kilometers long.


    And on top of this teau was his intended destination.


    Skrk City!

 Chapter 1445 Skylark City

    The Skrk City was the capital of the Province that Lin Mu was currently in.


    And being the capital city, it also housed the Transcontinental Teleportation array.


    That was Lin Mu''s true aim ining here and only by using it would he be able to reach the Holy Topaz Continent. That was where his source of desireid and without it being resolved, Lin Mu wouldn''t have true peace.


    "It truly is big¡­ bigger than even the Imperial Capital of the Great Zhou Empire¡­" Lin Mu said after seeing the city.


    He observed the topography of the area, finding it to be artificial. The teau looked to be a title too even, even if its shape was uneven.Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    ''It''s as if a small mountain range was sliced off cleanly.'' Lin Mu thought.


    It wouldn''t be wrong either, as Lin Mu had heard of many settlements being made like this. It seemed to be a trend in the cultivation world to tten mountains and turn them into a ce of residence.


    There were many sects, cities and even entire kingdoms being built like this, Skrk City being no different.


    "There''s a temple of the Four Guardian beasts here too¡­ if you wish to visit it." The Saintess''s voice was heard.


    Lin Mu turned to the side and found her standing there. He had almost forgotten about her during the journey only knowing that she said she''ll keep up with them.


    ''She really did keep up with Little Shrubby''s speed¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And looking at the Saintess, it didn''t look like she was the least bit exhausted.


    "I''ll take a look if we have the time. I first need to check when''s the next time slot for the Transcontinental array''s activation." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright." The Saintess said before disappearing.


    Lin Mu looked back at the Skrk city and observed it for a while.


    The Saintess on the other hand, was watching Lin Mu and Little Shrubby while staying invisible.


    ''Speed Comparable to a Sixth Tribtion Stage immortal¡­ this is already a great advantage. And it doesn''t seem like this is the limit either, his speed should increase more with his cultivation base.'' The Saintess analyzed.


    Unlike Lin Mu who didn''t have much topare the speed against, the Saintess had a lot more experience. She had actually been observing Little Shrubby the entire time and also analyzing his energy fluctuations.


    While Lin Mu had told her that Little Shrubby was fast, she didn''t know how fast. Then there was the fact that even if an expert was very fast, there was a limit to how long they could maintain such speed.


    But in the case of Little Shrubby, the Saintess could tell that the beast wasn''t strained at all. In fact, it seemed like he would be able to keep on running like that for days on end.


    ''His immortal Qi consumption is also very stable. There is barely any energy being wasted and the beast also absorbs more immortal Qi passively.'' The Saintess was quite impressed.


    "This speed is almostparable to a Juvenile Thunder Roc, isn''t it?" She came to a conclusion.<sub> </sub>


    She wondered just how much the effect of the Thunderbolt Cheetah''s bloodline will be on Little Shrubby.


    ? ''He''s already exceeded the limits of what a sh Fire Liger can achieve in terms of speed. The continued increase must being from the Thunderbolt Cheetah bloodline.'' The Saintess guessed.


    Lin Mu was unaware of the Saintess''s thoughts and was currently looking through a jade slip.


    ''Hmm¡­ The Transcontinental array is located at the very center of the city, so it shouldn''t be hard to find it. Though I''ll also need to book a slot if I am to use it.'' Lin Mu thought after checking the jade slip. "Hopefully I can get a slot in the next activation." He muttered.


    Theprehensive information set that Lin Mu had bought from the ck Candle Pavilion also included maps of many cities and areas, thus making it easy for Lin Mu to find his way.


    "Return for now Little Shrubby." Lin Mu instructed.


    "Alrighty, I''ll wait for you to call me again." Little Shrubby said before being sent into the Sleepscape.


    Having done this, he quickly made his way to Skrk city.


    Being the Capital of a province, Skrk city had different rules that were a lot more strict.


    The biggest one being that no one could fly in the city without permission. This was unlike the port city where everyone was flying as they pleased.


    Lin Munded at the base of the teau as that was the entry point of the city. One had to walk all the way up or they would be arrested. The distance to the top was through a winding road, that was several tens of meters wide.


    It was well made, and one didn''t have much trouble covering it. Of course, for Lin Mu, thus distance was nothing, and he simply ran across it in five minutes.


    He wasn''t the only one doing this either, so it didn''t seem unusual.


    In fact, one could see several vehicles and other immortal tools that were being used to carry cultivators. There were even borate carriages being pulled by immortal beasts.


    Just by looking at these, it was obvious that it belonged to some very rich cultivators.


    Lin Mu didn''t care for any of these though and simply reached the entry gate of the city.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon passing through, Lin Mu could feel an array scanning him and his cultivation base. Thankfully, it didn''t probe deep, and was just a basic identity scan that wasmon for cities like this.


    ''At least I don''t have to register here¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    There were several guards at the gate too, but they were just standing there like statues, not bothering with anyone. It was evident that the people of the city were very trusting of its array and didn''t think that anyone would cause trouble.


    Which was soon going to be proven wrong¡­

 Chapter 1446 Trouble In The Street

    "Hmm¡­ walking here makes things a bit slow." Lin Mu muttered as he roamed the streets of Skrk City.


    Flying was restricted in the city, and while he could run around, there were simply too many people here making it difficult to do without bumping into them.


    One could easily see how rude that would be and thus Lin Mu avoided that.


    As for running over the roofs?


    That might be even more offensive and the guards mighte to restrain the offenders a lot more quickly.


    ''Though it seems like the others are used to this¡­'' Lin Mu didn''t find it too bad, but it did make it a little inconvenient if one wanted to get some ce faster.


    "OUT OF THE WAY!" And just as Lin Mu was thinking this, he heard a rather loud voice.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Looking back, he saw arge beast approaching.


    It looked like an elephant but had two bull heads instead. Its tail was like that of a wolf while its legs were covered in scales. The beast was about the same size as arge elephant but its cultivation base was at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    There was a person sitting on the head of the beast who was also the one shouting. The beast driver was a shifty faced man and was rather thin too. Which made it even more surprising as he was at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    "Can''t you allmoners see! Lord Luo Tu is here, give way!" The Beast driver shouted.


    Everyone''s eyes went to the back of the elephant where arge seat was ced. It was red and gold in color, and had a pagoda like roof too with thin muslin curtains around it. Inside it one, could vaguely see the figure of a man sitting in a lounging position.


    Barely any immortal Qi fluctuations could be felting from him, making it hard to estimate what his cultivation base was.


    But to Lin Mu, that was more than enough.


    ''Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal?'' Lin Mu roughly estimated.


    As for the other people, the name of the man seemed to be more than enough as they all parted to give way.


    "What is Lord Luo Tu doing here today?"


    "Yeah, isn''t he usually cooped up in his favorite pleasure pavilion?"


    "Don''t know, but its better to just let it be. I don''t want any trouble."


    The people in the crowd discussed lightly.


    Lin Mu heard their words and understood that the man might be one of the higher ranked people here, or a member of the aristocratic order.


    Therge elephant beast continued onwards as the sea of people parted at its appearance.Content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "This is a good chance." Lin Mu sped up a bit and used the empty corridor that had formed to go ahead.


    He did this for about ten minutes and had crossed several streets.


    ''If I walked normally, this would have taken an hour at least¡­ I can''t even blink here carelessly.'' Lin Mu was feeling restricted for the first time after a long time.


    Still, he didn''t want to cause any trouble for no reason and could only go along with the flow.


    And while he was following the elephant beast, he saw several other beasts as well. They all seemed to be nobles and were ridingrge beasts while another person drove the beast.


    Simr to Lord Tuo, the other nobles were also given way to speed ahead.<sub> </sub>


    Lin Mu hoped that he could continue like this at least half way to the Teleportation array, but it seemed like fate wasn''t in his favor today.


    "LUO TU! You dared touch my woman! I''ll end you today!" The furious roar of a man could be suddenly heard.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, a ck blur seemed to rush the throne on the back of the elephant beast.


    ~BOOM~


    The throne was sted away, but the man inside it was unharmed. A formation barrier protected him, and he was still sitting in the same way as before.


    "ARGH!" The shifty faced man sitting at the front though, wasn''t as fortunate.


    The splinters from the throne had injured him, and his forehead was also bleeding. Though the man had not fallen off the beast''s head and was still sitting on it.


    ~MOOOO~


    The beast was startled by this and let out a loud cry while raising its body.


    ~SHING~


    But it seemed like this was just the start as another attack came. This time one could see a ck dagger stabbing into the beast.


    ~SLICK~


    The dagger tore through the immortal beast''s flesh effortlessly beforeing out of its head.


    ~CRASH~


    The beast copsed on the ground, as life drained out of it. It couldn''t even make another cry before dying, showing the weapon that had harmed it was not simple at all.


    "RUN!"


    "AHH! GUARDS! GUARDS!"


    "MURDER!"


    The people quickly ran away screaming as they witnessed the incident.


    Lin Mu who saw the scene was a bit baffled.


    "What the¡­ aren''t these people immortals too? Why are they acting like some peasants?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    A majority of the people that were walking on the streets were immortals. Even if they were just False immortals or first tribtion stage immortals, it still counted.


    Lin Mu had thought that someone who could reach this point would be a lot more brave, but the current situation had broken that illusion.


    "WHO DARES!" It was at this point that Lord Luo Tu shouted.


    With the copse of his throne, his appearance could finally be seen. He wore gold and green robes, and was decent looking.


    Though at the same time, his body seemed to be a little too slim and pale, as if he hadn''t gotten enough nutrition.


    Comparing him to his beast driver, it was hard to tell who was thinner. The only thing he had going for him was that he was taller than his servant.

 Chapter 1447 Hidden Attacker

    Luo Tu hadn''t been this angry in a while now.


    He had never thought that he would be attacked while he was inside Skrk City. After all, the security was quite strong here, and no one dared to fight here. Even if there was crime, it wasn''t violent and was just some petty things.


    After all, those that dared to act up would all be captured and imprisoned in the depths of the city.


    ''Which man would target me over that? None of the women I''ve had so far have supporters like that?'' Luo Tu tried to figure it out.


    His immortal sense also spread around, trying to see where the attack hade from and where the attacker was.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as he did, he felt an energy fluctuation behind him.


    ~SHING~


    Luo Tu sensed it and quickly tilted to the back, dodging the de.


    "Dammit!" The voice of the attacker was heard.


    What was strange was the fact that only the hand of the attacker could be seen and the rest of the body was invisible.


    "An invisibility immortal tool? So that''s your reliance?" Luo Tu finally understood why he had not sensed or seen the attack.


    Though on some level it was his fault too, as he didn''t have his immortal sense spread around. Normally, people in the city didn''t do that, since they trusted on the city''s security a lot. No one would expect a mad man to act like this.


    "Humph! You don''t need to know what my reliance is. All you need to know is you are dying today!" The attacker said as he pulled back his hand, turning invisiblepletely.


    Luo Tu was a lot more alert now and was ready to defend.


    "Let''s see how long you can keep this up. The guards will be here soon." Luo Tu said before taking out two talismans and sticking them on his chest.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The talisman lit up and a rune shield formed around the man. After doing that, Luo Tu took out six coins and threw them in the air.


    The coins erged in size and turned into wheel sized discs that revolved around the man. Next, he took out a crescent spear and held it in a reverse grip.


    "Try me now," Luo Tu mocked before shing out in a circr area.


    The crescent spear created a sharp ring of energy that cut through everything in its path.


    ~slick~


    A few drops of blood were spilled fifty meters from Luo Tu.


    "HAHA! Found you!" Luo Tuughed.


    "Shit!" The attacker had tried to dodge Luo Tu''s skill but had still gotten injured.


    He slid below the sharp circle and rolled towards Luo Tu.


    "Die!" The attacker stabbed with the ck dagger again.


    ~CLANG~


    This time though, it was blocked by the six floating wheel sized discs.<sub> </sub>


    The attacker wasn''t discouraged due to it though, and attacked again.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    All his attacks kept on getting blocked as the six discs were covering a lot of area.


    "You won''t be able to get past my defenses! Do you think the Hexashield Formation is weak?" Luo Tuughed before sweeping with his crescent spear.


    The spear created arcs of hasp energy that threated to tear everything in its path. Several of the buildings around them had already been damaged in all this, and it didn''t look like Luo Tu cared about them.


    To him, it didn''t matter how much damage he caused, since he could easilypensate for it. Or rather, he wouldn''t have to do it with his position either, as the attacker will be forced topensate somehow.


    There were plenty of methods to make someone pay, even if they had nothing to pay with. As long as they were a cultivator, their body would be more than enough to pay for such damage.


    And who knows, they might even make a little profit on top.


    The attacker weaved through the arcs of energy, dodging all of them.


    Now that he was aware of what Luo Tu''s skills could do, he had a better time avoiding them.


    ~SHING~


    Not to mention, his dagger could also deflect the attacks.


    "Looks like you managed to get a weapon beyond your means, huh¡­" Luo Tu didn''t miss that either.


    He could tell that the ck dagger was also an Immortal tool, and a good on at that. It certainly didn''t seem like a weapon that just anyone could obtain with ease.


    ''It managed to kill the Twin Bull Elephant in one attack. If it can break its defenses with that ease, it should be a high grade immortal weapon, at the very least.'' Luo Tu analyzed.


    While he might seem like a wastrel noble, he was still quite clever. At the very least, he had the strength to back it up and some knowledge too. Even if he liked to indulge in the carnal pleasures a lot, he wasn''t too stupid to miss other things.


    "What the hell? Why''s there a barrier here?" At this time, the voice of the shifty man was heard.


    It caught the attention of Luo Tu and he looked over to see the man mming his fists on air.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    "A barrier?" Luo Tu narrowed his eyes.


    "My lord, I can''t get past here! Someone has locked down the area!" The shifty man shouted.


    ~SLASH~Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    And while Luo Tu was distracted from this, a de approached him from the top.


    ~DENG~


    The dagger managed to avoid the six shields, but was still blocked by the rune shield that were formed by the talismans.


    "You!" Luo Tu now understood that there was more to this than he had first thought. "You blocked of this area?"


    "Ahahha! Did you think I was dumb enough to let the guards interfere? NO!" The attacker responded. "No one will be able to enter here for a while. That''ll be enough for me to kill you at least!" he said with a hint of excitement in his voice.

 Chapter 1448 Battle In The Streets

    The attacker''s words were enough to make even Luo Tu nervous.


    For a formation to be set up silently like this with hundreds of immortals present, he knew it must beplex. He also didn''t think that this entire situation was opportunistic. From what he could guess, all this had been nned for a while.


    "So you''ve been scheming against me for a while¡­ and it shouldn''t be you alone." Luo Tu said in a dangerous tone.


    "Humph! Did you never think about the amount of people you''ve offended?" The attacker scoffed. "Let me tell you, it is not small. I am simply the one who has decided to end your life personally!" the man said before flipping back.


    He spun in the air and disappeared.


    ''A cloak type immortal tool that can hide one''s presence as well as turn one invisible¡­'' Luo Tu tried to remember if such a tool had made an appearance before.


    He also tried to send a message for help to his family, but all of them seemed to be getting blocked. This only confirmed his conjecture that the formation blocked everything.


    ~CLANG~


    The dagger made its appearance again, but this time it was thrown at Luo Tu''s legs. It hit the edge of one of the six shields before being deflected diagonally.


    "Hah!" Luo Tu spun his crescent spear, creating an area of turbulence around him.


    He was picking up on the attacker''s patterns and guessed that the man had simply tried to feint before.


    And just as he had thought, a momentter, his attack shed against the attacker!


    "Dammit!" The attacker grunted in pain, as another cut appeared on his arm.


    He gritted his teeth before cloaking his body.


    "Fulminating Ember Talisman!" The man threw out a red and ck talisman.


    It looked like was made from burning coals and emanated a strong heat. Luo Tu who was still spinning his crescent spear saw it appear and was rmed.


    "Shit! Hexashield Formation!" He gesture with his hands and summoned the shields to form a wall in front of him.


    The six shields flew forward and assembled into two rows, three in each. And just as they responded to Luo Tu''smand, the Fulminating Ember Talisman arrived.


    The talisman first split into smaller coals, before turning into tiny embers. And yet, each ember was still as hot as before. The more their numbers increased, the higher the temperature went.


    Finally, the embers collided against the shield wall, some stopping right there while some scattering around it. A few embers managed to slip below the shield while some went to the two sides.


    ~BOOM~~BOOM~~BOOM~~BOOM~~BOOM~~BOOM~


    Then in the next moment, tens of explosions urred!


    Each ember exploded with the might of a cannonball sending forth waves of turbulent energies. The paved roads were devastated, while the buildings nearby started to copse from the shockwave.


    ss shattered, Rocks crumbled, and walls fell!


    A small talisman had the same effect as tens of bombs!


    ~CRACK~


    And in all this, a crisp and loud sound was heard.


    A mass of smoke and dust was currently covering Luo Tu and made it hard to see his condition, but from the fluctuating immortal Qi waves, one could tell that he wasn''t in the best condition.


    ~SHING~<sub> </sub>


    The shining tip of the crescent spear pierced through the smoke before cleaving it apart.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In one swift motion, the smoke was swept away, revealing Luo Tu, who wasn''t as confident as before.


    One of the defensive talisman barriers had shattered!


    The Hexashield formation was still present, but three of the shields had also developed cracks. They wouldn''t be able to function at the best level now.


    Seeing the damage to his Immortal tool, Luo Tu was furious.


    The Hexashield formation was actually a Qi skill that belonged to his immortal tool, which was in the form of six coins.


    There were other Qi skills in it too, all of them being defensive, but the Hexashield Fomentation was the strongest one out of them. After all, at its peak, it could even block the attack of a fifth Tribtion stage immortal!


    And yet, the attacker had managed to damage it to the extent of cracking three with one of his talisman barriers also breaking.Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    It showed just how severe the attacks were.


    It only made Luo Tu that much wary of the attacker.


    "The Fulminating Ember Talisman isn''t something just anyone can buy. Only a few people can make them and in Skrk City there''s just one person who can do it." Luo Tu spoke. "Tell me¡­ it''s Formations Master Xinghai, isn''t it? He''s backing you?" he inferred.


    But no response was heard by Luo Tu, instead what he received was another stab of the dagger!


    ~CLANG~


    The six shields managed to block the dagger again, but the cracks on them were now getting wider.


    "You got that right." The attacker spoke from nothingness.


    So far, only one arm of the attacker had been seen, but now the second arm made its appearance.


    It was clenched into a fist and smacked onto the side of the shield!


    ~KACHA~


    One of the six shields finally broke apart!


    Luo Tu gestured with his hand and mmed the attacker back with the five remaining shields, putting some distance between them.


    ~CLACK~ CLACK~


    A second shield broke apart as its fragments fell on the broken ground. It was clear that the m earlier had been decisive.


    "So Formation Master Xinghai is going to lose his head after you." Luo Tu said in a cold voice. "No wait¡­ it''ll be the third head. The second will be your woman." He taunted.


    "LUO TU!" that was all it took to agitate the attacker as he shot toward again.


    This time though, his anger had blinded him and his arm was already on disy from a long distance.


    "Got you¡­" Luo Tu said under his breath before shouting. "NOW!"


    "DIE YOU PEST!" The beast driver of Luo Tu ambushed the attacker.

 Chapter 1449 Despair Of Servant

    The Beast Driver held a small hatchet in his hand that seemed to be covered with a foul smelling liquid.


    One didn''t need to be a genius to know that it was poison!


    ~SPLAT~


    The hatchet cleaved through the attacker''s shoulder, cutting through his bones!


    ~HISS~


    At the same time, fizzing sound could be heard as the flesh started to fester. The speed was very fast, and it was as if strong acid had been poured into the flesh.


    "ARGH!" the attacker cried in pain, finding his left arm to be disabled.


    He couldn''t move it, and his flesh was also festering.


    Even though it had started from his shoulder, it was already starting to reach his upper biceps.


    ~POP~


    The man didn''t seem too anxious though and quickly popped open a small pill bottle. The bottle only had a single pill, but once it was open, a rich medicinal scent burst out of it.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Anyone that inhaled it would feel refreshed and even mortals would find their illnesses being alleviated!


    All this just from a whiff of the scent!


    "That pill¡­" Luo Tu instantly recognized the pill. "How did you get that pill?!" After all, it was a pill that his own n manufactured.


    This left him baffled as to how the attacker would obtain a pill like that. This was because it wasn''t a pill that his Luo n sold. It was especially kept for their personal use and could be considered a life saving pill.


    It was even called as the True Luo Invigorating Immortal pill.


    Having the name of their n attached to it showed the recognition they had. After all, only those who had truly created a new pill would be able to name it after them. The True Luo Invigorating Immortal Pill was one such alchemical pills and was said to have been refined by their founder.


    It was on the basis of this pill that their founder had be a noble and established his own n.


    This pill wasn''t sold and had been kept within the n. Only a few close friends of the n and honored guests could even be gifted this pill.


    Luo Tu himself only had one such pill with him.


    It was given to him when he was a child and had apanied him for hundreds of years, never having been used.


    After all, the materials needed to refine the pill were valuable, and the skill needed to manufacture it was even more unique. Even in his n, there were just four alchemist who could even refine the True Luo Invigorating Immortal pill.


    Considering all these facts, it was simply absurd as to how the pill was in the hands of his attacker.


    ~humm~


    But while Luo Tu was lost in doubt, his attacker had already started to heal.<sub> </sub>


    True Luo Invigorating Immortal Pill was truly worth its reputation and neutralized the poison almost instantly. Not just that, but the rotten flesh of the attacker was also healed and his bones were mended.


    Even his immortal Qi was restored to a certain extent.


    Within seconds, the man was back to his peak condition.


    ''This doesn''t make any sense? There aren''t many people who would even have that pill¡­ even if I consider the outsiders, there''s just two in the city, the city lord and mother''s n.'' Luo Tu thought hard when finally an old memory appeared. "Cao¡­ Cao n!" he said out loud.


    "So you finally remembered it, I thought you would never remember your old ve." The attacker spoke and revealed his face.


    The cloak lifted from his head, disying his face. It was covered with scars and one of his ears was missing as well.


    "Cao Tianyi!" Luo Tu recognized his attacker. "I never thought you would still be alive. I had thought that breaking your bones and ripping your meridians would have been enough to end you."


    "Humph! As if!" Cao Tianyi said with anger. "Your n pushed mine into the brink of destruction. And as if that was not enough, you bought several of our members as servants! The humiliation we suffered¡­ the pain¡­"


    It was evident that the grudge between Cao Tianyi and Luo Tu was deep.


    "But despite all that, I didn''t mind it. I had epted my fate." Cao Tianyi said, much to Luo Tu''s surprise. "But then, in all my despair, I saw a shining star. Young Miss Su Xian helped me several times, even going far as to repair my body after you had crippled me. But then you¡­ You vited her! Broke her!"


    Luo Tu was lost at first, but upon hearing all this, a look of ridiculousness appeared on his face.


    "Su Xian!? THAT BITCH SU XIAN!? AHAHAHA!" The man burst outughing. "I get it now. What ''your'' woman? She''s been dead for years! You never even got to touch her! Seems like just one sided love between a servant and a slightly higher whore." Luo Tu didn''t hold his tongue at all.


    "You! YOU!" Cao Tianyi was absolutely furious now.


    "What? Do you think you can do anything?" Luo Tu mocked. "It''s toote!" at that moment, he spread his arms apart.


    "DETONATE!" Luo Tu ordered as the three remaining shields flew out in the distance.


    There they came in contact with the barrier that had been blocking everything. And when they touched it, they directly exploded!


    ~KABOOM~


    The explosion was more powerful than any attack that had been executed so far. Cao Tianyi was forced to defend using a lifesaving defensive talisman while Luo Tu''s remaining defensive talisman barrier also broke apart.


    There was still one casualty though; the Beast Driver of Luo Tu had not survived.


    The damage to the area was extensive, and most of the buildings had copsed.


    "Time to end this farce," Luo Tu raised his crescent spear and thrust toward as arge spear imprint formed.


    It rushed towards Cao Tianyi, but the man forcefully dodged it, letting it strike a building.


    But before it could strike it though, it was as if a boulder had appeared!


    "Enough." A new voice spoke.

 Chapter 1450 A Body Cultivator

    Ever since the fight had started, Lin Mu had put his distance between them.


    He didn''t want to get needlessly involved and had decided to leave. But much to his surprise a barrier had appeared around the area. And it wasn''t just any barrier, but a proper immortal barrier array that even Lin Mu would need time to unravel.


    Lin Mu could have technically shattered it with pure strength, but he knew doing that would not be good. After all, it would bring more attention to himself and between two violent parties that didn''t seem good.


    The only decent part about it was that the rest of the people in the area had mostly left with only a few others lingering on the periphery, unable to leave. Knowing that this was going to take a while, Lin Mu decided to hang on and watch.


    He put on the mask he had bought from the ck Candle Pavilion and climbed onto the roof of a building in the periphery. It gave him a good view of the fight, and also allowed him to change his position if needed.


    And watching the fight did teach Lin Mu a lot of things.


    After all, so far he hadn''t witnessed that many fights between immortals. Especially those that were strong, thus it was a good learning lesson for him and gave him a lot to think about.


    But after seeing the fight between Cao Tianyi and Luo Tu, he understood one thing.


    "Their fighting style is simple¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He recalled the various ways the experts in the Xiaofan world had fought and recalled the varied methods as well asplex tricks they employed to get an upper hand. But here, it seemed to be more straightforward.


    Even if Cao Tianyi had an invisibility immortal too, his attacks were still pretty direct.


    At the very least, Lin Mu didn''t think he would need to analyze it too much to predict his attacks.


    Even the defensive measures used by the two or the Fulminating Ember Talisman used by Cao Tianyi seemed manageable to Lin Mu.


    "Why does it feel like they''ve lost their proficiency in exchange for power?" Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    "Because they don''t need it." Xukong spoke at this time.


    "They don''t?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Look at them¡­ they''ve seen immortals all their lives. They know how their power is, and they''ve been raised ordingly. They have their paths established and know what to do to progress.


    For the Xiaofan world or perhaps most other mortal worlds, they have no such path. They need to struggle to gain even a little increase in their power." Xukong spoke. "And what do you do when you can''t get stronger by cultivating?" he questioned.


    "You train your body¡­ enhance your fighting instincts and perhaps diversify your scope of skills too." Lin Mu answered.


    "Exactly." Xukong agreed. "But for them, that has nevere up. Sure some might go further and train themselves more and not rely on their cultivation base entirely, but those are the minority." He exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu muttered as a new sense of understanding appeared in his eyes.


    He could quantify the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches, but also knew how to make the best of both.


    "And it seems like, you''ll get to see one of the more hardworking experts too now." Xukong added.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was a bit confused, but soon sensed a new presence in the area. "So that''s what you mean," his attention shifted to the new arrival.


    Some distance from Lin Mu, there was another building on the periphery.<sub> </sub>


    The attack from Luo Tu was about to strike it when it seemed like arge boulder had appeared there.


    "Enough." A new voice spoke.


    The voice seemed to be heavy, as if holding a great authority.


    ~BANG~


    The boulder seemingly moved as something stopped the spear imprint of Luo Tu.


    "What!?" The man was stunned.


    His attack wasn''t dispelled or deflected, but was simply held in ce by arge hand.


    ~SHATTER~


    Then a momentter, therge hand clenched and spear imprint was shattered.


    ~WHOOSH~


    This made the dust clear, and one could now see the scene clearly.


    What they had thought was arge boulder, wasn''t one at all. Instead, it was arge and burly man.Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    He was nearly three meters tall and was full of muscles. His arms were the size of tree trunks and his palms could cover multiple shields. His legs were as thick as that of an elephant and were heavy.


    His torso was like that of a wall and made one think that nothing could pierce it.


    But the most striking part was the man''s head, it had two horns growing from the back of his head that looked like they were made out of steel. His face was rugged and a rough beard grew on it.


    Both of his eyes were dark brown in color, while a hooked nose centered on his face. Long hair was syed on his back, with no ornament holding it together.


    He wore no clothes on his torso, leaving it bare with only leather pants covering his legs and bottom.


    Two metal bracers adorned his arms with the motif of some unknown beast present on it.


    Combining all this, the man exuded a wild aura.


    Lin Mu gazed at the man and felt pure power from him.


    "A Body cultivator¡­" Lin Mu instantly understood at that moment.


    He could feel it within his bloodline, that the man was also a dual body and Qi cultivator. But that wasn''t all as he could also sense the presence of a beast bloodline within the man too.


    Right now the bloodline aura was contained, so Lin Mu could only depend on the faint instinct of the Great Slumber Bear to sense it. Though if anything, the horns on the back of the man''s head all but confirmed it.


    This was certainly the effect of a bloodline.

 Chapter 1451 Steel Horn General Niu Juo

    The appearance of the Giant and horned man was stunning for both Cao Tianyi and Luo Tu.


    But after seeing him clearly Luo Tu was especially scared as he knew who the man was.


    "Immortal Juo¡­ I-Immortal Juo¡­ how can he be here?" Luo Tu almost couldn''t believe his eyes.


    "Immortal Juo?" Cao Tianyi who heard his foe''s words narrowed his eyes.


    He found the name familiar but couldn''t exactly recall where he had heard it.


    It wasn''t until the man started walking towards them did he figure it out. But by that time, it was a little toote.


    Immortal Juo''s face was expressionless, but an impending sense of disaster would rise in the hearts of all those that watched him.


    He walked towards the two men who were now standing still in surprise, every step of his created a thudding sound while the stones cracked under them.


    "Luo Tu of the Luo n, and Cao Tianyi of the former Cao n¡­ Do you two know your crimes?" Immortal Juo questioned in a cold voice.


    "I¡­" Luo Tu couldn''t even bring himself to answer.


    Cao Tianyi though gritted his teeth, knowing that things had gone in a direction he had never expected.


    ''How can the Steel Horn General be here? Why would he leave his post?'' Cao Tianyi couldn''t figure it out.


    The Immortal in front of him was one of the top figures of the entire Huiqing empire. One of the Imperial Generals of the Huiqing Empire¡­ Steel Horn General Niu Juo!


    He was a sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm expert that was said to be very close to his next breakthrough. He had fought in several battles for the empire and had established his power.


    The recent times had been peaceful for the Huiqing empire thus the name of the Steel Horn General had faded away for a while. But there were still people who knew about him as a legend.


    "Speak!" Immortal Juo demanded.


    "Immortal Juo¡­ No, General¡­ I¡­" Luo Tu felt like his legs would turn into jelly if he stayed in the gaze of the man.


    Cao Tianyi was doing a bit better, but that was simply because he was ready to face any consequence when he had decided to enact his n.


    In just a couple of seconds, a hundred thoughts passed through his mind before he decided something.


    "DAMMIT! I''ll kill you even if I have to die!" Cao Tianyi moved rapidly as the ck dagger was stabbed towards Luo Tu''s neck.


    Luo Tu was too upied by the presence of Immoral Juo thus, he didn''t sense it quick enough. With his guard down, the man could already feel the ck dagger cutting his skin, while blood dripped out.


    "YOU DARE!" Immoral Juo exploded at this time.


    Hisrge hand pped at Cao Tianyi''s hand, shattering it instantly.


    ~CLANG~


    The ck dagger was pped away while a cut was left on Luo Tu''s neck. Blood continued to leak out of the cut, but the man''s life was secured for the time being.


    "ARGH! MY HAND!" Cao Tianyi felt intense pain from his bones that had been shattered into fragments.


    It made him recall the time when Luo Tu had broken his bones, but at least back then they were fractured and not shattered entirely like this.


    ~CRACK~<sub> </sub>


    Immortal Juo''s knuckles cracked as he grasped onto Cao Tianyi''s waist as if he were a twig. He easily lifted the man up as if he were a simple feather and gazed into the man''s eyes.


    "Acting imprudently in my presence will cost you." Immortal Juo stated, but Cao Tianyi didn''t care.


    The pain in his arm didn''tpare to the pain in his heart, and he stared back.Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Do your worst." He said. "But know this: the heavens will not forgive Luo Tu and the Luo n. I CURSE THEM WITH MY ENTIRE BEING!" Cao Tianyi dered as a fervor filled him.


    A strong energy fluctuation rose from his body at that time, that rmed even Lin Mu.


    ~KABOOM~


    In the next second, Cao Tianyi''s body exploded into a blood mist that ignited like gunpowder.


    "AAAAAHHHHHH!" Luo Tu''s screams could be heard for a few seconds before they faded away.


    Dust and smoke covered the entire area, leaving only the periphery free of it.


    "This man¡­" A few momentster, a heavy voice was heard.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then a gust of wind blew from the center of the area and cleared out the dust. In the center stood Immortal Juo.


    A crater had formed around him, while ayer of ash covered his hand that had been used to hold on to Cao Tianyi. The battered body of Luo Tu was lying a few meters from the crater.


    He was missing an arm and leg, while half of his face had been burned all the way to his skull. Despite that though, he was still alive and that showed the vitality of an immortal.


    Only Immortal Juo seemed to be fine as other than some ash on his arms and blood sttered on his chest, the man waspletely fine.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    The building that Lin Mu was standing on earlier copsed into a heap of rubble from the impact of the explosion.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu reappeared there a few momentster, having returned from the parallel worlds.


    He looked at the scene of devastation as well as Immortal Juo that stood in the center.


    ''He seems unaffected¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    He could imagine the power of the explosion and knew that it wasn''t just the detonation of someone''s Nascent soul.


    ''That Cao Tianyi used some other methods to make that explosion¡­ this wasn''t just some simple self-detonation.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    It was at this moment that he felt a gaze on himself. He followed the gaze and saw none other than Immortal Juo looking at him.


    "You didn''t think to interfere?" Immortal Juo spoke, his voice easily reaching Lin Mu, making him a bit surprised.


    Lin Mu hesitated for a second before replying, "why should I?"

 Chapter 1452 Steel Horned Barbaric Ogre Bloodline

    Lin Mu had not expected for Immortal Juo to approach him, not to mention question him.


    But now that he had, Lin Mu didn''t think there was any reason to be afraid. At the very least, he knew he had done nothing wrong.


    "Why should you?" Immortal Juo repeated Lin Mu''s words. "You have strength, don''t you?" he asked.


    "How can you be so sure?" Lin Mu replied.


    "I''ve lived long enough to know who''s strong and who''s not. And I''m not so na?ve as to simply equate strength to one''s cultivation base." Immortal Juo spoke in his deep and heavy voice. "You should have decent enough strength to interfere, shouldn''t you?" he asked again.


    "So what if I do? Why should I interfere?" Lin Mu retorted.


    "Do you not have ideals? Do you not think, you should strive for justice? Do you not think, the wronged should be helped, and the oppressors punished?" Immortal Juo questioned.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu thought over the questions, finding them to be something he would actually consider.


    But after a few seconds of thinking, he had his answer ready.


    "I do have ideals¡­ but I do not wish to be embroiled in something that does not concern me." Lin Mu stated.


    "Oh? Even if you know that there was a clear sign of abuse and oppression? You must have heard that Cao Tianyi was crippled and thrown away, by Luo Tu before. And even the woman that Cao Tianyi liked was vited and killed?


    Cao Tianyi''s revenge was justified on some level, and you didn''t think to assist him?" Immortal Juo asked in detail.


    Hearing this Lin Mu furrowed his brows, but then shook his head.


    "No¡­ Even if these were the facts, there isn''t much for me to do. Besides, there is no way I can verify the authenticity of these facts and neither will it give me any benefit." Lin Mu answered.


    "Is that so?" Immortal Juo said, his voice getting heavier.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    It was as if the very atmosphere was getting tense and even Lin Mu could feel the pressure. But despite that, he didn''t lose his confidence and stood calmly.


    Immortal Juo stood like that in silence for a minute, as if expecting something from Lin Mu.


    But after that, he spoke again.


    "Good." Immortal Juo said, confusing Lin Mu a bit.


    But then what he said next, relived Lin Mu a bit.


    "You know when to act and when not to. There aren''t many cultivators like you¡­ at least not the ones that are young and have true strength!" Immortal Juo spoke. "And you are smart enough to not trust surface level information." He added.


    "Oh? So there really was something more?" Lin Mu was a bit curious after getting the praise.


    "Cao Tianyi didn''te here without any backing after all. He had been supported by several powers that had vested interests in the fall of the Luo n." Immortal Juo revealed.


    "So Cao Tianyi was being a pawn¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "And the ones'' backing him aren''t targeting Luo Tu, are they?" he asked.


    "A willing pawn yes¡­ and yeah, they weren''t targeting Luo Tu. He was merely the most convenient target for them to rattle the Luo n." Immortal Juo replied.<sub> </sub>


    ~Sigh~


    "Politics of the nobles." Lin Mu lightly sighed.


    Seeing Lin Mu''s reacting, a faint smile pulled at the edge of Immortal Juo''s lips. ''He''s better than I thought¡­''


    In all this though, Lin Mu didn''t forget one important point.


    "Now that you''ve asked me all this, would you answer one question of mine too?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Go ahead." Immortal Juo allowed.


    "Why is it that a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm expert¡­ the Steel Horned General of the Huiqing empire ask all this to the first tribtion stage immortal realm, me?" Lin Mu questioned frankly.


    "Oh? A clear cut question? Good, I like that." Immortal Juo stated, making Lin Mu a bit uneasy. "I''ll answer your question though."


    Immortal Juo took a breath before speaking.


    "Do you think, you are the only one who can sense someone''s bloodline and body cultivation?" Immortal Juo responded. "I know you have both of them too¡­ And your body cultivation seems to be a bit special too."


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing this, but kept his cool.


    "So you sensed that¡­" Lin Mu replied, but also prepared himself to escape.


    "Of course. There aren''t many body cultivators at our level in the Huiqing empire after all." Immortal Juo stated. "Plus with your bloodline, you standout like a me in the darkness to me." He added.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was a bit surprised, as he was sure his bloodline aura was surpassed and concealed. Immortal Juo seemed to have guessed his thoughts and chuckled.


    "If it was someone else, you might have been able to hide it, but not from me." Immortal Juo spoke. "Hiding from my bloodline is not easy."


    Lin Mu raised a brow wondering what bloodline the man had. But he didn''t dare to ask it directly either as it could be considered rude.


    "I''ll tell you my bloodline. It''s not like it is a secret anyway." Immortal Juo revealed. "My bloodline is¡­ The Steel Horned Barbaric Ogre!"


    Upon hearing this, Lin Mu recalled some information.


    ''Ogre? Isn''t that a race of creatures too?'' Lin Mu remembered reading about them in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal.


    Ogres were a race ofrge humanoid creatures that were said to be savages. But that was just a generalization and there were actually several different kinds among them.


    Their intelligence varied from one type to the other, but was lower than humans on average. This race lived inrge ns and tribes, with their higher ranked members being more intelligent than the average members.


    Their race had an innate advantage in strength and toughness too. Just their raw physical strength wasparable to cultivators.


    But even in their race, their talent varied ording to the type.


    The specific type that Immortal Juo had spoken about was unknown to Lin Mu, but he could tell that this bloodline was certainly talented in body cultivation.

 Chapter 1453 Battle Opportunity

    Lin Mu was feeling quite interested in Immortal Juo''s bloodline and felt like he should look it upter.


    "You are right. The Steel Horned Barbaric Ogres are indeed talented in Body cultivation. And not just that, but they even have their own body cultivation methods." Xukong spoke after having observed Lin Mu''s thoughts.


    "They are?" Lin Mu was quite interested after hearing this.


    After all, there weren''t any other Body Cultivators to learn from so far.


    "Indeed. The Steel Horned Barbaric Ogres are the more violent members of the ogre race. But at the same time they can also be considered as the top talents of their race too." Xukong answered. "And looking at this Immortal Juo, I can say for sure that his bloodline isn''t assimted but inherited."


    "Inherited? You mean to say, he has descended from the Steel Horned Barbaric Ogre race?" Lin Mu was surprised as it was his first time seeing someone like this.


    "Quite possibly. And it might not be a distant rtion either. I''m guessing it should be his father or grandfather." Xukong stated.


    "I see¡­" Hearing all this made Lin Mu feel a bit enlightened.


    Immortal Juo had no idea that Lin Mu had an entire conversation in the span of mere seconds and had also learned more about his bloodline in that time. To him, it only seemed like Lin Mu was surprised.


    "You see, my bloodline is innately favored to battling. As such, it makes me seek out opponents and the bloodline assists in that too. It allows me to sense all those with strong potential and bloodlines." Immortal Juo exined.


    "No wonder¡­ so what is it that you want with me, ultimately?" Lin Mu questioned.


    While he could somewhat guess the man''s intentions and was mostly sure that it was to fight him. But at the same time, there was no need for the man to go about such a long winded way.


    "I wish to challenge you of course." Immortal Juo answered. "But as you are right now¡­ it won''t be a good battle. You need to get stronger for sure." He added.


    "Hmm, but then why ask me all that at start?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "Well¡­ you aren''t the first interesting opponent I''vee across. But most that I have in the past were mistaken about their strength. They would rush in ording to their ideals and interfere in situations that they knew little about.


    Safe to say, most of them lost their lives before they could be any significant." Immortal Juo exined. "But you¡­ you have a good head on your shoulders. I''ll look forward to your progress."


    Now this was something Lin Mu could actually get behind.


    ''An opportunity to battle a body cultivator and Steel Horned Barbaric Ogre bloodline owner would be interesting¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He could already imagine the number of things he would get to learn from him. But at the same time, he also knew there was no use in rushing it. He needed to get a lot stronger before he could challenge the man.


    "Alright then¡­ I''ll look forward to it in the future." Lin Mu agreed much to Immortal Juo''s pleasure.


    "Excellent." The man said before taking out a crude looking metal token. "Take this," he threw it to Lin Mu.


    ~CLANG~? N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    The metal token was a lot heavier than it looked and nged against Lin Mu''s tough skin, creating a metallic song.<sub> </sub>


    Immortal Juo noticed that, but didn''t question it, simply attributing it to Lin Mu being a body cultivator.


    "When you think you are ready, use that to notify me." Immortal Juo stated.


    "Mm, alright. I shall do that then." Lin Mu replied.


    "I''ll look forward to meeting you in the future. Even if it might be a few hundred yearster." Immortal Juo said before going back to pick up the unconscious body of Luo Tu.


    The man looked like he was close to death, but could still continue for a while, with his vitality as an immortal. Besides, even if his body died, the man would still be able to revive using his Nascent soul.


    The only issue would be that it would be a bit more difficult.


    Though with the wealth of the Luo n, it wouldn''t be hard for them to find a body for Luo Tu, or even construct an entirely new one for him from scratch.


    ~BOOM~


    Immortal Juo slung Luo Tu on his back, before leaping away with a kick.


    The ground caved in and another crater was created from it.


    "Sure enough¡­ Body cultivator." Lin Mu was familiar with environmental destruction caused by casual strength.


    After all, he had caused more than enough of it himself.


    With the departure of Immortal Juo, Lin Mu didn''t wait either. The guards of the Skrk city had also appeared by now and began their work.


    A lot of trouble had been caused in the city after a long time and it was clear that this matter was not gonna cool down for a while. On some level, this incident had also made the security force of the Skrk city lose its face.


    Their reputation had been threatened, and it was clear that their higher ups would not be taking this lightly.


    All of this was of no concern to Lin Mu, who was quickly making his way to the Transcontinental Teleportation Array.


    ''At least the traffic has reduced considerably because of the fight earlier¡­'' Lin Mu saw that nearly 80% of the traffic had reduced.


    Most of the people were either hiding in their residence, fearing that they might be caught up in this, or simply ran away, not wanting to be involved.


    It allowed Lin Mu to reach the site of the array quickly.


    "So this is the ce¡­ the building is ratherrge." Lin Mu appeared in front of arge circr building that had arge dome on top.


    He walked into the entrance before finding the counter for registrations on the side.

 Chapter 1454 Booking A Slot And Shopping Spree

    For a building asrge as the Transcontinental teleportation array, the registration section was quite small.


    In fact, it was just a single counter with a person sitting behind it.


    ''I thought there would be more people here¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The counter seemed to be empty rights now, and other than a few people that seemed to be the workers here, Lin Mu didn''t see anyone else. It made him wonder if he was here at the wrong time.


    "Is this ce open?" Lin Mu decided to ask first.


    The worker sitting at the registration counter looked at Lin Mu who had appeared just now. He seemed to be unfazed by Lin Mu wearing a mask and quickly tapped on arge register kept on the desk.


    The register was easily a meter long and half a meter wide in size while also being six inches thick.


    ~THUD~


    With just a tap, the register opened up automatically and flipped over to a certain page.


    "Yes it is, what slot do you wish to book?" The worker questioned. "The uing slots for Dao Wind Empire are all booked and the closet open one is for Two months away." He spoke.


    "Uh.. I don''t want to go to the Dao Wind Empire. I want to go to the Holy Topaz Empire." Lin Mu answered.


    "The Holy Topaz Empire?" The worker looked at Lin Mu again as if a bit surprised. "You are in luck, since three slots opened up just a day ago."


    "When are they for? I want the earliest one." Lin Mu asked.


    "The next activation of the array for Holy Topaz Empire will be four days from now." The worker informed.


    "That works for me." Lin Mu stated.


    "Alright, how many slots do you wish to book?" the worker asked next.


    "I want One¡ª" But just as Lin Mu was about to finish his words, he remembered something. ''The Saintess¡­ do I need to book for her too?'' he wondered.


    "Just get one for yourself. I can take care of the rest." As if reading Lin Mu''s mind, the Saintess answered on cue.


    Lin Mu could tell that her voice was only audible to him and not to the worker.


    "Just one slot?" The worker asked for confirmation.


    "Yes, just one." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Alright." The worker said before extending his hand. "The payment will be Five Hundred High Grade Immortal Stones."


    Lin Mu knew it was going to be a high cost, so he didn''t mind the payment, but it also allowed him to know why others wouldn''t take this method of transport. After all, not everyone was like him and could make this much wealth.


    Even for experts at the Fourth or fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, Five Hundred High Grade Immortal Stones were a big fortune. It was something that they might not even make in a hundred years, forget a couple.


    Thus they would much rather take a ship to reach another continent and travel for two to three years straight rather than pay such an amount. Two or three years wasn''t much after all and they could easily pass it in cultivation.


    Only those that were very wealthy or had a reason to reach another continent at the earliest would take this route.


    The best example was Cong Shui.


    She hade here from the Dao Wind Empire and had taken the Long Leaves merchant association''s ship for that. Her reason ofing here was simply to sell the Bitter Burrow Root.


    It had ended up selling at a cost of 5000 Mid Grade Immortal stones, which was equivalent to 50 High grade Immortal stones. And this was after the fact that Cong Shui was from an aristocratic n too.


    Even for her 50 High Grade Immortal stones were very valuable and weren''t something she would be able to get easily. It was worth for her to spend two years in traveling to get 50 High Grade Immortal Stones and it would still notpare to the 500 High Grade immortal stones needed to use the Transcontinental Teleportation Array once.


    One could also understand why the entire building seemed to be empty for the most part. The number of people who could afford it were limited after all.


    "I''ll pay." Lin Mu took out a pouch of five hundred high grade immortal stones from his ring.Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~tap~tap~


    "Please ce it here." The worker pointed to a circle that had just appeared on his table.


    Lin Mu could sense faint spatial fluctuations from the circle.<sub> </sub>


    ~thud~


    He ced the pouch of Immortal stones on it and saw it disappear.


    ~Shua~


    And just a secondter it reappeared. Just this time, it was empty.


    "You can take back your bag." The Worker said. "The payment has been confirmed as well." He said after a line of words appeared on the register automatically.


    "Okay." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Next the worker took out a token and handed it to Lin Mu.


    "This is the entrance token for the array. Please keep it on you at all times and ensure that it is safe. If you lose it, you will not be able to use the array. The token will also inform you two hours before it is time for the array to activate, so please keep that in mind." The worker instructed.


    "Alright." Lin Mu took the token from the worker and stored it away safely in his ring.


    After all, the cost of this token would easily make many people tempted to steal it.


    It wouldn''t be unusual topare it to a high grade immortal tool either, as one might be able to buy one for that cost as well.


    Done with this, Lin Mu took his leave from the building.


    "Guess I have three days to spend here," Lin Mu had a few things in mind to do till then. "Let''s go shopping then." He said before calling for Little Shrubby.


    ~meow~


    Little Shrubby appeared in his kitten form and curled up in Lin Mu''s arms.


    "Should we go shop for ingredients?" Lin Mu asked.


    "YES! Let''s go!" Little Shrubby was quite excited.


    The master and beast went from shop to shop, buying various ingredients that could be used for cooking. Most of these were spirit herbs, spirit medicine or even Immortal herbs.


    As long as Little Shrubby found it to be good, Lin Mu bought it. Thankfully, most of them were ''cheap'' for Lin Mu thus he had no issues. And with how much he was buying, the shopkeeper were all quite enthusiastic.


    To them, Lin Mu looked like a walking back of Immortal stones and was their apple of the eye for the day.


    They showed him everything they had and even gave him discounts for several items.


    The best part they liked was the fact that as long as Lin Mu liked some spirit herb or immortal herb, he wouldn''t buy just one or two pieces¡­ he would buy the entire stock.


    With howrge the city was and how many shops there were, Lin Mu didn''t sleep at all and continued to roam around buying things or just looking at them. It was quite interesting for him as he got to learn quite a lot of things even from this.


    By the second day, news had already spread in the shopping districts about a certain cultivator with deep pockets. He wore a mask and carried around a kitten in his arms.


    That became his identifying features and whenever shopkeepers or their clerks saw him, they woulde up to him to visit their shops.


    Thankfully for Lin Mu they were quite polite and didn''t force him.


    After all, even they knew someone with such deep pockets must not be simple and was not someone they could afford to offend.


    Another thing that Lin Mu liked was the refreshments and snacks they served him. He got to taste and enjoy a lot of them with Little Shrubby eating the most. The clerks note about Little Shrubby andter on the shops started preparing some special food for beasts as well.


    Though that ended up backfiring as Little Shrubby didn''t like it at all.


    He liked the snacks intended for humans a lot more and simply ignored the ''pet food'' prepared for him.


    On the third day, Lin Mu had seen about a half of the Skrk city. He had obtained quite a lot of information as well and had even bought a few Qi skills and techniques. Then there were the multitude of misceneous items that were also pending to be bought for a long time.


    It was safe to say, Lin Mu had gone on a shopping spree.


    It was his first one after several years and was almost like a vacation for him.


    After fighting a world saving battle and then spending two years in a deste ce like the Land of Exile, it was certainly a rxing experience for him.

 Chapter ?1455 Shu Shaoxing

    After three days of shopping and leisure, the time for the Transcontinental Teleportation array to activated had arrived.


    ~humm~


    "The reminder is here just like the clerk said¡­" Lin Mu looked at the token that he had been given.


    There were two hours before the array would activate and Lin Mu was close enough to the building to reach it within a day.


    ''At least I''ve bought more than enough things tost for a while. Also, some information I wanted to study.'' Lin Mu was pleased with his ''haul''.


    With the number of items he had bought, one could easily set up arge shop. Lin Mu didn''t even know how many Immortal Stones he had spent, but he did know that he had basically bought out the stock of shops selling anything that could be used as a cooking ingredient or spice.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    It wouldst long enough for Little Shrubby to use it for quite some time.


    ''I also managed to get some materials to improve Little Shrubby''s equipment.'' Lin Mu noted the task.


    The things that Lin Mu wanted to upgrade were the Spatial Storage Belt that Little Shrubby had as well as the harness.


    While thinking of all this, Lin Mu soon reached his destination.


    "I''ll send you to the Sleepscape for now little Shrubby." Lin Mu told the beast.


    "Okay! I''ll test some recipes till then." Little Shrubby couldn''t hold back from using the ingredients they had obtained.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said before sending the beast into the Sleepscape.


    With that done, he walked into the building fielding it to be crowded today.


    "Oh? There''s quite a lot of people this time." Lin Mu could see at least a hundred people in the building right now.


    Everyone was waiting in the lobby thus it seemed a bit crowded. Lin Mu hadn''t seen the main area of the building since it was closed off, but knew that it was a lot bigger than this. The main area would only open at the time of the array''s activation.


    Lin Mu looked at the people and found there to be a lot of merchants. It was very obvious due to therge amount of goods they were bringing along.


    In fact, the entire reason why the lobby seemed so crowded was because of the goods that the merchants were carrying.


    "These should be the richer merchants, if they can use the Transcontinental Teleportation array like this¡­" Lin Mu reckoned.


    "That''s right brother." A person suddenly spoke.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu turned to look at the man who had approached him.


    He looked to be in his mid twenties and was rtively young looking from his skin that was almost wless. He seemed to be at the third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and had no specific aura around him.


    "Is it your first time talking the Transcontinental Teleportation array?" The man asked.


    "You can say that." Lin Mu replied.


    "Then it''s going to be a good experience for you." The man said with a smile. "I still remember my first trip. I was so sick after it. Took me two days to recover from the nausea." Heughed.


    "Ah, yeah. Teleportation induced nausea, I''m used to it." Lin Mu replied.


    "Haha, its always fun seeing newbies go through it. We sometime bet on who will take the longest to recover." The man seemed to be quite talkative.


    Lin Mu analyzed the man''s behavior but couldn''t see anything wrong with it. Other than being a little forward, the man hadn''t done anything bad. It just looked like someone that liked to talk.


    "Still, it''s a bit surprising these many people are still going to the Holy Topaz Empire at this time." The man spoke while looking around.


    "Why''s that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well¡­ with the Tournament of the Four Guardians happening next year, most of the people are heading to the Dao Wind Empire. And with how expensive the teleportation fees will getter on, most will want to go beforehand.


    Besides, the travel time within the Dao Wind Empire is quite long too." The man replied.


    "I see." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Are you not from here? Brother¡­ ah, wait I forgot to introduce myself." The man apologized. "I am Shu Shaoxing." He spoke while cupping his hands.


    "I am Mu Lin. And yes, I''m not from here either. I came from the Eight Kingdom Alliance." Lin Mu replied with his fake name again.


    "So it''s brother Mu Lin. Also, the Eight Kingdom Alliance? Aren''t they about to be embroiled in some war now?" Shu Shaoxing replied.


    "A war?" Lin Mu recalled the information that the people of Huyun n had said before. ''The Great Wave kingdom and the Purple Sparrow Kingdom were starting to have conflicts back then.''


    "Yes." Shu Shaoxing nodded his head. "Well¡­ to be honest it''s mostly a rumor. This isn''t official news, but I''ve heard this from a few merchants recently." He rified.


    "Perhaps it might happen." Lin Mu though knew that it was most likely happening.


    The conflict was running deep and all it would need was a little spark to ignite it all.


    "Forget this useless rumor, tell me brother why are you going to the Holy Topaz Continent?" Shu Shaoxing questioned. "Of course, only if you want to say it." He added as courtesy.


    "I just want to get some refinement materials as well as immortal herbs there." Lin Mu replied.


    It wasn''t exactly false, so there was no reason Lin Mu couldn''t say this.


    "Ah! Brother Mu Lin has the same reason as me then." Shu Shaoxing pped his hands.


    "You''re going for materials too?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Of course. I''m looking to study a lot of Immortal herbs and grasses." Shu Shaoxing spoke but then saw the look of slight confusion on Lin Mu''s face. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I am a Herb cultivator. Or more specifically I''m studying various grasses." He exined.


    This wasn''t Lin Mu''s first time finding someone like this but it was certainly his first time in the Rust Sky world.

 Chapter 1456 An Unexpected Delay

    Talking to Shu Shaoxing, Lin Mu felt a bit interested.


    "Grasses specifically? And not just Herbs?" Lin Mu asked for rification.


    "Yes." Shu Shaoxing enthusiastically nodded his head. "I believe grasses hold the key to a great breakthrough to immortality."


    "Why so?" Lin Mu asked again.


    "While there are many kinds of herbs whether they be in the form of entire nts, roots, leaves, trees, or more, grasses are special. They are quite resilient in general and can grow in several harsh environments.


    My studies so far have showed that grasses have the highest survival rate among the various herbs too!


    Thus I am looking for grasses that can transfer this resilience to others too. I wish to nurture a grass that can be used as an immortal ingredient. A grass that can give one resilience to survive harsh conditions.


    After all, one can be immortal by cultivation but they can still be killed.


    My life''s goal is to find something that can change that." Shu Shaoxing exined in detail.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel a bit impressed by the man.


    ''At least he''s got a good goal and is motivated for it.'' Lin Mu was reminded of Jing Luo and Jing Wei a bit from this too.


    "That''s a great aim, I would say." Lin Mu praised.


    "Of course! I wish to be know as the Greatest Grass Cultivator!" The man almost shouted.


    Lin Mu could almost feel the enthusiasm oozing off his body.


    He looked around and saw that no one was bothered with Shu Shaoxing as there were others talking loudly too. Since they were all just waiting, there wasn''t much for them to do anyways.


    Lin Mu and Shu Shaoxing talked for a while more before they felt like the people around them were getting a bit restless/Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "It''s almost time isn''t it?" Lin Mu spoke while looking around.


    "Yeah, it should be about time." Shu Shaoxing agreed. "Let''s see what''s the issue." He said before walking up to one of the workers.


    "Why hasn''t the array been activated? Isn''t it almost time?" Shu Shaoxing inquired.


    "I''m sorry, but we can''t activate the array yet. We are waiting for someone." The worker apologized.


    "Waiting for someone?" the others that heard this were surprised.


    "Since when did you guys wait to activate the array?"


    "Yes, isn''t the policy to activate the array regardless of whether someone arrives or not?"


    The people were feeling confused and upset.


    Seeing that the situation was turning towards the bad direction, the workers tried to cate the travelers.


    "We''re sorry, but the one we''re waiting for is someone important. The orders are from the Imperial ce itself." The supervising head appeared at this.


    "Orders from the Imperial Pce?" Upon hearing this most of the people calmed down.


    "Who could being for the imperial pce to give such an order?" the people wondered.


    "It must be someone very important as they wouldn''t give such an order for anyone else. Some at the ministerial position at the very least." A merchant spoke.


    Lin Mu and Shu Shaoxing also wondered who could being for there to be such a dy. After all, the dy in activation wasn''t as simple as just waiting. It was also a loss of immortal stones.


    While it might seem like the array was lying dormant, it actually was not.


    For a teleportation array of this scale, it needed to be charged and prepared for at least a day. So if the array''s activation was dyed, it would lose a certain amount of Immortal Qi that was supplied to it.


    And to keep the array at its charged state one would have to keep on channeling more immortal Qi into it.


    Thus it was very rare for the activation of a Transcontinental Teleportation Array to be dyed.


    The travelers could only wait for a while more and hope that they could get to their destination early.


    About fifteen minutes passed like this before the supervisor appeared again.


    "We shall be starting the array soon, everyone please move into the Teleportation circle." The supervisor announced.


    "Oh? Did thest traveler arrive?" Shu Shaoxing wondered who might it be.


    But since the door hadn''t opened yet, it was clear that no one new was here.


    There were other people wondering about it too, but for now they needed to rush to the Teleportation circle.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Tworge doors were opened, revealing the massive circr hall that was located inside it.


    This was the main area of the entire building and took up most of its area.


    Upon entering Lin Mu could see the glowing arrays that were carved onto the floor. There were thousands of runes floating in the air as well as others that were drawn on the walls.


    Lin Mu could recognize some of the subordinate formations within the array, and even saw the channeling formations that supplied the Immortal Qi to the array.


    ''The main source of immortal Qi should be below this.'' Lin Mu could see that the channeling formations came from the edges of the hall and they headed downwards through small holes.


    ~step~step~step~


    And while everyone was moving into the teleportation channel, they heard loud steps. It felt like a beast wasing in and they all felt an imposing pressure as well.


    Several of the people that were at the back, including Lin Mu and Shu Shaoxing saw the final traveler.


    The person they had been waiting for had finally arrived.


    "It''s him?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "No way!" Shu Shaoxing was shocked and so were a lot of other people. "I heard that he was in city, but never expected him to be thest one¡­"


    Lin Mu had never thought that he would be meeting this person so soon.


    ''And here we thought it would take years¡­'' Lin Mu gazed at the Steel Horned General who was now entering the teleportation circle.


    Therge and imposing man walked towards the circle as well, beforeing to a stop next to Lin Mu.


    "So you''re here too."

 Chapter 1457 High Profile Teleportation

    Immortal Juo was as imposing as ever and didn''t seem to care that many people were gawking at him.


    Though the people quicklyposed themselves, knowing that it would not be good for them. The man in front of them was the General of the Huiqing Empire, one of the top experts, The Steel Horned General Niu Juo!


    Most of them wouldn''t even get to see an expert like this in their lifetime, even with how privileged they were.


    "It really is the Steel Horned General!"


    "No wonder they dyed the array activation."


    "Yeah, if it''s the general, then it makes sense. He does have the authority to dy it."


    The people in the crowd couldn''t help but gossip.


    But in all this, there were a few that had different thoughts. Specifically, the fact that a General of the Huiqing Empire was heading to the Holy Topaz Empire.


    Normally, a thing like this would be a little difficult and would be a high profile thing. Using a teleportation array to head to the Holy Topaz Continent could almost be considered casual in this case.


    "You''re heading to the Holy Topaz Continent?" Lin Mu responded to therge man.


    "Indeed." Immortal Juo spoke before gazing at Lin Mu''s unmasked face. "You really are at the First Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm."


    Immortal Juo was able to recognize Lin Mu simply by the feeling he got from him. Thus, it didn''t matter if he wore a mask earlier. And now that the effect of the mask wasn''t there either, it was even easier for others to sense his cultivation base.


    After all, Lin Mu couldn''t wear a mask when he was using the array.


    It could be said to be an immigration rule as one needed to show their identity.


    This was normal, as no empire would want unknown individuals appearing right in the heart of their cities. If someone had nefarious thoughts, the resulting situation would be hard to deal with and could cause devastating losses.


    "Of course, I hadn''t lied before." Lin Mu replied to the man before noticing that quite a few people were looking at them.


    Immortal Juo noticed this before speaking, "don''t mind them. The weak will always look up to the strong. The faster you get used to it, the better."


    "That is true... but the same attention can bring some problems that might be bothersome." Lin Mu responded.


    "Ahaha, you just need to ovee them with pure strength, then." Immortal Juo chuckled.


    Shu Shaoxing who was standing next to Lin Mu, was a quite surprised.


    "You know the general?" Shu Shaoxing said in shock.


    "We''re acquainted." Lin Mu stated.


    "He''s someone worth watching out for." Immortal Juo added.


    ~gasp~


    Shu Shaoxing took a breath after hearing this. To him, the words of Immortal Juo had a different meaning.


    ''Brother Mu Lin is backed by the general? Who is he?'' Shu Shaoxing wondered.


    As Lin Mu was using the array, Shu Shaoxing did expect him to be decently wealthy, but having a backing like this was bigger than that. As for Lin Mu''s words about just being an acquittance, Shu Shaoxing took that as a way of downying his rtions.


    ''He must be someone going out to train on his own.'' Shu Shaoxing thought before another astonishing thought came to him. ''No wait! Perhaps Immortal Juo came especially for him? Is he looking after him!?''


    AS soon as he thought this, it was like a dam had been broken. Wild theories formed in Shu Shaoxing''s mind, with some going so far as to guess that Lin Mu might be one of the princes of the empire!


    Of course, he kept his thoughts to himself, knowing that speaking them out loud might not be good.


    For now, he just decided to be as good as possible with Lin Mu.


    ~SHUA~


    "The Transcontinental Teleportation Array will be activating soon. Everyone be ready." The supervision finally announced as the runes started to glow brightly.


    Lin Mu could feel a colossal amount of Immortal Qi surging into the array below him. At the same time, he felt a strange link being formed between his body and the array.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    ''The token is acting as the link?'' Lin Mu sensed the token in his pocket trembling. ''No wonder they said not to lose it.''


    Lin Mu could see that others were feeling the same as some of them, held the token tightly in their hands, fearing that they might lose it somehow. But in all this, Lin Mu was reminded of another thing.


    ''Wait... if token is the method to link with the array, what is the Saintess gonna do?'' Lin Mu was now concerned.


    He closed his eyes for a moment and activated spatial perception, looking around for the Saintess. She had said that she''ll take care of the rest, but Lin Mu couldn''t help but be worried.


    Even if the Saintess could hide her presence normally, it couldn''t hide from Lin Mu''s spatial perception when there were turbulent spatial fluctuations around here. Lin Mu soon spotted the Saintess, a short distance from him.


    She was standing in an empty spot between the crowd. It was strange because despite there being empty space, everyone was ignoring it.


    ''How''s she doing that?'' But that wasn''t all Lin Mu noticed.


    He could also see some new runes forming around her. They were disguised with the Dao of Air as well and couldn''t be seen by others. These runes were interacting with the array below them and forming a temporary link for the Saintess!


    ''Such a rapid speed... that too with arge andplex array like this... the Saintess certainly has some great skills.'' Lin Mu understood.


    ~HUMM~


    A few secondster, the array seemed to have reached its peak, and dense spatial fluctuations covered the entire hall. Everyone''s vision went dark and their bodies turned weightless.


    Lin Mu was the first one to regain his vision, since his spatial perception was active from the start.


    ''We''re in the teleportation channel...''


    Those who didn''t have Spatial Perception couldn''t ''see'' the Teleportation Channel as well as those who did.


    Thus, for most of the people, the ce they seemed to be in looked nk. Other than the fact that they were moving, they couldn''t tell much. Some of them were a bit panicked, but tried to hold it in.


    "This feeling never changes." Immortal Juo spoke as he looked at the passing streaks of light.


    "The vastness of the void is indeed overwhelming." Lin Mu responded.


    He was perhaps the one with the most experience with the void here and thus knew a lot more. Lin Mu could also see a lot more than what others did.


    While others might only see a few streaks of light here and there passing, Lin Mu saw the spatial energies themselves.


    He could also sense the faint objects that were hidden in the darkness. Most of them were just chunks of rocks, or other debris floating around in the lesser void. But from time to time, Lin Mu could sense some items there too.


    ''I don''t usually encounter other items while teleporting... there are a little too many of them here aren''t there?'' Lin Mu noticed the number of items increasing.


    Of course,pared to the distance they were crossing, the number of items Lin Mu saw were just a handful. But even that was quite a lot whenpared to the vastness of the void.


    "Those should be the remains of some unfortunate travelers." Xukong spoke at this time.


    "Oh? Did they meet idents?" Lin Mu was surprised, since the array was supposed to be quite safe.


    "It''s possible. Though since they are located just around the teleportation channel, it is likely that someone had tried to hijack the route and use it themselves. But they failed and thus lost everything." Xukong answered.


    This gave another idea to Lin Mu, "doesn''t this mean I might be able to find a lot of things, if I search around like in the past?" he asked.


    "That might be possible." Xukong responded.


    "And it should be safe too, since this is a higher ranked world. With teleportation beingmon, they won''t mind some spatial disturbances." Lin Mu added.


    "Indeed. You can try that if you wish too. But your Qi consumption will also be higher due to the spatial fabric being tougher here." Xukong replied.


    "Yes, I''ll try when I feel like it." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Lin Mu continued to observe the void and the teleportation channel, enhancing his own understanding of both. This was another learning opportunity, so he didn''t want to miss it either.


    And with this being a long distance teleportation, they spent about five minutes in the teleportation channel. The only time Lin Mu had spent longer in a teleportation channel was when he had arrived in the Rust Sky world. After all, that was an Interworld Teleportation and was quite long.


    Finally though, everyone saw a bright light at the end of the channel that turned their vision white.

 Chapter 1458 An Empire With Deep Foundation

    "We''ve arrived." Lin Mu''s voice could be heard, as everyone''s vision slowly started to return.


    They felt the familiar weight of their bodies again as well as the hum of the surrounding runes.


    Simr to before they found themselves in a rather wide hall. But this hall was different from the one they were in earlier. The previous one was mostly built for function and didn''t have any decorations as such.


    But the current hall seems more like the hall of a royal pce!


    There were white marble pirs marking the periphery of the hall while golden eaves adorned the ceiling of the hall.


    There were fine carvings on the marble walls, that looked beautiful but if one looked closely they would see that each of the carvings also had runes embedded into it. Beauty and function werebined into this hall, making it a statement of power.


    This was Lin Mu''s first time seeing something like this and he couldn''t help but be impressed.


    ''Simply the methods used to add the runes to the carvings alone is masterful. They managed to keep the structure of the formations while incorporating them into different murals.


    Their judgment of choosing different murals to amodate each formation is also phenomenal.'' Lin Mu immediately started analyzing the formations of the hall.


    For a lot of the other travelers, this was a stunning scene too and they couldn''t help but be enthralled by beauty.


    "The Holy Topaz Empire certainly deserves its position as being the oldest empire¡­ its foundation is really deep." Shu Shaoxing was also in a daze watching everything.


    ''So this is the difference that deep foundations make¡­ things like these cannot be built in just a few days¡­ the people needed to make it also need to develop the skills over a long time. This is simply an example of the culmination of their efforts of thousands of years.'' Lin Mu concluded in his heart.


    Simply by arriving, Lin Mu had already started learning new aspects if formation creation. He wondered just what more could be found here.


    ''Seems like I''ll be able to gain a lot more than just my initial goals.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Wee Travelers! The Immigration Department of the Holy Topaz Empire hopes you have a pleasant experience in our home." An announcement was yed at this time.


    Lin Mu looked up and saw two small formations glowing on the roof.


    "Voice Transmission and Voice Amplifying formations." Lin Mu identified the source of the announcement.


    "Our staff will soon be guiding you all to the registration sections. Please follow them calmly and ensure that all goods and other items brought by you are safely secured." The announcement continued.


    And just on cue, Lin Mu saw several people appearing from arge doorway at the front.


    All of them were wearing the same type of outfits. They looked different from the loose robes that most people wore in the Rust Sky world. Instead, it looked like they were like shirts and pants that were tailored to fit them.


    Their pants were in white, while their shirts were yellow with white and cream colored embroidery on it. And at the left side of their chest one could see the royal crest of the Holy Topaz Empire: The Topaz Seal.


    "Please follow us," The staff of the immigration department spoke.


    But in all this, Lin Mu spotted a man wearing a uniform with a slightly different design. It was simr in a color scheme with the other staff, but had extra embroidery around the cor.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    Thisbined with the man''s demeanor made Lin Mu sure that he must be a higher ranked member of the staff.


    "Honored guest, the supervisor is waiting for you. Pleasee with me." The man came to a stop in front of Immortal Juo and bowed his head.


    "Mmm, alright." Immortal Juo agreed, having expected this since the start.


    But before leaving, he turned to look at Lin Mu and spoke, "if you are looking for materials pertaining to Body cultivation, it''s best if you head south. Go to the Land of Blood Strewn ins."


    After saying this, Immortal Juo took his leave and didn''t speak much.


    ''So he had already guessed what I came here for¡­ though it does make sense since he knew I was a body cultivator.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Shu Shaoxing though had a different reaction.


    "The Land of Blood Strewn ins? He doesn''t mean the Deste Blood Battlefield, right?" he muttered in surprise.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You don''t know about it?" Shu Shaoxing replied. "It''s the legendary battlefield of ancient times."


    "No¡­ can you tell me more?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Sure, but¡­" Shu Shaoxing looked at the people leaving the building. "I think we should first finish the formalities here."


    "Of course." Lin Mu nodded his head and walked ahead.


    The staff of the immigration department seemed to be very cordial and helped them find the right desk ording to their purpose. The merchants who had brought goods were processed in a different desk, while normal travelers were processed in different desks.


    Even among the normal traveler, there were separate desks depending on their identity. For example, nobles and aristocrats of other empires and kingdoms had different verification methods than just some itinerant cultivators.


    Thankfully for Lin Mu, he was considered to be in the most basic category and didn''t have to do much. Shu Shaoxing was the same, and the two of them were done with their registration in less than ten minutes.


    "Please keep this card with you at all times. It will serve as your identification while you are in the Holy Topaz Empire, as well as function as a wallet." A staff member handed both of them a card that seemed to be made from some kind of crystal.


    This was the first time Lin Mu was seeing an object like this. Just from his initial judgment, he could sense several formations in it.


    ''The encryption on it is very tough too¡­ I don''t think I''ve seen anything like this before.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "It can function as a wallet?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Yes. You can go to any of the banks in the empire and deposit your wealth there. The bank can appraise the wealth whether it be in the form of immortal stones, spirit stones, or other materials and quantify it ording.


    This will then be marked to your card and you can directly use it for transactions." The staff member exined.


    "That''s convenient¡­" Lin Mu said before furrowing his brows. "But doesn''t that also mean that it can be stolen easily?" he questioned.


    "Of course not, sir. Even if you do lose it, or someone steals it, they will not be able to use it. Not only does the card has your own brand on it, but it will also be bound to your blood. Other than you, no one will be able to use it.


    Not even the bank authorities can do that." The staff member answered. "Also, if you do end up losing the card, you can always get a new one issued at your nearest bank." He added


    "I see¡­" Lin M could certainly see the appeal of the card.


    It made sense to use it for most people since they would have a difficult time carrying around immortal stones and other such things. Not to mention there could always be a chance of them getting stolen, or them being attacked for it.


    By having a card like this, the fear of getting robbed was almost eliminated since the thieves or robbers wouldn''t be able to do anything with the card. Plus, it also solved the need for having arge spatial storage tool. After all, not everyone could afford them.


    Though in Lin Mu''s case, having a card or not didn''t matter, as his ring meant that there was never an issue about space and neither was there anyone capable of stealing anything from him.


    ''Though using the card is a bit better than just dumping immortal stones in someone''s hand.'' Lin Mu could see the benefits now.


    Lin Mu and Shu Shaoxing each took the card and used their immortal sense to put their brand on it.


    "You can also add the blood seal once you are at the bank. That will verify your identity there and create your ount. That way, you will always have a secure ce to deposit your wealth." The staff member added at the end.


    "Alright. Thank you for your assistance." Lin Mu said before taking his leave.


    He was impressed by the Holy Topaz Empire just from his initial interaction with the people here. Lin Mu could see the different in development between the different ces.


    ''The Holy Topaz Empire is certainly ahead of the Eight Kingdom Alliance and the Huiqing Empire¡­ though I wonder at what level the Dao Wind Empire is at.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.

 Chapter 1459 The Ancient History Of Rust Sky World

    After leaving the building, Lin Mu and Shu Shaoxing went to a bank as they were suggested.


    While Lin Mu didn''t really need to store funds in it, he reckoned it would still be better to use it since it would make transactions seem normal. It would also avoid others thinking that he had a lot of wealth on it which would just mean less trouble for him.


    Plus, he needed to bind it to his blood anyway and that could only be done at the bank. And on the way to there, Shu Shaoxing and him spoke.


    "Are you really looking to get materials for body cultivation?" Shu Shaoxing questioned.


    "Yes, I do. I also need some Body cultivation techniques." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm¡­ then the Holy Topaz Empire is indeed you best bet." Shu Shaoxing replied.


    "You spoke something about the Deste Blood Battlefield and the Land of Blood Strewn ins, can you tell me more?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Sure, it''s nothing secret anyways." Shu Shaoxing nodded his head. "Immortal Juo suggested that you go to the Land of Blood Strewn ins, right?"


    "He did yeah. Is it something dangerous?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Very. As far as I know, that ce is located within the Deste Blood Battlefield. It''s a legendary battlefield from ancient times where the fate of the entire Rust Sky world was decided." Shu Shaoxing replied.


    "Fate of the Rust Sky world? Was it in danger?" Lin Mu was intrigued, wondering if it was something simr to to the Xiaofan world. "Was someone invading the world?"


    "Invader? If it was an invader, it would be been better. No¡­ it was this world''s own powers that were battling for supremacy. Of course, at that time, the current powers didn''t exactly exist. Only the Holy Topaz empire did¡­ well, it was the Topaz Dynasty at that time." Shu Shaoxing answered.


    "So what happened?" Lin Mu asked for more details.


    "Back then, this world was splintered into many small powers. Many immortals rose and fell and conflicts weremon. Wars happened every year and millions of lives were lost. But in all this, there were several experts that were getting stronger.


    And one such expert had supposedly reached the peak. The name and most of the details of this expert have long since been erased from the annals of time, but it is said that they were the first to have reached the Transcendent Immortal realm in the Rust Sky world.


    After reaching that though, they were stuck at a bottleneck. They wanted to go further but could not.


    Thousands of years of failure had made them desperate, and they resorted to dark means. In the end they went mad and ughtered countless cultivators. This forced the other powers of the Rust Sky world to band together against them.


    The strugglested a long time and the final battle was fought on the region which is now known as the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    In that battle, most of the powers fell and a few rose. The Topaz Dynasty was one such power and one of the biggest gainers, too." Shu Shaoxing revealed.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows, finding it to be a lot more severe than the situation of the Xiaofan world. The duration of conflict in the Rust Sky world was far too longpared to his home world.


    "What about the other powers like the Huiqing Empire and the Dao wind empire?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Unlike the Topaz Dynasty, they were simply minor powers of that time. Topaz Dynasty could be considered the ''orthodox'' power of that time and was an established kingdom long before the era of wars.


    Huiqing Empire and Dao Wind empire actually came into existence after the final battle. Most of the major powers had suffered great losses in it and this gave an opportunity for the smaller powers to rise up.


    The Huiqing Empire and the Dao Wind Empire did exactly this, bing the empires of current times." Shu Shaoxing answered.


    "I see¡­ and what about the Eight Kingdom alliance?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "They¡­ have always been a mixed existence. They are the minor powers who could never stay in unity for long enough to be an empire and no single power could dominate the region either. Thus, they could only stay as an alliance." Shu Shaoxing replied.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "No wonder¡­" Lin Mu now understood.


    He also reckoned that the Great Ocean Hippocampus might have contributed to their instability.


    "So then, where is the Deste Blood Battlefield?" Lin Mu questioned. "Is it in the southern region of the Holy Topaz Empire?"


    "Well¡­ not exactly." Shu Shaoxing rubbed his head.


    "Huh? What do you mean?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You see, the Deste Blood Battlefield isn''t on the Holy Topaz Empire, or even on the Rust Sky world technically." Shu Shaoxing said, much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "Then where is it?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "It''s actually on an independent ne." Shu Shaoxing answered.


    "What?! An independent ne?" Lin Mu said with surprise.


    "Yes. Though it is a stable anchored independent ne." Shu Shaoxing added.


    Lin Mu knew about such independent nes. They were nes that had fixed entrances and were open all the time. They weren''t like the sacrednds or secret grottos of the sects either, which only opened during certain times.


    The Kong ne was somewhat simr to this, but did not have a fixed entrance before it was bound to Lin Mu.


    "If you want to go to the Deste Blood Battlefield, you have to go south, but not that far from here. Its entrance is located merely six hundred kilometers from here, at a ce called as the Broken Sword ridge." Shu Shaoxing revealed.


    Lin Mu noted in his mind and decided to look a bit more into it. After all, from what he knew, it would be dangerous and it was best to be prepared.


    He talked a bit more about Shu Shaoxing about it, but this was the extent of what he knew about the ce. For the rest, Lin Mu would have to look into it himself.

 Chapter 1460 The Grand Imperial Bank

    While conversing Lin Mu and Shu Shaoxing ended up reaching the bank.


    "That''s a big building..." Lin Mu looked up at the building which looked no difference than a pce.This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    It was nearly three hundred meters tall and eight hundred meters wide. There were thousands of people going in and out of its many entrances.


    Though strangely enough there was no name board on the building, only a symbol.


    The symbol was that of two mirrored scales. The top left pan of the scale held a coin, the top right held a gemstone, the bottom left held a drop of blood and the bottom right held a dagger.


    It was certainly a unique symbol that Lin Mu hadn''t seen before.


    "It''s definitely one of the biggest buildings I''ve seen too..." Shu Shaoxing nodded his head.


    The two of them picked the closest entrance to them and walked into the building. In there, they could see over a hundred counters with clerks sitting behind them.


    There were people depositing their items, whether they be coins, immortal stones, herbs or other resources. Then there were staff members that were appraising the items and documenting the transaction.


    "I guess we pick a counter?" Shu Shaoxing spoke.


    "Let''s see." Lin Mu lined up at the counter that had the shortest queue.


    He ended up waiting for about thirty minutes before it was his turn.


    "Wee to the Grand Imperial Bank of Holy Topaz Empire, how may I help you?" The Clerk asked with a gentle smile.


    "We were told toe here after arriving." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Ah! New travelers to our empire." The Clerk said while sping his hands. "Please, give me your crystal cards and I''ll help you."


    "Here you go." Lin Mu and Shu Shaoxing handed the cards.


    The clerk took the cards and ced Lin Mu''s card on a special device. It was pyramid shaped but had four spursing from its t sides. The card was firmly sped by these spurs when the clerk brought it close.


    ~CLACK~


    ~HUMM~


    A small ray of light rose from the top of the pyramid and hit the crystal card, illuminating it.


    Lin Mu''s eyes widened as he saw the densework of runes that appeared. The ray of light didn''t stop there and a circr formation screen appeared above the card.


    "Immortal Mu Lin, is that right?" The Clerk asked for confirmation.


    "That''s right." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Please put a drop of your blood on the card, it''ll finish the registration and your ount will be created." The clerk instructed.


    "Alright." Lin Mu pricked his finger and squeezed out a drop of blood.


    It touched the crystal card, dyeing the runework inside it red. The circr screen above it also turned red for a moment before returning to its in white color.


    "And it is done." The Clerk said with a smile. "Would you like to deposit anything?" he asked next.


    "Umm, sure." Lin Mu took out a pouch of Immortal stones. "I''ll deposit these."


    "I''ll take these." The Clerk ced them on a circle that was on the desk and saw the pouch disappear.


    It was the same method that Lin Mu had seen back in Skrk city.


    A few secondster the pouch was returned and some new information appeared on the circr screen. The clerk who saw it raised his brows but quickly returned his expression to normal.


    "The deposit has been confirmed." The clerk said before returning the crystal card to Lin Mu. "You can now use the card to transact with any other person that has it too. In addition to this, you are eligible to avail several services that our bank provides, whether it be the appraisal service, the auction service, or some custom requests." He exined.


    "I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu said before letting Shu Shaoxing repeat the process with his crystal card too.


    But unlike Lin Mu, the clerk didn''t tell him about the same services.


    "You are eligible to use the card for transactions and the appraisal service." The Clerk informed Shu Shaoxing.


    Lin Mu was a little surprised and wondered why there was a difference.


    But before he could ask, Shu Shaoxing did it. "I don''t get the same services?"


    "Sorry sir, but ording to the amount you have deposited only a few services are avable to you for free. If you wish to avail the other services for free, you need to deposit more. You can also pay for the other services if you wish to avail them directly." The clerk replied making Shu Shaoxing furrow his brows.


    "How big of a deposit do I need to do?" he asked.


    "Please take a look, sir." The clerk waved his hand, making a list appear. "The service are ranked in a descending order of deposit amount."


    Lin Mu took a look as well feeling curious. But Shu Shaoxing was stunned seeing the top line.


    "F-five... Five thousand... Five Thousand high grade Immortal Stones for the custom requests?! One thousand for the Auction Service?" Shu Shaoxing''s eyes were wide open.


    He stayed like that for ten seconds before turning to Lin Mu.


    "You deposited Five Thousand high Grade immortal stones?" Shu Shaoxing asked in astonishment.


    "Well... Ten thousand." Lin Mu replied.


    ~gulp~


    After hearing that Shu Shaoxing was sure of one thing. ''Tycoon... Brother Mu Lin is a tycoon!''


    He only felt like his initial assumption about Lin Mu being some big shot was correct. It also made sense to him since Immoral Juo was acquainted with him.


    Lin Mu had no idea about the misunderstanding that Shu Shaoxing was having. Though even if he did, Lin Mu wouldn''t care much as it didn''t affect him negatively anyway.


    The clerk behaved professionally though and spoke again, "if sir Mu Lin wishes to avail any of our service, you can directly head to our VIP counters next time."


    Lin Mu simply nodded his head before taking his leave while Shu Shaoxing followed behind him, his face frozen in astonishment.

 Chapter 1461 Parting From Shu Shaoxing

    One of Lin Mu''s goal ining to the Holy Topaz Continent was to find materials that were needed for him to progress his body cultivation.


    Senior Xukong had given him the option of three body cultivation techniques: The Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets, The Three Apertures Invoking Technique, and finally the Deep Nether Vitriolic Baptism.


    Out of the three, the Deep Nether Vitriolic Baptism was unusable since the requirement for it was a Caustic Nether Spring. Unless Lin Mu could stumble upon one, it would be impossible for him to cultivate it.


    This left him with the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets and the Three Apertures Provoking Technique. Both of these needed special materials to cultivate, that Lin Mu intended to find in the Holy Topaz Empire.


    And to do that, he decided to first see if he could find them in the shops here.


    "What do you wish to do now?" Shu Shaoxing asked, seeing that Lin Mu was thinking about something.


    "I want to find shops selling body cultivation materials. I''d like to see if I can find them there before going out to search for them." Lin Mu replied.


    "That should be easy. There is nock of such shops." Shu Shaoxing said before taking out a booklet. "This should help us with it. It''s got all the information we need about the city."


    "Ah, good." Lin Mu took the booklet, realizing that it was actually a spirit tool.


    Simr to a jade slip, as long as one injected some Qi, it would show the stored information. The booklet was basically an allprehensive map about the Holy Topaz empire and was quite detailed.


    Lin Mu spent five minutest looking through it and found most of the information that he needed.


    The city they were in was one of the biggest cities of the Holy Topaz Empire. It was called as the Middle Fort City and was quite important as it had one of the Transcontinental teleportation arrays in it.


    The reason why it was called as the Middle Fort city was because it was originally built as a fort to guard the Deste Blood Battlefield. There were two more such cities, named as the Upper Fort City and Bottom Fort city, but they had been destroyed a long time in the past.


    Back then, there used to be multiple entrances to the Deste Blood Battlefield, and the other two cities guarded the upper and bottom entrances. But now that it was all in the past, the function of the city had changed.


    It was now an important center ofmerce and all the goods traded in it were highly valued. Not to mention, there were a lot of materials that were brought in from the Deste Blood Battlefield as well and sold here.


    Lin Mu quickly found several of these shops and decided to go check them out.


    "Did you find what you needed?" Shu Shaoxing asked.


    "Yes, thank you for this." Lin Mu handed the booklet back.


    "You''re wee." Shu Shaoxing said before talking out a jade slip. "Why don''t we exchange our contacts? It mighte in handyter." He asked.


    "Sure," Lin Mu didn''t mind that, as he could see that Shu Shaoxing was a decent man and was knowledgeable too. ''It doesn''t hurt to make some friends anyways.'' He thought.


    "Contact me if you need help, brother Mu Lin. I''ll be heading off now. I got some work to do too, I''ll leave you be." Shu Shaoxing bid farewell.


    "Good bye." Lin Mu said cupping his hands.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    Shu Shaoxing quickly left after that, and from what Lin Mu could see, the man was leaving the city right away.


    ''He said he wanted to research grass type herbs, so I guess he is heading out to the wilderness.'' Lin Mu thought before going on his own path.


    His destination was arge building by the name of Grand Sky Pavilion.


    ording to the information that Lin Mu had read, the Grand Sky Pavilion dealt with everything, whether it be alchemical pills, herbs, fruits, refining materials, Qi skills as well as cultivation techniques.


    They were also said to be the biggest independent supplier other than the Empire itself.


    If there was something that Lin Mu needed, he would surely find it in the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    And upon reaching the Grand Sky Pavilion he realized that the Grand Imperial Bank of the Holy Topaz Empire was still small considered to it.


    The Grand Sky Pavilion was over a kilometer in size and had several sections inside, divided into individual buildings. It wouldn''t be wrong to say that this was an entire town contained within the city.


    "Guess they are worthy of their name¡­ Even the Formation arrays here are formidable¡­ I can''t even read half of them." Lin Mu muttered as he sensed the Immortal Formation arrays around the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    There were so many of them oveid that it was almost impossible for Lin Mu to read it right away. He would have to focus and unravel eachyer to see what was hiding under it. With such a disy of arrays, Lin Mu''s confidence in the organization rose.


    Simr to the Grand Imperial Bank, there were thousands of people here, but there was nock of staff to attend to them either.


    "Where do I go if I want to look for Body Cultivation materials?" Lin Mu asked one of the passing staff members.


    "Body Cultivation materials?" The staff member paused before pointing to another section. "That is the Vitality Hall. That is where you can find everything to do with body cultivation."


    "Thank you." Lin Mu quickly made his way there, leaving the staff member a bit confused.


    ''He didn''t seem like a body cultivator from his physique¡­ he''s too thin for that. Maybe he want''s to start cultivating his body?'' to the staff, most body cultivators wererge people with muscr bodies.


    To them, Lin Mu didn''t exactly fit the description. After all, the techniques that Lin Mu had practiced were quite different.

 Chapter 1462 At The Grand Sky Pavilion

    Upon walking into the Vitality Hall, Lin Mu saw the change in demographic.


    "Now it seems like I''m surrounded by body cultivators¡­" All Lin Mu could see were muscr cultivators walking around.This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    Some wore tight clothes that entuated their muscr curves, while some simplyid their bodies bare. Some had their heads clean shaven, while some had long hair that looked like the mane of a beast.


    ''No wonder this ce is called vitality hall¡­ Just the passive vitality emanating from the people here is overflowing.'' Lin Mu could feel it very vividly.


    Just from it, he could also sense the cultivation base of everyone. Unlike Qi cultivators, body cultivators were more brazen and would keep their cultivation base on full disy.


    After all, they had worked hard for it and so why should they hide it?


    Such was the general consensuses for most of them.


    "Peak of the Immortal Ascension realm¡­ First Tribtion¡­ third tribtion¡­ fifth tribtion¡­" Lin Mu focused to sense all the cultivation bases of the body cultivators.


    After a minute or so, he had gotten a basic idea of how things were here.


    A majority of the Body cultivators were actually below the immortal realm and were dual practitioners of Qi cultivation and body cultivation. Such cultivators mostly cultivated till the peak of the Immortal ascension realm with their body and the rest was covered by their Qi cultivation.


    This was simr to the condition that Lin Mu was in.


    But then there were those that were those with body cultivation equivalent to the immortal realm!


    These were the true body cultivators who were mostly focused on their bodies. While they still had some Qi cultivation, it was mostly so that they could use Qi formon spirit tools and such.


    But despite all this, Lin Mu found something to be strange.


    ''Their aura¡­ it doesn''t seem like the Five Treasures realm¡­'' Lin Mu realized.


    The more he looked, the more he realized that other than a handful that seemed to have the aura signature of the Five Treasures realm, the rest seemed to have vastly different aura signatures. But the most confusing thing was that they still seemed to be body cultivators equivalent to the Immortal realm.


    "What is all this?" Lin Mu was now confused.


    "The reason why their aura signature is different is that they most likely switched the techniques after reaching the Immortal realm. You will experience the same." Xukong answered, seeing Lin Mu''s doubt.


    "Oh¡­ I see. But then why do some of them still have the aura signature of the Five Treasure realm despite being at the immortal realm?" Lin Mu asked.


    "There are many types of body cultivation techniques. The five treasures realm is based on the five mortal elements and the bnce between them. Not all body cultivation techniques will follow the same norm.


    After the initial foundation had been made in the Five treasures realm, one can cultivate and focus on singr elements or other aspects too. Those that you sense to have the aura signature of the Five treasure realm are probably cultivating an Immortal Body cultivation technique that is still focused on the bnce between the five mortal elements." Xukong exined.


    "Oh? I see¡­ then what about the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets and the Three Apertures Invoking Techniques?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    "The Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets is vastly different from the Five Treasurers realm and does not focus on the bnce of five elements. It is a body cultivation technique that purely focuses on strength and will have its own aura signature that will mask the five treasure realm.


    On the other hand, the Three Apertures Invoking technique is one that focuses on the umtion of energy. It won''t fully mask the aura signature of the Five Treasures realm, but will modify it a bit." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu thought over it and realized that there was still a lot for him to learn. With all this in mind, he walked over to the counter where the materials were being sold.


    "Wee sir, what would you like?" The shop clerk asked.


    "I want a few different materials." Lin Mu spoke before taking out a list.


    He had long since kept it ready and the clerk appreciated it too. He went through the list, nodding at some items while furrowing his brows for some.


    "Sir, we do have some of these items, but some aren''t readily avable." The clerk spoke.


    "Oh? Even the Grand Sky pavilion doesn''t have everything?" Lin Mu was surprised. "What are the ones you have and what are missing?" he asked.


    "It''s not like that, sir. It''s just that there are some items we''ll need to specially procure while some will have to be made on order." The Clerk stated before continuing. "We currently do not have any Tyrant Bull marrow, though if sir wishes, you can ce an order with us and we''ll procure it another world for you."


    Lin Mu had wondered if they would have the Tyrant Bull beast in this world, but it turned out to be unavable. ''At least they can get it for me.''


    "Other than the Tyrant bull marrow, if you wish for special body cultivation pills, you will also have to wait, since our alchemists are queues." The clerk added. "Though if you wish for Immortal Essence crystals and some elemental essences, we can provide them for you."


    "Hmm¡­ that works." Lin Mu would at least be able to start practicing the Three Apertures Invoking technique for the time being.


    "Then I''ll take a hundred Immortal Essence crystals for now and also book a slot with an alchemist that specializes in body cultivation pills." Lin Mu ordered.


    "Alright sir, and what about the Tyrant Bull Marrow? Would you like to ce a procurement request?" the clerk asked.


    "How long will it take?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Sending the request won''t take longer than a day, but actually receiving it might take up to a year since the Interworld Teleportation Array only activates once a year." The Clerk answered.

 Chapter 1463 High Spender

    "A year?" While Lin Mu wasn''t restricted by the body cultivation technique, it still felt a little long for him. "When''s the next time the Interworld Teleportation Array will activate?" he asked.


    "The Interworld Teleportation Array had activated just a month ago so the next time will be 12 months from now." The Clerk replied.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu didn''t know where he would be till then. ''No¡­ after I solve a few problems, I don''t really need to rush anywhere. I can technically wait.'' He thought to himself.


    "Would you still like to ce a request?" The clerk asked again.


    "Yes, please do." Lin Mu confirmed. "How much will it be?" he inquired.


    "cing a request will cost about twenty Mid Grade Immortal stones, but the cost of the Tyrant Bull marrow might vary depending in the avability. Sir will have to pay half the cost upfront." The clerk stated.


    "Half upfront? But isn''t the cost going to vary? How are you going to determine what the half rate will be?" Lin Mu asked.


    "We will consider the half value from thest sale of the Tyrant Bull marrow. If there is any fluctuation, the cost will be adjusted ording to the advance paid." The Clerk exined.


    "I see¡­ Very well, what''s the advance cost?" Lin Mu didn''t mind paying it.


    "Two thousand six hundred high grade immortal stones." The clerk answered.


    Lin Mu raised a brow hearing this, wondering if he was being overcharged.


    "Sir must know that the Tyrant Bull is an immortal beast with great strength. Finding and hunting one will take considerable effort along with the cost of importing it to our world, the charge will be high." The clerk didn''t want to lose a big sale like this so tried his best in convincing Lin Mu.


    If Lin Mu didn''t have the ''support'' from Lan Bao and Elder Niji, he might not have been able to afford this cost at all.


    ''I really need to start generating my own ie¡­ I can''t keep on spending like this even if I have a lot.'' Lin Mu felt a little ufortable.


    "Alright. What will be the cost for other the Immortal essence crystal and to book a slot with the alchemist?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "The low grade immortal essence crystal are sold for one Mid grade immortal stone each. While mid grade immortal essence crystals are sold for one high grade immortal stone each." The clerk replied. "As for booking a slot with the alchemist, sir doesn''t need to pay anything extra. It shall beplementarity for you with how much you''ve already spent." He added.


    While Lin Mu was pleased with thest part, he was a bit concerned about the immortal essence crystal. He certainly knew that there were different grades of Immortal essence crystal just like Immortal stones, the cost was higher by a magnitude.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll take a hundred mid grade immortal essence crystal and a thousand low grade immortal essence crystal then." Lin Mu decided to get this much for now, as he needed to see how much he could use first.


    He hadn''t practiced the Three apertures Invoking technique after all, and didn''t know the consumption. Besides, he would be getting the alchemical pillster too, so they would contribute to his cultivation too.


    But it also made him wonder about something.This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    "Are there no high grade immortal essence crystals or above avable?" Lin Mu questioned curiously.


    "No, sir. High grade immortal essence crystals are very rare and don''t develop in our mines for hundreds of years. And whenever one is formed, it is sold in the auction house." The clerk answered. "As for the peak grade immortal essence crystal¡­ there have been no cases of them ever being formed on the Rust Sky world." He added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Though if sir wishes to get some, you can refine for them yourself." The clerk spoke.


    "Refine them not mine them?" Lin Mu was puzzled.


    "Yes¡­ while you can''t mine them for obvious reasons. There is a way to refine them from another material." The clerk said in a low voice before leaning in. "If you go to the Deste Blood Battlefield, you might be able to find something called Blood Essence crystals. These can be further refined and purified into High grade immortal essence crystals." He revealed.


    "Is that so¡­" Lin Mu decided to keep it in mind. "You take the crystal cards right?" He asked before taking out his newly registered card.


    "Of course sir!" The clerk took the crystal card from Lin Mu before cing it into a receptacle that was the perfect size for it.


    The crystal card glowed for a moment, before the receptacle ejected it out.


    "The payment has been confirmed. I shall bring you the bought items right away." The clears happily walked away.


    He had made a big sale today, and would possibly make another big sale in the future due to Lin Mu asking for an alchemist. From each of these sales, the clerk would be getting amission, thus it pleased him to no extent.


    Lin Mu waited five minutes before the clerk returned.


    "Here you go sir," the clerk handed two pouches to Lin Mu.


    One held the low grade immortal essence stones while the second held mid grade immortal essence stones. Lin Mu could tell that they were actually quite heavy aspared to immortal stones.


    ''Are immortal essence crystals denser than immortal stones?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    After getting these, Lin Mu didn''t leave right away though. Instead, he browsed the ce for more things. He wanted to get a look at the body cultivation techniques that were being sold here too.


    Lin Mu ended up spending two hours here and learned a few things. The biggest of all being just how good the techniques that Xukong had given him.


    ''The techniques here are really badpared to Senior''s¡­ no wonder the requirements are also high.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.

 Chapter 1464 The Bending Will Fists

    Having spent looking through the Vitality Hall, Lin Mu was satisfied.N?velDrama.Org holds text ? rights.


    He wanted nothing more to start cultivating the Three apertures Invoking technique. But just as he was about to step out of the Vitality Hall, a voice stopped him.


    "Wait."


    "Saintess?" Lin Mu immediately stopped.


    The Saintess had not spoken for a while and Lin Mu hadn''t sensed her near him either.


    ''Did she go somewhere and juste back?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "You wish to learn about the Wind Dao too, don''t you?" The Saintess asked.


    "Yes¡­ I did feel interested in it." Lin Mu was amazed by the convenience it provided, not to mention the fact that the wind element was one of the four heavenly elements too.


    Lin Mu didn''t have a natural affinity to wind, thus he had not really learned it and neither did he have anyprehension of it.


    "There is a technique here that might be right for you. With someone like you that doesn''t have a natural affinity to the wind element, it is perfect." The Saintess informed.


    "There is?" Lin Mu''s eyes lit up.


    "Go to that building and go to the very back where the bulk of the low quality techniques are kept." The Saintess instructed.


    Lin Mu didn''t question her and directly walked to the building.


    Simr to the Vitality hall, this was a separate department that specialized in all types of Qi skills and techniques. It was called as the Skill Hall and was smaller than the Vitality hall.


    Since there were only textural techniques stored here, it didn''t need much space, unlike the Vitality hall which also sold materials.


    The Skill hall was divided into various sections, ording to the rank and quality of a skill. These ranged all the way from peak immortal grade skills all the way to unranked mortal martial skills.


    The section that the Saintess had asked Lin Mu to go to was the ce where the Spirit Qi skills were kept. It was at the very back and not many people were here. There were shelves stacked with various books, scrolls, and even singr sheets of paper.


    It was clear that even in here, there were several techniques and skills that were simply iplete.


    "Go to the fourth shelf from thest, find a book with the name Bending Will Fists." The Saintess spoke.


    With Lin Mu''s immortal sense, finding a single book among a thousand was easy and he found it within seconds.


    "Here it is¡­" Lin Mu took a look at the dusty book.


    Its pages were fully intact and other than some dust on it, it didn''t seem to be damaged. It was a little strange since the other sections of the hall were clean and dust free.


    ''Guess it shows just how much they value the techniques kept here¡­'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "You should learn this. If you reach a good enough level, you will be able to sense the Wind." The Saintess spoke. "This technique was made by a great expert once." She revealed.


    "A great expert?" To Lin Mu, if the Saintess referred to someone as a great expert, they must have been at least on her level.


    "Yes, you''ll know more once you read it." The Saintess replied.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and took the book. He walked to the counter and paid for the book before finally leaving the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    The cost of the book was merely ten mid grade spirit stones, which was microscopicpared to what Lin Mu had spent so far. In fact, he had to search his ring hard to even find something equivalent to a mid grade spirit stone, since he didn''t really have any left.


    In the end, he ended up paying for the book with a few spirit Qi restoration pills.


    It was the first time Lin Mu had a hard time paying for something because all he had was of high value. Using the crystal card wasn''t an option either, as the lowest denomination he would be able to use it for would be a single low grade immortal stone, which would still be many times higher.


    Having gotten everything he could for now, Lin Mu decided to find a ce to stay. It wasn''t hard for him to find a ce either, as the information booklet he had read earlier had marked such ces too.


    He simply rented an isted courtyard and locked up for a few days of seclusion.


    "You cane out now, Little Shrubby." He let hispanion out.


    ~meow~


    "Are you done?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Mmhmm, now I can cultivate." Lin Mu nodded his head. "You can continue what you were doing before."


    "Yay! I''ll cook some new dishes for youter." Little Shrubby cheered before heading into the kitchen.


    This courtyard had an entire kitchen attached, so Little Shrubby had a pre-made ce to test everything.


    Lin Mu also ced the twins in the room before sitting down and reading the Bending Will Fist''s manual.


    The technique was a spirit Qi skill and was rtively low quality.


    The name of the technique was actually not fully correct. What the technique actually did was to use wind to misdirect the attacks of a foe. This would make it seem like the user was controlling the ''will'' of his opponent.


    Of course with it being a low grade spirit Qi skill, it didn''t allow one to use wind spirit Qi. Rather it made one infuse spirit Qi into their hands and practice a unique set of boxing routines that would get one used to the flow of air.


    Once one grasped this and was able to sense it clearly, they could move onto actually directing winds through their attacks.


    ''No wonder Saintess said that this technique is good for those that have no natural affinity to the wind element. This is using the wind indirectly¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    But while Lin Mu was reading this, Xukong spoke up.


    "The Storm King, Shirong''s technique?" Xukong said in a surprised tone.

 Chapter 1465 A Technique From The Storm King

    "You know this technique senior?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "I''ve heard of it¡­ and also know about the creator." Xukong replied.


    "Who is it?" Hearing Senior Xukong''s words, Lin Mu was intrigued.


    "This technique is one of the many techniques that the Storm King, Shirong made. He was one of the celestial experts from a few million years ago. At his peak, he made several techniques and skills that ranged from mortal martial techniques all the way to celestial techniques." Xukong exined.


    "So it is a full set?" Lin Mu raised a brow


    He had read in the Memoirs of the Lost immortal about such sets of techniques before. They allowed one to go from the very basics all the way to peak, while growing on the previously learned techniques.


    It allowed one to have a very stable base as well as great strength as they grew.


    And depending on how far these sets went, their value could be very high. After all, there weren''t many that could make techniques that could fit for all cultivation realms and also be improved at the same time.


    Those who could make such techniques were peerless experts or geniuses of their time. Making such techniques needed a deep and thorough understanding of a vast array of skills as well asprehension of Dao. This was something that took years of experience to attain.


    "Yes¡­ it is indeed a full set." Xukong confirmed. "If I recall correctly, there are over a hundred techniques and skills that the Storm King made in his lifetime. About half of them were disseminated into the world of cultivation." He added.


    "Half? What happened to the rest?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The other half is said to be hidden in his inheritance grounds. Though there are also rumors that thepanions of the Storm King also had full records of it." Xukong said after thinking for a bit.


    "Do you know where the inheritance grounds are, senior?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel curious.


    "Yes¡­ well, they aren''t a secret exactly." Xukong replied.


    "Really?" Lin Mu wondered if he could visit them.


    "Yeah, they are located in the home world of the Storm King. It was also the world whose king he became for the first time. The Ming Dao world." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu couldn''t recall ever reading about the Ming Dao world, so didn''t know anything about it.


    "I see¡­ perhaps I''ll visit it sometime." Lin Mu said. "Is it a mortal world?" he asked.


    "I don''t know¡­ it was a mortal world in the past. But now¡­ there is no saying." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm, I''ll note it for the future." Lin Mu said before looking at the technique. "Though for now I''ll just start with this¡­"


    Lin Mu read the booklet, finding it to be a rather novel way of affecting winds. He could think back to his own experience of battle and how his moves created winds. Some of them were very strong and some mild.


    But the Bending Will fists took advantage of these to direct winds, allowing one to change the flow of the battle.


    The technique utilized three aspects to control the wind.


    The first was the raw strength of the cultivator. This was something that the normal practitioners of the technique didn''t have until muchter.


    The second was the spirit Qi. One was supposed to infuse spirit Qi and release it in short, controlled bursts from one''s arms to generate winds. This was how most people used the technique and expanded from.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    The third was possibly the most difficult. It involved using other skills and techniques to have the same effect as Bending will fist. At that point, one would be able to assimte the essence of Bending will fist and be able to apply it to other techniques.


    Lin Mu spent about three hours memorizing and learning the Bending Will Fists.


    The more he read, the more felt like this technique was quite good for him. Since he was also a body cultivator and high raw strength, he could directly make use of higher leveled aspects of it.


    Not to mention with his control over immortal sense, he didn''t really need to learn the spirit Qi aspect of control. He could already feel himself being able to do so.


    After all, Lin Mu had several skills that depended greatly on fine control of his Qi. Whether it be his spatial skills, formation mastery or even the Boulder Copsing fist.


    All of them depended on a good control over Qi, or one could easily injure themselves.


    ''No wonder Saintess said this is a good technique for me¡­ I can easily see the varied applications of this.'' Lin Mu set down the booklet and closed his eyes, pondering on the technique.


    He didn''t even realize when twelve hours passed.


    But when he roused from his trance, Lin Mu felt an urge to try out his calctions.


    He directly walked out to the yard and stood in a horse stance.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s start from a basic boxing technique¡­" Lin Mu muttered and took a deep breath.


    He clenched his fist and punched inly.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The punch was thrown with his raw strength and had no Qi infused in it. But despite that, Lin Mu could create a burst of wind.


    He sensed this with just his bare senses, without using his immortal sense. He made use of his ears, his eyes and his skin to feel it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu punched out once more after he couldn''t sense the wind again. And when the winds were formed, he observed them again.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    He repeated this several times, sensing the movement of the wind. The different changes that urred during it as well as how it came to a stop. A few hours passed like this, after which Lin Mu felt like he had reached a limit.


    "Hmm¡­ I need to use my immortal sense now¡­" Lin Mu closed his eyes and let his immortal sense spread around like a.


    ~WHOOSH~


    After doing that, he punched again.


    But this time an entirely different ''scene'' appeared to him.


    He could ''see'' the trail of wind and the change in its flow.


    ''The wind doesn''t flow in one direction¡­ and neither is it a one singr entity.'' Lin Mu could sense a lot more now.


    He sensed that the wind wasn''t just one ''object'' but wasposed of several small particles that moved together.


    ''The air moves and turns into wind¡­ air itself has several particles within it, some solid¡­ Some not¡­'' Lin Mu continued to punch, learning more and more.


    He sensed the dust particles that shifted, the water vapor that swirled, and the other invisible gases that merged in all this. There was a mystical feeling to the evening that was hard for Lin Mu to understand fully.


    The flow of all these particlesbined formed the ''wind'' and also created the force for the technique.


    Lin Mu entered another trance, but this time he wasn''t still.


    His body moved nonstop, gaining a strange rhythm the longer he went.


    At first he was simply punching, butter he changed to different moves. He did sweeps, ps and shes with his bare hands. Little by little, he sensed the different ways the wind would be formed.


    Each hand movement had different wind generating effects and the movement of particles was also different.


    ''No¡­ that''s not all¡­ it isn''t just my moves that will affect the wind, the environment around me will too!'' Lin Mu reached the next step of his training.


    His immortal sense spread further, this time covering the entire courtyard.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    His fist moved the wind that spread ording to the movements Lin Mu had sensed. But this was only up to a certain distance. After that point, this wind would be affected by the objects around Lin Mu and change its flow once more.


    Even the natural wind blowing in the area could add to this, increasing the unpredictability.


    Eventually, Lin Mu could sense and predict how the surrounding areas would affect the wind as well as the flow changes that might ur due to the objects around him.


    At this point, he knew that he couldn''t improve anymore with just pure strength.


    ''I need to use Qi now¡­'' Lin Mu took a breath and absorbed some spirit Qi before infusing it into his arms.


    Since all of his spirit Qi had been reced with immortal Qi now, he didn''t keep any spirit Qi of his own. Though obtaining it was no issue as a single breath was all it took.


    After infusing the spirit Qi into his arm, Lin Mu punched out again. But this time, he also released the spirit Qi at the same time.


    He repeated the process of observation and analysis again, sensing how the spirit Qi factored into it.


    Time turned into a forgotten factor and unknowingly an entire week went by.


    It was during the second week that Lin Mu opened his eyes.


    "So it is like that¡­"

 Chapter 1466 Reaching The Second Stage Of Bending Will Fist

    Lin Mu felt an entirely new presence around him.


    This was none other than the wind that flowed around him and was ever present. After all, even slight movements could give rise to wind, whether they be one''s limbs moving or even one''s breaths.


    All this created faint moments in the air that would then affect the area around them. Of course, this was almost negligible in most cases, but to Lin Mu, it allowed him to have a firm grasp of how the wind flowed.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu lightly punched towards the front and a gust of wind was created along with it.


    This caused the grass and leaves in front of him to move. But surprisingly, they didn''t move in the direction of the wind, but rather opposite to it!


    Lin Mu waved his hand, creating a breeze that swept the leaves and grass to the left, and then to the right. The more Lin Mu did this, the closer he got to the control he desired.


    "Hmm¡­ with this I should already be at the second level of the Bending Will Fist." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He had the advantage of having a higher cultivation base as well as Immortal sense, thus Lin Mu was able to learn all this rather quickly. But to reach the third stage, he would need the practical experience gained from battle.


    When he reached the third stage, he would be able to apply the concept of the Bending Will Fists in his other skills and moves too.


    "You''ve done well for two weeks." Xukong spoke at this time.


    "It''s been two weeks?" Lin Mu hadn''t even realized.


    ~Rumble~


    And just on cue, he could feel his belly rumble.


    "Guess it really has been two weeks." Lin Mu muttered. ''I guess this much should be enough for the Bending Will Fists. I''ll have to learn the rest duringbat.'' He thought.


    "Master!" The growing of Lin Mu''s stomach could not be missed by the sharp ears of the beast. "Do you want to eat? I have many things ready!" Little Shrubby approached in hisrger cat form.


    "Mmhmm, I do feel hungry. Let''s eat then, shall we?" Lin Mu nodded his head. "Do you want to join us, Saintess?" he asked out.


    Lin Mu waited for a minute, but received no response.


    "Strange¡­ is she not here?" Lin Mu activated his spatial perception and looked around, unable to see the Saintess anywhere. "Guess she went somewhere."


    Lin Mu let it be for the time being and went to the Dining room with Little Shrubby. There, the beast started to take out one dish after the other, filling the entire room with a mixture of appetizing aromas.


    "These are the things'' I''ve tested and made." Little Shrubby stated.


    Lin Mu took a deep breath, finding everything tantalizing.


    "It smells amazing. I can''t wait to dig in." Lin Mu said, prompting Little Shrubby to serve him.


    And while the master and beast had their meal, their missingpanion was high up in the sky.


    The Saintess was at such a height that the ''Rusty'' sky of the Rust Sky world was now below her. An endless nket of darkness and twinkling stars was above her, while a freezing cold was present around her.


    She was currently on top of an asteroid, one of the countless that revolved around the Rust Sky world. These asteroids were the reason why the Rust Sky world got its name. A tform made out of clouds was below her and she sat cross legged on it.


    ~Sigh~


    After a unknown amount of time, a sigh escaped the lips of the Saintess.


    "There''s barely any celestial Qi here¡­" The Saintess muttered.


    She brought her hands forward and made a cupping gesture.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon doing this, a few streams of energy coalesced between her palms. This energy gave off an ethereal feeling along with a sense of iparable depth.


    This was none other than Celestial Qi! The Qi that ranked above the immortal Qi!


    If anyone were to see this right now, they would be terrified to no end. Even the Transcendent Immortal realm experts of the Rust Sky world would tread carefully with Celestial Qi around them.


    After all, even a slight disturbance could kill them if they came in contact with it.


    This wasn''t an energy they could handle at all.


    "Two weeks to gather just this much¡­ If I was back in the Serpent Moon Sect I would''ve been able to condense an entire crystal of celestial Qi¡­ But I guess this will have to do." The Saintess made a few gestures with her fingers, directing the Celestial Qi.


    The celestial Qi swirled between her palms before forming into a specific shape. It looked like an esoteric rune and one would find it impossible to tell what its meaning was. Perhaps only the Saintess knew what she was doing right now.


    ''Guess this is the best I can do with my cultivation base restricted¡­ Even this much celestial Qi should be enough for now, especially since I can''t use my own celestial Qi.'' The Saintess thought before bringing her palms together.


    ~HUALA~


    When she did that, the esoteric rune directly imprinted itself on her two milky white palms. It lingered on its surface for a few seconds before fading away, as if it had never appeared in the first ce.


    "That should be enough to scare away most experts here¡­" The Saintess reckoned.This is from N?velDrama.Org.


    Normally with her strength, she had nothing to be scared of, at least not in an immortal world like this. But for some reason, she had been having a bad feeling for the past few days.


    And no matter how much she tried to analyze it, she couldn''t figure out the source of the feeling.


    At her cultivation base, having such a feeling was not as simple as just being anxious. She was a celestial and her body could perceive the secrets of the Dao on some level. Thus, if something bad was happening, her body would naturally feel it.

 Chapter 1467 The Saintesss Unease

    After condensing the esoteric rune the Saintess stayed on the asteroid for a while more. She tried to see if she could sense what was the source of her unease, but still couldn''t.


    ''If it exists even now, the cause should be hidden on the Rust Sky world¡­'' The Saintess thought.


    Knowing that she wouldn''t be able to gain anything more by staying here, she decided to return to the ground. But just as the Saintess was about to leave, she sensed something approaching.


    ~PIIIIIIIII~Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    The loud cry of a beast could be hearding from the distance.


    The Saintess looked at it before narrowing her eyes.


    It was arge bird beast that had six wings. Its feathers were a mix of white and red, while two long orange tail feathers swayed at its back. The beast''s ws were sharp and looked like meat hooks.


    Its beak was blood red in color, while its eyes were a mix of orange and yellow.


    "A Six Winged Bloom Tail Crane?" The Saintess identified the beast.


    ? It was clear that the beast was an immortal beast and seemed to be at the sixth or seventh tribtion stage of the immortal realm.


    But this wasn''t what bothered the Saintess, but rather the fact that the beast wasn''ting from the Rust Sky world below.


    It wasing from somewhere in the space!


    As the beast approached, its sense alerted it to another presence.


    ~PIII~


    A wary cry escaped its beak as it paused its moment.


    "Sha''er what''s the problem?" A voice asked with concern.


    If one looked closely, they would see that an old man was sitting on the back of the beast. He had long white hair and beard, along with eyebrows that reached his chin. No matter what angle one looked at it from, they would feel that this was an expert elder.


    His cultivation base wasn''t low either, being at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm!


    The old man looked at its tamed beast with concern before understanding why it was behavior like this.


    "Someone''s here?" the old man muttered.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, his immortal sense spread around covering an area of several tens of kilometer. But he didn''t just stop there, taking out apass and activating it. Thepass let out a wave of energy that further boosted the range of his immortal sense, while also showing several objects around him.


    But just as thepass was about to reach the location of the Saintess, it was stopped.


    "Begone."


    ~KREEE~


    The Six Winged Bloom Tailed Crane felt an unprecedented sense of danger and flinched. It was such a strong enough reaction that the old man sitting on its back was thrown away too.


    The old man''s instincts told him that there was danger inbound, and he quickly reached.


    "Forgive me senior for disturbing you!" The old man cupped his hands in the air before bowing his head.


    A few secondster he controlled his tamed beast and flew in another direction, avoiding the location where the Saintess was.


    Once the old man was gone, the Saintess narrowed her eyes.


    "For him toe from outside the world like this¡­ he certainly isn''t a native here. And his cultivation base is also very high for this world." The Saintess didn''t know if the old man was a visitor, or not, but her earlier unease had only increased after encountering him.


    Not wanting to stay here anymore, she directly jumped off the asteroid, descending onto the Rust Sky world.


    Lin Mu was unaware of the events that had happened hundreds of kilometer above him as well as the Saintess''s unease.


    Right now, he was sitting in the courtyard and assimting all the vital essence and immortal Qi that had been absorbed from the food he had eaten.


    Most of the food that little Shrubby cooked included immortal ingredients and thus had a lot of immortal Qi in it. Lin Mu manually assimted all the energy form this, allowing his stores of immortal Qi to rise a little.


    He spent an hour doing this before opening his eyes.


    ~huu~


    "That should be all of it¡­ the meal was certainly good." Lin Mu felt content and was ready for his next task.


    This was the task he had been excited for while now.


    "I can finally start with the Three apertures Invoking Technique now¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself, as a smile appeared on his face.


    Xukong had already taught Lin Mu the Three Apertures Invoking technique, and he had fully memorized it. All that was left for him was to actually start practicing it.


    Recalling the mnemonics of the technique, Lin Mu took out an Immortal Essence Crystal.


    It was a low grade crystal and was about the size of a fingernail. But despite being this small, Lin Mu found it to be as heavy as a piece of lead. It was a lot heavierpared to an immortal stone of an equal grade.


    He brought it up to his chest and held it at the top part of his sternum.


    ''I''m supposed to absorb it this way¡­ let it flow into my body and open up the first aperture¡­'' Lin Mu recalled the first step.


    The Three Apertures Invoking technique was one of the older body cultivation techniques and involved opening up three apertures in one''s body. These apertures were located in three locations in their chest.


    The first was at the top of one''s sternum, the second at the bottom of the sternum, just above the diaphragm and the third being two inches above the belly button.


    A cultivator would umte immortal essence into each aperture, slowing growing their strength. Lin Mu realized that this technique was actually quite simr to normal Qi cultivation, just that one didn''t store the immortal essence in the Dantian.


    ''This is almost the same as growing three new organs entirely¡­'' Lin Mu understood.


    ~huu~


    After a few minutes of concentration, he pulled the first wisp of Immortal essence into his body.

 Chapter 1468 Cultivating The Three Apertures Invoking Technique

    The wisp of immortal essence entered from Lin Mu''s chest and created some pressure.


    Lin Mu found the Immortal essence to be a lot heavier than Immortal Qi. At the same time, the Immortal essence was vibrant and sent waves offort in his body.


    ''So this is the next level of Vital essence... Immortal Essence...'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The difference between the two was quite vast, despite being in the same category of energy.


    Every normal creature in the universe would generate its own Vital Energy. This was something that was part of the natural order, and there were very few exceptions to it.


    Only when a creature reached a certain cultivation base or strength, would it naturally start to generate Vital essence. Vital essence was a highlypressed and refined form of Vital Energy and was a lot more difficult to handle.


    If a weak body obtained Vital Essence and was unable to contain it, there was a chance that they might just explode. This was also why one needed to strengthen their body a lot before Vital Essence could be used.


    But even then, this vital essence would either have to be obtained from external sources or manually refined in one''s body. Only when one reached a certain baseline would their body naturally make Vital Essence from the start.


    Lin Mu was at this juncture, and all the vital energy in his body would automatically be turned into Vital Essence. All his cells were filled to the brim with it and provided him with great vitality and stamina.


    But even if one used Vital Essence to cultivate their body, there was a limit to it. After a certain point, their body would not improve no matter how much vital essence they obtained and there was a chance they would end up harming themselves too.


    At this point, one needed to sublimate their Vital Essence to a higher form of energy, which was the Immortal Essence.


    But doing so was impossible for a lot of creatures. Only those with special bloodlines or certain types of beasts could do this naturally.


    For humans, this was not possible either.


    If they wanted to cultivate further, they needed to obtain Immortal essence from external sources and then refine it into their body. This could be obtained from Immortal Essence crystal, special fruits and herbs, as well as by consuming other creatures.


    And if a human wanted to naturally generate Immortal Essence, they needed to fulfill several conditions. The main one being an immortal constitution.


    Thus, unless one was born with it, they could only acquire one though hard work and cultivation. And this is where the body cultivation techniques came into y.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    The Three Apertures Invoking Technique was one such technique that was analogous to Qi cultivation in that it involved the creation of a ''vessel'' to store this Immortal Essence.


    After all, immortal essence could not be held by body cultivators who did not have an Immortal constitution naturally, thus they created this method.


    In the case of Qi cultivation, creatures had Dantians, but in this case one created three Apertures in their body.


    The first aperture was at the very top of one''s sternum and this was where the first wisp of Immortal essence was supposed to settle.


    As Lin Mu followed the mnemonics of the Three Apertures Invoking Technique, he realized just how difficult it was in reality.


    ~shua~


    After a minute of struggle, the wisp of Immortal Essence directly escaped his body before dissipating.


    ''Seems like I''ll need a while to figure this out...'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He repeated the process again, pulling in another wisp of immortal essence into his body.


    This time though, he was able to hold it in his body for two minutes before it escaped again.


    ''So I''ll have to first learn how to contain it in my body...'' Lin Mu understood.


    He repeated the process over and over again, as the holding time for immortal essence continued to extend.


    ~Crumble~


    By the time he was able to hold a wisp of Immortal essence within his body for twenty minutes, the first immortal essence crystal was depleted. It crumbled into dust and floated away with the breeze.


    "Thankfully, I bought enough of them." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He didn''t start right away though, instead he mediated for a minute and chanted the Calming Heart sutra.


    He continued chanting the sutra under his breath, improving his focus and perception and restarted the process.


    ~shua~


    And right from the start, Lin Mu could feel the difference.


    The wisp of immortal essence flowed a lot more smoothly and Lin Mu could also see the path it had taken.


    ''So there it doesn''t just pass through my flesh... it actually passes through certain natural gaps there are present.'' Lin Mu realized.


    The more he thought about it, the more he grasped.


    ''Is this due to the fact that my body isn''t able to handle the immortal essence directly? Yes... that must be it.'' Lin Mu understood. ''Since it cannot enter my flesh and blood, it takes a route that is not upied by it.'' He continued to analyze it, guessing that this might be the key to making his first aperture.


    After a couple of hours of work and observing, Lin Mu felt like he had improved.


    ''Now I see... if I am to open an aperture, it needs to be in a natural ''gap'' in my body. And since the instructions say the first aperture is at the top of the sternum, the empty space should be there too. I just need to find it...'' Lin Mu progressed steadily.


    He knew that even if creatures of the same species were the same, there were bound to be differences between them. The same applied to humans, and no two people were the same. Even in twins, there were differences on a microscopic level.


    This was the reason why it was stated that while the first aperture would be at the top of the sternum, one still needed to figure out exactly where it was depending on their own body.


    Lin Mu continued to pull in more Immortal essence wisps, and once he reached the point where he could hold it in his body for over an hour, he knew he could move on to the next step.


    Lin Mu guided the Wisp of Immortal essence to not just stay within his body, but to actually move around. He needed it to find the right spot where he could let it ''rest''.


    Still, this was easier said than done. The scale of navigation was microscopic and if Lin Mu made any mistake, the wisp would simply dissipate. Two days passed like this before Lin Mu finally discovered it.


    ''There... this should be it...'' Within Lin Mu''s chest, a wisp of Immortal essence was floating steadily in one ce.


    There was a wide space around it, unlike the empty gaps it had flowed into the body. Of course, this wide space was only widepared to the scale of the wisp.


    ''It is only a few times bigger than the other gaps, but it will do...'' Lin Mu decided.


    After having found a suitable space, the next step was to actually form the first Aperture.


    And to do this, Lin Mu needed more wisps of Immortal essence.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s see how it goes..." For the first time, Lin Mu drew in his second wisp of Immortal essence while one was held in his body.


    He had to split his attention in two ces, with one holding the first wisp in ce and the other controlling the second wisp. Thankfully, with Lin Mu''s experience with Spirit sense and Immortal sense, it wasn''t anything new to him.


    Plus, he had spent a decent amount of time finding the right ''path'' to his perspective site of aperture and thus didn''t make any mistake there, causing the wisp to dissipate.


    Soon, the second wisp of immortal essence was also appeared in the empty space.


    "There we go... Now to add more..." Lin Mu didn''t stop there and pulled in a third wisp.


    He sessfully managed to bring the third wisp in the empty space and moved onto the fourth one. But on the fourth wisp, he made a mistake, and it ended up touching the ''walls''.


    This caused the fourth wisp to be ejected out of his body. Though thankfully he managed to contain the other three wisps of immortal essence.


    ''At least they won''t get disturbed if I make a mistake in pulling a wisp.'' Lin Mu felt a bit relieved.


    He did not want it to be like the refining of spirit sense, where a single mistake could make the entire tendril of spirit sense copse, having one to make it again.


    Still, Lin Mu learned from his mistake and steadily added more wisps of Immortal essence to the empty space.


    Time continued to pass and now, Lin Mu had nearly a hundred wisps of Immortal essence in the empty space!

 Chapter 1469 Revolutions And Aperture

    "Huu¡­" Lin Mu took a deep breath as he paused to nce at his progress.


    He had umted over a hundred wisps of Immortal essence in the empty space. This was certainly not easy and had taken him quite a bit of time to do so. While Lin Mu didn''t know exactly how much time had passed, since he didn''t want to lose focus, he could guess that at least a week or so had passed.


    ''ording to the instructions, the size of the empty space will be varied ording to the person, thus the amount of Immortal Essence Wisps I''ll need will also vary¡­'' Lin Mu analyzed the empty space he had.


    After doing some calctions, he estimated that the Immortal essence wisps he had as of now would be enough to begin the next step.


    "Let''s just start¡­ if I fail, I fail." Lin Mu muttered to himself before focusing on the Immortal essence wisps.


    The wisps were floating in the empty space aimlessly till now, they barely moved from the location that Lin Mu had ced them in. It was almost like dust floating in a closed room. There was no air and no fluctuations that could affect it, thus they simply continued to float.


    But now, Lin Mu exerted his will onto the wisps, making all of them move at once.


    The irregrly spread Immortal Essence Wisps first spread shifted and came into the same two-dimensional ne. Once they were like that, Lin Mu further controlled them and made them form a circr shape.


    It wasn''t a perfect circle, as Lin Mu''s control was still a bit erratic. Not to mention, the immortal essence wisp would also collide with each other from time to time, causing them to shift randomly.


    Lin Mu didn''t lose focus and continued to guide them, trying to bring them into a perfect circle.


    This was the second main step of forming an aperture. One needed to form a perfect ring of Immortal Essence Wisps to make the structure of the Aperture. This was also the step where a lot of people failed, as controlling so many immortal essence wisps was not easy.


    If they collided with each other too much, they could be sent flying to the edges, which would get them ejected out of the body. Thus, one needed a lot of practice and focus in order to make sure that it didn''t happen.


    One couldpare it to throwing a bunch of marbles onto a t and elevated surface.


    If one didn''t aim right or didn''t use the right amount of power, the thrown marble would fall off the surface. And with multiple marbles being added, there was the issue of them colliding and falling.


    This was simr to what Lin Mu was doing. He needed to first get the marbles onto the surface before striking them again to change their positions.


    Slowly and steadily, Lin Mu continued to guide the Immortal Essence Wisps and eventually, he managed to ce them at equidistant points.


    ''There¡­ they now have their positions¡­'' Lin Mu observed it closely, memorizing where each Immortal Essence Wisp was.


    This was important, so that knew where to ce more Immortal Essence Wisps if he made a mistake and lost the current ones.


    "Now for the next part¡­" Lin Mu took a brief pause and chanted the calming heart sutra.


    Once he felt like he had reached his baseline, he switched over to the Severing Heart sutra.


    The removal of his emotions would prevent him from being distracted, even from failure, and grant him additional focus and perception that wasn''t there otherwise.


    ''Start!'' Lin Mu linked up with each of the Immortal Essence Wisps and made them move.


    They needed to be moved at the same time, and the distance between them needed to be maintained as well. Only by doing this would Lin Mu be able to prevent any mistakes due to the collisions.


    Thankfully for him, he already had a skill that had given him experience with this.


    The boulder copsing fist needed great control over the spirit Qi and vital essence in order to be used properly. If both the energies were not moving at the right speed and harmony, the bacsh could harm the user very easily.


    And with how many times Lin Mu had used the skill, he was experienced enough to apply the same to the ring of Immortal Essence Wisps.


    The Immortal Essence Wisps started to move in a circle, maintaining the form of the ring. Lin Mu started slowly, only making them make an entire revolution after a minute.


    This speed was quite slow if onepared to the distance that was actually being covered. It was all on a microscopic scale and would be hard to perceive for most in the first ce.


    Lin Mu continued to make the revolutions and did over a hundred of them before gaining some more confidence. He understood that by doing it at this speed, he would not make any collisions or make them break the formation.


    Once Lin Mu grasped this, he increased the speed of the ring''s revolution. He didn''t increase it too much though, only doing it by ten percent.


    If it took the ring a minute to finish the revolution before, now it took it 54 seconds. Lin Mu kept this speed and did another hundred revolutions before he felt like he could do it without any mistakes.


    Increasing the speed once more, he repeated the process.


    Thissted for several days, as Lin Mu gained better control and confidence over the ring of Immortal Essence Wisp.


    He wanted to reach a point where he could speed it up and slow it down at a fraction of a second and still prevent the Immortal Essence Wisp from colliding. Only when this happened would be able to take the next step.


    ~woong~


    ~woong~


    ~woong~


    An almost imperceptible sound could be heard once the Immortal Essence Wisp ring reached a certain speed. At this point, the individual Immortal Essence Wisp couldn''t be seen at all, and looked like a singr smooth ring.


    ''It''s reached equilibrium¡­'' Lin Mu could tell it on instinct.


    The ring was now revolving on its own, with only a slight nudge being needed from Lin Mu from time to time. At the very least, he knew that as long as this exact momentum was maintained, there would be no collisions, even if he didn''t focus on it.


    But while this was good for improving focus and control, the next step of the process was a bit different.


    ''I can now move forward¡­'' Lin Mu''s will covered the Immortal Essence Wisps.


    This time, he didn''t speed them up or slow them down. But rather, he brought the Immortal Essence Wisp closer!


    By doing this, the size of the ring would shrink, but the chances of mistakes would rise too.


    ''It''s working¡­ I just need to focus on the equilibrium¡­'' Lin Mu maintained the speed of the ring''s revolution while slowly shrinking its diameter.


    The shrinking was done at incredibly small increments. So much so that Lin Mu had barely reduced the diameter of the ring by ten percent after fifteen days!


    And this speed of shrinking only slowed further, as the chances of mistake rose.


    After all, with the space between Immortal Essence Wisp decreasing, the distance needed to collide was also less.


    Lin Mu would prefer to go slow, rather than to make a mistake and lose the progress. He had the patience to do that and proceeded forward with an unshakable will.


    ~woong~woong~woong~


    The sound that was once almost imperceptible now became audible clearly.


    If someone ced their ears on Lin Mu''s chest, they would be able to hear it vividly. And it didn''t seem like the volume of the sound was going to decrease any time soon. Instead, it only kept on increasing with time.


    It was evident that the increase in volume was inversely proportional to the size of the ring and directly proportional to the speed of its spin.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    An entire month passed like this as Lin Mu continued to progress steadily.


    Now, if one were to enter his room, they would hear a strange whirring sound. It was hard to tell exactly what was making the sound, but the source of it could be easily deduced.


    It was almost as if Lin Mu now had a second heartbeat in his body, but the second was simr to a machines'' hum!


    Though after all this, Lin Mu had reached a bottleneck.


    ''The size cannot be shrunk anymore¡­'' Lin Mu knew.


    The distance between each Immortal Essence Wisp was barely 10% of what it was originally, and the speed was also several times faster. If he wanted to shrink the ring anymore, he would end up breaking the equilibrium, thereby copsing the entire ring.


    The sound of the ring''s revolutions had also reached a level where it was no longer contained to the room.


    Little Shrubby could hear it outside in the courtyard as well.

 Chapter 1470 The First Aperture!

    The beast''s ears perked up, as he gazed at the direction of the closed room.


    "Is master okay?" Little Shrubby wondered.


    He couldn''t use his immortal sense to check on Lin Mu, since that could potentially disturb him, but from the link he had with him, Little Shrubby understood that Lin Mu was safe.


    ~shua~


    The air near Little Shrubby flickered and the figure of the Saintess appeared from it.


    "Looks like your master is working hard for a breakthrough¡­" The Saintess''s eyes could look through the walls as if they were air.


    She saw the scene of Lin Mu sitting cross-legged, while a whirring sound came from his chest.


    ''Is he cultivating that technique?'' The Saintess seemed to have recognized the Three Apertures Invoking Technique. ''Still¡­ to be able to reach this point in just a couple of months¡­ that''s impressive.'' She thought.


    ~purr~


    Little Shrubby looked at the closed room with a hint of worry on his face. But then a momentter he felt a soft hand on his head.


    "It will be fine." The Saintess spoke while stroking his head. "If he cane this far on his own, there is no way he can fail¡­" she muttered.


    Little Shrubby calmed down after the consoling from the Saintess and his ears eased up. The Saintess created another set of furniture and sat down while Little Shrubby jumped up on the table and curled up.


    A faint smile appeared under the Saintess''s veil, but was quickly hidden away. Her hand moved to stroke the soft fur of Little Shrubby as she continued to monitor the situation of Lin Mu.


    Her free hand also moved, making a few gestures in the air.


    ~SHUA~


    The entire courtyard was covered with a thin illusory barrier, preventing any unwanted disturbances from reaching them.


    ''If he does manage to create an Aperture, the events after that will create quite amotion.'' The Saintess didn''t want something like this to happen, thus she directly disguised the courtyard in an array.


    Her concern would turn out to be urate as Lin Mu was currently as a crucial point.


    Inside the room, Lin Mu''s body continued to emit the whirring sound that only became louder. Its pitch was quite high and if there was any mortal human here, their ears might just start to bleed from it.


    For animals, it would be quite offensive, and they would want to stay away from the ce. Even for normal cultivators, the sound would be headache-inducing.


    To Lin Mu though, all of this was of no concern. He was fully focused on the ring of Immortal Essence Wisps and their speed of revolutions.


    He had shrunk the ring of Immortal Essence Wisps to the smallest size he could and now he was at a critical juncture.


    The next step of making an Aperture was something that needed to happen automatically. All Lin Mu could do was to wait and hope that happened while he still had the willpower left to focus on it.


    ''Come on¡­ work¡­'' Lin Mu willed it in his heart.


    Then as if responding to his wishes, a change happened.


    ~HUMM~


    The ring of Immortal Essence Wisps suddenly let out a resonant hum that waspletely different from the whirring sound it was making so far. The original noise was pressured and a harmonious humming filled the area.


    The ponds in the courtyard rippled, as strange patterns formed on the water surface. The grass and the leaves swayed in a harmony while the humming continued to spread. Even the fine sand in the rockery shifted, forming patterns that looked elegant.


    Lin Mu didn''t know that all this was happening outside the room as his attention was upied by the change within his body.


    ''It''s forming¡­ it''s really forming!'' Lin Mu witnessed the ring of Immortal Essence Wisps transform.


    The ring suddenly turned solid and shrank on its own. And when that happened, it was as if a hole was opened up in nothingness. The ring bordered around the hole, maintaining its form while the hole gave a feeling of endlessness.


    "The first Aperture is formed¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    The ring seemed to have stopped spinning after turning solid, but Lin Mu knew it was just an optical illusion. In fact, its spin was what was keeping the aperture in existence.


    ~huu~


    Having formed it, Lin Mu took a breath of relief. But he knew his work wasn''t done yet, and he still needed one more thing.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    ''To actually gain the Immortal essence¡­'' Lin Mu grabbed another Immortal Essence crystal and held it up to his chest.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as he did that he could feel a suction force rising from the Aperture. It directly pulled all the Immortal Essence Wisps from the Immortal essence crystal


    The speed of absorption was a lot faster than when Lin Mu manually did it and the crystal had already started to crack within seconds of use.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    And a few momentster, the crystal crumbled into dust having depleted all its stores.


    All the Immortal Essence Wisps that were pulled into his body were currently making their way to the new aperture. They were sucked into the hole and disappeared into nothingness.


    But Lin Mu knew that they hadn''t disappeared. They were simply contained within the Aperture and he could feel them. At the same time, he felt a new energy within his body as his strength rose.


    Lin Mu instinctively knew how to use his newfound strength too.


    He focused on his right hand and automatically felt the power of concentrating within it.


    ~KACHA~


    He clenched his fist,pressing the air within it.


    ~BOOM~


    Thepression caused a small explosion that directly blew a hole in the floor below him. One must know that the courtyard was built with tough materials that wouldn''t break with a cultivator''s attacks and was also reinforced with arrays.


    But despite that, merely an indirect effect of Lin Mu''s action had caused a hole.


    "Hmm¡­ just this alone used up two Immortal Essence Wisps¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He hadn''t actually used the full potential of the Immortal Essence Wisps and had merely wanted to test the difference. He could have punched and did the same, but he didn''t want to demolish the courtyard in that process.


    Even clenching his fist could damage it, thus one could imagine just what kind of effect a punch would cause.


    "This is certainly a lot different from before¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "It definitely is." Xukong spoke at this time. "But that is just how body cultivation techniques are¡­ at least the truly good ones."


    "Indeed¡­ they do not follow the norm at all." Lin Mu agreed.


    The system of realms for body cultivation actually varied depending on the individual cultivation techniques. They weren''t the same as the Seven tribtions of the immortal realm, and could have more or fewer stages depending on the technique itself.


    In the case of the Three Apertures Invoking technique, there were three realms.


    The three realms were the Aperture Opening Realm, Aperture Linking Realm and Aperture Closing Realm.


    In the Aperture Opening Realm, one would open the three Apertures, with each newly opened Aperture being equivalent to a single immortal Tribtion. Thus, when one reached the peak of the Aperture Opening Realm, they would be equivalent to a peak Third Tribtion Immortal realm expert.


    In the Aperture Linking Realm, one would link the Apertures with each other. This had three stages as well, with each being equivalent to a single immortal tribtion. Reaching its peak would make one equivalent to a peak sixth Tribtion Realm expert.


    Then there was the Aperture Closing Realm.


    This was the toughest realm and involved closing all the Apertures. It didn''t have any sub stages and one needed to close all the apertures at once.


    This was done so that all the immortal essence would be directly infused into the body, allowing one to reach a new level of power.


    When one aplished this, they would be equivalent to the peak of the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm!


    Another difference that existed between the cultivation of Three Apertures Invoking Technique and other Immortal Qi cultivation techniques was the fact that there were no tribtions that one needed to ovee.


    One might think that this made it a lot easier to cultivate, but it was not so.


    In fact, there were many that dreaded to do this, as the progress of body cultivation was often very slow. Not to mention, there was a great chance of injuring themselves and also dying due to it.


    It was said that Heavens hid equality in everything, thus if something seemed too good, there were often bad qualities hidden within it.


    This was the case with Body cultivation too, as more often than not, cultivators would have to suffer to cultivate. The suffering might be due to the struggle of obtaining resources or just their cultivation technique itself.


    This was why some people even said that body cultivation was just a perpetual tribtion. A tribtion that one imposed on themselves!

 Chapter 1471 Uniqueness Of Body Cultivation Techniques

    Having created his first Aperture, Lin Mu was now at the First stage of the Aperture Opening Realm.


    His raw strength was equivalent to that of the First Tribtion Immortal stage, just by the virtue of his body cultivation. And if hebined his existing qi cultivation, Lin Mu reckoned his strength shouldpare to that of a Third Tribtion Stage Immortal at the very least.


    ''I''ve already managed to kill Second tribtion stage immortals with ease and a third Tribtion Stage immortal with a little ambush.'' Lin Mu recalled the time when he had killed the members of the Saber Battle Union.


    Since he already had a standard to use, Lin Mu had better confidence than before.


    "And if I use my Immortal Weapons too¡­ I should be able to handle multiple foes of that level¡­" Lin Mu reckoned.


    He felt the power within his body and it made him desire more of it.


    Deciding not to leave for now, Lin Mu continued to cultivate.


    "Let''s see how much Immortal Essence is needed for this to progress¡­ ording to the records, the amount should increase quite a lot. After all, this is one of the reasons why Body cultivation is considered difficult." Lin Mu said to himself as he took out more Immortal Essence Crystals.


    Previously, Lin Mu had used up nearly a hundred Low Grade Immortal Essence crystal in order to practice and open his first Aperture. This meant that he still had about 900 low grade Immortal Essence Crystals left.


    ''I also have the mid Grade immortal essence crystals, but I should reserve them forter.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Unlike the Vital Essence that Lin Mu could absorb easily from the flesh of beasts, or the Immortal Qi that he could simply get from the air, Immortal essence was not obtainable in that way.


    While it could be absorbed from the Immortal Beast meat as well, the amount was small and would also take him extra time to absorb it. If he was in a battle and needed it immediately, the crystals would be his best bet.


    Having some backup was a lot better than just throwing caution to the wind. Plus, Lin Mu would still need to get used to his new strength and figure out how to use the body cultivation in the best manner.


    He had optimized this before when he was still in the Five Treasure Realm and knew how to measure for Vital Essence, but for Immortal Essence, Lin Mu would need to learn more.


    This was something that could onlye with experience, and he was looking forward to testing it out.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s just see how much the Aperture can hold first." Lin Mu took out an Immortal Essence crystal and held it in his hand.


    Unlike before, he didn''t need to hold it up to his chest as the Aperture''s suction was strong enough to pull the Immortal Essence wisps directly from the crystal. Just this alone was a great improvement, as it was a lot easier to use them.


    After all, in a battle it was a lot easier to use a crystal by simply holding it in their hands, rather than cing them on one''s chest and lose their stance. This could very well spell the difference between life and death.


    In a battle, even a moment''s distraction could end up in one''s demise.


    ~SHUA~


    And just after a secondter, Lin Mu felt the crystal turning faint. The Immortal Essence wisps were directly sucked into his hand and quickly flowed toward his chest.


    Upon reaching the First Aperture, the Immortal Essence Wisps were pulled into it, disappearing into nothingness.


    "That was almost nothing¡­ I''ll need a lot more if it''s going to be like this¡­" Lin Mu said with a little surprise.


    He picked up another Immortal Essence Crystal and absorbed the wisps in it. One by one, the crystals started to turn into dust.


    One hundred¡­


    Two hundred¡­


    Three hundred¡­


    Four hundred¡­


    .


    .


    .


    Nine hundred!<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Lin Mu consumed all the low grade immoral essence crystals that he had bought in less than an hour. Such a drain was quite fast, but to him, there was no waste as all of it was being perfectly contained within his Aperture.


    ''So this is what Senior Xukong meant by different Body cultivation techniques having their own directions after reaching the Immortal realm.'' Lin Mu understood now.


    From the different body cultivation techniques that Lin Mu had seen, the best ones had their own uniqueness. For example, even the True Gold Body forging arts was something that specialized in the defense of one''s body. It increased its durability to terrifying levels.


    The same could be said for the mortal strengthening scripture, and now the Immortal Strengthening scripture. The immortal strengthening scripture came with incredibly defensive skills as well, that Lin Mu was still unaware of.


    Then, from the new body cultivation techniques that Xukong had told Lin Mu about, the Three apertures invoking technique was one that specialized in increasing the storage capacity of one''s body.


    It had the highest capacity for the storage of immortal essence, and no other technique could match it. This was also the reason why it was considered an old and orthodox body cultivation technique has it had established its superiority.


    But at the same time, it had its own cons too.


    While the Three Apertures Invoking Technique had a great storage of Immortal essence, it didn''t have pure offensive capability.


    Sure, one could use the immortal essence to amplify their strength, but that was just a basic amplification. Even if it seemed to be great, it obviously couldn''tpare to a proper offensive skill.


    Then there was the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    This was a body cultivation technique that specialized in pure strength. Just like its name, it gave its used tyrannical strength that could allow them to crush their enemies with ease.


    But on the other hand it had its disadvantaged too. The biggest one being its heavy consumption of Immortal essence as well as the reduced capacity of Immortal essence storage if they were notpatible with it.


    Due to how oppressive the technique was, it put quite a lot of pressure on one''s body and could thereby reduce their ability to store immortal essence. Only those that were highlypatible with the technique would not have such a side effect.


    Still, even if one waspatible with it, the high consumption of the immortal essence meant that the practitioners of Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets were burst fighters.


    They had to quickly defeat their foes, or end up getting exhausted.


    But when these two body cultivation techniques werebined, they could cover for their disadvantages!


    This was exactly why Lin Mu desired to obtain the Tyrant Bull from Grand Sky pavilion.


    The two body cultivation techniques were such that they didn''t conflict with each other, thereby allowing one to cultivate both of them at first. Of course, it didn''t mean that one''s cultivation base would double by doing this.


    While they might get some increase in strength, it still wouldn''t be too big. But the unique abilities of the body cultivation techniques would still be obtained by them.


    One might think that cultivators should simply do this to cover for their weaknesses, but it wasn''t that simple.


    The first obstacle they would face was to actually find the two techniques. This would either cost a lot of fortune or need some luck. Lin Mu had luck here that Xukong knew both of them very well.


    Then the second obstacle they would face would be the increased amount of resources needed to cultivate the two techniques. Just practicing one of them would take a big fortune, adding another technique might be impossible without having a continual supply of wealth.


    Lin Mu had covered for this point and also had other ns to cover for this. One being his own formation skills, as well as the wealth provided by Lanbao and Elder Niji.


    Then there was the third and final obstacle¡­ talent.


    Even if one had ovee the two obstacles, they would still end up as a failure if they didn''t have the necessary talent to cultivate them. Additionally, there was the danger that always apanied body cultivation techniques.


    One must not forget that body cultivation techniques were a form of perpetual tribtion and could kill at a moment''s notice if one lost focus.


    And even if one had the talent and focus to cultivate two or more body cultivation techniques, there was still the issue of time. By cultivating multiple techniques, they were splitting their effort and increasing the time needed.


    There was nock of experts who had underestimated this obstacle and ended up running out of their lifespan.


    But Lin Mu didn''t care for all of this. He had already made up his mind and would be willing to go to any length to fulfill his goals.


    ~Huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu took out the mid grade immortal essence crystals.


    "Let''s see how these fare¡­"

 Chapter 1472 Aperture Growth And Missed Appointment

    Holding the Mid Grade Immortal Essence Crystals in his hands, Lin Mu felt the rapid infusion of Immortal Essence into his body.


    The amount entering his body was easily several times the amount from a Low Grade Immortal Essence crystal. And not just that, but he could actually feel a change in the Aperture.


    ''It can actually grow already?'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    In the Aperture Creation Realm, one progressed by first opening their Aperture and then expanding it. But this took a lot of effort, and didn''t happen right away. It wasn''t an issue of resources either, but rather one of time.


    One needed to give some time before the Aperture would be fully ready to expand. If one tried to rush, they could fail and their Aperture could easily get damaged. But much to Lin Mu''s surprise, the Aperture was expanding on its own.


    ''Is this normal?'' Lin Mu didn''t know, thus he focused on his Aperture.


    He observed it closely, ensuring there were no issues and that the Aperture stayed stable. And after absorbing the entire mid grade Immortal Essence crystal Lin Mu had confirmed it, there really was no damage to it.


    ''Huh¡­ ording to Senior Xukong''s advice, it wouldn''t expand until muchter¡­ how''s it doing it now?'' Lin Mu was confused.


    He decided to test it a few more times before asking Xukong though. He wanted to see if it was just a one time thing or if this was really how it was going to stay.


    Lin Mu thus picked up another mid grade Immortal Essence crystal and absorbed all the Immortal Essence wisps in it. The mid grade Immortal Essence crystals took longer for him to absorb, roughly more than a minute. This was several times more than the low grade Immortal Essence crystal, which was gone in seconds.


    Six mid grade Immortal Essence crystalter, Lin Mu was sure of it.


    "There really is no damage, and the Aperture is stable¡­" Lin Mu confirmed,


    He measured the size of the Aperture and saw that it had grown by a very small number. This growth might seem too small to be considered significant, but it was still big enough to make Lin Mu worried.


    "Senior, how is my Aperture able to grow already?" Lin Mu questioned, unable to figure it out himself.


    But what he didn''t know was the fact that Xukong was in the same dilemma. He had been observing Lin Mu for a while and had not been cultivating. After all, Lin Mu was in a critical juncture and thus he wanted to be there to face any issues there were.


    Still, Xukong had no idea how it was possible for Lin Mu''s Aperture to expand already.


    ''This does not fall into the purview of the technique¡­ it isn''t even a question of talent either¡­ this is just the basic t of the technique, one cannot expand it until some timeter.'' Xukong went over the technique in his own mind.


    He tried to see if there were any mistakes or if he had forgotten something. But even after a few attempts, he was sure that he had all the facts about the technique.


    "Senior? Are you there?" Lin Mu asked again, since Xukong had not responded.


    "I¡­ don''t know." Xukong decided to respond.


    "You don''t¡­?" Lin Mu had not expected this.


    "No¡­ this isn''t ording to anything I''ve seen so far." Xukong admitted.


    "Then¡­ what¡ª" Lin Mu didn''t even know what to ask.


    "All I can say is that we''ll have to wait and watch. It doesn''t seem like it is a bad thing either, so you can continue as it is." Xukong stated. "Though I would say, don''t rush through all your mid grade Immortal Essence crystals." He added.


    "I shouldn''t?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ at most, use half of them and keep the other half for emergencies. Who knows when you might need them." Xukong replied. "Plus, your appointment with the Alchemist will be soon too, so you should be able to get something better." He reminded.


    "Ah yes!" Lin Mu realized he had almost forgotten about the slot he had booked. "Wait! How long has it been?" he wondered.


    "It''s been over two months." Xukong answered for him.


    "Two months¡­ wasn''t the Grand Sky Pavilion supposed to book it for me a month ago? Did I miss it?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He checked the jade slip and saw a message on it.


    He had given the Grand Sky Pavilion his contact so that they could tell him, but it was now toote.


    ~Sigh~


    "Guess I got carried away¡­" Lin Mu shook his head.


    "It''s not an issue. You can still go and check in person. It''s not like they''ll want to miss a good paying customer." Xukong stated.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "That''s true¡­ Besides, I didn''t pay anything extra for the slot either. They gave it as aplementary addition." Lin Mu recalled the transaction.


    "Yes, so you should be able to get it again." Xukong spoke. "And even if the next slot is a month or twoter, it doesn''t matter as much to you, does it?" he added.


    "Mmhmm, I can just continue cultivating. The months pass by very fast when I do that anyways." Lin Mu agreed.


    With that done, he returned to absorbing the mid grade Immortal Essence Crystals. It was night time right now, so Lin Mu reckoned it was best to go in the morning.


    Lin Mu had over forty mid grade Immortal Essence crystal left, so it took him about an hour to absorb all of them. Sensing the change in his Aperture, Lin Mu could tell that it had grown by about five percent.


    ''Nine hundred low grade Immortal Essence crystals plus fifty mid grade Immortal Essence crystals only showed this much growth¡­ if I extrapte from there, then won''t I need about¡­ a thousand mid grade immortal essence crystal if I include the deviations?'' Lin Mu calcted.


    A thousand mid grade immortal essence crystals were worth about a thousand high grade immortal stones.


    This was an amount that would be massive to most cultivators, and while Lin Mu could still afford it, he didn''t know if he should continue spending it like this.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll wait for a bit." Lin Mu decided to think about itter.


    For now, he still had a few hours till morning, thus he decided to practice making some formations. He had already tested and made some minor Diamond Mountain Talismans before and wanted to make the higher ranked version.


    He spent his time doing this and managed to sessfully make five lesser grade Diamond Mountain Talisman in this time. This was good progress for him, as he had over two hundred failed talismans.


    Thankfully, the materials needed for it were basically nothing to him and Lin Mu had no issues with that. Plus, it also helped him improve his control by making runes and formations, improving his skills more and more.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu stood up and walked out of the room.


    With how long the room had been closed for, there should have been dust everywhere, but with the formations set up in the courtyard, this would never happen.


    ~CREAK~


    The door of the room opened and Lin Mu saw the figure of Little Shrubby seemingly in the middle of doing something.


    Eight balls of fire were floating above his head and were moving in different directions. From time to time, they woulde together and take a peculiar form. Lin Mu thought that it vaguely looked like a hand.


    Five of the fire balls were elongated and took the form of fingers. One of them was big and took the form of a palm while the other two were mid sized and took the form of a forearm.


    Little Shrubby seemed to be controlling these fireballs to assemble and dissemble the form of a hand rapidly.


    But that wasn''t all, as Lin Mu sensed that the fireballs weren''t just any fireballs.


    "They''re¡­ condensed from Fire Dao Traces?" Lin Mu finally sensed.


    This made it a lot moreplex than just normal fire.


    After all, to Little Shrubby condensing fire made from spirit Qi or even immortal Qi into any shape was as easy as breathing at this point. But doing the same to Fire Dao Traces was an entirely different concept.


    It needed a deeper level ofprehension as well as a certain level of talent.


    Talent was something Little Shrubby directly got from his Bloodlines, whileprehension was something he was actively trying to improve by doing the exercise.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "Master?" Little Shrubby sensed Lin Mu and turned to face him.


    ~poof~


    This caused the fireballs to dissipate and the exercise to fail.


    "Sorry, did I disturb you?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No!" Little Shrubby rushed into his arms. "I was bored. So I was waiting for you anyways." He said coyly.


    "Ah, I see." Lin Mu stroked little shrubby''s head.


    While doing this, he noticed the leaf like patterns on the back of Little Shrubby''s head had gotten darker. It also looked like more leaf veins had appeared on it.

 Chapter 1473 An Appointment With The Alchemist

    Observing Little Shrubby for a bit, Lin Mu was sure that there were new changes happening in him.


    ''His control over wood is also improving it seems¡­'' Lin Mu realized after seeing the change in patterns.


    He could also sense an aura of wood from Little Shrubby though it was mostly masked by the fiery immortal Qi. It was a strangebination as wood and fire were seldompatible with wood perishing under the fire.


    And yet within Little Shrubby, both could coexist in a state of harmony.


    Lin Mu stroked Little Shrubby''s head for a few more moments before putting him down.


    "Come on, we''ve got some things to do." Lin Mu said.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby replied.


    He shrunk his size more and turned into his kitten form. It was clear that he intended to stay out with Lin Mu this time and he didn''t mind it either. Little Shrubby jumped onto Lin Mu''s shoulder andid therezily.


    ''I should take the twins too, it''ll be bad if they wake up while I''m gone.'' Lin Mu checked up on the twins and picked them up from the pillow.


    They were in the same state as before though Lin Mu could tell that the amount of immortal Qi they had within their bodies had increased. Their cultivation was different and barely created any ripples in this form.


    ''Guess this is what the Saintess was talking about before. Their growth will be rapid until it reaches a teau.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The Saintess had helped the twins with the crest and that was rapidly boosting their cultivation base. Lin Mu was worried about their iing immortal tribtion after all. The Saintess had already warned that it will be very chaotic and there was no saying the level of damage that could be caused.


    Lin Mu just decided to be as careful as possible due to that.


    ''Even if an Immortal Tribtion is inbound, I''ll be able to get far away from the city with Little Shrubby.'' Lin Mu kept this as a n.


    He then slid the twins between his outer and inner robes, making sure they wouldn''t slip out.


    Done with this, Lin Mu left the courtyard and headed towards the Grand Sky Pavilion. Once he was gone though, the figure of the Saintess appeared in the courtyard.


    "He''s already made his first Aperture¡­ If he has such a pace he won''t be able to sustain himself with Immortal essence crystals for long.'' The Saintess had a few thoughts wander through her mind before she disappeared into nothingness.


    Lin Mu was currently walking towards the Grand Sky Pavilion and listening to the conversation of the people around him. Since he couldn''t fly, and had to walk it was a good excuse to have some casual entertainment this way.


    While most of the chatter was mundane, Lin Mu did hear a few interesting topics.


    "Did you hear that a General from the Huiqing empire is here?"


    "Really?!"


    "Yeah, he''s called as the Steel Horned General and is said to be very strong."


    "Why would a general of another empire be here though? And would the Holy Topaz Empire really allow someone with a sensitive identity like that in our empire?"


    "As long as the rules are followed, I don''t see why not."


    "Exactly. Besides, it is rumored that the General actually promised to help the empire with some tasks in exchange or being granted entry to the empire."


    "Oh? What kind of tasks?"


    "If its someone like the general, I doubt the tasks would be simple."


    "Indeed. While I don''t know what kind of task it was, they were apparently spotted going into the Deste Blood Battlefield."


    Lin Mu heard all this and wondered why Immortal Juo had gone there.


    ''Could he also be looking for Body cultivation resources? But then they were also talking about some kind of a task¡­ what could that be?'' Lin Mu wondered but didn''t get any answers.


    A whileter he reached the Grand Sky Pavilion and quickly made his way to Vitality hall.


    "How can I help you today, sir?" The shop clerk standing at the entrance spotted Lin Mu.


    "I''d like to check if there is a slot avable with an alchemist." Lin Mu said before handing the man his card.


    The shop clerk took the card and checked it with a nearby device.


    "Oh? Sir had an appointment earlier?" The clerk read the information.


    "Yes I did, but I missed it due to being in seclusion." Lin Mu replied.


    "Ah! I see. Fear not though, sir is in luck today." The clerk replied.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "How so?" Lin Mu asked.


    "An alchemist is actually avable today with an open slot. Sir can go to him, if he wants to." The clerk replied.


    "Perfect. Where is he?" Lin Mu was pleased.


    "Come with me sir," The clerk quickly took him through one of the many corridors and brought him to a private room.


    The private room was a about twenty meters wide and ten meters long. There were several tables set up with pillows to sit on. Just from this one could tell that this room was meant for a meeting of several people.


    The clerk then asked Lin Mu to sit down and served him tea.


    "The alchemist will be here in a minute." The clerk said before taking his leave.


    Lin Mu took a few sips of the tea before he heard the door open again.


    ~Creak~


    "Sorry to make you wait." A new man walked in.


    He looked to be in his mid-fifties and had a cultivation base at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    Such a cultivation base was actually quite high and Lin Mu could sense the scent of medicinal herbs on him. Along with that, there was also an aura of alchemy on him, something that could not be developed without centuries of experience.


    Lin Mu was surprised an alchemist of this level was actually avable.


    ''Aren''t they always booked for months or even years on end?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    At the very least, Lin Mu was sure that someone like this would be able to fulfill his request.


    "I am Alchemist Ruoxian, one of the several alchemists of the Grand Sky Pavilion." The man introduced himself.


    There was a hint of dignity and elegance in the man''s behavior, making Lin Mu think that he must not be of low birth. At the very least he was an aristocrat.


    "I''m Mu Lin, and I''m here to request your services." Lin Mu replied.


    "Of course!" The man took a seat in front of Lin Mu. "So what is it that you wish from me?" he asked.


    "I want an alchemical pill of course¡­ but for body cultivation." Lin Mu stated.


    "I see¡­ that can be done. This is my specialty of course." Alchemist Ruoxian said with a chuckle.


    "Good¡­ I need Alchemical pills for improving my body cultivation. I can''t just rely on Immortal Essence crystals." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I see¡­ but before we go forward, I''d like to know what kind of body cultivation technique you are practicing." The man said, "pardon me if it offends you, but this way I can offer you the best option." He added.


    "It is of no issue." Lin Mu didn''t mind speaking about it since the Three Apertures Invoking technique wasn''t some secretive technique.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "I cultivate the Three Raptures Invoking Technique." Lin Mu answered.


    "So it is that¡­ No wonder you need the pills right away." Alchemist Ruoxian said ncing at Lin Mu. "You''ve already opened the first aperture right and it''s also expanding?" he urately grasped.


    Lin Mu raised a brow in surprise but was impressed by the man.


    "You are correct." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    The man thought over it for a bit while stroking his graying beard.


    "If your cultivating using the Three Apertures Invoking technique, what you need is a pill with high concentration of Immortal essence while the natural rate of dispersion does not matter as much." Alchemist Ruoxian stated. "With the technique''s characteristics, most of the immortal essence would be absorbed easily, unlike others that focus more on the steady infusion of the immortal essence."


    This was the difference between the body cultivation techniques.


    For normal body cultivators, they had to store the Immortal Essence directly into their body and thus they had to focus more on keeping it inside. Thus they needed pills that delivered smaller amounts of immortal essence that was steadily infused rather than a burst of Immortal essence that would be missed.


    But for the Three Apertures Invoking technique this was not an issue as it quickly pulled the immortal essence into the Aperture.


    "So then, can you make it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I can yes. And I have a few options in mind too, depending on what you are willing to pay you can pick different ones." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "Very well, please tell me what you can make for me." Lin Mu asked.

 Chapter 1474 Three Options For Pills

    "For you, there are three pills I can make. The First is the Tiger Blood Immortal Pill, which is a more generic pill that is useful for nearly all body cultivators. It is also the cheapest and can be readily made.


    The second is the Tri-essence fountain Immortal pill. This is something that needs three kinds of immortal essences to be made and is slightly more expensive than the former.


    Then finally I have the Hundred Vicissitudes essence pill. It is the most expensive andplex pill to make." Alchemist Ruoxian informed.


    "Tell me more about them and what are the requirements for them." Lin Mu couldn''t make up his mind from just this.


    Plus other than the Tiger Blood Immortal Pill, Lin Mu didn''t know about the other two kinds of pills.


    ''There were some Tiger Blood immortal Pills on sale in one of the counters too¡­ if need by I can just get those, so I should probably focus on the other two.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "The Tiger Blood Immortal Pills are made from Tiger Face Lilies. These flowers have a natural abundance of Immortal Essence and the pills made from them only make it better." Alchemist Ruoxian said.


    Lin Mu simply nodded in response and gestured for the man to continue.


    "The Tri-essence immortal pill, is like its name. It needs three types of immortal essences, whether they be elemental essences or a mix of attribute less immortal essence. The only requirement is that there are three of them.


    For this, you can buy them from the Grand Sky Pavilion itself or even provide them yourself. Though the quality of the pills will also depend on the type of immortal essence provided." Alchemist Ruoxian said next.


    Hearing this Lin Mu had a few ideas. For example, he had the Pure Wood Essence from the Wood Spirit Tulip, as well as the Ten Apertures Blood Vein flowers. Both of these could provide the said essences.


    ''We would still need one more type of essence though¡­ guess the immortal essence stones can be substituted for it.'' Lin Mu kept this in mind but didn''t decide right away.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "And what about the final one?" He asked next.


    "The Hundred Vicissitudes Immortal Pill is something that needs a rare ingredient along with several supporting ingredients. It needs a Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite. This is the only ingredient that is not avable in the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    As for the pills'' effects¡­ consuming one would be the same as cultivating for a hundred years. Hence its name."Alchemist Ruoxian said with a hint of helplessness.


    It was clear that thest pill was something that even he couldn''t do much about. Plus Lin Mu could also see a hint of desire in the man''s eyes.


    ''Looks like he wants to make the Hundred Vicissitudes Immortal pill too¡­'' Lin Mu urately grasped.


    As for why the man wanted it, it didn''t matter to Lin Mu. All it mattered was that their goals were aligning. He thought over the pills and reckoned that he should get the second and third pill.


    "So, what have you decided?" Alchemist Ruoxian asked.


    "I''ve decided on two. I''ll take the Tri-essence immortal pill and provide the materials myself, that should reduce the cost right?" Lin Mu said first.


    "Yes. The normal cost of Tri-essence immortal pills is about ten high grade immortal stones each. But if you are providing the ingredients, the cost will be about two high grade immortal stones." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "Very well. I''ll do that then." Lin Mu stated.


    "And the second pill?" The alchemist inquired.


    "The Hundred Vicissitudes Immortal pill." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing this, a hint of joy appeared in the alchemist''s eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.


    "As I''ve said before, the pills is quiteplex and expensive." Alchemist Ruoxian said slowly. "If you want one, it will cost 2000 High Grade Immortal stones."


    Hearing this Lin Mu couldn''t help but smile.


    "Yes, but this is the cost without the materials, isn''t that right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. For it, will have to go to the auction house and get the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite yourself." The man replied.


    "I see¡­ but I''m not willing Alchemist Ruoxian." Lin Mu stated.


    "Not willing?" The man raised a brow.


    "Yes¡­ and I won''t be paying the 2000 High grade Immortal stone price either." Lin Mu added.


    "You surely joke, Daoist Mu Lin." Alchemist Ruoxian replied, feeling a bit uneasy.


    "I am not." Lin Mu said in a calm tone. "I believe we can strike a bargain."


    "A bargain? I''m afraid something like that is not possible in the Grand Sky Pavilion. Especially not for custom services like this." Alchemist Ruoxian declined.


    "Yes that might be true. But¡­ if it is a private request I believe it can be done." Lin Mu said, looking straight into the man''s eyes. "Especially if you are the one issuing the private request and hiring me." He stated.


    "A private request? And why would I hire you?" The Alchemist tried to maintain hisposure.


    "So that you can get over your block of course." Lin Mu inly said, unnerving the man. "The Hundred Vicissitudes Immortal pill¡­ you need it to be a high rank immortal Alchemist don''t you?" he questioned.


    "That¡­" Alchemist Ruoxian felt uneasy despite his cultivation base.


    After all, from what he could tell Lin Mu was both a body cultivator as well as Qi cultivator. And his attainments in both seemed to be equal. Thus even if they were only equivalent to that of the first Tribtion Immortal realm, Alchemist Ruoxian was not as na?ve to believe that was all.


    As an alchemist that specialized in Body cultivation alchemical pills, he had dealt with more than his fair share of people. This allowed him to know just how strong they could be. Body cultivators in general were stronger than the average Qi cultivator, not to mention they weren''t of a good temper often times.

 Chapter 1475 Making A Deal

    But Ruanjian knew Lin Mu was both a Qi cultivator as well as a body cultivator. Not to mention he also had an aura of superiority and cleverness that was not normal.


    All thisbined made Ruoxian know he would not be his match at all.


    Even if this was the Grand Sky Pavilion and he was safe here, he couldn''t stay here all the time, could he?


    He would have to leave it at some point, and at that time he would be a free target. Having lived a few thousand years, Ruoxian knew better than to make random enemies. This was also why he had taken the path of an alchemist, as it allowed him to forge more alliances than enemies.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Ruoxian resolved his heart.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Daoist Mu Lin certainly drives a hard bargain." He spoke keeping his tone calm. "s, I''ve failed in my attempt to bargain so I can only yield to you." He stated.


    Lin Mu who heard this couldn''t help but feel amazed.


    ''He''s a lot better than others I''ve met¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    Having met a reasonable person that was also manageable, Lin Mu was a bit surprised but thanked his luck. What he had done was also a gamble, but he reckoned it was worth it. And now that he had seeded in it, he was going to reap the benefits.


    "So to conclude, you will be making the Tri-essence Immortal pills for me and also hire me to find the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes. That shall be our deal." Alchemist Ruoxian epted.


    ''I was going to buy it myself before, but seems like I''ll just have to do it this way.'' Alchemist Ruoxian thought to himself.


    In fact, Ruoxian had been stuck at the cusp of bing a high rank Immortal Alchemist for nearly three hundred years now. Since he couldn''t progress he had tried to cultivate and see if that would help him. But even that was of no use.


    He focused on refining pills again, but he was experiencing no improvement in his skills at all. Eventually he understood that he would have to refine a pill that could naturally help him reach the next level.


    And he decided that pill would be the Hundred Vicissitudes Immortal Pill. But to make it, he still needed the ingredients most of which he could get from the Grand Sky Pavilion itself. But the main ingredient was something that was very difficult to find and would only be auctioned.


    The Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite that was auctioned in the Grand Sky Pavilion was actually something that was found several hundred years ago. Its owner had actually been auctioning it bit by bit over the years so as to keep the price high.


    He had obtained arge chunk of it and was cutting it to sell mere fragments.


    And since there had been no other supplier over the years, one could understand just how rare it was.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "Very well. I shall be in charge of finding the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite then." Lin Mu finalized the deal. "Though¡­ do you have any clues as to where I might be able to find it?"


    "Essence Spring Stctites themselves aren''t actually that rare. They are found in the mines where Immortal Essence crystals are formed. But it''s the hundred year old variants of them that are the hardest to find." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "Why''s that so?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Because its not often that they exist that long. Either some cultivator or beast might take it before that, or they just end up copsing automatically." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.


    "And all the known Immortal Essence Crystal are already monopolized by the existing powers¡­" Lin Mu added.


    "Exactly." Alchemist Ruoxian nodded his head. "Even the current supplier of the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite is a high ranked aristocrat of the empire that owns two such mines."


    "I see¡­ So where am I supposed to get it? I don''t think you had the mines of the aristocrats in your mind." Lin Mu inquired.


    "Of course not." Ruoxian shook his head. "There is actually another ce you can find unexplored Immortal Essence mines." He said before taking out a folded piece of beast skin from his spatial storage treasure.


    He opened it up and spread it wide on the table.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu could see several markings and diagrams that had been drawn on the beast skin.


    Several of them had faded away, evidently due to the age of the beast skin though he could still make out some parts of it.


    "A map?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Yes¡­ well, partly." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "This is an old document I obtained from a cultivator who had been to the Deste Blood Battlefield. There are many relics and items left over from the past and they are discovered from time to time."


    "So what does this say?" Lin Mu couldn''t read the information on the map as it was written in a script he didn''t know. ''Might be a local dialect. It''s not in the Dao Script.''


    "This document speaks of an old cache of Immortal Essence Crystals that had been hidden away by one of the powers that were involved in the legendary battle. They were meant to be used as supplies, but that time never came. The power that owned it was wiped out and only a few documents were left behind." Alchemist Ruoxian exined.


    Hearing this Lin Mu grew quite curious.


    "Oh? So you''re saying, if these Immortal Essence Crystals have been untouched all this time, they might have condensed into a vein?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You certainly catch on quick, Daoist Mu Lin." Alchemist Ruoxian nodded. "While this doesn''t happen normally, the cache was kept in a special preserving array. And after the battle and many deaths that happened on the battlefield, the remnant vitality should have permeated into them." He exined.

 Chapter 1476 The Failed Missions

    Alchemist Ruoxian''s words had certainly incited Lin Mu''s interest and now there wasn''t a chance Lin Mu was going to give up on this opportunity.


    "There is a great chance that the cache of Immortal Essence Crystals has now turned into an immortal Essence Crystal mine. Forget one vein, with how much time has passed, there might be several of them." Alchemist Ruoxian spoke with hope.


    "Mmm¡­ and with several mines, the chances of there being a Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite should also increase." Lin Mu finally understood the man''s n.


    "Indeed." Alchemist Ruoxian nodded his head.


    "Though¡­ if you had this map since before, why haven''t you gone to get it yourself? Or if you''re busy, I''m sure you can afford to hire other people too." Lin Mu inquired just in case.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Ahaha~ I might be at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, but I do not have the same battle experience that others might have." Alchemist Ruoxian said in a self-depreciating manner.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu raised a brow in surprise..


    "I''m not ashamed to admit I''m somewhat of a greenhouse flower. I was taught by my family since the start and was kept protected. And when my talents as an alchemist were discovered, they nurtured me ordingly as well, and I got to avoid most conflicts." Alchemist Ruoxian revealed a bit about himself.


    "So while I''m confident of my talent in alchemy, I cannot say the same about my fighting skills." He admitted.


    "Knowing about one''s weaknesses and ws is good. It prevents us from bingcent and making mistakes." Lin Mu couldn''t find fault with the man for this.


    "I''ve made mistakes in the past and learned from this. Which is why I know not to exert myself where I won''t see good results." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "I understand why you didn''t go to get it yourself, but then why didn''t you hire others?" Lin Mu asked again.


    "I actually have." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "You have?" Lin Mu was surprised before a thought came to him. "They failed, didn''t they?" he knew.


    "Not just failed¡­ they didn''t even return. I thought they might have made off with the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite but even if they did, they would end up selling it some time. So I waited, and waited¡­ But no Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite turned up in the market.


    This made me think that they might have met an unfortunate end. After all, it wasn''t that umon in the Deste Blood Battlefield. Thus I sent another team of cultivators into the Deste Blood Battlefield on the same mission.


    And once more they too disappeared. This time though I sent more people but not to get the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite but rather to search for the ones who had gone missing." Alchemist Ruoxian exined in detail.


    "And what happened to them?" Lin Mu questioned, finding the situation a bit suspicious.


    "The people I sent to investigate did return." The man nodded his head. "But¡­ they barely had any clues to the location of the previous two groups. Their tracks had disappeared around a certain area and it was impossible to determine where they might have gone.


    But one thing was for sure, they didn''t leave the Deste Blood Battlefield. There were no records of them leaving in the logs of the guards either." He added.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was now sure that there was some hidden danger to it all.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "So it''s like that¡­" Lin Mu said in a light voice.


    Alchemist Ruoxian was a little nervous after exining all of it. After all, two groups of immortal cultivators had disappeared on this mission and there was no telling if the same would happen to another group.


    Besides this time, it wasn''t a group that was going but just one man. It made things even more dangerous and confusing.


    Ruoxian wasn''t sure either if Lin Mu would ept the offer after hearing all this. After all, it wouldn''t be surprising for him to reject such a dangerous task.


    This was what had happened the third time around too. Alchemist Ruoxian had asked another group to go search for the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite but he had been turned down.


    After two entire times had gone missing, no one wanted to take the task again. Even the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion had asked him to refrain from doing that and had instead advised him to just buy the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite outright.


    Which was what his next course of action was going to be, but the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite had not been in auction for a long time and now his patience was getting thin.


    Lin Mu''s arrival was frankly a good hit of motivation for him and thus he was hoping that the request would be taken again.


    Because of this he felt anxious.


    And while he could have hidden it from Lin Mu, he didn''t think it was a good option either.


    "Alright, give me whatever location you have. I don''t think I can use the map as it is." Lin Mu spoke after a minute.


    "You''ll take it?!" Alchemist Ruoxian said with a mix of excitement and surprise.


    "Yes, like I said before. I''ll be taking this mission in exchange for no cost for the pill." Lin Mu stated.


    "You still want to go after knowing two teams didn''t return?" Alchemist Ruoxian couldn''t help but ask again.


    He had hard time believing his ears.


    "I want to yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Besides, I had intended to go to the Deste Blood battlefield anyway. This will just give me an additional task to do while I''m there." He exined.


    Hearing this, a bright smile appeared on the alchemist''s face.


    "GREAT!" The man eximed.


    He then shuffled through the items he had in his spatial storage treasure and took out a few things. The first was a jade slip that looked quite normal, the second was a roll of paper and the third an object made out of ss.

 Chapter 1477 Three Items For Help

    Lin Mu looked at the three objects, wondering what Ruoxian was intending to do with them.


    "Here''s the tranted version of the map as well as additional guidance on how to get to the location of the Immortal Essence crystal cache." Alchemist Ruoxian first handed Lin Mu the jade slip.


    Lin Mu took a quick look through it and saw the map as well as more detailed information in it.


    "This''ll be good." Lin Mu said before looking at the object made out of ss.


    It looked like a kite shaped ss sculpture in which a thin and long fragment was suspended. It seemed to be floating inside it with no support and was also stationary. From the faint Qi fluctuationing from it, Lin Mu determined that this was an immortal tool of some kind.


    But its function was still unknown to him.


    "This blood vein tracker will help you avoid some danger." Alchemist Ruoxian spoke.


    "Blood Vein tracker?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "What does it exactly do?" he asked since Ruoxian''s words could mean a lot of things.


    "You might have heard that a lot of blood was spilled on the Deste blood Battlefield, hence its name. But this also lead to the formation of Blood essence crystals." Ruoxian replied.


    "Yeah, these can be used to refine high grade immortal essence crystals. I''ve heard that too." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed. But they alsoe with danger. Along with the blood of the deceased, the Deste Blood Battlefield is also filled with their resentment. Over the years, this resentment has transformed into baleful energies that are highly corrosive.


    These are often found hidden along with Blood Essence Crystals and can easily contaminate one if they are not careful." Alchemist Ruoxian exined.


    Lin Mu had heard about baleful energies before from senior Xukong as well as read about them in the Lost immortal''s memoirs.


    It was a general term for all manners of negative energies that could harm living beings. There were many forms of them and it was hard to tell which was found where, thus they were just called baleful energies.


    Even the impure Yin Qi that Lin Mu had encountered in the southern deserts of the Xiaofan world could also be considered a form of baleful energy.


    "The Blood Vein Tracker will help you avoid these. Though you can also use it to track Blood Essence crystals, since this tracks the turbulent energy fluctuations." Alchemist Ruoxian revealed.


    "Really?" Lin Mu was surprised. "Then isn''t it really valuable?" he could easily see the value of something that could track blood essence crystal.


    "It is yes¡­ but the chances that it can find Blood Essence crystal is also less since its fluctuations and the fluctuations of Baleful energies are almost simr. Thus there is a high chance you might end up encountering Baleful energies instead." Alchemist Ruoxian warned.


    "I see¡­ I''ll keep it in mind." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Next, the alchemist wrote down a few lines on the roll of paper. And once he did that, he took out a seal and stamped it, leaving a mark of his immortal Qi on it.


    "This will serve as some extra insurance." Alchemist Ruoxian spoke. "If you encounter some people who look insistent on making things difficult for you, you can show them this." He added.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "Oh?" Lin Mu read the paper, realizing that Ruoxian had stated his identity as a noble as well as a member of the Grand Sky Pavilion on it.


    "Most should give you face seeing this." Ruoxian said. "Or at least I hope so¡­ there are always crazy people that don''t think much before acting." He added.


    "Yeah I know¡­ I''ve had my fair share of encounters with them¡­" Lin Mu said recalling some memories. "Though, this says you are a noble too?" he asked feeling curious.


    "I am one, but not of any big n." Alchemist Ruoxian acknowledged. "My n is nothingpared to real big wigs and is just involved in some minor trading businesses." He said, clearly not wanting to reveal everything.


    Lin Mu tacitly understood his intentions and nodded his head.


    After all, everyone had their secrets and he wouldn''t want others to force him to reveal his either. Thus he wouldn''t do the same for them.


    Done with all this, Lin Mu put away the items in his storage.


    "So what is it that you intend to use as materials for the Tri-essence pills?" Alchemist Ruoxian asked next.


    "Ah yes! I almost forgot in all this." Lin Mu said before taking out three things.


    The first was a bunch of orange flowers, the second was a vial of shimmering green liquid and the third a pouch.


    Alchemist Ruoxian easily recognized the pouch of immortal stones, but the other two items were a bit different to him.


    "This¡­. Ten Apertures Blood Vein Flowers!?" The man identified.


    "Yes. These should be fine for the Tri-essence pill right?" Lin Mu asked just in case.


    "Fine? This is overkill for a pill like that." Ruoxian said with excitement. "Just a single petal from one of these flowers would be enough for one refinement."


    "And how about this?" Lin Mu gestured to the vial.


    "Wood Elemental Essence? No¡­ this is 100% pure wood elemental essence!" Alchemist Ruoxian eximed. "Where did you even get this?" the man was astounded.This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    "I¡­ have my sources." Lin Mu replied. "But I take it, this should be fine too?"


    "Just a drop of this pure wood elemental essence can be diluted in a 1:100 ratio and be enough for the pill." Alchemist Ruoxian said with fervor. "This vial alone¡­ it''ll be a waste to use it for a Tri-elemental pill."


    "A waste? So what''s it good for?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Several better quality pills can be made with it, but unfortunately I need to be a high grade immortal alchemist for that." The man shook his head. "But yes, we can use this. At the very least, the quality of the Tri-essence pills is going to be very high."

 Chapter 1478 Improving Talisman Skills

    It was safe to say that Alchemist Ruoxian was pleased with the materials that Lin Mu was providing.


    "So how long will it take you to make the Tri-essence pills?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It''ll take me two to three weeks. I''ll contact you when I''m done." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.


    "That''s good then." Lin Mu said before bidding his farewell. "I''ll look forward to it then."


    "I''ll also have some more information about the Deste Blood Battlefield ready by the time youe." Alchemist Ruoxian added.


    "That''ll be handy yes." Lin Mu nodded his head before walking out.


    He was happy with the deal and also with the alchemist himself.


    ''Not only did I got to meet him, I also managed to obtain an opportunity.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He was now looking forward to the Tri-essence pills and wondered just how much they would boost his body cultivation.


    "And I''ll still have more materials left over." Lin Mu had only given a few Ten apertures Blood Vein flowers to Alchemist Ruoxian, along with a quarter of the Pure Wood Essence he had gotten from the Wood Spirit Tulip.


    He still had over thirty of the flowers left, and if need be he could use them again in the future.


    Done with this, Lin Mu didn''t go back to the courtyard right away. Instead he took a stroll around the city with little shrubby as the master and beast enjoyed some of the delicacies. With the size of the city, there were plenty of things to see after all.


    Little Shrubby even managed to attract some attention from a few female cultivators who couldn''t help but want to pet him.


    Some even wished for Lin Mu to sell him to them, but they were far too intimidated by the aura that Lin Mu now exuded.


    Bing an Immortal body cultivator meant that his vitality would reach a new level and normal cultivators would feel the pressure too. Even if it wasn''t exerted intentionally, there was still enough of it to stun the others.


    After spending the rest of the day in Middle Fort city, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby returned to the courtyard.


    "The Saintess is still not back?" Lin Mu looked around unable to sense her there. ''Guess she has her own things to do too...'' he didn''t mind it much though and returned to his room.


    Little Shrubby on the other hand went back to his practice and was increasing his proficiency with his mes. Lin Mu was happy that Little Shrubby was actively trying to better himself and not just relying on the bloodline.


    ''I should improve my other skills too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He put down the twin snakes on their pillow and lied down on the bed. Closing his eyes, Lin Mu drifted off to sleep and entered the Sleepscape.


    In the Sleepscape, he stopped in front of the Immortal Apple tree, finding there to be a flower bud on it.


    "Oh? It''s starting to bear flowers already?" Lin Mu walked close to take a look.


    The bud was small and tightly closed. It was clear that it would still take some time for it to turn into an apple.


    Nodding at the growth, Lin Mu turned back and checked the other nts as well.


    The Wood Spirit Tulip seemed to have grown as well and now its Cultivation base was equivalent to the Dao Treading realm.


    "That was a bit fast..." Lin Mu knew that his cultivation base affected the Sleepscape, but he didn''t know how much it affected the nts within it.


    Next he checked the Purple Sickle amaranth finding it to be equivalent to the Nascent soul realm. It wasgging behind the Wood Spirit Tulip and was not able to keep up like before.


    "Hmm... has it reached a bottleneck or something?" Lin Mu wondered.


    The nts didn''t exactly have the same cultivation system as humans after all. Lin Mu didn''t know what stages they had, but he could tell from the intensity of their Qi fluctuations, just what level they were equivalent to.


    Lin Mu wondered if he could help the Purple Sickle Amaranth somehow, but decided against it.


    ''It''s best if I let it grow on its own. Who knows if it''ll develop something new too, like the Wood Spirit Tulip.'' Lin Mu let nature take its course.


    Instead, he sat down and took out a few sheets of talisman paper.


    "Let''s see how many Diamond Mountain Talismans I can make in theing two weeks..." Lin Mu took a deep breath and started to draw on the talisman paper.


    He had already manged to make Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman several times before and had even managed to make a few Lesser Diamond Mountain Talismans. Now he wished to increase that number and improve his proficiency.


    He started with the Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman again and made around three hundred of them before stopping. His sess rate was now about 50% with the Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    It was a big improvement from his original 10% sess rate.


    ~huu~


    "A 50% sess rate is the normal level for most formation masters with this... I should be able to increase a bit more." Lin Mu assessed.


    He took a short rest and meditated before making more of the Minor Diamond Mountain Talismans. After he made three hundred more, he realized that he was only failing 4 times out of every ten attempts.


    ''Not enough... I can do better.'' Lin Mu continued to make more, while his finger left trails of light in the air.


    Guided by his immortal sense, Lin Mu''s finger acted like a brush while using his Qi as the ink. The more he drew, the smoother his runes got and the better they functioned. The chances of failure decreased as his mistakes started to disappear.


    Two days passed like this before Lin Mu improved once more.


    "An average of seven out of ten times... Nearly a seventy percent sess rate." Lin Mu rested his fingers and watched his handiwork.


    There were now thousands of Minor Diamond Mountain Talismans stacked near him, with even more ruined ones.


    The ruined ones either looked to be burned or were simply in tatters. And these were just the ones that had managed to survive, there were a lot more that had simply turned to dust after Lin Mu made a mistake.


    Just this alone showed how much Lin Mu had worked.


    ''I don''t think I''ll be able to improve the sess rate more in a short time, I should try the lesser grade Diamond Mountain Talismans now.'' Lin Mu took a few hours of rest before picking up the talisman paper again.


    ~POOF~


    His first attempt was a failure and the talisman paper simply blew apart after a few seconds, leaving a wry smile was left on Lin Mu''s face.


    "I should slow down..." Lin Mu rethought his pace and picked up another Talisman paper.


    ~poof~


    But a few minutester, the paper exploded.


    Shaking his head, Lin Mu tried again. This time hested for twice the amount of time, before experiencing failure.


    ~poof~


    The sleeves of his robes were in tatters from the explosions and if it weren''t for the fact that Lin Mu was a body cultivator, he might have been injured too. This was one of the reasons why Diamond Mountain Talismans were high-priced despite having very low production costs.


    Complexity was just one of the factors that made them expensive, as the damage caused from failure was also a big issue. There was nock of formation masters that were injured from this.


    It was even considered normal to get injured while making a few high ranked talismans. Some formation masters even factored in the cost of recovery if someone asked them to make custom talismans.


    After all, not everyone could be a body cultivator.


    In fact, the number of formation masters that were also body cultivators was quite less. Formation creation was more focused on the utilization of Qi after all, and most body cultivators didn''t focus much on it.


    But Lin Mu had the advantage of being both, and thus he could simply ignore the damage he sustained from all this.


    ~poof~


    ~poof~


    ~poof~


    After about twenty failures, Lin Mu finally managed to make a lesser grade Diamond Mountain Talisman!


    "One in twenty one? Less than five percent sess rate... It''s definitely quite hard than the minor version." Lin Mu muttered to himself.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    One might think that the 5% sess rate was low, but it was still an improvement from Lin Mu''s earlier rate. Thest time he had made a lesser grade Diamond Mountain Talisman, it had taken him nearly a hundred failures before he had sess.


    It was a sess rate that might have only been 1% or even lower.


    But now he had multiplied it!


    ''Surely, improving the sess rate of lower grade version also helps improve the sess rate with the higher versions...'' Lin Mu noted.

 Chapter 1479 0.00001% Success Rate

    Days passed as Lin Mu kept on making Diamond Mountain Talismans.


    His sess rate with the lesser grade Diamond Mountain Talismans was getting better and was at ten percent now. This was a double increase from thest time and had taken Lin Mu nearly ten days to achieve.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu had been making the Diamond Mountain Talismans for about fifteen days now and it was past the two week minimum mark that Alchemist Ruoxian had talked about.


    "He still hasn''t contacted me¡­ looks like he might not be finished yet." Lin Mu muttered to himself after checking his Communication Jade Slip.


    Since there was no message, he reckoned he could go back to making more Diamond Mountain Talismans. He was improving at it and was feeling quite pleased with his progress too. Lin Mu could feel that his overall understanding of formations was also improving at the same time.


    This time though, Lin Mu decided to raise his level and try the next grade of the Diamond Mountain Talismans.


    "The Great grade Diamond Mountain Talisman, it''s the highest level and can defend again the attack of a False immortal realm expert." Lin Mu revised the information as he read about the method of production.


    While the basic runes and circuits for it were the same, the way the great grade Diamond Mountain Talisman differed was in the number of them. If the minor Diamond Mountain Talismans had one set of the runes, and the lesser grade Diamond Mountain Talismans had five then the Great grade Diamond Mountain Talisman had twenty five sets!


    Thisplexity was the reason why a spirit formation talisman could actually block an immortal level attack. Even if it was just a false immortal and not a true immortal, it was still quite a big difference.


    After all, if a few of these were given to experts of the mortal worlds, wouldn''t they simply be able to defend against Immortal ascension experts with ease?


    That could very well flip the power dynamic of the world. And it would still be within the limits of the world too as any spirit Qi cultivator could technically make a Diamond Mountain Talisman as long as they had the skills to.


    For Lin Mu though, the Diamond Mountain Talismans weren''t for use. They were just for practice and improving his own skills.


    With theplexity that the Diamond Mountain Talismans had, one could actually make several immortal formations with ease. But the advantage was the fact that the Diamond Mountain Talismans needed ingredients that cost a negligible amount to Lin Mu.


    If he were to do the same with actual immortal grade formations, things would quickly get wasteful and expensive.


    ~BOOM~


    But not even thirty seconds since Lin Mu had started with the great grade Diamond Mountain Talisman, it exploded. This time the power of the explosion was higher than the lesser grade Diamond Mountain Talismans.


    "Yeah¡­ definitely moreplex¡­" Lin Mu had understood his mistake, but also knew that fixing it wasn''t going to be easy.


    Lin Mu tried again and again, going through talisman paper like crazy. In less than two hours, he had already used up around five hundred sheets and there was still no sess. In fact, he hadn''t even finished half of the talisman before it failed.


    But Lin Mu didn''t lose hope, and continued his work.


    Minutes turned to hours, and hours turned to days.


    Hundreds of attempts became thousand and thousands became tens of thousands.


    And finally, Lin Mu saw some positive result.


    ~HUMM~


    A talisman was held in his hands, the runes on it still glowing faintly.


    "It''s done¡­ barely¡­ but done¡­" Lin Mu wiped the sweat off his brow.


    His entire robe was now in tatters with how many explosions it had endured. Even on his chest one could see scorch marks, though these were just surface level. His actual skin would not get injured by an explosion at this level.


    ~huu~


    ''At least it''s done¡­'' Lin Mu felt like actually sleeping after this.


    He had been working on the Diamond Mountain Talismans for nearly four weeks now. The only breaks he had taken were when he had stopped to check if Alchemist Ruoxian had contacted him.


    But there was still no response, which only made him think that the process might be taking longer. Still, it wasn''t like he was in a hurry and thus could wait with ease.


    "Still, the sess rate for a great grade Diamond Mountain Talismans is too low¡­ not even 0.." Lin Mu looked at the waste talisman paper that was lying around him.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    He had basically run out of all of them, despite the massive amounts he had purchased earlier. Lin Mu had originally bought over a hundred thousand sheets of them, and had only used less than twenty thousand when making the Minor and lesser grade Diamond Mountain Talismans.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    But with the great grade, he had used over eighty thousand sheets of the talisman paper.


    ''At the very least, the Diamond Mountain Talismans I made will be more than enough topensate for the cost of the talisman papers.'' Lin Mu now intended to exchange the Diamond Mountain Talismans for three times the amount he had earlier.


    Done with his practice, Lin Mu decided to just sleep. But before that, he took a look at the Immortal Apple tree and saw that the flower bud on it had already turned into a blooming flower.


    "There''s still some time before it will turn into an apple and even more time for it to turn into a ripe immortal apple." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Looking at the Immortal apple tree gave rise to a different thought in Lin Mu''s mind, though.


    ''Perhaps I should look into some more nts like these. The Grand Sky Pavilion should definitely have a few at least¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With that decided, Lin Mu closed his eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep. His body disappeared from the Sleepscape, leaving the nts to their own devices.


    In the past four weeks, Lin Mu had expended quite a of Qi but it still couldn''tpare to the mental fatigue he had umted. After all, making formations needed a lot of willpower as well as concentration, which could easily exhaust a person.


    The fact that he couldst for four weeks while making aplex talisman like the Diamond Mountain Talismans alone was a testament to his determination.


    Upon truly sleeping, Lin Mu''s body started its natural work. The Aperture within his chest continued to spin and released minute amounts of Immortal essence that was being slowly infused into his cells.


    Right now his body could still not use the Immortal essence directly, so this was no different than getting the cells adapted to it. After all, after the immortal essence was infused into the cells, it would dissipate in a short while.


    But that wasn''t all as Immortal Qi was also swirling around his body. With each breath, it would be pulled into his lungs and absorbed into his meridians before being circted all over the body.


    The signature immortal Qi circuit that Lin Mu had made worked on its own and passively increased Lin Mu''s stores of it. The Qi that he had depleted was being replenished automatically and it wouldn''t be long before it was back to the original level.


    ~Meow~


    Lin Mu was roused from his slumber by a sound. His eyelids twitched before opening up, only to see Little Shrubby staring at him while standing on his chest.


    "Mmm? Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu yawned.


    "That man is at the door." Little Shrubby replied.


    "What man?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "The alchemist." Little Shrubby responded.


    "Alchemist Ruoxian?!" Lin Mu stood up while Little Shrubby hopped off his chest. "Strange¡­ I don''t think I ever told him where I''m staying." He muttered.


    Regardless of what the reason might have been, Lin Mu decided to first see the man. He didn''t think Ruoxian would try to enter the courtyard without an invitation, either. Not only were there arrays protecting it, there was also the Saintess staying there.


    Even if she wasn''t there all the time, her perception could always cover it and act on it. Plus, Lin Mu hadn''t missed the additional security that she had added in the form of illusory spells.


    They weren''t exactly formations, but could bepared to talismans. If they detected threats, they would trap the intruder in an illusion and they would stay in it for quite a long time.


    Lin Mu quickly opened the door of the room and walked to the gate of the courtyard.


    ~Creak~


    And surely, there was Alchemist Ruoxian waiting for him.


    ''He seems anxious¡­'' Lin Mu could tell from looking at his face.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, so you really were home." Alchemist Ruoxian said, with a hint of nervousness.


    "Yes¡­ I was in seclusion." Lin Mu replied.


    "I apologize if I''ve bothered you bying directly, but there has been a certain development, I''m afraid."

 Chapter 1480 Violet Mystic Life Tree

    The sudden appearance of Alchemist Ruoxian was certainly beyond Lin Mu''s expectations and his words even more so.


    "What do you mean? What kind of development?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "About a week ago, reports of a Violet Mystic Life Tree appearing in the Deste Blood Battlefield have popped up." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.


    "Violet Mystic Life Tree?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows, unable to recognize the name.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    He tried to look through his memories, but didn''t have any information about such a tree.


    "What is this tree?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree is said to be a blessed tree of the heavens. It appears very rarely and there have been no records of it ever appearing in the Rust Sky world. Which is why it has caused the Holy Topaz Empire to be panicked." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "A tree can make the entire empire panic? Just what makes it so special and relevant to us?" Lin Mu asked next feeling confused.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree is said to be able to extend the lifespans of creatures. You can understand just how valuable it would be to those experts who are at the end of their lifespan or are at the verge of having an Immortal Tribtion but are not feeling confident.


    As for why it is relevant to us¡­ the Violet Mystic Life Tree has appeared in the same region where the cache of the Immortal Essence crystal was supposed to be." Alchemist Ruoxian exined.


    "Wait¡­ at the cache?" Lin Mu suddenly thought of something. "You don''t mean to say¡­ the Violet Mystic Life Tree is growing on top of it, do you?" he questioned doubtfully.


    "That is¡­ quite likely." Alchemist Ruoxian nodded his head pensively. "The Violet Mystic Life Tree is said to be filled with boundless vitality. Its so abundant that even staying within its periphery is said to heal wounds and cure diseases.


    But for a tree like that to grow, it will need an equivalent amount of nutrition. And I think¡­ it might be drawing this from the Immortal Essence mine that has developed from the cache.


    Or at the very least, it might have started growing from the mine, before its root expanded and started drawing nutrition from the surrounding areas. The bloodied soil has vitality that cannot be used by creatures, but for a nt, it shouldn''t matter." Alchemist Ruoxian exined in detail.


    After hearing this, Lin Mu understood that it might really be so.


    While he didn''t really need the Violet Mystic Life Tree as he had plenty of lifespan, he did need the Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite. He could technically do without it, but it would be perfect for him.


    After all, it would save him nearly a hundred years of cultivation if the description of the pill was to be believed.


    ~Sigh~


    "Seems like fate is trying to y games after being favorable for a while¡­" Lin Mu shook his head.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "We still have the advantage. While the others know about the Violet Mystic Life Tree, they don''t know about the cache that has turned into a mine. It might still be possible to sneak in there." Alchemist Ruoxian said, hoping that Lin Mu wouldn''t break the deal.


    This was the reason why Ruoxian was so nervous. After all, no sane person would try to obtain the Hundred Year of Essence Spring Stctite under the nose of the empire. And that was just one of the powers that would try to get it.


    Ruoxian knew very well just how big of an upheaval this would be causing. It wasn''t just the powers of the Holy Topaz Empire either, as he was sure that the people of the other continents would certainly sneak in.


    After all, hiding such a big news wasn''t easy and was bound to leak with the people of different continents that scoured the Deste Blood Battlefield. It wouldn''t be wrong to say that this was no different from walking into a swamp full of crocodiles.


    "Don''t worry, I''m still going." Lin Mu assuaged the man''s fears.


    Lin Mu was going to go to the Deste Blood Battlefield anyway and the Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite was just an extra excuse for going there.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree is certainly special¡­ even I''ve only seen three such trees till now." Xukong spoke after a long time.


    "Oh? You''ve seen them before, Senior?" Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    He had not disturbed Xukong since the spider had been cultivating too. Xukong had already told Lin Mu that he was close to a breakthrough, though Lin Mu didn''t know what kind of a breakthrough it was.


    Due to this, Lin Mu had been avoiding disturbing Xukong unless it was absolutely necessary. But from time to time, Xukong would take a look too. Especially if there was something really worthy of his interest.


    And it was evident that the Violet Mystic Life Tree was one of them.


    "I have yes. The entire tree is a treasure, right from its fruits, leaves, branches all the way to its roots." Xukong replied. "While you don''t necessarily need its ability to extend one''s lifespan, it will still be good to obtain some parts of it.


    After all, they are very valuable and you can exchange them for something you need." He suggested.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu saw the worth. Right now he had a lifespan that was over Eight thousand years long while he himself was merely twenty seven years old. It would be a long time before he would need to start worrying about his longevity.


    Not to mention, he was quite sure that his immortal tribtions would be ovee before the end period. This would simply keep on extending his lifespan more and more.


    With how much time he had, it wouldn''t be an issue for Lin Mu to simply enter seclusion and focus on one of the upations for hundreds of years.


    ''I guess it''ll be worth taking a look¡­'' Lin Mu decided.

 Chapter 1481 Getting The Tri-Essence Pills

    Having made the decision of checking out the Violet Mystic Life Tree, Lin Mu knew some preparations would have to be made.


    ''But before that¡­ I need to take what I''m owed.'' He thought while looking at Alchemist Ruoxian.


    "Have the Tri-essence Pills been refined?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Of course." Alchemist Ruoxian nodded his head. "They were ready two weeks ago, but you didn''t respond to the messages I sent you." He said before taking out a wooden box.


    The box was in, but Lin Mu could sense several preserving formations hidden inside it.


    ~ck~


    Lin Mu released the sp and opened the lid of the box, revealing several four bottles inside. Each of the bottles had eight pills inside for a total of sixteen pills. Simr to their name, the pills had three colors that mixed and melded, forming an elegant gradient.


    The bottles perfectly sealed the aroma of the pills inside, preventing it from losing any medicinal efficacy.


    "The Ten Apertures Blood Vein Flowers and the Pure Wood Essence you provided were probably the best ingredients I''ve used so far to make these." Alchemist Ruoxian said with a hint of joy. "Eight pills from a single batch, and I made four batches. This is the highest yield I''ve ever gotten from a batch." He added.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    Lin Mu picked up one of the bottles and opened its cap.


    As soon as he did that, the scent of the pills filled his nose, rushing into his lungs. It sent a wave of excitement across his body, with each cell of his body getting roused. The vitality within his body stirred and his stomach seemingly growled in desire.


    "This is¡­ definitely good." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    Just taking a whiff of the pills'' scent had caused such an effect, making Lin Mu wonder just how good they would be after he consumed them.


    He quickly closed the bottle and stored it back in the box before putting it in his ring.


    "Looks like you''ve done a great job." Lin Mu truly felt impressed.


    "Of course, I would never sell something I wouldn''t be satisfied with." Alchemist Ruoxian stated.


    "Though¡­" Another thought returned to Lin Mu. "How did you find this ce? I don''t think I told you." He asked.


    "This ce is owned by one of the subsidiaries of the Grand Sky Pavilion. There are records of you renting it in the pavilion." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "Oh¡­ makes sense." Lin Mu reckoned getting this information with Ruoxian''s identity wouldn''t be that hard.


    "Also, there aren''t that many cultivators walking around the city with a red cat beast." Alchemist Ruoxian added. "You''ve attracted a bit of attention from the women."


    Lin Mu didn''t know what to make of that. But after thinking for a bit, he understood that he hadn''t really made an effort to hide or anything. Though there wasn''t any reason for him to do so either.


    After all, he wasn''t a criminal, and neither was he doing anything wrong. So other than attracting a bit of attention, nothing else would have happened either way.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "If you are going to use the Tri-essence pills, you should restrain yourself. These are highly potent and even I don''t know how strong they would be. It''s best you be careful." Alchemist Ruoxian advised.


    "I''ll be careful yes." Lin Mu responded, though he knew that it wouldn''t be an issue for him at all.


    The response that his body had showed him already told him that he could probably consume the entire bottle of pills and would still be fine. His stomach was also an additional factor that could take care of any excess Immortal essence.


    It would help him stabilize if there was an overload of energy.


    "For the Deste Blood Battlefield, is there a specific time frame before I should head there?" Lin Mu asked, wondering how the situation would be with many people going there.


    "Normally it would be best if you head there, as early as possible. But right now, we don''t know what kind of people would the various powers would be sending. I''ve already assigned people to gather information, but it will take some time.


    The Grand Sky Pavilion has already issued an official mission for this too and their own people will be heading there." Alchemist Ruoxian stated.


    "Hmmm¡­ has the news spread to the other empires yet?" Lin Mu asked, thinking of a certain person.


    "That is hard to tell. But it is safe to assume that it should have been sent already. There are many people from different empires in the Deste Blood Battlefield after all." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "At the very least, Huiqing Empire wouldn''t need to do much since they already have one of their top experts here." He added.


    "The Steel Horned General, Niu Juo." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes, seems like Daoist Mu Lin is well informed." Alchemist Ruoxian replied, feeling interested.


    "We were in the same batch of travelers that came from Huiqing Empire." Lin Mu said.


    "Oh, that''s interesting?" Ruoxian didn''t expect there to be such a coincidence. "Though¡­ Daoist Mu Lin is from the Huiqing empire?" he asked curiously.


    "I''m just an itinerant cultivator." Lin Mu replied, casually.


    Though in a way his words really were true as he hadn''t joined any power officially.


    "I see. Still, I''ll keep you informed of any more developments. Though I don''t think we''ll have that long. Right now they don''t know the exact location of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, but it wouldn''t be long before they confirm it.


    If you can get there before that, you''ll have a great advantage." Alchemist Ruoxian stated.


    "I''ll try my best." Lin Mu wasn''t afraid ofgging behind as he had Little Shrubby''s speed on his side. "I''ll try the pills till then but won''t enter seclusion." He added.


    Alchemist Ruoxian nodded his head in response and spoke, "I''ll take my leave then."


    The man turned around before leaving. Lin Mu closed the gate and sealed up the courtyard using the arrays.


    He didn''t want to be disturbed for the time being after all and wanted to use the new pills.

 Chapter 1482 Consuming Tri Essence Pills

    Returning to his room, Lin Mu sat on the bed and quickly withdrew the pill box. From it, he carefully took out one of the pill bottles and opened the cap.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and enjoyed the scent of the Tri-essence Immortal pills. The scene was really refreshing and invigorating, making one desire it more and more. But he didn''t do it again, as he had something much better.


    "Now to try it¡­" Lin Mu took out one of the Tri-essence immortal pills and popped it into his mouth.


    Unlike other pills though, it didn''t melt right away. Instead if stayed solid and showed no signs of dissolving.


    ''That''s new.'' Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    "Directly swallow it. Pills with Immortal Essence need to be kept solid or they lose their efficacy fast." Xukong instructed.


    "Ah, I see." Lin Mu nodded his head before swallowing the pill.


    ~gulp~


    The Tri-essence immortal pill quickly slid down his throat and reached his stomach.


    ~HUALA~


    And as soon as it did, a surge of energy came from it!T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu''s stomach reacted in anticipation as hundreds of obscure patterns formed around it. These patterns directly absorbed the energy surge that was trying to leave his body. If this was any other person, they would have lost this part of the energy.


    It could even be considered a normal phenomenon. But it was not like that for Lin Mu.


    His stomach was like a greedy beast, keeping everything within its grasp. It absorbed the excess energy while letting the rest of it being released into his body steadily.


    Lin Mu also observed the entire process, learning more about his stomach and how it operated.


    ''Huh¡­ so it works in two ways¡­ the patterns absorb the excess energy while the rest is gently taken by the stomach while releasing it into the rest of the body by channeling it meridians and blood.'' Lin Mu now understood.


    One couldpare the obscure patterns to be a form of instion that prevented extra loss of energy. Its efficiency was also terrifying as not even a single wisp could escape the pull of the obscure patterns.


    After a few minutes of wait, Lin Mu finally felt the Immortal essence being pulled into his flesh.


    ''Nows the time¡­'' He quickly practiced the Three Apertures Invoking Technique and channeled the Immoral essence into the first Aperture.


    The Immortal essence spun like a whirlpool in the sea as it got drawn into the Aperture. It was like seeing a pool of glitter swirl and shimmer. It was a beautiful sight, but it wasn''t something anyone else other than Lin Mu would be able to see right now.


    Lin Mu could feel his first Aperture filling up. The amount of Immortal Essence he had obtained in just these few minutes was more than all the low grade immortal essence crystals he had utilized.


    And this wasn''t even the end. Lin Mu reckoned. It might even reach the point where all the Immortal Essence crystals he had used so far wouldn''tpare to one or two Tri-essence Immortal pills.


    ''No wonder he said that I should be careful. A normal cultivator might have damaged their body with such arge concentration of immortal essence.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    He focused on channeling all the Immortal essence and continued to practice the Three Apertures Invoking Technique as well. His Aperture was also expanding at the same time, albeit the increase was minimal.


    It took Lin Mu half a day to fully absorb all the Immortal Essence from the Tri-essence Immortal Pill. This was quite a long time for him as he was usually very fast at absorbing energies, whether they be Qi or others.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and opened his eyes.


    ''The Aperture has expanded and the Immortal Essence within had risen by quite a bit as well¡­'' Lin Mu assessed his condition. "If all the Tri-essence Immortal Pill can provide me the same level of growth, I might fill up half of my first aperture in just six or seven more pills¡­" he estimated.


    This was a very fast umtion and showed just how potent these Tri-essence Immortal Pill were. This gave Lin Mu a few thoughts on how to proceed.


    ''I''ll finish up the first bottle and see how far I can get. Considering the time needed, Alchemist Ruoxian should also have more information about the situation.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He made a few notes in his mind, before taking out the pill bottle again.


    ~gulp~


    Lin Mu swallowed another Tri-essence Immortal Pill and repeated the entire process.


    The energy surge happened again, and his stomach was ready to intercept it. And once the initial energy surge was controlled, the steady absorption of immortal essence was started.


    Lin Mu channeled all of it into his first Aperture, letting it fill up and grow. Hour after hour passed like this, and the next day had already arrived.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath, finding the Aperture to have expanded by a couple of percent.


    "More." Lin Mu swallowed his third Tri-essence Immortal Pill.


    Bit by bit, his immortal essence stores kept on rising and his aperture expanding. Each pill took about half a day for him to fully absorb and assimte without taking any breaks in between.


    It was on the fifth day after receiving the Tri-essence Immortal Pills did Lin Mu finish an entire bottle of them.


    ~humm~


    At this point, his first Aperture had not only expanded by ten percent from its original size, it had also been filled by 50%!


    This amount wasn''t something Lin Mu could ''observe'' as there was nothing to observe inside here Aperture. It was something he could only feel.


    "One bottle¡­ Eight Tri-essence Immortal Pills to fill half of an Aperture¡­ I might be able to directlyplete it with another bottle¡­" Lin Mu felt ambitious.


    But a few secondster he shook his head.


    ''I still have other things to do before that.'' Lin Mu thought before standing up.

 Chapter 1483 Three Bigshots

    Lin Mu had given his word to Alchemist Ruoxian that he would be avable and didn''t want to get swept away while cultivating again.


    It actually made Lin Mu understand why several experts became secluded ascetics.


    ''Cultivation in solitude does feel appealing¡­ the gains from it are pleasant.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He even wondered if he should make an immortal abode and stay there for a few hundred years.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It was but a passing thought, and Lin Mu didn''t take it seriously for now. After all, he had quite a lot of things he''d need to do before that.


    "Come on Little Shrubby, we''re going out." Lin Mu called out while picking up the twins.


    Both of them were still in their dormant state, though their cultivation bases were steadily increasing. By now Lin Mu had understood that their capacity for Immortal Qi was massive, otherwise they could have easily triggered and Immortal Tribtion.


    ''I''ll need to ask Saintess if they are ready for it. It''ll be bad if they have it in the middle of a city, or if I''m in seclusion¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~Meow~


    And by the time Lin Mu, kept the twins in his robes, Little Shrubby was already waiting.


    "Where are we going?" He asked.


    "To the city, and perhaps somewhere else too¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby responded while jumping to Lin Mu''s shoulder.


    In the courtyard, Lin Mu looked for the Saintess but didn''t find her there again.


    "I''ll be leaving Saintess. I might head to the Deste Blood battlefield too." Lin Mu said, hoping that the Saintess would hear him.


    "Go¡­ I''ll be watching." A voice drifted into Lin Mu''s ears a few secondster.


    Lin Mu couldn''t tell where it hade from, but he was sure it was nowhere close. Which was true as the Saintess was currently thousands of kilometer above him.


    She sat on a tform of clouds that was attached to one of the many asteroids that littered the atmosphere of the Rust Sky world. Invisible traces of energy swirled around the Saintess while her palms were curled in front of her chest.


    Her postured didn''t move at all when she had replied to Lin Mu, as if she had directly transmitted her thoughts.


    "A Violet Mystic Life Tree has appeared¡­ The Transcendent immortals will not stay still, and the hidden experts wille out¡­" The Saintess muttered while her eyes opened.


    She gently looked down at the Rust Sky world and spoke, "I''ll see what talent lies within the disciple of the Void Weaver."


    After saying this, the Saintess controlled the asteroid and evolved it entirely in the clouds. A few minutester the clouds expanded and hundred of asteroids were hidden inside them. But after some more time, all the asteroids disappeared and so did the clouds, as if they had never existed there at all.


    ~SHUA~


    And as if on time, three people appeared where the asteroids had disappeared.


    One of them was the old man that the Saintess had scared away before.


    The second was a middle aged man that had a long scar on his face along with a missing ear.


    And the third was a man wearing yellow and green robes of an emperor.


    If a few knowledgeable people saw this trio, they would be absolutely stunned. For each of them were bigshots of the Rust Sky world.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    The man wearing the yellow and green robes was none other than Emperor Feng of Dao Wind Empire!


    The man with the scar and missing ear was the Emperor of the Huiqing Empire!


    "Uncle, there is nothing here." The Emperor of the Huiqing Empire spoke.


    "I swear there was a someone here before. I could sense it even from far away." The old man replied.


    Emperor Feng furrowed his brows before looking at the are deeply. He raised palm and pointed it at the area.


    ~SHUA~


    Wind Dao Traces directly poured out from his palm and filled the area. A few secondster it was as if a hurricane had arrived, as nothing could be seen other than a swirling storm.


    "Old Feng! At least tell us before you do that!" Emperor of The Huiqing Empire shouted.


    The old man was fine though and simply flew back a bit.


    "Did you find anything?" The old man asked seeing Emperor Feng''s actions.


    "Nothing."Emperor Feng replied.


    "Nothing?" Huiqing Emperor repeated in confusion. "Then why did you do that?" he asked feeing displeased.


    "Because there is nothing here, it just makes it more suspicious¡­" Emperor Feng replied.


    "How so?" Huiqing Emperor questioned.


    "It is too¡­ clean." Emperor Feng answered. "As if someone intentionally hid everything here."


    "You think so too?" the old man asked.


    "Yes, uncle." Emperor Feng replied. "For it to be hidden this well¡­ there aren''t many methods." He spoke.


    "What are you thinking? Dao of Illusions?" Huiqing emperor asked.


    "No¡­ As far as I know there is no transcendent immortal that is proficient in the Dao of Illusions in our world." Emperor Feng Shook his head.


    "Formations then? The same effect can be achieved. And both you and I aren''t skilled enough to detect transcendent formations." Huiqing Emperor guessed.


    "I doubt¡­" Emperor Feng said before looking at the old man. "Uncle, your tamed beast was scared away right?" he inquired.


    "Yes, Sha''er was terrified as if she had met her predator." The old man replied.


    "Hmm¡­ that can only mean a threat to its bloodline." Emperor Feng said before looking down in a particr area.


    The Huiqing Emperor noticed where Emperor Feng was looking and understood something.


    "You don''t think it could be the Holy Topaz Empire, do you?" Huiqing Emperor asked doubtfully.


    "If it is a bloodline that can threaten the Six Winged Bloom Tail crane then there aren''t many options. The Holy Topaz Empire has the oldest foundation and also specializes in body cultivation.


    It wouldn''t be unusual for someone with a strong beast bloodline to appear there. After all, that and body cultivation go hand in hand." Emperor Feng said as a few thoughts went through his mind.

 Chapter 1484 Suspicion Of The Two Emperors And Their Uncle Master

    The discussion of the three great experts was something that could shake the entire Rust Sky world, as its contents could be considered highly sensitive.


    "If it''s the Holy Topaz Empire, who is the likely culprit?" The Huiqing Emperor wondered.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    "From what Sha''er and I felt, they are certainly a Transcendent Immortal." The old man replied.


    "That much is given. And since they were able to scare the beast with just their bloodline, they must also have a strong bloodline." Emperor Feng spoke.


    "That does reduce the candidates greatly¡­" the Huiqing Emperor muttered. "If its Transcendent Experts the Holy Topaz Empire only has two: The former emperor and the old ancestor." He stated.


    "The former emperor does not have a beast bloodline." The old man spoke. "This is already an established fact as he is the emperor, he can only have the royal bloodline."


    "That''s correct." Emperor Feng nodded his head. "But what of the Old Ancestor?" he asked.


    "Wouldn''t be be the same if he is the Ancestor of the Holy Topaz Empire?" Huiqing Emperor asked.


    "Not really¡­" The old man shook his head. "The Old Ancestor is an expert of a time before us. He isn''t called the Old Ancestor for no reason."


    "What do you mean?" The Huiqing Emperor asked. "Isn''t he just one of the ancestors? All of our ns have them."


    "No¡­ it''s different I then case of the Huiqing Empire. The old ancestor isn''t just any ancestor, he is the ancestor who has survived even after several ancestors of younger generations of the Holy Topaz Empire has passed way." The old man spoke. "You can even say that the previous ancestors of the Holy Topaz Empire would have to call him an ancestor."


    "This¡­ how is it that we didn''t know?" The Huiqing Emperor asked.


    Since he was an emperor, there shouldn''t be any information that was kept secret from him. And from looking at Emperor Feng, he could tell that the man was also in the dark about it.


    "It isn''t unusual." The old man replied. "The old ancestor of the Holy Topaz Empire has already withdrawn from the matters of his empire and this world. Not to mention, is longevity has already reached the edge."


    "Wait! If he''s a transcendent immortal too, shouldn''t a transcendent tribtione for him?" The Huiqing Emperor asked.


    "No¡­ He has frozen his longevity to survive." The old man said in a disappointed tone. "But at the same time it means that he is the same as a statue."


    "What kind of technique is that?" The Huiqing Emperor was stunned.


    He knew the value of a technique. After all, even if it left one as a statue, it would still be invaluable to keep one suspended for the future. Once that was done, one''s descendants could look for opportunities to reinvigorate their ancestor.


    "I don''t know. It is something that we''ll never find out. It could be from an n number of things. The old ancestor has explored other worlds and even gone to the Immortal court several times.


    There are several avenues from where he could have obtained such a technique." The old man answered.


    This information gave the two emperors quite a lot to think about.


    "Hmmm¡­ if its like this, then doesn''t it mean that there is no such person in our world?" The Huiqing Emperor spoke.


    "Indeed. And that only leaves on option¡­" Emperor Feng said as he looked up at the stars above him. "They havee from another world."


    "An unauthorized entry? The Immortal Court will not allow for something like that to happen though." Huiqing Emperor said in doubt.


    "There are many ways for one to ovee that, little nephew." The old man spoke. "You two chose to became the emperors of yournd and thus restricted yourself to the limits of this world.


    There are many experts that chose to wander the myriad of worlds for fortune and providence. It isn''t unlikely for them to find an alternative method to enter our world." He exined.


    After hearing this, the Huiqing Emperor couldn''t help but grow silent.


    "Will you assist us in this uncle?" Emperor Feng asked after a few minutes of silence.


    "You two both know I am a neutral party here. I chose to break away from the matters of the Rust Sky world a long time ago. The only reason I informed you two of the transcendent expert was out of concern and my promise to your masters." The old man replied.


    "Not to mention, you two are already stronger than me. I''m still stuck at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and do not dare to ovee the Transcendent Tribtion.


    Do you really think I''ll be able to do anything if an expert as strong as you acts against me?" the old man stated.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "Uncle Lao, you needn''t fight with us." Emperor Feng shook his head. "What we need is your experience and knowledge." He added.


    "Old Feng is right. Like you said, we two are have limited ourselves to the Rust Sky world and thus don''t know as much as you, who has roamed many." Huiqing Emperor finally spoke. "If there is anyone that can figure out anything, it''ll be you." He added.


    Both the Emperors looked at their uncle master, making the old man sigh.


    "Guess I''ll only have myself to me. I shouldn''t have promised your masters." Old Man Lao shook his head. "Fine! I''ll do it." He answered.


    "Great!" The Huiqing Emperor eximed. "Where do we start, though?"


    "The Holy Topaz Empire seems like a possible option. As for our own empires, that won''t be an issue at all." Emperor Feng stated.


    "Mmm, that won''t be too hard, either. I already have someone in the Holy Topaz Empire as of now." Huiqing Emperor replied.


    "Huh? Who''d you send there?" Old Man Lao asked. "And the Empire allowed you too?" he said in surprise.


    "Of course, they wouldn''t allow anyone if ''I'' sent them. The one person who''s there has gone of his own volition." The Huiqing Emperor replied. "It''s one of my generals, Niu Juo." He revealed.


    "Niu Juo¡­ That half Orc giant?" The old man recalled something.


    "Yes, him." The Huiqing Emperor nodded his head. "He''s gone there to find a method of breaking through. Said he''s reached a bottleneck in his body cultivation." He revealed.


    Emperor Feng furrowed his brows and thought of something. "When did he go?"


    "It''s been a few months already." Huiqing Emperor replied. "Why?"


    "It''s just that, there were a few reports about the Holy Topaz Empire a couple of days ago." Emperor Feng replied.


    "What kind of reports?" The Huiqing Emperor asked, finding it strange.


    After all, if it was enough to reach the ears of an emperor, it must have been of some concern. Which also meant that he himself should have received a simr report.


    ''But there were no such reports¡­ Niu Juo should have informed me too if there was something happening.'' The Huiqing Emperor had a bad premonition.


    "The report was mostly about rumors. There have been strange movements in the Middle Fort city. The information was mostly suppressed, but there is a great chance something has happened in the Deste Blood battlefield." Emperor Feng answered.


    "If they reached you, they aren''t mere rumors, are they?" The Huiqing Emperor said, raising a brow.


    "That would be the case normally. But this information wasn''t brought to me by my usual informants." Emperor Feng replied.


    "Then who told you this?" the Huiqing Emperor asked while Old Man Lao looked on in curiosity.


    "My son did. He''s been interested in the heirs of the Holy Topaz Empire for some reason and has been keeping tabs on them." Emperor Feng replied. "It just so happened that he spoke about this during our dinner a few days ago."


    "You son¡­ do you mean the crown prince?" Old man Lao asked.


    "Yes." Emperor Feng nodded his head.


    "Of course. He''s the only one you would be willing to have dinner with. The others are not as aplished." The Huiqing Emperor replied, a hint of desire in his voice. "I wish I had good heirs like that. Mine are just wastrels!" heined.


    "Isn''t your crown prince already at the Fifth Tribtion stage of the immortal realm? And your crown princess at the fourth tribtion stage?" Old Man Lao said in confusion.


    "Yeah! But they only do so by leeching of my resources and can''t even do it quick enough. Can you believe they''re four thousand years old and only at that level?" The Huiqing Emperor seemed to be quite disappointed with his children.


    Though if other experts were to hear their conversations, they probably would have wanted to bury themselves in a hole. After all, a Four thousand year False Immortal was already a good achievement, not to mention someone that had reached Fourth of Fifth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm!


    It was evident that the standards of the emperors were far higher than the average expert.

 Chapter 1485 Replenishing Materials

    While the three bigshots were talking in the skies above, Lin Mu was busy with somest minute shopping.


    "I''d like two hundred mid grade Essence crystals as well as two thousand low grade essence crystals." Lin Mu spoke to the clerk.


    "Of course sir!" The clerk was a new one that Lin Mu hadn''t seen before, but the man was certainly excited after seeing a big spender.


    He hurriedly brought the crystals that Lin Mu had requested and took the payment. It was certainly a big enough amount and themission from it would be equal to several months of his ie already.


    After buying that, Lin Mu left the Vitality hall and went to the formation hall. They sold materials needed for formations as well as formations themselves. Upon reaching there, Lin Mu quicks went to one of the empty counters and called for the clerk.


    "Wee sir, what would you like to buy?" The clerk asked.


    "I want to sell some talismans, as well as buy some materials." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh talismans?" The clerk was intrigued. "Can I take a look?"


    It wasn''t unusual for people to sell talismans here, but they needed to be of a certain standard to be bought. After all, the Grand Sky Pavilion didn''t need to buy talismans of low quality which could be made by any cultivator.


    Why would the Grand Sky Pavilion spend extra in buying from other cultivators when they had several more that made these for themselves?


    Thus the clerk couldn''t help but want to verify it first.


    "Sure," Lin Mu nodded his head and took out all the Diamond Mountain Talisman that he had made.


    The clerk instantly recognized the talisman upon seeing them.


    "Diamond mountain talismans? Minor to great grade?" the man quickly took a look through all the talismans.


    It was a rtively easy task to verify the Diamond Mountain talisman and their authenticity since they wereplex to make in the first ce. If a Diamond Mountain talisman wasn''t stable, it wouldn''t bepleted in the first ce.


    Thus the clerk only needed to observe a few runes and confirm that they truly were Diamond Mountain Talismans.


    "Alright, I''ve confirmed it." The clerk replied. "Would you like to sell them as it is to us or do you wish to auction them?" the man asked.


    "Just selling them directly is fine." Lin Mu replied.


    He didn''t really care to get much value for the talismans right now, after all. While he could get a higher value in the auction, he would still need to wait. Rather than that, he may as well get them exchanged for things he needed right now.


    "Alright, what would you like the payment in? Your crystal card or immortal stones?" The clerk asked next.


    "Actually, I would like the value of the talismans to be given in materials instead." Lin Mu answered.


    "That is fine too." The clerk nodded. "what would you like exchange?" he inquired.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "Talisman paper." Lin Mu answered.


    "Talisman paper? Just that?" The clerk appeared a bit confused.


    "Yes, just that." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "Alright, sir." The clerk epted, even if he found it strange. ''With the number of Diamond Mountain Talismans he''s sold, the talisman papers will be too many¡­ what''s he even doing with so many?'' he wondered.


    Talisman paper was a cheap andmon material used in making Talismans. And while there were many versions of them, the one that Lin Mu was getting was the basic one. Even in the Xiaofan world, these would be rtively cheap, not to mention here.


    The clerk first sent a message to the other workers to arrange the talisman papers and asked for Lin Mu to wait for a bit. About five minutester, a worker brought a storage pouch over.


    "Do you have a spatial storage tool for the Talisman papers, sir? Or would you like us to provide one?" The clerk asked. "They are quite a lot, after all."


    "It''s fine. I have one of my own." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well." The clerk nodded and handed the storage pouch to Lin Mu, who simply inverted it and stored all the contents into the ring.


    Lin Mu then nced at the talisman papers, estimating the number that he had gotten. The talisman papers were neatly packed into blocks of one thousand sheets, which were then stacked together.


    Inside the ring, several hills of such stacked talisman papers could be seen. It was hard to estimate how many of them were there, but it was enough that Lin Mu wouldn''t have to worry about them for a long time.


    Feeling satisfied with this, Lin Mu spoke, "everything seems to be in order."


    "Would you like anything else, sir? We have other materials too, if you would like to take a look." The clerk asked before showing Lin Mu a catalog that appeared in the form of a formation screen.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    Lin Mu decided to take a look just in case and quickly went through it. There were easily over a million materials on sale and if it weren''t for Lin Mu having Immortal sense, it might have taken quite a long time to read it all.


    ''There are some new things I should get and some that I''m running out of.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "I''ll take a few things then." Lin Mu listed out what he needed.


    "I''ll bring them right away." The clerk went to get the materials himself this time.


    After all, previously the amount of Talisman papers that Lin Mu had asked for was simply massive. So much so that it wasn''t even kept in the nearby storage. This was why the clerk had to ask another worker to get it from the bulk storage.


    But for normal materials, there was no such need. The Clerk simply walked through the door on the back and returned after two minutes.


    "Here you go, sir." The clerk handed another storage pouch that Lin Mu emptied into his ring.


    He then made the payment and went to the Alchemy hall.

 Chapter 1486 Information Leak

    ''I''ll be able to practice more with Senior Xukong now.'' Lin Mu thought after getting the materials.


    The reason why he was even consuming formation materials was because Xukong was teaching him. Lin Mu got to learn a variety of formations, which needed different materials that ranged from beast blood, nt sap, extracts of herbs and a lot more.


    These were all consumable and needed to be replenished from time to time.


    And since Lin Mu was close to running out, he had reduced the lessons that he was getting from Xukong, focusing on the Diamond Mountain Talismans from there on. But now he could resume the lessons again.


    "I guess that''ll be a thing forter though. For now, I need to get to Alchemist Ruoxian." Lin Mu said as he looked at the Alchemy Hall in front.


    He walked up to a clerk and requested to meet Alchemist Ruoxian.


    "Oh wait, are you Daoist Mu Lin?" The clerk recalled something.


    "Yes, I am." Lin Mu replied.


    "Ah! Alchemist Ruoxian informed us that you might being." The clerk replied. "Pleasee with me, I''ll take you to the meeting room." He asked.


    "Sure." Lin Mu was quickly brought to the same meeting room as before.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    He merely had to wait a couple of minutes before Alchemist Ruoxian had appeared.


    ''Oh? He doesn''t look too good.'' Lin Mu found the man''s appearance to be a bit pale.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, you came at the right time. I was actually gonna call for you." The man replied.


    "What happened? Are you okay?" Lin Mu wondered if it had something to do with the situation in the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    ~Sigh~


    But hearing Lin Mu''s words, the alchemist sighed.


    "I''d be lying if I said things are okay." Alchemist Ruoxian said in a tired voice. "The situation in the Deste Blood Battlefield has gotten a lot worse than we expected. It looks like I wasn''t the only one with a map to the cache." He revealed.


    "What?" Lin Mu said in surprise. "You mean to say someone else got there before us?" he was a bit worried.


    "No¡­ but I don''t know if I should be thankful about it or not." Alchemist Ruoxian replied, making Lin Mu confused.


    "How so? Tell me the whole story." Lin Mu requested.


    "So one of the other powers of the Holy Topaz Continent, the Blue Mountain Pce somehow found information in a document about an old set of ruins. At first I didn''t really care much, since there were far too many ruins in the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    But it didn''t take long for the information from the Blue Mountain Pce spread among others. The Grand Sky Pavilion got alerted too and looked into it themselves, verifying that it really was true.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    It was at this point that I also came to know about the details. I checked the location of the said ruins and confirmed that it is the same ce as the cache." Alchemist Ruoxian exined in detail.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu furrowed his brows. He could already guess a lot of things from this and how troublesome it was going to get.


    "Was the document that the Blue Mountain Pce got the same map as yours?" Lin Mu asked first.


    "No. But they do seem to be of the same source." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "Which means that the information I had was limited. There wasn''t just a cache of Immortal Essence stones there, but also a ruin which might have been a base of the extinct power." He added.


    "So they don''t know about the existence of the cache?" Lin Mu said, feeling a bit better.


    "Yes! That''s the saving grace we have. As long as they haven''t reached and explored it, they wouldn''t be able to find out about the cache." Alchemist Ruoxian said with slight relief. "But there are bigger issues at hand." He said before taking a breath.


    "Since the information from the Blue Mountain Pce was leaked, we will have a lot morepetitors now. All of them will vie for the same thing." Alchemist Ruoxian stated.


    "And what about the Violet Mystic Life Tree?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "That''s another thing of concern. Since the Violet Mystic Life Tree has appeared in the location of ruins, many are linking them. Several experts have the option that the tree originated from the ruins and that many more treasure are hidden there." Ruoxian replied.


    ~Sigh~


    "And it gets worse¡­" Lin Mu let out a long sigh. ''Seems like it is time for the luck to turn on the other side now¡­ I''ve enjoyed it''s good side for some time, but guess its ending now¡­'' he reckoned.


    Though Lin Mu quickly shook that thought out of his mind. He had gotten out of a lot worse, and little conflict wasn''t going to stop him from getting what he desired. In fact, it only ignited hispetitive drive, and he secretly looked forward to what he''ll get to see.


    "I was in the same condition. But it only became worse for me." Alchemist Ruoxian said after seeing Lin Mu''s reaction.


    "What happened?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Since the information from the Blue mountain Pce was confirmed by the Grand Sky Pavilion and the Violet Mystic Life Tree''s location is also there, they have decided to execute arge scale mission.


    This mission will be an expedition to the said ruins as well as the Violet Mystic Life Tree and will involve a multitude of experts." Alchemist Ruoxian stated.


    Upon hearing this, Lin Mu could understand what was happening. "And in those multitudes of experts, there is also alchemists¡­ with you included?" he guessed.


    "Exactly." Alchemist Ruoxian nodded weakly. "I''ve been preparing in a hurry for that in the past few days. There are a lot of alchemical pills that will be needed, not just by the Grand Sky Pavilion but also me."


    "And when does this mission start?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Tomorrow." Alchemist Ruoxian said with a wry smile.


    "Looks like I picked the right time toe here, then." Lin Mu chuckled.

 Chapter 1487 The Powers Involved

    Having learned of the situation from Alchemist Ruoxian, Lin Mu now had a rough idea of what he needed to do.


    "Since the Grand Sky Pavilion is also heading to the Deste Blood Battlefield, will this interfere in us obtaining the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. If the Grand Sky Pavilion discovers it, we can forget about ever getting it. They will seize everything and the only way to obtain it would be to buy it in auction for a very high price." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "And I don''t think we want that at all."


    Lin Mu thought over it and nodded his head.


    "I think I''ll have to head out right away. That''ll give us some advantage at the very least." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That''ll be close to impossible." Alchemist Ruoxian shook his head in disappointment.


    "Why so?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Even if you set out right now, you won''t be able to reach the ruins or the cache in time." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "The Grand Sky Pavilion has flying immortal vehicles that can transport multiple people at once at a high speed. They''ll cover the distance in a significantly shorter time than you." He exined.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes upon hearing this, but didn''t lose hope.


    "How much time does it take to reach the location of the ruins?" Lin Mu questioned first.


    "For a first tribtion stage immortal cultivator, if they flew nonstop, it would roughly take them forty to fifty days to reach it. And this is if they don''t encounter any trouble along the way, which they are bound to considering the current situation." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.


    "And how fast is the flying immortal vehicles of the Grand Sky Pavilion?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    "They should be able to cover the same distance in less than thirty days, with their speed beingparable to a fourth tribtion stage immortal realm cultivator." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.


    Hearing this, a smile appeared on Lin Mu''s face.


    "Looks like we still have a chance then." Lin Mu spoke with a grin. "I can surely get there before that." He stated.


    "Are you sure?" Alchemist Ruoxian asked in doubt.


    "I can yes. If its just the speed of the Fourth Tribtion Realm immortal, I should be able to exceed that." Lin Mu replied.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "How?" Alchemist Ruoxian was stunned.


    "I have my means." Lin Mu didn''t reveal Little Shrubby''s speed.


    In fact, most wouldn''t even be able to guess that the small kitten on his shoulders that seemed to only have Qi refining realm cultivation base could actually exceed the speed of a Fourth Tribtion Realm immortal.


    Alchemist Ruoxian didn''t have such thoughts either, guessing that either Lin Mu had an immortal tool that could boost his speed, or was also an immortal vehicle. He didn''t question him either, knowing that everyone had their own trump cards.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    ''As long as he can get there in time, that''s all that I need.'' Alchemist Ruoxian thought to himself.


    "If you have confidence, then I''ll believe in you, Daoist Mu Lin." Alchemist Ruoxian cupped his hands.


    The two of them talked about a few more details as Alchemist Ruoxian updated Lin Mu about the powers that will be involved in this.


    While right now the ones involved were mostly the powers from and around Middle fort city, Alchemist Ruoxian told Lin Mu that others were already on their way to the city.


    The biggest powers though, were the people from the Royal family, the Grand Sky Pavilion, The Blue Mountain Pce and the Blood Hook Company. Along with these, there were many smaller powers that weren''t enough to mention, as well as itinerant cultivators involved.


    Of these four big powers, Lin Mu knew about the Royal family, which was the ruler of the Holy Topaz Empire and the Grand Sky Pavilion. But he still didn''t know the other two.


    "I know the Blue Mountain Pce is the one that leaked the information, but what exactly are they and the Blood Hook Company?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Blue Mountain Pce is actually the personal organization of one of the top nobles of the Dynasty. It is run by the Blue Mountain Duke and is said to be an organization that specializes in Interworld trade for the most part.


    Though they are also known to sell information and have ties with other such organization like the ck Candle Pavilion." Alchemist Ruoxian said, and took a pause.


    "As for the Blood Hook Company¡­ they are a mercenarypany on the surface, but in reality, they are just a group of assassins." Alchemist Ruoxian revealed.


    "Oh? Assassins?" Lin Mu wasn''t unfamiliar with such organizations, but was a bit surprised that they were allowed to exist openly.


    "Yes. They have been in existence for a long time and have spread their roots deep in the continent. Though little is known about who leads them or how it came into being." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "They are also the power that you need to be the most careful about." He emphasized.


    "Let me guess, they don''t fight ''fair''." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That would be an understatement." Alchemist Ruoxian shook his head. "Their motto is to kill first, ask questionster. So forget about fair fights. They''ll probably try to eliminate you though indirect means, whether it be poison, idents or more." He revealed.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu was thankful for such information. ''At least I know not to give them any leeway.'' He decided to use all his power if he encountered any person from the Blood Hook Company.


    "Another thing, themunication jade slips might not work normally in the Deste Blood Battlefield. It is normal to encounter interference, so be careful about how you intend to use them." Ruoxian reminded.


    "I know that." Lin Mu had already heard about it before.


    "Also¡­ we don''t know when the other empires will get involved. If they do, I''m afraid the best option will be to run away." Alchemist Ruoxian suggested.


    "We''ll see if that timees¡­"

 Chapter 1488 Entering The Desolate Blood Battlefield

    Lin Mu and Alchemist Ruoxian soon finished talking and the two said their goodbyes.


    They knew there was little time on their side, and to keep their advantage, they needed to rush. Lin Mu directly left the Grand Sky Pavilion and rushed to the southern exit of the Middle Fort City.


    It was afternoon right now, and ording to Alchemist Ruoxian''s words, the Grand Sky Pavilion will be leaving on their mission tomorrow.


    ''I roughly have a twelve to fifteen hours of headstart.'' Lin Mu estimated that Little Shrubby should be able to build quite a distance till then.


    Upon leaving the middle fort city, Lin Mu directly flew up and rushed to the location of the Deste Blood battlefield. It was located six hundred kilomters distance from the city and it took Lin Mu three hours to reach while flying.


    He didn''t travel on Little Shrubby either, as he didn''t want to reveal him this early. There were several people traveling to the same location and thus it would be noticed very easily. He also needed to ensure that the people at the entrance wouldn''t know about Little Shrubby''s true form, either.


    After all, the information about each person entering the Deste Blood Battlefield would be recorded. The less they knew about Lin Mu and Little Shrubby, the better this chances of catching them off guard.


    And since Lin Mu was about topete against the home powers of the Holy Topaz Empire including its royal family, he knew the odds could be changed very quickly. Every little advantage was important and could determine the result of his mission.


    "So this is the Broken Sword Ridge¡­" Lin Mu gazed at what looked like a copsed mountain.


    One could also saw that the earth itself had been overturned and risen up like this. Looking at it from the sky, Lin Mu could roughly see the shape of a broken sword.


    ''If I recall correctly, this ce got its name after a great expert used his skill in an attempt to destroy the entrance to the Deste Blood Battlefield.'' Lin Mu had read about this in the documents earlier.


    Though while the expert had tried that, he had evidently failed as the gate to the Deste Blood Battlefield still existed.


    "There''s quite a lot of people here for sure." Lin Mu spotted over a hundred experts waiting to enter the Deste Blood battlefield, while several more were walking around the small buildings that were constructed near it.


    It was almost like a vige had formed due to the regr influx of the cultivators.


    Lin Mu casually scanned the vige, finding the people there to be rtively normal. Though he could also spot several of the dynasty''s people in it.


    ''Seems like they are waiting for the others to arrive.'' Lin Mu guessed before making his way to the entrance.


    He didn''t wish to tarry any longer and wanted to enter as soon as possible. But as much as he desired that, Lin Mu still had to wait in the line.


    There were a few administrative people that were recording the information about everyone that entered the Deste Blood Battlefield. They would ask several questions before checking their identification tokens as well.


    An hour passed before Lin Mu finally got his turn.


    "Name and identification!" The guard asked sternly. "Of you and the beast." He added.


    "Mu Lin," Lin Mu said before handing the identification token, which was just the crystal card. "The beast is just my pet."


    The guard looked at Little Shrubby, who was seemingly asleep. His immortal sense checked the beast and found it to be merely at the Qi refining realm. As soon as he learned this, he lost all interest.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    He then scanned the crystal card using an immortal tool and handed it back to Lin Mu.


    "What are you going in for?" The guard asked.


    "I have amission to gather materials." Lin Mu gave the excuse that had been prepared by Alchemist Ruoxian.


    "Do you have a proof ofmission?" the guard asked.


    "Of course." Lin Mu handed the man a document that was written by Alchemist Ruoxian.


    "The Grand Sky Pavilion?" The guard quickly noticed the seal on the letter and handed it to the administrative official.


    "It''s authentic. This is an official mission from a member of the Grand Sky Pavilion." The official confirmed.


    "Can I go in then?" Lin Mu urged.


    "Yes." The guard nodded while handing back the letter. "Just take this path and you''ll reach the Deste Blood Battlefield." He exined.


    Lin Mu responded with a simple nod and walked in.


    The dirt path was about three hundred meters long and ended in a cave that was located at the base of the ridge. Lin Mu scanned the cave with his immortal sense finding it to be normal on the outside, but he sensed faint spatial fluctuationsing from deep inside.


    "Looks like the ne is anchored here." Lin Mu reckoned.


    He entered the cave and didn''t find anything peculiar inside. Though he did sense that the spatial fluctuations were getting stronger the further in he went.


    ~SHUA~


    Then at a certain point, Lin Mu felt like the spatial fabric itself had changed.


    "This¡­ I''ve changed locations." Lin Mu could sense the difference despite being in a cave.


    It wasn''t just the spatial fluctuations either, as there was now a difference in theposition of the very air itself. The concentration of immortal Qi and spirit Qi changed, while a strange new energy was added to the mix.


    ''The exit shouldn''t be far¡­'' Lin Mu continued onward and soon saw the bright spot in the distance.


    This spot expanded upon getting closer and was revealed to be the mouth of a crater!Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    Lin Mu flew up from the crater andid his eyes upon the blood red expanse. There was red everywhere, with the rocks, boulders, hills, mountains and the very soil being blood red in color.


    "So this is the Deste Blood battlefield¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he sensed the bloody aura that was spread everywhere.

 Chapter 1489 Aura Of The Desolate Blood Battlefield

    The area was unlike anything that Lin Mu had seen so far. He spread his Immortal sense and probed the surroundings. Even Little Shrubby was a bit unnerved by the aura and took a bit to get used to it.


    Lin Mu was highly interested as to how the area had transformed. And when his spirit sense touched the soil, he felt the bloody aura within it. It had permeated it to the point where its very essence had transformed.


    ''It''s not just that¡­ it has reached the level where it can actually propagate the bloody aura.'' Lin Mu grasped.


    But it also made him wonder about a lot more.


    "For it to be able to propagate the bloody aura¡­ doesn''t it need to be on the level of Dao?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He had learned enough to know that permanent transformation of this level were not achieved easily. The area would have to be constantly infused with a particr type of Dao for it to work. This could be in the form of a Dao Trace or even a Dao Insight.


    Which was exactly why Lin Mu was confused since the Deste Blood Battlefield was said to have been transformed due to many battles.


    ''What kind of Dao would have to be it to cause a change? And how would it rise from battles?'' Lin Mu thought about it.


    "Hmm¡­ I sense a mix of several Dao Traces here." Xukong''s voice was filled with intrigue.


    "Senior?" Lin Mu responded. "You can tell them apart?" he asked.


    "Yes¡­ Though I didn''t expect the ce to be of this level." Xukong replied. "This ce could have be a base for several unorthodox sects easily." He added.


    "Unorthodox sects¡­ you mean the Dao Traces here aren''t exactly¡­" Lin Mu said, guessing a few things.


    "Yes. There are the Dao Traces of Blood, Dao Traces of Despair, Dao Traces of Massacre, Dao Traces of ughter and Dao Traces of War here." Xukong answered. "Perhaps if this ce was ''nurtured'' a bit more, it would have directly transformed into Holy Land for cultivators of those Daos." He added.


    Lin Mu hadn''t been able to sense those Dao Traces but hearing about them certainly made him a bit unnerved. Dao Traces themselves were something that were rare and for ones that were from Derivative Dao''s it was even rarer.


    These weren''t like the Elemental Dao Traces which were ever present, nor like the Weapon Dao traces that could be formed from using said weapons. For example, the Dao traces of Despair would only appear when a colossal amount of despair was felt in a ce by millions of beings over years.


    The same could be said for the Dao Trace of massacre, Dao Trace of ughter as well as Dao Traces of War.


    ''Just what kind of a bloody history does the Rust Sky world really have?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but think that what he had heard so far might have been an understatement.


    "Though this is certainly a ce of opportunity. You will have a chance to learn quite a lot and possibly obtain some treasures." Xukong reminded.


    "Yes¡­ that is what I am here for anyway." Lin Mu replied.


    Having ovee his initial surprise, Lin Mu got used to the area and its bloody aura. He flew up and tried to get a sense of direction.


    "Let''s see¡­ ording to the information that Alchemist Ruoxian gave, I need to find a hill carved with sword marks¡­" Lin Mu muttered.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    The said hill was apparently a relic of the past battles and was now used as a marker to determine directions. Since the Deste Blood Battlefield was an independent ne, there wasn''t exactly a ''north''.


    The cardinal directions couldn''t be determined normally, thus the directions had to be decided on thendmarks that dotted it.


    "I can do it." Little Shrubby spoke up.


    "Ah yes! It''ll be faster if you do it." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Yup!" Little Shrubby jumped off Lin Mu''s shoulder and quickly started to grow.


    ~THUD~


    By the time hended on the ground, Little Shrubby was already at his maximum size.


    "I guess we get to test out the new Harness too." Lin Mu said before taking out the said item.


    He had bought this during one of his tours in the city and didn''t have the chance to use it till now. Thankfully, it wasn''t that hard for him to get the harness as the Rust Sky World had plenty of cultivators that keptrge beast mounts.


    The only issue was the fact that Little Shrubby''s belt couldn''t be improved right away. So Lin Mu simply tied the belt around Little Shrubby''s right foreleg. His neck was too big for the belt to fit now and only his legs could amodate it.


    He could have also gotten Little Shrubby a new belt, but the beast liked his old one. Plus, it was also something that Jing Luo had refined and had emotional value to it. He didn''t want to discard it just like that.


    With the little set up done, Lin Mu climbed into Little Shrubby''s back and strapped in.


    "Let''s go!" Lin Mu spoke.


    ~ROAR!~


    Little Shrubby let out a roar for the first time in a long time, making him feel excited. His Roar echoed across the Deste Blood Battlefield, sparking fear and surprise in the hearts of those who heard it.


    Though they simply attributed it to one of the many denizens of the Deste Blood Battlefield and decided to avoid the vicinity of where it hade from.


    Little Shrubby started to sprint and soon turned into a red blur, with Lin Mu not even visible on his back. The size difference between the two was great, and it was easy to mesh into Little Shrubby''s long fur.


    ''Let''s do a quick circle around and see if we can spot the hill.'' Lin Mu spoke to Little Shrubby through their link.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby ran straight before turning to the left.

 Chapter 1490 Sword Marks And A Message

    Little Shrubby''s figure had almost melded with thend of the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    Thend was red and so was Little Shrubby, making it hard to differentiate the two at the speed he was traveling. If one looked at it from a distance, they might even think that they had a mistake and rub their eyes.


    Even blinking might make them miss the speeding figure of Little Shrubby.


    "There it is!" just after five minutes, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby discovered the firstndmark.


    It was a hill that was just a hundred meters tall surrounded by tens of simr hills. The only difference was that this was the only hill that had sword marks on it. They were remnants of the past and now served a new purpose.


    "These marks though¡­ they weren''t made mistakenly." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    Having developed Sword Intent, Lin Mu could tell this instinctively.


    If they were simply made while attacking someone, the marks wouldn''t be exactly as how they were. Lin Mu was sure they were made here not for attacking someone, but for some kind of a message.


    "Take us close, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke, wanting to check it properly.


    ~SHUA~


    In just a single leap, they were now at the hill.


    Lin Mu flew up and got close to the sword marks. There were several sword marks on the hill, with some intersecting and some independent. Their sizes varied too, some being as long as ten meters while a couple being only an inch long.


    The small ones might be missed by the one observing, if they didn''t have a good perception. After all, they could very well pass off as natural marks developed due to weathering of the hill due to the natural elements.


    After counting them all, Lin Mu found that there were fifty six sword marks. But he wasn''t satisfied by just that.


    "What''s the reason behind these?" Lin Mu ced his hand on them.


    ~HUMM~


    And as soon as he did, he sensed his own Sword Intent stir. It seemingly resonated with the Sword Marks and caused the very air to shake.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu could feel an illusion forming in front of him.


    The illusion was of a swordsman who seemed to be greatly injured. One of his arms was missing and blood covered his entire body. An expression of absolute fury and hate was on his face while he swung his sword with the remaining hand.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    In less than two seconds, he had swing the sword fifty six times, carving the marks in the hill.


    At the same time, his lips moved as a few words were spoken.


    The illusion disappeared after that but the memory was still fresh in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "The Curse of Destion is our penance¡­" Lin Mu muttered the words that the swordsman had spoken.


    They certainly had a dark intonation, especially with the illusion that Lin Mu had seen. He stayed still for about a minute before snapping out of that state.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "For a memory like that to stay intact in the sword intent¡­ just how strong was the swordsman?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He could vividly feel the emotions that the swordsman expressed when carving the sword marks. All of them were willfully sealed within the sword intent, as a message to all those that would chance upon them.


    "Looks like that was a master swordsman. Someone fully focused on the Sword Dao for his memory to still be intact." Xukong said after watching it all.


    "Mmhmm," Lin Mu nodded his head. "Still, the sword intent has faded away over the years. This should have been an open warning to everyone earlier." He added.


    "Indeed. It should have alerted one just by looking at it, but now it has fallen to the point where it could only be triggered by your own sword intent." Xukong agreed. "Most cultivators might not even sense the peculiarities of the sword marks."


    "Shouldn''t someone have studied these, considering how long it has been and the fact that this is now used as andmark?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "They might have, but perhaps its importance is not as big to them." Xukong replied. "After all, if there is no use for this information, why would anyone think much about it? Its function as andmark might be better in the current case." He added.


    "Hopefully that is true¡­" Lin Mu still wondered about the words of the swordsman.


    It gave him a bad feeling about the battlefield and only made him more wary.


    "Do we know where to go now?" Little Shrubby asked, seeing that Lin Mu was still standing.


    "Yes¡­" Lin Mupared the directions on the map and pointed it to Little Shrubby.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A few secondster, they were already a blur and on their way to the next location.


    Along the way, Lin Mu''s immortal sense was fully extended, observing everything that was in its path. He didn''t want to get ambushed or encounter and ident after all. Though that was unlikely to happen with Little Shrubby''s speed and reaction time.


    This also allowed Lin Mu to observe the various kinds of creatures that inhabited this ce.


    Most of these were small critters that were below the Immortal realm. But all of them were seemingly affected by the aura of this ce and were quite ferocious. If not for that fact that Little Shrubby was too fast, they might have been chasing after them too.


    Lin Mu found various creatures like scorpions, worms, beetles, and many more that were transformed by the bloody aura of the Battlefield.


    ''These might have been normal beasts at one point but now have morphed entirely into a new species¡­'' Lin Mu guessed.


    ~GIGIGIGIGI~Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    And while they were running, they heard a strange cry. Lin Mu and Little Shrubby both sensed something and prepared for conflict.


    "Dodge!" Lin Mu''s immortal sense picked up an iing attack.


    ~CRASH~


    Merely a few momentster, the spot that they should have been in was struck with a mingrge boulder.

 Chapter 1491 A Strange Creature And Using Blood Vein Tracker

    The attack that hade towards Lin Mu and Little Shrubby was unexpected due to the fact that there weren''t many things that could keep up with Little Shrubby.


    This made Lin Mu think that whatever that attacked them might not be relying on speed but something else to do so.


    "It''s there!" Lin Mu spotted the culprit with his immortal sense.


    It was a strange being that had no body. It was only a head that had arms and legs attached to it. Its mouth was located in the center and there was just onerge eye above it.


    But that wasn''t all, as mes seem to be spurting from the cracks in its head that was a mix of flesh and stone. It was five meters tall and was actually smaller than Little Shrubby in size.


    "What the hell is that?" Lin Mu couldn''t recognize the creature.


    ~GIGIGIGIGI~


    The strange creature let out a cry before mming its feet on the ground. This sent a trail of fire into the ground, and a pressure developed in it. Then a secondter, the ground bulged out some distance from it before another boulder wasunched from it.


    "Hang on¡­" But this time, Lin Mu realized something more.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby moved and dodged the iing ming boulder with ease.


    ~GIGIGIGIGI~


    The strange creature was irritated and stomped its legs again,unching another ming boulder at Lin Mu and Little Shrubby. But it was to no avail, as the two could dodge it with no issues.


    Forget right now, Lin Mu was sure that he could dodge an attack on this level even when he was at the Core condensation realm.


    "Isn''t this too slow?" Lin Mu said in confusion. "How did he manage to almost hit us on the first try?" he couldn''t help but wonder.


    Lin Mu let the strange creature attack a few times, analyzing its abilities and strength. A couple of minutes was all it took for Lin Mu to realize that he had greatly overestimated the strange creature.


    "A cultivation base that is roughly equivalent to the Dao Shell realm¡­ this isn''t even the norm." Lin Mu didn''t know how the first attack had managed to reach him. ''Was that a fluke?'' this was the only option he could think of.


    ~SHING~


    Regardless of whatever the reason might be, Lin Mu didn''t intend to let the strange creature continue its attacks. A single swing of his sword was all it took to split the strange creature in half.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    The two halves of the strange creature fell to the ground, while its limbs continued to twitch.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby approached it, wanting to see more.


    Getting down, Lin Mu probed the dead body of the creature, finding it to have no organs other than some random flesh and an eye.


    "Nearly 75% of its body is made of stone, while the rest is held together by flesh. The mes on its body are also not normal mes¡­ they aren''t just made from fire Qi¡­ I can sense the bloody aura within them too." Lin Mu studied the corpse.


    It was certain that whatever this creature was; it was the result of the unique environment of the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    ~hiss~


    About a minuteter, the flesh of the strange creature started to sizzle and melt with its own fire burning it.


    "This is unusual¡­" Lin Mu watched as the flesh and eye disappeared, only leaving the stone parts behind.


    If one looked at this pile of stones, they wouldn''t think much about it. It just looked like a random pile of stones that were everywhere in the Deste Blood Battlefield.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "How peculiar¡­" Lin Mu didn''t know what to think of this.


    In the information he had obtained from Alchemist Ruoxian, as well as just in general, there was no mention of anything like this.


    "Let''s continue Little Shrubby." Lin Mu ordered.


    ~growl~Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    The beast growled in response and the two continued towards their destination.


    ''I should use the Blood Vein Tracker too¡­ watch out for anything suspicious¡­'' Lin Mu took out the Immortal tool that had been given to him by Alchemist Ruoxian.


    ~Ting~


    The red needle within the kite shaped crystal started to stir awake.


    It trembled in the center before starting to spin.


    "Is this okay?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    He watched the needle continue to spin for a minute before finally settling in a certain direction.


    "Oh, it stopped?" Lin Mu saw that the needle was now pointing diagonally to the right, to where they were heading.


    Lin Mu directed Little Shrubby to change their path and followed the direction of the needle. It took them ten minutes to reach the supposed location as the needle had started to change its orientation.


    Instead of pointing to a direction in a t ne, it was now pointing downwards diagonally.


    "This is supposed to track turbulent energies, right? So this means there is something hidden there¡­" Lin Mu spread his immortal sense and let it enter the bloodied ground.


    For the first ten meters, Lin Mu didn''t encounter anything unusual. But after that, his Immortal sense trembled, as a negative aura hit it.


    "There really is something there¡­" Lin Mu felt curious.


    He directly took out Afternoon Pine and used the sword''s Qi skill.


    ~HUMM~


    The double edged sword hummed in response as Lin Mu''s Sword Intent was infused into it. The sword activated its skill and a yellow energy charged into the ground below.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A few secondster, the ground started to shake and then three pine trees grew out of it!


    The pine trees were made out of immortal Qi and sword intent, causing the ground to be overturned.


    ~shua~


    Once the trees had fully grown, they dissipated into wisps of energy, leaving behind arge hole that was nearly ten meters wide.


    "Now let''s see what''s hidden down there¡­" Lin Mu peeked into the hole, finding something moving down there.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then a secondter, a dark grey mist erupted out of the hole!

 Chapter 1492 A Reckless Test

    Lin Mu directly used blink to put some distance between him and the dark grey mist.


    "So this is the baleful energy they were talking about¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He could sense the aura emanating from the dark grey mist, finding it to be highly unsettling. Lin Mu could tell that even he would be affected by this if it came in contact with his body.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Though to what extent¡­ I should know that¡­'' Lin Mu had a reckless thought.


    He opened his right palm and waved it in a curling manner.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A breeze rose from his hand and pulled a few wisps of the dark grey mist towards him. The amount was quite small, about the same as an incense stick.


    "No better way then to test it directly¡­" Lin Mu directly touched the dark grey mist with his hand.


    ~hiss~


    And when he did a hissing sound could be heard.


    The sleeve directly corroded on contact before the mist touched his skin.


    At this moment, Lin Mu''s golden body activated automatically, resisting the hostile energy. Along with that, his natural immortal Qi defenses also presented themselves, forming a thin barrier around his skin.


    The Dark grey mist tried to corrode his skin too, but was unable to ovee his defenses.


    "Hmm¡­ way better than I thought." Lin Mu was a bit pleased, but knew this was just a basic test.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He waved his hand again, pulling more of the mist with the Bending Will Fist. It was clear that Lin Mu''s practice with this technique was nowing in handy.


    ~hiss~


    A simr hissing sound was heard as the dark grey mist made contact with his skin again. This time the amount was twice as much but there was still no damage to him.


    "Let''s try more," Lin Mu pulled more of the mist and repeated the process.


    It was on his fourth try that he finally felt something. He had used eight times as much of the dark grey mist before he finally felt irritation on his skin.


    "Its like an itch." Lin Mu muttered. "But that''s all it is¡­ an itch."


    At this point, Lin Mu was a lot more confident. He directly walked towards the mist rising from the hole and stuck his hand in it.


    ~HISS~


    "Now that''s more like it." Lin Mu finally felt the pain.


    It was as if his hand was being burned. But even if it was so, the level of pain was something Lin Mu could still ignore. He kept his hand in the rising mist for about ten seconds before withdrawing it.


    His entire sleeve had been corroded away and his bare hand was visible. Except it seemed to be covered with a viscous grey liquid. His golden skin was also a little dull with thin grey lines spreading across it.


    Lin Mu took this time to check just what kind of baleful energy it actually was. After all, baleful energy was just a general term for a lot of negative types of energies.


    With his immortal sense, Lin Mu observed the traces of grey mist that had managed to enter his skin. They were currently contained within the grey lines that were on his skin and weren''t able to go any deeper.


    "It''s Corroding Qi." Xukong suddenly answered. "A derivative Qi of the Corrosion Dao."


    "Corroding Qi?" Lin Mu remembered reading about it once in the Memoirs of the lost immortal.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    It was amon type of baleful energy and was found in several types of areas.


    "No wonder I could resist it with ease." Lin Mu muttered.


    "With your natural vitality and body cultivation, corroding Qi isn''t too dangerous for you. But for normal Qi cultivators, this''ll be devastating. It can prate their meridians and corrode them, preventing them from using their Qi and effectively crippling them after a certain point." Xukong exined.


    "No wonder¡­ at the very least I now know that I can handle this. So getting caught in one identally won''t be an issue." Lin Mu replied.


    "You should still be careful though. There is no saying if there will be other types of baleful energies mixed in it all. Not to mention, if the concentration of the Corroding Qi increases, you will still be affected." Xukong warned.


    "I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    ~rustle~


    But just as Lin Mu said that, he felt a little movement in his robes.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins poked their heads out of the robes, peeking at the dark grey mist. Their eyes seemingly shone with hunger and they quickly jumped out of Lin Mu''s robes.


    Xiao Yin was the first to act and directly opened her mouth wide, sucking in all the dark grey mist.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In less than twenty seconds, all the baleful energies were consumed by her. Then she seemingly digested the grey mist, before releasing pure yang Qi.


    ~HISS~


    Xiao Yang opened his mouth in excitement and quickly consumed his share of the energy.


    Watching this Lin Mu was a bit surprised, but then felt happy.


    "Looks like we have another advantage now¡­" Lin Mu said as a few ideas appeared in his mind. ''If the twins can consume the baleful energies, then doesn''t it mean that this ce is perfect for them?'' he thought.


    As long as he had them, he now had an extra precaution against the baleful energies.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    After consuming the mist, the two returned to Lin Mu.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    But then they seemingly gestured towards the hole with their tongues.


    "Oh? You found something?" Lin Mu asked, to which the twins nodded.


    "Well then, let''s check it out." While Lin Mu had a hunch as to what it was going to be, he still felt excited.


    Peeking into the dark hole, Lin Mu soon spotted a red glint at the bottom.


    ~THUD~


    He directlynded at the bottom of the hole and ignited a me in his hand, discovering the source of the red glint.


    "A Blood Essence Crystal indeed¡­"

 Chapter 1493 Travel And Cultivation

    In front of Lin Muid a half buried crystal.


    It was about the size of an orange and actually had a rough spherical shape. It was the first time Lin Mu was seeing a crystal that was naturally spherical as most of the ones he had seen were spike shaped or had irregr formations.


    "It''s a bit warm¡­" Lin Mu picked up the crystal feeling the unique aura thats as contained within it.


    The strangest thing was that the Blood Essence Crystal didn''t have the same unconformable bloody aura like the rest of the Deste Blood Battlefield and its continent. Instead it felt warm and had a faint vitality to it.


    Lin Mu even probed it using his Immortal sense, but didn''t find anything more. It didn''t seem simr to to an Immortal Essence crystal either.


    ''Guess it needs to be processed before it gains those properties¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He put the Blood Essence crystal away for now and jumped out of the hole.


    "Let''s go little Shrubby. We''ll head straight to the location of the ruins now." Lin Mu said, knowing that if he dyed any longer the others could catch up.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby let out a roar before starting to run again.


    Lin Mu kept the Blood Vein tracker ready, just in case they were about to run into another such ce. Since his goal was to get to the location of the ruins and Violet Mystic life tree as soon as possible, he decided to avoid all ces with the Blood Essence crystal.


    He had already seen the effects of the Baleful energy and had heeded Xukong''s advice. There was no need to dy his arrival by something that could be avoided.


    ''Still the time needed to reach the ruins is quite long¡­ I have at least three to four weeks¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu was just sitting on Little Shrubby''s back, thus had an idea about doing more things.


    ''I may as well use the Tri-essence pills to continue cultivating. I might be able to use at least two by the time we reach the ruins.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    He wasn''t worried about encountering any foes as Little Shrubby was more than capable of dodging them. As for the weird Stone flesh creature that they had encountered earlier, Lin Mu considered its attack to be a fluke.


    There was no way it could hit them with its skills or speed.


    Plus now Little Shrubby was a lot more alert and would know if something happened.


    "Little Shrubby I''ll be cultivating. Just inform me if you sense anything." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby replied.


    His sense of smell was something that could often catch things farther than the range of Immortal sense and could allow them to perceive danger early on. This was one of the disadvantage that Immortal sense and Spirit sense had.


    While both could be a recement for sight and touch, they couldn''t really perceive sound and smell.


    Though there were a few exceptions to this. For example there were experts who had highly refined immortal sense who perceived sound through the vibrations in the air. Or those who directly read the lips of others using immortal sense.


    The second option was something that even people with spirit sense could do, though it was a little awkward to use.


    The first option was rather difficult and only a handful experts learned it. One needed to be highly talented in using immortal sense in the first ce to do so after all.


    With that said, Lin Mu took out the pill bottle of the Tri-essence immortal pills and consumed one of them again.


    ~gulp~


    Swallowing the pill, Lin Mu let it be digested in his stomach. Since the pill didn''t dissolve or melt directly unlike other alchemical pills, he needed to let his stomach do the work. Which it perfectly did and even isted any losses.


    ~SHUA~


    The first wave of energy was blocked by his stomach, and it was prevented from leaving it entirely. The obscure runes formed a around the stomach walls too, quickly absorbing these stray pulses of energy.


    After the initial energy bursts were contained, the rest of the Immortal essence started being released from the pill. Lin Mu''s stomach processed it before the wisps were channeled into his rift Aperture.


    The Aperture was already filled by 50% and this was just from one pill. Lin Mu wondered how much the second pill would contribute to it and observed it all.


    Thankfully by now he had fully grasped how to use the Three Apertures Invoking technique and had no issues in modting it appropriately. Even if he was traveling at a great speed there wasn''t any disturbance to him.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    And just like this, the first week passed.


    Little Shrubby and Lin Mu had traveled across a vast in with a few mountains that dotted it. There weren''t any changes in the area and they didn''te across any other cultivators either.


    Though there were some native creatures of the Deste Blood Battlefield that they did sense but were directly avoided by them so as to not get in any conflict. Even if they were quite weak, Lin Mu did not wish to dy.


    Thankfully the weak ones were directly scared away by Little Shrubby''s aura and saved them more time.


    ~huu~


    It was around the eight day that Lin Mu opened his eyes and let out a breath.


    "The Tri Essence Immortal pill is finally absorbed fully¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He looked at his first aperture that was now filled 90% of the way. This wasn''t because the amount of Immortal essence of the Tri Essence pill was less though.


    But rather due to the fact that Lin Mu''s Aperture had also expanded more.


    If hepared it to the original size, it was now 40%rger in diameter. Lin Mu had certainly not expected for the Aperture to continue expanding as such and had thus fallen short of filling itpletely.


    "Guess I need a third pill to do so¡­" Lin Mu didn''t mind it though as he had plenty of Tri Essence pills for now.


    But he didn''t consume one right away. Instead he waited a day and ensured that his Aperture was stable. He also checked their location and ensured that they hadn''t deviated from the right path.


    Thankfully so far, most of the area was t ins and could be traveled in a straight line.


    But now they were approaching an area that was filled with mountains, ravines and devastatednd.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    The Blood Vein Tracker was basically going crazy and kept on spinning non stop. It pointed in one direction for a moment and then in another the next.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "There''s definitely a lot of pockets of baleful energies here¡­" Lin Mu determined.


    It wasn''t an area that they could cross without getting into trouble thus he decided to just halt his cultivation for now.


    "Follow my directions Little Shrubby. We might need to change it often." Lin Mu instructed to which the beast responded with a growl.


    Their path was now quite winded and often ended up with them going in a zig zag manner. Sometimes they needed to go perpendicr before circling back to get the safer route. There were simply too many obstacles on the path and the number of beasts here was higher too.


    ''There''s certainly quite a lot of beasts with Immortal Realm cultivation base¡­'' Lin Mu observed.


    He didn''t wish to get caught with them, thus avoided them as well. Of course, these beasts tried to chase after them, but simply couldn''t do so with Little Shrubby''s speed.


    It wasn''t just beasts that they encountered either as Lin Mu and Little Shrubby finally came across a few cultivators. Most of them were traveling in groups and only a couple were alone.


    After all there was safety in numbers and a greater advantage in survival. Plus one couldpensate for their shorings by havingpanions who excelled in those points.


    ''They don''t seem to be heading to the ruins though¡­'' Lin Mu realized after seeing the a majority of the cultivators were just wandering.


    They either hunted the beasts, or tried to look for some resources.


    And from their state, Lin Mu guessed that they had been here for a while now.


    ? "Perhaps they never got the news about the Violet Mystic Life Tree appearing¡­" Lin Mu guessed.


    This was a good thing for them as it meant that the others hadn''t caught up yet and the news wasn''t widely spread in the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    Another good thing was that these cultivators didn''t target Lin Mu either. They were discouraged just from seeing the speed at which they were traveling and attributed it to them being immortals with high cultivation base.


    Little Shrubby''s speed was now working as a disguise too!


    It took them a week before they finally managed to cross this area and reached the next which was just full of tall mountains.

 Chapter 1494 Completion Of The First Aperture And Opening Of Second

    The area that Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were now in was a mountainous one.


    Each of these mountains was at least seven to eight kilometers tall and there were hundreds if not thousands of them here. This was certainly Lin Mu''s first time seeing such a massive mountain range.


    The strangest part was that these mountains were all clustered together with little gap between each other.


    "So this is the Blood Spine Mountains¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    While he had read about the area, it was still a different thing to actually see it with his two eyes. It was impressive to say the least but would also be difficult to traverse for most cultivators.


    But for Little Shrubby it was not so. The beast could easily weave between each of the mountains and traverse them by jumping off them.


    ~boom~


    ~Boom~


    ~Boom~


    The sound of explosions was heard as Little Shrubby leaped from mountain to mountain, traveling ording to Lin Mu''s instructions. Here too the general direction they needed to go was in a straight like and they only needed to go around the mountains that stood in their track.


    There were beasts inhabiting these mountains as well as the strange stone flesh creature that they hade across at start. The Stone Flesh creatures tried to attack Little Shrubby and Lin Mu, but were unable to keep up with them.


    Their attacks never even came close to hitting them even if there were stronger version of the Stone Flesh creatures here.


    Lin Mu estimated that there were Stone Flesh Creatures that were equivalent to the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm here, but they were not able to attack them on time.


    Another thing Lin Mu learned was that these creatures wouldn''t really chase them. At most they would move a hundred meters or so before returning to stand at the ce they were originally.


    ''Are they bound to that location or something?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He was tempted to halt and check these unique creatures out, but decided against it.


    ''I''ll have timeter once I''m done with the ruins and the Violet Mystic Life Tree.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Half way through, Lin Mu had gained enough confidence that he wouldn''t have any issues with letting Little Shrubby pick the path himself. It didn''t seem like they were encountering any dangerous beasts either and with howplex the mountains were, no cultivators came across them either.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    Though Lin Mu also knew that this was due to the fact that many simply avoided these mountains.


    Flying across these mountains was not a good option as one would simply be a target for the beasts of the mountains. It was the same as standing out in the open and bing an easy prey.


    Thus one needed to either fly low, or simply walk through the mountains. Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were doing something in between, but had the great advantage of speed which basically allowed them to ignore most obstacles.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    And once Lin Mu had the confidence that Little Shrubby would be able to travel without issues, he decided to continue cultivating.


    He took his third Tri Essence pill and started to absorb it.


    Just like before his stomach insted any excess energy from leaving his body and perfectly absorbed it all. Little by little his amount of Immortal Essence in his first Aperture started to increase.


    This time around though Lin Mu noticed that his Aperture wasn''t really expanding. It had be stable and simply continued to absorb the Immortal Essence that he was providing.


    This lessened the time it took to fill it up and in just two days, he was at a critical juncture: His First Aperture was now full!


    At this point, Lin Mu had to forcefully shut off the absorption of Immortal Essence, letting his stomach contain the one that was still being released from the Tri Essence Immortal pill.


    ''I''ve barely absorbed half of the efficacy of the Tri Essence Immortal pill. I got a lot left, but the first aperture is already full¡­ I''ll need to open the second Aperture¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    If he didn''t do that, the only option he would have would be to either waste a significant portion of the Immortal Essence or let it be fully infused into his stomach. The second option was what he would prefer, but he didn''t know when he would get that energy back.


    So rather than doing that it was better to just get started on the second Aperture.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath before chanting the Calming Heart Sutra.


    He remembered the process of opening the fire Aperture and making the ring of Immortal Essence wisps. This gave him a good advantage and Lin Mu found the empty ''gap'' for the second Aperture soon enough.


    The location of the Second Aperture was at the base of the sternum, at the Xiphoid Process.


    Simr to the First Aperture''s location, there were fine gaps between the tissues of this ce. Lin Mu didn''t take long to find a suitable gap that could easily amodate an Aperture.


    And since he already knew how big the ring of the Immortal Essence wisps was going to be, he didn''t have to make mistakes in picking the wrong gaps. Another advantage he had was the fact that he wasn''t absorbing Immortal Essence wisps from the Immortal Essence crystals now.


    Rather than that, he would simply be utilizing the Immortal Essence wispsing from his stomach. Since he had more than half of the efficacy of the Tri Essence Pill left over, it would be a waste to not use it.


    Lin Mu carefully controlled his stomach and released a single Immortal essence wisp before guiding it to the base of his sternum. The distance between the two was quite short and Lin Mu had no issues in doing so.


    Once it was there, Lin Mu pulled the second wisp.


    Then the third¡­ the fourth¡­ the fifth!


    The numbers kept on increasing until finally Lin Mu had gathered enough to make a ring that spun in a stable orbit!

 Chapter 1495 Creating Rumors And Legends

    The ring of Immortal Essence wisps that Lin Mu had made was just the basic one. It didn''t have that many Immortal Essence wisps and was only the starting form of it. He would need to add more wisps and expand its form for it to reach the proper level.


    Thankfully, with his past experience, and consonantly supply from the Tri Essence Immortal Pill, Lin Mu had no trouble along the way and he only made a handful of mistakes. The mistakes only resulted in the loss of a few wisps of Immortal essence and didn''t cause his entire ring to copse.


    One by one, he added more Immortal Essence wisps to the orbit of the ring while maintaining a stable orbit for them. Eventually it reached hundreds and he was at the same level he was with the First Aperture.


    The next step was for Lin Mu to condense the ring, and wait for the second Aperture to open up. He manage do so with ease and the equilibrium of the immortal essence wisps was maintained properly.


    And eventually he condense the ring to the smallest size that was possible. The time needed for him to do so was significantly lower than thest time. But the phenomena that happened due to it were still the same.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    His body created a whirring sound that sounded like a machine.


    At this state he needed to wait so that the condensed ring would turn into the Aperture. But this wasn''t something that could be done manually by him, it was something that happened naturally.


    Thus all he could do was wait and let it happen.


    But the difference this time was the fact that Lin Mu wasn''t in a secluded courtyard. He was out in the open while traveling at a great speed though the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    The speed of Little Shrubbybined with the topography of the Blood Spine Mountains made it so that the whirring sound appeared a lot more terrifying than usually. These twobined to be a rumbling sound that was moving towards a certain direction.


    Not to mention, the energy fluctuations that wereing from Lin Mu were also rather turbulent.


    It now felt like a dangerous beast was traveling through the Blood Spine Mountains, while its each step made a rumbling sound. To the few people that were actually in the Blood Spine Mountains, it was terrifying.


    Somewhere in the Blood Spine Mountains, a party of cultivators was traveling.


    "Senior brother, what is that?" A man among the party asked, while raising his hand.


    "What''s that sound?" Another person standing at the very back spoke, as he turned his head around.


    "Wait!" he man who had been termed as senior brother ordered.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    "There!" They finally heard the sound clearly and spotted something.


    But they barely glimpsed the source for a second before it was gone already.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    What was even surprising was the fact that the sound of explosion was only heard after it had left the area.


    "What in the¡­" the cultivators couldn''t help but look at the mountain sides that now had deep craters on them.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    Some even seemed to have cracks spreading in them and it was hard to tell just what kind of creature could cause this.


    "That¡­ was so fast¡­" The man standing at the back muttered.


    "What was its cultivation base? Whatever it was¡­" The second man wondered.


    "Considering its speed, it should be at least fourth or fifth tribtion stage of the immortal realm right?" Someone estimated.


    The senior brother among them was silent though and seemed to be thinking about something.


    "Let''s change our route¡­ I have a bad feeling about this." The senior brother stated.


    "Are you sure?" the others were surprised.


    "Yeah, if we take another route, it''ll take us longer to reach the ruins." The junior brother replied.


    "Even if it does, that''s better than getting in conflict with whatever that was. It was certainly not human and considering we are in the Deste Blood Battlefield, I wouldn''t be surprised if its one of its native beings." The senior brother warned.


    Hearing this, the rest of the party had no choice but to ept.


    They had already faced quite a few dangerous situations in the Deste Blood Battlefield. And if it weren''t for the fact that they had been cautious, things could have been quite dangerous for them.


    Not to mention, their cultivation bases couldn''t match with the being that had passed either.


    The strongest person among them was at the fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, which was the senior brother. The rest were all at the second or third tribtion stage of the immortal realm.


    Even if theybined their strengths, they wouldn''t be able to do much.


    Lin Mu didn''t even know that his mere passing had caused an entire party of cultivators to take a detour. Though even if he did know, he wouldn''t pay any attention to it. After all, he had a lot more important things to pay attention to instead.


    Plus, there was Little Shrubby there too.


    He had smelled the presence of the human cultivators from several kilometer away and had perceived their immortal Qi fluctuations too. He could tell how strong they were and that he would have no issues avoiding them.


    Thus with that in mind he just ran straight forward.


    The whirring sound of Lin Mu''s second Aperture was heard for over a week as they continued their travel. And in this time, they actually went past several parties of cultivators. Some of them only heard the rumbling sound and explosions, while some even saw the red blur they were.


    All this lead to the creation of a new legend that would take on many variations.


    Some called it a lightning bolt that ran across the Deste Blood Battlefield, while some called it a malevolent spirit that haunted thends.


    Though eventually it disappeared, as Lin Mu finally opened his second Aperture!

 Chapter 1496 The Leafless Dead Forest

    With the sessful opening of his Second Aperture, the whirring sound of the spinning ring stopped and Lin Mu could feel the rise in his strength.


    Even though he hadn''t infused any Immortal Essence into his limbs, he could already sense the change that was happening. The Aperture would slowly released small amounts of Immortal Essence into his body, allowing it to adapt to it.


    At first, it wasn''t as much since he only had a single Aperture. But now with the 2nd Aperture that had almost doubled.


    Of course, this was the passive infusion that happened and was one of the characteristics of the Three Apertures invoking technique. The main strength of the techniqueid in its active power increase when one infused Immortal Essence directly as well as the Large storage of Immortal Essence that it provided.


    ~Crack~


    Lin Mu clenched his fist lightly and felt the significant change.


    "If Ibine my body cultivation and the Qi cultivation, I should have no issues matching up against a fourth tribtion stage immortal, right?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Once again, his body cultivation had exceeded his Qi cultivation and was now equivalent to that of a Second Tribtion Stage immortal. While his Qi cultivation was at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.


    Lin Mu had not expected to progress this quickly in his body cultivation, but was pleased with it nevertheless.


    ''Though it is mostly due to the pills. Just the Tri Essence pills can boost my cultivation base this fast, what will the Hundred Vicissitudes Immortal Pill be like?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel hopeful.


    If he had just depended on the Immortal Essence Crystals, there was no saying just how many he would need. But with the pills, the gain was simply amazing.


    Of course, it could also be attributed to Lin Mu''s stomach that was nurtured due to the Nameless Technique of the Lost Immortal. Without it, he wouldn''t be able to absorb all of the Immortal Essence from the pills.


    In fact, it wasn''t unusual for a cultivator to lose 90-70% of the Immortal Essence from a pill only being able to absorb a fraction of it. The reason was either them being unable to absorb it fast enough or even if they could absorb it, they weren''t able to handle it causing them damage.


    But for Lin Mu, both options were solved by his stomach. It held all the Immortal Essence within it, preventing it from escaping as waste energy and also absorbed the excess forter.


    Then there was the Three Apertures invoking Technique itself, which was mostly focused around absorbing massive amounts of Immortal Essence and storing it in the Apertures. This took care of the issue of storage which many body cultivators had.


    After all, for most cultivators, storing Immortal Essence within their bodies was almost impossible without it adapting. It was the same case for Lin Mu and the immortal essence wisps would try to escape if they were directly infused into his body.


    Only after being modted by the Apertures did they became tamer and were able to be used by Lin Mu.


    "I now have extra assurance in going against the experts now¡­ There are bound to be several of them striving to obtain the Violet Mystic Life Tree." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    A few hours passed after Lin Mu''s breakthrough and his body had fully adapted to it. His energy fluctuations has also stabilized, and Lin Mu could now contain them within his body once more.


    "Master! Look!" It was at this time that Little Shrubby called out.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and gazed in the distance.


    Unknowingly he had already arrived at his intended destination.


    "The Leafless Dead Forest¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    This was the name of the location and described the ce perfectly. There were millions upon millions of barren trees that looked to be dead. Lin Mu could turn his head from right to the left and all he would see were these dead trees.


    Their trunks had long since turned a dull brown from age and some had even taken on a red tone. It was evident that years of being in the Deste blood battlefield had changed them greatly.


    But in all this, Lin Mu could tell that the trees weren''t exactly ''dead''.


    "They actually have vitality within them¡­ its just the appearance that looks to be dead¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It was certainly a marvel about the area. But this just made Lin Mu''s next task a little difficult.


    "The ruins are supposed to be hidden somewhere in all this and the Violet Mystic Life tree too¡­" Lin Mu said looking around.


    If one thought about it, a living tree that too with violet leaves should have been easily visible in a forest of dead grey trees growing on red soil. But it wasn''t so, since the tree was actually hiding within illusions.


    The illusion was set up to hide the ruins originally and had gotten weaker over time. There would be periods where it would be at the weakest and reveal all that was hidden within it.


    That was also the reason why the Violet Mystic Life Tree had been discovered. If not for the illusory array weakening, perhaps it would have never been found.


    "Let''s start from there, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu pointed towards the left. "We''ll circle around and see if we can find any cultivators camping there." He added.


    From what he had heard from Alchemist Ruoxian, the cultivators who had discovered the Violet Mystic Life Tree might be camping near it. Since they didn''t know how the things were around it and they still needed back up, they might have already gone there.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby burst into a sprint and started to run across the dead forest. It was one of thergest areas of the Deste Blood Battlefield and would take them quite some time tob through.


    Three hours passed like this before Lin Mu realized something.


    "Why are we back at the same ce?"

 Chapter 1497 A Natural Befuddling Array

    After spending three hours running around the Leafless Dead Forest, Lin Mu and learned something new.


    Apparently they had been running around in the same ce and were back to where they had started. The surprising part was that, even Lin Mu''s Immortal Sense had been fooled and he was unable to tell that they had lost their direction.


    "How''s this possible? There are no signs of an array or other tricks here¡­" Lin Mu wondered feeling confused.


    His immortal sense had already scanned everything several times, and found everything to be normal in the aspect of immortal Qi and more. And yet, after looking at the trees and their unique markings, Lin Mu was 100% sure of being stuck at the same ce.


    Now it was a question of how to prevent the same thing from happening and reaching the ruins.


    "Can you smell and see if anything is nearby?" Lin Mu asked little Shrubby.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "I can''t." Little Shrubby responded. "Everything smells the same and there are no changes." He exined.


    ~Sigh~


    "Guess the trees make that hard too¡­" Lin Mu reckoned.


    While finding the ruins and the Violet Mystic Life Tree was going to be difficult, Lin Mu didn''t expect that even finding them cultivators searching for it would be this difficult too.


    ''Hmm¡­ I need to look at this from a different angle¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    There was no use in getting frustrated as it''ll only make it bad for Lin Mu.


    "Let''s take a break little Shrubby. I need to figure out how we are getting lost." Lin Mu stated.


    "Okay." Little Shrubby nodded his head and sat down.


    Lin Mu did the same and sat cross legged. His immortal sense spread around and scanned the area.


    He first started with the soil beneath him, checking its properties and whether anything was hidden in it. And after a couple minutes of searching, he found nothing. Everything seemed to be as normal as it could be.


    Next thing he checked was the dead trees themselves.


    ''Maybe they are the ones hiding something?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    His immortal sense touched upon the bark of the dead trees, finding it to be quite tough. It was clear that after all these years of staying here, the trees had transformed to be tough.


    If not for that, perhaps they might not have been able to exist after all these years.


    Though Lin Mu didn''t know if more trees grew from them or if their numbers had been same the entire time. He could roughly guess that most of the trees were of the same age, at least in the are that he was in right now.


    He also sensed the vitality that was hidden within the trees. This vitality was the same in feeling as to the rest of the blood vitality of the Deste Blood Battlefield, but there was still something unique in it.


    ''I can barely sense the Wood Qi in it too¡­'' Lin Mu grasped.


    But wood Qi wasn''t the only thing it had as there was also blood Qi naturally mixed in it along with some other minor energies. Lin Mu also felt a faint mix of the baleful energies within it.


    With a mix of six of multiple energies, it was only natural that the tress had turned into unique existences.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The longer Lin Mu observed them, the clearer their secrets became. Eventually he figure out something.


    ''Wait¡­ the energies within them¡­ they form patterns too¡­'' Lin Mu barely witnessed the pattern.


    It only presented itself for a moment before it faded away. This pattern was formed by the mix of the various energies and wasplex. Since the energies kept on mixing and churning, it was hard for the pattern to exist for more than a brief moment.


    It didn''t help that the amount of these energies within the trees was also quite small, needing Lin Mu''s full focus in even sensing them.


    "I need to check the other trees too." Lin Mu moved his immortal sense, and checked the trees near him.


    One by one, he sensed the mix of energies in all of them. And after a couple of hours he also sensed the pattern within them.


    ''Just as I thought¡­ it''s the same pattern.'' Lin Mu grasped.


    By now he was starting to understand what was happening here.


    "Only one way to confirm it¡­" Lin Mu stood up.


    ~THUD~


    He stomped on the ground andunched himself into the air.


    Lin Mu ensured that he flew straight up and didn''t change his trajectory at all.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He kept on rising higher and higher until arge part of the Leafless Dead Forest was visible under him. The trees looked like small dots and could barely be made out. But if Lin Mu focused enough, he could see them all clearly.


    He spent a few minutes observing the trees from here, and soon made some connections.


    "Sure enough¡­ the pattern is actually present here too¡­" Lin Mu noticed an interesting thing.


    While the trees looked like they were growing randomly, it was actually not so. They actually grew in a specific manner that formed the same pattern that the mixed energies within them did.


    And this pattern repeated in several patches of trees.


    It was hard to sense this pattern since it was veryrge and the repetition was hard to see from the ground.


    "This is an entire array¡­ A Natural Befuddling array!" Lin Mu finally understood.


    Lin Mu was familial with befuddling arrays and had made several of them himself too. Thus he would have been able to identify them if they were ced in some area.


    But since he had not sensed the presence of any formation, it had left him confused.


    Seeing the true reality of the forest though, Lin Mu finally washed away that confusion.


    "Since this was formed naturally, I wasn''t able to sense it. After all there was no abnormality within it for me to sense." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 1498 Overcoming The Array

    Lin Mu spent some time pondering about the intricacies of the forest.


    He didn''t worry about the other powersing here either now. After all, it no longer mattered if they arrived early orter, they would be faced with the same thing.


    ''Unless they too can figure out the secret of the Leafless Dead Forest, they wouldn''t be able to find the Ruins.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And while he was thinking all this, another thought presented to him.


    ''The Leafless Dead Forest should have existed for a long time, there is no way the presence of this Natural Befuddling Array wasn''t discovered by others.'' Lin Mu thought. ''And yet¡­ there were no records of it. Alchemist Ruoxian would have surely told me about this and there was no information in the other intelligence set either.'' He wondered.


    After thinking over this, Lin Mu came to a conclusion that was a bit shocking.


    "All this would only be possible if¡­ this array didn''t exist back then." Lin Mu muttered. "No, more urately the array always existed. It just didn''t activate!" he analyzed seeing that the trees had been there since the start.


    This made him curious about who would make such an array, if one even made it. Though it was unlikely since this was a natural befuddling array. For one to have made it, they would personally need to nt all the trees and make sure that they had the perfect mixture of the baleful energies.


    But if that was the case, the array wouldn''te into being either. After all, the baleful energies were only born after the legendary battle had and the Dested Blood Battlefield became what it is today.


    It was aplex question that could not be answered directly. Lin Mu could only hope to look for it himself in this.


    "Now then, let''s see if my first method works¡­" Lin Mu said and stood up.


    ~BOOM~


    He directly punched out and sted apart one of the dead trees. The wood shattered into splintered timbers and scattered over the area. During this entire sequence, Lin Mu kept his Immortal sense spread and scanned for the changes in the area.


    He couldn''t sense anything though and knew that it was on a far smaller level than he had expected.


    "I have to check the other trees directly¡­" Lin Mu walked to the nearest tree and put his hand on it.


    Chanting the Calming Heart Sutra Lin Mu used his Immoral sense to probe the tree and observed the mixed energies within it. He looked for the pattern that would appear in it momentarily.


    After a few minutes, he saw it again and found it to be the same as before.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "That can''t be it¡­ there must be some change." Lin Mu decided to look through the other trees.


    One by one, he checked the trees finding all of them to be the same. This made Lin Mu furrow his brows as it didn''t seem to be normal.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Looks like this crude method won''t work then¡­ the natural array must be able to adapt to it somehow." Lin Mu reckoned.


    But he wasn''t disappointed as this was just the first method he had devised. The next one was what he was more confident about.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. His Spatial Perception activated, allowing him to nce at the fine changes in the spatial fabric that were hidden to the naked eye.


    He saw the fabric that extended all over the ce, ovepping and folding with the different voids. This was something Lin Mu wasn''t able to see before.


    ''Back in the Kong ne I wasn''t able to see such ovepping of Spatial Fabric even if it was an anchored ne. Guess my Spatial perception has certainly improved.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The folding and ovepping of the spatial fabric was something that was unique to minor nes that were anchored to a normal world. For fully independent and floating nes, the spatial fabric would not touch each other and would be like two balls of yarn rolling round.


    But in the case of the Deste Blood Battlefield it was simr to a knitted sheet that was being enfold to form two divisors.


    In all this though, what Lin Mu needed to search for was something that would help guide his way.


    "There''s nothing¡­ It is far to stable for there to be any ws¡­" Lin Mu was at another impasse.


    After a bit more thinking, he understood the reason behind it.


    ''The Natural Befuddling Array''s advantage is that it is along with the will of nature and does not cause any disturbance. It is aligned with the natural order and thus there wouldn''t be any reason for spatial disturbances to arise either.'' Lin Mu analyzed. "My original thought itself was wed." He grasped.


    By this point, Lin Mu knew that he held the capability of figuring out a way to proceed. But to do that he would have to spend a lot more time analyzing the Natural Befuddling Array and the unique repeating pattern that constituted it.


    But doing that would require a lot of time that he didn''t wish to spend here.


    After all, even if the other powers would be dyed too it didn''t mean that they were helpless. Lin Mu was sure that the other powers would have experts who would be able to figure out a way too, or use some tool to get through it directly.


    With all this in mind, Lin Mu decided to change his route of thinking.


    ''I don''t necessarily need to find a way to ovee the properties of the array, I merely need a way to bypass them!'' Lin Mu concluded. "The array changes one perception and makes them lose their way by the virtue of the trees that constitute it. But what if I never have to see the trees? Or what if I don''t walk amongst them at all?"


    Lin Mu smiled before activating one of his skills.


    "Fade." With that Lin Mu entered the parallel ne.

 Chapter 1499 Fade To The Next Location

    Lin Mu appeared in the parallel ne that was rtively empty.


    Neither he nor Xukong were able to figure out how the parallel ne existed, other than the fact that it was not in anyyer of the void. It was a mysterious existence that even Xukong, who was possibly one of the greatest experts at void didn''t know about.


    But it''s characteristic were rather unique nheless.


    It was mostly empty, but it would have some variants in it as one traveled. Its ground was usually just in white or grey while there would be some objects scattered within it. Lin Mu had once even seen a barren mountain in it but that was a long time ago.


    He didn''t know how things were influenced in it and how they rted to the ce where he had entered the parallel world from. The one absolute was the fact that if a space existed, an equal area of the parallel world would exist as well.


    It would match coordinate to coordinate between the worlds and if Lin Mu left it from one coordinate, he would appear in the same coordinate in the real world and vice-a-versa.


    This was also what Lin Mu was intending to take advantage of.


    "Since the trees cause the effect of befuddling, I can just avoid them all together here. Even if my time is limited, I should still be able to travel quite a lot and figure out how to avoid the workings of the forest." Lin Mu muttered to himself before stomping his leg.


    ~BOOM~


    He shot forward with great speed and flew with as much power as he could.


    Lin Mu traveled in a straight line so that he wouldn''t lose his way as well as travel as far from his original location.


    Thirty secondster the duration of the skill was over and Lin Mu was forced to return to the real world.


    ~shua~


    Upon reappearing Lin Mu quickly spread his immortal sense and scanned the area around him.


    "Sure enough¡­ I''m quite far from the original location." Lin Mu confirmed.


    The trees around him had changed, and the ground was different as well. But these were merely the surface level things that he could see. The biggest factor that confirmed his assumption was none other than Little Shrubby.


    ''I can sense that Little Shrubby is still where I left him¡­ the distance between us is roughly three kilometer or so¡­'' Lin Mu guessed.


    Since he could sense little Shrubby through their link, he could tell how far he had traveled.


    "Master when did you get that far?" Little Shrubby spoke through their link.


    "I''ming back now. I was just trying to figure out a way to proceed." Lin Mu replied.


    "Ah, did you get it?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yes, I did." Lin Mu responded before moving towards Little Shrubby.


    While going there though, he also watched for the befuddling effect of the array. Lin Mu could barely tell before he would change his direction and move in some other path.<novelnext></novelnext>


    One second he was going towards Little Shrubby, the next he had turned ny degrees to the right and a minuteter, he had turned back again.


    "This is quite interesting¡­ Even if I can sense where I''m supposed to walk, it makes me change direction unknowingly. This level of befuddling that can affect even Immortal sense is truly terrifying." Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel amazed.


    But he didn''t need to worry about it now since he knew how to ovee it.


    "I just need to not look at the trees." Lin Mu closed his eyes and walked straight, taking the link of the Little Shrubby as a guide.


    Doing so meant that he inevitably walked into trees but a little rerouting was all it took for him to continue. The strange part was that the befuddling effect of the forest was still there, as Lin Mu''s steps would change unknowingly but it was a lot weaker than before.


    Not to mention he had a way to reorient himself every time. The method was a little unexpected but worked out in the end as Lin Mu reached Little Shrubby after a few minutes.


    "Are we going to leave the forest?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "No¡­ we are going straight in." Lin Mu answered. "But to do that, I''ll need to send you to the Sleepscape." He instructed.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "As you say." Little Shrubby had no qualms and was quickly sent to the Sleepscape by Lin Mu.


    There was no option as Lin Mu couldn''t bring Little Shrubby along using his Spatial skills. Those skills simply didn''t work that way.


    "I just need to rely on fade now and I''ll enter the depths of the Leafless Dead Forest." Lin Mu said to himself.


    Fade!


    A couple of secondster, he entered the parallel world again and flew straight ahead. Thirty secondster the duration of the skill would end and he would return to the real world. When that happened though, Lin Mu would look around and get a sense of his location.


    As long as he stayed in one ce and didn''t move, he could use his Immortal sense to ''look'' around.


    What he needed to search for was reference locations that were mentioned in the map provided by Alchemist Ruoxian.


    ''The Sleeping Man rock¡­'' Lin Mu used his immortal sense to look for the reference location.


    It was called as Sleeping Man rock, as it was exactly what it looked like. It was simply a rock that looked like a man was sleeping on the ground. This was the first reference location of the Leafless Dead Forest one would encounter if they came from the Blood Spine Mountains.


    There were other reference locations for other entry points too, but they didn''t matter right now.


    After a few uses of Fade, Lin Mu eventually discovered the Sleeping Man Rock.


    "There it is!" Lin Mu quickly went there without being befuddled and recalcte his next reference location.


    He then activated fade and continued onwards. Repeating this several times, Lin Mu finally reached his true destination.

 Chapter 1500 The Ruins Of An Ancient City

    "This¡­ is wayrger than was mentioned¡­" Lin Mu said in surprise.


    In front of him stood ancient ruins that were spread in an area of tens of kilometers.


    "Was this a city or something?" Lin Mu wondered.


    ording to the information that he had gotten from Alchemist Ruoxian, the cache of the immortal essence crystals was supposed to be hidden under barrennd. Thus the presence of a ruin didn''t match that urately.


    "Unless¡­ the area is further ahead?" Lin Mu wondered.


    There were far too many discrepancies in the information and with the Natural Befuddling Array of the Leafless Dead forest, they only kept on increasing. Lin Mu wondered just how many more he would encounter.


    ''It wouldn''t be unusual if the people that Alchemist Ruoxian were lost in the Natural befuddling Array too¡­'' Lin Mu guessed. ''As for the others that came to look for them, it is normal that they wouldn''t find the right traces. After all the array would erase them too.''


    One could even see that the people who had taken the mission from Alchemist Ruoxian earlier were unfortunate.


    "But then¡­ how did the others see the Violet Mystic Life tree? If they managed to see it, that means the array wasn''t activated back then." Lin Mu realized another uncertainty. ''But if the people sent by Alchemist Ruoxian were lost, that means the array was activated long ago.''


    His brows were furrowed as Lin Mu thought in depth. The mystery kept him scratching his head and unable to calm down.


    "Wait¡­ what was that?" But while he was doing that, he saw something from the corner of his vision.


    He turned his head to the left, looking for the object that had appeared.


    "Is that, the tree¡ª it disappeared!" Lin Mu had just seen the faint image of arge tree in the distance but it had suddenly disappeared.


    Lin Mu stared at it without moving this time, not even blinking his eyes. He stayed like that for five minutes before witnessing it again.


    "There it is! The tree is actually there!" Lin Mu saw the tree clearly now.


    The Violet Mystic Life Tree was finally present in front of Lin Mu. The tree was about fifty meters tall and was filled with violet leaves. Its crown was spread in an area of thirty meters and looked dazzling.


    "Wait¡­ it disappeared again!" Therge and colorful tree seemingly vanished in front of Lin Mu''s eyes.


    By now Lin Mu was sure that there was something else happening. He immediately activated his Spatial Perception and observed the ce where the Violet Mystic Life Tree was at. But strangely enough, Lin Mu still couldn''t see through it.


    "Wait what¡­" it was not often that Lin Mu wasn''t able to see through the space. "A barrier?"


    While Lin Mu was able to use Spatial Perception to see through the space itself, it wasn''t absolute. There were still formations and barriers that could block it. And since the three had vanished several times and reappeared, Lin Mu was sure it was the work of some kind of a barrier formation.


    ''That might not be it either¡­ there might be an entire array there.'' Lin Mu guessed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He decided to take a careful approach and first did a survey of the area around the ruins. The ruins were quite vast anyway and allowed several spots for people to hide.


    "I need your help Little Shrubby, but stay in your small form." Lin Mu brought out little Shrubby.


    "What is it?" Little Shrubby asked while staying in his cat form.


    "Can you smell any people here?" Lin Mu asked.


    Little Shrubby lifted his nose and sniffed the air a few times.


    "Yes, there are several people here." Little Shrubby replied. "Their scents are mixing but there are at least fifty or more people around the area." He stated.


    ''Fifty¡­ they should be the original group of cultivators that had found the Violet Mystic Life Tree along with the people that arrivedter.'' Lin Mu guessed. "Can you tell where they are?" he asked next.


    Using his Immortal sense could alert the others, but Little Shrubby''s sense of smell wouldn''t do the same.


    "Yes!" Little Shrubby repliedPublished by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    The two of them sneaked around the area while Little Shrubby pointed out the ces where the cultivators where staying at. Lin Mu sneaked closer using Phase and hid underground, only to get a sense of the experts that were present there.


    There were people of varied cultivation bases here, with the weakest being a first tribtion stage immortal realm cultivator.


    As for the strongest cultivators?


    There were two cultivators that were at the fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm present there. The only difference was that they were in two different camps and thereby belonged to different groups.


    ''That makes it a bit better. At least I won''t have to deal with both camps together if a conflict arises.'' This was the first concern that Lin Mu needed to deal with.


    As long as he had assurance that he''d be able to handle all the experts that came his way, he would have no issues in doing whatever he wanted. After all, if they couldn''t stop him there was no use in considering them.


    It took Lin Mu a couple of hours before he was able to assess just how many people he was up against potentially.


    "Fifty-four cultivators belonging to six different groups out of which two have the Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm experts." Lin Mu muttered to himself. ''They also seem to be from the stronger powers. Though it''s hard to tell which ones.'' He thought.


    These were the biggest groups too and had fifteen people each. The rest of the groups had an unequal amount of people distributed amongst them and they seemed to be mostly itinerant cultivators.


    Though Lin Mu also knew that these were just the ones who had managed to reach here first. There were bound to be others that will arrive, and thepetition will only more.

 Chapter 1501 The Cultivators Vying For The Tree

    Having gotten a sense of thepetitors, Lin Mu knew he needed to be fast.


    "They should know this too. There is now way they don''t know about each other being there, so why aren''t they going towards the Violet Mystic Life Tree?" Lin Mu questioned after seeing the cultivators just waiting around.


    It was certainly suspicious and made Lin Mu wonder what he had missed.


    ''Are they waiting for backup, or is there something dangerous there?'' Lin Mu decided to eavesdrop on one of the groups.


    Using Phase he sank into the ground and approached one of the groups that seemed suitable for him. They were waiting in one of the ruined buildings that had half of its roof broken.


    There were two cultivators standing on the roof and keeping watch, while five were sitting inside. They had set up a few formations around their camp, but they weren''t that hard for Lin Mu to bypass.


    After a few minutes of working on the formations, Lin Mu gained entry to the area. He had already restrained all his immortal Qi fluctuations and had contained his aura too, preventing anyone from sensing him. After doing that, he found a suitable mound of rubble and peeked through it.


    With how long these people had been here and the formations they had set there was no way they would think that there was someone watching them from within the building at all.


    Though it also helped the fact that the building was rtively big and spread out. The cultivators sitting inside were also spread out, with some lying against the rubble and some simply sitting.


    "How much longer do we have to wait now?" one of the people sitting in the building questioned.


    He had a frustrated expression on his face and was holding his arm as if it were hurt.


    "A couple more days at most. The elders will contact us as soon as they are nearby." Another man that was leaning against a broken pir spoke.


    He had some injuries on his body too, but they weren''t that serious.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    ~Sigh~


    "Why can''t we just leave? We all know that the tree is not something we can get close too." A woman sitting on the side spoke this time.


    She seemed to be the only one that was uninjured but had a tired expression. Her face was also pale and her immortal Qi fluctuation were also weak. Though Lin Mu could tell that she was at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    "We have to. If we go back now, we''ll be wasting the opportunity that will nevere again. Just by being here, we''ll be able to stake a im when elderse. At the very least, we''ll get some resources." The man leaning against the pir spoke.


    "Just for that? We already consumed a lot in the Deste Blood battlefield! Why do you think we are in this state!?" A short man shouted.


    He too was sitting on the ground, and seemed to be most injured among them. A part of his thigh was cut off while a few of his toes seemed to be missing, too.


    Lin Mu who looked at the injury, found it strange.


    ''Did a beast bite him or something? Those don''t seem to be teeth marks though.'' Lin Mu thought.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He didn''t think they were injuries from a weapon either, as it seemed to be quite different.


    ''Though there''s a chance it might be a skill too. All of them have gotten injured in a recent battle and arecking resources. No wonder they haven''t healed up so far, even if some of their injuries are light.'' Lin Mu analyzed their condition.


    At the very least, he could confirm the fact that he had no threat from this group. With how injured they were and theck of morale, it was certain that they wouldn''t be vying for the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    But that still didn''t answer the question as to what actually happened to them.


    "How would I know that tree was so dangerous and could attack us!? We didn''t even know what the tree was until we contacted the elders!" The man leaning against the pir shouted back.


    "Please! Don''t fight right now!" The Woman pleaded. "We don''t have that luxury. If the other groups decide to get rid of us, we won''t be able to do anything." She added.


    ~Sigh~


    "You''re right¡­" the two men calmed down. "We just need to stay put and ensure that no onees near."


    After saying this, the man leaning against the pir stood up and went to the roof.


    "What''s the situation of the tree?" he questioned.


    "It still keeps on appearing and disappearing. Though it''s bing more often now." One of the two men standing on the roof spoke.


    "Oh? Looks like whatever restriction around it is weakening." The man replied.


    Lin Mu who heard this, knew that his original assumption was right.


    ''So the tree didn''t appear as often before. No wonder the original news about the Violet Mystic Life Tree was just a rumor. They barely saw it before it disappeared, but now it appears more often.'' Lin Mu understood.


    It also made him figure out a few more things about the unique tree.


    ''There should be an array around it that hit it all this time. And now it''s either running out of energy or something else is weakening it,'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Lin Mu even wondered if the Leafless Dead Forest was linked to this somehow. It was certain that the forest wasn''t acting as a natural befuddling array before and had only done so recently.


    ''If the two events line up, that means the Leafless Dead Forest turned into a Natural befuddling Array just around the time the illusory restriction around the Violet Mystic Life Tree started to weaken.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    The reason behind it was still a mystery, but Lin Mu knew he''ll eventually find out more. After all, his next step was to get close to the tree.

 Chapter 1502 The Weakening Barrier

    Lin Mu listened to the people in the ruined building talk a bit more and obtained some more information.


    The most important thing he learned was the fact that they were all injured when they got near the tree. There were actually formations that could harm them there. All of them were caught off guard since they were unable to sense these formations at all.


    And it wasn''t just offensive formations either, there were trapping and binding formations mixed in it too.


    ''I wouldn''t be surprised if some groups have already lost their members in this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he sank back into the ground.


    He moved away from the group and resurfaced next to Little Shrubby. Lin Mu had left him there as the beast could warn him about danger through their link. Not to mention, Little Shrubby could also assist quickly if needed.


    It was an advantage to have him watch over his back, even if it was from some distance away. With Little Shrubby''s speed, that distance was just a few second anyways.


    Lin Mu was debating on checking up on other groups, but didn''t wish to spend extra time on that.


    "Let''s just check out the tree first." Lin Mu said to Little Shrubby.


    The two of them took a remote path that had no cultivators waiting nearby and proceeded. Walking through the ruins, Lin Mu saw the old buildings and houses that had been reduced to rubble.


    He could almost see a hint of the past that these ruins held.


    ''This ce was most probably a city. It doesn''t seem like a military establishment at least.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had heard from Alchemist Ruoxian that these ruins were supposed to be the base of some power of the past. That was also the reason why there was an Immortal Essence Crystal cache hidden here.


    But now that he was actually looking at the ruins, it just looked like a normal city to him.


    "There is a chance that big powers lived here once too, but over time their main buildings have probably been destroyed." Lin Mu muttered.


    If he looked around, he could only see a couple of buildings in his line of sight that were twenty or thirty meters tall. The rest had all copsed or were missing a part of their structure.


    Lin Mu was looking for one such building too as that was where the Cache was most likely to be.


    ''The map that Alchemist Ruoxian gave cannot be used right now as the other cultivators are waiting there. I''ll just have to use the tree as a reference point.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Since the Violet Mystic Life Tree needed a lot of nutrients, it was normal for it to have grown where the Immortal Essence cache would be. Thus with this hypothesis, Lin Mu guessed that the cache should be somewhere under the tree.


    After a few minutes of walking, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby finally reached the near the area where they had spotted the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    "It hasn''t appeared in a while¡­ but it should be just a little distance from here." Lin Mu furrowed his brows and looked around.


    He hadn''t forgotten the words of the cultivators and how they had gotten injured.


    ~SHUA~


    His Immortal sense spread around, trying to search for any hidden arrays or formations.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "There''s one right there." Lin Mu quickly spotted a formation not so far from him.


    It was hidden underground and one wouldn''t be able to find it if they didn''t look there with their immortal sense.


    "They are certainly quite old, and were probably built before these building were erected here." Lin Mu observed.


    Lin Mu continued to look for more of them and discovered several that were spread out. There was a variety of them that could easily kill an immortal of they weren''t careful or had their guard lowered.


    "They are certainly deadly. But one''s like these are intended to protect highly valuable or scree locations. Guess the cache really was supposed to be here." Lin Mu figured out.


    It would make sense for such formations to be built to protect a valuable asset like an Immortal Essence Crystal cache, especially a secret one.


    But as Lin Mu continued onwards, he started to see some damaged formations too. Most of these were connective or ry formations that were used to link other formations. These would be the key to making an array from multiple formations.


    ''Looks like these used to regte how the offensive formations worked. But now that there is no link, they activate whenever someone is nearby.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Thankfully for him, avoiding them was not an issue and those that he couldn''t avoid were simply broken apart.


    ''Practicing with the Diamond Mountain Talisman sure ising handy now¡­ these formations seem easy even if they are unstable.'' Lin Mu didn''t feel any pressure dealing with them.


    Still, it took him nearly an hour to cover this path before he arrived at a new obstacle.


    ~THUD~


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu stumbled into an invisible barrier.


    ~HUMM~


    The air in front of him flickered lightly, but there were almost no abnormalities. Lin Mu ced his hand on the barrier, finding it to be solid by transparent. His Immortal sense was blocked and so was his Spatial Perception.


    "So this is the barrier that prevented me from seeing the Violet Mystic Life Tree¡­" Lin Mu grasped.


    ~SHUA~T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    And just as he said this, he felt an energy fluctuation.


    Then in the next moment, he saw the Violet Mystic Life Tree reappear. Its wide crown covered a lot of area while its Violet Leaves emanated afortable aura.


    "It really is marvelous¡­" Lin Mu could feel the vitality emitting from the tree.


    Most of it was being restrained by the barrier and couldn''t get out, but what did was quite good.


    "Wait¡­ perhaps the tree itself is why the barrier is getting weak!" Lin Mu suddenly had a thought.

 Chapter 1503 Roots Of The Violet Mystic Life Tree

    Lin Mu sensed the barrier and the faint vitality that was leaking from it. He could sense the pulses of the tree''s aura that were seeping out as well.


    "If the tree''s vitality is getting past a certain level, it is normal for the barrier to not be able to contain it. The pressure must be massive, especially since the barrier is containing it all for a long time." Lin Mu now had a better idea about the situation.


    He reckoned that it wouldn''t be long before the barrier wouldn''t be able to bear it at all and would break. Once that happened, he could already imagine the effect it would cause on the surrounding area.


    It wouldn''t just be cultivators that would sense it. The native creatures of the Deste Blood Battlefield would do the same and would probablye rushing here. This would only increase the danger that the people would face.


    "That would probably the point where everyone in the Deste Blood Battlefield would know it. Even the Leafless Dead Forest''s Natural Befuddling Array might not be enough to stop them." Lin Mu realized.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    With the strong energy from the Violet Mystic Life Tree acting as a beacon, even the befuddling array could be ignored. After all, the array simply altered one''s perception of direction but didn''t actually harm one.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu prepared to analyze the barrier. His Immortal sense spread across it, trying to search for a node that would allow him ess or at least a method to identify the type of barrier it was.


    ~shua~


    But a few secondster, the Violet Mystic Life Tree vanished again, causing the energy fluctuations to fall. It allowed the barrier to stabilize once more and prevent Lin Mu from using his immortal sense on it as it directly repelled it.


    ~Sigh~


    "Guess I just need to take another route." Lin Mu first sent Little Shrubby into the Sleepscape and then sank into the ground.


    He slid down along the barrier, trying to see if he could find any weak spots in it. After a few minutes of search, he found several spots on the barrier that were in disharmony.


    ''This might have been the nodes where the connective formations linked up. I can make use of them.'' Lin Mu was pleased.


    After an hour of work, he was able to modify the runes of the nodes enough that it allowed him entry inside.


    "Others might have been able to do the same, but the location of these nodes makes it difficult to do so for them. Doubt they would even discover them this far deep." Lin Mu thanked his luck.


    Phase gave him a level of essibility that others wouldn''t have easily.


    "No use in waiting, let''s do this." Lin Mu entered through the temporary opening he had made and arrived on the other side of the barrier.


    This ce was still just soil and rocks, so Lin Mu needed to continue onwards before finding a suitable location. Though around this part, his immortal sense started to pick up something else.


    "Roots?" Lin Mu could sense a dense number of roots that were spread in the soil.


    He couldn''t tell what kind of roots they were or how they looked like since he was still underground, but he could feel the vitality contained within them. Just that alone confirmed it for him.


    "Are these the roots of the Violet Mystic Life Tree?!" Lin Mu was surprised by the sheer number of them.


    The more he progressed, the denser they got until it reached a point where they formed an entire wall.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu couldn''t use Phase to pass through these roots now.<novelnext></novelnext>


    After all, they were alive and contained vitality. Phase wasn''t a skill that worked on living creatures after all.


    ''Flicker wouldn''tst long enough to pass through these roots either¡­ they are too thick.'' Lin Mu could already estimate using his immortal sense.


    The wall of roots was at least a couple meters thick and was enveloping an area of nearly a kilometer!


    Lin Mu decided to circle around and see if he could find an open spot. But even after fifteen minutes, he was unable to find the right spot to enter it from.


    "Seems like I''ll just have to cut through it." Lin Mu said before taking out his sword.


    ~SLICK~


    One slice was all it took to cut through the roots and open up a path for him. But doing so released a wave of vitality that even pressured Lin Mu.


    "Ugh! This is strong." Lin Mu wondered just how strong it would be once the barrier shattered.


    "Quickly store them away." Xukong''s voice was heard. "The cut roots will wither up soon." He warned.


    "Yes, Senior!" Lin Mu ced his hand on the roots that he had cut off and stored them in the ring.


    This left a hole that was big enough for him to pass through. At the same time, he saw the part where the root was cut off being healed.


    First the wound healed, and next it started to grow!


    Lin Mu quickly entered through the hole before it closed behind him.


    "That was fast¡­" Lin Mu hadn''t expected the roots to regrow that fast.


    "For a tree with such vitality, this is nothing." Xukong replied.


    "Mmhmm¡­ I''ll note that." Lin Mu said as he continued onwards.


    After a few more meters, he arrived in an open area that was filled with a lot of ambient energy.


    Just a mere whiff of the energy was enough to tell Lin Mu what it was.


    "A mine! This should be the Immortal Essence crystal Mine!" Lin Mu was sure of it.


    He passed through the narrow part before appearing in the wide open cave.


    "It really is it¡­" Presented in front of Lin Mu were swathes of crystals growing on the walls and floor.


    But that wasn''t all, as Lin Mu saw roots that had violet veins in them intertwining with these crystals.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree has encapsted the entire mine." Lin Mu understood.

 Chapter 1504 A Vast Mine And Tree Of Conflict

    Lin Mu had certainly not expected for the tree to have such a far reaching growth.


    ''Though considering how it has grown, it does make sense that it did this by capturing the mine.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It posed several questions to Lin Mu too. After all, a magical tree like this would have been noticed by others a long time ago had it not been for the barrier that hid and protected it. But a barrier that could protect a tree like this was also not easy to make.


    Lin Mu wasn''t sure if the barrier was really meant to protect the cache.


    "I just need to get what I came here for first. The rest can be taken care ofter once I''m done¡­" Lin Mu walked ahead while observing the crystals that grew everywhere.


    He could tell that they were different from the Immortal Stones or the spirit stones. While all of them were formed as crystals, their shapes and densities were different. Out of all of them, the Immortal Essence Crystals were the densest.


    Their weight was higher, which resulted in their veins being formed in clusters. Their clusters were spread around in almost equal areas, probably due to being part of the original cache.


    "If this was a fully natural mine, it would have formed a lot irregrly." Lin Mu understood.


    He could also tell that the number of clusters grew as he progressed further. Which meant that the one''s he was seeing here were the newly grown immortal essence crystal. They weren''t from the main source at all.


    "Just how far does this go?" Lin Mu had been walking for ten minutes now and there still was no sign of the main area.


    From what he had heard from Alchemist Ruoxian, the Hundred Year of Essence Spring Stctite would grow right in the core of the Immortal Essence Mine. It was a very sensitive and fragile material that needed to be in istion to form.


    ''It certainly wouldn''t form here¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''I can''t take any of the Immortal Essence Crystals from here right now either as there is no saying the effect it could cause on the Violet Mystic Life tree.''


    Lin Mu had seen that the tree could respond to stimulus and was worried that if he made too much of amotion, it could send tremors through the ground, causing the Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite to crumble.


    At the very least, he needed to obtain the stctite before he could get the rest.


    Lin Mu ended up traveling for about fifteen more minutes, having to pass through literal cliffs of Immortal Essence Crystals. It was stunning to see the sheer amount of them and Lin Mu''s body was reacting ordingly too.


    His vitality red up involuntarily as if desiring all that was around him. Even the two Apertures within his chest sped up as if in anticipation.


    "How long do you think this mine has been forming for, Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu questioned having seen the scale of the mine.


    "Hmmm¡­ this isn''t a natural mine so it''s a bit hard to estimate." Xukong first spoke. "If it were a fully naturally mine that had formed from scratch, even ever million or so years, it would be barely five or ten percent of what you''ve seen so far." He answered.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Really? That small?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel surprised.


    "Yes. Immortal Essence Crystal Mines are rare in the first ce. For them to form, an area doesn''t just need to have a lot of vitality, but its location should also coincide with a natural focus point where the flow of the world''s energies concentrate.


    Only then would they truly form. But in the case of this mine, it was started from an already mined set of Immortal Essence Crystals. I''m thinking that there must be several grades of these crystals in them, including peak grade immortal essence crystals for it to trigger the transformation.


    But even then, it should have taken a few hundred thousand years to reach that point." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm¡­ so this is quite old. Considering the legendary battle happened over a million years ago, the mine should have also started to form around that time." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Yes. But I doubt, even with a million years to grow the mine would have reached this level of growth." Xukong was suspicious. "I don''t think the mine has grown just due to natural factors. I think there is something else contributing to its growth." He stated.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu understood what Xukong was implying.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree¡­ it has contributed to the growth of the mine¡­" Lin Mu said with some shock.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    "Yes¡­ it is likely that the Violet Mystic Life Tree originally started off growing with the help of the mine, but as it grew its natural ability to absorb Immortal Essence also grew. It might have resulted it concentrating it in its roots, which eventually led it to contributing to the Immortal Essence Crystal mine." Xukong exined his hypothesis.


    "That does seem likely¡­ But doesn''t this mean that if this is left as is, the Violet Mystic Life Tree could continue to contribute to the growth of the mine?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "That might be possible¡­ but it''s something that only future would tell." Xukong replied. "All the other Violet Mystic Life Trees I''ve seen had been harvested not long after theywere discovered."


    Hearing this, Lin Mu had a thought.


    "How would youpare this Violet Mystic Life Tree to the one''s you''ve seen Senior? How big is it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Compared to the other three I''ve seen, I would say it ranks second size wise." Xukong answered.


    "Second¡­ that means its quite big isn''t it?" Lin Mu spoke. "And valuable?"


    "Very¡­ all Violet Mystic Life Trees end up causing wars and great conflicts. One as big as this would easily invite trouble from hundreds if not thousands of powers." Xukong replied.

 Chapter 1505 The Hundred Year Old Essence Spring Stalactites

    Learning all this from Senior Xukong, Lin Mu was sure that himing this early was the best.


    "The Violet mystic Life Tree can increase one''s lifespan right Senior? By much can it do that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It depends on the part of the three. The Fruits are the main method of increasing lifespan and it can increase one''s lifespans by a thousand years. Of course, a cultivator can only eat one fruit. Consuming them again will have no effect and might actually cause them a bacsh.


    The leaves of the tree can also increase one''s lifespans, but it does not work for immortals. For those below the immortal realm though, it can still be a saving grace. Though they do not increase more than ten years of lifespans." Xukong answered.


    "What about the trunk, branches or the roots?" Lin Mu asked feeling curious.


    "The trunk, root sand branches don''t have the same effect." Xukong replied. "Though they all have other uses. The Roots can be refined into healing pills, while the branches and trunk can be used to make immortal tools." He added.


    "I see¡­ so its useful all over." Lin Mu was impressed. "If the tree is carefully cultivated, one can enjoy the benefits for years toe." He understood,


    "That is true, but it has never happened." Xukong denied.


    "What? Why''s that?" Lin Mu asked, but the realized it himself. "Of course¡­ the conflicts won''t let it happen, will it?"


    "Indeed. With so many powers are fighting for one thing, it is hard to control greed. They would rather destroy the long term gains and repay the entire tree rather than wait and let others have an equal share." Xukong agreed.


    ~Sigh~


    "Guess it''ll be the same fate for this too¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "Though maybe we can get some benefits from it before that."


    The biggest benefit was obviously the fruits and Lin Mu would be able to exchange them for a decent fortune. Though the roots didn''t seem like a bad option either as they could be refined into healing pills.


    ''Maybe Alchemist Ruoxian might be able to do it too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~DRIP~DRIP~DRIP~


    The sound of something dripping could be heard, which snapped Lin Mu out of his thoughts.


    "Water?" Lin Mu spread his immortal sense around searching for the source of sound.


    He was currently passing through a narrow gap between two walls that was created due to roots growing between them. Because of this he couldn''t tell where he was going or whatid ahead, but with his immortal sense he quickly grasped it.


    "There it is!" Within Lin Mu''s scope of Immortal sense appeared a new area.


    And after walking a few more meters, he could see it with his eyes too.


    Unlike the rest of the mine, this ce was illuminated!


    The source of the light was none other than the roots of the Violet Mystic Life Tree. The violet veins on them were glowing and cast a light that reflected off the millions of crystal surfaces in the mine.<novelnext></novelnext>


    All of this created a dazzling scene and perfectly illuminated the cave.


    This section was wide and seemed to be the core ce of the entire mine. The reason being none other than what Lin Mu hade looking for.


    "There it is! The hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite!" Lin Mu eximed.


    In the center of his sights there was a pond. The pond was roughly five meters wide and was filled with a milky white liquid that shimmered under the light of the roots. Ripples would form on it as small white drops would fall in it from time to time.


    And the ce where these white drops fell from was none other than the Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite!


    The Stctite hung from the roof and seemed to have several segments. From it one could tell that it had taken a long time to condense and form. It was nearly a meter long and was about ten centimeters wide.


    It wasn''t the only stctite though as there were several other stctites around it too. Though they were shorter than it, with the majority being less than twenty or thirty centimeters long.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense spread towards the stctite and carefully examined it.


    ''I need to confirm if it really is a Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite¡­'' Lin Mu checked the number of segments on the formation.


    For it to qualify as a Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite, it needed to have at least a hundred segments on it.


    "One hundred and four¡­ it''s actually more than that." Lin Mu was surprised.


    He knew that these stctites didn''t form easily and were quite fragile. While a Hundred year Old Essence Spring Stctite only took a hundred years to form, not all of themsted that long.


    Due to being fragile, most of them would end up crumbling way before that. Thus among several hundred such Essence Spring stctites, only one or two might reach the age of a hundred years old.


    "There might be more of them, you should take a look." Xukong suggested. "With the size of the area, there should be more essence springs."


    "I''ll take a look." Lin Mu let his Immortal sense spread further, while trying to avoid the stctites.


    Immortal sense was made from Immortal Qi and could actually cause the Stctites to break due to their properties. Thus he needed to be carfare not to touch them too forcefully. Just from this one could see how fragile they really were.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    For one tost over a hundred years was already close to a miracle.


    "There''s more of them¡­ two more!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    Some distance from the Essence Spring he was at, several more ponds existed. And these ponds had two stctites that had reached the length needed for them to be Hundred year old!


    "This''ll be good¡­" Lin Mu was very excited about the pills that he would be getting from theseter.

 Chapter 1506 Harvesting The Stalactites And Immortal Cave Milk

    Having found not one, not two but three Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctites was a matter of great joy to Lin Mu.


    Not only had he found what he had set out for, he had gotten it threefold.


    ''I shouldn''t get ahead of myself though. I still need to take these back safely and get Alchemist Ruoxian to refine them.'' Lin Mu told himself.


    ~HUU~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu calmed down and looked at the stctite hanging on the roof.


    "Taking this won''t be simple¡­" Lin Mu knew the material was fragile and touching it would inevitably break them.


    This was one of the reasons why they were so hard to obtain and use. Chances were, even if someone did find a Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite, they might just end up breaking them when trying to take them.


    It would destroy the stctite and would leave it with no use as all the energy contained within it would dissipate when it would break.


    Lin Mu thought for a minute before deciding on a method.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a breath before extending his hand towards the Stctite from a distance.


    "Meld!" having done that, Lin Mu finally activated the fifth skill he had obtained from the ring.


    Meld could allow Lin Mu to control the space on a fine level and would also freeze it at the same time. It was a skill that even he hadn''t fully understood yet. But its characteristic were perfect for the current task.


    The space around the Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite trembled before it was enveloped under the effects of Meld. The area of effect was a rectangr cuboid, but was invisible to anyone other than Lin Mu.


    The one meter long stctite was perfectly encased within this cuboid and Lin Mu slowly pulled it towards himself.


    "It''s working¡­ the Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite is intact!" Lin Mu was pleased.


    He carefully brought it towards himself using meld and when it was just a few inches from his hand, he stored it in the ring.


    "Haaa! It''s done¡­ it''s actually done." Lin Mu let out a breath of relief.


    After all it was a nerve wracking task, as even a small mistake could cause the entire thing to break and his effort to go to waste.


    Having store it though, Lin Mu''s attention went to the pond filled with the shimmering milky liquid.


    "You should take the Immortal Cave Milk too. It can be used to refine more Body cultivation pills." Xukong suggested.


    "Yes senior. If I recall correctly, this can be used as one of the materials for the Tri-essence Immortal pill too." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed. You don''t have arge supply of Pure Wood Essence, so this will be good enough for its substitute." Xukong stated.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu nodded his head and got ready to store the Immortal Cave Milk too. For that, he took outrge ss bottles that were inscribed with preserving formations. It was one of the misceneous things he had bought during his shopping spree in the Skrk city as well as Middle fort city.


    He had bought it exactly for situations like these and they weren''t the only things either. Lin Mu had bought plenty of items that woulde in handy for a multitude of situations.


    These ss bottles were necessary to preserve the Immortal Cave Milk. While it wasn''t as vtile as the Immortal Essence itself, it could still dissipate after some time passed. It was a type of Immortal liquid that would be naturally formed in Immortal Essence Crystal mines as well as Immortal Stone Mines.


    The only difference was that the Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite would only form in the Immortal Essence Crystal mines but not in the Immortal Stone mines.


    The Immortal Cave Milk was a valuable material and could be used for a lot of things. It was something that many sects and power would look after as it was technically a renewable resource.


    As long as the cave where it was formed was taken care off, they could continue to harvest it over time. Lin Mu had even seen it for sale in the Grand Sky Pavilion before, thus knew that it wasn''t too rare.


    He spent a few minutes in gathering all the Immortal Cave Milk before moving to the next section.


    "I should take the other Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite too and the Immortal Cave milk there." Lin Mu wasn''t going to leave them behind.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    After reaching the next section, Lin Mu used Meld again, storing away the two Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctites in his ring safely. Once that was done, he also took away All Immortal Cave milk that was present below them.


    In total, Lin Mu had gotten nearly sixrge bottles of the Immortal Cave Milk. If this was sold in the Grand Sky Pavilion, Lin Mu would be able to get at least a few thousand High Grade immortal stones for it.


    Though he wasn''t going to do that when he himself had a use for it.


    Not to mention, the immortal Cave Milk could also be drank directly for a quick boost to one''s vitality. It even worked as a medicine for healing wounds. This was one of the reasons why it was a valuable resources.


    ''This was a good harvest for sure, and it''s not even the beginning¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as his attention went to the millions of Immortal Essence Crystals growing everywhere.


    ~TREMBLE~


    But just as Lin Mu was thinking about this, he felt the entire area shake.


    "WHAT!?" Lin Mu was stunned by the sudden quaking.


    ~BOOM~


    A few momentster, he could hear a muffled explosion too. Which was surprising since he was deep underground.


    ''If I can hear it even here, that means it was very strong¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    But this was merely the start of the surprises.


    "The roots¡­ they''re pulsating?" Lin Mu saw the violet veins on the roots of the Violet Mystic Life Tree throbbing.

 Chapter 1507 The Grand Sky Pavilion Arrives

    Seeing the reaction of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, Lin Mu was concerned. He didn''t know what had happened but knew that it must be big enough to cause the entire tree to act up.


    "Did the barrier break or something?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    ~Crack~


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    A few secondster, he saw the Stctite that were hanging from the roof copse.


    ''I''m lucky it didn''t start before and I manged to take the Hundred Year Old Essence Spring Stctites with me or it might have ended up as a bad situation. I would have lost them all...'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He knew that waiting here would not be good and that he needed to act quick if he were to get any more benefits from the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    "At the very least I need to get a fruit from the tree..." Lin Mu muttered to himself before flying up.


    He cut open a gap in the roots that were encapsting the mine and continued onwards. And just like before the roots all healed and closed up within seconds of Lin Mu cutting them.


    In fact, Lin Mu even thought that the speed of healing was a bit faster than before. Though he didn''t have the time to confirm it right now. He needed to focus more on the situation at hand and see what was happening.


    A couple of minutester, Lin Mu reached the surface and appeared some distance from the Violet Mystic Life Tree. The crown of the tree was quite wide but Lin Mu was still some distance from it.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    It was at this time that he heard the explosions again. He looked over to its source and saw the reason behind it.


    "They''re attacking the barrier!" Lin Mu saw tens of cultivators surrounding the barrier.


    They were using various means to attack the barrier, with fire balls, swords lights, fist imprints and beast shadows flying. A myriad of attacks mixed together, making it hard to tell what the attacks were at one point.


    But that was not all, as Lin Mu noticed that there were also formations masters working on unraveling the array. They were situated at the back and were using their skills and tools to analyze the barrier.


    "Half of these people aren''t from the cultivators who were waiting around... Did their reinforcement arrive already?" Lin Mu was taken aback.


    He was hoping that they would take longer to arrive, especially with the Leafless Dead forest turning into a Natural Befuddling array.


    ''No... with the formation masters they have, it makes sense that they must have figured out a way to ovee it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu quickly hid himself, knowing that he couldn''t be seen right now. Thankfully the illusory properties of the barrier were still functioning and the insides of the barrier couldn''t be seen properly.


    "Continue your attacks! We need to destabilize the array so the formation masters can find the ws!" An elder shouted while attacking.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It''s working! We can sense the nodes!" The formation masters spoke after a few minutes.


    But while the attacks were continuing, something else was happening at the ruined buildings where the cultivators had been camped.


    Arge Ship was now parked here, and several experts were guarding it. The ship was nearly five hundred meters long and could easily be considered a warship considering the dense amount of offensive formations that were ced on it.


    "Tch~ The Grand Sky Pavilion is really too much. They brought their entire team to capture these ruins and the tree." A few cultivators were talking some distance away.


    With howrge the ship was, it could be seen by everyone since it towered over the copsed buildings.


    "What can we even do? They are one of the major powers of the middle Fort city. Even if we had called for help earlier, our elders need to travel a lot further." Another cultivator said in a frustrated tone.


    ~Sigh~


    "We were simply told to wait and watch since the formation arrays were beyond us. But now it will all be for naught..."


    "It''s not like we can oppose the Grand Sky Pavilion''s experts either. If we try that, we''ll be dead before our support arrives. At least once our elders arrive, we might be able to argue for a share."


    "Then there''s that damned Leafless Dead forest too! How the hell did it turn into a Befuddling array?"


    "Yeah, it sure as hell wasn''t like that when we passed through it."


    "Our elders are now dyed because of it too. Only the Grand Sky Pavilion managed to ovee it somehow..."


    Simr conversations were going on in all the camps of the cultivators who had originally discovered the ruins. Most of them had instruction to wait for their elders or reinforcements to arrive. The only ones who didn''t have this option were the itinerant cultivators who had stumbled upon this ce.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    They were in the worst situation and could only wait around helplessly, hoping for some random fortune to favor them.


    But the appearance of the Grand Sky Pavilion had messed it all up. They had directly brought over their Grand Battleship, along with hundreds of experts and tens of elders, all ready to act for most situations.


    They quickly suppressed the experts that were camping in the area, and warned them from acting out. They then swiftly acted and attacked the barrier that surrounded the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    Their attacks were strong, and made the entire barrier shake. But despite that, the barrier didn''t copse. The experts of the Grand Sky Pavilion didn''t waver though and quickly adapted to it, relying on the work of their formation masters.


    Lin Mu observed through all and knew that the Grand Sky Pavilion was taking this very seriously.


    "Looks like I''ll need to be sneaky." Lin Mu looked up at the tree and searched for a fruit.


    He flew up at a great speed, and got to see the tree closely for the first time.

 Chapter 1508 Finding The Fruits

    The Violet Mystic Life Tree was truly magical and Lin Mu could feel the dense energy that was contained within it.


    Every leaf, every twig, every branch was filled with vitality and even the air around it was getting infused with it.


    "No wonder they say merely staying within its periphery can heal mortals and improve one''s health." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Just a few breaths alone were enough to invigorate Lin Mu, making him feel like his exhaustion was fading away.


    "Let''s search for the fruit then¡­ there should be at least one." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Considering the age of the tree, there should be at least four or five of them." Xukong informed.


    "Oh? Where can I find them senior?" Lin Mu asked. "My immortal sense is not useful here, due to the energy of the tree." He was unable to use Immortal sense as it would get deflected by the energy that was being emitted by the tree.


    "The fruits are usually quite spread around if there is more than one." Xukong answered. "If you find one fruit, the others should be distant from it."


    "Alright senior." Lin Mu flew through the branches of the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    The dense branches and leaves made it hard to search for the fruit. Not to mention, from what Lin Mu had learned, the fruit was also of the same color. It would be very easy to miss one, especially since he couldn''t use his Immortal Sense either.


    And while Lin Mu continued his search for the fruit, the bombardment on the barrier was ongoing. The people of the Grand Sky Pavilion were relentless and didn''t seem like they would give up easily.


    The formation masters were also workings on it diligently and were getting results too. It wouldn''t be long before they would be able to either gain a passage into the barrier, or directly disable it.


    Lin Mu frantically searched for five minutes before he finally sensed something.


    "Hang on¡­" Lin Mu could feel his body responding to something. "Such intense response¡­ it should only be due to dense vitality." He muttered.


    Lin Mu followed his body''s response and quickly reached a small bunch of branches. They were located at the base of the tree''s crown and were filled with leaves, almost making it look like a violet clouds.


    The feeling that Lin Mu was getting was from these leaves.


    "Is it here¡­" Lin Mu parted the branches and leaves, allowing him to see its insides.


    And in there, he finally saw the fruit. It was about the size of an orange and was violet in color just like the leaves. Its skin was smooth and fine patterns could be seen on it. Upon examining closely one would realize that these patterns were actually runes!


    "This¡­ isn''t this Dao Script!?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "It is indeed." Xukong confirmed.


    "So it really is like that¡­ Dao Scripte''s from the very Dao itself. Natural treasures can form these runes automatically¡­" This was the first time that Lin Mu was encountering something that had Dao Script on it.


    While he had read about it and also heard from Senior Xukong about it, seeing it with his own two eyes was a unique experience.


    ''What are these runes though?'' Lin Mu tried to read the runes on the fruit.


    But after a few seconds, he realized he was unable to recognize them at all.


    "You won''t be able to read it right now. You haven''tprehended it after all." Xukong reminded. "Keep it with you forter. You can study it." He suggested.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yes, that''ll be good." Lin Mu wouldn''t give up an opportunity to learn more about Dao Script.


    While he had learned a lot from Xukong, there were still runes that could not be taught by others, only understood on their own. The runes on the Fruit of the Violet Mystic Life Tree were an example of that.


    ''I need to ensure the Fruit is not damaged¡­'' Lin Mu first took out a special storage box that was used for Immortal Fruits and herbs.


    It was made out of Lacquered Wood that was then protected with preserving formations. Even its insides were cushioned and padded to ensure that the delicate fruits and herbs would not be damaged by the hard surface.


    Lin Mu held the open box with one hand, and then used his other hand to gently pinch the twig that was attached to the fruit.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    ~Snap~


    The twig broke off smoothly and Lin Mu immediately put the fruit in the box before closing it.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief seeing the Fruit safely stored away.


    "That''s one fruit down," Lin Mu said before looking around for others.


    ~rustle~


    But what he didn''t notice was that the tree had started to move faintly. This had happened just as he had plucked the fruit and was barely noticeable over the explosions that were happening in the distance.


    The explosions had gotten stronger and were now affecting the area within the barrier too. It was a sign that the barrier wouldn''tst long.


    Lin Mu saw this too and knew that he needed to be faster.


    ''I''ll try using the same method as before. My body seems to be able to sense the energy of the fruits.'' Lin Mu closed his eyes and relied on his instincts to find the fruit.


    After a couple of minutes of wandering, he finally felt a slight response. He changed his direction to go there and felt the response getting stronger. And a minuteter, the response got strong enough for Lin Mu to confirm that there was a fruit there.


    "Here it is!" Lin Mu finally found the second fruit.


    Just like before, the fruit was nestled between hundreds of leaves and could be barely seen.


    "Carefully¡­" Lin Mu opened the fruit storage box that already contained a fruit and quickly plucked the second fruit.


    ~CLACK~


    The box was closed and the fruits were stored away safely.


    ~RUSTLE~ RUSTLE~


    "Huh? What''s that?"

 Chapter 1509 The Tree Awakens

    Upon plucking the second fruit, Lin Mu noticed that the branches and leaves in front of him were moving.


    ''They certainly aren''t moving from the wind¡­ and neither from the vibrations¡­'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    But after watching it for a few seconds, the leaves stopped moving, making him think that he was just mistaken.


    "I need to search for other fruits, I can''t waste any more time¡­" Lin Mu wandered around searching for more.


    He was getting better at sensing the fruits, as his body was also responding to the energy of the fruits better. Lin Mu could only attribute it to him being a body cultivator, for his body to respond to vitality like this.


    ''Even if I don''t necessarily need the added vitality from the fruits of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, my body still hungers for it¡­ Guess there''s no such thing as too much lifespan.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Being a dual body and Qi cultivator, Lin Mu''s current longevity was more than ten thousand years. It was actually hard to estimate for even Xukong, since it could actually vary depending on the quality of Lin Mu''s body.


    The longevity could also changeter on, thus confirming it was difficult. Only the Ten thousand years could be said with a guarantee. At a maximum, there was a chance Lin Mu could easily have over fifteen thousand years of longevity at his current cultivation base.


    This was a massive number that most cultivators wouldn''t have. But then again, this was a benefit that only dual body and Qi cultivators had. While it came with its own difficulties, as long as one could ovee them, it was all worth it.


    The long lifespan Lin Mu had was also making him wonder if he should just enter seclusion and hone his upational skills for a while.


    Five more minutes passed like this before Lin Mu stumbled upon the third fruit!


    "Good!" Lin Mu carefully plucked the fruit and stored it in the wooden box safely.


    ~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~


    ~THUD~


    But as soon as he did that, the branch in front of him moved and pped his hand!


    "What the!?" Lin Mu was surprised by this.


    ~BOOM~


    ~CRACK~


    At the same time, arge explosion happened at the barrier, making it crack.


    "Shit! They''ve already cracked it!" Lin Mu wondered if he needed to escape now.


    ~WOONG~


    But before he could follow on that thought, winds started to stirs around the Violet Mystic Life Tree. Then in the next moment, strong energy fluctuations rose from the tree, stunning Lin Mu.


    "What''s happening?" Lin Mu became alert.


    ~KACHA~ KACHA~


    "HAHA! The barrier is broken!" The members of the Grand Sky Pavilion exined.


    "Everyone charge in!" The elders ordered.


    ~SHUA~ ~SHUA~


    "Dammit! They''ve broken in¡­" Lin Mu knew his time here hade to an end.


    ~rustle~ rustle~


    ~CREAK~


    But at this point, he felt a massive wave of energy spreading from the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    "Ugh!" it was strong enough to send Lin Mu flying back.


    ~WOONG~


    The entire Violet Mystic Life Tree started to shake, as its branches moved. The veins on the leaves grew brightly while its trunk swayed.


    ~HUALA~


    Lin Mu watched as Tens of thousands of runes spread out from the leaves of the Violet Mystic Life Tree. The runes were all in Dao Script and were so intricate, Lin Mu could barely read a fraction of them.


    "It can''t be¡­ this tree¡­" Lin Mu started to realize something.<novelnext></novelnext>Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    But this seemed to merely be the start of something huge as the trunk of the Violet Mystic Life Tree suddenly cracked and split!


    Lin Mu watched in shock, wondering if the tree was damaged somehow. But then he saw a red glow filling the cracked trunk. A familiar bloody aura permeated the cracks in the trunk and soon turned into a thick viscous fluid.


    "This can''t be¡­ it''s simr to that strange rock creature¡­" Lin Mu recalled the creature that had attacked him and Little Shrubby when they had arrived in the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    The aura that the Violet Mystic Life Tree was now emitting was very simr to that.


    ''No¡­ it''s actually stronger!'' Lin Mu grasped.


    ~HONG~


    By this time, the runes that had spread out from the Violet Mystic Life Tree were now assembled into arge array. Lin Mu couldn''t understand what the array was from looking at it, but soon understood its effect by merely experiencing it.


    "I can''t¡ª" Lin Mu suddenly became unable to fly and plummeted to the ground.


    ~THUD~


    His body crashed into the ground, leaving an imprint in it.


    "Ugh¡­ why can''t I fly?" Lin Mu was confused.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    "AHH!"


    "WHAT THE HELL!?"


    "What''s happening!?"


    But it wasn''t just him that was unable to fly. The members of the Grand Sky Pavilion that had entered the area of the Violet Mystic Life Tree also experienced the same thing and fell to the ground.


    "What''s this elder?" the junior members of the Grand Sky Pavilion asked.


    "How''s this possible?" the elder though seemed to be stunned.


    He was looking at his hands, having noticed something more than the others.


    But being experienced, he didn''t stay in his dazed state for long.


    "EVERYONE! MOVE BACK!" The elder shouted.


    "Why elder?" they asked.


    "Move back or you won''t be able to¡ª" Before the elder could finish his words though, the others had understood.


    "I can''t sense Immortal Qi!?"


    "I can''t mobilize my own immortal Qi either!"


    "How''s this possible?"


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    More runes started to rise from the Violet Mystic Life Tree, and soon turned into formations.


    These formations though were something the formation masters could identify.


    "Heavens! Fire Fall offensive formations!"


    "Retreat! Retreat!"


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Just a few secondster, all the formations in the air lit up and hundreds of fire balls were shot out of them. The fireballsnded on the cultivators who had entered the area, injuring them and sending them flying.


    Lin Mu who watched all this was stunned.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree has awakened?"

 Chapter 1510 Mystery Of The Tree

    Lin Mu was shocked seeing the Tree change like this.


    But having seen it all, the ability to use runes, it able to respond as well as attack the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion, Lin Mu was now sure of one thing.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree¡­ It''s Sentient!" Lin Mu eximed.


    At the same time, a few new thoughts appeared in his mind that soon turned into desires.


    ''If I can take this tree¡­ with the resources it can provide as well as the vitality it generates¡­ the Sleepscape will be even better!'' Lin Mu knew if he went ahead with this, it was going to be very risky.


    Especially with the Grand Sky Pavilion being there, it was even more so. While it seemed like they were defeated, Lin Mu knew it was just a temporary setback for them. Lin Mu had seen the Elders that had arrived, they were at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm!


    And there were several of them too. Just this alone showed that the Grand Sky Pavilion was taking this very seriously. If they didn''t get the Tree now, they''ll just keep on trying until even stronger members of their group arrive.


    Lin Mu had heard from Alchemist Ruoxian how strong they really were and the backing they had. It was even said that there were elders who were at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm in seclusion back at their main pce.


    If an expert like that decided to interfere, Lin Mu knew things could go bad very quickly.


    ''This is going to be a gamble¡­ But it''ll be worth it if I can seed in it!'' Lin Mu''s eyes glowed with determination.


    But before taking action, Lin Mu needed to assess the situation. After all, there was a big problem on his head right now.


    "The immortal Qi has been suppressed¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    Even he was unable to utilize the Immortal Qi within his body, simr to the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''It feels simr to the technique that the Northern Tribes used but of much high level¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Since he had his body cultivation, Lin Mu wasn''t that worried, but he also knew it had restrained his strength by a margin.


    "That''s not all," Xukong spoke up at this point. "The tree isn''t just restraining Immortal Qi, it will also restrain all Qi skills." He reminded Lin Mu.


    "Of course!" Lin Mu realized.


    He tried to use his ring''s skills and was unable to do so. Flicker, Blink, Phase, Fade and Meld didn''t work at all.


    "This makes it a lot more difficult¡­" Without the ring''s skills, Lin Mu would not be having an easy time with the tree.


    Not just that, but even escaping would be difficult since his skills were quite important for that.


    And while Lin Mu wasing to terms with the inability to use any Qi skills, the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion had retreated outside the limits of where the barrier used to be.


    "The Immortal Qi! I can feel it again!" someone eximed.


    "I can feel my cultivation base again!" The others soon felt their power return.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The elder who was leading the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion furrowed his brows as he started at the Violet Mystic Life Tree that had transformed.


    "This is not in any records¡­ Seems like we are facing a mutant." The Elder spoke.


    "A Mutant?" The people of the Grand Sky Pavilion repeated in confusion.


    "Just know that we''ll have to analyze the abilities of the tree first. We cannot rush in directly, we''ll need to suppress the formations it is using first." The Elder ordered.


    "Yes! elder!" They all responded.


    The formation masters quickly got to work, while other members assisted them.


    Lin Mu who watched all this, was impressed by how quickly the Grand Sky Pavilion hadposed themselves.


    "Having apetent leader surely makes a huge difference¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He watched as the Violet Mystic Life Tree continues its assault against the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    They had seemingly split their people into two groups. The first group was the Formation masters who were in charge of analyzing the arrays that the Violet Mystic Life Tree was using and the second group was in charge of protecting them.


    The offensive formations used by the Violet Mystic Life Tree weren''t just limited to the Fire Fall Offensive Formation either. Several more of them appeared and their attacks easily reached the ce where the Grand Sky Pavilion members were working at.


    Watching this, Lin Mu understood that the range where the Violet Mystic Life Tree could restrain Immortal Qi was only within the scope of the barrier.


    ''As long as it''s within the barrier, only the Violet Mystic Life Tree can use formations and as such, Immortal Qi. Others will be restrained and will quickly get targeted by its offensive formations.'' Lin Mu observed.


    After observing for a couple of minutes, though, Lin Mu realized something.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree does not attack directly¡­ it only does so using the formations¡­." Lin Mu muttered as a n started to form within his mind.


    He avoided the line of sight of the Grand Sky Pavilion''s members as he tried to approach the Violet Mystic Life Tree. He wanted to see if the tree would react if he directly touched it.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Of course, the tree attacked him using the offensive formations, but Lin Mu simply dodged them or bore the impact. With his body, it wasn''t that difficult for him to do both. The attacks that could kill Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortals were something that weren''t even able to injure him.


    Though with every impact, Lin Mu could feel the Immortal Essence within his body depleting.


    ''I can''t just defend endlessly. Once my Immortal Essence runs out, my defenses will copse¡­'' Lin Mu understood.


    Even if he had massive stores of Immortal Essence due to the Apertures, he knew better than to use them blindly.

 Chapter 1511 A Method To Take The Violet Mystic Life Tree

    Lin Mu didn''t just need to rely on his stores of Immortal Essence to obtain the Violet Mystic Life Tree, but he also needed them to escapeter on.


    ''I need to optimize my usage of Immortal Essence. Otherwise I might be caught off guard with low stores¡­ off setting them with the Immortal Essence Crystals is an option too, but I don''t wish to let the situation reach that point¡­'' Lin Mu pondered on it.


    In all this, he had grasped one thing. He first needed to know just how the Violet Mystic Life Tree was doing all this.


    "Senior Xukong, can you figure out what happened to the Violet Mystic Life Tree?" Lin Mu questioned. "I don''t think a normal Violet Mystic Life Tree is supposed to be capable of all this, is it?"


    "It surely is not¡­" Xukong agreed. "While a normal Violet Mystic Life Tree does have defenses, its usually in the form of beasts or other creatures that protect it. These creatures are nurtured by the tree and thus support it as a form of mutual benefit.


    But¡­ we didn''t see any creatures here." He spoke.


    "We didn''t indeed¡­ and then the change that the tree had. What''s up with that?" Lin Mu said next.


    "I can only attribute the change to the Deste Blood Battlefield and its uniqueness. It seems to have absorbed a lot of its bloody aura as well as a part of the baleful energies. This has caused it to mutate." Xukong stated.


    "It still seems to have its original characteristic though. If it was contaminated by the baleful energies, shouldn''t its vitality have fallen too?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree is far too strong to be affected by mere baleful energies. For how long it has existed, I can expect that it should have a cultivation base that is equivalent to the peak of the Immortal realm." Xukong replied.


    "Peak of the Immortal realm¡­ no wonder it can put up such an offense." Lin Mu muttered.


    "But at the same time, it is restrained by its natural characteristics. It cannot move or attack directly, thus it uses its natural affinity to runes to make formations." Xukong added.


    "That means that it has developed intelligence, right?" Lin Mu said.


    "Yes. The bloody aura and vitality should have given it that. It''s hard to tell how or why it happened, but then again there has never been a Violet Mystic Life Tree that has grown on a battlefield like this." Xukong replied. "This can only be attributed to a miracle."


    Lin Mu thought over Xukong''s words and wondered how he should proceed.


    ''I won''t be able to take the tree without being able to use Qi¡­ Plus, storing it in the ring directly isn''t an option either. With how much energy it has, it can easily resist the spatial discement.'' Lin Mu''s mind continued to run.


    A hundred thousand went through his mind while he continued to dodge the attacks of the offensive formations. Dodging them was the best option at conserving energy, and sometimes that meant retreating a few steps back.


    This back and forth meant that approaching the tree wasn''t easy. Though thankfully Lin Mu could think and dodge at the same time.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Something doesn''t add up¡­" While dodging the attacks, Lin Mu had a slight realization. "Even if it is equivalent to the peak of the Immortal realm, for it to use Formations like this is not possible¡­ not to mention the way it is also restraining immortal Qi.


    Just the restraining of immortal Qi would be a mountainous task and would need a massive array to do so." Lin Mu could understand, thus due to his past experience with the Northern Tribes.


    Both of the times when the people of the northern Tribes has restrained Qi, it had been done through arge array.


    ''If it was sealing just spirit Qi, I could understand it being able to do it without an array, but for immortal Qi¡­ that too restraining the cultivation of fifth tribtion stage Immortal realm elder? That won''t be possible without the support of an array.'' Lin Mu continually analyzed.


    "And if the array isn''t on the surface, then¡­" Lin Mu''s eyes went to the ground.


    A secondter, he understood. "THE ROOTS! The Violet Mystic Life Tree''s roots are the basis behind the Immortal Qi restraining array!" he eximed.


    Lin Mu then activated his Spatial Perception and took another look at the ground. Since Spatial Perception wasn''t something that was reliant on Qi, Lin Mu could still use it with no issues.


    And while looking at the ground, his assumption was confirmed.


    ''The are fluctuations that can restrain even the space¡­ these are definitely due to the array.'' Lin Mu determined.


    Having understood how the Violet Mystic Life Tree was doing its work, Lin Mu now had a better chance had fulfilling his goal.


    "If I am to take the tree, I''ll need to first disrupt the array made from its roots." Lin Mu said to himself.


    Doing this was certainly possible, and there were many methods to do so too. But Most of these methods were violent and would harm the tree.


    For example, he could use his Immortal swords and sh the roots. Since he had Sword Intent, Lin Mu would still be able to do a lot of damage without his immoral Qi. The other option would be to directly attack the roots and break them.


    ''But that would defeat the purpose of obtaining the tree¡­ I want the tree to obtain its resources and effects, harming it would only go against this.'' Lin Mu needed a method by which he could obtain the tree with little to no harm.


    "There is a way you can do that." Xukong spoke at this time. "A straightforward method of doing it."


    "What senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Just uproot the tree." Xukong replied, much to Lin Mu''s surprise. "With its vitality, being uprooted won''t cause it any harm and it''ll be able to return to normal as long as it gets soil again."Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1512 The Burning Heart Sutra Is Used Again

    Xukong''s suggestion of uprooting the Violet Mystic Life Tree certainly seemed oundish, but it was still something Lin Mu could aplish.


    "Hmm¡­ doing that will be difficult, but possible." Lin Mu muttered.


    But at the same time he also knew that there were other things that he''ll need to take into consideration if he did decided to go ahead with the n.


    ''The others will certainly notice that someone is uprooting the tree if I do that. It''ll definitely get a target painted on my back for sure.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After being chased for years in the Xiaofan world, Lin Mu did not want a repeat of it again. He wanted a time of peace so that he could continue to learn more skills and knowledge.


    "Normal disguises won''t work either¡­ There''s no way a simple mask would be enough." Lin Mu thought over his options as he watched the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    But as he was doing that, the red glow and bloody aura emanating from the tree reminded him of something.


    ''If I use that, it''ll certainly be possible.'' Lin Mu had an idea that just might work.


    "Though I haven''t used it for a long time now¡­" Lin Mu reminisced a few memories before shaking them off.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s just try it. It''ll certainly be able to hide my identity long enough for me to hide and will work despite the Violet Mystic Life Tree''s restrictions on Immortal Qi." Lin Mu said to himself and took a deep breath.


    A few secondster, Lin Mu started chanting.


    The chants were strange and would be iprehensible by others. But if they did hear it, they would find themselves getting enraged unknowingly. The same seemed to be happening to Lin Mu as veins popped up on his skin, with blood pupping through them furiously.


    His muscles suddenly bulged out before starting to expand. Hisplexion turned redder and darker while his face started to turn broader. If it weren''t for the fact that his eyes were closed, one would see that his eyes had also turned red.


    This was merely the start though as Lin Mu suddenly started to grow!


    His body expanded to the point where his loose robes became stretched taught. It eventually reached a point where his robes couldn''t hold his body in and were ripped apart!


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The Yin Yang Twin Serpents were woken up from this sudden change and were a bit startled. But the link between Lin Mu and them quickly calmed them down and they changed their position. They quickly moved up and wrapped around his arms, looking like ck and white bands.


    ~Haa~


    Lin Mu''s breath turned heavier and it felt more like a beast was breathing now. His skin had turned entirely red and fine bumps could be seen growing on it.


    ~SHUA~


    After a few more moments, a dense red aura burst out of his body and fully enveloped him. The red aura was like a bloody mist that hid Lin Mu''s body within.


    The aura rose above his body and slowly took the form of a figure. The figure was that of arge bear that had an inverted triangle pattern on its chest. At the same time, it had two horns growing from its head.


    This was none other than the figure of the Great Slumber Bear!


    ~ROAR~<novelnext></novelnext>


    The figure raised its head and let out a loud roar. It was so loud that it was actually audible over the attacks of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, as well as the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    "What was that!?" The people of the Grand Sky Pavilion sensed a wave of energying from the area of the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    The elder who was leading them looked over and saw a red aura rising from the distance.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    "Is the tree doing something?" The elder wondered.


    With how the Violet Mystic Life Tree had mutated, they had no way of confirming anything. Not to mention, the red auraing from Lin Mu was very simr to the red aura of the mutated Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    But a few secondster, the Elder''s eyes went wide.


    ~gasp~


    "No¡­ This¡­ how can this be?" The Elder suddenly gasped.


    "What is it, elder?" the people around him were concerned seeing their elder react like this.


    "Demonic Aura¡­ There''s no mistake¡­ Just like that time¡­ it really is Demonic Aura!" The elder eximed.


    "Demonic Aura?" The others heard the Elder''s words feeling confused.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But then, a couple secondster, they felt a wave of energy washing over them. It was tinted with red and seemed to be different from Immortal Qi. But when the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion sensed it, a wave of angers rushed through their minds.


    "What in the?!" Still, these were people who were immortal and experienced.


    A temporary wave of anger wasn''t something that would make them lose their mind and they quicklyposed themselves.


    "That was a Demon''s energy?" The members of the Grand Sky Pavilion finally understood their elder''s surprise.


    "How can a demon appear here?" Someone questioned.


    "This is the Deste Blood Battlefield. If a demon has to appear, it makes sense that one has appeared here. It does have a suitable environment for a demon." Another elder spoke.


    "What do you think, Head Elder?" The others asked the leading elder.


    "I think¡­ The Violet Mystic Life Tree mutating might be rted to the Demon." The head elder spoke, his tone serious.


    Hearing this, the expressions of everyone turned stern.


    ~gulp~


    A few of the younger members swallowed their saliva in nervousness. They had only heard stories about rumors and how ruthless and dangerous they could be. It was even said that the Rust Sky World once had demons living in it, but they were long since annihted.


    While the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion wereing to terms with the appearance of a demon, the person behind it all was still not done.

 Chapter 1513 A Demon?

    The red aura had grown to a height of five meters now while the figure of the Great Slumber Bear above it had also grown. It seemed to be gathering energy as the area around it was being affected too.


    The bloody aura in the soil, rocks and stones was seemingly responding to it and swirling around it.


    ~GAOOOOO!~


    The figure of the Great Slumber Bear let out a loud roar before turning into mist and merging into the five meter tall ball of aura.


    ~SHUA~


    The ball of red aura started to condense and arge figure appeared from, within it.


    He was five meters tall and was covered in dense fur. Most of his body was covered in red fur with ck fur forming an inverted triangle on its chest and a pentagram pattern on its chest and back.


    Two crimson horns grew from its foreheads and were about six inches long. The horns had fine ridges that looked like blood grooves on a de.


    The arms were wide like that of an elephants legs and were bulging with muscles. Even the dense fur on them was not enough to hide the veins and outlines of the muscles. On the arms though, two bands could faintly be seen.


    These ck and white and could barely be seen due to the fur hiding them.


    The most eye catching part of the arms though was the sharp ws that were nearly twelve inches long and were like des!


    The legs of the being were as wide as that of tree trunks and looked like they could trample on boulders with ease.


    The most stunning part of the being was none other than its face. It wasn''t covered with fur but looked rather sharp and broad. Multiple fangs peeked out of its lips while a rough nose hung above it.


    The being''s pupils were yellow while a red outline surrounded them. Its sclera though had turned pitch ck, looking like the empty night skies.


    Along with such an imposing form, a dominating aura also surrounded it. Anyone weak that felt it would first be terrified before passing out. As for those that could bear it, they would find themselves getting enraged for no reason.


    ~HAA~


    The being took a breath that was like the bellows of a furnace opening.


    "Looks like reaching the Immortal realm has changed this form too¡­" Lin Mu spoke, his voice no longer the same.


    It now felt deep and heavy, almost bordering on hoarse.


    Lin Mu took a look at his transformed body feeling the pure power and vitality was that coursing through it all. But that was not all, as he felt the Apertures within his chest also spinning at great speed.


    ''The Immortal Essence is actually flowing steadily in my body?'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    From what he had experienced so far, Immortal Essence was something that would naturally reject the body of a cultivator. It took them a long time to adapt to it and the function of the Apertures was to store the Immortal Essence while slowly letting the body adapt to it.


    But right now, it seemed like his body was epting the Immortal Essence.


    "No¡­ there are still limitations. It cannot stay within my cells for longer than a few seconds and is ejected after that. But after being injected, it circtes once more and enters the cells again." Lin Mu analyzed his condition.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It was certainly a surprising discovery and something that was attributed to his transformation.


    ''The Demon Path is certainly inclined towards Body cultivation.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He decided to research more about itter, but needed to focus on the task at hand. His gaze turned to the Violet Mystic Life Tree while his aura red.


    "Let''s see just how strong I am in this form now¡­" Lin Mu muttered before taking a step.


    ~BOOM~


    A single step was enough to create a crater and send Lin Mu flying forward at great speed.


    "LOOK! WHAT''S THAT!" The people of the Grand Sky Pavilion quickly spotted therge red figure that was flying towards the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    The red aura emanating from the figure was hard for them to miss after all. And looking at the figure also gave them a feeling of fear.


    The head elder narrowed his eyes and watched the red figure until it reached the base of the Violet Mystic Life Tree. At that point, the figure became clear and everyone finally saw what it was.


    "DEMON! THAT''S DEFINITELY A DEMON!" they shouted.


    "A demon has truly appeared here¡­ or perhaps it has always been here." The Head elder muttered to himself.


    ''If the mutation of the Violet Mystic Life Tree can be attributed to it, that means that the demon has either been raising the Violet Mystic Life Tree or had stumbled upon it earlier than us. But if it did that, how did it get past the barrier?'' The Head Elder wondered.


    A few more thoughts came to his mind, but he knew there was no way to confirm them right away.


    "What is it doing?" The people of the Grand Sky Pavilion noticed the demon stopping at the base of the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    They then saw the demon hold on to the trunk of the Violet Mystic Life Tree. Of course, with the difference in size between the two, it merely looked like the Demon was embracing the tree.


    But then, a few secondster, the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion were left bbergasted.


    ~RUMBLE~


    "NO WAY!" they saw as the entire Violet Mystic Life Tree was shaken.


    The Head Elder, who could see the entire scene even more clearly, was astonished. He could see that the demon had dug its ws into the trunk of the tree and was exerting force on it. This had caused the entire Violet Mystic Life Tree to shake.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    As everyone watched this, a loud cracking sound could be heard.


    ~TREMBLE~


    Then a few secondster, the very earth itself split apart!

 Chapter 1514 Uproot!

    Lin Mu was feeling the intense power flowing through his body.


    ''Seems like using the Burning Heart Sutra was the correct choice. If I just use my body''s normal strength, I still wouldn''t be able to uproot it.'' Lin Mu had seen just how heavy the Violet Mystic Life Tree really was.


    And not just that, but the way its roots were gripping the earth, it was even more difficult to uproot it. Right now, Lin Mu had merely moved it a bit and just that alone had made the ground below him split apart.


    The fissure that formed on the ground spread from the base of the Violet Mystic Life Tree all the way to the edge of the barrier.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    It didn''t seem like it was going to be small either, as the crack kept on extending. And the longer it went, the wider it grew in the middle part. The people of the Grand Sky Pavilion watched in shock as the demon pulled on the Violet Mystic Life Tree.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    "We need to stop it! It''s destroying the Violet Mystic Life Tree!" The people of the Grand Sky Pavilion shouted.


    The head elder thought to himself for a few moments, before speaking. "Use all your strength to overpower the formations!"


    "HAAAH!" The group that was in charge of defending the formation masters increased their speed.


    Utilizing all their skills, they not only managed to defend the formation masters, but they also started to progress towards the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    Still, that was nothingpared to what Lin Mu was doing.


    "HAAAH!" Lin Mu kept on exerting force on the trunk of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, pulling it upwards.


    His ws dug into the tree firmly, while his muscles were stretched taught. Red waves of aura seethed around him, making the bloody aura of the area re up.


    ~TREMBLE~


    The Violet Mystic Life Tree seemed to have reached a tipping point as it moved by a foot!


    ~BOOM~


    Even if the distance was as small as a foot, it was still quite a lot when such arge tree was moved.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The Violet Mystic Life Tree didn''t take it calmly either, as more runes spread out from its leaves. These runes turned into formations that assembled above Lin Mu.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Then a few secondster, several attacks shot out of the offensive formations, all of them targeting Lin Mu.


    The attacks reached Lin Mu and created arge cloud of dust, making it hard to see his body.


    "Did it die?" the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion didn''t miss the Violet Mystic Life Tree''s retaliation against Lin Mu.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But then a few secondster, the dust cloud was cleared by a wave of energy. The demon was revealed again, and it was still trying to uproot the Violet Mystic Life Tree.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It''s not hurt at all?" The people were surprised.


    "How''s that possible?! Those offensive formations should be enough to injure even fourth Tribtion Stage Immortals!" The Formation masters said upon noticing the scene.


    "Unless¡­ the demon is stronger than that." One of the elders said.


    This made several of the members look towards the head elder, wondering about his opinion.


    "It''s hard to tell the cultivation base of that Demon." The head Elder spoke.


    "Even you can''t sense it, Head elder?" the juniors asked.


    "The demon probably follows a different cultivation system than us. That''s also why it can still use its strength despite the restriction on Immortal Qi." The Head Elder replied.


    "Of course! That makes sense. Since the Demon doesn''t use Immortal Qi in the first ce, it has no issues in staying within the area of the Violet Mystic Life Tree." They understood.


    "Still, seeing it withstand the attacks of the Violet Mystic Life Tree''s offensive formations with ease, and also being able to move it this much, I can assume that it''s at least equivalent to a fifth or even a sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm expert." The Head Elder stated with a hint of anxiety.


    ~Gasp~


    This made a lot of members take a deep breath, as they knew just how dangerous it could be. After all, if the Demon could withstand multiple attacks that could kill a fourth tribtion stage immortal realm expert like that, there was no saying if they would be able to do much to him either.


    Other than the elders of the Grand Sky Pavilion that hade with them, it didn''t seem like the others would have any chance that harming the Demon.


    It was a valid thought, as they would certainly need to kill the demon. Letting it go was not an option at all.


    It wasn''t just a matter of harming their interests either, as the mere existence of a Demon was against the rules of all the empires.


    ~RUMBLE~


    But while they were thinking all this, the Violet Mystic Life Tree moved once again and was lifted another meter upwards. Now the ground all around the Violet Mystic Life Tree was bulging too, with the roots being pulled up.


    ''I can''t pull it up more like this¡­ I need higher height,'' Lin Mu thought.


    At his body''s height, there was only so much he could pull out the Violet Mystic Life Tree. After all, the tree was over fifty meters tall above the surface, but underground; it was muchrger. Lin Mu had already seen that its roots were spread quite far, and should have expanded for a few kilometers all around the core area.


    Not to mention, he was trying to pull it out while standing on the ground itself.


    "I need to move up from the ground." Lin Mu focused on the Apertures within his chest and drew out several wisps of Immortal Essence.


    The immortal essence was directly converted to red energy that umted in his legs. He directly channeled them to his legs before exerting force.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In the next second, two jets of red energy were shot out of Lin Mu''s legs, propelling him upwards!

 Chapter 1515 Twins Assistance

    Flying normally wasn''t an option when Lin Mu was trying to move an object of great mass such as the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    And since the Immortal Qi was restrained in the area round the tree anyway, Lin Mu had to resort to another method of flying. It was a bit crude, but it was still working in the current situation.


    ~BOOM~


    The two jets of red energy from Lin Mu''s feet bore into the ground, giving him a ce to pivot.


    "HAAAH! COME OUT!" Lin Mu continued pulling on the trunk.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    More fissures started to spread from the base of the Violet Mystic Life Tree and extended all around the tree. The radial fissures ended up reaching the outskirts of the ruins, making several of them copse.


    And now, it wasn''t just the ground around the Violet Mystic Life Tree that was bulging. The ruins also had patches that were randomly starting to bulge.


    "What''s happening?" The cultivators who had been camping in the ruins were stunned to see the fissures as well as the ground that had started to bulge.


    A few of the flew towards the Violet Mystic Life Tree to check and witnessed the scene of Lin Mu trying to uproot the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    "What in the name of heavens is that!?" The newly arrived cultivators didn''t even know what Lin Mu was.


    "Inform your elders that are going to arrive. A demon has appeared at the Deste Blood Battlefield." One of the elders of the Grand Sky Pavilion ordered the other cultivators.


    "A demon?" The cultivators were taken aback.


    They took another look at Lin Mu, and finally came to terms with it.


    "We''ll need all the help we can get. That demon seems very powerful." The elder of the Grand Sky Pavilion spoke.


    "Y-yes! We''ll inform the others right away!" The cultivators quickly returned to their camps.


    The news about a demon appearing at the Deste Blood Battlefield officially started to spread at this time.


    Lin Mu didn''t care about it though as all his focus on was on the tree.


    ''This is definitely the heaviest thing I''ve lifted¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Violet Mystic Life Tree was consciously trying to hold onto the ground, and Lin Mu could tell that too. It was trying to pull itself back into the ground and was doing its best to resist.


    "I won''t let you do that." Lin Mu injected even more Immortal Essence into his legs while also channeling some to his arms.


    ~BOOM~


    The force increased once more, and the Violet Mystic Life Tree was raised by another meter!


    ~TREMBLE~


    The ground shook and the roots shifted.


    It was at this time, that Lin Mu sensed the change in the formations.


    ''They''re weakening! It''s working!'' Lin Mu knew he was on the right path.


    He continued channeling Immortal Essence into his body and consumed it rapidly.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Consecutive explosions happened as the ground below Lin Mu was depressed by nearly twenty meters. At the same time, the Violet Mystic Life Tree was now raised by nearly ten meters!


    ~HONG~<novelnext></novelnext>


    And it was at this time, that the tree couldn''t bear it anymore.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Suddenly, Immortal Qi started to flow in the area and the restriction that had been stopping its use copsed.


    "Ahahah! That''s it!" Lin Mu could tell that the roots had been moved just enough that the array couldn''t maintain its form anymore.


    "Do it now Lin Mu!" Xukong urged.


    "Right!" Lin Mu activated his ring and forced the Violet Mystic Life Tree to be stored inside it.


    ~humm~


    The Ring thrummed with power and exerted its influence over the tree. Spatial fluctuations covered the entire Violet Mystic Life Tree along with the parts that were underground.


    Lin Mu could vaguely sense just how massive the tree really was. The above ground portion of it wasn''t even ten percent of its true mass.


    ''Then there''s also the entire Immortal Essence crystal mine that''s encapsted by it. It has basically be a part of it.'' Lin Mu observed.


    But while the ring was exerting its power, the Violet Mystic Life Tree was also trying to resist the spatial discement actively. And being an immortal tree of a high cultivation base, it could truly do that.


    "I''ll see how long you can resist it!" Lin Mu channeled Immortal Qi into his ring, while continuing to pull on the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    He wanted the tree to have no spare energy left to resist the ring.


    This strugglested for five minutes and exhausted nearly half of all the Immortal Essence that Lin Mu had umted in his first Aperture!


    "Come on now¡­ Peacefully enter the ring and you''ll be fine. I know you can understand me. If you follow my words, I''ll let you keep the Immortal essence crystal mine and even provide you a better ce to stay." Lin Mu spoke to the tree.


    He didn''t know if the Violet Mystic Life Tree would really listen to him, but it didn''t cost anything to try.


    ~HISS~


    All of a sudden though, the twins moved.


    They rose from Lin Mu''s arms and slid down towards the Tree Trunk.


    ~SHUA~


    They coiled up against each other while their aura rose. Then in the next moment they opened their mouths, and bit into the Violet Mystic Life Tree!


    ''What are they doing?'' Lin Mu was confused by the actions of the Twin snakes.


    ~HUALA~


    A few momentster though, Lin Mu saw the Violet Mystic Life Tree changing. It was as if something was being sucked out of it by the twins.


    He could sense several streams of energy being pulled out of the Violet Mystic Life Tree and being consumed by the twins. The twins held onto the tree for about a minute, during which the red glow on it started to dim down.


    And when it became very dim, the twins let go.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Lin Mu felt the resistance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree weaken and the ring overpowering it.


    A secondter, the entire Violet Mystic Life Tree disappeared!

 Chapter 1516 Short Offense And Quick Retreat

    When the Violet Mystic Life Tree disappeared, arge portion of the ground had also disappeared.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    "AAHH!" The cultivators camping in the ruins were surprised as the entire ruins started to fall.


    It wasn''t them either, as the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion that had been preparing to resist the Violet Mystic Life Tree were also affected. The ground beneath all of them copsed, making them all fall along with it.


    Though they didn''t fall for long. After all they were all immortals and could fly.


    After they got over the initial shock, they all hovered in the air, while watching therge depression that had formed under them. It was at least a hundred meters deep and this was still the shallow part.


    If one looked towards the area where the Violet Mystic Life Tree used to be, they would see a depression that was several hundred meters deep!


    "WHAT!?"


    "HOW IN THE NAME OF HEAVENS!?"


    The people of the Grand Sky pavilion couldn''t figure out how the Violet Mystic Life Tree had disappeared.


    To them it was simply iprehensible.


    "Where did the Violet Mystic Life Tree go?" Even the cultivators in the ruins could see that the tree had disappeared.


    Therge chunk ofnd that was missing was also quite eye catching, and so was the change in the energy fluctuations of the area. It felt like the area had suddenly be weaker and the energy fluctuations greatly decreased.


    This was reflected in the formations that were hidden all around the ruins, as all of them were broken at the same time. After all, they were actually being powered and maintained by the Violet Mystic Life Tree secretly.


    It was the roots of the Violet Mystic Life Tree that would provide them with the energy to run and would also maintain their form. While they might have been made by humans originally, the tree had managed to control them in the recent times.


    Though this information was unknown to everyone other than Lin Mu. And even he only knew about it since he had sensed the entirety of the Violet Mystic Life Tree''s body. When the ring was exerting its power, it allowed Lin Mu to ''see'' how big it really was.


    This included all parts of it, including roots and the Immortal Essence Mine that was encapsted within its central roots. And since all of that had been stored within the ring, it had left empty spots in the ground.


    "GET THE DEMON!"


    "IT MUST BE BEHIND IT ALL!"


    "IT STOLE THE TREE!"


    The people of the Grand Sky Pavilion didn''t wait long to respond to the situation. Since Lin Mu was the one attempting to uproot the Violet Mystic Life Tree, they put the me of its disappearance behind it on him too.


    There was no chance they would be letting him get off just like that.


    Even if he had not taken the Violet Mystic Life Tree, they would have stille after him since they considered him a Demon.


    ''Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, return!'' Lin Mu ordered the twins through his link.


    ~HISS~


    The two snakes quickly wrapped back around his arms. Due to their size they had not been seen by the others, and the dense waves of red energy around Lin Mu had also helped in hiding them. This was good, since Lin Mu didn''t wish for the snakes to be noticed by the others either.<novelnext></novelnext>


    After all, even if he had disguised himself as a demon, there would still be people who would rte the presence of a pair of white and ck snakes to him. If not now, they might find out about them in the future, which wouldn''t be good.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Just a few momentster, a barrage of attacks came towards Lin Mu.


    "HAH!" Lin Mu directly waved hisrge wed arms.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The energy imprint of his arm spread out, and directly destroyed the initial attacks that wereing towards him.


    ''So this is how the Immortal Essence can be used¡­'' Lin Mu instinctively knew how to use this due to his bloodline. ''Was this perhaps an original skill of the Great Slumber Bear too?'' he wondered.


    He knew that the Great Slumber Bear could even go above the Immortal realm, thus it would make sense if it could use Immortal Essence too. Plus the skill that he had used was quite different from any Qi skills.


    ''Immortal Essence skills are different¡­ they don''t seem to have a fixed energy circuit either. They just seem to work as long as I can replicate the way the Immortal Essence moves.'' Lin Mu thought.


    But he also understood that this was a skill he could only use in his current form. This form was greatly adapted to Immortal Essence and could thus use it with ease. If Lin Mu tried to do the same in his normal human form, the Immortal Essence would simply be ejected out of his body.


    That would lead to a waste and was not something that Lin Mu wanted. But now, his body was letting the Immortal Essence flow through it as if it had always been a part of it.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Lin Mu quickly retaliated and shed out with his ws.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    The ws turned intorge w imprints that attacked the Immortals of the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    "WATCH OUT!" The elders warned.


    "ARGH!"


    "NO!"


    But unfortunately for them, the power of the w imprints was far too strong for their defenses to hold against. They were broken through and were quickly injured. Some of them directly lost their limbs, while some were inflicted with deep cuts.


    ~DENG~


    One of the elders used a barrier skill and blocked the iing w imprint.


    "What? How is it still intact?" The Elder was surprised.


    His barrier skill should have caused the iing attack to dissipate and yet, it didn''t happen.


    But while the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion were busy defending against Lin Mu''s attacks, he had already turned around and left!


    "The Demon''s gone!"

 Chapter 1517 Cautious Disapperance

    One moment the Demon was fighting against them, and in another it was gone.


    The people of the Grand Sky Pavilion simply couldn''t figure out how it had happened.


    "Activate the Thousand Milepass!" The head elder ordered.


    "Yes, elder!" the formation masters took out a smallpass that flew out and expanded to be nearly five meters wide.


    The formation masters stood around it and controlled the runes on it.


    ~SHUA~


    A wave of energy spread out from thepass and covered an area of 100 kilometers in an instant.


    ~SHUA~


    The wave of energy kept on spreading, and as it spread, red dots appeared on the surface of thepass. One could also see an illusion appearing on it, that showed the topography of thend.


    Evidently thepass was showing all the living creatures that were within its range. The red dots were of different sizes, some small and some big. Each of the red dot belonged to a creature, and the size of the dot showed their cultivation base.


    Most of the red dots were concentrated around the area that the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion were. It was obvious that it showed themselves as well as the cultivators of the other parties that were camping in the ruins.


    "Huh¡­" but when the formation masters observed thepass, they were confused.


    "How''s this possible?" one of them muttered.


    "What''s the issue?" the head elder questioned.


    "Elder, there is no significant trace of the demon on thepass." The formation master replied.


    "How''s that possible?" The head elder himself checked thepass and saw the red dots.


    "What about these ones?" The head elder saw three red dots moving in the distance.


    They were about twenty kilometers from their location and seemed to be moving at a rtively fast speed.


    "It''s far too weak to be the Demon elder. ording to thepass, they are barely at the first Tribtion stage of the immortal realm." The formation master said. "Plus, they are three of them. It is likely to be a small group of beasts."


    "But they are quite fast, aren''t they?" the head elder was still doubtful.


    "They might have been scared by the explosions. Besides, the energy signatures do not match that of the demon at all." The formation master replied. "Though we can do a proper scan if you wish."


    "Do it!" The elder ordered.


    "Yes!" The formation masters focused on the fast moving red dots and channeled the power of thepass.


    ~HONG~


    Another wave of energy spread from thepass, but this time, it transformed into a small stream.


    ~SHUA~T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It shot out from thepass and traveled towards the fast moving red dots. Like a bullet, it covered kilometers of distance within seconds and reached the fast moving red dots.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "We got it!" the formation masters spoke.


    "Show me." The head elder ordered.


    The formation masters controlled thepass and a formation screen appeared above it. On it they saw a beast. It was about a meter in size and was running.


    "It''s not the demon¡­ It''s a tiger beast of some sort." The formation masters spoke as they saw the red beast on it.


    The head elder watched the beast closely, finding it a bit strange.


    "How are there three dots when there is just one beast on the screen?" The head elder questioned.


    "This¡­" the formation masters were now confused.


    They fiddled with thepass and tried to see if they could pull up the images of the other two dots. But after a bit, they were still unable to do so.


    "There''s no change, elder. It seems to be malfunctioning somehow. There''s just one target there," the formation master said with a wry smile.


    "Bah! Useless!" The head elder scoffed.


    "We can''t do much elder, thepass can malfunction due to the baleful energies of the Deste Blood Battlefield." The formation masters hurriedly replied.


    "Fine¡­ continue to search." The head elder said before turning to the other members. "As for you lot, go and establish a perimeter! I want a thorough analysis of this area and what exactly happened." He ordered.


    The disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree was highly suspicious, and there was no way it could just disappear like that. The elder knew there was something else happening and he wouldn''t rest until he found it.


    But while the people of the Grand Sky pavilion were wondering how all this had happened, the perpetrator behind it all was already far away.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu reappeared two hundred kilometers away from the site of the Violet Mystic Life Tree and took a breath of relief. He was already back in his human form and was now naked.


    "The transformation is really not good for my clothes¡­" Lin Mu quickly put on a new set of robes.


    He had plenty of them in his storage, so he wasn''t that bothered. Next, he closed his eyes and sensed the location of his pets.


    "There they are." Lin Mu quickly found them. ''We''ll meet two hundred kilometer from here, Little Shrubby.'' He instructed the beast through their link.


    ''Okay, master!'' Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu started moving towards the decided location while keeping his energy fluctuations to as low as possible. In fact, he stopped using immortal Qi and simply used his body to run.


    He had already guessed that the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion might try to track him and wanted to take proper precautions.


    Lin Mu had the best method of escaping, too. He could use fade, but it came with the restriction that he couldn''t take others with him. Thus, Lin Mu resorted to the help of Little Shrubby.


    He let Little Shrubby take the twins with him and run, while he himself disappeared using Fade.


    Lin Mu knew that they were focused on a demon and wouldn''t pay much attention to a beast. And his bet turned out to be urate, as they had already given up on Little Shrubby!

 Chapter 1518 Growth Of The Sutras

    The risks that Lin Mu had taken were still reasonable to him and had paid off in the end.


    He had obtained the Violet Mystic Life Tree while also having kept his identity hidden. Not only that, he had also sent the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion and possibly many other powers on a wild goose chase for some Demon.


    ''Though all this only works due to the fact that the burning heart sutra''s effects are quite effective. They entirely changed my body and the growth was greater than thest time I used it in the Xiaofan world.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu knew that the transformation was rted to the Demon Path and would make use of his Great Slumber Bear Bloodline to manifest. Before he had the bloodline, it merely resulted in increased strength as well as increased muscle mass.


    But now, it entirely changed his body. So much so that even people that knew him wouldn''t be able to recognized him. Perhaps only Little Shrubby and the twin snakes who were directly bound to him would be able to tell.


    Though Lin Mu wondered just what the extent of the transformation would be.


    ''It isn''t just that my breakthrough to the Immortal realm had resulted in it. The progress of my body cultivation should also be an important part of it.'' Lin Mu thought about it.


    In the end he came to the conclusion that he needed to test out the Burning Heart Sutra more. He had not used it before since it was a bit risky to use due to him potentially losing his sense of reason, but this time around he fully felt like he was in control.


    "There were no stray thoughts and my mind felt stable too. Even the anger that burns due to the properties of the Burning Heart Sutra felt containable. It didn''t feel like ''true'' anger." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Seems like the Nine Divine Heart Sutra''s can change with your cultivation base. Or rather they probably expand on their properties." Xukong spoke upon seeing Lin Mu''s thoughts.


    "Indeed, senior." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He wondered if his other sutra''s would have the same effect.


    ''The Calming Heart Sutra worked as intended and quickly reverted my transformation so I guess it has been strengthened equally. The same can be said for the severing heart sutra as it allowed me to focus on the creation of the Apertures too.'' Lin Mu analyzed the changes that he had missed unknowingly.


    But after thinking about them all, he realized that there was one thing that had not changed.


    "The Nurturing Heart Sutra is still the same. It hasn''t grown in strength or anything." Lin Mu realized.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "That''s not wholly true. It can convert Immortal Qi into Beast Qi, right?" Xukong interrupted.


    "It can yeah." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "That can be considered a change, too. Especially since the amount is greater as well." Xukong reminded.


    "Of course¡­" Lin Mu now understood. ''The Sutras are not all the same, thus their growth won''t be equal either.'' He reckoned.


    After thinking all this though, another thought appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    ''So far I''ve obtained four of the Nine Divine Heart Sutras¡­ I wonder when I''ll obtain the next.'' Lin Mu knew that unlocking each sutra needed a requirement to be fulfilled.


    This meant that to unlock the next sutra, there was some hidden requirement that was waiting to bepleted.


    ''Not knowing about them makes it a bit difficult though¡­'' Lin Mu knew it wasn''t good to yearn for it excessively. "I''ll get it when the time is right¡­" He said to himself.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ~GROWL~


    Time passed quickly as Lin Mu was thinking all this and he ended up reaching his destination, where he heard Little Shrubby''s growl. He was currently in a smaller form and was the size of a normal tiger.


    Lin Mu had asked him to be in this form as it wouldn''t be as eye-catching as his normal form.


    "There you are." Lin Mu came to a halt as Little Shrubby approached him.


    "Master!" Little Shrubby was happy to See Lin Mu. "Are you okay?" he asked with concern.


    Little Shrubby had not forgotten thest time when Lin Mu had used the Burning Heart Sutra and was thus worried about him.


    "I''m fine. You don''t need to worry." Lin Mu replied. "And what about you? Did anything happen?" He asked,


    "I feel like something is attached to me, some kind of energy." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu spread his Immortal Sense over Little Shrubby and checked him in detail.


    The first thing he detected were the twins, who were wrapped around Little Shrubby and were hidden in his thick fur.


    "Come here, you two." Lin Mu called the twins.


    ~hiss~ hiss~


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang rose up from Little Shrubby''s fur and coiled up around Lin Mu''s arms again. It was clear that the two were in no mood to sleep now and were full of energy.


    ''Hmm¡­ Looks like little Shrubby is right.'' Lin Mu could sense the faint imprint of some kind on him.


    "It should be a tracking seal." Xukong spoke.


    "How do I get rid of it?" Lin Mu didn''t know.


    "For a seal of this kind, it''ll dissipate automatically after a while. But you can speed it up by breaking the connection between the tool it was cast." Xukong replied.


    "Breaking the connection? Letting Little Shrubby return to the Sleepscape should work then." Lin Mu guessed and sent him back.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby disappeared for a few seconds and returned.


    Lin Mu checked him again and saw that the trace had disappeared. "It worked, perfect!" He was pleased.


    Lin Mu checked the twins and saw that they had the tracking seal too. He repeated the same with them and let the trace be erased in Sleepscape. Since he didn''t have to send them to the Sleepscape for that long, the twins weren''t bothered by the separation.

 Chapter 1519 Contacting Ruoxian

    Having cleared the tracking seals from the three beasts, Lin Mu decided to rest for a bit.


    ''I did use up a lot of energy in all that...'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    More than half of his Immortal Essence had been consumed in uprooting the Violet Mystic Life Tree as well as enduring its attacks. Even the w imprints that Lin Mu had learned were attacks of decent consumption.


    Each of the w imprints used up wisps of Immortal Essence, which was also what made them quite strong.


    ''If I think about it, that might be one of my first dedicated Immortal Essence skills...'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While he did have the boulder copsing fist too, it wasn''t a skill specifically meant for Immortal essence. Rather it was a skill that could utilize all kinds of energies as long as one was skilled enough to control them.


    ''That reminds me, I need to see if I can handle using Immortal Essence with the Boulder Copsing fist or not...'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had been able to use immortal Qi with no issues since its properties were simr to spirit Qi and even controlling it was simr. But for Immortal Essence just holding it within his body was difficult, thus he didn''t know how the skill would work with it.


    Lin Mu took note of it and added it to the list of things he needed to do.


    "I''m done, master!" Little Shrubby''s voice could be heard.


    Lin Mu looked towards the cave that Little Shrubby had dug out and nodded his head in approval.


    "This is good enough." Lin Mu walked into the cave and closed its entrance to prevent anyone from finding him..


    "Thankfully the bloody aura that permeates this area makes it easier to hide like this too." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He then sat down and let Little Shrubby and the twin''s settle in too.


    Next, he took out the Tri Essence Immortal Pills, and consumed one of them.


    ~SHUA~


    The burst of energy was released in his stomach and was quickly contained by it. He then practiced the Three Apertures invoking technique and let the Immortal Essence be channeled into his Aperture.


    ''The process is smooth. Looks like if I''ve umted a certain amount of Immortal Essence before, it is easier to return to that amount again.'' Lin Mu found this aspect to be simr to that of Immortal Qi or spirit Qi. ''Though my body cannot generate Immortal Essence naturally. That is the only con of this...'' he thought.


    ording to what Lin Mu had learned so far, if one fullypleted the Three Apertures Invoking Technique their body would be truly adapted to the Immortal essence. At that point, they would be able to generate their own Immortal Essence too.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t know just how much Immortal Essence would be generated in that way.


    ''Even a little passive generation would still be better than nothing.'' Lin Mu reckoned.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He spent a day in absorbing all the Immortal essence as well as replenishing his stores of Immortal Qi. Once he felt like he was back to his optimum condition, Lin Mu opened his eyes again.


    ~huu~


    Letting out a deep breath, Lin Mu looked towards his tamed beast. They were silently cultivating on their own and had not disturbed him during his recovery.


    Though when Lin Mu observed the twins, he could see that their stores of energy had already increased by more than double.


    ''They did absorb some energy from the Violet Mystic Life Tree... what exactly was that?'' Lin Mu didn''t know and couldn''t verify it right away either.


    But he did know that it was due to the twins help that the Violet Mystic Life Tree had be weaker towards the end. It had allowed him to uproot the giant tree and store it away in the ring.


    ''I need to take care of the Violet Mystic Life Tree too.'' Lin Mu had not forgotten. "But before that, there is someone I need to talk too..." he took out amunication jade slip from his ring.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    It was the special jade slip that Alchemist Ruoxian had given him, so that they could talk to each other even in the Deste Blood Battlefield. Due to the baleful energies, there was often interference and the Jade Slip helped in avoiding that for the most part.


    ''Since the Grand Sky Pavilion was there, Alchemist Ruoxian should have been there too.'' Lin Mu couldn''t remember seeing the man there though.


    After all, he had finished the original goal of finding the Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite. And not just that, he had also obtained triple the amount that was needed for him.


    "Is this working?" Lin Mu held the jade slip and waited for the message to be sent.


    Unlike a normal jade slip, it seemed to be taking time.


    ''Is it due to the interference?'' Lin Mu tried to use his normal jade slip and found that it was entirely blocked. "Hmm... the special jade slip seems to at least be working to some extent." He just waited for the message to be sent.


    Fifteen minutes passed like this before a connection was finally made.


    "Daoist Mu Lin? Daoist Mu Lin!" Alchemist Ruoxian''s voice could be heard.


    "It''s me yeah! Where are you?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I''ve just arrived at the site of the ruins." Alchemist Ruoxian answered. "But where are you? I heard a demon appeared at the ruins and the Violet Mystic Life Tree has disappeared." He spoke in a really anxious tone.


    "You just arrived? You didn''te with the other group of the Grand Sky Pavilion?" Lin Mu was a bit confused.


    "No. They split us into two parties since they needed to rush to the Violet Mystic Life Tree. But from what I can see here, the tree is gone and the elders are quite furious." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "What about you? Where are you? Did the mission fail?" he questioned.

 Chapter 1520 Situation At The Ruins

    Lin Mu had expected Alchemist Ruoxian''s question and already had a response prepared.


    "I managed to get the Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite before everything happened. But I escaped at the first sign of trouble. Right now I''m hiding a few hundred kilometers from the ruins. I didn''t want the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion or other powers to notice me." Lin Mu answered.


    "That''s great!" Alchemist Ruoxian felt greatly relieved. "It''s also good that you escaped and hid. They are throughly checking all the cultivators that are appearing here right now. The ones that were camping were also taken into custody." He exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu replied. ''Just like I had thought. No way they wouldn''t suspect the people around them first.''


    Even if the others in the ruins'' were not involved in it, the Elders of the Grand Sky Pavilion wouldn''t be naive enough to think that there wouldn''t be someone secretly conspiring. After all, hiding within in sight was a well-known tactic now.


    The elders with thousands of years of experience knew this quite well and were shrewd.


    Considering that Demons had long since disappeared from the Rust Sky World, they couldn''t help but think that they might have actually been in hiding. And in order to hide for this long, they certainly must have the support of human powers.


    Alchemist Ruoxian gave a gist of all that was happening in the ruins right now.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    Hearing it all, Lin Mu knew his decision of getting away was good. But it did make him curious about one thing.


    "What do the elders of the Grand Sky Pavilion think about the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They''ve determined that the Violet Mystic Life Tree was teleported away." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu replied in surprised.


    "Yeah, the formation masters detected traces of Spatial disturbance there and came to this conclusion. They are still investigating of course, but the signs all point to some kind of teleportation array being used." Alchemist Ruoxian exined.


    "So they think the tree did it?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Either the tree or the Demon. From what the elders saw, the Demon was trying to uproot the Violet Mystic Life Tree for some reason. We don''t know why, but our guess is that the Violet Mystic Life Tree teleported itself away to protect itself.


    Though there is a chance that the Demon might have used some kind of trick too and teleported the tree away." Alchemist Ruoxian stated.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu confirmed that his attempt at misdirection had worked quite well.


    ''If they think that the tree did it to protect itself, it''ll be even better. It mean''s they''ll keep on thinking it''s somewhere and try to keep looking for it. That reduces their chances ofing after me.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "What else is happening? Have the other powers arrived yet?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "No¡­ all of them are still restrained by the Leafless Dead forest." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "The befuddling array that the forest has turned into is quite strong."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "They are? Then how did the elders of the Grand Sky Pavilion get through it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The elders have their own means. Even I don''t exactly know, but I think it might be an immortal tool that can break through illusions." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "Why didn''t they use it to get the rest of the people there then?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They did use it. But just to get us to the ruins. I think there is a limit to how many times they can use it, so they aren''t using it again." Alchemist Ruoxian spoke. "Besides, I think they want to make use of the forest to let the other powers be stalled." He added.


    "That does make sense." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Though it wouldn''t take long before they find a way out." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "Or they might just destroy the forest instead."


    "Why haven''t they done that already?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Lin Mu could have done the same, but didn''t want to create too big of amotion back then. But the other powers had no reason to do the same.


    "Because every time they try that, they get attacked by some strange rock creatures." Alchemist Ruoxian answered much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "Rock creatures?" Lin Mu recalled the strange creature that was a mix of flesh and stone.


    "Yes. Damaging the trees causes them to appear and attack all those that are there. The more trees that are damaged, the greater their numbers increase." Alchemist Ruoxian stated. "So right now they are figuring out a way to get past the befuddling array without damaging the trees. Though if it takes long enough, there will be many people gathered there."


    "And when that happens, they''ll just band together to destroy the forest as well as the rock creatures." Lin Mu guessed.


    "Indeed." Alchemist Ruoxian nodded his head. "Though it is quite strange as there are no records of these rock creatures. From what I heard, they don''t seem to stay as a corpse either and turn into a pile of normal rocks." He expressed his confusion.


    "No one knows about them? Even the Grand Sky Pavilion?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­ it seems like they are a recent creation. After all, this area isn''t unknown either. There have been plenty of people that passed through the Leafless Dead forest in the past, but never encountered these rock creatures.


    Even the forest itself seems to have transformed into what it is recently ording to the cultivators waiting in the ruins." Alchemist Ruoxian answered in detail.


    This put Lin Mu into deep thought as he wondered, just what it could be that made the changes happen in the forest.


    ''Are the Violet Mystic Life Tree and the rock creatures linked somehow? The mutation and aura of theirs seemed to be quite simr too¡­'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    Lin Mu thought about what other mysteries might be hidden in thisnd.

 Chapter 1521 Planting The Violet Mystic Life Tree

    Lin Mu and Alchemist Ruoxian talked for a few more minutes beforeing to their original matter.


    "You cane to me in two days Daoist Mu Lin." Alchemist Ruoxian spoke.


    "Why two days?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They are still settling things here and the situation is a bit tense. In two days'' time, everything should be done, and I''ll be able to use my identity to allow you entry here." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "I don''t necessarily need that. I just need to give you the Hundred Year old Stctites right? We can do the exchange outside of the ruins." Lin Mu stated.


    "I''m afraid that won''t be possible. They''ve restrained us from leaving the new camp. I can only stay here." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "Then won''t they cause issues for me too? What if they don''t allow me to leave?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "That won''t be a problem. I''ll simply be putting in a request that I ammissioning for materials. That''ll be a legitimate way for me to call for you." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "Alright. I''ll meet you in two days then." Lin Mu agreed after thinking for a bit.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It wasn''t like Lin Mu had no ways to escape either.


    Lin Mu put the jade slip away after that and decided to check on the Violet Mystic Life Tree. It had been in the Ring for a while now, though Lin Mu didn''t think anything would happen to it.


    ''With the vitality the tree has, it should stay stable with no issues. Plus, if something did happen, Senior Xukong would have informed me.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Though before entering Sleepscape, Lin Mu talked to Little Shrubby.


    "If I''m not up in two days'' time, please wake me up." Lin Mu asked Little Shrubby.


    "Okay, I''ll do that." Little Shrubby nodded his head.


    Lin Mu didn''t want to identally get engrossed in the Sleepscape somehow and left Little Shrubby as a backup option.


    With that done, he closed his eyes and quickly entered the Sleepscape.


    ~rustle~ rustle~


    He appeared in front of the Immortal Apple Tree that was gently swaying.


    ~SHUA~


    A secondter, a grey orb appeared next to Lin Mu too, which then faded away to reveal Xukong.


    "Putting the Violet Mystic Life Tree here will certainly have an effect on the Sleepscape. I''ll need to find the right ce for it." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes. And don''t forget about the Immortal Essence crystal mine too. It''s within the roots of the tree, so it should be absorbed along with it too." Xukong replied. "There''s a great chance the entire Sleepscape might change."


    "Mmhmm¡­ hopefully it goes well." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Considering the size of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, Lin Mu chose to walk far from his initial location.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He had taken the location of his Parent''s Graves as the center of the Sleepscape for a reference and walked all the way to the opposite side. The root span of the Violet Mystic Life Tree spread for several kilometers after all, and there was a great chance it would reach all the way here.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and nced around the empty area. All that was here was the grass and on the ground and nothing else.


    "Let''s see if it works¡­" Lin Mu let his immortal sense enter the ring and located the Violet Mystic Life Tree that was within it.


    The tree was seemingly floating in its endless space and was actually quite far from the location of the Altar. Lin Mu had intentionally kept it away, as he didn''t know if it would damage the items he had stored in the ring of something.


    ''Looks like the Spatial Energy did end up damaging the tree a bit though.'' Lin Mu noticed cuts and marks on the branches and trunk of the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    Though it didn''t seem like they had caused anysting damage to the tree.


    ''It has probably managed to withstand it due to its natural defenses.'' Lin Mu thought.


    If it were any other beast or creature, they would probably end up being disintegrated by the Spatial energy within the ring.


    And this was after it was regted by Xukong. If it were not for him absorbing most of the spatial energy streaks that came near the area, it would have turned the tree into dust a long time ago.


    The area around the Altar was quite stable too, but Lin Mu didn''t dare to ce the Violet Mystic Life Tree there either, as there was no telling what the tree might do to the altar.


    The barrier around it was very strong, and if the Violet Mystic Life Tree identally touched it, there was a chance that the formation around the altar might retaliate and destroy it too.


    The only reason why he had even ced the grey egg there in the past was because it would not make any contact with the altar or its barrier.


    ''Time to pull it here¡­'' Lin Mu willed the ring to send the Violet Mystic Life Tree to the Sleepscape.


    The process was a bit tiring too as it took a lot of energy to transport an object that big. Not to mention that the tree was also sentient and could resist the change, putting extra strain on Lin Mu.


    It exhausted a good amount of his Immortal energy before the Violet Mystic Life Tree was finally sent to the Sleepscape.


    ~SHUA~


    And when the tree appeared, it directly overshadowed arge area of the Sleepscape.


    "Come on now¡­ nt yourself into the ground." Lin Mu spoke directly.


    ~TREMBLE~


    The Treended on the ground and caused the entire area to shake. Then a few secondster, its roots started to tremble and directly wiggled into the ground.


    "Good! It''s working." Lin Mu watched as the Violet Mystic Life Tree spread its roots in the ground.


    The Sleepscape wasn''t resisting it, so he was quite relieved.


    Still, it took nearly an hour for the tree to have fully nted itself.

 Chapter 1522 The Expanded Sleepscape

    The Violet Mystic Life Tree had fully imnted itself in the Sleepscape, but Lin Mu hadn''t felt any change yet.


    "Is it not going to do anything?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He had seen that the Immortal Essence crystal mine had been absorbed into the ground too along with the roots of the Violet Mystic Life Tree thus he had expected there to be some change.


    After all, thest time he had put the Source vein of a Spirit stone mine, it had directly merged into the Sleepscape and increased the spirit Qi in its air. It had helped the nts in the Sleepscape a lot and Lin Mu was hoping that the same would happen in this case too.


    ~SHUA~


    And just as Lin Mu was thinking about this, he felt an energy fluctuation in the Sleepscape. It seemed to havee from deep within it and Lin Mu couldn''t pinpoint it exactly. But he knew that the change was finally happening.


    "It''s beginning¡­" Lin Mu braced himself for it all.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A few secondster, he felt the entire Sleepscape shake!


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu almost fell.


    It was like an earthquake was happening at that moment.


    All the nts in the Sleepscape were shaking non stop and so was the Violet Mystic Life Tree. In fact, it was moving the most, and it almost looked like it would shed all its leaves, but it didn''t happen.


    The tree held on and not a single leaf fell.


    ~TREMBLE~


    A couple of minutester, Lin Mu felt like the ground under him was moving.


    "Its¡­ its growing!" Lin Mu realized.


    He looked at the Violet Mystic Life Tree and felt like it was going far from him. He immediately spread his Immortal sense over the entire Sleepscape and observed it in detail. And just as he had guessed, the Sleepscape was truly growing.


    The distance between the Violet Mystic Life Tree and other nts grew and even the graves of his parents moved to a farther location.


    Lin Mu sat down and decided to watch as the process happened.


    It seemed very stimting, but it wasn''t actually fast. After observing for an hour or so, Lin Mu felt like the distance between the graves and the Violet Mystic Life Tree had increased by a hundred meters.


    ''The area of the Sleepscape is certainly expanding¡­ the only question is how much will it grow?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Before this, whenever the Sleepscape had increased in size, it had been due to an increase in Lin Mu''s cultivation base. While it wasn''t consistent, the growth had not been as radical as now.


    Another thing was that this was the first time Lin Mu was directly witnessing the Sleepscape expand. Before this, all expansions had happened automatically after his breakthrough, and none of these changes were witnessed by him.


    But now that he was seeing it, Lin Mu started to analyze it.


    He questioned how it could grow like this and what was the logic behind the existence of the Sleepscape.


    From what he had learned from Xukong, the Garden of Karma was a kind of a unique physique that was directly linked to one''s soul. Though even this was debated since there weren''t many people that had it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Before Lin Mu, there had only been four people after all.


    Theck of information made both Xukong and Lin Mu wonder about the characteristics of the Garden of Karma. But it was something they could only wait and observe. Thus, now that Lin Mu was seeing it, it felt rather marvelous to him.


    ~shua~Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    Xukong appeared next to Lin Mu and watched it along with him.


    "It''s certainly an enigma. I don''t think it fits in any definition of a normal ne or world." Xukong spoke.


    "Indeed¡­ the Sleepscape does not exist in the void. And then there''s also the fact that it allows me to have a body within it while also having a body in the real world." Lin Mu replied.


    "The ability to have two bodies is indeed unique. One body for the Sleepscape and one for the real world. Each can affect the other, and even cultivation is possible¡­" Xukong muttered.


    The two of them grew silent, as there was no need for any more words. They simply watched the growth of the Sleepscape. Lin Mu wondered if he could gain any insights from this and tried to observe it using Spatial Perception, but was unable to.


    It simply felt like the rules he had learned did not apply to the Sleepscape.


    ~Sigh~


    ''It''ll be a long observation¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    Hour after hour passed and before Lin Mu realized, over a day had passed!


    The Sleepscape had expanded by quite a lot now, and it didn''t look the same.


    "My Immortal Sense can''t cover the entire Sleepscape now¡­ it''s far too big." Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    "That''s certainly a good growth." Xukong spoke as he looked at the Violet Mystic Life Tree that was now quite far away. "Though it should stop growing soon, the expansion has slowed down too."


    Before the expansion started, Lin Mu was standing right next to the Violet Mystic Life Tree. But now, he could barely see it in the distance. This distance alone was over a kilometer and made Lin Mu wondered how much the overall increase was.


    ~humm~


    After another half an hour, the growth finally stopped as another energy fluctuation spread from the depths of the Sleepscape.


    ~HONG~


    But this time it didn''t stop and only continued to increase.


    ~HUALA~


    Then a minuteter, it was as if a dam was broken!


    A massive surge of immortal essence spread out from the ground and filled the entire Sleepscape!


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu''s hair was blown back from the wave of Immortal essence.


    His body felt the full brunt of it and was energized just from that. And it wasn''t him either, as the Violet Mystic Life Tree seemed to be swaying in joy too!

 Chapter 1523 Growth Of The Violet Mystic Life Tree

    "This is... pure Immortal Essence?" Lin Mu was surprised by the change of events.


    While he had expected there to be some gain in terms of Immortal Essence, this increase was simply stunning.


    "Is Immortal Essence even supposed to exist like this in air?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    As far as he knew, Immortal Essence was not as stable as Immortal Qi and would dissipate quite quickly if it was in open air. This was also the reason why cultivating using it was often difficult.


    Even its formation took a long time and needed to be in the crystalline form for it to be stable or in the liquid form as other essences that were produced by Immortal herbs and other such organisms.


    "This might be one of the unique points of the Sleepscape. Since it does not follow the samews as other worlds, it seems to allow the existence of Immortal Essence as a free energy like this." Xukongmented after thinking for a bit.


    ~RUSTLE~ RUSTLE~


    The Violet Mystic Life Tree suddenly started shaking and its branches swayed loudly.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu looked at the tree and saw that it was changing again. "Wait... it''s growing too?"


    The Violet Mystic Life Tree''s trunk started to grow and its height increased. From it earlier fifty meter height, it directly grew to twice that. Reaching an impressive height of 100 meters tall, it stopped but its branches kept on growing horizontally.


    Originally the crown of the Violet Mystic Life Tree spanned 30 meters in size, but it was now continually expanding. It continued to grow and soon reached the 100 meter mark, but ti didn''t stop there.


    "How much more can it grow?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Five minutes passed like this, after which the crown of the Violet Mystic Life Tree had expanded for nearly 150 meters!


    It now looked quite big and wide, giving one a feeling of vitality. But that was not all as a few more changes continued to happen within the tree. The number of branches increased and so did the number of leaves.


    The red glow that used to be in the Violet Mystic Life Tree appeared again, but it didn''t seem as vtile as before.


    "It''s not gone? I thought the twins drained that energy away..." Lin Mu flew up to the Violet Mystic Life Tree to observe it closely.


    There he saw that the red glow was once again spreading on the tree. This time though, it turned into streaks of read that spanned over its trunk and branches. Red veins also appeared on some of its leaves and melded with the violet veins that already existed there.


    Over all, it didn''t look out of ce and the two colors seemed to bepleting each other.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and tried to sense the energies within the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    ''There''s more than just its original vitality in it...'' Lin Mu realized.<novelnext></novelnext>


    After observing for a while, Lin Mu realized that it was quite simr to something he had obtained before.


    "Is it really like that...?" Lin Mu took out a red crystal from the ring.


    This was none other than the Blood Essence Crystal that he had obtained on the day he had entered the Deste Blood Battlefield. Lin Mupared the energy signatures between the two and found them to be highly simr.


    ''No... They are almost the same, with the only difference being that the energy in the Violet Mystic Life Tree is hundreds of times more than the energy in the Blood Essence crystal.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu didn''t know why this had happened but he was a bit concerned.


    "Are there baleful energies within the tree even now?" Lin Mu spent some more time checking it, but was unable to find any of it in the tree. "Those energies were really absorbed by Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang... then why is the bloody energy still in it?" he wondered.


    "Looks like this might be the mutation that the Violet Mystic Life Tree has undergone. It has taken on a new characteristic and has this bloody energy within it." Xukong spoke after listening to Lin Mu.


    He did his own assessment of the Violet Mystic Life Tree and confirmed it too.


    "How''s this possible though, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree is well known for its vitality and endurance. It wouldn''t be out of the realm of possibility for it to mutate and adopt a new form of energy. Besides it doesn''t seem like it has lost its original characteristics anyway." Xukong answered. "If anything, the Violet Mystic Life Tree has only improved now since it can utilize another form of energy as well as generate it." He added.


    "I see..." Lin Mu wondered just what the inclusion of the Bloody Energy would cause.


    "Though... what is that energy?" Lin Mu questioned. "The Blood Essence crystals have a mixture of energies within them, including baleful energies. But the Violet Mystic Life Tree has a pure form of it." He wondered.


    "It should be Blood Qi." Xukong answered. "It does match its characteristics."


    "Blood Qi? It doesn''t seem the same as when Gu Yao used it though." Lin Mu replied, recalling the times he had encountered his old foe use it.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    "Of course not." Xukong spoke. "The Blood Qi that Gu Yao used was not even pure. It was contaminated with a lot of impurities, but the Blood Qi that the Violet Mystic Life Tree is now has is quite pure." He exined.


    "That''s interesting..." Lin Mu wondered just how useful it could be.


    He did know that Blood Qi could be used by most creatures with blood. It could not only invigorate them, it could even help them heal. In fact, it was highly simr to vitality, other than the fact that it could only exist in creatures with blood.


    Vitality was something that was present in all living creatures but it could not be said the same with Blood Qi.

 Chapter 1524 Ten Times The Size

    Just like other derivative Qis, in order for Blood Qi to be creatures, the Dao of Blood would have to be involved.


    "Perhaps this is the reason why the Violet Mystic Life Tree managed to mutate¡­ it is already rich in Vitality and the Blood Qi is very simr to it. It might have made it easier for it to adopt it too." Lin Mu spoke after observing the Blood Qi within the Violet Mystic Life Tree for a few minutes.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    "That does seem likely. The condition in the Deste blood Battlefield might have provided it the perfect condition to mutate in that route. Not to mention, it had support from the Immortal Essence Crystal mine underneath it and the protection offered by the barrier for possibly hundreds of thousands of years." Xukong agreed.


    In all this, Lin Mu could confirm one thing.


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree has turned into another unique existence. Despite having no blood, it can still have Blood Qi within it." Lin Mu spoke.


    Another simrparison was Little Shrubby, who had awakened the innate skill of Vitality Reversal, which was something only nts should have normally. This was the second time he was seeing contradictions change to adaptation.


    "You should see some change in the effects of the Violet Mystic Life Tree soon enough." Xukong spoke sounding sure.


    "Why so senior?" Lin Mu asked wondering what was behind Xukong''s tone.


    "I think the baleful energies of the Deste Blood Battlefield might have actually been holding the Violet Mystic Life Tree back. They were preventing it from reaching its potential and now that they have been removed, it has grown to what it should originally have been." Xukong exined.


    "That does make sense¡­" Lin Mu could sense that the Violet Mystic Life Tree was in harmony now unlike before when the auraing from it was violent.


    "The Baleful energies might have been preventing the Violet Mystic Life Tree from truly adapting to the Blood Qi. And now that it has the true effects of it should appear soon." Xukong continued. "The biggest effect should be in its fruits. Though you''ll have to wait for them to grow again." He added.


    "I''ll look forward to it." Lin Mu was a bit excited now. "Though the vitality of the Violet Mystic Life Tree should be affecting the other nts here too right?" he hadn''t forgotten that the Violet Mystic Life Tree could boost the longevity of beings by merely being in its presence.


    "Why don''t you go and see it yourself?" Xukong chuckled.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and flew to the Immortal Apple Tree first. It was the closest tree to him as the Purple Sickle Amaranth and the Wood Spirit Tulip had grown farther too.


    "It really has grown¡­" Lin Mu saw that the Immortal Apple Tree was now twice its original size. "Even the Immortal apples on it have grown quickly!" he noticed.


    There were a handful of Immortal apples growing on the tree, and they seemed to be ripe for the picking. Other than that, the Immortal Apple tree seemed to be quite happy and was swaying in joy.


    Lin Mu ced his hand on the tree and could almost feel its emotions.


    "That''s good¡­ grow well and bloom." Lin Mu muttered.


    Next, Lin Mu quickly plucked all the Immortal Apples from the tree and stored them away forter. He then moved onto check on the other nts and the next one he saw was the Wood Spirit Tulip.


    Simr to the Immortal Apple tree, it had also grown quite a bit. While it wasn''t exactly double its original size, Lin Mu could tell it had grown by at least 70%.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~


    The nt sensed Lin Mu''s presence and its flower heads opened up. It then raised one of its vines and tugged onto Lin Mu''s hand.


    "You''re quite happy, aren''t you?" Lin Muughed.


    ~rustle~ruslte~


    The Wood Spirit tulip nodded its flower head in response and let go of Lin Mu. It then moved its vines from side to side, while swaying its flower heads.


    The Wood Spirit Tulip was now dancing!


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but chuckle at the silly dance and moved on to check on the final nt.


    The Purple Sickle Amaranth was thetest nt that Lin Mu had added to the Sleepscape before the Violet Mystic Life Tree. It had also been stuck at a bottleneck and hadn''t grown much for a while.


    But now Lin Mu found it to have gained the most.


    "Whoa¡­" Lin Mu looked at the sentient nt that had grown by a lot.


    It was nearly twenty meters tall and had taken up an area of ten meters. It had grown several new stems from the ground, and hundreds of flowers had bloomed all over it. Not just that, but they felt a pleasant scenting from it too.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu also sensed the flow of energy around the nt. It was absorbing the Qi from the air and transforming it into Wood Elemental Qi. The output of wood Qi in the air had nearly tripled!


    "This''ll be quite good for the Immortal Apple Tree as well as the Wood Spirit Tulip." Lin Mu said to himself. ''Little Shrubby should be able to take some benefit from this too¡­'' he reckoned.


    Having assessed the condition of the three nts, Lin Mu was certainly pleased. Their growth would help him a lot too and he wondered if this would continue even further.


    "How much did the Sleepscape growth though¡­ I barely covered half the distance to here." Lin Mu continued to travel around the Sleepscape and did an entire circle around it.


    The Sleepscape was in the form of a sphere and after doing his round, Lin Mu determined that the circumference of it seemed to be about forty kilometers now!


    "This is like¡­ ten times its previous size, isn''t it?" Lin Mu was stunned by the growth.


    The growth from the Violet Mystic Life Tree''s addition had been several times more effective than his own breakthroughs.

 Chapter 1525 Broken Leafless Dead Forest

    Having seen just how much the Sleepscape had grown, Lin Mu was pleased. It now gave him a viable area to actually train his skills.


    ''I might be able to set up more sections here¡­ Building an entire forge for making weapons as well as tools and perhaps a section for formations too¡­ maybe even a refinery for alchemical pills?'' Lin Mu felt his thoughts wander.


    One of the biggest reasons why Lin Mu hadn''t particrly practiced making Spirit weapons, tools as well as alchemical pills was the fact that they needed a proper ce to do so. Of course there were many experts that did it while traveling, but those were experts who were already skilled in the upation.


    But for Lin Mu, it was not like that.


    He was someone who was looking to learn it from the start thus it would take him a proper ce. Having a ce like that was a good advantage too as it would allow one to focus properly and also reduce that chances of mistake.


    This was the reason why many experts that specialized in these upations attached themselves to different powers that could provide a suitable ce to practice them.


    "Hmm¡­ I can certainly put that as additional tasks for myself forter." Lin Mu decided.


    Plus, with all of them being in the Sleepscape meant that he wouldn''t have to worry about leaving it behind anywhere. He would also be able to practice all the time and wouldn''t have any issues.


    But Lin Mu also knew, building proper buildings or Weapon forging, tool refinement as well as alchemy wasn''t easy. Not only did it require good materials, one also needed to set up several arrays to support and reinforce them.


    "Constructing those buildings will be a good practice for your formations skills too." Xukong spoke at this time.


    He had easily read Lin Mu''s thoughts and was in agreement with him.


    "Learning more skills will allow you to expand your scope of knowledge as well as temper your mind." Xukong advised.


    "Yes. I''ll look into doing itter." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    While he was thinking all this though, Lin Mu felt a thought appearing in his mind.


    "Master¡­ Master¡­ it''s time to wake up!" Little Shrubby''s voice could be heard in his mind.


    "Two days have passed already?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    He quickly left the Sleepscape and opened his eyes in the real world.


    "Master, you''re awake?" Little Shrubby looked down at Lin Mu.


    "Yeah, I''m awake now." Lin Mu got up. "Thank you for calling for me. I had almost forgotten." He couldn''t help it either though, since the changes in the Sleepscape were simply too massive.


    It was normal for him to get lost in them and it was also important for him to get a sense of these changes too.


    "I should contact Alchemist Ruoxian and see if he''s ready too¡­" Lin Mu took out themunication jade slip and contacted the man.


    Thankfully this time, it didn''t take long for the connection to be established.


    "Alchemist Ruoxian?" Lin Mu called out.


    "Ah, Daoist Mu Lin. You''re right on time, I''ve prepared for your arrival." Alchemist Ruoxian quickly responded.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "They''ll allow my entry into the ruins?" Lin Mu asked, just to be sure.


    "They sure will." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "And it''s not just you, they have called in several people actually."


    "Oh? Despite the Natural Befuddling Array of the Leafless Dead Forest?" Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    He could understand one cultivator like him being avable to contact within the area, but several was not possible. After all, there were many people there were stuck at the periphery of the Leafless Dead Forest.


    "Yeah, the array was broken yesterday." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    "Already? Wasn''t it going to take time?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Yes¡­ the appearance of a certain expert sped it up quite a bit." Alchemist Ruoxian said in a slightly anxious tone.


    "An expert? Did more elders of the Grand Sky Pavilion arrive or something?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­ but the one that did may as well be stronger than them." Alchemist Ruoxian answered. "The one who arrived was none other than the Steel Horned General, Immortal Niu Juo." He revealed.


    "Him? He broke the array?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    While he knew the man was in the Deste Blood battlefield too, he should have been in an entirely different area.


    Immortal Juo had entered the Deste Blood Battlefield a long time before Lin Mu and had gone deep into it. Even if he were toe to the location of the ruins, it should still have taken him a long time.


    "Yes. He appeared from another direction and directly carved a path through the Leafless Dead Forest." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "And what about the rock creatures that were appearing?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    "Those were nothing to the Steel Horned general. He killed them all with a flick of his hand and if new ones appeared, they didn''tst much longer." Alchemist Ruoxian answered. "So while parts of the Leafless Dead Forest still act as a befuddling array, there is a straight path that one can now take." He added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu had not expected Immortal Juo to directly take a crude path like this. ''But then it does seem like something he''d do. He does seem like a straightforward person¡­'' he thought.


    "With that route, now several parties have entered. And more are iing. The only reason they are dyed is that they need to take circle around a significant part of the Leafless Dead Forest to reach that path.


    Though that is still better than passing through the forest directly." Alchemist Ruoxian stated.


    "I see¡­ I''lle over there then." Lin Mu replied.


    "I''ll be waiting for you. Once you reach the perimeter, you can show them the document I gave you before. They''ll allow you inside." Alchemist Ruoxian said before stopping the connection.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu put away the jade slip and decided to take his leave.

 Chapter 1526 The Sleepscape Can Now Accommodate More Beasts?

    Lin Mu now needed to head to the ruins, but needed to address his beasts first.


    ''I shouldn''t ride Little Shrubby there, there might be a chance they''ll recognize him. Best to keep him hidden for now.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "I''ll send you to the Sleepscape little Shrubby. It has expanded and you''ll like it there." Lin Mu spoke. "You can even set up a ce as your kitchen if you want to now." He added.


    "Really!?" Little Shrubby was excited.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Okay! I''ll have some food ready for you till then." Little Shrubby replied with excitement.


    "Mmhmm. Now, in you go." Lin Mu willed it and Little Shrubby was quickly sent into the Sleepscape.


    But upon doing this, Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Hang on¡­" he felt a difference this time. "Why does it feel like¡­ there is more¡­" Lin Mu looked at the Twin snakes that were cultivating silently.


    He walked up to them and thought about sending them to the Sleepscape too.


    ~SHUA~


    Then in the next second, he saw both of them disappear.


    "It worked!" Lin Mu eximed.


    He sensed the link between the snakes and himself and found that it was still stable. It also showed that they really were in the Sleepscape and there was no issues either.


    "Good, good¡­ this will make things a lot simple." Lin Mu was happy.


    "Looks like the expansion of the Sleepscape allows you to send more of your beasts in it now." Xukong''s voice could be heard in Lin Mu''s voice.


    "Are you there in the Sleepscape too, Senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, it''s actually allowing me to exist in it freely too." Xukong replied.


    "You too? That means¡­ it allows four beings inside it without me being there¡­" Lin Mu wondered if that really was his limit. ''With how much the Sleepscape has expanded, I might be able to store at least one more beast in it.'' He estimated.


    "You are probably right." Xukong said. "With how much the Sleepscape has expanded, I wouldn''t be surprised if you could store two or even three more beasts in it now."


    "If it''s really like that, then it''s great." Lin Mu replied. "Though I''ll need more beasts for that first."


    "That is true." Xukong responded. "But it''s up to you. You don''t need to rush to find the beasts after all." He advised.


    "Yeah¡­ the twins are already a handful once they are ''active''." Lin Mu could only imagine the kind of chaos they could cause if they were left to wander.


    While the space in the Sleepscape was big, for the twins it might barely be enough to run around. They were still children for the most part and acted ordingly too. It was only when they were cultivating would they calm down.


    ''I should talk to them, just in case¡­'' Lin Mu brought the twins back out before exining the Sleepscape to them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He informed them what they could do and could not do.


    Lin Mu certainly didn''t want them to identally eat the nts there after all. It would be a big shame if they perished due to the snakes.


    ~hiss~ hiss~


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang nodded their heads in understanding.


    "Good. I''ll send you two back then." Lin Mu returned them to the Sleepscape.


    And just in case, Lin Mu also told Little Shrubby to keep an eye on the twins.


    He could have asked Xukong too, but Lin Mu knew the spider would soon get engrossed in his own cultivation. Unless it was absolutely necessary, Lin Mu didn''t want to disturb the routine of his teacher either.


    Done with that, Lin Mu pushed away the rock blocking the entrance of the cave and flew towards the ruins. The distance between the cave and the ruins was just a few hundred kilometers and Lin Mu was able to cover it under two hours.


    And this was when he was restraining his speed, as he was also keeping an eye on the other people.


    He had encountered several people that were traveling towards the ruins and from seeing the direction that they hade from, Lin Mu guessed that it was the route that Immortal Juo had carved out.


    ''Hmm¡­ it''s on the other side from where I entered¡­ Looks like Immortal Juo came from the side of Grey te Ravines¡­'' Lin Mu understood.


    The Grey te Ravines was one of the regions of the Deste Blood Battlefield and was said to have been created during the battle between two powerful sword cultivators. They had eventually carved out all the ravines that were present there and it was an area that was quite distant from the Leafless Dead forest.


    ''Did he run nonstop to the ruins or something?'' Lin Mu wondered since there didn''t seem to be any other way for the man to have arrived this fast.


    Still, he knew that everything would be known once he got to the ruins.


    A few more minutester, the perimeter of the ruins could be seen by him.


    "They set up a border, huh¡­" Lin Mu saw several people of the Grand Sky Pavilion guarding it.


    There were also many cultivators from different powers entering it.


    ''It doesn''t seem like they are restraining or preventing anyone from entering at least.'' Lin Mu had expected them to expert their influence and prevent others from evening close.


    But it was clear that the Grand Sky Pavilion was a lot more reasonable.


    Lin Munded on the ground and walked rest of the way to the perimeter as flying was restricted there. He had seen the others do the same and thus understood this rule quickly.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "Who are you?" A few guards at the perimeter looked at Lin Mu suspiciously.


    "I''ve been called here by Alchemist Ruoxian of the Grand Sky Pavilion." Lin Mu said before taking out the document that was prepared. "Here''s the proof."


    A guard checked the document and nodded his head.


    "Yes, we were informed." The guard also checked their own registers and confirmed. "You can enter."

 Chapter 1527 A Joyous Exchange

    Upon gaining entrance to the ruins, Lin Mu quickly found the location of Alchemist Ruoxian.


    It was very obvious since there was arge tent that had been set up by the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    "They definitely keep up to their name huh..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He stood at the entrance of the tent, but didn''t go inside. Instead he contacted, Alchemist Ruoxian.


    A minuteter, the man walked out of therge tent.


    "You''re here." Alchemist Ruoxian was pleased seeing Lin Mu.


    Even if Lin Mu had told him that he would being, the man couldn''t help but be nervous. It was understandable too, as Lin Mu held the key to his future progress. As long as he obtained the Hundred year old Essence Spring Stctite, the man would be able to be a high rank Immortal Alchemist.


    Not just that, but he''ll ovee his personal bottleneck too and be able to make many more pills he was unable too.


    His status in the Grand Sky Pavilion would rise as well, thus one could see just how much the man had riding on the sess of this mission.


    "Where should we do this?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that there were a lot of people watching them right now.


    After all, there wasn''t just people from the Grand Sky Pavilion here. All the parties that had arrived were interested in the situation and would want to know everything that was going on in the area.


    The disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree was a massive issue for them.


    "Come with me, I have a ce prepared." Alchemist Ruoxian replied and brought Lin Mu to a ruined building.


    From the outside it seemed to be on the verge of copse, but after entering Lin Mu realized that it had actually been reinforced by formations.


    "An isting formation array?" Lin Mu recognized.


    "I set it up yesterday just for this. The cultivators in the ruins are quite antsy and are after every little bit of news that they can get." Alchemist Ruoxian spoke.


    "Oh? Isn''t that a little too much?" Lin Mu replied.


    "No... for some reason some of them believe that he appearance of the Demon might have been the work of human powers. And they might be in the ruins already and pretending not to know." Alchemist Ruoxian exined.


    Lin Mu narrowed his brows hearing this, but kept his cool.


    "So they are jumping at straws..." Lin Mu said.


    "That can be said, yes... though some also think that the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree was orchestrated by the Grand Sky Pavilion. They think that we merely made it seem like the tree disappeared, when in reality we have snatched it away." Alchemist Ruoxian added.


    "They''re that far gone, huh." Lin Mu was surprised.


    "There isn''t much that would restrain them from getting a try at the Violet Mystic Life Tree." Alchemist Ruoxian spoke. "And this is merely the start. The news has already started to spread and the entire Rust Sky would should know about it by now." He said with uncertainty.


    "That does seem stressful... taking precautions is good then." Lin Mu replied.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yeah, if they saw an alchemist of the Grand Sky Pavilion going out to meet someone knew, it would be bound to raise some suspicions. This is the least I can do for now." The man said with a sigh.


    "Well, I do have something that''ll improve your mood," Lin Mu said, changing the flow of the situation.


    "Ah yes! Of course, the main goal of this entire mission." Alchemist Ruoxian said with excitement.


    "Mmhmm..." Lin Mu nodded his head and took out a long box.


    Alchemist Ruoxian took it from Lin Mu and carefully opened it.


    "Beautiful..." The man muttered as he gazed at the dazzling object thatid within it. "It really is the Hundred Year Old Essence Spring Stctite!" he shouted out loud.


    Thankfully, the istion array prevented any sound from escaping the building and no one knew the exchange happening inside. If they knew that there was a Hundred Year Old Essence Spring Stctite here, it wouldn''t be shocking for a bloody fight to break out.


    After all, it was an object that would tempt even the strongest of experts. Lin Mu reckoned even Immortal Juo would be interested in it and might end up fighting for it. That was not something he wanted right now after all.


    "It''s just as I had imagined..." Alchemist Ruoxian muttered.


    "It''ll get even better soon." Lin Mu said, much to the man''s surprise.


    "Huh?" Alchemist Ruoxian then saw Lin Mu taking out two more containers from his spatial storage treasure. "It can''t be!" he shouted again.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "Oh, but it is..." Lin Mu opened up one of the boxes and shed it to Alchemist Ruoxian.


    As soon as the glint from the stctite was seen by Alchemist Ruoxian he fell pale. Then a momentter, his face turned red with excitement as blood pumped throughout his body.


    "AHAHAHA! AHAHAHA!" The manughed madly.


    "EXCELLENT! AMAZING! FANTASTIC!" he shouted.


    If it were not for that fact that he was still holding a hundred Year Old Essence Spring Stctite, Lin Mu was sure that Alchemist Ruoxian might have started dancing already.


    "How did you... How did you get them?" Alchemist Ruoxian questioned.


    "Your estimations were a bit off." Lin Mu answered. "The Immortal Essence Crystal cache had developed a lot more. Enough that three such Hundred Year old stctite had the time to form." He exined.


    "Looks like fate is on our side..." Tears had almost appeared in the eyes of Alchemist Ruoxian.


    He was fine with having even a fragment of a Hundred year fol Essence Spring Stctite, and now he was getting not just, but three whole stctites. It was something he wouldn''t even dare to believe in a dream.


    "Take them." Lin Mu spoke. "Though I am expecting good results in exchange." He stated firmly.


    "I''ll kill myself, if I fail despite all this." The man said with determination.

 Chapter 1528 The Determined Alchemist

    Lin Mu was impressed by the man''s determination to say the least.


    "Very well, I''ll look forward to it." Lin Mu said.


    "You don''t have to worry. I''ll do my very best in finishing this project." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    Lin mu nodded his head, but a few thoughts were there in his mind.


    "How long will it take you though?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It will certainly take long." Alchemist Ruoxian scratched his beard. "I''m expecting at least a year or so. Since I''ll need to do some trials and tests before going for the actual refinement." He exined.


    "That long huh¡­" Lin Mu was a little disappointed, but also understood that pill refinement of that level was a difficult task.


    He had heard of alchemical pills that took a hundred or even a thousand years of refinement before they were made. And for a pill like the Hundred Vicissitudes Immortal Pill, just year was quite a short time.


    ''I have plenty of time anyways¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Alright, a year it is then." Lin Mu replied. "But since I''m giving you three, what will the output be?" he asked.


    "I can assure you at least one pill per stctite." Alchemist Ruoxian said with confidence. "Any less than that, and I vow topensate for the difference."


    "Thats a tall promise. The worth of a Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stctite is something you know well." Lin Mu replied calmly.


    "Of course. If I do fail to keep my promise, I''ll simply serve you for a hundred years in exchange." Alchemist Ruoxian stated.


    Lin Mu could tell that the man was going to stay true to his words.


    ''No¡­ it is more the fact that he needs this more than I do. I can progress in my cultivation even without the pills, but he absolutely needs them to progress in his work.'' Lin Mu thought.


    As long as Alchemist Ruoxian desired to seed, Lin Mu knew he didn''t have to worry.


    "I''ll wait for the news of your sess then." Lin Mu said with a smile. "Though I don''t think you''ll be able to begin your work here, will you?" he asked next.


    "Nope. Not at all." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "I won''t take the risk of refining something as sensitive as the Hundred Vicissitudes Immortal pill here." He rified.


    "Then how will you do it with the mission of the Grand Sky Pavilion keeping you here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I don''t think I''ll be here for that long. The main reason for us alchemists being brought here was to help with the gathering of materials as well as the manufacture of any pills that might be needed in an emergency.


    But with the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, we basically lost our main goal. Even if the Grand Sky Pavilion is going to stay here, they don''t necessarily need us here. In fact, keeping us here will only incur them losses.


    We are a lot more useful back at the city after all, where we can continue to manufacture pills without any issues." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.


    "That''s good then. How long will it take you to leave?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Shouldn''t be long. I''m expecting a week or two at most. They''ll get most of their answers by then and send us back." Alchemist Ruoxian guessed.


    "I see¡­ that''s not that long." Lin Mu said before sensing something.


    His brows furrowed and his Immortal Sense went past the istion array.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Looks like someone is approaching." Lin Mu said.


    "Who?" Alchemist Ruoxian narrowed his eyes and spread his immortal sense too.


    But a secondter, his expression turned bad.


    "Shit¡­ it''s that elder." Alchemist Ruoxian cursed.


    "He''s got problems with you?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Plenty¡­ He''ll be a pain if he sees you here. His questions won''t stop and he isn''t above extortion either." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "I see¡­ I''ll leave then." Lin Mu stated.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "It''s toote, he''s already nearby, he''ll see you." Alchemist Ruoxian said nervously.


    "You don''t need to worry about that. I got my methods¡­" Lin Mu said before disappearing in front of Alchemist Ruoxian''s eyes.


    The man was surprised and wondered if Lin Mu had used some illusionary technique.


    ''Let''s hope this works¡­'' Alchemist Ruoxian thought as he walked out of the building.


    "Alchemist Ruoxian! Might I ask why you left your post?" The elder who had appeared asked.


    He had a mole on his cheek and had thin long eyebrows. Looking at his robes, one could tell that he was actually a high ranked alchemist.


    "I just had business with an associate." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "Oh? An associate? Might I see them? I can''t help but wonder who managed to reach here, at this time." The elder''s eyes narrowed.


    "I''m afraid that''s not possible." Alchemist Ruoxian denied. "My associate has already left."


    "Is that so?" The elder didn''t seem convinced.


    ~SHUA~


    A momentter, a wave of Immortal Qi spread from his body and covered the building behind Alchemist Ruoxian. It scanned the building and checked for anyone inside it.


    "Looks like it is so¡­" The elder said with a hint of annoyance and turned around. "I hope you stay within your limits, Alchemist Ruoxian. If you cannot progress, it''s best to keep your head down and do as you''re told." He said before leaving.


    Alchemist Ruoxian frowned but didn''t reply to the elder.


    "Wretched donkey, I''ll show you¡­" Alchemist Ruoxian muttered to himself before returning to therge tent.


    Unknown to both of them, Lin Mu had noticed the entire exchange between the two. He was actually right under their feet and was listening to it.


    ''At least the elder didn''t give any trouble to Alchemist Ruoxian. It would have been bad if he asked to see what Alchemist Ruoxian had.'' Lin Mu thought.


    While Alchemist Ruoxian had stored away the stctites, Lin Mu didn''t trust others to forcefully take a look. It was amon incidence for the elders to suppress their juniors in many ces after all.

 Chapter 1529 A Prince To Avoid

    Lin Mu didn''t wish for the stctites to be lost before Alchemist Ruoxian even had a chance to use them.


    He was even prepared to take action, if things really came to it. But thankfully the elder seemed to have some respect.


    ''Though it is debatable if it is due to where they are, of if he is plotting something else.'' Lin Mu wondered.


    As long as Alchemist Ruoxian was fine and could fulfill his part of the deal, Lin Mu wouldn''t pay heed to the elder.


    Lin Mu didn''t leave right away though. Instead, he decided to see if he could gather any information first.


    ''It''ll be best if I know what they are thinking about the Demon as well as the Violet Mystic Life Tree.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    After all, he was behind it all, and as long as he stayed a few steps ahead, he wouldn''t have to worry about getting caught. Lin Mu restrained his energy fluctuations and wandered around the ruins listening to the conversations of everyone.


    He avoided therge tents where the elders were located though as there was still a chance they might notice him somehow. Rather than that, Lin Mu merely needed to listen to themon cultivators, as the rumors had already spread among them.


    He spent a couple hours eavesdropping and verified all the information that Alchemist Ruoxian had talked about. There really were rumors about The Demon being supported by a human power as well as some thinking that the Grand Sky Pavilion was behind the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    There were many formation masters analyzing the site where the Violet Mystic Life Tree used to be and tried to track down the traces of it. Though so far they couldn''t figure out anything other than the fact that the Violet Mystic Life Tree was indeed moved through the space.


    Their original assumption about Teleportation, seemed to have been changed.


    ''They actually managed to tell that it wasn''t a teleportation, just from the spatial traces¡­ impressive.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Still it didn''t matter much, since there was no way they would be able to tell that it was Lin Mu''s ring that had held the Violet Mystic Life Tree. It had already changed positions and was now safely nted in the Sleepscape.


    There was no way to remove it from there now anyways.


    Lin Mu continued to wander around the ruins and attempted to gather more information. He even wondered if he should meet up with Immortal Juo, but then decided against it.


    His reasoning being that being acquainted with the Steel Horned General might bring him attention. So he just decided to avoid that area. Just as he was about to leave though, Lin Mu heard an interesting bit of information.


    "Did you hear? The Eleventh Prince seems to have killed another group of immortals." A few cultivators were talking amongst themselves.


    They were from the newly arrived group and were talking to the people who had been here since the start. Lin Mu recalled hearing about this prince once before in the Middle Fort city and was a bit interested. He thus decided to pause and take a look.


    "Who did he kill this time?" Someone asked.


    "They were immortals from different powers, but I suppose the biggest would be the Blue Mountain Pce. He apparently killed one of the younger experts from there." The newly arrived cultivator spoke.


    "Why did he do that, though? Even if he is the prince, killing someone from an allied power will still be bad, right?" they asked.


    "Who knows? The Eleventh Prince has greatly changed ever since he managed to be an immortal. He kills wantonly and even the Royal Family seems to be ignoring his actions." The newly arrived cultivator answered.


    "Ssss~ Looks like we''ll have another danger to avoid here."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "As if the creature of the Deste Blood Battlefield weren''t enough already, now we got a murderous prince to watch out for too."


    "We should do our best to not be anywhere close to him. Let''s keep each other informed if we hear or see the Eleventh prince."


    "I agree!"


    "We all agree!"


    Lin Mu watched as the cultivators came to an agreement to avoid a certain royal.


    "Though where exactly was the eleventh price seen?" someone asked. "Shouldn''t we know that first to avoid him?"


    "Ah yes! I was about to tell that. He was apparently near the Sandfall Valley. At the old tombs."


    "What was he doing there? Weren''t those tombs already ransacked thousands of years ago?"


    "Whatever it might be, we just need to avoid him."


    "Yeah¡­ that''s right."


    Lin Mu thought about the location and felt like he had heard about it.


    ? ''Sandfall valley¡­ isn''t that area somewhere near the Grey te Ravines too?'' Lin Mu recalled. ''If it''s there, then perhaps Immortal Juo had seen or heard about the Eleventh Prince too¡­''


    Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, Lin Mu moved a little further to an empty building and resurfaced. He was done here for now, and decided to leave.


    Lin Mu left the same way he hade from, keeping a record that he had indeed left. He didn''t wish to create a discrepancy there after all. After leaving the ruins, Lin Mu directly flew two hundred kilometer away before calling out Little Shrubby.


    "Oh? Are you done?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Yes. For now, we''ll head farther in." Lin Mu answered.


    "Okay, I have some food prepared so we can have dinner once we take a break." Little Shrubby replied.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu did feel a bit hungry too.


    He then climbed onto Little Shrubby''s back and the beast turned into a red blur, disappearing over the horizon.


    Thousands of kilometer away from them though, a certain young man was standing over a bunch of corpses. Five different colored marbles were floating over his palm while he seemed to be ying with them.


    "S-spare¡­ pleas spare us, Senior!"


    "Spare you? Hah! None shall live once they slight me!" the man flicked his hand sending a marble flying towards the pleading man, exploding his body.

 Chapter 1530 Constructing A Formation Pavilion

    ~ck~ ck~ ck~


    "That was nice." Lin Mu patted his belly while a pile of empty tes surrounded him.


    "The new ingredients you got are good. I want to see if we can get more of them too." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "We''ll get more when we get back to the city." Lin Mu agreed.


    The two of them had traveled for a few days and were now resting in a natural cave they found. And since Little Shrubby had made food for the, there was no way Lin Mu would give up on tasting that.


    One thing was for sure, Little Shrubby''s skill with cooking was only getting better and better.


    "Let''s return to the Sleepscape for now." Lin Mu said, wanting to practice making formations again.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu first sent Little Shrubby into the Sleepscape before closing his eyes and entering it too.


    ~WHOOSH~


    As soon as he appeared there though, he felt a gust of wind hitting him.


    "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Calm down, you two!" Lin Mu shouted.


    ~HISS~


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang were flying around everywhere and were whipping up winds in the process. Lin Mu could only watch them with a wry smile and shake his head.


    "At least they aren''t destroying anything¡­" Lin Mu said to himself.


    Lin Mu knew they had a lot of energy and won''t really tire out easily. It was better to let them do this than something more troublesome.


    "I''ll watch them." Little Shrubby said before running after them.


    "Alright, I''ll work then." Lin Mu said and walked some distance away.


    Today he was going to make a proper ce to create formations in.


    He was going to make a Formations Pavilion!


    ''It''ll help me in the future as well as allow me to train my formation skills right now.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With the increase in the size of the Sleepscape as well as its upgrade, Lin Mu knew that there were no issues in keeping things or building new stuff here. It would stay as it is even if he left the Sleepscape, unlike before.


    In the past, anything that Lin Mu ced here would be returned or disappear. He couldn''t even make changes to the area as everything would revert to as it was originally. Xukong had said that it was something to do with thews of the Sleepscape and that it wascking many of them.


    But as Lin Mu''s cultivation base grew, it could now allow more and more things inside it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Besides, adding nonliving things was not an issue and Lin Mu would not have the restriction of numbers here.


    "Now then, let''s see¡­ I should be able to use ck Iron Wood for the structure and reinforce them with individual Rock Scale Formation¡­" Lin Mu held his chin and started to think.


    He came up with a n in his mind before beginning. He first took out severalrge logs from his ring. Lin Mu had obtained these from the storage of a sect in the past and had a lot of them.


    ck Iron wood was originally used for making spirit weapons and tools, but now Lin Mu was going to use it to make the frame of a building. It was something that might be very expensive in the Xiaofan World, but now that he was in an Immortal world, the cost was much lower.


    Many buildings here were made with woods of simr qualities, with some being even more valuable.


    For example, one of therge ships Lin Mu had seen in the port of the Huiqing continent was made from precious Numinous Teak Wood!


    It was a type of wood that was used to make immortal weapons and tools, and could even be used to make High grade immortal weapons potentially. One could imagine its value from that.


    And yet, there was a ship that was entirely made from it!


    Of course, Lin Mu did have materials simr to that in his storage too, but there was still the question of whether he had the skill to use them.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Thus, it was a lot better for him to use materials he could handle well.


    ''I can always upgrade in the future anyways¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he swung his sword to chop the wood.


    He first made four-sided pirs that would form the structural support of the building and then the beams that would join them. Once that was done, he inscribed each of these wooden pirs with Rock Scale formation.


    The Rock Scale formation was a defensive reinforcement formation that created rock like scales on whatever it was used on. It was a spirit formation of the high grade, and wasn''t really used in buildings as it was difficult to make.


    But for Lin Mu, it was not an issue and he could easily use it for mere pirs.


    One by one, Lin Mu made tens of pirs and then made more nks. All of them were inscribed with the ck Scale Formation and once that was done, he started assembling them.


    For nails, Lin Mu simply pinched and squeezed a few Deep Ocean refined iron ingots, turning them into the shape of nails. There was no need for a hammer or heat when Lin Mu''s strength alone could shape the metal.


    Then by simply by flicking the nails, Lin Mu joined all the pirs and beams.


    More and moreponents were built by him and several different kinds of formations were also added to them.


    Lin Mu seemingly got congressed in this and enjoyed it throughly. And by the time a week had passed, Lin Mu had finally finished building the Formation Pavilion.


    "It is done¡­" Lin Mu looked at the building that was about a hundred square meters in size.


    It was rtively simple, but that was enough for Lin Mu to use it to its maximum potential.


    "This should be able to withstand any failed talismans." Lin Mu said to himself and entered to test it out.

 Chapter 1531 Options To Improve The Sleepscape

    ~BOOM~


    An explosion was hearding from the Formation pavilion that Lin Mu had built.


    Despite the power of the explosion, the building stood steady.


    ~Sigh~


    "Making Great Grade Diamond Mountain Talisman is still difficult¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    It had been two weeks since he had finished building the Formation pavilion. He had spent this time in making Diamond Mountains talismans and was now trying to improve his sess with the Great Grade Diamond Mountain Talisman.


    ''At least there is some progress¡­'' Lin Mu looked at the three singr talismans that were lying in front of him.


    He had made them several thousand times and in that, only these three had managed to be sessfullypleted. All others had failed and each failure had resulted in an explosion. The Formation Pavilion though did its job and contained all of them inside it while also staying fine.


    If anything, Lin Mu''s first attempt at construction had shown his skill with it.


    ''I wonder if there is an upation rted to buildings and construction¡­'' Lin Mu wondered.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s take a bit of a break¡­" Lin Mu stood up and walked out of the building.


    He inspected it from the outside and saw that there was no damage to it.


    "The formations are all holding up well and the array is stable too." Lin Mu was pleased with his work.


    He turned his head and looked towards the Violet Mystic Life Tree. Lin Mu had left the tree to its own devices after nting it here.


    "The Immortal Essence in the air has mostly be stable now. There are no fluctuations like before." Lin Mu sensed.


    The rise in the Immortal Essence was really good for the entire Sleepscape as the nts and even Lin Mu''s beasts could enjoy it. Of course, while they couldn''t absorb it directly, they could still gain the passive benefit of the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    The tree could truly be called as heavenly blessing and Lin Mu got to enjoy it all the time now.


    In fact, he wondered if his improvement with the Diamond Mountain Talisman might have been due to the Violet Mystic Life Tree too.


    ''The level of exhaustion is also less, now that I think about it.'' Lin Mu continued to gaze at the tree for a moment before flying up to it.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ~rustle~rustle~


    The tree swayed gently in the air, while its violet leaves with red veins created a pleasant environment around it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Let''s see if there are any fruits on it¡­" Lin Mu spread his Immortal sense and covered the entire tree.


    He didn''t have the same restriction as before now and it was easier for him to check the tree this way.


    "Hmm¡­ no fruits. Guess it''ll take longer." Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu also checked if there was any change to his other nts and only saw a new Immortal Apple growing on the tree. He plucked it as well and stored it in the ring.


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang had calmed down a week or so ago and were now back to cultivating. They had consumed a lot of energy from the Violet mystic Life tree, so they were simply assimting it into their cultivation base now.


    This was also why they didn''t need to absorb Immortal Qi from the air.


    "The Sleepscape is stillcking a source of Immortal Qi." Lin Mu saw one of the disadvantages that his beasts now had.


    If they were within the Sleepscape, they wouldn''t be able to get Immortal Qi easily. And it wasn''t like they could absorb the Immortal Essence either.


    At least before, Lin Mu had nted the Source Vein of the Spirit stone mine and thus it would produce spirit Qi for the Sleepscape. But now that both Lin Mu and his beasts were at the immortal realm, the spirit Qi wasn''t of much use.


    The only ones that were still benefiting from it were the Immortal Apple tree, Wood Spirit Tulip and the Purple Sickle Amaranth.


    The Immortal Apple Tree was unique in this, as it could actually umte the spirit Qi and convert it into Immortal Qi which could be found in its fruits. This was currently the only way of getting Immortal Qi in the Sleepscape.


    "I should be able to nt an Immortal Stone Source Vein here too right?" Lin Mu said to himself. ''I did hear that there might be Immortal Stone Mines in the Deste Blood Battlefield. With how much time has passed, there are certainly new ones that might have developed.'' A new thought appeared in his mind.


    ~SHUA~


    A grey orb appeared next to Lin Mu, which was none other than Xukong.


    "If you wish to obtain that, I think you''ll have to go to the distant areas of the Deste Blood Battlefield. Chances are that any others might have already been discovered in the areas that aremonly traversed by the people." Xukong said after seeing Lin Mu''s thoughts.


    "You''re right senior." Lin Mu nodded his head. "As for the areas that are distant, Hmm¡­ The Blood Strewn ins should work. They are quite far and due to the danger they pose, not many cultivators go there." He said after thinking.


    Immortal Juo had also suggested this ce to Lin Mu, since he knew that many other ces in the Deste Blood Battlefield might have already been cleared of the body cultivation resources.


    "I guess, you now have another reason to go there." Xukong replied.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "We''ll leave after I cultivate a bit more. I feel like my body can handle another Tri Essence Pill." He stated.


    "It should be enough time for you." Xukong had suggested Lin Mu to put a sufficient gap between each time he took the pill.


    This was to give his body the time to adapt to its effects and also to not strain it too much. After all, even if he used his stomach to suppress it, there were still minor effects that could arise in the future. It was better to be cautious.

 Chapter 1532 Coming Across Another Rock Creature

    ~HUMM~


    The Immortal Essence within Lin Mu''s Aperture had now reached a new level, and a resonating hum could be felt from it.


    ''The two Apertures are almost in a harmony now...'' Lin Mu noticed.


    ? He had spent thest few days in using a Tri Essence Immortal pill, and had absorbed all the Immortal Essence from it. This had let to his second Aperture being filled half way now. Lin Mu reckoned that it wouldn''t be long before his second Aperture would be full too.


    "If I wait around a week, my body should be able to consume another Tri Essence Immortal Pill. That might just be enough for me to fully fill up the Second Aperture and start on the third one..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Having done this, Lin Mu stood up and decided to continue on his journey.


    "Come on Little Shrubby." Lin Mu called out for hispanion.


    ~SHUA~


    A momentter, Little Shrubby appeared in front of Lin Mu having been summoned from the Sleepscape.


    "Oh?" And when Lin Mu saw him, he could see some difference. "Did you absorb more Wood Elemental Immortal Qi there?" he asked.


    "Yes, I did. I ate the apple that grew on the tree." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Ah, no wonder." Lin Mu had sensed the aura of wood on Little Shrubby which was now stronger than before.


    The leaf like pattern on the back of his ears was also a bit more vibrant now. Lin Mu had allowed Little Shrubby to consume the Immortal apples as he wished, since that was the only way they could cultivate in the Sleepscape for now.


    There was plenty of Spirit Qi and Immortal Essence in there, but no Immortal Qi.


    ''I really need an Immortal Stone mine''s Source Vein.'' Lin Mu thought.


    That was his goal in going to the Blood Strewn ins as well as obtaining a few more ingredients and resources he mighte across. That area was known to have a lot of resources that were good for body cultivation, so Lin Mu was looking forward to it quite a bit.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The master and beast turned into a red blur, running across the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    They traveled for six days nonstop, during which the scenery didn''t change much. The same bloody red ins and hills went past them. In fact, they didn''t evene across any cultivators in this time, which just showed how vast the ce was.


    Though they did see several beasts and other strange creatures here.


    But Little Shrubby''s aura was strong enough to repel most of them and they didn''t dare to approach them. As for those that still did, they simply became another corpse in Lin Mu''s ring and were kept for a future date.


    Though Lin Mu was doubtful whether these beasts were edible for them or not. Little Shrubby still wanted to try and cook them though.


    If not for the fact that these beasts still had some materials that were of a good value, Lin Mu wouldn''t have even kept them with him.


    Around the seventh day though, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby came across a familiar beast.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Three ming rocks spanned an arc in the sky beforending and creating craters.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ~GOOOOOOOOO~


    A strange creature that was a mix between flesh and rock seemed to be roaring. It had red mes burning on its body while its stony arms banged on its sides.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    A few weapons stuck the body of the rock creature, but no damage was done.


    "Dammit! Just what abomination is this?" A ck armored man cursed seeing that his spear was doing nothing.


    "This is the second one we''vee across, right? How''s it so different from the first." A man with a battle axeined.


    He had a scratch on his arm and his sleeve seemed to have been burned as well.


    "I know right, they killed the first one we met so easily. This one is several times bigger and stronger." A third man who was holding an iron fan said.


    The iron fan in his hand was two feet tall and three feet wide. Fine runes were also carved on each of its des, showing that it was no normal weapon, but actually an Immortal weapon!


    ~SHUA~


    The man waved his iron fan, and the runes on it lit up. The wind from the fan transformed into several runes that were identical to the ones on the fan. These runes automatically assembled in the air and turned into the shape of a bell.


    ~DENG~


    The bell mmed into the Rock creature and made it take a step back. But despite that, the creature didn''t seem to be hurt.


    "My Six Instruments Fan isn''t enough to break the defenses of this thing." The man with the Iron fan was stunned.


    "How do we kill this? None of our weapons are able to get through its defenses." The man in a ck armor questioned.


    All three of them were in distress and couldn''t do much with their strength.


    ''Hmm... all three of them seem to be at the First Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm. But they still can''t kill that rock creature? Its also has a strength equivalent to that of a First Tribtion Stage immortal though.'' Lin Mu observed.


    "Master, its defense seems to be higher than the one we saw before. It''s also thicker in size." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "That does seem like it. It''s a lot fatter." Lin Mu could see that the current one was at least 50% bigger than the one he hade across. ''They also said that this was the second rock beast of this kind they''vee across.'' He recalled.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    Then in the next moment, Lin Mu seemingly disappeared from Little Shrubby''s back and appeared behind the rock creature.


    "Who''s that?!" the three immortals were confused.


    ~BOOM~


    But then in the next second, their confusion turned into absolute astonishment.


    The strange rock creature had exploded into fragments!

 Chapter 1533 A Three Man Mercenary Group

    Lin Mu withdrew his hand and looked at the object that was left behind in it.


    "He killed it!"


    "Who''s that?"


    "How did he do that?"


    The three immortals were left stunned.


    To them, Lin Mu had appeared out of nowhere and destroyed the creature they had been having a hard time battling with just a single hand. Not to mention, the attack was so fast they didn''t even know how it happened.


    But their shock was ignored by Lin Mu, as his interest was on the object in his hand.


    ''A crystal?'' Lin Mu looked at the ck and grey crystal in his hand.


    It had a swirling energy within it that felt ufortable. Just by holding it in his hand, Lin Mu knew that the crystal contained a lot of baleful energy within it.


    "Thank you for your help Senior." The Three immortals spoke out loud while cupping their hands.


    This brought Lin Mu out of his thoughts and he looked at them. He put away the crystal in his ring for now and decided to focus on the people in front.


    "It''s nothing." Lin Mu replied. "Though, have you seen more of these rock creatures before?" he asked.


    "We''ve seen three before this, but only fought one." The man in the ck armor spoke.


    "Only one?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Yeah. We managed to avoid two, but one closed off our path and caught us near a crevice. We could only fight and kill it. Though it was not that difficult with the strength of all three." The man with the battle Axe replied.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "It''s surprising that we can''t estimate its cultivation base." The man with the iron fan stated before closing it. "They have this strange aura around them, that makes it difficult for us to tell." Hearing this Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    ''They can''t actually sense their strength or estimate it?'' Lin Mu had thought that it should have been rather obvious.


    While the rock creatures weren''t exactly following the normal cultivation path, estimating their strength should have been easy enough.


    "They aren''t body cultivators. They can''t estimate it just from energy density and aura like you." Xukong spoke at this time.


    "No wonder¡­" Lin Mu finally understood.


    Having been a body cultivator since the start, Lin Mu had ustomed to estimating the strength of people and other creatures simply from the energy and aura they emitted. But it wasn''t something normal Qi cultivators could do often.


    They could still use their spirit sense or immortal sense to tell the cultivation base of other paths, but doing it for a strange creature like this rock flesh monster was still quite difficult. Not to mention, it contained vtile energies that could harm the cultivator, so using their immortal sense was still a problem.


    Thankfully for Lin Mu, this was not of a concern, and his body''s defenses were already strong enough to bear direct contact with Baleful energies. Lin Mu had tested this out earlier, so wasn''t that worried.


    "Have you also seen them before senior?" The man in the ck armor asked seeing that Lin Mu was thinking.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yes¡­ just one though." Lin Mu replied.


    "Ah, I see." The man in the ck armor said before turning to hispanions. "We should continue now since the obstacle has been eliminated."


    "Yes." The Man with the battle Axe said before taking out a couple of stones from his storage pouch. "Please take this as a form of our gratitude."


    Lin Mu nced at the low grade immortal stones and shook his hand.


    "There''s no need. I acted on my own." Lin Mu replied.


    This was actually true, since Lin Mu''s goal had been the strange energy within the Rock creature from the start. As soon as he had sensed it, he knew he needed to check it out. This was also why he had attacked so quickly and taken away the ck grey crystal.


    Even if the crystal contained baleful energies and could not be used for cultivation, it wasn''t worthless. In fact, Lin Mu reckoned it could be used in quite a few ways.


    ''I should see if I can find a few more of these rock creatures. The first one certainly didn''t have a crystal like this in its body, which means there''s only a few that can form these.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Please take this at least, Senior." The Man with the Iron fan didn''t seem to be convinced though and handed Lin Mu a small wooden te.


    It was about the size of a palm and had a unique symbol on it. It was of a spear, a battle Axe and a fan. It just so happened that these three immortals used the same weapons.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "It''s a token of our appreciation as well as a free use voucher for our services. We are the Three Arms Mercenary Group." The man with the iron fan spoke.


    "Oh? You guys are mercenaries?" Lin Mu found it a bit hard to believe.


    From their demeanor and battle sense, Lin Mu found them to be a little too green.


    "We¡­ are just starting out." The man in the ck armor spoke.


    "Yeah, it''s been about six months since we made out group. We are trying to get out name out." The man with the battle Axe exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu put the wooden te away, not rejecting their goodwill.


    "If you need us in the future, please don''t hesitate to ask for us. We are usually at the Middle Fort city''s mercenary association. You can leave your requests there if we are not present there." The man in the ck armor spoke.


    "Very well¡­ I''ll do that in the future." Lin Mu replied, before asking. "Though what are your names?"


    "AH! We almost forgot." The man with the iron fan said. "I am Iron Fan Zhang."


    "I am Spear Arm Kuji." The man in the iron armor revealed.


    "And I am Axe Back Cuno." The man with the battle Axe stated.

 Chapter 1534 Warning Of The Mercenaries

    Lin Mu heard the introduction of the three men and found them to be quite unique.


    ''None of them use their surnames huh¡­ they are either trying to stay independent of their n name or are hiding it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    At the very least, Lin Mu could tell that they were all from different ns. They might have been close as brothers, but weren''t rted by blood.


    ''I guess they might be worth keeping note ofter¡­'' Lin Mu felt a little interested in them.


    "May we ask, where you are going through Senior?" Iron Fan Zhang questioned.


    "To the Blood Strewn ins." Lin Mu answered.


    "That ce?!" Spear Arm Kuji was surprised.


    "You shouldn''t go there right now. We heard that there''s someone ughtering everyone that gets close to that ce." Axe Back Cuno added.


    "What?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "Where did you hear that?"


    "There were several cultivators who wereing from there. They were retreating and didn''t even stop when we tried to talk to them. Only a single person seemed to be speaking to himself mindlessly about a killer there." Iron Fan Zhang exined.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was intrigued.


    ''For someone to make several immortals retreat like that¡­ they must be strong.'' Lin Mu felt like taking a look.


    He had confidence in his defense as well as his ability to escape.


    "Alright, I''ll keep an eye out for them." Lin Mu stated.


    "You''re still going there?" Axe Back Cuno replied in shock.


    "Just single person killing doesn''t mean that one should shy away from a challenge." Lin Mu said before flying up. "Though it might be best if you three retreat. You all need to train a lot more." He said before disappearing.


    The three mercenaries were a bit baffled seeing Lin Mu leave just like that.


    "Did he really go despite the warning?" Axe Back Cuno asked.


    "Yep, he did¡­" Spear Arm Kuji replied.


    "Though with his strength¡­ he might just be fine." Iron Fan Zhang stated. "This is what we need to strive to reach." He added.


    "Yes!" Kuji and Cuno replied together.


    A few kilometer away from the three mercenaries, Lin Mu had no idea he had inspired them to train harder.


    Though he was pleased that he had paused to help them, as he had not only obtained the crystal with the baleful energy but also learned that there was someone killing people at the Blood Strewn ins.


    ''For them to kill everyone entering the ins means there is something really valuable there.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Only a few things could be so valuable that the person desiring it would kill everyone else. After all, this was the Deste Blood Battlefield, and there were people from many powers here.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Mindlessly killing so many meant that they were bound to kill someone from a strong backing. It would open them up to bing a target and be pursued for a long time.


    ''Either they are really confident in their strength, or that the object they have found is really worth the price of offending so many people.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    It made him wonder if the reason behind this was a Immortal Stone mine.


    "It certainly would make sense for someone to act like that for an Immortal Stone mine, especially if it''s a high grade one or better." Xukong chimed in.


    "You really think it might be one like that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It is certainly one of the more valid options. If not that, it could be a herb or fruit that is as valuable as that." Xukong replied. "That Immortal Juo did say that the Blood Strewn ins are rich in body cultivation resources. Considering how that person is killing everyone, we can assume that they too are one, and the technique they use might have turned them blood thirsty." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­. I see." Lin Mu immediately started to think of potential methods that could be used to deal with a person like that.


    But no amount of preparation would be good, unless he knew exactly how strong that person was.


    "Guess reconnaissance it is first." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "I''ll help you too. I''ll still be faster than them." Little Shrubby added.


    "Mmhmm, that''s an option too." Lin Mu rubbed Little Shrubby''s head.


    The master and beast continued their travels, and during this Lin Mu took a look at the crystal he had obtained from the strange rock creature.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    He observed it for a while and confirmed that it did contain a lot of baleful energy. This was also the reason why the rock creature had be stronger than the others.


    ''Though it''s still weak¡­'' Lin Mu realized. ''With the amount of baleful energy that is within this crystal, even killing a third Tribtion Stage Immortal realm expert shouldn''t be an issue. But that rock creature was still having a hard time fighting the three mercenaries who were only at the First Tribtion Stage.'' He thought deeply.


    After some time, he came to the conclusion that the rock creature might not have fully ''adapted'' to the power of the crystal.


    This made Lin Mu keep an eye out for any more rock creatures, though he didn''te across anymore even after a week had passed. But he did end up finding two Blood Essence Crystals in this duration.


    The Blood Veinpass was always active with Lin Mu, and would point out whenever he was near some ce that was rich in baleful energies. This brought the total number of Blood Essence crystals Lin Mu had to three.


    Another two weeks passed, after which Lin Mu finally came across a rock creature.


    "Wait, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu asked.


    ~SHUA~


    Little Shrubby did a spin and slowed down, allowing Lin Mu to take a better look.


    ? The rock creature in question was even bigger than the one that was attacking the three mercenaries. But that wasn''t all, as the Blood Veinpass was going crazy at this time.


    "The needle keeps on twitching¡­ it''s certainly strong." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 1535 Falling Sky Lance

    Lin Mu observed the rock creature that was about seven meters tall.


    It had four arms and four legs, but had no eyes other than just arge mouth on its oval body. There were cracks on its body from which red mes were bursting out as well as parts that were made out of flesh.


    ''Hmm¡­ this one should be at least equal to the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    The creature was seemingly wandering around the area, with no obvious goal. Lin Mu couldn''t even tell if the creature had any intelligence or if it had any aim.


    ''Its existence itself is strange¡­'' Lin Mu thought before rising up from little Shrubby.


    He let little Shrubby wait there as backup, if he needed it and pursued the creature himself. Lin Mu entered the ground using Phase and got closer to the strange rock creature. He had observed its patterns and knew that it couldn''t sense him.


    That meant that the creature didn''t really have anything like Immortal sense. This gave Lin Mu an advantage and he could ambush the creature.


    ''Hmm¡­ should I try that? This might be a good choice to test it on.'' A technique came to Lin Mu''s mind.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu appeared high above the Rock creature and energy fluctuation appeared around him. A secondter, the sound of heartbeats could be heard as an aura of heaviness surrounded him.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu released the control of his weight and instead amplified it!


    ''Aspects of Heaviness!'' Lin Mu activated his Dao Skill.


    ~BOOM~


    With the sudden increase in his mass, Lin Mu descended like a meteor. He kept his legs and arms close to his body, turning into a longitudinal streak of fire.


    ''I''ll have to change robes again¡­'' Lin Mu''s robes had already been ignited from the friction.


    ~GUGA~


    The rock creature seemingly heard the noise and ''looked'' up despite having no eyes. But unfortunately for it, all it saw was a long fiery streak descending from the sky that was just a few meters away from it.


    If one looked from far away, they would think that a long fierynce was falling from the skies.


    ~KABOOM~


    Lin Mu''s massbined with the momentum of his body shook the very air, and struck the rock creature. It didn''t even have a time to cry out before it exploded into bits.


    But the process didn''t stop just there. Lin Mu was going too fast and his body directly pierced the ground.


    The kic energy from his body transferred to the ground and made it tremble.


    ~RUMBLE~<novelnext></novelnext>


    ~BOOM~


    After a short dy, a loud explosion could be heard as an area of around six hundred meters directly copsed into itself!


    A crater that was nearly a hundred meters was formed and at the center of it one could see an even deeper hole. The hole was a lot narrow, being only a few feet wide.


    A minute passed by as the things settled in the area.


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu climbed out of the hole, feeling a bit disoriented.


    His robes were basically gone and even his body had fine injuries on it. Thin cracks could be seen on his skin which was glowing in a golden light.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "It''s still enough to injure me¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A secondter, a red blur appeared next to Lin Mu.


    "Are you okay!?" Little Shrubby asked with concern.


    "Yes, I''m okay. I just miscalcted a bit¡­" Lin Mu replied as he observed his body''s state. ''The Aspect of Heaviness is still quite dangerous to use on myself. Though its effects are also quite good¡­'' he nced at the devastation caused by it.


    This was one of the skills Lin Mu hade up a while ago but had not tested it until now.


    He could have tested it on in ground or a mountain, but knew that it would not be a true test. After all, the main target of it should be an enemy. But most humans would be too small for Lin Mu to properly target.


    He would need a beast that wasrge enough for it, or some other object. Thus, when he saw the Rock creature, he reckoned it would be the perfect target for it. Plus, the creature had high defenses and thus it would be good for a piercing attack like the one he hade up with.


    ''It''s good that I didn''t use my full power. If I added the other addition I had made, I might have been injured even more.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. "I need to improve my defenses even more if I am to use this without having to worry much." He said to himself.


    "Since you''ve made this skill, you should give it a name. It is strong enough to warrant one now." Xukong said with a chuckle.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll name it¡­ Falling Sky Lance." Lin Mu stated.


    "Falling Sky Lance, a decent name." Xukong acknowledged thought in his mind he was a lot more impressed. ''Hebined body cultivation, Qi skills and his Dao skill into one toe up with this. If he can stabilize it more and improve his defenses, the power will be several times more than what it is now.'' He reckoned.


    Xukong wondered just how much better this skill could get, though he knew that Lin Mu had gotten the inspiration for it from his first Immortal Tribtion.


    "I''ll need to test it a bit moreter. But for now, let''s see where that crystal went." Lin Mu spread his immortal sense around and quickly felt the baleful energy. "There it is,"


    The ck grey crystal had been flung quite far from where the Rock creature had been at. Though Lin Mu was surprised to see that it was fully intact. There was not even a single scratch on it.


    ''It''s quite durable huh¡­ that expands its uses more.'' Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 1536 Reaching The Blood Strewn Plains

    Having seen the durability of the Baleful Energy crystal, Lin Mu stored it away.


    ''I''ll test it out a bit more in the Sleepscape. It is durable physically, but what about other methods?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Little Shrubby appearance Lin Mu and he got into the beast''s back.


    "Let''s continue." Lin Mu ordered.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby let out a roar, and the pair turned into a speeding red blur within a second. Days continued to pass and Lin Mu came across a few more Blood Essence crystals. In just five days, Lin Mu had obtained four such Blood Essence crystals.


    ''Their numbers are increasing¡­ which means this area hasn''t been explored as well.'' Lin Mu noted.


    It was a good thing for him, as it meant there were higher chances of obtaining good resources. They also came across a few more beasts and they were quickly killed before being stored in Lin Mu''s storage.


    Lin Mu recognized all of them as some of them were said to have materials that could be used for making Immortal tools or Alchemical pills. If not that, Lin Mu still had a use for their blood as he could make some Formation Ink from them.


    Beast blood was one of the mostmon ingredients to make formation ink and the blood of these beasts was even more special. Due to the unique characteristics of the Deste Blood battlefield, these properties had also been transferred over to the many beasts that inhabited this area.


    This included the baleful energies that had been adapted by the beasts. It was also reflected in their blood and Lin Mu reckoned it could be used for some offensive talismans.


    ''The traces of Baleful energies in the blood will enhance the lethality of the talismans.'' Lin Mu reckoned.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    Most of the beasts he came across were at the second or first tribtion stage of the immortal realm, with only a handful reaching the third Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm and only a single that had reached the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    But even that beast didn''t seem to be a match for Lin Mu.


    This had given him time to test out his capabilities and Lin Mu now knew that thebined strength of Qi cultivation and body cultivation made him equivalent to a Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal.


    And once he added his spatial skills and his sword intent on top of that, he could easily overe the Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm beasts. Of course, this was aparison with beasts and not humans, thus there was a difference in the intelligence and strategists.


    Beasts in the Immortal realm usually had intelligence that was no less than that of humans, but due to being in the Deste Blood Battlefield, their intelligence had been affected. While their raw strength had gone up, the intelligence had fallen.


    Lin Mu reckoned it had to do with the bloody aura and the Baleful energies that contaminated everything as well.


    Having low intelligence meant that using the right strategy could allow one to defeat a beast that might be stronger than them.


    The more time Lin Mu spent in the Deste Blood Battlefield, the more he improved. Both he, and Little Shrubby underwent fights every day, and came across many beasts. Their numbers also seemed to increase the close they got to the Blood Strewn ins.


    An entire month passed like this, during which Lin Mu''s cultivation base stabilized and his proficiency with his skills improved.


    Now, the master and beast were standing on top of a tall peak that was over seven thousand meters tall. They gazed at the vast ins thatid in front of them.


    "So this is the Blood Strewn ins¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    The ins extended all the way beyond the horizon, and several hills were spread among them. But that wasn''t all, as for the first time, Lin Mu actually saw rivers and streams in the Deste Blood Battlefield!


    "They really look like rivers of blood¡­ but it actually is water." Lin Mu said as he observed the winding rivers that came from afar.<novelnext></novelnext>


    But that wasn''t all, as he also saw several beasts swimming within the rivers too.


    "What do you think about some fish for dinner tonight, Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That sounds perfect!" Little Shrubby replied.


    "Well then, let''s go finish." Lin Mu said before jumping off the peak.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby jumped after him, and the two of them dived straight towards the river below.


    ~SPLASH~


    Lin Mu reached the water first and caused it to ssh up nearly a hundred meters.


    ~SPLASH~


    Little Shrubby reached next and created a ssh that was even bigger than Lin Mu''s.


    The two of them quickly looked around and found themselves surrounded.


    "Well, that makes it a bit easier. At least we don''t have to go look for them." Lin Mu said though, his link.


    ~SHING~


    He then withdrew a long sword from his storage. The sword only had a single edge, but it shone with fierceness.


    As soon as the long sword appeared, it resonated with the water around it, making it retreat. It was as if the water was afraid of the de!


    "Ocean Raker!" Lin Mu swung the sword while calling upon its name.


    ~HUMM~


    The sword let out a joyous hum and a long streak of sword light shot from it. The sword light parted the water and split the river in two. All the aquatic beasts that were surrounding Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were terrified in that moment.


    But unfortunately for them, they wouldn''t even have a chance to resist as Ocean Raker split them apart with the river!


    The three hundred meter wide river had now be deeper due to Lin Mu''s sh.


    "Collect them Little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke. "You can also consume their Nascent souls." He added.


    "YAY!" Little Shrubby summoned his prosthetic hands, which quickly flew around and collected the parts of the river beasts.


    In just a couple of minutes, Lin Mu had a small hill of meat ready to be cooked.

 Chapter 1537 Impending Danger

    After all the aquatic beasts had been collected, Lin Mu looked at the long sword in his hand.


    ''Ocean Raker is rather powerful in water huh¡­ it''s strength was definitely amplified.'' Lin Mu noted.


    He had not used Ocean Raker as much after obtaining it, and thought of doing so since he had seen some water. It was safe to say that the High grade Immortal sword was worth its name and rank.


    It had split apart tens of Aquatic beasts in a single sh.


    Lin Mu tapped the sword gently, making it tremble like a shy cat. He stored the sword away and got out of the river.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu waved his hand and a gust of wind swirled around him, pulling away all the water that was drenching his robes.


    ''This is really convenient. Wind Dao and Air Dao might be one of the most useful Dao''s in terms of convenience¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It had made him want to learn more about the Storm King''s techniques. Right now he just had the Bending Will fists, but Lin Mu reckoned he should be able to get more if he requested for them at the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    ''Senior Xukong did say they were widely distributed.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Should I prepare the dishes?" Little Shrubby asked, having finished his task.


    "Yes, do that. We''ve been traveling nonstop for a few weeks now. Let''s fill our bellies up." Lin Mu replied.


    "Mmmhmm, I''ll make six dishes then!" Little Shrubby quickly set up arge grill, two cauldrons, a t pan and a steamer.


    These weren''t the makeshift tools that they used before, but actual proper kitchen tools. Li Mu had bought several of them back in the city, and these were apparently used inrge kitchens and were meant to cook food for hundreds of people.


    But that was something that was a normal serving to Lin Mu and Little Shrubby.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, you twoe out too." Lin Mu called the twins.


    ~SHUA~


    A secondter, the twins appeared in front of Little Shrubby.


    They had grown a little from before and seemed to be a few inches longer now.


    "Oh? Are you two close to a breakthrough?" Lin Mu could feel a strange aura surrounding them.


    He narrowed his eyes and used Spatial perception, finding the find disturbances in the spatial fabric around them. Just by merely being there, the two were affecting it!


    "You two really are close to a tribtion!" Lin Mu was surprised.


    What surprised him more though, was the fact that it was the tribtion that was trying to approach the twins rather than the other way around.


    After all, the twins had a lot of lifespan left and would not be forced to take the Immortal Tribtion.


    They weren''t even four years old after all!


    But despite that, Lin Mu could tell that the Immortal Tribtion seemed close for them. Though he couldn''t exactly guess what kind of Immortal Tribtion it would be.


    "Senior Xukong, can you take a look? I don''t think they should be having an Immortal Tribtion this early, should they?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He was a bit concerned, thus chose to awake Xukong.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Hmm?" Xukong quickly took a look and realized that things were indeed a bit strange with the twins. "This is quite unusual¡­" he confirmed.


    Xukong tried to figure out what might be the reason for it, but could not.


    ''This shouldn''t happen usually¡­ are they going to trigger that kind of a Variant?'' Xukong wondered.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    Xukong knew that there were many variants of Immortal Tribtion and Lin Mu had already seen a few himself. Even his own first Tribtion as a variant tribtion and one of the most dangerous ones.


    But Xukong could tell that the one that the twins were going to have was unlike anything they''ve seen so far.


    "This does not look good." Xukong spoke after thinking for a bit.


    "Is there an issue, senior?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "Yes¡­ The Immortal Tribtion the twins are going to have will certainly be a variant Immortal Tribtion. But¡­ the effects its having already seem to be a bit too much for even a variant." Xukong replied.


    "How dangerous will it be, senior?" Lin Mu could already tell from Xukong''s tone it was not going to be simple.


    "Either on the same level as your Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribtion or even stronger." Xukong said in a serious tone.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt anxious. He looked at the twins, that didn''t seem to be aware of the impending danger.


    Their full attention was on the food that Little Shrubby seemed to be cooking, as well as on the pile of corpses nearby.


    ''The Saintess should know more¡­'' A thought appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    He had not talked to the Saintess ever since entering the Deste Blood Battlefield, but she had said that she''ll be following after him.


    ''Hopefully she can hear me¡­'' Lin Mu thought and took a deep breath.


    "Saintess, are you there?" Lin Mu called out.


    Lin Mu waited for a couple of minutes, but received no response.


    "The twins are going to have a breakthrough and it does not seem to be good, Saintess." Lin Mu spoke again.


    This time, Lin Mu waited for five minutes, but still received no response.


    "Strange¡­ is she too far? Or is she not here at all?" Lin Mu wondered.


    His brows furrowed while his worry increased.


    "Let me take a look," but just a few secondster, he heard the calming voice of the Saintess.


    He turned around and saw her materialize from thin air.


    She was still wearing her veil, but Lin Mu found something to be different about her. As for what it was, he couldn''t ce his finger on it.


    "Yes," Lin Mu gestured to the twins, who were entranced by the smell of the food.


    The Saintess spread her senses over them and was surprised.


    "This¡­ Why are there traces of Transcendent Tribtion on them?!"

 Chapter 1538 An Incoming Transcendent Tribulation

    The Saintess observed the Twins carefully, not wanting to make a mistake. Her senses were sharp and Lin Mu could feel her entire demeanor change.


    If before he felt like he was watching a calm sea, now it was like a sea that had sprouted several twisters above it!


    Five minutes passed like this before the Saintess withdrew her senses.


    "Looks like the records are stillcking." The Saintess spoke.


    "What''s happening Saintess?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Yin Yang Twin Serpents are having a breakthrough and are thus attracting a tribtion. This shouldn''t have happened since they are still very young, but then again their birth itself is a miracle.


    I don''t think we can fully follow the records that are in my sect. My understanding of the Yin Yang Twin Serpents may not be urate now." The Saintess answered.


    "Then if they are having a tribtion, why are there such spatial disturbances around them?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Their tribtion won''t be just any Immortal Tribtion. It will be on the level of a Transcendent Tribtion." The Saintess replied, shocking Lin Mu. "Both of them will be having their breakthrough at the same time, as I stated in the record and their tribtion were fused. This might be why the iing tribtion has turned into a Transcendent Tribtion instead of a normal one." She exined.


    Hearing this Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    ''What''s worse having two variant Immortal tribtions or a single Transcendent Immortal Tribtion?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder. "What should we do then? Can we weaken it?" he asked.


    "No¡­ if it really is going to be a Transcendence Immortal Tribtion, weakening it won''t be possible. No tribtion attenuation array will work against a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion. We can only wait for it and let the Twin''s pass it." The Saintess replied.


    "Can''t you help? You are a Celestial right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, I can''t. This is something the twins need to get through on their own. It is necessary for their growth. And while I would not have preferred for them to have a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion, now that they are having one, we''ll just have to let it happen." The Saintess answered with a little sadness in her tone.


    Lin Mu pursed his lips and looked at the twins.


    He went silent for a bit before speaking again.


    "If Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang are really as strong beasts as you''ve said, then I believe in their capabilities. I believe they can get through this." Lin Mu stated.


    Being the master of the twins, Lin Mu could sense their emotion through the link. And right now, they didn''t seem to be afraid at all.


    In fact, there was no thought of the Tribtion on their mind.


    Lin Mu knew the twins were sensitive and could sense danger. But right now since they were not reacting, he reckoned the twins were not really feeling any threat from the iing Transcendent Tribtion.


    ''He might have greater faith in the Ancestral Serpents than me¡­'' The Saintess thought to herself, while a smile appeared under her veil. "We''ll observe how it goes. Chances are, we are simply thinking too much." She said.


    "Yes¡­ let''s watch it." Lin Mu agreed. "How long till the food is done, Little Shrubby?" he asked, next.


    "Just a few more minutes." Little Shrubby replied.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Alright, we''ll have a good meal. That''ll prepare us for whatever''sing." Lin Mu was not discouraged at all.


    The Saintess simply watched as Lin Mu went to assist Little Shrubby in cooking. The Twins were also watching the food being cooked, and were clearly interested in eating it as well.


    While watching all this, a thought came to the Saintess''s mind.


    ''If the Yin Yang Twin Serpents undergo a Transcendent Tribtion here, the ne''s walls will certainly be torn apart. Those immortals will certainly notice if that happens¡­ they''ve already been searching for me¡­'' The Saintess pondered.


    "Guess there is something I can do after all¡­" The Saintess said to herself before raising her hand and pointing it towards the sky.


    ~HUMM~


    A couple of secondster, it was as if the wind had stopped blowing and the clouds had disappeared. An eerier silence spread in the area, making Lin Mu a bit unnerved. He looked around to sense the changes and then saw the Saintess in the middle of something.


    "What are you¡ª" Before Lin Mu could finish asking though, he felt a wave of energy spreading out from the Saintess.


    The energy was invisible, but Lin Mu could feel it clearly. It spread to beyond the limits of Lin Mu''s immortal sense and continued onwards. He immediately switched over to Spatial Sense and directly used his eyes to look in the distance.


    Since the Blood Strewn ins were mostly t, Lin Mu could see over a hundred kilometer away with just his eyes. This allowed him to ''see'' the energy covering the area. It seemed to be forming a thing membrane around it all.


    Its radius seemed to be over a hundred kilometers, possible even more than two hundred kilometers.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    "Celestial Sylph Arts: Sky Parasol." The Saintess seemingly chanted.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, a pattern appeared on her palm.


    The pattern was circr and wasposed of several runes. One of these runes lit up and flew out of her palm, transforming into something that Lin Mu couldn''t recognized. It directly rose into the sky and turned into a thin ray of light.


    ~HUALA~


    And when it reached a certain height, it ''exploded'' covering the entire area in its traces.


    It merged with the membrane that had been formed far away and formed a dome.


    If one looked at it from afar, they would think that a giant parasol had appeared in the bloodiednds!


    The Parasol didn''tst long though, as a few secondster it faded into nothingness.


    But Lin Mu could tell that it hadn''t truly disappeared. It had merely turned into an invisible construct!

 Chapter 1539 Sky Parasol

    Lin Mu witnessed the entire series of actions that the Saintess had taken.


    But it had left him a confused as to what they were.


    Still Lin Mu could think and guess what it was. Looking at the ''Parasol'' that was covering the area, the first thought that Lin Mu had was a protective dome of some kind. This led him to believe that this was something that the Saintess had done to protect the twins.


    ''But didn''t she say that no Tribtion Attenuation array could weaken a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He watched as the Saintess lowered her hand and turn towards him.


    "That should prevent others from spying on us and noticing the Twins." The Saintess spoke.


    "Spying on us?" Lin Mu realized that his initial guess was indeed wrong. "What''s the purpose of this ''Parasol''?" he directly asked.


    "A Transcendent Immortal Tribtion is not something that can be hidden easily. Its might is also great and it can easily affect the walls of a world." The Saintess replied.


    "Yes¡­ The Spatial Fabric is indeed being affected around the Twins." Lin Mu muttered.


    "That is merely the start. Once the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion appears, it wouldn''t be surprising for the wall between this ne and the void to be broken. Spatial Fabric will be torn apart as well exposing the void directly to this ne." The Saintess said. "This will allow the other Transcendent Immortals to know about the Transcendent Tribtion. They will certainly not sit still and wille to take a look." She exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu fully grasped it.


    ''Of course, the appearance of a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion means the potential appearance of a Transcendent Immortal, there is no way the ruling powers of this world will ignore that. They will want to see who else is rising in power.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "The disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree is already hot news, the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion will only turn it into a zing fire." Lin Mu muttered.


    Hearing this, the Saintess seemingly furrowed her brows but she didn''t inquire about the said tree.


    "The Sky Parasol will prevent others outside of this ne from noticing the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion. But those within the ne will still see it. Though I doubt they will dare to approach it." The Saintess father exined.


    "I see¡­ that is good. We do not want others taking an interest in the twins." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "For now, you can rest easy. We still have some time to go till the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion arrives." The Saintess informed Lin Mu.


    "Alright, we''ll prepare ourselves in this time." Lin Mu stated.


    He returned to assisting Little Shrubby while the twins were now looking at the Saintess.


    It was evident that her actions had actually managed to pull the twins'' attention from the food to the Parasol.


    The Saintess though looked at her palm and the pattern that was on it.


    ''I''ve used up one of the imprints for this. Condensing them in this world is already hard, I''ll have to be prudent with others. I won''t be able to use my Celestial skills here without that.'' The Saintess thought to herself before clenching her hand.


    The pattern on her palm disappeared as if it were never there.


    She then waved her other hand and created a set of table and chairs from water vapor that turned into cloud.


    The only difference this time was the fact that the clouds were now red.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ''The Aura of blood, death and decay has tainted everything in thisnd¡­ The baleful energies are also plentiful.'' The Saintess thought.


    She took a seat at the table and tapped the table lightly.


    ~tack~


    A ripple went through the table and chairs made out of cloud upon doing that.


    The ripple traveled to the edges of the furniture and then returned back. But when they were returning, they also changed the color of the clouds.


    From their bloody red color, they turned back into cotton white color.


    The Ripple gathered back at the point where the Saintess had tapped her finger and from there rose a single ck droplet.


    The Saintess watched the ck droplet for a few seconds and identified it.


    "Hmm¡­. The Baleful Energies haven''t gone past that level¡­ they are still weak enough to be handled." She muttered.


    After that, she brought her finger towards the ck drop, lightly touching it with her nail.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Her fingernail changed color at that moment, turning into a vibrant green color!


    The ck drop made contact with her green finger nail and seemingly fizzed.


    "Corroding Qi and Decaying Qi¡­ Mostly corroding Qi though." The Saintess analyzed theposition of the baleful energy droplet.


    The droplet fizzed for a couple more seconds before being dissipated by the Saintess. Her fingernail turned back to the normal color and no trace of her actions were left.


    Lin Mu hadn''t noticed the Saintess''s actions either. Only seeing that she had made another set of table and chair.


    ''Guess she just prefers sitting on that.'' Lin Mu had now taken that as a characteristic thing for her.


    It was the same style of table and chair and they were attached together too.


    ''At least she''s staying here in person.'' Lin Mu was pleased with that.


    With the Saintess being there, Lin Mu felt strangely calm. He hadn''t even noticed it consciously, but he certainly felt a lot more easy now.


    The anxiety about the Twin''s breakthrough was there no more.


    Soon, the food was ready and the feast began.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby divided up the portions first, and Lin Mu offered some to the Saintess as well.


    Next, he took out a portion for the twins, letting them enjoy cooked food for the first time. Before this, they had only had corpses and other forms of energies for a meal.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby too began eating, intending to stuff themselves to the limit this time.

 Chapter 1540 The Tribulation Arrives

    ~HAA~


    Lin Mu stretched his body upon finishing his meals.


    Only empty tes and trays were left next to him, as even bones had been eaten up by Lin Mu and Little Shrubby.


    The same could be said for the twins, as they were snakes in the first ce. They were creatures that swallowed their prey whole, leaving nothing behind. And in the case of the twins it was even more exaggerated as their capacity for consumption was a lot higher.


    They had already consumed hundreds of corpses before in the Land of Exile, but most of them were not even on the level of immortals. But now they had consumed the corpses of several beasts that were at the immortal realm.


    It had certainly given them a lot of energy and they were now in the middle of digesting it all.


    Though Lin Mu could somewhat guess that the twins might be able to eat even more, and this was not their limit.


    ''They might have simr consumption like me¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He wondered if he could test itter, but doing that would need a lot of beast corpses. He''ll wait till the right opportunity presented to him. Lin Mu often had shes with beasts anyway and would often keep a lot of the corpses.


    It was only a matter of time before he got to test it out.


    Lin Mu observed the spatial disturbances around the twins and saw that they had increased by a slight amount.


    ''It''s certainly progressing¡­'' Lin Mu thought and wondered how long it would take.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    At the very least, he could guess that it won''t be longer than a few days.


    "Let''s prepare for all that I can in this time¡­" Lin Mu decided to be in the best state he could.


    He first assimted all the energy from the food he had consumed and replenished all his immortal Qi. Then he set up a few formations in the area to help support him, if there was ever a need. These formations weren''t necessarily to be used for the Twins, but rather for anyone else that might appear.


    After all, even with the Saintess''s help, there was no telling what other situation could arrive.


    Not to mention, Lin Mu needed to defend himself from the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion too. Its mere aftershocks could kill the newer immortals and while Lin Mu was confident of bearing then, it was still better to be prudent.


    Thus he set up as many defensive formations as he could, employing the skills he had improved in setting up the formation pavilion in the Sleepscape.


    About six days passed like this while the fluctuations on the Twins got stronger. On the seventh day, the fluctuations had gotten really strong and Lin Mu was a bit anxious.


    "Is it going to happen finally?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "It can happen soon." Xukong replied.


    "Very well then¡­ Little Shrubby wait in the Sleepscape." Lin Mu first sent Little Shrubby to safety.


    There was no ce safer than the Sleepscape for the beast right now as even if he was an immortal, he didn''t have the skills to evade like Lin Mu nor the defenses. Little Shrubby had no objections either and entered the Sleepscape quickly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Once that was done, Lin Mu retreated a few kilometer away, letting the Twins do their thing.


    The two were coiled up together and seemed to be in a trance. It was clear that they had grasped the uing breakthrough and were preparing for it on their own terms.


    "They''ll be fine." Lin Mu affirmed to himself.


    "They are not panicked at least. That''s a good sign." The Saintess''s voice could be heard.


    Lin Mu turned and saw the Saintess standing beside him.


    "The Ancestral Serpents are very strong on their own, and their bloodline is one of the top bloodlines for sure. I doubt they would be in trouble against even a Transcendent Tribtion. After all, even if we don''t have information on that, the bloodline should have alerted them already." The Saintess spoke.


    "Let''s hope that''s how it is¡­" Lin Mu looked at the twins, observing the fine changes in the space around them.


    The two had no idea what kind of Transcendent Tribtion the twins will be having, and thus needed to be alert at all times.


    Minute after minute passed by, which soon turned into hours.


    The intensity of the spatial disturbance increased with this, and eventually reached a point where Lin Wu could see the Spatial Fabric being affected.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Finally, it was as if the space couldn''t bear it anymore and started to weaken!


    A rumbling sound was hearding from the skies, stunning all those that had heard it. The pressure exuding from the sound was enough to stir the hearts of all, informing them that great danger was approving.


    "It''s here¡­" Lin Mu muttered but then noticed something else. "Wait¡­ it''s not just the sky¡­"


    The Saintess narrowed her eyes, sensing the abnormality too. Her senses were spread around the area and had urately picked up the changes.


    "Wind Dao?" The Saintess said in surprise. "Thunder in the sky and Wind from the Twins?"


    Hearing the words of the Saintess Lin Mu observed it again and sensed that the spatial tears were happening not just in the sky but around the twins too.


    "The Spatial Tears in the sky and the rumbling means a Lightning Tribtion, but the tears around the twins¡­ that''s a Wind Tribtion?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes¡­ that''s how the Wind Tribtions usually are. Wind element is one of the Four Heavenly Elements and can thus manifest from the space directly for tribtions. Just like how the Lightning Tribtions arrive from another dimension, the same can be said for the wind tribtion." The Saintess exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu''s brows furrowed.


    "If both of these Tribtions are appearing at the same time, then what about the Transcendent Tribtion?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "That¡­ is yet to form." The Saintess said, her expression under the veil turning stern.

 Chapter 1541 Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribulation

    Lin Mu and the Saintess watched as the two Tribtions started to rip apart the space.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Dark Clouds had gathered in the skies, turning the red sky of the Deste blood battlefield grey for the first time.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Next, winds stirred around the twinsing out from the spatial tears that had appeared next to them.


    ~RUMBLE~


    ? The sound of thunder echoed across the skies, as arcs of lightning shed through the dark clouds.


    Looking at the clouds, Lin Mu saw that the lightning was not the usual purple lightning that one would see. Instead, it was pure white!


    "Pure White Lightning? Isn''t this¡­" Lin Mu recalled some information.


    "Extreme Yang Lightning Immortal Tribtion." The Saintess muttered.


    ~HONG~


    Next, the sound of sharp winds assaulted one''s senses. It was as if a jet was starting up and was raking up all the dust and soil around the area. The color of the winds was also different, being a mix of ck and grey color.


    "ck and grey color winds?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows, not being able to recognize it right away.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    From what he could recall, normal Immortal Wind Tribtions were with invisible air. Thus, what he was seeing in front of him was certainly a Variant Immortal Wind Tribtion. The only question was what kind of variant was it?


    "That''s the Extreme Yin Wind immortal Tribtion." Xukong revealed.


    Hearing this, a few thoughts appeared in Lin Mu''s mind. He connected the two together and started toprehend something.


    "Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang¡­ just like the twins'' attributes¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "The Extreme Yin Wind Immortal Tribtion must be due to Xiao Yang, as its the opposite element of his while the Extreme Yang Lightning Immortal Tribtion should be Xiao Yin''s." He understood.


    The Saintess though, had a different reaction.


    "It''s going to be this Tribtion¡­ this will not be easy." The Saintess spoke, her tone serious.


    "You know what tribtion they are having?" Lin Mu asked in surprise.


    "Yes¡­ ~RUMBLE~" But just as the Saintess had started speaking, the skies trembled again.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Next, the pure white lightning spread from the clouds and met the ck windsing from the bottom. The two tribtions seemingly mingled and merged, turning into something entirely new.


    ~BOOM~


    Then with a loud explosion, a cyclone manifested around the Twins fully hiding them within it.


    Immense energy fluctuations wereing from it, and a terrifying pressure had descended upon thend.


    The size of the storm was also increasing, and within a couple of minutes, it had already covered over a hundred kilometers of area. Lin Mu and the Saintess quickly retreated, with the Saintess using one of her skills to send them flying tens of kilometer within seconds.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It was even faster than Lin Mu''s skills, which surprised him a little.


    ~HONGLONG~


    A strange sound could be hearding from the storm, which felt like a death knell. It was as if the very heavens were calling for the apocalypse toe, filling the entire area with dread.


    All those that looked at the storm from afar would feel a terror rise up in their hearts. Those that were weaker would directly avert their eyes from the storm, feeling pricks in their eyes.


    Those that were of a high cultivation base though, could sense the Dao within the storm.


    Dao Traces were plentiful and even Dao insights intertwined between the storm.


    "A storm that inspires fear and rips apart the space¡­ this tribtion¡­" Lin Mu recalled a record from the memoirs of the Lost Immortal.


    The man had witnessed this kind of Immortal Tribtion once before and had written about it in his Memoir. It described the scene exactly as the one in front of Lin Mu.


    He had read about it a couple of years ago, and thus had a vague remembrance of it. Not to mention, Lin Mu''s understanding back then was not as good as it was, thus it wasn''t unusual for him to not have understood it right away.


    But now that he was seeing it with his own two eyes, he was sure of it.


    "It''s the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "Indeed, it is¡­" The Saintess confirmed, her voice a bit strained.


    ''Of all the Transcendent Immortal Tribtions, it had to be this one¡­'' Xukong knew the level of danger this posed.


    Of the many Immortal Tribtions an immortal could face, the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion were considered the most dangerous. Even when one added variant Immortal Tribtions to the mix, they were still many times dangerous.


    This was because Transcendent Tribtions weren''t individual, but were rather formed from two different kinds of Immortal Tribtion. These wouldbine and turn exponentially dangerous.


    Of course, even among the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion,, there were different levels. A Transcendent Immortal Tribtion thatbined two elements from the five mortal elements would be easier than a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion that was made from one mortal element and one heavenly element.


    Thus the difficulty could be considered of three levels.


    The first level was a Transcendent Immortal Tribtionposed of only mortal elements.


    This was called the Mortal Transcendence Immortal Tribtion!


    The second level was a Transcendent Immortal Tribtionposed of one mortal and one Heavenly Element.


    This was called as the Pseudo-Heavenly Transcendence Immortal Tribtion!


    Then there was the third level, which wasposed of just the two heavenly Elements among four. It was called as the Heavenly Transcendence Immortal Tribtion.


    There was just one such Transcendent Immortal Tribtion, and it was the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion!


    And the twins were undergoing exactly this kind of Immortal Tribtion.


    Their very first Immortal Tribtion was going to be the most difficult form of Transcendent Immortal Tribtion there could be. One could even consider this a miracle as there would not be any other case of something like this happening.


    Xukong knew that the number of immortals that survived the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion were less than one percent. Thus he wondered just how the twins were going to survive this.

 Chapter 1542 The Raging Transcendent Immortal Tribulation

    With themencement of the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion the topography of the area changed rapidly.


    Deep ravines were carved out by the sharp winds, while the lightning sted apart mountains.


    Lin Mu watched it all with a mix of dread and awe, while feeling the immense power that was contained within the tribtion. It was certainly the strongest tribtion he had ever seen and easily exceeded the destructiveness of the Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribtion he had ovee before.


    The size of the storm also kept on increasing and had reached two hundred kilometer wide at this point.


    Lin Mu and the Saintess had to retreat several times now and were far enough that the border of the Sky Parasol could be seen by them.


    "If it exceeds beyond this, will the Sky Parasol be affected?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    They clearly had a Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion to worry about, Lin Mu didn''t wish for Transcendent Immortals to join the fray as well.


    "It should not expand beyond this." The Saintess shook her head. "It''s energy has reached the peak, you should be able to tell it too now if you focus." She exined.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and used the Spatial Perception with his full focus. When he did that, he could see the Dao Traces and Dao Insights that were dispersed in the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion as well as the spatial tear that had appeared.


    The tear was also hidden behind the storm and could not be seen by others. But to Lin Mu it was as clear as the day. And upon observing the tears, he realized that the Saintess''s words were true.


    "The Tears aren''t expanding any more. The energy has really reached its peak." Lin Mu muttered.


    ~BOOM~


    A few moments after that, several lightning bolts struck the center of the storm while tearing winds assaulted it at the same time.


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu felt the emotions of the Yin Yang Twin serpents change rapidly.


    They were now feeling pain!


    And the pain wasn''t just any pain, but intense enough for even Lin Mu to feel it through their link.


    "They''re injured!" Lin Mu said with great worry.


    "They have to bear it. This is simply the cost of the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion." The Saintess spoke, trying to hold back as well.


    She too could sense that the twins were injured and also the might of the Tribtion.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    But this was merely the start of it all, as the storm was not going to let the twins rest.


    It struck them incessantly with lightning bolts and winds that could rip flesh.


    Lin Mu felt every time the twins were struck by them, as well as the variance in their pain.


    Minute after minute passed by like this, during which Lin Mu felt horrible. He wished that it was him there, but knew that it was not something possible. He could only sit here and watch the twins suffer from the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu simply gritted his teeth and held on, watching as the Tribtion progressed.


    Unknowingly an entire hour had passed by like this while the twins endured the tribtion. It was by this time that Lin Mu realized something.


    ''The twins¡­ they might be getting injured, but their vitality isn''t weakening¡­'' Lin Mu realized.


    It was a surprising revtion as even he would have experienced something like that after that much damage. But for the twins, it was as if their vitality had stayed the same.


    Normally, a part of a creatures vitality would be consumed if they were injured. More vitality would be consumed in order to heal themselves as well. The worse the injury, the more vitality would be needed.


    There were even injuries that could continually drain one''s vitality and eventually kill them.


    The Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion could be considered simr to that, as it would continually strike a cultivator and injure them till they died. As for how long it took for them to die, it depended on their endurance, will and cultivation base.


    With the twins being as special as they were, they seemed to be doing the best.


    Lin Mu continued to watch as another hour passed by.


    "They''re still the same¡­" Lin Mu said in disbelief.


    This time it wasn''t just him that was surprised, but even the Saintess was the same.


    The only thing was that her expression could not be seen due to the veil. But in reality, she was more surprised than Lin Mu.


    She knew just how terrifying a Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion really was and the consequences it could have.


    ''If a Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion happens in a low ranked immortal world, there is a high chance of the world''sws copsing and the world dying as well. I think it might be for the best that were are on a world that is close to its own ascension¡­'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    She wondered if it really was fate that Lin Mu and the twins arrived on this world.


    Lin Mu had been sensing the change in the twins through their link, and knew by now the twins were somewhat used to the constant injuries. They were healing at the same time and were trying to keep a bnce between the two.


    They had divided the work too.


    One twin would bear the majority of the damage for one strike, while the other would take the time to heal. They would switch and repeat this, keeping their condition on a strange equilibrium.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Such a method of surviving a Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion was something that would not be possible for anyone else. It was a method that was unique to only the Yin Yang Twin Serpents!


    ~HISS~


    And after another hour had passed by, Lin Mu and the Saintess felt a loud hiss.


    It felt full of anger and it was none other than the twinsshing back!


    They''ve had enough!

 Chapter 1543 The Twins Triumph

    ~HISS~


    The twins hissed out loudly, the sound traveling far and wide.


    The sound of the storm was not enough to suppress it, and it was as if the very air was carrying to ording to theirmands.


    Every person that was within a thousand kilometer radius of the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion could hear the hiss. It was as if the hiss had directly been whispered into their ears!


    ~SHUA~


    A moment after that, Lin Mu and the Saintess felt dense energy fluctuationsing from the center of the storm. They were different than the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion''s energy fluctuations and were simr to the Yin Yang Twin Serpents energy fluctuations.


    "What are they¡ª" but before Lin Mu could speak, he saw something that left him stunned.


    ~WOONG~


    Two pirs of light rose up from the center of the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion, one ck and one white.


    The pirs of light directly pierced through the dark clouds, deflecting the lightning and blocking the winds.


    ~HUM~HUM~HUM~


    But that was merely the start as a few secondster, the pirs started to move. They started to revolve forming a spiraling pir that spun in the opposite direction to that of the cyclone.


    "Is that¡­" Lin Mu narrowed down on the energying from the ck and white pirs, identifying them.


    "Pure Yang and Pure Yin Qi¡­" The Saintess muttered.


    The two types of Qi were very difficult to refine and obtain, as they were directlyposed of all the Mortal and Heavenly elements. One could find Yin and Yang in each of the elements and they had their aspects to it.


    Thismonness was what made it difficult to extract the source of the two types of Qis.


    Those that could do it were those with a high affinity to it, or those who were extremely skilled.


    In the case of the Yin Yang Twin Serpents, it could be said that they had both the factors within them.


    It now looked like there was not one but two cyclones raging in the area.


    First was the cyclone formed by the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion and the second was the cycle formed by the spinning Pure Yin and Yang Qi.


    One cycle spun in the clockwise direction and the other spun in the anticlockwise direction.


    It formed a great contrast, and the pressure exuding from their mix was unlike anything Lin Mu or any other cultivator in the Blood Strewn ins had felt before. They were strong enough that it could be clearly felt for a thousand kilometers, and faintly felt for several thousand kilometers.


    And if one''s cultivation base was high enough and their senses sharp, they might even be able to sense it tens of thousands kilometer away!


    If one looked at the two storms from the top, they would see another scene though.


    They would see a swirling mass of clouds, that was filled with lightning while in the center of it they would see a circle. The circle was half ck and half white and continually moved.


    At the same time within the circle, one might see two smaller circles that were moving. They too were white and ck, and it looked like the different halves of the circle were chasing after these dots.<novelnext></novelnext>


    But to a cultivator, this had taken the form of a symbol they should know very well.


    It was none other than the symbol of Taiji!


    "Storm Assaults The Unity, While The Taiji Prevails¡­" The Saintess recited an old poem.


    ~RUMBLE~


    It didn''t take long for the inner cyclone to grow bigger. It started to press outwards and caused the storm made by the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion to reduce in density.


    "They''re¡­ Eating away the storm?" Lin Mu understood.


    He said ''eating'' and not dispersing since that was exactly what the twins were doing.


    Through their link, Lin Mu could sense the twins'' bellies being filled with massive amounts of energies. The constant output of the Pure Yin and Yang Qi was not something that could be maintained otherwise.


    Thus in order to keep that up, they were directly taking it away from the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion itself!


    It was something possible only for the twins, as consuming Extreme Yang and Extreme Yin like that would be the same asmitting suicide.


    "The Tribtion is getting weaker." The Saintess spoke as a smile appeared under her veil.


    Lin Mu observed it with his spatial perception and saw the Spatial Tears reducing as well.


    ''If they are reducing, that means the power of the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion is falling as well¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After all, in order to keep the fabric of space torn open like that, one needed a lot of energy. Even if Lin Mu could do the same, it was only for a short time and not for hours on end, like what the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion was doing.


    Thus if the size of the Spatial tears was falling, it meant that the energy of the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion was also falling, which brought the tribtion closer to its end.


    "So they''ve found their way. The Tribtion should end soon enough." Xukong finally spoke.


    He too had been observing everything without missing a part.


    After all, even for he who had lived for countless years, a Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion was still rare. In his long life, he had not seen it more than a few tens of times.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    That just proved how rare it was even for the Void Weaver Spider Xukong.


    As for the Saintess, she had only heard about the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion and had never actually seen one herself.


    ~SHUA~


    Finally, after an entire hour passed, the size of the Yin and Yang pir had grown to over a hundred kilometers wide!


    At the same time, the size of the storm had fallen to less than a kilometer in size.


    ~HUALA~


    As if a dam had been broken, the storm was torn apart and the tribtion had been ended!

 Chapter 1544 Double Breakthrough

    With the storm of the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion fading away, the ck and white energies within it also disappeared soon.


    Lin Mu and the Saintess rushed towards the location of the Twins, knowing that they might be in a vulnerable position right now.


    "Be alert." The Saintess said before making a seal with her hand.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, Lin Mu felt his body being covered in Wind Dao Traces. He could identify them clearly this time and understood that this was a skill of some kind.


    ~step~


    ~WOOM~


    And when he took his next step, he directly soared forward several kilometers. It was as if the wind itself was guiding his path and pushing him ahead.


    ''Looks like this is Saintess''s skill.'' Lin Mu thought.


    It was a good skill and had increased his speed by several times.


    It didn''t take the two more than a couple of minutes to cover the distance and arrive at the location of the twins.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang!" Lin Mu called out upon seeing the twins.


    They were floating in the air and a ck and white glow was surrounding them.


    "Its over now, you can calm down." Lin Mu spoke.


    ~HISS~


    The twins opened their eyes upon hearing a familiar voice and looked at Lin Mu and the Saintess.


    ~SASASA~


    As if excited, the two of them jumped into Lin Mu''s embrace, pushing him back a few meters due to the considerable force.


    "Ahaha! You two were amazing." Lin Mu praised the twins.


    After all, the achievement they had set was something that might never be seen in the universe for a long time.


    It was even doubtful if anyone else had survived a Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion as their very first Immortal Tribtion. Regardless of what it may be, Lin Mu was just thankful that the twins were now fine.


    ~SASASA~


    The twins bobbed their heads in joy, while enjoying being petted by Lin Mu.


    At the same time though, Lin Mu felt the difference in the cultivation base of the twins.


    "Wait a second¡­ it''s not at the First Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm¡­" Lin Mu used his Immortal sense and checked the Dantians of the two, wondering if he was mistaken or something.


    But when he did, he saw it clear as day.


    Both the twins'' Nascent souls had two halos around them. One of the halos was purple, while the other was azure.


    "They''re at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm?!" Lin Mu was stunned by this surprise.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "They are?" The Saintess took a look too and realized that Lin Mu was saying the truth.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    "How''s that possible?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "Looks like oveing the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion allowed them to cross two stages in a single attempt." The Saintess spoke, feeling surprised herself.


    Since there was no precedent of anyone having survived a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion at this level before, they simply had no information as to how one''s cultivation base would progress.


    Lin Mu thought over it for a minute and understood it a bit more.


    "I guess since the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion isposed of the Extreme Yang Lightning Immortal Tribtion and the Extreme Yin Wind Immortal Tribtion, it counts has them having ovee two Immortal Tribtions at once?" Lin Mu analyzed the situation.


    "That might be it¡­ This is something worth being added to the Records of the sect." The Saintess didn''t know how valuable this information might be since it was doubtful if anyone would be able to aplish something like this, but it was still extremely rare information.


    Lin Mu looked at the twins, feeling a little strange. His tamed beasts had managed to rise above his own Qi cultivation level now. Of course, his body cultivation was about the same level and if hebined that with his Qi cultivation, it would be even higher.


    ''Guess I should increase mine soon too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had also gotten a better understanding of the Lightning and Wind Daos after having witnessed the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion. While Lin Mu didn''t have as much of an understanding of the Lightning Dao, he did know more about the Wind Dao and was one of the Daos he was currently interested in.


    ''Perhaps I should pick it for my next Immortal Tribtion?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Xukong had told him to pick an element that he was not as versed in. Thus Wind would fall in the requirements perfectly. Not to mention, Lin Mu would have a better chance atprehending the Wind Dao Traces and perhaps even insights, allowing him to better his skills with the Bending Will fists.


    But all that was for the future. For now, Lin Mu knew it was important for them to leave this area.


    "Let''s head out for now. How long will the Sky Parasolst Saintess?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not for long. The Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion has greatly weakened it." The Saintess said after taking a look.


    Lin Mu pursed his lips and nodded his head.


    "Little Shrubby, it''s time." Lin Mu brought out his first tamed beast.


    "What happened here?" Little Shrubby was rather surprised by the devastated area.


    He could also sense the traces of lightning Dao around the area, since he had an affinity with it too.


    "It''s the aftermath of the twin''s Immortal Tribtion." Lin Mu replied.


    This made Little Shrubby take a look at the twins.


    "They¡­ reached the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm? HOW?" Little Shrubby asked with a hint of jealousy.


    "Their tribtion was the reason for it. I''ll exin moreter. We need to leave this area first." Lin Mu replied with a chuckle, knowing that Little Shrubby was feeling left behind.


    "Okay¡­" Little Shrubby brought out the harness, allowing Lin Mu to get on.


    "Will you leave now, Saintess?" Lin Mu asked, wanting her not to.


    "No. It''s too sensitive of a time." The Saintess replied. "The twins need to be watched. Who knows if there are any hidden injuries?" She added.

 Chapter 1545 The Central Area Of The Blood Strewn Plains

    The Saintess was greatly interested in the twins'' progress and wanted to study them further. After all, the Ancestral serpents were the legacy of the Serpent Moon Sect and they had been looking for them for countless years.


    "Alright, that''s good." Lin Mu was pleased that she wasn''t leaving right now.


    "I''ll augment your speed." The Saintess spoke.


    "Just like before?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, but this will be a bit stronger." The Saintess replied.


    "Even stronger?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    The boost that the Saintess had given him before was already enough to increase his speed to almost the same level as Little Shrubby. He had thought that she would give a boost of the same level which,bined with Little Shrubby''s speed, would be even greater.


    But a boost stronger than that made Lin Mu wonder just what level their speed would reach.


    "Get ready." The Saintess spoke and extended her palm towards Lin Mu.


    ~SHUA~


    A pattern appeared on her palm, that had several runes on it. They were made in a circr pattern, and some of the runes seemed to be missing from it. Lin Mu observed the circle and estimated that there should have been about eight runes on it originally.


    ''There are four now...'' Lin Mu counted.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Just as he was thinking that, one of the runes lit up and flew out of her palm, reducing their numbers to just three. It transformed into an energy that directly covered Lin Mu and Little Shrubby.


    ''Do they have a limited number of uses?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He didn''t know what the Saintess was using, but it was certainly something that normal immortals would be unable to do.


    Just the Sky Parasol and the speed boosts she had given them were skills that were likely beyond the immortal realm, or were at the very peak.


    ''When she made the Sky Parasol, she chanted the name of the technique too... Celestial Sylph Arts.'' Lin Mu recalled. ''Is it a technique of the Celestial Realm?'' he guessed.


    ~SHUA~


    While Lin Mu was thinking about this, Little Shrubby began his sprint.


    In just a couple of leaps, they had traveled tens of kilometer and barely a few seconds had passed.


    ~BOOM~


    Then with a sonic boom, their speed exceed sound and they traveled at a blinding pace. It was far greater than Little Shrubby''s own speed, and even Lin Mu was having a hard time observing things.


    ''Can you handle this speed?'' Lin Mu asked, knowing that Little Shrubby was likely unable to see clearly either.


    ''I can if I use my immortal sense,'' Little Shrubby replied through their link.


    At the speed they were traveling, speaking was useless, as the sound wouldn''t even reach their ears. Plus, the wind going past them would make the sound inaudible anyway.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    They continued at this speed for about five minutes, after which the speed augmentation provided by the Saintess had started to fade away. Little Shrubby''s speed fell and soon reached his original speed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ''So five minutes is its limit... still, this time is enough for us to cover a massive area.'' Lin Mu didn''t even know how far they hade by now.


    "Stop, little Shrubby." Lin Mu ordered.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby slowed his pace before digging his ws into the ground, ripping long streaks across it.


    "Looks like we''re still in the Blood Strewn ins." Lin Mu said after taking a look around.


    This was expected, since the Blood Strewn ins were said to be one of thergest areas of the Deste Blood Battlefield. In fact, it was even said that the true scope of the Deste Blood Battlefield was actually unknown.


    Any records about its exact size and area had long since gone missing or had been lost to the annals of time. After all, this was an area that belonged to the power that had lost in the battle.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu got down from Little Shrubby''s back and tried to estimate where they were ording to the map he had.


    "Hmm... there''s nothing specific to reference here." Lin Mu scanned the area.


    There were supposedly several referencendmarks in the Blood Strewn ins, but due to how fast they had traveled, they had gone past several of them.


    "We''vee more than fifteen hundred kilometers from the previous spot." The Saintess informed, seeing that Lin Mu was confused.


    "Fifteen hundred kilometers?!" Lin Mu was quite shocked, but calmed down a few secondster. ''If we''re fifteen hundred kilometers from the previous location, then...'' Hepared the coordinates ording to the maps.


    "Oh? We''re roughly around the center of the Blood Strewn ins." Lin Mu realized.


    This was also the area that was said to be very rich in resources, and all one had to do was search well.


    ~huu~


    "At least we''vee to the right ce... the chances of us finding an Immortal Stone mine should be better here." Lin Mu spoke.


    The Saintess heard Lin Mu''s ambitious words and raised her brows slightly.


    ''I wonder if he''ll be able to find them on his own?'' The Saintess was curious too. ''Even I''ll have a hard time finding them without my original cultivation base. Especially with the bloody aura tainting this area, finding the traces of the Immortal Stones will be difficult.'' She thought to herself.


    She looked at her palms as the pattern shed on it once more.


    On her right hand, there was just one rune left, while on her left palm, there were three runes left.


    ''Using the Celestial Sylph Arts took seven runes and the Speed Augments took five runes... I''ve already used up so many... I need to umte them once more.'' The Saintess thought before looking at the Yin Yang Twin Serpents. ''But leaving them also feels risky.'' She was in a dilemma.


    ~Sigh~


    After a minute, she let out a silent sigh and made up her mind.


    ''I still have four of the runes left. They should be enough for now. Plus, Lin Mu should be able to handle most of the troubles.'' She reckoned.

 Chapter 1546 A Systematic Exploration Plan

    "That should be enough, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke.


    "This is deep enough?" Little Shrubby withdrew his ws.


    "Yep. We don''t need it to be that big. After all, we have the Sleepscape." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby nodded his head and returned to his smaller cat form.


    He lookedically small next to the hill of soil and rocks next to him.


    Having arrived in the central area of the Blood Strewn ins, Lin Mu''s goal was now to find an Immortal Stone Mine. But he also knew that it would not be an easy task.


    Thus in order to do it efficiently, he decided to do it systemically. Since it was hard to tell the location in the Blood Strewn ins, Lin Mu first decided to plot his own map by dividing the area around this location into multiple sections.


    The current location would be their temporary base, and they would go on expedition from here, gathering all the resources as well as searching for the traces of an Immortal Stone Mine.


    It was going to be a tall task, but Lin Mu had plenty of time. At the same time he would be able to continue his other work too, and further progress his cultivation base.


    He couldn''t help but feel nostalgic doing all this.


    ''It''s just like those times when we lived in the caves away from settlements¡­'' Lin Mu recalled his history of hiding.


    The difference no was that he wasn''t exactly running away from anyone. He was merely doing a little excavation venture while also cultivating at the same time.


    It wasn''t anything unusual and many cultivators would do the same.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It wasn''t unknown for cultivators to enter the Deste Blood Battlefield for a decade before returning.


    After all, while the environment inside it was harsh, it also all the resources one needed to survive within it. Albeit, it was difficult to obtain them.


    But at the same time, if one was lucky enough they would be able to obtain a fortune that mightst them for hundreds of years toe as well as allow them to breakthrough to a high realm.


    "Well then, let''s start." Lin Mu began his process of making a base.


    He had first gotten Little Shrubby to dig a cave since there weren''t many ces to stay in the Blood Strewn ins. Plus, it was easier to hide underground, rather than staying up above the surface.


    Then there was also the fact that there were a few formations that we wished to use. Having built the Formation pavilion, he had be a bit interested in construction, which used different application of the formations.


    As such, he wanted to study them more, and thus wanted to make a new kind of a cultivators cave.


    After the cavity for the cave was made, Lin Mu first made arge scale reinforcing array that would prevent it from copsing. Next, he added an earth elemental array that wouldpact and harden the soil around the cave, further strengthening it.


    The Earth Elemental formation array he had used was usually used in making the foundations of buildings, as it made them tougher and more stable. But in Lin Mu''s case, it could also be used for a cave like this.


    Having added these two arrays, he then made the usual illusory formations to hide it from in sight. He thenbined it with an istion formation and turned it into an entire illusory array.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "The base is done¡­ now to add the other features." Lin Mu was not done yet.


    Next he went to a nearby stream that was flowing in the opposite direction.


    ~SHING~


    Lin Mu took out his sword and shed in a straight line, going towards the cave.


    ~SHUA~


    The sword light created a long channel that made the stream change its path. It now curved around the location of the cave.


    Lin Mu went back and made a few more changes, such as making a tube that would bring the water of the stream underground. In there, it would umte in a pool, allowing them to make use of it for several things.


    Several more minor formations were added to the cave before it waspleted a dayter.


    ~Phew~


    Lin Mu let out a breath, looking at his first properly made immortal cave.


    The cave had everything an average immortal might need, except an Immortal Qi gathering array.


    But that was only because Lin Mu wascking the skill as well as the method to make one. Not to mention, making an Immortal Qi gathering array here would be overkill for a cave that Lin Mu was only going to use temporarily.


    "So he''s finally done." The Saintess had been watching Lin Mu''s work since the start and was surprised he had done all this.


    Just like before, she had made a set of table and chairs, using them to calmly observe everything.


    To Lin Mu, this had be a normal thing, but if others were to see a veiled woman sitting in the same ce for over a day staring, they would be quite unnerved.


    Though that wasn''t all the Saintess was doing, she was also keeping her senses alert and observing everything that was happening around the area. Her senses could go way beyond what Lin Mu''s could, but she didn''t tell this to Lin Mu.


    She liked that he was cautious and prepared, thus she didn''t want him to get careless because of her being there. Him getting extra practice was just the cherry on top.


    ~HISS~


    The twins lifted their head, looking at the Saintess.


    Their usual spot now had be the table where the Saintess sat, and she also quite liked that. They naturally felt close to her and werefortable around her. It also gave the Saintess the chance to study them properly.


    Just like this, a strange scene of peace had been created.


    But unknown to Lin Mu and hispanions, an uproar was happening among the powers of the Rust Sky Kingdom.

 Chapter 1547 The News Travels Far

    Far from the Deste Blood Battlefield, or even the Holy Topaz Empire, an old man was having a rxing time. He was resting on the balcony of arge residence that was built entirely from wood and rocks.


    Therge residence stood on top of a mountain that was surrounded by a vast forest. Two waterfalls could even be seen on the sides of the mountains, adding several points to its beauty.


    The fine mist spreading from the waterfalls merged into the surroundings, giving it an unfathomable appearance.


    Inside this residence though,though, a man was walking with a pensive appearance. He walked past several groups of servants before appearing on the topmost floor. He opened the door, revealing the elegantly decorated room that stood behind it.


    And at the very back of the room, one could see the open balcony at which the old man was sitting.


    "My Lord! It''s an emergency! A Transcendent has been born!" The man said out loud.


    "What do you mean, a Transcendent has been born?" Old Man Lao almost dropped the cup that he was holding in his hand.


    "There is confirmed news that a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion has appeared in the Deste Blood Battlefield." The man that seemed to be dressed as a steward replied.


    "Impossible! Any Transcendent Immortal Tribtion will cause a great phenomenon and its energy cannot be hidden. All experts on the Rust Sky world should have known about it the moment it started, including me." Old Man Lao said, feeling doubtful.


    "This is true, my lord. There isn''t just one, but thousands of live witnesses of the event." The steward affirmed before taking out a crystal disk. "Please take a look, this was sent though our people form the Deste Blood Battlefield." He stated.


    ~SHUA~


    He released the crystal disk, which floated up and created a formation screen in the air. On it, the scene of the Deste Blood Battlefield appeared. The bloodynds were hard to forget, after all.


    But that wasn''t all, as a few momentster, the appearance of dark clouds was seen.


    ~CRACK~


    "This¡­" The old man let go of his cup, which fell and cracked.


    Thankfully, it hadn''t fallen from a high ce, or it might have shattered entirely.


    ~RUMBLE~This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    The sound of thunder could be felt from the formation screen, still being able to inspire the fear that the live witnesses of it had felt back then. Pure White lightning streaked across the dark clouds, showing its might.


    "Extreme Yang Lightning Immortal Tribtion?" But after seeing its appearance, old man Lao was once more in doubt. "This isn''t a transcendent Immortal Tribtion, this is just a Variant Lightning Immortal Tribtion." He spoke.


    "It isn''t over yet, my lord. There''s more¡­" The steward seemed to be quite shaken too.


    Old Man Lao continued to watch and soon saw the second Immortal Tribtion.


    ck winds seethed and ripped across the terrain, rising up into the sky as if announcing its presence. The change on the old man''s face confirmed that the man had identified the tribtion.


    "Extreme Yin Wind Immortal Tribtion¡­ how can there be two?!" The old man was stunned.


    He watched as the two Immortal Tribtions merged together before transforming into a form he had never seen before. In his thousands of years of life, Old Man Lao had actually seen tens of Transcendent Immortal Tribtions. Some he had seen in the Rust Sky world, while the rest he had seen in the myriad of worlds that were spread across the universe.


    Thus, he knew just how many kinds of Transcendent Tribtions there could be, and even then, this was his first time seeing a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion that was like this.


    "It cannot be¡­ this cannot be¡­" Old Man Lao was shaking.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ~THUD~


    The arrest of the chair he was sitting on was directly shattered due to his crushing grip. Theposed Old Man Lao had lost control of his strength!


    If the top level experts of the Rust Sky world were to know this, they would be quite stunned. They would have a hard time believing the sly old man would break hisposure like this.


    Still, it was certainly something that was worth him acting like this. Perhaps they would act simrly too.


    "I need to speak to the Emperors! Right away!" Old Man Lao said before standing up.


    He directly shoved the table away and jumped off the balcony!


    "SHA''ER! COME THERE''S NO TIME TO LOSE!" Old Man Lao shouted.


    ~PIII!~


    Just a momentter, the melodious cry of a bird was heard.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A strong wind blew as arge bird beast rose from the vast forest. It had six wings of of a great span, and looked to be rather regal.


    It was none other than the Six Winged Bloom Tail Crane!


    The beast seemed to have recovered from the threat of the Saintess from back then.


    ~PII~


    The beast pped its wings and appeared under the old man.


    "Fly to the Huiqing Capital, right now!" The old man said firmly.


    ~PIII!~


    Letting out a cry in acknowledgment, the Six Winged Bloom Tail Crane gathered powers within its wings and pped them hard.


    ~BOOM~


    The beast directly broke the sound barrier and turned into a blur that disappeared over the horizon. Its speed was great and couldpare to that of Little Shrubby too.


    It flew past thousand of mountains before appearing on top of a massive city. This was none other than the Capital City of the Huiqing Empire. And at its center stood its royal ce that was inhabited by the Emperor.


    Of course, being the residence of the emperor, it had high security and hundreds of defensive arrays covered it. And yet, the Six Winged Bloom Tail Crane passed through them as if they were nothing.


    It arrived at the garden behind the pce and let the Old mannd.


    ~shua~


    The old man took a step and was directly teleported to inside the castle. He appeared in the grand hall where two men were pensively looking at a formation screen.

 Chapter 1548 Rising Doubts And Growing Coincidences

    Old Man Lao looked at the two men who were watching the same scene he had watched just a few minutes ago.


    "So you got the news as well." Old Man Lao spoke.


    But to it, the two Emperors, did not respond. They merely watched as the Extreme Yin Wind Immortal Tribtion and the Extreme Yang Lighting Immortal Tribtion merged into one, transforming into a true Transcendent Immortal Tribtion.


    Watching the scene, Emperor Feng''s eyes brows turned into stiff lines while the Huiqing Emperor''s face became cold.


    "What is that?" the Huiqing Emperor spoke after the recording had ended. "That''s not a normal transcendent Immortal Tribtion! TWO HEAVENLY ELEMENTS!" he was shouting by the end of his sentence, clearly agitated by what he had just seen.


    "I''ve only read about it before¡­ legends about it." Emperor Feng spoke, his voice stiff.


    "Well, what is it?" Old Man Lao questioned. "Can there even be a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion thatbined two Heavenly Elements?"


    "The second Transcendent Immortal Tribtion you overcame also had a heavenly element in it, right?" The Huiqing Emperor said after thinking. "It was the wind element and¡­ the Metal element. Your second Transcendent Immortal Tribtion was abination of these two." He recalled.


    "It was the Million de Hurricane Transcendent Immortal Tribtion, yes¡­" Emperor Feng confirmed. "It was a Pseudo Heavenly Transcendent Immortal Tribtion." He informed.


    "Yes, this one has two¡­ what exactly is it?" Old Man Lao questioned again.


    "Back when I was still in the Immortal court, and was roaming the worlds for fortune, I had heard of a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion like this. It is considered the deadliest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion and there is only one of its kind.


    It was said to have beenposed of two of the four heavenly elements, Wind and lightning, but there were no specific details on how it would appear. But now seeing this, I''m sure of it. The only Heavenly Transcendent Immortal Tribtion that''s said to have been recorded.


    This is it¡­ this is the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion!" Emperor Feng revealed.


    "The Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion¡­" both the old man and Huiqing Emperor muttered the name in awe.


    It was as if the name contained a might too, making them recall the scene they had seen. Even if they had only watched the recording, they could still feel the pressure that might have been exuded by it.


    "Is that is the strongest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion then? The person undergoing it should not be alive, right?" The Huiqing Emperor wondered.


    "That''s hard to say¡­ we don''t have the full information." Old Man Lao spoke.


    "This Transcendent Immortal Tribtion seems to have happened two days ago¡­ is there anyone who has gone to investigate it yet?" Emperor Feng inquired.


    The appearance of another Transcendent Immortal was something that would change the entire power structure of the Rust Sky world. The Emperors needed to know where this person had appeared and who it was.<novelnext></novelnext>


    If it weren''t for the fact that the Deste Blood Battlefield was in the territory of the Holy Topaz Dynasty, they would have long since barged into it themselves to check. But as things were, this was out of the question.


    After all, if they appeared anywhere near the borders of the Holy Topaz Continent, the resident Transcendent Immortal of the Holy Topaz Dynasty would know. It would be the same as intruding on enemy territory and could be considered as the deration of a war.


    A war between empires was not something that any of the Emperors wished for right now. The power structure was delicately maintained and disturbing it would be disastrous. It wasn''t just for the powers of the Rust Sky world either.


    The other organizations that had their hands extended to multiple worlds would also take an interest in it. After all, it wasn''t just any normal Transcendent Immortal Tribtion that had happened, but the legendary Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion.


    This was a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion that even the great experts of the Immortal Court themselves hadn''t seen. With how long it had been, this tribtion was already considered as a legend.


    Even if someone had triggered it in the recent times before the current one, it was likely that they had never survived it to tell the tale.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "My general Niu Juo is there. This recording that I got was obtained by him as well and sent to us." The Huiqing Emperor replied. "There is no way he would not be investigating this." He added.


    "That''s good¡­ at least we have someonepetent looking into this." Old Man Lao nodded his head.


    "Still¡­ it is not enough. With all that is happening in the Deste Blood Battlefield, this is too suspicious." Emperor Feng stated.


    Hearing this, the other two became silent.


    Both of them knew of the news of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, as well as its sudden disappearance. Then there was the Demon which was said to have been behind all this, and had caused waves among the nobles of the empires.


    There were rumors that were people supporting the demons, and that they had never been truly eradicated.


    And with the personalities of the nobles, there was nock of people wanting to take this chance to frame their enemies.


    Demons had been feared for a long time after all, and they were said to have been an old evil eradicated by the current ruling powers of the Rust Sky world. Their reappearance was the same as spitting on the face of these powers and showing that their might was not as big as they had shown it to be.


    "Do you really think the Violet Mystic Life Tree, the demon, and now this Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion are all linked?" Old Man Lao questioned.


    "There are far too many coincidences for it to not be linked. What did the Grand Sky Pavilion estimate the strength of the Violet Mystic Life Tree to be at?" Emperor Feng asked in turn.


    "Should be about the peak of the Immortal realm." The Huiqing Emperor replied.

 Chapter 1549 The Two Emperors Request To An Old Man

    Upon hearing the Huiqing Emperor''s words, Old Man Lao seemed to have grasped something.


    "Exactly. And that demon had uprooted a tree of that cultivation base! His strength must be simr." Emperor Feng spoke again. "Don''t you see¡­ If it was a demon that was also at the peak of the Immortal realm, what are the chances that it was also close to a breakthrough?" he asked.


    "Heavens¡­ if the Demon really did take the Violet Mystic Life Tree away and made off with it somehow¡­ it might have really been behind it all." Old Man Lao''s face became pale.


    "So the Demon utilized the tree and triggered the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion¡­ just what kind of trouble ising for us¡­" The Huiqing Emperor was at a loss.


    In his thousands of years or rule, this was definitely the biggest trouble he hade across.


    After all, a Demon at the Transcendent Immortal Realm was no joke. Especially one that could trigger the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion.


    "We need to know if that demon survived this or not." Emporium Feng said firmly.


    "Yes¡­ we cannot leave this be." The Huiqing Emperor agreed. "The Emperor of the Holy Topaz will surely act on this news, and will alert the Former Emperor as well." He said after thinking.


    "They will investigate this sure, but there is no telling if they would mislead us too. After all, this is something that can affect the entire Rust Sky world. I wouldn''t put it beyond the Holy Topaz Emperor to do something like this.


    After all, we would do the same if we were in his ce." Emperor Feng replied.


    "Then what should we do?" The Huiqing Emperor asked, feeling lost. "It''s not like we can enter to check it ourselves. There''s no way the Holy Topaz Empire would allow us on hisnd."


    "Well, he won''t allow us since we are the emperors. But there is someone else that can still go in." Emperor Feng said before turning to Old Man Lao. "Why don''t you go to take a look, uncle?"


    "Of course! Uncle is not affiliated to any empire and can still gain entry there. I''m sure even the Emperor of the Holy Topaz Dynasty wouldn''t reject the only Peak Grade Immortal Alchemist of our world from paying a visit." The Huiqing Emperor said in agreement.


    "You two¡­ ~SIGH~" Old Man Lao couldn''t help but shake his head. "You do know, if I go there, I''ll have to owe the Holy Topaz Emperor a favor? He''s definitely going to ask for me to make a pill for him."


    "Even if he does ask, it''s fine uncle. If you need anything, we''ll provide it for you." Emperor Feng replied.


    "Yes! Yes! You just go there. We''ll handle the rest. You need not worry about any expenses at all." The Huiqing Emperor nodded his head in agreement.


    ~Sigh~


    Letting out another sigh, the old man finally nodded his head.


    "Fine¡­ I''ll go. But the only reason I''m doing this is because of your masters. This is thest time I''ll do this." Old Man Lao stated, feeling a bit upset.


    "That will be fine, please do this for us, Uncle." The two Emperors pleaded.


    If anyone else were to see the two mighty emperors of the Two great empires act like this, they would feel that the world wasing to an end. After all to them, the Emperors were supposed to be regal and millions of experts would have to kneel before them.


    And yet, there was an old man before which the two emperors needed to plead.


    "Very well. I''ll leave after doing some preparations. Keep me informed of any news thates next." Old man Lao ordered.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I''ll inform you right away. Niu Juo should be investigating this as we speak too. Though tracking and analyzing aren''t one of his fortes, so I don''t know what kind of results we will get." The Huiqing Emperor agreed. "Uncle Lao will still have to do a proper check himself." He added.


    "I''ll do that¡­ I also want to take a look at the Violet Mystic Life Tree¡­ Even in my travels, I''ve never seen one before. And now one had appeared so close to me and has disappeared. It''ll be a shame to not look for it." Old Man Lao finally showed some interest.


    Though it was an interest in the tree due to him being an alchemist.


    ~SHUA~


    After saying that, Old Man Lao teleported back outside and flew away on the Six Winged Bloom Tail Crane.


    The two emperors stayed in the hall, discussing several more details. After all, this was merely the first part of what they needed to deal with. It was just the internal part that they needed to deal on the Rust Sky world itself.


    There were still people from outside that they needed to worry about.


    "The Shang Dao Emperor will likely know about this soon too." Emperor Feng spoke. "And so will the Three Aster world." He added.


    "Why would they find out?" The Huiqing Emperor questioned furrowing his brows.


    "A princess of the Shang Dao Empire is here¡­ my son seems to have brought her along from the Immortal Court." Emperor Feng replied.


    "Oh? So she''s here¡­ that makes it simple then. It shouldn''t be difficult to restrain her and prevent any news from leaving her side." The Huiqing Emperor said calmly.


    "It isn''t that simple¡­ that princess¡­ she''s not someone I''d like to harm." Emperor Feng said.


    "Oh? Because of your son?" The Huiqing Emperor asked in doubt.


    "No¡­ not that." Emperor Feng shook his head.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Seeing his expression though, the Huiqing Emperor seemed to have thought of something.


    "Wait¡­ it can''t be her¡­ Don''t tell me you''re still not over that?" The Huiqing Emperor asked, finding it a bit absurd. "That princess is Shen Mue''s daughter?!" he asked.


    "Yes¡­" Emperor Feng nodded.


    "Are you sure of it?" The Huiqing emperor asked in a serious tone.


    "Yes¡­ that face is not something anyone else can have." Emperor Feng repleted.


    ~Sigh~


    "Looks like you''ll owe me after this."

 Chapter 1550 Two Months Of Peace

    Lin Mu was unaware of the machinations that were happening due the series of actions that he had set off in the past.


    Though he was still in luck, since the start of the investigation was botched from the very start. After all, they were trying to search for a target that didn''t exist in the first ce.


    This was also why his time of peace was still continuing.


    After having made the base in the central area of the Blood Strewn ins, Lin Mu had spent his days searching for an Immortal Stone mine. Of course, finding one was easier said than done and he would have to scour the entire area.


    He had divided it into different sections that he would search through every day. And while he didn''t find the Immortal Stone mines there, he still did find other resources like herbs and even Blood Essence crystal.


    The number of Blood Essence crystals in the central area of the Blood Strewn ins seemed to be quite high. But that was not all, as the apanying baleful energies were also quite dangerous.


    Their concentration was higher and could also harm Lin Mu.


    Thankfully though, with the twins being there, Lin Mu had no issues. The twins actually got to have some extra meals and improved their Qi stores. Having reached the Second Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm, their ability to consume and store Qi had increased as well.


    Lin Mu was worried that the rapid increase in their cultivation base might lead them to bing a bit uncontroble. But that didn''t happen. Instead, Lin Mu could see that their intelligence was growing along with it too, and they could already understand his words clearly. Though they were still unable to talk so far.


    But the Saintess had told Lin Mu that this wasn''t an issue with their innate intelligence but rather them simply being young.


    It made Lin Mu think about Little Shrubby.


    After he had made a contract with Little Shrubby, the beast was able tomunicate with a few words right from the start. But if hepare his age to the twins, he realized that there was a great difference.


    When Little Shrubby had met Lin Mu in the form of a Brown Forest Shrubby cat, he was already ten or so years old.Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    Thus he had a head startpared to the twins.


    The twins were still about three years old as of now, so they had time to go before they''d be able to speak normally.


    Even Little Shrubby had some improvements with his own skills.


    Lin Mu got to learn that the Saintess had actually been teaching Little Shrubby too. She was guiding him to use his fire better, by improving his control over the Fire Dao Traces.


    It was interesting to Lin Mu and made him wonder if the Saintess had the ability to use fire Dao too.


    So far he had seen her use the Wind Dao, the Air Dao and the Cloud Dao. Though all abilities she had shown so far were supportive ones and none of them were used offensively, so Lin Mu hadn''t seen her true strength.


    Other than this, he also got to learn a bit more about the Saintess simply by observing her. Since they would have meals together now, he learned of her preference as well as dislikes.


    The Saintess preferred savory food over bitter or salty, and she also liked sweets asionally.


    All this was something that Lin Mu could only grasp by seeing the faint reactions of the Saintess, as her face was always hidden under the veil.


    Lin Mu was certainly pleased with all this though. Even if he wasn''t exactly living in a ''beautiful'' location, the daily routine and peace that he had was calming for him. And just like that, two months passed by.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It was now the third month, and Lin Mu was in the middle of his practice with one of his main offensive skills.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and stood in the horse stance.


    He brought his fists to his waist and held them there while gathering power in them.


    ~SHUA~


    Immortal Qi gathered within his hand and started to spin, turning into a long stream.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Second Form- Piercer!


    Lin Mu punched out, sending forth an energy construct that was in the form of a needle. This was none other than thepressed Immortal Qi that had been transformed by the Boulder Copsing Fist.


    ~ZING~


    It traveled at a great speed, covering ten kilometers in the blink of an eye before meeting its target at the end.


    ~BOOM~


    The hill in front of it was pierced clean before it exploded behind it.


    "Hmm... the stability of the second form has certainly improved." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he looked at his fist.


    There was no damage on it, unlike before when he would cut his knuckles.


    "Modting the amount of Immortal Qi I used was indeed to key to preventing the damage. Though this also reduces the maximum power of the skill..." Lin Mu muttered.


    He had spent thest few days in improving his own skills. After having reached the immortal realm, Lin Mu hadn''t worked with the Boulder Copsing Fist as much and needed to get familiar with it again.


    And now, he knew his new limits.


    ''As long as I use less than five percent of my immortal Qi in the second form of the boulder copsing fist, its fully stable. I can increase it up to 10% for better power, but then I''ll also sustain damage.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was the conclusion he hade to after having tested the skill for the past two days.


    But this was just one of the forms that Lin Mu had worked with. There were still the first and third forms that he hadn''t gotten started on yet.


    And that was because of Immortal Essence.


    ''I guess it is time to get used to it now...'' Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 1551 Using Immortal Essence With The Boulder Collapsing Fist

    Lin Mu stood far from the base he had established and chanted the calming heart sutra.


    He did so for a couple minutes, after which he felt like he was in his optimum condition.


    ''No better time to do it than now...'' Lin Mu said in his mind before focusing on the Apertures within his chest.


    Now, both the first and second apertures were fully filled and Lin Mu was close to opening his third Aperture. The only reason he had not done that was due to the fact that he had used the Tri Essence Immortal pill not that long ago and still needed to wait a few more days before using the next one.


    Though he only had half the original number of Tri Essence Immortal pills left now. But they were still more than enough to help him open his Third Aperture as well aspletely fill it.


    Or at least that was what Lin Mu hoped.


    But since there was still time before he could do that, he decided to train his control over the Immortal Essence instead.


    And the way he was going to do that was to learn how to use the Boulder Copsing Fist''s first form again. After all, unlike Vital Essence, Immortal Essence was something that would be rejected by his body after a short time and would dissipate.


    ~HUU~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu pulled out a wisp of Immortal Essence from his first aperture and guided it to his right arm. This much was not an issue for him and was aplished with ease.


    But this was not enough to use the First form of the Boulder Copsing fist at all. Thus he pulled out another wisp of Immortal essence from the first aperture. Lin Mu made sure that he could maintain control over them both in his arm, before attempting to draw out the third wisp.


    He repeated this process several more times until he had finally gathered ten wisps of Immortal Essence within his arm.


    ''It''s certainly getting harder now.'' Lin Mu could tell that if he lost focus even for a moment, all these Immortal Essence wisps would dissipate.


    What he now needed to do was to utilize the method of the Boulder copsing fist and make the Immortal Essence Wisps spin.


    "Here goes nothing..." Lin Mu willed all ten Immortal Essence wisps toe close and start to spin.


    Having done this during the opening of the Aperture, it wasn''t an issue. But once the unique cirction method of the Boulder Copsing fist was added, Lin Mu realized the difficulty.


    When using the Three Apertures Invoking Technique and opening an Aperture, one would rotate the Immortal Essence wisps in a stable orbit making it easier for him to continue to the process.


    But in the method of the boulder Copsing fist, there was no stable orbit. Instead, the Immoral Essence wisps would spin and turn into a Spiral.


    And when the Immortal Essence wisps were in the spiral, they would have to continually shift their positions making it quite difficult. With the Vital Essence this was not an issue since Lin Mu simply needed to control them without any resistance from the body.


    But in the case of the Immortal Essence wisps, not only did he needed to control them to spin in a spiral, he also had to ensure that the force from his body wouldn''t make them lose their positions.


    And if he made a mistake during this, getting injured wasn''t unusual.


    ~SHUA~<novelnext></novelnext>


    After a few minutes of work though, Lin Mu managed to get the Immortal Essence wisps to spin. But they were still not at the level he would want them to be at. After all, if it took him a few minutes to prepare the skill, it would be unusable in most battles.


    He needed to be able to use it at a moment''s notice or he would be caught off guard for sure. Not to mention, with the vtility of the Immortal Essence, he might still get injured if he was interrupted during the use of the skill.


    ''It''s ready...'' Lin Mu could feel the momentum of the Immortal Essence within his arm.


    It was spinning nonstop and was threatening to burst out of his arm.


    "No use in waiting, it''s now or never!" Lin Mu raised his hand and punched down at the ground.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: First Form- Impact!


    ~RUMBLE~


    As soon as his first made contact with the bloody soil, Lin Mu felt it disintegrate.


    It was a strange feeling and made him think that he had touched a thin wall made out of dust.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Agh!" And after this momentary feeling, the pain finally spread through his arm.


    His skin cracked and shone in gold, his True Gold Body Forging Arts trying to protect him from damage while the energy of the skill transferred to the ground.


    With how potent it was, Lin Mu could passively sense it spreading through the ground. In less than a second, it had already covered an area of over a hundred meters. But that was just the surface. Lin Mu couldn''t tell how deep it had gone.


    ~KABOOM~


    And after a short dy, it finally happened.


    The ground spanning an area hundred meters, directly exploded and shot backwards.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Lin Mu''s body was pelted from the stone fragments that were recoiling from the impact and was knocked upwards.


    But he didn''t dare to close his eyes and observed everything. After all, he needed to know how his skill worked and affected the environment before being able to use it in a battle effectively.


    ~TREMBLE~


    After the initial explosion though, the entire ground directly sank inwards. All the rocks and stones inside it had been pulverized and only soil and sand were left there. Lin Mu fell back into the sand pit he had created and was surprised.


    "The effect changed... it doesn''t just explode it, but breaks down objects into smaller particles..." Lin Mu analyzed.

 Chapter 1552 New Limits Of The Boulder Collapsing Fist

    Lin Muid in the sand pit, while his Immortal Sense spread over it and went underground.


    He was observing it in detail, wondering how the First Form of the boulder Copsing Fist had affected it. At first Lin Mu had thought that the skill directly pulverized everything and turned the rocks and stones into sand.


    But now that he was observing it deeply, he noticed that there was actually a gradient to it all.


    ''The size of the particles actually varies¡­'' Lin Mu noticed that the particles at the very top of the surface were big, having cracked roughly. These were also the stones that had pelted him during the initial impact.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    After this was the finely pulverized rocks and stones, that had turned into sand. This was the majority of the area and only when Lin Mu went to the deepest part did he noticed the particles getting bigger again.


    ''Hmm¡­ so the first meter of depth is only cracked but after that theing parts are directly pulverized. Only the final few meters that are affected by the skills are left bigger, but even then they are still broken.'' Lin Mu concluded.


    Over all, he could see that 1% of the affected area was left in chunks, 94% was turned into sand while thest 5% was left as bigger particles like gravel.


    Having learned all this, Lin Mu now wondered how it rted with the consumption of the Immortal Essence.


    ''Now to try it with varying consumptions¡­'' Lin Mu began the process again.


    But this time, he increased the number of Immortal Essence wisps that he used. Instead of ten wisps, he used fifteen wisps!


    This made him take longer to prepare the skill, but it was still something he could manage to execute. And when he was finally ready, he punched the ground again.


    ~KABOOM~


    Another sand pit was created by Lin Mu and he quickly got to analyzing it.


    What he learned this time though was a bit different.


    "The area of the sand pit has increased and so has its depth¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    If before the area affected was a hundred meters in radius and hundred meters deep, now it was hundred and fifty meters in radius and equally deep.


    ''The area of effect is in the form of a hemisphere, I see¡­'' Lin Mu noted.


    Having observed this, Lin Mu began the process again, but this time he reduced the number of Immortal Essence wisps used. He used five Immortal Essence wisps, finding it a lot faster to be prepared.


    ~BOOM~


    And once the skill was ready, he executed it once more, creating another sand pit.


    "Just as I thought¡­ the sand pit is half the original size." Lin Mu said to himself.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The sand pit created this time was just fifty meters in radius and equally deep with the particle size gradient changing proportionally.


    ''So each wisp of Immortal Essence adds about ten meters of area that will be affected.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He continued his series of tests and spent a couple of days in this.


    After he was done with it though, he had learned a few more facts about it. The first thing he learned was his new limits with the immortal Essence.


    The first limit was on the number of Immortal Essence wisps he could use.


    Lin Mu found out that he could use twenty Immortal Essence wisps at the maximum before he would be unable to even activate Boulder Copsing Fist. If he went even a single wisp over that limit, the spiral would be unstable and all wisps would dissipate violently.


    The only time Lin Mu had done that, he had damaged his arm internally. Thankfully he could also heal it quickly due to his higher body cultivation base.


    The second thing he learned was the time needed to prepare the skill also varied. The more Immortal Essence Wisps he added to his arm, the longer it would take. The shortest time was needed with three Immortal Essence wisps, needing only a minute to prepare.


    Three immortal essence wisps was also the minimum number to use the first form of the boulder copsing fist. If he went any lower, the skill simply wouldn''t be able to activate as the spiral wouldn''t be big enough.


    As for the upper limit of the number of wisps, Lin Mu reckoned that it was only his control that was limiting him.


    ''Theoretically if I can improve my control over the Immortal Essence wisps, there shouldn''t be a limit on the maximum I can add. It is merely my body that is not adapted to it which should be fixed when my body cultivation base improves.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    The Seventh Stage of the Three Apertures Invoking technique, the Aperture Closing stage was when a cultivator''s body would fully adapt to the Immortal Essence. At that point, they would have no need for the apertures and would be able to directly utilize the Immortal Essence and store it within their body.


    ''But simply increasing my body cultivation by a stage or two, should still increase the upper limit of the number of Immortal Essence wisps I can use.'' Lin Mu understood.


    The next thing that Lin Mu thought of was, how he could optimize the boulder copsing fist.


    "If I want to use it in battle, I need to shorten the time needed to prepare it¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    And in order to do that, there was only one method.


    "I need to practice more!" Lin Mu said with determination.


    He returned to his training and used the skill over and over again, trying to improve his control over the Immortal Essence wisps and reducing the time needed to form the spiral for execution.


    Hours tuned into days as Lin Mu was soon lost in practice.


    Thankfully, there was still Little Shrubby who could continue the search for the immortal stone mine. Lin Mu had assigned the task to the beast for now, as there wasn''t many areas left to search anyways.

 Chapter 1553 Little Shrubby Senses Danger

    After three weeks had passed, Lin Mu received a message that made him stop his training. The message hade from none other than Little Shrubby.


    "Little Shrubby? What happened?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I think I found something. The Immortal Qi concentration here is high." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Really?" Lin Mu''s interest was aroused. "Is it like before?" this wasn''t the first time Little Shrubby was reporting either.


    He had discovered other areas that had a higher concentration of Immortal Qi, but they turned out to be some other resource or just some herb that had gathered the immortal Qi in that area.


    "I''ve looked around and there doesn''t seem to be any immortal herb. The Immortal Qi also seems to being from the ground, and there are a few mountains here too." Little Shrubby exined.


    "I see¡­ I''lle over then." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright. Do you want me toe pick you up?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "No need. Just stay put and watch out for any danger." Lin Mu replied with caution.


    "Okay." Little Shrubby said before Lin Mu flew off.


    Thankfully, he had just started today''s training session and his energy stores were in the optimum condition.


    ''Little Shrubby''s quite far¡­ that''s almost at the border of the zones we had charted out for the Blood Strewn ins¡­'' Lin Mu sensed Little Shrubby''s position through their link.


    With the systematic division that Lin Mu had done for the area, the only areas that were left in thest few days were those at the very distant parts. The one that Little Shrubby was at was almost at the edge of the Blood Strewn ins. If one traveled for a few days from there, they would end up in a new area.


    Lin Mu flew across the sky at his maximum speed, watching the area for anything suspicious. During the time they were searching the Blood Strewn ins, they hade across a handful of cultivators out of which half were inclined on fighting them.


    Though against Lin Mu, that was the same as hitting an iron te.


    ? They couldn''t even do anything and were taken out by him in a few hits. Their spoils had added to Lin Mu''s stores as well, thus it wasn''t a loss for him either.


    ''But those were just the weak ones. There is no telling if any strong experts might be here too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    After fifteen hours of nonstop flying, Lin Mu sensed that Little Shrubby was getting closer.


    ''Wait a second¡­ this isn''t the same location as back then.'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows and then saw a red blur approaching from the distance.


    ~THUD~CRASH~


    Little Shrubby came to a stop near Lin Mu, creating long trenches in the ground with his ws.


    "I thought you were going to wait there, to watch the area." Lin Mu asked.


    "There''s someone there!" Little Shrubby replied.


    "What?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "I could smell their scent. I wanted to take a look but I sensed danger." Little Shrubby exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu became very alert.<novelnext></novelnext>


    After all, if there was something that could make Little Shrubby feel danger, it was certainly not normal.


    "Could you tell their cultivation base and who they were?" Lin Mu asked first.


    "They are human, but their cultivation base is hard to tell. I just sense strong elemental aura from them." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Elemental aura? What elements in particr?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling suspicious now.


    "Fire, water, wood, metal, earth, wind, lightning¡­ all of them." Little Shrubby answered much to Lin Mu''s shock.


    "What?!" Lin Mu was not expecting this.


    While there were several people that could technically use all these elements with the use of some skills or tools, they wouldn''t be on the same level as those that were highly proficient in them. And if Little Shrubby was feeling danger, it meant that they were proficient in all of these elements.


    ''How''s this possible? Is it some old expert passing by?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    "It''s good that you came here. We''ll have to be careful¡­" Lin Mu spoke before getting onto Little Shrubby''s back. "Still, we need to take a look first."


    "Okay," Little Shrubby wouldn''t feel scared as long as he was with Lin Mu.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby broke into a sprint, and turned into a red blur. The master and beast traveled for about half an hour before Little Shrubby spoke again.


    "I can smell the scent again. They should be nearby." Little Shrubby informed.


    "Alright, this is enough." Lin Mu asked him to stop.


    He got down from Little Shrubby and sent him to the Sleepscape.


    "I''ll take a look myself from here. It''ll be safer." Lin Mu had trust in his ring''s skills and knew that he had a better chance at escaping using them.


    With Little Shrubby stored away safely in the Sleepscape, Lin M continued the rest of the journey on foot. He didn''t fly as it would be a lot more eye catching and he would also be emitting immortal Qi fluctuations.


    In order to avoid that, he fully contained the immortal Qi within his body and simply ran using his body''s strength.


    Taking long strides, Lin Mu traversed thend while keeping his senses sharp. He even activated his Spatial perception just in case, so that he could sense anything that was hidden.


    There was no saying what kind of threats would be waiting for him after all.


    ''Considering the area had high concentration of Immortal Qi, it is quite likely the expert might be there for it too. If it really is an Immortal Stone mine, it is highly unlikely the expert will let go of it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After a few minutes though, Lin Mu sensed a wave of energying from the distance.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu halted in his tracks and realized that there seemed to be some conflict.


    He used Phase and sank into the ground, before continuing onwards only toe across a group that was in the middle of a battle.

 Chapter 1554 A Man With Terrifying Skills

    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    A multitude of explosions urred across the bloodynd.


    "ARGH!"


    "NO!!"


    "YOU MONSTER!"


    And along with the explosions, the cries of its victims could also be heard.


    Several cultivators were injured, with many of them missing one or more limbs. Their bodies were covered in various injuries as well, some were burned, some were cut, some had their skin ripped and more.


    "Ahahaha! You all should have listened to me from the start." A man that looked to be in histe twenties spoke.


    He wore clothes that seemed to belong to nobility. His outer robes were white, while his inner robes were yellow, contrasting together. But that was not all, as he was wearing several silver and gold essories too.


    On his wrists, one could see two bracelets that had gems embedded in them while on his head one could see a circlet with white gems in them.


    His face was young with strong arrogance between his brows. A short trimmed beard dressed his chin, while sharp eyebrows adorned his eyes. His hair was tied up in a bun and a yellow cor was holding it in ce.


    Immortal Qi fluctuations could be felting from all of the ornaments that the man was wearing, showing that these were all Immortal tools!


    Even the robes he was wearing were simr and seemed to be protective immortal robes.


    No matter what angle one looked at this person from, they would know that he was of a high status. And while he was disying wealth, he also had the strength to back it up.


    "We brought you here! Why are you doing this to us!?"


    "Yeah! We agreed to split the loot in the first ce."


    "Just let us go, we don''t care for it. Take all you want!"


    The cultivators that were under his attack, pleaded with the man.


    "Hah! You think I don''t know your thoughts?" The noble man scoffed. "You all thought you could band together and get rid of me, huh?"


    "No! You don''t need to do this. You can already take all the loot we got. We don''t need any of it, just spare our lives." The cultivators continued to plead though fearing for their lives.


    They had already seen the strength of the man, and how he had crippled a few of theirpanions.


    There were around twenty people in their group originally, but with the noble mans attack, five of them had died instantly while half had been weakened greatly having lost tier limbs.


    "That is not an option. You think I would let you all go and spread the news about the Immortal Stone Mine? You''re joking!" The noble manughed. "Don''t worry though, I''ll give you a glorious end." He said before a wave of energy spread from him.


    He flipped his palms as seven colored lights could be seen condensing within them.


    ~BZZT~


    First sparks appeared, and arcs of electricity coiled around the purple light. They wrapped around each other before turning into a purple sphere. The sphere shrank in size until it was very dense and about the size of a small marble.


    ~WHOOSH~<novelnext></novelnext>


    Next, winds spun andpressed around the azure colored light. A momentter, it had turned into an azure colored marble that was of a simr size as that of the purple marble.


    ~RUSTLE~


    The sound of leaves could be heard, as the illusory images of leaves appeared around the man''s palm. The leaves came together and condensed around the green colored light, turning into a green marble.


    ~CLANG~


    Then the sound of metal being rung could be heard. What looked like gold dust spun around the yellow colored light and turned into a yellow marble.


    ~CRACKLE~


    Embers appeared from thin air, turning into mes that roiled. They spun around the red colored light, before being condensed into a red marble.


    ~DRIP~


    Water vapor appeared and quickly condensed around the blue light, taking the form of a clear blue marble.


    ~RUMBLE~


    And finally, fine stones wrapped around the brown colored light before bepressed and turning into the seventh and final marble.


    The formation of each marble wasplex and seemed to be filled with deep profundities, and yet theirpletion speed wasn''t more than a few seconds. Those that had high cultivation base would be able to tell that each marble was condensed from a terrifying amount of elemental energies.


    It wasn''t even made of elemental Qi, but pure elemental energy!


    Having control over just one element like this would be incredibly difficult, but seven was a number that was hard to believe. Perhaps if someone was a chosen son of heavens and had practiced for a million years, they might be able to reach this level, but considering the age and demeanor of the noble man, it seemed unlikely.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    The man had control over the Five mortal and two Heavenly elements!


    Even in the Immortal Court, such skills would be considered earth shaking.


    But while the creation of the marbles seemed to be impressive, it was just terrorizing for the cultivators who were facing them.


    "Now then... Perish!" The noble man said before flicking his palm.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA


    The seven marbles shot forth, spreading out in a wide area.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    They exploded as soon as they made contact with their targets.


    Each of their explosions was different too. The purple marble exploded into a cloud of lighting, the azure marble turned into a tearing cyclone, the red marble brought forth a great ze, the green marble turned into vines and leaves, the brown marble turned into pelting stones, the blue marble turned into water that drowned while the yellow marble turned into a flurry of des.


    Even a single of these marbles could be considered a high level skill, and yet there were seven such skills being used at the same time with ease.


    Lin Mu was watching all this with a still expression.


    But while his face seemed to not express anything, his heart was ame with rage.


    ''He.. He has it! HE HAS THE OBJECT OF MY DESIRE!'' Lin Mu roared within his heart.

 Chapter 1555 The Eleventh Prince Of The Holy Topaz Dynasty

    For a while, the intense unknown desire within Lin Mu''s heart had be silent.


    He didn''t know if it was a temporary thing or if it was prelude to something else. Regardless of it, Lin Mu was pleased since he didn''t need to be bothered by it while he was training his skills and searching for the Immortal Stone mine.


    He never thought that his goal ofing to the Deste Blood battlefield was coinciding with the intense desire.


    It wasn''t until Lin Mu had directly seen the Noble man with his own two eyes did he feel the desire return. And this time around, it was several times more powerful. Lin Mu felt his blood pumping like no tomorrow and his heart throbbed like thunder.


    Every being of his being was screaming out to him. Telling him to rip the person apart and take what had been taken from him.


    The strange thing was, Lin Mu still didn''t know what was actually taken from him. He couldn''t tell from the Noble man either. The only thing he knew was that he needed to kill the man.


    A deep feeling within him told that, if he didn''t do this today, he would never be able to have a moment of peace after this.


    The cautiousness that he had before had disappeared as if it never expected.


    Now Lin Mu didn''t care if the person in front of him was stronger than him or not. All he cared for was that he would meet his end today.


    And with that, Lin Mu rushed into battle.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker appeared in Lin Mu''s hands while immortal Qi flowed into them, directly amplifying their powers before Sword Intent overflowed from the sword.


    "WHO!?" The noble man obviously sensed the appearance of strong Sword Intent, alerting him.


    He turned to face the direction where it wasing from, and only saw a golden glow.


    "WHAT?" In front of the man, several pine trees were rising from the ground!


    ~TREMBLE~


    The Ground Split apart as seven Pine Trees rose from it. They were made out of immortal Qi and were infused with Sword intent, giving one a feeling of oppression.


    "Who dares sneak attack me!?" The noble man shouted before flicking his palm.


    ~WHOOSH~


    His palm glowed in a brown light and shot toward the Pine trees.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    The brown light directly shed with the Pine trees, having transformed into an earthen te that was ten meters wide. It dyed the approach of the Pine trees, and gave the noble man more time to react.


    Next he stomped with his feet as an azure light wrapped around them. In the next second, the azure light transfered into two pairs of wings that were now attached to the noble man''s feet.


    ~ZING~


    It propelled him at a great speed and he avoided all the Pine Trees that were rushing towards him while ripping the ground. The wings on his ankles pped at a high frequency, creating a buzzing sound.


    ~HUMM~HUMM~HUMM~


    The man zipped across the air and made several turns before checking who exactly it was that attacking him.


    His immortal Sense spread across the area, covering about a kilometer of area.


    "Pathetic..." A voice was heard by the noble man.


    "WHO!?" he turned to look, but was only met with three arrows that wereing towards him.


    Each of the arrow was burning and seemed to contain Fire elemental immortal Qi.


    "You think you can use the elements against me!" The noble man was infuriated.


    ~SPLASH~


    He thrust out with his palm that was covered in a blue light. The light expanded and turned into arge palm imprint that was filled with water.


    ~SIZZLE~


    The fire arrows met the water palm and instantly heated it up. Steam rose from the palm, as it bubbled over.


    ~BOOM~


    The palm couldn''t contain its shape for long and burst apart. But it also dissipated the fire arrows, effective blocking the attack.


    This was merely the start of the attacks though as ten sword lights shed at the noble man. They came from all around him, preventing him from flying away like before.


    "WHO ARE YOU? SHOW YOURSELF COWARD!" The noble man yelled, feeling furious at it all.


    His immortal sense was spread in a kilometer area, but he was still unable to sense the person.


    "What pathetic range you have..." A voice spoke within his ears again.


    But this time the voice seemed to havee from right next to him.


    ''How did--'' The noble man actually sensed a presence behind him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It had appeared out of thin air and was certainly not there before.


    This time the noble man actually managed to grasp the appearance of his new foe. He only saw a young man, who had a furious face behind him. He was in the middle of an attack and a golden fist wasing towards him.


    ~BANG~


    The fist made contact with the noble man who raised his arm to block it.


    ~CLANG~


    As if a shield had been struck by a war hammer, a sickening ng was heard.


    Lin Mu looked at the noble man directly for the first time, seeing that he had actually created a metal shield around his arm.


    ~SHUA~


    After watching for a moment though, Lin Mu disappeared.


    The noble man was a bit stunned from all this though. He had never expected him to be ambushed like this and be on the disadvantaged.


    "You dare attack the Eleventh Prince of the Holy Topaz Dynasty! Do you know the atrocity you''remitting!" The noble man shouted, revealing his identity.


    "Doesn''t matter if you''re a prince. You''ll die nevertheless." Lin Mu said, his voiceced with pure fury.


    ~TREMBLE~


    A momentter the ground under the prince parted, as a yellow opine tree condensed out of pure energy rose. Sword intent was gushing out of it, and a few slivers managed to touch the prince.


    "Agh!" his legs had only made contact for a mere moment, and it had still managed to cut it. "YOU''LL PAY FOR THIS!" The prince roared.


    The cut was just a few centimeters deep, but the pain from it was unlike anything the prince had felt. If it was just a normal cut from a weapon, he might not have felt like this, but this was a cut made by Sword Intent.


    It was an energy that would not stay still and continue to damage the enemy until it dissipated.


    Though the prince had his own skills too. As he let out a breath and blew on his legs. His breath was of a deep green color, and when it touched his legs, they quickly started to heal.


    In just a few seconds, the cuts made by the Sword intent had already disappeared.


    "Interesting..." The Prince heard Lin Mu''s cold voice again. "Let''s see how much more you can do,"


    ~ZING~


    A mere moment after the prince had heard Lin Mu''s voice, he sensed a projectile approaching him at a blinding speed. It was very small and if it weren''t for the energy emanating from it, he might not have sensed it in time.


    "HAAA!" Knowing that he wouldn''t have enough time to dodge it, the Prince condensed fire within his hand, turning it into a marble and threw towards the iing projectile.


    The projectile seemed to be like a needle but the energy contained within it was massive.


    ~BOOM~


    It pierced through the red fire marble, and exploded creating a zing cloud that scorched an area of four hundred meters!


    ~WHOOSH~


    The prince was knocked back from the explosion but wasn''t burned, his Immortal robes protecting him from the impact and heat. The wings on his ankles pped, allowing him to slow down and control his trajectory.


    But just as he was starting to gain control over it, he saw ten ming arrowsing towards him.


    "DAMMIT!" Cursing he thrust out his palm several times, creating multiple palm imprint.


    ~HISS~This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    The arrows were blocked by the water palms, and burst them apart but one arrow still managed to get through.


    ~THUD~


    But just as it was about to strike his chest, a brown light appeared on it before turning into a rock te. The te blocked the fire arrow before breaking as well.


    The prince coughed in pain, but kept his eyes open.


    By now he had understood that his opponent wasn''t someone normal.


    ''Who is he? And why''s he attacking me?'' The Prince wondered.


    It wasn''t the first time he had been attacked, thus he wasn''t finding it unexpected. His opponents in the family had already sent several immortals to attack him. Unfortunately they had all met their demise at his hands.


    Even if they were of a higher cultivation base than him, they could not survive his skills and power.


    "Who sent you! The Fourth Prince? The Seventh Princess? Or even the Second Prince!?" The Eleventh Prince questioned.


    But the only answer he received was a golden fist to his face.


    ~CRACK~

 Chapter 1556 Battling The Prince

    The prince felt his nose cracking, as tears appeared in his eyes automatically.


    The pain from a broken nose momentarily overwhelmed his senses, allowing a few more attacks to strike his body.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    ~CRACK~


    Lin Mu gave the man no chance to react as he punched non stop, his fist striking the prince several times on his face and his chest, before finally cracking a rib.


    ''His fists are like cannon balls¡­ how are they so heavy¡­'' The prince could not understand it.


    The weight Lin Mu''s punches was simply from the denseness of his golden body. Normally he would counteract the weight of his body, so that he wouldn''t break everything he walked on, but when he fought, he could momentarily let go of the weight control.


    This would allow his fists to hit with their true weight.


    But even if Lin Mu was heavy hitting and had struck the prince several times, he was not pleased.


    ''This prince¡­ he''s actually a body cultivator.'' Lin Mu realized.


    He understood this because of the damage he had inflicted on the man.


    ''If it were any Qi cultivator, they would have already crumpled to the ground. And yet, he''s only had a few cracked bones.'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    His Immortal sense turned into a tendril and tried to probe the prince, trying to see what else he was hiding. It helped that the prince was actually not good with Immortal sense, thus couldn''t resist Lin Mu''s immortal sense that easily overpowered him.


    ''His Immortal Sense has barely been refined. Even his range is limited to just a kilometer¡­ he has neglected it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was also the reason why he had called the prince pathetic. The man had power, but he did not develop other aspects of his abilities. This had led to him having weaknesses that could be taken care off.


    Lin Mu had paid quite a lot of attention to his Immortal sense, and had refined it quite a lot too. It was after all necessary for a lot of his spatial skills, as well as for formation creations.


    At the same time, it improved his proficiency of cultivation and allowed him to control the energies better.


    Immortal Sense was one of the core abilities of any cultivator, and yet the prince had not worked on it, giving Lin Mu another advantage.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s immoral sense quickly drilled into the man''s body and revealed the secrets hidden within.


    ''He''s at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm¡­ and his body cultivation is roughly equivalent to that of the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.'' Lin Mu discovered. ''But his body cultivation¡­ it''s strange¡­'' he discovered that the technique the man used to be using for body cultivation was unlike anything he had seen.


    Lin Mu couldn''t figure out if it was any of the body cultivation techniques he had seen so far since he couldn''t even estimate the amount of Immortal Essence within the man!


    ''His Immortal Essence is isted¡­ blocked inside his body by those elemental energies.'' Lin Mu noticed next.


    Within the prince''s body the seven elemental energies were flying. These seemed to be the source of his power and how he was using his skills. Lin Mu wanted to take a deeper look at them, but the time to do that had run out.<novelnext></novelnext>All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "YOU! I''LL KILL YOU! I SWEAR UPON MY NAME!" The Prince roared in fury.


    ~HONG~


    Lin Mu sensed the prince''s aura spike and quickly retreated. And as soon as he did, and a wave of energy spread out from the Prince''s body. The seven elements seemed to have fused together creating a highly unstable mixture that merelysted a moment before exploding.


    ~BOOM~


    Lin Mu''s eyes constricted as he sensed the intensity of the explosion.


    FADE!


    He directly entered the parallel world to evade the explosion, knowing that Blink wouldn''t be enough to get him far enough and entering the ground using Phase was not an option either, as it would be shattered as well.


    "The Prince seems tock some battle experience and was caught off guard, but now he''s getting hold of himself." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The initial advantage he had was now gone, and he would need to fight the prince on his full term.


    Lin Mu had also understood that this was not going to be an easy battle, as the prince had actually withstood all of his attacks till now or blocked them. Just that alone was a testament to his skills, as no other cultivator that Lin Mu had fought managed tost against him.


    This made Lin Mu wonder if the prince''s power was what was behind his desire.


    "It brought me all the way here¡­ there must be more to it!" Lin Mu said with fervor.


    The desire was still burning within his heart and the urge was only getting stronger. Lin Mu was already using Calming Heart Sutra to keep control on himself by now.


    With all this in mind, he flew though the parallel world, getting as far as possible from his initial location so as to avoid the explosion. A few secondster, the duration of Fade ended and Lin Mu returned to the real world.


    His immortal sense immediately spread around and observed the situation.


    "It''s dangerous¡­" In front of Lin Mu now stood a devastatednd.


    The ground had caved in, and a hole that was nearly four hundred meters deep was present. It was equally as wide and parts of it were still burning with some having melted into hotva!


    The power of the attack was on the same level as some of Lin Mu''s best skills.


    ''Sky Falling Lance might be able to exceed this, but aiming will not be easy.'' Lin Mu understood.


    "You¡­ you''re alive?" The Prince had not expected this. "You survived my Seven Elemental Outburst? Impossible!" The man was shocked as well.


    ~SHING~


    Lin Mu didn''t miss this chance either though, as a sword struck the prince from the back!

 Chapter 1557 The Prince Flips The Odds

    Afternoon Pine had already been infused with a sufficient amount of Immortal Qi as well as Lin Mu''s Sword intent, allowing it to function on its own easily.


    The double edged sword shone with a yellow light, as its size grewrger from the energy umting on it. Pine needles grew on its sides as another skill of it was activated.


    ~CLANG~


    But much to Lin Mu''s surprise, the Sword was actually blocked!All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu raised his brows as he saw the prince holding the sword with his hand.


    His hand was blocking the sword''s edge, and a yellow energy was covering it too.


    "You aren''t the only one that''s good with metal." The Prince scoffed and swatted the sword away with his hand.


    ~DENG~


    Since Afternoon Pine was just being controlled remotely by Lin Mu''s Immortal sense, it was knocked away by the Prince''s power.


    ~SHUA~


    But Lin Mu quickly took control over it and returned it to his side.


    "I''ve had enough¡­ You won''t live for long now." The prince said as his face turned cold.


    ~HUMM~


    A wave of energy spread out from his body once more rming Lin Mu.


    ''This is greater than before,'' Lin Mu realized.


    At first, he thought that the prince was going to cause an explosion again, but that didn''t happen.


    "The energy is condensing?" Lin Mu saw the wave of energy stopping after a certain distance.


    Instead of spreading more, it stopped there and started to umte. In just a few moments, a sphere of pure elemental energies was condensed around the prince.


    The seven elements stirred within the sphere.


    Water rippled, fire zed, earth rumbled, metal scraped, wood grew, wind spun and lightning sparked!


    "I can''t let him continue!" Lin Mu understood.


    He directly withdrew Wonder Seeker and pulled on its string. Immortal Qi flowed into the bow as a fire arrow condensed on it. Lin Mu didn''t release it right away though, as he let the power umte a bit more while the size of the arrow increased as well.


    ~TWANG~


    And when he let go of the string, the arrow had already increased in size by three times!


    ~SWISH~


    It shot straight at the sphere covering the distance in a mere second before striking its surface.


    ~BOOM~


    An explosion happened as a zing fire blocked Lin Mu''s line of sight.


    And when it cleared, Lin Mu was surprised once more.


    "It''s fine!?" Lin Mu saw.


    "AHAHAHA! You think a mere attack like that will affect this?" The Princeughed. "This is merely the start! None that have seen this ability have lived to tell the tale!" he proimed.


    And just as he said that, a change started to happen within the sphere. The Prince''s body glowed with seven lights and the energy started to condense on it.


    Wood Energy was the first to condense around his body, forming a robe that seemed to be woven from vines and leaves. It looked to be rather supple and was overflowing with vitality.


    Then the Earth energy wrapped around the legs of the prince, forming a thick coating that soon turned into ck granite likeyer. Theyer looked to be incredibly tough and heavy.


    Next Metal energy formed a shell around his torso and arms, encasing it in a shining silver armor that also merged with the rock armor on his legs.


    Wind energy gathered around his legs and back, forming two azure wings that seemed to be thin like that of a dragonfly. It only had an ethereal form at first, but then vines started to grow from the back of the metal armor.


    These were the same vines that had formed the supple robe. They wiggled out from the metal armor and weaved through the wings, forming vein like patterns and giving the wings a solid form.


    Then water energy wrapped the wings, giving them a sheen, and continued to spread onwards to the neck and shoulders of the prince. It formed a sp at the front and flowed down, turning into a long cape.


    The cape looked like a waterfall that fell into nothingness, making one feel awed and consumed upon seeing it.


    Finally, Lightning and fire raged over the prince''s head. The two violent energies shed with each other and circled around the prince''s head before forming a crown on it. The crown had arcs of lightning circling around it at all times while multiple mes burned from its circumference.


    "You are fortunate, for you get to see my true strength." The Prince spoke proudly. "Even Immortal Tribtions are nothing in front of my Seven Heaven Divine Armor!" he eximed.


    Lin Mu watched as the sphere dissipated after the Prince''s armor waspleted. It was clear that the sphere was there only to give the prince time to prepare his skill.


    ''Seven heaven Divine Armor¡­ it''s fully condensed from Elemental energies¡­ How''s this possible?'' Lin Mu was confused. ''For him to be able to use a skill like this, he would need to have an elemental affinity to all seven elements.'' He reckoned.


    "This is not normal, Lin Mu." Xukong spoke at this time. "I cannot sense any Dao insights on the man. And even the Dao Traces on his body seemed to be masked. The skill he is using isn''t something that is something he has learned himself." He informed.


    "No Dao Traces and no Dao insights?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "For him to be able to condense the elemental energies into a physical form like this, he would need to either have Dao Embryos for all of them, or should haveprehended some Dao insights. But he has none of them. This is something not even Celestials would be able to aplish easily." Xukong warned.


    Lin Mu''s expression tensed upon hearing this.


    "Looks like I have a tough battle ahead of me, huh¡­ guess this is why I had such a feeling of loss and the burning desire." Lin Mu understood something at this point.


    The prince was simr to him, having skills beyond what should be possible.


    It was now going to be a battle of equals.

 Chapter 1558 A Weakness

    The Eleventh Prince was now truly using his full power and it was very strong.


    With the sphere covering him fading away, Lin Mu could feel the sheer amount of power exuding from the prince''s body. The armor that he had created was on another level and Lin Mu could tell that it was not simple.


    "Sky Thunder Shotel!" The prince called out as a bolt of lighting condensed in his hand.


    The lightning transformed and turned into a gleaming Shotel.


    Lin Mu looked at the curved weapon and found it to be condensed from a mix of lightning energy and immortal Qi.


    ''This is different than his armor.'' Lin Mu noticed while also staying alert.


    "Now then¡­ DIE!" The prince shot towards Lin Mu.


    He swung the Shotel, its curved de slithering around Lin Mu''s neck trying to cut it.


    ~CLANG~


    But before it could get within an inch of Lin Mu, Ocean Raker was stuck in front of it. Lin Mu grasped the swords handle with his right hand and used his left hand to push the de.


    ~BZZT~


    In the next moment though, an arc of lightning shot from the Shotel and struck Lin Mu.


    "ARGH!" Lin Mu felt the electricity coursing through his body, while his muscles tried to resist it.


    The electricity tried to make his muscles contract against his wishes, but Lin Mu held on. If it were an immortal Qi cultivator, their bodies might not be able to resit this. But Lin Mu who was a body cultivator as well, resisting this was still possible.


    "Hah, you can actually stand this." The prince said as a scowl appeared on his face. "Let''s see how long you canst then!"


    ~RUMBLE~


    The power of the Shotel increased as more and more electricity poured out of it, electrocuting Lin Mu.


    ''I need to break contact!'' Lin Mu understood.


    Gritting his teeth, his focused on his Aperture and drew out a few wisps of Immortal Essence. Doing this while also being electrocuted was a tough task, but Lin Mu had his earlier training to thank him.


    ''It''s good that I practiced the Boulder Copsing Fist, or I might not have been able to do this¡­.'' Lin Mu directly infused the Immortal Essence wisps in his arms, amplifying their strength by several times.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    "HAAAH!" With more power in his hands, he pushed back causing the Shotel to slide off his de.


    ~GRIND~


    But due to the curved de of the Shotel, it actually grazed Lin Mu''s left hand that he was using to push the Ocean raker. When the Shotel touched his golden skin, it made a grinding sound, as if a de was being sharpened.


    A shallow cut was actually left on the side of his left palm, by the time the Shotel was pushed away.


    ~HUU~ HUU~


    Lin Mu took deep breaths, trying to calm down his heart that was agitated from the recent electrocution. This sh had enlightened him about a weakness of his body.


    ''Lightning can still affect me like this¡­'' Lin Mu understood.


    It was a side effect of having his golden body. While Lin Mu could resist the lightning from others, it seemed like once it reached the level of the prince, it could actually paralyze him.


    His Golden Body made it easier for him to conduct the electricity, thereby making him weaker to it.


    Having grasped this, Lin Mu''s mind quickly worked to finding a solution for it. He knew that he couldn''t change the golden body, but he could very wellpensate for the weakness using something else.


    ''I guess I have to use all my abilities,'' Lin Mu made up his mind and teleported to put some distance between them.


    The prince who saw Lin Mu disappearing like that was a bit surprised.


    "Oh? Was that actual teleportation?" The Prince spoke. "I thought you were simply fast, but I guess I was mistaken."


    Lin Mu who heard that raised his brow.


    ''How did he sense it now? His immortal sense¡ª It''s Improved?!'' Lin Mu suddenly discovered that the man''s immortal sense seemed to be a lot stronger than before.


    Not just that, but its range had already increased to reach a five kilometer area. This was not something that would be possible normally, making Lin Mu think that the Seven Heaven Divine Armor was behind it.


    "Surprised by my perception? Hahah! This is merely a fraction of what my Seven Heaven Divine Armor can do!" The prince said with pride.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, raising the danger level of the prince by another level.


    ''So it''s not just an increase in strength, but also an increase in senses.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as his gaze went to the crown that the prince was wearing.


    It didn''t take him much to realize that the crown was different than the rest of the armor.


    ''The crown must be behind it. There''s no other reason why it would be used. If it was meant for defense, a helmet would be a better fit than a crown in protecting the head.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu got his thoughts in order and prepared a strategy.


    ''I need to slow him down first.'' Lin Mu saw the prince rushing towards him at a great speed.


    The wings made out of wind and vines pped at a high frequency, making them look like mere blurs. It was simr to the wings of a dragonfly that were hard to see when they were flying.


    The prince shed out with the Sky Thunder Shotel, sending forth and arc of lightning that split the air apart. It crackled like coals in a forge and make the hair on ones body stand up.


    "Doesn''t matter if you can use teleportation if I can get you before that!" The prince said while a wide smile appeared on his face.


    The arc sped through the air and looked like it would reach Lin Mu effortlessly.


    But just before t could, Lin Mu spoke.


    "True Earth Heart Dao Embryo!"

 Chapter 1559 Earthen Armament Aspect: Great Shield Form

    ~LUBDUB~LUBDUB~LUBDUB~


    The loud sound of a heartbeat could be heard as an eight sided object appeared in front of Lin Mu.


    Any immortal that saw it would be able to figure out that it was none other than a Dao Shell. After all, they had seen many Dao Shells themselves, and even if the shape of this Dao Shell was a bit unique, it was still easy to identify.


    What was different about it though, was the object that was within it.


    The eleventh prince watched the Dao Embryo that looked like a heart within the Dao Shell. It was throbbing nonstop, and the beats were only getting louder.


    The heart was made out of rocks and soil and was emitting dense energy. The energy rapidly spread over the Dao Shell, as rocks started to grow and cover it. The rocks grewrger and also took a condensed shape.


    In just a few moments, the entire Dao Embryo was covered, having changed its shape. It had eight sides like before, but its size had increased by several times. But that wasn''t all, as on the bottom sides of the object, three long spikes were extending.


    The grew to about a meter long each and were in line with the rest of the body.


    "Earthen Armament Aspect: Great Shield Form!" Lin Mu chanted.


    ~BOOM~


    Just as the great shield had taken form, the arc of lightning finally struck it, creating a loud boom. Sparks flew as the lightning tried to prate the rock shield. But with Earth being able to resist the lightning, it simply couldn''t pass.


    And even if one considered the sheer destructive ability of the Lightning, it couldn''t ovee the toughness of the shield.


    "What!?" The Eleventh prince was surprised by the turn of events.


    He had thought that he had grasped Lin Mu''s weakness, but now a mere shield had blocked it.


    "This won''t work again!" The prince said with anger and directly shed at it with his Sky Thunder Shotel.


    ~DENG~


    The Shotel banged against the surface of the great shield, unable to even put a scratch on it.


    "I should be the one to say that," Lin Mu replied before grasping the shield from the back. It actually had arge handle on its back that Lin Mu could grasp with his hand.


    Of course, with the size of the shield, it would seem a bit unwieldy, but to Lin Mu the weight was nothing. Though the shield did protect him entirely. It was after all, over four meters tall and three meters wide!


    And if one counted the spikes at its bottom as well, it was over five meters tall.


    ~CRACK~


    Lin Mu grasped the shield and exerted a downward force on it causing the spikes to be buried into the ground.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    The prince continued shing at the great shield, unable to do anything to it.


    "You think this shield will be enough to protect you? Hah, you''re dreaming!" The prince jumped over Lin Mu, intending to attack him from the back.


    ~BANG~


    But before he could finish the jump, he was pped away by the same shield!


    Lin Mu effortlessly swung the shield around as if it were a feathered fan and whacked the prince away. He had put his entire weight behind the swing, causing the prince to be a bit disoriented.


    ''It works better than I thought¡­'' Lin Mu had actuallye up with the shield a long time ago.


    It was around the same time when he had used the Earthen Armament Aspect: Great Sword Form in the battle against Gu Yao.


    This was the second form he had made, and it was the Great Shield form. The defense of this shield was the greatest that Lin Mu had below the Immortal Strengthening scripture.


    But the two techniques had different uses. Even if the Immortal Strengthening Scripture''s first technique Sky Prop had the best defense, it would leave Lin Mu immobile. It was not a technique that was meant to be used in movingbat but rather to endure a targeted attack.


    The Earthen Armament Aspect: Great Shield Form though, was Lin Mu''s solution for it. Not only could it resist lightning with ease, it also had better defense than his own body. After all, it was being powered directly by the Dao Embryo and tapped into the Dao Traces of Earth!


    This increased its power to another level, that could even resist immortal level attacks.


    Thankfully, Lin Mu''s affinity to the earth was highest, which also boosted his power with this Dao Skill. Adding Lin Mu''s monstrous physical strength to it, the shield could be used like a melee weapon too, as he had done just now.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu didn''t intend to let the prince have any rest though as he directly blinked next to him.


    ~BANG~


    Raising the shield, Lin Mu mmed it into the man''s back.


    "UGH!" The prince''s body was rattled and sent flying into the distant hills.


    "Huu¡­ is this it for him?" Lin Mu muttered, but didn''t lower his guard.


    Even if the impact of the attack was great, Lin Mu hadn''t sensed the prince''s vitality weakening yet.


    "AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" And just as he had thought, the prince rose back from the hill while screaming.


    His body though, was gleaming in a green light.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and saw the injuries of the prince healing rapidly.


    ''The wooden robe that was formed¡­ it seems to have a healing effect.'' Lin Mu grasped another one of the prince''s abilities. ''This makes it difficult¡­''


    But it only meant that the prince''s tenacity was going to be higher as well.


    "I''ll crush your body!" The prince roared in anger as mes gathered around his hands. "Volcanic Head Hammer!"


    The mes condensed into arge war hammer, its head looking like the mouth of a volcano.


    ~HUMM~


    The wings behind the prince pped at a great speed, as he rushed towards Lin Mu at a blinding speed. The hammer curved through the air, andva spurted from its mouth as it mmed into the Great Shield.


    ~BOOM~All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1560 A Crushing End

    The collision of the Volcanic Head hammer and the Great Shield was as explosive as the eruption of a real volcano.


    Lava spurted everywhere, while a loud booming sound filled the area. The very air trembled while the skies shook.


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu was able to hold up against the attack, but was pushed back from the sheer force of it.


    No damage was done to it, but he needed to use a lot of strength to block the hammer. Not to mention, there wasva spraying everywhere and even Lin Mu was covered in it.


    "How do you like that!" The princeughed seeing that Lin Mu was affected by his attack.


    "This is nothing. I''ve bathed in a volcano before." Lin Mu replied without caring much.


    While it looked terrifying to be covered with Lava, Lin Mu''s defenses were easily able to hold up again it. Even his words were true, as Lin Mu had indeed bathed inva before. Not to mention, Lin Mu had literally poured molten gold over himself in order to cultivate the True Gold Body Forging arts.


    Heat was something he could tolerate a high level of.


    "Impossible!" The Prince as astounded by this.


    One must know that theva wasn''t just normalva, but one infused with pure fire energy. But Lin Mu had affinity to fire as well, along with his cultivation base being higher than before.


    ~SHUA~


    Having withstood the impact, Lin Mu directly blinked away, making the hammer crash to the ground.


    ~DENG~


    It struck the ground and cracked it further, making it tremble. The prince tried to recover from it and wanted to attack again. But before he could do that though, he suddenly felt strange.


    An unknown energy covered his body as well as the hammer, rming him.


    "Aspect of Heaviness!" Lin Mu chanted as the True Earth Heart throbbed like thunder.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    In the very next second, the legs of the prince dug into the ground, while the Volcanic Head Hammer almost slipped out of his hands.


    "What¡­ is this¡­" The prince felt like he had a mountain weighing down on his body.


    What was strange was that he felt the same effect on every inch of his body and not as if he was carrying something.


    Lin Mu watched as his second Dao Skills was affecting the prince.


    ''This is indeed very taxing¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He was now using both his Dao skills in unison, causing his energy consumption to be very high. Not to mention, Aspect of Heaviness was several times more exhaustive than the Earthen Armament Aspect.


    Its usage and power also varied on whom it was used on.


    The best effectiveness was when Lin Mu used it on himself, and the worst effectiveness was when he used it on others. But of course, this could be somewhat offset by simply using more energy which was what he was doing right now.


    In order to slow down the prince, Lin Mu was draining his energy stores constantly.


    "Let''s finish this then¡­" Lin Mu said as he blinked next to the prince and mmed the great shield over his head.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ~DENG~


    The eleventh prince felt like his his brain was shaking and the weight on him increased even more.


    "Aspect of Heaviness!" But Lin Mu didn''t intend to stop here.


    He used the Dao Skill on the Great Shield!


    ~BOOM~


    "AAAAAAAHHHH!" The prince now truly felt like there was a mountain on his back which may as well be true.


    The great shield was heavy on its own, and easily weight a few tens of tons being made from highly condensed rocks. And the the weight of these rocks was further multiplied by the Aspect of Heaviness which had a higher effectiveness on it than on the prince.


    "GET¡­ OFF¡­ ME¡­.!" The prince said between his breaths.


    He was now lying t on the ground, being pressed by both his weight and the great shield.


    Lin Mu watched as the prince suffered, a strange sense of contentment filling his being. But at the same time, his heart was telling him to go further; that this was not enough. The person had stolen from him and needed to suffer more.


    The rage filling Lin Mu only increased more as he directly climbed onto the Great Shield.


    Then with a cold voice he spoke, "Aspect of Heaviness!"


    ~KACHA~


    Now that Lin Mu was using the Dao Skill on his body too, the weight on prince was deadly. Even Lin Mu was feeling the brunt of it, and was holding on by gritting his teeth.


    His eyes were trained on the prince as his head was sticking out from the side of the shield.<novelnext></novelnext>


    What was worse was that the inner robe made out of wood energy was actively healing him while the weight was constantly breaking his bones. The man was stuck in a cycle of healing and breaking, causing him to feel unending despair.


    Lin Mu knew that the wood energy would keep on healing him, thus he needed to trap the man somehow. And the current situation was the result of that thought. With the prince being crushed under him, while he could still live, he wouldn''t be able to move and his healing ability was restrained.


    "Why¡­ are¡­ you¡­ doing¡ª" The prince felt the weight cracking his bones.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    Before the man could finish his words though, the ground underneath him copsed, making him dig deeper.


    ~KACHA~


    The fall impacted the prince greatly directly shattering his ribs.


    Lin Mu still stood on the shield, not fazed by the fall.


    The man couldn''t speak now and his body was ttened by half. If it weren''t for the fact that he was an immortal, he would have already died from this.


    "Suffer more¡­" Lin Mu muttered, his tone sharp.


    He watched as the cycle of crushing and healing continued, exhausting the man''s energy stores.


    Lin Mu had a good reason to do this too.


    If he killed the man right away, he would be able to escape with his Nascent soul. Plus there was always a chance the man had other life saving measures that might activate on his death.


    Thus to prevent that, Lin Mu wanted the man''s energy to be fully exhausted so that he would have little to spare at the end.


    Plus he had trapped the man such that the healing would continue non stop. Lin Mu had already noticed that the prince actually didn''t have an active control over it. Once the Seven heaven Divine Armor was enabled it seemed to be working in its own.


    Lin Mu didn''t know how urate his guess was, but so far it seemed to be working.


    The man''s energy stores kept on draining as the Seven Heavens Divine Armor was taking it nonstop. On some level it was simr to Lin Mu''s own skills in the past.


    ''They also used to take it without stopping until I finally learned to control them and my cultivation base increased.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This gave him several ideas about what it might be that was stolen from him, though he was still doubtful about it.


    After a while, Lin Mu could sense the Prince''s vitality starting to fall as well.


    "Time to finish this¡­" Lin Mu withdrew the Ocean Raker and held it over the prince''s head.


    ~SLICK~


    Then with a single push, the sword stabbed into the man''s braining out cleanly from the other side.


    As soon as Lin Mu felt like the man was dead though, he moved and used another skill.


    "Meld!" Lin Mu directly froze the space around the corpse of the prince.


    ~SHUA~


    A few secondster, a Nascent soul tried to wiggle out of the dead body.


    But as soon as it did, it was trapped the space around it being locked in ce.


    "NOOO!!! THE HOLY TOPAZ DYNASTY WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" The Prince''s Nascent soul cried like a vengeful spirit.


    "I''ll see when ites to it." Lin Mu nonchntly said before bringing his fingers together.


    ~RIP~


    Spatial fabric was moved, and twisted, directly tearing the Nascent soul apart.


    "AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" a blood curdling cry was let out by the soul before it turned into nothingness.


    ~THUD~


    Having done that, Lin Mu too copse on the ground feeling incredibly exhausted.


    "That¡­ was¡­" Lin Mu felt more tired than ever before.


    Having used multiple skills, as well as the Two Dao skill that to on several targets made his body tired out really fast. It wasn''t just physical fatigue either, as even his mind was tired from the great focus it had taken for him to use them all.


    Not to mention, the fine nning he had to do on the go. If Lin Mu had lost focus, he would have made a mistake that might have cost him his life.


    He had already seen the prince''s power and knew that in pure offense, he might even be greater than him.


    But now¡­ he was dead.

 Chapter 1561 A Second Ring

    Lin Mu watched the corpse of the Eleventh prince, ensuring that he really was dead and there were no tricks left.


    After all, even with the Nascent Soul erased, there were still certain skills or weapons that could attack one''s enemies after death. Such items were used for mutual destruction and there was always a chance that the prince might have them.


    With his identity and fortune, it wouldn''t be difficult for him to obtain them either.


    Only after Lin Mu was a hundred percent sure did he release the Great Shield from the man''s corpse.


    ~SHUA~


    "The Seven Heavens Divine Armor hasn''t disappeared?" Lin Mu was surprised.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He had thought that it should have deactivated automatically after the death of the man, and yet here it was still lingering.


    "No wait... it''s weaker." Lin Mu could see that the energy fluctuations from it had greatly reduced.


    Even the lightning arc circling on the crown and the mes had dimmed down. It looked like the armor would soon disappear.


    ~humm~


    And sure enough, just a minuteter the armor faded away revealing the appearance of the prince''s body.


    Leaving his head, the rest of his body had basically been ttened. Despite having worn the armor, the effect of the Aspect of Heaviness was still applied equally on him. This had led to his body being crushed with the extra weight from the armor being added.


    The Dao Skill was certainly deadly, when used own the right kind of target.


    ''Though the energy consumption is also higher...'' Lin Mu sensed his body, finding it to be at barely 20% stores.


    While he still had his Vitality and Immortal Essence, the immortal Qi in his body had greatly fallen. Not to mention, Lin Mu''s mind felt rather tired right now, having been exhausted mentally as well.


    After all, using two Dao Skills in conjunction while also targeting multiple objects was not easy. With the level of focus it required, many others would have failed a long time ago and copsed.


    "Ugh!" But just as Lin Mu was watching the corpse of the prince, he felt a sharp pain in his head.


    He couldn''t help but grasp it, finding the pain to be rising.


    "What even..." Lin Mu felt like his head was going to explode.


    ~HUMM~


    But at that moment, the ring on his hand let out a humming sound. The sound entered Lin Mu''s ears and made him feel better. The pain disappeared after a few seconds, allowing Lin Mu to calm down.


    "What was that..." Lin Mu was at a loss as he looked at the ring in his hand.


    What he did not expect was the most shocking moment of his life so far-- The Ring was moving on his hand!


    ~SHUA~


    "NO!" Lin Mu cried out seeing that the ring was actually leaving his finger.


    Ever since he had gotten the mysterious ring, it had never left Lin Mu''s finger. It had taken a strange form, and Lin Mu couldn''t even remove it from his finger if he wanted to. Other than him, only Xukong could see it thus it was difficult to tell the functioning of the ring.


    But now after fourteen years of obtaining the ring, it had left his hand!


    ~HUM~


    The grey ring flew off at a great speed, making Lin Mu unable to catch it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    But just as Lin Mu''s heart was about to jump out of his chest, he saw the ring stop. It hovered in mid-air and kept on spinning.


    ~HONG~


    A resonant hum was emanated from its body and spread in the area.


    ''What''s happening?'' Lin Mu was truly lost now.


    Even Xukong who was watching it all was confused. After all, he was inside the ring and it was now separated from Lin Mu.


    "Don''t worry, the ring is still linked to you." Xukong assured Lin Mu. "If it was not linked, we would not have been able to talk now." He exined.


    "It is?" Lin Mu felt a bit relieved, but didn''t know if he could fully ease up.


    He wouldn''t feel calm until the ring was back on his finger.


    "Wait for it. I think the ring might be doing something." Xukong said.


    As much as Lin Mu wanted to snatch the ring back, he decided to trust Senior Xukong''s words and held on.


    ~HUALA~


    Upon doing this, he noticed a cluster of lights shing at the bottom of his vision.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu looked down and saw that the cluster of light wasing from none other than the eleventh prince''s hand!


    "How is..." Lin Mu had a shocking thought in his mind, but he did not dare think further.


    The thought was simply too unbelievable to him after all.


    Gone was the rage and burning desire that he had been feeling so far. All that was left in Lin Mu''s heart was now confusion and anxiety.


    Lin Mu looked closer and saw his thoughting closer to reality.


    "No way..." Lin Mu said in an airy voice.


    The cluster of lights on the prince''s corpse turned into a ring on his finger!


    The ring was now resonating along with Lin Mu''s own ring and some kind of interaction was happening between them.


    Lin Mu watched it all with wide open eyes as the ring on the prince''s hand too flew out.


    ~SHUA~


    The ring flew up and hovered next to Lin Mu''s ring.


    "The two... they are simr." Lin Mu said, his voice shaking.


    Just like Lin Mu''s ring, the other ring too had multiple spurs on it. There were other differences too though.


    The first difference was that the other ring had ten spurs on it instead of five. There were five spurs on each side of the ring, opposite to each other. Then there was the color of the ring itself.


    Unlike the grey color of Lin Mu''s ring, this ring had multiple colors, seven to be exact.


    The ring itself had two colors, with half of it being Azure in color and the other half purple. Then the mirroring spurs were of red, green, brown, yellow and blue colors.

 Chapter 1562 Transformation Of The Ring

    Looking at the two rings hovering in front of him, Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe his eyes.


    "How is this possible?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    But at the same time, he knew that the truth was in front of his eyes and all his senses were telling him this was reality.


    There were not one but two rings!


    "They are certainly linked¡­ they have a simr design scheme." Lin Mu muttered.


    "I don''t think that''s all, Lin Mu." Xukong said, a thought appearing his mind.


    And just as Xukong said that, Lin Mu watched the two rings move.


    ~SHUA~


    The two rings moved and became parallel to each other. Then, their spurs aligned beforeing close.


    Lin Mu''s eyes were locked onto them as he watched them join up.


    ~HONG~


    And when the two rings had joined, a wave of energy spread across the entire area. The wave of energy was not oppressive and yet it power was massive. It covered an area of thousand of kilometer in just a few seconds, making all those that felt it shiver unconsciously.


    They didn''t know what energy they had felt, or where it hade from, but they knew it was something terrifying.


    Far from Lin Mu, back in the ruins where the Violet Mystic Life Tree used to be, the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion were stunned.


    "The array has copsed!"


    "Elders! The energypass just broke!"


    Chaos soon spread, as many of the people had to stop working.


    The head elder who sensed the energy fluctuation though, had a pale face. His body was covered in cold sweat, while his hands trembled.


    "We need to leave¡­" he muttered.


    Thousands of kilometers from there, arge man was standing over a tall mountain. Two horns could be seen on his head, while arge Axe hung from his back.


    This was none other than the Steel Horned General, Niu Juo!


    "That energy¡­" The giant of a man muttered, goosebumps covering his body.


    "Who¡­ or what¡­ My bloodline is¡­ trembling¡­ Absolute fear¡­" The man found it hard to speak.


    Unknowingly, he was already gasping for air.


    It wasn''t after a couple of minutes did Niu Juo managed to calm down.


    He didn''t know what had just caused that, but he knew it was nothing simple.


    ''Could it really be a Transcendent Immortal? But even the Emperor does not have such power.'' He wondered.


    Back at where Lin Mu was, the two rings had finished their merger and were now a single ring.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The ring had two levels, with the lower being grey and the upper being seven colored. Now the new ring only had five colored spurs that jutted upwards.


    Looking at the new ring, Lin Mu didn''t know what to think of it. It was simply too overwhelming for him. A foreign thought intruded in his mind, prompting him to raise his hand towards the ring.


    Lin Mu didn''t even realize when he obeyed this thought, as his body automatically moved.


    ~SHUA~


    The newly transformed ring lowered towards Lin Mu''s hand and slid down his right middle finger, taking the original ce.


    ~HAA~All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    As soon as the ring took its ce, Lin Mu felt an incredible wave of relief washing over his body. Before this, it was as if a piece of his soul had been torn away, but now it had returned and the harmony of his mind was returned.


    "The ring¡­ it was actually iplete¡­" Lin Mu now understood.


    It didn''t take much to understand this after seeing the shape of the ring as well as its current change. Lin Mu liked it all, together with the burning desire as well as the feeling of loss that he had before.


    "The burning desire¡­ it wasn''t just mine¡­ it hade from the ring." Lin Mu muttered in realization.


    And when Lin Mu understood this, a few old memories reappeared in his mind as well.


    He recalled a dream he had a long time ago.


    ''This¡­ wasn''t this when we were hunting the Steel Horned Wolves?'' Lin Mu recalled.


    In the dream, Lin Mu had seen many multicolored spheres. And now that he had seen them again, Lin Mu identified what they were.


    ''Aren''t these all¡­s?'' Lin Mu grasped. ''These are all worlds!''


    Lin Mu continued through the memory and soon arrived at the grey area. Looking at the area, Lin Mu realized that it was actually an area that he knew about.


    "Isn''t this the te Lands of The Holy Topaz Continent?" Lin Mu identified it.


    He had read about it and the location in his memory matched it exactly. The tends were located further south from the entrance of the Deste blood battlefield. Or more urately, it was over seven thousand kilometer south from there.


    Lin Mu focused on the memory as he saw the seven light orbs appear. They had the same colors as the ring, confirming for him that it was indeed the ring.


    "The ring signaled me its location back then¡­" Lin Mu understood. "Wait¡­ could it be¡­" he started to figure out more things.


    ''My reason of arrival in the Rust Sky world¡­ it was predetermined from the start¡­ The ring used the Ancestral Bell''s ability and opened a channel to the Rust Sky world due to the second ring!'' Lin Mu grasped.


    His heart was beating fast at this revtion and was showing no signs of stopping.


    Soon the memory of the old dream ended and Lin Mu recalled the intense burning desire from back when he was in thend of exile. The silhouette he had seen was very simr to the prince.


    ''The Eleventh prince had obtained the second ring, which lead to my ring making me feel the desire. The second ring was supposed to belong to me, but the prince took it before that.'' Lin Mu now understood how it all happened.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu let out a cold breath, as he felt a bit scared at the series of events that had all happened.


    ''The ring¡­ it was always the ring¡­''

 Chapter 1563 Troubled Longing

    Having had the revtion that the Ring was behind his desire, Lin Mu felt conflicted.


    On one hand, it had certainly allowed him to get stronger and on the other hand it had made him suffer. Having to live with that desire was not good at all for Lin Mu. Had it not been for his mentality that had grown strong over the year, it might have ended differently for him.


    After all, Lin Mu knew that such an intense desire could turn into an obsession, which could further lead to many problems for a cultivator.


    Falling into a Qi deviation would be the least of his worries, as there was a high chance that an obsession like that might just end up giving birth to a Heart Demon.


    That was something that Lin Mu certainly did not wish for. Living with a Heart Demon was not an easy task, and he knew this very well, having read the memoirs of the lost immortal.


    In his memories, the man had always said that one should do everything they could to avoid forming a Heart Demon. While the Head Demon of the Lost immortal had helped him fulfill his goal eventually, it hade at the price of his own life and being.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu thought over all this for a few minutes, as he directlyid down on the ground. He didn''t care for the dirt and rubble that was now covering his body. Not to mention, he was quite tired too.


    The way he had managed to stand all this while was simply due to the level of shock he had been feeling.


    But now that he had his ring back, that too a transformed one, Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel the fatigue fill his body once more.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Tilting his head, Lin Mu gazed at the twoyered ring.


    ''This design¡­ it still has five spurs¡­ it can''t be that it''s still iplete, right?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    That thought alone was terrifying to him.


    While he knew, the rings contained a lot of power, using it came at a cost too. After all, it had taken Lin Mu years before he was fully able to utilize the grey ring. And seeing the skills that the Eleventh Prince had used, he was quite sure that they hade from the ring as well.


    "Just learning the skills of my first ring took me years¡­ and even then, I wouldn''t say I''ve truly mastered them. Adding the second ring and the skills that mighte with that¡­ looks like it''s only going to get tougher from here." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    It was a strange feeling that was a mixture of longing and anticipation.


    While Lin Mu could guess that the ring would grant him more power, and that excited him, it would also take him a lot long before he would be able to use it to an optimum level. Using it at a low proficiency was not something that Lin Mu liked.


    It could lead to mistakes during a battle, not to mention he would need to change the flow of his skills as well.


    There were many things for him to consider and he hadn''t even gotten the new skills yet.


    ''The ring seems to be adjusting to me.'' Lin Mu guessed, seeing that the transformed ring had not fully calmed down.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It hadn''t triggered anything either, which meant that there was more for it to do than just merge together.


    ''It does make sense if it needs time. Other tools that can merge or ones that have multipleponents need time to synchronize too.'' Lin Mu had quite a bit of information about this topic due to the documentation and books that Jing Luo and Jing Wei had given him.


    There was so much information he had obtained from the libraries that he was yet to finish reading them all. Not to mention, there was additional knowledge that had been added from the library of the Deep Sapphire Ind.


    Lin Mu had only taken a few looks through it and knew that it was even deeper than he had thought.


    He was sure that reading all the books might take him a hundred years or so alone.


    ~Sigh~


    "And this is just the work I have pending¡­ the ring might add more." Lin Mu let out a sigh.


    He had a gut feeling that the ring was notplete yet. If its shape was anything to go by, it was highly likely that there was at least one more part left.


    ''Now the question is if the ring would give me a desire like that again¡­'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    "That might really be it." Xukong spoke, having seen Lin Mu''s thoughts.


    He too was in shock, having seen that the ring had anotherponent to it, and had been silent since then. Xukong needed to understand it too and wondered what it all meant. Even with his entire life''s experience, he had not seen anything like this.


    The energy wave that had been released by the ring during its merger was great too.


    Lin Mu might not know its depth, but Xukong surely did.


    ''An energy that might even catch the attention of those old monsters, if the addition of oneponent has caused this, what will more do?'' Xukong too thought that there were more parts to it.


    And his intuition was telling him that there was more than one.


    "You think there are more parts to the ring?" Lin Mu asked, his tone a bit tired.


    "Yes¡­ perhaps more than one too." Xukong replied.


    "That¡­ if I''ve to search for those too. It might be a long time." Lin Mu muttered.


    Xukong could understand the overwhelming feeling that Lin Mu was feeling. It was something that wasmon in younger cultivators that had gained a high cultivation base. They had a long lifespan ahead of them, and it just seemed big to them.

 Chapter 1564 The Rings Change

    Cultivators often wondered about time, and how it would pass. As well as the immensity of the tasks they had with them.


    The tasks that they had brought them goals, most of which were not short.


    "Don''t think of this as something you have to do right away Lin Mu. Think of it as a long term goal that is far away from the horizon." Xukong advised. "Besides, the ring hasn''t ''asked'' you to search for the next part yet. If you consider your past experience, while the ring had signaled for its part in the Rust Sky world, it didn''t force you then." He exined.


    Lin Mu listened to Xukong''s words and realized that he was simply over thinking about it.


    "That''s right, the ring did inform me about the location of the second ring in advance. It was only when the prince had found it that it urged me to actively go and secure it." Lin Mu said with realization.


    "Exactly." Xukong acknowledged.


    "So let''s say it does tell me about another part of it, it''s not necessary that I''ll have to rush to it as long as someone else does not find it." Lin Mu repeated it to himself.


    It was a kind of self assurance that he needed.


    Deep down, Lin Mu also knew that if someone were to find the next ring, he might have to rush for it. But it was not something he needed to worry about now. After all, if he continued to worry about the future, he would forget about the present.


    ~HUU~All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu let out a long breath, feeling a lot better than before.


    Even if his mind was still tired, it didn''t feel as heavy as the start.


    "Thank you senior." Lin Mu said with gratitude.


    The advice that Xukong provided might seem obvious, but when one is in a flurry of thoughts that keep one on the edge, assurance from a second person helps bring them out of it.


    "Mm, you don''t need to worry about it at all. Besides, with the kind of progress you''ve had, I''m sure you will fulfill all your goals." Xukong said with a hint of pride.


    "Mmhmm, I just have to see how things go then." Lin Mu said and closed his eyes, letting them rest for a bit.


    Ten minutes passed like this in silence after which Lin Mu had a thought.


    "Senior, you''re inside the ring right? Is there any change there?" Lin Mu wondered if the merging of the two rings had brought forth changes inside it too.


    "Well¡­ The barrier has turned opaque." Xukong said while looking at the Altar.


    "It has?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Indeed. It did so the moment the rings merged." Xukong replied.


    "Then are there any other changes there? Any disturbance?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    He found it a bit strange, that it was only the barrier around the altar that had be opaque and not something more radical.


    "It is rather calm here." Xukong answered finding it strange too.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps when the two rings have finished their synchronization it might happen." Lin Mu replied after thinking for it.


    "Can you sense the other ring?" Xukong asked with curiosity.


    Unlike the first ring, Xukong was actually unable to sense the second one.


    "Yes¡­ while I can''t fully tell what its doing there seems to be some kind of exchange or interaction between the two rings." Lin Mu answered.


    "Peculiar¡­" Xukong muttered.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He moved towards the barrier and observed it closely.


    ''The Runes used for it are still unrecognizable. But it''s certain that the barriers defenses have been raised after the merger of the two rings.'' Xukong discovered after observing it.


    He didn''t dare to touch the barrier in this state either, not knowing if it would cause him or Lin Mu some bacsh.


    Half an hour passed like this, after which Lin Mu felt a lot better. He took out a few pills to restore his energy stores and quickly assimted them. And while he did this, he could also sense the rings syncing up.


    ''I can sense the second ring better with each passing minute¡­ they are certainly linking.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~HUMM~


    And by the time he was finally done assimting all the Immortal Qi, he sensed the transformed ring tremble on his finger.


    A thought rose from the ring and entered Lin Mu''s mind, telling him something.


    "It''s calling me¡­" Lin Mu closed his eyes and felt his body turn weightless.


    In the next second, he was standing inside the ring''s space.


    ~SHUA~


    Opening his eyes, Lin Mu sensed the energy waves that were spreading everywhere.


    "Senior." Lin Mu called out.


    Xukong flew over to him from a distant part of the barrier.


    "So it called you in here?" Xukong asked seeing the energy waves that were spreading in the ring.


    "Indeed¡­ Looks like its time." Lin Mu said with a serious expression.


    "Well then, looks like we''ll get a lot to see." Xukong said, sensing the rising intensity of the energy.


    ~HUALA~


    And sure enough, the change happened quick.


    Millions upon millions of runes formed all around the barrier, covering the area. Lin Mu looked around and found the runes to be below him, above him and around him. There seemed to be no pattern to the runes and they were spread randomly.


    "What runes are these?" Lin Mu could tell that they weren''t exactly Dao Script.


    Some of the runes seemed close to Dao Script, but a majority were unknown to him.


    "Even I don''t know. It is probably some long lost script from the ancient times." Xukong replied.


    "You don''t know either?" Lin Mu raised his brows in surprise.


    There was very little that Xukong did not know, or could not make a guess about.


    ~HONG~


    But Lin Mu didn''t have long to wonder about it all, as the runes soon brought forth another change.


    They started to assemble themselves into an array and not just any array but a True Grand Formation Array!

 Chapter 1565 The Ethereal Altars Transformation

    This was the first time Lin Mu was seeing anything thisplex.


    Lin Mu had the great sword which was formed from countless runesposing its body. Jing Luo had obtained it back in the fragmented ne, and Lin Mu had taken itter on. Studying it had proved to be useless as the runes continued to change and transform.


    But even thatplexity was several steps below what Lin Mu was now seeing unravel in front of him.


    The runes shifted and turned, first assembling into arge circle that easily covered a few tens of kilometer of area. Then with this circle as the center, hundred more concentric rune circles rose, each moving farther and farther from each other.


    With each new circle that was added, Lin Mu could tell that their size was increasing by multiples.


    "Just how many more will be added? That''s already over a hundred¡­" Lin Mu muttered in shock as he watched it all happen.


    Xukong who was observing it all was also at a loss.


    "I can''t perceive them either now¡­ they''ve gone beyond my range of sensing." Xukong stated.


    ~gulp~


    Lin Mu swallowed his saliva in astonishment. After all, Xukong had traveled the ring for a long time before just to see if it had limits. And even then he was unable to find its end. Thus him being unable to sense the end of the circles only meant that it was at a size that might be hundreds of thousands of kilometers.


    ~HONG~


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~


    But that was merely the first step of the entire process.


    "More?" Lin Mu next saw the runes assembling into more circles.


    But this time these circles were small, being only a few meters in size. After forming, these circles stacked on top of each other, forming tall towers that were hundreds of meters tall.


    These formation circle towers kept on growing until they too were beyond the range of Xukong.


    Now the there were formation constructs in two dimensions. The concentric circles below Lin Mu, and the vertical towers that extended above and below Lin Mu. These two constructs intersected, making it look like a te that had countless strings hanging from it.


    ~SCREECH~


    After all these had been formed though, Lin Mu heard a screeching sound.


    It was as if a bunch of nails were grinding over a te of metal. The sound was loud and harsh, making Lin Mu mp his ears.


    ~KACHA~


    "Huh?" But then he heard a sound that was like that of breaking ss.


    "It''s breaking! The space is breaking!" Xukong eximed.


    He looked above and below him, finding there to be invisible cracks. These cracks were causing the spatial energy streaks within the ring to circle around them. It was like a vortex that would form in a water bucket when holes were poked into it.


    "How can the space here be cracking?!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    ~SHUA~


    But before he could be scared, he saw more runes appearing. These runes were appearing from the cracks, and they were of different colors.


    "Wait a minute, these runes¡­" Lin Mu saw the seven colored runes that matched those that of the second ring.


    These runes transformed into long strings that waved around the formation towers that had formed earlier. Soon, the formation towers were all wrapped in seven colored strings, making it look something like a straight candy cane.


    Just that it had seven colors instead of just two.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "The two rings are probably doing their final linking." Xukongmented seeing the change.


    "Mmhmm." Lin Mu nodded his head, as there didn''t seem to be any other option.


    Once the towers were all wrapped, no new runes or other formation constructs appeared. Silence spread in the area, making one feel unnerved.


    ~HONG~


    A minuteter though, the silence was broken as all the formation constructs started to disappear. They faded away into nothingness, and the familial nk darkness appeared behind them.


    "Look! The barrier," Xukong spoke up.


    Lin Mu turned his attention to the barrier around the altar and saw it turning translucent again.


    "No¡­ its actually opening up." Lin Mu could feel the altar beckoning to him.


    He watched as the barrier fully turned translucent before walking closer.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "It''s calling me." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Go in then." Xukong urged. "I''ll wait here."


    "Mmmhmm," Lin Mu gave a nod and ced his hand over the barrier, causing an opening to appear for him.


    Having entered the barrier, he continued on straight until he reached the altar.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    And upon reaching there, Lin Mu heard seven sounds.


    Each sound was distinct to him, and along with each sound, a pir rose from the base of the altar. Each altar was of a different color, matching the colors of the second ring. In a few seconds, the original altar was surrounded by seven pirs.


    Each of the pir had different runes on them too that were unreadable to Lin Mu.


    ''They are simr in style to the runes that appeared before. They must be of the same source.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    The Ethereal altar glowed brighter, before seven strings of energy rose from it. Each string attached to the seven pirs andpleted itswork.


    And with that the linking of the two rings had truly finished.


    "It''s done¡­" Lin Mu could now feel a close connection with the second ring too. "No, not the second ring¡­ the same ring, they are just connected now. Part of one¡­" he muttered.


    ''Come¡­'' with that done, a thought appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Huh," Lin Mu gazed at the runes flickering on the altar.


    They looked like swimming tadpoles, and yet there was a certain rhythm to them.


    Seeing this, Lin Mu knew what was about toe.


    "So it finally is ready for it¡­" Lin Mu took a deep breath and extended his hand.


    As soon as he ced his hand on the Altar, arge stream of information poured into his head.


    But in all that, a few words stood out.


    ''Omnicore Ascendancy''

 Chapter 1566 Omnicore Ascendancy

    The two words were entirely new to Lin Mu, and yet he felt an unprecedented familiarity with it.


    "Omnicore Ascendancy¡­ Take the very elements as the core of your being and ascend through existence!" Lin Mu chanted the mnemonic that rang within his ears.


    Dense amount of information flooded Lin Mu''s mind, as the understanding about Omnicore Ascendancy rose.


    This was the technique that he had obtained from the altar after its transformation.


    And simr to the Nine Divine Sutra''s that he had obtained, this wasn''t exactly a cultivation technique or even a skill. Rather it was an auxiliary technique that focused on changing one''s very being.


    ''If the Nine Divine Sutra''s were an auxiliary to the Qi cultivation, then this Omnicore Ascendancy seems like an auxiliary to body cultivation!'' Lin Mu understood.


    It was strange to him as the methods prescribed in the technique seemed to be unbelievable, absurd even.


    The technique directed one to condense seven elemental cores within one''s body with each core having its own location. Some of these locations Lin Mu was familiar with and rted them with the Five Treasures realm, but there was more to it than that.


    The fire core was located at the position of the heart.


    The Water core was positioned between the kidneys.


    The Metal core was positioned between the lungs.


    The Wood core was located at the position of the liver


    The Earth core was located at the position of the Spleen.


    Then there was the wind core that was located in one''s diaphragm and the lightning core that was located within one''s brain!


    The sessful creation of each core would have a miraculous effect on one''s body. With each elemental core that was fully formed, one would be able to get a natural affinity to that element.


    ''Doesn''t this mean¡­ I can basically have an affinity to all these seven elements?'' Lin Mu was stunned at the prospect.


    After all, having an affinity to seven elements like this was something incredibly rare in the universe.


    And this was no normal affinity, but on the level of innate affinity!


    It was basically the same as one having an entirely new body!


    Which was exactly what the technique said it could do.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel excited at this, as it only meant that it would raise his potential to a level that was never seen before. But then when he saw the requirements for cultivating the Omnicore Ascendancy technique, it was as if cold water was poured all over him.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Pure elemental resources¡­ essences¡­ Qis¡­ Dao traces? Dao Insights!? What even¡­" Lin Mu was shook at what the technique demanded.


    Technically speaking, the technique could make use of any kind of elemental energy whether it be very weak or not. It could even absorb spirit Qi and grow, but the rate of growth would be very slow.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Upto until this point, Lin Mu could still digest it. After all, a great technique like this must have high requirements. But then he saw the other conditions that this technique brought along with it.


    "I¡­ can''t use any of those energies?" Lin Mu muttered in disbelief.


    All the energies and resources that Lin Mu used, whatever form they might be in would be unavable to him.


    ording to the Omnicore Ascendancy Technique, all the energies were to be condensed into the core and they were to be left untouched. The umtion of these energies would bring no direct increase to one''s strength either.


    It was simr to having a mountain of gold, but being unable to use it,


    "Only when the core is fully formed would it''s true effects be shown. It would bring a transformation of my body, and grant me affinity to that element along with more benefits." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Now this was a tall order for Lin Mu, as it basically meant he was doing extra cultivation that would be useless for a long time. This would massively raise his need for resources and if he spent them on this, his own cultivation would stagnate.


    Lin Mu continued to go through the information and understood further details.


    ''So I can choose where I direct the energies too¡­ ~phew~ that''s better than not growing in strength at all.'' Lin Mu felt relieved.


    Since he could decide when to cultivate it, Lin Mu reckoned he would have to split his attention between normal cultivation and the cultivation of Omnicore Ascendancy technique.


    "I''ll have to figure out the schedule for itter." Lin Mu shook his head.


    Just as he had thought before, his workload had certainly increased with the addition of the second ring. While it would be ultimately beneficial to him in the end, it was still a daunting task.


    It was simr to a student who was in middle school and they were looking at doing a doctorate in the future.


    It would take many years and multiple steps in reaching that point, but the benefit it would bring one would be massive.


    ''At least I can form all the cores at the same time. I don''t have to select only one and stick to it. Guess this is simr to the Five Treasures Realm in that aspect.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He almost felt like this was the improved form of the Five Treasures realm, but at the same time not. After all, this didn''t bring any gradual increase to one''s strength and neither did it enhance one''s toughness.


    The Omnicore Ascendancy Technique was a technique that brought forth qualitative change rather than quantitative change.


    It might not raise one''s cultivation base, but it would improve one''s potential exponentially. And if one''s potential was better, cultivation would be faster and easier too.


    Even if one considered theprehension of the Dao, having innate affinity to elements would assist in that two.


    The Omnicore Ascendancy Technique covered both the absorption of various energies as well asprehension of the Daos within its scope!


    "That¡­ was a lot to grasp." Lin Mu held his head as the information flood finally subsided.

 Chapter 1567 A Technique That Upends The Understanding Of Cultivation World

    The feeling of having one''s head filled with direct understanding of aplex technique like the Omnicore Ascendancy was certainly not pleasant.


    Lin Mu felt like there were miners hammering his head with chisels and sledgehammers; both from the inside and outside.


    "Ugh¡­ I''ll never get used to this." Lin Mu pressed his head, trying to get over the pain.


    Thankfully, it didn''t seem like it wouldst that long, and was soon subsiding.


    "Are you okay?" Xukong''s voice drifted over from afar.


    The spider couldn''t get close to the altar, but could stillmunicate with Lin Mu.


    ''What was the memory break? It forcefully blocked out link.'' Xukong thought to himself. ''Did he finally get something from the ring?'' he guessed.


    That was the only time when the link between Xukong and Lin Mu had been broken in the past, thus it was what the spider guessed. Still, this time Xukong could tell that something was different.


    Since the two were linked and had a shared mind space, Xukong could tell that the ''weight'' of the shared mind space had increased. This increase in weight certainly did note from his side, which meant that it was definitely due to Lin Mu.


    ''But the mind space has never reacted like that before¡­'' Xukong wondered just what had Lin Mu obtained from the ethereal altar.


    If the past skills and techniques were to go by anything, Xukong was sure that it was not going to be simple at all.


    "I''m okay, Senior." Lin Mu replied. "Just got a nasty headache."


    "It was that bad huh¡­ I''m guessing it was worth it though?" Xukong replied.


    "Definitely¡­ even if it was a headache that wouldn''t go away for a year, I''d be fine with it. It was a fair price for something like this." Lin Mu stated with a hint of excitement.


    "That good?" Xukong was now looking forward to hearing about it too.


    "Yes." Lin Mu replied. "I''lle over to you, and exin in detail." He said before standing up.


    Lin Mu nced at the altar, that seemed to have calmed down. The transformed from of the altar was at least twice as big as before, and itsplexity had increased as well. Lin Mu could see that the runes on it weremunicating with the entire area.


    ''This kind of Fomentation array¡­ just what level is it at? It''s certainly not a Spirit or Immortal grade array¡­ then Celestial grade array?'' Lin Mu wondered, but something told him that even a Celestial Grade Array might be nothing in front of this.


    Feeling like there might be more he could learn from this ce, other than just skills intrigued Lin Mu.


    "Just the runes on the array alone are enough for me to learn for hundreds of years, forget the array itself. Perhaps I shoulde here to ponder on these runes¡­ I might not be able to read them, but I should be able to nce through their patterns." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    One thing was for sure though, the path of formations has truly caught him in its grasp.


    Now that he had seen, just what was possible with formations and runes, Lin Mu wondered if he could reach that level too.<novelnext></novelnext>All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Thinking about all this, Lin Mu headed to the barrier of the ethereal altar.


    There, Xukong was already waiting for him.


    "You look fine on the surface at least." Xukongmented seeing Lin Mu''s appearance.


    "Yes¡­ though I''m certainly tired from it." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "That much is to be expected." Xukong agreed. "Though, what is it that you got from the ethereal altar?" he questioned.


    "What I got from the ethereal altar this time is a technique¡­ another auxiliary cultivation technique¡­" Lin Mu said before starting to exin about Omnicore Ascendancy Technique.


    It took Lin Mu about an hour to exin the gist of the technique. Though this was just the surface level exnation of what the technique could do. Lin Mu actually could not exin how it worked or what its methods were.


    They were so profound that Lin Mu could only understand them, but not speak about them. It only showed him just how important the infusion of the information was.


    ''Perhaps without it, I might not have been able to grasp it at all.'' Lin Mu thought.


    But while he was thinking about this, Xukong was in shock instead.


    ''There''s no doubt about it¡­ this is not a technique that was made by man.'' Xukong thought to himself. ''Even the understanding of those old monsters would be upended if they learned about Omnicore Ascendancy¡­''


    Lin Mu didn''t know the true depth behind Omnicore Ascendancy. While he could tell that it was a miraculous technique, he didn''t know to what level it was miraculous. In fact, it was already enough to upend themon understanding of the cultivation techniques that was propagated throughout the annals of time.


    The experts who had lived since ancient times had spread these concepts and principals, having taken them as absolute. But the Omnicore Ascendancy Technique, vited several of those axioms.


    What was once taken asmon logic by the world of cultivation had been upended by this one technique.


    Xukong grasped this very well.


    ''If it was only a good technique those old monsters would have actually liked to study this. But with how Omnicore Ascendancy Technique is, it cannot even be understood by anyone other than Lin Mu.'' Xukong thought to himself. ''Those old monsters would not let something like this exist¡­ they would rather it be erased from the universe, than let someone practice it.'' He knew.


    "You cannot talk about this technique." Xukong said in a serious tone. "You should not even utter its name. Never mention it to anyone, not even to the air."


    Hearing Xukong''s tone Lin Mu''s expression turned serious too.


    "It''s that dangerous?" Lin Mu could somewhat grasp Xukong''s concern.


    After all, he knew just how dangerous something as simple as knowing a name could be.


    ''Karma can affect it all¡­'' Lin Mu recalled.

 Chapter 1568 The Loot From The Prince

    Having grasped the seriousness of the situation, Lin Mu vowed to never speak about the technique.


    "I shall never talk about it then, Senior." Lin Mu stated.


    "Good." Xukong spoke, his voice still a bit heavy.


    "But¡­ will you be fine knowing this? Didn''t you say Karma can affect everything, even you?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "I''ll be fine." Xukong replied. "While Karma can affect me too¡­ those trying to pry into it will only be walking into a trap if they do it with me." He stated.


    "A trap?" Lin Mu raised his brows in confusion.


    "Let''s just say, the cost of doing something like that would be too high for them." Xukong simply said.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu realized that Xukong might not be able to truly exin to him.


    "You should not think about that for now. Just focus on the tasks at hand. You do have a lot of resources to gather, if you are to practice the technique." Xukong said, changing the topic.


    "Ah yes!" Lin Mu nodded his head. "Getting that Immortal Stone Mine just became even more important with the Omnicore Ascendancy. I''ll need it steady supply of Immortal Qi." He spoke.


    "I doubt, it''ll be anything more than a drop of water in the ocean. You''ll need a lot more than just that. Might be time for some long-term investments." Xukong replied.


    "I was thinking the same." Lin Mu agreed. "I''ll have to get resource that can provide me a stable source of it all. The Violet Mystic Life Tree will be my first source of it all, but I''ll need more things likes it." He spoke.


    Lin Mu thought of seeking out more Immortal herbs that could produce elemental Qis or energies.


    "Hmm¡­ you might also have to look into Elemental Transformation Formation arrays. These can convert Non-elemental Qi into elemental Qi." Xukong replied. "As well as natural treasures that gather Qi and other elemental energies, not just nts." He suggested.


    "Yes, I''ll look for all of them." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And I think there''s something that might be able to help me with exactly that." A certain grass loving cultivator came to Lin Mu''s mind.


    "I think you can also start with something you''ve already obtained." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "Oh? What do you mean Senior?" Lin Mu asked with interest.


    "Do you remember the conversation that Eleventh Prince was having with those people?" Xukong reminded.


    Lin Mu then recalled the loot that they were talking about.


    "Of course!" Lin Mu said out loud. "Their spatial storage tools should have some information in it."


    "It''s already here." Xukong interrupted.


    "Huh? What do you mean Senior?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "That prince¡­ he probably kept his items in the ring too. And when the two rings merged the items within them did too." Xukong replied. "I sensed a few things appearing here, that certainly weren''t here before." He exined.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was surprised. But then excitement took over him.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "That''s great then. If the prince was with them, he certainly had a lot of information. Or had at least something substantial." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He then closed his eyes, and sensed all the items that were within the ring''s space. It didn''t take him long to see the new items that had appeared in a slightly distant part of the ring. They were not kept with the other items and were just floating around randomly.


    Lin Mu simply locked onto all of them, and waved his hand, summoning them in front of him.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, all the items materialized in front of Lin Mu.


    "That''s¡­ a lot." Seeing it with his own two eyes, Lin Mu realized just how much the prince had kept within his storage.


    There was a significant pile of Immortal stones, as well as immortal essence crystals.


    "He''s even got quite a lot of Immortal Essence crystals¡­ though they''re barely a few percent of the immortal stones. But I guess that''s understandable considering how rare they are." Lin Mu said as he checked out the items.


    The immortal stones were the majority of the loot, and had thus taken up the front of the pile. Lin Mu moved past them and saw many other items like gold, silver, gems and other such wealth.


    Lin Mu had plenty of them too so he didn''t pay much attention to them. Rather than that, his attention was caught by the herbs that were present in the pile.


    "Oh! Aren''t these New Moon Lily Fruits?" Lin Mu recognized some of the Immortal fruits. "And this is a Rage Blood Lingzhi!" he discovered another valuable Immortal herb.


    The Rage Blood Lingzhi was something that was unique to the Deste Blood Battlefield and was used for several kinds of immortal pills.


    This was just the start of the resources that were present in the loot. Lin Mu saw several more things like pill bottles, gourds, medicine boxes and entire shelves worth ofmon Immortal Qi replenishing pills!


    He quickly did a count of all these things, before sorting them ording to his own system.


    "Looks like I won''t have to worry the Qi replenishing pills for a while." Lin Mu was pleased with that.


    These pills were cheaper, since they couldn''t actually be used to raise one''s cultivation base. Qi replenishing pills were a ss of pills, that could only restore one''s Qi to a point where their natural storage was full. It could not increase it beyond that like certain cultivation pills.


    Of course, with howrge Lin Mu''s Qi stores actually were, he always needed more of these.


    But after these, he found what he was truly desiring. There were hundreds of books and other documents in the pile too. This was where the true fortune was lying.


    "Here it is¡­" Lin Mu quickly scanned through those documents and found a scroll that was made from beast leather.


    It was simr to the map that depicted the location of the Immortal Essence crystal cache and looked old.

 Chapter 1569 Two Immortal Stone Mines And Techniques

    ~shua~


    Lin Mu unrolled the beast leather scroll and saw a map that was drawn on it. But unlike the map that Alchemist Ruoxian had, this was in a good condition and every detail was clear to read.


    "Hahah!" Lin Muughed out loud reading some of the information on it. "Just what I was searching for¡­ no wonder the prince and those people were willing to kill each other."


    The map was of equal caliber to the one that Alchemist Ruoxian had, for it depicted not one but two Immortal Stone mines!


    The location of these Immortal Stone mines was different from what Lin Mu could tell, though reading it was a bit difficult for him.


    "Hmm¡­ I might be able topare the trantion that Alchemist Ruoxian provided. Some of these words seem identical." Lin Mu muttered and took out the other document.


    He spent a few minutesparing them and figured out the location that the map was talking about.


    "Hah! Perfect, one of the Immortal Stone Mines is in the Blood Strewn battlefield itself. And it''s not that far either." Lin Mu eximed.


    ? "That might be why the prince and the others fighting him were here." Xukong replied.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded and looked at the map again. "As for the second one, while I can''t figure out the location''s name I can still tell where it is." He stated and pointed to the map.


    The location that Lin Mu was gesturing on the map, was adjacent to the Blood Strewn ins. And figuring out from that, Lin Mu easily discovered what the words meant.


    "The Grey te Ravines¡­ that''s the location where the prince was before this. The immortals were running from there, due to him too since he was killing them all." Lin Mu said.


    "The prince probably mined these Immortal stones from there too." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­ now that I look at them again, they do seem a little crudely shaped." Lin Mu saw the Immortal stones and found them to be irregrly carved.


    Normal Immortal Stones that were in cirction were of an equal size most of the times. But the ones in the prince''s pile were a bit rougher than that. It looked like someone had carved them out in a hurry.


    "No wonder he had so many of them. He had just obtained them freshly. He probably intended to go and get more of themter, once the people were afraid of entering the Grey te Ravines." Lin Mu inferred.


    Having seen the map though, Lin Mu was not done as he looked through the other documents and books too.


    "Oh? He actually has several body cultivation techniques." Lin Mu discovered tens of body cultivation manuals in the loot.


    He read through them and recognized a few of them.


    ''I''ve seen them in the Grand Sky Pavilion before¡­ they were up for sale.'' Lin Mu recalled.


    But as he continued to read through all the cultivation manuals, his excitement about the died down.


    "These¡­ aren''t really good." Lin Mu said after going through them.


    "Of course they won''t be." Xukong replied. "Compared to the Three Apertures Invoking Technique, these are too low."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Indeed¡­ while they can increase my strength directly which the Three Apertures invoking Technique does not, it''s not worth it. The Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets will have a much better effect if I''m just looking for strength." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes. While these techniques might offer you a short term gain, they would be too bad in the long term. Plus, there is always the issue of ipatibility." Xukong agreed.


    "Yeah¡­ all these techniques are exclusive. One cannot cultivate another body cultivation technique if you use them." Lin Mu stated. "No wonder the prince had so many of them. Looks like he was looking for a good technique for himself too."


    "He did have a body cultivation though." Xukong spoke.


    "Yes, he did¡­ which makes me wonder why is there no body cultivation technique matching that here." Lin Mu replied.


    He had memorized the energy signature of the prince, and knew that none of these techniques couldpare to that.


    "Well, the prince did have the ring with him. Perhaps he received one like you too?" Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­" hearing this, Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    It was one of the things that was bugging him.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    After all, he had seen the prince use several elemental skills, as well as those pure elemental marbles that he would make. Then there was the Seven Heavens Divine Armor, the strongest of his skills.


    None of these were what Lin Mu had obtained from the altar.


    "The Prince certainly did not get the Omnicore Ascendancy Technique." Lin Mu was sure. "He got something else¡­ but then why did I get this?" he wondered.


    Xukong was intrigued by this too and wondered why it was so.


    The two of them went silent and thought for a while before Xukong broke the silence.


    "Perhaps¡­ The skills that the ring imparts are unique to each person?" Xukong hypothesized.


    "Unique to a person?" Lin Mu thought about the spatial skills he had obtained from the grey ring and how more had been given to him as he improved.


    "The altar only gave you skills when you had adapted to the old ones, or were capable of using the new one. It was a simr case with the Nine Divine Heart Sutras too. You only got the next sutra when you fulfilled certain requirements." Xukong exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu realized that it all made sense.


    "We do know that the ring is sentient¡­ and by that extension the altar should be its ''brain''. Then if it can ''think'' and pick the right skill for its user, then¡­ I guess it deemed Omnicore Ascendancy right for me?" Lin Mu concluded after thinking for a bit.


    "That might really be it." Xukong said.


    "But doesn''t this also mean¡­ there are more skills and techniques hidden within it? Just the Seven Heavens Divine Armor alone is something that canpare with my skills." Lin Mu stated.

 Chapter 1570 Huangyu Shiyi

    The revtion that the rings had more skills than known was a mix of surprise and excitement for Lin Mu. After all, it meant that Lin Mu had many more opportunities to grow in the future.


    And from what he had seen so far, none of the skills he had obtained from the ring were weak. Each of them was strong, allowing one to gain a lot of power once mastered. Plus the application of the skills was quite varied too, allowing one to mix and match them.


    The best demonstration of this was none other than Lin Mu''s fight with the Eleventh Prince.


    After all, while both of them had the rings even with different powers, their baseline could be said to be simr.


    The only reason Lin Mu came out on top was that he had actually diversified his skills and learned a lot more than just relying on the ring''s skill. Right now, even without using the ring''s spatial skills, Lin Mu still had the boulder copsing fist, his sword intent, his weapons, and just the raw strength of his body itself.


    Not to mention the Dao Skills he had also developed himself.


    All of these were powers that belonged to Lin Mu himself and even if the ring was gone, he would still have them.


    The main difference between him and the eleventh prince was that Lin Mu simply had a long time to develop after obtaining the ring.


    ''If I had not gotten the ring then, or perhaps the prince had it for a longer time too, maybe the oue of the battle might have been different.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    This led Lin Mu to realize that if he were to keep this advantage in the future too, he would have to not be able to ck off.


    ''The ring hasn''t informed me of any other parts of it yet, but it definitely will in the future. And what if it is found by someone right away and it takes me a long time to reach? That person will have a long time to develop as well.'' Lin Mu pondered to himself.


    The current facts that he knew was that there were other parts of the ring and they had not been found yet.


    Even if someone did, as long as Lin Mu kept on growing he would be able to match up against them. Especially now that he had two rings with him.


    ''They only way they would be able to overwhelm me would be if their cultivation base was simply too high. After all, there is no guarantee the next ring will be in an Immortal world too¡­ what if it''s found by a celestial?'' Lin Mu understood the starting like for the other people might turn out to be a lot higher than him.


    ~huu~


    Letting out a breath, Lin Mu shook his head.


    "I just have to keep on growing and improving. As long as I do that, I''ll definitely have ways to ovee all thates my way." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Xukong heard his words and felt satisfied by Lin Mu''s resolve.


    Done with this, Lin Mu went through the other documents, finding a lot of interesting information.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "These are¡­ letters?" Lin Mu found a bunch of letters that had been exchanged between the eleventh prince and the people of the Holy Topaz Dynasty''s royal family.


    All of it was sensitive information and the official stamps of many people could be seen on it, showing that these were all important.


    "There''s at least three hundred of these letters, the prince kept all of them huh¡­" Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    He started reading them and learned many things about the Eleventh prince himself as well as the people that were involved with him and the royal family of the Holy Topaz Dynasty.


    In most of the letters though, the tone was rather harsh or insulting towards the Eleventh Prince.


    It either chided him, or called him unless for being unable to be an immortal despite having so many resources. Some called him cursed for having mutated meridians. No one in the Holy Topaz Dynasty''s royal family had them and he was the first.


    If it weren''t for the fact that the Holy Topaz Emperor would have their heads, the people would have already said that the Eleventh Prince did not belong to the Royal family and was borne from someone else.


    There was nock of people bullying him either, as his siblings and many other nobles did the same.


    Despite the support of his mother, the eleventh prince could not do much. After all, his own blood siblings that were born from the same mother werepletely fine. He was the only one with the Mutated Meridians.


    As Lin Mu kept on reading, he realized that the letters only got harsher. Especially when it was found that the Eleventh Prince had umted Pill Toxins in his body.


    He had asked his mother as well as many others to grant him a Detoxifying pill, but it was to no avail. To them, the eleventh prince was not worth helping, especially since he had mutated meridians.


    Even if he had taken the Detoxifying Pills, it was not assured that they might actually work on him normally.


    His mother might have been able to grant him a single Detoxifying pill somehow, but the Eleventh Prince was bound to need more of them. Which was certainly not an option.


    Thus he was stuck in a cycle of mediocrity.


    Thissted for hundreds of years, and there were a number of people looking down on him only increased. It became the same case formoners too, as they too found out about their eleventh prince that might not be better than some random beggar of the streets in talent.


    "These letters¡­ they were only saved by the prince since they were all talking bad about him." Lin Mu realized why the prince had kept these letters.


    They were a remainder.


    "Looks like you did not have an easy life either, Huangyu Shiyi¡­" Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 1571 Reflection

    Lin Mu read through all the letters, getting a better understanding of the man he had killed earlier.


    From what he had seen before, Huangyu Shiyi, the Eleventh Prince of the Holy Topaz Dynasty, seemed to be overbearing. He was oppressive and killed without mercy.


    But now that Lin Mu had read the letters and seen what he had gone through, he could somewhat understand his change.


    ''Having bullied and oppressed all life, ridiculed and further suppressed because of his body, he was bound to turn out like this. The ring gave him the power to suddenly rise and that resulted in him taking on a different personality.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And since Huangyu Shiyi was in a rather eye catching position due to being a prince, the pressure on his was even greater.


    After all, he also needed to watch out forpetition from his siblings. Elimination of heirs was normal in a royal family, and Huangyu Shiyi was the peak example of a weak heir. It would not be unusual for him to be killed or crippled by his siblings eventually.


    It was a great weight on his back that had pushed him to his limits.


    ~huu~


    "Having gone through all that, you obtained power but still died¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu was the one who had killed the prince and yet he was now the one to feel pity for him.


    "But it felt nice, right?" Lin Mu heard.


    "Huh? What senior?" Lin Mu turned to Xukong.


    "What? I didn''t say anything." Xukong replied.


    "I thought I heard¡­" Lin Mu was about to say when he heard the voice again.


    "Didn''t it feel nice to kill the prince?"


    "Who?" Lin Mu looked around, unable to tell where the voice wasing from.


    "What''s happening?" Xukong was concerned to now.


    "I can hear someone¡­" Lin Mu replied before hearing the voice again.


    "You killed the prince who had suffered and obtained his fortunate encounter. Isn''t this great?" the voice asked.


    "It''s not like¡ª" Before Lin Mu could reply though, the voice interrupted him.


    "Oh, but it is! You felt a great desire¡­ felt that the fortunate encounter was stolen from you¡­ You killed the prince because you wanted his fortunate encounter." The voice stated.


    "That was the ring! It gave me the desire." Lin Mu replied.


    "Lin Mu, who are you talking to?" Xukong couldn''t figure out.


    But Lin Mu didn''t respond to Xukong. He was far too agitated by the voice.


    "Oh? The ring gave you the desire? Then couldn''t you have not acted on it?" The voice replied. "You were suppressing the desire all this time, weren''t you? But then you saw the prince¡­ you saw his power¡­ and you wanted it."


    "NO! It was the ring''s will." Lin Mu denied.


    "Oh, please. You know how much of that is true." The voice ridiculed. "You wanted it. Didn''t you enjoy seeing the loot you got from the prince? And now you even have two more Immortal Stone mines you can take. Isn''t that great? Haha!" it mocked.


    "NO! That is not true! You don''t know me, so how can you say that!" Lin Mu shouted back.


    "Ahahaha!" but in response, the voice simplyughed.


    "That¡­" Xukong became alert this time. "I heard that too¡­" he spoke.


    "You said, I don''t know you?" The voice spoke out loud, audible to both Xukong and Lin Mu.


    "Yeah! You don''t know me. All that you''ve said is false!" Lin Mu answered.


    Xukong who heard the two sentences, were now concerned.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ''Who can be here?'' Xukong was quite worried, as he knew getting into the ring was not possible for anyone else. ''That only means it''s been here since the start.'' He thought.


    While Xukong thought about the voice though, it continued to speak.


    "Oh, but Lin Mu¡­ I am you." The voice stated.


    "What¡­" Lin Mu was taken aback.


    ~shua~


    A momentter, it was as if a mirror appeared in front of Lin Mu.


    The mirror reflected Lin Mu, but his appearance seemed to be different.


    A nefarious smile adorned his face, while his brows rose in contempt. His eyes gleamed with a ck and purple light, while an ufortable aura wrapped around him.


    Xukong who saw it as well, was stunned. "This¡­"


    Lin Mu was too shocked to see himself too.


    "Who are you¡­?" Lin Mu questioned in doubt.


    "Like I said¡­ I''m you." The reflection spoke. "Thus, I know exactly how you feel¡­ how you REALLY feel." It said with a wide grin.


    "That''s not¡ª" Lin Mu tried to deny again, but was stopped.


    "Sshhh! It''s fine if you want to deny it now, but the truth will not change." The reflection spoke. "Besides, I am here to help you¡­ show you the true path¡­ Leave your hypocrisy and listen to me." It revealed.


    "Lin Mu, get back." Xukong said sternly.


    Xukong moved towards the Mirror facing it directly. But surprisingly, no reflection of his body appeared in it.


    "It is useless, Senior Xukong. What is true cannot be changed¡­" The reflection spoke. "Not even you can defy this, AHAHAHA!" The reflection burst out intoughter.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, a soul chilling aura filled the area.


    Lin Mu looked towards the source of the aura and saw that it wasing from none other than the Ethereal Altar!


    ~HONG~


    The Altar lit up as a beam of purple light shot out straight from it. The light reached high up into the ring''s space and spread all around the area. And as the light spread, the aura spread too.


    It only got denser and started to change.


    At first it felt cold and ufortable, but it grew more malevolent as it spread. And in just a few seconds, it had reached a new level.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It now felt¡­ Evil.


    "Jiejiejiejiejiejie~"


    "Jiejiejiejiejiejie~"


    "Jiejiejiejiejiejie~"


    A mix ofughter sounded and merged with theughing reflection.


    "What is this?!" Lin Mu questioned.


    "This is¡­ Devil Path¡­ The Aura of the Devil Path!" Xukong eximed.

 Chapter 1572 The Murdering Heart Sutra

    The Devilish Aura spread inside the ring, covering everything that was within it.


    The Ethereal Altar was the only thing that could be seen within it clearly. Lin Mu and Xukong were barely able to see each other too despite being close by, which showed just how dense the aura was.


    "Aura of the Devil Path? What!?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    ~SHUA~


    And while they wereing to terms with the situation, the Ethereal Altar continued to release more of the Devilish Aura.


    "It shouldn''t be¡­ If the Devil Path appears¡­" Xukong muttered in disbelief.


    ~HONG~


    At this moment, Lin Mu felt a wave of energy covering his body.


    Streams of information started to pour into his head, as strange and esoteric chants filled his mind.


    Lin Mu''s vision turned ck and he soon felt like he had arrived in an entirely new ce.


    He was in a barrennd that seemed to be charred ck. There was death and destion spread everywhere, while mes burned in the distance. Tall peaks that stabbed the sky could be seen, while a colossal skeleton of a beast hung in the sky.


    The skeleton must have been over a thousand kilometer long, as sky could not be seen behind it.


    ~Jiejiejiejiejie~


    ~Jiejiejiejiejie~


    ~Jiejiejiejiejie~


    ~Jiejiejiejiejie~All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu heard the eerieughter again, that was now mixed with the strange chants.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    A few secondster, masses of dark energies gathered and hundreds of silhouettes appeared around Lin Mu. They were of different sizes, some being the size of a normal human, while some as tall as mountains!


    They had sharp fangs in their mouth, while their bodies overflowed with evil aura.


    Some of them had a single horn, some had two horns while some had multiple horns on their heads.


    ~Jiejiejiejiejie~


    ~Jiejiejiejiejie~


    ~Jiejiejiejiejie~


    The figures continued tough, as their numbers increased.


    Lin Mu looked around but could not speak. He found his body to be frozen, with the devilish aura overpowering it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But soon, the Devilish aura didn''t just cover his body, but it started to enter it!


    As soon as that happened, Lin Mu felt an incredible chill cover his body. His thoughts were in a disarray, but strangely he didn''t feel panicked. Instead, his thoughts started to flow in a different route.


    Nefarious, cruel and malevolent thoughts filled his mind while his expression turned colder.


    It was now that Lin Mu heard the devilish figures speak. They no longerughed, but actually spoke.


    "Reap the souls of all creations, take their providence as yours and bring forth Hell upon the Myriad Heavens! ¡ª Behold The Murdering Heart Sutra!"


    The chants imprinted themselves onto Lin Mu''s mind, and the power of the new sutra flowed through his body.


    "Ahahahah¡­" A lowughter escaped Lin Mu''s lips before the scene faded away like an illusion.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He opened his eyes back in the ring''s space, his demeanor having changed.


    But along with it, the devilish aura filling the space was gone too and even the Ethereal Altar had calmed down.


    It was as if nothing had happened and only Xukong was the witness to it all.


    "What was¡­" Lin Mu''s expression suddenly changed as he felt an ache in his head.


    The cold demeanor returned to his normal one, and an expression of confusion appeared on his face.


    "Wait¡­ the next sutra¡­" Lin Mu felt the new information in his mind.


    "Lin Mu, are you fine?" Xukong asked with great concern.


    "Y-yes¡­ at least it seems like it?" Lin Mu looked at his body, finding no damage to it.


    He then looked around and saw that everything was back to normal.


    "Where did that mirror and reflection go?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Devilish aura and the mirror were both absorbed into your body." Xukong answered much to Lin Mu''s surprised.


    "They were?" Lin Mu couldn''t believe it.


    "Yes¡­ shortly after the aura spread you entered a trance." Xukong replied.


    "How long was I like that?" Lin Mu asked, unable to tell.


    "Not long¡­ just a couple minutes." Xukong replied. "But in that time the Devilish Aura was being absorbed into your body. The mirror wasst to go." He exined.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was at a loss.


    He had obtained the next part of the Nine Divine Heart Sutras but didn''t really feel good about it.


    Xukong could see his conflicted expression and asked, "what did you obtain?"


    ? "I got the fifth sutra from the Nine Divine Heart Sutras." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing this, Xukong could already guess some things.


    ''The Aura of the Devil path appeared this time¡­ the sutra is really going to belong to it?'' Xukong was conflicted too. "What is it?" he still questioned.


    "It is¡­ the Murdering Heart Sutra." Lin Mu revealed.


    ~Sigh~


    Xukong let out a loud sigh upon hearing this. His worst guess had been confirmed.


    "I had wished it would not be like this, but since it has been given there''s no use¡­" Xukong muttered. "The fifth sutra belongs to the Devil Path." He spoke.


    "The Devil Path¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "How''s it different than the Demonic Path?" he asked.


    "The Demonic Path belongs to the demons, who are merely violent, it isn''t necessarily malevolent. But the Devil Path¡­ that''s inherently evil. The Devils are creatures born from evil. Their entire existence is meant to create havoc and erase life." Xukong exined.


    ~gulp~


    Hearing this, Lin Mu couldn''t help but swallow his saliva.


    "But now I have a power belonging to it¡­" Lin Mu spoke. "Why would it give me this? And what was that reflection?" he had many questions.


    "I don''t know why there is a sutra like this, but the reflection you saw was a Heart Devil." Xukong answered. "They are also born from a cultivator, but unlike Heart Demons, they are a lot more terrifying. Heart demons are formed from regret and obsessions, but Heart Devils are born from negativity of the cultivators."


    "This¡­" Hearing this, Lin Mu was astounded.


    He now understood the reflection''s words. It was speaking the truth¡­ since it was born from himself!

 Chapter 1573 Resolving A Mental Conflict

    The revtion about the reflection was unnerving to Lin Mu.


    He had never thought that something like that was hidden within him. Not just that, but the fact that it had been nurtured by his actions too.


    "Is there¡­ a way to get rid of a Heart Devil Senior?" Lin Mu questioned after a while.


    "Unfortunately, no." Xukong shook his head. "Everyone cultivator who has lived long enough will go through many battles and would have killed thousands if not millions. All this would eventually lead them to give birth to a Heart Devil." He exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu furrowed his brows, as the birth of a Heart Devil seemed more like a inevitable fact.


    "I had expected you to give birth to a Heart Devil too¡­ just not this early." Xukong stated. "I''m afraid the ring and the altar might have been behind its early appearance. It has catalyzed its birth and given it a full form." He added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu felt a bit relieved at that, but the fact that the altar was behind its birth still unnerved him.


    This led him to think more about the ring and the Nine Divine Heat Sutras.


    ''Each sutra had a requirement that I needed to fulfill for it to be given to me. The Calming Heart Sutra had the lowest requirement, basically needing me to start cultivating. The Severing Heart Sutra needed me to take up the sword and improve my mentality.


    The burning Heart Sutra needed me to experience intense rage, while the Nurturing Heart Sutra needed for me to care for beasts.


    Then¡­ the Murdering Heart Sutra''s requirement was to kill people with selfish needs in mind thereby leading to the birth of a Heart Devil?'' Lin Mu pondered on it deeply.


    He stayed like this for a half an hour, during which Xukong did not disturb him. He could see that Lin Mu was trying to resolve the conflict in his mind, and it was important for him toe to terms on his own.


    ~huu~


    Eventually Lin Mu let out a breath and his expression returned to being calm.


    But he had not used the Calming Heart Sutra for it, he had done so on his own.


    "Are you okay now?" Xukong questioned.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    "Yes¡­ I understand it now." Lin Mu replied. "What I''ve been given is merely a tool. It is up to me how I use it. Even if I have a heart Devil and the Sutra uses the power of devils, as I don''t use it tomit outright atrocities, it should be fine, right?" he exined.


    "Indeed." Xukong agreed. "That is also how many cultivators with Heart Devils resolve it. They will either do righteous acts that will neutralize the heart devil after a while, would enter seclusion for a long time and do nothing, letting the Heart Devil starve away, or even go to a Buddhist temple and repent for a few thousand years." He borated.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was a bit surprised. "Doesn''t this mean that I can use the Calming Heart Sutra to suppress the effects of the Murdering heart Sutra?" he questioned.


    Lin Mu had already had the workings of the Murdering heart sutra in his mind and knew that it was overbearing, like the Burning Heart Sutra.


    In order to stop the effects of the Burning Heart Sutra, Lin Mu had to use the Calming Heart Sutra and dispel the rage in his heart. He wondered if the same would apply to the Murdering heart sutra.


    "I don''t think so." But much to Lin Mu''s surprise, Xukong denied it. "You can of course, try it, but I don''t think it will work."


    "Why so senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The Calming Heart Sutra is of the Buddhist path, which is a slow one. Its effect can work on something like anger, which can be soothed with gentleness. But the same would not apply for the Murdering Heart Sutra, which is of the Devil Path.


    The Devil path is a lot more stubborn and fierce than the Demonic Path and it won''t be suppressed by the Calming Heart sutra right away. The cultivators who repent in Buddhist temples do so for a long time and wear down the Heart Devil slowly.


    You won''t have the same luxury using the Murdering Heart Sutra. To resolve it, you need something fast and equally fierce." Xukong exined in detail, hoping that Lin Mu would get the answer.


    "Of course! The Sword Path!" Lin Mu didn''t disappoint Xukong and grasped it immediately. "The Severing Heart Sutra should be able to counteract the effects of the Murdering Heart Sutra." He stated.


    "It should yes. The Sword Path does have a lot of righteous cultivators, and it traditionally belongs to the orthodox path. It pursues different routes, but they all lead to the ability to sever everything." Xukong spoke.


    "Yes, the Severing Heart Sutra should cut off the effects of the Murdering Heart Sutra." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    If the Calming Heart Sutra acting on the Burning Heart Sutra was like using water to put out a burning cloth, Severing Heart Sutra acting on the Murdering Heart Sutra was like cutting off a part of the cloth, stopping the rest from burning.


    The actions taken were different, but led to the same effect ultimately.


    Of course, all this was just a hypothesis and Lin Mu would still need to test it out himself.


    "We should probably leave the Ring''s space now. We''ve been here a while¡­" Lin Mu was actually surprised by how long he was allowed to stay here this time. "I actually feel no repulsion from the ring¡­" he muttered.


    "You should be able toe into the ring a lot more freely now. Your cultivation base has risen high enough for that." Xukong replied.


    "I see¡­ that''s good to know." Lin Mu said before taking a look around the ring. "I''ll sort the remaining items back in the Sleepscape." He said before willing the ring to remove him.

 Chapter 1574 Returning To The Base

    Lin Mu reappeared in therge hole that had been made by him and his weight.


    The ttened corpse of the Eleventh Prince Huangyu Shiyi, was still lying there with blood pooled around it now.


    "I should get rid of it." Lin Mu muttered and waved his hand.


    ~SHUA~


    A fire ball fell onto the corpse and started to burn it. The aspect of heaviness had already damaged the formations on the robes and thus they were useless. Besides, Lin Mu didn''t want to take anything from the prince''s corpse since there was a chance someone might recognize it.


    Besides, he already had all that the prince had kept in his spatial storage. So it wasn''t like he was really missing out on much. The biggest treasure of them all, the second part of the ring was obtained by him now, so nothing else mattered.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu watched the corpse burn quickly and made sure there were no tricks left.


    "I didn''t expect the Holy Topaz Dynasty to not put any tracking methods on the prince. Even if he was considered a failed heir in the past, his current rise should have made him eligible to have it right?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    "Would you ept the same if you were in his position?" Xukong questioned instead.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps not. If someone treated me like that and changed their attitudeter, I wouldn''t ept something that could reveal my position, either." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Might be the same for the prince. Besides, with the secrets he had, he probably didn''t wish for anyone to see them either." Xukong stated.


    "Hopefully it is like that. It''ll be the best if no one finds out the Eleventh Prince died here for a long time." Lin Mu said before jumping out of the hole.


    ~THUD~


    ~CRUMBLE~


    He stomped on the ground and made it copse once more, letting the hole fill up naturally. This way, the area wouldn''t stick out as much.


    "Time to return¡­" Lin Mu took onest look at the ce before flying away.


    Lin Mu paused at the site of the site of the battle though where the corpses of the other immortals were still there. Most of them were iplete though, some having been sted apart by the Prince''s skill, while other damaged in the crossfire.


    Lin Mu gathered their spatial storage treasure as well before finally leaving the area entirely.


    "Come out Little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke through his link.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, Little Shrubby appeared out of the Sleepscape. The first thing he did upon appearing though, was to look at Lin Mu deeply.


    "You seem different." Little Shrubby said. "Did something happen?" he asked.


    "Yes¡­ I''ll exin on the way." Lin Mu nodded his head. "For now, let''s head back to the base."


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby replied before Lin Mu got onto his back.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The master and beast traveled back to the base while Lin Mu narrated what happened before. Since Little Shrubby had been in the Sleepscape, he had no idea of all that had happened. It also gave Lin Mu more information about the Sleepscape.


    ''So even if something changes on me, it does not reflect in the Sleepscape and the beings inside it cannot sense it either.'' Lin Mu noted.


    It was an important fact, and would certainly help in making some decisions.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu narrated his experience to Little Shrubby and told him about a possibly dangerous power he had obtained.


    "It''s not dangerous if you can control it, right?" Little Shrubby spoke after hearing everything.


    "I guess. But there''s no saying if I''ll lose control." Lin Mu replied.


    "You don''t have to worry about that. I''ll be there if that happens." Little Shrubby said in a calming tone.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel a bit soft. His heart felt lighter, and he remembered that he hadpanions who could back him up if he lost his way.


    The rest of the journey passed in silence, and Lin Mu rested his eyes. Unknowingly he fell asleep, and by the time he woke up, they were already at the base.


    "We''re here, master." Little Shrubby informed.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu shook awake and saw that they were at the hillside. "So we are¡­" he said before getting down.


    ~THUD~


    He moved therge boulder hiding the entrance and walked in. The arrays were made to recognize Little Shrubby as well. Thus he had walked past the barrier directly. For anyone else, they would not even see the hill there and if they walked in that direction, they would find themselves in another location.


    This helped them avoid anyone from intruding on the base.


    Lin Mu closed up the entrance after entering and went down to therge cave area.


    "Can you heat some water? I want to take a bath." Lin Mu requested Little Shrubby.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby said before extending his ws.


    ~SHING~


    The ws directly pierced two rock pirs that were dipped into the underground pond.


    ~HISS~


    Little Shrubby''s ws lit up in a red light, as immense heat traveled into the water through the pirs.


    ~bubble~bubble~bubble~


    A few secondster, the pond started to heat up before reaching the boiling point. Steam rose from it, filling the area and warming it up.


    ~RIP~


    Lin Mu tore off his already damaged robes and jumped into the boiling pond.


    "Haaa~ that''s good." Lin Mu let the boiling hot water soothe his body.


    He stayed in the pond for an hour while pondering on his next set of actions.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''I need to get to the Immortal Stone mines, but I also need to test the Murdering Heart Sutra. It''s important that I know its effects as soon as possible to avoid any issuester on.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    At the very least, he knew that the Immortal Stone mines weren''t gonna run away, so there was no reason to rush to them.


    Making haste might just make things spoil.

 Chapter 1575 Chanting The Murdering Heart Sutra

    Lin Mu felt a lot better after the bath and got out of the pond.


    Changing into a new set of ck robes, Lin Mu decided to head out. He needed to test out the new Sutra after all.


    ~THUD~


    Removing the boulder from the entrance, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby walked out.


    "Well then, let''s get started." Lin Mu said while letting Little Shrubby stay back.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    He didn''t know how exactly the Murdering Heart Sutra might affect others, thus it was better for Little Shrubby to be a bit far from him. Once he ensured that everything was fine, he took a deep breath and started chanting the new sutra.


    Strange and eerie words belonging to an unknown tongue left Lin Mu''s lips as an unsettling feeling filled the area. The words were iprehensible and yet all those that heard it would find a chill going through their body.


    The same was for Little Shrubby, whose fur stood on its ends.


    His vertical pupils narrowed into needles as he got alert. The beast could certainly sense the danger emanating from Lin Mu, though he didn''t exactly know what it was. Little Shrubby had never felt something like this from Lin Mu, not even when he had used the Burning Heart Sutra.


    Rather, when Lin Mu used Burning Heart Sutra and transformed, Little Shrubby found him closer to a beast rather than some demon. But now that he was chanting the Murdering Heart Sutra, it was simply unnerving.


    It was as if a de was hanging above one''s head, ready to fall at any time. It would make one unable to calm down and stretch their nerves taut. Those with a weaker will might even find themselves shivering simply from hearing it.


    And the longer Lin Mu chanted it, the worse the feeling got.


    But that was not all, as a new aura rose from his body.


    It was a mix of dark purple and ck, looking like a thick vapor. The aura enveloped the back of Lin Mu and rose up like a wall.


    At first, it seemed like there was no change to Lin Mu''s body itself, but when he opened his eyes they were different. Instead of his usual ck eyes, there was now a purple outline to them while a translucent gleam spread from the corner of the eyes.


    All those that looked into his eyes would shudder, as they contained a power that was simply terrifying. It felt like one was staring into the eyes of a monster from hell itself!


    "So this is the Murdering Heart Sutra?" Lin Mu muttered to himself, stopping the chant.


    Just like Xukong had said before, the effect of the sutra would not be gone, even if he stopped the chant. They would have to be culled using another sutra. But before doing that, Lin Mu checked the status of his body.


    While it didn''t seem like there were many changes on the surface, there were more of them on the inside.


    ''My Immortal Qi is certainly being consumed at a rapid rate¡­'' Lin Mu noted the first effect.


    The thing was that Lin Mu couldn''t tell for what the Immortal Qi was being used for. It didn''t feel like his strength was being enhanced either, as he felt the same.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    Lin Mu threw out a few punches to test too, but didn''t find any difference.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Hmm¡­ didn''t work." Lin Mu said before taking out Afternoon Pine and shing out with it.


    This time he didn''t forget to infuse some immortal Qi into it too.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    But even after doing this, there was no change. The sword lights were normal and the shes left marks on the ground that were a few meters long.


    ''If it''s not this then, what is it?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He looked around and extended his senses, wanting to know more. And when he did this, Lin Mu finally sensed something new.


    "Huh? Someone''s here?" Lin Mu found a presence near him that wasn''t Little Shrubby.


    But just as he was about to look for it, he sensed another presence.


    "One more? And another one¡­ a third one, a fourth, and a fifth!" One by one, Lin Mu started to feel multiple presences appearing around the area.


    Some were as near as a hundred meters from him, while the farthest one he had sensed was three kilometers away from him.


    "I need to see them myself!" Lin Mu rushed towards the nearest presence and reached it in just a few seconds.


    In front of Lin Mu floated a strange silhouette. It looked to be translucent, almost bordering on invisible, and if not for Lin Mu focusing on it, he might have missed it.


    "What is this¡­" Lin Mu was confused upon seeing it. "Wait¡­ it''s not a soul, is it?" he recognized.


    "More urately, it''s the remnant of a soul." Xukong corrected.


    "A remnant of a soul?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    Looking at the form of the soul, it was hard to tell what it originally belonged to. It had be quite deformed and mostly looked like a irregrly shaped blob that was floating around.


    It was normal since it was just the remnant of a soul and not aplete soul. Most of the remnant souls were unable to maintain their forms and would turn into blobs like these.


    Of course, one question still stood.


    "Why can I see them, though? This certainly isn''t a Nascent soul, so they should not be visible." Lin Mu wondered.


    He knew very well, that there were two different souls that a cultivator would have. The first was the Nascent soul that would be artificially formed, and the second was the True Soul that every creature was naturally born with.


    True Soul was something that even immortals could not sense normally. They would need special tools to do so, and even then, it was a very difficult matter. And even if they did manage to sense them, they actually couldn''t do anything to a True Soul.


    It was simply beyond their powers as True souls were protected by thews of life itself!

 Chapter 1576 Swallowing Souls

    Seeing the Remnant soul in front of him, Lin Mu had several questions appearing in his mind.


    ? The remnant was basically what was left off from a True soul that had already passed off into the afterlife. A Remnant soul wasn''t aplete existence and didn''t really have anything significant within it either.


    At most, it might have a few random thoughts that were left behind after the death of the creature that it belonged to.


    It didn''t have any energy either, as it wasn''t a remnant soul that was formed from a Nascent soul.


    Even among Remnant souls, there were two types. Those that were formed from a Nascent soul and those that were formed from a True Soul.


    Usually those formed from a Nascent soul were more substantial and had some Qi left in it. The more ''fresh'' they were, the more information and energy they would contain. Of course, even if they were fresh, they were merely the leftover parts of a Nascent soul that had deteriorated over time or had been destroyed.


    Even if someone came in contact with a Remnant soul that was formed from a Nascent soul, they wouldn''t feel much. Only in rare cases would a remnant soul be able to taint a cultivator and be a parasite on their body.


    But even the remnant souls made from Nascent souls would weaken over time and their Qi would be lost. At that point, they would only have the remnants of a True soul left behind in them and their form would be even more distorted.


    At this point, they wouldn''t even be able to affect anything.


    They would exist unknown to most before eventually dissipating with the passage of time.


    Lin Mu felt curious as to how, or even why, was he able to see the remnant souls now?


    "Can it also allow me to touch it?" Lin Mu wondered and extended his hand.


    His finger lightly touched the remnant soul, passing through it just like it was air.


    ~SHUA~


    But then a momentter, the dark purple aura behind him moved and swooped on the remnant soul.


    "What?" Lin Mu barely blinked and the Remnant soul had been swallowed up by the aura.


    Narrowing his eyes, Lin Mu gazed at the aura surrounding him, finding no change in it.


    Confused about this, he moved onto the next presence he had felt. A minuteter, Lin Mu reached the location and found it to be a remnant soul as well. It was in a simr condition to the one before and was close to dissipating.


    Lin Mu touched it took and saw his aura swallowing it up.


    Once again, he observed his aura, but found no change in it.


    "There''s definitely something happening." Lin Mu said to himself.


    Lin Mu went to each presence that he had detected and found all of them to be remnant souls. He touched all of them, letting his aura swallow them. In less than five minutes, he had ended up finding over fifteen remnant souls, and all of them had been swallowed by his aura.


    "There''s finally a change¡­" Lin Mu muttered, sensing a little growth.


    The size of his aura had grown by a tiny fraction.


    ''So the new sutra allows me to see remnant souls and absorb them into my aura? That does not seem enough though,'' Lin Mu reckoned.<novelnext></novelnext>


    His guess was that it wasn''t just remnant souls that he could see. He should be able to see fresh souls too.


    "I need to test it myself." Lin Mu spread his senses and tried to search for a beast nearby.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He had to roam around for a couple minutes before he finally found a beast that looked like a red gerbil.


    ~SQUEAK~


    Lin Mu pulled out the rodent that was over a meter in size from the ground. The rodent struggled in his hand and tried to scratch him, but Lin Mu''s body was too tough for it.


    The beast might be helplessly struggling in Lin Mu''s hand, but it wasn''t weak at all. It was actually at the Dao Treading realm!


    "Only one way to test this¡­" Lin Mu stabbed the gerbil''s head with Afternoon Pine, ending its life.


    He made sure to not damage the Nascent soul though, and let ite out of the body normally.


    ~SHUA~


    A few secondster, a glowing wisp of light rose out of the beast''s corpse. It hovered over the corpse for a few seconds as it condensed its form that looked like its original body.


    "Nascent souls can be seen by other cultivators too, though. What I need is the True Soul¡­" Lin Mu said and pointed at the Nascent soul, letting a wisp of Metal Immortal Qi shoot out.


    ~RING~


    The Metal Immortal Qi shot forward like a needle and poked into the Nascent soul, causing it to break apart. Lin Mu had ensured that not too much power was exerted as he didn''t want to totally destroy the Nascent soul either.


    He merely wanted to destroy the ''shell'' that the Nascent soul actually was.


    And once this shell was broken, the True Soul was hidden inside it appeared.


    "I can really see it¡­" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    The True Soul of the Gerbil wascking energy, but he could still sense a ''consciousness'' within it.


    Wanting to test further, Lin Mu extended his hand, touching the True Soul of the Gerbil.


    ~SHUA~


    In the very next second, his dark purple Aura swallowed the True Soul, showing a rapid change. It actually grew visibly this time!


    If before it was about two meters tall, it had now added another centimeter of height to it!


    "It''s actually growing like this¡­" Lin Mu said in understanding.


    A few more thoughts appeared in his mind, and he flew away in search of more beasts.


    Fifteen minutester, Lin Mu had killed six more beasts and absorbed their souls using the aura. This time he learned a few more things, such as the fact that if he absorbed a Nascent soul to, he would gain a part of Qi back!

 Chapter 1577 Human Targets

    Lin Mu pondered over the gain of Qi from the Nascent souls, not finding them to be much.


    "Even if I do gain some from it, it isn''t that useful. I can gain a lot more Qi simply by manually cultivating." Lin Mu muttered to himself, thinking that there was certainly a lot more to the technique.


    And as he thought about this, the mnemonic of the Murdering Heart Sutra rang within his ears again.


    ''Taking providence¡­'' Lin Mu finally understood what he had missed. "So I need something lot more than just a beast soul¡­" he muttered.


    With the idea in his mind, Lin Mu felt impatient. But before acting on it, he still decided to check the deactivation of the Murdering Heart Sutra.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, he started to chant the Severing Heart Sutra.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    And as he chanted, the dark purple aura around him started to shrink. A few secondster it had shrunk back into his body and a minuteter, it was entirely gone.


    "Just like we guessed." Lin Mu said before checking his body.


    There were no changes in his body other than the decrease in the immortal Qi. The Qi he had gained from absorbing the souls of the beasts was not enough topensate for the Qi that was consumed upon using the Murdering Heart Sutra.


    "Let''s look for someone that is not so righteous¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself. "Little Shrubby, search for humans." He asked.


    "Alright." Little Shrubby said before Lin Mu climbed onto his back.


    ~sniff~


    The beast tried to look for scents while running around and soon found a few after ten minutes.


    "I found some." Little Shrubby replied.


    "How many?" Lin Mu asked.


    "At least three¡­ though there are a few more scents mixed in. Blood too." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Blood huh¡­ go to them." Lin Mu ordered.


    Guessing that they might just be the kind of humans he wanted, Lin Mu decided to try his luck.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The beast turned into a red blur and started to run towards the location of the humans. Following the scent, it only took them another ten minutes to get close to the humans.


    "Alright, that''s enough. I''ll go on my own from here." Lin Mu replied.


    "Will that be fine?" Little Shrubby asked in concern.


    "I''ll be fine, if they see you too they might run away." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay¡­" Little Shrubby nodded his head and agreed to wait.


    Although it was unlikely that Lin Mu might need Little Shrubby''s help, having someone watch for any anomalies was still good. Especially when he was testing out a technique that he was not wholly sure about.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Leaving Little Shrubby behind, Lin Mu started to walk in the direction of the humans. His immortal sense was extended, and he soon found the potential targets.


    ''They''re covered with blood¡­ but it''s not theirs.'' Lin Mu noticed.


    It looked like they had juste out from a fight recently, but weren''t actually injured.


    "Little Shrubby did say that it was all human blood." Lin Mu muttered and got closer.


    About a kilometer from him, three men were currently walking.


    All of them wore a simr kind of armor that looked to be made from beast hide. It looked rather crude on the surface, but in reality it was actually made from Immortal beast hide!


    Even if it looked cheap, it was actually quite tough.


    Each of the men also had rugged faces with scars showing that they were men of action and were not unfamiliar withbat. Their bodies had blood sttered on them and a scowl was on their faces.


    "Bah! I can''t wait to get out of here. Can''t believe we''ve run out of water to wash up." The first manined. "And none of us knows any Water Qi skills either."


    "You really should have brought more water. This is the third time it''s happened." The second man said and shook his head. "Last time too we ended up getting drenched in blood with no water to wash up. We had to spend a month caked in dried blood for heaven''s sake." He voiced out his frustration.


    "Brothers! Brothers! This is just a temporary difort. With the courtesy of a few dead immortals, we will now be able to rx for at least six months at the Snow Jade Pavilion. Just think of the beauties we can enjoy." The third man tried to cate them. "If you wish for a bath that much, we can just get the beauties of the Snow Jade Pavilion to give us one. I''ve heard they have some nice scrubbing techniques too, haha!"


    "That¡­ does sound nice." The first man nodded with a smile.


    "Haha, we definitely got lucky with thest group of immortals. Who would have thought that they would be carrying so many Immortal Stones?" The second manughed.


    "Do you think they were merchants or something?" the first man asked.


    "Nah, they won''te to the Deste Blood Battlefield. Probably just some young n masters that thought too much about their strength and decided toe to the Deste Blood Battlefield." The third man replied. "Though they certainly struggled a lot¡­ and now we got all this blood to deal with." He added.


    "You don''t think this''ll attract beasts, will it?" The First man asked with some concern.


    "Hah! Even if it does, we''ll be able to take care of it." The second man said out loud.


    The three men had no idea that there was someone watching them. What they needed to worry about wasn''t beasts, but another person.


    "And here I thought I would have to look farther¡­" A voice was heard by the three men.


    "WHO!?" The three men became alert and drew out their weapons.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, the three men heard strange chants that chilled their souls. Shivers went down their spine and a sense of overwhelming danger covered them.


    Finding themselves unable to speak, the three men could only watch as a dark purple aura rose around them.


    ~SHING~


    The glint of a sword was thest thing they saw before their heads rolled.

 Chapter 1578 The True Effects Of The Sutra

    With the three men killed in a single strike, Lin Mu felt strange.


    It was a new feeling that he had not felt before. It was like a mixture of joy, excitement and anger fused with anxiety.


    "No use waiting then," Lin Mu let the Dark purple aura cover the three dead men.


    ~SHUA~


    The corpses were entirely covered with the Dark purple aura, making it look like they were doused in a pool of ink.


    The dark purple aura flickered for a bit as waves spread over it. Then as if gasoline was poured onto a small fire, the aura red up!


    It directly grew to three times its original size and spread in an area of two meters around Lin Mu. But that was not all as power seethed within Lin Mu''s body too.


    "This..." Lin Mu felt the aura directly multiplying his power.


    It was simr in how Immortal Qi could amplify his strength as the dark purple aura was doing the same. As long as it continued to flow in his body, it would strengthen it.


    As for where this strength wasing from?


    It was none other than the souls of the three immortals that had been consumed!All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    But along with this, Lin Mu also felt something else.


    "Wait... what are these memories..." Lin Mu suddenly saw hundreds of fragmented scenes appearing in his mind.


    They were of the three men he had killed, as well as their actions. In some of the scenes, it was as if he was watching things happen from their point of view. It didn''t take long for Lin Mu to figure out these were the memories of the three men he had killed.


    The only thing was that they weren''tplete.


    ''So this is what was meant by taking their providence...'' Lin Mu realized.


    After all, providence wasn''t just in the form of cultivation, but also knowledge!


    In fact, knowledge could be a lot more valuable than a cultivation base, depending on what kind of knowledge it really was. And now Lin Mu could peek into the secrets that someone held, as long as he had killed them and consumed their souls using the Murdering Heart Sutra.


    "But this sutra... It will most certainly bring the worst kind of attention if others find out. This is something that everyone will detest." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    A few doubts rose in his heart, but then a cating feeling from the aura dispelled them.


    "Let''s see how strong this actually is..." Lin Mu withdrew Afternoon Pine, and held it straight.


    ~SHUA~


    The dark purple aura flickered and a part of it flowed into the sword through Lin Mu''s arm.


    ~Humm~


    In the next second, the Immortal sword gleamed in a simr dark purple light.


    ~SLASH~


    Finding it to be ready, Lin Mu shed out with the sword, using its entire strength!<novelnext></novelnext>


    ~TREMBLE~


    The very air shook as the sword sh flew through the sky. Unlike the usual translucent color or the yellow color of the Metal Qi, the sh was dark purple. It left a lingering trail in the air before it transformed into the pine trees.


    The pine trees looked rather ghastly with the dark purple aura overflowing from them.


    Looking at the Qi skill that had transformed, Lin Mu was rather surprised.


    "This is... certainly powerful." Lin Mu could tell that even without using sword intent, the power of his attack was alreadyparable to it.


    ''And this is only after absorbing three souls... how much more can this increase?'' Lin Mu now desired to get more souls.


    A smile appeared on his face, while the purple gleam shone in his eyes. Thisbined with the dark purple aura, gave Lin Mu a sinister appearance. All those that saw him at this time would feel fear unknowingly.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ? But just as Lin Mu decided to act on it, he saw a red blur appearing in front of him.


    "Are you okay?!" Little Shrubby asked with great concern.


    He had sensed the change in Lin Mu and felt danger too. Because of that, he had rushed here quickly.


    "Me..." Lin Mu heard Little Shrubby''s words and snapped out of his state. "Ha... ha... HA..." taking long drawn breaths, Lin Mu gained control of his mind.


    "Dispel the effects of the sutra." Xukong spoke.


    "Yes." Lin Mu quickly chanted the Severing Heart Sutra, letting the Dark purple aura shrink back inti his body.


    A minuteter it was gone, and no traces could be felt, other than those that were left in the air.


    Once Lin Mu was back to normal, he felt rather shaken.


    "Seems like the Murdering Heart Sutraes at a cost to one''s mind." Lin Mu spoke in realization.


    "Indeed. It is of the Devil Path, so this much was expected." Xukong agreed.


    "No wonder it didn''t show any difference when I used the beast souls. It wants human souls for growth." Lin Mu stated. "Though the increase is rather fast... almost as if I gained the entire cultivation base of those three men." But now that he felt his current state, the power was gone.


    "Looks like you can only maintain that power when you have the Murdering Heart Sutra active." Xukong analyzed.


    "I see..." Lin Mu now understood better about the workings of the Murdering Heart Sutra.


    While it brought a lot of power, it was also with several conditions.


    "You also need to be wary about the memories." Xukong warned. "Soul searching is a skill that is frowned upon and can also damage its user, but the effect of the murdering Heart Sutra is a lot stronger.


    We can probably expect it to affect you even more. Especially since it allows you to gain memories from multiple souls." He exined.


    Lin Mu nodded his head in acknowledgment. Now that he had dispelled the sutra, he did feel like his mind was a bit heavy.


    The memories he had gained from the three men were still stirring in his mind.

 Chapter 1579 Getting More Fortune

    Lin Mu could see the things the three men had done.


    There were plenty of people they had killed and it was a regr job for them. That was entirely the reason why they hade to the Deste Blood Battlefield. They were here to kill unsuspecting and inexperienced before taking their fortune.


    It wasn''t anything umon, but these men were professional in this. They had been doing this for nearly a hundred years now and would even pick their targets beforehand. They would start by finding suitable people in the Middle Fort city and then tail them into the Deste Blood battlefield.


    As for whatever happened on the battlefield itself, it was not of concern to others. After all, death wasmon here and thousands of people died or went missing every month. Many times, it wasn''t even known if someone died or if they were just lost.


    The ne was quiterge after all, and contact with others was often limited. It wasn''t unusual for people to not see others for a year or two if they went far enough.


    "They were rtively strong too and experienced¡­" Lin Mu only got another reminder of how important it was to have strong senses.


    The three men could have at least dodged the first attack if they had managed to sense iting in time. But now that they were dead, Lin Mu reckoned he may as well take all that they had.


    He quickly gathered their weapons, armor, and the spatial storage treasures.


    The three men had killed over fifty cultivators in their current visit to the Deste Blood Battlefield and had thus obtained quite a lot of things. All of them now added to Lin Mu''s continually growing fortune.


    ''More fortune taken from their providence¡­ The Murdering Heart Sutra truly makes one want to take everything from others. Not just their material possession but also their souls.'' Lin Mu pondered to himself.


    It was a cycle that wouldn''t end, thus Lin Mu simply decided to cut them short. Putting these thoughts to the back of his mind, Lin Mu decided to return for now.


    "At least now we know how the Murdering Heart Sutra works¡­ I''ll need to use it judiciously." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "Let''s return to the base, Little Shrubby. I wanna eat something." He spoke.


    "Alright! I''ll make something." Little Shrubby was happy to oblige.


    Lin Mu got onto Little Shrubby''s back, and the two quickly returned to the temporary base. Once there, Little Shrubby got to making a meal while Lin Mu sorted through the items he had gotten from the three men.


    The resources were the easiest to sort and were put away quickly, but when it came to the documents and such, Lin Mu took his time.


    The three men actually had tens of cultivation techniques in their storage.


    "Wait¡­ doesn''t this sell for like ten thousand High Grade Immortal stones?" Lin Mu found an immortal cultivation technique that could be considered rather high quality.


    He remembered having seen it in the Grand Sky Pavilion before.


    But that wasn''t all, as he saw several lower quality cultivation techniques too. Then there were the Qi skills that Lin Mu found to be useful.


    "I can learn these, too. Most of them are direct attack skills." Lin Mu noted a few good ones that could be adapted into his fighting styles.


    He put them in his list of tasks to do forter and read through the rest of the things.


    And by the time Little Shrubby was done cooking, Lin Mu was done too.


    "The food is ready!" little Shrubby called out, which he didn''t really need to.


    After all, the aroma of the food was filling the entire cave and Lin Mu had smelled it a long time ago.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Smells good!" Lin Mu gorged on therge meal while Little Shrubby ate as well.


    Once the meal was done, Lin Mu cultivated and restored his expended immortal Qi.


    Only when he felt that his body was in the optimum condition did he stop.


    ~huu~


    Stretching his body, Lin Mu stood up.


    Three days had passed since he had obtained the Murdering Heart Sutra and now he felt like it was time to get to the next task, the Immortal Stone Mines!


    "The first mine isn''t that far, so I should head there." Lin Mu picked out the route and called for Little Shrubby.


    "We''re heading out?" Little Shrubby asked, feeling that they might not be returning to the base for a while.


    "Yes. We''re gonna go to the Immortal Stone mines. Gather them up and then decide what to do next." Lin Mu replied.


    The Beast nodded his head in response, not having any opposition to his master''s words.


    The two of them started their journey towards the first Immortal Stone mine, which was beyond where Lin Mu had fought Huangyu Shiyi.


    The eleventh prince and the other cultivators had ended up in conflict due to the Immortal Stone mine too. Both parties had conspired to kill the other, but the prince was simply too strong for them to do so.


    "It should be somewhere here¡­" Lin Mu now stood above the area where he had fought the prince.


    His immortal sense spread around, looking for the Immortal Stone mine. There was a reason why it had not been found by others so far. It was deep in the ground and was well hidden.


    And due to the characteristics of the Deste Blood Battlefield, its energy fluctuations were further masked by the bloody aura.


    "Oh?" but in all this, what Lin Mu found first was actually a cluster of Baleful Energies.


    ~PING~


    He took out the Blood Vein Compass and saw it pointing to the ground diagonally.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    "Let''s take a look then." Having confirmed that there was probably a Blood Essence crystal here, he struck out with the Afternoon Pine.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The ground shook and was unearthed as a ten meter wide hole was carved into it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And just as he had expected, a spout of Baleful Energies gushed out.

 Chapter 1580 The First Immortal Stone Mine

    Lin Mu was unfazed by the geyser of Baleful energies and stood still.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, time to eat." Lin Mu called them out.


    ~HISS~


    The twin snakes appeared from the Sleepscape and rushed towards the baleful energies. They looked very excited as the gushing Baleful energies were no different than a great meal to them.


    ~SHUA~


    The twins opened their mouths and sucked in the baleful energies.


    The spout changed its direction and bent towards the twins. It split in two, before being swallowed by the twins greedily. To them this was no different from a great tonic, and after their breakthrough to the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm their appetite had only increased more.


    In just a minute, they had sucked away all the baleful energies.


    ~HISS~


    Once that was done, the two snakes spat out clouds of energies that they couldn''t use. This was the opposite to their element and was absorbed by their sibling.


    This way, there was no waste of energy, and everything was used.


    ~SASASA~


    The twins wrapped around Lin Mu''s shoulders, wanting more.


    "We''ll get moreter. Don''t worry," Lin Mu rubbed their heads that had grown a bit.


    ~HISS~


    The twins nodded their heads and watched what Lin Mu was doing. He let them stay there, while he got to work. Lin Mu jumped into the hole and saw the shimmering red crystal at the bottom.


    "Oh? It''s the biggest one we''ve seen so far." Lin Mu said in surprise.


    ~thud~


    Hended at the bottom and saw the watermelon sized Blood Essence Crystal.


    "Guess that''s why there was such a high amount of Baleful Energy trapped here." Lin Mu muttered before pulling out the Blood Essence Crystal.


    He stored it in the ring, before getting to the main part.


    ~SHUA~


    His Immortal Sense spread once more and prated the ground. It went deeper and deeper until it was over two thousand meters deep. It was at this point that he finally detected what he hade for.


    "There it is¡­ The Baleful Energies had masked its presence really well." Lin Mu took note of the effect, wondering if it could be applied elsewhere.


    If there was anyone else that passed by here and sensed the Baleful Energies, they wouldn''t even try to dig for the fear of getting corroded by the energies. Thus there was no chance of someone finding the Immortal Stone Mine that was hidden below.


    But even then, it was quite deep being at over two thousand meters.


    Excavating it would be a difficult task even for immortals, and would take a long time. But for Lin Mu, it was as easy as walking through the air. Lin Mu sent the twin snakes back to the Sleepscape before using a skill.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Phase!


    Lin Mu sank using his spatial skill and only stopped when he couldn''t pass through ayer.


    "It''s Immortal Stones alright¡­ It''s got dense enough Immortal Qi to prevent Phase from working." Lin Mu used this method to confirm his guess.


    Phase didn''t work when there was any kind of dense energy blocking it. It didn''t matter if it was pure energy, in the form of an object, or if it was arrays. Still, it was something that could be bypassed using a method as crude as punching through.


    But Lin Mu had a far more refined method of getting in.


    ~CHING~


    He simply used Meld and cleanly cut away a straight path into the inner area of the mine. At the same time, he stored away therge chunks of Low Grade Immortal Stones he had just cut off with meld.


    "This should be the outermost area¡­ and seeing how it''s almost encapsting the mine, it should be a high grade mine at the very least." Lin Mu assessed from what he had learned before.


    While there were many ways an Immortal Stone mine could form, there were still a few generalizations. One of them being that High Grade immortal Stone mines would grow to the point where the low grade immortal stones would start to rise up and wrap around it.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    Forming an outeryer that looked like a capsule.


    This was one of the typical ways an Immortal Stone mine would grow.


    Seeing this, Lin Mu felt rather pleased as it meant that the Source Vein at the center of the mine would be very productive.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu jumped in through the top of the mine andnded on top of a ledge. The entire ledge was made of Immortal Stones and was encrusted along a rockyyer.


    ~WHISTLE~


    "That''s arge mine¡­" Lin Mu saw a beautiful sight in front of him.


    The Immortal Stones spanned for as far as he could see. The stones formedrge crystal structures that reflected light from a fewrge crystals at the central area. Theserge crystal were none other than the High grade immortal stones as they could actually emit natural light.


    The shimmering crystals looked mesmerizing, and it was as if one was ncing at the insides of a finely cut diamond.


    "Well then¡­ Let''s get started." Lin Mu smiled widely.


    He called out Little Shrubby first and asked him to search for any rare materials in the mine. After all, there weren''t just Immortal Stones in an immortal stone mine. Other materials such as ores and gems are also born within them that can turn into rare materials.


    "Collect all those that you find while I''ll go to the core." Lin Mu ordered.


    "Okay! I''ll do that." Little Shrubby was excited too as simply by being here, he could feel his cultivation base improving.


    And since he knew that all this would be added to the Sleepscape, the beast was even more excited.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby turned into a red blur and started searching for the materials, while Lin Mu flew to the central area of the mine.


    A few minutester he arrived at the middle part, which waspletely surrounded by glowing Immortal stones.

 Chapter 1581 A Complex Source Vein

    "That''s certainly a big Immortal Stone." Lin Mu looked at therge crystal which was entirelyposed of High Grade immortal stones.


    They had grown so much that they had now fused into a single entity.


    "Just a thousand years or so and they might have turned into Peak Grade immortal stones perhaps." Xukong spoke up seeing therge chunk.


    "Mmhmm¡­ if this ce was left untouched it might have really be a Peak Grade Immortal Stone mine. But for us, even this is enough." Lin Mu replied.


    He closed his eyes for a moment before activating Spatial perception. With that, he gazed directly at therge chunk of High Grade Immortal stones. Or more urately, Lin Mu was trying to see where the source vein of the entire mine was exactly.


    He wished to take it out in a single cluster, instead of cutting thus it was important for him to know its exact shape and size. But with the high concentration of Immortal Qi that was within these crystals, it was hard for Lin Mu to observe.


    It was like trying to look at something through dense mist. Even with Spatial Perception, it was quite difficult for Lin Mu.


    "Hmm¡­ I can barely see the edges of it." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Chip away from the sides bit by bit. That way you should be able to find the core of it." Xukong advised.


    "I''ll try that." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Lin Mu then focused on the upperyers of the crystal chunk and used meld on the parts he was sure about being High Grade Immortal stone.


    Even when cutting, he didn''t make a wide cut, but rather a straight deep cut that wasn''t even a centimeter wide in size. His allowed Lin Mu to reduce the area that he affected, as well as keep the quality of the Immortal Stone chunk.


    It was a well known fact thatrger sized chunks maintained their Immortal Qi well and could also be used for many applications. The only reason they were even carved was to make them a lot more convenient. But this came at the cost of reducing their quality by a bit.


    Even among the same grades of Immortal stones, the size could determine their value.


    A raw chunk of uncut Immortal stone was usually worth a lot more than smaller standardized versions. These were even auctioned off many times since they were needed forrge scale arrays and more.


    Lin Mu could use it for the same reason as well, and thus wanted to keep it intact forter if he could.


    "Hmm¡­ It''s deeper than I thought." Lin Mu muttered, realizing that he had still not sensed the Peak Grade Immortal Stones nor the Source Vein.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    He careful controlled Meld and cut deeper, making sure that he didn''t go more than a centimeter at a time. After a few more repetitions, Lin Mu finally felt the change in the density of Immortal Qi.


    ''I''ve hit the peak grade Immortal Stone!'' Lin Mu was excited.


    This was the first time he was seeing Peak Grade immortal stones. They were considered a rare resources so much so that they had a tactical advantage. After all, not only were they needed forrge scale arrays, they were the chiefponent of Peak Grade Immortal weapons.<novelnext></novelnext>


    And any Peak Grade Immortal weapon was highly valuable and difficult to make.


    Their numbers were also limited and only Peak immortals were capable of using them to the full extent.


    While Lin Mu couldn''t make a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon, he could very well use it for an array if he wished to. It would certainly help him in improving his skills with formation arrays as well as improve his control over the moreplex Qi circuits.


    Such circuits needed Peak Grade Immortal stones to power them, thus practicing them was simply impossible unless one had them. This was also the reason why formation masters could hit a ceiling if they did not have resources to progress further.


    ''I still need to look deeper.'' But this was not Lin Mu''s aim after all.


    What he hade here for was exponentially more valuable than the Peak Grade immortal stones. It was the very source vein of this entire mine.


    "I need to make the cuts even smaller." Lin Mu reduced the size of the incisions to barely a millimeter.


    He did not wish to nick the surface of the source vein. The more intact it was, the better effect it would have. Lin Mu thus began cutting in tiny increments until finally he felt a gust of pure Immortal Qi hitting his face.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath, feeling refreshed from the burst of Immortal Qi. It was so thick that vapors of it actually settled on his face!


    "That''s enough!" Xukong warned Lin Mu to stop.


    Lin Mu immediately stopped and reassessed the situation. Now that he had a baseline depth to go along with, using Spatial Perception became a bit easier. He could now see the outline of the source vein a lot more clearly.


    At the very least, he could estimate where the edges of it were. Which was important as the source vein was irregrly shaped.


    ''It''s almost like a deformed spindle.'' Lin Mu thought seeing its shape.


    There were ridges and bulges along its long body that swerved around its axis. This made the peak grade immortal stones fuse with it deeply, thereby making Lin Mu''s task more difficult.


    ~Sigh~


    "This''ll take a while to grasp¡­ but it''ll help as training too." Lin Mu muttered.


    Whenever Lin Mu used Meld, it was usually in the form of a fixed geometric shape like a square, rectangle or a cuboid. But now he needed to adjust it ording to the shape of the source vein.


    This was not a simple task and Lin Mu had to utilize his spatial perception along with Meld in order to get the right shape. By the time Lin Mu finally managed to adjust it, his forehead was covered in sweat!

 Chapter 1582 Expansive Mine And A Stuck Kitten

    "Haa¡­ I certainly feel like I''ve improved." Lin Mu said after seeing his handiwork.


    In his hands he held an immensely precious resource¡­ The Source vein of a High Grade immortal stone mine!


    It was barely a meter long, but its overall shape was irregr. It had taken Lin Mu over ten hours of work to get the shape right before he was finally able to use Meld to cut it out from the rest of the cluster.


    The source vein shimmered in a chromatic light and gave one a refreshing feeling if they touched it. Even now, when it was detached from the main cluster, it was still condensing and emitting Immortal Qi.


    There were very few people that would ever be able to hold an Immortal stone mine''s source vein like this. In fact, even Transcendent Immortals would not dare to cut one out like this.


    After all, it basically meant destroying an Immortal Stone mine that could continually supply Immortal stones to them for hundreds of thousands of years.


    As for imnting them?


    There were very few instances in the history of the Rust Sky world when a power had tried to do something like that. Most of the time, they would simply build another base around a new mine, as it would be very risky to transnt a source vein.


    Not to mention, it would need a long time to adapt to the new location as well as regrow more Immortal stones.


    And even when transntation of a source vein was done in the past, it was only done so with low grade immoral stone mine source veins. The one that Lin Mu held in his hand was a High grade Immortal Stone mine source vein!


    Just thinking about transnting one of this quality would make most immortals shiver. After all, if they identally damaged it during that process, they might just die from regret. And this was if the others didn''t kill them for their stupidity.


    There were evenws in ce to prevent someone from doing exactly this.


    Even when different powers entered wars or attacked each other, they would not touch the Immortal Stone mines. They would leave them be and take over them when they had won the battle.


    After all, destroying them was the same as cutting down their own spoils of wars.


    "Let''s tuck this away for now, shall we?" Lin Mu stored the Source Vein in the ring while making sure it was isted.


    ~phew~


    Lin Mu wiped away the sweat off his brow, feeling relieved.


    ''That took long enough, wonder how much Little Shrubby got?'' Lin Mu thought and called for the beast.


    With how spread out the mine was, and the materials that were dispersed in it, even Little Shrubby needed time to dig out the various materials. His speed only helped when it was time to get to the next material, and not actually in digging.


    He needed to be careful not to cause damage to the other immortal stones around it, and also to the material itself.


    ~WHOOSH~


    About a couple of minutester, Little Shrubby finally responded.


    "I think I''m stuck." The beast spoke.


    "Huh? Stuck?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows before sensing Little Shrubby''s position.<novelnext></novelnext>


    He found him to be far from the central area, where several tunnels spread like spider webs.


    "Hang on then, I''ming." Lin Mu replied.


    "Alright," Little Shrubby said, sounding a bit embarrassed.


    Lin Mu flew towards Little Shrubby''s location. He had to navigate through aplex set of tunnels that seemed to be made due to underground water channels.


    ''These are certainly not new¡­ and there are no underground rivers here either.'' Lin Mu was a bit surprised seeing this. ''Were these made when the ne was still normal?'' he wondered.


    Then there was also the fact that the density of Immortal stones was low here. They weren''t spread everywhere and a few small pieces could be seen embedded in the rocks every so often.


    This showed that Lin Mu was now in the distant reaches of the mine. But as he continued onwards, his expression changed.


    ''Just how far did he go?'' Lin Mu discovered the tunnels getting narrower and narrower.


    After a certain point, it was even difficult for Lin Mu to pass without using Phase.


    "If Little Shrubby came this far, he definitely shrank to get inside." Lin Mu reckoned.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    It took Lin Mu another five minutes before he finally reached Little Shrubby''s position.


    "Little Shrubby, what happened?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He found the kitten stuck at an awkward angle. His head was stuck downward while his limbs were stuck diagonally.


    "Umm¡­ I was trying to dig this out without damaging it. But then the wall shifted and I got stuck. I couldn''t get out without breaking it." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Damaging it?" Lin Mu realized he had missed the material that was actually trapping Little Shrubby.


    "Wait a second¡­" Lin Mu created a small me and looked at the rocks around Little Shrubby.


    The rocks were a mix of grey and had intersecting streaks of indigo in them. These streaks ovepped and were densely packed, looking simr to Damascus steel. But Lin Mu knew this was an entirely different material.


    "Barely any energy can be felt from it, making it hard to detect; has these ovepping streaks, as well as being fragile¡­ there''s no doubt." Lin Mu analyzed the material. "Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam Ore!" he identified.


    This was a rare kind of ore that was only found in areas with constant thunderstorms. It was only made when a part of earth was struck nine times in a row and all of its energy was contained before it could escape.


    "Why is it this far deep in the ground though¡­ this is formed on mountain tops." Lin Mu was confused once more.


    "Umm, can you get me out first?" Little Shrubby asked again.


    "Ah yeah! Gimme a second." Lin Mu spread his immortal sense and got the dimensions of the ore before using Meld to urately cut it out.

 Chapter 1583 Stripping The Immortal Stone Mine

    ~THUD~


    With the Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam ore removed, Little Shrubby was freed.


    Lin Mu stored the fragile ore into the ring and let Little Shrubby open up a path back outside. He couldn''t sense anything else here that was useful thus it was fine to break a path open.


    While it did seem like Little Shrubby was stuck, it wasn''t exactly so. After all, the beast was strong enough to rip this entire ce if he wanted to. The only reason he had not done so was due to Lin Mu''smands.


    They didn''t want to destroy the resource here after all.


    And it was even more so for the Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam ore. Even if Little Shrubby didn''t know how fragile it was, he was still taking the care to not damage it. This was also why he was stuck in his position.


    If he moved at all, there was a great chance the ore would break from the force.


    Only when Lin Mu contacted him did he decide to ask for help.


    A few minutester, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were in the bigger part of the tunnel allowing them to move freely.


    "How did you find the Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam Ore though?" Lin Mu questioned knowing that the energy of the ore was highly restricted.


    Most couldn''t even sense it even if their immortal sense was directly making contact with it.


    "I just felt it because it had lightning element in it." Little Shrubby replied. "I sensed it faintly and went deeper to find it before getting stuck." He added.


    "I see¡­ Guess it was due to the bloodline of the Thunderbolt Cheetah. It does grant you an affinity to the lightning element." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    It was not out of the normal for a beast bloodline like the Thunderbolt Cheetah to be able to sense other lightning elemental objects. It was a beast that could reach the Celestial Realm after all.


    Lin Mu didn''t know this before when he had read the memoirs of the Lost Immortal. But after having learned about the Celestials for a bit, he realized that the strength of the Thunderbolt Cheetah easily matched that of the Celestial Realm.


    "What else did you find?" Lin Mu asked Little Shrubby.


    "I found tons of gems and other ores." Little Shrubby said before withdrawing a few them for Lin Mu. "These are the best ones from what I can tell."


    "Oh?" Lin Mu looked at the various materials.


    Some of them were ores, some were crystal and some were even herbs. There was even a mushroom among them along with what looked like a strip of lichen.


    "This is good. All these are good for us and are valuable." Lin Mu nodded in approval.


    "Yup! Yup! And there''s more too." Little Shrubby agreed.


    "We''ll take a look properly once we''re in the Sleepscape. For now, let''s finish the work here." Lin Mu stated.


    "Okay! I''ll collect the rest of the materials that I can find." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Great, then I''ll start gathering the Immortal Stones from the areas you''ve already been to." Lin Mu said and the two split up again.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby turned into a blur while Lin Mu flew to the ce where Little Shrubby had started from.


    "For the low grade immortal stones, I can just cut them directly. They won''t lose any extra immortal Qi from that." Lin Mu muttered to himself and took out Afternoon Pine.


    ~SHING~<novelnext></novelnext>


    The sword hummed in pleasure, while greedily sucking up the Immortal Qi in the air.


    "You''re having fun too, huh." Lin Mu raised a brow seeing the sword''s actions.


    ~HUMM~


    The Sword chimed in response and seemed to be excited.


    "Very well. Help me cut these Immortal Stones properly and I''ll make you a special Sword Nurturing box." Lin Mu replied.


    ~HUMM~


    Afternoon Pine seemed very excited after hearing that and directly flew out of Lin Mu''s hand.


    ~SLASH~SLASH~SLASH~


    Lin Mu didn''t even have to control the sword as it did the work on its own. And looking at it all, Lin Mu found it to be rather meticulous too.


    ''It''s actually cutting it from the right spots where the rest of the crystal chunks won''t fracture.'' Lin Mu noted.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "It is a High Grade Immortal Weapon after all. It should have enough intelligence to handle tasks like these not to mention for something like Immortal Stones." Xukongmented.


    "I see¡­ Guess I should bring out Ocean Raker too then." Lin Mu withdrew his second Immortal Sword.


    ~SHING~


    The single edged sword had a simr reaction to Afternoon Pine and seemed to be excited.


    "You can gather the Immortal Stones too and I''ll built a Sword Nurturing Box for you too." Lin Mu gave the same offer.


    ~HUMM~


    The de hummed in response and flew out to do the work.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    The two swords flew everywhere, cutting and shing at the Immortal Stones. They split them in equal sized chunks allowing Lin Mu to easily store them away. The more they did this, the faster they got and after a while it seemed like the two sword were now in apetition.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    "Are they seeing who''s better?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "It isn''t unusual for Immortal Weapons topete for their master''s favor. Especially for those that have multiple High Grade Immortal Weapons." Xukong said. "Some immortals even end up with a headache dealing with their weapons." Xukong stated.


    "Huh¡­ that''s new." Lin Mu didn''t expect there to be a such a problem.


    Though he also realized that it was a very privileged problem that most cultivators would never got to experience. After all, the weapons at the mid grade or below won''t have the same level of intelligence and would have to be nurtured a long time before they reached the same level.


    And those that had high grade immortal weapons, simply could not afford more than one.


    It was simply a problem for the rich!

 Chapter 1584 A Great Harvest

    Lin Mu cleared out the Immortal Stone mine section by section and made his way inwards.


    Since the growth of the Immortal Stones was ording to their grades, Lin Mu had only gathered the Low Grade Immortal Stones by now. The outer radius of the mine would only beposed of low graded immortal stones after all. In fact, about fifty percent of the Immortal Stone mine wasposed of low grade immortal stones. The mid grade immortal stones were at around forty percent while the high grade immortal stones were nine percent.


    The peak grade immortal stones were barely a percent or even less than that.


    After all, they would only form around the Source vein of the entire mine.


    Lin Mu had not touched the Peak Grade Immortal Stones other than making the incision as he didn''t want to disturb the energy flow of the mine any more. He had already removed the Source Vein, thus the structure of the mine would get a bit unstable.


    The source vein was quite literally the core of the mine, after all. Removing it was simr to removing the spine of a person. The only reason the mine was still standing was because Lin Mu had let the Peak Grade Immortal Stones stay there.


    He would have to mine all the immortal stones from the outside and go inwards before finally taking the Peak Grad ones.


    That way, he would be able to strip all of the mine clean and make the least amount of waste.


    But even then, the task was not easy.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu easily spent over two days in doing all this. He regrly had to take breaks and check to ensure the integrity of the mine. He didn''t want it to copse randomly after all. In these two days, Little Shrubby had also finished gathering all that he could and was now assizing Lin Mu.


    ~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    A man, beast and two swords flew around everywhere in the mine.


    The swords and the beast cut the Immortal Stones while the man stored them in the ring. This way an efficient cycle was made and the process was sped up even more.


    ''If the twins could help as well, it would be good, but they might just end up causing the mine to copse.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Yin Yang Twin Serpents had only broken through recently and were still adjusting to their freshly increased strength. Plus, with their young age, it wasn''t unusual for them to do some mischief.


    They were quite literally toddlers, after all.


    And while Lin Mu didn''t mind them eating the Immortal Stones, he didn''t want the mine to copse before they finished gathering them all.


    Thus, the decision to leave them out for now was taken. Though Lin Mu did wish to interact with them more, as it was the best way to improve their intelligence and teach them things.


    Xukong had also said that it would allow them to learn how to speak faster. It was simr to how one would teach babies to speak. You were just supposed to talk to them normally and they would automatically learn.


    It was no different for the twin snakes¡­ Even if they were strong enough to destroy a few mountains, unlike other babies.


    Thankfully, Lin Mu hadn''t had to deal with any tantrums yet.


    Time continued to pass like this, and on the fifty Day Lin Mu was finally back in the center of the area.


    ~phew~<novelnext></novelnext>


    "We''re finally here¡­" Lin Mu let out a breath.


    He looked around the cave that was now barren. It was theplete opposite of how it looked when Lin Mu had first arrived and had be a lot darker.


    Its beauty was gone and it looked disappointing.


    "It''s almost a shame to destroy a beautiful ce like this¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "Wonder if Saintess would have liked it too."


    ~SHUA~


    "We''re done with that part." Little Shrubby came to his side and spoke.


    "Done? Good." Lin Mu nodded his head and stored away thest chunk of High Grade Immortal Stones.


    Now the only part that was left was the Peak Grade Immortal Stone Cluster in the center.


    "I''ll do this one alone." Lin Mu stated.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby had no issues with that.


    "You two should go back for now too. You did good." Lin Mu spoke to his two swords.


    ~HUMM~ HUMM~


    Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker chimed in response and were sent to the ring.


    Lin Mu was pleased with their work too and was intending to reward them for it too. Making Sword Nurturing Boxes was something he wished to do for a while now. It was a chance for Lin Mu to try out the knowledge that Jing Wei and Jing Luo had passed onto him, as well as apply his own formation skills.


    A Sword Nurturing Box needed both Weapon Forging as well as Formation Creation skills to make and was a good way for Lin Mu to further improve his skills. It would also help his sword too of course and help them further improve.


    ''Wonder how good a Sword Nurturing Box Made with Peak Grade Immortal Stones will be like?'' Lin Mu thought to himself, while looking at the crystal cluster.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu decided to keep the entire cluster intact as it would give him arge volume to work withter on.


    "Yeah, that should be fine." Lin Mu nodded to himself before extending his hand.


    ~SHUA~


    The effects of meld directly covered the entire crystal chunk and separated it from the surface of the cave.


    It disappeared into thin air in the next second, having been stored in Lin Mu''s ring. Now all that was left behind was a depression in the center of the cave. It gave one a feeling of emptiness and loss, though they wouldn''t know why they were feeling it.


    "And there we go." Lin Mu said having finished his task.


    Just as he said that though, he felt a tremor.


    ~CRUMBLE~

 Chapter 1585 Implanting The Immortal Source Vein!

    ? With all the Immortal Stones removed from the mine, it finally started to copse.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    Chunks fell from the roof, while cracks spread all over the walls.


    "Just on time too¡­ At least this''ll help erase any other traces of us being here as well as that there was an Immortal Stone mine here before." Lin Mu said before calling for Little Shrubby.


    He sent the beast into the Sleepscape before directly flying up through the roof using Phase.


    The crumbling roof was nothing to him, and by the time he reached the surface, the entire mine had been destroyed and filled in with the earth above it. The mine was after all located over two kilometers deep and had a lot of weight on top of it.


    This also helped hide it, since looking at it from the top, it merely looked like the ground had naturally sunk. If one passed by here, they wouldn''t think that there was anything in the ground before.


    They would simply think that the topography of thend was uneven.


    It didn''t stick out from the rest of the area of the Blood Strewn ins.


    Done with this, Lin Mu decided to return to the temporary base.


    He would have gone directly to the next Immortal Stone mine, but it was in another direction and he would have to pass by the base anyways. Not to mention, he wanted to sort through the materials and Immortal Stones.


    Then there was the most important task of them all, the one that had made him look for an Immortal Stone mine in the first ce: Imnting it in his Sleepscape!


    "Let''s head back to the base Little Shrubby." Lin Mu called the beast back out.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby was excited too as he wished to see the changes in the Sleepscape too.


    Lin Mu had told him what he wished to do, and since Little Shrubby now stayed in the Sleepscape most of the time, he was excited to have a better ce to cultivate.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The two turned into a red blur and ran nonstop until they finally arrived at the base.


    Lin Mu did not stop for a moment and directly locked the ce up before sending Little Shrubby into the Sleepscape and sleeping.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu closed his eyes and arrived in front of the Immortal Apple tree a few secondster.


    "The Immortal Essence in the air has be stable for sure." Lin Mu muttered sensing the energy around him.


    It felt rather pleasant to him, and it made himfortable to be here. He reckoned that even if he just stayed here, his body might start to adapt to the Immortal Essence automatically after a while.


    Though practicing the Three Apertures Invoking Technique would speed it up by a lot.


    "Are you going to add it now?" Little Shrubby asked excitedly.


    "Yeah, let me just find the right spot." Lin Mu said before spreading his Immortal Sense.


    He wished for the Source Vein to be imnted in a spot where it would be convenient for him to built an array. Lin Mu wished for this array to power all his buildings and anything else he might need in the future.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    Thus it was important that he chose a good spot.


    It didn''t take Lin Mu to find one though as the Sleepscape had expanded enough now.


    "This should be good enough." Lin Mu flew to an area that was in the middle of the Immortal Apple Tree and the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    Little Shrubby followed behind him too, not wanting to miss the event.


    "Let''s see now¡­" Lin Mu focused on the Source Vein that was floating in the ring and withdrew it.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as the source vein appeared in front of him, the wave of Immortal Qi flew past his face. Immortal Qi kept on gushing out of the Source Vein, making Lin Mu concerned.


    "Shit, it''s leaking already. I need to be quick." Lin Mu slowly lowered the Source Vein to the ground while willing for the Sleepscape to ept it. ''Come on¡­ absorb it!''


    ~SHUA~


    Hismand was epted rather quickly as the ground automatically sank along with the Source vein. In fact, the Sleepscape seemed to be rather eager to swallow up the Source Vein too.


    In just ten seconds, the entire Source Vein was swallowed up by the ground leaving no trace that there was something as priceless as that here before.


    "Is that it?" Little Shrubby asked while tilting his head.


    Thest time Lin Mu had nted the Source vein of the Spirit stone mine, Little Shrubby wasn''t here. Thus he didn''t know the series of events that had happened before.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ~WHOOSH~


    And he wasn''t the only one that was interested in this either. As a ck and white ribbon flew towards them as well.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang wrapped around Lin Mu''s shoulders, looking around for something.


    "You two came for it too, huh¡­ guess you felt the immortal Qi too." Lin Mu said while rubbing their heads.


    ~TREMBLE~


    It didn''t take long for the process to start as the entire Sleepscape shook!


    "It begins¡­" Lin Mu found the process to be a lot stronger thanst time.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Even the sky of the Sleepscape shook this time, as Immortal Qi started to rise up from the earth. It mixed into the air and filled the entire space of the Sleepscape.


    ~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~


    All the nts within the Sleepscape started to sway in joy, and greedily absorbed the Immortal Qi.


    The Immortal Apple tree showed the biggest reaction, as it quite literally started to grow new branches and leaves.


    ~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~


    In less than five minutes, it had more than doubled its size!


    Having increased its size, it didn''t stop though as next it started to grow tens upon tens of buds on it. These buds then bloomed and turned into flowers that emitted a sweet fragrance, changing the atmosphere of the Sleepscape.


    The other nts didn''tg behind the Immortal Apple tree either.


    The Wood Spirit Tulip too grew more, and two more flower heads popped out from its sides. It bobbed its new flower heads from side to side, dancing in joy while releasing a strong fragrance from its petals.


    The Purple Sickle amaranth that had reached a obstacle in the past finally started to breakthrough.


    ~SHUA~


    A wave of energy spread out from it, showing that it had directly broken through its limits. Before this, the Purple Sickle Amaranth was roughly equivalent to the Dao Treading realm, but now it had directly risen to the Immortal Ascension realm!


    And it didn''t seem like it was going to stop here either.


    ~HUALA~


    After the breakthrough, it sucked in the Immortal Qi growing its body more. Thousands of new leaves grew on its branches, while new stems sprouted as well. The potential boost that the Immortal Essence had provided it was now bursting into fruition as its original limits were being surpassed.


    The Purple Sickle Amaranth started to expand and from a single nt, it turned into multiple. From its roots, more Purple Sickle Amaranth nts popped up.


    They looked like tender saplings at first, but soon grew into young nts. And a few more minutester, they had matured into ten meter tall fully grown nts!


    Their sickle shaped leaves swayed and spun, as if cutting the air and absorbing more immortal Qi from it.


    It continued this for a few minutes after which it had reached another breakthrough!


    ~SHUA~


    A wave of energy spread from the Purple Sickle Amaranth as it directly reached the Immortal realm!


    But this wave of energy wasn''t just any immortal Qi, it was actually Wood Elemental Immortal Qi!


    "It can finally generate Wood Elemental Immortal Qi now." Lin Mu was pleased to see this.


    The other nts, as well as Little Shrubby, will now have a steady source of Wood Immortal Qi to use. Not to mention, Lin Mu would now be able to build Herbal pavilions here that would be good for preserving the herbs he had obtained.


    While he wouldn''t be able to grow new herbs, as that was still not allowed by thews of the Sleepscape, it wouldn''t be an issue to preserve herbs that were already harvested. This would allow Lin Mu to free up some of the Herb boxes he had bought before.


    Most of them were filled with Immortal herbs as they were being used to preserve their quality.


    "The nts have grown well." Lin Mu nodded his head before turning in a certain direction. "But the Violet Mystic Life Tree has basically shown no reaction." He said before flying towards the said tree.


    Upon arriving at the giant tree, Lin Mu saw that it while it was absorbing the Immortal Qi too, it didn''t show any growth.


    "Perhaps it has already grown more than enough before. It should take longer for it to grow once more." Lin Mu reckoned.

 Chapter 1586 A Toxic Surprise

    Lin Mu observed the Violet Mystic Life Tree for a while more before confirming that there were indeed no changes in it.


    "Looks like I''ll have to give it more time." Lin Mu said before looking at the twins. "You two can cultivate here now too. And so can you Little Shrubby."


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins nodded their heads in understanding while breathing in the Immortal Qi. Little Shrubby was simr but was also absorbing the Wood Elemental Immortal Qi as well.


    The concentration of Immortal Qi in the Sleepscape was now the same as what was in the rest of the Rust Sky world. It hadn''t reached a high level, but that was to be expected as this was just a single Source Vein.


    Plus, there was also the entire Violet Mystic Life tree that was absorbing it too. This cut down the concentration of Immortal Qi by quite a lot. But Lin Mu didn''t mind this. He knew that this was a long term investment and would only bring him benefits.


    At the very least, the immortal Qi concentration matched that of the real world, and the beasts would be able to cultivate with no issues.


    ''Once I add the second Immortal Source Vein too, it should increase even more.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. "Perhaps I might even be able to add an Immortal Qi condensing array for me to cultivate in." He muttered.


    Lin Mu certainly had the designs for such arrays and could now make them easily with the many Immortal stones he had.


    But that wasn''t all that he had. Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had gathered other materials than just Immortal stones that woulde in handy too. Then there was therge fortune Lin Mu had obtained from the eleventh Prince, Huangyu Shiyi too.


    "Let''s get to sorting them. I''ll also make some ns for them after that." Lin Mu said to Little Shrubby.


    "Mmhmm, do you want me to take them out right now?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "No, let''s head to the formation pavilion first." Lin Mu replied.


    With that said, the two of them went to the building while the twins stayed wrapped on Lin Mu''s shoulders.


    For the twins, life was mostly carefree and involved eating, cultivating and sleeping. After all, their bloodline and potential was so strong that even if they did nothing, they would still end up growing strong.


    To them, growing strong was just a question of time.


    "ce them here, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu gestured to arge work table that was inscribed with several runes.


    On the surface it looked simple, but those versed in formations would know what this table was. It was a special table that was used by formation masters to work on. Not only did it suppress any stray Qi fluctuations, the table itself functioned as a formation core that could help one control several supportive formations in the pavilion.


    These supportive formations ranged from Qi channeling formations to add extra Qi when making a talisman or formation, defensive formations to protect oneself from unstable formations, and restrictive formations to contain the vtile energies of a formation until the work was done.


    The table was thus perfect for handling sensitive and unstable materials.


    "Alright." Little Shrubby took out all the items that he had gathered in the Immortal Stone mine.


    One by one, he put them on the table allowing Lin Mu to take a proper look at them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    There were colorful gemstones, strange crystal shards, a few herbs as well as plenty of metal ores. By the time Little Shrubby was done taking them all out, the table already had a couple of small piles on it.


    The two piles were of ores and gemstones. These two materials were abundant in the Immortal Stone mine and there were many different kinds mixed in it. Other than these, the rest of the materials were only a handful in number.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "These all will be useful as supplementary materials." Lin Mu assessed the gemstones.


    Most of the gemstones were used as formation nodes in different immortal tools or could also be used in arrays directly. Due to their crystalline structures, they were good at holding runes and could also give a stable flow of energy.


    Of course, each gemstone had different properties and could be used ordingly.


    As for the ores, there were far too many of them and their uses were mostly in the manufacture of Immortal tools and weapons. Lin Mu took note of a few good ones that might be useful soon.


    ''I can definitely used them to make the Sword nurturing boxes.'' Lin Mu noted.


    Next were the herbs that Little Shrubby had found. There were only five such herbs, out of which there was one that greatly interested Lin Mu.


    "This mushroom¡­ where have I seen it before." Lin Mu felt like the mushroom was rather important but couldn''t recall where he had seen or read about it.


    It was white and had thick red liquid oozing out of it.


    "That''s the Immortal''s Bleeding Tooth mushroom." Xukong spoke up.


    "Oh?" hearing it Lin Mu finally recalled. "Wait, it''s THE IMMORTAL''s BLEEDING TOOTH MUSHROOM!?" Lin Mu immediately stepped back.


    "Get back Little Shrubby, that''s highly toxic!" Lin Mu warned.


    The beast furrowed its brows, but still heeded its master''s words.


    "Is it really toxic? I don''t feel it though." Little Shrubby hade into contact with it a several times while extracting it after all.


    "You''re really fine?" Lin Mu checked Little Shrubby''s body just in case, finding it to be totally normal.


    "You''re fine too, aren''t you master?" Little Shrubby said after a bit.


    "I am¡­" Lin Mu realized that even he was feeling nothing. ''Isn''t the Immortal''s Bleeding Tooth Mushroom supposed to be able to affect even Immortal realm experts?''


    Lin Mu had heard about this mushroom in the passing while he was in the Middle Fort city. A few people were talking about amission for the mushroom.


    While it was toxic, it also meant that it was useful. It could be used as a weapon after all.

 Chapter 1587 Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam Ore

    ording to what Lin Mu had heard, immortals that came in contact with the Immortal''s Bleeding Tooth Mushroom, or were in close proximity to it would be poisoned.


    Its effects were also terrifying.


    It would start with the immortal bleeding from their mouth. Then their teeth would get loose and fall off before the bleeding would increase. Blood would continue to pool in their mouth and they would vomit it nonstop.


    This would eventually lead to their death if they were not treated.


    While there were many poisons that could cause death by bleeding, the Immortal''s Bleeding Tooth Mushroom was especially terrifying due to the fact that it could do this simply by being in the proximity of others.


    Not to mention, it could affect Immortals of several stages going all the way up to the fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    "How are we fine?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "You two do realize, how high your resistance are at this point?" Xukong stated. "Little Shrubby has a strong bloodline as well as an affinity to the Wood element, while you''ve cultivated Five Treasure Realm to thepletion as well as practiced the Three Apertures Invoking Technique.


    Poisons like these aren''t much to you. Even if you ate it directly, it won''t do much to you." Xukong exined.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was a bit taken aback.


    "Now that I think of it¡­ I haven''t really been affected by any poisons so far, have I?" Lin Mu went through his memories and didn''t recall being poisoned.


    Lin Mu of course knew that his liver bing a treasured organ had made him highly resistant to poisons, but he didn''t know that it would work on poisons of this level too.


    "I see¡­ guess this gives me a good advantage and peace of mind." Lin Mu said to himself before approaching the Immortal''s Bleeding Tooth Mushroom again.


    He felt curious so touched the mushrooms a few times, just to see if there would be any effect at all. After feeling nothing, Lin Mu took some of the viscous red liquid and tasted it.


    "Ugh! That''s bitter." Lin Mu''s lips twisted in distaste.


    It was a bit reckless, but it would give Lin Mu a way to confirm just how far his resistance went.


    Besides even if it did affect him, he did have plenty of healing and detoxifying pills to deal with it. Thus he wasn''t in danger anyway. Lin Mu waited a couple minutes but still felt nothing from the mushroom.


    "Guess it really does nothing to me." Lin Mu said with a nod.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    He stored the Immortal''s Bleeding Tooth Mushroom away in the ring in a specific spot. There was a chance it mighte handy in the future.


    Done with these, Lin Mu finally took out the final item that was kept in his own ring.


    It was none other than the Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam Ore.


    ~shua~<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu carefully ced it on the table while activating one of the formations. The formation was called as the Hovering Hold formations and would keep something floating in mid air.


    It allowed one to observe and work on items properly while making sure they didn''t make contact with anything else.


    Since the Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam Ore was rather fragile, this was perfect for it.


    "The Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam Ore is about eighty centimeters in length, twenty centimeters wide and fifteen centimeters thick." Lin Mu measured the dimensions of the ore.


    On top of being fragile, it was a rtively light ore too. It wasn''t unusual for it to crack at the lightest impact if one was unlucky. And if one had really bad luck, it could even discharge all of the energy stored inside it at once.


    The Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam Ore had a massive amount of energy within it, thus the discharge would be terrifying. After all, it contained the power of nine lightning strikes!


    But even if it did have that, the ore wasn''t actually of pure Lightning element. Rather it was a rare hybrid of Earth and Lightning elements which was not seen often.


    After all, Earth counteracted lightning and would cause it to disperse.


    This was perhaps also the reason why a material like the Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam Ore could form, as only earth could contain its violet power. Its uses were in the hundreds too, making it a valued material.


    Especially one that was as big as the one in front of Lin Mu.


    "I can make multiple things from this¡­ at least two or maybe even three immortal tools." Lin Mu muttered.


    The best use of the Nine Fall Thunder Earth Amalgam Ore would be to make a Immortal Weapon, but Lin Mu wasn''t confident enough to make a good one. He didn''t have enough experience to properly make use of it, and there was a high chance he might lose a significant portion of the ore''s power.


    Thus rather than that, he reckoned some supportive Immortal Tool might be better. They wouldn''t depend on his Weapon Forging skills, and would be able to utilize his formation skills more that he was confident in.


    ''What immortal tool would the best¡­ Hmm, something I''mcking in perhaps?'' Lin Mu went deep in thought.


    After a few minutes though, he came up with a few options and noted them forter.


    "Though before I attempt to make an Immortal tool, I should practice a bit." Lin Mu reckoned.


    And in order to do that, he already had a task ready.


    "Let''s start with the Sword Nurturing Boxes then¡­" Lin Mu said before taking out his two immortal swords.


    Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker hummed in joy as they felt the immortal Qi rich atmosphere of the Sleepscape. Immortal Essence wasn''t really useful to them thus they hadn''t shown any reaction before, but now with the increase Immortal Qi, they were pleased.


    "Alright, time to make Sword Nurturing boxes for you." Lin Mu said, making the swords dance in joy.

 Chapter 1588 Immortal Sword Nurturing Boxes And Sword Sheaths

    A Sword Nurturing Box was something that was considered almost essential to those that were following the Sword Path.


    Sword cultivators would consider their swords as their own body, treating it with the same care. As such, a Sword Nurturing box was something that could be considered as giving the sword a proper ce to rest in.


    While there was of course ,the sheath of a sword, it could be considered more like the ''robes'' of a sword.


    In the case of Lin Mu, both his immortal swords, Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker, did not have sheaths. Though this was mostly due to the fact that they were being nurtured in the Deep Sapphire City for a long time.


    Even if they had a sheath at one point, they were probably gone.


    And since Lin Mu mostly kept the swords in his ring, he didn''t need specific sheaths for the swords either.


    Adding a sheath didn''t matter much to Lin Mu either, as he didn''t use a sword style that required the use of a sheath. And while special sheaths with unique functions could be made, they were considered immortal tools on their own and were quite valuable.


    Lin Mu wasn''t on the level of being able to make one himself.


    Plus, the best quality sheaths were made ording to the sword itself.


    Not only did they need to match the size and shape of the sword, they also needed to be conducive to its type and skills. For example, an immortal sword that was of the skill type should have a sheath that could amplify the amount of Immortal Qi that was present in it.


    Or one could make a sheath that would steadily replenish the immortal Qi for the sword while it was not in use.


    The swordsmen that specialized in Sword Drawing needed sheaths for this specific reason. Their strength was focused on single hit shes that would kill the opponent. Thus, each sh would drain majority of the sword''s energy.


    Thus, it needed to be replenished every time. And while the swordsman would be able to do this with his own immortal Qi, it would not be fast enough. This was why a sheath that could replenish arge amount of Immortal Qi was important.


    These sheaths would be specialized in being able to hold Immortal Qi that was several times more than that of a sword, as well as being able to inject arge amount into the sword upon sheathing.


    In the case of swords that were of pure refinement types, they needed a different kind of sheath.


    These swords were often used along with their sheaths as a defensive tool. Thus, their sheaths needed to be very durable and strong instead of holdingrge amounts of immortal Qi.


    Then there were the hybrid type of swords that had both a Qi skill as well as high refinement levels. These needed sheaths that could potentially do both, and were the hardest to make.


    Right now, Lin Mu didn''t have a sheath that fulfilled any of these conditions, thus he would either have to look for one or make one himself. And until he could do that, making a Sword Nurturing box was the best option.


    It could allow the Immortal swords to grow slowly and would also help the Sword Spirits to be nurtured. Overall, it could speed up the time needed for an Immortal Sword to upgrade to the next grade.


    That was also how Ocean Raker and Afternoon Pine had managed to reach their current levels. They had been nurtured in the Deep Sapphire City for thousands of years.


    But growth wasn''t all that was obtained through the Sword Nurturing box. It could also help a sword repair itself over time!


    When a swordsman fought, injuries were expected. And it wasn''t just one''s body that would be injured, their sword might be injured too. Even if the injuries were small, they would increase over time.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The mostmon example would be the loss of the Sword Edge. If the sword was not maintained, it would lose its sharpness and be blunt. A Sword Nurturing Box could take care of all this.


    It was even said that there were some Peak Grade Immortal Sword Nurturing Boxes that could further temper the swords. Over time, these swords would get tougher and grow faster than other Sword Nurturing Boxes.


    Though even making them was a difficult job, as only a handful of Immortal Weaponsmiths could do this.


    Lin Mu pondered over all this before finallying up with a n for his Swords.


    "Alright, let''s go with replenishment and repair for you two." Lin Mu decided.


    ~HUMM~


    The two swords chimed in response, showing their approval.


    "Once I have better skills, I''ll improve the boxes for you too." Lin Mu added, making the swords happier.


    With that done, he finally got to work.


    The first thing he did was to take out therge chunk of Peak grade immortal stone!


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as it was ced outside the ring, a rich wave of Immortal Qi spread out from it.


    "Restrain!" Lin Mu tapped the table, triggering one of the restraining formations.


    ~HUALA~


    In the next second, a circr barrier surrounded the room, preventing any Immortal Qi from escaping it. Once this was done, Lin Mu activated his spatial perception and observed therge chunk of Peak Grade immortal stone.


    He measured its dimensions and calcted the optimum size that would make the least amount of waste. After all, the chunk wasn''t of a perfect geometric shape, and some amount of loss was expected.


    Lin Mu made sure to get as close to the edges as possible to get a clean cut.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Meld!


    Visualizing the dimensions with his eyes, Lin Mu activated Meld, cleaning cutting away a perfect Cuboid from the Peak Grade immortal Stone chunk!


    The chunk was about fifteen centimeters wide, fifteen centimeters tall and a hundred centimeters long. It was the perfect size such that the sword would fit inside it!

 Chapter 1589 Making The Immortal Sword Nurturing Box

    With the perfect sized chunk cut off, Lin Mu immediately stored it away to prevent it from losing any energy.


    "That''s one down, one more to go." Lin Mu muttered, storing away the main chunk of the Peak Grade Immortal Stone away too.


    The first cuboid piece that Lin Mu had cut out was meant for Afternoon Pine. It was a double edged sword and was shorter than Ocean Raker, thus the same size would not work for the second sword.


    Lin Mu used his Spatial Perception to get the right dimensions once more before using meld to cut the second cuboid piece. This piece was also fifteen centimeters wide and fifteen centimeters tall but its length was double than the first cuboid.


    It was two hundred centimeters long!


    This would be enough to amodate Ocean Raker entirely within it.


    With the two cuboid pieces of Peak Grade Immortal Stone cut, Lin Mu was ready for the next part. It was to select the auxiliaryponents that would help nurture them. Thus was where the two sword nurturing boxes would differ.


    Ocean Raker was a sword that was made using Blue Vein Heart Metal and thus nurturing it with a simr kind of metal would be the best option.


    Afternoon Pine on the other hand, was made with a mixture of several kinds of metals, which were then imprinted with various runes to give it the Qi skills it had. Thus for Afternoon pine, Lin Mu would have to use a mixture of materials too.


    ''Let''s see¡­ Blue Vein Heart Metal obviously belongs to the metal element, but also has traces of Water element in it.'' Lin Mu went through the list of materials he had in his ring, trying to find the right one toplement it.


    After looking through hundreds of materials, Lin Mu finally found the right one.


    "Bleak Frost Crystal, this''ll do well." Lin Mu finally picked one.


    The Bleak Frost crystal belonged to that of the ice element and couldplement the minor Water element of the Blue Vein Heart metal well. It was a material that Lin Mu had obtained from Lanbao and he had several of them in his storage.


    ''While I would have preferred to further temper the Ocean Raker since it is a pure refinement type sword, I don''t have the required skills for it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    If he wished to make something like that, Lin Mu would have used a fire elemental material instead. It would continually temper the sword over time and help it get stronger and sharper.


    But doing that with the Blue Vein Heart Metal was risky with Lin Mu''s current skills. If he didn''t make it properly, the Sword Nurturing box might end up making the sword weaker instead as the fire element and the water elements would collide.


    The key to using fire elemental material in tempering a sword was to make sure that it only targeted the ''metal'' part of the sword and not the water. This would make the metal be denser which could also bring the water elemental parts closer, thereby enhancing them too.


    But if the fire element targeted the water element, it would make the metal expand instead, lowering the density and hence weakening the sword.


    Actually, something simr would happen if Lin Mu used Bleak Frost Crystal too. The ice element would influence the water element within the Blue Vein Heart metal, making it colder.<novelnext></novelnext>


    If it became too cold, it would expand too, since water would expand when it turned into ice. But the crux of ity in how much Lin Mu controlled the cooling. If it was targeted towards the metal, it would make it contract too.


    Thus, he could bnce the two.


    The water would expand while the metal would contract, creating a bnce between the two!This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Alright, time to get started." Lin Mu said before setting up a small forge using an array.


    ~SHUA~


    mes lit up on the forge array, and a circle condensed above it.


    The circle was meant to be the crucible that would hold the item that was to be forged.


    Having set this up, Lin Mu took out the Bleak Frost Crystals. These crystal were about the size of a lime and were pentagonal in shape. If one looked closer, they would even see fine, snowke like patterns inside its structure.


    The crystals themselves were rather dull looking. Having a greyness that was simr to the clouds during a snowstorm.


    Lin Mu put all of the Bleak Frost Crystals on the crucible and let the me heat them up. He carefully controlled the mes, making sure their temperature was low. He didn''t need them to be very hot, as that would end up destroying the crystals instead.


    He merely needed to ''soften'' the crystals enough so that they could be molded ording to his needs.


    Lin Mu watched the heat for ten minutes and only left it after he was assured that the crystals would be fine.


    "Now to get started on the main body of the box¡­" Lin Mu brought the two meter long cuboid chunk of peak grade immortal stone out.


    Lin Mu used meld once more, and cut the cuboid right from the center, splitting it into two equal two meter long halves.


    ''Now the more sensitive part,'' Lin Mu took out his oldpanion, the double edged short sword.


    He held the sword firmly before using it to scrape the inside of the cuboid halves. He was using the short sword since it was sharp enough as well as being small to hold properly.


    ''I need to get better forging toolster too.'' Lin Mu was once again reminded of hisck of specialized equipment.


    Bit by bit, Lin Mu carved away parts of the Immortal stone. This resulted in small grains of Peak Grade Immortal stone as well as some dust. Lin Mu kept all of this safe too, as it could be used again for many purposes.

 Chapter 1590 An Intricate Process

    The grains and dust generated from carving the Peak grade Immortal Stone cuboid could be easily used to make peak grade immortal talisman ink.


    Lin Mu certainly didn''t wish to waste any part of such high quality ingredients thus made sure to use another formation to prevent any dust or granules from being blown away. At the same time, he used a secondary gust array that would suck away the dust and granules into a preserving pouch.


    This would ensure that the Peak Grade Immortal stone dust would not lose its immortal Qi and would stay in the best condition.


    Even a handful of dust could be sold for several high grade immortal stones after all!


    After an hour of careful carving, Lin Mu had hollowed out both the cuboid sections of the Peak Grade Immortal Stone chunk.


    ~Phew~


    "That''s the second step done¡­" Lin Mu wiped away his sweat.


    The hollowed out part in the two sections was just enough to hold the sword as well as the other materials that he would be adding to it.


    Lin Mu put the two chunks on the side for now, while he checked up on the Bleak Frost crystals. They had been heating for over an hour now, and looked a little misshapen now. Their original pentagonal form had softened and the pointed ''tips'' were now blunter.


    Extending his hand into the fire, Lin Mu gently touched the crystals. The heat of the forge was nothing to him and allowed him to freely touch the crystal.


    "Hmm¡­ need them to be a bit softer." Lin Mu noted.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    While the Bleak Frost Crystal had gotten softer, they weren''t fully soft. It was only the outer edges that had softened mostly, and the central part was still hard. Lin Mu watched the crystals for some more time before they finally reached the right condition.


    "Here we go." Finding them to be perfect, Lin Mu pulled the Bleak Frost Crystals out andid them on a t table.


    He then put the two sections of the cuboid Peak Grade Immortal Stone chunks on the table while making a few runes. The runes were directly being made onto the immortal stones, so they were instantly imprinted.


    There was a reason why immortal stones were considered one of the best materials to make tools and weapons from after all. They would readily take runes and entire formations within them.


    The runes that Lin Mu was making were rtively simple, so he didn''t take that long. In just five minutes, the runes were ready, and Lin Mupleted the formation.


    This was an Intercting Linking Formation and was specially used in Immortal tools. It had no other used outside of the creation of tools and was thus one of the essential formations that a Weapon forger or Tool refiner needed to master.


    The Intercting Linking Formation helped two different materials fit properly as well as link up on a deeper level.


    "Now to add the Bleak Frost Crystals." Lin Mu picked up the softened crystals and ced them within the two halves of the cuboid.


    He then pressed onto them with his fingers, molding them ording to the shape of the cavity. They were like soft dough in his hand, easily taking the intended shape. It barely took Lin Mu a minute to finish this part and he quickly moved onto making more runes.


    These runes were made on top of theyer of Bleak Frost Crystals and were intended to finish the linking.


    Lin Mu needed to make this formation before the crystals cooledpletely, otherwise the linking would not be done properly. His immortal sense turned into fine threads, allowing him to make fine adjustments while making the runes.


    It took him ten minutes before all the runes werepleted and the formation was created.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as that was done, the two materials joined up perfectly, releasing an energy fluctuation.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "That seems right." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    With this, the third step of the entire process was done.


    "Now to make the casing for it all." Lin Mu took out two ingots of Fine Tempered Immortal Brass.


    The yellow golden ingots looked clean and were about the size of a palm.


    "Time for good old hammering!" Lin Mu took the first ingot and started to hammer it with his bare fists!


    ~CLANG~


    ~CLANG~


    ~CLANG~


    ~CLANG~


    The sonorous sound of brass being hammered could be heard in the pavilion. The casing needed to be hammered while the metal was cold, thus Lin Mu had used Fine Tempered Immortal Brass.


    It would mold perfectly, even when cold and didn''t need to be heated.


    He needed to avoid heating it since when he coated it on top of the inner part of the box, it would cause the heat to leech into the immortal stones. That was not good for the Bleak frost crystal inside and would damage its integrity.


    It didn''t take long for Lin Mu to hammer both ingots into a wide and t sheet.


    ~DENG~DENG~


    Once the sheet was ready, Lin Mu ced one half of the cuboid in each sheet.


    ~WENG~


    Then, with the fine strength of his fingers, he carefully bent the sheet around the two sections. The sound of metal warping could be heard as the metal yielded to Lin Mu''s raw strength.


    Now it looked like there were two cuboid indents in the brass sheets, in which the two sections of the box were kept. There were still excess parts of the sheet that were jutting out from the center.


    Lin Mu didn''t cut these away though.


    Instead, he started to carve runes into them straight away, letting them extend into the excess parts of the brass sheets. Once the runes were carved, Lin Mu pinched once side of the sheets together and folded them over, while rolling the other side.


    ~CREAK~CREAK~


    The brass creaked loudly, trying to resist the force, but could not do so.


    A few folds were all it took Lin Mu to reduce the size of the protruding sheet. At the same time, Lin Mu had also turned it into a hinge!

 Chapter 1591 The Two Sword Nurturing Boxes Are Completed

    "There we go." Lin Mu nodded his head in approval as he gazed at his finished work.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    The first Sword Nurturing Box waspleted and shone in a low light. Its brass casing contrasted with the Immoral stone and Bleak frost crystalyer inside, making it look rather elegant.


    Then there were the many runes on the box that circted the energy within it gently. Not only did it modte the flow of the Immortal Qi of the Peak Grade Immortal stone within it, the runes also insted it while absorbing more Immortal Qi from the air.


    This created a positive cycle that would prevent the loss of Immortal Qi in the Sword Nurturing box.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and felt pleased with his work.


    "Time to see if it fits well." Lin Mu gestured to Ocean Raker and the sword floated over eagerly.


    ~Clink~


    The sword lowered itself into the box, perfectly fitting the cavity that was made for it.


    ~HUMM~


    Ocean Raker let out a joyous hum, while also asking for Lin Mu to close the box.


    "Alright." Lin Mu pressed on the top of the lid, making it snap shut.


    ~CLACK~


    With a crisp sound, the lid shut and the formations were linked up again.


    ~HUALA~


    A Qi circuit was formed within the Sword Nurturing box upon the box''s closure, allowing Ocean Raker to be bathed within it.


    Lin Mu could see everything with his Immortal sense and confirmed that it was working perfectly as intended.


    "This is good for your first time." Xukong praised upon seeing Lin Mu''s work.


    "I can improve a lot more." Lin Mu replied.


    "Is that why you left the casing removable?" Xukong questioned.


    "Yes. I can simply slide out the two halves of the Immortal Stone from it and put in a new casingter on." Lin Mu answered.


    He has several ideas about how to improve the Sword nurturing boxter, but he would have to wait till his skills were improved too.


    ~SHING~


    Afternoon Pine let out a cry, as if a child urging their parent to hurry.


    "Don''t worry, you are next." Lin Mu assured the sword. "Your box needs a different process that needs more work, so I left it forst." He spoke.


    ~humm~


    The sword calmed down after that and gentlyid on a pillow nearby, fully intending to watch the process.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu rested for a bit and let himself rx before starting the work again.


    The starting step was the same, involving him cutting the cuboid and carving away the two sections to make the cavity.


    But after that, Lin Mu needed to utilize several different materials.


    For the Sword Nurturing Box intended for Afternoon Pine, Lin Mu decided to use materials of all elements that he had. Since the Qi skill of Afternoon Pine could amodate basically all elements, Lin Mu decided to improve upon it.


    He hoped that being nurtured with all these materials, Afternoon Pine would be able to improve its strength of the Qi skill.


    Thus, Lin Mu took out five elemental materials that were quitemon in Weapon Forging and Immortal Tool Refinement.


    These were none other than various elemental crystals!


    Fire Vein Immortal Crystal, Water Vein Immortal Crystal, Wood Vein Immortal Crystal, Earth Vein Immortal Crystal, and Metal Vein Immortal Crystal were what he used.


    These crystals could be artificially manufactured, thus there wasn''t ack of them. Lin Mu had tens of these in the storage too, most of them being obtained from the spatial storage treasures of the people he had killed.


    Even Huangyu Shiyi had these in his storage and provided Lin Mu with the bulk that was needed for the Sword Nurturing Box.


    Being abundant didn''t mean that they were cheap though. As each of these crystals was worth tens of Mid Grade immortal stones. Working with them was also not simple, with each crystal requiring a different process.


    And this was just half of it, as there were not one but five types of them.


    Lin Mu needed two to three hours to refine each of the crystal types before they were usable for the Sword Nurturing Box. And once they were refined, Lin Mu needed to carve a unique formation into each of them too.


    These formations wouldplement each other and link up to form a new array.


    It was called as the Five Harmony Array and was used in multiple ces ranging from city wide arrays, immortal tools, as well as refinement arrays. The function of the array was to modte the energy flow of the five elements and amplify their effects.


    Each element could amplify the effect of another.


    For example, wood nourished fire, fire nourished earth, earth nourished metal, metal nourished water and water nourished wood.


    Such was the cycle of the five moral elementals and as long as it stayed in harmony, it would bring for the optimum effects.


    Once Lin Mu had finished refining and imprinting the crystals with the right formations, it was time for him to add them to the Immortal stone sections. This time, he couldn''t mold it in the same way he had done for the Bleak Frost Crystal.


    Instead, heid them in five sections that were mirrored on both sections of the box. Each of the five sections had five crystals of each element ced in it. This amplified the effects of the Five Harmony Array, since there were now multiple of them within the cavity.


    Just this process alone took Lin Mu over thirty hours toplete, showing just how vast the difference could be depending on the process involved.


    Once all the crystals were fitted, a wave of energy spread from the two sections.


    "They''re finally working properly¡­" Lin Mu was relieved.


    He had actually made a couple of mistakes while fitting the crystals and had to fix themter. Thankfully, the end result was good, and there seemed to be no issues.


    With the inner section of the Sword Nurturing boxpleted, all Lin Mu needed to do was to make the casing again before it waspleted.

 Chapter 1592 Great Results For A Beginner

    Making the second Sword Nurturing box took Lin Mu a total of fifty hours aspared to the first that only took twenty hours.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    But having finished the work, Lin Mu was certainly pleased.


    "Go on, try it out." Lin Mu spoke to the double edged sword.


    ~HUMM~


    Afternoon Pine eagerly flew up andid in the Sword Nurturing Box.


    ~CLACK~


    Lin Mu closed its lid and let the sword enjoy its effects. At the same time, he used his immortal sense to verify if all the circuits were working perfectly and that the energy flow was stable.


    "Perfect!" Lin Mu was satisfied with his work.


    In fact, it was actually very impressive.


    If any Immortal Weapon forger were to see this and know that this was Lin Mu''s fresh attempt at making a Sword Nurturing Box, they would be stunned.


    Both of the Sword Nurturing Boxes were good enough to be ssified at the Mid Grade.


    For a beginner, this was already a big achievement.


    After all, the normal result of a beginner was usually a failure. And yet, Lin Mu had shown sess in both his attempts.


    While part of it could be attributed to great materials, it was also Lin Mu''s skill. After all, Lin Mu had quite literally used the best possible material, The Peak Grade immortal stone for this.


    This made the mid grade product look a bit bad, but one must not forget that it was something that could be improvedter on.


    It was not a fixed product and would be worked on again, once Lin Mu felt like he had the skills to do so.


    "I now need to rest too¡­" Lin Mu felt tired after having worked on the two Sword Nurturing boxes.


    It did need a lot of his focus after all, and had tired him out mentally.


    Even if he was technically asleep, his mind was still awake and at work. He now needed to let his mind rest.


    "Resting the mind is important too. You should leave the Sleepscape and just sleep normally now." Xukong advised.


    "Yeah¡­ I intended to do that." Lin Mu agreed.


    Having decided that, Lin Mu simply let go of his consciousness and fell into a deep sleep.


    And while he recuperated, his beasts and weapons were doing the same.


    The two swords were being nurtured while Little Shrubby and the twin snakes were cultivating.


    With the increase in the Wood elemental immortal Qi, Little Shrubby could actively absorb it now. His Fume Wood Panther Bloodline allowed him to use it and greatly boosted his healing ability as well as vitality.


    As for the twins, they were simply assimting the Yin and Yang Qi that they had consumed before. While they could absorb attribute-less Immortal Qi too, it wasn''t as effective as the Yin and Yang Qi to them.<novelnext></novelnext>


    In fact, Yin and Yang Qi wereponents of attribute-less immortal Qi too. They only thing was that they were in a bnce and only by breaking this would they be separated out. But this also resulted in the loss of a lot of energy.


    Thus, cultivating using attribute-less Immortal Qi wasn''t as efficient for the twins. For them, the more Imbnced Qis were better.


    All the other elemental Qis were imbnced Qis. They had varying amounts of yin and yangponent in them, making it easier to split them out.


    For example, fire element had higher amounts of yang than yin and the opposite was true for water.


    Of course, with the twins'' appetite, it was easy for them to just consume other things in bulk. They could still break them down into yin and yang the same.


    The beasts weren''t the only ones improving in the Sleepscape either, as the nts were doing the same. While each of the nts had grown bigger, they weren''t done improving yet. The Immortal Apple Tree continued to absorb immortal Qi and Wood elemental immortal Qi.


    This led to the flowers on it to transform.


    Their centers swelled up while the petals fell up. Slowly but steadily, they were growing into the form of small apples. Fine differences could be seen between the young apples too. Some of them would stay green while the others would turn red.


    They would be turning into the two types of apples that Lin Mu had seen before.


    Then was the Wood Spirit Tulip that had reached the Immortal realm a while back. It was now producing more Pure Wood Essence, having increased its flower heads. Its main flower head was the biggest of course, and produced the most Pure Wood Essence.


    What should have taken it years to grow now merely took days.


    The addition of the Violet Mystic Life tree, as well as the Immortal Essence Crystal mine, had given it this boost. Plus, the addition of the Immortal Stone Source vein had helped it improve its cultivation base too.


    The better its cultivation base was, the more it would be able to produce the Pure Wood Essence.


    It continued to sway gently in the air while absorbing both types of energies with its body.


    The Purple Sickle Amaranth was in a simr state, though it was mostly absorbing the immortal Qi.


    But in its normal metabolism, it would convert a part of the Immortal Qi into Wood Elemental Qi, thereby raising its concentration in the air.


    Each of the nts formed a progressive cycle, promoting the growth of each other and providing Lin Mu with more resources.


    The owner of it all was currently in a dreamless sleep.


    All his worries were gone for now, and his mind was recovering.


    Lin Mu slept like this for a week before he finally opened his eyes.


    ~YAWN~


    Letting out a loud yawn, Lin Mu stretched his body.


    He called out Little Shrubby and the twins before they all had a nice breakfast.


    Though it was unknown if it was really the time for breakfast or not. It was hard to tell the time in the Deste Blood Battlefield after all.


    To the small family though, it was just being together that mattered.

 Chapter 1593 The Investigations Begin

    While Lin Mu and his beastpanions were having their meal, another set of events was happening far away from them.


    Arge man with horns was standing upon a broken ridge. A frown was on his face, while an aura of confusion surrounded him. Behind him, several men wearing the armor of the Holy Topaz Dynasty were working.


    They seemed to be doing several different tasks. Some were gathering soil, stones and other materials from the ground, while some were analyzing the change in the topography. There were scorch marks, ravines and sh marks left everywhere in the area, which these men seemed to be analyzing.


    "General Niu, the initial reports were correct." One of the men wearing the armor of the Holy Topaz Dynasty approached the horned man.


    "That was expected. But what more did you find? Any traces of a Demon?" General Niu Juo questioned the investigator.


    "Unfortunately, it is not possible to do that. There are remnants of both Yang and Yin energies left in this area. Even if there were traces of a demon, they have either been mixed in with them or erased due to them." The investigator answered.


    "Hmmm¡­ I see." General Niu Juo looked around the devastatednd, trying to imagine what must have happened here.


    The day the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion had happened, he had felt it too. Or rather, most people in the Deste Blood Battlefield had felt it. There were many theories as to who might have been behind it, but no confirmation had been reached.


    It didn''t help that the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion had helped to erase the traces of the being undergoing it too.


    There were now great doubts cast on the ruling powers of the world about the fact that Demons were still alive. And not just that, but the fact that a Demon hadsted long enough to possibly reach the Transcendent Immortal realm.


    This was a thing of great concern. After all, the demons were one of the greatest threats that the humans of the Rust Sky world had ever faced. Their reappearance would basically mean that the existence of the humans was now at a stake.


    Especially since it was possibly a Transcendent Immortal Demon that would be on the same level as the Rulers of this world.


    Even now, the bnce of powers was in delicate equilibrium. The Huiqing Empire and the Dao Wind Empire had an alliance of sorts on the surface, but their rtions with the Holy Topaz Dynasty and the Eight Kingdoms alliance were more that of neutrality.


    There was always a chance that the other two powers might take this opportunity to flip the odds in their favor by using this new variable. Fishing in muddied waters was a tactic as old as war itself, after all.


    If another Transcendent Immortal was added to the mix, it was quite likely that this bnce would fall apart. Not to mention, it would be someone that would be opposed to the human race itself.


    Thus, in order to verify the facts and prepare themselves, the powers had decided to investigate this matter with great prudence.


    The disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree was already a big pain to the Holy Topaz Dynasty, but now the same culprit was behind a Transcendent Tribtion too.<novelnext></novelnext>


    If this had happened a few yearster or before, the powers might not have been this tense. But all this was urring when the Tournament of the Guardian beasts was close by. Only a few months were left till then, and the number of people arriving would be massive.


    It won''t just be people from the Rust Sky world after all, there will be several visitors from other worlds too. It wasn''t unusual for envoys from various worlds toe and observe these tournaments.


    And if something bad happened during it due to the overlook of the local powers, they would lose face. The visiting powers would love for something like that to happen, as it would mean that the local powers would fall out of favor with the temples of the Four Guardian beasts.


    The Temples were always an independent and neutral faction that all ruling powers had to respect.


    They seldom interfered in the matters of the world directly, and it was mostly when there was something threatening the existence of the entire world. In fact, it was a well known fact that the temples of the Four Guardian beasts had actually done nothing when the Demons were attacking the humans.


    To them, the Demon race was the same as the Human race and their conflict was fine.


    After all, among the worshipers of the Four Guardian beasts, there were plenty of demons too.


    They had their temples on several demon worlds too!


    One could see from this just how far their influence spread. Falling out of the favor of the Temples of the Four Guardian beasts was not something any power wanted. Even if they might be the rulers of their worlds, their might did not evene close to a fraction of what was possible for the Temples.


    Those who truly lost favor with the temple would find themselves being cut off from the temples archives and resources. Not just that, but other powers that were in favor of the temples would also not deal with them to keep face with the temple.


    This would lead to the istion of the powers who had fallen out of favor.


    The tournament was a big event for the temple, thus anything happening around it that would threaten its work would not be seen as good.


    The Holy Topaz Dynasty was thus nervous about it and wanted to deal with it as soon as possible. After all, the Demon had technically appeared on their territory. Thus, they decided to do all they could, even going as far as to give a general of another empire their troops tomand!


    Though Niu Juo was not liking it at all, as he was unable to find much.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But just as he was letting out a sigh, he felt a new presence!

 Chapter 1594 Grandmaster Alchemist Lao Joins The Investigation

    Niu Juo had strong senses and felt the presence of a strong immortal approaching them.


    He turned to the back and looked up at the sky.


    The investigator who saw his actions was a bit surprised and followed his line of sight.


    "What are you¡­" Just as the man was about to ask though, he saw a faint dot appearing in the distance.


    It was approaching them at a great speed and was rapidly growing in size. In just a few seconds, it turned into a forty meter long wolf with wings!


    "A beast?!" The investigator became alert.


    But just as he was about to rm the others, they saw a person sitting on the back of the wolf. Niu Juo narrowed his eyes and saw the old man. He was a bit surprised but did not act, letting themnd.


    "Who are you? State your identity!" The investigator and the other people of the Holy Topaz Dynasty became alert.


    ~step~step~step~


    The old man got off the wolf''s back and walked towards them without speaking.


    "General Niu Juo, should we¡ª" The investigator was about to ask the general to restrain the old man when Niu Juo spoke.


    "Junior Niu Juo pays his respect to Grandmaster Alchemist Lao!" General Niu Juo cupped his fists in salute while bowing his head.


    Hearing this, the investigator was stunned. He repeated the words of Niu Juo in his mind before looking back at the old man again. A momentter, some information appeared in his mind and his expression fell.


    ~THUD~


    "Investigator Dui pays his respect to the Grandmaster!" The investigator directly kneeled on the ground and cupped his hands in salute.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The other soldiers that heard it did the same. Kneeling and greeting him in a simr way.


    "Hoho¡­ Seems like the juniors of the Holy Topaz Dynasty are well informed too." Old Man Laoughed.


    "Forgive me, Grandmaster. I couldn''t recognize you at first¡ª" The investigator hurriedly said.


    "It''s fine. Your generation is far too young to have seen me." Old Man Lao didn''t mind. "So you are the Steel Horned General Niu Juo." He said while looking at the half Orc man.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    "Yes, Grandmaster." Niu Juo said respectfully.


    "You can be at ease with me. We''re here for the same thing." Old Man Lao replied.


    Hearing this, Niu Juo raised a brow before feeling relived.


    "Did they send¡­" Niu Juo asked in a low voice but was interrupted.


    "Yes." Old Man Lao responded. "And not just them, the Emperor of the Holy Topaz Dynasty has asked me the same." He stated, before taking out a scroll.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The scroll floated up from his hand and automatically opened up.


    ~SHUA~


    A yellow light shone from it, as the crest of the Holy Topaz Emperor became visible.


    Upon seeing the decree, all the soldiers kneeled and kowtowed their heads, as if the emperor himself was present there.


    "By the decree of his majesty, the Holy Topaz Emperor, Grandmaster Lao is hereby appointed as the Chief Investigator and is vested with the powers tomand the army of the Holy Topaz Empire!" A voice could be hearding from the decree.


    General Niu Juo was pleased to see this.


    ''Looks like the Emperor managed to find a way to send help after all. Grandmaster Alchemist Lao is a neutral party and can operate in the Holy Topaz Empire too.'' The general thought.


    To him, the current task was quite difficult. Not only was he dealing with a being that was possibly one of the strongest existences in the world, but also with information that was wholly unknown to him.


    Not to mention, he was also not fit for work like this.


    He was a man of action rather than nning and observation.


    Send him into a battle sure, he''d do it dly, but careful search and investigation was not his forte. His skills weren''t specialized in this either. If not for that fact that he was already here, The Huiqing Emperor would not have asked him to investigate.


    The same was the case with the people of the Holy Topaz Empire.


    Originally, they had been assigned to him under the guise of ''guiding'' him. In reality, it was just to monitor and spy on him, but after the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, the appearance of the Demon and then the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion, they had to employ the man to investigate.


    They didn''t have a choice either, as he was the only strong immortal who might be able to handle all this.


    But now that Old Man Lao was here, it was all simplified.


    Not only was the man an immortal with a high cultivation base, he was also highly knowledgeable and respected across several worlds. He was an ancestor level figure for the people of the Rust Sky world too, being the senior of all current emperors!


    While his cultivation base might be less than the emperor, his skills as an alchemist gave him a special status. The pills made by him were prized and could greatly help one in a pinch.


    Even the emperors would have to greatly request him to make any pills.


    This was the reason why the Holy Topaz Emperor directly gave him such a high authority. The man had both the skills and status to demand it. Plus, his neutrality made the emperor feel safe too.


    "It''s great that you are here, Grandmaster. I was at my wits end. This is all beyond me." General Niu Juo stated.


    "That''s fine. Not everyone can be good at everything." Old Man Lao was happy with the honesty of the general. "Now then, can I get the reports and everything else you all have learned so far?" he asked.


    "At once, Grandmaster!" The investigator said before the others hurried to bring all the information they had gathered so far.


    A camp was quickly set up, allowing Old Man Lao to work properly.


    "This is certainly interesting¡­" Old Man Lao said after having looked through it all.

 Chapter 1595 Cannot Be Coincidences

    Old Man Lao could see several bits of information in the documents that seemed unusual to him.


    ''Emperor Feng said that the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion is the most dangerous one out of them all. Thus if the Demon were to know that he was about to go through one, he was probably preparing.


    And considering the properties of the Violet Mystic Life tree, perhaps the demon relied on the tree''s vitality to endure this. After all the Tree was alreadyparable to a Peak Immortal existence.'' Old Man Lao thought after reading it all.


    This seemed to be the only possible exnation to him all.


    He did think that it might be someone else that might have undergone the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion. But it would be far too much of a coincidence for there to be multiple peak grade immortals in the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    Perhaps if the Violet Mystic Life Tree had never appeared, he might have thought it was possible. But with the tree being there too, it was now highly unlikely.


    ''They even chose to have it in the Deste Blood Battlefield knowing that it might catch the attention of the emperors and other peak immortals right away if they did this in the Rust Sky world.'' Old Man Lao concluded.


    Having learned this, he knew that there wasn''t much they would be able to find here now.


    "Looks like we need to expand the scope of search." Old Man Lao said to others that were waiting for him to be done.


    "We already have some areas checked, Grandmaster. There''s nothing within the five hundred kilometer radius at least." The investigator spoke.


    "That''s not enough. We don''t just need to look in the Deste Blood Battlefield, but also in the Rust Sky World." Old Man Lao said much to their surprise.


    "Outside too?" General Niu Juo furrowed his brows. "Why?" he asked.


    "All this¡­ the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree and the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion were not coincidences. All of this was well nned and possibly have been read for a long time." Old Man Lao answered.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "This¡­" The investigator was rather surprised hearing this. "How can one predict all this?" he asked.


    "Peak immortals will know when they are going to have their Transcendent Immortal Tribtion. It is likely that the demon had raised the Violet Mystic Tree for a few thousand years for this very use." Old Man Lao replied.


    "The demon used the tree for the tribtion?" General Niu Juo didn''t expect this.


    "Yes¡­ The Violet Mystic Life Tree is known for its vitality and ability to extend Lifespans. But at the same time, it can also endure a lot. My best guess is that the demon used the Tree to offset the damage from the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion¡­ if it were a normal one it would have been fine, but the one that urred here was anything but simple." Old Man Lao exined before telling them more about the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion.


    Learning that there was a tribtion like this, they were stunned.


    "No wonder¡­ I felt afraid." General Niu Juo said, remembering the event.


    "Even I would feel afraid. So it''s normal." Old Man Lao replied. "No immortal would be safe from the Grand Tempest Transcendent Immortal Tribtion. It is the most dangerous one out of them all."


    "I see¡­ Looks like we got to see an event that we may never see again in our lives." Genial Niu Juo muttered.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Exactly." Old Man Lao agreed. "Even I who has seen many worlds, had never heard of this until very recently." He revealed.


    "Then what should we do next, Grandmaster?" The investigator asked. "How much farther do to think we should expand our scope of search? The entire Deste Blood Battlefield?" he asked.


    "I don''t think the Demon would stay here." Old Man Lao replied. "It would not make sense for it to do so. It will probably leave the Deste Blood Battlefield once it has recuperated enough." He added.


    "Then should we block the exit?" The investigator asked.


    "That won''t do much other than trouble the others." Old Man Lao shook his head. "Do you really think the Demon would not have other ways of leaving this ce? Especially one that is a Transcendent Immortal now?" he questioned.


    "That¡­ does make sense." The investigator nodded his head.


    "For now, inform the Royal court about this. Even if the Demon does take another route to leave the Deste Blood Battlefield, he will still arrive within the Holy Topaz Continent. Thus we might have a chance to catch him then." Old Man Lao stated. "And if he tried to leave the continent, the Emperor would know when he passes over the border." He added.


    Hearing this, the investigator''s eyes shone.


    "Yes, I''ll inform them right away." The man said before taking his leave.


    General Niu Juo was still thinking about it all and wondered how long it would take them to find anything.


    "What should I do till then, Grandmaster?" The general asked.


    His skills didn''t really help here much, thus he would basically be sitting without doing anything.


    "We still need to look through the Deste Blood Battlefield. There might still be other clues left behind here. Or maybe we might even get some witnesses." Old Man Lao replied.


    "Hmm, should I go around directly then?" The man asked calmly.


    "Yes, that might just be better for you." Old Man Lao said before handing the man a Jade Slip. "Keep this with you. It''ll allow me to track you as well as contact you."


    Seeing the jade slip, Niu Juo was surprised as he knew just how valuable it was.


    ''A cross-worldmunication Jade slip?'' Niu Juo recognized.


    It was a special type of Jade Slip that could not onlymunicate between minor nes and the main worlds but also between multiple differents!


    This was something that couldn''t be bought even if one had the cash for it.


    "Isn''t this too much, Grandmaster?" General Niu Juo asked.

 Chapter 1596 Extra Mission For Niu Juo

    General Niu Juo''s questions was valid since there were othermunication jade slips that worked within the Deste Blood Battlefield too. He had one with him too. After all, that''s how he had managed to contact the people outside.


    The one that Old Man Lao had given him was several levels above it.


    "I''m giving that to you just in case¡­ you end up in another ne. There''s no saying with a Transcendent Immortal." Old Man Lao replied.


    "You think there''ll be a spatial opening?" General Niu Juo asked.


    "It is possible. Or maybe it could be a teleportation array, who knows? That Jade Slip will be crucial then. And if you don''t end up needing it, just return it to meter." Old Man Lao replied in the end.


    Niu Juo was no stranger to spatial travel and other idents associated with it. He had also been to a few excursions in the past, and knew just how dangerous it could be. In fact, that was his main work.


    The Rust Sky World was in a time of peace thus the work of an army and general was limited.


    What would they do if they didn''t have work on their own worlds?


    Go to other worlds of course!


    Thus Niu Juo would routinely go to various worlds as per the orders of the emperor and had done so for a few thousand years. But even then, he wasn''t as experienced as Old Man Lao.


    Each of the empires usually had two generals. One general would always stay within the empire and be ready if a battle breaks while the other would go out on missions and tasks assigned by the emperor.


    Even now, there was a general waiting in the Huiqing Empire. Niu Juo himself was actually on a ''leave''.


    Unfortunately for him, what was supposed to be his ''private time'' was now upied by the current set of events. It wasn''t like he could say no to it either. The matter was too serious after all. At the very least, he knew that he would be wellpensated for thister on.


    And not just by the Huiqing Empire, but also the Holy Topaz Empire since he was helping them out as of now too.


    "I''ll take my leave then, Grandmaster. I''ll keep you informed on everything." General Niu Juo stated.


    "Mmhmm¡­" Old Man Lao nodded his head, but then recalled something. "There''s something else I want you to look into, while you''re out there." He added.


    "What Grandmaster?" The General asked in doubt.


    "The Holy Topaz Emperor didn''t say it outright to me, but I think he very well intended for me to look for his Son¡­ The Eleventh Prince Huangyu Shiyi." Old Man Lao said in a straight tone.


    Hearing that name, the steel horned general frowned.


    "That prince¡­ I''ve seen him before." General Niu Juo replied.


    "You have?" Old man Lao raised his brows.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yes¡­ it was back in the Grey te Ravines. Just before the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life tree. I was there looking for some things for myself." General Niu Juo spoke. "I didn''t interact with the child, but he did not seem stable."


    "Oh? What exactly was he doing?" Old Man Lao had heard a bit about the so called Trash Prince too, but didn''t know the true reality of it all.


    "He was ughtering some cultivators he came across. It didn''t seem like they were able to fight back either." Niu Juo answered.


    "Hmm¡­ so the rumors are true. He''s turned ruthless after gaining power." Old Man Lao muttered.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "That might be an understatement." General Niu Juo shook his head. "At the very least, I can say with confidence that he is not suited to be in any administrative position in the future." He stated.


    "I see¡­ no wonder the emperor is concerned. While the child was weak and is now strong, he has lost his mentality on the way. One can be ruthless to one''s enemies, but not to everyone." Old Man Lao said with a bit of disappointment.


    "I''ll do as you say, Grandmaster. But will he listen to me?" Niu Juo questioned.


    "I''m sure the Emperor will be fine if the prince suffers a bit." Old Man Lao answered. "Break his legs if you have to, but bring him back." He said coldly.


    "Very well, grandmaster." The steel horned general cupped his hands in salute before taking his leave.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The man flew away in the distance, while Old Man Lao was left to his thoughts.


    After a minute or so, he took out a small bracelet. It had a t hexagonal te on which a translucent pearl was embedded.


    "Did Huangyu Shiyi really obtain a way to hide his traces? Even the Imperial Tracker is not working." Old Man Lao muttered seeing there was still no change in the bracelet. ''The kid''s really rebellious huh¡­ hiding and running away from his house.'' He thought.


    Old Man Lao would have given the Imperial Tracking Bracelet to Niu Juo, if it weren''t for the fact that it really wasn''t working.


    Every prince and other heir had their bodies being tracked by their family for safety purposes. Though some were more overlooked than the others. The eleventh prince being one of them.


    Even if he was tracked, there weren''t really many that would care where he went.


    It was only after his sudden rise did they became proactive. Though by then, the prince was hiding his tracks too. Of course his family was not pleased, but they couldn''t do much other than scold him a few times.


    And now that he was out roaming in the Deste Blood Battlefield, things only became more difficult.


    ''While the emperor does not show it in the surface, he certainly wants the prince back. He should also know about the character of the prince, so is he expecting assign him to abat role instead?'' Old Man Lao couldn''t help but wonder.


    What he would have never thought was that the reason why they couldn''t find him was due to the fact that the prince had been dead all along.

 Chapter 1597 The Saintess Brings A Booklet

    While Niu Juo went on the search for nonexistent targets, the true person behind it had just finished a massive meal.


    Lin Mu was unaware that there were now people looking for the Eleventh Prince, though it was going to be impossible. After all, the prince had long since turned to ashes and his traces were sent into the void.


    With that done, perhaps only divination might tell what had happened here.


    Though it also helped that the prince himself had been hiding his traces from others too. One could even say, the prince had made it easier for Lin Mu to avoid being found out.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "That was a good meal." Lin Mu said as he patted his belly.


    The twins finally got to try some of Little Shrubby''s food properly and it was safe to say they were pleased.


    They were now all coiled up, digesting all that they had eaten. Though it wasn''t going to take them more than a few hours to digest it all. Lin Mu was the same after all.


    Having finished his meal though, Lin Mu was reminded of the Saintess.


    ''She hasn''te for a while¡­'' Lin Mu thought before recalling that she had said she''d be observing. ''Did she see me obtain the ring too?'' he wondered.


    While Lin Mu knew the rings were invisible, he didn''t know if it was the same when it was not on his hand. That was the first time it had left his hand after all, thus he didn''t know if the invisibility still applied.


    On top of it all, Lin Mu felt a little nervous about meeting the Saintess again.


    After all, since theirst conversation, a lot of things had changed and he had done some concerning things too. Lin Mu deliberated over it for a while before deciding to deal with it directly.


    ''Best to just talk to her, rather than think about it too much¡­'' Lin Mu concluded.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu called out. "Saintess, are you there?"


    He then waited with bated breath, wondering how long it''ll take for the Saintess to respond.


    Minute after minute passed by, but there was still no response.


    Ten minutester, Lin Mu spoke again.


    "Saintess?" But even then there was no response. "Did she leave the ne?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    An hour had passed by, but the Saintess had still not appeared, making Lin Mu a bit worried.


    "Can you sense her Senior?" Lin Mu finally decided to ask Xukong.


    "Rather than me, I think the Twins might have a better chance at finding her." Xukong suggested. "I can''t do much from here after all."


    "That''s true." Lin Mu nodded his head before talking to the twins. "Can you call the Saintess?" he asked.


    ~HISS~


    The twins looked at him with tilted heads before finally nodding in understanding.


    ~HISS~ HISS~<novelnext></novelnext>


    They then closed their eyes and seemed to be doing something. Lin Mu couldn''t tell what, but knew that it must be something the Saintess had put on them.


    ~SHUA~


    Finally, a faint trace of energy rose from their body and disappeared into the air. Lin Mu saw the Taiji Symbol appear on the heads of the twins too. It was the same mark that the Saintess had put on them.


    Lin Mu couldn''t tell where the energy went as it was too fast for his perception too. But after a few seconds, he sensed the space tremble a bit.


    ~HUALA~


    Then finally, the air near them flickered and the figure of the Saintess appeared. Though looking at her, Lin Mu found something different. This time she wasn''t barehanded. She actually brought something back with her.


    "Did you leave the ne, Saintess?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    The Saintess though, didn''t answer him right away. First, she confirmed that the twins were fine and then responded.


    "Yes¡­ I was outside." The Saintess said, feeling relieved that the twins were fine.


    "I was calling for an hour, but you didn''t respond. So I was worried. I''m d that you''re fine." Lin Mu replied.


    "You concerned for me?" The Saintess was surprised. "What''s going to happen to me? In this world?" she found it a bit strange too.


    After all, she was a celestial, and there wasn''t really anything that could threaten her in this world. Sure, her cultivation base might be restricted due to the limits of the world, but if there was really something that would threaten her, it was not an issue to release all her restrains.


    Upon hearing the Saintess, Lin Mu thought over his words and realized that he was being silly.


    "Ah, of course¡­" Lin Mu smiled wryly. "It''s just that you always responded quick enough. That''s why¡­"


    "It''s fine." The Saintess waved her free hand. "I was going to return soon anyways." She said before extending her other hand that held an object.


    "A book?" Lin Mu looked at her hand. "What is it?" he asked.


    "Take it. I think you''ll want to know." She said before handing him the book.


    Lin Mu read through the book and discovered that it was actually an information manual. And not just any information manual, but one about the uing Tournament of the Guardian beast temple!


    It had information about who was going to participate as well as which powers were going to arrive in the Rust Sky world to observe it. There were even sections that showed the current ongoing bets.


    People had wasted no time to start betting, even if the tournament was still a few months away.


    "They already have something like this ready? Isn''t the registration of the participants open until the very end?" Lin Mu said after reading it.


    "These booklets are selling everywhere now. People are getting ready for the tournament, it seems." The Saintess replied. "As for the participants in the booklet, they seem to be the ones that have already registered or are well known." She added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu said, feeling a bit surprised.


    "Are you thinking of participating in it?" The Saintess asked, feeling curious.


    "I did intend to, but I have another task to do before that." Lin Mu answered.

 Chapter 1598 The Saintess Intrigue

    The Saintess felt intrigued as to what it was that Lin Mu wanted to do.


    ''Now that I think of it¡­ he feels changed.'' The Saintess suddenly thought.


    She gazed deeply at Lin Mu, finding several differences.


    ''He doesn''t have the same burning desire?'' The Saintess quickly discovered.


    It was a change that others wouldn''t be able to tell normally, but for the Saintess it was only a matter of nce.


    "What do you want to do?" The Saintess asked. "Also what else have you done in this time? You seem changed." She added.


    It was the question that Lin Mu knew was going to be asked, and was prepared for it.


    "I found the object of my desire and cleared it." Lin Mu said simply.


    "I see¡­ that makes sense." The Saintess nodded her head.


    "Is it that obvious?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "To others? Perhaps not. To me? As clear as the day." The Saintess replied. "I''ve seen tens of billions of people over millennial. You get perceptive to them after a certain point." She revealed.


    "Is that so¡­ I guess I have another thing to look forward to." Lin Mu replied. "Though for now, I should just focus on the tasks at hand."


    "So what is it that you want to do instead of the tournament?" The Saintess asked again.


    "I have the location of an Immortal Stone mine." Lin Mu answered.


    "And immortal stone mine? A new one?" She asked in doubt.


    "Yes¡­ it was only recently discovered." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "And you wish to mine there? Won''t there be others, if it has been discovered?" The Saintess asked next.


    "There won''t be others. Those that knew about it are all dead." Lin Mu said, and the Saintess quickly picked up on the hint.


    "I see. It is indeed rare to find an untouched Immortal Stone mine." The Saintess couldn''t find fault with Lin Mu for it.


    After all, most cultivators would do the same if they were given the chance.


    "But yeah, if you wish to mine there it does make sense that it''ll take you a few months." The Saintess said after thinking for a bit.


    "Umm, depending on its size. It shouldn''t take me more than a month." Lin Mu responded. "The one I cleaned out earlier didn''t even take two weeks." He added.


    Hearing this, the Saintess raised her brows.


    "What do you mean, cleaned one out earlier?" The Saintess had an idea, but doubted if that was possible.


    To this, Lin Mu didn''t answer directly. But instead showed it, as it was better than giving a long exnation.


    ~THUD~<novelnext></novelnext>


    In the next second, a ten meter tall chunk of High Grade immortal Stone appeared in front of Lin Mu.


    Seeing it, the Saintess confirmed her guess. She was truly stunned though, as it was highly unlikely that Lin Mu had found not one but two Immortal Stone mines in this brief time.


    "Looks like you''ve had a good time in my absence." The Saintess said with a hint of teasing.


    "It was certainly fortunate." Lin Mu replied. "But I can get more now."


    "If it is a mine then it is indeed preferable to the tournament for now." The Saintess nodded.


    While the tournament was important, the Saintess reckoned Lin Mu didn''t really need their help since he had Xukong backing him. Most people went there looking for the inheritance of the four guardian beasts after all.


    "Yes. Though I don''t know if we''ll be able to head to the Huiqing Empire in that time. Clearing out the mine, returning to Middle Fort city and then getting a teleportation array booking to the Dao Wind Empire." Lin Mu estimated.


    "I don''t think you''ll have to worry about the Teleportation array. Due to the Tournament, they are going to increase the frequency. They will now activate the array every week." The Saintess informed.


    "That''ll definitely make things easier." Lin Mu was happy with this.


    While the tournament wasn''t his top priority, it would still do him well to get some more information, and perhaps even a reward. If not that, getting to battle other experts of the Rust Sky World would still be a good experience.


    For some people, the battles were more important than the rewards too.


    After all, there were quite literally thousands of people who had been preparing for the tournament for hundreds of years in seclusion.


    Thus whenever a tournament happened, several hidden experts woulde out to test their mettle.


    "We should hurry then." Lin Mu said and woke up Little Shrubby.


    The beast had fallen asleep after the meal and hadn''t even stirred when the Saintess appeared.


    "We going somewhere?" Little Shrubby asked while yawning.


    "Time to go to the second mine." Lin Mu replied.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Ah, okay~" Little Shrubby said while scratching his ears.


    He did a long stretch before growing to a slightly bigger form.


    "Will you apany us, Saintess?" Lin Mu asked. "Or will you do your own work?"


    "I''ll stay this time." The Saintess replied.


    She wished to see just how Lin Mu was going to clear out an entire mine in that time. But more than this, the Saintess was interested in the changes in Lin Mu. She couldn''t put her finger on it, but she felt like he had be stronger somehow.


    ''Even if his cultivation base hasn''t grown, his ''presence'' surely has.'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    Lin Mu got ready for the departure and gathered his things from the temporary base. He was going to leave this ce for good now after all. After he obtained the Source vein of the second mine, Lin Mu would have no need to stay in the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    His goal of obtaining body cultivation resources was also satisfied, as he had not only obtained the Violet Mystic Life tree, but also several other herbs. Killing the prince had contributed to that too, as the man had tons of the herbs and pills in his storage.

 Chapter 1599 The Grey Slate Ravines

    A red blur traveled across the Blood Strewn ns, almost melding in with the rest of the topography.


    This was none other than Little Shrubby and Lin Mu.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    They had left their temporary base several days ago and had been traveling nonstop since then. Unlike the first Immortal Stone mine, the second one that Huangyu Shiyi had already been to was very far.


    ording to the map that Lin Mu had obtained, the mine was located in the Grey te Ravines and the prince had been killing people there before. He had done that to prevent anyone froming there, and also be afraid to meet him.


    It was safe to say, his intentions had really worked and there was barely anyone that dared to enter that location now.


    Even if the prince had already left it, the others didn''t know that. To them, as long as the prince wasn''t officially seen leaving the Deste Blood Battlefield, it would be the same as him being there and waiting for them.


    No one wanted to take the chances and would rather just avoid the ce instead.


    The prince''s attempt at intimidation was now working in Lin Mu''s favor as he would now be free to go there and not worry about others noticing it.


    ''Unlike the first mine, this one is also a lot more essible.'' Lin Mu noted.


    The first mine was locate over two kilometers deep in the ground. And this was on top of being masked by the baleful energies that were condensed on top of it. Even for a strong immortal, it would have been very difficult to sense the mine.


    And even if they did, they would still have a hard time reaching it.


    But in the case of the second mine it was a bit different.


    While it was also hidden underground, the way to ess it was different. Its entrance was located at the side of a ravine that were plenty in the Grey te ravines. These ravines were of varying depths, with some that went over a kilometer deep into the ground too.


    Thus if someone flew over these ravines, they wouldn''t be able to sense anything. But if they directly descended into them and then searched, they might have a chance at finding something.


    But with howrge and expansive the Grey te Ravines were, on top of being dangerous, the chances of finding the Immortal Stone mine were further reduced. If it were not for the man, Lin Mu would have been unable to find it too.


    After days of travel, they finally entered the border of the Grey te Ravines.


    From where on, the color of thendscape changed once more.


    From its earlier bloody red color, it had switched to a lifeless grey color with splotches and fragments of red mixed in it.


    The Grey te ravines were mostlyped of te stones, as its name implied. Though this was no normal te, but Deep Bowel te. It was said that a te of this kind was highlypressed in the bowels of the earth before rising up to the surface.<novelnext></novelnext>


    There were rumors that the Grey te Ravines used to be covered with rolling ins once upon a time on which abundant rivers flowed. But over time, the ins were eroded away and the te under it was revealed.


    Of course, this discovery led to the utilization of the material, and further excavation was done. As the years passed, this process continued, and it eventually turned into a tend. But then, when the Deste Blood Battlefield was formed, thisnd was left alone.


    After many topographical changes, thend shifted and cracked before turning into the ravines of today.


    "This is certainly quite vast. I can see why the Immortal Stone mine had been left undiscovered for so long." Lin Mu said while gazing at the hundreds of ravines that spread beyond the horizon.


    ~SHUA~


    The figure of the Saintess also appeared next to him, having followed him directly this time.


    "It is indeed a peculiarnd. I haven''t seen many like it¡­ at least not those that are made from this kind of stone." The Saintess spoke before turning to Lin Mu. "So where exactly is this Immortal Stone mine?" she asked.


    "Let me check the map again." Lin Mu took out the map and looked for the reference points that were given on the map. "Looks like we need to fly high up to see the structures first." He said.


    "I''ll take us up." Little Shrubby leaped directly to a kilometer''s height and continued to rise higher.


    By the time they reached a sufficient height, they found the Saintess already waiting for them. Her speed wasn''t something that even Little Shrubby could match as of now. Not to mention she could use Dao insights directly and had profound skills that Lin Mu didn''t know about much.


    "We now need to see the patterns that the ravines form below." Lin Mu said and looked below.


    The vast ravines formed an interconnectedwork that took various shapes. Most of these were simply random, but they were still unique enough for one to figure out what was where.


    After a couple of minutes of observation, Lin Mu finally figured out the location that was on the map.


    "There it is¡­ that part." Lin Mu pointed in a certain direction. "We just need to follow ording to these patterns." He spoke.


    The Saintess gave a nod and disappeared once more, intending to reach the first.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby too flew in the direction and reached it after a few minutes. They continued to pause and check the map from time to time, and about six hourster, they had finally reached their destination.


    "It''s certainly hard to find this without a map." If it weren''t for the diagrams drawn in the map matching the shape of the ravines, one might get lost easily.


    "But at least we are here now." Lin Mu got Little Shrubby to descend into a particr ravine that was in the shape of a gourd.

 Chapter 1600 Reaching The Second Immortal Stone Mine

    The gourd shaped ravine was over five kilometers in size and had several smaller ravines spread within it.


    If one could not fly they could technically get lost in it and not find the way for a day or two. Thankfully for Lin Mu, he knew exactly where he was supposed to go.


    "That third ravine from the edge!" Lin Mu pointed to mid sized ravine.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Alright~" Little Shrubby moved towards the ravine and the two finally entered it.


    The inside of the ravine was actually wider than its entrance. If one did not know this, they would mistake the location too perhaps.


    "Makes one wonder how the original person found this ce." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Someone with strong enough senses might have passed by through here and noticed it. The mine might not have interested them, but they still marked it for others." The Saintess spoke much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "Huh? Why would someone do that?" Lin Mu questioned finding it strange.


    "If its someone that can sense the mine with such ease, their cultivation base should be high enough to disregard it too. To them the mine might not be much, but they could still pass it on to other juniors.


    People of sects and various powers often do things like this. They mark fortuitous encounters for juniors, to find themselvester on. It is far better than handing them everything on a silver tter." The Saintess exined the mentality of some experts.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "Looks like the generosity of a senior is now benefiting me. I''d thank them if I knew who they were." He added.


    Unfortunately, Lin Mu knew there was no way to do that, as the maps were very old. Even Huangyu Shiyi didn''t know who had made them, other than the fact that they were from the time when the great battle had happened.


    As for the maps themselves, the prince had stolen them from others in the first ce. Thus, it was impossible to know where the original owners had found the map from. There was even a chance that they might have been in the hands of some n for a long time, before being exposed.


    Whatever it might be, it didn''t matter anymore since Lin Mu had already found it.


    The three continued to descend deeper into the ravine and stopped when they were around five hundred meters deep.


    "It should be somewhere around here¡­" Lin Mu said before spreading out his Immortal Sense.


    The Saintess looked in a particr direction, having sensed something.


    ''Let''s see how long it takes for him to discover it.'' The Saintess thought, having already found the exact location of the mine.


    The entrance of the mine was hidden with an array, thus would not be visible directly. Even if someone tried to search for it using their Immortal sense, it would not be visible. One would need to be exceptionally good and also be a formation master to find it.


    There were almost no energy fluctuationsing from it either, and the natural bloody aura of the Deste Blood battlefield also shrouded it further. Though in the Grey te Ravines, the Bloody aura was less than other ces.


    It was one of the few locations in the Deste Blood battlefield that weren''t as contaminated with the bloody aura. Though Lin Mu could tell that there were still baleful energies hidden here.


    The only change was between their concentration.


    It was exactly this difference in concentration that Lin Mu used to find the location of the mine entrance.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Found it!" Lin Mu opened his eyes after just a minute.


    ''That was fast¡­'' The Saintess was a bit surprised.


    She followed after Lin Mu and soon came to stand in front of a in looking rock wall.


    "They hid it pretty well." Lin Mumented. "But the same method they used to hide it was what gave it away." He added.


    "How so?" the Saintess asked, wanting to know Lin Mu''s reasoning.


    "They used an illusory array to hide the entrance. It''s a good one and masks its energy signature almost perfectly. You can''t feel any Qi fluctuations from it. But at the same time, since it does so well in restraining energy fluctuation, it tends to push away the Baleful energies too." Lin Mu exined.


    The Saintess was impressed by Lin Mu''s methodology. It was a roundabout way to finding an illusory array, butmendable the same.


    "Now can you unravel it?" The Saintess asked.


    "Of course." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He moved up to the rocky wall and ced his hand on it. A few secondster, a ripple spread from his hand, as if the rock was water.


    ~SHUA~


    The surface of the rock wall started to flicker and a minuteter, it faded away. What was left behind was a gaping cave that was pitch dark.


    "Here we go." Lin Mu feeling satisfied.


    The Saintess, who had seen everything from start to end was even more pleased.


    ''His formation skills are certainly great. They''re already good enough to grant him a direct entry to the Immortal Court.'' She thought.


    The Saintess now looked forward to what else Lin Mu might show her in the future. While she was originally there to look out for the twins, she was getting interested in Lin Mu too. Though him being a disciple of Xukong might have added to it even more.


    Lin Mu entered the cave along with Little Shrubby, while the beast created a few fire balls that illuminated their path.


    They continued through the cave and eventually reached its depths, where another array awaited them.


    "Oh? This time it''s a barrier array with offensive capabilities." Lin Mu said, furrowing his brows. "Looks like it''s taking power from the mine too¡­ this''ll be a bit difficult." He added.


    "Do you need me to assist you?" The Saintess asked, just in case.


    "No¡­ I''d like to do it on my own. It serves as more practice for me, anyway." Lin Mu rejected with confidence.

 Chapter 1601 Demonstrating Formation Skills

    Lin Mu got to work on the formation array while the Saintess observed it all.


    She could see everything that Lin Mu was doing, from the smallest of rune additions he made, all the way to the unraveling of differentyers. Nothing escaped her eyes and the more she saw the more satisfied she was.


    It took Lin Mu over three hours topletely unravel the formation array, but it felt like mere minutes to him. He was so engrossed in it that, he couldn''t even tell when the time was passing.


    To him, working on a formation array was like working on a puzzle.


    Once one got into the flow, they would forget about everything else and fully focus on it. The Saintess had noticed this and knew that Lin Mu had an innate talent for formations, as not everyone could replicate this kind of natural focus.


    ~HUMM~


    The formation array broke down and opened up the passage for Lin Mu to enter.


    "And, it''s done!" Lin Mu said, finishing his work.


    "You did well." The Saintess couldn''t help but praise.


    "It was nothing." Lin Mu said. "The real prize is waiting inside." He gestured to the depths.


    They continued onwards and finally saw the glimmering Immortal stone clusters.


    "Whoa¡­" Lin Mu was stunned seeing it. "This one is even bigger than the first Immortal Stone mine!" he eximed.


    The two of them had appeared from a cave exit that was located on top of the mine. It gave them a wide view of the mine, and unlike the first one this one was rtively t. There were no extra outcroppings or mixed tunnels, allowing one to see everything at once.


    ''I guess this one formed differently than the previous one.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The entire floor and walls of this mine were made out of Immortal Stones and the same could be said for the roof. In fact, the ce they were peeking from was also made from Immortal stones, though someone seems to have reinforced it with more materials.


    "They''ve certainly worked here for a while." Lin Mu said after noticing the mining marks.


    "There''s also more chambers here." The Saintess said.


    "There are?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    He spread his immortal sense, and soon found the chambers that were located at the base of the mine. They seemed to be intended for storage and there were even a few mining tools kept there.


    "Interesting¡­ Looks like that''s where the prince worked." Lin Mu said after discovering.


    "Prince?" The Saintess raised a brow upon hearing that. "What prince?"


    "Umm¡­ it''s the person from whom I obtained the map to the immortal stone mines." Lin Mu replied with slight hesitation. "It was the eleventh prince of the Holy Topaz Dynasty." He finally answered.


    "You killed an imperial prince?" The Saintess was surprised once more.


    "Yes I did." Lin Mu admitted but did not give any excuses for it.


    Killing the prince of an empire while being within their territory was a gusty move. She would have thought that Lin Mu had done that identally, but seeing the confidence he had, it seemed to be fully intentional.


    ''It doesn''t seem like he''s scared about the repercussions from the imperial family either.'' The Saintess thought.


    She wasn''t particrly concerned about this either, as what Lin Mu did was still up to him. She would not interfere in it, unless it was threatening the Yin Yang Twin snakes. But seeing Lin Mu act like this was still intriguing for her.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I see¡­ At least the gains seem to be worth it." The Saintess said nonchntly.


    Seeing that the Saintess was not offended or anything, Lin Mu felt relieved.


    ''Though it isn''t something that she would normally be concerned about either. After all, why would she be concerned about some prince from a world that isn''t even hers?'' Lin Mu justified to himself.


    He realized that he had merely be over thinking.


    "You should get to mining. Looks like it''ll take a while seeing its size." The Saintess suggested.


    "Ah yes! I''ll start right away." Lin Mu said before assessing the area. "Little Shrubby, we''ll do the same as before. You go around and gather the materials and resources here, while I go mine the Immortal Stones."


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby was excited for it too.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    He had already seen just how much the immortal Qi in the Sleepscape had increased. He could only imagine how much it will be, once the second source vein was added to it as well. With this in mind, Little Shrubby was highly motivated.


    ~SHUA~


    Several prosthetic hands appeared around him, as Little Shrubby got to work. His immortal sense spread as well, and he started looking for various materials that might be mixed along with the Immortal Stones.


    But Lin Mu was not done there. Next he withdrew two boxes.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    The boxes caught the Saintess''s attention and she instantly recognized what they were.


    "You made Sword nurturing Boxes?" The Saintess asked.


    "Yes. I attempted to make these for my Immortal Swords." Lin Mu replied.


    ~CLACK~ CLACK~


    The two sword boxes opened automatically as the swords responded to Lin Mu''s call.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    It was clear that the two des knew exactly why Lin Mu had called them.


    "You two know what to do, let''s get to work." Lin Mu spoke to the Immortal Swords.


    ~HUMM~


    Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker quickly flew around, slicking and cutting into the immortal stones. The Saintess watched the action that would be considered absurd by most cultivators.


    ''Getting his immortal swords to mine, and even making a Sword Nurturing box for them¡­'' the Saintess thought before checking the boxes closely. ''Oh? He actually used Peak Grade Immortal Stone for its main body? Really opulent.'' She couldn''t help but think.


    She checked the rest of the box, finding it to be of a decent quality.


    "While it isn''t up to the standard of its materials, it can easily be improvedter on with no obstacles." The Saintess did her assessment.

 Chapter 1602 A Bigger Immortal Stone Mine

    While the Saintess checked out the Sword Nurturing Boxes, Lin Mu and the two immortal swords were busy gathering the Immortal Stones.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense was also on the lookout for any other materials that might be mixed in with the Immortal stones. He didn''t want them to get damaged during the extraction after all.


    Plus Lin Mu now had an endless need for the Omnicore Ascendancy. While he had not started practicing it yet, once he did, his needs for resources would simply skyrocket. And when that time arrived, it was best he had the resources to use without any interruptions.


    Though it was still unknown just how much Lin Mu would need in order to finish even a single elemental core. It was not like he had a reference for it either after all. He would have to figure it all out through trial and error in the future.


    ''Thankfully this mine is a lot wider and stable so there is no danger of it copsing. The outer te walls are also hard and won''t break even if all the Immortal Stones are removed.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This stability was the reason he was not going for the Source Vein directly. Though the fact that it was covered under hundreds of meters of Immortal stone also contributed to it. Thus if Lin Mu wanted to get it, he would still have to mine out the rest of the immortal stones.


    He could now take his time mining it all out, and did so patiently.


    Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker did their jobs perfectly, while also getting to absorb the rich ambient Immortal Qi. Lin Mu simply followed after them while storing the chunks they were cutting up.


    From time to time, he would also pause and extract some materials that were mixed along with the Immortal Stones. These were either different ores, or crystal that could be used for many purpose.


    And as Lin Mu went further, he found better materials too.


    By the time he reached theyer where the High grade immortal stones were he ended up finding Immortal Jade!


    "This is rather good quality immortal jade." Lin Mu carefully checked the small jade vein.


    It was embedded between a cluster of Immortal Stones on one side, and Deep Bowel te on the other side. It had a pale green color that mixed with white, showing that it was of a medium quality.


    Still, it was Immortal Jade in the end and could be used for Immortal tools very easily. Lin Mu could also use them to make Jade Slips for himself if needed.


    ''I do need a better quality one. The Spirit Jade slips are now not enough to store information.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The more documents and books Lin Mu gathered, the more notes he took. And it wasn''t just those either, as he would also copy down information from other jade slips. Even if the Jade Slips had arge capacity for such information, there was still a limit to it.


    So far, Lin Mu had been using multiple jade slips to ovee this, but it was now bing inconvenient. Rather than that, he reckoned he should simply refine a new jade slip that was specifically built just to store arge amount of information.


    ''If I remove themunication function and analytical functions, I should be able to improve the storage capacity by several times.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The runes needed to make themunication jade slips took a lot of space after all, and consumed a lot of data capacity of a jade slip. This also depended on the range ofmunication too.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The longer the range, the bigger the formation that would be used for it.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    But since Lin Mu simply wanted to make a jade slip for information storage, he wouldn''t have to bother with the other formations. He thought about what improvements he could make to the jade slip while continuing to mine the Immortal Stones.


    Extracting the Jade vein was very easy for him and had taken less than a minute for him. All he needed to do was capture the right dimensions of the vein and simply use meld to cut it out


    It didn''t matter if he also cut away a part of the Deep Bowel te along with it either. He could remove itter on and had no need to do it right away.


    Lin Mu repeated this with other materials too that were embedded in the rocks or encrusted with the immortal stones.


    The only time he couldn''t use that method was when the resource he encountered wasn''t a material but rather an Immortal Herb.


    When that happened he would have to first identity what kind of Immortal Herb it was before carefully extract the Immortal Herb using the right method. After all, different immortal herbs had different requirements for harvesting as well as storage.


    Some couldn''t have their roots damaged, while some needed to be kept damp. There were countless different conditions that applied to different herbs, thus Lin Mu needed to be well aware about them.


    Thankfully, the Immortal Herbs he encountered weren''t any obscure ones and he easily identified them all before storing them away safely forter.


    In all, Lin Mu gathered over a hundred Immortal herbs here.


    ''Seems like this ce is more suitable for Immortal Herbs than the previous mine.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    So far he hade across more immortal herbs than other materials and ores showing that the conditions of this mine favored herbs.


    It was still good for Lin Mu and he didn''tin about it. Gathering all he could, Lin Mu continued to mine the Immortal Stones and eventually reached the core area of the mine.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu paused.


    "This will take some precision work¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he gazed at the intecing Immortal Stones.


    In this part, The Peak Grade, High Grade, Mid Grade Immortal Stones were mixing up, making it hard to separate them directly.

 Chapter 1603 The Approaching Tournament

    Lin Mu couldn''t let the two immortal swords work on their own from here.


    "I''ll need to do this manually." Lin Mu said as he held Afternoon Pine in his hand.


    He carefully ced it at the seam where the different grade Immortal Stones met and pressed into it.


    ~CLINK~


    The sound of the stone getting scratched was heard. Lin Mu exerted more force and pierced the immortal sword into it with ease. Little by little he cut into the Immortal stones and started separating them.


    As much as he wished to use Meld for this, he knew the chances of a mistake arising were high with this level ofplexity.


    All this made Lin Mu wonder about the formation of the immortal stone mine. It was clear that it hadn''t taken shape the same way as the previous one. It was a lot more open, but at the same time the demarcation between the different grades of Immortal stone was also obscure.


    Lin Mu made a note to learn more about the immortal stone mine''s formationter on in the future. This was just so in case, he had to clear out another mine and knew well enough what he would being across.


    Prying away the different segments of the Immortal stones and storing them away took Lin Mu a few hours. Thankfully, only the edges of the Immortal stones were like this, with the middle segments being of one grade.


    Lin Mu repeated the process again and again for each intersecting segment until finally an entire week passed by.


    "I can finally see the source vein." Lin Mu said as he sat down to take a break.


    The break wasn''t because he was tired though. Rather it was to check if anything had been missed of if there were any issues.


    Little Shrubby had also finished his task of gathering other materials a while ago and was now resting at the side. He rolled on top of an Immortal Stone b, whilezily absorbing the Qi from it.


    Lin Mu let him be, as the beast had already done his part of the job.


    The Saintess was also sitting nearby, having fashioned a set of Table and chairs from the same Immortal Stone. She had merely waved her hand and the winds from it had cut up the Immortal Stone into a perfectly shaped Table and chairs.


    It was certainly a luxury product as the cut up table and chairs would be worth a few thousand Immortal Stones. The furniture was quite literally worth its weight in Immortal stones.


    The Saintess had observed Lin Mu''s relentless work over the past few days. Though she had mostly kept silent and let the young man work. No one knew what her thoughts were, other than the fact that her gaze barely left Lin Mu.


    It didn''t matter how far he was, or if he was behind something. Her gaze could see through all.


    And her very gaze caught the gleaming pir of Immortal Source Vein that was finally revealed after Lin Mu''s hard work. Its glow fell on Lin Mu''s face, illuminating his dark eyes and straight brows.


    "Finally¡­ Time to finish this." Lin Mu muttered and extended his hand.


    ~HUALA~


    The saintess''s eyes narrowed as she felt strong spatial fluctuationsing from Lin Mu.


    ''He''s controlling the Spatial Fabric itself?!'' The Saintess wondered.


    She watched as Lin Mu''s hand moved and skillfully plucked the Immortal Source Vein.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ~WHOOSH~


    With it being removed from the cave, the Immortal Qi concentration in the air started to rapidly fall such that wind started to blow in the closed off space. Lin Mu though didn''t care for that and simply stored it in the ring.


    ~HUU~


    Having finished what he had set out to do, Lin Mu felt a sense of aplishment and let out a long breath.


    "That''s done¡­ Now all that''s left is to leave the Deste Blood Battled and return to the Middle Fort city." Lin Mu said out loud.


    "You still have a little over a month left till the Tournament." The Saintess reminded.


    "A over a month, Hmm¡­ I''ll have to be fast then I suppose." Lin Mu''s thought deeply, trying to find the best series of actions.


    ''Firstly, I need to imnt the Source Vein in the Sleepscape. The earlier I do the better. Once that''s done, I can start my return. Covering the expanse of the Deste Blood Battlefield will take around two to three weeks too considering I''m in the Grey te Ravines now.'' Lin Mu plotted the route in his mind.


    It was safe to say that there was a high chance he would be cutting very close to the tournament''s date.


    ~Sigh~


    "I should begin with a single step at a time first." Lin Mu said to himself before deciding to imnt the Source Vein.


    But before he could do that though, he needed to take care of something else.


    "I''m going to sleep for a bit, Saintess." Lin Mu informed.


    "Sleep? You''re tired?" The Saintess was a bit doubtful.


    ording to what she could see, Lin Mu''s body was full of energy and he didn''t seem to be tired at all.


    "Mentally a bit yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And I also need to talk to master." He added.


    "Your master?!" The Saintess raised her brows under her veil. "He uses Dream Transmission with you?" she asked.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Something like that yes." Lin Mu answered.


    While it wasn''t urate, it was simr to what he did anyways. Lin Mu knew the Saintess seemed to know and respect his master for a reason, thus he chose to mention him.


    "Alright then. You should sleep." The Saintess had no objections.


    "It won''t be long. Just a few hours." Lin Mu said before taking out his bolster and lying down on another b of Immortal Stone.


    While it was rather hard, it still gave one afortable feeling due to the sheer amount of Immortal Qi it would emit.


    Even if one slept on it every day, they wouldn''t find their body getting stiff!

 Chapter 1604 Hidden Limits Of The Sleepscape

    ~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~


    Lin Mu arrived in the Sleepscape and heard the sound of leaves.


    They gently swayed and created a harmonious melody that made one want to sleep to its tune. Even Lin Mu felt tempted but knew that he had important work at hand.


    "Let''s get to it quickly." Lin Mu walked to the location where he had buried the first Immortal Source Vein.


    He then took out the freshly mined Immortal Source Vein andid it on the ground. It was almost the same size as the first, but was a few percent bigger.


    It was one of the discoveries Lin Mu had made at the very end. Even if the second Immortal Stone mine was bigger than the first, the Source Vein didn''t differ that much. Which only proved how difficult it was for a source vein to grow and improve.


    Despite the second Immortal Stone mine being twenty percent bigger than the first, the size of the Source Vein was just four to five percent bigger. The growth between the Immortal stones and the source vein didn''t seem to be proportional.


    Lin Mu knew there were many factors that determined the size of a mine, and the topography of the area might be why the difference was present in the current case.


    The area where the first mine was mostly soil and loose rock, that was pressing upon the Immortal Stone mine. This created pressure on the mine as well as the Source Vein, preventing it from growing as freely.


    In the second case, the Grey te Ravines were made out of tough and durable Deep Bowel te. This had allow the second Immortal Stone mine to form with fewer issues. Of course, the toughness of the Deep Bowel te would make it so that the mine couldn''t expand fast, it still reduced the excess pressure from the weight of the ground.


    Additionally, the naturally forming fissures and gaps between the Deep Bowel te made it so that the Immortal Stones still had plenty of area to grow. Lin Mu even wondered if the concave structure of the gourd shaped ravine might be due to the Immortal Stone mine.


    It was likely that the shape had been influenced over time by the growing Immortal Stone crystal and it had turned the ravine into what it was today.


    "Come on¡­ merge into it." Lin Mu willed the Sleepscape to ept.


    This time he felt like there was a little resistance as the Sleepscape wasn''t epting the Immortal Source vein right away.


    ''This doesn''t seem to be ''unwillingness'' on the Sleepscape''s part though¡­ it''s more like it is full and I''m still asking it to eat.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    He had not known that there would be a limit to what he could imnt in the Sleepscape before this. But now he had a rough idea of it.


    ''Looks like even after the growth of the Sleepscape, there will be a limit to how many things I can imnt in it.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He had imnted not only the Violet Mystic Life Tree, but was now nting the second Immortal Source vein. While all of these were ultimately beneficial to the Sleepscape and its inhabitants, there were still limits on the ce.


    More specifically, the limit seemed to be linked with Lin Mu''s own cultivation base.


    After all, the main method of growing the size of the Sleepscape was for Lin Mu to increase his own cultivation base.


    The addition of the Violet Mystic Life tree along with the immortal essence crystal mine might have given a boost to the size of the Sleepscape due to their unique properties, but it had still not lifted its original limit.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Come on¡­ you can take it. Just a bit more¡­'' Lin Mu urged the Sleepscape to absorb the Immortal Source Vein.<novelnext></novelnext>


    A few minutester, Lin Mu''s attempt seemed to have seeded as the Sleepscape finally responded.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The ground shook, before the Source Vein Crystal started being absorbed. Lin Mu watched as the crystal disappeared into the ground five minutester.


    "This was certainly slower than the first one." Lin Mu muttered. "But for the effects¡­" he waited for the changes to happen.


    ~SHUA~


    And just as he had expected, Immortal Qi started to rise in the Sleepscape while its density increased as well.


    The nts in the Sleepscape started to greedily absorb the Immortal Qi too, with the Immortal Apple Tree directly ripening several of the Immortal apples and the Wood Spirit Tulip, directly growing another flower head.


    The Purple Sickle Amaranth didn''t show any new growth though, and only increased its production of Wood Immortal Qi instead.


    As for the Violet Mystic Life Tree, there was no change in it either.


    The tree was as silent as before, with a vitality that could rival entire kingdoms.


    The Yin Yang twin snakes were also enjoying it all and gently breathed the immortal Qi. Lin Mu walked around the Sleepscape, making sure that all the changes were noted by him. There was no saying what kind of new effects would take ce after all.


    He didn''t wish to be caught off guard, thus took the extra effort of checking all things. Lin Mu even went to the Formation Pavilion and ensured that the arrays were running properly and not in a havoc.


    Having done his little tour of the Sleepscape, Lin Mu returned to standing in front of the Immortal Apple tree. Though this time, the tree was covered with several Immortal Apples.


    "You certainly grew fast." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    ~rustle~ rustle~


    The tree seemed to respond to Lin Mu''s words too, shaking its branches.


    "Oh? You want me to pluck all the apples?" Lin Mu understood the sentient tree''s intentions.


    ~RUSTLE~


    The tree shook one of its tender branches and lowered the main ones with fruits.


    Lin Mu quickly plucked all the ripe Immortal Apples and stored them away forter.


    "I wonder if the Saintess has ever tried immortal apples before¡­" Lin Mu wondered.

 Chapter 1605 Meeting An Acquaintance In The Ravines

    Having finished his work in the Sleepscape, Lin Mu decided to simply wake up.


    The improvements to the Immortal Qi were already starting to show and wouldn''t need Lin Mu''s interference anymore.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu opened his eyes in the real world and saw the dark empty ceiling above him. With all the immortal stones having been stripped, the cave didn''t look pretty like before. The only light that was still present in the cave wasing from the Table and chairs that the Saintess had fashioned out of solid Immortal Stones.


    "You''re up." The Saintess''s voice drifted over.


    She had been sitting at the same ce and had not really moved.


    "I hope I didn''t sleep too long." Lin Mu asked.


    "Not at all." The Saintess lightly shook her head.


    "Ah, that''s good. I guess we can head out now." Lin Mu replied before ncing at Little Shrubby who was also on the table.


    He had evidently stored away the chunk of Immortal stone and was now in his kitten form. The Saintess seemed to be stroking his fur while the beastzily slept on the table in front, fully enjoying it all.


    Lin Mu walked up to the table, his footsteps waking up Little Shrubby.


    ~Meow~


    The beast let out a little cry before opening its eyes and stretching.


    "Is it time to leave?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "You got that right." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby jumped down from the table and grew bigger.


    The Saintess was a bit disappointed, but didn''t really show it. She too stood up, the set of furniture disappearing automatically. Lin Mu hadn''t felt any spatial fluctuations from it, and wondered how the Saintess had done it.


    ''That wasn''t a spatial storage tool for sure¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, Lin Mu got onto Little Shrubby''s back and they flew out of the cave. Exiting into the ravine, Little Shrubby jumped off the rugged walls and reached the surface.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A few secondster they turned into a red blur as Lin Mu guided Little Shrubby where to go. The Saintess had long since disappeared, though Lin Mu knew she was probably following after them.


    They left the area without any interruptions, and no beast dared toe near them. Though it was also due to the fact that Little Shrubby''s speed was quite high. They continued like this for a while until finally they reached the edge of the Grey te Ravines.


    It was here that Little Shrubby sensed another presence.


    "There''s someone nearby, Master." Little Shrubby informed.


    ''Who?'' Lin Mu asked, sensing the beast''s tone.


    "It''s that Giant horned man." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Giant horned man? You mean the General Niu Juo?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Yes! Him." Little Shrubby confirmed.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What''s he doing here?" Lin Mu wondered and kept his immortal sense spread.


    Knowing that Little Shrubby had sensed the man, he was likely to be a few tens of kilometer away. The beast had smelled his scent after all.


    Little Shrubby''s sense of smell had a wider range than the Immortal sense, allowing him to discover things early on. It was quite useful since the other party wouldn''t be able to detect them either which would not be the case with Immortal sense.


    With immortal sense, another person could still catch them with their own immortal sense.


    Thus it was a rather good thing to have.


    "Return to the Sleepscape Little Shrubby." Lin Mu said, deciding to be cautious.


    "Okay." Little Shrubby immediately disappeared, leaving Lin Mu to fly alone.


    Lin Mu wanted to know why the man was here and knew that their meeting was bound to happen. It wasn''t like he couldn''t avoid it, Lin Mu simply wanted to know a little more information from the man.


    After all, Lin Mu had no idea what else had happened in the Deste Blood Battlefield after leaving the location of the Violet Mystic Life Tree. He certainly knew that his actions had probably caused a lot of havoc and trouble for the others.


    At the very least, the Grand Sky Pavilion would be clenching their fists in anger if not more.


    Just a minuteter, Lin Mu saw the giant of a man flying towards him. It was clear that the man had sensed his presence too by this point and seemed to be rather surprised.


    "Mu Lin?" General Niu Juo called out.


    "General!" Lin Mu decided to greet the man.


    "I didn''t expect to meet you here¡­" General Niu Juo said with genuine surprise.


    After all, with how wide the Deste Blood Battlefield really was, it was highly unlikely for two people to meet each other by ident. Even if someone wanted to search for others, it was still a difficult task, unless one had the means to directly track their position.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Me neither." Lin Mu replied while taking a deeper look at the man.


    Niu Juo seemed mostly the same to Lin Mu, but there was a hidden sense of nervousness on the man that wasn''t there before.


    ''He seems concerned for something.'' Lin Mu thought to himself before speaking. "Would you like to sit and talk for a bit?" he asked.


    "Sure. I do have some things I want to ask you too." General Niu Juo replied.


    The two of themnded on the ground, and Lin Mu took out a set of furniture for them to sit.


    "I''ll let you ask me first, General Niu Juo." Lin Mu said with courtesy.


    "Very well¡­ I''d like to first ask you if you''ve seen a certain man." General Niu Juo questioned.


    "Which man?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "I''vee across several so far here."


    "It is no normal man. It is the Eleventh Prince of Holy Topaz Dynasty¡­ Huangyu Shiyi." General Niu Juo said before taking out a jade slip and tapping it.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, the air above the Jade slip flickered and a formation screen appearaed. And on this the image of the eleventh prince appeared.

 Chapter 1606 Unknowingly Behind It All

    Lin Mu looked at the image calmly, but he was surprised in his heart.


    ''So they''ve started to look for him, huh¡­'' Lin Mu understood.


    General Niu Juo saw Lin Mu observe the image but showed no reaction on his face.


    "So this is the infamous eleventh prince¡­" Lin Mu said after a bit. "I heard about him several times before but this is the first time I''m seeing it."


    "Oh? You heard about him?" General Niu Juo questioned.


    "Yes. And not just in the middle fort city, but also here." Lin Mu answered. "Or more urately I heard about the ughter he was doing. There were quite a lot of Immortals that seemed to be running away from the Grey te Ravines." He added.


    "You came across it too¡­ I see." The general had not expected this.


    While he had seen the actions of the eleventh prince first hand, he didn''t know that they were already well known in the Deste Blood Battlefield. Niu Juo didn''t know what this would mean for his search, but he was somewhat pleased that it was Lin Mu he hade across.


    Rather than meeting someone unknown and asking them it was better to meet an acquaintance.


    The level of trust was higher.


    "I did indeed¡­ though I haven''t seen the man personally." Lin Mu spoke again.


    "You really haven''t?" General Niu Juo asked again.


    "No¡­ though I did wish to meet the man." Lin Mu replied much to the general''s surprise.


    "Oh?" General Niu Juo did not expect this since the people were supposed to be running away from the prince rather than the opposite.


    "Yes. I wanted to see just how strong he was. Perhaps even battle him." Lin Mu said as a hint of battle intent flickered in his eyes.


    Even his aura red up for a moment, that General Niu Juo detected clearly.


    ''He really intended to fight the prince¡­ there''s no fear in his eyes either.'' General Niu Juo could tell this very well.


    After all, he himself was a battle enthusiast and knew people like him. He could tell that Lin Mu truly wished to fight the prince, even if it might have not ended up very well. As much as the general liked this, he knew he had to ask more.


    "You wished to fight the man despite him being a prince? You don''t fear the repercussions from the Holy Topaz Dynasty?" General Niu Juo countered.


    "From what I''ve heard so far, the Holy Topaz Dynasty hasn''t interfered in the prince''s actions so far. And before that, theypletely disregarded." Lin Mu first said. "Besides, knowing the prince''s actions so far, I guessed that he''d be the first one to start the fight. If he''s the one to initiate it, I can always im self-defense right?" he continued.


    Hearing this, General Niu Juo knew that what Lin Mu said was correct.


    It was a well known fact that the Eleventh Prince had actually gone around challenging other immortals. And from his killing in the Deste Blood Battlefield, it wouldn''t be unusual for him to attack Lin Mu right away.


    If that happened and Lin Mu just so happened to defeat the prince, there wouldn''t be anything the Holy Topaz Dynasty would be able to say.


    And if they went after Lin Mu, it would simply be against their honor.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I understand¡­ that does make sense." General Niu Juo admitted. "Though, your wishes were not fulfilled I see."


    "No they were not. I''ve scoured the Grey te Ravines for a few days now, but I didn''t find the Eleventh Prince here." Lin Mu shook his head. "So I just gathered some of the resources and materials that were here. I dide to this area on your advice after all. I thank you for that."


    "So you found the things you needed?" General Niu Juo replied.


    "I sure did. More than enough." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And what about you, General Niu Juo. You were here to obtain resources too right? Why are you looking for the prince of a foreign power?" he asked with interest.


    ~Sigh~


    In response to this, General Niu Juo let out a long sigh.


    Just from this, Lin Mu could tell that there was a lot behind this.


    "It''s a long and messy story." General Niu Juo said in a tired tone.


    "Feel free to tell me. Perhaps I might be able to assist you. We do have some time now." Lin Mu said before taking out a teapot and two cups. "I''ll make us some tea while you can talk about it." He offered.


    "Alright." General Niu Juo did like the idea of having some tea.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu began to make some high quality tea, while the half Orc man spoke about all that had happened.


    He told Lin Mu about the Demon, the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life tree, then the tribtion as well as the links between it all. Lin Mu showed kept a calm expression during it all, and prepared the tea.


    ~sip~


    "Ahh~ good tea." General Niu Juo nodded his head.


    While he preferred to drink wine more, some tea wasn''t bad from time to time.


    "So what I felt back then was a Transcendent Tribtion¡­ it was certainly terrifying." Lin Mu finally responded.


    "Indeed. It seems like the entire Deste Blood Battlefield felt it." General Niu Juo replied while taking another sip.


    Lin Mu was having a hard time believing all that General Niu Juo had said.


    ''All the things that he seems to be investigating are rted to me! How did they even link the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion to the Demon?'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He realized that he might have set off a chain of events that might snowball into something massive soon enough.


    ''I really need to leave this ce¡­'' Lin Mu now knew but before he could do that, he needed to deal with the general.


    "Looks like you have your work cut out for you, General Niu Juo. I wish you sess on your mission." Lin Mu said with a little enthusiasm.

 Chapter 1607 A Reference Of Strength

    General Niu Juo stood up from the table and cupped his hands.


    "Thank you for your information, Daoist Mu Lin. I''ll have to continue my search now." General Niu Juo spoke.


    "It was a simple thing. Besides, I also got to learn some things from you." Lin Mu replied.


    "Though I hope you had gained what you wanted from the Deste Blood Battlefield." General Niu Juo said.


    "Of course. I obtained plenty of things and your advice to visit the Blood Strewn ins was good too." Lin Mu said before releasing a bit of his aura.


    General Niu Juo felt it and instantly understood that Lin Mu had broken through.


    "Looks like you really did have quite a bit of progress." General Niu Juo was pleased.


    After all, to him, it was the same as having a stronger opponent to fight in the future.


    "I should have moreter once I can utilize the resources I''ve obtained." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s good." General Niu Juo said before taking a pause. "How about you give me a reference for that?" he suddenly said.


    "Reference? For what?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "A reference for your strength. I want topare you from today and the future. It is much better when I know just how strong you grew." General Niu Juo answered.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was surprised by this, but didn''t know how the man wanted a reference. "How would I give you that?" he asked.


    "It''s simple¡­ attack me with your body cultivation. With as much power as you can muster." General Niu Juo stated.


    "You want me to attack you?" Lin Mu raised his brow.


    "Yes¡­ Just you attack me. I won''t attack and simply defend." General Niu Juo rified. "Don''t worry, I will be fine."


    Lin Mu thought over it for a bit before making a decision.


    "Fine¡­ We can do that." Lin Mu said before storing the table and chairs away. "So I just attack with the full power of my body cultivation, right?" he asked again.


    "Yes." General Niu Juo said while getting ready.


    "Very well¡­" Lin Mu was also a bit interested to see just how hepared against Niu Juo who not only had the bloodline of a Steel Horned Barbaric Ogre but also was a body cultivator.


    Then there was the fact that he still didn''t know what was Niu Juo''s cultivation base. It was said that he was at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, but that was just the Qi cultivation.


    His actual body cultivation was still unknown. Plus, it was even said that the man was actually close to a breakthrough.


    If anything, Lin Mu would be shing against one of the strongest immortals so far.


    ~Huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath, and activated the Three Apertures Invoking Technique. The immortal essence wisps within his Apertures became active and he quickly drew them out into his arm.


    He amplified the strength of his arm and pulled it back, preparing for the attack.


    "Here Ie!" Lin Mu said before he lunged forward.


    His fist move like a blur before it punched towards General Niu Juo.


    The giant of a man also responded with simr speed, his arm moving to block the punch.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ~THUD~


    Surprisingly, the impact was rather muffled. General Niu Juo had stopped the attack with his bare palm!


    "This¡­" Lin Mu was not expecting such a response.


    "Are you holding back?" General Niu Juo could tell that this was not Lin Mu''s full strength.


    "Partially yes." Lin Mu had not used his full weight behind the attack technically.


    "Don''t hold back. Do it again." General Niu Juo urged.


    "Alright." Lin Mu stepped back and gathered the Immortal Essence within his arm again before punching forth.


    ~HONG~


    But this time, he released the weight control on his body, leveraging it all in the punch by twisting.


    ~DENG~


    The increased weight multiplied the force of the punch by several times, actually making a louder sound. General Niu Juo also had to sp Lin Mu''s fist this time, while his elbow bent a little bit.


    "That was better¡­ several times stronger too." General Niu Juo was surprised, as he knew something like this could not be done easily. "Did you use some skill to increase your weight?" he guessed.


    "No¡­ the opposite." Lin Mu replied.


    "Opposite?" General Niu Juo furrowed his brows, but then saw Lin Mu do something.


    ~CRACK~Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    The ground underneath him directly cracked as his body sank into it.


    "I didn''t increase my weight. I simply stopped reducing it." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing this, General Niu Juo was surprised. But several things started to make sense to him.


    ''If he has such great body weight, then moving around will be an inconvenience. Is he constantly counteracting it by using the flying technique?'' it didn''t take long for General Niu Juo to grasp Lin Mu''s method.


    After all, the man had a high cultivation base and thousands of years of experience. Though it was also the fact that the method Lin Mu using wasn''t anything special.


    "The high weight is a side effect of your body cultivation technique?" General Niu Juo questioned.


    "Yes. You can say that." Lin Mu replied, not telling him that he could actually multiply his weight further.


    But then it didn''te under the scope of his body cultivation, but rather immortal cultivation. The Aspect of Heaviness was a Dao Skill after all. Then there was the fact that General Niu Juo had only asked him to use his body cultivation.


    Lin Mu also didn''t wish to use any of his other skills like the Boulder Copsing fist, as exposing them was not a wise option.


    "Your weight should be hundreds of times more than mine¡­ Hmm¡­ I''ve heard of something like this before." General Niu Juo said, gaining Lin Mu''s intrigue.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I''ve seen other practitioners who have high body weight too." Niu Juo revealed. "They also have normal bodies, but their weight is simply exponentially high."

 Chapter 1608 Potential To Grow A Technique

    Hearing the information from General Niu Juo, Lin Mu was rather surprised.


    The increase in his body weight was due to the True Gold Body Forging Arts. And as far as he knew the technique''s origins were unknown and he had found them in the ruins back in the Xiaofan world.


    From what he and Xukong had discussed, the technique was quite likely to be the primitive form of a higher leveled technique. Its effects were also quite good, as it had be the default defense of Lin Mu now.


    Even in the immortal realm it was still quite useful, not to mention its weight could be utilized in multiple ways. It was the weight from his body that had allowed him to kill the Eleventh Prince after all by trapping him.


    It was frankly a really good technique and if Lin Mu could find the rest of it, he could improve even more.


    So even if it was unlikely that what General Niu Juo was talking about was practitioners of the same technique, Lin Mu might at least be able to find a way to progress itter on.


    "Can you tell me more about them?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Sure." General Niu Juo nodded. "A long time ago back when I was not the General of the Huiqing Empire, I had gone out to many worlds. This was to expand my own horizons as well as learn new things.


    It was during this time when I visited a small immortal world by the name of Silent Lotus World. On it there were several sects as well as kingdoms. I roamed the world for a couple of years before I came across a monastery.


    It was in this monastery that I encountered the practitioners like you. They had high weight too." He exined.


    "A monastery? And not a sect?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Yes, it was a Buddhist Monastery." General Niu Juo replied. "All their members were body cultivators, thus I felt interested. I went to train with them, but didn''t get to learn much other than some basics. They couldn''t pass on their techniques to me since I wasn''t suitable for them." He answered.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu was now greatly interested in finding more about this. "What else can you tell me about them?"


    "I don''t have anything more actually. I couldn''t stay at the monastery for long and was driven out. Not long after that, I left the Silent Lotus World as well." General Niu Juo replied. "I just recalled it right now seeing you."


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was a bit disappointed, but he at least had a link to go next.


    "Thank you for the information." Lin Mu stated.


    "You wish to go there too? Hmm¡­ they might just take you in." General Niu Juo said. "The Silent Lotus World isn''t that far from the Rust Sky world, but to go there you need to use several World Teleportation arrays. There''s a chance they might have changed the route, so you will have to look into that yourself." He added.


    "Just this is enough." Lin Mu replied. "I thank you for this, once more."


    "It was nothing." General Niu Juo shook his head. "If your strength is at this level already, then I look forward to your growth." He said with a smile.


    With that, the two bid each other their farewells and flew in the opposite directions.


    Only after Lin Mu was a few hundred kilometers did he bring out Little Shrubby again.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ~WHOOSH~


    The two turned into a blur and flew towards the exit of the Deste Blood Battlefield.


    During the journey though, Lin Mu''s thoughts were on the information he had learned from Niu Juo. It was certainly a lot and then there was also the fact that he actually had the potential to further the True Gold Body Forging arts.


    ''Since the Silent Lotus World is an immortal world and the monks there still had heavy bodies, it is likely they know of the higher version of it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He traveled nonstop for several days before he finally reached the exit point of the Battlefield. This time though, he found it to be rather crowded.


    "That''s a lot of people¡­ they even set up a camp here." Lin Mu was not expecting this.


    When he had arrived here, there was nothing. There was not even a board telling one where to go. And yet now there was a whole camp of the Holy Topaz Dynasty set up, if the banners flying over the camp told anything.


    "Looks like this might be what Niu Juo meant earlier. The Holy Topaz Dynasty is actively looking into the ''Demon'' now." Xukong spoke up at this point.


    "Indeed¡­ it does make sense to keep watch over the exit." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    While there were people watching on the other side too, setting up a watch camp in the Deste Blood Battlefield would provide better coverage.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s get this over with." Lin Mu first sent Little Shrubby into the Sleepscape before approaching the area.


    He appeared as normal as every and calmlynded in front of the camp. The immortals stationed there watched him carefully as he walked into the camp and towards the exit.


    "Halt!" The guards standing at the exit said.


    "You need to dere your identity before leaving now. Failure to do so will result in an arrest as decreed by the words of the Emperor!" The guard said staunchly.


    "I don''t mind." Lin Mu showed no offense to them and cooperated in validating his identity.


    Seeing that he had the letter from Alchemist Ruoxian helped greatly as there were several people who hade into the Deste Blood Battlefield for missions assigned by the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    "All seems good. You can go ahead then." The guard finally permitted.


    Lin Mu gave a simple nod before walking into the array and being teleported away.


    Soon, he stood in the Rust Sky World again.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.

 Chapter 1609 Return To The Middle Fort City

    The difference in atmosphere between the Rust Sky World and the Deste Blood Battlefield was surreal to Lin Mu.


    Now that he had returned, he realized just how refreshing it felt to be back. Even if the Rust Sky world was a bit gloomy due to its unique sky, the absence of the bloody aura was still quite good.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and felt the difference in the Immortal Qi.


    "This does feel rather good." Lin Mu now had an urge to take a walk around.


    He had not realized that staying the Deste Blood Battlefield would have an aftereffect like this.


    ''I''ll get to do some tasks on the way¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had several tasks to do on his list, anyway.


    Lin Mu first walked to the checkpoint of the Deste Blood Battlefields and recorded his exit there too. He faced no issues there either and the people let him go rather quickly. Once that was done, Lin Mu flew towards the Middle Fort City and brought out Little Shrubby as well.


    They quickly sped towards the city and arrived there after a few hours. Sending Little Shrubby back and gaining entry into the Middle Fort City, Lin Mu made a checklist in his mind.


    The first task was none other than to head to the Grand Sky Pavilion. He not only wanted to check up on his request for the Tyrant Bull marrow, but also to meet with Alchemist Ruoxian.


    ''I wonder if Shu Shaoxing is here or not.'' Lin Mu recalled the man who was rather enthusiastic about Grass Herbs.


    Lin Mu also had another reason to meet him, which was to learn more about Sentient nts that could beter nted into the Sleepscape. It was one of his long term goals, and he now intended to look for such nts wherever he went.


    It didn''t matter if they could generate Qi or not, as long as they were sentient he would take them as Lin Mu knew the Sleepscape would eventually have some beneficial effect on them and lead them to improve.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu continued towards the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    Lin Mu also tried to contact Alchemist Ruoxian on the way, but found there to be no response.


    ''Perhaps he''s busy working. I''ll just have to meet him directly at the pavilion then.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Little Shrubby also wished toe out, thus Lin Mu let him do so in his kitten form. The master and beast walked through the streets of the Middle Fort City, gaining a few looks from the people.


    Some were interested in Lin Mu''s appearance, while some were interested in the kitten that seemed to be sitting on his shoulders.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were used to it though and it didn''t seem like anyone was going to stop them to talk either. Soon, the two reached the Grand Sky Pavilion and Lin Mu walked up to the nearest clerk.


    "I''m here to meet with Alchemist Ruoxian." Lin Mu informed.


    "Alchemist Ruoxian? Do you have an appointment with him?" The clerk questioned.


    "I''ve been told I can meet him any time." Lin Mu said before showing him the documentation that the alchemist had given him early on.


    The Clerk read through it and found it to be authentic. His expression became a bit flustered as he realized that Lin Mu was actually an important customer of the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    "Ah! I''m sorry for the dy, sir customer. Pleasee this way, I''ll inform Alchemist Ruoxian." The clerk hurriedly said.


    He quickly brought Lin Mu to a waiting room and went away for a minute. And when the clerk returned, he had an embarrassed expression on his face.


    "I''m sorry sir, but Alchemist Ruoxian is not present at the Grand Sky Pavilion." The Clerk reported.


    "He''s not?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "No, he''s currently out on a visit somewhere but I can send him a missive to call him." The clerk replied.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was surprised. He had thought that the man was busy at work in the Grand Sky Pavilion and had thus not responded to his call. But now it was evident that he was upied with something else.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Hmmm¡­ very well. Send it." Lin Mu decided to permit it.


    "I''ll do it right away, sir." The Clerk hurriedly said. "In the mean time you can rest here or take a look around our establishment. If you wish to have some refreshments, I can also send a few servant with them." He offered.


    "I''ll take a look around then." Lin Mu didn''t mind waiting a bit as he could do some other tasks in this time.


    "Very well, sir." The clerk cupped his hand. "We''ll inform you when Alchemist Ruoxian is here."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Mmhmm." With that, Lin Mu left the waiting area and went to the Vitality Hall.


    He had given his request for the Tyrant Bull Marrow here and needed to inquire about any updates.


    "Ah! It''s sir Mu Lin!" The clerk at the desk quickly recognized Lin Mu.


    After all, the things he had boughtst time had given the clerk quite a lot ofmission. This had made the clerk remember him deeply. In fact, the clerk had wished that Lin Mu woulde around again and buy more stuff, so that his pockets would deepen.


    "So you remember me." Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Of course! How can I forget, sir?" The clerk said with a smile. "Please take a seat." He offered.


    Lin Mu sat down in front, while Little Shrubby jumped down onto hisp.


    "So, what do I owe the pleasure of meeting Sir Mu Lin today?" the clerk asked.


    "About my earlier request. The Tyrant Bull Marrow." Lin Mu replied. "I want to know if there are any updates on it."


    "Ah yes! I remember." The clerk nodded his head. "I''ll check the most recent reports. Please give me a moment." The man said before tapping the desk in front of him.


    ~SHUA~


    The formation on the desk lit up and a formation screen appeared.


    It was only readable on one side though, so only the clerk could see what was being disyed on it. The clerk inputted some information and started to look through the information that had been added to their documents.


    Lin Mu waited for a minute and watched the clerk work. During it all, he found the clerk''s expression change several times. From a smile, it soon turned into a stiff expression.


    "Hmm¡­ it seems like there is an issue, sir." The clerk said after a bit.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "While there is indeed an update about the Tyrant Bull Marrow, it is not from your request." The Clerk replied.


    "Not from mine?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows, but then thought of something. "Do you mean there is actually some Tyrant Bull Marrow avable?" he asked again.


    "Indeed¡­ there is records of Tyrant Bull Marrow arriving in the Rust Sky World." The Clerk answered. "But it did note from sir''s request but was brought by an independent party." He added.


    "An independent party? Are they a merchant?" Lin Mu questioned next. "If so, can the Grand Sky Pavilion facilitate me to buy it from them?" if there was Tyrant Bull Marrow already present in the Rust Sky world, Lin Mu didn''t see any reason to wait.


    After all, there was no telling how long it would take for the Grand Sky pavilion to obtain it on their own.


    "That''s the issue, sir. The person with the Tyrant Bull marrow isn''t a merchant. They seem to be an independent cultivator." The Clerk stated.


    "You should still be able to contact them though, right?" Lin Mu didn''t see how something like this would be difficult for the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    "We can certainly contact them, but the issue is that the Tyrant Bull marrow isn''t for sale." The Clerk revealed.


    "Huh? Then why is it in your records?" Lin Mu was perplexed.


    "ording to our records, the information about the Tyrant Bull Marrow is here not because of a direct sale. But rather, it came through our external channels as a request." The clerk exined.


    "What kind of request?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "The owner of the Tyrant Bull Marrow has put it up as a reward for some information." The Clerk answered. "The owner is seeking information about a certain object they have and doesn''t seem to have any clues about what it is. Thus they are offering it as a reward to anyone who can provide urate information." He added.


    "What is the object?" Lin Mu asked for more details.


    "I''m afraid, we don''t know that, sir. This came from a third party, thus you will have to go there personally to check." The clerk replied.


    ~Sigh~


    "Very well¡­ where are they?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The owner of it is in the Dao Wind Empire." The Clerk stated.

 Chapter 1610 Two Goals One Destination

    Hearing that the owner of the Tyrant Bull marrow was in the Dao Wind Empire, Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "That''ll be far¡­" Lin Mu muttered, then suddenly recalled something. "Wait¡­ The Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts¡­ It''s in the Dao Wind Empire, right?" he asked.


    "Yes sir, it is indeed in the Dao Wind Empire. Or more urately, in the Capital Territory of the Dao Wind Empire." The Clerk answered.


    "That''s good¡­ I can get both things done." Lin Mu was pleased with this.


    He was intending to go for the tournament anyway and now he had another task he would be able to finish along with it.


    ''It''ll save me a lot of time and travel too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "If you wish to go there yourself, I can provide you with the contact for the local channel there. You need to talk to them if you wish to meet the person with the Tyrant Bull Marrow." The clerk exined.


    "Very well. I''m fine with that. Give me their contact then." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Please give me yourmunication jade slip." The clerk asked.


    Lin Mu gave it to the man, who then tapped it on the pyramid shaped tool. A secondter, a stream of energy entered the jade slip and the clerk returned it to Lin Mu.


    "You will be able to use the contact once you are in the Dao Wind Empire." The Clerk spoke.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    The clerk wasn''t satisfied by just this though. After all, he had not made any sale yet.


    "Is there anything else you would like to get, Sir?" The Clerk questioned. "We have several more resources and materials that have recently arrived due to the Tournament."


    "Due to the tournament? What do you mean?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Since the tournament is being held, there are a lot of peopleing from different worlds to watch it. And along with them, merchants are alsoing since it is a good opportunity to sell and promote their goods." The Clerk answered.


    ''That does make sense. The merchants would not only get to advertise but also get a variety of people looking for things.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Hmm¡­ what are the items that have arrived?" Lin Mu decided to take a look first.


    "Here you go, sir." The clerk was already prepared for it and showed the list in the formation screen.


    Lin Mu browsed through the list and took his time reading about the items. There were indeed some that seemed to be useful to Lin Mu.


    ''Hmm¡­ I should get some of the elemental materials so I can test out Omnicore Ascendancyter.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He picked out tens of materials and showed them to the clerk.


    "I want all these." Lin Mu stated.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The clerk''s eyes widened upon seeing it, but then a wide smile appeared on his face.


    "Perfect! I''ll get them brought here right away!" The clerk was incredibly excited.


    He did a rough tally in his mind, and realized that Lin Mu had bought enough materials that themission from it will be worth a year''s worth of sry for him.


    ''HAHAHA! This man is really my golden goose!'' The clerk shouted in his mind.


    With the recent increase in fortune that Lin Mu had, spending this much was basically nothing. It was barely a fraction of a percent of the immortal stones that he had gained from cleaning out two entire Immortal Stone mines.


    Lin Mu waited as the Clerk soon got the workers to bring him all the materials that he had requested. These materials were all elemental ones and were either different energy crystals, immortal herbs, or pills.


    He checked all of them and verified that they were fine before storing them away.


    "Here you go sir." The clerk handed back the Crystal card back to Lin Mu, after taking the payment. "Pleasee again soon!" he didn''t forget to wish either.


    ? Lin Mu gave a slight nod before leaving the counter and roaming around the Grand Sky Pavilion. He visited different shops and bought things that interested him, or he felt like he needed.


    He also got the spatial materials that were needed to expand Little Shrubby''s storage belt. Lin Mu wanted to make a belt that could automatically expand to fit his neck, even if he grew many times bigger.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    And for that, he found the perfect material too.


    It was the fibers from an Immortal nt called as the Whip Snare Vine. It was a carnivorous nt that would spread its thin vines everywhere on the ground, such that they would be distinguishable from the grass and other detritus.


    Then when a person or a beast walked over it, the vines would contract rapidly and form a, pulling them up. This would keep them trapped while the vine would then swallow it into its mouth that was often hidden underground.


    Due to this rapid expansive ability of this nt, its fibers were often used to make ropes and stretchable robes.


    Lin Mu bought enough of it before discovering another thing that he liked.


    It was none other than a set of robes that could actually repair themselves!


    Lin Mu knew just how many robes he had turned into rags just by fighting or doing other tasks. While he kept thousands of extra robes to cover for that problem, having a robe that could repair itself was still quite convenient.


    Though at the same time, the robe didn''t have any significant defensive abilities. It couldn''t really take an attack from an immortal without getting torn, but could still withstand some elemental effects.


    Lin Mu didn''t think much after that and bought a few sets for himself.


    ''I may as well study them too and make improved versions for myself. After all, I can''t use the Dao insights to weave clothes for myself yet.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Just as Lin Mu finished shopping for this, he received a message on his Jade Slip.

 Chapter 1611 Meeting The Alchemist

    Lin Mu held themunication jade slip and realized that the message was from none other than Alchemist Ruoxian.


    The man sent a message that he was back at the Grand Sky Pavilion now.


    "Right on time." Lin Mu immediately went to see the man.


    A few minutester he was brought to the private room by the clerk.


    "Wee, Daoist Mu Lin." Alchemist Ruoxian greeted right away. "I''m sorry you couldn''t contact me. I was stuck in a difficult situation." He exined.


    "Oh? What kind?" Lin Mu was curious.


    ''Is it linked to the Demon and the Tribtion too?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    ~Sigh~


    Alchemist Ruoxian shook his head.


    "The higher ups of the Grand Sky Pavilion are really upset about the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree and have set a massive bounty on the Demon. Not just that, but since the investigations are not really working out either, they are on the edge.


    The pressure from the Holy Topaz Dynasty''s royal court has also increased, with the emperor having mobilized its own troops to man the Deste Blood Battlefield." Alchemist Ruoxian exined.


    ''Sure enough... it was that.'' Lin Mu''s guess was urate but he didn''t show it on his face.


    "Yeah, I saw the increased security when I left the Deste Blood Battlefield." Lin Mu replied.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "That is just the start, Daoist Mu Lin. They are going to increase it even more... it''ll be worse." Alchemist Ruoxian added.


    "How so?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows. ''I need to know how they are going to act... just in case I get embroiled into this again.'' He thought.


    "This information is still confidential but will soon be public." Alchemist Ruoxian said in a low voice. "I just came from their official meeting. The Holy Topaz Dynasty has decided to coborate with all the big powers within its empire, including the Grand Sky Pavilion, the Blue Mountain ce, and several more to search for any traces of the Violet Mystic Life Tree." He exined.


    "Hmm... I heard something else though." Lin Mu spoke after a bit. "Apparently the Demon who stole the Violet Mystic Life Tree has used it as a sacrifice to offset an Immortal Tribtion... A Transcendent Immortal Tribtion." He revealed.


    "What!?" Alchemist Ruoxian was absolutely stunned.


    Seeing the shock on the man''s face, Lin Mu knew that the Grand Sky Pavilion wasn''t giving them the whole set of information. Though it also made Lin Mu wonder, if the information told by General Niu Juo was even known by the others or not.


    "Yes... The Demon was apparently at the peak of the Immortal realm and had obtained the tree so that it could be a Transcendent Immortal." Lin Mu confirmed, deciding to perpetuate the misunderstanding. "So the search for the Violet Mystic Life Tree is useless... it has already been erased."


    "This... why would they ask us to continue the search for the tree then?" Alchemist Ruoxian couldn''t help but question.


    But then a few secondster, he had a realization.


    "It can''t be... they want us to..." Alchemist Ruoxian finally understood.


    "Seems like they intended to keep you all in the blind. That way the immortals will be less vary about the Demon. After all, a Transcendent Demon is something that even the top experts of the Rust Sky World will have a hard time dealing with.


    Even an average peak immortal would be wiped away with ease." Lin Mu replied, making Alchemist Ruoxian''s expression fell.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Isn''t this the same as sending us to our deaths? Who would dare investigate a Transcendent Immortal?" Alchemist Ruoxian muttered to himself.


    "Of course. That''s what they know too." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "I... can''t let this happen. They wish death upon us this way." Alchemist Ruoxian said with indignation.


    "But can you even tell others this?" Lin Mu asked. "Won''t they simply imprison you otherwise?"


    Hearing that, Alchemist Ruoxian calmed down. He knew getting agitated over this was not good and he could make a big mistake.


    "You''re right... I cannot reveal this openly." Alchemist Ruoxian said after taking a breath.


    "Then there is the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts too. I think they wish to keep the information contained so as to not cause any disturbance to the tournament." Lin Mu had already heard of how important it was and how much trouble it would bring to the empires of the tournament was affected.


    After all, all the powers knew that the Temple of the Guardian beasts would do nothing even if the Demons returned.


    They were originally the inhabitants of this world too and the temple would not interfere in local conflicts. Only if the Demons wished for the absolute annihtion of all humans would the temple intervene.


    Otherwise their stance was simr to the pope of a religion.


    They would not interfere in the conflict of countries even if both had the same faith.


    "I''ll have to wait for a bit before finding the right opportunity to reveal this. If not, there is a chance it mighte out on its own too." Alchemist Ruoxian said after thinking for it.


    "That''s right." Lin Mu agreed.


    ~SIGH~


    Alchemist Ruoxian let out a loud sigh, feeling more exhausted than before.


    "I''m guessing you also want to know about the Hundred Vicissitudes Immortal Pill?" Alchemist Ruoxian asked.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "How''s the progress?"


    "I''ve certainly had some gains and have improved. I think I might be able to finish this in ten more months." Alchemist Ruoxian said with confidence.


    "I see... I guess I''ll have to return to get it then." Lin Mu replied.


    "Return? You''re going somewhere?" Alchemist Ruoxian questioned.


    "The tournament of course." Lin Mu answered.


    "Ah, makes sense. Someone like you should not miss an opportunity like that." Alchemist Ruoxian agreed. "How about this, I''lle give the pills to you myself if you are still in the Dao Wind Empire?" he offered.


    Lin Mu was not one to reject such an offer and agreed right away.


    "Sure, that''ll save me time." Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 1612 The Duration Of The Tournament

    With an agreement made, Lin Mu felt like it was now time to leave. The earlier he reached the Dao Wind Empire, the better it would be.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    After all, he didn''t know what else he would have to do there in order to meet the person that had the Tyrant Bull Marrow.


    "I''ll contact you again if I''m back here early, Alchemist Ruoxian." Lin Mu said.


    "And I''ll do the same if I''m in the Dao Wind Empire. Though I doubt I''ll be there anytime soon." Alchemist Ruoxian before letting out a sigh. "It''s a shame, I was looking forward to the tournament too this time." He added.


    "Oh? You''ve been to the tournament before?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He could tell that the man was not going there in order to make the pills and focus on it. But knowing more information about the tournament from the person who had been there before was still good.


    "Yes. I''ve seen thest two tournaments of the Four Guardian Beasts." Alchemist Ruoxian answered. "One was held right here in the Holy Topaz Dynasty and the other was held in the Huiqing Empire." He revealed.


    "I see¡­ how do these tournaments go usually?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well¡­ Just like how all other tournaments go. Except¡­ on a massive scale." Alchemist Ruoxian spoke. "You''ll have matches running on thousands of rings at once. These rings will usually be upied non-stop as a new match would start as soon as the previous ended.


    The earlier rounds take the shortest amount of time usually, but also take the longest time in the entire tournament simply due to how many participants there are. Usually 50% of the tournaments time is taken up by the preliminary rounds that cuts down on the participants.


    Since there are no requirements for joining, pretty much any random immortal will try to join it. Heck, half the audience that watches it is also a participant. Even I was one in both the tournaments.


    It is only after these preliminary rounds that the real part of the tournament starts.


    The matches get tougher and longer, with the participants getting more refined." He exined in detail.


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu confirmed that it all matched what the booklet had mentioned.


    ''Though the number of contestants was far less than what Alchemist Ruoxian is talking about. Guess the ones in the booklet are only the significant ones.'' Lin Mu thought to himself before speaking again.


    "How long does the Tournament usuallyst?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "That is hard to tell. Since theter matches usually have no time limits, they canst for days. In the ones that I went to, the first one took about four months to bepleted while the second one took nearly seven months." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.


    "Four and Seven Months? And this is with the matches running non-stop?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Yes. If they didn''t run the matches non stop, the tournament wouldst several times more." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "Hmm¡­ I''m guessing once you get your match number you only have to appear on that day?" Lin Mu questioned.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yes. That way most of the participants can watch the other matches. Which is actually one of the major attractions of the tournament. There aren''t many ces one can get to observe so many matches at once.


    And if you wish for it, you can even get recordings of the matches to watchter. Of course, you''ll have to pay for it all." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.


    "I understand now. Thanks for answering it all." Lin Mu said with gratitude.


    "It''s no problem. This is something you would have found out eventually anyway." Alchemist Ruoxian didn''t mind answering this much. "You should head out then. If I recall correctly the Teleportation array will be opening tomorrow." He suggested.


    "It is?" Lin Mu recalled that the working of the Teleportation array had been increased due to the tournament, so as to allow people to go there.


    This was the time when the Teleportation array owners made a lot too, thus it was a time of profit for them. There was no way they would be missing out on the opportunity. It just showed how many people and powers benefited whenever the Tournament of the Four Guardian gods was held.


    "Very well then, I guess I should prepare for my departure." Lin Mu said before standing up.


    "I''ll look forward to our meeting again in the future. Goodbye Daoist Mu Lin." Alchemist Ruoxian said with cupped hands.


    "Goodbye, Alchemist Ruoxian." Lin Mu said before leaving the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    From here, he directly went to book a slot for the Teleportation Array. After all, there was no telling how many people would be booking and whether Lin Mu would get it. Thankfully though, when Lin Mu arrived there, there were still several slots left.


    ~phew~


    "That''s one thing done." Lin Mu let out a breath of relief.


    He now had roughly twenty hours until the Teleportation Array would be activated.


    "What should be done till then¡­ Hmm, let''s shop more I guess?" Lin Mu said.


    "Yay! More food and ingredients!" Little Shrubby was certainly excited at the prospect.


    "Haha, sure. Let''s go buy some more." Lin Mu then roamed the markets of the Middle Fort City, buying all kinds of ingredients and food items he could get. Once again, rumors spread about a man with a kitten that was buying out cooking ingredients that would be enough to support a few restaurants for over a year.


    If it was him buying an equivalent value of pills or herbs, no one would bat an eye but with food it was just a bit too strange. Still, no one denied him of course, and were rather pleased to serve him.


    Lin Mu especially bought out all that he could since he wanted to deplete all the Immortal stones he had in his crystal card. It wouldn''t be used in the Dao Wind Empire, and he didn''t know if he would return here for sure.


    Thus in order to not waste anything, he went and splurged.

 Chapter 1613 Going To The Dao Wind Empire

    Lin Mu stood in the Teleportation Array with several others.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He counted the number of people and found them to be over a hundred.


    ''They''ve certainly increased the number of people for this. The array is probably at its limit too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he looked around.


    He had spent most of his earlier time on shopping and had directlye to the Teleportation Array when it was an hour before its activation. This allowed Lin Mu to see all the people who were going to head to the Dao Wind Empire.


    From their conversations, he could hear that all of them were going for the same reason: The Tournament of the Four Guardian Beasts.


    "Everyone get ready! The array will activate in five more minutes!" The supervisor of the array announced.


    "It''s finally time." Lin Mu muttered.


    Soon, the array was activated and Lin Mu felt his body turn weightless.


    ~SHUA~


    He was thrown into the Teleportation channel and started to travel at a great speed. The flicking lights went by as the familiar feeling of void made itself known.


    Lin Mu looked around curiously as he felt the voice pass by. It was around this time that he felt something within his Dantian.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu felt his second Dao embryo, The Four Faceted Neb resonating with something.


    Lin Mu had been unable to learn much about his Dao Embryo after having formed it. Its secrets and skills were still hidden, and despite using his Spiral ke Crystal to deepen his proficiency with Space, it was not enough.


    Xukong had already warned Lin Mu that since it was a new Dao Embryo, there was no telling how much time it would take for him to understand it. But now it was finally reacting, but to what, Lin Mu didn''t know yet.


    ''What''s happening?'' Lin Mu focused on his Dantian and saw the formless Dao Shell and Dao Embryo moving around.


    They expanded and Lin Mu could see the neb with its many stars shimmering within it. The stars seemed to be randomly moving at first, but the more Lin Mu watched, the more he felt like they had a certain pattern to them.


    After thinking for a bit, Lin Mu guessed that the Four Faceted Neb might be reacting to his current location.


    ''Is it like this due to the Void?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He closely observed the Dao Embryo and the fine changes that were happening within it until finally he reached the end of the Teleportation Channel.


    ~SHUA~


    The scene around Lin Mu changed once more, and he felt the solid ground underneath him. The changes happening to the Dao Embryo also stopped and it went back to its dormant state.


    "That was a shame¡­ it ended already." Lin Mu said, seeing that the Dao Embryo was no longer active. ''I''ll have to look into this further¡­'' it was the first time the Dao Embryo had acted like this, thus there was no way Lin Mu was going to let go of the chance to learn more.


    "All the travelers shall register their identities here!" A person wearing the robes of the Dao Wind Empire announced.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu looked around and saw an entirely different kind of building. Its architectural style was more simple, but still looked elegant with a mixture of dark and light wood being used to build the Array building.


    But that was not all, as Lin Mu could also sense hundreds of formations inscribed everywhere, along with many more that were hidden underneath them.


    ''Dao Wind Empire is no step behind the Holy Topaz Dynasty, if wepare the arrays.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He followed the rest of the people and did the registration. The process was mostly the same as what he had gone through in the Holy Topaz Empire, but this time, they also asked if someone was participating in the tournament.


    Those that said they did were asked to give some additional details. The details were directly added to a special jade slip, which sent them over to the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts.


    When it was Lin Mu''s turn, he did the same and was handed a four colored token with a number on it.


    "Here you go. This is your registration token for the Tournament." The clerk said.


    "Huh?" Hearing this, Lin Mu was surprised. "My registration is already finished like this?" he had thought that he''d need to go to a specific ce to do this.


    "Of course. With the number of applicants, we have to be efficient. The temple has asked us to finish the registration of all those that arrive right away, so as to prevent any dys." The clerk answered with practice, as if he had said the same thing many times.


    "I see¡­ that''s rather convenient." Lin Mu couldn''t reallyin about it.


    If anything, it had only saved him time and he could now freely look for the person who had the Tyrant Bull Marrow. He nced at the token in his hand and looked closely at the ratherrge number.


    The number was 3,129,467.


    "That''s a lot of participants." Lin Mu muttered.


    He didn''t know if the same numbers were updated everywhere, but it seemed highly unlikely over three million people had passed through the teleportation array during this time.


    "It should be a collective number. The Temple of the guardian beasts has one of the most advanced formations in the world. It is simple for them to do something like this." Xukong spoke up.


    "I see¡­ this is rather good too." Lin Mu could tell that the token had a formation within it too that contained all his details.


    With this done, Lin Mu finally left the building and finally arrived outside.


    And once he did, a vast city greeted him.


    He was currently three hundred meters high up in arge tower!


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu couldn''t help but marvel at the city.


    It was easily thergest city he had seen so far.

 Chapter 1614 Cross World Travelers

    The city that Lin Mu had arrived in was none other than the Capital of the Dao Wind Empire.


    It was the biggest city in the entire Rust Sky world and spanned a length of over five hundred kilometers!


    Just the capital city alone was the size of several small kingdoms from Lin Mu''s home world. And this was merely the main city, as there were several satellite cities located around the Capital city. And around those satellite cities, there were several more towns and viges.


    Just from this, one could see howrge the Capital region of the Dao Wind Empire was.


    The ce that Lin Mu was currently standing in was the Teleportation Tower of the Capital city. It was the ce where all the travelers from other continents would arrive at. Though it wasn''t the only one either, as there were more towers in different cities all over the Dao Wind Empire.


    Since the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts was going to be held within the capital region of the Dao Wind Empire, Lin Mu chose to teleport here rather than any other ce.


    Lin Mu walked forward and came to a stop on arge balcony that was made as an observation deck. The people of the Dao Wind Empire certainly knew the best way to catch the attention of the newly arriving travelers.


    They had intentionally built the Teleportation Tower in such a way that one could get a 360 degree view of the entire city.


    The first thing that caught Lin Mu''s attention was none other than the Grand Imperial Pce of the Dao Wind Empire. It was the biggest and most luxurious building in the entire city and was nearly a kilometer tall at its highest point.


    "That''s more of a mountain at that point¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    The pce was constructed with a variety of materials all the way from wood, stone, to precious metals like refined gold and silver. And surrounding the pce there was the imperial garden on the front side and the imperial forest on the back.


    Lin Mu''s gaze lingered over the pce for a solid five minutes before he looked elsewhere.


    ''That really isn''t a ce I would go.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After all, he had no reason to go to the imperial pce and going there would be quite dangerous too. It would bring a lot of attention to himself too after all. Lin Mu took a deep look at the entire city, as far as he gaze could take him.


    While doing this though, Lin Mu suddenly felt something.


    "Spatial Fluctuations?" Lin Mu''s eyes narrowed as Spatial Perception activated right away.


    His gaze was pulled towards argeke that was easily over a hundred kilometers wide. This was also located within the capital and was actually a major part of it.


    ''Why are there such strong Spatial Fluctuationsing from there?'' Lin Mu wondered as he kept on watching.


    He would have understood if there were spatial fluctuationsing from the tower that was in right now, as there was a teleportation array located there. But even when it was used, the spatial fluctuations from it were not this strong.


    "Considering the level of spatial fluctuations this is causing, it should be a Cross World Teleportation array." Xukong spoke up at this time.


    "A cross world Teleportation array?" Lin Mu then recalled that the three empires of the Rust Sky World each had a Cross World Teleportation array within their capitals. "So that''s where it is located¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu watched it for ten minutes, during which the spatial fluctuations only got stronger. At then finally, he saw the tearing of the Spatial Fabric.


    "It actually opened up!" Lin Mu was surprised.


    To others this was invisible, but to Lin Mu, it was as clear as the day.


    A vast ck expanse that had dense spatial energy contained within it. This was no lesser void¡­ this was the Greater void!


    It was in the Greater Void within which all the worlds within a single realm existed. And if Lin Mu was seeing it open up in front of him, it only meant someone had just arrived from another world within the same realm.


    This was technically Lin Mu''s first time seeing the Greater Void. Before this Lin Mu had seen the Grand Void, and the Great Void, but not the Greater Void.


    After all, back when Lin Mu was still in the Xiaofan world, he didn''t have the opportunity to go to another world in the same mortal realm. Otherwise he might have had the chance to see the greater void too.


    Lin Mu continued to watch the Greater Void, wondering if his Dao Embryo would react again. But there was still no reaction. Eventually the spatial fabric closed up naturally and the spatial fluctuations stopped as well.


    "Seems like some travelers from another world have arrived." Lin Mu heard the fomentation array''s staff discuss nearby.


    "This is already the third batch this month right? How many more are going to arrive?"


    "Hard to tell. But the Head Formation master, Suzi himself is manning the array this time."


    "Really? Head Formation Master Suzi? Isn''t that bit too low for him to do?"


    "Apparently he was ordered by the emperor himself. Besides, with how often the Cross World Teleportation Array is activating, do you really think other formation masters will be able to handle it?"


    "That''s right¡­ if we were posted there, we''d have passed out after the second one."


    "Exactly. Only the high leveled formation masters are currently overseeing it, and Master Suzi is the one manning it directly. This is also to ensure that all the guests arriving are also taken care of properly."


    "Oh? Is someone importanting?"All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Someone important? More like several important people are arriving."


    "I heard that several people from the Immortal Court will be in attendance this time too."


    "Of course this they will. The crown prince is here too, so he has certainly invited more people from the Immortal Court."

 Chapter 1615 A Position At The Immortal Court

    Lin Mu carefully listened to the conversation of the workers, memorizing it all. He was getting some important information if his guess was correct.


    "Ah yeah¡­ only the crown prince, a member of the Immortal Court would be able to invite so many people from there like this." The worker said.


    "Did he already be one? I thought he was just there for training?" another worker asked in surprise.


    "His position is all but confirmed. If the rumors are correct, he''s already finished his training and will be conferred an official position soon."


    "But can he take up a position in the Immortal Court? Isn''t he the crown prince¡­ his obligations lie with the Dao Wind Empire." Someone asked in doubt.


    "That''s true, but do you really think he needs to take up the mantle of the Emperor? Our Emperor Feng has a long life ahead of him." The first worker scoffed. "You should be careful with your words, someone might take it as you cursing the longevity of the emperor."


    Hearing that, the other worker quickly turned silent.


    "Regardless, if the crown prince does get a position in the immortal court, it''ll only help him. The connections he''ll make as well as the gains he''ll have from it will eventually help out empire as well." They continued their conversation.


    "HEY! What are you four doing! Get back to work, and get to checking the runes!" suddenly the voice of the supervisor could be heard, interrupting them.


    Upon hearing that, the workers immediately stopped and meekly went back to working.


    "That was interesting¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    It was surprising for him to learn that the Crown prince of the Dao Wind Empire had reached such a position.


    "What exactly does it meant to be training at the Immortal Court Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu questioned.


    While Lin Mu could tell it was important, he didn''t know what one did if they were appointed. Even the Saintess had talked about it before.


    "Mm? Training at the Immortal court is usually meant for the experts of the younger generation. They get to learn about the administrative matters of running entire worlds, as well as the judicial concerns thate along with it.


    All this is just the non-cultivation part though. Along with this, they also get pointers from the experts of the immortal court as well as getting exposure to the best experts of the entire Immortal realm and visits to various inheritance grounds.


    It is certainly a coveted position that only a few people get." Xukong exined.


    Hearing it, Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    "And the Saintess was offering me that?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but raise his brows.


    "Yes, she did. You easily qualify for it." Xukong replied. "But it alsoes with its restraints. If you do take it up, you will be bound toplete the training and once it is done, they will assign you to a position.


    The position can be within any of the four Immortal Courts, or in a world. You will have to serve in this position for a few thousand years after which you can choose to resign." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ but I''m guessing people don''t mind that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course not. To them, that is the greatest fortune they can have. Rather than worrying about when they can leave, they are anxious about how to extend their serving time. The benefits and wealth obtained from it is massive after all.


    And once one resigns or retires from it, they will be considered a person with great influence. So much so that you will get preferential treatment even when you reach the Celestial realm." Xukong answered.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "No wonder¡­ And that crown prince will be doing that." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Why? Do you wish to join it now too?" Xukong asked seeing Lin Mu''s expression.


    "No." Lin Mu shook his head. "It would be far too restrictive for me. Plus there is no telling if what would happen if they found out about the secrets I have." He added.


    "That''s true. Though it is still a good option if you feel like you want a ce to ''settle'' for a few thousand years." Xukong replied calmly.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu didn''t think that moment woulde time soon with how much lifespan he had left.


    He was barely twenty seven years old right now after all.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s get down from here first." Lin Mu said and tried to fly but couldn''t. "Huh?"


    "You can''t fly in an Imperial Capital like this without permission." Xukong reminded.


    "Of course." Lin Mu shook his head.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    But just as he said that, Lin Mu saw several travelers flying without an issue.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "How can they fly?" Lin Mu was now confused.


    One of the guards nearby seemed to have heard him and spoke, "those who have permissive tokens can fly."


    "How can one get that?" Lin Mu wished he could have one, as it would make things convenient.


    "You can get one if you''re a noble, have an official position, are gifted one, or gain fame for it to be bestowed." The guard said in a t tone.


    "Ah¡­" Lin Mu realized it was not as simple as just buying one. "Walking it is then."


    He went down the stairs with the other travelers that didn''t have the permissive tokens and soon reached the bottom. After all, they were all immortals and weren''t exactly slow.


    Upon getting down, Lin Mu first decided to get a ce to settle down.


    "Now then, let''s see." Lin Mu took out the booklet for the tournament.


    There were plenty of ces mentioned on it that one could stay it. It was clear that these were advertisement put by the owners of these establishments. There were over a hundred such ces listed in it, along with their address.


    "Just the address won''t help me, if I don''t know what the location is. I also need a map." Lin Mu decided to get a map first.

 Chapter 1616 A Massive City For Navigation

    Asking around, it didn''t take him long for Lin Mu to find a ce that sold maps. With a city as massive as this, it was necessary for there to be maps for it.


    Even for the citizens of this city, it wasn''t unusual for them to get lost if they went to areas they had not been too. It was even said that there were people who had not seen the entire Capital city in their lifespan.


    And thus, there was nock of shops that sold such maps.


    "Wee Customer, what would you like?" The shopkeeper asked eagerly.


    Lin Mu looked around and found the shop to be rather good looking. It was well maintained and there were all kinds of goods such as various bags, tents, powders of different uses as well as maps.


    It was evident that this was a shop that sold travel supplies.


    "I''d like a map." Lin Mu replied.


    "What kind of map would you like customer? We have maps for the capital city, as well as detailed maps for each district of the city. Or if you wish for other maps, we also have maps for the different regions of the Dao Wind Empire." The shopkeeper replied.


    "I''d like a detailed map of the city." Lin Mu answered.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    "Ah, very well." The Shopkeeper said before taking out three items.


    The first was a set of scrolls, the second was a jade slip and the third was a small circr mirror.


    "I have the map in three versions, ranging from cheap to expensive. The first is the most basic scroll maps. Since the city is too big, you''ll have to buy multiple scrolls. The cost for this is four low grade immortal stones.


    The second is the jade slip, which has the entire map within it. You can use it just like any other jade slip used to store information. The cost for it is twenty low grade immortal stones.


    Then we have the Map mirror which can not only function as a map, but will also show your position as you move along with a location search function. It will help you never get lost in the Capital City. The Map Mirror costs about two mid grade immortal stones." The Shopkeeper exined.


    "I''ll take the map mirror then." It didn''t take long for Lin Mu to make a decision.


    After all, the price was nothing to him and the convenience provided by the Map Mirror was going to be a big help.


    "An excellent choice! This map mirror is our best seller too." The Shopkeeper said with a smile. "I must say, sir customer made a good decision. All those that buy the basic scroll maps and jade slipe back to buy the Map Mirror.


    Even the people with good sense of direction get lost in our city. Not to mention with how many locations there are in our capital, it gets tough to find them all. The Map Mirror will help in all that." He exined.


    "I see¡­ I''ll take it then." Lin Mu said before handing over the mid grade immortal stones to the man.


    "Would you like anything else, customer?" The shopkeeper tried to get Lin Mu to buy more.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and thought over it for a bit before having an idea.


    "This map mirror¡­ is there a version of it that works for the entire Long Continent?" Lin Mu inquired.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Ah! Unfortunately that is not possible. The Map Mirror is something that was especially developed for the Capital city. It relies on the arrays of the city to work and as such cannot work elsewhere." The shopkeeper replied.


    "That''s a shame." Lin Mu said, but could understand the reasoning behind it.


    "But! I can still offer you a jade slip map for the entire Dao Wind Empire." The Shopkeeper offered.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll take that then." Lin Mu decided to get it, just in case. "How much is it?"


    "Not much, just 10 mid Grade Immortal stones." The shopkeeper said with a wide smile.


    Lin Mu raised a brow hearing that price as it was higher than the Map Mirror which was technically an Immortal tool. The shopkeeper seemed to have understood Lin Mu''s thoughts and spoke again.


    "I assure you, it is the best map you can get of the empire. The cost is reasonable for the area that it covers." The shopkeeper rified.


    "Alright, I''ll take that too." Lin Mu responded much to the Shopkeepers joy.


    "GREAT!" The man very eagerly took Lin Mu''s immortal stones and handed over the Jade slip.


    But the man was not done yet.


    "May I ask if sir is taking part in the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts?" the Shopkeeper inquired.


    "I am." Lin Mu didn''t see any reason to hide it since it was something that could be easily guessed.


    "Then since sir has bought so much form me, I''ll offer sir a bit of interesting information." The shopkeeper offered.


    "Oh? What kind of information?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The shopkeeper edged closer and said in a low voice.


    "I think sir will be interested in a few banquets that will be held in theing days. These are being held by the nobles as well as the rich influential people of the capital city." The shopkeep answered.


    "What do the banquets have to do with me though?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "The banquets are merely a front. In reality, these are intended to be an opportunity for the contestants to meet up as well as the nobles to scout out some ck horses before hand. If one is lucky, they might even get sponsored by the banquet organizers." The shopkeeper replied.


    Next he took out a little sheet of paper and slid it to Lin Mu slyly.


    "Sir customer will certainly benefit from attending a couple." The Shopkeeper said. "Plus I''ve heard they''ll have some great beauties there too." He whispered.


    Lin Mu didn''t reply to the man after that and simply took the sheet and left.

 Chapter 1617 Lingering Bamboo Pavillion

    Having obtained the map, and a little extra information Lin Mu left the shop.


    "The banquet might be good to visit. Perhaps I''ll get to obtain some information about other interesting contestants." Lin Mu muttered. "And I may as well try out the food." He said with a bit more enthusiasm.


    Lin Mu wasn''t one to deny free food, and from what it seemed like these banquets seemed to be open to most contestants.


    While the shopkeeper hadn''t said how they would pick who would be allowed, Lin Mu reckoned it was mostly up to the judgment of the organizers. After all, it wasn''t difficult for people in those positions to judge cultivators with a few looks.


    ? But all that wouldeter, since Lin Mu needed to deal with the issue of the Tyrant Bull Marrow first.


    "Let''s get a ce to stay first." Lin Mu took out the map mirror and controlled it to show him ces for stay.


    ~SHUA~


    An illusory map appeared out of the Map Mirror and a small red dot could be seen on it, showing Lin Mu''s position. Next, Lin Mu saw several green dots appearing on the map, signifying inns, hotels, courtyards and other ces that were avable for one to rent.


    "There''s quite a lot of options¡­" Lin Mu could see over a hundred ces to stay in the map if he scrolled around.


    He looked through them and picked one that offered independent private courtyards for one to rent.


    "That one it is then." Lin Mu said.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, a line crawled out from the red dot and highlighted the path that Lin Mu needed to take to reach the destination.


    "That''s rather convenient." Lin Mu was impressed by this, wondering what kind of formations were being used for it.


    He could at least tell that the Map mirror itself was rather light on the formations, which was also why its value could be kept low. The true reason for its working was the array that extended all over the city.


    The Map mirror took information from that city wide array and located one''s position on the map.


    ''It''s also a good way to spy on others though.'' Lin Mu thought and wondered if there were some tricks in the map mirror too.


    He wouldn''t put it behind an empire to hide such things in order to spy on the people within it.


    It made sense from a security perspective but wasn''t really good for privacy. Lin Mu himself wouldn''t like for others to know his position every time, as it would make doing certain things difficult.


    And while he was sure that no one was actively tracking them, there was still a chance they could look it upter on.


    "I should check to make sure once I''ve rented a ce." Lin Mu muttered and started walking on the charted route.


    It took Lin Mu about thirty minutes to reach his destination considering that it was nearly fifty kilometers away from his original location. This part of the city had streets that were nearly a hundred meters wide and looked rather high quality.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu looked at the buildings around him and found most of them to be mansions andrger courtyards belonging to various nobles, aristocrats as well as rich individuals.


    Even the people passing through here seemed to be affluent, and were riding various vehicles. Some were inrge luxurious carriages while some were riding on top of beast mounts. There were even some that were using special immortal vehicles for travel.


    Thankfully for Lin Mu, he had no trouble blending in with these people. Even while walking, his appearance was handsome enough for others to consider him on the same level as them.


    Not to mention, Lin Mu''s demeanor which had been tempered over several experiences that made him seem significant.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu had no issues in reaching his destination which was named, Lingering Bamboo Pavilion.


    He gazed at the name board and was noticed by the guards standing outside. Before they could speak to him though, Lin Mu walked in.


    ~Creak~


    The door automatically opened up for him and presented the elegant interior.


    "Wee to the Lingering bamboo Pavilion." A beautiful woman greeted Lin Mu.


    It was clear that she was there to make it easier for people to be attracted as well as to make them talk. Though these ploys weren''t ones that could work on Lin Mu, as moving his mind was rather difficult now.


    "I heard you have courtyards for rent?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course! Our Lingering Bamboo Pavilion is well known for its luxurious courtyards." The woman said with a gentle smile. "What kind of courtyard is Senior looking for?" She inquired.


    "Some ce that is private." Lin Mu''s requirements were simple.


    "All our courtyards are private, Senior. Though we have them in several designs and with different features." The woman started to show off an entire catalog of courtyards.


    From that, Lin Mu learned that there were nearly two hundred courtyards in the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion. All of them were independent and even the smallest one was the same as a noble''s house.


    It actually took Lin Mu half an hour to make his choice, as he ended up selecting one based on the features. Lin Mu picked a courtyard that had a garden with several immortal fruit trees as well as facilities for formation and pill refinement.


    "Excellent choice, Senior." The woman was pleased since Lin Mu had picked one of the more expensive courtyards. "How long do you wish to rent it for?" she inquired.


    Now this was a difficult question for Lin Mu, as he didn''t know how long he''d actually stay here. But after thinking for a bit, he decided to get it for the duration of the tournament.


    "I''ll rent it till the end of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts." Lin Mu stated.


    He reckoned at least the Saintess would have a ce to stay properly if he was out.

 Chapter 1618 Hundred Fruits Pavilion

    The Woman at the counter was not done though, and realized that Lin Mu was also a participant for the tournament.


    "I see¡­ if sir is a participant too then I can give you a monthly payment offer. Since the tournament has an unexpected length, you can pay a month in advance. Once the ending date is announced, you can withdraw any excess funds." The woman exined.


    "Very well, I''ll take it." Lin Mu found the option to be good as that way he wouldn''t waste any extra funds.


    "Great! How would you like to pay sir? You can pay in Immortal Stones, or other materials too." The woman replied.


    "I''ll pay with Immortal stones." Lin Mu said and handed over a bag of them to the woman.


    She quickly ced them on the desk and got an automatic count.


    "Pleasee with me, I''ll show you to the courtyard." The woman said while walking out from the side of the counter.


    Lin Mu followed after her and went through a long corridor that ended in a pair of doors. When these doors opened up, Lin Mu was greeted by a vast rock garden that had pathsid out.


    "This is our surrounding garden for the courtyards inside." The woman introduced while bringing Lin Mu thought a long and winding path.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    It was clear that the courtyard that Lin Mu had picked was rather distant. Though at the same time it was also one of the best ones in the entire set of courtyards. After walking for about five minutes, they finally reached the chosen courtyard.


    "Here it is sir, the Hundred Fruit Courtyard." The woman gestured towards therge courtyard that was fit for a noble.


    The doors opened automatically for them as they walked inside and allowed them to see the beautiful interior. There were six interconnected buildings in the courtyard with each having different functions.


    There was the main hall at the center with two bedrooms attached to it. Then there was a Formation Pavilion as well as a pill refinement hall set in two of the buildings. And finally, there was the building that was used as a kitchen as well as a servant quarters.


    But the best part of the courtyard was none other than the many fruit trees that were nted in its garden. This was the reason why it was called the Hundred Fruit Courtyard after all.


    Lin Mu could see that most of the trees were Spirit Fruit trees, but there were still a handful of Immortal Fruit trees among them too.


    ''Makes sense, nting all immortal fruit trees would make the value rise a little too much.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Still this was good enough for him, as it just meant Little Shrubby will have more things to experiment with.


    "I can use all of these fruits right?" Lin Mu asked just in case.


    "Of course. As long as you do not cut down the trees, you can take as many fruits as you wish sir." The woman replied.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "You can also get the servants to prepare whatever food you wish for. They are well trained in all kinds of dishes. Or if you wish to procure some other services, they can also be called for at once using the servants." The Woman exined further.


    "I don''t need the servants." Lin Mu said much to her surprised. "I''d like for all servants to be gone from the courtyard while I''m here. I''ll call for them if I need them." He stated.


    The woman seemed a bit confused, but did not question Lin Mu''s choice.


    After all, Lin Mu was a paying customer that had rented one of the most expensive courtyards in the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion. His request was basically nothingpared to the other wild requests that several noble quests gave.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Very well, that shall be done." The woman responded. "If you wish to call for the servants, you can use this master token." She handed Lin Mu what looked like a formation te.


    Upon holding the master token, Lin Mu could already sense all of its functions. It controlled all aspects of the Hundred Fruit Courtyard and also functioned as amunication tool for the servants.


    "You can also call upon me if you need something greater." The woman offered with a smile. "I''ll shall not take anymore of your time and leave you to it." She bid her farewell and left Lin Mu to his devices.


    ~HUU~


    With her gone, Lin Mu took a deep breath, enjoying the fragrance of the fruit flowers.


    "Come out, Little Shrubby, Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang." Lin Mu called out his beasts.


    ~MEOW~


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The three beasts seemed to be visibly excited as they looked around therge courtyard. It wasrge enough for even Little Shrubby to walk around a bit in his full size.


    "So many fruits!" it didn''t take long for Little Shrubby to sense the fruit trees.


    "You can use them. We just can''t damage the trees." Lin Mu instructed. "There''s also a kitchen there, so you can look around."


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby replied before going to take a look.


    The twins also followed behind him, deciding to take his lead.


    Lin Mu looked at this with interest, finding it to be new.


    ''Did they decide this in the Sleepscape?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    While he knew that Little Shrubby had been teaching the twins'' things, it seemed like they hade to some sort of arrangement now.


    Once the three were gone though, Lin Mu thought about another important person.


    "Saintess¡­" Lin Mu called for her.


    ~SHUA~


    This time it didn''t take that long for her to appear. In fact, it felt like she had been waiting for him to call her.


    "I got a bigger courtyard this time and it also has a private bedroom. You can take that if you wish." Lin Mu offered.


    "Mmm¡­ very well." The Saintess agreed before looking in the distance. "This city seems a bit different though."

 Chapter 1619 An Idea For Wine

    Lin Mu heard the Saintess''s words and was a bit confused.


    "Different? Have you been here before?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes¡­ this is the ce where I arrived first in the Rust Sky World." The Saintess answered.


    "Oh, I didn''t know that." Lin Mu realized he had never asked, how the Saintess had arrived. "Do others know that you are here? I mean if you used the teleportation array they should have a record right?" he inquired.


    "Other than the people of my sect, no one should know. They wouldn''t have sensed me here either, even if the array was used." The Saintess answered.


    Lin Mu was once again impressed by the Saintess''s skills wondering when he''ll reach the same level.


    "Why does it seem different to you though, Saintess?" Lin Mu questioned recalling her earlier words.


    "Hmm¡­ it is hard to tell. There is a strange aura cast over the entire region." The Saintess answered.


    "Strange aura?" Lin Mu thought over it and replied, "is it due to the tournament perhaps?"All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "It might be so." The Saintess replied.


    "Is the aura dangerous or threatening?" Lin Mu asked, just in case.


    "No. It is mostly neutral. Though it also tends to re up from time to time." The Saintess replied.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows, wondering if the Tournament was really behind this.


    "Can you sense it too Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu questioned, hoping to get more.


    "I can''t sense it, but I have an idea of what it might be." Xukong answered. "It should be the presence of the Four Guardian beasts. They should be awakening for the Tournament." He reveled.


    "Their awakening?!" Lin Mu was surprised, "just their awakening can cause this kind of aura to spread?" he asked.


    "This should just be the start. As time passes, it will increase until finally they will awaken. The presences of the Four Guardians will be watching the tournament too after all." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm¡­ I guess it''s not that bad." Lin Mu nodded his head. "But why is the Saintess unable to tell this?" he asked in doubt.


    "It is exceptional that she can sense it right now in the first ce. One shouldn''t be able to tell this even when they have fully awakened. After all, the temple has such strong arrays that they can easily hide their presence.


    The aura that is spread around should be due to the Rust Sky World itself reacting to the awakening of the Guardians." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu finally understood and felt a bit relieved that it wasn''t anything bad. He also conveyed this information to the Saintess making her content too.


    "So they have already started to awaken by now." The Saintess seemed a bit surprised. "Usually they awaken just a short time before a tournament." She added.


    "Have you been to such tournaments of the Four Guardian beasts before Saintess?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "I have in the past, yes." The Saintess replied.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Did you participate in them too?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "No¡­ I''ve only been there to watch them." The Saintess shook her head.


    Though after thinking for a bit, Lin Mu reckoned it was probably due to the unique status of the Saintess that she did not participate in them.


    With that done, Lin Mu reckoned he should take a look at the formation arrays of the courtyard. He found them to be good, but still added a few of his on top of them, just to be extra sure.


    And once that was done, he checked the rest of the features of the courtyard including the Formation Pavilion and the Pill Refinement hall.


    "The pill refinement hall is good, but the Formation Pavilion is a bit inferior to the one I built in the Sleepscape." Lin Mu assessed. "If I make the Diamond Mountain Talismans here, the Formation Pavilion might not be able to bear the same level of damage." He muttered.


    Though it made sense, since this formation pavilion was built ording to the general use purpose and was not meant to be a specialized one. But for making normal talismans and formations that did not have any strong bacshes, it would be perfectly fine.


    Having checked all the rooms, Lin Mu decided to wait till Little Shrubby was done cooking.


    The beast had already picked the fruits, and was making something in the kitchen. Lin Mu could smell the scentsing from the distance and just decided to wait for it.


    The Saintess on the other hand, had set up her solid Immortal Stone table and chairs in the garden and was seemingly sitting still.


    Due to her veil, Lin Mu didn''t know if she was gazing at something or was just sitting with her eyes closed. But Lin Mu knew someone of her level didn''t really need to ''look'' at something to know what was happening.


    He reckoned she was probably getting a sense of the capital city. After all, it was massive and there were far too many things happening in it.


    Shortly after, the meal was ready and Little Shrubby brought it out.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Several prosthetic hands flew out carrying the trays and tters, before cing them on the table.


    "Looks good!" Lin Mu said seeing the dishes that were utilizing the various fruits of the garden.


    They didn''t spend wait any longer and quickly got to eating.


    Even the Saintess tried some of the dishes, finding them to be good. Little Shrubby had also prepared some fruit juices as apaniments for their meal.


    While drinking this though, the Saintess spoke lightly. "Some fruit wine might be good too."


    "Wine huh?" Lin Mu took note of it and thought over it a bit.


    He knew that there were many kinds of Immortal wines that were the same as elixirs in strength.


    ''I wonder if I can use the Immortal Apples for making some wine? I do have a lot of them.'' Lin Mu pondered.


    He had other cultivation resources so he didn''t necessarily need to rely on the apples to cultivate, allowing them to hoard in his ring.

 Chapter 1620 Making Contact With The Seller And Making Wine Gourds

    Making wine wasn''t necessarilyplicated for Lin Mu, but when it came to Immortal wine, things became a bitplex.


    When there was Immortal Qi involved, one couldn''t just crush an immortal fruit and squeeze out its juice to be fermented. Doing that directly would only lead to the Immortal Qi leaking out and the wine turning into normal wine.


    If one wanted to make Immortal wine, they needed special equipment for it. This came in the form of various jars, barrels as well as gourds. Simr to the preservation formations on the pill boxes and bottles, wine making equipment also had them.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    But in addition to that, they also had temperature regtion as well as several more formations that promoted the formation of wine.


    But all this was just for the most basic immortal wine. If one wanted to make different vors and variants, they would have to adjust the different pentameters on their own as well. There was a reason why a master immortal wine brewer took thousands of years to learn.


    Making a single batch of Immortal wine might take years if not decades, only after which one would know the results of their work. And the longer a wine was left, the better it would age and its taste would change too.


    This affected the properties of the wine too, making it more potent.


    To immortals, mortal and spirit wine couldn''t get them drunk. To them it may as well be water at that point. Thus in order to get the same effect they would need immortal wine that would have to be aged for at least a few years.


    There were other immortal wines that were aged for a hundred or even a thousand years that had great effects. At that point, they may as well be on the same level as that of pills.


    One might think if high grade wine was the same as high grade pills, why didn''t more people make it even if it was simpler?


    The reason was the need for time.


    An alchemist might be able to make hundreds of high grade pills in a span of a decade and yet a wine brewer might not even be able to finish one batch of wine.


    Because of this the two upations had their own benefits and couldpare on certain levels. Wine was good for asional use and employment while pills were better for regr use


    Having thought all this, Lin Mu decided to make some immortal wine too.


    ''I might not be able to make good quality wine right away, but making some light fruit wine shouldn''t be a problem. I do have plenty of Immortal apples anyway.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    The Saintess had no idea, that a few of her words had made Lin Mu start on his journey as a Wine maker.


    They continued their meal and once it was done, Little Shrubby cleaned everything up. Lin Mu went to his room to cultivate for a bit and also look over the map to find out more about the city.


    After all, it was massive and with the Mirror map, he could see what kind of establishments and organizations there were in the entire capital region. Then there was also the banquets that had been mentioned by the map shop''s owner.


    ''Considering I''m near several of the noble''s mansions, they might be organizing them too.'' Lin Mu decided to look out for them.


    After spending a while looking through the map, Lin Mu finally decided to contact the person who supposedly had the Tyrant Bull Marrow.


    ~HUU~


    "Here goes nothing¡­" Lin Mu held the Jade Slip and contacted the person.


    He waited for a few minutes as the response didn''te right away.


    "Hmm¡­ let''s try again." Lin Mu contacted the person again but still didn''t get a response. "Perhaps they are upied. I''ll wait a bit more." He muttered.


    Lin Mu continued to cultivate while waiting for a response toe on the jade slip. Time continued to pass and night time arrived after which Lin Mu had nearly given up on it.


    "Are they not intending to give it now or something?" Lin Mu wondered.


    There was no saying if the person had changed their mind.


    "Or they already have someone they gave it to." Xukong chimed in.


    "Ah yeah¡­ I didn''t consider that." Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "But that''ll make things difficult for me."


    ~HUMM~


    Shortly after he said that though, Lin Mu felt the Jade Slip hum. He immediately picked it up and discovered that the one contacting him was none other than who he was waiting for.


    "You are looking for the Tyrant Bull Marrow?" The person asked.


    "Yes, I am. I heard you are willing to give it in exchange for a task?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes. If you wish to attempt it, you can meet me in two days time." The person stated directly.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Very well." Lin Mu agreed and was given an address to go to in two days time.


    With that done, the connection was stopped and Lin Mu didn''t receive any more messages from the person.


    "Hmm¡­ let''s see what this address is." Lin Mu opened up the Map Mirror and searched for the address that he had been given.


    He reckoned knowing where to go in advance would be good.


    "Huh? This¡­" But when Lin Mu looked up the address he was surprised. "Is this correct?" he was doubtful.


    Lin Mu checked it again and realized that it really was correct.


    "Within the Grounds of the Imperial Pce¡­ just who is this person?" Lin Mu was shocked by this.


    The address that the person had given Lin Mu was one of the man buildings within the Imperial pce grounds. The area was huge and multiple people levied in it along with the Imperial Family.


    "At least it isn''t the Grand Pce itself¡­ that would be unnerving." Lin Mu muttered.


    From what Lin Mu could see on the map, the building seemed to be located on the outer periphery of the Imperial Pce Grounds. It was definitely not someone that was a direct member of the Imperial Family at least.


    "It should be an official or something." Lin Mu reckoned.


    If it was someone like that he was still fine with meeting them.


    ''I guess I just have to wait for two days.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and decided to do some other tasks in this time.


    Heid down and entered the Sleepscape.


    "I may as well get started on the wine." Lin Mu said to himself and went to the Formation Pavilion.


    There, Lin Mu took out a couple of Gourds that were originally used for storing pills.


    "I should be able to re purpose these for wine." Lin Mu reckoned.


    Next, he checked the formations on them and tried to see if they could work for wine too, but realized that they weren''t all useful. He would also need to add several more formations to them to make them properly work.


    But if he''s doing all that, Lin Mu would have to remove the older formations anyway as they would not mesh well with the new ones.


    "Let''s start from clearing it out. The gourd is of a good base material so I should just make new formations on it." Lin Mu decided.


    He first unraveled all the formations that were on the gourd and then did the same with the second one too. Once that was done, Lin Mu started to add new runes to it, starting from the most basic preserving formation.


    Then he added an Immortal Qi containment formation and then a Qi isting formation on top of that to make it extra strong.


    Lin Mu also consulted with Xukong on what formations would be the best for the gourd. After all, while there were many types of formations there were also several variants of the same formation with each having slight difference.


    Thus knowing which one to choose was also an important task.


    And it just so happened that Xukong seemed to be a little too knowledgeable about making wine.


    Lin Mu found it a bit strange, as Xukong had never shown interest in wine before this. He didn''t mind it though and just went with the flow, following the advice of the spider.


    Thankfully all these formations were rather simple to Lin Mu, and he finished making all of them in just a day''s time.


    "There we go. Barely any mistakes." Lin Mu said while feeling pleased at his work.


    With the two gourds ready, all that was left for Lin Mu to put fruit juice in it.


    "Time to get started on that." Lin Mu took out the Immortal apples and began separating them.


    There were two types after all, one was the normal Immortal apples and the other was the Wood Elemental Immortal apples. Lin Mu didn''t want to mix them together as he didn''t know what the oue would be.


    Plus the number of Wood Elemental Immortal Apples was also less.

 Chapter 1621 Wine Making And The Guidance Of The Saintess

    Lin Mu first collected the two types of apples inrge mortars that were used to crush herbs. He started by crushing the normal attribute less Immortal apples and turned them into a juicy pulp.


    With Lin Mu''s strength, crushing the apples was the same as tearing off a small feather. He crushed each apple with just a squeeze of his fingers and extracted its juice.


    Once the apples were turned into a mush, he flipped the mortar''s contents into a muslin cloth and squeezed it further gathering the fine juice into arger container.


    To this, he then added a few shards of Immortal Essence crystals.


    Lin Mu had been advised by Xukong to add these as they aided in the growth of the naturally present yeast and promoted the fermentation process. With that done, Lin Mu thoroughly mixed it before adding it all to one of the gourds he had prepared.


    The total amount of juice came down to about four liters which would probably reduce once the wine was ready. Still, this four liters of Immortal Apple pulp was still worth a lot.


    Even the waste pulp that was left over could still be sold for a couple hundred mid grade Immortal Stones. And this was when most of the nutrients from it had already been extracted.


    Lin Mu didn''t waste this pulp of course and decided to give it to the Wood Spirit Tulip. The nt would still be able to make good use of the remaining pulp as fertilizer.


    Next, Lin Mu repeated the same process with the Wood elemental Immortal Apples and extracted its juice before adding the Immortal Essence crystal shards.


    This time around though, he could feel a far stronger energy from it than he did from the normal version. Lin Mu could only attribute it to the Wood Element within it as it gave off a strong feeling of vitality.


    If it were not for the fact that Lin Mu had felt this several times and was used to it, he would have found it irresistible and might have just drank it all right away.


    Thankfully for him, his will power was quite strong and he easily managed to hold himself from consuming it. He transferred it to the second gourd that he had prepare and plugged its cork.


    "Time to seal it now." Lin Mu muttered and got ready for the important process.


    Depending on how well a wine was sealed, the vor and quality of it would vary. If it was not sealed properly, it would leak out energy and thus loose its efficacy.


    But if it was sealed properly, it would not lose any energy and over time this energy would only get more potent. That was his aim and would allow him to gain the best benefits from the wine than he would from direct consumption.


    In addition to this, Lin Mu had another aim.


    ''Hopefully Saintess would like this too. It should be ready in a few months or so.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Since he wanted the wine to be finished fast, Xukong had told him to add the Immortal Essence crystal shards that would promote the growth of the yeast. This would in turn speed up the fermentation process whichbined with the gourd and the formations would allow a good wine to be formed in a short time.


    Lin Mu spent his two days of waiting time in this and left the Sleepscape when it was just a few hours before the day of decided meeting.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu opened his eyes in the real world and found the unfamiliar ceiling of the new bedroom above him.


    "Guess this''ll take a bit to get used to." Lin Mu said in a low voice.


    He got up and went to take a bath before going out to the courtyard.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    There he found a new scene.


    The Saintess was sitting at her table as usual but was instructing Little Shrubby. The beast himself was standing next to one of the man fruit trees and had a small cloud of wood immortal qi swirling around him.


    The twins were also there, coiled up on the table in front of the Saintess while watching Little Shrubby follow orders.


    "Is this how I smooth it?" Little Shrubby asked the Saintess.


    "Lighter, reduce the output." She replied.


    Lin Mu who watched this was stunned.


    ''When did she learn how to talk to him?'' Lin Mu was sure that she couldn''t talk with Little Shrubby before.


    But he didn''t say anything and simply stayed there while watching the two do their thing.


    "Add more constriction! Keep the output same but improve your controls. Channel the streak of qi into the nt and harmonize it with its own natural energies." The Saintess said calmly.


    Little Shrubby did as was instructed and controlled the cloud of wood immortal qi, channeling it into a long streak that tunneled its way into the fruit tree.<novelnext></novelnext>


    The tree shook as if it was in a storm and several of its leaves fell off as well, but once Little Shrubby was done the tree seemed to have gained a new found energy.


    A few momentster, the fallen leaves of the tree suddenly regrew and several more sprouts appeared on it too. These sprouts continued to grow and soon turned intorger branches that further grew twigs on them.


    "Do it again." The Saintess ordered.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby seemed to be engrossed in it too, following the Saintess''s orders to a T.


    He generate another cloud of Wood Immortal qi around him and turned it into a long streak which then channeled into the immortal fruit tree. The newly grown branches grew even more and soon new buds opened up on them.


    These buds were tightly closed for a few seconds before finally blossoming and releasing a refreshing fragrance.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel that this fragrance was a lot stronger than the one he had smelled upon entering here. It was as if a transformation had urred within the tree that was of a qualitative level.


    He then watched on as the buds turned into full blown blossoms and soon wilted to give birth to young fruits.


    "That''s good." The Saintess spoke seeing the progress. "You did well," she praised to which the Little Shrubby responded by rushing toward her.


    The Saintess rubbed Little Shrubby''s head and stroked his fur, making the now kitten sized beast melt onto the table.


    Lin Mu watched the adorable act, feeling rather cozy himself. But at the same time he didn''t speak, as the moment felt a little too precious to be disturbed


    A minuteter though, he heard the Saintess speak.


    "Are you heading out?" She asked, while continuing to stroke Little Shrubby.


    "Yes. I''ll be going to meet a potential seller." Lin Mu replied.


    "A seller? Of what?" the Saintess inquired.


    "I''m looking for Tyrant Bull Marrow." Lin Mu answered honestly.


    As soon as the Saintess heard that, she stopped stroking Little Shrubby and turned to Lin Mu.


    "Tyrant Bull Marrow? For body cultivation?" She questioned in doubt.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head, noticing the dissatisfaction of Little Shrubby who nuzzled his head against the Saintess''s hand that had stopped.


    "Aren''t you cultivating the Three Apertures Invoking Technique?" She questioned.


    "Yes¡­ but I am also looking to add another body cultivation technique to my list." Lin Mu answered. "The Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets." He revealed.


    "You want to cultivate a second body cultivation technique¡­ that too a high quality one like the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets." The Saintess spoke. "I don''t know whether to call you brave or foolish." She added.


    "I believe I can handle it. My master has given the approval as well." Lin Mu replied.


    "I see¡­" Hearing that the Saintess didn''t have anymore doubts. "Well if there''s anyone that can withstand multiple Body cultivation techniques, it may as well be someone like you."


    Lin Mu gave a little nod before looking towards the Immortal Fruit tree that had grown.


    "What was that though? Were you teaching Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked feeling curious.


    "You can say that. I was merely showing him a few tricks to controlling his own innate talent with the wood immortal qi." The Saintess replied much to Lin Mu''s contentment.


    He knew the Saintess''s guidance was not simple and if she could teach Little Shrubby, the beast would progress at a great pace. In fact, even humans that got guidance from her might progress really fast and gain a lot.


    But Lin Mu could tell that it was more than what the Saintess had said. It felt as if she had tailored the guidance specifically for Little Shrubby as the beast was able to act perfectly ording to hermands.


    Something like this could only be aplished if the teacher herself was a master of the same.


    "Master, look now I can grow more food for us!" Little Shrubby said with great joy.

 Chapter 1622 Entering The Palace Grounds

    Watching Little Shrubby''s work, Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel happy.


    "Looks like you''ll be a great help then." Lin Mu held Little Shrubby who had jumped into his arms.


    Stroking the beast''s head for a bit, he saw the twins seemingly ring at him.


    ~SASASA~


    In the next second, they too jumped into his hands, wanting to be pet.


    "Alright, alright, you two did good too." Lin Mu petted their heads as well.


    After a minute, the beasts were satisfied and got down from Lin Mu''s arms allowing him to turn to the Saintess.


    "I''ll head out for today. Hopefully I get the Tyrant Bull Marrow." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ be careful of whoever you are getting that from." The Saintess warned. "Obtaining Tyrant Bull Marrow isn''t easy, and if they have managed to do so, they have quietly likely killed the beast themselves. It is certainly not an easy beast to kill." She exined.


    "I know¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head, feeling touched by the Saintess''s concern. "I''ll take Little Shrubby with me just in case." He added.


    "Mmhmm, that''ll be good." The Saintess replied. "Let the Twins stay here too." She added.


    "Yes, Xiao Yang and Xiao Yin should stay here." Lin Mu agreed as he did not want a potential hunter of rare beasts to get a look at the twins.


    While it was still unknown as to what kind of person the seller was, Lin Mu still didn''t want to take a chance. Or at the very least, he knew that if they tried to harm the twins, he would not be taking it calmly.


    With that done, Lin Mu sent Little Shrubby into the Sleepscape and walked out. It was still early till the decided meeting time, but Lin Mu also had a long way to go. After all, they couldn''t exactly fly in the Capital Region without permission and there was a limit to how fast one could walk or run without it bing a nuisance.


    ''Can I still use Phase here?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Phase didn''t work if something was guarded used Formation arrays and with the expansive arrays covering the entire capital region, Lin Mu was suspicious of it.


    "Hmm, may as well try it," Lin Mu muttered and used Phase.


    ~SHUA~


    He actually started sinking into the ground, but after a meter''s depth Lin Mu was blocked.


    "Huh¡­ So that''s the depth at which the array works¡­ This''ll be a bit of a problem." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    While he hoped that he could still use his Spatial skills and wouldn''t have to get into a conflict, it was still better to be prepared.


    "At least Flicker, Blink and Fade work the same." Lin Mu was relieved.


    Fade was his main skill in an escape situation and had saved his life several times before. Thus having it was the greatest assurance. All he needed to do was use Fade several times in a row, before calling out Little Shrubby and running away.


    Lin Mu continued towards the location of the Pce Grounds and took nearly an hour and half to reach it.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "The foot traffic seems a bit high today." Lin Mu noticed.


    The day he had arrived it wasn''t this much and even the day after that, it seemed to be the same. But today there were a lot of people walking around.


    Lin Mu paid attention to their conversations, wondering if there was anything special going on and quickly learned the reason.


    "Huh¡­ Demonstrations by the participants?" Lin Mu finally learned of the reason. "Looks like in addition to the banquets by the nobles, the other participants are also doing this."


    It did seem like a good way to help increase their betting odds when it was time for the tournament. If anything, it was basically the same as marketing and advertising for the tournament which was probably why it wasn''t exactly prohibited.


    Lin Mu continued to listen to the conversations of the people and learned that there were several venues where the participants will be doing demonstrations of this skills. They were in ces like taverns, pleasure pavilions,rge restaurants as well as some private locations.


    Lin Mu took note of them and thought of checking them out as well. While it didn''t seem as good to him to show off ones skills before apetition, it was a viable option for those that were intending to earn a lot from this.


    After all, for the mid to low leveledpetitors, the fortune from the gambling would be a lot higher than what they might get from the tournament rewards themselves. Thus advertising their skills seemed a good way to do so.


    But the true experts that were intending to participate just for thepetitive opportunity were not like that. They would rather bide their time and keep this skills hidden, only to unleash them on the battle ring.


    Lin Mu was the same and would restrict himself even more. Certain skills of his would be simply out of the question to be shown.<novelnext></novelnext>


    This included the Burning Heart Sutra and The Murdering Heart Sutra.


    The effects of both would be a troublesome if witnessed by the others.


    ''Though¡­ that''s only the effects on myself. I haven''t used the Burning Heart Sutra on others for a while and I haven''t tested the Murdering Heart Sutra on others at all.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''I should at least test out the effects of the Murdering Heart Sutra on otherster.'' He reckoned.


    While Lin Mu could somewhat guess what the effects would be like, it was still needed for him to know just how long they wouldst and if someone could resist them. Plus there were other aspects such as the aura of the Devil Path.


    Lin Mu didn''t know whether it would appear for the others too, and if it had an effect on their souls too.


    The more Lin Mu thought about it, the more he realized he had missed a great part of the Murdering Heart Sutra.


    ''In my original shock, I''ve forgotten that the technique has more facets to it.'' Lin Mu realized his mistake.


    Even if it was an unorthodox technique, it was still part of his strength and it would be unwise to keep it restrained.


    ~huu~


    Letting out a breath, Lin Mu decided to test it out as soon as he was done dealing with the person with the Tyrant Bull Marrow.


    "Not long now¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he stood at the gate of the Pce Grounds.


    There was a line here with several tens of people waiting to be granted an entry. Some were granted entry after checking their credentials but there were also some that were rejected and had to leave.


    The guards were extremely strict and wouldn''t just let them enter.


    Lin Mu was a little doubtful of his entry too and watched until it was his turn.


    "Reason for entry and any documents for your support." The Guard stated mechanically.


    "I''ve been asked toe to the External Greeting Pavilion. I am Mu Lin." Lin Mu informed the guards.


    Hearing that, the guard seemed to have recalled something.


    "So you''re today''s guest for him, huh¡­ go on then." The guard permitted him rather easily.


    Lin Mu was surprised by this but then he heard the guard speak again.


    "Just make sure you don''t make anymotion once you fail. I don''t want toe over there to throw you out." He warned before opening the gate for Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu didn''t respond to the guard, but took note of his words.


    ''Seems like I''m not the only one to havee to meet that man.'' Lin Mu could grasp this much.


    It did make sense that there would be a lot more people looking for something as valuable as the Tyrant Bull Marrow. Especially when one could get it for free, as long as they answered some inquiries from the person owning it.


    "This isn''t going to be simple, is it?" Lin Mu shook his head.


    ~Sigh~


    Letting out a sigh, Lin Mu prepared himself and walked in the direction of the External Greeting pavilion.


    It was one of the smaller buildings that were located in the outer periphery of the Pce Grounds and was made to meet with guests of ''lower'' value. Of course, the one meeting them would also be lower ranked people in the Pce Grounds and possibly might just be some servants too.


    Lin Mu didn''t care for that though and just wanted the Tyrant Bull Marrow.


    Or rather, he would prefer it if he didn''t have to deal with anyone of a high rank. Things would just be simple that way.


    Eventually he found himself in front of the External Greeting Pavilion''s doors.


    "Here for the Tyrant Bull Marrow?" A man dressed in the robes of a servant questioned seeing Lin Mu.


    "Yes. I was called here." Lin Mu replied.


    "Go in there. He''ll be here shortly." The servant said before allowing Lin Mu inside.

 Chapter 1623 A Stele

    Lin Mu entered the External Greeting Pavilion and observed the rtively elegant interior.


    While it wasn''t overflowing with luxury like the main pce and buildings of the Dao Wind Empire, it was still more than good to receive guests of a lower rank.


    Lin Mu looked at the tables, chairs and other furniture that was within the room finding that all of them had gold iys along with fine carvings of flowing wind. There were even ink paintings hanging from the walls, that showed a scene of a storm.


    Every aspect of this hall was made to convey the might of the Dao Wind Empire to those that visited it.


    "So you are Daoist Mu Lin?" Lin Mu heard a voiceing from the side.


    A man had appeared from the secondary entrance that was to the side. Lin Mu took a deep look at him, finding him to be rather ordinary. In fact, his cultivation base was also rather low, being only at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    "Yes, I am." Lin Mu replied. "And who might you be?" he asked.


    From the clothes of the man, Lin Mu could tell that he was probably a steward or a higher ranked servant.


    "I am Steward Ku." The man introduced himself.


    "So you have the Tyrant Bull Marrow?" Lin Mu found it a little unusual that a steward had something like that. ''Is someone else behind him?'' he suspected.


    "I am merely here as a messenger for my lord." The steward repelled. "But I am indeed the one you talked to through the jade slip." He rified.


    "I see¡­ then this Lord of yours the actual owner of the Tyrant Bull Marrow?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Indeed." The steward nodded his head before gesturing to the table. "Please take a seat, while I exin the task to you."


    "Alright." Lin Mu did as was asked and felt curious about it all.


    After all, for Tyrant Bull Marrow to be given in exchange for a task meant that the difficulty of the task might be of a simr level.


    "I was told you need information about some object?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You got this from the Grand Sky Pavilion, right?" The steward replied instead.


    "Yes. They said since they got this information from a third party channel, they didn''t know the exact details." Lin Mu stated.


    "That was intentional on our part. We wished to keep the information limited." The steward revealed.


    "Huh? But won''t that make things difficult for you instead?" Lin Mu was doubtful. "Won''t it be easier, if you show what that object is so that people knowledgeable about ite to you?" he questioned further.


    "The object is¡­ a bit sensitive." The steward said with a little apprehension.


    Lin Mu''s expression turned serious, as his doubts about it being something difficult were confirmed. If someone wished to limit the information about the object''s appearance, it probably meant that it was something that would invite more trouble that way.


    But at the same time it made Lin Mu a lot more curious about the object.


    "So then¡­ where is it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    To this, the steward didn''t reply but instead took out what looked like cloth talisman. Lin Mu eyed it curiously before the steward activated it.


    ~SHUA~<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu''s senses rmed him and he immediately entered a defensive stance. His aura red up and he was ready for a fight.


    ''Great¡­'' Lin Mu had not expected there to be a threat already.


    But much to his surprise, the talisman didn''t attack him. Instead, it spread over the room, forming what looked like a capsule. Lin Mu''s immortal sense immediately probed the capsule, finding that it was abination of an isting as well as a defensive array.


    "What is the meaning of this?" Lin Mu questioned carefully.


    "Please, be at ease. This is just for the matter of safety." The steward stated, not minding Lin Mu''s reaction.


    It was clear that he had not done this for the first time and that others had reacted the same way.


    Lin Mu had also not gotten to see the talisman for long enough to figure out what kind it was, otherwise he would not have reacted like this. But it didn''t matter as the situation seemed a little too suspicious once Lin Mu linked the words of the guards to it.


    A few secondster, the array stabilized and the entire External Greeting Hall was now sealed.


    What was confusing though was the fact that the steward himself was not protected. Lin Mu could easily kill him, and there would be no reaction from the array. It was only meant to keep people inside.


    This was also why Lin Mu realized that the steward had no ill thoughts against him. Otherwise, he would have also thought to defend himself.


    Next, the steward walked up to the table and waved his hand over it.


    ~SHUA~


    The air flickered as a two meter long, and one meter wide rectangr object appeared.


    ~THUD~


    Itnded on the table with a loud thud, showing that it was quite heavy.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu observed it and found it to be made out of metal..


    It was white and looked rather beautiful. At the same time, one could feel a strong source of energy contained within it.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu muttered in wonder.


    "This is a stele and our lord want''s to know what the information on it means." The Steward questioned.


    "Information on it?" Lin Mu looked closer and found that there were actually carvings on it.


    But due to being of the same color as the stele they were barely visible.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "This''ll help to see it." The steward took out a small illumination pearl that cast a pale blue light over the stele.


    The engravings on the stele became a lot more clear, allowing Lin Mu to see two parts on it.


    The top half of the stele had a mural while the bottom had some text.

 Chapter 1624 White Sun Glazed Platinum

    Having seen the stele, Lin Mu couldn''t figure out why would it cause panic among the people who came to see it.


    After all, if one couldn''t even read the information on it, they still wouldn''t know the value of it. Thus it made no sense for them to cause trouble enough that they had to be forcibly thrown out by the guards.


    "I think that might be because of the material that this stele is made out of." Xukong spoke up at this time. "The Metal that it is made out of is White Sun zed tinum."


    "White Sun zed tinum?" This was the first time Lin Mu had ever heard of something like this.


    Sure, he knew about tinum and even had a few ingots lying around in his ring. But this metal was clearly a different version of it, and had a value high enough to make people crazy.


    "White Sun zed tinum is an incredibly rare and high value metal that is found in asteroids spread around in the space. It is formed upon the death of a star and is infused with the Pure Yang Energy of the sun.


    It''s value is almost priceless within the Immortal realm. One can easily exchange a couple of Peak Grade Immortal Tool or Weapon for a piece that is this big." Xukong exined.


    "That is certainly something¡­" Lin Mu was at a loss for words. "What are its uses though? I reckon it is used for immortal weapons and tools?"


    "Rather than that, it''s best use is to make an armor." Xukong replied. "White Sun zed tinum is excellent against negative energies as well as warding evil. Wandering ghosts, Jiangshi, blood zombies, certain kinds of demons, and devils¡­ all would be unable to do anything to it."


    Hearing this, Lin Mu knew just how good this would be if one was venturing into areas with high concentration of negative energies or creatures. Heck, the Deste Blood Battlefield would be one of the great examples of it.


    The steward had been watching Lin Mu''s reaction from the start, wondering what he was thinking.


    "Seems like you recognize this?" the steward spoke after seeing a faint change in Lin Mu''s expression.


    It was clear that the steward was an expert at discerning one''s thoughts from their faces. Perhaps it was a testament to his ability as a servant so that he could serve his master in the best way possible.


    After all, the best servant was one that knew your thoughts before even needing to voice them out.


    "Yes¡­ this is White Sun zed tinum." Lin Mu replied.


    "Good, good. You pass the preliminary test at least." The steward spoke, surprising Lin Mu. "But can you decipher what''s on the stele?" he questioned.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Let me take a proper look." Lin Mu said before using his Immortal sense to observe the stele.


    It was the best and most urate way to ''see'' what was carved on the stele after all. Lin Mu''s immortal sense scanned over the two meter long stele and allowed him to grasp what the mural on it was.


    It seemed to be depicting a scene.<novelnext></novelnext>


    There was arge orb at the top, that seemed a bit like a sun and below it there was the figure of a woman screaming and reaching out for it. And below her there was a field that was split in half.


    It looked like thend had been split due to a quake and a fissure had appeared. On one side of the splitnd, one could see a human army, all decked in fine armor and wielding many weapons.


    And on the other side, one could see what looked like a sea of skeletons and corpses.


    But the most eye catching part was not that. Rather it was what looked like a ghastly rotting arm that was reaching out towards the woman who was in the sky.


    Lin Mu couldn''t discern the meaning of the mural right away, but could at least tell that it was a battle of some kind.


    Next Lin Mu moved onto the text that was carved in the lower half.


    ''What even is this script?'' Lin Mu was baffled.


    He was sure that it was not Dao Script, and that it was no local script from the Rust Sky world either. Lin Mu evenpared it to some of the othernguage scripts he had read about in the Lost Immortal''s memoirs but didn''t find it to be familiar.


    Being unable to figure it out, Lin Mu decided to ask his trump card behind this entire venture: Xukong.


    This was the entire reason why he had felt confident in being able to solve the issue with the unknown object and obtain the Tyrant Bull Marrow. Xukong had said that he''d help him and that he should most likely be able to discern what the object was, or at least have a guess about it.


    "So what is it senior? Can you recognize this script?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ I do recognize it. But it is not something I had expected to see." Xukong said with a hint of surprise in his voice.


    "Why so senior?" Lin Mu was now greatly curious.


    "The script is one of the lesser known Shamanic Scripts. That too belonging to the Demon race." Xukong revealed.


    "A Shamanic Script of the Demon Race?!" Lin Mu was stunned too.


    He knew about Shamanic Scripts and that they were primitive forms of a lot ofnguages. They were often used by tribal races that had not fully expanded or developed. After all, once they developed they would all switch to using Dao Script, thus having no use for older scripts.


    The only reason why such older scripts were kept maintained was to keep certain sets of information secret.


    That way only a chosen few could read it, preventing the information from being leaked even if it was on disy. And since this was a stele, which was meant to be disyed, having such a script on it limited the scope of information.

 Chapter 1625 A Treaty Between Humans And Demons

    Lin Mu wondered what it meant for a stele that was specifically meant to resist the influence of demonic and other negative beings to have the Shamanic Script of the same demon race on it.


    "The Demon Race has severalnguages of its own, and is spread over many worlds. This script though, is a Shamanic Version of their ownnguage." Xukong replied. "Though the strange part is that it is written on a stele of White Sun zed tinum. It is not the kind of metal that the Demon Race would use." He stated.


    "That does seem strange." Lin Mu could see the contradiction.


    They needed to know more, thus Lin Mu asked if Xukong could trante it for him.


    "I can try it. Though I don''t know how urate it will be. Shamanic scrips like these often need more context to read urately as several of the characters can have either the same meanings or multiple meanings." Xukong replied.


    "That''ll be fine. We just need to tell them whatever this is. The uracy of it doesn''t matter to us much." Lin Mu was not concerned about that.


    He knew that if the owner of the Tyrant Bull Marrow had asked people to appraise the stele, they might also have a way to confirm the information. Thus, they simply needed to tell them what they knew and that''ll be the end of it.


    "Let''s see¡­" Xukong started to read the text.


    It told of a woman that had been betrayed by her n as well as her kingdom. She was once a human too, but after the betrayal decided to join the opposing side of the Demons. And these were no normal demons, either.


    These were the Thorn Rage Demons!


    She gave up her humanity and took up the mantel of the Demon Queen. Her power grew greatly and she mounted an offense against those who had betrayed her, which was the human race.


    The conflictsted a long time, after which the human race started to prevail due to their stronger experts. Not wanting to lose, The Demon Queen took a drastic step.


    She tricked the Thorn Rage Demons and sacrificed them as well, taking away their power and turning them into undead skeletons!


    She absorbed the power of the Thorn Rage Demons that were sacrificed and used the undead army to wage a final war. This allowed the Demon Queen to kill off half of the human army too, but then a new variable arrived.


    Her action of sacrificing the Thorn Rage Demons ended up awakening the ancestral spirit of the Demon tribe. The spirit cursed her and sealed her power, allowing the humans to finally defeat her.


    The Ancestral Spirit of the Demon Tribe, also scared away the humans thought before disappearing.


    The humans retreated but returned some timeter. This time they met the surviving tribe of the Demons, warning them of dire actions if they tried to retaliate. The surviving Demon Tribe wasn''t that of the Thorn Rage Demons, but of the Ram Horn Demons.


    The Ram Horn Demon tribe thus asked for a treaty to which the humans agreed.


    Tomemorate that treaty, this stele was carved and kept in thend of the Demons. It would stay standing without being corroded by the energies and still be able to be read by the demonic tribes of the future.


    The stele carried the warning for the Demonic Tribes. That if they trust a betrayer, they would get betrayed too!


    "Just how long ago was this?" Lin Mu wondered.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It has hard to tell. The stele does not mention any dates." Xukong replied.


    "Hmm¡­" After thinking for a bit, Lin Mu wondered if there was another side to it.


    He picked up the stele effortlessly and looked on the back, finding there to be nothing. It was in and there were no carvings on it.


    "Nothing here." Lin Mu muttered.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    "We''ve already checked it several times. There''s just the carvings on the front and no other information. There are no secrets inside it either." Steward Ku rified.


    "Then can you tell me where this was found?" Lin Mu questioned next. "I''ll be easier to know the context more, if I know where this came from." He added.


    Hearing this, the steward furrowed his brows.


    "I cannot say that. Or rather, I do not know it either. Only my lord knows." The steward replied.


    "Then do you at least know if this was found in the Rust Sky world itself?" Lin Mu would be fine with that too.


    "Yes. I can confirm that it was found in the Rust Sky world." The steward nodded his head with confidence.


    "Found in the Rust Sky world, then considering the demon tribes¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself trying to calcte a time line.


    Unlike the others, Lin Mu knew some secrets that were erased from the history of the Rust Sky world. He knew this due to the Haima Tribe and the Deep Sapphire City''s records.


    While he didn''t know the exact years or the events, he could still list them chronologically.


    ''We already know that Demons were the natives of the Rust Sky world too. But they were eradicated by the humans a long time ago. This was even before the time of the Haima tribe. And if there were multiple demon tribes, then this must have been even before the Deste Blood Battlefield became what it is today.'' Lin Mu analyzed it all.


    After having concluded this, Lin Mu wondered if he could figure out more by learning more about the Demonic Tribes.


    "Senior, do you know of these two demonic tribes?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The two tribes mentioned in this are rtivelymon members of the Demonic Race. They can be found on multiple worlds too." Xukong said, much to Lin Mu''s relief.


    Lin Mu had thought that Xukong might not know about the tribes, since there were simply too many of them.


    "Then can you tell me more about them?" Lin Mu requested.

 Chapter 1626 Unexpected Identity Of The Lord

    The Thorn Rage Demon Tribe and the Ram Horned Demon Tribe were both violent in nature, but one more so than other.


    The Thorn Rage Demon Tribe was simply unreasonable and would go on killing sprees often. It didn''t help that they liked to kill and eat humans, finding them a delicacy thus making them sworn enemies.


    The Ram Horned Demon Tribe was miles better than them.


    ? While they were violent too, they weren''t unreasonable. They didn''t intentionally hunt humans either and simply stayed in theirnd.


    At least this was the case for the majority of such tribes across the universe.


    Xukong didn''t know if it would apply to the Rust Sky world too, but seeing the contents of the Stele, it seemed quite likely.


    "If the humans and the demons came to a treaty, that was certainly a long time ago. It might even be a time when there weren''t as many immortals in the Rust Sky world." Lin Mu guessed after hearing it all.


    "That does seem likely." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu concluded the discussion at this point and thought over how to tell this to the steward. After all, he couldn''t reveal everything to the steward. It wouldn''t make sense for Lin Mu to know all that and would make the steward suspicious instead.


    He spent a few minutes inpiling a reasonable exnation while continuing to stare at the Stele. The Steward didn''t disturb Lin Mu either, just thinking that he was working.


    "I''ve got it." Lin Mu finally spoke.


    "You do?" The Steward asked inly.


    He wasn''t all to excited about it, as there had been several people who had pretended to know about the Stele. Thus unless he had some substantial information, he wouldn''t confirm it.


    "Yes¡­ This stele is written in the Shamanic Script of the Demonic Tribes." Lin Mu told which made the steward change his expression. "It tells about a treaty between the humans and the demons." He revealed.


    Finally, the calm face of the steward broke, and an expression of surprise appeared.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Impossible¡­ A treaty between humans and demons? They were eradicated and no humans will stand with them." The steward said.


    "Of course. That is the case now." Lin Mu agreed. "From the text, I can tell that this stele is very, very old. Possibly from a time when none of the current powers existed." He added.


    The steward listened silently to the rest of the exnation as the shock within him grew. And after Lin Mu was done speaking, the man continued to stay silent for a few more minutes.


    "I¡­ need to report this." The steward said.


    "Does this mean I qualify for the Tyrant Bull Marrow?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I can''t say that now. I need to first report this to my lord." The Steward answered before taking out amunication jade slip.


    Lin Mu could tell that the man was contacting someone and let him do so. Though he was also feeling curious about who this lord was.


    ''Considering the value of the stele itself, it should be someone that is unfazed by it. There aren''t many immortals that wouldn''t be tempted by the idea of a peak grade immortal weapon or tool.


    Hmm¡­ they should be ministers or other high officials at least.'' Lin Mu reckoned.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Lin Mu watched the stewardmunicate using the jade slip, for ten minutes, at the end of which the man''s expression changed to that of being stunned.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu asked, seeing that the man was now looking at him straight.


    "You''ve been asked to wait." The steward replied.


    "Wait? For who?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "You''ll know shortly." The steward did not answer, though his reason for that was unknown.


    It could have been either because he was scared or was instructed not to. Lin Mu didn''t mind it and now looked toward to meeting this so-called lord.


    ~SHUA~


    And just two minutester, Lin Mu felt the barrier surrounding the External Greeting Hall flicker. An energy fluctuation passed through it, allowing Lin Mu to know that someone new had appeared.


    ''They passed through the barrier without being blocked?'' Lin Mu raised a brow.


    ~CREAK~


    But before he could check further, the door of the hall opened and in walked a man.


    He was dressed in regal robes and exuded a noble dignity. His jaw was sharp while his eyebrows were straight like swords. With a clean shaven face, his long hair hung down from the back, held in ce by a golden cor in the shape of a bird.


    But that was not all, as the man''s aura was also domineering. Plus, the immortal Qi fluctuationing from him were also strong, rming Lin Mu.


    ''He¡­ he''s at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm!'' Lin Mu was sure of it.


    The energy fluctuationsing from the man couldpare to that of General Niu Juo, only losing out on the amount go vitality that could be felt from the half-ogre man.


    Thisbined with the robes that the man wore, Lin Mu realized that he had underestimated this ''lord''.


    ''Shit¡­'' Lin Mu cursed inwardly.


    Thankfully, he kept a neutral face, as the noble man finally spoke.


    "So you are the one, who has managed to figure out what''s written on the Stele, huh¡­ Interesting." The man said with a smile. "Let''s start with introductions before we get to that though."


    He freely walked to the other side of the table and sat down.


    "I am Feng Shun." The man spoke. "The crown prince of the Dao Wind Empire." He revealed.


    ''And it''s even worse¡­'' Lin Mu inwardly cursed, but didn''t forget to respond. "I am Daoist Mu Lin. It''s an honor to meet the famous Crown Prince." He then cupped his hands.


    "Eh, you can do away with the formalities. Let''s get to the real things shall we?" Feng Shun said with a wide smile. "Tell me¡­ How did you learn the Shamanic Script of the Demonic Tribes?" he questioned.

 Chapter 1627 Crown Prince Feng Shun

    The crown prince''s question was something Lin Mu had already expected.


    Even if it was not him, this was something that most people would have asked. After all, knowing what was basically a lostnguage in the Rust Sky world was not easy. And even if one meant to learn it from another world, it meant they had went there and possibly interacted with the Demonic Tribes.


    On top of all that, it was not the normal demon tongue, but their Shamanic Script which not even all demons might know.


    When onebined all these factors, the scope of finding a person like that fell greatly. And yet, there was Lin Mu who was right in front of him.


    "I just so happened to learn it on my travels." Lin Mu said before shing his right hand.


    Feng Shun looked over at the only ring that was visible on Lin Mu''s hand and narrowed his eyes. He looked for five seconds, before recognizing it.


    "The Indigo World Hegemony?" Feng Shun identified it just as Lin Mu had thought.


    ''That should hopefully solve the issue for the most part. It fooled the Manager at the ck Candle Pavilion.'' Lin Mu hoped.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "I''d have never expected to meet someone from the Indigo World Hegemony in my world¡­ though that does make sense." Feng Shun nodded. "The reach of the Indigo World Hegemony is well known." Feng Shun spoke.


    "Oh? Have you met others from there too, crown prince?" Lin Mu behaved naturally as if he really belonged to it.


    "Indeed. I have had the opportunity to meet a few individuals during my training at the Immortal Court." Feng Shun replied.


    "Ah¡­ then you must have met some elders or other higher members." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I''m afraid, I''m just a lowly outer member. The only little advantage I have is that I''ve traveled and I have a hobby of learning new things." He added.


    "That is a good hobby to have. Commendable, I must say." The crown prince was surprisingly pleasant.


    Lin Mu had fully expected the man to be interrogating him.


    He didn''t know if the crown prince was just asking with little intent, or of his fake identity of belonging to the Indigo World Hegemony had thrown the man''s suspicion off sessfully.


    ''Regardless of what it might be, I should leave soon.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Still, it is interesting to see someone actually knowing Shamanic Script of the Demon Tribe this well. Even I was barely able to make out a couple of sentences." Feng Shun said much to Lin Mu''s surprised.


    "So that''s how you were going to verify if the personing to appraise was telling the truth." Lin Mu replied.


    "Precisely." Feng Shun nodded his head. "I had the opportunity to pick up a little Shamanic script during one of my assignments that just so happened to be in a formed Demonic World."


    "Seems like Crown prince is well learned too." Lin Mu praised the man.


    "Haha, you surely jest. My knowledge of the Shamanic Script is unmentionable in front of you." The Crown princeughed.


    Silence descended in the room for ten seconds, after which the crown prince spoke again.


    "Well then, we should get to the business." The prince said while gesturing to the steward.


    The steward cupped his hands in salute before leaving the hall.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "It''s time for the well deserved reward." The crown prince said before taking out a trunk that was evenrger than the Stele.


    ~THUD~


    It fell to the ground on the side, surprising Lin Mu.


    "This is¡­" Lin Mu said finding the box to be rather intriguing.


    There were several preserving formations as well as sealing formations on the trunk, clearly showing that it was used for storing something valuable.


    "Go on, take a look." Feng Shun gestured casually.


    Lin Mu stood up and opened thetch of the box. The seal opened up automatically, allowing him to lid the led..


    ~CLACK~Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    With the lid open, Lin Mu could finally gaze at its insides.


    "Tyrant Bull Marrow as stated. Fresh, and preserved in the bones. Can''t get it better than this." Feng Shun spoke.


    In the trunk, Lin Mu could seerge bones that were nearly four meters long each. They were all fresh, as if they had been removed from a carcass just an hour ago. Just that lone showed how good the formations on the box were.


    ''I had expected a bottle of marrow, but this¡­ he brought entire bones?'' Lin Mu was stunned on the inside.


    After all, the Bones of the Tyrant Bull were quite valuable too. If one was selling it, they would extract the marrow before doing that.


    "You can keep the bones as well. Take it as apliment for the excellent service." The crown prince added.


    Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe that the man was giving the bones too. Still he wasn''t one to reject something that was being offered to him for free.


    "I don''t know what else to say but thank you." Lin Mu responded.


    "It''s all good. I wouldn''t have known what to do with the bones anyway." The crown prince replied.


    This made Lin Mu think of something else entirely.


    "How exactly did you chance upon them though?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Well¡­ you see me and my friends had a littlepetition beforeing to the Rust Sky world. We had to halt at one of the more ''untamed'' immortal worlds while returning from myst mission.


    The Teleportation array had a cool down period of a month, so me and my friends decided to hunt the local beasts. The winner would be the one with the strongest or rarest beast." The Crown prince exined with a hint of joy.


    Lin Mu could tell that the man liked to talk about his exploits.


    "It was safe to say, I won. I encountered a Tyrant Bull there and hunted it down, thus obtaining this." Feng Shun said proudly.

 Chapter 1628 Obtaining The Tyrant Bull Marrow

    Learning that the Crown prince himself had killed the Tyrant Bull, Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    ''What do you think the cultivation base of this Tyrant Bull was senior?'' Lin Mu questioned in his mind.


    "Considering the size of its bones, it should be a young adult¡­ Or a strong juvenile. Possibly at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." Xukong answered.


    ''Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm¡­ So the crown prince battled a beast above his cultivation base and won.'' Lin Mu got another marker for the man''s strength.


    While he himself could do the same, for even two cultivation bases above his current level, it was a different case with a beast like the Tyrant Bull. While the cultivation base of the Bull might be high,pared to another beast of the same level, it would still be a tier above.


    Tyrant Bull was one of the stronger beasts and even a juvenile would be tough enough to kill a Seventh Tribtion stage immortal, not to mention a sixth stage one. This just proved the man''s strength even more.


    What was even more surprising was that this was done as a friendlypletion and was not a fight for death.


    ''Looks like I''ll have to be careful with the man.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "The Crown Prince''s strength ismendable." Lin Mu praised before closing the box.


    There were six sets of leg bones in the box, all belonging to the Tyrant Bull.


    The Tyrant Bull had six legs, thus there were more bones than normal. And each bone would yield more than enough marrow. In fact, Lin Mu could have used just 10% of the marrow he was getting and it would be fine.


    ''With this much marrow, I might even be able to directly breakthrough or something.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Even the bones were something he would make use ofter to make weapons or tools. They were a high quality material too and would sell for a lot. In fact, it would be possible to use these bones for a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon too.


    Their quality was very high.


    "It''s not the strongest beast I''ve fought. But I would ce it in my top ten for sure." The prince bragged.


    "That''s amazing." Lin Mu didn''t care how much the prince bragged as long as he was getting what he hade here for.


    He then closed the box and quickly stored it away in the ring. The crown prince watched him do this, and then spoke again.


    "Though I feel curious as to why you looked for the Tyrant Bull Marrow through a different channel, rather than going through the Indigo World Hegemony''s own channels?" The Crown Prince questioned, making Lin Mu a bit alert.


    "You surely jest, crown prince. Even if the Indigo World Hegemony has the Tyrant Bull Marrow up for sale, it is another matter being able to afford it." Lin Mu chuckled. "The only reason I even came here was because I didn''t have to pay for it." He added.


    "Ah! That does make sense." The crown prince had almost forgotten that it was still a matter of money in the end.


    To someone privileged like him, simply giving it away like this was nothing. It hadn''t taken him much effort to obtain it either. And if he really wanted to, he could probably get a lot more merely by asking.


    "Though considering you are looking for this¡­ You are intending to use it for Body Cultivation?" Feng Shun wasn''t done with his questions yet.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yes." Lin Mu said simply, preparing for the next potential questions.


    Lin Mu guessed that the man would ask his cultivation technique next. While it was something a little rude, for the crown prince who was literally in his own territory wouldn''t care about something like that.


    He could afford to offend half of the world and still be fine.


    "I see¡­ I''d rmended getting some calming herbs too." The Crown Prince suggested. "The Tyrant Bull Marrow is a rather violent and unstable material. I''ve heard of people exploding after consuming it because they couldn''t handle it." He added.


    "Ah yes! I''ve already considered the proper precautions." Lin Mu replied, feeling relieved that he didn''t ask about the cultivation technique.


    "Good. It would be a shame if you were to perish because of this." The Crown prince stated. "I expect to hear a lot of great things about you."


    "Oh? How so?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "I just have a hunch." Feng Shun replied. "Those who pursue knowledge often create waves in the world." He said before standing up.


    He then tapped his hand on the stele and stored it away.


    "Your appraisal will be useful for me. And perhaps this empire¡­" the man said before walking away.


    The Crown prince left the hall and quickly disappeared. Lin Mu could tell that he had really gone away, since his aura had disappeared entirely.


    ~Phew~


    With the man gone, Lin Mu took a breath of relief.


    While he had managed to get through it, Lin Mu was still quite nervous.


    "Thankfully the man was a lot better than other nobles I''ve seen." Lin Mu said.


    "Strong too. He seems to have both the arrogance and strength to back it up." Xukong spoke.


    "True¡­ he''s certainly the second strongest expert I''ve seen here so far." Lin Mu said. "Though I wonder who would win between General Niu Juo and The crown prince." He said curiously.Belongs to N?velDrama.Org - All rights reserved.


    "It''ll be hard to tell. While I''m inclined to have faith in the general, we don''t know what kind of trump cards the crown prince might have." Xukong answered.


    "Hmm¡­ let''s hope we don''t have to sh with him. At least he doesn''t seem to be the bothersome type." Lin Mu said before walking out of the pavilion too.


    Now that he had obtained what he hade for, he couldn''t wait to rush back home to use it.


    If everything went ording to his n, chances were before the tournament Lin Mu would have cultivated the Tyrant Bull marrow Secrets!

 Chapter 1629 Back To The Pavilion

    With the Tyrant Bull Marrow in his grasp, Lin Mu rushed back to the Hundred Fruits pavilion.


    His speed was fast, and he directly ran through the streets not caring for the eyes of others. Thankfully, with the increase in the number of people, it was not as umon for people to run around.


    After a certain point it became necessary due to the size of the city. And if Lin Mu encountered dense foot Traffic, he would simply use Fade to pass through. When he was in the Parallel world, his speed was even greater and he could still fly.


    This allowed him to reach the Hundred Fruits Pavilion in the shortest time possible.


    ~SHUA~


    The arrays opened up to allow Lin Mu in, and he walked to the garden.


    There the Saintess was sitting along with the twins who were controlling two wisps of energy. One of the energies was ck and one was white. Looking at it, Lin Mu could tell that they were none other than the Yin and Yang Qis.


    ''She''s teaching the twins how to control better too.'' Lin Mu understood.


    Unlike Little Shrubby though, the twins seemed to be able to do it naturally. To the Saintess, it was as if they didn''t need her teaching at all. Which was true in away, after all their innate talent was quite high.


    Still, the help that she gave them allowed them to progress just a little faster.


    Even if the improvement was just a couple percent more, it would still add upter on.


    "You''re here." The Saintess saw Lin Mu standing near the entrance of the garden.


    "Yes, I''m back." Lin Mu said with a lingering smile.


    "I take it you were sessful." The Saintess could easily tell from Lin Mu''s expression.


    He was practically radiating joy.


    "Yes! It was a little stressful but I did manage to get it sessfully." Lin Mu nodded his head enthusiastically.


    "Stressful? How so?" The Saintess questioned.


    "Well¡­ the owner of the Tyrant Bull Marrow turned out to be someone too influential." Lin Mu answered before taking a pause. "It was the¡­ Crown Prince of the Dao Wind Empire." He revealed.


    "The Crown Prince?" The Saintess hadn''t expected this either.


    "Yes." Lin Mu said before narrating the events that had happened.


    During it all, the Saintess listened calmly, but when Lin Mu mentioned the way he had avoided the suspicion of the crown prince, she shook.


    "What did you just say?" The Saintess asked him to repeat.


    "I pretended I belonged to the Indigo World Hegemony." Lin Mu stated, finding it a strange.


    "You¡­ do you know who they are?" The Saintess asked, her voice a little strained.


    "Aren''t they a merchant organization?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "As if¡­" The Saintess shook her head. "Where did you even get that ring from?" she asked next.


    Lin Mu then told her how he found it on a corpse. But he didn''t stop there either. Taking this chance, Lin Mu told her about the Invader and how the Xiaofan world was threatened.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It took him a while to tell everything and the Saintess listened silently.


    ~Sigh~


    But after he was done, the Saintess let out a long sigh.


    "Looks like it really was true." The Saintess spoke.


    "What do you mean Saintess?" it was now Lin Mu''s turn to be confused.


    "The Indigo World Hegemony¡­ it was behind the invasion of your world. They were the ones that brought the invader to your world, it was smuggled through." The Saintess said before revealing to Lin Mu about the information the Serpent Moon Sect had.


    After hearing it all, Lin Mu was astounded.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "This¡­ So the invader isn''t dead?" Lin Mu asked, while his fist clenched.


    His aura turned turbulent, but he tried to keep calm.


    "It is hard to tell. The Shadow Gloom Bone lord is a difficult foe to kill. He doesn''t exist as a one being but as several and spread his ''seeds'' over the many worlds. They even wander across the universe freely in the void sometimes." The Saintess answered.


    Hearing this, a frown appeared on Lin Mu''s and the anger of old returned.


    He had vowed to erase the invader and now that he had heard that it was still alive he didn''t feel good.


    "And this Indigo World Hegemony¡­ they were the ones to send the Invader here?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "It is highly likely they weremissioned to do this. The Indigo World Hegemony doesn''t do things without profit." The Saintess replied.


    Upon hearing this, Lin Mu instantly understood a few more things he had missed in the past.


    "The Northern Tribes¡­ and the Yao n. They were the ones who contacted them." Lin Mu was sure now.


    "They probably asked for a way to increased their strength quickly and the Indigo World Hegemony might have offered this as an option." The Saintess replied.


    "So they knew the truth behind the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord?" Lin Mu asked in doubt. "I know Gu Yao knew of it. But by then he had already be his servant."


    "It is unlikely. The Shadow Gloom Bone Lord prefers to enve worlds and consume it. So if one knew the truth behind him, they would never take him. It is likely that the Indigo World Hegemony''s people tricked them." The Saintess answered.


    "Bastards!" Lin Mu cursed, feeling the anger increase.


    The Saintess let Lin Mu calm down first and waited for him to speak again. Since he was now the master of the Yin Yang Twin serpents, it was in her favor to help him. Not to mention, she couldn''t help but feel interested in Lin Mu too.


    Him having Xukong as a master alone meant that he stood on the same level as her sect. Though it was unknown if Lin Mu knew that. And Xukong wasn''t one to say things like that either.


    ~HUU~


    A couple minutester, Lin Mu took a deep breath and calmed down.


    "Can you tell me more about the Indigo World Hegemony, Saintess?" he requested.

 Chapter 1630 Indigo World Hegemony

    The Saintess was a little apprehensive of whether she should reveal such information to Lin Mu. But then saw a ze within Lin Mu''s eyes, and made her decision.


    "Very well... you should sit down." The Saintess spoke before tapping her finger.


    ~HONG~


    A wave of energy spread all over the courtyard as hundreds of runes manifested around her. The runes flew up and turned into fog that masked the entire courtyard.


    "What was that?" Lin Mu questioned.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Something to keep the others from hearing." The Saintess answered.


    "There are people spying on us?" Lin Mu became alert.


    "Not the people here... or in this world." The Saintess replied. "But there are some people who can still hear us if they use irvoyance or divination. The Indigo World Hegemony has certain people like these and while they might not be paying attention to us, they can still unearth information from the past.


    Especially if it involves them and their work." She revealed.


    Hearing this Lin Mu was shocked and immediately recalled Xukong''s warning about Karma.


    "Is this rted to Karma?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "In a way yes. irvoyance skills can allow one to peer into far locations. Some of the stronger irvoyants can even look into past. Of course they have limitations and usually they need a strong link of karma for it to work.


    Thus they can only use this for people talking about their name." The Saintess exined.


    "I see... then this fog can stop that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. It should prevent them from knowing." The Saintess replied.


    "You can believe her. This Fog is made from her Dao Insights. Even for irvoyants and Diviners, peeking through this would be incredibly difficult." Xukong informed Lin Mu.


    ''Made form Dao insights?'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    He couldn''t help but take a look at the fog again.


    He knew that the Saintess practiced the Daos of Wind, Air and Clouds. She probably had many more, but these were her most used. And thus was already depicted in the skills she used often.


    Her way of disappearing and appearing was rted to the Dao of Air and her ability to make solid items out of clouds was rather basic application. What he was now seeing was probably a higher leveled application.


    ''Is this a mixture of all three Dao insights?'' Lin Mu could somewhat analyze it.


    "Now then... let''s start." The Saintess said, having set up her fog.


    Lin Mu became focused and looked at her.


    "The Indigo World Hegemony is a massive power that has its reaches in many worlds. It normally functions as an organization of merchants, but also provides other services like spying, assassination as well as the sale of unorthodox skills and forbidden materials.


    Of course thetter part is kept hidden, but is an open secret among the higher experts. Even the Immortal Court knows this but they cannot act as the Indigo World Hegemony has too much control. If some of their people get caught, they simply get cut off and they pretend as if they did not belong to them." The Saintess spoke.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "The Crown Prince did say that he met a few elders of the Indigo World Hegemony during his work at the Immortal Court." Lin Mu recalled.


    "Their influence does extended into the Immortal Court." The Saintess nodded her head.


    "No wonder they can function like this then. They have people covering for them in the immortal Court too." Lin Mu said with a frown.


    "That''s just how it is. It is quite difficult to clear all of their people out. It''s been tried in the past, but they still survived." The Saintess revealed.


    "Clear them out?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "What do you mean?"


    "The Indigo World Hegemony wasn''t originally named this. Rather they originally belonged to the Hundun Imperial Order. They were a great power of older time. That were erased by thebined strength of the entire Celestial court.


    But still... their remnants survived and turned into the Indigo World Hegemony." The Saintess exined.


    "What about the Hundun Imperial Order?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "That... is not something I can tell you about. Rather than me, I think it''ll be better if you hear about them from your master." The Saintess replied.


    ''Hear it from Senior?'' Lin Mu realized that it might be a lot more serious than he thought. "Alright."


    "Back to the Indigo World Hegemony, they are certainly arge organization and they possibly have over ten billion members." The Saintess continued.


    "Ten Billion!? That''s more than a worlds'' poption!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "A mortal world perhaps. But yes, it is enough to upy a world. And this is just their core members. Their expanded organization and their external members are simply uncountable." The Saintess stated.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but take a breath after hearing this. He realized that while he was angry at the actions of the Indigo World Hegemony, they certainly weren''t someone he could contend against.


    "So the invader was sent by them?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "From my sect''s divinations, it was proven that it was done so by one of their smaller divisions." The Saintess replied.


    "So, it was one of their subordinate parts and not the main?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes. The invasion of a small mortal world like yours isn''t important enough for the main division to care about." The Saintess answered.


    While it seemed a bit infuriating to Lin Mu, he did understand the Xiaofan world was simply too weak. It was close to him due to being his home world, butpared to the Rust Sky world he could see just how vast the difference was.


    And the Indigo World hegemony were people who could even do something like that to a world like the Rust Sky world.


    That spoke of their power and influence.


    ''Looks like I''ll have to recalcte my ns forter.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "My final advice is that, you do not tell others that you are part of the Indigo World Hegemony. You never know who''s the real member of it." She warned.

 Chapter 1631 Knowing Future Foes

    Lin Mu took the Saintess''s warning seriously and decided that he would avoid mentioning the Indigo World Hegemony again.


    But this also made him think of the past times when he had used their name.


    "Since I''ve already used it in the past, will they be able to find it?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "The ring that you have will probably thrown them off. So unless they look really deep into it, they shouldn''t notice it. Plus the one you killed was a low ranked member that is not of much concern to them." The Saintess replied, reliving Lin Mu.


    ~Phew~


    "That''s good then." Lin Mu said before taking the ring off. "It''s about time I switch it for another ring."


    He stored the ring away and took out another unassuming Spatial Storage Ring. Lin Mu had plenty of them in his own ring thus there were no issues. Besides he only wore the ring to keep up the pretense that he had a normal spatial storage ring.


    While the Saintess didn''t know of the mysterious ring, she simply attributed Lin Mu''s ability to store arge amount of items as well as the beasts to his own Spatial Skills. After all, it was an entirely viable alternative.


    Plus she didn''t question him about it either, letting him keep the secrets. She knew better than anyone else to prod on one''s secrets.


    After all, she had several secrets of her own too¡­


    "I guess I''ll eventually be shing with the Indigo World Hegemony and the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord in the future." Lin Mu spoke.


    "That might happen. But you need to be a lot stronger than you are now." The Saintess stated. "As for the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord¡­ Fighting him will be difficult for an entirely different reason." She added.


    "Due to his multiple bodies?" Lin Mu could guess.


    "Indeed. Each of his bodies has independent thought and consciousness. And when several of them get close, they can link up too. This is what has allowed that pest to stay alive all this time. He is simply a cockroach that refuses to die." The Saintess said with visible anger.


    "Has¡­ he harmed the Serpent Moon Sect too?" Lin Mu asked with curiosity.


    "He has¡­ and not just the Serpent Moon Sect but several other powers too. There is nock of enemies that he has. Thus if you actually find a fragment of him, just spread the news around and the orthodox powers will rush as soon as possible." The Saintess answered. "You won''t be alone in that fight."


    "I see¡­ that''s good to hear." Lin Mu was pleased.


    But in all this, Lin Mu concluded that the ultimate thing he needed to do was to get stronger.


    "I''ll get to the Tyrant Bull Marrow. All this information only makes me think that I''mcking." Lin Mu stated.


    "Mm¡­ go on." The Saintess said before waving her hand in the air.


    The fog dispersed and the normal appearance of the courtyard appeared again.


    "Also¡­ while I''m cultivating, there is a great chance there''ll bemotion Saintess." Lin Mu informed.


    "I''ll hide that." The Saintess offered.


    Then with another wave of her hand, a new array set itself up. Lin Mu could tell that no energy fluctuations would be able to leave the confines of the Hundred Fruits Pavilion.


    "Thank you Saintess." Lin Mu said before calling out Little Shrubby.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You can stay with the Saintess while I cultivate." Lin Mu informed. "It might take me a while to get out again." He added.


    "Okay, that''s fine. I''ll wait for you." Little Shrubby responded with a nod and nuzzled against Lin Mu.


    After a few moments, the beast parted and jumped onto the table.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, I''ll see you twoter too." Lin Mu rubbed the heads of the two snakes and entered his room.


    The twin snakes watched his back till he was gone.


    "He''ll be a lot stronger when hees out." The Saintess spoke to the beasts. "You three need to be stronger to support him too."


    ~HISS~ HISS~This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~GROWL~


    The beasts responded with an enthusiastic cry and quickly got to training their skills under the watchful eyes of the Saintess.


    Meanwhile, Lin Mu was setting up another array inside his room. He didn''t want to damage it after all.


    Even if the Saintess had set up the external array that would prevent energy fluctuations from leaking out, it didn''t mean that the courtyard itself was safe from damage. Having heard just how explosive the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets was, Lin Mu decided to take precautions.


    An hourter, Lin Mu was done setting up the reinforcing array.


    "That should hold up against the explosion of Diamond Mountain Talismans too." Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu then sat down and was just about to start when a thought came to him.


    "Senior Xukong, about the Hundun Imperial Order¡­" Lin Mu tried to ask but was interrupted.


    "Cultivate first. I''ll talk to you about thatter." Xukong replied. "If I do so now, it''ll only disturb your mental state." He advised.


    "I see¡­ I''ll do as you say then." Lin Mu agreed and quickly got to work.


    He closed his eyes and appeared in the Sleepscape. Next he walked to the Formations Pavilion, which had the best defenses in the Sleepscape.


    The reason he did was that, before he could actually cultivate the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets, he actually needed to prepare the marrow first. After all, the crown prince had handed it to him in the form of bones.


    While it took more work from him, it was the best condition that was presented to him.


    "The bones will serve as good materials too." Lin Mu muttered.


    ~THUD~


    He took out the trunk containing the bones and took a closer look at them. Lin Mu first checked for the perfect spot to drill the hole from.


    He didn''t wish to damage the bones after all. The more intact the bones were, the better materials they would be.

 Chapter 1632 Extracting Marrow

    Lin Mu took out the six leg bones of the Tyrant Bull and concluded that drilling from the base of the bone would be the best.


    It would maintain the bone''s integrity and if Lin Mu needed to cut up the ber for some weapon, it wouldn''te in the way either. Having decided this, Lin Mu picked up the first bone, finding it to be rather heavy.


    "This is easily over a thousand kilograms in weight." Lin Mu was surprised by the density of the bone.


    One must know that whilerge beasts were indeed heavy, their actually mass came from the muscles and organs. Bones themselves only contributed 20-30 percent of the total body weight.


    Perhaps only Lin Mu''s own bone density could exceed this and that was due to the True Gold Body Forging Arts.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "It''ll be this then." Having chosen the spot, Lin Mu next took out arge jade bottle.


    He would be using this to store the marrow. It needed to be kept as sealed as possible to maintain its efficacy and strength.


    Lin Mu opened the cap of the jade bottle and ced it in front of him, making it easier to pour the marrow inter. He then held the leg bone and activated his spatial skill.


    Meld!


    Lin Mu controlled the area of effect of meld finely, making it in the form of a long needle that passed through to the hollow part of the bone all the way from the base. The skill was executed perfectly and Lin Mu quickly pulled out the bone fragment, creating a hole there.


    Having done this, Lin Mu quickly held the bone over the jade bottle, allowing the bone marrow to flow out. With how viscous it was, it took half a minute just for the first drop to fall out.


    And when it dripped, Lin Mu saw its vibrant red color that was simply bursting with vitality.


    Thankfully, the arrays in the Formation Pavilion activated automatically and prevented any energy from escaping. The scent of the marrow was also like that of blood, but when Lin Mu smelled it, he felt strangely attracted to it.


    His body instinctively desired it and all his cells were activated.


    ''Such strong reaction already¡­ this is almostparable to that of the Violet Mystic Life Tree.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had to hold the bone over the jade bottle for nearly ten minutes before all the marrow was emptied out. Lin Mu even used his immortal sense to confirm that every little bit of the marrow was removed before storing the bone away.


    "There we go." Lin Mu looked at the jade bottle that had around two thousand milliliters of red bone marrow in it.


    It seemed like arge quantity, butpared to the size of the Tyrant Bull, it was still reasonable.


    If onepared this to an average human, one might not even have this much marrow in their entire body. And this was just from a single leg bone!


    Lin Mu closed the jade bottle that was nearly full and took out another one.


    ''Thankfully I bought several storage vessels beforehand.'' Lin Mu thought as he drilled into the second bone using Meld.


    One by one, he repeated the process five more times.<novelnext></novelnext>


    By the end of this, Lin Mu had a little over twelve thousand milliliters of Red Bone Marrow divided in six jade bottles.


    The Translucent Jade Bottles contrasted against the glistening red marrow in it, looking rather beautiful. But at the same time, the sheer amount of energy contained within these six bottles was massive.


    In fact, if even a single drop of this was fed to a cultivator at the Dao Shell realm or below, they might simply explode!


    Even for those at the Dao Treading realm and the Immortal Ascension realm, consuming a couple of drops would be difficult. As for the Immortal realm experts, while they would have a higher tolerance, even half a liter of this marrow would be enough to kill them.


    It was hard to tell how much a peak Immortal realm expert would be able to handle.


    Perhaps for Lin Mu, this wouldn''t be the same as his body was also cultivated, but even he didn''t think it would be able to bear all this marrow at once.


    ''The Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets will be key to managing the energy.'' Lin Mu knew.


    After all, he didn''t need to consume and absorb the marrow through the crude route. He actually had the perfect technique that was meant for it from the start.


    ~huu~


    With the marrow ready, Lin Mu moved on to the next step.


    He first cultivated normally and replenish all the immortal Qi in his body. Next chanted the Calming Heart Sutra and optimized his mental state.


    With both his physical and metal aspects in the best condition, Lin Mu awakened in the real world. If he were to cultivate the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets, he would have to do so in the real world after all.


    He got down from the bed and directly sat on the ground. Then he took out a single jade bottle that was full of the Tyrant Bull Marrow.


    Lin Mu gazed at it for a few seconds before a serious expression appeared on his face.


    ~Pop~


    "Its now or never." Lin Mu opened the cap and brought the bottle to his lips.


    ~GULP~


    Then withrge gulps, he started to chug down the vicious bone marrow. As soon as the marrow touched his tongue, he felt a burning sensation on it. It was as if he was directly drinking boiling water!


    What was even more strange that, this was not actual heat but the sheer energy that was radiating from the marrow!


    Lin Mu ignored it as he had borne far greater pain before and finished the entire bottle. He quickly stored it away before reciting the Mnemonic of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets technique.


    The marrow had reached his stomach and was now emitting its dense energy.

 Chapter 1633 Refine The Marrow, Condense The Essence, Raise The Spirit!

    With the Marrow seething in Lin Mu''s stomach, the obscure runes quickly covered it. The runes kept on increasing in number and soon formed into rings that surrounded the stomach, insting any of the energy from escaping it.


    This was really important and would prevent Lin Mu from losing the efficacy of the marrow too.


    Lin Mu recited the Mnemonic of the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets, while keeping an eye on the energy waves of the marrow. He needed to first get used to it, so that he wouldn''t lose focus when he started the next step.


    He stayed like this for several minutes, adapting to the energy signature of the Marrow.


    ''An extra step I need to take due to having a bloodline assimted already,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    If one didn''t have a beast bloodline assimted, they wouldn''t have had to do this step, as their bodies would not be shing with the marrow. But in Lin Mu''s case, he already had the bloodline of the Great Slumber bear which couldpare to the Tyrant Bull.


    The marrow of a beast had dense bloodline essence within it, thus it was very easy for it to be mistakenly taken up by the body as an attempt at bloodline assimtion.


    Though it was rightfully so too.


    After all, from what Lin Mu could tell, the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets may as well be a technique to assimte the bloodline, but it diverted it into another method.


    This method was rather unique and was to condense a totem on one''s body. Instead of letting the bloodline be fully assimted. And doing that was not easy, as the body had a tendency to take it within it, instead of isting it.


    Or even if it couldn''t take it, the body would rather reject it than keep it isted.


    This was where one needed a great control over their body, a strong will to withstand the pain, and a tough body to endure it all. If one missed even one of these, they would simply die from the overbearing Tyrant Bull Marrow.


    This was the reason why so many considered the Tyrant Bull Marrow a dangerous material and why so many immortals died using it.


    Even with the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets technique within one''s grasp, they were not guaranteed to seed.


    Finally, when Lin Mu felt like his Bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear was fine with the marrow and was not going to target it, he proceeded with the next step.


    "Refine the Marrow, Condense the essence, raise the spirit!" Lin Mu chanted the Mnemonic.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    In the next second, the marrow within his stomach was rapidly digested, turning into pure energy which was then absorbed. This pure energy was none other than the essence of the marrow which contained the bloodline of the Tyrant Bull!


    This was why Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets seemed so much like a bloodline assimtion technique. Even this step was simr to that. Except, the fact that the Bloodline was refined in the body itself than externally.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But that was not all, as the refinement of the Tyrant Bull Marrow was not a simple process. For many people, it would take hours if not days to refine it. But Lin Mu had a great advantage here in the form of his Stomach.


    The stomach that was transformed from the Unknown Technique of the Lost Immortal rapidly converted the raw marrow into pure essence. Lin Mu fully focused on it and guided this essence to his Dantian.


    It was not an easy task, as the essence was rather overbearing. It tried to gnaw at his meridians, tried to tear them and burst out of them. But to Lin Mu, this was something he had already gone through before.


    His meridians were like Fine Steel Walls, unable to be damaged even by cannon fire!


    The essence raged within his meridians, but was unable to escape. Lin Mu channeled it into his Dantian and made sure not to let even a single wisp of it go astray. This process was fast due to the essence''s properties and due to it raging.


    Lin Mu simply used his own immortal Qi to force it to enter the Dantian.


    It was simr to using high pressure water to push out stuck sand from a clogged pipe.


    All of the essence was pushed into the Dantian, and finally dropped into the ocean of Immortal Qi. Here, it was as if it moltenva had met water. The immortal Qi sea bubbled up, as if boiling from the raging essence.


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu let out a little cry, finding this pain to be rather different.


    The boiling Immortal Qi was expanding and exerting more pressure on the walls of his Dantian.


    ''This is the step where the Immortals with a strong body but weak control fail.'' Lin Mu knew.


    If one had a strong body, they could endure the marrow and even refine the essence. They would then endure the pain of their meridians being scraped and get the essence into the Dantian. But after this point, they would have to face the second trial of the process.


    The boiling of Immortal Qi!


    Here one needed to rely on their control of Immortal Qi in order to stabilize the boiling Qi, as well as condense the immortal Qi that had turned into vapor. The immortal Qi in the form of vapor would exert a force on the Dantian, pushing it further.


    If one didn''t have a Dantian that had been tempered and expanded before, they would simply explode from this. But if one had expanded their Dantian and didn''t have good control over the immortal Qi, they would still exploded from the boiling immortal Qi.


    It seemed like a situation of Despair, but Lin Mu''s practice with several skills that needed fine control had trained him for this. Whether it be the Three Apertures Invoking Technique, the Boulder Copsing Fist, or his Spatial skills, all needed precise control over various energies!

 Chapter 1634 Facing A Bull

    Lin Mu gathered his will and guided his Immortal sense into the Dantian.


    There, Lin Mu''s Immortal Sense showed a stunning phenomenon. It directly turned into thousands of threads, that were finer than hair. These threads spread all over in the Dantian and linked up with the vapor of the immortal Qi.


    "GATHER!" Lin Mumanded as a strained expression appeared on his face.


    Each fine thread of his Immortal Sense grasped over the raging Immortal Qi and pulled it into its grasp. The immortal Qi wisps were quickly pulled into a central area, and it looked simr to an octopus grasping its prey with all its tentacles.


    Once the immortal Qi wisps were brought together under the grasp of the Immortal sense, they quickly calmed down and condensed together to turn into liquid immortal Qi again.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu let out a breath, as the relief washed over him.


    The boiling of the Immortal Qi still continued from the raging essence, but the pressure was now gone. While more vapors of immortal Qi were rising, Lin Mu''s speed of re-condensing was faster than it, thereby alleviating any pressure on his Dantian.


    With the pain and pressure gone, Lin Mu could focus better and continued the process of re-condensing the Immortal Qi.


    This was a step that needed endurance and strong will, as the raging essence wouldn''t calm down any time soon. The agitating immortal Qi sentrge waves across his sea of Qi but the other constituents of his Dantian were unshakable.


    His Nascent soul that had a single brown halos surrounding it stayed stable as it sat over his Earth Dao Shell, that contained the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo. His formless Dao Embryo with the Four Faceted Neb wasn''t even present in the Dantian directly, thus couldn''t be affected either.


    Even the faint bracelet on the Nascent souls'' hand was stable.


    This was the same bracelet that had gotten Lin Mu out of great trouble, when he had encountered the indigo ball of light back in the asteroid that floated in the void. It had formed from the remnants of the broken statue, and Lin Mu now knew that it was none other than the leftover soul essence.


    He had asked Xukong if it was fine for it to stay with him too.


    Lin Mu was told that the soul essence had basically been stripped of its will, and just the fact that it could still maintain this form meant that it had a function that was imbued into it a long time ago. And considering that it had protected Lin Mu before, they decided that it was good to have it.


    Though after that day, the bracelet had never reacted to anything and had stayed calmly on the wrist of his Nascent soul. Lin Mu had wondered what were the conditions to make it act up, but reckoned it was better if he never faced a situation like that.


    Lin Mu ended up spending nearly two days in calming down the raging essence and containing the immortal Qi. It was certainly mentally tiring task, but Lin Mu was not averse to it and was still fine after it.


    "There we go¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he saw the essence which had calmed down.


    The essence had coalesced into a small red blob that floated on top of the Immortal Qi sea.


    It was like oil floating on top of water, unable to be mixed.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and watched the red blob of essence carefully as it was now time for the final step!


    This step was to raise the spirit of the essence.


    And doing this would be the same as invoking the bloodline figure of the Tyrant Bull!


    "Time for a battle¡­" Lin Mu whispered and took control of his Nascent soul, relinquishing his control over his body.


    ~HUMM~


    His Nascent soul that was calmly meditating on top of the Dao shell opened its eyes and stood up. It then flew over to the coalesced red blob and touched it.


    ~SIZZLE~


    As soon as it did that, the red blob started to sizzle!


    The Nascent soul retreated and watched as the sizzling red blob turned into a red mist.


    ~HISS~


    The red mist seethed once more but didn''t spread in the Dantian. Instead, it started to take a certain form. First it looked like an irregrly shaped cloud. But then it bulked up and six legs appeared from its bottom.


    Next a tail sprouted from its behind and a pair of horns appeared on the front.


    The figure started to be more defined as it took the proper shape of a beast. The beast being none other than the Tyrant Bull!


    Lin Mu watched through the eyes of his Nascent soul as the overbearing beast''s bloodline figure appeared.


    It had six muscr legs that held up its bulky body that looked like a moving mountain. Its tail iled around like a whip, tearing the air apart while its fear inducing head rose upwards with pride.


    Its eyes red at Lin Mu with fury as steam escaped its nostrils. Its two horns were like great hooks that could prop up elephants from them!


    The hulking beast emanated a tyrannical aura as it established its presence.


    ~MOOOOOOOOOOO!~


    A rumbling cry was let out by the beast as waves spread across the entire Dantian. Even Lin Mu''s Nascent Soul was pushed back a few meters, but then stabilized with the Dao Shelling to its support.


    "This''ll be a new experience¡­" The Nascent soul spoke as a smile appeared on its face.


    It extended its left leg forward while entering a battle stance.


    "Come!" Lin Mu taunted as the figure of the Tyrant Bull charged at him.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~MOOOOOOOOOOO!~


    ~RUMBLE~


    Every step of the beast sent waves across the ocean of Qi, as the muscr legs of the beast stomped across the Dantian.


    Lin Mu''s Nascent soul wasn''t unprepared either and the surrounding Immortal Qi turned into a sword in his hand.


    And just as it was formed, the two forces collided!

 Chapter 1635 Subduing Spirit

    This was the first time Lin Mu was directly using his Nascent soul to battle, and yet he didn''t find it ufortable.


    Rather than that, he felt like it was the same as his body, other than the fact that it had no body cultivation. Though it didn''t matter either, as Lin Mu had the support of his entire Dantian.


    The immortal Qi around him heeded hismands and took the shape of a sword as ordered. Normally something like this would not be possible without a Qi skill, but within the Dantian, Lin Mu''s will reigned supreme.


    Every single wisp of Immortal Qi here was refined by him, thus there was no way it wouldn''t listen to him.


    ~CLANG~


    Lin Mu''s sword shed with the horns of the Tyrant Bull sending waves across the entire Sea of Qi. With the support of the Dao Shell below him, Lin Mu had no issues in withstanding the impact and stood in ce.


    ~SHUNG~


    The Tyrant Bull wasn''t going to stay in a stalemate though, and turned his head sideways, making the sword slide off the horns. It took this chance to ram its snout into Lin Mu, but met a firm palm.


    ~THUD~This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Not so easy¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he endured the force on his left hand.


    He felt weaker using the body of the Nascent soul directly, but knew that this was just because he was not used to it.


    "Let''s try something else." Lin Mu willed the Immortal Qi to surround him.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The sea of immortal Qi surged and rushed into Lin Mu''s body.


    "Now that''s more like it!" Lin Mu felt his raw strength increase and started to push back.


    ~DENG~


    He swung the sword as well, making the Tyrant Bull tilt to the side. Taking this chance, Lin Mu kicked the bull''s neck, sending it flying back!


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~SPLASH~


    The Tyrant Bull fell into the sea of Qi while Lin Mu looked for it. He knew the bloodline figure wouldn''t be defeated just by that.


    ~MOOOOOOO!~


    And just a few secondster, the Tyrant Bull rose out of the sea of Qi, as if a volcano was erupting.


    Lin Mu flicked his hand as the sword shot towards the Tyrant Bull. By the time the sword reached the bull, Lin Mu had already condensed several more weapons around him from the immortal Qi.


    ~DENG~


    The sword that was shot by Lin Mu was met head on by the horns of the Tyrant Bull and was dissipated.


    ~TWANG~


    But then in the next moment, the sound of a bow string was heard as tens of arrows shot towards the Tyrant Bull. The bull tried to dodge them and stomped, creating arge wave of Qi that blocked the arrows.


    ~SPLASH~


    Lin Mu pierced through the wave and appeared above the Tyrant Bull before stabbing downwards with a spear.


    This time the Tyrant Bull couldn''t dodge it in time, and the spear tip stabbed into it. The beast let out a furious cry and whipped around, trying to throw off Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu simply pivoted off the beast''s back, leaving the spear in ce and held another weapon. This time it was arge axe and he spun around, creating a crescent sh that targeted the Tyrant Bull.


    The bull rammed into it head on, without fearing the sh. Lin Mu watched as the sh left a cut near its horns, but was unable to go any deeper.


    "Tough body¡­ I''ll have to use prating attacks." Lin Mu understood.


    It was a surprise as to how the bloodline figure of a beast was still able to manifest the characteristics of the real beast. Though Lin Mu could at least tell that the beast had none of its innate abilities.


    The tyrant bull had several such innate abilities that terrified many immortals and beasts alike. This was also why killing the beast was so difficult, as it could use multiple Qi skills along with its terrifying body.


    Lin Mu didn''t falter though, and condensed another spear.


    ~MOOOOOOOO~


    The Tyrant Bull charged towards Lin Mu with a burning look in its eyes. Lin Mu didn''t move though and instead prepared for something else.


    ''The Tyrant Bull has no fear but also doesn''t think well.'' Lin Mu understood.


    Thus, instead of attacking the Tyrant Bull directly, Lin Mu decided to turn its power against it. He took a firm foothold on the Dao shell and invoked the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo within it.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The True Earth Heart beat like the thunder as ayer of rocks condensed on the Dao Shell. Within moments, it had transformed into a tform and wrapped around Lin Mu''s legs, locking him in ce.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The Tyrant Bull''s steps made it impossible to stand on top of the ocean of Qi, but Lin Mu didn''t have to worry about that now. With the Dao Shell supporting him, he could simply stand on top of it.


    He was like an unshakable mountain in the sea, that could not be drowned by a tsunami.


    Lin Mu stared into the eyes of the Tyrant bull as it did the same. He could sense the rage inside the bull. It was angry that it had been killed. It was angry that its bloodline was being treated like this.


    This was the Raising Spirit part of the process after all.


    One needed to awaken the bloodline figure of the Tyrant Bull and then fight to subdue it. Since the Tyrant Bull had a character just like its name, it wouldn''t allow one to just do as they pleased.


    Thus, even if one managed to refine and absorb it, the bloodline could still choose to attack them when one expected the least. No tricks were good here, and one needed to defeat the spirit in a frontal battle to be able to truly subdue it.


    As the two gazed into each other''s eyes, the distance between them reduced before finally they shed once more.


    ~SLICK~


    But this time, the sh didn''tst long.


    The rage in the eyes of the Tyrant Bull fell quickly ands they turned dull. The spear in Lin Mu''s hand was half buried into its head, having been forced in with the bull''s own momentum.


    "Seems like old tricks still work," Lin Mu couldn''t help but chuckle.


    This wasn''t the first time he had used a tactic like this, but it had been used a long time ago. With the increase in the cultivation of beasts, their intelligence increased as well, and those tactics wouldn''t work.


    But with the enraged Tyrant Bull, simple methods worked again. Though it was also dangerous for Lin Mu, as without the support of the Dao Shell, he would have been thrown back and possibly impaled.


    An injury to the Nascent soul was rather severe and would make Lin Mu weaker.


    "Go on now, disperse. I''ll make good use of your strength." Lin Mu spoke to the Bloodline figure.


    The eyes of the Tyrant Bull shed onest time, this time with a hint of intelligence. It let out a low cry before turning into red mist.


    "Now for the final part¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    He relinquished control of his Nascent soul and let his mind return to the body. He then utilized his immortal sense, letting it tame the red mist.


    "Gather!" Lin Mumanded.


    The red mist now had no will and was easily pulled along with Lin Mu''s Immortal sense. It traveled along with the Immortal sense and was sent out of the Dantian.


    He carefully controlled the red mist and brought it to his back. This led to a change in the real world, as the robes on Lin Mu''s back directly burst apart.


    A gush of energy spread from his back, as a red outline appeared on it.


    The red outline continued to change and soon took on the form of a six legged beast. This was none other the Tyrant Bull.


    The outline flickered for a bit before fading away. Most of its parts disappeared, leaving only the head of the Tyrant Bull and that too, without its horns.


    The figure of the Tyrant Bull was now iplete.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu opened his eyes as he took a deep breath.


    "I seeded at least." Lin Mu muttered.


    He pulled out a mirror and took a look at his back, that now had the hornless head of the Tyrant Bull on it.


    "The Hornless Bull¡­ I''m at the starting stage of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets!" Lin Mu was pleased by the oue.


    While it might seem like the process was failed due to the iplete outline, it was not so.


    If one wanted aplete outline, they would have to continue to cultivate the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets to the peak.


    "I finished the First form of the Totem. But I still have more marrow left¡­ perhaps I can go further." Lin Mu puled out another bottle.

 Chapter 1636 Tyrant Bull Totem

    Having been able to finish just the First Form of the Tyrant Bull Totem was already a good aplishment for Lin Mu.


    After all, from what he knew, even making half of the First Form of the Tyrant Bull Totem was decent, and the minimum for one to practice the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets. And yet, Lin Mu had gone a step further and fullypleted the first form.


    The Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets needed for one to make the Tyrant Bull Totem and there were several forms of it.


    The first was the Hornless Bull.


    The second was the Horned Bull.


    The Third was the Legless Bull.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    The Fourth was the Two Legged Bull.


    The Fifth was the Four Legged Bull.


    The Sixth was the Six Legged Bull.


    And finally, the seventh was the Tyrant Bull!


    Each of the stages conformed and matched with the Seven immortal Tribtion stages. And upon reaching each stage, the practitioner would be able to increase their strength ordingly.


    By using more Tyrant Bull marrow, Lin Mu hoped to progress faster. This was something that was normally aplished by nurturing the totem over time by using Immortal Essence and training.


    But for Lin Mu, this part could be skipped to a certain extent due to the extra Tyrant Bull Marrow that he had. It was after all, an excellent form of Body Cultivation material and was sought after by many.


    Of course, for others it would only serve as a boost to their cultivation base, but to Lin Mu it would provide an entirely new technique as well as power.


    He gazed at the jade bottle full of Tyrant Bull Marrow and took a deep breath.


    ~POP~


    He took off the cap and chugged the entire bottle of marrow. The familiar feeling of burning filled his mouth and slid down his throat before settling within his stomach. The obscure runes appeared once more and contained all of the energy, while his stomach got to quickly refining it.


    Lin Mu was able to handle all of it better, having gone through it once. His speed was also a bit faster, and he quickly gathered all the essence within his Dantian.


    Once more, his Immortal Qi sea started to boil as the red essence fell into it. Lin Mu let it do so, while he controlled his Immortal sense to control the immortal Qi wisps and re-condense them.


    Hours passed by as Lin Mu finished this task, being left with a familiar red blob of essence that had congealed.


    "Time to battle it again." Lin Mu muttered and took control of his Nascent soul.


    ~SIZZLE~


    As soon as his Nascent soul touched the red blob, it burst apart into red mist and took the bloodline figure of the Tyrant Bull.


    This time though, the Tyrant Bull''s figure seemed to be a bit confused. It didn''t show the same level of anger and had a hint of doubt in its eyes. Still, the beast didn''t pause that long and quickly burst into a charge.


    ~MOOOOOOO!!!~


    It attacked Lin Mu''s Nascent soul, and he retaliated the same. Having gained experience from thest fight, Lin Mu now knew that taking the support of his Dao Shell was the best option.


    Thus, using it as a firm foothold, Lin Mu battled the Tyrant Bull''s Bloodline figure, whittling it down before finally stabbing through its head and ending the fight simr tost time.


    ~HUU~


    The Tyrant Bull turned into a red mist that Lin Mu quickly channeled to the totem on his back.


    ~HUALA~


    The red outline of the Tyrant Bull appeared on Lin Mu''s back once more,pleting the full totem for a few seconds. The energy lingered longer this time, and Lin Mu soon saw it fading away.


    ''Come on¡­'' Lin Mu watched as the energy finally faded away, leaving only the head of the Tyrant Bull.


    But the head was different from before¡­ there were now horns on it!


    "HAHA! IT WORKED!" Lin Mu eximed in joy.


    He had sessfully reached the second stage of the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets. With this, Lin Mu''s Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets were now on the same level as that of the Three Apertures Invoking Technique.


    Lin Mu was very excited and pleased by this. There was nothing more he wished than to continue this, but took a decisive break.


    "I need to rest and think about everything first. There cannot be a mistake, as the loss from that would be too great." Lin Mu said to himself.


    Having decided that, he simply mediated for two days, letting his mind and body rest. While there were no actual injuries on the surface, his body had still sustained quite a bit of stress from the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.


    It was quite a harrowing technique, after all. For many practitioners, it wasn''t unusual to get injured even after sessfully forming a totem. Some would even have injuries so severe that they would have to spend a hundred years or so just to recover.


    Only after the recovery was made, would it be advisable to continue cultivating the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.


    Thankfully for Lin Mu, he already had a preexisting Body Cultivation and had a tough body. In fact, he was the perfect fit for this technique and exceeded all the requirements of it. There was a reason why Xukong had picked it for Lin Mu.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu let out a breath, and opened his eyes after two days, feeling much better.


    "This should be good." Lin Mu could feel that his body had adapted to the Totem.


    This adaptation didn''te in the form of a direct strength increase, but rather the cirction of energy. Lin Mu could feel that there was now a natural link between the Immortal Essence in his body and the Totem.


    To him, it felt like if he wished for it, the Immortal Essence would automatically respond to his will and power the totem. It was strange, as there were no direct meridians linking them either.

 Chapter 1637 The Tyrant Bulls Submission

    Lin Mu observed the totem on his back as well as the Immortal Essence link for a few minutes, trying to learn more about them.


    ''I''ll test it out after I''ve fully used up all the marrow. Having Immortal essence is necessary for me so that I can recover from any injuries as soon as possible.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and took out the third jade bottle of Tyrant Bull Marrow.


    He quickly popped off the cap and drank it all. Having be familiar with the process, Lin Mu methodically got through it all. By the next day, he was already ready to battle the Tyrant Bull''s Bloodline Figure once more.


    The figure condensed from the red mist and gazed at Lin Mu, this time with even greater doubt in its eyes.


    ''Is it¡­ hesitating?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    ~MOOOOOOO!~


    But in the very next moment, the demeanor of the Tyrant Bull changed and a tyrannical aura rose from it.


    ~TREMBLE~


    It charged towards Lin Mu''s Nascent soul, initiating the battle.


    The two previous fights had already educated Lin Mu on the Tyrant Bull''s battle style and allowed him to outmaneuver the beast with easy. He subdued the bloodline figure in just half of the time it had taken him in the first fight.


    "That was a significant improvement." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    ~SHUA~


    He watched as the Bloodline Figure dispersed into the red mist and quicklymanded his Immortal Sense to take control of it. Then, channeling it all to the Totem on his back, Lin Mu observed it.


    ~HONG~


    The outline of the Tyrant Bull glowed brightly as it reached full size once more.


    ''Let''s see how much effect it has this time.'' Lin Mu watched it intently.


    ~SHUA~


    A little whileter, the outline started to fade once more, but this time it was left with more than before.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu watched it with a little doubt. "The totem didn''t reach the next form¡­" he muttered.


    On Lin Mu''s back, the totem of the Tyrant Bull was now a horned head that had a neck attached to it. But its body was still not formed.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows, wondering if he had failed. He didn''te to conclusions that quick though and took his time to observe it in detail. He even checked the energy links between his Immortal Essence and the totem itself.


    After a few hours of fine observation, Lin Mu realized that the links had actually increased.


    ''The number isn''t that much, but it has certainly increased. This means a higher supply of Immortal essence, but the stage hasn''t reached the next point.'' Lin Mu concluded that it wasn''t actually a failure.


    "Seems like the Tyrant Bull Marrow was simply not enough. The head is a small part of the total totem after all, so it makes sense." Lin Mu understood that he would need more Tyrant Bull Marrow to progress.


    He looked at the fourth and final bottle that he had left, tens of thoughts appearing in his mind.


    "This might or might not be enough and it isn''t like I''ll be able to get any more Tyrant Bull Marrow after this. I may as well use it and progress as much as I can. The rest of the totem can bepleted by the normal process anyway." Lin Mu analyzed.


    ~HUU~<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    Having gotten over the confusion, Lin Mu opened the fourth bottle and consumed it.


    He then went through the steps of the Mnemonic; Refine the Marrow, Condense the essence, Raise the spirit before finally facing the Bloodline Figure of the Tyrant Bull again.


    ~SHUA~


    The Bloodline Figure acted quite different this time around, though. While it still had anger in its eyes, it didn''t charge at Lin Mu.


    "It''s certainly reluctant this time." Lin Mu was sure.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    He controlled his Nascent soul and flew closer to the Tyrant Bull''s Bloodline Figure.


    The Beast seemed agitated and puffed out steam from its nostrils, but didn''t attack Lin Mu. And when Lin Mu was just a couple of meters from the beast, it finally reacted. Lin Mu immediately entered a fighting stance and condensed several Immortal Qi weapons around him.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    But much to his surprise, the attack never came. Instead, he heard the sound of something solid hitting a hard surface.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu watched with astonished eyes as the Bloodline Figure of the Tyrant Bull kneeled on his Dao Shell.


    It bent its two front legs and kneeled off the edge of the Dao Shell as if offering its obeisance.


    "It has submitted¡­" Lin Mu had not expected something like that at all.


    He was fully prepared to battle the beast for the fourth time, but the Tyrant Bull didn''t seem to desire that. It made Lin Mu wonder why the Bloodline Figure wasn''t protesting in anger like before.


    ''Is it due to the fact that I''ve already defeated it thrice before and have the totem formed?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Whatever it might be, Lin Mu wasn''t one to let go of a free opportunity like this.


    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~


    He walked towards the Bloodline Figure calmly and ced his hand on the head. The beast had already lowered it and once Lin Mu touched it, a connection was formed between the two.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, the Bloodline Figure directly dispersed into red mist and automatically traveled to the totem on Lin Mu''s back.


    It was surprising, since Lin Mu didn''t need to control it.


    "Is this the true submission of the Tyrant Bull?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He opened his eyes in the real world and watched as the Totem lit up on his back. The outline grew to the full as the process repeated. And by the time it had faded, Lin Mu was left with half of the body of the Tyrant Bull.


    "No legs and only the front half of the body." Lin Mu saw the final result.


    He hadn''t reached the third form of the Totem, but was halfway through it.


    "Looks like I''ll be reaching the third form the traditional way¡­"

 Chapter 1638 Great Amplification

    Having depleted all the Tyrant Bull Marrow, Lin Mu was not done. He spent a few more days letting his body adapt to the Totem as the links between his Immortal Essence and the totem increased.


    It had taken Lin Mu nearly twenty five days to finish cultivating the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets and reaching halfway to the third form.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "I still have over a month left for the tournament¡­" Lin Mu checked the time using the token he had been given.


    The functions in the token were rather handy and were especially made with the various kinds of contestants in mind. After all, there was nock of cultivators who would stay in seclusion and training until the veryst day.


    There were also some that got too lost in it and forget that the tournament was close and would miss it. Because of all that, the tokens all had a date and time function, that showed how long it was till the tournament.


    Additionally, as long as one was within a certain distance of the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts, they could even receive tournament updates on the token. For example, if a match was postponed or canceled, the contestants would know as well.


    "I''ll have more time to cultivate then. Perhaps I''ll be able to open the third aperture as well." Lin Mu calcted.


    He had more than enough pills left for it and even had extra Immortal Essence crystals for support if need be. Thus he was not worried about that.


    ''Though should I attempt to increase my immortal cultivation?'' Lin Mu wondered as he could technically trigger it any time he wished for it.


    After thinking for a few minutes though, Lin Mu decided against it. There was no telling how he might fare in the Immortal Tribtion and there was always a chance of getting injured.


    Even if Lin Mu had the means for healing, getting injured this close to the Tournament would not be good. Besides, he would have more than enough strength through his body cultivation.


    "I can alreadypare to a Third Tribtion Stage Immortal right now, and once I open my third aperture, I should have no issues with a Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal either." Lin Mu analyzed. "And I haven''t added the new strength from the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets to that either."


    Feeling pleased by this, Lin Mu reckoned he should test out his strength with the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.


    He stood up and decided on a very basic test.


    "Just a basic punch should be good enough to know." Lin Mu muttered and focused on the Totem on his back.


    It quickly activated under his will and the Immortal Essence within his body reacted too. His apertures automatically released Immortal Essence that quickly traveled to the Totem. The totem faintly lit up and consumed the Immortal Essence that was channeled into it.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as that happened, Lin Mu felt a burst of strength as power surged through his body. His aura also red up greatly whipping up wind and making the curtains in the room flutter.


    "This¡­ Just this alone is several times greater than The boost from the Three Apertures Invoking Technique." Lin Mu was surprised.


    While he knew that the Three Apertures Invoking Technique was not really meant for strength but capacity, it could still provide an amplification in raw strength. But the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets took it to a different level.


    ~CRACK~<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    ~POP~


    Lin Mu clenched his fist making his knuckles crack. The very air waspressed due to the force and popped like a balloon. What was even more surprising was that Lin Mu wasn''t amplifying his arm but rather his entire body.


    This wasn''t a focused boost but rather a uniform buff to the entire body. And despite that the amplification he could feel in his strength was already greater than focused amplification using Three Apertures Invoking Technique.


    "Now to see how it fares." Lin Mu cocked his fist back, taking a horse stance.


    Then with a swift move, he punched the air in front of him.


    ~BEEP~


    A strange sound was heard as the air was pushed forward at a great speed. This turned it into a jet that stuck the walls.


    ~BOOM~


    The defensive arrays activated immediately and blocked the attack. Lin Mu watched as the runes on the array flickered, with a few of them already showing damage. Even if it was a small amount of damage that would be automatically repaired, one must not forget that this was a casual attack.


    "That was¡­ AMAZING!" Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel excited.


    He had practiced the Bending Will Fist, thus knew how a punch like that worked. With the amount of air he had shifted at that speed, Lin Mu knew it was already on the level of a Qi skill without being one.


    And while Lin Mu could already do something like this before too, that still needed a lot of effort from him. Whereas now, such kind of an attack had be something casual for him.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as Lin Mu was reveling in his newly increased strength, it suddenly faded away.


    "Damn, it already used up the Immortal Essence." Lin Mu discovered.


    The Totem had calmed down and so had Lin Mu''s aura. The amount if Immortal Essence he had used up in this time was roughly ten percent of a Low Grade Immortal Essence Crystal.


    While this amount seemed small, one must know that Lin Mu had maintained that state for less than a minute.


    "No wonder Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets is said to be an Immortal Essence sink. If one doesn''t have an aperture to store essence, they would simply have to rely on their body to do the same." Lin Mu said to himself.


    The Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets had its own method of letting the body adapt to Immortal Essence and storing it as well. But unlike therge storage of the Apertures, the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets got one to store the Immortal Essence in the entire body in a diffused form.

 Chapter 1639 Tyrant Lift!

    The method prescribed in the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets wasn''t really as efficient as at the start, one''s capacity for Immortal Essence would be quite low.


    Though at thetter stages, it was said that once one had reached the full sized totem, their capacity for Immortal Essence would exponentially increase too. Of course, reaching that was already a tall mountain to climb.


    There was a higher chance that before one reached that, they would simply end up dying.


    Then there was the fact that the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets was a body cultivation technique that needed one to regrly battle and fight. Without that one''s cultivation base wouldn''t increase past the second or third form of the totem.


    It was a body cultivation technique that relied on the regrly stimtion of the body throughbat and use of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets. It required one to expend Immortal Essence in order to progress.


    In a way, it was a cultivation technique that could make one backpedal, but at the same time the power boost it provided was quite great.


    "Even now, I think I might be able to fight a Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal. And if I manage to finish both the Third Aperture and the Legless Bull Totem, I should have no issues battling a Fifth Tribtion Stage immortal either!" Lin Mu estimated.


    It was quite a stunning thing to say that one could fight an immortal several stages above them but the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets allowed exactly that. In fact, it was said that when one had thepleted Tyrant Bull Totem, their strength was alreadypared to a Transcendent Immortal!


    "And adding the innate skills of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets should also give me a greater boost." Lin Mu concluded.


    The Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets wasn''t just for improving cultivation, it even came with its own sets of skills!


    There were four such skills in it, that would unlock at different forms of the Totem.


    For Lin Mu though, he could only use the first skill.


    "I shouldn''t try that here though¡­ will be too bad if I break this room." Lin Mu muttered.


    He then changed into new robes, as the old ones were torn and left the room.


    ~CREAK~


    His departure from the room was met with several gazes from the garden.


    "You''re out!" The voice of Little Shrubby could be heard.


    "Yep, I managed to finish early." Lin Mu nodded as he opened his arms wide.


    ~THUD~


    The beast quickly shrank mid way and turned into a kitten by the time he was in Lin Mu''s arms.


    ~SASASA~


    The Yin Yang Twin serpents were not one tog behind either and quickly wrapped around Lin Mu''s hands.


    "I didn''t forget you two either." Lin Mu rubbed their heads.


    After a minute of pets, Lin Mu let them down and looked at the Saintess who was gazing at him too. Her gaze was intense even if it was hidden behind a veil. Lin Mu felt like he was being analyzed at this moment.


    "You didn''t just seed in Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets did you?" The Saintess spoke as she stood up. "I can sense far more than that. The spirit of the Tyrant Bull¡­"<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    "Yes¡­ I reached the second form of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets and am halfway to the third." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Such progress in less than a month is astonishing. From what I''ve heard, other practitioners of Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets have taken at least two or three months to do the same. But even then they could only finish the first form at the maximum." The Saintess stated.


    "I would have been in the same stage too, if not for therge quantity of Tyrant Bull Marrow I obtained. It allowed me to push the technique half way to the third form." Lin Mu responded.


    "I see¡­ Still being able to consume that much Tyrant Bull Marrow is already a feat. If it was any other, they would have long since exploded." The Saintess praised.


    A hint of red appeared on Lin Mu''s face as he couldn''t help but feel pleased.


    "I reckon you wish to test your strength?" The Saintess urately guess.


    "Indeed. While I did a basic test, I still need to see how strong the actual innate skills of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets are." Lin Mu answered.


    "Very well¡­ I wish to see that too." The Saintess said much to Lin Mu''s surprise.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    He then saw her make a handseal in the air as clouds rapidly condensed around them. The clouds took on a dark grey hue and condensed into a rectangr pir some distance from the Saintess.


    "Use that as a target dummy." The Saintess instructed.


    Now that Lin Mu had a proper target to use the skill on without being worried about damaging anything, he was even more excited.


    "Alright!" Lin Mu walked towards the Rectangr cloud pir and readied the first innate skill of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A burst of aura spread from him, rming both Little Shrubby and the twins. The beasts quickly took a few steps back, feeling a tyrannical aura from Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu channeled more and more immortal essence into the totem, that started to glow under his robes. First his entire body was strengthened by the rush of strength, but it didn''t stop there.


    More power traveled to Lin Mu''s arms, making his muscles tense up.


    "HAA¡­." Lin Mu could feel his muscles expanding rapidly and within moments they had more than doubled in thickness!


    ~RIP~


    The sudden increase in mass as tore apart the sleeves of his robes as an energy started to rise from his arms. Lin Mu''s arms that had already doubled in size, were now coated with a mass of energy red energy making them look fleshy.


    With that ready, Lin Mu moved towards the cloud pir and thrust his arms.


    "Tyrant Lift!"


    Lin Mu''s arms moved like the muscr trunks of mammoths, directly tearing into the cloud pir andunching it into the sky!

 Chapter 1640 Testing And Exhaustion

    Tyrant Lift was the first innate skill of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets and was supposed to be the weakest out of them. And yet, Lin Mu could feel that this was possibly one of his strongest moves right now.


    ''Perhaps only the Boulder Copsing Fist can exceed this in raw power. But the energy consumption will also be greater.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he felt the cloud pir be torn.


    While it was indeed made of clouds, the Saintess''s skill had turned it solid. In fact, its toughness could alreadypare to greatly tempered steel. And yet, Lin Mu''s arms had torn through it as if it were just cotton.


    The cloud pir was sent flying into the sky, and even Lin Mu''s bodyunched along with it. The force of the attack had enough momentum to carry Lin Mu along with it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The Cloud Pir was sent hundreds of meters high into the air, while Lin Mu stopped after just a hundred meters, taking control of his flight. Hended back on the ground and watched the cloud pir that was still ascending.


    "Umm¡­ was that supposed to happen?" Lin Mu asked, not knowing.


    The Saintess had said to use the Cloud Pir as a target dummy so Lin Mu didn''t know if the durability was intentionally set like this. He didn''t know if it was too low. What Lin Mu didn''t know was that the Saintess was wondering the same thing.


    ''That pir shouldn''t have been damaged even by a fifth Tribtion Stage immortal¡­ and yet he tore it apart like that¡­'' The Saintess felt baffled.


    She had seen the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets practitioners a few times in the past and had even seen a few of them use their skills. On top of this, she had also read about them before thus knew a bit more.


    "That wasn''t supposed to happen¡­" The Saintess spoke truthfully.


    "It wasn''t!?" Lin Mu raised his brows, wondering how the Saintess had made a mistake. ''She''s never made a mistake before this.'' He thought.


    "Your strength exceeds my expectations¡­" The Saintess uttered.


    "It does?" Lin Mu was both surprised and a bit pleased at the same time.


    "Indeed." The Saintess nodded her head.


    "You are certainly right in picking the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets as your body cultivation technique. It suits you well." The Saintess stated, not going into the details of just how much Lin Mu had exceeded her expectations.


    There were several reasons for it, such as the fact that she didn''t want Lin Mu to lose his focus of getting stronger, but secretly it was also because she felt a bit embarrassed.


    ''I should have just made it strong enough to withstand a seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal''s strength.'' The Saintess cursed her mistake.


    It was unlike her to do things like this and she wondered if it was due to her being in her temple alone for too long.


    ''I do have the guardians to talk to though¡­'' The Saintess wondered. ''Have my social skills fallen?''


    Thankfully Lin Mu was unaware of her thoughts and simply looked at her with a gentle expression. To him getting the acknowledgment of the Saintess felt rather nice. He didn''t think much about the reasoning behind it though, just epting it as it is.


    ~SHUA~


    And by this time, the Tyrant Bull Totem also deactivated, having depleted its supply of Immortal Essence.


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu suddenly swayed feeling as if his body had turned rigid.


    But before he could fall, he regained control feeling rather confused.


    "What was that?" Lin Mu looked at his hands.


    "That must be the overload on your body." The Saintess spoke, her tone turning neutral.


    "Overload?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "I don''t think that should happen though¡­ I''ve used far great amounts of energy at once than this." He said in doubt.


    "It isn''t about the amount of energy, but rather how it was used. Especially since this is Immortal Essence which your body hasn''t fully adapted to yet." The Saintess exined.


    "Oh? I never expected this¡­" Lin Mu was shocked and wondered if he''ll have issues in battles.


    "You''ll be fine after you use it a few more times. Its just the Immortal Essence pathways that your body needs to adapt to." The Saintess answered, as if having read Lin Mu''s mind.


    "I see¡­ that''s good then." Lin Mu could deal with that much.


    He checked his body with his immortal sense, and could tell that the activation of Tyrant Lift had indeed made faint Energy pathways in his arms that linked up to the Totem. They didn''t seem to be material and were already fading away.


    ''This should be it then¡­'' Lin Mu confirmed. "Looks like I''ll have to trouble you a few more times, Saintess." He requested.


    "Alright." The Saintess agreed.


    Though internally, she wanted to fix the mistake she had made earlier.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~SHUA~


    With that in mind, she made the handseal once more gathering clouds that soon condensed into a rectangr pir. It seemed to look the same as before, but this time she had made it tough enough that it could withstand the power of a seventh Tribtion Stage immortal with ease.


    ''That''ll do it.'' The Saintess reckoned.


    Seeing that the target dummy was ready, Lin Mu got into the stance once more.


    "Here I go!" Lin Mu controlled his aperture and released Immortal Essence for the Totem.


    ~HUALA~


    A tyrannical aura covered Lin Mu once more and the totem lit up under his robes. His arms grew in size once more and a red light coated it making them look even bigger.


    "Tyrant Lift!" Lin Mu swung his arms towards the Cloud Pir, as winds were swept up around him from the sheer force.


    ~THUD~


    But unlike before, he didn''t tear the pir. Instead, his arms created blunt depressions in them while his fingers sped at the back.


    "HAAAH!" Lin Mu used the skills power, trying to lift up the pir but was unable to.


    The depression in the pir did grew but the pir itself didn''t break or move.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu let go of the pir and withdrew his arms, feeling the disparity.


    "That pir is really tough¡­" Lin Mu couldn''t help but mutter.


    "It''llst for your attacks." The Saintess replied, but internally she was thinking about something else. ''His strength is still excessive for his cultivation. This doesn''t seem to be just because of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets either.''


    The Saintess had all but confirmed that her earlier mistake wasn''t exactly a mistake. Rather it was just an unexpected oue.


    ''Is it due to the fact that he''s dual cultivating both Qi and body? Or is it perhaps because of his bloodline?'' The Saintess couldn''t figure it out. ''Maybe it is something else entirely.'' To her, the only thing she could do was to wait and observe.


    It even made the Saintess curious about how far Lin Mu could go and how fast his improvement will be.


    And while she was thinking of all this, Lin Mu had already executed the skill for the third time.


    ~THUD~


    The cloud pir which had recovered from its initial damage had depressions carved into it again from Lin Mu''s attack.


    Lin Mu held the pir for a few seconds before letting go as his skill ran out of power.


    ~HUU~


    Letting out a breath, Lin Mu felt the feeling of rigidness again, but this time it was a bit shorter.


    "You''re right¡­ it''s getting short already." Lin Mu nodded his head before an idea appeared in his mind. ''Perhaps this is why the practitioners of Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets are required to battle a lot. Without that they won''t be able to use this skills to the full extent either.'' He understood.


    The Saintess simply watched Lin Mu repeat the process over and over again, as the res of his tyrannical aura spread in the courtyard. If not for the barrier that she had set up around the Hundred Fruits Pavilion, the Tyrannical Aura was bound to disturb several people living around them.


    An hour passed like this, and Lin Mu had depleted nearly half of his Immortal Essence in his First Aperture.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu finished his attack and directly slumped to the ground.


    "Okay¡­ that is really exhausting." Lin Mu could feel the fatigue building up faster than ever.


    Normally he should have been able to bear it all, but for some reason the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets could still make him tired.


    "This is already excessive. Any other user of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets would have already copsed." The Saintess spoke up. "You having practiced the Three Apertures Invoking Technique has greatly helped you here." She added.


    "I see¡­ perhaps I should be grateful for this then." Lin Mu stated. "I''m used to not getting tired otherwise."N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    "It might have been so with your other techniques and skills. But the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets is taxing on the body. Even for its own practitioner."

 Chapter 1641 A Targeted Invitation

    Lin Mu took the Saintess''s warning seriously and decided to be careful with it.


    No longer was he using his old skills that were meant for the spirit Qi realm. He was now using skills that matched up to the immortal realm and even among them they were of the top level. It was now something he could truly wring out the potential from.


    "Thank you for the advice Saintess." Lin Mu said with gratitude.


    "It''s nothing. You would have figured it out on your own tooter." The Saintess waved it away.


    Lin Mu nodded his head and looked up at the sky sensing some fluctuations there. He found the barrier to be flickering lightly.


    "Is that normal, by the way?" He asked.


    "It''ll go back to normal in a bit." The Saintess replied.


    "Why''s it happening though? My attack didn''t hit it." Lin Mu asked.


    "The Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets doesn''t juste with your skills and power. Did you not notice your aura?" The Saintess questioned instead.


    "My aura?" Lin Mu had noticed it indeed. "I did, but¡­ that caused that?"


    "Of course. Thats the Tyrannical Aura of the Tyrant Bull. Its mere presence can cause disturbances and make creatures intimidated. The stronger you get and further you progress with the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets, the stronger that aura will get. Eventually it''ll reach a point where it can directly harm others." The Saintess answered.


    "Huh¡­ that wasn''t in the manual." Lin Mu was surprised that Xukong hadn''t mentioned that to him.


    "Well, it isn''t an explicit feature of it. But rather a passive effect." The Saintess replied.


    "Ah, I see." Lin Mu now understood.


    Some of his other techniques had simr effects too, so he grasped it quickly.


    Done with that, Lin Mu looked at Little Shrubby and The twins.


    "We''re going to go out today." Lin Mu said.


    "We are?" Little Shrubby and the twins approached him.


    "Yeah, we''ll take a look around the city as well as ask about the banquets. They did ask us to visit one before." Lin Mu answered.


    "A Banquet?" The Saintess muttered. "Do you mean this?" she waved her hand and a letter drifted over.


    "Hmmm?" Lin Mu looked at the letter and found the seal of the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion on it. "From the staff?"


    "A servant dropped it off a few days ago, and announced that it was an invitation for a banquet." The Saintess replied.


    Lin Mu then realized that the woman manning the desk at the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion knew about him being a contestant in the tournament. And he had asked for no servants to be there, so it made sense for them to simply send the letter this way.


    "Let''s take a look then." Lin Mu picked up the letter and opened it, finding a rather elegant invitation card inside.


    ''Dear Contestant,


    If you have received this invitation, then you are chosen and have been considered a promising immortal. We are pleased to invite you to the Vibrant me banquet. As the greatest of all Pre-Tournament Banquets, we continue our tradition this time too, and will continue to do so for thousands of years toe just like before.


    Every week there shall be one Vibrant me Banquet held at the Little Glory Pce until the start of the tournament. We will be greatly pleased if you would grace us with your presence.


    Yours Faithfully


    High Wind Alliance.''


    Having read the letter, Lin Mu was a bit surprised as it didn''t seem like a normal invite. From what he had heard, the other banquets were basically open invitation for contestants. But this one seemed to be targeted and exclusive.


    "Seems like they''ve picked you." The Saintess spoke.


    "Indeed¡­ I think being here might have made them send it to me." Lin Mu concluded.


    After all, he was staying in quite the expensive ce. As for the majority of contestants, even if they were strong, not all of them had the liquid assets to afford something like this. They would rather spend all their earnings on resources so that they could cultivate more.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "But this High Wind Aince¡­ who are they?" Lin Mu couldn''t recall hearing about them.


    Considering the exclusivity of the invitation he reckoned that it was certainly someone important.


    "And if you add the Little Glory Pce to that¡­ It must be someone high ranking." Lin Mu guessed.


    The Little Glory Pce was one of the many pces located within the royal grounds and was further from the External Greeting hall that Lin Mu had visited. In a way, its function was simr to the External Greeting hall, meant to entertain and meet guests.


    But in the case of the Little Glory Pce, the guests were usually of a high influence or power. And to make use of the Little Glory Pce was not easy, and only a high noble could authorize it.


    "Considering its an alliance, perhaps they are not one but several nobles?" it didn''t take much for Lin Mu to guess it.


    "Are you going to this one?" The Saintess asked.


    "Hmm¡­ I''m considering it." Lin Mu didn''t know how good it was to enter the pce grounds again, especially since he didn''t know who was it that was throwing this banquet exactly.


    His past experience had enlightened him enough to the politics of nobles and knew that merely talking with some can offend others. Even if it was just a passing greeting. Lin Mu didn''t wish to get embroiled in their politics and the easiest way to do so was to avoid them.


    But then at the same time, the banquet was a good chance to assess his potentialpetitors.


    "It''s tomorrow night, so you have today to consider." The Saintess said, looking at the dates.


    "Yeah, I''ll take a walk around first. Maybe look into who this High Wind alliance is first." Lin Mu replied.


    "Interacting with other contestants will be good for you. Who knows, you might even have some gains from it." Xukong chimed in as well.


    Now that even Xukong had said this, Lin Mu was a lot more positive about it.


    "Alright, let''s head out then." Lin Mu said to his beasts.


    "Yay! I want to get some new ingredients too!" Little Shrubby said with excitement.


    "Sure, we''ll see what new stuff they''re selling." Lin Mu agreed quickly.


    With the number of new tradersing to the city, quite a lot of new items were brought. And in them all, materials that could be used as cooking ingredients were plenty too. Lin Mu was interested in it too as there were traders from different worlds arriving as well.


    The party of four took their leave with the twins hiding under Lin Mu''s sleeves while Little Shrubby sat on his shoulder like usual. In his kitten form, he was seen as harmless and even his cultivation base seemed to be low.


    Smaller beasts like Little Shrubby were actually quite popr, especially among the younger female cultivators. Women were drawn to cute things, and the same applied to their taste in beasts.


    It wasn''t unusual for Lin Mu to see women walking around with small tamed beasts, that looked cute. There were small dogs, some puppies, a few birds, lots of feline beasts as well as a few hybrid beasts.


    All this made it easier for Lin Mu to walk around with Little Shrubby as he didn''t really stick out.


    Though people would find their tamed beast getting silent when Lin Mu and Little Shrubby passed by them. Of course no one knew that the reason for this was the two. Both Little Shrubby and Lin Mu had a passive presence that alerted the instincts of the beasts.


    They might not be able to tell that the threat wasing from Lin Mu and little Shrubby, but they could tell that something was around them. Thus they would stay silent until the ''danger'' had passed.


    Though the twins were rtively hidden, as their aura''s werepletely concealed. Lin Mu could tell that the Saintess had taken care of that, so that other''s wouldn''t notice the two as easily.


    Otherwise, the effect of fear would have only been multiplied several times. There was a reason why the Yin Yang Twin Serpents were the ancestral serpents of the Serpent Moon Sect. Even in their infant forms, their power was not something to scoff at.


    Just their bloodline might alert beasts several times stronger than them.


    Of course, Lin Mu and his beasts didn''t care about all this and simply enjoyed their time in the city. They bought new ingredients from the merchants who had newly arrived as well as ate some new dishes.


    And on top of all that, Lin Mu also took that chance to find out about the High Wind alliance.


    He learned that it was a special alliance of over thirty influential people that not only included nobles, but also other strong cultivators from the Dao Wind Empire. Their main function was to gather talents for their own powers and the tournament was a great way to do so.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1642 Whats A God?

    Having learned about the High Wind Alliance and its members, Lin Mu realized that this was a lot bigger than he had originally thought.


    "If there are so many strong and influential individuals involved in this, they must be expecting some great returns." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    It was clear that the banquet was nothing simple. The number of resources that would be invested in it was quite literally in the high grade immortal stones level. If they were spending this much, it was obvious that they were expecting an equal or even greater return from it


    Lin Mu had seen several banquets and this was supposed to be topping all of them. The invitees were talented people and some with high cultivation bases, thus to entice and entertain them, they would need equally valuable materials.


    Food, wine, fruits and a lot more would be given freely, and all of that would have to be something that could benefit the contestants.


    A banquet of this level couldn''t just be set up by spending ones money. They would also need the connections to gather the needed materials as many would be in short supply or would be exclusively sold to the nobles.


    It wasn''t a single banquet either, as they were doing this every week end. Calcting the time that was left for the tournament, there would be a total of Five banquets.


    ''Since they are setting up these many banquets, it is likely that not all of them will be attended by the invitees. Considering that some will be in seclusion they are intending to have it as may times as possible to get the maximum attendance.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    ~Sigh~From N?velDrama.Org.


    "They surely are spending a lot of effort and fortune on this, huh¡­" Lin Mu muttered in the end.


    "That much is expected. After all, they need to grow their power and their empire as well. Recruitment of talented individuals is a good way to do that. There is a limit to how many they can nurture within their ranks too." Xukong spoke.


    "That is true¡­ Normally this should have been something that sects do. But¡­ In their absence the empires have taken over." Lin Mu concluded.


    "These are merebels that the powers take. It doesn''t matter whether they be sects, kingdoms, empires, cults, or more. All of them have the goal of growing stronger and gaining more power. All of them need people with talent." Xukongmented.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu agreed. "It''s just that¡­ it''ll be a pain when I have to reject them."


    "I don''t think they''ll be that forceful." Xukong said, much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "Really?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "Since they are the orthodox ruling power, they won''t resort to underhanded means. Even if they do try to use force in some cases, it won''t be good in the long term. Besides, don''t forget they have another power keeping them in check. One above all the empires." Xukong exined.


    "The Temple of the Four Guardian beasts¡­" Lin Mu spoke. "Of course, with them watching even the Empire would have to think several times."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "If they try anything overt, it could be taken as a disrespect of the temple. After all, the tournament could be considered a sacred ritual." Xukong replied.


    Hearing this, a different thought came to Lin Mu. A thought that he had lingering in the back of his head for a long time. Something that had made him question several times about the world and its truths.


    "These guardians¡­ Are they really gods, Senior?" Lin Mu finally questioned. "I mean¡­ What immortals can do right now would be considered godly by the mortals. While the power of the guardians seems high, it isn''t unimaginable to immortals. It even seems ''attainable''." He gave his perspective.


    Hearing this question, Xukong couldn''t help but feel amazed.


    ''He''s finally asking the right questions¡­'' Xukong thought to himself. "Hmm¡­ I can say that who''s god and who''s not is a matter of where you are looking at it from." He started to speak.


    Lin Mu stayed silent and let Xukong continued.


    "Take it this way, what''s a human to an ant? A human can squash an ant with ease, a single meal for a human would be enough tost the ant for hundreds of days, and the human can make great structures that a single ant wouldn''t be able to do.


    To top if off, the human would live for several hundred times the life of an ant." Xukong said calmly.


    Lin Mu listened to it deeply, finding the focus points in it.


    "Thus to an ant¡­ What''s a human but a god? A human can shower a handful of sugar and bless the ant for months toe. He can also stomp and crush an ant unknowingly while walking. Then what is he? A god? Or a devil?" Xukong asked.


    "The actions would define their title." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Indeed." Xukong responded. "The same applies to humans. They take things or phenomena that benefit them as gods. Whether it be natural phenomena or people. A good king could be revered as a god, as he brings prosperity and peace to its people, and simrly he can be regarded as the most heinous of devils if he does the opposite." He exined.


    "Then the Four Guardians¡­ They are gods because they bring benefits to the people¡­ no¡­ not just people, they regard the other races as equal too." Lin Mu started to understand.


    "Exactly. The Four Guardian beasts started to be regarded as gods because of that. They didn''t just help cultivators but mortals too. And didn''t differentiate between the races. Their spread their influence and tried to bring a bnce.


    To an immortal, they might be called gods, but they can see that it is something they can understand. After all, they know how the powers work, even if they might be a little beyond theirprehension.


    But to the average mortal, these would be miracles beyond their understanding.


    Who''s god and who''s not depends on where you stand." Xukong stated, his voice as if prying into the truths.

 Chapter 1643 Heading To The Banquet

    Lin Mu could feel that there was a lot more to this than what Xukong had spoken. Fine nuances that were still hidden, but he knew they were something he would understand eventually.


    "You might see them as gods when you were mortal, but as you grew, you understood their power.


    Some experts who have gone beyond the boundary of the immortals, such as the Saintess would merely see these gods as equals." Xukong added, snapping Lin Mu out of his thoughts.


    "I see¡­ So gods are merely stronger cultivators." Lin Mu stated.


    "On some level, yes¡­ Though you''ll understand moreter on. It is something you need to explore yourself." Xukong replied.


    This gave Lin Mu a lot to think about. He went silent for five minutes, staring off into the distance. Thankfully he was sitting in the balcony of a restaurant, thus it just seemed like he was looking at the scenery in the distance.


    If he was walking like before when they had started this conversation, some people would have surely gotten creeped out.


    Little Shrubby was also on the table, eating half of a fish, while the twins sneaked at the food while peeking out from Lin Mu''s sleeves.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu let out a breath, as he calmed down his mind.


    "What about you senior?" Lin Mu asked with great curiosity. "Are you¡­ Considered a god? The Saintess is already called the Saintess, thus she must have a god associated that is above her." He inquired.


    "Me?" Xukong couldn''t help but chuckle. "I guess you can say that."


    "Really?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Though I don''t know how many would think of me as a god, and how many would consider me a devil." Xukong said, making Lin Mu surprised.


    While Lin Mu knew that someone at the level of Xukong wouldn''t have reached that point without killing, he also didn''t know just how far it would go. For him to be considered both sides, meant that there were enough people that hated and feared him.


    "Both a god and devil huh¡­" Lin Mu said in a low voice. "Would I be considered the same eventually?" he questioned himself this time.


    Lin Mu shook his head and focused on finishing the food in front of him. Though Little Shrubby and the twins had already emptied out the table twice. The waiter was doing his fourth trip with more dishes and couldn''t help but look at them strangely.


    To the man, the dishes ced in front of Lin Mu would disappear rather quickly. If not for the fact that there were still bones and other waste left behind, he would have thought that Lin Mu was just storing them away.


    "Do you want me to bring more, sir?" The waiter inquired just in case.


    Lin Mu had told them earlier to keep on bringing food, until he said no. But now that five rounds of food had been finished, even the waiter was feeling doubtful. Not to mention, the kitchen would have to work quickly as some of the dishes took longer time to prepare.


    "No¡­ this''ll be enough." Lin Mu replied.


    While he could have eaten more, he didn''t have the mood anymore. He wished to go out into the city again.


    "Very well sir. I''ll bring the bill." The waiter said before leaving.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Lin Mu turned to his beasts and spoke, "let''s finish up."


    ~Meow~


    ~hiss~ hiss~


    Low cries were heard in response, as the beasts focused on clearing the table again.


    A couple minutester, the table was empty and the waiter had returned with the bill. Lin Mu paid it off and left the restaurant, heading off towards the shopping district again. While he had bought quite a lot of things before, there were still many shops left to explore.


    Lin Mu didn''t necessarily have to buy things either, as simply looking at new materials and items was a good experience. He got to learn about them this way and even test his knowledge on some level.


    And surely, he found more things that interested him.


    He bought a few formation manuals, as well as a set of books that taught about runes from different races.


    After all, formation creation was something that varied greatly even among humans. While Dao Script was universal, there were still othernguages and scripts that could be used for it. Thesenguages would still be useful in making formations and arrays, with some having useful applications.


    One of the most basic application was none other than encryption.


    If a formation master couldn''t read a rune, he would have a hard time telling what the formation was. It was one of the most basic and simple ways of making a formation had to break.


    Plus having seen the Shamanic Script of the Demon race earlier, he was now interested in more such scripts. He felt like he could learn and expand a lot more if he knew them.


    He ended up spending over fifteen hours just walking around, until finally it was time for the Banquet.


    "Just like that I''ve spent over a day in the city." Lin Mu was surprised at how fast the time had passed.


    He turned to Little Shrubby in his arms and spoke, "let''s get changed before we head to the banquet shall we?"


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby responded.


    Lin Mu simply brushed his hands over his clothes and they were switched with better ones. With his control over space improving, storing and retrieving something at the same time was as simple as breathing to him.


    The new robes that he was wearing were something that was more suited to asions like these and looked luxurious. They were a mix of ck and purple, with white embroidery on it.


    Now dressed in better robes, Lin Mu turned up at the entrance of the Pce grounds.


    "What are you here for?" The guards questioned politely this time, looking at Lin Mu''s robes.


    In response, he simply took out the invitation.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1644 Little Glory Palace

    The guards merely had to take a single nce at the invitation and knew that it was real.


    "Ah! You can go on ahead sir," The guard quickly responded.


    Lin Mu was surprised by the sudden change of attitude, but then realized that it might be partially due to his clothes too.


    ''Should I dress like this more often?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    It might help him have better service in several ces and perhaps even save him time.


    ''I''d been wearing in clothes to avoid, too much attention. But then that ends up causing extra scrutiny for me.'' Lin Mu pondered on it.


    He thought about this while walking in, and soon made up his mind.


    "I guess I''ll just use the new clothes I got. Most of them are the same quality as this anyways." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He also had the self repairing robes which he had bought a while back, and they were quite luxurious looking too. Lin Mu had bought a few sets of them but he had left them to be used while traveling or when he would actively be fighting.


    Lin Mu continued walking and passed by several buildings on the way. All of them were luxurious and the further he went, the better they got. There were also ponds, and rock gardens along the way, with a long winding stream that weaved between the paths.


    Over the stream, there were redwood bridges that gave it an elegant feeling.


    He could even see several guests that were standing on the bridges and taking in the scenery.


    "Guess this is a rare sight for most people. Not everyone would get to enter this far into the pce grounds." Lin Mu muttered.


    He had to admit though, that this was perhaps the best pce he had seen so far. Just the vastness of it wasparable to a few cities of normal size. And this was just the pce grounds alone, with the rest of the capital region being even bigger.


    "That should be the Little Glory Pce." Lin Mu soon spotted the location of the banquet.


    Little Glory Pce was built in the center of ake. One of the manykes that were within the pce grounds.


    It was built entirely with wood and had long eaves that extended over the water. There were red and pinknterns hanging from the eaves, while thousands of fireflies roamed around it.


    These fireflies were not normal either and were actually Spirit Light Fireflies. They too, were spirit beasts, despite being weak.


    The glow of the fireflies reflected on theke, making it seem like there were stars on the bottom of theke too. In the Rust Sky World where stars couldn''t really be seen, it was rather mesmerizing to see them on theke.


    Then there were the colorful fishes that swam in theke. They would huddle around the small music boats that were circling the pce. Each of these boats held a couple of musicians that were ying various instruments.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    Some yed the guqin, some yed flutes and drums, along with several more.


    The music was harmonious and melded well with the atmosphere of the Little Glory Pce.


    "This is a rather open pce." Lin Mu said, seeing its design that had walls that fully opened up.


    The walls were basically extended doors that could copse and give one a wide open view of theke.


    Then there were the people. Hundreds of servants could be seen doing various tasks, bringing drinks, food and snacks to the people. Courtesans that danced on open stages that had been set up along with more musicians.


    The number of guests seemed to be roughly around two hundred, making Lin Mu wonder if this was normal if today there were more.


    ''Despite them being selective, they seem to have invited quite a lot of people.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Well with the number of people that are attending the tournament, even having a thousand or so highly talented cultivators would be normal." Xukong said.


    "Hmm¡­ that does make sense. And considering the status of this banquet, it wouldn''t be out of the normal for them to have ditched other banquets and chosen toe to this one." Lin Mu assumed.


    After having taken a good look, Lin Mu proceeded towards the entrance of the Little Glory ce that was beyond a bridge that connected to the actual pce.


    He passed through a stone arch that hung over the bridge, a few couplets carved into it. And when Lin Mu stepped onto the bridge, he could already smell the fragrance that was dispersed into the air.


    "They certainly use some good incense¡­ Jasmine and Agar wood." Lin Mu identified.


    There seemed to be no guards present here at the moment, which made Lin Mu feel a bit strange.


    ''No guards? They wouldn''t be that careless, would they?'' Lin Mu was doubtful.


    After all, this was a gathering of strong cultivators. Most of them were talented, and of high status, which inevitably also made them stubborn and prideful. In such a setting, arguments weremon and a fight breaking out would be expected.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Thus, for there to be no guards, was not good.


    "Oh wait¡­ that''s not it." Lin Mu finally sensed the arrays that were hidden cleverly.


    And these weren''t just the typical arrays that one might find, like defensive and offensive arrays.


    "They actually set up small teleportation arrays." Lin Mu couldn''t help but be surprised.


    The entire Little Glory Pce was covered in a set of teleportation arrays. Lin Mu activated his Spatial perception and tried to see if he could find their linking points.


    ''These are short range teleportation arrays, so their entry point should be close by too¡­'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    And just as he had thought, he could faintly see a trail of spatial fluctuations that went over a kilometer away. More urately, they went to a building that looked like a guard barracks.


    "So that''s how they are maintaining security¡­ The guards can just teleport into the pce instantly if there is a conflict. They''re even keeping the arrays constantly active even though it''ll take quite a lot of immortal stones to do this." Lin Mu understood.


    Usually, one would only activate a spatial teleportation array when one intended to use it. But in the current case, since it was a short distance teleportation array, the energy needed to keep it active was less.


    Of course, for most people, it would be considered a waste to keep it active constantly like this.


    "A clever way, for sure." Lin Mu said as he finally stepped onto the threshold of the Little Glory Pce.


    Two incense braziers were ced on the sides of the gates, as swaying smoke rose from it. Even the smoke was colorful and would change into different colors from time to time, giving a festive vibe to the banquet.


    "WELCOME!" A man loudly greeted Lin Mu, startling him internally.


    Lin Mu gazed at the man, finding him to be decent looking. He was also wearing the robes of the nobility and even his cultivation base was good.


    ''Fourth Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm.'' Lin Mu quickly identified.


    "May I have your invitation and name, please?" The man asked.


    "Sure¡­" Lin Mu then understood that this must be the greeter for the banquet.


    He had seen them in other banquets too before, but none as strong and of a high status as this.


    "I''m Mu Lin." He gave his alias as usual.


    The man took a look at the invitation as well, which lit up with a name too.


    "It actually had my name on it?" Lin Mu hadn''t noticed it before.


    "It is an authentication for precaution." The man spoke. "There are always a few that try to sneak into our banquets by stealing invitations."


    "Ah, I see." Lin Mu replied. "May I know who you are?" he asked next.


    "I am Dai He. A second rank official of the Imperial Pce, and one of the hosts for tonight''s evening." The man introduced himself.


    "So it is Official Dai He," Lin Mu cupped his hands in greeting. "It is a pleasure to meet you."


    "The pleasure is all mine." Dai he said with a smile before looking at the kitten in Lin Mu''s hands. "And you too,"


    ~meow~


    Little Shrubby too responded, feeling pleased with the greeting.


    "Would you like me to introduce you to some of the guests?" Dai He asked.


    Since many of the contestants wouldn''t know each other, this was one of the jobs of the hosts. They would introduce them to others as a form of an icebreaker.


    "Uh, sure." Lin Mu didn''t think it would be bad. ''Might evene as rude if I reject him.'' He thought.


    "Very well." Dai He said before turning around.


    Lin Mu followed him on cue and soon walked to the deeper parts of the pce. Even with the hundreds of people that were here at the moment, it didn''t feel crowded at all. The pce was after all, quite spacious.

 Chapter 1645 Insulted Beast Tamers

    Dai He took Lin Mu to one of the side areas, that had a few tables set up. There were several guests sitting there, talking to each other. Lin Mu took a look and could tell that all of them seemed to have met each other recently took from their subtle behavior.


    "Honored guests, please meet Daoist Mu Lin. This is also his first banquet as well as his first Tournament of the Guardian beasts." Dai He spoke aftering to stand between the tables


    A good host would know which guests to introduce to who. After all, even if there were many guests invited that were all promisingpetitors, there were still difference in their status and belonging.


    Thus one had to match them with simr guests, at least for the start. It wasn''t obligatory that one must only talk to guests that were simr to them. This was simply so that the guests would find itfortable to mingle.


    For people who had never taken part in the tournament before, a gathering like this would be rather new and they might find it a bit awkward to talk to others. Thus the host had gathered them this way.


    First they could get acquainted with each other, and then talk to the other guests. There were no restrictions after all.


    "Greetings Daoist Mu Lin." Some of the people greeted freely.


    "Hello." Some were a little shy but still greeted.


    And then there were a few that simply didn''t say anything and looked at him nkly.


    Lin Mu didn''t mind their actions and simply greeted them the same.


    He cupped his hands and spoke, "greetings to you all too. I hope we all have fun today."


    "Haha, we sure will." One of the men sitting on the table replied enthusiastically and stood up. "Please join us," he gestured to the empty spot on the table.


    "I''ll take that up then." Lin Mu said before puling the chair and sitting down while the host left to attend to the new guests.


    Little Shrubby peeked his head out from below the table and looked at the people too. The sight of his head elicited a few reactions from the two women that were sitting on the table as well.


    "AH~ Is brother Mu Lin a beast tamer too?" one of the women asked.


    Lin Mu looked at her, finding her to be in her mid twenties appearance wise. But from her cultivation base, he was sure that she was at least a couple thousand years old.


    ''Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm¡­ Hmm, that seems to be the average for a lot of people here.'' Lin Mu said having sensed the energy fluctuations in the pce.


    While there were some strong cultivators here, the highest was still the fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. Lin Mu didn''t know if there were some hiding their power, or if they were simply not in attendance.


    Despite that though, the number of strong people gathered here was rather huge. After all, these weren''t the average immortals, but talented ones. All of them were able to fight those that were a stage above them at the very least.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    For the time being though, Lin Mu focused on the woman that had spoken.


    She was definitely beautiful and knew that too. Lin Mu could tell this from the hint of confidence she had on her face.


    "Yes I am." Lin Mu nodded his head. "This is Little Shrubby, one of my tamed beasts." He didn''t forget to introduce Little Shrubby either.


    ~meow~


    Little Shrubby too responded before jumping up on the table.


    "Aww! He''s sweet and cute." The woman couldn''t help but say, while the second woman looked on with an interested expression too.


    "Ah! No wonder Daoist Mu Lin''s cultivation base is so low." A new person spoke this time.


    Lin Mu could feel a hint of arrogance in their voice and found it to being from the table next to them. There was a younger man gazing at them now.


    "If you are a specialized beast tamer, no wonder you don''t cultivate yourself that much." The man said with a calm face, but the intended insult within it was clear.


    The others sitting at the table could sense it too and a few of them became irked.


    Before Lin Mu could respond though, the second woman spoke up.


    "Hah! There are different paths people take, Li Lao. People need to cultivate ording to theirpatibility."


    "Ahaha! Ming Aolian, as peppy as ever." The man named Li Lao chuckled. "That might be so, but even the beast seems to be a little too weak, doesn''t it? Look at it, its a kitten suitable for a woman''s bosom. Hardly a man would keep something like this." He couldn''t help but mock.


    ~GROWL~


    Little Shrubby didn''t take kindly to that, his fur ring up as a low growl escaped his mouth.


    "Aw! Look at the little kitten being angry. Still so cute." Li Lao only got more excited.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Li Lao!" the two women eximed together.


    Both of them were beast tamers and one of them was even specialized in it. To them, insulting one''s tamed beasts was the same as insulting them. They couldn''t take this calmly. It also seemed like they knew Li Lao from before and had some enmity too.


    "What? I just said the truth." Li Lao didn''t back down. "Look, that beast is even smaller than your tamed beasts. Can it even do anything? It doesn''t even seem to be an immortal beast, its merely a spirit beast." He continued.


    "That doesn''t give you the right to act like this!" Ming Aolian responded.


    ~GROWL~


    Little Shrubby was also getting more agitated, as his growl became louder. Not just that, but even his body seemed a bit bigger. People didn''t notice this, or even if they did, they would think that it was just his fur puffing up more.


    "I can''t help if the truth hurts so much for you people." Li Lao said with a nonchnt attitude.


    ~CREAK~


    The two women stood up from their seats, their chairs creaking against the floorboards.


    "You!" they were just about to shout again when something happened.


    ~SHUA~


    An aura suddenly spread around them. The ones that felt the aura, shivered unconsciously and soon felt goosebumps after a few moments.


    This was felt by those that were sitting along with Lin Mu. But the ones that were on the table next to him, or more specifically where Li Lao were sitting felt something greater. To them, it was as if a great pressure was being applied to them and breathing became difficult.


    Li Lao stopped speaking, or more urately he couldn''t speak due to the pressure he was feeling.


    "This¡­" The man who had enthusiastically greeted Lin Mu was staring at him with a bewildered expression.


    A Tyrannical Aura was radiating off Lin Mu''s body, and could already be seen around him. The more it increased, the difficult it got for others. After a couple of seconds, they even found the flow of Qi bing troubled.


    "And here I thought this was going to be a calm banquet." Lin Mu muttered, his voice only heard by the ones near him.


    He turned his head towards Li Lao, making the man shiver.


    Lin Mu''s expression was eerily calm and yet, the aura rolling off him was anything but that.


    ''This¡­ this doesn''t make sense¡­'' Li Lao thought. ''His cultivation base is merely at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. He''s two stages below me!'' he couldn''tprehended it.


    "I think¡­ I should correct Daoist Li Lao." Lin Mu spoke calmly, which only amplified the pressure that others felt. "I am indeed a Beast Tamer, but that is not my specialty." Lin Mu revealed.


    By now the others on his table had grasped what Lin Mu was getting too.


    "As for my cultivation¡­ it is not focused on a single path." Lin Mu continued and took a step forward.


    "But if I were to say, what I am the best at, it would be¡­ Body cultivation." Lin Mu stated, as the Tyrannical Aura rushed over to Li Lao.


    The man was drowned in the wave, and fell to the floor.


    "You¡­ You¡­ you can''t¡­ You can''t attack others like this!" one of the people sitting near Li Lao''s spoke, apparently a friend.


    "Attack? Did I even attack?" Lin Mu pointed to himself and asked the one''s sitting at his table. "Have I even touched him yet?" he questioned.


    ~gulp~


    The other''s swallowed their saliva nervously.


    "Of course not!" the man who had greeted Lin Mu enthusiastically said hurriedly. "I think Daoist Li Lao is simply too weak that he cannot even bear the aura of a fellow cultivator."


    "Is that right?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Yes! Yes!" Ming Aolian and the other woman did the same while the rest of the tables nodded.


    "Daoist Mu Lin has done nothing. It is Daoist Li Lao who has fallen on his own." They quickly epted.

 Chapter 1646 Clarification And Mingling

    With the little act that Lin Mu had shown them, the people sitting at the table couldn''t help but hurriedly agree.


    They had understood a lot more from Lin Mu''s act than one might expect. After all, these were all talented individuals that know about the world of cultivation. And what Lin Mu had done in front of them was certainly stunning.


    Lin Mu had not only suppressed Li Lao with merely his aura but had even felt the others feel pressured. And this was all when there was no killing intent involved in it either. The power that Lin Mu showed was merely a passive effect.


    "You¡­ can''t do this! Do you think you can get away acting like this?" but it seemed like the people that were with Li Lao were not convinced.


    "Yeah! Your actions were clearly violent! I don''t think our hosts will tolerate this." Another person chimed in.


    "Is that so?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "Why don''t we wait and see then?" he simply said while showing his palms.


    The others couldn''t speak after that and looked around.


    Lin Mu''s actions had certainly caught attention and there were several people looking over them. But this was still limited to the immediate area around them. To the rest of the guests, this kind ofmotion was nothing, and it seemed like they were used to worse.


    They didn''t even nce for a moment, simply ignoring them and continuing their chats.


    "Why¡­ How?" the people sitting with Li Lao were confused after seeing that there was no response from the security even after five minutes.


    "Well¡­ I think there''s no use in waiting any longer." Lin Mu said and took his seat. "My words stand proven." He stated.


    "Ugh¡­" The people sitting with Li Lao stood up at that point and changed locations.


    They also dragged Li Lao with them, who had a pale and unfocused expression on his face. A few secondster, they had disappeared in the crowd and could no longer be seen. After all the Little Glory Pce was quiterge and had multiple sections.


    Once they were gone, the people looked at Lin Mu.


    "Daoist Mu Lin¡­ how did you know there would be no reaction?" The people at the table couldn''t help but ask.


    They too were stunned by this. In fact, the reason they had quickly agreed with Lin Mu''s words was to back him up. So that if the security dide, Lin Mu would have little issues. But the reality turned out to be different.


    Lin Mu gazed at the two women who were now looking at him with great interest, as well as the other sets of eyes that were watching him from the other table. It was clear that it wasn''t just this table that was focusing on him now.


    He had attracted the interest of others too unlike the start when they only gave him a perfunctory look.


    They waited for him to speak and watched with great interest. Lin Mu didn''t let them suffer any longer and decided to speak.


    "I just had trust in our hosts." Lin Mu said simply. "I would think they are more than qualified to tell violent intentions." He stated.


    "Of course!" The enthusiastic man was the first to speak again. "Daoist Mu Lin was in the right after all."


    "Indeed." The others nodded their heads too.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel a little amazed at how quickly people changed their perceptions. Of course, what they didn''t know was that Lin Mu had taken calcted actions from the very start.


    ''Seems like they didn''t know about the Spatial teleportation arrays¡­ They only activate when there is significant violent or killing intent. It won''t register mere aura as an offense.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had analyzed the arrays that were present in the Little Glory Pce before entering and that had now turned into an advantage here. Lin Mu had remembered the Saintess''s words about how the Tyrannical Aura was an additional passive effect of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.


    To Lin Mu, controlling it to intimidate a single person was rather easy.


    But to others, the oppression of the aura was great. They couldn''t help but feel that Lin Mu could take out all of them at once. This was what the aura presented to them and showed a warning.


    It had gone even better than Lin Mu had thought and now he could have a little peace.


    "Brother Mu Lin, can you tell us how you did that?" The woman named Ming Aolian asked.


    "Yes yes! Tell me too brother." The second woman joined in.


    "Ah, before I do that though¡­ perhaps I should get to know your names?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Ahah! I can''t believe we forget to introduce ourselves." The Enthusiastic man pped his hand. "Let me start then. I am Lu Xu." He introduced.


    "I am Ming Dandan." The second woman spoke, catching Lin Mu''s interest.


    "Are you two sisters?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Ah! We aren''t blood sisters but we do share the same master." Ming Aolian replied. "She was the one who took us in from a young age and gave us our names. We also took on her surname." She exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu said before turning to the next person. "Please, you can continued." He gestured.


    "I am Qian Wen." The man sitting next to the two women said.


    Qian Wen was dressed like a typical soldier and Lin Mu could tell that he was still in active service.


    ''Someone from the Royal army perhaps?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    "And I am Luo Liqin." The final person spoke.


    He was the shortest person on the table, and perhaps in the entire banquet. He was merely a 150 centimeters tall, with even the girls towering over him. If not for the full grown beard and long brows that he had, Lin Mu might have thought that he was a child.


    "It is a pleasure to meet you all." Lin Mu said with a smile. "As for hows I did that, it was simply the effect of a body cultivation technique." He revealed.


    "Really?" Qian Wen seemed intrigued.


    "I don''t think it would be good to ask the details." Lu Xu said. "Everyone has to keep their secrets after all." He added, giving Lin Mu an excuse.<novelsnext></novelsnext>N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    "Still, I must say your body cultivation technique is unlike anything I''ve ever seen." Ming Dandan said with enthusiasm. "Even when I was in the Holy Topaz Continent, I haven''t seen anything of this level¡­" she added.


    "Oh? You''re from the Holy Topaz Continent?" Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    "Yes, both me and my senior sister are from there." Ming Dandan nodded hear head.


    "We are from the Blue Mountain Pce." Ming Aolian revealed.


    "The Blue Mountain Pce?!" Lin Mu hadn''t expected to meet people from that power.


    He had seen several of their people in the Deste Blood Battlefield before too, but hadn''t interacted with them. After all, Lin Mu had a lot to attribute to them. If not for them leaking the information about the Violet Mystic Life Tree, Lin Mu might have beengging behind at this moment.


    "You know about us?" Ming Aolian could tell from Lin Mu''s tone.


    "Yes¡­ I just came from the Holy Topaz continent too." Lin Mu replied as it wasn''t really a secret.


    "Whoa!" Lu Xu said with surprised.


    "Though I am not from there. I am merely a wandering cultivator." Lin Mu rified.


    "Ah I see¡­ brother Mu Lin must have gone there for body cultivation resources too?" Ming Dandan quickly guessed.


    "You are indeed correct." Lin Mu replied. "It was all in preparation for the tournament after all."


    "That much is expected." Lu Xu said before turning to Luo Liqin next to him. "You are a body cultivator too, aren''t you Daoist Liqin?"


    Lin Mu looked at the dwarf man, not having sensed anything from him.


    He focused his sense on the man, and realized that the vitality within the man was rather silent. Though the Qi fluctuations could be felt the same as before.


    "I am not a specialized body cultivator. I used to be¡­ but I had to give up after reaching the immortal realm." Luo Liqin revealed.


    "Why so?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "As much as I would have liked to continued pursuing it. I simply was not cut out for it." Luo Liqin shook his head.


    ~Sigh~


    "I should have listened to my father." Luo Liqin let out a sigh. "I had to stop and focus on Qi cultivation again." He added.


    "You didn''tg behind though." Lu Xu spoke. "You''re still at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, despite re-cultivating."


    "Daoist Liqin certainly has talent." Lin Mu praised the man a bit too. "Not many can soldier on and restart like that. And even less can catch up to others after restarting. I would say, that learning from one''s mistakes and ws is a great skill too."


    Luo Liqin''s expression eased up and he couldn''t help but smile a bit.


    "Thank you Daoist Mu Lin." Luo Liqin said with a hint of gratitude. "But you are even more talented. You aren''t just a Qi cultivator and a beast tamer, but also a body cultivator." He said with true amazement.


    "I know right!" Ming Dandan said out a little loudly, before holding her mouth. "I mean¡­ isn''t that great? Not many body cultivators take up beast taming."


    "Well some just call them beasts too, haha." Lin Mu joked.


    "It''s not like that." Ming Aolian shook her head.


    "It''s fine." Lin Mu wasn''t minding it. "Though¡­ I do think it makes it easier to understand beasts." He added.


    "Oh?" the people couldn''t help but look in surprise.


    Lin Mu stroked Little Shrubby''s fur, and continued to speak. "Many body cultivation techniques are based on the cultivation methods of beasts and were originally sourced from them. So ultimately what we try to do is basically replicate the ancestors of the beast." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ our master said something simr too." Ming Aolian said while furrowing her brows. "Though I didn''t understand it back then."


    "That is normal." Lin Mu replied. "After all, body cultivation has greatly changed over the eons of history. The original methods are now obscure or entirely gone, with the new ones taking on different forms that are different from the beasts. Though at the core, once one ponders deep enough they would realize the truth."


    Lin Mu had seen the beasts and how they struggled. While the beasts had their own bloodlines to guide them, that bloodline still came from somewhere. The original beast would have had to practice and figure everything out on its own before reaching the peak.


    They didn''t have the same teaching advantage as that of the humans, who would often have masters guiding the youth.


    Of course, this was the case for the lower ranked beasts. The higher ranked beasts were basically the same as humans and could even taken on humanoid forms.


    The people on the table couldn''t help but ponder on Lin Mu''s words for a bit in silence.


    ~DING~


    And while they were doing so, the chime of a bell was heard. It was light and soft to the ears, but still pulled everyone''s attention.


    "Honored, guests we shall now be starting the dinner service. Please enjoy to your hearts content!" the voice of hosts could be heard.


    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~


    Soon multiple servants brought trays of food to the tables.


    .

 Chapter 1647 Astounding Dining Manners

    In the Little Glory Pce, a rather astounding event was happening.


    On one of the tables, a certain young man was sitting surrounded by people who were gawking at him. In any other setting, this would be seen as rude, but in the current situation it would be strange if they were not doing this.


    After all, the man they were staring at had eaten enough food that would be enough to stuff a hundred people. And despite that, he was stills going.


    ~CLACK~


    Lin Mu finished another te or ribs and slid the te to the stack on the side.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    By the time he was done with the second te, a servant came and cleared out the empty tes. Then another servant brought more trays of food.


    Even the servants were at a loss as to what was happening. If not for the fact that this was a banquet and all the food was meant for people to eat, they would have never thought there would be someone as gluttonous as this.


    ''How can he eat that much?''


    ''Is he even human?''


    ''His words about body cultivators being close to a beast were rather urate, seeing him like this¡­''


    The people sitting at the table looked at each other andmunicated though their eyes. It didn''t take much for them to guess each other''s thoughts. It was simply too unbelievable.


    They even missed the fact that Lin Mu wasn''t the only one eating. Little Shrubby was also consuming food rapidly, despite being in his kitten form. He had already eaten enough food that if it was all gathered, it would be over a hundred times his body weight.


    If not for the fact that the tables surrounding blocked the view of Lin Mu, there might have been a lot more people staring at him. Theposition would have been a lot bigger too. But right now, Lin Mu was free to eat as much as possible.


    Another ten minutes passed by, and Little Shrubby was the first one to be done eating.


    By now, the others had grown numb to Lin Mu''s actions and were eating on their own too, albeit a bit slowly. Their eyes still couldn''t leave Lin Mu as if not wanting to miss even a moment of it.


    ''I had thought he was joking about his dining manners at first, but this¡­ Is this even considered dining at this point?'' Lu Xu wondered.


    To him the amount that Lin Mu had eaten was the same as several beasts. But that wasn''t all, as the food he had eaten was all high quality food made from immortal ingredients. To any normal cultivator, just a couple of tes would be enough to stuff them.


    After all, these ingredients had a high concentration of vitality as well as immortal Qi.


    There was a reason why a banquet like this could not be afforded by just anyone. They might be able to buy these immortal ingredients sure, but buying them in bulk quantities like these was not simple.


    One needed great connections to do so.


    This was exactly what Lin Mu intended to take advantage of.


    In fact, he could already feel the effects within his body.


    ''The Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets is working¡­ I can feel the totem reacting.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as he continued to eat.


    Of course the growth of the totem wasn''t that great, but Lin Mu knew he was basically stockpiling energy. And when the right time came, it would all burst out together, pushing his cultivation base another step forwards.


    ''I''ll be able to save up on resources this way.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Even if the food Lin Mu was eating didn''t provide any Immortal Essence, the sheer vitality and Immortal Qi it provided was still enough to act as a stimnt for him. Another thirty minutes went by like this, after which Lin Mu finally stopped.


    ~CLACK~


    The final te was emptied out and Lin Mu let out a breath of satisfaction.


    ~Haa~


    "That was a great meal." Lin Mu said with pleasure.


    The others couldn''t help but take a second look at the empty tes and the servants with awkward expressions.


    "What''s wrong?" Lin Mu finally looked at the others who had stopped midway.


    "Ah! Nothing! Nothing!" they hurriedly responded and finished eating.


    No one questioned Lin Mu''s actions, and they didn''t know the reason why either. Whether it was simple amazement, or a bit of fear, they just decided to ept it as it is. To them, if Lin Mu could suppress others with just his aura, eating this much was normal too.


    "Umm¡­ anyway have you all seen the prospective rankings?" Lu Xu spoke, trying to break the awkwardness.


    "Prospective ranking?" Lin Mu raised his brows before thinking of something.


    He took out the booklet that had details about the tournament and showed them.


    "Do you mean this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "That''s outdated now." Lu Xu shook his head. "They update the rankings every week now." He replied before taking out a small jade slip.


    He ced it on the table and tapped it.


    ~SHUA~


    A formation screen appeared from it, and information rolled in.


    "This is thetest ranking that was updated yesterday." Lu Xu spoke, making everyone look at it deeply.


    "The first position is still unchanged. Feng Baxing is still at the top." Luo Liqin said with a stiff expression.


    "The second did change though." Ming Dandan pointed out. "Childe Wildfire fell to the fourth position."


    "Who''s that in the second position though? They certainly weren''t in the top ten before." Qian Wen questioned.


    "That is Dugu Shanhe¡­ He''s the ck horse this time." Lu Xu answered. "Before this he wasn''t in the ranking at all, but then he had a dominating appearance in one of the other banquets and took over the second position. His cultivation base is also at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." He exined.


    "What did he do?" Ming Aolian couldn''t help but ask.

 Chapter 1648 The Prospective Rankings

    Ming Aolian wasn''t the only one who wanted to know more. Lin Mu and the others at the table were the same.


    Dugu Shanhe challenged Childe Wildfire, of course. They had a short spar of three moves. Each would take three moves from the other, and if they couldn''t take it, they would lose." Lu Xu exined. "They tossed a coin and Dugu Shan won it. But despite that he went first, taking the disadvantage. He withstood all attacks from Childe Wildfire, sustaining a few injuries."


    "Isn''t that bad? Why would he pick the disadvantage after winning the toss?" Qian Wen couldn''t understand.


    "Probably to make his victory unquestionable." Lin Mu spoke, guessing the man''s reasoning.


    "Indeed." Lu Xu nodded his head. "When it was Childe Wildfire''s turn to take the attacks, he was knocked out in just a single attack!"


    "W-what!?" Ming Dandan was stunned. "How''s that possible? Isn''t Childe Wildfire at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm too?" she was doubtful.


    "He is indeed. But Dugu Shanhe''s skill was too strong¡­ and mysterious. No one understood what he did, but a mere wave of his hand was all that was needed for Childe Wildfire to faint." Lu Xu said with a serious expression.


    "Just a wave of his hand? What did he p him unconscious?" Qian Wen chuckled.


    "No¡­ he didn''t even touch him." Lu Xu said, much to everyone''s surprise.


    "What? No contact made?" They were stunned.


    "A hypnotic skill?" Lin Mu threw out a guess.


    "We don''t know. People have been guessing sincest week, but no one has been able to figure it out." Lu Xu stated. "But it was enough to get Dugu Shanhe sponsored by the Fourth Minister." He added.


    "What? The fourth minister directly sponsored him?!" Qian Wen was astounded. "That man rarely sets any bets like this."


    "Indeed. This is also why Dugu Shanhe jumped so quickly and why Childe Wildfire fell to the fourth instead of just the third position." Lu Xu replied.


    Lin Mu felt rather intrigued by this all.


    ''I should definitely get to know the top contestants. Who knows, I might end up fighting them,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Luo Liqin was staring at the third position with a slightly angry expression in all this. Lin Mu noticed it and asked, "what''s up with the third ranker?"


    "That''s Yao Changying¡­" Luo Liqin was the one who spoke this time.


    His voice held a hint of anger that didn''t go unnoticed.


    "That bitch." Ming Aolian cursed.


    Lin Mu raised his brows at the open aggression. Thankfully, Lu Xu noticed Lin Mu''s confusion and decided to exin.


    "Yao Changying is the daughter of Princess Meifen¡­ The blood sister of the Holy Topaz Emperor." Lu Xu revealed.


    "The Holy Topaz Emperor is her uncle, then?" Lin Mu could somewhat start understanding.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Indeed." Lu Xu nodded his head.


    "Why does have a different surname though?" Lin Mu asked. "Don''t most of the women marry into the royal family itself? And it is the men that taken on the surnames of the women they marry?"


    "That is true for most of them, but in the case of Princess Meifen it''s a bit different." Lu Xu replied. "Princess Meifen married the heir of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect." He revealed.


    Lin Mu tried to recall if he had heard about the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect, but couldn''t. ''Since it''s a sect, it''s certainly not from the Rust Sky world.'' He reckoned.From N?velDrama.Org.


    "The Flourishing Flower Sword Sect is one of the top sects of a nearby world, the Zhenzui World. It is also an immortal world, and is ranked just below the Rust Sky world in terms of progress. But the strength of their people is almostparable to our world. Their sects are quite mysterious too." Lu Xu exined further.


    "So since she married outside, she took on her husband''s surname." Lin Mu now understood. "But that also means she left the Holy Topaz Dynasty." He added.


    "She did indeed. But she still has a lot of privileges in our world and they apply the same to Yao Changying." Lu Xu replied.


    Even if Lin Mu heard all this, he couldn''t understand the hostility that Luo Liqin and Ming Aolian had shown before.


    "Has Yao Changying done something bad?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "Bad? Bad would be an understatement¡­" Ming Aolian shook her head.


    "Yao Changying had gathered several immortals on an expedition about fifty years ago." Luo Liqin started to speak. "It was an expedition into an inheritance ground located on an abandoned world."


    Lin Mu listened carefully, a few thoughts popping up in his mind.


    "But the expedition was merely a ruse. Yao Changying knew exactly what was going to happen and she even know what the inheritance ground was. It was a sacrificial temple!" Ming Aolian eximed. "She tricked the members of the expedition and got them to die, reaping the final rewards for herself. That is also how she managed to reach the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm so fast. A hundred years ago, she was merely at the second Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm."


    Hearing this, Lin Mu pursed his lips. To him, this seemed like a ssic method that several cultivators would use. It wasn''t unusual for people to back stab each other on such kinds of expeditions.


    "There''s more to it, isn''t it?" Lin Mu asked. "If this was openly known, there would be more opposition."


    "Yes¡­ unfortunately Yao Changying imed it was all an ident. We only know this because out own people went on it too." Lu Liqin replied. "My master."


    "One of my senior sisters went on it." Ming Aolian replied.


    "I see¡­ so it is personal for you two." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yes¡­ the position she has taken hase at the cost of our loved ones. There is no way we can bear that." Luo Liqin stated with a fire in his eyes.


    Having heard all this, Lin Mu took note of them.

 Chapter 1649 The Top 5

    While Lin Mu wouldn''t go out of his way to fight other people''s enemies, if he were toe across them in a battle, he wouldn''t mind fighting them a little harder.


    There was silence for a minute on the table, before Lu Xu spoke again.


    "Anyways, that''s the third ranker Yao Changying. She''s the only female immortal in the top five, as well as the top contestant from the Holy Topaz continent this time." Lu Xu concluded.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    "Where are the others from?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well¡­ Feng Baxing is from Dao Wind empire. And as you might be able to guess, he is a prince too. More specifically the third prince." Lu Xu replied. "Then Dugu Shanhe is unaffiliated, but he is originally from the Huiqing empire. Childe Wildfire is from the Dao wind empire too."


    "And what about the fifth ranker¡­ this Su Zian?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Su Zian is probably the most orthodox out of them all." Ming Dandan said with a smile. "He is the son of General Su and has been raised to be righteous. He has led armies several times on expedition to other worlds and is amander in the Huiqing imperial army."


    Lin Mu was surprised to see such a positive expression from everyone. It wasn''t just Ming Dandan either, others at the table had a simr expression.


    "This General Su, he''s the second General in the Huiqing empire right?" Lin Mu had heard about him before. "He''s supposed to be on the same level as the Steel Horned General Niu Juo."


    "Brother Mu Lin is correct." Lu Xu confirmed. "General Su is the current standing general of the Huiqing empire andes from a long line of military members. Their n has served the Huiqing Empire since the very start and thus enjoy a great support. Su Zian is expected to take over his fathers position as a general too in the future." He revealed.


    "I see. Guess four out of five top contestants are from privileged backgrounds." Lin Mu concluded.


    "Yes. Though this number is rather low this time." Lu Xu said with a little chuckle. "Usually the top twenty are filled with people of the imperial families and the aristocratic ns."


    "Hmm¡­ guess we are a bit luck this time?" Lin Mu said feeling a bit unsure.


    "That is hard to tell." Qian Wen replied. "Usually it is the years that there are fewer imperial contestants that the most shocking tournaments happen."


    "Haha! That is why they are the best too. And it also gives the ck horses a chance to win better prizes." Lu Xuughed.


    "Of course. If you can win it, there''s a great chance you will be invited by the three imperial families." Ming Aolian stated.


    "Isn''t that how one of the generals from the Huiqing empire was selected in the past?" Ming Dandan asked.


    "Yes¡­ the one that Daoist Mu Lin talked about." Luo Liqin replied much to Lin Mu''s surprised.


    "Steel Horned General Niu Juo was one of the winners of the tournament in the past?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Though the more he thought about it, the more obvious it seemed. The man was a half-ogre and was definitely not from any established ns or the aristocrats. He was recruited from the outside by the Huiqing Emperor.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Yes! He wasn''t just any winner either. He came first!" Lu Xu eximed. "His battle was said to be legendary and set a new standard for body cultivators. The Huiqing Emperor was said to be so impressed that he directly recruited the man." He revealed.


    "That is¡­ nice." Lin Mu muttered.


    Having met the man a couple of times, Lin Mu had never thought that he was a past winner.


    "Of course, all that was a long time ago." Lu Xu added. "There haven''t been any other battles as great as that. And neither have there been any contestants as strong as the Steel Horned General."


    "Isn''t there the Crown Prince of the Dao Wind empire?" Ming Dandan asked in doubt.


    Lin Mu raised his ears upon hearing this. He had met the man personally too and knew that he might just beparable to the Steel Horned General in strength.


    "If he chose to participate in the Tournament yes." Lu Xu replied.


    "But he wont." Qian Wen said with surety. "He''s already said that he won''t be doing so and will give others a chance to win instead."


    "He''s that confident?" Luo Liqin found it a bit debatable.


    "He was directly given a position in the Immortal Court and is already at the sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm close to reaching the Seventh. If he were to participate, no one will have a chance of striving for the first position." Qian Wen answered. "He''s simply on a different level." He shook his head.


    "I guess we are in luck then." Ming Dandan said in a relieved voice. "Even if he wasn''t that strong, battling a crown prince would be too intimidating."


    "Yeah, even if you won against him whose to say he wouldn''t take revenge in the future when he became the emperor?" Ming Aolian stated.


    While it was unknown if the crown prince had a character like that, this assumption was something that most people would have. Even if the chances of this happening were tiny, there was always a chance someone else might attack them in order to curry favor with the future emperor.


    For those that were children of the emperor though, the issue was milder. People would still be willing to fight them.


    Having heard all this, Lin Mu was enlightened and wanted to know more. He continued to talk about the other interesting contestants and spent the rest of the night like this.


    Eventually it was time for the Banquet to end, and the hosts appeared once more.


    ~DING~


    A bell was rung, as the various hosts held a stack of letters in their hands. Lin Mu and the rest turned their heads, watching what was happening.

 Chapter 1650 Letters Of Appreciation

    Lin Mu and the others watched as the hosts stood on tall stands.


    "Everyone may we have your attention!" they called out. "As the banquetes to a drawn, letters of appreciation will now be given to those that have been ''favored''."


    ~FLUTTER~


    Lin Mu watched as the letters automatically flew out of the hands of the hosts. They flew around the pce and went to a different person.


    "This is the part everyone has been waiting for." Lu Xu said.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A letter flew towards them, making the eyes of everyone light up. But just as it was about to reach their table, the letter changed direction and went to another table that was near them. It fell into thep of a cultivator that was sitting there.


    He carefully picked it up and opened the letter, before reading its contents.


    "Hahah! I''ve been picked by the Fourth Elder Secretary!" The man rejoiced.


    To Lin Mu though, it was confusing.


    "Fourth Elder Secretary? Is that a high position?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "Fourth Elder secretary is one of the ten secretaries that works for the emperor directly. He has ess to a lot of information and holds sway in the court, of course it''s a high position." Lu Xu exined in short.


    They continued to watch as more and more letters flew around. Majority of the people had already gotten their letters after a couple of minutes.


    "Some seem to have more than one letter." Lin Mu noticed.From N?velDrama.Org.


    "Ah, those are the ones that are truly favored. The nobles are willing to bet good on them. Thus it isn''t unusual for them to receive multiple offers." Lu Xu answered.


    Just as the two were talking though, a letternded on their table.


    "AH!" Ming Dandan let out a shriek watching her name on it.


    "Junior sister, you finally got it!" Ming Aolian said with a smile.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And just a moment after that, two more letters arrived. One fell in front of Ming Aolian while the secondnded in front of Lu Xu.


    "Looks like we are in good luck." Lu Xu said with a smile.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    More letters arrived and Luo Liqin and Qian Wen also get their letters. Now except Lin Mu, everyone else had gotten a letter each.


    "Don''t worry brother Mu Lin, you''ll get a letter too." Lu Xu assured.


    Lin Mu didn''t really care about it though. Even if he did get it, he was going to reject them anyway.


    Two more minutes passed by, as no letters arrived at their table. By now things had started to calm down and most of the people in the pce had already obtained their letters.


    Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan had slightly anxious expression too, as they watched Lin Mu getting no letters. While Lin Mu was sitting calmly, to them it felt like he was actually upset.


    "Brother Mu Lin¡ª" but just as they were about to speak something, a man came to stand behind Lin Mu.


    "Daoist Mu Lin." A voice spoke.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Lin Mu turned to find Dai he standing there.


    "Official Dai He," Lin Mu greeted lightly.


    "I apologize if you had to wait, but I had to keep you for thest." Dai He spoke.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu looked on in doubt while the others were surprised.


    "Is there an issue?" Lu Xu couldn''t help but ask and a look of concern appeared on the faces of others.


    "You could say that." Dai He replied. "We had to withdraw Daoist Mu Lin''s letters." He stated.


    "What?!" Ming Aolian was shocked.


    "Is it due to the issue with Li Lao?" Ming Dandan asked with indignation.


    Lin Mu wouldn''t care about getting a letter, but he was certainly curious as to the change in their decision.


    "May I know why?" He questioned.


    "Someone has ''reserved'' you." Dai He answered, not resolving Lin Mu''s doubt.


    "Reserved? What do you mean¡­" Lin Mu stopped mid way as he saw the astounded expressions of the others.


    "Who can even reserve Daoist Mu Lin? That too over the other nobles?" Qian Wen said in shock.


    "No one in the High Wind Alliance would do something like that." Luo Liqin said in confusion.


    "Umm¡­ it is not suitable to talk here. Why don''t youe with me to the private hall?" Dai He asked. "Your friends camee along too, Daoist Mu Lin." He added.


    "Okay¡­" Lin Mu decided to see what was happening.


    The group got up from the table and followed Dai He to through the pce corridors. While most of the pce had open walls that gave a view of theke, it didn''t mean that it had no private rooms. In fact, it had several, but they were special rooms.


    They weren''t kept private by the use of physical walls, but rather the use of illusionary arrays!


    That way, Little Glory Pce would still look open, but some people could still have privacy.


    Lin Mu followed Dai He and soon arrived at the edge of the Pce. There was a railing in front of them beyond which there was justke water.


    "Where are we¡ª" Lu Xu held he words as he saw the railing in front of them disappear.


    Instead, a floating door appeared that soon opened up.


    "Please,e in." Dai He gestured to them.


    Lin Mu was the first to walk in before the others joined in. Dai He was thest and closed the door behind him, which soon faded into thin air.


    The group found themselves into what looked like a floating pavilion. Just theke could be seen outside it, but at the center of it sat a few people. More precisely, a regal looking man, a beautiful woman, a monk and a Daoist.


    "Seems like fate brings us together again, Daoist Mu Lin." The regal looking man spoke.


    "Indeed¡­ Pleased to meet you again¡­ Crown Prince Feng Shun." Lin Mu greeted, stunning the others that hade with him.

 Chapter 1651 Meeting A Royal Acquaintance

    The person who had ''reserved'' Lin Mu was none other than Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    Lin Mu had resolved the man''s issue and had appraised the stele. In exchange he had obtained the Tyrant Bull Marrow which was something Lin Mu had been looking for a long time.


    Lin Mu had never thought that they would actually end up seeing the man so soon.


    It wasn''t just him that was surprised though, others that were apanying him were the same. And from the words that were exchanged between the two, it was clear that Lin Mu was already ''acquainted'' with the Crown Prince.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    At this point, they didn''t know what to think of Lin Mu. First he had shown incredible abilities, and then a monstrous appetite. After that here he was, having been invited by the Crown Prince of the Dao Wind Empire himself.


    "I was just here with a few friends to rx. Imagine my surprise when I sensed a familiar aura¡­ A Tyrannical aura." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    "I apologize if it bothered you." Lin Mu replied calmly, while the others only grew nervous.


    "Haha! No need to apologize. It was fun to see a little action." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "I never expected to see the Tyrannical Aura of the Tyrant Bull here either." The beautiful woman next to Feng Shun spoke.


    "Indeed¡­ Seems like Daoist Mu Lin was sessful in his endeavor." Crown Prince Feng Shun added.


    "I was, thanks to your help." Lin Mu replied.


    Lu Xu and the others who were hearing this information were baffled. While they couldn''t tell exactly what had happened, one thing was clear the Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lin Mu had done an exchange before.


    "Tyrant Bull?" It was at this time that Ming Aolian muttered.


    A thought appeared in her mind, as she repeated the name.


    "Tyrant Bull as in¡­ The Great beast Tyrant Bull?!" She finally realized.


    As much as Lin Mu would have preferred to keep the information limited, he couldn''t really do anything here. The Tyrant Bull had been killed by the Crown Prince and he was in his territory as well.


    Besides other than revealing this, the man hadn''t really offended Lin Mu at all. Plus, making an enemy out of the Crown Prince of the Dao Wind Empire was not good.


    ''Me having learned Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets would have gotten out eventually¡­ plus if Crown Prince Feng Shun can sense and recognize the aura, other experts should be able to do the same. It was ignorant of me to think I could keep it a secret.'' Lin Mu said to himself.


    "Indeed. Crown Prince Feng Shun killed one when we were having a small huntingpetition." The man dressed in Daoist Robes spoke.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He was sitting two seats away from the Crown Prince and had a rather staunch appearance. Lin Mu could tell that he had a high arrogance and yet he seemed to be a bit subservient to Crown Prince Feng Shun. At the same time, Lin Mu could feel the energy fluctuationsing from the man.


    ''He''s at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm for sure¡­ same with the Woman next to the Crown Prince.'' Lin Mu grasped.


    The only person Lin Mu couldn''t sense was the monk. I wasn''t that the man had no energy fluctuations, but that they seemed to be greatly suppressed. Then there was a secondary wave of energying from the prayer beads he was wearing on his wrist.


    It was this wave of energy that was distorting the man''s own energy fluctuations, making it hard to tell what his cultivation base was.


    ''He should be at a simr level, considering he is with the Crown Prince.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "Isn''t the Tyrant Bull something even a Peak Immortal would have trouble with?" Ming Aolian said in mix doubt and shock.


    Since both Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan were beast tamers, their knowledge about the beasts was higher than others. Thus them knowing about the Tyrant Bull was expected, even if it took them a bit to recall it.


    "It was just a juvenile." Crown Prince Feng Shun said casually and waved his hand. "If you are to be surprised of anything, it should Daoist Mu Lin." He looked at Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu didn''t react much and stayed calm. This was the best option right now, and it didn''t seem that bad either.


    ''If he''s going this far as to invite me and the others, he must have some goal¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Daoist Mu Lin Managed to cultivate the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets in less than a month. Most would struggle even for years." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a smirk. "That too this level¡­ It''s very impressive."


    Luo Liqin who used to be a body cultivator recognized the cultivation technique. While he didn''t know about the Tyrant Bull itself, he surely knew of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets. It wasn''t a secret body cultivation technique and could actually be found on the market with a little effort.


    It was the requirement of the cultivation technique that was the most difficult part, and then actually practicing it and seeding was an entirely different game. And yet, if Crown Prince Feng Shun''s words were to be taken as truth, Lin Mu seemed to done this in a very short time.


    With the little ''demonstration'' they had seen earlier from Lin Mu, they were now quite sure that Lin Mu was a lot stronger than they had thought before.


    "I''m ttered by your praise, Crown Prince Feng Shun but may I inquire for what you''ve ''reserved'' me today." Lin Mu spoke up, wanting to get to the crux of the matter.


    "Ah yes! How can I forget?" Crown Prince Feng Shun replied while pping the table with his palm.


    He gave a look to hispanions before speaking, "The reason why I''ve called you here is because I find you suitable for another task."

 Chapter 1652 The Crown Princes Redundant Request

    Hearing the Crown Prince''s words, Lin Mu knew his initial guess was right.


    He had already felt the strangeness in the Crown Prince when he had tranted the information on the Stele. Lin Mu wasn''t as naive as to think that Crown Prince Feng Shun''s interest in him had died that easily. If anything, it seemed like the man was just waiting for something.


    ''Is his wait over now?'' Lin Mu wondered. ''Though¡­ if he is interested in me, why would he call the others too? For something private it doesn''t make sense.'' He further thought, feeling a bit confused.


    "What task might that be Crown Prince Feng Shun?" Lin Mu asked with a neutral expression, ensuring that he showed no bias so that the Crown Prince might catch on to it.


    If Lin Mu showed fake interest, the man might change his attitude, and if he showed distaste, the prince might take it as an offense.


    Of course, all this was just guesswork on Lin Mu''s part, but he couldn''t assume what one would act like after just one meeting. The best Lin Mu could do was to assume the worst and act ordingly.


    No one knew about the hundred thoughts that sped through Lin Mu''s mind in seconds, as he thought of all possible scenarios. Lin Mu was also relieved that he had taken a look at the Little Glory Pce''s arrays before entering.


    ''If pushes to shove and I need to escape, I can always trigger a forceful teleportation.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    But what Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke was not in any of his predictions.


    "I want you to fight someone in the Tournament of the Four Guardian Beasts." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu''sposure broke, as he showed true confusion on his face.


    He wasn''t the only one either, as the others seemed to be confused too. After all, what Crown Prince Feng Shun had asked seemed to be a little redundant. Lin Mu was going to participate in the Tournament, this was open knowledge and thus wasn''t something the man was implying.


    "Fight someone?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "Someone specific to be exact." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Third Prince Feng Baxing." He stated, making Lin Mu narrow his eyes.


    Lin Mu didn''t respond right away toughs, even if the Crown Prince''s request had several problems with it. The most obvious one being the fact that there was no way for Lin Mu to control the flow of the battle.


    There was no guarantee he would meet Feng Baxing in a fight after all.


    "Why do you want that?" Lin Mu asked carefully while others listened on. ''Since he''s stating it openly like this, it shouldn''t be a bad reason.'' He hoped.


    "Well¡­ The short answer is that he''s made a mistake and needs to pay for it." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "And what better way to do so by making him lose?" he chuckled.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu could think of an N number of reasons as to why Crown Prince Feng Shun wanted his brother to lose.


    The most obvious one seemed to be sibling rivalry or just internal royal conflict. While Lin Mu didn''t know if the two princes had the same mother or not, it was clear that they were not close at all.


    After all, in a royal family, fights between the heirs were very normal. In fact, what Crown Prince Feng Shun was asking of Lin Mu seemed to be almost mild. It wasn''t breaking any rules either.


    "You won''t ask why I am asking this of you?" Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled and questioned.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I can think of a few reasons, but¡­ I''d still like the Crown Prince to tell me himself." Lin Mu replied. "Asking me this doesn''t really seem that good. After all, if you wish for the third prince to be defeated you can ask other top contestants for it. The ones'' that are stronger than me." He added after a pause.


    "You are absolutely correct!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a p.


    Lu Xu and others watched on anxiously, wondering if they were about to be embroiled in a political plot.


    "But then again¡­ What''s the fun in that?" Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a mocking frown as if he were a child.


    "I don''t understand." Lin Mu inly said.


    "Well¡­ Wouldn''t you say that you managed to cultivate the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets due to me?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked a question instead.


    "Yes." Lin Mu said with a straight face.


    "Then that means, you obtained my assistance, even if it were a payment, right?" The prince seemed to be in the mood for a little word y.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded this time.


    "So it would mean¡­ if you defeat third prince Feng Baxing, it would ultimately be due to my actions." Crown Prince Feng Shun finally said. "That''s just what I want."


    At this moment, a single thought went through everyone''s mind.


    ''The Crown Prince is truly entric!''


    "But why go through all this? If you really wish for his defeat to be due to your actions, you can do the same using any other contestants? I''m sure the other top 5 contestants would be pleased to have your assistance." Lin Mu decided to take a few steps forward and question the Crown Prince instead.


    ~tsk~ tsk~


    "Now, now¡­ That won''t be fun." The Crown Prince clicked his tongue. "I want there to be drama! Some conflict! I want an underdog to win!" he raised his hands and eximed dramatically.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and felt a slight headache.


    ''He had to be one of the entrics¡­'' Lin Mu now understood Crown Prince Feng Shun hadn''t called him here for any profound reason.


    The man was simply bored and called him here on a whim!


    ''Is this what the high nobility and experts do when they''re bored? Involve others in their games?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but question himself.

 Chapter 1653 Lin Mus Choice For A Reward

    Regardless of what it might be, Lin Mu decided to entertain the Crown Prince''s request a bit more.


    "And what would happen if I do managed to defeat Third Prince Feng Baxing?" Lin Mu asked the important bit making everyone look on with focus.


    "Before that, I''ll tell you this. You don''t ''Absolutely'' have to defeat him. I''ll still give you a little reward if you managed to encounter him in the tournament ring." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "Think of your win against him as an added bonus to the tournament rewards from me." He said before taking a pause.


    "Though do know this¡­ as things are right now, Feng Baxing is ted to be the winner. His strength is truly the greatest among the contestants." Crown Prince Feng Shun added.


    Lin Mu considered the Crown Prince''s request a bit more seriously now. After all, there seemed to be no disadvantages to this deal. He wouldn''t be offending the third prince either, as it would be an official battle.


    "Hmm¡­ and if I do manage to win against the Third Prince¡­ what do I get?" Lin Mu asked with a hint of interest.


    "Well, if you do that, you can ask me anything¡­ within means of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered, his tone serious this time.


    The offer of the Crown Prince would be something that would tempt most people, but Lin Mu was not one of them. While the wealth of the empire and the prince was great, it didn''t seem something ''unattainable'' to Lin Mu.


    This was reflected on his face too, and Feng Shun found Lin Mu to bepletely unfazed.


    ''Interesting¡­'' The man couldn''t help but think.


    Feng Shun merely had to take a nce at the reactions of the others who hade with Lin Mu andpare them to know just how calm Lin Mu was. This was one of the reasons why he had actually called in others along with Lin Mu.


    ''I merely wanted to see how he wouldpare against his ''peers'' but he stands far above them.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought.


    "Hmm¡­ I heard using the Cross World Teleportation Array needs special permission as well as fees to use, is that right?" Lin Mu asked after thinking for a bit.


    "That is correct." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied, wondering where Lin Mu was getting at.


    "Then¡­ Can I ask for a few uses of the Cross World Teleportation Array as a reward?" Lin Mu put forth.


    ~chuckle~


    The woman next to the crown prince couldn''t help butugh, and held up her hand to the lips, hiding them. She blinked slowly before taking a deep look at Lin Mu.


    "He''s certainly an interesting one, Crown Prince." The woman spoke.


    "He sure is, Princess." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied with a smile.


    Lin Mu took note of the words spoken.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''She''s a princess? She can''t be from the Imperial family for sure¡­ another empire then?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    With her cultivation base and demeanor, Lin Mu was quite sure of her status being high. While Lin Mu thought about this, Crown Prince Feng Shun finally responded.


    "Is that really what you want? A free pass to use the Cross World Teleportation Array?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned with a straight face.


    "Yes." Lin Mu responded.


    "Are you sure? While using a Cross World Teleportation Array is indeed expensive to use, I don''t think it is entirely out of your reach." The Crown Prince said in an inquisitive tone. "With your skill, and talent, wealth is merely a matter of time."


    "Of course, Crown Prince Feng Shun. But what I want is slightly different. I''ve heard that you have trained in the Northern Immortal Court. I''ve also heard that members of Immortal Court, even trainees get special passes to use the Cross World Teleportation Array''s for free.


    They work in multiple worlds as long as they are affiliated with the Immortal Court. I would like something like that¡­ something that allows me to travel freely¡­ preferably with privacy." Lin Mu stated slowly.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    The more the Crown Prince heard Lin Mu''s words, the wider his smile got. And by the time Lin Mu had finished his exnation, the man was simply grinning ear to ear.


    "Very well¡­ you definitely know the best way to optimize your request within my limitations." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before ncing at hispanions.


    The monk gave a slight nod, while the Daoist mouthed something soundlessly. It was only the princess that whispered something directly into his ears.


    The Crown Prince heard the princess before looking at Lin Mu again.


    "Alright! I shall grant the request." Crown Prince Feng Shun said decisively. "As long as you defeat the third prince, Feng Baxing you shall be granted a Cross World Teleportation Array pass that shall be valid for four uses. As long as you hold the pass, you shall not be questioned and will be given direct passage.


    Of course, all this is still subject to the authority of the Immortal court and can be superseded by them so be careful about that." He exined in detail.


    "That is eptable." Lin Mu responded, feeling rather pleased internally.


    ''This is great! Having a pass like that will be good for an emergency.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had actually been thinking about this for a while now.


    Lin Mu had managed toe to the Rust Sky world due to an ident, but there was no guarantee he would be able to leave it the same way. Thus Lin Mu wanted a more formal way of leaving the world in the future, a method that would also be safe and stable.


    He certainly didn''t want to stumble through the void in hopes of reaching some other world.


    Keeping this in mind, Lin Mu had actually asked Xukong more about the immortal court and its people. One of the interesting bits of information he had noted was their authority of using the cross world teleportation arrays.

 Chapter 1654 A Royal Con Artist And A Crown Princess

    With the reward picked, Lin Mu now needed to know the specific conditions that Crown Prince Feng Shun had with thepetition.


    "Is there anything specific you need me to do in the tournament? Since I don''t know if I''ll get to battle the Third Prince sooner orter." Lin Mu questioned.


    "Justst till the end. You''ll encounter him then." The Crown Prince said in a nonchnt manner.


    It was enough to send Lu Xu and the others in a tizzy.


    ''Justst? Justst till the end? Crown Prince Feng Shun really thinks everyone is like him and this is simple¡­'' this was theirmon thoughts.


    "Hmm¡­ might be difficult but I''ll try." But much to their surprise, Lin Mu wasn''t one to back down.


    "As for the third prince, you merely need to defeat him ording to the standard rules of the tournament." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "I see¡­ that''ll keep it simple." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Though¡­ There is something extra you can do too." The Crown Prince said after a few seconds.


    His eyes looked at the others who had apanied too and he spoke, "actually this is something you all can try too."


    "What?" Lu Xu said in surprised.


    "We can too?" Luo Liqin asked in doubt.


    "But what can we do?" Ming Aolian questioned.


    To them, an offer from the Crown Prince was bound to be something great. But at the same time, the condition for that offer was bound to be high.


    "Princess, why don''t you exin it this time? After all, it is an offer from you." Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly said.


    "It''s not from him?" Ming Dandan muttered in surprise.


    Lin Mu found it unexpected too, but wondered what it is that the princess wanted. With the way she conducted herself and associated with the Crown Prince, Lin Mu thought her status shouldn''t be lower than him.


    In fact, crown prince seemed to be showing equal respect to all of hispanions even if they weren''t a ''royal''.


    "Than I shall speak," The Princess smiled. "What I want from you is¡­ to cripple someone." She said with the same smile.


    The faces of others became serious though, as they realized the request was not simple.


    "Cripple who?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    "Yao Changying, Daughter of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect Heir and the Niece of the Holy Topaz Emperor." The Princess answered.


    Hearing this, there were various reactions.


    Luo Liqin, Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan had the most reaction, as visible anger appeared on their face. Qian Wen and Lu Xu had more neutral expressions, though there was certainly a bit of confusion mixed in.


    Lin Mu had heard what Yao Changying had done before, thus he didn''t have a good opinion of her. But he wasn''t one to go out of his way to crippled someone else. After all, crippling someone of a high status like her would be really offensive to the powers backing her.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Not just that, but it would also be frowned upon by the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts too. The overseers would not like the rules of the tournament being broken, which clearly stated that one could not intentionally cripple their opponent.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "May I ask why is it that you want this?" Lin Mu asked needing more information.


    "Do you know about the actions of Yao Changying¡­ the supposed ''rumors''?" The Princess asked instead.


    "We know." Ming Aolian was the one to respond. "Our Blue mountain pavilion has enmity with her." She stated.


    "So do I." Luo Liqin replied.


    "Ah! That makes it simple." The princess smiled. "My reason is the same. Yao Changying offended someone she should not have and has burned several bridges." She exined.


    "Enough that you would be willing to offend the people backing her and cripple her?" Lin Mu said in doubt.


    "Oh, the people backing her do not matter." The princess replied, her expression turning a bit cold. "In fact, if she were to ever appear in the Three Aster world or its territories she would be hunted down and killed. She has quite a big bounty on her head too."


    Hearing this Lin Mu couldn''t help but raise his brows. It wasn''t just him though, the three who had enmity with Yao Changying were surprised too.


    "How¡­ how did she aplish this?" Luo Liqin asked. "In our case, it was because she sacrificed our people by fooling them."


    "Let''s just say the ''fortune'' she obtained wasn''t for her. It was located on a world that was under the territory of the Three Aster world!" The princess replied.


    "What!?" Luo Liqin and the Ming girls were stunned. "It was stated that it was an unexplored world."


    "Hah! That was merely her act. She even fooled the authorities and forged false documentation. If not for the fact she is being backed by an emperor and a major sect, she would have already been called up by our world." The Princess replied. "She''s just a con artist in the end, even if she has a backing." She scoffed.


    While others came to terms with this information, Lin Mu caught onto something else.


    "Your world? You are from the Three Aster world?" Lin Mu connected the dots.


    "Indeed." The princess gave a slight nod.


    "You are standing in the presence of the First Princess of the Shang Dao Empire of the Three Aster world." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed.


    "No wonder¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself. ''It makes sense now.''


    "F-first¡­ First princess?" Lu Xu almost stumbled upon hearing this. "You''re¡­ The Scarlet Thorn Princess, Shang Yingtai!" he eximed.


    ~chuckle~


    "And here I thought, no one knew about me in your world." Shang Yingtai chuckled while speaking to the crown prince.


    "There are always well-informed people. They might not know your face, but reputation can often exceed it." Crown Prince Feng Shunmented.


    Lin Mu tried to scour his memories for more information about the Three Aster world and the Shang Dao empire, but couldn''t really think of much.

 Chapter 1655 A Weakness For The Con Artist

    Unable to figure out anything about the background of Princess Shang Yingtai, Lin Mu decided to look into itter. After all, she basically had the same level of status at Crown Prince Feng Shun and was also training at the Immortal Court.


    Just this alone made her worthy of Lin Mu to know more about. Plus, her request seemed both justifiable and excessive at the same time.


    "Princess, while your request is indeed valid, I do not know if the rules of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts would allow this." Lin Mu said, feeling doubtful.


    "Ah, that is something that I''ve thought of, too. And I have a few solutions for it." Shang Yingtai stated, making everyone listen closely. "The rules state that you cannot intentionally cripple your opponent, but if it happens as an ident, it is fine. After all, fists and legs have no eyes."


    "That is indeed true. But the overseers would be able to tell if we did it intentionally or not. Additionally, Yao Changying is not a weak opponent. Even if we wish to cripple her, the strength she wields is not low." Qian Wen stated the most obvious problem.


    "The Princess knows about this, of course. ~chuckle~ she has a counter to that." Crown Prince Feng Shun chimed in.


    Lin Mu looked at the Princess, wondering just what kind of ''solution'' she had. In response, he simply saw her take out a thin bracelet. It looked very simple, having been made out of silver, but it also had a gemstone of some kind embedded in it.


    The gemstone had a deep green color, and a few flecks of amber-yellow could also be seen dispersed in it.


    Just one look was enough for Lin Mu to tell that it was an immortal tool.


    ''But it doesn''t seem that strong. It''s just a mid grade immortal tool.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    Even if a mid grade immortal tool was rather valuable, in a battle against a Fifth Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm cultivator, it simply wouldn''t be enough. Thus Lin Mu wondered just what the princess intended with this.


    "This is the weakness of Yao Changying." Princess Shang Yingtai revealed.


    "Her weakness?!" Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan said in unison with shock.


    "The cultivation technique she had ''cultivated'' by sacrificing others has a w, and this gemstone can exploit it. As long as you attack her while wearing this, the energy from this gemstone will secretly seep into her body and weaken her.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    This won''t count as deliberately crippling her as it would simply mean your technique is a natural counter to her cultivation technique." Shang Yingtai exined.


    Those who heard it couldn''t help but find this to be rather clever. Though they also wondered just how was it that Shang Yingtai figured this out.


    ''Such critical weaknesses of cultivation techniques are usually kept as secrets. One would never reveal something like this, even to their closest friends. How is it that she found out about this?'' Lin Mu wondered, and took another look at the gemstone.


    He couldn''t identify it and the formations present on the bracelet were also rather normal. Lin Mu scanned the bracelet and discovered that the formations imprinted on it, were merely meant to draw the energy from the gemstone and infuse it into the users attacks.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Other than that, there were no other effects.


    ''I think merely holding the gemstone might have the same effect, but it would also be inconvenient. Not to mention suspicious.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was at this time that Luo Liqin, who had be silent for a while, spoke again.


    "Do you have more of these?" the man asked. "If all of us are to take up this task, I don''t know if just one person having it will work."


    "Of course. I have several of them prepared." Shang Yingtai said, and took out more bracelets.


    Now there was one for each person, and she gestured for them to take it.


    "Since you''ve taken them, I reckon you''ve also epted the task." Shang Yingtai stated.


    Lin Mu had also taken it, as he reckoned it would be bad to give up this chance. At the very least, the person he would be crippling was someone worth doing it to. Though deep down, Lin Mu was simply reminded of Gu Yao and his actions.


    The actions of Yao Changying seemed to be rather simr after all. This took away thest bit of hesitation Lin Mu had about the task.


    "You still need to tell them about the reward." Crown Prince Feng Shun reminded.


    "Ah yes, how can I forget?" Shang Yingtai smiled, reverting to her gentle persona. "For the reward, I can offer you something simr to the Crown Prince''s offer. Or if you wish for it, I can also grant you an official position in the Shang Dao Empire." She said while ncing at Luo Liqin and Qian Wen.


    "You aren''t thinking of stealing away our precious people, are you?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked in a joking tone.


    "Ah! How can I do that? Do you think so low of me?" The Crown Princess yfully frowned. "I''m merely giving them a choice. I won''t take them away without consent." She added.


    "Ahaha! Sure, sure." Crown Prince simplyughed, giving his tacit approval.


    Of the people present, Luo Liqin and Qian Wen were the ones that were the ones that had a rtively ''free'' background. If they wished for it, they could very easily leave the Rust Sky world and be taken in by the Shang Dao Empire.


    The same would not be possible for the Ming sisters as well as for Lu Xu who were both attached to the powers of the Rust Sky world. Even Qian Wen was technically a soldier in the Dao Wind Empire, but his position was not permanent. He had volunteered to join and could thus leave when needed.


    But Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan belonged to the Blue Mountain pce. Lu Xu also belonged to a local power of the capital city and couldn''t exactly leave without cutting all contacts.

 Chapter 1656 The Princesss Interest

    Once the conditions were epted by everyone, Shang Yingtai was pleased.


    "I hope to see at least one of you seed. Though you might have to coborate too." She spoke.


    "This weakening effect... it won''t be instant, will it?" Lu Xu asked.


    "It won''t. Which is why those of you who can''t fight her for long enough will have to spend time weakening her. The effect won''t appear until a certain limit has been crossed, after which her strength will rapidly fall." Shang Yingtai replied.


    Hearing this it was all but confirmed for them. Other than Lin Mu, none of them had the confidence tost against Yao Changying. And this was IF they even managed to encounter her orsted long enough to meet her in the final battles.


    The only thing they could hope was to have at least two of their members encounter her, so that she could be weakened over time.


    "I''ll contact you if you seed." Shang Yingtai finally said.


    "We''ll be watching the matches, so you won''t have to think much about your reward getting dyed." Crown Prince Feng Shun added.


    "We shall take our leave then." Lu Xu cupped his hands.


    "Daoist Mu Lin should wait a bit longer, though." Crown Prince Feng Shun ordered.


    "Farewell, Crown Prince Feng Shun, Crown Princess Shang Yingtai." Everyone other than Lin Mu did the same and left the hall.


    They didn''t question why Lin Mu was asked to stay. Though some could also guess that perhaps it was because Lin Mu had been acquainted with the Crown Prince from the start and he might have additional business from him.


    They were already satisfied having this new opportunity and were also pleased with meeting the two heirs of massive empires. This was not something they would usually get to do in their lifetime.


    Once they were gone though, Lin Mu spoke.


    "Is there something else you want from me, Crown Prince?" Lin Mu asked with intrigue.


    "I do... This is rted to what I asked of you before." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied, instantly arousing Lin Mu''s curiosity.


    "It can''t be that... there is more information you want me to trante?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "I do not know that yet. But it is highly likely that we will find more information in the Shamanic Script of the Demon Tribes. The empires have taken the matter of the demon appearing seriously and do not wish for it to affect the Tournament.


    I hope you can understand." The Crown Prince spoke in a far more formal tone this time.


    Lin Mu could feel his entire demeanor change, as if he was finally a ''royal'' now. Before this he had been acting rather casual and yful, but now he was in the mood for business. It made Lin Mu take the matter more seriously too.


    ''If it involves that demon, I need to be behind this even more...'' Lin Mu was the ''demon'' after all.


    If he was close to getting caught, or the others were inching towards the ''truth'' of the demon, it was best for Lin Mu to know it beforehand. That way, he would have an advantage of time and would be able to either resolve the problem, or simply escape.


    "I see... I don''t see why not." Lin Mu replied. "As long as I ampensated, of course." He added.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    If he had not talked aboutpensation, it would be more suspicious. This way, it seemed more like a transaction and would feel more normal.


    "That is expected, of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated as a matter of fact. "I''ll contact you if we obtain more information. Though you should keep this to yourself for now. We do not wish for others to learn about this."


    Lin Mu gave a nod before a doubt appeared in his mind. "Does the temple of the Guardian beasts know about it?" he couldn''t see why they wouldn''t be informed.


    Even if the tournament was closed, it was still necessary to inform them about any potential issues that might arrive.


    "Yes. The three empires have already sent their reports to the temple. They know about it and have chosen to take the stand of neutrality." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed.


    Normally, such information would be considered confidential and wouldn''t be shown to others. But Feng Shun seemed to be deliberately showing it to built a semnce of trust between them.


    "If they know, then it should be fine, I suppose." Lin Mu said before noticing something.


    Shang Yingtai had been gazing at him for a while now. Or more urately, she was looking at the kitten in his hands.


    Having been caught, Shang Yingtai decided to speak. "What beast is that?" she asked. "I can''t seem to recognize it."


    "Mm?" Lin Mu looked at Little Shrubby, who had been sitting silently since the start.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    The beast could tell that something important was going on, thus he calmly stayed in Lin Mu''s arms.


    "Yes, the little kitten." Shang Yingtai nodded her head. "I can sense both fire and wood elemental energies from him. That''s rather unique... I haven''t seen that before. At least not in beasts like this."


    Lin Mu didn''t answer her right away and thought for a few seconds.


    "Well, what is it?" Shang Yingtai asked, seeing that Lin Mu was not answering.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun also looked on in interest, while the other two simply sat with their eyes closed. The Daoist and the monk didn''t really seem interested in the matters and were both cultivating.


    "Well... I don''t exactly know what he is." Lin Mu replied.


    "Isn''t he your tamed beast? How do you not know then?" Shang Yingtai asked, feeling confused.


    "Well... he was originally a Brown Forest Shrubby Cat, but after eating several resources, he changed." Lin Mu said, keeping things vague.


    "A Brown Forest Chubby Cat?" Shang Yingtai furrowed her brows, unable to recall anything about the beast.


    "It''s a spirit beast usually found in mortal worlds." The Daoist sitting in the back answered without opening his eyes.


    "A mortal world beast here, interesting..." Shang Yingtai muttered.

 Chapter 1657 A Suggestion For A Tamed Beast

    Due to Little Shrubby''s ability of vitality reversal they couldn''t really sense the Immortal Qiing from him thus, he really seemed to be in the spirit realms. Of course, they could tell that there was more to the beast, since Lin Mu had kept him with him.


    "Can I take a closer look?" Shang Yingtai asked, making Lin Mu a bit unnerved. "I''m also interested in beast taming and am looking for a suitable beast. This''ll help me pick one out for the future. Beasts with wood element are rare after all." She exined, making Lin Mu feel a bit better.


    "Little Shrubby." Lin Mu lightly spoke, as the kitten jumped out from his hands onto the table.


    "Come here~" Shang Yingtai said in a gentle voice before taking out something from her storage ring.


    She opened her palm and a bunch of seeds were present in it.


    "I have some treats for you." Shang Yingtai said before a sudden change happened.


    Lin Mu watched as rich wood Qi appeared from her hands and was infused into the seeds.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    Then in the next second, the seeds spontaneously germinated and rapidly grew into small herbs. These herbs matured within seconds and flowered. A minuteter, there were already small berries growing on them.


    "This is¡­" Lin Mu couldn''t help but be surprised by Shang Yingtai''s actions.


    He could tell that the seeds were all immortal seeds, and the fruits that had formed on the herbs were immortal fruits too!


    While he had seen methods of instantly growing herbs before, that was just for normal nts. Even for spirit herbs, it was a difficult thing to do something like this, especially not for a spirit herb that bore fruits as a resource.


    Most others used nts in an offensive way, thus it didn''t take much energy. But Shang Yingtai had gone above and beyond, directly growing immortal fruits.


    "You can take them." Shang Yingtai said to Little Shrubby, who was eyeing the fruits.


    All of them were emanating faint wood elemental energy too, making little Shrubby feel tempted too.


    ~NOM~


    Little Shrubby quickly pounced on the fruits and started to eat. And as he did that, Shang Yingtai was carefully watching him.


    ''She''s using her immortal sense¡­'' Lin Mu discovered, but didn''t do anything.


    While Little Shrubby was special, his ability to hide his cultivation base came from his bloodline and it was something even immortals would have a hard time sensing. Xukong had already verified this, and Lin Mu was not worried about that.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    And neither was Lin Mu worried about anyone else taking an excess interest in Little Shrubby, especially not someone like the Crown Princess. If she wanted, she could easily get her people to find a simr beast after all.


    ''She doesn''t seem to have any malicious intentions at least.'' Lin Mu could tell that much.


    The princess seemingly watched the energy of all the fruits be perfectly be absorbed by Little Shrubby, leaving her a bit surprised.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Marvelous¡­ Such high efficiency and absorption rate despite having a conflicting innate element of fire." Shang Yingtai muttered, her eyes gleaming with joy.


    Once Little Shrubby was done eating, Shang Yingtai looked at Lin Mu and questioned. "You said it was a Brown Forest Shrubby cat and changed after consuming resources?"


    "Yes¡­ it''s hard to tell which ones though as I''ve fed him a lot." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s fine. At least I know that species has a potential like this." Shang Yingtai stated. "I''ve been looking for beasts with the wood element for a while now, but haven''t had luck."


    "Why are you looking for those specifically?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "They arepatible with me." Shang Yingtai said inly. "If I have a suitable beast, I can further improve by abilities after all. I specialize in the wood element as well as the fire element."


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows before thinking of a good idea. "Well, if you are looking for a wood elemental beast¡­ I might have the perfect suggestion for you."


    "Oh? You do?" Shang Yingtai raised her brows and Feng Shun looked too.


    "If you desire a wood elemental beast, you should try to find a Fume Wood Panther." Lin Mu answered. "Though if you want one with both fire and wood elements, I don''t really know one."


    "I can go for both. Nurture a Brown Forest Shrubby cat and the Fume Wood Panther." Shang Yingtai replied. "Though what exactly is a Fume Wood Panther? Do you know Daoist Chu?" she asked the man, who was silently cultivating.


    "I''m sorry, but I do not know." The man shook his head.


    "I''ve only read about them too so, at most I can tell you what they look like." Lin Mu replied.


    "Sure, please do tell." Shang Yingtai said with a smile.


    Lin Mu then told Shang Yingtai about how the Fume Wood Panther looked, as well as some of its characteristics. After learning about it, Shang Yingtai was rather pleased.


    "If I do manage to find and tame them, I''ll have you to thank." Shang Yingtai said before turning to Feng Shun. "Crown prince was indeed right, there are certainly some knowledgeable people here."


    "Of course." The Crown Prince smirked. "Daoist Mu Lin is quite erudite among them all." A lightplement escaped his lips.


    "If that''s all, I should take my leave. It''s best I prepare for theing tournament." Lin Mu said, wanting to end this meeting. "After all, I have your requests to fulfill, so I will have to take this a bit more seriously." He added.


    "Ahaha! Of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun didn''t mind. "I''ll look forward to seeing your performance in the tournament."


    "Goodbye, Crown Prince, Crown Princess." Lin Mu said before turning to the other two. "It was nice to meet you as well, Daoist Chu and sir monk." He didn''t forget them too.


    Lin Mu then gestured to Little Shrubby, who quickly jumped into his arms and the two left the private hall.

 Chapter 1658 A Certain Interest

    A minute after Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had left the hall, Crown Prince Feng Shun looked at his malepanions.


    "So¡­ what do you two think?" He asked.


    The two men, who had mostly stayed silent throughout the entire meeting opened their eyes and looked at the Crown Prince. Daoist Chu had a straight expression while the monk seemed to be a bit perplexed.


    "It is hard to say¡­ He''s certainly interesting." Daoist Chu said first.


    "That''s true. He seems to know quite a bit seeing as how he can trante the Shamanic Script of the Demonic Tribes. That''s something even the scripture experts of the Immortal Court seem to struggle with." Princess Shang Yingtai stated.


    "That is what got me intrigued with him. A person like him being a body cultivator was thest thing I thought." Crown Prince Feng Shun said while tapping his chair.


    "Don''t forget he''s also a qi cultivator." Shang Yingtai added.


    "Yeah, but he doesn''t seem to be focusing on it much. He''s just at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." Crown Prince Feng Shun said but then saw the monk''s expression change. "What is it Monk Hushu?"From N?velDrama.Org.


    The monk kept his perplexed expression and fiddled with some prayer beads in his hand.


    "I don''t know how to say this¡­" The monk said slowly. "I don''t think he''s really a body cultivator, nor is he a qi cultivator¡­" he uttered.


    "What? How does that make sense?" Princess Shang Yingtai asked feeling confused to now.


    "You are the most perceptive out of all of us. What did you sense? Speak freely." Crown Prince Feng Shun urged, his expression turning serious once more.


    "That Daoist Mu Lin¡­ He feels¡­ Holy." Monk Hushu said much to the shock of everyone. "He feels more of a monk than me."


    "What?" Everyone said in unison.


    "How''s that possible?" Daoist Chu wondered finding it strange.


    "I don''t know either. But this¡­ this cannot lie." Monk Hushu lifted the prayer beads and gently rolled them.


    ~HONG~


    In the next moment, the prayer beads floated up in the air, letting out a gentle yellow glow. The glow covered the entire room, filling it with a peaceful aura.


    "The Prayer Beads that abbot gave me are infused with Five thousand years of joss offerings. Other than me only those who have cultivated the path of Buddha can make it react like this." Monk Hushu exined. "I had to restrain it all this time, or I fear it might have flow straight to Daoist Mu Lin."


    Hearing the words of Monk Hushu as well as seeing the reaction of the prayer beads, Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others knew it was true. But at the same time it only made it even more unbelievable.


    "Just how can he be like that?" Princess Shang Yingtai wondered. "Though¡­ now that I think about it, his reaction upon seeing me was utterly calm. Most men can''t do that¡­ at least not those his age." She muttered.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Crown Prince Feng Shun was now deep in thought. He had trust in Monk Hushu''s words and even more trust in the prayer beads. After all the prayer beads were made by the Abbot of the temple that Monk Hushu was part of.


    It was not a simple power.


    "If even the prayer beads of Outer Ksitigarbha Ind are showing this, then it has to be true." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before standing up. "Looks like we''ll have to change the evaluation of Daoist Mu Lin."


    "Do you think he is from another Buddhist power?" Daoist Chu couldn''t help but ask.


    "That is another thing that confuses me. The holy aura of his is hidden. As if he has never received the grace¡­ or it might even be that he has an innate link to the Buddhist path that even he might not be aware about." Monk Hushu said after thinking for a bit.


    "What does that entail?" Princess Shang Yingtai asked. "If even your prayer beads wanted to escape¡­ just how does hepare to you?"


    "He may as well be above me in terms of Buddhist aura¡­ that is if he developed it. If he is introduced to The Outer Ksitigarbha Ind, there is no doubt the Head Abbot would take him right away." Monk Hushu answered.


    ~PHEW~


    Daoist Chu let out a breath and shook his head.


    "At the very least we know he is ''good''." Daoist Chu spoke. "Doubt anyone with innate Buddhist characteristics like that would be associated with the Demons." He added.


    "Indeed. Seems like my suspicions turned out to be wrong." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "Which might be better."


    "You thought he was associated with the demons?" Princess Shang Yingtai was a bit surprised.


    "Indeed¡­ while I didn''t see it outright, his fluency with the Shamanic Script of the Demonic tribe was simply too much. Then I looked into him and found out that he was in the Deste Blood Battlefield at the time when the demon had appeared.


    But that''s not all¡­ he was right at the location of the Violet Mystic Life Tree when the demon had appeared. There are records of it all." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined.


    "That is indeed a little too close to be a coincidence." Princess Shang Yingtai agreed. "Though I guess we can throw that out. Plus he has a cute kitten as a tamed beast. He can''t be all that bad." Sheughed.


    "That was no kitten." Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly said. "Could you not tell? You scanned it closely."


    "No¡­ it seemed normal. Even the Wood Elemental qi was absorbed steadily." Princess Shang Yingtai replied.


    "That beast seemed to be at the spirit realm and yet consumed immortal fruits with ease. What do you think?" Feng Shun raised a brow.


    "I couldn''t tell. Its body was absorbing it really well, so I thought it had to do with its talent." Shang Yingtai said, but then realized that she had indeed missed it.

 Chapter 1659 Unexpected Dodge

    While Shang Yingtai was thinking about her error, Feng Shun spoke again.


    "I''ve fought many beasts and can tell that kitten was not simple. It might appear small, but a might was hidden in its eyes. The power of a predator was apparent." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed. "Even that beast might be quite strong considering it could hide its cultivation base well."


    "He only keeps on getting more mysterious, huh¡­ Looks like we''ll have quite a lot to look forward to." Daoist Chu said before taking out a jade slip. "Though I think we should take our leave now too."


    "Did they arrive?" Crown Prince Feng Shun guessed something.


    "Indeed." Daoist Chu nodded his head.


    "Very well. Let''s leave." The prince ordered, after which all of them departed.


    Lin Mu was unaware of the events that had happened after he had left. He had no idea that he was being suspected this entire time, and had been saved by something entirely unexpected.


    He was on his way back to the Hundred Fruits Courtyard and was thinking about what had happened.


    "The Crown Princess¡­ She has some rather strong skills doesn''t she?" Lin Mu muttered.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    "Not just strong skills. She has an innate physique." Xukong replied.


    "She does?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Yes. It is the Renewing Wood Retaliating Fire Physique." Xukong revealed. "It''s a rare dual element physique that is only found in those that have parents with Fire and wood physiques."


    "I see¡­ No wonder she could germinate those immortal seeds that quickly. Her wood immortal qi was also quite strong." Lin Mu recalled.


    "If she really does find a Fume Wood Panther and tames it, she''ll definitely have a great advantage. She''ll be able to amplify the power of the beast, while the beast could provide support for her fire. Wood would fuel the fire, bringing forth a great ze." Xukong stated.


    Lin Mu could imagine the effect, and wondered how Shang Yingtaipared to Little Shrubby. After all, Little Shrubby had both the elements within him too. Though they were not as strong and he had other elements mixed in as well.


    It also exined why she had taken interest in him and even decided to go so far as to replicate the growth of Little Shrubby.


    "Unfortunately she''ll be facing failure even if she does get a Brown Forest Shrubby cat." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Indeed. Even if she does find a Brown Forest Shrubby cat with the same potential, without Beast qi it would be impossible for it to have the same kind of growth." Xukong replied.


    "At least we now know they have no bad intentions." Lin Mu said feeling a bit relieved.


    "Rather than the girl, the other two men there were more interesting." Xukong said gaining Lin Mu''s curiosity.


    "How so? I did feel like they were quite silent." Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Daoist was keenly watching your every move, despite keeping to himself while the Monk seemed to be focused on sealing some kind of energy." Xukong answered.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu could understand the Daoist watching him, but the monk was a bit strange to him. "Sealing energy? Wasn''t he just meditating?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Did you notice the Prayer beads in his hands?" Xukong asked instead.


    "I did. They seemed to be normal though. There were no energy fluctuations." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s simply because the monk was focused on sealing that very thing." Xukong revealed. "That was no normal set of prayer beads. Those were Buddhist treasured prayer beads."


    Hearing this Lin Mu''s eyes went wide. He had learned a bit about the Buddhist cultivators from both Senior Xukong as well as the memoirs of the Lost immortal. From this, he knew that the Buddhist Treasured prayer beads were a special kind of tool.


    They could be considered on the same level as an immortal weapon or tool, but the way they were made was differently. They also needed Buddhist energies to be used.


    They could be made from auspicious materials, as well as by infusing normal materials with Buddhist energies. Though the mostmon method was to chant the Buddhist scriptures for hundreds of years, and letting normal items bask in it.


    This would eventually lead the normal mortal items to transform into Buddhist treasures.


    "Why was he sealing it though?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    "That is unknown. But he started to do that shortly after you entered." Xukong hinted.


    "It can''t be¡­ me?!" Lin Mu was astounded. "But I didn''t even do anything."


    "You don''t have to. You were recognized by the Buddhist Path itself. For a Buddhist treasure to react to you like that without any interaction means that it is no normal Buddhist treasure.


    I think its might be a great Buddhist treasure that is on the same level as that of a High Grade immortal tool that has been nurtured long enough to gain a spirit." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu didn''t know if he now needed to worry or not.


    "It isn''t necessarily a bad thing." Xukong said, guessing Lin Mu''s thoughts. "If he is a monk that can have a treasure like that, he is likely to be from a Buddhist temple of significant strength. He should know that he prayer beads were responding to you."


    "Then that means¡­ He''ll consider me the same?" Lin Mu grasped.


    "Quite likely. And since he is from a Buddhist power, we at least know that they won''t interfere into your matters." Xukong said with a chuckle.


    "That''s good. Just the Crown Prince, and Crown Princess were already a bit too much. Thankfully I had the old excuses ready for Little Shrubby and he could hide his abilities well too." Lin Mu said as his nerves eased up.


    "Did I do good?" Little Shrubby asked looking up.


    "Of course! You did great!" Lin Mu patted the beasts head.


    "Yay!" Little Shrubby cheered. "The fruits she gave were good too. I can feel my cultivation base growing." He added.


    "You do?" Lin Mu used his immortal sense to check Little Shrubby.


    But when he did, he found something astounding.

 Chapter 1660 Rising Bloodline

    Lin Mu''s immortal sense scoured Little Shrubby''s Dantian and found a swirling mass of qi within it.


    The qi was none other than the wood elemental immortal qi that Little Shrubby had absorbed after eating the fruits. It was swirling around his Nascent Soul and was nourishing it.


    A flicker of energy could be felting from the nascent soul too, making Lin Mu realize something.


    "Oh boy¡­" Lin Mu muttered in astonishment. "Senior is this¡­"


    "Yes¡­ He''s going to face a Tribtion soon." Xukong replied.


    "But Little Shrubby hasn''t even finished his lifespan." Lin Mu said before turning to the beast. "Are you triggering this yourself?" he asked just in case.


    "No. I feel like it''s happening on its own." Little Shrubby shook his head.


    Lin Mu was baffled as to why it was happening.


    "It might be his bloodline. He has seven bloodlines, so it wouldn''t be unusual for them to act out." Xukong said with a slight doubt.


    "Why so? They should be in harmony though? I''ve made sure to feed them Beast qi in the right proportions." Lin Mu replied.


    "Even if you do that, it doesn''t mean that they''ll stay like that always. Besides, it probably won''t be breaking the bnce but rather progressing." Xukong said, making Lin Mu think further.


    Lin Mu went silent for a bit before speaking again.


    "Then do you think, the Fume Wood Panther Bloodline wants to reach the same level as the sh Fire Liger and Scorch w Tiger Bloodline?" Lin Mu said after pondering on it.


    "That does seem likely. I think you might have to prepare for it." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu''s expression turned serious as he sped up his pace. He soon reached the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion and went straight to meet the clerk.


    "Ah!" The woman was startled by Lin Mu''s sudden appearance.


    Despite being an immortal herself, she had been unable to sense his presence until he standing right in front of her. Then there was the fact that Lin Mu''s expression was serious and he was dressed in good looking clothes.


    All those factorsbined made the woman feel intimidated.


    "Ah! It''s sir Mu Lin." The clerk finally recognized. "D-do you need something?" she asked.


    "Is the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion and the Courtyards within it equipped to handle an Immortal Tribtion?" Lin Mu questioned.


    While he could ask the Saintess to help hide the Tribtion and its effects, he didn''t know if it was appropriate for her to act in the Capital City. After all, there was temple of the Four Guardian beasts here and since they were close to awakening, they could sense her.


    The Saintess had mentioned that she wasn''t exactly supposed to be in the Rust Sky world, and had sneaked in here.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    This limited her options, and any action by her could potentially get detected. Especially now that he tournament was close and there was high security. Even the Emperor might be paying attention to it personally.


    "Immortal Tribtion?!" The Clerk didn''t take long to guess what Lin Mu was getting at. "The courtyard that Sir has rented has the privilege of utilizing the Tribtion Istion array. If sir wishes to do so, he can undergo an immortal tribtion." She said.


    "Though¡­ If there are any damages beyond a certain limit, sir would have to pay for it." The woman added.


    Hearing that Lin Mu was satisfied. He could very well limit the damage that could happen to the area. Plus even if the Saintess couldn''t act to hide the tribtion, she could still limit the damage it caused.


    Of course, Lin Mu was going to set up some arrays to do the same.


    "Alright, that''s fine." Lin Mu replied.


    "Are you really undergoing a break through?" The woman asked.


    With how many immortals there were in the city and those that were taking part in the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts, breakthrough were rtivelymon.


    Many immortals were engrossed inst minute cultivation and hoped to grow their strength as much as possible before the day of their match. In fact, the close the tournament got, the greater the pressure on them.


    This led to some of them actually breaking their bottlenecks and progressing to the next stage. It was a ssic example of pushing their limits and oveing them.


    The royal court obviously knew of this and the fact that there would be people breaking through. Thus they had already set up the tribtion istion arrays to address the issue.


    These arrays were different than Tribtion Attenuation arrays though.


    Tribtion Istion arrays were mainly meant to prevent the interference of outside elements as well as the tribtion affecting the surroundings. After all, they wouldn''t want a tribtion to causally devastate buildings right in the middle of the capital.


    Of course, there were certain tribtions that would be beyond the capabilities of the Tribtion Istion arrays and could still cause damage. They might even shatter the array itself and cause even more chaos.


    This was something that couldn''t really be addressed without a stronger array. Of course, being the capital city it had this part covered too. But a strong array like that wasn''t kept active all the time.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    Instead, it was linked to a tribtion detection array that would cause it to activate only when there was a strong enough immortal tribtion. In a way, one could call it the backup for the smaller tribtion istion array.


    Every individual district had its own small tribtion istion array and the same was the case for the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion. In fact, with how big it was along with the immortals living in it, they had added their own private array to it too.


    These were then further reinforced with defensive and durability arrays, to prevent extra damage.


    So if the arrays were to be overloaded, it would have to ovee 3 arrays before the stronger city wide Tribtion istion array would be activated.


    Of course for something like that to happen, the tribtion would have to be very strong.

 Chapter 1661 Runes Like The Flowing Water And Formations Like The Night Aurora

    Lin Mu looked at the woman and gave nod to her answer.


    "There will be an Immortal Tribtion, yes." Lin Mu replied, not telling him exactly who was going to breakthrough.


    Then before the woman could reply, Lin Mu left for his courtyard.


    ~CREAK~


    Arriving there shortly, the gate of the courtyard opened automatically allowing them to enter.


    "What''s wrong?" The saintess asked, sensing them appear.


    She could already tell from Lin Mu''s demeanor that something was up.


    "Little Shrubby is going to have his Immortal Tribtion." Lin Mu answered making the Saintess take a look at the beast.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    Her sense scanned the beast, immediately realizing the change.


    "Triggered by his bloodline?" She identified the cause.


    "Yes. Little Shrubby''s Fume Wood Panther Bloodline is increasing in strength." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Have you seen something like this before Saintess?" he asked.


    "Yes¡­ this usually happens to beasts with faint bloodlines. If they are originally a weak beast, but their bloodlines progress and go beyond a certain level, it can trigger a response from the Heavenly will.


    And Since Little Shrubby is in the Immortal realm now, it will just result in the Immortal Tribtion." The Saintess exined.


    Lin Mu was a bit concerned about it and asked again. "Will it be fine?"


    "Actually, if he has managed to trigger this, then it means the bloodline is strong enough for the Heavenly will to act. After Little Shrubby breaks through, he should gain greater control over the wood element." The Saintess answered.


    Lin Mu felt a bit relieved after hearing the Saintess''s words and decided to just do a good preparation for it.


    "I need to set up some arrays for Little Shrubby''s breakthrough." Lin Mu said. "I also asked the staff here and they''ve said that having a tribtion here is fine." He added, knowing that the Saintess couldn''t do anything too big.


    "Hmm¡­ I think you might not have to do much since Little Shrubby will be having a wood elemental Tribtion." The Saintess replied.


    "He is?" Lin Mu couldn''t tell that yet, but the Saintess had managed to do so.


    "Yes, a tribtion triggered by a bloodline would usually be of the same element." The Saintess spoke. "Wood Elemental tribtions are also not as troublesome to contain like the other elemental Tribtions. At least not usually¡­"


    Lin Mu realized that he did not know much about the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtions. He had of course read about them but that was not the same as seeing it.


    ''Guess I''ll just see it first hand.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and got to work.


    Little Shrubby was left with the Saintess while Lin Mu started making runes. The beast simply cultivated under the watchful eyes of the Saintess. Even if she had not been asked to do so, she was always guiding the beast on her own.


    It was clear that the the Saintess had started to care for Little Shrubby.


    Lin Mu''s hands moved in the air while his fingers weaved runes in the air. At first they were clear, but as he got into the flow his fingers sped up and turned into mere blurs.


    His immortal qi spread through the air and turned into strings thattched onto his hands. They flowed along with his fingers, channeling into the rune and anchoring them to the air.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The more the runes grew, the greater the concentration of qi rose in the air.


    ''This feels¡­ different.'' Lin Mu felt like he was doing a lot better than before.


    The runes came to him naturally and he instantly knew what to do next. It was as if he didn''t need to think at all for it. They flew out along with the threads of the the immortal sense and were strung together as formations.


    The more they grew, the stronger the energy fluctuations became. Time continued to pass and ten hours psed like a blur.


    ~HONG~


    The very air changed as a stilling energy spread through the area. A multicolored glow of the runes and formations illuminated the courtyard and soars in the air like an aurora.


    Lin Mu paused his hands and looked up at the sky, finding a surreal scene above him.


    "What did I¡­" Lin Mu muttered feeling bit lost.


    ~HUM~


    And just as he said that the formations let out a sonorous hums melding together and transforming into an array.


    "Runes like the flowing water and formations like the night aurora¡­" The Saintess''s voice drifted over.


    Lin Mu looked to the side feeling her presence.


    "How did this happen¡­ I just started¡­ this isn''t even what I¡ª" Lin Mu didn''t know what to exactly ask.


    He had far too many questions wandering in his mind and he didn''t know that to ask first.


    "This is enlightenment." The Saintess interrupted him.


    Lin Mu watched her as two green orbs shimmered behind her veil. The green glow was intense, allowing him to barely see through the veil.


    ''Are those her eyes?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "Have you thought about pursing the Dao of Formations?" The Saintess suddenly asked.


    "The Dao of formations?" Lin Mu thought about it for a moment before responding. "I do like formations and their uses. Their mysteries are profound and they certainly intrigue me."


    Lin Mu had learned formations since they were something that needed the least amount of investment to learn. But he had a talent in them and learned rapidly.


    But despite that he had never thought of doing something like pursuing the Dao of Formations.


    "The enlightenment you have right now is something that peak Immortal Formation grandmasters yearn for and never get in their lives. It would be a shame if you do not pursue it." The Saintess stated before turning to Lin Mu.


    Her green eyes shimmered behind the veil, bing faintly visible. Lin Mu started into her eyes as they only got brighter as if they were emerald gems.


    Even if the Saintess''s face was hidden, her eyes were piercing and hard to hide.


    "If you pursue the Dao of formations, you will be able to pry into the very secrets of the Heavens!"

 Chapter 1662 Enlightenment And Favor

    The Saintess''s words were enough to catch Lin Mu''s full attention.


    "The Dao of formations is a special one. It allows one to grasp the very will of the qi that allows it to transform into runes that can bring forth formations. The Heavens too exert their will using formations.


    Thus, the Dao of formations is looking into the workings of the heavens and its will." The Saintess stated, her voice holding a maic power.


    Lin Mu was entranced as a scene formed in his mind. He could see himself standing on a great mountain while a hundred worlds floated around him. Each world wasposed of runes and the worlds formed a moving array.


    They shifted and transformed under Lin Mu''smands and brought forth a multitude of phenomena.


    It was at this time that Lin Mu muttered.


    "Runes as the world, formations as the universe, dictate the will of the heavens¡­" Lin Mu''s voice was but a whisper.


    ~RUMBLE~


    And yet, it brought forth a thunderous response.


    The qi in the air crackled like thunder, while a profound aura surrounded him.


    The Saintess watched this as a smile blossomed under her veil.


    "Just as I thought¡­ You are born for this." She said before waving her hand.


    Clouds appeared in the courtyard and surrounded its periphery. It now looked like they were doused in a sea of clouds, making it impossible to see inside.


    Lin Mu was in a trance and didn''t register any change that had happened around him. His eyes were closed while his face was still. The profound aura continued to surround him as Little Shrubby watched him carefully.


    "He''ll be fine. It''ll take him some time to get out of the state of enlightenment though. A deeper one this time." The Saintess spoke to Little Shrubby.


    ~MEOW~


    Little Shrubby responded with a cry before going back to his cultivation. He too had a breakthrough approaching and needed to prepare himself for it.


    While the beast did that though, the air within the courtyard flickered. The Saintess stared at a particr spot and narrowed her eyes. Her smile disappeared and a serious expression appeared under her veil.


    ~CRACK~


    A very small crack appeared in the air some distance from Lin Mu. It was barely a centimeter in size, but it was very stable. There were no spatial fluctuationsing from it and thus it didn''t affect Lin Mu.


    ~rustle~


    But a momentter, the Saintess suddenly acted.


    ~CLAP~


    Bringing her hands in a salute, she bowed her head.


    "Junior greets the Great Senior." She spoke.


    Gone was her dignified andposed demeanor. Now she looked a bit flustered and anxious.


    "Seems like my disciple now owes you a favor." An imposing voice drifted over from the spatial crack.


    "Not at all senior! It is merely his own talent that allowed him to gain this. My words were mere suggestions." The Saintess hurriedly responded.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hmm¡­ At least you are not greedy." The imposing voice spoke again, this time with a hint of satisfaction. "Still¡­ I cannot let this go unrewarded. Lin Mu is after all, my disciple."


    The Saintess didn''t respond and simply stayed in her bowing pose.


    "Speak... What do you wish for?" Xukong finally asked.


    "This junior cannot be so audacious as to ask something like that to a great senior." The Saintess responded.


    "You don''t have to be reserved. I''ve been watching you¡­ You''ve been trying to gain my attention, haven''t you?" Xukong replied.


    "I¡­ This junior has." The Saintess acknowledged.


    "Then this is your chance," Xukong said in a colder tone. "Ask¡­"


    "Pardon this junior for her rudeness." The Saintess said before taking a deep breath. "I¡­ My sect, the Serpent Moon Sect, needs your help."


    "Mmm? What does the Great Serpent Moon Sect need from me? With your capabilities, there isn''t much that is needed." Xukong replied.


    "As you should have seen, my sect has been looking for our Seven Ancestral Serpents for a long time. This was a directive that was given to us since the foundation of our sect, and we''ve been striving for it.


    I sought out Lin Mu for the same reason, but there is more to it." The Saintess spoke, her voice carrying a certain heaviness.


    "The Seven Ancestral Serpents, there is a reason for their gathering right?'' Xukong easily guessed.


    "Indeed. That is also why I''ve been seeking your assistance." The Saintess replied. "The directive to find the Seven Ancestral Serpents wasn''t the only one that was left for us. There was actually a second one." She added.


    "And what is that?" Xukong questioned.


    "It was stated that if we are not able to find all the Seven Ancestral Serpents by a stipted time, we are supposed to follow a secondary order. That order was to seek out a certain being¡­ The Void Weaver Spider." The Saintess finally revealed.


    Xukong didn''t reply right away and stayed silent for five minutes. This made the Saintess nervous but she didn''t dare to move.


    "These directives, who gave them?" Xukong questioned.


    "They came from the founder of our sect¡­ My mother." The Saintess answered.


    "And what do they ask of me?" Xukong replied. "Or rather¡­ what makes them think that someone can ask me for help?" he asked next.


    "My mother is the one that needs help. She is¡­ in a strange state. Before she entered it she said that you are the only one that can help." The Saintess said with sorrow in her voice.


    ~SHUA~


    A flicker of aura appeared from the spatial crack but stopped before it reached the Saintess.


    "Who is your mother?" Xukong questioned, his voice eerily sharp.


    "My mother is¡­ The Eternal Serpent Deity, She Yue." The Saintess revealed.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    As soon as the name was revealed the clouds covering the courtyard shook and started to copsed. But then a wave of energy came from the spatial crack and stabilized everything.


    "Her¡­ So it''s her." Xukong muttered a mix of emotions in his voice. "Very well. Seems like there is old debt that needs to be repaid."

 Chapter 1663 Xukongs Agreement

    Seeing that Xukong was aware about her mother, or at the very least knew about her, the Saintess was relieved.


    She had been anxious about it and was wondering if the great being would simply deny ever knowing about her. If he really insisted on that, there was no way she would be able to do anything.


    But what was even more surprising to her was the fact that there was actually a debt!


    ''Why didn''t mother tell me about that? If the Great Senior owes mother a debt, wouldn''t he help out willingly?'' The Saintess wondered.


    The Void Weaver Spider owing someone favor was a great matter and if it was found out by the other great powers, they would certainly have to change their opinion of the person to whom the debit was owned.


    Their status would rise as it would mean that they had something that even the Void Weaver spider needed. One could use this in many ways, ones of the most basic ways to use it as a method to raise one''s reputation.


    Other than this, many powers would give them face for it.


    "Senior, there is a debt?" The Saintess asked carefully.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    "Something like that." Xukong said vaguely.


    The Saintess got the hint and did not ask further. Matters among beings of status like her mother and the Void Weaver Spider were something even someone of her standing could not talk about.


    "Let''s get to it shall we." Xukong suddenly said, before a wave of energy spread out from the crack and washed over the Saintess.


    She could feel an invisible mark appearing on her. It was made by Xukong and held his unique presence within him.


    "As you know, I cannot go to where you mother is¡­ And I think you wouldn''t want my physical body going there either." Xukong spoke.


    "Y-yes¡­" The Saintess knew her world wouldn''t be able to bear the ''weight'' of the great Senior.


    "But I can still help you." Xukong continued, making the Saintess a bit excited. "With the limitation we have, I can still help you out to solve your mother''s problem." He added.


    "How will you do that?" The Saintess questioned.


    "While my physical body cannot go there but itself, if you bring Lin Mu there it would still be the same. After all, I need to first see what has happened to your mother. Without observing the problem, a solution would be impossible." Xukong answered.


    The Saintess''s eyes lit up and she spoke, "that shall be no issue. I''ll bring Lin Mu over."


    "But¡­ not now." Xukong interrupted her making her a bit anxious. "He still has his goals to fulfill. It might take him time, but you will have to wait for him." He added.


    The Saintess let out a breath of relief.


    "Even if its a thousand years it is no issue. I''ve waited for millions of years, a few thousand will merely be a blink away." The Saintess was not disappointed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    To her, time had long since be a vague concept. It would be both slow and fast at the same time, passing by with or without her interference. She had stayed cooped up in her temple for many years before, and could easily pass time in cultivation if she was to wait.


    ''But this time¡­ I have someone to apany.'' She thought as she looked at the young man standing in a trance. "This works well, Senior. I still have to gather the Seven Ancestral Serpents and Lin Mu has two of them. I shall just continue what I''ve been doing and follow after him."


    "Mmm, that is fine. But let him suffer too. Do not interfere in matters he can take care on his own, or ones that he is learning from. Unless of course, there is something ''uneptable'' in the way." Xukong exined.


    The Saintess raised her brows before saying in a low voice. "How uneptable?"


    "I give you free rein to eradicate anyone that belongs to the Hundun Imperial Order." Xukong stated, his voice dripping with murderous intent.


    The Saintess shivered from it but held herposure.


    "Of course! The Hundun Imperial Order does not deserve to exist." The Saintess said with confidence but then a thought appeared in her mind. "May I ask something probing, senior?"


    "You may," Xukong responded, reeling in his murderous intent.


    "Have you not yet told Lin Mu about the Orders of the Old? He must have asked you about the Hundun Imperial Order." The Saintess asked carefully.


    "No¡­ while he did ask, I haven''t told him yet." Xukong replied. "I do not wish for his mind to be filled by the thoughts of the old horrors. You must''ve seen by now, Lin Mu is¡­ Inquisitive. He is drawn to new information and concepts while the universe seems to pull him along that way too.


    While I do not know where fate will take him, the less he knows about the horrors of the old, the better. Even if they are said to be gone, their remnants are still too much for anyone to bear." He exined.


    The Saintess lightly nodded her head, knowing this was for the best.


    "Indeed. I shall refrain from mentioning it to him again." The Saintess stated. "But the Indigo World Hegemony also seems to be linked to the Hundun Imperial Order and Lin Mu already knows about them." She added.


    "They are still fine. Let them be a whetstone for him." Xukong said, much to the Saintess''s surprise.


    "I understand." The Saintess said before feeling the crack disappearing.


    "My time here is up. Mention nothing to Lin Mu when he wakes up." Xukong stated. "Also, there is a chance his enlightenment might cause something, so be on the watch for it." He said before the spatial crack finally disappeared.


    The Saintess waited for Xukong''s presence to be gone before lifting her head again.


    There were not traces of him ever appearing and the courtyard was still surrounded by clouds.


    "Just some more time¡­ Mother." The Saintess muttered.

 Chapter 1664 Rune Shaping Brush

    With the disappearance of Xukong, the courtyard returned to normalcy.


    The Saintess sat at the table while Little Shrubbyid on it. The faint energy fluctuations of an iing tribtion could be felt from him, while the clouds surrounding the courtyard held firm.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    ~huu~


    The sound of a deep breath could be heard as Lin Mu, woke up from his state of trance. His eyes trembled and opened, obscure runes glowing within them for a moment before fading into the ck pupils.


    "The runes speak¡­ The formations sing¡­ The Arrays roar!" Lin Mu muttered and looked up into the sky.


    The rusty colored sky that looked to be empty was no longer so. Instead, Lin Mu could now see a million runes flowing through the air, arranged into thousands of formations that all condensed into a great array.


    The array that he was seeing no was none other than the grand array that covered the entire capital region of the Dao Wind empire. It was supposed to be invisible and yet it was now visible clearly to Lin Mu.


    "So you can see them," The Saintess''s voice drifted over.


    She could already guess well enough what Lin Mu was seeing right now.


    "I can¡­ They are¡­ Beautiful." Lin Mu replied, his hand reaching out for the sky.


    ~SHUA~


    The air shook and qi soared, touching upon the arrays and calling to them. Lin Mu''s eyes rapidly moved and tracked the fine movements of the formations, finding them to be rtively easy.


    But then the deeper he looked, the more he could see.


    There were formations hidden within formations, theiryers forming aplexbyrinth.


    "You should stop now." The Saintess ordered. "Any more and you''ll alert the Formation Grand masters." She warned.


    Lin Mu''s fingers hesitated but he pulled his hand back. It felt strange to him, as if the runes were inviting him to touch them. He wished to know what they felt like and was now being denied.


    But he also knew doing so would not be good.


    He closed his eyes for a moment and calmed his mind before looking at the Saintess.


    "So this is the Dao of Formations¡­" Lin Mu said and flipped his palm.


    ~SHUA~


    Qi started to swirl around his arm before starting to gather. This was just spirit qi so it gathered rapidly. Lin Mu was already versed with the Immortal qi, thus extracting Spirit qi from the air was but a mere thought to him.


    The qi gathered into faint sphere before starting to change shape.


    The Saintess who was watching this was stunned.


    ''He''s already making a Dao Shell?'' She had expected him to do this of course, but not this early.


    Within a minute, Lin Mu already had his Dao Shell outline ready and it was now starting to change its shape.


    From its default spherical shape, it became rectangr before starting to elongate. In just a few minutes it took on a t rectangr shape, with a nted depression in it.


    If one looked at it they wound find it to be simr to an Ink stone!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~SHUA~


    Once the shape was confirmed, Lin Mu channeled all the spirit qi into it and allowed it to grow. The Dao Shell started to expand and after ten minutes, it was already ten meters in size.


    "More." Lin Mu spread his immortal sense and pulled in more Spirit qi.


    The Ink Stone shaped Dao Shell absorbed all of it and reached a size of twenty meters!


    It floated above Lin Mu''s head and hovered like a giant tablet.


    With the Dao Shellpleted, Lin Mu focused on the main part.


    His eyes glimmered with runes, forcing them to materialize in the air. These were no normal runes either, but were the Dao Traces from the Dao of Formations!


    The spun around the Dao Shell, trying to resist Lin Mu''s control.


    ~CLANG~


    But then Lin Mu pped his hand onto the Dao Shell, making it ring like a bell. The wave of energy that spread from the Dao Shell seemingly tamed the Dao Traces, attaching them towards it.


    Soon, they started to pour into the Dao Shell, taking the form of a small cloud.


    "Form up!" Lin Mumanded.


    The cloud of Dao Traces tried to resist, but couldn''t do so. Lin Mu exerted his power making them bend to his will and take a new shape. They first condensed and took and elongated shape.


    It now looked like a long tube that had a small mass of clouds attached to it. Lin Mu made a pinching gesture towards the cloud, squeezing them together.


    The clouds became tighter under his gesture before Lin Mu rolled his fingers. The clouds were twisted along, turning into thin strands. The strands floated freely, before being pulled towards the long tube.


    Lin Mu now used both his hands to attach the twoponents, finalizing his work.


    A new Dao Embryo now floated within the Dao Shell.


    It had the shape of a formation brush that had a meter long shaft and soft bristles that formed its tip. They were formed from the Dao Traces and were very fine.


    Each strand of the brush was like the finest beast hair, and shimmered like spider silk.


    "Rune Shaping Brush!" Lin Mu called out to the Dao Embryo.


    It quickly shrank to the size of a normal brush, along with the Dao Shell. It now looked like a set of Ink stone and writing brush.


    They looked simple, but the power they held within them was great.


    "So this is the Dao Embryo you birthed¡­ It does match you the best." The Saintess spoke up seeing that the process was finished.


    Lin Mu extended his hand towards the brush and picked it up with ease. With the second hand, he held the ink stone and then rubbed the brush on it.


    Taking the qi as the ink, and the air as the paper, he let the brush flow in broad strokes,pleting a talisman.


    It was none other than the Diamond Mountain Talisman!

 Chapter 1665 The Wood Elemental Immortal Tribulation

    The Diamond Mountain Talisman was a talisman that relied on skills rather than materials to make.


    It was one of the more economical Talismans that one could make. Plus as long as one had the skill, they would be able to make as many of them as they wanted with little investment.


    But even then, there were different levels of it, and the higher one went, the more difficult it got. Lin Mu had difficulties making the Great Grade Diamond Mountain talisman and had only made a single one after many failures.


    And yet, here he was making another Great Grade Diamond Mountain Talisman that too in the air directly!


    ~SHUA~


    The Great Grade Diamond Mountain Talisman floated in the air calmly, keeping its power contained. But Lin Mu knew that if he wanted to he could always activate it with just a thought.


    "The Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo increases the proficiency of making formations by a lot." Lin Mu was pleased with his new Dao Embryo.


    And this was when the Dao Embryo was just at the Embryo Birth Stage. Once it progressed more, he was sure that it would only get better and better.


    "That isn''t all. You''ve also made apatible Dao Shell for it which further enhances its ability." The Saintess spoke.


    Lin Mu gave a slight nod, feeling a bit surreal.


    He had not expected to make a new Dao Embryo this soon after all. He now had three of them and would need to nourish all of them. Though he reckoned that for the Rune Shaping Brush, he would be able to improve it by simply using it.


    After all, utilizing it would improve his skill for formations and runes, thereby deepening his understanding of the Dao.


    Lin Mu stored the Dao Embryo into his Dantian, letting it be nourished by the qi within it. His Dantian now had two Dao Embryos within it.


    His Nascent soul sat upon the True Earth Heart and its Dao Shell that was like a shield, while the Rune Shaping Brush settled down next to it looking like a Ink Stone with a brush.


    There was his formless Dao Embryo with the Four Faceted Neb too, but it mostly stayed hidden. Lin Mu was still trying to deepen his understanding with it, but was stuck at a bottleneck.


    He knew there was no use forcing it, and that he would have to take it slow.


    For now he had other things he needed to focus on. Lin Mu looked at Little Shrubby who was deep in cultivation. He could already see the energy fluctuations around him having increased by a lot.


    "The Tribtion is close now," Lin Mu spoke.


    "Just a day or two now." The Saintess agreed.


    "Is there anything more we need to do?" Lin Mu asked, just in case.


    "No." The Saintess shook her head. "We''ve done enough. The rest is all unto Little Shrubby." She added.


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied before calling out the twins.


    They had been in the Sleepscape for a while, and Lin Mu decided it was time for them to have some time out. Plus they might have some gains if they witnessed the tribtion too.


    Even if their talent was high due to their bloodline, it was always better to gain more experience.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang let out an excited hiss, as they saw Lin Mu and the Saintess.


    "Were you two good?" Lin Mu rubbed their heads while they nodded affectionately.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    "Little Shrubby will have a breakthrough soon. You two should see it too." Lin Mu suggested.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~SA~SA~SAA~


    The twins enthusiastically nodded their heads and looked at their seniorpanion.


    Little Shrubby had taken his position as the eldest among Lin Mu''s beasts and the twins were epting of it too. Thus they were interested in seeing Little Shrubby and him growing stronger.


    Lin Mu left the twins out, while he went to his room.


    ''May as well ponder on my Dao Embryo more and get used to it¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He passed the day like that, and Little Shrubby''s tribtion got closer. By the second day, they were finally strong enough that everyone could feel it in the courtyard.


    "It''s time¡­" Lin Mu opened his eyes and walked out of his room.


    He could see Little Shrubby still on the table but a swirling mass of green energy was surrounding him.


    "The Dao Traces are getting denser." Lin Mu muttered.


    ~SHUA~


    And a few minutester, it finally happened.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby jumped off the table and rapidly grew to his full size.


    His full sized body emitted strong qi fluctuations that made the air tremble.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby lifted his head and let out a loud roar. If not for the fact that the courtyard was isted, it would have echoed throughout the Capital city.


    Lin Mu watched with a serious expression as the energy of the tribtion approached. He activated his spatial perception to see just where the tribtion was going toe from and soon spotted the cracks.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "The Spatial cracks¡­ they aren''t in the sky this time." Lin Mu discovered. "They are surrounding Little Shrubby this time."


    Unlike the immortal tribtion like before, this was noting from the sky. Instead it was directly presenting itself around Little Shrubby.


    ~HUALA~


    The spatial cracks were still invisible, but got wider. And when they did, a green energy leaked out of it. It was none other than the Tribtion energy!


    The Tribtion energy transformed when it appeared in the world and turned into hundreds of sharp thorny vines.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu was a bit surprised seeing the Wood Elemental Tribtion.


    ~WHIP~


    The vines moved like fast whips and struck Little Shrubby.


    ~ROAR~


    The beast let out a roar and tried to dodge them, but was unable to do so with the sheer number of them. Not to mention, they wereing from all around his body, so moving was no use.


    When he moved, the vines would move along him. There was simply no escaping this.

 Chapter 1666 Falling Vitality

    Little Shrubby swiped his ws at the circling vines, cutting a few of them but they simply grew back.


    ~HISS~


    His ws roared with mes, trying to burn away the vines, making the water around them boil instantly. More vines were charred and crumbled to dust, but more reced them.


    Lin Mu and the Saintess watched from the side, as Little Shrubby fought against the Immortal Tribtion.


    ''This is certainly different than others. It doesn''t seem to have strong power directly, but it''s very persistent.'' Lin Mu thought as he observed the tribtion.


    The vines kept on growing and wrapping around Little Shrubby while the beast tried to get free from them.


    ~GROWL~


    But that wasn''t all, as the vines actually did a lot more than could be seen.


    "It''s¡­ Draining Little Shrubby''s Vitality!" Though their link, Lin Mu could tell that the vitality of Little Shrubby was falling.


    He could also sense the vitality being drawn away by the vines, and flowing through them allowing them to grow even more.


    "If this keeps on going, Little Shrubby would have a difficult time." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.From N?velDrama.Org.


    The Wood elemental Immortal Tribtion was something that tested the vitality of the immortal. Since the wood element was from nts that were representative of vitality, their test was simr.


    One needed to either repel the vines, or have enough vitality to sustain the draining of their vitality.


    "Such is the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion. It is not something that most immortals would take in theirtter years or if they were nearing the end of their lifespan.


    It is something they should take when they still have a lot of vitality and lifespan left, or they might just die from its loss." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu took note of it, and wondered if he should also go for the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion for his next Immortal Tribtion. After all, he had more than enough vitality to get through it.


    ''But Little Shrubby still needs to get through it¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He stood there along with the Saintess for about thirty minutes, while Little Shrubby continued its battle against the vines. By now the vines had drained away a significant portion of the beast''s vitality.


    It was such much that it was now reflecting on Little Shrubby''s body.


    His fur was stained with blood, where the thorns of the vines had dug in. The smooth luster of his fur was also getting weaker, with the fall in vitality. Not just that, but Lin Mu could feel the internal Vitality of Little Shrubby falling too.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A burst of mes burned away a portion of the vines, but soon more reced them.


    Exhaustion could be seen in the eyes of Little Shrubby who was facing his toughest trial so far.


    As much as Lin Mu wanted to help him, he knew that Little Shrubby needed to do this on his own. He could only watch nervously and grit his teeth as the beast suffered.


    The Saintess''s expression couldn''t be seen through her veil, but a heavy feeling surrounded her as well.


    Little Shrubby was now tightly wrapped in the vines, its sharp thorns digging into his flesh. With the constant drain on his vitality, he was unable to heal it in time and his defense was also lowered.


    But all this only led to the beast getting furious.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~GRRR~


    All the fur on Little Shrubby''s body ignited at that moment as the power of Dao Traces could be felt from him.


    ~HONG~


    A shining object rose from his body, and hovered over him. It was in the shape of a V and was something Lin Mu was familiar with.


    "His Dao Shell¡­" Lin Mu watched as the Dao Embryo within it emitted the power of the Dao Traces.


    The Dao Embryo was in the shape of a wed hand and was red and orange in color. There were many runes tattooed on the hand as well and they were all glowing in a yellow light now.


    "Sky Scorching w Dao Embryo!" Little Shrubby called out as his Dao Embryo showed its strength.


    The Dao Shell along with the Dao Embryo was coated in ayer of mes that were orange in color. A searing heat was emitting from them, and was affecting the surroundings.


    Even the protective runes and formations of the courtyard were being affected as they flickered non stop. It was clear that they were burning too, and their durability was falling.


    Lin Mu could feel the heat too that was actually able to get through his defenses!


    He took a few steps back, and circted his qi, enhancing his defense against the heat. Only the Saintess was unaffected, but that was to be expected.


    ~SHUA~


    Therge ming w''s heat burned away the vines, before tearing them away from Little Shrubby''s body.


    Freed from the vines, Little Shrubby was now able to move. But not long after, more vines grew out from the air, trying to wrap around him again. This time though, Little Shrubby let the w continue its work.


    It kept on spinning around his body, burning and tearing away all that came at him.


    This continued for five minutes, after which a certain change happened.


    ~HUALA~


    "It''s getting stronger!" Lin Mu''s eyes widened.


    Instead of getting weaker, the wood elemental tribtion had just increased its intensity.


    ~SLAP~


    ~WHIPS


    ~CRACK~


    The vines grew rapidly and whipped away at Little Shrubby, inflicting long gashes on his body. Wherever the vines struck a line of grey and red could be seen.


    The red was the blood that was leaking out from his flesh, while the Grey was the flesh that was dying due to the drained vitality. It was certain that the vines were rather deadly now.


    Lin Mu''s expression fell as Little Shrubby''s vitality started to plummet. Even his Dao Shell and Dao Embryo slowed down, before finallying to a stop. Little Shrubby''s eyes dulled as well, before closing.


    "No¡­"

 Chapter 1667 Verdant Bloom Seed And Breakthrough

    ~THUD~


    Unable to hold on, Little Shrubby copsed on the ground while the vines tightened around him even more. Watching the dire state of Little Shrubby, Lin Mu''s heart ached like never before.


    It didn''t take that long for that pain to turn into desperation as Lin Mu made a move.


    "Halt!" But before Lin Mu could move more than a meter, he was frozen in ce.


    He felt like his body was shackled in rock and he couldn''t even move a finger. What was even strange was that there was actually nothing physical attached to him.


    "I have to save him! I have to save little Shrubby!" Lin Mu shouted.


    "You cannot interfere in an Immortal Tribtion." The Saintess firmly said before pointing to Little Shrubby again. "Besides, it is not over yet."


    Lin Mu looked on and saw that Little Shrubby''s body was moving.


    ~RIP~


    Suddenly, a few vines snapped out of nowhere and were sent flying.


    ~SNAP~


    More vines broke apart, the reason behind them unseen. Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he realized that the Dao Traces of Wood were now increasing rapidly.


    With the increase in Wood Dao Traces, Lin Mu could also feel that Little Shrubby''s aura was returning. It wasn''t just returning either, it was also getting stronger!


    ~SHUA~


    A burst of energy spread out from the mass of vines, tearing them apart with great force. The figure of Little Shrubby became visible again, this time standing up from the ground. His eyes were still closed and his fur was Grey.


    Lin Mu watched on without moving now. Since the Saintess had already told him that there was no use, it was far better for him to be alert instead and watch Little Shrubby''s progress.


    After all, if the Saintess had not stopped him, Lin Mu would have already been interfering with the entire process.


    ~HUALA~


    A wave of energy spread from Little Shrubby''s body and a Dao Shell rose from it!


    This was none other than the Wood Dao Shell that he had formed a while back. There was no Dao Embryo in it back then, but now it was clear that one was forming.


    The Wood Dao Traces gathered within the Dao shell, turning into a mass of verdant green energy. The energy was very pleasant and made one feel refreshed.


    It was a strange situation where the draining of the Tribtion vines and the abundance of the Dao Embryo were contrasting. Lin Mu and the Saintess watched as the energy in the Dao Shell kept on increasing.


    ~HONG~


    Finally the energy transformed, turning into a Dao Shell.


    "Is that¡­ A seed?" Lin Mu observed the Dao Embryo that looked like arge seed.


    There were fine runes glowing on it as well from which great vitality was pouring out. This vitality entered Little Shrubby and overpowered the effect of the Immortal Tribtion vines.


    Little Shrubby''s body started to change as well, his fur returning to a bright sheen. His eyes opened up as well, gleaming with power and fury. His jaws then opened with a roar sending a wave of aura.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby''s roar shook the vines and the courtyard, directly making a crater in the ground from it. His Dao Shell with the new Dao Embryo thrummed with power and repelled the vines.


    Green tendrils of energy rose from Little Shrubby''s body while the Bloodline Figure of the Fume Wood Panther made its appearance. It too let out a growl and channeled its powers into Little Shrubby.


    "The bloodline haspleted its progression." Lin Mu muttered his eyes holding joy.


    Just a few moments ago, he was feeling a great pain and now it was reced with pure joy.


    Little Shrubby too seemed to be pleased but his joy was mixed with anger towards the Immortal Tribtion.


    ~ROAR~


    ~GROWL~


    Both he and the bloodline figure of the Fume Wood Panther cried out in unison, unleashing their power. The Vitality that was being drained by the vines suddenly stopped before flowing in reverse!


    Now it wasn''t the vines that were draining the Vitality but Little Shrubby!


    "Vital Drain!" The Saintess said out loud. "If he managed to to obtain this Dao Skill then¡­ That Dao Embryo¡­"


    "Do you know about the Dao Embryo?" Lin Mu asked seeing the familiarity in the Saintess''s voice.


    "Yes, it is one of the rare wood elemental Dao Embryos. It is called as the Verdant Bloom Seed Dao Embryo. It is said to only be obtained by very few creatures in the world and it is almost impossible for humans to obtain it.


    The Fume Wood Panthers can sometimes have it, but it is still rare." The Saintess exined.


    Hearing more about this, Lin Mu was impressed. He could also make a good guess about what the Dao Skill Little Shrubby had obtained was from its name.


    It was rather straightforward after all.


    ~SNAP~SNAP~SNAP~


    The vines from the immortal tribtion were unable to withstand the drain on the vitality and started to wither. This led them to bing weak, allowing Little Shrubby to tear them apart with ease.


    Even if more vines were trying to wrap around him, they only ended up withering instead.


    This ''battle'' continued for about five minutes, after which no new vines were born. Instead, Little Shrubby continued to drain the Immortal Tribtion vines fully, gaining more vitality than he originally had.


    By the time he was done with it, all the vines were gone and only the faint fluctuations of the tribtion were left. Even those were fading away, and one could tell that the Tribtion was nowing to an end.


    ~SHUA~


    And finally, the cracks in the space closed up signaling the end of the Tribtion.From N?velDrama.Org.


    The Dao Embryo and Dao Shell returned to Little Shrubby''s Dantian, within which one could now see a new halo around the Nascent Soul.


    Little Shrubby had sessfully broken through!


    He was now at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm!

 Chapter 1668 Prep Before The Tournament

    Little Shrubby''s breakthrough was contained within the limits of the courtyard, with no one outside it knowing.


    Lin Mu had gone through a roller coaster of emotion and was finally able to calm down.


    "You did good Little Shrubby¡­ Though you certainly had me worried." Lin Mu said while approaching the beast.


    ~pat~


    He rubbed the beast''s head, feeling the rich vitality that could still be felt within his body. Even now it was surrounding his fur, allowing it to be palpable.


    "Of course! There''s no way I would fail in this." Little Shrubby replied with a growl.


    He then quickly shrank to kitten size and jumped into Lin Mu''s embrace.


    ~Purrs


    Lin Mu embraced the beast for a bit before turning around.


    "That''s one problem over. Now there''s just the Tournament left." Lin Mu spoke to the Saintess.


    "Go, you should prepare for it too. You might not be able to have a tribtion in this time, but perhaps you can further it." The Saintess suggested.


    "Yes, that''s what I was thinking too." Lin Mu agreed.


    He then looked at Little Shrubby and the twins, who were still with the Saintess.


    "I''ll enter seclusion till the day of the Tournament. You guys should continue cultivating as normal." Lin Mu stated. "Perhaps you''ll be able to take part too." He added.


    "Really?!" Little Shrubby asked in an exited tone.


    ~HISS~


    The twins hissed in intrigue as well, wondering if they will get to fight as well.


    "Little Shrubby yes, but not you two." Lin Mu rified making the twins a bit sad. "Its better for you two to not show your powers here. Especially in the close observation of the top experts." He rified.


    But the twins didn''t seem to be satisfied. Lin Mu noticed this and couldn''t help but smile a bit.


    "Come on, you two are too strong for the people here. It''s best to not be too showy." Lin Mu tried to cate the twins which worked perfectly.


    After being praised, the twins quickly recovered and were happy too. They curled around Lin Mu''s neck being yful. Though in reality the amount of force they were using would have killed a normal human already.


    The Saintess was also in an agreement with Lin Mu not letting the twins appear in the fight.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Using tamed beasts in the Tournament was allowed and Lin Mu had confirmed this already. After all, he had already seen several beast tamers in the banquet earlier.


    There were several beast tamers that specialized in it, thus their power was mostly through the use of their tamed beasts. There were beast tamers that didn''t have high cultivation base, but could use tamed beasts that were several stages above them.


    One might ask, how the weak cultivators were controlling stronger beasts when they could easily be killed by them. After all, beast taming usually worked by ''suppressing'' the beasts and getting them to submit to you.


    Many of these cultivators hadn''t really ''suppressed'' these beasts. Instead they had used other methods to tame them. One could make special pills for the beast, tend to them, or just help them and they might show them a favor.


    This could be nurtured further through various means and turned into a budding friendship.


    With all these factors in ce, it wasn''t unusual for beast tamers to have beasts that were stronger than them.


    Lin Mu was open to using Little Shrubby, though he didn''t know which kind of battle would be suitable for him. After all, he was confident enough to pass through the starting few matches with ease.


    The tournament was massive and could take months to be finished.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    In the first month, just the qualifying matches along took up the entire time. In that, one would have to win at least five fights, in order to reach the main tournament. And this was just the start and would weed out the weaker cultivators.


    Around 90% of the cultivators would be removed during this. After that there would be several matches divided in brackets. It was mostly here that the betting started as well as where one could start to get rewards.


    Of course, for winning the starting bracket fights, one didn''t get anything more than some immortal stones, it was still quite a good offer for poor experts. Even for normal experts, it was enough to obtain the immortal stones that could replenish their immortal qi that they had spent in the battle.


    Though more often than not, they would have more than enough time to rest between the matches so that they could return to their optimum condition. Only if they were unfortunate enough to be in the close fights or if they sustained injuries that didn''t allow them to recover fast enough would they need quick replenishing of their qi.


    The number of bracket fights were hard to estimate as there could be a lot of people qualifying in some years and fewer in the other years. But once everyone had finished one bracket fight each, the preliminary rankings could be decided.


    After these rankings were formed, new matches would be decided randomly, and then the contestants would have to fight whoever they got. This was where luck factored greatly, as one could meet an expert that was several stages stronger than them right away.


    If that happened, they could only me their luck as they lost.


    The matches would whittle down the contestants until only sixteen of them were left. These sixteen could then challenge each other to remake the ranking and only the top eight would proceed. Once that happened, the quarter finals would start. The semifinals would only have four contestants and the final would end with the obvious two.


    This would keep the rankings ever changing, making it a very lucrative opportunity bet as well as to do business.


    Lin Mu had made sure to study as much as he could and had even gone so far as to learn more about his opponents. At least the ones that were in the open and were considered as ''strong''.


    As for the rest, he was going to try his luck.


    ''It''s certainly going to be exciting¡­'' Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 1669 Double Body Breakthrough

    ~RUMBLE~


    The sound of low thunder could be heard within the courtyard originating from one of the rooms.


    This was none other than the rooms of Lin Mu where he had been cultivating in seclusion.


    Currently he was sitting cross legged on the bed, while waves of energy surrounded him. A mix of qi and immortal essence could be felt within his body, threatening to escape at any moment.


    And yet, whenever it reached the point where it was was about to explode out of his body, it was blocked. This process repleted several times as the immortal essence fluctuations only kept on increasing.


    The qi fluctuations though were stable and didn''t show any difference. It was like the qi was a mellow stream, while the immortal essence was a flooding river.


    For most cultivators, handing a mix of energies was not something they would prefer. It could not only lead to the splitting of one''s focus, it could also make one privy to mistakes.


    Mistakes that could be deadly.


    But for Lin Mu, who was in a rtively unique situation this was the best method.


    His immortal qi stayed stable and contained the fluctuations of the immortal essence within his body, while the essence continued to flow though his body.


    The reason for this raging immortal essence was none other than the pills he had obtained from Alchemist Ruoxian. He had taken more of them in an effort to boost his body cultivation further and it was now showing effects.


    Within Lin Mu''s body, the raging Immortal Essence was being controlled by his will and was being channels to the position of his third Aperture!


    There, a circle of the immortal essence wisps could already be seen, and it was still growing in size. More of them were added before the circle started to spin!


    ~HUM~


    A ringing sound was heard as the ring of immortal essence spun at high speeds, gaining great momentum. And when it finally reached a peak, a change happened.


    ~RUMBLE!~


    A vortex seemingly appeared from the spinning ring, sucking the rest of the immortal essence within it. Lin Mu let it do so as well, channeling all the immortal essence into his third Aperture that had now been opened!


    "More, more, more!" Lin Mu internally shouted.


    His eyes were closed but they still moved nonstop. Lin Mu''s mind was doing tens of things at once, his immortal sense split into hundreds of tendrils working together to control everything.


    Just the sheer amount of Immortal essence that was coursing through his body would have overwhelmed or perhaps even exploded someone. Yet, Lin Mu gritted his teeth and soldiered through it.


    Minutes turned into hours as all the immortal essence coursing through his body finally settled into his Third Aperture.


    ~HUU~


    Letting out a long breath that wasced with a tinge of exhaustion, Lin Mu opened his eyes.


    But instead of looking exhausted, they were full of power and vitality. He had just broken through to the Third Stage of the Three Apertures Invoking Technique!


    "That worked out a well than I thought¡­ Just in time too." Lin Mu said checking the time through the token that had been given to him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    There were still three days left for the tournament to start, and he had managed to progress his body cultivation to the equivalent of a third tribtion stage immortal.


    ~Tremble~


    But just as Lin Mu was rejoicing in his achievement he felt his back heat up.


    "Argh!" he let out a cry of pain, almost falling from the bed.


    ''Did something go wrong?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    ~HISS~


    Before he could check it in detail though, the back of his robe spontaneouslybusted and turned into ash. What was left behind though was a totem.


    The totem of the Tyrant Bull!


    "Why is it¡­ suddenly¡­" Lin Mu muttered between pained breaths, trying to get his immortal essence into control again.


    His body was now reacting automatically and all three of his Apertures had opened up on their own. They were injecting more and more immortal essence through his body which was now being channeled to his back, or more urately to the totem.


    This was the reason why he had broken out in pain that made him cry it.


    Such arge outburst of Immortal essence was still painful for him after all.


    Bearing through what was just some extra pain, Lin Mu discovered that the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets was working on its own. The Tyrant Bull totem was growing more and was almost at the third stage as well.


    ''How is it suddenly growing like this when I couldn''t progress it before?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder. "Is it because I also progressed the Three Apertures Invoking technique?" he questioned.


    He didn''t have much time to think though, as the Totem was soon about to reach a new form.


    ~MOOOOOO!~


    The cry of a bull could be heard at that moment, as a faint figure materialize over Lin Mu. It was that of the Tyrant Bull but it was missing its legs. It only had a body and its horned head.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    It lifted its head and roared at the sky, dering its presence.


    The Hundred Fruits Courtyard shook once more, as a tyrannical aura descended upon it.


    The Tyrannical Aura lingered for a few minutes before retracting into the bloodline figure of the Tyrant Bull and disappearing into the totem.


    When the totem calmed down, Lin Mu took another look at it, finding it to have truly reached the third stage of the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets, the Legless Bull.


    By now he had a solid guess about what had happened.


    ''The Three Apertures Invoking Technique provides the fuel needed for the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets to work. Thus if it isn''t good enough to support the next stage, the technique would not progress either.'' Lin Mu grasped.


    While he knew there were other factors to this double breakthrough of the same level, he also knew that his strength had now risen even more.

 Chapter 1670 Tournament On The Horizon

    Lin Mu''s senses lingered over the Tyrant Bull Totem for a good while before he finally stood up.


    He could feel the power surging through it, even after it had calmed down. At the very least, he knew that he wouldn''t have to worry about anyone at the fourth Tribtion Stage either now.


    ''Both my body cultivation techniques are at the Third Stage and I also have my Qi cultivation with my Dao Embryos. I should be able to take on most people at the fourth tribtion stage of the immortal realm at least.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But then again, he had no idea what kind of experts he would be facing in the tournament.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    ''They are meant to be geniuses, after all. They too canpare against people of a higher cultivation base than them.'' Lin Mu reckoned before walking out of the door.


    ~CREAK~


    The bedroom door opened, giving a full view of the garden.


    There the Saintess was sitting peacefully, while Little Shrubby and the snakes were doing their own training. The Saintess had been giving them lessons in controlling the elements better, and that was what they were doing now.


    Having better control could bring forth a qualitative change that could help them further on their path of cultivation.


    ~SHUA~


    Green energies swirled around Little Shrubby and coalesced into a long tendril. The tendril wrapped around a few seeds, making them spontaneously sprout and turn into saplings that took root.


    Within a minute, there were six new trees growing in the courtyard and another minuteter, there were already fruits growing on them!


    "This skill¡­ the princess¡­" Lin Mu found it rather familiar.


    "Master!" Little Shrubby called out after finishing his task.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He then rushed into Lin Mu''s arms, bursting with excitement.


    "I did it! I can grow trees and fruits now!" Little Shrubby said with joy.


    Lin Mu stroked the beast''s head while nodding, having seen the entire process from the start.


    "You did great." Lin Mu praised, making the beast burst out in joy even more.


    ~SASASA~


    The twin snakes didn''t wanna be left behind either and rushed to wrap around Lin Mu.


    ~SHUASHUA~


    A mass of ck and white energies also swirled above their heads, showing their prowess.


    "There, there, you did good too." Lin Mu cated the twins.


    It didn''t take long for the two to be satisfied and calm down. Only now did the Saintess look over to him with an inquisitive gaze.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You broke through again¡­ Twice." The Saintess urately assessed.


    "I did, yes¡­ I was a bit lucky." Lin Mu replied.


    Even he didn''t know that cultivating the Three Apertures Invoking technique to the third stage would lead to something like this.


    "Not luck, but rather something that was bound to happen." The Saintess said, surprising Lin Mu. "Don''t forget the amount of Tyrant Bull Marrow you consumed, as well as your urge to get stronger before thepetition. Even the will to get stronger can affect the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets in addition to battles." She exined.


    "Seems like I was still inexperienced." Lin Mu nodded before looking at the courtyard that was still being protected and isted by the clouds. "I also thank you for keeping everything safe, Saintess." He knew without the Saintess''s help, things might have gotten really chaotic.


    "Mmm, it''s necessary that you get stronger." The Saintess spoke. "Though I must say, teaching the children is also rather interesting." She added.


    ''The children?'' Lin Mu noted the way she addressed the beasts. "Have they been trouble for you?" he asked.


    "Not at all. The ancestral serpents are something I''ve dreamed of seeing for a long time and now I get to teach them. It is my duty to take care of them." The Saintess replied. "As for Little Shrubby, well¡­ He''s just nice and a good student." She too, praised.


    To the Saintess, teaching the Yin Yang Twin serpents was something that could almost be considered a joke. They were the ancestral serpents of the Serpent Moon Sect and had bloodlines that could naturally guide them.


    Her teaching them was simply elerating it by a fraction.


    It was only Little Shrubby that was getting the true teachings of the Saintess. Though if the members of the Serpent Moon Sect were to know that their Saintess was teaching another beast like this, they might have just lost their heads.


    It was something that was beyond their imagination.


    "Well, I''m happy that they are listening to you and learning." Lin Mu said with a smile. "Though I think it''ll have toe to a pause for now."


    "Indeed¡­ The Tournament is just on the horizon." The Saintess said, turning to the east.


    She could feel the energies of the guardian beasts getting stronger.


    "I can feel them too¡­ Somewhat." Lin Mu took looked in the direction too before speaking.


    "You too?" The Saintess raised a brow under her veil.


    "I wasn''t able to clearly before, but now¡­ I can sense the bloodlines. The Tyrant Bull Totem can feel it." Lin Mu replied, his expression serious.


    Lin Mu could not fathom just how strong the power of the guardian beasts was, as the bloodlines were a bit too vague for him to estimate. But just the fact that he could feel them at this distance while being isted by the Saintess''s skill showed that they had a level of dominance not seen often.


    "Have you decided on which Guardian you will pick?" The Saintess suddenly said, breaking the flow of Lin Mu''s thoughts.


    "Huh? Picking a Guardian?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "Did your master not tell you?" The Saintess asked, feeling a bit curious.


    "Well, he did tell me there are rewards that one can pick. But what''s this about picking the guardian?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Ah¡­ I see. It can be taken as an ''answer''." The Saintess replied, guessing what Xukong meant. ''To someone like Great Senior Xukong, the rewards may as well be normal.'' She thought.

 Chapter 1671 The Specialization Of The Guardians

    "What does picking a guardian mean though?"


    Lin Mu was intrigued by what the Saintess meant by picking a guardian and thus asked for rification.


    "If you are the winner or sometimes even in the top three, one of the rewards you can pick is to gain something from the guardians. Of course, there are restrictions between the different levels of rewards, but the winner has the most options.


    If you do be the first winner, you can choose to pick one of the Guardian beasts as your guide or obtain a reward from them personally." The Saintess exined.


    Hearing this Lin Mu''s eyes went wide. After all, meeting a guardian face to face was something on a different level. Even if he had met the Saintess and had Xukong who was above the status of these guardians, the reach of the Temple of the Four Guardians was still great.


    It would only be of benefit to him if he could talk to them.


    "What kind of rewards would be the best to ask of them, Saintess?" Lin Mu directly questioned.


    While he didn''t know if he would really be the winner in the end, it was still good to have an idea about his choices. And who else to ask better than the Saintess herself?


    "The top reward that you can get is¡­ The bloodline of the Guardians." The Saintess revealed.


    "WHAT!?" Lin Mu couldn''t believe it. "You can actually ask for their bloodline!"


    "Not always¡­ But if they are impressed with you, they might be willing." The Saintess replied. "Of course, it won''t be a concentrated bloodline. It will be highly diluted, but enough to allow you its benefits."


    Hearing this, Lin Mu felt tempted. But then, he also knew he was not in the position to assimte another bloodline.


    ~Sigh~


    "It is not a reward that''ll help me, though." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "Indeed. The bloodlines of the four guardians are not something that''ll bepatible with your Great Slumber bear bloodline." The Saintess agreed before speaking again. "But there are other things you can still obtain that might as well be of the same value as their bloodlines"


    "Oh? And what might that be?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The signature techniques and skills of the Guardians beasts. Their ns have a long history and simr have made many techniques and skills over the course of their existence. Any of these skills and techniques are prized and cannot be obtained easily.


    Even if one obtains a manual for them, learning them is almost impossible without the guidance of the Guardians themselves. While there are some techniques that can only be imparted directly and cannot be learned.


    Each guardian n has different techniques and they are specialized in different ones too." The Saintess answered in detail.


    Lin Mu was now starting to see the benefit. He realized that having a technique from one of the guardians would be really useful if he could do so.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hmm, that does seem good. But what are the different guardians specialized in?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "You already know of the elements that the guardian beasts belong to, right?" The Saintess inquired.


    "I do, yes. The Azure Dragon is of the wood element, the Vermillion bird is of the fire element, the White Tiger is of the metal element, and the ck Tortoise is of the Water element." Lin Mu listed them out.


    "Correct. But these are just the elements and other than these, they have their own advantages. For example, the White Tiger is one that specializes in pure physical power while the Vermillion bird specializes in Qi skills of various abilities." The Saintess replied.


    "What about the Azure Dragon and the ck Tortoise?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Azure Dragon n is often said to be the strongest out of all the guardian ns. While this varies from member to member, they do hold a lot of influence in the four ns. Their skills are varied too, but mainly they have strong offense and speed along with Qi skills to match.


    As for the ck Tortoise n, it is straight and simple¡­ Absolute Defense!"


    Lin Mu''s eyes lit up as he heard this. If there was anything that he was staunch about it was defense. He knew if no one could harm him, he would have a better chance at survival. Even if someone was faster than him and did a sneak attack, his strong defense could save him and allow him time to react.


    While the power of the other guardian beasts tempted him, he still felt inclined towards the ck Tortoise.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    The Azure Dragon n was that of Dragons and as such, their powers held great prestige. After all, dragons were always seen as one of the top beings in existence, even if there were many kinds of them, with some being weaker and some stronger.


    ''If I didn''t have a bloodline, I might have opted for the Azure Dragon, but since that is not an option, it is better to progress in what I already specialize in¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Saintess could somewhat guess what Lin Mu might choose, but she decided to let him keep it to himself for now. After all, there was no saying if he would change his mind depending on the course of the tournament.


    ''Or when he''s facing the guardians, they might convince him to do something else as well.'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    "Well¡­ Let''s have some food, shall we? It''s been a while." Lin Mu suddenly said, changing the mood.


    "Yes! I''ll have some dishes ready, and will make some more!" Little Shrubby was always excited about it.


    ~HISS~


    The twins had also be habituated to Little Shrubby''s cooking and were looking towards it.


    The Saintess was up for it as well and watched as the master and beast cooked their meal. Soon enough, they all were eating their dinner and enjoying it. The Tournament was close and it would be theirst meal like this for a while.

 Chapter 1672 The Tournament Grounds

    "So this is the Temple of the Four Guardians." Lin Mu looked upon arge templeplex that was spanned nearly two kilometers in size.


    There were tall walls bordering it, with hundreds of guards patrolling along it. There were archers perched upon towers that were built at equal distances, ready to act upon any enemy that dared to attack them.


    In the center of it, one could see a massive building, that may as well be a pce. It was expansive and had four giant statues built at its top. These statues could be seen for a long distance as they were all nearly three hundred meters tall.


    The building they were standing upon was also equally tall. There were six courtyards that extended outwards from the temple, each of them being hundreds of meters in size too.


    These courtyards were the amodation of the priests that served the temple as well as other administrative buildings that were necessary for the functioning of the temple.


    Along with all this, there was a wide open area that was filled with a crowd of people that hade to worship the guardians.


    Some of them knelt on the ground, some bowed their heads towards the temple while some simply stood and prayed.


    But this crowd was not allowed to go past the second boundary wall and could only pray from the outside. Entry into the temple''s main area was only allowed on special asions and even then to only a few lucky people.


    For most people, just being able to reach the outer area of the temple alone was enough to satisfy them. Only the nobles and a few strong experts were qualified to enter the main grounds of the temple.


    But that wasn''t all, as the concentration of Qi was high here too. Both spirit Qi and immortal Qi was abundant, making one feel refreshed even if one stood in the outer area of the temple.


    And if one went to the inner area, or the temple itself, the concentration would only increase.


    Then there were the formations and runes that covered the entire Temple as well as the surrounding grounds. The walls were covered in defensive and offensive formations, while the ones in the inner area of the temple were simply unreadable.


    ''They are certainly secured. The encryption is of the highest level I''ve seen so far.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as his immortal sense scanned the formations.


    There were special arrays that prevented one from using their immortal sense too, thus it couldn''t go past the inner boundary wall. Lin Mu reckoned he might be able to force his way in with a little effort, but that would bring a whole bucket load of troubles.


    "Just the formations alone are worthy of learning from." Lin Mu muttered.


    One could even say, being able to enter the temple grounds was an opportunity in itself. The winners and top contestants of thepetition would be allowed within them, thus it was another extra reward for them.


    "Let''s give our entry then, shall we?" Lin Mu said looking at Little Shrubby on his shoulder.


    While he had finished the registration upon appearing in the city in the past, Lin Mu still needed to give his entry that he was appearing for the tournament today. After all, there were people who would register but never turn up for it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    For this Lin Mu entered the outer grounds of the temple and walked to one of the many counters that had been set up for the contestants. The outer grounds were rather vast and allowed for hundreds of counters to be set up along with hundreds of lines for contestants.


    And the speed of processing was very fast too, as one merely needed to tap their identity token on a formation te and walk on. This basically meant that the lines were being processed very fast and there was almost no wait time.


    Lin Mu wasn''t the only one with a beast either, as there were several beast tamers among the contestants. Though the ones withrge beasts simply kept them in their beast storage treasures or kept them away for now.


    It only took Lin Mu five minutes to pass through the line, and then arrive in the next section.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "They did say the Tournament wasn''t inside the temple grounds, but in a different area." Lin Mu muttered as he followed after the rest of the crowd.


    With the sheer number of people present, it was almost like an army that was marching toward a battlefield.


    The sound of millions of people merged into a strange cacophony, as Lin Mu finally arrived on the Tournament field!


    "The Grand Guardian Tournament Field." Lin Mu read the massive formation banner that was floating in the air.


    There was arge translucent dome that was covering a radius of nearly ten kilometers. Within this, there were hundreds of fighting rings set up. Some were small, being only a few tens of meters wide, to some big ones that were nearly five hundred meters wide.


    They were spaced out almost evenly, with seats built between them.


    Formation screens were also floating in the air, allowing one to see the events happening in the other rings.


    With the number of matches that would be happening, it was normal that the audience won''t be able to move around to see all of them. Thus, the formation screens were an absolute necessity.


    Of course, there were private and VIP areas too, within which the more influential and powerful people could sitfortably and watch the tournament. For them, special formation screens were set up, that could be changed at will.


    For themoners, they could only watch as the screens scrolled through different rings automatically.


    "Now that... is massive." Lin Mu gasped as he saw the sheer scale of the tournament. "Just this alone could be an entire city or two." He muttered.


    It wouldn''t be wrong either, as the number of people currently present here was already in the tens of millions.

 Chapter 1673 The Tournament Commences!

    Seeing the massive tournament grounds, Lin Mu was certainly awed.


    He was already expecting something bit, but this was simply beyond that.


    "Let''s find a ce for ourselves, first." Lin Mu spoke to Little Shrubby, who was looking around with curiosity as well.


    He took out his token and injected a little Qi into it.


    ~SHUA~


    Some information appeared on it, allowing Lin Mu to find out where he was supposed to go to.


    "Huh... So my first fight will be in ring number 238." Lin Mu took note.


    He then looked around and soon spotted the ring numbers that were present on all the rings. But finding one that was his was proving to be a bit difficult.


    ~SHUA~


    This made Lin Mu spread his immortal sense around, covering arge amount of area in one go.


    "There," Lin Mu spotted his ring that was rtively far from his position. ''No wonder I couldn''t see it. It''s quite literally on the opposite end of the tournament grounds.'' He thought.


    This spoke of just howrge the ce was. Even with so many rings, there were multiple matches scheduled in all of them, thus the contestants would have to wait till their turn arrived.


    And as of now, no match had actually started. The high crowd density was simply because the people had arrived early to upy the good spots. Since the cost for basic seats was just a single low grade immortal stone, most people could easily afford it.


    The basic seats weren''t assigned either and as long as one came to upy it first, they would get to keep it. This was whying early was an important thing for the audience. Though the same could be applied for the contestants.


    While the contestants didn''t need to buy a seat, they were part of the audience too for the most part. After all, they wouldn''t be fighting all the time. Once their match was over, depending on the result, their next match could take anywhere from hours to days.


    Lin Mu walked through the crowd and passed by several rings before finally reaching the very back of the Tournament grounds.


    "The crowd is a bit light here at least." Lin Mu muttered as he looked around.


    The seating area was about half filled right now, but more people seem to be arriving. Since the area was so far back, it was normal for it to be filledter.


    "Let''s just sit at the front. It''ll be easier to go for the match and we''ll get a better view." Lin Mu said.


    "Yes! It''s the best seat." Little Shrubby agreed.


    With that said, Lin Mu picked one of the empty seats in the front row and sat down. The seats next to him were empty too, but in just ten minutes, more people had arrived to fill them up. And when another half an hour passed, this ring''s eating area was filled too.


    The chatter of people melded together to turn into a strange drone. If there were mortals here, they might find it enough to give them a headache. But for the cultivators who had better control over their senses, filtering out such noise was normal.


    Lin Mu was doing the same and was looking around the crown for anyone interesting. He had already memorized the list of ''high value'' contestants and wondered if there were any near him or in his ring.


    "None seem to be in mine. Though I guess that is normal. This is just the first round anyways." Lin Mu said before suddenly looking up.


    ~SHUA~


    The formation screens in the sky all lit up and hundreds of runes swam in them. Before this, they just looked like transparent screens with nothing on them, but now they were finally starting up.


    A string of words soon appeared on them, while glowing brightly.


    ''Grand Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts!''


    Once the words appeared, they moved to the top like a title and a scene materialized on it. An old man dressed in dark brown robes seemed to be standing on a tall dais. He had a long white beard along with white hair that was tied neatly behind his head.


    He certainly looked like an elder and not just any elder, but an elder of the Temple!


    ''The people of the temple will be the one''s overseeing this after all.'' Lin Mu had identified their unique robes.


    The easiest way to know that they belonged to the temple was the special symbol on their robes.


    There was a crest on the center of their chest that depicted four characters around a circle. These were none other than the four cardinal directions, and the circle was apass. They were supposed to represent the four guardian beasts.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Wee, fellow cultivators and immortals!" The elder spoke, his voice echoing throughout the tournament grounds. "I know all of you are eager to fight and to watch others fight, thus I won''t dy this much.


    "I am pleased to announce that the Grand Tournament of the Four Guardian Beasts has now begun!"


    A cacophony of excited cries and screams could be heard, apanied by heavy apuse as the entire tournament ground erupted.


    Lin Mu could feel the surging excitement as well as the battle intent that was slowly spreading throughout the area. After all, all the people here were cultivators. The sheer number of them was enough to make a nation or two. And these were just the people that were in attendance.


    Not to mention, there were a lot of experts among them too.


    Thebination of their Qi fluctuations turned into strong waves that subsequently rose the concentration of immortal Qi in the entire area. Perhaps if a mortal were to appear here, they might be knocked out by the sheer presence of everyone.


    Lin Mu watched on as the elder on the screen raised his palm, gesturing for everyone to quiet down.


    "As everyone should already know by now, the starting qualifiers will require a contestant to win five fights in a row in order to reach the next round. The names of the contestants will be disyed on the screen as well as be announced, thus they should all pay attention.


    I hope that you all are already in your respective rings and ready for your fights." The elder exined.


    The people calmly listened with some of them nodding on their own while a few that had anxious expression. It was clear that some of the contestants had yet to reach their respective rings.


    They could only hope that their fights wouldn''t start before they reached it.


    "Now then, the first round shall begin now! ALL COMMENCE!" The elder said out loud.


    ~GONG~


    The sound of a loud bell was heard as the very air shook from its force. All the formations screens in the rings changed and showed the contestants of the first rounds.


    Lin Mu took a look and saw that it was just some unknown names.


    "Song Fu and Feilei Zhang approach the ring!" an announcement was heard.


    In addition to showing their names on the screen, their faces were also shown. This served as an easy way to identify the contestants as well as to promote their identities. After all, this was a martial gathering that was meant for the cultivators to disy their skill, show their merit and obtain rewards.


    The more they were showy, the better it was for them. Many of them also had a lot of bets riding on their backs, after all.


    The people watched on as two men approached the ring. Both of them looked to be average and had a cultivation base at the first tribtion stage of the immortal realm.


    "Hah, just some basic immortals."


    "I hoped our rings would be one of those with great contestants right from the start. But seems like I wished too much."This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "There are literally hundreds of rings here. You really need some good luck to be in one of those rings."


    The people around Lin Mu talked animatedly. Most seemed to be neutral about it and were simplyining for the sake of it but there were some that were just disappointed.


    "That Song Fu will surely lose."


    "Are you sure? His gait is a bit disturbed and his energy fluctuations are weaker." Someonemented.


    "Feilei Zhang seems to be stronger, but you can tell his vitality is lower."


    It didn''t take long for people to start guessing who might win.


    "Let''s take a look too, shall we?" Lin Mu felt a bit interested and extended his immortal sense.


    ~SHUA~


    It spread quickly and covered the two men, revealing their condition to him.


    Since this was just the starting rounds, there was no extra protection against the immortal senses of others. But in thetter fights, any kind of interference was prohibited. For now, though, people could take a look as much as they wanted.


    After all, it would give them a better grasp on the contestants forter.

 Chapter 1674 The First Ring Battle And Observations

    "Hmm¡­ They certainly don''t stand out much." Lin Mu muttered upon sensing the cultivation bases of the two.


    Both the contestants, Song Fu and Feilei Zhang, were nearly the same in terms of cultivation. The others hadmented that there were some other discrepancies between the two, but Lin Mu ignored them.


    They were just spection and not much could be said just by looking. Even for Lin Mu, who had used his immortal sense, there was only so much he could figure out without directly probing into their Dantians.


    But doing that would be offensive and would count as interfering in the match. While the overseers of the tournament allowed people to observe the contestants in the starting rounds, there were still limited to how far they could go.


    While Lin Mu was thinking about this, a referee appeared on the stage.


    "The rules of this round are simple. The two contestants shall fight until either one of them is unable to continue, is pushed out of the ring or admits defeat. Killing the opponent is prohibited and so are crippling moves." The referee dictated.


    The rules of the tournament were standard and Lin Mu had fought using them before too.


    ''It''s been such a long time since then¡­'' Lin Mu recalled the first and only tournament that he had fought in. Now that hepared the change in standard, he couldn''t help but find it a bit surreal.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu calmed himself and focused on the fight again.


    The two contestants cupped their hands in greeting before the referee spoke again.


    "FIGHT!" The referee announced.


    Song Fu was the first to move and directly attacked with his fists. They glowed in a green light and took on a gauntlet like form around his hands.


    "Evergreen Jaguar Fists!"


    Song Fu pounced upon Feilei Zhang like a beast, his fists threatening to tear him apart.


    "Humph!" But the man wasn''t one to be outdone so easily.


    He withdrew a pair of whips from his spatial storage tool and swung them toward the man.


    ~CRACK~


    With the speed of the whips, Song Fu was caught off guard and was struck!


    ~THWACK~


    ~THWACK~


    One of the whips struck the man''s right hand while the other struck him on his left shoulder. While he wasn''t injured visibly, he was certainly knocked off course, allowing Feilei Zhang to avoid his fists.


    Song Fu quickly stepped to the wide and avoided the iing whip before opening his fists like ws.


    ~WHOOSH~


    They ripped through the air but were unable to hit Feilei Zhang.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Ugh! You loach." Song Fu cursed before lunging at the man.


    "You''re the one pouncing like a beast." Feilei Zhang retorted, snapping back with his whips.


    The two whips were nearly five meters long, giving the man plenty of range. That,bined with his footwork, Feilei Zhang was basically dancing around the ring. Song Fu, on the other hand, was like a bull that was being led around.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    His end turned out to be the same too, as he miscalcted his charge. Just as Song Fu was about to reach Feilei Zhang, the man swung his right whip horizontally, while using his left whip to pull himself to the other side.


    He spun around Song Fu like a pinwheel before anchoring his feet on the floor changing the momentum and throwing Song Fu away.


    ~THUD~


    The mannded outside the ring with a dumbstruck expression.


    "Feilei Zhang is the winner!" The referee promptly announced.


    ~WOOOO~


    The audience was excited as they watched the first fight end.


    "Now that wasn''t so bad."


    "Feilei Zhang yed Song Fu around as if he were a monkey."


    "Ahaha! He was simply a tamer with a whip disciplining an unruly beast!"


    There was nock ofments from the audience, with plenty of them mocking Song Fu. The man in question had a frustrated expression on his face when the realization of his loss dawned on him.


    Unfortunately for him, his journey in the tournament woulde to an end here.


    "Not again¡­" Song Fu shook his head and let out a sigh before retreating to his seat.


    Lin Mu who had watched the entire battle closely, only had a few points in his mind.


    ''Song Fu was too reckless, but the key to Feilei Zhang''s victory was his footwork.'' Lin Mu understood.


    In the entire fight, Song Fu had gotten close to Feilei Zhang several times. If onepared their speeds, Song Fu was clearly the superior one. But Feilei Zhang had his footwork that allowed him to dodge and maneuver around Song Fu better.


    The man had assessed his opponent quickly and knew what would be the best.


    ''The whips aren''t his main weapons either.'' Lin Mu could tell.


    The way Feilei Zhang moved and his body was, Lin Mu could tell that he was actually a sword user. Him using whips was a decision he had made on the spot, and it had worked in his favor.


    "Interesting¡­" In just the very first fight, Lin Mu had obtained small insights inbat.


    It was even more clear to him, since he also recognized the techniques that the two men had used. The Evergreen Jaguar Fists was one of themon fist techniques that could be bought in most ces.


    Lin Mu had seen it in the Grand Sky Pavilion before and had read about it. Other than being aggressive and direct, the technique wasn''t that special. It was asmon as it could get.


    But Feilei Zhang''s footwork was different.


    Lin Mu found it to be a mix of at least three different foot work techniques and they had been assimted by the man before being molded ording to his own understanding.


    ''He''ll be an interesting opponent to face if hests till my turn.'' Lin Mu thought. ''He is a swordsman, thus his footwork should be for swordy too. But he applied it differently this time.''


    Lin Mu reckoned the man''s power should be greater if he was using a sword.

 Chapter 1675 A Man With A Tall Hat

    After the end of the battle between Song Fu and Feilei Zhang, there were four more fights. At first, Lin Mu had thought that Feilei Zhang would fight again, but it was someone else that had a fight scheduled.


    ''Guess this might be their way of letting the contestants rest a bit.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    The subsequent four fights were all different people, with no one repeating so far. The fights were nothing remarkable and all the participants were at the first tribtion stage of the immortal realm.


    This was normal, as the majority of the cultivators were at this level.


    But Lin Mu could hear some strong cheersing from a couple of nearby rings. He couldn''t look directly, but when he used his immortal sense to do so, he ''saw'' two rings where strong immortals were fighting.


    In one of the rings, a third tribtion stage immortal was battling a First Tribtion Stage immortal while in the second ring, a Fourth Tribtion stage immortal was going against a Second Tribtion Stage immortal.


    It was clear that the odds were stacked against the weaker immortals, but they were still giving their all and hadn''t surrendered at the start. It was clear that they were here to test their skills and didn''t mind it even if their loss was already decided.


    Their battle was briefly finishing in just a couple of minutes with the winners being those with the higher cultivation.


    Lin Mu took note of the Third and Fourth Tribtion Stage immortals, as he was sure that they would be one of the contenders that would probablyst till the end of the qualifier rounds.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    But that wasn''t all as he had recognized the Third Tribtion Stage immortal. He was one of the people of interest that were included in the booklet and was named Xiong Guo. He had an established reputation and there were already people betting on him.


    Compared to him, the Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal was unknown. She was named Fu Xiaoling and this seemed to be her first battle as well as her very first Tournament of the Four Guardians.


    But simply the fact that she was at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm was enough to catch the attention of all the people as well as the bookies. There were already updates going around, with her odds for bets being decided.


    At the same time, people were trying to figure out her background and details, as nothing seemed to be known so far. If not for the fact that she wasn''t particrly beautiful, the attention she received would have only been greater.


    Other than that, it was clear that she was now going to be one of the dark horses of the tournament.


    Lin Mu took note of both contestants, knowing that there was a significant chance he might be meeting at least one of them.


    "Chang Fa and Mu Lin approach the ring!" A new round started stirring Lin Mu out of his thoughts.


    The identity token in his hand also rang, telling him that it was finally his turn.


    "Looks like it is time." Lin Mu said as he stood up. "You can stay here for now, Little Shrubby." He said, cing the beast in his seat.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The beast gave a nod while Lin Mu went to the ring. Having sat in the front row, it was rather easy for him to reach the ring, as it was just a few meters away.


    The same couldn''t be said for his opponent though, as the man had still not appeared. This made Lin Mu realize that he didn''t know who his opponent was, making him look up at the formation screen.


    But when he did, a confused expression appeared on his face.


    "Is that¡­ A hat?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    The formation screen showed the portraits of the contestants. On one side, there was Lin Mu and on the other, there was Chang Fa.


    Except the man seemed to have some strange tastes in fashion. On his head, there was a hat¡­ A hat that was nearly a meter tall!


    In fact, it was so tall that it actually didn''t fit in the portrait properly, making them zoom out so that the full head of the man could be seen.


    Lin Mu had seen a few hats that were big or tall, most of them being ceremonial in nature. But he had never seen a hat that was this tall.


    "Did he register in some ceremonial getup or something?" Lin Mu wondered.


    But his eyes soon spotted something long and ck moving in the audience. He looked towards it only to see a ck pir moving in the audience''s rows. It moved towards the steps before the rest of its body was shown.


    "He really wore the hat," Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe his eyes.


    Chang Fa was about 160 centimeters tall, but the hat on his head added a whole 100 centimeter to it. When he was moving in the audience, his body couldn''t be seen but the tall hat stood out like a ostrich among chickens.


    And now that he had appeared in the open, Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder about the man.


    He had an oval face with a sharp mustache that almost looked like it was shaped using some cream. He had no beard, but the strap of his hat hung from his chin, looking like a thin but long beard.


    Lin Mu wasn''t the only one who seemed to be confused by the man''s appearance, as the audience was mumbling about him too. None of them could make out why the man would dress like this.


    Chang Fa had a straight expression on his face and didn''t seem to be the least bit bothered about the others. He simply approached the ring and came to stand in front of Lin Mu in a few seconds.


    The referee though was professional and showed no change in expression after seeing the man. It was clear that the people of the temple were calm andposed.

 Chapter 1676 13th Generation Heir Of The Iron Pillar Mane Clan!

    "Umm¡­" Lin Mu wanted to greet his opponent but was interrupted before that.


    "I, Chang Fa, shall end your journey here today!" The man said with great confidence pping his chest in a taunt.


    It only made Lin Mu find the man absurder. He looked towards the referee whose lips were pressed in a thin line.


    "Ahahah! I like him already!"


    "What confidence! Does anyone know where he''s from or something?"


    "Nah, he seems like a new contestant too. I don''t see him in any information booklets."


    The people in the audience found Chang Fa rather funny. One could say that this was one of the other methods to quickly gain a reputation. It might notst very long, but it was quick to pull everyone''s attention.


    Of course, it was yet to be proven whether this was intentional on Chang Fa''s part or not.


    "Both contestants ready?" The referee spoke up.


    Seeing that the match was going to start now, Lin Mu simply cupped his fists perfunctorily before spreading his immortal sense. He wasn''t one to get caught off guard, and the first step to avoiding that was to be alert.


    Chang Fa''s cultivation base seemed to be at the Second Tribtion stage of the immortal realm, the highest so far in this ring as even Lin Mu''s Qi cultivation base was just at the first stage.


    Others couldn''t sense his body cultivation after all, since all energy fluctuations were contained within his body. Even his aura was suppressed, making it seem like he was just a normal First Tribtion Stage immortal.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu''s expression became still as the effects of the Calming heart sutra appeared. He wasn''t particrly wary about his opponent and certainly didn''t think he''d lose here, but he had an inkling of a belief that his opponent was not simple.


    At the very least, Lin Mu reckoned he''d get to see and learn something new.


    "Ready." Lin Mu calmly said.


    "Ready!" Chang Fa said as well, bringing his hands to his forehead.


    Lin Mu watched as the man extended his index fingers, tucking them under the rim of his hat.


    "FIGHT!" As soon as the referee said that, Chang Fa flicked his fingers upward.


    ~WHOOSH~


    His tall hat directly flew out, revealing what was hidden underneath.


    "What the¡­"


    "Is that¡­"


    "Hair?"


    The people in the audience were caught off guard. They had thought Chang Fa was simply wearing a strangely tall hat, but they now realized it was only the start of the strangeness.


    The man didn''t just have a tall hat, his hair was also just as tall!


    Lin Mu stared at the man with meter-long hair that stood straight up like a pir. And before he could think much, Chang Fa spoke.


    "Iron Pir Mane Arts! First art, Iron Bow!"


    The tall hair on top of Chang Fa''s head suddenly elongated, turning from one meter tall to nearly eight meters tall!


    ~WHOOSH~<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Then in the next moment, it descended towards Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu''s eyes were locked onto it from the start and he tracked the trajectory of the hair pir. It fell towards him at a great speed, but Lin Mu reacted at a greater speed.


    ~step~


    ~CLANG~


    The eight meter tall hair pir crashed into the ground, making a sound simr to an iron rod being struck. But even if it had hit the ground, there was no damage to the ground and neither to the intended target.


    Lin Mu had simply side stepped the iing hair pir. While it seemed like he had narrowly dodged it to others, it was a calcted move on his part.


    "Now that''s new." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say, a slight smile appearing on his face.


    "Be prepared to face the power of the 13th generation heir of the Iron Pir Mane n!" Chang Fa said, raising his head again.


    ~WHOOSH~


    This time he moved it horizontally, intending to m Lin Mu away, but the man simply leaped into the air, rising twenty meters effortlessly.


    During the entire process, Lin Mu''s sight was locked on the man''s movements while his immortal sense constantly analyzed it all.From N?velDrama.Org.


    "You¡­ are a body cultivator?" Lin Mu finally realized.


    "So what if I am? You''re gonna mock me?" Chang Fa said while whipping his head around.


    The hair pir moved in a circle, but Lin Mu simply leaped again.


    "No, rather I''d like to see more." Lin Mu said, his smile widening.


    "You wanna see more? Sure!" Chang Fa straightend his head, the hair pir starting to split. "Iron Pir Mane Arts! Second art, Iron Star!"


    The hair pir split into hundreds of spikes, making Chang Fa''s head look like a bottle brush.


    With the hair split like this, Lin Mu had less space to maneuver around, especially since flying was still not possible. This was one of the major constraints of the Tournament that everyone had to follow or rather was forced to follow.


    Though it also served as a way to show just how well the experts could show their skills despite being weighed down by the limitations.


    "Alright, this feels a bit concerning now." Lin Mu said, seeing that the area he could now move had reduced.


    The ring was roughly a hundred meters in diameter and now Chang Fa was upying twenty meters of that with his hair extended.


    ~step~


    Lin Munded ten meters from the man, and watched his next move.


    Chang Fa brought his arms close to himself before twisting around rapidly. In the next second, his body started to spin like a top, his hair acting like a deadly blender. He tilted towards Lin Mu, moving in his direction.


    ~SPARK~


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    His hair struck the ground, creating sparks and leaving scratches on it. The speed of the man only increased more, as he neared Lin Mu.


    And for Lin Mu, the area to dodge was only getting smaller.


    The audience watched with bated breaths as the man/hair/top threatened to shred Lin Mu.

 Chapter 1677 A Hairy Fight

    From what Lin Mu had seen so far, he had to admit that it was beyond his expectations.


    "Hahaha!" Lin Mu suddenlyughed, surprising the audience.


    "Has he lost it?"


    "Maybe. He does have a weaker cultivation base than his opponent after all."


    "He might have been able to dodge all this time, but now he''s in a tough spot."


    "You''re right. That Hair guy is certainly something. I don''t think I''ve ever seen a body cultivation technique like that."


    "Dual cultivating Qi and body isn''t easy and considering his Qi cultivation is at the second tribtion stage, he might have bnced his body with it too."


    The people in the audience had a lot to say about it all. There were already people wondering just who Chang Fa was and what his background was.


    The bookies and their informants were hard at work, trying to learn about the Iron Pir Mane n.


    They reckoned since Chang Fa was the 13th heir, there should certainly be more information about them. If not in the Dao Wind Empire, they reckoned they should find it in the other continents.


    After all, the informants that were present for the tournament knew about all empires and kingdoms and had their reach spread there too.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    Chang Fa paid no attention to the talks and simply focused on spinning as he approached Lin Mu. The distance between the two was just five meters when Lin Mu made his move.


    "You''ve certainly caught my interest now. I''d like to see what else does your technique hold." Lin Mu said before a doubled edged sword appeared in his hand.


    It was none other than Afternoon Pine!


    ~HUMM~


    As soon as Lin Mu held the sword, his demeanor changed and a wave of oppression spread on the field. The experienced immortals sitting in the audience didn''t fail to notice either and those that were swordsmen themselves narrowed their eyes.


    "A Sword Cultivator?" The referee said in a low voice.


    ~SLASH~


    In the next moment, a glint of light was seen before a wave of energy covered the ring.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    Only a single swing of the sword was needed for arge sword imprint to sh against the spinning form of Chang Fa. His hundreds of spikes were now hitting the sword imprint, unable to progress ahead.


    "Huh? WHAT!?" Some of the people in the audience finally realized what was happening.


    "Sword Intent! SWORD INTENT!"


    "Mu Lin is a Sword cultivator!"


    The sharp feeling of Sword intent was unmistakable and with the amount that Lin Mu was exuding showed them that he was no beginner either. This sword intent had been tempered over a long time and had been in several battles.


    "Show me more. I''d like to see your n''s skills." Lin Mu asked as he casually stepped to the side.


    Chang Fa was unable to change the direction of his movement either, as the iing sword imprint was pressing upon him too. If he stopped his spinning, he would certainly be struck by it and pushed back.


    Though a few secondster, the Sword imprint disappeared as Lin Mu had already moved away to the side.


    "You are certainly a worthy opponent for my n''s techniques. Very well!" Chang Fa finally responded upon stopping.


    He had felt the power from Lin Mu''s casual swing and knew that even if his own cultivation base was higher, Lin Mu''s sword intent was not easy to ovee.


    "Iron Pir Mane Arts! Third Art, Cascading Cowl!" The man shouted, his hair moving in response.


    Lin Mu could have easily attacked and defeated the man in this time, but he let him finish.


    ''Using Hair like this is certainly interesting¡­ It can certainly serve as a surprise move if used at the right time.'' To Lin Mu, this was just a learning opportunity.


    He had already determined that the abilities of Chang Fa belonged to the body cultivation type. The man was also a dual body and Qi cultivator, but his body cultivation was just equivalent to the first tribtion stage of the immortal realm.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    From what Lin Mu could analyze by now, the man was using Qi cultivation to power his hair while his body cultivation was so that he was strong enough to bear it as well as endure the attacks.


    ''His n is certainly unique to have bnced both Qi and body cultivation toe up with a technique like this. If there is no bnce of both, it simply wouldn''t work.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    It was quite rare for someone to focus on both paths intentionally, after all. Most that did so were those that needed topensate for some weakness that was brought upon by following a single one. But even then, they wouldn''t follow both paths to the extreme.


    After all, they wouldn''t have the needed time nor resources for that.


    But for a n to make a technique that necessitated both paths was different. It meant they had the confidence for one to be able to achieve with both paths.


    "You will be the first person to witness the true glory of the Iron Pir mane n!" Chang Fa said as his form grew.


    Lin Mu watched with hawk like eyes as the man''s hair softened and started to wrap around his body. It covered every inch of his body and started weaving around it. A few secondster, it had fully covered his body and made it look twice as bulky.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Chang Fa had grown to a height of 250 centimeters due to the hair enhancing him, while his arms had grown to a thickness of thirty centimeters!


    It was as if he had grown into a buff man.


    But all of the muscles that he had wereposed of hair!


    "Now this¡­ is intriguing." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    ~CLACK~ CLACK~


    Chang Fa clenched his fists as a crushing sound was heard.


    "Now¡­ take my fist!" The man punched towards Lin Mu!


    ~WHOOSH~


    A gust of wind was whipped up because of his punch, but Lin Mu was unfazed. The only thing that moved were his robes, while he only lifted his sword in response.


    ~CLANG~


    Lin Mu''s sword blocked the iing fist while Chang Fa kept on pushing.


    "A mere sword isn''t enough to harm me, even if you are a sword cultivator." Chang Fa said as his hair muscles rippled.


    ~WIGGLE~


    In the next moment, the hair on his shoulders moved and a tendril shot towards Lin Mu. It quickly wrapped around the sword, and pulled at it.


    "You''ll need to try harder." Lin Mu said as he directly pulled his hand back.


    ~SCREECH~


    As if metal was being shorn, a loud screeching sound was heard.


    Afternoon Pine was ripped out of the man''s grasp while Lin Mu used his legs to pivot to the right, avoiding the man''s other first.


    ~DENG~


    Chang Fa''s fist hit the ground, missing Lin Mu while he twirled around to stab him from the back.


    ~CLANG~


    But Afternoon Pine was stopped from slicing into the man''s back. The Hair was dense as if woven from steel, preventing the sword from going deeper than a couple of centimeters.


    "My hair is not so weak as to be cut by your sword!" Chang Fa shouted while waving his fist around.


    Lin Mu flicked his sword as a sword imprint shot from it, deflecting Chang Fa''s attack.


    ~SLASH~SLASH~SLASH~


    Lin Mu didn''t stop there either and shed out several times. Each of his attacks targeted one of the man''s parts. Some shes held back his limbs, while some targeted his torso. There was even a sh going directly for his head, but much to Lin Mu''s surprised a hair tentacle formed into a palm and stopped it as well.


    "That''s quite nice. Your control over hair is still maintained." Lin Mu praised honestly.


    "Oh? Is that you mocking my technique?" Chang Fa responded.


    "No¡­ I can appreciate the benefits of a technique. It is certainly good." Lin Mu replied without prejudice. "Unfortunately, I don''t think you will be able to continue after this round." He added.


    "We''ll see about that!'' Chang Fa said before letting out a roar.


    ~HAAAH!~


    All the hair on his body rippled as a powerful aura surged from it. The hair suddenly blew out like a balloon and deflected all the sword imprints that were holding Chang Fa back.


    ~BOOM~


    Without missing a beat, Chang Fa charged after Lin Mu, his fist rippling with power.


    "A stronger attack, for sure." Lin Mu muttered as his eyes scanned the power contained in the fist.


    The hair was channeling and amplifying all the Qi within his arm, while also toughening it.


    Lin Mu reckoned if this were a third tribtion immortal facing it, he would get injured too. But unfortunately, it was him here.


    ~Sigh~


    "Time to finish it." Lin Mu said before activating the skill of Afternoon Pine.


    ~Hong~


    A pir of yellow light rose up!

 Chapter 1678 A Baffling Draw

    A mix of Sword Intent and Metal attribute immortal Qi rose from Lin Mu''s sword as the skill activated.


    A pir of light rose up from Lin Mu''s sh, quickly transforming into a pine tree. Its trunk rapidly grew, while branches extended from it. The branches then sprouted twigs and leaves that all locked the body of Chang Fa within them.


    The Pine Tree was incredibly tough and no matter how much Chang Fa struggled, he couldn''t free his body. Even when using his tough hair, he was unable to wiggle out of it.


    The branches and twigs of the Pine Tree were criss-crossing, tangling with the hair while the leaves locked it in ce.


    "How can this be?!" Chang Fa shouted in protest.


    He had thought that his victory was close and yet, the odds had been turned with just a single sh from Lin Mu.


    ''Had he always been ying with me from the start!?'' Chang Fa couldn''t help but wonder.


    He had many ambitions and thoughts. He hade to the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts so that he could let his n rise to glory. But now it seemed like his n was going to end before it even began.


    Chang Fa''s eyes were bloodshot while he struggled to push back against the yellow pine tree. And yet, he was overpowered with ease. He looked at the person who was behind it all and suddenly found him standing next to him.


    "Huh, what?" Chang Fa could swear Lin Mu was on the other end of the ring just a couple of seconds ago.


    "Are you unwilling?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Chang Fa didn''t answer right away, thinking that this was Lin Mu''s way of mocking him.


    "Hmm, your gaze is enough of an answer." Lin Mu said before doing something that shocked Chang Fa.


    "What is he doing?" The people sitting in the audience couldn''t figure out Lin Mu''s actions either.


    Even the referee narrowed his eyes, finding Lin Mu''s actions strange, suspicious even. But before he could act, he saw something stunning.


    "He¡­ he left the ring!" someone in the audience shouted.


    Everyone watched as both Chang Fa and Lin Mu were now standing outside the ring. Just a few moments ago, Lin Mu had held onto Chang Fa and had been carried out of the ring along with him.


    This had left everyone dumbstruck, and they couldn''t figure out why he had done so.


    "Who left first?"


    "Wasn''t it Chang Fa?"


    "No, it was both of them together."


    Now they couldn''t help but figure out how the winner would be decided.


    Chang Fa who was confused by Lin Mu''s actions, couldn''t help but finally speak.


    "W-Why¡­ Why would you¡­" Chang Fa found it hard to speak.


    "Do you not wish to let your n''s techniques be praised? Do you not wish to show the world that your n is strong, too?" Lin Mu questioned the man instead.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    His word struck right on the mark as Chang Fa gulped audibly.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I¡­ I do. But this¡­ I''ve lost¡­ rightfully too." Chang Fa admitted.


    "It would be a shame to see your journey end this fast. You were grossly mismatched, if I am to say so." Lin Mu replied. "If it were someone else, you were quite likely to prevail." He said before looking towards the referee.


    "Elder, this should be a draw, right? If I remember the rules correctly?" Lin Mu asked out loud.


    Before the tournament, Lin Mu had spent some time learning about the rules and intricacies of the tournament. After all, he never knew when he would have to y them ording to his advantage or bend a disadvantageous situation to his benefit using the rules.


    What he was doing right now was shocking, but still within the purview of the rules. Even if it might be considered very reckless.


    "You are right. If both the contestants leave the ring, the match is considered a draw." The Referee confirmed.


    "WHAT!"


    "Is he giving up on the match!?"


    "NO WAY!! NO WAY AT ALL!"


    "Why would someone throw away a clear win like that?"


    The people in the audience were baffled at Lin Mu''s action.


    But Lin Mu didn''t care about that. Instead, he simply nodded his head.


    The Referee saw this and decided to go with what Lin Mu was wishing for. "Very well, then. This shall be a draw." He dered, "There is no winner for this match."


    A mix of shock and awe could be hearding from the audience, as they couldn''t believe their eyes and ears.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu paid no heed to it and simply dispelled the sword skill, freeing Chang Fa.


    Chang Fa too reeled his hair, returning it to its meter tall pir form. His hat automatically appeared to cover it and heposed himself.


    Having done this, he said in a low voice. "Chang Fa shall not forget this grace. A debt has been sown and shall be repaid."


    "Just show me a good fight and consider it repaid." Lin Mu said before returning to his seat.


    Along the way, there were hundreds of eyes looking at him.


    With his shocking actions, Lin Mu had all but sealed his image in the eyes of the audience. It could be said that there would be plenty of people now wondering who he was and trying to learn more about it. The bookies would be doing the same and one could imagine that Lin Mu''s betting rates would rise.


    After all, there weren''t many that knew Lin Mu had been invited by the Crown Prince himself before. If they knew, the shock would have been a lot greater.


    Chang Fa was left standing in his position for a few seconds before he let out a long sigh.


    ''I was mistaken this time¡­ there are indeed honorable people left.'' Chang Fa thought to himself as he walked to his seat.


    Lin Mu too sat back down, picking up Little Shrubby and cing him on hisp.

 Chapter 1679 Disinterest And An Acquaintances Match

    "Why did you choose to end it in a draw?" Little Shrubby asked after Lin Mu was in his seat.


    "I think it''ll be a lot more interesting this way." Lin Mu replied honestly. "Besides, I think I have more to learn from the man."


    "Couldn''t you have learned it back on the ring, too?" Little Shrubby knew his master''s strength and skills well enough.


    "I would have been sure¡­ But I would have to expose more of my strength. If I continued to limit myself, I think I might have actually been pushed off." Lin Mu replied.


    "Really?" Little Shrubby was surprised.


    "It might not seem like it, but Chang Fa was decently strong. His strength should at leastpare to that of a newly progressed Third Tribtion Stage immortal." Lin Mu answered. "Also, his body cultivation technique interests me. It is a bnce between both Qi and body cultivation, which I think I can adapt into my own style." He added.


    This was the truth, as Lin Mu could see himself utilizing his hair like this. While it might not be as good in an open fight like Chang Fa, since Lin Mu had his greater raw strength, it could still serve as a good way to sneak attack.


    ''I wonder if I can toughen my hair directly¡­'' Lin Mu hadn''t thought much about his hair before this.


    It''s characteristics were rather good though, as it grew fast and Lin Mu could somewhat control its growth too. He could slow it down or speed it up, though there were limits to this as well.


    But from what he had seen Chang Fa do, the control needed to use his techniques was on a different level.


    ''The cirction of Immortal Essence was very streamlined too¡­'' Lin Mu had been able to nce into the man''s technique and analyzed a bit.


    While he was unable to probe directly, the surface level information he could obtain was still enough to make him understand.


    ''I''ll have to look into itter. Though it doesn''t seem like it should be too hard. After all, controlling every part of your body is the basis of the Body cultivation path.'' Lin Mu pondered on it.


    And while he thought of all this, the next match had already started.


    It was between two first tribtion stage immortals and was a straightforward fight. Unlike Lin Mu and Chang Fa''s fight, which brought a twist at the end, this could be considered rather boring.


    The techniques used by the contestants were also simple andmon, making Lin Mu not care as much. Of course, he still tried to learn from the fight, but found it to be almost juvenile.


    ''These are just some young immortals sent by their families, aren''t they?'' Lin Mu guessed.


    And sure enough, once Lin Mu took a look into the information booklet, he confirmed it.


    The two contestants were from two expansive ns of the Dao Wind Empire. The Green Cloud n and the Ba De n. Though considering the cultivation base of the contestants, Lin Mu reckoned they were just from some branch.


    In the end, the contestant from the Ba De n won and progressed to the next round.


    ''Since I tied in the earlier round, I still need to win five more rounds. Hmm¡­ Hopefully, they schedule it soon.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He took a look at his tournament token and saw that there was still no match for information on it yet.


    "Since it was a draw, they shouldn''t dy it too much." Lin Mu muttered.


    He couldn''t do much other than just sit and watch the other matches. Unfortunately, the more he watched, the more he felt like the matches were getting mediocre. No more interesting contests appeared, eventually forcing him to take a look elsewhere.


    ~SHUA~<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    His immortal sense spread and reached the other rings nearby, trying to see if there was anything interesting going on. At that moment, there wasn''t much, but after a couple more rounds, he saw or rather heard, a familiar name.


    "Luo Liqin versus Yao Changying!"


    As soon as Lin Mu heard that, he wished to directly head to the ring where the fight was about to happen.


    Luo Liqin was an acquaintance while Yao Changying was someone he had been asked to defeat. The mission was given to them inmon, though Lin Mu had not thought they would really be facing someone like her this quickly.


    ''I need to learn more¡­'' Lin Mu focused his immortal sense on hearing the conversations of the audience.


    "That was fast. Didn''t Luo Liqin fight just five matches ago?"


    "Yeah, never thought his next fight would arrive this quick."


    "Pfft!~ Don''t worry, he won''t have to fight for long. He''ll be knocked out quick enough."


    "Why do you say that? Hisst fight was quite good and he defeated his opponent in a decent time too."


    "HAH! Do you not know who his opponent is?" someone asked in a mocking tone.


    "No¡­ is she someone big?" The other person denied.


    "You must not be from the empires, are you?"


    "I''m from the Eight Kingdom alliance."


    "No wonder. If you are from the backward ce, it makes sense." The man mocked. "Listen closely. Yao Changying is the niece of the Holy Topaz Emperor!"


    "What!?" Hearing this, the other man was stunned.


    "She''s ranked in the top five. There is no way she''d dy in the fight."


    ~SHUA~


    Just as they were speaking, the fight started. Lin Mu turned his focus to the ring too, and saw a massive change.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~Flutter~N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    Tens of thousands of flower petals descended upon the ring and creating a beautiful scene. And in it stood Yao Changying in a graceful posture.


    Her right hand was extended outwards with a single figure making a sword gesture. Her left hand was wrapped around her waist, while a cold yet beautiful expression was on her face.


    "Flourishing Flower Sword Art: First Flourish, Thousand Petal bloom!"

 Chapter 1680 Yao Changyings Skill And A Test Of Chants

    Lin Mu''s immortal sense observed the moves of Yao Changying.


    The moment the flower petals had appeared on the ring, Lin Mu knew that Luo Liqin was done for.


    ''Those flower petals each contain Dao Traces¡­ Yao Changying actually has great proficiency with the Sword Dao.'' Lin Mu instantly realized.


    From what he had heard from Princess Shang Yingtai, Yao Changying was someone who had tricked others and sacrificed them to gain power.


    ''But this level of proficiency doesn''te that easily¡­'' Lin Mu was a bit doubtful. ''At the very least, the technique she is using right now is of the Orthodox path.'' He reckoned.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The numerous flower petals followed the gesture of Yao Changying and rushed towards Luo Liqin.


    "Dammit!" The man couldn''t do much other than curse before he got bombarded by the petals.


    Each of the petals looked supple and beautiful, but in reality, they were all made out of Qi and had Dao Traces of Sword in them. They were incredibly sharp and left hundreds of cuts on Luo Liqin''s body.


    His robes were shredded while a pool of blood soon formed under him. Eventually, though, it was as if Yao Changying had enough and she made a flicking motion.


    ~BANG~


    The petals all came together and transformed into arge palm that knocked Luo Liqin out of the ring.


    ~DENG~


    His body collided with the formation barrier of the ring and wasn''t sent crashing into the audience.


    ~THUD~


    He eventually fell to the ground and fainted. Lin Mu who ''watched'' this, furrowed his brows and realized that Yao Changying was a lot stronger than he had thought.


    "Yao Changying is the winner!" The referee in the ring announced. "Take Luo Liqin for the treatment!" he ordered next.


    A few people quickly arrived and took the man away. With the injuries that had been inflicted on him, it was clear that it would take him a while to recover. Though Yao Changying had fully stayed within her limits and hadn''t done anything that would be in the vition of the rules.


    The cheering of the audience only made it seem like they were pleased with the result.


    Those who were seeing Yao Changying for the first time were impressed by her strength, while those that had heard about it decided to bet on her in theing rounds. Though, of course, with the strength of Yao Changying, the odds of her winning would be very high.


    The profits that the gamblers intended to make wouldn''t be much. Only when thepetition was fierce would the odds be better. Otherwise, it was the same as following a predetermined result.


    ''At least they wouldn''t let the contestants die.'' Lin Mu was pleased that the temple of the four guardian beasts also provided treatment to the wounded contestants.


    Though this was only in the case that they were injured in a fight and it would be given to them up to a certain limit. The priests would make sure that they wouldn''t die, but wouldn''t prevent anything like an internal injury or more.


    That was something the contestants needed to deal with themselves.


    After the match ended, Yao Changying left the ring and walked up to her VIP seat, which was located in a tower that overlooked several rings at once. Lin Mu wanted to take a look there to but found there to be protective formations that prevented any immortal sense from spying on them.


    ''Hmm¡­ Guess they keep this much security.'' Lin Mu noted.


    He looked around more to see if there were any other acquaintances of his that were in battles, but didn''t find any.


    ''Other than Luo Liqin there''s no one nearby. They must be in the rings on the other side.'' Lin Mu thought that it was already luck that Yao Changying was located this close to him.


    Or rather, a few rings away from his ring. From N?velDrama.Org.


    One thing was assured though, Yao Changying would have no issues reaching the semifinals. As far as Lin Mu''s sense could tell, there weren''t that many who could oppose her. The only ones that did exist were those in the top five.


    After an hour or so, Lin Mu got bored of looking around and focused his attention back on his own ring.


    "Fifteen battles have gone by and there''s still not a single good one." Lin Mu muttered, having seen a few.


    None of the contestants were strong enough to be worth his attention and neither did they have any good skills. Chang Fa was thest person to have interested him, both character and skill wise.


    This led his mind to wander and the memories of thest tournament reappeared in his mind.


    ''It seemed all so interesting back then. Everyone''s skill seemed novel and new, but now¡­ it seems mundane.'' Lin Mu pondered deeply.


    Another hour passed like this, after which Lin Mu suddenly thought of something.


    It was not a normal thought and was something that could even be considered a bit risky.


    "The Nine Divine Heart Sutras¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he recalled a particr thing he had done in thest tournament.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was also something he hadn''t done for a while now.


    ''I haven''t practiced using them on other people much now¡­ Should I try them again?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Before this, he hadn''t had that many opportunities of using them on strong immortals. And even if he had seen others, they were usually weak enough that Lin Mu never needed to use them on his enemies.


    But now, he reckoned this was possibly the best ce he could test it out.


    ''They are ultimately, all my opponents. It should be fine for me to test it out after their fight''s progress a bit.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Knowing that he had to be selfish in apetition like this, Lin Mu made his decision. He then took out a paper fan and held it out in front of him, hiding half of his face. It even suited him, as there were several people doing the same.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu looked at the current fight.


    It was a fight between two men, and both seemed to be evenly matched. One was named Xiong An and the other was named Yang Jagak.


    Xiong An was using a saber and its matching skills to fight, while Yang Jagak was a staff user.


    The two had been battling for five minutes now, but no one wasing out on top.


    "Yang Jagak''s Six Fluted Staff technique is decent."


    "But Xiong An''s Splitting Wrath Saber is fiercer."


    Two people among the audience chatted.


    "Bah! Even if it is fierce, it doesn''t seem like his skill is beyond Yang Jagak''s. It can''t match the swift blocks and dodges of the staff." Another expertmented.


    It was normal since Yang Jagak''s staff gave him some extra range and allowed him to attack Xiong An at a distance. Overall, Yang Jagak was of the passive and controlled stance, while Xiong An was the aggressive one.


    Lin Mu who heard the conversations as well as the match, felt like it was a decent chance to use his skills.


    ''Let''s start from the beginning¡­'' Lin Mu thought as his lips started to move.


    No sound came out of his lips, but an esoteric chant was being recited right now. No one heard it, but one person felt its effects.


    "Will you be a man and stop dodging! Fight me stra¡ª" Xiong An who had been trashtalking Yang Jagak suddenly stopped his sentence.


    His anger from the fight was suddenly washed away as a feeling of tranquility took over.


    "Huh?" Yang Jagak who was in the middle of moving, noticed this too, as his opponent''s expression had changed rather quickly.


    From his squinted angry expression, the man now looked like he had juste out of a meditative session.


    ~SLASH~


    Yang Jagak eyes went wide as he saw the glint of the saber edge. "How¡ª"


    ~CLANG~


    The man was barely able to bright his staff towards his chest, when the sh connected.


    "Ugh!" he grunted in pain, as a thin cut was left on his hand.


    His staff had managed to block a part of the attack, but it had still managed to hurt his hand.


    "WHOA! Xiong An has inflicted the first injury!" the audience screamed out loud.


    To them, only when blood was spilled would it be worth watching the fight.


    Xiong An though, didn''t say anything as his face stayed expressionless. Instead, he simply drew his Saber again, swiping in a wide arc, sending out a mass of crescent Saber energy.


    It rushed towards Yang Jagak, and the man spun his staff to block it.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    Sparks flew as the metal staff tried to resist the power of the sh.


    ''What happened to him¡­ how did his attacks get strong?'' Yang Jagak was confused. ''No wait¡­ the strength behind his attacks is the same¡­ it''s his speed and uracy that has increased.''

 Chapter 1681 Deepening The Understanding Of Sutras

    Yang Jagak tried toprehend why his opponent had suddenly improved but couldn''t do so.


    To him, it was as if Xiong An wasn''t the same person at all. It was someone else.


    ''How is this possible¡­ I was winning and now¡­'' Yang Jagak felt frustrated. "THIS IS WRONG!" he suddenly shouted.


    His eyes turned bloodshot as anger was birthed within his heart.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    In the next second, Yang Jagak swung his staff eight times pushing Xiong An back.


    "WHOA! How did he do that?" The people in the audience were riled.


    "You! I''ll end you!" Yang Jagak exploded in anger.


    His staff started to overflow with energy, as immortal Qi poured into it.


    "Six Fluted Staff Technique! Whistling Illusion!" Yang Jagak growled.


    ~PHEW~


    His staff turned illusory from the speed, as a strange whistling sound rose from it. The sound could be heard by everyone and those who did so felt like their vision was turning tilted.


    "Ugh!" Many weaker cultivators felt nauseous from it, but the stronger ones were able to ignore the effect.


    ~SHUA~


    The formation protecting the ring activated too, dispelling the effects of the technique.


    "Damn, it actually managed to affect us." The people in the audience were not expecting this.


    "It''s a passive effect of the Six Fluted Staff Technique. The barrier won''t protect us from it directly and needs to dispel it instead." One of the cultivators who was also a formation master exined. "This is one of the advantages of sound based techniques."


    "Can''t it be stopped using an insting formation?" Someone asked.


    "Of course, it can. But then again, it''ll also prevent any sound from the ring from reaching us. I don''t think we want that." He replied.


    "That''s right. It''ll get too boring." The people nodded in agreement.


    ~CLANG~


    But soon their attention was brought back to the ring as the fight got intense.


    Yang Jagak was aggressively attacking Xiong An while the saber wielding man was using finesse to battle.


    "Doesn''t it feel like¡­ Their styles have switched?" A person realized.


    "Now that you say it¡­ it does look like that."


    "Yang Jagak was the calm andposed one, and Xiong An was the aggressive one." The people started to analyze.


    "Now they are doing the opposite. How did this happen?"


    "I don''t know¡­ it doesn''t really make sense."


    "Bah! Don''t you guys understand? Is this your first tournament?" An old man spoke up.


    "What?"


    "This is my second tournament."


    "My first!"


    "Mine too!"


    "No wonder¡­ you all are newbies to this." The old man shook his head. "Let me tell you a secret." He gestured for them toe closer.


    "What is it, tell us?" The people were impatient.


    "What Yang Jagak and Xiong An are doing is¡­ a y!" The old man revealed.


    "A y? You mean they''re acting?"


    "Ridiculous! How can that be?" some people were skeptical.


    "How else would you exin this sudden change?" The old man pointed to the ring. "This is a ssic way to pull attention. Do you think you all would have noted them in your minds if their battle went on like before?" he asked instead.


    "Hmm¡­ that does make sense."


    "Yeah, it was pretty much a basic battle before that." The people started to figure it out.


    "Exactly! Now the two have gained everyone''s attention and will have a better impression. They probably decided who''s going to win from the start." The old man stated.


    "Do you really think that?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Won''t that be against the modicum of the tournament?" the people doubted.


    "As long as the battle is true, it is still fine. Besides, there is a chance it might be beyond our expectations." The old man added.


    "Looks like we''ll just have to wait and watch." The people reckoned.


    But while the audience was discussing all this, they didn''t know that the true culprit behind this was literally sitting in front of them.


    Lin Mu had been using the Calming Heart Sutra and the Burning Heart Sutra on the two fighters. He had observed the styles of the two and chose to use Calming Heart Sutra on Xiong An who was aggressive and Burning Heart Sutra on Yang Jagak who wasposed.


    ''Hmm¡­ The effects of the sutras can be controlled to some extent even like this. Though the two need to be regrly influenced by it to maintain the effect.'' Lin Mu observed everything with a close eye.


    His immortal sense was spread over the battlefield and was sensing every minute change that was happening. This was how he was able to determine the extent of the sutras'' effects.


    ''On an average, the first time effect of a sutra seemed tost at least thirty seconds on them. Though this is also affected by their cultivation base and mentality.'' Lin Mu noted down.


    He understood that once the effect of the sutra was about to wear off, he only had a few seconds to reintroduce it. If he did it at the right time, the effect would continue like before, but the time limit of influence would decrease.


    From thirty seconds, it first fell to twenty five seconds. And whenever he used it again, the duration reduces by five seconds.


    ''Five second decrements. I need to test this in stronger cultivators too. They are just at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. I wonder how much it''ll affect those that are above me.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    In this single battle, he had managed to learn a decent amount about the two sutras. Granted, the limitations were there as he couldn''t let the effect be too strong.


    At first, Lin Mu didn''t even know if the Nine Divine Heart Sutras would work on the immortals with the barrier protecting them or not. But after using them the first time, he confirmed that the barrier was ineffective against the sutras.


    This gave him a great advantage as he now knew how to utilize them better.


    Then there was the fact that the sutras were undetectable by the others through normal means. Even if someone saw him muttering or chanting, they would have no idea that Lin Mu was doing something.


    There were many entric immortals, and it wouldn''t be out of ce for some to mutter all the time. After all, there were cultivation techniques that required one to do so. One couldn''t just tell someone to stop doing that, as long as they weren''t bothering others.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    Some immortals might even be entric enough to directly bash someone''s head in if they tried to even suggest them to shut up.


    Thus with no obstacles like this in the way, Lin Mu was free to use the Nine Divine Heart Sutras. Of course, it wasn''t like he could use all of them either. He could only use one sutra on one person or perhaps two at maximum.


    ''The elders and priests of the temple of the guardians will certainly sense something is wrong if the contestants act too strange. I need to keep it within limits.'' Lin Mu made sure of it.


    He would nce over at the referee as well, just to ensure that he hadn''t sensed anything. Lin Mu had also checked the arrays of the ring and was sure that they couldn''t sense much from his actions.


    Then there was the fact that he wasn''t the only one using energy, or emitting energy fluctuations. The sheer number of immortals here helped him hide his presence quite well.


    ~BANG~


    "ARGH!" back in the ring, the fight seemed to be reaching an end as both Yang Jagak and Xiong An were injured.


    Xiong An had one of his arms broken, while Yang Jagak had a long gash on his leg. This prevented the two from using their full powers and also slowed them down.


    "SO CLOSE!"


    "Yang Jagak will win for sure."


    "No Xiong An will win!"


    "Didn''t you say before that Yang Jagak will win? Did you switch your choice?"


    "That was before Xiong An showed his skills and Yang Jagak turned into a mad dog."


    The people in the audience were enjoying their time while Lin Mu stopped chanting.


    ''The sutras are now ineffective¡­'' Lin Mu grasped seeing that they were not influencing the two.


    While the two were still acting opposite to their original personalities, they were already returning to it.


    "How did you do this? How did you get urate?" Yang Jagak asked, gaining a bit more of hisposure.


    "Why should I tell you?" Xiong An retorted, returning to his aggressive personality.


    ~SLASH~


    Instead, the man just swung his saber widely letting out an arc of energy that shed towards Yang Jagak.


    "Tch~" Yang Jagak found it hard to dodge it with his injured leg.


    ~THUD~


    He chose to m his staff onto the ground, creating a wave of energy that weakened the iing sh.


    ~SPLAT~


    But even with that, he was unable to fully stop it as a wide cut was left on his chest!

 Chapter 1682 A Buddhist Skill

    "Even now¡­" A few words escaped Yang Jagak''s lips as he copsed to the ground.


    A pool of blood formed around him as the cut on his chest kept on bleeding.


    "Xiong An is the winner!" The referee announced.


    ~WOOOO~


    The sound of cheers could be hearding from the crowd, the excitement of the battle surging through them. The sudden change in the personality and styles of the two contestants was good enough to catch their attention and serve as the perfect way to cement the image of the two.


    One could imagine that even after losing the match, Yang Jagak''s reputation would still be rising. After all, from what they had seen, he was matched with an appropriate contestant. The audience liked when a match was between two simrly matched contestants rather than one overpowering the other entirely.


    The reasoning for that was obvious as it provided more entertainment factors as well as giving better learning opportunities for the people watching.


    After all, there were many people who here hear to learn and obtain experience, Lin Mu being one of them.


    "I still need to test out more¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he went over what he had learned about the Calming Heart Sutra and the Burning heart sutra.


    While he did this, Yang Jagak and Xiong An were taken away for treatment after which the the next match finally started.


    "Mo Zhenzui and Yu Henge to the ring!" The announcement was given while the faces of the two contestants were shown on the formation screen.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu looked at it as well, finding it to be a woman and a man this time. They didn''t make anyone wait for long and in just a few seconds they were already in the ring.


    Mo Zhenzui looked to be in her twenties and was beautiful while Yu Heng was a man who looked rather old. At the very least, he looked to be in his fifties. But the surprising part was that both the cultivators were at the Third Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm.


    "Oh? Seems like we''ll have a good battle this time."


    "Yeah, the strong contestants are finally appearing."


    The audience was pleased as they wanted to see more strong immortals. They had heard that the other rings had their share of strong immortals, and the wanted them too. After all, if their ring didn''t get any they would feel like they were missing out.


    Of course, they could choose to switch their rings but there was no guarantee they would find enough ce to sit in the other rings. Not to mention there were others who had their matches in this ring, and would thus have to return to the ring.


    Leaving the ring would only make them dyed forter and thus it would not be good for them.


    "Hohoho, seems like I shall be educated by a junior this time." Yu Heng spoke, his voice a bit raspy.


    "Senior or junior doesn''t matter in a battle. All that matters is who is stronger." Mo Zhenzui said in a in voice.


    Yu Heng narrowed his brows while his smile stiffed.


    "As you wish." Yu Heng said and cupped his hands in salute.


    Mo Zhenzui did the same before the referee spoke.


    "Fight!"


    ~HONG~


    As soon as themand was give, Yu Heng moved. Eighteenrge metal beads appeared around his wrists, each the size of lemons. Lin Mu looked at the beads finding them to be a mid grade immortal tool.


    ''This is new¡­'' Lin Mu hadn''t seem something like this before.


    While he had seen many immortal and spirit tools that were in the form of beads, they were usually supportive or defensive in use. But the current ones were clearly meant for offense.


    Yu Heng thrust out his hand while extending his index fingers and thumbs.


    "HAH!" Letting out a cry the Eighteen metal beads flew out at great speed.


    They whistled through the air while turning into mere blurs.


    Mo Zhenzui narrowed her eyes and withdrew her weapons as well. A pair ofrge fans appeared in her hands, one red, one green which she quickly waved.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A barrier of wind surrounded her her body, preventing the metal beads from hitting her. The beads bounced off the wind barrier and returned to Yu Heng.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Oh? Seems like this junior is capable." Yu Heng said seeing that his attack had been thwarted.


    "A mere surprise attack isn''t enough to harm me." Mo Zhenzui said as she straightened the red fan. "Great Savannah ze Fan!"


    The red fan burst into mes as a great heat poured out of it. Then with the wave of Mo Zhenzui''s hand, the mes spread around the ring. The mes were incredibly hot, and could easily melt iron and bronze.


    Yu Heng narrowed his eyes but wasn''t one to back down from a fight so easily. He pinched his middle finger and thumb together before turning his wrist. This caused the metal beads of his left hand to spread out in a circle before spinning rapidly.


    ~HUMM~


    The metal beads let out a humming sound, as they reached a resonant frequency.


    In the next moment, the mes and the beads collided.


    The mes were blocked in the center by the metal beads while the rest of the parts could progress as usual. It was as if a wave of fire had been split in half, while Yu Heng stood in the center.


    "What is that technique?" the people in the audience couldn''t help but question.


    "The Eighteen M Mystic Art¡­ I never thought I''d see it again." One of the older elders in the audience spoke.


    "You know about it?" The others asked.


    "Yes¡­ It is something that is not from our world. It belongs to the Buddhist orthodoxy and it is rare to see non-monks practice it." The old man answered.


    "So it is a Buddhist technique?" The people asked.


    "Its source is indeed Buddhist, but Yu Heng does not seem to be cultivating any Buddhist energies. Instead it seems like he has adapted the skill to his immortal Qi cultivation base." The old man exined.


    Lin Mu who heard this was intrigued.


    ''A skill from the Buddhist Orthodoxy huh¡­ this is the first one I''ve seen.'' Lin Mu had the calming heart sutra which was the representative of the Buddhist path, thus his interest in the Eighteen M mystic art was expected.


    "It is a mere cheap imitation." But much to Lin Mu''s surprise Xukong actuallymented.


    "It''s not good?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    Xukong had been cultivating and hadn''t been focusing much on the outside. But it seemed like he had taken a break to see how Lin Mu was doing. Of course, if Lin Mu had asked anything, the spider would have answered him, but there had been no need so far.


    "The true Eighteen M Mystic Art is a Buddhist skill that is fierce yet elegant. But that is only when it is used by a Buddhist cultivator that had nurtured the beads properly using Buddhist energy.


    That Yu Heng seems to have found it somewhere randomly as it seems to be iplete too." Xukong exined. "Besides he isn''t using the right type of beads either." He added.


    Lin Mu had read a bit about the Buddhist cultivators from different books as well as from the Lost immortal''s memoirs and knew that they often used items like prayer beads, rosaries, staffs, clothes, scarfs, rings and more to fight.


    And in that he had seen the descriptions of these weapons and tools.


    "They should be made out of wood, if recall correctly?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. They are to be made of either wood, or special seeds. The wood needs to be nurtured in Buddhist energies while the seeds need to be blessed by the Joss smoke. But Yu Heng is using metal beads." Xukong replied.


    "Guess he couldn''t used the wooden beads with it as it wouldn''t work for him." Lin Mu assumed.


    "Of course. His Eighteen M Mystic Art is a mere imitation that too not a good one." Xukong scoffed.


    Seeing that Xukong had a low image of Yu Heng, Lin Mu switched his attention to Mo Zhenzui. Her use of fans also seemed to be rather different and he felt like he had heard about them.


    ''A Red and green fan huh¡­ with the red one called as the Great Savanna ze Fan.'' Lin Mu tried to recall where he had heard about it.


    A few seconds, it finally clicked and he quickly pulled out a jade slip.


    "Of course¡­ She was one of the rankers." Lin Mu read through the information that was in the jade slip.


    Mo Zhenzui was one of the good candidates and had several entries in the various information slips. They even described about her battle style, as she had previously fought in one of the many banquets that were organized in the capital city!


    "Interesting¡­ They are actually Mid Grade immortal weapons, but when used together they are equivalent to a High Grade." Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 1683 Mo Zhenzui Versus Yu Heng

    High Grade immortal weapons were still something that could not be easily obtained. Lin Mu having three of them, was already a great thing. But so far, Lin Mu hadn''t seen many people with them.


    In fact, he could count the ones who had a high grade weapon on one hand.


    But that was all, as there were some special weapons that were made as pairs or sets. The fans that Mo Zhenzui was using could also be considered among them.


    On their own, the individual fans were merely at the Mid grade, but when both were utilized together, they would reach the level of a High Grade Immortal weapon. There were several reasons for making weapons like this.


    The main reason for most people was that making two mid grade immortal weapons was easier than making a single high grade immortal weapon. If it was the same person making both of them, it was even easier to making weapons that would bepatible with each other and bring forth a synergistic effect.


    That was what was happening here.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~HUALA~


    Mo Zhenzui waved both of her fans, alternating between them. One whipped up winds while the other brought forth waves of fire. The intense fire was further amplified by the wind, as more air was burned up.


    The oxygen fueled the fire, increasing its temperature while the pressure of the wind allowed the fire to spread further.


    It was a synergistic effect and it looked like a wild fire had broken out on the Savannah!


    "I know that!" someone in the audience shouted. "Those fans! They''re the Great Savannah ze Fan and the Great Savannah Wind Fan! They were made by Grandmaster Weaponsmith Doji!"


    "What! An Immortal weapon personally made by Grandmaster Weaponsmith Doji? Aren''t they really rare?" others in the audience questioned.


    "They are¡­ They''re incredibly rare. Even low grade weapons made by him are considered collectible and many experts will pay quite a lot to obtain them. As for the other Weaponsmiths, they will pay even more to get an opportunity to learn from those weapons." An elder in the audience exined.


    Lin Mu heard it all too, and was a bit surprised. This wasn''t the first time he had heard about the Grandmaster Weaponsmith Doji. He had actually seen a couple of weapons made by the man in the Grand Sky Pavilion.


    Of course, they were selling for a lot and Lin Mu had merely nced at them.


    ''Since she has those, it either means she has a good enough background or that she has enough wealth.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    From the information he had read about Mo Zhenzui, it was stated that she was an independent cultivators. Little information was preset in the booklet other than the fact that she had taken part in a banquet and had demonstrated her skills. But in that, only the name of a single fan was mentioned as she hadn''t needed to use the other one.


    "Hoho! Seems like Junior Mo is well connected. Obtaining weapons of Grandmaster Weaponsmith Doji is not a simple task." Yu Heng said before clenching his fist.


    ~CLANG~Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    Four Metal beads came close and attached to his knuckles. He pulled his fist back and gathered immortal Qi in it before punching forward.


    ~BANG~


    The four metal beads were shot like cannonballs and directly pierced through the wall of fire and wind. The two elements were torn apart by the momentum of the metal beads that were unaffected.


    "Uprooting Savannah Wind!" Mo Zhenzui pulled back the green fan, creating an updraft that raised her into the air.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    The four metal beads went past her just as she rose, allowing her to dodge them.


    "She''s a wind elemental user, so flying will give her a good advantage."


    "Yeah, but flying this way will also raise her energy consumption."


    "Do you think she''ll have a better chance at winning now?"


    "Probably. I''ll put my bet on her if she survives this round."


    The people in the audience were deep in discussion as they analyzed the fight. It was exciting for them to have weapons made by a grandmaster being used as well as someone who used Buddhist techniques from a different world.


    They were feeling excitement from thest fight, and felt like this match was going to be boring. But now their doubts were proven wrong.


    "AAHG!" But suddenly a change happened in the ring.


    "Junior is too conceited¡­" Yu Heng mocked as he watched the plight of the woman.


    One of the metal beads had torn a wound in Mo Zhenzui''s left leg.


    "You changed the trajectory." Mo Zhenzui had been caught off guard.


    When Yu Heng had punched out, he had thrown the four metal beads. They had missed their target, but in reality, they were actually able to seek it out properly. Thus when Mo Zhenzui had felt like she was safe, the metal beads had automatically flown out and attacked her. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    She had managed to dodge three of them, but one had managed to hit her in her leg despite that.


    "Everyone has their trump cards. Its up to us when to use them." Yu Heng simply said before making a curling gesture with his fingers.


    ~SHUA~


    The four metal beads spun around Mo Zhenzui, trying to attack her again.


    ~WHOOSH~


    "Great Savannah Twister!" Mo Zhenzui didn''t let them get close this time and created a wind vortex around her.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    The Metal beads tried to get past the vortex, but were slowed down before being thrown out.


    "Let''s see how long Junior can keep this up." Yu Heng seemed to be a bit more casual now and flicked out his hand, sending eight more metal beads to attack.


    The rest of the beads simply spun around him and kept him protected.


    It seemed like they had entered a stalemate as Mo Zhenzui was held in one ce. Yu Heng''s metal beads spun around her and attacked her nonstop while she kept up the wind vortex in an effort to keep them away.


    But having the wind vortex around her meant that she couldn''t retaliate.


    "Yu Heng''s attacks are useless."


    "Yeah, for how he speaks, he isn''t really able to do much to Mo Zhenzui." A few people talked.


    But Lin Mu thought otherwise.


    ''She won''t be able to keep that up like this.'' Lin Mu knew.


    He could sense the energy fluctuationsing from both contestants and while it looked like Mo Zhenzui was perfectly defending against Yu Heng while the man was unable to do much, it was not a fixed thing.


    ''At the rate at which she is using up her immortal Qi, she won''t be able tost that long. Once she runs out, she''ll be a sitting duck.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''That Yu Heng has sensed it too.''


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense was able to tell that while Mo Zhenzui had a strong weapon, she didn''t really have arge amount of immortal Qi storage. In fact, this was normal for most immortals.


    After all, not everyone had massive Dantians like Lin Mu that had been expanded multiple times.


    And this was when she was using two mid grade immortal weapons that wereparable to a high grade immortal weapon.


    High Grade immortal weapons were meant for those in the Fifth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm and above after all. For most immortals below that, using an immortal weapon above their cultivation was possible, but not sustainable.


    Yu Heng on the other hand, had immortal Qi stores that were slightly higher than Mo Zhenzui but he was also using an immortal weapon that had lower need for immortal Qi.


    In fact, Lin Mu reckoned the usage of immortal Qi for the Metal beads was highly optimized and the man was very proficient with them.


    "Give up, junior, it will be better for you." Yu Heng spoke.


    "Never!" Mo Zhenzui''s voice was heard clearly despite the wind vortex.


    In fact, one could find it a bit strained as it was being amplified by her wind.


    "Tsk~ Tsk~ You should know when to quit. It is better to surrender with fewer injuries." Yu Heng suggested.


    "Why should I listen to you?" Mo Zhenzui scoffed.


    "I''m just giving a bit of an advice to a junior. It would be a shame to let an excellent body like that get scars." Yu Heng smirked. "But since junior does not want to take my advice, I''ll be forced to finish this." His expression turned cold.


    Yu Heng extended his hands outward while making w gestures.


    "Eighteen M Mystic Art: Caged Sinner!" Yu Heng chanted.


    ~HONG~


    As soon as he did that, the eighteen metal beads all spread out and glowed like fireballs. Mo Zhenzui tried to take this chance to retaliate, but before she could do that, the eighteen metal beads all released chains made of energy.


    These chains linked them up before turning into arge.


    Yu Heng brought his hands closer, making the close up.

 Chapter 1684 Sudden Improvement And Reversal

    The closed up on Mo Zhenzui, reducing her scope of movement.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    The strong winds collided with the, but were unable to blow them away this time. Since the beads were now all attached and surrounding Mo Zhenzui she was unable to repel them directly.


    Instead, the only shrank until eventually, it was only a meter away from Mo Zhenzui''s body. The only reason it hadn''t progressed further was because of the wind vortex surrounding her.


    But even that wasn''t for long, as the kept on squeezing, putting more pressure on the vortex. The force was truly incredible as even the power of the Great Savannah Wind Fan could not resist it.


    ''I cannot let it shrink more, I need to get out of here!'' Mo Zhenzui thought, but couldn''t figure out a way.


    Her mind tried to find a solution but could not with the impending crisis.


    "Give up, junior. Your journey is now forfeit!" Yu Heng mocked.


    But then suddenly he felt something change.


    "Huh?" The pressure on the somehow increased, but the wind vortex shrank in size.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    The vortex continued to shrink until it turned into multiple smaller vortexes, allowing Mo Zhenzui to be visible. Unlike before though, her face was the epitome of cold. There was no expression on her face and it looked as still as thousand year old attic ice.


    And yet, the fierceness in her eyes had only increased.


    Gone was the tenseness and frustration from the fight. Instead, it was reced by a cold and calctive mind.


    "Control¡­ that is what I needed. Better control." Mo Zhenzui muttered to herself.


    Her immortal sense spread once more, and felt the tens of vortexes that surrounded her. She could feel the energy of each vortex as well as the power that they could disy.


    ''This gives better defense than a full sized vortex with barely forty percent of the immortal Qi.'' Mo Zhenzui noted.


    She was in a strange state, where she knew she should feel shocked at this discovery, but still couldn''t feel like it. If it was any other time, she could consider this a great achievement and might even be on the level of enlightenment.


    But now her mind was running at a hundred paces every second, allowing her to think better than before.


    No stray thought invaded her mind; only what she needed was present.


    ''Now to attack him¡­ Need to distract him to get rid of this,'' Mo Zhenzui reckoned.


    She nced at Yu Heng and grasped her fans firmly. She first waved the Great Savannah ze Fan, generating plumes of fire that escaped from the gaps of the. The plumes of fire traveled several meters in a straight line before spreading out.


    "What?!" Yu Heng was surprised as he had not expected this kind of retaliation.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    The plumes of fire struck the ground where Yu Heng had stood, creating small explosions. But the man could still dodge them in time and only faced the shock waves.


    ''How can she counteract? I can''t even withdraw the metal beads¡­'' Yu Heng wondered.


    Mo Zhenzui on the other hand, observed and analyzed her recent attack, finding it to becking.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Weak and wasteful. It needs to be more efficient!" She said as a new thought appeared in her mind.


    As if she had been enlightened, she switched around her fans, holding the red fan in her left and the green fan in her right hand. Then she spread open the red fan full, letting mes ze on it.


    ~SHUA~


    The mes expanded and covered the entirety of the fan''s body before a more immortal Qi was injected into it.


    "What''s she doing?" The people in the audience were taken along for the spin.


    "Is that¡­ is that a crossbow?"


    "It really is!" they finally saw the change in the fan.


    In Mo Zhenzui''s hand, the red fan had mes burning on it that had taken the shape of a crossbow. But the crossbow was missing a fewponents, such as the handle and the string.


    The handle didn''t really matter, as Mo Zhenzui was holding it using her hand while also using her Immortal sense to control it. She didn''t really need her hand to hold it either, as her immortal sense would still be able to manipte the fan.


    But the criticalponent that was the bow string was still missing.


    ~SHUA~


    A secondter though, that was also addressed as she ced the Great Savannah Wind Fan on the red fan. But instead of being wide open, the fan was kept in a closed position. It was ced in the center of the Crossbow with energy emanating from it.


    This energy was none other than Wind elemental immortal Qi that soon transformed into constructs. First, it turned into a cord that linked to the two arms of the ming crossbow, then a cone of swirling wind took ce in the center.


    This cone swirled and pulled in the mes, turning it into a bolt that perfectly fit the crossbow.


    "This''ll do for now." Mo Zhenzui said while her opponent was left confused.


    ~TWANG~


    The sound of an stic string being released was heard as a fiery bolt shot out from the two fans. The bolt passed through the gaps in the and reached Yu Heng in the blink of an eye.


    The speed of the bolt was too high and the man could only dodge enough so that his vitals were avoided.


    "ARGH!" Still, the man''s defenses were pierced and a hole was now burned into his shoulder.


    ~TWANG~TWANG~TWANG~


    But by the time he could recover, there more bolts were a shop, each with the same speed.


    Lin Mu who was watching it all, was both impressed and surprised.


    ''The Severing Heart Sutra got rid of her anxiety and doubt, allowing her toe up with better abilities and optimize her Qi usage.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The reason why Mo Zhenzui had suddenly improved was none other than the Severing Heart Sutra!

 Chapter 1685 An Assisted Win And Lin Mus Choice For Bets

    "AHHHHHH!!! NO!!!" Yu Heng let out an unwilling cry mixed with pain as the three fire bolts tore through his body.


    One went through his right arm, another went through his left leg while the final one pierced through his left lung.


    ~COUGH~


    The man coughed out a mouthful of blood before stumbling and falling to the ground.


    ~THUD~


    ~HISS~HISS~HISS~


    But it didn''t seem like that was the end of Yu Heng''s agony as the wounds continued to burn. The fire elemental immortal Qi had seeped into his body from the wounds, and was now spreading.


    They continued to burn the wound while assaulting his flesh and meridians. The man tried to use his own immortal Qi to expel the fiery energy but couldn''t do so with the pain assaulting him. It had broken his focus and his foe was still alive.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    The made out of the metal beads was broken and fell to the ground. It freed Mo Zhenzui who continued to aim towards Yu Heng. The man realized that he was now on the losing side and was greatly injured. He knew if he needed to return from this, he needed to assess his injuries.


    But when the man checked his body he realized that he was in even greater trouble than he had thought.


    "You! YOU BROKE MY MERIDIANS!" He shouted.


    A few of the man''s meridians that were in his chest had been broken and burned. This happened due to the fire bolt that had pierced through his left lung. This now led to his immortal Qi leaking out of the meridians.


    This greatly hindered his ability to expel the fire energy and also led to his injury worsening by the minute. If he didn''t address it soon enough, there was a great chance he would have a permanent internal injury.


    ~SHUA~


    But Mo Zhenzui gave it no heed and simply pushed forward sending out a few more streaks of wind.


    The wind was highly controlled and turned into thin whips that tore into Yu Heng''s body.


    ~THWACK~ THWACK~


    ~RIP~


    "AHH! AHHHHHHH!" No longer was Yu Heng a calm andposed elderly man.


    Instead, he looked like a sniveling pig that had been beaten and bloodied.


    "Admit defeat." Mo Zhenzui stated, returning the words of Yu Heng back to him.


    "Sssss~ How fierce!" Some of the people in the audience felt goosebumps seeing the scene and hearing Mo Zhenzui.


    She continued to whip Yu Heng, until finally, the man passed out. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Mo Zhenzui is the winner!" The referee dered.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~Huu~


    Mo Zhenzui let out a breath of relief as her expression finally changed.


    ''What happened to me?'' Mo Zhenzui couldn''t tell.


    Her cold and clear mind was no more, and the mixed thoughts reappeared. Her emotions also returned like a flood, making her feel a bit anxious. But then she took a nce at her defeated opponent and calmed herself down.


    "That''s right¡­ I defeated him. It''s already done." She muttered to herself.


    This gave a rise to her confidence and Mo Zhenzui felt like she could do this again and again. Her proficiency with the Great Savannah fans had also risen and she realized that she had indeed gotten indented.


    ''How did this happen though?'' Mo Zhenzui wondered.


    To her, it was as if the enlightenment hade at the right time. It was almost like a helot from the heavens that had been waiting for her to act.


    Unknown to her though, the help had note from the heavens but rather from a person who had done so on a whim.


    ''The effects of the Severing Heart Sutra were really impressive this time. But it can also be attributed to the person it was used on.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''If Mo Zhenzui didn''t already have the aptitude to do this, she wouldn''t have benefited this much. Even without my help, she would have achieved the same, albeit at ater time.'' He understood.


    Mo Zhenzui wasn''t the only one to gain from this battle though. Even Lin Mu had learned quite a bit, that too from different aspects.


    The first was the way Yu Heng used the Eighteen M Mystic art and controlled the metal beads. His control of multiple projectiles for both offense and defense wasmendable even if it was dered to be a mere imitation by Senior Xukong.


    Mo Zhenzui was the one who taught Lin Mu the most though.


    She showed him how an immortal weapon could be utilized in different ways, as long as one had better control and understanding of it. She had converted her mid grade immortal fans into a crossbow form that held the might of a high grade immortal weapon.


    That too a high grade immortal weapon that had a low consumption of immortal Qi.


    Lin Mu had seen the difference in Qi consumption as well as the rise in its power.


    ''If it were me, I would have been able to improve it even more. The use of bolts in that crossbow was simr to the second form of the Boulder Copsing fist.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Mo Zhenzui had used the Wind Elemental Immoral Qi topress and condense the fire elemental immortal Qi into crossbow bolts. This had increased the piercing power and strength of the attack that had allowed her to effortlessly pierce through the defenses of Yu Heng.


    Snapping out of his thoughts, Lin Mu looked around the ring seeing the audience cheer. They all talked about how they would be betting on Mo Zhenzui from now on. Lin Mu''s immortal sense also picked up on bookies raising the odds of Mo Zhenzui.


    Hearing all this gave an idea to Lin Mu.


    ''Can''t I just¡­ Change the course of the tournament this way? Then I bet on the ones I''ve been supporting!'' Lin Mu had an idea to make a lot of money.


    He thought about it more and realized that he wouldn''t be able to do this alone.


    "Hmm, I''ll need a few more people."

 Chapter 1686 Swaying The Fights In His Favor

    Lin Mu knew if he was always betting and winning, it might get suspicious after a while.


    After all, he intended to get the highest possible profits from it. And something like that was only possible when the winners were the underdogs.


    For example, if it was a battle between a second tribtion stage immortal and a third tribtion stage immortal, if the people bet on the second tribtion stage immortal, who then won, the winnings they will obtain will be a lot higher than if the third tribtion stage immortal won.


    This was just the simple logic of odds in betting, whether it be on fights or something else.


    Thus Lin Mu''s n was to observe those who had a lower chance of winning and make sure they were winning by the use of the Nine Diving Heart Sutras. Of course, there was no guarantee if it would work or not.


    After all, there was always a chance that the fight would go in a different way than Lin Mu had intended.


    ''Still, I should be able to alter it in my favor.'' Lin Mu thought about how he could do it optimally.


    Several thoughts went through his mind as he started to n it.


    ''I''ll have to look for matches in different rings. If the stunning wins only happen in my own ring, suspicions will certainly rise. Even if the elders of the temple don''t interfere, the nobles and people betting certainly will.


    I need to keep the wins distributed so that it just looks like the wins are ck horses.'' Lin Mu pondered deeply.


    The next thing he needed to do was to have detailed information about the contestants after their initial few wins. The bets would only start after the initial qualifying rounds were finished.


    This time was taken so that the people could observe and assess their contestants. It also allowed them to analyze the contestants and guess how well they could fare against others in the future.


    ''I can''t bet it all myself either. It will certainly be suspicious if I''m the one always winning. Not to mention, I won''t be able to bet in the other fights if it involves me leaving the ring.'' Lin Mu thought next.


    As long as Lin Mu was fighting and had a fight scheduled, leaving the ring to go somewhere else could get problematic. Especially since he couldn''t fly and the crowd was massive. He didn''t wish for some misfortune to dy him.


    ''I''ll need someone else to bet on my behalf, and it can''t just be one person. There will have to be at least a couple of them.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Thankfully Lin Mu already had a few people in his mind. The first person was none other than an acquaintance who had been recently defeated.


    ''Luo Liqin might be up for help, as long as he is healed. If he''s still unwell, I can help him get better soon.'' Lin Mu had plenty of healing pills in his storage and giving a few would barely affect him.


    Especially when he''ll be making several times in value.


    Lin Mu''s n was to make use of the acquaintances he had made to make bets. After all, if there were several people doing it, the suspicion would be low. Not to mention, it would prevent any interruption in the fights, as there would at least be one person that was free.


    It would allow them to continue to bet even if most of them were in a fight. Other than Luo Liqin of course who was now out of thepetition. Even if Lin Mu could pity the man, there wasn''t much he could do there.


    Luo Liqin was simply unfortunate to have gotten a match with Yao Changying this early one.


    Even if they had the mission of defeating her, it didn''t seem it would be possible that easily. At the very least, Lin Mu had doubts about whether the others even had the means to do so.


    "Wait a second¡­ Perhaps that can be done too¡­" Another thought presented to Lin Mu.


    They had been given the mission by Princess Shan to get rid of Yao Changying. By normal means, it was almost impossible, especially since her cultivation base was also high and they would be under the scrutiny of the temple elders.


    Even the item they had been given to weaken Yao Changying wouldn''t be enough if they couldn''t even touch her in a fight. Perhaps only Lin Mu had the capability of going against her openly.


    ''But if I can make use of the Sutras¡­ It might just be possible.'' Lin Mu thought about the scenarios that might be viable.


    But the more he thought, the more he realized the control that was needed for the sutras.


    ''I need to make sure they work on someone at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm first. Plus even if they work, I need to see how long they work.'' Lin Mu determined the tasks he needed to do.


    One thing was for sure though, Lin Mu needed more test subjects to use his Nine Divine Heart Sutras on.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Guess I may as well use what''s given to me right now¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he looked at the ring.


    Another new fight had started and it meant more chances for Lin Mu to test his sutras. This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    He continued to do so and fights went by like a blur. Eight hours had passed and Lin Mu had been using the Nine Divine Heart sutras for most of it. Surprisingly though, he didn''t feel tired at all, and his mind still felt normal.


    ''The more I use, the better I find the control to be.'' Lin Mu had noted several things in this time.


    The first was that, he could actually increase the duration of the effect as his proficiency with the sutras was rising.


    He didn''t forget that the Sutra''s had their own proficiency levels too.


    ''I hadn''t been able to raise it since then. It has been so many years.'' Lin Mu recalled.


    The Nine divine Heart sutras were said to have four proficiency levels that only Lin Mu knew about. He was currently in the Second stage of externalprehension which allowed him to use the sutras on others.


    But this was only the case for the Calming Heart Sutra, Severing Heart Sutra, Burning Heart Sutra and the Nurturing Heart Sutra. In the case of the Murdering Heart Sutra, Lin Mu hadn''t practiced it enough to reach the second level.


    Though he didn''t think that it would take him that much effort to do so.


    After having raised the others to the second stage of externalprehension, Lin Mu didn''t think it would be that difficult to do so for the Murdering Heart Sutra either.


    ''But the Murdering heart sutra''s effects are¡­ drastic.'' Lin Mu recalled the devilish aura that appeared whenever he used it.


    Using it in an orthodoxpetition such as the tournament of the Guardian Beasts was the same as shouting out loud that a devilish cultivator was here.


    ''Perhaps if I use it on others, the devilish aura won''t appear on me. But to reach that point, I still need to practice more with it.'' Lin Mu wondered if he could do so during the course of the tournament.


    ''Once these qualifying rounds are over, we''ll know when our matches will be, that will allow me to n better.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Still, one thing was on Lin Mu''s mind: he wondered what the third stage of proficiency will be for the sutras.


    ''I should be able to reach it for the Calming Heart Sutra and the Severing Heart Sutra at least. I''ve used them the most among all.'' Lin Mu hoped.


    He was unaware if there were specific conditions he needed to fulfill for them or if it was just a matter of practice and time.


    ''The altar only told me that I''ll know more about it when I reached it. Guessing won''t be of much help.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~CLANG~


    His thoughts were interrupted by the start of another fight, needing him to focus on it. He observed the two contestants fight fiercely while he used the different sutra bringing changes to their mindsets and styles.


    The people in the audience had now be used to it, but there were still a few that were confused about the sudden changes in the fights. Thankfully, with Lin Mu''s improved control, the transition between the different styles wasn''t too drastic now.


    It only seemed like people were either getting angry over time or getting calm andposed after some duration of the fight.


    Another six hours passed like this, while Lin Mu continued his practice.


    ~HUMM~


    After that though, the registration token suddenly hummed, catching Lin Mu''s attention.


    "Oh? They finally decided on my fight." Lin Mu saw that he had gotten a notice for his next fight. "Right on time too, just after this one."

 Chapter 1687 Mei Nienzhen

    Lin Mu nced at the token and saw the information.


    "Same ring after this round." Lin Mu muttered.


    It had taken him over fifteen hours before his second match had been scheduled.


    ''Well, technically it''ll be my first. The previous one was a tie.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He didn''t mind or regret turning that fight into a draw though. Lin Mu believed that Chang Fa had a better chance of progressing in the Tournament. Even if he might not reach the final sixteen rankings, he at least should be able to reach the qualifying brackets.


    Even if the man only reached till that point, it would still be a great achievement. After all, he would have reached that point afterpeting with millions of other immortals. It would be sufficient to help his n gain some reputation.


    Plus, there was still the reward that would be offered at that position.


    Though for Lin Mu, there was only one rank that he needed to achieve and it was the very first rank!


    "If I am topete, I should look to the top." Lin Mu said ambitiously.


    But for now, he needed to prepare for his fight and thus didn''t use the Nine Divine Heart Sutras in this fight. He simply rested and optimized his condition until the announcement of his fight was heard.


    "Mu Lin and Mei Nienzhen head to the ring!" The referee announced.


    As soon as his name was spoken, Lin Mu stood up and walked to the ring. Little Shrubby was left behind, while a few eyes looked at him. After all, Lin Mu had also caught the attention of the audience during his fight.


    Though with the various twists that were happening in the fights after that, the excitement of the audience had mellowed out Lin Mu''s performance. It didn''t matter much to him though, as he knew he could very easily strike his image in the hearts of the audience.


    "Look it''s Mu Lin!"


    "It''s his second fight already? That was fast."


    "I think they scheduled it earlier, since his previous fight was a draw."


    "Will he need to win five fights, including this, to qualify?" someone asked.


    "Yes, it should be." The knowledgeable elder spoke once more. "Draws are essentially neutral for both contestants as they neither win nor lose." He exined.


    This elder had also gained a bit of a reputation in the audience due to the information he provided. He had been to several tournaments of the Four Guardians and seemed to be well-versed in its rules and regtions.


    "I see¡­ But who''s his opponent this time?" they asked before looking up at the formation screen.


    The faces and names of the twopetitors had appeared on it. On the left was Lin Mu and on the right, there was a woman.


    "Mei Nienzhen¡­ a pretty woman." A youthmented.


    ~SLAP~


    "Careful how you speak, brat!" A person who was apanying the youth pped his head.


    "Uncle! Why''d you do that?" The youth replied.


    "You should watch your tongue. You never know which contestant belongs to which power." The uncle stated with a frown.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Then do you know who that woman is?" the youth asked while rubbing his head.


    "Of course¡­ While I don''t exactly recognize her name, from her appearance and surname, I''m sure she belongs to the Mei n of the Iridescence Peak." The uncle answered.


    ~GASP~


    "The.. The Iridescence Peak?!" The youth was clearly astonished, having recognized the name.


    His loud voice was also enough to alert the others in the audience who heard the name.


    "The Iridescence Peak actually sent someone this time?" It seemed like some people in the audience knew about it, too.


    "Don''t they only do it once every few hundred years?" a person asked.


    "Indeed. Which means this is a rare asion. Seems like we''ll have a great fight to see." Several audience members nodded in agreement.


    To them, the best thing they could do was to enjoy a fight.


    "Once every few hundred years, huh¡­ Interesting." Lin Mu had his immortal sense spread and thus heard everything the others had spoken about.


    Lin Mu actually recognized the name Iridescence Peak, but didn''t know much about it. All he knew was that it was one of the tall peaks located within the Huiqing Continent and was well known for being covered by snow all year round.


    ''Her information wasn''t also in the booklet, which means she either kept her appearance hidden or only registered at the veryst moment.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    ~ck~ck~ck~


    While he was thinking this, the crisp sound of heels cking against the hard floor was heard. Lin Mu looked to the side and saw a beautiful woman approaching. She was wearing a sky blue robe with white ents. Her sleeves had indigo tassels hanging from them while her shoes were elevated, having two inch high heels. From N?velDrama.Org.


    Her shoes matched the color of the robes as well, while a crystalline ornament that looked like an icicle adorned her long ck hair. Her hair cascaded down her back, reaching all the way to her waist.


    With her pale pink lips and deep brown eyes that were topped with thin eyebrows, she certainly looked stunning.


    And yet, an aura of gloominess could be felt from her.


    Her face was still and devoid of emotion, while a hint of sadness emanated from her eyes.


    ''It''s as if¡­ She doesn''t want to be here¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    The visage of the woman evoked mixed feelings, and the more one looked, the more confused one would get.


    ~step~step~step~


    Mei Nienzhen finally came to stand in front of Lin Mu and cupped her hands in greeting.


    "Mei Nienzhen greets Daoist Mu Lin." The woman said in a in tone, showing no inclination.


    "Greetings, Daoist Mei Nienzhen." Lin Mu too greeted in ceremony before looking at the referee, who seemed to be ready for the announcement.


    "Both contestants ready? FIGHT!" The referee said out loud.

 Chapter 1688 Gloomy Yet Attractive

    Lin Mu''s immortal sense was observing Mei Nienzhen and trying to figure out more about the conflicting woman.


    ''Her cultivation base is hidden, either due to a skill or some immortal tool.'' This was the first thing that Lin Mu noticed.


    Since he couldn''t tell the woman''s cultivation base, he knew he had to be careful. After all, there was always a chance that she was actually quite strong and was keeping her cultivation base hidden to have an advantage.


    ''Not to mention, her n seems to only send contestants once every few years. It is likely that the ones they send out are the most talented ones.'' Lin Mu analyzed as much as he could in the few seconds he had.


    Once the announcement for the fight was given, he prepared to act.


    ~SIGH~


    But then, an emotion evoking sigh was heard throughout the ring. It hade from none other than Mei Nienzhen and it made one feel like she was in a sorry situation.


    "Ahh~ my heart!" the youth in the audience dramatically held his chest and head.


    ~SLAP~


    "Stop with your shenanigans. You were being rude to the woman just a minute ago." His uncle chided.


    "That was before uncle. Didn''t you hear her sigh? It was so¡­ Tragic!" The youth replied with great emotion in his eyes.


    "What''s that to do with you acting like this again?" The uncle wasn''t having any of it.


    "Don''t you realize uncle? Her sigh was a cry for help. She''s looking for a dazzling prince that will save her and take her away!" The youth replied, weaving his own fantasies.


    "As if¡­ this is the eighth time you''ve said that¡­ and that''s just in this trip!" The uncle felt like pping his nephew again.


    ~chuckle~


    The people spectating them couldn''t help butugh. It just added more entertainment to their day.


    "Look!" But their attention was quickly pulled back by the fight in the ring.


    Lin Mu''s eyes were trained on Mei Nienzhen as he sensed a wave of cold energying from her body.


    "I just wish it ends quick¡­" A few words were spoken.


    The words themselves were barely a whisper, but to Lin Mu who had his immortal sense already extended, they were as clear as being spoken right in his ears.


    ''She wants to end it quick¡ª? ~Shua~'' Just as Lin Mu tried toprehend the words of Mei Nienzhen he felt the energy wave amplify.


    A cold and frosty energy spread from Mei Nienzhen while the tips of her fingers turned white. She pinched her fingers in a lotus posture, before muttering something.


    ~HUALA~


    Lin Mu''s eyes narrowed before he stomped upon the ground abruptly.


    ~WHOOSH~


    His body soared into the sky, while a spiral of ice rose from the ground. If Lin Mu hadn''t moved, he would have been struck by it.


    "Fast¡­ It appeared in the blink of an eye." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    Mei Nienzhen didn''t seem to care that her attack had missed its mark though and merely twirled on the ground, her hands making a few more gestures.


    ~HUALA~


    The spiral of ice expanded with her actions, blooming into arge Lotus flower!


    The lotus flower had many petals but the most striking part was its stamens that glowed in an Iridescent Light.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "WHOA!"


    ~GASP~


    Hundreds of people gasped in unison as they watched the beautiful scene unfold on the ring.


    The Icy Lotus flower released a frosty energy while the iridescent stamens in its center let out a mesmerizing light.


    "That''s the Iridescent Ice Lotus Technique of the Mei n!"


    "It''s their signature technique!"


    The people in the audience cheered out loud.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    "WOO! Mei Nienzhen''s technique is as beautiful as her!"


    "It''s hard to tell who''s better, her or the flower."


    There was nock of people who liked beauty in the audience, and Mei Nienzhen had done really well in capturing their attention. In fact, she barely needed to do anything. If she had merely walked around, it would have had a simr effect.


    Lin Mu was almost ignored in all this as if the stage only belonged to the pretty woman.


    The man in question was unfazed by it all, though. To him, Mei Nienzhen''s actions were all precise and controlled.


    ''She had never targeted me¡­ She merely wanted the Ice lotus to bloom.'' Lin Mu''s immortal sense could feel the energy rising within the Ice Lotus.


    The amount of energy coursing through it was huge, and could easily kill a few First Tribtion stage immortals if it exploded. And yet, such a massive amount of energy showed no signs of overflowing.


    In fact, other than Lin Mu and a handful of others, there was no one that had sensed the rming amount of energy.


    "Seems like I need to probe her first." Lin Mu decided to take the remote approach and withdrew a weapon.


    The minority that was actually paying attention to Lin Mu saw what he had taken out and were surprised.


    "A Bow?"


    "Huh, isn''t he a swordsman?"


    An intricate bow was now held in Lin Mu''s hand and seemed to be thrumming with excitement. Though it was only Lin Mu that could tell this.


    ''It''s your turn now, Wonder Seeker.'' Lin Mu said in his mind, which the bow heard perfectly.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s body started to fall as his upward momentum came to an end.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But while falling, his posture didn''t waver. Instead, he drew the bow, its string stretching taut.


    The immortal Qi within Lin Mu''s body flowed into the bow while it thrummed with power. A fiery arrow condensed on the bow within a second, before Lin Mu let go of the string.


    ~TWANG~


    With an almost melodic sound, the arrow was shot turning into a red line that connected the bow and the Ice Lotus on the ground.


    The eyes of every one were locked onto the stage, with some unable to even keep up with the speed.


    Lin Mu''s stoic gaze and Mei Nienzhen''s gloomy yet cold visage faced each other.

 Chapter 1689 A Cold Drain

    A sh of red and blue intermingled as the collision of two powers happened.


    ~BOOM~


    Fire and Ice shed, spreading a wave of energy that reached all the way to the border of the ring.


    ~HUMM~


    The barrier surrounding it prevented the energy from washing over the audience and protected them. But despite that, several people could see that the power of the attacks was massive.


    "This¡­ How did he do this?"


    "Isn''t he a sword cultivator who had Sword Intent? How is his bow attack even stronger than his sword skills?"


    The people in the audience were stunned by Lin Mu''s power. After all, in their eyes, he was just at the first tribtion stage of the immortal realm. They didn''t know the sheer amount of immortal Qi that was within his body, nor the fact that the bow he was using was a high grade immortal weapon.


    Lin Mu and Xukong had long since concealed the energy imprints of the High Grade immortal weapons.


    Afternoon Pine, Ocean Raker and Wonder Seeker would merely be seen as normal low grade weapons. Or even if their power was exceeded, it would only seem to be at the mid grade immortal weapon level.


    They had done this a while back, as Lin Mu knew revealing the true identity of his weapons could also be problematic. Not to mention, it would be easier to track his identity depending on the weapons he used.


    Thankfully, Afternoon Pine was a rather mundane looking sword and one could find several others like it. Thus, Lin Mu could use it openly as he wanted. The only issue was with Ocean Raker and Wonder Seeker, as they had unique forms.


    Still, to the audience, they looked like the basic immortal weapons a cultivator was expected to use in a tournament like this. This only made them think that the reason why Lin Mu could exert this much power was due to his sheer skill.


    "Can it be that he''s also proficient in the Dao of Bows?" someone wondered.


    "That is a tall order. Highly unlikely." Many were quick to deny it.


    "No¡­ If his skills are really this good. Then it makes sense." The old man in the audience spoke once more.


    "What do you mean?" the people sitting around him asked.


    "Compared to his cultivation base, his skills are quite high. If you think about it, it''s obvious that he has focused on raising his skill with his weapons as well as hisprehension of the Daos of Sword and Bows." The old man replied. "He is someone who might be talented inprehension rather than cultivation." He guessed.


    The people who heard it were left wondering about it, but needed to focus on the ring as the scene finally cleared.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A chilly wind swept over the ring, clearing out the smoke and mist that was covering it.


    "They''re both fine!" The audience finally saw.


    On the ring, Lin Mu stood on top of an ice crystal that was about three meters tall some distance from the ice lotus flower, which was also intact and seemed to be unaffected. While Mei Nienzhen stood in the same position as before. Her expression was also the same and it didn''t seem like she was affected by it.


    "So you survived¡­" she muttered in a barely audible voice.


    "Did you wish to end it quickly?" Lin Mu replied in a simr voice, only being heard by his opponent.


    ~Sigh~


    Mei Nienzhen let out another sigh and extended her hand. The beautiful ice lotus flower let out another wave of energy as the stamens on it glowed in iridescent light. Lin Mu sensed the energy being channeled into the stamens and knew that something was up.


    ~TWANG~TWANG~TWANG~


    He quickly drew the bowstring and shot three arrows nonstop. The fiery arrows flew towards the Ice lotus but were stopped mid way.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~ZING~ZING~ZING~


    The stamens of the Ice Lotus released rays of light that urately struck the fiery arrows, freezing them in ce!


    ''She froze them?!'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    He could still feel the mes burning on the arrows, as their energy had not dissipated. But despite that, there was still ice encasing them, blocking them sessfully.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The three arrows fell to the ground lifelessly before dissipating naturally.


    "Interesting." Lin Mu sensed the fine change that had happened. ''The energy of the arrows was actually absorbed¡­''


    The arrows merely looked like they had dissipated naturally, but in reality, they had been drained of energy. The ice crystals had quickly taken all of the Qi contained within it, letting the mes die out.


    Mei Nienzhen''s expression was still cold but if one looked closely, they might be able to see one of her finger''s trembling.


    ~TWANG~


    Lin Mu didn''t let her have a break and shot another arrow.


    ~ZING~


    Another ray of light shot from the stamens of the ice lotus and encased the fire arrow. Lin Mu didn''t waver and shot another arrow.


    ~TWANG~This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~ZING~


    This arrow met the same fate as before and was turned into a ice chunk that crashed into the ground.


    ~TWANG~TWANG~TWANG~TWANG~


    But as if Lin Mu didn''t care about that, arrows kept oning. He shot nonstop for thirty seconds, having sent at least twenty arrows in this time.


    "What is he doing?"


    "He''s just wasting Qi at this point."


    "Yeah, his attacks are getting nullified with ease."


    The people in the audience started to feel like Lin Mu now had a disadvantage. While he had an explosive start, now it seemed like they had judged him too fast.


    "Ahh~ Mei Nienzhen is simply amazing!" the youth from before didn''t forget to sing her praises. "That Mu Lin simply cannot match up to her talent!"


    ~SLAP~


    "Shut up, brat and watch." The youth''s uncle pped his head again, forcing him to go silent.


    A frown was on his face as he turned back to look at the ring.


    "Huh, what!?" but then his expression turned into shock.

 Chapter 1690 Analyzing The Opponents Skill

    Lin Mu had been shooting arrows for a specific reason. He needed to judge and analyze just how Mei Nienzhen was actually absorbing the energy of the arrows and turning them useless.


    Thus, he used the most straightforward way of doing this.


    Shooting arrows non stop, Lin Mu used his immortal sense and observed how it all happened. It was a fast process, thus he wasn''t able to grasp it in one go. But after several tries, he had managed to figure out the process.


    ''So the secret lies in the opposition of energies¡­ She''s forcefully using the energy of the Ice lotus to consume the Qi of the fire arrows. It''s this fast because it is fire¡­ countering Yang with Yin¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While it looked like it had taken him a while in reality, not even a minute had passed.


    ~TWANG~


    And thus, he drew the bow once more as another fiery arrow condensed on it. But when he released it this time, it wasn''t stopped by the Ice lotus.


    ~ZING~


    When the light ray from the stamens struck the arrow, it did weaken the mes, but the arrow wasn''t stopped!


    ~CRACK~


    Instead, the ice encasing the arrow was shattered as the half burning arrow continued.


    ~CLANG~


    "Huh, What!?" it was now that the youth in the audience saw the scene.


    Unlike before, Lin Mu''s arrow had not been stopped sessfully and had managed to hit the Ice lotus!Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    "There we go¡­" Lin Mu muttered as a slight smile appeared on his face.


    ~TWANG~


    Then, without waiting, he shot another arrow, which was also struck by the light ray but was unable to be stopped.


    ~CLANG~


    It struck the Ice lotus but did no visible damage.


    "How is he doing this?" the youth was confused.


    And he wasn''t the only one either. The other people also realized that something had changed.


    "Wait! His arrow! It''s actually still there!" The people noticed upon looking closer.


    Unlike the fire arrows which disappeared after colliding and had temporary forms, the current arrows were solid.


    "Stone arrows?" The elder observed closely and noticed that the arrows were actually different.


    "He''s using physical arrows now?"


    "I''m sure the energy from the arrows was the same as before."


    "Yeah the Fire elemental immortal Qi is unmistakable."


    To the others, it looked like Lin Mu had used external arrows instead of condensing them from a skill. Of course, what they didn''t know was that these arrows were not normal arrows.


    ''I didn''t think I''d have to use my Dao Skill this early¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He was now using the True Earth Heart to create stone arrows that he would then coat with fire using the Scorching Sparrow Darts. It was abination of skills he had used before too, but this time he had greatly increased the mass of the stone arrows.


    "She can still slow the arrows down as well as reduce the power." Lin Mu muttered. "Seems like her skills work on all elements, just that they are strongest against fire." He had sensed the power of the stone arrows decreasing.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Of course, since they were condensed using a Dao Skill, they were resistant to interference, but there was still a limit to it. Mei Nienzhen was a lot stronger than Lin Mu had expected due to her skill.


    ~TWANG~ TWANG~


    Lin Mu shot two more arrows before reducing the distance between them.


    ~ZING~ZING~ZING~


    The Ice lotus responded by shooting more rays of light. It even shot a light ray towards Lin Mu''s body.


    ~CLANG~


    But before it could hit Lin Mu, he flicked it away with Afternoon Pine.


    "Now I see¡­" Lin Mu''s smile got wider as he saw only a few shards of ice on the sword.


    Even if it was struck by the light ray, it had not been covered in ice like the arrows.


    Mei Nienzhen''s fingers were now trembling more, such that a few keen eyes in the audience had noted it already.


    If one looked closer, one would see that her white fingertips had small red dots appearing on them.


    ~CLANG~


    Lin Mu let go off the sword and let it float around him while he used Wonder Seeker directly.


    ~SLASH~


    ~TWANG~ TWANG~


    Lin Mu used both weapons simultaneously stunning the audience.


    "He can do that!?" The youth was astounded.


    "Splitting one''s immortal sense to use multiple immortal weapons is something several immortals can do. But to do it with this ease¡­" The old man was also getting intrigued by it all.


    Mei Nienzhen kept on making seals with her fingers, controlling the Ice Lotus to shoot light rays at Lin Mu and his attacks. But the man only kept on getting closer.


    In the entire process, two things were constant though. First was the position of Mei Nienzhen and the Ice lotus, and the second was Lin Mu''s attacks. The tempo of the attacks was maintained, and didn''t give Mei Nienzhen an opportunity to change her strategy.


    The speed of the arrows forced her to keep on using the light rays. And even when she tried to hit Lin Mu directly, it was unless as Afternoon Pine would immediately respond.


    Another thing Lin Mu had noticed was that the Ice Lotus could not absorb the Sword Intent. Thus if the sword was coated with it, the energy could not freeze it nor could it weaken it.


    "He''s almost there!"


    Lin Mu was merely a meter away from the Ice lotus and its attacks had also sped up.


    ~ZING~ZING~ZING~


    But even if it did that, Lin Mu''s sword could easily keep up.


    "I don''t know why you are fighting in this way, but I may as well finish it now." Lin Mu spoke to the woman.


    ~SHING~


    Holding the short sword, he directly shed, splitting the Ice Lotus in half. And before its energy could explode out, Lin Mu spun around and shot an arrow.


    The eyes of every one were locked onto the ring, as the arrow touched the forehead of Mei Nienzhen!

 Chapter 1691 A Surrender

    ~SHATTER~


    "MEI NIENZHEN!" The people in the audience cried out as they saw the body of the woman shatter.


    "She''s dead!"


    "Killing is forbidden! How could Mu Lin do this?"


    An uproar spread through the crowd, with some stunned about Mei Nienzhen''s defeat while some cried out about Lin Mu delivering a fatal attack. But even in the audience, there were several people that were calm.


    They knew better than to think that Lin Mu had killed someone like this.


    "Mu Lin! How dare you kill Mei Nienzhen!" The youth in the audience shouted in range.


    ~THWACK~


    But then a fist hammered on his head.


    "Shut up you buffoon!" The youth''s uncle shouted. "Do you think the people of the temple are fools? They haven''t interfered, not said anything yet. Do you think you are qualified to do that?!"


    His word served to warn others as well, as they started to calm down. And when they looked at the ring again, they were surprised.


    "Wait¡­ how did she?"


    "She''s still there?"


    In the ring, the cold faced woman stood some distance from her earlier position. The arrow that had shot towards her was now frozen and lying on the ground, while Lin Mu stood beside the Ice Lotus.


    "Just as I thought, that wasn''t even your real body." Lin Mu spoke.


    Mei Nienzhen''s expression fluctuated a bit, as a doubt appeared on her face.


    "You¡­ Managed to see it?" She replied, her voice reaching Lin Mu like a breeze.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded. "I must say it is an impable masking skill¡­ Creating a substitute of ice that is hard to differentiate and can also hide your presence¡­ Impressive." He praised.


    Lin Mu had been feeling that something was strange right from the start when he had seen Mei Nienzhen. The fact that there were barely any energy fluctuations in her body was the first point of interest for him.


    At first, he had thought that it was some immortal tool, but as the fight went on, Lin Mu realized that it was actually a skill.


    The second point was the fact that Mei Nienzhen had barely moved from her position. She had only moved her hands to attack and even that was mild gestures. The true power had beening in from the Ice Lotus with the Iridescent stamens.


    The fact that he couldn''t see a clear link of energy between the two also showed that there was something else going on.


    And once Lin Mu had seen the attacks of the Ice Lotus, he had been able to sense hidden energy links between Mei Nienzhen and the Lotus. What was strange was that they were stilling from her, just that they were hidden underground.


    Mei Nienzhen had frozen the ground underneath her and connected to the Ice Lotus. Which she further controlled using her fingers and immortal sense.


    And when Lin Mu''s arrow finally stuck her, it was revealed.


    Mei Nienzhen had in fact, coated her entire body in a thinyer of ice that was transparent. It made her energy fluctuations be contained as well as masked the other energy links that she was using to control.


    After all, they simply felt like ice masking the presence of the energy.


    Seeing that Mei Nienzhen was unable to block the arrow, she chose to sacrifice her skill and use it to create a substitute that would take the attack while she herself retreated.


    ''Misdirection, deceit, and fast attacks that render one immobile¡­'' Lin Mu concluded his analysis of Mei Nienzhen.


    ~SHING~


    Having understood this much, Lin Mu was now done probing and decided to take a direct approach.


    "Should we finish this then?" Lin Mu asked while walking towards the cold faced woman.


    ~Sigh~


    "Yes¡­ I surrender." Mei Nienzhen replied, much to everyone''s shock.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu had not expected that at all and was left stunned.


    His rising aura suddenly dissipated while Wonder Seeker and Afternoon Pine were also confused.


    "WHAT!?" it wasn''t long before the audience broke out in uproar again.


    "How can she admit defeat?"


    "Is she exhausted?"


    "Maybe she''s injured."


    The people tried to figure out the reasoning behind her actions but couldn''t do so.


    "Mei Nienzhen has admitted defeat! Mu Lin is the winner!" The referee announced, dering the results.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With that done, Mei Nienzhen turned around and walked towards the seat. But before she could go, a voice drifted over.


    "You could still fight? Why would you give up?" Lin Mu asked with genuine confusion.


    Mei Nienzhen stopped for a second but didn''t reply. She simply shook her head and left the ring.


    Lin Mu was left staring at the back of her head.


    What he didn''t see was Mei Nienzhen''s lips move.


    "I''ve done enough, so mother won''t scold me. Now I can go sleep."


    A slight smile appeared on her face before quickly disappearing. She looked at her fingertips that had had red spots on them.


    "He still managed to face me to use half of my strength¡­ And it didn''t seem like he was using all of his either. Interesting¡­" Mei Nienzhen muttered before disappearing in a swirl of frost.


    Unaware of Mei Nienzhen''s thoughts, Lin Mu returned to his seat. Having obtained his first win, Lin Mu didn''t really feel that content.


    ''I was prepared with several strategies¡­ and now they are going to be left as it is.'' Lin Mu let out a sigh.


    Deciding to let it be for now, Lin Mu sat back on his seat and put Little Shrubby on hisp.


    "Why did that woman give up?" Little Shrubby couldn''t help but ask.


    "I don''t know¡­" Lin Mu shook his head.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "Is it because she was hurt? I could smell blood." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Huh? Blood?" Lin Mu couldn''t recall seeing any blood being spilled. "Are you sure?"


    "Yeah, I could smell blood." Little Shrubby confirmed.


    ''I guess she really was injured and didn''t want to show it¡­'' Lin Mu reckoned but was still harboring several doubts.


    By the time Lin Mu''s fight with Mei Nienzhen was over, it was already quitete at night.


    Of course, the matches wouldn''t stop just because it was night time. The tournament would continue nonstop until all of the preliminary matches were over. The preliminary matches would reduce the number of contestants by six times.


    After all, if one wanted to qualify for the preliminary matches, one had to defeat five cultivators without losing. Thus out of six, only one person would continue their journey while the rest would have to wait till the next tournament.


    He watched three more matches and practiced with the Nine Divine Heart Sutras before he felt his token hum again.


    "That was fast¡­" Lin Mu saw that his next match had been scheduled. "Oh, it''s two days from now? That''s far¡­" he muttered.


    "We can now go look at other ces." Little Shrubby suggested.


    "Ah yes! Let''s get another thing ready till then." Lin Mu hadn''t forgotten his n to earn a pretty profit.


    He left the ring and went in search of an acquaintance.


    "Now then¡­ where would Luo Liqin be?" Lin Mu wondered.


    His spread his immortal sense and searched the ring where Luo Liqin and Yao Changying''s fight had urred in. And sure enough, it didn''t take long for him to discover the injured man.


    He was in one of the recovery pavilions that had been built next to most of the rings.


    With how many contestants got injured during the fights, this was some time that was necessary for a tournament of this scale. The people of the temple of the four guardian beasts had healers ready to take care of the injured contestants.


    While they wouldn''t fully heal them, they would at least prevent them from immediate death and surface injuries.


    Luo Liqin had been injured quite a bit by Yao Changying and thus had to rest at the recovery pavilion.


    Having found the man, Lin Mu quickly reached the recovery pavilion where he was stopped at the entrance.


    "Who are you here for?" An attendant asked.


    "Luo Liqin is here, I assume?" Lin Mu asked. "I am a friend."


    "Alright." The attendant took a look at Lin Mu before letting him in.


    While it wasn''t likely for someone to hurt or attack the injured contestants under the watchful eye of the temple, this level of security was still needed.


    After all, there were bad-faith actors everywhere in the world. A little caution served well and went a long distance.


    Entering the recovery pavilion, Lin Mu saw tens of beds, half of which were currently upied. There were injured cultivators lying on them, some more injured than others. The most severe seemed to be a man who was missing an entire leg.


    Luo Liqin was also one of the people that was heavily injured.


    "Hello, Luo Liqin." Lin Mu spoke after approaching the man.


    Luo Liqin opened his eyes, surprise evident in them. "Daoist Mu Lin?" he said in a hoarse voice.

 Chapter 1692 Offer For Luo Liqin

    Luo Liqin had never thought that he would be matched up against Yao Changying in his second match.


    While they had all been given the mission to defeat her, and were even given tools to weaken her. Her strength was overwhelming enough for him to be wiped out instantly. It didn''t look like Yao Changying had put him into any consideration at all as she had only used her sword skills.


    ording to what they had heard from Princess Shang, Yao Changying had various skills, the strongest of which were the ones she had acquired by sacrificing others. Even Luo Liqin had loved ones that had been involved in it, thus his enmity was personal.


    And now that he had faced her, he had barely been able to stand for a minute before being defeated.


    If not for the fact that he had practiced body cultivation in the past, he might not havested that long either. It resulted in injuries that would take a while to heal even if they weren''t life threatening.


    If Luo Liqin had fought Yao Changying somewhere other than the tournament, he would have certainly died. After all, he was knocked out from the attack and wouldn''t be able to recover without treatment.


    It just showed how dangerous even a casual attack from Yao Changying was.


    When he came to his senses, he had found himself in the Recovery Pavilion. The healers had already tended to him and patched up his wounds. But the internal injuries were still there and would take a lot more effort to heal.


    Luo Liqin would have to use his own Healing pills, or buy them in order to return to normal. As of now, he barely had half of his strength, as exerting anymore would only cause him to get strained and worsen the injuries.


    He had been regretting losing this early and could only curse fate. But fate held more surprises for him as he now woke up to Lin Muing to meet him.


    "How did youe here Daoist Mu Lin?" Luo Liqin asked feeling confused.


    "Hearing that a friend was injured, I obviously had toe check up on them." Lin Mu said with a smile. "Besides, we both have a mission and keeping an eye on the target of the mission is normal." He added vaguely.


    Luo Liqin quickly understood what Lin Mu meat from this and let out a sigh.


    "Of course¡­ I was defeated by her, after all." Luo Liqin said in a frustrated tone.


    "Out of all of us, I had never thought someone would be facing her right on the first day of the tournament either." Lin Mu stated. "But¡­ it did allows us to know a bit about her abilities now." He added.


    "That''s true¡­ While she hasn''t revealed all her capabilities, I''m afraid what she''s shown is already enough to stop all of us." Luo Liqin said with regret.


    "It might not be as you think, Daoist Luo Liqin." Lin Mu said mysteriously.


    "What do you mean?" Luo Liqin wondered if Lin Mu had some tricks up his sleeve. "Do you have a way?" he asked, remembering that he still needed revenge against Yao Changying.


    "I just might¡­ but I also need your help with it." Lin Mu replied.


    "If you really can do it, then I don''t see why not." Luo Liqin answered. "But then again¡­ In my current condition it''ll be difficult. I''m afraid I might be useless to you right now." He said in a sad tone.


    "We can get that sorted in a jiffy." Lin Mu chuckled and took out three pill bottles.


    He took out one pill from each of the bottles and presented them to Luo Liqin.


    "What are these?" The man furrowed his brows.


    "Meridian Mending Pill, Vein establishing pill and Immortal Restoration Pill." Lin Mu answered. "They should return you to your peak." He exined.


    Hearing this, Luo Liqin''s eyes went wide.


    "M-Meridian mending pill? And even an Immortal Restoration Pill?!" While he had not recognized the pills from the appearance, he certainly knew about them once he heard the names. "Such precious healing pills, how can I¡­"


    The Meridian mending pill was a healing pill that was meant for internal injuries, more urately injuries to the meridians. Luo Liqin had been pierced in several locations by the flower petals of Yao Changying and while the surface wounds were closed, the actual meridians inside his body were still injured.


    ¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á---n?¦Ía| §ãom Of course, while they weren''t crippled, there were still injuries on them and the damage was wide spread.


    There were several pills that could address this, but the Meridian Mending Pill was one of the good ones that worked fast.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Same was the case for the Vein establishing pill. Instead of meridians it was meant for the blood vessels and blood clots that might be present in the body. It wasn''t as valuable as the Meridian Mending Pill, but was still worthy a pretty penny.


    Then there was the Immortal Restoration Pill which was an overall healing pill. It could work on the entire body, expect its effects were diffused. The main benefit of it was that when used inbination with other healing pills, it had a synergistic effect and also increased the speed of healing.


    Thebination of the three pills was something that would basically revert Luo Liqin''s body to how it was before the battle.


    ''I would have given him flesh mending pills too, but the healers here took care of that. At least they are good in that aspect.'' Lin Mu thought to himself while watching Luo Liqine to terms with his offering.


    It was normal for others to be stunned by this, as the three pills were worth at least two or three High Grade immortal stones. To Lin Mu, this was a small amount, but to others it was something they needed to be careful about.


    Plus, even if one had the fortune to buy these pills, there was no guarantee they would be avable freely. Chances were, one would need tomission an Immortal Alchemist to make them, which would further raise the cost.


    "I¡­ ~Gulp~" but before Luo Liqin could say anymore, Lin Mu stuffed the pills into his mouth.


    "Let''s get you healed first. Ignore the cost of the pills for now." Lin Mu replied, shutting the man up.


    Or rather, Luo Liqin was forced to shut up as there was now strong medicinal energy rising within his stomach. He needed to focus on it to absorb it properly. After all, wasting it would be a great shame.


    Thus, Lin Mu watched over Luo Liqin for a while until his injuries healed.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense was scanning Luo Liqin''s body and analyzing the injuries beforehand too. And now they were keeping a check on how well they healed and whether there were any after effects left.


    ''Yao Changying''s attack don''t leave remnant Sword energy or intent within the body. That''s a good thing, or perhaps she didn''t think to use that level of power.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    A swordsman could choose to infuse his sword energy and sword intent into the attacks that would linger in the body of the victim. This could further aggravate their injuries and cause lingering damage.


    If left untreated, they could get worse over time with some even crippling them at first contact.


    That was the first thing that Lin Mu had checked for and was relieved that there was nothing like that. After all, from what Lin Mu had heard so far, Yao Changying sounded exactly like the person that would do it.


    ''Though¡­ Luo Liqin''s body cultivation in the past has also helped him. It is certainly assisting him in healing faster.'' Lin Mu noticed.


    Soon enough, Luo Liqin was done healing his wounds and all the medicinal energy was absorbed. In fact, the effect was even greater than he had expected.


    "My hidden injuries are healed too¡­ the flow of Qi is smoother than before." Luo Liqin muttered.


    He then looked up at Lin Mu with emotion in his eyes.


    "Thank you for this grace, Daoist Mu Lin." The man said with gratitude. "I will surely pay you back." He said with determination.


    "Don''t mind it. Plus, what we are going to do will give a return hundred times more than the value of the pills." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this, Luo Liqin was now intrigued. Now that he didn''t have to worry about his injured body, he could think of other things.


    "What are we going to do?" Luo Liqin asked.


    "Let''s talk elsewhere. Won''t be good to let stray ears hear it." Lin Mu said before turning around..


    "Ah! I''ming." Luo Liqin quickly got up and followed after the man.


    The healers didn''t pay much attention to them other than when they left the pavilion. They simply marked him as having been discharged.


    They didn''t care that Lin Mu had healed the man this quickly either. After all, they could do the same as long as the people were willing to pay more.From N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1693 A Place For Gathering And A Countess

    "Where are we going?" Luo Liqin asked.


    "There should be plenty of restaurants nearby." Lin Mu replied. "We''ll get a private room."


    As much as Luo Liqin wanted to ask more, he just decided to see what Lin Mu was going to tell him. Something told him that this was going to be bigger than expected.


    It didn''t take them that long to find a decent restaurant. After all, with the tournament of the four guardians running for months the influx of the people would be massive. Many restaurants had been set up here since thousands of years and thus people could enjoy food and drinks.


    There were even certain restaurants that allowed one to watch the battles from their VIP rooms. Of course, these restaurants weren''t easy to ess and were quite expensive. They were all owned by either nobles or rich merchants.


    After all, in order for them to tap into the formation screens of the Tournament, a special permission would have to be taken from the temple. This was not something that would be granted easily and all those that had it were special.


    They had either contributed to the temple, or had done actions that were worthy of obtaining merit.


    Lin Mu chose exactly one such establishment. It was about ten floors tall and had a luxurious exterior, gilded with gold and silver runes carved into the surface. There were formation arrays openly disyed on it, that melded together to present a beautiful painting.


    It looked like a pce more than a restaurant and the people patronizing it seemed to be all nobles too. Though the foot traffic for it was rather low, showing that it was only meant for the elite.


    Instead of a normal name board, a formation screen disyed the name of the establishment.


    ''Spring Valley Restaurant.''


    Lin Mu and Luo Liqin came to a stop near the entrant before ncing at the guards and attendants present there.


    "Excuse me, I''d like to book a VIP room." Lin Mu said to the attendants right at the entrance. "One with the best privacy if possible." He added.


    The attendants were caught off guard and took a second look at Lin Mu wondering who he was. Just from appearance, it was hard to determine if his background was noble or not. Even the energy fluctuationsing from him were from the First Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm, making him look normal.


    But the confidence with which he spoke and his demeanor was different.


    Despite that though, the attendants shook their heads. The guards also looked ready to act, though there was no aggression disyed openly/


    "I''m sorry but VIP rooms are not given without the necessary identity tokens." They chose to give an excuse.


    "The cost is not an issue, if that''s what you''re concerned about." Lin Mu replied.


    "Cost is not the standard for the en¡ª" Before the attendant could finish his words though, another voice was heard.


    "Let them in. They are more than worthy of it." A female voice spoke.


    Hearing the voice, the attendants immediately became serious and replied, "yes!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Luo Liqin wondered just who was it that had spoken, for their attitudes to change this quickly. He took a look at Lin Mu and saw that he seemed to be nonchnt about it, as if he had already expected it.


    "Please,e with us honored sirs." The attendants quicks guided Lin Mu and Luo Liqin to the eighth floor of the building.


    Along the way, Luo Liqin couldn''t help but whisper, "is this fine, Daoist Mu Lin? We could have found another ce with private rooms." Then after taking a pause, he spoke again. "The costs for this ce will be great too."


    "It''ll be fine." Lin Mu assured the man. "Besides, we need it to be this ce. The functions here will be perfect." He added.


    While it seemed like Lin Mu had randomly picked a ce to go to, it wasn''t so. In fact, he had long since picked this ce out


    Lin Mu had memorized the maps and taken a look at several ces. With the Map Mirror highlighting and showing things in detail, Lin Mu had more information than others.


    "Wee, Daoist Mu Lin." A woman greeted him. From N?velDrama.Org.


    Dressed in green and blue robes, she looked to be in the mid thirties. She held a broad fan in her hand while her deep blue colored nails shimmered against the light of themps. Then there were the Qi fluctuationsing from her showed that she was not weak.


    ''Fifth Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm¡­ She''s certainly not of the younger generation.'' Lin Mu could tell this from both her cultivation base as well as her demeanor.


    ¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á---n?¦Ía| §ãom Luo Liqin who saw the woman, was stunned though.


    "C-countess? Countess Xiurong!" Luo Liqin recognized.


    "Haha, I''m ttered that honored guests can recognize me." Countess Xiurongughed, covering her mouth with the fan.


    "Greetings countess. I believe this is our first meeting." Lin Mu replied.


    "Of course. Though it isn''t the first time I''m seeing you." The Countess said with a smile. "I had wished to send you a letter of appreciation too, but the Crown Prince had you imed beforehand." She let out a little sigh.


    "Doesn''t matter. At least we get to meet now." Lin Mu spoke before gesturing to hispanion. "This is Luo Liqin, a friend of mine."


    "Ah, I recall seeing Daoist Luo Liqin too. Though its unfortunate that your journey came to an end this quick." She replied.


    Luo Liqin''s expression stiffened by he wasn''t offended.


    "Of course, Daoist Luo Liqin was out of luck. Facing a top five ranker is not easy after all." Lin Mu replied changing the topic.


    "That is true." Countess Xiurong nodded. "Yao Changying is a woman to be reckoned with." She added before giving a look to the servants who had appeared by the side.


    "Please, bring our guests to the Second Spring room." She ordered. "I''m a bit upied right now, but I''ll be sure toe visit youter, Daoist Mu Lin." She stated.

 Chapter 1694 Second Spring Room

    With the departure of the Countess Xiurong, Lin Mu and Luo Liqin were brought to the private VIP room.


    It was named as the Second Spring room, and was located at the very corner of the floor. Inside, a wide balcony and veranda were attached to a cozy looking room. Arge table and seats were prepared for people to use.


    Two wide loungers were also present. One in the inner part under the roof while the second one on the balcony. Several potted nts were also kept on the balcony, the flowers of which emitted a pleasant fragrance.


    No matter who came here they would find the room pleasant.


    But this was only on the surface. The real capabilities of the room were hidden.


    There was an extensive formation array covering the room, which included a defensive, a barrier, an isting as well as an illusory formation. Thebination of all of them turned into a dense array that most would find it difficult to read.


    Even for Lin Mu, the encryption of the array was something that would take him a while to figure out. It wasn''t like others which he could analyze just from a nce.


    ''Interesting¡­ I don''t think they would give a room like this to normal VIPs either.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    The servants gestured to Lin Mu and Luo Liqin, before speaking, "please take a seat esteemed guests. We shall bring you refreshments right away."


    "This is the best room we have in our establishment. If you wish for anything else we will be d to provide that too." The second servant added.


    "Oh? This is the best room?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "Then is there a First Spring Room too?" he asked.


    On the way, Lin Mu had seen several other rooms. Each being named after a number going from eight to two. This made Lin Mu think that they were numbered in the order of importance.


    But the Servant said that the Second Spring Room was the best one despite the fact that there was still the First Spring Room left.


    "Ah, if you mean the First Spring room then it is an exception." The Servant replied. "The first spring room is the personal room of the Countess." He revealed.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu nodded. "I didn''t see it on this floor, so I''m guessing its upstairs."


    "You would be right." The Servant said. "If there isn''t anything else, we shall take our leave." He added.


    "There might be a few of my friends arrivingter. Please guide them here too," Lin Mu added.


    After all, he intended to call the acquaintances he had met before.


    "It shall be done as you ask." The servant said before taking his leave.


    With the two servants gone, the door automatically closed and the arrays activated. Even for the balcony, the illusory formation was covering it. One could look out from inside, but no one would be able to see in from the outside.


    In some ways, it worked as a one way mirror. Though with the extra illusions being added, one wouldn''t even see a balcony from the road. Instead, it would just like a straight wall with more runes carved on it.


    This allowed the building to have a different shape on the outside and a different structure internally.


    "You wish to call the others too?" Luo Liqin asked.


    "Of course. For what we are going to do, we will need as much help as we can get." Lin Mu replied.


    "Won''t having too many people make it difficult or easy to get messy?'' Luo Liqin questioned.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "It might, if it is people we don''t know. But the ones I''m going to include are all with the same mission." Lin Mu answered.


    "I see¡­ let''s see who cane in this time then. There might be some that have their matches." Luo Liqin replied.


    "That''s true. Though hopefully all of them have had at least one match." Lin Mu said before taking out themunication jade slip.


    Back during the banquet, Lin Mu had taken all of their contacts thus he could talk to them or send a message as needed. He had not disrupted them during the matches as he knew they might not be avable.


    Now that it was night time, and most of the first round matches were over, Lin Mu knew it should be fine to message them.


    And thus Lin Mu quickly sent out messages, waiting for the response.


    For the first three minutes, there was no response from them, but then the Jade slip hummed.


    "Who is it?" Luo Liqin asked.


    "Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan are both free now." Lin Mu replied. "They have finished two matches each today."


    "That''s good." Luo Liqin was still a bit regretful about his match, but quickly suppressed it.


    Lin Mu was about to speak again, but then a voice was heard.


    "Esteemed guests, we''ve brought you some refreshments." The voice of the servant was heard.


    "Come in." Lin Mu allowed them, prompting the doors to open automatically


    "Here is our Spring Valley Tea and assorted fruits. The Countess grows the tea in her own fields." The Servant introduced before cing a tray in front of them.


    The tray had two tea pots and several cups. A sweet yet refreshing fragrance could be smelled from the teapot, showing that the tea was of a good quality.


    "Please enjoy," the servant said before leaving.


    "This tea is an elixir!" Luo Liqin could tell just from a sniff.


    "Indeed. It should help in cultivation." Lin Mu nodded and poured two cups for them.


    ~SIP~


    "Ah! Good tea!" Lin Mu could feel the rich immortal Qi from the tea.


    It was almost the same as consuming a mid grade immortal stone in one sip. Not just that, but there was a gentleness to the tea, that allowed the energy to be absorbed evenly.


    ~humm~This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    The jade slip hummed once more in this time, and Lin Mu received the response from the remaining acquaintances.


    "Perfect, they are alling here in a few minutes."

 Chapter 1695 A Poisoned Acquaintance

    The first to arrive was none other than the Ming sisters.


    "Brother Mu Lin!" Ming Aolian greeted him upon seeing him.


    "It''s nice to see you." Ming Dandan spoke.


    "Mmmhmm, it''s good that both of you coulde." Lin Mu said before gesturing for them to take a seat.


    The two sat down and took a look around the elegant room. They had been surprised when Lin Mu contacted them and even more so when they learned the kind of ce they were called too.


    "I knew you had called us to the Spring Valley Restaurant but to think you''d be able to get a VIP room too." Ming Aolian said in surprise.


    "Well, Brother Mu Lin also knew the Crown Prince, so this much is expected." Ming Dandan chimed in.


    "That''s true." Luo Liqin nodded his head.


    "Of course, how can Brother Mu Lin''s influence end just here!" A fifth voice was suddenly heard, prompting them to look at the door.


    "Wee, brother Lu Xu." Lin Mu greeted the next arrival. "Thanks foring."


    "Haha! I should be the one being thankful, Brother Mu Lin." Lu Xu replied. "I don''t think we''d get toe to a ce like this if not for you." He added.


    "It''s nothing." Lin Mu gave a smile before sensing another presence. "Seems like the final person is here too."


    And surely, they could see Qian Wen appearing from the corridor. The man looked to be a bit confused and was being guided here by a servant. He was still in the attire of a soldier and didn''t seem like he belonged here.


    If anything, it would seem more appropriate for him to be the servant here than the servant. Qian Wen also felt the same as he had often been asked to guard locations before, but never got to enter them in these kinds of areas.


    "Are we¡­ In the right ce?" Qian Wen couldn''t help but ask.


    "It''s all good! Brother Mu Lin has the ce for us!" Lu Xu went and patted the man on his back.


    ~Hiss~


    But the man gasped in pain instead.


    "Are you okay?" Luo Liqin asked.


    "Just a scratch¡­" Qian Wen said, but the others didn''t buy it.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense quickly scanned over the man and discovered the injuries. Qian Wen''s back was dark blue in color, and blisters could also be seen on them.


    ''His immortal Qi fluctuations also seem weak¡­ He didn''t say he was injured though.'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Did you have a difficult fight?" Lu Xu quickly guessed.


    "You can say that," Qian Wen gave a wry smile. "I did win though." He added.


    "That''s good then." Lu Xu replied. "Though you should get that injury taken care of first."


    "Yeah, it''ll be bad for you in the next match." Ming Aolian stated.


    Aplex expression appeared on Qian Wen''s face but he gave a nod.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What''s it?" Lin Mu had felt like the injury didn''t seem to be normal, but hadn''t taken a deep look yet. "Did you try to heal it and it didn''t heal?" he guessed.


    "Y-yes¡­" The man answered.


    "Do youck healing items?" Lu Xu asked. "You can borrow from me." He added, quickly taking out a few healing items.


    "No, I don''t need them." Qian Wen was a proud man and wouldn''t ept something this easily. "Besides, I don''t think normal healing items will help it." He added after a pause.


    "Huh? Just how did you get injured?" Ming Dandan asked.


    ~sniff~


    While they were talking though, Little Shrubby stood up and walked up to Qian Wen, sniffing the air. The beast had been sitting calmly so far, just watching everything but now something had prompted him to get up.


    "What is it Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Poison. I smell poison." Little Shrubby answered which was only heard as a meow to others.


    Lin Mu''s expression turned serious as he did a proper look this time. His immortal sense directly entered the man''s body, his defenses not even detecting it. There, Lin Mu sensed the foreign substance pervading the flesh of the man.


    It seemed to be stable for the most part, but was actually corroding his flesh slowly.


    "You were poisoned." Lin Mu stated, much to everyone''s shock.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Poison? No, I was just struck by a powerful attack." Qian Wen replied.


    "Are you sure of it?" Lin Mu was not convinced.


    He even wondered if Qian Wen was trying to downy it, but didn''t sense any lies from the man.


    "Yes." Qian Wen confirmed.


    "That can''t be it. If Brother Mu Lin is saying this, there must be more to it." Lu Xu replied.


    "Exactly. Tell us who you fought and how it happened." Luo Liqin asked.


    ~Sigh~


    "It''s like this¡­" The group would not be convinced, so Qian Wen narrated what had happened.


    Simr to others, he had also fought two matches and his first match had been rtively simple.


    In the second match though, he faced a man by the name of G. The man was not a native of the Dao Wind continent and seemed to be from some other ce that Qian Wen couldn''t tell.


    His skills were also strange, being able to bend at unusual angles as if he had no bones. He used a pair of hooks that were sharp but could also change shape into straight pikes uponmand.


    Due to G''s strange movements, Qian Wen had a hard time getting his attacks to hit. Since Qian Wen was part of the royal army, he had been trained in the standard skills and techniques of the empire, putting him at a disadvantage.


    Though his cultivation base was higher than that of G, allowing him to prevail in the end. But despite his win, he had sustained several injuries including multiple cuts which had now been mostly healed using pills.


    Upon hearing this, the expression of Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan changed.


    "That man, G¡­ I think we know where he might be from." The two sisters spoke.

 Chapter 1696 Black Fin Island And Strange Actions

    Qian Wen didn''t know much about his opponent and neither was there any information about him in the formation screens when he had fought him.


    Lin Mu and Lu Xu had also tried to recall if they had heard anything about a person like this but came up with nothing. Even the intelligence booklet that Lin Mu had wascking in information about such a man.


    Thus when he heard that the sisters knew about him, he wanted to learn more.


    "You know about him?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Was G wearing a head wrap made from fish skin?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "And were his fingers wrinkly?" Ming Dandan also asked.


    "Yes¡­ He was like that." Qian Wen nodded his head.


    "No wonder¡­" A dark expression appeared on the Ming sisters'' faces.


    "Where is G from?" the others asked in doubt.


    "G is definitely from the ck Fin Ind." Ming Aolian answered.


    "ck Fin Ind?" Lin Mu muttered, trying to remember if he had heard about if before.


    "Isn''t that near the North Western coast of the Holy Topaz Continent?" Lu Xu seemed to recognize it.


    "Indeed." Ming Dandan nodded her head.


    "What is that ce and how does concern G?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The ck Fin Ind is officially a vassal of the Holy Topaz Empire. It is separated from the continent, and is about three hundred kilometers from the North Western Coast of the Holy Topaz Continent.


    There are several ns living there, among which there are a few ns with strange and unorthodox techniques. The people there are known to dress like how G dresses and practice simr skills.


    But they are also known to use hidden poison skills!" Ming Aolian exined.


    "Isn''t using poison forbidden in the tournament?" Luo Liqin asked in doubt.


    "Only if it is a fatal poison." Lu Xu rified. "You can still use weakening poisons as well as poisonous skills." He added.


    "Why couldn''t I tell I was poisoned? I thought it was just a lingering injury." Qian Wen was a bit scared now.


    Not knowing that you were poisoned was a terrifying thing, even if the poison wasn''t lethal. After all, he was participating in a tournament, where one could still die. Of course, the opponent would be punished for killing, but they would still be dead.


    "Their poison skills are not known well and can hide." Ming Dandan spoke. "In fact, there was a time when the Imperial family used to employ their people as assassins and spies."


    The expressions of everyone darkened upon hearing this.


    "Should this be reported to the temple?" Luo Liqin asked.


    "While it is unusual, it is still not against the rules." Ming Dandan replied.


    "Though it is still strange¡­" Lin Mu suddenly spoke. "You didn''t feel any effects when you were fighting, did you?" he asked.


    "No¡­ the skin only changed a couple of hours after the fight." Qian Wen answered.


    "Then it doesn''t make sense for the man to poison you. It is clear that it was a slow acting and hidden poison." Lin Mu analyzed. "If he wished to weaken you during the fight, he would have used something that was faster. At most, it should have been dyed by a few minutes, not hours."


    "That¡­ does make sense." Luo Liqin agreed.


    "Are the people of the ck Fin Ind usually like this?" Lu Xu couldn''t help but ask.


    "No¡­ They wouldn''t do something like this unprompted. Even if they used to be assassins, that was a long time ago. Their people might still practice the same skills, but I don''t think they would use them in the tournament like this." Ming Aolian replied after thinking.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''Something doesn''t add up.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. "Regardless of what it might be, we should first take care of your poison." He spoke.


    "Yes! We should get an alchemist." Ming Dandan agreed.


    "I think, brother Mu Lin might be able to help us with that." Luo Liqin chimed in.


    "Mmhmm, I have detoxifying pills." Lin Mu was quick to take out a small blue pill.


    It had no smell and looked like a simple bead.


    "Eat it." Lin Mu instructed.


    "Alright." Qian Wen nodded his head and quickly consumed the blue pill.


    ~cough~


    Then a few secondster the man coughed out loud, while his skin started to itch like crazy.


    "Ugh!" He tried to hold on but the irritation was intense.


    Thankfully, a minuteter it was over as a dark liquid came out of his back, staining his robes.


    "That was surely poison¡­" Lu Xu spoke as a fishy smell could now be sensed.


    "You best burn it." Ming Dandan advised.


    Qian Wen knew that too and quickly took out his shirt.


    ~SHUA~


    Little Shrubby immediately spat out a small wisp of fire that ignited the shirt, reducing it to ashes.


    ~Phew~


    Qian Wen couldn''t help but take a breath of relief. He had never thought that he''d be in this kind of trouble.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    "Thank you, brother Mu Lin." The man cupped his hands in gratitude.


    "Little Shrubby is amazing, he could sense the poison just like that!" Ming Aolian didn''t forget that.


    "Yeah, it should have been hard to detect." Ming Dandan agreed.


    Lin Mu had also not sensed it right away, only knowing when Little Shrubby smelled it.


    "Little Shrubby did well." Lin Mu petted the beast.


    "So what is it that you called us here for, brother Mu Lin?" Lu Xu inquired.


    "Ah, yes we should get to it." Lin Mu replied. "Though take note to pay attention to any more people from the ck Fin Ind." He warned.


    "We shall." They all were concerned about something simr happening to them.


    With that done, Lin Mu finally revealed what he had called them here for.


    "I''ve called you here for two reasons. The first is ourmon mission concerning Yao Changying, and the second is an opportunity to make a nice fortune." Lin Mu revealed.


    "A fortune?" Lu Xu''s eyes gleamed.


    "Yao Changying!?" the Ming sisters showed agitation.

 Chapter 1697 A Double Headed Strategy

    Everyone in the group other than Lu Xu had an enmity against Yao Changying. The Ming sisters were the same and thus showed hostility right away.


    Their focus was also on Yao Changying rather than the fortune part which Lu Xu had noted. After all, while he had epted the mission too, it was for the end result of obtaining a fortune too.


    Lin Mu didn''t forget to notice this divide and knew he would have to bnce both to get the best results.


    "Let''s start with Yao Changying, since that is the more serious part." Lin Mu stated, wanting to get that in order.


    "Please do tell." The Ming Sisters sat seriously.


    "With Luo Liqin having fought Yao Changying already, I can safely say that all of you will be having a hard time." Lin Mu threw out the fact.


    "Even if she is at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, we should at least be able to affect her with the tool that the Princess gave us." Ming Dandan replied.


    "I wish it was that easy." Luo Liqin was the one to speak this time. "I didn''t even manage to get close to her, not to mention use the tool. Her attacks are overpowering and won''t let you get close that easily." He exined from his experience.


    "Indeed. I''ve observed the battle too, and know that unless one can withstand that attack or avoid it entirely, getting close will be difficult." Lin Mu added.


    "Then how are we supposed to do it?" Ming Aolian questioned feeling frustrated.


    "I need to state this that, you all won''t be able to defeat her at all." Lin Mu spoke, crushing their hopes. "But that doesn''t mean she can''t be defeated." He added.


    "What are you implying, Brother Mu Lin?" Lu Xu asked, while others felt confused.


    "In order to bring her down to the level at which we can fight her, you all will be needed. Each person will contribute in portions so that the weakening effect is applied to Yao Changying." Lin Mu answered. "So it isn''t too obvious and by the time it happens, she will be greatly weakened."


    "But you said that we have no chance at getting close to her. So how are we even supposed to use the tool?" Qian Wen responded.


    "That''s where Ie in." Lin Mu replied. "I shall be assisting you all from outside the ring whenever you are fighting. I have a skill that can secretly interfere with the fight, and will hamper the abilities of Yao Changying." He revealed.


    "WHAT!?" they couldn''t help but shout out in shock.


    After all, what Lin Mu had said could be considered almost impossible or even dangerous. If it was found out that someone was interfering in the fights like this, the Temple of the Guardian beasts would not take it kindly. Getting imprisoned would be the lightest punishment.


    "Yes." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "H¡ªhow¡­ won''t they know?" Lu Xu asked finding it unbelievable.


    "Don''t worry. I''ve already tested it a few times. Not even the contestants know something happened to them." Lin Mu assured them.


    "This¡­" They didn''t know what to think about this.


    ''If it really is someone like brother Mu Lin, then it might be possible. He is quite strong after all.'' Lu Xu thought.


    ''He has various skills and his capability is high for him to be able to get acquainted with the Crown Prince. It might just be possible." Ming Aolian thought.


    ''Brother Mu Lin managed to find out about my poisoning, so perhaps he has a better grasp at this. He is certainly sensitive.'' Qian Wen pondered.


    Only Luo Liqin was someone who got on board fast.


    "If Brother Mu Lin says so, then it is true. He''s already healed me with ease, I don''t think he''ll be pretending to do this. Or is going in without a proper n." Luo Liqin stated his opinion.


    "You all can take some time to think, if you want to. You don''t have to rush like him." Lin Mu didn''t force them either.


    After all, he just needed to see if they were willing. If they were not, the n would only be defective.


    They all went silent for a few minutes before Lu Xu spoke.


    "I''m up for it." He stated. "Think about it this way, without Brother Mu Lin''s n, I don''t think we had a chance in the first ce."


    "Yes! If not for my defeat early on, I think I would have been in the false belief that we could touch Yao Changying." Luo Liqin chimed in.


    "Alright, if we really can get rid of that bitch, I''m up for it!" Ming Aolian said with determination.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Yes! We''ll get revenge for senior sister!" Ming Dandan also agreed.


    Lin Mu saw the determination in all their faces and knew that his n was working.


    "Good. But the first thing we need for this is goodmunication and knowledge of whose fight is when. It will allow us to cooperate and for me to get to your rings. The main thing is that you all should be able to survive till you meet Yao Changying." Lin Mu exined.


    "That is true." Qian Wen nodded his head. "If we meet some strong orplex cultivators, we might be defeated before we even meet Yao Changying."


    "That is where Ie in after all." Lin Mu smiled. "I won''t just be interfering in fights with Yao Changying, but also your regr fights." He said much to their surprised.


    "W-what¡­ Won''t that be too much?" Ming Dandan was stunned.


    "We have to make the most of it. If you all lose before meeting Yao Changying, it will be a bust. So its in all our benefit that I push you all as far as possible." Lin Mu replied. "In addition to this, I''ll also tend to your injuries and return you to your peak condition so that there is no disadvantage just due to ack of resources." He added.


    "This will cost a lot. Just the healing pills and immortal stones for restoration of Qi will reach in the high grade immortal stone range." Ming Aolian did a rough calction.


    "That is where my secondary nes in." Lin Mu said before taking out a booklet.


    "The betting booklet?" Lu Xu recognized.


    "Indeed. This is what will fund us for the entire thing." Lin Mu replied.


    "How will that happen?" Qian Wen questioned but then a thought presented to him.


    "Well it''s simple. Since I''m already interfering in matches, I don''t see why we can''t turn the bets into our favor." Lin Mu spread his arms as if it was obvious.


    "OF COURSE!" Lu Xu shouted. "HAHAHA! If we are already winning, we just need to bet on ourselves." He added.


    "No wait! Brother Mu Lin can do this with other fights too. After all, our fights will only be handful out of the total." Luo Liqin thought further.


    "That is exactly what I intended to do." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And also where I will need all your help." He said before gesturing to the booklet.


    "What do you think can go wrong with all this?" Lin Mu questioned them first.


    They thought for a few second before Ming Dandan spoke up.


    "We or the other contestants can still lose a fight despite your interference?" Ming Dandan said first.


    "That is indeed the first biggest concern." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I will try to turn it into our favor as much as possible, but to do that we will have to keep tabs on all contestants. Especially the ones we know are going to fight us."


    "I think that''ll be mostly easy. The bookies will be more than anxious about that too. And there should be plenty of people selling information." Lu Xu said after thinking.


    "Yes. Plus after the main rounds start for the betting, we''ll know about the fights plenty of time in advance." Qian Wen thought further.


    "So we just need tomunicate well with each other." Ming Dandan came to the gist of it.


    "Yes¡­ But there is another thing you all missed. What else can go wrong?" Lin Mu questioned them again.


    This time though, it took them a couple minutes to think about it.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    "The Bookies¡­ They won''t be pleased with one party winning again and again." Luo Liqin figured it out.


    "Exactly!" Lin Mu patted the table. "It is something that will happen for sure if we do not take precautions."


    "So what are we to do for that?" Ming Dandan inquired.


    "There are six of us¡­ We can simply take turns to bet?" Ming Aolian answered this time.


    "Correct." Lin Mu was pleased. "We can simply transfer the funds ordingly and make the bets in different bookies too, for extra safety. As long as the funds are moving around, they won''t be too suspicious." He exined.


    "Brother Mu Lin has thought quite well." They couldn''t help but praise.

 Chapter 1698 A Warning From The Countess

    Having bnced both aspects, Lin Mu had a n that was more viable than before.


    He would support hispanions from the proceeds of the bets and also help them in defeating Yao Changying.


    But in all this, a final point was left.


    ''Umm, I get that we can''t defeat Yao Changying on our own and that we''ll have to weaken her over time. But when we do defeat her, what are we going to do with the reward from Princess Shang?" Luo Liqin asked after pondering on it.


    "Isn''t that obvious?" Lin Mu said instead. "We simply divide it. I''m sure the Princess can amodate a reward that is split between several people."


    ~phew~


    They couldn''t helps but feel relieved after hearing this. After all, not being able to obtain a reward after all that might be bothersome to them. Even if some of them had enmity against Yao Changying, the need for resources was eternal.


    "That''s good then. Now we just need to gather the information about rounds as we go." Lu Xu said before looking towards the tournament grounds from the balcony. "We are still in preliminary rounds so we should have a decent chance at obtaining information about the ck horses too." He added.


    "Indeed. Now tell me, when you all have your next rounds." Lin Mu questioned.


    Ming Aolian was the first to speak. "Mine is two days from now."


    "Three days from now." Lu Xu replied.


    "Next week." Ming Dandan said.


    "Three days from now as well." Qian Wen stated.


    "Hmm¡­ So, Ming Aolian and I will be the first ones to fight. Both of us have fights on the same day." Lin Mu said after hearing them all.


    "How are we going to manage when you are in a fight and we are also in one?" Qian Wen questioned in doubt.


    "I''ll try to end the fight quick when its something like that." Lin Mu answered. "Though I don''t think it''ll be highly likely for a match to be held at the same time. The chances would be too low, considering the sheer number of contestants." He exined.


    "That does seem right." Ming Aolian nodded her head.


    Her fight was the farthest from everyone; the others would have their fourth fight by then.


    With this done, Lin Mu talked with them further and fine tuned the details of the n as well as how they would be doing the bets.


    The main n was to start low while betting individually and then pool their resources depending on the odds of a fight. If the odds were high in a fights they would pool it. And when the odds were low, they would split it, so that it wouldn''t seem suspicious.


    They were also going to move the money between several bookies, so as to reduce the overall impact. After all, if one bookie lost a lot, there were bound to be some actions from the powers backing them.


    These bookies were a mere front and weren''t the true people running the bets. There were many other powers involved behind it, right from the nobles, to the merchants. Whoever it was, it wasn''t a good thing to offend them outright liker hat.


    As long as the losses were distributed, they wouldn''t take it badly. It would merely seem like the normal loss one would face during business like this.


    They discussed for a few hours, during which they also got to enjoy some delicious food and drinks that the Spring Valley Restaurant provided. The food and drinks all contained vitality as well as Immortal Qi, restoring everyone''s condition to the peak and even helping them cultivate to some extent.


    It was safe to say that luxury of this level was not easy to get for them. Not to mention, the cost which came down to around A fifty High Grade immortal stones by the end of it. Hearing the cost, Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian almost lost their breath.


    Qian Wen let out a wry smile and wondered if he could even afford something like this with a few years sry.


    Only when Lin Mu paid it off without caring much did they feel relieved.


    "Don''t worry, we''ll make a lot more." Lin Mu didn''t tell them that he had more than enough to afford this.


    "Ah yes¡­ perhaps we might be able to afford to eat here every month after we have the rewards." Lu Xu couldn''t help but dream


    When it was time for them to leave though, a certain person appeared.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, seems like I caught you just in time." The Countess''s voice chimed within the corridors.


    Lin Mu''spanion other than Luo Liqin were confused. After all, they didn''t know that this ce was owned by Countess Xiurong or that she had met him before.


    "Greetings Countess." Lin Mu cupped his hands.


    "I''m hoping you had a good time in my establishment." The Countess asked with a smile her fan covering half her face.


    "We did indeed." Lin Mu said before turning to hispanions. "Didn''t we?" he asked them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "YES!" They said in unison.


    Only now did they realize that they were talking to the Countess. They too knew about Countess Xiurong and that she was at the banquet. But they hadn''t gotten to see her and neither had she given any of them letters of favor.


    "We had a nice time, Countess. The food your establishment provides is indeed amazing." Ming Aolian quickly spoke.


    She was the more confident among the two sisters and was able to recover quickly.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    "Exactly, I feel like I can now fight ten more rounds with ease!" Lu Xu praised greatly.


    "Haha, I''m pleased that you liked it." Countess Xiurong said before ncing at Lin Mu. "You cane again if you wish to. The Spring Valley Restaurant will always be open to you. I''ll inform the staff about keeping the Second Spring Room Assigned to you whenever avable."


    "What if someone else is using it?" Luo Liqin couldn''t help but ask.


    "Well¡­ then Daoist Mu Lin can juste to the First Spring Room." Countess Xiurong said with a confident smile.


    "Isn''t that the personal room of the count¡ª" Qian Wen was about to say but then realized something.


    A blush appeared on the faces of Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian while Lu Xu couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "Ah, thanks for the offer. I''ll see if it everes to it." Lin Mu didn''t mind hispanion and simply replied.


    The Countess looked at Lin Mu with the same expression as before, seeing no change or wavering.


    "Daoist Mu Lin sure is a staunch character. I''ll be looking forward to your fights." The Countess spoke before turning around.


    But just as she was about to enter her personal room, she spoke again. "A few strange individuals have taken part in the Tournament this time around. Watch out for those with fish skin headbands."


    Having said this, the Countess disappeared, her presence fading once the room was closed. It was evident that the formations there were stronger than others.


    There were different thoughts in their minds. Lin Mu was focused on the strange individuals that countess had spoken about while the Ming Sisters were focused on the earlier part of the Countess''s words.


    "My, my¡­ Brother Mu Lin is far more impressive than I thought. To get the Countess to invite you to her room." Lu Xuughed.


    "I don''t want to bother her by letting all of us use her room. We can always use other ones." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing this, a wry smile appeared on the face of Qian Wen.


    Though Ming Dandan couldn''t help but chuckle. "Brother Mu Lin is certainly different."


    "What?" Lin Mu noticed the strange expressions shown by everyone and wondered if something was wrong.


    "Ahem! Nothing." Luo Liqin tried to change the awkward situation. "Though the Countess did tell us about something important at the end, didn''t she?" he stated.


    "About the individuals with Fisk skin headbands." Ming Dandan spoke. "Isn''t that¡­"


    "Yes¡­ The ck Fin Ind." Qian Wen''s expression turned serious.


    "Seems like there are more people from there¡­" Lu Xu had a few thoughts.


    "We should take a look into that too." Lin Mu said. "If Qian Wen was attacked with poison, there is a chance that others might be too."


    "Indeed." Ming Aolian replied. "I can''t help but think that they might have been brought in to weaken the contestants or something."


    "Isn''t that against the rules?'' Luo Liqin couldn''t help but ask.


    "They seem to be operating in a grey area. Since they have participated as official contestants, there isn''t much we can do. Even if they use poison, it isn''t something that is fatal so even the Temple wouldn''t find it against the rules." Lin Mu said after thinking.


    "Yes, they seem to be doing this under the orders of someone." Ming Aolian replied. "The ck Fin Ind wouldn''t send out their people otherwise. They seldom leave the ind other than to trade." She exined.


    "Has there been any other instances of the people of the ck Fin Ind carrying out assassinations or poisonings in the recent time?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "None that I know of." Ming Aolian shook her head.


    "There aren''t many that can ask them to do that either." Luo Liqin said. "Since they were under the control of the Holy Topaz Imperial court in the past, there is chance they might be doing this under their orders again." He guessed.


    "Will they really risk something like this though?" Lu Xu was doubtful. "After all, they are already in aplex situation with the Demon appearing."

 Chapter 1699 Retuning To The Ring

    Lu Xu''s question was valid and others wondered the same.


    "I don''t think they would do this. But there is no telling if it is the work of someone particr from there." Ming Aolian hinted.


    "Would Yao Changying hold that much power?" Qian Wen asked.


    "Even if she did, there doesn''t seem to be a proper reason behind her doing it. She''s already strong, and it''s not like she can weaken those stronger than her using the people of the ck Fin Ind." Luo Liqin replied.


    "That does make sense." Lu Xu nodded.


    One thing was for sure though, the Lin Mu and the rest would be alert about the appearance of the people of the ck Fin Ind. With this final warning from the Countess, Lin Mu and the rest parted their ways.


    "I''ll get started on the bets first." Luo Liqin spoke.


    He was the only one who wasn''t in the tournament anymore and thus would be free to check on them.


    "Gather the changes in odds as well as any extremes that appear. We need to be smart with this." Lin Mu stated.


    "Don''t worry, I shall not disappoint you." Luo Liqin said with confidence. "All of you should go prepare for your own fights."


    "We''ll see youter then." Lu Xu said before taking his leave.


    "Goodbye, Brother Mu Lin, Luo Liqin." The Ming sisters said before going away too.


    "I''ll go with Daoist Luo for now. My ring is near the betting pavilions anyways." Qian Wen suggested.


    "That''s fine too." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    His own ring was far to the back, thus he didn''t have the same opportunity. Or he would have monitored the bookies himself.


    Thankfully, it wasn''t a difficult task. In fact, the bookies themselves would provide detailed information about the different contestants as well as their predicted chances of winning. It was all openly avable, and one didn''t really need to struggle much.


    What Lin Mu wanted was the opposite of that though, as the ones who had lower chances of winning would have higher returns on betting. Thus, it was important to know when the odds would change.


    Lin Mu returned to his ring with Little Shrubby and saw a fight about to end.


    "Oh? It''s Feilei Zhang." Lin Mu recognized the man.


    He was the first contestant when the tournament had started and also the first winner. He was someone Lin Mu had taken a slight interest in but had now missed the fight.


    "He didn''t use his sword this time either¡­" Lin Mu could see that the man was using his whips again.


    Or rather, he had been as the fight was almost at his end. Feilei Zhang''s opponent was already bloodied and battered.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~CRACK~


    Feilei Zhang swung his whip once more, pping his opponent away.


    ~THUD~


    "Feilei Zhang is the winner!" The referee announced.


    The people in the audience cheered, as they saw the man won. It was clear that Feilei Zhang had earned some fans from this fight.


    ''Hmm, I should ask around a bit.'' Lin Mu thought and went to find a seat.


    His original seat had long since been taken by someone, so he had to get another one. This time, he got a seat that was a farther up the seating area. It was at least forty rows away from the ring and was around the middle part of the seating area.


    Lin Mu casually asked a person sitting next to him about Feilei Zhang and how his fight had gone. The simple answer that the man gave was that Feilei Zhang dominated the battle and won easily. In fact, the battle hadn''t even been running for five minutes and his opponent was already defeated.


    ''Five minutes¡­ that''s fast enough. And he didn''t need to use swords either, so his opponent really wasn''t that difficult for him.'' Lin Mu noted.


    Lin Mu''s attention was brought to the next battle, which soonmenced. Now, he was mostly focused on training the Nine Divine Heart Sutras. Since it would be his main tool in theing few days, Lin Mu reckoned he should get as much practice as possible.


    ''At least until it''s time for the other''s matches.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The next match was going to be his and Ming Aolian in the group. Thus Lin Mu needed to make sure that his fight either happened after Ming Aolian''s or was over quickly. Right now there was no telling whether both of them would sh or not, as there was still two days left.


    "Guess I just gotta practice till then." Lin Mu didn''t worry too much though as he would be kept informed through themunication jade slips.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    He simply focused on using the Nine Divine Heart Sutras and training them. So far, he had used the first three sutras and knew their effects for the most part. The remaining two sutras were something that he couldn''t use normally.


    The Murdering Heart Sutra was just too risky and Lin Mu didn''t wish for it to be discovered here. While the Nurturing Heart Sutra was something that was intended for beasts in the first ce.


    It wasn''t like he hadn''t tired it on humans, it was just that it simply didn''t work.


    Even for the Nurturing Heart Sutra, Lin Mu somewhat knew its effects as he had used it before in the Xiao Fan world. Using it on himself generated Beast Qi, while using it on beasts could charm them to some extent.


    The weaker the beast, the better the effect, of course.


    Right now, beasts below the immortal realm would simply listen to Lin Mu''smands if he used the Nurturing heart Sutra. As for those at the Immortal realm, the effects varied depending on the cultivation base and type of the beast.


    The Nurturing Heart Sutra was important too since Ming Aolian was a beast tamer. If anything, it would being in handy during her fight.


    ''I should perhaps give her beast some Beast Qi¡­ it should be fine as long as the amount is low.'' He thought.

 Chapter 1700 Cutting Close

    With Lin Mu immersing himself in practice, the two days passed quickly.


    Soon it was the day of his and Ming Aolian''s fight, but the time for the fights had still not been given. The only thing they knew was that the fights were going to happen in their respective rings.


    "Hopefully they don''t inform too close to the other fights¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he watched his ''handiwork''.


    Another battle had ended and Lin Mu''s interference had changed the result at the veryst moment. He had used an intense version of the Severing Heart Sutra at the very end, causing a winning contestant to be distracted enough that his opponent pushed him out of the ring.


    It was frankly a win that seemed absurd, as the nearly losing person was injured quite a lot. But he had turned the odds due to Lin Mu''s ''test''.


    Of course, the audience and the referee didn''t know this and they only thought of this as the nearly winning contestant being too conceited. He had lowered his guard and had been pushed out.


    It was still a valid win and no matter how much the person protested the results were written in stone.


    Two more matches passed before Lin Mu finally felt the token hum. He checked it and found that his third match would be in an hour or so.


    ''Six more matches before mine is scheduled¡­ Hmm, wonder if Ming Aolian has gotten intimation about hers.'' Lin Mu thought and took out themunication jade slip.


    He quickly sent her a message and told her when his match would be too.


    Ming Aolian quickly responded that her match hadn''t been scheduled yet, but that she would inform him as soon as it was done.


    ''Seems like we''ll have to leave it to luck¡­'' Lin Mu thought and did a few calctions.


    The first thing he checked was how long it would take him to get to Ming Aolian''s ring. It was somewhat near the Spring Valley Restaurant and needed five minutes to get to it from there.


    "Fifteen minutes to get to the Spring Valley Restaurant and Five from there¡­ Twenty minutes to spare." Lin Mu now knew the baseline time he would need.From N?velDrama.Org.


    He continued watching the rest of the fights but didn''t use the Nine Divine Heart Sutra''s this time. Instead, he focused on optimizing his condition and resting his mind and body. Even if he wasn''t tired, it was good to let it reach a stable state.


    After all, he didn''t know how his opponent would be.


    Thirty minutes passed, as three matches went by. There were three more matches left before Lin Mu''s would start.


    ~humm~


    Suddenly, themunication jade slip hummed, prompting Lin Mu to check it. A few secondster, his expression stiffened.


    "And they really scheduled it at thest moment¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    Ming Aolian''s fight was scheduled in just four more rounds and the expected waiting time was less than forty five minutes. On the other hand, Lin Mu''s fight would be there in thirty minutes.


    ''Seems like I''ll have to speed up the process.'' Lin Mu thought. "So much for resting¡­" he said before starting to chant.


    Lin Mu reckoned he may as well use the Nine Divine Heart Sutras to speed up the process of the fights.


    And that is exactly what he did. He used them at high intensity right from the start, causing the fights to end rather abruptly.


    "What''s happening?" The first and second fights were fine, but seeing that the third fight had a strange result too, the audience was getting confused.


    "Are the contestant really this careless?" <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I don''t know¡­ maybe they are tired?"


    "That can''t be it. One of them literally had his first fight."


    The people couldn''t help but discuss.


    Even the referee had his brows furrowed as he tried to make sense of the fights. He didn''t suspect foul y though as there were no signs detected by the array and neither by him. Being a referee, he had the qualifications to check everything and was quite strong too.


    Nothing could escape his senses, and trying to hide something from him was a futile effort.


    This was why it felt so strange too him.


    ''Are the contestants dumb this time around?'' The referee couldn''t help but think.


    That was the only conclusion that made sense to him, as the previous fights had ended because of stupid reasons.


    One person had lost because they retreated and didn''t see when they had walked out of the ring while the second person had lost because they simply kept on defending and didn''t attack.


    As for the third fight, it was even more strange as both the contestants were battling without focus. Most of their attacks were missing so much so that they may as well just be failing around on the ground.


    Even Lin Mu was a bit surprised by the effect of the sutras, but then again the people he was targeting this time were rather weak. Both of them were at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and looked to have reached it not long ago.


    They were considered young in terms of an immortal and thus people found them even dumber.


    ~THUD~


    In the end, one of the contestants was knocked out by a swift blow that hit hard, causing him to copse.


    The referee wasted no time in waiting and quickly dered the end of the fight.


    "Lin Mu and Huang Bao, head to the ring!" The Referee announced.


    The formation screen also changed to show the faces of the two contestants.


    "WHOA! It''s Huang Bao!"


    "HUANG BAO! It really is him!"


    The audience seemed very excited now.


    "Did you know he was participating this time?"


    "No, I thought he was still in seclusion."


    The people were discussing animatedly.


    Lin Mu briefly checked his opponent and realized why they were so excited.


    "A top fifty contender from the past Tournament?" Lin Mu discovered.

 Chapter 1701 Huang Bao

    Lin Mu hadn''t known about someone like Huang Bao joining this time since there was no information about him in the booklets. It was more like, everyone had thought that he was in seclusion and would not be participating.


    But now it seemed like the man had given everyone a surprise.


    ''It is his first fight. If it was his second or third fight, the people would have already known that he was participating.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He tried to scan through the information he had and only learned that the man was a top fifty contender in thest Tournament of the Four Guardian Beasts. Having reached that far only meant that the man was not weak.


    Top fifty might seem a bit unimpressive, but considering how many contestants there were, top fifty was massive. Anyone that could reach that point was considerably strong and had the skills to back it up.


    Lin Mu looked around for Huang Bao, as he hadn''t seen him in the ring.


    ''If he was here already, the people would have known.'' Lin Mu reckoned that the man hadn''t arrived since his match was scheduled sote.


    A few seconds passed before a man entered the arena. Lin Mu looked at him, finding him to be at the Third Tribtion stage of the Immortal Realm.


    Just from his cultivation base, he didn''t seem impressive, but Lin Mu could tell there was something more to him.


    Huang Bao was six feet tall and was rtively fat. His belly bulged out while his face jiggled as he walked. His arms were like thick logs while his legs made the ground tremble with each step.


    He had dark brown eyes, and a in smile was present on his face. He wore red and orange robes that had me motifs on them.


    Overall, he didn''t seem to evoke a sense of danger or anything but Lin Mu had a hunch that the man was strong.


    Huang Bao walked into the ring and cupped his hands.


    "Huang Bao greets Daoist Mu Lin." The man said jovially.


    "Greetings Daoist Huang Bao." Lin Mu too greeted the man wondering how he should go about this. ''I''ll need to end this fight quick if I am to make it to Ming Aolian''s ring.'' He thought.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense was spread in the ring and covered every inch of it. He reckoned it was best to end it with a strong attack right from the start. But he didn''t know how Huang Bao would be acting thus it was best to be aware of everything around him.


    After all, his high with Mei Nienzhen had shown him that there were many different techniques and they could be hidden too.


    "Both contestants ready?" The referee raised his hand.


    Seeing that Lin Mu and Huang Bao took their ces before the referee lowered his hand.


    "FIGHT!" he announced.


    "I''m sorry but I''ll have to finish this fight early, Daoist Huang Bao." Lin Mu briefly said before a sword appeared in his hand.


    "Oh? Does Daoist Mu Lin have somewhere to be?" Huang Bao smirked. "Well even if you do, you can always forfeit and leave."


    "That will not be an option." Lin Mu said before raising the sword and entering a stance.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as he did though, his entire demeanor changed and his aura rose.


    Waves of energy rolled off him, making his robes flutter. Even Huang Bao narrowed his eyes seeing the sudden change in Lin Mu.


    "Seems like you do have some capability, but I have been training for this too!" Huang Bao wasn''t one to be left behind and thrust his palms out.


    ~HISS~


    In the next second, an intense heat emitted from his palms. They suddenly released a bright light while a pale yellow me ignited on them.


    "That''s the Skylight Fire!"


    "He managed to do it! He actually finished in Skylight Fire Refinement!"


    The people in the audience seemed to recognize what Huang Bao was using.


    "So that''s why he came out of seclusion, he actually seeded."


    "What is that uncle?" the Youth in the audience couldn''t help but ask.


    To him, it was unfamiliar and he couldn''t understand the excitement of the audience.


    "That is one of the unique fires that exist in the universe, the Skylight Fire." The youth''s uncle spoke, his expression serious. "It is a pure yang me that has the attributes of not only the Fire element but also the Heavenly Element Light!" he revealed.


    "Fire and Light?" the youth was surprised.


    Among the Four Heavenly Elements, Wind and Lightning were something that were still rtivelymon among the cultivators. But Darkness and Light were ones that were rarely seen.


    Even for Lin Mu, this was his first time seeing a cultivator use the Light element.


    ''Fire and Light¡­ A pure Yang me that can be counter to darkness and Yin.'' Lin Mu analyzed the Skylight Fire.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He hadn''t heard about it before, but it didn''t take much for him to understand it from observation. Grasping Afternoon Pine firmly Lin Mu gazed at his opponent.


    ~HUMM~


    The double edge sword glowed in a yellow light as Sword Intent covered it.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s get this over with¡­" Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu shed out.


    The sword''s skill was activated instantly as arge yellow pine tree grew out. The Pine tree wasposed of Metal Qi and was infused with Sword intent, emitting extreme sharpness. The tree''s branches were like swords while the leaves were like razors.


    Huang Bao flipped his palm and pped towards the tree that wasing towards him.


    ~GONG~


    A metallic sound ran as his palm hit the Pine tree. Touching the tree directly like this was dangerous, as the Sword Intent within it would easily cut anything that came close to it. But much to everyone''s surprise it didn''t happen.


    ~SIZZLE~


    A sizzling sound was heard as the palms released great heat. The Skylight Fire blossomed and spread out from Huang Bao''s hands. It greedily covered the Pine Tree, as if wanting to consume it all.


    "Haaah!" Huang Bao pushed back, actually managing to divert the Pine tree.


    "Whoa! Huang Bao blocked it!"


    "The others fell to this skill of Mu Lin before." The audience was thrilled.


    "You''re certainly strong¡­" Lin Mu said as he reassessed his opponent.


    Time was passing and Lin Mu knew he had to rush. He had used a strong attack right from the start, but it didn''t work.


    ''I''ll just have to do it a few more times then.'' Lin Mu''s hand moved like a blur as he shed out tens of times in a row.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Now instead of one pine tree, tens of such pine trees grew, covering the ring in a matter of seconds.


    "What in the¡­" The youth watching in the audience was stunned.


    A simr response could be seen from the rest of the audience as they suddenly became silent.


    Huang Bao who had sessfully blocked one pine tree realized he now had to block tens more. His eyes trembled as he quickly pped his palms out, the Skylight Fire burning fiercely.


    Every time he hit a pine tree, it started to burn and would stop before the skill was dispelled. But Lin Mu simply kept on shing.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    "How the hell is he doing that!?"


    "Does he have endless immortal Qi or something?"


    "Yeah, isn''t he just at the First Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm? How the hell is he using such strong attacks in a row?"


    Everyone in the audience was a cultivator and knew that a strong skill like what Lin Mu was using would consume a lot of immortal Qi. Not to mention, he was also using Sword Intent with it, further increasing the energy consumption.


    And yet it looked like Lin Mu had no issues in doing so.


    His energy only kept on rising while the double edged sword kept on releasing more pine trees made out of Metal Qi.


    In just thirty seconds, it looked like a forest of yellow metal trees had grown on the ring.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    The sound of nging could be hearding from the forest, as Huang Bao tried to resist. His palms were still burning away the trees, but more of them kept on appearing. He couldn''t even move his body around, due to the trees being very sharp.


    Several cuts had already appeared on his robes, and if not for the fire burning them away quickly, he would have already sustained many cuts.


    "He stopped?" The audience saw that Lin Mu had stopped swinging his sword now.


    "Did he run out of Qi finally?'' they wondered.


    But unknown to them, Lin Mu had different ns. Seeing that his opponent was trapped for a bit, Lin Mu let go of Afternoon Pine. The sword floated up in the air and danced, sending more shes without Lin Mu''s control.


    While the intensity of the attacks had reduced, the constant barrage still kept Huang Bao trapped.


    "Huh? Why''s he in the horse stance?" The youth saw Lin Mu cocking his fist back.

 Chapter 1702 Hurting And Helping An Opponent

    Seeing that Huang Bao had managed to actually dodge the first attack, Lin Mu knew he wouldn''t be able to defeat him with Afternoon Pine quickly. The skill of Afternoon Pine was strong and would eventually be able to defeat the man.


    But Lin Mu was in a hurry and could not afford to dy any longer. Thus he took a different route.


    Trapping Huang Bao with the pine trees, Lin Mu prepared one of his strongest skills.


    The audience watched as Lin Mu cocked his hand back, gathering power within his fist. Those with keen eyes and experience could feel the subtle stirring of power within Lin Mu''s body. Normally this shouldn''t be felt, but with how strongly it was moving, it could still be felt.


    Then five secondster, Lin Mu punched out.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Second Form- Piercer!


    ~SHUA~


    A needle of energy condensed from pure immortal Qi was shot from Lin Mu''s fist.


    The audience could barely see it before the needle pierced through all of the pine trees condensed from metal elemental immortal Qi and sword intent. As if the trees were paper, the needle pierced through them and urately hit Huang Bao.


    ~PUCHI~


    Huang Bao felt like his insides had all been shaken while crushing immortal Qi stabbed through his shoulder. Lin Mu had deliberately targeted a non lethal area, or even a low powered piercer might have killed someone.


    ''This¡­ UGH!'' Huang Bao felt intense pain flowing through his body the moment the needle stabbed through his shoulder.


    The hole it left behind was as big as a fist though, and copious amounts of blood flowed out of it. But that wasn''t all as the needle of immortal Qi exited out of his body from the back.


    ~boom~


    The needle continued on and hit the barrier at the back, exploding there with great impact.


    ~THUD~


    The secondary explosion sent Huang Bao flying away while fragments of the pine trees struck his body. He tried to control himself, but the moment was too much. Even with the Skylight mes burning on his body, he was helpless and was thrown out of the ring.


    Lin Mu took a step to the side to avoid Huang Bao who was thrown towards him.


    Huang Bao mmed into the bottom of the wall, before rolling back like a rag doll. His fatty body had managed to absorb some of the damage but it was clear that the man had already lost.


    "IMPOSSIBLE!"


    "WHAT!"


    "HEAVENS WITNESS!"


    The audience mored in shock as they saw the stunning result.


    "Huang Bao has lost! Mu Lin is the winner!" The referee quickly dered. "Tend to Huang Bao at once!" He ordered next.


    He had noticed the injury and knew that it was bad. This wasn''t the first time someone had been impaled or was bleeding profusely in this tournament. In fact, there was already someone who had lost a limb in one of the earlier fights.


    But in the case of Huang Bao the man had certainly sustained internal injuries.


    The referee could tell that Huang Bao had foreign immortal Qi surging through his body and damaging his meridians.


    "Ugh! This is too much¡­" Huang Bao barely managed to turn on his back, while groaning from the pain.


    He was lying face down, and thus had dirt and blood staining his face. He looked at Lin Mu with a mix of confusion and frustration on his face.


    Huang Bao had thought that Lin Mu was simply doing a casual taunt at the start of the fight. It was rathermon to do, and he had responded simrly too.


    ''He really was serious¡­ he took me out like this¡­'' Huang Bao almost couldn''t believe it. ''He''s barely at the First Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm and knocked me out with ease.'' Several thoughts went through his mind, but he couldn''t make sense of Lin Mu.


    ~Sigh~


    But just as he was about regret his decision, he saw Lin Mu approaching him.


    "Take this." Lin Mu handed the man a pill.


    Huang Bao unconsciously took it before Lin Mu turned around to leave.


    "H-huh?" he didn''t even realize what Lin Mu had done before the man was gone.


    "Get his bleeding staunched, and check his meridians!" in this time, the healers had arrived and were getting ready to take him away.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Huang Bao looked at the pill in his hand and wondered what it was.


    ~sniff~


    "What the!" But then one of the healers eximed. "Pneuma Restoration Immortal pill!" his hand was pointing at the pill in Huang Bao''s hand.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "What are you¡ª" The other healers were about to scold him for acting unprofessional but then noticed where he was pointing at.


    They took observed the pill and quickly recognized the pill.


    "Where did you get that?" They couldn''t hep but ask.


    Before Huang Bao could answer though, another healer that was checking his body spoke. "His meridians are getting damaged by the second. He''ll need a pill to calm down the ravaging Qi and mend the meridians."


    "This¡­ He already has one for it." The Healer who had noticed the pill at first spoke.


    "That really is a Pneuma Restoration Immortal Pill?" the healers were surprised.


    "Yes¡­ It is more than enough for his injuries¡­ in fact it will be enough for injuries that were several times worse than this." The first healer nodded.


    Huang Bao had also sensed his internal condition and knew that his injuries were bad. But he didn''t think the remedy would be handed to him straight away.


    "I should take this, then?" Huang Bao asked.


    "Yes do it. We''ll check on you more after this, but that pill should heal the worst of it." The healers agreed.


    Seeing that the healers had given the approval, Huang Bao quickly consumed the pill and watched its effects. The Pneuma Healing Pill was a specialized pill that was meant for internal injuries that were caused from external immortal Qi.


    It was meant for immortals and worked especially to control and tame foreign immortal Qi while also conditioning to the healing of the body.


    In just a few seconds after Huang Bao had consumed the pill, he could feel Lin Mu''s immortal Qi from the attack calm down. A few more secondster, the foreign immortal Qi had dissipated while the medicinal effects were quickly mending his meridians.


    Huang Bao was taken back to the healing pavilion in this time, and by the time he reached it, his meridians were already close to being fully healed.


    "Here, take this." The healers were now tending to the man. "This will stop the bleeding. And this will regenerate the flesh." The handed him a few more pills.


    After Huang Bao took them, he started to feel better, and the bleeding stopped.


    A hole was still present in his shoulder, but it wouldn''t take more than a few hours for the flesh to fully regenerate and heal.


    "You were lucky to have the Pneuma Healing Pill. While we have other pills, they wouldn''t be that fast or effective." The healers were truly not exacting to see such a pill there.


    Even for them, it was a rare pill and could only be made by high ranking alchemists.


    Huang Bao was left deep in thought after hearing this though.


    ''He was the one who injured me and also gave me the pill. He already knew the kind of injury I was gonna get?'' Huang Bao could only think of this.


    While he didn''t know why his opponent would do something like this, he could only thank him for now.


    Some frustration did linger in his mind due to losing in the tournament from the start, but he knew that it wasn''t Lin Mu''s fault.


    ''I was prepared for this anyways. If I faced any other strongpetition like the top five, I would have ended in the same condition.'' Huang Bao thought.


    Though he also decided in his heart to meet with Lin Mu once. He wanted to know why he had done what he had, and also what kind of skills did he use.


    "He was certainly strong¡­ It was still too early to join the tournament. I should have practiced more fighting with the Skylight Fire¡­" Huang Bao muttered to himself while the healers left.


    The audience in the ring was also discussing about the battle. Even if a new fight had started in the ring, they just couldn''t let go of it. It was simply too stunning after all.


    All of them had amon question: just what skill had Lin Mu used?


    The person behind it all, was currently making his way to another ring though.


    Lin Mu went as fast as he could and reached Ming Aolian''s ring just in time before her fight.


    "Brother Mu Lin! Here!" Ming Aolian called out to him after spotting him.


    Ming Dandan was with her too and she looked to be a bit anxious.


    "Where is your tamed beast?" Lin Mu asked right away.

 Chapter 1703 Ting The Sky Soar Wolf

    While Lin MU had known that Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan were beast tamers, he didn''t know much about their tamed beasts.


    Or rather, they hadn''t shown their tamed beasts yet. But since they were at the Third Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm, Lin Mu reckoned their beasts mustn''t be weak either. After all, for most cultivators, taming a beast stronger than them was a difficult thing.


    One could tame a weaker beast, and then raise it to be stronger. That way the bond could be maintained and they would have no issues. And since Ming Aolian was in the Tournament, Lin Mu didn''t think her beast would be weaker than her.


    After all, using a weaker beast wouldn''t be the best option. If she was doing that, she may as well just fight directly using her own cultivation base. That would be stronger than using a beast.


    "My tamed beast is here," Ming Aolian pointed to her neck while raising it.


    Lin Mu followed her finger and saw a rectangr pendant hanging there. It was about the length of a thumb and simrly as wide. But the most eye catching part was the pattern that was printed on it.


    It was that of a feather, a tiger w and a serpent''s tail. The three markings were touching each other in a triangr shape.


    "An Immortal Rank Beast Storage Treasure," Lin Mu recognized the object.


    He had learned about them a long time ago and even had a damaged Beast Storage treasure. It was the wooden te in which the Great Slumber Bear had been smuggled into the Xiaofan world.


    The damage to the treasure had led to the escape of the Great Slumber Bear, which had set off a chain of events that affected Lin Mu greatly. There was no way he wouldn''t know this was, but it was still a bit surprising to him how long it had taken him to see another one of them.


    "Yes, I keep my tamed beast in it." Ming Aolian nodded before tapping the pendant.


    ~shua~


    The pendant lightly glowed before a beast appeared next to Ming Aolian. It was about three meters tall and a bit more than four meters long.


    Light grey fur covered its body, while four sharp ws propped up its muscr body. Its furry tail swayed from right to left, while its yellow eyes gazed at them.


    "A wolf?" Lin Mu said but then saw something more.


    Curled up on the beast''s back, he could see feathers that were the same color as its fur. Because of how simr the color was, they melded with its fur making it look part of it. But Lin Mu soon realized that they weren''t just feathers, but entire wings!


    "A winged wolf?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "This is Ting, she''s a Sky Soar Wolf." Ming Aolian introduced.


    Upon hearing her name being called, the Ting unfurled her wings, unting them proudly. The wolf''s wing span was nearly eight meters wide and looked rather bigpared to her body.


    It was hard to tell that she had wings thisrge when they were furled up.


    But that wasn''t all as Lin Mu could sense the cultivation of the wolf too. Ting was at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm like Ming Aolian but she was almost at the peak. It felt like she would be able to break through in a year or two as well.


    ''I guess we can cut that time down a bit¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After all, even if the beast was able to break through, triggering the Immortal Tribtion would be up to it. Thus there was no danger of it being activated in the middle of a battle or anything like that.


    In the case of Little Shrubby, it was an exception since it was his bloodline that had triggered it.


    Having thought of this, Lin Mu knew exactly what to do.


    "I think I can help Ting even more." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh? How so?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "More help than what you intend to do during the fight?" Ming Dandan said in a low voice.


    "Yes¡­ that''ll be something that''s more ''valid'' too." Lin Mu replied before taking out something.


    But as soon as he did, the eyes of the Sky Soar Wolf were locked onto it. Her tail wagged nonstop while it started to breathe rapidly.


    Ming Aolian noticed the excitement of her tamed beast and was surprised.


    "What is that?" She couldn''t help but ask.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Lin Mu extended his hand and opened his fingers, showing the pill. It was in white and looked like a basic Qi restoration pill. And yet, the excitement that the Sky Soar Wolf was showing was astounding.


    "A little something that''ll help Ting." Lin Mu replied.


    "Isn''t that a Qi restoration pill?" Ming Dandan muttered in confusion.


    "It might look like one, but it''s actually different." Lin Mu said. "It''s good for beasts." He extended his hand toward the wolf.


    Ting eagerly approached him and opened her mouth, revealing her sharp fangs. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    To anyone else, this might be a terrifying scene and they wouldn''t get this close to the maw of a beast. But to Lin Mu, there was nothing to fear. He had been close to several dangerous things and it wasn''t like it would hurt him.


    Even if the beast bit him, Lin Mu''s body would probably not sustain any damage. Though his robes would probably get drenched in the drool of the beast.


    Ting quickly extended her tongue and licked the pill, pulling it back into her mouth. With how small the pill waspared to her tongue, it was easily consumed.


    ~shua~


    As soon as the pill had entered her body, a strange feeling emanated from her.


    "This¡­" Ming Aolian could sense the change in her tamed beast''s body too.


    After all, they had a bond too and could tell the changes happening in each other''s body. She didn''t know exactly what Lin Mu had given her beast, but now it was bringing some profound changes.


    She hadn''t felt like Lin Mu would feed anything dangerous to her tamed beast. She had enough trust in him for that.


    ~WHIMPER~


    But then, the Sky Soar Wolf let out a whimper of pain, as if hurt.


    "Ting, what''s wrong?" Ming Aolian couldn''t help but ask in concern.


    Her tamed beast getting injured before the fight was not a terrible thing. But before she could worry anymore, the situation changed.


    ~SHUA~


    Ting''s body surged with energy as her aura started to rise.


    ~HOWL~


    The Sky Soar Wolf lifted its head and let out a howl, energy waves rolling of her body.


    Subtle changes started to appear on her body too. Her fur took on a better sheen while the feathers became supple. Her eyes gleamed in fierce light, while abundant vitality could be felting from her body.


    Ming Aolian was baffled at this change.


    She could tell that while the cultivation base of Ting hadn''t changed, there was still an improvement.


    The improvement was on a microscopic level as if everything had been fine tuned.


    Ming Dandan who was watching it all was stunned at the sudden changes too. She couldn''t put her finger on what exactly had happened but could tell that Ting had improved by quite a bit.


    "What just happened?" She couldn''t help but say.


    "Ting¡­ her bloodline¡­ Just strengthened?" Ming Aolian was able to somewhat grasp.


    "It did?!" Ming Dandan was doubtful.


    Both of them were beast tamers and knew just how important bloodlines were. As their main upation, increasing the strength of their tamed beast was one of their most important duties.


    Increasing the strength and purity of the bloodline was one of the ways of doing that. But bloodlines were not so simple that they could just strengthen them on a whim.


    One needed special treasures, herbs or other opportunities to do so. Sometimes a beast would just be unlucky and nothing would help them.


    Simply feeding a pill wasn''t something that they would have ever expected to strengthen a bloodline like this.


    Ming Aolian could tell that the increase was just of a few percent. But even that was a massive change.


    After all, to improve a bloodline by even 1% was a tough job.


    She had spent several years in working with Ting and had barely managed to raise her original bloodline by less than five percent. And yet, Lin Mu had done the same with just a single pill.


    It was almost like a dream and she couldn''t believe it at all.


    Of course, if she knew that the reason behind the sudden improvement was Beast Qi she would understand it all. As a beast tamer, she obviously knew about Beast Qi and how difficult was to obtain.


    Most beasts only got it from naturally cultivating or consuming other beasts. And yet, here it was one given in the form of a pill.


    Lin Mu had simply injected a streak of Beast Qi into a pill to be given to the beast.

 Chapter 1704 A Strong Wolf

    With the improvement from the pill, the Sky Soar Wolf became energetic.


    Both Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan could tell that the beast was now bursting with power, and looked eager to fight.


    ~humm~


    "Ming Aolian and Shu Tiane to the ring!" And just in time, the announcement for the match was heard.


    "Go, it is time." Lin Mu said to the woman.


    "Alright." Ming Aolian nodded her head. "You two can watch." She said, before taking Ting along with her.


    Lin Mu and Ming Dandan found two seats near the back of the seating area since they hadeter, but it was no issue for them to watch it. Plus it didn''t really affect Lin Mu''s ability to use the Nine Divine Heart Sutras.


    Ming Aolian appeared in the ring along with her tamed beast while the other cultivator also appeared. Her opponent was a man that was also at the Third Tribtion stage of the immortal realm. He was significantly bigger in size than her and looked to be a physical fighter.


    The referee nced at the wolf and questioned, "Will you be fighting as a beast tamer?"


    "Yes!" Ming Aolian answered.


    "Then you shall follow the rules for the beast tamers." The referee said before ncing at the opponent, who seemed to be unfazed by therge wolf.


    Unlike the normal battles, the rules for the Beast Tamers were different. Since they essentially used their tamed beasts to fight, they couldn''t participate in the fight themselves directly.


    They would have to stand in the ring as well, but they couldn''t attack or defend. If they could also attack, it would give an unfair advantage to the beast tamer, thus such a rule was set.


    Of course, if they were pushed out of the Ring, they would still lose.


    Their tamed beast had to protect and fight for them, thus making the fight a bnced one. Of course, if the beast was also defeated, they would lose too. In some ways, the Beast tamers could be said to have both an advantage and disadvantaged.


    For example, if one of their beasts got injured but they were fine, they could just use another beast for the next fight. But then again, it wasn''t likely that one would have multiple strong beasts.


    "Both contestants ready? FIGHT!" the Referee finally announced.


    ~GROWL~


    As soon as the announcement was done, Ming Aolianmanded Ting to attack.


    The Sky Soar Wolf was fast and lunged at the opponent right away.


    "Do you think a mutt like you can hurt me?" Shu Tian said as he brandished his fists.


    They glowed in a yellow light asrge gauntlets condensed around them.


    ~DENG~


    The man''s fist met the Sky Soar Wolf''s w, letting out a loud sound. But Ting wasn''t injured at all. Instead, her fur toughened up, providing her defense.


    ~WHOOSH~Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    Suddenly her wings opened up and pped towards the man.


    "What!?" Shu Tian had not expected this and was suddenly struck.


    Ting''s wings camouged well with her fur, making it seem like she didn''t even have them.


    It was also at this time that Shu Tian felt his mind go nk. It was as if all thoughts that he had were dissipated and he couldn''t take a decision.


    "Do it now, Ting!" Ming Aolian grasped the opportunity and ordered.


    ~HOWL~


    Ting opened her jaw wide and bit onto Shu Tian. He was effortlessly lifted by the beast as the wolf''s wings extended.


    ~FLAP~


    Ting directly flew into the air while Shu Tian came to his senses.


    "Argh! Let go of me!" Shu Tian mmed his fists onto the face of the wolf.


    But Ting didn''t let go, tightening her jaws instead. Her sharp teeth pierced into the flesh of the man, but were still prevented from going too deep. It was evident that the man also had his own defensive techniques that were preventing him.


    Otherwise, Ting could have easily bitten off his head in one go.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Ting soared into the air and started to take circles around the ring. Her speed increased more and more, while Shu Tian continued to struggle. But every so often he would feel his will disappear as if he was bing mindless.


    It would only give Ting more chances to injure him, as her bite kept on getting stronger. That and the constant momentum of flight, confused Shu Tian even more.


    "Shu Tian is done for."


    "The wolf''s got him."


    "How''d he make a mistake like that, though?"


    "I know, right? He was way better in hisst fight."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Not to mention, both of them are at a simr cultivation base."


    "Forget that. Didn''t you see that the Sky Soar Wolf seems to be ignoring all his blows?"


    The audience was animatedly discussing the battle. To them, Shu Tian was a strong warrior and they had seen his previous battles that had all been good. While the Sky Soar wolf had simr cultivation base like him, it was unusual for him to be caught that easily.


    Still, since the referee hadn''t interfered, it just meant everything was fine.


    ~GROWL~


    Eventually, Shu Tian started to bleed while the fangs of the Sky Soar Wolf dug into his flesh deeper and deeper.


    Give minutes passed like this, where Ting basically yed around with the man like a rag doll.


    ~CRUNCH~


    Finally, a sickening crunch was heard and the referee sensed something.


    "Halt! Ming Aolian is the winner!" The referee announced.


    "Ting! Bring him down!" Ming Aolian quickly ordered.


    "Gruff!" Ting spat out the man, who now had his ribs crushed.


    There were two rows of fang marks on his chest and back, while dark red blood spewed out of it. The man had already passed out from the injuries and was quickly losing his vitality.


    "Healers!" The referee called for people to treat Shu Tian.


    "Damn! That beast did numbers on him."


    "For sure¡­ I don''t think I''d like to face it."


    "Who is she though?"


    "Don''t you know? She''s Ming Aolian from the Blue Mountain Pce."


    It was clear that the people were now curious about the winner. Which was to be expected as Beast Tamers were still umon in the tournament. At least the ones who were strong enough.


    A majority of the Beast Tamers were people who simply had a tamed beast to be used as a mount or for fun. They didn''t really have them as their main offensive means and fought using their own strength.


    People who dedicatedly used Beasts were rare. As it usually meant, they had to have a special talent for this.


    After all, it wasn''t easy for one to tame a beast stronger than them. And even if the Beast had been raised from a weaker cultivation base to a stronger one, it still put some strain on the mind of the cultivator.


    Only those with good skills and talent could control a beast.


    There were cases where a tamed beast had rebelled against their master and even killed there. Or the extremely rare case where the bond between the master and beast had reversed, turning the human into the pet instead.


    It was something that was rarely seen simply due to the fact that for something to happen, the cultivator would either have to be incredibly stupid or incredibly unlucky.


    All this needed a lot of guidance and there weren''t that many powers that focused on beast taming.


    The Blue Mountain Pce was one of the few powers that did so, having a department especially for them. This was what Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan belonged to, and had been taught by their master, who was also the department head.


    "Whoa! She''s from the Blue Mountain Pce? No wonder she''s so pretty."


    "All the women from there are beauties."


    "Didn''t shee with another woman?"


    "Yeah, I think they had the same surname too."


    "Ming Dandan was her name."


    "Is she a beast tamer, too?"


    "Of course, she is."


    It didn''t take long for the audience to get interested in Ming Dandan as well as the Blue Mountain ce. It wouldn''t be unusual for people to consider them for betting when the bets officially startedter on.


    Still with the fight over, the people started to calm down, the image of Ming Aolian and The Sky Soar Wolf carved into their memories.


    "Ting,e back." Ming Aolian said, returning the beast to the storage treasure.


    A smile was present on her face, feeling incredibly pleased with the battle.


    While it had not been an instant win, she knew once Shu Tian was in the grasp of Ting, the man was done.


    ''But how did he lose focus that easily?'' Ming Aolian couldn''t help but wonder. "Is that what he meant by help?" she wondered.


    Ming Aolian had no idea how Lin Mu had done it, but the effects were very good. Losing focus in battle like that was extremely dangerous as was now proven by Ting.


    She quickly left the ring, eager to talk with Lin Mu.

 Chapter 1705 Joys Of Teaching

    "Brother Mu Lin, how did¡ª" Before Ming Aolian could speak to Lin Mu though, he put a finger to his lips, gesturing for her to be silent.


    Ming Aolian did as told before Lin Mu pointed with his eyes. She followed his gaze and saw that there were a lot of people watching her at that moment.


    "Ah¡­ Seems like we''re the center of attention." She said in a low voice.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "We best talk about this elsewhere."


    "Yes sister, we should probably head out for now. We don''t have fights for a while anyway." Ming Dandan agreed.


    "Alright, let''s go." Ming Aolian nodded.


    The three left the ring, with several people watching them. There was no stopping of the discussions even if a new fight had started in the ring. After all, the fight had been too good for them to get over this quickly.


    "Lu Xu and Qian Wen, have fights tomorrow right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes." Ming Dandan nodded her head.


    "Hmm¡­ Guess we can head to their ring next." Lin Mu said as they walked towards a tea house.


    There, they quickly asked for a private room and sat down.


    "How did you do that, Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Aolian finally asked, unable to resist.


    "That is a method I have." Lin Mu replied. "I can''t say much about it, but you will just have to follow the cues during a fight." He added.


    "I see¡­" Ming Aolian understood it was one of the trump cards or perhaps a secret of Lin Mu and didn''t ask further.


    For the time being, they sat and discussed about the uing battles as well as some information that the two were doubtful about. Lin Mu also contacted Lu Xu and Qian Wen to ask about their fights.


    He needed to know the perspective time when they would be happening after all.


    It didn''t take long for them to reply to Lin Mu, having gotten their match timings.


    "Hmm¡­ Lu Xu''s fight is right after midnight. That''s earlier than I thought." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Midnight? That''s just in ten hours." Ming Aolian said.


    "That may as well be today rather than tomorrow." Ming Dandan said. "How about Qian Wen?" she asked.


    "Qian Wen''s fight is in the afternoon. No exact time, but probably an hour or two past noon." Lin Mu answered.


    "Then we have plenty of time." Ming Aolian nodded her head.


    "What should we do till then?'' Ming Dandan asked.


    "What do we do?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "We study of course!" he said before putting down several booklets as well as a few jade slips.


    "What¡­ is this?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "Information about all influential or well known participants." Lin Mu replied. "As well as the techniques they use and any other bits of information that might be useful." He added.


    "We¡­ we''re supposed to learn all this?" Ming Dandan asked feeling a bit overwhelmed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Of course. Knowledge is power." Lin Mu said with a smile. "We''ll be able to develop strategies and tactics to ovee those that are difficult."


    The two Ming Sisters had not expected this at all. While they knew they were going to make use of the information about contestants, what Lin Mu was doing was taking it ten steps further.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    But when Lin Mu actually started teaching them, they realized just how much he really was into it.


    The Ming sisters suddenly felt like they were back in a lecture with their masters. They also realized that Lin Mu just wouldn''t stop talking. He would exin one point about a cultivators technique and then stipte three different points as to how they worked, and how they could be ovee.


    Ming Aolian felt like Lin Mu wasn''t just teaching them how the techniques worked but how they could be exploited in different ways. He even asked them about their skills and how they could be applied differently in various situations.


    Ming Dandan had felt that Lin Mu was strong before, but now she felt that he was smart too.


    Perhaps a little too smart¡­


    She felt a headache stirring in the back of her head with the sheer amount of information Lin Mu was pouring on them.


    Even if they were immortals who had cultivated for over a thousand years and had learned in an orthodox power under masters, they weren''t acutely used to this level of studying andprehending.


    Or rather, they had mostly spent their time in their own cultivation as well as that of the beasts. They hadn''t actually learned about battle tactics and strategies. Nor had they learned about the functioning of techniques and skills.


    The way Lin Mu dismantled them and exined them felt novel to them.


    The first few hours were confusing for them, then it got a bit tiring, then painful.


    But eventually, the two sisters started to learn and understand.


    Lin Mu''s method was a bit overwhelming but he adapted to the two as well.


    Besides, it wasn''t just good for the Ming sisters but for himself as well. Not only was he bettering the chances of the two sisters winning, but he was also improving his own understanding by teaching.


    Lin Mu felt like he was resolving some of the doubts he had before and was now improving further.


    Unknowingly, Lin Mu had discovered the joys of teaching.


    He spent hours like this, until finally, Lu Xu messaged him again, interrupting their session.


    "Looks like we''ll have to take a break for now." Lin Mu said taking a sip of some tea to moisten his throat.


    "Ah yeah¡­ a break is certainly in order." Ming Aolian said, gulping down some tea as well.


    While only ten hours had passed, she felt like it had been days instead.


    "I might need to sleep for a bit after this." Ming Dandan said, feeling a bit woozy.


    Hearing these words, Lin Mu wondered if he should let them rest.


    "Do you two want to rest here? I can go for the match on my own." Lin Mu replied.


    "Uh... Will that be fine?" they asked carefully.

 Chapter 1706 Higher Expectations

    Lin Mu headed to the ring where Lu Xu was about to fight, having left the two Ming sisters behind.


    "I guess they really were tired." Lin Mu muttered.


    "You do realize, you gave them information that would take them a few days to learn right?" Xukong suddenly spoke up.


    "Huh? Was that too much?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "For their standards probably," Xukong replied.


    "But that was just some basic analysis. Once they learn that they''ll be able to do better on their own." Lin Mu said. "If they don''t know that, how can they analyze all the possibilities in a fight and predict their opponent?" he asked in confusion.


    "That''s the thing¡­ they don''t do that," Xukong replied.


    "They don''t?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Not everyone fights the way you do. Nor do they spend days analyzing and learning about an opponent''s techniques." Xukong answered with a chuckle. "Most don''t have the free time or the interest in doing that."


    "Isn''t that a waste then? It gives so many avenues to improve." Lin Mu started feeling a bit disappointed.


    "Well, that is where you stand out from the rest." Xukongughed. "If others could do the same, or had the will to do it, they would certainly be standing out from the others. There is a reason why most peopleg behind those with talent or those who are geniuses.


    Those who can ovee those kinds of people, rely on hard work and study." He exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu realized that the way he saw the world was quite different. "So should I¡­ change the way I do it?" he asked.


    "The way you taught them?" Xukong asked.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded.


    "No¡­ rather you should develop it further. It will help you learn and understand better too." Xukong encouraged.


    "Alright. I''ll see what more I can do." Lin Mu replied in affirmation.


    Xukong thought of something else seeing this.


    ''If he were in a sect, he would easily get the position of a teaching elder¡­ Possibly a high one.'' Xukong thought. ''Might be good to let him try out for a bit. He can always leave it anyways.''


    Xukong had wished for Lin Mu to have various experiences in life. After all, only by learning and observing different things and ces would one learn. Lin Mu himself hadn''t had the traditional form of teaching, thus for him, doing something like this was entirely new.


    His method of teaching was untouched by the standard ws and he was able to expand upon points that a lot of others missed out on.


    ''Seems like getting a disciple was the right decision¡­ it allowed me to learn quite a lot too.'' Xukong thought. ''The only regret is I did it toote. Perhaps Lin Mu doesn''t have to miss out on it.''


    Xukong had a lot of thoughts after that, nning a few things for Lin Mu to doter. But in the meantime, Lin Mu had reached the ring where Lu Xu''s fight was about to happen.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    His immortal sense quickly found the man standing in one of the rows. There was no longer any seating space left and there were a lot of people standing.


    "Lu Xu," Lin Mu called out to the man and approached.


    "Ah, brother Mu Lin." Lu Xu greeted him. "You''re right on time." <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Perhaps a bitte. There''s basically no ce to sit left." Lin Mu replied.


    "It wouldn''t have mattered even if you came a day early. This ring has been especially crowded." Lu Xu stated. "Some of the bigwigs had their fights here after all." He added.


    "Oh? Like who?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Other than a few of the ck horses that had demonstrated their power in the banquets, there was a top ranker too." Lu Xu replied. "Childe Wildfire had a fight here yesterday." He revealed.


    "Childe Wildfire is in this ring?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    He was one of the top five rankers and was said to be quite strong. Though he had been defeated by someone else, earlier in the banquet.


    "Yes. I got to see his battle. He is certainly strong¡­ stronger than most." Lu Xu said with a serious expression. "I don''t think if I faced him, I''ll be able to win." He added.


    "That strong?" Lin Mu was interested. "But it also means that the one who defeated Childe Wildfire, is even better?"


    "Dugu Shanhe, yes¡­" Lu Xu nodded his head. "He''s quite strong too."


    "Has he had any matches yet?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "He has of course." Lu Xu replied. "But from what I''ve heard, he''s ended all his fights within a few seconds."


    "A few seconds?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "So no one has gotten an idea about his skills?" he inquired.


    "No¡­ They didn''t get to nce much from his fights. He defeats his opponents and leaves." Lu Xu responded. "He''s had three wins so far too."


    "I see¡­ so he just needs two more to qualify." Lin Mu muttered before looking at the ring.


    ~shua~


    The formation screen changed as the name and appearance of Lu Xu and his opponent appeared.


    "Looks like it''s time for you." Lin Mu spoke.


    "I''ll get to it now." Lu Xu wasted no time in going down.


    He already trusted Lin Mu in being able to help them and thus didn''t worry much.


    Though this time, Lin Mu didn''t actually have to do much from the start. Lu Xu''s opponent turned out to be someone at the First Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm, allowing him to defeat the opponent easily.


    The fight barelysted two minutes and once that was done Lu Xu returned.


    "Haha, looks like you didn''t really need toe." He couldn''t help butugh awkwardly.


    "It''s fine. I still got to get some information." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "Qian Wen''s fight is in the afternoon, right? Do you wish to meet up with him?" Lu Xu asked.

 Chapter 1707 More Lessons For Everyone

    Lin Mu thought about Lu Xu''s words and thought that it''ll be fine.


    "Hmm, we may as well. The Ming sisters are resting anyways." Lin Mu agreed as the two headed out to another ring.


    Qian Wen''s ring was about ten minutes away from Lu Xu''s and was in the southern part of the tournament grounds. The people here seemed to be even more excited and the crowd''s voice was rather loud too.


    Even outside the rings, they could be heard clearly.


    ''Guess being in the main area made it more crowded.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    After all, for the people who were just there to watch and weren''t participants, they would prefer to stay in the main areas rather than the distant rings like the one that Lin Mu was assigned to.


    The only ones that went far were those that had their matches there, though eventually as word spread more people would go there to take a look. After all, people wanted to see exciting matches and there was no way to know who would be assigned where beforehand.


    "Ah, Brother Mu Lin, Brother Lu Xu." Qian Wen soon met the two at the entrance of the ring.


    "Were you waiting for us?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I just came from the betting pavilion after getting some information. Luo Liqin is still there and will continue to supply us with information." Qian Wen replied.


    "I see, that''s good then." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Let''s go take a seat, shall we? Though I don''t know if we will be able to get one easily." Lu Xu suggested.


    Lin Mu and Luo Liqin nodded their heads and headed into the ring. By some luck, they were able to find a few empty seats at the edge of the ring. Someone had just vacated them as the three had arrived, allowing them to take their ce.


    A match was ongoing in the ring, but people didn''t seem too interested in it. It was just a fight between two First Tribtion Stage immortals after all.


    "What were you doing before this brother Mu Lin? You talked about the Ming sisters resting?" Lu Xu asked.


    "I was teaching them." Lin Mu replied.


    "Teaching them what?" Qian Wen inquire.


    "I want to teach you guys that too. I think it''ll help you in the fights greatly." Lin Mu replied. "It is battle tactics and analysis of your opponent." He added.


    "Oh? That sounds interesting." Lu Xu nodded his head.


    "I guess we can do it after my match is over. We''ll have an empty period after that anyways." Qian Wen said. "Then the next match will be of Ming Dandan and it is four days away." He added.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I don''t think any of us have gotten information about our next matches anyways."


    The three discussed for a bit while also looking at the fights that happened. Most of the fights were rtively straightforward and one didn''t need to think much about them. Lin Mu tried to see if there was anything interesting about them but didn''t find them to be that relevant.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hours passed like this until it was time for Qian Wen''s fight.


    Unlike thest time, Qian Wen''s fight was with a rtively simple opponent. His opponent was at the Second tribtion stage of the immortal realm, thus being a level weaker than him.


    Lin Mu barely even had to use the Nine Divine Heart Sutras as Qian Wen managed to defeat his opponent on his own. He was after all a soldier of the royal army and had a decent amount of fighting experience.


    In fact,pared to the majority of the participants Qian Wen might rank in the top 20% with the most battle experience. After all, there was nock of cultivators who had a high cultivation base, butcked battle experience.


    These were the immortals who had been taught by their masters and had stayed in seclusion for a long time. They would be raised on pills and precious herbs, thereby raising their strength, butcking the skill needed to apply it properly.


    And once Qian Wen''s fight was over, Lin Mu brought them back to the tea house where Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan had been resting.


    "How were the fights?" Ming Aolian asked upon seeing them.


    "I didn''t really need to do much. Their opponents were weak enough." Lin Mu replied.


    "I see¡­ well that makes sense. Most opponents are weaker this early on in the tournament." Ming Aolian nodded.


    "Yeah, only after the fifteen day mark are they filtered out enough that they be tougher." Ming Dandan agreed.


    "We just have to make sure wee out on top." Lu Xu stated.


    "That is true." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And in order to do that, I think it''s better to enhance your own understanding about the opponents and their skills." He added.


    And as soon as Lin Mu said that, Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian shuddered. They recalled the lessons that Lin Mu had given them and felt a bit uneasy.


    "Is this what you were talking about earlier?" Qian Wen inquired.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu affirmed. "Should we start it then? It''ll be fun." He asked.


    "I don''t see why not. We got a few days till the next match." Lu Xu was fine with it.


    The two Ming sisters didn''t reject it either, as they had indeed learned from it. While it might be a bit exhausting, they still knew it was going to help them in the long term.


    And with that done, Lin Mu began his lessons again, this time with two more cultivators added to the group.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen had no idea what they were getting into. Thus when Lin Mu got into the details of it all, the started feeling a bit overwhelmed. But as time passed, they started to understand better and better.


    The same happened with the Ming sisters, who had already been through it once.

 Chapter 1708 Ming Dandans Fight

    Through it all, Lin Mu also started to improve while also figuring out what the four immortals were best at.


    He discovered that each of them had something they were better at. For example, Qian Wen was the most adept at understanding the actual battle tactics having had some training in it beforehand due to being a soldier of the royal army.


    Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan on the other hand were better at simply understanding the theory behind different skills and techniques. Lin Mu reckoned since both of them were taught by the same master, it might have reflected in their learning ability as well.


    Then there was Lu Xu who was best at picking out vulnerabilities in techniques. It was a difficult thing and yet it came to him naturally.


    Learning these points, Lin Mu tried to expand more on them while customizing them ording to each person.


    Just like this, hour after hour went by and they soon turned into days. They didn''t even realize how deep they had gone until it was finally time for Ming Dandan''s fight!


    "AH!" She was startled as the token hummed, reminding her of the fight that was going to happen soon.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Is it time?" Lin Mu took a pause.


    "Yes¡­ We need to go now." Ming Dandan nodded her head.


    The group left after that while clearing out their bills at the tea pavilion. They had rued a decent amount too, having spent nearly five days there. Though it was still several times cheaper than what they would spend at the Spring Valley Restaurant.


    Lin Mu reckoned that if the waiting period was too long, they might as well return to their own amodations. In fact, Lu Xu had invited him over which prompted the others to do the same.


    Lin Mu had done the same too, if not for the fact that his ce also had the Saintess living there. He wouldn''t bring others over there and bother the Saintess by it. Though all of this was forter when they actually had a long enough break period.


    For now, they all headed to Ming Dandan''s ring where the battle was just about to be announced.


    "Ming Dandan and Jiang Hutaoe to the ring!" The referee announced.


    Ming Dandan headed there right away, as the others found some seats.


    They all watched as the flow of the fight was changed with Lin Mu''s interference. Ming Dandan''s opponent was actually stronger than her. He was also at the Third Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm like her but had been so for a long time.


    To Lin Mu, it looked like he was closer to the next stage and might be able to break through at any time.


    Ming Dandan was also a beast tamer and was using her beast to fight. Her beast was different than most and looked like a mix of several animals. It had the tail of a squirrel, body of an anteater, and the head of a lizard.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was the first time Lin Mu was seeing a beast like this and learned that it was called as the Mulch Crawl Eater.


    It was a unique beast native to a certain world and Ming Dandan''s master had especially gotten it for her. The Mulch Crawl Eater Beast that Ming Dandan was using was also at the Third Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm but it had only reached it about a year ago.


    It was a beast that was adept at using Mud and Swamp abilities, being able to make them appear without there being any actual swamp around them. Lin Mu could tell that it was a special Dao that the beast had innately learned.


    "That is the Swamp Dao." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu''s mind. "It is a subset of the Earth Dao and Water Dao." He exined.


    "Oh? I see." Learning about a new Dao for the first time, Lin Mu was certainly interested.


    He paid even more attention to the fight and how the Mucks Crawl Eater Beast fought. It would slow down the opponent by turning the ground beneath into a swamp and would then try to trap them.


    When the opponent was slowed down it would use its long ws to rip at them. Since it had the body of an anteater, the ws of the beast were rather long and sharp too. But the strangest part was its bushy squirrel like tail.


    It could soak up water and mud in it before flinging it across. The force it slung it with was also strong enough to push back an immortal.


    Still despite all this, the Jiang Hutao was stronger than the beast in sheer strength. Not to mention that he was good at footwork techniques and could maneuver around the swamp after he had gotten used to it.


    Seeing that the battle was getting fierce, Lin Mu started chanting the Calming Heart Sutra.


    He first used it on Ming Dandan, allowing her to think smoothly without any panic. The lessons that Lin Mu had given her came in handy here, and she started to find the ws in the footwork of Jiang Hutao.


    And while she did this, Lin Mu also interfered with Jing Hutao. Interrupting his footwork by using the Severing Heart Sutra and making him miss his steps. Then when the man was having an advantage, Lin Mu would suddenly use the Burning Heart Sutra and make him enraged.


    This would make him lose his rhythm and force him to attack haphazardly, further pushing him into the swamp traps.


    The audience watched the fight with interest as it wasn''t often they got to see a beast tamer fight using a beast like this. Not to mention Swamp rted techniques weren''t reallymon in the first ce.


    The battlested about thirty minutes, ending only when Jiang Hutao tripped face-first into the swamp.


    This gave the beast the opportunity to stab into his back using the ws and end the battle.


    "Ming Dandan is the winner!" The referee finally announced.

 Chapter 1709 A Lesson Of Dao And Understanding

    With the end of the battle, Ming Dandan sent her beast to the Storage Treasure then returned to Lin Mu with a skip in her step.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    She was very excited and knew that the help of Lin Mu had been critical in her win. Without that there was a good chance that she might have lost.


    "Thank you brother Mu Lin." Ming Dandan said with gratitude.


    "It''s nothing." Lin Mu replied. "Though I think your tamed beast can also grow better." He added.


    "It can?" She asked.


    "Indeed. It is versed in the Swamp Dao and can further improve for sure. Plus if you learn about the Swamp Dao more too, you will be able to better coordinate with it." Lin Mu exined.


    "Is that so, I never thought about it." Ming Dandan replied.


    While she had received formal training in Beast Taming from her master, it didn''t really cover this aspect of training. Understanding the Dao of their tamed beast wasn''t something that was possible for everyone.


    After all, the tamed beast could very well have a Dao that was opposite to one''s own or a Dao that they had no talent in.


    This was actually one of the factors that was considered when one picked their tamed beast. Of course, even this was a luxury as most people simply took whatever beast they could tame.


    Not everyone had the luxury or time to go and search for a specific beast to tame. Only in sects andrger powers could something like this be possible. It also showed the reach of the Blue Mountain Pce with how they could do this.


    "Hmm¡­ Your affinity is with the water element right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes! How did you know?" Ming Dandan was surprised.


    "I could sense it." Lin Mu replied.


    While he himself didn''t have an affinity with the water element, Lin Mu had seen several people who had a very high innate affinity to water: The Haima Tribe. Not just that, but he had seen them ovee the Variant Immortal Tribtion of water too.


    Thus Lin Mu had seen the Dao Traces of water in quite a lot of detail. Then there was also Lanbao who was able to control the Water around the Deep Sapphire City due to her being a formation spirit.


    The density of the Water Dao Traces as well as Dao Insights was very high in Deep Sapphire City. For obvious reasons too.


    Thus it wasn''t difficult for Lin Mu to sense Ming Dandan''s affinity with the Water Dao.


    "Though, you haven''t formed a Dao Embryo that is of the Water Dao, have you?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "No¡­ my Dao embryo is different." Ming Dandan shook her head.


    Lin Mu didn''t want to pry too much, as this was something that could be considered private. But just her confirming that it wasn''t a Water Dao embryo was good enough.


    "Hmm, it can still work." Lin Mu spoke.


    "How so?" Ming Dandan was interested.


    The others also listened in, especially Ming Aolian since she was also a beast tamer. The Daos were something all immortals were fascinated with. After all it was the foundational base of their power and further growth.


    A person who had a high cultivation base but a weak understanding of the Dao would be like a castle standing on one pir. One needed thorough understanding of the Dao in order to have a stable foundation.


    Lin Mu noticed that the others were interested too and decided to just turn it into a lesson.


    "I think we should go to a more private ce for now." Lin Mu replied. "Let''s head to the Spring Valley restaurant." He suggested.


    "Will that be fine?" Qian Wen didn''t want to impose.


    "Yeah, we can still go to the tea house." Lu Xu spoke.


    "It''s fine. The formation arrays at the Spring Valley Restaurant will also allow us to keep up with the news." Lin Mu replied.


    It was one of the advantages of the VIP rooms. They could regrly update the information about who won and who lost. Plus Lin Mu and the others would have a better ce to discuss and talk.


    Even if the tea house was private, it wasn''t on the level of the Spring valley restaurant.


    "If you say so then, Brother Mu Lin." Ming Aolian decided to join in.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    They left for the Spring Valley Restaurant and Lin Mu also called Luo Liqin along. The man had been at the betting pavilion all this time and had gathered sufficient information for them.


    Plus Lin Mu didn''t want the man to miss out on the lesson too. He was intrigued by the different understandings everyone had and wanted to see what Luo Liqin''s perspective would be like.


    After all, he used to be a body cultivator too, thus there was bound to be something different about him.


    Soon enough, the entire group was gathered at the restaurant.


    "Wee Sir Mu Lin!" The attendants were ready this time.


    They had already been instructed by the Countess and there was no way they were going to mistake a VIP now. Even if Lin Mu had brought several people with him, it wasn''t an issue to them.


    Plus now that Lin Mu had shown his ability to payst time, they had nothing to worry about.


    Instead they were eager and hoped that Lin Mu could stay longer now. They wanted to serve him to the best of their abilities. After all, those that served would get a part of the sales too.


    "Pleasee this way, honored guests." One of the servants brought Lin Mu upstairs. "The Countess is not at the establishment rights now, though if you wish I can inform her." He asked after bringing them to the Second Spring Room.


    "It''s fine. You don''t need to bother her." Lin Mu shook his head. "Though I do thank the countess for her hospitality." He added.


    "As you wish, sir." The servant said. "If you need anything, please don''t hesitate to ask us. In the mean time, I''ll send some tea for all of you."


    "That would be great." Lin Mu said before letting the servant go.


    By now the others had already taken their seats and looked rather eager to listen. Luo Liqin was the only one that seemed a bit confused.


    "Uhh¡­ what are we doing?" he asked.


    "Brother Mu Lin will be teaching us." Lu Xu replied.


    "He will be? I thought we were going to discuss the matches." Luo Liqin said in doubt.


    "Of course we are. This is part of it." Ming Aolian replied in Lin Mu''s stead.


    Lin Mu taught using examples, which came from none other than the contestants, thus it was a two pronged approach. Not only did they get to further their own knowledge base, they also learned more about their opponents.


    "Can you give me the information you''ve gathered?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Sure." Luo Liqin handed Lin Mu a jade slip.


    Lin Mu looked through the information for a few minutes before nodding his head.


    "This''ll be good enough." Lin Mu said before looking at Ming Dandan. "Let''s start from where I left off then. The Daos."


    "Yes!" Ming Dandan looked eager.


    ''Brother Mu Lin is teaching about Dao?!'' Luo Liqin had not expected this.


    "Like I said before, Ming Dandan has an affinity with the Water element, but has not formed a Dao Embryo belonging to it. Her tamed beast on the other hand, the Mulch Crawl Eater Beast innately has an understanding of the Swamp Dao.


    The Swamp Dao is a subset of the Water and Earth Daos andbined the aspects of both in different ways. The fluidity of water isbined with the fullness of earth to make the mud which can slow and trap the enemy.


    At the same time it can show nurture life and let nts grow, thereby promoting the effects of Wood Elemental abilities. On the counter side it can restrain the fire element better and allow one to suppress it." Lin Mu began his lesson.


    It included his own understanding of the elements within it as well as the theories he had learned. The others listened with deep focus, not wanting to miss out on anything.


    "Since you already have an affinity with the water element, you simply need to apply the aspects that you naturally know." Lin Mu instructed Ming Dandan. "Even if you don''t have an affinity with the earth, it is still fine since you simply need toplement your beast.


    After all, the way you fight in the tournament is different than outside. You aren''t going to let your beast fight all your battles,, would you?" he asked.


    "Of course not. I will be participating and coordinating too." Ming Dandan nodded her head.


    "Exactly. Which makes me thing that you might be able to learn some simple Water Elemental techniques that canpliment your Tamed beast." Lin Mu suggested. "And to further enhance this, if you can obtain another beast that is of the Wood Element, the synergy will be further improved." He added.

 Chapter 1710 Bafflement

    "Add another beast?" Ming Dandan thought about Lin Mu''s suggestion.


    "Master did say, that we can get more beasts once we get back." Ming Aolian stated. "In fact, we could have gotten it anytime, but wanted to let out current beasts get stronger. We were focused on the tournament and didn''t want to split our attention." She exined.


    "That does make sense." Lu Xu nodded in agreement.


    Most of them had done the same, having focused on training for the tournament. Not just that, but they had been doing this for a long time too, with some having preprepared for over ten or twenty years.


    Then there were some who had been in seclusion for a hundred years or more too. Whenpared to all these cultivators, Lin Mu seemed like a mere beginner. And yet he stood on a line far beyond them in a fraction of the time needed for others.


    "I supposed I can ask master to get me one." Ming Dandan replied after thinking it over. "Though what should I get?"


    "That is what we need to determine. Not only does the beast''s abilities need toplement yours but also the Mulch Crawl Eater beast too. It needs to be able to work in a team as well as interdependently.


    Thus, we''ll study the beast records." Lin Mu said before taking out a thick jade slip.


    This jade slip was significantly bigger than others and was Lin Mu''s personal jade slip that was used to keep records and notes. Tapping on it, Lin Mu activated one of the rarely used formations within it and disyed the information on a formation screen.


    Jade slips were meant for discrete use and transition of information, thus using it to disy information was not done usually. Plus, it wasn''t an efficient way of transferring information as an immortal cultivator could easily scan through hundreds of pages at a mere nce using the jade slip.


    The user of immortal sense was vital to them, thus showing it physically was a slower method.


    Still, Lin Mu did so as he had added a few other things to it.


    Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian watched as various records of beasts were shown. Lin Mu filtered through them until only the water elemental beasts were left. It was then further filtered, with only the beasts at the Immortal realm being left.


    Even then, the number of beasts on the list was easily in the thousands. Just this alone showed how many creatures there were in the myriad of worlds. But this still wasn''t aprehensive list.


    There were always new beasts being born oring into existence thus the list would never beplete. One would have to keep on working on it. But for now, the list that Lin Mu had was enough.


    To Lu Xu, Luo Liqin, Qian Wen though, all this seemed stunning. While they too had studied some beasts in general, it was only to keep themselves aware. But that had limited their information to themon beasts or those that were found in the Rust Sky world.


    Lin Mu on the other hand, was showing them beasts that were from an unknown number of worlds. Even to Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian, the beast records that Lin Mu was showing them seemed unsettlingly detailed.


    "B-brother Mu Lin, where did you¡­ Where did you get this beast record?" Ming Dandan couldn''t help but ask.


    "Yes¡­ this seems ratherprehensive. It must have been very expensive and hard to get." Ming Aolian said.


    Lu Xu and the others were thinking the same too. They knew just how expensive it would be to get such a massive amount of records.


    "Get it?" Lin Mu raised a brow in confusion. "Ipiled it." He answered.


    "W¡­ what?" Ming Dandan said, unable to believe it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Youpiled it? From what?" Ming Aolian was still able to hold on to her wits.


    "From other sources¡­ Books, scrolls, slips, memoirs, travelogues,pendiums and more. Basically anything I could get." Lin Mu exined. "I read them¡­ Analyzed them¡­ made some notes. Then I added more things that I learned or saw myself." He spoke.


    "Wait¡­ Compendiums and memoirs?" Luo Liqin realized something was wrong. "You mean to say this isn''t just a record for beasts?" he inquired.


    "Of course not. The beast records are just one part of it." Lin Mu chuckled before casually tapping the air, switching the screen to all the sections that he had made.


    ~shua~


    The screen seemingly erged since it couldn''t show the sheer amount of topics that were present in it.


    "In the name of heavens¡­" Qian Wen gasped.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    Ming Aolian looked at it for a few seconds before a horrifying thought appeared in her mind.


    "Dandan close your eyes! And don''t speak of this to anyone." Ming Aolian suddenly said before turning to the others. "Lu Xu, Luo Liqin and Qian Wen you too."


    "Huh, why?" Ming Dandan and Luo Liqin said, feeling baffled.


    But Ming Aolian didn''t reply to them instead, facing Lin Mu.


    Her expression was serious, while a mix of fear and anxiety could be seen in her eyes.


    "I apologize for burdening you like this, Brother Mu Lin. It was not our intention to infringe on your legacy." She suddenly said while bowling her head.


    Her words confused the others before they all realized. Ming Dandan turned cold, while Qian Wen shuddered.


    "We apologize!" the all bowed. "We shall not reveal this to anyone, we swear upon our souls!"


    Lin Mu looked at them with a bewildered expression, not understanding what was happening.


    "Why¡­ are you acting like this?" Lin Mu found it exceedingly strange.


    "For making you reveal your legacy treasure, of course! It is not something that should be shown to others without a cost." Ming Aolian replied.


    "What legacy treasure?" Lin Mu said in confusion. "This is just a Jade Slip I made."


    "What? This wasn''t passed down to you by a master?" Lu Xu and Ming Aolian eximed.


    "Of course not." Lin Mu denied.

 Chapter 1711 A Mistaken Legacy Treasure

    Ming Aolian and the others were in the disbelieving that Lin Mu had shown them the jade slip at first.


    They had thought that it was a Legacy Treasure which should only be passed down from a master to a disciple. It was the culmination of all knowledge and information they would have gathered in their life, as well as the past generations.


    That was how substantial the informationpiled in the jade slip was.


    Ming Aolian had merely thought of it as a very detailed Beast record, but when seeing that there were other parts to it, she was stunned into thinking about a Legacy Treasure. After all, there was no reason why someone would spend this much effort to make a jade slip like this.


    It was not a simple task, and would take time away from cultivating. It was time that was precious and would leave themgging behind their peers if they wasted it.


    Of course, this only applied to those who couldn''t do multiple things at once. For Lin Mu who could be in the Sleepscape while continuing to cultivate, it was merely a means of optimization.


    Plus with his practice with the formations and runes, gathering information andpiling it was a basic task that he had been doing regrly. The only reason why he had such an expansive records were due to the fact he had the memoirs of the Lost Immortal as well as Xukong to guide him.


    This allowed him to expand upon the preexisting records that he had and further improve them. There were often details missing about various articles that he could add too on his own.


    He would also add his own observations and understanding of things that he saw.


    With all thisbined, the jade slip that Lin Mu ended up making was something that was good enough to be mistaken as a Legacy Treasure.


    "It really isn''t a Legacy Treasure?" Ming Dandan asked in doubt.


    "It isn''t, I made it." Lin Mu replied. "I might have taken some guidance, but I made itpletely by myself." He rified.


    "This¡­" it still felt rather stunning to Ming Aolian and the others.


    To be able to reach his current cultivation base while also doing something like this was a tall order. Not many would be able to do this and would probablygs hind in some aspects of their cultivation.


    And yet, here was Lin Mu who could stand above them despite being of a lower cultivation base on the outside. They didn''t know what to do other than to just believe Lin Mu.


    ''Though it does make sense with how casually he showed it to us¡­'' Lu Xu thought over it. ''If it were a Legacy Treasure I doubt many would even dare to take it out in the presence of others.'' He reckoned.


    The others came to term with it as well and finally calmed down.


    "Still¡­ this is very impresser." Qian Wen spoke. "I don''t think I''ve seen anything like this even in the Royal Library."


    "You''ve been to the Royal Library? Don''t they only allow the aristocrats there?" Luo Liqin asked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Ah, I was assigned as a guard there." Qian Wen rified. "Though they did allow us to look through the document and books as long as they were returned properly." He added.


    "That makes sense then." Luo Liqin nodded his head.


    "I can say the same. I don''t think there will be anything thisprehensive in the Blue Mountain Pce either." Ming Aolian stated. "They might have separate documents and books that might have simr amount of information, but it won''t bepiled into one jade slip like this." She exined.


    "Mmhmm, that is true. Not many powers would take the risk of doing that. It is the same as asking thieves and other foes to simply sabotage it. One could lose risking the foundation of their legacy like this." Lu Xu nodded his head.


    It was amon practice to keep all the intimation and techniques a power had, separate. This made it so that if something happened to damage or steal them, they wouldn''t all be gone at once.


    Of course, there were someptions made, but they were in the form of Legacy treasures like Ming Aolian had said. They would only be passed down among a few people in such powers and usually belonged to the heirs and masters.


    Thus it was very rare for such a expansiveption to be found.


    One might ask, why wouldn''t they simply make multiple copies if they feared it getting stolen?


    The answer was mostly about time and effort.


    A jade slip that could amodate this amount of information was of a high quality and needed a formation grandmaster to make them. Then there was the fact that one still needed to transfer the information over from an original source.


    This in itself was a item consuming task. One could very well assign some disciples to do this, but that would also mean that there was a chance of things getting leaked. After all, something like this was valuable and needed to be kept secure.


    This meant that only a few people could carry out a task like this, and such people often had other important tasks to do or spent their time in cultivation.


    All of this ended up meaning that it was very rare for a jade slip like this to bepiled with all the information of a power.


    "Just show''s how great Brother Mu Lin''s skill set it." Luo Liqin couldn''t help but praise.


    "Indeed." Ming Aolian and others chimed in agreement.


    Lin Mu could only give a smile in gratitude before resuming the lesson.


    "Let''s get back to it then, shall we?" Lin Mu said, refocusing their attention.


    A few hours passed like this before Lin Mu and Ming Dandan picked out on a potential beast that she could tame. Best part was that it could be found on Rust Sky world itself, and one wouldn''t have to look outside.

 Chapter 1712 Two Weeks Of The Tournament

    Lin Mu''s lessons with hispanions continued till the next day, after which they started getting the notification for their next matches.


    "When is everyone''s match?" Lin Mu asked. "Mine is three days from now." He replied.


    "Four days." Lu Xu replied.


    "Eight days." Ming Aolian replied.


    "Six days." Ming Dandan spoke.


    "Next week." Qian Wen answered.


    Hearing them all, Lin Mu reckoned it was good this time.


    "Seems like we won''t have any issues this time around." Lin Mu spoke. "No fights will be conflicting." He stated.


    "Indeed. We''ll be able to n out well enough." Lu Xu nodded.


    Lin Mu nned out theing days with the rest and spent them either in teaching them or helping them out in their fights. His own fights had been simple, as he had more than enough time between them.


    Neither Lin Mu nor anyone else had issues in their fights with Lin Mu being present there to sway it in their favor.


    Just like this, two weeks passed, during which almost everyone had finished all their needed fights. They all felt like it had be so easy after Lin Mu helped them out.


    "Lu Xu is the winner!" The referee announced.


    In the ring, Lu Xu was unscathed while his opponent was lying outside the ring. He gave a little wave to the crowd before returning to the seats.


    "That does it for all of us." Lu Xu said upon seeing hispanions.


    "Indeed. Now all of us have the needed five wins secured." Lin Mu nodded his head. "We have a break till the qualifiers." He spoke.


    "Any idea of when they will start?" Lu Xu asked Luo Liqin.


    Luo Liqin had been the one spending most of the time collecting information and thus knew the best.


    "The estimated time is about fifty days or more. It will still take time for most contestants to finish all rounds." Luo Liqin answered.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s quite a lot of time." Lin Mu muttered.


    "What should we do till, then?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "I want to go back and train ording to what Brother Mu Lin taught us." Ming Dandan was the first to speak.


    "I should do the same. I''ve certainly had some gains with the lessons as well as the fights." Qian Wen agreed.


    "It is decided then." Lu Xuughed a little. "Guess we''ll be taking a break."


    "A break to cultivate of course." Ming Aolian chimed in.


    Lin Mu too thought that a break was in order. At the very least, a change in the pace. While it had been interesting for him to teach and learn from it, it was still a bit exhausting. Not to mention, he hadn''t taken much time to consolidate his cultivation gains in this time.


    ''Perhaps I should take this chance to further my Qi cultivation too¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Having made his mind, Lin Mu looked at hispanions who were now closer to friends and spoke.


    "Alright then. We''ll all split for now. It is time for us to do some cultivation on our own." Lin Mu stated.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Yes." Ming Dandan said with clenched fists.


    She had gotten a lot of gains in this time and felt like she was renewed.


    "Let''s meet again in a few days. We can always contact each other if needed." Qian Wen suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ I might not being. I''ll try to break through." Lin Mu replied, much to their surprise.


    "Really? You''re close to a breakthrough brother Mu Lin?" Ming Aolian said with slight excitement.


    "Yes. I have been for a while, but I''ve dyed it." Lin Mu answered before looking at Little Shrubby in his arms. "And I got a few friends I need to meet too." He said, recalling the Twins and the Saintess.


    He hadn''t met them in over three weeks now and missed them.


    "If Brother Mu Lin is intending to break through then who are we to stop him? Hahah! Go and don''t think about anything else." Lu Xuughed. "Just focus on your own cultivation."


    They all knew how much they had imposed on Lin Mu and knew that it was something he deserved.


    "I will then." Lin Mu said with a smile before standing up.


    Little Shrubby hopped up onto his shoulder, ready to head back.


    Lu Xu and the rest watched as Lin Mu left the ring, feeling mixed emotions.


    ~Sigh~


    "We should work hard too. We can''t disappoint brother Mu Lin." Qian Wen stated.


    "Yes¡­ if we are still not able to improve, we would be tainting the help that Brother Mu Lin has given us." Ming Aolian said with determination in her voice.


    "I''ll do my best in gathering information too. Cultivating won''t help me much right now anyways since I''m out of the tournament. You all need to focus on winning instead." Luo Liqin spoke up.


    "Will that be fine?" Ming Dandan asked with concern.


    "Don''t worry, this is something that''ll benefit all of us." Luo Liqin replied. "We need to take revenge for our people anyways." He said with a hint of fury in his eyes.


    Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, including Lu Xu. Even he had been pulled into their fervor and felt like Yao Changming deserved to die. He had gotten to learn more about the atrocities that Yao Changying hadmitted in their time together.


    With several thoughts and goals in their mind, the groups split up, intending to get stronger for the next part of the tournament.


    Lin Mu was unaware of their conversation and just thought about what he was supposed to do. He walked nonstop until he reached the Hundred Fruits Courtyard.


    ~huu~Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu looked at the courtyard, which seemed to be rather quaint.


    ~Creak~


    Then with a push, he opened the gate, stepping into the floral air that permeated it.


    Even though this wasn''t his home, Lin Mu still felt like he had returned home.


    "Oh? You''re back?" The Saintess''s voice drifted over, a smile appearing on Lin Mu''s face.

 Chapter 1713 The Saintesss Request

    Watching the Saintess, Lin Mu felt strangely calm.


    ~SASASA~


    But he wasn''t the only one excited. The twins rushed towards him, before wrapping around his body. Their long tongues flicked in excitement while they rubbed their heads against him.


    "Haha, guess you two missed me too." Lin Mu rubbed their heads.


    He could tell that the twins had grown stronger in this time as their energy fluctuations were also stronger.


    "Oh? Did you grow bigger?" Lin Mu realized that the weight of the twins had increased too.


    "Yes!" in the next moment Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as he heard something.


    "S-say that again," Lin Mu hurriedly said.


    "Yes!" The twins actually spoke this time.


    Hearing their voices, Lin Mu felt joy.


    "Ahahaha! You two can talk too now!" Lin Muughed out loud.


    "Yes! Yes! Yessssss!" the twins spoke in unison.


    Lin Mu could tell that their speech capabilities were still limited, but this was still a good start. Little Shrubby was the same after all.


    "They started talking just a day ago." The Saintess spoke up.


    "You can hear them too?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    As far as he knew, the Saintess couldn''t hear Little Shrubby. Thus, he thought that the twins were just talking to him.


    "Of course I can." The Saintess replied. "All snakes, serpents, and reptiles are the same to me. I can understand them." She exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu took note of it. "Though a celebration is in order. Little Shrubby!" he suddenly called out.


    "Feast!?" Little Shrubby instantly knew.


    "A feast it is!" Lin Mu dered.


    "FEAST TIME!" Little Shrubby grew in size and the prosthetic hands appeared.


    Several utensils appeared as well, while the beast headed to the kitchen to get things ready.


    In the mean time, Lin Mu sat down intending to help out when Little Shrubby needed it.


    "We help!" But the twins seemed eager and quickly jumped off.


    "They''re certainly excited." Lin Muughed.


    "They sure are." The Saintess spoke. "And considering your demeanor, things went well?" She asked.


    The Saintess knew that Lin Mu would be qualifying. It wasn''t even a question of IF but rather WHEN.


    She would instead be surprised if he actually lost this early on. Though with Lin Mu''s skills, something like that was highly unlikely to happen. If it did, it only meant that there was some strong ck horse in the tournament.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "There were a couple of upsets, but things are going well." He said.


    "Like what?" The Saintess inquired.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You want to listen to it all?" Lin Mu asked, feeling eager that the Saintess was showing interest.


    "You may as well tell me while the food gets ready." The Saintess replied, a slight smile under her veil.


    "Sure!" Lin Mu said before beginning to tell all that had happened.


    He told her about hispanions, as well as how he intended to help them ovee the battles.


    Hearing this, the Saintess was quite surprised, but she didn''t express it.


    ''This should be an ability that Great Senior might have taught him¡­ it''s truly marvelous for it to be able to bypass all protections.'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    Lin Mu continued to tell her about the other things that had happened, as well as the contestants they had seen. He told her about the ck Fin Ind''s people appearing as well as their poisons.


    Then finally he told her about the lessons that he had been giving hispanions. It was at this point that she finally spoke.


    "I''m surprised it took you this long to get teaching." The Saintess stated.


    "Huh, why?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You do have a natural disposition for that." The Saintess replied. "You have developed a Dao Embryo for the Formation Dao. It is a Dao that only those who are well versed in studies and schrly affinities can dabble in. This also coincides with those that teach well." She exined.


    "I¡­ hadn''t thought about it like that." Lin Mu replied. "Though it certainly feels nice. I could feel myself improving and my doubts resolving on their own, as I taught." He added.


    "Mmhmm, that just shows that you have a natural affinity for it." The Saintess said before waving her hand, causing a few clouds to appear and take the shape of a formation screen.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    The clouds turned faint before only a border was left with the screen part turning transparent. If one looked closer, they would see that the screen was made out of a thinyer of moisture.


    Lin Mu watched it with intrigue, wondering what the Saintess was doing


    "What can you tell from these?" The Saintess inquired as the screen changed to show the scene of the Tournament.


    "Huh? You can observe it like this?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "This much is nothing." The Saintess shook her head. "Look at the fights and tell me what you think."


    "What exactly do you want to know?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a bit confused.


    "Anything that you can make out. Their strengths, weaknesses and more." The Saintess replied.


    "Alright." A serious expression appeared on Lin Mu''s face as he observed the fight.


    It was one of the fights in the Tournament and involved two Second Tribtion stage immortals. Lin Mu silently observed it till the end of the fight, before starting to speak.


    During this time, The Saintess didn''t say anything and simply listened to him. Lin Mu spoke at length for about thirty minutes and was able to point out several ws as well as strengths that the twobatants had.


    He was even able to identify the Dao that they might have been practicing, even if they hadn''t shown it.


    "And that''s about it." Lin Mu said, finishing his exnation.


    "Mhmmm¡­" The Saintess stared at it for a few seconds before finally nodding her head.


    "Very well¡­ I guess I can make up my mind." The Saintess said before taking out an object.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu looked at the object.

 Chapter 1714 Sudden Bestowal

    Lin Mu looked at the object that the Saintess had taken out, finding it to be rather unique.


    It was barely the size of a palm and was disc shaped. But the most iconic characteristic about it was the symbol that was engraved on it. It was that of a serpent biting its own tail. It was made from shimmering green emeralds and emanated a faint aura of power.


    In the empty space at the center of the serpent though, another thing was carved. It was a rune of some kind that Lin Mu could not read nor identify.


    "What''s this Saintess?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Take it." The Saintess said instead.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Lin Mu extended his hand and took the disc from the Saintess''s hand, all the while feeling confused.


    "From this day onwards, I dere you, Lin Mu¡­ The Head of the Schr Peak. You are now an elder of the Serpent Moon Sect." The Saintess dered, her voice carrying an authority that filled Lin Mu with a strange aura.


    The aura permeated into his body, before flowing back out into the disc, forming a link between the two. It was a link that was not perceptible by normal means and couldn''t be broken easily either.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu was taken aback by the sudden appointment. "Why Saintess?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "It is something you deserve." The Saintess said nonchntly. "Besides, the Schr Peak of my sect has been empty for a while. I may as well make use of it to bestow authority upon you." She added.


    "But¡­ Making me the head directly? And that too, an elder of the Serpent Moon Sect?" Lin Mu was confused for sure.


    "It''ll act as an extra identity for you." The Saintess answered. "It will give you legitimacy as well as provide you with background if you need to show it to someone, depending on the situation.


    It is certainly better than you using the Indigo World Hegemony''s identity." She added.


    "Yeah, that might be for the best." Lin Mu now knew the truth behind the Indigo World Hegemony and the troubles it could potentially bring him.


    But he still had not expected to be turned into an elder, that too, the head of a peak like that. A hundred questions ran through their head, which the Saintess guessed rather easily.


    "Don''t worry, you don''t have any extra obligations." The Saintess assured him. "You don''t really have any duties to the sect, but I would like it if you teach the disciples sometime in the future." She added.


    "I see, I don''t see why not." Lin Mu didn''t mind that much. "Though, wouldn''t the disciples technically be higher in cultivation than me?" he wondered.


    The Serpent Moon Sect was a higher world from what Lin Mu could guess, thus he assumed that the standard for cultivators would be high too.


    "Not necessarily. A majority of the disciples in the sects are immortals." The Saintess replied. "And even for immortals, your lessons can still be useful." She added.


    "I see¡­ then what is the average cultivation base for an elder, and an elder that is also the head of a peak?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Elders are at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm while the Heads of a Peak are usually Transcendent Immortals." The Saintess answered, making Lin Mu''s eyes go wide.


    "That does make sense¡­" Lin Mu silently gulped.


    He wondered about Celestials, but then reckoned it might not be the right time to ask about that. The Saintess herself was a high ranked among the Celestials from what Xukong had said, thus Lin Mu was sure that there would be other Celestials in the sect too.


    But considering that the Heads of the Peaks were already Transcendent Immortals, Lin Mu wondered if the sect patriarch or the grand elder would be a Celestial too.


    ''Do they even have a patriarch, though? The Saintess seems to be above them.'' Lin Mu was unaware about the hierarchy of the sect.


    "You don''t need to think much for now. Until you actually arrive at the sect, there is little you need to do." The Saintess said, dispelling his thoughts for now. "The thing I gave you is the Identity Crest of an elder of the Serpent Moon Sect. It will grant you entry into the sect as well as allow you to teleport to the Sect when using the appropriate Teleportation Array." She exined.


    Lin Mu took a look at the Crest again, finding it rather impressive. He tried to use his immortal sense to check the crest but was surprised to find it impossible to do. His immortal sense was simply blocked.


    "You won''t be able to scan it." The Saintess said upon seeing Lin Mu''s actions. "The Crest is warded against even Celestials, thus you certainly won''t be able to check it directly. If you wish to use it, you merely need to think. You won''t need to use your immortal sense." She borated.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was astonished upon seeing the first object that was guarded against even Celestials.


    He decided to keep it stored for now, knowing that it might be one of the most valuable objects he have as of now.


    "Thank you, Saintess." Lin Mu didn''t know what more to say.


    "I''m just safeguarding you forter¡­ I do have some selfish reasons in it too." The Saintess said, with a hint of cheekiness.


    Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe the teasing tone in her voice, but was d.


    "I¡­" Before Lin Mu could say anything more though, a few sounds could be hearding from the kitchen.


    "You should go help them out now. I want to eat something too." The Saintess spoke and waved her hand.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu found himself being transported to the kitchen almost instantly, without knowing how.


    ''Guess I''ll cook¡­ She seems hungry.'' Lin Mu thought. "I''m here, Little Shrubby. Let''s get this sped up!" he said to the beast.


    "YAY!" Little Shrubby replied while the twin snakes bobbed their heads.

 Chapter 1715 Sharing A Jar Of Wine

    With Lin Mu''s addition, the feast was prepared soon and was brought out. About ten dishes were prepared for this, with Little Shrubby having added two new things that he had never made before.


    It was some of the beasts that he had hunted and never gotten to making. But the special part was the new spices and herbs they had gathered in the Capital city.


    Everyone enjoyed the feast, with even the Saintess trying everything. Lin Mu could tell that she was a bit more open this time and was liking the food.


    Watching this reminded him of something through.


    ''She said she liked wine, right?'' Lin Mu recalled the Immortal Apple wine he had brewing in the Sleepscape.


    It would still take a while to be ready, but he wondered if something else could be made in that time.


    His eyes wandered over to the fruit trees in the garden and a few thoughts popped up in his mind.


    Lin Mu went to the garden and plucked a few flowers that he thought would work well. The Saintess noticed this but didn''t think much of it. Next, Lin Mu took out a wine jar that he had obtained from some spatial storage treasure and opened it.


    He then added the Immortal Fruit Flowers that he had plucked and closed the lid. Next, he ignited a me on his hand, heating up the wine jar. At the same time though, he used his Dao Skill and condensed a thinyer of stone on top of the wine jar.


    This thoroughly sealed it while the heat continued to fill it. Lin Mu heated the jar at high temperature for five minutes, the stoneyer keeping it under pressure. The wine inside it boiled, letting the flower petals infuse into it deeply.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense scanned the wine jar and he stopped when he felt it was appropriate, after which he let it cool down.


    Then, walking up to the Saintess, Lin Mu ced it on the cloud table.


    "What''s this?" The Saintess asked, putting down her chopsticks, which were also condensed from clouds.


    "The wine I''m making will take a few more months to get ready. So in the meantime, perhaps you can try this." Lin Mu said as he cracked open the lid.


    Since the stone had condensed on the wine jar, it had be airtight. His cracking it open, released a faint fragrance that was still suppressed.


    ~CLACK~


    But when Lin Mu lifted the lid, the true fragrance was unleashed.


    A mortal might be drunk merely by smelling this fragrance, while cultivators would find it tantalizing. Only immortals would be able to somewhat be able to resist it.


    "I know it might not be that good. But I''ve infused it decently, I think." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Pour me a cup." The Saintess didn''t reject and instead extended her hand.


    A cup automatically condensed in her hand while a chill also appeared, cooling the cup to the perfect temperature.


    Lin Mu lifted his arm, gently tilting the wine jar.


    The shimmering wine that was tinged pink pouring into the white cup, along with Lin Mu and the Veiled Saintess, created a picturesque scene that might enrapture the hearts of many.


    The wine perfectly reached the edge of the cup with nary a drop spilled when Lin Mu stopped.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Saintess gently brought the cup to her lips under the veil before taking a sip.


    "Mmm¡­ it''s nice." She spoke, causing a smile to bloom on Lin Mu''s face.


    "As long as you like it." Lin Mu said before lifting the wine jar again. "Do you want more?" he asked.


    "Sure." The Saintess extended the cup again, having finished it all. "You should try your creation too." She added.


    "Ah, yes." Lin Mu replied as a cup appeared in front of him too.


    Pouring himself a cup, Lin Mu tasted the wine that was infused with tens of different Immortal Fruit Flowers.


    One might think that since they were just flowers and not fruits, they might not be that good. But the effect that was brought from them was rather good. The floral scent of the flowers washed away the sharp scent of the wine while its gentle energy mellowed out the burning energy within.


    Overall, it had transformed already good immortal wine into an even better elixir.


    Since the flowers had been boiled in the wine while under pressure, they had perfectly disintegrated, wasting nothing.


    Every single wisp of essence and Qi was contained within, taking the wine''s taste to a new level.


    Just like that, the Saintess and Lin Mu shared a jar of wine while enjoying the delicacies that had been prepared.


    The day of rxation helped Lin Mu a lot and returned his mind to a calm state better than before.


    A few hourster, they wound up everything while Lin Mu decided it was time for him to cultivate.


    "Are you going to attempt a breakthrough?" The Saintess guessed easily.


    "I will yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I think this is the perfect chance to do it. I have a decent amount of time as well."


    "Very well. As long as you have your Tribtion, picked and ready, you shouldn''t have any issues." The Saintess said before creating a few seals with her hand.


    ~SHUA~


    The Courtyard was covered in clouds once more, isting and protecting it from any external interference while preventing energy fluctuations from the interior being leaked out.


    "Thank you, Saintess." Lin Mu said before looking at his beasts. "I''ll be back out soon." He spoke.


    "Go and get stronger!" Little Shrubby encouraged.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    "STRONG! YES!" The Twins said in unison.


    "Haha, yes we''ll be strong." Lin Mu rubbed their heads before taking a seat on a rock.


    He didn''t want to damage the building and thus chose to be outside this time. After all, there was no telling what kind of immortal tribtion he would be triggering. His very first tribtion had been one of the difficult variants after all.

 Chapter 1716 Lin Mus Choice For A Tribulation

    The Meteoric Earth Tribtion was something that had a very high difficulty and most had died to it.


    For Lin Mu, it was only possible to survive due to the Immortal Strengthening Scripture that had provided him the means for it. If not for that, there was no telling what might have happened.


    The effects of the Meteoric Earth Tribtion were also very dangerous. They were literal meteors!


    If something of that level happened here, Lin Mu was sure that even the Grand Array protecting the city would be triggered causing a barrier to activate. But a barrier of that level would bring great attention to him.


    While it was no crime to undergo an Immortal Tribtion within the city, especially with the Tournament of the Four Guardian Beasts ongoing, it would still be a troublesome thing. There were several strong experts here that would take notice and would probablye to investigate.


    Some might even consider it a fortunate encounter, as it might give them a chance to get acquainted with these experts and maybe even gain support from them. But for Lin Mu, it would be the opposite instead.


    Thus he hoped that his Second immortal Tribtion would be as normal as possible.


    Lin Mu had thought quite a lot over which element to choose for his next tribtion. He had discussed this with Senior Xukong who had suggested him that he pick an Immortal Tribtion that would be different from the elements he had an affinity with.


    Before this, Lin Mu had thought that picking an element he had an affinity for would be better. As it would be easier to pass. But Xukong had said that there was a chance that having a higher affinity might cause one to trigger a variant.


    This was rare but could still happen, particrly for those that were proficient in prying into the Daos. Lin Mu was one such person and would probably trigger it.


    Thus, the Metal Element was out of the question for him and he would not be picking the Immortal Tribtion for that.


    The next option for him was the Fire Element, but it was something that could easily causerge scale phenomena. Lin Mu had seen Little Shrubby''s original Immortal Tribtion and knew the fire could easily spread.


    Thus, that was also out of the option.


    Water was a good option, but Lin Mu had the least amount of experience with it. Even if he had seen the Haima Tribe breakthrough several times, it was not something Lin Mu wished for right now.


    Wind and Lightning Immortal Tribtions were also out of the picture simply because they were of the Heavenly Elements. They were almost often very strong and cultivators had issues with them.


    This left Lin Mu with the Wood Element.


    He had very recently witnessed Little Shrubby ovee it, thus the experience was fresh with it. Plus Lin Mu had great confidence in oveing it, as he had a lot of vitality within his body too.


    Thatbined with his skills, and Metal affinity, would help him fight it. After all, the metal element suppressed the wood element. Not to mention, Lin Mu had his sword intent too.


    With all these factorsbined, the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion was the perfect pick for now.


    It was also something that didn''t causerge scale phenomena and was mostly limited to the area around the user. It might just be the ''safest'' option for him.


    ~huu~This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu decided to start.


    He first needed to optimize his body''s condition as well as his mental state. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He spent a couple of hours doing this and checked everything before triggering the Tribtion.


    ''This will always be strange,'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he ''asked'' the Tribtion to ur.


    It was something that was hard for him to describe. Every immortal could cause an Immortal Tribtion to trigger before their lifespan ran out. It was an innate thing and came naturally to them as soon as they became immortals.


    Though it was hard to get used to, as one could trigger a life-threatening event with just a mere thought.


    Of course, it wasn''t something that would happen by ident as one needed to think strongly about it to happen. Just thinking about it in passing wouldn''t cause the Heavens to strike you down with a Tribtion.


    ~shua~


    With the ''request'' made, Lin Mu felt the space around him stir.


    Spatial fluctuations started to spread and a few minutester, the space started to distort. Lin Mu''s Spatial Perception was active during it all, as he watched the spatial fabric starting to twist and tear.


    "Here ites¡­"


    ~RIP~


    The energy of the Tribtion couldn''t be held back by the Spatial fabric anymore, and it was torn apart. Vine after vine started to appear from the torn space, growing rapidly within seconds.


    The vines were thorny and rough, with some thorns as long as six inches. Fine leaves could also be seen on it but they looked like sharp des instead and would cut one''s skin if they touched it.


    Just looking at the vines would make one feel scared and a tingle would run down their scalp. Feeling it on one''s body was an entirely different experience, with most considering it pure agony that might cause one to go insane before they died.


    But for Lin Mu, it was a different affair.


    Instead of anxiety, a smile appeared on his face.


    "Perfect, it''s a basic Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion!" Lin Mu confirmed.


    The vines wrapped around Lin Mu, trying to squeeze him to death as if they were deadly pythons. The thorns tried to stab Lin Mu, desiring to draw out his blood and drain his vitality.


    "Hah, this much is easy." Lin Mu chuckled as he flexed his arms.


    ~RIP~


    ~SNAP~SNAP~


    With just some effort, the vines that were trying to wrap around him were torn apart. The thorns that tried to pierce his skin were stopped too, snapping like toothpicks.

 Chapter 1717 Never Letting It Touch

    Having confirmed and assessed that it was a basic Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion Lin Mu knew just what to do.


    His experience watching Little Shrubby had taught him quite a bit and he knew that the first step to oveing the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion was to simply not let it harm him.


    "It''ll take a lot more than that to injure my body." Lin Mu spoke as he pushed the Vines apart.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    The broken vines quickly regrew but were being ripped apart by Lin Mu''s arms. To him, they were the same as cotton strings, soft and fragile.


    ~RUSTLE~ RUSTLE~


    The vines were not ready to give up either and increased in number. The Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion felt like it was challenged and increased its offense. Hundreds of vines sprouted out of the cracked space, crawling all over Lin Mu.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    Lin Mu directly drew out Afternoon Pine and shed at the vines, cutting them into pieces.


    ~SHUA~


    But the broken pieces of the vines were like young bamboo shoots. They sprouted once more, this time in the form of thinner vines that tried to ensnare Lin Mu. The tendrils crawled up Lin Mu''s legs and wrapped around Lin Mu''s waist.


    "HAAAH!" Lin Mu simply gave it a tug and snapped the tendrils.


    ~HUALA~


    In the next second, mes ignited on his hands quickly spreading to the vines preventing them from growing back from the fragments.


    ~HONG~


    But that wasn''t all as Lin Mu also used the sword, continually swinging it around.


    For a few seconds, a circle of emptiness was created around Lin Mu.


    Whenever the vines tried to get to him, they were shed apart or burned to ashes. Thebination of both attacks was enough to stave off the vines froming in contact with his body for five minutes.


    ''If it''s gonna stay at this level, I''ll be able to ovee it easily.'' Lin Mu thought. "But it should ramp up soon enough." He knew the truth.


    And as if on point, the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion got stronger.


    ~SHUA~


    The spatial tears around him grew bigger, with the Tribtion energy reaching great levels. The vinesing out of the space also increased in size, with some reaching the thickness of entire tree trunks.


    Since they couldn''t wrap around Lin Mu, they just decided to batter him.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The tree trunk sized vines whipped at him like massive hammers. Lin Mu blocked them with his hands, while also shing back.


    "Getting tougher, huh¡­" But this time, they were not cut apart in one go.


    sh marks were left behind on them, but they were quickly healed. Their attacks never stopped and they continued to ram into Lin Mu. At first, there were just two suchrge vines, but a couple minutester they doubled to four.


    Then five minutester they reached eight. Ten more minutester, there were sixteen of them, pummeling away.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''They''ll keep on doubling at this rate. I need to cull their numbers¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had been able to ensure it with his raw strength so far and hadn''t used his body cultivation yet. Just the toughness of his body could endure it so far, but Lin Mu had realized that the vines were still having an effect.


    It was a faint effect but it was still there.


    ''Each attack that makes contact with me is still able to sap away a bit of my vitality,'' Lin Mu realized.


    The amount being drained was small for Lin Mu personally, but for an average immortal, it would be debilitating. After all, while the amount drained in one hit was less, Lin Mu was getting hit several times every second.


    For a normal immortals, they would find themselves getting drained from these short contact attacks in just a few minutes.


    Lin Mu though endured it, finding it to be tolerable.


    This was the crux of the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion. It would drain your vitality and you had to endure it.


    One couldn''t stop it by simply destroying or stopping the vines, as they would simply continue to reappear. The only way to ovee the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion was to take it as a battle of endurance.


    They needed to withstand the attacks of the vines until the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion ran out of the Tribtion energy.


    Even if it looked like an Immortal Tribtion had endless energy, it was not so. The actual energy that triggered and sustained it was the pure Tribtion energy that was sent by the Heavens.


    It was this Tribtion energy that had the ability tomand other energies like Qi and bring forth various phenomena. While it could theoreticallymand an almost endless amount of Qi, its own existence was short lived.


    As long as one ousted it, they would be able to survive the Immortal Tribtion.


    That was exactly what Lin Mu did as he used his stronger attacks now.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Afternoon Pine hummed with joy, as the Sword Intent poured into it.


    "SEVER!" Lin Mu''s hand was like a blur, tens of shes flying out in a second.


    But these were no normal Qi infused shes, but those with Sword Intent.


    Its power was inherently greater and brought forth a quantitative change. The shes cut apart the vines of the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion while the Sword Intent contaminated them.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Now that the vines tried to regenerate, they found themselves bursting apart instead.


    The Sword Intent was like a grinder, ripping away at the vines like a hungry beast.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    ~BOOM~


    The thick vines were the same, as they were cut part this time. The shes first bisected them, before the Sword Intent invaded them and destroyed them from the inside. In just a couple of seconds, they exploded as if they were stuffed with gunpowder.


    "Haa¡­ Just gotta keep this up," Lin Mu took a deep breath as his hands continued to move.


    His right hand wielded Afternoon Pine, while his left spewed out mes and fire darts.

 Chapter 1718 Second Tribulation Stage Of The Immortal Realm

    Lin Mu continued to resist the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion, his skills and strength prevailing against the Vines.


    ~SHING~


    And after a certain point, he started to use the skill of Afternoon Pine as well, sending forth metal pine trees that ripped apart the vines.


    An hour passed like this, with the Vines managing to touch him from time to time, draining a part of his vitality. Fortunately for Lin Mu, he had a mountain of vitality stored within his body.


    The part that was getting stolen, was merely the surface of it. And this wasn''t even considering the unknown amount of Vitality that was stored within his stomach as well. Lin Mu didn''t even know how much his stomach could store.


    He only knew that it would automatically replenish, once his vitality fell to a certain level. It was how he had managed to survive cultivating a lot of his techniques after all. Even the Well of Slumber depended on his stomach to let him survive.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    Fire raged, sword shed, while fists ripped.


    Lin Mu fought the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion without stopping, feeling excited the entire time. To him, it was as if he was going against a great adversary and winning.


    It wasn''t that far from the truth either. After all an Immortal Tribtion was a trial given by the heavenly will.


    But that wasn''t all, as the more Lin Mu fought it, the more he learned.


    At first, he didn''t sense much, but as time went by as the energy of the Tribtion spread in the area, and Lin Mu started to pick up on things. Particrly the Dao Traces that were permeating the air now.


    Every vine he tore, burned or chopped had them too.


    ''The Wood Dao Traces are vibrant¡­ Fresh¡­ Abundant¡­'' Lin Mu observed.


    Bit by bit, Lin Mu could feel that he was starting to learn more about the Dao of Wood. Of course, since he didn''t have an innate affinity to the wood element, it wasn''t that good. But gaining someprehension was better than none.


    Taking advantage of this, Lin Mu immersed himself in it fully. He even went so far as to slow down his fight, letting the vines persist for longer. This allowed him to observe them better and longer.


    And while Lin Mu was doing all this, there were several eyes watching.


    The Saintess, the twins and Little Shrubby were all observing him from the distance. A barrier had already been deployed at the start, thus there were no issues of others getting affected by it.


    "Master is doing well¡­" Little Shrubby growled.


    "He sure is." The Saintess muttered.


    Even though she couldn''t hear Little Shrubby, it wasn''t hard for her to make out his thoughts.


    "Master¡­ Strong!" The twins spoke as their eyes shimmered with excitement.


    Little Shrubby had already gone through the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion before, and thus knew that Lin Mu was safe. There was no worry in his eyes, and he knew Lin Mu would be able to get through it.


    The Saintess though had different thoughts.


    ''He''s able to ovee it with such ease that he''s actually extending it to observe the Dao Traces.'' She thought. ''I guess this much should be expected from a disciple of the Great Senior.'' She reckoned.


    They observed for hours, and when twelve hours had passed, the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion started to die down.


    The Tribtion energy fluctuated, while the vines reduced in number. They couldn''t regenerate as fast and simply disappeared when Lin Mu damaged them.


    ~BOOM~


    A st of fire, exploded from Lin Mu''s fist turning the remaining parts of the vines into ash.


    ~Huu~


    "Was that thest of them?" Lin Mu questioned, as he looked around.


    The Spatial Cracks were getting smaller and Lin Mu could also tell the Tribtion energy had been depleted.


    "Guess it is the end¡­" Lin Mu said before closing his eyes.


    He sat back down cross legged, and peered into his Dantian.


    ~shua~


    There, a change was currently underway.


    His Nascent soul sat on his Dao Shell, while the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo within ity calmly.


    The ocean of immortal Qi underneath it swirled nonstop, as if eagerly awaiting something.


    ~HUALA~


    And a few secondster it finally happened!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Strong energy fluctuations washed over Lin Mu''s nascent soul while a green mist appeared in his Dantian. The green mist swirled around his Nascent soul before forming into a Green Halo around it.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The Nascent soul opened its eyes, while two halos shined behind it.


    The first halo was brown in color, signifying that he had ovee the Earth Elemental Immortal Tribtion, and the second green for the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion!


    "It is done¡­" Lin Mu spoke, opening his eyes.


    ~HUALA~


    A vortex of Qi appeared above his head, while his body rapidly started to absorb it. The breakthrough had been smooth, and the influx of Qi was allowing him to replenish all that he had consumed for the Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion.


    "Congrattions on reaching the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm." The Saintess said as the barrier around him dissipated.


    "Thank you Saintess," Lin Mu replied before the beasts jumped into his embrace.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "You did it!" little Shrubby said with joy.


    "Master Strong!" The twins shouted as well.


    "Ahaha," Lin Mu simply reveled in this joy, celebrating it with a few head pats and rubs.


    "Well, what are you going to do now?" The Saintess asked. "You seem to have broken through earlier than the deadline, right?"


    "Yeah¡­ I got a lot of days till the next match." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Though I guess I can spend it further in cultivating." He added.


    "Mmhmm, that''s always a good choice." The Saintess replied. "You will still need to consolidate your cultivation base anyways." She reminded.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I feel like I''ll be able to increase my Qi stores further." He said before standing up.


    The three beasts got off from hisp, while Lin Mu put on some new clothes. His robes had been torn off a long time ago and now he needed new clothes again. His tough body had allowed him to be free from damage and no injuries were on his body.


    ''I think this was the easiest breakthrough I''ve had¡­ Such a huge contrast against my first Immortal Tribtion.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The ease of breakthrough even tempted him to attempt another Immortal Tribtion. But then he quickly suppressed that thought.


    ''I shouldn''t get ahead of myself. Need to stabilize my cultivation base first and gather more immortal Qi.'' Lin Mu affirmed his thoughts.


    With that done, he quickly entered the bedroom and started to cultivate.


    Lin Mu didn''t sleep though, and actively cultivated. Wisp after wisp of Immortal Qi entered his body, before being condensed in his Dantian. He could feel that his Dantian had be a bit ''less full'' after the breakthrough.


    And this wasn''t just because he had consumed it. But rather the entire capacity of his Dantian seemed to have risen.


    ''No that''s not all¡­'' Lin Mu realized more things.


    He focused on his Nascent soul and saw that its absorption of Immortal Qi had increased as well.


    Normally, a Nascent soul would continue to absorb Immortal Qi and be nourished by it. This was how the cultivation base of an immortal progressed bit by bit. It took a long time for a Nascent soul to reach the point of a breakthrough, thus it wasn''tmon for an immortal to trigger an Immortal Tribtion beforehand.


    But Lin Mu could tell, the speed of absorption of his Nascent Soul had increased.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s new." Lin Mu took note.


    While the absorption was faster, Lin Mu didn''t know if it would affect the overall strength of the Nascent soul. After all, the stronger a Nascent soul was, the better control it would have over the Dao Embryos.


    Lin Mu looked at his Dao embryos and found them to be absorbing Immortal Qi too.


    "Can I speed this up too?" Lin Mu willed his Nascent soul to work.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, the Two Dao Embryos that were present in his Dantian started to actively absorb the Immortal Qi. Both the True Earth Heart and the Rune Shaping Brush were bathing in the immortal Qi, while it was absorbed into them.


    The Four Faceted Neb stayed hidden though, not doing the same as others.


    ''The requirements for its growth are different. It doesn''t just need normal Immortal Qi.'' Lin Mu knew.


    He recalled that the Four Faceted Neb had shown some reaction when passing through the Void. He wondered if it needed the spatial Qi from there or something more. But at the same time, his understanding of the Four Faceted Neb was stillcking.


    All it was doing right now, was to passively improve his understanding of the Space.


    "Guess I can work on this then¡­" Lin Mu made up his mind and took out the Spiral ke Crystal.

 Chapter 1719 Searching For The Unknown

    Lin Mu had used the Spiral ke Crystal from time to time ever since he had obtained it.


    Senior Xukong had rmended him to use it so that he could enhance his Spatial perception. This would in turn allow him to further his understanding of space and improve hispatibility too.


    While he had managed to make the Four Faceted Neb Dao Embryo, it was still an enigma that Lin Mu had little understanding about.


    It was a strange situation where a cultivator didn''t know much about their Dao Embryo. This usually didn''t happen, as they would only be able to form a Dao Embryo once they had gotten a good understanding about the Dao Traces.


    But for Lin Mu, there was an exception due to the ring. Perhaps because he had been using Spatial skill for a few years and had also experienced the void several times, he had an understanding of it but not the same way others had developed it.


    Not to mention, his Dao Embryo was entirely unique and was the first of its kind.


    Xukong was stumped at it too, thus it was rtively normal for Lin Mu to not know about it either. But it was still his job to make an attempt at understanding it better. And that was exactly what he was doing now.


    "Let''s get started¡­" Lin Mu held the Spiral ke Crystal in his palm and let his immortal sense enter it.


    A sensation of boundlessness could be felt, but Lin Mu continued on. For most people, this would be highly ufortable as it was almost the same as getting dissociated from one''s body. But for Lin Mu this wasmon.


    After all, he had been using the Severing and Calming heart Sutra''s which had normalized it for him.


    ''The emptiness¡­ Like void¡­ and yet not¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Spatial Characteristics of the Spiral ke Crystal were that of ''expansiveness''.


    There was a reason why they were used to make high quality Spatial Storage tools after all.


    And Lin Mu hoped to use this same characteristic to further his understanding of space.


    An hour passed without him learning much. There was just emptiness there and his Immortal Sense wandered without a direction. But he didn''t falter and kept on exploring the boundless confines of the Spiral ke Crystal.


    Hour after hour passed like this with Lin Mu losing track of time.


    His mind had reached a special state of trance where the boundlessness was affecting his consciousness. It wouldn''t be unusual to say half of his being was currently ''within'' the Spiral ke crystal.


    The more his Immortal Sense explored, the deeper he went.


    A couple of days passed like this, after which a thought appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    ''Perhaps if I reach the boundary of this ce, I might be able to figure out more¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And that was exactly what he did.


    His Immortal sense was like a lone boat in a windless ocean.


    It wandered without a direction, trying to reach the end.


    Two weeks passed like this, during which Lin Mu didn''t move at all. He was fully immersed in the Spiral ke Crystal and exploring it. By now thoughts about leaving were appearing in his mind.


    ''I can''t do it this early¡­ I need to continue¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He simply chanted the Severing Heart Sutra and cut away the stray thoughts, immersing himself once more.


    From time to time, he felt like there was something he was sensing within the boundlessness. But whenever he got close to it, it would disappear as if it were never there.


    Lin Mu had thought that he was merely mistaken at first. Then he thought that it might be some kind of illusory phenomena that urred in the Spiral ke crystal. But when it happened for tens of times, he realized that there was certainly something there.


    ''Maybe that is what I need to seek out?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    With this in mind, Lin Mu got a new goal and went after it. Of course, there was still no exact direction where he could seek it out. He simply needed to wander, till the unknown would be sensed by him.


    It had happened several times before, so Lin Mu didn''t think it wouldn''t happen again.


    As more days went by, Lin Mu encountered the unknown phenomena a few more times. And each time he did, he felt like he could sense it better. Originally it could only be ''felt'' by him but as he encountered it more and more, he could ''see'' it as well.


    Of course it was very hard to see, looking like a mere blur.


    If one were topare it, it was like watching a smoldering speck of ember through severalyers of Linen. It was almost the same as not seeing it.


    Even if it was ''dark'' all around him, it was a darkness that didn''t allow light to be ''seen'' either.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Eventually though, Lin Mu stated to see the unknown phenomena more and more. It became clear and more apparent.


    It would still run away, but Lin Mu was having an easier time catching up with it.


    "Come on¡­ Just a bit more." Lin Mu said to himself, as he encountered the unknown for the hundredth time.


    This was the closest he had gotten to it, and he felt like it was just a hundred meters from him. But when he tried to get closer, the distance stayed the same. It was as if both he and the unknown were moving together.


    Lin Mu sped up, but the unknown simply disappeared.


    ~Sigh~


    "I guess I''ll have to try again¡­" Lin Mu reckoned.


    But just as he was about to start his search again, he was disturbed by something.


    "What is that¡­" Lin Mu was forced to open his eyes in the real world.


    His link with the Spiral ke Crystal was broken as he heard something.


    ~SHUA~


    But soon it wasn''t just sound that he heard. He could also sense a wave of energying from outside. It was strong enough to have passed through the barrier and was pressuring too.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "It can''t be¡­" Lin Mu took out the token and checked how long it was till the fight. "There''s still a day left." He took a breath of relief.


    ''If it isn''t that then, what is these energy?'' Lin Mu wondered as he walked out.


    ~Creak~


    The door of the bedroom opened up as Lin Mu gazed at the courtyard.


    The figure of Saintess along with the beasts could be seen there. All of them were looking up at the sky that was swirling with millions of runes.


    "What''s happening?" Lin Mu''s voice drifted over, prompting them to look at him.


    "You''vee at the right time." The Saintess spoke. "You''ll want to see this for sure." She added.


    "Huh? What is it?" Lin Mu asked. "It''s from the Temple of the Four Guardians right?" he somewhat recognized the energy fluctuations.


    "It is indeed." The Saintess replied. "They are setting the stage for the next part of the Tournament." She added.


    "But that doesn''t start till tomorrow." Lin Mu said in confusion.


    "It is yes. But they still need to prepare for it." The Saintess said before waving her hand.


    The air above them flickered and changed, before a thinyer of moisture appeared. It formed into a membrane of some kind before starting to expand.


    With the expansion of the membrane, the view above them also got bigger, as if it had been zoomed in.


    ''She made a lens just like that?'' Lin Mu was surprised at the application of the Cloud and Water Daos.


    With the view bing better, Lin Mu could now see the runes clearly. All of them were in the Dao Script and he could recognize a lot of them too. He started to observe them, trying to figure out what they were doing.


    He could tell that there was a formation array being made but it was unknown to him what kind it was. Theplexity was certainly one of the highest he had ever seen.


    ''This is almost on the level as the Grand Array of the Capital City isn''t it?'' Lin Mu realized after a few minutes.


    The runes were only increasing in number, while hundred of formations were being made every minute. These formations would then join other sub-formations and link up, turning into different sections of the array.


    Eventually though, Lin Mu started to make sense of it.


    "Wait a second¡­ those formations¡­" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide. "Boundary Stabilizing Great formation¡­ Void Prating Great Formation¡­ Space Lightning Great Formation¡­" he recognized several of the formations that were of a terrifying level.


    "That''s correct." The Saintess confirmed his words. "Did you figure out what they are doing?" she asked.


    "If it''s all this then¡­ aren''t they¡­ making a Spatial Storage treasure¡­ no a Spatial ne!" Lin Mu answered.

 Chapter 1720 Creation Of A Spatial Plane

    Once Lin Mu had recognized the formations that had been forming in the sky, he knew just how terrifyingly amazing the array was.


    Each of the formations was something that he had studied before. But they were still formations that he couldn''t actually make on his own. While he wasn''t exactlycking in skill, there were still some resources that he would need to make them.


    The Boundary Stabilizing Great Formation was the higher version of the Boundary Stabilizing Great Formation. It was part of the formations, that could increase inplexity and effect the more one built upon them.


    There were certain formations that could use the same base and get stronger, the more one used of them.


    And example of this was the Diamond Mountain Talisman that Lin Mu had learned.


    Such formations had different levels that went from Minor, Lesser, Great, Greater and Grand.


    The three arrays that Lin Mu recognized were part of those kinds of growing arrays. They would usually be used for making Spatial Storage tools, but that was also quite varied. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Depending on the level of formation used, the size and grade of the Spatial Storage tool would vary.


    For example, a spatial Storage tool made with the minor versions of all the formations would only make a simple Spatial Storage tool that would have a small capacity. It would be ssified as a spirit tool and wouldn''t even be able to utilize Immortal Qi.


    These were the kinds of Spatial Storage tools that Lin Mu had seen in the Xiaofan world.


    Above these would be the Spatial Storage tools that Lin Mu had seen in the Rust Sky world. Such kinds of Spatial Storage tools would be able to use immortal Qi and were much bigger in capacity.


    The Spatial Storage ring that Lin Mu had gotten repaired before was on this level.


    But once one went above the Lesser level, the change would be both qualitative and quantitative.


    It would no longer be a Spatial Storage tool that would be created, but an entire ne!


    "For them to make an entire Spatial ne¡­ Is this how they are nning to conduct the rest of the Tournament?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed." The Saintess replied. "The earlier stages were merely to separate the chaff from the wheat. There are always many immortals participating in the tournament, even if they don''t have the heart to trulypete.


    Of course the Temple of the Guardian Beasts wouldn''t deny them, but it still wouldn''t let them progress that easily." She exined.


    "Is that why they are made to fight in the ring''s limited area?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Exactly. While the ring''s do limit how much the contestants can do, it is still more than enough to test them. It forces them to utilize all this skills while being limited to a small area and with harsher condition.


    Those that can prevail through this are certainly stronger and are rewarded. And to avoid any flukes, they make the contestants do it multiple times. This truly reduces the number of cultivators by a lot." The Saintess answered.


    "I see¡­ it might be bit disadvantages to certain cultivators, but I can see the reasoning behind it." Lin Mu replied, finding it to be reasonable. "But then again, if they let all matches happen like this, the true capabilities of the cultivators wouldn''t be shown at all, would they?" he said next.


    "Of course not." The Saintess smiled under her veil. "Once they have been separated from the weaklings, they will truly be able to show their skills. And to do this, they need free reign to move around. That is exactly what the Temple of the Guardian beasts is providing now." She added.


    "Mmhmm¡­ though something of this level is very difficult to make." Lin Mu spoke, his forehead wrinkled in thought.


    He was looking at the situation though the perspective of a formation master now.


    "I don''t think even Transcendent Immortals would be able to make something like this with ease." Lin Mu stated after sensing the sheer amount of immortal Qi that was being expended every second.


    If he could roughly estimate, he would say that it was the same as tens of immortals burning away all their immortal Qi stores every second.


    That was how much Immortal Qi was being used as of now. It was an astronomically high level, that even Lin Mu wouldn''t be able to support. The formation array that was being formed was something that could not be sustained by a single immortal at all.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I don''t think this is something that can be handled by something simple as abundance of resources either." Lin Mu added as he observed more. "It isn''t just the Immortal Qi, but the skill needed to do it to. Thenes the factor that there need to be multiple such people as a single cultivator wouldn''t be able to handle the sheer workload of something like this."


    The Saintess felt impressed by Lin Mu''s observation.


    "And you would be absolutely correct." The Saintess said. "What else do you think could be an issue with it?" she asked next.


    "Hmmm¡­" Lin Mu went silent for a few minutes as he thought over it. "I think¡­ it is also the danger level of it all."


    "Tell me more." The Saintess asked.


    "Making a formation array like this would certainly be risky and even those with a great skill in formation creation would find it difficult. I''m sure even Transcendent Immortal''s that were also Formation masters would find it impossible to have a 100% sess rate.


    Even if they had a high rate of sess, I don''t think they would be allowed to do something like this in an area like this. No one would allow the Capital Region of an empire to be threatened by it." Lin Mu answered just as the Saintess had desired.


    "Correct once more." The Saintess was getting pleased by Lin Mu''s observations. "This is something that only the temple has the privilege to do." She revealed.


    "The Temple of the Guardian beasts is doing this?" Lin Mu had expected something like this but he was still surprised. "They have formation masters of this level?" he asked.


    "The temple is indeed doing it. But it isn''t the work of Formation masters." The Saintess rified. "Look closely, can you tell the workings of Formation masters in it?" The Saintess replied.


    Lin Mu looked up at the sky and furrowed his brows. His Immortal sense also extended and observed the fine fluctuations in the air. He needed to see the hidden details of it all to be able to determine just how it was all happening.


    Lin Mu watched it for a couple of minutes before shaking his head.


    "This¡­ This is far too smooth." Lin Mu spoke with doubt in his voice. "I don''t think multiple formation masters would be able to bring forth such harmony. There would be simple ripples when they worked on everything. For it to be this smooth, it would have to be the work of a single Formation Master." He presented his thoughts.


    "You are right again." The Saintess nodded. "The formations that you are seeing aren''t being made by the members of the Temple." She confirmed.


    "Then who is doing this?" Lin Mu asked with great curiosity.


    He felt the urge to know and wondered just who could be that had such great proficiency and power to do this.


    "Rather than the members of the Temple, you can say it is the temple itself that is doing this." The Saintess spoke cryptically.


    ''Temple itself?'' Lin Mu was a bit doubtful, but then realized the hidden meaning of the Saintess''s words.


    It was evident that she didn''t wish to feed Lin Mu all the information directly and wanted him to make his own assumptions. It was a better way of learning and also a way for the Saintess to be entertained. Though thetter part was a secret.


    "It can''t be¡­ Is it the Four Guardian Beasts that are doing this themselves?" Lin Mu finally said it out loud.


    "Absolutely correct." The Saintess was feeling pleased with her decision of making Lin Mu the head of the Schr Peak.


    Even if hadn''t done anything for it and might still be a bitcking, she knew in the future he would be more than worthy of it. But for now, she knew Lin Mu was owed an exnation.


    "It is indeed the Four Guardian beasts that are doing this. Only they have the authority to make a Spatial ne in another world and have the power as well." The Saintess replied. "With their work, the Rust Sky world''s integrity wouldn''t be threatened either." She added.


    "Now that makes sense." If it was someone that powerful, that to multiple figures Lin Mu could understand doing this. "But then are they making a singlerge ne? It doesn''t feel like it." He asked another doubt.


    "Do you think a single ne would be able to amodate so many contestants?"

 Chapter 1721 Mix Of Hundreds Of Formations

    The Saintess''s words were astounding to Lin Mu.


    "Wait¡­ You mean there is more than just one ne?" Lin Mu asked in a surprised tone.


    "Indeed." The Saintess nodded. "They will create several nes so that multiple fights can happen without the contestants disturbing each other." She answered.


    "I see¡­ I thought a singlerge ne might be enough for it." Lin Mu replied.


    "They could have done that and then set barriers to separate it. But there are always some skills or other unknown factors that can disturb the other fights. Thus it is better to make multiple smaller Spatial nes." The Saintess exined. "Of course, even if they are being called smaller, they are a few tens of kilometers in size." She added.


    Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe that a ne that was tens of kilometers was being called small.


    He had seen several spatial nes before as they could be in many forms. He had also seen big nes with the Kong ne and the sacrednds of the Ripple Mist Sect being one of them.


    But the difference was that these nes were cut off from the real world and were originally parts of them.


    They weren''t nes that had been created from scratch. An example of that would be the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode. It was technically a Minor ne too but the space inside it was just a kilometer in area.


    And it was something that had taken generations of the Luo n to make.


    What the Temple of the Guardian beasts was doing here was simply on another level. They were making multiple Spatial nes from scratch just for a tournament!


    Lin Mu now understood the hype behind the Tournament. It wasn''t just something that allowed one to learn from the fights, but also the other feats that the Temple demonstrated.


    After all, it wasn''t often that a cultivator would get to see suchplex formations being made and an entire array being deployed for the creation of Spatial nes.


    To Lin Mu, it was very beneficial, since he not only got to improve his understanding of the formation and runes but also Space itself.


    ''I can sense the Spatial fluctuations now¡­ The void will soon tear.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He spread his immortal sense as much as he could while also activating his Spatial Perception.


    With both active, he could now observe a lot more than before. He sensed the space shake while the fabric started to stretch.


    The different formations came together to perform various functions.


    The three formations that Lin Mu had seen were doing some great things too.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    First, the Boundary Stabilizing Great Formation created an isted area. It prevented the space of the Rust Sky world from being affected while also separating a part of it. It was this part that would be affected by the formations.


    Next, the Void Prating Great Formation started its work turning into a great cleaver that split apart the void!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Spatial Fabric was smoothly torn and the energy of the void could be felt. Lin Mu''s eyes were wide open as he felt strong Spatial Energiesing from it.


    ''Since it was torn at a stable region, it is expected for there to be strong Spatial Energy. It is essentially trying to repair itself.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    But this repair could not be permitted as it would lead to failure of the entire process.


    It was here that the Third Formation came into work.


    The Void Lightning Great Formation turned into fine threads of lightning that ran across the edges of the spatial fabric. They were like a Bowie that cauterized the wound that had been caused in the space preventing any bleeding.


    With the work of these three formations done, the rest of the formations kicked into action. After all, there were many more formations that were needed for a Spatial ne to be created.


    Lin Mu could recognize some of these, while some were unfamiliar to him. He still observed them nheless, hoping to learn more. He also intended to ask Senior Xukong about them and see if he could replicate some of the simpler ones.


    The Boundary Stabilizing Great Formation, Void Prating Great Formation, and the Void Lightning Great Formation were formations that Lin Mu could not make at his current level.


    Even the minor versions of it were something he hadn''t tried yet. Though he reckoned if he got a bit more guidance from Senior Xukong while making them, he might just seed. But he would also need some resources for it to work.


    Adding this to his list of things to do, Lin Mu focused on the performance in the sky.


    An hour passed like this while hundreds of formations worked in tandem to cut out pieces of the void. These pieces were then mended together before turning them into isted spaces.


    But this was not the end.


    Right now while a Spatial pocket had been carved out, it was just empty. There was nothing inside it and it was basically an extremelyrge Spatial Storage tool right now.


    Of course, these spatial pockets weren''t exactly visible to the people below. Some might be able to sense the space stirring, but only those with Spatial Perception would be able to truly ''see'' the pockets being formed.


    They were all in the sky and were covering it like a massive nket.


    ''Are they going to use the Habitat Formations?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He had seen such formations before that were used in the creation of a livable environment. After all one at least needed ground and some air for a fight to be conducted properly. Getting air into the ne was simple as one could just form a link between the Rust Sky world and the Spatial nes.


    But puttingnd there was not as simple.


    Simply throwing arge rock there wouldn''t be enough as it would just float around. They needed for it to be stable as well.

 Chapter 1722 Improvement Of Embryos

    As Lin Mu continued to observe the Spatial nes, he started to learn more and more.


    The next thing he saw was the Habitat Formationsing into y.


    They first created a stableyer with formations on which earth started to appear. Thisyer of earth was nearly a kilometer thick and extended for tens of kilometer as well. The earth was just like normal earth and had a mix of rocks and other materials mixed in it.


    If one looked at it they would find it to be no different than the normal earth on Rust Sky world.


    Once the stableyer of earth was created, the ground was formed.


    Next thing they needed was some light!


    While most immortals could use their Immortal sense to ''see'' it was still not good for there to be total darkness there. The issue with light was easily solved by a simple Sky Illumination Formation.


    The array appeared opposite to the ground and covered the top of the Spatial ne. The runes shimmered and moved before turning invisible. But instead of just darkness being left behind, it now looked like there was an empty blue sky there.


    Of course, there was no sun present there as there wasn''t a need for it. Adding an artificial sun was possible too, but it would take more time and resources. It wasn''t something that the temple would spend extra work on.


    Next, they moved on to improving the environment.


    A Spatial Linking Formation was deployed next which formed invisible channels between the Spatial nes and the Rust Sky world. These invisible channels carried air and Immortal Qi to the Spatial nes.


    They were essentially like pipes and carried the air and Immortal Qi until the concentration was in equilibrium with the Rust Sky world.


    After this came the multiple stabilizing and reinforcing formations. These were intended to protect the Spatial ne from the inside and prevent it from copsing. The immortals would be battling in here and their attacks would inevitably cause damage to the ne.


    These formations would prevent too much damage from being inflicted on the ne or at least on the formations that let it exist. It was this part that took four hours too, and Lin Mu watched the finer changes that happened.


    ''How these formations work in tandem is interesting. I didn''t know so many of them could be optimized to fit so well.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Saintess was watching Lin Mu from time to time too, feeling that he was deep in his observations.


    ''Looks like he''ll be learning a lot. He already has the Rune Shaping Brush as his Formation Dao Embryo. This will help him in progressing with that too.'' The Saintess thought.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    But what she didn''t know was that Rune Shaping Brush wasn''t the only Dao Embryo that was progressing.


    Invisible to all, Lin Mu''s second Dao embryo the Four Faceted Neb was also improving. Observing the creation of the Spatial ne was improving Lin Mu''s understanding of space which was further being reflected in the Spatial Dao Embryo.


    The Four Faceted Neb silently appeared within his Dao Embryo and shimmered with multicolored lights. The four colored stars on it were twinkling nonstop, with some brighter than the others.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Lin Mu would have noticed this too if not for the fact that he was fully focused on the changes happening in the sky.


    Perhaps it was because he had been trying to improve his understanding of the Space through the use of the Spiral ke Crystal, Lin Mu was progressing faster than ever. After all, inside the Spiral ke Crystal, Lin Mu had no way to judge how much he truly had improved.


    It seemed to have catalyzed his progress now, as the Four Faceted Neb was improving.


    Since it had no form or shape, it was hard to exactly tell how it had grown. After all, it could expand and contract onmand. But there was some qualitative change that was happening within it.


    Lin Mu''s attention was on the Spatial nes though, which might have been a good thing as he would stop improving if he looked at his Dantian right now. It was better to improve without knowing than to stop after getting aware.


    The Spatial nes continued to form and more aspects were being added to it. But after nearly fifteen hours had passed, Lin Mu knew that it was nearing its end. It was now that the final Formations would be added to it.


    "World Anchoring Great Formation!" Lin Mu recognized a very important formation.


    This was one of the formations that were absolutely necessary if one wanted to make use of a Spatial ne at a fixed location. If the World Anchoring Great Formation was not set, the Spatial ne would just wander around in the void.


    There was even a chance that it would wander away from the Rust Sky world and would be inessible. That was not something the Temple wanted as it was intended for the Tournament.


    Thus they added the World Anchoring Great Formation to it as well.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu eximed watching it.


    With several such World Anchoring Great Formations being added at the same time to multiple Spatial nes, Lin Mu saw a stunning scene. To his Spatial Perception, it looked marvelous.


    It was like tens of floating inds had been chained to the Rust Sky world, with the chains extended into the very void!


    This view was something that very few could see and those that could see it would learn a lot. It made Lin Mu feel small,pared to the vast expanse of the world and the Void beyond it.


    But at the same time, it made him excited as he knew there woulde a day when he would be able to do the same.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu calmed himself down.


    Small Teleportation Gate arrays were also added, allowing one to enter the Spatial nes and exit it in an emergency. Monitoring Formations were also added, so the fights inside could be seen by everyone.

 Chapter 1723 A Possible Wrench In The Plans

    Lin Mu watched the finalizing process of the Spatial nes, as the arrays werepleted in the end and everything was closed.


    The closing process was rather grand, with the very space strumming with energy. This time it wasn''t just Lin Mu who ''saw'' it either.


    Nearly every person that was watching it could ''see'' the Spatial nes that had been formed. A cacophony of cries was heard at that moment, as the people marveled at it. Of course, the Spatial nes were only visible for a brief moment, after which they faded away.


    But that one moment was enough to shock and enrapture the hearts of many that witnessed it.


    It was a testament to the power of the Temple of the Guardian beasts. Even of the Emperor of the Dao Wind Empire, doing something like this was simply impossible. With all the fortune that he had, he still wouldn''t have the capability to execute something like this.


    Of course, he wouldn''t attempt something this reckless either. Only the Temple of the Guardian beasts could do something like this with a 100% sess rate. They had done so for thousands of years and the confidence people had in them was almost unbreakable.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a long breath as he watched the end of it all.


    "That was¡­ Amazing." Lin Mu finally spoke.


    "Indeed it is." The Saintess nodded. "I''m hoping you had some gains?" she asked.


    Lin Mu paused for a moment before nodding as well. "I did¡­ More than I thought too." He finally sensed the movement of the Four Faceted Neb within his Dantian.


    ''So it responded to the creation of the Spatial nes¡­ Guess it bes active whenever there isrge scale disturbances in space.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This somewhat coincided with how he had formed the Dao Embryo in the first ce. He had done it when the Teleportation array had been set up after all. Even that was a great spatial change and would cause fluctuations that were far reaching.


    ''Looks like I''ll have to look into this a bit more¡­ Still the Dao Embryo has progressed a bit.'' Lin Mu could feel his understanding of Space having improved.


    It was hard to exin for him. He just ''knew'' how things were like in space better than before. It was as subtle thing, but for him it was still quite good.


    "Now that the Spatial nes have been set up, the match announcements should happen soon." The Saintess informed him.


    "Ah yeah¡­ There should be about thirty matches at once." Lin Mu had seen how many Spatial nes had been created and they numbered at Thirty.


    This part of the Tournament was the true qualifiers. The contestants would be allowed to fight to their full capabilities and had a lot more freedom in doing so as well due to the Spatial nes.


    But even then Lin Mu knew that the number of contestants was rather high.


    ''The original number of participants was in the millions. Even if the Preliminary qualifiers have reduced them by six times, there should still be a few hundred thousand of them left. If there are thirty Spatial nes, it would still take a long time to allow all of them to fight.'' Lin Mu roughly calcted the time it would for the fights to happen.


    He wasn''t exactly sure what method the Temple intended to use this time. From what Lin Mu had read, the flow of the Tournament would change depending on how many contestants there were.


    If there were fewer contestants in a certain year the rounds would also be adjusted ordingly. This was easier to manage as well.


    But the issues arrived when the number was high like this time.


    "They should have an estimate number of contestants by now right?" Lin Mu quickly took out his jade Slip and contacted Luo Liqin.


    "Brother Mu Lin!" The man was excited upon hearing from Lin Mu after all this time.


    "Is everything well?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. Everyone has been training all this time and is prepared for the uing matches. Though they were certainly shocked by the demonstration of the temple." Luo Liqin replied.


    "That is true¡­ it was certainly impressive." Lin Mu could agree. "How''s the information gathering going?" he asked next.


    "I''ve umted a lot of it and sorted through most of it as well. Do you want to see it now Brother Mu Lin?" Luo Liqin inquired.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll take a proper lookter. But for now, I need a specific piece of information." Lin Mu replied.


    "I''ll do my best to provide it." Luo Liqin replied with resolution.


    "How many contestants are left now in the Tournament?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You want to total number? It might be a bit varied since some contestant may resign before the matches. Some have already withdrawn due to injuries." Luo Liqin asked for rification


    "Yeah just the total number. It doesn''t need to be totally urate." Lin Mu answered.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Umm¡­ The total number of contestants that qualified are¡­ 601,323." Luo Liqin stated.


    "Over Six hundred thousand¡­" Lin Mu muttered under his breath.


    It was certainly a massive number and Lin Mu knew there was no way the Thirty Spatial nes would be enough if they did fights the way they did before.


    ''Even if the average fightsted ten minutes it would still take a long time reach the next stage¡­ they need to whittle down the numbers until only sixty four are left.'' Lin Mu calcted the time and reckoned that this could extend for months on end.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    While it was wholly possible that the Temple might go ahead with this, Lin Mu had a hunch that they might not do that.


    "Wait a second¡­" A thought suddenly appeared in Lin Mu''s mind as he gazed up at the sky, and the Spatial nes hidden within it. ''They don''t need to do individual fights at all¡­'' Lin Mu pondered.


    The Saintess saw Lin Mu''s actions and wondered what he was thinking about. She could somewhat guess from his words, but didn''t want to spoil his thought process.


    ''I''ll let him realize it on his own.'' She decided.


    A couple minutester, a stunning thought presented to Lin Mu.


    "Luo Liqin¡­ When was thest time the Tournament had these many contestants left after the preliminary rounds?" Lin Mu asked a question.


    "That was¡­ a long time ago." Luo Liqin tried to recall. "I think it was at least five or six tournaments ago." He spoke.


    "And what kind of match took ce for the Qualifiers back then?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "What kind of a fight¡­ You don''t mean¡ª" Luo Liqin suddenly realized what Lin Mu was getting at.


    "Yes¡­ I think we might have to rethink our earlier strategy." Lin Mu spoke as slight anxiety appeared in his mind.


    "Brother Mu Lin, do you think they''ll be doing a free for all battle?" Luo Liqin gulped his saliva on the other side of the city.


    "I''m afraid they might just do that¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head. "It is the most logical way of whittling down the numbers. After all to reduce over six hundred thousand to just sixty four would be a long process." He exined.


    "Shit¡­ This might be tough for us then." Luo Liqin replied.


    "Indeed¡­ We''ll have to n this ording to how they give us our fight assignments." Lin Mu spoke. "Gather everyone¡­ We''ll need to talk about this." He requested.


    "I''ll do it right away." Luo Liqin replied before putting away the Jade Slip.


    ~Sigh~


    ''Will it copse just like this?'' Lin Mu wondered if his preparation wascking.


    The Saintess sensed the change in Lin Mu''s mood from his expression and spoke, "you still have time. And you are capable¡­ I don''t think the head of the Schr Peak should falter like this."


    The Saintess''s cool and calm voice, soothed Lin Mu''s mind allowing him to refocus.


    "You''re right¡­ There is always a way." Lin Mu took a deep breath.


    "You''re confused about the all out battle right?" The Saintess asked.


    "You knew it would be that?" Lin Mu asked with slight surprise.


    "Yes. It is easy to guess. They always like to change things up a bit. In the Temples own words, they wish to reward only those who can ovee whatever is thrown at them." She replied.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Though all hope is not lost for you n." The Saintess gave a little hint. "An all out fight doesn''t necessarily mean you cannot form ''alliances''."


    As soon as Lin Mu heard that, his eyes lit up.


    "Of course!" Lin Mu eximed. "As long as they are all with me, we''ll still be able to carry out the n." New ideas started to form in his mind, rectifying the ws that were present in thest one.


    "Also don''t forget, you''ve already helped them by teaching. They should be able to hold out on their own better too." The Saintess reminded.

 Chapter 1724 Another Solution

    After hearing the words of the Saintess, Lin Mu felt a bit better.


    "Yes, I hope that my teachings have had some effect on them." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I''ll go see how things are gonna be. Let''s go Little Shrubby." He called for the beast.


    The Saintess watched as Lin Mu left again, and looked up at the sky.


    "He should be able to figure it out soon enough¡­" she muttered before the clouds covered the courtyard and hid it again.


    Lin Mu made his way to the Spring Valley Restaurant. The others wereing there as well and were apparently waiting for Lin Mu to contact them for a while now.


    "Brother Mu Lin." Lu Xu was already waiting for him outside the restaurant when Lin Mu got there.


    "Were you nearby?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Ah yeah. I was watching the formation array when Luo Liqin contacted me." Lu Xu answered. "So I just headed here quickly."


    "That''s good." Lin Mu said before looking at the sky. "Let''s head in. The others should be here soon."


    The two went upstairs with the servants guiding them formally. By now the servants knew about them and were quick to bring them to their designated room.


    ~Creak~


    The first thing Lin Mu did was to fully open the balcony so that he could continue to observe the sky. He wanted to see if there would be any more changes and if there were; he needed to know about them.


    Lu Xu didn''t disturb Lin Mu either, letting him watch the sky. After all, he had been doing the same earlier too. It wasn''t often one got to see formation arrays of this level be made that too a Spatial formation that could make a Spatial ne.


    Five minutester, the others arrived pulling Lin Mu out of his trance.


    "Brother Mu Lin, Brother Lu Xu." The Ming sisters were the first to greet.


    Qian Wen simply cupped his hands, while Luo Liqin did the same.


    "Come sit¡­ It seems like we have an obstacle in our way." Lin Mu gestured to them. "Has Luo Liqin said anything to you?" he asked.


    "No¡­ nothing. He said you''ll exin it in person." Qian Wen shook his head.


    "Well then, the issue we have is that the next stage of the Tournament is going to be different from what we had first though." Lin Mu stated.


    "What is it?" Ming Aolian furrowed her brows while the others got a bit anxious.


    "All of you must have seen what the Temple has done right?" Lin Mu asked first.


    "The Spatial ne creation right?" Lu Xu replied.


    "Yes¡­ But it isn''t just a single spatial ne." Lin Mu said much to their shock. "Instead of having individual rounds, I''m afraid that the Temple will be having a free for all battle. And for that, they have set up thirty Spatial nes." He revealed.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "What!?" They were stunned upon hearing this.


    "I had thought that it was a bit strange¡­ but to make Thirty Spatial nes like this¡­" Qian Wen scratched his beard.


    "Yeah¡­ With how many contestants that are still left, this is the most efficient way of whittling down the numbers." Lin Mu spoke before taking out a sheet of paper.


    He wrote down a few things on it while the others watched it carefully.


    "From what Luo Liqin has gathered, there are over six hundred thousand contestants left. If they were to do individual matches it would take months for them to finish this round. I don''t think they''ll be extended it for that long." Lin Mu started to exin.


    "While it is possible for the Temple to let it run for that long, I do agree with Brother Mu Lin that this is a more efficient option." Lu Xu spoke after listening.


    "How will we enact our ns if this happens?" Ming Dandan asked.


    "From what I can tell, they''ll probably split everyone into groups of thirty thousand or more. Each such group would be sent into each of the Spatial nes and then left to fight." Lin Mu stated.


    "Are we really sure that they''ll do this though?" Qian Wen asked. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "They haven''t sent any notification for match assignments yet, which makes me believe that it is highly likely to be true." Lin Mu gave his reasoning. "I think they''ll be randomly assigning them to the different nes." He said.


    Hearing this the expressions of everyone fell.


    While they had confidence in themselves, an all-out battle was still very intimidating. After all, it was a massive number too.


    "If they need sixty four contestants in the end there''ll be roughly two winners from each ne. And four lucky ones that are able tost till then." Luo Liqin also thought over it.


    "Indeed. That seems to be the logical answer." Lin Mu agreed with the man. "This is also where the crux of our issue lies. Only if all of us are together will we be able to follow through with the n."


    "Yeah, and an all-out battle means that the top rankers are already gonna win. If we are in the same ne as them we are bound to lose." Ming Dandan stated.


    Everyone looked at Lin Mu, as they knew that the only one among them that could possibly stand against the top rankers was Lin Mu. Their belief was further reinforced due to the fact that the Crown Prince himself had chosen Lin Mu for it.


    After all, they didn''t think the man would waste his time on someone that wasn''t up to the task. Thus if the Crown Prince had Chosen Lin Mu, it only meant that he had a high chance of reaching the finals.


    But even if Lin Mu could reach that point, they all knew they wouldn''t be able to do the same. Facing a top ranker would be an utter defeat for them. Even reaching the top 64 seemed a bit far fetched.


    "Though isn''t there also a chance that the top rankers might end up facing each other?" Qian Wen thought of something.


    "That is true. But statistically speaking, it is highly unlikely that two of the top ten would end up in the same ne." Lin Mu replied. "And even if they do, I doubt it''ll be more than two of the top rankers." He added.


    "If its two, then the winners are still decided. After all, they just need two people to survive from the ne." Lu Xu fidgeted with his fingers.


    "I don''t think the top rankers would fight before the finals either. They know better than to waste their energy or get injured doing that." Luo Liqin added.


    "That''s certainly a possibility. Unless someone randomly decides to fight, they''ll have the tacit agreement of a truce." Lin Mu replied. "Which brings me to the point¡­ If we are all to get through this, we have to aim for the lucky 4 positions."


    With thirty nes and two winners each, Lin Mu reckoned only thest remaining ne might have the 4 lucky winners.


    "Thest ne that still has people fighting will have the highest number of winners¡­ 6." Lin Mu stated.


    "But that is only possible if we all end up in the same ne right?" Ming Dandan asked.


    "Yeah, unless we can assure that, we might just have to give up." Ming Aolian nodded.


    The group grew silent after this, all of them thinking deeply about how they might be able to ovee this. They knew how to possibly get to the top 64, but need to be in the same ne was going to be an issue.


    Fifteen minutes passed like this after which Luo Liqin suddenly took out hismunication Jade slip. He held it for a few seconds before a surprised expression appeared on his face.


    "What is it?" Lu Xu asked.


    "I just got some information from the betting pavilion. They seem to have reached the same conclusion and us and are redoing their system for bets. But I also got some interesting information along with that." He replied.


    "And what might that be?" Ming Dandan asked.


    "A few people noticed that the Priests from the Temple are setting up arge dais in the central area of the Tournament Grounds." Luo Liqin replied. "They are assuming that this might be the entry into the nes."


    "Entry into the nes huh¡­" Lin Mu rubbed his chin for a minute before an idea appeared in his mind. "I think¡­ we might actually be able to get into a single ne together."


    "How? Do you intend to tamper with the entrance?" Qian Wen asked curiously.


    Lin Mu had skills that could stay hidden from the notice of the Temple, thus he thought that he might be able to do the same here.


    "Maybe¡­ But I need to take a look at the Dais myself." Lin Mu said before standing up.


    "I''ming too." Lu Xu and Luo Liqin said.


    "Then we''lle too." The Ming sisters and Qian Wen didn''t see a reason to wait either.


    "Very well, let''s go together." Lin Mu nodded his head and they all left the restaurant.

 Chapter 1725 Temple Formation Masters

    Lin Mu and hispanions reached the location that Luo Liqin had obtained.


    Just as he had said, it was right in the center of the Tournament grounds. Or more urately, it was the central crossroad that split into multiple paths, as one went further away from it.


    This was the crossroad that divided the rings into four quadrants.


    It was at this junction that arge Dais was being set up.


    "Is this even a Dais at this point?" Lin Mu muttered as he finally saw it. "It''s more of a tform."


    It was two hundred and fifty thousand square meters in size. Each side of it was about five hundred meters wide, having the same width as the road itself. Hundreds of people were gathered here already, with most havinge from nearby while some that came after hearing the news.


    The most important people though were none other than the members of the Temple. They were standing on the dais and were personally working on a formation array. Thousands of runes were being carved into the elevated ground which was being used as the Dais.


    Tens of Formation masters from the temple were involved in it, using formations tools to make the runes. The tools that were carving the runes into the tform were fine carving knives, that flew through the air, making urate marks in the ground.


    Lin Mu could see that the control of the formation masters was fine, each of their strokes perfect.


    ''Not just that¡­ they seem to be working in harmony with each other. The runes they carve areplementary to what the others make, preventing any imbnce.'' Lin Mu noted as he observed it.


    "The main reason behind this is the elder in the center." Xukong suddenly spoke, bringing Lin Mu''s attention to an old man.


    Lin Mu looked over and saw that he seemed to be standing still. But when he used his immortal sense, he realized that man was actually giving out multiple orders to the other formation masters, while also making runes of his own.


    He was the one coordinating everything and making sure the formations were being made perfectly.


    ''Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm?!'' But what was even more surprising was the cultivation base of the elder.


    He was at the Sixth Tribtion Stage, making him one of the strongest cultivators Lin Mu had seen so far in the Rust Sky world.


    "The Temple of the Guardian beasts certainly has some strong experts within them¡­" Lin Mu said as he gazed at the elder.


    The others were observing the process too, feeling amazed by it. After all, it wasn''t often that they got to see the members of the temple work personally. Even those that got to enter the temples didn''t see them do much.


    The members of the temple mostly kept to themselves and didn''t interfere in the outside matters much. Their main duty was to look after the temple, and carry out the orders of the Guardian beasts while also maintaining rtions with the established powers of the Rust Sky World.


    The only times they came out to act personally were when they were either given a order, or when it was the time for the Tournament.


    It wouldn''t be wrong to say that the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts could have be the absolute power in the Rust Sky world if they wished too. After all, they had a lot of cultivators and hidden experts that were very strong.


    In fact, even the Emperors didn''t know if they had Transcendent Immortals hiding within the temple either.


    But it was something highly likely. After all, the only way to stop another Transcendent Immortal was to have their own.


    Of course, this was for normal issues. If things went so far as to where the Temple itself was being threatened, the Guardian beasts wouldn''t stand for it. Their power was well established and literal legends had been written about them.


    Going after them was the same as signing your own death sentence. Only those of the Unorthodox Path or those of an equal standing to the Guardians would dare defy them and go against their will.


    "This is marvelous¡­ I don''t think I''ve seen our Formation masters work this way." Ming Aolian spoke seeing the Temple members make formations.


    "That is expected. It is said that the Formation masters of the Temple of the Guardian beasts have one of the best training in the world. Their formation elders can even go to the Immortal Court freely and practice there." Lu Xu revealed.


    "Yeah¡­ the Immortal Courts were established by the Guardian beasts anyway." Qian Wen added.


    They watched the work of the formation masters in silence for a few more minutes, before Luo Liqin spoke up.


    "Did you figure out something yet, Brother Mu Lin?" He questioned.


    "Not yet¡­ I need to see what kind of array they are exactly making." Lin Mu answered. "So far it is supplementary and basal formations." He added.


    "I see¡­" Luo Liqin replied, intending to wait for Lin Mu to finish his analysis.


    The others did the same, though they were more than pleased to have the chance of seeing this.


    Lin Mu continued to observe the work of the Formation masters, taking note of the method they used as well. After all, this was the rare chance of observing formation masters do their work.


    Lin Mu had actually not seen that many formation masters work live. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A majority of his learning had been from documents, or established formations. The actual process of making formations was still an important thing one needed to study.


    Even what Xukong had taught him was limited since the skill of the Spider was skies above him.


    He didn''t need to use the same methods as other cultivators.


    One could say that Lin Mu had seen the peak and the bottom, but was missing the middle. And it was this middle that he was finally getting to witness.


    The group ended up observing for several hours. Thankfully there were many more watching, and they didn''t stand out. In fact, the more time went by, the greater the number of people watching.


    By the four hour mark, the crowd had reached over a hundred thousand!


    While they were observing all this though, Luo Liqin and Qian Wen seemed to have seen something.


    "Huh¡­" Luo Liqin looked over to the side, spotting someone.


    "Those people," Qian Wen said in a hushed voice. "It''s the ck Fin Ind."


    Lin Mu and the others quickly reacted to this, following their line of sight.


    On the other side of the tform, the ck Fin Ind people were standing. They could see about twenty of them, but Lin Mu was sure that it wasn''t all of them.


    "There were over fifty of them ording to the reports I got." Luo Liqin whispered.


    "Fifty, huh¡­" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and spread his immortal sense.


    He made sure not to alert anyone within the crowd, reducing the immortal sense to a mere hair''s thickness. It weaved through the crowd with ease, avoiding the detection of all. A couple of minutester, Lin Mu sensed that Luo Liqin was right.


    "There are on all sides¡­ Some are behind us too." Lin Mu said in a low voice.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    The expressions of others turned stiff, but they didn''t act out.


    "What are they doing?" the others didn''t have the same confidence as Lin Mu to hide their immortal sense and thus didn''t do the same.


    They had discussed the skills of the ck Fin Ind people before and knew that they could detect foreign Immortal senses quickly. It was important to be covert to avoid any suspicion.


    "They don''t seem to be doing anything so far¡­ But I think they are here to take note of people." Lin Mu guessed. "They don''t seem to be observing the formations." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ all others are here for the formations. They certainly stand out in this." Qian Wen replied.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s attention was brought back to the tform, as a wave of energy rolled off it. He wasn''t the only one who sensed it either.


    "Whoa!" the crowd was awed, as they felt a strong yet gentle energy.


    It came from the tform and belonged to none other than the elder in the center.


    "Activate!" The elder made a hand seal and directed immortal Qi into the formations.


    This connected them all, turning them into an array that then sprang to life.


    ~HUALA~


    The formations worked together and brought forth Qi fluctuations along with Spatial fluctuations as well.


    This was exactly what Lin Mu was waiting for and he immediately activated his Spatial Perception.


    He observed the array and the Spatial changes, analyzing them deeply.


    A minuteter, a smile appeared on his face. The others noticed it, and hope rose within their hearts.


    "Looks like we might have a way after all." Lin Mu spoke, his head tilting to the sky. "A bit risky¡­ but workable."

 Chapter 1726 A Plan For Entry

    Lin Mu''s words were like music to the others.


    Even if he had said that there was a risk, it didn''t matter to them. After all, they had been taking risks since the very start.


    "We can really go ahead with it?" Ming Aolian asked to be sure.


    "Yes¡­ There is indeed a way." Lin Mu confirmed. "Let''s go back after they are done."


    "Very well." They all watched the arrays be finished and the Temple''s formation masters to finish the touch-ups.


    At the end, they set up a barrier around it as well, to prevent anyone for safety and security. After all, there was no saying what insane person would want to try going in before the tournament started.


    While it might seem likemon sense to not do that, there were still plenty of people that would want to try that. The Temple''s formation masters were doing this because of past experience too.


    There had indeed been people that tried to enter it beforehand. Whatever their reason might be, it was still problematic.


    Lin Mu and hispanions returned to the Spring Valley Restaurant, ready for the rectification of the ns.


    "How are we going to do it now, Brother Mu Lin?" Lu Xu asked.


    "I observed the array of the entrant¡­ it is abination of several formations, but overall it is just a simple Teleportation array." Lin Mu replied before he started to exin in detail.


    What Lin Mu had said was mostly urate, only differing in the fact that the array didn''t just link to a single location, but multiple at once. This was also why there needed to be so many formation masters.


    Making a teleportation array that linked to a single destination was something that even Lin Mu could do and had done before. But making it link to multiple spatial nes while also being stable was a delicate thing.


    One needed to make sure that the spatial channels wouldn''t sh and copsed. If that happened, it would basically mean the participants would get lost in the void.


    But that wasn''t all that was included in the array.


    Lin Mu also managed to figure out the method they would use to sort the contestants. They had been wondering how the contestants would be assigned, but now that Lin Mu saw it, he knew it was just going to be random.


    The contestants would be walking into the entrance and be randomly teleported to one of the Thirty Spatial nes that were made. The array would automatically arrange it so that an equal number of contestants were sent to each Spatial ne.


    Lin Mu even managed to check the Teleportation capacity of the array. It was set to a thousand contestants at once every second. This meant that it could send all six hundred thousand contestants in about ten minutes.


    Teleporting more than half a million immortals in ten minutes was no joke. The sheer amount of Immortal stones needed to run it might be enough for the lifetime earnings of several immortals.


    "Wait¡­ if it is random, then how are we going to ensure that all of us end up together?" Qian Wen inquired after learning up to this point.


    "I''ll take care of that." Lin Mu replied. "I''ve worked on teleportation formations before. They can be tweaked." He added.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I see¡­" Qian Wen didn''t ask further since he knew little about Spatial Formations.


    "If Brother Mu Lin says so, I believe in him." Ming Dandan stated with faith.


    "Me too!" Ming Aolian nodded.


    So far, all that Lin Mu had done was working in their favor, thus they didn''t think why this would be otherwise either. Plus, Lin Mu had demonstrated more than enough that he could do this.


    "What should we do after we are there? Are we to go there first or atst?" Lu Xu asked next. "After all, it''ll take at least ten minutes for all of the contestants to reach there. Some might be earlier and somete." He added.


    The others could understand his concern. Even if it was a few minutes'' difference, it could change the course of their journey.


    Even a minute might be enough for someone to set up an ambush that the contestants wouldn''t even know. And there were going to be people that would be there ten minutes in advance.


    They could be said to have the most advantage.


    "For us, we will be goingst," Lin Mu replied.


    "Last? Won''t that put us in the most passive situation?" Luo Liqin asked in doubt.


    "Normally it would. But for our unique condition, it is important that we arest. After all, we need to be among thest people to still be fighting. Thest Spatial ne that still has people left would be the one to have 6 winners instead of the usual 2," Lin Mu exined.


    The longer they took, the easier it would be for them to choose the Spatial ne that wasst to be filled.


    "Another thing is that¡­ We might be able to avoid the top contenders that way too. Even if the chances of meeting them would be low, I think I can make them 0." Lin Mu added.


    "Really?" Lu Xu was surprised.


    "As long as we know which Spatial ne they end up in, I should be able to avoid it." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    With this bit of information added, they were all feeling a lot more enthusiastic. Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    They discussed further about what strategies they could use. This was where Lin Mu emphasized something.


    "But when we do go in, we shouldn''t let the others know we are in an alliance. It would give us the best advantage." Lin Mu stated. "Plus, it''ll help us avoid suspicion too."


    "I agreed." Luo Liqin nodded. "The betting pavilions are already making changes. We don''t want them to add more trouble to it." He spoke.


    "Additionally, we need to avoid ourmon ''foes'' from knowing we are together too." Lin Mu said.

 Chapter 1727 The Qualifying Stage Starts

    ~huu~


    "Now that everyone is actually here, it does seem like a lot of people." Ming Aolian spoke as she looked around.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu replied as he looked at the four sections of contestants.


    Today was the day that the second stage of the Tournament was going to start and all of them had been called here.


    The Central Square of the Tournament grounds was now being used to divide the contestants into four sections. The teleportation was in the center, with the four paths leading to it being used for the contestants.


    Yesterday they had all been sent a notification on their tokens, that they were to be present at the Central Square tomorrow morning. It had happened not long after Lin Mu had finished discussing the ns with them.


    But that wasn''t all that he had done.


    He had also taken this chance to strengthen the beasts of the Ming sisters once more. The effect this time wasn''t as great, but it was still giving them a higher edge. After all the Ming Sisters would need to depend on their beasts for this round as well.


    They would even be monitored through the Token.


    "Look it''s starting!" The people in the crowd saw an elder of the temple appearing.


    It was the same elder who had set up the array and was going to be in charge of it today.


    ~shua~


    Arge formation screen materialized in the air, showing the close up scene of the elder.


    "The Qualifying round of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts shallmence today. I am here to inform you all about the rules. It would be in your favor to remember them well, or you shall be eliminated automatically." The elder started to speak.


    "YES, ELDER!" The crowd replied.


    Lin Mu and the others listened carefully, as they needed to see how exactly would defeat and win be decided.


    "There are two ways to defeat your opponent. You either knock them out or you destroy their token. Either of the two events will trigger them to be teleported out of the Spatial nes and will be considered their defeat.


    You all will be randomly sent into different Spatial nes and the rest will be up to your luck. Thest people to survive till the end will be the winners. There shall be a total of 64 winners in this." The Elder announced.


    Whispers and discussions broke out in the crowd as people realized that there might be more or fewer winners depending on the Spatial ne. But before they could talk much, the elder spoke again.


    "When there are only two people left in a Spatial ne, they will be teleported out as well and be dered the winners of that ne." The elder stated. "I know some of you might have grasped it by now, but the people of one Spatial ne will have more winners than others, six to be exact." He confirmed.


    An uproar could be heard, as the contestants were not all aware of this. Some of them talked about how unfair it was, while some simply didn''t care.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Luck is still part of a cultivator''s strength. If you can have good luck, you can ovee several tribtions. And when youck luck, you ovee with pure strength!" The elder said out loud, silencing the crowd.


    No one dared to speak about it being unfair after all.


    He continued to speak about a few more rules, such as to not kill anyone and to not cripple them either, along with a few minor rules. And while he did this, Lin Mu was looking around for a few people.


    ''The Third Prince and the other top rankers should also be here by now.'' Lin Mu''s immortal sense spread around.


    With the number of people there were, it was hard to tell, especially since there were people who were using disguising tools as well. They weren''t forbidden and one could use it. After all, the token would know who was a contestant, regardless.


    One had a benefit in this stage if the other didn''t know about their identity. After all, one could easily imagine that the top rankers would be either avoided or be targeted en masse.


    It was better for them to hide their identity, at least until they entered the Spatial ne. Which was what they seemed to be doing right now.


    ''Can''t find any of them¡­ they are hiding their cultivation bases as well.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After all, to find the top rankers, the easiest way was to sense their cultivation bases.


    ''It''ll make it a bit difficult to figure out which nes they enter. But upon entering the nes they should end up revealing it¡­'' Lin Mu knew they needed to be thest ones to enter so that he could monitor which people were going where.


    He didn''t tell this to the others, since he didn''t wish for them to get anxious. Plus, they needed to keep some distance for a bit.


    "Let''s all shift to the back and spread out." Lin Mu said before moving.


    The others gave a nod and moved through the crowd as well. A minute was all it took for them to get to the back and that was also when the Elder finished speaking.


    ~SHUA~


    "The Qualifying Stage of the Tournament of the Four Beasts shall start¡­ NOW! All contestants head into the entrance!" The elder ordered before flying up into the sky.


    "AAAAAAAA!!!!" the cultivators shouted as they rushed into the square.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Hundreds of shing lights could be seen every second, with the constants being teleported into the Spatial nes. The crowd from the four sections poured into the central square without stopping while the Teleportation array worked nonstop.


    The formation masters of the temple were also observing it carefully, making sure that there were no errors.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Look, they are already there!" Formation screens appeared all over the audience areas, allowing for people to watch.

 Chapter 1728 Pulling Together!

    "It''s Dugu Shanhe! He''s in the Third Spatial ne!"


    "Fushi Bei is also there! He''s ranked twenty second!"


    The audience could see familiar names appearing on the formation screens.


    The formation screens were set up such that they would automatically show which contestants were in which ne.


    ''This''ll help.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he held the Communication Jade Slip. "Luo Liqin, keep me updated on all top rankers and their positions."


    The man in question was sitting in the Spring Valley Restaurant, where he could easily browse through the thousands of contestants as he wished.


    "Yes, brother Mu Lin. We already have three in sight." Luo Liqin informed Lin Mu.


    He was in charge of informing Lin Mu of what contestants went where. His main attention was on the top 5 contestants, of whom one was already ounted for.


    Second after second passed as thousands upon thousands of people entered the Spatial nes.


    Two minutes passed but Lin Mu didn''t hear any other rankers entering yet.


    "No more?" Lin Mu questioned Luo Liqin.


    "I think they are waiting too Brother¡ª Oh wait! I see Su Zian!" Luo Liqin replied. "Su Zian is in the tenth Spatial ne."


    "That''s two out of the five¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    Both of these were people that Lin Mu didn''t care for much. The main ones that he needed to be concerned about were Feng Baxing and Yao Changying. He waited till Luo Liqin spoke again.


    "I see Yao Changying, she''s in the second Spatial ne." Luo Liqin informed.


    "That''s out of the option." Lin Mu took note to avoid that ne as well.


    His Spatial perception could ''see'' the thirty Spatial channels that were all active at once. He could even see the contestants being sent through them, but the speed at which they traveled made it hard to tell who went where unless the formation screen told them.


    ''At least I can make out which channel goes to which Spatial ne.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Four more minutes passed and by now, eighty percent of the contestant had entered the Spatial nes but there was still no news about the remaining top rankers.


    "Is Feng Baxing intending to wait till thest too?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "There he is, Feng Baxing is in the neenth Spatial ne." Luo Liqin finally informed.


    Striking that Spatial ne out of his list, Lin Mu got ready to enter.


    "I still can''t see Childe Wildfire Brother Mu Lin." Luo Liqin informed when there were just thirty seconds left.


    "It''s fine, we''ll take those odds." Lin Mu didn''t care if there was still one ranker left. "We need to head in now." He said before starting to run.


    The Ming Sisters, Lu Xu and Qian Wen had their eyes on him and ran as well.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    They were all spread evenly, but Lin Mu had locked onto them using his Immortal sense. It allowed him to keep track of them since he needed to keep them together.


    Step by step, Lin Mu got closer to the entrance and five secondster, he finally stepped into it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~SHUA~


    His vision turned dark for a brief moment before it was reced by a flurry of lights.


    ''I have only a few seconds to gather everyone.'' Lin Mu had taken note of the time it took for the contestants to reach the Spatial nes and knew that he had less than ten seconds to do the same.


    ~HUALA~


    His immortal sense expanded and covered the entire Spatial channel.


    This was the main spatial channel which then split into thirty sections, that would take on to a Spatial ne.


    "There they are." Lin Mu quickly picked up on where hispanions were as they had entered almost at the same time as his. ''Ming Dandan is close by, and so is Lu Xu but Qian Wen and Ming Aolian are a bit far.'' He noted.


    Having locked onto their positions, Lin Mu began his work. Spreading out his arms, Lin Mu used the ring''s skills.


    First, he used Blink to reach the closest person which was Ming Dandan. The girl could ''see'' anything as of now, but felt someone near her.


    ''Brother Mu Lin is here¡­'' She tried to look around, but it was difficult for her.


    Her immortal sense could barely pick up on someone being near her. But then a momentter, she felt something different. It was like she was frozen or something.


    MELD!


    "Come on, move!" Lin Mu controlled the skill and shifted the space.


    This was something he would only be able to execute freely in the void, as doing it in the Real world would lead to the Spatial Fabric being torn instead.


    It also allowed him to ''pull'' people by attaching the space around them. He first ''attached'' Ming Dandan to him before using his other hand to pull at Lu Xu. The man felt his body freezing up too, before it was quickly moved.


    ''Huh? One more presence?'' Ming Dandan felt her immortal sense free for a second and another person was there.


    Lin Mu attached Ming Dandan and Lu Xu together, before he extended Meld again.


    ''Ming Aolian is next!'' Lin Mu targeted.


    ~SHUA~


    Meld''s effects spread as the Space started to stiffen and shift. The distance between Ming Aolian and Lin Mu was reduced as he used Meld like a tether.


    "One more to go." With Ming Aolian attached to the main ''bubble'' of Meld, Lin Mu moved on to thest person.


    Qian Wen was the farthest from them, and Lin Mu could tell he barely had a couple of seconds left before they would be split up.


    "HAAAH!" Channelingrge amounts of Immortal Qi, Lin Mu increased the speed of Meld, pulling Qian Wen towards him.


    ~SHUA~


    But this barely left him any time to choose a Spatial Channel as the group was sent into one that they ended up close to.


    ''I certainly avoided the top rankers, though.'' Lin Mu had made sure of that.

 Chapter 1729 In The Spatial Plane

    Lin Mu and hispanions were pulled into the Spatial Channel, their destination having been decided by that time.


    Of course, Lin Mu knew that he had taken the right Spatial Channel and that they weren''t heading into the Spatial ne that the other top rankers were in it. For Lin Mu, even if it was someone that was in the top 20, it didn''t matter much.


    He had the confidence of taking them down after all.


    Plus he also had hispanions that could assist him in all this. It might not seem like it at first, but even Third Tribtion Stage immortals could be very useful, when one was able to utilize them the right way.


    Lin Mu who had several avenues of doing this was even better. Plus, they had known about this scenario from before and were a lot more prepared than most of the participants.


    One could reckon that the top rankers and a few more influential participants might have grasped the intricacies of this stage right from the start, or at the very least have been informed.


    But Lin Mu knew those would be in the minority.


    After all, he had been present at the site of the teleportation array personally. Unless there was someone who was well versed and talented in the Spatial Dao as well as knew how to use Spatial perception, they would be unable to tell the details of the arrays.


    Even for other formation masters, it was a matter of great difficulty.


    Only those who were grand masters of immortal formations and those with expertise in the Spatial Dao might be able to understand just how the array worked. They might know that the array transported one to one of the thirty Spatial nes randomly, but they wouldn''t know the mechanism behind it.


    It was something that took a long time to learn, and Lin Mu had an advantage here.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And now, he was getting to take advantage of exactly that. He wasn''t the only one either as hispanions were getting to do the same. They too watched as the Spatial channel changed at a great speed.


    Their immortal senses could only feel a few people around them, but nothing much. The only other thing they could ''see'' was the rapidly moving space around them as well as the blurry lights that surrounded them.


    Only a minority of immortals that were participating as of now even had a bare understanding of the Space.


    Those that didn''t would being into it barefaced.


    Of source, it didn''t matter for most as they were simply here to participate in the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts and nothing more.


    They weren''t like Lin Mu and a few others that were looking to exploit the ws of the Tournament for their own benefit. And even if they could think of something, they either didn''t have the guts to do it, or the capability to do something like this.


    Someone on the level of Lin Mu was already unique as he had single-handedly changed the paths of several contestants without them or the temple knowing.


    ~SHUA~


    A few momentster, Lin Mu felt the scene in front of him change.


    The momentum that was felt by his body slowed down as well until he felt like he had hit a solid surface.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The sound of solid ground being struck was heard, as several of Lin Mu''spanions hit the ground.


    "Ah!"


    "What the¡­!"


    Lu Xu, and Qian Wenined, upon hitting the ground.


    Only Ming Dandan was fully safe, as she was the first one to be in Lin Mu''s grasp. Ming Aolian had also been able to save her head from hitting the ground, but she had still copsed to her knees when reaching the Spatial ne.


    The sudden stopping felt nauseous to a lot of the contestants, with a bare few being the ones immune to it.


    The ones that were included in this were those that were familiar with teleportation or those that simply had a strong physique. The ones that were with Lin Mu weren''t included in it at all.


    "Ugh¡­ this is¡­ making my head spin¡­" Ming Aolianined as she kneeled on the ground.


    Even Ming Dandan, who was standing, had a frown on her face, a ting of green appearing on her face in sickness.


    ~blegh~


    Meanwhile Qian Wen and Lu Xu simply gagged, the nausea overpowering their minds.


    "Take this." Lin Mu took out a few leaves.


    "What is this?" Ming Aolian asked, her face a bit green too.


    "Belly Chilling Leaf." Lin Mu answered. "It works for Teleportation rted sickness too if you chew it.'' He informed.


    Hispanions didn''t recognize the name, but they took the leaves regardless. They quickly chewed on the leaf, a straight yet bitter taste spreading on their tongue. Still, for immortals like them, they had eaten their fair share of bitter herbs and pills.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Thus they were able to ovee it, and a minuteter they had recovered to their normal condition.


    Belly Chilling Leaf was actually a herb that could even be found in the Xiao Fan world, but it wasn''t that effective for immortals. The one good effect it did have thought was the fact that it could suppress Nausea caused by Teleportation.


    Lin Mu had it in his storage for a long time and the Kong ne had plenty growing within it too, possibly due to the fact that one needed to teleport into it. It might have been grown there as a remedy in the long term.


    "Ah! That feels a lot better." Lu Xu said, feeling his stomach calm down.


    "Me too¡­" Ming Aolian added.


    "Mmhmm, I feel stable." The shy Ming Dandan said.


    "Let''s go. We should not wait here any longer." Lin Mu said with a serious expression.


    He and the others were currently standing on an expanse of barrennd.


    The only few things that could be seen as of now were mountains in the distance as well as an empty expanse of sky in the ground.


    ''Perhaps we should be thankful that wended in the empty area.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he spread his Immortal sense.


    ~SHUA~


    With his Immortal Sense extended to the maximum, Lin Mu saw several things of interest within it.


    The first was none other than a contestant that hadnded two kilometers from them. He too seemed to be struck with the teleportation sickness, and was lying on the ground puking his guts out.


    But that wasn''t all, as he also saw several other immortals that were now moving away from his range of Immortal sense. This was due to being wary and was a natural option. They weren''t even able to Sense Lin Wu''s immortal Sense at that point.


    "We have our first target." Lin Mu stated.


    "There are?'' Ming Aolian asked, having gained control of her wits.


    "Yes¡­ Let''s get to it." Lin Mu said calmly. ''Split up!"


    He started to talk, the others following behind him at a certain distance.. Even if they felt sick, they knew that following a leader was a must. Plus with the n that had been established early on by Lin Mu, this was ording to their first course of action.


    Lin Mu had told hispanions of a simple yet straightforward way of getting on top.


    It was something that was very simple¡­ Absolute Dominance!


    He would prevent anyone that came within his range to survive for long and would get rid of them.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu soon reached the contestant that he had detected.


    ~blegh~


    The man let out a sick cry, as he continued to puke his guts out. Lin Mu sensed the man''s cultivation base, finding it to be a bit pitiful.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    "I don''t know how someone at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm survived this, but your journeyes to an end." Lin Mu dered.


    ~SHING~


    In the next second, a sh of light was seen.


    A sharp glint of Sword lights travailed forward, ripping through the token of the sick man.


    ~SHUA~


    The sick man disappeared into a wisp of light, having lost immediately.


    ''One down, many more to go.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "What should we do Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Dandan asked through themunication Jade slip.


    Lin Mu had given his contacts to everyone after all. This allowed so that they could still talk to him within the Spatial ne. Additionally, Lin Mu''smunication Jade slip was at the level of a high grade immortal tool.


    "We hunt more¡­ there are several more near." Lin Mu stated, his gait speeding up.


    "Alright!" Ming Dandan replied.


    The others heard it too, and sped up their pace, trying to match up with Lin Mu.


    He could have easily flown up, but that would be the same as painting a target on his back. After all, it would attract a lot more attention that way.

 Chapter 1730 A Hiding Place To Drag The Tournament

    Lin Mu had his immortal sense spread and was searching for any other cultivators nearby.


    Other than the first one he had gotten rid of, he could tell there were at least four more nearby. Though they were scattered and were in a better condition than the first man.


    ''They should be from an earlier batch of people and have recovered since then.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "I see someone," Lu Xu was the first to respond.


    "I do too." Ming Aolian replied.


    Lin Mu sensed their position and checked the cultivators they were gonna face.


    "Go forth." Lin Mu could tell that they would have no issues.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    Lu Xu and Ming Aolian began their assault.


    Lu Xu''s sword flew, while Ming Aolian called out her wolf. The two quickly ambushed the unsuspecting cultivators.


    After all, the others didn''t have the same range of Immortal sense that Lin Mu did. By the time they sensed them, their attacks had already gotten close.


    ''That takes care of it. I should also get to work.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he shed out with Afternoon Pine.


    ~SHING~


    The sh sent out a Sword Light that ripped through the ground and traveled for nearly five hundred meters before hitting a cultivator that was trying to hide.


    ~shua~


    The immortal couldn''t even let out a cry as his body turned into a sh of light and was teleported back out.


    "Seems like there will be quite a few that will try to hide. It is a valid tactic after all¡­" Lin Mu wasn''t against something like this either, but for him, they also served as the perfect targets.


    Lin Mu knew that these people trying to hide would basically be dying the stage. Which worked in his favor, and he liked it too. But he also needed to know just how long to dy.


    After all, Lin Mu didn''t know exactly when the other people would have finished their rounds.


    ''That''ll be one of the things I need to figure out. Themunications are stopped between here and the outside world after all.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Though it wasn''t like Lin Mu didn''t have an estimate of it either. He knew that it would take at least a month before this stage would end at the maximum. The ce wasn''t that small after all, even even if the contestants hid for the most part, they would eventually have to start fighting.


    ''Though there should be a few Spatial nes that should end up finishing early.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    These nes were none other than the Spatial nes with the Top rankers.


    Lin Mu was sure that the Spatial nes with Feng Baxing and Yao Changying would end up finishing the fights very early. He wouldn''t be surprised if it happened in a day or two either.


    With that in mind, he also continued his hunt for contestants. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    Two more shes were sent out, removing two contestants from the tournament.


    Qian Wen and Ming Dandan were also doing well, having defeated a contestant each.


    And just like this, a day passed as Lin Mu and hispanions finished off whoever they countered. It was now that Lin Mu contacted the others.


    "We will need to find a ce to rest and hide if we are to drag this battle out." Lin Mu informed the others.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "I saw a ce that could work for us." Ming Dandan informed.


    "Where is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "About a two-kilometer distance from where I am." Ming Dandan said then realized how vague it was. "Ummm¡­ I can''t tell the direction." She added.


    Being a Spatial ne, no one knew what direction they were walking in as there was nothing like north, east, west and south in the first ce. There was no sun either, and only a nk blue sky without any clouds could be seen.


    This made it as vague as possible, forcing the contestants to continually seek out the others to fight.


    At the same time, the Spatial ne was rather in, having little topographical changes. There were no forests, rivers orkes. All one could see was barrennd, with a few hills spread here and there.


    "Don''t worry, we should be able to seek it out." Lin Mu said through themunication jade slip. "I''ll try to look for it. Do you remember what it looked like?" he asked.


    "Yes, it is in the middle of two hills that have a crack going near their base." Ming Dandan replied.


    "Hmm¡­ that should be easy enough to find." Lin Mu said as he first looked around physically.


    He already knew where Ming Dandan was and thus it was easy for him to look for the hills.


    ''A total of eight hills¡­ only four of them are close to each other though. So it''s either of those.'' Lin Mu quickly found the possible ones. "Alright, I''ll head there first then inform you all. Continue doing what you are right now." He informed before making his way to the hills.


    The first pair of hills that he had spotted didn''t have the crack though and looked to be rather in. Thus he ended up going to the second hill pair which was indeed the one he was seeking out.


    "This should work well enough." Lin Mu said after looking at the crack which spread from the base of the hills to the center.


    It was barely two meters wide and was narrow than a couple of inches on most parts.


    Lin Mu used his Immortal sense and took a survey of the area, finding that the crack actually went rather deep. The strangest thing was that he could tell the crack was not natural.


    ''Did the formation masters intentionally let the crack be formed?'' Lin Mu wondered as he could sense traces of formations here too.


    He reckoned they could easily make use of this as a hiding ce for the time being.


    "Guess the temple also wants us to make use of our terrain for the best results." Lin Mu muttered.

 Chapter 1731 Strategy To Hold Out

    Lin Mu assessed the crack and reckoned that this was perfect for this use.


    "We have the right ce. I''ll expand it and allow for us to use it without other knowing it." Lin Mu spoke to the others.


    "How long do you need, Brother Mu Lin?" Lu Xu asked.


    "A few hours." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well, we have more than enough time. I don''t think we have anyone near here anyways." Lu Xu stated.


    "It is best we keep an eye out and remove all those that approach." Ming Dandan added, her tone a bit fierce than normal.


    "Are you fighting someone?" Ming Aolian asked finding it different.


    "¡ªNot anymore." Ming Dandan spoke after a dy. "They''re gone."


    "Ah¡­ good." Ming Aolian replied.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    "We''ll wait for Brother Mu Lin to finish his work and secure the surrounding in the meantime." Qian Wen chimed in.


    The other''s agreed and quickly got to work.


    Thankfully most of the people they were encountering right now were the same cultivation base as them or weaker. It was still unknown how many stronger individuals were present in this Spatial ne but it was seeing like there were few.


    Though it did make sense that the stronger individuals would have liked to jump into the fray earlier, wanting to finish off thepetition right from the start. Whatever it might be, it was working in their favor now.


    Lin Mu had his affinity with the earth element and was at home here. It didn''t take long for him to expand the area, and most of his time was spent on making formations that would secure and hide the area.


    After all, they were intending to stay here for at least a month or more.


    Plus Lin Mu couldn''t make an obvious illusory array either. If he did that, it was the same as seeing someone disappear in the middle of their vision. It would be too abrupt. He needed to make something that was a bit moreplex and make it harder to sense.


    Which was exactly what Lin Mu did.


    His past experience with setting up a hidden base came in handy as he was quickly able to make a suitable hideout. Additionally, Lin Mu also expanded the area avable for them, so that they had at least five hundred square meters of area for them to reside in.


    Once that was done, Lin Mu sealed off the entire area and basicallyid what was a circr area full of teleportation formation. The formation only worked when someone was registered in this.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Thus it prevented anyone random from entering it. It helped Lin Mu a lot since he could prevent the random passerby from entering it. But at the same time, he also added a marking formation to it.


    This marking formation ''targeted'' the people who went through its radius of influence and woulds continue to be tracked. This saved Lin Mu both time and effort as he could tell where specific people were without going out and checking it.


    The entire Spatial ne wasn''t that big either.


    Lin Mu had been able to make out the total area in just a couple of days. It hade out to about fifty kilometer on each side. In total it was an area of about 2500 square kilometer which wasn''t too small or big either.


    Even for normal spirit cultivators, it was something that could be traversed in a few hours. For immortals it was an even shorter time.


    But the trueplexity came in the factor of the other cultivators that were targeting you.


    For the first three days, there were plenty of attacks as the unprepared immortals were wiped out by the others. But as time went by, more and more people realized that they needed to be careful.


    Eventually it became so that everyone was being careful about who they fought. They only became offensiveness if it was in their advantage or if they were forced to be. After all, even in a weaker Spatial ne that Lin Mu was in, there were bound to be a few strong individuals.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t exactly know how strong the highest cultivator was in this ne was but he assessed them to be at the fifth Tribtion stage fate Immortal realm at the very least. If not for that, he didn''t think they would be able to be dominate the tournament at all.


    ''Over all, there are less than twenty fifth Tribtion Stage immortal left in the Tournament.'' Lin Mu remembered the records that he had seen.


    In the fifty Fifth Tribtion Stage immortals, the majority were those that were in the top 20. There were a few wild cards included in it, but he knew that they were mostly circumferential.


    After all, the best example of a wild card was none other than Lin Mu himself who was at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm in terms of his Qi cultivation. His body cultivation might be at the peak of Third Tribtion of the immortal realm, but there weren''t many that could estimate it in the first ce.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu and hispanions paced their work, for about three days.


    The third day was when something happened that caught Lin Mu''s attention. It was something that the others handn''t sensed at all, but to him it was very clear. The very space itself shifted and the Spatial fluctuations were something that traversed the boundary of the Spatial nes.


    "This¡­ A spatial ne is dispersing." Lin Mu realized as he was woken up from hisprehension session.


    Since he couldn''t go into a deep cultivation session, Lin Mu had taken topression sessions to improve his understanding of the various elemental as well as the Daos. It was a good thing and he was learning bit by bit.


    But now that he had been awakened he learned that it was rather abrupt. Lin Mu could tell that there was something strange happening around the space.

 Chapter 1732 Spatial Plane Closings

    "Ugh¡­ This is chaotic." Lin Mu muttered as he opened his eyes.


    To his Spatial perception, it was as if hundreds of curtains were falling all at once!


    Lin Mu almost felt a headache filling his head, before he forcefully limited his control over the Spatial Perception.


    ''What is happening¡­'' Lin Mu wondered as he held his head.


    Only after a few minutes did he feel better and tried to reason with his situation. It was now that he realized that it was a change that was beyond his control happening all around him, or rather more urately the Space around the ne.


    ''A Spatial ne is disappearing¡­ what in the¡­'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    He focused his attention on it, this time making sure that he didn''t lose any extra attention. Without the other characteristic distracting him, Lin Mu could clearly tell that there were insignificant changes happening all round him.


    More urately though, it was the fact that a Spatial ne seem to be ''shrinking''.


    "Wait a second¡­ how can it be shrinking??" Lin Mu was confused.


    He spent a few minutes watching it before he realized that there was more to it than he had originally thought.


    Lin Mu watched it for a few more minutes before realizing that the space was indeed ''shrinking''. It was a phenomenon that didn''t happen usually, making Lin Mu rather confused about it in the first ce.


    ''The Spatial nes are programmed in such a way that they will disappear once all the participants within it have finished their round.'' Xukong exined this time around.


    He had been watching everything for a while now. He was mostly focused on his own cultivation thought, letting Lin Mu take the lead as much as he wanted.


    Xukong''s trust in Lin Mu had risen quite a bit and he didn''t interfere unless it was absolutely needed. For the most part, he had been watching as Lin Mu''s path in the tournament. To the spider, it didn''t matter how Lin Mu really won. All it mattered to him was that Lin Mu was fine and didn''t lose right away


    Lin Mu instantly perked up after hearing Senior Xukong feeling like there was more to it. He thought further about what Senior Xukong had said and realized that what he was taking about was none other that the Life Cycle of the Spatial ne.


    ''How did I not sense this earlier?" Lin Mu questioned himself. '' Wait¡­ the Spatial disturbance were too blurry to tell at the start.'' Lin Mu said to himself.


    The longer he spend on this the better he realized the situation that he was in.


    And this was something that was crucial for him in the first ce.


    Lin Mu focused on it and realized that the Spatial ne could actually be seen by him. His spatial perception was extended to the maximum, almost straining his eyes.


    "Ugh¡­ this is hard." Lin Mu cursed as he used the Spatial Perception at his maximum power.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    To him the Space felt like it was melting ice. It was hard to see and he needed to spend a lot of energy to ''see'' how the reality was.


    But once he did, he realized that the Spatial ne was none other than the one of the nes he had he seen at the very start.


    ''If this is hear then it means¡­ the rest are here too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He thought over why a Spatial ne would be copsing like this and realized the most obvious reason. The more Lin Mu observed it, the better he realized what was truly happening.


    ''How is a Spatial ne copsing?'' Lin Wu questioned himself.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    A couple of minutester he realized what might be the most likely possibility.


    "It can''t be, can I?" Lin Mu questioned himself. ''The Spatial nes closing only means that the Arrays sustaining them are being shut down. But this is not something that would happen normally.


    For it to happen now only means that the arrays set up by the Formation masters of the Temple are being changed. Then this means that the entire Spatial ne was being actively changed as Lin Mu watched it.


    At the end Lin Mu reckoned that the reasoning for this would only one thing.


    "A Spatial ne is closing, which means that there is no one left inside it." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Extrapting from this, Lin Mu reckoned the fact that the Spatial ne closing was unknown to others.


    ''Without Spatial Perception that is strong enough, they won''t even be able to sense that there is a change in the Space around them, not to mention the disappearance of a Spatial ce.'' Lin Mu thought. ''But now that is has happened, there is only one reason¡­ the Spatial ne haspleted its existence.'' Lin Mu thought.


    It made sense as that was the only reasonable thing as to why a stable Spatial ne would disappear.


    ''If I consider this, then it means that that first Spatial ne took nearly 3 days or more to be finished. Whoever was inside it was strong enough to eliminate all the opponents in that time. My best bet is the Third prince.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Whatever the true result might be, there was one thing that had been confirmed from this.


    ''I can now tell when different rounds are over depending on the Spatial nes. Their closure is something that can be felt by me even now.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Lin Mu didn''t waste this chance either and locked down on the fine changes in the space. After all, he knew that the changes might not be as clear as they were right now and tried to be as sharp as possible.


    An hour passed like this, after which he was sure of the different Spatial fluctuations that could be felt in the first ce. At the same time he extrapted the fact that the first Spatial ne took 3 days to be removed.

 Chapter 1733 A Solid Plan

    Having learned that the Spatial nes would close upon the winners being decided, Lin Mu now had a solid method of verifying his n.


    ''I just need to wait till all the Spatial nes have closed. Once that is done, I''ll be able to ask the other''s to speed up their work.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Now that he knew exactly what to do, the things became a lot smoother.


    "For now we just need to wait and passively defeat the opponents thate close." Lin Mu informed the others.


    "How long do we do that?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "For a while¡­ I think it''ll take a couple of weeks at least before the conclusion of this round is reached." Lin Mu replied. "We just need to stretch it out for now. I''ll tell you when we are ready to go on an all-out offense." He exined.


    "Alright, Brother Mu Lin." Lu Xu replied as well.


    The group was scattered around the hills and was only defeating the others if they got close to it. Other than that, they would hide and try to avoid any extra conflict. They needed to drag out this round after all.


    And thus began their wait. It might have felt suspicious since there were many people in the audience watching but Lin Mu and the others were in luck.


    Thankfully for them, the audience wasn''t really focused on them either. Lin Mu and the other''s passive actions had made them ''boring'' thus the Audience simply didn''t watch them. They were mostly focused on the more eye-catching contestants.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "I still can''t believe Third Prince Feng Baxing managed to finish in just three days."


    "I know right? That must be a record."


    "Nah¡­ the shortest record was like a single day. But that is from a long time ago."


    The people sitting in the audience were discussing animatedly. To them, it was only the top contestants that were mostly interesting. The others were being sidelined and mostly the top were being shown.


    Luo Liqin was also watching everything in the Spring Valley Restaurant. His screen was set to Lin Mu and the others, with him asionally checking on other contestants.


    But right now, he had a frown on his face. The screen changed to show a particr cultivator that was also among the top.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A zing field could now be seen on the screen, a single man standing in the center. The ze was spreading at great speed, and all those that encountered it were burned before being teleported out of the Spatial ne.


    A name hovered above the screen showing who it was.


    "Childe Wildfire¡­ He actually ended up in the same Spatial ne as Brother Mu Lin and the others." Luo Liqin furrowed his brows.


    He was in charge of informing Lin Mu of who ended up where, but this ranker had only moved at the veryst moment. This made it so that Luo Liqin couldn''t tell Lin Mu in time. Or perhaps even if he had told him, there was no saying if it would work or not at that time.


    There was a very slight margin of error, and losing focus would have been bad for Lin Mu.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''Thankfully he''s still far from them.'' Luo Liqin thought.


    He had seen the areas and Childe Wildfire was at the other end of the Spatial ne. The man wasn''t moving around much either, simply staying in one ce. From time to time, he would use his skills, creating a field of fire that burned all those that got close.


    ''Perhaps he intended to conserve his energy.'' Luo Liqin thought.


    Whatever the reason might be, it was at least allowing Lin Mu to be at an ease.


    ''Though Brother Mu Lin should be able to fight and defeat him when the timees.'' Luo Liqin had the confidence.


    ~shua~


    While he was watching, he felt themunication jade slip tremble. Holding it for a moment, Luo Liqin read the message.


    "Finally¡­ they are starting to take bets again." Luo Liqin muttered as a smile appeared on his face.


    The betting pavilions had to reshuffle everything as the mode of the tournament had changed. Since they didn''t wish to make a mistake and end up losing more than calcted, the Betting pavilions had spent quite some time preparing everything.


    Even if it meant that they had to give up on the initial bet and that two of the winners had already been decided.


    Still to them, it wasn''t the Third prince that would bring the most profits, but rather the smaller contestants. After all, everyone knew the prince would have a high chance of winning, thus his odds were set to high.


    The profit margin would not be there and thus it wasn''t an issue for them to miss out on one Spatial ne.


    It was the other Spatial nes that would be turning most of their profits now. Plus now that people had gotten to see the cultivators fight for a few days, they knew which ones to pick.


    ''Time to ce the bets¡­'' Luo Liqin quickly left the Sparing Valley Restaurant and headed to the betting pavilion.


    "They sure were waiting for this¡­" Luo Liqin could already see the people surrounding the ce.


    He had to wait for a few minutes before he was able to enter the betting pavilion as well.


    "I''d like to ce my bets." Luo Liqin went to one of the many counters that were set up.


    ~shua~


    The clerk setting at the counter simply waved his hand, making a Formation screen materialize. On it, thousands upon thousands of names could be seen.


    "Other than the ones picked out by the pavilion, the rest will all have triple returns." The clerk simply said.


    On the screen, Luo Liqin could mostly see the big names of the top contenders along with others that were ranked around the fifties. These were the main contestants that most people were focusing on thus their odds were set with the most study.

 Chapter 1734 Fifteen Days Pass

    "I''d like to bet on a few unlisted contestants." Luo Liqin said to the clerk.


    "Go ahead." The clerk didn''t care who the people bet on.


    He didn''t care that Luo Liqin was better on someone that looked to be random either. To him, there were always people that liked to try their luck, and would thus bet on people that were not that popr or simply unknown.


    "How much do you wanna bet?" The clerk asked after seeing the choices that Luo Liqin had picked out.


    He couldn''t recognize any of the names, considering them to just be some average cultivators.


    "About one thousand six hundred High Grade Immortal crystals." Luo Liqin said.


    As soon as the clerk heard it, a stunned expression appeared on his face.


    "Do you mean one thousand six hundred Mid Grade Immortal crystals?" he wondered if Luo Liqin had misspoken.


    "Nope." Luo Liqin said before taking out a storage pouch.


    ~thud~


    cing it on the desk, the formation automatically calcted the number showing it on the screen.


    "It really is that much¡­" The clerk now wondered who this person was.


    While there had been several others that had ced bets bigger than this, they weren''t on some random people.


    "Are you sure of this? You will lose everything if they don''t win." The clerk stated.


    "I''m sure." Luo Liqin was firm.


    "Alright." Since Luo Liqin had asked for this, the clerk couldn''t say much and confirmed the bet.


    ~shua~


    Entering a few runes, he recorded the bet and took the Immortal stones. Once that was done, he gave Luo Liqin a square jade piece.


    "That''ll serve as a receipt." The clerk said. "If you win, you can use that to im the winnings." He replied.


    "Very well." Having done that Luo Liqin quickly left, wanting to observe the matches.


    ''There sure are some random betters now¡­'' The clerk thought to himself before moving on to the next person having no idea that this would be one of the best bets so far.


    The time passed rather quickly as Lin Mu and hispanions waited out thepetition. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    ''This is a lot more rxing than I thought¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He was simply focused onprehending the Space and was using the Spiral ke Crystal. It allowed him to not only improve but also know when another Spatial ne would be closing.


    And that happened on the fifth day.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu was interrupted by the shaking of space. Only he could sense it, but this time he was able to ovee the ufortable sensation quickly. He simply focused on the Space itself, allowing him to ''see'' the second Spatial ne copsing.


    ''Two nes gone, twenty seven to go¡­'' Lin Mu noted.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After the momentary interruption, Lin Mu went back toprehending the space.


    But the very next day, he felt it again.


    "Looks like it''ll start to happen more often now." Lin Mu reckoned as the third Spatial ne disappeared.


    Six days had passed now and the first week woulde to an end soon.


    Lin Mu''spanions were also rtively calm, and could even rx a bit. They had split up the duties and would let two go out while two waited in the hidden crack along with Lin Mu.


    This also prevented them from gathering too much attention, as arge group would be too eye catching.


    Besides, they had seen that there were already people forming alliances. But these alliances were of just two people. After all, the winners would be two and it wouldn''t make sense to add any more to their group.


    Ming Dandan was the first one who had noticed this and had informed Lin Mu about it. Thus he had given the suggestion that they should do the same, only letting two people wander nearby.


    The pairings were also rtively simple, with the Ming sisters in one team while Lu Xu and Qian Wen were in the other. Lin Mu though was alone as he simply didn''t go out unless needed.


    His duty was to observe the space, and only interfere if hispanions faced people that were stronger than them.


    The making of a team had made it easier for them too though, as they had an easier time fighting in a duo than alone.


    Another day passed and another Spatial ne closed, taking the count to three.


    On the eighth day though, Lin Mu felt the Spatial fluctuations twice!


    "Two Spatial nes? That''s five down now." Lin Mu reckoned it will only increase from now.


    ''Though the opposite might also happen and things might slow down as the overall number of contestants decrease.'' Lin Mu thought. ''Considering that five Spatial nes have closed, it should be the top five rankers most likely.'' He guessed.


    The pace of spatial nes closing certainly increased as Lin Mu could now feel at least one Spatial ne closing every day. By the fifteenth day, half of the Spatial nes had already closed up.


    "Just fourteen more to go¡­ we will need to start acting when there''sst few left." Lin Mu muttered to himself before closing his eyes.


    The Spiral ke Crystal was still in his hand and he had been improving steadily with it.


    His ''search'' inside the Spiral ke crystal was also getting better. He hade across the unknown object several times now but had still been unable to truly ''hold'' it. But the number of times he was encountering it was increasing as well.


    Lin Mu knew he was close to obtaining it.


    He hoped that when he did, he would be able to ovee his limitation and improve his understanding of the Space.


    But the very next day, Lin Mu had to halt his work as he was called urgently.


    "Brother Mu Lin, there''s trouble!" Ming Dandan''s anxious voice could be heard.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes as his immortal sense immediately spread around.


    "What is it?" he questioned holding the Jade Slip.


    "Sister Aolian is locked in a tough fight! The opponent is two Fourth Tribtion stage immortals!"

 Chapter 1735 Call For Help

    As soon as Lin Mu heard her words, he stood up.


    ''I guess it was about to happen.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    So far they had mostly been facing weaker cultivators that were at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. They hade across a couple of Fourth Tribtion Stage immortals too, but they could still deal with them as long as they worked in a duo.


    But that was only when the enemy Fourth Tribtion Stage immortals were alone. Now that they were in a pair as well, the two Ming Sisters were getting overwhelmed.


    "My beast is injured thus I had to withdraw. Sister Aolian didn''t want me to be ejected and thus asked me to run away first to call for help." Ming Dandan spoke.


    Lin Mu knew that if a beast tamer''s beast lost, it was basically the same as their loss. In the case of the Ming sisters, they needed to keep their beast conscious even if it meant having to withdraw from the fight.


    "I''ming." Lin Mu replied, while also informing Lu Xu and Qian Wen.


    "Should wee too?" they asked.


    "No, just stay here and guard. We still need this ce for a few more days." Lin Mu replied before leaving through the crack.


    ~shua~


    Directly flying out at great speed, Lin Mu seared for the Ming Sisters.


    ~BOOM~


    ~HOWL~


    The howl of the Sky Soar Wolf was heard by Lin Mu along with the sound of an explosion.


    "There they are," Lin Mu locked onto their position and quickly flew there.


    Being able to freely fly again felt nice to Lin Mu as he could now use his full capabilities. Having to restrict his use of his Spatial Skills, he was a bit slower but being able to fly made up for it a bit.


    "Ugh!" Ming Aolian groaned as she defended against a rather heavy attack. "Push him Ting!" she ordered.


    ~HOWL~Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    The Sky Soar Wolf responded and mmed against a cultivator that seemed to be using arge war hammer. The man was pushed back for a few meters but was able to hold his ground.


    "Hahah! That little mutt isn''t enough to fight us." The man with the hammer said. "Weisheng, go get the other girl!" he spoke to hispanion.


    "On it Daoist Jianguo!" The other man named Weisheng replied.


    He was using pair of serrated hooks that looked to be dripping with blood.


    ~Whimper~


    ~THUD~


    The Sky Soar Wolf was struck by the war hammer, causing it to let out a painful cry.


    "Sister Aolian, he''sing!" Ming Dandan''s voice could soon be heard.


    "There she is! She''sing back on her own." The man with the hooks said as a smile appeared on his face. "You made out work easier."


    ~WHOOSH~


    In the next moment, Weisheng threw out the serrated hooks, controlling them through his immortal sense.


    Ming Dandan saw the hooks and knew she wouldn''t be able to defend straight away.


    ''Are we going to fall here?'' She wondered and closed her eyes in fear.


    ~CLANG~


    But just as the hooks were about to reach her, something stopped it.


    "Huh?" Weisheng was surprised to see a double edged sword there.


    ~shing~ shing~


    And while his attention was captured by that, two streaks of light flew from the distance.


    "What!?" Weisheng was barely able to respond at thest moment as he saw the fiery arrays that were heading towards him.


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    The two arrows missed the man but left a burn on his clothes. They had narrowly missed him but he was still surprised.


    ''The fire bypassed my defenses?'' Weisheng was surprised.


    "Brother Mu Lin!" Ming Dandan finally spotted Lin Mu who was flying towards them.


    ~twang~


    The sound of the bow was heard clearly this time, the distance between them shorter than before.


    "You!" Weisheng quickly called his hooks back, wielding them to deflect the arrows.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~


    But much to his surprise, as soon as the arrows struck his hooks they directly exploded.


    "Argh!" The man recoiled from the st, more of his clothes on fire.


    His sleeves had instantly turned into ash, while half of the robes on his torso were ignited.


    "Afternoon Pine!" Then, Lin Mu controlled his sword swinging it without stopping.


    ~SHING~


    The double edged sword flew automatically, releasing a sh that traveled towards Weisheng. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You think you can defeat me this easily!?" Weisheng snarled before raising the hooks. "Flesh Rending Butcher Hooks! Rending curl!" the man used a skill as waves of immortal Qi rolled off his body.


    The hooks glowed in a red light before shing out. The red lights transformed intorge meat hooks that shed against the sword lights.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    "Hah! Just as I thought. You merely caught me off guard!" Weisheng said having blocked the shes perfectly.


    ~TWANG~


    But Lin Mu didn''t let the man have any time to rx, Wonder Seeker shot out more arrows.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Having learned his lesson from before, the man didn''t try to block the arrows, instead choosing to dodge them entirely.


    "I got you right where I want¡­" Lin Mu muttered before sping the double edged sword.


    ~HONG~


    He shed downward with the sword, and a pine tree rose out from the ground in the next moment. The tree continued to grow, and soon multiple of them started to appear.


    "Dammit!" Weisheng realized that he was now surrounded by the Pine trees that were overflowing with Metal immortal Qi.


    He could tell that if he touched those, he would get cut.


    AHHHHHH!" Weisheng started swinging his hooks indiscriminately, sending tens of red lights around him that transformed into more meat hooks.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    The sound of the lights colliding against the pine trees could he heard. While they didn''t break it, they were able to halt its progress.


    "You alright?" With the man trapped, Lin Mu had a moment to talk to the younger Ming sister.


    "Yes. I just have a few minor injuries." Ming Dandan replied. "But sister Aolian needs more help!" she urged him.


    "Of course. Let''s finish this up first¡­" Lin Mu said before jumping into the battle directly.


    ~CLANG~


    Facing Weisheng directly, Afternoon Pine struck one of the hooks.


    "Ugh! You can''t¡ª" But before Weisheng could say much, a blurry fist struck him.


    ~THUD~


    The hooks were unable to block the sudden attack from Lin Mu, that knocked the man back.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Without waiting, Lin Mu lunged towards Weisheng, sending out multiple shes. The man was still trying to recover from the punch and was barely able to see the iing shes before he was struck by them.


    "AAAHHHHHHH!" Several cuts appeared on the man''s body, his robes almost turning to tatters.


    "Time to end this." Lin Mu stood in front of the man and struck out with his fist.


    This time he punched the waist of the man.


    ~CRACK~


    The sound of something breaking was heard, which might or might not include a few of Weisheng''s ribs.


    ~SHUA~


    Then in the next second, his body turned into a sh of light and disappeared.


    "WHAT!?" Jianguo who saw the defeat of hispanion was surprised.


    It hadn''t even been a minute since he had asked Weisheng to eliminate Ming Dandan, and now he was gone.


    "Who are you!?" The man questioned while swinging his hammer to keep the Sky Soar Wolf away.


    "Ting! Come back!" Ming Aolian had also seen that Lin Mu had arrived and asked her beast to retreat.


    Ting had also sustained several injuries and needed to heal upter.


    ''If not for Brother Mu Lin''s help in strengthening Ting, she might not have been able tost that long.'' Ming Aolian thought.


    She knew that Ting battling a Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal was already quite good, and being able to stall two of them was even better. Something like this would not have been possible if not for Lin Mu''s help.


    "Why are you assisting these girls?" Jianguo couldn''t help but question.


    After all, to him, it didn''t make sense. Any more than two people in a group meant that someone was bound to lose out in the end. It was simply not a favorable thing and one wouldn''t make a alliance of three people.


    ~SLASH~ SLASH~


    But all he got were a few sword shesing his way.


    ~TREMBLE~


    The ground split up from the shes, while yellow Metal Pine trees rose from it.


    "DAMMIT!" Jianguo raised his hammer and mmed it down on the ground.


    ~DENG~DENG~


    The power of the attack was quite great and actually managed to stop the pine trees from approaching him.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~

 Chapter 1736 An Explosive Finish

    Jianguo had thought that this round was basically secured for him. He had met hispanion Daoist Weisheng and just so happened to be acquainted with him from before. The two made an agreement and teamed up to obtain the two winning positions in this Spatial ne.


    Their time here was easy too, as they were able to defeat most of their opponents with ease. Two Fourth Tribtion Stage immortals cooperating with each other were a strikingbo.


    They were basically able to steamroll through thepetition and had thought that it would be the same this time.


    Their opponents were two girls who were Beast Tamers. While these could be troublesome at times, the two had confidence.


    Though Jianguo had indeed been surprised once he saw that the beasts were stronger than they seemed. They had actually fought them almost on an equal level. If not for the fact that Weisheng had managed to injure one of them greatly, they might not have flipped the odds.


    But even then, the Sky Soar Wolf was still a pain. Due to it having wings, it could maneuverer through the air with great speed. That was why the wolf had managed to hold the two back while the second girl ran off somewhere.


    Neither of the two had thought that she had actually gone to ask for help. After all, it wouldn''t make sense to ask a third person for help in a tournament like this.


    ''I won''t let him spoil my progress!'' Jianguo thought with range.


    The man wasn''t done and continued to swing the hammer, this time hitting the trees directly. It felt like a bell was being constantly rung with the hammer actually managing to stop the pine trees.


    "Haha! See! Even you can be stopped!" Jianguoughed.


    A strong wave of Immortal Qi was let off from his body, before the hammer started to shake. Concentrated Qi gathered within the hammer, as runes shone on its surface.


    "Time to show you what true strength is like!" Jianguo gave onest push, before he used a Qi skill. "Hammering Vortex!"


    ~WHOOSH~


    With a long swing of the hammer, he turned into a spinning vortex!


    Tens of hammer imprints were shot out form the vortex as well, sting back the Pine trees.


    Lin Mu who saw the Qi skill was actually a bit impressed.


    "I guess you do deserve you position along with your cultivation base¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    In the next moment, Lin Mu took a stance and pulled back his fist.


    "But if its strength you want topete in¡­" Strong energy fluctuation could be felt from his arm as it started to swell. "You are stillcking!" Lin Mu leaped towards Jianguo, ignoring all the hammer imprints that wereing towards him.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    They collided with his body, but he didn''t slow down at all. He endured all of them with his tough body and continued on. And when he was just a meter from Jianguo, his erged fist shot forth in a punch.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: First Form- Impact!


    ~BOOM~


    A great explosion was heard, as the Qi skill was forcefully dispelled.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The broken and battered body of Jianguo shot out from the impact, flying across the barrennd.


    But before it could even touch the ground, it disappeared into a sh of light. His token had been broken, and he had been removed from the Spatial ne!


    Lin Mu stood in the wake of the destruction, the rubble and fragments still settling down from the collision. His robes were torn in several ces, but they were already starting to mend themselves.


    ''Getting these robes was the right choice.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He had gotten the self repairing robes a while back and was now wearing them for the Tournament.


    Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan who were watching from behind were shocked. When Lin Mu had jumped directly towards the Qi skill, they had thought the worst, but he was somehow unharmed.


    ''I knew Brother Mu Lin is a body cultivator and has tough body, but this¡­ This is on an entirely different level.'' Ming Aolian was surprised.


    With the improvement Lin Mu had in his body cultivation through the two techniques, the toughness had reached a new level. This was in addition to the passive defense granted by the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.


    Lin Mu had used that right now as well.


    The erging of his arm and fist was through the use of it.


    Combining that with the Boulder Copsing Fist''s first form brought forth a perfect harmony.


    ''The power amplification is rather good.'' Lin Mu thought to himself while looking at his fist.


    A few fine ''tears'' could be seen on his arm but they were already healing. The rich vitality within him was moving to repair all the harm that had been done in the brief battle. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~shua~


    ''You two did good.'' Lin Mu said in his mind.


    Wonder Seeker and Afternoon Pine floated over to Lin Mu, which he then quickly stored away.


    "Brother Mu Lin! Are you okay?" Ming Dandan rushed over to ask after she had recovered a bit.


    Turning to look at the anxious girl, Lin Mu gave a nod.


    "Yes, I''m fine." Lin Mu replied.


    Ming Dandan first thought that he might be saying that just to ay her worries. But when she saw it firsthand, there were indeed no injuries on Lin Mu''s body. Even his robes that were torn in ces were repairing automatically.


    "I''m grateful that you are fine." Ming Dandan let out a breath of relief.


    Ming Aolian also approached and spoke, "we should retreat."


    "Yes¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows and looked towards the distance.


    Faint Qi fluctuations could be felting from there, which Lin Mu knew were other immortals approaching.


    "Let''s get back to the hideout. There are othersing to fight." Lin Mu replied.


    "Yes!" Ming Dandan replied.


    The three of them quickly returned to the hideout, while a few cultivators reached the site of the battle. Three teams of cultivators had appeared there. All of them seemed to be at the Fourth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm and were sufficiently strong.


    They looked at each other with wary eyes, ready for any conflict.


    "Let''s first assess the situation here." One of them suggested.


    "Very well." Another person from a second team replied.


    "I''m fine with that too." The third team''s member spoke.


    They looked at the battle site, only to see that three wererge gullies left on the ground.


    "Whoever fought here was strong¡­ The energy that still lingers isn''t light." The person from the first team spoke.


    "Looks like they left already though." The person from the third team checked the area with their immortal sense.


    "Or maybe they perished together?" the second team suggested.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Whatever it might be, they are possibly stronger than us. I can sense two Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal''s traces here, but the one that fought them cannot be sensed." The second member from the first team stated after checking the area.


    "No use wasting time here then. We still have another monster to fight against. Childe Wildfire is already enough of a pain."


    With that said, the three teams retreated, not intending to fight right away.


    To them, it made more sense to take out the weaker contestants first. If they fought right now, while a winner among them would be decided, it would still end up depleting their energy.


    And there was no saying if someone else might approach them in that time. There were many contestant that were watching battles like vultures. They would let others fight and when they were done they''d swoop in to defeat the weakened contestant.


    It was one of the optimum ways ofpeting while also conserving their strength.


    By now, most of the strong immortals in the Spatial ne had somewhat realized where they stood as well as who the strongest among them were. Thus they wished to get rid of the weaklings first.


    While they hadn''t made an alliance, it was still an unsaid agreement they had decided upon.


    It was in their advantage to wait out, till the end.


    Perhaps they might even be able to take out Childe Wildfire in that time.


    He was in the top five and had the highest chance of winning this round. With him taking 1 spot in the winners, there would be fiercepetition for the second spot.


    But in order to have a better chance, they contestants decided to let Childe Wildfire deplete his Qi before they would strike him in the end. If he was defeated, there would be two spots avable after all.


    What they didn''t know was that Lin Mu had a n that would wreck all of them.


    He was following a simr n to them, but intended to finish all of them win one go when the time was right.


    Lin Mu and the Ming sisters returned to the hideout for recovery, while waiting for more Spatial nes to close.

 Chapter 1737 The Crown Princes Doubts

    While Lin Mu and hispanions were fighting in the Spatial ne, another set of events was happening in the Capital city.


    In one of the pces of the capital, a regal looking man was sitting in a wide open balcony.


    Crafted from marble adorned with intricate carvings, the balcony exuded an air of regality and elegance. Its edges were adorned with delicate gold filigree, glinting under the sun''s warm rays.


    A sweeping staircase led to the balcony, nked by sculpted stone statues depicting mythical creatures and legendary heroes of the Dao wind empire. A myriad of potted nts and vibrant floral arrangements graced the edges, adding a touch of natural beauty to the already mesmerizing surroundings.


    The Balcony was merely one part though, as it further extended into a wide room that might as well be the royal court of a kingdom. It was decorated ordingly with gold and gemstones everywhere.


    Such opulence was rare to be seen and even an in immortal would only a few would be able to afford it.


    "Crown Prince," A Woman''s voice trailed over the air, reaching the airs of the regal looking man.


    "Yes, princess?" The man turned to look at the woman dressed in fiery red robes that wereced with green silk.


    "You''ve been silent for a while. Is something on your mind?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Hmm¡­ I guess you can say I do have several things." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "Such as?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Well, the Tournament would be the first thing I supposed." Crown Prince Feng Shun saidzily.


    He lightly waved his hand, causing a cup of wine to fly out toward him.


    "Are you thinking about your third brother?" A man dressed in Daoist clothes asked.


    "No¡­" The crown prince shook his head. "Do you remember our new friend, Daoist Chu?" he asked instead.


    "Our new friend? Do you mean Daoist Mu Lin?" Daoist Chu replied.


    "Indeed. Who other than him?" Crown Prince said with a smile.


    "Are you wondering if he''ll be able to finish the task you''ve given to him?" Crown Princess Shang asked, taking a sip of some wine as well.


    "Amitabha, with Daoist Mu Lin''s capabilities I don''t think there is much to doubt. Just what we witnessed at the banquet is enough for me to tell he stands far above the others." The monk sitting next to them also spoke, though his eyes stayed closed.


    In his hand, a set of prayer beads were being held. He was slowly fingering each bead as if chanting with them.


    "Monk Hushu is correct as well." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "For someone who can cultivate the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets to that level, I don''t have doubt in his capabilities. But¡­ there are other things that might change that." He added.


    "Like what?" Princess Shang asked.


    "I heard there are some unexpected participants this time. The people they fought against have had to inexplicably withdraw from the tournament too." The Crown Prince replied.


    "The people of the ck Fin Ind¡­ yes. I did hear about them joining this time too." Princess Shang''s expression darkened.


    "Aren''t those people reclusive and do not live their territory after their past actions were pardoned?" Daoist Chu seemed to have recalled something.


    "Being the assassin squad of the Holy Topaz Dynasty does result in that. While they were said to have stopped that work, it seems like someone has brought them out of retirement." The Crown Prince stated, his expression hidden from the sights of others as he gazed out into the distance.


    "If it is from the Holy Topaz Dynasty, then there aren''t many people that canmand them." Daoist Chu said furrowing his brows.


    "Other than one¡­ Yao Changying." Princess Shang said with a cold look.


    Her tone was sharp and it looked like she wanted nothing more than to snuff the said person out.


    "Does the Crown Prince think Yao Changying might have asked the people of the ck Fin Ind to interfere in the tournament?" Monk Hushu inquire.


    "Might? More like must." Princess Shang replied. "If it is her, she can definitely do it. The Holy Topaz Emperor apparently might favor her too." She added.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Would that be enough to grant her the authority tomand the ck Fin Ind''s members? Won''t that cause issues with the other empires?" Daoist Chu questioned, finding it risky.


    "That is what''s surprising to me." The Crown Prince answered. "The Holy Topaz Empire is not in a state to do something like this especially when their ownnd is facing trouble.


    First the Demon and the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, and then the missing eleventh prince who was said to have turned into a prodigy." <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hmm¡­ it is indeed strange. Is it possible that Yao Changying is doing this on her own?" Daoist Chu wondered. "Without the Holy Topaz Emperor knowing, perhaps?"


    "If its that bitch, she''ll be willing to do anything. She''s already conned one empire and world, she may as well do the same to her own too." Crown Princess Shang scoffed.


    It was clear that the mere mention of Yao Changying was enough to agitate her. It spoke at great length about how much she was bothered and infuriated by the actions of Yao Changying.


    "That might be true, but the question still stands what does she gain from it?" Monk Hushu got the crux of the issue.


    "What else, she probably just wants to weaken thepetition." Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "If we think about it, all of us know that she is already strong enough to reach the top three." The Crown Prince spoke again this time his tone a bit calm. "So that might not be it."


    "What about the people who had to forfeit? What are their conditions like now?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Let me check." Crown Princess Shang said before sending out a message through a jade slip.


    The response was received in just five minutes, as if a report had already been prepared for them in advance and was waiting for their inquiry.


    Princess Shang quickly read through it and frowned.


    "The ones who had to withdraw have been having unusual issues with their cultivation base. Some are unable to gather Qi correctly, while some are just sick." She informed.


    "Hmm¡­ so it was not fatal," Monk Hushu fiddled with his fingers. "Just weakening thepetition won''t do much."


    "That does make sense¡­ even if she didn''t get the members of the ck Fin Ind to interfere, it would still be the same result. The weaker people would have lost anyways." Daoist Chu agreed.


    "All of you are right, but what if Yao Changying''s goal isn''t the Tournament¡­ What if it''s something else that we aren''t able to see right now?" Crown Prince Feng Shun expressed his concern.


    "There''s no saying what that nefarious bitch will do. She might just be doing this for fun too." Princess Shang said.


    "Whatever it might be, we should keep an eye on it." Daoist Chu stated. "Especially before the ''expedition''. If this turns into something bigger, it might throw a wrench in our ns." He added in a serious tone.


    "Daoist Chu is right¡­ It seems like I should get out of rxing and get to more serious tasks now." The Crown Prince stated as his expression changed.


    He finished the wine in his cup before taking out his personal jade slip. A message was sent through it, its contents unknown.


    But then a few secondster, several figures appeared inside the hall. All of them were dressed in dark green robes that almost bordered on ck. Their faces were covered as well and even their eyes couldn''t be seen, a thinyer of veil covering them.


    "You summoned us Crown Prince?" one of the figures in the lead spoke.


    "Look into these people from the ck Fin Ind as well as the actions of Yao Changying. Report to us anything that they do and keep an eye on the people affected by the ck Fin Ind members.


    Report to me whenever you find something." The Crown Prince ordered.


    "As youmand, Crown Prince." The person in the lead replied.


    One of the persons in the back seemed to mutter something though, making the leader notice it.


    "I think we have something already, Crown Prince." The leader stated.


    "Speak." Crown Prince replied.


    "Our team has reported that the ck Fin Ind members who have lost the tournament are still in the Capital City. Though their actions have been rather suspicious.


    Some of the watchers reported them wandering the city but never interacting with others.


    Additionally, there have been reports of a few citizens getting strangely sick. We suspect that the coalition of these citizens and the paths that the ck Fin Ind members took match." The leader exined.


    Hearing this the Princess and Daoist Chu were surprised.


    "See, I told you she''s nning something bigger." Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "Very well¡­ Capture and bring these people. We''ll see what they are doing." The Crown Prince ordered.

 Chapter 1738 Open Battles

    Unaware of the Crown Prince Feng Shun''s actions, Lin Mu was still waiting in the Spatial ne.


    "Are you two okay now?" Lin Mu asked.


    Two days had passed since the battle and Lin Mu had asked the two as well as their Tamed beasts to recover in that time.


    "Yes, Brother Mu Lin." Ming Aolian replied.


    "Your healing pills were really effective." Ming Dandan replied as well. "The beasts are recovering fast too. I think they''ll be fine by tomorrow." She added.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu knew that Beast Qi could stimte the growth of the beasts quite a bit.


    The two beasts still had it left within their bodies, thus their natural healing would be boosted.


    "How much longer do we wait though Brother?" Ming Aolian asked. "It has been about seventeen days now." She stated.


    "Not long¡­ I think just four or five more days." Lin Mu answered.


    It was true since Lin Mu had felt the pace of the Spatial nes closing had increased. In just two days, five Spatial nes had closed leaving only ten left including theirs.


    ''The fights in the other ces should be ending soon. Even here the number of cultivators wandering around had reduced. It shouldn''t take that long now.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen were looking around the area at this time since the Ming Sisters had been injured. They had barley fought just one cultivator in the two days, which was a very low number. Especially so considering the fact that most cultivators had formed teams of two now.


    Finding a lone cultivator was rather rare. And by now, pretty much all of the Second Tribtion Stage immortals had been wiped out. The ones that were left now were mostly at the Third or Fourth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm.


    The eighteenth day rolled in and two more Spatial nes copsed.


    A single ne copsed on day neen while two more copsed on day twenty.


    And on day twenty one, only two more Spatial nes were left, with the rest having copsed.


    ~Rumble~


    As soon as Lin Mu sensed this, he opened his eyes and stopped hisprehension of Space. His progress with the Spiral ke Crystal had improved once more and he reckoned he might only need a few more days to actually touch the ''unknown'' within it.


    "It is time!" Lin Mu quickly sent out a message to hispanions.


    "We''re outside." The Ming sisters responded.


    "We''ll join you now." Lu Xu and Qian Wen stated.


    Lin Mu walked out of the crack along with them, not worrying about the people watching them now. It was at the end of the stage and there would be no way to avoid their gazes. Thus it was best to go out and gather some value for them.


    Coming at the end and blowing away thepetition was another way of gathering a lot of attention. This would sway the odds in their favor, raising the bet values for them. There was even a chant that they might raise it mid way while the tournament was running.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu flew up into the sky, letting himself be seen openly.


    ''We''ll do as nned. I''ll gather attention, you four scatter and attack the people who try to approach.'' Lin Mu reminded them.


    "Yes!" the four reminded.


    Splitting into two teams, Lin Mu''spanions trailed him from a short distance while staying as hidden as they could. They needed to make others think they too were stalking Lin Mu and would ambush him at a certain time.


    Five minutes was all it took for Lin Mu to gather attention.


    ''Hmm, two Fourth Tribtion Stage immortals and two Third Tribtion Stage immortals.'' Lin Mu quickly picked them up with his Immortal sense.


    He could tell that they too were trying to use Immortal sense, but their range was not enough to reach Lin Mu fully. Plus the cultivation base that Lin Mu was demonstrating was simply at the Second Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm.


    It served as the perfect target and others couldn''t help but feel tempted by it.


    After all, they didn''t know how many people were left in the Spatial ne, thus finding a weak opponent to defeat was a good chance. There were still the rewards that they could get after this. The rewards were determined in many ways, but even if one didn''t win the round, they could still get some rewards depending on their performance.


    Lin Mu and hispanions might not have defeated as many immortals as the others, but since they intended to win the round, it didn''t matter to them. The overall rewards they would get would still be higher. Not to mention, the bets that had been ced by Luo Liqin would be massive too.


    The returns from those bets would be several times more than that.


    Thus to Lin Mu and hispanions, it was more important to win rather than to get the smaller rewards for their performance.


    "Two Third Tribtion Stage Immortals near Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan." Lin Mu informed hispanions.


    "On it!" Ming Aolian replied. "Ting!" she quickly called out her Sky Soar Wolf.


    ~SWOOSH~


    Ming Dandan also called out her Mulch Crawl Eater Beast. Getting it to coordinate with Ting. The two beasts approached together before the Mulch Crawl Beast used its ability.


    ~Tremble~


    "Ugh! What''s this?" The two Third Tribtion Stage immortals suddenly found themselves sinking into the ground.


    "This is¡­ Mud? No this can''t be mud, we''re sinking!" they realized something was wrong.


    ~WHOOSH~


    It was at this time that the Sky Soar Wolf swooped in. They hadn''t even noticed the beast before they had been struck.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~GRRR~


    Ting''s ws directly ripped at the two immortals, catching them off guard.


    "Ugh!"


    "ARGH!"


    The two could only let out a brief cry before they turned into shes of light and disappeared. Ting''s attack had crushed the tokens they held, thereby removing them from the tournament.


    "We''re done, Brother Mu Lin." The Ming Sisters replied.


    "Good, withdraw the beasts. It''s best to keep them hidden." Lin Mu advised.


    "Yes!" Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan quickly recalled the beasts.


    After all, they were ratherrge and would be easily spotted by the others.


    "Anything for us?" Lu Xu asked.


    "Two Fourth Tribtion Stage immortals. They are more careful than the others, and are to your right." Lin Mu answered. "Prepare to attack when I tell you." He instructed.


    ~SHUA~


    Mid way Lin Mu flipped around, a bow appearing in his hand.


    ~TWANG~


    In the next moment, the bow gleamed with a red light, two fiery arrows shooting out of it.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Dammit! He noticed us!" The two fourth tribtion stage immortals saw the red arrowsing towards them.


    "So what, he''s just at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. There isn''t much he can do against us." His ally spoke.


    "Let''s just deal with him directly now then." The other person agreed.


    ~SHUA~


    The arrows reached in this time, but the two Fourth Tribtion Stage immortals were able to dodge them with ease. After all the distance between them wasrge and gave them enough time to see the trajectory of the arrows.


    ~TWANG~


    But Lin Mu didn''t stop there and sent more arrows.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Multiple arrows flew at them, forcing them to focus on dodging them.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Small explosions happened wherever they struck making them a bit rmed.


    "Careful, his skill is strong." The first Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal spoke.


    "It''s stronger than his cultivation base, he probably wouldn''t be able to use that skill too many times. We just need to focus on dodging it and he''ll get tired on his own." The Second Tribtion Stage immortals replied.


    Unfortunately for them, this was simply a distraction that had been set by Lin Mu.


    "NOW!" Lin Mu informed Lu Xu and Qian Wen.


    "Haha, I was waiting for this!" Lu Xu ambushed the first Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal, holding a longnce.


    "Me too." Qian Wen used an army halberd and stabbed towards the second Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal.


    "What!?" The two only saw the ambush when Lu Xu and Qian Wen were a couple of meters from them.


    "Sneak attacking us!? You''ll regret this!" The first fourth Tribtion Stage immortal scoffed.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    The two fourth Tribtion Stage immortals shed with Lu Xu and Qian Wen, though they were certainly pushed back a little.


    ~HUMM~


    But that was not the end of it as the real attack was yet to arrive.


    ~SHING~


    A streak of yellow sword light rushed towards them in the blink of an eye, pine trees overflowing with Sword Intent sprouting along with it.


    "SHIT!" The first fourth Tribtion Stage immortal could only curse before he was struck. "Agh!"


    "What in the¡ª" hispanion was distracted by it enough that Qian Wen was able to hit him, while Lu Xu joined him.


    A few strikes were all it took for the man''s token to be destroyed and for him to disappear.


    The same happened with the first fourth Tribtion Stage immortal who turned into a sh of light.

 Chapter 1739 Sword, Shield And Formations

    With the defeat of the two Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortals, Lu Xu and Qian Wen were free again.


    "Split up again, there should be more appearing soon." Lin Mu quickly ordered.


    It was best he didn''t let anyone see them together for longer. This didn''t apply to the audience though, but merely to the contestants. The longer they had the advantage the better it would be for them.


    "On it." Lu Xu replied.


    "We''ll be half a kilometer from you." Qian Wen spoke after gaining some distance.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu rose back into the sky and continued to fly. His immortal sense was continually scanning for opponents and soon found another duo of immortals. But this time they weren''t moving but were some distance in front of Lin Mu.


    "Two more immortals ahead of me." Lin Mu informed hispanions just to be aware.


    He sensed the cultivation bases of the immortals and found it to be a different mix this time.


    ''One Third Tribtion Stage Immortal and one Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal?'' Lin Mu was a bit surprised to the the pair of woman and man.


    Normally abination like this shouldn''t have been seen as the immortals would only team up with others who were on the same level as them. Lin Mu and hispanions were an exception to it. Or so he had thought so far.


    But seeing them Lin Mu realized that there might be others going against the norm too.


    ''So that''s why¡­'' Only when Lin Mu saw their robes did he realized why two immortals with different cultivation bases were teaming up. "They''re surely lucky to have ended up together." Lin Mu muttered.


    The two immortals he was sensing were both from the same background. While Lin Mu couldn''t tell what n or power they belonged to, their robes were of the same design even having the same crest on it.


    "But now their luck seems to be reaching an end¡­" Lin Mu said before informing hispanions. "Ming Aolian, Ming Dandan, get ready."


    "I''ll send Ting ahead!" Ming Aolian quickly responded, calling out her Sky Soar Wolf.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Ting spread open her wings and sped forth. Due to being a flying beast, her speed was better than normal immortals who could also fly. Her dexterity in the air was also higher than them, allowing her to outmaneuver them with ease.


    "Let Ting attack first, I''ll strike next." Lin Mu spoke while slowing down his speed.


    "Which one should she attack?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "The Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal man." Lin Mu replied, intending to distract them first.


    "Alright." Ming Aolian quickly gave the order to Ting who was quickly approaching the two immortals.


    ~HOWL~


    A gust of wind was created by Ting''s ws as she attacked the fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal.


    "A BEAST!" The Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal had also sensed the fast beast but could still react in time.


    ~CLANG~


    He summoned a tall shield that was made out of thin ss. The shield looked to be rather fragile, but the runes carved on it made it incredibly tough.


    ''A Mid Grade Immortal Shield¡­ Almost reaching the High Grade too.'' Lin Mu sensed the immortal Qi fluctuationing from the shield.


    He could tell that the shield might actually turn into a High Grade immortal Shield after a few more years of nurturing and the right materials.


    ~HUALA~


    But that wasn''t all as the runes on the shield lit up, creating a formation circle around it. The circle quickly expanded to a diameter of ten meters, creating a wide protective area.


    "Junior Sister, stay close!" The Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal shouted.


    "Yes!" The Third Tribtion Stage immortal looked to be calm despite the attack.


    It was unknown whether it was due to her trust in her Senior brother or whether she was just unfazed, but she stayed calm under the attack. Not only that, but she reacted quickly to the next attack as well.


    ~TWANG~


    Lin Mu shot out several fiery arrows, while Ting was wing at the shield.


    "Dammit! It''s an ambush." The Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal man said.


    "I''ll take care of that!" The Third Tribtion Stage Immortal woman quickly replied.


    She took out a stack of paper talismans, throwing them out in a particr form.


    "Nine Talisman Art! Counter Form!" The woman said, controlling the talismans.


    The talismans took the shape of a octagon, with eight talismans at the corners and one at the center.


    ~flick~


    ~BOOM~


    A couple of momentster, the fiery arrows arrived. But when they struck the talisman, they were deflected!


    It was as if they had hit a springy surface and were turned back.


    ''That''s new¡­'' Lin Mu watched the octagonal talisman formation.


    It wasn''t something unfamiliar to him after all.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''She''s a formation master, specializing in talismans¡­ She''ll be adaptive.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Lin Mu even thought that the woman might be a tougher opponent than the man, since she might have a lot more versatility than the man. Lin Mu was a formation master too and knew just how strong they could be.


    ~GRRR~


    Ting showed aggression and bared her fangs at the man, directly biting at the ss shield, but it was still able to protect them.


    "Junior sister, now!" The Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal man ordered.


    "Yes!" The third Tribtion Stage Immortal woman replied before throwing out more talismans.


    These ones were dark blue in color and exuded an icy aura.


    "Nine Talisman art! Freezing Form!" The woman chanted, before making a hand seal.


    This time she threw out Four Talismans, that took the shape of a triangle, three at each corner and one in the center.


    ~HISS~


    A chilly feeling could be felt by everyone at that moment. Even Lin Mu who was close could tell that the talisman formation was not weak.


    "Ming Dandan, trap them now." Lin Mu quickly ordered, while drawing Wonder Seeker to the full extent.


    He didn''t shoot out multiple arrows this time, but instead gathered power within a single one. The arrow grew longer and thicker, while fiery energy condensed within it. Lin Mu''s n was single, since she seemed to be using cold, he''ll simply counter it with heat.


    But while he got that ready, the third Tribtion Stage Immortal woman acted.


    "Encase." She muttered softly.


    The triangr talisman formation flew towards Ting, releasing three beams of freezing energy. The energy entrapped Ting between it, ice quickly starting to form. Within seconds, Ting was encased in solid ice.


    "Ting!" Ming Aolian shouted in worry.


    "Sink them," Ming Dandan''s beast reached them in this time and showed its ability.


    The ground underneath them suddenly softened before turning into mud.


    "More?" The fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal man was surprised, furrowing his brows.


    He looked at the ground, seeing that they had already sunk up to their knees.


    "It''s another cultivator." The Third Tribtion Stage Immortal woman could sense the Qi fluctuation from the ground, showing that it was a skill.


    Of course, she didn''t know it was being used by a beast right now.


    "Get ready," The man said before withdrawing his shield.


    He took out a long sword that looked like it was made from ss as well. It had runes carved on it, and looked incredibly sharp. Its handle was engraved with gemstones that had been shaped into letters as well.


    ~SHING~


    The sword hummed with energy, while a multicolored hue filled it.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu who sensed the sword was surprised.


    "It''s actually a High Grade Immortal weapon," Lin Mu muttered, furrowing his brows. ''It might be a bit too much for the Ming Sisters. For now I need to get Ting back.'' He thought.


    ~TWANG~


    In the next moment, he shot the arrow that he had been charging. It soared across the sky looking like a redet.


    "Another one ising!" The Third Tribtion Stage Immortal woman saw.


    She didn''t need to really saw it though as the energying from the arrow was strong enough to be sensed by everyone in an area of ten kilometer.


    "Be careful!" The Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal Man raised his sword, gathering energy within it.


    "Will you be able to strike it?" The woman asked while getting her talismanic formation ready as well. "I can deflect it."


    "It won''t work this time¡­ the power exceeds thest time. Save your talismans, you''ve already used up a lot." The man said before a determined expression appeared on his face.


    ~SHING~


    The ss sword gleamed in a multicolored light as its energy reached a peak.


    "I''ll take care of it this time!" The man said before doing a vertical sh.


    ~ZING~


    The very air was ripped apart, as a giant sh was released. The sword light transformed into a wide arc that was nearly a kilometer tall!


    "I was right¡­" Lin Mu furrow his brows as he saw the power of the attack.


    The pair of man and woman were not weak at all.


    ~BOOM~


    In the next second, the sword sh and theet like arrow collided!

 Chapter 1740 Explosive Collision

    The collision of the two great forces exuded a great pressure on every side.


    Strong energy fluctuations spread everywhere, along with the heat from theet like arrow. Still, the giant sh was actually able to hold the arrow back, preventing it from progressing anymore. The collision onlysted for a second, yet that one second looked very slow.


    ~BOOM~


    The explosion knocked uprge dust clouds, that covered everything along with smoke that clouded everyone''s vision. And with the intense immortal Qi waves mixed in all this, people couldn''t even use their Immortal sense to observe everything.


    If they did try that, their Immortal sense would simply be pushed back. Only those that had highly refined their Immortal sense or those with a high cultivation base would be able to withstand it. But even then, it would take them some time to observe everything.


    This created the perfect opportunity for Lin Mu to act.


    ''Let''s get Ting back,'' Lin Mu directly used Blink and got close to Ting.


    Next he ced her into his ring before quickly retreating. The entire set of events didn''t take more than a couple of seconds, which were already enough for Lin Mu to be in safety.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And five secondster, the fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal man Swung his sword again, dispelling the clouds of dust and smoke.


    "What?" but when he saw the area in front of him, he was surprised.


    ''The wolf disappeared?'' Even the Third tribtion stage Immortal woman was surprised. "I didn''t sense anything¡­ no one approached." She muttered in confusion.


    And while they were trying to figure this out, Lin Mu had already retreated a kilometer away and regrouped with Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian.


    "Brother Mu Lin!" Ming Aolian called out in an anxious tone.


    "I''ve brought Ting." Lin Mu quickly said to assuage her concern.


    ~thud~


    The frozen figure out Ting was ced on the ground.


    Originally Lin Mu had hoped to melt her out using the arrow, but the attack of the Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal man changed that idea. He knew it was not a viable option as the attack would be blocked. But it still gave him another opportunity to rescue Ting.


    The mix of immortal Qi and vision blocking from the explosion was enough for Lin Mu to use his ring''s skill. Even the audience would be unable to see anything when such a thing was happening. Not to mention, his speed of teleportation was very fast and even if someone found it suspicious, there were many excuses that could be given.


    "Is Ting fine?'' Ming Dandan asked with worry.


    "She''s fine." Ming Aolian said after checking her connection with Ting.


    While the beast was frozen solid, she was simply trapped. An immortal beast was not that easy to freeze just like that. Their vitality could keep them alive like this for months even when frozen. Not to mention, the silk that the Third Tribtion Stage Immortal woman had used wasn''t strong enough to kill her outright.


    It was merely a restrictive skill.


    "Let me get her out." Lin Mu ced his hand on the ice before a scorching fire ignited on his hand.


    It quickly started melting the ice while cracks spread across it.


    ~SHATTER~


    And a couple of secondster, the ice shattered, Ting freeing herself from the inside.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~HOWL~


    The Sky Soar Wolf let out a howl of fury, feeling incredibly angry at being trapped like that.


    Lin Mu could somewhat understand the beast''s anguish and emotions.


    "You wanna go at them again?" Lin Mu asked.


    ~GROWL~


    Ting replied with a nod, understanding Lin Mu''s words.


    "Are you sure Ting?" Ming Aolian asked.


    ~BARK~


    "It''ll be fine. She''s not injured. We were just caught off guard." Lin Mu replied. "But now we know what kind of people we are facing." He added.


    "They are certainly strong. Was that a High Grade Immortal Sword?" Ming Dandan seemed to have sensed it by now.


    "Yeah¡­ even the shield is on the edge of turning into a High Grade Immortal Shield." Lin Mu confirmed. "To have that they are certainly not from a simple background."


    "Hmm¡­ that crest on their robes seems familiar but I can''t tell who they are¡­ though I''m sure they are from the Dao Wind Empire." Ming Aolian replied.


    "Are you guys okay?" Lu Xu asked at that this time.


    They had been watching from over two kilometer away and hadn''t gotten an update.


    "Yeah, we''re safe. But the opponent is stronger than I thought." Lin Mu replied.


    "Do you need our help?" Qian Wen asked.


    "No it''ll be fine. You two should focus on the others that might be approaching. The earlier explosion will have attracted the attention of plenty." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s true." Lu Xu replied.


    "Though¡­ do you know what power do those two immortalse from?" Lin Mu said before describing their crest.


    "I''ve seen that crest in the list of Dao Wind Empire''s powers." Qian Wen was the one to speak this time. "If I''m not wrong they should be from the Serene ss Valley in the South of the empire." He revealed.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Serene ss Valley?" Ming Aolian seemed to have remembered something. "Oh wait! I know them. Aren''t they the one who''ve made one of the Peak Grade Immortals Weapons of the Dao Wind Empire!?" She stated.


    "Yes¡­ They received a lot of recognition for it in the past. Though these days they have fallen a bit." Qian Wen replied.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was surprised.


    "So the are a n that is involved in the forging of Immortal Weapons?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not really. They aren''t a n either, but rather a collective power of several ns. They just so happened to have a Weapon forger that managed to make a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon which he then gifted to the Emperor." Qian Wen quickly exined.


    "I see¡­ Guess it makes sense why they have such strong weapons. Even their Talismanic formations seem to be rather good." Lin Mu replied.

 Chapter 1741 Anxious Counter

    ~WHOOSH~


    But while they were talking, several energy fluctuations could be felting from the front.


    "Seems like they found us," Lin Mu said his expression turning serious.


    In the distance, the pair of man and woman were preparing something.


    The woman had six talismans floating in front of her in the shape of a pentagon.


    "Nine Talismanic Art! Cannon Form!" She chanted, several runes forming with her handseals.


    The runes condensed into an orb in the center of the pentagon. The orb attached to the talisman in the center of the pentagon, as power started to condense in it.


    "With me, Senior brother!" The third Tribtion Stage Immortal woman said before activating the talismanic formation. "FIRE!"


    ~BOOM~


    In the next moment, a loud explosion was heard as a mix of blue and white light shot out. The lights transformed into arge cannonball that now looked like a streaking meteor.


    Just a minute ago there was a redet and now a blue and white meteor was flying in the sky. But that wasn''t all as the Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal man also attacked.


    He pulled his ss sword back, before thrusting with it in a straight line.


    "Serene Light Thrust!"


    An iridescent sword light flew out from the sword, apanying the cannonball. The two intertwined and spun together, as if resonating with each other.


    Thebined power of the two attacks was not small as could be seen from the expressions of the two immortals.


    Both the Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal man and his junior sister looked to be exhausted. Their immortal Qi fluctuations had also reduced by quite a lot showing that they had expended a lot of energy.


    ''This has to work¡­'' unknown to others, the woman was quite anxious.


    The reason behind it was the disappearance of the Sky Soar Wolf that she had frozen. The first thing that made her surprised was its sudden disappearance without her knowing it. Her Senior brother hadn''t sensed it either.


    The second thing that shocked her was the quick dispelling of her skill.


    ''The once someone is encased in the ice, even Senior Brother would take a few minutes to break it. And yet¡­ that person was able to dispel it in just a few seconds.'' This had also made her quite nervous.


    It made her think that the Beast hadn''t just disappeared on its own. Someone had actually taken it away.


    ''But if someone can do that, it meant they were just a few meters from us. And we couldn''t sense it at all. If they attacked at that time, we might have been wiped out. They are very strong¡­ if they can do this.'' The woman had grasped.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Having thought of all this, she decided to go all out and got her Senior brother to join her as well.


    ''I don''t know if we''ll be able to survive for long, but getting this far might still be enough to satisfy the elders.'' The senior brother thought.


    They had their own goals foring here and it was their luck that the two of them had ended up together in the Spatial ne.


    ''The Serene ss Valley has to reach at least the Quarterfinals this time¡­ If not us, hopefully, other members can do it.'' The Senior brother thought to himself. ''The valley needs to have better results this time¡­ at least the nobles should notice us again.''


    Several powers andpetitors had the same goal in the Tournament. To gain recognition and to improve their reputation. To some the rewards of the Tournament didn''t matter as much as the recognition of the others did.


    After all, thetter could bring them long term benefits in the form of coborations as well as various deals.


    Some powers used the tournament to disy the various services they could provide by letting their members use those skills in the tournament. For example and power providing formations would let their members disy various formations in the tournament, allowing the audience to notice it.


    The nobles who were looking for such services would certainly taken note and would contact them at atter time. In fact this was a well known thing, and the nobles specifically had people assigned to gathering this information.


    Someone even used the Tournament as a way to pick prospective brides and grooms for their juniors!


    After all, what better person to marry than a ranker of the Tournament. While the winners would most likely be out of reach, due to them being royalty like the Third Prince and Yao Changying, the others were still a fair game.


    The best option for them would be the ck horses who had rose to the top. They would be such wild cards that they could change the entire flow of the tournament.


    These contests would also be the most tempting to the nobles as they would often have no affiliation to other powers. It was the same as getting a strong expert without searching for them.


    Whatever their goals might be, Lin Mu and hispanions didn''t care. To them, onlying out on top mattered and their mission to defeat two individuals was important.


    And there was no way, Lin Mu was going to let it be spoiled.


    ''This is a lot more stronger than the previous attack¡­ It''s very fast too.'' Lin Mu sensed the iingbo skill.


    It had barely been a second and it had already traveled half the distance.


    Lin Mu nced at the Ming sisters and knew that they wouldn''t be able to dodge this in time even if he could. He thought about pulling them along with him, but without Little Shrubby they might still get caught up in the attack.


    Lin Mu wasn''t worried about getting defeated, but he couldn''t say the same about the two.


    "Ming Aolian, Ming Dandan! Behind me, NOW!" Lin Mu shouted. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    The Ming sisters had sensed the iing attack as well and knew that it was toote to dodge it. They did as Lin Mu told and got behind him.


    Lin Mu meanwhile, brought his hands forward in a brace position.

 Chapter 1742 Blocking A Great Attack

    ''Is¡­ Brother Mu Lin intending to block the attack on his own?'' Ming Dandan wondered in shock.


    She had confidence that Lin Mu himself would be able to bear it, but she didn''t know if her and her sister would survive this attack.


    ''What is he¡­'' Ming Aolian though noticed different energy fluctuations from Lin Mu.


    They came out swiftly from his body, and took the shape of an object in front of him.


    ''Huh¡­ is that¡­'' Before Ming Aolian could think much though, she heard a few words.


    "Earthen Armament Aspect: Great Shield Form!" Lin Mu directly used his Dao Skill with the highest defense.


    His Earth Dao shell quickly expanded, as the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo throbbed and covered it with rocks. The rocks rapidly appeared and condensed around the Dao Shell, turning into a denseyer of armor that could not be broken.


    The shield expanded to be nearly six meters wide, and tall, allowing everyone to hide behind itfortably. The Dao Traces that could be felt from the shield were also rather intense, especially with Lin Mu pouring a lot of immortal Qi into it.


    But that wasn''t all, as Lin Mu knew it wouldn''t be enough. While the shield could indeed block an attack on the level that wasing, it didn''t mean that it would stay fixed. It could still be pushed back if it was not anchored.


    "Aspect of Heaviness!" And to anchor it, Lin Mu sued the Aspect of Heaviness on it, turning the intensity up to the maximum.


    ~THUD~


    The Great Shield made out of earth directly mmed into the ground, creating cracks around it. Lin Mu supported it with both his hands crossed against the shield.


    "Great ready!" Lin Mu gave the Ming sisters onest warning before the attack finally arrived.


    ~DENG~


    Instead of exploding right away, a different sound was heard as the cannonball made out of runes collided with the shield along with the sword light. The two intertwining attacks were relentless and did not stop after the collision.


    "HAAAH!" Lin Mu used all of his strength to hold back the shield.


    His feet dug into the ground, and thatbined with the weight of the shield made him into an immovable anchor.


    ~WOONG~


    But the attack that the Third Tribtion Stage Immortal woman and the Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal man had used wasn''t one to be blocked this easily. It kept on assaulting the shield, acting like a drill and wanting to bore a hole through it.


    The multicolored sword energy was like sharp carving knives, that scratched away at the Great Shield''s rocky surface, while the Cannonball made out of runes was like a hammer that keep on rocking the shield. The effect of thebination attack could actually be seen too as the upper surface of the Great Shield started to whether away.


    "Not so easily." Lin Mu gritted his teeth and poured more Immortal Qi into Dao Embryo.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The True Earth Heart Dao Embryo''s beats were like thunder as it throbbed nonstop. The rocky surface of the Great Shield that was being worn away was quickly reced as more and more rocks started to grow. Earth also filled in the gaps, preventing any more damage.


    Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian that were watching it were stunned.


    They could feel the sheer power of the attack that was targeting them and knew that if it hit them they would be wiped out in an instant. While they might not die due to the formation arrays that would teleprompter them out in an instant, they would still be injured gravely.


    And yet an attack like that was being held back by Lin Mu.


    ''Is this¡­ A Dao Skill?'' Ming Aolian wondered.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    She could feel the Dao Traces from the shield, and could easily figure out to be a Dao Skill. She hadn''t realized it right away, as the shape of Lin Mu''s Dao Shell was different than the usual spherical shape.


    ''Brother Mu Lin made his own unique Dao shell¡­ And his Dao Embryo also seems to be rather different.'' Ming Aolian couldn''t recognize much about the Dao Embryo other than the fact that it belonged to the Earth Element.


    Ming Dandan was also having a lot of thoughts as she watched Lin Mu defend them.


    ''Brother Mu Lin had said that his affinity was with the Earth Element and Metal element, but I didn''t think he would have formed a Dao Embryo and Dao Shell for the Earth Element.'' Ming Dandan thought.


    She had mostly seen Lin Mu use his swords, and the skills associated with it. This had made her think that Lin Mu might have made a Metal elemental Dao Shell and Dao Embryo instead. But the reality seemed to be different.


    ''If Brother Mu Lin made a Dao Embryo for the Earth Element, and not the Metal Element, doesn''t this mean that he isn''t even using his strongest element while battling?'' Ming Dandan reckoned.


    To her, it made sense that the element that one had the most proficiency whit would be picked for a Dao Embryo. But what she didn''t know that while Lin Mu did have the most experience with the Earth Element, he had taken it in a different path.


    He had used Earth to increased his defense and while it could also be turned offensive using the other forms of Earthen Armament Aspect, she didn''t know that yet. Lin Mu also didn''t use that, since it consumed a lot of energy.


    Even with his high immortal Qi stores right now, he wouldn''t needlessly spend his energy stores on it.


    After all, Dao Skills were stronger than normal Qi skills and their consumption of energy also matched that.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    While the Ming Sisters were marveling at Lin Mu''s abilities, their foes were doings something simr. To them, their attack was something that would easily harm an immortal at the Fifth Tribtion stage.


    And yet, it had been held back somehow.


    ¡ª¡ª

 Chapter 1743 A Beacon To Attract

    Chapter 1743 A Beacon To Attract


    Waves of energy were rolling off the Great shield, as thebined attack continued its assault. And yet, Lin Mu didn''t look to be moving at all. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    1


    His foes in the distance were also watching it all, shock evident in their eyes.


    The Fourth Tribtion stage Immortal man''s hands were trembling as he held the ss sword weakly.


    "It can''t be¡­ How can it be halted?" the man was dumbstruck.


    The Third Tribtion stage Immortal woman wasn''t that much different either, her lips turning into a thin line while strain was visible on her forehead. Her fingers were also trembling, as she tried to maintain control over her Talisman Formation.


    "We might have been mistaken¡­" She said after a minute had passed and Lin Mu hadn''t moved at all.


    Their attacks were still trying to push back, but the Great Shield was still holding on.


    "Senior Brother¡­ if this doesn''t work, it seems like we''ll have to forfeit." The woman spoke as she thought about the potential oues.


    "Don''t say that. The result is still not decided!" the Fourth Tribtion stage Immortal man was not ready to give up yet.


    "I can feel my control weakening. The attack might notst much longer." The woman replied.


    The Fourth Tribtion stage Immortal man could only grit his teeth upon hearing that, and gripped the ss sword tightly. As much as he wanted to continue lightning, deep down he also knew that he might not be able tost that long.


    ''My immortal Qi is already low, and junior sister is also running out of her talismans. The current attack also consumed most of her immortal Qi in one go.'' The man thought to himself.


    ~RUMBLE~


    But he was quickly brought out of his thoughts by a change in the situation.


    "What in the¡­" The Fourth Tribtion stage Immortal man gazed at theirbined attack that was now shifting.


    "Its¡­ Splitting¡­" The woman muttered in shock.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The man and woman watched with trembling eyes as thebined attack split into three!


    One segment went to the left of the great shield, one went to the right of the shield, while one was deflected to the top of the great shield.


    ~WOOOO~


    The sound of a strong gust was heard, as the attack tore the very air apart. And yet despite all this, the Great Shield was still standing strong.


    ~TREMBLE~


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The effect of the attack was now being exerted on its surroundings though. The ground was unearthed, as tworge gullies formed around the shield. The gullies formed arge ''V'' shape and extended for nearly five hundred meters before they narrowed until turning into mere cracked lines.


    As for the segment of the attack that was deflected off the top, it simply went into the sky for about a kilometer before fading away.


    Still, the segment that went into the sky acted like a beacon. It could be seen from very far, and all those that saw it knew that arge conflict was happening there. The energy fluctuationsing from it might rm a few, but they might stille to check it out eventually.


    It wasn''t a matter of if, but a matter of when. At the very least for now, they''ll wait and watch, until the energy waves fade away and they can take a proper look at the entire situation.


    Being wary at this point in the tournament was necessary after all. Or they might not be able to survive this. The ones that were left now were all strong contenders, and the conflict that seemed to be going on was between some of the top ones; or so they thought.


    They didn''t know that the one''s that were fighting were a pair of Third Tribtion Stage Immortal woman and a Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal man against Lin Mu who was at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    Normally it was not a match up that should have happened, or evensted for this long. But now it was happening and was creating such a massive phenomena.


    ~Shua~


    A few secondster, thebined attack finally faded away.


    The cannonball made out of runes turned into mere wisps of Qi that couldn''t sustain themselves while the sword light faded away into nothingness.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The Great Shield shifted due to its weight, after the force acting on it was removed.


    ~CRACK~


    It sank further into the ground, and made the gullies on its sides copsed further. The integrity of the ground and been weakened from the attack and it could actually not bear the weight of the shield any longer.


    "Huu¡­" Thankfully, Lin Mu acted quickly and stopped the Aspect of Heaviness.


    ~shua~


    The great shield returned to its normal weight, which was still pretty great. But now, Lin Mu could control it as he wanted and made it float above him.


    "Are you two okay?" Lin Mu asked hispanions.


    "I''m¡­ I''m fine¡­" Ming Aolian responded, still a bit shaken.


    "Me too." Ming Dandan replied, feeling awestruck by it all.


    "Good." Lin Mu said letting out a breath.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He quickly flew over to the pair, finding them to be unmoving. Lin His immortal sense scanned over the area again, quickly spotting their opponents.


    "Let me get rid of the foes before we do anything." Lin Mu said before flying up. "Be careful there might be othersing.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He quickly flew over to the pair, finding them to be unmoving. Lin Mu was expecting them to attack him again, but surprisingly they didn''t. Instead they just looked at him a mix of fear and awe in their eyes.


    "May we know your name." The man asked.


    "Daoist Mu Lin." Lin Mu replied.


    "So it is Daoist Mu Lin¡­ Seems like we''ve faced the end of our journey here." The man said with a self depreciating chuckle.


    "If anything, you two fought well. You two are certainly strong." Lin Mu replied calmly seeing that the two had admitted defeat. "Though it makes me feel amazed about the strength of the Serene ss Valley."

 Chapter 1744 An Invitation From Former Foes

    Chapter 1744 An Invitation From Former Foes


    The pair from the Serene ss Valley had originally thought to struggle till the end. But after seeing Lin Mu''s abilities they decided against it. Instead, they chose to lose the battle honorably.


    1


    But before that, the two hoped to talk with Lin Mu a little. At the very least, they wished to get acquainted with him. After all, Lin Mu seemed to be a Second tribtion Stage immortal on the outside.


    There weren''t many cultivators like this that could battle a pair of Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal and a Third Tribtion Stage immortal like this and defeat them. Thus they at least wanted to get to know such a capable person.


    Even if Lin Mu might have been assisted by another cultivator and a beast, it still didn''t change the fact that he was the one who had blocked theirbined attack.


    If they couldn''t fulfill their elder''s wishes themselves, they could at least have a strong immortal as an acquaintance. After all, having more acquaintances was better than enemies. And their battle wasn''t one to the death and neither was out of enmity. It was just apetition.


    At first, they weren''t even sure whether Lin Mu would talk to them or not. They also expected him to attack right away and wiped them out. It was something that was understandable and was something they might have done too.


    But after thinking it over, they had decided to try talking to him. And when they did the pair were surprised to hear Lin Mu''s words.


    "You know about us?" the Third Tribtion Stage Immortal woman asked in surprise.


    "Yes, the crest." Lin Mu pointed. "It is of the Serene ss Valley, is it not?" he spoke.


    "Daoist Mu Lin is correct." The man replied. "I am Shuijing Ju of the Serene ss Valley." He introduced himself.


    "And I''m Shuijing Mingzhu." The woman replied as well.


    "I''ll remember you two. Your strengths are also good. Your talismanic Formations in particr are impressive. I can see you''ve worked towards optimizing the efficiency of Immortal Qi consumption." Lin Mu said, much to their surprise.


    "You could tell?" Shuijing Mingzhu asked about thepliment.


    While there were many thatplemented her ability with formations, it wasn''t every day that she could hear someonepliment her characteristics about it.


    ''Only those that are well versed with formations would even be able to tell that. This means¡­'' Shuijing Mingzhu looked at Lin Mu with intrigue.


    "I am a formation master myself." Lin Mu replied.


    "So you really are¡­ And yet you used Qi skills and your sword for a battle against us.'' Shuijing Mingzhu said in a confused tone.


    "Well¡­ My path in the formations is a bit different." Lin Mu said before letting out the aura of his Dao Embryo.


    ~shua~


    Theplex aura of the Rune Shaping brush Dao embryo was spread out, allowing both Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju to feel it. While only Shuijing Mingzhu was a formation master among the two, it didn''t mean that Shuijing Ju was not knowledgeable about them.


    Having lived in the Serene ss Valley all his life, he knew several formation masters and had learned some too.


    ''This aura¡­ It''s almost the same as Second Elder¡­'' Shuijing Ju was surprised.


    "Dao Traces?" Shuijing Mingzhu was stunned. "No, wait¡­ You''re taking the path of the Formations as a Dao!" she quickly recognized.


    "Perhaps." Lin Mu didn''t reveal anything.


    But that alone was enough for Shuijing Mingzhu to get excited.


    "You have toe to Serene ss Valley!" She suddenly said before taking out an identity tablet. "Please take this!" she held it out.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was confused by her actions.


    The woman''s senior brother was also surprised, especially when he saw the tablet.


    "Junior sister, are you sure?" Shuijing Ju asked with concern.


    "Yes! I think Daoist Mu Lin can assist the elder." Shuijing Mingzhu said with confidence.


    "Very well¡­ Daoist Mu Lin would you give us the honor of being our guest?" Shuijing Ju asked.


    "Umm¡­" Lin Mu didn''t expect to be given an invitation all of a sudden like this.


    "Of course, this is not immediate. You cane when the tournament is done. I assure you the Serene ss Valley will wee you honorably." Shuijing Mingzhu tried to convince him.


    "Hmm, alright." Lin Mu decided to take it. ''Maybe I''ll get to see more of their weapons and formations.'' He thought.


    The ss weapons that Shuijing Ju had used were made using a method that Lin Mu didn''t know about. As for the talismanic formations that Shuijing Mingzhu was using, it was rather unique too.


    Plus having heard that the Serene ss Valley had made Peak Grade Immortal weapon for the Dao Wind Empire, Lin Mu also get a desire to see just what they were like.


    "Thank you for epting." The pair of man and woman said.


    "I don''t know when exactly I mighte after the tournament, though." Lin Mu stated.


    "It is fine. You can take your time." Shuijing Mingzhu replied.


    "Okay then." Lin Mu said, before sensing a few presences that were getting close. "As much as I''d like to talk more, I think there are a few guests arriving soon."


    "Of course.'' Shuijing Ju nodded. "Our defeat is long due." The man said before taking out his token.


    Shuijing Mingzhu did the same before both of them shattered it in their hands.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~


    "Is everything alright, Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Aolian asked through themunication Jade Slip.


    "I hope to see you soon," Shuijing Mingzhu said before turning into a sh of light.


    Shuijing Ju disappeared as well, leaving Lin Mu alone for the time being.


    "Is everything alright, Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Aolian asked through themunication Jade Slip.


    "Yes¡­ everything is fine." Lin Mu replied.


    "What were you doing?" Ming Dandan questioned. "Were you talking to them?"


    "Yeah¡­ I seem to have gotten an invitation." Lin Mu gazed at the identity token in his hand.


    One side of the token had the name of Shuijing Mingzhu, and the other side had the name Serene ss Valley imprinted on it.


    "You were invited?" Both Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan were surprised to hear that.


    "I didn''t expect it either." Lin Mu shook his head. "Though what we can expect now is several immortalsing our way." He quickly added.


    Lin Mu''s conventions with Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju hadn''t taken more than three minutes, and yet it was enough for a few daring immortals toe closer. They were still about five kilometers away, but Lin Mu could still sense them.


    Some of the tried to hide in the topography, while some were using items or skills to do the same.


    After all, these were all cultivators who had survived for over three weeks now. They hadn''t done that by sheer luck. They had done it by taking caution. Even if they had strength, they could still be ambushed by overwhelming numbers.


    Thus it was better for them to be careful.


    But to Lin Mu, their locations were easily exposed.


    ''Though some can hide their cultivation bases well enough.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "How many areing?" Ming Aolian asked next.


    "At least ten." Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he counted their numbers. "Six at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, the rest at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." He observed.


    Hearing this, the eyes of the Ming Sisters went wide. Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Should we get ready forbat?" they asked.


    "Yes¡­ I think it is time to gather up now. The attack earlier was basically a beacon. Everyone should have seen it and they''ll be heading to check." Lin Mu knew they would have to change up their ns of ambushing.


    "Alright." But the Ming sisters were not discouraged.


    After all they knew that this was something that was bound to happen. They had been prepared to fight outright from the start anyways. Lin Mu''s ns had only allowed them to conserve their strength so that they couldst longer.


    Not just that, but he had also allowed their beasts to be healed and save their energies. Now that a true battle was approaching, there was no way they would back down. Especially after seeing Lin Mu block a great attack for them, they felt a fire within them.


    They felt that they werecking and needed to be stronger than they were. With all the help that they had been given, they felt like they had let down Lin Mu with how they had performed.


    "Lu Xu, Qian Wen, get ready. It''s time for the true all-out battle." Lin Mu also informed the others.


    "We''re already prepared!" Lu Xu said with confidence.


    "Gather up. We''ll give them a little surprise." Lin Mu said, before taking out a few items.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen quickly flew over to his position while the Ming sisters checked on their tamed beasts. Lin Mu on the other hand, was setting up a few formationponents.


    ''It should help us fight better¡­'' He thought to himself.

 Chapter 1745 Large Scale Tactic

    Chapter 1745 Large Scale Tactic


    While Lin Mu was setting up the formations, hispanions were doing their own preparations as well.


    Lin Mu had discussed a few tactics with them beforehand and they would finally get to apply them today. With that in mind, the four split up ording to what they had been told. Ming Aolian called out her Sky Soar Wolf Ting, while Ming Dandan called out her Mulch Crawl Eater Beast.


    ''Ting, to the skies!'' Ming Aolian ordered.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Ming Aolian quickly gave orders to her wolf, who flew up into the sky, keeping an eye on the iing cultivators,


    "Create a circle of swampy earth." Ming Dandan ordered her tamed beast.


    "Grwapa!" The Mulch Crawl Eater beast let out a cry in response and used its skills.


    Energy waves spread off its body while it dug its legs into the ground. Its affinity with the Swamp Dao was shown right now, as the ground around them started to soften. Within a minute, a circle of swampy ground was created. It had a radius of five hundred meters and was hidden conveniently along the formations that Lin Mu was setting up.


    Lin Mu was also setting up several illusory formation gs that wouldbine into an illusory array. While it wasn''t strong enough to hide them entirely, it was still able to hide the presence of a swamp. Next, he set up multiple small befuddling formations.


    These were easier to set up than an entire array but were weaker. Though Lin Mu''s intention was never to set up arge array. Instead, what he wanted was multiple smaller formations that would be spread around randomly.


    This would catch the cultivators who arrived off guard, especially when there was no rhyme or reason as to where these were spread. On top of this, they would be hidden by the illusory arrays, making it even harder to see and sense. Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    And while Lin Mu did this, Lu Xu and Qian Wen weren''t waiting around either.


    Instead, they were going to be the supporting pirs of this n.


    "I''m in position." Lu Xu said after reaching the outer edge of the formation.


    "Me too." Qian Wen reported, taking a simr position but in the opposite direction to that of Lu Xu.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen were direct fighters that preferred a frontal battle, thus Lin Mu had thought of their positioning ordingly. They were just behind the radius of the illusory formations and just ahead of the circle of swampy ground that Ming Dandan had gotten the Mulch Crawl Eater Beast to set up.


    This way, the iing cultivators wouldn''t know they were there, allowing them to be caught off guard. Of course, this might not be enough to defeat them, and would only injure them. This was enough, as Lu Xu and Qian Wen were expected to quickly retreat after the initial attack.


    But the attention of the cultivators would still be on them and they''d rush after them, causing them to hopefully get caught in the Swampy ground. This would open them up to another attack, and hopefully would allow Lu Xu and Qian Wen to eliminate them.


    Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian on the other hand, would be far behind them. They would be a short distance from the center of the circle, allowing them to give orders to their Tamed beasts while also giving them a good look over the battlefield.


    They weren''t supposed to fight themselves being Beast Tamers, thus it was best for them to be farther away from the conflict.


    But the n that Lin Mu had set up still had a w.


    The cultivators were all immortals and could fly. Not just that, but they were stronger immortals at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm or above. Though it was highly likely that the majority would be at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    Such a group of immortals could simply fly to avoid a lot of things. The swampy ground would be easily avoided by this, and Qian Wen And Lu Xu might not be able to able to work properly either.


    Of course, Lin Mu hadn''t missed a w like this. In fact, he already had a solution for that. It was something that would further restrict the options of the iing cultivators.


    Since the w in his n was the fact that immortals could fly, he simply decided to take that ability away from them.


    "Nowes the difficult part¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he checked the formations that he had set so far.


    They were functioning properly, and while they were good to use as it is, they won''t be as effective without one more formation added to it.


    "I never thought I''d make a formation like that right before a battle¡­ but then again, I never had the opportunity to set it up before." Lin Mu muttered to himself as the aura of a Dao Embryo could be felting from him.


    The aura wasplex, and anyone that felt it would get baffled. Only those that had attainments in the art of Formations or were Formation masters themselves would be able to recognize what it was.


    "Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo," Lin Mu calmly called out his newest Dao embryo.


    The gleaming Dao Shell flew out of Lin Mu''s abdomen, while a brush wasid against it.


    ''I''ll need your assistance this time¡­ Show me your strength inying this formation!'' Lin Mu said in his mind.


    ~humm~


    As if understanding the challenge, the Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo hummed in response.


    Lin Mu extended his right hand and firmly gripped the Rune Shaping brush with his fingers. Then he lightly pressed it against the Dao shell that was shaped like an Inkstone.


    "With Qi as the ink, we shall clip their wings!" Lin Mu lightly said, spurring into action.


    The tip of the Rune Shaping Brush glimmered with Immortal Qi as it waved through the air. Lin Mu''s hand was slow at first but soon started to pick up speed. Rune after rune was drawn, with nary a w in them. Lin Mu continued to draw, and within a minute, he had created hundreds of runes.


    At a certain point, his hand was but a blur, leaving a trail of light along the brush tip.


    Not a single rune was drawn incorrectly, despite the speed at which Lin Mu was making them. Not to mention, he was drawing them directly on air, which had a greater chance of destabilizing. Without a solid medium like formation paper or other materials, the drawn runes might not be able to maintain themselves and scatter away.


    In worse cases, they could even explode injuring the formation master.


    Lin Mu had faced this several times as well and was well informed about it. And yet, he had still chosen air as a medium to draw the runes. This was simply because it was faster than other methods and could be deployed instantly.


    It needed well refined Immortal sense, to guide the runes and control them while also having the sharp mental strength to withstand multiplemands at once. Not to mention, Lin Mu was doing this while splitting his attention into multiple sides.


    One side was focused on hispanions, one was focused on making the runes, while the third side was watching for the cultivators that were approaching them. While the cultivators were being cautious right now, it wouldn''t be long before they''d gain confidence and start attacking them.


    Lin Mu needed to finish setting up the formations before they did that. The time was short, thus Lin Mu sacrificed precision, focusing on speed instead. This led to some runes bing unstable, but just before they''d reach a tipping point, they would suddenly calm down.


    ~humm~


    The cause behind this was none other than the Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo!


    Every rune that was touched by it would be firm and wouldn''t break unless it was literally written incorrectly.


    This was the ability of the Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo that Lin Mu was relying on to make the current formation. It wasn''t a simple formation either.


    "Sky Cull Grounding Formation is certainly worthy of its rank¡­ Making it a short time like this even with the assistance of Rune Shaping Brush is difficult." Lin Mu muttered.


    The Sky Cull Grounding Formation was one of the formations that could restrain the flight of the immortals. It was the very same formation that was used in the Tournament''s rings as well as in the Capital City. Of course, for the Capital city, a moreplex and extensive version of it was used.


    Itbined several of them to turn them into an entire array that covered an area of hundreds of kilometers.


    The one that Lin Mu was setting up wasn''t without ws either. It consumed a lot of immortal Qi to make and didn''t have a long life.


    ''I only need it tost till we defeat a significant number of cultivators or at least until thest Spatial ne closes up¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.

 Chapter 1746 Baiting Immortals

    Chapter 1746 Baiting Immortals


    Lin Mu''s hand left a trail of light, as the Rune Shaping Brush kept on making tens of runes in a second.


    "Just a bit more¡­ they''re getting closer too¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself while keeping a part of his focus on the cultivators.


    He was close to finishing the Sky Cull Grounding Formation and only needed a little more time.


    Second after second passed, as Lin Mu''s work approachedpletion. But the cultivators had sensed something strange by this time as well.


    A couple of kilometers from where Lin Mu, a pair of Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortals were hidden.


    "They''ve been silent for half an hour now." Daoist Jugu said to hispanions.


    "Yeah¡­ they should have run away by now if they were able to." Daoist Rueshi replied. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "From the scene we saw, the attacks were very strong. Do you think the survivor is injured and can''t move now?" Daoist Jugu asked, a smile appearing on his face.


    "Probably. Or they would have attempted to run. Even if they are strong, I don''t think they''d be willing to fight multiple immortals at once." Daoist Rueshi replied.


    "True¡­" Daoist Jugu agreed while his immortal sense spread around.


    He could pick up on multiple cultivators that were around him. He was someone who had refined his immortal sense more than others and thus had a better advantage. Thoughpared to Lin Mu it was stillcking and couldn''t pick up on the formations that he was setting up.


    "The others are still cautious and watching from afar." Daoist Jugu stated.


    "Hmm, that is expected. The sh earlier was quite strong. We couldn''t estimate their cultivation bases either from the torrent of immortal Qi waves that spread." Daoist Rueshi replied. "But I don''t think they are that strong. Or even if they are, they''ve expended most of their energy." He added.


    "I think so too." Daoist Jugu agreed. "Plus, if we attack first, we''ll have the advantage." He spoke.


    "What do you think? Should we let the others go ahead, or take the chance ourselves." Daoist Rueshi asked, though internally he was tempted to jump the gun.


    "Well, the early bird gets the worm." Daoist Jugu stated. "It''ll surely add to our contributions for the rewards if we defeat someone this strong." He added.


    "Yes," A smile of greed appeared on the face of Daoist Rueshi as well.


    They two never thought that this was exactly what Lin Mu had wished for. He had already known that if multiple immortals attacked at once, they might have a harder time. But if only a couple of them approached at a time, they would be able to handle them a lot more effectively.


    Plus, he also knew that it was unlikely for others to make teams bigger than two members. They wouldn''t be able to trust each other after all since they didn''t know who was going to be the winner in the end. With limited positions and no knowledge about the spatial nes closing, they only thought about there being two positions for the winners.


    Thisck of information also factored into Lin Mu''s n.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Havinge to an agreement, Daoist Jugu and Rueshi didn''t waste a moment and rushed to the site of the battle.


    "So they finally couldn''t resist, huh¡­" Lin Mu sensed two individuals approaching at high speed.


    His hand didn''t stop moving despite that though and he continued to make runes. He possibly had less than a minute or maybe just a few tens of seconds before they would reach him. His mind didn''t waver though and his focus prevailed.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    Two silhouettes could be seen in the sky,ing towards them. With every second, they coveredrge tracts of the area before finally, they were just at the edge of the circle that Lin Mu had set up.


    ~HONG~


    But just as they were about to enter it, Lin Mu''s hand stopped moving.


    ~HUALA~


    The entire area hummed with energy but wasn''t felt beyond its boundaries. Arge formation waspleted and quickly activated on its own.


    Daoist Rueshi and Jugu who had smiles on their face while thinking about a weak target, were quickly changed.


    "Huh¡­ AAAAAAA!" as soon as they were within the limits of the formation, their ability to fly was gone.


    "What the hell!" Daoist Jugu shouted.


    "Why can''t we fly?!!" Daoist Rueshi tried to mobilize his immortal Qi to propel him, but he couldn''t.


    It was as if the immortal Qi around them was not willing to listen to theirmands.


    "SHIT!" The two plummeted from the sky, quickly reaching the ground.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    ~CRACK~


    Two depressions were left on the ground, as the two immortals crashed into the ground. A loud sound was also heard, while the two let out grunts of pain.


    "Ugh!!" Daoist Jugu held his arm that ached.


    "Damn this!" Daoist Rueshi on the other hand, bled from his mouth, the impact having hit in the worst.


    The two wouldn''t die from falling from a height like this, but they certainly would sustain injuries.


    Normally this could have been avoided if they quickly mobilized their immortal Qi to defend their bodies. But the sudden change and stopping of the immortal Qi had left them surprised.


    It led to them not reacting fast enough, and falling without their defenses ready. It was a momentarypse of judgment like this that had gotten them injured.


    Though it was also normal that they had not expected this. After all, formations that could restrict the flight of an immortal were limited. The one in the capital city and the Tournament rings were expected. After all, they were set up by experts and were there for security.


    They would have never expected aplex formation like that would be set up in the Spatial ne. No one in their sane minds would try it either, as it was too difficult to make and would take a lot of effort. Plus there was always the chance of getting caught while making it, and then being knocked out by surprise.


    It was also something that took up a lot of immortal Qi, and one might spend more immortal stones in making it than they would make from this round. Overall, it was not a trade off that one would want to make.


    Of course, no one would factor in the fact that a specialized Dao Embryo would be used for it and a faster version of the formation would be made.


    The Sky Cull Grounding Formation had already been modified by Lin Mu to be able to be deployed faster due to his experience with making the Diamond Mountain Talismans. He had gotten used to makingplex formations and could now apply it to others as well.


    "It''s a trap!" Daoist Jugu and Rueshi quickly understood.


    After all, they might have been caught off guard, but they were still immortals who had reached this far. They wouldn''t have been able to do this if they were stupid.


    "Do we retreat?" Daoist Rueshi was conflicted. "The earlier battle might have been a bait to attract the cultivators." He expressed his doubts.


    "No, it''ll be too disadvantageous. Our positions are already revealed to both the cultivator who set this trap up and the others who were behind us." Daoist Jugu said while gritting his teeth. "We need to do this no matter what now."


    Daoist Rueshi frowned, but knew that hispanion was right. They had taken a risk and now they needed to bear the consequences of it.


    "I guess we just need to get rid of the person who set this trap up. A formation like this would have drained them of a lot of energy. We might still have a chance." Daoist Rueshi said after thinking for a bit.


    Daoist Jugu just gave a simple nod before rushing towards where he could feel a few immortal Qi fluctuations.


    He knew they had already lost the advantage of surprise and needed to be as quick as possible. Daoist Rueshi did the same and the two rushed towards where the immortal Qi fluctuation wereing from.


    ~shua~


    But unknowingly they stepped on a befuddling formation that subtly changed their directions.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    them with my immortal sense¡­ someone has set up an entire illusory array to hide everything.'' He started to realize they might "Ugh!" Daoist Rueshi and Jugu ended up crashing into each other.


    "Shit! There are more traps." Daoist Jugu realized. ''I can''t sense them with my immortal sense¡­ someone has set up an entire illusory array to hide everything.'' He started to realize they might have misjudged from the start.


    "There sure are." A low voice spoke from behind them.


    ~SHING~


    "Who!?" Daoist Jugu didn''t even realize before a sword sh struck him. "ARGH!'' he cried in pain, and a long cut appeared on his shoulder.


    "Ambush!" Daoist Rueshi tried to respond but didn''t expect another attack toe from his back. "Argh!" this time blood spilled from his waist, as a spear was stabbed into it.


    "Time to end it." Qian Wen said, quickly using a Qi skill while the two were distracted.

 Chapter 1747 Four Immortals Down

    Chapter 1747 Four Immortals Down


    Daoist Rueshi and Daoist Jugu had never expected their luck would be this bad.


    Not only had they been forcefully grounded, they had also triggered traps, causing them to get befuddled and then be ambushed. If that was not enough, the ones who had attacked them were two Third Tribtion stage immortals too.


    Lu Xu had his spear stabbed into Daoist Rueshi''s back while Qian Wen swung his sword cutting into Daoist Jugu''s chest.


    ~SHUA~


    Daoist Jugu turned into a sh of light, as his identity token was destroyed from the attack.


    "I should finish up too." Lu Xu said before raising his palm. "Flesh Rumble Palm!"


    His palm looked to be normal, but a faintyer of white energy could be seen on it.


    "Why you!!!" Before Daoist Rueshi could respond though he was struck by the palm in his abdomen.


    ~Cough~


    He spat out a mouthful of blood, from the impact. Lu Xu''s palm skill was not simple and could cause vibrations to travel through one''s body, causing them more damage than they might expect. It was especially bad when one was not able to keep up one''s defenses.


    Daoist Rueshi was also stuck in one ce, due to a spear skewering him through his waist.


    Lu Xu didn''t stop there either and pped his palm on the man several times, trying to hit the identity token.


    ~Crack~


    It took seven tries before the token finally cracked.


    "Huh¡­ he hid it on his wrist?" Lu Xu was a bit surprised as it was a less protected area. "But the is a part that others wouldn''t target early on." He reckoned.


    ~SHUA~


    "NOOO!!" Daoist Rueshi turned into a sh of light before being teleported out of the Spatial ne.


    ~clunk~


    Lu Xu''s spear was freed in the process and hit the ground underneath it with a sound.


    "We''re done here, Brother Mu Lin." Qian Wen informed seeing that Lu Xu had defeated his opponent.


    "Good. More should being soon." Lin Mu replied while observing everything.


    His attention was still split, but he had an easier time since he didn''t need to work on the formations now. He only needed to split his immortal sense into two, one part focusing on hispanions while the other was focused on the iing cultivators.


    He didn''t need to worry about the formations either, as they were working perfectly.


    ''If anything happens, I''ll sense it quickly anyways.'' Lin Mu wasn''t worried about that either.


    With the n running, Lin Mu got ready for the action.


    "Rotate ording to the direction that the intruderse from." Lin Mu spoke to hispanions.


    "Yes!" Ming Aolian replied while Ming Dandan continued to work with the Mulch Crawl eater beast.


    The swampy ground ring they had made was narrow at the start, and they were now making it wider.


    The wider it was, the better their chances of catching stray immortals in it.


    Daoist Rueshi and Jugu were unlucky enough to be wiped out before that, but there was no guarantee the same would happen to the others. There was bound to be a time when others would catch onto the traps. But for now, Lin Mu would take full advantage.


    Four minutes passed, as a couple more cultivators built up the courage toe closer.


    "Come on,e on¡­ the bait is fresh." Lin Mu knew they wouldn''t be able to resist for long. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    And sure enough, the next minute two more cultivators entered the ring. These were a bit weaker than before though being at the Third Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    And just like before, they were caught off guard and plummeted from the sky.


    "Lu Xu, Qian Wen!" Lin Mu transmitted the location of the intruders to the two.


    "Already there!" but the two had seen the sight of the intruders and were already there.


    ~SLICK~


    "Haha! I got one!" Lu Xuughed as the unlucky one out of the two third tribtion Stage immortals fell onto his spear.


    "AAARGHHHH!" the man screamed in pain, not being able to register what had just happened.


    "Off you go!" Lu Xu thrust his palm.


    ~SLAP~


    ~SHUA~


    The Third tribtion Stage immortal was knocked out immediately, causing the token to teleport him away.


    "W-who are you?" The other third tribtion Stage immortal that was left was stunned.


    He had just managed to raise his head from the ground when he saw hispanion being defeated.


    ~SHING~


    But his words were only met by a sword sh.


    "SSSS!~" the man hissed in pain, as the sword sh, cut his thigh.


    "He managed to dodge it," Qian Wen muttered as he saw his target move.


    ''Shit I need to get away!'' the Third Tribtion Stage immortal realized.


    He tried to fly, but couldn''t thus he simply ran. But with the cut on his thigh, it was a difficult task, and every step was painful.


    ~shua~


    But Lu Xu was not one to let a target get away that quickly.


    "Not so fast." Lu Xu thrust his spear, striking the immortal square in the chest.


    ~CLANG~


    But just before the spear could pierce his chest, the immortal used a Qi skill.


    "UGH!" The Qi skill created a small shield on his chest that managed to block the attack.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Still, the impact of the attack was enough for the man to be knocked away. Unable to control his momentum, the man fell to the ground again.


    ~SPLAT~


    But when hended, it wasn''t on solid ground.


    "Mud?" the man was in pain and confused. "No swamp!" he quickly realized that it was worse than he had thought.


    Having fallen from some height, his impact had allowed him to sink quickly. His body was already halfway into the swamp when he managed to prop up his head. If he had fallen head first, he might have choked on the mud, perhaps.


    "This one actually managed to reach the swamp ring." Lin Mu noticed from the center of the ring.

 Chapter 1748 Smooth Cooperation

    Chapter 1748 Smooth Cooperation


    Lin Mu could reckon this Third tribtion stage immortal had a bit of luck on his side to evenst this long.


    "But this is thest bit of his luck." Lin Mu said as he observed Lu Xu finish the man off.


    ~SHUA~ Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    His spear stabbed the man, injuring him as well as breaking the identity token on his body. With the second intruder teleported away, Lu Xu and Qian Wen quickly returned to their positions.


    "Looks like I got lucky this time." Lu Xu chuckled.


    "I''ll pay more attention next time." Qian Wen wasn''t one to back down either.


    "Do you wanna make a bet?" Lu Xu suggested.


    "What kind of bet?" Qian Wen asked.


    While he wasn''t one to gamble, he wouldn''t mind a friendly bet. The betting they were doing on the tournament didn''t count since that was basically a calcted investment after Lin Mu''s interference.


    "Well, the one who defeats the most cultivators, gets 10% of the other''s profits from the wins." Lu Xu replied.


    "Hmm¡­" Qian Wen thought about it for a moment.


    "What if Brother Mu Lin also joins it?" Ming Dandan asked hearing their conversions.


    "Then there''s no point in the bet. Haha! Brother Mu Lin will easilye out on top." Lu Xu replied. "The bet will be just among us."


    "Alright." Qian Wen agreed as the betting amount wasn''t that big.


    Plus with how much they were going to receive, it wasn''t that much of a difference. He also reckoned a friendlypetition would only add to the fun of the tournament.


    ''I guess they''re having fun.'' Lin Mu noticed the banter between hispanions and the bet they decided on.


    He didn''t mind it and let them do it.


    ~SHUA~


    Not long after, he sensed two more cultivators approaching and alerted the rest.


    This time, Lu Xu and Qian Wen were even more prepared and were already standing where the two Fourth tribtion stage immortals would be entering from. Simr to before the two immortals plummeted to the ground.


    "Who''re they?" One of the Fourth tribtion stage immortals noticed them right from the sky.


    Lu Xu tried to repeat his previous trick but was unsessful when his target suddenly changed the direction of his fall.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The target used a movement skill that allowed him to momentarily step on air.


    "This''ll be a tricky one." Lu Xu got ready for a proper fight.


    The second intruder though, wasn''t as lucky. Qian Wen also didn''t want to take chances and directly jumped into the air.


    ~sh~


    His sword shone with a light before a sword imprint flew out.


    The second Fourth tribtion stage immortal only managed to change his direction enough to avoid his vitals, but was still cut on his hand.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen quickly embroiled in shortbat before retreating behind the Swamp Ring.


    "These one''s are a bit tougher." Lu Xu muttered.


    "We still have more chances." Qian Wen said as he watched the two Fourth tribtion stage immortals pursue them.


    "Two Damned Third tribtion stage immortals dare ambush us!? You will suffer for this!" the Fourth tribtion stage immortals shouted in anger.


    But this also made them miss the fact that there were other traps in the area too. One of them stepped on it, and ended up suddenly turning around.


    "Where are you going!" hispanion tried to stop him but this opened up his back to another attack.


    ~Shing~


    ~SLASH~


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen weren''t one to miss and advantage like this and quicklyshed out with their long range attacks.


    The two Fourth tribtion stage immortal got injured, and they realized there were traps here.


    Much to their surprise, they had walked into a trap again, sinking to their knees in the swamp.


    "We need to be careful about the Befuddling formations!" The first Fourth tribtion stage immortal stated.


    "There might be other traps here too." The second Fourth tribtion stage immortal said while continuing to walk.


    ~SPLAT~


    Much to their surprise, they had walked into a trap again, sinking to their knees in the swamp.


    "Again!" Lu Xu rushed at the two immortals, sending several thrust attacks.


    The two immortals though managed to get out of the swap, since one of them could use a movement technique.


    ~HOWL~


    But what they didn''t know was that there were more people targeting them. Or rather, people and beasts.


    "A wolf?" By the time the first Fourth tribtion stage immortal noticed the beast in the sky, it was already toote.


    ~CLANG~


    Ting''s ws struck his staff, sending him flying back.


    ~Thud~


    He mmed into hispanions, knocking the wind out of his lungs.


    "Need some assistance?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "Right on time." Lu Xu replied with a smile. "This should help us enough."


    The one attack from Ting was enough for Lu Xu and Qian Wen to gain an advantage again.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    A couple of minutester, the two Fourth tribtion stage immortals were defeated, their bodies turning into shes of light.


    "Any more iing?" Lu Xu asked Lin Mu.


    "Yes¡­ just a minute away." Lin Mu replied while continuing to observe.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen got ready to be in position, while Ting flew high up into the sky. She was to swoop in when Lu Xu and Qian Wen needed help.


    And just like this, the fourpanions of Lin Mu became better and better at cooperating. One after the other, teams of immortals started to fall under theirbined attacks. An hour ended up passing like this, during which they had defeated about sixteen immortals.


    But now, it looked like the rest had be cautious.


    "It was bound to happen, I guess." Lin Mu noticed that the six remaining cultivators were actually backing away.


    It was expected since they had noticed other immortals go and simply disappear. It didn''t take a genius to know that there was a trap hidden ahead.


    "Should we coax them in?" Qian Wen inquired.


    "No¡­ let them be. We got time." Lin Mu said as he sensed that the other Spatial ne was still intact.

 Chapter 1749 A Strong Opponent Approaches

    With the initial defeat of the six cultivators, Lin Mu and hispanions had a bit of a free time. Lu Xu and the rest asked him what they should do, to which Lin Mu said they just needed to wait.


    They were in no rush, and Lin Mu would tell them when it was time for them to go on the offensive. Thus, for theing few hours, they rested and recovered the immortal Qi that they had used up. Lin Mu did the same, having used the most among them.


    After all, not only had he fought using his Dao skills, but he had also used the Rune Shaping Brush to make the Sky Cull Grounding Formation, along with several others. It had basically depleted his immortal Qi to half. It was surprising how Lin Mu could use Qi skills for a long time, but as soon as it came to Dao skills, his consumption would skyrocket.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    But then again, that was to be expected, as Dao skills were not something one was supposed to use right away. For most immortals, they were their trump cards or only used when they were at a disadvantage. If there was someone else using the Dao skills like Lin Mu had, they would have already used up all their immortal Qi.


    After all, while the Dao skills were stronger when used with Immortal Qi than Spirit Qi, it didn''t mean their consumption changed. Then there was the fact that they would also tire out the cultivator mentally. Using Dao Skills needed quite a lot of focus, after all.


    Lin Mu had a high capacity of Immortal Qi as well as a faster regeneration which was why he was able to bear the use. For him, the use of the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo in the fight against the Serene ss Valley members wasn''t that much.


    Most of his consumption had actuallye from making the Sky Cull Grounding Formation since he not only needed to supply Immortal Qi to the formations but also to the Rune Shaping Brush when making them. This created a multi-channel drain on his Immortal Qi stores.


    But despite all that, he had only used half of his Immortal Qi capacity. And now, he was quickly on his way to restoring it to the maximum.


    ''Immortal stones and Immortal Qi pills are best used now.'' Lin Mu didn''t shy away from using resources and consumed them freely.


    After all, this was the time to use them. He went through Immortal Stones at a great pace, while also absorbing the immortal Qi from a pill that he had eaten. The two-fold influx of Immortal Qi allowed him to replenish his Immortal Qi at a faster pace than before.


    Perhaps it was also the improvement of his body due to the progress of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets that he was able to handle higher amounts of Immortal Qi at once. It wasn''t just about the quantity either, but also the efficacy and speed at which they were absorbed into his body.


    With the two-fold approach, Lin Mu quickly reached his optimum condition in a few hours. The other immortals didn''t dare to approach them and were actually a bit afraid. After all, they didn''t know what exactly had happened as the others that had approached the area had simply disappeared.


    With the illusory array that had been set up by Lin Mu, it was as if they disappeared into thin air. Then there was the fact that no Immortal Qi fluctuations were felt either. Neither could they hear the sounds of any battle.


    It a stark contrast with the battle that had happened there previously.


    It didn''t take long for the cultivators to realize that the former battle that acted like a beacon might just have been a bait for them.


    Someone had set up an array beforehand and orchestrated a battle to catch the attention of other immortals and make them tempted to attack.


    One could say half of this was true, but the timing of the array set up as well as the reason behind the formed battle were wrong. Though to Lin Mu, it didn''t matter as all he needed was some more time. They''d either wait till thest Spatial ne other than theirs closed or defeat all those that entered the array.


    It took an entire twelve hours before someone actually attempted toe close to the area.


    ''Oh? Someone new this time¡­'' Lin Mu''s immortal sense quickly spread and observed the people that had gotten closer.


    They were new and were not among the cultivators that had been watching earlier.


    ''Perhaps they stumbled onto the area recently, or had been waiting all this time.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Or they might have been sent by others here too.''


    Lin Mu wouldn''t ignore the chances of others coborating, either.


    "Rather than coborating, there might be threats involved too. Or rewards from others, if they did this for them." Lin Mu could think of several scenarios.


    Regardless of what they might be though, he was ready for it all.


    Thus, when the new cultivators got close enough, he quickly alerted hispanions.


    "Get ready. Two more are approaching. This time from the position of Ming Dandan." Lin Mu informed them through themunication jade slip. "It''s a pair of Third Tribtion Stage Immortals." He added.


    The cultivation base of the two immortals was why Lin Mu also considered the fact that they might have been coerced or threatened by the others toe. Third Tribtion Stage Immortals were now the lowest among the bunch left in the Spatial ne.


    The ones that were surviving now were either those that truly had skills, or were simply lucky. The ones that were lucky initially should have realized by now that winning this round might not be a big possibility for them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Thus, rather than just losing directly, they might as well coborate with others in exchange for extra rewards.


    It was a reasonable approach and was not against the rules either.


    ~SHUA~


    A couple of minutester, the two third Tribtion Stage Immortals finally entered the limits of the array.


    "They''re in!" Lin Mu alerted the others.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen quickly got to work, trying their earlier strategy.


    But this time it didn''t work as well, as the two immortals weren''t flying high. They were just a few tens of meters from the ground, allowing them tond safely. Still, Lu Xu and Qian Wen didn''t lose focus, attacking them ording to the established tactics.


    They managed to deal a few blows to the two third Tribtion Stage Immortals before they retreated. The intruders tried to rush after them, but were caught by the swamp as expected. With another opportunity for attack, Lu Xu and Qian Wen injured them further.


    This put the two third Tribtion Stage Immortals on the defensive and they focused on surviving instead of attacking back.


    And when Ting finally appeared to attack, the two third Tribtion Stage Immortals did something unexpected. They took out a Communication jade slip!


    Lin Mu who saw this knew that histter guess had been right.


    ''So they were indeed sent by others.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He also realized the thinking behind the intruders attempt.


    ''They didn''t inform the others immediately but only did when Ting appeared. I guess the thing that they wanted to know was whether there were more than two people coborating in this.'' Lin Mu analyzed their thoughts.


    After all, more than two cultivators working together didn''t really make sense. But since both Qian Wen and Lu Xu had fought openly, it meant that the Sky Soar Wolf belonged to a third immortal. An immortal that was a Beast tamer wasn''t allowed to fight personally, which meant Ting didn''t belong to Lu Xu and Qian Wen.


    And if there was a third Immortal involved, it also meant that a fourth might be present as well, due to there being teams of two.


    One might even assume that this fourth person could be the one who had set up the formation array.


    "Looks like they''ll change their approach now." Lin Mu thought as he watched the two third Tribtion Stage Immortals turning into shes of light and being teleported away. "Get ready, the next group of invaders will be more than just two." He informed hispanions.


    "We''re ready." Lu Xu didn''t mind that they''ll be facing more.


    "It''ll be the same." Qian Wen replied. "I don''t mind getting injured a bit more."


    "We''ll do our best to assist!" Ming Dandan chimed in.


    "We just need to follow Brother Lin Mu''smands, and the n will go well." Ming Aolian stated.


    Hearing their words, Lin Mu was pleased and liked their enthusiasm. But then, a few secondster, his expression suddenly changed.


    "Wait a second¡­" Lin Mu felt a wave of energying from afar.


    It was beyond the range of his immortal sense, but could still be felt.


    ''A fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal.''

 Chapter 1750 A Threatening Immortal

    The appearance of a Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal was something Lin Mu had expected, eventually. But the fact that they wereing towards them meant that something had changed.


    ''Who might this be?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    After all, the number of Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortals in the entire tournament was limited.


    Other than the ones in the top five, that Lin Mu knew about, there were several more that were spread in the lower ranks.


    ''If I recall correctly, there was just one Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal that was defeated before this round. Which leaves a total number of eighteen of them. Of these eighteen, I know that the four among the top five are not here.'' Lin Mu thought about who it could be.


    He had also sensed eight other Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortals enter the other nes, which left him with around ten that he had no idea where they might be.


    ''While the probability of them being in this ne is low, there might still be a couple of them. Though depending on who they are, we''ll have to adjust our strategy.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After all, the Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortals were different from the Fourth and Third Tribtion Stage Immortals that they had faced so far. These were the elites among the elites and could already be elders in various positions.


    As for those that were at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal, they would be too upied to participate in the tournament, usually. While they didn''t have a restriction that prevented them from participating, it was already confirmed that no one of that level was taking part.


    As for the Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortals, it wasn''t even that one needed to think about. The number of experts at that level were limited and they wouldn''t sully their reputation trying topete with juniors.


    While they wouldn''t be opposed if they tried to participate, their standing would utterly fall. Being mocked by fellow experts was not something they would like after all. One would have to be utterly shameless to try something like that.


    And above all, they would even be shunned by the members of the temple of the Four Guardian beasts. While it was fully within their rights to participate, the members of the temple could easily see when someone was trying to take advantage.


    So even if they do win and get rewards, their work after that would get difficult. After all, the temple''s displeasure would be felt by several others and they would rather avoid a person like this than offend the temple by associating with them.


    It was basically a way tomit social suicide.


    No sane immortal would try that. Though there had indeed been a few that had done it in the past. While their attempt had worked, the aftereffects had been less than desirable.


    In the end, they had to leave the Rust Sky World itself to be able to live with some semnce of peace. But with the ever-extending reach of the Temple of the Four Guardians, it was unknown whether they had been able to do that or not.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    But a couple of minutes after Lin Mu felt the presence of the Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal, he also sensed the presence of several Fourth and Third Tribtion Stage immortals that were now heading their way.


    ''Something is strange¡­'' Lin Mu''s immortal sense was fully extended and checked on the state of the Fourth and Third Tribtion Stage Immortals. "They¡­ seem to be scared." He realized.


    "RUN! RUN!"


    "He''sing!"


    "Run if you want to survive!"


    Soon, the shouts of the immortals could be heard by his immortal sense. As soon as Lin Mu heard this, another doubt of his was confirmed.


    ''They are being scared intoing here. No other way they would cooperate, after all.'' Lin Mu thought.


    And a minuteter, he saw at least twenty one, immortals appearing in the sky. Some of them seemed to be injured, while some were fine. Though one thingmon among them was that many of them seemed to have burned clothes.


    Those that were injured also had burn injuries on their bodies. There were even a couple of Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortals that had turned bald from their hair being burned off entirely.


    There was even a woman who was turned bald, and along with her eye brows being burned off. She seemed to be in the worst station, her eyes red from crying, while soot covered her face.


    "Who the hell¡­" Seeing the miserable appearance of several immortals, Lin Mu was now really curious about who could be that had forced them into this state.


    He was sure that it was the Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal, but their identity was still unknown.


    "Regardless of who they are, I first need to address the immortals that areing this way¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "Get ready, we have twenty one immortalsing our way. Seven Third Tribtion Stage Immortals and fourteen, Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortals!" he quickly informed hispanions.


    "What!? That many?" Lu Xu was surprised.


    "How are they alling here?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "Are they cooperating?" Ming Dandan questioned.


    "No¡­ rather than cooperating willingly, it seems they are running away from something." Lin Mu answered them.


    "Running away? How or rather why?" Qian Wen inquired.


    "Looks like we have a Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal that has forced them to run. Some of them are injured as well." Lin Mu informed. "The two third Tribtion Stage Immortal that arrived earlier might have been forced toe by the Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal as well." He guessed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Do you know who the Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal is yet?" Lu Xu questioned.


    "No¡­ they are staying far from the range of my Immortal sense. Though their immortal Qi fluctuation can be felt by me." Lin Mu answered.


    "If their immortal Qi fluctuations are reaching this far, it means they are probably using some Qi skill." Ming Aolian said after thinking.


    "Do these iing Fourth and third Tribtion Stage Immortals have any particr injuries?" Qian Wen asked after hearing it all.


    "Burns. Their clothes are burned in several ces, while some have burns on their bodies and burned hair." Lin Mu replied.


    "Then there''s no doubt." Qian Wen suddenly said. "It is Childe Wildfire." He stated.


    "Are you sure?" Ming Dandan asked.


    "Yeah, he''s the only one who would act like this." Qian Wen replied.


    "I did hear that he became rather irritable after his defeat at the hands of Dugu Shanhe." Lu Xu chimed in.


    "But would his threats work on the immortals here? Why would they do his bidding? Or even be afraid, since they know they would just lose to him anyways?" Ming Dandan asked again.


    "Probably because his threats would actually work and apply out of the tournament as well. He isn''t one to reward others for doing his work, but his threats will truly be carried out once the tournament is over.


    He isn''t one to back down from it and will probably kill the others if they don''t listen to him. Thus to them, it is better to listen to him right now than just lose right away." Qian Wen exined.


    "Hmm¡­ won''t the temple take offense to something like this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They would only do that if he actually follows through with his threats. Since he hasn''t acted on them right now, he has usible deniable about it. The excuse will be enough for the Temple to not pursue him." Lu Xu replied. "Plus, this isn''t the first time he''s done this either. The same thing happened in thest tournament, though it was on a smaller scale." He added.


    "I see¡­" Hearing all this, Lin Mu realized they were facing a dominating person. ''He might just be the final opponent for us.'' He thought.


    Though there were doubts for Lin Mu, as there was always a chance someone might still be hiding around the ne.


    "Let''s just get rid of the iing immortals first." Lin Mu stated, as the immortals were just five hundred meters from the limits of the ring now.


    "We''re ready!" Lu Xu and Qian Wen replied.


    "I''ll assist this time," Lin Mu added.


    ~SHUA~


    And as soon as he said that, the immortals finally entered the ring.


    ~THUD~


    ~THUD~


    ~THUD~


    ~THUD~


    Some of the immortals that were flying higher plummeted to the ground painfully. But a few of them seemed to have known about the Sky Cull Grounding Formation.


    Having known about it, they had been flying at a lower height andnded easily on the ground.


    "FIGHT!" Lu Xu shouted as he charged in with his spear.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    Qian Wen shed out several times, sending multiple sword lights that targeted the Third Tribtion Stage Immortals.


    "ARGH!"


    "THEY ARE HERE AS INFORMED!"


    The immortals shouted, some in pain while some informed the others.


    ~TWANG~


    But they didn''t have the entire set of information, as the sound of a bow string was heard.

 Chapter 1751 Rising Reputation

    "Argh!"


    "NO!"


    "MY LEGS!"


    Before the immortals could realized it, a barrage of arrows struck them. These were the fiery arrows that Lin Mu had shot.


    Some of the arrows directly pierced through the bodies of the immortals, while some exploded upon contact. The ones that did explode, greatly injured the immortals, turning them into sitting ducks. Lin Mu had made sure to vary the effects of the arrows so that the Immortals wouldn''t be able to react to them properly.


    If they didn''t know what the arrow did, they would make wrong predictions and end up getting greatly injured, which was exactly what had happened.


    ~Shua~ Shua~ Shua~


    Three immortals quickly turned into wisps of light and disappeared, having been teleported out.


    "Two more under my belt!" Lu Xu said, seeing that his score had increased.


    "I''ll take the lead again soon!" Qian Wen said as he swung his sword vertically, sending out a long sword light that split the ground part.


    "Watch out!" A Third Tribtion Stage Immortal could not react in time and was struck by it, quickly being set out of the Spatial ne.


    "Now we''re equal." Qian Wen said with a smirk before continuing to sh.


    ~TWANG~


    Lin Mu also continued to shoot arrows, not letting the immortals rest.


    ~HOWL~Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    But that wasn''t all as the Sky Soar Wolf also joined the battle under themands of Ming Aolian.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Unlike the immortals, Ting had superior mobility due to having wings and could still fly. She swooped in from the sky and wed at the cultivators, ripping their flesh.


    "There''s a flying beast too! Kill it first! We won''t be able to fight with it interfering!" A fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal shouted while running. "ARGH!" But in the next second, he found himself getting injured as well/


    He looked down and saw that one of his legs had been broken!


    It had sunken into the ground up to his knee. This had happened suddenly, causing his momentum to break his leg!


    He couldn''t tell how this had happened though, as the ground was still solid just a moment ago.


    ~WUGUGUGU~


    ~TREMBLE~


    "The ground is sinking!" the other immortals realized as well.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Many of them found their legs getting stuck in ground. Some tried to forcefully push them out, while a couple used footwork techniques to avoid sinking into the ground. But it still opened them up to more attacks from Lu Xu and Qian Wen.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Lin Mu''s arrows also continued to rain, bombarding the immortals and injuring them further.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Four more immortals were defeated, before being teleported out of the Spatial ne.


    Lin Mu and hispanions had a coordination that could not be easily seen in a tournament like this. The immortals that had intruded into the formation ring were confused about how many enemies they had to face in the first ce.


    They could only see Lu Xu, Qian Wen and Ting in the open as these were the ones that were shing with them directly. This lead them to believe there were at least four immortals. But the sudden change in the ground was another thing that baffled them.


    They wondered if it was the work of formations too, but it was simply too strong for it to be able to trap immortals this easily. Of course, they didn''t know that there were in reality five people that were fighting together.


    Lin Mu''s n, along with the tactics he had decided upon, was working perfectly, as the immortals continued to lose one after the other. Lu Xu and Qian Wen kept on dealing the final blows, while the arrows and the Mulch Crawl eater beast''s skill trapped them.


    The threat of the Sky Soar Wolf looming above them was also a great pain, as they wouldn''t know when it would attack. The wolf would suddenly strike, then fly away before striking again at the most opportune moment.


    With this repeating several times, even the Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortals started to fall under thebined onught of Lin Mu''spanions. Lu Xu, Qian Wen and the Ming Sisters found it to be surreal as they defeated multiple opponents that were above their cultivation base.


    It was something they wouldn''t have been able to do normally, but now they were setting a new record for themselves.


    And it wasn''t just them that were amazed by this. Outside the Spatial ne, the audience that was watching it all was stunned too.


    "Just who are these people?"


    "How can someone set up a formation like that in such a short period of time?"


    "Forget that, have you seen beasts act like that before?"


    "And those arrows! How can he use such a strong Qi skill without having exhausted all his Immortal Qi?"


    The audience had many questions but could not get the answers. A few among them who had seen the battles of Lin Mu and hispanions though were soon starting to recognize them. The word about their skills and previous battles was already starting to spread.


    Even the Booking Pavilion had to change their opinion of Lin Mu and hispanions. While they were weaker than most in terms of pure cultivation base, they still seemed to being out on top in terms of other aspects.


    The best example of this was Lin Mu who was only at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm in terms of his Qi cultivation. His body cultivation was still unknown, as he hadn''t truly disyed the full power of it.


    "Wait! I know that guy!" In one of the sitting areas, an audience member shouted. "He''s the one who intimidated and kicked out Li Lao with merely his aura!" there was someone that recognized Lin Mu from the banquet.


    "What? Is that why Li Lao couldn''t perform well afterward?"


    "Did he receive any patronage from the nobles?"


    The people were now curious about it. After all, an exceptional person like this should have been scouted already.

 Chapter 1752 Wildfire Approaches

    While the audience marveled at Lin Mu and hispanions, they were now close to wiping out all the immortals.


    ~BOOM~


    Another barrage of arrows rained down from the sky, sting the ground and injuring thest three immortals that were still left. All three of them were at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm and were already injured.


    The explosion from the arrows had further weakened them, allowing Lu Xu and Qian Wen to wipe them out with ease.


    "You will all face defeat at the hands of Childe¡ª" Before thest immortal could finish his words though, Lu Xu struck him with his spear turning him into a sh of light.


    "As if we didn''t hear that already¡­" Lu Xu shook his head.


    They already knew that Childe Wildfire was the one behind this wave of immortals that hade towards them. The immortals had tried to threaten them using the name of the top ranker, but it was unless, as they didn''t have fear of the man.


    With Lin Mu by their side, they were ready to face anything.


    For now though, a moment of peace was obtained.


    "Is that all of them?" Ming Aolian asked, not seeing any more cultivators.


    "It should be." Qian Wen replied. "Are there moreing from the outside, Brother Mu Lin?" he asked.


    "No¡­ seems like we are done with them." Lin Mu replied, his immortal sense trying to search for other cultivators.


    "What about Childe Wildfire?" Ming Dandan inquired.


    "I can still feel the immortal Qi fluctuationsing from him. Though they are of the same level." Lin Mu replied.


    "He might still be watching us." Lu Xu said furrowing his brows. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Perhaps he''s expecting that the formations would be broken if all the immortals charged in and defeated whoever had set it up." Qian Wen guessed.


    "How long do you think it''ll take for him to realize he''s wrong?" Ming Aolian wondered.


    "Whatever it might be, you all should take this time to recover as much as you can." Lin Mu said knowing that the situation could change at any moment.


    Unlike him, Lu Xu, Qian Wen and the Ming Sisters didn''t have high stores of Immortal Qi. Lu Xu and Qian Wen were the ones who had fought directly and thus had used the most immortal Qi.


    Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan might not have expended much of their own Immortal Qi, but their tamed beasts certainly had. The Mulch Crawl Eater beast was exhausted and had used up nearly 80% of its immortal Qi in order to use its skill to turn the ground into a swamp.


    It had converted arge area ofnd into a swamp and had maintained it all this time too, which had led to a greater drain. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Even the Sky Soar Wolf had used up nearly half of its Immortal Qi in the battle. Ting was flying at her maximum speed, which did use up more immortal Qi after all. And since the Ming sisters couldn''t fight themselves, it basically meant that their condition may as well be the condition of their tamed beasts.


    "We''ll try to recover." Lu Xu said as he took out Immortal stones.


    Qian Wen did the same, while the Ming Sisters gave their immortal stones to their beasts.


    They would try their best to recover their immortal Qi, while Lin Mu continued to keep a watch. He was the one in the best condition as he had barely used five percent of his immortal Qi even with the constant barrage of attacks.


    Wonder Seeker was a great help in it, as the bow could reduce his consumption of Immortal Qi by supplementing it with its own. This was the advantage of having a High Grade Immortal weapon, as it could think for itself and adequately support its owner.


    Not only were Lin Mu''s attacks amplified, his consumption of Immortal Qi was also lowered, raising the overall efficiency of his attacks.


    Lin Mu watched the skies with his Spatial Perception active, trying to see how the condition of the other Spatial ne was.


    ''Still intact¡­ there doesn''t seem to be any sign of it closing right now.'' Lin Mu thought after observing it.


    If the Spatial ne closed up, it would mean that Lin Mu would be free to pursue the remaining immortals in the Spatial ne. But since it was still existing, it meant he needed to wait longer.


    Minute after minute passed, as Lin Mu kept a sharp eye on everything. Hispanions were trying to recover, but their speed of recovery wasn''t as fast as Lin Mu.


    ~HONG~


    But just ten minutester, Lin Mu felt a wave of energying from afar. It prompted him to open his eyes and be alert.


    "Looks like he can''t hold back anymore¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he gazed in the distance.


    Over ten kilometers away, a ck robed man was walking in a field of fire. With every step that he took, the fire continued to spread and a field of mes was created.


    For some reason, the fire didn''t extinguish even after he had walked past an area and continued to burn. The mes looked to be of the same color as normal mes. But the heating from them was far greater than that.


    It was like the concentrated heat from a forge that scorched one''s skin with just a single exposure.


    The man had an expressionless face and seemed to be walking without a care in the world. Though the aura that was emanating from him said otherwise. It was like that of a volcano that seemed to be on the verge of exploding.


    Every step of his seemed to cause a faint rumbling, while the temperature of the area continued to rise. At first, the steps seemed to be slow, but after a minute or so, it was as if they had turned into a blur.


    A kilometer of area was passed in a minute, the man gliding over thend as if it were snow.

 Chapter 1753 Childe Wildfire

    Lin Mu could feel the presence of Childe Wildfire getting stronger, as the man got closer.


    The sheer amount of heat that was radiating from his body seemed to be changing the very air as it could be seen bending. One could almost see a mirage appearing in the distance as if this were a desert.


    ''His proficiency with the Fire Dao is great¡­'' Lin Mu realized it quickly.


    In fact, it might be among the highest that he had seen so far.


    "Only Little Shrubby would be able to exceed this¡­ but even that is due to the sh Fire Liger and Scorch w Tiger Bloodlines." Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu couldpare the potential of Little Shrubby with Childe Wildfire, but when it came to application it was clear that the man was above Little Shrubby. This could be attributed to both his cultivation base, as well as the sheer amount of experience he would have had.


    ''One thing is sure though¡­ he didn''t get here by using shortcuts.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ¡¤?¦Èm He not only sensed fire elemental Immortal Qi but also hints of Fire Dao traces among it all. But the surprising part was that the Fire Dao Traces weren''t due to a Dao skill being used.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    ''His body is naturally attracting Fire Dao Traces¡­'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows, as the implications of it were not great.


    Something like this usually only happened if had a great treasure of the Dao on their body or if they were close to triggering an Immortal Tribtion.


    If it was the first option, Lin Mu would have to be careful, as Dao Treasures could be a terrific tool in strengthening one''s Dao Skills. They were very rare and were naturally formed, too.


    Coming across one was considered as a great fortunate encounter.


    Even Lin Mu hadn''t found a Dao Treasure. They could only seek it out, but couldn''t buy it.


    ''There''s an easy enough way to confirm it¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself, before closing his eyes.


    A momentter, Lin Mu opened them, the view in front of him changing vastly. With his Spatial Perception active, Lin Mu looked at the distance, seeing several Spatial disturbances appearing.


    "So it really is an Immortal Tribtion¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He could see fine Spatial cracks that were smaller than the thickness of a hair. There were hundreds of them, and they were moving toward Lin Mu. And as he kept on watching, the man in question could also be seen.


    He wore ck robes, while mes danced around him.


    Lin Mu observed the man closely and realized that he really was close to triggering an Immortal Tribtion.


    ''Considering I''m seeing Fire Dao Traces, the one he''s going to trigger is a Fire Elemental Immortal Tribtion.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    He was acutely surprised by this, as it didn''t seem like the man was close to his lifespan for it to be close to triggering like this. After all, Childe Wildfire''s appearance was that of a man in his thirties. He might be over two thousand years old, but he didn''t look like a grandpa at the end of his life.


    After all, Immortals would rapidly age when they reached the end of their longevity and would also show signs of an Immortal Tribtion.


    Another reason that surprised Lin Mu was the fact that Childe Wildfire had a high understanding of the Fire Dao, despite not having triggered the Fire Elemental Immortal Tribtion.


    ''If he hasn''t used the Fire Elemental Immortal Tribtion before to gain understanding, it means he has reached this point on his own. It is certainly a mix of talent and effort.'' Lin Mu could assess the man''s condition.


    Which only made him think more about the circumstances for his uing Immortal Tribtion.


    "If it isn''t due to his lifespan ending, it only means¡­ there is something else triggering it simr to Little Shrubby." Lin Mu had seen Little Shrubby trigger a Wood Elemental Immortal Tribtion after he had progressed his Fume Wood Panther Bloodline.


    But Lin Mu was sure that Childe Wildfire didn''t have a Beast bloodline.


    ''If he had one, I would have sensed it.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Having the Bloodline of the Great Slumber bear, and having cultivated the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets, Lin Mu was sensitive to different bloodlines. After all, they would re up at times when they felt a strong bloodline or try to suppress a weaker one.


    Of course, Lin Mu could control this and not let it show openly, but it didn''t mean that he still couldn''t tell if someone had a Beast Bloodline. He was sure that Childe Wildfire had no beast bloodline and that the Immortal Tribtion was appearing due to an entirely different reason.


    He didn''t have a Dao Treasure on him either, as that had already been struck down due to the presence of the Spatial Cracks.


    "Not a bloodline, and not the end of his lifespan. Hmm¡­ Is it due to a Dao skill, then?" Lin Mu could only guess that.


    He knew that when Dao skills improved, or Dao Embryo improved, one could bring a very profound change. Sometimes, this was great enough for an Immortal Tribtion to be triggered, as the Heaven''s will would want to test you.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But in the current situation of Childe Wildfire, it was a difficult thing.


    Lin Mu thought about it before an idea appeared in his mind. He only had a short time to think about it, as Childe Wildfire was approaching at a great speed.


    ''I need to try it out at least.'' Lin Mu reckoned before contacting hispanions.


    "You all need to be on the defensive and retreat." Lin Mu stated.


    "Huh, why?" Lu Xu asked.


    "Are we not going to fight him together?" Qian Wen questioned.


    "Do you have another n perhaps, Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Aolian inquired.


    Ming Dandan stayed silent but eagerly awaited for Lin Mu''s response.


    "I do yes¡­ while I don''t know if it would work, but if it does, we''ll save a lot of effort." Lin Mu answered.


    "Are you going to deal with Childe Wildfire on your own?" Ming Dandan asked in doubt.


    "Somewhat¡­ It could go sideways, thus I want you all to retreat a bit. If the man attacks, I''ll be able to defend, but you four might be caught off guard. Your immortal Qi hasn''t recovered properly either." Lin Mu had also considered their energy stores.


    The tamed beasts of Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan had used quite a lot of Immortal Qi, and even with the support of Immortal Stones, it was not possible for them to replenish it quickly. It would take them at least thirty minutes to reach an eptable level.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen were the ones'' directly fighting the cultivators, thus they had expended a decent amount of Immortal Qi too.


    Lin Mu might have considered letting them stay close if they had their immortal Qi, but right now the risk was higher.


    Lu Xu and the rest thought over it and decided to trust Lin Mu''s words.


    "We''ll do as Brother Mu Lin says." Qian Wen replied.


    "Mmhmm, try to replenish your Immortal Qi further. I''ll still need you all if things go sideways." Lin Mu stated.


    "Of course!" Ming Aolian said quickly, not wanting to disappoint Lin Mu.


    "Alright then, get back." Lin Mu said as he controlled the formations around him. "I''ll concentrate the befuddling formations around you, just in case." He informed.


    "Don''t worry about us, we''ll be fine Brother Mu Lin." Lu Xu said as he retreated along with the others.


    Lin Mu''s eyes were locked onto the ck robed man, analyzing his every movement and actions. Even the way he moved was analyzed by Lin Mu, as it seemed to be a footwork technique.


    ''Using mes to glide and boost one''s speed¡­ not only does it seem to use less immortal Qi than flying, it also has the passive effects of providing defensive measures due to the heat of the mes.'' Lin Mu could tell that it was certainly a high grade footwork technique.


    ~huu~


    "Here goes nothing¡­" and when Childe Wildfire was just a few meters from the ring of formations, Lin Mu walked out of it.


    ~shua~


    He seemingly appeared out of thin air, but Childe wildfire was unaffected.


    "An illusory formation of this level must have taken you a while to set¡­ so it really was a trap since the start, huh." Childe Wildfire spoke first.


    "You must be Childe Wildfire¡­ you sent the other cultivators to check it out, right?" Lin Mu replied calmly.


    "I did." The man admitted. "But for you to walk out of its security like this¡­ you are plotting something else." He guessed.


    Lin Mu didn''t mind the man''s words and kept hisposure.


    "I can say the same for you perhaps¡­ You could have easily charged in and broken the formations with your strength. And yet¡­ you took the cautious approach of sending others." Lin Mu said, making the man a bit intrigued.

 Chapter 1754 Coerced Into Alliance

    Lin Mu had several thoughts about the man in his mind, and he was betting on them that they were urate. Because if they were, Lin Mu would be able to get out of this would ease.


    Childe Wildfire looked at Lin Mu after having heard his words. The man didn''t speak for a few seconds, prompting Lin Mu to continue.


    "I guess I''ve hit it right on the nail." Lin Mu spoke. "You are not in the right condition to go all out, are you?" he asked openly.


    "Why should I respond to that?" This time Childe Wildfire replied.


    "Because if you do, we might be able to cooperate." Lin Mu stated.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Cooperate?" Childe Wildfire furrowed his brows. "Like the others that are cooperating with you?"


    "Something like that." Lin Mu nodded. "It''ll be for your benefit too."


    "So you intend to ditch them and let you and me win?" Childe Wildfire guessed. "Seems like your goal is simr to mine." He replied.


    "Not exactly." Lin Mu shook his head, much to the man''s surprise. "What I intend to do is to allow all of us to win."


    "That''s not possible." Childe Wildfire scoffed.


    "Oh, but it is¡­ did you forget how many winners they intend to get?" Lin Mu retorted, making the man rethink.


    Childe Wildfire''s expression changed, as he thought of something improbable.


    "You can''t¡­ the final 6 winners? You''re aiming for that?" Childe Wildfire replied a hint of surprise in his voice.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu epted. "There are four allies with me. Adding you, there will be six of us." He stated.


    "But there is no guarantee it would work. The lucky six winners would only be chosen from the final spatial ne that is left." Childe Wildfire said his tone calm, though hints of doubt could be seen on his face.


    "Oh, but it can." Lin Mu was firm in his words.


    "How would you guarantee that?" Childe Wildfire questioned.


    "What if I had a way of knowing when a Spatial ne was going to close?" Lin Mu answered. "Let me tell you¡­ we are very close to it too." He added.


    Childe Wildfire tried to keep a calm face, but internally he was already surprised.


    ''There shouldn''t be any way tomunicate outside of the Spatial ne. But the way he''s speaking about it, he''s certainly confident.'' Childe Wildfire thought about it.


    He would not have believed Lin Mu, but he had already confirmed that Lin Mu had fourpanions with him. These were the people who had fought the cultivators that he had threatened before and had all survived.


    ''Can it really work? For one to know the situation of the other Spatial nes, the only way would be¡­ Formations!'' Childe Wildfire suddenly thought of something.


    He had seen the formations that Lin Mu had set up, including the Sky Cull Grounding Formation thus he knew that there was a strong formation master among them. But now that Childe Wildfire had heard Lin Mu, he couldn''t help but put two and two together.


    ''If he really is the formation master with enough skill to set something up like this, then he really might be able to tell if the other Spatial nes are affected.'' Childe wildfire analyzed.


    The man hade to the result that Lin Mu had wanted, but he had taken a different route than expected. Instead of thinking that Lin Mu could literately see the Spatial nes copse, he simply associated Lin Mu''s skill with the formations.


    Childe Wildfire had lived a long time and knew that formations masters could do the unbelievable when given enough time and if they had the right skill. To them, sensing a change in a formation was normal and since the Spatial nes were set up using formations too, it made sense to him that Lin Mu could sense them too.


    One might not be able to make changes or interfere with a strong formation array set up by the temple, but simply ''observing'' and sensing them was not an issue, ording to Childe Wildfire.


    Lin Mu didn''t know the thoughts going through the mind of Childe Wildfire, but he could sense the minor fluctuations in his Immortal Qi and aura. The intense aura from before was wavering and the Immortal Qi fluctuations had also reduced.


    ''Guess he''s hesitating now.'' Lin Mu thought. ''Time to throw in the final hook.'' He decided.


    "I¡­" Childe Wildfire was just about to say something when Lin Mu interrupted him.


    "Working with me would be beneficial to you too. I don''t think you want the Immortal Tribtion to trigger mid way through the fight." Lin Mu suddenly said, stunning the man.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "How did you¡ª" Childe Wildfire was now stunned.


    "I have my ways¡­" Lin Mu smiled. "I don''t think you want to waste the opportunity toprehend Fire Dao Insights either. If we fight, you won''t be able to focus on sensing them. Not to mention the added burden of surviving the Immortal Tribtion too. For the progress of your Dao Skill, I think it is best you follow my request." He exined.


    Childe Wildfire''s expression turned still, while his lips turned to a frown. He had debated internally whether Lin Mu was just trying to y a trick on him, but after hearing the rest, he was damn sure it was not.


    ''For him to sense my ie Immortal Tribtion¡­ this is already a big disadvantage. I don''t know how long I can hold back the Immortal Tribtion either¡­'' Childe Wildfire thought, his heart racing slightly.


    He tried to contain it, but the man was simply caught in Lin Mu''s words. In fact, the moment Lin Mu had revealed his situation with the Immortal Tribtion, he was already out of options.


    Even if Childe Wildfire had the confidence to face Lin Mu, the threat of the Immortal Tribtion was a big concern. On his own, he was fully confident in surviving it, but to be able to do it midway through a battle? He had his doubts.


    Plus, he had also heard about the strength and skills about Lin Mu and hispanions.


    There was no guarantee that the others would jump in on the opportunity to fight him along with Lin Mu.


    That was the reason why he had sent the other immortals into the formation circle. He had wished to weaken Lin Mu and hispanions along with seeking out more information about them. But now all of that was for naught, and there were only two options left for Childe Wildfire.


    "So then¡­ what do you say?" Lin Mu questioned the man, staring right into his eyes.


    To Childe Wildfire it was rather shocking, as he felt a rather oppressive feeling from Lin Mu.


    ''For such a feeling toe from a Second Tribtion Stage Immortal¡­ there is certainly a lot more to him.'' Childe Wildfire thought. ''Or perhaps this isn''t even his true cultivation base. Maybe he is hiding it.'' He reckoned.


    To Childe Wildfire, his breakthrough was rather important too, as it would allow him to reach the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm!


    That was a great achievement and it would put him above all the other contestants. It wouldn''t be a negative thing either, as he would have broken in the middle of the tournament.


    Childe Wildfire tried to think about it and reckoned there was no other option left now.


    "Alright¡­ I''ll hold back¡­ for now." Childe Wildfire said, trying to save some of his face.


    "Good! I assure you, this won''t be a regret." Lin Mu replied with a smile.


    Childe Wildfire looked at the confidence in Lin Mu''s eyes, wondering just what made him this sure.


    "Even if we go ahead with your n, what if there are still others left?" Childe Wildfire questioned.


    "That''s the thing. We simply have to make them stop existing here." Lin Mu replied. "It''s now time for us to get rid of all the remaining immortals other than us!" he stated.


    Lin Mu quickly sent a message to hispanions, asking them to approach.


    The Ming sisters were hesitant, but Lu Xu and Qian Wen took the lead. After all, the two sisters couldn''t fight on their own, thus if Childe Wildfire attacked, they would not be able to respond in time.


    It was better for Lu Xu and Qian Wen to take the lead.


    A minuteter, they were standing behind Lin Mu, a mix of confusion and hesitation on their faces.


    "Everyone, meet Childe Wildfire." Lin Mu introduced. "He''ll be our temporary ally."


    "Y-you¡­ you really managed to convince him?!" Ming Aolian was surprised.


    "Our goals align thus it is normal that we should do something that benefits all of us." Lin Mu replied. "As such, we should now move on to the final part of the n." He spoke.


    "Time to hunt down the stragglers?" Lu Xu said with a smirk.


    "Indeed¡­ time to take out all those that are still hiding!" Lin Mu dered.

 Chapter 1755 Wildfires Thoughts

    Lin Mu and hispanions quickly spread out, in search of the cultivators that were left.


    One direction was taken by Ming Aolian, as she could cover the entire area due to her tamed beast.


    "Ting! Sniff them out!" Ming Aolian quickly called her Sky Soar Wolf out.


    The beast could fly and had a strong sense of smell, making her the best to find the cultivators out. They hadn''t done this before since their goal before was to stay hidden and keep a low profile.


    But now that it was time to exterminate all remaining survivors, Ting could be allowed to use her skills to the maximum.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The wolf quickly flew away in search of cultivators.


    "We''ll head off too." Lu Xu spoke.


    The second direction was taken by Lu Xu and Qian Wen, the two using their immortal sense to find the others. They might not have immortal sense that was as refined and wide ranged as Lin Mu, butbined they could still do decent work.


    "I''ll protect Sister Aolian." Ming Dandan stated.


    Ming Dandan stayed behind with Ming Aolian, as her tamed beast wasn''t exactly made for something like this. Plus her staying with Ming Aolian meant that both could be protected by the Mulch Crawl Eater beast.


    It was better than them staying alone.


    "Alright then, I''ll take this direction and Childe Wildfire can take thest one." Lin Mu directed before looking at Childe Wildfire. "Is that fine with you?" he asked cordially.


    "No issues." The man epted before flying away.


    The remaining two directions were taken up by Lin Mu and Childe Wildfire. Both of them had strong and refined Immortal senses, allowing them to coverrge tracts of areas.


    Lin Mu of course, had the best range and was quickly covering the designated as well.


    And while this was happening, Childe Wildfire was having several thoughts. He had taken Lin Mu''s orders in a stride, finding it strange for him.


    ''For me to take orders from someone else¡­'' Childe Wildfire didn''t know what to think of it.


    He wasn''t someone who would easily be convinced by others, nor was he someone who would take orders from others. There was a reason why the other cultivators were afraid of him and had taken his threat very seriously.


    They had heard of several incidents that had happened due to the man and were wary of him. They knew if they didn''t heed his orders, they would probably end up regretting it.


    And yet¡­ such a man was now following the orders of someone whom he had set out to hunt.


    ''Things are getting strange¡­ no, the man is strange.'' Childe Wildfire thought to himself.


    He tried to recall if there was any information about Lin Mu that he had read about before.


    "For someone like him, there should have been some information. With that cultivation base and that level of skills, he is bound to have some reputation. And yet¡­ I can''t remember hearing anything about him." Childe Wildfire muttered to himself.


    And the more he thought, the more anxious he felt.


    ''First it was Dugu Shanhe, and now Daoist Mu Lin¡­ This Tournament is bringing out hidden talents.'' Childe Wildfire thought to himself.


    His defeat at the hands of Dugu Shanhe was something he hadn''t forgotten at all. It was something that had affected him deeply and he wanted to resolve it.


    Childe Wildfire knew that he had to defeat the man or at least have a fight with him again. If he didn''t do that, there was a great chance that it woulde to haunt himter.


    There was always a chance of him developing a heart demon or suffering a Qi Deviation.


    He was especially sensitive too, since his Immortal Tribtion was near.


    ''I''ve been trying to suppress it all this time, but I don''t know how long I would be able to hold it back.'' Childe Wildfire thought to himself.


    He wondered if his meeting with Lin Mu could be considered luck too. As without that, there was a certain probability of him increasing the chances of something going wrong during his Immortal Tribtion.


    At the same time, he wished to keep his breakthrough somewhat secret.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    ''The increase in my cultivation base will be a significant advantage if the others do not find out.'' Childe Wildfire thought to himself.


    A few minutes passed like this before the man finally sensed something.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Hiding like a rat, I see¡­" Childe Wildfire narrowed his eyes.


    His immortal sense could see a single cultivator hidden underground. He was at a depth of about ten minutes, and yet no hole or opening could be seen nearby.


    "You''ll face a rat''s end too." Childe Wildfire said before pointing with his index and middle finger.


    ~SHUA~


    Sparks formed around them, which quickly turned into orange mes. The mes gathered into a small orb at his finger tips and increased in power. Strong Fire elemental immortal Qi fluctuation could be felt at that moment that quickly spread over the area.


    ~Tremble~


    The cultivator that was seemingly hiding underground had sensed it too, and tried to run away. The soil bulged up, as a man appeared from within it.


    "Heavens! Its Childe Wildfire!" The man was stunned as soon as he saw the person targeting him. "Dirt Swim Technique!" knowing not to waste any time, he dived into the ground again.


    The dirt parted as if it were water, allowing him to enter easily. It even closed above his body, barely leaving a trace of his presence behind.


    It was evident that the man was a cultivators that specialized in Earth Elemental movement skills. It offered him some level of protection since attacks wouldn''t hit him directly due to the soil being between him and surface, but it didn''t mean it was absolute.


    ~THIU~


    The orange me orb at the fingertips of Childe Wildfire reached its peak before shooting out a beam of energy. The energy was like a searing firence and pierced through the ground with ease.


    ''SHIT! SHIT!SHIT!'' the cultivator inside the ground was panicking as he could feel the fiery energy behind him.


    The sheer intensity of the Fire elemental immortal Qi was enough to let him know that he would be defeated the moment it came close to him. Thus, he pushed his body to the limits, trying to increase his speed as much as he could.


    Childe Wildfire on the other hand, was uncaring. His initial strike had missed the mark, but the beam of fire was still ongoing. He simply moved his fingers and charged the direction of the fiery beam, searing a line across the ground.


    Where ever the fiery beam struck, ck scorch marks would be left around it for about a meter, while the central part would directly melt!


    One could see from this that the Qi skill that Childe Wildfire was using was highly concentrated despite having a narrow area of effect.


    Unfortunately for the running cultivator, it meant that he couldn''t ovee it no matter how much he sped up. After all, he had to move his entire body, but Childe Wildfire merely had to shift his fingers.


    "AHHHHHHHH!" the cultivator''s body rapidly started to heat up even as the fiery beam was a meter away from it.


    It had heated the ground up enough to turn the area around it scorching hot.


    The pain caused the cultivator to lose his focus and he finally got hit by the beam directly.


    ~SHUA~


    The man was at the Third Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm and was alone in the first ce, thus he was quickly defeated. In the one second that the beam had made direct contact with him, deep scorch marks had been left on his body.


    Thankfully, the formation array had been triggered and quickly transported the man out before he would be killed.


    "Hmm¡­" Childe Wildfire stopped his Qi skill, having sensed that his target was gone. "One rat down, a few more to go." He muttered, having sensed faint immortal Qi fluctuationsing from the distance.


    His use of Qi skill had made other''s sense him and also rmed them.


    These cultivators could tell that such strong fire elemental immortal Qi would only be from one person in the Spatial ne, and that was Childe Wildfire. Thus, they used their full effort to run away. But this also ended up giving away their positions as the stray immortal Qi fluctuations from their bodies reached the sensory range of Childe Wildfire.


    "Running away is not an option." Childe Wildfire said out loud before raising his hand.


    At the same time, he flew towards the direction of the cultivators, readying his Qi skill.


    ~SHUA~


    Orange mes gathered in his palm this time, turning into arge sphere that was about the size of a watermelon. Once it was ready, Childe Wildfire kept his momentum and threw out the fire sphere.


    ~Boom!~


    The sphere soared into the sky, before exploding and raining down fire across thendscape!

 Chapter 1756 Nobles Negotiations

    Childe Wildfire''s attack was on arge scale and covered an area of nearly ten kilometers in one go.


    The cultivators that were hiding or those that were running were caught in it and were quickly wiped away. Their bodies turned into shes of light and were teleported out of the spatial ne.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Hmph¡­ trash is the same as always¡­" Childe Wildfire said before continuing onwards.


    In the opposite direction from him, Ming Aolian''s tamed beast Ting was also doing well. She could fly higher than most immortals and was able to sniff them out with ease.


    The ones that were deemed weaker were quickly eliminated by the beast as well while those that were stronger were marked. The information was shared with others, and they would be taken care ofter.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen were also defeating cultivators that they came across. They seemed to be in luck, as they only encountered a handful of immortals that were all at the Third Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm.


    After a couple of hours, they couldn''t find any more cultivators and ended up going to help Ming Aolian out.


    The cultivators that were tracked by Ting were now being hunted down by thebination of Lu Xu and Qian Wen. Ting would also swoop down when the cultivators least expected it.


    This made their task easier and they hunted down nearly fifteen immortals this way.


    This left Lin Mu who was the one having the least luck.


    "Only two immortals in this direction so far¡­ it''s been two hours too¡­" Lin Mu wondered if the immortals were really far away, or if there were not many in this direction.


    Even with his immortal sense extended to the limit, Lin Mu didn''t encounter any more immortals. It was as if they had all been eliminated already.


    ''I guess this is also good. Our goal is to wait out anyways. If just us six are left, we will win by default anyway.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The group of six continued this for another twelve hours. During this time, Lin Mu managed to find one more immortal, while Lu Xu and Qian Wen hunted down three immortals with the help of Ting. The one immortal that Lin Mu had hunted down had also been found with the help of the Sky Soar Wolf.


    It only made Lin Mu miss Little Shrubby, as the beast could easily carry him around as well as find the cultivators hidden away.


    Childe Wildfire on the other hand, had defeated the most immortals out of them. He had seemingly gotten the busiest areas and had defeated nearly twenty immortals in those twelve hours.


    The reason it was ''nearly'' defeated was due to the fact that a couple of the immortals had injured themselves while running and collided with each other. They were knocked out identally and ended up being teleported out of the Spatial ne.


    It was a funny scene that Lin Mu and hispanions didn''t get to see. But the audience that did see it found it hrious.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    This one event ended up raising Childe Wildfire''s reputation more than it had done with his threatening attitude before. People had now seen the other immortals fear the man and run away without even seeing him. This made the audience awed.


    The ironic thing was that if the immortals that had been running away from Childe Wildfire tried to band together and fight against him, they might have had a slight chance of surviving longer. But since they were running away with their backs to him, they became easy targets.


    They didn''t know that Childe Wildfire was in a sensitive state as well.


    If they knew that he was actually close to an Immortal Tribtion, they could have forced his hand and possibly interfered in his Tribtion. But without the knowledge of this, they were suffering.


    It showed just how much having knowledge helped. Lin Mu had grasped the one vulnerability of Childe Wildfire and made him cooperate with him without even fighting him. This act of Lin Mu had managed to get him some attention from certain kinds of nobles.


    These were the same kinds of nobles that preferred political power and made use of their tongues more than their swords. A talented individual that could negotiate and influence others was very valuable in the noble circle.


    They knew, if they nurtured Lin Mu, they could gain a lot of benefits in the long term.


    These nobles tried to find out if Lin Mu had been sponsored beforehand and were unable too.


    They had to spend extra effort before they found out that he had indeed been sponsored. They weren''t discouraged due to this though. Instead, it only emboldened them to try further.


    After all to them, someone who could be swayed by a sponsorship could be swayed again. One only needed to offer better terms than the original sponsor. As such, they tried to find out just who it was that had sponsored Lin Mu.


    They faced some obstacles in this too. Infuriated by this, the nobles tried to make use of their connections to find more information. But the information that they found through that method ended up turning their blood cold.


    The one who had sponsored Lin Mu was no minor noble.


    It was the Crown Prince of the Dao Wind Empire!


    No sane noble would try to touch someone that had been imed by Crown Prince Feng Shun. He was bound to be the emperor one day, and they certainly didn''t wish to offend him this way.


    Moreover, just the fact that they had harbored the thought of stealing someone from Crown prince Feng Shun alone could be considered treasonous. Thus, they ended up spending more effort and resources in hiding their traces instead.


    They knew that the Crown Prince was bound to find it out if he got interested. Their only hope was that the Crown Prince wouldn''t bother much seeing that they had held back.

 Chapter 1757 Where Is The Last Cultivator?

    Crown Prince Feng Shun didn''t have a harsh reputation, thus the Nobles were still a bit hopeful.


    But even if they couldn''t im Lin Mu, it didn''t mean they couldn''t approach hispanions. The nobles quickly discovered that Lu Xu, Qian Wen, and the Ming Sisters were all sponsored by other aristocrats and nobles.


    Negotiations started among the nobles to try and im them, but sess was out of their reach.


    The nobles who had sponsored Lin Mu''spanions weren''t blind and knew that their benefit was to hold on to them rather than sell them to others.


    Of course, Lin Mu and hispanions had no idea the kind of stress they were causing to the nobles and aristocrats. And even if they did know about it, there was no way they would care a single bit about it. After all, their benefits were all locked together thus it didn''t make sense to change the sponsorship again.


    An entire day ended up passing, after which Lin Mu finally sensed a change in the space.


    "It is time¡­" Lin Mu could feel the Spatial fluctuations that were hidden in the air.


    They were clearer than before since the other Spatial nes had already been closed. The one that was left was emitting spatial fluctuation that Lin Mu loudly feel even without his Spatial Perception. Of course, to confirm it, he still used it and ''saw'' the Spatial ne disappear.


    Just a couple of minutester, the Spatial ne was gone, leaving thest Spatial ne that they were left in.


    "Is it going to work?" Lin Mu wondered.


    ording to his calctions, if he and hispanions had defeated all the other cultivators here, they should be teleported out in a couple of minutes too. But after waiting for five minutes, Lin Mu didn''t sense any more Spatial fluctuations.


    "Looks like there are still some cultivators left." Lin Mu muttered before informing hispanions.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Childe Wildfire who heard it, was the most eager.


    "Does this we are the only ones left in the Spatial ne?" He questioned.


    "Yes, we are thest surviving people in the Spatial ne. Though it seems like we haven''t achieved the right number of survivors yet." Lin Mu answered.


    "Where do you think thest cultivator could be hiding?" Ming Aolian wondered. "Ting can''t sniff anyone either now." She added.


    "Whoever it is, they might be using a strong skill to hide. We''ve covered arge area of the Spatial ne in the past day. If webine that with the travel we''ve done before, we do know nearly 70% of the Spatial ne." Lin Mu replied.


    "Guess it means there should still be one or two immortals left." Ming Dandan stated.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Any luck on your end, Lu Xu?" he asked next.


    "Nothing. We haven''te across anyone since the past four hours." Lu Xu answered. "I am far too bored now." He added.


    "Yeah, I know. It was an exhausting round." Lin Mu answered.


    "Brother Mu Lin, have you tried of drawing the said immortal out?" Qian Wen inquired.


    "I don''t know if they would respond or not. But I guess it is important to do it soon¡­" Lin Mu muttered before thinking for a bit. "Let''s gather up for now. No use in us spreading around." He stated.


    "Let''s go back to the hill?" Ming Aolian suggested.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Yeah, it''s near our location now, anyway." Lu Xu agreed.


    "What hill?" Childe Wildfire questioned.


    "A ce that we were using." Qian Wen answered. "You''ll see."


    "Yeah, let''s just head there." Lin Mu confirmed.


    With that done, everyone made their way to the said hill, with Qian Wen taking the most time. Not only did he not know where the hill was, he was also farthest from their location. Childe Wildfire had done a little ''extra'' and didn''t realize just how far he had gone while chasing the immortals.


    Unknown to him, he was just a few kilometers from the edge of the Spatial ne. Anymore and he would have just ended up circling around the entire area ande out on the opposite side.


    Soon, they were all gathered on the hill while Childe Wildfire looked around in intrigue.


    "This is your handiwork, too?" Childe Wildfire asked.


    "It is all, Brother Mu Lin''s work." Lu Xu replied.


    "Brother Mu Lin is highly proficient in Formations." Ming Dandan agreed.


    While Childe Wildfire had seen the Sky Cull Grounding formation that Lin Mu had made earlier, seeing that he had made something like a hidden base in the Spatial ne also made him a bit impressed¡ªhis doubt in Lin Mu''s capability to tell whether a Spatial ne had closed or not, decreased.


    Even if Lin Mu had already told them that they were among thest people left, Childe Wildfire didn''t have the same trust that Lin Mu''spanions did. Besides, they were just temporary allies and thus he didn''t wish to get too close, either.


    It was an alliance of convenience and could be broken once the agreement was fulfilled.


    "How do you propose we draw out thest few cultivators?" Childe Wildfire asked.


    "Do we even know how many are left now?" Ming Aolian questioned as well.


    "There shouldn''t be that many. I think at most there would be three." Lin Mu replied. "Though there is a high chance it is just one person left." He added.


    "Yeah, it would make sense if it is just a lone person hiding." Lu Xu agreed.


    "But we already covered entirety of the Spatial ne." Qian Wen said.


    "I''m sure I took out most of the cultivators earlier and sent the majority before that to fight you all." Childe Wildfire added.


    "Hmm¡­ if it is like that, then the only ce someone can hide is¡­" A thought appeared in Lin Mu''s mind, looking down.


    Childe Wildfire also saw this and could guess Lin Mu''s thoughts. "I did encounter someone who could use an earth escape skill." He revealed.


    Hearing that Lin Mu smiled, knowing what to do.


    "Time to st this ce apart!"

 Chapter 1758 Excavating The Final Cultivator

    The first thing Lin Mu did was to dispel the reinforcing formations that he had set up on the hill and around the area. With them gone, the others would be able to damage it without any issue.


    "Begin!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    Upon Lin Mu''smand, the group was quick to act.


    They all understood Lin Mu''s thoughts and Childe Wildfire was the first one to act.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He lifted his leg straight up before stabbing it down like a pike.


    "Barren Purge Fire!" Childe Wildfire chanted.


    A great wave of immortal Qi could be felt at that moment, as the man''s aura rapidly rose. And yet, the force of the Qi skill didn''t hit the others. It only spread into the ground, quickly filling it to the brim.


    "We won''t be left behind!" Ming Dandan said, as she quicklymanded the Mulch Crawl Eater Beast.


    ~GUKO~


    The beast let out a loud cry before using its Dao Skill. The ground underneath it turned into mud and the effect kept on getting stronger with each passing second.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The wet mud and heat from Childe Wildfire''s mes collided within the earth, bringing forth movement. At first, it was faint but soon the collision of the two skills could be felt above ground as well. The two opposing skills created a great force that split apart the entire earth and the hill!


    ~BOOM~


    The ground ruptured along with the entire hill, as the formations that Lin Mu had set up started to break apart. Cracks spread everywhere while the hill shook.


    ~SHING~


    ~CLANG~


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen also acted, using their weapons to split the segments of the hill that had started to copse.


    "Ting! Blow it away!" Ming Aolianmanded her tamed beast.


    ~HOWL~


    The Sky Soar Wolf spread her wings apart as wind immortal Qi gathered upon them. The wind immortal Qi swirled like small vortexes before they were all released in one go with the p of the wings.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ~WOONG~


    The wind vortexes blew theyer of the earth away that had been cracked, revealing the hidden depths.


    There one could see red hot earth and wet dark mud.


    The two types of earths were colliding under the effects of the skills and were causing further damage to the ground.


    ''Since my immortal sense was unable to pick up on the location of the final remaining Immortal even at this range, it must mean they are very deep in the earth. We need to keep on splitting this part until we defeat them.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    From time to time, explosions could be heard as the steam from the mud rapidly expanded, pushing the earth apart.


    This allowed them to ''excavate'' the ground with ease, as Lu Xu and Qian Wen would quickly cut them into smaller fragments, while Ting would blow them away. Lin Mu on the other hand kept his immortal sense extended to the maximum, ready to discover thest remaining cultivators.


    He didn''t know if the said cultivator even knew about their presence or not.


    ''Considering I can''t sense them, they probably can''t sense us either. At least not for now. They must be at a depth where nothing else can''t be felt.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He was interested in such an Earth Escape skill. He had seen a few such skills before, but none that was on a level like this. Lin Mu found it rather simr to his own spatial skill Phase too.


    But then again, the application of both skills was different.


    The Earth Escape skill was something that only worked on the earth, while Phase worked on most substances. The energy consumption for both skills was also rather different. Phase had a varied energy consumption depending on the kind of material Lin Mu was passing through.


    It could be less or more, but with Lin Mu''s optimization, it was as reduced as possible.


    The Earth Escape skill on the other hand had a constant rate of immortal Qi consumption. But it was something that only worked in one kind of substance. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Though it was not without its advantage either. With the skill active, one could stay within the earth for a long time after deactivating it. But one could not do the same with Phase, as deactivating it meant that one''s body would collide with the particles of the earth.


    Phase allowed one to be within a substance while also letting the molecules thatposed it to exist at the same time. But Earth Escape skill parted the earth, making space for the cultivator to pass through. Thus one could stay within the depths of the earth as long as they could retain their breath.


    Lin Mu wondered about the cultivator who was using the Earth Escape skill.


    ''How did he wander this far in?'' He thought.


    To Lin Mu, the formations that he had set up on the hill meant that someone wouldn''t be able to find it easily.


    ''But what if he didn''t ''discover'' the hill in the first ce? His Earth Escape skill would still work and they could wander in without ever knowing about it. The skill would simply consider their position and as long as it was earth they would be able to move.


    In a way, it is a method of bypassing a restrictive formation.'' Lin Mu pondered on it, learning about the ws of the formations.


    One could infiltrate without even needing to ''see'' anything. There was no getting lost due to befuddling formations, nor would one mistake anything due to the illusory formation. These wouldn''t affect one if they were traveling ''blind'' in the first ce.


    ''Hmm¡­ for skills like this, perhaps the only way to block them is a physical barrier.'' Lin Mu first thought of a low cost method.


    One could always add a detection formation that could sense the presence of immortals, but they were moreplex and would also need more energy depending on how far their range was. The best way of blocking would be to simply erect a solid barrier that would not let the used of the skill pass through.


    But then again, the question about the range of the barrier also came. The bigger the barrier, the higher the energy consumption.


    Lin Mu continued to think like this, as second after second passed.


    His thoughts were like lightning and he was rapidly analyzing everything.


    ''It was good to let them do this rather than myself.'' Lin Mu thought next.


    Lin Mu had several skills that could have been used here. Firstly, Lin Mu could have very well used the Boulder Copsing Fist to break the Earth apart. There was also the falling skynce that had arge area of destruction.


    But Lin Mu didn''t use them as it would mean revealing his skills to the audience. It was not something he wished to do as he had already revealed plenty as of now.


    ''I need to keep more trump cards after all.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Thus he let the others work to excavate the cultivator.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    Explosion after explosions kept on happening as the earth was broken apartyer byyer.


    In just five minutes, the group had excavated a kilometer deep hole in the ground!


    The hill aboveground was already eliminated in the first couple of minutes.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    But this was just the start as the group worked tirelessly. Childe Wildfire seemed to be overflowing with energy, as his mes kept on traveling deep into the ground like magma flowing in the bowels of the earth.


    The Dao Skill of the Mulch Crawl Eater Beast was also being used to the peak now. In fact, the beast seemed to be gaining from arge scale use like this. The colliding of the Dao Skill with the Qi skill of Childe Wildfire was also allowing the immortal beast toprehend further about its own Dao and improve the skill.


    Perhaps it was the Beast Qi that Lin Mu had given to the tamed beast, but they were rapidly improving now. It was as if their hidden potential was being unearthed after all the tempering during the month long round.


    The pace of excavating only increased as time went by, as the group started to improve.


    Unknowingly and act of digging had allowed them to learn more than months of cultivation had.


    It was not something that could be learned alone and needed the cooperation of others to work. But now that it had, the rustles were obvious.


    In just forty minutes, the group had reached the depth of nearly twelve kilometers!


    It was at this point that Lin Mu''s Immortal sense finally picked up on faint immortal Qi fluctuations.


    "Got him!" Lin Mu said out loud. "Sixteen meters from the left Childe Wildfire!" he pointed out.


    "Time to roast the mole!" Childe Wildfire redirected his skill and targeted the area Lin Mu had pointed too.


    ~SHUA~


    A few secondster, all of them could feel a pull on their bodies before their vision turned dark.

 Chapter 1759 Back To The Capital City

    The attack of Childe Wildfire was enough to instantly defeat the cultivator that had been hiding in the ground.


    Daoist Erji man was perhaps one of the unluckiest in the entire round. He had decided to hide right from the start and was intending to use his Earth Escape technique for it. He had done exactly that too and had ended up in an area that had the least amount of Immortal Qi fluctuations.


    To Daoist Erji, his tactic was to hide until everyone was gone. He had brought plenty of immortal stones with him to replenish his immortal Qi, as he would need to stay hidden the entire time. But that wasn''t all as he also knew that the battle between the immortals could be very destructive to the area around them.


    Destroying a few kills or making a new valley wasn''t unheard of either. Thus the man, knew he would have to be as deep as possible in the Earth.


    And with that in mind, he dived as deep as his skill would allow him. He would have gone deeper if not for the fact that he was literally near the end of the Spatial ne. He couldn''t go any further and if he did, he would simply end up at the border and be blocked.


    Daoist Erji''s tactic had worked too as he had the most peaceful time out of all the contestants. He didn''t know what had happened, but the frequency of immortal Qi fluctuations had decreased a while back. He wondered if it was due to the number of contestants falling or if he was just lucky.


    Before this, he could sense the faint immortal Qi fluctuations but a few days ago they had entirely stopped.


    Of course, Daoist Erji had no idea that this was due to Lin Mu and hispanions taking over the hill. The formations that Lin Mu had set up had protected and isted the area, preventing any excess immortal Qi fluctuations, whether they be from others or Lin Mu and hispanions.


    Erji couldn''te back up, thus he just took it at face value and somewhat enjoyed it too.


    Lin Mu would have been surprised to know if he learned that the cultivator he had been looking for had actually hidden below the hill since the very start of the round. His creation of formations around it had not just helped him but also Daoist Erji.


    Erji''s goal was tost till the end.


    Of course, he also knew that there was a high chance there would be two people left on the surface that would be confused as to why the round was not ending. They might try to look for him, but he hoped that he could literally tire them out.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    His goal was to fight a battle of attrition and ying hide and seek would be his tactic.


    Erji hoped that he would frustrate thest remaining immortals enough that they would be forced to fight each other. That way he would still end up as one of the winners. But what the man didn''t know was that the round wouldst for this long.


    He also didn''t know that there was someone else that was intending to fight a slightly different battle of attrition too and wanted more than just two winners.


    Perhaps if it were any other Spatial ns, Daoist Erji''s tactic might have worked. But with someone with strong senses like Lin Mu, it was simply bad fortune.


    He had sensed the attacks of Childe Wildfire right from the start but hadn''t moved.


    Daoist Erji had simply thought that there were others fighting. The sh of different immortal Qi fluctuations also confirmed it for him.


    Even when the ground cracked and crumbled, the man didn''t panic. After all, the distance between the surface and him was of several kilometers.


    But as he continued to wait, he realized that the battle didn''t stop at all and continued to get close to him. And just when he had decided it was time to move, it was toote. Lin Mu had confirmed his position and Childe Wildfire had targeted him.


    The only thing Daoist Erji felt at that moment was intense heat that burned his robes away in an instant along with the Identity Token. It was enough to make him realize that if the formation wasn''t fast enough, he might have been reduced to ashes very quickly.


    But before he could think much, he was teleported out. All he saw after that was a sh of light, some darkness, and then the presence of thousands of cultivators.


    "What the¡­" A light breeze caressed Daoist Erji''s body, making him remember that he was basically naked now.


    "FUCK!!" Thankfully he wasn''t a new immortal and was habituated to the destruction of robes.


    He donned new robes in an instant but that still wasn''t enough to escape the sharp eyes of all those that were watching the arrival gate.


    "Haha! Another naked one." The audience chuckled.


    "How many is that now?"


    "We already exceeded a thousandst week."


    "Check the betting ces." Someone suggested. "They took bets for how many immortals woulde out naked so they are keeping a tally."


    "Gimme a minute¡­ Ah! It''s one thousand eight hundred and twenty six!" A man finally answered.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But just as the people were watching and joking around, they heard something.


    "Look! The formation array is reappearing." The people pointed to the sky.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The immortals all around the tournament grounds could see the array in the sky. This was something they had seen before too and was none other than the spatial array that had made the Spatial nes earlier.


    They could see that the array seemed to be changing and strong immortal Qi fluctuations could be felt.


    "What''s happening?" a few people were clueless.


    "The final spatial ne just closed!"


    "What!?"


    The people were surprised.


    They had been wondering when the round of battles would end and had been waiting at the arrival gate. Some were still watching in the rings while sitting around with others thus they had seen it all.


    They had witnessed, Lin Mu and hispanions defeat the final contestant.


    "Who are the winners?" the people questioned.


    "Let me check¡­ Oh lord, it''s the lucky six!" they finally saw the six people appeared at the arrival gate


    "What? It really is the final six!" the people were stunned.


    On the arrival gate, there were none other than Lin Mu, Childe Wildfire, Lu Xu, Qian Wen, Ming Aolian, and Ming Dandan.


    "Isn''t that Childe Wildfire?" The people quickly recognized.


    He was one of the top contenders, thus it wasn''t unseal for people to identify him quickly.


    "Who are the others with him?" those that were not watching the final spatial ne questioned.


    "What? You don''t know!?" The ones who did though responded in surprise. "That''s Daoist Mu Lin!"


    "Who?" it was clear that there were still people who had not been paying attention.


    "He did the unbelievable! He actually made an alliance!" Those that had watched everything started to exin.


    In just a few minutes, the feats of Lin Mu were spread among the cultivators. All those that heard about his acts were stunned.


    Being able to make arge formation array, then making a Sky Cull Grounding Formation as well as defeating multiple immortals that were stronger than him were astounding feats. But the most surprising fact to them was Lin Mu''s ability to cooperate and form an alliance.


    After all, to most cultivators being selfish in the tournament was the most obvious choice. Even if some had made alliances in the round, it was just limited to two people.


    But Lin Mu had taken it to the next level, and made a six person alliance which even included a top ranker!


    The inclusion of Childe Wildfire was the most stunning part.


    Of course, they hadn''t heard the conversations of Lin Mu and hispanions since they were mostly done through themunication jade slips, they could still figure out a few things by seeing how they behaved.


    The immortals as well as the nobles understood the skill needed to cooperate and negotiate with multiple immortals that too in a critical situation like the Tournament of the Four Guardian Beasts was not an easy task.


    In fact, even the members of the temple were astounded by this.


    To them, the final lucky six would probably only survive due to random luck.


    But here there was Lin Mu, who had aimed for that from the start and made it work out in his favor.


    Not only had hee out victorious, he had possibly obtained the favor of hispanions including the top ranked Childe Wildfire as well as impressed tens of thousands of cultivators.


    Rather than his strength, the immortals were more impressed by his wits!


    The words of everyone reached Lin Mu and others'' ears with ease and they knew they were the center of attention.


    "Looks like you''re going to be famous, Brother."

 Chapter 1760 Rewards And Strange Change

    "Looks like you''re going to be famous, Brother." Lu Xu said while the others showed agreement on their faces.


    "It sure looks like that." Lin Mu replied to Lu Xu who had spoken earlier.


    Lin Mu watched as the audience looked at them with great interest and excitement.


    It was clear that they had brought a lot of attention to themselves this time.


    ''It is still within the calctions¡­ this should help the odds to change once more¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While he thought this though, one of the members of the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts approached them at the gate.


    "The winners need toe with me." The member said calmly.


    The person didn''t seem to care much about who Lin Mu and the others were, and seemed to only think about the task they needed to do. It was normal since they had already been dealing with several winners before this and had seen the strong individuals among them.


    "Let''s go," Lin Mu said to hispanions.


    "Are we getting the rewards already?" Qian Wen inquired while walking.


    "Yes, the winners will be given the rewards too. If you are injured, you can also get treatment." The member of the temple replied.


    "That''s good." Ming Aolian was excited about what they might get.


    Childe Wildfire was silent during this time though and just followed after the member of the temple.


    Thankfully the people didn''t follow them or stop them thus getting away from them was easy. After all, doing something like that would be the same as interfering with the work of the temple of the guardian beasts and would be deemed as an offense.


    The people knew about it very well, and wouldn''t take the risk of getting published by the temple.


    Instead of that, the people were busy discussing about thest spatial ne. They couldn''t help but be amazed by the methods that Lin Mu had used as well as the skill that Childe Wildfire had shown.


    The people were very curious about the skills and wanted to learn them too. Of course, it was something that wouldn''t be possible normally, but just learning a bit about them would still be decent gain for them.


    After all, one of the main reasons why people came all the way to the Dao Wind Empire to watch the tournament was to gain experience and learn about the various skills that other cultivators had.


    It was a rare chance that one wouldn''t get normally as experts that had been in seclusion for a long time would appear.


    Not to mention, the demonstration that the temple would do was also something that only fortunate people got to see.


    Then there were the nobles who were also hard at work, trying to learn more about Lin Mu. Even if he had been ''imed'' by the Crown Prince, it didn''t mean that they couldn''t extend a cordial invitation to him.


    Or at the very least, they could send him some customary gifts.


    It was up to Lin Mu whether to ept them or not. But simply attempting that was something that the nobles wouldn''t hold back from.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t know all this that was happening in the background. All he was concerned about right now was to see what rewards they would get as well as the next round of the tournament.


    Lin Mu and hispanions were was guided to one of the bigger buildings that had been set up near the central areas. Here, one could see a lot of the temple members as well as guards.


    Though there were no normal cultivators there.


    The guard had created a perimeter and non participants were not allowed to approach the building. One could see the importance of the building from this.


    ''There''s certainly a lot of strong individuals inside there¡­'' Lin Mu could sense several strong immortal Qi fluctuationsing from the inside.


    The strongest seemed to be at the Seventh Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm, while the weakest was at the Fourth Tribtion stage of the immortal realm!


    It was evident that a lot of the temples strong members as well as elders were gathered there at the current time.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "This building wasn''t here before, was it?" Ming Dandan furrowed her brows after seeing it.


    "This ce is the Victors Pavilion and where the contestants shall being to collect their rewards. This is also where any extra announcements shall be made by the elders." The person guiding them revealed.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    He looked around and used his immortal sense to check out the building sensing several arrays that had been set up. Among them, there were defensive as well as illusory arrays that were set to protect it.


    ''There''s also a Vision Avoidance array¡­ first time seeing this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    A Vision Avoidance array was a special kind of illusory array. It was rtively difficult to set up, as it needed some special resources to make it and also needed assistive tools to function.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    It was an illusory array that allowed one to hide a location in such a way that only a few selected individuals would be able to see it.


    ''They probably set the targets to the temple members as well as the winners. No wonder no one else saw this building before. It was hidden under the array and is probably how the elders are also monitoring the situation.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He could sense several connective arrays that were linking it to the great array in the sky along with a few monitoring arrays.


    Lin Mu and hispanions were brought to a wide hall, where several counters were set up.


    Though each of this counters were empty, and only had a single ss orb floating on top of it.


    "This is the rewards hall. If you ce your hand on the observation orb, it will check your achievements and grant you the respective rewards." The member of the temple instructed. "It is up to you when to ept the reward. If you wish, you can also let them be dyed.'' He added before pointing towards another door.


    "That is the entrance to the healing hall. If you are injured, you can go there to get your injuries mended." He exined.


    "Can we take beasts there too?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "Beast that belong to Beast Tamers are included in it, yes." The man replied.


    "Ah good!" Ming Aolian was pleased. "Brother Mu Lin, I''ll take Ting there first."


    "I should also get Mulch Crawl Eater Beast healed up." Ming Dandan chimed in.


    "Sure, you two can go ahead." Lin Mu replied. "You can get the rewardter."


    "We''ll see you in a bit then!" Ming Aolian said before going to the healing hall with Ming Dandan.


    With the two ming sisters gone, only them men were left.


    "Will there be an announcement about the next round soon?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There shall be a week long break for now." The member of the temple answered. "All of you will be informed through your tokens about any further updates."


    "Huh? A week long break?" Lu Xu and Qian Wen were surprised.


    "Why''s there a break?" Lin Mu asked.


    Normally, they shouldn''t really be dying the tournament that much and would continue as long as all the contestants were ready.


    ''Even if they need a break to prepare, it shouldn''t be a week long. Maybe a coupled days¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    "There have been a few incidents that havee to light and needed to be addressed by the temple first. In order to have a proper assessment, the temple has decided on a week long break." The person replied.


    Hearing this Lin Mu and Childe Wildfire were surprised.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen also wondered what exactly had happened.


    It made Lin Mu wonder what could have happened that would force a change like this to happen in the tournament. But it wasn''t like he couldn''t guess a few things.


    ''Is it the work of ck Fin ind members?'' Lin Mu wondered as he remembered the words of the Countess.


    They had a suspicion that Yao Changying was behind it, but they didn''t know the extent of it. For now though, it was clear that they would have to wait for a while before they got to learn more.


    Childe Wildfire though was internally pleased, as he got the time he needed for his breakthrough.


    ''I can do it without rushing now¡­'' he thought.


    "I''ll leave you to get your rewards." The member of the temple said before taking his leave.


    With him gone, Lin Mu and the others were left alone.


    "Well then, let''s see what we get!" Lu Xu was excited and quickly went to the observation orb.


    He ced his hand on the orb, making it glow lightly before a few runes appeared in it.


    ~shua~


    Then in the next moment, a pouch appeared on the counter next to it!

 Chapter 1761 Admitting To Being Weak

    Lu Xu looked at the pouch and picked it up.


    "Oh, they''re giving it in a spatial storage pouch?" Lu Xu was surprised. "Ah wait¡­ this is a temporary one." He realized soon.


    Giving out rewards Ina a Spatial Storage Pouch would be a little too extra and might be considered a waste of resources. Especially when the pouch itself wasn''t a rewards.


    In cases like these, a Temporary Spatial Storage Pouch would be used.


    It was something that was used by many ces including merchants and several other cultivators. It allowed them to sell items while making it convenient to carry while also lowering the cost of storage.


    These temporary Spatial Storage pouches worked exactly as their names meant. They would only be able to storage items for a set period of time, after which the formations used on them would break.


    They were made using a different method than the normal spatial storage tools and could be mass produced without the explicit need of a formation master and a Immortal tool refiner.


    Once they set up a production formation array, they could be made automatically as long as there was a steady supply of materials.


    Lin Mu had seen and obtained them before too and was used to them.


    "What did you get?" Qian Wen asked feeling curious.


    The two had a bet, thus they needed to know what the other got.


    "Hmm¡­ It''s good enough." Lu Xu said before handing the pouch to the man. "You can take what you want."


    Qian Wen had been the winner of their bet earlier in the Spatial ne thus it was normal for him to get the pick.


    "Sure!" Qian Wen wasn''t one to reject it in politesse either. After all, he had won the bet fair and square.


    "Three Thousand Mid Grade Immortal Stones, Eight Immortal Qi replenishment pills, Two Immortal Flesh Mending Pills and a Calming Qi pill." Qian Wen checked the items.


    "They actually gave a Hongli Calming Qi pill?" Childe Wildfire showed some surprise on his face.


    "Is it strange?" Lin Mu asked the man.


    "Just the Hongli Calming Qi pill alone is 50% of the value if youbined all those rewards." Childe Wildfire replied.


    It was Lin Mu''s first time hearing about the pill thus he was unaware of its uses.


    "What does the pill do?" Lu Xu asked before he could though.


    "Yeah¡­ I don''t think I''ve heard about it. Only about Calming Qi pills." Qian Wen chimed in.


    "Hongli Calming Qi pills are made to reduce the chances of Qi deviation." Childe Wildfire replied. "They are a stronger version of themon Calming Qi pills and are only made by the Hongli Alchemy Hall. They have their own unique recipe for it." He exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu and the others finally understood why the value of the pill was so high.


    "Hmm, there aren''t that many pills that work for Qi Deviation for immortals so it makes sense." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "I''ll just take the items except the Hongli Calming Pill." Qian Wen replied.


    "You sure?" Lu Xu asked again.


    "Yeah, if you got it as a reward, I''m sure I''ll get it too." Qian Wen stated before walking up to the observation orb. "Let''s see it now."


    ~shua~


    Simr to before, runes appeared above the orb before another pouch materialized on top of the counter.


    Qian Wen picked up the pouch and quickly checked.


    "Yeah, we got simr rewards except the Immortal stones." Qian Wen confirmed. "I got five hundred more Mid Grade Immortal stones." He revealed.


    "Makes sense, you did defeat more." Lu Xu hadgged just slightly behind Qian Wen.


    "Wonder what Brother Mu Lin will get." Qian Wen said.


    "Only one way to find out¡­" Lin Mu went to get his reward and ced his hand on the orb.


    ~shua~


    When he did it though, he could sense a lot more than others.


    ''Hmm¡­ so it scans the identity token which has been recording information and that''s how it confirms what rewards to give others. Interesting¡­'' Lin Mu''s immortal sense picked up on all that had happened.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    He could tell the working of the formations as well as the fine mechanisms that were assisting. Not just that, but Lin Mu also saw the small teleportation formation that was hidden in the counter top.


    Attached to it was a sorting array, which selected through the reward that would be given to the contestants would be given.


    The observation orb would read the information from the identity token and then send it to the main array which would then trigger the sorting array to teleport them out.


    "Time to see¡­ OH?" Lin Mu''s immortal sense scanned it and saw a lot of things.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    Including the pills that were given to Qian Wen and Lu Xu, he had a few more things.


    "Instead of mid grade immortal stones they gave me five hundred High Grade immortal stones as well as more Healing pills." Lin Mu revealed.


    While the reward wasn''t really much to him, it still showed the difference between the different people.


    "Whoa¡­ they actually gave you High Grade immortal stones. Usually they only give mid grade immortals tones. They will simply increase the number to match the value of the High Grade immortal stones." Lu Xu said with surprise on his face.


    "Guess it makes sense, considering Brother Mu Lin defeated some of the tougher enemies." Qian Wen nodded his head.


    ~step~step~step~


    "You really shouldn''t reveal your rewards openly, you know?" Childe Wildfire said as he approached the observation orb.


    ~shua~


    He quickly took his reward and stored it away without even taking a look. It seemed like the man didn''t really care for the reward much either.


    "You''re gonna prepare now?" Lin Mu said seeing that the man intendant to leave.


    "Perhaps." Childe Wildfire replied shortly.


    "Hmm¡­ if you seed you''ll have the greatest advantage over others¡­ Your cultivation base will be the highest." Lin Mu stated. "Even the Third prince won''t be your match, won''t he?" he asked.


    "That might be so, but I won''t be the strongest." Childe Wildfire said much to their surprise.


    "You won''t?" Lu Xu raised his brows.


    "The Third Prince Feng Baxing might be at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, but his strength is a long greater than that. His skills are also rather excellent." Childe Wildfire admitted in an unexpected manner.


    "So you won''t be able to match him even at the Sixth Tribtion Stage?" Lin Mu asked directly this time.


    "Possibly not¡­ he is stronger than he looks. He hasn''t even used half of his strength in the tournament so far." Childe Wildfire replied. "If you face him, be ready to lose quickly." He said before leaving.


    With Childe Wildfire gone, Lin Mu and the others were left thinking about it for a bit.


    "Hmm¡­ even an arrogant expert like Childe Wildfire admits he''s lower than the Third Prince¡­ Surprising." Lu Xu muttered before looking at Qian Wen. "You are in the army, so you should know more about the prince, is what the guy said correct?" he asked.


    Lin Mu took looked at Qian Wen, wanting to know more.


    "The Third Prince, Feng Baxing might not beparable to the Crown Prince but he is still in the top experts in the empire." Qian Wen replied. "He''s demonstrated his skills a few times and there aren''t many that canpare to him. He''s mastered the Imperial Family''s signature technique well." He exined.


    "The Six Winds Monarch Technique?" Lu Xu seemed to know about it.


    "Yes¡­ while we don''t know at what level he is at exactly with it, but he shouldn''t be that far from the emperor." Qian Wen stated.


    Lin Mu hadn''t heard much about the Six Winds Monarch Technique and simply knew that it was the technique that only the Imperial Family of the Dao Wind Empire could cultivate.


    Not only was it one of the top ranked cultivation techniques in the Rust Sky world, it also had a bloodline limitation on it that prevented others from using it.


    ''If even Childe Wildfire is not confident in facing the man, perhaps I''ll have to take a different approach.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The first thing he realized he needed to do was to learn more about the man. And that would begin with learning more about the cultivation technique he practiced.


    ''Looks like I''ll have to take a look in the libraries¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "What do we do now, brother?" Lu Xu inquired.


    "We''ll wait for Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan. They should be done soon enough." Lin Mu replied. "In the mean time, I''ll go take a look around here." He added.


    "Sure, we''ll wait here." Qian Wen agreed while Lu Xu nodded his head as well.


    With that said, Lin Mu let the two there while he went to check out the other areas in the pavilion. Though his true aim was to see what was hidden here.

 Chapter 1762 An Elder Of The Temple

    Lin Mu entered the hall where he had felt the strong immortal Qi fluctuations from.


    They were strong but were still contained, thus they didn''t feel oppressive.


    ''There are no restraints here, thus it shouldn''t be an area that is not allowed for one to enter.'' Lin Mu thought.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    ~shua~


    And when he went past a certain threshold, Lin Mu could feel a presence scanning him.


    ''Guess they noticed me¡­'' Lin Mu could sense someone watching him.


    The first presence that scanned him belonged to an expert, but a secondter Lin Mu also felt a formation checking him. He could feel the formation scan the identity token and then quickly calm down. It was evident that they were just checking who he was and whether he belonged there.


    ''So they added multiple levels of security despite having the illusory array outside.'' Lin Mu noted as more immortal senses came over to check him.


    He knew security like this shouldn''t normally be needed, especially with there being strong experts here. With a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal, there weren''t many that would dare to cause trouble. And this was further exaggerated by the fact that they were within the Capital City of the Dao Wind Empire.


    Anyone daring to cause trouble here would be swiftly dealt with.


    Even a Transcendent immortal would think several times before doing anything. After all, they wouldn''t just be offending the Emperor but also the Temple of the Guardian beasts as it would be the same as interfering in the conductance of the Tournament.


    Still, to avoid any possible trouble Lin Mu halted his advance.


    Only when the immortal senses withdrew did he proceed.


    ''If they have this level of wariness, there must be something that is causing them to be like this.'' Lin Mu thought.


    While one could have assumed that the security of this level was due to the rewards that were kept here, it really wasn''t a big thing for the temple. Stealing those rewards was going to be immensely difficulty, not to mention one would still have to escape the entire empire.


    Thus, there wouldn''t be anyone that would try it.


    Lin Mu instead thought that this level of security was due to the change in the Tournament.


    ''Something that would make them be cautious despite having the overwhelming advantage¡­ Only a foe that doesn''t care for its own life or consequence would act like this.'' Lin Mu pondered on it as he continued to walk.


    Lin Mu crossed the corridor and arrived in a new hall. This hall wasrger than the previous one and seemed to be the central one. He looked up at the que that was hung in the hall and noticed the name.


    ''Announcement Hall''


    Here he saw several members of the temple there, doing their tasks. Some were working onrge formations that were seemingly filled with information about various tournament rted matters, while some had information about the contestants.


    "Should they be doing this openly?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    The activities going in the hall didn''t seem to match the name of the hall at all. Not to mention, there were no contests here other than him either.


    Lin Mu''s entry into the hall was ignored by the temple''s formation masters as they were busy in work. To them, there was nothing to be concerned about, and they needed to focus on work instead.


    "Seems like a curious junior has joined us." But a person finally noticed Lin Mu.


    "Mm?" Lin Mu could feel that the voice hade from in front of him.


    He looked further and saw an elder who seemed to be sitting cross legged on an elevated tform. He was rather conspicuous and was dressed in dark brown robes of the Temple. He had the emblem of the temple as well as the unique embellishments that showed his rank as an Elder of the Temple of the Guardian beasts.


    What was surprising was that the people sitting around him didn''t seem to have heard him speak.


    "It is indeed, I that is speaking." Lin Mu heard the voice again, but saw that the man''s lips hadn''t moved at all.


    "Huh? Voice Transmission technique?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    "Oh? Junior recognizes it?" The elder was surprised, too.


    "How should I speak so as to not disturb the others?" Lin Mu questioned in a whisper.


    He could tell that the elder was talking that way to not bother the others. Thus, Lin Mu decided to follow the same thing.


    "Junior is considerate of others. It is a good virtue." The elder said. "You can continue to speak as you wish. They will not hear you." He stated.


    "They won''t?" Lin Mu spoke normally this time.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    He narrowed his eyes and spread his immortal sense. It didn''t take him long to figure out what was happening.


    "You''ve isted their hearing with wind?" Lin Mu analyzed.


    "Seems like junior is perceptive too¡­" The elder replied, his expression changing slightly.


    The elder had a long white beard, as well as white eyebrows. The hair on his head though was covered by a hat, but slivers of white hair could still be seen peeking through the edges.


    Out of all the temple elders that Lin Mu had seen so far, this was the only man who was wearing a hat like this.


    ''His ranking seems to be higher than the others¡­ is he a High Elder or something more?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    The elder seemingly guessed what Lin Mu might e thinking and spoke again, "Junior can call me High Elder Juxue."


    "Greetings, High Elder Juxue. I am Mu Lin." Lin Mu replied respectfully.


    "So it is Junior Mu Lin." The old man looked at Lin Mu with interest. "You are among thest winners, the one who won with wits." He spoke.


    "Junior is ttered." Lin Mu cupped his hands in response.


    "Mmhmm, it is worth being praised. There aren''t many that know how to use their brains well enough when they get used to their brawns." High Elder Juxue said. "Though it seems like youck neither." He added.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "A Qi cultivation base at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and a body cultivation equivalent to the Third Tribtion Stage¡­ Hmm¡­ very impressive." The High elder said.


    Lin Mu was internally surprised by how easily the old man assessed his cultivation base despite it being contained by him.


    "Junior still has a bit of a way to go before he can hide his cultivation base better." High Elder Juxue guessed Lin Mu''s thoughts again. "The Body Cultivation technique you are practicing is overbearing and changes your demeanor. You might not notice it yet, but there are subtleties that others can pick up on. Especially with techniques like these." He revealed.


    Hearing the man''s words, Lin Mu took them seriously.


    "Junior thanks the High Elder for his advice. I shall try to improve." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ though does Junior know how to hide it better?" The high elder questioned.


    "There would be several ways. Using an auxiliary technique to hide it, or to suppress it manually. One could also use an Immortal tool to do the same." Lin Mu answered, thinking that the man was testing him.


    "Those are indeed the methods that you can use. But they are still wed." The old man replied. "If you wish to truly hide it, you first need to understand it better." He added.


    "Understand it better?" Lin Mu muttered in doubt.


    "Indeed¡­ Junior hasn''t cultivated the body cultivation technique for long, has he?" The old man asked.


    "I haven''t.'' Lin Mu shook his head.


    "Just as I thought." The old man spoke. "Seems like Junior has practiced the technique but hasn''t gotten used to it."


    The high elder''s words confused Lin Mu a bit.


    ''Haven''t gotten used to it¡­ what does he mean? I can already use it decently.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "And I do not mean your proficiency with it." The High Elder continued. "What I mean is the atmosphere of the technique¡­ the aura, the power, the presence."


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was intrigued. A thoughtful expression appeared on his face, making the old man speak again.


    "The best way to understand your cultivation technique it to use it¡­ to the fullest. Unleash your power and see the true extent of it. After all, if you do not know the scope of it, you do not know what parts you are supposed to hide." The elder exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu finally understood it and realized that he was indeedcking a bit. "Junior shall try to improve."


    "Mmhmm¡­ Knowing when and where to reveal one''s strength is wiser than using it wastefully. I hope to see Junior''s progress." High Elder Juxue replied.


    "Junior thanks the high elder for his advice. I am grateful for it." Lin Mu said in a calm tone.


    "It wasn''t much. It is Junior who is perceptive enough to understand it well." He said with a chuckle.

 Chapter 1763 Expressing Suspicion

    High Elder Juxue hadn''t expected to meet someone like Lin Mu today. He had seen several talented people over the years, but it was always refreshing to see new youngsters.


    "May I ask High Elder Juxue something?" Lin Mu questioned, making the old man focused on him. "Of course, you can choose to reject me. I shall not make any demands." He added.


    "Go ahead, junior." High Elder Juxue permitted. "As long as it is reasonable, I don''t see a reason to deny."


    "Then¡­ can you tell me the reason for the change in the tournament''s progress?" Lin Mu finally questioned.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Mmm?" High Elder Juxue was surprised that Lin Mu asked him this.


    To others, asking questions to a High Elder of the temple of the guardian beasts was a rare opportunity. After all, this was a Seventh Tribtion Stage immortal Realm expert.


    There were not many like him, that too at his unique position. Thus it was normal for cultivators to ask about their doubts or for insight into Qi skills or cultivation techniques.


    It was a rare chance of getting guidance from one of the top experts.


    And yet, Lin Mu had asked something that most others wouldn''t even bother with.


    To the others, the week-long break was just a good opportunity to rest and cultivate.


    It would give them the chance to recover from the several week long fight in the spatial nes as well as reevaluate their opponents.


    If anything, they would wish that they can get a longer break so that they can prepare better. Even top rankers would wish to learn about the performance of their opponents to get to know them better.


    They all knew that others would have ended up revealing a part of their skills and trump cards during the fights in the Spatial ne. This would give them a good chance to obtain an insight into their opponents.


    Even a slight advantage could change the course of the battle, thus it was natural for them to want to know more.


    Lin Mu was analyzing the high Elder''s expression the entire time and could tell that the man didn''t seem to care much about his question.


    ''At least this is good. He isn''t offended about it, which means it''s nothing too bad.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    High Elder Juxue went silent for a moment, before finally replying.


    "Before I tell you about it¡­ What do you think can be the reason for such a dy?" High Elder Juxue questioned Lin Mu.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu had somewhat expected the elder to do an inquiry like this, but he didn''t mind. "For the tournament of the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts to be dyed like this, it has to be a significant reason." He spoke.


    ''Oh? Does he have some information about this already?'' High Elder Juxue wondered and waited for Lin Mu''s answer.


    "I think¡­ There has been an unexpected w in the tournament or¡­ someone that has interfered in such a way that the rules cannot directly stop them." Lin Mu said after thinking for a few moments.


    Hearing Lin Mu''s words, High Elder Juxue kept a calm face, but internally he couldn''t help but nod.


    ''Whether he obtained intelligence from someone or just thought about it on his own, it is still impressive.'' High Elder Juxue thought before speaking. "Say it is someone interfering, do you have an suspicion on whom they could be?" the old man asked next.


    "It is not good to put me on others. But if High Elder Juxue permits me, I shall put forth my suspicions." Lin Mu said, choosing his words carefully.


    "Speak Junior." High Elder Juxue asked him to proceed.


    "This junior has been paying attention to the various contestants participating in the tournament. High elders must know that this is something everyone has been doing and one can easily find various documents and booklets avable for this too." Lin Mu first spoke.


    "That''s true." High Elder Juxue nodded.


    "As such, I''ve been looking into individuals that have had unexpected defeats or issues after their fights were over." Lin Mu revealed, making the old man narrow his eyes.


    "While doing this, I came upon a group of individuals that are from the same background and power. All opponents that faced these individuals suffered after their fights were over.


    It didn''t matter whether they won or lost, they all had injuries or bad effects. Some of them had to withdraw too." Lin Mu exined.


    "Is that so¡­" High Elder Juxue didn''t speak further but took a pause instead. "So who is this or rather the group of individuals that Junior Mu Lin has a suspicion about?" he finally questioned.


    "The members of the ck Fin Ind." Lin Mu finally answered.


    After hearing this, the old man closed his eyes and took a breath.


    ~whisper~<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The old man''s lips moved lightly before a wave of energy spread in the hall. Lin Mu could feel it too and realized that something was happening.


    ''He''s using a skill?'' Lin Mu couldn''t exactly put a finger on it.


    The process was fast and before he could even realize it, Lin Mu saw that his surroundings had changed.


    "Teleportation?" Lin Mu muttered but then sensed no Spatial Fluctuations. "No¡­ this is Rapid movement." He guessed.


    It wasn''t Lin Mu''s first time seeing something like this. Even the Saintess had used a method like this which could move him without him knowing. Lin Mu''s senses were still unable to pick up on it, but when the High Elder Juxue used it, he could at least tell that he had moved.


    Of course, Lin Mu also knew that he could have resisted or even stopped it. After all, he could still use his Spatial Skills which would have rendered others unable to capture him.


    But knowing that there was no danger, Lin Mu had let High Elder Juxue do whatever he was doing.


    And now he could tell that he had been brought to another ce.


    "Traces of Wind Dao are here too¡­" Lin Mu sensed another thing a momentter.


    "Junior Mu Lin''s perception is indeed quite good." High Elder Juxue''s voice was heard again.


    This time it came from behind Lin Mu, prompting him to turn around. There, he saw the old man standing.


    "What is this ce, High Elder Juxue?" Lin Mu asked. "And why did you bring me here?"


    "This is a private room of sorts." High Elder Juxue replied. "And I''ve brought you here to talk to you. Some things are best kept secret." He added.


    "Didn''t you already iste the hearing of others in the announcement hall?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "I did¡­ But it is still good to be a bit more cautious." High Elder Juxue answered with a hint of vagueness.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as a thought appeared in his mind.


    "So it is like that¡­" Lin Mu spoke. "The Temple suspects spies too?" he quickly picked up on it.


    "Hahaha, I can''t help but feel hopeful about the next generation if there are still bright juniors like you in it." High Elder Juxue chuckled. "But yes¡­ Juniors words are indeed true."


    "So it really is like that¡­ And the ck Fin Ind¡­ they areplicit too?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "We have the suspicions¡­ There have been too many individuals that have been affected, as you''ve said. But the member of the ck Fin Ind hasn''t exactly broken any rules of the tournament.


    Thus it limits what we can do. We need to consider all things before we can go ahead with any n." High Elder Juxue replied.


    "But it isn''t just the ck Fin Ind, is it?" Lin Mu asked in doubt. "If the temple suspects about spies too¡­ then it must be someone really capable or high up that infiltrated." He said openly.


    "We don''t think it is a person that has infiltrated." This time though, High Elder Juxue denied.


    "Not an infiltration?" Lin Mu raised his brows in doubt.


    "No one can infiltrate the Temple unless they can fool the Guardians themselves." High Elder Juxue said in a heavy voice. "Rather than that, we suspect that someone is obtaining information and manipting things in some unorthodox ways." He revealed.


    This was not something Lin Mu had expected, and it made him confused.


    "How so?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The temple''s goal is to let the cultivators explore and disy their talents while battling against other individuals. Normally with the insight of the temple, this cannot be affected.


    But there are certain methods that can still interfere with it. Normally we wouldn''t even think about them, as they are too ''rare'' to be found. But now we are being forced to think otherwise." High Elder Juxue answered.


    "And what is that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The only other method left to obtain information without the temple knowing would be¡­ Divination." High Elder Juxue revealed.


    Upon hearing this, surprise appeared on Lin Mu''s face.

 Chapter 1764 Diviner

    The High Elder''s worlds were astonishing to Lin Mu.


    "Divination? There''s someone good enough to use it on the Temple?" Lin Mu said in doubt.


    Lin Mu had read about divination as well as heard about it from Senior Xukong.


    It was a difficult thing to do and was often inurate or vague at best. Very few cultivators were decent at it and even then they could make inurate readings. Not to mention there were many factors that affected it.


    One of these was that if one was trying to divine information about someone or something that was strong, it would require a simr cost. This cost could be varied and often demanded something from the diviner. Normally the diviners would use Qi to pay for this cost, but the moreplex the divination the higher the cost would get.


    And when a diviner didn''t have enough Qi, they might end up getting their lifespan or vitality drained!


    In the case of the Temple of the Four guardians, anything rted to them would be difficult to divine. After all not only were they strong beings but also had a lot of karma surrounding them. The guardian beasts themselves were beings that were affected by karma, making divinations turn blurred against them.


    All those that would attempt to divine for information about the Tournament would find it deadly or injurious to them.


    "The number of cultivators that can use Divination in the Rust Sky world is less than ten but those that can divine information about the temple or the tournament is zero." High Elder Juxue spoke after taking a pause.


    "Then¡­ you think it is someone from another world?" Lin Mu guessed.


    To him, the given information showed that the diviner being from the Rust Sky would be impossible. Which only left the other worlds and stronger experts as suspects.


    "Indeed. Whoever it is, they are also hiding their karma very well." High Elder Juxue replied. "Thus the temple can only take things the slow way."


    "But with the temple''s influence, isn''t it possible to call in diviners too?" Lin Mu asked after thinking for a bit. "The immortal court is bound to have them, right?" he inquired.


    "That''s true. But calling them in this short period is difficult. Not to mention, it would also mean that the Temple was admitting defeat. Such a loss of face cannot be taken." High Elder Juxue said in a serious tone. "This will be investigated, but the Immortal Court would not allow the Tournament to be affected just like this." He added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu understood that it now came down to the reputation of the Temple of the Four Guardians.


    Even if they had to dy the investigation for a bit, they would exact the payment from the offenders.


    "Now that Junior Mu Lin knows about this, what do you intend to do?" High Elder Juxue asked curiously.


    "I don''t think there is much to do." Lin Mu replied. "If even the temple is holding back, I don''t think I have a right to speak in the matter." He said cautiously.


    "Hmm¡­ that might be for the best." High Elder Juxue agreed. "But then again, if the diviner is good enough, they might know about this too." He said with a chuckle.


    Lin Mu felt a bit confused as to why the High Elder had revealed such information to him. It could have been on a whim, or perhaps because the old man found him interesting. Whatever the reason was, it served enough to rm Lin Mu about undercurrents that were hidden behind the tournament.


    ''Looks like I''ll just have to wait and see what''s going onter.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~SHUA~


    A wave of energy spread again before Lin Mu found his location changing.


    "I''ll bid Junior farewell for now. I have tasks I need to attend to now. I think I''ve taken enough of a break." High Elder Juxue stated.


    "Of course, High Elder Juxue. Goodbye." Lin Mu cupped his hands before taking his leave.


    He knew the old man might just be giving an excuse, but Lin Mu was fine with it. Lin Mu knew better than to overstay his wee.


    ''Hmm¡­ for a Diviner to be involved in this too¡­ things are getting stranger.'' Lin Mu thought as he walked back to the previous hall.


    "Oh! Brother Mu Lin!" There he saw Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan waiting along with Lu Xu and Qian Wen.


    "Where did you go?" Ming Dandan asked.


    "Just checking out the rest of the ce." Lin Mu replied. "How about you? Did you finish healing the beasts?" he asked changing the topic.


    "Yes! The healers of the temple are really quick." Ming Dandan nodded her head.


    "Though Brother Mu Lin''s pills also helped. We had fed them to the beasts beforehand, so their medicinal efficacy was still helping them passively." Ming Aolian added.


    "Yes! It''s all thanks to Brother Mu Lin." Ming Dandan was rather happy.


    "It''s good that the beasts are fine now." Lin Mu replied. "Though did you two get your rewards?" he asked next.


    "We were just about to." Ming Aolian said. "Let''s get them Dandan."


    "Sure!" Ming Dandan responded as the two sisters walked to the observation orb.


    Ming Aolian was the first to get her reward while Ming Dandan followed after.


    "What did you get?" Lu Xu asked.


    "Hmm¡­ the same as you two. Though the number of Immortal stones is less." Ming Aolian replied.


    "Same here." Ming Dandan chimed in.


    "Seems like the rewards for us were tied since we worked together." Qian Wen guessed.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "That does seem likely." Lin Mu had the same thought.


    "Well¡­ what do we do now?" Lu Xu asked. "We got a week to wait."


    "Let''s meet up with Luo Liqin first. He already contacted me a few minutes ago." Qian Wen suggested.


    "Yeah, we do need to talk to him first." Lin Mu agreed.


    With that decided, the group left the pavilion and went to the Spring Valley restaurant. It had basically be their default ce to gather for now, and Luo Liqin would also monitor everything from there.


    "We should order some new dishes." Ming Dandan suggested. "It''s been a while since we ate anything."


    "Yeah, I wanna eat too." Lu Xu agreed.


    "We''ll ask for it upstairs." Lin Mu said as he entered the restaurant.


    The staff was well informed about them and remembered them. They were prompt in guiding them to the designated room where Luo Liqin had been waiting for a while now.


    "Wee, Brother Mu Lin!" Luo Liqin said out loud. "Congrattions on the win!" Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Ahaha! Did you doubt us?" Lu Xuughed.


    "With Brother Mu Lin''s help we were bound to win." Qian Wen stated.


    "How did things go on your end?" Lin Mu inquired next.


    "They went well." Luo Liqin said. "Let''s sit first, I''ll show you all."


    "Of course." Lin Mu said before looking at the staff. "Can you get us a couple of all dishes you have?" he ordered.


    "Right away honored guests!" The waiter replied before quickly taking their leave.


    Having gotten a big order, they knew they had to be quick to prepare everything.


    Lin Mu was also feeling a bit hungry thus reckoned he might as well order more.


    ~thud~


    In this time, Luo Liqin ced a jade slip on the table.


    ~shua~


    "Look at this," He said before tapping the jade slip.


    A formation screen appeared above it, showing some information.


    Lin Mu and the others read it, while surprise appeared on their faces.


    "This¡­" Qian Wen''s eyes went wide.


    ~gasp~


    Ming Dandan on the other hand gasped before cing her hands on her mouth.


    "Isn''t this¡­" Lu Xu gulped. "A bit too¡ª"


    "High?" Ming Aolian interrupted.


    Lin Mu who saw the numbers was astonished as well. Though a bit of confusion also apanied it.


    "How did it change this much?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question. "Were we wrong?"


    "Our initial calctions weren''t wrong." Luo Liqin shook his head. "They were correct until a certain point." He added.


    "Then what happened?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Nobles and Aristocrats¡­ that''s what happened." Luo Liqin answered.


    "Huh? What did they do?" Lu Xu asked in doubt.


    "At the start, everything was going ording to our predictions. The odds were the same while the bets were stable." Luo Liqin exined. "But that was until Brother Mu Lin showed his skills."


    "What part exactly?" Ming Aolian couldn''t help but ask.


    After all, Lin Mu had shown quite a lot.


    "It started when Brother Mu Lin made the Sky Cull Grounding Formation. The aristocrats were interested in it and were astounded by Brother Mu Lin''s skill. It raised the value of Brother Mu Lin a lot, and when they finally saw you all fighting, they were simply impressed.


    But after the negotiation Brother Mu Lin did with Childe Wildfire, even Nobles were interested. They too added to the bets, and the greatly changed the odds. The dividends of it all added up, resulting in the number in front of you." Luo Liqin exined.

 Chapter 1765 A High Bet Return And A Celebratory Meal

    A ratherrge number floated on the formation screen above them.


    "Still¡­ Sixty thousand¡­ Over Sixty Thousand High Grade immortal stones!" Ming Dandan eximed unable to hold back.


    No one had expected the number to reach such a terrifying level.


    ording to the calctions that Lin Mu and the rest had done, their earnings should have at most hit thirty thousand or less. But now, it had gone beyond that greatly.


    It was a number that most immortals wouldn''t be able to earn in their lifespan. A majority would die out before even earning half that amount. And yet, they had made that much in the span of a single round.


    Of course, while this amount was going to be divided into six among them, it was still a significant amount. And not to mention, this was just the first bet that they had made.


    There were still more rounds to go and a lot more to earn.


    Plus with the amount they had gotten now, if they reinvested it into a bet again, the amount they would earn would increase again!


    "We should distribute it ording to our original ratio." Lin Mu spoke, breaking the silence.


    "Are you sure Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Aolian said with concern.


    "Yeah, won''t it be unfair to you?" Lu Xu asked.


    "Brother Mu Lin did affect our odds the most. We wouldn''t have made this much without you." Qian Wen chimed in.


    "It''s fine." Lin Mu shook his head. "I''ll just take fifty percent of this." He said firmly.


    "Brother Mu Lin is truly generous." Ming Dandan almost had stars in her eyes.


    With thirty thousand high grade immortal stones divided five ways, the amount was still pretty high. Six thousand high grade immortal stones were good enough to buy a lot of cultivation resources and one could even buy strong immortal weapons and tools.


    In fact, they could evenmission Immortal tool refiners to make them a custom weapons if need be.


    "Well then, let''s split it." Luo Liqin said after seeing that everyone hade to a conclusion.


    Originally they were supposed to deduct what Lin Mu had spent on them in the form of pills and other resources, but that amount turned out to be negligible after seeing the massive profit. This was also why Lin Mu simply ignored it and let it be split as decided before.


    "Honored guests, may wee in?" With the Immortal stones divided, the food also arrived.


    "Yes," Lin Mu called out.


    The door slid open and the servants walked in with tens of food tters. There were nearly a hundred dishes in total with more to arrive.


    "This¡­ is a lot for us." Lu Xu said after seeing it.


    "Yeah, we won''t be able to finish it." Ming Aolian said feeling intimidated.


    "You guys eat as much as you want, don''t worry about the rest." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Are you sure?" Ming Dandan replied.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu said. "I''ll add another mouth to help in eating." He spoke before a figure materialized beside him.


    ~Mew~


    Little Shrubby let out a cry as he looked at the feast in front of him.


    "Ah, Little Shrubby''s here too." Ming Aolian''s eyes glowed as she watched the kitten.


    "Sure, let him eat too!" Ming Dandan was happy seeing the cute beast.


    "Well then, lets eat!" Lin Mu stated.


    They all started eating and didn''t even realize that the dishes were being gobbled up by the minute.


    By the time the five had finished eating a single dish each, Lin Mu and little Shrubby had finished about thirty!


    "Huh?" Luo Liqin looked at Lin Mu''s side of the table and found it to be barren.


    His eyes couldn''t help but wander over to the man and beast who were eating simrly. Lin Mu''s mouth moved like a blur and chomped on food nonstop.


    The kitten did the same and was finishing food the size of his body every minute. One could only imagine where all that mass was going as it seemed unnatural.


    To the two, it didn''t matter whether the food was tough or not. Hard bones were crushed and swallowed and soft tofu was slurped up.


    While they had seen Lin Mu eat at the Banquet before, it seemed like he was still a bit reserved back there.


    ''Is this was a true body cultivator eats like?'' Luo Liqin couldn''t help but wonder. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He knew that body cultivators often consumed more food than Qi refining immortals, but Lin Mu seemed to be higher than them.


    ''Even Ting can''t eat this much¡­'' Ming Aolian thought to herself.


    Ming Dandan on the other hand was trying to estimate the cost of the food that Lin Mu had consumed within minutes. She was only done counting halfway done when her head started to heat up.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    ''So many immortal stones gone¡­ and it hasn''t even been an hour¡­'' Ming Dandan felt her head getting woozy. ''This''ll give me a Qi deviation at this rate¡­'' She simply decided to stop counting, as it was too much for her.


    Even if she had obtained arge number of the High Grade Immortal stones, the way Lin Mu was consuming them simply felt unreal.


    ~mewls


    Little Shrubby sprawled on the ground, after having had his fill. The beast hadn''t eaten food like this for a few weeks now and was pleased.


    Lin Mu was also happy with the meal and could feel his condition returning to the peak. After all, he had expended quite a bit of immortal Qi in the round.


    "That was a good meal." Lin Mu said as he put away the final te.


    "I-indeed¡­" Lu Xu didn''t know what to say.


    The rest became silent for a bit before Luo Liqin spoke.


    "I¡­ better head to the betting pavilion again. They will be updating the oddster. I''ll keep you all informed." Luo Liqin informed.


    "Ah yeah, that''s good." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Tell us when the odds are ready so we can decided on the amount to bet."


    In theing rounds, there would be several different contestant fighting, thus they would need to adjust their bets ordingly. Plus there was still a week''s time, thus there was a chance that the odds would continue to fluctuate a bit.


    "Sure, I''ll be prompt." Luo Liqin said before taking his leave.


    "We should go too. I need to talk to master." Ming Aolian spoke.


    "Yeah, we should tell her of our progress." Ming Dandan nodded her head.


    "I''ll go look around the city. See what''s happening concerning the dy in the tournament." Lu Xu stated.


    "Hmm yeah¡­" Lin Mu said. "Also look for information about diviners, will you?" he added.


    "Diviners?" Lu Xu was confused but nodded his head nheless. "I''ll try¡­ though it might be a bit risky." He added.


    "Nothing too severe. Just keep an eye out for any diviners that have arrived or left the Rust Sky world." Lin Mu replied.


    Even if he knew that the temple would be investigating it all too, Lin Mu reckoned it was best to have multiple sources.


    "Sure, I''ll try." Lu Xu agreed.


    "Do you want me to ask around too? I might be able to get some information from the army side." Qian Wen offered.


    "If you can, then it''s good." Lin Mu didn''t put any pressure on them.


    With the tasks divided, they were all ready to leave.


    "What will you be doing, Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Aolian felt curious.


    "Will you be cultivating?" Ming Dandan asked.


    "Perhaps¡­ though I also have a few people to meet." Lin Mu replied vaguely. "We don''t have that long to cultivate anyways."


    "Ah yes. Good luck to you anyways." The Ming sisters said before taking a leave.


    Lu Xu and Qian Wen left as well, while Lin Mu paid off the bill downstairs.


    The servants were quite pleased and bid him farewell with wide smiles. They couldn''t help but want Lin Mu to visit everyday.


    "Are we going back to the courtyard?" Little Shrubby asked while sitting on Lin Mu''s shoulder.


    "Not yet." Lin Mu denied it.


    "Where then?" the beast asked.


    "We''ll go meet the crown prince first¡­ If there''s anyone that''ll know more it''ll be him." Lin Mu said.


    "Did something happen?" Little Shrubby was unaware of the things that had happened since he was in the Sleepscape all this time.


    Lin Mu quickly gave him a rundown of the events which Little Shrubby understood rather quickly.


    "We''ll go meet him then. The reddy also gives good snacks. I wanna see her again." Little Shrubby replied.


    "The reddy?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "Ah, you mean the Crown princess."


    "Yep, her!" Little Shrubby nodded his head.


    "I don''t know if she''ll be there, but I guess we can see¡­" Lin Mu said as he started to walk towards the Pce grounds.


    The distance was decent and it would take them an hour to reach there. But when they did get there, Lin Mu saw a ratherrge crowd waiting outside.


    "What''s going on here now¡­"

 Chapter 1766 A Recruitment Drive

    While there were often many people waiting to enter the pce grounds, they usually waited in a proper line.


    But what Lin Mu was seeing in front of him was a disorganized crowd.


    "What''s happening?" Lin Mu asked one of the persons standing there.


    "You don''t know?" The man replied looking at Lin Mu.


    "No, I just arrived." Lin Mu denied it.


    "The Crown Prince is recruiting people!" The man said with excitement clear in his tone.


    "Recruiting people? For what?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "We don''t know yet. But a missive was sent out to the city. It said that the Crown Prince is offering a chance to the cultivators who are willing to stand with him and brave through dangers." The man exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was a bit confused as it didn''t seem like a thing the Crown Prince would need to do.


    ''He has the support of the entire empire and its army. Why would he need to recruit others?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "Everyone is waiting for their turn. The guards are bringing a few in at a single time." The man replied.


    "So the entry isn''t allowed right now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Unless you are a noble, you can''t enter." The man shook his head.


    ~Sigh~


    "Looks like I''ll have to use another way¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    The man heard his words and chuckled.


    "Best not do it, or the guards will throw you in the prison. A few tried and got a couple of years sentence already.'' The man said. "Just wait in line for your turn."


    "Ah, nothing like that." Lin Mu shook his head before taking out hismunication jade slip.


    He held it for a few seconds before putting it away.


    The man saw Lin Mu doing that and couldn''t understand it. But then, just fifteen secondster something happened.


    "Give way! Pce official ising!" the guards called out.


    The crowd quickly parted, not wanting to offend someone like that. A few secondster they quickly saw a man dressed in a uniform appearing. He looked to be rather important and was none other than the Pce official.


    The Pce official looked around the crowd before spotting Lin Mu.


    He walked up to Lin Mu and cupped his hands.


    "The Crown Prince has been waiting for you, Daoist Mu Lin." The pce official said in a cordial tone. "Pleasee with me."


    "Lead the way." Lin Mu said before going along the pce official.


    Meanwhile, the man who had spoken to Lin Mu earlier was stunned.


    "Who the hell was that?" He couldn''t tell.


    The man was sure Lin Mu wasn''t a noble, or he would have taken the route for the nobles. Plus he wouldn''t have asked him either as the nobles would know how to enter on their own. Which meant that it was someone different.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    ''But for the Crown Prince to call for him personally¡­ just what kind of big shot did I talk to?'' the man trembled slightly.


    Lin Mu didn''t care nor think about any of this and simply continued on with the Pce official.


    They walked through the pce grounds and soon arrived at a smaller pce that was meant for the guests. It was different than the one Lin Mu had met the Crown Prince in before and looked to be a lot bigger. At the same time, the security here was higher.


    There were guards everywhere, but there were alsomoners present there.


    "The Crown prince is picking them personally?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes¡­ We advised him against it, but the Crown Prince insists." The pce official replied.


    "Strange¡­" Lin Mu muttered before they came to a stop.


    "Let us in." The Pce official spoke to the guards, who promptly allowed them entry to the pce.


    ~CREAK~


    Tworge doors opened up, allowing them to enter. Inside, Lin Mu saw what was basically a small court. There were two rows of seats with onerge throne at the end of them. The Crown prince was sitting on the throne, while on the seats near him, four people were sitting.


    Three of these were familiar to Lin Mu and were the Companions of the Crown prince. But there was a fourth person whom Lin Mu had never met before.


    ''Looking at the armor he''s wearing¡­ An Armymander?'' Lin Mu guessed, seeing the fourth person''s armor and cultivation base.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The armored man was at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and had a strong presence. It was clear that he was a man who had been in many battles and was strong. The aura he exuded was also such that it carved out a presence for him in the hall.


    All those that looked at him would feel wary and think twice before doing anything.


    The said man was also looking at themoners who were waiting to be picked by the Crown Prince and was possibly pressuring them. Lin Mu was unaffected by it though and simply walked towards the Crown Prince.


    "Daoist Mu Lin! It''s a pleasure to see you again." Crown Prince Feng Shun said out loud while spreading his arms.


    "Likewise, Crown Prince." Lin Mu cupped his hands in greeting.


    "Oh! The little kitten is with you too." Crown Princess Shang''s attention immediately went to the beast on Lin Mu''s shoulder. "Come here!" She patted herp.


    "Can I go?" Little Shrubby asked with a mew.


    "Go," Lin Mu permitted.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby jumped off his shoulder andnded on thep of the Crown Princess.


    "Aww, you''re so good." The Crown Princess cooed. "Here are some treats for you." She said before taking out a few immortal fruits.


    "Crown prince¡­" The Armored man spoke up. "Should I?"


    "Ah yeah, can you dismiss the others for now,mander?" Crown Prince Feng Shu replied. "I have a few things to talk to Daoist Mu Lin." He added.


    "Of course." The armored man cupped his hand and stood up.


    Merely his standing was enough for people to understand, and all those that were there in the hall turned around. The man didn''t even need to speak, and the others obeyed the orders without a word.


    They had heard the Crown Prince and it was more than enough for them.


    "Please, take a seat." The Crown Prince gestured to one of the empty seats.


    "Thank you," Lin Mu sat down before taking a look at the otherpanions of the Crown prince.


    The Daoist named Chu was calmly sitting while the Monk had his eyes closed in meditation simr to before.


    Lin Mu''s eyes wandered over to the prayer beads in the Monk''s hands and saw the man''s grip tighten. It was barely perceptible but didn''t escape Lin Mu''s eyes.


    ''It really was like what Senior Xukong had said. The beads were reacting to me, huh¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He didn''t linger on that for long though, and quickly turned to Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "You''re doing a recruitment?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Ah yes. It has been going on for a week now." The man replied.


    "Why though? I don''t think a man of your position would need some random cultivators." Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "Do you remember what you helped me with before?" The Crown prince asked instead.


    "The stele¡­" Lin Mu muttered as an idea appeared in his mind. "You''re recruiting people for that? Isn''t there still time for that?" he was doubtful.


    "There is indeed time. But the preparations will take a while." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "We also need to recruit the good ones out of the cultivators thate. Hence why we are judging them personally." Daoist Chu spoke this time.


    "I see¡­ And you cannot use the Empire''s army?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "This is my personal endeavor and I do not wish to make use of the Army for my personal matters." The Crown prince said with a smile. "It would be a misappropriation of funds and manpower."


    "I see¡­" While Lin Mu still had doubts, he reckoned it was still a bit reasonable. ''For a risky venture like that, perhaps it is a better option to not send his own army and make use of volunteers.'' He thought.


    "It''ll be a while till we have the right people and after selecting them we would still need to prepare for the expedition. Thus, it is necessary that we finish it now." Daoist Chu exined.


    "That does make sense." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Well, what about you Daoist Mu Lin?" The Crown Prince asked. "What brings you here today?"


    "The Tournament¡­ or more urately a few things associated with it." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing that though, the others didn''t seem to be surprised.


    "The dy in the tournament, I assume?" Daoist Chu spoke.


    "Indeed¡­ due to the interfering of certain individuals." Lin Mu nodded his head. "At first I thought it was the people from the ck Fin Ind, but now there seem to be more things happening."

 Chapter 1767 A Grand Uncle And Suspicions

    When Lin Mu spoke about there being more people interfering in the tournament, the expression of everyone changed.


    "So you heard about it too¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a straight face.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    It was now that another person spoke.


    "And how did you find out about it? This information is highly restricted." The man in the armor spoke in a stern tone, making Lin Mu look at him.


    "No need to be like that,mander Dui. Daoist Mu Lin is a well trusted individual for me." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Though I am curious as to how you learned this too." He added.


    "I learned it at the rewards pavilion. The High Elder told me himself." Lin Mu rified.


    "The high elder?" Commander Dui said in a surprised tone.


    "Which high elder?" Crown Prince Feng Shun inquired.


    "High Elder Juxue." Lin Mu answered.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Hearing that, the expressions of the Crown Prince and Commander Dui changed. Commander Dui seemed surprised while the Crown Prince was intrigued instead.


    Lin Mu saw their reactions and wondered why they were like this. Crown Prince Feng Shun''spanions were also wondering the same. All of them had trained in the immortal court, and thus knew about the high elders of the temple.


    After all, the Immortal Court was in a way the extension of the temple of the four guardian beasts in the first ce. Thus, the people who worked there were fully aware of the positions and the workings of the temple.


    "Seems like Grand Uncle took an interest in you too." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, much to their surprise.


    "Grand Uncle?" Daoist Chu said in confusion. "The High Elder is your Grand uncle?" he asked in surprise.


    "Indeed¡­ Of course, being a part of the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts means he had to let go of his Imperial rank thus many don''t know about him." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "High Elder Juxue is your grand uncle?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that.


    But once he thought about it, he realized that there were indeed some clues to it.


    ''The Wind Dao Traces¡­ whatever technique that the High Elder used is simr to the signature techniques of the Imperial Family.'' Lin Mu realized.


    It was a well known fact that the Imperial Family was one that was expert in the Wind Dao. Most of their members were born with an innate affinity to the Wind Element, and their signature technique was also based on it. In fact, the name of the empire was a testament to the affinity of the Imperial Family and their expertise in the wind Dao.


    The Emperor of the Dao Wind Empire was also considered as the strongest cultivator with a Wind Elemental Affinity in the Rust Sky world. As well as the only Transcendent Immortal who had furthered his Wind Dao to the point where he could freely use Dao Insights!


    Even among Immortals, there was ack of cultivators that could utilize Dao Insights. Most would still be reliant on Dao Traces through the use of their Dao Embryo. Only a few could improve to the point where they could start utilizing Dao Insights. But even that use was restricted.


    And reaching a point where one could freely use the Dao insights was incredibly difficult. It not only needed highprehension but also took hard work and time.


    All those that could do so would inevitably be great experts. Even Lin Mu had yet to grasp the Dao Insights, not to mention being able to use them at all.


    "Grand Uncle Juxue left the Imperial Family a long time ago. This was even before the era of the former emperor." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "As far as I know, he''s one of the oldest members of the Imperial Family that is not among the ancestors." He added.


    "Crown Prince''s family is certainly impressive." Daoist Chu couldn''t help but say.


    He himself was from a n and not a ruling empire, thus he felt impressed. Crown Princess Shang on the other hand, simply smiled and was more upied with feeding Little Shrubby. To her this wasn''t much as she was used to people like this.


    The Shang Empire had a lot of such experts too that were part of the temple.


    As for the Monk Hushu, he didn''t care about it.


    All he cared was about the prayer beads in his hand that were still wanting to run away from him.


    ''If it weren''t for the fact I need to keep praying with them, I would have sealed them away.'' Monk Hushu thought. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    For Buddhist cultivators like Monk Hushu, their cultivation needed several other things than just umting Qi. They needed to chant Buddhist scriptures and pray in order to further their cultivation base andprehend the Dao.


    "I see¡­ no wonder the High Elder''s skill with the Wind Dao was good." Lin Mu muttered.


    "He actually showed them to you?" The Crown Prince was genuinely surprised this time.


    "Well, he used them to iste sound and move us in an instant." Lin Mu answered.


    "Seems like Daoist Mu Lin got to benefit from it too. Many people yearn to learn from Grand Uncle but he barely ever teaches anyone." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Even I got rejected in the past." He revealed.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. ''Did the high elder do it intentionally or was it just in the passing?'' Lin Mu didn''t have a concrete way of knowing and could only guess.


    As far as he knew, High Elder Juxue might have just done it all in passing and wasn''t particrly thinking about showing him all that.


    "He did¡­ give me some advice and pointers." Lin Mu finally said.


    "HE DID?!" Commander Dui almost eximed. "Crown Prince this¡­"


    "Let it be¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun waved his hand. "Father shouldn''t be bothered at this time. Besides, I doubt Grand Uncle will like us interfering." He spoke.


    "I understand." The Commander calmed down.


    "Is there an issue?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask. "Something wrong?"


    "Nothing''s wrong Daoist Mu Lin. There is no fault of yours." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "It''s just that¡­ Grand Uncle rarely does things like this. Thus, if he does, it is informed to the Emperor. But the situation isn''t an opportune one right now." He exined.


    "I see¡­ if it is like that, I shall desist." Lin Mu guessed that it was probably some imperial family politics in y.


    He was someone who tried to stay away from things like this, as he didn''t really like it. Even back in Xiaofan world, Lin Mu only went ahead with all things, since he absolutely needed to do it.


    "If it''s anything, we can now consider Daoist Mu Lin further vetted by the Temple." Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly said before looking at themander. "I hope that satisfied you, Commander Dui."


    "Of course, Crown Prince." The man cupped his hands and bowed his head.


    "Now then¡­ since that is over. Let''s get to the crux of the issue," Crown Prince Feng Shun said before taking out a jade slip.


    ~shua~


    He tapped on it, making a formation screen appear in the air. Lin Mu read the information being presented on it, finding some of it familiar.


    "I''m guessing you''ve learned some of this already?" Crown Prince Feng Shun inquired.


    "Indeed¡­ we did know that Yao Changying was involved in the participation of the ck Fin Ind members." Lin Mu nodded his head. "But the rest of it¡­"


    "This is something we discovered recently too." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a straight face. "There seem to be people looking into our world. They''re searching for something¡­" he added.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu questioned. "And even if it is so, why would they think of interfering in the tournament?" he asked in confusion.


    "I think whatever it is, Yao Changying probably knows more." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "As for their reasons behind interfering in the Tournament, I do not know."


    "Even if it is something that can get them benefits, I don''t think getting enmity from the Temple of the Guardian beasts is worth it, is it?" Lin Mu stated.


    "Unless the benefits brought by it are big enough for them to ignore the temple." Crown Princess Shang said after a few minutes of silence. "I still think it is Yao Changying pulling the strings. She''s already tricked a world. I don''t think it is beyond her to trick more people into doing all this."


    "Even going so far as to risk offending the temple?" Lin Mu asked.


    "She''s already offended an entire world, the temple might just be her next step up." Crown princess Shang scoffed.


    "I see¡­ if it is really like this, then the Diviners getting involved in this might be her work too." Lin Mu muttered. "But the cost of it shouldn''t be low. If so¡­ how is she affording all this?" heid forth his suspicions.

 Chapter 1768 Temptation For Diviners And Hidden Costs

    Lin Mu''s concerns were valid and the others had simr doubts too.


    "We don''t know how she would afford this either." Daoist Chu shook his head. "We had originally thought that she might be using her background to pay for it all, but then again the cost needed for it would be way too high to hire diviners of that level." He exined.


    "Not to mention, it would leave tracks that could be traced by the Temple. All that flow of funds would be suspicious. And I don''t think the Holy Topaz Empire or the sword sect would want to openly show that they are interfering with the Tournament." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "But if she can''t use her background then does it mean she''s paying for all of it on her own?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Not necessarily. I wouldn''t put it past that bitch to trick the diviners too." Crown Princess Shang replied.


    "How so? I mean, the diviners aren''t really the right people to trick." Lin Mu stated. "Won''t tricks be useless if they can simply see if they are correct or not?" he asked.


    "Not if they are veiled in truth." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Diviners are hard to trick, but it doesn''t mean it''s impossible. She could have also tempted them somehow." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ if temptation worked, then they wouldn''t necessarily need payment upfront either." Lin Mu considered another scenario.


    In Lin Mu''s mind, a few different ideas flew. He couldn''t help but wonder if Yao Changying knew about something that could tempt the diviners to work for free.


    "Whatever it might be, we need to be alert about it." Crown Prince Feng Shun finally said. "As such, we''ll inform you if anything happens."


    "I understand." Lin Mu replied.


    "Though¡­ I have to praise Daoist Mu Lin on his performance so far." Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly said. "We heard about your acts¡­ there are plenty of nobles that have inquired about you." He added.


    "Is that so¡­ I hope it wasn''t troublesome for the Crown Prince." Lin Mu replied calmly.


    "Of course not." The man shook his head. "This much was expected. I knew I wouldn''t be able to keep you hidden for too long."


    "As long as it doesn''t affect the original task, it won''t matter." Lin Mu stated.


    "Indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded his head.


    "Though in the case of Yao Changying, I''ve been finding something strange." Lin Mu said, his expression turning a bit serious.


    "What?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Her skills¡­ they seem far too ''orthodox'' for her to have done something bad." Lin Mu answered. "I saw her fight. Her Sword Intent is genuine and was obtained through practice." He presented his doubts.


    "She might have sword intent, but she''s also good at hiding her other skills. There is no doubt she has more nefarious skills hidden." Crown Princess Shang replied. "When you use the tools I gave you, the truth wille out."


    "Very well¡­" Lin Mu still had doubts about it, but he reckoned he could still wait and watch.


    "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "That is all." Lin Mu denied. "I shall leave you for now then. I reckon you still have a lot of work to do." Lin Mu said as he stood up.


    "You are always wee to meet me." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "Besides, I hope you can also join me in this endeavor in the future." He added.


    "I''m afraid I''ll have to answer you at ater time." Lin Mu didn''t give a confirmation.


    "Of course. It is up to you." The Crown Prince was fine with this answer for now. "And I assure you, the rewards will be worth it."


    "I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu said before saying good bye. "Let''s go Little Shrubby." He called for the beast.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby jumped off the Crown princess''p and onto Lin Mu''s shoulder. The two quickly left the hall, leaving the Crown Prince and hispanions alone.


    "What do you think Commander Dui?" Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly asked.


    "About Daoist Mu Lin?" Commander Dui responded. "He''s certainly different than others. I could tell from his demeanor he is not a person to be swayed easily."


    "Indeed¡­ And let me tell you that wasn''t even half of what he''s capable of." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Really?" The Commander was surprised.


    "He showed a bit of it during the banquet." Daoist Chu replied.


    "And from what I can tell, he''s already improved from back then." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "In just a couple months'' time, he''s reached the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm while also improving his body cultivation." He revealed.


    "He''s a dual body and qi cultivator?" The Commander asked.


    "You couldn''t tell, could you?" Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled.


    "I only felt his Qi fluctuations¡­" Commander Dui replied.


    "Our Daoist Mu Lin has gotten better at hiding too." Crown Princess Shangughed. "And what did you think, Monk Hushu?" she turned to the silent man.


    "Same as before¡­ I had to restrain the beads quite a bit." Monk Hushu finally spoke. "I''m tempted to tell abbot about him." He added with some hesitation.


    "You can do that¡­ just not now." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "I don''t want Daoist Mu Lin to be snatched away this quickly. Besides, it won''t be doing justice to his value. If he is to be offered something, it should be done when everyone knows about him. Only then will there be properpetition." The man said with a smile.


    "But before that, you''ll be taking his advantage, won''t you?" Daoist Chu raised a brow.


    "Of course¡­ I''ll consider that as a little payment for his promotionter on. I''m sure the Immortal Court will have eyes on him after this too, if not the Temple will." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "Especially since Grand Uncle has already taken an interest in him. If he rmends him, Daoist Mu Lin might even join the Immortal court and be our junior."


    "Hmm¡­ that does seem likely." Daoist Chu nodded his head. "While he has a lower cultivation base than us, his talent seems to be shining."


    "The cultivation base is just a part of his strength." Monk Hushu said. "Not to mention, he''s also younger than all of us. So he has a lot of time. We are simply ahead of him due to starting early." He added.


    "Speaking of that¡­ how old do you think is he?" Crown Princess Shang asked, feeling curious. "He didn''t have any reaction upon seeing me and was rather staunch. Not many can do that."


    "He has an innate affinity to the Buddhist path, so not having temptations like that is evident." Monk Hushu said in a calm tone.


    "Oh, forget that! You know what I''m talking about. Mu Lin isn''t even initiated into the Buddhist path, nor was he guided in it. Do you think just anyone would be able to resist like that?" Crown Princess Shang said.


    "I think he''s at least a couple thousand years old." Daoist Chu guessed. "If we ignore his talent for a bit, the demeanor and the experience he has seems to be decent. It cannot be obtained without having seen a lot of things." He presented his thoughts.


    "Hmm¡­ he certainly has a lot of knowledge. He was able to read the Shamanic Script of the Demons." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded his head.


    "We can always have his bone age checked." Commander Dui suggested.


    "No¡­ forget it." Crown Prince Feng Shun shook his head. "There''s no need for it now. We''ll just let things progress as it is."


    "Yeah, even if he is ten thousand years old somehow, his appearance would mean that he broke through at a young age. Thus, his talent is still good." Daoist Chuughed.


    "Who knows? Maybe he''s less than a thousand years old." Monk Hushu spoke.


    "Haha! Monk Hushu is learning how to joke. Why don''t you say that he''s just a hundred years old?" Crown Princess Shang joked.


    The Crown Prince and hispanions talked for a bit, unaware that their estimates were way too high.


    It never even crossed their mind that Lin Mu hadn''t even reached thirty years of age yet.


    To the cultivators staying in seclusion for a long time was a normal thing. Some might stay in secluded cultivation for decades to centuries. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    This would lead to the number of things they would experience to greatly fall.


    If one considered amoner who had worked in the fields for fifty years, versus a cultivator who was over a thousand years old and focused on cultivation, there was a chance that the life experiences both had would be of the same level.


    The thousand year old cultivator could have very well stayed in the seclusion for hundreds of years, limiting the number of things he saw.


    But Lin Mu was someone who had not only cultivated but also seen a lot of things as well as having learned about them.

 Chapter 1769 The Twins And The Saintess Are Away

    Having met the Crown Prince and getting some information, Lin Mu decided to return to the Hundred Fruits Courtyard.


    He wanted to rest a bit and also wanted to meet the Twins as well as the Saintess. It had been a month since he had seen them after all.


    "Should we buy some ingredients along the way?" Little Shrubby suggested.


    "Of course!" Lin Mu agreed right away.


    The two strolled through the markets and bought whatever ingredient that caught their fancy. There were plenty of spirit and immortal herbs included in it, as long as they seemed to have a good vor. Then there were also some new beast meats that were being sold.


    Lin Mu could sense the immortal Qi within them along with rich vitality.


    ''These will be perfect for a stew.'' Lin Mu thought.


    An hour was all it took for them to buy all that they wanted before leaving for the Hundred Fruits Courtyard.


    ~Creak~


    Upon Lin Mu''s return, the gate of the courtyard opened automatically.


    "Saintess, Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang!" Lin Mu called out with a smile.


    But his smile quickly stilled as he watched the empty garden.


    "They aren''t here?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    ~shua~


    His immortal sense spread around the area rapidly, searching for them but they didn''t seem to be in the courtyard.


    ''The formations that the Saintess set up are still here¡­ did she go out for a stroll perhaps?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    ~sniff~ sniff~


    "They haven''t been here for at least four days." Little Shrubby said after smelling the scents.


    "Four days¡­" Lin Mu said before closing his eyes.


    He sensed his link with the twins and found them to be far to the south.


    "That''s¡­ really far." Lin Mu was not expecting this. "They should be at least two or three thousand kilometers away." He estimated.


    "Should we go to them?" Little Shrubby questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ let''s just wait. If the Saintess took them out, they shouldn''t be in danger." Lin Mu replied. "We''ll just prepare the food till then. When they return, we''ll have a feast ready." He suggested instead.


    "YES!" Little Shrubby agreed.


    With that said the two quickly got busy in preparing the ingredients and making different dishes. This time, they cooked for nearly sixteen hours, and ended up making around forty different items!


    It was clear that Lin Mu had taken some inspiration from his meals at the Spring Valley restaurant. He was liking therge spread of dishes and was attempting to recreate some of them.


    But once they had finished making everything, Lin Mu realized that there were no signs of the return of the Twins or the Saintess.


    "What do we do? Do we wait till they return?" Little Shrubby inquired.


    "Yeah, we''ll store the food away so it stays fresh. We''ll wait till they return." Lin Mu replied.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    They had eaten at the Spring Valley Restaurant before this, thus they weren''t necessarily hungry. They simply wished to enjoy a meal with the twins and the Saintess.


    With that said Lin Mu decided to just cultivate till the Saintess and the twins returned. Though Lin Mu was also tempted to just go to them. It wouldn''t be difficult with Little Shrubby''s speed after all.


    But the next day, Lin Mu discovered that the Twins seem to be getting farther from them.


    ''Now they''re nearly five thousand kilometers way¡­ just where did they go?'' Lin Mu was confused.


    Traveling that far in such a short time wouldn''t be possible for the twins thus it was clear that the Saintess was taking them along. Plus Lin Mu didn''t sense any danger to the lives of the twins either. He could tell from their link that they were in good health.


    "No wait¡­" it was now that Lin Mu sensed something.


    It was very faint due to the distance, but now that he was focusing on it Lin Mu could tell a change in the twins.


    ''Their cultivation has certainly improved if I can feel it even this far¡­ it can''t be can it?'' A thought appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    But rather than toe to conclusions Lin Mu decided to wait and watch.


    To pass the time, he simply used the Spiral ke Crystal toprehend the space. His progressst time had been rather good and he wanted to see how much he could grow. In just an hour of entering the Spiral ke Crystal, Lin Mu had already touched upon the ''unknown'' object.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    But once again, it had slipped past his grasp.


    Lin Mu simply attempted to find it again though and kept on repeating it, getting better and better at it. Time continued to pass like this and three days psed.


    On the fourth day, Lin Mu''s Immortal sense was still within the space of the Spiral ke Crystals, and was close to grasping the unknown object again. But just as he was about to do that, he was shocked away.


    "WHAT?!" A surge of emotions filled Lin Mu''s mind.


    These hadn''te from Lin Mu but from the link he had with the Yin Yang Twin Serpents.


    The emotions were that of pain and anxiety, but also that of excitement and joy.


    Lin Mu isted their emotions and calmed himself down. He closed his eyes and focused on the link with the twins, wanting to find out their situation. This time though, it wasn''t as hard, as the link continually fed him with information.


    Perhaps it was due to the intensity of it all, but the link was transmitting a lot of information mixed with the emotions. Considering the distance, it only meant just how strong it all was.


    But in all this, Lin Mu also felt something else.


    It was the part that was getting more and more intense as time went by.


    ''Their cultivation is rising¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    He kept on sensing the information from the link and could feel the paining through it as well. It showed him that the Twins were injured and also allowed him to guess due to what.


    ''They''re really undergoing breakthrough¡­'' Lin Mu grasped.


    This was a difficult situation and made Lin Mu worried. But he also knew that with the Saintess there, the Twins would be okay.


    "I just have to wait here for them." As much as Lin Mu didn''t like the fact that he wasn''t there for the twins, he also knew that it was inevitable. ''Since I was in the Spatial ne, the Saintess probably decided to take the twins away for their breakthrough.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Though he was surprised that the twins were having a breakthrough already. After all, they had a breakthrough not long ago. Not to mention, they hadn''t shown any signs of it before either.


    ''Though they did start speaking¡­ and their size was also bigger.'' Lin Mu remembered.


    He knew that the Yin Yang Twin Serpents had a strong and talented bloodline. It was something that would inevitably allow the twins to progress, but with the teaching of the Saintess, that process had been catalyzed.


    ''Maybe they ended up having an epiphany in that time.'' Lin Mu thought as he continued to observe it all.


    The breakthrough of the twins took nearly a day before the surge of emotions ceased. Lin Mu could feel that the twins had sessfully broken through and were already recovering.


    "Good¡­ they should return now." Lin Mu silently smiled.


    And sure enough, Lin Mu could feel the link getting stronger with each passing minute. The location of the twins was getting closer and closer. By the time it was night, Lin Mu could already sense the Twins within the Courtyard.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu stopped out of the room and saw the figures of the Saintess and the Twins Materialize.


    ~MEOW~


    "You guys are back!" Little Shrubby was the first to respond.


    The beast had been cultivating in the courtyard too, and was the first to see them.


    The Saintess poked at Lin Mu, who had some hidden concern on his face. She could easily guess why he was like that too.


    "The Twins grew faster than I had expected." The Saintess spoke her voice as calm as ever.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twin snakes raised their heads and looked at Lin Mu. They were wrapped around the Saintess''s arms just as they did with Lin Mu.


    "MASTER!" The twins suddenly jumped towards Lin Mu, before wrapping around them.


    Lin Mu rubbed their heads, while also feeling their cultivation base.


    "You two reached the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm already?" Lin Mu was a astonished.


    While he could tell that the cultivation of the twins had improved, he couldn''t tell exactly how much due to the distance.


    "Simr to before the twins had a variant immortal tribtion." The Saintess informed. "As such, I had to take them as far away from here as possible."


    "Mmhmm¡­ that''s understandable." Lin Mu said as he peered into the Dantian of the twins.


    There he could see four halos around the nascent souls of the twins.

 Chapter 1770 The Twins Experience

    While Lin Mu had figured out that the twins would be triggering dual tribtions again, he didn''t know what element they would be belonging too.


    And now that he looked at their Nascent soul halos, he could see four halos there.


    The first two halos were purple and azure, but the newly added ones were red and blue.


    "Fire and water elemental Immortal Tribtions?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "They had variants of the two." The Saintess replied.


    "Which ones were they?" Lin Mu asked feeling curious.


    Having felt their emotions from the link, Lin Mu knew that they would not have been easy. This he was expectant the Tribtions to be rather dangerous too.


    "It was the Molten Fire Immortal Tribtion and the Rippling Water Immortal Tribtion." The Saintess informed.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu could somewhat recognize the immortal tribtions as he had read about them before.


    The Molten Fire Immortal Tribtion was something that would cover one inva and try to drown them in it. On the other hand, the Rippling Water Immortal Tribtion was one that could send ripples that would shake the organs of all those that underwent it.


    The ripples were such that they could even affect the water within one''s body. If their internal water also rippled at the same time it could cause damage to their internal organs as well as weaken their control over their body.


    "They overcame the tribtions perfectly. So you don''t have to worry." The Saintess added.


    "Yeah, their bodies have healed already." Lin Mu could tell that they had no injuries left.


    Even their cultivation base had stabilized and was gathering energy at all times.


    Now that the twins had reached the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, they were the strongest among the group as both Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were at the Second Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm in terms of Qi cultivation.


    "I''m proud of you two." Lin Mu praised the twins.


    ~hiss~


    "We''ll be even stronger!" the twins said in unison.


    "Of course, you will." Lin Mu nodded his head, knowing it was inevitable.


    It was now that the Saintess spoke up.


    "The twins will probably take a longer time for their next breakthrough now." She said. "They had this one due to an epiphany. Their control over Yin and Yang has improved which caused the sudden triggering of the Immortal Tribtions." She exined.


    "That does make sense." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I''ll also need to speed up. I don''t want tog behind them after all." He added.


    "You won''t." The Saintess knew for sure.


    "Mmhmm¡­ oh, considering the twins have broken through, it''s time for a celebration." Lin Mu said.


    "We have a feast ready!" little Shrubby said out loud with a growl.


    ~Hiss~


    "FOOD! FOOD!" The twins were very excited as soon as they heard that.


    They hadn''t eaten the food made by Little Shrubby and Lin Mu for a month now and were desiring that a lot.


    "Let''s take it all out. It''s all hot even now." Lin Mu said as he took out all the dishes they had made.


    In just a couple of minutes, arge spread of dishes was set up allowing them to start the feast.


    The beasts enjoyed the meal along with Lin Mu. The Saintess also tried most of the dishes while Lin Mu poured some more wine for her. He still had some fresh floral wine that he had made before and it was the perfect apaniment for her.


    The Immortal Apple Spirit wine that Lin Mu was making would still take some time to make, thus the other wines would have to serve for now.


    While eating, Lin Mu also told the Saintess about all that had happened in the tournament. He told her about the fights as well as about the dy in the next stage.


    "Diviners are interfering?" The Saintess furrowed his brows under her veil.


    "Yes. The High Elder of the temple himself told me so." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "That is unusual¡­ for diviners that could hide from the eyes of the guardians, the payment would not be simple. Even an empire like the Dao Wind Empire would barely be able to afford something like that." The Saintess replied.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "That much?!" Lin Mu was surprised.This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    "Of course. Fooling the guardian beasts is no joke. Not to mention doing this is the same as offending the four guardian beast ns as well as the Immortal courts. The karma they would have to bear would also be very heavy, which could affect their abilities.


    For a diviner to do it despite all this, the benefits would have to be equally worthy. Something that could offset it all." The Saintess exined.


    Having heard this, Lin Mu was perplexed.


    "Just what can Yao Changying offer them? If an entire empire can barely afford it, even if she has the support of the holy Topaz Empire and the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect, she''ll still have a hard time." Lin Mu muttered. "I doubt the two powers would squander their wealth and offend such great powers either."


    The Saintess was silent for a bit before thinking of something.


    "If there is one thing that the diviners want more than anything, it is to offset the cost of their predictions." The Saintess suddenly said. "If they can find something that can pay for the cost instead of them, they would suddenly attempt to do this."


    "Something to pay for the cost of divining¡­ to prevent the bacsh?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Or something to block it perhaps." The Saintess added.


    "There wouldn''t be many things that can do this, can there?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "They are indeed rare. Even if you move to higher worlds, such treasures are hard to find. At least naturally. There are some experts that can make them though." The Saintess spoke.


    Hearing this, a thought appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "If so¡­ could there be a treasure like this here?" Lin Mu suddenly asked.


    "There could be." The Saintess replied. "Even I cannot perceive everything here with my limitations."


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu started to have a few hypotheses about what Yao Changying might have done. ''But how do the members of the ck Fin Ind join in this? Did she just ask them to interfere to obfuscate the truth?'' he wondered.


    There were still many things that needed to be uncovered to figure it all out, and Lin Mu was sure that it woulde out, eventually.


    For now, though he just needed to focus on the Tournament.


    ''Who knows, we might even end up stopping it all.'' Lin Mu thought.


    They talked for a while more and discussed about other things that had happened. The Saintess told Lin Mu about the ces they had seen while she had taken the Twins. Lin Mu got to learn that the Saintess had taken the Twins to a ce in the south that was a vast desert.


    Though despite being a desert, it had a lot of life in it. There were strong beasts living in the desert along with human cultivators. It waspletely unlike the desert in the Xiaofan world that Lin Mu had seen in the past.


    The Saintess had picked the desert as the ce for the breakthrough of the twins, as it wouldn''t seem out of ce there. The others wouldn''t pay much attention to it and would attribute it to some other beasts breaking through.


    The twins were also talking from time to time, telling Lin Mu about the things they had seen in the passing.


    For example, they told Lin Mu about arge building that was in the shape of a done. It was nearly three kilometers in size and was very smooth. The surprising part was that there were no humans around it for hundreds of kilometer.


    It intrigued Lin Mu quite a bit and even made him take a look through the map he had obtained from the merchants in the city.


    But there was no information about such a dome on the map. Lin Mu took a note wanting to ask others about itter.


    They spent some quality time talking like this until it waste at night. Their meal was over and the twins had returned to sleeping.


    "There''s just one day left till the next round." Lin Mu muttered. "I wonder how they would be doing it."


    "It''ll be another Spatial ne." The Saintess quickly said.


    "They''re gonna make them again?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "There aren''t many other ways to allow the participants to fight to their hearts content without causing extensive damage to the other areas." The Saintess replied.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu nodded his head. "That''s still good. I guess I''ll get to observe the formations again soon." He added.


    "Indeed¡­ and these ones will be bigger." The Saintess replied.


    ~SHUA~


    A few moments after she said that a wave of energy was felt.


    "And they''re starting." The Saintess smiled under her veil.

 Chapter 1771 Prison Like Spatial Planes

    Lin Mu looked up at the sky, feeling strong spatial fluctuation appearing again.


    "They''re really making Spatial nes once more." Lin Mu said.


    "It is the optimum way." The Saintess replied. "Though the numbers this time will be less." She added.


    "They don''t need that many after all. There are just sixty four contestants left¡­ which means thirty two fights. And the numbers will only halve again." Lin Mu replied.


    It was still unclear how many Spatial nes they might be making, but considering the strong Spatial Disturbance Lin Mu at least knew that they would be bigger than the ones they had made earlier.


    ~shua~


    The Saintess waved her hand and created arge lens above them again, allowing Lin Mu to observe everything clearly. His Spatial Perception was activated to the maximum, along with his Immortal sense, allowing him to observe everything in detail.


    He wasn''t the only one doing his best either. All others that were watching it were doing the same. It was a rare opportunity to do so after all.


    Plus, with the improvements Lin Mu had with the Spiral ke Crystals, he felt like he could ''see'' the flow of the spatial fabric too. He could tell how the formations would react with them and what effects they could bring.


    Simr to before, Lin Mu saw the same formations being used, but this time they were more intricate.


    Hours passed like this before the structure of the Spatial ne was established. Lin Mu could tell that a part of the Lesser Void was merged into the Spatial nes while thend was created in it.


    Since the Spatial nes weren''t fully ''protected'' yet. Lin Mu could clearly see into them.


    "They¡­ They made them nearly two hundred kilometers in size?" Lin Mu was stunned.This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Making such arge Spatial ne from scratch was a tall order and would need a massive amount of energy. Even if one had the necessary materials, one wouldn''t be able to do it if theycked the skill needed for it.


    There were hundreds of formation masters working in tandem to ensure that there were no issues and the process went smoothly.


    Lin Mu tried to look for any mistakes or errors in the formation as he knew that it was the best way to learn. If he could figure out the mistakes before they happened, he would be able to resolve them quickly.


    And sure enough, the more Lin Mu looked, the more he found them.


    Even with the great power of the four guardian beasts as well as the skills of the Formation masters of the temples, there were indeed errors appearing in the entire formation array.


    While these weren''t arrays that could cause damage or make the array copse, they would still leave minor ws within the arrays.


    ''These aren''t errors that can be resolved on their own, either. At least not in such a short time. If they want to fix them, they would have to reform the entire array and make the connections slowly.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It made him realize that these were errors caused due to rushing.


    If he were to rte it to forging, it would basically be the same as cooling down the hot metal too fast, causing microscopic cracks to spread in it. While it might not be visible easily or show any effects on the surface, the overall durability of the metal would fall.


    It could also copse under great strain.


    The same could apply to the the great spatial array above him right now.


    In fact, the more Lin Mu observed it the more he learned. After a certain point, Lin Mu started to see channels that could actually be exploited!


    ''Wait a second¡­ these nodes basically leave free ess to the Spatial ne¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Of course, the free ess was something that would only be limited to someone like him that could affect the space directly, but it was still a major w.


    ''Why would they leave something like this?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    But an hourter, that question of his was resolved.


    "So that''s why¡­" Lin Mu soon saw tens of new formations being added to the Spatial array.


    These formations had nothing to do with space and everything to with security and encryption.


    ''Thousand Lace Formation, Mixed Leaf Locking Formation and even the Flickering Veil Obscuring Formation¡­ All these are meant to be used on secure locations.'' Lin Mu recognized them again.


    The Thousand Lace Formation was a connective formation that was used to connect multiple securing and location formations, while the Mixed Leaf Locking Formation was a locking formation as its name meant.


    The only difference was that it was a formation that utilized the wood element and used the patterns of leaves to make a string of runes.


    Then there was the Flickering Veil Obscuring formation. It was a formation that fell in the category of both Encrypting formations as well as illusory formations.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    It worked by creating a flickeringyer of runes between the real array and a fake array. Thisyer would continue to change and move around, making it difficult one to figure out where the real nodes were as well as what the original array was.


    "Rather than a tournament ground for an array¡­ it looks like they are making a prison instead." Lin Mu muttered after seeing it all.


    And it was indeed correct as a simr method was used to make prisons that could contain immortals.


    Of course, the real prisons would be a lot smaller than this.


    "Hmm¡­ The temple seems to be taking their concerns to the next level." The Saintess suddenly spoke.


    "Is this due to the diviners?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "Quite likely. This will prevent any immortal senses from entering the ne. Even you won''t be able to pry into it, once it''s activated." The Saintess replied.


    But upon hearing this, a frown appeared on Lin Mu''s face.


    After all, his n was to interfere in the fights using the Nine Divine Heart Sutras. But if the security was like this, he was not so sure about it. He didn''t talk about it though and wanted to see how it was going to be in the end.


    It wasn''t good to rush to conclusions after all.


    Besides, he had trust in hispanions and hoped that they could survive on their own too now.


    Having seen their skills beforehand, Lin Mu was sure they had improved and could hold out on their own.


    At the very least, they needed to hold out until battling against Yao Changying.


    That was their intention after all. Lin Mu was going to direct the fights in such a way that hispanions would end up facing her eventually. Or so he hoped.


    ''But if I''m also in the Spatial nes, I won''t be able to do much.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Considering there would be multiple Spatial nes, there would also be multiple fights.


    So far, Lin Mu could see Four Spatial nes and there were no signs of more being formed.


    ''Four Spatial nes means four fights at once¡­ it''ll take about six cycles to finish an entire round.'' Lin Mu calcted.


    Considering there were five of them, there was a high chance Lin Mu might not be able to help at least one of them.


    Then there was the fact that he didn''t know if the sutras would still work inside the Spatial ne.


    ''I''ll have to exploit a w somehow¡­'' Lin Mu decided.


    He chanted the calming heart sutra right away and focused on the spatial arrays with renewed focus.


    There were still a few hours until the entire array would be finalized, thus Lin Mu had a decent amount of time.


    Two hours passed like this, while theplexity of the arrays increased.


    It was at this time that they saw a new formation being added.


    "What is that?" but this time Lin Mu was unable to identify the formation.


    The Saintess who was looking at it, furrowed her brows under the veil.


    "They actually intended to use this¡­ The temple is paying a higher price than I thought they would." The Saintess said.


    "Do you know what formation that is?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It is a rather rare formation called as the Seven Star Obfuscation Formation. It is among the few formations that can prevent diviners from prying in." The Saintess answered.


    "Seven Star Obfuscation Formation¡­ I don''t think I''ve heard of it before." Lin Mu muttered.


    "It isn''t exactly well known. Most don''t even know how it is made as it was invented by one of the former Immortal Formation Grandmasters of the temple a long time ago.


    It is only used by the temple and even then; it is only known by a few. It also needs a lot of rare materials to make." The Saintess replied. "I don''t think you can even learn about it outside the temple." She added.

 Chapter 1772 Applying His Experience

    Getting to see such a unique and rare formation like the Seven Star Obfuscation Formation was a new experience for Lin Mu. To him, it was a bit difficult to even describe the working of the formation.


    It didn''t seem to be targeting Qi as its main aspect either, which made it difficult for Lin Mu to tell how it was working.


    "In the Seven Star Obfuscation Formation¡­ there seem to be other energies than Qi too." Lin Mu said after observing it for a bit.


    "The energy you are seeing is from the different materials. They serve to prevent divination users from prying into it." The Saintess replied. "It isn''t a kind of energy that most cultivators would be able to understand in the first ce." She added.


    "Hmm¡­ is it something only those with an affinity would be able to grasp?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Observing the energy itself isn''t dependent on it, butprehending it is. It is an energy called as Ster Karmic Energy." The Saintess answered.


    ''Ster Karmic Energy¡­ I''ll have to take note of this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He reckoned it would be worth talking to Senior Xukong about it as well as checking the Memoirs of the Lost Immortal.


    Time continued to pass and Lin Mu observed the array progressing. Eventually, his immortal sense was unable to touch upon it, and only his Spatial Perception was working.


    "This''ll make things difficult¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    His mind didn''t stop there though as he was already looking for alternatives. And by the time the Formation array waspleted, Lin Mu actually managed toe up with something.


    ''The way it hides the nodes¡­ it moves them around mixing and melding the points of ess¡­ it will force me to move blindly.'' Lin Mu analyzed. ''But moving while being blind, isn''t that what I''ve been doing for a while?'' he realized.


    Lin Mu had been using the Spiral ke Crystal to improve hisprehension of the Space all this time. This led him to explore the endless expanse inside the Crystal. But it gave him the experience needed to navigate when he couldn''t perceive much.


    ''And since it is past the space¡­ I might still be able to make use of it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    So far he knew a few facts about the new Spatial nes that had been just created.


    First was the fact that it prevented Immortal Qi from passing into it from the outside. This prevented the external interference of cultivators.


    Second was the fact that it could prevent the prying of diviners through the use of the Seven Star Obfuscating formation.


    Then the third fact was its physical detachment from the Rust Sky world, which limited the physical interference as well.


    ''But if Ibine all three of them, it leaves ws in it.'' Lin Mu''s eyes shone with understanding.


    He looked back up at the sky, his spatial perception activated to the max. He observed the formations and tried to get a read on the ever changing nodes. With the Spatial perception, he could see the energy fluctuations that were normally hidden and managed to find a node that was still open.


    But a few momentster, the node disappeared and reappeared at a different site.


    "Let''s try this again¡­" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and turned his Immortal sense into a fine thread.


    The Immortal sense thread flew up at great speed while being guided by his Spatial perception. When it was close to the formations, Lin Mu guided it just enough to touch upon the node.


    ''And the first point is covered!'' Lin Mu was excited.


    He continued onwards from it, while ensuring that no one was aware of it. Thankfully, the properties of the array were such that, while they prevented others from interfering, they also prevented the makers of the formation array from doing the same.


    While they could still get information about changes happening in the array, it wouldn''t include the infiltration done from the nodes which were appearing due to the original errors.


    Of course, they knew something like this could be done, and they had the Flickering Veil Obscuring formation to cover for that. It would change the location of the nodes all the time, making it hard to tell which were the correct ones.


    But for Lin Mu, it was just another challenge.


    Once he entered through the node, the nextyer was also ever changing, making it hard for him to find the node. Thankfully with his experience of ''wandering'' in the Spiral ke Crystal he was already ustomed to something like this.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    He continued his search and eventually discovered the second node through the faint fluctuations in space that could only be felt by him. His practice with the Spiral ke Crystal was once again shining here.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense was like water entering a cracked container. No matter how many times it was wrapped with a cloth, water would always find a gap to enter from. Lin Mu was doing the same and eventually, he managed to find the third node.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "This is easier than the Spiral ke crystal!" Lin Mu was surprised.


    He repeated the process, searching for the fourth node on the nextyer which he found in a few more minutes.


    Fifth node.


    Sixth node.


    Seventh node.


    .


    .


    Eleventh node.


    .


    .


    .


    .


    Twentieth node.


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    One hundred and eighth node!


    As soon as Lin Mu passed through that node, the perception of his Immortal sense changed. No longer was there an obstacle in front of him, but a wide open world!


    "I''m in¡­" Lin Mu said, his voice almost a whisper.


    It had been nearly ten hours, and he had managed to not only find a w but also exploit it to ''enter'' the Spatial ne.


    Of course, entering was a huge word and it was merely his Immortal sense that had managed to enter it. And even then, it was just a thin thread of Immortal sense.

 Chapter 1773 Prep Before The Round

    While it was enough for Lin Mu to sense the movements inside the Spatial ne, it was still not possible for him to interact with anything wit the limitation that were still in force.


    ''But I don''t need to use Qi to interact in the first ce¡­ I merely needed an entrance for the Nine Divine Heart Sutra''s to work!'' Lin Mu smiled.


    As long as Lin Mu could observe someone and there was a way to link to the person, the Nine Divine Heart Sutra''s worked. Only when the space was entirely isted, would it not work.


    ''While it might use a lot more energy for me to use the sutras at such a distance, it should still work.'' Lin Mu estimated he had the capacity needed for it.


    ~HUMM~


    It was at this time, that his Identity token trembled as new information appeared in it. Lin Mu quickly checked it and found that his match was actually among the first four matches!This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    "Looks like I''ll be going first¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "And so will Third Prince Feng Baxing." He checked the other matches as well.


    A total of eight contestants were fighting, two each in a single Spatial ne. Lin Mu''s opponent wasn''t the Third Prince thankfully but was another cultivator that he hadn''t seen so far.


    "Tian Ning¡­ Hmm, I''ll have to look into him." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Since the person had managed tost this long, it was clear that he was capable.


    "You''re gonna depart?" The Saintess asked while sitting at her cloud table.


    "Yes¡­ the match will be in six hours from now." Lin Mu answered. "I best be there and rendezvous with mypanions."


    "Go on then. You''ll do well¡­ you already managed to find a w that would infuriate the formation masters of the temple." The Saintess said, a bit of amusement in her voice. ''He could really bring those arrogant masters down a few pegs¡­'' she thought.


    Lin Mu''s eyes lingered on the Saintess for a second before moving onto the sleeping beast right on the table.


    "Let''s go, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu called out.


    ~YAWN~


    "Is it time?" it was clear that Little Shrubby had just woken up from a nap.


    "Yep,e on." Lin Mu said, prompting Little Shrubby to leap towards him.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby turned into a sh of light that was quickly sent into the Sleepscape.


    With the beast safely tucked away, Lin Mu bid farewell to the Twin snakes and left the Courtyard. He contacted Luo Liqin and found out that they were already waiting at the Spring Valley Restaurant for a while now. Lin Mu made his way there and reached it after some time.


    "Brother Mu Lin,e!" Lu Xu called out.


    "You guys were here already?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yeah, we came here yesterday." Lu Xu replied. "We wanted to call you too, but Luo Liqin said that you might still be busy cultivating."


    "I guess you can say that." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    What he was doing earlier was indeed a bit sensitive, and it was best for him to have not been disturbed at that time.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Let''s go up, I have a few things to tell you all." Lin Mu said before they went to the room.


    "Wee, Brother Mu Lin," The Ming sisters said with a smile, while Qian Wen cupped his hands in greeting.


    Luo Liqin on the other hand was setting up something and was carrying arge marble te. Lin Mu noticed that and was surprised.


    "What''s that?" He questioned.


    "The Betting Pavilion upgraded our privilege." Luo Liqin answered. "Now I don''t need to go there personally to ce bets."


    "What?" Lu Xu was surprised to hear that.


    "Yeah, our profits were good enough that they considered me a big yer." Luo Liqin replied. "We can use this te to ce bets as needed." He gave a short exnation.


    "Oh it works for all of us?" Qian Wen was intrigued.


    "Yes. It''ll make it easier for us and save us time." Luo Liqin answered.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu smiled. "Because I think we''ll be needing it."


    "Ah yeah, brother Mu Lin has something to tell us." Lu Xu stated.


    "What is it?" Ming Dandan inquired.


    Lin Mu told them about the changes that had happened with the Spatial nes this time. Since the others weren''t as versed as him in Space and formations, they couldn''t tell what was actually happening. But once they learned of the details from Lin Mu they were stunned.


    "You actually managed to find a w and enter the Spatial ne just like that?!" Qian Wen couldn''t believe his ears.


    "It did take me ten hours to do that." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Still¡­ ten hours to infiltrate a great array like that¡­ Even ten days might still be enough to shock the others." Lu Xu muttered.


    "Won''t this make it difficult for you to act though now?" Ming Aolian inquired.


    "I should still be able to do the same as before. And since there are just four fights, I can do the same for all of them." Lin Mu replied.


    "But didn''t you say that it took you ten hours to ess just one of them? Your fight starts in six hours. How will you manage it?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "I''ve got the grasp on it. I think I should be able to do it again in a shorter time." Lin Mu replied.


    They felt a lot better after hearing that and trusted in Lin Mu.


    "Also, won''t it be different for the different Spatial nes?" Qian Wen suddenly realized.


    "Actually, not." Lin Mu shook his head. "They made the Spatial nes close enough that they are basically like four rooms separated by walls. The arrays that cover them coat them entirely on the outside. I just need to explore a bit more to gain ess the other nes too." He exined.


    Since they couldn''t exactly ''see'' the structure of the Spatial nes, it was out of their thoughts. But after being exined by Lin Mu, they understood it better.

 Chapter 1774 Meeting Feng Baxing For The First Time

    After listening to Lin Mu''s words Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian grasped it well.


    "Thankfully, there is a couple of hours of gap between each cycle of fights. It''ll give us enough time to n I suppose." Ming Dandan said.


    "Indeed. It''ll give us enough time to make any changes if needed." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Your opponent is an interesting one too, brother Mu Lin." Qian Wen suddenly spoke.


    "Tian Ning, you know about him?" Lin Mu asked.


    He was going to ask more about him anyways and this just gave him an opportunity to talk about it.


    "Yes. He''s one of the top contenders too and has participated in thest Tournament of the Four Guardians as well." Qian Wen replied. "He actually managed to reach top twentyst time and has been spending his time wandering the Rust Sky world and gaining experience since then." Qian Wen answered.


    "Hmm¡­ so he''s stronger than before. How are his records from the previous fights?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Almost all of his previous fights in this tournament were fast. He would end them in a few moves and none of his opponents were able tost against him. Even for the all out battle before this, he was from the fourth Spatial ne that had ended the round." Qian Wen answered.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu reckoned that it might be a proper opponent this time.


    "You might have to be careful with him. He''s at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm but his skills are strong. He''s said to have cultivated the Thunderp Nine Heavens technique and is a lightning elemental user." Lu Xu warned.


    "Lightning element, huh¡­" It wasn''t Lin Mu''s first time fighting with someone that used the Lightning element, but it was certainly his first time fighting someone that was this skilled.


    ''If I exclude the eleventh prince of the Holy Topaz Empire Huangyu Shiyi, Tian Ning will be the first proper lightning user, perhaps.'' Lin Mu thought.


    While Huangyu Shiyi was also strong, Lin Mu knew that it was due to the effect of the ring. Plus Huangyu Shiyi might not necessarily have the same level of experience as Tian Ning who was already fighting in the tournament for the second time.


    "Looks like I''ll have to focus on this person a bit more then¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    After this, they discussed a few more matters such as how much they would be betting and whom to bet it on. For the first cycle, they decided to bet it all on Lin Mu, since he was the only safe choice.


    There were other contestants that they knew would win for sure, such as the third prince, Feng Baxing. But the odds for betting on him were basically negligible.


    He was the obvious choice and the betting pavilion was already expecting him to win against his opponent, who was also at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.


    Tian Ning, on the other hand, had a simr win rate to Lin Mu. The betting pavilion had raised the odds for Lin Mu as well, and while it wasn''t going to give him a massive profit like before, it would still be decent in the fight against Tian Ning.


    From the predictions that had been made, the chances of Tian Ning winning were set at 55% while Lin Mu''s were at 45%.


    This was actually quite high considering the fact that Lin Mu was a newbie for the tournament even if he had demonstrated his abilities earlier. Tian Ning was higher in cultivation base than him as well as had a better experience.


    Thus, it was obvious why the betting pavilion was preferring him.


    They talked for a while before there was just an hour left for the tournament to start again.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    ~humm~


    The identity token hummed again, reminding the participants to be at the Tournament grounds.


    "It is time." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Let''s go then." Lu Xu replied.


    "No, you all can just wait here. It''s best to avoid the public eye for now. You can watch the tournament a lot better from here anyways." Lin Mu suggested instead.


    "Hmm¡­ if that''s what you wish for Brother Mu Lin." Lu Xu didn''t deny it.


    "We''ll be cheering you on!" Ming Dandan said.


    "Thank you." Lin Mu replied.


    "Good luck, Brother Mu Lin." They all said before Lin Mu took his leave.


    He made his way to the tournament grounds.


    The entrance gate for the Four Spatial nes was set up in the same location as before thus everyone knew where to go. And just like before, there was arge crowd gathered around there.


    "Look! It''s the third prince!"


    "It''s Prince Feng Baxing!"


    "He''s as domineering as ever."


    The people in the crowd were excited about the fight and were cheering on the contestants already.


    Since only 64 cultivators were left now, pretty much everyone else had free time to watch the matches. Thus, it didn''t matter what they did and could roam around to enjoy the rest of the tournament. The audience was standing around the tform, while six of the eight participating contestants were standing on the tform.


    It was clear that other than Lin Mu, there was another person who had yet to arrive.


    "So that''s Feng Baxing¡­" Lin Mu too got to see the man face to face for the first time.


    He was his final goal in the tournament and Lin Mu had only seen him from a distance before this. Lin Mu''s eyes lingered on the man for a minute as he tried to analyze the man.This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    Feng Baxing had a cold and domineering face. That was entuated by the helmet he wore.


    He wore a silver helmet on his head that had green crystal embedded in it while a simrly themed armor was d on his body. Strong Immortal Qi fluctuations could be felt from it all, showing that all the armor he was wearing Immortal armor!


    He had his hands crossed in front of his chest and was looking at the gate silently.

 Chapter 1775 Tian Ning

    As Lin Mu observed the third prince, he started to recognize a few things about him.


    There was Immortal Qi emanating from Feng Baxing''s body but was restrained within the two meter area around him.


    ''His immortal Qi is swirling around him in a protective manner¡­ just like the wind.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, having picked on the skill that the man was using.


    Lin Mu reckoned this was a defensive skill the man might be using. Though he didn''t know if it was being actively used by him, or was there due to the armor he was wearing.


    ''No wait¡­ considering the stability of the immortal Qi, it is likely to be from an Immortal tool¡­ thus it should be the Armor itself.'' Lin Mu determined.


    After all, constantly keeping a skill active like this would also result in a loss of Qi which was not a good thing to do just before a match. Even if Feng Baxing might have arge store of Immortal Qi, disying a skill like this was not the optimum choice as it would alert the more sensitive cultivators.


    Thus Lin Mu guessed that it might just be due to the armor he was wearing. But just as Lin Mu was thinking all this, another person climbed onto the tform.


    "Tian Ning! He''s finally here too!" The people recognized the new arrival.


    Lin Mu''s attention snapped to the person who was to be his opponent.


    If Third Prince Feng Baxing was the definition of a cold looking prince then Tian Ning was the opposite of him.


    Tian Ning was a tall dark, bulky man that was wearing an open vest that barely covered his torso. His bulging muscles stretched the vest taut while his arms that were covered in tattoos trembled with power.


    Blue arcs of electricity could be seen emitting from the tattoo from time to time, while an aura of pure power rose from the man. His dark skin contrasted with the light of the electricity, only making him look more menacing.


    Tian Ning''s hair was long and stiff, clumping together in locks of hair that had turned into spikes. Sparks of electricity jumped across the hair tips as well, making it seem a bit strange.


    Looking at the man''s appearance though, Lin Mu was reminded of anotherpanion of his.


    ''Jing Luo¡­'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but match the two men''s builds and the appearance from when he had first met Jing Luo.


    The wild look of Jing Luo was simr to that of Tian Ning, except for the fact that he was wearing clothes made out of crude materials. Tian Ning on the other hand was wearing a simple vest and stretchable pants.


    Tough looking at Tian Ning''s body gave another thought to Lin Mu.


    ''Is Tian Ning also a body cultivator?'' Lin Mu wondered and tried to sense the Vitality within the man. "Hmm¡­ While he does have higher vitality than the usual, he doesn''t have Immortal essence. He''s a pure Qi cultivator." He determined.


    It was something that was in the favor of Lin Mu, thus he was pleased by it.


    "Who''s thest remaining contestant?" the people in the crowd chatted.


    "There''s just one person left now¡­ Daoist Mu Lin." They spoke.


    "Why hasn''t he arrived yet? There''s just ten minutes left."


    Hearing the chatter, Lin Mu walked forward knowing it was enough for now.


    ''Time for me to head up too¡­'' Lin Mu thought before climbing up on the tform.


    "It''s the expert negotiator Mu Lin!" The audience seemed to have a new title for Lin Mu evidently.


    Lin Mu raised a brow in surprise, but didn''t mind it much. It was nothing bad after all.


    "So you are Daoist Mu Lin, huh." Tian Ning spoke seeing that his opponent was there too now.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Yes, Daoist Tian Ning." Lin Mu replied to the man.


    "You''ve managed toe this far with your cultivation base¡­ Guess you''re hiding more than just your negotiation skills." Tian Ning replied.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu wondered where the man was getting at.


    "I saw you in the Spatial n before." Tian Ning replied.


    "I''m ttered that Daoist Tian Ning deemed it worthy to watch my battle." Lin Mu replied politely.


    "I don''t care about whatever talking skills you might have¡­ I just what to see how you fight!" Tian Ning said with a crude grin.


    "Of course. I''ll be giving it my all." Lin Mu wasn''t one to back down from a challenge like this.


    "We''ll see." Tian Ning said before sensing a gaze on him. "And you too, Third Prince."


    Lin Mu followed the man''s gaze and saw that Feng Baxing had actually been looking toward him.


    "I look forward to defeating you in the final match." Tian Ning said with great confidence.


    "Humph¡­" Feng Baxing didn''t respond to the man though and simply harrumphed before turning away.


    It was clear that he had no intention of talking to the man.


    "Still the same as ever." Tian Ning muttered making Lin Mu intrigued.


    "You''ve met the Third Prince before?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Met him? I''ve fought with him too." Tian Ning said much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "In the previous tournament?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ in another ce." Tian Ning replied. "It was a celebratory banquet a few years ago. We fought to a standstill back then." He said much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "That''s impressive." Lin Mu said, really finding it so.


    ''If he really could fight the Third prince to a standstill, he''s really strong.'' Lin Mu''s opinion of Tian Ning just rose to another level. ''I might really have to go all out against Tian Ning perhaps.'' He reckoned.


    "All contestants are here, thus we shall be starting the round!" An announcement was heard.


    ~SHUA~


    A formation screen appeared in the sky, showing the scene of the tform.


    "Step into the gate now!" The elder overseeing the match ordered.


    "Here we go¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he walked into the gate alongside the others.


    The moment he stepped in, he felt the teleportation start and he was soon in the Teleportation Channel.

 Chapter 1776 Fast Tian Ning

    Lin Mu was possibly one of the people that was the most experienced with teleportation here. Especially when considering the fact that he could see the entire process happening in detail.


    But that wasn''t all. Entering the Spatial ne through the channel, Lin Mu had to pass through the formations themselves, allowing him to observe them in further detail.


    ''This is better than before¡­ I can see the ws clearly!'' Lin Mu''s immortal sense was always scanning for it all.


    His spatial perception was also active, letting him know when the Spatial ne was near, which wasn''t long.


    Unlike before, the four Spatial nes were created rather ''close'' to the Rust Sky world. Even if there was the void separating the two, the closeness was still less than the previous thirty nes.


    Lin Mu guessed that this was due to the fact that the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts had to add additional arrays to the spatial ne for security. To do that and also to keep it distant would not be viable, thus they took this approach.


    Of course, to most people this was information that wouldn''t even be observable. Neither would they care about it. But to Lin Mu, it meant differently.


    It allowed him to know more about the limitations of the Spatial ne as well as how they could be exploited.


    ''Next time I try to ess the nodes, it''ll be a lot easier,'' Lin Mu thought.


    That was all the time he got before Lin Mu arrived in the Spatial ne.


    ~shua~


    His body materialized in a sh of light along with his opponent.


    Tian Ning stood on the solid ground, while power continued to ripple around him. He was already gathering power and was ready to attack.


    Lin Mu had sensed it too and was alert from the start.


    "Hope you give it your all." Tian Ning spoke. "Or you won''t be able tost long."


    "I won''t let you be disappointed," Lin Mu said, Afternoon Pine, appearing in his hand.


    ~humm~


    The sword seemed to have sensed the battle on the edge and was excited for it.


    "Let''s show them a good battle then!" Tian Ning said before taking the lead.


    His fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm cultivation base was disyed to the full extent as waves of Immortal Qi emanated from his body. Arcs of lightning crawled over his skin, illuminating his tattoos in a blue glow.


    ~Rumble~


    Like a peal of thunder, Tian Ning struck Lin Mu.


    ''Fast!'' Lin Mu was surprised by the man''s sudden eleration.


    If it weren''t for the fact that Lin Mu already had his immortal sense extended, he might not have even sensed the man get so close to him. Still, Lin Mu only had a fraction of a second to react and he swung the sword at a great speed.


    ~CLANG~


    The sword sh formed from Metal elemental Qi collided against the lightning d fist of Tian Ning.


    ~ZZZZZZ~<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The lightning rippled against the sword sh, both as aggressive as possible. The yellow glow of the sword sh was slowly being eroded away by the blue lightning and it wasn''t even a couple of secondster that Lin Mu knew he had to avoid it.


    "HAAA!" He pushed forth with the sword and used the force of the sh to move to the side.


    ~BOOM~


    Tian Ning''s fist slid off the sword sh before exploding on the ground behind Lin Mu.


    ''He''s faster than Huangyu Shiyi for sure¡­ Is he using lightning to elerate himself?'' Lin Mu could already analyze the man from his initial attack.


    At the same time, it allowed Lin Mu to know that he would have to either match the man''s speed or simply endure the attacks. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Doing thetter was possible for Lin Mu, but he also knew the drawback of that.


    ''I''ll get slowed down if the lightning hits me. Tian Ning''s proficiency with the lightning element might be high enough to even paralyze me due to my golden body.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was a weakness that came with the True Gold Body Forging arts, and Lin Mu also knew how to ovee it by using the earth. But that would also mean it would anchor him to one position not allowing him to dodge much.


    ''I still need to see what he''s capable of¡­ till then I have to keep my distance and observe.'' Lin Mu decided.


    ~HONG~


    With that done, Lin Mu rapidly swung Afternoon Pine as yellow metal pine trees rose from the sword sh!


    The sword''s skill was activated and Lin Mu directly infused his sword intent into it.


    "Sword Intent, good!" Tian Ning though, was unfazed and instead looked to be excited.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Ayer of lightning covered his fists again as he used his previous attack again.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    But then a secondter, the attack seemingly transformed!


    "Thunderp Nine Heavens Technique! Thousand Charge Lightning Fists!" Tian Ning roared.


    His fists moved at unbelievable speed, turning into mere blurs. All the pine trees that wereing towards Tian Ning were getting struck by his fists before they could even reach him. Hundreds of illusory images of his fists appeared, striking the metal pine trees together.


    Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as he observed the sheer speed of the man.


    ''Only Little Shrubby might be faster than this¡­'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    He was now starting to realize, just what level one needed to be at to fight the third prince to a standstill. Even if Tian Ning was a single stage below Feng Baxing, his skill could still make up for it. Also, it was quite likely that the Third prince reached the fifth stage due to a fortunate encounter.


    Whatever it might be, there was still a chance Tian Ning couldpare to the man.


    ''This is going to be tough¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as several tactics shuffled through his mind.


    Picking the right one was difficult, and he would need to observe the man a bit more.

 Chapter 1777 Disadvantaged And Restrained

    Unlike the other top rankers, Lin Mu hadn''t looked into Tian Ning and didn''t even know the man had fought the Third Prince to a draw.


    Thus this time around Lin Mu was actuallycking in a n!


    In all the fights before this, he had analyzed his opponent and developed counters to their skills. But now was a time where ack of information had failed him.


    Of course, he wasn''t discouraged by it.


    It wasn''t the first time he was fighting an opponent that was unknown to him. He had done it hundred of times before and had always managed to ovee it all.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu chanted the calming heart sutra focusing his thoughts on his opponent.


    ~SHING~


    He shed out diagonally with Afternoon pine, using the swords skill again and creating tens of metal pine trees. But this was merely to buy him a bit of time.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Having done that, Lin Mu flew back at rapid speed putting distance between him and Tian Ning. And while flying back, Lin Mu quickly withdrew Wonder Seeker, pulling its string to the maximum.


    ~TWANG~


    The bow was stretched taught as a fiery arrow condensed on it. The arrow was shot with a great speed as well, leaving red trail behinds it.


    ~TWANG~


    Without stopping, Lin Mu shot several arrows in a row, knowing that he couldn''t the Tian Ning rest.


    Tian Ning who was letting out a flurry of punches had noticed the arrowsing towards him. He had also seen Lin Mu used them before in his previous fights and knew that they were strong too.


    ''Still not enough to challenge me,'' Tian Ning thought, having full confidence that he would be able to defend against them.


    His Thousand Charge Lightning fists were strong and fast, preventing any attack froming in contact with his body. They would be disintegrated before they hit him after all.


    But Tian Ning stillcked some information about Lin Mu.


    ''Severing Heart Sutra!'' Just when the arrows were about to strike the man, Lin Mu used the sutra.


    And the target wasn''t himself but Tian Ning!


    The smile on Tian Ning''s face suddenly stilled as his mind went nk.


    Subsequently his fists stopped moving too, and his responsiveness fell. He had managed to nullify the yellow metal pine trees that were overflowing with sword intent, but was unable to react to the fiery arrows.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~ BOOM~


    A curtain of fire and smoke shrouded the man, making it hard to see what was happening. All one could hear was a string of explosions.


    Lin Mu in the distance was not satisfied at all though, for he could observe what was happening with his immortal sense.


    "HAAAH!" Tian Ning let out a roar as a dome of lightning pulsed off his noddy.


    The cloud of fire and smoke was repulsed by it, clearing the view for all.


    His body still seemed to be fine, and but his vest was a bit charred. It was clear that while the rain of fiery arrows had hit him, it been unable to damage him.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    ''He''s also snapped out of the effects of Severing Heart Sutra¡­'' Lin Mu was more surprised by that.


    Not only did Tian Ning had a strong cultivation base, his mind was also strong able to ovee the effects of the sutra faster than others.


    ''I might not be able to use the sutra on him that many times. If I forcefully use it, he''ll probably realize I''m using some skill on him.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Interesting¡­ how did you do that?" Tian Ning spoke. ''He actually dyed my perception¡­'' he thought.


    While Tian Ning was unable to tell exactly what had happened to him, he was still able to recall the moment before the arrows had struck. But after that, he had no memory of it until the arrows hit.


    "Looks like I''ll have to take a greater initiative." Tian Ning said as lightning rippled across his body.


    His tattoos all lit up and strong lightning elemental immortal Qi could be felt.


    "Thunderp Nine Heavens Technique! sh Lightning Chains!" The lightning that was covering Tian Ning moved toward his arms and fully covered them.This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    But it didn''t stop there. The lightning expanded past it and extended out from his fingers, turning into chains of arcing lightning!


    Each of the fingers had a chain attached to it that kept on expanding. In just a few seconds, the chains had be over a hundred meters long!


    "Let me close the distance!" Tian Ning wed out toward Lin Mu, causing the lightning chains to whip forth.


    They moved even faster than his fists, and were like shes of lightning. Lin Mu could barely move Afternoon Pine in front of him to block him before the lightning chains struck him.


    One chain was blocked by the sword, but the rest of them mercilessly whipped Lin Mu.


    "UGH!" the power contained within the lightning chains was not small.


    And neither was their momentum.


    ~RIP~


    Lin Mu''s robes were torn in one hit, leaving four longcerations on them. His body bore the direct brunt of the attack, resisting the physical impact of it.


    ~ZZZT~


    While Lin Mu''s body was durable enough to withstand the impact of it, the lightning still drilled into his skin and into his body. It numbed him and slowed his response.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Tian Ning didn''t give Lin Mu a chance and struck out with his other hand as well.


    The lightning chains shed and whipped Lin Mu. All five chains from Tian Ning''s left hand struck Lin Mu. But that wasn''t all as the chains spun,pletely wrapping his torso along with his arms.


    "I got you now!" Tian Ning smiled widely.


    He clenched his right fist and cocked it back, before pulling Lin Mu towards him with his left hand.


    The chains restrained Lin Mu and also numbed him at the same time, preventing him from reacting.


    He helplessly flew toward Tian Ning while his lightning-d right fist struck him square in the chest!


    ~BANG!~

 Chapter 1778 Recover And Shock

    The sh off the two experts was enough to shock and excite the audience.


    But among them there were a few that were concerned by it.


    "Brother Mu Lin¡­" Ming Dandan clenched her fists upon seeing the scene of Lin Mu getting restrained.


    "NO!" And in the next moment, they saw him getting stick by Tian Ning''s fist.


    he power of the attack was immense, and a bright blue light covered everything, preventing them from seeing what was happening. Lu Xu and Qian Wen also narrowed their eyes showing some concern. Luo Liqin had a frown on his face and was a bit surprised by Tian Ning.


    ''He''s a lot stronger than was estimated to be.'' Luo Liqin thought.


    ~BANG~


    Only the sound of a loud explosion was heard while the audience shouted in excitement. Even though Lin Mu''spanions were all sitting in the Spring Valley Restaurant, the voice of the crowd could be heard all the way here due to the sheer number of them.


    Not to mention, all of them were cultivators making their shouts even louder.


    "WHOAAAAAAA!"


    Even though they were all sitting in the


    Ming Dandan closed her eyes, unable to see and think about what might have happened to Lin Mu. But a few secondster she heard her sister''s voice.


    "It''s not over yet, look!" She pointed to the formation screen.Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu was hurtled back upon being struck by Tian Ning''s fist. The power of the attack was enough to rip away his robes, leaving his torso bare now. Even though the robe could repair itself, the remnant power of Tian Ning''s attack was preventing it from doing so.


    It wasn''t just the robe that was damaged either.


    There was a fist mark scorched onto Lin Mu''s chest while fine cracks could also be seen on his skin.


    ''The True Gold Body Forging Arts is unable to defend fully¡­'' Lin Mu observed.


    He was still numbed from the attack and couldn''t control himself right away as his body kept on flying away. The spatial ne was mostly t, thus there was nothing to stop his flight. He flew in an upward trajectory and kept on rising.


    But it didn''t mean that Lin Mu had lost focus. His eyes were sharp and his immortal sense was already scanning all the area around him. He had already estimated where he would bending based on the trajectory of his flight as well as where Tian Ning was.


    ''My insides are shaken too, that''s rather new.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Due to the properties of the Lightning element, they had invaded his body too. Thankfully, his internal organs were already recovering. The vitality stored in his flesh and organs surged out, fixing all the damage that had happened.


    The only thing that wasn''t being repaired right away was the cracks on Lin Mu''s chest as well as the fist mark.


    ''I need to push out Tian Ning''s Immortal Qi first!'' Lin Mu gathered his Earth Elemental Immortal Qi within his chest before letting it pour out of it!


    ~ZZZT~


    When he did that, the lightning elemental immortal Qi was also pushed out, ejecting the remnants. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    ~CRACKLE~


    At the same time, the skin started to repair itself. Vital essence poured into it and healed it all. Even the scorch mark disappeared within seconds and Lin Mu recovered from his numbness.


    ~HUU~


    Then taking a deep breath, he assumed control of his flight stopping mid air.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The sudden stopping caused the air to be wisped up, sending a wave of wind backwards. After all, he had been sent flying at a rtively high speed.


    ''I''m nearly three kilometers away¡­'' Lin Mu estimated his distance from Tian Ning.


    A single attack had managed to send him this far back.


    It was clear that if the fight had happened in the ring, there was no way the immortals would be able to fight to their full extent.


    Tian Ning was standing at his original position with a stiff expression on his face. He was looking at his fist that had a bruise on it and could feel the paining from his fingers.


    ''My finger bones are cracked¡­ it was like I struck a sheet of thousand year tempered cold iron when I hit him.'' Tian Ning thought to himself.


    He hadn''t expected such a reaction from hitting Lin Mu. Especially when his fist was d in the lightning. It was supposed to be protected and even sharp weapons wouldn''t be able to cut through them. And yet he had injured himself in such a way.


    ''So he really is a Body cultivator¡­ and hasn''t even used that yet.'' Tian Ning thought to himself as he looked in the direction of Lin Mu.


    His immortal sense extended further and detected Lin Mu who was standing mid air. Looking at his body, Tian Ning saw that there was no sign of injuries other than the tattered robe.


    "And so far he''s only used his Qi cultivation base and its skills¡­ he was only using his body cultivation to defend¡­ is he looking down on me?" Tian Ning''s expression turned a bit fierce.


    ~RUMBLE~


    He clenched his fists as lightning surged all over his body.


    "COME! SHOW ME WHAT YOU ARE TRULY CAPABLE OF! I''LL SHOW YOU TOO!" Tian Ning roared as the sound of thunder could be heard.


    A denseyer of lightning crawled over all his body and the tattoos glowed brightly. The blue lightning covering him started to increase in quantity as well as intensity.


    Tian Ning''s form started to grow, lightning turning into a massive suit of armor for him. It continued to grow until eventually, Tian Ning had reached a height of Ten meters!


    The immortal Qi fluctuationsing from him rose as well and quickly reached the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm!


    "I''ll show you what tied my fight against the Third Prince!" Tian Ning shouted. "Thunderp Nine Heavens Technique! THUNDER TITAN FORM!"


    ~BOOM~


    A pulse of energy spread out from the armor, making the ground tremble.

 Chapter 1779 Sever!

    The change in Tian Ning was astonishing to everyone.


    Even the top rankers watching the fight were surprised by this.


    Childe Wildfire who was also watching the fight furrowed his brows and muttered to himself. "He could have been in the top five too¡­"


    Lin Mu''spanions were the same. While they were pleased by Lin Mu''s rapid recovery, they were still worried about the sudden rise in Tian Ning''s strength.


    "He''s at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm?" Ming Dandan couldn''t tell exactly.


    "No¡­ The skill he''s using has temporarily elevated his cultivation base to that level." Ming Aolian replied. "It is truly strong. I don''t think I''ve ever heard of it."


    "Neither have I." Lu Xu spoke. "We knew that he used the Thunderp Nine Heavens Technique but I never knew this skill was part of it too."


    "It isn''t an openly avable technique after all. The manuals in the market are all partial or iplete versions of it. Tian Ning probably has the entire manual." Luo Liqin guessed. "Still, it doesn''t bid well for Brother Mu Lin." He added.


    "No¡­ Brother Mu Lin has been holding back all this while too." Qian Wen suddenly spoke.


    ~TREMBLE~


    And just as Qian Wen spoke, the Spatial ne seemingly trembled and a sound could be heard.


    ~LUBDUB~LUBDUB~LUBDUB~


    "Isn''t that¡­" The Ming Sisters easily recognized it.


    In the Spatial ne, Lin Mu fully understood that it was time to use a part of his trump cards.


    "I shall do as you say then, Tian Ning!" Lin Mu replied to the man.


    It was only appropriate that he reciprocation the man''s fervor.


    The sound of heartbeats was heard while the area trembled. An object rose out of Lin Mu''s body before rapidly erging. And within it, a heart made out of rocks and earth was throbbing. It beat with vigor and made the ground tremble with its every beat.


    Unlike the audience that was watching, Lin Mu could observe a lot more and knew that what Tian Ning was now using wasn''t just any skill¡­ it was a Dao Skill!


    ''He''s using his Dao Embryo as well.'' Lin Mu confirmed from the sheer amount of Dao Traces that were covering the man''s body.


    The Dao traces were condensed around his body in the form of an armor while Lightning elemental immortal Qi overflowed. It was evident that the Dao Embryo of Tian Ning was also that of the Lightning element, allowing his immortal cultivation base to directly rise by a level.


    ''I''ll have to match it with my Dao Embryo too.'' Lin Mu thought as he drew out Ocean Raker.


    The long sword hummed in excitement as Lin Mu held it firmly. He inserted it into the Dao Shell before the Dao Shell started to be covered in a denseyer of rocks.


    ~SHUA~


    Sword Intent poured into the Dao Shell, shaving away its edges and turning it sharp. The five meters long sword looked massivepared to Lin Mu, but he was able to wield it with ease. sping is hands around the handle, Lin Mu hefted it across his shoulder.


    "Earthen Armament Aspect! Great Sword Form!" Lin Mu used the Dao Skill that had won him a war before.


    "A DAO SKILL!"


    "He''s using a Dao Skill!" the immortals in the audience were sure of it.


    "What Dao Embryo is that, though?"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "I''ve never seen it before."


    But they were unable to tell what exactly was the True Earth Heart. It was after all, a rare Earth Elemental Dao Embryo. Perhaps only a few in the Rust Sky would be able to identify it.


    Tian Ning who saw Lin Mu prepare his Dao Skill was excited too. His expression couldn''t be seen under his Giant armored form, but he didn''t let that stop him from acting it out.


    "HAHAHA! NOW THIS IS FUN!" He shouted, his voice being heard for kilometers.


    He soared towards Lin Mu, his fist threatening to strike him.


    Lin Mu wasn''t on the passive either now and prepared a counterattack. Without moving, he lifted the great sword and drew it up vertically.


    ~HUMM~


    A resonating sound was heard before the Great Sword trembled. Earth elemental immortal Qi and Metal Elemental Immortal Qi both poured into it while Sword Intent gave them a form. The sword made out of rocks changed in color and took on a shimmering texture.


    The Sword intent and Qi further enhanced its power while a chant was heard from Lin Mu''s mouth.


    Severing Heart Sutra!


    Lin Mu''s expression turned cold, as only the sword and the enemy in front of him was left in his mind. He closed his eyes and let Tian Ning approach him without fear.


    All the stray thoughts in Lin Mu''s mind were severed away while his focus skyrocketed. Lin Mu''sprehension of the Sword Intent was rapidly rising at the same time.


    It was something that hadn''t happened in a while and now that he was facing a strong foe, his Sword intent was finally getting stimted.


    Ocean Raker that was embedded within the Dao Shell was also trembling with excitement, the Weapon spirit within it growing at the same time.


    And when the Giant form of Tian Ning reached Lin Mu, he moved. But not without using one more thing.Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    ''True Earth Dao Heart: Aspect of Heaviness!''


    ~SHING~


    The Great Sword swung down in an arc, striking the fist of the armor!


    ~WOONG~


    Earth and Metal Elemental Immortal Qibined with the Sword Intent, shed against the giant armor, scraping it away while the rocky Dao Shell maintained its form.


    ~CLANG~


    The sheer weight of the Great Sword that was multiplied by the Aspect of Heaviness directly cleaved the fist in two!


    But that was merely the start as the Giant was stilling towards Lin Mu with its momentum.


    Tian Ning within the armor was astounded as he felt the Great Sword cut through his giant form without being stopped.


    ~BOOM~


    Finally, the sword arc waspleted, leaving the Giant Armor severed in half!

 Chapter 1780 Tian Nings Defeat

    The might of Lin Mu''s attack was astounding.


    It was made by utilizing and stacking several of Lin Mu''s abilities, thus its power had not only increased, but it had also multiplied!


    Even if the Giant Armor that Tian Ning was using was a Dao Skill made by a Dao Embryo, it wasn''t enough to bear the power of Lin Mu''s sh for longer than a few seconds.


    ~BOOM~


    The fist of the Giant was first to be cut before the body was severed in half!


    "AAAAARGHHH!" A loud cry of pain could be hearding from the giant, evidently belonging to Tian Ning.


    It was clear that the man was injured. Of course, even if the giant had been cleaved in half, Tian Ning''s own body wasn''t killed. The Giant had taken the brunt of the attack, leaving only a part of the damage to be endured by Tian Ning himself.


    Lin Mu watched as the form of the lightning giant faded away into sparks.


    The body of Tian Ning was revealed to have arge cut that went from his neck all the way to his waist. It was continuously bleeding and his vitality was also unstable. Tian Ning''s Immortal Qi fluctuations had also fallen by quite a bit, reaching barely five percent of what they were at the peak.


    It was evident that not only had Tian Ning sustained a lot of damage, but he had also used up a majority of his Immortal Qi stores.


    ~THUD~


    Tian Ning''s body fell from the sky helplessly as he crashed into the ground.


    ~whoosh~


    Lin Mu descended near him, the great sword propped on his shoulder. Even after having used thebination of several skills, Lin Mu was still fine. Or rather than fine, he was actually feeling better than before.


    This was due to the fact that he felt hisprehension of the sword increasing!


    ''That one sh allowed me to learn more than what I have learned about the sword in the past year¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Perhaps it was the excitement of the battlebined with a tough opponent, that his potential was unearthed, allowing hisprehension to increase once more.


    "It was a good fight." Lin Mu spoke, while Tian Ning tookbored breaths.


    Even if he had a bit of his immortal Qi left, he was in no state to battle. He was instead focused on addressing his most severe injuries right now.


    "Haa¡­ HAA¡­ yeah¡­" Still, the man replied to Lin Mu. "It as indeed¡­ a good battle." Tian Ning spoke.


    "Well then¡­ do you wish to continue?" Lin Mu asked just in case.


    "No¡­ I admit my defeat for now." Tian Ning was not a fool to continue in the current condition. ''He used such an attack and he''s still fine¡­ there is no way I can go against him.'' He thought.


    Another thing that surprised Tian Ning was the fact that despite all that, Lin Mu still hadn''t utilized his Body cultivation. All the skills that Lin Mu used were clearly based on his Qi cultivation base.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Tian Ning could also see that Lin Mu had used his Dao Skills to match him.


    "It was stupid of me to ask you to give it your all¡­ I just might have died. Haha." Tian Ningughed, as he realized the difference between him and Lin Mu.


    "You''re strong too. Your Thunderp Titan Form is very impressive." Lin Mu praised the man. "You''ve spent your timeprehending it, haven''t you?" he suddenly asked.


    "How could you tell?" Tian Ning asked feeling curious.


    "That would be the only reason why your cultivation base hasn''t increased." Lin Mu replied. "I don''t think it would have been an issue for you to reach the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm otherwise." He added.


    "Ahaha¡­ yeah." Tian Ning replied while wincing. "I did focus onprehending more. I thought it would be enough for me to reach at least the top five with that." He spoke.


    "Mmhmm¡­ I don''t doubt that." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He truly thought that, as Tian Ning''s strength was easily touching the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm when he was in his Thunderp Titan form.


    "Still¡­ looks like my journeyes to an end here." Tian Ning said with a sigh.


    "It is just a part of your journey." Lin Mu replied. "Besides, the goal of a journey is to learn from its experiences. You should have gained from this, haven''t you?" he asked.


    Tian Ning closed his eyes for a bit before opening them again. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    "Now that I think of it¡­ I certainly have learned." Tian Ning answered. "I thank you¡­" he said before breaking the identity token.


    ~Crack~


    Tian Ning''s Body turned into a sh of light before being teleported out of the Spatial ne.


    "One down¡­ five more to go." Lin Mu muttered as his own body turned into a sh of light as well.


    He traveled through the teleportation channel, allowing him a rare chance to look at the other spatial nes as well. It was only a momentary nce, but it did allow Lin Mu to learn a few things.


    "Oh? Only two spatial nes are active?" The first thing Lin Mu discovered one out of the three other spatial nes still had the presence of people.


    Unlike the previous stage, the spatial nes wouldn''t close up entirely but would merely be inactive. During this time the spatial ne would recover from the damage.


    But for Lin Mu, who had already infiltrated into the spatial nes with his immortal sense before, sensing the signs of people being there was easy.


    ''It should have been the Third Prince Feng Baxing that won probably¡­ his opponent was not his match anyways.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    The person that Feng Baxing had fought was a cultivator at the fourth tribtion stage of the Immortal realm. He might have been strong against others, but against the top contender, he might as well be some cannon fodder.

 Chapter 1781 Big Cheers

    As Lin Mu saw the Spatial nes, he wondered just how much time passed since Feng Baxing''s fight.


    ''My own fight ended in about twenty minutes so he should have ended in less time than that¡­ Considering his opponent it might just be five minutes or even less.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~SHUA~


    But as Lin Mu thought about it, his time in the Spatial Channel came to an end and he was about to exit it. Then with a sh of light, he reappeared back in the Rust Sky world, standing upon the tform.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!~"


    "MU LIN!"


    "MU LIN!"


    Lin Mu was met with cacophonous cheers as the people standing around the tform shouted at the top of their lungs.


    He was almost forced to seal his ears, and was taken aback. While there had been a positive reaction from the audience in the previous fights when he had won too, this waspletely unlike what he had faced before.


    The sound was simply too loud considering the fact that it was all immortals shouting too.


    The sheer waves of immortal Qi spreading from thembined and could possibly hurt people if not for the fact that they hadn''t been mobilized in an offensive way. Then there was also the fact that there were formations protecting the tform too.


    "Daoist Mu Lin has won the battle against Daoist Tian Ning!" The official announcement was finally heard as the formation screen above them changed.


    It showed the face of Lin Mu along with his name as well as the title of winner. With it, Lin Mu had officially entered the top 32 contestants!


    Perhaps it was due to him winning against Tian Ning who was considered a really strong contestant that the effect on the audience was really great. Lin Mu hadn''t expected something like this either and could only deal with it for now.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, you can head to the rewards pavilion if you wish." The elder overseeing the battle spoke.


    "Yes." Lin Mu said before quickly taking his leave.


    Thankfully the people in the audience knew better than to bother him after that, thus they didn''t go after him. They simply stayed as there were still two fights that were ongoing. Of course, the other two fights weren''t as exciting for them.


    The two main fights that they were looking forward to in this cycle had already ended.


    The Third Prince''s win was expected, but Lin Mu defeating Tian Ning in a domineering manner had seemingly overwhelmed everyone with excitement.


    After all, rather than a fight that ended in just a couple of moves, the ''all-out'' fight of Lin Mu and Tian Ning seemed more exciting to the audience.


    "That was certainly a lot¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he made his way to the rewards pavilion that was nearby.


    ~shua~


    As soon as he entered the perimeter of the pavilion his form disappeared, having been hidden by the illusory formation.


    Lin Mu quickly went to the rewards section and ced his hand on the observation orb.


    ~shua~<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The orb quickly checked his data and handed him the rewards in the form of a pouch.


    "Let''s see what they got this time¡­" Lin Mu let his Immortal sense enter the temporary spatial storage pouch.


    The rewards were three times higher than the previous stage and understandably so. After all the fights would be a lot more fierce and against stronger opponents.


    ''Fifteen hundred High Grade immortal stones, more healing pills, some high grade Immortal Qi replenishing pills as well as¡­ whats this?'' Lin Mu checked the items before finding something that he didn''t recognize.


    Lin Mu took the unknown object out, finding it to be a strange green chunk of metal.


    "Some kind of ore?" Lin Mu couldn''t identify it right away.


    The ore was green in color somewhat simr to how rusted copper would look. But at the same time it was a lot lighter than copper. Lin Mu tried pressing it lightly and found it to actuallypress.


    "Strange," Lin Mu pulled on the ore and discovered that it could even stretch a bit.


    Over all the ore seemed to have good flexibility to it.


    Next, Lin Mu used his immortal sense to probe it and checked the insides. He could feel some metal Qi in it which was normal for most ores but he also found some traces of Metal Dao Traces in it.


    "Oh? This is new." Lin Mu was surprised.


    Not many metals had Metal Dao Traces within them after all. And those that did were highly valuable.


    "Mmm¡­ That''s Faux Vine Metal Ore." Xukong''s voice was heard after a long time.


    "Ah Senior!" Lin Mu hadn''t talked to Xukong for a while now.


    The great being was also deep in cultivation thus Lin Mu had avoided disturbing him. He could tell that Xukong was nearing some critical point and it was best not to bother him.


    Thus Lin Mu would only contact him when it was absolutely needed.


    And since Xukong hadn''t spoken either, it just meant that he didn''t find anything that was concerning. After all, the spider would know if there was any problem.


    "Looks like you found a good reward. It''ll be useful for your bow." Xukong replied.


    "Good for Wonder Seeker?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Yes. The Faux Vine Metal ore is rather flexible and light. It is best used in bows. Once it is refined, it can be turned into highly flexible wires which can then be woven into strong bow strings." Xukong exined.


    "I see¡­ Looks like I have something to help Wonder Seeker Grow then." Lin Mu was pleased.


    Xukong went silent for a bit as he scanned through the shared memories, before learning all that Lin Mu had done.


    "You also won¡­ that''s good." Xukong praised. "Oh? And what''s this? You actually fought someone who could use Thunderp Titan Form?" he sounded surprised this time.


    "Yeah, Tian Ning." Lin Mu replied wondering why Xukong was reacting like that.

 Chapter 1782 Titan Forms

    There weren''t many times Xukong took an interest like this, thus Lin Mu wondered why he was so surprised.


    "It''s been a while since I saw a user of the Thunderp Titan Form¡­ or any Titan Form for that matter," Xukong replied.


    Hearing the new term, Titan Form, Lin Mu was intrigued.


    "What is Titan Form?" Lin Mu asked.


    "There are some cultivation techniques that can manifest a unique elemental form. It is an amalgamation of the cultivation technique, a Dao Embryo as well as the proficiency of the user with the element itself." Xukong replied. "The Thunderp Titan Form is one such Titan Form that belongs to the Lightning element."


    "Wait so¡­ it''s not just due to the Thunderp Nine Heavens Cuss technique?" Lin Mu asked feeling confused.


    He had thought that the Thunderp Titan Form was simply part of the cultivation technique, but what Xukong was saying implied something else.


    "No¡­ the Technique might give him the base to trigger it, but he still needs the right kind of Dao Embryo as well as a thorough understanding of the lightning element." Xukong exined. "In fact, there can be other lightning based cultivation techniques that might be able to manifest the Thunderp Titan Form as well." He added.


    "I see¡­ So there are others?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "Yes¡­ there are tens of them. Though they aren''t seen often now. Though in the past, they used to be quite famous." Xukong replied.


    "Have they be rare?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "In a way, yes¡­ there are trends that change as the universe progresses. Cultivation techniques change, evolve and improve, while some disappear into the annals of time. The Titan Forms faced something simr once there weren''t enough practitioners of it." Xukong answered. "It was also created in a time when the Qi cultivation techniques were considered inferior to body cultivation techniques." He revealed.


    "Such a long time ago?" Lin Mu knew that cultivation had originally started with body cultivation and Qi cultivation hadeter on.


    Back then Qi cultivation was considered inferior and not many practiced it. It was still new, thus there weren''t proper skills for it either, which led it to being weak. Butter on, as people improved the Qi cultivation techniques and made them easier to learn than body cultivation techniques, they became popr.


    For body cultivation techniques, people needed tough minds and will power, which not everyone had. Qi cultivation solved this by allowing even those with a weaker mentality to cultivate and get stronger. Those who were destined to be weak obtained the chance to be several times stronger than before.


    That was how the advent of Qi cultivation started.


    "Yes¡­ it was a different time." Xukong spoke. "The Titan Forms were created to match the strong bodies of body cultivators. Since Qi cultivators in that form are able to manifest giant indestructible bodies that can easilypete against the Body cultivators." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ but when I fought Tian Ning, his Titan Form was certainly strong but not indestructible." Lin Mu replied.


    He had to admit the power of the form, but it didn''t exactly match Xukong''s words.


    "Of course not. The Titan Form that Tian Ning used could barely be considered as the Thunderp Titan Form. A true Titan Form would be hundreds of meters in size and several times tougher than what you fought. Tian Ning simply hasn''t reached that level yet." Xukong rified.


    "Whoa¡­ that strong?" Lin Mu could barely imagine a form that big.


    "Just the fact that Tian Ning can use it right now is a testament to his talent. Most wouldn''t be able to manifest a Titan form until they reached the peak of the immortal realm." Xukong replied.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "And what would it take for one to manifest the kind of Titan Form that you are talking about Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Being a celestial would be the minimum," Xukong answered.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "A Celestial¡­" Lin Mu was at a loss for words.


    "At the very least, we can say that Tian Ning would certainly be a Celestial one day." Xukong praised.


    It was rare for him to praise other people like this, making Lin Mu take note of Tian Ning. His character also seemed to be rtively good, thus he wouldn''t mind being a cordial acquaintance with him at least.


    ''Where is he though now?'' Lin Mu wondered if he should pay a visit to Tian Ning.


    The man was injured from his final attack, thus should be the Healing pavilion.


    "I guess I''ll go check him out." Lin Mu muttered.


    "It might be good to be allies with him." Xukong replied. "But more important than that, whoever is teaching him is even more important." He added.


    "His master?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It is highly likely his master¡­ is a celestial too." Xukong replied.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu became serious and put it up as a priority.


    He quickly messaged hispanions and told them he''ll meet them in some time. They also assured him that everything was fine and that he could take his time.


    There were still the two matches running and it didn''t seem like they would be ending anytime soon.


    Lin Mu nced at the Formation screens in the distance and saw that the fights were evenly matched.


    "We probably have quite some time." Lin Mu muttered.


    Once this cycle of four fights was over, they would take a couple of hours for a break before scheduling the next cycle of four fights. It was unknown who was going to battle, thus Lin Mu needed to be ready for it.


    After all, it could be any of Lin Mu''spanions and he wished to be ready for it. There was no saying who would need his help and Lin Mu would still need some time to infiltrate the Spatial nes again.


    ''I best hurry up.'' Lin Mu thought and made his way to the healing pavilion.


    Thankfully, it was nearby, and it didn''t take him more than five minutes to reach it.

 Chapter 1783 A Request For Tian Ning

    Upon reaching the healing Pavilion, Lin Mu simply asked for Tian Ning.


    "Tian Ning? He''s in the inner hall." The healer of the Temple spoke.


    He seemed to have recognized Lin Mu as well and allowed him entry.


    The inner hall of the healing pavilion was intended for those that had been injured heavily. It was clear that the damage Lin Mu had inflicted on the man was worse than he had initially thought.


    In the inner hall, there was just one more person other than Tian Ning and he seemed to be deep asleep. Lin Mu recognized the other person to be the contestant who had fought against third prince Feng Baxing.


    ''Hmm¡­ he seems to be fine on the surface. But his internals are all disturbed. His Qi is also unstable while his vitality is barely regimenting.'' Lin Mu used his immortal sense to quickly assess the injured contestant.


    Even with the help of the Healing Pavilion the cultivator had only recovered from his flesh wounds. The rest of the internal injuries were something that would take longer to heal.


    "Daoist Mu Lin?" Tian Ning was certainly surprised to see Lin Mu there. "Why have youe here?" he wondered.


    "I wished to talk to you." Lin Mu replied.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Talk to me? Why?" Tian Ning was confused.


    "There aren''t many who can manifest a Titan Form thus I was interested." Lin Mu spoke.


    As soon as Tian Ning heard this his expression changed. "So you know about it."


    "Yes¡­ it is certainly impressive of you to be able to use it already." Lin Mu replied. "And you also said that you had used it against Feng Baxing in the past?"


    "Yeah¡­ though it was only for a few seconds. It still managed to end the fight in a draw." Tian Ning recalled the memory.


    "I see¡­ that only raises my opinion of you." Lin Mu praised. "I also wished you to ask of another thing." He added.


    "What?" Tian Ning inquired.


    "Your master¡­ He is also a celestial isn''t he?" Lin Mu stated much to the man''s shock.


    "How do you¡­" Tian Ning was shocked but then realized something. "So you as well¡­ that certainly answers a few things." He let out a sigh.


    Lin Mu let the man process for a minute before he spoke again.


    "You''re correct. My master is a celestial indeed." Tian Ning confirmed.


    "There aren''t many celestials one would get to meet here, thus I was interested." Lin Mu stated.


    "That is understandable." Tian Ning said while chuckling. "Master always gets bothered by cultivators wherever he goes, thus he doesn''t announce his presence anymore." He exined.


    "That''s why no one knows about him here on the Rust Sky world." Lin Mu guessed.


    "Not exactly¡­ My master doesn''t exactly ''live'' in the Rust Sky world. That would be pushing the limits of the world." Tian Ning replied. "He lives outside the Rust Sky world. I have to leave the world to learn from him every time." He exined.


    "That does make sense." Lin Mu muttered.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    He had been wondering how could a celestial exist in the Rust Sky world unless they had sealed their cultivation like the Saintess too. But if that person didn''t live in the Rust Sky world itself, it made sense.


    But it also posed another question for Lin Mu.


    How would Tian Ning go to a ce that could amodate both himself and a celestial?


    There weren''t many options for that, after all.


    "My master lives on, or rather in, a special ship." Tian Ning stated. "He told me it''s a ship that can traverse the space and travel to the different worlds."


    Hearing that, Lin Mu''s ears perked up. After all, he knew exactly what Tian Ning was talking about it.


    ''It''s definitely above an immortal tool¡­ A ship that can amodate everyone.'' Lin Mu remembered reading about such ships.


    They were basically vehicles that were quite expensive to make and were only in the hands of wealthy experts. Tian Ning''s Master being a celestial meant that he fit the profile perfectly.


    "If would like to make a request to you," Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "I can guess. You want to meet my master, right?" Tian Ning questioned.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu could only imagine what he could get to learn from the man.


    While Xukong knew a lot, his scope of information still had limitations. It was best to ask someone that was aware of all recent events, which just might be Tian Ning''s master.


    "While it''s not impossible¡­ it won''t be anytime soon." Tian Ning replied. "He''s in secluded cultivation. It''s also why I came back to the Rust Sky world for participating." He revealed.


    "I see¡­ how long will it take him?" Lin Mu questioned.


    While he wasn''t in any rush, it would still be good to know when would be the next opening.


    "Around thirty years?" Tian Ning replied.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu''s excitement quickly died down. To other immortals, thirty years was a small time, especially when considering the fact that they could meet a celestial.


    But in the case of Lin Mu, it was still a bit long. After all, his current age was less than the time Tian Ning was asking him to wait. Still, Lin Mu didn''t show any reaction on his face and simply nodded.


    "That''s fine. We''ll meet when it''s convenient." Lin Mu replied. "I''ll try to get your master an appropriate gift as well." He wasn''t one to go to an expert empty handed after all.


    It would simply be rude to ask a celestial questions openly. That would be a demand and not a request. If he wished to have a good impression, it was best to bring a gift.


    ''Thirty years is more than enough to obtain the right kind of gift.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Alright then. I''ll talk to Master when the time is appropriate." Tian Ning said. "You can give me your Communication Jade slip contact for now."


    "Of course." Lin Mu exchanged contacts with Tian Ning, effectively forging a potential connection with a celestial.

 Chapter 1784 Meeting The Countess Again And Ease Of Infiltration

    Having talked to Tian Ning, Lin Mu left the healing pavilion.


    While he knew that his talk wasn''t fully effective, it was still good in bing closer acquaintances with Tian Ning. At the very least, he was sure that Tian Ning thought of him to be on the same level as him.


    ''I should head to the Spring valley restaurant.'' Lin Mu thought before making his way to the establishment.


    Upon reaching there, he quickly went upstairs without being stopped. In fact, the servants and staff were all stunned after seeing him and no one questioned him.


    It was clear that the news of his win against Tian Ning had already spread among the popce.


    But just as he was about to get the room, he encountered another acquittance of his.


    "Ah, Daoist Mu Lin!" A transfixing voice could be heard.


    Lin Mu looked at the woman who was smiling at him.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Greetings, Countess Xiurong." Lin Mu cupped his hands in salute.


    "Oh, you forget the formalities, Daoist Mu Lin." Countess Xiurong spoke. "At least when you are with me." She added.


    "Sure." Lin Mu just went with the flow and nodded his head. "It is a pleasure meeting you here. I missed you thest few times." He spoke.


    "Indeed. I''ve been a bit busy with work you see. I apologize for not fulfilling my duties as a host." She replied.


    "It is fine countess. Someone of your standing has a lot of work after all." Lin Mu waved his hand.


    "Oh, you''re so understanding Daoist Mu Lin." The countess smiled. "Though I must congratte you for your win. I certainly had confidence in you." She praised.


    "I am ttered countess." Lin Mu replied to the woman.


    "You surely undery your achievements. Not many can do what you have after all." The countess said in a sultry voice. "Perhaps we should have a meeting in private¡­ter."


    "Hmm¡­ I must apologize. But my current time is upied with the tournament as well as cultivation." Lin Mu rejected calmly.


    The countess''s expression wavered a bit, her lips trembling.


    But in the end, she held up her expression and simply replied, "Of course. A man of your stature has a lot to achieve. I''ll be looking forward to your feats." She said. "You should hurry to yourpanions. I hope I''ve been a good host to them as well." She said with a little chuckle before taking her leave.


    Lin Mu didn''t think about the countess''s words much before heading to the room where hispanions were waiting for him.


    ~CREAK~


    The doors opened up, revealing everyone that had been waiting for him.


    "BROTHER MU LIN!" Luo Liqin as well as the others shouted in unison.


    "Congrattions on entering the top 32!" Ming Dandan was the first to speak after that.


    "Not many can do what you have done, Brother." Qian Wen spoke as well.


    "No¡­ You all will be doing the same." Lin Mu said right away. "Or at least that is my goal." He added.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Of course." Ming Aolian smiled. "If Brother Mu Lin wishes, I think anything is possible."


    "Indeed." Lu Xu nodded his head.


    They exchanged praises for a couple more minutes before Lin Mu finally changed the topic to the crucial one.


    "We should get to work." Lin Mu stated. "Luo Liqin, how are things on the betting pavilion side?" he asked right away.


    "Please take a look." Luo Liqin ced the te in front of Lin Mu, allowing him to check it himself.


    "Oh? Twenty two thousand?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "That''s only so far." Luo Liqin replied. We still have two more fights to finish in this cycle after all. The final tally would be higher than this." He added before pulling up the two fights that were still running.


    "How much are we expected to make from these?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Since we didn''t have a guarantee whether you would win or not, I ced about five thousand High Grade immortal stones on them. Half on each." Luo Liqin answered.


    "Hmm¡­ I see." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and nced at the fights that were running.


    In both the matches, the contestants were evenly matched and had been fighting for almost two hours now. And despite that, the winner was still not clear.


    Regardless of that though the audience was cheering for them and was clearly excited for it.


    "Are you going to¡­ do it, Brother Mu Lin?" Lu Xu inquired.


    "I may as well." Lin Mu answered.


    He was unsure about infiltrating the Spatial ce before this since Lin Mu didn''t know when his own match would end. But now that he was here he could do it, especially since it seemed like there was no clear winner to the fight.


    "Who is the most likely to win the fight?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Both of the fights have even odds. It doesn''t matter who wins, we can change our bets even now." Luo Liqin answered.


    "Then I guess I can experiment a bit." Lin Mu replied before closing his eyes.


    A momentter, he activated his spatial perception and looked up at the sky. His vision bypassed the roof of the Spring Valley restaurant and directly gazed at the spatial nes hidden in the void. Once he had locked onto them Lin Mu extended his immortal sense.


    It reached the border of the spatial fabric, before passing through the nodes in the spatial array.


    Lin Mu''s journey through the spatial channel had helped once again here, as he had observed the wed nodes closely. It allowed his immortal sense to enter effortlessly and reach the limits of the Spatial ne in just ten minutes.


    And once it was there, all that was left was for Lin Mu to act.


    "I''m in." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    "Whenever you wish, Brother Mu Lin." Luo Liqin stated. "I''ll be ready to modify the bet."


    "Alright." With that said, Lin Mu began his work and started chanting, targeting the first Spatial ne.

 Chapter 1785 Easy Earning

    In the first Spatial ne, Lin Mu waited to observe the fight first. After all, he needed to see the actual performance of the cultivators first. If he targeted someone, that was suddenly showing strange actions, there were bound to be people that found it strange.


    And with the increased surveince from the temple recently, there was always a chance they might investigate further than just diviners. Wanting to avoid it, Lin Mu decided to be more careful for now.


    After a few minutes of observation, Lin Mu had a grasp on the capabilities of both contenders and picked one that would be more conducive to the use of the sutras. It would just seem like he was angered and cause the audience to find it exciting instead.


    "Alright, bet on him." Lin Mu pointed to the contestant.


    "How much should we put?" Luo Liqin asked.


    "Hmmm¡­. Four thousand high grade immortal stones." Lin Mu stated directly.


    "Done." Luo Liqin moved quickly.


    He might have hesitated in the past when amounts as big as this were involved, but having seen Lin Mu''s method, he was a lot more confident now.


    Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan watched the fight and saw how the fight was changed as soon as Lin Mu started interfering. In just five minutes, the fight was close to its end.


    "It''s over¡­" Lu Xu muttered, seeing the fight that had been in a stalemate end quickly.


    "How much are the profits from that?" Ming Dandan asked.


    "We made a profit of two thousand high grade immortal stones." Luo Liqin replied after seeing the change.


    "So easy¡­" Qian Wen couldn''t help but mutter. ''If it was this easy earning immortal stones, everyone would be rich.''


    "Let''s move to the next one." Lin Mu said in a hurry.


    After all, both the fights were running simultaneously and if the other ended while Lin Mu was working on the first, it would be a potential loss of their benefits.


    "How long will it take you to enter it?" Ming Aolian inquired.


    "Not long for this one." Lin Mu replied.


    Since he was already in the spatial ne, all Lin Mu needed to do was withdraw partially and simply pick a new route for the second spatial ne.


    It was a lot easier than entering the spatial ne from the start. As such, it only took him five more minutes to enter the second ne.


    "And I''m in." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Wait! The odds just changed." Luo Liqin informed. "They lowered it for him," he said, pointing to the cultivator that seemed to be winning.


    "Works in our favor. Time to turn the weaker contender into the winner then." Lin Mu replied. "Bet on him. Same amount."


    "Sure." Luo Liqin nodded his head.


    Lin Mu got to doing his magic, and ten minutester the fight turned out just as expected.


    "And there we go." Lin Mu said, withdrawing his immortal sense from the spatial ne.


    "We¡­ just made a total profit of about five thousand immortal stones from the two fights." Luo Liqin confirmed.


    "Good¡­ we''re just getting started." Lin Mu said with a smile.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    With the four fights of the first cycle over, Lin Mu reckoned it wouldn''t take long for them to announce the next cycle of fights.


    And sure enough, just half an hourter, the next series of fights were announced.


    "I''m in the next cycle." Ming Dandan announced.


    "Me too." Qian Wen added, his expression serious.


    "So two of you." Lin Mu muttered before looking at the formation screen that was also showing the contestants for the next cycle.


    It was now that his eyes stuck to one of the names.


    "Yao Changying¡­" Lin Mu saw that she was up against none other than Qian Wen.


    ~Sigh~


    "Looks like I''ll be ending my journey here." Qian Wen spoke. "Of course, after weakening Yao Changying." He added.


    "It''s not the end. You''ll be with us after that too. After all, we''re all invested into the bets." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    "Indeed." Lu Xu nodded his head.


    "How will we be going about this, Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Aolian asked. "Dandan and Qian Wen both will have fights at the same time."


    Lin Mu thought about it for a bit before looking at thepetitor of Ming Dandan.


    "If you''re able to hold on for some time, I''ll be able to help you secure a victory." Lin Mu replied. "We can study your opponent and make a strategy against him." He added.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Ming Dandan''s opponent was a Fourth Tribtion stage immortal and would be a tough opponent for her.


    "I''ll do my best!" Ming Dandan nodded her head.


    "My fight should be over soon anyways." Qian Wen replied. "I just have to fight long enough so that I can use the tool that Crown Princess Shang gave us." He spoke.


    "Indeed. I''ll give you an opportunity for that." Lin Mu said.


    "How?" he asked.


    "I should be able to stop Yao Changying from moving. It''ll be for a very short time, though. In that time, you will just have to reach her and use the tool." Lin Mu answered. "After that though¡­ it''s best you withdraw. It won''t do well for you to get injured. Especially now that we know she has some other motives." He suggested.


    "Yeah, that does seem like the best." Qian Wen agreed. "I''m content havinge this far. My superiors in the army will be pleased."


    "Haha! Won''t it you an easy promotion?" Lu Xu seemed to know more.


    "Most likely." Qian Wen chuckled. "They do give incentives to those that do well in the tournament. Reaching top 64 would already be enough for a promotion of someone of my ranking." He exined.


    "That''s good then. That, in addition to the rewards and immortal stones, should make you even strongerter." Lin Mu reckoned.


    "That''s a given." Ming Aolian chimed in.


    "Well then, let''s get to work on studying your opponent shall we?" Lin Mu said to Ming Dandan.

 Chapter 1786 Qian Wen And Ming Dandans Fights

    The next cycle of matches was still twenty hours away, thus Lin Mu and Ming Dandan had a decent amount of time to study.


    Ming Aolian, Qian Wen and Lu Xu also paid attention during it, hoping that they might get some ideas too for their own fights.


    Luo Liqin on the other hand spent his time monitoring the changing odds as well as keep an eye out for any news.


    Thetter was asked by Lin Mu, as he wanted to know if there would be any suspicion from the temple about the interference in the matches. Then there was also the movement of their opponent that they needed to watch for.


    Lin Mu was mostly focused on Ming Dandan and Qian Wen''s fights, ignoring the other two fights in the cycle since he didn''t know if he would have the effort to focus on them.


    They were even willing to give up on the bets this time around, since there was a chance Lin Mu might not have enough time to interfere.


    The two other fights actually had strong contenders too, with one of them being someone Lin Mu had actually fought before.


    It was none other than Chang Fa!


    The man who used his hair to fight was an interesting opponent and had somehow managed to survive all this time. Lin Mu knew that he had the potential to do that and he had shown him that too.


    Unfortunately for Chang Fa, his opponent was a lot stronger than him. It was a Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal who was said to be close to the Fifth Tribtion realm.


    Regardless of that, Lin Mu had an inkling that Chang Fa would still give it his all to prove the value of his n.


    ''If I have time and Chang Fa is still standing even then, I might be able to help him.'' Lin Mu thought.


    As for thest remaining fight, it had people that Lin Mu didn''t know about much. He didn''t care about that fight, and would only think about them if the other three fights were over.


    ''I won''t have enough time to manage all of them anyways.'' Lin Mu thought.


    His current priority was first, Qian Wen and Yao Changying, then Ming Dandan, then Chang Fa and if the fight was still going, he''d try to bet on thest fight''s contestants.


    With a hundred things going through his mind, time passed really fast for Lin Mu and in the blink of an eye, it was already time for the next cycle of matches.


    ~humm~


    The tokens all hummed, notifying that the next match was about to begin.


    "I should head, out." Ming Dandan said.


    "I''ll go with you too." Ming Aolian joined along.


    She couldn''t leave her junior sister alone after all.


    "That''s fine." Lin Mu didn''t think there would be an issue.


    "I''ll try to not make you wait too long." Qian Wen spoke to Ming Dandan.


    "Come on now, no time to waste." Lu Xu urged them ahead.


    Lin Mu focused on the formation array again and let his Immortal sense infiltrate it. The spatial nes didn''t fully close after a fight hade to a conclusion in it. Instead, it would enter a dormant state where all the damage caused within it would be fixed.


    In this time, the temple would also check the ne as well as formations as a security measure. Thus Lin Mu couldn''t just keep his immortal senses in it all the time.


    By the time, Qian Wen and Ming Dandan would have reached the spatial nes, Lin Mu would have crossed half of theyers. With half of the path already covered, he would be able to choose which Spatial ne to go to.


    "Brother Mu Lin, it has begun." Luo Liqin informed Lin Mu.


    And sure enough, a couple of minutester, Lin Mu could see the teleportation array work again.


    ~shua~


    The formation screen changed again, and Lin Mu could see that they were all teleported to the Spatial nes. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    ''There''s Qian Wen.'' Lin Mu controlled his Immortal sense and guided it into the Spatial ne where hispanion was.


    With the repeated practice, Lin Mu barely took two minutes to sessfully enter it.


    "Let the fights begin!" The voice of the referee could be heard through the formation screen.


    Everyone watched without blinking as the contestants appeared in the Spatial nes.


    Qian Wen stood nearly a hundred meters from his opponent, who seemed to have an expression of disinterest.


    ''I need to wait for Brother Mu Lin''s signal.'' Qian Wen remembered what Lin Mu had told him. ''He''ll use his immortal sense to tell me when.''


    Lin Mu would usually conceal and avoid touching cultivators when using his immortal sense to prevent himself from being detected. But the same thing could be used now as a trigger to spur Qian Wen into motion.


    The man would know it is Lin Mu telling him to attack.


    On the other hand, Lin Mu was also observing Yao Changying closely.


    The woman seemed to be calm, and a feeling of authority was present around her. She wore a mix of dark blue and grey robe''s that wereyered. On her head, a small cor was present which she wasn''t wearing previously when Lin Mu had seen her.


    Her hair was also tied in a ponytail with a golden ribbon that had tiny beads woven into it.


    ''She seems a bit strange¡­'' Lin Mu didn''t know why, but Yao Changying''s aura didn''t seem normal to him.


    There was something different about her, but he couldn''t ce his finger on it.


    ''Best we end it early. It might not bid well for Qian Wen.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He nced at the formation screen where Ming Dandan was present.


    She had already summoned her Mulch Crawl Eater beast and was defending against her opponent.


    ''Mm¡­ she''s following the advice correctly.'' Lin Mu saw that she wasn''t disadvantaged right away.


    ~Humm!~


    His attention was quickly brought back to Qian Wen, as he sensed sword intent there.


    Yao Changying had made her move!

 Chapter 1787 Fast Finish For Qian Wen

    Chapter 1787 Fast Finish For Qian Wen


    Yao Changying''s body was exuding sword intent that was strong enough to rm Lin Mu.


    His attention quickly switched over to her and saw that she was in the midst of swinging her sword! Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Qian Wen was surprised by her speed, and reacted ordingly. Using his own sword he shed out, trying to keep her away from him. Yao Changying was no simple opponent and seeing the level of Sword Intent, Lin Mu could tell that she was well versed in it.


    ''Shit!'' Lin Mu reacted quickly and directly using the Severing Heart Sutra on her.


    He knew that if he let Yao Changying continued her attack, it would be too much for Qian Wen. In fact, Lin Mu reckoned, even he would have to put in quite a bit of effort in order to be able to defend this attack. And while Qian Wen had improved as well, it was not at the point of being able to do the same.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s sutra worked on the woman quickly, her Sword Intent suddenly disappearing. Her eyes also turned dull for a moment.


    Seeing this, Qian Wen didn''t even need to wait for Lin Mu''s signal. He had seen Lin Mu do it several times and knew that this was his work too.


    ''Time to do it!'' Qian Wen rushed towards Yao Changying, a bracelet hidden under his sleeve.


    He pretended that he was attacking Yao Changying, but in reality he was activating the tool that Crown princess Shang Yingtai had given them.


    ~HUMM~


    As soon as the bracelet was activated, it let out a faint vibration that could only be felt by Qian Wen for now. But once he reached the woman, the feeling was transmitted to her as well.


    ''She''s resisting!'' Lin Mu could sense the effect of the Severing Heart Sutra wavering. ''I''ve never felt such strong resistance from others so far¡­'' he found it very unusual.


    There hadn''t been many that had been able to actively resist them. This was different from when Lin Mu used the Nine Divine Heart Sutra''s on stronger cultivators.


    In that case, the sutra would work, but its duration would be short. But right now, it was not exactly the same.


    The sutra was actively being resisted by Yao Changying!


    Thankfully, Qian Wen was also fast. He knew everything was on the line now and mustered all of his strength.


    Finally, his hand touched the outstretched arm of Yao Changying that was still in the middle of swinging.


    ~kacha~


    The bracelet given by Crown Princess shattered on contact, releasing whatever power was stored in it. Qian Wen didn''t exactly know what was going to happen, but knew that his work was done here.


    ''Since the bracelet broke, it should have done its work.'' Qian Wen thought.


    ~SHING~


    At the same time though, Yao Changying seemingly woke up from her stupor.


    It hadn''t even been four seconds, but it was long enough for Qian Wen to be right in front of her. Seeing this, a cold expression appeared on her face and she continued her swing.


    "UGH!" Qian Wen quickly brought his sword forward to block, but was barely able to do that.


    The sword intent still burst forward, leaving a gash on his chest and shoulder.


    ''I need to leave now!'' Qian Wen could feel the Sword Intent invading his body at that moment.


    If he let that happen, there was a high chance it could directly damage his meridians!


    ~CRACK~


    With that in mind, Qian Wen didn''t hesitate to break the identity token. It was done in such a way, that others would think it had broken from the attack of Yao Changying and not Qian Wen doing it intentionally. This was decided by Lin Mu beforehand, as he didn''t want Yao Changying to get suspicious.


    After all, multiple individuals surrendering the moment they touched her with a bracelet would seem highly strange.


    Once or twice might be fine, but multiple incidents would be enough to not only make Yao Changying suspicious but even the Temple suspicious.


    ~SHUA~


    While Qian Wen was in the midsts of flying back from the impact, his body turned into a sh of light and was teleported out of the Spatial ne.


    "Qian Wen has lost! Yao Changying has won the battle!" The announcement was heard almost immediately.


    "WOOOO~!"


    "YAO CHANGYING IS THE BEST!"


    "SHE''S THE STRONGEST FEMALE IMMORTAL!"


    Hearing the cheers from the audience, primarily the men, it was clear that Yao Changying had managed to establish quite a bit fan base.


    "There was no chance for Qian Wen to go against her."


    "Indeed. It''s an aplishment to get this far alone though."


    "Exactly. It''s surprising that Qian Wen even managed to get that close to her."


    Still, there were people in the audience that could see the other perspective too. They had expected Qian Wen to lose due to the mere disparity of their cultivation bases. And now that he had, they could simply think that their judgment was correct.


    No one was the wiser, and knew about what had actually happened.


    ~thud~


    Qian Wen copsed on the tform, arge bleeding gash on his shoulder.


    "Take him to the Healing Pavilion!" The elder overseeing the battle quickly ordered.


    The healers were already prepared and quickly took Qian Wen away.


    Lin Mu observed Qian Wen''s condition and quickly contacted him using themunication jade slip.


    "Qian Wen? Are you fine?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "I''ll be okay, Brother Mu Lin." Qian Wen replied. "I managed to escape before too much of the Sword Intent could affect me. The remnants should be fading away soon. The temple will take care of the injury." He added.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu was relieved as he knew just how bad wounds caused by Sword Intent could get.


    After all, he had given others quite a lot of them.


    "You should focus on Ming Dandan. She needs you more than me now." Qian Wen replied.


    "Yes¡­ you just rest for now." Lin Mu replied, switching to his immortal sense.

 Chapter 1788 Chang Fas Struggle

    Chapter 1788 Chang Fa''s Struggle


    Lin Mu controlled his immortal sense and entered the Spatial ne where Ming Dandan was engrossed in battle.


    The Mulch Crawl Eater beast had seemingly improved from before, and was able to use its Dao Skills better than before.


    Ming Dandan had taken a leaf from Lin Mu''s older strategies too and had turned several segmented areas of the Spatial ne into swamp.


    Not just that, but she was also getting the Mulch Crawl Eater beast to control the swamp in such a way that it was now acting as a geyser!


    A rain of mud was showering, while the beast and the opponent fought. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    ''She''s doing better than I thought¡­'' Lin Mu was impressed.


    He observed Ming Dandan and saw that hermands were faster than before, and she was urately catching every move of her opponent. They had studied the enemy cultivator''s skills and abilities, which was nowing in handy.


    Ming Dandan was almost able to react before her opponent even activate his skills fully.


    Lin Mu watched her for a few minutes before seeing that she was starting to struggle.


    ''Let''s get her sorted out.'' Lin Mu started using the sutras again, interfering with the fight.


    Ming Dandan got the signal as well, and a smile papered on her With that, it barely took her a minute to finish the fight as the opponent was simply not able to react in time. The Mulch Crawl face.


    ''Brother Mu Lin is here!'' She was happy.


    With that, it barely took her a minute to finish the fight as the opponent was simply not able to react in time. The Mulch Crawl Eater beast literally swallowed up the cultivator, causing the fight to end immediately after that.


    ~shua~


    The formation also detected that and directly teleported the now very slimy and muddy cultivator out of the spatial ne.


    "Ming Dandan has won the battle!" The announcement confirmed her victory, and she recalled the Mulch Crawl Eater beast right away.


    ~shua~


    She was also teleported out subsequently, triggering the closure of the Spatial ne.


    "I can''t believe it. She actually won."


    "It seems like her sponsor will be very happy from this."


    "Yeah she''s gone beyond most of her cultivation base."


    "Her tamed beast is very strong too. It''s control over the Swamp Dao is good and secured her victory."


    "That''s not all. Didn''t you see how she read her opponent? She was reacting faster thats others."


    "Oh yeah! It was as if she already knew how her opponent was going to act."


    The audience was certainly marveling at the win of Ming Dandan. It was very unexpected after all and almost unthinkable for them.


    While Lin Mu had also won fight against a strong opponent, in his case it was still understandable to him since he had several strong skills and sword intent to back it up.


    In the case of Ming Dandan, she seemed like a typical beast tamer to them. Thus it was a quite shocking to the audience.


    With two of the main fights that Lin Mu was concerned with ending, he could take a breath of reliefs.


    It felt mentally tiring to him a bit.


    Though in reality, it hadn''t even been ten minutes since this cycle had begun.


    Yao Changying and Qian Wen''s fight had ended in less than a minute, while Ming Dandan''s hadsted less than eight minutes.


    Ming Dandan''s fight could have actually ended early too, if not for the fact that Lin Mu was actually observing her fight. If he interfered right away, she could have finished it the moment it had been done.


    "Should we start betting on the other fights too now, Brother Mu Lin?" Luo Liqin who had been silent for a while asked.


    He didn''t want to disturb Lin Mu thus had only spoken when it was necessary.


    And, now that the fights were over they could go back to money making.


    "Yes, we should start betting." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Who do we bet?" Luo Liqin asked. "There''s just one fight left now." He pointed to the formation screen.


    Lin Mu looked at it and saw that the fights of this cycle had really been fast.


    ''No wonder most were looking at Ming Dandan''s fight.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The only person whose fight was still ongoing was none other than Lin Mu''s long haired acquaintance Chang Fa.


    The inheritor of the Iron Mane Pir n was hard at battle and was already using the skill that he had used against Lin Mu.


    His hair was covering his entire body and forming a muscr armor of sorts.


    The Man was struggling though, as his strength was stillgging behind his opponent.


    ''Compared to Ming Dandan though he''s better at frontal battle.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Chang Fa was bleeding from several ces and had wounds covering his body. His hair was trying to stop the bleeds too with the bigger cuts being directly closed using his hair.


    His control over hair was exceptional and Lin Mu saw that he had used individual strands to sew his wounds, and close them up for the time being.


    ''That''s a unique method for sure.'' Lin Mu took note of it.


    But that wasn''t enough for the man, as his body was starting to give up. His hair was ripped in severe ces and arge chunk of it had already been torn off.


    "You should just give up Chang Fa." Miu Ran spoke.


    This was the opponent of Chang Fa and was one of the Fourth Tribtion Stage immortals that were close to reaching the next stage.


    "Never. I''ll only go out in defeat not in surrender!" Chang Fa said with determination.


    "I was giving you an easy way out. But it seems like you will just have to suffer." Miu Ran said making a w gesture with his hands.


    ~SHUA~


    Ayer of scales covered his hands, while razor sharp nails appeared on his fingers.


    Lin Mu who saw it narrowed his eyes.


    "A Beast bloodline¡­" Lin Mu could tell it right away.


    He didn''t know which bloodline it was, but the moment Miu Ran struck Chang Fa, he ripped out a chunk of flesh from his nk!

 Chapter 1789 Fury Mane Twister

    Chapter 1789 Fury Mane Twister


    "ARGH!" Chang Fa cried in pain and covered his waist while blood continued to pour out.


    Unlike the other wounds he couldn''t directly sew them shut using his hair thus, the bleeding was intense.


    "How''s that Chang Fa? The suffering is just beginning." Miu Ran mocked. "Even if you are a Body cultivator, that is nothingpared to my Agate Scale Drake ws!"


    Lin Mu who heard the name, narrowed his eyes.


    "Agate Scale Drake?" He somewhat felt like he had read about it before.


    He quickly took out the Jade slip that had all the informationpiled in it and checked it, quickly finding more about it.


    ''Hmm¡­ so it''s simr to the me Pool Drake Bloodline that King Hong obtained back then.'' It wasn''t Lin Mu''s first time hearing about a Drake bloodline and knew that it was descended from dragons.


    But in the current case, the Agate Scale Drake was a rather unique kind of a Drake. This Drake actually evolved from themon Earthen Lizards due to their regr consumption of minerals and ores.


    A few of the lucky Earthen Lizards might improve their bloodline during a breakthrough and transform into Agate Scale Drakes.


    Just like their names, Agate Scale Drakes had scales that had agate like patterns and simr sharpness. They could tear through steel and bronze alike, making it easy for them to consume it all.


    A cultivator that had the bloodline of an Agate Scale Drake also obtained its characteristics.


    For example, like what Miu Ran was doing, they could transform a part of their body and obtain strong ws. The bloodline also gave Miu Ran a tougher body, which could nowpare to that of a Body Cultivator like Chang Fa.


    Of course, there might be limitations to it, but right now, it was clear that Chang Fa was greatly outmatched.


    ''This will be tough¡­'' Lin Mu wondered if the interference with Nine Divine Heart sutras would even work or not.


    Observing the fight for a bit, Lin Mu was sure that it wouldn''t work if he used the Nine Divine Heart Sutras just on Miu Ran. He would also have to use it on Chang Fa himself.


    ''I need to suppress Miu Ran and support Chang Fa at the same time,'' Lin Mu was sure of it.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu first decided to help Chang Fa calm down.


    Having sustained multiple injuries as well as continuing the fight, the man''s mind was under great strain. As such, if he continued there was a high chance he would lose focus and end up getting injured further. If that happened, his defeat would be imminent.


    ~humm~


    Chang Fa, who was in the middle of dodging a w attack from Miu Ran, suddenly felt like the stress filling him was fading away. Recing it was a sense of calmness that he hadn''t felt for a long time now. All the conflicts he had in his mind were gone, and even the pain was bing manageable.


    ''What is this?'' Chang Fa had no idea what was happening to him. ''Is this some sort of phenomenon?'' he wondered.


    He knew that others could feel a rush of adrenaline during an intense fight and could make one feel simr to this. But this was different than that. Unlike an adrenaline rush where one''s mind was running at a thousand paces and one''s heart kept on throbbing like crazy, Chang Fa felt a sense of tranquility instead.


    Instead of his thinking improving due to the sheer speed, it now felt like he had no obstacles in his thoughts, allowing him to process everything better than before.


    Chang Fa gazed at Miu Ran, watching his every movement, his mocking expression, the power of his ws as well as the immortal Qi fluctuations that rose from him.


    ''He''s ying with me.'' Chang Fa understood.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Chang Fa narrowly dodged another attack, while also using the hair wrapped around his torso like a whip to snap back.


    ''I see now¡­ I just need to turn his arrogance against him.'' Chang Fa realized.


    He realized that his opponent had already assumed that victory was his. Chang Fa wished to take advantage of this very misjudgment.


    And as if fates were willing to grant him this favor, he found that his opponent had actually gotten sloppy.


    "HAAAH! CHANG FA, BE RIPPED UNDER MY CLAWS!" Miu Ran''s expression turned fiercer and he attacked with an even greater power. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    But unlike before, his attacks seemed to becking the uracy that they had before.


    Thisbined with Chang Fa''s improved focus, meant that he could already predict where Miu Ran intended to strike.


    "I see now¡­ I see it all.." Chang Fa muttered as he thinned the hair that was covering his body in the form of an armor.


    Instead of letting it focus on defense, Chang Fa let them gather around his arms before he brought them together.


    ''I''ll end it with onest attack. I''ll give it my all.'' Chang Fa decided.


    He observed Miu Ran who was attacking haphazardly and picked the right moment to counterattack.


    "Iron Pir Mane Arts! Fourth Art: Fury Mane Twister!" Chang Fa roared.


    His hair arms that he had brought together suddenly erged, turning into two spirals that entwined and shot forward.


    Miu Ran who was in the middle of an attack, was caught between the two spirals, the hair suddenly wrapping around him.


    His limbs were locked in the hair, while his sharp ws were balled up into a fist by the hair. Even his face was covered by the hair, making him unable to see or speak anything.


    "AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Chang Fa used up all of his energy in thest attack, turning it into raw, twisting power.


    ~CRACK~


    ~KACHA~


    ~CRUNCH~


    Then with a sickening crunch, Miu Ran''s limbs were twisted, his bones shattering in the process.


    But that wasn''t all, as Chang Fa''s hair was not stopping its momentum. After having twisted the man''s limbs, it now threatened to twist the man''s waist and neck!

 Chapter 1790 Chang Fas Final Gambit

    Chapter 1790 Chang Fa''s Final Gambit


    It was clear that Chang Fa had reached a point where he couldn''t hold back even if he wanted to.


    His attack had already been executed and if it continued, Miu Ran''s life would quite likely be ended.


    After all, while an immortal could survive a broken spine, they wouldn''t be able to do the same with their neck.


    Only their Nascent soul would survive this, but that would still be a grave setback for the immortal. Finding a suitable body might not be difficult for someone on the level of Miu Ran, but it would certainlye at a cost.


    ~KACHA~


    And just as was feared, the man''s waist was the first to be broken. His torso was turned around, his chest facing in the direction of his heels. But as if one turn was not enough, Chang Fa''s hair was now turning Miu Ran''s neck back!


    If it seeded, the man''s chest would face the back, but his head would still face forward!


    It was a terrifying thought.


    ~CRACK~


    Miu Ran''s neck was turned around 120 degrees when cracking sounds were already heard. But just as it was about to progress any further, a sudden force descended upon both Chang Fa and Miu Ran.


    Chang Fa''s hair suddenly stopped moving while Miu Ran''s body turned into a sh of light.


    ~WHOOSH~


    With Miu Ran no longer in the grip of Chang Fa''s hair, the two thick strands pped together, creating a loud snapping sound.


    ~SNAP~


    And a momentter, Chang Fa''s body also turned into a sh of light before being teleported out of the Spatial ne.


    ~SHUA~


    "Miu Ran has been defeated! Chang Fa is the winner!" The announcement was heard after a slight pause, confirming the win of the Iron Pir Mane Arts inheritor.


    The win did not result in the cacophony of cheers though.


    It was strange since most of the people in the audience would burst out and shout in excitement. Instead, all of them were looking at the formation screen with a look of shock.


    Some even had a hint of terror mixed into their expressions, possibly imagining what would happen if they were in the position of Miu Ran.


    Still, as if this wasn''t enough, the next set of events further made them scared.


    "QUICK HEALERS!" the elder watching over the tform shouted.


    ~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~


    A team of healers from the temple quickly arrived and checked up on Miu Ran, who was lying on the ground.


    Now that there was no hair covering him, his actual condition could be seen clearly.


    His limbs had been twisted and looked gnarly, while his flesh was ripped in the process. Fragments of bones poked out from the man''s joints while copious amounts of blood leaked out of it.


    The worst wasn''t even his limbs though, it was his torso.


    The man had been twisted from his waist, causing his spine to be severed!


    But the twisting motion had also torn the skin around his stomach and nk apart revealing his internals.


    "He''s in a grave condition!"


    "His internal organs are all damaged!"


    "His governing meridian has been severed! BRING THE HEAD HEALER, WE CAN''T DO THIS ON OUR OWN!" This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    But when the healers checked him, they realized that the condition was a lot worse than they had thought. Not only had Miu Ran suffered damage to his externals, even his internal along with an important meridian had been broken.


    With such a condition, even using healing pills would be ineffective.


    One would need direct treatment from a great healer with their techniques to survive something like this.


    "ACK! ACK! ACK!" What was worse though, was the fact that Miu Ran seemed to still be conscious to some level.


    Though he was unable to articte his words as he kept on vomiting blood.


    Bits of crushed organs could be seen in the bloody vomit, showing the extent of the damage.


    "This¡­ this is the worse injury so far¡­" A few people in the audience spoke.


    Even if there had been many fights and deadly attacks had been used in them, the contestants had still survived them in much better condition than this.


    And it was all due to the safety mechanisms of the Spatial ne''s array preventing them from dying. It would teleport them out when it felt them being knocked out or when it detected their vitality had suddenly fallen.


    But perhaps it was due to the fact that Chang Fa''s attack was a physical one and hade in a different way than most. The array hadn''t registered it quickly enough.


    And by the time it did, Miu Ran had already sustained grave injuries.


    ~HONG~


    The head healer was already present nearby and arrived at a moment''s notice. His immortal sense checked Miu Ran and quickly prepared for a healing procedure.


    He brought his palms together before cing them on Miu Ran''s body.


    A green glow covered the man''s body, stopping his bleeding for the time being.


    "Take us to the healing pavilion. I can only stabilize him for now. We''ll need to do an intense healing session!" the head healer said.


    "Yes, elder!" The other healers said as they prepared to move.


    They threw out a white sheet of cloth that expanded to a size of five meters. The head healer transferred Miu Ran onto the cloth while the other healers also stood on it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then in the next moment, they flew away to the Healing Pavilion.


    Chang Fa didn''t get to see much though, as he was lying on his back and facing the sky. He was in pain too and was bleeding.


    Fortunately, a couple of healers had already approached him and fed him a pill.


    They carried him away as well, leaving the overseeing elder with a frown.


    What had just happened was possibly a grave oversight on their side.


    ''Chang Fa''s attack might be too much, but the arrays should have still worked in time.'' The elder knew that Chang Fa had no me for this.

 Chapter 1791 Gaining Face For The Iron Pillar Mane Clan

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    The overseeing elder knew that Chang Fa was the weaker party in this fight and had only done what was asked of them: giving their all in a fight!


    If anything, Chang Fa would have been the loser if Miu Ran had struck him a few more times. Everyone had seen that Miu Ran had the upper hand in the fight.


    As soon as he had used his bloodline of the Agate Scale Drake, it had only be a one sided fight.


    What Chang Fa had done was just ast ditch effort to fight.


    And this time around, it had worked albeit at the cost of great injuries to his opponent.


    The audience knew the situation was concerning and didn''t shout like before. Instead, they were all discussing in hushed voices.


    They were talking about the same thing, Chang Fa and the skill he had demonstrated at the end.


    "This Chang Fa did something unbelievable."


    "I know right, he actually injured Miu Ran who had the bloodline of an Agate Scale Drake. That should have made his body really tough, and yet Chang Fa''s hair was able to twist his tough limbs and body apart."


    "Chang Fa was truly blood thirsty this time."


    "I wouldn''t say that exactly. If anything, he did what was expected of him."


    "Indeed. Could you ever think of holding back against a strong opponent that was close to killing you?"


    "No¡­ I would use all my trump cards to survive."


    "Exactly. It just so happens that Chang Fa''s trump card was too strong."


    "Though his technique¡­ the Iron Pir Mane Arts seems to be stronger than I thought."


    "Yeah, at first I thought they were just some entric techniques. Who knew they would be this strong?"This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    "To literally twist and rip apart an immortal with a drake''s bloodline like that¡­ His n is really low-key."


    "Looks like we''ll have to look into Iron Pir Mane n."


    Unknown to Chang Fa, he had managed to aplish what he hade here for: to raise the reputation of his n.


    And with a little assistance from Lin Mu, not only had he done that but also managed to earn himself a fearsome reputation.


    Over a million immortals had been watching the fight since it was the only match of the cycle left. Each and every one of them had seen Chang Fa twist apart Miu Ran.


    The mere memory of it caused goosebumps to spread on the backs and necks of the weak-hearted.


    After all, even among the immortals, there were many that hadn''t really seen gory injuries before.


    Even if they had faced death and killed others, it was often clean and honorable fights. The injuries from them might be deadly, but didn''t have effects like this.


    What terrified them, even more, was the fact that rather than dying, Miu Ran had survived it!


    He would now have to bear all the pain and suffering from his injuries.


    And from what the healers spoke, the people knew that it didn''t really bid well for Miu Ran. Deep down they knew that while Miu Ran might survive this, he might not be in a good condition after it.


    Everyone heard that Miu Ran''s Governing Meridian was severed. It was an injury that no cultivator wished to suffer as it would mean that their ability to use Qi would basically be reduced by over 50%.


    The governing meridian was very important, as it connected to several other meridians that spread around the body. It was also this meridian that directly connected to the Dantian, carrying the Qi through it. With it broken, the flow of Qi would be highly obstructed.


    Restoring the Governing Meridian was possible, but the long term injuries sustained from it would continue to linger. Even if it was repaired, there was no guarantee Miu Ran would be able to use his Immortal Qi to the same level as before.


    He would have to resort to rare and expensive healing medicines to fix this.


    His limbs were the least of his injuries. After all regrowing limbs was still possible and in the case of Miu Ran, they weren''t even severed. A Mid-Quality Flesh restoration pill and Bone Mending Pill would return them to their natural condition.


    But the rest of the man''s injuries were too hard to fix.


    The temple of the four guardian beasts had all the means to do it of course, but the question whether they would fully do it was an interesting one.


    Lin Mu and hispanions who watched it all happen were stunned too.


    "I was indeed not mistaken. Chang Fa''s strength and potential are good." Lin Mu finally spoke after having watched it all.


    "Was that¡­ your doing Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian contacted Lin Mu.


    "I did assist Chang Fa, but it had nothing to do with his final attack. That was all Chang Fa''s own strength." Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing that, Luo Liqin and Lu Xu couldn''t help but rethink the entric man''s image in their minds.


    "Still, would this be fine for Chang Fa?" Ming Dandan couldn''t help but ask.


    "He hasn''t broken any rules, so he should be totally fine." Luo Liqin answered.


    "But aren''t Miu Ran''s injuries a little too severe?" Ming Aolian asked next. "The power behind him might take offense to this, too."


    "That''s useless. The moment one decides to participate in the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts, one knows what they could potentially be facing. We all have done the same." Lu Xu replied. "If Miu Ran''s n takes offense to it, they wouldn''t be able to me Chang Fa. Rather than him, the actual target of the me would have to be the temple who failed in teleporting Miu Ran before it reached this level." He exined.


    "Regardless of what the consequences might be, Chang Fa and his n''s name would now be known all across the continent and even beyond it." Luo Liqin stated. "Powers from all over the world have witnessed this. Fear is a lot stronger in spreading one''s reputation than valor after all. He has earned face for his n."

 Chapter 1792 Win In The Blink Of An Eye

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    With the second cycle of fights over, Lin Mu and hispanions gathered once more to discuss as well as to rest.


    They had earned quite a lot in this round, especially due to the reversal in Chang Fa''s fight. Lin Mu had gotten Luo Liqin to bet on Chang Fa and since the odds were supposed to favor Miu Ran, the return had been nearly 10 times the amount that they had bet.


    "We''ll have to wait till the participants of the next cycle are decided, Brother Mu Lin." Luo Liqin spoke.


    "That is true." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    With the rise in their funds again, they discussed what would be the best way to use them again.


    "Till then though, I suppose we can prepare for the other fights. There''s still Lu Xu and Ming Aolian left to fight." Luo Liqin added.


    "Yes, you should do that. Brother Mu Lin''s tactics were very helpful for me." Ming Dandan chimed in. "I don''t think I would have been able tost otherwise." She added.


    "I''m pleased that it was helpful. I guess we can do a more broad lesson this time. To cover all possible foes." Lin Mu replied.


    Since they didn''t know who would be participating next, it was a lot better to just do an overall study. They had done this before too, but now that the targets had narrowed down, Lin Mu could be a lot more specific.


    And while they did this, the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts was also busy at work.


    They had a lot of things to deal with now.


    From the injury of Miu Ran to the w in the array that had left him in that state.


    The n behind Miu Ran had already sent an official inquiry to the Temple asking for an exnation. This waspletely valid on their part and the Temple was obliged to answer as well. His n knew that they couldn''t reallyin about Miu Ran''s injury, but they could very well ask about a w in the Temple''s arrays.


    After the Miu n''s inquiry was sent, a few other powers also expressed their concerns with their arrays. After all, now that people knew there was a w, there were bound to be some people that might attempt to exploit the w.


    They didn''t wish for their people to get affected by this, thus they also asked the temple to take care of this.Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    As such, the people of the temple were busy getting solutions for it while their Formation masters were already working on the array.


    Considering all this, the temple sent out a notice that the next cycle of four matches would be dyed for at least a day.


    For some, this was thest bit of time they could squeeze in for training, while for some it was just a dy in progress. Regardless of what they felt, the day passed quickly and the Temple quickly sent out a new notice telling everyone that the w had been rectified.


    The identity tokens of all participants signaled them about the next cycle of matches.


    Lin Mu and hispanions also saw them finding a few familiar faces among them.


    "Seems like we can sit this cycle out." Lu Xu said, seeing that the four matches didn''t include him or Ming Aolian.


    "Let''s see¡­" Lin Mu looked at the list of participants for the next cycle.


    Other than a few minor contestants that Lin Mu had seen in the earlier fights, there was a big name.


    "Dugu Shanhe¡­ now that''s a fight that I certainly want to watch." Lin Mu spoke.


    The man''s skills were an enigma even now and no one had been able to figure them out. His earlier fights had all ended very fast, with some ending in the blink of an eye, thus it left many people confused. Even Lin Mu was at a loss as he was unable to understand what his technique was from what he had heard so far.


    "This is a good chance to make higher earning bets." Luo Liqin could already see the betting pavilion sending out information about the odds through the te. "Other than Dugu Shanhe, the other three fights are all simrly matched. It will give you a good chance to manipte it." He exined.


    "Mmhmmm, we''ll do it." Lin Mu replied.


    The matches weren''t that far, being only six hours from now, thus Lin Mu and the rest quickly got to work. Luo Liqin set some initial bets, excluding Dugu Shanhe''s fight, as he knew that it was basically decided already.


    Even the betting pavilion knew that and had set the odds ordingly. Betting on Dugu Shanhe would simply the person nothing.


    With only three matches to focus on, Lin Mu and Luo Liqin would have an easier time.


    Qian Wen also returned during this time, albeit still not fully healed. Though he assured that it wouldn''t take him more than a couple more days to recover.


    Time passed and eventually, it was time for the fights.


    Everyone was watching the formation screens intently as the contestants were all teleported into the Spatial nes.


    Lin Mu was only watching on person though and even had his Immortal sense present in the arrays, tunneling towards a particr spatial ne.


    He was watching none other than Dugu Shanhe as he wished to know more about his skill.


    ~SHUA~


    Dugu Shanhe and his opponent arrived in the Spatial ne, standing two hundred meters from each other.


    "Dugu Shanhe, you will¡ª" The man''s opponent tried to speak, but suddenly stopped.


    His expression became still while his eyes went nk. Then a momentter something astonishing happened.


    ~THUD~


    ~SHUA~


    The man copsed on the gourd, before being teleported away.


    "What was that?" Ming Dandan said in surprise. "He just fell like that?"


    Lin Mu who had been watching it, furrowed his brows though. The way Dugu Shanhe''s opponent was defeated felt familiar to him. After all, several of Lin Mu''s opponents had been defeated in the same way before.


    ''It almost¡­ seems like the sutras¡­'' Lin Mu thought.

 Chapter 1793 Rising Fortune And A Stack Of Letters

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    The swift defeat of Dugu Shanhe''s opponent was concerning to Lin Mu.


    ''Seems like I''ll have to consult someone who has faced Dugu Shanhe before.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He knew that fighting Dugu Shanhe would be inevitable in the tournament. Lin Mu didn''t think that anyone would be able to defeat him other than perhaps the Third Prince or Yao Changying. The chances of Dugu Shanhe facing them were the same as him facing Lin Mu.


    Thus Lin Mu reckoned it was best to be prepared.


    ''Childe Wildfire¡­ Guess I gotta talk to him.'' He was the only one that had fought Dugu Shanhe before and was directly acquainted with Lin Mu. ''Also unlike the others that toppled quickly, he was said to have stood his ground for a bit longer. He might know more too.'' He hoped.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu decided to talk to the man when the current cycle of matches was over.


    Lin Mu used his sutras to influence the fights like before and earned himself a decent sum from the bets.


    "We''re steadily improving our bets. I think if we keep this up, by the fifth cycle we would be able to bet nearly 100,000 high grade immortal stones." Luo Liqin estimated.


    "That much?!" Ming Aolian''s eyes went wide.


    "We might make even more. It alles down to what matches happen." Luo Liqin exined.


    "I guess we won''t have to worry about Immortal stones for quite a few years after this. Haha!" Lu Xu was as happy as a daisy in spring.


    "And this is just for the current stage of the tournament. I can''t even imagine how much we would have by Semi finals." Luo Liqin said with excrement.


    They had thought that Semi finals would possibly be thest stage when they would be able to continue their ''safe'' bets. After that, it was quite likely for them to simply not be in the matches other than Lin Mu.


    Of course, there was always a chance a bet could go wrong and they could lose a significant portion of their wealth. This was also the reason why Lin Mu hadn''t gotten them to bet the full amount all at once. While the returns from that would be massive, Lin Mu didn''t wish to take the risk.


    Plus there was a higher chance for the betting pavilion to find it strange too.


    The number of people who would be able to bet a million high grade immortal stones was not many. The majority were either Nobles or were from great powers. It would get them scrutinized and perhaps even investigatedter.


    And if it was found that they were winning basically all bets since they had started, it would be a clear warning sign for them. If anything, they would be highly invested in finding the maniptor. Even if they knew the chances of it were less, it would possibly earn them something from it due to the Temple''s interest in diviners as well.


    The one thing Lin Mu was thankful for, though, was the fact that there were only a couple of people from ck Fin Ind left in the tournament. Most of them had been wiped out in the earlier stage and only the strongest among them were left.


    Still, the fact that they could survive till this point was a testament to the strength of the ck Fin Ind''s members. It showed their capability as warriors and assassins.


    Since this cycle''s matches had all ended within an hour, there was a lot of time left till the next match. Lin Mu reckoned it was the best time to meet Childe Wildfire.


    ''Hopefully he''ll know more.'' Lin Mu thought and contacted the man using themunication jade slip.


    Lin Mu had to wait five minutes before he received a very short response. It only mentioned the location where Childe Wildfire was waiting at.


    ''It''s actually there?'' Seeing the name though, Lin Mu was surprised before looking at hispanions.


    "I''ll head out for a bit." Lin Mu suddenly soon up.


    "Where are you going, Brother Mu Lin?" Lu Xu asked.


    "I''ll go meet Childe Wildfire." Lin Mu replied.


    "Him? Why?" Ming Aolian was surprised.


    "I need to talk to him about Dugu Shanhe. His cultivation technique and skills¡­ they need to be investigated as well. We barely have any information about it." Lin Mu answered.


    "That''s true. So far no one has understood what Dugu Shanhe does. Some have guessed it to be an illusory technique of some kind. But I guess the one who faced him might have more insights." Lu Xu responded.


    "Indeed. I''ll see you allter." Lin Mu said before taking his leave.


    The ce that Lin Mu was heading to was none other than the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion!


    Childe Wildfire was actually staying in one of the Courtyards in the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion. Though he was some distance from Lin Mu''s own courtyard, the Hundred Fruits courtyard.


    Upon entering through therge entrance gate of the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion though, Lin Mu met the woman who was the overseer and had talked with him before.


    "Daoist Mu Lin," The woman cupped her hands. "Congrattions on your wins." She said respectfully.


    "You''ve been watching?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Of course. How can I miss something like that?" She said with a smile. "In fact, it isn''t just me. Several people have been paying attention to you as well." She added.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu knew that there were nobles looking into him, but hearing from the overseer was different.


    "They''ve actually sent several letters too." The overseer said.


    "Hmm¡­ I thought they wouldn''t contact me after learning about the Crown Prince sponsoring me." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing from Lin Mu''s own mouth that he was being sponsored by Feng Shun, the overseer''s lips curled. She had heard several rumors about it, but now all of them were verified.


    "That''s true. But the letters that they''ve sent are all letters of congrattions." She replied.


    "Can you show them to me?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course." The overseer said before withdrawing a stack of letters from her Spatial storage treasure.This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

 Chapter 1794 Childes Wildfires Insights

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    Lin Mu could see at least thirty letters in the stack with some of them being particrly thick.


    "Here''s all of them. I''ve been waiting for you to return to hand them to you. I would have gone to your courtyard, but followed your earlier order of not disturbing it unless you called." She stated.


    "That''s right." Lin Mu nodded his head and took the letters.


    He casually scanned them using his Immortal sense and confirmed that the overseer was correct. Though there were also a few letters that were ''inviting'' Lin Mu to visit some nobles.


    The overseer watched him do this and somewhat guessed what might be going through his mind.


    "If you wish, I can deny all future letters." She spoke.


    "No, it''s fine." Lin Mu shook his head. "You can just collect them, I''lle get themter myself." He ordered.


    "As you wish." The overseer said with a smile before taking her leave.


    Lin Mu continued onwards to the courtyard where Childe Wildfire was staying at. It took him ten minutes to reach him since the man had picked a rather distant courtyard as well.


    "Warming Summer Courtyard¡­" Lin Mu read the name and then looked at the courtyard that was designed in the colors of summer.


    ~CREAK~


    The gate of the courtyard opened automatically, having sensed a guest.


    "Come in." It was clear that Childe Wildfire knew it was Lin Mu waiting outside.


    Entering through the gate, Lin Mu saw the interior of the courtyard that was smaller than his own.


    Unlike therge fruit garden that was present in the Hundred Fruits Pavilion, the Warming Summary Courtyard was filled with simple green trees. The main building had a dark red color and was made from bricks, while a few smaller buildings were attached to it as well.


    Though in the middle of the courtyard, there was a crescent shapedke. The crescent shapedke circled around a wooden gazebo inside of which sat Childe Wildfire.


    The man was sitting in a meditative pose and Immortal Qi was swirling above him.


    A single look was all it took Lin Mu to understand what was going on.


    "If it''s not a good time, I cer." Lin Mu said right away.


    "It''s fine." Childe Wildfire replied lightly. "My cultivation base is fully stabilized. I just need to absorb the remnants of the Immortal Qi."


    "That''s good. Guess you''re the strongest in the tournament now, in terms of Qi cultivation base." Lin Mu congratted the man.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense could tell that Childe Wildfire had already reached the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. But that wasn''t all he felt. There was also a faintyer of Dao Traces covering Childe Wildfire.


    Though these were almost gone.


    ''His Dao Skills have probably progressed a lot.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "What did you want to ask?" Childe Wildfire opened his eyes, the vortex of Immortal Qi above him fading away.


    "Hmm¡­ Dugu Shanhe." Lin Mu directly stated, making the man narrow his eyes. "I wish to know more about him."


    "If you wanted to know that, it would have been much better for you to go to the brokers who gather intelligence about the contestants." Childe Wildfire replied.


    "I''ve already taken a look. They don''t know much." Lin Mu replied as Luo Liqin had already checked that a while ago.


    "Then what do you want to know?" Childe Wildfire questioned.


    "You''ve fought with him before, right? I wanted to know just how did you lose." Lin Mu answered. "So far, all his battles have ended within a minute or less. His opponents simply copse." He added.


    "Mmm, so you thought you would be facing him and wanted to question me." Childe Wildfire understood.


    "Exactly." Lin Mu agreed.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "If so, then you are at a loss." Childe Wildfire said, much to his surprise. "Even I don''t know what he does."


    "Huh? How''s that possible?" Lin Mu was confused. "Did you not feel anything when fighting him?"


    "No¡­ when I fought him, all I remember is my senses fading away. After that, I woke up to find myself lying on the ground." Childe Wildfire exined.


    Hearing it, Lin Mu was certainly disappointed.


    "Even you don''t know how it all went?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "No¡­ if I did, I wouldn''t have been in a rush to break through." Childe Wildfire replied. "Whatever his skill is, it can disable a cultivator quickly. I don''t know how to defend against it other than having a stronger cultivation base." He added.


    "Hmm, that''s correct." Lin Mu could understand the man''s concerns. "Though, do you have any guesses as to what it could be." He hoped that Childe wildfire''s experience mighte in handy here.


    "My best guess is that it is a very strong Hypnotic skill." Childe Wildfire said. "And it should also be heavy in Immortal Qi consumption." He added.


    "Why do you say that?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "In the previous stage, Dugu Shanhe didn''t use that skill of his regrly. He only used it on Stronger opponents that were at the Fourth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm or above. For the ones weaker than that, he fought them directly." Childe Wildfire exined. "If his skill had lower consumption, he would have used it regrly."


    "I seem to have missed that." Lin Mu was pleased that he at least got something out of the visit.


    "ording to my estimation, he shouldn''t be able to use it more than ten times if he''s facing a Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal. And two times if he''s facing a Fifth Tribtion Stage immortal." Childe Wildlife continued. "At least this is what I''vee up with after seeing his uses during the previous stage. There is still a chance he can use it several times more than that."


    "I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu nodded his head. ''No wonder he wished to reach the Sixth Tribtion stage of the immortal realm. There''s a chance that he might be able to resist the skill if he''s stronger than Dugu Shanhe.'' He thought.

 Chapter 1795 Dugu Shanhes Mysteries

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    Talking to Childe Wildfire provided Lin Mu with a few insights and gave him a better idea on how to deal with the issue of Dugu Shanhe''s skill.


    ''Considering the fact that Dugu Shanhe cannot use his skill several times in a row as well as on those that are stronger than him, Childe Wildfire might just be able to ovee this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "I won''t disturb you any longer then. You can continue to cultivate." Lin Mu bid the man farewell.


    "Mm." Childe Wildfire simply hummed in response and closed his eyes.


    It was clear that he still wished to umte as much Immortal Qi as he could before the fight. Him having reached the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm was just the start.


    Lin Mupared Childe Wildfire to the other Immortals of a simr level that he had faced so far and realized that he was not at their level yet.


    The Steel Horned General Niu Juo was also said to be at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm in terms of Qi cultivation, but having met the man in person, Lin Mu knew just that was not enough.


    His body cultivation was unknownbined with his Qi cultivation, possibly made it a lot stronger.


    Then there was the Beast that Lin Mu had passed by while sailing the seas along with Haima Tribe. It was also at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm but its power was overwhelming.


    A tornado surrounded it at all times, created by its mere presence.


    And then there was Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    Lin Mu didn''t know how to exactly judge the man. His behavior and power were both obscure. But considering the fact that he had in a Tyrant Bull, even if it were a juvenile was a testament to his power.


    It only made Lin Mu realize that he had a lot to cover even now.


    ~Sigh~


    "I have so much time, and yet I feelcking." Lin Mu couldn''t help but mutter.


    It was a strange feeling he could not fullyprehend. He knew that others had spent a long time reaching this stage. Even the geniuses had cultivated for a few hundred years to over a thousand years to reach their current strength.


    While Lin Mu hadn''t reached their level, cultivation base wise, he was still racing towards it.


    ''Is it my own desire that makes me wish for it, or is it the circumstances that are directing me towards it?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    ~humm~


    And as Lin Mu was walking back, he felt the token vibrate lightly.


    "New matches are decided?" Lin Mu took a look.


    The ones who were up this time were all unfamiliar to Lin Mu and none of hispanions were in it.


    "Guess this will be more rxed." Lin Mu muttered. "Though there is one interesting match to observe."


    Among the four matches, there was one contestant that was also a top contender. This was none other than Su Zian the one supposed to be fourth ranked among the top 5.Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Soon, Lin Mu was back at the Spring Valley Restaurant, where hispanions were waiting for him.


    "Wee back," Lu Xu greeted him.


    "Oh? You guys ordered food?" Lin Mu saw a few snacks on the table.


    "It was the countess that sent them over." Luo Liqin responded.


    "She seemed disappointed that you weren''t here." Lu Xu added with a slight grin.


    "I see¡­ I''ll give her my thankster." Lin Mu calmly said before sitting down.


    "Did you learn something from Childe Wildfire?" Qian Wen questioned.


    "Yes." Lin Mu answered before narrating what he had talked forbore.


    "A Hypnotic skill¡­ those are not as rare, but one that can work on those at the Fifth Tribtion stage immortals are certainly hard to find." Luo Liqin muttered.


    "Sister, doesn''t Butterfly Peak Master also do something like that?" Ming Dandan interjected.


    "He does¡­ but his skill is a lot different." Ming Aolian spoke, catching Lin Mu''s interest.


    "Can you tell me more?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Sure. The Mystifying Butterfly Dance is a supportivebat skill and is not one that can be cast directly like what Dugu Shanhe does. To use it one actually needs to dance to activate the skill.


    Though the biggest factor is that the peak master of Butterfly Peak is at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm too, but can only affect those up to the Fourth Tribtion stage." Ming Aolian exined.


    "Huh, peak master is weaker than Dugu Shanhe?" Ming Dandan seemed surprised. "Isn''t he on the same level as our master?"


    "He is but his skills do not match up." Ming Aolian shook her head.


    "Dugu Shanhe is actually stronger than a Peak master of the Blue Mountain Pce¡­ that''s unexpected." Lu Xu seemed surprised too.


    "Whoever his master is, they might be stronger than the patriarch of the Blue Mountain Pce." Ming Aolian said after thinking for a bit.


    "You really think so?" Ming Dandan said in shock.


    "If it is a reclusive expert, it does make sense." Qian Wen replied. "Those experts focus on their own strength unlike the Blue Mountain Pce that nurtures its people." He added.


    Lin Mu heard their words and wondered if Dugu Shanhe was simr to Tian Ning.


    ''If he also has a celestial as a master, it would all make sense.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "On another note, Su Zian is fighting in the next cycle." Qian Wen spoke. "He''s said to be rather good at the battle arts of the Army."


    "Ah yes. He''s a rather popr candidate too and has a lot of achievements." Lu Xu nodded his head.


    "We''ll be studying him too." Lin Mu stated. "As well as the others. So why don''t we get started?"


    With that, their regr lessons began once more andsted till it was the time for the matches.


    The lessons were helping the Sixpanions a lot and they were steadily improving. Unknown to them, Lin Mu wasying a foundation that they would rely on for millenniums toe.

 Chapter 1796 End Of The Stage

    ?


    The next day, it was time for the matches which several peoples were eager to watch, including Lin Mu and hispanions.


    Particrly, Lin Mu''s interest was in Su Zian.


    He was said to be the son of General Su, who was the second general of the Huiqing Empire. He was of the same status as Steel Horned General Niu Juo and guarded the empire while Niu Juo was gone.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    As such, Su Zian had an excellent upbringing and was also a Captain in the Huiqing Empire''s army.


    "It''s starting." Luo Liqin said, bringing everyone''s attention to the Formation screen.


    He himself held the Betting Pavilions formation te to enter the bets and was ready.


    "Let''s see¡­" Lin Mu muttered while his own Immortal sense was present in the Spatial ne.


    Other than Su Zian''s match, the other three matches were rtively straightforward with average cultivators for this level. Lin Mu merely needed to sway the bets in the favor of one of the contestants while letting the other win to get the most profits from betting.


    And having done this several times now, Lin Mu could both watch the fight and control his immortal sense at the same time. Using the Sutras became rather smooth too, and he felt like he was actually progressing with them.


    The matches progressed steadily and Lin Mu began his work.


    Su Zian was also fighting and his style could be described in two words, direct and clean. He preferred using a Halberd as a weapon but was also proficient in Fist and palm skills which he used in conjuration to the spear.


    And by the time the fight was over, Lin Mu got a good grasp on him.


    ''He''s basically the ideal expert of the Orthodox path.'' Lin Mu understood.


    Su Zian''s proficiency with the Halberd was obtained from rigorous practice as well as thoroughprehension. There were no secrets or mysteries with him.


    ''It''ll be good practice to fight him.'' Lin Mu was actually excited to fight the man and hoped that they would get the chance.


    Lin Mu reckoned he would be able to use his pure skills more and even be stimted further. He also hoped to get some insights from the fight as Su Zian used Halberds. They fell into the same category as Spears and both had simr skills.


    Lin Mu himself hadn''t used spears for a while since the ck Thorn Spear wasn''t adequate anymore. As for an Immortal Spear, Lin Mu was yet to find one.


    But then again, he was satisfied with the weapons he had currently. Wonder Seeker, Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker were already enough for him to use for the most part. The rest wasplimented by his other skills along with his body cultivation.


    Lin Mu thought about it all, while also continuing to interfere in the fights.


    An hour passed like this before the cycle of four fights also came to an end.


    "That should be it." Lin Mu said, withdrawing his immortal sense.


    "That was good work, Brother Mu Lin." Luo Liqin said while putting away the formation te.


    "Mmhmm, now we don''t have many fights left." Lin Mu replied.


    The cycle of waiting began again, while Lin Mu resumed his lessons. He even added new things that he had observed from Su Zian''s fight to the lessons. Qian Wen and Lu Xu were particrly interested as they had simr stylespared to Su Zian.


    The next day arrived, and the fights were also announced.


    This time both Lu Xu and Ming Aolian had fights in the same cycle. Thankfully they weren''t facing each other, but different cultivators.


    And when it was time for the fights, it was safe to say that both of them won. But only Ming Aolian actually ended up needing Lin Mu''s assistance. Lu Xu had won with his own skills, much to the surprise of everyone.


    Of course, he attributed it all to Lin Mu''s lessons as he had significantly improved due to them. He was able to figure out the ws in the opponent''s moves and could react faster than before.


    Due to the tactics that Lin Mu had taught them, they didn''t need to think much and could rapidly adapt themselves inbat. After all, what Lin Mu had taught was just theoretical, but now that they were applying it in practical fights, it was bing clear to them.


    With three of Lin Mu''spanions having survived in this stage, the rest of the matches basically became a rxed time for them.


    Days passed in the blink of an eye and the number of contestants had been cut from 64 to just 32.


    "The Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts will resume tomorrow!" The elder of the temple announced after thest fight.


    "Seems like things will now speed up." Qian Wen spoke.


    "Indeed. Now that there are just 32 people left, merely four days is enough for them to finish this stage." Luo Liqin replied. "The betting pavilion seems to be prepared for it too, as the bets have already changed." He added.


    "That''s good. It just means our goals areing closer." Lin Mu said as he finished his tea.


    Done with that he stood up before speaking, "I''lle backter."


    "Sure, Brother Mu Lin." Lu Xu said. "I''ll also go check some things out."


    "I guess we all can leave for now. We''ll gather tomorrow when it is time." Qian Wen suggested.


    "Yeah, let''s do that." Ming Aolian agreed while Ming Dandan nodded.


    With that, the group ofpanions separated, each doing their own thing for the day.


    Lin Mu headed to the Hundred Fruits Courtyard. The familiar scent of fruits and flowers soothed his senses just as he entered it.


    And when he saw the Saintess and the twin snakes, he felt even better, as a stream of peaceful joy filled his heart again.


    "I''m back, Saintess, Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang." Lin Mu called out.


    The Saintess nced at him before asking, "Are you going to cook?"


    "Of course!" Lin Mu said with excitement before calling out Little Shrubby as well. "Let''s get to work Little Shrubby!"

 Chapter 1797 Auto Refinement Of Faux Vine Metal Ore

    ?


    Lin Mu, Saintess, Little Shrubby and the twins enjoyed a meal before rxing for the rest of the time.


    It was already night time and tomorrow, Lin Mu would have to get ready for the Tournament''s next stage.


    Shortly after they had finished the meal, Lin Mu felt the identity token receiving an announcement.


    ~humm~


    "Next match?" The Saintess easily guessed.


    "Yes." Lin Mu replied, holding the identity token.


    "Who is it?" She asked.


    "Me." Lin Mu answered.


    "That''s quick." The Saintessmented, not expecting Lin Mu''s turn to be this early.


    "Mmhmm, the chances were less." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Though it also makes things easier for me."


    If Lin Mu was done with his own match early on, he would be free to help out the others. And thankfully, other than him, none of hispanions had matches in this cycle.


    There were going to be four matches at once like before, but since there were just 32 contestants left, it would all be over in four days.


    "Though I''m starting to figure out the methodology of the Temple." Lin Mu suddenly spoke after seeing the other matches.


    "What is it?" The Saintess asked, wondering what Lin Mu was thinking.


    "They''re trying to end the fights of the stronger contestants early on." Lin Mu answered before showing her the other three matches.


    Other than Lin Mu, the ones fighting also included Third Prince Feng Baxing, Dugu Shanhe, and Childe Wildfire. All of them were fighting cultivators who were not at the top.


    "Hmm, considering the past record. This cycle will indeed end quickly." The Saintess agreed, having known about these cultivators.


    With her senses, it wasn''t hard for her to learn about the city talking about the top contenders.


    "Though, aren''t these fights¡­. A bit unfair, perhaps?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Rather than that, it is fair." The Saintess shook her head. "I think the temple also intends to clear out the weaker contestants first, as they wish to secure the tournament properly. Considering the ''interference'' that is happening, they certainly don''t wish for the more promising ones to be affected." She exined.


    Lin Mu thought about it and it did make sense.


    Whether the weaker contestants fought the top rankers now orter, it would all be the same. In fact, if by some luck they actually managed to win against the top rankers, they would be a dark horse, amping up the excitement.


    "They will certainly get some good rewards if they manage to defeat a top ranker though." Lin Mu said.


    "Speaking of that, did you collect your reward?" The Saintess asked. "If the Temple of the Four Guardians has a lot, it is rare resources and materials."


    "Ah yes! I did get something new." Lin Mu replied before taking out the chunk of ore he had gotten. "Faux Vine Metal ore."


    "Oh? Interesting. Seems like a perfect reward for your bow." The Saintess recognized the ore and knew its uses.


    "Indeed. I''ll have to refine it to use it, though." Lin Mu said, to which the Saintess shook her head.


    "You don''t necessarily have to refine it much." She spoke.


    "I don''t?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "Take out your bow." She stated.


    "Sure," Lin Mu immediately withdrew Wonder Seeker.


    ~TWANG~


    As soon as the bow appeared, it seemingly burst out in excitement as waves of energy spread from it.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was surprised by this and could feel the bow wanting to leave his hand.


    "For a High Grade Immortal Weapon like Wonder Seeker, you don''t need to personally refine the ore. The weapon will do it on its own." The Saintess exined. "Only if the material is particrly difficult to handle would you need to process it yourself."


    "I see¡­ so what do I do now?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Let the bow do it all. It knows innately what to do." The Saintess responded, to which Lin Mu released his grip.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In the next second, Wonder Seeker flew out of his hand and hit the chunk of Faux Vine Metal ore.


    ~SHUA~


    A powerful aura emanated out of the bow before faint tendrils of energy came out of its body. These tendrils extended towards the Faux Vine Metal ore and wrapped around it.


    Lin Mu watched as it all happened, and extended his own Immortal sense to check what was happening.


    His Immortal Sense probed the bow and the Faux Vine Metal Ore, observing the changes that happened.


    "The bow''s refining the ore on its own? That''s interesting." Lin Mu was surprised at the efficiency of the bow.


    He could sense the mass of the ore chunk decreasing little by little. Lin Mu reckoned it would take him a while to do the same.


    ''At least a couple of days maybe.'' Lin Mu thought.


    It was also why he hadn''t thought of using the ore before.Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Just leave it be now. It should be done in a few hours." The Saintess advised.


    "Alright." Lin Mu agreed.


    After this, Lin Mu didn''t talk to the Saintess about the Tournament and let the bow finish refining the ore. They merely talked about casual things, as Lin Mu didn''t want to think anything about the tournament for the time being.


    He simply wanted time to rx and calm down. After all, he had constantly been thinking about the tournament, analyzing the contestants as well as teaching Lu Xu and the others.


    All that took a lot of brain power, and even with Lin Mu''s stamina, he was tired out mentally.


    Resolving the fatigue in such a rxing way was the best and Lin Mu was thoroughly enjoying it.


    He didn''t even realize when the time passed in the blink of an eye and it was already time for dawn.


    There were just three hours left till his match and Wonder Seeker was almost done with its refinement as well.


    ~HONG~


    And a short whileter, Wonder Seeker let out a sonorous sound before the Faux Vine Metal ore disappeared entirely.


    "It is done!" Lin Mu was now sure of it.

 Chapter 1798 Rapid Deployment

    1798 Rapid Deployment


    Lin Mu picked up Wonder Seeker which had fully refined the Faux Vine Metal ore and could not tell the difference yet.


    ''The appearance has changed a bit though.'' Lin Mu thought looking at the Bowstring.


    There was a swirling pattern on the bow string now that had a color simr to the Faux Vine Metal ore. It was clear that the refined ore had been assimted into the bowstring, having merged with the previous material.


    Lin Mu sensed the internals of the bow and could sense a bigger presence in it.


    ''Its Weapon Spirit has grown stronger too¡­'' Lin Mu sensed. ''It has caught up with Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker just like that.'' He understood.


    The two swords had their own sword nurturing boxes that were made from Peak Grade immortal stones and precious materials, thus they improved at a fast pace.


    But unlike them, Wonder Seeker didn''t have anything like that and had been stagnant at its original level.


    The addition of Faux Metal Vine Ore had made the bow progress rapidly and reach the same level that Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker were at right now.


    "Guess havingpatible materials is a rather efficient method¡­ Though for Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker, it won''t be as easy." Lin Mu muttered. ''The swords are already made from good materials, so it''s hard for them to use other materials. If we forcibly use something, it would cause them to be damaged instead.'' He thought.


    For the swords, the best way to improve was to simply be kept in the Sword Nurturing Boxes.


    "How is it?" The Saintess asked, seeing that Lin Mu seemed lost in the bow.


    "It had certainly grown stronger, though it''s hard for me to estimate its actual power." Lin Mu replied.


    "Well, you have a good opportunity to test it. Just use it in the fight." The Saintess suggested.


    "Yes, I''ll do that." Lin Mu agreed with her.


    ~HUMM~


    Even Wonder Seeker was in agreement and wished to show its might.


    "Alright, alright, just a little while more." Lin Mu calmed the bow down before storing it in the ring. "I''ll head out now, Saintess." He stated.


    "Sure," The Saintess said waving her hand.


    "Let''s go Little Shrubby." Lin Mu called to the beast that was doing something with the twins in the garden.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby appeared next to him in a red blur, along with the twins.


    "Time to go?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yep." Lin Mu nodded before looking at the twins that were waiting. "I''ll see you two soon as well." He said, while rubbing their heads.


    ~HISS~


    The twins closed their eyes in enjoyment briefly before letting Lin Mu go.


    Lin Mu left the courtyard and directly headed to the Tournament grounds. Though he didn''t forget to inform hispanions.


    "You can go on ahead, Brother Mu Lin. We''ll watch you." Lu Xu and the others had already guessed this would happen as Lin Mu''s match was early, so they didn''t mind.


    Lin Mu ended up reaching the Tournament grounds about thirty minutes before the start of the round and climbed up the tform.


    A familiar face was waiting there, along with three others that Lin Mu recognized to be the ''unlucky'' contestants.


    "Childe Wildfire, greetings." Lin Mu spoke to the man.


    "Likewise." The man said casually.


    "Seems like the others have yet to arrive," Lin Mu said, noticing the missing people.


    Third Prince Feng Baxing, Dugu Shanhe and one of the other contestants hadn''t arrived yet.


    The missing contestant that was also the one who Lin Mu was supposed to fight in this match.


    "Can''t expect much from the Nobles." Childe Wildfire said without much care, making a few others chuckle.


    Though the person that was supposed to fight Childe Wildfire was silent, nervousness was apparent on his face. Lin Mu nced at the man and could guess that the man was already expecting to be defeated.


    ''He''s at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, but his cultivation seems a bit unstable.'' Lin Mu noticed. ''Seems like he broke through not long ago.'' He guessed.


    Childe Wildfire, on the other hand, was as stable as a mountain. In fact, one couldn''t even tell he had broken through to the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    Lin Mu nced at the others and realized that he was the ''weakest'' here right now.


    ''All are at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.'' Lin Mu confirmed.


    ~SHUA~


    A few minutester, the remaining contestants arrived one by one and soon, all eight contestants were standing on the tform.


    "All contestants are ready!" The Elder overseeing the match called out. "Be prepared, you''ll be teleported soon."


    A serious expression appeared on most of the contestants as they braced themselves.


    ~SHUA~ Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    And sure enough, once the teleportation started, all of them felt their visions turn dark as they appeared within the Teleportation Channel.


    Lin Mu was the only one fully aware of it all, and took the time to spread his immortal sense, observing everything. He didn''t waste this time either and directly withdrew Wonder Seeker before he even arrived, channeling Qi into it.


    ~THUD~


    A few secondster, Lin Mu appeared in a barren Spatial ne, solid ground under his feet.


    Without wasting any time, Lin Mu rapidly flew back, the arrow condensing on the bow. He was faster than his opponent, as he was still recovering from the effects of teleportation.


    And by the time Lin Mu''s opponent saw him, only the sound of a bowstring was heard.


    ~TWANG~


    Lin Mu released the arrow that was charged up by Wonder Seeker, letting it fly free.


    What was different this time though, was the fact that this arrow was condensed from pure Immortal Qi. Lin Mu didn''t use any skill for it, wanting to test the bow''s power.


    And sure enough, the arrow was fast enough that Lin Mu''s opponent didn''t even notice it in time.


    ~BOOM~


    Not even three seconds had passed before an explosion happened.

 Chapter 1799 Setting A New Record

    1799 Setting A New Record


    The explosion was different from the ones that were caused by Lin Mu''s fiery arrows that were made from a Qi skill.


    The explosion was from pure Immortal Qi, and exuded a great amount of pressure.


    ~SHUA~


    It was strong enough that Lin Mu''s opponent didn''t even have time to react.


    ~WHOOSH~


    His body turned into a sh of light and returned back to Rust Sky World.


    "Huh¡­" Lin Mu who was left in the Spatial ne, was stuck with an awkward expression. "I should lower the amount by half for regr attacks¡­" he noted.


    Wanting to test out Wonder Seeker''s full power, Lin Mu had used 10% of his entire Immortal Qi stores in his current attack. With the improvement of the bow, it absorbed Lin Mu''s Immortal Qi rapidly and channeled it to create the arrow within seconds.


    With the power of the arrow, it was basically a simple task to pierce through the defenses of a Fifth Tribtion Stage immortal that was not prepared for it in the first ce.


    Not only was he still affected by the Teleportation, he would also need to be able to sense the attack that was iing to even be able to dodge. But Lin Mu had prevented it from doing all that simply by queuing his attack beforehand.


    ''I guess I can make use of thister too. And since they can''t look while we''re in the Teleportation Channel, they won''t have any suspicion either. At most, it will look like I prepared my attack really fast.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He took note of it, as it was a really good way to prepare an attack forter. It was also a good method to ambush others as long as he knew where they were going to be right after teleportation.


    ''Thought this will probably not work on those with better senses or those that have stronger defenses.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With these thoughts going through his mind, Lin Mu was teleported back to the tform, his match ending earlier than any others.


    "Daoist Mu Lin is the winner!" Upon his arrival, a loud announcement was heard, and the crowd cheered in unison.


    "MU LIN! MU LIN! MU LIN!"


    "HE JUST BROKE THE RECORD!"


    "FASTEST FIGHT IN THE TOURNAMENT!"


    It was safe to say, Lin Mu had be a crowd favorite by doing that.


    ''I guess the bets will change once again¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself, not minding the crowd.


    He looked at the other side where the healers were taking care of the unfortunate opponent of Lin Mu. He had several wounds on his body which needed great care to be healed.


    ''Hmm¡­ internal damage is also present with meridians being strained and Qi flow obstructed from the explosion of Immortal Qi.'' Lin Mu checked the man with his Immortal sense, wanting to know the extent of injuries his attack could cause.


    It allowed him to get an insight into his own skills and would make it easier for him to judge further.


    ''If I rece it with other elemental Qis, the effects should change as well. I should try them out sometimeter. Though the amplification of Wonder Seeker has certainly be good.


    With the improvement of its bowstring, its speed has certainly gotten better and its range should have increased as well. Need to test that out as well.'' Lin Mu quickly noted down the other things he needed to doter.


    Having done this, he looked up at the formation screen, wanting to see what was happening in the other spatial nes.


    Lin Mu first looked at the Spatial ne where Dugu Shanhe was present.


    ~THUD~


    And just as he looked, the opponent of Dugu Shanhe copsed, having been affected by his skill.


    "Still the same as before." Lin Mu didn''t really get to nce at any more clues from it.


    ~SHUA~


    Dugu Shanhe and his opponent were teleported out, making Lin Mu look at Third Prince Feng Baxing.


    Unlike Dugu Shanhe''s opponents, who almost never had any injuries, Feng Baxing''s opponents were covered with them.


    ''Feng Baxing doesn''t even need to move much to wreck his opponent.'' Lin Mu observed.


    The Third Prince casually stood in ce and merely used a single hand.


    A wind vortex danced upon the battlefield at the behest of his hand, an immortal trapped within it. Feng Baxing''s opponent couldn''t move and even his voice could not be heard over the roaring wind. Hundreds of cuts covered his body while no Qi approached his body as the vortex blew it all away. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    "Guess that ends it." Lin Mu said as Feng Baxing''s opponent was teleported out from the battlefield as well.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    The contestants appeared on the tform, making Lin Mu nce at them.


    This time though, Feng Baxing and Dugu Shanhe looked at Lin Mu with a hint of surprise in their eyes. With the chanting of the crowd that was still praising Lin Mu and the new record that he had set, the two quickly understood what had happened.


    Silently noting Lin Mu as a not-so-simplepetitor, they walked away.


    They now knew the cultivation base that Lin Mu showed was possibly just a facade. To them, it didn''t make sense that he would be able to fight a Fifth Tribtion Stage immortal and end a fight so quickly.


    ''I''ll have to look into him perhaps¡­'' Feng Baxing thought as he disappeared in the distance.


    Dugu Shanhe on the other hand, mixed into the crowd, a mask appearing on his face and disguising his appearance automatically. No one realized that he had seemingly disappeared out of their perception either.


    Once that was done though, he didn''t leave. Instead, he stayed in the crowd and watched Lin Mu, unknown thoughts going through his mind.


    Lin Mu had no idea that he had aroused an interest in the hearts of the top twopetitors as he was looking at Childe Wildfire''s fight instead.


    "Guess he''s holding back too." Lin Mu continued to watch.

 Chapter 1800 Ming Dandans Turn

    Chapter 1800 Ming Dandan''s Turn


    Childe Wildfire was using a limited amount of his power and yet he was able to bring the fight to a standstill. His opponent was at the Fifth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm as well but was unable to do much other than struggle.


    ''Makes sense not to reveal his new cultivation base this early when it''s not needed against his opponent.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Unlike Lin Mu, Feng Baxing and Dugu Shanhe, whose fights had all ended within a minute, Childe Wildfire actually fought for ten minutes straight.


    ''He could have ended it early, but seems like he is intent on fooling the others.'' Lin Mu smiled as he understood the man''s n. ''It is good a n though.'' He thought before getting down from the stage.


    Lin Mu knew that Childe Wildfire would be winning, and thus didn''t need to wait there anymore.


    He instead went to the Victors pavilion and got his rewards there first. Simr to before, Lin Mu got High grade immortal stones, some pills as well as another material.


    But the material this time was not an ore, but rather a bar of refined metal.


    "Triple Refined Immortal gold¡­ guess they went with a straightforward reward this time." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say after seeing it.


    Being a form of gold, it had an obvious value as a reward. But that wasn''t all, as it could also be used in various immortal tools and weapons.


    ''Though I have a lot more of it already.'' Lin Mu recalled one of the chests that Lan Bao had given him before leaving Deep Sapphire City.


    It was filled with bars of Triple Refined Immortal Gold and Lin Mu hadn''t even touched it since then.


    Lin Mu certainly wouldn''t be selling them, but using them was also out of the option, as he didn''t have the need for a weapon now.


    Thus, the chest of gold was sitting in his storage.


    ''Another one added to it, I guess.'' Lin Mu stored the bar in his ring before leaving the Victory Pavilion.


    He went to the Spring Valley Restaurant, where hispanions were waiting for him.


    And upon his entry, Lin Mu was met with loud greetings.


    "Brother Mu Lin!" Lu Xu shouted out loud. "You blew us all away with your fight!"


    "You''ve raised our opinion of you even more." Ming Dandan smiled lightly.


    "I didn''t even think it was possible to end a fight that quickly." Ming Aolian still seemed to be in disbelief.


    "To defeat a Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal in one hit like that¡­ I''m afraid Brother Mu Lin''s victory in the tournament is all but decided." Qian Wen praised.


    "We''ve made a ratherrge profit from your fight. People had bet on your opponent as he was three stages above you, but your victory disproved them. We''ve gained nearly eight times the original amount." Luo Liqin reported.


    "Thank you all for the wishes." Lin Mu said. "But can I sit first, haha." He chuckled.


    "Of course!" They said, letting Lin Mu join.


    "You''ve set a new record, Brother. One that I don''t think will be broken for a long time." Lu Xu spoke.


    "Really?" Lin Mu asked, wondering if it was urate.


    He could understand if the record was for this tournament, but from the others, he had understood that this was a record for all tournaments that had happened so far.


    "Indeed. Even those that defeated their opponents quickly like Dugu Shanhe need some time to initiate the fight. But you were able to do it instantly." Qian Wen exined. N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "The shortest record before this was one minute and eleven seconds." Luo Liqin informed. "But you did the same in just forty eight seconds."


    "It would make sense if you broke the record by a couple of seconds, but this was much longer than that. Usually, people take at least a minute to even gauge their opponents." Lu Xu chimed in. "I don''t think others would be able to break it for several years toe."


    "Mmhmm¡­ at least not through the normal methods." Qian Wen nodded his head.


    "I just happened to be luck that my opponent was not prepared." Lin Mu replied.


    "Haha, surely!" Lu Xuughed, taking it as a joke.


    They talked for a bit before the announcement for the next cycle was sent.


    "That was fast." Lin Mu held the token.


    "The fights in this cycle all ended quickly, thus they had no need to wait that long." Luo Liqin spoke.


    "Looks like I''ll be fighting this time." Ming Dandan spoke, a look of nervousness on her face. "I''m up against Yao Changying."


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and checked the fights himself, wanting to see how many familiar people there were in it.


    In it there were only three names that were familiar to him, the rest being the other top 32 rankers.


    ''Yao Changying, Ming Dandan and Su Zian. Guess that takes care of all the top 5.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "Have you thought about how you are going to face Yao Changying?" Lu Xu inquired.


    "Since I can''t touch her myself, I''ll be relying on the Mulch Crawl Eater Beast." Ming Dandan spoke with some hesitation.


    It was clear that she wasn''t fully sure of how they would be doing this.


    "With the Mulch Crawl Eater Beast''srge size, it should be easy enough to hide it." Lin Mu replied. "I got a method to make it work." He said after thinking.


    "Really?" Ming Dandan''s face lit up.


    "Yes, you will have to¡­" Lin Mu then went on to describe what she had to do and how she would have to act.


    With Lin Mu assisting during the fight, there shouldn''t be any danger to Ming Dandan herself.


    After nning with her, Lin Mu went over the rest of the ns until the next day, when it was finally time for the fight.


    Lin Mu''s Immortal sense was entering through the nodes of the arrays preparing to help Ming Dandan.


    Lin Mu''s Immortal sense was entering through the nodes of the arrays preparing to help Ming Dandan.


    But before Lin Mu''s immortal sense could fully enter it, a mishap happened¡­

 Chapter 1801 A Mishap

    Chapter 1801 A Mishap


    In the Spatial ne, Ming Dandan and Yao Changying appeared. After appearing, they quick increased the distance between them.


    Yao Changying''s appearance was a bit different from before. She was wearing a white and green robe with floral designs on it while her hair was left open at the back. She was also wearing feathered earrings in both her ears.


    Her long hair swayed lightly in the air while a cold and disinterested look was on her face. Her Hazel Brown eyes looked at Ming Dandan for a moment, before she gripped her sword sheath.


    Yao Changying''s sword seemed to be different too, having switched to a long sword instead of her usual slim sword.


    The two were about two hundred meters apart which gave Ming Dandan enough time to summon the Mulch Crawl eater beast. Till this part, Lin Mu and Ming Dandan had already predicted what would happen.


    But just as Ming Dandan summoned her beast, Yao Changying made her move.


    She directly drew out her sword ayer of ck energy covering it. The ck energy made the light around the area bend and wrap around it. Ming Dandan who saw the energy felt an instinctive fear of it.


    She wasn''t able to do much before Yao Changying stabbed her long sword lightly in the air.


    force striking Ming Dandan, knocking her out instantly!


    The move seemed rather causal and done with little force, and yet it sent forth a ck sword imprint that struck the Mulch Crawl Eater Beast in the blink of an eye.


    The sword imprint pierced through the beast directly, its residual force striking Ming Dandan, knocking her out instantly!


    ~SHUA~


    Ming Dandan and the Mulch Crawl Eater beast both turned into a sh of light before being teleported out.


    "Yao Changying is the winner!" The announcement was heard while the formation screen changed to show the result as well.


    The audience cheered in excitement, but Lin Mu and hispanions did not have the same feelings. Lin Mu looked at it all with concern while Ming Aolian was horrified.


    "I¡­" Ming Aolian was having a hard time to speak.


    "Lu Xu, go with her." Lin Mu spoke, his voice firm.


    "Yes." Without even a moment of hesitation, Lu Xu stood up.


    He went to check up on Ming Dandan right away, while Lin Mu thought about what had just happened.


    "Brother Mu Lin, that¡­" Qian Wen spoke with hesitation.


    "I know¡­ this wasn''t what we nned." Lin Mu replied. "But we''ll just have to go with it." He spoke while several thoughts went through his mind.


    ''Yao Changying changed her techniques?'' That was the biggest thought that was present in Lin Mu''s mind.


    Being a sword user with Sword Intent, Lin Mu could very easily tell that what Yao Changying had used was not her original sword technique. While the stab she used seemed to be rather simple and casual, it wasn''t like that at all.


    ''That sword technique is certainly not the same as before¡­ the energy and aura are all different.'' Lin Mu analyzed. ''Her original was a lot more gentle, but this was made for killing.''


    This made Lin Mu think about what else had changed about Yao Changying and he realized it wasn''t just her sword technique.


    ''She changed the way she dresses too¡­'' Lin Mu realized.


    He had ignored it at first, as there weren''t normally any implications to that, but now that she had suddenly used a sword technique that was specialized for killing.


    Since Lin Mu''s immortal sense hadn''t entered the Spatial ne yet, he couldn''t tell whether Yao Changying had killing intent with the sword technique, but his gut was telling him that it was there.


    "We might have to change our strategy a bit more¡­" Lin Mu muttered. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    So far, they had nned their tactics ording to how Yao Changying had behaved, as well as the techniques she had used. Of course, Lin Mu knew that she hadn''t actually used all her skills, as most of her fights ended quickly.


    But now, Lin Mu was sure that there were a lot more changes than just that.


    ''We might just have to trash all the original strategies perhaps¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Ming Dandan was also unable to use the bracelet to weaken Yao Changying, which will make it harder for otherster.''


    He wondered whether it would be enough for Ming Aolian and Lu Xu to use it. Another factor that worried him was that as they went further in the tournament, the higher the chances of hispanions facing someone other than Yao Changying as an opponent that would be too strong for them to face.


    If they faced someone like Dugu Shanhe, Feng Baxing, or even Su Zian, Lin Mu knew they wouldn''t be able to win even with his help.


    ''Hopefully, the Temple keeps on matching the stronger contestants against the weaker ones. That way, they''ll have a higher chance of going against Yao Changying. Though there is an equally high chance of them being matched against someone among the top 5 too.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Though having thought about all this, Lin Mu was reminded of something.


    ''The change in Yao Changying¡­ could it be due to the bracelet that Qian Wen used?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    It seemed to be the biggest factor that could have affected her, as other than that, there were no major things that could affect her.


    ''Crown Princess Shang said that it was intended to weaken the cultivation technique that Yao Changying obtained after sacrificing others¡­ but what if it only made it hard for her to hide it?'' Lin Mu pondered on it. ''If so, then that sword technique she used against Ming Dandan might be a part of the sacrificial power.''


    The realization was concerning to Lin Mu, and he wondered if the Crown Princess was hiding something.


    ''I''ll have to talk to them¡­'' Lin Mu realized.


    But for now, he needed to focus on the two matches that were still ongoing.


    He let his Immortal sense enter the Spatial ns and started his routine.

 Chapter 1802 Top 16

    Chapter 1802 Top 16


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a long breath as he finished his work.


    The cycle of matches was over, and he hadted a decent profit through the bets. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "What are we to do now, Brother Mu Lin?" Luo Liqin asked.


    With the sudden defeat of Ming Dandan, the atmosphere had be a bit tense and he could tell that Lin Mu was thinking deeply about it too.


    "We''ll just have to intensify our efforts." Lin Mu said. "I''ll also try to improve and see if I can enter the Spatial nes faster." He added, knowing that on some level it was also his fault.


    If Lin Mu had been able to enter the Spatial ne faster, Ming Dandan might have had a chance to use the bracelet on Yao Changying.


    "Can you still do that? You are already very fast, Brother Mu Lin." Luo Liqin didn''t know if it was even possible at this point.


    "I have to try." Lin Mu replied, not knowing whether it was possible or not.


    He had already improved a lot from before and had a speed that was astonishing to most if they knew. But he still wanted to push the limits and see just how far it could be taken.


    Luo Liqin gave a nod and returned to his work while Lin Mu simply focused on the arrays. Even if the spatial nes were closed down right now, Lin Mu could still observe the arrays and find out faster ways of entering it.


    If he didn''t try that, he wouldn''t know if he could improve or not. Every minute counted and Lin Mu had quite some time to go till the next set cycle of matches tomorrow.


    And while he was doing this, Ming Aolian, Qian Wen and Lu Xu were out with Ming Dandan. She was still unconscious at the healing pavilion. Though from the report that Lin Mu had gotten, her injuries had already been healed for the most part.


    The Mulch Crawl Eater beast was the one who was injured the most and had dampened the force for Ming Dandan. Though being a robust beast, it would be recovering without any lingering injuries. Though on some level, the Beast Qi that Lin Mu had given it had also been helping.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense constantly scanned the Formation arrays high up in the sky and the links they had with the spatial ne. He continued to test the methods of entering it as well as any vulnerabilities that he could continue to exploit.


    And just like that, it was the next day.


    It was Lu Xu''s turn to fight today, and Lin Mu was extra attentive for it. His effort in improving the infiltration speed had shown some effects as Lin Mu managed to cut down the time by a few seconds. The improvement might be minor, but it was still an improvement.


    Though for Lu Xu, there wasn''t as much of an hurry as he managed to hold up for five minutes against his opponent. Chances of his win would be slim though as his opponent was still at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    Only by Lin Mu''s interference did he finally manage to win.


    After that, Lin Mu did the same for Ming Aolian the next day, securing her win as well. In this cycle though, there was another acquaintance of Lin Mu that had a match.


    This was none other than Chang Fa and he was up against a Fifth Tribtion Stage immortal, too. He was unable to ovee this disparity in strength and ended up losing in this match. Though there was no hint of sorry on Chang Fa''s face, as he had already secured a reputation for his n.


    In fact, even his opponent seemed a bit scared of him, showing respect.


    With that, this stage came to an end as well and there were only 16 contestants left which meant that it would only take two days to finish this stage.


    It made Lin Mu and hispanions a bit stressed as they knew, Lin Mu might not be able to help them much this time as there was a high chance they would have fights at the same time.


    All of them were gathered in the Spring Valley Restaurant, when the fights were announced.


    ~Sigh~


    And upon looking at the match ups, Lin Mu couldn''t help but let out a sigh.


    Ming Aolian looked at Lin Mu with a hint of disappointed on her face.


    "Looks like I won''t be of help to you brother Mu Lin." She spoke. "I''m up against Su Zian."


    "It''s fine. We can''t do much here." Lin Mu replied, trying to pacify them.


    Lin Mu had mostly understood what the Temple was trying to do now. Looking at the match ups, he observed that they were trying to really finish off the weaker contestants.


    And among all of them, Ming Aolian easily ranked the lowest.


    Her being matched up with Su Zian was simply a game of luck. Though at the same time, it made Lin Mu a bit relieved as he knew she wouldn''t be affected too much from the fight.


    Unlike Yao Changying, Su Zian was of the honorable orthodox path and would fight openly. Ming Aolian''s defeat was confirmed, but it would not be a troublesome one.


    Other than her, Feng Baxing, Yao Changying and Childe Wildfire all had fights in the first cycle. And just as Lin Mu had hypothesized, their opponents were all those at the Fifth tribtion stage and were lower ranked.


    This left, Lin Mu, Lu Xu, and Dugu Shanhe for the next cycle''s matches.


    "We all expected that the ns might not go our way after a certain point. We were simply hoping that we would be able to take advantage." Lu Xu spoke after a minute of silence. "We simply have to ept it that we''vee this far."


    "Indeed. Lu Xu is right. There is no use in over thinking about it now." Qian Wen chimed in.


    "We just have to give it our best." Lin Mu agreed.

 Chapter 1803 Fast Prep

    Chapter 1803 Fast Prep


    The first cycle of matches in the top 16 stages went just as Lin Mu had guessed.


    Feng Baxing, Yao Changying, Childe Wildfire and Su Zian all won their fights. Ming Aolian lost as expected, albeit a lot more honorably.


    Su Zian was actually a bit impressed by the Sky Soar Wolf''s performance and had not seen a beast react to his moves like that before. He even gave Ming Aolian a little praise as he attributed it to the work of the beast tamer.


    She didn''t suffer any injuries either as Ting had tanked all of them. Though the wolf would be able to recover them after a week of rest.


    Lin Mu didn''t have much work to do in this cycle other than focusing on how to enter the arrays faster. He also took the opportunity to observe Yao Changying closely, but couldn''t analyze much as she ended her fight very quickly.


    Though her opponent still managed to survive longer than Ming Dandan, showing the sheer difference they had in terms of cultivation base. The matches for the next cycle were also announced, which included Lin Mu and Lu Xu along with the remaining contestants.


    Lin Mu''s opponent was a fifth Tribtion Stage cultivator named Yin Yuan. She was the only other female contestant left in the tournament now other than Yao Changying, since Ming Aolian had been defeated.


    "You''re up against Yin Yuan?" Luo Liqin was surprised to see Lin Mu''s match up though.


    "Yeah, is there a problem?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Have you read about her before?" Luo Liqin questioned first, hesitation on his face.


    "A bit¡­ she''s an alchemist with the Wood Element, if I recall correctly." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s just the surface of it." Luo Liqin spoke. "There are rumors that her specialty isn''t alchemy but rather Poison!"


    "Poison?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "Though she won''t be able to use that in the Tournament will she?"


    "She can as long as it doesn''t cause long term harm." Lu Xu chimed in. "The poison cultivation techniques are still considered valid by the Temple after all. You just cannot use fatal ones as the temple might not be able to save the contestants in time." He exined.


    "I see¡­ though she hasn''t used them so far, has she?" Lin Mu recalled some of her fights. "Almost all of them ended quickly."


    "Yes,she didn''t, but that''s also because she hasn''t had the need to use poison so far." Luo Liqin stated.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll try to finish it quick, then." Lin Mu replied. "I''ll have to assist you in your fight too, after all." He said, looking at Lu Xu.


    "You just focus on your fight, Brother Mu Lin." Lu Xu replied. "I''ll try to not be a burden."


    "Mmhmm, I have faith in you." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Lu Xu had improved the most among Lin Mu''spanions so far and his cultivation base was also close to the next stage. If he wished, Lu Xu could actually trigger it himself.


    Though now wasn''t exactly a good time to do it.


    If it hade at an earlier time, Lin Mu might have been able to assist him somewhat. But it was too risky to do it now.


    ~humm~


    And as they continued to talk, everyone''s tokens hummed, notifying them it was time to head out.


    "Let''s go," Lin Mu said, standing up.


    "Mmhmm," Lu Xu nodded his head.


    "I''ll handle the bets as decided, Brother Mu Lin." Luo Liqin assured.


    With that done, Lin Mu quickly headed out with Lu Xu and went to the Tournament grounds. There were tens of thousands of people waiting there already and contestants had started to arrive.


    There, Lin Mu saw his opponent as well as Lu Xu''s. Feeling curious, he scanned them with his Immortal sense, trying to get a gauge on them.


    ''Not much from Yin Yuan¡­ though the other one¡­'' Lin Mu noticed some peculiarities from Lu Xu''s opponent.


    He observed him a bit closely while making sure that he wouldn''t be detected and discovered something.


    ''The Qi flow in his left arm is weaker¡­ Seems like he still has an internal injury that hasn''t healed fully.'' Lin Mu realized this was a possible advantage.


    As such, he lightly whispered into Lu Xu''s ear, making sure only he could hear it.


    "Your opponent''s left arm is injured. Use it to your advantage." He said before quickly moving away, not wanting to let anyone get suspicious.


    Lu Xu kept his expression neutral upon hearing that, as he knew any change could be scrutinized by the audience.


    "All the contestants are now here. The teleportation gate shall be opened!" The elder overseeing the match announced.


    ~SHUA~


    The formations activated and Lin Mu felt the Spatial fluctuations in the area.


    ~huu~


    "Time to fight¡­" Lin Mu muttered, taking a deep breath.


    Then in the next second, he walked into the formation, turning into a sh of light.


    And as soon as he appeared in the Teleportation Channel, he extended his Immortal sense to the maximum and also activated his Spatial Perception. Next, he withdrew Wonder Seeker and directly prepared an attack.


    Since he needed to be there for Lu Xu''s fight, he wished to end his in the arrow.


    He infused it in a ratio of 1:2 as that was the maximum he could quickly. N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    ''I used 10% of my immortal Qist time and I thought about reducing the quantity¡­ but the opponent this time is stronger so I''ll just increase it for the sake of safety.'' Lin Mu decided as he held Wonder Seeker.


    Immortal Qi continued to pour into the bow while and arrow condensed on it.


    But this time he did a little change. Not only did he inject attribute less Immortal Qi, but he also used his Metal elemental Immortal Qi in the arrow.


    He infused it in a ratio of 1:2 as that was the maximum he could channel in such a short time.


    He specifically chose Metal Qi too, since he already knew Yin Yuan was proficient in the Wood Element.


    By the time Lin Mu arrived in the Spatial ne, the bow and arrow were already prepared.

 Chapter 1804 Lin Mu Versus Yin Yuan

    Chapter 1804 Lin Mu Versus Yin Yuan


    Upon reaching the Spatial ne, Lin Mu''s immortal sense immediately locked onto Yin Yuan''s position.


    ~TWANG~


    Lin Mu released the bowstring, letting the arrow fly.


    The arrow made from a mix of Metal elemental Immortal Qi and normal immortal Qi was silvery grey in color. It flew at such a fast speed that the audience watching the scene only saw the sudden appearance of a silvery grey blur.


    The elder who was monitoring it all, narrowed his eyes, feeling stunned.


    ''Just how fast is this kid?'' he couldn''t help but think.


    But this was merely the start of it all. When the arrow had traveled half way across, it turned into hundreds of needles that showered onto Yin Yuan!


    This was actually a Metal elemental technique that Lin Mu had obtained a long time ago back in Xiao Fan world. The Technique was called as Thousand Needle Rain. It wasn''t even an Immortal Qi skill, but rather a Spirit Qi skill.


    But with how simple it was along with a few adjustments, Lin Mu easily adapted it for Immortal Qi. He hadn''t used it with Immortal Qi before, as there was no use for Lin Mu to do so, having better options. But using it with Wonder Seeker gave it an amplification that took it to the next level.


    Yin Yuan had barely felt the surroundings change, when she was pelted by hundreds of needles.


    "AAAHH!" She let out a startled cry but was unable to put up a defense on her own.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    But surprisingly the sound of something being struck repeatedly was heard. The shower of the metal needles made it hard for people to see it, but Lin Mu''s immortal sense quickly realized what it was.


    ''She has a defensive Immortal tool¡­'' Lin Mu noticed, furrowing his brows.


    ~huu~


    "Looks like she was more prepared than others¡­ Getting an Immortal tool to defend for her." Lin Mu muttered, pulling on the bowstring again.


    He charged another arrow with just 5% of his Immortal Qi as it was the fastest way to do it. He watched the pelting needles continue to shower onto Yin Yuan, a barrier protecting her.


    The barrier was made from an Immortal tool that was in the form of a Pendant and was hanging on Yin Yuan''s neck. From the immortal Qi fluctuations that the Pendant was emitting, Lin Mu estimated it to be a high grade immortal tool.


    Only something like that would be able to defend against a fast attack like his. Most others would need more time to react and defend against a barrage of attacks. After all, the singr arrow had turned into hundreds of needles.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The defensive pendant had its limitation too, and the nging sounds soon turned into cracking sounds. The barrage of metal needles damaged the barrier beyond its limits and finally broke it!


    ~SHATTER~


    The barrier turned into motes of light, before scattering into nothingness.


    Yin Yuan looked at it with a stunned expression.


    ''It broke already? It should havested for the entire fight!'' Yin Yuan was having a hard time coping.


    Thankfully for her, the barrier of the Pendant could regenerate automatically and it wasn''t a permanent thing. The bad news though was that it would take at least a day for it to regenerate.


    This was certainly not enough for her to use in her fight against Lin Mu. And much to her displeasure, Lin Mu was fully intending to take advantage of it.


    ~TWANG~


    Another arrow was short, this time looking like it was made out of ss. It wasposed of normal Immortal Qi and had taken up 5% of Lin Mu''s immortal Qi stores. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    "DAMMIT!" Yin Yuan cursed and threw out six pills.


    Among the six pills, three were red and three were blue in color. One could see the symbols for ''fire'' on the red pills and ''water'' on the blue pills.


    "Hexapole Repulsion Pill Technique!" she chanted after throwing them.


    The six pills floated in the air under her control and were arranged in an alternating pattern. Next, they released their energy, making them spin in a circle. The red pills pushed the blue, and vice a versa, causing them to spin in a circuit.


    The whole process happened in the blink of an eye, and the arrow was just a few meters away from them when it waspleted.


    The sh of fire and water energies created an area of repulsion that prevented anything from getting past it easily.


    ~SHUNG~


    The ssy arrow slowed down as it passed through the field of the Hexapole Repulsion Pill technique. It prevented Yin Yuan from getting hit, but the arrow was stilling towards her.


    "How has it not stopped yet?" Yin Yuan couldn''t understand.


    She could tell that the arrow was weaker than the previous attack, but it had still not dissipated from her technique.


    ''I don''t have many pills for the Hexapole Repulsion Pill technique. And other methods won''t work if all his attacks are this strong.'' Yin Yuan thought, her expression tense.


    With her pendant barrier gone, and the Hexapole Repulsion Pill technique having been used as well, Yin Yuan was fast running out of options.


    "At least I can still see him," Yin Yuan muttered as she made her next move.


    She first moved out of the path of the arrow before throwing out two pills that were ck in color.


    ~HISS~


    The two pills rapidly sublimated in the air, turning into clouds of ck gas that rapidly spread in the area.


    In just five seconds, it had already covered the area that Lin Mu was in as well.


    "Guess he can''t react well after those strong attacks." Yin Yuan thought as a smirk appeared on her face.


    ~SHING~


    But just as she thought that the sound of a sword being drawn was heard.


    "What!?" Yin Yuan turned around, only to see a glint of light.


    ~HUALA~


    Then in the next second, her vision was filled with a yellow pine tree that struck her body.

 Chapter 1805 Insufficient Defenses

    Chapter 1805 Insufficient Defenses


    Yin Yuan was someone who did not underestimate her opponents and would look into them. She had prepared quite a bit after learning that she was fighting Lin Mu who had defeated his previous opponent in record time.


    She was wary of Lin Mu''s powerful attack and knew that it could happen with her too. Thus, she prepared a defensive high grade Immortal tool that would be able to protect against it immediately if she didn''t react in time.


    But much to her shock, the barrier didn''tst and yielded against the very first attack. Not just that, but it seemed to be different than the one Lin Mu had used in his previous fight.


    The subsequent attack of Lin Mu also caught her off guard and if not for the fact that it was weaker, the Hexapole Repulsion Pill technique might not have been able to slow it down.


    In the first ce, the Hexapole Reputation Pill technique wasn''t actually abat skill. It was used in alchemical pill refinement and was used to harmonize materials of opposing elements.


    But Yin Yuan adapted it forbat and used its repulsive properties as an attack. Of course, it came with its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that it could be deployed rapidly and wasn''t dependent on Yin Yuan''s own Immortal Qi stores.


    The disadvantages were that once it was deployed, it couldn''t be controlled much and its area of effect was also fixed. This was why Yin Yuan had thrown the toxic ck pills to prevent Lin Mu from getting close and also poisoning him.


    But this disadvantage was what Lin Mu grasped and overcame the Hexapole Repulsion Pill technique by simply going around. He didn''t care about the ck toxic cloud as his body was able to handle it without much problem.


    If his body could handle Baleful Energies to a certain level, this toxic ck cloud was still tolerable as long as he didn''t breathe it in. At his current condition, it only made his skin itch.


    As such, Lin Mu simply rushed through the cloud and circled to the back of Yin Yuan. Even though he didn''t use his spatial skills, his own speed was fast enough to catch the woman off guard.


    And once he was behind her, Lin Mu just shed out with Afternoon Pine.


    The sword''s skill was also activated, creating a pine tree made out of Metal elemental immortal Qi.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAA!" Yin Yuan let out a loud cry as she was struck by the pine tree.


    The Metal immortal Qi turned the pine tree sharp, with each of its leave feeling like a razor on her body. Her defenses were pierced and long cuts were left all over her body.


    But that wasn''t all, as the tree continued to grow and struck her with its trunk!


    That was the end for Yin Yuan, as her body simply turned into a sh of light and disappeared.


    ~huu~


    "And there we go¡­" Lin Mu let out a breath of relief.


    that Yin Yuan had better protection than his previous opponent.


    And while Lin Mu had managed to ovee it, he still needed to The defeat of Yin Yuan had been quick but not as quick as the previous one.


    ''Guess people are starting to catch on.'' Lin Mu didn''t miss the fact that Yin Yuan had better protection than his previous opponent. N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    And while Lin Mu had managed to ovee it, he still needed to put more effort. Though he also had some luck on his side, as the poison that Yin Yuan used didn''t work on Lin Mu as long as he didn''t breathe it in.


    For others though, the ck cloud of poison would directly enter their body through the skin. And at the same time, it would also have a corrosive effect, causing great pain and damage to the cultivator.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A few momentster the teleportation process started for Lin Mu as well, sending him back to the tform.


    "Daoist Mu Lin is the winner!" the elder overseeing the match finally announced.


    ~WOOOO~


    Lin Mu was met with a cacophony of cheers as the audience cried out.


    He didn''t pay much attention to them though, instead looking around him first. Yin Yuan was being carried out already while three fights were still ongoing.


    ''Dugu Shanhe hasn''t finished his fight yet either¡­ surprising.'' Lin Mu thought as he watched the formation screen.


    Lin Mu also saw that Lu Xu was busy in his own match, though he wasn''t exactly fighting right now. Instead, he and his opponent were observing each other while keeping some distance.


    They seemed to be wary about attacking first and were very careful.


    ''This works in our favor¡­ Just draw it out Lu Xu¡­'' Lin Mu silently thought.


    He started to make his way to the Spring Valley restaurant while extending his Immortal sense towards the arrays in the sky. He couldn''t afford to lose even a second of time and knew he needed to enter the Spatial ne as soon as possible.


    ncing at the other screen, Lin Mu saw that Dugu Shanhe was in a simr situation. He was standing still, while staring at his opponent who wasn''t moving at all.


    The two were locked in some sort of staring contest, though Lin Mu knew that the man was using his hypnotic skill.


    ''Considering how long his opponent hassted, it''s clear that they are resisting it¡­'' Lin Mu realized.


    Dugu Shanhe''s opponent was at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm as well, though not exactly on the same level as him.


    But even then, Dugu Shanhe''s technique didn''t manage to knock his foe out immediately. He had to stare at his opponent for two minutes before he finally knocked him out.


    By this time, Lin Mu''s Immortal sense had already entered a quarter of the way through the nodes.


    Lu Xu had also exchanged a couple of blows with his opponent, and was holding on just fine.


    "Dugu Shanhe is the winner!" The second announcement caused the crowd to cheer again, while Lin Mu continued to infiltrate the arrays.

 Chapter 1806 Plane Merger

    Chapter 1806 ne Merger


    By the time Lin Mu reached the Spring Valley Restaurant, his Immortal sense had already managed to infiltrate the Spatial ne and had arrived where Lu Xu was.


    "You''re back, Brother Mu Lin." Luo Liqin turned around to see the door open.


    "Mmhmm, let''s get to work." Lin Mu said as he sat down.


    Luo Liqin adjusted the formation screen to focus on Lu Xu as practiced, making it easier for Lin Mu to watch it all.


    Once Lin Mu could see it all, he quickly began chanting.


    Lu Xu''s opponent started showing dys in his movement, making the man understand his opportunity hade.


    ''Just in time¡­'' Lu Xu immediately attacked the foe.


    A few minutester, Lu Xu left the Spatial ne, having been decided as the victor.


    "And there we go¡­" Lin Mu said as he withdrew his immortal sense.


    "That was good Brother Mu Lin." Luo Liqin praised. "Your fight against Yin Yuan, I mean." He added.


    "It was a bit unexpected though. I didn''t think she would use a High Grade immortal tool to defend." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed. But we can also think of it as a warning for us." Qian Wen spoke. "We can now assume that our opponents are also wary of us and will be observing you in detail." He stated.


    "You''re correct." Lin Mu nodded. "We shouldn''t get ahead of ourselves." He agreed.


    The matches in this cycle had alsoe to an end, with the next stage beginning tomorrow.


    "Can''t believe we''re already so close to the end of the tournament," Qian Wen muttered.


    "Mmhmm, just three more days left." Luo Liqin nodded his head.


    "Has there been any information about the uing rounds?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It has only been confirmed that the matches will happen one after the other, instead of all at once." Luo Liqin replied. "Though same as before, it will all end in a day."


    "I see¡­ that is good." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "The only thing we don''t know yet is the order of the matches." Luo Liqin spoke.


    "If we consider the past tournaments, it might be ording to who won first." Qian Wen chimed in. "Those that fought and won earlier would also be ced earlier in the ranks."


    "There''s always a chance they would consider something else." Luo Liqin stated.


    "Maybe¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he looked up at the tournament grounds in the distance.


    The open balcony gave him a wide view of the city as well as the millions of people currently present within it. While looking at it though, Lin Mu felt a faint change in the sky.


    "Hmm?" Lin Mu raised his brows, feeling something strange. "They''re¡­ Changing the arrays." He muttered.


    Qian Wen who heard it, looked at the sky too, but was unable to see anything.


    "What are they doing, Brother Mu Lin?" Luo Liqin inquired.


    "Give me a little time¡­" Lin Mu said as he closed his eyes.


    Next he activated his Spatial perception and extended his Immortal sense high up into the sky. There, Lin Mu could feel the runes starting to change. But the change was such that the runes themselves weren''t being erased.


    Instead, the formations were being separated. By keeping the runes intact, the arrays were being dismantled by disjointing the formations.


    ''What are they doing?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He focused on the Spatial nes themselves using his Spatial perception and finally saw the scene.


    The boundary of the Spatial nes started getting closer before touching each other. Then, the boundaries started to melt into each other!


    "Wait a second¡­" Lin Mu finally realized what they were doing.


    He checked the arrays and saw that they were indeed being merged as well, just that they process was on arger scale.


    The four smaller arrays that formed the Spatial nes were eventually condensed together, turning it into one massive array.


    The process took about an hour, and was a lot faster than making an entirely new Spatial ne.


    "They merged the four Spatial nes together." Lin Mu revealed surprising Qian Wen and Luo Liqin.


    "They did?" Qian Wen was surprised while Luo Liqin understood something.


    "Looks like this is in line with the match format." Luo Liqin spoke. "Since they won''t be having 4 matches at once, they only need 1 spatial ne." He stated.


    "Seems like it. Though the Spatial nes this time will berge." Lin Mu could see it already. "Evenrger than if we add up the space of the 4 nes." He sensed the qualitative change that had happened.


    The merger of the four arrays resulted in a greater change. Instead of the space increasing in an additive way, it had instead increased multiplicatively!


    Rather than being 4 times the space of a single Spatial ne, it was now 8 times!


    ''Is this due to the overall stability and efficiency improving?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He knew that having four spatial arrays close to each other like that can cause strain on the Spatial Fabric. This could result in the loss of some energy as well as lowering the overall capabilities of the array.


    Of course, it could bepensated by better control and expansive formations. But then again, in the short time that the temple had to set these up, they needed topromise on some level. Though if they wished to do it, they very well had the capabilities for it, as could be seen now.


    ~Creak~ Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    The door of the room opened again, and Lu Xu entered along with the Ming Sisters.


    "I brought them along." He spoke.


    "Are you okay?" Lin Mu asked the two.


    "We''re fine now." Ming Aolian nodded her head.


    "The Mulch Crawl Eater Beast is fine too." Ming Dandan replied. "Though I''m sorry, I couldn''t help you." She apologized.


    "It''s not your fault." Lin Mu shook his head lightly. "Your opponent was simply too strong."


    "Brother Mu Lin is right." Luo Liqin agreed. "If Yao Changying was that easy to deal with, we wouldn''t be having problems."

 Chapter 1807 Clay And High Elders Words

    Chapter 1807 y And High Elder''s Words


    After Lin Mu and others consoled Ming Dandan for a bit Lu Xu reminded him of something.


    "Brother Mu Lin, have you gotten your reward yet?" Lu Xu asked.


    "I haven''t. I came straight here, after the fight since I had to assist you." Lin Mu replied.


    He had almost forgotten about the reward too, as he was too engrossed in the arrays.


    "Then you should go and get it now. Everyone is hurrying to prepare for tomorrow as the matches will be the toughest ever." Lu Xu replied. "I heard that the bets are increasing too."


    "Indeed." Luo Liqin agreed. "The overall odds have risen."


    "Everyone will be wanting to get stronger before that. Or at the very least, they would want to return to their peak condition after today''s fight." Qian Wen chimed in.


    "I''ll also be cultivating till then. I feel like I''ve gotten more insights after fighting." Lu Xu stated.


    "Mmhmm, you should do that. Depending on how it goes, your fight mighteter." Lin Mu agreed.


    "The rewards this time are better too." Lu Xu added.


    "Alright, I''ll go get it now." Lin Mu replied before standing up.


    From thest reward, Lin Mu didn''t know if it would be that good for him. While there was certainly value in the rewards, as could be seen from the Triple Refined Immortal gold.


    It was valuable to many, but Lin Mu had an entire chestful of them. He also didn''t have an immediate use for them. Rather than them, something like Faux Vine Metal ore was a lot more useful for him.


    Of course, he didn''t mind the Immortal stones and pills.


    The Immortal Stones were used up by Lin Mu rather quickly as he was using them to restore his Immortal Qi to the full.


    In his fight against Yin Yuan, he had used up a little over twenty percent of his Immortal Qi stores, and he had used the stones to restore it to full again so that he would be ready for the fight anytime.


    After all, there was always a chance that they might put him in the first match.


    While thinking of all this, Lin Mu reached the Victor''s pavilion.


    There he quickly got his reward which was just more High Grade immortal stones, some healing pills as well as an additional material reward. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    Though it looked to be rather unassuming.


    In Lin Mu''s hand was a brown material that was packed in a small box.


    "Mud?" Lin Mu thought of the first thing that came to his mind.


    "That¡­ is actually y." Xukong''s voice was heard.


    "What kind of y is it though?" Lin Mu could feel fine traces of Earth Dao Traces as well as some Wood Dao Traces from it.


    He certainly didn''t think that the Temple would just give normal mud as a reward.


    "That should be the Wood Breath y." Xukong replied. "It is used in Alchemy and is a harmonizing ingredient for pills that utilize both Earth and Wood Elemental materials. Though it can also be used for some Immortal tools." He exined.


    "Hmmm¡­" Hearing that though, an idea appeared in Lin Mu''s mind. "Since this can be used for immortal tools, heating this y should be fine right?" he asked.


    "Yes¡­" Xukong didn''t know what Lin Mu was getting at.


    "Then I should be able to make a cup from it, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "A cup?" Xukong was surprised.


    "Yes. Considering the Dao Traces of Earth and Wood in it, I think a wine cup or even a teacup it could enhance the effects of whatever is drank. Or at the very least, it would preserve the effects." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing all that, Xukong didn''t know if what Lin Mu was doing was opulent or simple.


    On some level using Wood Breath y to make a cup seemed extravagant as it was a valuable material used in alchemy. But if one thought about it in another way, using it in pills was an exhaustive use. The Wood Breath y would be consumed permanently.


    Turning it into a cup would keep it as a fixed resource and one might actually obtain more benefits over the long term.


    "Why do you want to make it into a cup though?" Xukong couldn''t help but ask.


    "I want to gift it to the Saintess." Lin Mu answered. "I think it''ll be Xukong didn''t know whether tough or cry after hearing that.


    "Hah, alright." Xukong simply chuckled. "You can turn it into a cup¡­ good with the wine that is being brewed." He thought of it as an apaniment.


    Xukong didn''t know whether tough or cry after hearing that.


    "Hah, alright." Xukong simply chuckled. "You can turn it into a cup¡­ though you''ll need strong high quality mes to do it."


    "Will Little Shrubby''s mes be enough?" Lin Mu asked.


    "They will work, but the end product might not be as good. Little Shrubby''s mes have a lot of raw power." Xukong replied. "It needs fine control, the likes of which are present in an alchemist me¡­ the Qi me."


    Hearing that Lin Mu furrowed his brows. He knew how to use Qi mes and had even used them a long time ago.


    "I guess I can try." Lin Mu muttered.


    Thest time Lin Mu had used them was back in the Three Cauldrons Peony sect. Since then, Lin Mu hade a long way, and wondered how well his Qi me would be like.


    ''Guess I''ll try it once I''m free again.'' Lin Mu thought before putting the box of y in the storage.


    With that done, Lin Mu was about to leave the pavilion when an old man appeared.


    "Hoho, seems like you''ve managed toe quite far." A familiar voice greeted Lin Mu.


    "High Elder Juxue¡­ Greetings." Lin Mu cupped his hands in salute.


    It was the man who had informed Lin Mu of the interference in the Tournament.


    "Mmm, keep up your performance. The temple will eagerly look forward to your aplishments." High Elder Juxue said before disappearing.


    With the High Elder gone, Lin Mu felt a bit confused.


    ''Did hee to just tell me that?'' Lin Mu wondered.

 Chapter 1808 Dine And Dash

    Chapter 1808 Dine And Dash


    Feeling perplexed at the High Elder''s words, Lin Mu felt confused before he left the Victor''s pavilion.


    He made his way back to the Spring Valley Restaurant when he encountered a certain person.


    Her pale skin and pink lips were striking while her white robes only entuated her appearance. An icicle like ornament held her hair in ce, while two inch tall heels cked across the gstones.


    The woman came to a stop in front of Lin Mu and stared at him with her deep brown eyes.


    Lin Mu was surprised by this, as it was quite clear the woman had sought him out.


    "Daoist Mei Nienzhen¡­ Do you need something?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Here," Mei Nienzhen extended her hand, seemingly holding something in her closed fist.


    It prompted Lin Mu to extend his hand too on which the white robed woman dropped a few cold items.


    "Huh? Frozen Berries?" Lin Mu looked at the four items in his hand.


    They looked like white berries that had been encased in ice.


    "Rimed Pearl Berries." Mei Nienzhen spoke.


    "For me?" Lin Mu still didn''t understand the woman.


    "Eat it." She stated.


    "Uh¡­ now?" Lin Mu started to feel strange.


    "Yes, now." Mei Nienzhen insisted.


    Lin Mu felt a mix of suspicion and amusement, but the expressionless face of Mei Nienzhen only made him switch to confusion. He secretly scanned the berries with his immortal sense, finding them to be fine.


    ''I can''t feel any energy from them, because of the ice encasing them though.'' Lin Mu noticed.


    "Eat." Mei Nienzhen spoke again, seeing that Lin Mu hadn''t moved.


    Feelingpelled, Lin Mu put a berry in his mouth feeling the chill spread from it.


    It was the same as eating an ice cube. But if it were a mortal eating this, their skull would probably be frozen solid from the chill. Lin Mu was sure that the berries were an immortal fruit.


    The ice encasing the berries melted away in his mouth in a few seconds, and the white berries within them were finally released.


    Surprisingly though, the berries themselves had retained their soft and bouncy texture. The ice that was encasing them hadn''t actually frozen them solidly into a hard piece.


    Biting into it, Lin Mu could feel the sweet vor that was simr to that of ripe apple juice mixed with a bit of lemon.


    ~gulp~


    He ate the rest as well and swallowed them down, feeling the immortal Qi spreading from his stomach. There was also Ice Elemental Immortal Qi mixed in with normal Immortal Qi, but it didn''t harm him in any way.


    Done with eating the berries, Lin Mu looks at the white robed woman, who was still staring at him.


    "So¡­ what did you¡ª" before Lin Mu could say anything though, the woman suddenly spoke.


    "Now you feed me."


    ¡­


    At the Spring Vally Restaurant, Lin Mu''spanions were rather surprised to see another person apanying him.


    "Brother Mu Lin, this¡­" Luo Liqin was surprised at the unexpected visitor.


    "Daoist Mei Nienzhen¡­" Ming Aolian recognized the woman.


    "Why¡­ is she with you here?" Ming Dandan asked.


    Lu Xu on the other hand, just had a smirk on his face.


    "Uh, I met her on the way here." Lin Mu replied. "And she came here with me." He didn''t know exactly how to exin the situation.


    After the interaction with High Elder Juxue, Lin Mu had an even stranger interaction with one of his former opponents leaving him, hard to understand it all.


    He hadn''t exactly seen or interacted with her since fighting her and wondered how had she even found him.


    ''Did she follow me from the Tournament grounds?'' Lin Mu wondered as that seemed to be the most likely option.


    He was suspicious of her at first, but her expressionless facebined with her non-threatening aura made it hard to think that for long.


    Mei Nienzhen kept her expression the same and looked at the others in the room.


    "Greetings." She said before quickly taking a seat at the table.


    Next, she started eating the snacks that were kept on the table.


    With how long Lin Mu and hispanions stayed in the Spring Valley Restaurant, the waiters knew well enough to keep snacks and drinks ready for them. As soon as the food ran out in the room, a servant would appear with more.


    On some level, it was also helping them restore their energy stores as well as improve them. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    To Lin Mu, it might not affect much but to others who had lower stores of Immortal Qi, it was a great help.


    And Mei Nienzhen seemed to be taking full advantage of that.


    Her hands moved nonstop as she stuffed food into her mouth. Though she was also eating it fast enough that she didn''t need to slow down the pace.


    Qian Wen who saw it, couldn''t help butpare it to Lin Mu''s own way of ''eating''.


    ''Though I guess this is better than that.'' Qian Wen thought.


    The woman ended up finishing all the things on the table before standing up.


    "Thank you." Mei Nienzhen said and gave a little bow before leaving.


    Lin Mu and the rest could only watch in an awkward state of shock, as the woman hurriedly walked away.


    "What¡­ just happened?" Luo Liqin felt confused.


    Even Lu Xu who had a smirk on his face, felt baffled at this.


    Ming Aolian looked at the vanishing figure of the white robed woman and then back at the empty table.


    "Did she¡­ Dine and dash?" Ming Aolian muttered.


    "She did¡­" Ming Dandan muttered.


    ''But we aren''t paying for this either,'' Qian Wen said in his mind.


    "Hmm¡­ Strange woman." was all Lin Mu could say at Mei Nienzhen''s sudden departure. "She really just wanted to eat."


    "Did she ask you that brother Mu Lin." Luo Liqin questioned.


    "She gave me some berries to eat, then said I should give her food too." Lin Mu answered directly.


    "What berries did she give you?" Lu Xu asked in doubt.


    "She called them Rimed Pearl Berries." Lin Mu answered.


    "AHAHAHA!" in the next moment, Lu Xu burst out inughter.

 Chapter 1809 New Matchups And An Unfortunate Man

    Chapter 1809 New Matchups And An Unfortunate Man


    "Are they valuable or something?" Ming Dandan asked seeing Lu Xu''s reaction.


    "The opposite." Qian Wen shook his head. "They grow everywhere in the territory of the Iridescence Peak."


    "Hahaha, yeah. They are sold for quite cheap. Even here, you can get them for a few low grade Immortal stones." Lu Xu said, stillughing. "How many of them did she give you?" he asked next.


    "Four." Lin Mu answered, an expression of incredulity appearing on his face slowly.


    "HAAAH!" Lu Xuughed even more loudly. "What''s the estimate for the food that she ate, Luo Liqin?" he asked the man next to him.


    "About thirty Mid Grade Immortal stones, I say." He quickly answered.


    "She really did dine and dash!" Ming Aolian eximed.


    ~Sigh~


    Lin Mu just let out a sigh and shook his head. "It''s fine."


    Seeing that the person paying for it all didn''t have a problem with it, the others also didn''t see a reason toin.


    Though that didn''t mean that, they didn''t question it.


    "Why would she¡­ do this though?" Ming Dandan couldn''t help but wonder.


    "Yeah¡­ the Mei n is rather affluent among the powers of Iridescence Peak." Qian Wen stroked his chink in wonder. "And being the representative of her n this time for the Tournament, she should not have ack of money."


    "I guess I''ll just ask him if I meet her again." Lin Mu said before sitting back down.


    While the situation was strange, it did help Lin Mu and hispanions to destress and calm down.


    ~HUMM~


    And just a minute after that though, everyone felt their identity token''s hum.


    Lin Mu quickly took hold of his, token and checked the message that had just arrived.


    "The Match orders are out¡­" Luo Liqin spoke before switching on the formation screen.


    It updated the information and showed all the contestants names.


    "So first is going to be Feng Baxing against Su Zian¡­ Guess I won''t get to fight Su Zian this time." Lin Mu was a bit disappointed since he wanted to test his sword skills against someone orthodox like Su Zian.


    But once the next match order came up, everyone''s eyes went wide.


    "Brother¡­ you''re up against Dugu Shanhe." They all saw the names flickering in red.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, unknown thoughts going through his mind.


    After that, the names changed again, showing the third match-up which was Childe Wildfire against Daoist Broken Dust.


    "I''m surprised he actually managed toe this far." Lu Xu spoke, seeing the name.


    "Who? Daoist Broken Dust?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yeah¡­ he''s probably the oldest contestant in this tournament." Lu Xu nodded.


    Lin Mu looked at the man''s portrait and indeed confirmed that he was rather old looking. While there were many that were thousands of years old in the tournament, not everyone looked ''thousand years old''.


    Daoist Stardust though, looked like he had half a foot in the coffin.


    The man was bald and had a long white beard. His face was covered in wrinkles, while age spots were clear on his hands.


    He used a cane to walk and even had a hunched back!


    Lin Mu had seen one of his matches before, but it didn''t catch his eye. Daoist Stardust was strongerpared to the rest, but he wasn''t strong enough for even the top 20 if one considered the other opponents.


    "Rumor has it that he has always beente to a breakthrough." Lu Xu informed.


    "Yeah, for some reason, luck doesn''t favor him much. Whenever he manages to break through, it''s always at the end of his lifespan. Its also why he''s probably desperate for the rewards." Qian Wen chimed in.


    "Is he well known?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Somewhat. He''s almost always present in tournaments. And not just the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts, but also other smaller tournaments. Of course, as long as he is eligible to enter them, which he often falls short due to his old age." Qian Wen answered.


    "Even his Daoist Title was obtained due to that too. Albeit it is a bit mocking in nature." Lu Xu recalled.


    "Does he not use his own name?" Lin Mu asked feeling curious. "If the title is mocking like that?"


    "I think it''s been far too long since he used his name¡­ I believe he''s also given up on it¡­ or maybe just forgotten it at this point." Qian Wen replied. "If I recall correctly, he should be around sixteen thousand years old at this point"


    "Hmm¡­ interesting." Lin Mu muttered, finding the man a bit unfortunate.


    "Though I think this is the farthest he''se so far, right?" Lu Xu asked.


    "Yeah. He''s never gone past the top 32 before." Luo Liqin checked and answered.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder if his interference had resulted in this as well.


    ~shua~


    The names changed on the formation screen again, showing the fourth and final match up which was something they had already figured out.


    "Time to face Yao Changying myself." Lu Xu said with a slight smile on his face.


    It didn''t seem like he was intimidated at all. Instead, he seemed to be looking forward to it.


    "I''ll be sure to weaken her, Brother Mu Lin." Lu Xu stated. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Mmhmm, it won''t be an issue this time. With your match being thest, I''ll have plenty of time to infiltrate the arrays." Lin Mu replied.


    The fights being in order instead of simultaneously made things a lot easier for Lin Mu.


    Though there was still the question of whether Lin Mu would be in the condition to do that.


    ''Depending on how things go with Dugu Shanhe, I shouldn''t have any physical injuries. It is just the mental part I''ll need to deal with.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He hoped that his mentality was strong enough to face the man, but it would only be understood when he finally came face to face with him.


    With the matches known, Lin Mu and hispanions only had to wait till the morning before the first one started.

 Chapter 1810 Quarter Finals

    ?


    Feng Baxing and Su Zian were the first ones in the quarter-finals.


    Being the first ones among the top 5 to fight, the audience was rather excited about it. The hype was high and everyone was watching with baited breaths as the match started.


    For the quarter-finals and above, there were more formation screens added all over the city and also in various establishments as everyone wanted to see the fights.


    These would be the main fights with the strongestpetitors thus no one wanted to miss it.


    Lin Mu and hispanions were also watching it at the Spring Valley Restaurant.


    He wished to take this chance to learn more about Feng Baxing as he hoped that the man would reveal more of his skills fighting against someone who could actually force his hand.


    But once the battle started Lin Mu was surprised to find out that, Feng Baxing was still fighting in the same manner as before.


    His body was surrounded by a wind barrier while he merely used his hands to control wind des to attack Su Zian.


    Su Zian used a halberd as his main weapon along with his cultivation technique which was called as the Mystic Dragon-Tiger Revolution technique. The technique was a famous one and had been made by the founder of the Su n.


    There were even rumors that the cultivation technique had been made by the founder when he witnessed a great Celestial fight. The celestial was said to have the vitality of a dragon and the ferocity of a tiger when fighting.


    It was reflected in the technique too, as Su Zian fought simrly.


    Unfortunately, his match up against Feng Baxing was rather disadvantageous for him.


    Feng Baxing was also quite strong, his barrier never allowing Su Zian within a hundred meters of him. Su Zian on the other hand tried attacking from afar too, but his attacks were blocked by the numerous wind des that Feng Baxingunched.


    Watching the fight, Lin Mu understood quite a few things. Especially since his immortal sense had also entered the Spatial ne by now. This allowed him to sense the energy fluctuations as well as the Dao traces that were abundant in the area.Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    In there, the first thing that Lin Mu felt was the aura of Feng Baxing. It was contained within the very air and was being spread along with the wind.


    Mixed into this was also his Wind Dao traces that were amplifying each attack. Though they were the densest around his wind barrier.


    ''So that''s why the barrier is so tough. It is being supported by Dao Traces of the Wind.'' Lin Mu understood.


    Feng Baxing was someone who was good at ranged attacks while also being able to defend well thus Lin Mu knew he would have to get close to him to do any real damage. He had already seen Su Zian''s attacks and found them to be around the same level as himself as long as he limited himself to pure weapon skills.


    ''Su Zian''s skills are meant to be used on a battlefield in a war against an army¡­ it doesn''t work as well against a singr strong opponent it seems.'' Lin Mu thought. ''No¡­ it can actually work, but he isn''t able to execute his skills well due to the wind interrupting him.'' He analyzed.


    Only after observing for several minutes did Lin Mu realize, why Su Zian''s attacks seemed to be doing little in terms of damage.


    Feng Baxing had actually been interrupting him at all times. Not just by attacks, but even by disturbing the Qi around him using his wind elemental immortal Qi mixed with the Dao Traces. Su Zian was unable to properly use his skills simply because they would be weakened before they were even executed.


    This gave Lin Mu critical information that might have cost him his fight.


    ''I''ll need to watch out for that interference too¡­'' Lin Mu noted. ''Thankfully I have the perfect counter for it¡­ I simply use my Body cultivation.'' He thought with excitement.


    While Feng Baxing could interrupt skills and techniques, this was only when they utilized Qi. If one wasn''t using Qi in the first ce, the interference wouldn''t matter in the first ce.


    Lin Mu could use the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets to the full to fight the man this way.


    Plus since he hadn''t revealed his body cultivation openly so far, it would be working as a trump card too.


    ''Though that also depends on whether I face Yao Changying before that or not¡­ I might have to use my body cultivation against her¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Yao Changying''s sudden change and difference in skills had made it hard for Lin Mu to assess her true power now. And with her defeating all her opponents quickly, it didn''t allow Lin Mu to analyze her much.


    ''Maybe I would be able to understand more in her fight against Lu Xu.'' Lin Mu hoped.


    But for the time being, he focused on Feng Baxing and Su Zian''s fight.


    Nearly an hour had passed by now, and it seemed like Su Zian was running out of immortal Qi.


    His aura was unstable and his body had umted several injuries. The wind des that constantly attacked him left cuts and wounds on his body, causing him to bleed nonstop. His vitality which was strong at first was slowly drained away, until he was starting to weaken.


    And finally, when another thirty minutes passed he met his defeat.


    Feng Baxing mounted a stronger attack, trapping Su Zian in a tornado. By the time the tornado faded away, only the battered unconscious figure of Su Zian was left behind.


    And that spelled the end of the fight.


    "Feng Baxing has defeated Su Zian! He is the winner!" The enthusiastic announcement was heard, prompting the crowns to cheer all over the city.


    "Guess that''s it." Qian Wen spoke, "Third Prince Feng Baxing is truly on another level."


    "Indeed¡­" Lin Mu agreed. "Though that''s also what makes facing him exciting."

 Chapter 1811 Rising Excitement

    Chapter 1811 Rising Excitement


    Now that the first fight of the quarter finals was over, it was time for Lin Mu''s fight.


    "Will you head over now Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Aolian asked. "There is still an hour till the fight."


    "I may as well. No use in waiting." Lin Mu shook his head. "And perhaps I''ll be able to understand more from watching Dugu Shanhe in person." He said before standing up.


    "Good luck, Brother Mu Lin." Lu Xu wished him.


    "We''ll be looking forward to your win." Ming Dandan said with confidence.


    Having seen Lin Mu so far, they all felt like there was no chance Lin Mu could lose now.


    "How are the odds looking?" Lin Mu asked Luo Liqin.


    "Just as expected." Luo Liqin chuckled. "While people have been impressed by your earlier fights, they still seemed to favor Dugu Shanhe more. Probably because of his mysterious techniques." He answered.


    "Is that so¡­" Lin Mu smiled lightly. "But that just works in our favor."


    "Indeed. I''ve already prepared the bet." Luo Liqin replied. "Now you just have to win and the betting amount will be multiplied."


    "Perfect." Lin Mu said before leaving the room.


    He went down the stairwell getting several curious looks from the waiters and other staff that worked in the restaurant. There was low whispering between them as well, and Lin Mu''s ears easily picked up on them.


    ''Makes sense that they are interested in the fight''s results too¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    The main point of discussion was whether Lin Mu would defeat his opponent quickly or not too.


    Dugu Shanhe had been defeating his opponents quickly too, thus the people were quite interested when two people like this faced off.


    Lin Mu even heard that several of them talk about whom they had bet on. And surprisingly enough, he heard from the staff that the Countess had actually bet a significant amount on Lin Mu winning.


    ''No wonder she sends severalplimentary snacks and drinks to us all the time¡­ she''s been making a profit too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was evident that the Countess had figured out Lin Mu had been winning all his matches, thus she simply decided to betrge amounts on him every time he fought. It was also because of this that she was pleased with him, allowing him to stay and eat as he wished.


    Lin Mu had unknowingly be a cash cow for her.


    And watching their owner win such a great amount, the servants also bet whatever money they had on Lin Mu.


    Some of them were hesitant, but the ones who had won big due to Lin Mu, inspired confidence in them. Though the inspiration was tinged with ayer of greed as expected.


    Lin Mu left the Spring Valley restaurant and started walking toward the Tournament grounds. Though a simr situation happened outside as well with the people recognizing Lin Mu.


    It was evident that Lin Mu''s reputation had be quite wide spread by now. And by the time Lin Mu reached the Tournament grounds, he had gathered arge crowd behind him as well. They had simply followed after him, with a few daring ones even cheering on before the fight had started.


    Lin Mu simply ignored them though and simply went up the tform.


    There were about fifteen minutes before the match would start, and the people were waiting eagerly.


    "Guess he hasn''t arrived yet either¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself looking for Dugu Shanhe.


    His immortal sense was scanning the crowd, wondering if he was hidden amongst them. And while Lin Mu was watching the crowd, the Elder overseeing the tournament was also watching him.


    ''So this is the the junior who had caught the interest of High elder¡­ he certainly seems different than most I suppose. While his cultivation base is lower than others, he''s managed toe rather far.'' The elder thought to himself.


    A few minutes passed and the time of the match approached.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu could already feel the spatial fluctuations, letting him know that the spatial ne had finished resetting.


    This was also the reason why there was a gap of one hour between each match. The The crowd was astounded by this sudden appearance of the man.


    Spatial ne needed that time to reset and restore itself to its original state.


    "Look, Dugu Shanhe''s there!" The crowd eximed.


    "When did he arrive?"


    "He wasn''t there a few seconds earlier."


    The crowd was astounded by this sudden appearance of the man.


    Lin Mu too found it surprising as the man was certainly not there on the tform earlier.


    ''A stealth immortal tool that can hide his presence¡­'' Lin Mu guessed. ''My Immortal sense was covering the tform, so I should have known if he was hiding here. Looks like he was hiding in the crowd while keeping the tool active.''


    Though Lin Mu was also sure that it wasn''t a tool that could be used in battle as it needed the person to be away from the perceptions of others at the start to work.


    If others were looking at them from the start, the tool wouldn''t work as well.


    ''Though they can alsobine it with another immortal tool that can disguise them to hide.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~HUMM~ Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    A couple of secondster, the sound of the formations being activated was heard. The elder also moved, raising his hand.


    "Step into the gate!" The elder ordered.


    Lin Mu and Dugu Shanhe walked towards the two circles on the ground, when the teleportation finally began.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as Lin Mu was in the Teleportation Channel, he took out Wonder Seeker and charged up an attack like before.


    But much to his surprise, when he actually arrived in the Spatial ne, he was unable to move.


    ''What?'' Lin Mu didn''t know why but his body seemed fixed in ce.


    He could only look straight ahead, where Dugu Shanhe was standing.


    The man was staring at him and had a smirk on his face.


    "Another one to add to my collection¡­ this will be fun." Dugu Shanhe spoke with amusement.

 Chapter 1812 Lin Mu Versus Dugu Shanhe

    Chapter 1812 Lin Mu Versus Dugu Shanhe


    Dugu Shanhe''s words were clearly heard by Lin Mu which was surprising since the man''s lips hadn''t moved at all.


    ''A voice transmission technique? No¡­ there was no air or wind involved.'' Lin Mu thought that it was something like what High Elder Juxue or the Saintess used.


    "Oh, it is not a voice transmission technique." But much to Lin Mu''s shock, Dugu Shanhe answered him.


    ''You¡­ Can read my thoughts?'' Lin Mu was astonished.


    "Of course," Dugu Shanhe replied.


    "So this is your technique¡­ it wasn''t a hypnotic skill. This is a mental skill." Lin Mu understood.


    "You catch up quick." Dugu Shanhe chuckled. "I knew picking you was the right choice." He added.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu felt confused.


    Dugu Shanhe''s actions had been strange from the start and from what he had said about adding Lin Mu to his collection, Lin Mu was feeling like there was something wrong.


    "Since you won''t remember anything after this, I may as well tell you." Dugu Shanhe didn''t seem to be intent on hiding things. "After all, we have plenty of time."


    Thest words of Dugu Shanhe made Lin Mu realize something.


    ''It isn''t just me getting frozen¡­ everything else is frozen too.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "Well it''s not exactly frozen. Things are just slow now." Dugu Shanhe said openly.


    Lin Mu focused on what few dust particles that were floating in his field of vision and confirmed that Dugu Shanhe was saying the truth.


    ''With how slow they are¡­ time is at least ten¡­ no twenty times as slow.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    "Well you are correct once again." Dugu Shanhe sounded pleased. "You''re just making me even happier. I like smart people."


    Lin Mu went silent for a while, having understood that he shouldn''t think carelessly. With how Dugu Shanhe could read his thoughts, anything could and would be used against him. N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    Dugu Shanhe suddenly found that Lin Mu''s mind had be empty.


    "Oh? This is new¡­" The man showed genuine surprise. "How are you doing that?"


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t respond to the man. Instead, his mind only became calmer. Second after second passed, and Dugu Shanhe felt nothing from Lin Mu. There were no stray thoughts, not even the passive ones that would be ever-present.


    "Interesting¡­ Guess I''ll find out what you are doing, after taking it from you." Dugu Shanhe said, arousing Lin Mu''s interest.


    "Take it from me?" Lin Mu finally replied. "What exactly is your intention?" he questioned openly this time.


    "Finally, some thoughts. I was starting to think that you had be brain-dead." Dugu Shanhe spoke. "As for what I want from you, it is nothing but your memories." He revealed.


    "My memories?" Lin Mu was shocked.


    "Yes¡­ and everything that makes you, ''YOU''." Dugu Shanhe confirmed.


    The implications of it were scary for Lin Mu, but he didn''t lose his cool.


    "Why would you want them?" Lin Mu decided to gather more information first.


    "Well¡­ your memories hold a lot of information. Whether it be your secrets, or the secrets of others¡­ your cultivation techniques, skills and everything else that you have ever seen. I want it all." Dugu Shanhe answered freely.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu could extrapte a lot.


    "So you''ve done this to others as well?" Lin Mu questioned. "Everyone that you fought in the tournament?"


    "Indeed¡­ though not everyone." Dugu Shanhe answered. "Only the ones I deemed worthy. I don''t want useless things filling my mind after all. I have to pick those that are worth it¡­ and I have a few choices ready."


    "I see¡­ and did you do that to Childe Wildfire too?" Lin Mu asked right away.


    "As much as I wished to do it back then, I couldn''t." Dugu Shanhe replied.


    "Seems like you cannot do this as you wish. There are limitations on this technique of yours, aren''t there?" Lin Mu figured out.


    "Of course. All techniques have their own limitation, mental techniques even more." Dugu Shanhe agreed.


    "Let me guess¡­ there are limits to how many people you can use it on, or how often you can use it. And if you exceed that, you will face a bacsh?" Lin Mu stated.


    "You are correct once again." Dugu Shanhe said with a little joy. "You''re definitely better at this than most others that I''ve collected from. Looks like you''ve learned a lot."


    "You could say that." Lin Mu replied. "I do like to learn."


    "Perfect." Dugu Shanhe smiled. "I should thank you for doing that. You''re serving all of that on a silver tter to me."


    "I get that you want all that. But doing this will be quite offensive, don''t you think? Not just me, but if you''ve used this on others, won''t theye after you." Lin Mu said with a hint of confusion.


    "That is true. But if they don''t remember it in the first ce, it is fine." Dugu Shanhe replied. "Considering you''ve talked to Chile Wildfire about me, you should know this too. He has no memory of what happened to him." He said, surprising Lin Mu a bit.


    "I didn''t think about that, though." Lin Mu said. "How did you¡­"


    "Well¡­ I''ve been watching you for a while now," Dugu Shanhe said, much to Lin Mu''s dread. "Your visit to Childe Wildfire at the Lingering Bamboo Pavilion, your visit to the Royal pce grounds as well as your little ''meetings'' at the Spring Valley Pavilion." He revealed.


    "Hmm¡­ so you''ve been using a stealth tool to hide all this time and watch me." Lin Mu replied in an irritated tone.


    While Lin Mu had been wary of anyone doing this and had kept his Immortal sense ready at all times, there were still things that went past his perception. Especially since Dugu Shanhe had kept his distance and had only been looking.


    Thatbined with the stealth Immortal tool meant that even if Lin Mu''s immortal sense picked up on him, he would simply find him one of the people among several others. After all, Dugu Shanhe''s form would be disguised.


    To Lin Mu, it would be the same as a random person.

 Chapter 1813 Six Faiths Soul Eye Mystic Art

    Chapter 1813 Six Faiths Soul Eye Mystic Art


    "I have to say, your actions have been suspicious even for me." Dugu Shanhe spoke, expressing some doubts. "Why is it that you have no sponsor, and yet managed to get free entry into the pce grounds? Then there''s the strange thing about thosepanions of yours¡­ they are quite weak and yet¡­ they''ve managed toe too far."


    "All those that fought yourpanions showed discrepancies in their fighting styles too." Dugu Shanhe continued to speak. "Why is that? It is not something that should be possible if one thinks about it rationally."


    "That''s because I''ve been teaching them." Lin Mu presented a fact while avoiding showing any extra thoughts.


    Dugu Shanhe felt the thoughts of Lin Mu and could somewhat ''see'' Lin Mu teaching hispanions.


    Lin Mu even let off a few thoughts in the form of memories, allowing Dugu Shanhe to see even more.


    Dugu Shanhe saw how Lin Mu extracted the weaknesses of the opponents and then formted tactics that could allow even weaker opponents to defeat them.


    Most of it was indeed urate, thus Dugu Shanhe had no reason but to ept it as the truth.


    "Astonishing intellect¡­ I haven''te across many immortals that can analyze like you do. The few that I have, are all old experts that cannot be touched." Dugu Shanhe replied.


    ~SIGH~


    "Oh, how I wish I found you earlier. Perhaps I would have been able to grow stronger even faster." Dugu Shanhe said before a strange aura flowed off him.


    Lin Mu felt it too and realized that it wasn''ting from the man''s body. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    ''It''sing directly from his mind?'' Lin Mu sensed.


    "You are correct." Dugu Shanhe replied. "And since you''ve been so good at guessing, I''ll throw you a few freebies."


    Lin Mu waited in silence for the man to speak while keeping his senses alert. He had no idea what he would have to be dealing with after all. And if Dugu Shanhe intended to take his memories, it would be quite dangerous for Lin Mu. After all, he knew things that could not only be threatening to himself but also to others if it was revealed.


    Simply the fact that he was the ''demon'' who had stolen the Violet Mystic Life Tree would be enough to spur a war. And this was barely one of the sensitive pieces of memories that Lin Mu had.


    "Seems like I''ll have to see you after the tournament." Lin Mu said openly. "I might not be able to harm you during it, but I''ll be sure to go after you." He promised.


    "Haha! Sure, you can try that." Dugu Shanheughed. "But that if you can even remember all this. I''ll be erasing your memories of this interaction."


    "You can try," Lin Mu taunted this time.


    "I sure will¡­ why don''t we start with the fun, then?" Dugu Shanhe said, the auraing from him turning dangerous.


    Lin Mu felt his vision change and his body getting lighter. A few momentster, everything around him had disappeared and he was no longer in the Spatial ne.


    He could tell that this was an illusory change though as he could still pick up on the Spatial fluctuations.


    ~RUMBLE~


    But this was just the start as a new area appeared around Lin Mu. He was surrounded by a barrennd that looked quite different from the Spatial ne. The ground seemed to be made out of stone and there were no clouds or sun in the sky.


    The sky just looked like an empty night sky with no moons or stars.


    Just as Lin Mu nced at all this, the ground shook asrge pirs rose from them.


    The pirs were made out of stone and were carved with various motifs. Lin Mu counted the pirs and found there to be thirty six of them. They were set in two rows of eighteen each. The pirs lined both sides of Lin Mu blocking him in ce.


    Then, arge statue rose from the end of the pirs. It was located at the very back and took up the space between the two rows.


    Lin Mu nced at the statue and found it to be some kind of a creature. It looked to be humanoid and had two arms and two legs.


    It''s face though was featureless.


    And standing in front of it was none other than Dugu Shanhe.


    "Since you like learning about new things, I think you''ll find pleasure in learning about this too." Dugu Shanhe spoke. "Not many have gotten the chance to witness this after all." He said, spreading his arms wide.


    "And what exactly am I witnessing?" Lin Mu asked.


    "What you are witnessing is the legendary Six Faiths Soul Mystic Art!" Dugu Shanhe revealed.


    ~BOOM~


    And as if on hismand, the statue behind him shook and its ''head'' exploded.


    The stone head was gone, leaving only a broken neck behind. But that was only for a few seconds, as Lin Mu soon saw something wiggling out of the stone neck.


    ''What is¡­'' Lin Mu watched it all in astonishment as flesh started to grow from the broken neck.


    The flesh grew to take the shape of a head, but it was still featureless.


    "Witness, the power of the Six Faiths Deity!" Dugu Shanhe shouted. "OPEN!" he ordered.


    ~SLICK~


    soul itself.


    In the next moment, white illusory ribbons started toe out of With hismand, six slits opened up on the fleshy head. The slits expanded into six eyes that looked to be empty.


    The eyes had no pupils and were only white sclera with dark red veins spreading through them.


    "Six Faiths Soul Eye Mystic Art: Eyes of Engulfment!" Dugu Shanhe chanted while pointing at Lin Mu.


    ~SCREAM~


    An inhuman scream was heard at that moment, as the pupil-less ''red'' at Lin Mu.


    "ARGH!" Lin Mu felt a great pain that seemed to be rising from his soul itself.


    In the next moment, white illusory ribbons started toe out of Lin Mu''s head and flew towards the six eyes. They entered the six eyes while Dugu Shanhe smiled in pleasure.


    "Good, good¡­ I see it all now¡­"

 Chapter 1814 Revealing Secrets

    Chapter 1814 Revealing Secrets


    Lin Mu had been wary of Dugu Shanhe since the start, but didn''t expect him to be his toughest adversary so far.


    His body couldn''t respond and the skill that the man was using could bypass his defenses.


    ''I have to resist it¡­ I can''t have him see my memories¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    "It''s useless! I know it all¡­" Dugu Shanhe said as he ''observed'' the memories that wereing from Lin Mu.


    The white ribbons were all made up for Lin Mu''s memories and were quite concentrated. Each ribbon had hundreds of memories contained within them and the Six Eyes were absorbing them all. N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "Oh? So you''ve been manipting the fights all this far¡­ I never expected this would be possible." Dugu Shanhe learned one of the first secrets. "And yourpanions are all involved in it too, no wonder they managed toe so far. You''ve been assisting them." He said with surprise.


    "ARGH!" Lin Mu could only groan in pain though, unable to resist the memory drain.


    Second after second passed, as Dugu Shanhe continued to look. In this time, Lin Mu tried to resist using The Nine Divine Heart Sutra but was unable to.


    ''I can''t speak¡­ the sutras don''t work.'' Lin Mu was restricted by the limitation of the sutras.


    Even when he had managed to prevent Dugu Shanhe from looking at his thoughts earlier, it was only through his sheer familiarity with the Calming Heart Sutra and the Severing Heart Sutra. Because of how much he had used them, he could replicate their effects just through his own effort.


    And while Lin Mu was trying to figure out a way while suffering in pain, Dugu Shanhe was getting more and more surprised by the minute.


    "Your target is Yao Changying? And you were sponsored by the Crown Prince himself!?" Dugu Shanhe had certainly not expected this. ''I thought that he was sponsored by some noble that might be high up, considering he got an easy entry into the pce grounds, but certainly not this¡­''


    Unknowingly, Dugu Shanhe was starting to feel a bit nervous too now. But he couldn''t stop looking now. The temptation was simply too irresistible for him.


    "They want you to defeat Yao Changying as well as Feng Baxing? A rather tall order¡­ oh? And you''re a body cultivator too¡­ no wonder you were able tost this long despite being at the second tribtion stage of the immortal realm." Dugu Shanhe was learning more and more.


    "You¡­ should¡­ stop." Lin Mu warned. "It won''t end well for you."


    "Haha, your threats are useless." Dugu Shanhe replied. "Do you think just because you are being backed by the Crown Prince, you will be able to do anything? After I''m done with this, you''ll have no memories of it at all." He mocked Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu gritted his teeth and tried his best to resist. But he couldn''t do much, as he didn''t know where to begin from.


    ''If only I could use the Nine Divine Heart Sutras without chanting them verbally¡­'' Lin Mu strongly desired it now.


    He tried all the sutras one by one, right from the Calming Heart Sutra all the way to the Murdering Heart Sutra which he had restrained from using due to its dangerous implications.


    In all this though, Lin Mu realized one thing.


    ''He''s not reading my thoughts directly now¡­ he''s focused on the memories.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He had already thought about the sutras and more, thus if Dugu Shanhe was monitoring his thoughts, he would have already noticed it. After all, he was excitedly speaking about all that he had learned.


    Just to confirm it though, Lin Mu tested something out.


    ''DUGU SHANHE!'' Lin Mu shouted out loud in his mind but there was no response from the man. ''This is good¡­ I might be able to make use of it.''


    Lin Mu understood that Dugu Shanhe was reading his memories in reverse chronological order.


    ''I still have time till he reaches the critical memories that contain the biggest secrets,'' Lin Mu thought.


    He could manage the information about Yao Changying and Feng Baxing getting targeted getting out. Lin Mu was sure that the Crown Prince wouldn''t sit still if that was being spread and would act. And seeing how Dugu Shanhe showed some nervousness upon learning that, he was sure that the man was wary of the prince still.


    Minute after minute passed as Lin Mu continued to struggle, while Dugu Shanhe read through his memories with great interest.


    "You''re the Demon too?!" Dugu Shanhe showed shock after learning this. "My, my¡­ you surely have some skills to do all this." The man hadn''t expected such a secret.


    After all, the transformation Lin Mu underwent was quite astounding.


    "Since you stole the Violet Mystic Life tree, you have it right? It''ll be fun to get that too." Dugu Shanheughed, thinking that it was already within his grasp. "Let''s see what else you have hidden¡­" he went deeper this time.


    Lin Mu could see that the man was skipping some of the memories and directly going into deeper ones. The strain on Lin Mu''s mind increased as well, with the memories being pulled at a faster speed.


    "Oh? What''s this¡­ woman¡­ you call her Saintess?" Dugu Shanhe suddenly said, slowing down.


    "Stop!" Lin Mu shouted, fury rising in his mind.


    "Did I hit a sensitive spot? Let''s see what more is there!" Dugu Shanhe started digging further.


    He could see the Saintess within Lin Mu''s memories as well as the conversations they''d have had. In that, he heard several names too, including the Serpent Moon Sect.


    But while he was doing this, the person of interest was aware of it too.


    Away in the Hundred Fruits Pavilion, the Saintess looked up at the sky.


    A scowl appeared on her face under the veil as she spoke. "A fool that dares tread upon mine and my sect''s karma." The Saintess spoke. "You should stop before youmit an unforgivable sin." Her voice transcending the very space itself.

 Chapter 1815 Point Of No Return

    ?


    As the Saintess spoke, Dugu Shanhe within the illusory realm of his skill heard it too.


    But with how engrossed he was in memories, he simply ignored it continuing to scour them for more secrets.


    "Truly a fool." The Saintess shook her head. "Doesn''t even know this was a warning for his life¡­ I might be forgiving, but he won''t be¡­" she muttered before withdrawing.


    Dugu Shanhe was like an addict and was ignoring everything else that was happening. The memories and secrets of Lin Mu were astonishing and highly addicting for him.


    ''He''s a Peak Master of a Celestial Sect? How is that even possible? And what are those snakes? Yin Yang Twin Serpents?'' as the man kept on looking through the memories, hundreds of question were forming in his mind.


    On some level, he was simr to Lin Mu, having insatiable curiosity.


    It had reached a point where he was deliberately ignoring everything else. After all, to Dugu Shanhe his skillbined with the istion of the Spatial ne provided him with all the security he needed.


    Lin Mu heard what Dugu Shanhe was muttering and knew that he was reaching the critical memories now.


    And just as he realized that something changed.


    The white ribbons of memories that wereing from Lin Mu''s head suddenly turned yellow.


    "Huh?" Dugu Shanhe couldn''t miss this change, as it had suddenly interrupted his joy trip. "Why are they blurry?" he said, feeling stunned.


    "How can this be?" Dugu Shanhe focused on the memories, but they simply didn''t clear up.


    He looked at Lin Mu and saw that he was still stuck, but the memoriesing from him had all turned yellow.


    "You¡­ what are these memories?" Dugu Shanhe questioned, anger appearing on his face.


    He was like a child that had his favorite toy taken away in the middle of ying. Normally he wouldn''t react like this, but having learned astonishing information from Lin Mu, he couldn''t help but feel furious.


    Dugu Shanhe felt like it was his own property that had been snatched from him!


    Lin Mu didn''t answer him though. He was struggling to keep his mind in order and trying to actively resist it all. He had managed to grasp something that he had missed at first.


    "You''re doing this! Aren''t you!?" Dugu Shanhe shouted. "STOP IT!" he yelled.


    But Lin Mu paid no heed to it, simply focusing on his thought flow.


    Dugu Shanhe tried to forcefully read the memories but found himself unable to. In fact, even the memories that he had read earlier started to turn blurry.


    "No! How are you doing this?" Dugu Shanhe was at an impasse.


    This was merely the start though, as the yellow-colored ribbons of memories started to change once more. From their in yellow color, they changed to take on a golden yellow glow. This golden yellow color was something that Lin Mu was rather familiar with.


    Once the memories changed into this, Dugu Shanhe was no longer able to read anything.


    "What is this!? Why can''t these be read?" Dugu Shanhe shouted.


    If the previous white memories were made from cotton, and the yellow memories were made from fine silk, the golden yellow memories were made from pure gold!


    In fact, Dugu Shanhe only saw himself being reflected in the memories instead of actually what they contained.


    "STOP THIS!" Now it was Dugu Shanhe repeating Lin Mu''s words.


    Instead of Lin Mu replying though, another voice was heard.


    "Oh? Now you want to stop?" a deep voice that chilled one''s very soul was heard.


    Dugu Shanhe unconsciously shivered upon hearing it, not knowing where it wasing from.


    "Who¡­?" He looked around but only saw Lin Mu there.


    "Didn''t you want to see it all?" The voice spoke again.


    "Who are you?" Dugu Shanhe questioned, his tone frantic.


    "I''ll show you that too¡­ but since you wanted to see secrets¡­ LET ME SHOW YOU!" The voice said out loud, turning into an inhuman shout.


    The golden yellow ribbons suddenly multiplied in number, covering every inch of Dugu Shanhe''s vision. Theypletely surrounded him, preventing him from seeing anything else. His form was reflected on the golden ribbons that seemed to have a mirror like finish.


    But this was merely the start of the man''s dread.


    "Now¡­ See!" The voicemanded as the scene on the golden ribbons changed.


    ~HUMM~


    The reflection on the golden ribbons suddenly transformed into a vast expanse of darkness. It was strange as Dugu Shanhe couldn''t see the ribbons anymore and yet he could tell they were still there.


    "This¡­" A feeling of terror crept up Dugu Shanhe''s body, making him shiver nonstop.Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    The vast expanse of darkness that Dugu Shanhe saw suddenly started to expand even more. Then a momentter, he saw tens of objects appearing on them. They looked like tiny dots at first, but expanded intorge spheres. They had various colors and patterns on them, with some glowing and burning with light.


    ~SHUA~


    Thissted for a few seconds before the spheres started to multiply. Tens turned into hundreds, hundreds turned into thousands and thousands turned into tens of thousands!


    A Hundred Thousand Spheres!


    Dugu Shanhe started to see numerous creatures in each of these spheres, making him think that these were worlds.


    A Million Worlds!


    He saw the lives of the creature and their fates.


    A Hundred Million Worlds!


    Dugu Shanhe witnessed the deaths of all creatures as well as the destruction of the worlds.


    A Billion Worlds!


    He saw the cycle of life billions of times in just a few seconds. By this point, his eyes were bleeding and the blood had reached his neck.


    "WHAT IS THIS? STOP IT! I DON''T WANT TO SEE!" Dugu Shanhe shouted.


    He wanted to close his eyes, but simply could not.


    He had lost control¡­


    "Once you''ve trod upon untouchable karma, you have to bear the consequences." The deep voice spoke again in a cold tone.


    "Who¡­ what are you?" Dugu Shanhe questioned helplessly, unable toe to terms with the situation. "WHOSE MEMORIES ARE THESE? HOW CAN SOMEONE HAVE SO MANY? THIS ISN''T A SINGLE BEING!"


    "Who am I, you ask?"


    "I... AM... XUKONG!!!!!"

 Chapter 1816 Edge Of Trouble

    For Dugu Shanhe, the answer that he received was simply iprehensible.


    Hearing the name that was spoken, he also saw a being that took up the entirety of his field of vision. What was surprising to him was the fact that the worlds next to this being seemed like tiny marble.


    Thatbined with all that he had seen, only made his mind shatter.


    Xukong''s name was thest thing Dugu Shanhe ever heard before his soul was dispersed.


    In the real world, his body copsed into a mess.


    His seven orifices were all bleeding profusely while hisplexion was deathly pale.


    Of course, this also meant that the effects of the skill that Dugu Shanhe was using were gone and Lin Mu was now free.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu regained control of his body and blinked several times.


    He then looked around and touched himself, finding that he was indeed in control of his body again.


    "I''m fine?" Lin Mu was relieved. ''It actually worked!'' the n that he had gambled upon had worked.


    The soul squeezing pain that he had been feeling all this time had vanished, but he was still feeling tired right now. Lin Mu finally got to take a look at his foe and saw his concerning conditioning.


    ''Is he¡­'' Lin Mu was about to check on him but was interrupted.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    The teleportation array activated in the next moment and threw both of them out of the Spatial ne.


    ~THUD~


    Unlike Lin Mu, Dugu Shanhe''s bodynded on the ground with a loud thud.


    There were thousands of pairs of eyes watching at that moment and absolute silence was spread in the area. There was no cheering, no shouting, and no whispering either.


    It almost felt eerie if not for the fact that the members of the temple overseeing the match were quickly moving toward Lin Mu.


    "Don''t Move!" the elder warned right away.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard the tone of the elder, he knew things were not going to be simple.


    He simply stood as told and waited for the elder to approach.


    ~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~


    The healers also arrived a couple of secondster and surrounded Dugu Shanhe''s body.


    "He''s alive!" the healers stated.


    Hearing that, the Elder seemed a bit relieved, but it was soon washed away by the next bit of information.


    "But Dugu Shanhe''s soul has been wiped out!" the healers said in a serious tone.


    "What?" The Elder said, a grave expression appearing on his face.


    He looked at Lin Mu for a second before walking over to the body of Dugu Shanhe.


    "Let me take a look myself." He said before holding Dugu Shanhe''s hand.


    The man''s hand was cold, like that of a corpse, and yet a faint vitality could be felt within his body. The elder directly used his immortal sense and entered the body going directly to the man''s Dantian. There he looked for the Nascent soul that was floating aimlessly in the Dantian.


    The elder probed the Nascent soul and got no response from it, which was rming to him.


    ''It should have resisted, but there is no response¡­'' The Elder realized that this situation was severe.


    "His soul is indeed gone." The Elder confirmed.


    As soon as his words were heard, the audience gasped out loud.


    "Daoist Mu Lin killed his opponent."


    "Isn''t killing forbidden?"


    "Yes, but only for lethal techniques." N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "But what did Daoist Mu Lin do?" someone asked. "Dugu Shanhe died a horrible death."


    "Did he used some forbidden technique?"


    "Who knows, he might have used an unorthodox technique." More people joined in on the gossip.


    "Will he be charged for this?" this became themon thing that most people were now wondering about.


    Lin Mu''spanions who were watching from the Spring Valley Restaurant were also concerned and felt their hearts drop after seeing all this.


    "What do we do, Elder?" The healers asked. "The cause of death is questionable. The soul was wiped out."


    The elder frowned and looked at Lin Mu.


    "You¡­ Did you do anything?" he asked first.


    "No¡­ it was Dugu Shanhe that used a mental technique." Lin Mu replied seeing that he was being questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ we''ll have to check that." The elder didn''t deny Lin Mu right away either.


    Many people had seen Dugu Shanhe defeat his opponents like this before, but they didn''t expect for him to end up in this condition.


    His body was ''Alive'' but his soul was gone.


    It was hard to say what kind of a condition he was in right now.


    The audience kept talking about it in hushed tones while the Elder took out amunication jade slip. He sent a message through it, and waited for a few seconds.


    Lin Mu felt a person appear in the range of his Immortal sense, alerting him to a strong cultivator.


    ''It''s him¡­'' Lin Mu quickly recognized the man.


    "Greetings, High Elder!" The healers and the overseeing elder all cupped their hands upon seeing the man.


    "High Elder Juxue," Lin Mu looked at the man before cupping his hands as well.


    "Mmm¡­ so this is the contestant?" High Elder Juxue gave a slight nod to Lin Mu before asking.


    "Yes. Can you please confirm his cause of ''death''?" the overseeing elder requested.


    "Mm," High Elder Juxue said before extending his own immortal sense.


    It covered the entire area of the tournament grounds, while also focusing on Dugu Shanhe.


    Lin Mu could feel the pressure increasing in the area, which was drawn away after a minute or so.


    ~Sigh~


    Much to everyone''s surprise, High Elder Juxue showed a rare sign and shook his head.


    "I can confirm that this is not Daoist Mu Lin''s fault." High Elder Juxue said out loud. "Dugu Shanhe has died due to the bacsh of using a forbidden Mental skill. He has used an unorthodox technique that wiped away his soul upon failure." He dered.


    "This also means¡­ Daoist Mu Lin is the winner!" he announced.

 Chapter 1817 Trouble Stalled

    Chapter 1817 Trouble Stalled


    As soon as High Elder Juxue''s words were heard, a great uproar spread.


    "Daoist Mu Lin actually defeated and killed someone three stages above him!"


    "Not just that, he killed his opponent by resisting that mental skill."


    "Forget that, the other powers won''t sit still after learning than Dugu Shanhe had used unorthodox techniques. Those that lost to him, will definitely be upset." Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    "Do you think there was someone backing Dugu Shanhe?"


    "Of course, there is no way he would have been alone. Someone needs to have taught him all that after all."


    Thousands of mouths gossiped at the same time, giving Lin Mu a lot of information at once. At the very least, he was relieved that the people were now focused on Dugu Shanhe instead of him.


    After all, the realization that a top contender was using forbidden and unorthodox mental skill was quite concerning to all of them. It opened up arge box of questions.


    Who was it that taught Dugu Shanhe this?


    Had he used this skill on all those that he fought?


    What long term effects would the skill have on the people who had suffered from it?


    The number of questions only kept on rising and it became that the incident won''t be dying down anytime soon. In fact, there was a high chance the matches after this would turn out to be underwhelming for manypared to this.


    "Also, in consideration to what has happened, the next Match shall be postponed until further notice!" High Elder Juxue dered.


    "What?!" The audience was suddenly shocked by the man''s words.


    While they had expected there to be a dy, they didn''t think it would be more than a few hours.


    High Elder Juxue heard the mix ofints and gossip from the crowd and frowned.


    "HUMPH!" He harrumphed, sending a wave of Qi that pressured everyone that was sitting in the area.


    His cultivation base was fully disyed at that moment, terrifying most of the audience. Those that were weaker felt their vision turned dark, while the stronger ones simply trembled in ce.


    It was a warning that worked perfectly, and the crowd calmed down almost immediately.


    "We shall be investigating this first, and will announce the next match ordingly. No questions orints shall be tolerated in this time!" High Elder Juxue stated firmly. "Those who do not agree, are free toe to the Temple. That is¡­ if you wish to bear the consequences." He added in a cold tone, making the people shiver.


    No one had the thought of even trying that, as they knew doing that would be the same as offending the Temple. Nothing good woulde out of it, and they would rather hide at home than dare to watch the match here.


    High Elder Juxue looked around for a few seconds and confirmed that there was no uproar now.


    "Junior,e with me." High Elder Juxue said with no room to debate.


    "Yes." Lin Mu didn''t mind and already had a few ideas as to why the man was asking him.


    High Elder Juxue had already confirmed that Lin Mu had no injuries and as such, it was fine to take him with him right away. Though if Lin Mu was injured, he might have waited for the healers to do their work.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    In the next second, High Elder Juxue waved his hand, causing both him and Lin Mu to fly through the air at a blinding speed. Before Lin Mu even realized it, they were already standing in front of the Victor''s Pavilion.


    "Follow." High Elder Juxue ordered, as he started to walk to the inner area of the pavilion.


    Lin Mu followed in silence, while keeping his Immortal sense extended. He knew that there wasn''t any danger here, but it didn''t hurt to be extra cautious. After all, he had quite a lot of secrets to hide too. Secrets that would be quite problematic if they were found out by the Temple.


    Thankfully nothing concerning happened, and High Elder Juxue simply brought Lin Mu to a private room in the Victor''s Pavilion.


    "Now then¡­ Tell me in detail what happened when you were in the Spatial ne." High Elder Juxue asked while taking a seat. "Sit down."


    "Of course," Lin Mu did as was asked and started narrating all that he had gone through.


    He didn''t even need to skip the part where he had been saved by someone else. Lin Mu simply said that he had been saved due to a tournament either thus it wouldn''t disqualify Lin Mu has having used external help. In fact, since the Tournament forbade killing, ward that his master had ced on his soul.


    It was a totally legitimate thing and wasn''t against the rules of the tournament either thus it wouldn''t disqualify Lin Mu has having used external help. In fact, since the Tournament forbade killing, the mere idea of hurting another candidate''s soul could be seen as a direct attempt at their life.


    Learning that Lin Mu had been protected due to his master''s wards, High Elder Juxue find it more trustable. As much as he had deemed Lin Mu to have high potential, the technique of Dugu Shanhe was simply too dangerous.


    While Lin Mu spoke, the High Elder was silent and simply heard it all. Only when Lin Mu was done did he react.


    <nulli>~Sigh~


    "Looks like we''ll have to do an even more thorough investigation than I thought." High Elder Juxue said while shaking his head. "If it is the Six Faiths Soul Mystic Art¡­"


    "Do you know about the technique High Elder?" Lin Mu could tell there was more to it.


    "Indeed¡­ The Six Faiths Soul Mystic Art is something that is considered to be an ouwed technique by the Immortal Court. It was said to have been made by Six Faiths Deity who fought against the Immortal Court and spread a great havoc among many worlds.


    The Six Faiths Deity spread his teachings through the technique and corrupted many people. This made him stronger and grew his power. It took a lot of effort for the Immortal Court to finally defeat him." High Elder Juxue exined.

 Chapter 1818 An Alternative Reward

    Chapter 1818 An Alternative Reward


    Lin Mu had been suspecting that Dugu Shanhe used some questionable technique and his actions had confirmed it. But learning more from High Elder Juxue made Lin Mu realized just how questionable it was.


    "Have there been other people using it before? In the recent times?" Lin Mu questioned after thinking something.


    "There have been a few, yes. But none in the Rust Sky world." High Elder Juxue answered. "Due to the obvious effects of the technique, most that do encounter a practitioner end up forgetting about it. The technique''s ability to affect memories is very problematic." He added.


    "Yes. Dugu Shanhe did say that he has been ''collecting'' them for a while." Lin Mu replied. "He also seemed rather¡­ Fixated on them."


    "That is amon side effect of the Six Faiths Soul Mystic Art. It makes its practitioners addicted to harvesting memories from others. That was its intended purpose, after all." High Elder Juxue answered.


    "But there''s more to it, isn''t there?" Lin Mu could pick up on some of the hints.


    "Indeed¡­ the creator of the technique, the Six Faiths Deity spread the technique so that his own cultivation could be furthered. Once the practitioner of the Six Faiths Soul Mystic Art had gathered enough memories, they would be ripe for harvesting by the Six Faiths Deity.


    He could grow his strength at an exponential pace, faster than he would be able to on his own." High Elder Juxue revealed.


    "I see¡­ then was he a Soul Cultivator?" Lin Mu asked the question that had been on his mind for a while.


    He hadn''t seen soul cultivators so far and also knew that they were rather rare. It was a path that was rarely seen and difficult to learn about.


    "Hmm¡­ He was half a soul cultivator, I suppose," High Elder Juxue replied.


    "Half? How so?" Lin Mu inquired further.


    "As in¡­ by consuming memories, he also consumed a part of the souls of the cultivators. This fueled his Qi and furthered his cultivation base, which was still that of the Qi path.


    You could say he simply added another source of Qi for himself. If he were a True Soul Cultivator he wouldn''t take such a dangerous path. Consuming souls like that is also dangerous to the user themselves.


    It can corrupt their souls and tear apart their being. As you consume the memories of others, your own ''self'' will start merging with them. Do it long enough and you will lose your sense of self.


    Most that embark on this path be mindless monsters." High Elder Juxue exined in detail.


    "I understand." Lin Mu said in a calm tone, though internally he was rather shocked.


    ''If what High Elder Juxue said is true then¡­ The Murdering Heart Sutra''s ability¡­ it also consumes souls.'' Lin Mu thought finding it hard to figure it outpletely.


    Though he also understood that there was a difference between what High Elder Juxue had said and the ability of the Murdering Heart Sutra.


    ''The Six Faiths Soul Mystic Art consumes memories that are part of a soul. But the Murdering Heart Sutra consumes entire souls themselves.'' It was obvious to Lin Mu that the sutra was on an entirely different level. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    It also didn''t seem to have the drawbacks that were in the Six Faiths Soul Mystic Art. Regardless of how it might be, this whole incident gave Lin Mu a much needed insight into not only Mental and Soul techniques but also his own weakness to it.


    ''I was lucky that Dugu Shanhe can only restrain my body and mind in that way. If he could directly harm me, it would be the death of me,'' Lin Mu thought. ''I need better defenses against something like this,'' He reckoned.


    "We''ll need to investigate further into this, whether Dugu Shanhe was taught or if he found this technique on his own. But for now, you can leave." High Elder Juxue stated. "Thank you for your help."


    "Ah, yes!" Lin Mu cupped his hands. "I''ll just go get my reward since I''m here."


    "Wait," But before Lin Mu could go, the old man stopped him.


    "For your reward¡­ Hmm¡­" High Elder Juxue stroked his beard, as if thinking of something. "I can give you an option¡­ an alternative to it."


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was intrigued by it.


    "You can choose not to take your reward now." High Elder Juxue replied. "Skip all your rewards till your final victory, and I''ll rmend you a greater reward than you would get if you won in the end." He offered.


    Lin Mu raised his brows upon hearing that. It was an offer that might be a bit questionable to other contestants, as it would be the same as not getting the Immortal stones and healing pills that they might need. But for Lin Mu, it was actually quite appealing.


    "I can tell you don''t really need the smaller rewards, do you?" High Elder Juxue asked. ''If he has a master that can put a ward like that, he shouldn''t really becking in resources.'' He assumed.


    It was certainly true on some level, though Lin Mu''s fortune had been umted from more than just a single source.


    "I¡­ don''t exactly require them. They aren''t crucial to me." Lin Mu answered truthfully.


    "Then this will be a lot better." High Elder Juxue replied. "For having defeated Dugu Shanhe who could have caused a lot of trouble not just for others, but also brought a loss of face to the Temple of the Guardian beasts, I can offer you this much." He exined.


    "But in exchange, I also want a thing from you." High Elder Juxue said, making Lin Mu a bit hesitant.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu wondered if he had any conditions.


    "You cannot reveal Dugu Shanhe being a user of the Six Faiths Soul Mystic Art." High Elder Juxue firmly stated. "Though don''t worry, he will still be dered to be an unorthodox cultivator and you won''t face any consequences." He added.

 Chapter 1819 Growth Through Change Of Perspective

    Chapter 1819 Growth Through Change Of Perspective


    Lin Mu thought about High Elder''s offer and understood that this was probably rted to the face of the Temple. It became apparent to Lin Mu why the man was willing to offer an even greater reward.


    ''The temple would certainly not want to tarnish its reputation. Guess this much is fine.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "I shall wait for the reward then." Lin Mu showed his agreement.


    "Good, you won''t regret it." High Elder Juxue said with a smile continuing to stroke his beard. "Now, go on then. We''ll probably resume the battles tomorrow." He informed.


    Lin Mu cupped his hands in farewell and left the Victor''s pavilion.


    The High Elder certainly gave Lin Mu a lot to think about.


    Lin Mu even wondered if he should ask for a Mental Defense skill as a reward for winning the tournament. Since the temple could offer what one wished for within its limits, it would be a wholly eptable choice.


    Of course that was only possible if Lin Mu won it in the end. Having faced Dugu Shanhe, Lin Mu understood more of his limits and knew that he needed to take his opponents even more seriously. It also taught him about his reliance on his space skills.


    ''If I had my spatial skills, most of the fights would be a lot easier. Even in the case of Dugu Shanhe, I could have simply used Fade before I even saw him.'' Lin Mu continued to analyze where he wascking as well as where he could improve.


    Having limited the use of Spatial Skills also ended up teaching Lin Mu how to better use them. He was finding solutions that he couldn''t before due to ack of perspective. Now that he couldn''t use the Spatial Skills, he was finding even better uses for them.


    While thinking of all this, Lin Mu ended up reaching the Spring Valley Restaurant.


    <nulli>~gasp~


    His entry was met with several shocked reactions from the staff as well as a few customers that were there. It was clear that the recent result of the match was still shocking to them and even if Lin Mu wasn''t at fault here, they couldn''t help but feel a bit scared of him.


    Lin Mu didn''t mind it though and found it normal.


    ''Isn''t that exactly what the world of cultivation is? Gathering respect either through Merit or Fear¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he went up to the top floor.


    "Brother Mu Lin! Are you okay!?" Lin Mu''spanions though were very concerned, surrounding him the moment they saw him.


    "I''m fine, let''s go in first." Lin Mu replied.


    "Ah yes," Lu Xu nodded his head and closed the door once they were all inside.


    "What happened there in the Spatial ne?" Qian Wen questioned.


    This was something that was expected and Lin Mu had alreadye up with an answer for them while keeping in mind that he needed to hide what High Elder Juxue had talked to him about.


    "Dugu Shanhe was using a Forbidden mental technique as High Elder Juxue announced. It certainly caught me off guard." Lin Mu stated before exining a few more details.


    Lu Xu and the others all heard in silence, feeling surprised that Lin Mu was even able toe out unscathed.


    "I don''t think any of us would be able to survive it if it was against Dugu Shanhe." Ming Dandan said feeling anxious.


    "Indeed¡­ Skills like that are hard to resist." Luo Liqin agreed.


    "Even skills that defend against Mental Attacks might not hold up against Dugu Shanhe perhaps. After all, his skill seems to be too strong for most." Ming Aolian replied. "I am sure none of the Blue Mountain Pce''s skills would be effective against it."


    The group talked for a while before Lu Xu asked something.


    "Did High Elder Juxue trouble you?" Lu Xu inquired.


    "Not at all. He just wanted more information from me, that''s all." Lin Mu replied quickly. "Also, the tournament should resume by tomorrow as per the High Elder''s words."


    "Oh? That''s good." Lu Xu seemed excited. "I can''t wait to beast up Yao Changying." He joked.


    "Sure¡­" Ming Aolian smirked knowing it wouldn''t be possible.


    "Hahaha," Qian Wen and Luo Liqinughed while Lin Mu chuckled as well.


    Time passed quickly and soon they got the notice for themencement of the Tournament.


    "Looks like they''ll start first thing in the morning." Lu Xu said after infiltrate it right away.


    And sure enough, just an hourter Lin Mu sensed the arrays checking the token.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be ready this time." Lin Mu assured him.


    In fact, his Immortal sense was already extended in the sky, and had been observing the arrays for a while now. As soon as Lin Mu knew the Spatial ne was ready, his immortal sense would infiltrate it right away.


    And sure enough, just an hourter Lin Mu sensed the arrays changing once more.


    "It is time¡­" Lin Mu muttered while looking at hispanions that were either cultivating or studying.


    It was clear that Lin Mu had given them a passion for both now. Or perhaps being with him had given them quite a lot of motivation too.


    The benefit though was for both sides as Lin Mu felt good having some friends too.


    Granted he was keeping a lot of secrets from them. Secrets that could endanger them if they learned of them.


    ''Can I truly consider them my friends when they don''t even know my real name?'' Lin Mu wondered before shaking the thought out of his mind. ''I shouldn''t bother with that and simply focus on the things that are important.'' He said to himself.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    More time passed and the day had finally arrived, and along with it the Arrays were triggered causing everyone to look up at them.


    "I''ll head out now," Lu Xu opened his eyes, rousing from his cultivation session. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Good luck! We''ll be cheering you on." Ming Aolian said.


    "Haha, with Brother Mu Lin here, it is Yao Changying that needs luck, not me." Lu Xuughed before heading out.

 Chapter 1820 Slap

    Chapter 1820 p


    Over a million pairs of eyes were all looking up at the Formation screens as the third match of the Quarter Finals was about to start.


    Lu Xu and Yao Changying stood at the tform waiting for the teleportation array to start up.


    The man was not the least bit tense, showing his faith in Lin Mu. Yao Changying on the other hand looked to be emotionless. Her face was still and she simply kept her eyes closed, as if deep in thought. It didn''t seem like she was concerned about the match at all.


    Though her right hand was resting on the Sword on her waist, as if ready to draw it at any moment.


    It was hard to tell what was truly going through her mind, and she had be an enigma for many people. Even the people that liked her were finding it a bit strange, as her behavior had shifted in the middle of the tournament along with the way she dressed.


    "Both contestants ready! ENTER!" The elder overseeing the match finally announced causing Yao Changying to open her eyes.


    In the next second, both of the entered the Spatial ne as the teleportation started.


    Back at the Spring Valley Restaurant, Lin Mu was prepared.


    "Time to work." He muttered lightly, as his Immortal sense moved to a specific location in the Spatial ne.


    At the same time, Lin Mu''s Spatial Perception was active and he could somewhat track where Yao Changying was at the moment. With the Spatial fluctuations, Lin Mu urately located where she would be arriving.


    <nulli>~THUD~


    And the moment she did, Lin Mu''s lips started chanting.


    Severing Heart Sutra!


    At the same time, Lin Mu signaled to Lu Xu with his Immortal sense.


    Since the two contestants had arrived at a distance of just a hundred meters from each other, Lu Xu had some time.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    Stomping on the ground, Lu Xu rushed to Yao Changying, whose eyes were in the middle of blinking. She had been affected by the Severing Heart Sutra the moment she arrived, thus didn''t get the chance to adjust to the location.


    ''This is for Luo Liqin, Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian!'' Lu Xu shouted in his mind while extending his palm.


    The bracelet under his sleeves activated and a momentter he struck Yao Changying.


    <nulli><nullb>~PAH~


    His palm struck Yao Changying right in her sr plexus, delivering a significant impact.


    "UGH!" The pain was enough to awaken Yao Changying from her stupor.


    But Lu Xu wasn''t ready to retreat just yet.


    "Profound Shifting Step!" Lu Xu used a movement skill, flitting to the side of Yao Changying.


    It put him out of her field of vision and allowed him to strike out once more. Lu Xu spun around and gathered Qi in his left hand <nullb><nulli>~SLAP~


    The amplified palm struck Yao Changying right on her face!


    before attacking.


    <nullb><nulli>~SLAP~


    The amplified palm struck Yao Changying right on her face!


    <nullb>~GASP~


    Thousands of people gasped in utter shock, as a handprint was left on the fair woman''s cheek!


    "He¡­ he pped her!" People finally erupted in shouts while Lu Xu retreated.


    He could already see the fury in Yao Changying''s eyes and her sword that was half drawn. A dangerous amount of Sword Intent was gathered on the Sword and Lu Xu knew, he''ll be getting hit soon.


    It was at this moment that a wide toothy grin appeared on his face as he spoke, <nullb>"I FORFEIT!" <nulli>~SHUA~


    The teleportation which had been improved by the formation masters of the temple due to recent issues activated promptly, teleporting Lu Xu out.


    <nulli>~BOOM~


    And just as his body disappeared, arge sword imprint struck the area.


    It left a kilometer-long gash on the Spatial ne, that was nearly ten meters deep!


    Sword intent lingered in the air, as Yao Changying ground her teeth in anger.


    "LU XU!" While Yao Changying had been in many fights before and had sustained many injuries too, she had never been insulted like this.


    She could easily figure out that Lu Xu had been intending on doing this from the start, and his grin at the end had all but confirmed that he hade just to insult her.


    While she didn''t know how Lu Xu had actually managed to catch her off guard, she knew for sure she couldn''t let go.


    <nulli>~thud~


    Back at the tform, Lu Xu''s reappeared to the shouts of the people.


    "SHAMELESS!"


    "HOW UTTERLY SHAMELESS!"


    "LU XU YOU''LL PAY FOR THIS!"


    "HOW DARE YOU!"


    There was nock of people that were fans of Yao Changying in the audience that couldn''t help but shout out indignantly.


    "HAHAHA!" Lu Xu though didn''t care at all and simply walked away.


    After all, he knew that even if Yao Changying wished to take revenge, Lin Mu would be there to end her before that.


    Of course, he also knew that people might follow after him, thus he promptly sped up and disappeared using an illusory talisman. And when he reappeared, he was wearing a mask.


    The elder who was overseeing the entire thing was left dumbfounded.


    "In my 800 years of overseeing the tournament, no one has been as shameless as this¡­" he couldn''t help but mutter.


    And then he realized that he still had work to do.


    He hadn''t dered the winner yet!


    "Yao Changying is the winner!" he finally called out.


    <nulli>~SHUA~ This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    With that, the woman was also teleported out, a cold frown on her face. Her right hand was tightly clutched around the sword''s handle and a dangerous aura was lingering around her.


    All the people who were looking at her, felt chills going down their spine and hurriedly looked away.


    <nulli>~gulp~


    They all felt the danger and knew that Yao Changing was not in the right mind.


    There was no telling if they would face her wrathter. After all, she was still the heir of arge sect as well as rted to the emperors of the Holy Topaz Dynasty!


    The target of her ire though was safely back at the Spring Valley restaurant.

 Chapter 1821 Onwards To Semifinals

    Lu Xu couldn''t help but take a breath of relief the moment he was within the four walls of the Spring Valley Restaurant.


    After all, he knew the risk he had taken earlier in the match was quite great.


    "Brother Lu Xu that was great!" Ming Aolian greeted the main enthusiastically.


    "That p was amazing. We all couldn''t believe our eyes." Luo Liqin was very impressed as well.


    No one among them had thought that Lu Xu would be able to do this. His task was just to use the bracelet on Yao Changying and retreat. And yet, he had managed to do a lot more.


    "It was nothing. I just did what I could at that time." Lu Xu replied. "Since you couldn''t go after him, it was only natural that I should deliver some ''justice'' on behalf of you." He exined.


    "We''ll be grateful to you, Brother Lu Xu. Our master will be as well, once we tell her." Ming Dandan replied.


    "Though without Brother Mu Lin''s help this wouldn''t be possible at all." Qian Wen chimed in.


    "Lu Xu''s actions were a lot more useful than we think." Lin Mu suddenly spoke up. "I could tell Yao Changying''s mental state was disturbed due to it and she didn''t notice the bracelet being used on her at all.


    "Indeed. I don''t think she''ll be able to live this down for a long time." Luo Liqin agreed.


    "Hopefully its in her mind all the time and she is distracted in her next fight. Perhaps then she can suffer more injuries." Ming Aolian said with a scowl on her face.


    Everyone here wished for Yao Changying to suffer and Ming Aolian wanted it the most.


    "Anyway, since Lu Xu has seeded in it our task is mostly done." Lin Mu stated. "How are things on the betting pavilion side, Luo Liqin?" he asked.


    "Just as we guessed, the bets spiked but then tabled out. Your win against Dugu Shanhe did shuffle it, but it only improved your odds. So we can''t bet on you anymore," Luo Liqin answered.


    "Hmm¡­ guess we had a good run." Lin Mu nodded.


    "There is still the fight against Feng Baxing though. Even if your odds have increased, they are still significantly less than Feng Baxing. For the finals, we can still bet on you." Luo Liqin replied.


    "Hmm, that we can do." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "What about against Yao Changying?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "Unfortunately, brother Mu Lin''s win against Dugu Shanhe was enough to make them equal. We won''t be having much profit and the chance of being suspected is also high now. We need a little break." Luo Liqin answered.


    "That''s right. We can wait now till the final. The temple is also going to be investigating things thus it is best to avoid it." Lin Mu replied, having talked to High Elder Juxue.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    Now that things had been sorted out and Lu Xu''s fight had ended, things became a bit more released for everyone. After all, they didn''t need to fight anymore, and all they needed to do was wait.


    The rest was all left up to Lin Mu and his 2 fights in the future.


    The lessons that Lin Mu was teaching them also came to an end for the time being, as they had already learned quite a lot. Now they needed to focus on analyzing the information they had been taught and internalize it.


    Self-refection was necessary for their further growth and cultivation was something only they could further through their effort.


    The next match was now between Childe Wildfire and Daoist Broken Dust.


    Lin Mu and the rest watched it and found it to be a bit pitiful.


    Daoist Broken Dust was actually decently strong, but his fifth Tribtion Stage Cultivation base didn''t hold up against Childe Wildfire.


    Childe Wildfire seemed to be rather violent this time around and directly filled the Spatial ne with a sea of fire, leaving Daoist Broken Dust little space to fight. Even flying in the sky was useless with Childe Wildfire shooting down a flurry of fireballs from there.


    If a mortal were to see the scene of the fight, they would simply think that it was hell on earth. An apocalyptic scene that would terrify them to no end.


    Still, Daoist Broken Dust wasn''t someone who''d give up when he was against a tough adversary. He had his face to keep and still fought till the end.


    Their fight ended up being the longest in this round and took nearly two hours to finish.


    Though Lin Mu could tell that Childe Wildfire was actually going easy on the man. He knew that Childe Wildfire had already reached the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and had even improved his Dao Embryo and skills.


    If he wished, he could have easily ended the fight within the first half an hour or so.


    But perhaps the man respected Daoist Broken Dust on some level, thus giving him an honorable fight.


    A fight that he would surely lose, but he wouldn''t be losing his face.


    And that is exactly what happened as Childe Wildfire won in the end.


    "Childe Wildfire has defeated Daoist Broken Dust!" the elder announced, confirming it for all.


    With that done, the two contestants appeared on the tform. Daoist Broken Dust looked rather haggard. His robes had been burned in multiple ces and his sleeves were entirely gone.


    His beard was also singed along with his eyebrows, which would probably take a while to grow back.


    ~Sigh~


    The man just let out a sigh before taking his leave. It was clear that he didn''t wish to stay there anymore.


    Childe Wildfire was the same, as he left almost immediately after the results were announced.


    "The Quarter finals havee to an end. The Semi Finals will start tomorrow!" The elder announced.


    But unlike before, he didn''t stop speaking there.


    "As for the matches, they are already decided!" The elder said, much to their surprise.


    "WHOA!" the audience seemed eager to see it.


    ~SHUA~


    The elder waved his hand and the formation screen changed ordingly. There four images appeared.


    On the top there was none other than the Third Prince, Feng Baxing and he was matched up against the person who had just left.


    "THE PRINCE IS AGAINST CHILDE!"


    "This is gonna be exciting! I can''t wait!"


    And the second match of the semifinals was Lin Mu against Yao Changying


    "Who do you think will win?" the people were already discussing.


    "It''ll be Feng Baxing of course."


    "Nah, it could also be Childe Wildfire. Didn''t you see this fight? He was so much stronger!"


    "What about Mu Lin and Yao Changying?"


    "Hard to tell. They seem almost equal."


    "Don''t both of them also use Sword Intent?"


    "OH YEAH! Guess it''ll be a fight of sword masters."


    "Unless Daoist Mu Lin also uses his bow."


    The spection among the audience would likely not stop until the match actually happened.


    Lin Mu and hispanions who saw the catchups were not as surprised though.


    "Just as we thought, the temple is matching up those with simr strength." Luo Liqin spoke.


    "So they estimate Brother Mu Lin to be on the same level as Yao Changying?" Ming Dandan asked.


    "Yes. Though at this point, it wouldn''t matter as much. It''s good for us, since Yao Changying is our target." Lu Xu spoke.


    Lin Mu stayed silent though, as he was still thinking about the match. He knew he needed to have a few ns in his mind against Yao Changying.


    ''We don''t know how much she is weakened after all¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But while he was thinking all this, he suddenly felt his Communication Jade Slip hum.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu held the jade slip and checked the message that had arrived. ''It''s the Crown Prince?'' he was a bit surprised.


    The message was short and just said a few words.


    ''We need to meet.''


    Lin Mu replied to it with an agreement, and the crown prince told him where to meet and what time.


    ''It''s not at the pce grounds¡­ they want to meet near the Tournament grounds huh¡­ guess they want to keep it private.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Since the message had arrived, Lin Mu decided to head out. The message said to meet them an hourter, which would pass by the time Lin Mu arrived.


    "I''ll head out for a bit." Lin Mu said to hispanions.


    "Sure. You have time till tomorrow anyways, Brother." Lu Xu said while the others bid him goodbye.


    Lin Mu left the restaurant and headed to the ce that the Crown Prince had mentioned. Surprisingly, it was a small bookshop that was at the very edge of the area.


    It took Lin Mu forty minutes just to get there, due to the sheer amount of crowd there was right now.


    Still, he arrived early and simply needed to wait for the others to be there.

 Chapter 1822 Crown Princess’ Request

    <h4>Chapter 1822 Crown Princess'' Request</h4>


    Being alone, Lin Mu took a look at the bookshop finding it to be old.


    Its exterior was rather weathered, and it reminded him of Jing Wei''s Emporium. Old memories reappeared in Lin Mu''s mind, making him reminisce about them for a bit as he walked in.


    There didn''t seem to be a shopkeep present inside the shop though. The inside was a lot better than the outside even if the furniture looked to be older.


    After all, the furniture was made from immortal wood, that would be priceless in a mortal world like the Xiaofan world.


    Here it was the basic wood to make things with and people didn''t care much about it.


    Still, the books on the shelves were even more valuable with most being either written by various immortals as their experiences or having information about various items.


    Lin Mu lightly scanned the store with his Immortal sense and discovered that most books were informative there. There were no cultivation techniques or Qi skills kept here. N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    At least not the obvious ones.


    Lin Mu picked up on a few books that were travelogues on the outside, but actually contained iplete Qi skills and more inside of them. Though figuring them out wasn''t easy and one needed to read the entire book and thenprehend them.


    They were more like a clue than actual skills.


    Lin Mu casually read a few when he heard a voice.


    "Like anything?" Lin Mu looked at the counter where the shopkeeper would sit and saw a familiar person there.


    "Crown prince," Lin Mu greeted the man with cupped hands.


    The man had appeared out of nowhere and Lin Mu hadn''t sensed him either. And this was despite the fact that he had his Immortal sense extended in the area. There were no Spatial Fluctuations either, thus Lin Mu knew the man hadn''t teleported there at least.


    "You were rather early." Crown Prince spoke while tapping on the counter. "Guess that''s a good trait to have." He said before walking out from the side.


    "How could I be anything but early, since it was you calling?" Lin Mu replied, putting down the book.


    "You can keep it if you want." The Crown prince said, looking towards the book.


    "This? Don''t I need to pay?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It''s fine. We own this shop anyways." The Crown Prince waved his hand.


    "Ah¡­ Royal property." Lin Mu now understood why the man had called him here.


    "Most of it is out property¡­ we just rent it out." The Crown Prince replied. "So you can take what you want here."


    "I won''t be polite then." Lin Mu wasn''t one to give up on an offer like this and quickly gathered the books that he found interesting.


    There were multiple books talking about various resources, nts, and best of all, different worlds.


    Thus, Lin Mu knew they would alle in handy for him eventually. He liked to learn anyway, thus it was a treat for him.


    Having stored the books away, Lin Mu looked at the Crown Prince before finally asking, "So why is it that you called me here?"


    "Well, it isn''t me that wanted to meet you in particr." The Crown Prince replied.


    "Oh? Then who?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "I did." Lin Mu heard another presence appearing behind him. "Crown Princess Shang¡­" he was once again surprised as to how she also managed to appear like this.


    ''They''re definitely using a tool.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Simr to Dugu Shanhe.''


    It also made Lin Mu think about the man''s spatial storage tool. Lin Mu desired to take it with him, but knew it wasn''t possible.


    After all, if he took it in front of so many people it would be concerning. Plus it was a custom to return the remains of those that had died in the tournament back to the people that were rted to them.


    But in the case of Dugu Shanhe, it was even more dangerous as he was under investigation due to practicing the Six Faiths Soul Mystic Eye.


    It was obvious that clues to that would be in his Spatial Storage tools, thus the temple had custody of all that. There was no way Lin Mu would be able to get his hands on them easily.


    "You are up against Yao Changying tomorrow." Crown Princess Shang said in a tone tinged with glee.


    "I am indeed. We did as you told and used the brackets¡­ though we could only do it twice." Lin Mu replied.


    "That is more than I had thought." Crown Princess Shang said before chuckling. "Besides you''ll be going against her too. So that will count as three." She added.


    "These bracelets¡­ how much will they weaken her though?" Lin Mu finally asked.


    It had been bothering him for a while, and he hadn''t been able to see any obvious change on Yao Changying at least.


    "If you''ve used it three times¡­ she''ll be weakened by at least 50%." Crown Princess Shang answered. "Though adding yourpanion p, the insult being to injury should disturb her mentally to perhaps." She said, whileughing a little.


    It was clear that she was amazed and pleased by Lu Xu''s act too.


    "Hmm, 50% should be quite good then." Lin Mu replied. "Considering the fact that the Temple thinks I can match up with her in strength."


    "Indeed. You''ve shocked quite a lot of people." Crown Prince Feng joined in. "Even in the Royal Court, they''ve mentioned you."


    "Oh? I hope it was in a positive aspect." Lin Mu inquired while raising his brow.


    "Of course. They were pleased that you removed a problematic character like Dugu Shanhe." The Crown Prince Feng said before waving his finger in the air. "Among those that Dugu Shanhe defeated, there were quite a few nobles too."


    A few names appeared in the air that Lin Mu recognized.


    "These nobles at least have a positive image of you." Crown Prince stated.


    "I see, that''s good to hear." Lin Mu replied before turning to the princess. "Was there anything particr you wished to talk?"


    "Yes¡­ in your fight against Yao Changying. Can you just¡­ Kill her?"

 Chapter 1823 A Modification And Surprise

    Chapter 1823 A Modification And Surprise


    Hearing that the crown princess wanted Lin Mu to Kill Yao Changying right away, he was rather taken aback. After all, it was quite literally against the rules of the tournament.


    Then there was the fact that the Crown Prince Feng and Crown Princess Shang were both from the Immortal Court. For them to offend the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts that had direct links to the Immortal court simply didn''t make sense.


    But he didn''t reply to her right away, wondering if she had more to say. Ten seconds passed like this in silence before he heard herugh.


    "Hahaha, I''m joking." Crown Princess Shangughed. "Can''t I even tease you a bit?"


    "<nulli>Haa~ Princess¡­" Lin Mu let out a breath of relief upon hearing that.


    He had almost wondered if the Crown Princess was a bit insane.


    "I know it is against the rules to kill her. Besides, she''ll be dying, eventually." The Crown Princess rified. "You weakening her and fighting her should be good enough forter." She added.


    "I see¡­ though I reckon you won''t be able to do it here¡­ in the Rust Sky world." Lin Mu wondered if they would take the risk of doing so.


    "You are correct. Fighting and killing Yao Changying anywhere on the Rust Sky world would be a massive diplomatic issue." Crown Prince Feng spoke up. "In fact, it''s as simple as giving an order for me to have her killed here. But the consequences of it would be a war." He said casually.


    Lin Mu could tell that while the Crown Prince seemed to be rxed and casual from his behavior, it was merely a front. A mask he used to gain an advantage over people. It was something Lin Mu could understand very well.


    "Well then¡­ so you just asked me to meet you of this?" Lin Mu questioned, as it didn''t seem necessary.


    After all, all of this could have been said over the Communication Jade Slip too.


    "Of course not." The Crown Princess shook her head. "Give me the bracelet I gave you." She asked.


    Lin Mu raised his brows at that, but still gave it to her.


    Crown Princess held the simple looking bracelet in her hand and took out another small bead. The bead was white colored and seemed like a pearl. Though looking at its texture, Lin Mu could tell it was a polished stone of some kind.


    <nulli>~shua~


    The Crown Princess held the bead against the bracelet before using a skill of hers. A small vine grew out of her sleeves before wrapping against the bracelet and the bead. It drilled through the bead and attached it permanently to the bracelet.


    "Here you go," The Crown Princess handed the item back.


    "What did you do to it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Strengthened it a bit and added a little extra surprised for Yao Changying." The Crown Princess answered.


    "Strengthened it? By how much?" Lin Mu raised his brow. "And what''s the surprise?"


    "Combined with the previous bracelets, it should reduce Yao Changying''s strength by about 60%." Crown Princess Shang answered. "As for the surprise, let''s just say I got a little inspiration from yourpanion Lu Xu¡­ but it''s no fun if you know it too. Just see it for yourself." She said with a sly smile.


    "I''ll look forward to it then." Lin Mu said with a helpless smile.


    "Well, we won''t take any more of your time. You can go prepared for the match." Crown Prince Feng stated. "I''ll see you after the finals next."


    "Very well, goodbye." Lin Mu bid both of them farewell before leaving.


    Once Lin Mu was gone though, the Crown Prince and Princess talked amongst themselves.


    "Was that necessary?" Crown Prince Feng asked with a smirk. "Teasing him?"


    "What? It''s hard to resist." The Crown Princess chuckled. "I haven''t met anyone other than you that could keep hisposure like that. All others just melt seeing my appearance."


    "That¡­ does seem true." The Crown Prince nodded his head. "Perhaps it really is, as Monk Hushu said. Mu Lin is meant for the Buddhist path." He added


    "Hey! Don''t let him turn into one of the celibate baldies!" The Crown Princess frowned childishly.


    "That''s up to Mu Lin. I can''t do much about what he chooses, haha." The Crown Prince said before disappearing into thin air.


    "Bah¡­" The Crown Princess shook her head as well and disappeared too.


    Lin Mu who was on his way back to the Restaurant had no idea about their conversation. Instead, he was focused on the modified bracelet that now had a white bead added to it.


    He used his Immortal sense to check it, but couldn''t figure out much. There was a barrier present on it that prevented him from looking into any details.


    ''I can break the barrier but it''ll also damage the bracelet,'' Lin Mu thought. I guess this is a safety feature in case it is found by someone else. They won''t know its real use that way.'' He reckoned.


    Soon enough, Lin Mu was back at the restaurant and told hispanions about the modified bracelet.


    They were surprised that he had been invited by the Crown Prince to meet. But they were also pleased that the bracelet was strengthened further. It just meant that their previous failure could be negated to a certain extent.


    Four more hours passed as the night rolled in and then another 7 hourster, it was daybreak.


    It was the Day of the Semifinals and the people were very excited about the first match that was between Childe Wildfire and third Prince Feng Baxing.


    Lin Mu and hispanions also watched it eagerly, wondering just how it would go. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ''With Childe Wildfire''s breakthrough, he is technically above the third Prince in terms of cultivation base. But will that really help him?'' Lin Mu wondered as he waited for the match to finally start.


    Millions of eyes watched as the two contestants were finally teleported into the Spatial ne.

 Chapter 1824 Feng Baxing Versus Childe Wildfire

    Chapter 1824 Feng Baxing Versus Childe Wildfire


    Childe Wildfire and Feng Baxing appeared at a distance of 100 meters just like others.


    But they didn''t waste any time in waiting and attacked directly.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    Feng Baxing used his hand to create a vortex that surrounded him like a protective barrier while Childe Wildlife pped out with his palms, sending out fiery palm imprints that threatened to burn Feng Baxing.


    But before the palm imprints even reached him, the spinning winds around Feng Baxing stopped them.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    The winds churned and erased the palm imprints into nothing.


    "Are you just gonna stay hidden in your barrier like before?" Childe Wildfire scoffed. "You did the samest time as well."


    "If you can''t even touch me, your words are worthless." Feng Baxing replied without caring for his opponent.


    Instead, he just raised his hands and shed out, creating des of wind that flew towards Childe Wildfire with deadly precision.


    Childe Wildfire pped his hands together, creating a wall of fire that managed to block the wind. But that wasn''t all as he spun around to kick, sending a thick arc of fire thatshed out on the wind barrier.


    <nulli>~BOOM~


    The fire arc and barrier collided, creating arge explosion. Feng Baxing narrowed his eyes, as he could feel the topyer of the barrier actually eroding away from Childe Wildfire''s attack.


    "So you''ve improved¡­" Feng Baxing could see the power that wasn''t what he had experienced before.


    "More than you. Wanna see?" Childe Wildfire said before a wave of Qi spread out from him.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~ Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    The wave of Qi directly rocked the barrier of wind and pushed Feng Baxing back. At the same time, a searing heat could be felting from Childe Wildfire''s body as he started to glow in a red light.


    The people in the audience instantly realized what had just happened.


    "Six¡­ Sixth¡­ SIXTH TRIBULATION STAGE OF THE IMMORTAL REALM!" someone shouted.


    "Childe Wildfire has reached the Six Tribtion Stage! How is this possible?"


    "Wasn''t he just at the Fifth Stage earlier?" People wondered. "When did he break through?"


    Childe Wildfire has sessfully hidden his cultivation base from every one, with only Lin Mu knowing it. This ended up catching Feng Baxing off guard.


    He frowned a little before taking out a fan from his Spatial Storage.


    "Looks like I''ll have to take you seriously," He said before opening the Fan.


    The fan looked like it was made out ofrge feathers, but it was unknown what beast it belonged to.


    "Shearing Hurricane Fan! It''s actually the Shearing Hurricane Fan!"


    "Isn''t that supposed to be kept in the treasury?"


    Still, a few keen eyes in the audience seem to recognize it.


    "Shearing Hurricane Fan! It''s actually the Shearing Hurricane Fan!"


    "Isn''t that supposed to be kept in the treasury?"


    "Heavens! Did the emperor gave the third Prince the Fan?"


    It was clear that the Fan was, rather well known.


    "What''s that?" A young man sitting in the audience asked the person beside him. "Is it something famous, uncle?"


    "Of course! It is one of the treasured weapons of the Imperial family. It is a peak grade Immortal Weapon and is made from the feathers of the Great Hurricane Falcon.


    It is said that the Former Emperor of the Dao Wind Empire hunted down a Seventh Tribtion Stage Great Hurricane Falcon that was causing troubles in the empire. After killing it, the corpse of the Great Hurricane Falcon was refined into materials that wereter turned into Immortal weapons." The uncle exined.


    "Wait¡­ you mean to say there are more of them?" the young man was surprised.


    "Of course. The corpse was enough to make three Immortal Weapons. The Hurricane Covering Parasol that is the personal weapon of Emperor Feng. The Shearing Hurricane Fan that the Third Prince is using and the Hundred Feathered Hurricane Daggers." The uncle answered.


    "Are all of them Peak Immortal Grade Weapons?" The young man wondered.


    After all, Peak Grade immortal grade weapons were quite limited in number and not everyone could see them. Not only did they need valuable resources to make, but also needed to be nurtured for a long time to reach their full potential.


    "No, out of the three, only the Hurricane Covering Parasol and the Shearing Hurricane Fan are Peak Grade Immortal weapons. The Hundred Fettered Hurricane Daggers are high Grade Immortal weapons though." The uncle exined.


    <nulli>~BOOM~


    Their attention was quickly pulled back to the fight as anotherrge explosion took ce.


    But unlike the previous ones, this one wasn''t due to fire. Instead, it was Feng Baxing who had done it.


    The Shearing Hurricane Fan in his hand glowed in an azure light and emanated strong Immortal Qi waves. If there were people with weak cultivation bases present here, they would pass out simply from the pressure and not even the attacks.


    But that wasn''t all, as Wind Dao Traces could also be felt at the same time, the Shearing Hurricane Fan gleaming with them.


    Feng Baxing swung the fan, creating a gale that directly sted away all that was in front of him. Childe Wildfire was forced back for five hundred meters, while thend was devastated, leaving a long gully that was twenty meters deep and a hundred meters wide!


    <nulli>~GASP~


    The audience that saw it could tell that attack was something they would never be able to go up against.


    "So you''re gonna rely on that weapon huh¡­ Looks like I finally forced your hand." Childe Wildfire smirked, not minding at all that his opponent still seemed to be holding up against him.


    Instead, Childe Wildfire brought his palms in front of his Chest.


    "You''re not the only one who has a weapon!" Childe Wildlife said as a small orb rose from his chest.


    The orb was red in color and orange mes were burning around it.


    It was small, but strong Fire Dao Traces could be felt from it.


    "Is that¡­ A Dao Embryo?" The people wondered.


    "It really is!"


    "Anyone know what Dao Embryo it is?" Childe Wildfire''s Dao Embryo seemed to be rather rare.


    A few elders in the audience tried to guess, but it wasn''t something they could recognize.


    Only one person ended up recognizing it and that was none other than Lin Mu.


    "Scorch Sun Ruby Dao Embryo¡­ so he actually has that¡­" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    Hispanions heard it and wondered what that was.


    "You recognize the Dao Embryo, Brother Mu Lin?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "I do¡­ it is one of the rarer Dao Embryos of the Fire Dao." Lin Mu replied.


    "What''s special about it?" Lu Xu asked, not knowing much.


    "If I recall correctly, it allows one to use the Scorching Sun mes. They are several times stronger than normal mes and can melt stone and steel with ease." Lin Mu exined.


    "What makes them stand out from other mes, though?" Luo Liqin asked. "There are many fire Dao Embryos after all. All of them can melt things." He wondered.


    "The intensity of the Scorching Sun mes is so strong that even its user isn''t free from its effects. If one is careless, they could very well end up burning themselves to death." Lin Mu exined, shocking hispanions.


    <nulli>~gasp~


    "It is such a dangerous me that if one managed to make the Scorching Sun Ruby Dao Embryo, they cannot even use it right away in Dao Treading realm. Even if they reach the Immortal realm, it will take them a long time to be able to use it safely.


    I''ve even heard that Seventh Tribtion Stage immortals have perished to their own mes, when they were unable to handle it." Lin Mu added, surprising them even more.


    "That is¡­" Ming Dandan was at a loss for words.


    "Will Childe Wildfire be able to handle this, then? Even his Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm cultivation base doesn''t seem enough." Qian Wen wondered.


    "He should be able to¡­ one of the ways of oveing the mes is to raise one''s own resistance to fire. It can be either through body cultivation or using resources that can directly boost it." Lin Mu answered. "Childe Wildfire doesn''t have body cultivation, so I think its thetter for him." He added.


    Hearing that, they all couldn''t help but wonder just how it would go for Childe Wildlife.


    "It is time for you to be burned!" Childe Wildfire said as he raised his hand, creating arge sphere of fire in the sky.


    The sphere was nearly ten meters wide and burned in a fierce red light.


    "Scorch Sun domain!" Childe Wildfire shouted.


    To mortals, it would seem like a new red sun had appeared in the sky. The heat from it was enough to soften the ground of the Spatial ne. A few seconds was all it took for the brown soil and grey rocks to turn red hot.


    And a minuteter, they had softened into a dough like consistency. Of course, this was only the start as the temperature kept on rising.


    "NOW BURN!" Childe Wildfire pointed at Feng Baxing, causing a fiery rain to fall from the sun.

 Chapter 1825 Scorch Sun Domain

    Chapter 1825 Scorch Sun Domain


    Childe Wildlife''s Dao Skill was simply stunning to all those that watched it.


    Lin Mu who had his Immortal sense inside the Spatial ne could feel it even better.


    ''Even I''ll have to take this attack seriously¡­ might even be forced to use the Spatial Skills.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    <nulli>~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~ BOOM~


    The fire continued to rain down from the sun and covered thend. Feng Baxing had to focus on defending for the time being and continued to swing his Shearing Hurricane Fan.


    <nulli>~WOOM~


    The Shearing Hurricane Fan created jets of wind that spread out from Feng Baxing''s body, pushing all the fireballs away. The barrier on the other hand was unable to withstand the fireballs as the heat was simply pushing the wind away.


    Feng Baxing was surprisingly forced to retreat while using the Peak Grade immortal weapon.


    Lin Mu who was observing him though found something strange.


    ''He¡­ can''t use the Fan properly?'' Lin Mu could sense the Immortal Qi fluctuations from the fan and found them to be a bit erratic.


    The people in the audience couldn''t tell this due to being separated, but Lin Mu could still pick up on it. Though the Dao Traces that covered the fan also made it hard to tell.


    Only those that were versed in the Wind Dao would be able to tell what was actually happening to the Shearing Hurricane Fan.


    ''It''s almost as if¡­ The Shearing Hurricane Fan''s abilities are restricted.'' Lin Mu realized though he couldn''t tell why.


    He thought of the words of the audience and quickly thought of something.


    ''Wait¡­ they said the Shearing Hurricane Fan was kept in the treasury of the Imperial Family¡­ if Feng Baxing took it only recently, it is possible that the spirit of the Shearing Hurricane Fan hasn''t fully epted him yet!'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    If it really was as Lin Mu had though, it would be the same as unrevealing another weakness for Feng Baxing.


    It also made sense as to why he hadn''t used the fan before this. All the opponents that he had met were far too weak to warrant its use. It even made Lin Mu wonder if there were additional limitations to it.


    ''Even for the Imperial Family, Peak grade immortal weapons aren''t something that can be easily obtained. If the Emperor has given it to Feng Baxing, there might have been other conditions that he put forth.'' Lin Mu pondered before his mind went to the words of the Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    ''Considering that he''s the Crown Prince, the Emperor definitely favors him. Thus it wouldn''t make sense as to why he wasn''t given the Fan.


    Is the Shearing Hurricane Fan the true reason why the Crown Prince is forgetting the Third Prince?'' Lin Mu was starting to look deeper into the conflict.


    Things were starting to make sense now.


    "Perhaps the emperor put a limit of usage on it¡­ The Third Prince might only be able to utilize it a few times before it is unusable by him." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Huh? Did you say something, Brother Mu Lin?" Luo Liqin asked.


    "Nothing¡­. Just talking to myself." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "I see¡­" Luo Liqin turned his attention back to the fight while Lin Mu continued to think further.


    The match had been running for about ten minutes now and Feng Baxing seem to be on the defensive.


    Childe Wildlife had turned the entire battlefield into a sea of fire by now. Not just that, but the ground directly underneath him had already melted and turned into avake.


    And thisvake only continued to expand in size as the red sun burned in the sky.


    This forced Feng Baxing to stay in the air, asnding on the ground would put further stress on his defenses. But even this didn''tst long, as the Sun continued to grow bit by bit.


    Therger it grew the more the temperature of the Spatial ne rose. The air had be superheated, and the average temperature of the area exceeded a hundred Celsius!


    This was massive considering the full size of the Spatial ne which that they couldst that long in this.


    And one must not forget that there wasn''t just damage due to the was over tens of kilometers in area.


    And this was just the average temperature, if one got close to where Childe Wildlife and the Sun was, they would find the temperatures touching upon a thousand Celsius!


    It was a temperature that would threaten the lives of the immortals too and wasn''t something most immortals would be able to survive in for long.


    Even with their defensive skills and tools, there was no guarantee that they couldst that long in this.


    And one must not forget that there wasn''t just damage due to the high temperatures, there was also the presence of Fire Dao Traces as well as violent Fire Elemental Qi mixed in all this!


    An immortal would not only need defense against pure heat, but also from the Fire Elemental Qi. This was something most immortals would be able to put up with up to a certain extent.


    But when the Fire Dao Traces were added to it due to the Dao Skills, most immortals would be unable to do the same.


    Perhaps only those that were resistant to this could manage to defend themselves for long.


    ''One would need a Water Dao skill, or have an affinity with the Fire Dao to be able tost long in this.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''But even those with an affinity with fire would have to keep on retreating. After all, these are Scorching Sun mes¡­'' he thought before switching his attention to Childes Wildfire.


    There Lin Mu saw that the man was actually suffering too.


    There were burn marks on his fingers while parts of his robes were starting to get burned too. Lin Mu saw faint Runes appearing on the robes, trying to resist the Scorching Sun mes.


    "Those robes might not longst¡­" Lin Mu realized that this was how Childe Wildfire was managing to use the Dao Skill.


    The Robes that he was using were different than his previous robes and Lin Mu reckoned they were defensive Immortal robes.


    Normally they should have been able tost for a long time against fire, years even, and be able to repair themselves naturally.


    But now, these robes were getting damaged past the point of no return. Lin Mu witnessed the runes breaking down one by one, as the Formations started to get weaker and weaker.


    The fibers of the robe were burning and a few minutester, the sleeves were already gone.


    Feng Baxing who had an irritated look on his face all this time noticed the change in Childe Wildfire


    "So you''re using this despite the injuries¡­ Let''s see how long you can keep up!" the prince smirked before raising the Shearing Hurricane Fan up high.


    <nulli>~HONG~


    A strong wave of Immortal Qi burst out from the fan, and transformed into a corporeal form.


    At first, it looked to have no shape, but as Feng Baxing continued to pour more and more Immortal Qi into it, it started to change. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    "What is he doing?" The audience was confused.


    "Is that a skill?"


    "It''s definitely a Qi skill of some kind." They reckoned.


    But as they continued to watch, their eyes went wide at the scene. The shapeless Immortal Qi had taken on the form of arge beast that looked like a bird of some kind.


    <nullb><nulli>~PIIIIIIII~


    The bird raised its head and let out a loud cry that shook the battlefield.


    "Heavens! What beast is that!?" They were astounded.


    "That¡­ That¡­ That''s the Great Hurricane Falcon!" Someone finally spoke.


    Lin Mu who watched it narrowed his eyes as he didn''t know what exactly was happening.


    "Oh?" To further Lin Mu''s surprise Xukong seemed to have awakened as well. "To think he could manifest the spirit."


    "That¡­ is the manifestation of the Immortal Weapon''s Spirit?" Lin Mu asked in surprise.


    "Indeed," Xukong confirmed.


    Lin Mu knew that when Immortal Weapons reached the peak grade, their spirits could take on a material form. Though this was something that took a long time and a lot of resources to do so.


    This wasn''t the first time Lin Mu was seeing such a spirit manifestation either though.


    Back in the Deep Sapphire City, Lin Mu had met Lan Bao. She was also a spirit that had taken on the form of a Mermaid.


    Thoughpared to the Spirit that Feng Baxing had manifested, she was leagues above.


    "Now, let''s see if you can stand against this!" Feng Baxing shouted beforemanding the spirit.


    <nulli><nullb>~PIIII~


    The Weapon Spirit let out a loud cry before charging towards Childe Wildlife.


    Being the weapon spirit the Great Hurricane Falcon had all the powers of the Shearing Hurricane Fan. In fact, the spirit could use the powers of the fan several times better than what Feng Baxing could do so.


    And it was demonstrated soon enough, when the spirit charged through the sea of mes, splitting it apart!

 Chapter 1826 Severe Damage

    Chapter 1826 Severe Damage


    The Shearing Hurricane Fan''s Spirit''s power was astonishing for all those that watched it.


    It easily tore through the Scorching Sun mes, while keeping its own form intact. Others weren''t able to see it clearly, but Lin Mu who had his Immortal sense inside the Spatial ne saw a lot more.


    ''The Great Hurricane Falcon is surrounded in an invisible armor¡­ and it''s fullyposed of Wind Dao Traces!'' Lin Mu realized.


    In fact, he could even sense something extra alongside the Wind Dao Traces which made him think that the Great Hurricane Falcon Might actually be using Wind Dao Insights too!


    Dao Insights were of a higher level than the Dao Traces and Lin Mu hadn''t seen that many.


    In fact, the only reason he could even tell that these were Wind Dao Insights was simply because they were of a simr feeling to the Saintess''s abilities. Lin Mu was well aware that the Saintess was an expert in them and could use them to a great level.


    Just the extent of what she could do with them was astounding, having created clouds of various kinds as well as moving things soundlessly.


    What the Great Hurricane Falcon was doing was rather simple aspared to that. It was simply wrapping them around its body and preventing the Fire Dao Traces from affecting it.


    It also managed to keep the Scorching Sun mes away and sessfully managed to get near Childe Wildfire.


    "AHHHHHH!" Childe Wildfire shouted in a mix of pain and anger as he pushed his hands towards the iing Weapon Spirit.


    Both of his hands had turned into me throwers and continually spewed out Scorching Sun mes.


    <nulli>~PIIIIIIIII~


    With the added offense from Childe Wildlife, the Great Hurricane Falcon was actually slowed down and needed to actively resist it. It let out a cry and opened its beak, before spewing out a sharp jet of air.


    <nulli>~SHAAAAA~


    A strange sound was heard as the jet of air rapidly cut through the iing Scorching Sun mes and actually sted them back!


    "ARGH!" Childe Wildfire got hit with his own attack and hurriedly cut off the skill.


    Still, it wasn''t enough as these were Scorching Sun mes. They could sustain themselves on their own for a while and quickly covered his robes.


    Childe Wildfire''s robes that were already breaking, started burning rapidly. The runes on them broke down within seconds, as the robe turned into mere rags. Thankfully this also ended up using up the remaining energy of the Scorching Sun mes and prevented them from further burning Childe Wildlife.


    Unfortunately, this was merely the start of injuries for Childe Wildfire.


    <nulli>~WOONG~


    In the next moment he was struck by the Great Hurricane Falcon. The birds body hit the man like a truck, sending him flying all the way to the end of the Spatial ne.


    <nulli>~THUD~


    Childe Wildfire crashed into the ground, his body leaving a shallow gully as he continued to move back. The force of the attack was simply too much, and the man''s ribcage had already caved in!


    Copious amounts of blood spewed out of Childe Wildfire''s mouth, and nose while his heartbeats turned weak.


    Lin Mu could sense the man''s vitality falling rapidly and his control over the Dao Embryo wakened.


    "He''ll die at this rate¡­" Lin Mu said while gasping. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    Childe Wildfire was in a strange state where he was still considered conscious since his Dao Embryo was intact. This made the Teleportation arrays of the Spatial ne think that he was fine and it didn''t trigger.


    But Lin Mu knew due to the unique condition of Scorch Sun Ruby Dao Embryo which had a rather hard to control nature Childe Wildfire might continue to get injured.


    In fact, Lin Mu could tell that his vitality was also being damaged since the Dao Embryo stayed active. The red sun in the sky continued to rain down fire, harming Childe Wildfire as well.


    This situation created a loophole in the activation conditions of the teleportation arrays, preventing Childe Wildlife from being ejected. At the same time, Lin Mu was sure the man didn''t have the strength to surrender either.


    <nulli>~huu~


    ''There''s no other choice¡­'' Lin Mu made a decision at that point.


    His immortal sense went towards Childe Wildfire and he started to Chant. A couple of secondster, Childe Wildfire''s mind went still and the flow of his Immortal Qi was interrupted.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    This caused the link to the Dao Embryo to stop and the red sun in the sky disappeared in an instant.


    ~<nulli>WHOOSH~


    The Scorch Sun Ruby Dao Embryo flew back into Childe Wildfire''s body and the teleportation arrays of the Spatial ne finally triggered.


    ~<nulli>SHUA~


    Childe Wildlife was considered as having lost his consciousness and was teleported out of the Spatial ne.


    "Humph¡­ just as I thought." Far on the other side, Feng Baxing harrumphed and withdrew the fan.


    The Great Hurricane Falcon dissipated as well and returned inside the Shearing Hurricane Fan.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    He too was teleported out, where the audience was already shouting in excitement and awe.


    "THIRD PRINCE! THIRD PRINCE!"


    "Feng Baxing has defeated Childe Wildfire and is the winner!" The elder overseeing the match finally dered.


    And once that was done, he quickly focused on the condition of the battered and burned man.


    Childe Wildfire''s breath was weak and his pulse was also slow.


    "Healers! Check him right away!" The elder ordered while also checking the man himself.


    And when he did, the elder was astounded.


    "What?" he couldn''t believe the condition that Childe Wildlife was in.


    "His hand meridians have burned away along with his flesh and his legs are also severely burned." One of the healers reported.


    "His Dantian has sustained damage as well and his Immortal Qi stores are at the bare minimum!"


    "Hurry! His Nascent soul is getting unstable!" The healers saw something severe. "Elder, we need to secure his Nascent soul or it might leave the body beforehand!"


    The elder had also seen the damage and acted quickly.

 Chapter 1827 Saving Childe

    Chapter 1827 Saving Childe


    After all, they knew that if the Nascent soul left the body before it was truly dead, Childe Wildlife might lose his cultivation base in the best case, and his life in the worst case.


    Something like this was rather rare and only happened when the body was damaged beyond a limit when using Dao Embryos and Dao Skills.


    Such was the strain that was put on one''s body due to them. That was the reason why cultivators were not supposed to use the skills lightly. And using them should also be done within limits. If they didn''t the consequence of it were lethal.


    Lin Mu had seen this several times before back in the Xiao Fan world when the elders of the Northern Tribes used their shared Dao skills.


    Thankfully, Childe Wildfire was in the best possible ce to get injured like this.


    The Temple of the Four Guardian beasts was no joke and had the best possible people to deal with this. The head healer also arrived and started stabilizing Childe Wildfire''s Nascent soul while the others tried to restore some Immortal Qi.


    They had to be very careful in doing this since Childe Wildfire''s meridians were also damaged. They had to gently inject small amounts of Immoral Qi so that the damaged meridians wouldn''t be stressed too much and break apart.


    They even ignored the fleshly injuries of Childe Wildlife as they couldter be taken care off.


    It was also useless to deal with them at this moment since they were all caused due to the Scorching Sun mes. These kinds of burns were not easy to heal andmon pills would not work on them.


    It would take long term treatment to heal them, if it was even possible at that point.


    <nulli>~Sigh~


    Lin Mu who saw this couldn''t help but sigh.


    ''It was his own doing¡­ the best I could do was to eject him from the Spatial ne.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Childe Wildfire was no naive man and had used his Dao skills knowing very well that it could bring harm to himself. As such there was no one he could me other than himself.


    And considering his personality that Lin Mu had observed so far, the man wouldn''t have it any other way either.


    "At least he fought well. He certainly did force Feng Baxing''s hand." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Childe Wildlife was the only person who had forced the Third Prince to use the Shearing Hurricane Fan. And not just use it but also summon the Weapon Spirit.


    ''Summoning the Weapon Spirit should have alsoe at a cost¡­ it takes a lot of Immortal Qi after all.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Feeling curious, he used his Immortal sense to check the Crown Prince as well.


    "Sure enough¡­ the Immortal Qi fluctuationsing from him have fallen as well." Lin Mu muttered. "He has probably used up more than 80% of his Immortal Qi for it to have fallen to this level." He reckoned.


    This was good information for Lin Mu as he now knew that the Third Prince also had his limitations. After all, Lin Mu would be facing the man soon too, and needed to know as much as he could about him.


    If he didn''t know about the Shearing Hurricane Fan and that it could summon the Great Hurricane Falcon Weapon spirit it could be very interring for him and could very well spell his defeat.


    Without his Spatial Skills, there were limitations to what Lin Mu could do to stop it after all.


    Just the Shearing Hurricane Fan would be more than enough to threaten Lin Mu, and if the weapon spirit was also summoned, Lin Mu would be pushed to his limits.


    It made him think about what he could do to counteract this.


    ''I''ll need to think of a way to survive it all¡­ considering how much Immortal Qi Feng Baxing lost in that short time, it is quite clear that using the Shearing Hurricane Fan and summoning the Weapon Spirit consumes a lot of Immortal Qi. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    As long as I can endure that, Feng Baxing will have lost.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and formted a potential n against the man.


    The previous scenarios that he had made needed to be changed quite a bit due to the addition of the weapon fan.


    Originally Lin Mu had thought that he would simply focus on breaking the wind barrier and then getting close enough to attack the Third Prince. But now there was the additional threat of the Shearing Hurricane Fan.


    reckoned.


    ''One thing is for sure, I''ll have to use all my cultivation for this. Only by using my Body cultivation will I be able to endure all that.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    And while he was thinking all this, Lin Mu''spanions wereing to terms with the conclusion of the fight as well.


    "How did Feng Baxing get that fan? Do you know anything, Qian Wen?" Luo Liqin questioned.


    "As far as I recall, the Shearing Hurricane Fan is something that the Emperor wouldn''t give out easily." Qian Wen replied. "In fact, I recall even the Crown Prince being denied in the past." He added.


    "Even the Crown Prince? But isn''t he the strongest?" Ming Aolian questioned.


    "Indeed¡­ which makes the entire matter even more confusing. One thing is for sure though, the Third Prince probably had to force the Emperor to give him the Fan somehow.


    How he did that though is a mystery¡­" Qian Wen answered.


    Since Qian Wen who was the most informed about the matter of the Imperial Family couldn''t figure it out, the others also didn''t think further.


    Back at the Tournament grounds, the healers had already transported Childe Wildlife away and the arrays were now being reset.


    <nulli>"Ahem!~" The overseeing elder coughed, silencing the crowd. "We''ll be shortly resuming the tournament in two hours, the contestants Yao Changying and Daoist Mu Lin should be prepared." He announced.


    Lin Mu opened his eyes upon hearing this and focused on his current opponent for now.

 Chapter 1828 Lin Mu Versus Yao Changying

    Chapter 1828 Lin Mu Versus Yao Changying


    The time for Lin Mu''s fight with Yao Changying approached, but the audience was still continually talking about the previous battle.


    To them, the fight between Childe Wildfire and Feng Baxing was possibly the most exciting fight in the tournament so far. So much so that they didn''t take much interest in Lin Mu''s fight.


    It was somewhat understandable too, as they simply thought that the winner was already decided. Only a few in the audience even thought that Lin Mu might even give Yao Changying a proper fight. To the majority, the match was predictable and Yao Changying would be the inevitable winner.


    In fact, there were people betting on how long it would take for Yao Changying to defeat Lin Mu instead of who would be winning.


    Luo Liqin saw this and spent no time in taking advantage of the bets. He quickly ced a significant amount of fortune on Lin Mu''s win while waiting for the fight to start.


    <nulli>~humm~


    The token in Lin Mu''s waist hummed again as a reminder, waking him up.


    "Time for me to head out." Lin Mu said as he stood up.


    His expression was calm, and it didn''t seem like he was bothered about the fight at all. This inspired confidence in the minds of hispanions, who all spoke up.


    "Good luck brother Mu Lin!"


    "You are bound to win this fight."


    "We''ll be waiting for you eagerly!"


    "Mmhmm, I''ll see you guys in a bit." Lin Mu said before taking his leave.


    But as he was walking down the stairs, he saw a familiar woman.


    "Daoist Mu Lin hase rather far. I can''t help but feel pleased." The elegantly dressed woman spoke.


    "Countess¡­ I hope that you''ll continue to like my performance." Lin Mu replied as a courtesy.


    "Of course. I hope that you win all the way to the end." The Countessughed. "And if you win in the end, I''ll even throw you arge banquet, haha!"


    "I''ll look forward to it. But for now, I have to take my leave." Lin Mu replied.


    "Go on, show that woman tricks can only bring one so far." The Countess smiled before leaving.


    Lin Mu went down and got a few more looks from the staff of the restaurant, but they were a bit more reserved this time. No one talked to him or tried to stop him the rest of the way, and Lin Mu quickly reached the tournament grounds.


    "Oh? She''s already waiting." Lin Mu hadn''t expected for Yao Changying to have been there beforehand.


    The woman had her eyes closed and stood with a still expression. Her hand was still resting on the handle of her sword though, and Lin Mu could sense a faint aura of sharpness around her.


    ''Looks like she''s ready for a battle too¡­'' Lin Mu could tell that from just a look.


    He got onto the tform and waited for the arrays to get ready.


    The audience was talking about them as they watched him appear.


    Some talked about the winning chances, while others wondered just how much power would Yao Changying would be showing them today.


    Lin Mu spread his immortal sense and was ready to observe any changes that might be happening to Yao Changying''s demeanor. He was checking whether she had any defensive tools active, or if there was anything else going on with her.


    ''Will I be able to get her with a surprise attack again?'' Lin Mu wondered as he lightly nced at the bracelet on his wrist.


    The bracelet had been strengthened by Crown Princess Shang and should be a lot more effective than before, which should make things easier for Lin Mu. Though at the same time, Lin Mu somewhat felt like he wanted to fight the woman at her full potential.


    It was his curiosity to see just how strong she was and also whether he could stand up against her when his Spatial Skills were restrained.


    <nulli>~Sigh~


    ''I shouldn''t think beyond what''s necessary for now. It''ll only distract me in the fight. I cannot take my opponent lightly.'' Lin Mu reminded himself.


    He recalled his experience with Dugu Shanhe and knew that underestimating an opponent could be very dangerous. His previous fight was a wakeup call and made Lin Mu be a lot more cautious about it all.


    "The gate is now ready. Both contestants shall enter it!" The Elder overseeing the tournament finally announced.


    <nulli>~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and walked towards the teleportation gate. His Spatial Perception was also activated, as he wished to strike the woman as soon as he stepped into the Spatial ne. At the same time, he wanted to know what action she would be taking.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    Lin Mu and Yao Changying both stepped into the gate and were soon teleported away, their bodies turning into a blur.


    In the teleportation Channel, Lin Mu spread his immortal sense and used his Spatial Perception to quickly narrow down the spot where he and Yao Changying would be arriving at.


    ''I need to take the initiative,'' Lin Mu thought and manipted his arrival location to be just behind Yao Changying.


    Normally the contestants should appear facing each other, but Lin Mu''s improved understanding of the space as well as the array allowed him to manipte it just enough to change the normal orientation.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    <nulli>~THUD~ Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    "Where''s Daoist Mu Lin?" to them, only Yao Changying seemed to A few momentster, the two finally appeared inside the Spatial ne, and the formation screen focused on them. But the people in the audience noticed the strangeness.


    "Where''s Daoist Mu Lin?" to them, only Yao Changying seemed to have arrived.


    The spot where Lin Mu was supposed to arrive was empty and the fomentation screen was focusing there.


    "LOOK!" One of the people pointed to another formation screen that was pointing at the back of Yao Changying.


    "He''s behind her!" someone shouted.


    "How did he get there?" they couldn''t believe it.


    Lin Mu had appeared right behind Yao Changying just as he had nned, and was just a meter away from her. His hand was already extended and was about to touch the woman''s back.


    "You dare?" But much to Lin Mu''s surprise, Yao Changying moved.


    <nulli>~CLANG~


    She extended her left hand and blocked Lin Mu''s hand, preventing it from touching her back. He was stopped just an inch away from her!


    He had intentionallye from the left so that Yao Changying wouldn''t be able to draw her sword in time. And yet, she had blocked it with her free hand!


    Lin Mu widened his eyes as he felt the energy covering Yao Changying''s hand. The energy was preventing him from making direct contact with her, and thus the bracelet hadn''t activated.


    "You thought I wouldn''t know your tricks?" Yao Changying said with a hint of anger in her voice. "I''ve seen your fights. You like to ambush others. But it won''t work on me." She said before pushing back with her hand.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    A palm imprint flew out of Yao Changying''s left palm, forcing Lin Mu back at least five meters before he stopped.


    "You''ve caught me." Lin Mu lightly replied, "But I have more than that." He said before directly stomping on the ground.


    <nulli>~CRACK~


    The ground shattered under the force, as Lin Mu shot towards Yao Changying at a great speed.


    "Not so easily," Yao Changying frowned and drew out her sword.


    <nulli>~SHING~


    The longsword hummed with energy as Sword Intent poured into it. She drew it in one stroke and shed it out in the same movement.


    <nulli>~SLASH~


    The sword sh reached Lin Mu almost immediately, threatening to cut him down. But that wasn''t what happened, as Lin Mu met it with his own sword.


    <nulli>~CLANG~


    Afternoon pine struck the sword sh, blocking it.


    "That''s not enough." Yao Changying smirked, as the Sword intent imbued sh split apart.


    While it was blocked in the middle, the sh continued onwards and struck Lin Mu''s body!


    The people watching it widened their eyes in shock.


    "He''s done for¡­"


    <nulli>~DENG~


    But unlike what they had thought, a shocking thing happened.


    The two parts of the sword sh did hit Lin Mu, and even damaged his robes but they didn''t manage to actually injure him.


    <nulli>~RIP~


    Lin Mu''s robes were cut, revealing his body underneath. A faint line was left where the Sword sh had hit him.


    "What is that¡­ why''s he glowing?" the audience noticed his peculiar skin.


    "He¡­ he''s not injured at all?" They saw. "How''s that possible?"


    "Not even a cut! Is that an armor?" they wondered.


    Yao Changying also noticed that her attack hadn''t worked and furrowed her brows.


    Lin Mu, on the other hand, looked at his robes that weren''t regenerating. In fact, he could feel the formation of the robes simply dying out in an instant.


    <nulli>~Sigh~


    "I''ll have to buy more self repairing robes¡­ guess Sword intent can damage them permanently." Lin Mu muttered to himself, much to Yao Changying''s surprise.


    "You¡­ you''re bothered about your clothes in all this?"

 Chapter 1829 Two Singing Swords

    Chapter 1829 Two Singing Swords


    Yao Changying had not expected Lin Mu to be this dismissive about the attack.


    "I''ve lost too many of them. So I kinda need to care." Lin Mu replied to the woman, making the audience stunned. "Though, now that I know, I may as well not wear them." He said before letting the tattered robes fall off.


    Lin Mu''s golden body was revealed and shone like amp. His muscles which had been tempered through years of effort and pain looked imposing.


    "Enough!" Yao Changying seemed irritated and shed out again.


    <nulli>~CLANG~ CLANG~


    This time, Lin Mu defended against the shes in a rather crude way. He directly used his bare hands to p the Sword shes. Simr to before though, the shes only broke partly, with the remnant still striking Lin Mu''s body.


    "He''s still fine!?" The audience wasn''t able to figure out why.


    Once again, faint lines appeared where Lin Mu was struck by the two broken sword shes. The people who saw this were fleet stunned, while some tried to make sense of it.


    "He¡­ HE''S A BODY CULTIVATOR!" The audience finally realized.


    There were hundreds of body cultivators in the audience along with other experienced cultivators thus after seeing Lin Mu easily defend against the sword shes they found it easy toe to a conclusion. Before this, Lin Mu had fooled them by using his Qi skills and sword skills for the most part.


    Even in his battle against Tian Ning, while his body cultivation was revealed on some level, the people attributed it to some defensive skill.


    "It makes sense¡­ his Qi cultivation is just at the second tribtion stage of the Immortal realm, but his body cultivation is definitely higher!"


    "No wonder he managed toe this far. He was simply hiding it all!"


    The audience broke out in an uproar.


    "It was so obvious. How did we miss it?" They couldn''t help but question.


    "His Sword skills are too good. I just thought he was a dedicated sword cultivator." Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Even his Dao skills are too good. I don''t think anyone that focused on Dao skills that strong would also be able to focus on their body cultivation too." They tried toe to possible exnations.


    <nulli>"Ssh! Just look at the fight! I don''t think that''s all he was hiding from us." An old expert silenced the juniors around him.


    <nulli>~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    And sure enough, looking up they saw Lin Mu face off against Yao Changying directly using his body. The woman''s sword shes were problematical in that they couldn''t be fully blocked, but they still didn''t manage to deal that much damage to Lin Mu.


    The unstoppable sword shes even made Lin Mu wonder just how was Yao Changying was doing this.


    ''Her Sword Skills are certainly topnotch. Herprehension also seems to be one that has been gained through many years of learning.'' Lin Mu thought. ''But this doesn''t match up with her actions from before. If it was all correct, she shouldn''t have sword skills like this.'' He wondered.


    Yao Changying might not be able to inflict much damage on Lin Mu right now, but her attacks still contained enough impact to push Lin Mu back. She prevented Lin Mu from getting close to her and also seemed to be intensifying her attacks.


    ''I need to get close to her to use the bracelet, but her attacks keep on pushing me back.'' Lin Mu tried to think of a method of oveing this.


    <nulli>~CLANG~ CLANG~


    Lin Mu mmed his palms against another Sword sh, this time focusing on the dispersal of the Sword Intent contained within it.


    "Mm¡­ this won''t work. I can''t sense it fully." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "The Sword Intent itself is meant to dissipate somehow. It is also why it is able to keep its force even while being blocked."


    Having realized this, Lin Mu figured out at least one aspect of the Sword Intent.


    <nullb><nulli>~CLANG~ CLANG~


    He swung his palms around, trying to deflect the Sword shes this time. But still managed to fail, as the Sword Intent simply broke a part of them where his palms struck. The rest of the Sword Intent still continued towards his body.


    ''The Sword intent''s property seems to be dispersal¡­ instead of letting the entire sword sh copse, it sacrifices a part of it to continue onwards.'' Lin Mu analyzed further.


    By now, Yao Changying was also starting to realize that her attacks weren''t doing much to Lin Mu. As such, she decided to change her method of attack.


    <nulli>~shua~


    She held her sword horizontally in front of her as her aura changed into a new form.


    "Dance of the Flourishing Flowers¡­" Yao Changying lightly muttered.


    <nulli>~HUMM~


    As if her sword was singing, a melodious tone was heard and Yao Changying''s aura transformed.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu''s immortal sense picked up on the transformation and also what Yao Changing was doing. ''Her sword intent is merging into her aura?''


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    A couple of secondster, a wave of energy spread from Yao Changying, carrying with it thousands of flower petals.


    <nulli>~SHING~


    Yao Changying twisted her sword and twirled it in the air, creating illusory flower petals that flew out. The illusory flower petals wererger than the other flower petals that were surrounding and exuded a lot of power.


    Feeling the pure Sword Intent contained within all the petals, Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel his own Sword Intent getting excited.


    "Very well¡­ I''ll figure it out as we go." Lin Mu said before withdrawing Afternoon Pine again. "You''re using petals, I''ll use trees!"


    <nulli>~SHING~


    The double-edged sword hummed simrly as if taunting the opponent''s sword.


    "Golden Noon Pine," Lin Mu shed out with the sword, as yellow pine treesposed of Metal Immortal Qi rose from it.


    <nullb><nulli>~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    pine treesposed of Metal Immortal Qi rose from it.


    <nullb><nulli>~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    The metal pine trees collided against the thousands of petals filled with Sword Intent, creating a noise that seemed to beposed of two opposing songs.


    <nullb>~BOOM~


    The two melodies reached a crescendo before finally exploding apart!

 Chapter 1830 Natural State

    Chapter 1830 ''Natural'' State


    The sh of the two sword intents was both dangerous and beautiful at the same time, making the audience marvel at it.


    A cloud of Dust and debris covered the area of the sh, hiding both Lin Mu and Yao Changying in it. But inside this, a mix of yellow and pink swirled. The yellow color was from Lin Mu''s sword attacks while the pink was from Yao Changying''s Sword shes.


    "Dammit, we can''t see shit!" The audience was bothered by the blocked screen.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    Thankfully, just a few secondster, another attack from the two contestants blew all the dust away. It revealed the scene of the fight that had greatly changed from before.


    Deep craters mixed with long gullies were left on the ground. The rocks thatposed the ground had been thoroughly ground to dust due to the thousands of petals from Yao Changying''s attacks while the Metal Pine trees of Lin Mu had fissured it to no end.


    "You''re certainly improving¡­" Lin Mu muttered, looking at the tens of small dents that were left on his skin.


    Yao Changying''s petals had hit him several times, which were a lot stronger than her previous sword shes. It was clear that she had been holding back this entire time. As for what reason, Lin Mu didn''t know.


    All he knew was that she probably had a lot more to show, and he needed to match up to it as well.


    Through this sh, Lin Mu also realized that just his own Sword skills alone won''t be enough to go up against Yao Changying. He had gotten damaged from the woman''s attacks, albeit it was still not on the same level as Tian Ning.


    ''But then again, Tian Ning was using all his power and also had the advantage of lightning bypassing my defenses.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Yao Changying will surely be using more and more of her power as the fight goes on. It''ll eventually reach a point where my defenses won''t hold up either.'' He realized.


    Lin Mu nced at Yao Changying who was dancing around with her sword, creating more and more petals. It was clear that her attacks were about to get stronger than earlier.


    ''I had thought about this beforehand too, but guess this just confirms it all.'' Lin Mu thought before taking a deep breath. "Holding back all this time had been getting a bit annoying, but I guess this much is enough." He said, confusing Yao Changying.


    <nulli>~HUALA~


    In the next moment, a surge of aura rose from Lin Mu''s body, revealing his endless vitality.


    <nullb>~HONG~


    The vitality continued to rise until it became almost palpable. A red aura surrounded Lin Mu, which was built from pure vitality.


    "Heavens¡­ what even is that?" The body cultivators in the audience stood up, seeing the scene. "What is his body cultivation base for his vitality to be that strong?"


    "Have you seen any other body cultivator like that?" they couldn''t help but ask amongst themselves.


    "Not many¡­ some can replicate that, but what Daoist Mu Lin is showing isn''t even his body cultivation aura¡­ that is pure vitality." One of the body cultivators replied.


    "What does that mean exactly?" A child with a Dao Treading realm cultivation base asked. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "It means¡­ he hasn''t even started to use his body cultivation yet¡­" The body cultivator answered.


    "That Vitality is something that is something normal to his being. If it is only appearing now it only means that he had been sealing it within him all this time." The body cultivator exined. "This is his ''natural'' state," he added, stunning the people that were hearing him.


    "Natural state? Do you even know what you''re saying right now?" Another Body cultivator protested. "If this is his natural state, do you intend to say he''s the same as the Steel Horned General?"


    The general''s mention aroused the memories about the tournament in which he had fought, as well as his many exploits. He was well known in the Rust Sky world as one of the strongest Body cultivators and also as one of the winners of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts.


    "He might as well be¡­ I don''t have to say much. We''ll see soon enough." The first body cultivator said with a frown while pointing at the formation screen.


    <nullb><nulli>~HONGLONG~


    And sure enough, the audience didn''t need to guess for long as the truth revealed itself to them. Lin Mu''s body seemingly grew in size, while a couple of patterns appeared on his body. The first one was on his chest, which was that of an inverted triangle from which multiple bands extended.


    These bands reached his shoulder and wrapped around his back where another pattern was present.


    But this pattern was different and a lot more detailed than the one on his chest.


    "Wait! That totem¡­ Isn''t that¡­" Someone recognized the totem on Lin Mu''s back.


    But before they could speak more, a loud roar was heard. The roar seemingly came out of Lin Mu''s body, as the pattern on his chest glowed in a red light. A secondter, the form of arge beast materialized behind him.


    <nullb><nulli>~ROAR~


    Therge beast was a giant bear that had horns on its head as well as long ws that reached nearly a foot in length. Its own height was about five meters tall and looked massivepared to Lin Mu.


    <nullb><nulli>~MOOO~


    But another loud cry was heard, this timeing from the totem on Lin Mu''s back. The totem was that of a legless bull and gleamed in a yellow and red light.


    The totem''s cry caused another beast''s form to appear. This form appeared above Lin Mu''s head and was even bigger than the bear behind him. Simr to the totem on his back, it was that of a legless bull. The bull only had a body and horns on its head.


    It looked to be furious and puffed out red steam from its nostrils.


    "No way¡­ that¡­ it can''t be¡­" the body cultivators trembled upon seeing the bull.

 Chapter 1831 Tyrannical Display

    Chapter 1831 Tyrannical Disy


    "What is that?" The child couldn''t help but ask upon seeing the two beasts, feeling immensely curious.


    Other people in the audience were also wondering the same, not knowing the significance of the two beast forms that had appeared.


    "I don''t know what that bear is but that¡­ That is¡­ The Tyrant Bull!"


    <nulli>~MOOOOOOOO~


    As if on cue, the bull''s form above Lin Mu''s head let out a cry before a great strength filled Lin Mu''s body. A tyrannical aura surrounded him as two terrifying beast forms backed him up.


    <nulli>~ROAR~


    The giant bear roared as well, joining in with the Tyrant bull, not wanting to be underestimated. The two beasts infused their powers into Lin Mu''s body, while it kept on growing.


    "I would have never thought I''d get to see Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets today¡­" An elderly body cultivator in the audience said.


    The Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets was one of the best Body cultivation techniques that many body cultivators yearned to practice. Despite the fact that the manual for it was actuallymon, not many could go ahead with their desires.


    Obtaining the Tyrant Bull Marrow was a difficult and expensive task that only a few body cultivators with a rich and powerful background could afford.


    But that was merely half the battle.


    In order to actually be able to practice the technique, one needed to make the Tyrant Bull''s spirit submit to them. It was a task harder than anything else, and most failed at this step.


    And through some luck of talent, they did manage to survive this, but they would still have to continue surviving it further. After all, being a body cultivator was the same as always having a tribtion on one''s head. Those with weaker wills could not survive this.


    Thus, while the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets was a strong technique essible to many, seldom did anyone try to practice it.


    Seeing someone actually practice and seed in the technique was even rare.


    "Just what level has he reached?" the people in the audience couldn''t help but wonder.


    "Looking at the Tyrant Bull''s form, it is still Legless. He should be at the third level and equivalent to the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." The elderly body cultivator answered for the others.


    "Third Tribtions stage in Body and second in Qi¡­ he''s done both almost at the same level." Many couldn''t believe that someone could bnce both this well.


    "Don''t forget, he''s also using a risky technique like the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets and even has Sword Skills with a strong Sword Intent." Another cultivator reminded.


    <nullb><nulli>~ROAR~


    While the audience was marveling at Lin Mu''s capability, the man in question was ready to act. The Tyrannical Aura surrounded him and was reinforcing his body as well. Lin Mu could tell that his body was different than thest time he had used the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.


    ''The Great Slumber Bear Bloodline is also amplifying my body with its power. I guess the Tyrant Bull''s spirit made ite out too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Combing them with the True Gold Body Forging Arts, I should be able to handle even more attacks.'' He reckoned.


    Yao Changying gazed at her opponent and felt shocked.


    Lin Mu, who had exceeded a height of two meters and was exuding a tyrannical aura unlike anything she had seen so far in the tournament. To her it was a massive difference, as his style and demeanor seemed different.


    All the skills and methods that Lin Mu had used in his earlier fights seemed iparable to what he was showing now.


    ''The past information might not work here¡­'' Yao Changying thought, furrowing her brows. ''But he is stillcking!'' she had her own pride and wouldn''t be backing down this easily.


    "Flourishing Flower Sword Art: Dazzling Petal Rush!" Yao Changying spun her sword before thrusting it towards Lin Mu.


    This created a spiraling wave of energy that carried thousands of pink petals with it. They rushed towards Lin Mu, threatening to grind him to dust.


    And yet, Lin Mu was unfazed, having a look of casual confidence.


    <nulli>~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, his chest perked up before he made his move.


    Clenching his fist tightly, Lin Mu threw a simple punch.


    <nullb>~RUMBLE~


    And yet, the simple punch transformed into something otherworldly!


    A tyrannical aura coalesced around his fist and transformed into arge fist imprint. It then rose towards the iing petals, colliding with it effortlessly. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    The pink petals were like paper against the fist, crumbling into specks of Qi and dissipating. The Sword intent contained within the petals managed to sustain the power, but the Tyrannical aura of the fist was simply too domineering.


    It crushed the Sword Intent, forcefully making it disperse.


    "He¡­ blocked it!"


    "He actually blocked the attack fully!"


    The audience screamed in shock. They had seen the unstoppable attacks of Yao Changying and had thought that it would be the same as before. And yet, a simple fist of Lin Mu''s had copsed the entire attack in one go.


    "Ho¡­ Looks like this is what I need to keep as a standard." Lin Mu said, opening his fist into a w form. "If it is just this much, then¡­ I can do this all day!" he smiled wildly, a rush of excitement and violence spreading through his heart.


    <nullb><nulli>~BOOM~


    With a single stomp, he turned into a blur, appearing right in front of Yao Changying.


    "GAH!" The woman was still a Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal and managed to react to it, thrusting with her long sword.


    <nulli>~DENG~


    Lin Mu''s red and yellow hand that was bare, struck the sharp sword of Yao Changying, creating a shockwave between them.


    <nullb>~KABOOM~


    Both of them were pushed back in this, while Yao Changying''s sword was deflected back.


    <nulli>~drip~


    A single drop of blood fell from Lin Mu''s hand, and a small cut could be seen on it.


    "Hmm¡­ That''s a strong sword, for sure." Lin Mu said, looking at the cut on his hand that was already healing. ''Is she still holding back?'' he couldn''t help but wonder.

 Chapter 1832 Breaking A Top Skill

    Chapter 1832 Breaking A Top Skill


    Yao Changying felt the throbbing pain in her arm and infused Immortal Qi into it to suppress it.


    ''He managed to take the thrust with his bare hands? Even with his body cultivation, he should still have had his hand shredded.'' Yao Changying found it astonishing.


    But at the same time, she felt angered at it. She was angry that some random cultivator that had no backing that she knew of was able to block her like that.


    ''I''ll finish him directly now¡­'' She thought as a scowl appeared on her face.


    "DIE!" Yao Changying was pissed from all this, having not expected the battle to go like this.


    <nulli>~SHING~ SHING~


    She moved her sword in an inverted ''V'' shape as an illusory mountain condensed in front of her.


    "Flourishing Flower Sword Art: Blossoming Mountain Rise!" Her Sword intent infused into the mountain, turning into a peak that was filled with millions of petals.


    The said mountain quickly increased to a size of fifty meters and continued to grow while threatening to crash upon Lin Mu!


    With the sword intent and immortal Qi that was contained with it, if it hit Lin Mu, it would be the same as getting pressed into a blender.


    "I''ve been wanting to try this out, you just gave me the perfect opportunity." Looking at the massive size of the mountain, Lin Mu wasn''t dissuaded.


    Instead, he decided to take it head on.


    "Haaa¡­" Lin Mu let out a loud cry as the tyrannical aura filled his arms.


    His muscles bulged out and multiplied rapidly, growing his arms in the process. His alreadyrge body grew even more bulky, with unnaturally sized arms attached to it.


    Those knowledgeable about the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets watched it all with wide eyes. "From the second stage¡­ the¡ª"


    Before the man in the audience could speak though, Lin Mu''s loud shout spoke for him.


    "TYRANT LIFT!" Lin Mu spread his arms wide open while using his hands as ws and collided against the iing mountain.


    The millions of sharp petals that were surrounding the mountain were forcefully scattered by Lin Mu.


    <nulli>~BOOM~


    His arms struck the mountain and dug into its sides, while his w like hands gripped it tightly.


    "AHHHHHHHH!" Letting out a loud roar Lin Mu thrust his legs against the ground, shattering all of it in a kilometer''s radius.


    <nulli>~CRACK~


    But this was all just to give him momentum, as he rose up from the push, pulling the mountain along with him.


    Lin Mu''srge arms exerted terrifying strength, as numerous cracks started to spread on the mountain.


    The Mountain itself was also resisting Lin Mu''s attack, or at least attempting to and yet it was unable to do so. Tyrannical aura seeped in from the cracks while Lin Mu continued to rise up higher and higher.


    In just a few seconds, he had reached a height of five hundred meters while the mountain reached a height of a hundred meters.


    "BREAK!" At this point, Lin Mu squeezed with all his might before forcibly changing the trajectory of the mountain.


    <nulli>~CRUMBLE~


    The mountainposed of immortal Qi and sword intent was unable to withstand Lin Mu''s tyrannical might, crumbling into rocks that fell down from the sky. The rocks didn''tst long either, and quickly dispersed into Qi before they reached the ground.


    "Good heavens! He broke the strongest skill from the Flourishing Flower Sword Art!" The audience was absolutely gobsmacked.


    Even if the Flourishing Flower sect was from another world, it was still rather well known in the Rust Sky world. There were many people from other worlds here to watch the tournament too and were thus knowledgeable about their techniques and skills.


    What Yao Changying had used was the strongest skill in the Flourishing Flower Sword Art. It was something that was the pride of the sect and yet, it had been broken by a ck horse in the tournament.


    This was almost unbelievable to them as an attack like this would have injured a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal while pushing a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal back.


    Of course, they didn''t know that when Lin Mu had practiced the same with the Saintess, he had broken an equally strong cloud pir.


    "HAHAHA!" Lin Muughed wildly, seeing his handiwork.


    His body wasn''t fully safe either though, as hundreds of fine cuts could be seen on his torso, arms and face. The Sword intent contained within the peak and the petals were trying to infiltrate Lin Mu''s body, but the Tyrannical aura and vitality were proving to be a great obstacle.


    To the Sword intent, it was the same as swimming up a waterfall.


    Yao Changying looked up at Lin Mu in the sky, who seemed to be pleased with his act.


    "You¡­ Dare humiliate me like this!?" Yao Changying felt her pride being insulted. "This isn''t all that I know!" she screamed before a cold and unsettling aura rose from her body.


    The aura was unlike her sharp sword intent and also didn''t have the color of her petals. Instead, it was a lifeless te grey, causing those who looked at it to feel unnerved.


    <nulli>~HUALA~


    Yao Changying coated her long sword with this aura and shed at Lin Mu in the sky.


    <nulli>~WENG~


    The sword sh this time looked iparable to the mountain from before. Its size was also small, being only two meters wide.


    And yet, when Lin Mu felt it, he instantly became alert. Hisughter stopped and his face became serious.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    He kicked in the air, changing his direction forcibly, and tried to dodge the iing sword sh.


    "Mm?!" But he witnessed the sword sh changing the directions and following after him, too.


    As if the Sword sh was sentient, its speed suddenly rose and it struck Lin Mu!


    <nulli>~HISS~


    A sizzling sound was heard when the sword sh hit Lin Mu''s left arm.


    A burning pain rose from his hand, rming Lin Mu greatly.


    ''It bypassed my defenses as if they didn''t exist¡­ what is this?''This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

 Chapter 1833 A Devastating Clash

    Chapter 1833 A Devastating sh


    Lin Mu hadn''t expected the sword sh to move like that at all, not to mention the injury that he had sustained.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu frowned feeling his skin continuing to burn. ''My body cultivation isn''t working and even the metal defenses of the True Gold Body Forging Arts have been suppressed.'' He observed.


    The Tyrannical Aura of the Tyrant Bull was actively trying to resist the invading energy of the Sword sh but was struggling. Meanwhile, Lin Mu''s vitality was pouring into his arm, trying to heal the damage that was being done.


    At first, his vitality was unable to do the energy from causing more damage, but a few secondster they managed to reach a stalemate. The invading energy couldn''t progress anymore and the Vitality couldn''t heal the damage either.


    "The spreading stopped at least." Lin Mu muttered as he gazed at his skin which had turned an eerie gray.


    It looked like he had been poisoned but knew that attack had no poison in it.


    <nulli>~SHING~ SHING~


    But before Lin Mu could think of much, he was attacked again, multiple sword shes filled with the lifeless te Grey energy flew towards him.


    "Dammit!" Lin Mu flew about to dodge the attacks, but they continued chasing after him as if they had a mind of their own.


    "True Earth Heart Dao Embryo! Great Shield Form!" Seeing that dodging wasn''t working, Lin Mu knew he had to take the attack head on.


    And what better way to do so than using his defensive Dao Embryo.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    The shield like Dao Shell rose from Lin Mu''s chest and quickly grew ayer of rocks to transform into arge shield.


    <nulli>~CLANG~


    Just when the attacks were about to hit Lin Mu, the great Shield had formed and blocked them.


    <nulli>~CRACK~


    Surprisingly, the rockyer on the shield cracked and fell off from the attack. At the same time, Lin Mu felt a drain on his Immortal Qi as the Dao Embryo tried to repair the shield.


    Lin Mu watched with bated breath, whether the shield would be repaired or not. After all, his arm had still not healed and the burning sensation within it continued.


    ~<nulli>shua~


    Thankfully, it seemed like the Dao Embryo was a lot more resilient than he had thought and the shield repaired itself quickly. A newyer of rocks grew back on it, while the True Earth Dao Embryo continued to throb within it.


    <nullb>~HONG~


    But Yao Changying wasn''t one to let Lin Mu rest and shed out with her sword again.


    This time though, the sword intentbined with the te Grey energy and took on an illusory shape. It condensed to form arge chain that was covered in deadly looking spikes.


    "Withering Life Chain." Yao Changying muttered, her voice strange.


    Her words weren''t heard by anyone else, but Lin Mu''s Immortal sense was always close to her thus he picked up on them.


    ''Her voice¡­ seems different.'' Lin Mu wondered what was going on.


    "Dodge that, Lin Mu!" Suddenly he heard an urgent call.


    "Senior!" Lin Mu heard Xukong''s warning and knew that the iing attack was a lot more serious. ''If even Senior Xukong has to warn me, this must not be something simple.'' He realized.


    As such, Lin Mu decided to avoid it all costs.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    First, he flew back at great speed while covering his back with the earthen shield. At the same time, he gathered Qi and vital essence in his right arm, turning it into a spiral.


    And the moment that Lin Mu felt it was ready, he turned around.


    ''Boulder Copsing Fist- Third Form: Devastator!'' This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    Lin Mu unleashed one of his strongest attacks while also amplifying his strength with the Tyrannical Aura.


    <nullb>~BOOM~


    The pinkish red ribbon of energy shot out of Lin Mu''s fist, leaving his knuckles bloodied from it. The ribbon of energy looked otherworldly and the people that watched it were left astounded.


    They had no idea what it was but knew that it made the hair on their necks stand up.


    The ribbon of energy shot towards the deadly spiked chain and collided with a great impact.


    <nulli><nullb>~KABOOM~


    A bright red light spread from the collision, blinding the formation screen for a few seconds.


    "What''s happening?"


    "We can''t see anything again." The audience was getting restless.


    They were sitting at the edge of their seats, looking forward to how the fight was progressing.


    "Elders, please do something!" They called out to the elders of the temple that were overseeing the fight.


    The formation masters stained around the tform quickly got to adjusting it all, and the point of view changed.


    They could now see the two illusory constructs shing from the distance.


    The pinkish red ribbon and the spiked chain spun endlessly and tried to eradicate each other.


    Lin Mu too was surprised as this was the first time Devastator had been stalled this way.


    ''Is this her true strength?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He had been able to handle her so far just using his own strength and hadn''t gotten the chance to use the bracelet that the Crown Princess had given him. Lin Mu had even wondered if it would be necessary for him at a certain point.


    But now he was sure that he really had to use it.


    ''That lifeless te grey aura of her continues to strengthen¡­ I cannot let it progress anymore.'' Lin Mu made up his mind and thought of a n to use the Bracelet.


    Before he could do that though, Lin Mu heard Xukong''s voice again.


    "You cannot carelessly approach her, that lifeless te grey energy that you are seeing is a type of Baleful energy." Xukong warned.


    "A Baleful energy?" Lin Mu raised his brows while continuing to move.


    He still needed to put distance between him and Yao Changying after all.


    "I was able to withstand the Baleful energy on the battlefield, so why can''t I block this?" Lin Mu asked. "Is this stronger than that Baleful energy?"


    "Yes, more particrly it is Withering Baleful energy. It contains traces of the Withering Dao and is rather hazardous for all living things." Xukong replied. "Your injuries won''t heal as long as the Withering energy lingers within your hand. Your vitality can only stall it for now, but it will continue to consume your vitality." He exined.


    "How do I stop it then Senior?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "You need to get rid of the person who used it." Xukong replied. "I do not know how that girl managed to obtain control over the Withering energy, but it is not normal at all. Considering she can use it without stop like this, she has great proficiency in it." He added before taking a pause as if deliberating his next words.


    "What is it senior? Please tell me," Lin Mu urged.


    "The Withering Dao isn''t something even a Transcendent Immortal can grasp easily. In order to understand it, one needs to first experience ''Withering''. How do you think one would do that?" Xukong asked instead.


    "Hmm¡­ By watching things wither?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "If it was as simple as that, there would be many experts using it." Xukong denied. "Rather than watching other things wither, the person attempting to learn it needs to watch themselves wither!'' he revealed.


    Hearing that Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.


    "Does that mean¡­ They need to die?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "Not die, but they need to be in a perpetual state of withering. Always stay at the doorstep of death, suffering at its edge." Xukong replied. "And the only ones who can do this are those that can afford to sacrifice the longevity to experience this." He added.


    "So even a Transcendent Immortal''s longevity isn''t enough?" Lin Mu frowned.


    "No¡­ perhaps not even thebined longevity of ten Transcendent Immortals would be enough for this." Xukong stated, surprising Lin Mu. "Only a celestial might be able to take on such a grave endeavor." He revealed.


    "There''s no way Yao Changying can''t be a Celestial though!" Lin Mu couldn''t believe it. "It is well known who she is and what power she belongs too. Plus, even her cultivation base is still at the fifth tribtion stage of the immortal realm right now." He added.


    "You are correct. It shouldn''t be possible for someone like her to learn the Withering Dao at all." Xukong agreed. "Which is exactly what makes her much more dangerous. It might be a treasure of some kind that is allowing her to do this."


    "Could it havee from that world that Yao Changying raided?" Lin Mu suddenly put the pieces together.


    "It is likely¡­ the sacrifices that she used might have been used to feed the Withering Dao somehow," Xukong said, having doubts of his own. "That Bracelet that you were given seems to contain a counteracting energy that stalls the functioning of the Withering energy of Yao Changying.


    Considering that counteracting energy is still able to work on her, we at least know that she doesn''t have full control of the Withering Dao."

 Chapter 1834 Doubts On Yao Changying

    Chapter 1834 Doubts On Yao Changying


    Xukong''s exnation was enough to make Lin Mu take this with grave seriousness.


    Enough that he was even willing to use his spatial skills if push came to shove. N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    ''But before that, I can still use something¡­ It''ll definitely injure me too, but I can still handle that.'' Lin Mu thought to himself with determination.


    <nulli>~SHAU~SHUA~SHUA~


    Yao Changying hadn''t stopped her attacks either and swung her sword nonstop. Her expression looked a mix of anger and confusion though, which intrigued Lin Mu a bit.


    <nulli>~BOOM~ BOOM~


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t dare take the attacks directly with his body. While he could somewhat stall the effects of the Withering Dao, he didn''t wish to let it affect him more. Instead, he let the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo''s shield take care of it.


    <nulli>~CRACK~


    Of course, this led to the shield cracking several times and rocks falling off it. Lin Mu removed the limits on the Dao Embryo and let it absorb as much of his Immortal Qi as it could. He wasn''t rationing his Qi anymore and was letting it flow as it wished.


    Because of this, the regeneration speed of the great shield increased and was able to recover before the next flurry of attacks.


    "Stop running and face your end!" Yao Changying shouted gathering arge cloud of the te grey aura and thrusting out with it.


    The aura transformed into a strange worm that had no eyes but only a mouth. Its body had open wounds on it that were festering and oozing with pus.


    It looked disgusting, and the audience started to realize that something was wrong here.


    "What is Yao Changying doing?"


    "What kind of skill is that? It is certainly not of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect." The people in the audience wondered.


    Though a few experienced elders in the audience could tell that what Yao Changying was using might not necessarily be of the Orthodox path.


    And it wasn''t just them thinking this, the Elder of the temple overseeing this felt the same.


    As such, he secretly held amunication jade slip and sent a message.


    ''Yao Changying is using lethal attacks using an unorthodox technique. Should I stop the fight?'' The elder asked while trying to keep a neutral expression on his face.


    It wouldn''t do anyone good for him to show anxiety or uncertainty on his face. There were millions of people watching at this time from several worlds. If he showed that things were going wrong, it could lead to a loss of face for the temple.


    If they hastily stopped the fight, and things turned out to still be appropriate, the temple could be med for incorrect decisions.


    ''It isn''t the first time someone is using unorthodox techniques¡­ And contestants do tend to get agitated when fighting, perhaps Yao Changying is just too angered but won''t take the drastic path.'' The overseeing elder hoped.


    Though he also wondered what exactly was the skill that Yao Changying was using. In all his thousands of years of experience, he had never seen an aura of that sort.


    ''Formation masters, do we have data on Yao Changying''s technique?'' The overseeing elder asked while watching Lin Mu retreating high up into the sky.


    "None of us can tell what it is just from looking, but we''re analyzing it, overseer." The formation masters quickly replied.


    Being the ones in charge of controlling and moderating the arrays of the Spatial ne, they needed to be careful about what techniques the contestants were using. Some techniques could very well damage the array after all.


    While there hadn''t been any in this tournament, they have had several experiences in the past which had taught them enough. They tried to n for as many contingencies as they could, but there was always something unexpected that could happen.


    As the elder and the others watched for updates on Yao Changying, Lin Mu was busy dodging her and trying to rise as far as he could in the sky.


    ''More¡­ I need to be higher!'' Lin Mu thought to himself, continuing to fly upwards.


    The move that he had nned needed a lot of distance and height to work. The True Earth Dao heart Dao Embryo''s great shield was able to block Yao Changying''s attacks, but they were only getting worse with each passing second.


    "That illusory festering worm¡­ it''s actually corroding the Shield." Lin Mu felt an acheing from his Dao Embryo, making him look down.


    The shield was wrapped by the illusory worm, which seemed to be spreading te grey energy from its body. This caused the rocks covering the shield to turn to dust and fall off.


    It was astounding, as they weren''t just any rocks, but one''s condensed from Earth Dao and were highlypressed. Even an inch of rock waspressed from a boulder sized rock. This increased the density of the shield and made it tougher.


    And yet, it was being eroded away like it was chalk.


    "I don''t have much time¡­ This''ll have to work!" Lin Mu gritted his teeth. "Return!" he dismissed the Great shield, making it fade away.


    <nulli>~KUAAAA~


    That caused the illusory festering worm that was wrapped around the shield to lose a target. It then rushed towards Lin Mu, sensing him as a foe. But that wasn''t all, as Yao Changying had readied for more attacks.


    "Seems like you''re finally hitting your limit, Humph!" She scowled before gathering three more clouds of the te grey aura and thrusting them with her sword.


    <nulli>~KUAAAA~KUAAAA~KUAAAA~


    Three more illusory festering worms were created from them and rushed towards Lin Mu. The man''s troubles had just multiplied four fold, and he had little to defend with.


    Lin Mu noticed this, but couldn''t care less. He was already prepared to get injured from this.


    Gritting his teeth, Lin Mu released as much of his Qi and immortal essence as he could.


    "AHHHHHHHH!" The immortal essence strengthened his body with the Tyrannical Aura as Lin Mu began his descent!

 Chapter 1835 Dire Descent

    Chapter 1835 Dire Descent


    Lin Mu knew to reach Yao Changying he would have to break through all her attacks, even if it meant getting injured himself. As such he used one of his skills with the greatest momentum.


    <nullb>Falling Sky Lance!


    Lin Mu used the Tyrannical Aura to erge his arms again and flipped upside down. Next, he summoned the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo above him and attached it to his legs like a firm tform. This increased his mass and increased the momentum by several times.


    But that was just the start as Lin Mu added more things.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    Fire covered his entire body as Lin Mu poured out the fire elemental immortal Qi that was within his Dantian. It first coated him and then flowed upwards to form a jet of me. Next, Lin Mu extended both his arms and opened his giant palms.


    <nulli>~HONG~


    Pure Sword intent manifested around him along with Metal elemental immortal Qi, further coating his hands in a sharp aura.


    <nullb>"Aspect of Heaviness!"


    Finally, Lin Mu used his Dao Skill that exponentially increased his weight, and elerated him, breaking the sound barrier.


    <nulli><nullb>~BOOM~


    A sonic boom was heard, the shockwave causing the four illusory festering worms to halt temporarily. Lin Mu''s form turned into a fiery blur as if a meteor descending from the skies. He could no longer be seen within it, leaving a kilometer long fiery streak behind him.


    The air started to heat up from the friction, causing the area to turn hotter faster than usual.


    "Futile effort!" Yao Changying shouted before spinning her sword in a circle, causing the four illusory festering worms toe together.


    <nulli>~KIYAAAA~ Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    The four worms seemingly merged together, turning into arge four headed entity. Its power had increased by a lot and the Withering energy was palpable. Even the very air was getting corrode, a grey smog spreading from the four headed worm.


    The worm screeched and met the falling figure of Lin Mu head on.


    <nulli>~SPLAT~


    It''s illusory form was smashed from the initial impact, three out of the four heads turning to mush.


    <nulli>~KUOAAAAAA~


    The lone surviving head bit Lin Mu''s hand, infecting him with the te grey withering energy.


    "HAAAH!" Lin Mu simply powered through it, forcibly burning the worm away while ignoring the energy that was spreading through his arms.


    The illusory body of therge worm faded away from the force and heat, that was mixed with the sharpness of the sword intent before dispersing. But even when it did that, Withering Dao Traces were left behind, which powdered Lin Mu''s entire body in it.


    <nulli>~COUGH~


    Just a second after being covered by it, Lin Mu felt blood rising from his lungs. He forcibly coughed it out, finding it to be dark brown in color and foul smelling. Now, in addition to outer injuries, Lin Mu was umting internal injuries as well. The Withering Dao Traces had entered his body and were trying to cause havoc.


    <nullb><nulli>~ROAR~


    <nullb><nulli>~MOO~


    But the bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear and the spirit of the Tyrant Bull wasn''t going to tolerate that. Lin Mu''s body was their home and they wouldn''t let an intruder harm it.


    Another battle began within Lin Mu''s body as the two illusory beasts fought against the Withering Dao Traces!


    Lin Mu didn''t have the luxury of observing this, as he had the target in front of him. But if he did see it, he would be rather astonished to see the two beasts working together to expel the Withering Dao Traces. And if he looked closer, he would even see two faint strings connecting the two illusory beasts.


    These two faint strings were made out of minuscule runes that looked to be obscure and esoteric.


    Secretly, Lin Mu''s stomach also activated, releasing the stored energy within it and channeling it into the two illusory beasts through the threads. Coincidentally, the esoteric runes making up the string were the same ones that appeared on the stomach.


    <nulli>~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Lin Mu''s body continued to descend towards Yao Changying and crashed against several of her attacks, that he directly tanked. They hade in a hurry and seemed weaker than her previous attacks, evidently having been made in a hurry.


    With fire and air blurring his vision, Lin Mu couldn''t see clearly in front of him and was using his immortal sense to guide his falling trajectory.


    But if he could see, he would find Yao Changying looking rather shocked.


    "Why aren''t they working?!" Yao Changying screamed in anger. "STOP!" she shed vertically, using as much energy as he could muster in that short moment.


    Unfortunately for her, Lin Mu was already within a hundred meters of her. The heat radiating from him was palpable and was already scorching her clothes.


    "AHHHHHHHHH!" As ast ditch effort, Yao Changying''s body overflowed with the te grey aura and doused her in it.


    In the next moment, her and Lin Mu''s eyes met.


    Anger reflected in her eyes while determination shone in Lin Mu''s eyes.


    <nulli>~BOOM~


    The two finally collided, Lin Mu''s infected arms hitting Yao Changying''s shoulders!


    <nulli>~KACHA~


    "ACK!" Yao Changying couldn''t even scream as the pain overwhelmed her senses.


    Both of her shoulders were broken from the sheer weight and impact. Unfortunately for her, there was no way for Lin Mu to stop.


    <nullb><nulli>~KABOOM~


    <nullb><nulli>~RUMBLE~


    Yao Changying''s body disappeared along with Lin Mu, as a thick cloud of smoke, dust and debris was whipped up. Plumes of orange mes also spread out, turning the area into a burning hellscape. te grey withering smog also mixed in with it, making it impossible for anyone to see what was happening.


    Though a secondter they could see the ground in an area of a kilometer copsing. It caved in for nearly a hundred meters, forming a deep crater that somewhat managed to disperse the impact.


    "This¡­" The Elder overseeing the fight didn''t even know what to make of this.


    <nulli>~HONG~


    But that wasn''t the end of it all, as a green light shone brightly from the smoke and dust!

 Chapter 1836 Drastic Disaster

    Chapter 1836 Drastic Disaster


    The Green light that had appeared was unlike anything the elder had seen before. It was vibrant enough that it could pierce through the te gray fog, and illuminate the entire area.


    Lin Mu and Yao Changying could barely be seen in it, with Lin Mu''s figure pinning the woman below.


    The vibrant green light wasing from his hand, and was flowing into Yao Changying''s body. Lin Mu who was the closest could see it all happen in great detail, as the bracelet was being held in his hand.


    It was crumbling by the second and was converting into pure green energy that invaded Yao Changying''s body. It flowed into her vessels and meridians, highlighting them over her skin. It looked booth eerie and beautiful at the same time, while Yao Changying''s face contorted into that of pain.


    And yet, no voice came out of her voice, as if having been suppressed somehow.


    ''This bracelet¡­ just how did Crown Princess Shang make it?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    The energying from it seemed to be a mix of immortal qi and Wood Dao Traces, but there was something else added to it. Lin Mu couldn''t ce his finger on it exactly but it still felt a bit familiar to him.


    "It is Wood Dao Insights, she has infused them into the bracelet." Xukong answered for him.


    "Wood Dao Traces!? She can already use them?" Lin Mu asked in surprised.


    "She should be able to use them to a certain extent, but not enough to make this." Xukong replied.


    "Then how did she do this? For it to suppress the Withering Dao traces like this, it has to be strong right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. While she did personally inject them into the bracelet and further when she modified it, there was a little external help involved. It is probably a treasure of some kind that contained Wood Dao Insights." Xukong answered much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "If she really did that, then it makes sense as to why it could suppress Yao Changying." Lin Mu said, "though will this be fine? It feels like she''s going to die¡ª"


    Before Lin Mu could say anything more though, the felt strong spatial fluctuations filling the ne.


    "This isn''t the teleportation array¡­ this is spatial copse!" Lin Mu became rmed.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Lin Mu felt the very air shake as the barrier of the Spatial ne was torn apart. The lesser void could be seen beyond it, while the arrays started to crumble away as well.


    ''How''s this happening?'' Lin Mu didn''t know why the arrays that looked to be very stable just a while ago were crumbling like dust.


    Lin Mu wasn''t worried about getting swept away in this as he could easily manage in the void. If need be, he could even make his way back to the Rust Sky World through the remnants of the teleportation channels.


    But doing that would require him to use the ring as well as expose his ability to use space. If possible Lin Mu didn''t want to show that, especially since he had managed toe this far without it, even managing to defeat Yao Changying.


    ~HONG~


    But as the time passed, more and more arrays copsed, the spatial barriers ripping up all around. A few of the tears even appeared on the ground causing the crater that Lin Mu had made to widen.


    "Dammit, the Spatial tear is extending towards us." Lin Mu sensed it. ''I can''t move from here either, the green energy is still flowing into Yao Changying.'' He found his arm stuck to the woman.


    Lin Mu felt like he could forcibly pull his hand, but doing that would likely result in the energy flow to be interrupted and the effect of the bracelet to fail.


    After all, while the bracelet was doing its work Yao Changying also seemed to be trying to defend against it unconsciously. The te Grey aura from his body was actively fighting against the green energy and was currently in a stalemate.


    If Lin Mu forcibly removed this hand, the stalemate would be broken and Yao Changying would likely counterattack.


    ''What should I do?'' Lin Mu was stuck in aplex situation.


    "Sky Monarch Seal!" it was at that point that a loud voice was heard. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    Tens of gales flew toward Lin Mu, each carrying the might of a storm within them. The gales had a bluish green color that continued to flicker as if carrying glitter within it.


    The gales gathered around Lin Mu and blew away all the dust that was around him, fully revealing him to everyone. It also allowed Lin Mu to have a proper look, and saw the gales turning into a corporeal form.


    They turned into eighteen sigils that floated around him and released a protective barrier. It surrounded Lin Mu and Yao Changying isting them from the Spatial Tear that was just a meter away from them.


    "Formation masters! NOW!" The authoritative voice was heard again, before millions of runes appeared in the sky.


    The runes rushed towards the spatial tears all around the ne and covered them in a temporary patch. This stopped the copse of the Spatial ne for the time being and gave Lin Mu time to breathe.


    "Are you okay?" it was now that Lin Mu saw the person who had been giving outmand all this time.


    "High Elder Juxue?" Lin Mu recognized the man.


    "Come, we have to leave this ce quick." The old man waved his hand, creating a solid tform made out of wind elemental qi under Lin Mu and Yao Changying.


    It lifted them up and quickly brought them out of the dangerous area, before the High Elder took out a small talisman.


    ~RIP~


    He tore the talisman and threw it towards Lin Mu, causing his body along with Yao Changying to disappear.


    ''Teleportation?'' Lin Mu could feel that he was being sent back to the tournament grounds.


    A few secondster, he felt the scenery change and he had fallen onto the tform.


    ~THUD~


    Yao Changying''s body was still stuck to his hand and fell alongside him, hitting the ground hard.


    "What''s happening?" Lin Mu was incredibly confused.


    His immortal sense spread around to get a sense of the situation, allowing him to see the expressions of all the audience members. Some of them looked to be anxious, while some looked to be very afraid.


    A few were even leaving the area, as if fleeing with all their might.


    ~BOOM~


    Lin Mu''s attention was forcibly brought back to the Spatial ne, as he not only saw it explode, he also ''felt'' it. His senses were overwhelmed by the Spatial Disturbance that was caused due to it, leaving him a bit disoriented for a moment.


    Thankfully, he managed to get a hold of himself fast and quickly tried to analyze the situation.


    ~shua~


    "Get away from her," High Elder Juxue spoke again, this time in amanding voice.


    expression.


    "I¡­ I can''t." Lin Mu replied. "My hand is stuck to her." He said, Lin Mu found the man standing next to him with a concerned expression.


    "I¡­ I can''t." Lin Mu replied. "My hand is stuck to her." He said, unable to tell the facts.


    "I''ll assist!" The High Elder had guessed something was strange beforehand when Lin Mu didn''t move and quickly acted.


    ~HUALA~


    Before Lin Mu could even do anything, a thinyer of wind that was like cotton wrapped around him and forcibly separated him from Yao Changying.


    And due to how firmly he was struck to the woman, the force applied to him was also high causing him to be tossed ten meters away.


    Thankfully, he managed to gain control of his momentum and quicklynded.


    ''Shit¡­ I separated from Yao Changying before the energy had finished its work.'' Lin Mu thought, wondering what would happen now.


    There were several perplexing things happening at the same time, leaving him rushing for answers in his mind.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    It was at this moment, that tens of elders arrived, all belonging to the temple. The surrounded Yao Changying and created hand seals, setting up a quick barrier.


    Even though the barrier was set up in a short time, Lin Mu could tell, even a seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal would find it difficult to break.


    "What is¡­" Lin Mu now realized that the elders were targeting Yao Changying too.


    "How are your injuries?!" High Elder Juxue approached him, quickly checking his body that had several infected parts.


    Both of Lin Mu''s hands had turned Grey along with spots on his back, torso and leg.


    "That technique that Yao Changying used¡­ I can''t seem to expel its energy from my body." Lin Mu answered causing the High Elder to quickly grasp his wrist.


    Lin Mu felt the man''s immortal sense probe him, and was quickly replied by the te Grey energy.


    "What foul energy is this!?" High Elder Juxue was taken aback.


    In fact, he recoiled in horror, feeling the Grey energy trying to invade his body too!

 Chapter 1837 A Slap On The Face Of The Temple

    Chapter 1837 A p On The Face Of The Temple


    Lin Mu hadn''t expected that even High Elder Juxue wouldn''t be free from the effects of the te Grey energy.


    The energy had entered the old man''s hand, but thankfully he was fast enough in withdrawing. Hence only a sliver of it was in his hand which was being suppressed by his Immortal qi.


    "We need to probably get rid of Yao Changying to stop this energy, High Elder." Lin Mu spoke.


    Hearing that the high elder''s expression became cold.


    "We were suspicious when the arrays stopped responding to ourmands, but this just confirms it." High Elder Juxue said a hint of anger in his voice. "Yao Changying is behind it. Not only did she break the rules of the tournament by interfering with the working of the arrays, she has also used a unorthodox foul energy like this." He stated.


    "Is that why the Spatial ne copse?" Lin Mu started to realize.


    "Indeed. We had to forcibly break the arrays when they stopped responding to us." High Elder Juxue replied. "This has never happened before, and is a spit on the face of the Temple of the Four Guardians." The man was evidently not very pleased.


    ''Looks like Yao Changying''s end is all but decided at this point.'' Lin Mu reckoned but still felt doubtful.


    He didn''t know why Yao Changying would go to this extent as the gains from it did not seem worth it. Not only had see revealed her ploy to the Temple, she had also lost to Lin Mu. Granted the official deration was yet to be made.


    "Suppress her and seal her cultivation." High Elder Juxue gave out the order. "Yao Changying hasmitted and offense against the temple and its tournament''s ts. She has attempted to not only kill Daoist Mu Lin, but even used lethal techniques that can spread to others." He announced to the people his voice being heard all over the city!


    "As such, I dere that Yao Changying is effectively disqualified and Daoist Mu Lin is the winner." High Elder Juxue dered. "Furthermore, the Holy Topaz Dynasty''s representative is to report to me." He added, his eyes scanning the people in the audience as if looking for someone.


    Uproar broke out among the audience as something like this hadn''t happened before. Especially when it concerned someone of a very strong background like Yao Changying.


    It wasn''t even a case of someone being a noble, Yao Changying was the niece of the Holy Topaz Emperor!


    This would be the same as someone using the Crown Prince Feng Shun of treason.


    It was such a sensitive matter that it could very well lead to a war if not handled properly. Thankfully, the offended party this time was the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts instead of someone of another empire.


    The Holy Topaz Dynasty needed to take the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts very seriously and even the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect will inevitably be pulled into this.


    Some of the experienced people could also guess that the Huiqing empire and the Dao Wind Empire would be taking full advantage of this to suppress the Holy Topaz Dynasty.


    <nulli>~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The elders surrounded Yao Changying and were about to carry out the High Elder''s orders when suddenly she opened her eyes.


    ~HUM~


    A chilling aura that inspired terror filled the area rising from none other than Yao Changying. Her pupils expanded until the whites of her eyes were all gone.


    Her eyes turned into pitch ck orbs as if made out of onyx.


    <nulli>~RUMBLE~


    As if thunder was cracking, Yao Changying''s body released a wave of te Grey energy that pushed the elders away.


    "You dare!" High Elder Juxue who saw this was enraged.


    What Yao Changying was doing was basically the same as rebelling against the temple. Not even the Holy Topaz Emperor would be able to save her from the temple''s punishment now.


    "I''ll cripple your cultivation!" High Elder Juxue was not one to stand an offense like this. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    "AAHHHHH!!"


    "NOO!"


    But before he could act, hundreds of people cried out once. All of them had been hit by the wave of energy and were infected by it, their bodies developing Grey spots.


    Those that had weaker cultivation bases felt their bodies aching and in the next moment they lost consciousness. They didn''t even get to witness the rest of the symptoms, which might just be for the best.


    The others that were a bit stronger, felt the full brunt of the infective energy. It entered their meridian and scraped them, making them feel intense agony.


    High Elder Juxue who saw this knew the situation was grave.


    "Save the people first!" He switched his orders.


    "You¡­ I''ll kill you." Yao Changying pointed at Lin Mu, a deadly look in her eyes.


    ''That¡­ isn''t her voice.'' Lin Mu felt like this wasn''t Yao Changying speaking at all.


    The behavior and aura had entirely changed for her to be the same person. Plus from what Lin Mu had learned about Yao Changying she wasn''t one to make arge mess like this.


    After all, there was no returning from this now.


    Lin Mu too got ready to defend, as Yao Changying had threatened him openly.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But much to his surprise, she flew up into the sky with great speed.


    "The restrictions aren''t working?" Lin Mu was confused as cultivators weren''t able to fly in the city, other than a few chosen people.


    He was sure that Yao Changying couldn''t do that before either, and yet now she was flying easily.


    "You dare run after all this?" High Elder Juxue had to pause his work and go after her, but she was simply too fast.


    Her speed had long since exceeded what would be possible for a Fifth Tribtion Stage immortal. Lin Mu''s immortal sense could no longer detect her after a few seconds, as she left his range.


    The High Elder also found the woman disappearing from his senses, having sessfully escaped.


    "She really ran away¡­" Lin Mu muttered before feeling a change in his body.


    The te Grey energy in his body faded away, and his body started to recover.


    ''Huh¡­ wasn''t I supposed to break the link for this to happen?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "Yao Changying herself broke it." Xukong stated. "Looks like she too was running out of energy and couldn''t spare to keep this active." He exined.


    "Hmm, it worked in us favor but not for others." Lin Mu looked at the injured audience members who were having a hard time.


    He sensed the te Grey energy disappearing from their bodies too, but the damage that was already dealt couldn''t be reversed automatically.


    "Dammit!" High Elder Juxue shouted, feeling immensely furious at all this.


    Not only had Yao Changying managed to harm others, she had also managed to escape despite all of them being there. This was a greatpse in security by the Temple of the Guardian beasts and the elders that were here would all have to answer to the higher ups.


    Of course, this was an internal matter and wouldn''t be revealed to the public that easily.


    The others would certainly have to answer though and the Holy Topaz Dynasty would be heavily scrutinized.


    Things were bound to get tense and tiring in theing few days. Even the status of the Tournament now hung in potential limbo.


    "What do I do now?" Lin Mu questioned the high elder who returned.


    "For now, you can rest and recover." High Elder Juxue stated. "Even I don''t know how to proceed from here on. The temple will have to work with the Dao Wind Empire for this." The man said rubbing his forehead.


    "Alright," Lin Mu was fine with that as well.


    With the injuries that he had sustained, even he knew that his body would need a week to heal. And this was when he had his immense vitality to help him.


    ''The damage dealt by the Withering Dao isn''t easy to heal at all¡­ Even with the Grey energy gone it has still weakened me.'' Lin Mu took a deep look at his body.


    Even with the assistance of healing pills, it would still not be easy.


    ''If I have to fight the Third Prince soon, I won''t be able tost that long. I definitely need more time.'' Lin Mu hoped that the tournament wouldn''t reserve till he was fully recovered.


    With that done, he took his leave and left the Tournament grounds. The other people were also leaving, as the earlier scene had terrified most of them. Even if Yao Changying was gone, they didn''t know if the danger still existed.


    Moreover, since all this had happened while the elders of the temple were present the trust of the people in them had weakened.


    Yao Changying had done a lot more damage to things that would be realized as things went by.


    Lin Mu thought about all this, as he left the Tournament grounds.


    "Brother Mu Lin!" But there, he heard several frantic voices.

 Chapter 1838 Concerned Companions

    Chapter 1838 Concerned Companions


    Lin Mu saw Lu Xu, Ming Aolian, Ming Dandan, Qian Wen and Luo Qilin rushing towards him.


    They had anxious expressions on their faces along with fear gleaming in their eyes.


    "Are you okay!?"


    "We saw it all!"


    "How are your injuries?" They shot off a series of questions.


    "I''m injured but I will recover." Lin Mu calmed them down. "We can talk somece private first." He added.


    "Yes¡­" Lu Xu realized that they might have been a bit too hasty in acting like this.


    They had never seen Lin Mu be this injured before and that too being in a weaker position. While he had managed to defeat Yao Changying, the woman had still escaped.


    Her condition was also strange and they couldn''t understand just what had happened.


    "We''ll head to the restaurant first." Lin Mu ordered.


    "Yes." They all agreed and quickly went to the Spring Valley Restaurant.


    Upon reaching there, Lin Mu saw the restaurant looked to be rather empty. The staff members seemed to have all disappeared and no customers seemed to be there either.


    "Why is this empty?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "When the situation in the tournament grounds happened, a lot of the people ran away not knowing what could happen." Luo Liqin informed. "We ran at the same time too. Yao Changying''s actions were terrifying and absurd to us. We would have never thought she would directly offend the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts."


    "That is true." Lin Mu nodded his head before spreading his immortal sense.


    It covered the entire restaurant and showed him that it was entirely empty. Not a single person was present and the arrays of the restaurant had activated automatically.


    "Hmm¡­ looks like we cannot use this now." Lin Mu said. "It has gone into a defensive lock down state."


    "Where should we go then?" Ming Aolian asked.


    "We could go to my courtyard." Lu Xu offered.


    "Rather than that, why don''t you guyse with us." All of a sudden, a new voice was heard, catching the attention of Lin Mu.


    They turned to look and saw none other than Daoist Chu standing there along with a few imperial guards.


    Lu Xu and the others recognized them to be thepanion of Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "Daoist Chu," Lin Mu greeted the man.


    "Crown Prince Feng Shun and Crown Princess Shang has heard and seen everything." Daoist Chu stated briefly. "They''ve asked me to bring you all over. The Capital city will soon be put under a full lock down. It is best you are with us." He informed.


    Hearing that Qian Wen''s eyes went wide.


    "Full lock down!? Isn''t that only supposed to be for¡ª" Qian Wen was interrupted at this moment.


    "War, yes." Daoist Chu nodded his head.


    "Is the Dao Wind Empire preparing for war? But in the middle of the Tournament?" Lu Xu couldn''t believe this.


    "We do not know if the war will truly happen. But Yao Changying''s actions have ignited the fuse. It is up to the Holy Topaz Dynasty whether they let this fuse blow up the war." Daoist Chu said in a serious tone.


    <nulli>~sigh~ Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu couldn''t help but let out a tiring sigh.


    "Another war¡­" Lin Mu muttered memories of the Xiao Fan world shing through his mind.


    While Lin Mu was familiar with war, and had fought in the Xiao Fan world, he also knew that it wouldn''tpare to a war in the Rust Sky world.


    Not only was the poption several timesrger, it was also tens of times stronger. A war on the Rust Sky world would be unprecedented and unlike anything Lin Mu had seen.


    Daoist Chu and Lu Xu noticed the conflicted expression on Lin Mu''s face, wondering why he would feel like that.


    No one knew Lin Mu''s thoughts as he went silent for ten seconds.


    "Daoist Mu Lin," Daoist Chu called out, causing Lin Mu to look at him.


    "Let''s go." Lin Mu said inly, not wanting to borate.


    Seeing that Lin Mu had agreed, Daoist Chu nodded and turned around. "Follow us,"


    Lin Mu and hispanions went along Daoist Chu and looked at the imperial guards.


    ''If he has imperial guards with him, it means the Crown Prince has given him a certain authority¡­ looks like there really might be a full lock down.'' Qian Wen was in the Army too as such knew a lot more than others on how things like this worked.


    If Daoist Chu came along he wouldn''t have believed him. After all the man was an outsider and did not belong to the Dao Wind empire and neither the Rust Sky world. His words would not hold weight.


    But with the Imperial Guards following him, his words took on great value.


    ''But for the Crown Prince to send an outsider instead of just the Imperial guard¡­ just what is he thinking?'' Qian Wen could tell that the prince seemed to be going against the protocols a bit.


    He didn''t voice out his concerns yet, choosing to wait and watch. After all, there was always a chance he could be mistaken and it was better to see it himself.


    About twenty minutester, Daoist Chu brought Lin Mu and the rest to arge mansion that was surrounded by tall walls. There were guards standing on the walls watching everything with keen eyes.


    There were almost no people around the area either, as if they didn''t dare to walk here causally.


    "What is this ce?" Ming Dandan couldn''t help but ask.


    Looking at the style of the mansion, they could easily tell that this belonged to nobility, but the high security from Imperial Guards was concerning.


    Normal nobles could notmand them, and would instead use arrays to protect their property. Another thing was the location and size of the mansion.


    It was located midway between the Tournament Grounds and the Pce grounds, but was off center from the central street. This meant that not many people would pass by here, unless they specifically had something to do nearby.

 Chapter 1839 Rewards From The Crown Princess

    Chapter 1839 Rewards From The Crown Princess


    ''This was clearly built for istion.'' Lin Mu could tell from the location of the mansion as well as the arrays of the ce.


    Unlike the others, his immortal sense had already analyzed and identified a lot of the arrays. There were strong defenses as well as istion arrays set up here.


    ''There''s also¡­ Spatial Fluctuations?'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    His Spatial Perception activated, allowing him to see the faint traces hidden inside the mansion.


    ''A Teleportation formation huh¡­'' Lin Mu realized this might just be a secret hideout.


    He now started to feel curious about what the Crown Prince''s intentions were.


    ''He has likely invited us due to the mission he gave us¡­ but I can''t help but feel there is more to it.'' Lin Mu thought and watched Daoist Chu talk to the guards at the gate.


    <nulli>~Rumble~


    Therge gate opened up, allowing them free entry into the mansion grounds. Lin Mu and the others could finally see the scenery of the mansion that looked to be rather simple.


    There were no gardens or nts there though. Instead the ground surrounding the mansion was paved with stone tiles and a lot of weapons seemed to be kept along the sides.


    There were weapons of all kinds, kept on racks and stands with a few people sparring using them.


    Lin Mu''spanions noticed this too and found this to be more of a military barracks than a noble''s mansion.


    Daoist Chu guided them inside the mansion and brought them to the main hall. Along the way, Lin Mu could see the simple yet utilitarian design of the mansion that was made for function rather than luxury.


    "Wee Daoist Mu Lin." Crown Prince Feng Shun greeted them while sitting at the end of the hall.


    He sat on an stone throne that wasn''t decorate in anyway. And yet the throne exuded a dignity that made one feel a hint of respect. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Sitting beside Crown Prince Feng Shun were hispanions, the monk Hushu, Crown princess Shang and Commander Dui.


    "Cmander Dui!" Qian Wen saw the superior of his superior and hurriedly saluted him.


    Being in the army, there was no way he wouldn''t know the man who was just below the generals.


    ''Why''s he even here? He isn''t supposed to support any of the princes¡­'' Qian Wen knew of the militarily protocols that prohibited this.


    The man in the silver armor looked at Qian Wen, having been saluted by him. He furrowed his brows before recognizing him.


    "You are under the Third Captain''smand, aren''t you?" Commander Dui asked.


    "Yes!" Qian Wen replied.


    "Hmm¡­" Commander Dui looked at Lin Mu and then at Crown Prince who gestured with his eyes. "At ease, as of this moment, I am not here." He quickly ordered.


    "Yes sir!" While Qian Wen knew that the man was going against protocols, he couldn''t exactly question him.


    As such he could only follow the orders. Plus with Lin Mu there, he didn''t feel as anxious as he would alone.


    Lin Mu saw the short interaction between them and guessed that there was some bureaucracy at y.


    "Why did you call us, Crown Prince?" Lin Mu asked him straightway, not wanting to waste time.


    "Well since you''ve finished the mission, I reckoned it is best I give you the rewards." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "Mmm? For Yao Changying." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed¡­ while you didn''t kill her, she has sabotaged herself and her empire along with her father''s sect." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded his head before looking at the Crown Princess Shang.


    This prompted her to stand up and smile.


    "You did great. You pushed her just enough to make her reveal her true colors. It went even better than I would have expected." Crown princess Shang praised.


    "You are fine with us being unable to kill her?" Lu Xu inquired while Ming Aolian and Luo Liqin watched.


    They of course had a grudge against the woman and had wished that Lin Mu had managed to kill her too.


    "Of course. Rather than killing her and ending it faster, now her entire legacy is at stake here. She has also offended the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts bringing great scrutiny to her character and her family.


    It will serve as a befitting punishment for her actions." Crown princess Shang stated before walking towards Lin Mu.


    "As such you all shall get the reward." She finally dered.


    Hearing that smiles appeared on the faces of Ming Dandan and others. Though Lin Mu still had a neutral expression, as if not caring much.


    "Do you not wish for reward?" Crown Prince asked.


    "I''ll dy asking for the reward. The others can go ahead first." Lin Mu replied.


    "Very well." Crown Princess Shang didn''t mind. "Tell me what you want, and I''ll provide it to you. Even if it isn''t with me, I can get it delivered to you in a few days." She stated.


    Lin Mu''spanions nodded and talked to her about what they wanted one by one.


    Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan were the first ones to ask, and both requested for the same thing.


    Instead he asked fornd in the Capital City.


    This was a bit unexpected but still within the Crown Princess''s They asked for a specific type of a fruit that was used for nurturing beasts. This was easy for Yao Changying to fulfill as her empire was specialized in the Wood Element as well as growing various herbs and fruits.


    The Ming sisters would get the fruits in a few days time and moved on.


    Luo Liqin asked for a few qi skills that were unique to the Shang Empire and Qian Wen did the same.


    Lu Xu on the other hand simply asked for as many Immortal Stones as he could get. He didn''t have a particr material or techniques. Instead he asked fornd in the Capital City.


    This was a bit unexpected but still within the Crown Princess''s means. She simply asked the Crown Prince and the man immediately granted Lu Xu and deed. This added with their winnings from the betting pavilion were going to make Lu Xu a very rich man.

 Chapter 1840 Healing Offer

    Chapter 1840 Healing Offer


    With the rewards being distributed, Lin Mu''spanions were satisfied and pleased that they had alle together.


    They also had a certain level of doubt whether they would be able to obtain this, and now that they had, they were feeling relieved too.


    "You all can go on ahead, I still have a few things to talk about with Crown Prince." Lin Mu said to hispanions.


    Lu Xu raised his brows and grasped that Lin Mu wished to have some privacy here.


    "Very well, Brother. We''ll leave for now." Lu Xu replied.


    "Contact us when you''re done." Ming Aolian chimed in. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    "Yeah, we''ll be waiting for you to recover." Luo Liqin stated. "I''ll handle the rest of the things in the meantime." He added.


    "You all can stay in the rooms here." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "The city will be in a state of lock down soon enough, thus it is best you don''t wander outside." He exined.


    "That will be convenient." Lu Xu didn''t mind and went along with it.


    "Take them to their rooms," Crown Prince Feng Shun called for a servant who quickly guided them away.


    With them gone, the door to the hall closed once more, leaving Lin Mu, Crown Prince and his associates.


    "Do you finally wish to talk about your reward?" Crown Prince questioned seeing the way he had asked others to leave first.


    "Yes," Lin Mu answered. "I need something to heal my injuries fast." He put forth.


    Hearing that both Crown Prince Feng Shun and Crown Princess Shang became serious.


    "I didn''t get to learn further details, but I can''t sense any injuries from the surface." Crown Princess Feng said while extending his Immortal sense.


    Lin Mu let the man check his body, knowing that the damage wasn''t as easy to tell. Crown Prince went silent for a couple of minutes as he assessed the damage before speaking.


    "Now I understand why you didn''t ask the Healing Pavilion for help." Crown Prince sighed.


    Normally contestants would get healed by the Healing Pavilion, but the injuries that were given by the te Grey energy weren''t as easy to fix. They were one''s that would take time to heal, rather than a strong healing pill.


    Plus there was also the burden on the Healing Pavilion already due to the coteral damage to the audience that was watching the fight. Hundreds of people including elders had been injured in it, and they were in a far worse condition than Lin Mu.


    As such, even though they had the obligation to help Lin Mu, he also knew that it would not be quick. They had their own constraints which normally wouldn''t be there.


    But it was a freaky situation and as such he couldn''t me them.


    "My injuries were caused due to the Withering Dao, they won''t be healed quickly through the use of the healing pills." Lin Mu stated.


    It was now that Crown Princess Shang spoke up, "since you''ve been injured due to our request, I shall also shoulder the burden of getting you healed. As a Crown Princess, it would be wrong of me to use the reward for your healing request." She stated surprising Lin Mu.


    "What do you wish to do then?" Lin Mu asked.


    "We shall heal you regardless of the reward. You can still ask for something else." Crown Princess Shang answered making Lin Mu stunned.


    "This¡­ you do know this won''t be easy to heal in a short time?" Lin Mu asked just in case.


    "That is something for us to figure out. We''ve given you our word and we shall follow through on that." Crown Princess Shang said with a hint of dignity in her voice.


    Pleasantly surprised by all this, Lin Mu realized that it was a good decision in the first ce.


    "So do you know how to heal this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I''ve heard about the Withering Dao before and its decaying effects that can taint others. Your body managed to resist it due to the overwhelming vitality and as such it didn''t harm you permanently.


    The damage for your body merely needs time to recover naturally. But this process can take weeks if not months, and healing pills are not good for this as they cannot help against Dao Traces." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined.


    Lin Mu heard his words and wasn''t discouraged, as he didn''t think they would say all this without having a potential solution.


    "But¡­ We do have a fix for this." Crown Prince finally said making Lin Mu''s ears perk up. "One of the methods of healing damage dealt due to Dao Traces is to use other Dao Traces that can counteract it." He revealed.


    "That does make sense¡­ but it would also need good control and suitable Dao Traces." Lin Mu replied.


    "Which we do have," Crown Prince Feng Shun looked at the princess. "Crown Princess Shang is proficient in Wood Dao and should be able to help you."


    "Yes, I can assist." The woman nodded. "I made the bracelet that could target the Withering Dao of Yao Changying after all. It should work on you too." She spoke.


    "But that won''t be enough." Much to everyone''s surprise it was the silent monk that spoke.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu looked at the bald man who had opened his eyes and was looking at them. "The Withering Dao is a stubborn one and corrupts others easily. Just Wood Dao won''t be enough if we want to do this fast." He exined.


    "Do you have a suggestion then Monk Hushu?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "I do," the monk said standing up. "If you wish to heal damage from something foul like the Withering Dao, a pleasant Dao like the Buddhist Dao shall be needed. Thatbined with your Wood Dao will be an effective counter." He exined.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu raised his brows, as he was able to use the Calming Heart Sutra.


    The surprise on Lin Mu''s face was picked up by the monk and he already knew that the injured man had questions in his mind.


    "I''ve sensed that you have a great affinity to the Buddhist Dao. In fact, you might have a great chance of embarking upon the Buddhist path if you wish to." Monk Hushu stated, not knowing that Lin Mu already had a skill that belonged to the Buddhist Path.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t reveal that right away and waited for the man to finish up.


    "You want to use a Buddhist healing technique?" Crown Princess Shang asked. "But you aren''t versed in them, if I recall correctly."


    "Indeed, are you confident in this?" Crown Prince Feng Shun knew that Monk Hushu wasn''t a man to take risks.


    If he had said something, it likely meant that he had great confidence.


    "I just so happen to have a skill that would work if Ibine my strengths with Crown Princess Shang''s." Monk Hushu replied. "It is the Serene Lotus Buddha Veil."


    "What''s that?" This was first time that Lin Mu was hearing this.


    While he knew of a few Buddhist techniques from the memoirs of the Lost immortal and Senior Xukong, he hadn''t heard about this name yet.


    "It is a healing Buddhist technique that utilizes both the Buddhist Dao as well as the Wood Dao. I cannot use it on my own of course, but Crown Princess Shang''s help should make it work." Monk Hushu exined.


    "Hmm¡­ if you think it can work, then we can try." Crown Prince Feng Shun said looking at Lin Mu for approval.


    "I''m fine with it." Lin Mu was ready.


    "Very well, let''s get to it right away then." Monk Hushu said before walking up to Lin Mu. "You need to sit down first."


    "Alright." Lin Mu sat on the floor in a cross legged position and Monk Hushu sat in front of him.


    "Crown Princess, you will have to channel Wood Elemental qi and Wood Dao Traces when I ask you to. You can sit facing his back." Monk Hushu instructed.


    "Okay," The Crown Princess did as asked, and waited for further instructions.


    "What do I do?" Lin Mu asked wondering if he needed to assist them too.


    "You just need to guide my technique''s energy to your injured spots. Do not resist or it could lead to a bacsh." Monk Hushu replied.


    "I understand," Lin Mu said and closed his eyes putting his palms on his thighs.


    "I''ll start," Monk Hushu said before making a few handseals.


    The handseals created glowing illusory images in the air, before Monk Hushu extended his hands towards Lin Mu. He ced them on Lin Mu''s chest and started to use the Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil.


    ~HULAS


    The Buddhist technique showed a rather vibrate disy of lights, as strings of yellow and golden light floated around monk Hushu.


    Lin Mu felt the effects within his body, as a soothing energy appeared within it. The energy felt familial to Lin Mu and his body epted it readily.


    ''So this is what true Buddhist energies are like?'' Lin Mu realized.

 Chapter 1841 Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil

    Chapter 1841 Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil


    Lin Mu had used the Calming Heart sutra for years now and had be familiar with the Buddhist Aura. And yet, this was his first time truly experiencing the Buddhist energies.


    They felt very familiar to him and were able to flow in his body with ease. It was as if this was their home in the first ce and made it easier for him to guide them to the injured spots.


    ''He truly is made for the Buddhist path¡­'' Monk Hushu couldn''t help but think after seeing the flow of Buddhist energies in Lin Mu''s body first hand.


    ~SHUA~


    The golden Buddhist energies entered through Monk Hushu''s arms and traveled into Lin Mu''s chest in two streams. One of the streams went up into his neck and then into his head, while the other stream went down.


    The second stream split into two, passing through his shoulders and into his arms all the way to the tip of his fingers before circling back to the chest.


    It then flowed down along his spine and healed the smaller injuries that were present along it. Of course the injuries didn''t include the more severe ones and they didn''t heal from mere Buddhist energy.


    Still, Lin Mu observed it all in detail hoping to learn something from it.


    "Crown Princess Shang, now." Monk Hushu called out.


    "Yes!" The Crown Princess ced her palms on Lin Mu''s back, mirroring Monk Hushu.


    ~HUALA~


    A strong yet refreshing energy flowed into Lin Mu''s back through the Crown Princess''s hands. Unlike the Buddhist energies, the wood immortal qi mixed with Wood Dao Traces was invigorating.


    The green energy from Crown Princess Shang met with the golden Buddhist energy of Monk Hushu, bringing forth a profound change.


    ~HUM~


    "Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil~" Monk Hushu chanted lightly, triggering the technique.


    Since he didn''t haven thoponents of the technique, he was relying on Crown Princess Shang to help him out.


    ''This will lower efficiency, but it will have to do for now.'' Monk Hushu thought to himself, as his energy stores started to rapidly drain.


    It was clear that this wasn''t a technique one could use causally. Even for the Monk, it was a difficult technique that he had barely managed to learn in the past.


    This understanding was that of just the theoretical part as he had no proficiency with the Wood Element and the Wood Dao. But with how effective the Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil was as a healing technique, he had been taught by his master regardless.


    Crown Princess Shang who was supplying a part of the energy also got to see the profoundity of the technique and how it could still operate despite her not being of the Buddhist path.


    ''This is new¡­ Father will be interested in learning something like this.'' Crown Princess Shang thought while trying to observe everything in detail.


    Her immortal sense had also entered Lin Mu''s body and was observing the merger of the two energies.


    First the energies mirrored each other and formed a circuit in Lin Mu''s body, looking quite a bit like a qi circuit but a lot simpler.


    Once this qi circuit waspleted, a greenish gold sheen appeared all over Lin Mu''s body.


    ~Amithabha~


    A Buddhist chant was heard at that moment, arousing surprise from everyone.


    "What was that?" Commander Dui stood up from his chair, feeling a profound presence.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun also narrowed his eyes, feeling the same.


    ''Is this how the Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil is supposed to be?'' he wondered, unaware that even Monk Hushu was astounded at this moment.


    The man looked to be focused on the outside, but internally he was stunned.


    ''How is this possible? Tune of the Buddhist Dao?'' Monk Hushu had heard this several times before in his time at the monastery.


    But every time he had heard it, the source had been a great monk that had been undergoing an enlightenment or obtaining an epiphany.


    He himself had never had the chance to do the same and could only wonder what was happening.


    But in the next second he heard Lin Mu speak.


    "He''s¡­ Chanting?" Monk Hushu''s eyes went wide, his neutral expression breaking.


    Lin Mu''s face had be extremely calm at that point and an ascetics grace exuded from him.


    "This¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun took a step back, feeling strange. "It''s affecting me?" he could feel a wave of calmness filling him.


    While he considered himself a mentally strong man, he still had his set of anxieties and stressful thoughts. And yet, now they were being washed away by the aura that wasing from Lin Mu.


    The chanting that could be heard from his mouth was hard to describe and understand. It was esoteric and lost to time, leaving even Monk Hushu at a loss for words.


    "What Daoist Mu Lin chanting, Monk Hushu?" Daoist Chu couldn''t help but ask.


    He too was being influenced and was confused at it. For a technique to affect all of their thoughts like that, it was not a simple thing.


    They were lucky that it wasn''t a harmful one, but if it could be turned into that, things would be terrifying for them. After all, there were no defenses being triggered for them and the chanting was bypassing all of them.


    ''No¡­ rather than bypassing, our defenses don''t consider it as an attack at all¡­ they''re actually inviting it in!'' Crown Prince Feng Shun understood.


    Crown Princess Shang was also going her own though process, finding her mind getting calmer. Her thoughts be a lot more detailed, and the observations that she was making in Lin Mu''s body also became clearer.


    ''I haven''t felt like this in a long time,'' Crown Princess Shang reckoned.


    ~HONG~


    But this was merely the start, as a transformation took ce.


    The greenish gold glow that was surrounding Lin Mu got stronger, while the mixture of wood and Buddhist energies flowed to form a disc under Lin Mu.


    ~SHUA~


    It lifted Lin Mu''s body into the air while his air floated around gently.


    Monk Hushu couldn''t believe his eyes as his hands separated from Lin Mu. At first he thought that the technique would fail, but much to his surprise the link was still working.


    Buddhist energies were flowing out from his hands into Lin Mu, and the same was happening with Crown Princess Shang.


    ~HONG~


    The greenish gold tform underneath Lin Mu transformed into a flower bud on which he floated. All those that saw this flowerbed would feel awe and even a man of a high status like Crown Prince Feng Shun felt the same. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Monk Hushu who saw this almost felt like pping himself.


    "This cannot be¡­ how can one manifest it?" Monk Hushu took several steps back in shock.


    "What is happening here?" Crown Princess Shang asked, standing up as well.


    She no longer needed to make a conscious effort to channel the energy, as it seemed to be flowing out automatically.


    "What is that transformation?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked as well, wondering if something had gone wrong. "Is it not working?"


    "Not working? No, the opposite. It''s working too good!" Monk Hushu eximed.


    "What is that flower bed?" Daoist Chu asked, feeling a serene calmnessing from it.


    "That is the manifestation of the Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil technique¡­ I don''t even know how Mu Lin is doing this, but this is something only someone with full mastery of the technique would be able to do.


    The person who I learned this from can do this too, and I had the luck of observing it once." Monk Hushu stated.


    "So what is happening to Daoist Mu Lin now?" Crown Princess Shang asked, her immortal sense unable to observe anything.


    The aura surrounding Lin Mu had pushed all their immortal senses out leaving them wondering.


    "The Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil technique is a Buddhist healing technique and helps against corrosive and foul energies. Its first stage is what we were using with our cooperation.


    In the first stage, one can only heal minor injuries caused by something like the Withering Dao and is perfect for the remnant injuries left from it.


    The Second stage allows one to deal with smaller injuries, but it is not something I can use. I would need to practice the technique for years and that is after obtaining a proficiency with the Wood Dao.


    After this is the Third Stage which allows one to manifest the Serene Lotus tform¡­ which is what we''re seeing now." Monk Hushu exined while everyone continued to watch.


    The flowed bud underneath Lin Mu started to bloom, golden lights shimmering within it. The golden lights turned out to be the petals of the lotus flower.


    A few secondster, the transformation waspleted with Lin Mu''s body resting on a gold petaled green leaved lotus flower.


    A greenish gold aura rose from the flower as well, forming a shell around Lin Mu.


    "The veil formed as well¡­ The abbot will be going crazy if he hears this¡­''

 Chapter 1842 Triple Invitation

    Chapter 1842 Triple Invitation


    Monk Hushu, Crown Princess Shang and the others watched as Lin Mu''s body hovered in the domed lotus flower. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    A gentle and serene aura was flowing out from it, as if no harm coulde to those that were within its grace.


    This was the Serene Lotus tform that many Buddhist cultivators failed to ever manifest. Where as Lin Mu who hadn''t even learned a proper Buddhist cultivation technique had done it simply by taking advantage of Monk Hushu and Crown Princess Shang.


    He himself didn''t have a full idea about what he had done, as his mind was in a state of trance.


    "Looks like you might have toughpetition Monk Hushu," Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled.


    "Toughpetition? I think I already lost." Monk Hushu said with a wry smile.


    "What do you mean?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Daoist Mu Lin being able to manifest the Serene Lotus tform is what a Buddhist cultivator would take thousands of years to do. Even a talented one might take a few hundred years at minimum.


    And yet, he''s done it almost instantly that too without being taught. This is already enough for most Buddhist Powers to consider him valid for a core disciple." Monk Hushu answered, letting out a sigh.


    "Those prayer beads of yours have been insistent on running away too, aren''t they?" Daoist Chu had a smirk on his face.


    "Now that I think of it¡­ they aren''t in your hands anymore." Crown Princess Shang noticed.


    "I uhh¡­ stored them away." Monk Hushu replied.


    He knew that they would be meeting Lin Mu and as such had stored the prayer beads. This was important as the prayer beads would change owners upon leaving his grasp.


    They were willing to fly to Lin Mu, and would automaticallye under his ownership. If this happened, even by a mistake, Monk Hushu would be unable to ever use the prayer beads again.


    Plus since it was a treasure of his Buddhist Temple, letting others take it would be the same as viting their history. It would end up being his fault too, if he lost the prayer beads to an outsider.


    ''Though¡­ If I do lose and Daoist Mu Lin joins the temple, it would still be fine. It would be the same as giving it to a member that way.'' Monk Hushu thought of a contingency n in case he ever lost the beads.


    Though he didn''t wish that to happen, as the Prayer beads were a strong treasure and he wished to keep it with him.


    "Well, that''s a thing you''ll have to worry aboutter." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "For now, we just wait for him to recover I suppose?" he asked.


    "Yes. Since the even the Serene Lotus tform has manifested along with the veil, Daoist Mu Lin should recover on his own in some time." Monk Hushu replied.


    "Got it, guess we can resume talks about other matters." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before looking at Commander Dui. "Show it,"


    "This is the letter we got from Qiao De," Commander Dui handed a scroll.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun tapped on the wax seal on its top making it glow.


    ~SHUA~


    A white light hovered for a second before returning to the Wax Seal and breaking it apart. This meant that the intended recipient of the letter had now taken it.


    It was amon safety feature that most immortals used when it came to secure modes of conversation as well as bigger powers.


    "What''s he saying? Update on the ''thing''?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Hmm¡­ he says he has found the 10th person for the ''thing'' but they haven''t confirmed yet." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "Looks like he got a strong person if he was willing to offer them a spot. Also makes sense why they haven''t confirmed, they might not care much about a Spatial ne." Daoist Chu assumed.


    "You are correct." Crown Princes Feng Shun nodded. "It says here, he gave a letter to that person and to contact him within a year''s time if he was interested." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ if it is Qiao De here, he does have a good eye for people." Crown Princess Shang nodded. "But that''s not all, is it?


    "No¡­. He wishes for us to have a candidate in mind for it too. Which we already know." Crown Prince Feng Shun said while Lin Mu hovered in the air soundlessly.


    "You''re gonna ask Daoist Mu Lin for it?" Monk Hushu inquired.


    "Who else do you think could be a good option for this?" Crown Prince asked with a raised brow.


    "Hmm¡­ now that I think of it, there aren''t many others. Daoist Mu Lin does seem suitable." Monk Hushu realized. "Though there is also the other top rankers as a choice." He suggested.


    To this, Commander Dui had a few words to say.


    "Absolutely not." Commander Dui said firmly. "We cannot trust those powers as easily. Especially if they are not aligned with the Dao Wind Empire."


    "Then what about the others that Qiao De has picked. They are bound to be from other powers too." Monk Hushu inquired.


    "Yes, but they won''t be from any of the powers of the Rust Sky world. That still allows us to maintain a neutrality." Commander Dui exined.


    "It also works since Daoist Mu Lin isn''t of the Rust Sky world." Crown Princess Shang chimed in. "So he fits the requirement too." She added.


    "Indeed." Commander Dui wasn''t in opposition to that.


    "Well¡­ there is still the secondary party." Daoist Chu reminded them. "We have several candidates shortlisted for that already."


    "That we do, but we still need to scrutinize them more." Crown Prince wasn''t one to take things lightly. "We cannot make any mistakes in exploring a Celestial''s Spatial ne. If the requirements are not fulfilled, there will be issues." He exined.


    "You''re right. Who knows what kind of restrictions there are in that ne." Crown Princess Shang nodded her head.


    "Though¡­ considering this do we know who else ising? I mean, we would have to have people fitting all the possibilities and skills right?" Monk Hushu questioned.


    "Qiao De is still secretive and hasn''t told us much." Crown Prince Feng Shun frowned. "All we know is that, it includes Me, Commander Dui, Monk Hushu, Daoist Chu and Crown Princess Shang from our side."


    "So that''s five, and if we add Daoist Mu Lin and Qiao De himself it''s about seven people." Daoist Chu counted. "That leaves three more spots that we don''t know about."


    "If it is someone from the other empires we should not coborate with the ck Candle Pavilion, My Prince." Commander Dui advised.


    "I don''t think they''ll try to make that mistake. Plus considering the ck Candle Pavilion''s reach, it is highly likely that they picked someone with a high status from the other worlds." Crown Prince Feng Shun guessed.


    "The secondary party shall be under ourmand forter, so it should be fine for us to add the locals to it along with some other contestants right?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Yeah, that should be fine. We won''t be conflicting with themter and it will also put them in a debt with us." Crown Prince said while looking into the distance.


    While Crown Prince and hispanions wondered who the remaining three people would be, they didn''t know the one person they were going to invite for the exploration had already been invited beforehand!


    Of course, even Lin Mu would have never thought that things would end up like this.


    He had no idea right now either, as no conversation could be heard while he was inside the golden veil. His bodily injuries were healing at a rapid pace while his meridians and organs were being repaired.


    Far from the mansion, there existed another group of noble elegant woman. Her long red nails clutched a smoke pipe while shezily looked up at the formation screen that was floating.


    mansions and courtyard. In one such mansion sat a mature yet elegant woman. Her long red nails clutched a smoke pipe while shezily looked up at the formation screen that was floating.


    "My Lady!" It was now that a sudden voice was heard.


    "What is it?" the woman with the long red nails straightened her posture and looked at the servant that had just appeared.


    "Lady Kang¡­ I¡­ I bring you news!" The servant said. "It''s pertaining to that ''person''."


    Hearing this, the mature woman''s ears perked up and a certain masked figure appeared in her mind.


    "Oh?" Lady Kang took a puff from her smoke pipe before speaking.


    "You''re suspicions were confirmed." The servant spoke. "The contestant and that masked man are the same."


    "I knew it¡­ That sword intent and that sword skill. I knew it the moment I saw him in semifinals." Lady Kang said as a slight smile appeared on her face.


    "What do you wish for us to do my Lady?" the servant asked.


    "For now, check up on the whereabouts of that person. If they are really good, we might as well take them along to the Spatial ne. That Qiao De has been annoying having us to find a suitable teammate." Lady Kang stated.

 Chapter 1843 Monk Hushus Offer

    Chapter 1843 Monk Hushu''s Offer


    Lin Mu had no idea that there were multiple people talking about him.


    He also didn''t know that the request he had received back at the ck Candle Pavilion was linked to all of them. Whether it was fate or luck, he was now a part of it all.


    <nulli>~huu~


    A deep breath was let out as Lin Mu opened his eyes. He was still floating in the air, and the lotus tform underneath him had be very faint.


    It was clear that the tform was almost out of energy now and could no longer maintain its form.


    "You''re finally awake!" Lin Mu heard a surprised voice.


    "Come quick, Daoist Mu Lin is awake!" the voice spoke again, causing several presences to appear.


    These were none other than Crown Prince Feng Shun, Crown Princess Shang, Daoist Chu, Commander Dui as well as Monk Hushu who had been monitoring him.


    Lin Mu could see that they were all dressed in different clothes and and reckoned some time had passed.


    "How long has it been?" Lin Mu asked, checking his body.


    "It''s been a little over six days." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "I must admit, I didn''t expect you to go through all this." He added.


    "Go through what?" Lin Mu questioned furrowing his brows but then realized the changes in his body. ''I''m fully healed?'' he sensed.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun noticed the slight change in expression and understood what Lin Mu was thinking. "Guess you figured it out too now." He said before gesturing to Monk Hushu. "It''s best you tell him."


    "Yes." Monk Hushu said walking to to the front. "Daoist Mu Lin¡­ I am honored to inform you that you have been baptized by the Buddhist energies." The bald man said before bringing his hands together in a praying gesture. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    "As a monk of the Green Lotus Temple, I wee you. <nulli>Amithabha~" The man formally greeted.


    Lin Mu was a bit taken aback by this and didn''t speak right away.


    "I¡­ was baptized by the Buddhist energies? But how?" Lin Mu wondered as the memories returned to him. "Was it from the technique you used?" he asked.


    "Indeed. The technique wasn''t intended for that, but your body is naturally inclined to the Buddhist path and took it as the baptism." Monk Hushu answered. "I am surprised that you never knew this¡­ and that no one else noticed it so far." He had genuine confusion about this.


    ''Considering that Daoist Mu Lin does have a master, they should have been able to tell that he has a natural affinity to the Buddhist path.'' Monk Hushu thought before realizing something. ''Or they might have decided against it since they were teaching Mu Lin differently. The master''s path might be of the Sword Path or the body tempering path perhaps.'' He questioned the possibilities.


    Lin Mu already had an answer for this as he had thought about this beforehand. It wasn''t just the Buddhist path either, he had actually thought of a possible scenario where his affinity to the other paths would be revealed to others.


    As such Xukong had advised him to think about what he would be telling others.


    Thankfully, the first one to be revealed was the Buddhist path which was of the orthodox paths. It was considered righteous, pure and peaceful.


    As such, majority of the cultivation world would not take offense to them and had a genial or neutral approach to them.


    It was also the best cover for Lin Mu, as being part of the Buddhist factions meant that he would never be thought of belonging to the Demonic path or even the Devil Path.


    The Demonic path was still fine as several powers considered them violent but reasonable. But the Devil path was entirely different.


    Even those of the unorthodox path would be enemies with the devil path as the practitioners of the Devil path would kill everyone regardless of their background.


    People of the Devil path fought and killed people of their path too, thus their enmity was equally applied against all. Very few factions actually had positive rtions with practitioner of the devil path and they were hard to maintain.


    Most of the time it was an arrangement of mutual benefit. Thus when the benefit ran out, the rtionship would turn sour before eventually breaking apart.


    "What does this mean for me?" Lin Mu finally asked, seeing that the monk had greeted him formally which was limited to the people of the Buddhist path.


    "As a member of the Buddhist path, I am obliging to invite you to our temple." Monk Hushu spoke calmly. "The choice is up to you of course, but I assure you that your treatment will be nothing less than excellent.


    In fact, I can state on my personal belief that you shall be chosen by the abbot himself to be guided. I know that you already have a master and as such might not want to be the disciple of another person, but our temple does not discriminate in this.


    They were fine guiding people on the Buddhist path and are always willing to ept excellent people like you." He exined in detail.


    Hearing the offer, Lin Mu was ttered.


    ''Just like Senior Xukong had said in the past, people of the Buddhist path would openly ept me if I ever wish to go there.'' Lin Mu recalled.


    "Thus I ask you, Daoist Mu Lin¡­ Would you be willing toe with me to the Green Lotus Temple?" Monk Hushu questioned slight anxiousness on his face.


    ~<nulli>sigh~


    "I do not think I can do that." Lin Mu rejected him. "I still have a lot of goals to fulfill and joining a Buddhist temple is not something that will fit my goals."


    "I see¡­" Monk Hushu''s face showed a bit of disappointment but he quickly shook it off. ''Considering his capabilities it is normal for him to not limit himself to one power. Plus we don''t know what else is hidden in his background.'' He thought.

 Chapter 1844 Belongs To The Silent Lotus World?

    <h4>Chapter 1844 Belongs To The Silent Lotus World?</h4>


    What Monk Hushu didn''t know was that Lin Mu''s rejection was not absolute.


    "Though¡­ Can I ask you whether the Green Lotus Temple is a power of the Celestial realm?" Lin Mu questioned much to the shock of everyone.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun took another look at Lin Mu and so did the Princess.


    Daoist Chu was the one to break the silence and openly asked the question that was bugging them.


    "Since Daoist Mu Lin knows about the Celestial Realm¡­ By any chance do you have links to it as well?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Hmm¡­ you can say that." Lin Mu didn''t answer them fully.


    "How so?" Crown Prince Feng Shun wasn''t convinced by just that. ''If he does have links to the Celestial Realm, why would he ask for a pass to use the Cross World Teleportation array? With a background like that, he should be able to use one with ease.'' He wondered.


    "My master." Lin Mu only gave them two words.


    At first, Lin Mu wondered if he should reveal a bit more. He deliberated between using the Token that the Saintess had given him, but chose not to as they were still in the Rust Sky world, where the Saintess had entered ''illegally''.


    That token was the most legitimate way for Lin Mu to show his links to the Celestials, as Xukong couldn''t exactly reveal himself. But he reckoned that with what he had shown so far, just a couple words would be enough to not make them doubt him.


    "I see¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun''s expression changed to that of aplex one.


    "No wonder you knew so much." Crown Princess Shang said showing some astonishment on her face.


    ~sigh~


    Monk Hushu though just let out a sigh.


    "If it really is like that, then I suppose my Green Lotus Temple is inadequate for you." Monk Hushu shook his head.


    "It''s not like that." Lin Mu continued. "I wished to ask if your temple has Celestials too, as it would still be willing to learn there." He revealed.


    Monk Hushu''s eyes widened and a small smile appeared on his face.


    "In fact, I did think about going to a few Buddhist temples. I was informed about a certain Buddhist monastery in the Silent Lotus World far from here. They are supposedly all body cultivators too and I wished to learn a few things there." Lin Mu answered before a thought appeared in his mind. "Also, by any chance are your Green Lotus Temple and the Silent Lotus World rted?" he questioned. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    "Hahahah!" it was at this time that Monk Hushuughed. "Rted!? The Green Lotus Temple is located in the Silent Lotus world!" he revealed.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "Then that monastery with the body cultivation practitioners¡­ is it the same as yours?" he questioned.


    "While our temple does have a few body cultivation practitioner, we do not specialize in it. Additionally our establishment is an entire Temple rather than just a monastery. The one you are talking about, do you know any more details about them? The Silent Lotus world has a handful of Buddhist powers including ours." Monk Hushu questioned.


    "I do. They are all body cultivators who have very heavy bodies." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm¡­" Hearing this Monk Hushu narrowed his brows. "All body cultivation practitioners of a monastery¡­ two powers fit this." He stated.


    "What are those?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "There is the ck Vajra Monastery and the Great Burden Monastery." Monk Hushu revealed. "Both of them are smaller monasteries and stay secluded for the majority of time. And as far as I recall, they haven''t had contact with the rest of the world for at least a thousand years now." He added.


    "I see¡­ do you know anything about what techniques they practice? Something that might make their bodies heavy?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "That I do not know." Monk Hushu shook his head. "Both of them are smaller Buddhist monasteries and are also located in very remote areas of the Silent Lotus world. As such we haven''t interacted with them much. At least not in my time at the Green Lotus Temple." He stated.


    "I understand. Guess I''ll just have toe take a look myself." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed. And if you doe, I''ll be d to show you around." Monk Hushu offered.


    "I''ll be grateful for that." Lin Mu smiled, not having expected to find another link for exploring.


    "Hey now, don''t go hogging Daoist Mu Lin to yourself." Crown Princess Shang teased. "Let us present our offers too."


    "Ah yeah," Monk Hushu awkwardly moved aside.


    "Now then, since he has invited you we also have an invitation." Crown Princess Shang said looking into Lin Mu''s eyes.


    "Uh, you want to invite me to join your empires too?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Not exactly." Crown Princess Shang shook her head. "Well if you do want to join us, we''ll be more than d to amodate you. But I don''t think you would need that considering your background."


    "Then what do you want to invite me for?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Remember I told you about an exploration opportunity?" Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke this time.


    "I do." Lin Mu nodded.


    "It is rted to that. I was going to decided after you finished the tournament to verify your capabilities, but they are good enough from what I''ve seen so far." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "As such I would like to invite you on an exploration to a spatial realm."


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes but was intrigued. "Tell me more."


    "Ver well." Crown Prince then told Lin Mu about the Spatial ne and how it belonged to a Celestial once upon a time.


    They suspected that it could be an inheritance ground and could very well offer one a lot of fortune. And since it belonged to a celestial, even those from Celestial backgrounds would be tempted for it.


    The best part was that this was apparently linked somewhere in the Rust Sky world.

 Chapter 1845 Looping Back To Qiao De

    After hearing all about the expedition from Crown Prince Feng Shun, Lin Mu recalled someone else telling him something simr.


    "Hang on a second." Lin Mu paused. "By any chance¡­ is there someone called Qiao De involved in this?" he questioned.


    He didn''t know if it was really the same person, as it would be a minute chance. But it also didn''t seem like there would be more than a single expedition like this for a Celestial''s ne.


    "H-how¡­ do you know that?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was truly shocked this time.


    As far as they knew, this expedition was kept secret and only a handful of chosen people knew about it. Qiao De was the one who wanted it to be discreet and as such, he hadn''t revealed his name to anyone other than the ones that were already part of the expedition.


    While they had already decided to add Lin Mu to the team, the implications of him knowing about Qiao De already were concerning to them for sure, but they still couldn''t figure out how he actually knew this.


    "Qiao De is the manager of the ck Candle Pavilion, isn''t he?" Lin Mu responded. "I''ve met him before¡­ and he just so happens to have talked about the same thing. Though slightly differently. He mentioned that this Spatial ne was actually a treasure of a Celestial rather than an independent ne." He exined.


    "That punk¡­ he actually kept that from us too." Crown Princess Shang scowled.


    Even the Crown Prince seemed to be showing concern on his face openly, while his brows furrowed.


    Lin Mu didn''t speak and let them digest this information first.


    ''Did I put doubt in their ns?'' Lin Mu wondered if it was like that.


    "Crown Prince, perhaps we should re-discuss this matter with Qiao De first." Commander Dui suggested. "While his words have been different, the baseline of the mission seems to be the same. Then there is also the matter of how he met Daoist Mu Lin." Being a man of the military, the man was used to making informed decisions and as such suggested a more stable approach.


    "We shall do that. Contact Qiao De and ask for a proper exnation." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "As for you Daoist Mu Lin, since Qiao De''s already invited you, I guess you were fated to be chosen."


    "Seems like it." Lin Mu nodded his head. "He seemed quite insistent on taking me along."


    "With the knowledge that Brother Mu Lin has, I think it makes sense too. In an uncharted territory of a celestial, one needs to be smart and well informed to survive. It is also one of the reasons why I decided to pick you." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "That''s understandable." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Does that mean you are willing toe along?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked for confirmation.


    "I will. Plus we have time, right? I will wind up a few matters before that." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Great!" Crown Princess Shang cheered hearing that, and the otherpanions of hers were also pleased.


    At the very least, they were now considering Lin Mu to be on the same level as them.


    They discussed about the matter a bit more and decided that the Crown Prince would inform himter when it was time. At the very least, they had several months left before it would happen.


    This made Lin Mu have some doubts and he couldn''t help but ask.


    "Since we only have 10 people going on the expedition, officially what are you recruiting the others for?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Frankly speaking, they are a diversion." Crown Prince Feng Shun admitted.


    "A diversion?" Lin Mu raised his brows at the trickery.


    "Indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded his head. "As for why we need to do this, you can guess simply by remembering whom the Spatial ne belongs to." He added.


    "Of course¡­ if people found out it was a celestial''s treasure, there would be everyone joining from the empires." Lin Mu stated.


    "Exactly. But if it is just us 10 going there, we would inevitably noticed too. There would be nock of people spying on us and even I''m not confident enough to avoid all of them. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Thus, rather than hiding, we are going on an expedition mission. It is better to make it open but mask it as another expedition." He exined.


    "But how would that work when we are going to the same location?" Lin Mu was a bit confused.


    "The Spatial ne belonging to the Celestial isn''t the only one there." Feng Shun said with a smirk.


    "It''s not?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "Rather than one, there''s actually a bunch of Spatial nes there. They''re all scattered and have different things in them. As such, they can be explored by the others and will definitely contain some resources or other fortunate encounters." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined.


    ''Hmm¡­ A bunch of Spatial nes clustered together.'' Lin Mu though, found it a bit strange.


    He also felt like there was something he was missing or knew, but couldn''t exactly link it.


    "Looks like I''ll just have to see it for myselfter." Lin Mu said, knowing that specting wasn''t gonna be helpful.


    "Indeed. Even I do not know the exact location of it, only Qiao De does. As such, we just need to rely on him." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "Though I''ll certainly be questioning him a bit before that."


    ~HUM~


    While they were talking though, the tournament token suddenly hummed for Lin Mu.


    He took it out and held it, receiving the new announcement that had been sent out.


    ~HUM~


    The Crown Prince and the others also got the message and learned about its contents.


    "Looks like you awakened at just the right time." Crown Princess Shang smiled. "You have 1 day before the final fight."


    "Mmhmm, the Temple probably finished taking care of their matters." Lin Mu replied before recalling something. "Oh, and what about the citywide lockdown?" he asked.

 Chapter 1846 Missing Yao Changying And Strained Empires

    Lin Mu''s question was concerning the state of the city and there was no one better than the people in front of him to answer it.


    "That is still ongoing, but will be ending tomorrow officially. Things have stabilized a bit and matters are being discussed among the representative of the Holy Topaz Empire, Dao Wind Empire, Huiqing Empire as well as the temple." Daoist Chu was the one to speak this time.


    He held a jade slip in his hand and was reading from it.


    "Hmm¡­ any chances of the conflict extending further?" Lin Mu asked just in case.


    "There is still a chance for war, but they were still negotiating on how to resolve the situation." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "The Emperor has been busy in this too." He revealed a bit about his father.


    "And what about Yao Changying? Any news on her?" Lin Mu still hadn''t forgotten the way she had acted and her possible intention to take revenge in the future.


    As such it was important for him to be updated about her.


    "Nothing." Crown Prince Feng Shun shook his head. "Both the Imperial Court as well as the Temple are searching for her but there are no traces left. We don''t know how she did it, but she managed to escape the cordon that had been set up as well.


    Everyone''s movements beyond the capital would have been known, but there seem to have been no change in it." He exined.


    Hearing this Lin Mu furrowed his brows, wondering about the options that Yao Changying had.


    "Do you think she might have used a teleportation talisman?" Lin Mu suggested.


    "We thought of that too, but investigating where one went using it is hard. But even if she did use one of them, we highly doubt she managed to leave the Dao Wind Empire this quickly." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied having some doubts of his own.


    ''Should I investigate it myself?'' Lin Mu wondered. ''But considering it has been this long, the Spatial Disturbances should have settled down leaving little to go on from.'' He reckoned.


    "Regardless of wherever she is, she can''t run for long. After all the only way for her to return to the Holy Topaz Continent would be through the cross continent teleportation array." Commander Dui stated.


    "Mmhmm, guess we just need to wait and see." Lin Mu replied. "I should prepare for the fight tomorrow." He said.


    "Yeah you should focus on that." Crown Princess Shang agreed. "Also, yourpanions came to see you before too. But you were still recuperating."


    "Ah yeah, I''ll go meet them too." Lin Mu guessed that they might have been concerned.


    "I''ll get a servant to guide you there. You can also pick any of the empty rooms to stay in for the time being." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before calling for one. "Take him to the other guests."


    "Yes, Crown Prince." The servant who had appeared immediately responded.


    Lin Mu went along the servant and was brought to the second wing of the Mansion where the residential quarters were located. They were rtively simple, but stillrge enough to befortable for all.


    Most of them were empty from what Lin Mu could tell using his Immortal sense, but five of them were not.


    "Here it is," And sure enough the Servant came to a stop in front of those rooms.


    "Thank you," Lin Mu said, dismissing the servant.


    ~Knock~knock~


    Lin Mu lightly knocked on the door and waited for a couple of seconds.


    "Brother Mu Lin!" And soon enough, the door opened to the face of Lu Xu. "You''re fine now?"


    "Yeah, I''ve recovered." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Right on time. Seems like you''ll be fighting the third Prince tomorrow." Lu Xu had also gotten the news and knew about the timing.


    "Mmhmm, I just came to meet you all once before the match." Lin Mu replied.


    "Ah yeah, let''s call the others." Lu Xu said before knocking on the other doors.


    The others left their rooms and saw Lin Mu, making their eyes gleam with joy.


    "Are you fully recovered now brother Mu Lin?" Ming Dandan asked showing some concern.


    "Yeah. I shouldn''t have any issues." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "That''s good. I knew you would be fine." Qian Wen said with a smile.


    "We shouldn''t take too much of your time Brother. The match is tomorrow, so you should just focus on it. We can always celebrateter." Luo Liqin suggested.


    "I agree." Ming Aolian nodded his head.


    "We can still talk a bit, I have time." Lin Mu wasn''t in that much of a hurry.


    "If you say so." Lu Xu replied.


    The group talked for an hour, discussing a few of the things that had happened in the past few days while Lin Mu was recuperating. They told him about the condition of the people who had been injured by Yao Changying as well as the fact that half of them had ended up dying.


    The Temple had managed to save the rest, but it hade at the expense of their cultivation bases. For the luck ones, it had only regressed by a little, but for the most unfortunate ones they ended up falling several stages.


    And this was on top of getting their meridians damaged along with their body. It was not the kind of damage that would be recovered easily.


    After they were done talking, Lin Mu left and took one of the rooms nearby.


    ~huu~


    "I should check in on the Sleepscape." Lin Mu hadn''t been there for a while and decided to enter.


    He closed his eyes for a bit and soon fell asleep.


    ~rustle~


    And when he opened his eyes, he was standing in front of the Immortal Apple tree that was gently swaying in the wind.


    "Master!"


    ~WHOOSH~


    A red blur charged into Lin Mu''s embrace radiating warmth. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    "Little Shrubby¡­" Lin Mu held the beast and stroked its head for a bit realizing he had kept him holed up for some time now without talking to him.

 Chapter 1847 Dormancy And Plant Talk

    Little Shrubby had been in the Sleepscape since before Lin Mu had started his fight with Yao Changying and after that he had been recuperating for several days.


    And in that time, he had barely talked to Little Shrubby, which had made the beast worried about him.


    Especially since the fact that the two had a link and could tell the condition of each other. Little Shrubby might not sense the minor injuries that Lin Mu might get, but the dangerous te Grey energy of the Withering Dao was shocking for him.


    "Are you okay?" Little Shrubby finally asked.


    "I''m good now." Lin Mu gave a nod. "I defeated the opponent."


    "YAY!" Little Shrubby cheered.


    With the beast happy again, Lin Mu decided to take a look around the Sleepscape.


    "Anything change here?" Lin Mu asked, since Little Shrubby would have probably seen the most.


    "Mm¡­ The Giant Tree released some energy a while ago." Little Shrubby replied.


    "It did?" Lin Mu raised his brows and spread his Immortal sense around.


    For the mutated Violet Mystic Life Tree to release any kind of energy was a matter of concern. He didn''t know if it was good or not, but knew that the other beings in the Sleepscape could have been affected including Little Shrubby.


    "The energy floated for a bit before disappearing into the ground." Little Shrubby continued.


    "Huh, it went inside." Lin Mu looked down and tried to use his Immortal sense to take a deeper look.


    Unfortunately for Lin Mu, he could barely go so far before he reached an imprableyer. It wasn''t his first time encountering this and he knew he had hit the limits of the Garden of Karma.


    "Senior Xukong," Lin Mu finally called the spider out.


    ~shua~


    A flickering silver orb manifested near him that was about the size of arge watermelon. The orb''s surface faded away to reveals the spider inside.


    He had grown once more and was quiterge.


    "You''ve progressed?" Lin Mu knew that Xukong''s size would increase as he continued cultivating.


    "I have indeed." Xukong replied as his ten golden eyes looked around.


    Even without his Immortal sense he could perceive everything within the Sleepscape in one look.


    "Hmm¡­ The Violet Mystic Life Tree has gone dormant." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "It has?" Lin Mu hadn''t felt this from his earlier scan.


    "Let''s take a look." Xukong said instead.


    Lin Mu nodded and flew alongside him to the base of the giant tree. The red crystal still grew from its trunk while slithering red veins could also be seen.


    Its leaves gleamed with a dim violet light while its branches swayed.


    "It''s hard to tell just like this. It looks the same." Lin Mu said before walking up to it and touching it.


    He closed his eyes and let his Immortal sense enter the giant tree. He had nothing to fear since it was already inside the Sleepscape. Everything here was technically part of Lin Mu and couldn''t harm him.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense smoothly entered the tree and went to its core sensing the energy within it. Unlike before where it flowed like a gushing river, it now felt like a trickling stream.


    Opening his eyes, Lin Mu wrinkled his brows unable to tell just what had happened to the tree. There was certainly no damage to it, but its dormancy felt different.


    "Why do you think it went dormant?" Lin Mu asked Xukong.


    "For normal Violet Mystic Life Tree''s going dormant usually means that they''ve expended quite a lot of their energy in producing the fruits. But this only happens once ever few cycles of fruit production and can take a few thousand years to happen.


    But this one is mutated and showed no signs of dormancy before. Which only makes me think that something made it lose a part of its energy." Xukong exined.


    "Little Shrubby did say that it released some energy before and it entered the ground." Lin Mu replied. "But that is also confusing since the tree takes Vital essence from the ground too with the mine buried alongside it." He expressed his doubts.


    "It is indeed strange. But then again this is the Garden of Karma, even I don''t know what kind of things it can do." Xukong was helpless here. "You''ll just have to observe and figure out on your own."


    Lin Mu simply gave a nod with a slight frown as he surveyed around the tree. Seeing that there was no significant change to the area, he went to check up on the other nts.


    The Wood Spirit Tulip was resting and had grown its flower heads further. Though it hadn''t generated the Wood Essence yet and as such was in a state of cultivation.


    Lin Mu didn''t disturb the nt and let it be.


    ~Rustle~


    Next he checked on the Purple Sickle Amaranth that had grown even more. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "It''s thrice as big now." Lin Mu noticed.


    The nt hadn''t grown in height from thest time, but had instead chosen to spread around. It now had multiple stems growing from the ground, along with many branches that covered the area.


    Its trees swayed in the air, absorbing the immortal qi and spirit qi from it before converting it into the wood element.


    ''Guess Little Shrubby has been absorbing it all this time which made it harder for me to sense the difference.'' Lin Mu reckoned he would have felt the change earlier.


    Done with the two nts, Lin Mu returned to his original tree which hade with the Sleepscape, the Immortal Apple tree.


    "How are you doing?" Lin Mu asked the tree lightly.


    ~Sha~


    As if to answer him, the tree lightly swayed towards him like it was nodding.


    "Having fun absorbing the qi?" Lin Mu asked next.


    ~CREAK~


    In response, the tree extended a branch towards Lin Mu, and shook off a couple of apples from it.


    "Huh, guess more of them ripened." Lin Mu held the mixed green and red apples that looked pristine.


    ~crunch~


    He bit into one of them while giving the second to Little Shrubby.


    "Just like before." The taste was refreshing and made Lin Mu smile.

 Chapter 1848 Third Stage Of Internal Comprehension

    Having eaten the Immortal Apple, Lin Mu felt the surge of Immortal qi as well as slight amount of vital essence. The energies were absorbed by his Stomach and quickly channeled into the rest of his body.


    His Three apertures greedily absorbed all the Immortal essence as they spun like vortexes. He had reached thepletion of the Aperture Opening realm and had all three of his apertures opened.


    But to progress to the next realm, he would have to start linking them. When he did that he would step into the Aperture linking realm and it was a tough task.


    So far he had not made much progress in it and the same could be said for his Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.


    ''So far both have been progressing at a simr pace, but I might be able to boost at least one of them once Alchemist Ruoxian is done with the pills.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The Hundred Vicissitudes Essence Pill had beenmission by Lin Mu for a while and he simply needed to wait for the man to done.


    ''By the time we''re done, he might juste here to deliver.'' Lin Mu remembered the man''s promise. ''Hopefully it is before the time for the expedition with Qiao De and Crown Prince.'' He reckoned.


    Lin Mu had faith in the alchemist and didn''t mind waiting.


    ''I still have other things to progress in after all.'' He thought to himself. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    As such, Lin Mu decided to cultivate till tomorrow. While it might not progress much, even a little was good.


    "At the very least, it''ll get me in the mindset again." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    With that in mind, he simply sat down underneath the Immortal Apple Tree while Little Shrubby also curled up nearby. Xukong floated a short distance from him and had his eyes closed, as if thinking.


    Starting his standard session, Lin Mu simply chanted the Calming Heart Sutra.


    ~HONG~


    But when he did, he found something different.


    ''What?'' Lin Mu could feel the esoteric and calming chants in his own mind.


    What was surprising was that this wasn''t his own voice!


    But rather it felt like tens of monks were chanting in his mind.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu felt a bit confused.


    Xukong heard his voice and opened his eyes wondering what was happening.


    ~HUALA~


    But then a secondter, Lin Mu''s eyes automatically closed and a peaceful expression appeared on his face. No chants came from him, yet his aura felt calm and peaceful.


    "This¡­ this is what happens when he uses the Calming Heart Sutra. But he''s not chanting it?" Xukong narrowed his ten eyes, taking a deeper look.


    He even used his link with Lin Mu and felt the partial effects of the sutra.


    ''A new change?'' Xukong shifted to using his memory link and saw what Lin Mu was experiencing. ''He''s hearing the Buddhist chants in his mind?!'' he finally understood.


    He didn''t disturb Lin Mu anymore and withdrew his senses. Two hours passed like this before Lin Mu finally opened his eyes.


    A calm aura shrouded him and no sliver of anxiety could be felt from him. Instead he felt like a rock that had stayed in the same ce for hundreds of years.


    "You progressed?" Xukong asked while also checking Lin Mu''s cultivation base. ''No change in that¡­'' he noticed.


    "I did¡­ my proficiency improved." Lin Mu said lightly. "The Calming Heart Sutra¡­ it has reached the third stage of proficiency." He revealed.


    "The third stage¡­" Xukong remembered that Lin Mu had told him about the different stages of the sutra.


    The first and second stages were the externalprehension stages.


    In the first stage of externalprehension, Lin Mu could only affect himself with the sutra. Whereas in the second stage, he could start using on the others.


    They had known that there were more stages but they were unknown until Lin Mu actually grasped them.


    For several years Lin Mu had been stuck at the second stage and had no idea how he could progress. Though at the same time, he didn''t find it ascking and was able to use the Nine Divine Heart Sutras with no issues.


    Calming Heart Sutra, Severing Heart Sutra, Burning Heart Sutra and Nurturing Heart Sutra, all four of them were at the Second Stage of Externalprehension.


    The only sutra that had not progressed was the Murdering Heart Sutra and that was for a good reason too. Using that sutra was even more dangerous than the Burning Heart Sutra and came at a cost to Lin Mu''s mind.


    He had the goal of improving it too, but just couldn''t take the risk of doing it here. Lin Mu had decided that he would stay in an isted location where others wouldn''t see him other than a trusted few which were his pets, the Saintess, and of course Senior Xukong.


    After all, if even a hint of the Devil Path''s aura was sensed by the people here, it could lead to grave consequences. Especially when all the powers were on high alert after Yao Changying''s actions.


    Then there was the fact that the Temple was involved too and there had been a recent appearance of the ''demon'' that stole the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    Lin Mu had dodged that by disguising with his transformation, but the same would not work for the Murdering Heart Sutra.


    Plus the people of the temple were everywhere, and so were the guardian beasts that were awake.


    It would be disastrous to try something like that.


    But the Calming Heart Sutra was a safe option that no one would question. His progress had now hit the third stage too which would help him in the tournament.


    "So what is the third level ?" Xukong questioned.


    "The Third level of the Calming Heart Sutra is the Third Stage of Internal Comprehension Stage. It seems I no longer need to physically chant to get the effects of the sutra. But I can only affect myself with it right now." Lin Mu answered.

 Chapter 1849 Progression Of The Nine Divine Heart Sutras

    After learning about the Third Level of the Calming Heart sutra, Xukong could figure out a few more things. But before he spoke about it, he asked for more details.


    "What other effects do the third level have now? It shouldn''t just be you not needing to chant verbally, right?" Xukong questioned.


    "You are right, Senior. In addition to that, the effects of the Calming Heart Sutra are also stronger. Almost twice as strong." Lin Mu answered.


    "That is a good increase." Xukong nodded.


    A doubling of the effects was decent. After all, the stronger Lin Mu was, the better the effects of the sutra became. Now it had basically jumped to a stage which would take Lin Mu a long time to replicate just through his sheer cultivation base.


    Plus Xukong reckoned there might be more things that they''ll discover in the future with it.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu agreed. "It''ll help me in situations where I am physically restrained or paralyzed." He suddenly recalled the time when he had been trapped by the elder of the Northern Tribes back in the Xiao Fan world.


    He was unable to move or use qi and it was the Burning Heart Sutra that had gotten him out.


    ''I was still able to chant back then, but if I''m unable to speak too, I''ll be in a great threat.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Of course, he knew that the Calming Heart Sutra did not have the offensive power like the Burning Heart Sutra that could allow him to get out of a treacherous situation.


    But it was still a start for him.


    "Hmm¡­ Since the third stage of Internal Resonance only allows you to affect yourself, I''m thinking the fourth stage would allow you to use it on others without chanting. Simr to the Second stage if we assume the same progression." Xukong finally stated.


    "That does seem like it." Lin Mu was in agreement. "But the only question is how do I progress it again. Not just for the Calming Heart Sutra but also the other four Sutras." He expressed in doubts.


    Xukong went silent for a bit before finally speaking.


    "If we think about it, what is something that affected you which could have caused this progress all of a sudden?" Xukong proposed a question to Lin Mu first.


    That was enough for Lin Mu to think about his recent recovery through the use of a Buddhist technique.


    "Of course! The Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil!" Lin Mu exined.


    "Exactly!" Xukong confirmed making Lin Mu''s train of thought run further.


    The cogs in his brain worked fast and quickly figured out a few possibilities.


    "Since the first and second stages of the Calming Heart Sutra were obtained by some sort of self realization, it looks like the third stage and onwards might need external interference too." Lin Mu muttered.


    "You were exposed to Buddhist energies and were basically baptized by them earlier which was triggered by the chanting of the Calming Heart Sutra. Perhaps it was the condition that was needed for you to progress in the next stage." Xukong exined.


    "If it is like this, then I''ll need to experience something simr that matches the other Sutras." Lin Mu guessed.


    "True. But that is theplex thing¡­ for Calming Heart Sutra that is of the Buddhist path, you progressed it through the baptism. The same would not work for the others." Xukong said, arousing more thoughts in Lin Mu''s mind.


    ''For the Severing Heart Sutra, the most obvious method to progress it seems to further improve my Sword Intent. Perhaps if I experience a strong Sword Intent from another person I might just be able to progress to the next stage.'' Lin Mu had already figured out the method for the second sutra.


    This was something even Xukong could figure out, but for the Burning Heart Sutra onwards, things were not the same.


    "Stuck on the Burning Heart Sutra?" Xukong inquired seeing Lin Mu''s expression.


    "Yes¡­ I don''t know what exactly I would need for it, but it should be something to do with the Demon Race." Lin Mu presented his thoughts.


    "That seems about right. Meeting the Demons might just give you the right option or at least point you to it." Xukong suggested hearing him.


    "Hmm¡­ Demons huh¡­" Lin Mu knew that not all demons were unreasonable, but there was still the issue of actually getting to them and then obtaining information from them.


    Of course, the location of the demons was something Lin Mu wouldn''t have a hard time finding. Xukong knew several of them and he could also utilize the Cross World Teleportation Array to get to them, which would be possible once he won the Tournament.


    But after the Burning Heart Sutra was the Nurturing Heart Sutra. It was the sutra that had progressed the fastest for Lin Mu as he had reached the second stage very soon after obtaining it.


    It was also the most passive one, as all provided was Beast qi for others.


    ''To progress it I guess I just spend more time with beasts? Or do I learn form them somehow?'' Lin Mu didn''t have much idea for this.


    Finally there was the Murdering Heart Sutra. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu actually reckoned that this might be an easier one to progress as he would need to experience something from the Devil path or meet the Devils themselves.


    But it was also the most dangerous as Devils weren''t reasonable. They also fought against each other and didn''t really care much. Their entire goal for existence was the destruction of life in the first ce!


    This was just for 5 of the Sutras that he had learned so far. There was no telling what path the remaining 4 Sutras of the Nine Divine Heart Sutras would be like.


    ~sigh~


    "Looks like I have a long way to go¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he let out a sigh.


    "You don''t have to worry. The one thing you have an abundance of is time. I reckon you just need to explore the realm, walk upon the worlds and you''ll grasp it naturally." Xukong advised.

 Chapter 1850 Gathering For The Finals

    With Xukong having given Lin Mu a path, he felt a lot lighter.


    Plus Lin Mu now knew exactly what he needed to do.


    ''Even if I don''t know what the rest of the Sutras would need to progress, I can still continue with the ones that I have right now. It is not good to over think on goals like these.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu continued to cultivate for a few more hours, until he felt like it was time for him to wake up. It would not be good if he got too engrossed in cultivation and forgot about the time.


    Xukong had also returned to the ring some time ago and was busy in cultivation again.


    "Let''s get back¡­" Lin Mu said before standing up. "I''ll call you when I need you Shrubby," he spoke.


    "I''ll wait for it." Little Shrubby replied. "We also need to go back for a feast with the Saintess and the twins." He reminded.


    "Ah, of course. After this is over, perhaps we should go out for a tour of the Continent. After all, we have been stuck here for a while." Lin Mu suggested.


    "YES! We can find so many new ingredients that way." Little Shrubby agreed.


    "Haha, yeah." Lin Mu chuckled before closing his eyes.


    ~SHUA~


    His senses changed and he found himself back in the real world. The first thing he did was to check the time till the match.


    "Just about four hours. Enough for me." Lin Mu muttered.


    ~huu~


    Taking a breath, Lin Mu rose from the bed and walked out.


    "Ah, you''re up!" Lu Xu and Qian Wen were waiting for him outside.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu replied. "Were you standing here all this time?" he asked. N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    "Nah, just for an hour." Lu Xu replied.


    "Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian have gone on ahead to the tournament grounds to get us some good seats while Luo Liqin has gone to the betting pavilion. He said he''ll be quickly settling everything once your match is over and bring over the winnings." Qian Wen exined everyone''s whereabouts.


    "I see¡­ guess I should get going to." Lin Mu replied. "Also any news from the Crown Prince or others?" he asked just in case.


    "Uh¡­ one of the servants dide to tell us that they''ve gone somewhere too. And if you needed to contact them, you can just use the jade slip." Lu Xu answered.


    ''Seems like they''re busy preparing for something. Or perhaps just the expedition.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He also remembered that the Crown Prince was recruiting people for the second expedition team as a disguise.


    "Alright. Guess we''ll head out now." Lin Mu said seeing that they had little left to do here now.


    "Yeah, let''s go!" Lu Xu said in an excited voice.


    With that said, the trio headed to the tournament grounds.


    The moment they stepped out on to the main street, they could see vast swathes of crowd heading to the Tournament grounds too. They all talked excitedly and had been waiting for the finals for a week now.


    While this was not the first time a fight had been dyed, it was rarely the case for the Finals.


    As such the people were not used to it. But it still helped in whetting their appetite.


    Seeing the vibe of the city, Lu Xu couldn''t help but feel excited too. After all, this was due to none other than his friend Mu Lin. A surge of pride couldn''t help but fill his heart seeing this.


    He had been a resident of the Capital City since his birth and his family was one of the smaller powers of the city too and ran a few business. As such, he was attached to the city and liked it a lot.


    To have respect in the city was a huge thing to him and his family and simply being associated with someone Lin Mu could be considered a great gain.


    As such he was really happy that Lin Mu could do all this and was having such an effect on the popce.


    Qian Wen on the other hand, was thinking a bit more rationally.


    "Brother Mu Lin should put on a mask. We do not want to get overwhelmed by the people. I don''t think they''ll be able to resist not talking to you after seeing you." Qian Wen suggested.


    Lin Mu saw the benefit in the man''s advise and agreed. "Yeah, I should."


    He quickly took out the mask he had got from Qiao De and put it on. It suppressed his energy fluctuations and also hid his aura for the most part.


    And with the kind of robes he was wearing, he wasn''t going to attract any attention either. They were rather normal looking after all.


    ''The self repairing robes I got have been damaged too¡­ I need to either get more or find a way to fix that one.'' Lin Mu had gotten two of those earlier, but one of them was still damaged from the fight against Yao Changying.


    It was clear that the robes had a limit to the kind of damage they could withstand and the woman''s attacks were too much for it to heal.


    Lin Mu reckoned he could take a look at the formations to see if he could fix them or just get moreter.


    The trio was slowed down by the crowd, but eventually reached the Tournament grounds in an hour. The limitation to flying was an inconvenience in times like these.


    "Ming Aolian managed to get us seats in the central ring!" Lu Xu said after getting a message on his Jade Slip.


    "Perfect, now we can watch Brother Mu Lin''s victory in person!" Qian Wen was happy too, while Lin Mu just smiled.


    With that said, the trio entered the main ring and split up. Lin Mu went up to the tform in the middle where the elders from the temple were already waiting.


    "Oh? High Elder you''re overseeing personally this time?" Lin Mu saw the old man.


    "Of course, how could I not for the finals?" The old man smiled.

 Chapter 1851 A Talk With The High Elder

    ?


    Lin Mu looked at High Elder Juxue and the other formation masters that were standing there.Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    The formation masters seemed particrly tense and were busy doing checks over checks of the formation array. It was clear that the past incidents had made them anxious.


    ''They probably got a stern talking to even if this was not their fault in general.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The actions of Yao Changying were to be all med on her, but the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts had also vowed to provided a fair and secure tournament.


    Even if Yao Changying had broken the rules and caused damage to the others, the Temple would still have to take responsibility for it.


    After all, even the Temple''s members had gotten injured in it and were still recovering with some having their cultivation bases regressed. This was a severe situation and while they would not be punished, the formation masters would still have to be very alert for the finals.


    They had talked about the two finalists, Lin Mu and Third Prince Feng Baxing and didn''t think that there would be any issues. At the very least they were considered to be ''verified'' and unlikely to cause trouble themselves.


    Rather than them, the temple was more concerned about the other parties that were interfering in the tournament. Their identities had still not be verified, other than the temple guessing that there were diviners involved.


    As such, they still needed to watch out for any warnings.


    Lin Mu thought of a few things before approaching the High Elder. There was still time left till the start of the match and the Third Prince had not appeared yet, as such there was no issues in him talking to the old man.


    ''I may as well inquire some things directly from him.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "I heard Yao Changying has disappeared?" Lin Mu asked in a low voice.


    "Indeed. It is rather perplexing as to how she managed to bypass the cordon we had set." High Elder Juxue wasn''t concerned that Lin Mu knew about this, as finding out this bit of information was easy enough now.


    "Have they looked into Spatial Disturbances?" Lin Mu questioned next. "It seems likely that she used a teleportation talisman or some tool to get away quickly."


    "We are looking into that of course. But even with our Formation masters, pinpointing spatial disturbances due to Teleportation is not easy. Especially if it was done within the world itself. If it was cross continent or cross world, we would know for sure." High Elder Juxue exined. "Perhaps if we had a Spatial Master we would be able to do it quickly." He added after a moments pause.


    Lin Mu raised his brows at that, but didn''t think the man was talking about him.


    "Surely the Temple has a few Spatial masters right? Even if Space is one of the Three Primordial elements, the Temple should still have a few people with its affinity." Lin Mu inquired wondering if they had someone.


    "We do yes." High Elder Juxue confirmed. "But there are just two such individuals. And both of them are upied with missions for a while."


    "Oh? Are they also elders of the Temple?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "Feeling interested in the temple of the guardian beasts, huh?" High Elder Juxue asked back. "If you wanna know more, you can just join us you know?" he suddenly said.


    "Uhh¡­ I didn''t know it was confidential information." Lin Mu was taken aback, but quickly came up with a response. "As much as I would like to do that, I''ll still have to consult my master about that."


    "Haha, I''m just joking." High Elder Juxue chuckled. "It isn''t confidential. At the very least, you''ll be able to learn it once you search a bit." The old man stated.


    "Really? Then who are they?" Lin Mu asked openly.


    "The first is none other than the current Temple Head." High Elder Juxue replied. "He is a Transcendent Immortal and has the most important duty of presiding over the shrines." He revealed.


    Lin Mu didn''t expect that one of the two spatial experts would be the head of the temple here.


    "It does make sense as to why he would be busy." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And what about the second expert?" he asked next.


    "That is the Envoy of the Western Immortal Court who is posted in the Rust Sky world." High Elder Juxue answered. "But he is currently investigating a few concerning matters in the Holy Topaz Dynasty."


    "Oh he''s the one investigating Yao Changying''s links to the Holy Topaz Dynasty?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Not just that." High Elder Juxue shook his head. "That was something that was given to him only recently. Before that he was in charge of investigating the disappearance of a certain Demon."


    "The Violet Mystic Life Tree¡­" Lin Mu muttered, pretending to be shocked.


    "So you know too." High Elder Juxue said with slight interest.


    "Yes. In fact, I was there in the Blood Stained Battlefield when it happened." Lin Mu stated the fact.


    "Oh?" High Elder Juxue was a bit surprised.


    Lin Mu had said this as there was no use in hiding this. With the Temple''s influence finding this was child''s y. Not to mention, the Crown Prince and a few others knew it too.


    In fact, with how many people were in attendance here at the tournament Lin Mu was sure that there were people present here who might have seen him at the battlefield too.


    "Yeah, I met quite a lot of people there. Even one of the previous winners of the Tournament." Lin Mu revealed a bit more, trying to establish a rapport with the elder.


    "And who might that be?" High Elder Juxue asked, though he had a bit of a hunch.


    "Steel Horned General Niu Juo." Lin Mu revealed.


    "Hoho¡­ so it was him." High Elder Juxue stroked his chin, as if recalling some old memories.

 Chapter 1852 The Finals

    ?


    Seeing the High Elder''s reaction, Lin Mu reckoned that the man knew about Niu Juo more than expected.


    "Have you met the Steel Horned General?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Of course. I was even present at the tournament when he won." High Elder Juxue answered much to his surprise.


    "I see¡­ that must have been an impressive match." Lin Mu replied.


    "It sure was. Niu Juo set an example for a lot of unaffiliated contestants." High Elder Juxue said with a hint of fondness. "I knew back then he would be great, and now he is one of the two generals of the Huiqing Empire."


    "Mmhmm, it was good to meet him. I got to learn quite a few things." Lin Mu replied, before he felt a presence approaching.


    He looked in the distance and could feel a faint aura that wasing forth in bursts.


    ~step~step~step~


    The crowd parted and a few secondster, none other than Third Prince Feng Baxing walked out. The man had an expressionless face and didn''t seem to care much about the opponent that he was facing.Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    Though Lin Mu could tell that the man had a turbulent mind.


    ''Considering the way his aura is flowing, he is certainly a bit agitated.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "Since you''re here, we shall be starting the match in five minutes." High Elder Juxue changed his demeanor and became serious as well.


    He walked to the side and talked to the formation masters, ensuring that all things were right. In the mean time, Lin Mu looked around the audience that was waiting evidently for the match to finally start.


    Third Prince Feng Baxing wasn''t really looking at Lin Mu and wasn''t paying attention to the audience either. He simply stood there with his eyes closed and was reserved.


    Minute after minute passed, and it was finally time for the match to start.


    "Daoist Mu Lin and Third Prince Feng Baxing shall enter the Teleportation gate!" High Elder Juxue announced out loud.


    ~shua~


    Upon his words, the runes in the sky started to be active and Lin Mu could feel the surge of spatial waves that wereing from it.


    He closed his eyes for a moment and activated his Spatial Perception, checking the state of the area as well as the Spatial ne.


    ''Looks like they''ve reinforced it several times and also made the Spatial ne a bit more robust.'' Lin Mu could tell from observing it all for a bit.


    At the same time, Lin Mu and Feng Baxing walked towards the Teleportation gate that had opened and stepped in.


    ~SHUA~


    The two appeared within the teleportation Channel and felt their bodies bing weightless. Both of them were used to this with Lin Mu even taking the chance to further observe where he was going to appear in the Spatial ne.


    ''I''ll try to ambush him at first, and see how it goes. At the very least, it should give me a way of assessing his current condition.'' Lin Mu didn''t think his ambush would be working, as he knew that Feng Baxing had a constant barrier around him.


    Even with the ambush, Lin Mu didn''t think he would have the time to prepare a full force attack that might be able to break through the barrier.


    ''I''ll simply have to wear down the barrier, or force him do it.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    A few momentster, the two contestants finally arrived in the Spatial ne, the scene reflecting in the hundreds of formation screens that were broadcasting it for everyone to see.


    The moment Lin Munded in the Spatial ne, his Immortal Sense expanded rapidly and got the grasp of the area. He also checked on the Third Prince''s position and shot an arrow that he had prepared.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The Fiery Arrow shot towards the Third Prince from a distance of mere two hundred meters.


    It covered the distance in the blink of an eye and threatened to pierce the chest of the man.


    But Feng Baxing did not seem to be worried. He simply stood there and raised his left palm. It seemed like a casual gesture and yet it gathered a lot of azure winds.


    ~HUALA~


    The Azure winds formed a shield in front of him, and slowed down the fiery arrow. It looked like the arrow was passing through a viscous liquid and created ripples on its path.


    ~SHA~


    Still, the Azure Wind Shield managed to overpower the attack and erased its force, making it stop. Having lost its momentum, the arrow fizzled out of existence, and couldn''t harm Feng Baxing.


    It was clear that Lin Mu''s ambush had failed.


    ~HONG~


    But Lin Mu didn''t think of it that way. Instead, it was just a way for him to distract the man long enough for him to ready his other attacks.


    A double edged sword hummed with Sword Intent and let out a wide sh that traveled towards Feng Baxing.


    "Futile effort." Feng Baxing finally spoke, making a cutting gesture with his index and middle finger.


    ~SHALA~


    The Azure winds moved along with hismands and targeted the iing Sword sh. The yellow Sword shposed of Metal elemental immortal qi and Sword Intent was struck with a pincer attack.


    To des of Azure Wind Elemental Immortal qi struck it in a ''V'' formation and prevented its progress.


    The collisions created a burst of light for a moment, before the Azure winds overpowered the Sword sh and broke it apart!


    Lin Mu who saw this couldn''t help but raise his eyes.


    "You really are a head above most others." Lin Mu couldn''t help but mutter. "But this is as far as I can let you go." He said before closing his eyes.


    Cold and Esoteric chants left Lin Mu''s mouth as a sharp aura surrounded him. His Sword Intent Overflowed from his body and was channeled into Afternoon Pine.


    ''Let''s see if I can achieve the third Stage in this fight!'' Lin Mu thought to himself and shed again.

 Chapter 1853 Lin Mu Versus Feng Baxing

    ?


    Afternoon Pine glowed in a yellow light and rejoiced in the Sword Intent that was pouring into it.


    Both of Lin Mu''s swords were being nurtured in the Sword Nurturing Boxes that Lin Mu had made and it would steadily make the sword stronger over time.


    It was the same for Afternoon Pine, and it was certainly stronger than when Lin Mu had originally obtained it. The capacity for it to bear Immortal qi as well as Sword Intent was higher too.


    ~CRACK~


    Thus with its attack, tens of yellow metal pine trees rose and struck the wind barrier that was surrounding Feng Baxing.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    The Azure winds ground against the Yellow Metal pine tree, trying to push them back while the trees tried to pierce them. The winds were spinning in the shape of a shield, which left the borders of it open, where the Pine Trees were trying to attack.


    "Humph!" Feng Baxing simply brought his thumb, index and middle finger together, creating a triangr seal.


    The triangr seal mirrored the movements of the Azure winds and caused them to turn into three segments. The three segments surrounded Feng Baxing on three sides and turned into a three sided pyramid that protected Feng Baxing from all sides.


    The Sword Intent from the Pine tree was trying to invade the shield and was slowly doing so. The Pine Trees were like syringes that were being used as the injection medium.


    ''His Sword Intent can still pierce my Azure Winds Shields?'' Feng Baxing furrowed his brows.


    While he had paid attention to Lin Mu''s fights since the Quarter Finals, he didn''t expect his Sword Intent to be this strong. Of course, he had no way of knowing that Lin Mu was finally using all of his strength and was even utilizing the Severing Heart Sutra to empower his sword attacks.


    Thebination of all this was just enough to overpower the shields of the man.


    ~shua~


    But while defending, Feng Baxing forgot to notice that Lin Mu wasn''t just waiting there.


    ~TWANG~


    The sound of a bowstring was heard as a flurry of arrows shot from behind him.


    "Ugh!" Feng Baxing only noticed it when the arrows had reached within five meters of his shield.N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    The arrows hit the backside of the pyramidal shield and were snuffed out by the winds.


    "It won''t be enough." Lin Mu muttered and held Wonder Seeker firmly.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A low rumbling sound was heard before a shield shaped object rose from Lin Mu''s body. It soon expanded and the sound of heartbeats could be heard from within it.


    ~LUBDUB~LUBDUB~


    "It''s that Dao Embryo again!"


    "Daoist Mu Lin is using it again!" the people in the audience shouted out loud.


    They had seen Lin Mu use it in the previous rounds and knew that it was an earth Dao Embryo but did not exactly know what it was.


    ''When was thest time a cultivator with the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo was part of the Immortal Court?'' High Elder Juxue though recognized it.


    He had been part of the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts for a long time and had even been one of the people in the past who had worked in the Immortal Court. As such he had a lot of information and had seen a lot.


    High Elder Juxue tried to recall thest person who had this Dao Embryo and his expression became serious.


    ''It was that person¡­ He disappeared a long time ago, I wonder if Daoist Mu Lin will be able to reach the same level.'' High Elder Juxue thought to himself.


    ~WENG~


    High Elder Juxue was brought out of his thoughts and was forced to focus on the fight again, as Lin Mu intensified his offense.


    Wonder Seeker now had a stone arrow nocked on it and it seemed to be gathering a lot of Earth Elemental Immortal qi within it too.


    Faint lines appeared on the arrow, turning into runes of some kind. It was too small for the audience to see it and only Lin Mu knew what they were.


    ''Let''s try this skill out,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    A couple secondster, his attack was ready and he released the arrow.


    ~TWANG~


    The arrow was shot and soared through the sky at a breakneck speed. At the same time, it glowed with white runes that flew out of it and rapidly turned into a formation.


    "What is that!?" The audience was shocked.


    "A qi skill? Or is it a formation?" they wondered.


    "Stone Burst Pelting Arrow!" Lin Mu executed the skill.


    Upon hismand, the stone arrow exploded mid air and turned into a rain of sharp stones that rained down on to the pyramidal azure wind shield.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Without waiting, Lin Mu used the bow again and shot the fiery arrows that didn''t take longer than a moment to use. This bought him more time and allowed him to move while shooting.


    At the same time, Lin Mu was observing how his new skill was doing.


    The Stone Burst Pelting Arrow was actually abination of a Formation as well as a qi skill. One could consider it a hybrid skill too and was one of the many skills Lin Mu had obtained from the now dead Eleventh Prince of the Holy Topaz Dynasty, Huangyu Shiyi.


    He hadn''t really used it before since there wasn''t really the right situation for it.


    Plus it was a skill that was meant to be used on actual arrows.


    The original effect of the skill was to turn normal arrows into stone before exploding into a flurry of shrapnel. It was meant to be a wider attack meant for a small group of enemies.


    But Lin Mu had changed it a bit and adapted it to his own stone arrows made through the use of his Dao Embryo. Much to his surprise, when used on a preexisting stone arrow, the effect was amplified and the power of the attack increased.

 Chapter 1854 Eroding Defenses

    With Lin Mu''s two different styled attacks, Feng Baxing now found his shield to be eroding.


    "Two sides done, one more to go." Lin Mu smirked and directly approached the third side.


    He had realized that due to the shields pyramidal structure, the only way to take it down was to wear down all sides at once. But it wasn''t enough to just use a singr attack as the shield would simply adapt to it and block it by increasing power.


    But if different kinds of attacks were used together, that too of a great strength, the shield would be unable to keep up and eventually copse.


    As such, Lin Mu used longersting skills like Afternoon Pine''s innate skill, as well as the newly modified Stone Burst Pelting Arrow which continued to rain down stone shrapnel.


    This now left the third side empty which Lin Mu targeted. He also had the perfect overbearing skill for it.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath, as the Immortal qi within his body started to churn. It moved into his right arm and spun at a great speed. Turning into a long spiral, it gathered power.


    At the same time, Lin Mu continued to get closer to the shield and when he was just fifty meters away, he punched towards it.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Second Form- Piercer!


    ~HISS~


    Lin Mu had used about 15% of his Immortal qi in this attack and it had greatly increased the power of the Boulder Copsing Fist.


    The very air was torn apart, as a the needle shaped energy left Lin Mu''s fist. His arm barely managed to withstand the recoil as a small tear appeared on his middle knuckle.


    Thankfully, Lin Mu''s body cultivation was able to handle it even at this point. But Lin Mu was sure that if he raised the power to 20% of his Immoral qi, his knuckles would probably bloodied and left bare.


    "What is¡ª" Before Feng Baxing could even register the small energy needle, it had already struck the Pyramidal shield.


    ~CRACK~


    ~CRACK~


    ~CRACK~


    The Azure wind shield was unable to bear the three sided attack and cracked.


    ~SHATTER~


    The Boulder Copsing Fist was the final straw that broke the camel''s back and Feng Baxing was caught in between.


    ~BOOM~


    The three skills collided with Feng Baxing creating a mix of blinding lights.


    No one could see what was happening and even Lin Mu''s Immortal sense was unable to traverse through the turbulent waves of Immortal qi that were spreading due to the attack.


    But one thing was sure that Feng Baxing would not be able to handle it with ease.


    ~gasp~


    Tens of thousands of gasps were heard as the Audience watched Feng Baxing''s shield finally fail.


    ''No one was able to get through it before other than Childe Wildlife and he was at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and was even using the Scorching Sun mes¡­ but Daoist Mu Lin didn''t use either of that.'' A few elders in the audience were hard at analyzing it all.


    The Third Prince was still above Lin Mu in terms of cultivation base, but they didn''t know if he could escape unscathed.


    "He still has the Shearing Hurricane Fan, Third Prince will still be able to make ae back!" There were many fans of the third prince in the audience too and they didn''t believe that he''d fall back so easily.


    Still no matter the spection, they still needed to wait for the scene to change.


    High Elder Juxue had his eyes locked onto it too and was watching for every minute change. At the same time, he was silentlymunicating with the formation masters who were monitoring the spatial ne.


    ''Everything is fine High Elder. No signs of abnormalities.'' They assured.


    ''Alright.'' High Elder Juxue replied before narrowing his eyes. ''While the attack was strong, Feng Baxing should still have more defensive measures.'' The old man knew due to being part of the Imperial Family in the past.


    He knew just how many Immortal tools, talismans, armors and other treasure that were present in the Imperial family. Being the Third Prince, Feng Baxing should have ess to a lot of them.


    And being the Third prince''s Grand Uncle, he knew even more than others, including what skills the Third Prince had learned as well as the techniques that he had mastered.


    ~WOOONG~


    Sure enough, a few secondster the High Elder''s guess turned out to be correct.


    "AHHHHHHHH!" Feng Baxing let out an enraged cry and an overwhelming aura flowed out from his body.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The aura pushed away the turbulent qi and finally allowed the people to see what was happening.


    Lin Mu was also alert and had his Immortal sense observing everything closely.


    Feng Baxing stood in mid air, while the area around him was destroyed. The ground had caved in and long cracks that extended for nearly half a kilometer could also be seen.


    The Third Prince looked to be a bit disheveled and the robes that he was wearing were currently glowing with runes. One look was enough for everyone to recognize them to be Strong Defensive Immortal Robes. Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.


    A streak of blood seeped out of the corner of Feng Baxing''s mouth while his expression looked extremely pissed.


    ~shua~


    A couple secondster, the glowing runes on his robes faded away and the immortal qi fluctuationsing from them had also vanished.


    "You!!! You destroyed the Imperial Azure Coat Robes!" Feng Baxing shouted in anger.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense could observe a lot more and felt all of Feng Baxing''s aura as well as the entirety of the man''s cultivation base. This gave him a lot of information and made him realize that the robes were masking Feng Baxing all this time.


    ''So the robes really were behind it all. They were his true defensive treasure¡­ but now that is destroyed too.'' Lin Mu could sense the traces of his Sword Intent on them and realized that it was ultimately that which had broken the formation on the robes.

 Chapter 1855 Mocked

    Lin Mu destroying the robes of the Third Prince was an astonishing thing not just for the prince but also the audience that was watching it.


    Among them there were nobles who knew the value of the robes and knew that they couldn''t just be made easily either. They needed a while to make as well as precious materials to do so. While the prince might have recements for them, it wouldn''t be cheap.


    Seeing the infuriated Third Prince Lin Mu couldn''t help but retort.


    "Don''t worry, I get my robes destroyed all the time too. It''s why I keep a few hundred spares." Lin Mu replied with a chuckle.


    His words were like adding salt to the Third Prince''s injuries turning him utterly furious.


    "YOU DARE MOCK ME?" Feng Baxing was not ready to take that casually. "AHH!" the man blew his fuse and anger filled his head.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next seconds, strong waves of Immortal qi flowed of his body while his now broken robes fluttered. Azure winds surrounded him and started to push on everything that was nearby.


    This included Lin Mu too, but he was easily able to keep his position by simply altering the weight of his body. It was as if he was a thousand year old mountain and the winds were just harmless gusts.


    Lin Mu''s expression became serious but he had not lost his cool. In fact, he became even calmer as the sutra echoed within his mind.


    His thoughts flowed smoothly and he could think a lot faster than before. And since his mind was not clouded with anger like the Third Prince was, he was able to n better.


    All he had done so far was ording to his n and the strategy was working decently.


    ''If I am to have a decisive victory, I need to force the Third Prince to use up his Immortal qi.'' Lin Mu knew that his greatest advantage was in his tenacity as well as his endurance.


    The longer he pulled the fight, the better his chances of winning became. But there was always a chance that the Third Prince could use an attack that could defeat him in a swift blow.


    As such, Lin Mu needed to be aware of every move that his opponent made and put up a great defense.


    ~shing~


    Lin Mu decided to initiate the fight and swung Afternoon Pine, sending forth a yellow sword sh that gave birth to multiple pine trees condensed from Metal Elemental immortal qi.


    They were also filled with Sword Intent, which would further threaten the Third Prince.


    ~CLANG~


    "This won''t work anymore!" The Third Prince retaliated a fan appeared in his hand.


    ~UPROAR~


    "There it is!"


    "He took it out!"


    "Daoist Mu Lin is done for now!"


    The people in the audience shouted out loud as the Shearing Hurricane Fan was finally used by the Third Prince.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Feng Baxing had swung the fan and sent forth a sharp gale that could match against the Sword sh.


    ~PLINK~PLINK~PLINK~


    The sharp winds were strong enough to break off the branches and twigs of the metal pine trees, making it seem like someone was snapping metal rods.


    "Today I''ll show you the true might of the Imperial family. Do you think just any random cultivator can match up against us? You are simply dreaming if you think your mediocre skills can be equal!" Feng Baxing shouted before turning the Shearing Hurricane Fan.


    "Six Winds Monarch Technique: Burning Prairie Gale!" Feng Baxing made a hand seal with his left hand and used the fan with his right.


    In the next moment, an intense heat filled the area, making Lin Mu a bit surprised. His immortal sense picked up on the change in the Shearing Hurricane Fan and sensed the Fire Elemental Immortal qi that was being added.


    ''He''s using both Wind and Fire now.'' Lin Mu didn''t know what kind of effects this would have since he hadn''t witnessed the use of the Six Winds Monarch Technique yet.


    While he had learned about it before, the Third Prince never had the need to use it due to the fact that all his opponents were too weak to his basic skills.


    He might have used it against Childe Wildfire, but the man''s Dao Skill was a too dangerous for him to take it lightly. He had also realized that the Azure Wind Immortal robes that he wore could get destroys by the Scorching Sun mes, as such he ended the battle as fast as he could by activating the Weapon Spirit of the Shearing Hurricane Fan.


    This was also why Lin Mu was able to break the Azure Wind Robes as the man had taken him to not be as dangerous of an opponent. To him, while Lin Mu was a strong body cultivator it was still not enough to warrant him to use the Six Winds Monarch technique.


    He reckoned, as long as he kept the distance between them there wouldn''t be much of an issue.


    Of course that assumption turned out to be very wrong.


    ''Considering he isn''t summoning the Weapon Spirit of the fan right away, he still doesn''t take me as arge enough risk.'' Lin Mu understood this was still in his favor.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~CRACKLE~ N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    Lin Mu couldn''t stand still and think for long though, as a fiery wind blew toward him scorching all the things that were in its path.


    The area in front of the Third Prince started to burn and turned ck from the fire that was being carried by the wind.


    The attack was a great example of theplimentary effects of the two elements. Fire burned and the wind fueled it further while also improving its spread.


    "This is definitely a lot stronger than before." Lin Mu muttered and took defensive measures.


    ~STOMP~


    ~WHOOSH~


    He kicked the ground hard which created a great impact which spread around him while alsounching him into the sky at the same time.

 Chapter 1856 Six Winds Monarch Technique

    As Lin Mu continued to rise into the sky, the zing winds destroyed the ground.


    But Feng Baxing wasn''t going to let Lin Mu escape that easily. He gestured with the Shearing Hurricane Fan and made the winds follow his will.


    ~SIZZLE~


    The very air itself sizzled while the moisture dried out. The hot air rose and left a flickering mirage which made it hard to see the topography behind it. Lin Mu was already about a kilometer up in the sky and the fiery winds were fast catching up to him.


    Lin Mu felt the heat reach him and knew that he wouldn''t be able to outrun this. As such he quickly used the ring and switched into a different set of clothes. Most people thought that he had changed into defensive clothes or something, but that was not the truth.


    "Guess I''ll just take this head on!" Lin Mu let Immortal Essence spread in his body and amplified his strength with it.


    The ambient heat was high enough to burn normal people, but to Lin Mu, it was still something he could handle without any of his defensive skills.


    A few momentster, the heat reached a level where he would need his True Gold Body forging Arts to defend against it. While it was a metal attribute technique and was weak against fire, it could still let him resist.


    But when the zing winds themselves hit Lin Mu, even his golden body was not enough to withstand it. His robes also ignited and were left in tatters. Thankfully, he had already expected his robes to get destroyed in this fight and had switched to normal robes instead of his regenerating robes.


    Havingpared them to Yao Changying''s fight, Lin Mu knew that his regenerating robes might be able to recover as they wouldn''t deal with that Grey energy, but if they were entirely burned or turned into shreds before that, the recovery ability would be useless.


    ~MOO~


    It was at this time that Lin Mu finally showed his true prowess.


    The Totem on his back glowed and released a great pressure. The Tyrannical Aura poured out of Lin Mu''s body and coalesced to form the Tyrant Bull''s figure in the sky.


    The only thing was that the Tyrant Bull had no legs to speak off. All it had was a body, head and horns. But despite that it looked to be rather furious and let out a loud cry.


    ~Hu~


    Lin Mu took this chance to amplify his arms with the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets and swung them downwards.


    His arms erged at a moments notice and created a counter wind that pushed back against the Burning Prairie Gale. The Immortal Essence transformed and strengthened by the Tyrannical Aura protected Lin Mu''s body and allowed him to withstand it all.


    ~SHALA~


    A splitting sound was heard as the gust from Lin Mu''s arms and the Burning Prairie Gale entered a stalemate. Thissted for a couple of seconds before the two attacks mutually repelled each other.


    The Burning Prairie Gale was dispersed while Lin Mu''s arms also returned to a normal size.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and checked the status of his opponent. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    ''Hmm¡­ even with an attack that strong, his Immortal qi hasn''t been drained much.'' Lin Mu was now able to fully check how much Immortal qi Feng Baxing had.


    Compared to the time when his robes had just been destroyed, Lin Mu reckoned the man had exhausted around 2% of his Immortal qi.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t know how much Immortal qi the man had the start. It was likely to be even higher as the man had used a strong defensive skill too.


    ''Even if I take his current Immortal qi as the baseline, he has about 98% of his Immortal qi left¡­ I got a while to go.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    In his case, Lin Mu was at a simr state and hadn''t expended much of his energy stores either. After all, Lin Mu had both Immortal qi as well as Immortal essence.


    With two types of energies at his disposal, even if he had used about 15% of his Immortal qi with the Second form of the Boulder Copsing fist, he still had plenty to go.


    ~TWANG~


    Having assessed that, Lin Mu quickly drew out Wonder Seeker again and shot a flurry of fiery arrows.


    ~SHASHASHA~


    "Humph! Mere fire arrows are a joke!" Feng Baxing was not pleased with his earlier attack failing and retaliated once more swinging the Shearing Hurricane Fan. "Six Winds Monarch Technique: cial Tundra Winds!" he made a different handseals, causing a freezing air to surround the fan.


    A blue wind spread form the fan and froze everything in its path.


    ''Ice elemental Immortal qi mixed with Wind elemental Immortal qi now?'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    ~HISS~


    The fiery arrows disappeared into thin air when they were hit by the freezing wind.


    With Lin Mu''s skill erased, the Freezing Winds were free to reach Lin Mu. Of course, Lin Mu retaliated against them with his arms again, using them as both defense and offense.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The winds generated from his fists shed against the cial Tundra winds, but it wasn''t as effective as before. A thinyer of frost formed on Lin Mu''s arms which he quickly shattered by flexing them a bit.


    Of course, a chill also tried to invaded his body at the same time but was quickly eliminated by the Tyrannical Aura of the Tyrant Bull permeating his body.


    ''He can still withstand after that¡­ that Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets body cultivation technique is as strong as the rumors say¡­'' Feng Baxing thought in his mind but did not say it out loud.


    After all, there was no way he would acknowledge someone who had insulted him.


    Even if Lin Mu did know that, he wouldn''t care much as Feng Baxing was an opponent he had to defeat.


    "Try resisting this! Six Winds Monarch Technique: Desating Desert Breeze!" Feng Baxing used a different skill this time.

 Chapter 1857 Weakness Spurring Strength

    With Feng Baxing''smand and hand seal, a dry wind began to blow from the Shearing Hurricane Fan.


    The wind was strange, and nothing like Lin Mu had ever felt.


    ''This is certainly earth element¡­ but what is this property¡­'' Lin Mu felt both amazed as well as shocked.


    The wind held such a unique property that it could take away the vitality of all that it touched. It dried things out on an intrinsic level and went beyond the level of normal understanding.


    Water vapor that came in contact with it transformed into sand which was a total transformation. nts and other life that came in contact with the wind would first dry out, then turn thin.


    Eventually they would turn into desated kes and finally crumble into dust.


    Lin Mu saw all this happen, as his robes turned into dust with just a faint touch of the wind. And when his skin touched the wind, it cracked!


    ''The True Gold Body Forging Arts is not enough at all!'' Lin Mu understood at that moment.


    The skill of Feng Baxing had reached a new level. Since Lin Mu himself had Earth element as his innate element, he could understand it the best. While themand of Feng Baxing on the Earth element wasn''t necessarily as good as Lin Mu, but due to the uniqueness of the Six Winds Monarch technique, it had been elevated.


    If Lin Mu were topared it, he himself was proficient in the weight and toughness properties of the Earth element, while Feng Baxing''s skill was proficient in the drying and eroding properties of the earth element.


    It was honestly quite enlightening for Lin Mu as he didn''t know earth element could have a property like this at all. It allowed Lin Mu to learn a lot more and also made him aware about his vulnerabilities.


    ''If not for this I wouldn''t never figured it out that despite with the Earth element being my main, I am still weak to it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, carving it in his mind permanently.


    "For an opponent like this, I need an offense equally stronger¡­. HAA!" Lin Mu said before letting out a loud cry.


    ~MOOOOOOOOOO~


    The illusory figure of the legless Tyrant Bull seemed infuriated and felt like it was being insulted.


    The Desating Desert Gust grazed it too, causing its form to waver.


    ~HONG~LONG~ Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    As if it had spurned a change in Lin Mu''s body, a massive pressure exuded? from him. The Tyrannical aura overflowed and? the totem of the tyrant bull on his back started to glow brightly.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    It started to greedily absorb the Immortal essence from Lin Mu''s body. It was such a strong pull that it caused Lin Mu''s stomach to activate!


    Tens of thousands of obscure runes glowed on the surface of his stomach before turning into several rings of runes that floated around the stomach. They spun around it whiles releasing copious amounts of energies.


    These energies were a mix of Immortal Qi as well as Immortal Essence. But in all this, Lin Mu also felt the overpowering Tyrannical aura mixed in which could onlye from one source.


    ''The remnants of the Tyrant Bull Marrow! They are finally being absorbed!'' Lin Mu realized.


    When Lin Mu had consumed all the Tyrant Bull marrow before, not all of it had been used in the progress of the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets. Even when he had consumed the Immortal Essence pills for the Three Vessels invocation technique, a part of the energy had still been stored.


    "What is this¡­. Ugh." The surge of energy was searing hot for Lin Mu and rushed through his veins as well as meridians.


    In fact, it was so strong that it actually rushed out of Lin Mu''s skin and created a thinyer of offense against the Desating Desert Gust.


    Lin Mu no longer had to think about that but now needed to worry about the strange surge of energy that was filling his body. Even if it was being absorbed by the Totem of the Tyrant Bull, he could still feel that the energy was a bit too much.


    ''If this exceeds a certain limit, it''ll injure me.'' Lin Mu could not let that happen.


    But just as he thought this a scarlet glob of energy was released by his stomach. This energy effortlessly merged into the turbulent energies and formed a gentleyer around them that mellowed out the impact.


    ''Huh¡­ this is familiar¡­ The Mutated Violet Mystic Life Tree?'' Lin Mu could recognized the energy that was being mixed now.


    Since he had shed with it in the past, he could remember it very well. It was none other than the red mutated energy of the Violet Mystic Life Tree. Seeing this surge of the energy made him remember something.


    ''Theck of energy that the Violet Mystic Life Tree was showing in the Sleepscape as well as its sudden dormancy¡­ did it release this energy earlier and a part of it was kept by my stomach?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Seeing its gentleness and ability to heal, Lin Mu didn''t take much to realize that the Violet Mystic Life Tree might have a hand in his quick healing when he was being treated with the Buddhist technique


    ''No wonder I managed to heal that fast¡­ even if a part of the energy was absorbed, it seems like it ising in handy now with the other energies.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    He let it happen as there was no way Feng Baxing knew the state that Lin Mu was in. The man had no idea that his flurry of attacks had actually triggered his body cultivation technique to be taunted ande into action.


    Lin Mu let it all happen and felt the power build up within his body. A few keen eyed people in the audience saw the change in the tyrant bull totem on Lin Mu''s back.


    It was now growing legs!

 Chapter 1858 Two Legged Bull

    ?


    The Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets had 7 stage that conformed to the 7 stages of immortals.


    Originally, Lin Mu was at the Third stage which was the Legless Bull. This granted him a strength equivalent to that of the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm as well as the ability to use the first innate skill of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets, the Tyrant Lift.


    But now that he was about to reach the Fourth Stage, the Two Legged Bull Lin Mu felt the spike in his body''s power.


    ~MOOOOOO~This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    The illusory figure of the Tyrant Bull above him also started to change and released a tyrannical aura that cloaked it. A few secondster, it had turned into a sphere around it and the figure could no longer be seen.


    "That¡­ that¡­ I can''t believe it.."


    "Hurry! TAKE OUT THE RECORDING JADE SLIP!"


    "We can''t miss even a second of this. This is priceless information on the breakthrough of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets."


    The body cultivators in the audience broke out in an uproar as they saw the process of Lin Mu''s breakthrough. The Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets was considered as one of the top body cultivation skills that was avable to most.


    It wasn''t even that expensive, but the requirements to cultivate it surely were. And at the same time, the danger that came with cultivating it was also on a next level.


    The difficulty in subjugating the marrow of a Tyrant Bull was immense and more often than not, the body cultivators would fail and their bodies would explode.


    But here there was Lin Mu, doing it live in front of everyone.


    It even seemed to be a bit casual to them as his body greedily sucked in the tyrannical aura released by the illusory figure of the Tyrant Bull.


    To the body cultivators this was their dream to be able to breakthrough casually. Even if they were not practicing the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets, they could still learn a lot from it.


    After all, considering the fact that this was one of the top and hardest to practice body cultivation techniques, meant that its applications could extend to other body cultivation techniques too.


    They all focused on how the Immortal essence flowed around Lin Mu, as well as how he navigated through the harsh Desating Desert Gust.


    ~MOOOOOOOOO~


    Each second was precious to all those that watched and they were waiting for the breakthrough to be over which it finally did after ten seconds.


    The Illusory figure of the Tyrant Bull condensed again, but it now had two bulky and muscr legs attached to its body. The legs appeared in the middle of its body though and did not look like forelimbs or hind limbs.


    One could normally tell what an animal''s legs were depending on their shape and the structure of their hooves.


    But looking at the figure of the Tyrant Bull it was clear that the legs that had appeared were neither of them. Instead they had broad rounded hooves that looked a mix of fore and hind limb hooves.


    The strange perchance was due to the fact that the Tyrant bull didn''t have 2 pairs of legs, but rather 3!


    And the legs that the Tyrant Bull had grown right now were none other than the middle pair of legs.


    The tyrant bull stood tall and let off a dominating feeling which was on another levelpared to its legless form. The being now seemed a bit more plete''.


    "HAAH! So this is the power of the Two legged Tyrant Bull!" Lin Mu smiled widely as he felt the power coursing through his entire body.


    His body cultivation had progressed to the 4th stage andbined with his Qi cultivation, it was hard to tell what level he couldpare too


    Especially when one considered the fact that he had a lot of skills that could make him stronger than normal.


    ~SHUA~


    But Feng Baxing was greatly annoyed by Lin Mu''s sudden breakthrough. His winds had be ineffective against him, as the tyrannical aura provided a defense against the desating winds.


    As such, he swung the fan a few more times sending forth stronger winds which caused the tyrannical aura to gather up and form a thickeryer on Lin Mu''s body.


    "Even if you''re broken through, it is still the same. You WILL lose!" Feng Baxing stated with a frown.


    "Haha, that is yet to be seen." Lin Mu chuckled as he felt great with the power filling him.


    "I''ll show you." Feng Baxing said, his expression darkening. "Six Winds Monarch Technique: Invigorating Meadow Breeze!" he chanted before spinning the Shearing Hurricane Fan around him.


    The fan twirled and let of a glowing green wind that looked to be rather gentle. It didn''t flow towards Lin Mu, but instead continued to surround Feng Baxing.


    ''Wood Element and Wind Element this time¡­ This one does not seem to be an offensive wind though.'' Lin Mu analyzed, his immortal sense picking up on information.


    He wondered just how Feng Baxing was intending to attack him as the skill wasn''t harming him at all.


    But a couple secondster, Lin Mu felt the change.


    "So that''s how it is huh¡­ it is a self supporting skill."Lin Mu could sense the green winds modting the immortal Qi within Feng Baxing''s body as well as around him.


    In fact, it seemed to be taming the wind elemental Qi present in the air and redirecting it towards Feng Baxing. A couple of secondster, Lin Mu could tell that the Immortal Qi stores of Feng Baxing were rising again.


    ''I can''t let him recover to his maximum like this.'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    His gaze met with Feng Baxing, as the man made his second move.


    "I''ll show you how weak you are in front of me." Feng Baxing scoffed and raised the Shearing Hurricane Fan high up in the air. "Six Winds Monarch Technique: Crushing Mountain Gale!" with that he brought the fan down, creating a massive yellow wind.

 Chapter 1859 Tyrant Stomp

    ?


    The Crushing Mountain Gale seemed to be full of metal elemental immortal Qi that threatened to crush anything that stood in its path.


    If a mountain was in its path, it would be ground down into rocks and dust too. The metal immortal Qi mixed with the wind turned it into formless hammers that pounded on everything in its path.


    High Elder Juxue was watching with great interest.


    ''All of Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets innate skills are highly destructive in nature. I wonder how well Feng Baxing can take it with the Mountain Crushing Gale.'' High Elder Juxue wondered.


    Being party of the imperial family, he too was well versed in the Six Winds Monarch Technique. As per its name, the technique had six different type of wind skills in it.


    Each of the skill could only be learned when they progressed their cultivation base and underwent the right elemental immortal tribtion.


    One could choose which elemental immortal tribtion they wanted to undergo and doing so would grant them the skill of that element.


    For example, if one first took the fire elemental immortal tribtion, they would be able to use the Burning Prairie Gale. Simrly if one took the metal elemental immortal tribtion they would be able to use the Mountain Crushing Gale that Feng Baxing was doing now.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    As such, the practitioners of the Six Winds Monarch Technique would first ovee the 5 basal elemental immortal tribtions as they were simplerpared to the wind and lightning immortal tribtions.


    Being at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm, Feng Baxing had mastered all of these. As for the sixth tribtion, the practitioner of the technique was confident they would choose the lightning element immortal tribtion since the sixth wind was abination of wind and lightning elements.


    Of course, one could also take the wind elemental immortal tribtion and boost their overall power instead. Since the Feng Imperial family was versed in the wind element, they usually kept it as thest tribtion since it would be the strongest one.


    It would allow them to ovee it with better ease as the lightning elemental immortal tribtion would also be tough.


    Of course, while Lin Mu could tell that Feng Baxing''s skill was very strong he was not afraid of it at all.


    "Since you want to use a crushing attack, I''ll do the same!" Lin Mu shouted as the Tyrannical aura empowered his body while Immortal essence surged.


    This time though, it wasn''t his arms that grew in size but rather his legs!


    Upon his breakthrough to the Fourth stage of the Tyrant bull Marrow secrets, another one of the innate skills had been unlocked. Lin Mu automatically understood it and the knowledge of the skill was already in his mind.


    The second innate skill of the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets allowed the user to erge their legs while amplifying their strength to a terrifying degree.


    "Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets: Tyrant Stomp!" Lin Mu''s legs swelled up to the size of elephant legs while the tyrannical aura coated it in ayer of crimson red.


    The crimson red tyrannical aura formed an illusory construct around Lin Mu''s legs and grew even more!


    All the people in the audience that saw it could only imagine the sheer power that was contained in it.


    "Heavens, just how much Immortal essence is he using for the skill?"


    "That''s almost the entirety of a first stage body cultivators immoral essence!"


    "We can finally see one of the innate skills of the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets!" the body cultivators in the audience were almost jumping out of their seats in excitement.


    To them this was another valuable skill that they might not get to see often. They quickly recorded it all while also observing it in close detail. They didn''t wish to miss even a moment of it.


    ~MOOOOOOO~


    The illusory figure of Tyrant Bull let out a loud cry in the sky, as if cheering Lin Mu on while he descended from the sky. His erged legs had now taken on the illusory form that made them look the same as the Tyrant Bull''s own legs along with the power that was held by the beast.


    ~BOOM~


    Lin Mu''s descent was shocking as the raw power ripped through the air, shing against the Mountain Crushing Gale. The two crushing forces fought fiercely.


    If the Mountain Crushing Gale was like metal hammers, then Lin Mu''s Tyrant Stomp was like a giant mace. The two skills pushed against each other, making Lin Mu halt in the sky for a bit.


    "He¡­ he''s stopped it¡­" The audience muttered in shock.


    But High Elder Juxue could see the inequality of power. Since he could observe the Spatial ne directly along with the input from the formation masters, he could tell that this was just a short stalemate,


    ''Feng Baxing might just be pushed to his limits soon¡­'' High Elder Juxue thought.


    ~RUMBLE~


    And sure enough, a few momentster the stalemate was broken with heavy rumble.


    ~GONG~


    The Mountain Crushing Gale could be seen getting visiblypressed, as if Lin Mu''s legs were giant pistons.


    ~BOOM~


    The crushing wind could no longer bepressed and expanded sideways, spreading its crushing power. Lin Mu crashed into the ground with a shattering force.


    ~KABOOM~


    The shock wave from the impact whipped up a tall cloud of dust and debris that reached a height of two kilometer in mere moments.


    Lin Mu and Feng Baxing''s forms disappeared in it, making it impossible for the audience to recognize what was happening. It was almost like cold water was poured on their excitement due to that.


    ~SWOOSH~


    But the cloud didn''tst long as another wind swept it all away.


    "What in the¡­" The people could finally see the scene of devastation.


    A crater had been created from it all, and it was so deep that Lin Mu couldn''t even be seen within it.


    Feng Baxing through was floating in the air in a sorry condition. His robes long gone leaving him half naked.

 Chapter 1860 Adding Humiliation To Injury

    Feng Baxing had tens of injuries on his body with many burns and cuts.


    His chest was bare and was covered with blood. His nose and mouth were bleeding while great fury burned in his eyes.


    "How can you¡­." Feng Baxing was so angry he had a hard time even speaking.


    He had never been humiliated in a fight like this before, especially against someone like Lin Mu who had no background and had a lower cultivation base than him.


    This was despite the fact that Feng Baxing had used 5 of the Six Winds Monarch technique''s skills. All the foes that he had faced before this had yielded to the power of the techniques.


    Being a Prince, Feng Baxing hadn''t had many setbacks in life. The biggest set back would have been being pushed down by his elder brother the Crown Prince.


    He was humiliated by that too, but could still ept it since it was the Crown prince and had the same background as him. Feng Baxing was also the second oldest son among all the children of the Emperor and as such had been above his other siblings.


    He was second in the order, as he also had an older sister who was a few years younger than the Crown Prince. The Third Prince on the other hand, was nearly a hundred years younger than the Crown Prince.


    As for the other children of the emperor, they weren''t as significant and were weaker too.


    Feng Baxing continued to simmer in anger while the audience watched it all with wide eyes and open mouths.


    ~sigh~


    "Baxing will learn¡­ hopefully." High Elder Juxue muttered to himself as he still cared about his Grand Nephew somewhat.


    He might have not had links with the Imperial Family for a longtime and didn''t interact with them much either, but it didn''t mean he didn''t care about them.


    He just wouldn''t show it openly as his first obligation was to the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts.


    While everyone''s eyes were on Feng Baxing, Lin Mu was nowhere to be seen. A few people in the audience wondered where he was but couldn''t see it on the formation screen.


    ~Crumble~


    That was until the ground shook, and one of the crater sides copsed.


    "Ugh¡­ I went too deep." Lin Mu''s voice could barely be heard before he appeared from the dark depths. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    He was in a simr condition to Feng Baxing and was half naked. His robes were long gone, and even his pants were torn all the way to his upper thighs.


    His pants had basically be boxer shorts now.


    As for injuries, Lin Mu actually had them too!


    Cuts and scrapes were visible on his body, a result of the Tyrant Stomps recoil. Even Lin Mu hadn''t expected that as his body''s defenses could usually handle them.


    ''I''ll need to be careful with Tyrant Stomp as its raw power is too high. It can cause a recoil when hitting other objects as they''ll explode.'' Lin Mu took note.


    It also made him think of some synergies between his existing skill. Lin Mu had made the Falling Sky Lance before, which utilized his Dao Skill and allowed him to leverage his weight.


    The Tyrant Stomp had a simr effect but there were still some difference.


    Such as the fact that Falling Sky Lance needed Lin Mu to reach a great height to work. The Tyrant Stomp on the other hand could work on any level. The only reason Lin Mu had even leaped was so that he could act against the Crushing Mountain Wind.


    If he was in a direct confrontation, Lin Mu reckoned he could simply stomp on an enemy and tten them into the ground.


    ''The fall was also why I got this damage.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Of course, most of his injuries were surface level and would be healed quickly. But it won''t be so if he stacked some of his skills together.


    ''If I use the Aspect of Heaviness with Tyrant Stomp, I can basically take the Falling Sky Lance to another level.'' Lin Mu thought. ''But at the same time, the recoil would be even greater.'' He understood.


    ~WHOOSH~


    It hadn''t been more than a couple of seconds since Lin Mu had risen back up, when a sharp wind hit him.


    "YOU! YOU SHALL SUFFER FOR THIS!" Feng Baxing roared.


    His anger had exploded the moment he saw his opponent. Lin Mu''s condition also made Feng Baxing think that he was now weakened.


    ''There is no way he would be fine after that. His energy should also be expended.'' Feng Baxing thought, which would have been correct if not for the fact that Lin Mu also practiced the Three Apertures Invoking technique.


    Due to that, Lin Mu could still handle using the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets'' skills. Feng Baxing knew about the weakness of the body cultivation technique and had looked into it.


    What he had found out was that while the technique was very strong, it also had a high consumption of Immortal Essence. As such, Feng Baxing had thought that as long as Lin Mu ran out of Immortal Essence, ending him would be easy.


    After all, Lin Mu''s qi cultivation was still at the second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm which was almost a joke to Feng Baxing.


    But all this turned out to be a gross understatement as the Third Prince had no idea how diversified Lin Mu''s skills actually were. They could hit above their weight and could catch one off guard.


    It was how Lin Mu had broken the man''s Azure Wind Shield in the first ce along with the robes.


    Wanting to end it all, Feng Baxing took a drastic step.


    "Six Winds Monarch Technique: Sky Churning Tempest!" Feng Baxing used thest skill.


    But his usage of the skill was met with astonishment from the crowd along with Lin Mu.


    "How''s he doing that? He''s only at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." Lin Mu muttered in confusion.

 Chapter 1861 Sky Churning Tempest

    Feng Baxing''s actions were certainly unexpected for Lin Mu.


    After all, for the Third Prince to use the Sky Churning Tempest, he would have had to be at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. He had already used 5 of the winds beforehand, and as such shouldn''t have been able to use it by the order of elimination.


    And yet, here he was doing it.


    The Shearing Hurricane Fan let off a terrifying amount of Immortal Qi while Dao Traces of Wind also mixed in. It didn''t take much for Lin Mu to realize that Feng Baxing was not messing around now.


    He was giving it his all.


    Lin Mu''s expression became darkly serious while his Immortal Qi and Immortal essence surged as well. He knew defending this was not going to be easy.


    ~HONGLONG~


    A ring mix of Purple and Azure winds coalesced and rose into the sky. Clouds formed within seconds and turned inky ck while staggering winds blew.


    The clouds covered an area of ten kilometer and turned stormy.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Sure enough, the rumbling of thunder could soon be heard as streaks of lightning snaked through the clouds.


    Lin Mu extended his Immortal sense to check just how strong it was. It was not his first time going against lighting and wondered if he could endure it.


    ''If it is at the level of normal lightning, I''ll be able to endure it with no issues. But if it is something on the level of Tian Ning''s Nine Heavens Thunderp technique it''ll be tough.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~BZZT~


    But when his Immortal sense actually reached the clouds, he received a rude shock!


    "Ah!" Lin Mu held his head which shook in pain and gritted his teeth.


    Feng Baxing noticed this and knew exactly what Lin Mu was trying to do. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Hahah! Trying to test the clouds with your Immortal Sense? You are stupid if you think you can probe the Sky Churning Tempest''s clouds like that. You would have to be innately talented in the lightning element as well as be on the same cultivation base as me to even endure that.


    The sheer amount of Lighting Dao Traces in it will zap a First Tribtion Stage Immortal to death if they tried the same." Feng Baxingughed seeing the pain of his foe.


    Lin Mu didn''t care about the mocking though, and simply focused on the information that Feng Baxing had ended up providing it instead.


    ''Lighting Dao Traces, huh¡­'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and activated his Spatial perception.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, the area changed greatly and Lin Mu perceived the world with a different lens.


    He could see flickering disturbances in the Spatial Fabric that were definitely not Spatial in nature.


    ''Normal Dao Traces won''t be strong enough to case something like this, only Lightning can¡­ as such, that is certainly a great amount of Lightning Dao Traces.'' Lin Mu grasped.


    One look was enough for him to tell that this might even on the same level as what Tian Ning was at. But at the same time, it exceeded him which was a bit strange.


    ''There''s no way Feng Baxing is also that talented in the lightning element. And he hasn''t reached the 6th tribtion stage either and has not experience a lightning elemental immortal tribtion either.


    This only means there is another factor affecting all this.'' Lin Mu analyzed rapidly.


    ~RUMBLE~


    ~WHOOSH~


    The storm continued to churn and soon turned into a tempest that was wreaking havoc on thend. It was a skill that would intensify the longer it continued and needed to be avoided as much as possible.


    ~STOMP~


    Lin Mu directly used his body''s improved strength and stomped on the ground to gain momentum in the blink of an eye.


    ~Crack~


    The ground cracked under his weight and force, but also propelled him in the direction he wanted to go. This was faster than flying and allowed him to reach a high velocity in a short time.


    ~BOOM~


    And just as he did that, a bolt of lightning struck where he had been standing previously.


    The ground exploded again on impact, and debris was showered everywhere. Some of the debris that was shoot too high up was instead picked up by the churning winds and started spinning in the air.


    ~BOOM~


    Lin Mu narrowly dodged another lightning bold and shifted his direction while the ground exploded again. More rocks and stones were added to the spinning winds above, growing its force.


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    Lin Mu continued to dodge and avoided all of the lightning bolts that were targeting him.


    ''How can he dodge them all the time? The lighting is faster than almost all immortals¡­'' Feng Baxing had a serious expression on his face while thinking. ''The only way one would be able to do that was if they can predict it in the first ce.'' He reckoned.


    Feng Baxing had actually hit the nail on the right spot and was correct.


    Lin Mu was basically predicting the lightning strikes by observing the concentration of the Lightning Dao Traces in the sky. Whenever lightning was about to strike in some area, the concentration would suddenly spike.


    As such, while the lightning would strike within a fraction of a second, it was still going to fall in a known area. Thus Lin Mu had a couple of seconds to react and dodge.


    And for Lin Mu, even a second was more than enough to react to something like this.


    ''Hmm¡­ if one uses lightning in this way, I can still dodge as long as I predict the energy shifts. I don''t need the Spatial skills just yet!'' Lin Mu was internally pleased.


    Minute after minute passed like this, while the tempest continued to grew.


    The storm blotted out the light, and only the snaking lightning was the source of illumination left. At the same time, a cyclone had formed which was churning with thousands of rocks and other debris that had been shot into the sky.

 Chapter 1862 Self Grounding

    With the advent of the storm, the environment in the Spatial ne changed greatly.


    Not just Lin Mu and Feng Baxing, but the audience could see it too. Even if they could not truly feel it, just the visual impact they got from watching it was enough to push them to the edge of the seats.


    "Whoa! Is that really the Sky Churning Tempest?"


    "Isn''t that the toughest out of the Six Winds to master?"


    "Indeed¡­ Seems like Third Prince Feng Baxing is stillparable to Crown Prince Feng Shun."


    "Perhaps if he managed to progress his cultivation base enough, he might reach the same level as the Crown Prince. s, he is a hundred yearste and also did not get the same opportunities that the Crown Prince and the Second Princess got to enjoy."


    "Sigh! If it were not for the fact that he Third Prince was bornter than the Second Princess, perhaps he might have reached the sixth or even the Seventh Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm too."


    "Well, some do think it was a waste for the Second Princess to get those opportunities and resources back then. The Imperial Court was divided and had debated for a long time. Even if the Second Princess was decently talented she still ended up leaving the Imperial Family."


    "Hey! Watch your words. Do you want to get your head chopped off?"


    "What? Its just the truth."


    "You need to know how to say the truth. You can''t just say that. If the others take offense to it, things won''t end well for you. If you really wanna say it, say that she joined another family instead."


    The audience was really in an uproar on how to react to the situation. It was not something they were used to and hence there were a lot of discussions. It was lucky that none of the two contestants could hear it or they would be very distracted.


    And while the audience watched it all, Feng Baxing finally made his next move.


    "Haha! Things are just getting started!" Feng Baxingughed, knowing that his skill was finally reaching its full potential.


    The Tempest in the sky had reached a massive size and nearly half of the Spatial ne''s area was now covered by it. And not just that, but if one was inside the Spatial ne, they would be able to feel the abundant Dao Traces of Wind and Lightning element that were being spread everywhere.


    If a spirit cultivator got a chance to experience this, they would have a decent chance of being able to get a minor grasp on the Wind and lightning element.


    Of course, that was only if they could actually managed to survive in an environment like this.


    The area was no longer stable and sharp debris flew at a break neck speed. Anything that would be in path would be pierced and torn.


    But that wasn''t all as Strong and sharp winds also blew that could rip and pull away things, along with earth shaking Lightning bolts that exploded all things that they hit.


    All in all, the area had basically be something that was unfit for life, and yet Lin Mu and Feng Baxing could battle there. Such was the power of Immortals and allowed them to live in harsh conditions.


    It may not be long, but it was long enough to survive it all.


    ~KABOOM~ N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    With Feng Baxing''s flick of a hand, a purple lightning bolt down from the sky, striking the exact position that Lin Mu was in.


    ~BZZT~


    He tried to dodge it with all his might and was almost gone, when the lightning hit it a quarter of millimeters length.


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu felt the lightning course through his body and restraining his muscles.


    It was piercing through his body with ease and was almost on the level of Tian Ning''s Lightning that had paralyzed him in ce for a while.


    Thankfully for Lin Mu, he had already experienced it one and knew how to react to it.


    ''True Earth Heart Dao Embryo! Earthen Armament Aspect: Ground Embracing Spines!'' Lin Mu shouted in his heart as the sound of the heartbeats could be heard once more.


    The Dao Embryo that was hidden within his Dantian activated once more, but did not leave it like before. Instead, it directly manifested its powers through his body and allowed the execution of the Dao Skill.


    Lin Mu''s legs gathered the rocks under them, while more rocks grew and surrounded them. These rocks actually grew more than one could see and were actually attached to Lin Mu''s skin itself!


    If one could look at it under a microscope they would see that these rocks had actually pierced into his skin, and attached to the flesh of his foot.


    These spines then extended further into the ground, and anchored Lin Mu to it. While it may have turned him immobile, it also provided him something very important.


    This effectively turned Lin Mu into a grounding rod!


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    ~BOOM~


    One after the other, Lightning bolts continued to strike Lin Mu, each stronger than before. It was clear that Feng Baxing had no thought of holding back at all.


    Now that he had seen his enemy being cornered and restrained, he was going to put his 110% to directly eliminate him.


    As such, he increased the attacks and caused more lightning bolts to strike Lin Mu.


    The Man in question was in pain, and looked to be miserable, but the true reality of it was quite different.


    ''The Lightning elemental immortal Qi along with the Lightning Dao Traces can still be channeled through the earthen spines!'' Lin Mu was exhrated by his discovery.


    As such, he hid a smile and let Feng Baxing have his few minutes of joy.


    The Third Prince thought that he was torturing Lin Mu through the constant lightning attacks, having no idea, that they were basically an energy sink for him.


    Lin Mu let it happen, and aimed to drain out Feng Baxing instead.

 Chapter 1863 Facade And Trick

    Lin Mu had long since learned that he could use the Earth Element to offset his vulnerability to the Lightning element. Of course, this wasn''t directly possible and he needed for it to be connected to something much bigger than him.


    In the current case it was none other than the entirety of the Spatial ne''s ground. As long as he feet touched it and he was directly connected to it, he could let his body channel the lightning into the ground.


    Of course, this wasn''t 100% effective, as the lightning elemental immortal Qi and Lighting Dao Traces still needed to travel through his body. When inside his body, they would affect his organs and meridians too, causing distress. Due to being grounded, the duration that Lin Mu was affected by this was minuscule.


    But over time, the effects could umte. After all, Feng Baxing was not stopping and continued to st Lin Mu to death with Lightning bolts.


    ''My internal temperature is also rising.'' Lin Mu noticed another effect from the constant barrage of lightning.


    This made him recall that when metal was electrocuted, its temperature would also rise. This was none other than the heat generated due to the natural resistance of various natural materials.


    Even the human body had this and as such would resist the conduction of Electricity. A part of the energy in the electricity would be converted to heat and wasted.


    Of course, for a normal human, surviving a single lightning bolt was already lucky. They would be burned from it and would probably sustain a lot of damage.


    And what Lin Mu was resisting was no normal lightning at all. This was Lightning bolts made from an Immortal technique and amplified by the Lightning Dao Traces.


    Any normal immortal would have long since been injured by this, having their internal organs singed greatly.


    But Lin Mu could still hold on. He was not unfamiliar to internal heat and had consumed enough materials that would cause him to burn. Even when he had cultivate the Embrace of Honglin he had endured a great heat in his heart.


    ''I can take this!'' Lin Mu bolstered his mind and continued to withstand it all.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Bolt after bolt struck Lin Mu, while Feng Baxing''s Immortal Qi stores continued to fall. Lin Mu paid attention to it and had a painful expression on his face the entire time.


    This was intentional on his part and made it seem like he was greatly suffering. At the same time, it allowed him to observe the Third Prince without giving away that he was mostly fine.


    "Ahahha! Dogs like you deserve to be beaten!" Feng Baxing enjoyed his ''torture''.


    Lightning was like the ''whip'' that he was using it to hit the ''dog''.


    Five minutes passed, and Feng Baxing was still fine. He hadn''t sensed much and continued his actions.


    Ten minutes passed, and Feng Baxing''s face was a bit red, as if he had been running for too long.


    Twenty minutester, and Feng Baxing''s face had turned darker, as if he had swallowed a bug.


    ''Why¡­ is he¡­ not dying?'' Feng Baxing couldn''t help but wonder.


    There were ck scorch marks all over Lin Mu''s body now, and his hair was disheveled. Lin Mu''s Qi seemed to be in a disarray as well and his vitality was wavering.


    All signs pointed to the fact that Lin Mu was very close to death, and yet he was still standing.


    And during this all, Lin Mu''s expression was also that of utter pain as if he couldn''t bear a minute longer.


    But all that was a facade maintained to waste the Third Prince''s immortal Qi.


    ''About 40% of his immortal Qi¡­ Need to wait a bit more.'' Lin Mu reckoned after sensing the prince''s immortal Qi stores.


    Lin Mu hoped to cause the prince to lose all his immortal Qi in this hopeless endeavor. But he didn''t know that the prince was at the limit of his willpower.


    Five more minutester, the Third Prince couldn''t take it anymore.


    "AAAARGH! WHY WON''T YOU JUST DIE!?!!!" The Third Prince shouted like a madman. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    ~BOOM~


    Anotherrge Lightning Bolt fell and ended up cracking the ground under Lin Mu.


    ~SHATTER~


    ~CRUMBLE~


    The ground suddenly copsed and Lin Mu''s contact with the ground broke.


    ''Shit!'' Lin Mu internally cursed as he tried to move.


    ~SIZZLE~


    It was now that the situation of the ground was revealed.


    "What is that?"


    "Why''s there a pool ofva there?"


    The audience was surprised by the red hot pool ofva that had been revealed underground.


    Feng Baxing who saw it though quickly figured it out. After all, this was not his first time and he had seen many other lightning elemental cultivators before.


    "YOU! YOU TRICKED ME?!" Feng Baxing understood that theva pool underground was his own doing.


    "Not tricked. I just said nothing." Lin Mu replied, realizing that the ruse was over. ''35% of his Immortal Qi¡­ Tch~ just a few more minutes and he''d be at his limit.'' He thought with pity.


    Theva pool had formed due to the lightning that had entered the ground all this time. Normally lightning would at most scorch the ground and heat it for a short time. But with the constant fall of lightning, it had caused a pocket of concentrated heat to be formed underground.


    This molten earth weakened the stability of the ground above and finally caused it to copse when thest Lightning bolt fell.


    "Enough of this." Feng Baxing''s expression turned sour.


    It was hard to tell just how many emotions were mixed into it, but fury and humiliation were certainly present. Lin Mu saw the man raise the Shearing Hurricane Fan and mutter something.


    ~PIIIIIIII~


    A secondter, the Shearing Hurricane Fan flew out of the man''s hand and grew before the illusory image of a giant falcon formed around it.


    "The Great Hurricane Falcon appears again!" the audience shouted out.


    "I''ll end you, even if it is thest thing I do!" Feng Baxing said, pouring all of his immortal Qi into the fan.

 Chapter 1864 Million Thoughts, Ten Million Opinions

    Chapter 1864 Million Thoughts, Ten Million Opinions


    Feng Baxing was at the limit of his anger and had decided to summon the weapon spirit of the Shearing Hurricane Fan.


    <nulli>~PIIIII~


    The weapon spirit of the Shearing Hurricane Fan seemed to be infuriated as well, but due to another reason.


    High Elder Juxue who watched this couldn''t help but shake his head.


    ''This kid¡­ wasn''t he warned about summoning the Weapon Spirit? It hasn''t epted him and yet he summons it forcefully¡­ he won''t be able to use the Shearing Hurricane Fan after this.'' High Elder Juxue thought.


    He knew all about the three signature weapons of the Feng Imperial Family and had even used them once upon a time.


    <nulli>~sigh~


    ''Is this why Nephew gave it to you? A test¡­'' High Elder Juxue felt disappointed. "But for Mu Lin¡­ how will he fare now?" he wondered.


    Rather than his grand nephew, High Elder Juxue was a lot more invested in Lin Mu. He had seen the man''s progress and growth in the man. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Not only did he observe and learn from his opponent, he even managed to find ways to ovee them. As such, High Elder Juxue was highly interested in seeing whether Lin Mu could survive this.


    ''Even if he does lose, the Temple will certainly want a candidate like him.'' High Elder Juxue was sure of it.


    The moment, the final report would be seen at the Temple, Lin Mu would certainly be a person of great interest. Feng Baxing was not an option for the temple to recruit anyways whereas Lin Mu had no known background.


    As such he was an ideal candidate for them. He had already demonstrated the levelheadedness as well as the observation skill one needed to have to be a member of the temple of the Four Guardian beasts.


    He wasn''t the only one thinking about Lin Mu either.


    All the people in the audience, nobles, aristocrats including several people that Lin Mu knew were watching him too.


    Lin Mu''spanions watched with tense expressions while Countess Xiurong who owned the Spring Valley Restaurant had a petnt expression.


    ''Come on¡­ you have to win. I have a lot of money riding on you.'' Countess Xiurong thought while watching on the formation screen.


    She was sitting in her private residence and was apanying several more nobles that were her acquaintances of her. On her advice, they had also bet on Lin Mu and were hoping to win.


    A kilometer away from that, another person who knew Lin Mu but wasn''t directly acquainted with him was watching.


    <nulli>~puff~


    A mature beauty took a puff from a pipe and blew out a stream of smoke. Her long nails shimmered in the light of thenterns while her deep eyes had a hazy look.


    "Looks like our ''candidate'' is stronger than we thought¡­" Lady Kang spoke.


    "Mydy, is it wise to take him for the expedition?" one of the woman''s servants asked.


    "Of course. His cultivation base might be lower than we thought, but his skills make up for it. Besides, I do not think he is revealing all that he knows." Lady Kang replied while smiling.


    "If you say so, mydy." The Servant bowed her head.


    Farther away from here, in the Imperial pce grounds the Crown Prince was watching the battle without blinking for even a second.


    "What do you think, can he endure the Weapon Spirit?" Crown Princess Shang asked. "It just might be too much for him. He should be exhausted too." She said with concern.


    "He''ll get through it." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with confidence.


    "Hmm¡­ and if he wins, how will the Third Prince take it. He will surely not be calm." Commander Dui spoke.


    "That is true." Monk Hushu chimed in. "From what I''ve heard so far, the Third Prince isn''t rational when he''s agitated. Who knows if he might take a drastic decision in a moment of anger." He added.


    "Monk Hushu makes sense." Daoist Chu agreed. "Just in case, we should probably be ready."


    "Very well." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before standing up. "I''ll head there personally¡­ if Feng Baxing does anything excess, I doubt father would mind me disciplining him. It''ll be an extra lesson for him after the loss." He stated before leaping off the balcony.


    "Wait!" Crown Princess Shang called out to him, but the prince had already flown away. "~sigh~ let''s go after him. We don''t want him to make too big of a spectacle at this time either." She suggested.


    The others nodded and flew out as well.


    Most of the people in the capital city might not be able to fly due to the restrictions, but the Crown Prince and hispanions already had the permission for it.


    Finally, far from all this, in the Hundred Fruits Pavilion three pairs of eyes were watching the match too.


    All three pairs of eyes had vertical pupils in them, but their colors were different. One pair was ck, one was white and the final one was emerald green in color!


    Two pairs belonged to the Yin Yang Twin Serpents and the final belonged to none other than the Saintess.


    <nulli>~hiss~


    The twins hissed in anxiousness as they watched Lin Mu getting cornered.


    "It will be fine." The Saintess spoke. "Your master is a lot more capable than this. A mere Peak Grade Immortal Weapon Spirit and some third rate prince won''t be enough to defeat him." She said with confidence.


    <nulli>~shaaa~


    The twins were a bit relieved hearing this, but still had a bit of worry in their eyes.


    Tens of millions of thoughts and opinions were made about Lin Mu in the span of a few seconds, all of them happening at the same time.


    The man in question was unaware of them and was only focused on the danger at hand.


    "I won''t be able to endure this like before." Lin Mu muttered to himself. ''Feng Baxing''s strength is already at the seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm with this attack.''

 Chapter 1865 Sky Prop

    Chapter 1865 Sky Prop


    The culmination of Feng Baxing''s strengths, skills, and equipment and brought him to the peak of his power.


    The attack that the Great Hurricane Falcon was executing inbination with the storm of the Sky Churning Tempest was devastating.


    Thend was fractured before shattering which added more to the cyclone in the sky. Sharp rock fragmentsunched themselves towards Lin Mu, who was barely able to avoid some. N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    About half of them hit him, while lightning also struck him at the same time.


    <nulli>~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu endured the pain of the lightning and powered through the numbness.


    <nulli>~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    It was at this time that the illusory form of the Great Hurricane Falcon approached him.


    It was the personification of a hurricane and held the power to uproot entire mountain ranges and wipe away seas. Such a power was about to impact Lin Mu and was just a few meters away.


    Lin Mu was in danger but did not lose his cool.


    ''I might not be able to endure this like before, but it doesn''t mean I don''t have a way.'' A smile appeared on Lin Mu''s face at this moment while his eyes stared at Feng Baxing and his dropping Immortal qi. ''Ten percent¡­ he can''t keep this up for long, but I sure can.'' He thought and raised his hands.


    <nulli>~CRACK~


    Lin Mu''s weight was fully unleashed and his feet dug into the ground. This prevented him from moving too much, but that wasn''t all.


    <nullb>Aspect of Heaviness!


    Lin Mu''s weight further multiplied and his body dug further into the ground. His expression became strained, but his hands were still raised up.


    <nulli>~PIIIII~


    The Great Hurricane Falcon red directly at Lin Mu, taking him as its foe. It was irritated since the start due to being summoned without its permission. If it were up to the weapon spirit, he would simply return, but he was obligated to work a few times for the prince.


    As such, he wished to get it over with and was using most of its power in ending the target.


    But just as it was a meter away from hitting Lin Mu, the man shouted. His voice started low but soon became loud enough to overpower the sound of the stormy winds.


    <nullb>"Immortal Strengthening Scripture: SKY PROP!" as soon as he said that a flurry of runes burst out of his body.


    <nulli>~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The runes had a certain repulsive power to them and actually dyed the Great Hurricane Falcon.


    The illusory weapon spirit was a bit surprised as it was slowed down. Never had the weapon spirit experienced something like this despite having seen many strong immortals.


    It was intelligent and had its own memories having existed for a long time now.


    There were others that could restrain it or even threaten it, but none of them were of the same cultivation base as Lin Mu.


    From its initial assessment, the Great Hurricane Falcon was sure that Lin Mu would be defeated in just one hit. In fact, the weapon spirit was actually overdoing it terms of its power.


    It could defeat Lin Mu in less than a third of the amount of energy it was using right now. But it was still using a lot more, just to spite the Third Prince. Since it had been forcefully summoned, the weapon spirit reckoned it may as well milk the Third Prince of all his immortal qi.


    Unfortunately for the Great Hurricane Falcon, Feng Baxing didn''t have much of his Immortal qi stores left in the first ce. Only twenty percent was left when the prince had summoned it.


    The weapon spirit would have liked it more if the prince had at least half of his immortal qi. That way it would have had a good meal at least.


    But the illusory falcon had not expected that his opponent was going to be this tough.


    <nulli>~HUALA~


    The runes that had rushed out of Lin Mu''s body assembled themselves around him and took the rough shape of a cylinder.


    <nulli>~HONG~


    The repulsive force of the runes slowed down the Great Hurricane Falcon just enough that the runes could condense into a physical form and progress to the next step.


    <nullb>~WOOONG~


    The cylindrical shape runes turned physical and transformed Lin Mu into a pir!


    The pir looked to be crystalline and had a translucent texture. Lin Mu''s form inside it could be seen and he was frozen in his previous posture with his hands up high.


    It almost looked like he was holding up something heavy, his expression solemn.


    <nulli>~PIIYAAAA~


    The sudden transformation of Lin Mu into a pir was shocking to the weapon spirit making it let out a startled cry. Of course, others couldn''t tell that the weapon spirit had actually be surprised like this.


    To them, the cry might just be a cry of anger.


    Though Feng Baxing felt that something was wrong as he sensed the immortal qiing from the Great Hurricane Falcon waver for a moment.


    He narrowed his eyes while his hands trembled from the rapidly draining Immortal qi.


    ''This has to work!'' Feng Baxing shouted in his heart.


    He knew the repercussions of summoning the weapon spirit but had still done it to get rid of Lin Mu. If he didn''t win after all this, he would not be in a good standing.


    "END IT!" Feng Baxing shouted, prodding the weapon spirit onwards.


    <nulli>~PIIIII~


    The Great Hurricane Falcon recovered from its momentary shock and charged at Lin Mu again.


    <nullb>~BOOM~


    Its illusory body collided against the pir that contained Lin Mu and released a deadly storm that started to shred everything in its path.


    <nullb><nulli>~WANG~WANG~WANG~WANG~


    Strong winds enveloped the area along with dense immortal qi waves that were mixed with Wind Elemental Immortal qi and Wind Dao Traces.


    The scene of the battle was obscured once more, but the growing storm still showed bits of devastation as the ground of the Spatial ne started to get eroded.


    Mass Release next month

 Chapter 1866 An Exhausting Win

    Chapter 1866 An Exhausting Win


    Everyone watched with gaping eyes as the battle reached its apex.


    The storm continued to rain down lightning and sharp stones, while sharp winds ripped everything apart. Lin Mu''s form couldn''t be seen at all and only the loud sounds could be heard.


    Feng Baxing poured all that he had into this one final attack and was close to reaching his limit.


    "Hahaha! No one can survive this!" Feng Baxingughed thinking that he had seeded.


    But in his folly he had forgotten that if he had really won, the formations would have been triggered and both of the would have been teleported out.


    And yet, that had not happened.


    Feng Baxing had be ignorant in his mix of fury and joy of crushing Lin Mu.


    Second after second passed and Feng Baxing''s Immortal Qi finally dropped to the minimum.


    ~SHUA~


    The storm in the sky started to fade while the sharp winds stopped.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The rocks flying in the air also fell down with the winds no longer capable of carrying them. The falling rocks looked like hail falling from the sky, but they weren''t made out of ice.


    With that, the tempest came to a breeze end and only dust was left in the area.


    "What''s happening?" The people in the audience could still not see anything.


    The people weren''t shouting though, as everyone was too anxious about the oue and were trying to keep silent. They held onto the edges of their seats, and slowed their breaths. Some even went so far as to stop blinking entirely as they didn''t wish to miss even a moment.


    And after about ten seconds of silence, a low peal ofughter was heard.


    "Haha." Theughter seemed to be a bit casual, as if appreciating the situation.


    But no one could tell who wouldugh like this at a crucial moment.


    "No way¡­ The High Elder?" The people sitting near the tform saw it well enough.


    The old man overseeing the match was the one who hadughed. He had a smile on his face and his beard fluttered lightly with hisugh.


    "Why is heughing?" The people wondered.


    ''So this was his goal from the start huh¡­ A good choice.'' High Elder Juxue thought, knowing it was over for Feng Baxing. ''Though it is yet to be determined how he fares after all that.'' He reckoned and messaged the formation masters to be ready for any problem.


    Back in the Spatial ne, Feng Baxing was standing there dumbfounded.


    Well standing was a little incorrect as the man''s legs were bowing due to the weakness filling him. The Shearing Hurricane Fan was also lying on the ground nearby, no immortal Qi fluctuationsing from it.


    Any experienced cultivator could tell that he Peak Grade Immortal Weapon had gone into dormancy for the time being.


    In this state, the weapon wouldn''t even respond to its owner unless it was empowered again.


    ~Thud~


    Feng Baxing''s legs couldn''t take it anymore and he finally fell to his knees.


    "How¡­ how is this¡­ possible?" He had snapped out of his ignorance and knew that he hadn''t defeated Lin Mu.


    If he had, then they would already be out of the Spatial ne.


    "AAHHHHHH! SHOW YOURSELF!" Feng Baxingshed out with the final bits of Qi he had left.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A thin wind de shot from the swing of his hand and cut through the dust cloud, wiping it away.


    ~DENG~


    And a momentter, the sound of something solid being hit was heard. The thin wind de had evidently collided against something hard.


    "Whoa!" The audience gasped in unison as they finally saw previously obscured scene.


    "Is that a ice crystal? And is that Mu Lin inside it?"


    "I don''t think so¡­ some other kind of crystal. But yeah, that''s surely Daoist Mu Lin."


    Millions of pairs of eyes spotted the dauntless figure of Lin Mu that was in the pose of holding up the sky. His eyes were unwavering and determination was clear on his face.


    He hadn''t moved from his position and was encased in a crystalline pir that had faint runes flickering on it.


    "What technique is that even?"


    "Daoist Mu Lin called it Sky Prop?"


    "Is it a body cultivation defensive skill?"


    "Is there a technique like that in the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets?"


    "Nope, this isn''t from that technique. I don''t think this is a body cultivation skill either."


    The people were now wondering just how Lin Mu had done and what skill that was.


    "You don''t think¡­ this is a Dao Skill do you?" someone finally wondered.Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Now that I think of it¡­ Daoist Mu Lin''s Dao Embryo is a earth elemental Dao embryo and his Dao Shell is a defensive shield too. It does make sense if this is his Dao Skill."


    "Yeah, the crystalline structure ismon in some of the Earth elemental skills. It could very well be his personal Dao Skill."


    "That''s a shame. I hoped to be able to learn it some day. A skill that can block an attack from a Peak Grade Immortal weapon while being empowered by a top tier skill¡­ I''d take it any day."


    "Hah! Perhaps you can start that byprehending the Earth Element and then forming a Dao Embryo." Most people knew just how difficult it would be to replicate this.


    ~CRACK~


    While people in the audience were discussing all this, a change happened in the battlefield.


    "Look! It''s breaking!" they all pointed to the crystal pir.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    The pir that Lin Mu was inside finally broke apart into hundreds of runes which then dissipated automatically.


    ~huuuu~


    This freed Lin Mu and allowed him to take a deep breath. His immortal sense immediately spread and assessed the situation. Being inside the pir when Sky Prop activated meant that Lin Mu couldn''t really use his immortal sense.


    "We''re still here, huh¡­" Lin Mu had half expected to be outside the Spatial ne when the skill ran out. "But out of Qi¡­" he noticed Feng Baxing who had a red face.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu leaped and appeared next to the man before extending his hand and taking the token on his waist.


    The man was too tired too move and as such couldn''t even resist.


    "You¡­ You can''t do this¡­" Feng Baxing said as his final struggle.


    "Oh, I can and I have." Lin Mu replied. "You''ve already lost. Even if I don''t do this, you will soon pass out due to Qi exhaustion."


    "You''re the same. Your Immortal Qi is almost gone too." Feng Baxing could tell that from the immortal Qi fluctuationsing from Lin Mu''s body.


    This was true as using Sky Prop from the Immortal Strengthening Scripture did basically use up all of his Immortal Qi.


    "That might be true, but I still have my body." Lin Mu said clenching his fist.


    ~SHATTER~


    The token was broken and the arrays of the spatial ne were finally triggered.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    In the next second, both the contestants were teleported out and found themselves in front of the gawking spectators.


    "Daoist Mu Lin is the winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts!" The announcement was finally dered and was heard all around the Capital City.


    "WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" a cacophony of cries apanied the announcement as the audience cheered with absolute excitement.

 Chapter 1867 Resounding Cheers And Rising Resentment

    Chapter 1867 Resounding Cheers And Rising Resentment


    High Elder Juxue''s announcement sealed the deal for Lin Mu and confirmed him as the winner.


    The uproar was so loud that it spread across the entire capital city an extended for another hundred kilometers beyond it. The news of Lin Mu''s win was also spread to the rest of the Rust Sky World at the same time.


    People used long distancemunication jade slips as well as other methods to spread the news. The organizations that were in charge of keeping tabs on such kinds of information an intelligent also had their people here and quickly learned about it.


    After all, the winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts was a big deal and nearly every power would want to try and recruit them.


    There were only a few people that even knew Lin Mu had a master, as such he was an idea candidate for them to tempt and recruit. The elders of the ns as well as nobles were already wondering which of their daughters or granddaughters would be perfect for Lin Mu.


    It wasn''t them either, as many women and girls wished to court Lin Mu too. To them, he was none other than a golden bachelor.


    Lin Mu stood on the tform and took in the reactions of all the people.


    "So this is what it feels like¡­" Lin Mu had a feeling of satisfaction and aplishment at this time.


    Even if he was tired from the fight, he was still feeling energetic due to the cheers of the people.


    "Brother Mu Lin you did it!"


    "Brother Mu Lin you won!!!"


    Lin Mu''s attention was pulled to hispanions who were shouting from the seating area. They waved there hands and cheered him on further.Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    But the more cheers he got, the worse Feng Baxing felt. He was kneeling on one leg as his weakness was still there. He was quickly absorbing Immortal Qi from the air and ate an immortal Qi restoration pill as well.


    ''Damn you¡­'' Feng Baxing looked at Lin Mu with bloodshot eyes.


    Never had he been humiliated like this and the looks he was getting from the people were not good either. He could see his reputation falling with each pair of eyes that saw him and made him feel very unsettled.


    Dark thoughts bloomed in his mind while his eyes looked around for the Elders and others that were present there.


    Lin Mu''s win was something that was expected by hispanions but not by others. Even if they had seen his abilities and skills, it still seemed unlikely or him to prevail against the opponent who was the literal prince of the empire as well as had the full support of it while cultivating.


    If they thought with the normal way of thinking, it did make sense to trust someone well known against someone that was new, even if they had shown promising results.


    Of course, Lin Mu had proved his worth to several of the people who had thus bet on him and were now rejoicing.


    "There it is¡­ HE WON!" Far away in her private residence, Countess Xiurong jumped up in joy.


    She was happy enough that she''d kiss Lin Mu if he was in front of her.


    "Hahah! I knew the Countess would not be wrong." One of the aristocrats eximed.


    "Sure, and who was the one who only joined in thest bet? You did." Another person mocked.


    "That is called analyzing your chances of winning and betting at the right time." The first aristocrat retorted.


    Countess Xiurongughed and didn''t mind their words. The joy of winning a great fortune was more than enough for her to let go a lot of things.


    But their celebration abruptly came to a stop when one of the Aristocrats pointed at the formation screen.


    "Heavens! The third prince!" The aristocrats shouted in shock.


    Countess Xiurong looked at the scene and her eyes went wide.


    A few second ago, Feng Baxing had finally made up his mind and decided to take a drastic step. Ha had restored some of his Immortal Qi and would be able to act a bit freely now.


    He stood up and no longer kneeler, but his eyes were trained onto Lin Mu. Then without making a noise, he took out a circr jade talisman.


    The talisman had the character for ''Feng'' carved into it and looked rather profound. The people who knew about it would be stunned if they saw the Third Prince take it out.


    "Mu Lin, DIE!" Feng Baxing raised the talisman to the sky and crushed it.


    ~CRACK~


    The talisman released a blinding light upon being broken and an immense pressure descended upon the area. The formation arrays protecting the area creaked, while the formation masters stumbled from the impact.


    Even High Elder Juxue was taken aback and took a moment to figure out just what had happened.


    "What is he doing?" Lin Mu felt goosebumps on his entire body and felt a great danger.


    He didn''t know what talisman Feng Baxing had just crushed but knew that it was targeting him.


    ~BOOM~


    The sky darked within a moment and an illusory figure appeared. The illusory figure was dressed in regal clothes and was nearly three hundred meters tall.


    The figure became clear and the appearance of an imposing man was seen. The man was wearing a crown on his head and held a scepter in his hand.


    "FENG BAXING YOU DARE TO ACT!" High Elder Juxue roared in anger seeing the sheer audacity of the prince. "Do you know the consequences of using the Imperial Might Talisman?!"


    "NO MATTER WHAT, MU LIN SHALL DIE TODAY!" Feng Baxing was blinded by his anger though and did not care for anything else by now.


    ~GONG~


    The giant illusory figure raised the scepter in his hand and mmed it down towards Lin Mu.


    The very air churned as as the giant illusory scepter fell towards Lin Mu. His body felt like it was locked in ce due to the pressure, and he was unable to move at all.

 Chapter 1868 Threat On All Sides

    Chapter 1868 Threat On All Sides


    The iing attack made rm bells ring in Lin Mu''s mind at that moment. The hair on his entire body stood up and an immense dread filled him.


    "The man has gone insane. I need to dodge this!" Lin Mu was fully ready to use his Spatial Skills now.


    Even if he couldn''t move his body due to the power of the illusory scepter, Lin Mu felt like his ring''s skill were still active. He could either use Blink to move away, use Phase to sink own or simply use Fade to move to the other dimension.


    Of course, with Blink there was a chance he could get caught up in the wide impact while Phase might still end up getting him injured, as the ground was bound to copse.


    ''Seems like Fade it is.'' Lin Mu picked


    But just as he was about to use it, a figure appeared in the sky.


    "Stop this!" High Elder Juxue jumped in and retaliated. "Sky Rake w!" the man shouted.


    Raising his hand, he wed towards the iing scepter and a giant illusory w made from wind immortal Qi also formed.


    ~CLANG~


    High Elder Juxue''s Wind w collided against the illusory scepter and made it pause.


    ~KACHA~


    Unfortunately, just a secondter the Sky Rake w showed signs of breaking and fragmented.


    ''Even I won''t be able to mount a defense against the Imperial Might Talisman at such a short notice.'' High Elder Juxue knew.


    The Imperial Might Talisman was something only the Emperors of the Dao Wind Empire knew how to make. It was a skill that was passed down as inheritance and was meant as a means of protection of one''s offspring.


    The Imperial Might Talisman was rather straightforward.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    A single such talisman would contain a full powered attack from the Emperor. And since the Feng Dao Emperor was a Transcendent Immortal, it also meant that the attack was equally as strong.


    The Imperial Might Talisman was not easy to make though and the Feng Dao Emperor could only make one such talisman every couple of years. Each of his children had one such Talisman which was meant to be their final gambit.


    With the power of a Transcendent Immortal, there was little they wouldn''t be able to oppose. It was an important piece of defense that the princes and princesses carried since it kept them safe from other Transcendent powers that might want to kill them or kidnap them.


    Doing that would be very difficult with this, as they could use this as a one hit kill attack for 99.99% of experts here.


    Of course, the activation of the Talisman also alerted the Emperor and would cause him to rush over.


    Though it was yet to be known how he would take this. Due to the current events, the man was busy and would still take a few minutes to reach the Tournament Grounds.


    It made sense as to why even High Elder Juxue who was one of the top experts of the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts would find it difficult to block it. He might be able to dy it, but even that needed preparation which the old man had no luxury to do so.


    Feng Baxing had used it sneakily and had directly overwhelmed the arrays of the Tournament Grounds. Even the arrays wouldn''t be able to take a full powered attack from a Transcendent Immortal after all.


    Perhaps the power of the Guardian beasts would stop it, but even that would need some time to react.


    "HAAH!" High Elder Juxue struggled against the attack, and gave it his all to halt the attack. "Mu Lin, get away!" he shouted only to realize that the Scepter had probably frozen him in ce.


    ''Dammit! Feng Baxing, you''ve tainted the Imperial Family by doing this. Forget the temple, the Emperor himself won''t let you off.'' High Elder Juxue thought.


    He could have shouted it out, but the look in Feng Baxing''s face showed that the man was far too deep in hate. But after a few more moments, things felt unusual for the old man.


    High Elder Juxue even wondered if there was something more wrong with the Third Prince, as he shouldn''t have acted like this normally.


    ''Could it be¡­ No the interference should have been detected by us if that was true¡­'' High Elder Juxue hoped that his thoughts were incorrect.


    ~SHATTER~


    Unfortunately he couldn''t think any longer, as the Sky Rake w finally shattered.


    ~WOOSH~


    The old man was knocked away from the bacsh and tried to gain control. His eyes and immortal sense were locked onto Lin Mu as regret appeared on his face.


    ''Mu Lin won''t be able to survive this¡ª'' High Elder thought as he saw the Sceptering closer and closer.


    In all this chaos though, the High Elder as well as literally everyone else had missed a few more things that were happening.


    Above therge figure, the clouds had reappeared. The clouds were rapidly moving and had taken on a spiral form. If one looked closely they would realize that the clouds had actually turned into the shape of a massive coiled snake that was two kilometer in size!


    For the audience it was hard to spot as the giant figure was blocking the sky. But if they saw it they would be stunned as there weren''t just Dao Traces, but Dao Insights present in the clouds!


    Still, this was nothingpared to what was happening on the world barrier of the Rust Sky World.


    Massive Spatial Disturbances could be felt and tens of Spatial Tears were appearing by the second. The space behind the Spatial Tears was pitch ck, but if one looked at it from the right angle, they would see a golden yellow glow shining within it.


    All the top experts in the Rust Sky World stood up at that moment and looked up at the deep sky, feeling the Spatial disturbances.


    ''What in the name of ancestors¡­ the Barrier of the Rust Sky world will break at this rate!'' All the Top immortals of the Rust Sky world thought.

 Chapter 1869 Top Experts Suppressed

    Chapter 1869 Top Experts Suppressed


    With the kind of impact these events had, there was no way the top experts and ruling powers of the Rust Sky World would be able to rest easy.


    The Three emperor''s as well as other hidden experts all flew out, rushing to the world barrier.


    The Dao Wind Emperor was the same and had ignored the Imperial Might Talismans''s alert for this. After all,pared to a prince, he was feeling a potential world ending threat approaching


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Several resounding Sonic Booms were heard as all the experts rushed to arrive at the edge of the world. Reaching this height in the world was not an easy task, but for Transcendent Immortals it was still easy.


    After all, this was the reason why there had not been an open war between the 3 empires for such a long time. If someone tried to secretly cause chaos in the other''snd, the Emperor of thatnd could very easily rush into the other empire an enact revenge.


    It was the same as nations having Nuclear weapons keeping each other in check.


    "Old Feng!" The Huiqing Emperor called out to the man.


    "Any clues on your end?" Emperor Feng questioned right away, his expression serious.


    "I have no idea. The spatial disturbance was felt all the way in my empire too. The sky above mine is cracking as well, but the signs are the strongest here." Huiqing Emperor replied.N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    Hearing that, Emperor Feng''s expression darkened as a few ideas appeared in his mind. Being an emperor for such a long time meant that he had seen enough things in his lifetime and had experienced many schemes.


    It didn''t take much for him to figure out why they were the strongest above his empire.


    ''If it is the Tournament then¡­'' It was at this moment that Emperor Feng''s eyes went wide. "THE IMPERIAL MIGHT TALISMAN!" the thing he had ignored just a few seconds ago was definitely linked to it.


    "What?!" The Huiqing Emperor heard it and looked in the direction of the Tournament Grounds.


    There he could feel an energy that belonged to the Dao Wind Emperor. Linking that with the previous words, he realized it as well.


    "Which one of your kids used it?!" Huiqing Emperor asked.


    "Who else do you think would do that? Its the Third kid." A new voice spoke.


    The man who had spoken was dressed in white and yellow royal robes and had a white gemstone stuck to the middle of his forehead. If one looked closely they would realize that the gemstone was none other than a Topaz.


    This was the Emperor of the Holy Topaz Dynasty!


    "Wasn''t the tournament just dered over? Why would he used the Imperial Might Talisman?" Huiqing Emperor was confused.


    "Humph! It isn''t just people of mynd that are questionable it seems. Emperor Feng''s third son has definitely done something drastic." The Holy Topaz Emperor had a hint of joy in his voice.


    This only made Emperor Feng feel worse, but he reeled in his emotions. He knew this was not the time to fight and was something that could threaten the entire world!


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Barely 10 seconds had passed since the 3 emperors had met when the other experts also arrived. Almost all of them seemed to be old and some even looked to be nearing the end of their lives.


    The old elders saw the three emperors and knew the situation was bad. No one wanted to be the first one to speak, with the fear of disturbing them. But that was only until one of them spotted something.


    "Great Ancestors above! What is that?!" one of the old elders felt his entire body shiver and his knees weaken.


    He pointed in the sky at a spatial tear that had expended to a size of 4 meters.


    The three emperors along with the other elders couldn''t help but look in that direction and saw it.


    Ten golden yellow eyes glowed in the pitch darkness of the void.


    The eyes were beautiful and yet held contempt and fury within them. The eyes had certainly spotted the people looking at them and let off a faint wave of energy.


    ~SHUA~


    When this faint wave of energy left the Spatial Tear, it directly twisted the spatial fabric!


    "Ugh!" the three emperors along with the old elders were squeezed into a single spot.


    What was shocking to them was that they couldn''t resist at all!


    No matter how much power the three emperors used, the space wouldn''t budge.


    "What power is this?" Huiqing Emperor couldn''t even use his immortal sense.


    "Its a Spatial Bind¡­" Feng Emperor recognized. "The space around has shrunk and wrapped the area. There is no ce for us to move in the first ce." The man knew just how dangerous this was.


    It was not his first time encountering something like this as he had explored many worlds before and had fought against spatial cultivators too.


    But for someone to restrain him when he was a Transcendent immortal was different.


    And when they restrained not just him but two more Transcendent Immortals along with several more seventh Tribtion Stage experts only meant one thing.


    "A Celestial¡­" the Holy Topaz Emperor realized as well.


    "Not just any celestial¡­ this is way beyond that." Emperor Feng had met some Celestials before and knew that while they might be strong, they weren''t able to cause the very world to warp like this.


    The emperor of the Dao Wind Empire looked down at hisnd and wondered just what kind of misfortune had his offspring brought upon themselves.


    He could no longer tell what was happening there as dense clouds had shrouded the entire area.


    "Wait a second¡­ those clouds." It was now that something struck Huiqing Emperor.


    "What is it?" Emperor Feng asked.


    "Do you remember that strange power we felt a while back. Uncle was unable to figure it out, when his tamed beast was scared away. You said they were using Wind Dao Insights and perhaps even Cloud Dao Insights." Huiqing Emperor replied. "Don''t you find those clouds strange?" he questioned.

 Chapter 1870 Swallowed

    Chapter 1870 Swallowed


    Emperor Feng was unable to use his Immortal sense, but that didn''t mean he had no other means. He directly activated the Dao Embryo within his Dantian and let it sense the Wind Dao.


    "This¡­ this is also at the Celestial level!" Emperor Feng could sense Dao Insights that would overwhelm even his own Dao Embryo below.


    In fact they were so strong that his activated Dao Embryo was getting suppressed. As for the Cloud Dao, he wasn''t versed in them, but could somewhat tell the presence of another Dao along with the Wind Dao below.


    Seeing the movement of the clouds made it easy for him to confirm that there were Cloud Dao Insights there too.


    ''There is no way someone would be able to mobilize the clouds at that level without Cloud Dao Insights. Especially without using the true powers of a Celestial.'' Emperor Feng knew.


    The Rust Sky world would react if there was a celestial that had tried to enter it. The world would prevent them from intruding and the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts would protect the world as well.


    But none of that had happened. Which meant that the Celestial level powers weren''t even being used. Just mere Dao Insights were able to bring forth such an effect.


    "Will I just have to wait and watch like this?" Emperor Feng had never felt this helpless before.


    As the top experts of the world despaired high in the sky, an entirely different set of events had transpired just a few seconds before the emperors had been bound.


    In the tournament grounds, just as the giant illusory figure was about to m the Scepter on Lin Mu, it paused.


    "BAXING!" The pressure of a Seventh Tribtion Stage immortal apanied a shout.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Sky Split Spear!" in the next moment, a giant spear formed in front of the illusory scepter.


    The spear was azure green in color and looked to be almost crystalline. Lin Mu who saw it could tell that it was actually made from highly condensed Wind elemental Immortal Qi.


    But that wasn''t all that he recognized. Lin Mu also heard the name of the technique.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts? Storm King as in the Celestial Shirong?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.


    This was none other than the same creator as that of the Bending Will Fists which allowed one to learn how to control winds without having an affinity to the element.


    Bending Will Fists was more of an adaptive technique for Lin Mu, as he had learned it to further his understanding of the Wind Element for the future. As such, the technique was very low in terms of power whenpared to the other techniques the Storm King had made.


    The one that was being used right now seemed to be very strong¡­pletely on a different level than the Bending Will Fists.


    This made Lin Mu wonder, just who was it that could use it. And sure enough, a momentter, he finally saw the person behind it.


    "Crown Prince?!" Lin Mu saw the man who looked to be casual most of the time exuding an entirely different kind of demeanor.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun had his right hand extend straight while his index and middle fingers pointed up. If one looked from behind, they would see that that crystalline wind spear and his fingers actually aligned perfect.


    ~CLANG~


    The wind spear hit the illusory scepter and actually managed to stop it in ce!


    Though at the same time a harsh screeching sound was heard as the two strong attacks collided.


    ~WOOLONGONG~


    Crushing pressure spread from the impact, forcing the members in the audience to retreat and defend using their own skills. Thankfully, Yao Changying''s actions in the previous round had made them wary of things like this.


    If not, there was a chance they would have been caught in the conflict and gotten hurt. After all, the formations of the tournament ground had been broken by the Illusory Figure of the Imperial Might Talisman.


    "Its useless brother, even with your strength and talent that shrouded me, you can''t stop the Imperial Might Talisman!" Feng Baxing said with a littleugh.


    "Baxing, do you know the implications of what you''re doing?" The Crown Prince retorted while trying to push back the illusory Scepter but he knew that his brother was right. ''I can''t stop an attack from father like this for long. Mu Lin needs to get away fast.'' He thought and looked towards the man in question.


    Feng Shun knew the workings of the Imperial Might Talisman and how strong it was. In fact, he had used one before in his life. It was a drastic situation when he was on an expedition in an uncharted world and had faced a great beast.


    It was also the time when he was much weaker than he was right now. As such, with his life hanging by a single thread, he didn''t hesitate to use the Talisman and unleashed the might of his father.


    That was the first time he got to experience the full power of his father.This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    Being a prince, he hadn''t experience the full power of his father before as there was no such avenue for it. For a Transcendent Immortal, using their full power came with great implications and could impact the entire area around them as well as the people.


    The Imperial Might Talisman''s effect was actually a bit reduced due to the fact that it had to first overpower the formations of the tournament ground, and then the attack from High Elder Juxue.


    Perhaps if not for the formations, there was a high chance half of the audience here would have died from it too.


    ~HISS~


    But as Feng Shun acknowledged the power of the talisman, he saw something unbelievable. A shrill hiss was heard that made him quake in his boots while a colossal figure of a serpent made from clouds dived from the sky!


    It opened its cavernous mouth and directly swallowed the oh-so-powerful illusory figure of the Emperor!

 Chapter 1871 A Crushing End

    Chapter 1871 A Crushing End


    The figure of the giant serpent was something Feng Shun had never expected.


    Forget him, all the people that were watching this were unable to grasp this.


    It was literally the clouds spitting apart to show there power.And when they finally did, a pressure that was unseen ever before that was felt. It shook not only just the people watching it at the tournament but also the people who were appreciating the battle far way in the city or even beyond it.


    The gaping mouth of the serpent was massive and easily fit a mountain inside it. Even therge illusory figure of the Emperor was small against it and was easily swallowed.


    "What in the name of holy ancestors¡­" The elders watching the scene were left speechless.


    Even High Elder Juxue who knew exactly how strong the Imperial Might Talisman was left astounded at the sight. He had barely recovered from the initial collision and had just gotten up when he saw it all.


    "The power of a Transcendent wiped out¡­ just like that." High Elder Juxue muttered.


    Feng Shun was also trying to figure out how something like this would be possible. Meanwhile Feng Baxing was already on his knees, having lost his footing from the shocking scene.


    "This¡­ This¡­" Feng Baxing couldn''t even muster any words properly and was left a jittering mess.


    But what they didn''t realize yet was the fact that giant cloud serpent was not done yet. It didn''t disappear after having swallowed the illusory figure.


    Instead it hovered in the sky and red down at Feng Baxing.


    The mere look of the colossal cloud serpent was enough to make Feng Baxing''s heart almost stop. It was now that the great pressure focused on him, and made him m onto the ground face first.


    ~THUD~


    ~Crack~


    The pain from his broken nose didn''t even have chance to register before Feng Baxing felt an even greater pain. His lungs felt like they were burning and it made him gasp.


    "HAAH¡ª" Feng Baxing tried to breath but it only made things worse


    Every breath he took was frilled with agony and made him feel like what he was breathing wasn''t air but fire.


    His diaphragm felt like it had turned into lead and his chest felt like it was being weighed down by boulder.


    ''What is¡­ how can this¡­'' Being put in internal agony made the man unable to say anything physically.


    And while Feng Baxing writhed in pain on the ground, other people were also starting to find it hard to breath. Each breath they took left them gasping for more.


    It was as if the very air itself had be thin and was getting thinner by every second. Only Lin Mu could breath normally and had an inkling of what was happening.


    It was almost unbelievable to everyone since they weren''t exactly mortals. As cultivators they didn''t have a regr need to breath. Even if they were kept in an airless room, they would still be able to survive for a while.


    ''That Cloud Serpent and the air¡­ this is the Saintess'' work no doubt.'' Lin Mu knew there was no one that could evene close to doing something like this in the Rust Sky World.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t know that beyond the sky there was another ''fight'' happening.


    "AAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHH!" All of a sudden a blood curdling cry was heard pulling Lin Mu''s attention.


    The cry hade from none other than Feng Baxing of course. No one knew how he had managed to get enough air to let out cry like that, but it was certainly bad enough to make one flinch just from hearing it.


    ~st~


    ~st~


    ~st~


    And a momentter, Feng Baxing''s body spontaneously started to pop, blood bursting out from him. The veins on his arms exploded causing blood to stter everywhere while bulges started to appear on his body.


    ~st~


    Each of the bulges would swell up before popping due to being unable to expand anymore.


    It was unknown how an immortal was getting injured like that. But the people who were a bit more knowledgeable would realize that Feng Baxing was injured a lot worse than it looked.


    ''His meridians have all exploded¡­'' High Elder Juxue and Feng Shun thought.


    It was terrifying to see someone undergo something like this and made everyone shake in their boots. It didn''t take much for them to realize the one causing all this was none other than the colossal Cloud Serpent in the sky.


    There was no other exnation for it other than this.


    Feng Baxing''s suffering didn''tst long though, as the man''s mind couldn''t take it. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he lost consciousness.


    No one knew what was the extent of Feng Baxing''s injuries and no one dared to check it either. After all, the colossal cloud serpent was still watching them.


    ~HISS~


    Then, with a terror inducing hiss as ast warning, the Cloud Serpent dissipated. It turned into normal clouds which then just flowed away.


    Absolute silence was left in the area as no one dared to utter a peep.


    They were still too shocked and traumatized from it all and needed to process it.


    ''Looks like the Saintess was watching every move and acted just in time.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    ~sigh~


    Letting out a tired sigh, Lin Mu walked up to the Crown Prince, who had just managed to gather his wits.


    "I didn''t expect this to happen." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Neither did I¡­" Feng Shun said gazing at theatose figure of his brother.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    While Feng Shun had intended to teach Feng Baxing a lesson by getting him defeated by Lin Mu, he would have never thought it would reach such a drastic situation.


    "Restrain him and take him away." High Elder Juxue finally ordered, causing a few people from the temple to check up on Feng Baxing.


    ~gasps~


    "All his meridians are obliterated and his Dantian has burst apart!" The people who had checked on Feng Baxing said in shock.

 Chapter 1872 Absolute Suppression

    Chapter 1872 Absolute Suppression


    Even if Feng Baxing had done crimes against the Temple of the Four Guardians as well as the Empire, his punishment wouldn''t have been the crippling of his cultivation.


    At the very least, it wouldn''t be done immediately.


    Regardless of his actions, he was still a prince of the Dao Wind Empire and they needed to follow the rules and regtions. The only person who was qualified to punish him without consequences would be his father, the Emperor himself.


    As much as Feng Shun and High Elder Juxue would have wanted to do the same, they knew to hold back. Plus there were still lifesaving treasure and a ward on him that would protect him from fatal harm like that.


    But much to their surprise, they were simply useless.


    Whatever the colossal cloud serpent had done was bypassing all defenses and restrictions.


    "Give him Qi freezing pill and a Vital overflow pill!" High Elder Juxue ordered, knowing that the situation was grave.


    Even if Feng Baxing were to be sentenced to deathter, it couldn''t be right now. He would first have to be judged by the temple and the emperor.


    It wasn''t just because of the rules either. Instead, it was to learn more about Feng Baxing''s condition and the choices he had made.


    Having been part of the Temple of the Four Guardians for so long as well as having experienced several worlds and people, High Elder Juxue knew there was something wrong¡ª Something that they were missing.


    The High Elder was highly suspicious of the way that Feng Baxing had behaved. Even if the chances were low, he simply couldn''t let the man die this easily.


    ''If there is someone else behind this¡­ they would have yed the Empires and the Temple¡­ the Rust Sky world''s powers will be a joke in the Immortal Court.'' High Elder Juxue hadn''t forgotten the interference of the other powers as well as diviners that they had suspected.


    If there was even a fraction of a percent''s chance that they might have been involved in this, it had to be investigated.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    The healers quickly got to work and fed Feng Baxing two pills before trying to manually stabilize his Qi. With his meridians destroyed they would have to personally control the flow of Qi.


    Another issue they had was that with his cultivation base being effectively crippled, there was a high chance his body would start to deteriorate. As such they needed to maintain a certain amount of Qi in the man''s body.


    While they did all this, a certain thought appeared in the mind of Feng Shun.


    "Why has¡­ Father not arrived yet?" Feng Shun said out loud. ''Even if he didn''te when the Imperial Might Talisman was activated, he should have stille with the appearance of the colossal cloud snake¡­'' he thought.


    It was simply impossible that the Emperor wouldn''t react to something this severe in the capital. Feng Shun and High Elder Juxue didn''t know who could do something like this in the Rust Sky world, but they knew for sure the person who had done that was not an immortal.


    ''No Immortal¡­ even a Transcendent would be able to do this. It is the work of a Celestial¡­ and since they only acted when Mu Lin was about to be killed it seems like they are backing him up." High Elder Juxue thought, which was very close to the reality.


    ''Was that Mu Lin''s master who did that?'' Feng Shun knew a bit more about Lin Mu and that he had a master behind him.


    Seeing this now made him aware of just how strong of a backing that was.


    Unfortunately, what he didn''t know was the fact that the master hadn''t even acted out against Feng Baxing. It was someone else entirely. And the reason why the Emperor hadn''t appeared yet was because he had been restrained high above the Rust Sky world!


    Even if the man wanted to, he simply couldn''t move. He along with the other top experts of the Rust Sky World, were being squeezed helplessly like worms.


    "Ugh! Let us go!" One of the elders that was in the group shouted in a mix of fear and anger.


    He had never been treated like this as he was the ancestor of an old n that had existed for tens of thousands of years.


    Hearing his shout though, the three emperors knew just what kind of mistake he had made.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    In the next moment, the old elder who had spoken up felt his chest copse inward. Blood tried to burst out but was pulled back into his chest with a great force.


    ~POP!~


    But that was merely the start as the rest of his body also started to shrink into his chest. His arms turned inward and were sucked into his torso, before the same happened with his legs.


    The old ancestor''s head was thest to go, leaving him to watch all that happened to him in horror.


    ~poof~


    Then in the next second, his entire body disappeared into a tiny hole that had appeared in the space he was in before.


    The emperors and all other immortal experts looked at the small ck dot in horror, only a few understanding what had happened. They tried to lean away from it as much as possible even in the small confined space. They all knew evening close to it meant absolute death.


    "S-spatial¡­ Spatial Erasure¡­" The Holy Topaz Emperor muttered in shock having recognized the terrifying spatial skill that only a few were capable of using. ''Peak Celestial? No¡­ more¡­''


    "HUMPH!" After that a prideful and utterly domineering harrumph was heard, that made all the experts cough out blood.


    ~COUGH~COUGH~COUGH~


    The top experts of the Rust Sky World felt their Qi flow backwards while their hearts shook with pain.


    ~shua~


    But perhaps it was their fortune that this seemed to be thest punishment. Their bodies became free again and the small ck dot also disappeared.


    Therge Spatial Tear in which the ten golden yellow eyes could be seen also closed up, leaving only a few small ones open. But even those were starting to slowly close, the Rust Sky World attempting to repair the Spatial Fabric.


    "We¡­ We''re free again?"


    "It let us go!?"


    They almost couldn''t believe they had survived this. Though the relief was momentary for them as Emperor Feng had more concerning things to worry about.


    "The Capital!" Emperor Feng said before flying down.


    The Holy Topaz Emperor and the Huiqing Emperor looked at each other for a moment before following behind. The other top experts though were a lot more hesitant and only a few decided to go check.


    The rest of them were far too terrified and wanted nothing more to return to their homes and dive deep into the ground to recover. They had received far too much of a shock, and the trauma would besting.


    It wouldn''t be surprising if they also developed heart demons from this encounter.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    A short whileter, just when Feng Baxing was being treated, the Emperors arrived.


    "Father!" Feng Shun felt his father''s presence and called out.


    The Emperor didn''t say anything though and instead took a deep look at the scene. Feng Shun and High Elder Juxue couldn''t help but notice the state of the emperor.


    Not only were his robes in a disarray, a trail of blood was also dripping from the corner of his mouth. Not to mention, the man''s usually imposing royal aura was also gone.


    "Father¡­ what happened¡­" Feng Shun couldn''t believe the state his father was in.


    But this was only until he heard the shouts of others.


    "That''s the Huiqing Emperor!"


    "And the Holy Topaz Emperor!"


    "There''s even the Ancestor of the Twin River n!"


    The people in the audience recognized the big shots of the Rust Sky World.


    "But wait¡­ why are they all looking unwell?"


    "Unwell? They look injured too." The peoplemented, finding it hard to believe.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    But regardless of what they thought, the reality was already set.


    Normally the emperors wouldn''t have toleratedments like this, but right now they couldn''t even pay attention to that. All of them were actually sensing the traces of energies that had been left behind along with the Dao Traces and Dao Insights that could still be felt.


    "It really is that¡­ but why is it still different?" Emperor Feng immediately realized that the being that had restrained them and the one who had done the damage here were different.


    "We''re dealing with not one¡­ but two Celestials?" Huiqing Emperor''s expression darkened.


    "Why would they even interfere here?" The Holy Topaz Emperor wascking information about Mu Lin and was not able to tell.


    "Why you ask? Do you not see that kid still standing?" The Huiqing emperor pointed with his eyes.


    The Holy Topaz Emperor noticed Lin Mu who was standing there with a rtively calm expression. As if all that had happened didn''t faze him at all.

 Chapter 1873 Threatening Empires, And Threatening World

    Chapter 1873 Threatening Empires, And Threatening World


    For someone of Lin Mu''s cultivation base, a situation like this should have been enough to knock himself out.


    Even if it wasn''t from fear, just the sheer pressure of Qi and energies here would have resulted in the same.


    As such, it didn''t make sense why he was still standing. This was also enough for Holy Topaz Emperor to figure out that Lin Mu was the one being targeted by Feng Baxing and had survived all this without a single hair missing.


    ''For a Celestial to interfere despite thews of the Immortal Court¡­ just how valuable is he for such a favor?'' The Holy Topaz Emperor wondered, having no idea that not only was Lin Mu behind Feng Baxing''s current condition, but that he had also killed his eleventh son too!


    Of course, even if he found out about it there was no way he would dare to act. Especially not until he figured out more about the situation and learned just what kind of power s were at y.


    He had not be an Emperor by being impulsive. He knew when and how to pick his battles as well as when to keep his cool.


    Knowing that there was no other way to proceed than to get a sense of all that had happened first.


    "High Elder, give me the Recording slip." Emperor Feng ordered.


    High Elder Juxue looked at the formation masters andmunicated with them with a jade slip.


    ~shua~N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    "Here it is, Emperor." One of the formation masters approached with a white jade slip in his hand.


    It was carved with fine runes on one side and the motif of the Temple on the other side.


    "Let me take a look first." Emperor Feng said before holding the White Jade Slip.


    With his proficiency, Emperor Feng merely took five seconds to scan through all that had happened. He now knew everything right from the start of the final battle, all the way to when Feng Baxing had been rendered crippled.


    The Emperor Feng uneasy that one of his heirs had been crippled like this. Normally the punishment for something like this would be severe, but it still had toe from him.


    ''What Feng Baxing did is already enough to warrant great punishment from the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts¡­ but this does not warrant his cultivation being crippled like this.'' Emperor Feng thought. ''For a celestial to interfere in an Immortal world, there has to be consequences.''


    "Foolish man." As if all thoughts of the Emperor were bare to look at, an authoritative voice was heard.


    "Who¡ª?" Emperor Feng couldn''t understand who would have the gall to insult him like that.


    "The one who crippled your offspring." The voice replied.


    "What?" This time it wasn''t just Emperor Feng that heard it but other top experts did too.


    The voice was too ambiguous and one could not tell whether it belonged to a man or a woman. They couldn''t even tell how the unknown celestial wasmunicating with them either.


    "They''re talking to Emperor Feng?" High Elder Juxue had heard it too and was astounded.


    He couldn''t help but look at his nephew who looked to be perplexed.


    "I''ll say this once, dismiss all that happened here and denounce your son. If you do, your world might have some easier days." The voice said in a clear tone of threat.


    "You¡­ even if you are a Celestial you cannot simply interfere in the workings of a lower world than your cultivation. Interfering like this in an Immortal world will bring sanctions from the Immortal court." Emperor Feng knew that he was talking to a Celestial, but still managed to muster some courage.


    Perhaps it was due to the fact that he could tell this celestial was not as strong as the one that had restrained them. It wasn''t hard to tell, as mastery over space was not easy and was very rare. Especially of that level.


    The Celestial that was talking to him was someone that was versed in the Wind Dao, the Cloud Dao as well as the Air Dao.


    At least that is what the Emperor was able to figure out. Since he himself was a Wind Dao expert, there was no way he would miss out on that.


    "Yeah, what you''ve done is against the rules of the Immortal Court!" The Holy Topaz Emperor joined in as well. "Crippling a junior like that is cruel."


    Only the Huiqing Emperor and the High Elder were silent.


    The high elder particrly had different thoughts in his mind, and held his tongue.


    "Hah! You think what I did was cruel? Then you all are foolish!" the Voice roared back. "Don''t think I don''t know how you all got squeezed like pesky bugs earlier." It taunted.


    This made the Emperors go silent, unable to muster word in resistance.


    "What I did¡­ was mercy." The voice stated much to their surprise.


    "Mercy!?" The Three Emperors couldn''t understand the thinking of the unknown celestial.


    "Yes¡­ mercy. Do you think your offspring would be fine if I did not stop him?" The Voice questioned.


    "Stopping him would be fine¡­ erasing the Imperial Might Talisman was fine too. But crippling him is¡­" Emperor Feng was suddenly interrupted.


    "Hah! Do not think I don''t know the thinking of cretins like you or your offspring. You are far too young to talk to me about how the Jianghu works!" The voice scolded. "I''ll rify it for you¡­ instead of your son being crippled, would you rather have your dynasties erased? Or rather¡­ this world shattered?"


    The words stunned all the experts leaving their minds boggled.


    "What you''ve said is sphemy against the Temple of the Four Guardians. Even if you are a Celestial, the Temple is above you. The threats of destroying a world with an established temple if not just a simple crime. Not to mention, the ''higher courts'' will not take it lightly either." This time the High Elder was forced to speak.


    He would have stayed silent if not for the fact that the unknown voice was talking against the ts of the Temple. If he didn''t talk here, he would be considered a traitor to the temple.


    "Young child, you are the most rational among them. Perhaps you''ve seen more of the universe, but don''t forget that there are always mountains above mountains, oceans beyond seas." The voice spoke in a mysterious tone, putting the High Elder in deep thought.


    "But since you tried to protect ''him'' I''ll give you some advice." This aroused the High Elder''s interest. "Even if the Celestial temple were to be informed, they would hold back once they learned just what kind of sin the offspring of this emperor had done.


    If they were to know who he tried to harm¡­ who that person is ''valued'' by, they themselves would enact punishment upon you all." It exined.


    Hearing that the emperors didn''t know whether to believe it or not. They don''t know how the temples would go against their own words and rules. They were very strict on that after all.


    "You don''t have to believe me. The spirits of the Four Guardians are awake. Just have a talk with them and see how it goes." The voice stated before switching its attention to Emperor Feng. "As for you, it is in the best interest of you and your empires to keep silent on this matter. If you disturb the ones above, it won''t end well."


    The Voice left the Emperors and top experts in silence. They had to process a lot and would have to figure out the next course of action.


    "As for how you all will handle this. I believe even with your few millenniums of experience, it should still be easy to handle matters and hide things." The voice said before adding. "As for the winning child. Don''t think about him and don''t interfere in his matters. Let the juniors interact without the threat of seniors. Otherwise¡­ you all should know better by now, the Golden Eyes do not give second chances." It gave its final words and faded away.


    ~huu~


    All the top experts couldn''t help but take deep breaths. The implications of it all were too much for them to understand at once. But they all knew, at the crux of it all was Lin Mu.


    The briefly nced at Lin Mu and felt a prickling feeling on the backs of their necks. This forced them to look away and reminded them of the final words.


    "We need to silence this ce first." Emperor Feng said before waving his hand.


    The winds swirled around the tournament grounds and silenced all things.


    "High Elder Juxue¡­ Take the winner for his reward. His work here is done." Emperor Feng stated without looking at Lin Mu.


    "Father, Mu Lin¡ª" the Crown Prince tried to say something but was stopped by his father.


    "You apany him too. I believe you two are acquaintances. Don''t speak a word about what happened here." The Emperor ordered looking deeply into the prince''s eyes.

 Chapter 1874 Heading To The Temple

    Chapter 1874 Heading To The Temple


    Throughout the exchange that was happening between the unknown voice and the top experts, Lin Mu didn''t utter a word.


    He had trust in the Saintess and knew that it was her doing this. The reactions of the experts had given Lin Mu enough clues to understand that they were being ''instructed'' about certain things.


    Lin Mu knew better than to speak now and knew that the effect would be better if he just kept silent and went along with the n.


    Internally though he couldn''t help but find it a bit funny.


    ''All these immortals¡­ even Transcendants and they still can''t do anything against the Saintess.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And sure enough, a few minutester the Emperor of the Dao Wind Empire simply asked for him to be given his reward.


    Lin Mu went along High Elder Juxue while apanied by the Crown Prince.


    ''Interesting¡­'' Lin Mu didn''t know what Saintess had told the emperors but it seemed like no one was going to be questioning him for it. ''It makes things simple for me anyways.'' He thought.


    ~shua~


    A small opening appeared in the wind barrier for them to pass through and they quickly exited it. As for what were to happen inside, Lin Mu didn''t have to care much about it.


    Though he still contacted hispanions using themunication Jade Slip.


    "Are you guys fine?" Lin Mu questioned Lu Xu and the others.


    "We''re fine. We''ve already left the seating area when they were checking on the Third Prince." Lu Xu answered.


    "Hmm, that''s good." Lin Mu was relieved as he hadn''t seen them when he was leaving after all.


    "How about you? What happened there?" Lu Xu asked.


    "A lot happened, but you don''t need to worry about it. It''s handled." Lin Mu assured them.


    "I see¡­ oh and Luo Liqin has also gone to the betting Pavilion. I believe they''ll be doing the final tally for the winnings soon." Lu Xu informed.


    "That works." Lin Mu replied. "You all should return to the Crown Prince''s mansion for now. I''ll meet you thereter after getting the reward from the Temple." He instructed.


    "Very well. Good luck!" Lu Xu said before putting away the jade slip.


    The trio left the tournament grounds and went towards a specific direction. Lin Mu saw that it wasn''t where the Victor''s Pavilion was located.


    "Are we not going to the Victor''s Pavilion?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Normally we would have, but you have bigger reward to take. As such, we''ll be heading to the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts directly." High Elder Juxue answered.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    He could notice the Crown Prince ncing at him from time to time, but never attempting to speak. No one knew what was going through the Crown Prince''s mind right now.


    Getting to the Temple was not easy and the path was a bit long as such the High Elder did something that Lin Mu hadn''t expected.


    "We''ll fly from here." High Elder Juxue spoke. "With me you have the permission to do so." He said before pointing at Lin Mu.


    ~SHUA~


    A crest formed from Qi appeared in front of his finger and touched Lin Mu''s body. It disappeared after that, but Lin Mu could feel its effects instantly.


    It was as a restraint was lifted off his body and he could fly again.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    ~WHOOSH~


    "Keep up," High Elder Juxue said flying up.


    "Yes," Lin Mu said before flying up too.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun followed along too as he already had the permission to fly in the Capital City anyways. Since they were no longer restricted to walking on the ground, the three covered arge distance in just a few minutes.


    Soon enough, Lin Mu could see the gigantic Temple in the distance.


    It looked like it was made out of several materials such as Solid rock, Tempered Steel, Tough wood, and more. It had several sides to it and wasposed of multiple buildings as well.


    The most eye catching thing though were the statues of the Four Guardian beasts that stood on the top of the building.


    They were all made from solid rock and were carved into a lifelike figure.


    Looking at them, Lin Mu could feel a certain pressure too.


    ''It''s almost as if they are looking at me too.'' Lin Mu thought as he checked out the formations of the temple.


    They were allplex and had hundred of arraysyering on top of each other. Lin Mu could tell that these were several times moreplex than the Spatial nes arrays from earlier.


    The security here was very high, and if one didn''t have permission they would have been eliminated long before they even stepped an inch into the temple.


    Not just that, but Lin Mu could also tell that the concentration of both Spirit Qi and Immortal Qi was high here.


    ''Even Dao Traces can be easily felt¡­ at least for the four elements that the Guardians belong to.'' Lin Mu observed it all.


    While he was observing everything High Elder Juxue spoke.


    "We''re here," High Elder Juxue descended in front of the Central building.


    This was the most regal looking building and also had the four statues on top of it.


    There were several members of the temple walking around and carrying out their duties. Most of them tough were acting as guards and were rather powerful too.


    Though Lin Mu could also see a few temple members simply sitting around cultivating in silence or pondering on the smaller status and murals that were present everywhere.


    Some were even lying down on the ground directly, as if they were sleeping. But if one looked closer they would realize that they were in a state ofprehension too.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu did a light assessment of everyone''s cultivation base and found out that most of the Temple members were at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm at the minimum and Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm at the highest.


    ''There should be stronger ones too, but they''re probably hidden.'' Lin Mu thought as High Elder Juxue was one of the stronger ones already.


    The ones with a greater cultivation base should be in better positions of authority after all.


    "Greetings High Elder," The two temple guards cupped their hands and bowed to the old man.


    "I''ve brought in the Winner of the Tournament for the reward." High Elder Juxue stated.


    "You may go in." The guards said before therge gate behind them opened automatically.


    The gate was about ten meters tall and when it opened, it looked impressive. Lin Mu could sense the faint movement of runes on them as well as the Qi that was being channeled by the main array.


    ''Its all interconnected at a better level than I''ve ever seen.'' Lin Mu was impressed. ''It wouldn''t be bad to just stay here and observe the arrays for a while either.'' He thought to himself.


    It was a reward he could ask for, but he had other priorities.


    Not anyone would be allowed to stay in the Temple due to the rules. After all, it was a greatnd for cultivation and would allow one to progress at a very fast rate due to the high concentration of Qi here.


    "Come," High Elder Juxue spoke. "Feel free to look around, the Temple has a long history and can allow one to gain a lot just by observing." It was as if the old man had understood Lin Mu''s thoughts.


    "I can see that. Just the arrays themselves are impable and could be studied for years on end I say." Lin Mu replied.


    "That''s not all." High Elder Juxue shook his head. "Do you see the murals all around the temple?" he asked.


    "Of course. They are hard to miss with how many there are." Lin Mu replied.


    "The murals are not simple either. There are certain murals that contain hidden techniques and skills within them. Some even help one improve the understanding of Dao and can bring one to the state of enlightenment.


    "Hmmm, the benefits of being in the Temple are certainly impressive." Lin Mu spoke, showing a bit of interest.


    "If you wish, you can have them too." The Old man tempted. "And it''ll be on top of your reward. The Temple of the Four Guardians won''t mind adding someone as talented as you to our ranks." He offered.


    "I''ll have to think about it." Lin Mu didn''t answer right away.


    "Very well, you do have quite a lot of time." High Elder Juxue said before looking at the Crown Prince. "And if you have any questions, you can always ask the Crown Prince. He has spent some time cultivating here too." He added.


    "I''ll do my best to guide you." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied right away.


    "You two can wait here." The High Elder saiding to a stop in front of a long corridor.

 Chapter 1875 Meeting The Guardians

    Chapter 1875 Meeting The Guardians


    High Elder Juxue had left Lin Mu behind and entered a long dark corridor.


    Unlike the other areas of the Temple, this was not illuminated and only shadows could be found here. And yet, a certain power filled it which only grew stronger the further one went in.


    At the same time, the density of the power increased making it hard for one to move.


    ~ripple~


    The air visible rippled as one passed through it. Only the High Elder who was at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm could walk to the end without being stopped.


    And when he came out at the end, he passed through a thin barrier that looked like it could burst like a bubble.


    The barrier bulged ording to High Elder Juxue''s form and left a coating on him before retracting.


    The man now stood in a pitch ck area, its size simply unknown. Even the use of Immortal Sense was not possible here with the sheer amount of energy coursing through the air.


    Most people would find it impossible to breathe here, and even the High Elder had to make use of his Qi to function here.


    ~Thud~ Thud~N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    The old man came to a stop and knelt down before kowtowing.


    "High Elder Juxue requests and audience from the great guardians." The old man said in a low voice.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And yet, his voice echoed through the entire area.


    ~hummm~


    The flicker of energies was heard before four lights appeared in the distance.


    "Go, return." The red light spoke.


    High Elder Juxue was confused upon hearing this.


    "We already know what you are here for." The yellow light spoke.


    The old man be surprised.


    "That ''Celestial'' was correct." The blue light spoke.


    High Elder Juxue shivered unconsciously.


    "Send in the child, we''ll speak to him ourselves." The green light stated.


    "I''ll do as the guardiansmand." High Elder Juxue replied, heeding their voices.


    ~shua~


    The four lights disappeared and darkness returned in the area.


    High Elder stood up after that and quickly turned around. He swiftly returned to the start of the corridor where he had left Lin Mu and the Crown Prince.


    There, Lin Mu and Crown Prince were still waiting but were doing different things.


    Lin Mu seemed to be pondering on the murals on the walls while the Crown Prince stood silently and watched him. He still couldn''t bring himself to say anything since he was processing it all. Plus he didn''t know what was the right thing to say.


    ~step~step~step~


    It was then that the Crown Prince heard footsteps.


    ''Huh, he''s back?'' Crown Prince Feng Shun was surprised to see the High Elder. ''If he went to that corridor, it should be the central guardian hall¡­ but once someone goes there they usually take a lot more toe back.


    And if High Elder Juxue went there, it was likely to discuss the matter from earlier¡­ but now he''s back not even five minutester.'' The Crown Prince was a bit familiar with the workings of the Temple and had not expected this.


    To the Crown Prince, it should have taken the High Elder at least half an hour before he woulde back.


    ''Was he rejected or something?'' The Crown Prince wondered if something as outrageous as that would be possible.


    Lin Mu too turned around upon hearing the footsteps and knew that the elder had returned.


    "Is everything fine?" Lin Mu asked, sensing a hint of uncertainty on the High Elder''s face.


    "Yes. You can now go in." High Elder Juxue replied.


    "What''s there though?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "If you pass through the corridor, you''ll reach the great guardian hall. The path is dark but you just have to walk straight. You''ll know when you arrive.


    Once you''re there, you''ll be able to talk to the guardians." High Elder Juxue answered.


    "So I finally get to talk to the four guardians¡­" Lin Mu spoke as a smile appeared on his face.


    The excitement was apparent on his face.


    "As for the reward, you can directly get it from the guardians. As per our previous agreement, you can get two rewards instead of just one." High Elder Juxue informed.


    "That''s perfect." Lin Mu said before he entered the dark corridor.


    He couldn''t wait to reach and get his rewards.


    Lin Mu had given up his earlier low quality win rewards in exchange for something much bigger. Now instead of getting one major reward for the final winner, he would be able to get two of them.


    Such a thing was shocking and if others were to find out, they might just scream out about unfairness.


    High Elder Juxue and Crown Prince Feng Shun watched as Lin Mu''s back as he disappeared in the darkness.


    "High Elder¡­ why did you return so early?" The Crown Prince finally asked the question that had been bugging him all this time.


    ~sigh~


    The High Elder let out a sigh in repose and took a pause.


    "All that happened outside¡­ at the tournament grounds¡­ the guardians were watching it all¡­ listening to it all." High Elder Juxue finally spoke. "There was never a need for me to talk to them in the first ce." He added much to the Crown Prince''s surprise.


    Both of them stayed silent after that, pondering on the implications of it all.


    Lin Mu on the other hand, was in wonder of what the corridor was.


    "This ce¡­ the saturation of immortal Qi here is¡­ astonishing." Lin Mu said seeing the very air bing viscous. "But at the same time, none of it can be absorbed. It is locked here." He understood after trying it.


    Lin Mu hadn''t seen a ce like this before and was interested in it. He tried to use his immortal sense to check more things, but was unable to even release it from his body.


    ''It even limits my Immortal sense through the sheer mass of Immortal Qi.'' Lin Mu was surprised once more.


    He wondered just how a ce like this could be built. One thing he knew was that the amount of Immortal Qi needed to make a corridor like this would be crazy high.


    Lin Mu estimated that it would take at least five to six Peak Grade immortal stone veins to generate this much Immortal Qi and keep it packed.


    Lin Mu himself had unearthed a couple of immortal stone mines and knew just how dense they could be.


    ''Normally speaking, the immortal Qi should have turned liquid at this point. But it is still gaseous¡­ though dense to the point of preventing any one else immortal Qi from intruding.'' Lin Mu analyzed it.


    But that wasn''t all, as Lin Mu continued to walk through it he could feel himself getting hindered.


    "Is this a trial of some kind too?" Lin Mu wondered.


    But just as the resistance was about to reach a point where it would take him twice the effort to walk, it disappeared.


    ~shua~


    "Huh?" Lin Mu felt a change in the atmosphere. "The pressure is gone?" he was confused.


    The density of the immortal Qi was still the same, but there was no longer any resistance for him.


    ''Perhaps they are just inviting me in freely then.'' He reckoned and sped up.


    In just a minute, Lin Mu reached the end of the corridor and reached the bubble thin barrier.


    The barrier lightly glowed and let Lin Mu inside, coating him in a thinyer just like it had done with High Elder Juxue.


    "A protective ward?" Lin Mu instantly recognized what thatyer was. "But why?" he couldn''t understand.


    "It''s so that others don''t get harmed from our presences." Suddenly Lin Mu heard a voiceing from the dark hall.


    He turned his attention to it immediately and saw a light appearing.


    The light was tiny, almost the size of a spec of dust.


    ~SHUA~


    But then a momentter, it grew to the size of a bonfire!


    Lin Mu squinted his eyes but did not look away.


    "This¡­" A vast and mystical hall was revealed to him at that moment.


    It seemed to have no walls and only had pirs dotting it. The pirs went in four rows in four directions and their end could not be seen. It was as if there were an infinite number of them.


    The pirs themselves were in, but if one looked at them deeply they would be able to sense the power of Dao within them.


    ''Is this an illusory ne or reality?'' Lin Mu couldn''t differentiate.


    His confusion only got greater as the floor started to move on its own. Lin Mu found himself being brought forward and quickly reached the center of the hall where four statues stood.


    Unlike the massive statues on top of the temple, these were much more humble and looked rather weathered.


    And yet, they exuded profundities that could not be grasped.


    ~HONG~


    Then in the next moment, the four statues glowed in Red, Blue, Green and Yellow lights before illusory figures formed above them.

 Chapter 1876 Talk With The Guardians

    Chapter 1876 Talk With The Guardians


    Lin Mu watched as the four lights transformed into the guardian beasts.


    The Red Light Transformed into the Vermilion Bird, the Blue Light transformed into the ck Tortoise, the Green Light transformed into the Azure Dragon and the Yellow light transformed into the White Tiger.


    ''The colors merely represent the element they belong to rather than themselves.'' Lin Mu understood seeing it.


    The Vermilion Bird was massive and had two vibrant wings with a long and sharp beak. Looking into its eyes would make one shudder and feel the heat of a thousand furnaces within them.


    The ck Tortoise was like a mountain and had a snake''s body growing from its body as its tail. It had thick legs that were more like the heavenly pirs that held up the sky while its shell was like the crust of the earth.


    The Azure Dragon had a mix of azure, blue, and green scales that shone in different lights when it reflected off it. It had a bushy beard along with two long white whiskers that swayed in the air. It also had two dark brown horns that had three branches on them.


    Then there was the White Tiger which had ws that looked like they could rip apart thend, the seas and the skies. Its muscr body felt like it could leap into the heavens with one kick while its sharp fangs could crush the life of all foes. Its eyes also made one feel like they were being stabbed by hundreds of des.


    Such were the Four Guardian Beasts that had reigned as deities from times immemorial. They had provided protection to many races and also taught them in exchange for their devotion and faith.


    Looking at them, Lin Mu too felt awe and the power that exuded from them was also empowering. This was surprising since most strong beings would actually feel oppressive and overwhelming unlike this.


    "Wait¡­ the words earlier meant this?" It finally clicked to Lin Mu.


    "You understood quickly. That ward is indeed to protect the immortals thate here. Even for Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortals, our presence can be overwhelming and they can get Qi deviation simply by being in front of us." The Vermilion bird spoke.


    "I understand, senior." Lin Mu cupped his hands.


    "Tell us your name, winner." The White Tiger asked.


    "I am Mu Lin." Lin Mu answered.


    "So Mu Lin it is." The Vermilion Bird said before looking at the Azure Dragon.


    "Tell us what you want as a reward." The Azure Dragon stated.


    "You can get two rewards from us, whether they be techniques, skills, resources, weapons or something else." The ck Tortoise chimed in.


    Lin Mu had already thought over it all and was prepared with his requests.


    "The first thing that I want from the guardians, or more particrly Guardian ck Tortoise is a defensive technique." Lin Mu stated.


    "A defensive technique huh¡­ my specialty." The ck Tortoise looked at Lin Mu deeply, making the man feel as if he could nce at all his secrets.


    Lin Mu did feel a sense sweep over him and enter his body with ease. It onlysted a moment though and disappeared in the next.


    "Looks like you have already been practicing quite a few defensive techniques already." The ck Tortoise spoke, slight surprise in his voice.


    "Has he now?" The White Tiger asked. "I can certainly sense the metal element from him. His affinity to my element is very high. In fact¡­ he feels like a hill of gold walking around." The beast sniffed lightly.


    "You''re right, he sure does have a high amount of gold in him." The ck Tortoise agreed. "An awfully high amount." He said before taking a look at Lin Mu.


    "So tell us, child, just how did you consume this much gold? We need to know more so we can suggest you the best option." The White Tiger asked.


    "Alright." Lin Mu knew there was no need to hide much from these guardians beasts.


    He reckoned even the True Gold Body Forging Arts might not be much for them.


    "I found this technique a long time ago and used it as a body cultivation technique." Lin Mu took out the metal te on which the technique was imprinted.


    "Refine the gold, Refine the body, Quench the flesh, Coat the bones; Be Imprable!" The White Tiger read the mnemonic before furrowing its brows. "You practiced this insane and iplete thing and seeded?" the beast looked a mix of confused and surprised.


    "I¡­ did yeah." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Its defense is good enough that itsted me till the False Immortal Stage. And even after that, it works inbination with my body cultivation."


    ~sigh~


    The ck Tortoise didn''t know if Lin Mu was unaware of the kind of technique he had practiced or the fact that he had seeded in taking that risk.


    "Do you recognize this?" the ck Tortoise spoke to the White Tiger.


    "It''s not exact, but I can surely see the simrities. This was made by those mad monks wasn''t it?" The White Tiger replied.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu raised his brows. This was the first time he was getting an insight into this. So far, he didn''t have any true background on who or what power had truly created it.


    "Do you know who made this?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a hint of excitement.


    "Somewhat." The White Tiger replied. "This was possibly made by the descendants of those that were exiled from the Golden Vajra Sect. They were a body cultivation sect that took in people from both Buddhist as well as immortal factions.


    They were obsessed with making an imprable body and practiced various techniques to reach the pinnacle." It revealed.


    "The Golden Vajra Sect¡­ so the ones who made these weren''t even official party of them?" Lin Mu asked.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    "Yes. The Golden Vajra sect had a bout of conflict, which split it apart into many fractions. Most turned into minor sects, while those with the original mentality were deemed insane and exiled into distant worlds." The White Tiger exined. "In short, it is not only an iplete technique, it is also defective."


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu felt a bit disappointed, but he also knew this was not the end.


    After all, he was here to find solutions.


    "But this isn''t the only defensive technique you practice, do you?" The Vermilion Bird, which had been silent for a bit, asked.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I did practice another technique¡­ and earth based body cultivation technique back when I was still in the mortal realm. It was the Mortal Strengthening Scripture."


    "The Mortal Strengthening Scripture?" The ck Tortoise seemed surprised. "I''ve seen others who''ve practiced it, but you don''t have any traces of it on you. Even if you''ve dispelled it entirely, it should still have some traces left over."


    "That might be due to the fact that the technique¡­ Upgraded." Lin Mu answered. "It became the Immortal Strengthening Scripture when I reached the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm." He exined.


    "That technique you used to endure the Great Hurricane Falcon¡­ so it was that." The Azure Dragon said with interest in its eyes. "It surely is a strong defensive technique for it to withstand the power of almost a seventh Tribtion Stage immortal''s attack." The beast was impressed.


    "Hmmm¡­ Considering you have these, in addition to your own body cultivation I think I have a suitable option for you." The ck Tortoise said after thinking for a bit.


    "What is it Senior? Is it one of your signature techniques?" Lin Mu asked, feeling eager.


    He had heard just how strong the techniques of the ck Tortoise were, after all.


    "Not exactly. They don''t belong to me, but it does belong to an offshoot of my n¡­ and the Azure Dragon n." The ck Tortoise stated.


    "What?!" Lin Mu was stunned. He hadn''t expected that it would be linked to not one, but two Guardian beasts.


    "Yes¡­ it is a technique that belongs to the Dragon Turtle!" The ck Tortoise revealed.


    "Dragon Turtle¡­" Lin Mu had read about them and knew that they too were great beasts that existed in many worlds.


    They were very strong and had equally strong defensive power too. But this was the first time Lin Mu heard confirmation that the Dragon Turtle was acutely rted to both the Azure Dragon and ck Tortoise ns.


    "What is the technique, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It is called as the Longgui Bulwark Armor!" The ck Tortoise revealed.


    Hearing the name, Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel impressed.


    "The technique is based on the three elements of the Dragon Turtle; Metal, Earth as well as fire. Since you clearly have affinities to all three and practice defensive techniques of two, this is the best suited technique for you." The ck Tortoise stated.


    Lin Mu felt awed by this and couldn''t wait to get his hands on it.

 Chapter 1877 Longgui Bulwark Armor

    Chapter 1877 Longgui Bulwark Armor


    The four guardians could see the look of desire on Lin Mu''s face and knew that he was eager for the technique.


    "So then, do you want this technique?" The ck Tortoise asked for confirmation.


    "Yes! I''d like to take it as a reward!" Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Very well, I shall transfer the technique to you directly." The ck Tortoise replied.


    "Directly? There is a manual for it?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "No¡­ Not all techniques have manuals. Especially for techniques like this which need the direct impartation of a beast. Without that, you would never be able to learn it at all. This is also why people year for the techniques from the temple.


    There are some techniques that only we can impart to others other than our signature techniques." The ck Tortoise exined.


    "I understand." Lin Mu said before nodding.


    "Let''s begin then. Close your eyes." The ck Tortoise instructed. "It might be difficult and painful, but hold on." He added.


    Lin Mu did as was told and felt the strong presence wrap around him again. But this time it directly entered his head, and he soon felt a surge of information.


    ~shua~


    The surge of information was massive and held many mnemonics as well as knowledge that Lin Mu didn''t have. The Longgui Bulwark Armor was a technique that needed a lot of conceptual information as well as other knowledge that one might not think was directly rted.


    One didn''t just need the mnemonics to learn the technique, they also needed to know what a Dragon Turtle was first.


    And Lin Mu was learning exactly this.


    Memories swirled in his mind as he started to see things.


    A massive figure also started to form in his mind.


    It was asrge as a mountain and had four giant legs. Each of the legs had five dragon ws and looked incredibly sharp. They could crush and stomp on hills if they wanted while splitting the earth at the same time.


    A giant shell was also on its back that looked like it was made from a Dragon''s back te. Each of the scales on the shell belonged to a dragon rather than a turtle and had an iridescent sheen.


    One could also see mystical runes and patterns shining on the scales as they continued to shine. If one observed the runes and patterns, they might be able to nce at the mysteries of the Dao!


    From the back of the shell, a thick and flesh tail could be seen. It was sinuous and could split the earth if it whipped on it.


    Then there was finally the head of the beast.


    The neck was just like that of a turtle, but the head belonged to a Dragon instead!


    Two straight horns grew from the top of its head that extended backward. They were impressive and would strike fear into all the other beasts that watched it.


    Its slit pupil eyes contained wisdom and knowledge that was hard to fathom while its sharp Dragonic fangs contained regal power that could bring the world to its knees.


    The beast was a perfectbination of knowledge, offense, and defense.


    ''So this is a Dragon Turtle¡­'' Lin Mu knew he was seeing the true appearance of a Dragon Turtle, as had been witnessed by the guardian.


    It was certainly different from the ck Tortoise. The only thing simr between them was their size, which was massive. Their shells and elements differed.


    The shell of the ck Tortoise had tough tortoise scales instead of the Dragon like scales of the Dragon Turtle. Then there was the Snake tail that the ck Tortoise had, which the Dragon Turtle didn''t. Their heads were also different, with ck Tortoise having the head of a tortoise.


    Another major difference was the elements.


    The ck Tortoise belonged to the water element, while the Dragon Turtle had three elements!


    Lin Mu watched as Earth rose around the Dragon Turtle''s massive figure and Metal Qi swirled around it.


    ~HUUUUUUUUUUU~


    The Dragon Turtle breathed and mes gushed out from its mouth that could scorch everything.


    ~BOOM~


    Then in the next moment, the earth beneath it exploded andva spread out.


    ~GURAAAAAAAAAA~


    The Dragon Turtle let out a roar asva filled the area. Soon, the area had turned into a sea ofva in which the Dragon Turtle swam freely. Theva was thick and contained molten earth and metal. The beast dived into theva and swallowedrge mouthfuls.


    Each gulp filled its body with power as the three elemental Qis nourished its body.


    Theva was its fuel formed from the three elements, as well as the source of its power.


    Seeing this, Lin Mu started to grasp.


    "Consume the three to Strengthen!"


    The first concept appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    ~GURAAAAAAAAA~


    The Dragon Turtle roared again and theva coalesced around its body. It cooled down instantly and turned into a dense armor. The armor was ck in color and had an unknown mixture of earth and metal in it. The fire element was gone from it though.


    "Take out the fire to be impervious!"


    Lin Mu heard the second concept in his mind.


    Next the Dragon Turtle''s eyes gleamed and rage appeared within them.


    It raised its w as cracks appeared in the armor around its body. The armor on its leg cracked too and Magma spewed out!


    But the magma didn''t just spill, instead, it flowed along its ws, which it thenshed out with.


    ~SIZZLE~


    The temperature of the area rose instantly as arge Magma w grew from the beast. The Magma w tore though everything in its path, melting away all obstacles.


    "Add the fire to unleash your fury!" The third concept finally appeared.


    Having done this, the massive figure of the Dragon Turtle gazed at Lin Mu. The two''s eyes met and Lin Mu felt a strange feeling of understanding.


    While he wasprehending all this, the Four Guardians were watching him in the hall.


    "He''s taking this much better than I thought." The Vermilion bird spoke.


    "Yeah¡­ a little too good. Has he done this before?" The White Tiger wondered.


    "I do not think he''s received anything else from any other Temple of the Four Guardians, but he surely has been imparted skills like this before." The ck Tortoise spoke.


    Hearing that, the other three became silent.


    "That only means¡­ he''s received personal guidance from ''that being''." The Azure Dragon stated.


    The four guardians recalled the appearance of the spatial tears above the Rust Sky worlds as well as the Golden eyes that red from within.


    It wasn''t that the guardians hadn''t responded to the interference of Celestials. It was just that they couldn''t!


    The reason?


    They were terrified!


    Terrified enough to be frozen in horror!


    "I would have never thought I would ever get to witness the ''being'' in my life¡­" The Vermillion bird said in a tone that was a mix of fear and respect.


    "Emperor Feng was a fool to have raised his son this way. That worthless child''s one mistake would have cost not just our lives but the entire world''s!" The White Tiger scoffed.This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "What''s done is done¡­ At least the Emperors backed down in time. If they insisted on saying that the Immortal Court and we would interfere in this, it would only get worse." The ck Tortoise spoke.


    "The Rust Sky world is in a crucial stage of being upgraded to a Celestial world. The Transition between the realms is not stable and the void is very unstable during this.


    It would be simply insanity to go against that being¡­ forget the objection from the Celestial court¡­ that ''being'' doesn''t even need to attack the Rust Sky world to destroy it.


    The ''being'' merely needs to withdraw its ''support'' and the world would start to crumble on its own. The void would consume the Rust Sky world entirely¡­" The Azure Dragon stated feeling a state of relief and disdain for the emperors.


    "I think even the Celestial Court would ignore the disappearance of the Rust Sky world if they were to find out someone tried to offend that ''being''. They would rather wash their hands off the matter than question the Pir." The Vermillion Bird muttered.


    ~Sigh~


    "To think our awakening this time would be so stressful." The White Tiger shook its head. "Though at least we got to meet him¡­ Someone that is favored by that ''being''¡­ has that ever happened before?" it asked.


    "I do not think we have the qualification to even know that. Whether there has been someone like that or not, all we need to do is to act ording to the modicum. Ignore the rest and only consider Mu Lin as the winner of the tournament." The Vermillion Bird replied.


    "That''s is true¡­ Even the Cloud Serpent that appeared¡­ I do not think we would have been able to contend against that Celestial. Especially considering they were acting on behalf of that ''being.''" The Azure Dragon agreed.

 Chapter 1878 Gobsmacked Guardians

    Chapter 1878 Gobsmacked Guardians


    The four guardian beasts wondered just how close to danger they were earlier.


    "We are lucky it was the other celestial acting instead of the great ''being''. Otherwise we''d all be dead right now." The ck Tortoise stated with a hint of fear in its voice.


    "Indeed¡­ I''ve only heard rumors about the powers of that ''being'' but even a slight movement is apparently enough to shred worlds." The Vermilion bird chimed in.


    "Hmmm¡­ what is that being at? We know for sure they are not a Celestial." The White Tiger asked curiously.


    "That is not for us to know." The Azure Dragon replied. "Or rather¡­ do you wish to bear the burden of knowing that?" he asked.


    <nulli>~gulp~


    The White Tiger swallowed its saliva knowing it had touched on something really sensitive. "Of course not."


    "It is best that the others think it was two celestials interfering and not one celestial and one¡­" The Vermillion bird stopped talking there.


    "Yes." The other three agreed.


    "How''s the progressing with the child?" The Azure Dragon questioned to change the topic.


    "Surprisingly well¡­ he''s taking it in with ease¡­ and he''s not affected by the pain either. At this pace, I think he''ll be done in just an hour." The ck Tortoise replied.


    "One hour!?" The White Tiger was astonished. "An Immortal at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm can do that?" N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    "Don''t forget he also has his body cultivation." The Vermillion bird added.


    "Even with that¡­ one would need a very strong mentality to do that¡­ Even Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortals would take at least half a day to do the same." The White Tiger was surprised.


    "It is indeed quite surprising." The ck Tortoise was astonished too. "But for him to do this, his mentality must be very strong. I think even thirty millennium-old immortals would be hard-pressed to possess something like this." It said.


    "For a child his age¡­ wait, what''s his age again?" The White Tiger asked not knowing it.


    "His age?" The ck Tortoise frowned. "I don''t know either."


    "Let me check." The Azure Dragon spoke and closed its eyes.


    When it opened them again, they glowed in a pleasant green light and gazed at Lin Mu. The Azure Dragon''s eyes seemed like they could look past all illusions when they gazed at Lin Mu.


    The guardian beast directly nced at the vitality within Lin Mu''s body and was surprised once again.


    "He has astonishingly high vitality¡­ even with his body cultivation it''s a bit too high¡­ no wait¡ª He''s using two Immortal body cultivation techniques!" The Azure Dragon said in surprise.


    Before when Lin Mu had talked about multiple body cultivation techniques, they had thought that he used one from the immortal realm and the others from the mortal realm. They didn''t expect that he was actually using two immortal body cultivation techniques inbination.


    "Which one is it other than the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets?" The White Tiger asked with curiosity.


    "The Three Apertures Invoking Technique." The Azure Dragon replied.


    "No wonder¡­" The Vermillion Bird muttered. "That''s how he was using the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets so freely. He has arge storage of it."


    "But what about his age?" The White Tiger asked the distracted dragon again.


    "Hang on, let me see deeper." The Azure Dragon said and nced further in Lin Mu''s body.


    From the vitality in Lin Mu''s flesh, the Azure Dragon directly went to the bones. It was there where the secret of Lin Mu''s age was hidden.


    The Azure Dragon''s eyes became frozen when he saw that.


    "What is his age?" The Vermillion Bird was curious too now.


    "Twenty seven."


    "Twenty Seven thousand years? Isn''t that too much?" The White Tiger spoke. "He''d be too old to be alive."


    "No. Not twenty seven thousand." The Azure Dragon denied.


    "Wait¡­ you don''t mean Twenty Seven hundred years?" The White Tiger was astonished too now. "If he could reach this level at twenty seven thousand years¡­ he''s certainly a major genius."


    "He never said that." The ck Tortoise interrupted. "Let him finish. It''s not Twenty seven hundred years either, is it?" the guardian beast seemed to have an inkling of knowledge about it already.


    "Yes¡­ it is Twenty Seven¡­ just Twenty seven." The Azure Dragon stated as a matter of fact.


    "What in the name of heavens¡­" The Vermillion bird was gobsmacked.


    "That cannot be¡­ it takes a hundred years just to reach the Dao Shell realm at maximum even with all resources. You''re saying¡­ You''re saying he''s not even a hundred years old?" The White Tiger would have never expected the ''child'' in front of them to be that young of a child.


    "Yes¡­ he is¡­ possibly the youngest one in the world¡­ no¡­ possible the entire Immortal Court to have reached this far at his age." The Azure Dragon was having a hard time processing this.


    "Even if he had endless resources to progress, how did his body even handle it¡­ just the Qi alone is easy enough to gather butprehending the Dao? He even has two Dao Embryos! And one of them is a Formation Dao Embryo which is even harder toprehend.


    Then he has his body cultivation which is even tougher to progress. If webined that with the rest of his skills¡­ it bes impossible." The White Tiger found it iprehensible.


    "That might be so for our standards¡­" The ck Tortoise stated. "But don''t forget who he is backed by. Our standards are utterly trashpared to the great beings. If it is that¡­ then it should be expected." He added.


    Pin drop silence was heard in the Guardian hall as they all came to terms with the reality.


    For thirty minutes, no one spoke and they all thought what to make of it.


    "I¡­ Want to give my bloodline essence to him." The White Tiger said as the first thing after the silence.


    "I wish to do the same¡­ but it won''t be possible." The ck Tortoise spilled water. "Look," he said and sent a tiny wisp of energy into Lin Mu.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    In the next moment, a strong pressure exuded from Lin Mu''s body and a fuming aura spewed out of his body. The aura gathered and formed arge bear above his head.


    <nulli>~ROAR~


    Much to the guardian''s surprise, there was actually a beast that dared to roar at them. Even if it was just a bloodline figure, it would still have its original instincts. As such, the normal course of action would be for them to simply cower in front of the Guardian Beasts.


    There would be some beasts like the Tyrant Bull that would act of course, but they were far and few in between.


    Not to mention, Lin Mu didn''t have the bloodline of the Tyrant Bull. He had learned the body cultivation technique that showed some simrities, but that did not mean he also had the same bloodline figure.


    "That bear¡­ how is this possible¡­ he dared to assimte a Great Slumber Bear''s bloodline!?" The White Tiger showed a mix of shock and concern on his face.


    "He certainly did. And seeded in living¡­" The Vermilion bird said, feeling shocked too.


    "The child has gained control over the Great Slumber Bear''s innate abilities. He has ovee the ws that other cultivators faced. I do not know how¡­ but whatever it is, the great being might have a hand in it." The Azure Dragon said after observing Lin Mu.


    <nulli>~Sigh~


    "Should we even be shocked at this point." The ck Tortoise stated. "For a great being to back someone, perhaps this is the kind of talent they need."


    "Besides, even if we were to offer all our bloodline essences to him, I doubt it would be the best thing for him." The Azure Dragon spoke. "He seems to be taking a path unknown to us¡­ it is best we do not interfere in it." He advised.


    "That''s correct." The ck Tortoise was in agreement. "Besides, I don''t think our bloodlines would be worthy of him."


    "The Bloodlines of the Four Guardian beasts won''t be enough?" The White Tiger found it a bit incredulous.


    "Indeed. Don''t forget, while our ns might have authority, we are still not the strongest ones. There are still many stronger bloodlines that can contend with us or even exceed us." The Vermillion Bird reminded. "The Phoenix ns¡­ the Kunpeng ns¡­" The Guardian spoke of the bird beast ns.


    "The Golden Dragon n¡­ The Jade Dragon n" The Azure Dragon added.


    "And the Great Ao Turtle n." The ck Tortoise chimed in as well. "There are others that can triumph over the White Tiger n too."


    The White Tiger understood that this was certainly not something they could do now.


    "Then what else can we do? We simply cannot let go of such a good seedling¡­ he can easily rule the Immortal Court one day. Forget that. He''ll exceed that too, eventually!" The White Tiger didn''t want to give up a rare opportunity like this.


    "You think his achievements will be limited to something like the Immortal and Celestial Court?" The ck Tortoise asked. "No¡­ he''ll exceed all our minds!"

 Chapter 1879 Litany Of The Verdant Forests

    Chapter 1879 Litany Of The Verdant Forests


    While the Four Guardian beasts marveled at Lin Mu, the man in question was stillprehending the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    He had understood the concepts thatposed the technique and felt like he would be able to use them once he was outside.


    Soon enough, Lin Mu opened his eyes and nced at the four guardians who were standing there calmly.


    "You''ve done well." The ck Tortoise spoke.


    "It''s all due to the guidance provided by you." Lin Mu replied calmly.


    The guardian beasts couldn''t help but feel like Lin Mu was even better than they thought.


    ''Talented sure¡­ but talented while being humble, now that is as rare as a phoenix''s feather.'' The Vermillion bird thought to itself.


    From what the guardians beasts had seen, most geniuses and talented cultivators became arrogant and drunk on their power. As such they would be difficult to deal with and often cause problems due to it. Someone like Lin Mu who could keep a calm temper was certainly umon to them.


    "Now then, since you''ve gotten your first reward what is it that you want as your second reward?" The Azure Dragon questioned.


    "The second reward that I wish to ask for is also defensive in nature." Lin Mu answered.


    "Also defensive?" The ck Tortoise was surprised until Lin Mu finished his words.


    "I want a technique that can help defend my mind and perhaps my soul too." Lin Mu requested before exining his reasoning to help make the guardians understand better. "In my battle against Dugu Shanhe, I realized I amcking in the mental and soul defenses. If I encounter someone that uses the Six Faiths Mystic eye art or other techniques like that, I''d be in a dangerous situation again."


    Hearing that, the Guardian beasts became silent.


    "Hmm¡­ the Six Faiths Mystic Eye Art huh¡­ didn''t think I would hear it about it again. That Dugu Shanhe sure was an enigma." The White Tiger spoke having known about the technique.


    "Your mentality is actually quite strongpared to most immortals. But yes you are right, you will have a hard time defending against skills like the Six Faiths Mystic Eye Art which are simply too aggressive and special.


    You''ll need something better to defend against it." The Vermilion Bird stated.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I know where my weaknesses lie."


    "Its is good to know where onecks¡­ and now you shall ovee that too." The Azure Dragon suddenly spoke. "I shall teach you a technique myself."


    Lin Mu''s eyes lit up, hearing that the Azure Dragon wished to take the lead this time. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "May I know what the technique is?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I''ll rify this first. The technique I''m about to teach is something that is actually not from my n or any of the Guardian beast ns." The Azure Dragon replied.


    "It''s not?" Lin Mu felt confused but wished to know more.


    "No, it is a technique that has existed for a long time. It is said that it was created by a Soul Cultivator around the time when the Immortal Court was first established. But what was special was that it wasn''t made by a Human." The Azure Dragon exined.


    "Not a human? Then a demon? Or a beast?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "None of those¡­ it was actually created by a Tree Spirit!" The Azure Dragon revealed.


    "A Tree Spirit? Like a tree that gained sentience and turned into a cultivator?" Lin Mu had read about them in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal.


    He also had a few Sentient nts of his own in the Sleepscape and as such was familiar with them. A tree spirit was simr to them, but it took a highly different path than what the Wood Spirit Tulip, or the Violet Mystic Life Tree and the Purple Sickle Amaranth were on.


    A Tree Spirit would fully transform into a humanoid form upon cultivating to a high enough stage. They would still have the characteristics of nts of course, but they would be able to live as a human and have the same abilities as humans too.


    They were rare and could have some very unique skills.


    These Tree Spirits were innately talented in Alchemy and Herbology and as such were highly valued by sects and many powers.


    Lin Mu had read about a Tree Spirit that was born from a Million year old Parrot Bamboo Fruit.


    Every breath that the Tree Spirit took could make immortal herbs grow in seconds and give birth to fruits and more nts. It could enrich a ce with wood Qi simply by staying there and turning it into a sanctuary for all wood elemental cultivators.


    Recalling all this though, Lin Mu felt a bit perplexed as to how the technique would work since the Tree Spirits were specialized in a different field.


    The Azure Dragon seemed to have sensed this and exined it further.


    "I know it might seem contradictory, but the Tree Spirits are actually really good at the workings of soul. This is due to the fact that they have to go through a lot to transform themselves from a nt into a humanoid.Their true souls transform as well, which makes them experts at it.


    Of course, they don''t take on the Soul Cultivation part, as they aren''t actually good at the offensive part for this. But for defenses, they are amazing." The Azure Dragon stated.


    "I see¡­ what is the technique''s name?" Lin Mu asked next, as he was willing to learn.


    "The technique is called as the Litany Of the Verdant Forest!" The Azure Dragon answered, making Lin Mu highly interested.


    "It is a slightly unusual technique that is very difficult to learn." The Azure Dragon added. "Even I have not been able to learn it." He revealed.


    "But if it''s you, I think you''ll be capable of learning it." The Azure Dragon had faith.


    Lin Mu showed no hint of hesitance on his face when he spoke, "I''ll learn it. I know I can do it."


    "Good." The Azure Dragon smiled, its whiskers waving. "I''ll impart it to you now. You already know what to do." It added.


    "Yes," Lin Mu replied and closed his eyes.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    The Azure Dragon''s horns glowed and a green stream of energy flowed out of it. The stream of energy connected to Lin Mu''s forehead and information started to flow into his mind.


    The information that appeared in Lin Mu''s mind was rather gentle this time. He didn''t know that the Azure Dragon was taking extra efforts to make sure that Lin Mu could understand it better and wouldn''t have difficulties.


    Litany of The Verdant Forest was a technique that was actually harder to learn than the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    Lin Mu felt the information pour into his head about the technique as well as how it was practiced. Unlike thest time, he didn''t see any scene that taught him. Instead, it was just raw information.


    ''Considering that the information is in this form, it''s clear that the Azure Dragon hasn''t been able to learn it. But he had certainly tried to do it¡­ since there are bits of tips and hints added to it all.'' Lin Mu thought after going through the information.


    It was very detailed and extensive showing just howplex the technique was.


    ''This is unlike anything I''ve practiced until now¡­ there isn''t even Qi involved.'' Lin Mu was surprised and intrigued.


    The Litany Of The Verdant Forest was a strange technique that was wholly focused on theprehension and understanding of the practitioner.


    In order to practice it, one needed to ''hear the voice of the forests''.


    When one could hear the whispers of the forest, they would be considered to have reached the Beginner stage of the technique.


    The next stage was the Advanced Stage and one needed to fully hear the voice of the forest.


    After that was the Expert Stage in which one didn''t just hear the voices of the forest, but could even converse with them!


    Then there was the Master Stage, which required one to talk with the Forest and ask them to sing their Litany.


    Doing so would allow one to create defenses around their mind and soul. But the technique did not exin what kind of defenses one would have, as they could be different and vary ording to the person!


    It was said that only when one reached the beginner stage and had a little sess would they figure out their defenses.


    Lin Mu learned further and discovered that depending on the kind of forest one practiced, the results could be different. After all, there were many kinds of forests and each of them would have their own voices.


    ''This is certainly a unique technique¡­ Looks like I''ll have some fun in learning it.'' Lin Mu wasn''t discouraged by the vagueness of the technique, instead, he was excited about it all!


    Time passed and eventually, Lin Mu opened his eyes, the four guardians smiling at him.

 Chapter 1880 Secret Of The Guardians

    Chapter 1880 Secret Of The Guardians


    The guardians were certainly pleased with the way that Lin Mu had managed to learn the technique.


    While they knew they had to act a bit reserved, they still couldn''t help but show a little satisfaction. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "You''ve done well." The Azure Dragon praised.


    "Thank you." Lin Mu cupped his hands in gratitude.


    "Since you''ve learned the technique, you''ll have to take efforts in practicing it. I myself had failed in it, so I hope that you will seed." The Azure Dragon stated.


    "I''ll try my best." Lin Mu said with confidence.


    "Good. Now it is time for you to leave." The Azure Dragon replied, before looking at the other guardians.


    "Our time is alsoing to an end here. It is time for us to return to dormancy." The Vermilion Bird said with a hint of hesitance.


    It was now that Lin Mu asked something that he had been wishing to do for a while.


    "May I ask why is it that the guardians have to rest? I mean, if you all are awake all the time I believe it would be a lot more helpful for all the people." Lin Mu questioned.


    At first, the guardians were silent, making Lin Mu think that he had asked something wrong.


    "Haha, I guess you had this question too." The White Tigerughed.


    "You won''t be the first one to ask this." The ck Tortoise said, looking at Lin Mu.


    "Is it a forbidden topic?" Lin Mu asked, just in case.


    "No¡­ it''s just not said openly most of the time." The Azure Dragon replied.


    "But I suppose telling you should be fine." The Vermillion bird said, making Lin Mu eager to hear it.


    He was incredibly curious and wanted to know why the strong beings like the Four Guardian beasts would hide like this most of the time.


    "The reason why we enter dormancy for years on end and only awaken on important times is due to the fact that maintaining our forms takes a lot of effort." The Azure Dragon revealed.


    "It does?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Yes¡­ After all, we do not have our bodies." The White Tiger spoke, surprising Lin Mu.


    "Then these forms¡­ they''re just¡ª" Lin Mu was about to say it when the Vermillion Bird interrupted.


    "Souls¡­ yes, they are just our souls." The Vermillion Bird revealed.


    "Then what about your bodies? Are they somewhere else?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They maybe¡­ but also not. At the very least, we cannot make use of them anymore." The White Tiger answered.


    "Why is that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Because we are¡­ dead." The Azure Dragon revealed shocking Lin Mu.


    "Dead?!" Lin Mu was taken aback.


    "Yes¡­ all the Guardian beasts that you''ll see in the Temple of the four guardians are dead. Only our souls are kept here." The Vermillion bird confirmed.


    Lin Mu felt a hundred more questions forming in his mind as he heard that and wondered just why it was like that.


    "The members of the Four ns of the guardian beasts, the Vermillion Bird n, the Azure Dragon n, the White Tiger n and the ck Tortoise n all have duties that do not end even after we die.


    Or rather, our main duty after our death is to guide the next generations. As such, all of us have restrictions on our souls. As such, when we die, our souls are teleported back into the n.


    And from there, our souls will be sent to the Temples to guide the others." The Azure Dragon exined.


    "But isn''t that¡­ too much? To have to work even after death?" Lin Mu asked, finding it a bit tiring.


    "Not exactly. We are d to carry out our duties. In fact, we are free to reject this duty if we wish to.


    But not many do that. After all, this also gives us a second chance to revive ourselves." The ck Tortoise added.


    "Revive?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Yes, if we work long enough and guide the cultivators to great results, we will have a chance at revival as well. It might take tens of thousands of years, but it is nothing to us. After all, in this form, we can ''live'' for a very, very long time.


    Of course, the time during which we can stay awake is also limited. This state does give us a certain ''lifespan'' but it alsoes with limitations." The White Tiger exined.


    "I see. It does make sense to do something like this when you have nothing else left." Lin Mu understood the reasoning behind it all.


    ''Not only does it give them another chance at life, it also helps improve the standing of the guardian beast ns. The temples give them a high status and they are venerated in many worlds.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He could figure out more things than what the guardians had said and knew there were more benefits that were hidden away. Of course, he didn''t think they were unfair either, as they needed to pay a great cost to even be at this ce.


    ''It also shows the power of the four guardian ns¡­ to be able to save the souls of their members from anywhere in the world and transport them back to the ns safely¡­ it must be some high level technique or formations involved in this.


    Maybe even some treasure we don''t know about.'' Lin Mu wondered about it all.


    Whatever it might be, Lin Mu felt like it was something way beyond him for the time being. If he were fated to find out about it, he would in the future and didn''t need to think about it too much right now.


    <nulli>~humm~


    A faint wave of energy was felt in the hall, as a string of runes appeared in the middle of the guardians. The runes were brown in color and contained some unknown information.


    They all looked at it and frowned lightly.


    "You should go now. Yourpanions will be waiting." The guardians stated.

 Chapter 1881 The Fifth Beast

    Chapter 1881 The Fifth Beast


    Seeing that his time here hade to an end, Lin Mu didn''t want to impose any longer than necessary.


    "Thank you for your help guardians, I hope to see you all again someday in the future." Lin Mu said before taking his leave.


    <nulli>~shua~


    He took a step back and found himself in the dark corridor where he had entered from. He looked back and no sign of the Guardian hall could be seen anymore.


    <nulli>~Sigh~


    "Guess only when they permit can one enter inside." Lin Mu muttered and walked back to where High Elder Juxue and Crown Prince Feng Shun were waiting.


    Once he was gone though, the atmosphere inside the Guardian hall changed.


    It became incredibly serious as the four guardians looked at the brown runes floating in the center.


    "We pay our respects to the Senior!" The Four Guardians said and bowed their heads.


    ~<nulli>SHUA~


    A new statue rose from the floor and emanated a regal presence. The statue was different from the four statues of the guardians.


    It dedicated another beast that was also a Dragon!


    <nulli>~HONG~


    The statue glowed in a yellow light, and a figure emerged from it. The figure took the form of a giant yellow dragon with four legs and a long body. Each of its legs had five ws and they were incredibly sharp.


    Its tail was strong and coiled around its body. The Dragon''s head was wider than the Azure Dragon''s head and its whiskers were also longer. The horns in its head had multiple prongs and were dark brown in color.


    Its eyes though were the most impressive, holding a beautiful yellow color as if they were topaz gemstones.


    Its entire body exuded the aura of a ruler and all those that looked at it would feel like bowing to it.


    "The Azure Dragon pays their respect to the Yellow Dragon of the Center."


    "The Vermillion Bird pays their respect to the symbol of Earth."


    "The ck Tortoise pays their respect to the Dragon Of the changing Seasons."


    "The White Tiger pays their respect to the Ruler of the Four Guardians."


    The four guardians greeted respectfully while deeply bowing their heads.


    After all the being that had appeared was none other than the Yellow Dragon!


    It was the fifth beast that ruled over the four Guardians.


    They ruled over the four immortal courts and ensured that their workings were just and ording to the rules. They ensured that the four guardian ns behaved and that there was order in the universe.


    It was the n that was looked up to by the four guardian ns and also the one that represented the concept of ''Ruler''.


    The Yellow Dragon of Center and the representative of Earth among the five elements!


    If Lin Mu were here, he would have found it all unbelievable. After all, the four guardians bowing to someone else was simply unthinkable to most.


    The Yellow Dragon''s eyes looked at the four guardian beasts for a few moments, before it let out a breath. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "I believe you know why I''m here." The Yellow Dragon spoke.


    "Yes, it is pertaining to the events that happened today." The Vermilion Bird took the lead.


    "You are correct." The Yellow Dragon replied. "The reputation of the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts has been tarnished!" it said out loud, making the hall shake.


    The four guardian beasts said nothing in response and stayed silent. They knew there was also a fault on their side, even if they were forced to not respond with Xukong being there.


    "As such, I now bring the decree." The Yellow Dragon stated.


    "The Four Guardians ept the decree." They replied.


    "It has been decided that Feng Baxing, the third son of the current Emperor Feng and prince of the Dao Wind Empire, has been deemed to havemitted unforgivable crimes against the Temple during the Tournament.


    As such, he is sentenced to lifelong servitude in the Nox Mire World." The Yellow Dragon dered.


    Hearing the sentence, the Four Guardian beasts became somber.


    "Senior, I do not know if that will be possible." The Azure Dragon interjected.


    "And why''s that?" the Yellow Dragon asked.


    "The criminal isatose and is also crippled. His body has started to age and his cultivation is regressing. We do not know if he''ll be alive for the sentence." The Azure Dragon answered.


    "How did that happen?" The Yellow Dragon furrowed its brows.


    "That¡­" The Guardians showed some hesitance due to the powers involved.


    "Perhaps you should see the series of events that happened yourself." The Vermillion bird suggested.


    "Very well." The Yellow Dragon replied and saw a formation screen appearing.


    In it the scene of the tournament was shown. Right from when Feng Baxing made the mistake all the way to spatial tears appearing, as well as the prince getting crippled. Even the warning given by the creator of the colossal Cloud Serpent was seen.


    The more the Yellow Dragon watched, the moreplex its expression got. And when it saw the being hidden inside the Spatial Tears, its expression wavered. After the entire recording ended, the Yellow Dragon did not speak.


    "Thisplicates things¡­" The Yellow Dragon spoke.


    "We took some actions considering who was involved, but couldn''t proceed any further without the superiors'' input." The ck tortoise stated.


    "You all made the right decision. If that great being is involved, we really can''t afford to do much. The elders of the courts and ns would rather wash their hands off the entire matter and sweep it under the rug than even think of the great being." The Yellow Dragon said before letting out a sigh.


    <nulli>~sigh~


    "Still¡­ Even if the punishment was meted out to Feng Baxing, he still needs to pay his dues to the Temple. If not him, his father shall pay it." The Yellow Dragon stated.


    "The Emperor? Surely we can''t send him to the Nox Mire World." The White Tiger spoke.


    "He doesn''t have to go there. He''ll pay for the crimes of his son in other ways. And not just him¡­ The Holy Topaz Emperor too¡­ His niece is also a criminal." The Yellow Dragon replied.

 Chapter 1882 Return To The Crown Princes Mansion

    Chapter 1882 Return To The Crown Prince''s Mansion


    "Of course. We haven''t forgotten about Yao Changying''s Transgressions. On some level they are worse than Feng Baxing too." The Vermillion Bird spoke.


    "Indeed. Perhaps she might have ended up in the same situation if not for the fact that Mu Lin could still defeat her. And hertter actions were still within the strength of our elders to stop.


    But Feng Baxing just had to use the Imperial Might Talisman and unleash the power of a Transcendent Immortal." Azure Dragon agreed.


    "Speaking of that¡­ Senior do you have any insights into Yao Changying''s actions?" The White Tiger asked. "Her being able to use Withering Dao is questionable."


    "We have discussed about it too. It is hard to tell how she obtained it as there are several methods to do so in the many worlds. Since she has traveled to multiple worlds, there is no telling where she managed to acquire it from.


    There are still limitations to obtaining concrete information. We did hear about the expedition she went on where most of herpanions died. Due to ack of witnesses, we do not know what exactly happened there.


    Our people in the Shang Dynasty have told us though that Yao Changying had defrauded them." The Yellow Dragon exined.


    "There is indeed a lot of mixed information out there. I think we need to open a formal investigation into it too. There are people who knew the victims and I think we can learn more from them." The ck Tortoise stated.


    The Yellow Dragon went silent for a minute after hearing that and thought about it all.


    "Anything else that is of concern?" he asked knowing that he needed to leave soon.


    "Well¡­ there was the appearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree which was used by a Demon to offset a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion." The White Tiger spoke. "It happened in the Holy Topaz Continent."


    "That is not of our concern." The Yellow Dragon replied. "No matter what humans think, the Demons are still a race that venerates us and is protected by us. We won''t discriminate and interfere in their personal conflicts unless it vites the rules of the immortal court." It added.


    "Of course, we understand." The Guardians replied.


    "Hmm¡­ did any of the emperors ask the temple to interfere?" The Yellow dragon narrowed its eyes.


    "Thankfully not. They know well enough we won''t interfere in these matters." The Azure Dragon answered.


    "That''s good." The Yellow dragon responded, before going silent.


    The Guardians let the beast think about the next course of action and waited for his words for five minutes.


    "Get the Temple to proceed with the investigation and question all those that were affected by it. I''ll also get the others to investigate on my end." The Yellow Dragon finally spoke.


    "We won''t be able to stay awake for long though Senior." The Vermillion Bird reminded.


    "That is fine. Just tell the temple elders to do so and forward the information to the Immortal Court. We''ll handle the rest." The Yellow Dragon replied.


    "As youmand, senior." The Azure Dragon bowed his head once more.


    <nulli>~shua~


    The figure of the Yellow Dragon started to fade after that. And half a minuteter it was gone.


    <nulli>~Sigh~


    The Vermillion Bird shook its head and looked at the other guardians before disappearing wordlessly.


    The others did the same, as their time was close. They had already extended the time they could stay awake and had to use a part of their power tomunicate the issues to their own ns.


    Lin Mu was wholly unaware of all that had happened in the guardian hall after he left. He would have never thought that the incidents all had him linked in it.


    He had just left the corridor and met up with the Crown Prince and High Elder Juxue.


    "Ah, you''re back." High Elder Juxue spoke.


    "And you two are still here. I thought you''d be gone since it took so long," Lin Mu replied.


    "Long?" The High Elder raised his brows. "That was short."


    "Yeah¡­ Depending on what reward you get, it can take much longer than that." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Usually if the winners get some resources, it is fast. They leave within an hour. But for techniques and skills, it can take much longer. I heard that one of the winners took an entire week before they left, didn''t they High Elder?" he turned to the old man.


    "Yes¡­ it was one of the former emperors of the Huiqing Empire. But that was a long time ago." High Elder Juxue confirmed. "That tournament had also ended within a month and was rather short. There weren''t many participants either due to the ongoing war at that time." He informed.


    "That was almost forty thousand years ago if I remember correctly. The War between Rust Sky World and Feilei World." Feng Shun spoke. "The Imperial Tutor taught us about it. It was also the war that brought us the most casualties and almost ended in our loss." He added.


    Lin Mu was interested after hearing that.


    "What was the war about?" he asked.


    "Honestly¡­ no idea." Feng Shang replied. "Official ounts state that it was due to the sects of the Feilei World killing our people. But the other details do not match up."


    "It was just another war over resources." High Elder Juxue stated. "It doesn''t matter who started or ended it, it is all the same in the end."


    "Indeed." Feng Shun nodded his head.


    Lin Mu showed an understanding expression. After all, he too had seen a war that had basically resulted in the same thing.


    "Resources are almost always behind it." Lin Mu muttered.


    Feng Shun raised a brow hearing that though, as he could feel the experience in Lin Mu''s voice.


    ''Seems like the junior has experienced more things than I thought.'' Even High Elder Juxue could tell the same.


    They didn''t ask Lin Mu about it though, knowing it wasn''t their ce to do so.


    "So, what do you wish to do now?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned.


    He had been asked to watch over Lin Mu by the Emperor, after all. There was no way he could leave him unattended.


    "For now¡­ Some rest," Lin Mu replied. "I''ve obtained the techniques that I wanted and I do want to practice them, but there are other things I need to get in order too." He added.


    "Ah yes, yourpanions are waiting for you, after all." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before looking at the High Elder. "We shall take our leave, High Elder."


    "Go on. I''ll contact you if there is anything." High Elder Juxue said to Lin Mu.


    "Goodbye, High Elder." Lin Mu said before leaving along with the Crown Prince.


    While Lin Mu did feel like wanting to observe the murals a bit more, he also knew that he had a lot on his te already. Just the techniques he had gotten would take a while to learn.


    ''Especially the Litany Of the Verdant Forest¡­ I''ll even need a specific location for it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was a technique that would require Lin Mu to settle in one location for a long time and cultivate. It was entirely dependent on one''s luck andprehension as such one needed to pick the perfect ce for it. N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    ''I guess I''ll ask them for a suggestionter,'' Lin Mu reckoned as he left the Temple.


    "You should still be able to fly, so follow along." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he took to the skies.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    Lin Mu did the same and the two quickly made their way to the Crown Prince''s mansion.


    Along the way, Lin Mu passed by the Tournament grounds and saw that it had mostly be empty. It was clear that the people had all left in a hurry due to what had happened, and the ce was now cordoned off.


    On the other hand, the surrounding areas were now bustling with life. The Restaurants and other establishments now had a boom due to the rapid influx of millions of cultivators.


    Lin Mu was thankful that he didn''t need to walk, as there was a high chance they would have gotten stuck in the crowds.


    About twenty minutester, the two finallynded in thepound of the mansion. The security was still as high as ever and the guards were patrolling regrly.


    They greeted the Crown Prince upon his arrival and escorted them inside the mansion.


    "Let''s go to the central hall, everyone is waiting there." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "The reward from my end is also in order."


    "Alright." Lin Mu too wished to talk to hispanions.


    A couple minutester, he was greeted with multiple shouts.


    "Congrattions!"


    "Brother Mu Lin is the winner!"


    Lin Mu''spanions all shouted upon seeing him.


    "I knew you would win." Crown Princess Shang smiled upon seeing him.


    "Though you certainly had to go through some tough tribtions to get through it all." Monk Hushu added.

 Chapter 1883 Overnight Changes

    Chapter 1883 Overnight Changes


    "Things were indeed tough, but it is now all over." Lin Mu replied to Monk Hushu before looking at hispanions.


    Lin Mu''spanions were very excited to see him.


    After all, Lin Mu winning was a great thing and since he was their benefactor who had helped them not only get a lot of money and resources but also taught them, they were extremely happy for him.


    To them it was a matter of great pride that someone they knew had be the winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts.


    And it wasn''t just them.


    Even thepanions of the Crown prince were simrly pleased. Crown Princess Shang was especially happy since Lin Mu had fulfilled his part of the deal. He might not have managed to kill Yao Changying, but her current state may as well be a death sentence for her.


    There was no way she would be able to live a normal life with all the empires looking for her in the Rust Sky World.


    The Temple of the Four Guardian beasts would also not let her go after all she had done. After all, her actions of injuring the people as well as the members of the temple were a great offense too.


    "Well, since we''re all here there is no way we cannot celebrate this achievement." Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly said. "It''s not every day we get to have the winner of the Tournament among us after all." He added before sending a message.


    "Indeed, this calls for a Banquet!" Lu Xu said out loud.


    "A Celebration would be a good way to unwind." Daoist Chu agreed.


    "You all just wait a bit, the servants will get everything ready soon." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a smile.


    "Alright. I do feel a bit hungry." Lin Mu replied.


    "Haha, brother Mu Lin deserves to eat as much as he wants after all that." Ming Aolian chuckled knowing just how much he could eat.


    "Yes!" Ming Dandan chimed in.


    With that said, the servants soon arrived in the hall and brought arge table with them. It was big enough to amodate all of them along with tens of dishes. Seats were also set up with tworgest ones meant for the Crown Prince and Lin Mu. Therge seats were sit opposite to each other, while the rest of the seats were put ording to the rtions.


    Lin Mu''spanion sat near him, with Lu Xu, Luo Liqin, Qian Wen on his right and the Ming Sisters on his left.


    Opposite him sat Crown Prince Feng Shun, on whose right side sat Crown Princess Shang, and Monk Hushu and on the left sat Daoist Chu and Commandeer Dui.


    A few minutester various dishes were brought in and everyone started eating.


    The Crown Prince and hispanions finally got to witness how Lin Mu actually ate and were left speechless.


    By the time everyone had finished half a te of food, Lin Mu finished half of the entire table!


    "My, my¡­ Daoist Mu Lin certainly eats vigorously." Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but see.


    "That''s how a man should eat!" Commander Dui seemed particrly impressed by it all.


    <nulli>~crunch~crunch~crunch~


    Of course, that was until Lin Mu started munching on bones.


    The Commander''s expression became stiff as he watched Lin Mu chew on ribs as if they were crackers.


    The Crown Prince''spanions were certainly taken aback by it, while Lin Mu''s ownpanions were already used to it. They had seen him do the same a few times and didn''t mind it.


    "Uhh¡­ Daoist Mu Lin, you don''t have to eat the bones too. I can ask them to get more food." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke, unable to continue watching Lin Mu eat bones after all the food was gone.


    "Oh, it''s fine. Bones got a lot of nutrition too. They''re all Immortal beast bones anyways." Lin Mu replied. "After all, they can be refined into alchemical pills too." He added.


    "They are but¡­ These are already cooked¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun was at a loss for words.


    By the time he finished speaking, Lin Mu had already cleared out the bones.


    <nulli>~Sigh~


    "Get more food." Crown Prince Feng Shun ordered.


    "Yes, my lord!" The Servants quickly brought in the second serving and the table was filled up again.


    "Thank you," Lin Mu said as he got busy in eating again.


    Others didn''t know but his stomach was actually demanding more and more food for some reason.


    ''I haven''t felt continuous hunger like this for a while¡­ Did I use up too much of the stored vitality during the battles?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    At least Lin Mu was happy that the tournament was over.


    ''Once I go out, I can focus on hunting and getting more meat.'' Lin Mu thought.


    They banquets continued for a while as everyone talked at the same time. Though Lin Mu was mostly listening and focused more on eating. He would interject everyone once in a while but it was only when someone asked him questions directly.


    This gave Lin Mu''spanions the opportunity to talk to the Crown Prince and hispanions too. After all, they were all from different worlds and had been training in the Immortal Court.


    As such their experiences were worth listening too.


    They too answered the doubts of Lin Mu''spanions and found them to be decent people.


    The Crown Prince even debated whether they were worth bringing to the expeditionter. Of course, they won''t be in the core group but the auxiliary groups.


    ''Guess I''ll consider them if there are still spots left. Lu Xu though is a good choice regardless.'' The Crown Prince thought internally.


    While the Crown Prince was reviewing his choices though Luo Liqin approached Lin Mu.


    "Brother Mu Lin, I have your share of the winnings with me." Luo Liqin spoke in his ear.


    "Oh yeah, how much did the final turn out to be?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Why don''t you see yourself?" Luo Liqin said with a smile and handed a Immortal Stone pouch to Lin Mu.


    He held it and let his Immortal sense scan the insides.


    A couple of secondster, Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Seven Hundred Thousand High Grade Immortal Stones?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "Indeed." Luo Liqin confirmed. "We made over a million High Grade Immortal stones. I''ve already split the other''s share. This is the amount that is for you alone." He exined.


    "I see¡­ Looks like we''ve made a rather decent profit." Lin Mu replied.


    "Decent? This is way more than decent." Luo Liqin stated. "With the amount we have, I don''t think we''ll have to worry about cultivation resources for theing decade or even more. In fact, if we use it frugally, it can easilyst a century or two." He added.


    "That does seem right." Lin Mu said knowing that not everyone used Immortal Stones in bulk like him.


    The discussion continued through the night, while outside the mansion the capital city underwent a few changes.


    The security in the entire city was increased two fold, while everyone in the city with a few exceptions had to verify their identities again. People tried toin, but this time the orders hade from the Temple itself.


    As such, all the voices of opposition were silenced.


    Lin Mu didn''t know that the Temple had already begun its investigation and was looking at all possible links.


    But that wasn''t all, as the Three Emperors were also having their own meeting in the Imperial Pce.


    Unlike the usual hustle and bustle of the imperial court, it looked rather deste tonight.


    There were no guards, nor servants in the court. Not even the ministers and other imperial officials were present there.


    Only the three emperors were present there as it was a private meeting.


    "How are we to proceed now?" Huiqing Emperor asked.


    "How else¡­ we do whatever the temple asks." Emperor Feng replied.


    "Why are you even asking this, you and your empire aren''t the ones getting scrutinized." The Holy Topaz Emperor said with a hint of frustration. "It is the Dao Wind Empire and the Holy Topaz Dynasty that will have to endure the hardships now." He added.


    "Let it be." Emperor Feng waved his hand. "The mistakes have already beenmitted by our kin. With their scale, we will have to shoulder them." He said in a tired tone.


    "Are you really going to hand over the authority to the Temple?" The Huiqing Emperor asked still finding it unbelievable.


    "I have to¡­ at least for the time being." Emperor Feng said. "With Baxing being in his state, he cannot take on the punishment decided for it. As such I''ll have to pay for it. We''re still lucky it isn''t an outright seizure. N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    Having to let the Temple have free authority for theing decade is much betterpared to that." He exined, having given up already.


    After all, even if he was a transcendent immortal, there were limits to who he could oppose.

 Chapter 1884 Forced Peace And Rewards

    Chapter 1884 Forced Peace And Rewards


    The Capital city underwent a full sweep in a single night and changed to a new face the next day.


    The hustle and bustle had reduced now that the Tournament of the Four Guardians was over. All the cultivators that hade to watch it had started to return, with the Cross World Teleportation Array running nonstop.


    Normally, people would stay a bit longer, with some even taking the chance to tour the world they hade to. But with the controversial and dangerous events that had happened during this tournament, they felt like it was no longer safe to be there.


    Those who were a bit smarter and more experienced could sense the sinister undercurrents hidden behind the facade of security.


    They knew better than to dy their stay and wished to leave as soon as possible. Not to mention, there were many who simply wished to return to their worlds and report all that had happened here. After all, not all worlds can afford real time transfer of information and news.


    Someone interfering in the Tournament of the Four guardians and breaking its rules would be pretty big news that would surprise many worlds.


    Not to mention, this hadn''t just happened once, not twice, but thrice!


    Dugu Shanhe with his unorthodox forbidden skills, Yao Changying with her attack of the temple members and rule break as well as the Third Prince Feng Baxing using a life saving talisman against the winner.


    Then there was the sudden appearance of the Colossal Cloud Serpent that had crippled the Third Prince.


    Thetter was something that millions of people had watched and couldn''t be hidden.


    Thankfully, the three emperors and the Temple of the Four Guardians moved together to change the narrative.


    Feng Baxing was publicly denounced by Emperor Feng and deemed a criminal by the Temple. As such, they gave the excuse that the Colossal Cloud Serpent was actually the punishment from the temple itself!


    No one would question the ability of the temple to do something like this, as such it became an easy lie. Not to mention, it also gave the Temple a chance to save some face. It strengthened their authority again and showed their might.


    With the three emperors of the Rust Sky world and the Temple confirming it themselves, there were no protests from anyone.


    Of course, the excuse was only possible due to the fact that the Saintess herself had told them to hide her involvement. As such, they didn''t mind taking the credit.


    After they were ''restrained'' by the being from the void, the Emperor and the other top powers of the Rust Sky world had been scared deeply. In fact, other than the Emperors the rest of the top experts literally chose to hide in seclusion and vowed not to go out for at least a hundred years.


    Those who were injured during that incident decided to stay even longer.


    All those that thought that there was a rise in the chance of war between Dao Wind Empire and the Holy Topaz Dynasty due to the actions of Yao Changying were proven wrong.


    Due to the ''warning'' that had been given to them, the scales of war were forcibly stifled.


    With a greater threat looming over them, the Emperors came to a mutual understanding that it was much better for them to go silent for a while.


    All those who tried to stir the pot or muddy the calm waters would get shut down by the ruling powers. And it wasn''t just the Three Empires either, the other top experts who had witnessed the true horror of being suppressed would do the same.


    They knew there were power greater than them watching the Rust Sky world now.


    Powers that even the Temple would not go against.


    Lin Mu and Crown Prince Feng Shun had no idea that unknowingly a time of forced peace had been established in the Rust Sky world.


    The visitors kept leaving in droves, with about 40% having left by the time the celebratory banquet for Lin Mu ended. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    The banquet ran the entire night and until dawn the next day.


    Only when the sun was at the peak did they stop.


    "This will be a banquet to remember." Luo Liqin spoke, his face red from all the wine they had drunk.


    All of Lin Mu''spanions were in a simr state, having drunk a lot of wine through the night. Only Lin Mu, the Crown Prince, Monk Hushu and the Crown Princess seemed to be totally fine through it all.


    Monk Hushu hadn''t drank any wine and had stuck to tea, while the other three were simply unaffected by the wine.


    Even the stern Commander Dui was drunk and had left earlier to rest.


    The same happened with the Ming Sisters and they had retired to sleep too.


    Lin Mu peeked out of the balcony and gazed at the bright sky when the Crown Prince approached him.


    "You''re gonna leave, aren''t you?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "I am yes¡­ I''ve obtained a lot of things that I need to digest. Plus, I also need to cultivate further." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm.. That much is expected." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Well, since you are leaving, I should give you my reward too, I suppose." He added before taking out a token.


    Lin Mu nced at the token that had the motif of the four guardian beasts on one side and the symbol for the Immortal Court on the other side.


    "As agreed upon, you can use this token to use the Cross World Teleportation arrays in all worlds that are under the Immortal courts. You will neither have to pay, nor establish your identity in order to use it." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "You can use this six times." He added.


    "Don''t you want to ask for a reward from me too?" Crown Princess Shang who had overheard them approached.


    "I''ve thought about it, but I don''t know what I should ask from you. I don''t have a particr need for anything now." Lin Mu replied.


    "I see¡­ But I can''t just let you leave empty-handed, can I? That would be against my word as the Crown Princess." She said, cing a hand on her chin and thinking. "How about this¡­" she suddenly took out a box.


    "Take it," she spoke.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu took the box and opened it.


    Inside, there were three objects.


    The first was a small coin that looked like it was made from bronze. The second was a small scroll that was about the size of a finger, and the third was a brown seed the size of an olive.


    "The coin is an entry token to the Shang Dao Empire. If you ever go to the Three Aster world and wish for a ce to stay, you can use that.


    The scroll on the other hand, is a personal writ of promise from me. If you ever need help, you can show that to any major power and they will help you." Crown Princess Shang exined.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu didn''t expect her to give something like this.


    He could tell the value of the scroll was rather high.


    "As for the seed¡­ I don''t exactly know what it is." The Crown Princess stated.


    "Huh, you don''t know?" Lin Mu was surprised. "Aren''t you specialized in the wood Dao and your empire is specialized in alchemy and herbs?" he asked in doubt.


    "We are, which is also why it is confusing for me." Crown Princess replied. "I''ve been unable to determine what kind of seed that is, and neither have I been able to germinate it." She added.


    "Where did you get it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I got it a few years ago during one of our missions." Crown Princess Shang answered.


    "Is it the one we got from that trial ne?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, recalling it. "I thought you had given it to your elders to take a look."


    "I did, but they were unsessful, too. They returned this to me before we arrived here." Crown Princess Shang said, turning to the Crown Prince.


    "Hmm¡­ Perhaps Daoist Mu Lin will be able to figure out what kind of seed it is." The Crown Prince said with a shrug.


    "Indeed. Since I can''t really do anything with the seed, it is basically useless to keep it with me. May as well give it to someone." Crown Princess Shang said in a casual tone.


    ''Guess she''s just throwing it as an extra since she has no use for it. The first two items are the main reward from her.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "So then, is this fine with you?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Yes¡­ I''m satisfied with it." Lin Mu replied and stored the box away in his ring.


    "Will you be leaving right away?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Not exactly¡­ I still have some things to wind up in the city." Lin Mu replied.


    "Well, if you have anything you need done you can ask me." The man offered.

 Chapter 1885 Suggestions For A Forest

    Chapter 1885 Suggestions For A Forest


    Hearing the Crown Prince''s words, Lin Mu recalled that there was indeed he could ask from him.


    "Actually, I do." Lin Mu replied.


    "What is it?" The Crown Prince asked.


    "I want suggestions from you about a forest." Lin Mu replied.


    "A forest? There are many forests in the Dao Wind Empire." Crown Prince Feng Shun responded with raised brows. "What are you looking for specifically? Some materials or beasts?" he questioned further.


    "No¡­ One of the techniques I obtained from the Four Guardians requires me to practice it in a Verdant Forest." Lin Mu replied.


    "A Verdant forest¡­ That doesn''t narrow it down much¡­ Within the Rust Sky World, the Dao Wind Empire has the biggest forest cover. There are literally hundreds of forests that span thousands of kilometers." Feng Shun spoke. "Most of these forests are verdant and filled with life. As such you have a lot of options." He added.


    "Actually, we can narrow it down further." Crown Princess Shang interrupted. "Since Daoist Mu Lin wished to cultivate and practice the technique in the forest, I believe he wouldn''t want any excess disturbance, would he?" she asked.


    "Right¡­ I won''t mind a few. But constant interruptions won''t be good." Lin Mu replied.


    He knew that he could very well set up a secure area using formation arrays, but it could still get problematic. After all, there was no telling what kind of beasts or unexpected dangers would be residing in those forests.


    After all, it wasn''t just humans who had Immortal Realm cultivation base, beasts did too. There were bound to be a few beasts that were at the sixth or even Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    Lin Mu didn''t fear getting ambushed by them, as he had the confidence to escape. Rather, he was more worried about losing focus at a crucial moment and losing the opportunity.


    ''That would certainly be a bigger loss for sure.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "I guess we''ll have to pick forests that are more ''calm''." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before taking out a jade slip.


    He held the jade slip for a minute and closed his eyes. From the immortal Qi fluctuation, Lin Mu could tell that the man was searching for something within the Jade Slip.


    "Here, you can check this." Crown Prince Feng Shun said and handed the Jade Slip to Lin Mu.


    <nulli>~shua~


    Lin Mu injected a little Immortal Qi into it and a formation screen appeared above the Jade Slip. The formation screen was t and looked more like a tray right now though.


    <nulli>~shua~


    A secondter, the formation screen changed and arge map appeared on it.


    "The Dao Wind Continent?" Lin Mu saw that the map was showing the entirety of the Dao Wind continent.


    And on the map, there were hundreds of markers. Some of the markers showed the major cities and areas, while some showed other sites like forests, mountains,kes and more.


    The markers were also of different colors, making it easier for a person to navigate and understand it.


    "The map contains most of the Dao Wind Empire''s locations within it along with forests. The ones I''ve marked in green are the ones that fit your needs. They are rtively calm forests with weaker beasts or with beasts that won''t disturb you." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu said and browsed through the map. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    On it he saw about twenty different green markers that showed the forests that would be suitable for him.


    Lin Mu''s own location was also highlighted in the map and it was right in the center of the continent.


    Ten of the green forest markers were above where he was and were located in the northern half of the Dao Wind Continent.


    Three out of those were located at the very north of the continent, almost near the sea.


    Feng Shun saw Lin Mu looking at them and spoke up, "Those are the forests near the Northern Ridges. They are rtively peaceful, but getting there will take a while for you."


    "What if he takes a teleportation array?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "The farthest teleportation array goes is Buck Row City." Crown Prince Feng Shun said and tapped on the map, highlighting a location. "If he wishes to go to the forests, it will still take him a couple of months from there."


    "Yeah, they are quite far, indeed." Lin Mu decided against those forests. "I''ll look at the others." He said before moving further down.


    Below that, there were two more forests, that were also located near some cities. They were very convenient for Lin Mu, as he could just use a teleportation array to get there.


    "East Walnut Forest and West Walnut Forests. These seem good choices." Lin Mu spoke. "They''re right next to the ck Walnut City too."


    "ck Walnut city is one of the mid sized cities in our empire. You shouldn''t have any issues going there. The two forests are also very calm and are actually abundant in herbs and other materials.


    Though the specialty of the region is none other than their Dark Shell Walnuts, which are a cultivation resource. A good choice indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "I''ll consider these, but I should also check out the others." Lin Mu said and moved further on.


    There were five more forests in the northern half, with two spread on the eastern side and three clustered on the western side.


    "Blue Drake Woods?" Lin Mu read a particr name on the western side.


    It was one of the forests that were in a cluster of three.


    "Ah, that group of forests is ruled by a Blue Drake." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "The Blue Drake is a seventh tribtion stage immortal realm beast and rules over the entire area." He exined.


    "Then won''t it be dangerous?" Lin Mu asked, just in case. "Or is there something more?"


    "Haha, the Blue Drake won''t do anything." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "It has lived there for a long time and has an understanding with the towns there. The people there pay it a tribute every year as respect and the Blue Drake protects the area. As far as I recall, it has been living there for eighteen thousand years already." He added.


    "Ah, that''s good." Lin Mu replied before noticing something else. "Though I see there is no teleportation array near it."


    "Hmm¡­ seems suitable enough. But I''ll look at more." Lin Mu said and finally moved to the southern half of the continent.


    "Yeah that''ll be an issue for you. There is no city near it that has a teleportation array. You''ll have to fly there right from the Capital City. Though it''s a bit near, it''ll take you roughly a Month to reach there while flying." Crown Prince exined.


    "Hmm¡­ seems suitable enough. But I''ll look at more." Lin Mu said and finally moved to the southern half of the continent.


    This part seemed to have a lot more forests, but only ten among them were marked as suitable by the Crown Prince. And it wasn''t just forests either, Lin Mu also saw several mountains, volcanoes and a few swamps mixed in the area.


    Unlike the northern half, almost all of the suggested forests here seemed suitable for Lin Mu, except for two that were at the extreme southern edge. Thest two were simply too far and would take extra effort to reach.


    "Huh¡­" While Lin Mu was looking at the forests, Lin Mu recognized the name of another ce that was near them. "Serene ss Valley?" He muttered.


    It was none other than the ce where Shuijing Ju and Shuijing Mingzhu were from. They were Lin Mu''s opponents during the tournament and had even extended an invitation to him.


    "You''re interested in the Serene ss Valley?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked. "They are a staunch ally of the imperial court and are of a good standing due to them making a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon for us." He revealed.


    "They have?" The Crown Princess was interested.


    "Yes, they made the Tearing ss ws for us." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "But doesn''t the Emperor use something else?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "He does yes¡­ The Tearing ss ws are a reserve Peak Grade Immortal weapon that has certain conditions to use. As such, they aren''t suitable for everyone.


    Neither my father, nor I were able to control them. They did not ept anyone for a long time after the former emperor retired." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "Are they just lying in the vault then?" the Crown Princess was curious as it would be a waste of a perfectly good weapon.


    "No¡­ We did find someone who could use it." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a wry smile.


    "Who?" She asked while Lin Mu also listened on with interest.


    "My second sister¡­ Princess Feng Lan." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed. "The Tearing ss ws became her dowry when she got married. The ws picked her as the owner¡­ which was surprising to all of us."

 Chapter 1886 Other Places To Visit

    Chapter 1886 Other ces To Visit


    Having heard of the Second Princess''s name and the Peak Grade Immortal weapon she had, Lin Mu was intrigued.


    After all, each Peak Grade Immortal weapon had its own weapon spirit and was not easy to handle. And due to having a weapon spirit, the weapon could choose its owner. It was seen in the case of Feng Baxing when he used the Shearing Hurricane Fan and summoned the Great Hurricane Falcon spirit within.


    He could only use it due to the special restrictions put on the weapon, and if he went past a certain limit he wouldn''t be able to use it anymore.


    Feng Baxing''sst attempt at summoning the Weapon spirit had basically exceeded that limit and the fan had be dormant after that. Lin Mu had sensed the change in the fan and knew that it would only awaken when someone strong poured their Qi into it, or if it actually chose a suitable owner.


    The choice of an Immortal weapon also depended on the type of weapon it was. Each of the spirits would have its own intelligence as well as a personality.


    The Peak grade Immortal weapon would like to have an owner that had a simr or at leastpatible personality with it.


    For example, a single edged sword that was a peak grade immortal weapon would like someone who had a personality that was straight and staunch, whereas a savage looking peak grade immortal Axe would like an owner that was wild.


    There could be exceptions of course, and one such exception could be seen in the case of the Second Princess.


    She had been chosen by a Peak Grade immortal weapon which was in the form of ws. It wasn''t exactly something that would suit her standing and seemed rather strange. And yet, the weapon had picked her and not the Crown Prince nor the Emperor.


    "Tearing ss ws¡­" Lin Mu muttered, wondering just how they would be. N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    "Oh yeah, if you intend to go to the south and to the Serene ss Valley, you might be able to meet my second sister too." Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly spoke.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was surprised. "She''s there?" he inquired.


    "She''s married to the current head of the Morning Glory n." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed. "The Morning Glory n is one of our allies and also supply a lot of Alchemical pills to us."


    Lin Mu now understood why the Second Princess was married off to them. Alchemical pills were an important resource for all cultivators, and a n of alchemists that could supply them in high volume would be of a very high value. As such, making a marriage alliance with them made sense.


    "Morning Glory n, let me see¡­" Lin Mu browsed the map and quickly found the name. "Oh! It''s further south of the Serene ss Valley."


    "Yes, if you wish to, you can pay a visit to the Morning Glory n too. Plus, you won''t have to travel much as there''s a forest between the two powers. You can pick that as a spot to cultivate as well." Crown Prince Feng Shun suggested.


    Lin Mu looked at the forest, finding it to be rtivelyrge.


    Compared to all the forests that the Crown Prince had suggested to him so far, this was the biggest one.


    "Evergreen Pirs Forest," Lin Mu read the name. "Looks like I''ll be heading here." He stated.


    "Good, I think you''ll like the ce, it''s beautiful. While there are strong beasts there too, I don''t think you will have any issues, haha." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    Having picked out the forest, Lin Mu now had other things to attend to.


    "When are you going to leave?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Maybe in a couple of days? I''ll sort something things out here before leaving." Lin Mu answered.


    "Alright." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "Also, if you are going to be staying at the forest for a year, just head to Morning Glory n at the end. I''lle pick you up for the expedition." He suggested.


    "That''ll work." Lin Mu was pleased with that option. "I''ll get going then." He said before leaving the Mansion.


    Lin Mu''spanions had already gone to rest and he would meet them for thest time before leaving.


    For now though, Lin Mu wanted nothing more than to return to the Hundred Fruits Pavilion. After all, he hadn''t talked to the Saintess in a while after she had helped him out. Not to mention, the twin snakes were also waiting for him.


    All other things woulde after that.


    As such, Lin Mu wasted no time and made his way to the Hundred Fruits Pavilion. On his way there, he sensed the changes in the city.


    ''The number of people has decreased by quite a bit.'' Lin Mu immediately noticed.


    The immortal Qi fluctuations that filled the city had reduced considerably, and the hustle and bustle had mellowed out too. He passed by the market on his way and found the streets to be empty enough for a few carts to pass.


    ''Last time I was here, it was hard to walk through the crowd and now it''s this empty¡­ The visitors really left fast.'' Lin Mu noted as he continued to speed through the sky.


    He didn''t know how long the permission to fly wouldst and wanted to get to the courtyard before that.


    And about twenty minutester, hended in front of the courtyard''s gates.


    <nulli>~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and walked in, the gates opening up automatically for him.


    There, his eyes immediately searched for the Saintess and the twins.


    "There they are¡­" And sure enough, Lin Mu found them in exactly the ce he had hoped them to be.


    The Saintess was sitting on her iconic condensed cloud furniture while the twins seemed to be practicing their skills in front of her.


    Upon seeing them, a sense of peace filled Lin Mu''s mind and all his anxiety and stress were washed away.


    "Saintess, Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang!" Lin Mu called out.

 Chapter 1887 Respite In The Courtyard

    Chapter 1887 Respite In The Courtyard


    The Saintess gazed at Lin Mu as he entered and a slight smile appeared under her veil.


    <nulli>~HIIISSSSS~


    The twins shot towards Lin Mu upon hearing him and wrapped him around his body. The two rubbed their heads against him, having missed him a lot.


    "Hahaha, I missed you too." Lin Mu stroked their heads. "Come out, Little Shrubby."


    <nulli>~yawn~ The giant sleeping figure of Little Shrubby was summoned at that moment. He yawned and opened his eyes, finding that they were back in the courtyard.


    "Oh, you were sleeping?" Lin Mu saw the 10 meter long beast raising his head.


    "I was cultivating and fell asleep¡­ but we''re back?" Little Shrubby realized. "The tournament is over?" he asked.


    "Of course!" Lin Mu nodded.


    "And you won! YAY!" The beast cried out loudly, terrifying the other beasts that were living nearby. N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    "I did¡­ but not alone." Lin Mu said, looking at the Saintess. "Thank you for your help at the end, Saintess." He said with gratitude.


    "Mmm, it is fine." The Saintess replied. "I merely stopped a bigger tragedy from happening."


    "I know, if not for you I would have possibly died." Lin Mu stated.


    "No¡­ Even if I didn''t, you wouldn''t have died." The Saintess said, much to his surprise. "But the others surely would have¡­ Millions¡­ tens of millions."


    "Huh?" Lin Mu felt confused.


    The Saintess felt like there was some disconnect there.


    "Have you talked to your master since then." The Saintess asked instead.


    "No¡­ I haven''t." Lin Mu started to realize something.


    "Hmm, you should when you have the time. Though I do not know if he''ll be ready to speak just yet." She added.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon hearing this, wondering just what had he missed.


    "What exactly happened?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Sit down, I''ll tell you." She replied.


    "Alright," Lin Mu said as he took a seat in front of her.


    The Saintess then narrated all that had happened, unknown to Lin Mu and most of the other people who were present there. And by the time she was done speaking, Lin Mu was left stunned.


    ''So that''s why the Emperor was behaving so strangely and had injuries¡­'' Lin Mu finally understood.


    At first, he had thought that the Saintess had something to do with that too, but turns out it was much more. Xukong himself had acted and suppressed all top experts at once.


    "Looks like I''ll have to talk to Masterter." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Indeed. Plus, I do not think it was easy for him to do that either. He might have had to pay a cost for it." The Saintess stated.


    "And what about you, Saintess? You used the power of a Celestial in the Rust Sky World which was against the restrictions of the world." Lin Mu asked, just in case.


    "Nothing¡­ I merely ended up using all of the power I had umted in the world." The Saintess replied. "I cannot use my original strength here, as it is sealed. I can only gather the power from this world itself and use it. But using the powers of a celestial in an immortal world is difficult¡­ there is barely any suitable energy here." She said, making Lin Mu intrigued.


    "You''ll learn moreter. It is not yet time for it." The Saintess could guess his thoughts.


    "I understand." Lin Mu didn''t wish to pry. "Though are you fine now, having used up all the energy?" he asked.


    "I am¡­ don''t worry, I''ll gather more in a while." The Saintess answered.


    "That''s good¡­ plus we''ll have plenty of time soon." Lin Mu stated.


    Hearing that, Little Shrubby had a hunch.


    "Are we going out?" The beast asked.


    "Yes!" Lin Mu confirmed. "We''ll be going south to arge forest."


    "WOO! We get to explore more and get more ingredients!" Little Shrubby cheered.


    "We, in south¡­ before~" Xiao Yin suddenly spoke.


    questioned.


    "South big¡­ good forest¡­ delicious beasts¡­" Xiao Yang joined in.


    "Oh yeah¡­ You guys have gone to the south before." Lin Mu recalled the Saintess had taken the twins away for their breakthrough.


    Remembering that, he took out the jade slip that the Crown Prince had given him.


    "Saintess, you took them to a desert for their breakthrough, right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes." She replied. "It was the safe ce for a breakthrough. Empty and deste, with the exception of some beasts."


    Lin Mu browsed through the map and soon found the desert she was talking about. It was on the south eastern side of the Dao Wind empire and was about half the size of the Evergreen Pirs Forest.


    "You guys really went far¡­ Our location is much closer than that." Lin Mu replied, pointing to the markers.


    The twins and Little Shrubby looked at it, with only thetter being able to read the names.


    "Serene ss Valley¡­ Evergreen Pirs Forest." Little Shrubby said for the twins.


    "Yes, those are the two ces we''ll be going to." Lin Mu confirmed. "We''ll leave in a couple of days, time."


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby and the twins replied in unison.


    "Hmm, getting there will take you about two months." The Saintess easily estimated the distance.


    "Roughly, yes." Lin Mu replied. "But, with Little Shrubby, it''ll be just a month''s time or even less."


    "Of course! I''ll get us there quick." Little Shrubby said with confidence.


    "Till then though, let''s rx and prepare." Lin Mu said. "Little Shrubby, time to cook."


    "TIME FOR A FEAST!" Little Shrubby turned into a blur and rushed into the kitchen.


    <nulli>~shua~ shua~


    The twins followed after him to assist as well.


    "I''ll wait for the food to be ready." The Saintess said.


    "Of course, it won''t take long," Lin Mu said and started to set up the other grills in the courtyard.


    Even if he had already eaten at the banquet earlier, it didn''t mean Lin Mu''s hunger was satisfied. He felt like he could still eat a lot more and didn''t mind having another feast.


    In a couple of hours, the aroma of tantalizing dishes and the sound of joy filled the courtyard.

 Chapter 1888 Silent Xukong

    Chapter 1888 Silent Xukong


    Lin Mu spent the rest of the afternoon having a feast with the Saintess and his tamed beasts.


    They ate till it was evening and at that point, Lin Mu decided to rest for the day. He had been through a lot and hadn''t slept properly for a while.


    "I''ll head to bed now, Saintess." Lin Mu informed.


    "Go on, you''ve earned it." The Saintess replied.


    <nulli>~hiss~


    <nulli>~hiss~


    "Wee too." The twins asked.


    "Sure," Lin Mu sent the two to the Sleepscape first along with Little Shrubby.


    With that done, he entered the bedroom andy down on the bed.


    <nulli>"Haah~ that feels nice." Lin Mu felt his body rx and in just a minute, he had drifted off into sleep.


    <nulli>~rustle~


    A few momentster, Lin Mu opened his eyes in the Sleepscape.


    Standing in front of the Immortal Apple tree, he saw it filled with apples once. Half of them were still green and unripe, and a quarter was close to ripening. Thest remaining quarter was the only part that had fully ripened.


    <nulli>~Pluck~


    <nulli>~Crunch~


    Lin Mu plucked one of the apples and felt the refreshing sweet taste of the fruit. It reminded him of the old times and also refilled his Qi at the same time.


    "That was nice, thank you." Lin Mu spoke to the Immortal Apple Tree, making it wave its branch lightly.


    He turned around and walked toward the Violet Mystic Life Tree. Little Shrubby and the Yin Yang Twin Serpents were also there from what Lin Mu could sense..


    "I should check up on how it is." Lin Mu muttered.


    Ever since the Tree had entered dormancy, Lin Mu had been wondering what had happened to it and when it would awaken again. As such, he wanted to check the tree''s progress.


    A few minutester, Lin Mu reached the tree under which Little Shrubby and the twins were sitting. The three of them had found ''seats'' for themselves among the red crystal that grew from and around the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    "Master," Little Shrubby called out. "Come, it feels nice here." N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    "It does feelfortable." Lin Mu spoke, sensing the calm energy flowing around the tree. "Guess it has progressed a bit, at least." He reckoned seeing this.


    Next, Lin Mu walked up to the tree directly and touched its trunk, letting his immortal sense check the condition.


    ''Hmm¡­'' Lin Mu''s immortal sense entered the tree and felt the flow of vitality within the tree.


    Lin Mu stayed like that for about five minutes, checking all parts of the tree. It was after all, massive and it took a while to scan through all parts of it.


    "It is still dormant for the most part, but the flow of vitality within it has increased." Lin Mu assessed. "It''ll take a while more to return to normal, I suppose." He didn''t know exactly how long it would take but didn''t mind waiting.


    Having checked this Lin Mu, thought it was time to talk to Xukong.


    "Senior," Lin Mu called out.


    He waited for a minute, but received no response.


    "Senior, are you awake?" Lin Mu asked again.


    Even then, there was no response.


    ''Was the Saintess right? Did senior need to pay some cost?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Half an hour passed like this, and there was still no reply from Xukong, making Lin Mu think that perhaps he was busy with cultivation or something.


    ''I guess I can do other things till then,'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    As such, he sat down next to his beasts and took out the Spiral ke Crystal.


    "May as well continue my practice," Lin Mu muttered and closed his eyes while holding the Spiral ke Crystal.


    He extended his immortal sense into the crystal and found himself in the endless expanse again.


    ''Time to search for the unknown object once more,'' Lin Mu thought and began his practice.


    Last time he had managed to find it within an hour''s time and this time was the same.


    But just as Lin Mu reached it, the unknown object disappeared.


    "Again," Lin Mu began the search once more, sensing all the changes that he could.


    He was starting to figure out the positions of the unknown object bit by bit.


    ''It isn''t that it just appears randomly, there is a pattern to it¡­ Faint fluctuations that are very hard to sense.'' Lin Mu understood.


    This showed his improvement, as he had been unable to do this in the past. These were spatial fluctuations that were so small, that even an experienced spatial expert might not be able to find them.


    But with continuous practice, Lin Mu was able to improve his sensitivity to the space as well as his understanding of it.


    "Found it!" this time it only took him 56 minutes to find the unknown object.


    The improvement might just be of 4 minutes and seem small, but it was still an improvement. Plus, it was much bigger than one would think, as it had taken Lin Mu a long time to get to the one hour record before.


    <nulli>~shua~


    And sure enough, the unknown object disappeared again, causing Lin Mu to begin his search. But his confidence only improved further as he started to sense more and more.


    Three times, four times, five times, six times¡­. twenty times!


    With every few attempts, Lin Mu''s progressed more and more. The time needed for him to find the unknown object was reduced.


    By the twentieth time, Lin Mu had only taken 12 minutes to find it!


    "I''m getting closer." Lin Mu now had a hunch that when he could find the unknown object in a very short amount of time, perhaps within seconds, he would truly capture it and understand all there was about the Spiral ke Crystal.


    His confidence grew even more and so did his understanding of the space.


    Time continued to pass and morning arrived in the real world. But Lin Mu still hadn''t awakened.


    He was deep in practice and was very close to a breakthrough.

 Chapter 1889 Shattered Crystal

    Chapter 1889 Shattered Crystal


    The next day had arrived, and Lin Mu still hadn''t left the bedroom.


    The Saintess didn''t mind this as she knew that Lin Mu needed the rest. She herself wasn''t in the courtyard right now.


    Instead, she was high up in the upperyers of the Rust Sky World''s atmosphere. She sat on one of the many asteroids that circled it and was cultivating.


    <nulli>~Sigh~


    ''While the Rust Sky world is close to an upgrade, its Celestial Qi production is still very low¡­ Without being bound to it, I can barely extract a few wisps.'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    Her attention was split into several ces too.


    On one hand, she was cultivating and gathering energy while on the other hand, she was observing thend below her. With her senses, she could perceive a major part of the Dao Wind Empire as well as all that was happening within it.


    She also paid particr attention to the Hundred Fruits Pavilion where Lin Mu was deep in sleep.


    She checked it every once in a while, waiting for Lin Mu to awaken.


    From time to time, she would also check the ''top experts'' of the Rust Sky world and what they were doing.


    ''The three emperors are still here¡­ looks like they''re still processing what to do. Though at least Emperor Feng was smart enough to push the credit to the Temple of the Four Guardians.


    It made it a lot more believable and also gave it legitimacy.'' The Saintess approved of the man''s actions.


    After all, she had asked him to do something and the man had delivered.


    But on the other hand, she was still displeased due to the actions of the Third Prince.


    <nulli>~shua~


    Her senses went to the location of Feng Baxing which was one of the buildings within the Temple of the Four Guardians.


    Unlike the other buildings, this ce looked rather grim and had a suppressive aura.


    Anyone who approached this building would find it very ufortable and would feel nervous the entire time.


    And this was understandably so as this was nomon building. This was none other than the prison of the Temple of the Four Guardians.


    Those who had broken thews of the temple, whether they be members or not were kept here. Of course, their punishments varied and simrly, there were different sections within the prison.


    Those who had done light crimes or rule breaks were kept in the outermost section.


    The security here looked to bex on the surface, but any formation master would be able to tell that theck of guards here was intentional. There were arrays within the prison that steadily drained the Qi of all those who were imprisoned within it.


    As such, the member guards didn''t really need to enter it unless it was necessary or for some tasks.


    The prisoners were kept in control through the multiple arrays and couldn''t escape it.


    Feng Baxing was the same, but he was kept in the innermost section of the prison. His body was still in an unconscious state but his fleshy injuries had been healed.


    But the man''s meridian and Dantian were still damaged, leaving him a cripple.


    His appearance also looked a lot different than before, with his hair being a mix of salt and pepper.


    Wrinkles had also appeared on his face while his muscles degenerated. The man looked to have lost at least ten kilograms of weight on the surface and was skinner than before.


    Any cultivator, whether they be immortal or mortal, would know what this was.


    ''His longevity is draining fast¡­ Since he hasn''t practiced body cultivation he''ll continue to age.'' The Saintess thought as she gazed at the person who had dared to attack Lin Mu.


    The temple and the healers of the imperial court had fed Feng Baxing life saving treasures which had healed him and would let him keep his life. But it was unknown when he would be able to awaken from hisa.


    The Saintess estimated that Feng Baxing had a year or two to live. If his meridians and Dantian were not healed in this time, he would run out of longevity and die.


    ''Even if he didn''t die, he would still be serving the Temple as a ve for the rest of his life.'' The Saintess knew the man''s fate was sealed.


    Her gaze lingered for a minute more before she withdrew and focused on cultivation. N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    Back at the Hundred Fruits Pavilion, Lin Mu was still asleep. He had tried to find the unknown object over a hundred times by now, and it was past noon in the real world.


    "One minute¡­" Lin Mu had finally cut down the time to just sixty seconds.


    The progress wasn''t linear and there were pauses in between, but slowly Lin Mu''s understanding of the space continued to grow. And now he could sense the fluctuations within the Spiral ke Crystal clearly.


    ''One¡­ two¡­ three¡­ four¡­ five¡­ now it shifts.'' Lin Mu counted the waves of fluctuations before making his Immortal sense move at a great speed. ''Pause for a count of three and now!" It reached a new location within the crystal and shot towards a particr location.


    <nulli>~FLICKER~


    This time around though, Lin Mu''s immortal sense directly touched something.


    It was no longer immaterial and felt like something corporeal.


    "Is this it?" Lin Mu muttered as he observed the unknown object that he had been searching for so far.


    It was in the shape of a small polyhedral crystal and had shimmering sparkles within it.


    Upon grasping the crystal within the crystal with his Immortal sense, Lin Mu didn''t let it go.


    <nulli>~shua~


    A few secondster, Lin Mu saw the polyhedral crystal turn dull, the shimmering sparkles within it disappearing. At the same time, his sensitivity to the space suddenly spiked!


    ''This¡­'' Lin Mu felt like the crystal had rapidly improved his proficiency with the space. "At least¡­ ten percent!" it was a growth that Lin Mu would not have expected.


    <nulli>~<nullb>SHATTER~


    But then a few momentster, the Spiral ke Crystal in his hand shattered, his immortal sense ejecting out of it.

 Chapter 1890 Four Faceted Nebula Manifests

    Chapter 1890 Four Faceted Neb Manifests


    Lin Mu didn''t know that the Spiral ke Crystal would end up like this and had a rude awakening because of it. N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    "It broke entirely¡­" Lin Mu muttered, looking at the shards on his hand and on the ground.


    "What happened?" Little Shrubby asked, having seen the crystal suddenly break.


    He had seen Lin Mu practice using the crystal before and knew that it was important.


    "I don''t exactly know¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    "It''s because you''ve exhausted all the potential of the Spiral ke Crystal." A voice was suddenly heard.


    <nulli>~shua~


    Lin Mu quickly turned to the source of the voice and saw a silvery grey orb appearing.


    "Senior!" Lin Mu saw none other than Xukong appearing.


    After all that waiting, Xukong had finally responded to his call. But upon seeing him, Lin Mu noticed something right away.


    ''His body¡­ seems smaller than before.'' Lin Mu observed.


    "You should have experienced the boost in your Spatial Proficiency right? Also your sensitivity." Xukong asked.


    "Yes¡­ it grew slowly at first, but then when the crystal was just about to break it rapidly increased by 10%." Lin Mu answered.


    "The Spiral ke Crystal did its work. You managed to find its core and absorbed all the energy within. That is what improved your proficiency with the space." Xukong exined.


    "So that''s what it was¡­" Lin Mu finally understood.


    "Indeed. The point of using the Spiral ke Crystal was to train your perception to find the core. The core is constantly teleporting within the Spatial ke Crystal''s endless space and it takes high sensitivity to find it. When your perception is good enough that you can sense the core before its appearance, you''ll be able to absorb it." Xukong borated further.


    "I see¡­ it does feel a lot faster for me now." Lin Mu said, looking around with his eyes.


    Even in the Sleepscape, he could feel the faint spatial fluctuations. The ones around Xukong were especially prominent. The surprising thing though was that Lin Mu had never seen them before.


    ''But they should have always been there¡­ it''s only now that I am able to sense them.'' He reckoned.


    <nulli>~HONG~


    But this was merely the start of the changes.


    Lin Mu suddenly felt a burst of energy from his Dantian and the very space around him shook.


    "Huh?" even Xukong was taken aback and looked at him in surprise.


    <nulli>~SHUA~


    A few momentster, a formless object flew out of Lin Mu''s abdomen. It fluttered in the air as if it were a piece of fabric and was ck with countless stars on it.


    "Four Faceted Neb!" Lin Mu saw his Spatial Dao Embryo manifesting.


    <nulli>~flutter~


    The Four Faceted Neb Dao Embryo expanded and turned into arge sheet. The four colored stars twinkled in it as if it were the endless expanse of the space.


    <nulli>~HUWA~


    A strange low pitched voice was hearding from the Dao Embryo and a depression appeared in its center.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    A suction force rose from it, causing winds to whip up in the Sleepscape.


    "What''s happening?" Lin Mu was confused.


    Thankfully, this was Sleepscape and itsponents couldn''t be disturbed easily. The Violet Mystic Tree gently swayed from the winds, while the grass and soil below stayed stable. Even the immortal Qi within the air was not being affected, which was strange.


    <nulli>~CRACK~


    But a couple of secondster, Lin Mu understood what was happening. Cracks appeared in the air, and silvery grey streaks of energy leaked out of it.


    "GET BACK!" Xukong shouted, teleporting in front of Lin Mu.


    <nulli>~ZIP~


    But much to their shock, the Four Faceted Neb was faster and directly pounced on the silvery grey energy streak. It wrapped it up and swallowed the streak in one go.


    "It¡­ it absorbed the Spatial Energy?!" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "No¡­ that wasn''t Spatial Energy. That was Spatial elemental Immortal Qi." Xukong corrected. "They might look simr, but their intensities are vastly different." He added.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and confirmed Xukong''s words. They didn''t seem as strong or dangerous as the silvery grey streaks from the void.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    Another streak shot out from the crack and the Four Faceted Neb rushed to consume it as well.


    It was like the Dao Embryo was a and was catching the carps that tried to jump out of the water.


    Lin Mu put more distance between him and the Dao Embryo, while Little Shrubby and the Yin Yang Twin Serpents did the same.


    The beasts could sense the threat instinctively and had moved without Lin Mu having to tell them.


    Little Shrubby jumped to one of the branches of the Violet Mystic Life Tree fifty meters above, while the Twins wrapped themselves around one of the jutting crystals from its trunk and watched carefully.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    <nulli>~ZIP~ZIP~ZIP~


    The Four Faceted Neb kept zipping around the area and captured each of the Spatial Elemental Immortal Qi that was shot out from the spatial crack.


    "Looks like the Spatial Crack leads to the Lesser Void." Xukong had determined the level of the spatial crack.


    <nulli>~Phew~


    "If it''s lesser void, then it is not as bad." Lin Mu took a breath of relief.


    He was familiar with Lesser Void and would be able to deal with any ident that happened. However it seemed unlikely, as the Dao Embryo seemed a lot more eager to do it on its own.


    "Do you feel any change?" Xukong questioned. "In the Dao Embryo?"


    "Right now¡­ no. I can feel the link still, but it is not under my control." Lin Mu replied, furrowing his brows.


    "Hmm¡­ this is concerning," Xukong muttered. "Since it is a unique Dao Embryo that has never existed before, it is impossible to tell what it can do." Even he was at a loss.


    They could only watch as the Four Faceted Neb continued to consume all the Spatial Elemental Immortal Qi.


    Minute after minute passed, and Lin Mu could see the size of the Dao Embryo grow bit by bit.

 Chapter 1891 Rapid Growth And Understanding Of Embryo

    Chapter 1891 Rapid Growth And Understanding Of Embryo


    When Lin Mu had first formed the Dao Embryo, it was smaller. Even if the Four Faceted Neb was ''formless'' it still had a certain volume. The rules of the Dao Embryos still applied and it was at the Embryo Birth Stage.


    But it had now expanded from its initial couple of meters of size to more than 10 meters wide!


    It was clear that the Four Faceted Neb had officially progressed to the Embryo Growth Stage of the Dao Treading realm!


    "Senior¡­ It broke through." Lin Mu said, seeing the growth.


    "It has yes¡­ And it does not seem to be stopping just yet." Xukong replied.


    "Yeah, but I can''t feel much difference in it." Lin Mu said, gazing at the Four Faceted Neb that continued to grow.


    It was already at the twelve meter mark, which was rather big. After all, this wasn''t just a Dao Shell, but also the Dao Embryo. They werebined and as such, it was hard to tell what was what.


    They had be a single entity.


    Normally Dao Embryo''s weren''t that big, or at least their original forms weren''t. Only when they were utilizing some Dao Skill would there be a change in their size.


    But here, the Four Faceted Neb Dao Embryo itself was growing in size.


    Lin Mu and Xukong could only watch and see just how far it would go.


    Twenty minutes passed and the Dao Embryo was now at the Twenty meter mark.


    Usually, this was the limit for the growth of the Dao Shells, but it was hard to tell if the same could apply here.


    Lin Mu watched with bated breath, as the Dao Embryo went past the twenty meter mark and increased to twenty one meters!


    <nulli>"Haaah~" A surge of energy rushed through Lin Mu''s body, causing him to take a deep breath.


    His hands and legs trembled, as the power felt new to him.


    "Are you okay?" Xukong asked with concern.


    "I''m okay¡­ it doesn''t hurt¡­ it''s just¡­ new and unfamiliar." Lin Mu replied as he chanted the Calming Heart Sutra to stabilize his breathing.


    ~<nulli>CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The Four Faceted Neb having gone past the 20 meter mark, seemed to have triggered a qualitative change of some kind as its power suddenly multiplied. The forceing from it increased, causing the Spatial Cracks to expand as well as an increase in number.


    <nulli>~WHOOSH~


    More streaks of Spatial Elemental Immortal Qi poured out of it and were absorbed by the Dao Embryo.


    ''Since its size has increased, it is able to capture multiple of them at once and is also faster than before.'' Lin Mu observed. ''Its speed is almostparable to teleportation.'' He estimated.


    With more spatial cracks and a higher amount of Spatial elemental immortal Qi pouring in, the growth of the Four Faceted Neb Dao Embryo became even faster.


    Twenty Two Meters¡­


    Twenty Three Meters¡­


    .


    .


    .


    Twenty Seven Meters¡­


    .


    .


    .


    Thirty Five Meters¡­


    .


    .


    .


    Forty Meters¡­


    .


    .


    .


    .


    FIFTY METERS!


    In just thirty minutes, the Dao Embryo expanded to the size of fifty meters. Now it looked like arge wall that blocked all that was in its way. It didn''t even need to move around to capture the Spatial elemental immortal Qi streaks, as its size was big enough, and its suction force was also stronger.


    The silvery grey streaks were like meteors being attracted by the gravity of a, curving around but eventually being pulled by it and crashing into it.


    <nulli>~FUWA~


    At that point, it felt like the Four Faceted Neb had be even more greedy and directly pounced onto the spatial cracks. It stuck onto the cracks and patched them up.


    <nulli>~Crinkle~ Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    It stayed like that for a minute before starting to wrinkle and shrink. But while shrinking, it still stayed stuck to the Spatial Cracks, causing them to shrink as well.


    From fifty meters, it reduced to twenty five, then ten, and finally to just a meter. The tens of spatial cracks that had been created because of it all disappeared and the space had stabilized once more.


    <nulli>~sha~


    Then, as if it had finished its meal, the Four Faceted Neb ''peeled'' off the spatial fabric and floated in front of Lin Mu.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu could feel the link between him and the Dao Embryo getting stronger at that moment.


    His control over it was also restored, allowing him to understand it in depth.


    Xukong watched it all with interest and concern, ready to act if anything happened. Even if it was Lin Mu''s own Dao Embryo, there was no telling if there could be any mishaps with it.


    There were always cultivators who had been injured by their own Dao Embryos. After all, Dao Embryo''s were not 100% safe.


    A good example was none other than the Dao Embryo of Childe Wildfire.


    The Scorch Sun Ruby Dao Embryo was a very dangerous and powerful Dao Embryo. If one did not have the necessary strength and willpower to control it, it could burn themselves.


    Even Childe Wildfire had suffered a bacsh from it and had taken a long time before he utilized it.


    One needed to know when they were ready to use their Dao Embryo and the Dao Skills associated with it.


    And until now, the same could be said for Lin Mu and the Four Faceted Neb.


    "It is finally responding to me¡­ I can feel it¡­ I can sense it¡­" Lin Mu felt a stream of information appearing within his head at that moment.


    The first thing he understood was that the Four Faceted Neb had broken through again and was now at the Dao Comprehension Stage of the Dao Treading realm.


    The next thing that Lin Mu grasped was the Dao Skill that was born from the Dao Embryo.


    "Four Faceted Neb Dao Embryo! First Facet: Freedom of Movement- Warp!" Lin Mu uttered, making the Dao Embryo respond.


    <nulli>~HUALA~


    The Dao Embryo expanded and turned into a swirling vortex, the shimmering stars within it moving and arranging themselves into a pattern.


    Xukong who saw this, was stunned, as the power exuding from the Dao Embryo was far greater than should be possible.

 Chapter 1892 A Way Back And A Way To Escape

    Chapter 1892 A Way Back And A Way To Escape


    Looking at the swirling portal both Lin Mu and Xukong were confused and amazed.


    "Be careful," Xukong warned. "The powering from it is enough to match a Transcendent Immortal." "Really?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "Yes¡­ Though do you know what it does?" Xukong asked even though he could already tell it.


    "The Four Faceted Neb Dao Embryo''s first form opens a teleportation portal to other ces." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm¡­ but do you know where it leads to?" Xukong asked.


    "I¡­ Don''t know." Lin Mu replied honestly. "All I can feel is that it''ll take me somewhere far." "Hmmm¡­" Xukong was left in thought after hearing that making Lin Mu exin more.


    "The Four Faceted Neb was based on freedom and as such, this Dao Skill allows the freedom of movement. I can use this to escape when I am in absolute danger with no other option left." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yeah, other than as ast resort it might be too risky to use this." Xukong replied. "Though considering the powering from it¡­ I reckon it can send you all the way to the other end of the Immortal realm." He added.


    "That far?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "That is just an estimate. The way the Dao Embryo is working is different than all other teleportation methods I know." Xukong responded. "It has either made its own method or is using a method that has been long forgotten." He added.


    For even Xukong to not know, despite being an expert in space was astonishing. It just showed just how unique the Four Faceted Neb was.


    ''Seems like I''ll have to keep it as ast resort. And I''ll only use it when I have everyone with me.'' Lin Mu couldn''t imagine getting separated from Little Shrubby, the twins or the Saintess.


    After all, if Xukong''s words were urate, and the portal could really send him as far as the other side of the Immortal realm, there was no telling how long it would take him to make his way back. And that was IF he even arrived at a world with an established order. If it was a deste world with no Cross World Teleportation arrays, it would be very difficult. There were more lifeless worlds than worlds filled with life in the universe which made it a lot more probable.


    "Can you control its location?" Xukong asked after looking at the portal for a bit.


    "Let me see¡­" Lin Mu replied and closed his eyes.


    ~SHUA~


    Using his link with the Dao Embryo hemunicated his desires. ~HONG~


    The Four Faceted Neb responded to him, and the stars in the portal started to shift again. Previously, they had formed a pattern around the vortex which was rather simple. The four colored stars simply formed a ring around them.


    But now, there was a particr shift in them.


    Among the four colored stars, a single white colored star responded to Lin Mu''s desire.


    It moved to the center of the Vortex, changing its color to white!


    Meanwhile, the rest of the stars retreated to the edge, as if there was no need for them.


    "It changed color?" Lin Mu was surprised and walked closer as he felt a connection to the white star. It felt incredibly close to him, as if he knew what it was, but couldn''t ce his finger on it.


    ~Flicker~


    ~SHUA~


    But when he got closer, the portal abruptly shrank and reduced in size.


    "What happened?" Xukong asked.


    "It does not have enough energy¡­" Lin Mu replied. "What location did you choose?" Xukong asked. "Was it too far?" "No¡­ the location was something we have been to before¡­ it felt familiar. Very familiar." Lin Mu answered as aplex expression appeared on his face.


    "Stop this and see if there are any other locations you can recognize," Xukong said as a few hints appeared in his mind. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    With his experience, it wasn''t that hard to figure out the workings of it.


    Lin Mu did as told and tried to see if he felt familiarity with any of the other stars. For a minute he felt nothing, until one of the red stars moved.


    ~Pulse~


    But when it tried toe to the center of the vortex, it was pushed back.


    "It doesn''t work?" Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion.


    "No¡­" But Xukong had picked up on something. "It isn''t that it doesn''t work¡­ It''s because the location of that star is invalid." He said, confusing Lin Mu.


    "How would it be inval¡ª" It was then that Lin Mu felt the spatial fluctuations. They were minuscule, but Lin Mu matched them with the lesser void fluctuation he had felt around the Rust Sky world.


    "That red star¡­ it leads to the Rust Sky World¡­ that''s why it''s invalid." Lin Mu figured it out.


    "Indeed¡­ it''s invalid, because you are already here." Xukong confirmed.


    "Then that means the white star is¡­ The Xiaofan World!" Lin Mu eximed.


    Lin Mu was sure of it. The connection that he felt from it was innate. After all, he had been ordained by the Xiaofan world and as such could feel it in his bones.


    "Looks like you now have a way to head back to the Xiaofan world." Xukong spoke. "If you wish to visit it someday." He added.


    "Yes¡­" Lin Mu knew going back there now wasn''t an option. He still had a lot of things to explore of course. But if one day he really missed it, he could always head back. "Though¡­ There is still the question of how to make it work." Lin Mu said with a little uncertainty. "I don''t know exactly how the teleportation cost is determined. Like you said, it can teleport me basically anywhere in the Immortal realm, but it cannot work if I pick Xiaofan world as an option." "It might be due to theplexity of traversing through the Grand Void. Don''t forget, the Xiaofan world is in the Mortal realm. In order to go there, it would have to pass through the Grand Void and then move down to the Mortal realm where the Xiaofan world is located.


    Whereas now, it can just teleport within the Immortal realm which does not involve it going through the Grand Void." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm, that does make sense." Lin Mu muttered. "Looks like it''ll need a lot more energy to travel back. If I wish to use it." "How does it gather energy, though?" Xukong asked, as he genuinely could not tell. He might have seen it absorb the Spatial Immortal Qi from the Spatial Cracks, but that did not seem like the normal option.


    "It seems to be able to absorb energy passively on its own." Lin Mu stated. "I can also charge it with Spatial Qi, but the sheer amount needed is way beyond what I can control now." He added.


    Xukong nodded his head, knowing that it was still a tall order for Lin Mu to start using high volume of Spatial Qi. However, with his improved understanding of space, he should be able to control it a lot better and start umting it within his Dantian bit by bit.


    "Looks like you''ll have to let it passively charge then," Xukong said. "It''ll be your final trump card to escape after all."


    "Yeah¡­ in the ideal situation, I should have enough energy stored in it for not just a trip back to the Xiaofan world, but also a random teleportation to escape." Lin Mu concluded.


    "That will be for the best." Xukong knew being cautious would be the better option.


    "Also¡­ I think I can add more worlds to it." Lin Mu suddenly spoke. "The White Stars seem to be mortal worlds, while the red stars seem to be Immortal worlds." He analyzed.


    "Yeah, it probably adds to them if you visit them." Xukong agreed. "But¡­ if those two stars'' colors represent Mortal and Immortal¡­ then what do the Blue and Gold stars represent?" Lin Mu wondered. "One could be the Celestial worlds, but that still leaves another color." "That¡­ will be for you to figure out on your own." Xukong said inly.


    "I''ll try my best." Lin Mu replied while gazing at the Four Faceted Neb.


    ~shua~


    He deactivated it, causing it to close the portal and revert to its formless state. It floated in front of Lin Mu like a dark cloud with stars shining within it.


    ''This is just the first of the four Dao Skills¡­ I still need to learn the other three facets.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had understood the reason why he hadn''t been able to use the Dao Embryo so far. It was simply because his understanding of space wascking. But after having touched the core of the Spiral ke Crystal, it had increased rapidly and had reached the threshold that was needed for the Dao Embryo to work.


    ''If the first facet is the Freedom of Movement, what other kinds of freedoms will it show me?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.

 Chapter 1893 Shock And Awe Shopping

    Chapter 1893 Shock And Awe Shopping


    Lin Mu dismissed the Four Faceted Neb and sent it back into his Dantian.


    There it turned formless and disappeared into nothingness. If others were to pry and look into Lin Mu''s Dantian, they would be unable to tell that he even had a Spatial Dao Embryo inside. The ability of the Four Faceted Neb to hide was simply impable.


    "I think you should wake up now," Xukong spoke. "You intended to leave in a couple of days, right?" he asked.


    "Oh, right!" Lin Mu realized. "It''s nearly been two days!" he had spent a longer time in the Sleepscape than expected due to the breakthroughs.


    While he obviously didn''t regret it, he still wished to keep a schedule to follow.


    "Let''s get going then, we still have to get a few things before we leave the capital city." Lin Mu said and closed his eyes.


    ~SHUA~


    He opened his eyes in the real world and stood up from the bed.


    ~Creak~


    He slid open the door of his bedroom and appeared in the open courtyard. "Saintess?" Lin Mu called out, not seeing her. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "I''ll be back in a bit. You get your things in order first." Her voice was heard in Lin Mu''s ears.


    "Alright, I''ll go out to buy some things." Lin Mu said and left the courtyard.


    He didn''t know where the Saintess was but reckoned she was probably cultivating.


    ''She did say she had exhausted quite a lot of her energy in helping me. Perhaps she is also recuperating that.'' Lin Mu thought, which was right.


    High above the Capital City, the Saintess was on one of the many asteroids that circled the Rust Sky World. Her body was surrounded by clouds on which she floated and a handful of light specs were also present.


    These light specks entered the runes on her palms and disappeared within them.


    The Saintess''s eyes were closed as she answered Lin Mu, but she opened them after she finished absorbing all the light specs.


    ''This will be enough for emergencies. But I''ll gather more along the way.'' The Saintess thought, looking at the runes on her hand.


    Due to being in an Immortal world, she couldn''t just use Celestial Qi like she normally could. She had to use it in a restrained manner so as to not affect the world and its limitations. This made it very inefficient as well as exhaustive to do so.


    Of course, she could always unleash her own Celestial Qi but that would be breaking the rules of not just the Immortal world but also the Immortal court.


    It would make things bothersome for the Saintess and make it too troublesome to handleter. She would much rather avoid something like that. She didn''t particrly fear them, but the paperwork and nagging they would give her would be too much.


    "Hmm¡­ is he going shopping?" The Saintess''s gaze zoomed over to the ground and quickly spotted Lin Mu.


    He went around the market with Little Shrubby on his shoulder and a mask on his face.


    It was necessary since he had be a winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardians and as such would cause people to stop him. He didn''t want to be bothered and took the precaution. This made his work much easier and he could go around buying all the things he needed much easier.


    Most of the things he got were either ingredients that Little Shrubby wanted to get before they left the city, as well as a few herbs that he had been wanting to test out. In addition to that, Lin Mu also bought more maps and information about as many ces as he could get. He bought more Herb and fruitpendiums as well as jade slips full of information about rare materials.


    He looked through all the shops, trying to find as much obscure information as he could as well as maps. Lin Mu even bought maps that imed to be of hidden treasures and sacrednds.


    While he knew they were highly likely to be fake, he knew he couldbine that with other information to form a better map and probably figure out more things.


    After all, rumors had a source too.


    "Now for the final buy." Lin Mu stopped in front of a clothing store.


    ''Golden Butterfly Raiments'' The sign board read.


    The shop was about ten stories tall and looked more like a small pce than a clothing store. It had sections for different kinds of clothes and fulfilled the needs for all kinds of cultivators. Whether they be immortal or not, they could all find something they wanted here.


    Right from basic robes to immortal treasure robes, one could find everything here.


    It was THE biggest clothing store in the Capital city and was also the most luxurious.


    "Time to get some favorable treatment." Lin Mu muttered and took off his mask.


    Now that he had finished most of his shopping, he didn''t have a need for the mask. Plus in a shop like this, it was better to have a good reputation as it would allow him ess to better items that others wouldn''t get.


    Not to mention, he would also get exponentially better service.


    When he took off the mask, no one noticed.


    Lin Mu even walked into the shop with ease. It wasn''t until he actually talked to a clerk that they noticed him.


    "Hi, I''d like to buy some immortal robes." Lin Mu spoke to the nearest clerk.


    "Of course sir, what kind of¡ª" The clerk was speaking in a practiced manner when he finally realized who he was speaking to.


    His words got stuck in his throat and his eyes went wide.


    "D-Daoist¡­ Mu Lin!" The Clerk almost stumbled.


    "Yes?" Lin Mu replied casually.


    The clerk forcibly controlled his expression and turned up his hospitality to the max.


    "Wee esteemed guest!" He said at the top of his lungs. "Pleasee with me, I''ll take you to our top floor. We cannot dishonor someone like you, with just this level of service."


    This was more than enough for the other customers and staff to notice.


    ~HUMM~


    In the next moment, music started ying all of a sudden and tens of people descended from the stairs ying multiple instruments.


    Even Lin Mu was taken aback, as he hadn''t expected something like this.


    "Please," The clerk bowed his head and gestured for Lin Mu to follow him.


    "Sure, let''s go." Lin Mu followed after the man while the people chattered behind him.


    All of them had recognized Lin Mu and were shocked that he had appeared here. But then they understood that it was somewhat normal for a winner toe buy some robes for himself.


    Lin Mu ignored the words of the people and went to the top floor of the shop.


    Upon reaching there, he saw a beautiful woman standing there.


    She looked to be in her early thirties and was dressed in long pink robes. She had a golden cor holding up her hair, while tasseled silver earrings adorned her ears.


    ''A Noble?'' it didn''t take much for Lin Mu to figure out her standing. ''That crest¡­ one of the families of the Imperial Court?'' He saw a crest embroidered on her sleeve.


    Lin Mu went through the noble families he had read about in the Dao Wind empire and identified which one the woman belonged to.


    ''The Na n.'' Lin Mu remembered.


    "Wee, Daoist Mu Lin." The Woman cupped her hands. "I am Na Bi, the owner of this establishment and also the First Daughter of the Na n." She introduced herself.


    "Greetings, Miss Na Bi." Lin Mu too cupped his hands in greeting. "I''ve heard of the Na n. Your father is the current Minister of Commerce, in the Imperial Court, right?" He inquired.


    "Ah yes, Daoist Mu Lin is right." Na Bi smiled in contentment. "So, what would someone like you want from us today?" she asked.


    "I''d like some Immortal Robes¡­ preferably ones that have some level of defense and can repair themselves." Lin Mu stated.


    "Ah, like the ones you are wearing right now." The woman''s eyes quickly picked up on it.


    "Yes, but maybe more resilient." Lin Mu added. "These ones are good¡­ but cannot take stronger attacks." Na Bi smiled in response before speaking, "As much as I''d like to offer you something, I do not think there are any self repairing immortal robes that can withstand an attack from a Fifth Tribtion Stage immortal and stay intact." She knew about the fight that Lin Mu was referencing.


    "But¡­ there is something else I can offer you. It isn''t exactly a conventional robe, though." She added.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "I''ve seen Daoist Mu Lin''s fights, and as such, know that you have high defensive capabilities, right? As such, I don''t think you need robes that are specialized in defense. Instead of that, how about I give you something that is¡­ Immaterial." She spoke, catching Lin Mu''s attention.

 Chapter 1894 Silver Mirage Circlet

    Chapter 1894 Silver Mirage Circlet


    Hearing the woman''s words, Lin Mu was a bit confused.


    "Immaterial? What do you mean?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "Well, I think it is easier to just show you." Na Bi said. "Please follow me."


    "Alright," Lin Mu said and went after the woman.


    She took him deeper into the floor, where valuable clothes were kept. Lin Mu could see hundreds of mannequins lining the sides, each one wearing different kinds of clothes. The right side had men''s clothes, while the left had women''s clothes.


    But that wasn''t all, as Lin Mu could tell the further they went the better the quality became.


    Of course, while all the clothes on this floor were of a high quality, it didn''t mean there weren''t higher quality ones.


    Lin Mu used his immortal sense to scan the clothes and could find out information about them in one go.


    ''Oh? The mannequins actually have all the information about the clothing stored in them.'' Lin Mu discovered.


    There were clothes that had different kinds of resistances such as being fireproof or cold proof, or had special formations on them that could provide various effects like defensive barriers, emergency offensive skills and even escape techniques all built into them.


    Of course, all these clothes were basically at the mid to high grade and were quite valuable.


    And when Lin Mu reached the end of the floor, he started to see armors of various kinds. From skin tight armor that looked like fish skin, all the way to full te armor that basically turned one into a mobile fortress.


    Lin Mu felt tempted to try out a few armors and also test out their durability. But then realized that even if he did get them, they would probably be obsolete once he learned the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    ''Though it won''t hurt to just check them out¡­'' Lin Mu thought and used his immortal sense to probe them.


    With his proficiency in formations, it didn''t take much for him to understand the defensive power of the armors.


    ''They are quite strong¡­ can withstand Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm attacks and perhaps even Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm attacks, but that''ll be their limit and they''ll break.'' Lin Mu analyzed from the formations.


    What was more surprising to him though was that the materials used to make the armors were capable of a lot more than that.


    ''They''recking due to the formations used¡­'' Lin Mu understood.


    He wondered if this was due to the fact that this was a ce specialized in clothes, rather than armors in general.


    ''I don''t think theyck experienced formation masters at least¡­ I''ve seen plenty of them in the capital city.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This led him to the conclusion that it wasn''t formation masters that they werecking, but rather good Armor smiths.


    ''If Jing Wei or Jing Luo had ess to the same materials, I''m pretty sure they could make armors that were at least three times better than this.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    It made him miss them a bit, and he made a note in his mind to take as many kinds of metals and other materials as he could whenever he visited the Xiaofan world.


    While thinking of all this, Lin Mu saw that Na Bi hade to a halt.


    They stood in front of a long and narrow tform, on which several boxes were kept. Lin Mu didn''t know what they contained and couldn''t check either, as the boxes all had protective arrays on them that prevented immortal sense from entering it.


    He just waited and let the noblewoman exin.


    "Here we are," Na Bi said before opening one of the boxes.


    ~shua~


    The protection on the box was lifted, and its insides were revealed.


    Within it, a red square cushion was ced, on which rested a thin circlet.


    The circle looked rather simple, and was of a silver color. It had a circr shape like any other circlet but on its front, there was a V shaped design with two small leaf like motifs jutting from the middle of the shape.


    Furthermore, the two branches of the ''V'' also curled and were attached to the rest of the circlet[1].


    If anyone were to look at the circlet, they would find it rather unassuming.


    It didn''t look that valuable either.


    Even if it was made from pure silver, with its size, it wouldn''t be that expensive. Of course, that was only if a mortal were looking at it.


    For an immortal cultivator though, it was an entirely different object.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu asked, unable to even sense the circlet with his Immortal sense.


    Even if it was right in front of him, and Lin Mu could guide his immortal sense to ''touch'' it, the circlet behaved like air.


    His Immortal sense simply passed through it as it did not exist.


    "This is the Silver Mirage Circlet." Na Bi introduced. "It is one of the signature inventions of our n and had been made on demand from the noblewomen of our empire." She added.


    "Oh? What does it do?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well, it can basically form the illusion of any clothes you can imagine." Na Bi replied casually.


    "That is¡­ quite interesting." Lin Mu was piqued.


    "It was originally created because there was a demand from some of our more¡­ ''Fashionable'' noblewomen. They wished for clothing that would change on demand and wouldn''t need for them to do it themselves.


    At first, we simply made robes that could transform, but that came with its own limitations. The number of transformations were limited, and the more of them we added, the higher its price got.


    Not to mention, the formations also became moreplex, which led to higher chances of failure. Then there was the avability of the materials themselves which led to a logistical issue.


    The material needed to make it was Mirror Light Silk. Which is not only expensive, but also a strategic material used in making high grade armors as well as weapons. As such we couldn''t just keep on using it to manufacture clothing.


    The imperial court wouldn''t allow it.


    This forced us to innovate further and we finally came up with this." Na Bi exined in depth as if trying to convince Lin Mu fully.


    "I see¡­ So can I try it?" Lin Mu asked right away.


    "Of course, that''s the best way to observe its effects." Na Bi said, picking up the circlet. "Please, allow me." She said bringing the circlet close to Lin Mu.


    "Sure," Lin Mu lowered his head slightly, allowing the woman to ce it on his head.


    The circlet slid on his head easily, and felt like soft silk despite being made of metal. And when it was right in the middle of his forehead, it automatically adjusted its size and fit him snugly.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu could sense the Circlet trying to form a link with him as whatever restriction that was on it was lifted. He could now sense the circlet with his immortal sense.This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "Treat it like any other immortal tool. It will respond to your immortal sense." Na Bi spoke.


    "Alright," Lin M did as told and used his immortal sense to link up with the Silver Mirage Circlet.


    ~humm~


    The connection formed almost instantly and was effortless. Some information appeared in Lin Mu''s mind, and the method of operating the Silver Mirage Circlet also became apparent to him.


    ''It''s actually a High Grade Immortal tool¡­'' Lin Mu finally understood its quality level.


    Something like this was already worth a lot of Immortal stones.


    "Now, you should be able to pick one of the designs that is stored within the circlet." Na Bi instructed.


    "Yeah, I can see them." Lin Mu said as a few robes appeared in his mind.


    He picked one of the styles and let the circlet do its magic.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, a wave of energy was released by the Silver Mirage Circlet and Lin Mu''s clothes transformed.


    From the previous in brown robes, they turned into threeyered robes.


    The innermostyer was white in color, while the middleyer was red and had floral patterns on them. Then the outermostyer was ck in color, forming an appealing contrast between the three colors.


    And on the left side of Lin Mu''s chest, a small ck broach also appeared. From the broach, a ck pearl tassel hung, adding a hint of elegance to the robes.


    Na Bi who looked at Lin Mu couldn''t help but blush slightly, feeling the change in Lin Mu''s entire demeanor.


    "The clothes certainly make a man¡­" Na Bi muttered to herself. "Daoist Mu Lin looks marvelous." She praised before waving her hand.


    ~shua~


    A mirror automatically rose from the ground, allowing Lin Mu to take a look himself.


    "Hmm¡­ it does look nice." Lin Mu admitted. "Though¡­ You said it can change to any design imaginable, but I only see a limited number of them stored in it." He expressed his doubt.


    [1] Checkments for the picture

 Chapter 1895 A Satisfying Buy

    Chapter 1895 A Satisfying Buy


    Lin Mu didn''t know if Na Bi''s words were wrong or if there was something else that he was missing.


    "Ah, the designs you see in it are the ones we have stored. If you wish, we can add more to them." The noblewoman replied. "Also, since you are a Formation master too, you should have no issues in adding them yourself too." She added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu replied feeling content.


    "The Silver Mirage Circlet creates active Qi flow around your body, which simtes the feeling of clothes. As such, even if someone uses their immortal sense, they would still think you are wearing clothes that are visible to them. In reality, you could be wearing anything underneath.


    Though¡­ it is best you have some clothes on as it is easier for the Silver Mirage Circlet to work that way. While it works even without any clothes, the consumption of immortal Qi will be higher." Na Bi exined.


    "Yeah, I can sense the drain on my Immortal Qi." Lin Mu felt his immortal Qi being drawn into the circlet and then being used to create an illusion of different styled robes.


    Right now it was more like, the immortal Qi was flowing down his actual robes and then bouncing out in a pattern such that it generated the appearance of the illusory robes that he seemed to be wearing. This had a lower consumption since the circlet could simply use the preexisting robes as a base.


    But if Lin Mu was not wearing any clothing, it would have to spend extra energy generating the Qi flow to give a ''physical'' aspect to the illusory clothes. The Qi flow generated would be higher and as such the consumption would also increase.


    "The immortal Qi demand is also why not many noblewomen use this often. While there have been several sales, they only use the Silver Mirage Circlet when there are asions that demand it. After all, not everyone would like a constant drain on their Immortal Qi stores." Na Bi stated.


    Lin Mu could understand this as it was indeed a valid concern for most cultivators. Not everyone was like Lin Mu, whose passive absorption rate of Immortal Qi was higher than the consumption rate of the Silver Mirage Circlet. As such, he could continually wear it and he would still have a positive gain to his Immortal Qi.


    In fact, if the extra immortal Qi drain took up just a fraction of his passive absorption rate. It was small enough that Lin Mu could ignore it entirely.


    This alone was more than enough for Lin Mu to be fully convinced.


    "I''ll take it." Lin Mu stated. "How much will it be?" he asked.


    "800 High Grade Immortal Stones." Na Bi said with a smile.


    To most immortals, this would be a crazy price to pay for an immortal tool that merely created the illusion of clothes and provided no protection. After all, they could buy enough clothes tost thousands of years just by using a single High Grade immortal stone.


    Rather than spending it on something like this, they would rather buy a useful immortal tool that could increase their power.


    But for Lin Mu, who had a unique problem and had plenty of funds, this was a non issue.


    "Here you go," Lin Mu easily took out 800 High Grade Immortal stones and handed them to the woman.


    "Thank you," Na Bi didn''t even need to count them and stored them away. "Is there anything else you would like?" she asked.


    "Hmm¡­ What other items are there?" Lin Mu asked, eyeing the other boxes.


    "Ah¡­ I don''t think you would find these useful for you." Na Bi replied, but still went to open them.


    With all the boxes open, Lin Mu finally took a look at what was inside them.


    He could see jewelry of various kinds, from nes, pendants, earrings, and anklets all the way to borate full torso covering jewelry that was hard to describe.


    "It is mostly just jewelry with various effects. They are madeplimentary with some of our signature designer clothes and have different effects. But they are mostly for vanity and are beautifying in general." Na Bi exined.


    "Ah, I see¡­ yeah they won''t be useful for me." Lin Mu agreed.


    The thought of getting some for the Saintess did cross his mind, but then they were quickly wiped out by hismon sense. Why would he give something like jewelry to the Saintess which she could very easily afford? Or possibly had much better quality ones.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    It might even be insulting to give something like this.


    As such, Lin Mu decided to take his leave.


    "Thank you for the rmendation." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Pleasee again, Daoist Mu Lin. Our establishment shall always be weing to you." Na Bi said while cupping her fists.


    With that, Lin Mu put on his mask and went downstairs.


    Now that his robes had changed, and the mask was on, no one could recognize him. As such, he easily left the Golden Butterfly Raiments and entered the street.


    Lin Mu brought Little Shrubby out again and the two casually strolled through the streets, enjoying the sights for onest time. After all, they probably won''t be returning here for a long while.


    They had already bought all the things they needed, and as such didn''t stop anywhere. And an hourter, they were back at the Hundred Fruits Pavilion.


    It was around 11 PM at night, and the Saintess was still not there.


    ''I guess she''s still busy. Though it doesn''t matter, she can reach us in a short time anyways.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Should I make something?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps something light tonight." Lin Mu said and looked at all the fruit trees. "Maybe some dessert?" he suggested.


    "Alright!" Little Shrubby replied. "I''ll pluck all the fruits since we won''t be here after this." He added.


    "Sure." Lin Mu didn''t mind that since the entire courtyard was for them anyway and they could use it as they deemed fit.

 Chapter 1896 Visit From An Alchemist

    Chapter 1896 Visit From An Alchemist


    The night passed quickly after Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had the dessert, which was just some jelly made from Immortal Fruits.


    Lin Mu stayed in his bedroom and cultivated for a while, consolidating all the gains he had in this time. He also went over the Longgui Bulwark Armor, making sure he understood every part of it. Even if he had gotten direct guidance, it still didn''t mean he could be casual with it.


    He needed to have a full understanding of it, and also make sure he didn''t miss any part.


    And with howplex and big the technique was, it was indeed quite a lot to go through. Lin Mu spent the entire night reviewing the technique and only stopped when it was 9 AM in the morning.


    Or rather, he was forced to stop as he sensed someone at the door.


    "Huh? Who would be here at this time?" Lin Mu wondered.


    There was no way it would be the Saintess, and neither would it be Lin Mu''spanions as they didn''t exactly know where he stayed even now. There was the possibility of it being someone from the Crown Prince''s group, but it seemed unlikely.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense quickly reached the gate and he discovered that it was none other than the woman who had rented the Hundred Fruits courtyard to him.


    "Why''s she here?" Lin Mu wondered and got up.


    He walked out, and let the gates open.


    ~Creak~


    The woman saw Lin Mu and showed a respectful expression. Unlike before, Lin Mu was now the winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian Beasts and as such had a high reputation. She ended up being even more careful than before.


    "Greetings, Daoist Mu Lin." The woman first cupped her hands and bowed her head. "I have a letter for you." She gave her reason to be here.


    "A letter? From whom?" Lin Mu took it and opened it.


    "They said they are an acquaintance of yours." The woman replied. "They are waiting for you at the entrance of the pavilion. I couldn''t let them in since I was unsure of their identity. Hence, I asked them to write a letter that you could verify." She exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu replied and nced at the letter.


    A couple of secondster, he raised his brows before looking at the woman. "Send him in, immediately."


    "It is done." The woman said, having sent a message through amunication jade slip. "I''ll take my leave then." She said before quickly returning to her post.


    Little Shrubby approached Lin Mu and asked, "Who''sing?"


    "Someone who I hadn''t expected to meet for a while." Lin Mu replied with a smile and a hint of anticipation.


    Five minutester, a man walked in from the distance. The man saw Lin Mu and hurried up beforeing to stand in front of him.


    "It''s been a while," The man cupped his fists.


    "Indeed, Alchemist Ruoxian. I''ve been hoping to see you for a long time." Lin Mu replied.


    This was none other than the alchemist who had taken on themission from Lin Mu to make the Hundred Vicissitudes Essence Pill!


    "Come on in," Lin Mu invited the man.


    The two took a seat at the perg in the courtyard which hadn''t been used by Lin Mu before since the Saintess would simply make her own furniture.


    "You really came all the way here to deliver them, huh." Lin Mu said with slight surprise.


    "Of course, I had to keep my promise." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "Besides, this was more of a business trip anyways." He added.


    "How so?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "The Holy Topaz Emperor has ordered several formation masters, Alchemist, Weapon forgers, Immortal tool refiners and more to be sent to Dao Wind Empire. I was one of them and took the chance toe here earlier." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "Huh? The Emperor asked you?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and wondered if it had to do with the events after the finals.


    It was highly likely and there was probably something to do with thepensation that the Holy Topaz Emperor had to give to the Temple.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    "Yes. However we still don''t know what our tasks are. We were just summoned here." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "I actually came here a week early, as I didn''t know if you would have left or not." He added.


    "You are indeed on time. Just a dayter, and I would not be here." Lin Mu indeed felt like his luck was good.


    "Ah, then the fates are in our favor." The Alchemist replied joyously.


    "Then, does this mean they are ready?" Lin Mu asked with great excitement.


    "Of course!" Alchemist Ruoxian said and took out a hexagonal box from his spatial storage ring.


    He ced it in front of Lin Mu and slowly opened it.


    Inside the hexagonal box, Lin Mu could see not three, not four BUT FIVE Pills.


    Each of the pills were stored in their own individual vials and were sealed with a talisman on the cap to prevent any energy leakage.


    "You managed to make five of them?!" Lin Mu only expected there to be three pills from the three stctites he had given.


    "I had better luck than I thought. I had an epiphany when making the second pill, which made the process better for me." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "Though I must tell you that, the first pill I made isn''t as good as the other four pills." He rified.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu looked at the pills and saw that one of them was indeed smaller than the others.


    "It was my first attempt, and as such wasn''t the best. But from the second pill onwards, I managed to make two pills each from a single stctite." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.


    "That''s still good." Lin Mu didn''t mind that at all, and considered it a bonus.


    "I''m pleased that you are satisfied." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "You should store them away. Even now I feel anxious to take them outside." The manughed awkwardly.

 Chapter 1897 Farewell And Departure From The Capital City

    Chapter 1897 Farewell And Departure From The Capital City


    "Don''t worry, we''re safe here." Lin Mu assured the man.


    It was normal to feel anxious when one handled something this valuable and powerful like the Hundred Vicissitudes Essence pills.


    If they were to be revealed on the market, there would be great chaos. Even the three empires would jump in and would probably be the ones that would end up buying the pills. And if there wasn''t anyone strong enough backing the pills, there was a great chance they would be snatched in the first ce.


    "If you say so." Alchemist Ruoxian said. "Since we''re on the topic, I rmend that you consume the weaker pill first and get acquainted with its effects." He suggested.


    "Yes, I''ll do that." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Though how would its effects be, ording to you?" he asked.


    "If the normal Hundred Vicissitudes Essence pills provide about a hundred years of cultivation, then the weaker pill provides around forty to fifty years of it." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.


    "Why the variation?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I don''t think the pill is fully stable and some energy is bound to leak out. The end value will depend on how well you can absorb it." Alchemist Ruoxian exined.


    "I see. I''ll try to do my best not wasting anything." Lin Mu said before finally storing the box away in the ring.


    ~phew~


    With the pills stored in safety, Alchemist Ruoxian couldn''t help but take a breath of relief.


    "Are you gonna be leaving the capital city?" Alchemist Ruoxian asked, feeling interested.


    "Yes, I''ll be heading south. I think it is time for me to consolidate my gains and start cultivating seriously." Lin Mu replied.


    "Mmm, that''ll be good. You must have learned a lot from the tournament." Alchemist Ruoxian nodded his head in approval. "Well then, I won''t take up any more of your time and take my leave." He said before standing up.


    "I hope to meet you again in the future." Lin Mu said.


    "Of course, if fates agree we shall meet again." Alchemist Ruoxian said and went on his way.


    With the man gone, Lin Mu was free to handle thest thing that was now left.


    "Time to say goodbye to them all." Lin Mu muttered to himself and contacted Lu Xu and the others.


    He simply asked where they were and found out that they were no longer at the Crown Prince''s Mansion. Instead, they had moved to Lu Xu''s ce in the capital. Lin Mu simply told them that he woulde to meet them there.


    "Let''s go, Little Shrubby. I think this''ll be thest we''ll see them for a while." Lin Mu called the beast over.


    "Yes!" Little Shrubby jumped to his shoulder and the two went out.


    Lu Xu was a native of the Capital city and his n had been doing business here for a long time. His n wasn''t an Aristocratic n, but it was still a mid sized merchant n in the city. Their residence reflected this and was about as twice as big as the Hundred Fruits Courtyard in size.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu did a scan of the area with his Immortal sense and quickly made out the number of people living inside as well as their cultivation levels.


    ''Hmm, seems like Lu Xu''s n does have a few strong people.'' Lin Mu actually spotted a Sixth Tribtion Stage Elder in seclusion within the residence.


    He was probably the eldest in the n and was definitely rted to Lu Xu. In total though, there were around a hundred n members living in there along with twice the amount of servants and other workers.


    "Who are you here for?" At the gate, Lin Mu was stopped by the guards.


    Since he was wearing his mask, it was impossible for them to recognize him. If not, the guards would have probably alerted the n head right away.


    "Let him in," A voice was heard from inside. "He''s my guest."Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Yes, young master!" The guards said, letting Lin Mu proceed.


    ''That saves me some effort.'' Lin Mu didn''t wish to remove his mask here either, as it would only invite more attention.


    He didn''t want to be dyed here as he wished to wind up things and leave the capital city soon.


    Entering the residence, Lin Mu quickly went to the room where Lu Xu and hispanions were waiting. He had already sensed their position earlier and hence had no problem finding them.


    ~Creak~


    Opening the door, he saw Lu Xu sitting and drinking some tea along with the others.


    "Brother Mu Lin!" Lu Xu greeted out loudly, knowing that there would only be one person that would being.


    "Seems like you guys are having fun," Lin Mu said as he removed his mask.


    "Come sit!" Luo Liqin gestured to the empty chair next to him.


    It was clear that they had left a seat for him.


    "Brother Mu Lin, we missed you." Ming Dandan spoke up.


    "We didn''t see you for three days, so we thought you left without meeting us." Ming Aolian stated.


    "I wouldn''t do that." Lin Mu shook his head. "I was just resting and clearing things up." Lin Mu said as he sat down.


    "Does that mean, you''ll be leaving now?" Qian Wen could read between his words.


    "I am, yes." Lin Mu replied. "I''ll be leaving today after this." He confirmed.


    "I see¡­ Looks like it''ll be time for us all to part." Lu Xu said with a hint of sadness.


    "Don''t worry though, we''ll probably meet up in the future again." Lin Mu said, cating them. "At the very least, I''ll keep in contact with you all."


    "That''ll be great!" Ming Dandan said with joy.


    With that, the group enjoyed their time and continued to talk. They had onest meal, before Lin Mu left and discussed their ns.


    Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian said that they would be returning to the Blue Mountain Pce and undergo serious training. They also said that their master might take them to another world to tame suitable beasts.


    Luo Liqin said that he too would be leaving to train himself and now that he had gotten the new skills and resources, he hoped to break through soon.


    Qian Wen on the other hand, stated that he would be returning to the Imperial Army as he had been summoned back. Apparently, the entire army had been called into action and many missions would be carried out soon. The Crown Prince had already talked to them about this and hinted that this had to do with what had happened after the finals.


    Then there was Lu Xu atst, who would also be going out. Though not out of the Capital city.


    Instead, he would be moving to thend that had been granted to him.


    Apparently it was even bigger than his entire n''s residence and he would be opening up some shops there along with his personal residence. He hadn''t told his n about this yet and hoped to finish setting everything up first before surprising them.


    Their farewell ended up in joy rather than tears, and Lin Mu was now ready to depart. He walked out to the open garden along with hispanions.


    "Are we gonna go back to the courtyard?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "We have finished all that was to do here. No need to return there. Let''s just head out right away." Lin Mu replied.


    He had tried to fly but couldn''t and realized that the permission that had been granted to him had expired at that time.


    "Since you are going to the south, you can hire a carriage there, Brother Mu Lin." Luo Liqin suggested.


    "Nah, no need to hire a carriage. I can just ask our personal carriage to drop brother Mu Lin off." Lu Xu offered.


    "There won''t be a need. I have something much better." Lin Mu said and looked at Little Shrubby.


    ~shua~


    "Let''s go!" Little Shrubby rapidly expanded in size, stunning the people around.


    "He can grow!?" Lu Xu was stunned.


    "B¡­ Big¡­" This was Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian''s first time seeing a beast like this.


    "Little Shrubby was this big?" Qian Wen was astonished as well.


    "Yeah, this is his normal form." Lin Mu said as he got back onto Little Shrubby''s back. "Well then, goodbye!" He waved his hand, as Little Shrubby leaped into the sky.


    While tamed beasts weren''t umon in the capital city, a sudden appearance like this was definitely astonishing to those who saw Little Shrubby.


    Lin Mu ignored these looks, as he had no reason to pay them any attention now.


    ~ROAR~


    A thunderous roar was heard across the Capital city that day before a red blur shed across the capital city.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The people who had witnessed it were left gobsmacked wondering just what the beast was. It was certainly a day that the people would remember. Yet, only a handful knew that the winner of the tournament had secretly left the city.

 Chapter 1898 Heading To South

    Chapter 1898 Heading To South


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby soared across thend, as they began their journey to the south.


    The area they were in right now was called the Capital Forests.


    These were the forests that surrounded the capital city and were divided into four sections namely North, West, East, and South. Lin Mu as such was in the southern part of the forest. Like most other immortal forests, it was filled with beasts, herbs, resources and more.


    As such, there would be nock of cultivators that would be out here trying their luck, especially considering how close it was to the capital.


    It was very convenient for them to gather materials or hunt beasts here, before selling it all in the capital.


    This caused Lin Mu and Little Shrubby toe across many such cultivators who were in groups as well as individuals. Thankfully there were no issues with them since the cultivators all gave them a steady berth. It might have been due to Little Shrubby''s speed and size, but could also be due to the unsettling feeling Lin Mu exuded when he looked at them.


    If they didn''t know there was someone around them, Lin Mu''s gaze would send shivers down their spine.


    Lin Mu was surprised by this too, as he wasn''t able to do this before.


    ''Is this due to the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets?'' Lin Mu wondered as it was the most likely reason.


    It had reached the fourth stage of the two legged bull during his fight with the Third Prince, and was the only thing that had changed with him.


    Regardless of what it might be, Lin Mu thought he would only check it in detail once they reached their destination.


    It took them about two days to leave the Southern Capital Forests and they were now in a mountain range. Lin Mu and Little Shrubby came to a stop on one of the peaks, as they needed to verify where to go.


    "Hmm, let''s see¡­" Lin Mu took out the Jade slip and opened the map.


    The formation screen appeared, and he could now see all thebels again.


    ''After the Southern Capital Forestes the Minor Mite Mountains. From here, if I go East I''ll end up in the Major Mite Mountains and if I go West I''ll end up near the Osmanthus Lake.'' Lin Mu read the map.


    His Main goal right now was to go to the Evergreen Pirs Forest which was further to the south. But due to the topography of the region, one couldn''t just go straight south. Between the Evergreen Pirs Forest and the Minor Mite Mountains stood the Great Meteor Wall.


    "The Great Meteor wall huh¡­" Lin Mu looked at the red warning on the locationbel.


    It was marked as a dangerous area and everyone was told to avoid it.


    This wasn''t because there were some dangerous beasts living there, but rather due to the nature of the ce.


    "They said the Great Meteor Wall was formed after several thousand meteors from the skies of the Rust Sky World all fell together here. It was unknown as to why they specifically fell here, but the gravity there is considered to be deadly.


    All those who approach the area will feel their body weight turning hundreds if not thousands of times higher. As such, even if Immortals with a high cultivation base were able to endure the gravity and cross the area, they still wouldn''t be able to fly.


    Not to mention, with the height of the Great Meteorite Wall which was basically just onerge and narrow mountain, it was impossible to climb up. There were even momentary Gravity Rifts appearing from time to time, that would be in different directions.


    If one identally got close to one, they would feel gravity pulling them from two directions, causing their bodies to get ripped apart.


    There had been nock of people who had tried their luck at the Great Meteorite Wall. After all, they all thought there must be some treasure hiding there after all this time.


    But all those who tried failed.


    It was said that even Transcendent Immortals would face defeat against the Gravity. While they might not die, their powers would be highly limited, preventing them from doing anything there.


    And with how long ago the wall had formed, people simply started to ignore it after thousands of years.


    Lin Mu, who was going through all this information, was surprised.


    "Huh¡­ this was formed over a hundred thousand years ago?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected it to be that old.


    After learning all this though, there was no way Lin Mu wouldn''t feel curious about the ce.


    ''I have got to take a look with my own two eyes!'' Lin Mu decided. "We''ll have to change our directions from there anyways, so we may as well go closer to it." He reckoned.


    "Where do we go now?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Still south, we go there till we see a giant wall." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay! Let''s get going." Little Shrubby said and they continued their journey.


    The two went deeper into the Minor Mite Mountains and saw its unique shape.N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    "I can smell a lot of beasts." Little Shrubby said as soon as they started passing over the strangely shaped mountains.


    Rather than mountains, it was more urate to call them giant termite mounds!


    "Yeah, there''s a lot of Rock Biter Termites below us." Lin Mu replied. "All these mountains are actually their nests."


    "No wonder¡­ There are tens of millions of them below us." Little Shrubby replied. "But I don''t see any of them."


    "That''s normal. Rock Biter Termites don''t like light and prefer staying underground. We''ll see a few of them at night though." Lin Mu exined.


    "I wonder how they taste." Little Shrubby said feeling the desire to eat.


    "We can try some." Lin Mu replied. "The Minor Mite Mountains go pretty far anyway. It''ll take us a week to cross them."

 Chapter 1899 Rock Biter Termites

    Chapter 1899 Rock Biter Termites


    While flying over the Minor Mite Mountains, Lin Mu let his Immortal sense scan the area below him. He wanted to see just how many beasts there were and if there was anything good hidden there.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense had a very long range, and as such he could see up to five kilometers underground and ten kilometers aboveground in a straight line.


    "Damn, that''s a lot of beasts." Lin Mu muttered as he sensed the sheer swarms of Rock Biter Termites underground. ''If these attacked any human settlement, it would be easily wiped out.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Thinking of this though, Lin Mu wondered why they didn''t do this. He took out one of the books he had bought from the city and started to read more about the area and its denizens.


    The Mite Mountains were divided into two sections, the Minor Mite Mountains and the Major Mite Mountains.


    This wasn''t actually due to the size of the mountains, but rather due to what lived there.


    Just like normal termites, the Rock Biter Termites also had a hierarchy in their species. There were queens, kings, soldiers as well as workers.


    The Minor Mite Mountains had Worker and Soldier Rock Biter Termites living in them. As such, they were the extension of the Major Mite Mountains and also had the highest poption of the Rock Biter Termites.


    The Major Mite Mountains on the other hand, house the queens, kings and soldiers to guard them. The number of mountains in the major Mite mountains was actually less, but they were bigger in sizepared to the Minor Mite Mountains.


    Another special thing about them was the fact that every mountain in the Major Mite Mountains would only house a single pair of King and Queen Rock Biter Termites. These mountains would then be connected with the Minor Mite Mountains underground through thousands of tunnels that had been built by the worker Rock Biter Termites.


    The cultivation bases of these beasts also varied simrly.


    The Worker Rock Biter Termites were actually quite weak being in the spirit realm. They weren''t even immortals and as such could be killed by any random immortal. Even killing a hundred thousand of them with the wave of a hand wouldn''t be an issue for a Fake immortal.


    But when the Worker Rock Biter Termites broke through and reached the Immortal realm, they would be promoted to the Soldier ss. They would grow bigger and gain bigger mandibles that could cut through refined steel like it was paper.


    Now these were threats to immortals too.


    If not for the fact that the number of Soldiers was significantly less than the workers, there was a high chance the Empire might have wiped them out already.


    It was estimated that about 80% of the entire Rock Biter Termites poption wasposed of the Worker ss, while only 18% of them were Soldiers. This number varied as the soldiers would die in conflicts against other colonies as well as other beasts.


    Then there were the kings and queens who were just two to one percent of the total poption.


    They also had the highest cultivation base in the colonies being at the third or fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. But some were said to be able to reach even farther and break through to the fifth or even sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    But that hadn''t happened in thousands of years due to the natural conflict between the different colonies of the Rock Biter Termites. They kept each other in check and their poption stayed controlled for the most part.


    "No wonder, the empire does not consider them a threat. Overall, they might take arge area and have massive numbers, but they are still quite weak." Lin Mu reckoned that since they were living right next to the Great Meteorite Wall, even the empire didn''t bother to reim thend.


    Plus, there was also the fact that the soil processed by the Rock Biter Termites was considered very good for growing immortal herbs. The Rock Biter Termites would break and consume rocks, which would then be digested by their bodies, and turned into fertile soil suitable for growing herbs.


    As such, the empire would send people from time to time to collect the soil and sell it.


    Other allied powers were also allowed to gather soil from here, and as such the ce actually got a level of protection from Alchemist as well as Herbalist powers.


    Still, it didn''t stop Lin Mu and Little Shrubby''s desire for trying new foods.


    When night rolled in, the two came to a stop atop one of the mountains/nests and waited for the Rock Biter Termites toe out.


    There were several holes along the mountains, which were the entrances into the nests and they went quite deep.


    "Alright, we just gotta wait for them to appear." Lin Mu said and controlled his immortal sense to enter the depths of the nest.


    He looked for any nearby Rock Biter Termites and soon found a few.


    "I can smell theming closer." Little Shrubby was quick to sense them too.


    "Three of them areing up¡­ " Lin Mu said as he tracked them. "Get ready,"


    "I''ll grab them in a sh," Little Shrubby was ready to pounce.


    ~kirik~


    Soon the chittering sounds of the Rock Biter Terminate could be heard, and their white heads poked out of the holes.


    They had no eyes and had small curved mandibles that looked rather sharp.


    Their antennas iled in the air, sensing the scents in the air.N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But before the three Workday Rock Biter Termites could sense the scent of Lin Mu and Little Shrubby, they were snatched!


    Even when the three Workers werebined, their size would still be half of Little Shrubby. As such, it was no issue for the beast to take them away in one go. He even killed them without them realizing it and stored their corpses in his spatial storage treasure.


    "Dinner secured!" Little Shrubby said, returning to Lin Mu''s side.

 Chapter 1900 Hunting For Termites

    Chapter 1900 Hunting For Termites


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby sat on top of one of therge mountains while a me zed in front of them.


    ~Sizzle~


    The corpses of the three Rock Biter Termites were being grilled on them and a pleasant scent could be felt.


    "At least they smell nice." Lin Mu said as the beasts were close to being cooked.


    And a couple minutester, Little Shrubby took them off the mes. "They''re done!"


    "Let''s see how they taste," Lin Mu said and peeled off the carapace of the termites.


    It was the same as peeling shrimp and once done, the tender and soft meat inside it was revealed.


    ~munch~


    Lin Mu took a bite, and the sweet and sour taste of the white flesh of the Rock Biter Termite spread through his mouth.


    "This is new¡­ the flesh is naturally sour and sweet. I don''t think I''ve tasted anything like this before." Lin Mu was impressed.


    ~Crack~


    Little Shrubby also did the same and ripped off the carapace with the swipe of his ws.


    ~Munch~


    He took arge bite too, eating a quarter of the corpse in one go.


    "This taste¡­ It''s suitable for stews and soups! It can bnce out the savory and salty vor!" Little Shrubby said excitedly.


    "Indeed¡­ Let''s grab a few more before we continue onwards." Lin Mu said as he looked down.


    The Rock Biter Termites were wholly unaware that three of their kin had been taken away. Though it was unlikely that they would care either. Their species did not have high intelligence and only the kings and queens could bepared to normal beasts at the Immortal realm.


    All the other Rock Biter Termites below them may as well as mortal animal like instincts.


    The two didn''t mean to make a ''full meal'' out of the Rock Biter Termites and as such were satisfied by just the three they had cooked. It was more than enough of a snack for them.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby finished off the three cooked termites in just a few minutes and were now ready to capture more.


    But just as Lin Mu was searching for them, he realized something.


    "Hang on¡­ do the tastes vary between the sses of the Rock Biter Termites?" He wondered.


    As such he scanned further and found the Soldier ss of the Rock Biter Termites. Unlike the workers, these actually had bigger mandibles and a few of them also had wings that allowed them to fly.


    Looking at their cultivation bases, Lin Mu could see that those who had wings were at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm while those without wings were False immortals.


    ''Just like bing an immortal grants us the ability to fly, it does the same for them.'' Lin Mu reckoned their change in physiology was rted to this too.


    But since the Rock Biter Termites did not like light, they rarely made use of their wings.


    Only in times of conflict would they use them to fight.


    "But the Soldiers are also deep inside." Lin Mu saw that, unlike the workers, the soldiers were resting deep within the nest.


    None of them showed any signs of trying toe up either.


    "Guess I''ll just have to go down myself." Lin Mu said to Little Shrubby.


    "I''ll wait here." Little Shrubby said, knowing that if he went down the Termites would likely break out in chaos.


    Even now the beast had to keep his aura contained or the entire colony would feel threatened.


    "I''ll be back in a bit." Lin Mu said and let his body sink into the mountain.


    Phase!


    Lin Mu felt refreshed having used the skill after such a long time.


    ''The space certainly feels a lot more ''clear'' now. I guess this is the effect of the Spiral ke crystal improving my sensitivity.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    His immortal sense was extended and was scanning the Termites at the same time, finding that their numbers only grew as he went deeper. In a couple of minutes, Lin Mu had descended more than five kilometers deep into the ground.


    "That''s a lot of caves¡­" Lin Mu saw that this area was basically a giantbyrinth full of winding tunnels and caves.


    But that wasn''t all he saw, there were also food stockpiles that the Rock Biter Termites had set up.


    "Rocks¡­ well that was expected." Lin Mu muttered but then felt a faint energying from the cave next to the current one. "That¡­ Metal Qi?" he muttered.


    Lin Mu passed through the walls, staying hidden inside them to prevent the Termites from seeding him before appearing in the next stockpile.


    "Huh, this is all ore." Lin Mu saw piles upon piles of metal ore that had been sorted out.


    ~Chitter~chitter~chitter~


    He heard some sound and receded back into the wall. He only let his Immortal sense observe the cave and saw a few Worker Rock Biter Termites appear. They were all carrying chunks of rocks with them and brought them to this cave before putting them down.


    ~crack~Crack~crack~


    They then started biting away at the rock chunks, skillfully removing the parts they disliked which were none other than the Metal ores. Once that was done, they threw the metal ores into the pile and took the ''edible'' rock chunks to the other cave.


    ''Wait a second¡­ this is their junk pile.'' Lin Mu now understood.


    This gave him some thought and he decided to try something. He stored all the metal ores into the ring and waited in the walls.


    ~Chitter~chitter~chitter~


    More Workers appeared and looked at the empty cave.This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    They tilted their heads in confusion and rubbed their heads with their antennas.


    They then chittered at each other for a minute before simply continuing their assigned work. They chipped away at the rock chunk and removed the metal ores before taking away the edible parts.


    ''Looks like they don''t care about the metal ores at all.'' Lin Mu confirmed.

 Chapter 1901 One Bugs Trash Is Another Mans Treasure

    Chapter 1901 One Bug''s Trash Is Another Man''s Treasure


    Having learned of a new trait of the Rock Biter Termites, Lin Mu reckoned he should take advantage of their opportunity.


    ''Since they only eat the rocks and leave out the metal ores, this is basically a chance to get plenty of materials.'' Lin Mu thought and spread out his Immortal sense in a wide area.


    He quickly found all the caves that were being used as dumping grounds and discovered that there were more than just Metal ores there.


    ''Even gemstones and few other cultivation materials are mixed in¡­'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    At first, he wondered why the Rock Biter Termites hadn''t consumed them. But a quick check of the documentation about them showed that their bodies simply could not digest those materials. All they could consume was the rocks and rocks only.


    It was a strange phenomenon that bnced their power aspared to their poption. While they could reproduce fast, their overall power was low due to this.


    ''This might be why the ecosystem here is still bnced.'' Lin Mu thought and quickly got to collecting the rest of the ''junk''.


    It took him thirty minutes to gather most of the, despite moving at his full speed.


    ''That was a lot¡­'' Lin Mu nced at the literal hills worth of metal ores and other materials that had now been piled up in the ring. "I guess this gives me an excuse to practice refinement." He chuckled.


    Done with gathering all this, Lin Mu went to do the task he had actuallye here for.


    He quickly killed a few Soldier Rock Biter Termites as well as Workers and stored their corpses in the ring. With that done, he was now free to leave.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu appeared on top of the mountain where Little Shrubby was waiting.


    "Did you get the termites?" Little Shrubby inquired.


    "I got way more than just that." Lin Mu said before telling Little Shrubby about the ''junk'' stash.


    "That''s a nice bonus." Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu hadn''t thought that taking a break here would yield in something good like this. Not only did he get a good meal, he also made a small fortune just from taking trash.


    "One man''s trash, no¡­ One bug''s trash is another man''s treasure." Lin Mu said before getting onto Little Shrubby''s back.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The two turned into a blur in the night sky, while the Rock Biter Termites were none the wiser about the robbery, murder, and kidnapping that had happened right under their antennas.


    The man and beast flew nonstop and about five days passed by before they could see their next destination.


    "Damn, that''srge." Lin Mu said as he gazed at the menacingly tall wall that shrouded the horizon and rose up into the sky. "We haven''t even reached there and we can still see it¡­" he muttered.


    "We''re about two days away right?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yeah¡­ and we can still see it. Hard to tell just how tall the wall is." Lin Mu replied.


    This might have easily been the tallest natural object he had seen so far in a world. The only other thing that couldpare to this would be the pirs in Xukong''s domain, which were made out of none other than his threads. In the void, it was impossible to even estimate just how tall and long those pirs were.N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    But the Great Meteorite Wall easily came in second.


    "Hmm¡­ The Mountains here are getting shorter." Lin Mu noticed as he looked around.


    The two continued further and saw that the closer they got to the Great Meteorite wall, the shorter the mountains got. And a dayter, all the mountains had be small hills while the Great Meteorite wall only got bigger.


    It was the afternoon, and Lin Mu could see the wall clearly now.


    The wall was made out of the asteroids that floated around the Rust Sky world and had the same Rusty Red color as them. Now that Lin Mu could observe the wall closely, he noticed that the wall wasn''t exactly uniform.


    It not only varied in height, its shape wasn''t straight either. It curved in some ces, while it dipped and rose in some areas.


    Another unique thing about the wall was the striations and segmentation that could be seen on it.


    "The Meteors fell here and gotpressed over time due to the gravity¡­ but even with thepression, the differentyers formed due to the meteorites can still be made out." Lin Mu observed.


    Looking at the barrennd a kilometer ahead of him, Lin Mu also figured out where the Gravity started to increase.


    The change was abrupt, as the normal area was green and had plenty of nts growing on it. Whereas, the area influenced by the higher gravity was barren. It seemed like no nts grew here and neither did any beasts dare to enter.


    If any mortal were to look at this ce, they would certainly feel terrified.


    It would seem the same as a dreaded forbidden area to them. Which in reality it was.


    "Do we go in?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "No¡­ we''ll observe for a bit first." Lin Mu said. "And also test out some things." He added before getting down from the beast''s back.


    He picked up a rock from the ground and hurled it towards the wall.


    ~BOOM~


    The rock elerated at a great speed and created a sonic boom, before entering the gravity affected area.


    Originally it was moving in an upward trajectory, but as soon as it entered the high gravity area, it started to descend. And unlike the uniform arc of a falling object, the descent was rather abrupt.


    With every meter that it moved ahead, it descended by two meters. And not even a hundred meters into the gravity affected area, the rock had already fallen to the ground and crumbled into dust!


    Lin Mu roughly calcted in his mind and analyzed that the increase in gravity was higher than he thought.

 Chapter 1902 Cheating His Way To The Wall

    Chapter 1902 Cheating His Way To The Wall


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but stand and wonder at the workings of the Great Meteorite Wall.


    "If the rise in gravity is uniformly increasing like this¡­ then how is this area even intact? It should have long since copsed into the depths of the Rust Sky world." Lin Mu said after having thought about it a bit.


    He felt like there was more to this ce than he could perceive right now.


    ''Only way to find out is to check it myself¡­ though I don''t know how far I can go.'' Lin Mu thought and went towards the wall.


    A minuteter, he was standing at the line that demarcated the area with the heavy gravity. The separation was distinct as not only was onepletely barren, but it was alsopacted due to the gravity. On the other hand, the normal area was green and grass was freely growing there.


    "Go to the Sleepscape for now Little Shrubby. I''ll see if I can bring you out when there." Lin Mu stated.


    "Okay." Little Shrubby said and turned into a sh of light before disappearing.


    ~step~


    With Little Shrubby gone, Lin Mu took one step further and felt the change. His foot left an imprint on thepacted soil as he took another step forward.This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "One percent¡­ Two percent¡­ four percent¡­ ten percent?" Lin Mu sensed the change in the gravity with his body.


    So far it wasn''t much of a bother for him, and was the same as him carrying some extra weight. As such, Lin Mu continued and actually sped up!


    A minuteter, he had covered a distance of about two hundred meters.


    "Now it''s getting harder." Lin Mu muttered as he felt the great weight on him.


    The gravity right now was more than four times the normal. Still, Lin Mu could continue on and went another two hundred meters.


    "Ten times the gravity¡­" Lin Mu muttered. ''The increase isn''t linear¡­ there are random spikes in it.'' He understood.


    He moved again and didn''t stop until he had covered almost a kilometer of distance. The Great Meteorite Wall was still far from him, but Lin Mu was finding that moving was very inconvenient now. Not because the weight was too much for him, but because his feet kept on sinking into the ground.


    "I can''t even fly¡­ Even the Immortal Qi is affected by the gravity and does not flow normally." Lin Mu realized why it was such a pain for most immortals toe here.


    Even a first or second Tribtion Stage immortal would be able toe this far with their cultivation base alone. They would find it very ufortable of course, but they wouldn''t necessarily be injured. This didn''t even apply to Lin Mu who had not just his Qi cultivation but also his higher body cultivation.


    Still struggling with his feet getting stuck, Lin Mu soldiered on.


    He walked for two more kilometers before he found that his feet were no longer getting stuck.


    "Huh¡­ the ground isn''t being impacted anymore?" Lin Mu''s body was under fifty times the gravity but he was handling it just fine.


    It actually reminded him of the time when he had first learned the Aspect of Heaviness. Lin Mu was much weaker back then and the effect of the increased weight could actually damage him. Even now the gravity was bad enough that most third or fourth Tribtion Immortals would find their internal organs getting pressured.


    They would find their hearts having a hard time pumping blood, while their lungs would find it hard to expand.


    But to a body cultivator like Lin Mu, it was still the same.


    His organs were tempered and had been strengthened over time. Not to mention, they too were sources of vital essence within his body and could maintain themselves. Then there was the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets he practiced. It granted him strength and defense greater than normal, allowing him to traverse further.


    "Just a bit more and I''ll be at the wall." Lin Mu looked at the Great Meteorite wall that was getting closer and closer.


    He was now just a kilometer away from it and the increase in gravity was getting steeper. Due to such high gravity, the ground under him had beenpressed to the point it had turned into solid rock. And even that rock had been furtherpressed and turned extremely dense such that Lin Mu''s weight did not cause it to break like earlier.


    ''Eighty times¡­ One hundred times¡­ One hundred and thirty times¡­'' Now even Lin Mu felt like it was getting too much for him.


    His legs felt like they had turned to lead, and every step forward took great effort. Lin Mu was already using his Vital Essence to strengthen himself, but it wasn''t enough.


    ''Five hundred meters and it increases so much¡­ Even if my body can handle the gravity, it doesn''t mean I can keep on moving.'' Lin Mu still tried to move and managed to make it 50 meters more beforeing to a halt.


    "Haa¡­ This is too much." Lin Mu let out a breath. "I give on walking¡­ Blink."


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s body disappeared and reappeared five meters ahead. He didn''t teleport too far as he didn''t want to be overwhelmed by the sudden increase in gravity.


    ~THUD~


    Still, it ended up making Lin Mu m into the ground face first.


    "Ugh¡­ I should just sit down and do it." Lin Mu got up with some struggle and just sat down with his legs spread in a V shape, so that he wouldn''t m face first again. "Blink," he teleported again and arrived five meters further.


    Thankfully, this time he didn''t lose his bnce and was sitting in the same position as before.


    "Guess this works," Lin Mu said in a tone of approval. "Let''s just get to the wall this way."


    He kept on teleporting with Blink for five meters each time, while the gravity kept on increasing.


    And by the time Lin Mu was 150 meters from the wall, he didn''t even bother sitting upright. He just straight upy down on the ground and continued teleporting.

 Chapter 1903 Great Depths Of The Wall

    Chapter 1903 Great Depths Of The Wall


    No one would expect such a method to be used to reach the wall. It was rather uncouth and embarrassing for an Immortal. But Lin Mu wasn''t one to care.


    And it wasn''t like there was anyone to watch him anyways.


    Of course, by now the gravity was at deadly levels.


    Lin Mu was barely twenty meters from the looming great wall and the gravity had already exceeded three hundred times. He couldn''t even estimate how great it exactly was due to having no reference by now.


    ''Breathing is hard too now.'' Lin Mu couldn''t speak anymore due to the great weight.


    In fact, he couldn''t move at all either. He was just lying on the ground and looking up at the wall.


    The detailed observations were being made by his Immortal sense anyway. And even that was difficult to move.


    If normally his Immortal sense was like a feather, now it was like a heavy lead chain to which a ship anchor was tied. It was incredibly difficult to move around, but Lin Mu still did it by pouring extra immortal Qi into it.


    Unfortunately, this also meant that his range was quite limited now. Even extending it for a hundred meters was an achievement.


    ''No wonder they say even Transcendents would falter here. The gravity won''t kill them, but they won''t be able to do much either.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    In fact, the Transcendent Immortals wouldn''t even be able to use any of their skills, as mustering immortal Qi and moving their limbs to attack would be quite difficult. And even if they did, the power would be a fraction of what would usually be released.


    ~Sigh~N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    ''Just lying here is doing much¡­'' Lin Mu realized the ce was actually quite boring.


    His curiosity might have spurred him toe here, but now that he had to see it there wasn''t much here.


    ''Even if I want to know what is causing this gravity, I can''t with my limited senses and no mobility.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "Try going down." It was then that Xukong''s voice echoed in his mind.


    "Down?" Lin Mu said in doubt.


    "Yes¡­ whatever might have caused this gravitational anomaly is likely to be deeper in the ground. Or even if it was on top, it has probably sunk deep in there." Xukong exined.


    "Hmm¡­ that does make sense." Lin Mu agreed and activated Phase.


    ~WHOOSH~


    With how strong gravity was, Lin Mu''s body instantly sank into the ground like a bowling ball dropped from the sky.


    With the solid ground no longer there to block him, he fell through it and kept on gaining momentum. In just thirty seconds, he was already five kilometers deep in the ground. Thankfully, there was no more change in gravity and as such he could handle things better.


    ''With Phase, the effect of gravity is also a bit less.'' Lin Mu could at least move his fingers now.


    But he didn''t know how far he would continue to fall.


    Two minutes passed like this, and by now even Lin Mu was confused about how deep this went.


    "Don''t tell me this goes all the way to the center of the world or something?" Lin Mu said with hesitation.


    He was sure he had already gone over a hundred kilometers deep by now.


    To anyone else, going this far deep would be very unsettling. They would have fears about being able to return to the surface.


    After all, with such strong gravity, if they couldn''t even move, how would they go against the gravity and move up?


    Lin Mu though had no such concerns as his escape route had been ready since the start.


    As such he was not worried about returning and let his body fall through the ground.


    Another minute passed, and Lin Mu finally felt a faint change.


    "Wait¡­ Did the Gravity just get lighter?" Lin Mu could sense the minuscule difference.


    A few secondster, his doubt was cleared.


    "It is getting lighter!" Lin Mu was now sure of it.


    While his speed of descent did not change, the pressure on his organs certainly decreased. He could also breathe better.


    And about five minutester, Lin Mu felt like the gravity had greatly reduced. In fact, it was barely ten times higher than normal..


    "Huh¡­ This is fine." Lin Mu controlled his speed of descent and halted in ce.


    With his Immortal sense free to move around, Lin Mu probed the area and looked around for anything peculiar.


    It took him over an hour of wandering before he finally found something.


    "Theposition of the ground is different over there¡­" Lin Mu muttered and went there.


    Upon getting closer, his immortal sense could perceive things a lot more clearly and he finally saw what it was.


    "A building?" Lin Mu hade across a building this far underground.


    He didn''t know what it was doing here or who built it, but he had no doubt that this building had something to do with the unusual gravity. As such, he quickly entered the building and soon realized what kind of pce it was.


    "This is a temple¡­" Lin Mu said upon looking around.


    There were various kinds of murals and carvings on the wall. But upon observing them, Lin Mu realized that they were actually familiar to him.


    "Hang on a second¡­ weren''t murals like these in that n worship temple, too?" Lin Mu recalled the temple where he had stumbled upon an asteroid in the lesser void, back when he had met the Haima Tribe.


    He had identally arrived there and didn''t know what that ce was. But now that he wasparing the two, they seemed to be built by the same person or organization.


    "They arepletely apart on different continents¡­ and yet the same¡­ Strange." Lin Mu felt like there was more than met his eye.


    He decided to investigate more and went further into the temple.


    There were several rooms and halls in the temple, and as such, there was much to explore.

 Chapter 1904 Demonic Murals And A Shard

    Chapter 1904 Demonic Murals And A Shard


    The first room that Lin Mu arrived in was not the entry hallway, as he hadn''t exactly entered from there.


    ''Though if it''s this far deep in the ground, does it really matter where its entryway is?'' Lin Mu thought and looked around.


    He was standing in what looked like a side room anding out from it, he found himself in a hallway that extended for quite some distance.


    "It''s surprising it has managed to maintain its form all this time." Lin Mu said as he looked at the walls and the weight bearing pirs.


    There was certainly damage spread in the building, but it was still standing. He found many halls and rooms to have copsed walls, but the load-bearing pirs still managed to hold up the ceiling. Even if the Gravity here was just 10, it was still higher than what a normal building would be able to bear.


    And even if one took away the gravity, just the sheer amount of weight that was on top of it should have long since ttened it into a te.This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    Still, it had managed tost this long, making Lin Mu think there was probably something reinforcing it.


    His immortal sense traced the walls and found remnants of formations on them. They were carved using immortal Qi itself and had fine channels traced into the walls themselves.


    "The Formations have long since been broken¡­ And yet the building has held up. Astounding." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    From what he could estimate, the formations had run out of energy several tens of thousands of years ago and then lost their structure a few thousand years after that. By now they were but just a shadow of what they used to be.


    "These weren''t carved in Dao Script though¡­" Lin Mu noticed from some of the remnants.


    Since they weren''t carved on the surface, they were much harder to make it. It was as if one had written on concrete using a thread, then let it harden, and then poured more concrete on it to seal it all.


    "Interesting¡­ what script is this? Definitely not themon tongue of the Rust Sky world¡­ it''s over a hundred thousand years old, so it should be an older dialect maybe?" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he continued to analyze.


    But once he arrived in the central hallway, he realized that the script had changed once more.


    "Shamanic Script of the Demons?" This time, Lin Mu could recognize it.


    Lin Mu had read it, or rather Xukong had read it for him when the Crown Prince had asked him to trante the tablet. Lin Mu could still not read it of course, but that didn''t mean he couldn''t recognize the letters either.


    "Senior, can you tell me what do these say?" Lin Mu called for Xukong.


    "They don''t make any sense," Xukong replied rather quickly.


    "Huh? What do you mean?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "While they are indeed characters from the Shamanic Script of the Demons, it isn''t actually written in any sensible manner. It''s like someone randomly wrote letters. They are all scrambled." Xukong replied.


    "Scrambled?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows as a few ideas appeared in his mind. "Some of the Encrypting formations and security formations do this, don''t they?" He recalled.


    "Yeah, it is probably due to that." Xukong agreed.


    "I guess when the arrays ran out of energy, the precautionary security system activated and scrambled all of the runes." Lin Mu shook his head.


    It was a shame that he couldn''t make out what must have been written here.


    "But one thing is for sure¡­ This is definitely linked with the temple we saw on the asteroid and it is also linked with the Demonic Tribes of old." Lin Mu said with confidence.


    "Quite likely," Xukong replied. "Perhaps that might be the reason why it is here now. It could have been hidden here." He suggested.


    "I think so too¡­ after all, no one would be able toe here. Even Transcendent Immortals would be struck at the surface." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Just makes me more excited about what could be hidden here." He said and hurried up.


    He passed room after room, finding all of them to be empty.


    Rather than as functional rooms, Lin Mu reckoned they were being used as mural disys. As each room had different kinds of murals on them.


    Though many of them were destroyed too.


    From what Lin Mu made out, they seem to be showing some kind of a conflict. And it wasn''t just a conflict between demons and humans like he had seen in the previous murals, it was a conflict between tribes too.


    Lin Mu continued to move from room to room as he made out the story.


    "So from what I can figure out¡­ The demons had conflicts with humans, wars happened, and then they lost. Then they had conflicts amongst themselves over some kind of treasure. One tribe kept the treasure and others tried to get it¡­ possibly to take revenge against the humans.


    The treasure was originally kept sealed, but the tribes fought against the keeper tribe. This resulted in the treasure getting unsealed¡­" Lin Mu concluded.


    There were more parts to it, but unfortunately, the murals in this area hadn''t survived the test of time.


    "This is also the central area, huh¡­ all the murals lead to here." Lin Mu confirmed having checked the rest of the area.


    There was an open hall in the center, that seemed to be surrounded by a curtain of energy.


    "Strange¡­ it has no Immortal Qi fluctuations." Lin Mu discovered.


    If not for that, he should have sensed it being here from the start.


    He tried probing it with his Immortal sense and learned that the curtain actually had no substance. It neither blocked him nor attacked him. It was a mix of brown and grey color, that camouged with the surroundings well. If there was a mortal here, they would think it was just a solid wall.


    ''Just an isting formation of some kind¡­ No, since there are no Immortal Qi fluctuations, it isn''t made from runes. A skill of some kind, perhaps?'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Feeling no danger from it, Lin Mu got closer and touched it.


    ~Ripple~


    The strange energy curtain rippled with his touch, as if it were water. There was no repulsive feeling from it either, thus Lin Mu pushed his hand further in.


    "It''s rather thin¡­ barely a millimeter thick." Lin Mu estimated before walking into it directly.


    ~shua~


    And as soon as he did, he felt the change in the atmosphere. It got heavy, and the gravity also increased.


    "At least a hundred times the normal gravity¡­" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes before spotting a tform in the center.


    It was very eye catching with the purple and ck light that wasing from it. Not just that, but Lin Mu also felt a force of attraction from it.


    "Is this the treasure that the Demonic Tribes were fighting over?" Lin Mu wondered and got close.


    Thankfully, the gravity didn''t increase any further and he could move with rtivefort. Another thing was that the function of the curtain was also revealed. It could also filter out the gravity and prevent it from affecting more areas.


    It was then that Lin Mu realized that the curtain wasn''t just spread around in a t radius, it was actually in the form of a sphere!


    "So the curtain is a barrier preventing the gravity from affecting the rest of the area¡­ but then how is the gravity above this building higher?" Lin Mu only felt more questions popping in his mind.


    He also knew that the answers to all his questionsy in front of him.


    As such, he walked right next to the tform and took a closer look.


    The tform was circr and was about two meters in diameter. On top of it was a strange object.


    At first, it looked like a swirling mass of ck and purple light, but when Lin Mu nced at it with his Spatial perception, he could actually see a physical object in the center.


    It exuded a strange attraction force and made Lin Mu very curious. He was just about to extend his hand towards it when he heard a shout.


    "Don''t!" Xukong''s voice was heard. "It''ll rip your hand and suck it in if you touch it!" he warned.


    ~gulp~


    Lin Mu quickly withdrew his hand, thanking Xukong for the warning.


    "What is it? The attraction force doesn''t seem to be as bad as you said, Senior." Lin Mu expressed his doubts.


    "That''s because it has different ranges of effect. Its strongest range is right within a close radius. That swirling mass of light is where it is strongest. And its second strongest range of effect is right above this building, the gravity we felt around the wall." Xukong exined.


    "As for what it is¡­ it is a Star Shard."

 Chapter 1905 Taking The Star Shard And Changing Geography

    Hearing Xukong''s words, Lin Mu was intrigued.


    "A Star Shard?" Lin Mu could make out the meaning but knew there was a lot more than just that.


    "Yes, it is quite literally a shard from a star¡­ or more urately, a dead star." Xukong exined further.


    "Huh¡­ but why is it¡­ like this?" Lin Mu looked at the strange shard in the center.


    "Well, Star Shards are formed when either a star dies or is destroyed. And when that happens, a fraction of their characteristics are left behind in these shards. They can be of various types." Xukong replied.


    "Like Fire?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. Those are the mostmon types of Star Shards. Fire Star Shards are abundant and can be found in many ces. Then there are Yang Star Shards, that are full of pure Yang energy of the stars." Xukong replied.


    "If so¡­ then what is this?" Lin Mu looked at the swirling ck and purple energy.


    "That is possibly the most terrifying aspect of a star¡­ Gravity! That is a Gravity Star Shard and is considered the most dangerous. They are also very rare, and many times aren''t even formed.


    And even if they do, they have limited lifespans. Eventually, they run out of energy and disappear." Xukong exined in detail.


    "I see¡­ but then considering that the Great Meteorite Wall came into existence over a hundred thousand years ago¡­ how is the Gravity Star Shard still active?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "From what we know, the Gravity Star Shard was kept sealed for a long time. The murals show that. And the seal was lifted, which possibly caused the Great Meteorite Wall to form. But have you thought, why aren''t there anymore meteorites falling here?" Xukong asked instead.


    "Hmm¡­ I don''t know. Considering that gravity was strong enough to pull them from the atmosphere back then, it should still be pulling them. And yet it''s not¡­ I guess it actually got weaker?" Lin Mu replied after thinking.


    "Exactly," Xukong responded. "It is highly likely that it expended a lot of its energy in pulling andpressing all those meteorites into a wall. That limited its range of effect and now it is at its current level."


    "Then how long do you think this Gravity Star Shard willst Senior?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "It will depend on the situation in this area. If it continues to stay here, I don''t think it''llst more than a thousand years. But if it''s sealed again, it might be able tost for another hundred thousand years." Xukong estimated.


    "Hmmm¡­" This put Lin Mu in deep thought as he wondered if he could make use of this. "Since the tribes fought over this shard¡­ It can be used for something right?" he asked.


    "Of course. Star Shards are considered treasures, albeit very dangerous ones. Even Peak Immortals can barely use them. And even if they do, it is usuallymon star shards like the Fire or Yang Star Shards.


    At least those can be resisted by suitable Dao Embryos. But for something like the Gravity Star Shards, they can very easily result in a painful death." Xukong warned.


    "That is true¡­" Lin Mu could already feel his instincts warning him that if he got close to the Star Shard, he might just die.


    It was a prickly feeling on the back of his neck, that made him think twice about getting any closer.


    "So do they use the Star Shards toprehend the Dao?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ That isn''t the right use." Xukong denied.


    "It''s not?" Lin Mu raised his brows in doubt.


    "No. Do you feel any Dao Traces from the Star Shard?" Xukong asked instead.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and realized that there were indeed no Dao Traces. "If not Dao Traces, then what use do they have?" he asked.


    "Well, some use them as refining materials or as fuel. The Fire Star Shards, for example, are excellent for all kinds of alchemical as well as weapon or tool refinement. Theyst for thousands of years and have very pure mes.


    The Yang Star Shards, on the other hand, radiate pure Yang Energy and as such are either used directly for Yang Elemental Cultivation techniques or to enrich Herbs. They can also be used to purify negative energies of course, and cleanse areas.


    As for the Gravity Star Shard¡­ its uses are very limited. I''ve heard of them being used in Formation arrays to make Training areas for massive sects. But other than that, they can only be used as weapons." Xukong exined in detail.


    "Weapons, guess that''s the most straightforward way for it." Lin Mu muttered. "Controlling it though¡­ Does not seem as easy."


    "Indeed. It isn''t meant to be an immortal''s weapon in the first ce. One would need the power of a Celestial to handle it. The same actually applies to the other Star Shards too. They are far too dangerous for immortals to handle them.


    Only Peak Immortals should try to do anything with them. But even if they do have them, their capability of using them is very low. One would have to be a Celestial to fully utilize them." Xukong answered.


    "Hmm¡­ Guess it isn''t something I should dabble with right now." Lin Mu let out a sigh. "It is for the best." He said.


    "But that doesn''t mean you can''t take it." Xukong suddenly said. "Store it in the ring¡­ in a distant section. But you will have to seal itter on." He added.


    "Oh yeah, but how will I seal it?" Lin Mu asked in doubt. "Will you do it Senior?"


    "I can''t¡­ It would take too much of my power." Xukong gave a rare rejection. "You do have someone else you can ask, though."


    "Ah yes! The Saintess." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He didn''t mind that Xukong had rejected it. He already knew the great help that had been provided to him before. And as such, Lin Mu didn''t want to further strain Xukong.


    "Now then, if you are going to take it, you need to take that entire tform. It will keep it contained somewhat and allow you enough time to take it." Xukong advised.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head and got to work.


    He took a breath and extended his hand towards the tform. His Spatial Perception activated while his immortal sense was ready.


    "Meld!" Lin Mu used the fifth skill of the ring and targeted a cuboid area containing the tform as well as the Gravity Star Shard.


    ''This is several times more difficult than normal.'' Lin Mu could tell that the ''boundaries'' of Meld were being warped by the Gravitation force too.


    Still, he sped up and quickly brought it towards him before storing it in the ring.


    ~shua~


    As soon as the Gravity Star Shard was gone, the area started to tremble.


    ~RUMBLE~


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The ceiling cracked while the load bearing pirs started to shake.


    "This ce is gonna copse, time to escape!" Lin Mu knew and used the fourth skill.


    Fade!


    Lin Mu directly entered the parallel world and flew as fast as he could from his current location. And by the time the duration of the skill had ended, he was halfway out of the ground.


    ~TREMBLE~ TREMBLE~


    But even then, he could feel the ground shaking around him.


    "Not safe yet." Lin Mu used Fade again and continued to fly up.


    And by the time the duration ended, he was finally out of the ground.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu reappeared a few meters above the ground and looked behind him.


    "Whoa¡­" Lin Mu was left stunned as a segment of the Great Meteorite Wall sank a kilometer into the ground.


    With howpressed the ground was, it normally shouldn''t have happened. But the temple underground was an exception to that. It had not beenpressed and now that it had the great weight above it; it broke down.


    As such, the wall had no option but to sink down.


    But the rest of the area didn''t have much of a change in terms of appearance. After all, the area was highly dense and could not move much now.


    However, there was still a major change in gravity.


    "Well¡­ Seems like the Empire will have to update their map." Lin Mu stated as a matter of fact.


    He didn''t care that he had brought this change, though, as it didn''t really cause trouble for anyone. Or rather, it had eliminated a trouble for the Empire instead.


    The Great Meteorite wall that formed a barrier between the Minor Mite Mountains and the Serene ss Valley beyond it was actually traversable.


    Of course, due to the height of the wall, not many would be able to cross it, but over time, it would still be possible to make a tunnel.


    Though it was doubtful if anyone would try it.Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Well, at least now I have a shortcut." Lin Mu was satisfied by that.


    With the gravity of the area gone, even if the Great Meteoric Wall was very dense, Lin Mu could still pass through it. Or rather, if he wanted to, he could even climb over it.


    "Actually¡­ it might be better to climb it." Lin Mu reckoned. "This might just be the highest ce on the continent after all. I can get a really good view of the area beyond it."


    With that in mind, Lin Mu called out Little Shrubby.


    ~shua~


    "Oh, we''re ready to go?" Little Shrubby asked before looking around. "Did the area change?" he felt confused.

 Chapter 1906 Taking The Scenic Route

    Chapter 1906 Taking The Scenic Route


    Little Shrubby might not have felt the effects of the gravity around the Great Meteorite Wall personally, but he could still tell that there had been some change.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu replied to the beast. "The gravity is gone now¡­ I removed its source." He added.


    "Oh, okay." Little Shrubby said, not minding it much. "Where do we go now?" he asked.


    "Right up there." Lin Mu pointed to the top of the wall. "I think we can get a really nice look at the area from there."


    "Yes!" Little Shrubby was convinced, and Lin Mu jumped onto his back.


    ~WHOOSH~


    With that, the two turned into a red blur that raced up the tall wall that reached the skies. Little Shrubby''s sharp de like ws extended and dug into the solid wall, giving him a perfect grip while running.


    Lin Mu finally got to check just how tall the wall really was.


    ''Over a hundred kilometers tall¡­ This might really be the tallest ce on the Continent¡­ No, maybe even the Rust Sky World.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He knew that there were other peaks in the World that reached a simr height, but they were still lower than this for sure.


    ''I don''t think anyone got to measure this wall anyway since they couldn''t approach it.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''Unless the Transcendent Immortals tried to measure it themselves, which I doubt, I might just be the first one to do so.''


    With a small exploration achievement under his belt, Lin Mu finally saw the top of the wall.


    As expected, it was very t, having beenpressed perfectly due to the gravity. But what was not exacted was its thickness.


    "Whoa¡­ this is basically a teau at this point." Lin Mu saw a t expanse that extended for nearly ten kilometers.


    Or at least that''s what he could see. The horizon was hidden behind it, and he would need to move further ahead to properly confirm the thickness of the wall. From his current position, though, he could see the Minor Mite mountains rather clearly.


    "The scene is rather nice." Lin Mu and Little Shrubby paused to bask in the beauty.


    The Minor Mite Mountains were grayish brown and rose from the middle of a green nket of trees. It looked unique and extended for as far as Lin Mu''s gaze went.


    He stood there for a few minutes until he felt satisfied and moved on.


    "Let''s get to the other side and see how it is." Lin Mu spoke, and Little Shrubby ran once more.


    On the wall itself, there was nothing to see. But with how wide it was, Lin Mu was sure the Empire would probably be able to make use of it somehow.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    ''Considering its position and topography, this seems like the perfect ce to make a military fort.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Of course, flying all the way up here would be difficult for a lot of immortals, but if someone installed something like an elevator, it would be easier.


    Though he reckoned some might just put in a teleportation array instead. It would be convenient for thoseing from a long distance away. Plus, it made sense to connect the capital city with an important ce like an army fort of this size.


    "Eh, whatever it might be, it isn''t for me to decide." Lin Mu pushed it out of his mind and looked forward to the other side of the wall.


    As they continued to move, Lin Mu could see the width of the wall extending more. Only after the fifteen kilometer mark did they finally see the horizon in the distance.


    "Yep, this is basically a teau." Lin Mu confirmed.


    Being over fifteen kilometers in width and hundreds of kilometers in length, this was basically a giant teau that spanned a wide area.


    A short whileter, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby finally reached the other side of the Great Meteorite wall.


    "This is even better!" Little Shrubby said out loud.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu agreed.


    Unlike the grey termite mounds from the Minor Mite Mountains, the area here was a lot more aesthetically pleasing.


    He saw two rows of tall green mountains that extended all the way to the horizon. There must have been at least a hundred mountains in each row while between them a continuous valley extended.


    The valley was filled with trees, nts, and bountiful wildlife. The trees were of different colors too, ranging from a vibrant green to calming amber and serene blue.


    Then there were the patches of flowers mixed in that dotted the vast expanse of the valley.


    This ce was none other than the Serene ss Valley!


    "Those should be herb farms." Lin Mu guessed, seeing the pattern in which the flower patches were growing.


    They were made in a step formation around the mountains and adorned their sides.


    But that wasn''t all, as Lin Mu could also see buildings in the distance. They were so tiny from here, they barely looked like dots.


    ''Considering this area is right next to the Great Meteorite Wall, they probably didn''t consider building stuff here. They are just growing herbs and more nts instead.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It did make sense to do that too, as there would be better security on this side. After all, they would have never thought that someone would cross over from this side of the wall. The area of strong gravity worked as a natural barrier that neither humans nor beasts would cross.


    It was at this point that a thought appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    ''Nothing should happen now that the gravity is gone¡­ right?'' Lin Mu had a strange expression on his face.


    So far, he couldn''t tell whether anyone had discovered that the gravity had disappeared, but he knew it wouldn''t stay hidden forever.


    "Well, not my thing to worry about." Lin Mu gave up on thinking of the consequences. "They''re a major power, so they should be able to handle a change." He reckoned.

 Chapter 1907 Jumping The Fence

    Chapter 1907 Jumping The Fence


    Having taken in the beautiful sight of the Serene ss Valley, Lin Mu decided to descend the wall.


    "Let''s go down. We also have to meet the people who invited us back then." Lin Mu spoke. ''Though I wonder where I''ll find them.'' He thought.


    As far as Lin Mu knew, the Serene ss Valley might be a single organization, but it was stillposed of multiple ns. Thus, to find out where he needed to go, Lin Mu took out one of the booklets he had bought.


    ''The Southern Powers of the Dao Wind Continent'' was the title of the booklet.


    It briefly provided information about each n and power that existed in the southern region of the continent which also included the Serene ss Valley of course.


    ''Hmm¡­ the Serene ss Valley isposed of three major and four minor ns, for a total of seven ns. These seven ns have their own regions in the valley and upy multiple peaks. The Three Major ns are each specialized in Formations, Immortal Tool Refinement and Immortal Weapon refinement; whereas the four minor ns focus on providing support to the major ns with resources.'' Lin Mu read the introduction.


    He read the names of the ns and quickly recognized one of them.


    "Shuijing n¡­ the two who I fought were named this too, right? Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju." Lin Mu recalled. "So they are the Major n who are focused on formations."


    Having confirmed this, Lin Mu now knew he just needed to go to the n.


    ''Shouldn''t be hard.'' He thought.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby passed through the barren area that used to have heavy gravity before and soon entered the area rich with greenery.


    The change in atmosphere was abrupt and one could simply be refreshed by breathing in the pleasant air.


    The scent of a thousand flowers lingered in the air, and made one feel rather calm.


    "No wonder they call it Serene ss Valley. It certainly is serene." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    ~shua~Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    But just as they went past a certain threshold, a wave of immortal Qi could be felt.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as the wave swept over them.


    "Looks like we triggered a formation." Lin Mu muttered, getting alert. "It was hidden rather well, huh." He hadn''t sensed it beforehand.


    He could have, but since he had just arrived here he hadn''t looked in depth yet. But to not be caught off guard, Lin Mu quickly tried to determine just what kind of formation they had triggered just now.


    "A Tracking and Marking Formation¡­ Nothing dangerous¡­ at least not yet." Lin Mu muttered to himself, having identified it.


    Since this area was technically the depths of the Serene ss Valley, it made sense for them to not put any Offensive formations here. And since the other side provided natural defense due to the Great Meteorite Wall and its gravity, they didn''t put in any defensive formations, either.


    The only thing they kept was the Tracking and Marking Formation which was just intended to keep a log of who entered and left the area.


    ''Though I have no idea how they would take it if it was checked¡­ My site of entry will be questionable.'' Lin Mu realized it might not have been a good choice to have entered through here.


    He had in a sense¡­ Hopped the fence and entered into someone''s backyard instead of knocking on the front door.


    "Well, I hope the identity token helps." Lin Mu let out a breath of helplessness.


    He knew he had messed up, but hoped that since he hadn''t done anything bad, it should still be fine. Plus even without the identity token that was given to him by the two disciples of the Shuijing n, he would still be treated with respect due to his status as the winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu walked openly along with Little Shrubby. He didn''t hide and showed his presence, just so that the residents wouldn''t think he was an intruder¡­ which he technically was.


    He continued to walk for about ten minutes, during which he realized that the number of beasts in this area was rather low.


    ''Strange, did the n reduce the beasts or are they naturally low?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    And from what he could sense, the cultivation bases of the beasts were also very low. In fact, the strongest beast he could even sense within a twenty kilometer radius was barely at the False Immortal stage.


    For an area rich with Qi and resources like this, there was no way the poption of beasts would be this low. Or even if it was, the strength of the beasts should have been higher.


    "Oh! Look at those fruits!" Little Shrubby eximed before moving towards a small tree.


    The tree had eight oblong fruits hanging from them. The fruits were orange-yellow in color and looked simr to papayas.


    "We can''t touch anything here." Lin Mu warned. "It''s their stuff."


    "We can''t?" Little Shrubby was disappointed.


    "Yeah, at least not here. We can once we''re in the open forest though. This area is owned by the Serene ss Valley, so we shouldn''t take things without their permission." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay." Little Shrubby replied, and the two continued through the trees.


    With the size of the Valley and the Mountains, it was normal for there to not be too many people. But Lin Mu was surprised by little to no response from the Serene ss Valley, despite having triggered formations.


    ''Are they not taking it as a threat? Or is this area not as valuable as I thought?'' Lin Mu thought while looking around.


    At the very least, the area was very pleasant and provided him with a sense of rxation.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    But as if he had jinxed it, just a few secondster the sound of fluttering robes was heard.


    "Halt!" Lin Mu looked up, finding three cultivators floating in the sky.

 Chapter 1908 Cautious Suspicion

    Chapter 1908 Cautious Suspicion


    Lin Mu observed the three cultivators, estimating their capabilities.


    Two of them looked to be young, possibly in their twenties, while thest person was a man in his thirties. Of course, this was just their appearance, and their true age was a thousand times more considering they were all immortals!


    Lin Mu found that the cultivation base of the two younger looking cultivators was at the second tribtion stage of the immortal realm while the older man was at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm. Of course, to Lin Mu who had dealt with experts stronger than this, they weren''t much.


    But it still gave him an insight into how strong the Serene ss Valley was.


    "Greetings, I am Mu Lin." Lin Mu decided to take the initiative. "I was invited to the Serene ss Valley by Shuijing Ju and Shuijing Mingzhu." He said while cupping his hands.


    Seeing the polite acting person in front of them, the three cultivators couldn''t help but ease up a bit. While they hadn''t dropped their guard, they at least didn''t think this was an intruder now. After all, an intruder should have acted in a lot more concerning way than this.


    Then there was also therge beast next to Lin Mu. Little Shrubby was not showing any aggression and wasn''t exuding any killing intent either thus they didn''t find him to be a threat. Plus to them, Little Shrubby''s cultivation base only seemed to be at the Second Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm. They had no idea about his abilities and with his aura being restrained, there was no way for them to know just how big of a threat he really could be. But all that was something that worked in the favor of Lin Mu.


    "Do you have any proof of that?" The Older cultivator responded. While Lin Mu''s appearance in this area was suspicious, as they didn''t know just how he had managed to bypass all the other areas since he wasn''t hiding his presence, it didn''t seem like he had done it intentionally. Plus he had even taken the names of two of their disciples. It might not drop all the suspicion, as the names themselves were easy enough to find, but the way he spoke seemed truthful.


    "Of course," Lin Mu replied taking out the token that had been given to him. "Here." He held out the token.


    "Take it," The older cultivator ordered the younger ones.


    The two descended and took it from Lin Mu without any issues. They scanned it with their immortal senses and furrowed their brows. N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    "It seems to be authentic Junior Elder." The two cultivators stated.


    But that wasn''t enough to satisfy the elder.


    "Hmm¡­ While you do have an invitation, it still does not exin how you managed toe this far without any of us knowing. There was no information about you entering at the gate either." The Junior Elder spoke in a tone of caution.


    "I do have an exnation for that. If you wish for me to speak," Lin Mu said, realizing that they hadn''t realized who he was yet. ''Seems like Shuijing Ju and Shuijing Mingzhu didn''t really tell many that I wasing¡­ or perhaps only their n members know?'' he thought.


    It also didn''t seem like they knew that Lin Mu was the winner of the tournament of the four guardian beasts.


    Whatever it might be though, Lin Mu decided to go with the flow. At the very least, he didn''t wish for a conflict to break out. The Serene ss Valley hadn''t done anything wrong to him and their behavior was fully justified.


    After all, it was Lin Mu''s fault havinge this way. ''Even if I did take a shortcut, perhaps I should have stayed hidden and entered from the main gate instead.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But that was something he couldn''t change anymore, as such he would have to rectify his mistake.


    "You''ll exin yourself to the Elders. This is a concerning matter and will need other''s opinions too." The junior elder said.


    "¡­ I see." Lin Mu held back the words he was gonna speak. "That is fine with me. I shall do as you ask." He spoke.


    While it would have been very easy to tell them that the gravity had disappeared from the Great Meteorite Wall, it seemed like they needed to follow a protocol as well. But this did confirm a fact for Lin Mu. He was now sure, no one had sensed the change in the Great Meteorite Wall.


    ''Looks like the ce has been considered secure for such a long time, no one even bothers to monitor it.'' Lin Mu thought.


    But what he didn''t know was that there had actually been many attempts to make formation arrays around its boundaries for various purposes such as observation and more. Plus with Serene ss Valley having focus on Formations meant that this was a challenge for them. They would be rather enthusiastic about finding a solution that might work in such heavy gravity.


    But all of those attempts had been for naught as the formations would either copse instantly or have a very short life.


    As such, having wasted a lot of resources in doing that in the past, no one thought about making them again. Rather than doing that, they just took it as Heavens'' gift of providing free protection to them.


    "Come," The Junior Elder spoke and flew up again. "Let''s go, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke to the beast and climbed onto his back.


    ~shua~


    The two flew up and followed after the trio. They went past the mountains without stopping, while Lin Mu continued to observe the surroundings. They also didn''t speak to Lin Mu anymore, which he just thought was a cautionary thing.


    But after flying for a while, Lin Mu realized that they had passed nearly thirty mountains. Many of the nearby mountains had been filled with buildings, and they still hadn''t stopped, making Lin Mu wonder just how far they were going.


    "Can I ask where we are going?" Lin Mu finally questioned.

 Chapter 1909 Twin Crowns Peak

    Chapter 1909 Twin Crowns Peak


    Lin Mu''s question wasn''t bad for the three cultivators, and the elder decided to answer it.


    "To the Twin Crown Peak." The Junior Elder replied.


    "The Twin Crown Peak?" Lin Mu raised a brow not knowing anything about it.


    "It is the seat of power for our Serene ss Valley." One of the younger cultivators added. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "I see¡­ Guess I''ll be seeing a lot of the seniors and elders then." Lin Mu replied while keeping his Immortal sense extended to the max.


    As they continued to fly, Lin Mu picked up on the names of the nearby peaks. It wasn''t hard for him to sense them from here and there were also name boards ced on them, making them easy to spot.


    ''Elrose Peaks, Chang''an n Peaks, Mungran Peaks¡­'' Lin Mu read their names and matched them with the information he had read.


    The Chang''an n peaks were owned by the Chang''an n and was one of the three major ns of the Serene ss Valley. ''They are the ones specialized in Immortal Tool refinement.'' Lin Mu recalled.


    This was the first major n, Lin Mu hade across so far as all the other peaks seemed to belong to the minor ns or were simply farms or other facilities.


    ''Guess, only the Major ns have peaks named after them. The others are all named differently.'' Lin Mu understood.


    And as they continued to fly, his assumption was confirmed.


    "Is that the Shuijing n peak?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, that''s where the Shuijing n members live." The two younger cultivators answered.


    "I see¡­ would it be possible to contact the two Shuijing n members who invited me?" Lin Mu asked, just in case.


    "They''ll be asked toe to the Twin Crown Peak as well." The Junior elder spoke this time.


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied and stayed silent for the rest of the trip.


    About five minutester, they finally reached their destination.


    The Twin Crown Peak looked like a mountain that had been split at the top. It had a ''M'' like shape but in the middle of the two sides, arge pce was erected. The pce was attached to the two sides and was built in a unique way.


    Its top was made out of shining ss that reflected the light of runes that shone on the defensive towers that were ced at its perimeters.


    ''Rather peculiar design¡­'' Lin Mu thought while using his Immortal sense to probe the peak''s arrays.


    He didn''t go deep, just obtaining information from the surface.


    ''That''s¡­ a lot.'' Lin Mu raised his brows, finding almost as many formations as the Capital City built just on the peak. ''They sure do take their formation mastery seriously.'' He thought, judging that it would take him a month to even analyze all these formations if he started now.


    Lin Mu tried to identify some of the formations, and realized that other than the ones on the surface that weremonce, all the others were unknown to them.


    ''Are these their signature designs?'' Lin Mu wondered. If he had a little more time, he might be able to find the simrities in them, which would confirm that they were all indeed made by the Serene ss Valley themselves.


    "Here we are." The junior Eldernded at the base of the Twin Crown Peak, where several members of the Serene ss Valley were standing guard.


    ''They are all at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm at the very least.'' Lin Mu sensed.


    There were also several stronger ones mixed among them, but they were higher up on the peak. And at the very top of the pce, Lin Mu could sense the strongest presence.


    This made him curious and he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. His Spatial Perception was activated, and he looked past all the physical constraints. His gaze directly went to the top where he sensed three particr strong flows of Immortal Qi.


    The flow was thick enough that it contrasted against the Spatial Fabric, making it visible in front of Lin Mu''s spatial perception.


    ''Fifth and Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.'' Lin Mu estimated. They were all surrounded by multiple smaller Immortal Qi flows, which Lin Mu reckoned were the elders of the various ns thatposed the Serene ss Valley.


    ''This is almost like a sect.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Looks like even if the Sects aren''t allowed to be formed in the Rust Sky world, they still allow such n alliances to be made.'' He reckoned.


    He didn''t know what kind of specific restrictions there were upon such alliances either. After all, if a power simply named themselves a n alliance while acting as a sect, it would be the same as putting up a paper barrier. It wouldn''t really change the reality.


    ''Must be some kind of power restraint perhaps¡­ or maybe recruitment restraint?'' Lin Mu pondered on it.


    But before he could think much, the Junior Elder spoke.


    "Let''s go up." He asked Lin Mu to follow.


    The two younger cultivators stayed behind and only Lin Mu went further. But just as they were about to pass through the entry gate, the guards there spoke. "Beasts aren''t allowed inside." "Oh, that''s fine." Lin Mu replied, "Return for now Little Shrubby."


    ~shua~


    The beast turned into a sh of light and disappeared in Lin Mu''s body.


    The guards and the junior elder looked at Lin Mu with slight surprise but didn''t question further.


    Lin Mu and the Junior elder began their ascent up the peak and soon arrived at a smaller building that was about a hundred meters from the gate. They entered it and Lin Mu saw a formation array circle inside it.


    "Teleportation Circle?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, it''ll take us to the top directly." The Junior elder replied and took out his identity token. ~SHUA~


    The circle activated and the two walked into it. Then in the next moment, they disappeared in a sh of light.

 Chapter 1910 Doubtful Elders

    Chapter 1910 Doubtful Elders


    Lin Mu found himself in a circr hall.


    He was standing in the center of the hall while two circles of chairs surrounded it with a path going on one side.


    The two circles of chairs were levitated, with the circle at the back being the highest. The chair at the very opposite of the path was thergest and most borate, almost looking like a throne. Then on the right and left of thergest chair, there were two more chairs that were slightlyrger than the other chairs.


    It was clear that these were all positions of importance.


    About half of the chairs were filled including the three important chairs. But the ones in the first circle were mostly empty, only the second circle of chairs being filled. All the people sitting on the chairs were gazing at Lin Mu as of now.


    "I''ve brought him, Elders." The Junior Elder bowed his head and cupped his hands. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "You may return to your seat." A voice was heard from one of the threerge seats.


    The Junior Elder did as he was asked, and sat in the first circle of chairs taking one of the empty seats.


    "State your identity Junior and how did you enter the Serene ss Valley." The Elder sitting at the highest seat spoke.


    Lin Mu looked at the old man, finding him to be the Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal that he had sensed earlier. Simrly, the two beside him were the other Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortals. All of them were old men with long beards and seemed to be in their seventies.


    They wore robes that had crests of their respective ns and made it easy to identify them.


    ''Shuijing n, Chang''an n and the Guan n.'' Lin Mu recognized them going from left to right.


    The Shuijing n was the one specialized in the Formations, Chang''an n was the one specialized in Immortal Weapons and also had the head seat, while the Guan n was specialized in Immortal Tools.


    "I am Mu Lin, and I was invited by the two members of the Shuijing n who participated in the Tournament of the Four Guardians; Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju." Lin Mu spoke. "As for how I entered the Serene ss Valley, I simply crossed over the Great Meteorite Wall." He revealed.


    "Impossible!" Several Elders said in unison. "The Great Meteorite Wall is impossible to traverse." One of the Elders to the right of Lin Mu shouted.


    "The gravity will kill all those thate close enough to the wall." "Even Transcendent Immortals cannot climb over the wall." The Elder from the Guan n stated.


    Hearing their words, it was clear that they had already heard about the fact that Lin Mu had been invited here and as such they weren''t concerned about that. But they were shocked by him entering here by crossing over the Great Meteorite Wall.


    "Elder, I know that. But what if¡­ The Gravity no longer exists?" Lin Mu posed a possibility that seemed unbelievable to them.


    "What a joke!" One of the Eldersughed.


    "It is very easy to confirm Elders." Lin Mu interrupted them before they debated this further. "Why don''t you send someone to confirm whether my words are true?" he proposed.


    "Very well." This time the Elder in the highest seat, the Chang''an Elder spoke. "Elder Wen, you go check it." He spoke to one of the Elders sitting in the second circle.


    "Yes!" The Elder stood up and quickly left through the teleportation circle.


    After the Elder was gone, it seemed like the others chose not to speak until it was all confirmed.


    ~SHUA~


    But at this moment, the teleportation circle glowed and two more people appeared.


    "Daoist Mu Lin!" A girl''s voice was heard.


    Lin Mu looked at them, finding them familiar.


    "You''ve finallye, Daoist Mu Lin!" Shuijing Ju said with excitement.


    The ones who had arrived were none other than the two who had invited Lin Mu over.


    "Ah, it''s you two. I was wondering where to find you." Lin Mu replied. "You could have just asked anyone to take you to the Shuijing n." Shuijing Mingzhu spoke. "But why are you here?" she asked with concern.


    It was at this time that Shuijing Ju turned to the three elders in the higher seats.


    "Grand Elders, this is Daoist Mu Lin. The winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts!" He revealed. "Why has he been summoned here?" he felt confused as Lin Mu should have been honored instead of being brought to an interrogation.


    Hearing his words, the elders all showed a surprised expressions. While they had indeed heard of the name of the winner, they didn''t think Lin Mu was the same person. After all, the name Mu Lin was rtivelymon and they didn''t think this would be the same person.


    In fact, it was somon that one of the Minor ns in the Serene ss Valley was named Mu too!


    As such there would be several people named Mu Lin inside the n too.


    "Are you really the winner?" The Elder from the Chang''an n asked directly.


    "I am, Elder." Lin Mu said, "I am sure you can very easily verify that with the Imperial Court or the Temple itself."


    The Chang''an Elder looked towards one of the High Elders and gestured to him with his eyes. The High Elder understood what he meant and took out amunication Jade Slip. He held it for a few seconds before his eyes went wide.


    "It is true¡­" The High Elder said before tapping on the Jade Slip.


    ~shua~


    A formation screen appeared in the center of the hall, on which a scene manifested.


    It was the scene of Lin Mu being dered the winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian Beasts.


    ~Sigh~


    The Elders let out a sigh, while the three major n elders stood up.


    "Pardon us for this, but we had to be careful." The Elder from the Chang''an n apologized.

 Chapter 1911 Uproar In The Twin Crowns Peak

    Chapter 1911 Uproar In The Twin Crowns Peak


    With the apology given, Lin Mu decided to reduce the tension in the hall.


    "It is fine, I do not mind it, elders." Lin Mu replied. "I understand it is a matter of concern for you all." He said in understanding.


    The elders all became relieved after hearing this.


    "In fact, this is also why I came over the wall. I was on my way to the Serene ss Valley from the Capital City. And when I crossed the Minor Mite Mountains, I saw the Great Meteor Wall. It was my first time seeing it, thus I wished to feel its unique phenomena myself. But when I finally got to the area, I didn''t feel anything. I thought it might just be too low at that point and got closer to the wall, but even then nothing changed. As such I went all the way to the wall before realizing that the Gravity didn''t increase at all. Wanting to figure out more, I climbed over the wall and felt nothing there either. Though¡­ I did get a really nice view of the entire Serene ss Valley." Lin Mu exined his side with a few changes in the events.


    His words were surprising to all the elders, as well as the two juniors from the Shuijing n. In fact, they were a lot more trusting of Lin Mu, now that his identity as the winner had been confirmed. They didn''t think there would be any reason for Lin Mu to trick them.


    Not to mention, any tricks like these would be easily seen through once they confirmed the facts.


    And sure enough, just as Lin Mu finished talking, Elder Wen returned.


    ~shua~


    He appeared in the teleportation circle and had an incredulous expression on his face even now.


    "It¡­ it¡­ it is true¡­ The Heavy Gravity is gone¡­ The Great Meteorite Wall has changed!" Elder Wen eximed.


    An uproar broke out in the hall after this, as the elders were all shocked.


    "Silence!" The elder from the Chang''an n shouted.


    With that, all of the elders calmed down and silence returned to the hall.


    "We''ll have to check this in detail and verify how this happened." The Elder from Chang''an n spoke. "But before that, Daoist Mu Lin can leave. You two juniors can take him with you, ensuring that he is given the right treatment." He stated.


    "Of course, Supreme Elder." Shuijing Mingzhu cupped her hands and bowed her head.


    "We''ll take care of Daoist Mu Lin, he is our guest after all." Shuijing Ju added.


    "Mmhmm, as for the elders we have to inform the Imperial Court as well as set up new defenses. Get to it right away!" The Supreme Elder dered.


    ~shua~shua~shua~


    All of the elders left their seats and quickly entered the teleportation circle, going to do their assigned tasks.


    "We should leave too, Daoist Mu Lin." Shuijing Ju spoke. "I think things will be getting a bit busy around here." "Alright." Lin Mu replied and went along with them.


    ~shua~


    They too left through the teleportation circle and returned to the base of the Twin Crowns Peak.


    "Come on, we''ll take you to the Shuijing n. The Head Elder has been excited to meet you for a long time." Shuijing Mingzhu pulled Lin Mu along.


    "Haha, okay." Lin Mu flew alongside her while Shuijing Ju was at his left.


    The trio flew back to the Shuijing n, while Shuijing Mingzhu introduced various peaks and ces to Lin Mu. She told him all about the various facilities the Serene ss Valley had as well as about all the ns they passed by.


    "Oh yeah, we have a n that has the same surname as you Daoist Mu Lin." Shuijing Ju suddenly said. "Are you rted to them by any chance?" he asked in doubt.


    "Ah no. I can assure you I''m definitely not rted to them." Lin Mu shook his head. "It isn''t possible since I''m not from this world."


    "Oh¡­" Shuijing Mingzhu looked a bit disappointed upon hearing that. If Lin Mu was even distantly rted to them somehow, it would be a great honor for the Serene ss Valley. But it was still a bit surprising to them that Lin Mu wasn''t from the Rust Sky world.


    They didn''t ask Lin Mu which world he was from though, as they thought it might be a bit of a private matter. Plus, it wasn''t umon for many immortals to wander around several worlds and live for hundreds or thousands of years in them. As such, many of them considered multiple worlds their home.


    The trio continued to chat and talk about the Serene ss Valley, with Lin Mu feeling quite intrigued by them. But he was especially surprised by one of the things that they told him.


    "Oh! Our Serene ss Valley also has a special Immortal fruit orchard that has been in the valley since before our ns were established here." Shuijing Mingzhu spoke. "It is full of Snow ss pear trees." She revealed.


    "Snow ss Pears?" This was the first time Lin Mu had heard about the immortal fruit. "Tell him about Elder Pear!" Shuijing Ju reminded her.


    "Elder Pear? Someone that takes care of the Orchard?" Lin Mu guessed. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "No¡­ Elder Pear is one of the Snow ss Pear Trees." Shuijing Mingzhu revealed, surprising him. "He is a tree but is still part of the Serene ss Valley elders."


    "Wait¡­ Do you mean to say he is a Sentient Immortal Tree!?" Lin Mu asked with excitement.


    "Indeed!" Shuijing Mingzhu nodded her head.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu''s excitement abouting to the Serene ss Valley skyrocketed. After all, one of the things he had been looking for a long time was more Sentient nts. And now that he had a direct confirmation about one such nt, he couldn''t help but feel thrilled.


    "Can you take me there?" Lin Mu asked her, trying to hold in his excitement.


    "Yeah, we can. But we''ll have to get permission first." Shuijing Ju replied.


    "We''ll talk to the Head Elder, I''m sure he''ll give it to us." Shuijing Mingzhu stated.

 Chapter 1912 The Shuijing Clan

    Chapter 1912 The Shuijing n


    Information about a sentient tree like the Snow ss Pear Tree was rather valuable for Lin Mu.


    After all, those were the only nts that could actually grow in the Sleepscape. As such, Lin Mu wanted more of them, as he thought that they were the key to enriching the Sleepscape and unlocking its capabilities.


    He went along with Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju, as they brought him to their n.


    The Shuijing n was something Lin Mu had already passed by before and knew that it wasposed of about four mountains. The four mountains were set in two pairs and looked almost identical in size, if not for the different buildings present on them.


    There was the main peak where the n''s grand residence was located along with the minor residences where the extended members of the n lived. The second peak was where the Formation facilities of the n were located.


    This is where most of the members practiced their formations and researched further on them.


    The third peak was used for misceneous things along with serving as a ce of residence of the servants. Then there was the fourth peak, which was used as both a storage area for all the materials the Shuijing n would need as well as a farm for herbs and fruits.


    Some of these herbs and fruits could be used in the making of formations, while the rest were used as cultivation resources.


    After all, while the Serene ss Valley had specialized peaks for farming and more, those were still a collective resource. As such, it was better to have some immediate resources kept only for the n, which was why this peak existed.


    Plus it allowed the n to generate their own ie for their personal treasury instead of relying fully on the main treasury of the entire Serene ss Valley.


    Upon reaching the main peak of the Shuijing n, Lin Mu first saw their crest. The crest was that of a basin of water that was rippling.


    Shuijing Mingzhu saw that Lin Mu was staring at the crest and spoke up.


    "The Crest of our n signifies the ever-changing and fluid nature of runes while staying in the confines of the formations. The rippling water is the runes, while the basin is the formations." Shuijing Mingzhu exined.


    "I see¡­ that is intriguing and well thought." Lin Mu admitted.


    "Come, there is much more to see in our n." Shuijing Ju said, taking Lin Mu through the gates.


    There were a lot of people in the n, as expected of it being one of the three major ns. Lin Mu also used his immortal sense to get an idea of the ce.


    He not only sensed the cultivation bases of the members but also checked the formations. And as expected of a n that specialized in formations and arrays, the mountain was chock full of them.


    Defensive, offensive, isting, illusory, restricting, and even self-destructing formation arrays, there were all kinds of arrays ced in the mountains. They were also made in an intricate pattern, making it hard to fully figure out their workings.


    They were woven with such intricacy that even interfering with one of theyers would lead to an automatic retaliatory response. Not just that, but the arrays could automatically correct themselves too if there was minor damage or error.


    ''Something like this definitely took thousands of years to make.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He continued to walk alongside Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju, while they introduced the internal areas of the mountain. Lin Mu saw gardens, statues, rockeries, ponds, and even an artificial river that flowed on the mountain.


    Lin Mu also noticed several Qi umting, Qi channeling and Qi amplifying formations ced on the mountain. They were buried under a lot of other arrays and wouldn''t be spotted easily, but Lin Mu had seen them several times before and as such, had a good guess.


    ''Since there are these arrays ced here too, there is no doubt there is an Immortal Qi mine here too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Of course, he couldn''t estimate what level the mine was in since the arrays didn''t let any stray immortal Qi fluctuations to be felt. But if one was here, it was bound to be used by the members of the n. Either as a mode of currency or just as a direct cultivation resource.


    ''But if the Shuijing n has one, the others definitely too¡­ not every n might have it, but the entire Serene ss Valley definitely has multiple Immortal Stone mines.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Every immortal stone mine had a great value, which Lin Mu knew very well about.


    ''And considering they are a major power and an ally with the Imperial Court, they might even be all High grade immortal stone mines.'' He thought.


    Overall, Lin Mu could tell the conditions in the Shuijing n were very pleasant and the members could be considered blessed. After all, the majority of the cultivators were told to never go practice in an environment like this. Most would be fighting to get an opportunity like this.


    And yet, the Shuijing n could use it as they pleased.


    "Senior Ju, you''re back." While walking, the trio was interrupted by one of the members.


    It was a young man who looked to be barely in his twenties and had a beardless face. Sensing his cultivation and seeing his robes, Lin Mu could tell that the member was rather low ranked being only at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    ''Hmm¡­ he still has unstable, immortal Qi fluctuations. Did he break through recently?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Junior Zi, have you finished the stabilization of your cultivation base?" Shuijing Ju replied.


    It was clear that both of them knew each other and also of their cultivation bases.


    "Ah yes! I had a sessful breakthrough and I''m assigned here until I fully stabilize my cultivation base.'' Shuijing Zi answered.


    "That is good. Soon you''ll be a senior member in the n too." Shuijing Ju stated while Shuijing Mingzhu simply nodded in agreement. "But who''s this?" he finally noticed Lin Mu.


    "This is Daoist Mu Lin. He is the guest of honor of not just the Serene ss Valley but also our n," Shuijing Ju revealed.


    "Daoist Mu Lin!?" It was obvious that the younger man knew a lot about Lin Mu. "It really is you?" Shuijing Zi asked, feeling stunned.Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Yes, that''s me." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "WOO! I thought it was just a rumor that you were bringing in outsiders. But to see the winner in the flesh¡­ man, I feel excited." Shuijing Zi said out loud.


    "Haha, I hope that I can manage to keep your expectations high." Lin Mu replied.


    "We''re heading to meet the n head first. You can talk to Daoist Mu Linter, Shuijing Zi." Shuijing Ju stated, not wanting Lin Mu to waste any more of his time here.


    "Of course, please go ahead Seniors." Shuijing Zi bid them farewell, but he was still staring at Lin Mu''s back with a hint of longing.


    The three passed by several more nsmen and nswomen who all wanted to speak with Lin Mu, or were excited to see him. Lin Mu''s looks also added an extra ir to it all, with the female members stumbling while walking just upon seeing him.


    It couldn''t be helped. He was the ideal candidate, after all.


    "Haha," Shuijing Ju, who saw the reactions of his kin, couldn''t help but chuckle.


    Shuijing Mingzhu, though, gave them all a cold stare, making them go their own way and preventing them from getting hounded again.


    After about fifty minutes, Lin Mu and the two members finally reached the main hall of the n. It was already evening by now, and the sun had set outside. As such, beautiful lights were lit up all over tree mountain, adding a mesmerizing look to it all.


    "This is the main hall?" Lin Mu looked at the interior, finding it rather simple.


    "Yes, it is empty at this time." Shuijing Ju replied.


    The hall was a hundred meters by a hundred meters and only had a handful of chairs ced inside it.


    Unlike the hall at the Twin Crowns Peak, this one seemed rather disappointing.


    "You''ve brought him." It was at this time that the voice of an old man was heard.


    Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju both got alert after hearing the voice and knew exactly who it was.


    "Head elder!" Shuijing Ju called out.


    "Great Grandfather!" Shuijing Mingzhu said instead.


    It was clear that she was a favorite for the Head Elder, being his own blood.


    ''Oh? No wonder she could just invite me. She''s literally his great-granddaughter.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "I wee you to the Humble Shuijing n of the Serene ss Valley, Daoist Mu Lin. My granddaughter has talked quite a bit about you in the past." Head Elder replied, looking at him.


    "Thank you for having me over, Head Elder."

 Chapter 1913 A Cordial Welcome

    Chapter 1913 A Cordial Wee


    The cordial greeting from the Head Elder felt pleasant to Lin Mu.


    "Firstly, I must congratte you on your win." Head Elder said with a smile. "As such, I would like to hold a banquet in your honor." He added.


    "Oh? But would that be appropriate Head Elder?" Lin Mu asked. "Considering the current situation with the Great Meteorite Wall." He said, showing some concern.


    Lin Mu had been the one behind it. As such, he still held a bit of guilt and did not want to inconvenience his hosts.


    "Oh, that is fine." Head Elder chuckled. "The Patriarch is the one who has to deal with that anyways. I believe you''ve already met him earlier." He spoke. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "The one in the Twin Crowns Peak?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed. That''s my second son, Shuijing Lanzhou." Head Elder replied.


    "Oh? That''s Shuijing Mingzhu''s Grandfather?" Lin Mu asked in curiosity.


    "No, he''s my Granduncle. My Grandfather is here in the n." Shuijing Mingzhu replied.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu said, finding the n structure to be a bit different from what he was used to. "You don''t have to worry about inconveniencing us. Our authority structure is split into two. There is the council of the valley and then the individual n authority. For n matters, the Head Elders are in charge, while the patriarchs and a few other elders are part of the council." The Head Elder exined.


    "I understand¡­ but if you are the oldest, why aren''t you in that position?" Lin Mu asked, feeling a bit interested in their workings.


    "I was in the past." The Head Elder replied. "But I decided to retire and just take care of the n. Plus, I wished to focus fully on formations again. My eldest son, Mingzhu''s Grandfather was the same. He had no interest in administrative matters and was focused on formations as well.


    As such, he let his younger brother take the position as the n patriarch instead." The Head Elder answered.


    ''Guess they are really dedicated to the craft.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. "I can respect that." He spoke.


    "We''ll go ahead with the banquet, then. Don''t worry, it won''t take long to set up. Besides, the juniors will probably like to meet you. It''s not every day we get to see a winner of the Tournament after all. Haha." The Head Elderughed. It was now that Shuijing Ju spoke up.


    "Head Elder, Daoist Mu Lin also has a request." "Oh? If it is within my power, I''ll dly fulfill it." The Head Elder replied.


    "Great Grandfather, he wishes to meet Elder Pear and see the Snow ss Pear Orchard." Shuijing Mingzhu stated.


    Hearing this, the head elder titled his head. "That isn''t a problem at all. But if you wish to also meet Elder Pear, you''ll have to wait a bit. He is currently asleep." The Head Elder replied.


    "He''s asleep, I see." Lin Mu didn''t know why the Elder was asleep but didn''t mind waiting.


    As if knowing that Lin Mu had doubts, Shuijing Mingzhu took it upon herself to exin.


    "Elder Peach is the oldest member in the entire Serene ss Valley, and as such, needs his rest. He sleeps for a few weeks to months at a time and as such, we avoid disturbing him." Shuijing Mingzhu exined.


    "I understand." Lin Mu replied. "Though¡­ how old is he? Since he''s a tree, he''s probably lived longer than most immortals right?" he asked.


    "You''re correct. In fact, there is a high chance Elder Pear might be one of the oldest living beings in the entire Rust Sky World. Him being a tree provides him with a very long lifespan, and the restrictions of normal immortals don''t exactly apply to him.


    We''ve asked Elder Pear his age, but he doesn''t exactly know it. By the time he gained consciousness, the Serene ss Valley didn''t even exist. And that was over seventy thousand years ago." Head elder revealed.


    "That is certainly old." Lin Mu nodded, feeling impressed. "He must know a lot of things then. Having lived that long." "Indeed. All of the elders and patriarchs respect him. And if he has a suggestion, it is considered with the utmost seriousness. His seniority exceeds all of us, after all." Head elder added.


    "It is actually Elder Pear who permitted the ancestors to settle here. If not for him, perhaps the Serene ss Valley might have nevere into existence." Shuijing Ju also added.


    "Seems like I absolutely have to meet Elder Pear now. I can''t wait to listen to his plethora of knowledge." Lin Mu was greatly interested in the tree.


    The tree was the oldest person Lin Mu would have met if he excluded Xukong and Lanbao. As for the Saintess, Lin Mu had no idea how old she was, and something told him, asking that would be very terrifying.


    ''I wonder if he knows more about the Demonic Tribes and maybe even the Haima Tribe.'' Lin Mu thought of what things he would ask the tree.


    He added more things to his list, in addition to his interest in a sentient nt.


    ''Of course, there''s no way I can take Elder Peach with me. But I wonder if other Snow ss Pear trees can be the same.'' Lin Mu thought.


    As far as he could tell, Elder Pear was probably the farthest stage of a nt, gaining sentience. The Wood Spirit Tulip, the Purple Sickle Amaranth and the Immortal Apple tree all were sentient, but couldn''t exactlymunicate directly.


    The Violet Mystic Life Tree was the strongest among them all, and was definitely stronger than Elder Pear, but it didn''t have the same level of sentience either. It was clear that Elder Pear had gone on a different path than these nts. Whether it was his cultivation base or something else, that was yet to be seen. "I''ve also heard¡­" The Head Elder brought Lin Mu out of his thoughts. "You have a Formation Dao Embryo?" he asked, his eyes shining with great interest.

 Chapter 1914 Head Elders Benefit

    Chapter 1914 Head Elder''s Benefit


    The Head Elder was clearly interested in the Dao Embryo and Shuijing Mingzhu had probably told him about it.


    "I do, Head Elder." Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh? May I see it?" The Head Elder asked. "As a n specializing in formations, it isn''t often that we see such Dao embryos. In fact, even in our n, getting one is very rare." He revealed.


    "Really? I thought it would bemon." Lin Mu asked, feeling surprised.


    "The path of formations is difficult. As such even our n members struggle to create such an embryo. In fact, most of us do not create it as our first Dao Embryo." Head Elder revealed.


    "So you all have two Dao Embryos?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed." Head Elder nodded. "Since it is important to reach the immortal realm first, we let them form any Dao Embryo that is easy for them. But after they reach the immortal realm, they are to focus on the Formation Dao and then attempt to make a Dao Embryo." He exined.


    "I see¡­ That is very simr to what I''ve done." Lin Mu stated. "My first Dao embryo was from Earth." He said, not revealing that the Rune Shaping Brush wasn''t actually his second, but his third Dao Embryo.


    The Four Faceted Neb was a Spatial Dao Embryo after all. And it being a unique one changed everything. It was something that would catch the attention of even the immortal court and above if it was revealed. Thankfully, due to its natural properties, it didn''t even exist in his Dantian unless he summoned it. Xukong had already assured Lin Mu that even Transcendent Immortals and most celestials wouldn''t be able to detect it. In fact, only the celestials who were specialized in the Spatial Dao would be able to sense it. But even then they wouldn''t exactly be able to find it. N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    And so far, Lin Mu hadn''te across anyone else who had the Spatial Element. Sure there were many that used Spatial powers on some level, but it was through formations and other treasures. The only person he had even heard of being a Spatial expert was the current head of the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts. Other than that, Lin Mu hadn''t encountered anyone else, which just showed how rare it was for someone to have the Spatial Element. Or rather, the same applied to all three primordial elements. Lin Mu had seen many with the four heavenly elements so far, especially in the Rust Sky world, thus they didn''t seem as rare anymore.


    "Ah yes, a Basal Elemental Dao embryo is the mostmon." Head Elder nodded. "I myself made a Wood Dao Embryo first before I actually made my Formation Dao Embryo." He revealed.


    "I''d like to see yours as well, Head Elder." Lin Mu said, summoning his own Dao Embryo. After all, it wasn''t every day one got to exchange such pointers.


    ~shua~ The Rune Shaping Brush appeared out of Lin Mu''s Dantian and shone slightly.


    Head Elder saw the Dao Embryo as well as the Dao Shell, his eyes going.


    "You¡­ turned the Dao Shell into an Inkstone?" He asked lightly.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded.


    A Brush and an Inkstone¡­ Marvelous." Head elder said in a fascinated tone as he made circles around the Dao Embryo. "Using Qi as the ink, and the world as the paper, bringing forth a myriad of transformations¡­" The Head Elder muttered, a thousand thoughts going through his mind.


    ~HONG~


    As if he had been struck by a moment of revtion, the Head Elder''s eyes suddenly went wide and a strong energy fluctuation was felt.


    "Dao Traces¡­" Lin Mu became alert and felt the area bing rich with them.


    ~HUALA~


    Then in the next moment, an object manifested in front of the Head Elder.


    It looked like a small knife that was about five inches in size. It had a slender handle that looked to be made out of a deer horn, while fine runic marks could be seen on both the de and the handle.


    This was the Dao Embryo of the Head Elder and it was currently encased in the Dao Shell which was in the shape of a rectangr box.


    It was a rtively simple looking Dao Shell, but it was nothingpared to Lin Mu''s own Dao Shell which actually added functionality and amplified the abilities of the Dao Embryo.


    Though looking at it now, Lin Mu could feel that the Dao Embryo was changing.


    ~SHUA~


    The knife Dao Embryo rose out of the box and started to release the Dao Traces. Lin Mu could sense that they were getting stronger and stronger.


    ''Is he having a breakthrough? That can''t be¡­ his Dao Embryo is already at the Dao Comprehension stage¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Quick, inform the elders." Shuijing Ju spoke. "The elder is having a moment of enlightenment!" "Yes!" Shuijing Mingzhu took out a jade slip and sent out a message.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, can we ask you to take care of the elderly for the time being. You are the most qualified here." Shuijing Ju requested.


    "Sure¡­" Lin Mu didn''t think it would be much of an issue. After all, they were safe in the main hall of a n while all the members were present there. There couldn''t be a better ce for this to happen.


    Still, Lin Mu took it seriously and extended his Immortal sense all over the n, sensing the presence of everyone. ~SHUA~


    The Head Elder''sprehension continued and his Dao Embryo began to change. The Dao Traces became visible and looked like flickering runes in the air. These were none other than the Formation Dao Traces!


    Lin Mu had seen them before, but this was the first time he had found them to be this concentrated.


    ''Looks like the other elders are here.'' Lin Mu sensed the elders controlling the formations of the hall and guarding it. But they didn''t enter so as to not disturb them inside.


    ~HONGLONG~


    It was at this moment that a change happened. From all the Dao Traces, something new appeared.


    "Dao Insights!" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.

 Chapter 1915 Dao Insights And Horn Carving Dao Embryo

    Chapter 1915 Dao Insights And Horn Carving Dao Embryo


    The Dao Embryo of Head Elder was absorbing Dao Insights and the Dao Traces around it kept on transforming into them.


    This was the first time Lin Mu was witnessing it, and as such, paid full attention to it.


    ''Dao Traces transforming into Dao Insights¡­ is this the next stage of the Dao Embryo?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He observed the Knife Dao Embryo, and saw that other than the runes on it changing, there was no other physical change. At least outwardly there was nothing that could be detected. But as Lin Mu continued to observe, he saw that it was actually the Dao Insights that were being imprinted on it.


    ''The original runes were made from the Dao Traces, but now they are being erased and being reced by new runes formed from Dao Insights¡­ in a way, it is a qualitative transformation.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu was the only one who was able to understand what was going on with the Head Elder. Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju, on the other hand,cked understanding. In fact, other than the Dao Traces, they couldn''t even sense the Dao Insights.


    To them, it felt like the Dao insights were disappearing from the Head Elder''s Dao Embryo. It was an astonishing thing and made them a bit concerned.


    ''Will the Head Elder be fine?'' Shuijing Ju thought.


    ''Is Great Grandfather not having a breakthrough?'' Shuijing Mingzhu wondered.


    They didn''t voice out their concerns though, as they didn''t wish to disturb the old man. This was a very crucial and sensitive moment and even the smallest disturbance could lead to the end of the enlightenment. There was no way they could do something like that.


    Plus, there was Lin Mu with them too, and since he wasn''t doing anything, they reckoned things were fine.


    Minute after minute passed and the process continued. Lin Mu observed it all and tried to analyze it as well. He wished to understand further about the Dao Embryo and the Dao Insights so that he would be able to use them for his own progress too.


    By now, Lin Mu had also figured out what Dao Embryo the Head Elder had.


    In fact, it was one of the first things he had thought about in order to know just how the progress was happening.


    ''Horn Carving Knife Dao Embryo¡­ A rather specialized formation Dao Embryo that isn''t seen often.'' Lin Mu recognized.


    Lin Mu knew about this, as he had not only read about them but also discussed various Formation Dao Embryos with Xukong. Among them, he had learned about the specialized Formation Dao Embryos which boosted specific aspects of formations.


    The Horn Carving Knife Dao Embryo for example, had an amplifying effect when it was used to carve runes into animal materials. While it could obviously be used for making normal formations too and would have an assistive benefit, it was still intended for direct carvings.


    As such, it was best to be used on hard animal materials like horns, bones, scales, ws, and tempered leathers.


    Generally speaking, it was the kind of Dao Embryo that would be a lot more useful for Immortal Tool Refiners, as they could use it to inscribe runes and add formations to their creations. Because of this, Lin Mu was a bit confused as to why the Head Elder had chosen this to make.


    ''Or perhaps this is what naturally came to him?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    There were many other suitable Dao Embryos that could have also been created other than this. Many of which would actually be easier to form too.


    An hour passed like this, while Lin Mu was deep in observation. But despite that, a part of his mind was still dutifully ensuring that no disturbance happened. He was doing the task that had been requested of him.


    ~humm~


    Finally, the process came to an end, as all the runes on the Horn Carving Knife Dao Embryo were now reced. They looked vastly different from before and wereplex too. Even for Lin Mu, other than a handful of runes, he couldn''t even read the others.


    They were written in Dao Script of course, but were of an obscure form.


    The Head Elder opened his eyes once all the Dao Traces disappeared, making Shuijing Ju and Shuijing Mingzhu relieved.


    "It is fine now." Lin Mu spoke, causing the two juniors to ry the message to the others.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The doors of the hall opened up, as the other elders and important members of the n rushed in.


    "HEAD ELDER!" They called out anxiously.


    "Calm down." The old man spoke in an energetic voice. "Everything is fine."


    "You¡­ Have you had a breakthrough?" They asked right away.


    "No¡­" The Head Elder shook his head. "But I have certainly taken the step in the right direction in terms of the Dao of formations." He added, making all of their eyes glow up.


    "That calls for a celebration!" They cheered.


    "Of course¡­ but this wasn''t without some help." Head Elder said before looking at Lin Mu. "I have to thank Daoist Mu Lin for giving me the chance for this. If not for his Dao Embryo, I wouldn''t be able to know how to proceed." The old man credited.


    ~CLAP~N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    All the members that had arrived cupped their hands at that moment.


    "We thank Daoist Mu Lin for his help." They all said including Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju.


    "It was nothing. I didn''t do much." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "No¡­ it is still something that cannot be done by others. As such, the banquet certainly needs to be done, a big one!" Head Elder announced.


    "WOOHOO!" The members were excited.


    After all, it was a matter of great joy not just for the Shuijing n, but for the entire Serene ss Valley. It was not every day that one of the Senior-most members would have progress like this.


    And with the Head Elder''s importance, it only raised the power of the Valley to another level.

 Chapter 1916 Access To The Library

    Chapter 1916 ess To The Library


    It was the early hours of morning and the sky had barely started to light up.


    Over a hundred people could be seen drunk in the hall, with some having passed out on the floor and the tables while some were still talking andughing loudly.


    Lin Mu was sitting near the head of the table and was right next to the Head Elder. Little Shrubby was also sleeping on his nap, having fallen asleep after having his fill.


    As proposed before, the Head Elder had asked for arge banquet to be arranged and that was exactly what had happened. Lin Mu had taken advantage of it and had eaten as much as possible along with Little Shrubby.


    And unlike the banquet with the Crown Prince and hispanions, this one was a lot bigger and with many people. As such, Lin Mu also had to talk to others a lot more and conversed about various things. The juniors in the n were very interested in talking about his win and asking how he had fought the others.


    While the elders were instead interested in his skill with the formations and asked quite a lot. They were surprised to learn that Lin Mu''s grasp on formations was quite good. It was unlike their understanding which had been taught to them through the systematic teaching of their n.


    Lin Mu had his own understanding of concepts as well as principles that he had devised.


    The Head Elder was also chiming in from time to time, which benefited both parties at the same time. This led to Lin Mu actually having quite a fun time and made him desire even more.


    ''I''ll be staying here for a while, so there is plenty of time for discussions.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Another hour passed, and the people finally started to leave. Those who had passed out drunk were either woken up or simply carried out by the others. And by the time half of the people had left, the Head Elder spoke.


    "If you wish to rest, you can go too." The Head Elder spoke.


    "It is fine. I''m not tired yet." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "Ah, youthful vigor." Head Elder spoke while stroking his beard. "As much as I''d like to continue our discussion, I have to do a little work today and need to meet up with the council." He stated.


    "That is fine. I can wait." Lin Mu replied.


    At his reply, the Head Elder took out a jade token.


    "Take this. It''ll allow you free entry into our library and you can read whatever you want there. I believe you''ll like that." The Head Elder offered.


    "Oh?! This will be perfect." Lin Mu felt as if he had just been given a treasure key.


    "Good, good. Have fun till Ie back in the evening. Then we''ll have some real fun!" The Head Elder said before standing up.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then in just a second, he disappeared like a gust of wind,pletely unlike his age.


    ''Well, he is at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, so he isn''t exactly weak.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He got up as well and sent Little Shrubby to the Sleepscape to rest.


    ''The Library is on the next peak.'' Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju had already introduced all the ces to him, as such Lin Mu had no issues in finding the location.


    About an hourter, Lin Mu climbed into the next peak and quickly reached thergest structure on it.


    This was the n''s Formation Library and it was built in a spiraling manner around the peak. The unique part was that it was a singr connected building and the higher one went, the better the books present in it.


    ~WHISTLE~


    "That sure is big¡­ Possible the biggest I''ve seen so far." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    If he were topare, the n''s formation library could easily match the size of multiple pces. The number of arrays protecting the ce also exceeded most pces, showing its importance.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu continued onwards and was automatically granted entry into the Library. Inside the library, he saw many n members, all of whom were busy in either searching for a particr book or simply reading them.


    ~humm~


    Lin Mu felt the jade token tremble in his hand and a string of information appeared in his mind.


    ~shua~


    He followed the instructions, and a formation screen appeared above the jade token.This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "Huh, this is how one can search for a particr book." Lin Mu muttered and then looked around again.


    Unlike the others who had to manually search, Lin Mu could simply use the token to find what he needed.


    ''Looks like this is an item of privilege¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself and decided to make full use of it.


    As such, he went through the list of books and marked out the ones he either didn''t know about or hadn''t read. This came out to a massive number of over ten million books.


    "That''s quite a lot¡­ but they shouldn''t all be viable." Lin Mu muttered and started to filter them out on the basis of cultivation first.


    He removed all the books that were intended for those below the Immortal realm. Once he did that the number fell again, but not by much.


    "Still, eight million¡­ they certainly have a giant collection." But this only made Lin Mu more excited. "If it is like this, I may as well look at the best books first." He said with a smile.


    He filtered the search again and looked for the books that were at the highest ranks. These were books normal n members were not able to ess and only elders would be able to read them. Besides, even if ess was provided to all, it wasn''t like they would understand the books at their level either.


    One would need a certain proficiency with the Formations before one would have a chance to learn from these books. Otherwise, it would be the same as giving the scriptures to a monkey!

 Chapter 1917 Head Elders Content Observation

    Chapter 1917 Head Elder''s Content Observation


    The sun had long since set and the night had creeped in.


    The Serene ss Valley had resumed its calm, after the previous day''s chaos. After the disappearance of the heavy gravity at the Great Meteorite Wall, the elders of the Serene ss Valley had to remedy the situation.


    As such, they had gathered the power of all their people and set up defensive formations that would provide protection to the backside of the Valley.


    At the same time, they were improving it and adding more arrays, intending to make it as strong as possible. After all, they didn''t want even a fraction of a percent chance of someone sneaking in. They couldn''t help but thank the heavens it was Lin Mu who had discovered the security breach first, instead of anyone else.


    There were still many elders as well as the other junior members of the n posted at the wall and were continually adding more formations to it. All of the seven ns of the Serene ss Valley were hard at work, but inside the Shuijing n''s peaks, the scene was a bit different.


    "You''re back, Head Elder!" One of the elders in the n hall saw the old man enter.


    "Yes, we''re finally done with the Great Meteorite Wall." The Head elder replied while looking around. "Seems like you''re done with today''s lessons Elder Mian."


    "The juniors have been motivated since yesterday, so today went well." Elder Mian replied. "Though, is everything fine there now?" The elder asked.


    "For the time being yes, but we''ve got a long way to go I if we want to take the security to the peak level." Head Elder replied. "This will be a long term effort." He added.


    "I see¡­ Guess the juniors will have more things to do then. They''ll actually be applying their skills in real time." The elder who was part of the teaching hall stated.


    "Indeed, this will be a good opportunity for them." Head Elder said before remembering something. "Speaking of that¡­ where is Daoist Mu Lin?" he questioned.


    "Daoist Mu Lin?" Elder Mian furrowed his brows. "Last I heard, he''s been holed up in the Library with a thousand books flying around him." He spoke.


    "Oh? What''s he doing?" The Head elder was a bit confused.


    He had thought that Lin Mu would be reading there.


    "The juniors were unable to tell but did see a formation working there. They said that Daoist Mu Lin is both reading and making a formation at the same time." Elder Mian answered.


    "Strange¡­ We were supposed to discuss things once I returned, but I guess he is still engrossed with his own things." Head Elder muttered.


    "Do you wish for me to call for me?" Elder Mian inquired.


    "No, no¡­ I''ll just head there myself." Head Elder replied. "I wish to see what he is doing with my own two eyes." He said before leaving the main hall.


    ~SHUA~


    The old man flew across the peak at a great speed, leaving a gust of wind that shook the trees around the area. And since he was the Head Elder, he had no restrictions in where he could go. As such, he directly reached the top of the library, having sensed Lin Mu''s presence there.


    ~shua~


    Hended on a balcony, avoiding making too much noise. He had already seen the formation in front of Lin Mu, as well as the thousands of books that were floating around him.


    ''That isn''t a thousand books though now¡­ that is over ten thousand.'' The Head Elder estimated.


    His eyes went to the formation in front of Lin Mu and he tried to figure out what Lin Mu was doing. At first, he didn''t get anything, but after using his immortal sense, he finally picked up on what was happening.


    ''He¡­ He''s processing them all?!'' The Head Elder was stunned.


    All the books that were flying around Lin Mu were actually being read by him with his Immortal sense, while the formation in front of him was automatically transcribing the relevant parts of information into a Jade slip.


    Instead of copying the entire contents of the books, Lin Mu was condensing the essence of them all and extracting the core of all the information contained within them.


    ''To do this on a scale such as this¡­ How far has he refined his Immortal sense and how strong is his mind?'' The Head Elder was astonished.


    Formation masters would often have to use their minds and split them into multiple tasks processors when they were making formations. As such, they were used to doing things like this. But what Lin Mu was doing was taking it to the next level.


    ''I can do this but for a junior to do the same¡­ I can only imagine his skill with formations.'' The Head Elder thought to himself.


    He let Lin Mu do as he wished and simply stood there, observing him. The Head elder was interested in seeing just how many books Lin Mu could process this way and how long he would be able to keep it up. To most, doing something like this would tire them out mentally.


    Even for the Head Elder doing this would not be a regr thing and he would avoid doing it to strain his mind.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    ''How is he able to keep his mind stable? Does he have no thoughts?'' The Head Elder wondered as he gazed at Lin Mu''s face, which was utterly calm.


    It was as if even the sky falling would faze Lin Mu and he was as stable as a million year old mountain.


    Of course, the Head Elder had no idea that Lin Mu wasn''t doing this without any assistance. In fact, he was using the Calming Heart Sutra to help keep his mind calm while he continued to read and process the books.


    Thependium Jade Slip that he had made, which had been deemed as a Legacy Treasure by Lu Xu and others, was being improved further. Lin Mu was now expanding the formation section of the jade slip and adding more and more information to it.

 Chapter 1918 Tea Picking

    Chapter 1918 Tea Picking


    The night passed and the day arrived.


    The Head Elder had been standing there without moving for the entire night and yet he had not lost his sense of amazement. In fact, he was feeling more refreshed than ever.


    ''For Junior to be able to do this for a day straight¡­ simply marvelous.'' The Head Elder thought. ''He can probably crack a hundredyer array in a month at this rate.''


    ~shua~


    ~thud~thud~thud~


    It was at this time, that the books flying around Lin Mu returned to their respective shelves and the formation in front of him also disappeared.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and stretched his body, having sat in one ce for quite a while.


    "About thirty percent done¡­ I''ll need a few more visits toplete the collection." Lin Mu said to himself.


    "You cane as many times as you want." Lin Mu suddenly heard a voice from behind him.


    "Huh? Head Elder!" Lin Mu finally saw the old man.


    Because he was so focused on the books, and had restrained his Immortal sense only to the books, he hadn''t sensed the old man at all. Of course, since there was no threat from the old man, Lin Mu''s body hadn''t warned him either.


    lightsn¦Ïv¦Ål "How long have you been there Head Elder?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    "Not long." The Head Elder replied with a smile. "Looks like you had some fun of your own."


    "Yeah¡­ it was nice to read. I''ve only read them on the surface level though and need to do an in-depth analysis level. Though I''ve managed to take quite a lot of notes." Lin Mu said, ncing at the Jade Slip in his hand.


    "That''s good. I haven''t seen many juniors as enthusiastic as you." The Head Elder could help but praise. "Well then, do you want to rest now or something else?" he asked next.


    "We did decide on discussing further, right?" Lin Mu hadn''t forgotten about it. ''I might have actually gotten too engrossed and missed the original time.'' He thought.


    "Of course. But that is if you''re feeling well enough for it. If you are tired, you can go rest." The Head Elder replied.


    "It is fine, I don''t mind," Lin Mu responded. "Though some tea might be nice." He added.


    "Haha, that won''t be an issue." The Head Elder said before turning around. "Come on, let''s go to the ce with the best tea in the Serene ss Valley." He spoke.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was intrigued and followed behind the old man.


    Instead of leaving from the peak''s exit, the two directly flew out from the balcony. The Head Elder took Lin Mu past the area of the Shuijing n and went to the mountains that were a bit closer to the Great Meteorite Wall. Lin Mu had passed by here, and as such remembered them.


    This was the area with all the mountains filled with immortal herbs and fruits.


    "There it is, Eight Whorl Peak." The Head Elder pointed.


    Lin Mu looked at the rtively smaller peakpared to the others. It was actually half as tall as the peak opposite it. But that wasn''t all, as its shape was also rather strange. It had eight spirals on it, which were filled with trees. The trees were also nted along the gradient of the spirals, making them look at lot more prominent than they would if it was just soil and rocks.


    On the peak, Lin Mu also saw several members of the Serene ss Valley hard at work. They seemed to be taking care of the nts, ensuring that they had all their requirements fulfilled, as well as pruning the nts that needed it.


    Overall, it didn''t look that different from a mortal farm or orchard. The only difference was that both the nts and the humans were much stronger and long-lived than any mortal.


    ~shua~


    The Head Elder descended to the center of the peak, which was in the middle of the eight spirals. Here, arge perg could be seen. There were tables and seats set up, along with pleasant decorations that enhanced the aesthetic feel of the ce.


    "This is possibly one of my favorite ces in the valley," Head Elder spoke. "Since you wanted tea, let''s get some fresh tea ourselves."


    "Oh? Fresh tea?" Lin Mu was intrigued.


    "Yeah, we''ll pick it ourselves." The old man said and walked towards one of the Eight Whorls. "Each of the eight whorls has a different kind of Tea Tree nted in them. The Tea Treesplement each other when grown in this manner, and this enhances their properties." He exined.


    "What tea is this Head Elder?" Lin Mu asked, looking at the nt.


    It was about two meters tall and had numerous tiny branches on which small leaves grew. They were barely half a centimeter in size and were dark green in color along with a small white dot in the center.


    "The tea leaves are very small," Lin Mumented.


    He had seen Tea Trees before and knew how big their leaves usually were. Of course, while the leaves would shrink once they were dried and processed, fresh tea leaves were still quite big.


    "This is called as the Pixie Leaf Tea Tree." The Head Elder replied. "It has very small leaves, but at the same time, it has a very strong vor. But it is also quite hard to pluck and it is easy to mess up." He said, gathering immortal Qi on his fingertips and gently using the Qi threads to pluck the tiny leaves.


    Lin Mu observed the elder for a minute before the old man spoke. "Try it yourself. And then tell me what is the benefit of doing this."


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied andped what the Head Elder had done.


    Immortal Qi wrapped around his hand and coated his fingers, before transforming into thin threads. It was as if each of Lin Mu''s fingers had ten more fingers attached to them.


    Lin Mu gently brought his index finger and thumb close to the leaves, while the threads on his fingers got to picking the leaves.

 Chapter 1919 Learning Practical Skills From Tea

    Chapter 1919 Learning Practical Skills From Tea


    The tiny leaves were gently picked, without them being broken or bruised.


    This was important as once the leaves were damaged, they would start leaking their essence which would reduce their quality.


    But if the leaf was properly plucked, it would stay stable and none of the leaf''s essence would leak. Doing this though needed fine control over the Immortal Qi, as any mistake would lead to the leaf being damaged. It was also why one couldn''t use their bare fingers to do the same.


    The tiny leaves were far too delicate and the fingers would damage them easily too. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    The Head Elder watched as Lin Mu continued to pluck the tea leaves. His speed increased in just a few seconds, with each of his fingers picking tens of leaves at once. In just five minutes, he had already plucked a fist full of leaves.


    "That''s enough for us." The Head Elder spoke, stopping him.


    "Oh, okay." Lin Mu replied, continuing to hold the leaves with his immortal Qi.


    ''Hmm, his focus is maintained¡­ most lose focus, and the leaves get damaged at this point.'' This was actually a test by the Head Elder to see if Lin Mu would make a mistake upon being asked to stop. It was a test he had very easily passed, as it wasn''t a difficult task for him at all.


    "Put them in here." The Head Elder took out a small wicker basket. The basket was finely woven and had tiny gaps that let in air, but did not let the leaves fall. Lin Mu did as told and saw that the Wicker basket managed to keep the tea leaves in without causing any damage to them. Narrowing his eyes, he noticed the faint runes that were present on each strand of the wicker basket.


    ''The runes were inscribed before the basket was made. The runes in each wicker strand would not make sense, but once they were woven together, they align perfectly and turn into a preserving formation.'' Lin Mu noticed a novel method of using runes andbining them with a handicraft.


    It was clear that the Serene ss Valley certainly had its own methods that Lin Mu might not get to see outside as much.


    Even this short interaction had been enough to teach Lin Mu a few new things.


    "So then, what do you think is the benefit of picking the tea like this?" The Head Elder went back to his original question.


    In response, Lin Mu raised his hand and released the threads of Immortal Qi again. "Finer control over your Immortal Qi, as well as practice in multitasking. It serves as a good method since the Pixie Leaf Tea has just the right kind of delicateness for it. You would know very easily if the force is too much, even for Immortal Qi. Additionally, even if you do damage some of the tea leaves, the natural properties of the tea leaves allow you to improve your focus. As such, even making mistakes would allow you to improve steadily until you won''t make them anymore." Lin Mu exined.


    "An immacte answer." The Head Elder was thoroughly impressed. "If not for the fact I know this is your first time here, I would have certainly thought you were an old member of the Serene ss Valley." The old man chuckled.


    Lin Mu simply smiled in answer, while the Head Elder gestured for him to take a seat in the perg.


    Once they sat down, the Head Elder took out a y teapot. The teapot looked rather simple and mundane, having a brown color. It seemed like something anyone could find in a mortal market and did not look special. And yet, Lin Mu knew it was not something ordinary.


    ~ck~


    The Head Elder lifted the lid of the teapot and put the freshly picked Pixie Leaf Tea inside it.


    Once that was done, he took out a jar and poured some water into the teapot from it.


    "Oh? Refined Gold Streak Water?" Lin Mu quickly recognized it. "You''re using it for tea?" "Of course, I am making the best tea within my capabilities, after all." The Head Elder said with a smile. "And what other than to use the Refined Gold Streak Water for it, haha." Refined Gold Streak Water was something that came as a byproduct of immortal tool refinement. It was produced when one quenched refined gold into water to cool. Most of the water would evaporate, and more water would be added. And when this was repeated thousands upon thousands of times, the Refined Gold Streak Water would be produced. It was a unique type of material that had both the Water element as well as the Metal element in it. Additionally, it had a somber yellow color to it that shone like gold when under light.


    "Now¡­ Can you tell me the w here." The Head Elder asked again.


    "Hmm¡­ The Refined Gold Streak Water has the metal element, which would suppress the wood element of the Pixie Leaf Tea. This isn''t a goodbination, as it would harm the tea instead." Lin Mu replied. "Correct¡­ and how would one rectify that?" They asked next.


    "Simply using fire won''t be enough, as the Refined Gold Streak Water''s metal element would be too strong. Instead, one would need to use a Qi me to oppose it." Lin Mu answered. "Correct again." The Head Elder nodded contently. "Now then, can you do that?" he asked.


    "I can¡­" Lin Mu replied but showed some hesitation. "But, I can only use Intermediate ranked Qi me." He hadn''t used the Qi me in a very long time after all.


    "Ah yes, that would not be enough." The Head Elder replied. "It doesn''t matter though. One cannot be a master in all things." He said before taking out a small red crystal. "Which is why formation masters like us exist." He said before powering the crystal, which lit up with vibrant green mes!


    The mes rose from the crystal and wrapped around the teapot.

 Chapter 1920 A Refreshing Discussion Over Formations

    Chapter 1920 A Refreshing Discussion Over Formations


    Lin Mu watched the mes, knowing that the crystal that the Head Elder had taken out was an Immortal tool too.


    Albeit a low grade one.


    "This isn''t exactly a normal Qi me, but the crystal can replicate its effects. It is equivalent to the Advanced Qi me." The Head Elder spoke.


    "I can see that, but why is it green?" Lin Mu questioned. "Isn''t an Advanced Qi me Deep Blue in color?" he asked.


    Lin Mu still vividly remembered the first time he had seen the mes. They had been used by none other than Elder Pigu and they hade at the cost of his very life. ''And yet, the equivalents are being used so easily here.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, a hint of mncholy rising in his mind.


    "As it is not a true Advanced Qi me, it does not have the same Deep Blue color. I am using my Wood Elemental Immortal Qi here, which will further boost the effects of the tea, which leads to the mes being green.


    This crystal here is called a Qi Igniter Crystal. These can be used by cultivators who do not have their own Qi me to make pills.


    Of course, the sess rate of the pills made with this isn''t exactly high, but it still allows one to make Immortal pills. Albeit at the cost of more resources." The Head Elder exined. "But for making some tea, they are perfect." He added.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu could see the effect very well, as the tea started to boil.


    The soft yet rich fragrance of the Pixie Leaf Tea spread in the perg, calming one''s senses.


    If not for the fact that the people here were used to it, perhaps it would have made everyone stop their work.


    "From what I could judge so far, you''ve learned quite a few disciplines, have you not?" The Head Elder inquired. "Weapon Refinement, formations, Herbology, and even alchemy. You might not know all of them to apply them practically, but you do know enough to understand the concepts." He spoke.


    "Yes, I just learn whatever I feel interested in." Lin Mu replied. "I also focus on learning things that I feel like I need to or I think would help me in things Ick in." He revealed.


    "That is a very good habit to have." The Head Elder couldn''t help but approve. "But you shouldn''t lose track of your cultivation progress by doing that. If you try to do all things at once, you will only run out of time. One cannot be a master of all things. Even for us immortals, we will eventually run out of lifespans." He said, looking at the flickering green mes.


    "Hmmm. That is true." Lin Mu said calmly.


    Though if one thought about it, the advice did not technically apply to Lin Mu. Unlike others he had more than enough time left to learn as many things as he wanted. And that wasn''t even considering that it would still not prevent him from cultivating.


    He had the Sleepscape and as such could do both things at the same time, keeping his progress stable with cultivation. They became silent for a couple of minutes, during which the tea was fully brewed.


    "Here we go," The Head Elder poured the tea for both of them. "Now we can start the discussion."


    "I''ve been waiting." Lin Mu said with a smile and took a sip.


    The tea was soothing and had the perfect vor that calmed one''s senses. Lin Mu could see why the Serene ss Valley grew pixie leaf tea. It would help one in making formations a lot.


    And with such a good tea present, their discussion couldn''t help but bloom. The two talked about various concepts, giving their perspectives about them, as well asparing their understanding. They then talked about the different formations that they had seen, as well as how they could be modified.


    Lin Mu talked about some peculiar formations he had seen while the Head Elder exined what they were.


    Even Lin Mu didn''t know all of them and was in the dark about several formations that used some strange script. They talked about talismans that were wholly focused on skill instead of resources, like the Diamond Mountain Talisman, as well as the others that could only be made with very rare resources.


    Time continued to pass, and the morning turned into an afternoon and then to evening. It wasn''t until one of the Shuijing n members visited them did they finally stop.


    "Head elder, I''ve brought you a letter." The Shuijing n members spoke.


    "Mmm?" The Head Elder looked at the man and raised his brows. "Ah, it''s this one." He noticed the seal on the letter and knew what it was.


    "Were you expecting it?" Lin Mu asked. "Of course." The old man replied and took the letter.


    He opened the small scroll and quickly read its contents.


    "Looks like you''ll be able to meet Elder Pear soon enough." The Head elder informed.


    "Oh? When?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Next week. I asked the council about whether Elder Pear would be awakened earlier and they finally sent the response." The Head Elder answered.


    "I see, that''s good." Lin Mu was pleased with it and didn''t mind such a short time to wait. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Though looks like we''ll continue this conversationter. For now, it is best to return." The Head Elder spoke.


    "Sure, I do have the entire week." Lin Mu replied. "I''ll head to the library now." He added.


    "You aren''t tired?" The old man asked.


    "No, rather I feel good. The discussion actually cleared a lot of doubts and now I wanna read more." Lin Mu answered.


    "That''s good. Go on then, I''ll meet you tomorrow. We''ll continue this then." The Head Elder bid Lin Mu farewell.


    The two parted their ways and flew in different directions. Lin Mu went to the Shuijing n to go to the library, while the Head Elder went towards the Great Meteorite Wall.

 Chapter 1921 Snow Glass Pear Orchard

    Chapter 1921 Snow ss Pear Orchard


    Seeing the direction that the Head Elder had gone, Lin Mu guessed that the head elder still had work to do there, or was perhaps called over.


    ''They will probably take a long time to set up proper defenses at the wall. I should also take a lookter and see what kind of arrays they''re making.'' Lin Mu thought to himself while flying.


    A short whileter he reached the Library and went up.


    Lin Mu spent the night in ''reading'' and analyzing books while condensing the information and transferring it into the jade slip. Then in the morning, he would go out to have tea with the Head Elder and discuss about formations.


    They had food as well, with the Head Elder showing off the dishes their n made with the vegetables and herbs that grew in the Valley. Lin Mu enjoyed them with Little Shrubby while the Head Elder was intrigued by the beast.


    This was the second time he had seen the beast, as the first time was at the banquet. The head elder was busy talking and celebrating, and as such hadn''t focused on the beast much. But now that he had a proper look, he realized that the beast was not simple. Despite its small body, its cultivation seemed to be hidden. It only seemed to be in the Spirit realm at first, but the Head Elder was sure the beast was much stronger. It was his own instincts honed over the years telling him that this was a strong beast.


    Still, he didn''t question much about it and reckoned Lin Mu would tell him if need be.


    The same cycle repeated day by day, with Lin Mu and the Head Elder steadily progressing in their discussions. This continued until the day on which Lin Mu was to meet Elder Pear arrived.


    Lin Mu and the Head Elder were sitting in the Eight Whorl Peak like before, but this time they had a visitor.


    "Great Grandfather!" Shuijing Mingzhu called out.


    "Mingzhu, have you decided to join us too?" The Head Elder questioned.


    "No, I''m here to bring Daoist Mu Lin with me. Elder Pear has awakened." She replied.


    "Oh? Is he finally awake?" Lin Mu was excited.


    "Yes, I just got the information and I quickly came to get you." She stated.


    "Go on, we''ll end the discussion here for today." The Head Elder spoke.


    "Very well, Head Elder." Lin Mu nodded his head and got up.


    ~whoosh~


    Him and Shuijing Mingzhu flew off the peak, and talked on the way.


    "Shuijing Ju didn''te?" He asked.


    "He''s busy with work. He''s also assigned to the Great Meteorite Wall now." Shuijing Mingzhu replied.


    "Oh? But he isn''t a formation master, right?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    "Indeed. Senior brother is part of our defense members. As such, he is currently guarding the wall along with several others." Shuijing Mingzhu answered.


    "Guarding? But aren''t they setting up arrays there?" Lin Mu inquired in doubt.


    "Yes, but the arrays will take a while to be finished. And the preliminary ones that are set up, can still be broken. As such, the Elder Council decided to always have guards standing at the Wall." Shuijing Mingzhu exined.


    "I see¡­ that makes sense." Lin Mu replied. "Oh! And I heard they even made an outpost on top of the wall." Shuijing Mingzhu added.


    "Really? That was fast." Lin Mu responded. "Though it is a good ce to defend from. Plus, you get a really great view of both sides."


    "You''ve been to the top. How is it there Daoist Mu Lin?" Shuijing Mingzhu asked curiously.


    "It is very beautiful. Rather calming too. You should definitely check it out once." Lin Mu answered, making Shuijing Mingzhu interested in it too now.


    "Hmm¡­ maybe I''ll go visit it sometime. I can always help out with the formations anyway." She said, before noticing where they were. "Ah! We''re almost there." She spoke up.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu looked down but didn''t see any kind of orchard there. "Wait¡­ is it within an illusory area?" he could faintly sense some Immortal Qi fluctuations.


    "You can sense them?!" Shuijing Mingzhu was surprised.


    "There are faint fluctuations¡­" Lin Mu said before closing his eyes for a moment and activating Spatial Perception. "Hmmm¡­. Fifty fiveyers of isting formations arranged into a three fold array and then wrapped with an illusory array." He identified.


    "You¡­ No wonder Great Grandfather likes you so much." Shuijing Mingzhu muttered. "Very few can sense this array at all." She revealed.


    "It is well concealed, for sure." Lin Mu replied, not telling her that he had somewhat cheated with the Spatial perception.


    "Mmhmm, this is one of the well protected areas of the Serene ss Valley. It is also the oldest ce in the valley and is very important to us." Shuijing Mingzhu said before taking a pause. "Plus, it is required to be in a special condition, so it needs to stay inside the array." She added.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu wondered what they were.


    "You''ll see it soon enough." Shuijing Mingzhu said andnded at a particr spot.


    The area looked rather normal and only had a couple of trees and bushes around them. It was mostly empty and it didn''t seem like an Orchard existed here at all. But then Shuijing Mingzhu took out a ss piece that was carved into the shape of a small pear and held it out in air.


    ~HONG~


    The ss pear reacted with something, and a vertical line materialized in front of them. The Line then expanded and turned into a rectangr opening that was filled with a nk white light.


    "Come," Shuijing Mingzhu stepped towards the door that had appeared. Lin Mu followed after her and passed through the gate, his vision turning white for a few seconds.


    ~Shua~


    And when he regained his vision, he saw a vast orchard in front of him. Thousands upon thousands of trees extended in all directions making Lin Mu think as if he had teleported into an entirely different area.


    ''If not for the fact I didn''t feel any Spatial fluctuations, I wouldn''t even be able to tell all of this was concealed with an illusory array.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. He looked around with his Spatial Perception a bit more and identified more arrays that were within the orchard.


    The most eye catching was a glowing array that was floating in the sky. It was illuminating the entire area with a bright white light, but when Lin Mu focused on it, he sensed a different kind of Qi from it.


    "Is that¡­ Light Elemental Immortal Qi?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes!" Shuijing Mingzhu answered. "The Snow ss Pear Trees have the dual element of Ice and Light. As such, they need a lot of light to grow and bear fruits." She exined.


    "Interesting¡­" Lin Mu looked at the trees and found them to be different than most trees he had seen so far.


    Their trunks were brown like most other trees, but that''s where the simrities ended. The leaves of the tree were a pale blue color with dark green veins on them. Then, between those trees, one could see strange fruits hanging from them. N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    These fruits were white in color and had a ssy texture, as if they were made out of ss.


    These were none other than the Snow ss Pears!


    "They do look like they are made out of ss." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    "Yeah, they''re very pretty, right?" Shuijing Mingzhu said with a smile.


    "For sure." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Come on, we''ll go see them from close." She said and pulled Lin Mu with his hand.


    The two got closer to the Snow ss Pear trees, allowing Lin Mu to observe them better.


    "This is my first time seeing a tree with the Light Element. I''ve seen some with the ice element, but never light." Lin Mu spoke, cing his hand on the trunk. He felt a cool sensation from the trunk, and could also sense the Ice Elemental Qi contained within it.


    ~drip~


    But as he did this, he felt something cold fall on his hand.


    "Huh?" He looked at it and found it to be a translucent liquid of some kind. "What''s this?" he narrowed his eyes.


    "That is why the Snow ss Pear Tree Orchard is so valuable to the Serene ss Valley." Shuijing Mingzhu spoke. "The sap of the trees."


    "The Sap?" Lin Mu looked at it closely and even used his Immortal Sense to probe the sap.


    By this time, the sap had already hardened on his hand and looked like a ss teardrop. "Is this¡­ How the weapons of the Serene ss Valley were made?" Lin Mu questioned. "The Sword Shuijing Ju used." He recalled the unique ss like sword that the man had used to fight against him.


    "Yes!" Shuijing Mingzhu nodded her head. "That sap is essential to making our signature ss weapons." "How peculiar¡­" Lin Mu muttered and looked up where the sap had fallen from.

 Chapter 1922 Elder Pear

    Chapter 1922 Elder Pear


    About two meters above, Lin Mu saw that there were several cracks in the tree trunk. The sap was leaking from these cracks and had even solidified around some of the cracks. It looked like ayer of ss coating the trunk once it solidified, which made Lin Mu realize why he hadn''t spotted them earlier. With how transparent they were, it just looked like the trunk was there.


    ~Crack~


    Lin Mu rubbed the drop of sap that had hardened on his hand and made it crack.


    "It''s still fragile in this state, isn''t it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, it needs to be further processed." Shuijing Mingzhu replied. "In its current state, it is only useful in making some formation ink that is specialized for light elemental formations or talismans." She added.


    "Light Elemental ones?" Lin Mu raised his brows before realizing this was due to the natural affinity of the sap.


    "Yes. The sap is better for it and can amplify the light elemental formations." Shuijing Mingzhu confirmed.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu nodded his head and looked around for more things. "Is there nobody else here?" He asked.


    "Usually no. The orchard is only visited by people when it is time to harvest." Shuijing Mingzhu replied. "They harvested the pears not long ago, and the Sap will need some more time to collect in a decent quantity. As such we are here before all that." She exined.


    "Hmm, and what about Elder Pear?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Come, he''s further in. He should already know we are here." Shuijing Mingzhu answered and guided Lin Mu.


    He spread his Immortal sense, trying to get a sense of the area and look for the Elder in question.


    ''The Snow ss Pear Tree Orchard is at least ten kilometers wide and twenty kilometers long¡­'' Lin Mu did a circle with his Immortal sense and quickly figured out the size. He also sensed all of the trees within it but did not sense the Elder.


    ''Is he camouged with the trees or something?'' Lin Mu wondered and observed where Shuijing Mingzhu was taking him.


    The two walked for about half a kilometer before they came to a halt in front of a Snow ss Pear Tree.


    The Tree looked no different from any other tree here, and one couldn''t sense any energy fluctuations from it either. Still, Lin Mu narrowed his eyes knowing that there must be more to this.


    "Elder Pear, Elder Pear." Shuijing Mingzhu called out.


    ~rustle~


    Thirty secondster, the branches of the tree in front of them shook.


    "Elder Pear, we''re here." Shuijing Mingzhu spoke again.


    "Mmmmmmghhhhh." A strange groan was hearding from the tree, making Lin Mu look at it with an incredulous look. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "It''s me Shuijing Mingzhu and I''ve brought a guest this time. Its Daoist Mu Lin." She introduced.


    This finally seemed to rouse the tree from its slumber and it shook.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The trunk of the tree started to crack, and openings appeared on it.


    Soon enough, arge face formed on the tree trunk. It looked like an old man with lots of wrinkles that were nothing but the natural ridges on the tree bark.


    ''So he''s a literal tree, huh¡­'' Lin Mu didn''t know what more he was expecting.


    "Hmmm¡­ So you¡­ are the youngster." The Tree spoke, the mouth on it moving.


    The voice was rather gruff and definitely did not seem like something that woulde out of a human.


    "Yes, I am Daoist Mu Lin. Elder Pear." Lin Mu greeted the tree with cupped hands.


    ~YAWN~


    The tree let out a long yawn before it felt a bit more energetic.


    "Wee, to the Snow ss Pear Orchard." Elder Pear said, with a bit more enthusiasm this time.


    It looked like most of his grogginess had finally worn off now.


    "Elder Pear, Daoist Mu Lin has some things he wants to ask you. Great Grandfather has asked that you help him out." Shuijing Mingzhu stated.


    "Hmm¡­ So Junior Heng has asked that¡­ That is fine, ask away." Elder Pear replied.


    Lin Mu was surprised upon hearing the tree''s remark.


    "Junior Heng?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Ah! Great Grandfather''s given name is Heng." Shuijing Mingzhu replied. "I guess we never told you that. Though it doesn''te up often, as everyone just calls Great Grandfather Head Elder." She spoke.


    "Yeah¡­ I didn''t ask either." Lin Mu nodded his head. He wasn''t surprised that Elder Pear had called the Head Elder junior, though. Lin Mu had already known how old the Tree was and could be one of the oldest living creatures in the Rust Sky World. As such, it wouldn''t be surprising that most would be junior to him.


    "What did you want to ask me, Junior Mu Lin?" Elder Pear questioned.


    "I wished to know if all Snow ss Pear Trees are sentient like you?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Sentient like me? Hahaha, I''m afraid not." The Treeughed. "I am an anomaly." He revealed.


    "An anomaly? How so?" Lin Mu questioned. "I''ve seen nts with Immortal realm cultivation, but they don''t seem to have the same level of consciousness that you do." "You would be correct and that''s because I didn''t gain it naturally." Elder Pear replied. "In fact, there are many other Immortal nts that are stronger than me and yet, they cannot be like me. They might even be intelligent as humans, but still not respond to humans." He continued.


    "Yes, which is why I wished to know what made you like this," Lin Mu inquired.


    "It all happened a long time ago." The Tree started to speak. "Back then, I was already an immortal tree and had a limited consciousness. I could sense my surroundings as well as cultivate them. I was also the only Snow ss Pear Tree that existed in this area, since the conditions for us to grow are a bit harsh and we need Light Elemental Immoral Qi.


    But one day, I felt a shift in the world. It was abrupt, and a tremendous amount of Qi suddenly emerged from the earth!"

 Chapter 1923 Reason For Sentience

    Chapter 1923 Reason For Sentience


    Lin Mu carefully listened to Elder Pear''s words and was intrigued by it all. After all, he was getting to listen to the history of the Rust Sky world, which had been witnessed first hand.


    "Arge amount of Qi? Did you absorb that?" Lin Mu asked. ''If it is behind it, wouldn''t it be possible to replicate it?'' he wondered.


    "I did." Elder Pear admitted, raising Lin Mu''s hopes. "But that wasn''t what allowed me to be sentient. Rather it was a sliver of energy that was hidden within all that Qi." He said, dousing Lin Mu''s hopes.


    "What kind of energy?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "All my life, I''ve been searching for that too. But I still haven''t been able to figure it out." The Tree said, lowering Lin Mu''s hopes even more. "It was very unique though¡­ like a tiny boat floating in a stormy ocean. Within all that Qi it managed to stand out. In fact, I was simply lucky that I happened to be near it. Other creatures could have very easily absorbed it." He revealed.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu wondered if Xukong might know more. "Could you describe the energy to me?" Lin Mu questioned. "I have information from many ces, and I might be able to figure it out."


    "The energy was¡­ Full of Life¡­ it felt homely¡­ it felt like it was a missing part of me, something that I never knew I didn''t have." Elder Pear spoke with a nostalgic tone.


    ''Senior Xukong, did you hear that?'' Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    "I did." The spider replied. "But that description isn''t enough. There are too many things that fit that description. Even Vital Essence would fit it." He added.


    "Hmm, yeah that does seem correct." Lin Mu agreed.


    "You need more details. Ask him about the sudden surge of the Qi. Something like that doesn''t just happen randomly." Xukong suggested.


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied before speaking to the tree. "Can you tell me more about the event? Like when did this happen and do you know if it was only in this area?" "While I don''t have an exact date for it, it certainly happened over a hundred thousand years ago." Elder Pear answered. "As for the phenomenon¡­ it wasn''t in this area either. There are records of it happening all over the Rust Sky World." He revealed.


    "All over the world?" Lin Mu thought about it and went over the history that he had already heard about back then.


    ''If it''s a hundred thousand years ago, then it should be around the same time as the Haima tribe''s creation and when the war happened. The Great Ocean Hippocampus meting out punishment as well as the battle of the Demonic Tribes.'' Lin Mu thought about it all.


    There were far too many events that had happened back then and it was a time of turbulent changes. "Since you''ve lived this long, Elder Pear, do you know of what happened in the other ces in the world? For example, in the Eight Kingdom alliance at that time?" he asked.


    "The Eight Kingdom alliance? Hmm¡­ I recall there being a beast that unleashed its wrath upon the area. Its power was great and had been witnessed by many great cultivators of that time too." Elder Pear answered.


    Upon hearing this, Lin Mu was now sure that the events were certainly linked.


    ''The Great Ocean Hippocampus might have something to do with it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Also, considering that the surge in Qi happened all over the world, I can''t help but think there were more of those Strange Slivers of energy." Elder Pear suddenly spoke.


    "More of them?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Yes¡­ from time to time¡­ like once every few thousand years or so, I''ve felt them." Elder Pear said looking in the distance. "It feels like there are more of them¡­ though it is very far." He added.


    "More of them¡­ Could it be possible there are other trees that gained sentience like you, too?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It is definitely a possibility. But it could also be some other creature, like a beast or a human." The Tree answered.


    Shuijing Mingzhu was also listening to it all and recalled something after hearing this.


    "Umm¡­ there used to be a Monstrous Tree in the Huiqing Continent." Shuijing Mingzhu suddenly spoke. "I heard about it from some cultivators that hade from there. It is a legend there in some of the regions."


    "What do these legends say?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "They speak of a Tree that ate all humans that neared it. It consumed entire viges before the experts noticed it and went to eradicate it. The tree was said to be very strong too and could actually move around." Shuijing Mingzhu answered. "Oh and the experts that killed it were at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm!" "Seventh Tribtion Stage¡­ then that tree must be equally as strong." Lin Mu muttered. "Though the behavior greatly varies from Elder Pear." He added.


    "Just like humans, us trees can have different personalities. I was a Snow ss Pear tree that consumed light Qi to grow. If it was a tree that consumed blood to grow, I reckon it would have a vastly different personality if it gained sentience." Elder Pear exined.


    "That is true¡­ and if we consider the fact it had gained sentience around the same time as you, it might have been killing for a long time too." Lin Mu stated.


    The three became silent for a while as they thought about it more.


    "I think I might know what that energy was now." Xukong interrupted at this time.


    "You do Senior!?" Lin Mu was excited.


    "I might even know what the sudden surge of Immortal Qi happened," Xukong added. "If we link all the events to the history of the Rust Sky World, one thing falls inmon¡­ The evolution of the Rust Sky World. We know it is gonna be a Celestial World in the future, and all this might have started a hundred thousand years ago." He exined.N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.

 Chapter 1924 Nature Essence

    Chapter 1924 Nature Essence


    Xukong''s words were astonishing to Lin Mu, but at the same time they seemed to clear out the fog that was clouding the mystery.


    "If the world evolving is behind it all, then why would it release the Qi?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That is a normal way of the world enriching itself. The more creatures cultivating on it, the faster it will grow too. The world''s evolution also has a catalytic effect on all beings, resulting in their faster growth and cultivation." Xukong answered.


    "I see¡­ and what about the energy that Elder Pear absorbed?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That¡­ was probably a wisp of pure Nature Essence." Xukong answered.


    "Nature Essence?" Lin Mu recalled an entry he had read about in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal. The Lost Immortal had once obtained a map and gone on a treasure hunt in a forbidden area. There were many dangerous beasts and creatures there. He fought them all before finally reaching the location of the treasure which was guarded by a strange being. The strange being was made out of rocks and would not let the Lost Immortal proceed.


    The Lost Immortal fought the strange being and discovered that it wasn''t just some mindless puppet. It wasn''t his first time seeing a rock puppet before as there were many cultivators who made them. But this one was different.


    Not only could it talk, but it had an entire personality too!


    The Lost Immortal was stunned and wondered if it was just a veryplex puppet, thus when he defeated it he checked for formations. But he found none within its body; instead, it contained an entirely different structures.


    The rock creature didn''t have any particr organs, but it did have meridians! It even had a Dantian and a structure that looked like a heart.


    Interested about it, the Lost Immortal kept the corpse of the strange being and checked the location for treasure. But much to his confusion, there was no treasure there. It wasn''t until a yearter that he obtained more information about the whole endeavor and found out that the treasure was none other than the rock being he had killed.


    The Lost Immortal couldn''t understand why that strange being was considered a treasure. Since he couldn''t figure it out, he gave up on it until a few yearster when he stumbled on information about such beings. It mentioned inanimate objects like rocks, stones, gems, furniture, weapons, trees and more spontaneously gaining life.


    It was a mysterious phenomenon and many experts deemed it as the heaven''s blessing. They deemed it as the heavens bestowing a soul onto the inanimate objects and letting them live.


    "This Nature Essence seems very close to what the Lost Immortal Experienced." Lin Mu spoke.


    "You''re correct. In fact, this is a thing that happens all over the universe from time to time. And the creatures that are born from this are called as Nature Spirits." Xukong revealed.


    "So that means¡­ Elder Pear is a Nature Spirit?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not exactly¡­ He could be deemed half a Nature spirit. He already had a soul, and a level of consciousness and cultivation before he absorbed the Nature essence, hence his sentience simply increased to that of a full human. Whereas, if the same Nature Essence was absorbed by a random stone, it would have developed some organs such as Meridians, Dantian, and a Heart before gaining a soul. It would then need to cultivate to grow and be stronger.


    Basically Nature Essence grants an object the ability to gain a soul and then develop further." Xukong exined in detail.


    After hearing it all, Lin Mu was rather amazed. "Doesn''t this mean¡­ Life can be created with Nature essence?" Lin Mu spoke in marvel. "If one can control Nature Essence they can create more and more such creatures." "It isn''t possible." Xukong denied. "Nature Essence is very rare and can only be created by a world. Even then, the world does not produce it regrly; a single wisp of Nature Essence might take thousands of years to be created. And even if it is created, there is no guarantee if the object that absorbed it would be able to live long. More often than not, they get destroyed; either by themselves or by others.


    Even the top experts in the universe haven''t been able to make or control Nature Essence. They can''t even contain it. Many have tried to capture the Nature Essence, but the tools they used to capture the Nature Essence ended up gaining sentience instead." He exined further.


    "It is indeed veryplex. But what if an already living creature absorbs it? Or a cultivator does it?" Lin Mu asked next. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "It won''t work. Nature Essence can only be absorbed by inanimate objects, or at least those that are close to it, like nts. For humans, beasts or other such races the Nature Essence would simply ignore them. Even if they consumed it directly, the Nature Essence would simply pass through their body as if it were air." Xukong answered, making Lin Mu satisfied.


    "Hmm¡­ then that means Elder Pear''s words were wrong when he said that any other passing animal could have absorbed it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. He doesn''t know the details of the Nature Essence, hence it is normal for him to think anything else could have absorbed it. When in reality, only he, other animate objectives and the nts would have been able to absorb it in the first ce." Xukong replied.


    ~Sigh~


    "Guess my search for sentient nts will be ineffective this time. If Elder Pear gained it through Nature Essence, it won''t work for the other Snow ss Pears." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "Actually, it might still work," Xukong said, making Lin Mu''s ears perk up. "Really?" Lin Mu inquired with anticipation.


    "Yes¡­ The Snow ss Pear Trees might still be ntable in the Sleepscape." Xukong confirmed, raising Lin Mu''s excitement.


    "If so, I need to talk with them." Lin Mu focused his attention on Elder Pear.

 Chapter 1925 Taking Seeds And Talk About History

    Chapter 1925 Taking Seeds And Talk About History


    Elder Pear and Shuijing Mingzhu had no idea that in the couple of minutes they were thinking, Lin Mu and Xukong had an entire conversation.


    As such, when Lin Mu spoke again they didn''t find it strange.


    "Elder Pear, can I take a Snow ss Pear Tree or a sapling, perhaps?" Lin Mu questioned. "I want to raise one myself."


    "Oh?" the Tree looked at Lin Mu while Shuijing Mingzhu tilted her head.


    "You want to grow them, Daoist Mu Lin?" She asked.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Don''t worry, I''ll pay an appropriate price for it."


    "Unless of course, there is a restriction on them and they are exclusive to the Serene ss Valley." Lin Mu knew how seriously many powers would take their sources of wealth.


    Lin Mu asking for the Snow ss Pear Trees might be the same as a random person asking an inventor for the blueprints of their invention.


    "It''s not that, you can''t take them." Shuijing Mingzhu replied. "In fact, the Imperial Court had asked to buy a few in the past as well. But the issue is they do not grow in other ces well." She revealed.


    "They don''t?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Yes, Snow ss Pear Trees need Light Elemental Qi to grow steadily and when you remove them from their ce, they start withering. All the Snow ss Pear Trees you see here are alive due to me.This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    My own existence was harsh in the past, as I barely had Light Elemental Qi to grow and it took me a long time to gather enough. It wasn''t until the founders of the Serene ss Valley arrived did it became better for me." Elder Pear revealed. "As such, even if you take a tree and try to transnt it, it will die.


    Many have tried, even with some Light Elemental Qi sources, it has been impossible. As soon as you take out a tree, it will start withering."


    Hearing that, Lin Mu understood that it was a difficult task. Even Elder Pear''s original existence might have been due to luck.


    "But¡­ If you still wish to, you can take some seeds." Elder Pear offered. "Maybe you''ll be able to figure out some other way."


    "Hmm¡­ that''ll be good. The trees here won''t be harmed either." Lin Mu nodded his head. "What do I need to pay for the seeds?" he asked next.


    "Nothing." Shuijing Mingzhu replied. "You''ve already helped Great Grandfather enough. Plus, we offer the Snow ss Pears to our guests as gifts anyways. The seeds are part of the fruit anyways, so you can take them as you wish." She stated.


    "Oh¡­ I see, that''s good." Lin Mu realized he was just thinking a little too much.


    ~Rustle~ Rustle~


    "Here," The branches of Elder Pear moved, and a few fruits were lowered in front of Lin Mu. "They are fully ripe and the seeds are well developed too." He offered.


    "Thank you, Elder Pear." Lin Mu replied, as he gently plucked the fruits and stored them away.


    "Is there anything else you want to ask me?" Elder Pear questioned.


    "I do yes¡­" Lin Mu said and asked about the history of the Rust Sky world.


    It was something that Lin Mu had been wanting to know so that he could fill the gaps in his knowledge.


    Shuijing Mingzhu was also curious and sat down to listen about it all as Lin Mu and Elder Pear got to talking. The two talked at length about various things that had happened in the past, from something as minor as what food was popr then and all the way to the wars that had been fought.


    Elder Pear certainly knew a lot, but when it came to things over a hundred thousand years ago, even he was at a loss.


    After all, even if the Tree had been alive back then, his sources of gaining information were limited. And even if he could, he at most knew what happened around him and not on the other continents. In fact, it wasn''t until the establishment of the Serene ss Valley that the Snow ss Pear Tree started to get most of his information.


    Lin Mu was a bit disappointed by it, as the history of the Haima tribe and wars of old were still missing.


    He even asked about the Ancestral worship temples, and the indigo colored being he had fought in the lesser void but got no answer. Elder Pear only told him that it might be rted to the Demonic Tribes of the old times.


    But there was one thing he told Lin Mu that made him alert.


    "If you wish to know more about them though¡­ there is a ce." Elder Pear suddenly said. "There is no guarantee, though."


    "What ce?" Lin Mu asked carefully.


    "There is a site where the Demonic Tribes used to live¡­ An ind that was considered their sanctuary for a while," Elder Pear answered. "But I do not know where it is other than the fact it is in the ocean somewhere between the Dao Wind Continent and the Holy Topaz continent."


    "Hmm, that''ll be difficult." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    He knew how difficult it was to find some unknown ind in the middle of an ocean.


    "Indeed. And there isn''t a high chance it still exists anymore. After all, it existed before my own birth. As such, it was most likely destroyed in the past during the wars as well." Elder Pear stated.


    "Still, thank you for the information Elder Pear. It has really helped me," Lin Mu said with gratitude. "I''ll let you rest now and take my leave."


    "It was nice talking to you. I got to reminisce some memories again." Elder Pear said with a smile before his face disappeared.


    It was clear that the tree had gone back to sleep again.


    "Do you want to go back, Daoist Mu Lin?" Shuijing Mingzhu asked.


    "Yeah, let''s head back now." Lin Mu nodded his head and the two flew back to the Shuijing n.

 Chapter 1926 Luxury And Making A Green House

    Chapter 1926 Luxury And Making A Green House


    Lin Mu returned to the Shuijing n with Shuijing Mingzhu and settled in for a day of rest.


    A room that had been given to him was rather luxurious. The bed was about four meters wide and three meters long, while a floating curtain surrounded it. More than twenty pillows were spread on the bed with each of them having formations imprinted on them.


    Not just that, even the sheets had formations on them that made them morefortable. The mattress had a gentle Qi channeling array that provided optimum conditions for a tired body to recover. Then there was one additional thing Lin Mu noticed. The legs of the bed had formations on them too, more urately noise suppressing and vibration dampening formations.


    There were six pirs in the bedroom that had borate floral designs mixed with geometric patterns that were the primitive shapes of formations. Refreshments and snacks like Immortal fruits, wine and tea were also kept in the room, making sure that one had the mostfortable stay.


    The only thing that the roomcked was a bath, but Lin Mu knew that was only due to the fact that the courtyard had a hot spring for that.


    With a room that was fit for a prince, Lin Mu couldn''t really find anything toin about.


    "This is nice." Lin Mu muttered and let out Little Shrubby.


    ~shua~


    The beast appeared and looked around the room curiously too.


    "Is this our new ce?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yeah, for the time being." Lin Mu replied.


    "It''s big." Little Shrubby said. "Though not big enough to fit me." He added.


    "Of course, it is made for human size in the first ce." Lin Mu replied with a chuckle. "There''s a garden too, you can go take a look." He added.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby said and quickly jumped out the window.


    Having let out the beast, Lin Mu walked around the room while thinking of things.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    He had been working on gathering as much information as he could from the library and had only finished it a day ago. He had condensed most of the information that was present in the books and had transferred it into the jade slip.


    In addition to that, he had further expanded his base of knowledge of formations with all the discussions he had with the Head Elder. Lin Mu''s brain had been stimted for a decently long time, and while he didn''t necessarily need to sleep, he still had other things he wished to do in the Sleepscape.


    ''May as well, rest the body while I check some things out.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he sat down on therge bed that could amodate over ten people if need be.


    Lin Mu didn''t sleep right away, instead he just sat surrounded by the fluffy pillows and pondered about all that had happened today. He had learned a lot of history of the Rust Sky World from Elder Pear and he could fill in the gaps in his knowledge.


    Time passed quickly without Lin Mu knowing, and he fell asleep automatically. But he did not enter Sleepscape as his mind had entered deep sleep.


    It was clear that his body had chosen to sleep instead. This was rare, as Lin Mu usually didn''t lose control of his body like this. Especially after progressing in his body cultivation, as it improved overall control of the body.


    Still, his body only stayed in a deep sleep for four hours before he woke up in the Sleepscape.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu opened his eyes, feeling a bit disoriented. "Wasn''t I going over the history of the Rust Sky world?" he muttered in confusion.


    "You''re awake." Lin Mu heard Little Shrubby''s voice.


    The beast was curled up next to him and had arrived here along with him too.


    "What happened?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You were sleeping when I came back." Little Shrubby answered. "I called, but you didn''t wake up so I just waited."


    "Huh¡­ I actually fell asleep¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows, wondering if the time for the Well of Slumber to activate hade closer.


    It had been nearly ten years since he had fully let the Well of Slumber activate. And that was when Lin Mu had first assimted the bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear.


    After that, it had activated a few times, but it had been on a minor level. For example, when Lin Mu had crashed into the Rust Sky world. He had been asleep for a while too.


    ''The Great Slumber Bear''s bloodline hasn''t had a full chance to activate for a while, so perhaps it is finally close to it.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    His falling asleep without his control was a signal to that.Lin Mu had learned about the Well of Slumber and knew its period of sleep could extend to over a hundred years or more. It was also unpredictable, as such it was best if he was ready for it.


    ''Hopefully, I don''t enter sleep before the expedition¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He wouldn''t mind it after that though, as he would be free of obligations. Plus, it would give him the time needed to further his formation and other skills.


    "Well, I intended toe here anyway, so it''s fine." Lin Mu said and got up from the ground.


    He had appeared under the Immortal apple tree as always, and the tree dly let its trunk be used by Lin Mu.


    "Thanks," Lin Mu spoke to the tree and walked towards an empty space in the Sleepscape that was between the Immortal apple tree, the Violet Mystic Life Tree, and the Wood Spirit Tulip.


    "Hmm, this should be good enough." Lin Mu reckoned and got to work.


    He put down a few formation gs before setting up pirs carved from Mid Grade Immortal Stones. He had taken out the massive chunks he had mined from the Immortal Stone mine, and cut them into ten pirs. He then set up the ten pirs in an square shape, with four pirs on the corners, four on the sides and finally two that were midway to the center of the square.


    The formation gs turned into ashes and entered the pirs, making them glow.


    "First step done." Lin Mu muttered before he took out multiple Light Elemental materials.


    There were special gemstones that could amplify the light along with those that emitted cold ice elemental immortal Qi.


    He then bound these two elemental materials to the two central pirs.


    ~SHUA~


    Then he carved runes into the pirs, which connected the materials in aplex formation on its own. One of the pirs turned pure white, with a yellowish glow, while the second pir turned ice blue in color.


    Next Lin Mu worked on making the details of formations and summoned his Rune Shaping Brush.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s Dao Shell appeared within which the Dao Embryo was floating.


    "Time for you to do some magic," Lin Mu muttered, and held the Rune Shaping Brush.


    He dabbed it against the Inkstone shaped Dao Shell and injected Immortal Qi into it while letting it absorb more and more of it.


    Once he felt it was ready, Lin Mu started to draw runes in the air surrounding the pirs.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    The runes flew to the pirs and stacked on top of them, makingplex moving designs.


    Lin Mu continued to work for about two hours like this, making rune after rune and merging them into the pirs. He didn''t have sess all the time either, as many of the formations continued to crumble and break.


    ''This is the first time I''m making this¡­ there''s bound to be mistakes.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, finding ways to improve himself.


    Thankfully, the ten pirs weren''t damaged at all due to their dense structure and Lin Mu could afford to make mistakes.


    He repeated it until a formation Array he had never seen before was created.


    ~HONG~


    The formation array materialized over the pirs, letting them act as posts while a tent like structure was created.


    "Light Spill Greenhouse Formation Array!" Lin Mu smiled upon seeing his sess.


    This was a formation array that was used by various herbalists and alchemists to grow immortal herbs and other nts. It was part of a broader group of Greenhouse Formation arrays and had been modified by Lin Mu to be suitable for a particr nt.


    It was for none other than the Snow ss Pear Tree!


    Since it needed Light Elemental Immortal Qi to grow, while having slightly colder conditions, Lin Mu made the Light Spill Greenhouse Formation Array.


    It showered the area with Light Immortal Qi while also having an inbuilt thermal control which could also chill the area. With this, he had made a suitable area for the Snow ss Pear Tree seeds to sprout.


    Or at least that was what he hoped for.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu took out the Snow ss Pears and carefully took out the seeds using Meld.

 Chapter 1927 Sprouted

    Chapter 1927 Sprouted


    Lin Mu didn''t wish to damage the seeds identally while cutting the Snow ss Pears, as such he used this method.


    By utilizing Meld, Lin Mu could have precision cuts as if he were a top tier surgeon using a precision obsidian scalpel.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense entered the Snow ss Pears and located the seeds within them. There were six seeds in the center of the fruit, divided into six segments. Having located them, Lin Mu targeted them with Meld and controlled the space around the Seeds.


    It was very fine control, and he only pulled the seed out of the fruit from the top.


    This left six precise holes at the sides of the Snow ss Pears, with not a single drop of juice falling out.


    "There we go." Lin Mu had finished taking out all the seeds in just five minutes.


    In total, he had taken about ten Snow ss Pears that were ripened and from them, he got a total of sixty seeds.


    "This should be decent enough." Lin Mu hoped that at least one of them would sprout.


    He knew just how difficult it was to grow Immortal Fruits, and that even if a fruit had many seeds, the chances of even a single one sprouting and growing to maturity was quite low.


    And this chance of growth was further reduced when the Immortal nts needed unique conditions and resources to grow.


    "Now''s the moment of truth¡­" Lin Mu muttered and carefully nted the seeds in the ground of the Sleepscape.


    There was no guarantee whether the Sleepscape would ept them or not. If it did, it meant that the Sleepscape knew the nt would be sentient.


    ''At least I won''t have to wait for months on end to know whether a seed would be viable or not.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He gently poked some holes in the ground, before putting in the seeds one by one and covering them.


    Lin Mu ensured that there was enough distance between them so that there was plenty of ce to grow. While it was unlikely that multiple of them would sprout and grow to the point of bing trees, which would lead to thempeting for nutrients, it was still better to be prepared.


    ~Huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and waited to see if the Sleepscape would ept or reject the Snow ss Pear Seeds.


    Second after second passed, until finally Lin Mu felt the ground tremble lightly.


    ~pop~pop~pop~


    And as he had expected, the seed he had just nted started to be ejected by the ground.


    ~Sigh~


    Lin Mu let out a sigh as over forty seeds had already been ejected and more were continually being ejected.


    Fifty five¡­ Fifty six¡­ Fifty seven¡­ fifty eight¡­ fifty nine¡­


    Lin Mu had given up hope by this point and knew that this was a failure. Thest spot where he had nted the sixtieth seed was also trembling, showing that it was going to be ejected as well.


    ~Pop~


    But when the ground parted, Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    "Huh? It grew?!" Lin Mu watched as a tiny green sprout rose from the ground, instead of the seed.


    "AHAHAHA! IT WORKED!" Lin Mu jumped in joy.


    ~thud~


    The ground trembled with his weight, and an indent was left on it which recovered a few momentster.


    Lin Mu calmed himself down and took a closer look at the young Snow ss Pear Sprout.N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    It was barely an inch tall and was in green in color. If one looked at it right now, they would be unable to even tell this was a Snow ss Pear and not just any other random sprout. One could very easily run over it and the nt would be killed.


    This made Lin Mu understand why the survival rate of the young immortal nts was so low. They simply looked too mundane at times.


    ''It barely has any immortal Qi fluctuations too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~shua~


    However as time passed, Lin Mu could see that the sprout had started to absorb the Light elemental Immortal Qi from the air.


    "That''s promising." Lin Mu was happy seeing that the array was working as intended.


    With his sess, Lin Mu called out to Xukong.


    "Senior, look I managed to grow it!" Lin Mu said in his mind.


    ~shua~


    A few secondster, a silvery grey orb materialized near Lin Mu and from it appeared Xukong.


    The Spider looked at the array that Lin Mu had made as well as the tiny sprout that was steadily sipping on the Light Elemental Immortal Qi, finding all of it to be stable.


    "That''s good," Xukong spoke. "See, I told you the Sleepscape might still ept it. It could differentiate between viable and inviable seeds." He added.


    "Yeah Senior. It made the work a lot easier and faster." Lin Mu nodded. "If we did this the normal way, we might have had to wait for months before any of the seeds sprouted¡­ and that''s if they even did."


    "The Sleepscape provides them better condition, so the chance of it growing was higher anyways." Xukong said.


    After all, the Sleepscape generated natural Immortal Qi, as well as Immortal essence due to the source veins that he had nted. Then the nts within it, such as the Purple Sickle Amaranth and the Wood Spirit Tulip also made Wood Elemental Qi and pure wood essence which was beneficial to other nts.


    Though their rate of production was lower, Lin Mu didn''t think it would be the same in the future as the nts continued to grow.


    Of course, the Snow ss Pear Tree didn''t need the wood Elemental Qi or the Pure wood Essence to grow as it only needed the Light Elemental Qi and a colder area. But that didn''t mean that the ambient Immortal Essence and Immortal Qi wouldn''t help it.


    The Immortal Essence would at least provide it with a rich vitality that would give a boost to its growth.

 Chapter 1928 The Unknown Seed

    Chapter 1928 The Unknown Seed


    Now that the Snow ss Pear was sessfully nted, Lin Mu decided to move on to the second seed he had.


    "Senior, I want you to take a look at this seed." Lin Mu took out the reward that he had gotten from Crown Princess Shang.


    "Oh?" Xukong got closer and looked at the seed which was resting on a small pillow inside a box.


    "I got this as a reward, but have no idea what it is. Even Crown Princess Shang was unable to determine that and couldn''t grow it." Lin Mu informed.


    "Hmm¡­ it is rather normal looking on the surface," Xukong said as he scanned the seed with his own senses.


    From the outside, it was impossible to determine what kind of seed it was. There were far too many seeds that looked the same, and as such finding out what they were would be a game of roulette.


    Xukong analyzed the seed for over five minutes but was unable toe up with an answer.


    "Is there a problem, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned thinking of the worst.


    He wondered if the seed had long since died and would never be able to grow.


    "Yes¡­ while the seed does have life in it, I don''t know what it is. It''s unlike anything I''ve seen¡­ or rather, it feels like a mix of several things. Hard to determine its true identity." Xukong spoke up.


    "Mix of things? A hybrid?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not necessarily. There''s always a chance that it is an entirely different kind of nt, and merely has a Qi signature that makes it seem like it''s a hybrid. After all, there are an uncountable number of nts in the universe. And that number only keeps on changing. One can''t expect to know all of them.


    "That is true." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Even knowing all the nts in a single world itself was a challenge that Immortals would have a hard time oveing.


    Lin Mu had read aboutpetitions between herbalists whopeted on who knew how many world''s worth of nts.


    If one knew one or two worlds worth of nts, it was already a big achievement. But considering the scope of the universe that had an infinite number of worlds, which could also have an infinite number of nts, things became exponentially difficult topute.Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Well, there is one way to figure out what this seed is," Xukong spoke up.


    "And what is that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You''ve just done it," Xukong replied. "Simply nt it and see if the Sleepscape epts it. That way we''ll have eliminated at least a few possibilities." He exined.


    "Ah yeah. I''m looking for sentient nts anyway, and if it doesn''t grow and is rejected by the Sleepscape, it doesn''t matter what it is in the end, regardless." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Plus Crown Princess Shang has tested various methods of nurturing on it, and none of them worked. Which means I don''t need to worry about setting up some unique array either."


    With that said, Lin Mu directly dug a spot and dropped the unknown seed inside it. And once he covered it up, he watched it with anticipation.


    A minute passed, and Lin Mu held his breath. This was the point at which the ground would tremble and eject the seed.


    ''No change yet¡­ I''ll wait more.'' Lin Mu thought and waited.


    Another minute passed, and there was still no change.


    "I''ll wait for a while more, just to be sure." Lin Mu didn''t want to get his hopes up for nothing.


    Lin Mu waited for an entire ten minutes, after which there was still no change in the ground.


    "Looks like it has epted it." Xukong was the one to break the silence. "The Sleepscape epts it as a sentient nt."


    ~phew~


    Lin Mu let out the breath he was holding and felt much better.


    "It hasn''t sprouted though." Lin Mu said, seeing the t ground.


    Unlike the Snow ss Pear Seed, which had sprouted right away, this unknown seed was taking much longer.


    "Hmm¡­ Perhaps it needs a bit of a nudge?" Xukong suggested.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu had an idea.


    "Little Shrubby, can you see if your Wood Immortal Qi works on this?" Lin Mu asked the beast.


    "Okay! I''ll try." Little Shrubby quickly appeared next to him and released a mass of Wood Elemental Immortal Qi.


    ~shua~


    The Wood Elemental Immortal Qi flowed into the spot on the ground where Lin Mu was pointing. It sessfully entered the ground, and Lin Mu could tell that the unknown seed had fully absorbed the Wood Elemental Immortal Qi.


    "It absorbed it, so that looks like a good sign," Lin Mu muttered.


    They waited for a minute, but there was still no change.


    "Do I give it more?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yeah, let''s see if it needs more." Lin Mu replied.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby injected more Wood Elemental Immortal Qi into the ground, while Lin Mu observed it being absorbed by the unknown seed.


    "Still no reaction." Xukong spoke.


    The second dose of Qi was not enough for the seed either.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he calcted his options. "Inject as much wood elemental immortal Qi as you can, Little Shrubby. We''ll see how much it can eat." He stated.


    "Alright! If it can eat this much, it must have some really good fruits!" Little Shrubby said and opened his mouth.


    ~HUMM~


    Wood Elemental Immortal Qi flowed out from his Dantian and entered his meridians before gathering at his mouth. The gaseous Qi coalesced into a ball and continued to grow. More and more wood elemental Immortal Qi was gathered until the ball had grown to a size of a meter.


    The ball might just be a meter in size, but the amount of Qi contained within it was several timesrger than that. It was just that Little Shrubby had condensed it greatly.


    A few more minutester, the ball had grown even more and had taken on a viscous look!

 Chapter 1929 Little Shrubby’s Skill

    <h4>Chapter 1929 Little Shrubby''s Skill</h4>


    The ball of Wood Elemental Immortal Qi looked like sticky sugar syrup, except for the fact that it was green in color.


    In fact, with how condensed it was, there was no immortal Qi fluctuationing from it. They were all restrained within it, showing Little Shrubby''s perfect control which he had gained under the Saintess'' teachings.


    ''Guess Saintess is really good at this too¡­'' Lin Mu reckoned seeing Little Shrubby''s skills.


    She had been teaching Little Shrubby and the twins for a while now whenever Lin Mu was busy, and as a result, the three had steadily grown stronger over time. Little Shrubby''s cultivation base was at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, but he could very easily match up against those at the fourth Tribtion stage with thebination of his speed and skills.


    ''And if he uses the Seven Beast Burst, it might reach the fifth or even the sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm perhaps.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Little Shrubby hadn''t used his Innate skill for a long time and as such they didn''t know how it would affect him now. Not to mention, his Fume Wood Panther bloodline had also be strengthened and he had two Dao Embryos now.


    There were a lot of things that had been improved since thest time he had used the innate skill, and as such there were bound to be better effects.


    ''But that also means that the recoil from the Seven Beast Burst would also be higher.'' Lin Mu knew how such skills could work.


    ~SHUA~


    While Lin Mu was thinking of all that, Little Shrubby had finally finished condensing most of his Wood Elemental Immortal Qi.


    The green ball of Qi had grown to the maximum size that Little Shrubby could handle right now and finally released it.


    The ball fell to the ground but did not ssh like water. Instead, it was immediately absorbed by the ground as if it were parched for water.


    ~shua~


    Once the Wood Elemental Immortal Qi entered the ground, there was finally some movement.


    ''Is it finally sprouting?'' Lin Mu wondered and locked his eyes to the spot.


    The ground seemed to tremble a bit, but after a minute it stopped.


    "Huh? It still didn''t sprout?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "We did see it absorb all that Immortal Qi¡­ perhaps it needs some more time to sprout or maybe needs even more Wood Elemental Immortal Qi." Xukong suggested.


    "Mmmhmm, considering it was in the possession of the Crown Princess she probably did the same." Lin Mu replied. "Actually¡­ if we consider the fact that the unknown seed might have already absorbed a lot of Qi and other resources when it was with the Crown Princess, it could already be satisfied with the Qi. What if the requirement for it to sprout is something else?" He analyzed.


    "That is quite possible." Xukong agreed. "And there could also be a chance that this could be a nt that has a very long growth period. Certain immortal nts take thousands of years to grow after all. This could very well be one of them." He exined.


    "If it is, the overall benefits would be greater. Though since the Sleepscape has epted it, I guess it is a confirmation that it will be growing sometime in the future." Lin Mu didn''t have to worry about any uncertainty.


    "I could still continue to give it Wood Elemental Immortal Qi every day." Little Shrubby offered.


    "You can yeah¡­ it''ll also serve as a practice for you." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    After all, one of the mostmon ways to grow one''s capacity for Qi was to continually drain it and then gather it all again. Not only did this give the cultivator a chance to improve their control over Qi, it also increased their overall speed of absorption.


    Both of these were very important for cultivators and enhanced their capabilities. As such, this was not a disadvantage for Little Shrubby at all.


    "Alright! I''ll do it every day." Little Shrubby said with confidence.


    "Mmhmm, you should go recover for now." Lin Mu said. N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    "Okay," Little Shrubby said and went to rest under the Violet Mystic Life Tree.


    With this done, Lin Mu decided that he could read the Jade Slip that he had improved with the information from the library.


    He too sat down and read it until it was time for him to wake up in the morning.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s body disappeared in the Sleepscape and he opened his eyes in the real world.


    "That was a good sleep." Lin Mu muttered, feeling refreshed.


    All his fatigue over the past few days had been erased.


    ''Though I can still feel the Well of Slumber wanting to activate in the future.'' Lin Mu knew within his mind.


    The time when it would activate was still distant, and if Lin Mu wished, he could trigger it any time. But he still had tasks to do and as such it was better to wait till he couldn''t.


    "I also need to stock up on as much meat and other food as I can." Lin Mu had no idea how long he would be sleeping this time, and wanted to be ready. ''If I end up sleeping for a hundred years or more, I definitely need more than twice as much food.'' He thought.


    Though Lin Mu didn''t think he would have an issue in doing that. There were more than enough beasts in the areas around them and hunting enough beasts that wouldst him 200 years would take just a few months, give or take.


    ''Plus it''ll be fun too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He then left the luxurious room and went outside.


    "Hmm, I haven''t checked out the bath yet, have I?" Lin Mu had a thought.


    He went towards the ce where the hot springs were and arrived there after five minutes.


    "Ah! Daoist Mu Lin!" The n members there noticed him and were surprised.


    "Can I use the hot springs?" Lin Mu asked.

 Chapter 1930 Hot Springs Of The Shuijing Clan

    Seeing that Lin Mu was in front of them, the Shuijing n members were a bit flustered.


    This was the first time these particr members were directly talking to him, and as such were a bit overwhelmed. But much to their surprise, Lin Mu was easy goings and didn''t seem as overbearing and pressuring as many other young experts.


    "O-of course!" The Shuijing n members replied.


    "Do I just go in?" Lin Mu asked, looking at the signboard just in front of them.


    "Ah! Please wait!" One of the members said and quickly rushed into the hot spring section.


    "You are our honored guest, as such we can''t just let you use themon area, Daoist Mu Lin." One of the other members replied. "Please let us prepare the private area for you."


    "You don''t have to take extra effort for me." Lin Mu replied.


    "Please, it''ll be our honor." The Shuijing n members insisted.


    "Alright." Lin Mu decided to ept.


    He didn''t have to wait that long either, as just two minutester, the n member who had left returned.


    "Please,e with me Daoist Mu Lin. We''ve prepared it for you." The n member spoke.


    "Very well." Lin Mu said and went along.


    The two first entered the corridor that led to the actual hot spring area.


    And as soon as they stepped into it, Lin Mu felt the change in the atmosphere. He knew they had passed through a barrier of a kind. But this kind of barrier wasn''t meant to keep things out, but rather in.


    ''An energy reflective isting formation¡­ guess they want to keep the energy of the Hot Springs inside.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    In the air, he could sense several types of energies. Not only was there normal Immortal Qi, but there were five types of elemental immortal Qis spread within, too.


    ''Have they set up multiple elemental formations, or is it just a spring that has all the elements?'' Lin Mu wondered. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    ~shua~


    And a few secondster, Lin Mu finally got to see the actual hot springs.


    "This is¡­ more of argeke." Lin Mu muttered.


    "You are right, Daoist Mu Lin." The Shuijing n Member replied. "It is indeed ake."


    "Huh¡­ interesting¡­ And it is all natural?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well¡­ not exactly." The Shuijing n Member replied. "Theke''s structure and size itself are natural. But originally it was just a normalke." He added.


    "Then did the Shuijing n use formations to turn it into a hot spring?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "No, rather we connected theke with an underground vein of hot spring. The two weren''t linked before, as there was solid rock blocking them. But with a little digging, we managed to connect the two and theke fully transformed into a hot spring.


    Of course, all this was done long ago and since then it has been improved several times." The Shuijing n member exined.


    "Oh? What kind of improvements are they?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You can sense the elemental Qi in the air right?" The n member asked instead.


    "I do yes." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Well, eachponent of the Hot Springs is carefully selected and provides Immortal Qi of various elements through them." The Shuijing n member said before pointing to the hot spring.


    Lin Mu followed his finger and saw that he was pointing at a rock hill.


    The hot spring had tens of suchrge rock hills, ced in theke, which also provided a way to separate it out into different sections. These sections were then connected with red wooden bridges that looked rather quaint in the steaming spring water.


    Then there were multiple nts that were nted along the edges of theke as well as at the base of the rocky hills. In addition to this, there were even some flowers that were gently floating in the hot spring,pletely unbothered by the heat.


    Most nts would not like such heat and would either die or stop growing from conditions like this. But the flowers and nts here were thriving with no issues.


    "The rocky hills provide the Earth elemental Qi, the nts provide the Wood Elemental Qi, while the water of the hot spring provides the water elemental Qi. The fire elemental Qi is infused due to the heat from the veins, and the metal elemental Qies from the natural minerals that are dissolved in the hot spring water." The Shuijing n member exined. "There are also Qi channeling formations underground, that link up with the rest of the n''s Qi channeling array and release immortal Qi here.


    This Immortal Qi is then taken up by theponents of the hot spring and converted into the respective elemental Immortal Qi. This not only makes the hot springs a good ce to rx and rejuvenate, it also allows you to cultivate at the same time."


    "Oh, and it is only the Shuijing n that has a hot spring like this in the entire Serene ss Valley." The Shuijing n member said with pride. "We even offer the other ns, spots toe to use it from time to time. The demand is never low and many want toe visit."


    Hearing the exnation, Lin Mu was impressed. He knew that doing something like this was only possible for a n with a long existence like the Shuijing n.


    "The unique location of the Shuijing n is certainly blessed to have this hot spring." Lin Mu gave a little praise as he looked at the hot springs.


    There were many people who were soaking in the water and busy absorbing the immortal Qi. These were the n members who hade to cultivate and mostly had low cultivation bases. On the other hand, there were a few that were simply there to rx.


    Lin Mu saw a handful of them that were floating on the surface of the water as if they were on their beds. They had their eyes closed and their arms under their head.


    ''They sure are rxing.'' Lin Mu saw the other side of the coin.

 Chapter 1931 Taking A Dip In The Hotsprings

    The members of the Shuijing n were rxing which made Lin Mu wanna try it out too.


    "Let''s go." Lin Mu said, wanting to take a dip in the water.


    "Yes, this way." The Shuijing n member took Lin Mu to the private area.


    This part was surrounded by six smaller hills, with arge hill in the center. There was a tunnel in the center of therge hill, through which a wooden bridge passed. Lin Mu passed through this before arriving at the hot spring area that had hundreds of flowers floating within it.


    The flowers looked like as if a rainbow was dancing on the water whenbined with the steam from the water. The rich immortal Qi and the fragrance of the flowers formed a calming environment that was optimal for not only rxation but also cultivation.


    "Here we are. You can rest as long as you wish to." The Shuijing n member said before taking his leave.


    Once the man was gone, Lin Mu decided to go in. He came to a circr tform that was at the edge of the bridge. The tform had steps that went into the water all the way to its bottom. Lin Mu estimated that thiske was about a hundred meters deep, which was quite big for a hot spring.


    Then, with one thought, Lin Mu''s robes disappeared.


    ''The Silver Mirage Circlet sure is handy.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he stepped into the water. "Ah, Little Shrubby, Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, you guyse out too." He called the beasts.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    ~SPLASH~


    The three beasts appeared and fell into the water in one go.


    ~HISS~


    The twins were surprised and whipped across the water.


    ~SPLAT~


    They used a little too much strength and created arge wave that crashed against the hill.


    Lin Mu raised his brows, worried that some damage was done.


    ~Phew~


    "Good thing that this ce is reinforced with formations." Lin Mu let out a breath of relief.


    "Calm down, you two." Lin Mu spoke to the twins.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    "Warm¡­ Water¡­ Nice¡­" After they got over their initial shock, the twins calmed down and found it to be rather nice.


    Lin Mu watched as the twin snakes turned into a ring and floated on the surface of the water. And a few secondster, he felt the air move.


    ~shua~


    The immortal Qi in the air started entering the mouths of the twins, as the two absorbed it all. Seeing that the twins had started cultivating, Lin Mu looked at Little Shrubby.


    "You can cultivate too. There is both Fire and Wood elemental Qi here." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yeah, it''s good. I can absorb both at the same time." Little Shrubby said while floating as well.


    He was in his smaller kitten form and had all his fur wet, which made it stick to his body. It looked like his volume had been reduced by another size. Still, Little Shrubby was used to water by now and didn''t mind, especially with all the fire and wood immortal Qi in it.


    Lin Mu found an elevated rock tform in the middle of the water and sat down on it. The tform was tall enough such that only Lin Mu''s head was out of the water with the rest of his body being inside it. There were many such tforms in the water, and they were evidently made with the purpose of being used for cultivation like this.


    But as Lin Mu felt all the energies around him, a thought came to him.


    ''Wait a second¡­ there''s Fire, Metal, and Earth Immortal Qi here¡­ can''t I use them to practice the Longgui Bulwark Armor?'' Lin Mu suddenly realized.


    These were the three elements he needed to cultivate the technique, after all.


    "This is a good time, as always. The concentration of the elements is also just low enough for me to start with them. I won''t have to spend much time in bncing them." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    With that done, he closed his eyes and spread his immortal sense in all directions around him.


    He sensed the three elements in the water and the air and felt their movements.


    ''The crux of using the Longgui Bulwark Armor is the bncing of the three elements. The ratio of the elements and their concentration is important in utilizing the different aspects of the technique.'' Lin Mu thought as he went over the technique in his mind.


    The Longgui Bulwark Armor had three levels of mastery and threeponents to it. The level of mastery went from initial to advanced toplete mastery.


    The firstponent of Longgui Bulwark Armor was called as Magma Strengthening.


    In it, the user had to consume the three elemental Qis of Fire, Metal and Earth. And once they had consumed it, they had to form a bnce between them. If one were to convert it into a ratio, it would be a 1:1:1 ratio between the three elements.


    This allowed one to improve the power of the three elements and using this amplified one''s control and power of the three elements. As such, Magma Strengthening could actually be used as an axiry skill to boost the power of other Qi skills that used the three elements!


    It was perfect for Lin Mu, since he used all three elemental skills, whether it be the Scorching Sparrow Darts, the skill of Afternoon Pine, or simply his Earthen Armament Aspect.


    And when Lin Mu used abination of skills, all of them would be simultaneously strengthened, which would exponentially improve the total power of the attack.


    Magma Strengthening would be highly useful to Lin Mu and would increase his potential even more allowing him to take on stronger foes as well as improve his overall efficiency. After all, he''ll be able to exert more strength while using the same amount of Qi!


    This was something that every immortal would desire, as one of the problems they faced was the overconsumption of immortal Qi.Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

 Chapter 1932 Initial Mastery Of Longgui Bulwark Armor

    The Second Component of the Longgui Bulwark Armor was called as Magma Hardening.


    In it, the user had to change the bnce of the elements by removing the fire elementpletely. This would allow them to condense an armor around them which would be whollyposed of Metal and Earth elements.


    If one were to convert it into a ratio, it would be a 0:1:1 ratio between fire, metal, and earth elements. This would turn the mixture rigid and therefore, be defensive. But one needed to be careful about how they actually condensed the armor.


    If they didn''t do it in the right way, they would simply end up forming a solid construct around them, turning themselves into rigid statues. This would defeat the purpose of the skill and leave one with no mobility.


    Hence, one needed to know how an armor worked and condensed the Magma into a shape that was the same. It needed to be in different parts, like the breastte, the shoulder pauldrons, the vambraces, gauntlets, the greaves, boots, as well as the helmet.


    This way, the entire body would be protected while also allowing perfect mobility. Additionally, one also needed to be able to repair and recover from damage at the same time. The armor could eventually crack and break, but the additional infusion of the Qi would be able to repair it.


    Doing this while also being attacked was not an easy task, and one needed to have excellent focus to be able to do it. One would have to practice it many times so that they could not only summon the armor on instinct but also repair it in the blink of an eye.


    This was the main aspect that Lin Mu had been desiring, as he wanted a defensive skill that he could activate at a moment''s notice. His own True Gold body had be insufficient now, and the Immortal Strengthening Scripture''s Sky Prop made him immobile.


    The armor from Magma Hardening would allow him to be mobile while also having great defenses.


    Finally, the Third Component of the Longgui Bulwark Armor was called as the Magma Fury.


    It allowed the user to turn their defenses into an offense by melting the armor and turning it back into magma. This could then be used to unleash devastating attacks!


    This was the mostplexponent out of the three, as it did not have a fixed ratio of the three elements. One needed to change the ratio ording to their need. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    One could increase the amount of fire element to raise the flexibility as well as add additional heat to the attacks. On the other hand, one could increase the metal element to create sharp ws that could tear through defenses.


    Then finally, one could increase the earth element to raise the weight and raw impact of the skill.


    This was why the thirdponent was the hardest to learn and even harder to master.


    One needed to rapidly adjust the ratios in order to use it perfectly and would have to practice a lot in order to be able to fully utilize it in battle.


    Lin Mu revised all these in his mind before he finally began to practice the technique.


    ''I feel them all.'' Lin Mu first sensed the three elemental immortal Qis in the air.


    Even if he had them within his body, he needed to follow the procedure that was taught to him by the illusory image of the Dragon turtle.


    "Consume the three to Strengthen!" Lin Mu uttered.


    ~SHUA~


    Under the control of his Immortal sense, the Fire, Metal and Earth Immortal Qi in the air as well as water started to rush towards Lin Mu. The immortal Qi from the air entered his mouth, while the one from the water entered his Dantian.


    The two streams of immortal Qi gathered in his stomach, where they started tobine!


    Lin Mu''s stomach detected the change and automatically responded. It allowed better ess, and Lin Mu felt as if the space within his stomach had suddenly expanded. This made it easier for him as he now had better ways to control the three immortal Qis within his stomach.


    ~Rumble~


    The fire, metal and earth elemental Qis shed against each other, not wanting to merge at first.


    Sputters of hot embers, sharp needles, and heavy rocks hit his stomach, but he seemed to endure them all with ease. Lin Mu''s stomach didn''t even register them, as obscure runes appeared on its surface.


    Instead, the immortal Qi that had been wasted as recoil from the three elements was reabsorbed by the stomach and sent down into his Dantian. The immortal Qi was recycled, leading to no waste in the end.


    ''It can do this?'' Lin Mu was discovering something new about his stomach, which was due to the nameless technique of the Lost Immortal.


    ~tremble~


    ''I''ll think about thister I need to focus on the task at hand.'' Lin Mu thought as he felt the three elements getting unstable.


    ~shua~


    He established his control over them again and focused on forming a stable flow first.


    Lin Mu''s practice with the Immortal essence during the cultivation of the Three Apertures Invoking technique wasing in handy here. It had a very high difficulty and needed fine control over immortal essence, and since the same could be applied to the Immortal Qi, Lin Mu was able to replicate it.


    In fact, even the Boulder Copsing fist could be applied here, as it too needed fine control over both Immortal Qi as well as Immortal Essence.


    ''Can''t I use the same way I stabilize the Immortal essence and Immortal Qi when using the Third form of the Boulder copsing fist?'' Lin Mu had an idea.


    Wanting to try it out, Lin Mu separated the three elemental immortal Qis first.


    This made them calm down immediately, but this was only the start. Lin Mu then turned them into strings of immortal Qi, which he then started to spin together as if weaving a thread from raw cotton.

 Chapter 1933 Practicing Magma Hardening

    Lin Mu carefully controlled the threads, ensuring that they didn''t go haywire.


    It took him thirty minutes, but he finally stabilized them. And once that was done, all that was left for Lin Mu to do was tobine them.


    ~Shua~


    He spun the rope made from the immortal Qi threads and allowed them to merge together. There was no instability this time due to the method Lin Mu had used, and this caused the merger to be a sess.


    ''It is done!'' Lin Mu felt like he could now move on to the next step.


    Right now he had only managed to condense andbine the three elemental immortal Qis. He hadn''t actually utilized them with the Longgui Bulwark Armor''s method.


    Lin Mu followed the mnemonic of the technique and circted the newly merged Qi.


    ~HONG~


    As soon as he did that, power surged within his body, and he could feel his strength rising.


    "So this is Magma Strengthening." Lin Mu clenched his fists before creating a small me on his palm.


    ~HISS~


    The water on his palm immediately boiled and turned to steam, showing the intensity of the me.


    ''This is at least twice as strong as before.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    He had used a very small amount of fire elemental Qi to light this me, but despite that, its power was greater than it should be. This was none other than the amplifying effect of the Magma Strengthening.


    Next Lin Mu released a bit of Metal Qi, coating his fingers in them.


    ~SHING~


    He lightly flicked his finger in the air, creating a cut that could be seen tearing through the air, as well as the water.


    "The sharpness of the Metal Qi has improved too¡­ And this isn''t even Sword Intent." Lin Mu was surprised.


    He did the same with Earth Elemental immortal Qi, creating a small stone. Lin Mu pinched it between his fingers and tried to break it.


    ~CRACK~


    After five seconds, the stone finally cracked before dissipating into Earth Elemental Immortal Qi.


    "Its density and toughness is also twice as much as before. If I use this with the Earthen Armament Aspect, all the attacks will be stronger and the weight will also be greater when the Aspects of Heaviness is activated." Lin Mu was very impressed with the technique.


    Having seeded with the firstponent of the Longgui Bulwark Armor, Lin Mu was now looking forward to the other two.


    "Now for the one that I got this technique for¡­ The Armor itself!" Lin Mu said before following the mnemonic of the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    The Secondponent was Magma Hardening and one needed to remove the fire elemental immortal Qi from thebination of the three elements. But one couldn''t just do it within their body, as that would lead to the energies getting unstable and possibly exploding.


    ''First to expel it from the body.'' Lin Mu focused on the mixture of energies flowing through him and guided them out of his body. N?velDrama.Org holds this content.


    They flowed through his meridians until they reached the surface of his skin. Once there, the mixture came out of his pores, looking like a tricolored gas.


    ~Sizzle~


    But in just a moment, as if a transformation had happened the tricolored gas transformed into boiling hot magma!


    The heat from the magma made the surrounding air expand, while also making the hot spring below boil. Thankfully, even if the water was boiling hot, everyone inside it could handle it with ease. Lin Mu had a tough body, while Little Shrubby''s body was highly resistant to heat.


    In the case of the twins, they didn''t even register the heat and simply continued to consume the immortal Qi from the air and convert it into their respective Yin or Yang Immortal Qi.


    ''It''s good that I''m in the private area, or others would certainly have been bothered by this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    In fact, even if Lin Mu and the beasts were resistant to the heat, that didn''t mean that the others were too. The immortal cultivators might be able to bear the heat, but that didn''t mean they would like it. Not to mention, there were weaker cultivators in the Hot Springs too.


    Lin Mu had noticed some that were at the Dao Treading Realm or below, which was a bit surprising but also made sense since they would want to get strong too.


    These cultivators wouldn''t be able to take the heat and could very easily get injured from it.


    ''I shouldn''t let the Magma be here for too long,'' Lin Mu thought to himself and continued to the next step. ''I need to create individual armor pieces that would be formed from the Magma first.''


    ~shua~


    The Magma responded to hismands and floated around him, before taking on the vague shape of an armor. The type of armor that would be formed from Magma Hardening was not the same for everyone. In fact, it waspletely up to the cultivator to design.


    For the time being, Lin Mu made a simple armor that only consisted of a breastte.


    The Magma covered the front and back of Lin Mu''s torso, making the water sticking to him evaporate instantly. The heat from the magma was quite high, and it was even touching Lin Mu''s skin. Any other immortal would be severely burned from this if they did not have resistance to heat.


    This was the reason why not just anyone could cultivate the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    Even those with Fire elemental affinity would get burned by this, despite having a higher resistance to heat than others. One needed the Metal and Earth element to offset this heat. In Lin Mu''s case though, not only did he have all three, but he also had a tough body that had been tempered a lot.


    This gave him great resistance to heat, allowing him to perform this with ease.


    ''Now to extract the Fire Elemental Immortal Qi,'' Lin Mu focused on the three energies thatposed the magma and singled out the fire element.


    This was a difficult thing to do, as the elements could quickly be unstable if one''s control was not good. Thankfully for Lin Mu, not only did he have good focus, the method that he had used tobine the three elements also meant that he could disassemble them the same way.


    Lin Mu simply unwound the Fire Elemental Immortal Qi string from the rope and this caused a transformation to take ce.


    The red hot Magma quickly became dark and started to harden. A couple secondster, it had solidified and turned into a ck breastte that protected Lin Mu''s Torso!


    "Here it is¡­" Lin Mu gazed at the rock armor that was encasing his torso.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    He knocked on it a few times, testing out its toughness and couldn''t even put a scratch on it. Not just that, the vibrations from the knocking were also absorbed by the armor, preventing any of them from reaching Lin Mu''s body. This meant that even when he was hit by attacks, the impact wouldn''t be transferred to his body directly.


    ''There is definitely a limit to the impact dampening¡­ once it exceeds a certain limit, I''ll definitely feel the impact.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''The effect of Magma Strengthening also disappeared when I formed the armor. Guess it is a choice between the two when I am to use it.'' He understood.


    Having formed the Chest piece sessfully, Lin Mu now tried to revert it back into Magma and dispel it. After all, he needed to know how to remove it as well.


    ~SHUA~


    ~SIZZLE~


    This part didn''t take much effort from him though, and the solid rock armor readily melted down, transforming back into red hot Magma. All Lin Mu had to do was to inject the Fire Elemental Immortal Qi into it, which automaticallybined with the Metal and Earth elements within it.


    "And it''s dispelled." Lin Mu reabsorbed the energy back into his body, making the Magma disappear as if it never existed.


    The energy flowed into Lin Mu''s meridians, continuing to circte keeping Magma Strengthening active.


    ''Magma Strengthening activates immediately upon the return of the mixed energy.'' Lin Mu noted. ''I should practice it more though. I need to be able to summon it at a moment''s notice. Only when I am able to summon it instinctively, would it be really useful. Otherwise, I''ll always have a vulnerability.'' He understood in depth.


    As such, Lin Mu repeated the action of hardening the magma and then melting it again several times. He also attempted making other armor pieces, just so that he would be able to do it when needed. Once he felt like he was getting good enough, he started to condense multiple pieces of the armor at the same time.


    He did the helmet and chest piece together, then added the gauntlets, then the boots, vambraces and finally the shoulder pauldrons.


    With that, Lin Mu had fully formed the armor!

 Chapter 1934 Learning Magma Fury

    Chapter 1934 Learning Magma Fury


    The formation of the entire armor meant that Lin Mu had fully executed the technique.


    Lin Mu''s body was covered in tough, rocky armor that could endure a lot of damage.


    "This is good." Lin Mu didn''t even need to test out how tough the armor was, as he could tell that simply with the use of his Immortal sense.


    The armor was highly impervious to immortal Qi, as long as it was considered a threat. It seemed to defend against any attack if it was considered dangerous automatically, which made Lin Mu realize that it was capable of responding in some way on its own.


    ''But the response time can be further improved. I need it to activate on instinct.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was something that couldn''t be done right away, and needed regr practice.


    "Still, this is decent progress for now." Lin Mu muttered to himself, feeling satisfied. Instead of further practicing this, Lin Mu decided to move on to the thirdponent of the Longgui Bulwark Armor. He needed to sessfully use all threeponents at least before he would consider the technique learned. ''Time for the hard part.'' Lin Mu thought in his mind, as he continued maintaining the armor.


    The Third Component of the Longgui Bulwark Armor was called as the Magma Fury and involved melting and hardening the magma to make ws out of them. Though, it wasn''t just restricted to ws either, as long as one''s control over the technique was good enough, one could do anything with it.


    "Here we go¡­" Lin Mu took a deep breath and added fire elemental immortal Qi to the armor once more, melting a part of it down. This much was simple, as Lin Mu had already been doing this when making the armor, but now that he wanted to make the ws, it gotplex.


    He needed to turn a part of the magma hard while keeping the rest fluid. In addition to that, if he wanted better movements, he would also have to vary the level of hardness, making some parts flexible and otherspletely rigid.


    ~shua~ Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    The Magma moved in the air and extended in front of Lin Mu in an elongated form. Slowly, it started to change its shape, taking on a w like form. Lin Mu had decided to go with the default w form that he had seen the Dragon Turtle use when he was obtaining the technique. It was easier to replicate something he had seen, rather than making something entirely new. As such, he followed the preexisting method.


    Of course,pared to the Dragon Turtle, Lin Mu''s magma ws were nowhere on the same level.


    Unlike the giant hill sized ws of the Dragon Turtle, Lin Mu''s Magma ws were about the size of a man''s hands. The Knuckles of the ws were solid, tough, and hard, while magma flowed between them. The ws were crude at first, but Lin Mu worked on them more, trying to make them sharper.


    ''I need to increase the ratio of Metal Elemental Immortal Qi in the ws¡­'' Lin Mu understood and did it.


    ~SHING~


    A few secondster, the ws transformed and turned sharper as if they were fine knives!


    ~TEAR~


    Lin Mu swung the w through the air, causing a wave of energy to spread from it and hit the water.


    ~SPLASH~


    ~HISS~


    The water sshed high, while part of it directly evaporated from the heat. "It''ll do for now." Lin Mu smiled at seeing the working technique.


    As much as he''d like to practice more, he knew this wasn''t the ce for it. He didn''t wish to cause damage here and also realized he had already been here for quite some time.


    ''It''s been six hours¡­ I shouldn''t overstay my wee.'' Lin Mu thought.


    After all, the immortal Qi here wasn''t infinite. And it wasn''t just him absorbing it, but also Little Shrubby and the twin snakes. Together, they had a high absorption rate of Immortal Qi and had probably consumed an amount that a hundred other cultivators would consume in the same time. Though Lin Mu knew that the hot springs had made it easier for him to practice the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    "Now that I''ve got a hang of it, using it elsewhere shouldn''t be a problem either." Lin Mu said to himself.


    ~shua~


    With that done, he got out of the water.


    "Time to leave, Little Shrubby, Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang." Lin Mu called out to the beasts.


    "Already?" Little Shrubby opened his eyes, having fallen asleep a while back.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "It''s been six hours already."


    ~hiss~


    "Okay¡­" the Twins replied in unison.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lin Mu sent them all back to the Sleepless and walked up to the wooden bridge. His robes appeared on him automatically before they transformed into the style that Lin Mu had selected in the Silver Mirage Circlet.


    ''I should add more designs in it perhaps¡­'' Lin Mu noted in his mind.


    It only had a few of them that were present by default, and Lin Mu hadn''t really gotten around to adding more of them. ~step~step~step~


    As he was walking over the Wooden Bridge though, he heard some other footsteps.


    "Mm?" Lin Mu saw one of the n members appearing.


    "Ah, Daoist Mu Lin!" The Shuijing n member noticed that Lin Mu was already heading towards him.


    "Was I called?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Yes, the Head Elder has called for you. He''s asking whether you would like to observe the creation of one of our signature ss weapons?" The n member asked.


    "Really? That''d be great." Lin Mu had been interested in them and would finally get to see them.


    "Pleasee with me. They''ll be starting soon." The Shuijing n member said before taking the lead.


    The two left the peak and went out of the area of the Shuijing n.


    "Where are we going?" Lin Mu asked, seeing that they were heading to the other peaks.

 Chapter 1935 Chang’an Cradle Forge

    Chapter 1935 Chang¡¯an Cradle Forge


    "We''re heading to the Chang''an peak." The Shuijing n member spoke.


    "The Chang''an peak? The Head Elder is there?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. With his recent breakthrough, he has decided to coborate with the Head elder of the Chang''an n and try to make a new weapon. They are hoping that it''ll be a better weapon than they''ve ever made." The Shuijing n member replied.


    "I see¡­ but is it fine for me to be there?" Lin Mu questioned, thinking that the techniques and methods used might be secret to the n.


    "Yes, the Head Elder has already given permission. Besides, a lot of the promising juniors of the Serene ss Valley will be observing too. This is a rare chance for all of them to get some experience." The Shuijing n member replied.


    "It is a rare instance indeed, then." Lin Mu nodded his head. He too was looking foward to it and wondered what methods they would be using.


    The two continued to fly until they reached the Chang''an peak after a while. There, the n member took Lin Mu to the back of the peak. As soon as Lin Mu stepped foot in this area, he could feel the difference.


    ''A lot of fire Qi is suppressed here¡­'' Lin Mu felt as if a volcano was buried under it all. ~shua~


    His immortal sense spread around the area and quickly picked up on the various formations that were present on the peak. ''So that''s why¡­ they have all that fire Qi suppressed underground¡­ it is actually from a formation.'' Lin Mu understood.


    While he didn''t know what kind of formation array it was exactly, he had an idea about it, at least.


    ''Possibly a Furnace Array¡­ Something simr to the one Jing Wei had in the Myriad Armament Canopy Abode.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Of course, the Furnace Array here was on an entirely different level than what Jing Wei had. It was an Immortal array and the power contained within it was on a different level. Not to mention, Lin Mu could also sense that the fire Qi wasn''t just from the array. There was something else present there too.


    ''Hm¡­ a treasure of some kind? It is too vague to tell from here.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He soon arrived at the ce where the two head elders would be forging a new weapon.


    It was arge stone castle, that had runes carved on all its sides. All of these were reinforcing and defensive formations, from what Lin Mu could tell.


    "Here we are, The Chang''an Cradle Forge." The Shuijing n member introduced. N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    "Is this where the Peak Grade Immortal weapon was made? The one that was gifted to the Feng Imperial n?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed. This is also the main forge of the Serene ss Valley and where the best of our weapons are made. There are several more forges, but this is the one with the best conditions as well as heat that can even burn away diamonds." The man answered.


    Lin Mu was impressed by it and couldn''t help but want to see how it was from the inside.


    The two entered the castle through its front gate and soon saw hundreds of people inside. These were all the juniors of the ns thatposed the Serene ss Valley. Lin Mu looked around the building and saw that it was actually rather simple. While it looked like a castle from the outside, it actually didn''t have many rooms and halls like a castle. Instead, it was onerge singr hall and didn''t have any separate sections.


    Along its four walls, tens of forges were set up, scorching mes burning within them. But the most spectacr part was the giant central forge. It was this giant forge that was powering the rest of the smaller forges and also had the greatest heat.


    Lin Mu could see channels on the ground that linked the smaller forges to the main forge. They were hard to miss, as they were glowing orange on the ground, showing that energy was flowing through them.


    "Daoist Mu Lin!" And while Lin Mu was looking around, he heard someone call out to him. "Shuijing Mingzhu," Lin Mu noticed the woman.


    "You''vee too. We were waiting for you." Shuijing Mingzhu said with a smile. "Shuijing Ju''s here too?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Yes. Come, we''ve got a ce on the very front." The woman said before guiding him through the crowd.


    Lin Mu went along with her and soon came to stand at the edge of the main furnace. There was a barrier set up, which prevented the heat from the forge from affecting the spectators. Lin Mu could tell that the heat was high enough to hurt immortals just by being in its vicinity.


    ''No wonder there are so many reinforcing formations on this building. It would have melted away from this heat otherwise.'' Lin Mu understood.


    "We shall now be starting. All juniors are to carefully observe and learn!" A loud voice was heard, pulling everyone''s attention to the main forge.


    Two old men stood there, which were quickly recognized by everyone.


    "Head Elder Heng and Head Elder Dajian." The juniors greeted them with cupped hands.


    Head Elder Dajian belonged to the Chang''an n and was also the Serene ss Valley''s top Immortal weapon forger.


    "Is that the junior you were talking about?" Head Elder Dajian asked in a low voice.


    "Yes, that is Daoist Mu Lin. He has excellent talent with formations." Head Elder Heng replied. "I believe he could react great heights in the future." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ if it''sing from you, that''s some tall praise." Head Elder Dajian said, finding it a bit surprising. "Let''s see how much he can learn from this." The old man turned to the furnace after saying that.


    "I''ll start it," Head Elder Heng said before extending his hand toward the furnace. As soon as he did that, the mes of the furnace disappeared and amp rose from it.

 Chapter 1936 Flame Soul Lamp

    Lin Mu and many others looked at themp that had just appeared wondering what it was.


    Some of the people among the crowd though had a look of understanding, as if they had seen thismp before.


    The Lamp looked rather simple, having four sides made out of ss. Its top and bottom looked to be made out of iron, and a hanging ring was attached at the top. There were no carvings on writings on it, and a yellow me burned inside it.


    And yet, this very simple lookingmp was exuding immortal Qi fluctuations that would blow most immortals away.


    "A Peak Grade Immortal tool?" Lin Mu estimated its level.


    "Awaken! me Soul Lamp!" Head Elder Hengmanded, causing themp to react.


    ~HUALA~


    The gently burning yellow me inside themp suddenly erupted like a volcano!


    ~ROAR~


    At the same time a faint roar could be hearding from the mes as if a beast was hidden within.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Everyone had heard the roar when the yellow mes started to change. An illusory figure of a massive beast could be seen rising from it.


    The figure took shape and had four limbs and two wings. It had a long neck and a head with two straight horns that went to the back.


    It had scales that were a mix of yellow and red while its eyes were a furious crimson.


    ~gasp~


    "D-Dragon! It''s a Dragon!" The juniors in the crowd eximed in shock.


    After all, I wasn''t everyday that they got to a dragon like this.


    Lin Mu was surprised to but for different reasons.


    ''For an illusory image to rise from the mes¡­ are those not normal mes and perhaps a Dao Embryo?'' Lin Mu wondered. N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    "For the juniors who have never seem this, know that these are the mes of the Gold ze Dragon!" Head Elder Dajian spoke, wanting to educate the juniors of the Serene ss Valley.


    After all, this was also meant to be a learning experience, and as such it was important for them to know what kind of capabilities the valley held. They would one day be using them in the future, and as such needed to be well aware about them.


    "The mes of the Gold ze Dragon were gifted to us long ago, after the founding of the Serene ss Valley by the ancestors who had joined the Immortal Court!" Head Elder Dajian revealed causing more gasps to be heard throughout the hall.


    But at the same time, looks of pride could be seen on the faces of juniors as they couldn''t help but feel great about their ancestors as well as the Serene ss Valley.


    "Today on this special asion we shall be using the Gold ze Dragon''s mes for forging!" Head Elder Dajian announced while Head Elder Heng continued to control the Soul me Lamp.


    Lin Mu who watched all this couldn''t help but be amazed.


    ''Even if they are the mes of the Gold ze Dragon, how are they still intact to this day?'' Lin Mu wondered. "Does the Soul me Lamp have something to do with it?" he muttered.


    Shuijing Mingzhu heard his words and easily guessed what Lin Mu must have been thinking. She was also one of the few people who had looks of understanding from the start, as if they knew what all the things were.


    "The me Soul Lamp is a special Immortal Tool, Daoist Mu Lin. If a me is ced inside it, the me Soul Lamp can not only keep it alive but even nurture it. Unlike other mes that would die out once the source of its energy was stopped, the me Soul Lamp can continued to provide it.


    This even applies to unique mes that are created by beasts or special cultivation techniques." Shuijing Mingzhu exined in detail.


    "No wonder even the me of a Dragon can continue to exist like this. It is certainly impressive." Lin Mu nodded his head. ''So this is what I was sensing underground. It was actually the mes of the Gold ze Dragon.'' He realized.


    Lin Mu didn''t know much about the Gold ze Dragon other than the fact that it was a true dragon and that it had wings too. But this didn''t mean that Lin Mu couldn''t figure out more things from the me.


    ''The mes actually are dual elemental mes¡­ Metal and Fire.'' Lin Mu noticed the very first characteristic.


    mes like this were rare as Fire would overpower the Metal element. Lin Mu was very familiar with it now, especially since he had just used them inbination earlier in the hot springs. Though of course, he had used the earth element too, but that didn''t mean he hadn''t noticed the suppressive characteristic of the fire on metal.


    Lin Mu could also understand why one would use such mes. Not only were they very strong, due to the natural metal element within them they were actually good for sensitive metals that needs high heat to melt, but were also prone to warping at the same time.


    Not to mention, the metal element within the Gold ze Dragon''s mes could also nurture the properties of the metals that might be used for weapon forging, thereby raising their potential.


    Lin Mu was actually finding the Gold ze Dragon''s mes ratherfortable too, due to his own affinity to the metal and fire elements.


    ''It could be a good me to use, but its a shame that its a Dragon''s unique me.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The second characteristic that Lin Mu noticed from the Gold ze Dragon''s mes was the potential cultivation base of its owner.


    ''It is easily at the Transcendent Immortal Realm or perhaps even higher.'' Lin Mu understood.


    This was due to the fact that the mes were actually exuding the power of a true immortal despite not being powered by its original owner.


    ''For the ancestors of the Serene ss Valley to get this me, it must not have been an easy task.'' Lin Mu reckoned.

 Chapter 1937 Two Head Elder’s Collaboration

    <h4>Chapter 1937 Two Head Elder''s Coboration</h4>


    As Lin Mu marveled about the Gold ze Dragon''s mes, Head Elder Heng was busy controlling it.


    His fingers danced in the air, as he employed his immortal sense to control the mes. Lin Mu observed it and discovered that Head Elder Heng was using his Immortal sense in two ways.


    He had divided his Immortal sense into two parts, with one part connecting with the me Soul Lamp and the the second part directly connecting with the mes themselves.


    ''I guess he needs a link to the me Soul Lamp in order to actually control the mes.'' Lin Mu understood.


    The mes continued to strengthen and spread until they had fully covered the entirety of the forge. The illusory figure of the Gold ze Dragon had also retreated within the mes, which had further empowered them.


    It was clear that the illusory figure had only appeared at the start since the mes of the Gold ze Dragon had been unleashed after a long time.


    "Head Elder Dajian, now." Head Elder Heng said causing the other old man to begin the process.


    Head Elder Dajian took out what looked like arge wooden branch that was about 20 centimeters thick and three meters long. The branch was dark brown in color and had a few white spots on it spread along its bark.


    "A Branch of the Snow ss Pear Tree?" Lin Mu recognized. "No wait¡­ It''s a branch of Elder Pear himself!" he sensed the familiar energy signature from the branch.


    "They''re actually using a branch of Elder Pear¡­ they haven''t done this for a longtime now. Getting a branch from Elder Pear isn''t easy." Shuijing Mingzhu spoke feeling surprised too.


    ~SHING~


    Next, the Head Elder took out a de that looked like a machete. The de was silver in color and had six runes carved on it which Lin Mu identified to be for sharpness.


    The old man swung the machete at the wooden branch, slicing away strips of it. His hand moved fast leaving behind afterimages making it difficult for the people to figure out where he was cutting.


    By the time he was done slicing one part, he had already moved on to the other side.


    But this wasn''t all, as the sliced off slivers of wood actually fell into the wood, releasing a cold energy which then rose and coated the wooden branch again.


    This process prepped several times until finally the wooden branch had been reduced to a much smaller size it was now seven centimeter thick and two meters long. It had a slight curve at the bottom, while its top was straight.


    "Is head Elder Dajian carving a staff?" The juniors wondered.


    Lin Mu thought the same too, as it didn''t make sense taking out a wooden branch while forging. But when he observed the shape of the carved wooden branch further, he realized that it wasn''t actually a staff. N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    "No, it can''t be a staff. Its bnce would be too off in this shape." Lin Mu muttered. "Considering it is thicker at the bottom and a bit curved, it seems like a handle instead." He determined.


    Now the only question was what did this handle belong to?


    ~SIZZLE~


    Just as everyone was wondering this, Head Elder Dajian took out arge barrel that was filled with a liquid of some kind. The liquid started to heat up and boil as soon as it came in contact with the mes.


    "Tilt it," Head Elder Heng asked and the other head elder obliged.


    The barrel was tilted into the furnace, causing the liquid to directly pour into the mes.


    "Rise!" Head Elder Heng split his Immortal sense further this time using the third part to control the liquid.


    "Is that a mixture of Dark Pine Oil, Spirit Sandalwood Sap and Iron Wood amber?" A junior nearby seemed to have recognized.


    "Yes! Seems like Head Elder Dajian is going to soak the wood in it!" The others became sure of it too now.


    The three materials were known by Lin Mu too and were rathermon too.


    ''I didn''t know they could be used in a mix this way¡­ wait, now I see! Iron Wood Amber is solid, but when mixed with the Dark Pine Oil it can be dissolved and the Spirit Sandalwood Sap provides additional support to it.'' Lin Mu quickly analyzed the mixture of the three materials.


    Everyone watched as the liquid floated in the air above the yellow mes and gathered into a sphere. The mes kept on heating the liquid sphere and its size kept on reducing. About fifteen minutester, the sphere had reduced to less than half its size.


    "Coat it!" Head Elder Dajian raised the wooden handle, and inserted it into the liquid sphered.


    ~HISS~


    A high pitched sound was heard, as the boiling hot liquid which had been tempered over the mes touched the cold wood. It then started to enter the pores of the wood, coating it fully.


    The two elders continued to temper the wood over the yellow mes, until all of the liquid was fully absorbed into it. The wood had now changed its texture and be smooth.


    It had a shiny gleam on its surface and had grown a bit thicker too.


    "They finished the handle!"?The juniors were excited.


    But this was merely the start. They still didn''t know what weapon was being made here. They only knew that the signature ss weapon of the Serene ss Valley would be made.


    "It is time. Prepare the mold." Head Elder Dajian spoke and Head Elder Heng nodded.


    The old man took out a chunk of solid rock which he then quickly cut into two halves and started to carve out a cavity within it. This was the mold into which the sap of the Snow ss Pear Tree.


    The juniors were able to see the shape in which the cavity was carved and finally realized what the Head Elders were making.


    "A double headed battle Axe?" Lin Mu identified as well.

 Chapter 1938 Intricate Handle

    The weapon that the two head elders were attempting to forge was none other than a Double Headed Battle Axe.


    It was not a delicate weapon nor a precise weapon like the sword or the spear. It was a heavy weapon of wanton destruction and raw power. Making a weapon like this showed that the two Head elders were trying to attempt something new.


    After all, most of the ss Weapons that the Serene ss Valley made were light weapons like, swords, spears, daggers, and more. Even the great sword that Shuijing Ju was at the upper limit of what the Serene ss Valley had made before in terms of weight ss.


    This was due to the natural properties of the Snow ss Pear Tree sap. It could offer amplification to formations and add good weapon skills, but for actual durability and direct power it wasn''t ideal.


    Instead of using a valuable material like that one, could use several other cheaper materials and obtain the same level of power. After all, the ss weapons were meant to be Skill type weapons rather than pure forging or hybrid type weapons.


    Which the Double Headed Battle Axe usually was.


    But Lin Mu didn''t think it was right to judge it just now.


    ''The Head Elders must have some other reason for doing this¡­ Otherwise I doubt they would pick a weapon type like this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Lin Mu continued to observed and the two Elders moved onto the next major step, which was to fill the mold with the sap.


    "Take out the sap," Head Elder Dajian spoke as he prepared to make his move.


    Head Elder Heng did as instructed while controlling the Yellow mes.


    ~shua~


    Arge chunk of crystallized Snow ss Pear Tree was taken out of his storage treasure. It looked to be rather pure too and had probably been collected over a long time since it was a single chunk.


    Lin Mu didn''t think it was made bybining multiple smaller crystal. This was due to the fact that the sap could only be melted once after solidifying on the tree.?Doing so would break its structure and make it very fragile.


    Hence depending on the size of the weapon that needed to be made, the sap chunk needed to be the right size.


    ~CLACK~


    The crystallized sap chunknded on the lower half of the weapon mold before Head Elder Heng increased the mes.


    ~SHUA~


    The mes heated the base of the mold, to avoid touching the sap directly with the mes. Directly heating it with the mes could lead to excess tempering of the sap, and lead to it boiling instead.


    This would result in a poor quality weapon and its ability to retain and amplify formations would also degrade.


    "Time to switch." Head Elder Heng said, surprising everyone.


    "They''re switching in the middle?"


    "Won''t that result in fluctuation of the mes?"


    "Yeah that can lead to faults in the sap!"


    The juniors were confused by the decision of the Head Elders. They could only watch as the two elders did as spoken.


    The control over the me Soul Lamp was instantly handed over to Head Elder Dajian who didn''t let the mes flicker for even a single moment. There were no fluctuations, showing just how great both of their control were.


    ''What did they do this for?'' Lin Mu wondered before seeing that Head Elder Heng had taken hold of the Axe handle that they had made earlier.


    ~HONG~


    Then in the next moment, Lin Mu felt Dao Traces in the air which came from none other than the Head Elder in question.


    "Whoa! Is that Head Elders Dao Embryo?"


    "Yeah that''s the Bone Carving Knife Dao Embryo." The Juniors recognized.


    ~HUM~


    The Head Elder directly took hold of his Dao Embryo and stared carving runes onto the wooden handle.


    "He''s actually carving them by hand!" The Juniors were astonished and impressed at the same time. "His head is so steady. I could never do that myself."


    Watching this though, Lin Mu knew that the old man had gotten this idea from himself.


    ''Is he trying toyer them?'' Lin Mu guessed.


    He waited for a few minutes, and watched Head Elder Heng carve runes onto the handle while the other Head Elder steadily heated the bottom half of the weapon mold.


    The Snow ss Pear Sap had started to soften and a smallyer of it had already melted at the bottom too. And by the time half of the sap had fully melted, Head Elder Heng had finished carving runes on the handle.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon theirpletion the runes glowed, but did not turn into aplete formation.


    "He really isyering them¡­ the runes do not result in a full formation until the secondyer is connected." Lin Mu muttered in understanding.


    Shuijing Mingzhu listened to Lin Mu''s words, understanding the actions of her Great Grandfather as well.


    "Coat it!" Head Elder Dajian shouted with a hint of nervousness.


    Head Elder Heng used his Immortal sense and controlled a bit of the molten sap, using it to coat the wooden handle! Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    This was astounding, as doing this could be considered a mistake in the general sense. It would lead to there being a disjunction between the de of the Axe and the handle.


    "So that''s why they decided to doyering¡­" Unlike the confusion of others, Lin Mu was instead impressed by their methods.


    ~SHUA~


    In just a few seconds, the entirety of the wooden handle was coated, and the Head Elder took hold of his Bone Carving Knife Dao Embryo once more.


    This time though, he coated it with immortal Qi, and created an additional surface on top of it. He then used this to carve runes into the surface of the handle which had been coated with ayer of sap.


    ~HUALA~


    This time the old man was even faster than before. The top of the carving knife never actually entered the sap, only the immortal Qi did, and yet the effects of the Dao Embryo were still implemented.

 Chapter 1939 Culmination Of The Axe

    Upon watching the actions of the Head Elder a thought came to Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Using the Qi as the ink¡­" Lin Mu muttered seeing that Head Elder Heng was actually able to implement the methodology of his own Formation Dao Embryo into his.


    It needed great skill and experience to be able to do this, especially considering the fact that most of the Dao Embryo''s capabilities were exclusive to them.


    The head elder ''wrote'' runes into the sap coating and finished within five minutes. In this time, the sap had also cooled down and hardened, turning the handle ssy.


    Now it looked like a ss encased wooden handle that shimmered under the mes of the Gold ze Dragon.


    Once the runes were fully written into the sap, a transformation change happened.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The runes carved on the wooden handle and the ones on the coating reacted and started to link up. They glowed and soon a formation waspleted in one go.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he tried to identify the formation.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu couldn''t recognize it at all.


    At first, it seemed like a shock dampening formation to him which was sometimes used on heavy weapons like hammers, or even spears to reduce the impact from using them But when Lin Mu observed it more, he figured out that its function was not exactly that.


    ''Guess I''ll have to wait for the weapon to bepleted and all the formations to be written first.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    By now, the chunk of the Snow ss Pear sap had fully melted and it was time to close the mold. The two Head Elders nced at thepleted handle and moved to the next step.


    "Insert it," Head Elder Dajian said and Head Elder Heng obliged.


    Thepleted handle of the Axe was inserted into the mold before it was closed.


    ~THUD~


    With the two halves of the mold closed Head Elder Heng resumed control of the me Soul Lamp and let Head Elder Dajian work on forging.


    Head Elder Dajian tapped on the mold in a pattern, which caused changes within the sap. He did this from time to time, while the mold continued to turn in air and the yellow mes heated it.


    Lin Mu wished to know what was going on inside the mold but couldn''t observe it with his Immortal sense as it would disturb the two elders. But he had another option to do the same.


    ~SHUA~


    He activated his Spatial Perception and directly saw the movements inside the mold.


    ''So he''s using the tapping as a way to add specific grooves to the sap and also eliminate any bubbles in the sap.'' Lin Mu observed.


    "Switch!" Head Elder Heng handed over the control of the mes back to Head Elder Dajian who had just finished his side of the work.


    Lin Mu then saw Head Elder Heng making the deepestyer of the formations within the de of the Axe. He did this, while the mes continued to heat the mold. But by now, the heat of the mes had reduced, which led to the center of the de to start cooling.


    This was intentional as it allowed the formations to be sealed in too.


    Head Elder Dajian lowered the heat of the mes bit by bit, while Head Elder Heng continued to add formations one by one. It took them an entire three hours before they finally sealed the mes.


    "Open!" Head Elder Dajian pulled on the two halves of the mold.


    ~CLACK~


    With the mold removed, the form of the Double Headed battle Axe was finally seen.


    It had two crescent shaped curved edges, which narrowed around the area which fused with the handle. The handle now fully looked like part of the Axe and the runes on it were actually linked with the runes on the de too.


    On the bottom part of the handle which was thicker and meant to hold, Lin Mu saw extra Qi channeling runes too.


    But this didn''t mean the work was over.


    Head Elder Heng used the Bone Carving Dao knife Dao Embryo and made more runes under the surface of the de. This time Lin Mu could instantly recognize the runes, as they were one of the mostmon and simpler ones.


    The formation that the Head Elder was making none other than the Strengthening formation. It had the most basic function of improving the strength of the person that was using it.


    Of course, the increase in strength wasn''t too big and it was mostly used in case of heavy weapons so that the person using it had an easier time.


    The increase in strength was usually proportional to the weight of the weapon which was only useful for the weaker immortals as their own raw strength wasn''t actually that high.


    But Lin Mu could tell that the Head Elder wasn''t adding the strength formation to the de for that reason.


    ''He''s only made it in a small part of the de.'' Lin Mu saw.


    The space taken up by the Strengthening formation was barely five centimeters wide which left most of the de empty. But this space was soon filled up with more formations.


    And not just any formations, but the same Strengthening formations. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    ''He''s duplicating them? But they wouldn''t really help with increasing the strength anymore. It''ll just result in a loss of extra immortal Qi instead.'' Lin Mu tried to analyze the reasoning behind it.


    Time continued to pass and the Head Elder filled the entire Axe de with the Strengthening formations. Every single inch of it was covered with it, only leaving the edges bare.


    ~HONG~


    And once that was done, the formations all linked up, bringing it all to the moment of culmination.


    The Double Headed Battle Axe rose in the air, as strong winds started to blow. The weapon started absorbing Immortal Qi at a rapid pace, showing that the weapon was close topletion.

 Chapter 1940 Weakening Of The Axe

    The hovering Double Headed Battle Axe absorbed immortal Qi as if it were a desert and it were raining.


    Everyone watched with careful eyes, as they knew depending on how much Immortal Qi the Axe absorbed, its grade would vary. This would also determine whether the weapon would form a weapon spirit or not.


    ~HUALA~


    Minute after minute passed, as the Double Headed Battle Axe continued to absorb the immortal Qi. By now, a vortex had formed above it, and the Immortal Qi had be concentrated enough that it looked like a thick mist.


    Ten more minutes passed, and the suction force of the Axe had only increased further. N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    ~thud~


    A few of the weaker cultivators in the hall actually stumbled and fell to their knees, unable to bear all of this. Some of them were unable to absorb any Qi due to the suction of the Axe, while others were feeling pressed form the rising energy of the Axe.


    "Juniors who are unable to endure this should retreat for their own safety." Head Elder Dajian warned.


    "Y-yes¡­" Even if they wished to watch it from up close, the juniors had no option but to retreat.


    If they didn''t do that, they would end up passing out andpletely lose any chance at observation.


    About fifty percent of the observers moved back at this moment while the other half still stayed put. But even the number of those that could endure it started to fall, as the pressure only kept on increasing.


    Two hours passed like this and by now over 95% of the people had retreated. Only Lin Mu, Shuijing Mingzhu and a few more promising individuals of the Serene ss Valley were left standing.


    Lin Mu looked around and saw that nearly everyone had a cultivation base at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and above. As for those that were at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, they were enduring through the use of immortal tools that reduced the pressure for them.


    ''They won''t be able to hold on for much longer.'' Lin Mu knew upon seeing the conditions of the Immortal tools.


    Simr to cultivators with higher cultivation bases being able to suppress those with a lower cultivation base, Immortal tools and weapons could suppress weaker Immortal tools below them too. As of now, the Grade of the Double Headed Battle Axe was at the High rank.


    Whereas, all the immortal tools they were using to withstand the pressure were at the Mid or low grade.


    ''They''llst ten minutes more perhaps.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''If they had experience in bearing pressure of stronger individuals though, they would have been able to withstand this without immortal tools too.'' He thought while looking at Shuijing Mingzhu.


    She was able to bear it without an immortal tool too and almost seemed unaffected showing that she had excellent control over her Qi.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    Ten minutes passed and just as Lin Mu had predicted, the cultivators who were using the Immortal tools to resist the pressure were forced to kneel too. Knowing that it was no use in staying here, they too retreated, leaving only seven people standing.


    Among these seven people, Lin Mu and Shuijing Mingzhu were also included.


    ''Hmm¡­ Two from the Chang''an n, two from Guan n and one from Shuijing n.'' Lin Mu nced at the ones who were left standing other than Shuijing Mingzhu. ''Guess these are the cream of the crop for the three ns. All the minor n''s members have been forced to retreat.'' He thought.


    ~HONG~


    Shortly after this, a change happened with the Double Headed Battle Axe.


    The Vortex around it grew and fully covered the Axe while Dao Traces started to appear!


    "It''s happening!" Head Elder Dajian and Head Elder Heng were excited.


    Lin Mu on the other hand tried to figure out what kind of Dao Traces were appearing. His immortal sense tried to sense them and didn''t recognize them at first. But when Lin Mu side his Spatial perception to check it further, he immediately got his answer.


    ''This feeling¡­ there''s no doubt about it. This is a Heavenly element¡­ The Light Element!'' Lin Mu identified.


    The appearance of Dao Traces meant that the weapon was about to upgrade to the Peak Grade. And if it sessfully managed to absorb the Dao Traces, it would have fully turned into a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon!


    ''Since the Double headed Battle Axe was made from the sap of the Snow ss Pear Tree, it makes sense that it ended up attracting Light Dao Traces.'' Lin Mu understood. ''Though I don''t know if this was intentional or not¡­ it doesn''t really make sense for a heavy weapon like this to have the Light Element.'' He thought.


    Still, Lin Mu had faith in the elders and trusted their experience. He didn''t think they would make such an amateur mistake of using the wrong material for the wrong weapon type.


    ~SSSSSSSSSS~


    But just as Lin Mu was thinking this, the Double Headed Battle Axe suddenly dimmed down. The flow of Immortal Qi around it also became slower while the Dao Traces started to fall.


    "No!" Head Elder Heng shouted in frustration. "We need to use the backup!"


    "We now have no option, use it!" Head Elder Dajian agreed.


    Head Elder Heng summoned and item from his Spatial Storage Treasure. It was an object that was about seven inches tall and one inch thick.


    It also had a small ck cording out from its top.


    No matter what angle one looked at it from, they would think of it as a very mundane object.


    It was a candle!


    "Ancestor help us." Head Elder Heng muttered lightly, which Lin Mu heard too.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon his words, the candle suddenly lit up!


    But the surprising part was that there was no me burning on the wick. Instead, an orb of light had appeared on the wick!


    And from this wick, one could feel strong Light Dao Traces.

 Chapter 1941 Flash Cleave Axe!

    <h4>Chapter 1941 sh Cleave Axe!</h4>


    The appearance of the candle was surprising for Lin Mu at first, but he soon recognized what it was.


    ''Is this one of those treasures that can emit Dao Traces?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He knew about the Dao Essence crystal, as he had seen one before, but this was a lot more different from that. But at the same time, Lin Mu was sure this was no Immortal tool. The candle itself had no Immortal Qi fluctuations and as such those with a weaker cultivation base wouldn''t even be able to tell that there were Dao Tracesing from this.


    Even for those with a stronger cultivation base, if they weren''t sensitive enough they wouldn''t know that there were Light Dao Tracesing from the candle. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Oh? A Shadow Dispel Candle made from Solstice Wax?" Lin Mu heard Xukong''s voice in his mind.


    "You know what it is, Senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes¡­ it is a kind of a treasure that is half an Immortal tool. It has no grade and can''t be ssified into any particr category. Or rather, one would find more simrities between the candle and Dao Embryos than it and other immortal tools." Xukong replied, confusing Lin Mu.


    "I''ve never seen anything like this before." Lin Mu said, observing the glowing candle. "Considering the head elders reaction, I am guessing this isn''t meant for use like this?" he asked.


    "Indeed. A Shadow Dispel Candle is a powerful item used to banish ghosts and other negative beings." Xukong replied. "Of course, it is usually made from a more mon'' form of wax. But this one is particrly made from a very precious type of wax called as the Solstice Wax.


    It is something that is created only once a year when the longest day of the year happens.


    The wax created in those conditions with suitable materials turns into Solstice wax.


    "How would something like that be made in the Rust Sky world though, Senior? There isn''t enough sunlight here in the first ce." Lin Mu was doubtful.


    "You are correct. It is highly like it was made in a more ''normal'' world that had a clear atmosphere. Or¡­ there''s also a certain chance that this was actually created in a world with multiple suns too. That would result in higher quality wax." Xukong answered. "Shadow Dispel Candles of this level can even banish ghosts that have the power to kill peak immortals.


    For it to be used here, to provide mere Dao Traces feels wasteful.'' He added.


    "Hmm, true. But then again, they don''t have much more they could use for this." Lin Mu replied.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu watched, as the Dao Tracesing from the Candle wick were being absorbed by the Double Headed battle Axe. The candle started melting, and as more of its smoke was absorbed, the smaller it became.


    In just a few minutes, the Candle had fallen to less than a quarter of its initial size.


    ''It fell fast¡­'' Lin Mu hadn''t expected that.


    And when the entire candle had melted away, the production of the Light Dao Traces had also been reduced.


    "Now we can only hope¡­" Head Elder Heng said, seeing that the previous candle was used up.


    If this didn''t work, they might not be able to attempt something like this for years on end. As such, it was very important for them to make it work.


    ~HUMM~


    As if the heavens had answered their prayers, the Double headed battle axe glowed once more!


    "It''s working!" head Elder Dajian said with excitement.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The Double headed Battle Axe glowed brightly while strong Light Dao Traces covered it and floated around it. Even with Spatial Perception, it was getting hard for Lin Mu to watch it all.


    If any mortal were to witness this, they would simply go blind from the strong intensity of the light. It was the same as staring directly into the sun for minutes at the end. Thankfully for most immortals, it was still bearable and they could endure.


    ''Come on¡­ just a bit more¡­ take that step¡­'' Head Elder Heng wished in his heart.


    Lin Mu too, hoped for it all to work out. After all, it was also his first time watching the birth of a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon.


    ''If I get to see the birth of a weapon spirit, I would be able to apply it to my own weapons too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And after a minute of ufortable wait, it happened.


    ~WOONG~


    The Double Headed Battle Axe vibrated in the air at a high speed and absorbed all the Immortal Qi as well as the Light Dao Traces in an instant. The vortex of Immortal Qi above it disappeared and so did the swirling Light Dao Traces.


    The Double Headed Battle Axe shifted its position and stood vertically in the air.


    ~gulp~


    Everyone watched with bated breaths, as the Axe let out a sound.


    "I¡­" A voice was heard.


    "I am¡­" Faint words echoed.


    "I am¡­ Axe¡­" The words became clear.


    "I am¡­ THE FLASH CLEAVE AXE!" A loud voice was suddenly heard.


    Hearing it, all the juniors watching were left with wide eyes.


    "The Axe spoke! IT SPOKE!"


    "It has also gained a weapon spirit!" Everyone was greatly excited.


    But no one was more excited than the Two head elders. The quest that they had set out to finish had finally been aplished. This made them greatly relieved, and they felt a sense of pride filling their hearts.


    "The Serene ss Valley''s name will once again be known in the Dao Wind Continent!" Head Elder Dajian proimed.


    Head Elder Heng nodded his head and nced at their creation.


    "Since you have picked a name for yourself, will you also pick your owner now?" Head Elder Heng questioned.


    ~Humm~


    The Axe didn''t reply to him and instead turned horizontal.


    ~WHOOSH~


    It flew around the hall beforeing to a stop above someone.


    "Daoist Mu Lin¡­" Everyone watched the event, feeling surprised.


    Lin Mu too looked up at the Axe, his breath uneven.

 Chapter 1942 Malfunction

    The sh Cleave Axe hovered over him as if looking at him.


    Head Elder Dajian raised his brows while Head Elder Heng had a look of understanding on his face.


    ''Is the sh Cleave Axe picking him? Does it sense his potential?'' Head Elder Heng wondered.


    He knew that Peak Grade Immortal weapons with spirits could do this. In fact, they often had a better sense of potential and power than many other cultivators. This was something innate within them and was directly linked to their existence as a weapon to be used by others.


    It was an ability granted by the heavens so that they could find a suitable owner. As that was their very purpose of existence in the first ce.


    The sh Cleave Axe hovered in silence for ten seconds, during which no one spoke. They were far too interested in knowing what would happen and were waiting for a response from the weapon. After all, it wasn''t every day that they got to see a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon select a master.


    "You¡­" Finally the Axe spoke, raising Lin Mu''s interest.


    "You are picking me?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling a mix of confusion and interest.


    He was interested, as having a peak grade immortal weapon would be good. But he was also confused, as he didn''t think he was the right fit for the weapon.


    ''I might have used axes when I learned the Myriad Armament de Scripture and also when I used the Earthen Armament Aspect''s Great Axe form, but I''ve never specifically used axes as a focus. Not to mention, I do not have the affinity to the Light Dao either.'' Lin Mu wasn''t na?ve enough to misjudge his own capabilities.


    Even if he would like to have a Peak Grade Weapon, he knew it wasn''t good to bite more than one could chew.


    ''There would also be the cost for this. Even if the sh Cleave Axe picks me, I can''t just take it away without paying the Serene ss Valley an appropriate price.'' Lin Mu wouldn''t just steal a weapon from people who had been cordial and honorable with him since the start.


    As such, he also started to think about what would be the appropriate price to pay for it.


    ''Maybe a million High Grade immortal stones? No even that might not be enough, it already has a weapon spirit after all¡­'' Lin Mu wondered.


    But soon his train of thought came to an abrupt halt.


    "You¡­ Show me my master." The sh Cleave Axe spoke.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu uttered in bafflement.


    "What?" The juniors couldn''t understand.


    "Show master?" The two Head Elders were also perplexed.


    "Show me my master. Where are you hiding my master!?" The sh Cleave Axe demanded.


    By now, Lin Mu had no idea what the Axe was uttering. He even wondered if the weapon spirit was malfunctioning somehow.


    "Is its intelligence not fully developed?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    "SHOW ME MY MASTER!" The sh Cleave Axe shouted.


    ~HUMM~ N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    And in the next second, it started to gather energy. Its de glowed in a white light, raising rm in Lin Mu''s mind.


    ~SHING~


    Then without a warning, the Axe attacked Lin Mu!


    "What in the¡ª" The two head elders moved to intervene, but they were slower than the peak grade immortal weapon which was barely a meter away from Lin Mu.


    ~CLANG~


    A hand that was covered in a stone gauntlet grasped the Axe head, stopping it in its tracks. Red hotva could be seen flowing in the joints of the gauntlet, while the heat from it spread in the hall.


    Lin Mu gazed at the sh Cleave Axe with apprehension in his eyes.


    The juniors watching it all were shocked, while Shuijing Mingzhu who was beside Lin Mu felt afraid. The way the Axe had moved, she would have been caught in the path of its attack too. Lin Mu knew this too, and couldn''t dodge or he would risk her getting hit.


    As such, Lin Mu decided to block it directly.


    ''It was good that I learned the Longgui Bulwark Armor earlier¡­ The power of the Axe is very strong.'' Lin Mu felt the impact.


    He had withstood it with the heavy defenses of the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    ~WENG~


    But the sh Cleave Axe tried to move again, wanting to escape from Lin Mu''s grasp.


    "STOP!" Head Elder Heng and Dajian shouted.


    The acts of the sh Cleave Axe were a personal insult to them both. After all, they had been the ones who had made it and allowed the juniors to be in its presence. The actions of the Axe would be their responsibility.


    The sh Cleave Axe attacking Lin Mu and endangering the juniors was the same as a loss of face for them.


    Not only had it attacked an honored guest, it had potentially also harmed multiple juniors.


    Even if the sh Cleave Axe was a Peak Grade Weapon they had been wishing to make for a long time, at this current moment, it was nothing but a threat to all of them.


    After all, what use is a weapon that harms the creator?


    Lin Mu knew if he let go even for a moment, the Axe could very well injure several people. Even if it was just targeting him, the power of a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon could not be underestimated.


    With the cultivation bases of the juniors here, even a stray wave of Immortal Qi could knock them out or shatter their meridians. This was especially the case for those who were below the Immortal realm.


    "SHOW ME MY MASTER!" The sh Cleave Axe continued to shout while trying to escape from Lin Mu.


    ~DENG~


    But Lin Mu only increased his restraint, using his other hand to keep the Axe in ce.


    "Do it now, Head Elders!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "SEAL!" Head Elder Heng directly employed the formations of the entire peak, sealing the sh Cleave Axe.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The peak shook, as chains made from runes appeared out of thin air. The chains rushed at the sh Cleave Axe which was trapped in Lin Mu''s vise-like grip.


    "Prism of Solitude!" Head Elder Dajian also used a technique, creating a ss prism around the sh Cleave Axe.


    This prevented the stray Immortal Qi waves from hitting the nearby juniors.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    The rune chains wrapped around the sh Cleave Axe, and the Prism of Solitude trapped it in its confines.


    "You can let go now. Even a Peak Grade Weapon won''t be able to break this for a few days." Head Elder Heng spoke, anger boiling in his eyes.


    Lin Mu took his hands off the hostile weapon, letting the rune chains wrap it even tighter.


    "All juniors are to leave, right away!" Head Elder Dajian ordered.


    ~WHOOSH~


    That order wasn''t even needed, as the juniors started to run away before that.


    "Daoist Mu Lin¡­" Shuijing Mingzhu tried to say something but saw Lin Mu shake his head.


    "Leave, it''s not safe." He spoke.


    "Y-yes." Shuijing Mingzhu replied and left as well.


    Now with only three people left in the forge, its doors started to close.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The castle shook, asyer afteryer of barrier appeared. Soon enough, the entire ce was sealed, and no one would be able to enter, nor leave it.


    "Was there an error?" Lin Mu questioned first. "Perhaps an issue in its Weapon Spirit''s birth?" he asked.


    "It can''t be." Head Elder Dajian replied. "In my fifteen thousand years of making Immortal weapons, this has never happened."


    "Hmm¡­ Immortal weapons with spirits can be hostile, but that is if someone other than their owner uses them. The sh Cleave Axe has just been born, and has no owner. It shouldn''t be doing this at all." Head Elder Heng thought hard while trying to control his anger.


    "So it is indeed strange." Lin Mu wondered what could be wrong with the weapon. "And here I was questioning why it would pick me when I don''t have anythingpble with it." He presented his doubt.


    "It would make sense if it was picking you dependent on potential, but that is clearly not the case." Head Elder Heng spoke.


    "Whatever it may be, this Immortal weapon is not suitable for use." Head Elder Dajian spoke in a disappointed tone. "We will have to seal it and wipe its weapon spirit before rewriting all the formations¡­"


    They knew doing that would mean that the weapon would be degenerating. It would no longer be a peak grade weapon and would weaken greatly.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he thought about it for a bit.


    And just as the two head elders were about to proceed with the dismantlement of the Axe, Lin Mu interrupted them.


    "Wait!" Lin Mu said out loud. "Perhaps we are mistaken about something." He added.


    "I doubt that." Head Elder Dajian replied.


    "We should try talking to the sh Cleave Axe. There might be more to its words than we are understanding." Lin Mu suggested.

 Chapter 1943 Questions For The Axe

    "We should try talking to the sh Cleave Axe. There might be more to its words than we are understanding." Lin Mu suggested to the two elders.


    His words were a bit surprising to the two, but they didn''t reject it outright. While there was a threat from the sh Cleave Axe, they didn''t let their anger cloud their judgment and calmed down. They thought over it for a few seconds before nodding.


    "Very well." Head Elder Heng replied. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "We can see if the sh Cleave Axe has a proper reason. If not, we''ll seal it back." Head Elder Dajian added.


    "Mmm, just release its restraints just enough so that it can talk." Lin Mu stated knowing that the Axe couldn''t move or talk right now.


    "Get ready." Head Elder Heng spoke, controlling the rune chains.


    ~SHUA~


    The chains glowed lightly, before a few of them loosened.


    The prism surrounding the sh Cleave Axe was still present though, as it was containing the power of the Immortal Weapon. Head Elder Dajian wouldn''t release it as the prism could still act as a secondary precaution in case the weapon tried to break free.


    Even if the chances of this happening were low, it was better to err on the side of caution for them.


    There was no way the two Head Elders would allow a weapon of their creation to cause damage to the Serene ss Valley. They had already lost enough face today. Not to mention, there was Lin Mu who was a guest of the valley here too.


    Enough if Lin Mu wasn''t injured, just the act of him being attacked was insulting.


    Unbeknownst to them, Lin Mu didn''t care about anything like that. He knew that it wasn''t their fault, and the weapon was acting like that due to some other reason. A reason that he was interested in finding out.


    Plus, it would be a shame if a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon was scrapped just because of this. Even if Lin Mu was not going to be its owner, it would be too much of a waste.


    ~humm~


    A few more rune chains were loosened until the sh Cleave Axe could finally talk again.


    "Show me my master!" The sh Cleave Axe shouted as soon as its restraints were loosed.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    It tried to resist, but the remaining chains were more than enough to keep it contained.


    "Release me! Release My master!" The sh Cleave Axe shouted over and over again.


    Seeing its condition, Lin Mu understood something.


    ''It''s too agitated to understand anything right now. Being restrained has only infuriated it further.'' Lin Mu thought he needed to calm it down first. ''But will it work on an Immortal weapon?'' he had an idea but was doubtful of it.


    "Only one way to find out¡­" Lin Mu muttered before chanting something.


    The chants were esoteric and could not be understood by anyone in the room. The two Head Elders were confused, but also felt a sense of calmness spreading in their minds.


    "What is this?" Head Elder Dajian wondered in surprise.


    "It feels¡­ peaceful." Head Elder Heng said, his anger dissipating entirely.


    It wasn''t just them that were getting affected by the chants. Lin Mu''s conjecture was correct, and the sh Cleave Axe also lessened its struggle. Its shouting slowed down first, before stopping entirely. It also didn''t try to break free from the chains either now.


    ''It actually worked!'' Lin Mu was very excited in his heart. ''Looks like Calming Heart Sutra reaching the third stage of Internal Resonance improved more than I thought. It even affects beings that aren''t exactly creatures. It is affecting weapon spirits too!''


    It was a new discovery that Lin Mu wished to explore further upon. He wanted to know the limits of it, as well as potential applications. But for now, he had a task to focus on first.


    "Now that you''ve calmed down¡­ Can you tell us the reason why you attacked me?" Lin Mu asked the sh Cleave Axe.


    "I¡­ Need my master." The sh Cleave Axe spoke in a calmer tone.


    While there was still distrust in its voice, Lin Mu could tell that it wouldn''t grow violent abruptly.


    "Yes, I understand that. But why attack me? I didn''t do anything." Lin Mu replied to the Peak Grade Immortal Weapon, trying to show a non-hostile demeanor.


    This helped the weapon calm down further and improved Lin Mu''s chances of a positive oue.


    "My master¡­ I can sense their traces on you¡­ you''ve hidden them." The sh Cleave Axe revealed, confusing everyone.


    "I''ve hidden your master? I certainly haven''t." Lin Mu denied it.


    "Yeah, how is that possible?" Head Elder Dajian questioned.


    "Look, there is no one else besides us. And there isn''t a ce to hide anyone, either." Head Elder Heng gestured with his hands.


    And it was true.


    While the Forge was very big, it actually didn''t have any walls. As such, the number of ces left to hide was very few. Unless someone jumped inside a furnace to hide, there wasn''t any way to stay hidden.


    ~humm~


    The sh Cleave Axe went silent and seemed to be taking a look around itself too. After a few seconds, it reached the same conclusion.


    "Then¡­ Where is my master?" The sh Cleave Axe said with a mix of emotions.


    It was both lost and distraught.


    It was a bit astounding how much emotion a weapon was able to convey. Even if it had only been born very recently, it had surprising emotional capability. From its voice, one could tell that it was really sad about not being able to see its master.


    However, the question about how or why it could tell it had a master was still unanswered.


    "Hmm, you said you can sense the traces of your master on me, right? Then can you describe them to us? Perhaps it was someone I met that you are perceiving." Lin Mu asked next, hoping to get a better response from the weapon.


    "Yes, that could be the case." Head Elder Heng agreed.

 Chapter 1944 Who Is The Master?

    <h4>Chapter 1944 Who Is The Master?</h4>


    With how many people Lin Mu had met in the Serene ss Valley and hade in contact with, it wouldn''t be surprising if the trace that the sh Cleave Axe was detecting was from them.


    ''I also did soak in the Hot Springs¡­ It would make sense if the person the sh Cleave Axe deems as the master was present there too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Even if he was in the private section, the water source was the same, not to mention it would continue to circte which could very easily transfer the traces to other people.


    Lin Mu even thought further about it and realized that there was a w in this.


    ''Wouldn''t this apply to others too then? The sh Cleave Axe would have thought someone else was hiding its master too.'' Lin Mu thought before going over all those that were present here.


    Hepared them with the energy signature of the Hot Springs.


    With the five elemental immortal Qi present in the Hot Springs, it would be very easy to spot it on others. Especially with someone like Lin Mu''s sensitivity.


    ''Hmm, it''s none of the others that were here. Which means it is someone else from the valley.'' Lin Mu figured it out.


    But the true answer would only be obtained when the sh Cleave Axe exined more to them.


    "My master''s traces are¡­ Bright¡­ Vibrant¡­ and strong." The sh Cleave Axe described. N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    "Bright, Vibrant, and strong?" Lin Mu muttered, trying to think about how it could link.


    "So it is someone with an affinity to the Light Dao." Head Elder Heng guessed.


    "No." But much to their surprise, the sh Cleave Axe denied. "They are much better than that!" it added.


    "Don''t have an affinity with the Light Dao and are still better?" The Head Elder was lost.


    Head Elder Dajian also tried to think about it and went to the next possible option.


    "Then do they have an affinity with the Axe Dao or have Axe Intent?" he questioned.


    "They don''t have that either." The sh Cleave Axe answered, confusing them further.


    "Neither Light Dao nor Axe Dao¡­ A Peak Grade immortal weapon choosing a master that has neither of those? It may as well be Daoist Mu Lin." Head Elder Heng said feeling confused. "Are you sure he isn''t your master?" he asked again.


    "He has the traces of my master, but he isn''t my master." The sh Cleave Axe rejected.


    "Why would you pick a master that has no affinity with the Dao and the elements that you have?" Head Elder Dajian asked, wanting to resolve the doubts in his mind.


    "Because they are much stronger than that." The sh Cleave Axe replied in short.


    "Much Stronger than that? Do you mean they canmand a Dao superior to the Light Dao?" Head Elder Dajian asked, finding it unlikely.


    "Yes!" This time, they got a positive response from the weapon.


    But it also made the two head elders even more lost.


    "For a Dao to be superior to the Light Dao, it cannot be the other three Heavenly Elements." Head Elder Heng analyzed. "It can only be something above that¡­ A Primordial Element Dao?"


    "Could it be?" Head Elder Dajian thought it was a far shot. "There is no junior or elder, in the entire Serene ss Valley that has an affinity with any of the three primordial elements. If there were, we would have known a long time ago." He said with surety.


    Lin Mu who heard all this, had a wry smile on his face. The elders didn''t see this, as they were focused on talking to each other and didn''t know his thoughts either.


    ''I have a primordial element, but the Axe doesn''t mean that either. It''s definitely not the space element.'' Lin Mu said in his mind.


    He continued to think and formted another question.


    "This master of yours¡­ would they be able to wield you to your full potential?" Lin Mu asked after thinking for a couple of minutes.


    "Undoubtedly." The sh Cleave Axe answered with full confidence.


    "Hmm¡­ doesn''t have the light element nor the Axe Dao and yet would be able to use it to its full potential." Lin Mu racked his brain more trying to solve the mystery.


    Ten minutes went by, as the elders continued to discuss the matter.


    To them, this was important as it was within both their fields of expertise. It was the same as giving a mathematician a new problem. They wouldn''t stop until they found a solution to it.


    "Wait¡­ what if the Axe Dao isn''t a factor¡­ They don''t need to know the Axe Dao now; they can learn itter on. It''ll be fast with a peak grade immortal weapon too!" Lin Mu suddenly said out loud. "Instead, what we need to focus on is the Light Dao¡­ for a Dao to be superior to it, it doesn''t necessarily have to be from the three primordial elements!" His words brought the two elders out of their discussion.


    "A Dao that is rted to the Light Dao perhaps¡­ A derivative?" Head Elder Dajian said after hearing Lin Mu''s words.


    "No¡­ it doesn''t have to be a derivative of the Light Dao¡­ what if the Light Dao IS the derivative!" Head Elder Heng, though, was closer to the answer.


    "Indeed¡­ It is a Dao Superior to the Light Dao¡­ It is the Yang Dao!" Lin Mu revealed.


    "Of course! How did we miss that!?" Head Elder Dajian said as the realization struck him.


    "Lightes from Yang after all. If someone has an affinity to the Yang Dao, they would definitely be capable of using Light Dao too." Head Elder Heng said, a look of understanding on his face.


    Now that the two head elders had learned this, they thought of who could be the person that the Axe was deeming as its master.


    "But wait¡­ Do we know someone that has an affinity to the Yang Dao?" Head Elder Dajian asked.


    "No, we don''t." Head Elder Heng shook his head.


    "But I do." Lin Mu stated.

 Chapter 1945 Master Of The Flash Cleave Axe

    Lin Mu''s words made the two Head elders look at him in surprise.


    ''Did he find someone in the Serene ss Valley that we didn''t know about?'' Head Elder Heng wondered.


    ''Sometimes the affinity to higher Dao''s like the Yang Dao is only developedter, and as such cannot be detected early on¡­ Did he¡­ Manage to find someone like that here?'' Head Elder Dajian thought to himself.


    Whatever the option might be, the two were certainly very interested in finding out who that was.


    After all, the number of experts who had an affinity to aplex Dao like the Yang Dao was very rare. Others could benefit from observing and learning from such individuals, as such, if there was someone like this in the Serene ss Valley, it would be a collective boost for all of them.


    But what they didn''t know was that Lin Mu wasn''t referring to someone from the Serene ss Valley at all.


    "Who is the person, Daoist Mu Lin?" Head Elder Heng questioned. "Who has the affinity with the Yang Dao that the sh Cleave Axe thinks of as its master?"


    "It actually isn''t a person at all." Lin Mu replied, much to their confusion. "This was also why it was hard for me to figure out. Or rather, hard for us to understand what the sh Cleave Axe was referring to." He added.


    "What do you mean?" Head Elder Dajian furrowed his brows.


    "Before I can tell you, I must ask you to keep it limited to the three of us for now." Lin Mu stated. N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    Head Elder Dajian pursed his lips but understood that there must be more to it.


    "I swear upon my honor as the head Elder of the Shuijing n, this information will not go beyond these four walls." Head Elder Heng though readily replied.


    He had spent enough time with Lin Mu to know what kind of person he was. Besides, he understood that if Lin Mu was being cautious; it was probably something that could be problematic to the Serene ss Valley if it was revealed to others.


    "I swear too." Head Elder Dajian said, seeing that his counterpart had done the same. "I at least owe this much, considering it was our creation that attacked you." He apologized for it.


    Seeing that both the Head Elders had agreed to his request, Lin Mu decided to show them.


    "Xiao Yang,e out." Lin Mu spoke, making the two head elders raise their brows.


    The two watched on as a white sh appeared on Lin Mu''s hand. It suddenly elongated and turned into a long rope like object.


    ~HISS~


    A secondter, it became clear and they finally realized what it was.


    "A Snake?" The two head elders muttered in surprise.


    "MASTER!" The sh Cleave Axe eximed as soon as it saw Xiao Yang. "That''s my master! Master, take me!" it shouted.


    The two elders looked at the Axe and then at the small snake that was wrapped around Lin Mu''s hand.


    The snake had white scales, that looked beautiful, along with a ck spot that was on its head. The two couldn''t recognize what kind of snake it was, they only understood that this was a tamed beast.


    "I heard that Daoist Mu Lin had a tamed beast, but didn''t know he had another one." Head Elder Heng said, seeing the snake that was gazing at the Axe.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    The sh Cleave Axe had gotten restless now and pulled against its restraints.


    "Release me! My master is here!" It shouted.


    "It really is the snake?" Head Elder Dajian was stunned.


    As a Weapon Forger, it was an unusual thing for him. While he knew Immortal beasts could use weapons too, it was usually the masters of the tamed beasts that gave them these weapons. And it definitely wasn''t something like a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon with sentience.


    They would usually give some weapons that could help the beasts inbat. Or it was an armor that also had offensive capabilities.


    Head Elder Dajian had heard rumors of some beasts using weapons just like humans, but he hadn''t experienced it personally.


    Not to mention, the weapon didn''t even seem physicallypatible with the beast in the usual sense. The sh Cleave Axe thought of the snake as its master which had no limbs to speak of. Even if it used its immortal sense to use it, that would still limit the true power of the immortal weapon.


    Any peak grade immortal weapon would never take on a master that couldn''t use them to their full potential. As such, it seemed a bit contradictory to him. But he kept his thoughts to himself and waited to learn more first.


    After all, the sh Cleave Axe was showing a very strong reaction to this.


    "You can release the sh Cleave Axe. I think it''ll be fine now." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Very well." Head Elder Heng obliged and controlled the formations to release the rune chains.


    ~SHUA~


    Head Elder Dajian did the same and dispelled the prism as well.


    ~SHING~


    As soon as the restraints were lifted, the sh Cleave Axe''s power returned. The two Head elders showed nervous expressions seeing that it was using its power, but soon calmed down once they saw the Axe staying stable.


    "Go, Xiao Yang." Lin Mu spoke. "It wants you to be its master."


    "Master? Axe?" Xiao Yang spoke, which could only be understood by Lin Mu.


    "Yes. See if it''s a fit for you." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay." Xiao Yang said before flying towards the Axe.


    ~HUMM~


    The two Head Elders and Lin Mu watched as Xiao Yang touched the handle of the sh Cleave Axe with his tail. He wrapped it around the handle and gripped it with ease. However, the size disparity looked a bit awkward, as Xiao Yang wasn''t that much bigger than the sh Cleave Axe.


    "Finally¡­" The sh Cleave Axe uttered in a satisfactory tone before a thread of energy rose from it.


    It connected with Xiao Yang, confirming their bond.

 Chapter 1946 Testing The Axe

    "It really worked." Head Elder Dajian muttered seeing a new thing.


    A few seconds after the bond was formed, the sh Cleave Axe calmed down and no longer spoke. Since it had found its master, it only needed to do whatever its mastermanded. There was no need for it to speak anymore.


    "How is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    ~WOONG~


    Xiao Yang instinctively understood abilities of the sh Cleave Axe and injected his immortal Qi into it.


    The sh Cleave Axe glowed at that moment, before Xiao Yang swung it in the air with ease.


    ~FLASH~


    A blinding sh of light was seen, before an arc of energy shot out from the Axe. It cut through air and reached the walls of the forge where it was stopped by the barriers.


    ~BOOM~


    The barrier sustained damage and was almost cracked from the impact.


    "Such power¡­" The two head elders were surprised.


    They had seen the amount of Immortal Qi used by Xiao Yang and it wasn''t much. At the very least, it shouldn''t have had such an effect. After all, the barrier of the forge was very strong. And while only one of theyers was affected, it wasn''t an easy thing to do still.


    "Careful, Xiao Yang. Don''t damage the ce." Lin Mu said with concern.


    "It''s fine." Head Elder Heng spoke.


    "Yes, the ce won''t be damaged." Head Elder Dajian replied. "Actually, we would like to see more." He added after a moment.


    "More?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Yes, more." Head Elder Dajian nodded.


    "We have yet to see the full capabilities of the sh Cleave Axe. As its creators, we wish to know how it works. We have to record it too, for learning further from it." Head Elder Heng exined.


    "That does make sense." Lin Mu nodded his head. "If you say so, we can go ahead. But¡­ it''ll be best if you activate the full defenses of the forge. Just in case." He advised.


    "We''ll do it sure." Head Elder Dajian saw no fault in that.


    "Activating all barriers." Head Elder Heng controlled the formations and diverted the power to the defensive formation array.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Multiple barriers became visible and their power was further increased. Before this, the power of the formations was distributed half into defense and half into offense since the sh Cleave Axe was a threat. But now all of it was being focused on defense.


    Lin Mu briefly scanned the fomentation arrays with his Immortal sense and judged them to be more than enough.


    ''It would take me a few days to break through these too.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''At least with just raw strength. I should still be able to bypass it through other means though.'' He thought.


    "Should I go attack?" Xiao Yang asked after a bit.


    "Yes, go on. Show us the power of the sh Cleave Axe." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay~" Xiao Yang replied with a hiss and raised the sh Cleave Axe.


    Strings of white energy rose from Xiao Yang''s body and entered the sh Cleave Axe, causing all the runes on it to shine.


    ~HUMM~


    This time, Xiao Yang was properly using his power which stunned the two Head Elders.


    "Is that¡­ Yang Immortal Qi?" Head Elder Dajian muttered in surprise.


    "It is!" Head Elder Heng said with confidence.


    He had the opportunity to witness Yang Immortal Qi before and as such identified it to be exactly that. Of course, the Yang Immortal Qi that he had seen in the past hadn''te from a cultivator, but rather a treasure that was used to store it.


    As such there were some differences, but the basic properties were the same.


    "The snake can really use Yang Immortal Qi¡­ it has an affinity to the Yang Dao." Head Elder Dajian still found it unbelievable.


    It was almost a dream to see something like this for him.


    ~WOONG~


    While they were marveling at Xiao Yang, the snake had powered the sh Cleave Axe. He swung the glowing Axe, creating an arc of light that shot towards the barriers.


    ~BOOM~


    Another explosion was heard, as the barrier bent from the impact.


    "It actually managed the bend it even now?" Head Elder Heng was astounded. "Even if greater power was used, we had also improved the defensive power of the barriers."


    Since the sh Cleave Axe was their creation, the two head elders knew how far its power could go. What they were seeing was different from their initial calctions.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    They continued to watch, as Xiao Yang continued to attack the barrier, swinging the sh Cleave Axe again and again.


    Lin Mu who was observing it finally realized one of the functions of the sh Cleave Axe.


    ''So that''s what that formation was for¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    "Try attacking the barrier directly." It was now that Head Elder Dajian spoke. "The weapon skill of the sh Cleave Axe is activated by physical contact." He added.


    "Do as he said, Xiao Yang." Lin Mu ordered.


    "Okay~" Xiao Yang said before rushing towards the barrier.


    ~CLANG~


    The sh Cleave Axe made contact with the barrier, making a loud noise.


    ~CRACK~


    And then a momentter, the barrier was unable to endure it and cracked.


    ~DENG~


    The sh Cleave Axe cut through the first barrier and hit the second one behind it!


    "Do it again. The more you do, the greater the power will be." Head Elder Heng chimed in.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    Xiao Yang continued to strike the barriers, breaking them one after the other.


    The scene was rather strange and if the council of the Serene ss Valley saw this they would be baffled. The two Head Elders were willfully asking a beast to destroy their own property.


    Lin Mu who was observing it all, focused on the formations of the sh Cleave Axe and saw them work.


    The formations were intricate and had links that made them work together. The effects brought about by theirbination was entirely different than the original, as such Lin Mu was highly intrigued by it all.This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 1947 Flash Breaker

    Lin Mu''s understanding of the sh Cleave Axe and the Formations on it improved a lot after seeing it live in action.


    ''So that''s what the multiple strengthening formations were for¡­ they might not give a multiplicative boost, but whenbined with the ability of the sh Cleave Axe to stockpile the energy upon use, and on impact, it can continue to gather power.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    ~BOOM~


    After a hundred swings, the sh Cleave Axe underwent a change.


    ~HUALA~


    Its size suddenly grew, as a solid light construct formed around it. It grew the size of the sh Cleave Axe by over eight times, and made it over fifteen meters long!


    "There it is!" Head Elder Dajian eximed.


    "Ahahah! It works! It works!" Head Elder Heng jumped with joy.


    They were finally getting to see the fruit of their hard work, and as such, they were rather happy. N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    And as they watched the Axe, it finally showed its power.


    Xiao Yang swung the giant solid light Axe, and struck the barriers, shattering twenty of them in one go!


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~ BOOM~


    Doing something like this would be very difficult normally, and yet a single swing of the sh Cleave Axe was enough when its weapon skill was used.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The formation arrays of the forge started to move, trying to repair the damage frantically. About fifty of the barriers had been broken at this moment, with some of them having recovered.


    "That''s enough." Lin Mu spoke, thinking that it wouldn''t be good to cause any more damage.


    ~Humm~


    The sh Cleave Axe calmed down and Xiao Yang stopped channeling his Immortal Qi into the weapon.


    "I like it." Xiao Yang spoke, his voice bursting with excitement.


    "Mmhmm, it does work well with you." Now that Lin Mu had seen it first hand, the power of the sh Cleave Axe was certainly worth its rank.


    ~p~p~p~


    "Amazing!" The Head Elders praised.


    The two Head Elders pped their hands, feeling impressed by both their creation as well as its new master. Even if it were a beast, they didn''t think any less of it. In fact, they felt a bit scared of the snake.


    ''To have such power in a form as small as that¡­ It is certainly an immortal beast but I cannot sense its cultivation base.'' Head Elder Dajian thought as he gazed at Xiao Yang.


    The same was the case for Head Elder Heng, as he too didn''t know what was the cultivation base of the snake.


    "What is the name of the Weapon Skill of the sh Cleave Axe?" Lin Mu asked as he knew it was something they had created newly.


    The arrangement andbination of the formation arrays was entirely new, as such, it was up to the creators of the weapon to name it.


    Even the sh Cleave Axe wouldn''t decide on this. It might be able to pick out its name, but the weapon skill came through the work of the formation master who worked on it along with the Weapon forger.


    "The Weapon Skill shall be called, sh Breaker." Head Elder Heng stated while Head Elder Dajian simply nodded in approval.


    It was clear that the two had decided on the name a long time ago. This was understandable, as making a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon took a lot of nning and preparation. There was a high chance the blueprint for the Axe as well as the formations used in it were written hundreds of years ago.


    And since then, the two head elders have just been practicing in order to be able to achieve their goal.


    "sh Breaker¡­ it is a suitable name." Lin Mu nodded his head in agreement.


    After their ancestor who had created the Tearing ss ws, the two head elders were the second people in the Serene ss Valley to have obtained the achievement of creating a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon.


    It was a great thing, and would soon be known across the entire Rust Sky World.


    The creation of a new Peak Grade Weapon was more than enough for all the powers in the world to pay attention to it. This basically meant that the power of that organization had increased further which would change the bnce of powers.


    If not for the fact that the Continents were united under the three empires, it would have been enough for a war to start.


    For an aplishment like this, the Imperial Family would also reward the Serene ss Valley.


    Of course, the question of who would own the Peak Grade Immortal weapon was already answered. There was no way they could give it to anyone else now.


    Or rather, even if they wanted to, they had no option. The sh Cleave Axe had already picked its master and getting it to change its mind was impossible.


    Lin Mu also knew this and decided to talk about it.


    "Head Elders¡­ about the payment of the sh Cleave Axe¡­" Lin Mu spoke. "Since it has already taken Xiao Yang as its master, I think I am obligated to pay its cost. How much would it be?" He asked.


    "A cost for the sh Cleave Axe?" The two Head elders were stumped too.


    Honestly, they had no idea what they would be charging for it.


    They didn''t know if they would be seeding or not, as such they hadn''t thought this far ahead. Not to mention, how were they to know that the sh Cleave Axe would pick a master right away after being created?


    "If we went through the usual proceedings, there would first be an announcement and then the Imperial Court would give an offer. We of course also have the chance of keeping it to ourselves, but that is not the option here." Head Elder Dajian exined.


    "If you could quote me a price, I can pay you for it." Lin Mu stated. "How about a Million High Grade Immortal stones?" He offered.


    "A million High Grade immortal stones?" Head elder Heng repeated.

 Chapter 1948 Payment For The Axe

    Seeing that the Head Elder hadn''t given a clear response, Lin Mu thought that his offer was not enough. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "How about more?" Lin Mu had no idea how much the cost of something like this would be. "Twice that?" He asked.


    It was hard to put a price tag on a Peak Grade immortal weapon as their functions and abilities could greatly vary. It also depends on the cultivator who was taking the weapon, whether it fit them or not.


    As such the price could increase further.


    In the current case, thepatibility between the sh Cleave Axe and Xiao Yang was perfect, which would mean the price would be on the higher side. Not to mention, they had already witnessed the power of the weapon.


    It was certainly high and in the hands of a stronger expert, it would only grow further.


    "Wait!" Head Elder Heng interrupted Lin Mu. "We cannot exactly determine the cost, not just because it would originally be auctioned but also because you also have a hand in its creation." He spoke.


    "I do?" Lin Mu raised his brows in doubt.


    "Of course. Without your insight into the Formation Dao Embryo''s application, I would have never been able to make the sh Cleave Axe." Head Elder Heng stated while Head Elder Dajian nodded.


    "Then I can at least pay the cost of the materials." Lin Mu offered next.


    "That isn''t needed either. We didn''t exactly use anything that''s too valuable for us." Head Elder Dajian shook his head.


    Lin Mu thought over it and realized that the elder was right. The creation of the sh Cleave Axe basically involved two main materials, the Sap of the Snow ss Pear Tree and a branch from Elder Pear himself. Both of these materials would be considered rare elsewhere, but for the Serene ss Valley, they were considered renewable.


    And with how long the power had been in existence, they had plenty of resources stashed away.


    In fact, they were lucky that they only needed one set of materials in order to make the sh Cleave Axe. They had prepared several more, just in case a mistake happened and the original set became unusable.


    This was rathermon in the manufacture of the Immortal Weapons, especially ones that were new and hadn''t been made before. It was one of the basic requirements that one prepared multiple sets of materials in order to be able to reattempt the creation of the weapon.


    The two Head Elders seeding in one go basically meant that they had great luck as well as skill in being able to do it. They were fully prepared to fail a few times and repeat until they seeded. But much to their surprise, their very first attempt had worked out.


    "Hmm¡­ I can''t just take this from you without payment." Lin Mu still didn''t find it eptable.


    "Then how about this." Head Elder Heng had an idea. "Could you leave a Yang Dao and Yang Immortal Qi signature here?" He asked after looking at Xiao Yang.


    "It should be possible." Lin Mu thought about it.


    "Yeah, it would be much more valuable to us. None of us can use the Yang Dao, and Yang Immortal Qi isn''t easy toe across even if we buy treasures that contains them. This greatly reduces our methods of teaching the juniors about it as well as including them in the various projects." Head Elder Dajian exined.


    "If you could leave both of them, the juniors of the Serene ss Valley would have a much easier time learning about them and would at least be able to apply them in their future creations if they were ever using such materials." Head Elder Heng added.


    After hearing the justification of the two head elders, Lin Mu thought that it was a reasonable offer.


    "What do you say Xiao Yang? Can you do it?" Lin Mu asked the snake first.


    "Yes!" Xiao Yang nodded.


    "Alright, let''s get it done then." Lin Mu replied before looking at the two old men. "How would we be leaving a signature though?" He inquired.


    "I got just the thing for it." Head Elder Dajian said before taking out a palm sized prism. "You can use this to store a Yang Dao signature. While it can''t be used for anything else, it is still good for one to get a sense of what Yang Dao is like." He exined.


    "And for Yang Immortal Qi, this will work." Head Elder Heng took out a simple crystal.


    It looked simr to an Immortal stone, but had fine inscriptions on it. It was also much bigger than most Immortal stones which were usually kept to a standard size.


    "Alright, let''s start with the Yang Dao Signature first." Lin Mu said and took the prism from Head Elder Dajian. "Here you go Xiao Yang."


    ~hiss~


    Xiao Yang touched the prism with his head and held it like that for a minute. A small spec of light appeared in the center of the prism before growing in size. A minuteter it had turned into a shining white rune that read ''Yang''.


    This was the Yang Dao signature!


    "Marvelous¡­ I''ve never seen a Dao Signature like this before." Head Elder Dajian watched it with an enthralled gaze.


    "Now for the Yang Immortal Qi." Lin Mu passed on the prism and took the crystal.


    This time, Xiao Yang opened his mouth and breathed out a mass of energy.


    It looked like white vapor, which then flew towards the crystal and was quickly absorbed by it. And when it was fully absorbed the color of the crystal turned into a warm white color.


    In a way, it had be an Immortal Stone that contained Yang immortal Qi. Though its capacity wasn''t much and one wouldn''t really be able to absorb from it unless they had an affinity to the Yang element too.


    With that, both of the Head Elders were satisfied and quickly stored the two objects away. They were treasures to them now.

 Chapter 1949 A Spatial Tool For Xiao Yang

    Now that the two Head Elders were satisfied with the payment, the sh Cleave Axe officially belonged to Xiao Yang.


    "We''ll be able to explore further with these. There''s even a chance we''ll be able to improve upon the Peak Grade Immortal weapons of the future." Head Elder Heng spoke.


    "I hope that you all have great progress." Lin Mu replied.


    It was at this time, that Head Elder Dajian had a thought while looking at Xiao Yang.


    "Do you know how Xiao Yang is going to keep the sh Cleave Axe though?" Head Elder Dajian asked. "Since it is bound to him, you won''t be able to keep it in your own Spatial Storage." He added.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu realized that he had missed this.


    "Oh yeah¡­ he won''t be able to keep it with him otherwise." Lin Mu understood. "Xiao Yang will need a Spatial storage tool too." He spoke.


    Little Shrubby had his own Spatial Storage tool too, which he used to keep all the ingredients as well as any tools he might need for cooking. For him, Lin Mu had simply modified a belt spatial storage tool to be used as a cor.


    Most of the time, it couldn''t even be seen as it was buried under Little Shrubby''s thick fur.


    "If you don''t have one, I think we can give you one." Head Elder Dajian offered. "Though I''ll have to check if we have one that can fit Xiao Yang."


    Lin Mu nodded his head, knowing that most Spatial Storage tools might not be suitable for the snake due to his body. He didn''t have any limbs or fingers, which made it hard to wear most of themon Spatial Storage tools. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "I would be grateful if you can give us one. It doesn''t have to be of a high quality, just enough to store the sh Cleave Axe." Lin Mu replied. "I intend to make a Spatial Storage tool for themter on anyways." He added.


    Since Lin Mu wanted to make a personal one, Head Elder Dajian didn''t mind.


    "Come on, I''ll bring you to the Immortal tool pavilion." Head Elder Dajian spoke.


    "And I''ll go settle things with the juniors. They don''t know we''ve solved the problem and might still be rmed." Head Elder Heng added.


    ~shua~


    Head Elder Heng lifted the lock down on the forge and reverted the formation arrays to their normal state.


    "Yeah, that is necessary." Head Elder Dajian agreed. "I''ll take Daoist Mu Lin then."


    "Alright." Lin Mu agreed and left the forge with the elder.


    Upon exiting, Lin Mu saw that the surroundings were all empty. The people who had been here had all retreated, likely due to the lock down that the Forge was put under.


    ~hiss~


    Xiao Yang flew alongside them while holding onto the sh Cleave Axe. Right now they didn''t exactly have a way to put it away, so the snake had to carry it along. Though for him, the weight wasn''t much, plus he got to see a new location.


    He looked around in interest, finding everything rather novel.


    Head Elder Dajian noticed this too, finding the snake rather different.


    "Daoist Mu Lin¡­ May I ask what kind of beast is Xiao Yang?" He questioned feeling curious.


    He had tried to go over the beasts that he knew in his mind but couldn''t identify him. Even if the Head Elder might not be an expert on beasts, it didn''t mean that he didn''t know them. Plus being a weapon forger meant that he had to be familiar with all kinds of materials and their sources, many of which came from beasts.


    And yet, his thousands of years of experience were not enough for him to tell what kind of snake Xiao Yang was.


    ''A snake beast that can use the Yang Dao¡­ I can''t remember any.'' He thought to himself.


    "He''s a mutant hybrid." Lin Mu replied. "Xiao Yang was born from the union between a Fire Fang Snake and a ck Water snake." He stated the truth.


    "Oh?" this time the Head Elder recognized the names. "But aren''t those spirit beasts? Xiao Yang is¡­ far stronger than that." He felt confused.


    "There were special circumstances to his birth. And the mother snake had also consumed some powerful resources which led to this." Lin Mu exined enough without giving away too much. "Basically he is a miracle."


    "I see¡­ It can be said your fortune is really good." Head Elder Dajian couldn''t help but say.


    "Indeed. I consider it a blessing to be with them." Lin Mu said while rubbing the head of Xiao Yang who closed his eyes in enjoyment.


    "You certainly are a person of many talents. A strong cultivator, and formation master, along with having insights in weapon forging, and you''re even a Beast Tamer." Head Elder Dajian praised while a strange look appeared on his face.


    Lin Mu didn''t notice it at first, but then he heard the Head Elder speak again.


    "Say¡­ Do you wish to take a wife¡­ or wives any time soon?" Head Elder Dajian threw a bomb.


    ~cough~


    "Ahem, um sorry?" Lin Mu was taken aback, almost stumbling.


    "For someone of your talents, you should have many suitors. Why not have a few wives and a hundred children?" Head Elder Dajian asked.


    "Uhhh¡­" Lin Mu didn''t know how to answer that.


    Seeing the speechless youth, Head Elder Dajian''s grandfather brain ran fast.


    "Why not have a wife from our Serene ss Valley? I''m sure we can find you a suitable match." Head Elder Dajian suddenly offered. "I have fifty nine great grand Daughters and eighteen Granddaughters that are unmarried and should be your match." He said with a wide toothy smile.


    Lin Mu felt his mind going nk without even chanting the Severing Heart Sutra.


    "Head Elder!" Thankfully, the silence was interrupted by another person. "You''re back!"


    Lin Mu saw that it was a member of the Chang''an n.


    "We have a guest that I need to show the Immortal Tool Pavilion to." Head Elder Dajian stated.

 Chapter 1950 Shameless Oldies

    Lin Mu felt incredibly grateful to the person who had met them at the entrance of the Immortal Tool Pavilion. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Huuu~ that was¡­ more stressful than the tournament¡­'' Lin Mu thought inwardly.


    He hadn''t expected that the old man would suddenly be offering something like this. It wasn''t the first time Lin Mu was experiencing this, but the Head Elder was utterly shameless with the offer.


    "What do you expect from the Head Elder of a n? Haha, it is normal for oldies like him to think of his n and to add suitable seedlings to grow it." Xukongughed at Lin Mu''s situation.


    "Senior¡­" Lin Mu could only smile wryly.


    Xukong never left a chance to tease him about this. He would evene out of his cultivation just to say this.


    All this time, he had been silent and only now did he announce his presence.


    ''If Head Elder Dajian is an oldie, then doesn''t that mean Senior Xukong is the same too?'' Lin Mu thought.


    "I heard that," Xukong said in a in tone making Lin Mu gulp.


    "Just a stray thought." Lin Mu said and went silent.


    "Though¡­ he isn''t wrong you know?" Xukong continued.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "The world of cultivation is harsh and filled with solitude. This can often lead to bad oues and one can develop heart demons. Having a fewpanions and family is important and can help one keep their hearts stable." Xukong exined.


    "Besides, it isn''t unusual for most cultivators to have hundreds if not thousands of descendants. Many even consider it better to spread your children around many worlds so that your bloodline has the best chance to survive.


    After all, one of themon threats one could get from an enemy is the extermination of one''s bloodline. While hopefully never happen, it is best to have backup options." Xukong gave a perspective of the Jianghu.


    Lin Mu listened to it silently and thought about it.


    "Even if you don''t marry someone. I think there will be more than enough ns willing to give you their women as concubines. Leaving a few heirs here and there is normal." Xukong continued further.


    "Uh¡­ I think I''ll wait until I''m older." Lin Mu decided to stop the senior there.


    He was now sure that Xukong was like Head Elder Dajian too and would ask him to have offspring as well.


    "I''m sure the women Head Elder Dajian is offering are all still older than me." Lin Mu replied. "I''ll wait a hundred years or so first." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ you are twenty eight, so I guess you do have time," Xukong replied, surprising Lin Mu a bit.


    "Twenty eight? Aren''t I twenty seven?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "I still have two months or so to go."


    "I guess the difference in time made you lose track. You turned Twenty Eightst week." Xukong rified.


    "I didn''t¡­ realize." Lin Mu was very surprised.


    "Get used to it. As you travel to different worlds and realms, the time discrepancy will make things even worse. After all, different worlds have different lengths of days and years.


    A year in some worlds is centuries in others. Most cultivators even ignore counting individual years after a while. At the most, they count their age in centuries." Xukong stated, showing Lin Mu another aspect of being a cultivator.


    This was something he should have normally learned on his own, but because of how fast he had progressed to the Immortal realm, Lin Mu hadn''t had the chance to experience it. And since he didn''t experience it, he didn''te to a realization on his own either.


    "Here we are." The Chang''an n member who was guarding the Immortal Pavilion finally brought them to its front.


    "I can take it from here," head Elder Dajian spoke.


    "Of course, Head Elder." The junior cupped his hand and took his leave.


    Normally he was supposed to register the names of those who arrived and supervise them. But who was he to do that when the Head Elder himself was here.


    There was no need for him to do that, as it would just be overstepping his duties.


    "Come, we have to go to the sixth floor." Head Elder Dajian said and entered the pavilion.


    The pavilion was about three hundred meters wide and equally as long. It had ten floors, at the top of which Lin Mu saw arge signboard of the Chang''an n.


    The pavilion was located at a rocky outcrop at the side of the peak, and as such could be seen from afar. Thus the sign board stood out, allowing everyone to know who this ce belonged to.


    Upon entering, Lin Mu saw a mostly empty hall.


    There was arge desk in the center, along with a long register on it. But other than that, there was nothing else in this hall.


    ~shua~


    Head Elder Dajian waved his finger at the register, causing it to automatically flip open. The brush that was kept next to it also flew up, and started writing on the register.


    "We can go up now." Head Elder said, having skipped most of the formalities with one flick of his finger.


    ''Guess being the Head Elder doese with a lot of privileges.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The two went to the second floor, where Lin Mu saw tools that were barely considered Immortal tools. Or rather, they could be considered defective products that were likely made by the juniors of the n.


    On the third floor, Lin Mu saw Low Grade Immortal tools, that left much to be desired. The fourth floor finally had proper low grade Immortal tools, while the fifth floor also had Low Grade Immortal tools but of better quality.


    Then they finally reached their destination which was the sixth floor which contained Mid Grade Immortal tools.


    "Here we are." Head Elder Dajian said before essing the formations on this floor. "Give me a moment to find something suitable, after which we can talk about your marriage prospects" He added, unnerving Lin Mu once more.

 Chapter 1951 Spatial Storage Gemstone And Chang’an Clan

    <h4>Chapter 1951 Spatial Storage Gemstone And Chang''an n</h4>


    The relief that Lin Mu had felt a minute ago was nowhere to be found once he heard the words of the Head Elder.


    It was clear that the old man was not going to give up on getting him setting him up just now.


    ''Guess I''ll have to talk to him after this¡­ Though convincing old people isn''t easy.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. He watched as the Head Elder continued his search for a suitable Spatial Storage tool. Lin Mu looked around as well, observing the thousands of Immortal tools that were kept on the floor.


    The Sixth Floor of the Immortal Tool Pavilion had a Mid Grade Immortal tools here and as such the Spatial Storage tools here should be of a decent quality too. ''There''s over three hundred of them too¡­'' Unlike the Head Elder, Lin Mu didn''t need the formation array to tell how many or what Spatial storage tools were here.


    A single look from with Spatial perception was enough for him to identify each and every spatial tool that was located in the hall along with their capacities.


    ''Hmm, though finding one that ispatible with beasts isn''t as easy.'' Lin Mu realized as the individual formations on each of the spatial storage tools varied greatly. ''Though I supposed I can determine them ording to the physical on each of the spatial storage tools varied greatly. ''Though I supposed I can determine them ording to the physicalpatibility.'' He reckoned.


    Lin Mu ignored the bigger Spatial Storage tools like, pouches, bags, bracelet, and nes. This only left him with Spatial Storage rings, and a few unconventional ones that he found interesting.


    ''Huh¡­ a gemstone as a Spatial Storage tool?'' Lin Mu saw several of those kept in a show case. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    It was a rather strange choice as the gemstone was bare and wasn''t set in any ornament which was usually how they were kept. After all, in their current form, it was a bit inconvenient to use them. Losing them would also be easy as they wouldn''t be properly equipped. Just holding them wasn''t exactly and option either.


    ''Or perhaps these are for mass storage?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Multiple of these Spatial Storage Gemstones could fit in a small pouch, and would be big enough to carry a lot of goods at once. ''Hmm, it would certainly save on the materials and work needed to make a full sized ring or other such tool. Guess it does make sense for that.'' Lin Mu understood.


    "Ah! Here it is." Just as Lin Mu had finished checking the gemstones out, Head Elder Dajian seemed to have finished finding the right tool too.


    Much to Lin Mu''s surprise, the Head Elder walked to the same showcase that he had been watching and picked up one of the gemstones.


    It was a simple golden ga and had a smooth round surface.


    "This should bepatible for Xiao Yang. It is an forehead gem, that also functions as a Spatial Storage tool." Head Elder Dajian showed. "These are quite popr with the younger women and girls." He added.


    "Oh, now I see that." Lin Mu had almost forgotten that women too wore bare gemstones as decorations on their foreheads. He had seen several women wearing them but he hadn''t thought that they would be a Spatial Storage tools too.


    "Try it on." Head Elder Dajian picked up the gemstone from the small cushion it was kept on and handed it to Lin Mu. "Once he binds to it, the gemstone should automatically attach to him." He exined.


    "Here you go, Xiao Yang." Lin Mu let the snake link up with the gemstone.


    Since it was his first time using a Spatial Storage tool, it took a bit of practice but a couple minutester, Xiao Yang quickly managed to bind the gemstone to himself.


    ~shua~


    The gemstone flew up from Lin Mu''s hand and stuck onto Xiao Yang''s forehead. It attached right above the ck spot on his head.


    ~HUM~


    The gemstone faintly glowed and the sh Cleave Axe disappeared inside it.


    "It works!" Xiao Yang said with excitement.


    "Try bringing it out again." Lin Mu spoke. "Sense the sh Cleave Axe inside the gemstone and will it to appear." He instructed.


    ~shua~


    Xiao Yang felt the presence and quickly withdrew the sh Cleave Axe.


    "Perfect." Lin Mu said seeing that the beast had no difficulties in controlling the Spatial Storage Gem. "How much is this, Head elder?" he asked the old man.


    "You don''t have to pay for it. Consider it a gift from the Chang''an n." Head Elder Dajian said with a chuckle.


    "Ah, thank you." Lin Mu said while Xiao Yang also responded with a cordial hiss.


    "Now then, time to move onto the important matters." Head Elder Dajian said with a hint of excitement.


    Seeing his expression Lin Mu quickly understood what the man was meaning.


    ''Here we go¡­'' Lin Mu knew there was no escaping it easily.


    "Let''s go to the Main hall. We can talk there and I''ll also have some of my great granddaughters and granddaughters to meet you." Head Elder Dajian stated.


    "Uhh, about that¡­" Lin Mu wanted to stop the man but he was much more experienced in matters like this and did not let Lin Mu get in a word.


    "Plus, it is time for dinner anyways. You can join us of tonight. Head Elder Heng has hoarded you for quite a few days already." Head Elder Dajian spoke. "It is time for the Chang''an n to show you some hospitality." He added.


    ''I guess I may as well eat.'' Lin Mu wasn''t going to be one to deny a free meal.


    That was all it took for him to tolerate the old man''s offer. He could listen to him and simply reject at the end. It wasn''t like he could do anything without his permission anyways.


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied and went along the old man.


    A few minutester they were at the main hall of the Chang''an n. It was muchrger than the Shuijing n and had many more people sitting in it.


    ''I have a bad feeling about this¡­'' Lin Mu''s premonition turned out to be correct as the Head Elder didn''t just invite him for a dinner.


    With howrge the hall was, even a normal dinner turned into a full blow banquet. Later on Lin Mu learned that this was normal for the Chang''an n.


    They had a lot of people and often had dinner together. At the very least, it happened once a week, depending on whether the Head Elder was free or not. In the main hall, only the major members of the n were allowed to have dinner, but even then this number went beyond a thousand.


    It turned out that Head Elder Dajian had way too many family members than he had told Lin Mu. The great grand daughters and grand daughters that he had mentioned were only the single ones. There were many more that were already married and had descendants of their own.


    And this was just the female side. The male side was even bigger, with the Head Elder having about two hundred grandson and over five hundred great grandsons.


    And these great grandchildren had kids of their own too.


    Lin Mu was lucky that most of these descendent''s were not present in the hall and were spread around in the five peak of the Chang''an n. For the dinner, the Head elder had only invited the older members of the n and the women he wanted to set up with Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu tried to focus on the food which was really good, but would get interrupted by the women one by one. To avoid being rude, he had to make a few customary exchanges and managed to dodge at the start.


    Butter on the women became clingy too and wouldn''t leave. At this point, Lin Mu brought out his trump card. He called out Little Shrubby and let the women gush over him, letting him eat in peace.


    The women were busy cooing over Little Shrubby and were feeding him food, allowing him to enjoy as well.


    At the end, Lin Mu somehow managed to reject Head Elder Dajian and avoided getting set up.


    Head Elder Heng also arrived, ''rescuing'' him and whisking him away to safety.


    "Phew~ I didn''t think it would get this intense." Lin Mu said while rxing at the Eight Whorl peak.


    "The Chang''an n is one to focus on the growth of the n through numbers. There''s a reason why they''ve managed to be the head n in the Serene ss Valley." Head Elder Heng said while sipping the Pixie Leaf tea.


    "It does work though I suppose. With so many descendants, there is bound to be a few talented ones and even the sheer numbers are enough to strengthen the n." Lin Mu agreed.


    "Considering that the total number of members in the Chang''an n is already at over fifty thousand. Their power has certainly been solidified."

 Chapter 1952 Role Of Clans And Sects

    Lin Mu thought over Head Elder Heng''s words and realized that the method that the Chang''an n used was tried and tested.


    ''I suppose even in the Xiaofan World it was the same. Though the ns did not grow to this level, but I guess that was mostly due to the limitation of resources and lifespan.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    In an immortal world where the people could easily live for thousands of years, even with the most basic kind of cultivation talent and techniques meant that a n had a longer time to grow. More of their members would live and continue to reproduce, thereby increasing the power of a n or family.


    Of course, this also meant that the strain on resources would be higher. But it also provided a more stable and consistent method of growing the power. After all, the power of many often triumphed the power of a single human.


    ''And in the long term, a n with many members has a collectively higher chance of producing an extremely talented individual that can be the backbone for them all, taking them to a new height.'' Lin Mu felt a different kind of enlightenment today.


    It was an enlightenment on the existence of cultivation n. This was something very obvious, but until someone thought about it in depth, it would evade them. Most simply took their existence for granted and didn''t think much about them.


    But once thought about it further, they would realize the deep potential that was hidden behind the simple and mundane existence of a n. An existence somon, that it was seen almost everywhere in the universe.


    And as Lin Mu thought further about this topic, he understood more about the cultivation sects too.


    ''They are simr to the Cultivation ns where they aim to gain strength through numbers, but the sects focus more on nurturing talented individual regardless of where theye from. One doesn''t have to belong to the same n to join them, as such, there can be higher chances of talented people joining.


    Of course, this also means that they have lesser need to have loyalty. Blood runs deep and the loyalty to ones nes naturally to most.'' Lin Mu pondered deeply.


    He silently thought about it and Head Elder Heng didn''t disturb him either. The old man continued to sip on the Pixie leaf tea and enjoyed it.


    He also nced at Lin Mu from time to time, appropriating the thoughtfulness of the youth.


    ''For him to have such an inquisitive and knowledge oriented nature¡­ He either had a good upbringing or a teacher.'' Head Elder Heng thought to himself.


    The Head Elder had simr thoughts to Head Elder Dajian too, but he knew Lin Mu better having spent all the time with him. He knew that Lin Mu wasn''t one to settle this easily, and his curiosity would continue to make him explore.


    As such, he didn''t think about asking Lin Mu to meet some of the women from his n. Though if Lin Mu showed interest, he would not hesitate in doing the same.


    Or rather, he would be the most excited if something like that happened. Lin Mu was a great formation master who even had a formation Dao Embryo, and as such, he had a great value to the n.


    For the Shuijing n, Lin Mu would be the perfect fit for them and they would dly wee him.


    Even if it was the woman from the Shuijing n marrying outside into Lin Mu''s family, they wouldn''t mind it at all. After all, in the end they would still be rted.


    After a while of thinking, Lin Mu reckoned it was an important thing he would have to consider when he dealt with the others. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Are you going to leave soon?" Head Elder Heng asked seeing that Lin Mu hade out of his thoughts.


    "Yes." Lin Mu replied telling the truth.


    "Where are you headed?" Head Elder Heng questioned.


    "Not far actually." Lin Mu replied. "Can almost be considered next door." He added.


    "Evergreen Pirs Forest?" Head Elder Heng guessed.


    "Indeed. I''ll be cultivating there." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Well, if you need a ce to cultivate, I''m sure we can amodate you here in the Serene ss Valley." Head Elder Heng offered.


    "I''m grateful for the offer, but I have a specific reason as to why I am going to the Evergreen Pirs Forest." Lin Mu replied. "I am going there to cultivate a specific kind of cultivation technique along with practicing a couple of skills that are too destructive to be used here." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ is that so." Head Elder Heng wondered what kind of technique it might be that Lin Mu needed to practice it in the Evergreen Pirs Forest away from all others.


    But he didn''t question him further. After all, things like cultivation techniques were often very personal, and it was best not to ask about them unless one knew it was eptable.


    Since it was a new technique that Lin Mu was going to be cultivating, Head Elder Heng did not think it would be right.


    "Very well. If you need anything, know that you are always wee toe to the Serene ss Valley." The Head Elder stated.


    "I''ll keep that in mind, Head Elder." Lin Mu said. "I think I''ll head out in a couple days." He gave an estimate.


    "We should enjoy our time till then." Head Elder chuckled. "And don''t leave before meeting me, I''ll have few things for you." He added.


    "Alright." Lin Mu didn''t know what the Head Elder wanted to give him, but reckoned they might be some gifts.


    With that said, Lin Mu left for the library of the Shuijing n and went scouring for anything that he might have missed. While he had already consolidated a lot of information from the library, there was always a chance something might have been missed by it.


    As such, Lin Mu wanted to do some final checks before he left.

 Chapter 1953 Parting Gifts

    Lin Mu spent more than a day in the Library and indeed found a few new bits of information among the countless books.


    They were hidden among rather mundane books and would easily be ignored if one had not read several other books that would allow one to grasp at their value.


    The same was for Lin Mu, as it was information that would only make sense if one had read many other books and documents.


    The information in question was actually about something Lin Mu had acquired not long ago: Star Shards.


    ''Looks like there have been others that encountered star shards but did not know what they were.'' Lin Mu thought as he read a book that was basically the diary of a cultivator.


    The cultivator in question was a member of the Serene ss Valley a longtime ago, and wasn''t of a high rank. The said person had encountered a Star Shard several thousand years ago in another world.


    He didn''t know what it was, but the way he described the object confirmed that it was a Star Shard to Lin Mu.


    ''A Star Shard that has the pure Yang proprieties of a Star¡­ Makes sense why the Serene ss Valley member would have been interested in it considering they have no one that can use the Yang Dao here.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Having the recent experience, he knew anyone would want to acquire an item like the Star Shard that was filled with Yang properties.


    Even if it could not be used directly, it was still good enough for one to study it and understand more about the Yang Dao and its characteristics.


    The person wanted to get the Yang Star Shard for himself, but couldn''t do so because of being too weak. The Star Shard was taken away by other experts of a superior cultivation base.


    He didn''t know what object it was and simply considered a natural treasure.


    The regretsted a long time, and even made it to this diary which had been kept in the lowest section of the Library. Since it was just some of the experiences of a n members, it didn''t have too high of a value.


    And as such, it was kept in an easily essible section. Though at the same time, this would have made it easy to miss.


    "It was good that I decided to do a final sweep." Lin Mu muttered to himself, before walking out of the library.


    Being the lowest section, it was already close to the exit, and as such, it was easy for him to leave.


    ''I should head to Head Elder Heng. He did want to give me something.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and made his way to the Main hall of the Shuijing hall.


    There, he encountered none other than Shuijing Mingzhu and Shuijing Ju. They looked like they had been anticipating Lin Mu''s arrival as their faces brightened upon seeing him.


    "Wee, Daoist Mu Lin!" The two greeted him.


    "Hello." Lin Mu replied taking a look at the hall that was empty except for the two. "Is Head Elder Heng not here?" He questioned.


    "Great Grandfather has asked us to wait here for you." Shuijing Mingzhu replied.


    "Yeah, he said that you''d being and to wait a bit more until he gets things ready for you." Shuijing Ju added.


    "Oh? What is he preparing?" Lin Mu was curious now.


    "I don''t know either. But I''m sad that you decided to leave without telling us, Daoist Mu Lin." Shuijing Mingzhu said while pouting. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Indeed. I had hoped we would have more chances to mingle." Shuijing Ju added.


    "Ah, it isn''t like that." Lin Mu shook his head. "I was informed that both of you were busy with work. With Shuijing Ju working at the wall and Shuijing Mingzhu studying the new applications from the creation of the sh Cleave Axe, I did not wish to disturb you." He exined.


    "Still¡­" Shuijing Mingzhu was a bit sad.


    ~Creak~


    It was at this point that the door to the hall opened again, and the Head Elder appeared.


    "Sorry for making you wait." Head Elder Heng responded. "But I had to do a little work to get these ready." He added.


    "I don''t mind." Lin Mu shook his head. "But what were you preparing?" He asked, feeling curious.


    "These," Head Elder Heng said before withdrawing a box from his Spatial Storage tool.


    The box was about a meter long and half as wide.


    "I believe these wille in handy." The Head Elder stated before opening the box.


    ~shua~


    When he opened the box, a mix of Qi could be felting from it.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was intrigued and took a closer look, using his Immortal sense to check.


    The box was filled to the brim with crystals that were of red, blue, and green colors. It didn''t take much for Lin Mu to recognize them.


    "Aren''t these¡­ Qi Igniter Crystals?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed," Head Elder Heng answered. "Since you do not have advanced Qi me of your own, these wille in handy for you. The Red ones are the same ones I used, while the Blue and greens are of a better quality. With them you should be able to make immortal alchemical pills in a pinch." He borated.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that the Head Elder would take his words to heart back then and prepare this. "Thank you Head Elder. These will indeede in handy." He said with gratitude.


    "Haha,e on take them." Head Elder Heng said with augh. "I hope that the gift will keep us in your mind."


    "It sure will." Lin Mu said with a smile, storing the box away.


    "We have gifts too!" Shuijing Mingzhu suddenly chimed in before taking out some things. "I¡­ I made some talismans for you to use."


    "And I got you some books I obtained from outside the valley. I hope that you like them." Shuijing Ju added.

 Chapter 1954 Departing The Serene Glass Valley

    Lin Mu took the gifts from the two and checked them.


    The Talismans that Shuijing Mingzhu had made were mostly defensive, and support talismans. She knew more than enough, offensive talismans won''t be of help to Lin Mu at his level. And it wasn''t like she could make strong enough talismans that matched him either.


    The only thing she could do was make multiple defensive talismans of various properties. Of course, she also knew that Lin Mu''s defense was high but she didn''t think it was all epassing.


    As such, she made him defensive talismans against the Five basal elements, and also the wind, and lightning elements. In addition to these, she also made some talismans that could defend him from things like cold, poison, and even ambushes.


    For the supportive talismans, she made a few False Mirroring Talismans, which allowed one to create illusory clones of oneself, as well as a few Qi isting talismans that would avoid one being sensed by immortal sense.


    "Thank you for the talismans." Lin Mu replied with gratitude. "They''lle in handy." He said before moving on to the books.


    The books that Shuijing Ju had gotten were of various types, though none of them were cultivation techniques or skills. They were mostly filled with information about some materials, or herbs.


    Though Lin Mu also found a book that basically several memoirs of cultivatorspiled into one. This interested Lin Mu, as there were often some unique bits of information that would go unnoticed by most.


    "Thank you for the books too. These weren''t in the library so it''s always good to have more of them." Lin Mu thanked Shuijing Ju. "I''ll be reading them soon."


    Having stored all the gifts away, Lin Mu was now ready to leave.


    "I''ll take my leave, Head Elder Heng, Shuijing Mingzhu, Shuijing Ju¡­" Lin Mu finally said. "I hope to see you all in the future."


    "We hope the same, Daoist Mu Lin!" Shuijing Ju said out loud.


    "Please visit the Serene ss Valley again." Shuijing Mingzhu requested earnestly.


    "Know that you''ll always have a ce here at the valley." Head Elder Heng said with a smile.


    Lin Mu smiled at them before leaving the hall. He directly flew up and made his way to the south. This time, he was actually going to leave through the proper exit of the Serene ss Valley. However it also helped that it was on his route anyway.


    He didn''t rush either, taking the chance to look at the Serene ss Valley onest time. The ce was rather calm today, and not many people noticed him flying through the sky.


    And when he reached the gate, he didn''t even have to stop. The Head Elder had already added him to the formation array of the Serene ss Valley, and as such, the gate allowed him free entry and exit.


    ~huu~


    "That was a nice visit." Lin Mu said, while a smile appeared on his face.


    ~Shua~


    Little Shrubby appeared in a sh of light, and grew to his full size.


    "Are we leaving?" He asked.


    "Yeah, time to continue our journey." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Let''s go. Time to find new ingredients and food!" Little Shrubby was excited, as he knew a new ce meant new opportunities.


    "Mmhmm, next stop is the Evergreen Pirs Forest." Lin Mu said and got onto Little Shrubby''s back.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then in the next second, the two turned into a red blur and soared across the skies. The forest below them passed like a sea of green and brown, the valley turning into a dot behind them.


    Between the Serene ss Valley and the Evergreen Pirs forest, there was a buffer area of about three hundred kilometers. This area was mostly filled with weaker beasts and also had the official roads going through them.


    ''That''s where we would havee from if we took the ''proper'' route to the Serene ss Valley.'' Lin Mu identified.


    The path below him forked into two.


    One path went up north to the Serene ss Valley, and one went further south towards the Evergreen Pirs Forest. And if one took the path to its origin, they would end up at the Minor Mite Mountains again.


    Lin Mu observed everything as they continued to fly and also kept an eye out for anything interesting. After all, there were bound to be some materials that they coulde across.


    Sadly, there was nothing good enough to arouse Lin Mu''s interest.


    ''Guess it makes sense that this is the official road. If there was anything here, it would have already been taken by those that passed through here.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The man and beast continued to fly and could soon see the change in the flora.


    "So that''s the Evergreen Pirs Forest¡­" Lin Mu muttered, feeling awestruck.


    The topography changed drastically, as all the mountains, hills, and forests disappeared. Recing them was a sea of green pirs that extended as far as Lin Mu''s gaze went. These pirs were many times taller than the normal trees in the area, and could easily reach 500 meters at the smallest.


    ~WHISTLE~


    "Only the Violet Mystic Life Tree might beparable to their height." Lin Mu said, seeing the Bamboo trees. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    And these weren''t even the tallest ones.


    Far, far in the distance, Lin Mu could see that the ''pirs'' were only getting taller. They were tall enough that the entire horizon had been obscured and Lin Mu had to fly higher up to see just how far they went.


    "Damn¡­ those are over two kilometers tall!" He estimated.


    It was definitely a breathtaking sight for Lin Mu.


    ~sniff~ sniff~


    "I smell beasts¡­ lots of them." Little Shrubby informed. "Some are strong too." He added.


    "Hmm, how strong?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm." Little Shrubby estimated after a second.


    "I see. And how far is it from where we are?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Very far. I can only sense old scents here. The traces are probably from months ago." Little Shrubby answered.


    "Alright, doesn''t seem like it''ll be a problem for us." Lin Mu replied, thinking about the situation.


    While he didn''t fear getting into a fight against a beast like that, what he didn''t want was to battle in unfamiliar territory. There was no saying if something unexpected could happen in the Evergreen Pirs forest, and Lin Mu knew better than to go in blind.


    It was best to be aware of the area and know a little about it before they engaged in wildbat.


    Besides, Lin Mu also had a different goal this time.


    His goal was to practice the Litany Of The Verdant Forest.


    And for that, he needed to be undisturbed.


    As such, it didn''t make sense to cause chaos in the forest and paint a target on his back. After all, the death of a strong beast would lead to other beasts trying to take over the area and expand their territory. And since Lin Mu''s scent would be there, it was likely they woulde seek him out.


    The more intelligent beasts would also see him as a threat and would want to get rid of him.


    Though the same problem wouldn''t apply to Little Shrubby, as he was a beast himself, and would only be seen as more of apetition.


    "Let''s head in." Lin Mu said after having observed the area enough.


    "Okay." Little Shrubby said and flew down.


    They didn''t want to bring too much attention, and as such, didn''t fly above the Bamboo forest. Doing that would only make themselves stand out, and the beasts and other denizens would be aware of them.


    Another thing was that Lin Mu felt like there was something more to the forest as there were no other beasts flying above it.


    ''If not even bird beasts are flying above it, it could mean there is some danger to it. Best not to do it until I know more.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~thud~ thud~


    The twonded on the ground and decided to walk on foot.


    "Shrink down, Little Shrubby. It''ll be easier for you to maneuver in the forest." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Alright." Little Shrubby replied and quickly shrunk.


    He didn''t turn into a normal sized cat though. Instead, he became the size of a normal panther. It was the perfect size for the forest and would allow him to move with no issues between the densely packed bamboo trees.


    Lin Mu spread his Immortal Sense to the maximum and walked into the forest. His Immortal Sense observed everything within a ten kilometer area around him, allowing him to learn what was present.


    "So this is the Evergreen Pir Bamboo¡­" Lin Mu muttered and ced his hand on one of them.


    It was about a meter thick, and five hundred meters tall.


    Compared to normal bamboo, it was massive, butpared to the others in the forest, it was on the smaller side.


    But that wasn''t all, as Lin Mu also felt a decent amount of Wood Element from them.

 Chapter 1955 Evergreen Pillars Forest

    The Evergreen Pir Bamboo was a native nt, and as such, it thrived well here. So much so that Lin Mu could sense the steady flow of Wood Element within it.


    ''Guess this much is expected.'' Lin Mu thought before discovering something else. "Wait¡­ This flow¡­ it goes into the ground?" He narrowed his eyes.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense entered the ground and followed along the roots of the Eternal Pir Bamboo. He could observe the roots spreading everywhere and even linking with the other bamboos.


    ''So that''s why the flow is so rich and steady¡­ All the bamboos are linked.'' Lin Mu discovered.


    It was an interesting finding, as it basically meant that all the bamboos were essentially a single organism!


    "No wonder it has taken up the entirety of the area. It is dominated by a single nt in the end." Lin Mu muttered to himself, wondering how strong could one consider the cultivation base.


    He tried to sense any cultivation base from the bamboo but could not do so.


    "They are certainly not following the conventional cultivation system." Lin Mu confirmed.


    At the very least, Lin Mu could not tell if the Bamboos would be able to fight back if they were attacked.


    They didn''t show any higher instincts, and the flow of Qi within them was also constant which was a characteristic of immortal nts. Whereas, most animals would have a dynamic Qi flow that would change ording to their bodies.


    But in all this, Lin Mu did learn something else.


    ''Since all the bamboos are essentially the same, and have the same Qi signature¡­ Sensing other beings here is actually difficult.'' Lin Mu realized that he could have made a big mistake in the future. "And here I thought, I had sensed everything here¡­" He muttered in surprise.


    The Evergreen Pir Bamboos were spread in arge area, and since they had a steady flow, it was basically acting as a mask for the beings inside it. If there were beasts or other beings, their immortal Qi fluctuations would be masked by the bamboo.


    This would make it hard to sense other creatures if they were far away.


    "Hmm¡­ I need to test this." Lin Mu knew it was best to understand the characteristics of the forest right away. "Little Shrubby, go as far as you can. I want to see how far I can sense you." He asked.


    "Okay." Little Shrubby didn''t mind and started to run into the forest.


    Lin Mu kept his immortal sense extended while suppressing his link with Little Shrubby. He wanted to only test the capability of his Immortal Sense after all.


    ~shua~


    After a few seconds, Little Shrubby had run quite far.


    "Still detectable. Need to go farther." Lin Mu muttered and continued to sense.


    Another minuteter, Little Shrubby was a kilometer away from him.


    "Hmm¡­ a bit faint." Lin Mu started to sense the change.


    Another minute passed and the presence got even fainter. After this point, the presence started to get weaker rather fast.


    "Two kilometers¡­ so that''s the limit now." Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "Come back Little Shrubby. No need to go any further." He spoke through his link.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Soon, Little Shrubby was back near to him.


    "Looks like we''ll have to be more careful than I originally thought." Lin Mu replied. "Immortal Sense does not work well after two kilometers." He added.


    "I could smell you, but not sense you either." Little Shrubby agreed.


    "We''ll rely on your sense of smell too." Lin Mu added. "You should be able to detect the creatures here, much better than I can."


    Lin Mu was content that he had Little Shrubby with him here.


    "I''ll always be alert!" Little Shrubby said with confidence.


    "Though this also works in our favor. It just means the other beasts will also have a hard time sensing us through immortal sense." Lin Mu stated. "And hiding our scent won''t be that hard." He said, taking out a Talisman.


    It was one of the talisman that Shuijing Mingzhu had made for him.


    "Never thought it woulde in handy this fast." Lin Mu said before putting it on his body.


    ~Hu~


    The Talisman glowed lightly, before merging into his body.


    This was a Scent Masking Talisman and was mostly used to prevent beasts from sensing the cultivators. However, a majority of cultivators using it were at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm or lower. It didn''t make sense to use it in most cases, as the beasts could simply sense them with their Immortal Sense.


    But the unique characteristics of the Evergreen Bamboo Forest made it so that the Scent Masking Talisman was the perfect fit. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Let''s see¡­ this shouldst a week before its effect wears out." Lin Mu estimated. "Though if I''m inbat and use too much Immortal Qi, it''ll wear off faster." He analyzed the effectiveness of the talisman.


    It was still decent and he had several talismans.


    Shuijing Mingzhu had clearly gone out in making them as she had handed Lin Mu over two hundred talismans of many types.


    With them as a preventive option, Lin Mu hoped that he would be able to cultivate here in an undisturbed manner for the most part.


    "We can now go further in." Lin Mu spoke and the two proceeded.


    The Evergreen Pirs Forest was like a directionless Maze. The further he went in, the more it felt like the area never changed. The Evergreen Pir Bamboos grew everywhere, and every location seemed to be the same.


    It took a lot of effort to observe the finer details of the area, for Lin Mu to even tell that he was actually going into a new area and not just walking around in circles.


    "No wonder not many peoplee here despite being beautiful¡­ It can make them get lost." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    But Lin Mu had no idea that this wasn''t even the start of it all. There were bigger secrets that the forest was hiding.

 Chapter 1956 Befuddling Effects

    A day had passed since Lin Mu had arrived at the Evergreen Pirs Forest.


    The day had been strange for him, as he had not seen a single beast so far. The only living creatures he had even seen were normal insects with no cultivation base whatsoever.


    If it weren''t for the fact that Little Shrubby could still smell the lingering scents of the other beasts, he would have thought that this entire forest was a dead zone.


    "This is certainly not normal." Lin Mu frowned as he came to a halt.


    "The Scent is still the same." Little Shrubby informed. "It still feels like they are far, and I can''t feel any other change." He added.


    "No change in distance¡­ we aren''ting any closer to them." Lin Mu furrowed his brows, trying to figure out why this was happening.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had been wandering in the forest, trying to find the right spot to settle down and cultivate. But to ensure that he wouldn''t be disturbed, Lin Mu had thought that it would be appropriate to eliminate the beasts from around him.


    Plus, little Shrubby wanted to obtain more of the beast meat which Lin Mu would need too.


    As such, they had been looking for beasts. But he hadn''t thought that doing this would lead him to another dilemma.


    They couldn''t find beasts even if they wanted to. Even with Little Shrubby''s sense of smell telling that the beasts were in a certain direction, they never chanced upon them. At first, Lin Mu thought that the beasts might be moving in the same direction as them, keeping the distance between them the same. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    But after a day passed, and they had sped up, Lin Mu was sure something else was going on.


    "We can''t go on like this¡­ We need a better field of view to analyze the issue." Lin Mu understood. "To the sky!"


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby rose up, and headed to the skies.


    Second after second passed and the segments of the Evergreen Bamboo went down.


    "This¡­" it didn''t take long for Lin Mu to realize something wrong. "SPEED UP!"


    ~SWOOSH~


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby rose at an even greater speed and flew for about a minute. But despite that, they were still not in the sky. The green pirs were everywhere around them and it felt like they had barely reached halfway point.


    "We can''t go to the sky either?" Lin Mu''s frown deepened.


    For something to prevent them from heading to the sky only meant it was rather powerful.


    It was also something Lin Mu was familiar with, and yet he hadn''t sensed it at all.


    "A formation array¡­ it''s definitely a befuddling array too, but of a much, much higherplexity." Lin Mu muttered. ''Since it prevents one from even going up, it''s definitely much stronger than the Natural Befuddling Array I encountered in the Leafless Dead Forest.'' He analyzed as the twonded back on the ground.


    In hisst encounter, Lin Mu had ovee the Natural Befuddling Array of the Leafless Dead Forest by using Fade and bypassing the effects of the array.


    "I need to try something. Wait here, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu said and directly used Fade.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu appeared in the parallel world and looked around quickly, finding it to be mostly deste. The ground was a bony grey in color, while a few rocky protrusions were scattered around.


    ''As empty as before.'' Lin Mu thought and looked up. "Let''s see if this works."


    ~Crack~


    Lin Mu stomped on the ground and shot to the sky, quickly rising. In the time that Fade was active, Lin Mu was sure he had reached a high enough distance.


    ''This should at least be a kilometer high.'' Lin Mu thought as the skill ended.


    ~shua~


    And sure enough, Lin Mu''s conjecture was correct and he was now hovering in the sky.


    The Evergreen Pirs Forest could be seen below him, as well as extending in all directions around him. Though in the south, he could see even taller Bamboo nts that exceeded the height that he was standing at. They looked like a giant green barrier that prevented one from looking any further.


    But as Lin Mu gazed at the forest below him, he felt his head getting dizzy.


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu held his head and closed his eyes, feeling a bit nauseous.


    A couple of secondster, the feeling faded away, prompting him to open his eyes again.


    "Was that due to the array, too?" Lin Mu wondered as he tried to observe the forest below him.


    But just five secondster, he felt a wave of nausea along with dizziness. This time around though, he kept his eyes open, knowing that he needed to know more.


    ''This is only getting worse¡­'' Lin Mu felt his vision getting worse and worse, and soon a headache appeared too. ''I can''t falter this easily!'' wanting to continue, he chanted the Calming Heart Sutra.


    ~Humm~


    The effects of the Calming Heart Sutra soothed his mind and head, relieving the effects of the Natural Befuddling array.


    "I need to be quick." Lin Mu''s eyes darted around, taking in the positions of the bamboos.


    There were millions upon millions of them, making it almost impossible to tell how they were structured. And when so many of them were growing so close together, making out matters was also very difficult. Multiple patterns seemingly could be made out, and Lin Mu could find several arrays that would be working here.


    ''It can''t be that all these arrays are active¡­ there are far too many for it to be viable. There would be a sh otherwise.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He managed to stay there for five minutes, after which the effects of the Calming Heart Sutra were unable to keep the effects of the array at bay.


    "I have to go down." Lin Mu gave up and descended from the sky.


    He felt like if he stayed any longer, he might just pass out from the effects.

 Chapter 1957 Surprising Lack Of Information

    ~shua~


    Lin Mu quickly reached the topyer of bamboos, and as soon as he went a meter below, it was as if the Evergreen Pir Bamboos spontaneously grew around him. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Even when he had stopped, the bamboos kept on growing, and soon it felt like they were a kilometer above him!


    "Very¡­ Strange." Lin Mu felt no danger here, but it was still a confusing situation.


    "Did you find anything?" Little Shrubby asked, seeing that Lin Mu had returned.


    "Yes¡­ The entire forest is possibly a Massive Natural Befuddling Array." Lin Mu replied. "And its effects work even when one is outside it." He added.


    "But you managed to get out of it right?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yeah. Leaving it is not a problem." Lin Mu replied. "I can get to the sky using Fade and then fly outwards until I can''t. Just repeat that and we''ll be out of it." He exined.


    "So we don''t have a danger of being trapped at least," Little Shrubby stated.


    "Mmhmm." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Actually, this might just be better for us. I don''t think we''ll be bothered by other beasts easily. I think they are lost as well." He added.


    "But if it was like that, why did I smell the scent of the beasts at the edge of the forest, too?" Little Shrubby asked, feeling confused.


    "That¡­ is unknown to me at this moment." Lin Mu admitted. "I''ll have to check the records¡­ see if there is any information about this in the books or documents I collected." He said.


    "Alright. I''ll search for beasts for the time being or some herbs." Little Shrubby suggested.


    "Yeah, you can do that. It''ll take me a while anyways." Lin Mu agreed and let the beast wander.


    With their link, it wasn''t an issue for them to find each other anyway.


    ''Little Shrubby should be able to find some herbs at least. They can''t move from one ce most of the time, and as such, shouldn''t be affected by the Natural Befuddling array as much.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby went away, and Lin Mu sat down to look through some documents.


    ~shua~


    The first thing he did was to take out the map that Crown Prince Feng Shun had given it. The map was how Lin Mu had found out about the Evergreen Pirs Forest in the first ce, and it had bits of information about various locations.


    "Nothing in this about a Natural Befuddling Array." Lin Mu moved on to other books.


    His collection that had been grown using the library of the Shuijing n wasing in handy as well. It had several books that talked about the various locations in the Dao Wind Continent, and also had mentions of the Evergreen Pirs forest.


    ''Here it is,'' Lin Mu soon found the entries about the Evergreen Pirs Forest.


    ''A forest full of Evergreen Pir Bamboos spread over an area of thousands of kilometers. Once upon a time, it was said to have mountains, hills, and various other naturalndforms, but it eventually became covered with the bamboos.


    This hid everything and made it hard to make out what was where. The beasts living in the forest have adapted to it and seemingly don''t have any issues finding their nest or hunting.'' Lin Mu read the first entry and gave a brief description of the forest.


    But this was certainly not the answer that Lin Mu was looking for.


    "Not this¡­ have to look at others." Lin Mu muttered and switched to another book.


    But in this book, he found the same information, having to move on to another.


    Lin Mu went through four books with the same information before finally stumbling onto some new information. Though this time, it was about the Evergreen Pir Bamboos instead.


    ''Evergreen Pir Bamboos have a high rate of growth, but they aren''t necessarily good for making Immortal Weapons and tools. Their wood isn''t as strongpared to most other bamboos or nts, and as such, they are mostly left untouched.


    They have a high flow of Wood Elemental Qi, but when one cuts a bamboo, the flow is interrupted and the Qi is dispersed quickly, making it useless for making Alchemical pills or other items.'' Lin Mu was further confused by this.


    Though he did understand why the Evergreen Pir Bamboos had managed to grow this much. They were simply useless to most cultivators and left alone.


    Of course, this was only when considering the uses for cultivators.


    If these very same Evergreen Pir Bamboos were ced in a mortal world, they would be highly valuable and it would be easy for one to make a Peak Grade Sprint Weapon with it. After all, it was still an immortal nt.


    Its toughness would also be higher than most other nts in a mortal world, as such, making it a good choice for buildings and construction. Not to mention, with its high rate of growth, it would also be an excellent source of fuel for various purposes.


    Hour after hour passed, and Lin Mu continued to read through various books, trying to learn more about the Evergreen Pirs Bamboo and the forest.


    Lin Mu still couldn''t find any information about why there was a Befuddling array here. Even the travelogs of other cultivators that had seen this forest didn''t mention there being a Natural Befuddling Array here.


    The Crown Prince had been here too, and other than describing it as beautiful and full of strong beasts, he didn''t say there was an array here. Lin Mu didn''t think the Crown Prince would hide information like this from him. As such, Lin Mu continued his search, knowing that what was happening was not a normal thing for the forest.


    Lin Mu had gone through tens of books by now, without missing even a single page, as he didn''t want to miss some small word. It wasn''t until the next day that he finally found a clue to what was happening here.

 Chapter 1958 Transitional Period Of The Forest

    "Huh?" Lin Mu read the information he had just found several times over, just to make sure it was correct.


    ''During certain times, the Evergreen Pir Bamboo will bear fruit. These fruits are very hard to find, but unlike the bamboo themselves, the Wood Elemental Qi within them stays contained. Those who found them are quite lucky, and each fruit is the same as a high grade wood elemental Immortal pill.'' Lin Mu found this information in a book of alchemy that he had bought in the Capital City. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    On its own, this bit of information wasn''t helpful. But whenbined with other pieces of intimation, one could make out some facts.


    The Natural Befuddling Array isn''t something that usually exists in the evergreen Pirs Forest.


    The time that the Evergreen Pir Bamboos bear fruits is also not set, and happens almost randomly.


    Finding the said fruits was also described to be very difficult, with most considering it not worth it for the time needed. One could very easily make a pill of equal quality with much less effort than wandering around looking for the fruits.


    To avoid encountering the beasts, and also to travel faster, most people didn''t go through the Evergreen Pirs Forest. Instead, they chose to take the official road that went through the open areas surrounding the Evergreen Pirs Forest.


    ''If Ibine all these¡­ It is highly likely that the Natural Befuddling Array only activates when the Evergreen Pir Bamboos are bearing fruit. And since most people avoid going through the forest, there aren''t any proper records about it too.


    It is also possible that this Natural Befuddling Array is not constant throughout the forest, and actually localized to specific parts. Otherwise, there should have been someone who noticed this in the past.'' Lin Mu analyzed the information.


    He was also sure that many people had probably entered the Natural Befuddling Array, but either didn''t realize it and it faded away on its own or simply thought they were lost.


    ''If this Natural Befuddling Array is transitional, it means all we need to do is simply wait and it''ll be gone on its own.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    With this conjecture in his mind, Lin Mu felt a lot more calm. He could think further and decided that it might just be better to find a suitable ce and build a little cultivation pavilion for himself.


    ''Yeah, that might be for the best. I should utilize as much time as I have to practice the Litany Of the Verdant Forests¡­ there is no telling if I''ll need itter.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He also had the expedition he had promised to go out on with the Crown Prince. The expedition had links with the Demonic Tribes and as such, Lin Mu was sure there could be some mental attacks or formations affecting people there.


    To avoid that he knew learning the Litany Of the Verdant Forest was necessary.


    In addition to that, there was also the threat of Yao Changying.


    She had, after all, sworn toe after him and there was no telling where she was. The Empire had still been unable to catch her, or even find out where she had gone. Her abilities were uncanny and could affect minds too.


    "Now let''s see¡­ where should I build one?" Lin Mu wondered.


    His immortal sense was spread around, trying to find a wide enough area.


    The average distance between each Evergreen Pir bamboo was just a meter and as such, it wasn''t exactlyfortable. And in some ces, it was even closer. Thus, Lin Mu thought that he might just have to cut a few of the bamboo to make space.


    ~Shing~


    Lin Mu withdrew Afternoon Pine and did an assessment of the area around him.


    "Ten meters wide should be enough." Lin Mu muttered and swung the sword.


    ~HONG~


    The Sword intent infused sh of Afternoon Pine, smoothly cutting through all the Evergreen Pir Bamboos within the area.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Then a secondter, they all started to fall down. Some of them got caught against the other Evergreen Pir Bamboos next to them, getting them stuck in a nting position.


    "Won''t be enough, need to cut smaller. They are too tall." Lin Mu swung Afternoon Pine a few more times, chopping all of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo into smaller segments.


    In just a few seconds, a rain of bamboo started with the leaves showering around Lin Mu. And yet, not a single segment or leaf hit Lin Mu, all of them falling around him evenly.


    "There we go, I don''t even need much else to build the pavilion now." Lin Mu smiled, seeing that the building material was already there.


    He quickly got to building it, while also inscribing some formations on the Evergreen Pir Bamboo segments. He needed it to be stronger than what it was right now, just to be on the safe side. Not to mention, he also added some isting formations to it, to prevent others from discovering him.


    The Natural Befuddling array of the Evergreen Pir forest would eventually disappear, and beasts might disturb him. Therefore, the isting arrays would help in keeping him undisturbed.


    The pavilion he made wasn''t that borate either.


    It had a nting roof with eight sides and eight pirs that supported it.


    It was open on all sides, so as to get a full view of his surroundings. This was one of the requirements for the Litany Of the Verdant Forests too.


    One needed to be immersed in the forest to learn it.


    It was also why Lin Mu had chosen to build the pavilion out of the Evergreen Pir Bamboos. Since they were naturally part of the forest, it would not stand out.


    ''The Evergreen Pir Bamboo should also start growing back here soon.'' Lin Mu had read about the fast growth speed.


    Bamboo shoots would pop up in just a couple of days and repopte the area.


    When that happened, the newly made pavilion would fully blend in.

 Chapter 1959 Acclimatizing To The Forest

    Within the Northern Part of the Evergreen Pirs Forest, a new structure had been formed.


    For the first time in a long while, a patch in the Forest was cleared, within which one could see a bamboo pavilion. It didn''t stand out much as it was made from the Evergreen Pir Bamboo, but it could still be noticed from above.


    And it was made by none other than Lin Mu.


    "And that should do it." Lin Mu said, finishing the final part of the formations, making themplete.


    ~shua~


    As soon as he did that, the runes all glowed, and the formations linked up.


    Sixyers of formations were created with all joined together to be an array. The array was an isting array that would prevent beasts from noticing Lin Mu, but would still allow him to indulge in the presence of the entire forest.


    This was the crucial point of the Litany Of The Verdant Forest and he needed to follow it.


    Without that, Lin Mu would not have had any sess with it.


    ~huu~


    "Let''s get going with the technique." Lin Mu muttered to himself and sat down in the center of the pavilion.


    He didn''t add any Qi channeling formations or anything like that. Doing that could only lead to him getting distracted which was strictly not needed. Lin Mu fully needed to focus on himself, and the forest around him.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes, and chanted the Calming Heart Sutra to first stabilize his mind.


    ''If I am to sense the voice of the forest, then I need to have absolutely nothing in my mind.'' Lin Mu had understood this much from the guidance of the Azure Dragon.


    As such, he then used the Severing Heart Sutra!


    ~HUMM~


    A wave of Sword Intent rippled from his body, as Lin Mu used the Severing Heart Sutra intensely. In just a few seconds, all his thoughts were gone, and only an empty mind was left behind.


    Lin Mu''s body had be incredibly still, and it felt like he wasn''t a human but just a statue that had been kept in the middle of the forest.


    In the green forest, the wind blew and the bamboos swayed with it. The long branches rubbed against the other branches, while leaves whistled with the wind.


    A soothing environment was created that was devoid of the noises of the birds, beasts, and more.


    The flow of energy in Lin Mu''s body had also be very smooth, and unknowingly started to be attuned to the forest around him.


    As the forest breathed, he too breathed.


    When the wind blew towards Lin Mu, he took a breath, and when it flew opposite him, he let out a breath.


    A state of trance was achieved and Lin Mu stayed in it without moving.


    Sometimeter, Little Shrubby had also arrived and seen Lin Mu. But discovering that he was in a deep state of cultivation, he didn''t disturb him and left for some other area.


    The beast still had other things he could do after all. He had also sensed with his link that Lin Mu was doing just fine.


    Little Shrubby was also familiar with Lin Mu cultivating like this, and knew that it was best not to disturb him during it. Not to mention, he had also been informed by Lin Mu that the current cultivation technique he was practicing needed to be undisturbed for a long time to work.


    ''I should clear out any beasts that try toe near.'' Little Shrubby thought to himself.


    While the Natural Befuddling Array of the Evergreen Pirs Forest had kept the beasts away, there was no telling when it would disappear. As such, Little Shrubby would avoid any beasts from approaching just in case, and if they did, they would simply be added to their stockpile of meat.


    Days started to pass without interruption, Lin Mu sat still in the bamboo pavilion.


    Fresh bamboo shoots had started to appear from the ground where Lin Mu had cut the Evergreen Pir Bamboo. They were white in color and were pointed like a spear tip. They were also numerous and quickly filled the area up as ifpeting against each other.


    As the days continued to pass, the shoots grew taller and soon filled the empty areas. The bamboo pavilion that Lin Mu had built also became surrounded by bamboo shoots, with them bending around the pavilion in order to rise to the top.


    The patch of empty forest that had been created by Lin Mu disappeared in less than ten days, as the fast growing Evergreen Pir Bamboo covered it again.


    Now, if anyone looked at it from the sky, they wouldn''t be able to make out anything at all.


    Most of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo in the forest grew straight without much deflection. But the ones around Lin Mu''s bamboo pavilion were all bent. But the newly grown bamboos didn''t seem strange.


    Instead, the bent and curved bamboos added a contrastingpliment to the straight and uniform Evergreen Pir Forest.


    The winds passed through the curved bamboos, causing them to rub against the pavilion and make a low sound. Strangely enough, it wasn''t noisy at all, and felt like someone was ying an instrument of some kind.


    This further improved Lin Mu''s condition, and he slipped deeper into his trance. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    A whole month went by, with days turned into nights, and nights turned into days.


    In this time, the Natural Befuddling Array of the Evergreen Pirs Forest hadn''t disappeared and no beasts had appeared in the area.


    There were no disturbances either, but despite all that, Lin Mu''s eyes opened.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath, as aplex expression appeared on his face.


    "The Azure Dragon Guardian wasn''t joking when he said it is many times tougher than the Longgui Bulwark Armor." Lin Mu muttered. "An entire month, and I don''t think I''m necessarily any closer to learning the technique." He reckoned.


    Lin Mu wondered what was going wrong.

 Chapter 1960 Evergreen Pillar Bamboo Fruits

    With a month having passed, Lin Mu knew he couldn''t just continue as it is.


    Lin Mu did not know if there was something wrong with the environment, or if he was making a mistake. But he did know, he would have to figure it out before wasting any more time or effort.


    ~Sigh~


    "I should attempt againter. But before that, I need to eat something." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He could feel the hunger rising within his belly.


    "Little Shrubby." Lin Mu called out.


    He could sense that Little Shrubby was within the forest with his link, and as such, wasn''t worried.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And a minuteter, the beast appeared like a red blur.


    This time though, Little Shrubby seemed to be carrying something in his mouth.


    "Huh? What''s that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "A fruit." Little Shrubby replied. "I found a few of them." He added. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "What kind of fruit is this?" Lin Mu asked and took it from Little Shrubby.


    "They are nice. They have wood elemental immortal Qi in them." Little Shrubby spoke. "I ate a few already and was searching for more." He added.


    "You ate them?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "I suppose these are the Evergreen Pir Bamboo Fruits then." He guessed.


    "Yeah, they were growing on the bamboos." Little Shrubby nodded.


    "How did you find them?" Lin Mu asked. "Didn''t the Natural Befuddling array affect you?" he wondered.


    "It did. But when I was practicing my control over the wood element, like how the Saintess taught me, I sensed something.


    I simply focused on the Wood Elemental Immortal Qi and the flow inside the Evergreen Pir Bamboos and found that there were faint differences in the flow from time to time.


    The flow would spike in some ces for a moment, and then return to normal. I went to the areas where I sensed the energy spikes were going and found them." Little Shrubby exined, impressing Lin Mu.


    ''I didn''t think he would figure out this much on his own.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was clear that the beast''s analytical skills and capabilities had been steadily growing too.


    ''Is it the influence of the Saintess that has caused it?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    Whatever it might be though, Lin Mu was pleased with it and didn''t mind it going the way it was.


    "Can you find them again?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Yeah, give me a minute." Little Shrubby replied and closed his eyes.


    ~SHUA~


    Green strings of energy rose from his body and floated in the air. This was none other than the Wood Elemental Immortal Qi that had been cultivated by Little Shrubby. These wood elemental immortal Qi threads then entered the ground, where they felt the flow of the energy between the Evergreen Pir Bamboos.


    Little Shrubby stayed like this for a couple of minutes before turning in a specific direction.


    "I found more," Little Shrubby informed.


    "That was quick, let''s go check them out." Lin Mu said and the two quickly went there.


    Lin Mu simply focused on following Little Shrubby, as he knew focusing on anything else would only make him get influenced by the Natural Befuddling Array. He would then lose his direction and end up in an area he did not intend to be.


    Or he might just end up right where he had started off.


    Thankfully, Little Shrubby''s senses were good and he brought Lin Mu to the suspected location in just ten minutes.


    Upon reaching there, Lin Mu finally got a proper look at the Evergreen Pir Bamboo fruits.


    The fruit that Little Shrubby had picked was actually small and not of a good enough quality. The fruits that Lin Mu was now seeing were much bigger and clearly held a lot more energy within them.


    The Evergreen Pir Bamboos from which the fruits grew looked no different than the others, except for the fact that one of their branches would have fruits growing on them.


    This would cause the branches to be weighed down, and make them bend down.


    "About nine fruits¡­" Lin Mu looked at the fist sized fruits that had segmenting rings simr to the bamboo.


    The fruits were slightly oblong, with a triangr point and had a firm texture on the surface.


    "Let''s see how these are," Lin Mu said and plucked all the fruits from the Evergreen Pir Bamboo.


    ~shua~


    And once he did, Lin Mu acutely felt the flow of the Wood Elemental Immortal Qi within the bamboo change.


    ''So the energy spikes were due to the fruits¡­ They are probably absorbing more energy than usual to grow, and causing distances in the smooth flow of the bamboos.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Thankfully, it was this very thing that helped them find the unbelievable fruits.


    With the rare fruits in hand, Lin Mu couldn''t help but want to try them.


    Lin Mu brought one of the fruits close to his lips and took a bite.


    ~Crunch~


    The skin of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo fruit was firm and almost bordered on a bit tough. If Lin Mu were topare it, the texture would be oddly simr to that of a bottle gourd.


    The fruit was a bit dry and had little juice in it.


    Simrly, it wascking in vor and mostly felt nd to Lin Mu, along with a waxy aftertaste.


    "Definitely not something I''d eat as a snack just for taste." Lin Mu said to himself.


    "Yeah, they don''t taste that good." Little Shrubby agreed. "But they do provide energy." He added.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu replied, feeling the Wood Elemental Immortal Qi rising in his belly.


    His stomach responded ordingly and quickly absorbed it all, before it was transferred to his meridians. The meridians then brought the wood elemental immortal Qi to his Dantian, where it formed its own independent pool.


    ''Its energy capacity is pretty much the same as an alchemical pill, but I think it can be improved further.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as an idea appeared in his mind. "Little Shrubby, have you tried to cook these?"

 Chapter 1961 Qi Flames To Cook

    Lin Mu''s words made Little Shrubby''s ears perk up.


    "I did, but it doesn''t change much." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Hmm¡­ I think we just need to change the method for it." Lin Mu said before taking out one of the Qi me crystals that Head Elder Heng had gifted him. "Since this is simr to a pill, why not treat it like one and cook with a Qi me?" He suggested.


    "We can try!" Little Shrubby hadn''t thought of that.


    And even if he had, it wasn''t like he would have been able to do that.


    "Before that though, did you find any other herbs?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not much, there are herbs here but they aren''t that good." Little Shrubby said taking out a bunch of things he had harvested.


    It included a few flowers, roots, and grasses.


    "Mmm, yeah they aren''t that good." Lin Mu could recognize them and found them to be either spirit herbs or low quality immortal herbs. "Still, we might be able to use them to cook regardless." He added.


    "It''s why I kept them." Little Shrubby nodded his head.


    The two had been regrly using spirit herbs and other herbs that weren''t too good but had decent vor as ingredients.


    Having done this many times, Little Shrubby took out arge pot and set it up. Lin Mu added the Qi infused water, and then chopped up the Evergreen Pir Bamboo Fruits. Little Shrubby on the other hand, added other herbs and spices for vor.


    Once it was done, Lin Mu added the Evergreen Pir Bamboo Fruits and set the Qi me crystal below it.


    ~shua~


    He then injected his immortal Qi into it, making it light up. The surprising thing, though, was the fact that the Qi meing from the crystal wasn''t red or green like when Head Elder Heng had used it. Instead, it was a yellow color with a metallic glint to it.


    The Qi me was being created from the Metal Elemental Immortal Qi! Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Let''s see if this softens and enhances the Evergreen Pir Bamboo Fruits." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He had specifically chosen the metal elemental immortal Qi, as he knew the metal element would help suppress the wood element of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo fruits. This would help the fruit break down and soften, which should release more of its energy and mix it with the other herbs.


    ~bubble~


    And sure enough, a few minutester, the pot started to boil and the Evergreen Pir Bamboo fruit in it had softened.


    Lin Mu picked one of the pieces and pressed it between his fingers, squishing it with ease.


    The Evergreen Pir Bamboo fruits had taken on a texture simr to boiled potatoes.


    "Time to taste it," Lin Mu used a spoon and picked up a piece of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo fruit along with the broth.


    ~sip~


    "OHO!" Lin Mu''s eyes lit up. "This is much better!" A gentle starchy vor mixed with the spices lit up on his tongue.


    It wasn''t exceedingly good, but Lin Mu knew the Evergreen Pir Bamboo fruits could easily be used inbination with other ingredients to make an even more appealing dish. The fruits were better to be considered as a side ingredient than the main one.


    It had a starchy texture after cooking and could absorb the vors of the broth or stew well.


    All this was just on the vor side. The beneficial effects of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo fruit were yet to kick in.


    ~shua~


    Sure enough, a few secondster the Wood Elemental Qi rose from Lin Mu''s stomach and greedily absorbed into his meridians. The amount was greater than before, and Lin Mu could feel that its flow was also better.


    ''At least a ten to fifteen percent increase.'' Lin Mu estimated seeing the change.


    This was a significant gain as there was no extra effort needed other than cooking it with Qi me. Lin Mu knew, that even if he removed the other herbs, it would still give a higher amount of Wood Elemental Immortal Qi.


    The Metal element which was destructive to the wood element was beneficial in bringing out the sealed Qi within the fruit, which would be wasted otherwise.


    "I really should master how to use advanced Qi me¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    If he could do that, he would be able to cook the same without the use of Qi me crystals. Not to mention, his control would be a lot better than using the crystals.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were pleased by this discovery, and both agreed on the fact that they should try learning alchemical mes while they continued to eat. Of course, the single pot of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo fruit soup was not enough, and as such, Little Shrubby cooked more meat for them.


    After a couple of hours, Lin Mu was finally satisfied and felt better.


    ~shua~


    It was at this moment, that he felt something change around him.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu raised his brows, feeling the shift in energy.


    Not just that, but Lin Mu''s senses suddenly picked up hundreds of new presences in the area.


    "What in the¡­ The Natural Befuddling array is gone!" Lin Mu realized.


    ~HOWL~


    ~SCREECH~


    ~CHIRP~


    And sure enough, just a few secondster, the sound of the beasts could be hearding from the distance.


    "Many beasts areing this way." Little Shrubby also smelled them and got ready.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The sound of bamboo trees breaking was heard, along with the footsteps of beasts.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense quickly analyzed them and estimated their cultivation base.


    "Second to third tribtion stage of the Immortal realm." Lin Mu discovered as he pulled out Afternoon Pine.


    ~shing~


    Little Shrubby''s ws also extended and heated up, turning red hot.


    He was not in his full size, and as would focus on using his speed to his advantage.


    Five secondster, Lin Mu saw the beasts making his eyes narrow.


    There were various beastsing towards them.

 Chapter 1962 Beast Rush

    Lin Mu paid attention to the beasts, trying to observe them and identify what they were.


    Some looked like a mix of wolves and cows, having the upper body of wolf and the legs of a cow. Some looked like arge rooster that had the ws of an eagle as well as a two pronged beak that looked ferocious. Then there was thergest beast among them that had stumpy legs, but a fat and bulky body. Its head was long and looked like that of a hippopotamus, but had the scales of a crocodile.


    It was this beast that was making the most sound, as well as breaking all the bamboos. It was like a tank bulldozing through the buildings without stopping.


    Lin Mu identified therge beast to be a Basalt Scaled Hippopotamus, whereas the other beasts were a group of Iron Hoof Wolves and Fork Beaked Immortal Jungle Fowl.


    This was his first time seeing all these beasts in person, but he had certainly read about them.


    The Basalt Scaled Hippopotamus was certainly the most dangerous out of all of them. It was at the Third Tribtion Realm of the Immortal realm, but had defenses that even a fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm cutlery might find hard to break. Not to mention, it was almost seven meters tall and ten meters long, making its momentum great.


    If it crashed into a human, it could easily turn them into a mush.


    The Iron Hoof Wolves were much smaller, being two meters tall, and three meters long, but they were no less dangerous when they were in arge group like this. They were excellent hunters and used their sharp teeth to rip into their prey. And even though they had hooves instead of ws like other wolves, it didn''t mean they were any less lethal.


    The very same hooves could crush bones and metal alike. The Iron Hoof Wolves actually referred to pulverize their prey''s bones and then eat them whole, treating the bones as a crunchy treat in the meat.


    Then there were the Fork Beaked Immortal Jungle Fowl. It was one of the bird beasts that couldn''t fly, but was a perfect fit for the Evergreen Pirs Forest. It was just a meter in size, but could perch on the branches of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo.


    It would hide above and spear any unsuspecting prey with its two pronged beak.


    The Fork Beaked Immortal Jungle Fowl were high in number in the Evergreen Pirs Forest and that was also why Lin Mu was surprised at not seeing any when entering. They were considered the mostmon beast in the forest and could be found everywhere.


    They also had a varying cultivation base, ranging from below the immortal realm, all the way to the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    One of the records that Lin Mu had read in the Serene ss Valley even mentioned a Fork Beaked Immortal Jungle Fowl King, that had evolved further and enhanced its bloodline. It was said to be at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm too, but was significantly stronger than its other kin at the same cultivation base.


    Seeing all these beastsing towards them, Lin Mu knew they would have to be fierce.


    ''Use your speed to outmaneuver them and attack them from the back Little Shrubby. I''ll handle those at the front and halt their charge.'' Lin Mu nned his offense with Little Shrubby.


    ''Alright, I''ll do that.'' Little Shrubby agreed.


    The beasts continued to charge, and when they were about a kilometer from them, Lin Mu shouted. "Now!"


    ~SHING~


    Lin Mu shed out with Afternoon Pine, sending a sword light arc that cut all the Evergreen Pir Bamboos in its path.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby roared as he disappeared in a red blur and appeared behind the iing beasts.


    ~SLASH~


    ~SPLAT~


    ~HISS~


    His searing hot ws tore through the flesh of the beasts like it was cotton and burned them as well. Those that were weaker directly burst into mes, while the stronger ones had to suffer scorching heat that prated in their bodies.


    The charging beasts had no idea that the ones behind them had already started to turn into corpses. In their eyes, there was only Lin Mu who was their prey.


    ~HUMM~


    Lin Mu held Afternoon Pine in front of him and infused Sword Intent in it, making the sword tremble with excitement.


    Then he pulled his hand back and suddenly stabbed straight!


    ~SHAHA~


    A streak of yellow sword light shot toward thergest target in the center, which was none other than the Basalt Scaled Hippopotamus.


    ~CRACK~


    ~KACHA~


    It hit the beast right in the middle of its head, breaking through its scales and entering its body!


    ~KUHAAAAAAA~


    The Basalt Scaled Hippopotamus cried in pain, but did not die.


    Even if its head had been pierced, it wasn''t actually injured that bad.


    ''No wonder they said they are hard to kill.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    His immortal sense scanned the beast and discovered that the reason why it hadn''t died even with its head pierced was the fact that its brain was safe. The brain of the Basalt Scaled Hippopotamus was located lower in its thick skull and was also rather smallpared to its size, making it easy to miss.


    It was also off center from the middle of its head, making it easy to miss from the top too.


    Still, Lin Mu had aplished his goal of making the beast halt. With itsrge size, the other beast beside and behind it were also forced to halt, with some of them crashing into itsrge body.


    "Easy pickings," Lin Mu smiled and appeared next to the beasts, swinging Afternoon Pine.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~ Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    The Sword sh caused yellow metal pine trees to sprout from the ground, which pierced through the beasts and cut their flesh with the sharp sword intent.


    Little Shrubby continued to wreak havoc from the back, and had killed half of the beasts in less than a minute.

 Chapter 1963 More Meat Stock

    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby continued to kill the beasts with Lin Mu focusing on the Basalt Scaled Hippopotamus.


    With its tough body and dense bones, it was not easy for Lin Mu to kill it with his normal attacks.


    ~SHING~


    Lin Mu shed out several times with Afternoon Pine, marks on the scales of the beast, but the attack didn''t go deeper than an inch or two.


    "Definitely a tough defense." Lin Mu reckoned most of thepetitors from the tournament of the Four Guardians would also have a hard time breaking through the defenses.


    ''It''s a beast that is specialized in defense like me.'' Lin Mu understood.


    ~WHOOSH~


    With that in mind, Lin Mu flipped in the air and put some distance between himself and the Basalt scaled Hippopotamus. And while in the air, he brought his fists to his waist, and let the immortal Qi stir within it.


    And the moment Lin Munded on the ground, he punched out.


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Second Form - Piercer!


    ~SHUA~


    A needle of immortal Qi shot from Lin Mu''s fist and struck the beast.


    ~THUD~


    The needle shot through the head of the Basalt Scaled Hippopotamus and came out its back while the beast copsed onto the ground.


    Blood tricked out of the Basalt Scaled, Hippopotamus''s orifices, showing that its insides had been destroyed. Even the cracks in its rocky scales were now leaking flesh and blood, showing the sheer extent of the damage.


    ~phew~


    "That''s one down." Lin Mu muttered and looked at Little Shrubby''s work.


    He had already cleared out the rest of the beast, and only a few stragglers were left. The Fork Beak Jungle Fowl had the best survival instincts and had started to run away after Little Shrubby had killed a bunch of them.


    They had the advantage of being on the home turn and climbed to the higher branches of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo trees, thinking that they would be safe. Unfortunately for them, Little Shrubby was not one to let go that easily.


    All the beasts were ughtered, and the stockpile of meat had increased once more.


    "Let''s gather them." Lin Mu said to Little Shrubby.


    "Yes!" Little Shrubby responded eagerly.


    In just a couple of minutes, all of the beast corpses had been gathered and stored away safely in Lin Mu''s ring.


    With that done, Lin Mu now had the time to wonder just what had happened.


    "Why would they suddenly attack us?" Lin Mu questioned, thinking about the strange behavior of the beasts.


    While beasts could attack others, if they intruded on the territory, it would only be one kind of beast and not several types like this. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Either only the Basalt scaled Hippopotamus should have attacked them, or the pack of the Iron Hoof Wolves or the group of the Fork Beaked Jungle Fowl.


    It didn''t make sense that all three species were considering them as the shared territory as they were all enemies of each other in the first ce.


    "Were they here for the fruits, maybe?" Little Shrubby guessed.


    "Hmm¡­ it does seem possible. Perhaps they were rushing here to get the fruits as soon as they could, but they encountered us." Lin Mu replied, trying to think of a potential reason.


    Knowing that they needed more information about it, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby decided to explore the Evergreen Pirs Forest a bit.


    "Now that the Natural Befuddling Array is gone, we can explore it further and go deeper." Lin Mu said to Little Shrubby. "But before that, let me take the bamboo pavilion first." He said, and the two went back to the location where had built it.


    ~shua~


    There, Lin Mu barely had to touch the bamboo pavilion he had made and it was stored in the ring instantly. He had made it in such a way that it was basically a single piece, making it easy to move around.


    ~RUSTLE~


    Once the bamboo pavilion was moved, the rest of the bamboo that were growing and bending around it were released, causing them to sway.


    A few secondster, they straightened themselves and stood tall, filling the empty spotpletely in the forest. However there was anotherrge patch just a few kilometers from them.


    This was the same spot they had fought in and had been mowed down by the Basalt Scaled Hippopotamus.


    While it seemed likerge scaled destruction that was bad for the forest, it would recover rather quickly in just a few weeks. The spot where Lin Mu had built the bamboo pavilion had been replenished by new Evergreen Pir Bamboo in just a month.


    And while they weren''t as tall as the other bamboos yet, they were already over two hundred meters tall.


    This was basically ten meters of growth almost every day. This was an astonishing growth rate even for bamboos.


    ''They definitely have growth cycles as they seem to slow down growing after reaching the five hundred meter mark.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Let''s go deeper into the forest." Lin Mu said and made his way with Little Shrubby.


    He wanted to see the taller Evergreen Pir Bamboos that were two thousand meters and higher. He wondered if there was something different in the area, as well as figure out the particrs behind the appearance of the Natural Befuddling Array.


    Lin Mu wished to learn more about it as its applications could be endless, especially after seeing how effective this Natural Befuddling Array was.


    If by simply nting the Evergreen Pirs in a certain pattern was enough to create such a strong array, it certainly necessitated the need to learn it in detail.


    Not only was there no need to use immortal stones or external Qi sources, it would also repair itself which made it highly economical and efficient.


    At the very least, it was perfect for a passive mode of defense when needed.


    With this hope in mind, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby trod into the depths of the Evergreen Pirs Forest.


    It took them four days of travel before they finally arrived at their destination.

 Chapter 1964 Depths Of The Evergreen Bamboo Forest

    In the four days that Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had traveled, they had encountered several beasts on their way.


    But much to their surprise, the beasts did not necessarily attack them. Even when they passed by their territories, the beasts would mostly warn them and would only attack if they came too close. Even if it was now evening, the beasts seemed to be wary.


    This was partly due to Little Shrubby being there, as his presence acted as a deterrent to most of the weaker beasts. His bloodline suppression was working decently and even if it did not scare them right off, it did make them think twice before acting.


    All this did confirm a few conjectures for Lin Mu though.


    ''It is certain that the beasts did not attack us simply because we were there in their territory¡­ they were probably attracted by the Evergreen Pir Bamboo Fruits.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was amon thing too as beasts in the wilderness relied on immortal fruits and herbs to further their cultivation base. After all, they didn''t always have ess to Alchemical pills like human cultivators, and as such these herbs and fruits acted like cultivation resources for them.


    Lin Mu linked this immortal fruit seeking behavior of the beasts with the urrence of the Natural Befuddling Array.


    ''Perhaps the Natural Befuddling array''s appearance is linked with the time when the Evergreen Pir Bamboo fruits are birthed on them too?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    It did make sense if the Natural Befuddling Array was a protective measure of the Evergreen Pir Bamboos to prevent the beasts or other creatures from eating their fruits before they were fully ready.


    Once they were ready, it was fine if the beasts ate them. As these very same beasts would then wander the forest and other areas, dispersing the seeds in their dung allowing the Evergreen Pir Bamboos to spread even more.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t know if it was really effective or not now, as the Evergreen Pirs forest seemed to have reached a limit. Not to mention, most of the Evergreen Pir Bamboos seemed to be linked to each other and had the same root system.


    In a way, the entire forest was possibly born from a single individual, quite simr to the Snow ss Pear trees where the source was none other than Elder Pear.


    "These bamboos feel different." Little Shrubby spoke, having sensed them.


    "Oh? How so?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The flow of Wood Elemental Immortal Qi is stronger, and the quantity is also higher." Little Shrubby replied. "And I can also feel something else further in the depths of the forest." He added.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes trying to see if he could feel something too.


    ''Perhaps Little Shrubby''s Fume Wood Panther bloodline is allowing him to perceive it better than me.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Regardless of that, Lin Mu knew the Evergreen Pirs forest was much bigger than what he had seen. The two thousand meter tall bamboos were merely the ''outer'' edge of the forest.


    The atmosphere in this part was also a bit more somber. asional sounds of the beasts could be heard, with some hunting and some being hunted.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu ignited a little me, to see things better. It was evening, thus the colors all seemed a bit uneven.


    "These Evergreen Pir Bamboos are also darker¡­" Lin Mu touched them with his hand, finding their surface to be rougher than the others he had seen.


    If the previous ones were lighter in color, they could be considered as young and these ones as being old.


    The previous Evergreen Pir Bamboo were of lighter green color, simr to normal bamboos, but these were darker with some even having deep brown streaks.


    "Hmm¡­ don''t these ones have a different term for them?" Lin Mu recalled having read about it and took out the same book.


    He flipped through the pages and soon found the entry.


    "Here it is¡­ When Evergreen Pir Bamboos have over two thousand segments and gain a darker color with brown streaks, they are termed as Elder Evergreen Pir Bamboos." Lin Mu read.


    These are long lived with each of them having survived at least a hundred years or more. They were also tougher than the others, being wider and thicker.


    ~knock~knock~


    Lin Mu tapped on the bamboo''s surface and felt a deep sound from it showing just how thick it was.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense entered the Elder Evergreen Pir Bamboo, discovering it to be about one meter thick while the middle two meters were hollow.


    ''These can pretty much be used as tunnels orrge pipes directly.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    They seemed ideal for various kinds of construction, but he hadn''t seen any of the people or settlements use them so far.


    ''Is it because it is too distant?'' He wondered.


    ~ROAR~


    And while Lin Mu was wondering about the mysteries of the Elder Evergreen Pir Bamboo, Little Shrubby''s roar was heard.


    "What''s happening?" Lin Mu immediately became alert as Little Shrubby''s roar was not a normal one.


    Little Shrubby''s roar was that of a threat and danger, rather than just a warning.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense immediately spread around, trying to see if there were any beasts nearby.


    "There''s some beast here." Little Shrubby warned through their link.


    "Where is it?" Lin Mu asked, unable to sense it.


    "I smelled it for a moment before it suddenly disappeared." Little Shrubby replied while bearing his fangs.


    His body started to heat up and soon mes started to burn on them, illuminating the darkness of the forest.


    ~CLICK~CLICK~CLICK~


    An unsettling clicking sound was heard echoing in the forest that made all the other beasts be silent.


    "That does not seem good¡­" Lin Mu drew out Wonder Seeker and Afternoon Pine.


    The sword floated next to him, while he drew the bow to its maximum limit. He had no idea what was here, but he would not be taking any chances and would deliver a fatal blow if need be.

 Chapter 1965 A Sneaky Beast

    While Lin Mu''s proficiency with swords was better due to his Sword Intent, the speed and reach of Wonder Seeker was still better. Plus, Lin Mu could prepare an attack beforehand and keep it charged to deal a lethal blow.


    Normally he wouldn''t take this much effort, but the unknown beast was a bit concerning to him.


    ''I can''t sense it through immortal sense, and even Little Shrubby could only smell it for a moment¡­ How is it hiding?'' Lin Mu wondered and activated his Spatial Perception.


    ~shua~


    As soon as he did, the entire scenery in front of him changed and the fabric of space became visible to him.


    "Strange¡­ no signs of anything." Lin Mu didn''t see anyone hiding there.


    Even if they were using some Qi skill to hide, there should have been minute fluctuation that affected the space.


    ~CLICK~


    But just as Lin Mu had thought that there was no one hiding, he suddenly felt a presence behind him!


    "WHO?!" Lin Mu barely reacted in time, but saw a long spikeing towards him.


    It was just an inch from him and was about to hit him.


    Flicker!


    He reacted instantly and used the first skill of the ring to negate the damage.


    The Spike pierced through the ce where he was standing but didn''t hurt him.


    Blink!


    Lin Mu instantly increased the distance between him and the foe, realizing this was no normal beast.


    ~TWANG~


    At the same time, he released the arrow he had kept charged. The Stone arrow tore through the air ignited with a searing hot me, rushing towards the spot where the attack hade from.


    ~CHINK~


    A dark blur was seen hitting the arrow, and the attack was deflected!


    ~boom~


    The mes exploded next to the foe, illuminating its form.


    Lin Mu finally got to see just what had attacked him.


    It was a scorpion that was three meters tall and equally as long. Its entire body was ck while its six eyes were a deep violet in color.


    It had two pairs of pincers on the front, each of which looked incredibly sharp and pointy while also having a metallic texture different from the rest of its body. And from its back rose five tails, each tipped with a spear-like stinger.


    The stingers looked to be metallic as well, as the glint of mes was seen reflecting from them, though barely.


    The middle tail of the Scorpion though, was the longest and seemed to reach a height of seven meters when extended straight. This also happened to be the same spike that had attacked Lin Mu, as well as deflected his attack.


    Seeing that the Scorpion beast had managed to resist an attack from Wonder Seeker and even deflect it, Lin Mu fully confirmed that it would not be an easy target.


    Still, he hadn''t been able to fully identify what the beast was.


    His mind was rapidly going through the various beastpendiums he had read, but none of them were matching this beast.


    It was important for him to do this, as without that, he wouldn''t be able to predict the moves of the beast. He needed to know what it was and what abilities it had.


    ''Senior Xukong, what is this beast?'' Lin Mu decided to ask him directly since it was a sensitive time.


    ~CLANG~


    Of course, the Scorpion beast wasn''t going to give him time to think this much, and attacked again.


    Three of its tails shot towards Lin Mu, who defended with the Longgui Bulwark Armor this time.


    Lin Mu raised his arms and stopped top of the tails with them, while the third middle tail was held in ce by Afternoon Pine.


    "High Speed, hard to detect, and quick reaction time¡­" Lin Mu muttered, matching the characteristics with the scorpion beasts that he knew off. ''ck Assassin Scorpion? No¡­ while they are fast, and hard to detect, they don''t have five tails. Even if it were a mutant variant, its tails are too short to be that of a ck Assassin Scorpion. Then¡­ a Dark Iron Scorpion? No, the eyes are of a different color.'' He continued to think while holding the beast in ce.


    ~ROAR~


    Of course, he had only been holding the beast in ce so that Little Shrubby could attack!


    Searing hot ws that could melt through metal shed at the beast, threatening to crush it.


    ~DENG~


    But the Scorpion Beast still had two of its shorter tails free, which it used to strike back at Little Shrubby.


    ~HISS~


    Even if it managed to stop the attack, the heat from the ws still started to hurt it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And now that Little Shrubby was so close to the beast, he breathed out orange mes that covered the entire body of the scorpion.


    ~SCREECH~


    The Scorpion beast let out a screech of pain, and recoiled from the mes. Even if its carapace was tough, it didn''t mean it was heat resistant. If it didn''t stop the mes, it would end up getting cooked from the insides!


    Lin Mu took this chance to grip the two tails of the Scorpion. The rocky gauntlets formed by the Longgui Bulwark Armor were perfect for it, and Lin Mu yanked the beast towards him.


    At the same time, he raised his leg, which swelled up as red aura filled up within it.


    "TYRANT STOMP!" Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SQUELCH~


    ~TREMBLE~


    Lin Mu''s leg struck the middle of the scorpion''s head smashing it into the ground mercilessly and detaching its four pincers in the process. As not only was the head crushed, but the force of the impact was great enough to affect the rest of the body too.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and took a step back from the beast, while his leg reduced to the normal size.


    "It should be dead now." Lin Mu checked using his immortal sense.


    While there was still some lingering vitality within the flesh of the beast, its brain had been utterly destroyed, so there was no chance for it to be alive.


    ~shua~


    Of course, that didn''t mean that its soul was dead too.

 Chapter 1966 Dread Shadow Scorpion

    A blurry object rose out of the scorpion beast''s body having a dark color. This was the Nascent soul of the Scorpion beast which was till intact, as its Dantian had managed survived.


    "Shrubby," Lin Mu uttered, causing the oversized feline to mp its jaws around the Nascent Soul.


    ~SKWEE~


    The Nascent Soul let out a miserable cry, as it tried to escape, but couldn''t do so.


    mes burned in Little Shrubby''s mouth, harming the soul as well making it cry even more.


    "Wait, don''t kill it yet." Xukong''s voice was heard


    "Stop!" Lin Mu immediately ordered.


    "Mm?" Little Shrubby absorbed the mes, but still held onto the Nascent Soul.


    "Senior Xukong needs to check something." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Oh okay." Little Shrubby replied.


    Lin Mu got closer to observe the Nascent Soul better and saw that it looked exactly the same as the beast''s body. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Hmm¡­ There''s no doubt, this is a Dread Shadow Scorpion." Xukong spoke.


    "A Dread Shadow Scorpion?" Lin Mu didn''t know about this.


    "What are they?" Lin Mu asked wanting to know more.


    "Dread Shadow Scorpions are sneaky beasts that are able to use the Shadow Dao. They can use this to activate their innate ability which allows them to enter the Shadows. This is called as Shadow Sneak and is hard to detect." Xukong answered.


    "Enter the shadows? Isn''t that a bit simr to my spatial skills?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Simr yet, but they still do not enter another dimension. Instead, they are able to turn their bodies into a shadow and merge with the other shadows around the area. This allows them to move around without being noticed and does not leave traces most of the time.


    They are especially dangerous when they manage to enter someone''s shadow. If they do, they can hide there for a long time and strike when the target is vulnerable like when they are sleeping." Xukong exined.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu couldn''t help but be happy that he had decided to take the beast seriously and use all his power to end it. Tyrant Stomp was a little too powerful to be used on a beast like this, and even if Lin Mu had only used a fraction of his power aspared to the tournament, it had still used up ten percent of his Immortal Essence in one go.


    He did not regret it though, as he knew it was better to be safe than sorry.


    "Its cultivation base is at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm, but it is definitely stronger than that." Lin Mu assessed.


    "Yes¡­ though it is strange that it is here." Xukong spoke. "They don''t stay in ces with so much wood Qi like here." He added.


    "Yeah, I didn''t read anything about a beast like this either in the books about the Evergreen Pirs Forest." Lin Mu agreed. "Did ite from somewhere else, perhaps?" He wondered.


    "Quite likely. The Dread Shadow Scorpions mostly live in dark areas, or areas that at least have some source of Shadow Qi there. For it to be in the Evergreen Pirs Forest which is rich with Wood Qi does not make sense." Xukong stated.


    "Then did it perhaps get lured here due to something?" Lin Mu guessed having listened so far.


    "Could be possible, yes." Xukong replied. "Though the temptation for it toe here must have been huge. They don''t leave their habitats that easily. After all, they get weak under light and are unable to use their innate skill. Their eyes are also sensitive to light, which causes them to be practically blind in bright light like the sun." He informed.


    "Hmm¡­ A huge temptation for the Dread Shadow Scorpion¡­ I doubt it is here for the fruits of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo. There must be something else in the forest." Lin Mu guessed after thinking over it.


    He then looked at Little Shrubby and thought of something.


    "Doesn''t¡­ Little Shrubby''s Midnight Lynx bloodline also have an affinity to the Shadow Dao?" Lin Mu suddenly asked.


    "It does yes." Xukong answered.


    "Then wouldn''t it be beneficial for him to consume the Dread Shadow Scorpion?" Lin Mu replied. "If his sensitivity to the Shadow Dao increases, maybe we''ll be able to find what the Dread Shadow Scorpion is here for. It might as well be a treasure that is either beneficial to beasts or is of the Shadow Dao." He exined his thoughts.


    "It does seem like a good option, but¡­ do you want to spend your time in doing that?" Xukong asked. "Your goal in being here is to practice the Litany Of the Verdant Forest''s isn''t it?" He reminded Lin Mu.


    "Yes¡­ I shouldn''t get distracted." Lin Mu understood.


    "But that doesn''t mean Little Shrubby can''t search for it on his own." Xukong suggested instead.


    "Ah yes! Of course." Lin Mu had almost forgotten that was an option.


    "With your link, I don''t think it''ll be too troublesome for him. And his own skills and speed is more than enough to deal with most things." Xukong stated.


    "Yeah, that''ll be the better option." Lin Mu agreed.


    Having consulted Xukong, Lin Mu decided to go ahead with it.


    "Little Shrubby, there might be something in the forest that can help strengthen your Midnight Lynx bloodline. You should consume this Dread Shadow Scorpion''s corpse and Nascent soul and see if it helps." Lin Mu advised.


    "I can eat it all alone?" Little Shrubby''s eyes lit up.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu nodded.


    "YES!" Little Shrubby was more than excited now.


    ~POOF~


    Without even missing a second, Little Shrubby bit down on the Nascent soul and consumed it all. Then, he started to tear into the scorpion beast''s corpse, his ws and fangs were cooking the beast, he had also torn and ate it up too, making some freshly grilled scorpion on the go.


    Within just a few minutes, Little Shrubby had consumed the beast, leaving behind only the inedible parts, which were its carapace, pincers and the stingers.


    "You can have those. I can''t eat them." Little Shrubby handed them to Lin Mu.

 Chapter 1967 Sending The Beast’s Off

    <h4>Chapter 1967 Sending The Beast''s Off</h4>


    Even for Little Shrubby, not everything from a beast was consumable.


    In fact, Lin Mu could consume more than Little Shrubby as he had fewer restriction on what he could eat. If he wanted too, these pincers, carapace and stingers were edible for him too. But it was questionable about how much nutrition he would get from them.


    "I guess I can store them forter. They do seem suitable to make Immortal weapons." Lin Mu said and stored the carapace, pincers and stingers.


    Since they had managed to withstand the attacks of Wonder Seeker, it was a testament to how strong they were. They could certainly turned into Immortal weapons.?Looking at them, Lin Mu already got a few ideas about what he could make and noted it forter.


    "Should I take Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang with me too?" Little Shrubby suddenly asked.


    "The twins?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Yeah, we can look for things together. They are even better at sensing things than me." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Is that so¡­ I guess you can take them along. It''ll be safer too." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit. "But before that, we should tell the Saintess. She''ll keep an eye on you guys just in case." He suggested.


    "Alright." Little Shrubby had no objection to that.


    ~shua~


    Next Lin Mu called out the twins, who looked around the new area with curiosity.


    ~Hiss~


    "We''ve seen this ce." Xiao Yin said.


    "Huh? You''ve seen it?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Yes, the Saintess took us. For breakthrough." Xiao Yang replied.


    "Oh yeah¡­ you guys did go further south¡­ was it here?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Not here." Xiao Yin shook her head.


    "Further¡­ Sand." Xiao Yang answered.


    "A desert, huh¡­" Lin Mu took out the map and checked on it, only to find the desert being at least three months of travel from where they were.


    Not only was it beyond the Evergreen Pirs Bamboo, one had to cross three more regions to reach it.


    ''She sure took you guys far.'' Lin Mu guessed that the twins might have seen more of the Dao Wind continent than him at this point. "I guess you guys will get to explore this ce for now."


    "We explore?" Xiao Yin questioned.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Alone?" Xiao Yang asked.


    "Well, you three will. So not exactly alone." Lin Mu answered. "And I''ll inform the Saintess too. Speaking of that¡­ Are you there, Saintess?" he called out.


    He knew that she was cultivating too and as such didn''t wish to disturb her. Especially since she had to do that due to his fight. She had interfered in the tournament at the end to protect him, and was also why a lot of her energy was drained. Knowing this, Lin Mu did not want to interrupt her recovery period.


    Lin Mu only decided to ask her, since she was highly concerned about the twins and wouldn''t mind it. For a few seconds after Lin Mu spoke, there was no response, then finally he heard her voice.


    "Only thought of me now?" The Saintess asked a question that threw Lin Mu off.


    "Uh¡­ I didn''t wish to disturb you." Lin Mu replied.


    "Mmm, it''s fine." The Saintess replied.


    "I am going to cultivate here for a while and intend to let Little Shrubby and the twins wander the forest. There is something that can help Little Shrubby and the twins will gain some experience too." Lin Mu exined.


    "That''s fine. I''ll know when they''re in trouble." The Saintess quickly understood what Lin Mu meant.


    "Thank you Saintess." Lin Mu replied. "I hope your recovery ising along well."


    "Yes, now go back to your cultivation." She said as her voice faded away.


    Lin Mu didn''t know, but he felt a little happy inside and looked at the trio of beasts.


    "Well then, you three can head off. Xiao Yang, you can practice using your sh Cleave Axe too" Lin Mu replied. "Also, since Xiao Yang has a storage tool too, you guys can store anything you find interesting." He suggested.


    "Okay~" The twins replied.


    "Go on, now." Lin Mu waved them away.


    "I''ll bring more food!~" Little Shrubby said before disappearing along the twins.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu watched them leave and let out a little sigh.


    "Guess I should find a ce to cultivate too." Lin Mu muttered to himself and proceeded further into the depths of the Evergreen Pirs Forest.


    Along the way, he fought a few beasts and gathered some herbs before finally finding the perfect ce.


    Lin Mu chanced upon a group of sixrge ponds that were divided by Elder Evergreen Pir Bamboos.


    "Interesting¡­ This should have been ake in the past. But the growth of the Bamboos has created this unique grouping." Lin Mu guessed, observing the scene.


    He walked closer and took out Afternoon Pine. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "The spot in the center of the ponds is perfect." Lin Mu said and swing Afternoon Pine.


    ~SHING~


    In one sh, all the Elder Evergreen Pir bamboos in the center of the ponds were cut down. But it didn''t end there as they were still standing due to their branches and dense growth. They wouldn''t fall just like that since they were too tall.


    Even the smaller five hundred meter tall Evergreen Pir Bamboos had only tilted down, instead of fully falling. Lin Mu had to chop them down into smaller pieces in order to make space for the Pavilion and also to use them as building materials.


    But this time around, Lin Mu didn''t wish to chop them down directly.


    ''It would be a pity to chop them into smaller segments when they took this long to grow so tall.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Instead of chopping them, Lin Mu stored all of them into his ring one by one. He reckoned this was much better than chopping them and if he ever needed them in the future, he could always cut them then.

 Chapter 1968 Immersing Himself in The Forest

    Once Lin Mu had stored all the Elder Evergreen Pir Bamboos, he could now ce the bamboo pavilion here.


    He did have to make a couple more adjustments to the building though, as one sides of the pavilion would be dipping in the pond. But that was easily fixed by simply increasing the supporting pir of the Bamboo pavilion on that side.


    "And done." Lin Mu dusted his hands off, as he finished the touch ups.


    ~THUD~


    He ced the bamboo pavilion in the center of the six ponds andpleted his residence for theing few months.


    It was rather quaint with the six ponds surrounding it and then a circle of Elder Evergreen Pir Bamboos that extended further and merged into the rest of the Forest. Looking at it from the bamboo boundary made it look quite picturesque too.


    ''Did they describe the abodes of immortals to be like this in the mortal stories?'' Lin Mu recalled having heard many such stories when he was a child. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    In those, immortals were elusive and lived in deep forests in scenic pavilions, or high up on mountain peaks that were luded with mysterious mist.


    And now that Lin Mu was rethinking about that, he realized that there was certainly some truth to those stories.


    ''If there are other skills like the Litany Of the Verdant Forests, then it would make sense why stories like those were created. There''s bound to be other cultivators who had to move into suitable isted areas to practice their cultivation techniques.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he stepped into his personally made pavilion.


    The formations of the pavilion were functioning perfectly like before and all that was left was for Lin Mu to activate them.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu activated it with his Immortal sense and caused the Bamboo Pavilion to disappear and be reced by a thicket of bamboos, just like before. Since there were ponds here, Lin Mu was sure beasts would certainly visit this ce from time to time. As such, it was best to keep things same as before to prevent any extra disturbances. With that done, Lin Mu entered the pavilion and sat down again.


    This time he intended to stay here until he had at leas some sess with the technique.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and started to chant the Calming Heart Sutra first. This allowed him to recover his body to the optimum state and when he felt like he was ready, he chanted the Severing Heart Sutra.


    His emotions faded away and his mind was cleared, ready to take in all that the Evergreen Pirs Forest had to offer.


    Lin Mu opened up all his senses and weed the forest to speak to him. He didn''t know how long it would take, but he would wait¡­ wait and let the forest whisper when it was ready for it.


    Minute after minute passed, as Lin Mu immersed himself in the embrace of the forest.


    The air was tinged with the subtle fragrance of bamboo, which was like a delicate perfume that whispered of its ancient secrets


    A soft symphony of rustling leaves apanying a gentle breeze swept through the forest. The bamboo leaves, long and slender, swayed in unison, and created a soothing melody that echoed through the groves. asionally the leaves would fall from the bamboo and create ripples in the six ponds around Lin Mu. Usually the sound would be almost imperceptible, but for Lin Mu who had opened up his senses to the forest, they sounded like gentle bells instead.


    Night and Day shifted, and the atmosphere of in the forest changed too. At night the Evergreen Pirs Forest was like an endlessbyrinth, but during the day, sunlight could trickle though the canopy when the bamboos swayed with the wind, creating gaps for it.


    The momentary exposure of sunlight would reveal small flowers and blossoms, as if they were ying hide and seek. They had their own ephemeral beauty that could only be witnessed if one was lucky.


    It was a dance of tranquility, a ballet of nature, an example of perfect harmony. The Jade colored world around Lin Mu was like a tranquil heaven where time seemed to slow and the outside world faded away.


    Lin Mu too gave up on time, and let the world progress.


    His breaths synchronized with the winds while the Qi within him flowed at the same pace as that of the Evergreen Pir Bamboos.


    While Lin Mu was immersed in this, the forest around him had started to subtly change. The changes were fine and even peak immortals would find it hard to sense. The bamboos shifted, ever so slightly. Their branches tilted little by little everyday, while the leaves began to face the pavilion.


    Eventually a day came where, all the branches tilted towards Lin Mu, the leaves faced him and the Bamboo leaned at him.


    If Lin Mu were to directly sense the Evergreen Pir Bamboos with his Immortal sense, he would finally feel the difference. As of now, a major change had happened.


    Not only was the flow of energy linked from the roots of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo, but even the branches and leaves were the same.


    Fine wisp of Qi rose from the leaves and flowed to the other bamboos. The flow was very delicate and fine. And with how many leaves and branches were present in the area, the wisps of Qi formed a dense.


    As time passed, the flowing Qi got denser and denser,ing closer and closer to the pavilion. It eventually reached it, avoiding all the formations that were ced on it. It was as if they were never there.


    The formations did not register this as a threat and considered it the same as air.


    The continued to grow until it weaved and wrapped around the pavilion. At a certain point, it was almost caressing Lin Mu''s body and avoiding it just by a fraction of millimeters.

 Chapter 1969 Whispers

    If someone with an exceptionally good sense of Qi saw the scene in the middle of the Evergreen Pirs Forest, they would be utterly astonished.


    Thousands of Evergreen Pir Bamboos were currently connected with millions of Qi wisps that were like endless festoons. They flows like fine silk and had turned the area with the six ponds and the bamboo pavilion into a natural marvel.


    The bamboo pavilion and the person sitting inside it could barely be seen, but if one looked at it with normal eyes they would only see the pavilion with Lin Mu sitting inside it.


    The the formed from the Qi threads had fully covered the pavilion by now and had also invaded it. It continue to grow and reached near Lin Mu too.


    Lin Mu''s breaths made it the Qi sway, but it continued to stay away from his body.


    That was until the day where the had basically covered him in a cocoon


    If he were open his eyes at this moment, he would certainly be shocked. But there was no way he could do that right now as he was in a trance now.


    The trance continue to go deeper and deeper, until finally Lin Mu stopped feeling anything. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu suddenly opened his eyes feeling a bit startled.


    It was simr to waking up from sleep with a jerk and being unable to figure out what had happening or where they were. Lin Mu felt disoriented and rubbed his eyes.


    "Where am I?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    Everything around him felt blurry as if it he was looking at it through frosted ss.


    He blinked his eyes several times until finally his vision came into focus.


    "What is this ce?" Lin Mu looked around and discovered that he was standing in an empty area filled with grass. Looking up, all he could see was a in blue sky with no sun in sight.


    "Am I in the Sleepscape?" Lin Mu wondered as the scenery was simr to that. "No, that can''t be¡­ I would have to be asleep to enter it. Besides there aren''t any of the trees of the Sleepscape here." He shook his head.


    It didn''t take long for him to confirm the fact that he wasn''t in the Sleepscape. He felt not connection to it.


    "If this isn''t the Sleepscape, then¡­ where am I?" Lin Mu looked at himself and found that he was wearing in white robes. "I don''t think I was wearing these before." He was sure of it. He even wondered if the Silver Mirage Circlet had changed him into this.


    "Wait! Where''s the Silver Mirage Circlet?" Lin Mu said in shock.


    He touched his forehead and didn''t find it there. While doing this, he inevitably nced at his right hand and got another massive shock.


    "Where''s th ring?!" Lin Mu could not see the twoyered ring on his finger anymore.


    Feeling panicked, Lin Mu tried to withdraw something from the ring but that didn''t work. Next he tried to use his Spatial Skills but that didn''t work either.


    "None of it works¡­ Even my cultivation base is gone." Lin Mu started to realize this was unlike anything he had felt.


    There was no Qi within his body, and neither did he have any Dao Embryos. Even his body cultivation seemed to have disappeared and he only had a mortal''s body now.


    "I need to think this through, what was I doing beforeing here?" Lin Mu questioned himself.


    His memories were still a bit blurry but soon enough he managed to gather his memories.


    "I was in the Evergreen Pirs Forest practicing the Litany of the Verdant Forests!" Lin Mu recalled, causing a change within the area.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Thousands of green wisps of light appeared in the area, as if fireflies rising from the reeds on a summer evening. The green wisps surrounded Lin Mu and danced as if feeling happy to see him.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, wondering what these wisps were.


    Feeling curious he extended his hand and tried to touch them with his finger.


    Much to his surprise, a green wisp took the initiative and voluntarily made contact with him. Lin Mu felt a fuzzy feelinging from the green wisp and a tingle rose from his finger before traveling to his head.


    "You¡­ are¡­ here¡­" Lin Mu heard a voice in his head.


    The voice was very light, and could barely be considered a whisper. Most would ignore it and think of it as mere air, but to Lin Mu it was still clear.


    He also knew where the voice wasing from.


    It was the green wisp!


    The wisps floated around Lin Mu, as if wanting to tell him something.


    "Evergreen¡­" The green wisp whispered before another wisp approached Lin Mu.


    "Pirs¡­" The second wispnded on Lin Mu''s thumb and spoke.


    "Bamboo¡­" Then a third wisp came to rest on top of Lin Mu''s middle finger, finishing their answer.


    "The Evergreen Pirs Bamboo¡­ all of you are the bamboos?" Lin Mu looked around and saw that the green wisps bobbed up and down, as if nodding.


    Seeing this, Lin Mu quickly understood what was happening. ''The Litany Of the Verdant Forests¡­ it worked?'' Lin Mu was thrilled. He had been feeling lost since there was no sign of sess or progress in the technique. But now that it had suddenly worked, he was happy.


    ''If I am hearing their whispers, I should be in the beginner stage.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He recalled the four stages of the technique and knew that in order to progress to the next stage, he would have to be able to fully hear the wisps.


    "Can you hear me?" Lin Mu spoke, attempting to converse.


    But the green wisps did not respond to him and floated up from his hand.


    "Looks like I cannot talk to them yet¡­ they are also not speaking any further with me." Lin Mu concluded that this was the extent of what he could do right now.

 Chapter 1970 Soul Protection

    Lin Mu looked at the thousands of green wisp and wondered if each of them were the representation of an Evergreen Pir Bamboo.


    ''Considering how many trees area in a forest these aren''t many at all. Does the number of wisps also determine how effective the Litany of the Verdant Forests is?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    ~SHUA~


    But while he was thinking this, the green wisps suddenly started to spin. They ran around Lin Mu in circles, their intentions unknown.


    "What are they doing?" Lin Mu wondered as the green wisps continued to move faster and faster.


    Soon enough the green wisps formed green rings around Lin Mu due to their revolutions. The number of rings was hard to estimate, as they seemed to be changing every second.


    Sometimes they numbered in the thousand, while sometimes they were in the tens. Their sizes also changed, as the wisps grew closer and farther from time to time.


    When the wisps were closer their rings merged to together and turned from a millimeter thin ring to a band several inches in thickness. Lin Mu didn''t feel anything wrong from the rings and neither did he feel any danger, as such he just let it happen.


    ~HONGLONG~


    And after a minute or so the revolving green wisps seem to have disappeared, but not before leaving the rings behind. These rings surrounded Lin Mu and floated without any issue.


    They continued to change their shape and thickness even when the Green wisps were gone.


    Most of the rings would merge together, turning into threerge bands that surrounded Lin Mu. Small gaps were left between these rings, which did not seem to be filled even when the rings turned into smaller ones.


    "Is this the effect of the Litany Of the Verdant forests?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    After all, the things that had happened so far seemed to be urring on their own for the most part. Lin Mu didn''t particrly control them or willed them to happen.


    ''Litany of the Verdant Forests sure is a strange technique. It works on its own when it wants to or simply does nothing even if one puts in a lot of effort.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~SHUA~


    Shortly after, Lin Mu saw the rings disappearing while the world around him turned blurry again. It was like a frosted ss dome had been put back on him.


    ''Is this the limit?'' Lin Mu had this as hisst thought before he felt himself losing his consciousness.


    When he came to, Lin Mu found his vision to be blurry again.


    "I''m back?" Lin Mu could feel that he was now in his normal body.


    The familiar flow of Qi within his body, the thrumming of Dao Embryos with in his Dantian and the bubbling of Vitality within his muscles. It had all returned, confirming for Lin Mu that he was back in the real world. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    His vision also cleared up in a few moments and saw the Bamboo Pavilion.


    He was still sitting in the same ce, but the scenery around him had changed quite a bit. Hundreds of Evergreen Pir Bamboos had grown in ce that Lin Mu had ced the bamboo pavilion in.


    But unlike thest time, they didn''t bend around the pavilion. Instead, they actually put distance between the pavilion and themselves.


    Lin Mu estimated that an empty circle of around a meter had been formed and the pavilion was left alone. The six ponds around the bamboo pavilion were also intact, though there were several Bamboo leaves floating in it now,


    "Guess that was it." Lin Mu muttered while his eyes continued to wonder.


    Since the Litany of the Verdant Forests had worked, Lin Mu wondered if the forest itself had experienced any changes. He couldn''t tell anything that had changed though, as the Evergreen Pir Bamboos around him had returned to their normal state.


    "Hmm¡­ whatever it was, it worked in my favor. I at least have the first stage of the techniquepleted. All that''s left is to check it.'' Lin Mu thought and used his immortal sense to nce in his Dantian.


    Upon doing so, the first thing he noticed was the massive sea of Qi that had different colored spots from time to time. These were none other than the other elemental immortal Qis that Lin Mu had absorbed so far.


    Above this sea floated his Nascent soul, which sat in silence.


    The Nascent soul had two Dao Embryos around him while the third spatial Dao Embryo stayed hidden.


    ''Hmmm, the Litany of the Verdant Forests did not affect my Nascent soul. There don''t seem to be any additional protections here¡­ then is it attacked to my True Soul?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    But taking a look at his True soul was not an easy thing.


    ~SHUA~


    Just as he thought this though, it was as if he had fulfilled a condition and a string of information appeared in his mind.


    ''I can look at it in my mind?'' Lin Mu instantly grasped.


    ~SHUA~


    With that said, he entered his mind and saw the True Soul. Or rather it was just the representation of his soul.


    But the True Souls as not alone. Just like earlier, it was surrounded in green bands that changed shape and kept on spinning.


    "Since the rings are surrounding my True Soul, they are likely to be the product of the Litany of the Verdant Forests." Lin Mu reckoned.


    Of course, controlling this new power was going to take thin a while, if that was even possible. To Lin Mu, this seemed like a long term investment, but he knew the defenses of his soul had certainly progressed now.


    With the pseudo-ring barrier around Lin Mu''s True soul, it would now be protected against the soul attacks. He didn''t know how effective it would be, but was quite hopeful for the future.


    "Little or not, it is still a start and will only continue to grow." Lin Mu said to himself.

 Chapter 1971 Seven Months

    With the green wisps losing interest in him, the world around Lin Mu also seemed to turn blurry again.


    "I guess this is the extent of it." Lin Mu muttered to himself, before he felt his vision turning dark entirely.


    His body was dissociated and his mind turned numb. Lin Mu didn''t know how long he was in that state, but the numbnesssted an immeasurable amount of time.


    This was because he had no way of estimating time.


    It could have been a mere moment, or a century.


    Only when he regained the sense of his body did he understand it all. It had not been too short or too long.


    ~RUSTLE~


    The leaves of the Evergreen Pir Bamboo''s whistled in the wind, and yed a soft melody that was perfect for Lin Mu to awaken to.


    "Seven Months¡­ I was in a trance for seven months?" Lin Mu Muttered, his eyes still closed.


    He could tell it instantly not because of some tool, but because of the increase in his Immortal Qi. It was exactly the amount that would grow if he had cultivated passively for seven months.


    Within Lin Mu''s Dantian, the sea of immortal Qi had expanded quite a bit.


    Even though he had only cultivated passively, the increase was about twenty percent. But this was only for the non attribute immortal Qi.


    The elemental immortal Qis were still of the same amount and their kes'' in his Dantian had now be ''ponds.''


    But there was on exception to this: His Wood Elemental Immortal Qi.


    Before this, Lin Mu had a small pond of it. But now it had expanded to be argeke.


    "How did it increase this much?" Lin Mu was surprised sensing it.


    In fact, in the elemental immortal qi''s Wood elemental Qi was now the greatest in quantity even though he hadn''t cultivated it all.


    ''Was this due to the Litany Of the Verdant Forests?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He didn''t have an exact answer, but this seemed to be the most likely. After all, he was in a forest rich with Wood Elemental Immortal Qi.


    Even though the technique wasn''t a wood cultivation technique, it still seemed to have a passive effect on Lin Mu and the trees around him.


    Lin Mu didn''t think that this was an exclusive to wood immortal Qi either.


    ''The nts can be of various elements and not just wood. If it is a forest with majority of a different nt with other elements the effect might just be the same too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He also didn''t forget to notice that the wood elemental Qi that had been absorbed into his body wasn''t exactly stable.


    ''The Purity is a bitcking and the are turbulent ripples in it¡­ while its it have been absorbed into my Dantian, it wasn''t fully epted by my body''.'' Lin Mu noted.


    This was the same as a person overeating.


    They might be able to consume it, but it was a different case as to whether their body could handle digesting that.


    Lin Mu was still in a better condition due to the fact that his Dantian wasrge and he was also a body cultivator. This provided him resilience that did not let the extra Wood Elemental Immortal Qi harm him.


    ''My affinity with the metal element was also a factor in this.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    Since the metal element suppressed wood element, Lin Mu was able to handle the wood elemental immortal Qi even if it had exceeded other elements in capacity.


    The smaller amount of Metal elemental immortal Qi could still keep the greater wood elemental immortal Qi in check.


    But this also meant that the opposite could also have been true.


    ''If I had affinity to the water element, I might just have been harmed by the rapid increase in wood elemental immortal Qi.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Water element nurtured the wood element, and as such would have amplified the effects of the wood elemental immortal Qi, and possibly causing Lin Mu a decent amount of damage.


    This experience though made Lin Mu alert about how what he should do from the next time.


    ''Depending on the kind of forest I practice the Litany of the Verdant Forests in, I need to check the element of the major nt.'' Lin Mu noted it in his mind.


    It was very important for him as it concerned his life and death.


    And anything that involved those two factors were something every creature in the universal should prioritize. If they didn''t for some reason, they were their too careless, or intended to cause themselves harm.


    After havinge to terms with his Qi cultivation, Lin Mu moved onto his body cultivation.


    Unfortunately, unlike the Qi cultivation, his body cultivation hadn''t progressed. Or rather, it felt a bit weak for him.


    ~RUMBLE~


    "UGH!" As soon as he realized that, it was as if a switch had been flipped.


    His stomach roared in protest and a pang of hunger filled him. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Lin Mu''s toes and fingers almost curled in absolute starvation as a beasties instinct spread in his body.


    "Need¡­ Food! MEAT!" Lin Mu was reduced to his basic instincts, and the Great Slumber Bear bloodline was also demanding the same.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Without waiting a second, all the food that Lin Mu had prepared forter poured out of his ring. This not only included the cooked dishes, immorality fruits and herbs, but also raw meat and beast corpses that he had hunted so far.


    ~CRUNCH~


    ~MUNCH~


    ~KACHA~


    ~Crack~


    The sound of bones breaking, tendons ripping and flesh being torn was heard as Lin Mu devoured all the food that he had. It didn''t matter if it was cooked savory dishes or raw blood meat; Lin Mu ate it all.


    His face, robes and hands were all bloody by the time he finished the food.


    And despite all that, he was still not satisfied.


    ''Need more¡­ hunger¡­ need more meat!'' Lin Mu''s body screamed at him


    ~sniffs~


    But in this drive for food, Lin Mu''s sense of smell had also be stronger.


    He smelled something fragrant near him and it was something that seemed to be in plenty.


    Lin Mu''s eyes darted around and soon spotted the item of desire.


    It was none other than the Evergreen Pir Bamboos. Or more urately the young and tender shoots of the bamboo.


    Bamboo shoots were something even mortals ate and as such for Lin Mu it was nothing.


    ~RIP~


    ~Tear~


    Lin Mu uprooted all the young Evergreen Bamboo Shoots he came across and shoved them into his mouth. He didn''t care about the dirt and soil that was getting into his mind either. He just focused on chewing and swallowing it.


    One after the other, Lin Mu continued to eat the shoots.


    One shoot, ten shoots, hundred shoots, five hundred shoots!


    The area around the bamboo pavilion was left bare and despite that Lin Mu was still not satisfied.


    ~CRUNCH~


    The hunger had taken over Lin Mu''s mind and he didn''t even mind if the bamboo was young or not. He directly bit into the Evergreen Pir Bamboo and tore into it tough walls.


    Being a Body Cultivator, Lin Mu''s teeth were no less than sharp iron cutters. It didn''t mind if the bamboo was tough, Lin Mu bit through them as if they were Tofu.


    The surprising thing was that even though Lin Mu didn''t get as much benefit from it like the shoots, he still continued to consume it.


    The raw wood that even animals would find it touch to eat was being swallowed down his gullet at a crazy pace.


    Lin Mu finished segment after segment of bamboo and consumed an entire Elder Evergreen Pir Bamboo before he finally stooped.


    "What even¡­ was¡­ that¡­" Lin Mu felt exhausted and content at the same time.


    This kind of desire was felt by him a long time ago when he was still preparing to learn the cultivation techniques in the past. But now Lin Mu felt like he absolutely needed to eat something or he would start swallowing anything that was within the scope of his vision.


    Even if Lin Mu had experienced it before, the current hunger was unlike anything.


    Lin Mu rubbed his belly and felt like there was still more that it could consume.


    ''I should find some beasts¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself, making a goal right then and there.


    Next, he tried to find if there were any of the strong beasts nearby. But all he ended up seeing were native creatures that were afraid of humans.


    As such, Lin Mu wandered for quite some time until he found new path that went further into the depths of the forest.


    ''I should be right next to the exit¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he looked at the tall buildings some distance from him.


    This time around though, Lin Mu felt the presence of hispanions near by, making him halt.

 Chapter 1972 A Friend Of The Beasts

    Several Tall buildings rose in the distance and looked like they belonged to a n having the same kind of symbol on it. The symbol was that of a Morning Glory flower.


    "That must be the Morning Glory n." Lin Mu recalled the Crown Prince telling him about it.


    It was one of the locations on his list to visit, but he did not thing he would end up near it unexpectedly.


    But before he could think about the n, he had hispanions to gather first.


    Lin Mu could feel the presence of the Yin Yang Twin Serpents nearby but what was strange was the absence of Little Shrubby.


    ''Is he gone somewhere?'' Lin Mu wondered and tried to sense him with their link too.


    And sure enough, a couple secondster, Lin Mu felt Little Shrubby further south of where they were.


    ''About a kilometer away¡­ but why would he leave the twins here?'' He questioned and decided to ask the twins directly.


    ~HISS~


    The twins had noticed him too and soon rushed to him.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, what are you guys doing here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We found¡­ someone." Xiao Yin spoke first.


    "Friend¡­ new." Xiao Yang added.


    "A friend?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "Who''s that?" he asked.


    ~CHIRP~


    But Lin Mu didn''t even get the answer before a sweet chirping was heard.


    ~SHUA~


    And along with the source of the chirp arrived a red blur. Little Shrubby seemed to have sensed Lin Mu''s arrival too and came to meet him.


    "Master!~" Little Shrubby called out.


    "I heard you found a new friend?" Lin Mu asked, looking for it.


    ~CHIRP~


    The sweet chirp was heard again, but this time from Little Shrubby''s head.


    "Here!" Little Shrubby said pointing with his eyes that were upturned.


    "A bird?" Lin Mu finally saw a tiny bird on top of Little Shrubby''s head. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    With Little Shrubby''s size and thick fur, the bird was pretty much buried under it. Lin Mu saw a small head head poke out.


    The bird was barely the size of a thumb and had beady red eyes. Its beak was scarlet red while its feathers were snow white. But a red splotch could be seen on its immacte feathers.


    "It''s injured." Little Shrubby spoke.


    Looking closer Lin Mu saw the blooding from the bird''s leg. One of its legs seem to be broken and blood was still dripping from it.


    ~CHIRP~


    The bird chirped again, but this time Lin Mu could feel the the pain in it.


    "We were looking for something to help it." Little Shrubby exined. "We found it crying in the forest."


    "I see¡­ Did you give it the healing pills?" Lin Mu asked as he had given Little Shrubby healing pills for emergencies.


    "I did. It didn''t work." Little Shrubby replied.


    "It didn''t?" Lin Mu raised a brow as the pills were decently strong.


    At least for an injury like this even half a pill would have been enough. The bird was small and wouldn''t be able to eat much either.


    "Blood don''t stop." Xiao Yang added.


    "It doesn''t stop bleeding? How long has it been?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Two days." Little Shrubby answered astonishing Lin Mu.


    "That''s far too long for it to continue bleeding." Lin Mu knew something was wrong.


    For a bird this size to continue bleeding for that long would not be possible as the total amount of blood in its body would be too less.


    Not to mention, the bleeding should have stopped on its own too in a short time. Since it hadn''t there must be something seriously wrong with the bird.


    "I need to take a closer look." Lin Mu muttered and used his immortal sense to scan the body of the bird.


    ~shua~


    His immortal sense quickly picked up on the bird''s cultivation base which was barely at the Dao Shell Realm. It was very weakpared to the standard of the immortal world and even more so for the Evergreen Pirs Forest which had stronger beasts on average.


    ''Wait¡­ how''s it alive with that cultivation base? Even if it didn''t die from the blood loss, it should have died from the healing pills. It would be too strong for it.'' Lin Mu was confused.


    He then tried to identify the bird and could vaguely tell that it was a Snow Stream Sparrow. But there were some difference that stood out.


    The beaks of the Snow Stream Sparrow''s were not red and they were also bigger in size. Even if it was an infant, it would not be this small.


    But the other features of the bird seemed to match the Snow Stream Sparrow along with the cultivation base as they were spirit beasts that were present in Immortal worlds as well.


    The strongest they could get was Dao Treading Realm most of the time and them bing and Immortal beast was not recorded.


    ''I should address its injury first.'' Lin Mu changed the priority.


    He checked the injury and analyzed what could be wrong.


    And sure enough he quickly found the cause.


    "Poison?" Lin Mu could sense the impurity in the bird''s blood.


    This was why it kept on bleeding and was also unable to move much.


    ''Is that why the healing pills didn''t work?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Depending on the type of poison, a healing pill would be ineffective as one would need a detoxification pill. And even then, one would need the right kind of detoxification pill for different kinds of poisons.


    Some of the detoxification pills could work on multiple poisons, but they still weren''t an all purpose remedy.


    Now that Lin Mu knew what was wrong, he tried to identify the kind of poison that the bird was afflicted with. Unfortunately, Lin Mu was not an expert in poisons.


    This was something Herbalists or alchemist would be well versed in, but certainly not him.


    He might have read about them quite a lot, but identification of them through blood was not an easy task. One would have had to studied them and seen their effects beforehand, to be able to tell what kind of poison it was.


    "It''s Vein Snapper Venom." A soft voice fluttered behind Lin Mu.


    "Saintess," Lin Mu turned around to see the woman standing there.


    Her presence was imperceptible as always and actually felt even more ethereal than before.


    ''She seems to have not only recovered to the same level as before but grown further.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    Of course, he knew that this was not the Saintess'' true cultivation base, but just a temporary one that was within the limits of the Immortal world. But even then, this was easily more than enough to go against multiple Peak Immortals.


    It had been seven months since Lin Mu hadst talked to the Saintess and ten months since the Saintess had started her recovery. It was quite clear that she was already in the perfection condition.


    "How do I get rid of it?" Lin Mu asked the woman.


    "I''ll teach you." The Saintess replied.


    With her skills, it was as easy as snapping a finger to do the same. But rather than doing that, the Saintess knew Lin Mu would prefer to learn how to do the same.


    "Can I do it without the direct knowledge of the poisons?" Lin Mu questioned first.


    He didn''t back down from the task, but still knew that asking questions was necessary for learning.


    "You can. The Vein Snapper Venom is a bit tricky to identify but it isn''t particrly hard to get rid of." The Saintess replied.


    "Do we need a detoxification pill for it?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "You can use one certainly. But it is also possible to purge it using other methods." The Saintess replied. "The Vein Snapper Venomes from a tiny insect called as the Vein Snapper Tick. It is a nasty parasite and attaches itself to various kinds of beasts before injecting its venom.


    This causes the beasts to continuous bleed and eventually get weak enough to not move.


    Before this though, they also be more prone to idents and injure themselves. Birds are particrly affected by it, as they fall from the sky and break their bones in the process." She exined.


    Hearing that Lin Mu was quite intrigued. He knew that insects were also considered as part of the beasts, but they often went unnoticed unless they were big.


    Tiny parasites and normal sized insects that still had the power to bring down beasts many times bigger than them were certainly terrifying.


    "So how do we get rid of it?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "The Vein Snapper Venom works by preventing the clotting of blood. This causes internal bleeding at first, which leads to weakness which then leads to more injuries that further bleed.


    As such you simply need to get rid of the venom that will be bound to the veins." The Saintess exined. "Since you are already well versed with formations, you can use the same to get rid of them. The only difference is that you will be applying individual runes to the veins directly."

 Chapter 1973 Healing The Tiny Bird

    Lin Mu listened to the Saintess'' words in detail and memorized them. Since he already had a decent mastery with the formations, it wasn''t that hard for him to fully understand the methodology.


    The method was simple for him, as it was the same as creating small runes that could be linked together into a tiny formation that would be able to work on the veins.


    Of course, making formations on living things was entirely different thanying them on inanimate objects. Not only were there greater chances of making mistakes, there were also factors such as the natural flow of Qi and vitality that could also affect the formations.


    Either they would be disturbed, or would not be able to be created. And even if one did manage to make them, there was no guarantee it would be stable enough to work.


    As such, one needed to be an expert at formations in order to make them work on living beings.


    Then there was also the factor of how big of a formation one was making and howplex it was. Smaller formations would have a better stability as they were simpler in nature giving them fewer avenues of disturbance.


    Therger formations on the other hand were opposite and would not have the same stability. In fact, there was as chance that one wouldn''t even have enough space to make them in the first ce. Especially in a narrow space like the veins of a tiny bird.


    Still, for Lin Mu who had made formations even smaller than that, it was a new challenge that he took on with a whole heart.


    ~shua~


    His immortal sense scoured through the blood vessels of the tiny bird and marked each of the traces of the Vein Snapper Venom that was present.


    Once Lin Mu knew where all of them were, he started to work on making the formations.


    Heid the runes one by one, making sure that no harm was being done to the bird and that they were also stable. He progressed steadily, not wanting to make a mistake that could cost too much.


    He was slow at first, taking a whole half an hour to make the first formation.


    This was a very simple formation called as the Qi Dissociation formation and was often used inbination with other formations to make a Qi channeling array.


    One could consider this Qi Dissociation Formation to be a coating that would be applied inside of a pipe to prevent the fluid or other things from sticking to it.


    As such, the same Qi Dissociation Formation would be carefully applied in the veins where the Vein Snapper Venom was present causing it to detach from the veins.


    The area of effect of the formation was not that wide on its own, being microscopic. But once more of them were added, they would work in tandem and have a multiplicative effect.


    As such, when a few hours had passed, Lin Mu''s speed had increased by quite a lot and he was making the formations much faster than before.


    Now it barely took him a minute to make a formation and it was still decreasing.


    And eventually, Lin Mu was making them in barely ten seconds.


    It took him a total of twelve hours before Lin Mu finallypleted all the Qi Dissociating Formations.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu looked at the bird which was still alive, albeit weaker.


    "And here we go," Lin Mu said and injected Qi into all the formations at once, activating them all!


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as he did, the formations lit up and a surge of energy washed through the tiny bird''s body. It was like a river washing away all the impurities that were stuck in its veins and it all came out of its leg that had been bleeding.


    Instead of red blood, dark green liquid dripped out.


    It was just a single drop, but the obnoxious feeling one could sense from it was rming.


    "So that''s the Vein Snapper Venom." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    "Indeed. Even a single drop of it is enough to take down a beast." The Saintess replied. "Though¡­ it is surprising that a beast as small as this has managed to withstand it all this time." She said with surprise.


    She too was unable to tell just what the bird was other than the fact that it looked simr to the Snow Stream Sparrow.


    But before they could question any further, a change started to happen in the bird.


    ~CHIRP~


    It suddenly let out a loud chirp and its vitality increased. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense was still inside the bird''s body, and as such, he could observe the change in even greater detail. There he saw how the vitality which was continually being sapped by the Vein Snapper Venom was now returning.


    The tiny bird''s cells burst out with energy and produced a lot of vitality.


    ''Is this due to the healing pill that it ate before?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He checked the bird''s Dantian and saw that he was indeed correct.


    When the tiny bird had first eaten the pill, its effects had not worked but they had still been absorbed into the Dantian. And now that the Vein Snapper Venom was gone, it could take effect and fill its body with vitality and begin the healing process.


    They all watched as the injured leg of the tiny bird healed and returned to perfect condition.


    Not just that, but the bird also had a vibrant look in its eyes now.


    ~CHIRP~


    It looked at Lin Mu and let out a happy cry.


    ~FLAP~


    It then opened its wings and quickly rushed to Lin Mu,ing to stand on his head.


    ~CHIRP~CHIRP~CHIRP~


    It then hopped around happily on Lin Mu''s head, making the man chuckle.


    "Haha, guess it''s back to its peak health." Lin Mu said.


    "It says that it is thankful to you." Little Shrubby tranted for the bird.

 Chapter 1974 What Is The Bird?

    <h4>Chapter 1974 What Is The Bird?</h4>


    Seeing the happy bird, Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel pleased too.


    It felt rather warm in his heart and even the Saintess couldn''t help but smile under her veil. If one could see it right now, there was a high chance the entire forest would bloom in joy.


    "I see, it''s all good since it was your friend." Lin Mu said and returned the bird to Little Shrubby''s head.


    With the bird safe and healthy, Lin Mu could now move on to other questions.


    Such as the fact that the bird was still unknown.


    "Do you know what it is, Saintess?" Lin Mu asked, since he himself was unable to find a concrete answer.


    "Hmm¡­" the Saintess narrowed her eyes and took a deeper look at the bird.


    ~shua~


    Even her senses covered the tiny bird and looked deep into its bloodline trying to find what it was. As the Saintess of the Serpent Moon Sect and the Serpent Empress, she knew a lot about beasts and finding out their bloodlines was as easy as breathing for her.


    The Saintess then closed her eyes and searched deep within the bloodline of the bird.


    There she saw a muddied pool of blood which seemed to be stagnant.


    The Saintess gazed at this muddied pool of blood and her own bloodlinemanded it to move.


    ~HONG~


    The stagnant pool of muddied blood stirred and started to churn. A few secondster, it started to separate out into separate sections, each having a different density and color tone.


    Some parts were light while some were dark.


    Some looked like healthy blood while some looked like clotted old blood.


    It was easy to tell that the healthy blood was the main bloodline of the bird, while the others were impurities in its bloodline that hade to be due to the mixing of bloodlines. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    This was a normal thing for most beasts, and the majority of them had the same state of bloodlines. Very rarely would one have a proper bloodline, and even then, there was a high chance they would have impurities in them.


    The difference between an active bloodline and an inactive one was merely the amount of impurities that were present in them.


    These impurities came from the weaker or ipatible bloodlines that were mixed in millenniums ago. This was normal as most beasts interbred and came from a long, long line of ancestors and founders.


    The environment they lived in, the cultivation base they had, and what they consumed would also affect their bloodlines, eventually leading to the changes in the bloodline.


    Even if two beasts of the same species had the same bloodline, it wasn''t exactly a 100% match.


    After all, the two beasts would certainly have variations on how they lived and how they grew. This would cause minute changes in their bloodline that would change its makeup.


    Some changes could be bad, while some could be good. One could obviously provide better conditions, good nutrients, and resources, along with a suitable environment to have the most favorable effects on the bloodline.


    But despite that, there could still be some natural mutations that could happen.


    These could also be good and bad, with their probability being random. They further affected the bloodline, and could even change it entirely.


    This was the case for beasts with a singr bloodlines.


    Then there were unique cases, like Little Shrubby, where they did have multiple bloodlines, but all of them were pure. With few impurities.


    When something like this happened, a cumtive change would happen, and the bloodlines could even merge to create a beast like Little Shrubby.


    But having Seven Bloodlines like Little Shrubby was a very rare case.


    And even that had not exactly been a natural thing, but had been done through the interference of Lin Mu.


    The same was the case for the Yin Yang Twin Serpents. Lin Mu''s infusion of Beast Qi had changed the fate of the egg that was to be either a ck Water Snake or a Fire Fang Snake.


    The Saintess observed the bloodlines of the tiny bird and saw that Lin Mu''s original guess that it was a Snow Stream Sparrow was correct.


    ''Its main bloodline is certainly that. But¡­ the impurities have mutated it to be smaller.'' The Saintess understood. ''It also seems like they are the reason why it managed to survive this long. The mutation made it smaller, but also improved its natural vitality and healing, allowing it to survive blood loss for that long.'' She analyzed.


    There were often cases like this, where a beast would gain an advantage while also having a disadvantage.


    In the case of the tiny Snow Stream Sparrow, it became smaller in size as a trade off for having better vitality. Where most Dao Shell Realm beasts would have died within hours, it had managed to withstand the Vein Snapper Venom for two days.


    It was certainly shocking on some level and showed that while the bird had be weaker, it still had potential in it.


    ~shua~


    Having confirmed all this, the Saintess stopped influencing the bloodline pool which quickly became muddied again. She then withdrew her senses and opened her eyes.


    "It is just as you said, a Snow Stream Sparrow. But it has also mutated to be smaller along with a few changes to its physical characteristics." The Saintess confirmed.


    "Huh¡­ so I was right." Lin Mu didn''t expect that. "Is the reason why it managed to survive this long the same mutation?" He asked.


    "Indeed. It has better vitality than most beasts at the Immortal Ascension realm. While it isn''t that strong physically, it still has a high survival rate." The Saintess answered.


    She then went on to exin more in detail about how the bloodlines worked and the impurities that were causing this change in the Tiny Snow Stream Sparrow.


    Since Lin Mu already knew decently about bloodlines, it didn''t take him long to understand the rest too.


    And when he did, an idea came to his mind.


    "Should I¡­ try to use Beast Qi on it too?"

 Chapter 1975 Test On The Bird

    Beast Qi had profound effects on beasts, and Lin Mu had used it several times.


    With how extensively he had fed Little Shrubby and the twins, the changes and their strength were quite apparent.


    Lin Mu also continued to feed them the Beast Qi from time to time, which didn''t have as much effect on them now but there were still some long term benefits. He reckoned since there was no harm in doing that, he could simply continue to do so. He also hoped that there would be a transformation effect eventually once arge enough amount of Beast Qi was consumed.


    Or that the beasts needed to reach a certain level for the Beast Qi to have any more effects.


    Lin Mu had tested this out in the past with Little Shrubby, and knew that they couldn''t strengthen anymore of his bloodlines. They simply did not respond to it, as if they had reached a state of saturation.


    Though Xukong had told Lin Mu that it was merely a matter of what Little Shrubby''s body could handle and that it should eventually improve.


    Till then, it was totally fine to continue using the Beast Qi.


    After all, Lin Mu had an abundance of Immortal Qi and it didn''t really affect him much using it.


    ''I used it on the three who already had a great potential. I should try and see what kind of effect it has on a beast that had its potential reduced by the bloodline mutation instead.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was a reasonable experiment, and was spurred by Lin Mu''s curiosity with the bloodline of the tiny Snow Stream Sparrow.


    He also knew that it wouldn''t harm the beast, so it was fine to do so.


    After all, most beasts went crazy after Beast Qi.


    They would seek any source of it, and would look to nurture themselves. But Lin Mu could do the same on a mere whim. The Saintess heard Lin Mu''s words and knew that he had this ability. It was certainly an astonishing ability for a human to have ording to her, but knew that it was one of Lin Mu''s secrets.


    And as such, she hadn''t pried into it much.


    "I don''t see why not." The Saintess replied. "It should work to help the bird." She added.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said and chanted the Nurturing Heart Sutra.


    Its chants could be heard in the area and caused the tiny Snow Stream Sparrow to stare at him with great interest. The Sutra was such that it could attract beasts after all.


    Thankfully they were at the edge of the forest, and as such, none of the beasts were attracted. Plus, Little Shrubby and the twins had already made most of the beasts run away from their presence.


    In addition to that, they had also been hunting several beasts which had made them vary and keep their distance.


    They now knew that there were new predators in the Evergreen Pirs Forest that could easily get rid of them all. ~humm~ This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    The Nurturing Heart Sutra worked and the immortal Qi within Lin Mu''s Dantian started to be converted into Beast Qi. Of course, since this was the first time he was giving it to the tiny Snow Stream Sparrow, he did not wish to overdo it.


    It was still at the Dao Shell realm, and would not be able to take too high of a dose. It would still take a while to digest it all, and as such, Lin Mu only made an amount that would be needed.


    ~shua~


    A short whileter, it was done and Lin Mu drew out the string of Beast Qi from his Dantian. It hovered around his fingers and immediately caught the attention of the Tiny Snow Stream Sparrow.


    Its eyes were locked onto it and wouldn''t move at all.


    ~CHIRP~CHIRP~CHIRP~


    The bird quickly chirped in great excitement and couldn''t hold itself back from flying towards the string of Beast Qi.


    "Here you go. Eat well." Lin Mu said and released the string of Beast Qi for the bird.


    The tiny Snow Stream Sparrow opened its mouth and immediately sucked the beast Qi string. It entered its body and was quickly absorbed into it.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu used his immortal sense to check the condition of the bird, and saw that the beast Qi was affecting all the cells of the bird already. They seemed to be throbbing with excitement and the same was happening to the Qi inside its Dantian.


    ~CHIRP~


    The Snow Stream Sparrow let out onest chirp, before closing its eyes and sitting down.


    "It should start assimting it now." Lin Mu muttered.


    "With its size and cultivation base, the bird will take some time to fully utilize it." The Saintess spoke. "Are you going to head to that n there?" She asked, looking at the Morning Glory n in the distance.


    Lin Mu thought about it and shook his head.


    "Not right now." Lin Mu denied. "I need to make sure some things are fine before that." He said, remembering the hunger had returned.


    Even if he had already eaten the Evergreen Pir Bamboo earlier and the hunger had gone, it was now starting to make aeback.


    It had almost been fifteen hours and it showed that he needed food again.


    Of course, the Evergreen Pir bamboo he had consumed earlier was not enough, and he would need more food. Meat in particr, as the bamboo didn''t exactly have the nutrition needed for his stomach to calm down.


    "Little Shrubby, have you finished gathering the beast meat?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, I have lots of them." He confirmed.


    "Great, let''s have arge meal first. I am very hungry again." Lin Mu answered.


    "Alright! Let''s go to a ce we found before. We were staying there earlier." Little Shrubby stated, while the twin snakes nodded.


    "Alright, show us the way." Lin Mu said and went along the three beasts.


    The Saintess too followed with them for now, but she momentarily looked to the west before looking away.


    ''Strange.''

 Chapter 1976 An Abandoned Abode

    The Saintess thought that she sensed something numinous in the distance but didn''t know for sure as it had disappeared right away.


    "Something wrong?" Lin Mu asked having noticed the momentary pause of the Saintess.


    "I don''t know yet. I might have to check up on itter." She said, surprising Lin Mu.


    After all, if something was enough to warrant her to check, it must not be simple.


    ''She looked away¡­ in the west.'' Lin Mu remembered. ''Where exactly in the west though?'' He knew her senses could cover a massive distance, and as such, it could be anywhere in the west.


    "Is it something problematic?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Could be. It did not feel good." She said. "It also did not appear for long. Just for a moment before fading away."


    "Hmm¡­ that is indeed strange. And it was enough to catch your attention¡­ it is certainly not normal." Lin Mu replied. "You should check up on it if you think it is concerning." He suggested.


    "I can''t go even if I want to. I don''t have its location. It only appeared for a short moment, which is not enough to track it down." She exined.


    "I see." Lin Mu spoke, feeling a bit pleased that she would continue to stay with them for a while more.


    "I''ll probably have to wait until I sense it again. This time I''ll be on the look out and should be able to trace it." The Saintess spoke.


    "That''ll be for the best." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    With that said, the group continued through the forest for about a hundred kilometers or so before reaching the ce that Little Shrubby intended to show them.


    It was the ce that they had been staying while away from Lin Mu and he quickly understood why.


    "An Immortal''s Abode?" Lin Mu was surprised. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Standing in front of him was a rocky mountain that had been transformed into an immortal''s abode. The solid mountain had been cut and carved, until it took the shape of a set of buildings.


    All the buildings were made out of solid rock, and had vines and other nts covering them. It was clear that they had been abandoned a long time ago.


    But there was one thing that surprised Lin Mu even more.


    "Why aren''t there any Evergreen Pir Bamboo''s growing here?" He questioned.


    Looking around, there was a clear boundary where the Evergreen Pir Bamboo''s stopped growing. It was about fifty meters from the abode and was a perfect square around it.


    It was easy to tell that this was an artificial divide.


    ''The Evergreen Pir Bamboos are able to grow fast and will take over everything, there''s bound to be something that prevents them from growing here.'' Lin Mu thought.


    "Come in, you''ll know." Little Shrubby spoke and entered the boundary of the abode.


    Lin Mu and the others did the same and he quickly realized what was the reason.


    ~shua~


    "It''s warm." Lin Mu felt the rich fire elemental immortal Qi in the air. It almost felt like he had walked into a Qi enriching training room that was used by the disciples of sect to cultivate. The Qi here had been artificially concentrated and it was a good location for those with the fire elemental affinity and techniques to cultivate.


    "Are there formation arrays working here?" Lin Mu was surprised, as he didn''t sense anything at first.


    ~shua~


    His immortal sense quickly probed the entire area and found the source of it all.


    "There sure is¡­ and it''s quite widespread too." Lin Mu realized why he didn''t sense it at first.


    It was due to the fact that it was actually deep in the ground.


    Lin Mu sensed the core of the formation right in the center of the abode. It was a standard eight sided Qi gathering arrayyered with a Qi concentrating array which was then using an Immortal me Jade as the storage.


    But this was just the core.


    The way it was gathering fire elemental immortal Qi was even more interesting. Lin Mu could sense fire elemental Qi attracting formations spread around in the ground. And it wasn''t just in the area of the abode either, but actually further from it.


    These formations had seemingly transformed the underground and created paths from the long term flow of fire elemental immortal Qi. It cratered such perfect conditions for it, that it was now attracting fire elemental immortal Qi from the entire forest.


    "Whoever made this was very smart to do it like this." Lin Mu was impressed. "With how long it has existed, the formation has transformed the topography in its favor and now has a natural supply of fire elemental immoral Qi." He analyzed.


    Lin Mu even reckoned that this was the reason why the natural fire elemental Qi was so thin in the entire forest. Even if the forest would usually have wood elemental immortal Qi, there were always other elements spread in it too, as it was part of the nature.


    But here it was highly concentrated.


    The fire elemental immortal Qi was concentrated in the channels underground, which caused them to use it instead of spreading in the air. Since they had a path of least resistance in addition to being attracted by the formation arrays, it was the best ce it would go.


    ''There''s even a chance the Evergreen Pirs Forest grew to this level due to this formation array. Theck of fire elemental Qi probably boosted their growth by a lot.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Of course, he didn''t know if this was intentionally done by someone or was an unexpected oue.


    Whatever it might be, it was now benefiting him and hispanions.


    Though it certainly did raise his interest in the ce and made him want to see more. It was another secret of the Evergreen Pirs Forest that had stayed hidden for who knows how long.


    The group entered the main part of the abode and allowed Lin Mu to observe it in detail.

 Chapter 1977 Meal Under A Rusty Sky

    While Lin Mu spent the time in observing the formation array of the abode, Little Shrubby had gotten to making the food for him.


    After all, that was the reason they hade here.


    Lin Mu did not wish to go to any other ce with people, since he had no idea if his hunger would go out of control again. If it did, he didn''t know whether his control would be good enough to avoid attacking the humans.


    And even if he didn''t attack others, there was still a great chance he would damage the area and property. This would still offend the others, not to mention seeing Lin Mu in that state would certainly rm them.


    They would be very suspicious of Lin Mu and take him as an unorthodox cultivator or even worse a demonic cultivator. It was one thing that his identity as the winner of the tournament of the four guardians was confirmed, but if others witnessed him in that state, the truth was bound to change.


    At most, they would think that Lin Mu had somehow managed to hide his original identity and fooled the others.


    Even if the risk for this was low, Lin Mu would still not take the chances.


    It would be a different thing if he was visiting people who already knew him, like the Crown Prince and his otherpanions. As they would still be a bit more understanding.


    But if he visited apletely new organization as a guest and caused chaos there, the repercussions would be bad. To avoid all that, it was best he made sure his hunger was fully under his control before he went out.


    Lin Mu wasn''t the only one who was a bit worried though.


    The Saintess had some concerns as well, though they did not deal with Lin Mu, but rather something far from them.


    She was currently sitting in the courtyard of the abode and had created her signature cloud furniture. A cup of tea was in her hands while her eyes remained closed under her veil.


    Her senses were spread and covered arge portion of the Dao Wind Continent as well as the ocean surrounding it. ''That ominous feeling¡­ it was certainly that of death¡­'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    Her senses continually scanned the area for any signs of it, but didn''t find anything for now. But she didn''t stop and continued her work.


    A whileter though, she was awakened by Little Shrubby''s call.


    "The food is ready!" Little Shrubby called out to everyone.


    Lin Mu who was busy analyzing the formation array immediately got up and went to the dining hall that was part of the abode. Of course, it had no roof and one could see the open sky above it.


    With the gap that had been opened due to the rich fire elemental immortal Qi, the Evergreen Pir Bamboos did not block the view. Of course, the rust red sky left quite a bit to be desired as most of the stars simply couldn''t be seen even at night time.


    The countless asteroids orbiting around the Rust Sky World made it hard to see stars as well as the other celestial bodies.


    Though from time to time, one would see a falling meteor which would then glow like a star. Or there would be collisions between the different asteroids which would also make them explode, giving a starry look at times.


    Though this very same starry look could turn into a fireworks show, as the exploding asteroid would impact the other asteroids around them and explode further.


    This was a chain reaction and would only happen if the first exploding asteroid had enough energy inside it to trigger others to explode too. Normally, even a single asteroid exploding was rare. Especially after how many years had gone since the birth of the Rust Sky world. All the unstable and high energy asteroids that were to explode had already done so.


    This was also why the sky of the Rust Sky world would get more and more blurry. The asteroids would breakup into smaller particles, eventually turning into dust that clouded the atmosphere of the.


    One such asteroid exploded high above the Evergreen Pirs Forest, causing Lin Mu and the others to look up while they were busy having a feast.


    "That looks beautiful." Lin Mu said as he looked at the flower like explosion happening high up in the sky.


    Its size was quite small to be looked at from the naked eyes, but for Lin Mu who was a body cultivator, even a small explosion like that could be seen in a magnified view and the details could be made out.


    "It sure is." The Saintess agreed while taking a sip of some stew that Little Shrubby had made.


    Little Shrubby and the Yin Yang Twins had gathered a lot of beasts in their time exploring the forest. With Little Shrubby''s speed and Xiao Yang''s sh Cleave Axe, basically no beast could stand up against them. Xiao Yin might be a bit weaker than her twin, but she was still at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm, making her power great against most beasts.


    And when the trio worked together, nothing stood up against them. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Is this a Fifth Tribtion Stage Silver Tusked Warthog?" Lin Mu looked at the giant beast that had been roasted whole.


    "Yeah, we killed it together shortly before you came.." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Whoa¡­ that''s good." Lin Mu couldn''t help but praise as he took a closer look at the beast''s cooked corpse.


    There were eight holes in its body that went from one end to the other. They seemed to be skewer holes, but they actually were made by the Yin Yang twins piercing through the body of the beast.


    There were other injuries too, such as deep cut marks that broke half of the ribs diagonally, and one that had the beast''s jaw shattering in four parts.

 Chapter 1978 Not Above Mortal Needs And Desires

    The broken pieces of the warthogs jaw bone had allowed the tough jaw muscles around it to be tenderized properly by Little Shrubby''s mes. The spices and herb vor prated deep into it, making it the first thing that Lin Mu ate.


    ~RIP~


    The meat tore off with the bones easily, while meat fibers released a rich and savory juice.


    "Now that is some tender flesh," Lin Mu couldn''t resist and threw the entire thing into his mouth.


    The meat melted in his mouth, while he easily crushed the bones like chips.


    ~CRUNCH~


    Lin Mu''s jaw strength exceeded that of a beast, and breaking bones was nothing for him. It didn''t matter if the bones belonged to a fifth tribtion stage beast and could be used to make immortal weapons.


    They were still a source of nutrition to him.


    Especially in a state where his hunger did not seem to be fully under his control, even the odd sources of nutrition were working. Lin Mu''s stomach continued to continually digest them, while the obscure marks on them continued to glow lightly.


    The obscure marks had grown in number and so had the rings that they arranged themselves into. They continually absorbed the energies from the food that Lin Mu consumed, and stored them within them before entering into the stomach again.


    This process repeated as more and more obscure rune markings appeared and absorbed the energy, then joined into a ring and imprinted themselves onto the stomach before disappearing.


    Hour after hour passed by, as Lin Mu finished all the food that Little Shrubby had made.


    In fact, the beasts and the Saintess had long since finished eating their part and were full. Little Shrubby simply kept on cooking, since Lin Mu''s appetite did not seem to end.


    The Saintess who was watching all this was also confused.


    "Are you sure you''re okay?" She questioned.


    "I should be." Lin Mu answered. "My hunger does get out of control at times, but I simply need to eat more to handle it. I was deep in cultivation and, as such, didn''t eat for seven months. That seemed to have triggered my hunger and made it a bit overbearing." He exined in short.


    "I see¡­ still, how much more do you need to eat?" The Saintess inquired feeling quite curious. ''Even the giant serpents of the guardian mountains do not eat as much as he has eaten so far.'' She thought to herself.


    It was quite a conundrum since the volume of food that Lin Mu ate did not fit his body. For those that knew of Lin Mu''s spatial skills, they might just think that this was an application of that too.


    But in reality it was entirely different. It was a skill that even Lin Mu, or Xukong didn''t know much about. Its secrets were something that was yet to be fully discovered, and the more Lin Mu practiced them, the moreplex they got.


    He had thought that he had the pattern for it figured out, but his current situation told him that he was not even close to learning 10% about the Nameless technique of the Lost Immortal.


    As such, Lin Mu didn''t quite know how to answer the Saintess'' question.


    "I¡­ have no idea." Lin Mu replied honestly. "It is something I need to find simply by continuing to eat. Previously I was able to estimate it, but it seems like I was merely mistaken." He answered.


    "I see¡­ when you say you were able to estimate it, how long ago was that?" The Saintess asked next.


    "Hmm¡­ back when I first used the innate ability of the Great Slumber Bear, the Well of Slumber, I had relied on my appetite to get me through it. Back then I had eaten enough beast corpses that would be enough to feed a few people for a couple years or more. Later on, I had consumed amounts that were ten times as much as this, and theysted me two years when I first arrived in the Rust Sky World. I was unconscious during that time too, and thus the food I had consumed before that hade in handy.


    But now the amount I need to eat has increased once more." Lin Mu answered. "The factor that has changed here is your cultivation base, isn''t it?" The Saintess replied. "Which simply means the higher your cultivation base goes, the more you need to eat." She stated.


    "So much for being above the mortal desires and needs of a human." Lin Mu chuckled. "Now that desire is simply multiplied several fold." "That is true. But it does have some of its advantages too, doesn''t it?" She replied.


    "It sure does." Lin Mu muttered and picked up another tter of meat.


    The Saintess let him focus on eating and went back to her own task. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    She had already finished eating, and as such, she could resume her search for that ominous feeling.


    Lin Mu continued to eat, and the night had passed. The sky had lit up, and it was now nine am in the morning.


    Even now, Lin Mu felt like he could eat more and did not stop. Though he did have to slow down, since Little Shrubby had almost started to run out of all the beasts he had gathered in this time. It was a lot, and it was quite astonishing for both the beasts and Lin Mu.


    "We''ll go get more beasts." Xiao Yang offered. "Alright, be careful you two." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "We''ll be back soon~" Xiao Yin said, and the two quickly rushed away.


    Their sense of smell was strong enough to track the scent of beasts hundreds of kilometers, as such, it wouldn''t take long to gather them.


    Xiao Yang had his own Spatial Storage Gem now and could utilize that to store the corpses and bring them back.


    While they were doing all this though, the Saintess suddenly stood up.


    "I''ll be back in a bit." She said shortly before disappearing.


    ~SHUA~


    "Saintess¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he saw her figure fade quickly.

 Chapter 1979 Unexpected Transformation Of The Bloodline

    With the Saintess and the beasts gone, Lin Mu decided to take a look at the tiny bird.


    The Snow Stream Sparrow had been sleeping ever since Lin Mu gave it the Beast Qi, and as such, he could only observe what was happening in its body.


    On the surface, there didn''t seem to be much of a change, but on the inside, Lin Mu felt that its blood was flowing rapidly. Not just that, but each and every cell of the Snow Stream Sparrow was bursting with vitality.


    The traces of the Beast Qi were almost gone, having been absorbed almost entirely by the bird.


    It had been several hours since Lin Mu had given the bird Beast Qi, as such, it was a bit surprising.


    ''Even Little Shrubby took longer to absorb it back then.'' Lin Mu recalled.


    For a small bird beast like the Snow Stream Sparrow to absorb all of it like that in less than a day was quite astounding. It once again reinforced for Lin Mu that the beast was indeed a bit special. Though he had no idea, that the kind of ''special'' he was thinking about was not right.


    The Tiny bird''s internals first became stronger, while the exterior stayed the same. And when it felt the internal changes had stabilized, the external changes finally happened.


    "Huh? It''s shedding its feathers?" Lin Mu saw the feathers of the bird start to fall.


    Only a couple of its feathers fell at the start, but as minutes went by, the rate of the feathers falling also increased.


    In just an hour, the entire bird had be bald naked!


    "What the¡­ will it be fine?" Lin Mu was surprised by this change.


    After all, the Snow Stream Sparrow losing its feathers did not seem like a good thing.


    Unfortunately this was just the start of the changes. Soon, the beak of the bird also turned dull. From its scarlet red color, it became a dull brown and continued to change until finally it had be a crude dark brown color.


    ~crack~crack~crack~


    Cracks also spread on the beak, turning it rather fragile looking.


    "That does not seem good¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    He wondered if he needed to interfere here but hesitated. He checked the internal condition of the bird again, and discovered that it seemed to have full of vitality even now.


    The outside and inside conditions contrasted greatly.


    From the outside the Snow Stream Sparrow looked like a sick beast afflicted with cancer. But on the inside, the beast was full of vitality as if it were in the peak of its health.


    ''I need to observe it more.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He let his Immortal sense split up further into smaller tendrils and tried to look for the bloodline of the tiny Snow Stream Sparrow directly.


    ~HUM~


    Lin Mu also chanted the calming heart Sutra to raise his sensitivity, knowing that he was going to need it. Unlike the Saintess, he did not have an expert sense of bloodlines.


    She could directly go to the source of the bloodline, while Lin Mu needed to make it out through an indirect method.


    It took Lin Mu half an hour, before he finally sensed the bloodline of the Snow Stream Sparrow.


    ''This should be its bloodline Aura¡­'' Lin Mu didn''t see the muddied pool of bloodline like the Saintess. Instead he only sensed the aura that was present deep within the bird''s body.


    The aura was not uniform, instead having a mixedposition. ''The major part is that of the Snow Stream Sparrow bloodline, while the rest should be the impurities that the Saintess was talking about.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He watched as the bloodline auras grew with time.


    But much to his surprise it was not the Snow Stream Sparrow Bloodline that was growing, instead it was the impurities that were growing.


    ''Wait¡­ why is the main bloodline not growing?'' Lin Mu was surprised.


    Normally speaking, since the rest of the bloodlines that were considered as impurities were inferior, they should not have been affected by the Beast Qi as much. Instead it should have been the main bloodlines that took advantage of it and grew.


    That way, the Snow Stream Sparrow would grow its natural abilities that were granted to it by the bloodline. Growth in its bloodline would strengthen its cultivation base and improve its potential.


    But what was happening here was entirely opposite.


    It was the impurities that were growing instead.


    One couldpare it to a disease. Instead of letting the nutrients from food nourishing the body and its organs, they were nourishing the cancerous tissues present in it.


    It was against the norm and could be very dangerous to the beast.


    "This does not look good." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    He didn''t know how to stop it as it had already been toote. The Beast Qi had been absorbed by the tiny bird and all the changes that were happening now were uncontroble.


    It was an arrow that had already been shot. Now there was no way for it to return.


    "Ugh¡­" Lin Mu was forced to watch as the impurities in the Snow Stream Sparrow''s bloodline kept on increasing.


    If before the impurities were at a 40% mark while the Snow Stream Sparrow Bloodline was at the 60% mark, now the impurities had increased to 45%!


    It was the opposite of what one would want and Lin Mu wondered if the bird would be harmed by it.


    And as he continued to observe the bird, he noticed that the vitality of the bird was still stable. The same could be said for its cultivation base too, which hadn''t changed at all.


    "Huh¡­ it''s actually fine?" Lin Mu was baffled by this strange condition.


    The bird still looked very sick from the outside too.


    Its naked skin also looked a bit dull now, taking on a palerplexion instead of the normal and healthy pink.


    There were no new feathers growing at this point either, and the flesh was left bare.


    More time passed, and Lin Mu saw that the skin of the bird had be wrinkly and dry too. Eventually it too became cracked, as if a lot of moisture from it had been sucked out.


    The cracks spread from the base of the tiny bird''s beak and covered its head before finally spreading all over its body.


    If it were not for the vitality within the tiny bird''s body, Lin Mu would have been sure it was at the death''s door.


    The level of impurities in its bloodline had also increased and reached the 48% mark.


    And it didn''t stop there either, it continued to increase until it was 50% of the beast''s bloodline!


    "It actually reached this point¡­" Lin Mu was at a loss for words.


    ~crack~crack~crack


    But it was now that the beak of the bird started to tremble.


    ~CHIRP~


    It let out a cry as its beak opened.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    Lin Mu then watched as the fragments from the bird''s beak fell. It had been cracked for a while now, and now the cracked portions were falling off. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "This¡­" And once all the fragments from its surface fell of, Lin Mu could see a dark Grey beak underneath it.


    It was smooth and sleek, but its color waspletely unlike its original.


    ''It was already different from a normal Snow Stream Sparrow with its red beak, and now it has changed even more.'' Lin Mu raised his brows in surprise.


    He wondered what more changes would happen and didn''t have to wait long. Soon after, the skin of the tiny Snow Stream Sparrow also trembled, as the cracked portions started to fall off. The pale skin was reced with an ashy ck skin now. It did not look like the normal flesh, but it was at least healthy from what Lin Mu could tell due to the presence of blood vessels underneath it.


    The blood was flowing perfectly and the skin was also soft, with a slight sheen to it. It was clear that new skin had grown to rece the old one.


    A simr thing happened to the bird''s legs too, as they became ash Grey just like the skin of the bird with ayer of skin sloughing off.


    And when this waspleted, Lin Mu could tell that the ws of the bird had also be sharper. The size of the bird hadn''t changed though, staying the same. It was only the appearance and aura that had been transformed.


    "There''s no way to even tell it is a Snow Stream Sparrow now." Lin Mu muttered.


    Lin Mu checked the bloodline of the bird again and saw that it had progressed beyond 50% hitting the 51% mark and gaining majority in the bloodline.


    "It''s not even correct to call it a Snow Stream Sparrow now¡­ that bloodline is no longer the dominant one." Lin Mu understood.


    Having watched the changes from start to the end, he quickly came to the conclusion that the impurities in its bloodline were behind the change.

 Chapter 1980 The Saintess’ Confusion

    <h4>Chapter 1980 The Saintess'' Confusion</h4>


    As Lin Mu observed everything, he understood several things about the bird as well as its bloodline.


    Each of its physical characteristics were sourced from the impurities and it was unknown which impure bloodline contributed what part. ''The characteristic that are dominant though seem to be beneficial for the most part. Even if its appearance isn''t good, the actual abilities seem to be decent.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, having seen the bird.


    In exchange for having a better vitality and resilience, it had a small size. But now, it seemed like its appearance had also be distasteful in exchange for some advantage.


    As for what advantage that was, it was yet to be seen.


    "At the very least, it needs to regrow its feathers. It won''t be able to fly without them." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Since the bird was still at the Dao Treading realm, it couldn''t rely on its cultivation base to fly. It had to use its wings and body to fly like a normal bird.


    Whereas if it were an immortal beast, even if it didn''t use its wings, it would still be able to fly.


    ~SHUA~


    And while Lin Mu was observing the bird, several presences appeared.


    ~HISS~


    "We''re back!" Little Shrubby''s voice was heard while the twins apanied him.


    "Ah, did you manage to get more meat?" Lin Mu asked Xiao Yang.


    "We did." Xiao Yang spoke and withdrew all the corpses that he had gathered.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Soon a pile of corpses appeared in front of it.


    "I''ll get to cooking them." Little Shrubby spoke, while also adding the beasts he had hunted to it.


    "Mmhmm, they should help. But I think I''ll need more." Lin Mu replied.


    "We''ll continue to hunt more." Xiao Yang said and quickly left with his sister.


    ~SHUA~


    The two disappeared like two lightning bolts and soon the sound of beasts crying in the distance could be heard. It was clear that the two''s presence was enough to terrify most beasts now.


    ''They''re definitely getting better.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as he looked at the injuries on the beast corpses.


    Other than those hunted by Little Shrubby, the others all had one or two holes in their bodies which were the main cause of death. Majority of them were in the head, though some of them were also in the torso, having pierced through the hearts of the beasts.


    It was an effective way of killing the beasts and was also fast for the twins.


    Plus not many would expect that the two serpents would rather choose to directly pierce through an enemy with their entire body, than attack them with skills.


    It could allow the two to catch several beasts off guard, as they were not used to a tactic like this.


    ~SIZZLE~


    Soon the sound of meat cooking could be heard, as Little Shrubby chopped and skinned the beast corpses.


    Lin Mu ate the meat once it was ready, while Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang came again to drop off another batch of corpses.


    And while Lin Mu was busy filling his stomach, the Saintess was feeling confused.


    Tens of Thousands of kilometers west of the Dao Wind Continent, the vast ocean extended as far as one''s eyes went. In this great ocean, massive storms raged, tornadoes raged, and countless aquatic beasts ruled.


    It was a ce of absolute danger and all those that tried to pass through this ocean on a ship would find it quite difficult. Unless they were strong or had good protective ships, one was bound to end up at the bottom of the ocean instead.


    But to the Saintess, the entire ocean may as well be a tiny pond.


    A flick of her wrist was enough to disperse storms, while her breath was enough to calm the toiling seas. And her mere presence was enough to terrify the beasts to no end, causing them to stay hidden deep in the ocean, afraid to even release a little bubble.


    As such wherever she passed, an astonishing scene could be seen.


    Clouds would part, and the water would be still, allowing her to fly with ease.


    Her destination was unknown and would be impossible to think for many. It was a ce that was filled with storms that never stopped, and a blinding rain that masked one''s vision.


    With no light to see, and the dense cover of rain, one would find it hard to find their way here.


    Not to mention, see anything that was present here. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ~shua~


    And yet, as soon as the Saintess appeared there, the clouds faded away into nothingness, the rain stopped and the wave calmed down.


    This allowed a rather shocking scenery to be revealed.


    Hidden in the perpetual storms were hundreds of inds.


    It was an archipgo that had been unknown to the people of the Rust Sky World. But that didn''t mean that there were no people that knew about it. This was proved by the human made structures that were scattered around the inds.


    The Saintess looked at one of these particr inds andnded on it.


    In front of her stood a small shrine that had a stone arch behind it.


    "Hmm¡­. Shamanic Script of the Demon Tribe." The Saintess recognized the motifs on the shrine as well as the stone arch. "Mixed with Dao Script and some dialect of the Rust Sky World." She observed further. Her brows furrowed as she felt the ominous energy that was pulsing from the shrine from time to time.


    ~SHALA~


    "There it is," The Saintess felt the spike in the ominous energy.


    This was the same energy she had felt earlier when she was with Lin Mu. She had been tracking it down, and had sensed that it would pulse from time to time.


    That was also why she had managed to make her way here.


    And now that she was here, she wanted to know just why was there such ominous energy here.


    It was certainly not something that should be present in an Immortal world.

 Chapter 1981 Energy Of Death On The Islands

    A frown was hidden under the Saintess''s veil as she gazed at the stone arch in front of her.


    "Even if this shrine belongs to the demon tribes¡­ This energy is not that of the Demonic Path¡­ this is the energy of death." She muttered in surprise.


    Such energy was rarely present on living worlds. And even if it was, it would appear in ces where a lot of death had urred. Battlefields, and graveyards were one of themon ces for such energy to be present.


    But even if the energy did appear there, it did not stay there for long.


    It would only appear momentarily and fade away. After all, it was a negative energy and its presence was not a good thing for the world or its inhabitants.


    As such, the world would actively try to get rid of it.


    But if the energy could linger and stay for longer periods of time, it could start affecting the world.


    "Even if this ce once had a lot of death, the energy of death should have faded away. Why is it pulsing from here instead?" The Saintess was perplexed.


    She hadn''te across something like this before. At least not in an Immortal world. ''There shouldn''t be anyone that can utilize the power of death in a world like the Rust Sky World. If it is not because of that, then there is some other source.'' The Saintess thought to herself.


    Wanting to explore more, she flew around the inds and observed all of the other shrines.


    She realized that every shrine looked the same and had the same exact dimensions. This included the stone arch that was present behind all of them.


    But even if every shrine was same, only one shrine seemed to be pulsing with the energy of death from time to time.


    "Hmm¡­ there are certainly ancient arrays here." The Saintess'' could sense it around her.


    Her senses could cover the entire archipgo in one go and quickly determined that there were hundreds of individual arrays here. Each of the array was set up on individual inds, and they too were of the same kind.


    "Teleportation gates¡­ so they lead to another ne." The Saintess discovered. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    This only made her more wary about this archipgo as well as the stone arch that seemed to be pulsing with the energy of death.


    ''There''s a Teleportation gate here too. But opening it is impossible for me.'' The Saintess knew one needed a key to get in. Even with her power as a celestial, it was not something she could do. She was no spatial expert, and as such, she would not be able to force her way in.


    Of course, that didn''t mean she was fully out of options.


    "Should I tten this ce?" She questioned herself.


    Since the ce was pulsing with the energy of death, it was best that no one came here. But she also had doubts as to destroying this ce was right or not.


    ''If the gate is actually holding the energy of death back, me destroying it will only cause more damage.'' The Saintess thought about it and chose not to do that. "It''s best I let it be for now. If anything happens, it is the responsibility of the ruling powers of the Rust Sky world to handle it." She shook her head.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as she had decided to leave, she saw the stone arch flicker. Runes started to glow on it and a flickering opening appeared.


    "This¡­" The Saintess approached it and put her hand on the unstable portal.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But instead of letting her in, the portal rejected her, pushing her hand back.


    "Just as I thought¡­ it won''t let a Celestial in. The entire thing has restrictions inside it." The Saintess realized.


    This only made her question more about what this ce was and she decided to investigate it further in detail.


    "I''ll check all the ces thoroughly, there''s bound to be more clues." The Saintess muttered and got to work.


    Lin Mu had no idea that the Saintess was on an exploration of her own while he continued to stuff his face.


    The cooperation between the twin snakes and Little Shrubby had made it possible for a nonstop supply chain of food to be created for Lin Mu.


    The twins would hunt and bring the beast corpses, while Little Shrubby would cook them. And by the time Lin Mu finished eating one batch, the next batch would have already been brought back and cooked.


    Of course, the quality of beasts was not the same and varied quite a lot.


    As the Yin Yang Twin serpents continued to hunt, the number of beasts around them had started to reduce. This didn''t mean that they were running out of beasts in the Evergreen Pirs Forest.


    That was simply not possible.


    Rather than that, the beasts were simply going deeper into the forest now due to being afraid of two new predators that seem to be hunting nonstop.


    As such, the time needed for the twins to hunt became longer the more Lin Mu ate.


    With each trip, it took them several minutes more to bring the next batch as they needed to travel deeper. Plus the beasts they were now finding were mostly weaker, being at the second or first tribtion stage of the immortal realm.


    This was due to the fact that these beasts were slower in moving than the stronger beasts, and as such, they were left behind.


    Two days had already passed since the Saintess had left, and Lin Mu''s meal was still running.


    "Is this hunger ever going to be satisfied?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but look at his stomach.


    It still looked the same as before, and did not bulge in the slightest. No one would be able to tell that Lin Mu had eaten enough food that thousands of people could live on for years.


    And all this had happened in just a few days time.

 Chapter 1982 Ashy

    Having cooked who knows how many corpses, the beast chef found his energy to be falling.


    Little Shrubby was getting quite a bit tired now, as he had been using his mes nonstop to cook them.


    These were all immortal beasts, and as such normal fire wouldn''t even harm them. Only Little Shrubby''s Immortal fire could cook them properly.


    As such, the beast had expended quite a bit of his energy in this process.


    Still, not wanting to disappoint his master, Little Shrubby continued his work. At the same time, he could feel that his own cultivation base was actually improving due to the constant practice.


    Because of this, the beast was gaining too and there were no losses.


    Thankfully by the time the third day rolled in, Lin Mu finally felt a shift in his stomach.


    ~SHUA~


    The obscure runes on his stomach all turned into rings and disappeared on the surface.


    ~HUU~


    "That is certainly a new record for me." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he rubbed his stomach.


    He finally had a sense of satisfaction and did not feel like his hunger would go out of control any time soon.


    ''Though even if it is now normal, I feel like I can still eat more if I want to.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But he took a look at Little Shrubby and the hard working twins and shook his head.


    ''This is enough for now. If I need it, I''ll have to handle itter.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and spoke. "You three can rest now." "Are you fine now?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "Yeah, that was enough food for me." Lin Mu replied.


    "If you need more, I''ll always be ready to cook." Little Shrubby said with confidence.


    "And we''ll hunt more!" Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang chimed in.


    "Haha, of course." Lin Mu patted the beasts and let the return to the Sleepscape for now.


    Their recovery would be faster there and they would also be able to rest a bit better.


    With the beasts gone, Lin Mu was now left alone with just the tiny bird as apanion. "You''re still asleep too." Lin Mu muttered while gently stroking the tiny bird''s head.


    So far, the bird''s condition seemed to be the same and it was still adapting to the changes. Of course, its body had undergone more changes too.


    One could now see tiny feathers sprouting from its skin. They were still very small and were just emerging because of this, they now looked like spines.


    One might even mistake the bird for some kind of a hedgehog if they didn''t see the beak.


    "Do bird feathers look like this when they grow out though?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question.


    Even if the feathers were still small, their spine still seemed to be quite sharp. Not to mention, the color of the feathers had changed too. They were now an ashy gray in color.


    "It is certainly not a Snow Stream Sparrow now." Lin Mu said to himself. ''Perhaps it''ll be time for a new name soon.'' He thought next.


    He began to think of what would be a good name for the beast. Since it now had a mixture of impure bloodlines and none of them were dominant, it was technically a new species.


    As such, Lin Mu could give it an entirely new name.


    But just to be sure, Lin Mu first checked the thousands of books about beasts that he had collected. He wanted to ensure that this was truly a new beast and he wasn''t just mistaken.


    It took him a couple of hours, but he did confirm that there was no such beast like this before.


    "Guess I can give it a new nameter." Lin Mu concluded.


    It was a bit exciting and novel for him, as this was the same as recording a new discovery. In fact, he could write a detailed ount of the bird and its characteristics before adding it to a book and selling it. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    There would certainly be some information pavilions willing to buy it.


    Of course, the cost wouldn''t be much, not even a handful of spirit stones. But it would still be a new discovery nheless.


    If one wanted to make a lot more from such books, they would have to gather hundreds of beast records first. But this was a hard task, as most of the beasts were either already recorded, the beasts they found would simply be a variant of those per-existing beasts.


    The bird also fit thetter category as it could be considered a variant of a Snow Stream Sparrow before. But now it had turned into an entirely new species. Still, Lin Mu didn''t rush to name it.


    He first let its body fully develop, as there was no telling if other characteristics would appear. But one thing was for sure, he was now going to keep the bird.


    "Guess another tamed beast wouldn''t hurt." Lin Mu smiled and began to establish a link between himself and the bird.


    Due to the bird''s cultivation base and Lin Mu''s own bloodline, it was a very easy task for him to turn it into a Tamed Beast. He didn''t need anyplex technique for this, just the basic beast taming method was more than enough to work.


    After all, the bird was just at the Dao Shell realm, while Lin Mu was an immortal.


    ~shua~


    Shortly after, the link was established and the tiny bird had officially be Lin Mu''s fourth tamed beast.


    It was still asleep though, and had no idea that it had be a tamed beast. Of course, even if it did know, there was little chance that it would reject.


    Lin Mu had already saved it before, and the bird liked him.


    This was something that would have happened regardless.


    "Now for a name¡­ at least a nickname." Lin Mu muttered as he looked at the ash colored feathers that had now grown more.


    "You''re name shall be¡­ Ashy."

 Chapter 1983 300 Year Old Bird And A Legacy Ground

    <h4> Year Old Bird And A Legacy Ground</h4>


    ~HONG~


    Once the name was dered, the link was solidified between Lin Mu and the bird now called Ashy.


    A thread extended from the head of the tiny bird to Lin Mu''s chest and connected the two, their thoughts forming a stream and allowing them to speak freely.


    Of course, the tiny bird was still asleep and as such there was no conversation as of now. But once she woke up, there were bound to be a lot of words.


    "Though considering Ashy is still at the Dao Shell realm, I wonder how much she can speak?" Lin Mu wondered, while also having found out the gender of the bird through the link.


    Ashy was a female as well, but her age was still unknown to Lin Mu.


    Beasts couldmunicate clearly depending on their cultivation base, intelligence as well as age.


    For example, the Yin Yang Twin Serpents were born strong and quickly progressed to the Immortal realm. But they still had a hard time speaking.


    Whereas, Little Shrubby was able to speak even at the Qi refining realm. The difference between the two was age.


    Little Shrubby was already over twenty years old when he had met Lin Mu, and had also seen many other humans. As such he already had the information on how to talk.


    The twins had newly learned it, and had been elerated with their link with Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu had no idea how much Ashy knew or how she could talk.


    ''But since she could talk with Little Shrubby and the twins, she should be decent at it.'' Lin Mu reckoned and decided to check the age of the beast.


    The method was the same as that of human cultivators. Lin Mu simply checked the bone age of the beast and quickly found out that the tiny bird was actually over three hundred years old!


    "Huh¡­ that is certainly old¡­ but I guess she is at the Dao Shell realm this is still young." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    If he considered his own group, Ashy who was the neer was the oldest member now. Of course that was excluding Xukong and the Saintess.


    It wasn''t really appropriate to include them in the list as both of them would greatly exceed it. It wouldn''t even fit in a small statistical interval to be viable.


    ''Though I suppose for a beast in an immortal world, three hundred years of age for a Dao Shell realm beast is about average. Especially for a tiny beast like her.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    If Lin Mu considered the beast''s talent, it was neither too good neither too bad. The changes in bloodline would be affecting this, and as such all the old estimates that Lin Mu had would have to be changed.


    ''I''ll have to wait and watch how it all changes. It''ll be all new¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he gazed at the calmly sleeping bird.


    He let it sleep and checked on the arrays of the abode again, as he had stopped earlier. "Just a little bit left to analyze." Lin Mu muttered.


    He was interested in the array as it was a good example of how an array could modify the natural ecology of the area around it, over time. Arrays like this that had existed for hundreds or thousands of years were rare and even if they did, they were often in cities or sects. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    As such the effects would not be as clear and would be modified further by the cultivators living there.


    But it was not like that here and it was mostly untouched. This was an important point of study for Lin Mu, as he could tell there was a link with the natural befuddling array of the Evergreen Pirs forest.


    For an array like this to exist this long, there must have been some kind ofpatibility between it and the Natural Befuddling array. Or even if it wasn''t there one right now, there was possibly one in the past.


    And ipatibility which had been sorted out on its own somehow.


    Lin Mu spent his time in doing this, while the Saintess was thousands of kilometer away on the unknown archipgo doing her own research.


    ~BOOM~


    An explosion happened, and a dense cloud of smoke suddenly spread on the ind that the Saintess was on.


    ~SHUA~


    A strong wind suddenly blew in a sphere, and blew away all the smoke, revealing the immacte Saintess.


    "That doesn''t work either¡­ these restrictions aren''t simple." The Saintess muttered, her frown deepening.


    Ever sinceing here, she had tried various methods on essing or stopping the arrays, but none of them seemed to work. At least not within the limitations that she had in the Rust Sky World. If she used any more power, she would affect the world and alert the temple of the Four Guardian beasts. They would then alert the immortal court which could be a headache for the Saintess.


    ''I''ve already acted once during the tournament. I''m safe because the Great Senior also acted and the immortal court will be wary to act. But if I do it again, they are bound to take notice.'' The Saintess pondered on it.


    But her experiments here did give her clues to what this ce was and how it worked.


    ''The spatial ne it leads to only allows those below the Transcendent Immortal realm in. The source of the energy of death is still unknown but it is highly likely to be a graveyard of some sort. And the way all these shrines are built¡­ this is definitely a legacy ground.'' The Saintess concluded.


    The only question was whom did this legacy ground belong to?


    ''The Demonic tribes? The old inhabitants of the Rust Sky world? Or someone else entirely?'' The Saintess didn''t know the answer.


    All she knew was that the time that the Legacy ground would open wasing close. That was also the reason why the pulses of ominous energy could be felt.


    They were the first signs of it opening.

 Chapter 1984 A Chatter Bird

    While the Saintess was pondering on the origin of the Legacy Ground, Lin Mu was busy cultivating and practicing.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Searing hot magma floated around Lin Mu and turned into long ws that tore at the Evergreen Pir Bamboo around him. The bamboo was cut with ease beforebusting and turning into charcoal.


    ~huu~


    "The speed has increased but I definitely need more practice with the third concept." Lin Mu muttered to himself while controlling the magma.


    The fire Qi was extracted from it and the magma hardened into solid armor. ~CRACK~CRACK~


    Lin Mu clenched his fist that was now equipped with a stone gauntlet. ~WOOM~WOOM~WOOM~


    Lin Mu sent out a flurry of punches causing jets of air to make the bamboo bend. Even though his firsts weren''t touching anything, they were still enough to break things. Especially with the added fortification of the Longgui Bulwark armor they not only had more mass and impact, but also a raw power that exuded from it continually.


    ~CHIRP~


    But Lin Mu suddenly heard a crisp chirp, making him stop.


    ~SHUA~


    The solid rock armor turned into pure Qi and was reabsorbed into Lin Mu''s body in a mere moment as he turned around.


    "She''s awake?" Lin Mu quickly went to the immortal abode and found his newestpanion.


    Ashy was looking around curiously, feeling different. Lin Mu could tell that she was understanding her new body and the changes that had happened.


    "How are you feeling?" Lin Mu spoke to the bird for the first time through their link.


    "M¡­ Master?" Ashy replied in an airy voice.


    "Mmhmm, looks like you can speak." Lin Mu replied.


    "We¡­ can talk? WE CAN TALK!" Ashy finally got a grasp on it and hopped in joy. "I''VE NEVER TALKED LIKE THIS BEFORE! HOW ARE WE DOING THIS? HOW CAN I DO THIS!?" it didn''t take much for the tiny bird to be hyper, her voice finally settling in and no longer airy.


    "Haha, calm down. We can talk because of the link." Lin Mu said before giving her a quick exnation.


    Through this interaction, Lin Mu also determined themunicative ability of the bird as well as the extent of her knowledge.


    Just like Lin Mu had checked earlier, Ashy was indeed over three hundred years old and had memories from about two hundred years ago. Before that she did not have enough intelligence to remember much.


    She also told Lin Mu how she had lived and the other Snow Stream Sparrows. Ashy was not from the Evergreen Pirs forest, but actually from White Leaf Peak. White Leaf Peak was one of the few mountains in the southern part of the Dao Wind Continent that was tall enough to have snow on it perpetually throughout the year.


    She had apparently been abandoned by her kin due to her looking different from the other Snow Stream Sparrows. She was also much weaker than most of her siblings and kin which made it very dangerous for her on the White Leaf Peak that was filled with countless immortal beasts.


    Because of this, she went down the mountain two hundred years ago and eventually wandered into the Evergreen Pirs Forest which was almost two thousand kilometer from the White Leaf Peak.


    And after entering the forest, she never managed to get out due to the Natural Befuddling arrays of the forest. While the Evergreen Pirs forest was as dangerous as the White Leaf Peak, Ashy actually had a better time here. Her smaller size and high vitality gave her and advantage in the forest of bamboos. She could escape predators with ease and weave through the bamboos. She could also go to the canopy of the forest where she could stay safe.


    Additionally she could also hide inside the Evergreen Pir Bamboos. Some of them would have holes due to some insects drilling into them to sap the wood Qi.


    These holes were too small for other beasts to enter, but perfect for her size. As such, after eating the insects as a snack, Ashy could easily stay in them.


    Plus there was nock of them in the forest and provided her safe haven wherever she went.


    Then there was a surprising thing he learned. Apparently Ashy had more friends. Or rather beast friends. She also told Lin Mu that she had seen many humans before, particrly those wearing robes with the morning glory crest on it. ''Guess the members of the Morning Glory ne here regrly.'' Lin Mu thought.


    It was normal since there were many other herbs that one could find in the Evergreen Pirs Forest, along with beast materials that the alchemist n could use.


    Lin Mu listened to all that she had to say, or rather was forced to listen because Ashy would¡­ not¡­ stop.


    She was a chatter bird who could talk for hours without stopping. Which was exactly what happened. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Did she talk this much with Little Shrubby and the twins too?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    After all the three of them had met the bird earlier.


    ~Gurgle~


    Fortunately, the bird finally stopped talking when she felt hungry.


    "You want some food?" Lin Mu asked. "We have a lot of meat." "Meat? No, I want bugs." Ashy replied.


    "Oh yeah, you did say you liked bugs." Lin Mu replied.


    Her diet had mostly been bugs before this along with some spirit fruits that grew in the forest.


    "Yep, yep. They tasty." Ashy nodded like a chick pecking some grain.


    "Well¡­ I don''t exactly have bugs with me." Lin Mu replied.


    "No worries, I''ll go find some." Ashy said before pping her wings.


    "Okay, be careful. And call for me if you need help. Our link allows us to talk from long distances." Lin Mu advised.


    "Yay, I''ll do that." Ashy said before flying up.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Spirit Qi surrounded her wings before she flew away at great speed, leaving a gray trail behind in the air. "Huh¡­ she''s certainly fast." Lin Mu muttered seeing it.

 Chapter 1985 A Cry For Help

    While Ashy was not as fast as Little Shrubby or the twins, Lin Mu could see why she could avoid immortal beasts that hunted her before.


    Though it did make Lin Mu wonder what kind of abilities she had now. So far there wasn''t much she had shown and it didn''t seem like she fully understood it either.


    "Well, she''ll figure it out eventually." Lin Mu reckoned.


    Lin Mu returned to practicing his skills and spent an hour like this before he heard a frantic voice in his head.


    "Master HELP!" Lin Mu''s eyes immediately became serious. "Are you in danger?" he quickly asked.


    "Not me, my friend is in danger!" She replied.


    "Your friend? One of the beasts?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes! We''reing towards you right now." Ashy answered.


    "I''ll meet you midway." Lin Mu said before stomping the ground and shooting towards the direction where he had sensed Ashy.


    His immortal sense picked up on the bird as well as another beast that was with her. The beast was small too, being about the size of small puppy.


    ''What beast is that?'' Lin Mu wondered as its features were a bit strange.


    He didn''t have to think long though as he soon saw, Ashy as well as her friend.


    ~ANG~


    Lin Mu heard the frantic cry of the new beast which looked like a small fox. But unlike a normal fox, its ears were wings!


    It flew using them and was apanying Ashy. The fox had shiny yellow fur that was quite long as well as a bushy tail. Its eyes were like small ck pearls and carried anxiety within them.


    "It''s an immortal beast." Lin Mu quickly sensed.


    "Master, Fluff-fluff needs help." Ashy spoke. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Fluff-fluff?" Lin Mu was a bit taken aback by the name, but didn''t question it since the situation was serious. "What happened?" he asked.


    ~ANG~ANG~


    The fox cried with anxiety and fear in its eyes.


    "Fluff-fluff said his master is in danger. She''s being surrounded by beasts and cannot get away." Ashy tranted for Lin Mu.


    "Show me," Lin Mu quickly said and called out Little Shrubby.


    "Run, we have to save someone." Lin Mu said in short.


    Little Shrubby didn''t question anything and quickly grew to his bigger size.


    Lin Mu got not his back, while Ashy and the fox sat in front of them.


    ~SHUA~


    Little Shrubby burst into a sprint and turned into a red blur streaking through the bamboos.


    ~ANG~ANG~


    "That way," Ashy spoke for the fox.


    Little Shrubby understood the fox, so he quickly changed directions ordingly. Lin Mu on the other hand spread his immortal sense to the max, ready for anything.


    ''Since the fox has a master, it must be a tamed beast too.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He checked the beast for any injuries and more, but was surprised.


    ''Wait¡­ it has no imprint¡­ it''s not a tamed beast?'' Lin Mu did not expect that.


    Normally every tamed beast would have an imprint that could be felt by others. This was also how other cultivators were prevented from making an already tamed beast theirs.


    The imprint was both a sign of ownership as well as protection. But the fox didn''t have any imprint on him.


    Lin Mu did a double check just to ensure that he hadn''t missed it somehow. After all, there were many beast taming techniques and the imprints from them could vary.


    ''There''s definitely not imprint¡­ this is not a tamed beast.'' Lin Mu confirmed. ''But it still has a master?'' he was now curious as to who the master was.


    Little Shrubby continued to run ording to the directions provided by the fox and had alreadye more than five hundred kilometers away.


    ''This far? Just how much did this fox fly?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but be surprised.


    After all, the fox was not that fast in flying. Even if it was an immortal beast, it did not seem to be that fast. Which meant that it had taken it a while toe here until it found Ashy.


    "I smell blood¡­ lots of it." Little Shrubby warned.


    "Human?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    "No, beast." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Hmm¡­ speed up." Lin Mu said and got ready as fiery energy emanated from his body.


    About a hundred kilometer from where Lin Mu was, a massive pack of wolves could be seen.


    They were all about two meters tall and three meters long. They had dark green fur that blended in with the Evergreen Pir Bamboos with ease along with two horns on their head that looked like branches.


    Their ws looked like long acacia thorns while there eyes were hazel brown in color. All of them seemed to be immortal beasts with their cultivation base varying from the first tribtion stage of the Immortal realm to the third Tribtion stage of the immortal realm.


    ~GROWLS~


    And all these wolves were surrounding a person.


    It was a young girl that looked to be around five to six years old. Her eyes were red from crying and tears stained her cheeks. Her hair which had originally been tied in two buns was hanging half open now.


    It was clear that she had been running for a while.


    Her light pink robes were torn in several ces while a few runes flickered on them. It was clear that robes were defensive immortal robes and had been protecting her.


    ~GROWL~


    A couple of the wolves lunged at her, making her scream.


    "Go away!" She cried and shouted.


    ~SHUA~


    Two hair pins on her head glowed and released a pulse of energy, knocking back the wolves.


    ~WHIMPERS


    The wolves cried, as their bones broke from the impact.


    ~Crack~


    But at the same time, the hair pins shattered, having run out of all energy.


    ~HOWLS~


    The wolves seemed to have understood that their foe was now helpless and howled in joy. With fangs dripping with saliva, tens of them jumped at the helpless girl together.


    "Mommy!" the girl cried out.


    But just when the wolves were a mere few inches from her, they crashed into towering man d in rocky armor.

 Chapter 1986 Onslaught Of Wolves

    The little girl watched as a man several times taller than her stood in front of her. He was like a giant stone statue to her, and exuded a powerful aura.


    The aura was oppressive to the wolves, and yet to the girl it felt safe.


    "Enough." Lin Mu uttered before his hands moved like hammers.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    All the wolves that had jumped at the little girl were knocked back. Those that were hit straight on died instantly, having their heads smashed apart.


    Lin Mu''s eyes red at the rest of the wolves from the slits in his rocky helmet. While his gaze was oppressive to the wolves, it was not enough to fully intimidate them. ~HOWL~


    An authoritative howl was heard from the back forcing the wolves in the front to move. They growled at Lin Mu before lunging at him.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Three wolves had currently crashed into him, and felt their bones break from the mere impact.


    ~GROWL~


    But then a growl was heard from the back, as the wolves tried to pounce on the girl from Lin Mu''s blind spot. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    ~SHING~


    Unfortunately for the wolves, Lin Mu was observing everything within a kilometer radius with his immortal sense. There was no move that the wolves could make that he would not know.


    Afternoon Pine flew through the air and severed the heads of all wolves that tried to attack the girl from the back. ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    The double edged sword tore through flesh and bone like it was tofu and ended the lives of tens of wolves in one go. While on the other hand, Lin Mu used his fists, raining down blows on the rest.


    In just five seconds, all the wolves that were within ten meters of him were killed and the area was cleared out.


    Lin Mu could not move from the ce, as it would mean leaving the little girl unprotected. While he could protect her from afar too, he did not want to take the chance of any mistakes.


    Especially because he found the behavior of the wolves strange.


    ''Branch Horned Wolves do not act like this. Why are they ganging up on a single child like this? They are better at estimating their foes, only a single wolf would have been enough.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Branch Horned Wolves were a rtivelymon beast in the Evergreen Pirs Forest and Lin Mu had hunted several of them before. Little Shrubby had done the same as they were plentiful in the forest and were a decent source of meat.


    While they did move around in packs, these were limited just a hundred or less. A pack like the one targeting the little girl was highly unusual.


    ''Theres thousands of them gathering together to take down someone who isn''t even an immortal. They only do this when taking down a prey several times stronger than them. Does this mean they thought of the girl as a big enough threat?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He also saw the wolf corpses that were there when he had arrived. They had evidently been killed by a defensive tool that the little girl had and might have contributed to the reason why such arge pack was hunting her now.


    "B-Big Brother¡­" The Little Girl spoke lightly from the back.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll get rid of them." Lin Mu said confidently before calling out. "DO IT LITTLE SHRUBBY!" ~ROAR~


    A thundering roar was heard from the back of the army of wolves before a massive fire tornado appeared. Little Shrubby''s entire body was overflowing with mes that could melt steel.


    He ran through the Branch Horned Wolves, ripping through their flesh while also burning everything that was in his path. At his full size, Little Shrubby could crush them with just one of his legs.


    ~WHOOSH~


    As Little Shrubby continued to run circles around them, an isted area soon formed. At the center of the circle stood Lin Mu and he was also clearing out the rest of the wolves that were left in the circle.


    But this didn''t mean the onught of the wolves had ended. There were still more wolves joining in from the back, but Little Shrubby was managing to keep them away for now.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense expanded once there were no wolves around him. He scanned the number of wolves that were left, and his expression darked.


    "How are there still moreing?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion.


    Around three kilometers of area was filled with the Branch Horned Wolves now and more seem to be joining the fray. Not just that, but Lin Mu could feel stronger Immortal Qi fluctuations too.


    "Fourth tribtion stage Branch Horned Wolves¡­ the leaders of the packs." Lin Mu understood. ''This''ll getplex if they fight directly. They will be able tomand the other wolves much better that way.'' If Lin Mu was alone, he wouldn''t care at all. Ten times the number of wolves coulde and he would have no issues fighting all of them. But the current situation was different where he was protecting someone.


    And since the girl was not even an immortal, even the slightest attack could kill her.


    This was also why he hadn''t used any of his stronger skills earlier, since they were quite destructive to the area around him. If the girl was an immortal, she would be able to avoid the damage, but at the current state even a stray gust of wind could kill her.


    Lin Mu had to be careful not to use Magma Fury, or even transform the armor as the heat from it will also harm the girl.


    He could not afford to lose focus and knew the best way to proceed was to never let the wolves organize and get closer.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang!" Lin Mu extended his hands, and called the twins out.


    ~HISS~


    The two shot from his hands and turned into ck and white ribbons that quickly reached the outer boundary of the wolves.

 Chapter 1987 Meihua

    Lin Mu didn''t even have to tell the twins what their task was.


    ~SAAAAAA~


    The twins knew exactly what they had to do as soon as they sensed their prey¡­ Wreak havoc.


    Which they did perfectly.


    Now a threeyered protection was formed for the little girl. Lin Mu protected her by staying close, Little Shrubby created a ming barrier of death, while the Yin Yang Twin Serpents ughtered the new wolves that wereing in from the distance.


    ~TWANG~


    And since the wolves around Lin Mu were all gone now, he took out Wonder Seeker and shot at the wolves from a distance.


    The number of wolves now became constant, as the influx of wolves matched they killing rate of Lin Mu and the beasts. ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    And now that there was enough distance between them, Lin Mu used stronger attacks with the bow. All the arrows he shot rained down on the wolves and exploded like cannonballs, further thinning them down.


    ~CHIRP~


    ~ANG~


    With the situation turning a bit safer, Ashy and the flying fox could finally approach Lin Mu.


    "Fluff-Fluff!" The little girl shouted seeing the fox.


    ~ANG~


    The fox too cried and rushed into her arms.


    "So you brought Big Brother here." The little girl understood.


    "Your pet called for help." Lin Mu spoke, now that there was less pressure on him.


    "Yeah! He did!" The girl said in a much better mood. "He''s the best! He''s smart and brave!" Even though there were still wolves appearing, they were far enough that she didn''t feel the threat. Especially with Lin Mu there to protect her, she felt like no harm coulde to her.


    "But¡­ why are you here?" Lin Mu finally asked the girl. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    Realistically speaking, there was no reasons a little girl like her should be in the forest, especially alone. Even if she had the flying fox that was an immortal beast, it was not enough.


    ''She did have strong defensive immortal tools though¡­ her background must be strong.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "I was ying with fluff-fluff when the bad wolves suddenly appeared." The little girl replied.


    "ying in the forest?" Lin Mu didn''t feel that was appropriate.


    "No, I was ying in my garden. The bad wolves appeared there. I ran and ran, until I ended up here." The little girl replied.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu realized there was certainly something wrong wit the Branch horned wolves.


    ''Since they appeared in her garden, which should have protection there was definitely a security failure of some kind.'' Lin Mu guessed it was either a barrier failing or the girl wandering past the limits.


    Whatever it might be, Lin Mu knew he''ll have to check itter.


    "Who are you big brother?" The girl asked feeling curious. "Do you work in the manor too? Did daddy or mommy send you?" "I''m Mu Lin, and I don''t know about the manor. I wasn''t sent by your parents." Lin Mu denied.


    "So you''re Big Brother Mu Lin! I''m Meihua!" She introduced herself.


    "Good to meet you Meihua. But can you tell me if you can contact your parents somehow?" Lin Mu asked, hoping that the girl had some emergency token that might have informed her family.


    "Yes! I used the bracelet mommy gave me." Meihua said, raising her hand and showing the tool.


    Lin Mu briefly scanned it and quickly figured out it was the exact thing he was hoping for.


    ''So her family should be alerted already. Hopefully they are on their way here.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He didn''t know who the girls family was, but he did have a good guess.


    ''The only ce close to this part of the Evergreen Pirs Forest would be¡­ the Morning Glory n.'' Lin Mu hadn''t seen any other settlement nearby, and it was unlikely the girl could havee from too far.


    After all, she was not an immortal and wouldn''t be able to move that fast.


    ''No wait¡­ what is her cultivation base?'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he hadn''t checked that yet.


    Her body wasn''t emanating much Qi either which didn''t inform him right away.


    ~SHUA~


    But when he checked her cultivation base, Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Nascent Soul Realm?!" Lin Mu certainly hadn''t expected that. The girl barely looked to be five or six years old after all.


    "How old are you Meihua?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "Meihua is six whole years old." The little girl said proudly.


    "She really is at the Nascent soul realm at six years old¡­" Lin Mu was stunned.


    It wasn''t difficult to say that the little girl was a genius. Even if she might have been fed pills or rare spirit fruits, it wasn''t easy to reach the Nascent soul realm at this age.


    After all, one would also need some level ofprehension to do so.


    In some ways, she could be considered more talented than Lin Mu.


    It only made Lin Mu more curious about her background. ''If she''s like this, parents must be high up in the Morning Glory n.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While Lin Mu thought this, he didn''t guess just how high up her parents really were in the n and he was in for another shock.


    As soon enough, a furious shout was heard.


    "FOUL BEASTS!" A woman''s voice filled with utter rage thundered through the forest.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The area shook, as if an earthquake was happening while strong immortal Qi fluctuations could be felt.


    "Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm¡­" Lin Mu sensed the power.


    ~BOOM~


    And a momentter, a giant w condensed from light tore through the forest.


    The w was nearly three hundred meters tall and tore through all the Evergreen Pirs Bamboo as well as the Branch Horn wolves. It didn''t matter what came in its path, it was all crushed to smithereens.


    The w was incredibly sharp, and cut through everything with ease. It was as if one was using aser scalpel to cut through everything.


    Lin Mu marveled the power of the attack, that soon eradicated the wolves.

 Chapter 1988 A Furious Mother

    The Light w''s power spoke for itself, and Lin Mu could tell that it hade from no normal weapon.


    "A Peak Grade Immortal weapon." Lin Mu felt a bit tense.


    The number of such weapons were limited and most of them were well known. But what was more concerning was the fact that anyone that could use a weapon like this was not weak or simple either.


    Now that Lin Mu had first hand witnessed its power, he knew they had to be careful.


    ''It''s Light Elemental Immortal Qi too¡­ there aren''t many people who have an affinity with it.'' Lin Mu recognized as he watched the w continued to destroy the forest as well as hate beasts that wereing in wave after wave.


    Little Shrubby was also forced to stop, as the Light w continued to move.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He easily dodged it while the twins did the same.


    "Return, you three!" Lin Mu called them back knowing it might just get worse.


    While Lin Mu had confidence, the three beasts would have no issues dodging the attack of the light w, he still didn''t wish to get them caught up in the conflict.


    ''It would be bad if the woman thinks they are involved too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~SHUA~


    Little Shrubby along with the twin snakes returned to Lin Mu''s side. He first sent the twins to the Sleepscape while letting Little Shrubby stay by his side in his smaller form.


    ~CHIRP~CHIRP~


    Ashy also went to Lin Mu, sitting on his shoulder.


    "Fluff-fluff says thank you." She spoke for the fox.


    Lin Mu turned around to face the girl and the fox in her arms.


    "It''s fine. I just did what I was suppose to." Lin Mu replied. "Though it seems like I wont have to do much now." He said looking at the rapidly deteriorating numbers of the branch horn wolves.


    But Lin Mu was still concerned about the behavior of the wolves. Ideally speaking, they should have long since run away after sensing the threat. They were not that stupid as to continue rushing to their deaths.


    Especially after so many of them were ughtered by Lin Mu and hispanions earlier, and now by the woman who was raging.


    Lin Mu still hadn''t seen her first hand, as it was clear that she hadunched the attack from afar.


    "HOW DARE YOU ALL TRY TO ATTACK MY DAUGHTER!" Her furious voice thundered across the forest. "I''LL ERASE YOUR KIND TODAY!"


    ~HONGLONG~


    Lin Mu watched as giant five hundred meter tall Light ws flew through the sky. They didn''tnd where they were though, instead they flew to different parts of the forest.


    "She''s really intent on following through her words." Lin Mu pursed his lips.


    "Mommy''s angy." Meihua said showing some surprise on her face too. "Last time she was angry, daddy didn''te down from the sky for a week."


    "Uh¡­" Lin Mu didn''t know what to make of it.


    He just hoped the woman would still be thoughtful enough to know who the enemies were and who was not.


    But it was now that Little Shrubby spoke something that caught Lin Mu''s ears.


    "The little girl¡­ she smells nice." Little Shrubby spoke.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu asked for rity.


    "She smells like¡­ something that would be good to eat." Little Shrubby replied.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes finding it strange. "Is it the same for you, Ashy?" He asked.


    "She smells as good as a juicy beetlerva." Ashy replied.


    "Okay¡­ I don''t think that''s what I meant, but I get it." Lin Mu stated.


    He asked the twins the same thing through their link and got a simr answer.


    ''So it isn''t just Little Shrubby but all beasts.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He now had a hunch that the way the Branch Horn wolves were acting was due to the girl herself. Of course, Lin Mu still didn''t know the actual cause, just that the girl was linked to it.


    Though Lin Mu also understood why the wolves acted so aggressively, while his own beasts were fine.


    ''It is either the fact that they are tamed beasts and would not react that badly, or that there is the involvement of Beast Qi.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    But then he looked at the Immortal fox and didn''t know how true the guess was. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    ''It isn''t a tamed beast but is still not aggressive and it hasn''t consumed any beast Qi from me either.'' Lin Mu thought. ''Perhaps there''s more to this.'' He reckoned.


    A couple more minutes passed, and no more Branch Horn Wolves appeared. The light ws had taken care of them all, and silence filled the Evergreen Pirs forest.


    At least for the time being.


    "MEIHUA!" A frantic voice was heard, as a woman''s figure appeared in the sky.


    Lin Mu looked at the woman who was dressed in light blue robes. She had long ck hair that was tied in a broad braid, and had several ornaments attached to it. She had a young yet mature face, but as it looked at the girl, it was filled with a motherly passion.


    "MOMMY!" The little girl called back.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The woman quickly flew down seeing that her daughter was safe and picked her up.


    "Are you okay, Meihua?" the woman asked, while also checking on the girl''s condition with her immortal sense.


    She ignored Lin Mu for the time being, and was fully engrossed with her daughter. But this also gave the man some time to identify who this person was.


    The answer came easy to him too. As all he had to do to confirm her identity was to look at what she was wearing on her hands.


    They were the very same peak grade immortal tools that had devastated the Branch Horn wolves. They looked like they were ws made out of transparent ss.


    ''Tearing ss ws, so this must be¡­'' Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe his luck. "I greet the Princess Feng Lan." He cupped his hands.

 Chapter 1989 Invited To The Morning Glory Clan

    Hearing her name, the mother of the little girl Meihua couldn''t help but turn to the stranger who had saved her daughter.


    "Who are you?" She questioned while measuring up Lin Mu.


    The man was currently d in solid stone armor and looked rather imposing. From the aura that he was exuding, the woman could at least tell that he was not from here and was not weak either.


    Thus, even if he had saved Meihua, she still couldn''t help but be a little suspicious of him. It was normal too, as someone as strong as that appearing in their n''s territory would always be a bit questionable.


    "I am Daoist Mu Lin." Lin Mu replied. "I don''t know if Crown Prince Feng Shun has informed you of me or not." He added.


    "Elder Brother?" Feng Lan raised her brows as her mind worked to remember the name Mu Lin. "Are you¡­ the Winner of the Tournament Mu Lin?" she finally recognized.


    While she had not been in attendance at the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts, she had certainly heard of the results that hade at the end. She had long since left the imperial n, and as such didn''t really care much about the events that transpired in the capital city.


    But even then, the astonishing amount of things that had happened there were hard to miss. Especially when the three emperors had appeared and also the actions of the Third Prince.


    "I am indeed that Mu Lin." Lin Mu finally confirmed. "Please, give me a moment." He said and took a few steps back.


    ~SHUA~


    The stone armor around him melted away and turned into searing hot magma. Feng Lan''s eyes narrowed, but she didn''t be wary. She watched as the magma turned into a mix of immortal Qi and entered back into Lin Mu''s body.


    She could now see the face of the man dressed in simple ck robes and wearing a silver circlet on his head.


    She couldn''t help but admit that he looked to be kind and didn''t seem like someone who was here for nefarious reasons.


    "You have my gratitude as the Princess of the Dao Wind Empire as well as the Mistress of the Morning Glory n for saving my daughter." Princess Feng Lan said in a respectful tone.


    She even cupped her hands and bowed her head slightly. This was already big enough for a princess like her.


    "I only did what I had to." Lin Mu said not minding it much. "Though it is very strange that this happened. How did the Branch Horn wolves manage to get within the n boundaries." He showed his concern. Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "I agree with that." Feng Lan said, her eyes gaining some fury again. "I''ll need to have a very ''thorough'' conversation with a few people."


    Hearing her words, Lin Mu knew that some of the people in the Morning Glory n were about to have a very bad day.


    Though it was also understandable since a securitypse like that should not happen at all.


    "As the one who saved Meihua, would you pleasee with me to the Morning Glory n. We would like to thank you properly." Feng Lan requested.


    "Yeah! Big Brother,ee!" Meihua felt excited.


    ~ANG!~


    Even the flying fox chimed in, wanting the one who saved his master toe.


    "Very well. I don''t mind." Lin Mu replied. "Plus the Crown Prince expects to pick me up from the Morning Glory n anyways." He added.


    "Elder Brother ising to pick you up?" Feng Lan hadn''t expected that.


    "Yeah, I''m going out with himter." Lin Mu answered. "It''s almost the day when he''ll being." He estimated that there was barely a week or so left.


    "If so, then looks like the Morning Glory n was supposed to be your end destination anyways." Feng Lan couldn''t help but find it to be a work of fate.


    "Indeed. I was in the Evergreen Pirs Forest for cultivation, and the Crown Prince suggested that I should head to the Morning Glory n afterwards since it was close." Lin Mu exined.


    "I see, then let''s head to the n. I''m sure my husband will also want to meet you." Feng Lan replied before suddenly looking in the distance.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lin Mu felt tens of people approaching at that moment. They were all flying and seemed to be immortals.


    "Mistress!"


    "Young miss Meihua!"


    Frantic cries could also be heard from them. Hearing their worried tones as well as the robes that they were wearing, it didn''t take much for Lin Mu to recognize that they were all members of the Morning Glory n as well.


    ~SHUA~


    They allnded in front of them, and got a stern look from Feng Lan.


    "Mis¡ª" the man in the lead tried to speak but was interrupted.


    "Not¡­ a¡­ word." Feng Lan said through her teeth trying to keep some decorum in front of a guest.


    "Y-yes¡­" They all shut their lips, knowing that their mistress was angry.


    They all knew they would be getting punished after getting back, but they also knew it was deserved. For the young miss of their n to be threatened by beasts, that too within their own borders?


    Simply unthinkable.


    Someone would have to pay the price, and they hoped that it wouldn''t be them.


    "Let''s go," Feng Lan said and rose into the sky with Meihua in her arms.


    Lin Mu followed after, and so did the members of the Morning Glory n. A short whileter, theynded in the interior of the n, heading to the main hall directly.


    There, a very worried looking man with a pale expression seemed to be standing with several elders.


    "Daddy!" Meihua quickly revealed the identity of the man.


    She then jumped out of her mothers arms and rushed into her fathers, getting the flying fox squished between them.


    ~ANG~


    The fox cried in protest at getting squished, while the fatherughed in joy.


    "Hahaha! You''re safe! You''re safe!!!"

 Chapter 1990 The Clan Head’s Joy And Caution

    <h4>Chapter 1990 The n Head''s Joy And Caution</h4>


    Lin Mu watched the emotional and joyous reunion of the Father and Daughter.


    It might not have been for that long, but the situation that Meihua was in certainly made it seem too long. His gaze also didn''t go unnoticed by the man, as he soon looked at him.


    "And who''s this?" Meihua''s father asked.


    "This is Daoist Mu Lin. The one who saved Meihua, as well as the winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts." Princess Feng Lan introduced.


    "Looks like I have a lot to be grateful to you about." The man said with deep gratitude in his voice. "I am n Head Guang San, of the Morning Glory n." He introduced himself.


    "I am happy to have the opportunity of meeting you." Lin Mu greeted the man in a formal way.


    "Let''s go in. Daoist Mu Lin shall have the seat of honor today." n Head Guang San stated before taking the lead.


    They all walked into the main hall of the n, while the elders and others who were waiting in attendance felt nervous. They all knew that the n head''s joy was hiding anger within.


    The Mistress Feng Lan might show it on her face and it might seem scary, the n head''s anger was much more severe. He was one that hid it behind a mask, but when it came out, it would make one wish to hide far away.


    In fact, when the n Head had held Meihua, he had also sent out multiple messages simultaneously. Lin Mu had sensed that happen, and guessed that he had been talking to others in the n as well as others around them.


    But that wasn''t all that he did.


    What Lin Mu didn''t know was that the n head had also sent messages about Lin Mu being there, as well as to confirm his identity through their own independent channels.


    Being a n head, Guang San knew better than to be tricked by simple plots.


    A strangering to rescue their daughters right when she was about to be killed by a beasts seemed a little too convenient after all. Not to mention, there had been apse in their security and somehow the beasts had managed to wander in.


    For any immortal that had lived that long, especially one experienced in the politics of the nobility as well as ns would easily find it suspicious.


    Thankfully, Lin Mu had a big enough footprint in the Dao Wind Empire that confirming his identity was quite fast. By the time the n head had reached his seat, he had already received confirmation that Lin Mu was indeed who he dered he was.


    ''So it is not a ploy from them¡­'' The n head thought to himself as he sat down while gesturing to the seat on his left that would be meant for honored guests. "Please sit, Daoist Mu Lin." He requested.


    Guang San''s face still held the same joyous smile as before, and betrayed none of his thoughts.


    "If you insist," Lin Mu replied and took the seat.


    Princess Feng Lan also sat down, right beside the n Head while Meihua sat on herp.


    With the current situation, it was unlikely she would let the little girl out of her sight for a while. And understandably so, as they didn''t know what threat was looming at the current time.


    Being an alchemist n, the Morning Glory n was quite rich. It also had a deep background, and their fortune would be hard to estimate.


    As such, it wasn''t hard to think that there would be many people wanting to obtain that fortune, one way or the other. "First of all, I would like to greatly thank Daoist Mu Lin for his assistance. The Morning Glory n shall be in your debt." n Head Guang San dered.


    "It is just something I had to do. You don''t have to think much of it n head." Lin Mu replied. "Besides, I am friends with Crown Prince Feng Shun. I do not think I would be able to just stand by and watch his niece getting attacked." He added. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    The n head nced at his wife for a moment, and got the confirmation from her that Lin Mu was indeed speaking the truth.


    ''So he''s acquainted with brother inw too¡­'' The n head noted, changing a few of the things he was going to say. "Still, we cannot let this go unrewarded. You can have any of the pills you want from our n. Or if you wish, you can also get any particr pillmissioned." He offered.


    "I''ll think about it." Lin Mu replied, not knowing what to actually get.


    He had plenty of pills with him, and didn''t have a particr need for anything new. Though he still wouldn''t deny more pills as they could alwayse in handy in the future.


    Even if he didn''t use them himself, he could still give them to others or simply sell them if he ever had to.


    Plus it would also be denying the Morning Glory n face if he did not ept their reward. "n head, we still need to address the matter of the n barrier not working." One of the elders interjected.


    It was clear that they were quite anxious too. It was a matter of great concern to them, and needed to be resolved with utmost care. After all, it threatened the entire safety of the Morning Glory n in a way.


    "I was about to move to that." n head Guang San said before looking at his wife. "What did you see?" he asked.


    "There''s an entire hole in the barrier. Enough for several of the Branch Horn Wolves to get in." It was clear that the princess had already checked on the barrier when she had went out to look for Meihua.


    After all, someone of her cultivation base merely had to do a single sweep of Immortal sense to figure out what went wrong.


    "A hole? Did you find the cause?" Lin Mu asked feeling curious.

 Chapter 1991 Strange Situation At The Morning Glory Clan

    Lin Mu''s question was something that all the elders and other members wanted to know too.


    "I couldn''t find it." Princess Feng Lan shook her head. "At least, it wasn''t something I could understand. The hole seemed to be striking, but it didn''t seem like it was made from brute force and neither did I find any damage there." She exined.


    "What about our formation masters?" The n head turned to the elders.


    "We are investigating it as we speak." One of the elders who was part of the formations division answered.


    "And what about the external affairs division? Any news from our ''neighbors''?" The n head asked next.


    "None so far n Head. There have been no movements from the travelers." The elder in charge of the external affairs division replied.


    Lin Mu took note of this, and felt like there was indeed something wrong that had been going on.


    ''As far as the map said, there are no other ns or smaller powers living near the Morning Glory n. Thus they should not have any permanent neighbors.'' Lin Mu thought. ''Considering he said that they were ''travelers'', they shouldn''t have been here for too long.'' New people appearing and settling near an established n would always be a matter of concern for the said n. Thus the Morning Glory n had been paying attention to their new neighbors. The only question was how long they were there for and why had theye.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel his curiosity growing, as there were several mysteries that seemed to be mixing in. After all, there was also the factor of attraction that Meihua had for beasts.


    "I think I have an additional piece information, you would like to know." Lin Mu spoke up.


    "What is it, Daoist Mu Lin?" n Head Guang San asked.


    "While I do not know how the hole in the n barrier was made, I can at least tell you why the Branch Horn wolves were chasing Meihua. Or at the very least why they targeted her." Lin Mu replied, catching the attention of every person in the hall.


    "And why''s that?" Princess Feng Lan asked with slight impatience.


    "I got to know this from my own tamed beasts, but apparently Meihua''s scent is quite attractive to the beasts. Of course, there is difference in this, such that the tamed beasts do not react as aggressively as the wild ones." Lin Mu revealed.


    Princess Feng Lan had indeed seen beasts killing the Branch Horn Wolves earlier, thus she could somewhat believe it. "I think it''s best we confirm it." The n Head stated, not wanting to rush to any conclusions. "Elders, bring in some beasts. Both tamed and untamed." He ordered.


    "Yes, n head." The elders soon carried out the order and in just a couple of minutes six beasts were produced before the man.


    Of course, these beasts were still immortal beasts, but there was no way they could threaten anyone in the hall here.


    ~GROWL!~


    The first beast they had brought in was an untamed dog beast that quickly showed its aggression. The way its gaze went right away to Meihua was a good indicator. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    But that wasn''t all, when they tried it with two more untamed beasts the results were simr. After that, they tested it with tamed beasts and then asked their owners what was the verdict.


    "My tamed beast says that young miss Meihua has a delicious smell." The beast tamers of the Morning Glory n confirmed.


    Hearing that, a frown appeared on the faces of several elders while the n Head''s smile stilled.


    The Princess only held Meihua firmly, while a few thoughts went through her mind.


    "Why would such a thing happen with Meihua?" Someone questioned.


    "We need to determined that for sure. Until then, it is best that Meihua is kept secured in the n." Guang San dered.


    "n head, could this be rted to the sudden breakthrough of the young miss?" an old elder with a long beard spoke. "We couldn''t determine the cause for that either after all." He added.


    "Hmm, it could be possible." The n head furrowed his brows.


    "Is that why Meihua is at the Nascent soul realm already?" Lin Mu questioned.


    Most cultivators would let their children grow somewhat before letting them breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm, as this would often freeze their appearance. Of course, this was a problem that only the upper-upper tier of cultivation families even had.


    For most people, even in the Immortal world, reaching the Nascent soul realm at the age of hundred was already quite good. The concern with breaking through too early, wasn''t even something they would ever think about.


    Most cultivators might think of it being fine that someone had a child''s body. But once a hundred years or more passed, they would soon realize it came with multiple disadvantages.


    There were even many Qi skills and techniques that simply did not work, if one did not have an adults body.


    Plus most cultivation techniques were made to be used by fully grown humans.


    The Princess looked at the n head, who nodded his head and allowed her to speak freely.


    "It happenedst month. Meihua was sleeping, when suddenly we all felt a surge of Qi in the n. It rushed towards her, making me check up on her. But by the time I reached, she had already broken through to the Nascent soul realm." The Princess exined.


    "And what was her cultivation base before that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Nothing." The n head spoke this time. "Our n''s cultivation technique did not suit her, as such we were waiting to find a perfect technique for her. But we had never thought that she would breakthrough on her own." "Huh¡­ And you don''t know the cause for that either?" Lin Mu asked feeling doubtful.


    "We''ve checked many times. But there is nothing that stands out. And neither is there any abnormality in her body." The n head replied.

 Chapter 1992 Meihua’s Condition

    <h4>Chapter 1992 Meihua''s Condition</h4>


    The n head''s words were certainly perplexing for Lin Mu.


    At the very least, Lin Mu could tell that this was definitely something that was innately present in Meihua.


    ''Is it just her talent? No, even if it was that, she would still have had to consciously cultivate it. If it happened passively, it would have to be a physique or bloodline of some kind.'' Lin Mu had read enough books about this, and had also conversed with Xukong about it.


    After all, he had been greatly interested in physiques and had the Garden Of Karma with him, which was a very unique physique. It was an innate physique too, and there had only been four others that Xukong knew of. As such, Lin Mu had spent a long time reading up about them. The same was the case with bloodlines.


    ''Since it happened, automatically it is definitely an innate physique or a hidden bloodline.'' Lin Mu thought, removing all acquired physiques and bloodlines from his list of options.


    "I think¡­ Meihua might have an Innate Physique or bloodline of some kind." Lin Mu stated.


    "We suspected the same, but we cannot identify it." n Head, Guang San replied.


    "If you allow me, I''d like to properly check for it." Lin Mu requested.


    "This¡­ it is not appropriate for an outsider to do this." The elders protested.


    To them, Meihua was the future of the n and was their precious miss. They could not let anything happen to her, especially after today.


    "Big Brother can do it." But before the others could even say anything, Meihua herself spoke up.


    "Meihua, you sure?" Guang San asked his daughter. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "It should be fine. If Elder Brother trusts him, I''ll trust Daoist Mu Lin too." Princess Feng Lan said, feeling calm.


    Hearing his wife''s approval, Guang San decided to go forth with it too.


    "Very well. Please tell us if you find anything, Daoist Mu Lin." Guang San gave the permission.


    "Of course." Lin Mu said and walked up to Meihua. "This''ll be quick." He said before cing his hand on her head.


    While Lin Mu had scanned Meihua''s cultivation basest time, he didn''t take a proper look. If she had some hidden bloodline or an unusual innate physique, it won''t be found just by taking a casual look. Especially if it was still at the initial stages and wasn''t showing its presence.


    But even if that was true, there should still be some traces that were hidden within her body. To not miss anything, Lin Mu started from the basics, the Dantian. ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense quickly arrived in the Dantian of the little girl, where a small sea of spirit Qi was present on top of which floated a small infant. It had chubby cheeks and slept peacefully.


    This was none other than the Nascent Soul of Meihua.


    Lin Mu checked up on the Nascent soul first, trying to see if there was anything different or wrong with it.


    "Hmm¡­ It seems as normal as it could be. The spirit Qi here is also rather stable¡­ more stable than it would be for someone who just broke through recently¡­ that too a child that has never cultivated before." Lin Mu assessed.


    He looked around in her Dantian, ensuring to check every single inch of it. He observed the structure of the Dantian, then its lining, as well as its interior. The Dantian was considered to have a dual nature, where it was both physical as well as immaterial at the same time. It was one of the mostplex things in natures and even the millions of years of study of cultivators was still not enough to unearth its secrets.


    Not to mention, no two Dantians were the same.


    Each Dantian was unique and had its own signature characteristics as well as marking simr to a fingerprint.


    This was also influenced by the talent of a cultivator, as well as their future paths.


    But after spending some time scouring Meihua''s Dantian, Lin Mu still didn''t find anything.


    ''Strange¡­ her Dantian is as normal as it could be. Other than it being a little thicker for a Nascent soul realm cultivator, there is nothing else.'' Lin Mu noted.


    Lin Mu didn''t ce much importance on the Thickness of the Dantian, as it was well within the scope of variance. And even if it was a bit different, it still wouldn''t be enough to case the kind of effect Meihua did on the beasts, as well as her rapid breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm.


    Once he had verified that the Dantian was not behind it, Lin Mu moved to the next possible source¡­ The Meridians themselves.


    Simr to the Dantian, Meridians were unique too, having their own signature characteristics that varied from person to person.


    Most people had the same number of meridians, as well as the positions. But there were still some variances between them, as to where they branched or their microscope deflections.


    Then there were the massive difference like having less or more number of meridians too.


    Checking the Meridians didn''t take much time, and Lin Mu was done within a few seconds. After all, with his level of refined immortal sense, he could fill all of Meihua''s Meridians simply with a single strand, and even then, he would still have a kilometer of range left.


    With these 2mon factors eliminated, Lin Mu moved onto the actual organs and tissues of the body itself.


    Lin Mu scanned the muscles of the little girl, and checked their vitality first.


    "Perfectly normal for a little girl." Lin Mu determined.


    Next, he moved to the organs, starting with her heart. Just like the rest of the muscles, it was also normal having nothing peculiar about it. He then checked the lungs, the spleen, the stomach, the intestines, the diaphragm and the liver.


    "Strange¡­ still nothing." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Finally, he moved onto the sensitive part which was the brain.


    Lin Mu had to be extra careful with it, since even Immortal sense could affect the brain. Especially of a young girl like Meihua.

 Chapter 1993 Hidden Bloodline Or Physique?

    <h4>Chapter 1993 Hidden Bloodline Or Physique?</h4>


    Lin Mu took his time in checking Meihua''s Brain and only saw that it was working perfectly.


    "Did you find anything?" Guang San asked, seeing that Lin Mu hadn''t said anything in a while.


    "Nothing¡­ At least in terms of the Physique, I don''t sense anything." Lin Mu stated. "If it''s not the physique, then is it a bloodline?" One of the elders wondered.


    "Princess Feng Lan, since you have the bloodline of the Imperial Feng n, you should have already been able to tell whether she has it or not, right?" Lin Mu asked first.


    "Yes. Other than being of my blood, Meihua hasn''t inherited the affinity to Wind." Princess Feng Lan stated. "Though¡­ I am an anomaly in this since I was also born with an affinity to the Light element." She added making a look of realization appear on Lin Mu''s face.


    "Is that why the Tearing ss ws chose you and not the others?" Lin Mu asked. "Indeed. It would only chose someone that had an affinity to the Light Element." Feng Lan confirmed.


    "No wonder¡­ Guess it might have changed further in case of Meihua and she didn''t obtain the Wind elemental affinity." Lin Mu replied before turning to Guang San. "What about you n head, does the Morning Glory n have a particr bloodline?" He asked.


    To this, the n head shook his head. "While our n has had talented individuals with some bloodlines in the past, none of them were inherited. Our n also does not have any main bloodline." He exined.


    "I see¡­ then there is a high chance what Meihua has is a hidden bloodline. One that is only starting to affect its owner." Lin Mu stated. "We tried checking any bloodlines, but none of the bloodline testing crystals worked." One of the n elders stated. "We always check them when a child is born in the n." He added.


    "Bloodline testing crystal only work on bloodlines that have been recorded. If it is a unique or new bloodline, it won''t be detected by it." Lin Mu responded. "Then do you have any other method of checking a bloodline?" Guang San asked in doubt.


    "I do¡­ but it may be a bit problematic." Lin Mu replied with slight hesitation.


    "In what sense would it be problematic?" Guang San asked. "Would it harm Meihua?" He said with concern. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "It won''t harm her, but using that method would likely trigger the defensive arrays of the n." Lin Mu said looking up.


    His eyes flickered slightly as he directly looked past the masking arrays and scanned the defensive arrays of the n.


    One of these arrays was specialized in detecting threats and would automatically respond if it sensed one of the nsmen was threatened.


    Guang San narrowed his eyes, feeling surprised with the ease that Lin Mu looked past their formation arrays.


    "If you can assure me, no harm woulde to Meihua, I''ll allow you to proceed." Guang San said after a pause.


    "Of course. I swear that no harm woulde to her." Lin Mu replied with confidence.


    "Very well." Guang San said and quickly took out a small formation te.


    He then fiddled with it, causing changes to happen in the arrays of the n. Lin Mu could sense the changes in real time, as theyers of the arrays shifted and the runes transformed. Soon enough, he could tell that the threat detection array had gone dormant, but not in the entire n. ''To be able to deactivate it selectively in just this area¡­ Seems like the Morning Glory n spared no expense in setting up the arrays.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    To make an array variable within an area was a hard task, and would increase theplexity. One would have to add multiple smaller formations to make it functional.


    Most ns would simply make the array either turn off for the entire ce or keep it active. There was no sense in keeping it off for just a specific area to them.


    "It should be fine now." Guang San stated.


    "I''ll start now." Lin Mu said before looking at the others. "It might look a little¡­ oppressive but trust me it will be fine." He added just in case the others would take it as too dangerous.


    "You can do it!" Meihua said with pumped fists.


    She seemed to be quite excited with all that was happening, even though she understood little about it.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath first before stimting the bloodline within his own body.


    The people watching felt the presence of Lin Mu change, and a momentter, a red aura started to pour out of his body. ~SHUA~


    The red aura rose above Lin Mu''s head before coalescing into arge sphere. ~Rumble~


    A low rumbling sound could be felt in the hall, as if distant thunder. "This¡­" The elders watching couldn''t help but feel the air grow heavier at that moment.


    ~Roar~


    Then finally a roar was heard, as the red sphere opened up, releasing arge beast. The beast had long ws that were like knives, and its head touched the ceiling. Tworge horns rose from its head, while an inverted pentagon was present on its body.


    It was none other than the bloodline figure of the Great Slumber bear!


    Guang San and Princess Feng Lan didn''t feel any threat from Lin Mu or the figure of the Great Slumber bear, but they could tell that the aura of the beast was quite oppressive.


    Both of them looked at Meihua at that moment, afraid that she might be scared or terrified.


    But much to their surprise, she seemed to be looking up at the bloodline figure with stars in her eyes.


    Lin Mu then ced his hand on Meihua''s head, causing the aura of the Great Slumber Bear to flow into her body.


    And as soon as he did, Meihua''s body responded.


    ~HONG~


    Her eyes glowed brightly like a bonfire before a presence rose from her!

 Chapter 1994 A Pleasant Bloodline

    The method that Lin Mu had used to detect the bloodline within Meihua''s body was rather simple. But it was still not something that anyone could do. One needed to have a strong bloodline themselves and also have decent control over it to use this method.


    What Lin Mu had done was to basically use the Great Slumber Bear Bloodline and let its aura trigger the hidden bloodline within Meihua. The Bloodline within Meihua''s body would take the foreign bloodline aura as a threat and would have no choice but to actively resist it. Of course, there was no real threat, as Lin Mu was fully in control of this aura. But the hidden bloodline did not know that. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    It would simply consider that its owner was under threat and needed to be protected. And such effect would only happen when the bloodline could tell the foreign bloodline was indeed strong enough to threaten its existence. This was a simple method that one could use to trigger bloodlines that were strong on their own.


    Since the Morning Glory n had already used bloodline testing crystals and didn''t get any results, Lin Mu had already known other methods of checking the bloodline wouldn''t work. Neither would the method he had used to check the bloodline of Ashy work, as that was more optimized for beasts.


    Not to mention, the methods used for checking beast bloodlines could actually harm humans, thus one needed to be careful. Especially in the case of a young girl like Meihua. Even if she had be a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, that didn''t mean that she had the mentality to endure the weight of the technique being used on her.


    As such, Lin Mu used the only other method he was sure would work, while also being safer.


    Though on the surface, it looked quite oppressive at the start.


    But no one knew that this was the least of it and that Meihua was about to give them a bigger shock than what Lin Mu had given them.


    ~HUMM~


    Everyone in the hall watched as a bright pink glow radiated from Meihua as a presence rose from her.


    It was about two meters tall and took the shape of a feminine figure with arge flower bud on her head. ~WHOOSH~


    And then a momentter, a pleasant feeling spread from the figure''s body. It was like the warmth of the spring and filled the entire hall, making everyone feelfortable.


    "A bloodline figure¡­" The elders watching couldn''t help but mutter.


    Of course, they had no idea what bloodline figure this was, but just its appearance alone was enough to confirm the fact that Meihua had a bloodline.


    If Lin Mu''s Great Slumber Bear''s bloodline aura had an oppressive aura that pressured all that were within its range; then Meihua''s Bloodline figure was theplete opposite.


    It radiated a wee warmth that made everyone feel good. The contrast was astounding, but what was even more surprising was the fact that even though this bloodline figure was not fully awakened, it was still able to resist the aura of the Great Slumber Bear.


    "It certainly is not simple." Lin Mu said with a slight smile.


    On the other hand, Princess Feng Lan and n head Guang San were awestruck by their child''s hidden bloodline.


    They didn''t expect that it would be like this. Even if they didn''t know what bloodline this was, they had enough experience to tell that it was not weak at all.


    ~shua~


    "I guess that should be enough." Lin Mu said and withdrew all his aura and contained his bloodline.


    The figure of the Great Slumber Bear disappeared and the red aura was absorbed back into his body.


    This caused the bloodline figure of Meihua to change as well. It looked around with its pink glowing eyes before gazing at its owner. On its featureless face, a pink smile appeared before it hugged Meihua and returned to her body.


    ~shua~


    And with that, silence returned to the hall.


    Though it was short lived as soon the elders erupted in an uproar.


    "What bloodline was that?!"


    "No bloodline like that has ever appeared in the Morning Glory n before."


    "Is it from the Imperial Family, then?"


    "Silence!" n Head Guang San stated firmly, causing everyone to shut up. Seeing that everyone had calmed down, the man looked at Lin Mu and asked, "Do you know what bloodline that was?" "I don''t yet. But I''ll be able to figure it out." Lin Mu replied, causing the man to narrow his brows.


    But he could read between the lines and knew it was a matter of discreteness.


    "Everyone is to leave the hall, now!" Guang San dered.


    "Yes, n head!" The elders and other members scrambled to leave the hall.


    They didn''t want to be punished for the past mistakes, as well as didn''t wish to infuriate the n head more. The higher elders could also tell that this was a sensitive matter and shouldn''t be revealed easily. Even if everyone was from the n, there was no telling if information could still leak.


    After all, the security breach was still not fixed and they didn''t know how the n berried had developed a hole.


    If there really was a spy or other bad faith actor wishing ill on the n, it was best to be cautious.


    ~CREAK~


    The doors of the hall closed, and all the elders had now left, leaving behind the n head, Princess Feng Lan, and the sleeping Meihua.


    The little girl had fallen asleep after her bloodline figure was triggered. It was still tiring for her body, as such, it was normal for her to pass out from it.


    "So what is it that you discovered, Daoist Mu Lin?" Guang San asked, while Princess Feng Lan also stared at him, wanting to know the answer.


    Lin Mu had already conversed with Xukong in his mind and had obtained the answer.


    "I''ve figured the bloodline out¡­ Meihua has no normal bloodline¡­ She has a Celestial Bloodline!" Lin Mu revealed, stunning the couple.

 Chapter 1995 Dangers Of The Bloodline

    Feng Lan was a Princess of the Dao Wind Imperial Family, and as such, knew what Celestials were. The same could be said for Guang San, who was the n head of a prominent alchemist family.


    Both of them knew of the higher realm that existed, as well as the beings who stood above immortals.


    Beings of great power, whose mere presences could shake the entire Rust Sky World. Normally, most of them would never even get to hear the word Celestial, but there were a few that had the fortune of seeing them too.


    Princess Feng Lan was one of them, and had attended the Immortal Court with her family where she had witnessed a Celestial. She still remembered the power they had, and how they could erase immortals as they wished.


    It was a realm that she knew was too distant for her to even think of.


    Even her father, the emperor of the Dao Wind empire, might not reach it if the fates did not allow it.


    The one that had the best chance to do so was none other than her elder brother, Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    But that day was still millennia away.


    Still, the thought that Meihua, her own daughter, would have a Celestial Bloodline was certainly not she would have dreamed of.


    "A Celestial Bloodline¡­" Guang San was quite shocked and didn''t know what to make of it at first.


    He had expected it to be strong, but not this strong.


    He knew what it meant to have a Celestial Bloodline. It basically meant all Meihua needed was enough resources and a decent cultivation technique for her to eventually reach the Celestial Realm.


    Of course, it would take a very long time, but it was basically a guarantee. All their n now had to do was to protect and nurture her, and she would lead it to heights the Morning Glory n had never seen before.


    "What¡­ Bloodline is it exactly?" Princess Feng Lan finally asked. "There are many celestial bloodlines after all." She added.


    "Meihua has a rather unique celestial bloodline¡­ The Plum Heaven Bloodline." Lin Mu gave the name that Xukong had given him.


    But that wasn''t all Xukong had told him, as there was still bad news toe. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "The Plum Heaven bloodline¡­" Princess Feng Lan repeated, trying to think about it.


    She couldn''t recall ever reading about it, thus couldn''t tell much about it. The same was the case for Guang San, as it was not a name they were familial with.


    "It is a strong bloodline, and specializes in the Wood Element, and has its own unique Dao¡­ The Spring Dao. It allows one to be good at herbs and Alchemy too. In fact, Meihua has the potential to be one of the best alchemist ever with this." Lin Mu first gave them the positive parts.


    "R-really?!" Guang San''s eyes couldn''t help but light up.


    After all, it was the best news he could have gotten as the head of a n that specialized in Alchemy.


    Princess Feng Lan was no less happy, and felt incredible that her daughter would one day be a Celestial.


    "Father will be Thrilled hearing this," Princess Feng Lan said.


    While the Emperor did dote on Meihua as his first granddaughter, it would be entirely different once he knew her potential.


    It wouldn''t be surprising if the emperor would spare no expense in nurturing his granddaughter.


    After all, while his eldest son also had the potential to be a celestial, it was still not a guarantee. Meihua, on the other hand, was a fixed deposit that was bound to give a profit. All they needed to do was to bide for time and keep her safe.


    "Before you reveal this to others though, there are some things of caution you need to note." Lin Mu stated, making their excitement level out. "There is also danger thates with Meihua''s bloodline."


    ~gulp~


    Guang San swallowed his saliva, feeling nervous. Feng Lan was simr, but she felt stressed instead.


    "What is it?" Princess Feng Lan questioned.


    "The beasts that attacked Meihua¡­ the reason they chased after her was the bloodline." Lin Mu answered. "The Plum Heaven Bloodline is basically like a tonic to the beasts. If they consume the owner, their own cultivation would skyrocket, and so would their bloodline. As such, all wild beasts would try to go after Meihua, the moment they smell her scent. Only the tamed beasts would be able to resist it. But even then, I don''t know how long that would work.


    The condition would only get worse, the more Meihua''s bloodline developed. Right now, it has barely shown any signs of awakening. The more it progresses, the stronger her scent will get. By that point, even strong beasts at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm and above will go after her." He exined in detail.


    "This¡­ such danger apanying the bloodline." Guang San didn''t know if this was a misfortune or fortune now.


    While the bloodline brought great potential to Meihua, it wouldn''t mean anything if her life ended before she reached her peak.


    Such was the case not just for her but many other individuals. There were actually several people who had the chance to be Celestials on every world. The only thing differed was whether they could live long enough to be able to reach that goal.


    After all, even if they had the potential, being able to survive was more important.


    There was no telling how many promising geniuses had been wiped out simply because fate was not on their side.


    This only made Lin Mu more thoughtful about himself and others. It also strengthened his resolve in getting stronger, as he knew surviving all odds was the first condition to reaching that level.


    "I-if¡­ If you know this¡­. Then do you also know of a method to prevent it?" Princess Feng Lan asked, her eyes slightly red.


    "I don''t." Lin Mu shook his head. Even Xukong had said that there was nothing he could do, as it was simply not within the scope of his abilities.

 Chapter 1996 A Surprising Intervention

    Lin Mu''s answer spilled cold water on the heart of Princess Feng Lan and n Head Guang San.


    "There is also the fact that we don''t know when the bloodline will awaken. It will awaken in stages, and every time it does, Meihua''s power will grow.


    If she does not have a suitable cultivation technique that would allow her to control the power, she might even end up harming herself." Lin Mu exined further. "If it''s a celestial bloodline, then I don''t know if there would be any technique suitable for her in the Rust Sky world." n head Guang San tried to keep a cold head and think rationally.


    "Father¡­ I''ll ask father! I''m sure he''ll have some option." Princess Feng Lan said with hope. "Even if he doesn''t have it, the Immortal Court can possibly help us." She added.


    "That is indeed a good option." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Even the Immortal Court will be helpless in this case." A voice was suddenly heard, startling those in the hall.


    "Who was that?" Guang San looked around with wariness.


    He was sure that there was no one else in the hall, other than Lin Mu, Meihua, Feng Lan, and him. The arrays were active as well and would alert him if there was anyone that had secretly entered the ce.


    But there was certainly no one here.


    Not to mention, the voice that he had heard was not of anyone that he knew in the n.


    "Saintess¡­" Lin Mu though, showed an expression of surprise but his words showed awareness.


    "You know whose voice that is?" Princess Feng Lan asked.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu said before looking to the back.


    The couple followed his gaze and saw a person materialize there. It was a woman dressed in long robes that covered most of her body and wore a veil that hid her face. Despite all that though, a mesmerizing feeling could be senseding from her that made it hard to look away.


    "How did you enter?" Guang San was still wary of the woman.


    After all, a stranger had managed to enter the main hall of his n without anyone knowing. Not to mention, this person had also heard all of their conversations earlier. Someone with such capability was certainly not simple and was strong.


    ''I can''t sense the cultivation base of the woman either.'' Guang San silently gulped.


    In fact, his immortal sense couldn''t even perceive the woman in the first ce. It was as if she wasn''t there and his immortal sense only felt air.


    "I didn''t expect you to show yourself in front of others, Saintess." Lin Mu said with genuine surprise.


    "I normally wouldn''t¡­ but this is a special case." The Saintess said and walked towards them.


    Her every step was crisp and held an authority that was hard toprehend.


    Princess Feng Lan who watched her, couldn''t help but feel a regal auraing from the woman. ''This feeling¡­ even Father does not have it.'' Feng Lan had lived in the Imperial Pce most of her life and knew how the life of a ruler was. Such a regal aura was something only an emperor could have. Her father had it too, butpared to the woman in front of her, it was but a tiny ember trying to outshine the sun.


    The Saintess finally came to a stop in front of Princess Feng Lan, who was still holding the sleeping Meihua in her arms.


    "Is it due to Meihua?" Lin Mu asked, seeing that the Saintess showed interest in the child.


    "Yes." The Saintess replied. "I didn''t expect to see someone with the Plum Heaven Bloodline¡­ Especially not here." She added with some doubt.


    "You know of it too, Saintess?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "I do. It is one of the thirty six celestial bloodlines that only have singr inheritor every era." The Saintess revealed. "Among them, the Plum Heaven Bloodline is a bit peculiar since it has no rhyme or reason in its appearance. It can randomly appear in anyone." Hearing her words, the couple were surprised. Even Lin Mu was intrigued, as Xukong had said something different.


    ''Senior Xukong said that the Plum Heaven Bloodline appears in those fated with the spring Dao.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. Maybe it was the difference in importance between Xukong and the Saintess that the value of the bloodline was changed.


    To Xukong, it was just a random bloodline that didn''t matter much. He had seen thousands of them and didn''t care much, as they were the same to him in the end. But to the Saintess, someone with a Celestial Bloodline was still important.


    "C-can you tell us more?" Princess Feng Lan requested.


    She understood that the woman in front of them was someone unfathomable. One didn''t even need to be a cultivator to tell that, as the mere presence of the woman was impressive enough to entrance all those that looked at her.


    "Very well." The Saintess was surprisingly amodating today. Normally she wouldn''t even appear in front of others and only did so for Lin Mu. But today, she willingly showed her presence to new people.


    "The Plum Heaven Bloodline originates from the Immortal Plums of strength that grew in the garden of the deities. Simr to the Peaches of immorality, these were exclusive to the deities, but instead of providing immortality, they provided great strength.


    But a great being stole them and spread their seeds across the world.


    Of course, growing an Immortal Plum tree isn''t as easy as simply nting the seeds. It needs many more conditions to grow. But despite all those odds, there was one such seed that managed to sprout.


    The world it sprouted in flourished and began to be known as the Plum Heaven.


    Of course, that tree was no longer an Immortal Plum tree, but became an entirely new being. Those who ate its plums would gain the Plum Heaven Bloodline and be its heirs. This was all in the ancient times though. The Plum Heaven no longer exists and neither does the tree. The bloodline now appears randomly throughout the universe." The Saintess exined in detail. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    New WSA Book is out!

 Chapter 1997 Ever Spring Mistress

    The Saintess'' words were a legend that had been passed on through countless eras.


    Lin Mu was quite interested in it, and memorized every word that the Saintess spoke. The same was the case with Princess Feng Lan and n Head Guang San.


    After all, it had to do with their precious daughter and there was no way they would be taking any risk. They would take every word seriously, in order to find the best solution for their child. They wanted the best for her, after all.


    Silence descended in the hall once the Saintess had finished speaking. Everyone digested the information, trying toe to terms with it.


    Lin Mu was the first one to be done and spoke up soon.


    "You said that even the Immortal courts would be helpless here, Saintess. Why''s that?" Lin Mu finally questioned.


    This was the thing that the couple wanted to know as well, thus they listened with wide open ears.


    "That is because the girl will need a suitable teacher too. Just having a technique won''t be enough. The Plum Heaven Bloodline also has the Spring Dao within it. It represents the transition of winter into spring. Right now, her bloodline is like a plum flower bud that has just started to grow in the winter. It still has to endure the tough winter before it can open up and bloom to its full potential.


    As such, while her power will grow naturally, she will also have to endure the tribtions thate with it¡­ and they are not as simple as the immortal tribtions that most know. She will need an experienced master to get through them.


    And guidance like that is not something even the Immortal court will be able to provide." The Saintess answered.


    "Then what are we to do?" Guang San asked, feeling quite helpless.


    "The girl will need a celestial as a teacher." The Saintess replied, chilling their hearts. "Only a celestial''s power would be able to control her stray power." She added.


    "How are we going to get a celestial to help us?" Princess Feng Lan muttered in disbelief.


    But while the two parents were losing their hope, Lin Mu had a different feeling. Saintess''s character that much now.


    "Please ay their worries, Saintess." Lin Mu urged.


    He knew for sure the Saintess already had a solution. ''If not for that, she wouldn''t have even appeared here.'' Lin Mu could understand the Saintess''s character that much now.


    "Please ay their worries, Saintess." Lin Mu urged.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu''s words brought the couple out of their stupor.


    "I know someone that can help the girl." The Saintess finally said, calming the hearts of the two.


    "You do!?" Princess Feng Lan clenched her fists while Guang San''s eyes reddened.


    "I know of a person that is not only a celestial but also a practitioner of the Spring Dao. And it just so happens that she is also looking for a disciple." The Saintess spoke, seeding excitement within the hearts of the couple.


    "M-may we know who''s the esteemed celestial?" Princess Feng Lan asked respectfully.


    "She''s known as the Ever Spring Mistress." The Saintess replied. "I''ll contact her for you and she shoulde soon enough." She added.


    "How can¡­ how can we ever repay such debt?" Guang San knew just how big of a favor was being done for them.


    Forget the benevolence of telling them what was the issue with their daughter, the act of getting a Celestial as a master was simply unbelievable.


    There was no one in the entire Rust Sky World, that could get a person a Celestial as a master on a mere suggestion.


    This only raised the image of the Saintess in the hearts of Guang San and Princess Feng Lan.


    ''If she can call a celestial just like that, then she must be a celestial too¡­'' Guang San understood. He also realized that the only reason the Saintess was here was because of Lin Mu.


    ''What kind of a background does he have to have a Celestial apany him?'' Guang San thought with shock. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Though when he thought about everything so far, he realized that it all made sense. He was simply ignorant at first.


    ''Of course, someone like him could win the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts and be friends with the Crown Prince. He''s already above all that.'' Guang San thought to himself.


    Princess Feng Lan had simr thoughts, but also felt thankful for her elder brother.


    ''If Elder Brother Feng Shun hadn''t made friends with Daoist Mu Lin, perhaps he would have nevere here. And if he didn''te here, Meihua might not even be alive.'' Princess Feng Lan thought to herself.


    But while she was thinking all this, the Saintess suddenly got closer and ced her hand on the head of Meihua.


    ~SHUA~


    A powerful energy radiated from her body, that made it hard for the couple to breathe. Only Lin Mu was fine, but he too felt the power.


    ~HONG~


    A green band appeared around Meihua''s neck and turned into a translucent pendant. The pendant glowed for a bit before turning invisible.


    "What''s that?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that it was a skill.


    "A seal." The Saintess stated, surprising the couple. "It''ll keep her presence hidden from the beasts. Without it, you might be able to keep her hidden for now, but once she has the first awakening, even peak immortal arrays won''t be able to stop it.


    Strong beasts from all over the world will make their way to find her. At best, you would have a year with her without any incident, and at worst, a week." She revealed, making them afraid.


    "Will it be fine now?" Princess Feng Lan asked, feeling anxious.


    "Yes. The seal will keep her hidden from the beasts for a while. Once the Ever Spring Mistress arrives, she''ll take care of the rest. You won''t have to worry after that." The Saintess replied.


    "Thank you¡­ we''ll forever be grateful to you," Princess Feng Land and Guang San said in unison.


    "Now then, I''ll have to contact her." The Saintess said. "I''ll need a ce for that."


    New WSA Book is out!

 Chapter 1998 Contact After A Hundred And Fifty Thousand Years

    Lin Mu and the Saintess were currently sitting in avish courtyard.


    The n head Guang San had provided them the best courtyard they had in the Morning Glory n, the moment he had heard that the Saintess needed a private ce to contact the Ever Spring Mistress.


    There was no hesitation in his work, as he quickly mobilized the n''s members to prepare the ce for the guests.


    By the time they reached the courtyard, the servants had already cleaned and prepared it for them. All the amenities that they might need were present and all the servants were then sent away.


    Both Guang San and Princess Feng Lan understood that the Saintess'' presence must not be known to others.


    Them seeing her was already a great privilege and thus they maintained absolute privacy. Of course, they forgot the fact that if the Saintess didn''t want anyone to see her, they wouldn''t even know that she wasn''t there.


    Lin Mu knew this, but didn''t say anything as he didn''t know what the Saintess was currently thinking.


    But once they entered the courtyard, the Saintess quickly set up her own arrays as clouds surrounded the entire ce and hid it securely.


    "Can you contact others from here, Saintess?" Lin Mu asked. "Are there any restrictions in doing so?" He questioned, not knowing much about this thing.


    "While the Immortal court does restrict travel of stronger experts between the realms,munication between them is still allowed." The Saintess replied. "There won''t be any issues with me talking to another celestial." She added.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu said, liking that she won''t be under any extra trouble like thest time she had interfered in the Tournament.


    ~SHUA~


    Next, the Saintess took out a hexagonal mirror from her Spatial Storage. The moment it appeared, a great power could be felt from it. Lin Mu almost shook in his ce and his eyes widened.


    ''Now I know why she set up such strong security. This is no immortal tool¡­ if she didn''t seal the area, the power of this mirror would trigger the restrictions of the Rust Sky world.'' Lin Mu understood.


    He also guessed that this was something above Immortal tools¡­ It was a Celestial Treasure!


    Items used by celestials were no longer mere tools and were called as Celestial Treasures.


    Once an item reached into the realm of celestials, it underwent a qualitative transformation and obtained abilities that were beyond the understanding of an average cultivator. Unless one was a celestial, they would never be able to understand it.


    Not to mention, only a Celestial would be able to use a Celestial Treasure. No matter how much energy an immortal had, they simply wouldn''t be able to make a Celestial Treasure work for them.


    As a Celestial, Treasure no longer worked on Immortal Qi. It needed Celestial Qi!


    Which such restrictions, it was understandable why it was a treasure and not a tool.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu watched as the Saintess held up the hexagonal mirror and activated it. Several runes glowed on its edges before the mirror floated in the air. It then expanded several times and became as big as a full body mirror.


    The Saintess then twirled her fingers, making several runes in the air. The runes entered the mirror and controlled its connection.


    The Mirror''s reflective surface flickered and turned entirely ck when the connection was sessful.


    But after this, there was a strange lull. No sound or change could be seen as the mirror stayed ck.


    "My, my, I would have never thought it would be you contacting me first¡­ Saintess." A voice spoke from the hexagonal mirror. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    And once the voice was heard, an image also appeared on the mirror. Its ck surface changed to show a location.


    Lin Mu observed as the figure of a woman appeared on it. The woman had her back facing towards them and a tall tree could be seen behind her. The tree had a light brown trunk and simrly colored branches, along with vibrant green and yellow leaves.


    But as Lin Mu looked closely, he saw that the woman was actually sitting on one of the branches of the tree. ''That''s not a tree¡­ that''s just one of the branches of the tree.'' Lin Mu understood.


    It was evident that the tree was much bigger than could be seen from the image. Ignoring that for now, Lin Mu focused on the woman herself. ''So this is the Ever Spring Mistress¡­'' Lin Mu looked at her figure.


    She had rose pink hair that was left open and free flowing. She was wearing lc colored robes that were very long and exceeded the length of her body. The robes had fine floral patterns on them which looked rather lively and beautiful.


    "Ever Spring Mistress¡­" The Saintess replied. "This is a special asion." "It sure is. And here I thought you hadpletely forgotten about me." The Ever Spring Mistress said before turning around.


    Lin Mu finally got to take a look at the woman, or rather¡­ girl.


    The Ever Spring Mistress looked like she was a teen girl. Her long rose pink hair hung freely along the sides of her face and was rather straight. The girl''s eyes were hazel colored and had pink flower like patterns painted on the edges of her eyes. On her forehead though, aplex rune seemed to be written, which Lin Mu couldn''t read.


    But the rune was symmetrical and looked good on the girl instead of standing out.


    She held a thin branch in her hand on which tiny white flowers were blooming.


    A small smile appeared on her face as she gazed at the Saintess in the mirror.


    "So for what reason did you remember me after nearly a hundred and fifty thousand years?" The Ever Spring Mistress questioned.


    Lin Mu''s expression became incredulous after hearing her words, though.


    ''Hundred and fifty thousand years?!'' Lin Mu hadn''t expected that the two celestials hadn''t been in contact for that long.

 Chapter 1999 Long Lived Desire

    Lin Mu also got a sense of how long lived the Saintess was upon hearing the Ever Spring Mistress'' words.


    ''If they have known each other for a Hundred and Fifty Thousand years, then how long has the Saintess lived?'' Lin Mu didn''t know what the answer was, but knew it wasn''t a small number.


    A hundred and fifty thousand years was also a lifespan that most immortals would have never seen. Forget that, they might not even live for fifty thousand years in the first ce.


    Only Transcendent Immortals might have the chance of living for a hundred thousand years or it would be those cultivators who have a dual cultivated body and Qi. But such cultivators were rarer than Transcendent Immortals too. Not many could survive for that long after all.


    Even for Transcendent Immortals, it meant surviving multiple Transcendent Tribtions. The more of them they underwent, the harder it was for them to survive. As such, the longer an immortal lived, the more they had suffered and the greater power they held.


    And Immortal living for a hundred and fifty thousand years was already a miracle. Or perhaps even a curse.


    Most wouldn''t want to be an immortal for that long as they would much rather be celestials. If one was an immortal after all that time, it either meant they had some fortune, but it wasn''t enough for them to be a celestial.


    Being an immortal for that long would be no less than torture. They would have to constantly live under the fear of the next tribtion and also frantically search for a method to be a celestial.


    Only those with great mental strength would be able to endure all that.


    And yet, there were these two celestials who could casually talk about a time that long as if they were two old friends meeting after a few years.


    "I normally wouldn''t contact you, but I have something for you." The Saintess spoke. "Something you''ve been looking for." She added.


    "Oh?" The Saintess'' words were enough to arouse the interest of the Ever Spring Mistress, as her light pink brows rose. Her cherry like lips curled into a brighter smile as she got closer to the mirror.


    "Don''t tell me yet. Let me guess first¡­" The Ever Spring Mistress said while cing a finger under her lips. "Hmm¡­ Is it the Dark Cinnabar Rouge? Or the Refreshing Six Remake Carmelia Wine? No wait! Is it the Great Plume Peacock fan?!" Her tone got excited the more she spoke. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    The Saintess'' expression became a bit stiff under the veil, hidden from everyone.


    Lin Mu, on the other hand tried to figure out what all these things were. ''Dark Cinnabar Rogue? As in makeup? And then wine of some kind and¡­ a fan? Maybe a Celestial Treasure or some kind?'' Lin Mu did his best to guess, but that was all he could do.


    None of these names were something he had heard before. And the Ever Spring Mistress didn''t stop just there. She spouted off several more items and words, none of which Lin Mu understood. But before he could continue guessing, the Saintess decided to put a stop to the rambling of the pink haired girl.


    "Enough¡­ It is something greater than all of those things." The Saintess said, causing an expression of shock to appear on the Ever Spring Mistress'' face.


    "Is¡­ is it¡­" The Ever Spring Mistress stammered, unable to have coherence in her speech.


    "Yes¡­ a suitable disciple." The Saintess confirmed, making the Ever Spring Mistress gasp.


    "REALLY!?" The Ever Spring Mistress eximed.


    "Indeed. It''s a young girl with the Plum Heaven Bloodline." The Saintess replied. "You''ve been looking for someone with an inherent affinity to the Spring Dao to inherit your techniques, haven''t you?" She asked.


    "OF COURSE!" The Ever Spring Mistress shouted. "WHERE IS SHE!?" She seemed unable to wait.


    "She''s here with me at Rust Sky World in the Western Immortal Realm." The Saintess answered.


    "I''ming." The Ever Spring Mistress said with impatience. "Don''t barge in, the court won''t like it¡­ plus I''m not here ''officially''." The Saintess warned.


    "Don''t worry, I still have two uses of the ''pass'' left." The Ever Spring Mistress chuckled. "Your vacation will be safe." She said before disappearing.


    The hexagonal mirror went dark again and the runes on it dimmed down as well. It then shrank back to its original size and became a transparent mirror.


    ~shua~


    The Saintess stored it away and turned around to see Lin Mu with aplex expression.


    "Will this be fine Saintess?" Lin Mu said, showing some doubt on his face.


    The doubt was a bit surprising to the Saintess, as she could somewhat tell it was due to their talk earlier.


    "What do you mean?" The Saintess questioned.


    "You asking the Ever Spring Mistress toe over? I don''t know how things work between Celestials, but asking them toe down to an Immortal world must not be easy, right?" Lin Mu replied. "Will it cost you anything? I don''t want you to lose out because of a matter that I interfered in." He added.


    ''You foolish boy¡­'' The Saintess chuckled in her mind. "It won''t cost me anything." She shook her head.


    "It won''t?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "No¡­ on the contrary, it is actually beneficial." The Saintess said, surprising Lin Mu. "The Ever Spring Mistress has been looking for a disciple for a long time now. She had searched many worlds and even held great meets to recruit cultivators. And yet, none of them suited her needs." She exined.


    "And now that there is Meihua with us, that means¡­" Lin Mu started to understand.


    "It now means the Ever Spring Mistress owes me a favor. Finding a suitable heir for her is a great debt, that she''ll owe for a long time." The Saintess said, a slight smile appearing under her veil.


    It now urred to Lin Mu, that the Saintess was a celestial too, a sly one. There was no way she would be losing out on a deal like this.

 Chapter 2000 A Day Till Arrival

    Now that the message was sent, all that they had to do was wait.


    "How long would it take for the Ever Spring Mistress to get here though?" Lin Mu questioned, trying to estimate the sheer distance she would have to travel.


    Even if she was going to use a teleportation array, Lin Mu guessed there would be some formalities she would have to go through before that. ''Senior Xukong also said that, passing through the realms is not a simple thing. The immortal courts and those above regte the passage of the cultivators between them. At least through the official paths¡­'' Lin Mu recalled.


    Traveling from one immortal world to the other was not easy, and going from one section of the immortal world to the other was also not simple. But going from one realm to the other was even harder.


    There were several ways to do so, but not all of them were safe.


    The safest method was none other than taking the official realm transfer array that would allow one to cross over without needing to enter the Grand Void. But this was strictly controlled by the Immortal Court and those above them.


    This prevented any strong individual from causing havoc in the lower realms. Other than this, there were a few more methods. The first was none other than taking a route that couldn''t be stopped by anyone. It was to enter the Grand Void and then navigate one''s route until they could exit into the realm they wanted to go to.


    This was of course¡­ Terribly dangerous. There was no fixed path, and one would have to go in blind, trying to figure out their way. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Even for Celestials, it wasn''t something they mighte out of unscathed. Besides, with how unpredictable the Grand Void was, unless one was well versed with the Spatial element, or very strong, they would have a bad time.


    Then there was a second method that one could take, which was a bit safer.


    This was to enter through a ''gate'' of sorts. Xukong hadn''t told Lin Mu much about this, other than the fact that there were natural ''gates'' present between the realms. Where these gates existed was unknown, but if one could find it, they could very well use them to cross over.


    Of course, there were dangers present at the gate too.


    Xukong only had a few words for that: Avoid them.


    Lin Mu took that warning and hoped that it would nevere to that point. But knowing all this meant, he knew it would not be easy for the Ever Spring Mistress to arrive at the Rust Sky world.


    "She should be here by tomorrow." But the Saintess'' words left Lin Mu dumbstruck.


    "T-tomorrow? Isn''t that kinda too fast?" Lin Mu was truly shocked.


    "The Ever Spring Mistress has direct ess to the realm transfer arrays and is also in a good rtionship with the courts. There won''t be any issues for her toe here." The Saintess replied. "Besides, I''m sure she''ll be pulling in favors to skip the queue. There''s no way she''ll be able to stay patient after all this time." She added.


    A rough image of the Ever Spring Mistress'' reach started to form in Lin Mu''s mind. ''Looks like the Ever Spring Mistress is in a high standing with the immortal courts¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    "You can do whatever you want for now." The Saintess said, bringing Lin Mu out of his thoughts.


    "Ah yeah, I wanted to check up on the formation array of the Morning Glory n and we need to tell them about the iing guest anyways." Lin Mu replied. "I''m still confused as to how a hole was made in the barrier too." The Saintess gave a little nod and let Lin Mu leave. Though in her mind, she already knew what was the cause.


    ''Though I suppose it is good he wants to figure it out on his own.'' The Saintess thought and opened a path for Lin Mu to exit through. After all, with the clouds surrounding the courtyard, there was no way for Lin Mu to leave directly.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu made his way to the main hall first, as he needed to talk to n head Guang San and Princess Feng Lan.


    Along the way, he saw several Morning Glory n members that were hard at work. They seemed to be getting the entire n ready for a big event and there were decorations being put up.


    ''Guess even without me telling, they''re already preparing for the arrival of the Ever Spring Mistress.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He observed a bit more and reckoned they would be finished in a few more hours. Lin Mu moved on to the main hall after seeing this and was immediately granted entry. ~chatter~chatter~chatter~


    Just as he had thought, the main hall was currently bustling with activity. There were over a hundred n members present inside. There were elders, normal members as well as servants mixed in them along with the n Head and the Princess Feng Lan.


    Lin Mu picked up on several conversations, and all of them were to do with the arrival of the ''great guest''. The n head couldn''t simply tell everyone that a Celestial was arriving, and as such, could only say that someone as important as the Emperor Feng was going to arrive soon. He made everyone rush and made sure that everything was in the best condition possible.


    It was the first time a Celestial was going to grace their n, and as such, there was no way they could afford to ck.


    "Daoist Mu Lin." Of course, n Head Guang San noticed the moment Lin Mu had entered the hall.


    "It seems like you all will be ready for the visit soon." Lin Mu spoke.


    "You bring further news of it?" Princess Feng Lan''s eyes lit up.


    "The guest will arrive tomorrow." Lin Mu answered with a nod.

 Chapter 2001 Vykean Winged Fox

    "T-tomorrow?" Guang San was surprised. "I wanted to get things ready just in case¡­ but it really is tomorrow." He didn''t expect that.


    "It was a bit surprising for me too." Lin Mu understood the man''s reaction.


    Even if they were doing their best in getting things prepared, knowing the actual time was still astonishing. Simr to Lin Mu, Guang San had also expected that there would be many formalities one would have to go through before arriving in the Rust Sky World.


    His wife, Princess Feng Lan had the opportunity of meeting a Celestial in the past because of her father, the Emperor and as such told him about how things could go. With her guidance, Guang San felt a bit better and knew that it was not a simple process.


    But it was a big shock hearing that the Ever Spring Mistress would be arriving in just a day''s time.


    ''If she can arrive this early¡­ She must be getting a lot of privileges.'' The n Head thought to himself.


    The image of the Ever Spring Mistress rose even more in his heart. He now understood that even among the Celestials, the Ever Spring Mistress might be rather huge to be able to do something like this.


    At the same time, it made him even more happy that his daughter would be the disciple of such an impressive celestial.


    "You all heard it! USE ALL YOUR CULTIVATION BASE AND SPEED THINGS UP!" n Head Guang San shouted, spurring the entire hall into action.


    Within seconds, the entire hall became empty again as everyone rushed to finish their tasks. It left Lin Mu alone with Feng Lan and Guang San. "How''s Meihua?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "She''s still sleeping." Feng Lan replied.


    "Mmm, triggering her bloodline probably tired her out quite a lot." Lin Mu said. "Let her rest. She should be fine by tomorrow." "Yeah, there doesn''t seem to be anything else wrong with her. Just exhaustion." Princess Feng Lan nodded her head. "And what about you Daoist Mu Lin? Is the courtyard to your liking?" She asked.


    "Of course." Lin Mu nodded his head. "There are no issues." "I''m d to hear that." n Head Gang San said with a smile. "Please don''t hesitate to ask us anything else that you might need."


    "Speaking of that¡­ I''d like to take a look at the barrier where the Branch Horn Wolves sneaked in from." Lin Mu stated.


    "Our formation masters are still there working on it, but you can go there too." n Head Guang San replied. "Come, I''ll show you." Princess Feng Lan took the initiative.


    "Sure," Lin Mu said and went along with her.


    ~Chirp~


    Along the way Lin Mu and the Princess heard a chirp before a bird appearing along with a fluffy winged fox.


    "Ashy," Lin Mu looked at his newest pet. "Where did you guys go?" He asked.


    The bird had gone along with Fluff-fluff after Meihua had been left to rest. Lin Mu had let her be, as he knew they''d be safe inside the n. "Fluff-fluff showed me all the ces here as well as the garden with all the good grubs!" Ashy said in a happy tone.


    "Looks like you had fun," Lin Mu replied. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Yep, yep!" The bird replied.


    The Princess watched as Lin Mu and the bird conversed freely. He spoke in human tongue, while the bird replied in chirps. To the woman, it was simply not understandable.


    "From what I heard, you had a feline tamed beast, right Daoist Mu Lin?" The Princess asked. "Is this a new one?" She asked.


    While she had seen the beasts fight in the forest, she didn''t get a good look, as she was busy in killing all the Branch Horn beasts.


    "Indeed. I have a few Tamed Beasts and she is the newest one." Lin Mu replied. "Speaking of that, though¡­ What is that fox? It is attached to Meihua, but is clearly not a tamed beast. I do not sense an imprint on it." He asked, feeling curious.


    "Ah, Fluff-fluff appeared outside the n one day three years ago. Meihua saw it when she was with me and pestered to take it in. I was of course reluctant, but the fox seemed to be strangely entranced with her. It readily listened to hermands and stayed by her side.


    It was the most peculiar behavior I''ve seen from a beast like it. Of course, we were worried and monitored it, but after a few months, we were sure the beast had no bad intentions. And since it was an immortal beast, we let it stay with Meihua as extra protection." Princess Feng Lan replied.


    "Does that mean you don''t know what beast it is?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    "We do actually¡­ though we don''t know for sure. We asked some beast tamers and got the answer that it is a Vykean Winged Fox. From what they told us, this is not a beast native to the Rust Sky world at all, and is found in a faraway world in the Southern part of the Immortal world." She answered.


    "That''s a Vykean Winged Fox?" Lin Mu was quite surprised. "You know of them?" The Princess asked.


    "I do¡­ But I didn''t know they looked like this." Lin Mu said honestly. "The descriptions I''ve read are¡­ much more unttering." "How so?" Feng Lan questioned.


    "Are you sure the information came from a credible source?" Lin Mu asked instead.


    "Yes. I got it from the Imperial intelligence department." The Princess replied. "Hmm¡­ I don''t know what the issue is, but from what I''ve read, Vykean Winged Foxes unlike this¡­ They are ferocious beasts and are said to be able to have the ability to predict the future. They are also much, much bigger than fluff-fluff." Lin Mu exined what he knew.


    "This¡­" The princess furrowed her brows. "Though my source of information is a bit old¡­ and it is always possible that Fluff-fluff is a variant of some kind too. So there shouldn''t be much of a problem." Lin Mu rified.

 Chapter 2002 Action Of The Celestial Bloodline

    Lin Mu''s words made the Princess a bit unsettled at first, but he then assured her that there wasn''t much of a threat.


    "Besides, now that Meihua will have a Celestial master, there shouldn''t be any issues in making Fluff-fluff an official tamed beast." Lin Mu stated.


    "Of course!" Princess Feng Lan''s worried immediately melted away upon hearing that.


    ~ang~


    The fox tilted its head in confusion, not understanding what they were talking about.


    The two continued to talk, while the two beasts flew alongside them until they finally arrived at the barrier.


    ~shua~


    There, tens of formation masters were busy at work. "So this is the garden where Meihua was before." Lin Mu muttered and scanned the area with his immortal sense.


    There were clear signs of destruction caused by the sudden intrusion of the Branch Horn Wolves as there were many nts and trees that had been uprooted or simply ruined. The ground also had their paw prints everywhere along with scratch marks and more. Lin Mu''s attention finally went to the spot in the invisible barrier that had a ratherrge hole. It was about five meters tall and six meters wide. "No wonder they got in." Lin Mu said as he observed it closely.


    He checked the formationyer that had the breach and soon realized that it had broken in a rather smooth manner.


    "This is rather peculiar¡­ the hole is quite ''natural''." Lin Mu spoke. "If it was forcefully broken, theyer would have been destabilized." He added.


    "Indeed. This is what I thought too." Feng Lan replied. "The formation masters have been unable to figure out the reason as well." "Let me take a closer look¡­" Lin Mu said and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.


    ~SHUA~


    His Spatial perception activated and he looked through the details of the formation. He saw the things that would stay hidden and observed the flow of Qi itself. The Princess stayed silent and didn''t disturb Lin Mu, letting him do his work.


    After watching it for a minute or so, Lin Mu narrowed his eyes. "Did you find something?" Princess Feng Lan asked.


    "I did¡­ and it is rather straightforward." Lin Mu replied.


    "What''s the cause?" The Princess questioned.


    "The barrier wasn''t actually broken. It was simply¡­ rewritten." Lin Mu answered.


    "Rewritten?" Feng Lan repeated in doubt. "How''s that possible?" "Meihua is registered in the n''s arrays, right?" Lin Mu asked first.


    "Of course she is." Feng Lan nodded.


    "That''s the reason why the barrier was ''rewritten'' instead of being broken outright." Lin Mu replied, confusing the princess. "This seems like a mix of her bloodline''s effect as well as her having authority over the barrier." "What? But she isn''t a formation master to modify it." Feng Lan stated, having doubts.


    "Of course. But she doesn''t have to be. Due to the way your n''s barrier was made¡­ the higher details with good modrity means it can be modified in smaller sections. Just like what n Head Guang San did earlier in the main hall, Meihua did something simr here.


    Or either, it was her bloodline that did it. It was probably subconsciously done, but she probably willed the garden to be ''bigger'' or something like that." Lin Mu exined the best he could.


    "That¡­ seems¡­" Feng Lan didn''t know what to make of it.


    "It is indeed unconventional and I don''t understand it fully either. But I guess that is what makes a Celestial Bloodline so special." Lin Mu stated.


    ~Sigh~


    "I guess so." Feng Lan shook her head, feeling a bit tired and relieved at the same time. "So what should we do now?" "Just fix it like you normally would. There are no other issues." Lin Mu answered.


    "That''s good." Princess Feng Lan smiled. "At least we don''t have to be wary about our ''neighbors'' now." She added.


    "Who are those, exactly?" Lin Mu asked the question that had been in the back of his mind.


    "Travelers of some kind. They arrived a few months ago and have been staying here since then." Princess Feng Lan replied. "They don''t seem to belong to any particr organization or n, either."


    "Why are they here, though?" Lin Mu questioned, finding it strange.


    "They said they''re searching for resources and their next stop is the Evergreen Pirs Forest. We have indeed seen their people enter and exit the forest from time to time, so it seems like they''re looking for resources inside." Princess Feng Lan answered. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "I see¡­ Guess they''re just some wandering cultivators." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hopefully." Feng Lan nodded as they started to make their way back to the main hall.


    "Have you told the Emperor about Meihua?" Lin Mu asked, knowing how big of a deal this was.


    "Not yet¡­ my husband said that it is best we wait until Celestial Ever Spring Mistress arrives. We''ll act ording to her guidance after that." Princess Feng Lan replied. "I know if I tell father now, he''ll either summon us to the pce or directly head over himself." "Hmm¡­ I don''t think he would." Lin Mu said, knowing what kind of pressure the emperor was under these days. After all, the source of it all was ultimately Lin Mu. But Feng Lan got a different idea from Lin Mu''s words.


    "Baxing¡­ of course." Feng Lan shook her head in disappointment. "I knew he was always discontent, but to go to that extent. I apologize for my younger brother''s actions, Daoist Mu Lin." She said truthfully.


    "It''s all in the past." Lin Mu waved his hands. "I don''t care about it. It''s all been dealt with now." In the state that Feng Baxing was in now, there wasn''t much one could ask for in terms of punishment now.


    The man was aatose cripple who didn''t have any future left. Plus, the Dao Wind Empire had also lost face to the Temple. Lin Mu and Feng Lan soon returned to the Main hall, which soon got decked in borate decorations.


    New WSA Book is out!

 Chapter 2003 The Celestial’s Arrival Shocks The Immortals

    <h4>Chapter 2003 The Celestial''s Arrival Shocks The Immortals</h4>


    The time passed quick, and the tenseness of the Morning Glory n increased. The closer the time for the guest to arrive came, the more stressed the people were. Guang San and Feng Lan were doing their best to ensure that there would be no issues, and Lin Mu assured them that it would go well. From what the Saintess had told him, the Ever Spring Mistress only cared about having a disciple and wouldn''t mind anything other than that. Even if they were to meet her in a crumbling mud hut, she still wouldn''t care. With how long she had searched for a disciple, it was nothing. The inception of this chapter''s publication is linked to N(Ov3l.B1n.


    She had scoured mortal worlds, and looked through dpidated slums in the search for a suitable disciple, but everything had been for a naught. After all those years, she was finally getting her wish fulfilled and could now meet Meihua, whom she had been waiting for.


    Soon enough, the time finally arrived, and every person in the Morning Glory n felt it.


    But the one who felt it first was none other than Lin Mu.


    ~SHUA~


    His senses rmed him, as he felt a very strong spatial fluctuation in the Rust Sky World. Even though it was happening thousands of kilometers from where he was, Lin Mu could still feel it as if it was right next to him. His eyes snapped in the direction of the Capital City of the Dao Wind Empire, where a teleportation array had just opened up.


    ''This is definitely not the normal cross world teleportation array¡­ With the spatial energy being used in this, it''s clear that the distance covered was massive.'' Lin Mu analyzed it.


    ~HONG~


    The spatial fluctuations onlysted for a few seconds before a massive wave of Qi spread. It started from the capital city and covered the entire Rust Sky World!


    All the top experts in the Rust Sky felt it and were rmed.


    "Another Celestial!?" In the Grand Pce of the Holy Topaz Dynasty, the emperor stood up from his throne and gazed in the direction of the Dao Wind Empire. "Just what''s happening there now?" He furrowed his brows.


    He hadn''t forgotten the great trouble they had gone through just a year ago, and the fear he had felt was still fresh in his mind. The Holy Topaz Emperor didn''t know if this was the same celestial or not, but since they were arriving in the Dao Wind Empire again, he couldn''t help but think they were rted.


    The same happened in the Huiqing Continent as the Huiqing Emperor rushed to the sky and looked in the direction of the Dao Wind Continent. But unlike the Holy Topaz Emperor, he directly took out amunication jade slip and contacted the Emperor of the Dao Wind Empire.


    "Old Feng¡­ What''s happening now?" The Huiqing Emperor questioned.


    "A Celestial¡­ has arrived¡­ Unannounced." Emperor Feng answered, shock clear in his voice.


    "Unannounced!? Did the Temple not say anything? Are they not doing anything!?" The Huiqing Emperor asked in a frantic voice.


    "They¡­ They are the ones who opened the array¡­ The array is directlying from the Central Immortal Court." Emperor Feng replied while flying to check just who was it that had arrived.


    "Wait!? The temple themselves opened it?" Huiqing Emperor was stunned. "It can''t be¡­ it isn''t an Imperator, is it?" Just the idea of it shook the man in his core.


    Imperators were the punisher of the Immortal Court and were possibly one of their stronger members. But if an Imperator was a celestial, it didn''t mean that they hade from the Immortal court, but rather celestial court!


    The arrival of an Imperator was never good for any world. "I can only hope¡­ it is not an Imperator." Emperor Feng stated, feeling overwhelmed.


    His empire had already lost face and gone through several troublesome issues a year ago. He didn''t want more to happen.


    ''I thought the Temple said it is fine now that we''ve paid for the mistakes of Feng Baxing. Why is an Imperatoring now?'' Emperor Feng thought to himself.


    He flew at his full speed and soon reached the grand teleportation array of the Capital City.


    In the center of theke stood the open array that was currently shining brightly. A vague silhouette could be seen there, and a massive amount of Qi was radiating off it.


    The array was surrounded by several formation masters of the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts. It even included, High Elder Juxue, who was standing there with a serious expression.


    The Emperor noticed this and approached him.


    "Uncle¡­ who''sing?" Emperor Feng used his familial connection. "It isn''t¡­ An Imperator is it?" He asked carefully.


    ~Sigh~


    "If only it was an Imperator." High Elder Juxue let out a sigh which only made the emperor feel worse.


    "If not an Imperator, then¡­" Emperor Feng furrowed his brows. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    "At least an Imperator would act within the scope of the court''s protocol. The one who has arrived is a favored celestial of the Celestial Court¡­ the Immortal court can''t do much to them. They also have the privilege of going to any immortal world as they wish." High Elder Juxue stated. "All this were to happen just when the Temple head is not here¡­ ~Sigh~ let''s just hope this celestial is better." The old man rubbed his face.


    Emperor Feng swallowed his saliva and looked at the silhouette that was getting clearer by the second. In order for the Immortal world to endure the presence of the Celestial, the expert would have to suppress several of their aspects. This was also why their appearance took some time and why only a silhouette could be seen.


    The Celestial was still adapting to the restriction of the Rust Sky World.


    ~SHUA~


    And sure enough, a few more secondster, the strong waves of Qi disappeared and the silhouette be clear.


    ~HUALA~


    And when it did, a warm presence radiated from the person who had just appeared.

 Chapter 2004 Emperor Feng And High Elder Juxue Meet The Ever Spring Mistress

    <h4>Chapter 2004 Emperor Feng And High Elder Juxue Meet The Ever Spring Mistress</h4>


    As if Spring had arrived, a pleasing warm feeling washed over all those that were standing around the array. From the previous oppressively strong wave of Qi, it was now reced by a weing aura. It waspletely opposite and made one feel a bit perplexed.


    But that was nothingpared to when they finally saw the source of it all.


    "A¡­ Girl?" Emperor Feng looked at the celestial that had just appeared.


    She looked like a beautiful young girl, that would draw the attention of all those that saw her. And yet, when Emperor Feng looked at her eyes, he got an intense feeling of maturity. ''It''s like I''m looking at an ancient forest¡­'' Emperor Feng couldn''t help but feel.


    Even when he had met his grandfather, Emperor Feng hadn''t felt like this. This greatly contrasted against the young girl''s appearance and made it hard for one toprehend how one could be a celestial looking like that.


    After all, from what Emperor Feng had learned about Celestials or even the ones he had met before were all old people. Even the ''younger'' looking Celestials seemed to have a middle aged appearance rather than that of a teenager like in front of him.


    ~step~step~step~


    The young girl stepped forward with a slight smile on her face. She held a small branch in her left hand, while her pink hair fluttered behind her as she took every step.


    She came to a stop in front of Emperor Feng and High Elder Juxue before speaking in a very mature voice.


    "Hmmm¡­ are you the ruler of thisnd?" She asked in a voice that didn''t match her appearance.


    It was unlike what Lin Mu had heard when the girl was talking with the Saintess. "Y-yes¡­ I''m Emperor Feng of the Dao Wind Empire." He introduced himself, almost stammering his words.


    "And you must belong to the Temple." The Ever Spring mistress looked at High Elder Juxue. "I can recognize that imprint anywhere."


    "Honored Celestial is correct." High Elder Juxue cupped his hands. "I am High Elder Juxue of the Temple of the Four Guardians. May we know who you are?" He replied in a practiced manner.


    Emperor Feng paid his full attention, as he too wanted to know who this ''surprise'' guest was.


    "I am the Celestial known as the Ever Spring Mistress." She answered, making the two feel confused.


    They hadn''t heard of any celestial like this before and tried to think about her background or association. But they were unable toe up with anything, which was understandable as there were many celestials that they had no contact with after all.


    "May I have the Honor of asking, for what reason have you graced my empire with this visit?" Emperor Feng inquired respectfully.


    "Haha," The Ever Spring Mistress couldn''t help butugh seeing the nervousness of the Emperor.


    It was something she was used to and also why she would use her older voice with her younger appearance. ''Teasing the youngsters is always fun.'' The Ever Spring mistress thought to herself before deciding to respond. "I must say the Rust Sky world is blessed." "Blessed?" High Elder Juxue raised his brows in surprise.


    "Yes¡­ it is blessed because it gave birth to someone special." The Ever Spring Mistress replied. "And who is that favored individual?" Emperor Feng asked in doubt.


    "My disciple." The Ever Spring Mistress revealed. "I''vee to the Rust Sky world to ept my Disciple." "This¡­" Emperor Feng''s eyes went wide as he heard her words. ''A Celestial recruiting a disciple personally?'' He was stunned.


    While there had been other cultivators from the Rust Sky world who had celestial masters. There had never been a case where a Celestial Personally descended to the Rust Sky World to take them. As such, Emperor Feng couldn''t help but question who that lucky individual was.


    "Now then, I must hurry and meet my disciple." The Ever Spring Mistress said with a hint of impatience.


    "P-please give me the honor of guiding you." Emperor Feng said hurriedly. ''If it''s someone from my empire or any other ce, I have to know it firsthand.'' He thought to himself.


    "Hmm¡­ very well." The Ever Spring Mistress replied. "But make sure you can keep up." She said with a chuckle before turning to the south.


    "Of course! I''ll do my best." Emperor Feng said and took a step, following behind the Ever Spring Mistress.


    But then she did something that left him lost.


    ~HUALA~


    Countless petals formed out of thin air and filled the vast expanse of the sky. They rose from below the feet of the Ever Spring Mistress and formed a bridge that disappeared on the horizon. The Celestial took a step onto the bridge, causing it to start shrinking!


    And as the bridge shrank, it took the Ever Spring Mistress forwards.


    In just a second, she turned into a blur and couldn''t be seen anywhere. The bridge made out of petals had disappeared too, and only a faint presence could be felt.


    "She''s already gone?" Emperor Feng couldn''t believe his eyes.


    ~Sigh~


    "You''re really hoping to match a celestial''s pace¡­ Just go seek out her energy. You won''t be able to catch up, anyway." High Elder Juxue shook his head. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Unlike Emperor Feng, he had a lot more contact with the Celestials due to being part of the temple. He also knew how entric a lot of them were and that even if one was a Transcendent Immortal, matching up against them was close to impossible.


    "I''ll go!" Emperor Feng understood that too now, and instead decided to seek out the energy traces of the Ever Spring Mistress.


    Thankfully, it seemed like she didn''t intend to hide and the Emperor was able to fly after her.


    ''She''s going to the south?'' He quickly realized, sensing the traces.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He flew at his maximum speed and soon left the capital city. But after a few minutes of flying, he found it a bit strange.

 Chapter 2005 Emperor’s Joy

    <h4>Chapter 2005 Emperor''s Joy</h4>


    A massive forest full of giant bamboos could be seen everywhere that the Emperor looked. "This ce¡­ The Evergreen Pirs forest?" Emperor Feng furrowed his brows, before he sensed the position of the Celestial ahead of him. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    He could tell that the Ever Spring Mistress had slowed down and her position was now stagnant. But upon sensing this, the Emperor was stunned.


    "It can''t be¡­" The man knew exactly where the Ever Spring Mistress was. He was very familiar with it due to the fact that it was a ce that belonged to family too. "She''s at the Morning Glory n?!" Emperor Feng determined, feeling shocked. He would have never expected that the pce the Celestial wanted to visit was none other than the ce where his daughter was married into.


    The Morning Glory n was a close ally of the Imperial Family and had been so for thousands of years. Their bond was firm and there had even been several marriage alliances between them in the past. But Princess Feng Lan was the first one of direct descent to be married into an external n. This brought great honors to the Morning Glory n, as well as elevated their position in the Dao Wind Empire.


    As such, it was of great concern to the Emperor that the Celestial had gone there.


    ''This can only mean one thing¡­'' Emperor Feng knew.


    But not wanting to rush to conclusions, he decided to witness it with his own two eyes.


    ~shua~


    He soonnded in the n, none of the restrictions stopping him. It was clear that he had long since been added to the arrays and they recognized him. Plus, this was not the first time he hade to the Morning Glory n either.


    There he saw a group of people standing in ceremony at the central square of the n. The entire n had been decorated as if there was a grand wedding happening, and musicians seemed to be ying various instruments. With pleasant music hanging in the air, and the beauty of the gardens, an enthralling atmosphere filled its confines.


    Even the Emperor couldn''t help but think this was quite good.


    But it posed a great question to him.


    ''Was a big wedding to happen in the Morning Glory n?'' He wondered.


    If there was one, he should have known about it. But he tried to remember and had no information about any major member of the Morning Glory n getting married.


    His query was soon resolved as he saw the Ever Spring Mistress standing with n Head Guang San, Princess Feng Lan and several of the elders. "Father!?" Princess Feng Lan spotted her father who had just appeared and was surprised.


    "Feng Lan? The Celestial¡­" Emperor Feng didn''t miss the fact that the Ever Spring Mistress was standing exactly in front of his daughter. The Ever Spring Mistress had a smile on her face as she looked down at a child standing next to the Princess.


    "So you are Meihua." The Ever Spring Mistress spoke in a calm voice.


    "I am Meihua yes!" The little girl replied with no fear. "Who are you big sister?" She asked.


    "Big sister? Haahhaha!" The Ever Spring Mistressughed loudly, brightening up the atmosphere even more. The sweet scent of a thousand flowers filled the Morning Glory n, and all the trees in the garden started to spontaneously bloom!


    The members and servants of the Morning Glory n who saw this scene were left awestruck. It was a magical thing they had never seen before.


    After all, it wasn''t just normal trees and nts that were blooming, but even the Immortal Fruits and herbs!


    Something like this wasn''t within the capability of just any immortal. Even the immortal herbs and fruit trees that were hundreds of years away from maturity instantly grew and bore flowers!


    This didn''t miss the Emperor''s senses either, as the sudden rise in the immortal Qi in the air was hard to ignore.


    ''Such power to influence the surroundings without even using Qi¡­ is this the power of a Celestial''s Dao?'' Emperor Feng couldn''t help but wonder.


    He didn''t get to think about that for long though, as his attention was soon brought back by the Ever Spring Mistress''s words.


    "You can call me Master, Meihua." The Ever Spring Mistress stated, stunning the Emperor as well as the other members of the Morning Glory n.


    After all, while they knew that an honored guest was arriving at the n, they now knew just how ''honored'' the guest was by the phenomena that had happened earlier.


    "The Celestial is here for our Meihua?!" Emperor Feng felt his heart race.


    He had been wondering who was the blessed person to be the disciple of a Celestial and it just so happens to be his own granddaughter.


    "Oh?" The Ever Spring Mistress didn''t miss the connection and was a bit surprised. "Seems like fate favors you and your kingdom more than I thought. Your granddaughter shall be my sole inheritor." She dered.


    "HAHAHA~" in the next moment, the Emperor forgot all his regal demeanor andughed with great joy. "Heavens still haven''t forsaken us!"


    All the stress he had from the tournament earlier, as well as the acts of his third son, were all gone at that moment.


    "Emperor, we intended to tell you after we had the permission from the Ever Spring Mistress. Please forgive us for not telling you earlier." n Head Guang San apologized.


    "Haha, it is nothing." Emperor Feng didn''t care about that, although. "But do tell me, how did this happen?" he asked, feeling confused.


    He could tell that the Morning Glory n knew about the arrival of the Celestial in advance. This was something even the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts didn''t know. As such, he was confused.


    "Meihua has the hidden Plum Heaven Bloodline. It is a celestial bloodline that is suitable for the inheritance of the Ever Spring Mistress." Princess Feng Lan answered in short.

 Chapter 2006 The Celestial’s Estate

    <h4>Chapter 2006 The Celestial''s Estate</h4>


    Emperor Feng heard the words of his daughter, and couldn''t help but feel astounded.


    "A Celestial Bloodline?!" Emperor Feng said in shock. "How did it appear in our family?" he couldn''t help but ask before looking at Guang San.


    "It is not from our n either, Emperor." Guang San answered knowing what the man was thinking.


    ~chuckle~


    The conversation made the Ever Spring Mistress let out a littleugh.


    "The Plum Heaven Bloodline isn''t something that is linked to one''s genealogy. It is one of the 36 Heavenly Celestial bloodlines that only appear in those with great fortune." The Ever Spring Mistress stated. "In short, they are random. But all those that have it have great potential." She added. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "I see¡­" Emperor Feng muttered as he recalled hearing something about the 36 Heavenly Celestial Bloodlines long ago in the past.


    It was when he was a youth and had trained in the Immortal Court. He had gotten to learn about the Celestials for the first time back then, and also learned about those that had an innate talent of a celestial. Among those were those that had bloodlines that could do this.


    Of course, other than a couple of 36 Heavenly Celestial bloodlines that his teachers had told him about, he didn''t know about the others. They weren''t part of the information that would normally be passed onto Immortals after all. Besides, even if an immortal knew about them, there was little chance they would actually recognize these bloodlines.


    In fact, just sensing them proved impossible unless one knew the method.


    ~huu~


    Emperor Feng took a deep breath and calmed himself down before looking at the Ever Spring Mistress with gratitude in his eyes.


    "Honored Celestial, how can we repay this debt?" he asked.


    "There is no debt." Ever Spring Mistress replied. "Just think of it as the blessing of the heavens and praise your ancestors for guiding you all until Meihua was born." She said.


    "If you say so." Emperor Feng cupped his hands in gratitude. "What will happen to Meihua though?" he asked, feeling curious.


    Hearing this, the Ever Spring Mistress ced a finger on her chin.


    "Let''s see¡­ I''ll let you guys have some time together before we leave." Ever Spring Mistress said before looking at the reddened eyes of Princess Feng Lan. "Though¡­ Meihua is young and as such would need a parent. I shall let one of youe with me. I''ll allow you to stay with Meihua for ten years before you''ll have to leave." She offered.


    "Thank you, Ever Spring Mistress!" Princess Feng Lan said, feeling emotional.


    She was very attached to Meihua and couldn''t part with her easily. Even if she were to go into the protection of a Celestial and no harm would evere to her, it was still a mother''s anxiety that wouldn''t go away. "My wife shall apany you then." Guang San decided right away.


    As the n head, he wouldn''t be able to leave anyway and Princess Feng Lan going was the better choice.


    The mother merely nodded her head, having known this would happen.


    "Let''s go in. We can talk infort." Guang San said, bringing them all in. "Allow us to show our hospitality, Honored Celestial." He added.


    With that said, the Ever Spring Mistress let it happen. "We do have quite a lot to talk about too." She spoke before exining some things.


    As the master of Meihua, there were other responsibilities and duties that she needed to carry out before she officially took her away. The Ever Spring Mistress decided that the Morning Glory n and the Dao Wind Imperial Family will have a cordial rtionship with her and her personal estate. Much to everyone''s surprise, the Ever Spring Mistress actually lived alone and did not create an organization of her own. At most, she had servants that took care of matters at her estate. Of course, what they didn''t know was the fact that ''estate'' meant an entirely different thing to the Ever Spring Mistress.


    Her estate was not a manor or a courtyard. It wasn''t even a city or a county¡­ it was¡­ an entire world!


    The World she ruled over was named as the Ever Spring World after her and was apparently a barren world originally. But with her abilities, that world blossomed with life and was now filled with an evesting spring. As her personal estate, there were no kingdoms or settlements on the Ever Spring World. She was the sole ruler and only some ''servants'' worked for her there. These servants usually harvested the various resources that grew in the Ever Spring World and traded them with other worlds as well as the Celestial court.


    The cordial rtionship that she was talking about was rted to this. Every year she would send over gifts to both the ns, as well as allow them to purchase certain resources that would not be avable in an immortal world.


    Hearing this, both Guang San and Emperor Feng were left shocked as well as pleased.


    Emperor Feng even felt like his dream of bing a Celestial might not be a dream after all. Though he still didn''t know the exact method of doing that. The Ever Spring Mistress then talked about how Meihua would be brought up as well as her future designation. As her heir, she would eventually take over the Ever Spring World. Of course, with that said, there was no way Guang San would let go of this chance to dere Meihua as the future heir of the Morning Glory n. Even if he were to have more children in the future, only Meihua would be the heir. There was no way he could let anyone else have it, as there wouldn''t be anyone more qualified than her.


    And when these conversations came to an end, the Ever Spring Mistress let them have some privacy.


    "I have some things to attend to. I''ll let you all talk in the meantime." She said and disappeared in a flurry of petals, showing some excitement on her face.

 Chapter 2007 The Emperor’s Gratitude And The Celestials Meet

    <h4>Chapter 2007 The Emperor''s Gratitude And The Celestials Meet</h4>


    With The Ever Spring Mistress gone, the Emperor finally noticed a surprising person among them.


    "Daoist Mu Lin?" The Emperor''s attention had been so upied with the Celestial being present, that his senses didn''t pick up on another important person there.


    There was no way he would forget who Lin Mu was after all. He was the one who had won the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts as well as the one that his son had used the Imperial Might Talisman against. The Emperor also knew that Lin Mu had a great backing, which was why they had to suffer for a bit. But despite all that, the Emperor had no ill feelings. He knew where the faulty, and he was far too old to be petty about things like this.


    Thus he couldn''t help but wonder why Lin Mu was there.


    "Emperor Feng, greetings." Lin Mu cupped his hands. "I believe this is our second time meeting." "It is¡­ but how are you here?" Emperor Feng asked, while Feng Lan and Guang San switched their attention.


    "It is Daoist Mu Lin who found out about the hidden Bloodline of Meihua, Father." Feng Lan quickly answered. "He''s also the reason why the Ever Spring Mistress is here today." Guang San added.


    While it was the Saintess that had invited her over, they knew that without Lin Mu being there, it wouldn''t have happened. Why would a celestial help them out without a cause after all?


    Hearing that, an impressed look appeared on Emperor Feng''s face.


    "Well, not exactly me." Lin Mu spoke but didn''t state it clearly since there were still other people here. Guang San knew what Lin Mu meant and coughed lightly.


    ~Ahem~


    At the same time, he sent out a message to the elders that were present who hurried out of the hall. With the Emperor being there, they knew it was not their position to be inside the hall. Even if they were the Elders of the Morning Glory n, their ranking was still quite lower than the emperor.


    As such, they left without any protest, leaving the hall with just a handful of people.


    "Regardless of who it might be, I can''t help but thank you, Daoist Mu Lin." The Emperor actually cupped his hands in gratitude for Lin Mu too. ''There''s no doubt¡­ the Celestial backing him is probably the reason why the Ever Spring Mistress is here today.'' He could read between the line and easily figured the fact out.


    "It is just something I had to do being friends with Crown Prince Feng Shun." Lin Mu said.


    "That''s not all, Daoist Mu Lin also saved Meihua from an onught of Branch Horn Wolves!" Feng Lan quickly added.


    "What??" Emperor Feng''s expression turned serious while concern shone in his eyes.


    Feng Lan then narrated what happened with Meihua, as well as how Lin Mu had met them. After hearing the story, Emperor Feng couldn''t help but feel even more thankful to Lin Mu.


    "Looks like the Imperial Feng n will also be in your debt, Daoist Mu Lin." Emperor Feng thanked him once more. "Feng Shun has certainly made some good friends." He added feeling a bit proud at his son''s choices.


    Lin Mu gave a little nod before remembering, "Oh wait, is the Crown Prince alsoing over soon?" "What? Why?" Emperor Feng asked.


    "Well, we were supposed to meet here. He''s the one who suggested I go to the Morning Glory n before." Lin Mu replied and gave a bit more background to what was the arrangement.


    "I see¡­ well Feng Shun isn''t at the Capital so I didn''t meet him. I had to rush since the Ever Spring Mistress had arrived without a notice." Emperor Feng replied wondering what his son was doing.


    "Oh? He''s not at the Capital city? Perhaps he''s already on his way here." Lin Mu guessed.


    "I don''t know about that." Emperor Feng replied. "I certainly didn''t see him on the way. I would sense if he was anywhere near here." He added. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Is that so, huh¡­ perhaps he went somewhere else." Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Is he perhaps getting the people ready for the expedition?'' That was the best he could guess as to what could be happening.


    The group continued to talk more, while another meeting happened in a private courtyard in the Morning Glory n. Clouds surrounded this courtyard, preventing anyone from entering or looking in.


    ~SHUA~


    A rain of petals happened in the courtyard, as the Ever Spring Mistress materialized inside it. Her petals had passed through the clouds without any problem as if they were nothing. Only a celestial would be able to tell that the clouds weren''t actually blocking entry, but merely preventing anyone from spying in.


    "Saintesss~" The Ever Spring Mistress called out in the voice of a young girl again. Her demeanor seemed to change, and became like that of a childish girl. With curled lips, she looked around, quickly finding the person of her interest sitting at a table made out of solid clouds.


    "There you are!" The Ever Spring Mistress said before rushing towards her.


    ~puff~


    But before she could jump at her, a cushion of clouds stopped her.


    "Meanie! Is this how you greet me after two hundred thousand years?" The Ever Spring Mistress said with a pout.


    "Over a million years old and you still can''t act like a celestial." The Saintess replied calmly. "Humph! I can act like a Celestial when I want to. Didn''t you see how I shocked the kids?" The Ever Spring Mistress replied with puffed cheeks.


    ~Sigh~


    "What can I do with you¡­" The Saintess shook her head.


    "Hahah!" But the expression of the Ever Spring Mistress changed quickly as she burst outughing. "And you still wear that veil everywhere you go."


    "Unlike you, I don''t have a choice." The Saintess replied.


    "Yeah, yeah, you and your crushing Karma." The Ever Spring Mistress let out a puff of breath. "We can never go out to have fun because of that."

 Chapter 2008 A Hobby Of Tea

    The Ever Spring Mistress''s words made the Saintess feel a bit lost.


    "That isn''t exactly something I can do." The Saintess stated.


    "But aren''t you out here now?" The Ever Spring Mistress asked. "I was surprised that you''re actually in an Immortal world. You rarely leave the Serpent Moon Sect after all. And even if you do, you only appear in the Celestial gatherings." She added before a look of realization appeared on her face. "WAIT! Don''t tell me you''re out having fun alone?!" the Ever Spring Mistress asked bringing her face close to the Saintess. If anyone in the Serpent moon sect or even the celestials that knew about the Saintess were to see this, they would be stunned. The Saintess was not one to let others close to her most of the time, and especially not let anyone act like this.


    And yet, she was tolerant of the Ever Spring Mistress.


    It was an astounding scene that few would ever get to witness. "Enough," The Saintess rolled her eyes and pushed the Ever Spring Mistress''s face away.


    "Fine." The Ever Spring Mistress said before sitting down. "We can at least have tea right?" She asked.


    "Sure." The Saintess replied.


    "Good, I got some Fresh Three Rivers tea picked on the first day of Spring." The Ever Spring Mistress said and took out a small pouch. This time though, the Saintess actually showed an expression of interest. "I knew you would want it." The Ever Spring Mistress said and opened the pouch, releasing a faint fragrance that was rather unique.


    If one smelled it, they would feel like they were sitting on a boat floating down a river that was surrounded by a field of flowers on both sides. "Did you make it?" The Saintess asked.


    "Of course! I even went to Northern Celestial court and asked the ck Tortoise n for ess to the Great Three Rivers Gorge." The Ever Spring Mistress replied with a proud look.


    "No wonder¡­" The Saintess said, as the Ever Spring Mistress started preparing the tea.


    She used a teapot made from solid clouds which automatically filled up with water and added the Fresh Three Rivers tea to it. Strangely enough, the tea leaves looked like flickering water!


    And when the tea leaves touched the water in the teapot, they instantly dissolved causing the water to churn. If one looked into the churning water, they would feel like they were staring at a whirlpool swirling in a shifting river.


    What was even stranger was that the fragrance of the tea spread in the entire courtyard, and a faint image of a massive gorge appeared above it. If a mortal were to look at it, they would think that they were hallucinating. It was simply too strange! This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Here you go," The Ever Spring Mistress poured out a cup for the Saintess and let her have a taste.


    The Saintess brought the cup to her face and gently lifted the veil, letting her red lips be unmasked but for a moment.


    "Mmmhmm¡­ Your Proficiency in the Dao of Tea has increased once more." The Saintess said feeling impressed.


    "I''ve been practicing a lot." The Ever Spring Mistress nodded. "Having no disciple made me too bored, and I just decided to focus more on hobbies." She spoke.


    "Only you would consider it a hobby¡­ Your proficiency in the Dao of Tea has already turned into a Dao Icon." The Saintess said cheekily.


    "What can I do? My friend hadn''t talked to me in two hundred thousand years, I had to focus on something." The Ever Spring Mistress replied. "It just so happens two hundred thousand years were enough for the Dao of Tea to form a Dao Icon." She said as a matter of fact.


    The Saintess didn''t respond and simply continued to enjoy the tea. In a few minutes, the tea was all gone, and the illusory image of the gorge also disappeared. "So tell me¡­ What are you actually doing here?" The Ever Spring Mistress finally asked. "I doubt you would go out of the Serpent Moon Sect without a reason. And I''m sure no one would dare to ask you for a favor from the Celestial courts." She added.


    "I''m out because of the Serpent Moon Sect." The Saintess replied. "Do you remember the Seven Ancestral Serpents?" She asked.


    "Yeah, you asked me to keep an eye out all those years ago." The Ever Spring Mistress nodded. "We''ve found them." The Saintess replied. "There''s one that the sect found, and two more that were found here." "What?!" The Ever Spring Mistress was surprised. "Here? Did you find them?" She asked.


    "I did." The Saintess nodded.


    "Then what''s left? You just need to take them with you right?" The Ever Spring Mistress asked next.


    "It''s not that simple." The Saintess replied. "I do not ''own'' them." "What do you mean?" The Ever Spring Mistress narrowed her eyes. "The Ancestral Serpents¡­ They were raised by a cultivator¡­ and are also bound to him by birth." The Saintess revealed.


    "Bound¡­ You mean tamed?" The Ever Spring Mistress asked feeling surprised. "Can someone even tame those? Aren''t their bloodlines too strong to be imprinted?" "I thought so as well. But I was proven wrong." The Saintess replied. "So a cultivator in the Rust Sky World has them." The Ever Spring Mistress muttered. "I don''t see how that''s hard though. If they are in the Rust Sky world I''m sure they''re at most an immortal. You simply need to offer them a chance to join the Serpent Moon Sect. No Immortal would let go of an opportunity to join a Celestial power." She suggested.


    "That''s the thing. They have epted my offer already." The Saintess replied. "But they are also not someone I canmand." "Do they have a backing?" The Ever Spring Mistress narrowed her eyes. "Another celestial?" "If it was a Celestial, it would still be manageable." The Saintess said, her expression serious. "But when it''s the Pirs of the Void¡­ Things lose meaning." ~ck~


    The teacup fell from the Ever Spring Mistress''s hand upon hearing that name.

 Chapter 2009 The Spring Speaks

    "Pirs of the Void¡­" Those were words that the Ever Spring Mistress would have never thought that she would hear again.


    For they weren''t just mere words, but a title. A Title that only one being held. A being that not many knew of, but those that knew, both feared and respected it. It was a being, that the mere mention of it was enough to change the cheerful demeanor of the Ever Spring Mistress.


    "How can¡­ someone like that be the backing of someone¡­ are you sure?" The Ever Spring Mistress asked, looking at the Saintess.


    "Indeed¡­ I personally ''talked'' to him." The Saintess said, making the Ever Spring Mistress gasp.


    "Y-you¡­ talked to him?!" The Ever Spring Mistress covered her mouth with her hands.


    "Indeed." The Saintess nodded. "It is also why I am still here." She added. "Did the¡­ Great being ask something of you?" The Ever Spring Mistress questioned.


    "Something like that." The Saintess replied in short.


    The Ever Spring Mistress understood that it was probably something that was not to be heard by others, and as such kept her lips sealed. As she didn''t ask any further questions, the Saintess let out a breath of relief.


    "Well, things aren''t that bad." The Saintess said after a minute. "Or rather, I can say it is mostly positive." ~huu~


    "I guess that''s good." The Ever Spring Mistress said, feeling relieved.


    Her expression also lightened up, and the cheerfulness returned to her face.


    "So who''s this person being backed by the Great being?" The Ever Spring Mistress finally asked. "You''ve seen him already, I''m sure." The Saintess replied.


    "I''ve seen him?" The Ever Spring Mistress raised her brows. "Was it someone among the people earlier?" she wondered.


    "You won''t have to guess long, he''s here." The Saintess said, having sensed the arrival of someone outside.


    "Oh?" The Ever Spring Mistress turned to look at the gate and saw it open.


    ~step~step~step~


    From it walked, none other than Lin Mu along with a bird that was sitting on his shoulder.


    The Ever Spring Mistressid her eyes on him, and instantly found him different.


    Her eyes shimmered lightly, and peered through Lin Mu.


    "Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm with his Qi and equivalent to the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm with his body¡­ and he''s barely lived twenty nine springs¡­" She said in a low voice, only audible to her and the Saintess. "Is this what it takes to have the Great being back you?" she wondered.


    "No¡­ this is barely scratching the surface." The Saintess said. "He''s more than meets the eye. Take your time to observe him." She added.


    The Ever Spring Mistress''s expression turned serious for a moment before turning to a rather cheerful and youthful one. "Hello there! Who do we have here?" The Ever Spring Mistress asked in a young voice. It felt even younger than her teen voice, as if she were a child.


    Lin Mu noticed the clear difference, but didn''t question it. "Greetings, Celestial Ever Spring Mistress." He said with cupped hands.


    "Just the Ever Spring Mistress will be fine." The cheerful woman said, raising a corner of her lips.


    She then walked closer to Lin Mu, and did a circle around him, her eyes scanning every inch of him. Her nose even twitched as she smelled him while also hearing his heart with her ears. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    Lin Mu definitely found it strange, but didn''t feel any immortal sense probing him thus didn''t react.


    ''What''s she doing?'' Lin Mu wondered at this rather ''mortal'' way of gauging a person.


    After a few seconds of that, the Ever Spring Mistress stopped and walked next to the Saintess.


    "With all that he has¡­ He''s surprisingly ''pure''." The Ever Spring Mistress whispered. The Saintess''s lips twitched, as she spoke in a slightly irritated voice. "You know that''s not what I asked of you." "But isn''t this more shocking? Someone of his standing should have girls drowning him." The Ever Spring Mistress said with a hint of disbelief. "Even if it''s not the girls themselves, ns and other powers would be throwing their girls at him too."


    "He''s dedicated to his cultivation." The Saintess simply stated. "If you say so." The Ever Spring Mistress curled her lips for a moment before calming down. "But there are something''s I cannot see through. He has¡­ Several conflicting things contained within him." She said, making the Saintess look at her.


    The Saintess then lightly waved her finger, creating an air barrier around them that prevented anyone outside from hearing what was happening. Lin Mu didn''t even notice it and simply thought the two women were still observing him.


    To him, Celestials were unfamiliar existences and he didn''t know what kind of behavior they would show. The Saintess was mostly calm and collected, but the Ever Spring Mistress was quite different from that.


    ''I guess there are many variances among them too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, unaware that the two were having a serious conversation.


    "What did you learn?" The Saintess asked openly this time as no one could hear her other than the Ever Spring Mistress.


    In response, the Ever Spring Mistress''s expression turned nk and an eerie look appeared in her eyes. In that moment, it looked like it was no longer her, but an entirely different presence within her body.


    "The Spring speaks of things that exceed its existence. The man is an enigma and bears no karma of his own, nor his soul. The Spring sees no past springs within his soul and neither do they see them entering the winter. And yet¡­ The Spring warns of an existence that would bring a bitter winter." The Ever Spring Mistress stated in a cold voice before her demeanor returned to normal.


    Since the Ever Spring Mistress was facing the Saintess and had her back to Lin Mu, he didn''t witness all this. As such, he found nothing strange about him.


    Hearing the Ever Spring Mistress''s cryptic words though, the Saintess felt a million thoughts going through her mind while her heart raced in anxiety.

 Chapter 2010 Four Season Monarchs

    The Saintess was acquainted with the Ever Spring Mistress for a long time and knew about her abilities too.


    The Ever Spring Mistress was highly proficient in the Dao of Spring and was able to tap into its power that was not essible to others. She had reached a level with it where only a few had ever reached since the creation of the cosmos.


    Spring was the symbol of beginning and the signal of things that are toe.


    As such, the Dao of Spring allowed one to do much more than was conventionally thought. The Ever Spring Mistress took this a step further and was able to ''ask'' the Spring questions.


    Since Spring had existed from ancient times, it had seen many things. Simrly, most beings had witnessed spring and had been through it. As such, the ''Spring'' knew their history. It knew when they were born and when they were reborn.


    It knew if they had a history that was unknown.


    As long as a being existed, there was a high chance the Spring knew about them. Of course, how much it knew was limited, but over all these years, it knew a lot.


    This was exactly what the Ever Spring Mistress had peered into. And what she heard, or rather¡­ didn''t hear, was shocking.


    "How does he have no karma?" The Saintess questioned. "Every being has karma¡­ even if it is a tiny insect, it has a karma. If not from this life, then a past life." "I do not know¡­ The Spring does not know. The Spring never saw his birth before this. It has only known him for 29 springs." The Ever Spring Mistress answered. "Whatever he is¡­ perhaps it is the reason why the Great Being chose him." She guessed.


    The Saintess furrowed her brows upon hearing this, knowing that there wasn''t much else she could learn.


    ''If it is indeed the reason why the Great being chose him, then it is not good for me to pry.'' The Saintess thought to herself. ''But perhaps I might be able to ask himter¡­ I need to know¡­ for the Ancestral Serpents and the Sect.'' Lin Mu''s action of causing the birth of the Yin Yang Twin Serpents was more than enough for the Saintess to consider him special¡­ An anomaly. He had done something that should be impossible at this time, and yet it had happened. Something like this couldn''t be a coincidence, and as such, she wondered if there was something deeper within Lin Mu that he was unaware about. Something which had influenced all this.


    ~Sigh~


    Seeing the conflict on the Saintess''s face, the Ever Spring Mistress let out a rare sigh.


    "If you really wish to know more, the Spring does not hold the answers. It only knows the beginning¡­ to know the end, you need to go to Winter." The Ever Spring Mistress stated.


    "Winter¡­ You mean the Fourth Season Monarch." The Saintess asked.


    "Indeed¡­ The eldest among us four season monarchs, The Final Winter Celestial." The Ever Spring Mistress confirmed. "Only she would have the ability to know anything more. The Spring knows what has happened, but the Winter knows what might happen." Hearing this thought, a thought appeared in the Saintess''s mind.


    "Do all four Season Monarchs have this ability?" The Saintess asked.


    While she knew that there were four of them, she was only familiar with the Ever Spring Mistress and had never met the others. "Only the Final Winter Celestial and I have this. Summer and Autumn¡­ the Bright Summer Daoist and the Mellow Autumn swordsman cannot do this. They represent the period of transitions and have other abilities." The Ever Spring Mistress exined. "I''ll keep that in mind." The Saintess replied.


    "But know this¡­ The Final Winter Celestial isn''t easy to talk to¡­ it''s even hard to reach her in the first ce." The Ever Spring Mistress warned. "Even I don''t know where she lives exactly." "If she''s winter then, she should be somewhere in the Northern Celestial Court''s territory, right?" The Saintess asked.


    "Yes, but that''s the same as finding a needle in a haystack. There''s a reason why even the Celestial court has a hard time contacting her. It''s also the reason why they alwayse to me for work." The Ever Spring Mistress answered. "The Final Winter Celestial does not like meeting others and is very reclusive. I don''t think she''s even been seen in thest five hundred thousand years." She added.


    "Five hundred thousand years?" The Saintess was surprised. "She hasn''t been to the Celestial court''s gathering either?" "No¡­ She''s even ignored them. She doesn''t think of anyone." The Ever Spring Mistress said in a tired tone. "Even among us Four Season Monarchs, I''ve only talked to her twice. Plus, she is of an older generation, so it is harder for me and the other two season monarchs to even talk to her when we meet her." "Older generation? How old?" The Saintess furrowed her brows.


    "As far as I recall, she is the Second Generation Winter Monarch. While Spring, Summer, and Autumn, are all in the fourth generation now with us." The Ever Spring Mistress exined.


    "Second generation?!" The Saintess was shocked once more. "She''s that old of a celestial?" She hadn''t expected that. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "There''s a reason why even the Celestial court gave up on contacting her. She''s older than their grand masters at this point." The Ever Spring Mistress said. "I don''t even know if she''s going to pass her position. There''s no news of her ever getting a disciple." She added in wonder.


    "And here I thought, you were so desperate to find a disciple because you were thest Four Season monarch without one." The Saintess said in disbelief.


    It gave the Saintess a lot to think about as well as gave her clues to what should be her next step. Something told her that, if Lin Mu were to learn this, even he would wish to know more about himself.

 Chapter 2011 Lack Of Disciple

    Wanting to know more, the Saintess talked further with the Ever Spring Mistress.


    "What''s the situation with the new generation Four Season Monarchs? Were you the first one to get a disciple?" The Saintess asked.


    "No¡­ The first one to get a Disciple was the Mellow Autumn Swordsman and the Bright Summer Daoist found one soon after. And since we had little contact with the Final Winter Celestial, we didn''t think to ask her either. Bright Summer Daoist assumed that she already had one, and was teaching them. But after all this time, I think the only reason she''s still the Winter Monarch is because she simply hasn''t found a suitable heir." The Ever Spring Mistress gave her conclusion.


    "So to get her to talk¡­ We''ll have to find her an heir?" The Saintess quickly understood.


    "I didn''t say that. It''s just a mere possibility." The Ever Spring Mistress said with a chuckle. "Though I don''t even know if you can find a suitable heir, since we don''t know the technique that she practices. Of course, she specialties in the Dao of Winter, but that is still quite vague as to who might be suitable for it." She expressed her doubts.


    "Won''t an ice attribute physique or bloodline be suitable?" The Saintess suggested.


    "If only¡­ there are too many of them. The easiest would be to find someone who has an affinity with the Dao of Winter. But that is very difficult. I think so far, there haven''t been more than four users of the Spring Dao existing at the same time. Five for Summer and three for Autumn. As for winter¡­ I think there have only ever been two. The first was the previous generation Winter Monarch and now the Final Winter Celestial." The Ever Spring Mistress recalled.


    "That does make things difficult." The Saintess furrowed her brows.


    "Plus, if even the Final Winter Celestial couldn''t find a suitable heir for herself in all these years, I doubt you can do it anytime soon." The Ever Spring Mistress stated as a matter of fact. "I''d rmend not to waste effort in that." The Saintess was silent for a bit before agreeing. "Probably." "Now then¡­ I think it''s best you lower this barrier. Your boy is getting weirded out." The Ever Spring Mistress added in a teasing tone.


    The Saintess looked at Lin Mu and indeed found confusion on his face.


    ~shua~


    She immediately dispelled the barrier, knowing that they had talked for a little too long now.


    "Uh¡­ Do you guys want snacks?" Lin Mu asked awkwardly, sensing that the Saintess had removed the barrier.


    "Sure." The Saintess said, not wanting to bear the awkwardness in the air.


    "Oh?" But the Ever Spring Mistress had different ideas. "You have snacks?" She asked.


    "I do have some, but I was gonna cook better ones instead." Lin Mu replied.


    "Wait¡­ YOU CAN COOK!?" The Ever Spring Mistress''s eyes lit up like it was fireworks on new Year''s eve.


    "Yeah¡­ Well, it''s me and Little Shrubby that''ll cook together." Lin Mu answered.


    "Do it!" The Ever Spring Mistress said with a wide smile. "I''m tired of eating the same food made by the servants. I want something new." She added.


    "Sure. Do you have anything specific you want?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Hmm, let me think." The Ever Spring Mistress ced a finger below her lip. "Can you make something spicy?" she asked.


    "Sure¡­ I think we have enough spices." Lin Mu replied and took out a few ingredients from his spatial storage. The Ever Spring Mistress was in for a surprise, as she didn''t expect the sheer amount of ingredients that Lin Mu had kept in his ring. There were forty types of chili peppers alone. Some of them were spirit herbs, while some were immortal peppers.


    Lin Mu had to keep a few of them in sealed boxes, as the mere exposure to the air would make those around them cough. These immortal peppers had a strong fire element within them and were not even supposed to be used for cooking. They were originally used by alchemists to bnce out the extreme water element of some herbs and make pills.


    But here Lin Mu hadpletely flipped their use. If a mortal were to be near them, they would simply die from coughing their lungs out, not to mention eating them. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    A normal immortal would be in great pain if they ate it. Perhaps only a body cultivator might be able to bear it, and even then they would be quite literally breathing fire after eating it.


    Though for beasts who had an affinity for the fire element, the Immortal peppers were a great treat. It also boosted their cultivation base. As such, Lin Mu carried a lot of them, and so did Little Shrubby. They had bought them in the Capital City of the Dao Wind Empire, and Lin Mu had basically wiped out their stock.


    "How spicy do you want it?" Lin Mu asked. "I have me Tongue Immortal Peppers, Soul Shaking Ghost Pepper, Life Harvesting Reaper Pepper, and also some Gut Melt Immortal peppers." He listed them in the order of spiciness.


    "Uhh¡­" The Ever Spring Mistress was at a loss for words upon hearing the names. She had asked for spicy food on a whim and didn''t think Lin Mu had so many of them ready. Not to mention having a variation of them too.


    "Oh wait! I also got some Nerve Numbing Sichuan Peppercorns, along with Mellow Immortal Cinnamon." Lin Mu pulled out two more containers. "Now, do you want meat or veggies as the main?" He asked.


    "Vegetables." The Ever Spring Mistress replied.


    "On it!" Lin Mu said before calling out Little Shrubby.


    ~shua~


    The beast appeared and looked at the new person there. "Time to cook, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu said as he took out therge vessels and utensils.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby replied and summoned his prosthetic arms.


    While the two worked, the Ever Spring Mistress approached the Saintess and spoke, "Are you sure he''s focused on cultivation? He seems more like a chef instead."

 Chapter 2012 Offering Food And Wine

    The Ever Spring Mistress and the Saintess watched as Lin Mu and Little Shrubby whipped up a whole meal.


    From stews of different meats meant for Lin Mu and Little Shrubby, all the way to stir fried Immortal vegetables and herbs, mixed with spicy immortal peppers, to even a few Immortal fruit puddings that were made with the milk of a Eight Horn Grand Prairie Cow.


    All of the dishes were something that perhaps only the Emperor might get to eat regrly. And yet, here they were, being made by a man and his beast in the middle of a courtyard. It was safe to say, a tantalizing fragrance filled the entire courtyard along with dense immortal Qi that looked like swaying mist in the air.


    "Is it ready?!" The Ever Spring Mistress asked, feeling excited.


    "It''s all ready, yep." Lin Mu replied. "I also made some meat dishes, if you want to try them." He offered.


    "Sure, they look too good to give up!" The Ever Spring Mistress was already feeling her mouth water.


    As a Celestial, she didn''t really eat much, and even if she did, it was mostly elixirs or top quality fruits. Of course, it didn''t mean that she couldn''t eat; it was just that they often lost the need to eat.


    She only ate as a formality at the gatherings of her organization, where they would discuss various matters.


    Other than that, the only other major time she would eat or look forward to it was the gatherings of the Celestial court. The celestial court wouldn''t spare any expense in setting up the gathering, as such the food was topnotch too.


    "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM~" And sure enough, the Ever Spring Mistress felt like this was even better than that. "How can¡ª Munch~ this be¡­ ~CRUNCH~ SO GOOD!~" She said while stuffing her face.


    The crunchy stir fried vegetables mixed with toasted immortal nuts were perfect for her, especially with the kick from the immortal peppers.


    "I guess you like it," Lin Mu said with a smile and served some food to the Saintess too. "Would you also like some wine, Saintess?" He asked.


    "Sure," The Saintess replied and let Lin Mu pour a cup for her.


    "OOO! GIMME SOME TOO!" The Ever Spring Mistress asked.


    "Of course," Lin Mu poured another cup for the Ever Spring Mistress. "Did you make this too?" She inquired.


    "I did yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Though it might not be the best. It was one of my novice attempts. I do have a better batch being brewed. Though it''ll take a while for it to be ready." He exined.


    "I''ll taste it still." The Ever Spring Mistress said. "If I like it, I might give you some of my own wine too."


    "Oh? You make wine too?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The Ever Spring Mistress is good at making both Tea and Wine." The Saintess chimed in.


    "Though my specialty is tea." The Ever Spring Mistress replied.


    "Oh? Tea is nice too. Can I try some?" Lin Mu asked, wondering what kind of tea a celestial could make.


    "You can''t." The Ever Spring Mistress shook her head. "Unless you want to have your Nascent soul sted apart, haha~" She chuckled.


    Lin Mu was taken aback by it and wondered if she was joking.


    "The Ever Spring Mistress isn''t just good with tea, she is highly proficient in the Dao of Tea¡­ At the level of a Celestial." The Saintess rified. "Her tea is basically the same as an elixir for a Celestial. An immortal consuming it will be a death sentence." "Ah¡­ I understand." Lin Mu hadn''t expected her tea was of that level. "I think this is the first time I''m meeting someone who''s gone that far on the path of tea. To even touch upon the Dao of Tea." He couldn''t help but feel impressed.


    ~sip~


    By now, the Ever Spring Mistress had already finished the cup of wine that Lin Mu had made.


    "Mmmhmm, not bad." The Ever Spring Mistress said. "Not as good as your cooking, but definitely not the worst thing I''ve had." She added.


    "I''m happy it''s not horrible." Lin Mu said with a slight smile, taking it as apliment.


    The Ever Spring Mistress then tried the other dishes, while Lin Mu and Little Shrubby ate as well. The Saintess ate from time to time, but didn''t consume as much as before. Perhaps because the Ever Spring Mistress was here, she seemed to be a bit reserved.


    After the meal was finished though, the Ever Spring Mistress had several words to say.


    "Have you thought about treading on the path of cooking?" The Ever Spring Mistress asked. "You might be able to make a Dao Embryo for the Dao of cooking." She added.


    "While I''m tempted, as I like food. I don''t think I will," Lin Mu replied. "Because I got Little Shrubby for that." He gestured to the giant cat licking the cauldrons of stew and polishing them clean.


    "Oh?" The Ever Spring Mistress showed interest in the beast. She had seen him cook too and was surprised at the beast''s proficiency. "Seems like you''ll be living a good life, haha~" The Ever Spring Mistress chuckled.


    She then leaned next to the Saintess''s ears and whispered. "If you don''t want him, I''ll take him. Just him cooking will be quite nice." "Don''t even think about it." The Saintess said through her teeth.


    "Hehe~" The Ever Spring Mistress giggled and focused on finishing the pudding.


    After a while, the food was all cleared out, and the Ever Spring Mistress decided to fulfill her promise.


    "As I said before, you can try some of my wine." The Ever Spring Mistress said and took out a tiny vial.


    It looked so small that perhaps less than ten milliliters of liquid would fit in it. Lin Mu looked at it with intrigue, knowing that it was at least an immortal tool. The Ever Spring Mistress opened the cork of the vial, causing a cloud of intoxicating mist to rise from it! Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    The mist was dense and shone in a rainbow hue due to the light refracting from it.


    "Huuup~" Just a single breath was enough to rock Lin Mu''s head. "That is¡­ quite something." "Of course. While I''m not as good at with the Dao of Wine, I can still make stuff that''ll knock out immortals at least." The Ever Spring Mistress said with a cheeky smile. "Just a few drops might be enough for you." She said before pouring it into a cup.


    Lin Mu looked at the minuscule amount of liquid at the bottom.


    If anyone else were to see it, they would think that it was the leftover wine after one had already downed a cup. It was such a small amount.


    And yet, the intoxicating scenting from it might knock out a hundred adult men in mere seconds. "Here you go." The Ever Spring Mistress said. "Brace yourself, though." She warned.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said and brought the cup to his lips.


    As soon as his lips touched the wine, a cooling sensation numbed them. This made him not realize it when the wine had already reached his tongue where the sweet taste coated it.


    "Oh!?" Lin Mu felt a rather exquisite sweetnessing from the wine, which he couldn''t exactly describe.


    It was a sweetness unlike any fruit he had eaten and didn''t really seem like wine at first.


    "WHOA!" But a couple of momentster, the heat of the wine rushed down his throat.


    It was like he had swallowed a fireball as the wine heat up his belly. Lin Mu''s stomach rapidly absorbed the wine and extracted the rich energy that was present in it.


    ''So much Immortal Qi in that?'' Lin Mu was surprised. ''This is almost the same as using an entire High Grade Immortal stone¡­ and it was condensed in just a few drops?'' He couldn''t imagine how it was done.


    The level of condensation was not something that could be easily done. After all, the volume of the liquid was less than that of a High Grade immortal stone. But this was just the start. Once the vor of the wine mellowed out, its effects finally spread.


    "Uhh¡­" Lin Mu''s head swayed as the wine finally reached his brain.


    His heart sped up, while his face flushed within seconds. It was a foreign feeling to him, and he had never experienced it before.


    "Look at him, so red~" The Ever Spring Mistress spoke in the Saintess''s ears. "I wanna pinch his cheeks."


    But the Saintess narrowed her eyes.


    "What wine did you give him?" She asked in a straight tone.


    "Just a little bit of my Ichor Essence Wine, hehe~" The Ever Spring Mistress answered.


    "You gave him Ichor Essence wine!?" The Saintess''s eyes went wide. "Even Transcendent Immortals get drunk in a few drops with that!" She said out loud.


    Thankfully for her, Lin Mu was no longer paying attention as the intoxication deepened for him.

 Chapter 2013 Ichor Essence Wine

    Ichor Essence Wine was something that was originally meant for Celestials.


    Normal wine would no longer affect cultivators, and the same could be said for Spirit and Immortal wine when Celestials consumed it. As such, they needed special celestial wines to get them intoxicated as well as to provide them with some great effects.


    But among those, the Ichor Essence Wine was a bit special.


    It was midway between the Immortal and Celestial wines, in that an immortal won''t die from consuming it. It would simply get them quite drunk and if they were lucky, they could get some unexpected benefits.


    The wine was made from a special substance called as Ichor which was found in some special mines. And when this Ichor was further refined, it would be turned into Ichor essence, which was a good resource for cultivation, not just for Immortals but also Celestials.


    More specifically, it could further purify and refine the body. It was something many body cultivators could only dream of obtaining.


    And wine made from the Ichor Essence was even more rare. For one to obtain arge enough amount of Ichor was already a sign of great wealth as well as luck. A kilogram of Ichor might only produce a few grams of Ichor Essence. And to make wine from that Ichor Essence was a greater task that would need at least a liter of it.


    Lin Mu had only consumed a few drops of it, but even then they were enough to get him drunk.


    It didn''t matter that he had his body cultivation as well as his Qi cultivation. All of that fell against the potency of the Ichor Essence Wine.


    ~Chirp~


    The bird on Lin Mu''s shoulder also felt that something was wrong with him. Strong Qi fluctuation radiated off Lin Mu''s body, scaring the bird away.


    ~FLAP~


    Ashy quickly left Lin Mu and went to the Saintess where it felt safer.


    "What''s happening?" She asked with a chirp, concern in her eyes.


    She had just obtained her master not long ago, and didn''t wish to have any harme to him.


    ~Growl~


    Little Shrubby also understood that something was odd.


    "His Qi is acting up." Little Shrubby said as he became alert.


    Just to be ready, he grew to his full size and circted his own Qi. The Ever Spring Mistress hadn''t expected the beast to grow even more and was interested, but had to focus on the matter at hand.


    "You shouldn''t have given him the Ichor Essence wine, we don''t know what he''ll do when he''s drunk." The Saintess scolded.


    "Rx, it won''t be bad for him. It''ll help purify his body and cleanse the toxins he''s umted all this time." The Ever Spring Mistress stated. "I can sense therge quantity of impurities that have been umted in his body." She added.


    The Saintess narrowed her eyes before letting out a sign.


    "Fine¡­ but if anything happens, you''ll have to bear the responsibility." The Saintess stated firmly.


    "Haha, I think that''ll be fine." The Ever Spring Mistress chuckle. "I doubt there''s any trouble that we can''t handle as Celestials." She said.


    But she didn''t know the words would onlye to bite her back.


    "Mmmhmm~ This¡­ is¡­ new." Lin Mu spoke, slurring his words.


    His eyes had zed over, while erratic waves of Qi emanated from his body while his face was flushed. But this was just the outward appearance.


    Internally, Lin Mu was experiencing a new sensation. A pleasant and euphoric warmth filled him, while his vision became very blurry. At first he felt like he was looking at things through a thick curtain of mist, but after a few seconds, even that changed to strange illusions.


    In the hazy mist, Lin Mu saw dancing lights that jumped form one spot to the other. The spots were of different colors too, and caught Lin Mu''s attention.


    There were red spots, blue spots, yellow spots, azure spots and purple spots. Lin Mu felt innately attracted to them and raised his hand towards one of them. He tried to catch it, but missed it.


    "Huh? They are fast¡­" Lin Mu said, narrowing his brows.


    To the others in the courtyard though, Lin Mu''s actions were strange.


    "He''s definitely drunk." The Saintess said shaking her head.


    Lin Mu''s actions were inexplicable as he kept on running around the courtyard, trying to catch something. ~CLAP~


    After a minute or so though, Lin Mu leaped a hundred meters in the air and ''caught'' one of the spots. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    "Got you now!" Lin Mu said as he opened his hands and looked at the spot he had caught like a bug.


    ~Sizzle~


    But much to his surprise, the spot suddenly let out a sizzling sound and heat up. Of course, the heat wasn''t able to harm Lin Mu, but it was certainly strange.


    ~Shua~


    But that was merely the start, a wave of energy spread in the courtyard. ~Growl~


    Little Shrubby let out a wary growl, feeling something was wrong. "Fire Dao Traces¡­ I sense them!" Little Shrubby warned.


    The Saintess understood him and became alert.


    ~HONG~


    And sure enough, a momentter a tear appeared in the air!


    ~RIP~


    The tear glowed in a red light while burning heat emanated from it. It was only a few inches in size at first, but it soon started to grow.


    "What is that?" The Ever Spring Mistress had never expected something like this to happen.


    But once the tear grew more and started to expand, they soon got their answers.


    ~HUALA~


    As if a portal to hell had been opened, scorching red mes poured out of the tear, drowning Lin Mu in them. The mes weren''t normal either, containing both Immortal Qi as well as Fire Dao Traces!


    "Immortal Tribtion," The Saintess frowned. "He''s triggered an Immortal Tribtion¡­ The Fire Elemental Immortal Tribtion."


    "How''s that even possible?" The Ever Spring Mistress couldn''t understand. "He''s not even near the age limit to trigger the Tribtion automatically." The woman said in confusion.

 Chapter 2014 Drunken Breakthrough

    While the Ever Spring Mistress questioned what was happening, the Saintess decided to answer her.


    "It wasn''t automatic¡­ he did it intentionally." The Saintess replied. "Of course, he probably didn''t know it would trigger a tribtion¡­" she didn''t know how far Lin Mu''s grasp on reality went right now, but whatever he did was enough to trigger an immortal tribtion that had appeared without any other sign.


    It was quite strange, as there were no traces of tribtion energy appearing before it. As if a barrier had be broken, the Immortal Tribtion simply poured out of the fabric of space!


    ~CHIRP~


    "MASTER!" It was a horrifying scene for Ashy, as her master was nowpletely drowned by the mes and couldn''t be seen at all.


    "Should we¡ª" The Ever Spring Mistress understood that things had definitely gone wrong now.


    "No¡­ we can''t interfere in this now." The Saintess replied. "He''ll have to ovee it himself."


    "But he''s drunk," the Ever Spring Mistress stated.


    "And whose fault is that? Hmm?" The Saintess shot her a look.


    "Mine¡­" The Ever Spring Mistress lowered her head. "But I can help him. At the very least heal him." She added.


    "It won''t be needed." The Saintess shook her head. "You''re lucky its a Fire Elemental Immortal Tribtion. If its just that he should be able to manage." She added.


    "Are you¡­" Before the Ever Spring Mistress could say much though, a change happened.


    ~WHOOSH~ This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    A pulse of energy spread from the center of the mes, as they were all pushed aside.


    "That''s a little too warm." Lin Mu spoke, searing hot magma swirling around his body. The temperature of the magma was several times higher than the mes that were pouring out of the red crack. Lin Mu''s robes were fully intact and he seemed to be uninjured. But even in all that, his eyes were still zed and he was drunk.


    ~BOOM~


    The Immortal Tribtion mesing from the crack didn''t like that Lin Mu was pushing them away like ease and red up. They surrounded him once again and threated to consume him.


    ~HONG~


    But when they did, the searing hot magma simply turned into a mixture of immortal Qi and expanded. It turned into a sphere around Lin Mu and acted like a barrier.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    The Immortal Tribtion mes collided against the immortal Qi barrier, and created multiple explosions. But they were unable to break through it. Instead, the barrier actually released a suction force and started pulling the mes towards it.


    "Warm, but look useful¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he extended his hand.


    He then made a grasping gesture and the barrier expanded, taking on the shape of a hand. It extended from around his body and grasped the Immortal tribtion mes that were pouring out of the red tear. The hand sessfully ''held'' the mes as well as stopped them from proceeding any further


    ~WOONG~


    And then¡­ the hand started absorbing the mes.


    The hand grew in size as it absorbed more of the mes, turning it into fire elemental Qi and assimting it.


    The more it absorbed, the greater its size became, until it was about ten meters tall and had dwarfed the red tear from which the Tribtion mes were pouring out. Now they could no longer threaten Lin Mu and were helplessly being absorbed into the hand.


    "Hmmm¡­ free Qi¡­" Lin Mu said as he pulled his hand back, causing streaks of the newly absorbed fire elemental immortal Qi to leave the illusory hand ande towards him.


    ~SHUA~


    The fire elemental immortal Qi then mixed with the rest of the Qi, and became part of it. It was the converted into searing hot magma and floated around Lin Mu. He continued to do this, and the amount of magma around him continued to grow.


    "Is he¡­ Assimting the Immortal Tribtion!?" The Ever Spring Mistress was left stunned. "And that too drunk?"


    "He sure is." The Saintess was a bit surprised, but knew that Lin Mu would be able to ovee it.


    She had ''observed'' Lin Mu using the Longgui Bulwark Armor technique several times before in the Evergreen Pirs Forest and knew that normal mes were no longer enough to threaten him. And even if these were Tribtion mes, it was going to be quite hard for them to do much to Lin Mu.


    Especially if he got the upper hand first. Which was exactly what was happening.


    Lin Mu was using the superior power of the Longgui Bulwark Armor to suppress the Immortal Tribtion mes, and forcefully assimte them into his mixture of magma. Since he had already be familial with suppressing vilest energies, doing it while drunk felt natural to him.


    He didn''t need to ''think'', he just needed to ''will'' it.


    Somehow in his state of drunkenness, he had taken another step in mastering the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    The intended effect that the Ever Spring Mistress had talked about, had simply not happened. There was no sign of Lin Mu''s body removing any impurities so far.


    Instead it seemed like he would be taking another path and continue to ovee the Immortal Tribtion like it was nobody''s business.


    The amount of magma continued to grow, until it looked like a hill of magma floated behind Lin Mu. It looked rather otherworldly and if one nced at it from the back, it looked like avafall.


    Thisbined with Lin Mu standing in front of it, casually absorbing the immortal tribtion mes looked rather domineering.


    In a way, it was taunting the Immortal Tribtion.


    And it was quite offended by it too, but there wasn''t much it could do other than be helplessly assimted by Lin Mu.


    Some timeter, the red tear could no longer stay open and had run out of energy. Lin Mu had also absorbed all of the mes and the magma hill had grown ten times bigger.


    ~SHUA~


    And when the red tear finally closed, Lin Mu''s breakthrough wasplete.


    A red halo now surrounding his Nascent Soul!

 Chapter 2015 Third Tribulation Stage Of The Immortal Realm

    Three Halo''s now surrounded Lin Mu''s Nascent soul.


    Brown, Green and Red, they pulsed with power, announcing his cultivation base at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    The call of the Halos brought forth a surge of Immortal Qi which turned into a vortex above Lin Mu''s head.


    ~WHOOSH~


    It then surged into his body and grew his stores of Immortal Qi. Therge hill of magma behind Lin Mu roared as well, as if a newborn volcano. Content is ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    The Saintess and the Ever Spring Mistress watched as Lin Mu wlessly finished his breakthrough and absorbed all the Immortal Qi from the vortex. "He really finished it¡­" The Ever Spring Mistress muttered in surprise.


    She had never seen someone trigger and ovee an Immortal Tribtion while drunk. That too with such ease.


    Not to mention, Lin Mu seemedpletely unharmed, which was a feat that was very difficult to do, even when one was prepared for an Immortal Tribtion. If there were more experts watching this, all of them would be feeling stunned as well.


    It almost seemed like it wasn''t Lin Mu enduring an Immortal Tribtion, but rather the Immortal Tribtion enduring Lin Mu and failing. He had consumed its energy after all.


    There were many experts who could absorb the immoral Qi and Dao Traces from an Immortal Tribtion. In fact, on some level, it was something every immortal did upon breakthrough. But to do it on this extent was unthinkable to most.


    Only those with specific cultivation techniques could do this and even then, it was only possible when they had a great affinity to the element.


    For example, when Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang broke through, they too had absorbed a lot of the energy of the Immortal Tribtion. Theirs were even worse though. As such, they had suffered quite a few injuries, but had managed to heal them upon absorbing the energy.


    ~SHUA~


    While the Saintess and the Ever Spring Mistress were watching though, therge hill of magma behind Lin Mu turned back into the mix of Qi and returned to his body.


    ~THUD~


    And then in the next second, Lin Mu''s body fell from the sky and crashed into the ground.


    "Master!" Both Little Shrubby and Ashy rushed to check up on him.


    The Ever Spring Mistress and the Saintess got closer too and found a calm repression on Lin Mu''s face.


    "He''s asleep?" The Ever Spring Mistress noticed the slow breathing.


    "He is¡­ The Ichor Essence Wine is having its full effect. He can no longer stay awake." The Saintess stated. "It''s better he''s asleep now. We don''t want a repeat of what happened earlier." She added, feeling a slight headache.


    ~SHUA~


    The clouds surrounding the courtyard stirred and broke down. "Ugh¡­ Containing a sudden tribtion without preparation is still a pain." The Saintess said with slight irritation. "Thankfully, it was localized and came directly from a spatial tear. Otherwise, I would not have managed to keep it hidden." She added.


    She had strengthened the barrier the moment she understood Lin Mu had triggered an Immortal Tribtion. Since she already had a barrier set up earlier, and the Immortal Tribtion hadn''te from the sky, she had fully suppressed its energy from leaking out.


    Not even a Transcendent Immortal would know that an Immortal Tribtion had just happened within the same location.


    In fact, it had gone so far that even the Formation arrays of the Morning Glory n had not sensed it. Though mostly, this was due to the fact that the immortal Tribtion had directly appeared through a spatial tear, skipping its barriers.


    The Ever Spring Mistress who heard this though, was surprised.


    "Came directly from a Spatial Tear? That means¡­ he directly tapped into the dimension the Tribtion Energyes from?!" The Ever Spring Mistress was shocked.


    "He did¡­" The Saintess admitted.


    "That means¡­ He can use the Spatial Element?" The Ever Spring Mistress asked carefully, but then understood it herself. "Well, he does have the Great Being as a master, so him having the Spatial element is a given, I suppose." She said.


    "He has been limiting his use of the Spatial element these days." The Saintess replied. "To improve his other skills, as well as deepen his own understanding." She exined.


    "No wonder¡­ but then why does he not have a Spatial Dao embryo?" The Ever Spring Mistress questioned. "I can sense his Earth Dao embryo and the Formation Dao Embryo, but there''s no Spatial Dao embryo." She narrowed her eyes.


    "It''s not just you. I can''t sense it either." The Saintess answered. "But I know for sure he has one." "Hmm¡­ Perhaps it is due to its innate properties." The Ever Spring Mistress replied. "I don''t know more than ten Spatial Dao Embryos anyways." "Likewise. It''s probably a Spatial Dao Embryo we do not know about. Besides, they are known to have elusive properties and as such it is hard to sense them for most people." The Saintess stated before waving her hand.


    ~SHUA~


    A bunch of clouds lifted Lin Mu from the ground, and carried him to a bedroom in the Courtyard. A man shaped imprint was left on the ground behind, which was not being repaired, despite there being arrays for that.


    This was of course, due to Lin Mu''s weight. He was no longer controlling it due to being passed out. Thankfully, the courtyard had reinforcing arrays which made it quite tough. This managed to endure the weight of Lin Mu, and didn''t let a deep hole form.


    But even then, it was pushed to its limits.


    Thankfully, now that the things had calmed down, the arrays would get a bit of a rest and recover on their own; thereby leaving no evidence of what happened behind.


    "He''ll be fine." The Saintess spoke to Little Shrubby and Ashy, who were still a bit concerned.


    "He''s sure lucky to have such tamed beasts." The Ever Spring Mistress smiled. "And you¡­ You need to be taught a lesson again, it seems." The Saintess said, making the Ever Spring Mistress''s expression drop.

 Chapter 2016 Wait And Big Words Of A Little Girl

    A day had passed since Lin Mu''s Immortal Tribtion and Breakthrough went ''unnoticed''.


    The courtyard was still surrounded by clouds, and no one had a clue what was happening inside.


    "Jeez! Did you have to go that far?" The Ever Spring Mistress pouted as she held her head.


    A few bumps could be seen on them, while her eyes were a bit red. "And did you really have to give him Ichor Essence wine, of all things?" The Saintess shot back.


    "I didn''t think he would trigger an Immortal Tribtion of all things! I didn''t even know it was possible to do that drunk." The Ever Spring Mistressined. "I thought he would just act funny for a bit and then pass out." She said in a low voice, as if a wronged child.


    "Yeah well, it has happened and you have to endure the punishment." The Saintess replied, not letting it go this easily.


    "Fine?? Can I at least fix these?" The Ever Spring Mistress asked, pointing to her injuries.


    "No." The Saintess denied right away. "You''re not allowed to heal them until I say so." She warned.


    "Okay??" The Ever Spring Mistress said in a depressed tone. "But they mar my beauty??" She said, looking into a mirror.


    "You should have thought about that before, you decided to be naughty." The Saintess rolled her eyes.


    ~pour~


    Little Shrubby eyed the two from some distance, while pouring the Saintess tea using one of his prosthetic hands.


    "They fight like siblings." Ashy spoke while sitting on Little Shrubby''s head.


    "They sure do." Little Shrubby replied, finding it both strange and entertaining. The original appearance of this chapter can be found at ??v?l?1n.


    After confirming that Lin Mu was fine, they had be rxed and waited for him to wake up. Which was an uncertain thing, as Lin Mu''s sleep was often quite long.


    Little Shrubby had seen him sleep for long periods of time, and was usually with him in the Sleepscape. But since he had passed out before that, both the beasts were left outside.


    "Is the Sleepscape really that good?" Ashy asked.


    She had never been inside, and was quite interested in it. Little Shrubby had told her about it and all the benefits it had.


    "It is veryfortable. Lots of Qi and perfect to cultivate." The cat nodded.


    Little Shrubby had shrunk back to his smaller form since it was more convenient. "I can''t wait to go inside." Ashy replied. "I also want to see the big tree Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang talked about. Can there really be trees bigger than the Evergreen Pirs Bamboo?" She wondered.


    "It''s giant." Little Shrubby confirmed. "It''s the biggest tree I''ve seen too. Master got it a while back." "I wonder when he''ll wake up." Ashy said, looking at the sleeping form of Lin Mu.


    The door of the bedroom was open, which allowed the people inside to keep an eye on Lin Mu. Since they were all sitting in the garden of the courtyard, the main bedroom was right opposite it, making it very convenient.


    "I think it should be short and not like his long sleeps." Little Shrubby replied with hope.


    While the beasts and the two celestials waited for Lin Mu, the entire Morning Glory n was also waiting. This is property ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Back in the grand hall of the Morning Glory n; Guang San, Princess Feng Lan, Emperor Feng and several other elders of the n were waiting. Of course, Meihua was also there and was sitting in thep of the Emperor.


    The man was having some quality time with his granddaughter, since he knew he won''t be able to see her for a long time. "Grandpa, what kind of ce does master live in?" She asked.


    "Hmm, it''s a very big and beautiful ce." Emperor Feng replied while rubbing the little girl''s head. "Will youe to see me?" Meihua asked.


    "I will, of course." The Emperor replied. "But you have to promise to cultivate well." He added.


    "Yes, yes!" Meihua nodded like a chick pecking rice. "I''ll be big and then grow strong and then take all the Qi, then take all the world and then be an emperor like you!" She said with excitement.


    "Hahaha, you sure will." The Emperor couldn''t help butugh. "The Morning Glory n and the Dao Wind Empire will be with you every step of the way. Perhaps you''ll unite the Rust Sky world too." He said, casually mentioning a hostile takeover.


    If these words were spoken outside, they could very well carry over to the other powers and spark the fires of war. Usually he would be careful speaking things like this, even if he was in familial territory. Especially since there was no telling if these would would, eventually spread, either by spies or a drunk tongue.


    But this time around, he wasn''t worried at all.


    Because they now had the direct backing of a Celestial!


    Not just that, but the resources they would be able to obtain through this alliance were bound to bring the empire to a new peak. The same could be said for the Morning Glory n. In fact, the Emperor was aware that it was no longer appropriate for them to be just a n of the Dao Wind Empire.


    "Guang San, Feng Lan." The Emperor spoke in a firm tone.


    "Emperor," Guang San cupped his hands, knowing the man was serious.


    "What is it, father?" Feng Lan asked.


    "I think?? it is time the Morning Glory n is indicted into the Imperial Aristocracy." Emperor Feng stated, stunning everyone in the hall.


    "Heavens!" The Elders of the Morning Glory n were awestruck.


    "Emperor?? is that?? really fine?" Guang San asked.


    "Mmhmm, with the current situation, I think it is appropriate." Emperor Feng replied. "From this day onwards, I announce the Morning Glory n as a direct extension of the Dao Wind Imperial Family!" His words echoed in the hall.


    The hall was silent, as everyone processed his words.


    "As such, I bestow upon Morning Glory n a dukedom! n Head Guang San is hereby dered as Duke Guang!"

 Chapter 2017 Dukedom And Dream

    Emperor Feng''s words echoed in the hall, etching themselves into the minds of all those that heard.The inaugural upload of this chapter took ce via N0v3l-B1n.


    Never had the elders of the Morning Glory n thought that they would get to enter the inner circle of the aristocrats. Not to mention, jump directly to the level of a dukedom!


    This was a massive thing for them, as this meant they had a free hand to gather power. They could not only expand their domain, but also openly recruit people.


    Ever since the Dao Wind Empire grew to its peak, there were some limitations on the ns and organizations that lived within it. They couldn''t simply expand wantonly and gainingnd was also not allowed directly.


    One was allowed to live in uninhabited regions, but they still had to register it with the Administrative offices when they were making an organization or a full scale n.


    Plus, there were limitations on how they could recruit people into their fold.


    For ns, they could only recruit people through marriage or through servitude. They couldn''t just ept ''disciples'' from the outside. They had to keep it limited to familiar rtions and blood kin.


    As for other organizations that weren''t bound by blood but rather by work or goals, were allowed a bit more freedom in recruitment. But they also had to report more often to the administration.


    They had to give details about who the people they recruited were as well as their origin and more.


    This kept a certain level of security in the entire empire and kept it stable. Not to mention, it actually made the administrative functioning of the empire smooth. There was a reason why the Dao Wind Empire had managed to rise this far.


    It was mostly due to their administrative policies and the staff that worked in it. The Emperor was also particr about the work that nobles should do, and as such limited who was granted a title and position.


    Duke was the highest noble title one could get other than the Emperor himself.


    And in the entire Dao Wind Empire there were only two such dukes. But now a third duke had been added and the dukedom shall be formed.


    The other two Dukedoms belonged to those who had helped the Dao Wind Empire to rise in power and take over the entire continent. As such yet had been granted dukedom and the tweeter quite close to the imperial family as well.


    In fact, two of the Emperor''s wives were from the two dukedoms. Even Crown Prince Feng Shun''s mother was from one such dukedom.


    Thus the rtions between the imperial family and the two dukedoms was quite close. And now that the third dukedom had been added, it was very close too. Not only was the Morning Glory n a close ally due to being their supplier of alchemical pills, now that Meihua had be a celestial''s disciple it had to be kept even closer.


    There was no way the Emperor wouldn''t favor his granddaughter.


    In fact, one could even say he was almost favoring her more than the Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "Father¡­ is this¡­ is this really eptable?" Princess Feng Lan asked, as she came to terms with his deration.


    "Of course!" Emperor Feng stated with confidence.


    "The entire Morning Glory n thanks the Emperor!" Guang San stood up and so did the rest of the people. "All kneel to the Emperor!" hemanded.


    "ALL HAIL EMPEROR FENG!" The entire Morning Glory n erupted in cheers.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Hundreds of people kneeled at once, thanking the emperor for their grace. Meanwhile, the girl who was the reason behind it all sat in the same emperor''sp, feeling quite confused.


    She tilted her head and looked around at the emotional people.


    "Can I do this when I''m big too?" She muttered to herself.


    Soon a celebratory banquet was held in the Morning Glory n, while the news about their rise to dukedom was spread. It reached the Capital City within minutes, before the aristocratic faction erupted in shock.


    Many people had seen the Emperor leave in a hurry but didn''t know why. But since he had left like that, they knew it must be something important.


    And now the news about the Emperor dering the Morning Glory n as a dukedom arrived.


    It couldn''t help, if all the aristocrats thought that this was the reason why he had gone out. Not many knew about the arrival of a Celestial after all, as that news was limited to only a few higher ups as well as the Temple of the four guardian beasts.


    The aristocrats had their own meetings about what would happen now and how they would deal with the Morning Glory n.


    They made ns about sending gifts as well as emissaries to the Morning Glory n. Now that they had be a dukedom they to keep good rtions with them. Not that they didn''t already have, after all the Morning Glory n was an alchemist n.


    But now they wished to form deeper rtions with them, even thinking about future marriage alliances.


    Back at the Morning Glory n, while the banquet was ongoing, Guang San and Feng Lan personally went to the courtyard that had been assigned to the Celestials. They wished to invite them over, but got no response from the closed up courtyard.


    Taking the silence as a response, they tacitly returned and resumed the banquet.


    Of course, they didn''t know that the Master of their Daughter was beaten up and didn''t wish to show her face outside for now. Plus, Lin Mu was slit asleep and as such they didn''t think it was best to go outside.


    The Ever Spring mistress finally got the permission to heal herself a dayter and the barrier on the courtyard was also lifted then. But even then, Lin Mu was still asleep. He was deep in dreams, which was a bit rare for him. As when he slept, it was either dreamless or he was in the Sleepscape.


    In his dreams, Lin Mu found himself in a space filled with colorful clouds.


    "What is this ce?" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he looked around.


    He had no memory of his breakthrough and didn''t even know how he ended up here. ''What was I doing before this? And how did I end up here?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but question himself.


    He tried hard to think and recalled that thest thing he had done before this was to have a meal with the Saintess and the Ever Spring mistress.


    "What happened after that?" Lin Mu tried hard to think, but no memories surfaced. There was an abrupt gap between his memories that he didn''t really like.


    "Senior Xukong? Are you there?" Lin Mu called out, wondering if his master had seen anything.


    But no response was heard, even after a few minutes.


    "Strange¡­" Lin Mu said and started to walk. He waved his hand in the colorful clouds and saw that they moved freely. At the same time, a fuzzy feeling appeared in Lin Mu''s hands when they touched the clouds.


    "Definitely not Qi." Lin Mu determined.


    He knew what Qi felt like and this was quite different from that.


    He wondered if it was some other kind of energy, but couldn''t determine it, no matter how much he tried.


    Lin Mu soon realized he didn''t have his Immortal sense or his cultivation base here.


    "I can''t feel any cultivation¡­ not even my body cultivation." Lin Mu realized. "This I suppose¡­ this is a dream?" he guessed.


    Narrowing his eyes, Lin Mu walked around more, and also thought about his situation.


    "Since I''m in a dream, I definitely fell asleep sometime ago. But I don''t remember when, which means it must have been abrupt." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "And since I can''t enter the Sleepscape, it means this isn''t the sudden sleep that is caused by the Well of Slumber. This is just normal sleep." He understood.


    Havinge to this conclusion, Lin Mu knew he just had to wait till the dream would be over. He would eventually wake up, or perhaps someone would wake him up.


    "May as well look around," Lin Mu said. "Though the dream is a bit dull¡­ Nothing much other than colorful clouds." Still to pass time, Lin Mu decided to look around, wondering if the dream would change.


    And sure enough, after a short while, Lin Mu found the clouds parting.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu saw a path appear in front of him.


    He decided to follow it and walked for a couple of minutes before reaching its end. A shimmering wall stood in front of him that looked like a water-like membrane.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu ced his hand on it and was suddenly sucked into it. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu opened his eyes and found himself in a new ce.


    He was surrounded by tens of thousands of treasures and the entire room he was in was golden!


    Gems and countless weapons were scattered around, along with books and more.

 Chapter 2018 A Strange Dream And Symbol

    Lin Mu was astounded upon his current location as it seemed quite opulent.


    He was sure that he had never been to a ce like this and never heard of one either.


    "Is this a vault?" Lin Mu guessed as it seemed quite likely with the kind of wealth that was scattered around.


    There was at least a few tons of Immortal Gold in the room, along with immortal gems that would simrly be worth a lot. Along with this, there was of course, books and documents that probably contained cultivation techniques and skills that could be priceless.


    They were also what caught Lin Mu''s attention the most.


    "Let''s take a look¡­" Lin Mu muttered and picked up one such book


    ~ck~


    The metal sp on it was opened by Lin Mu and its contents were revealed.


    But when Lin Mu nced at it, all the letters disappeared and became nk.


    "Huh? Why''s it empty?" He was confused.


    Lin Mu closed the book and opened it again, but found no change. It was clear that it would not present its content to him.


    "Perhaps another book?" Lin Mu wondered and picked up a second book.


    This time he was alert and focused on everything that might appear in his field of vision. ~ck~


    Simr to before, this book also had a metal sp holding it close and Lin Mu opened it with ease.


    ~shua~


    And when he did, he saw thousands of runes swimming on the pages and disappearing into the edges, leaving the entire book nk. It was certainly very surprising and left Lin Mu with little to think about.


    "Is this because I''m in a dream?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He checked several other books and documents, but they all ended up being the same. As soon as he made contact with them, all the information contained within them would either scatter or disappear. It would leave them unless and Lin Mu could get no information from them all.


    Realizing his failure, Lin Mu reckoned that he had to focus on other things to figure out where he was.


    As such, he started to look at the room in detail, observing each pattern and design that was present in the hall.


    While doing this, he confirmed the fact that he was in some kind of a Storage hall or Vault. He figured this out due to a particr design that was present in multiple ces in the hall.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and looks at a peculiar design on the wall. It was carved into the wall and iid with gold. But due to the sheer amount of treasure and items that were present in the hall, it was hard to even see it. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    In fact, Lin Mu had to move entire shelves to fully see what was hidden behind them. And when he did, he was a bit surprised.


    "I don''t think I''ve seen this ever before." Lin Mu muttered as he gazed at the pattern.


    It was that of a polyhedral jewel that had two curling horns attached to it. The horns themselves were a pale white in color and had sharp points that looked like they could easily pierce through flesh.


    "Hmm¡­ it''s on all walls." Lin Mu verified as he checked all the walls in the room. The polyhedral jewel was carved in each of the walls, the only difference was that it was hard to see for the most part. At the very least, it did not seem like it was being given much of an importance now. Of course, Lin Mu didn''t know how urate he was, but hoped that there was more to it. At least it seemed like it was substantial since it was on each of the wall.


    ''It should be a clue as to what this ce is¡­'' Lin Mu thought to it.


    Lin Mu looked at it closely and tried topare it with all the other symbols and crests in his memory.


    But no matter how much he tried, he couldn''t match it with anything. Among the many symbols and crests he had seen in documents and books, along with the memoirs of the Lost Immortal, none of them seemed to match it.


    ''What is this?'' Lin Mu racked his brain.


    He sat down on arge chest and crossed his legs, intending to figure it out this time. He reckoned since he was in a dream, he had all the time in the world. After all, if it was the end of the dream, he would wake up eventually. He literally had nothing else left to do.


    While doing this, Lin Mu realized that he could clearly recall each book that he had read. ~shua~


    "Huh¡­ they materialize¡­" Lin Mu saw a book appear in his hands.


    It was the same book that he had thought about. "Guess this confirms I''m in a dream¡­ the books I haven''t seen which are here, show no information and the ones I have read but aren''t present, appear." Lin Mu understood.


    As such, he flipped through the books one by one, taking his time. He probably went through a few hundred books in who knows how much time before finally finding something.


    "Oh? These horns¡­" Lin Mu finally found a clue.


    The jewel in the symbol seemed to be rtivelymon, but the way the horns were made was peculiar. It had a unique curling shape with detailed marks that matched the symbol on the book that Lin Mu had opened in hisp.


    "Cmity Ruin Beast¡­ A beast known to appear upon the destruction of worlds¡­ a harbinger of confirmed doom and utter end." Lin Mu read the words, making him narrow his brows.


    They were concerning words and didn''t seem like they would should be taken lightly. And yet, the same horns from the Cmity Ruin Beast were present in this hall in his dreams.


    "Why is this symbol here, though? Which power would think of using it?" Lin Mu wondered.

 Chapter 2019 A Vault Inside A Vault

    The symbol of the Cmity Ruin Beast was not something that exactly reflected a good image. For someone to use it like this in a vault was a disy of arrogance. It basically meant that they were fine associating their image with an ominous beast like the Cmity Ruin Beast.


    This made Lin Mu think that whatever power this vault belonged to, it wasn''t exactly a good one. ''If it weren''t for the fact I''m in a dream, I would be quite worried about being in here.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. Having at least figured out what beast the symbol was derived from, Lin Mu decided to explore the vault further. "Maybe there are other clues to what ce this is or whom it belongs to," Lin Mu reckoned.


    He looked through the various items that were kept in the vault and tried to find more information, but didn''t discover anything substantial. This was until he opened arge metal cupboard. The cupboard didn''t have the same symbol of a polyhedral stone and the Cmity Ruin Horns though, instead it had a character carved in.


    "Dao Script¡­ Opulence." Lin Mu recognized the character.


    It showed that there was a great value to the cupboard. This made Lin Mu interested, as he reckoned there was probably something important stored in it. Something that might be able to shed more light on this ce''s identity.


    "Huh¡­ this is a doorway?" But when it was opened, Lin Mu was surprised.


    He thought something would be kept inside, but it was actually the entrance to what looked like an empty corridor.


    "No, wait¡­ it isn''t an actual physical corridor." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, finding some peculiarities.


    Lin Mu looked at the inner edges of the cupboard and saw the fine runes that were written on it. He couldn''t use his Immortal sense, and as such, couldn''t tell if this cupboard was an immortal tool or not. But seeing these runes, he was sure that there was definitely a formation array imprinted onto the cupboard.


    "I can''t use Spatial Perception either¡­ Hard to confirm it." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He stroked his chin and thought of another approach. He closed the metal cupboard and looked at its back, where it was put up against the wall. At first, it looked like the wall and the cupboard were attached. "Damn, this is heavy." Lin Mu used some force, but the Cupboard was firm.


    After a few more attempts though, Lin Mu managed to make it budge, causing a thin gap to appear at its back.


    "Alright, looks like it really isn''t attached to the wall." Lin Mu confirmed that the wall was indeed solid. "This means¡­ this cupboard is actually a Spatial Storage tool." He understood.


    Now he understood why there was the character of Opulence carved on the front of the metal cupboard. It was a secure Spatial Storage tool that also functioned as a secondary vault. ''Since I''m in a dream, it opened without any issues. But I''m sure in reality it would be highly secure and would need some kind of key to open.'' Lin Mu thought to himself before opening it again.


    There were no energy fluctuations, and neither was there any spatial disturbance. Or even if there were, Lin Mu simply couldn''t sense them in his current state. As such, the only way to investigate it was to go in directly.


    Which was exactly what he did.


    "No harm, no foul in a dream." Lin Mu said and took a step inside. ~shua~


    As soon as he did though, he saw the surroundings blur. He wasn''t startled by it though, and continued through the corridor. There were no light sources in the corridor, and yet it was lit up perfectly.


    Its walls also seemed to be made out of the same kind of metal that the cupboard was made out of, and there was no sign that this was actually an illusory space. ~Deng~DENG~ Lin Mu knocked on its walls and felt the metal like sound from it.


    "It really is solid¡­ Hmm, perhaps this isn''t an illusion created by the array, but an actually corridor kept inside the cupboard. If it''s a higher grade Spatial Storage tool that allows an entire person to enter it, then it makes sense to simply put in premade solid structures inside it, rather thanplicate it with arrays." Lin Mu analyzed. ''Not only would it reduce theplexity of the array, it would also bring down the cost.'' He understood the reasoning behind it as well.


    With that said, he continued to walk through the corridor that didn''t seem to have an end at first. It waspletely straight and t, and yet Lin Mu didn''t see anything at the end. ''Almost as if I''m staring into two mirrors facing each other.'' Lin Mu almost felt like it was an infinite mirror corridor.


    Wanting to cover this soon, Lin Mu simply decided to run.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu burst into a sprint. Since he didn''t have his cultivation base, he was definitely not as fast as he usually would be, but he was still several times faster than a mortal. He was already running at the speed of a sprinting horse.


    Something still carried over to the dreams and it was the peak quality of his body despite having no cultivation base as of now.


    Thankfully, after sprinting for about five minutes or so, Lin Mu finally reached the end of the corridor where another door stood.


    This door had no symbol on it though and looked rather in with just a single doorknob.


    "Let''s take a look¡­" Lin Mu muttered and pushed it open. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    The door opened without making a sound and revealed the room inside it.


    "This is even bigger than the previous room¡­" Lin Mu estimated that it was at least three to four times the size of the previous hall. But there was a ring difference here.


    "It isn''t filled with treasures."

 Chapter 2020 Seven Objects

    Lin Mu hadn''t expected the secondary vault to be this empty. There were no piles upon piles of Immortal Gems or nearly stacked bricks of Immortal gold here. And neither were there any previous cultivation manuals or skill books.


    Instead, there were only a few objects kept in the room which showed that their value far surpassed all other things in the previous room. For them to be stored in a Secure Spatial Storage Vault showed that they were not to be removed without expression permission.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and nced at the few objects that were kept in the center of the room. There were seven objects here, and were abination of weapons and tools.


    Each of them were kept on an individual ss case and were secured with hundreds of runes. Of course, the power of the runes was not present since this was just a dream. Otherwise, there was a high chance Lin Mu''s mere appearance here might have triggered the rm.


    The first object that caught Lin Mu''s eye was also the biggest one. It looked like a high quality weapon and was a two headed spear.


    Both of its spear heads were symmetrical and it had a brown wooden shaft that was carved with fine patterns, improving the grip as well as functioning as formations. It was about five meters long in total and the spear heads themselves were about a meter long each, which left the wooden shaft being about three meters in size.


    The spear heads themselves were rather in, with no grooves or patterns on them. They ended in sharp points and were double edged. It was clear that they could be used for both piercing as well as shing.


    "It''s quite well made¡­ But it''s impossible to tell what grade it is." Lin Mu muttered to himself. He wished to opened the case, but was unable to as they were shut solid. ''I might have been able to break them open if I had my cultivation base perhaps.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, but knew that it was all a wish. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    He looked at the object that was kept next to it which was a cloth.


    Or more urately it was a white scarf that had flowing wave patterns on it. Upon looking closer, Lin Mu could see that each wave was actually countless runes written without a gap, causing them to look like curving lines. Lin Mu tried to read the runes, but they were far too small to make out properly.


    He didn''t have all his abilities after all.


    "Can''t tell much about this scarf." Lin Mu muttered to himself and moved onto the next weapon which was a pair of ck daggers. This time though, the daggers actually had their name written on them.


    "Yazi''s Stained Left Fang and Yazi''s Stained Right Fang." Lin Mu read the name on each dagger. The daggers looked quite deadly and had a fine edge that reflected Lin Mu''s face. They were shaped like fangs, but weren''t actually made out of Beast fangs. This was also where their name was carved.


    Their handles on the other hand, were wrapped with leather strips, but it was hard to tell what kind of leather it was. It was also impossible to tell what materials were used below it. But the pommel of the dagger ended in a sharp hook, which stood out quite a lot.


    The design was unconventional, but probably had some function behind it. "Naming it after the great beast Yazi¡­ Whoever made it must be proud of his creation and its power." Lin Mu said, seeing the two daggers.


    Lin Mu had read about the great beast Yazi, which was said to have descended from a dragon deity. It was said to have the body of a leopard and the head of a dragon. It had a ferocious nature and could fight for centuries without stopping.


    To give a weapon its name was either a representative of its ferociousness or the foolishness of its creator.


    Lin Mu didn''t know for sure which aspect reflected here, but considering the fact that these pair of daggers were kept in such a secure vault, he thought it to be the first.


    ''I wish I could''ve seen just what grade these daggers are,'' Lin Mu thought to himself for a moment.


    He shook his head and moved into the next tool, which was an octagonal bell. It had a hoop with a particr shape at the top, through which a ring was inserted.


    The hoop was shaped like a beast that Lin Mu could not recognize.


    "Interesting¡­" Lin Mu took note of the design and hoped to learn what it waster when he woke up.


    He thought that either the Saintess or Senior Xukong should certainly know about that beast. The fifth object was another weapon being a hatchet.


    It had a short handle, being about thirty centimeters long and had a ten centimeter wide de. It was clearly meant to be used as a ranged weapon and intended for throwing at foes. Its power was hard to estimate too, since there was nothing to judge from.


    The axehead was sharp and had no runes on it. ''They''re probably imprinted inside it.'' Lin Mu guessed, since there was nothing on the surface. The sixth and final weapon was a sword. It was about a meter long and had a slim curved de. It was a sword type that Lin Mu was familiar with and had even used it in the past when he had learned the Thousand Armament de scripture.


    "A Shamshir¡­ this is certainly a high grade weapon. It''s also a pure forging type." Lin Mu had no issues estimating it this time since the forging marks on the de were a proof of it.


    The seventh and final object in the hall was a wooden box. It rested upon a pillow in the ss case and was closed.


    "I won''t be able to tell what''s inside¡ª" But before Lin Mu could finish his words, the box opened automatically.


    ~shua~


    And inside itid a ring.


    "This¡­ It''s this!?"

 Chapter 2021 The Third Ring And Dream’s End

    <h4>Chapter 2021 The Third Ring And Dream''s End</h4>


    Lin Mu could not believe whatid in front of his eyes. Utter shock filled Lin Mu''s mind while his heart beat uncontrobly.


    The object inside the box was a ring that glowed in a faint white light. But that was not why Lin Mu was so shocked.


    It was due to the shape and design of the ring. It was a unique shape he was greatly familiar with and had it on his hand at this very moment.


    "There''s¡­ A¡­ Third Ring!" Lin Mu muttered in shock.


    Simr to the two other rings Lin Mu had, this too had metal spursing from it. But they were extending from only one side.


    The ring itself was silver grey in color, but had a faint orange line in the center that went around the entire thing.


    ~HONG~


    Lin Mu felt his hand tremble, and a pulseing from the rings on his hand.


    He looked at them and found them being attracted to the ring in the box. His hand automatically moved and reached out to the ring.


    ~DENG~


    But it was stooped by the ss case, unable to obtain it.


    He knew exactly why he was here and what his purpose was.


    ''Find¡­ Me¡­'' A voice echoed in Lin Mu''s mind.


    ''Unite¡­ Us¡­'' another voice appeared, this time from Lin Mu''s hand.


    An urge rose in Lin Mu''s heart and made him m his fists onto the ss case.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    No matter how much Lin Mu mmed his fists though, the ss case did not budge. There was not even a single crack on it and it was undamaged.


    ~HUALA~


    Then in the next moment, he found his surroundings dissipating into the colored clouds while the entire vault disappeared along with the ring inside.


    A lost expression now appeared on Lin Mu''s face and lingered for a minute while the clouds surrounded him.


    "Hahaha¡­" Lin Mu suddenlyughed.


    "Of course¡­ of course there would be more¡­ And this doesn''t stop at just three, does it?" Lin Mu questioned while looking at the rings on his hand.


    But he received no answer, for the rings had gone silent.


    ~HUMM~


    As if to tell him that this was all he was here for, the clouds started to disappear as well, and darkness filled the area.


    ~Sigh~


    Lin Mu let out a sigh and closed his eyes, knowing his time hade to an end.


    ~SHUA~


    He felt his body be weightless as his consciousness faded away. Lin Mu had no idea how long he was in this dissociated stated, but when he came to, he opened his eyes in the real world.


    "HAH!" Lin Mu jolted awake, his eyes bloodshot.


    He looked around frantically, trying to figure out where he was.


    He saw the unfamiliar ceiling above him and the bedroom decorations that he had never seen before.


    ''I''m on a bed?'' Lin Mu saw therge andfortable bed that was enough to amodate at least five people at once.


    "You''re awake." A voice pulled his attention, making him look to his right where the sight of a wide open garden greeted him.


    There waited hispanions, whose mere sight made him feel incredibly relieved.


    "Saintess¡­ Little Shrubby¡­ Ashy." Lin Mu muttered withfort.


    "Hey, I''m here too!" The Ever Spring Mistress spoke up.


    She was sitting there next to the Saintess, while a hand floated next to her, holding a teapot. The hand was in the middle of pouring and the teacup below it was now overflowing.


    ~CHIRP~


    "MASTER!" Little Shrubby and Ashy called out to Lin Mu, rushed to him.


    The two soon jumped into his embrace and curled up. Lin Mu petted them, which soonforted both.


    "How long have I been asleep?" Lin Mu asked, unable to tell right away.


    "You''ve been sleeping for more than a day now." The Saintess answered.


    Lin Mu felt relieved that it wasn''t that long. He had a slight fear that the Well of Slumber might just have been triggered and he was merely unable to sense it. But now that doubt had been wiped away.


    "How did I fall asleep, though?" Lin Mu questioned, still unable to recall.


    "It''s my fault." The Ever Spring Mistress answered instead. "The wine I gave you was too strong and got you drunk."


    "Drunk?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "Did I do anything?" He wondered.


    He hadn''t been drunk ever before, thus didn''t know what kind of effect it would have had on him. Though he did understand that if it was a wine that could get him drunk, it was certainly powerful.


    "You sure did¡­ Quite a bit thing." The Saintess answered, making Lin Mu more confused. "You should check your cultivation base." She advised.


    "Hmmm¡­" Lin Mu did as told and his immortal sense quickly entered his body.


    There, he easily saw what was different. Or rather, he sensed it the moment his Immortal sense observed his Nascent Soul.


    "Three Halos?!" Lin Mu was stunned. "A Red Halo¡­ Fire Elemental Immortal Tribtion? I broke through?" He hadn''t expected this at all.


    "You sure did¡­ that too, while drunk." The Ever Spring Mistress said in an impressed and surprised tone.


    "How did that exactly happen?" Lin Mu still didn''t know how he triggered an Immortal Tribtion.


    Thankfully, the Saintess had a good way of exining that.


    ~SHUA~


    She merely created a curtain of mist which worked as a formation screen and disyed all that Lin Mu had done while drunk.


    It showed him jumping around, trying to catch something. And then finally pping to catch some unknown object, which then tore open a spatial tear through which the Immortal Tribtion arrived. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Lin Mu had his hand on his mouth, feeling quite shocked.


    While he knew Immortal Tribtions could be triggered whenever an Immortal wanted. It wasn''t as easy as just snapping a finger or pping. One had to willfully summon it and it took a bit of an effort.


    There was no mistakingly triggering it.


    "How did I do it?" Lin Mu was baffled.

 Chapter 2022 Improved Spatial Perception

    Lin Mu tried to rack his mind for answers, but still couldn''t figure out what method he had used.


    "I never expected your first time getting drunk would be this intense." A voice said in a surprised tone.


    "Senior!" Lin Mu did intend to ask Xukongter, but was happy that he had awakened on his own. "To have a breakthrough while drunk¡­ I can safely say you''ve done one of the most insane things an immortal can do¡­ It''s not even an Immortal specializing in the Dao of Wine¡­ You''re not an Immortal of the drunken path either." Xukong spoke, confusing Lin Mu a bit. "Still, you''ve done an astounding thing." He said, this time in a praising tone.


    Lin Mu felt happy due to Senior Xukong''s praise but also wished to know just how he had done this. Since he had no memory of himself, he would have to rely on Xukong to show him.


    "Do you know how I did it though, Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I do." Just as Lin Mu had thought, Xukong did have an answer. "It seems like you''ve managed to progress in your ability to manipte space." He said.


    "Manipte space¡­ Hmm¡­" Hearing that was enough to give Lin Mu a hint of what he might have done. "Is it rted to the Spatial Dimension that the Tribtionse from?" he asked.


    "Indeed. Your ring grants you the ability to open Spatial Rifts, this you already know and have done. But the same principle can be applied to the dimensions that the Tribtionse from. You also know that an Immortal can voluntarily trigger an Immortal Tribtion if they wish for it.


    But that does not happen immediately. There are many signs and changes along with phenomena that present themselves before the Tribtion takes ce. And unless one is at the end of their longevity and is going to trigger the tribtion naturally, a rift to these dimensions does not open up.


    However, in your case¡­ When you have the ability to open the rifts, you manage to do that, but with the Tribtion Dimension." Xukong exined.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he thought about it further.


    "So while I was drunk¡­ I managed to see those spatial nodes?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that.


    "Indeed. Your practice all this time has improved your spatial perception to the next level." Xukong replied. "In addition to that, the wine that you drank was certainly a catalyst for it." He added.


    "Yeah, the Ichor Essence Wine." Lin Mu replied.


    "Exactly. That is not a wine that just anyone can drink. Even for Celestials it is not a cheap thing to get. And while the amount you drank was low, it was just enough to trigger the changes in you." Xukong exined. "And while its effect was originally supposed to expel the impurities from your body, it was instead consumed to improve your Spatial Perception. Or perhaps it is more urate to say that it gave your Spatial Perception thest bit of nudge that it needed to progress to the next level." He revealed.


    Lin Mu had a lot to think about after hearing all that and felt quite lucky that the Ever Spring Mistress had given the Ichor Essence Wine to him. "If it improved that, doesn''t that mean my Spatial Perception should allow me to see the spatial nodes to the Immortal Tribtion Dimension even now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Why don''t you try it?" Xukong suggested instead.


    "I will¡­" Lin Mu said and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.


    ~SHUA~


    When he did, the world around him changed. Hundreds of floating dots could be seen by him, along with the very fabric of Space that was everywhere around him. It was simultaneously right next to him, as well as tens of meters away.


    It was hard to describe it, as it felt rather contradicting.


    A normal person would never be able to see or touch it. But Lin Mu very well could.


    If he wanted to touch it right in front of him, he could and if he wanted to touch it hundreds of meters away he could as well.


    Such were the properties of the Fabric of Space, and unless one had an affinity to the Space, it was hard to understand orprehend.


    But now that Lin Mu was looking at it all, he saw the various spatial nodes that looked different than before. Previously all the Spatial nodes that Lin Mu saw were ck in color and appeared like small dots that kept on moving with a few being stable.


    Their position changed from time to time, and it was hard to track them.


    But now, among the small ck dots, there were other colored dots mixed in too. Though they were mainly of four colors now: Purple, Azure, Blue and Yellow.


    ''So these are the spatial nodes that can open a rift into the Tribtion Dimension¡­'' Lin Mu thought upon seeing them. "But why are there only four colors? If each of these belong to an element, then where are the Wood, Fire and Earth Elemental ones?" He wondered.


    "You won''t see those." Xukong replied. "They have forever closed themselves to you since you''ve already ovee the Immortal Tribtion of those elements." He revealed. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    "I see¡­ But even if I overcame them, should they still be there?" Lin Mu was doubtful. "I mean, the Dimension exists and so should their spatial nodes. If not for me, for other people at least." He expressed his confusion.


    "You are correct. They indeed still exist." Xukong agreed. "But they simply are not visible to you anymore. If you wish to see them again, you''ll have to improve your Spatial Perception further. After all, the tribtion is sentient and has its own will. It can choose whether to appear to someone or not." He exined.


    "I see¡­ Guess that''ll be another achievement for the future." Lin Mu said thinking this was it for now.

 Chapter 2023 Thanking For The Wine

    2023 Thanking For The Wine


    Now that Lin Mu knew, just how he had opened the rift to the Immortal Tribtion dimension, he knew that he wouldn''t be caught off guard next time. He also wondered how else he could take advantage of it, but couldn''te up with it at the time. Him being able to open a rift to the Tribtion Dimension didn''t seem like an advantage at the moment. It would just end up with him undergoing an Immortal Tribtion and would be work.


    ''Unless I can open it for others?'' Lin Mu thought of a potential use.


    If he could open it in a fight, he could very well devastate an enemy or multiple enemies at once.


    After all, an Immortal Tribtion would be very dangerous to an unprepared enemy. It could be highly fatal, if Lin Mu managed to unleash it in a critical moment that the enemy could not recover from.


    ''The only question is how do I do it? And even if I can¡­ how do I practice?'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    Touching any of the Spatial nodes belonging to the Tribtion dimension was a no no. He didn''t want another tribtion to fall on his head after all. ''I''ll have to figure it outter.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "Did you understand it now?" A voice snapped Lin Mu out of his thoughts.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu looked back and saw that it was the Ever Spring Mistress that had spoken.


    He had gotten so engrossed in his thoughts as well as talking to Senior Xukong that he had totally forgotten that there were two other people around him.


    The Saintess was used to Lin Mu''s behavior and as such didn''t think much of it. But it was the first time for the Ever Spring Mistress to witness it.


    "I said, did you figure out how you managed to trigger an Immortal Tribtion?" She asked, feeling quite curious herself.


    "Ah yeah, I did." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And I must thank you for that." He said with gratitude.


    "Me?" The Ever Spring Mistress asked, feeling a bit surprised.


    "Indeed. If not for the Ichor Essence Wine that you gave me, it would not be possible." Lin Mu nodded his head. "It gave me just the final nudge that I needed to progress." "It did that?" The Ever Spring Mistress was surprised. "But it''s supposed to purify your body."


    "It is, but it seems like my body used it for something else." Lin Mu shrugged. "I reckon it could also be the path of least resistance. It was easier for the Ichor Essence wine to trigger progress in my Spatial Perception than purify the deep seated impurities. At least for now." He gave his analysis.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ve heard of there being some unique effects for a few people, but this is the first time I''m seeing it myself." The Ever Spring Mistress spoke. "Something like that is only possible for those that already have pure bodies though. Those that have already purged most of the impurities from their bodies." She said in doubt.


    "Whatever it might be, we are not doing a repeat of it." The Saintess spoke up. "We definitely cannot have you be drunk again on Ichor Essence Wine to test out the theory." She stated.


    "Ah yeah¡­ I don''t wanna undergo that again either." Lin Mu replied with slight fear.


    While he had managed to breakthrough and ovee an Immortal Tribtion this time, who knows what else he might do next time.


    ''Though I guess I know of another weakness of mine. Someone could ''poison'' me with the Ichor Essence Wine and get me drunk. Then they can ambush me.'' Lin Mu thought of a potential scenario. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    Of course, whether someone could even afford to do that was highly questionable. Even if they could afford it, they certainly wouldn''t be in an Immortal world like the Rust Sky world. It would have to be someone from a higher world. And even then, there was no guarantee one would think of using the Ichor Essence Wine as a ''poison''.


    Normally speaking, it was a beneficial resource and one would keep it for themselves rather than giving it to a foe.


    Thus, it could be considered a non-issue for the most part. Only an insane person would think of using it as a poison.


    With the things sorted out, Lin Mu thought of a few other things.


    "Oh yeah, how long are you going to be here, Ever Spring Mistress?" Lin Mu questioned. "Probably a day more." The Ever Spring Mistress answered. "Also, I think they are having a celebration outside." She added.


    "A celebration?" Lin Mu raised his brows. ~SHUA~


    His immortal sense spread past the courtyard and quickly saw the scene inside the Morning Glory n.


    "Huh¡­ they really are." Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "They''re celebrating¡­ The Morning Glory n bing a Dukedom!?" he was surprised after learning that.


    "It seems like the Emperor is not holding back." The Ever Spring Mistress smiled. "Is this because of Meihua?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course." The Ever Spring Mistress replied. "It would be unusual if he didn''t do something like this," the woman said before raising her hand.


    ~HONG~


    The air stirred upon her act and the cloud barrier surrounding the courtyard faded away. The Saintess had already withdrawn her control and as such, the Ever Spring Mistress could easily do this.


    Lin Mu wondered what she was going to do and watched it all.


    ~SHUA~


    He then felt a wave of energy in the air that was a mix of Qi as well as Dao Traces.


    "Let''s add to their celebration a bit. It is due to my new disciple, after all." The Ever Spring Mistress was fully in the mood to celebrate.


    Lin Mu sensed a surge of Dao Traces spreading from the Ever Spring Mistress''s body and covering the entire courtyard within moments. These Dao Traces then transformed into millions upon millions of petals that then rained down onto the entire Morning Glory n!


    New WSA Book is out!

 Chapter 2024 The Celebration

    The Ever Spring Mistress created a beautiful scene that would be forever remembered by all those that witnessed it today. But it wasn''t just a visual treat for them either. The petals that were raining down on the Morning Glory n were much more than that. They were infused with the power of the Ever Spring Mistress and energized everyone that touched them.


    It filled the people with vitality and made them feel fresh. Those that were having troubles with cultivation or feeling stuck, felt their bottlenecks ease up while those that were already doing well, felt their progress be smoother.


    Even the alchemists that were stuck with a particr pill suddenly felt their minds clear up and the solutions popped up in their mind. A few rare individuals were even struck with bouts of enlightenment. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    It was as if the entire n had eaten elixirs and pills, bringing them to a new state soon.


    This would be a major boost for the entire Morning Glory n and was a boon for them. Lin Mu who watched it all felt amazed.


    ''So this is the power of a Celestial¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While he had seen the Saintess show her power, it was in an offensive attack. What the Ever Spring Mistress had done was a supportive disy of her power that was perhaps even more stunning on some level. After all, improving the cultivation of an entire n with multiple effects was not an easy task at all. Even with alchemical pills, it was not one pill that fits all. One would have to customize them for each person and only then would they have such an effect.


    But here the Ever Spring Mistress had done that with just a single skill. "You''re really going all out for your Disciple, huh?" The Saintess spoke at this moment. "Using the Blessing of Spring," she added.


    "It''ll be fine." The Ever Spring Mistress waved her hand casually. "The Rust Sky World wouldn''t mind something like this as it is not infringing on its restrictions too much. Plus, being the Spring Monarch means, I''m supported by every world that has Spring¡­ which is most of the worlds." Sheughed.


    Lin Mu didn''t miss her words and took note of them.


    ''She''s the Spring Monarch¡­ is that a specific title or something else?'' he wondered, intending to ask the Saintesster.


    He had several things to talk to her about anyways, and may as well add it to the list.


    ''I need to talk about the ring too¡­ once I get the right opportunity.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While he could see that the Ever Spring Mistress was good friends with the Saintess, it was still ufortable for Lin Mu to discuss the ring while she was there. At the very least, he would prefer it being told to Senior Xukong first before he revealed it to anyone.


    He reckoned if anyone knew about that sigil, it would be Xukong.


    A short whileter, the Ever Spring Mistress decided to finally go out and join the celebration.


    "Do you want toe along?" The Ever Spring Mistress asked.


    "I''ll wait here. You two can go on." The Saintess replied. "There''s too many people there."


    "If you say so, Saintess." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay." The Ever Spring Mistress knew that it would indeed be an extra work for the Saintess to be around others.


    While both of them were Celestials, their different positions and karmas put them in varying situations. The Ever Spring Mistress was basically free to do anything she wanted in the realms as she was not only epted by the Celestial court and the Immortal Court, but even independent powers were weing to her.


    If they weren''t allied with her, they at least had a neutral rtionship with her. Very few were enemies with her and those that were enemies with her were usually enemies of most other powers as well.


    In fact, among the four Season Monarchs she probably had the best rtionship with the courts. While the Winter Monarch had the worst.


    Lin Mu and the Ever Spring Mistress soon entered the main hall of the Morning Glory n, where they were met with cordial greetings and enthusiasm. "We wee the Ever Spring Mistress!" n Head Guang said cupped his hands and bowed upon seeing her appear.


    "WE WELCOME THE EVER SPRING MISTRESS!" The others too repeated after him seeing their benefactor appear.


    "Hello!" The Ever Spring Mistress waved in greeting, looking rather casual.


    But no one dared to take care casually, for they knew it was just her grace that she was easy with them.


    "Wee, Daoist Mu Lin." Princess Feng Lan and Guang San also greeted Lin Mu as he was walking alongside the Ever Spring Mistress.


    "Greetings," Lin Mu spoke before seeing the little girl approach him.


    Meihua jumped up from the Emperor''sp and ran towards Lin Mu.


    "HI! HI! Brother Mu Lin!" The little girl ran in for a hug.


    She hugged Lin Mu''s legs and looked up with shimmering eyes.


    "Having fun?" Lin Mu smiled at the girl.


    "Yep! Yep!" Meihua nodded her head. "Grandpa gave me treats!"


    "That''s good." Lin Mu patted the little girl''s head, making her smile.


    ~step~step~step~


    Lin Mu heard someone approaching him and saw none other than the Emperor standing there.


    "Emperor Feng," Lin Mu cupped his hands in greeting.


    "Be at ease, Daoist Mu Lin. Our family owes you a debt after all." The Emperor said with a smile.


    Lin Mu could feel a change in the man''s demeanor which was no longer as heavy as what it was during the tournament. This was something he kept reserved for those that the Emperor was close with and was a very rare thing.


    Even with his children, the Emperor was often reserved and perhaps only Feng Lan had seen this side of him most of the time.


    Even Feng Shun didn''t get this benefit.


    The Crown Prince had heavy responsibility on his head and as such, the Emperor treated him seriously too. Though of course, the Crown Prince was happy go lucky at times, and didn''t mind his father.


    But with his grandchildren, the Emperor lost all signs of being a ruler and became a kind and happy grandfather.


    "It''s fine, Emperor Feng." Lin Mu replied. "Let''s sit down." He spoke, not finding it good to leave them standing.


    Not to mention, the Ever Spring Mistress was also standing.


    Once the group sat down, the Emperor decided to ask the Ever Spring Mistress a few questions that had been bugging him.


    "Celestial Ever Spring Mistress, may I ask when you wish to take Meihua with you?" he questioned.


    "I would prefer to go as early as possible." The Ever Spring Mistress said, her demeanor turning calmer. "It is important that Meihua learns to control her bloodline soon."


    "Can''t you start right away here, Ever Spring Mistress?" Feng Lan asked, feeling curious.


    "It isn''t that I can''t teach her here." The Ever Spring Mistress replied. "It''s that she''ll need unique conditions to learn it. And that is only possible in my domain." She stated.


    "I see¡­" The Princess nodded.


    "Does being in your world grant benefits to cultivation?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "It does¡­ to a few cultivators." The Ever Spring Mistress replied. "It depends on their technique as well as what Dao they pursue. Some might even be harmed by staying there." She exined in short.


    "Oh? I suppose that does make sense, since your domain is focused on the Spring Dao." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed." The Ever Spring Mistress confirmed.


    The others listened to it with great interest as it was not everyday that they got to observe and interact with a Celestial.


    The group talked for a few hours until it was finally night time. The celebration ended with arge feast, which Lin Mu enjoyed a lot. He of course brought Little Shrubby too, and the beast had a great time in the ce as he was being doted on by not just the Ever Spring Mistress but also Meihua and Feng Lan who couldn''t get enough of him. Princess Feng Lan had seen him before, but that was in his giant form.


    Right now he was in his kitten form which was utterly adorable and irresistible to most women.


    But once morning rolled in, it was time for it all to end.


    Lin Mu and the Ever Spring Mistress stood outside in the main garden of the Morning Glory n while surrounded by Guang San, Princess Feng Lan and Emperor Feng. "Come visit me big brother," Meihua requested.


    "Yeah, feel free toe anytime you want." The Ever Spring Mistress chimed in. "My domain will always wee you." She smiled.


    "I''ll try to visit." Lin Mu replied. "Whenever I be a celestial, that is." He added.


    "With your master, I don''t think you''ll have any issues with that, haha." The Ever Spring Mistress winked before holding Meihua''s hand.

 Chapter 2025 Departure Of The Ever Spring Mistress

    The Ever Spring Mistress''s words didn''t go unnoticed by Emperor Feng, but he didn''t speak about it.


    ''So the Ever Spring Mistress knows more¡­'' Emperor Feng noted in his mind.


    The events during the final match of the Tournament hadn''t been forgotten by him. The horror was still fresh, and so was the pressure. The being that the Emperor had seen was otherworldly and not something he could even fathom.


    ''The power it had shown¡­ Spatial Erasure¡­ and more¡­ Was that even a Celestial?'' The Emperor wondered to himself.


    He didn''t even know if he wanted to know the answer for sure. He didn''t know if he could bear its weight. As such, the Emperor kept silent and let things proceed.


    "It is time to leave," The Ever Spring Mistress said, making a seal with her hand.


    ~SHUA~


    It caused an illusory flower to bloom in front of her which was about the size of an entire house!


    "Get on, it''ll be faster this way." The Ever Spring Mistress spoke.


    "Whoa!" Meihua, though, was amazed by the flower and couldn''t help but marvel at it. She walked into the center of the flower while holding hands with the Ever Spring mistress and felt the soft interior. The winged fox also apanied her, and was going to be brought along.


    There was no way that Meihua was going to leave her Fluff-fluff behind after all.


    Even though the flower seemed to be illusory, it could still present corporeal effects. Princess Feng Land and Emperor Feng joined them in the flower as well, marveling at the skill.


    Since they were heading to the Capital city, the Emperor had decided to tag alongside them while Princess Feng Lan would be going to the Celestial World with Meihua and the Ever Spring Mistress. Normally, an immortal wouldn''t be able to enter the Celestial World unless they broke through and became a celestial themselves.


    But the Ever Spring Mistress had a few privileges, and she used one of them. Princess Feng Lan would be able to enter the Celestial Realm, but she would be limited to staying in the domain of the Ever Spring Princess. If she left it, she would be forced back into the Immortal Realm by the restrictions of the Celestial Realm.


    That was until of course she reached the Celestial Realm herself. Then there would be no restrictions on her.


    The Emperor couldn''t help but think about the skill and how it worked. He himself couldn''t detect any stray energy from it, as it was perfectly contained within it.


    "I''ll see youter, Mu Lin." The Ever Spring Mistress said before pinching her fingers, causing the illusory flower to close up.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then in the next moment, the illusory flower rose into the air and reached high up into the sky. Once it was at a sufficient altitude, it directly tore through the skies and soared towards the Capital City of the Dao Wind Empire!


    Lin Mu stood there watching it all, finding it to be very fast.


    "Several times faster than Little Shrubby, for sure." Lin Mu estimated the speed of the flying illusory flower.


    With the departure of the Ever Spring Mistress, calmness returned to the Morning Glory n. It almost felt like a dream to the members of the n, still finding it hard to believe all that had happened.


    "Feel free to stay as long as you want, Daoist Mu Lin." n Head Guang San stated. "You shall always be wee in the Morning Glory n." He offered.


    "I''ll stay until Crown Prince Feng Shun arrives. I don''t know why he''s taking so long." Lin Mu replied.


    "Have you contacted him yet?" n Head Guang San asked.


    "I have yes, but there was no response." Lin Mu replied, finding it a bit strange.


    He had done so a couple of times actually, but hadn''t gotten any response making Lin Mu wonder if the Crown Prince was dyed for some reason.


    "Hmm¡­ strange." n Head Guang San said with a frown.


    It was unusual for the Crown Prince to be gone for this long without notice after all.


    "Emperor Feng doesn''t know where he went either, so it is a bit confusing." Lin Mu added.


    "Perhaps he''s caught up in something that doesn''t let him respond in time?" Guang San guessed.


    "Maybe¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    "Oh also, the pills you requested are ready." n Head Guang San informed. "I''ll have them be sent to your courtyard." "Ah! Thank you, n Head." Lin Mu replied.


    Since Guang San had offered to reward Lin Mu, he had decided to take advantage of it and get some pills made. He once more focused on healing pills, as well as more detoxification pills that could work on various poisons.


    His experience with Ashy had taught him that one could never have more healing and detoxifying pills. Who knows what kind of poison one might be inflicted with. Plus this time, Lin Mu had the Saintess to assist him.


    If he couldn''t tell what the poison was, he would have been in trouble.


    As such, Lin Mu asked for all the possible detoxifying pills that the Morning Glory n knew of. Because such pills were always in demand, the Morning Glory always had them in stock and as such it was no issue giving some to Lin Mu. Of course, there were a handful of pills that weren''t in stock and had been freshly made by the alchemists of the n on demand. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    "I''ll get going now. I have to get things sorted out for the iing events. Now that we''ve be a Dukedom, we need to get a lot of things in order." n Head Guang San replied. "And please, don''t hesitate to ask me if you need anything." The man added.


    "I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu said and parted ways.


    He returned to the courtyard, which was once again surrounded by clouds. Though this time their numbers were lower. Inside, Lin Mu found the Saintess looking up at the sky which could still be looked at through the clouds.


    "They should be reaching the Celestial Realm in a few days'' time." The Saintess spoke sensing Lin Mu''s arrival.


    "Is it because of Princess Feng Lan and Meihua?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed¡­ they''ll have to go through a few checks." The Saintess said before turning around.

 Chapter 2026 Long Teleportations

    Lin Mu saw the standing figure of the Saintess and wondered what she was thinking.


    "They should be reaching the Celestial Realm in a few days'' time." The Saintess spoke sensing Lin Mu''s arrival.


    "Is it because of Princess Feng Lan and Meihua?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed¡­ they''ll have to go through a few checks." The Saintess said before turning around. "Hopefully they get through with ease." Lin Mu replied. "The Ever Spring Mistress invited me to her domain as well." He added.


    "Of course she did¡­ She probably wants you to cook for her again." The Saintess knew how the mind of the Ever Spring Mistress worked.


    "I won''t mind." Lin Mu said. "Plus, I think it''ll be interesting to see how her Domain is as well as the fruits and herbs that grow there." He added.


    "Hmmm, her Domain does have a lot of nts. It is specialized in it." The Saintess nodded. "We might be able to go there, eventually." "How far is it though?" Lin Mu questioned. "From the Serpent Moon Sect I mean." He rified.


    "Hmm¡­ The Ever Spring Mistress lives in the territory of the East Celestial Court. So getting to her isn''t that difficult. We just have to take around three Teleportation Arrays to get there from the Serpent Moon Sect." The Saintess answered. "It should take around a year for each Teleportation arrays so about three years to get there." She added.


    "Three¡­ THREE YEARS!? And that too with teleportation arrays!?" Lin Mu didn''t know if the Saintess was joking with him. "Isn''t teleportation almost instant?" "It''s not." The Saintess denied right away. "Especially at the distances that need to be covered in the Celestial Realm¡­ it takes much longer." She exined.


    "If Teleportation takes three years¡­ how long would it take to travel there normally?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Anywhere between a thousand to a hundred thousand years, depending on your abilities as well as the danger you face." The Saintess said calmly.


    Lin Mu didn''t know what to think of it. Three years of travel was almost a tenth of his age. To spend that much on just travel seemed mind boggling to him.


    "To a Celestial¡­ three years is not even a single cultivation session. It may as well be three weeks to us." The Saintess replied, sensing Lin Mu''s shaken emotions.


    It was indeed an astounding thing to learn that many mortals wouldn''t even be able toprehend. Even for immortals, it was a bit too much to bear. But once one became a Celestial, it all came naturally to them.


    It was normal for the world around them to be a mere blur at that point. A single cultivation session might extend for thousands of years at that point and they still might not progress at all. Such was the life of a Celestial.


    The Saintess let Lin Mu digest this for a couple of minutes before he spoke again.


    "Wait¡­ if it takes that long to use the Teleportation Array, then how did the Ever Spring mistress reach the Rust Sky world so fast?" Lin Mu questioned in doubt.


    "It''s all about the location of the arrays and distance between the various Immortal worlds. The Ever Spring Mistress lives close enough to the Eastern Celestial Court and has direct ess to the Teleportation Arrays. She''s basically at the main hub for teleportation already and can do it quickly. Plus, the arrays that allow entry back into the Immortal world are much faster. Especially the ones operated by the Celestial court and the Immortal Court. They are of the highest quality and allow the fastest travel. That is also why most cultivators want to use them, but the cost of using them is prohibitory for the majority. There are private arrays that are made by various powers and organizations that work with each other, and these are usually slower but cheaper too.


    And depending on what area of the Celestial Realm you are in, there might not be an Official Teleportation Array made by the Celestial Court there. As such, you''ll have to rely on the private Teleportation Arrays set up by other powers.


    This is the case for the Serpent Moon Sect too. We have to take our private array to another location, before taking a private teleportation array there to an official teleportation junction of the Celestial court.


    And from there, its easy to switch between the various regions of the Celestial Realm. The distance between the various Celestial worlds also changes with the movements in the void. After all, the worlds aren''t exactly fixed. You of all people, should know that traveling through the void is not easy and situations can change very easily. Sometimes there are also Spatial Disturbances in the void which make teleportation risky and the channels need to be modified. The arrays do this automatically, but this obviously adds to the time needed to teleport. Thus, being safer adds extra time to it all. Of course, there are also unsecured teleportation channels that give the shortest route, but you may as well jump into the sun at that rate." The Saintess gave Lin Mu a quick rundown on how things worked in the realm above. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    It was quite enlightening for Lin Mu and this was the first time he was getting an idea of just how massive the Celestial Realm really was.


    "Though¡­ There are exceptions to it." The Saintess added, making Lin Mu raise his brows. "If there is a Spatial Master, they can very well teleport themselves to different locations depending on their own skill level." She added, clearly hinting at him.


    ''Of course¡­ I have the First Facet of the Four Faceted Neb¡­ Warp basically allows that.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He hadn''t used it so far, thus didn''t know how long it took to teleport using Warp, but hoped that it wouldn''t be too long. At the very least, from what the Saintess had said, teleportation within the Immortal Realm was faster, and by that logic it should be even faster in the Mortal Realm.

 Chapter 2027 Questions About The Drunken Dream

    ~huu~


    Lin Mu sat in the bedroom once more and had his eyes closed. Having broken through earlier and reaching the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, he hadn''t adapted to his new cultivation base yet. Lin Mu ended up going to the celebration and then the farewell of Meihua and as such hadn''t gotten time for this.


    But after learning more about Teleportation from the Saintess, he reckoned it was time for him to sit down and digest.


    ''There''s no telling when Crown Prince Feng Shun would arrive, thus its best to be ready.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    As such, he decided to stabilize his cultivation base and understand the finer changes that might have taken ce. After all, he had done the breakthrough while he was drunk, thus there was no telling if there were any bad side effects to it.


    Thus to err on the side of caution, Lin Mu took plenty of time and made sure that his cultivation base was stable and there were no hidden dangers.


    ''Looks like it''s all fine¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself seeing that his?halos around his Nascent Soul were perfect.


    Having done this, Lin Mu reckoned it was time to discuss a few things with Senior Xukong.


    "Senior are you there?" Lin Mu spoke in his mind.


    For a minute there was no response before Xukong finally replied.


    "I am, what is it?" The Spider asked.


    "I uh¡­ Had a dream." Lin Mu replied. "When I was passed out drunk." He added.


    "What kind of dream?" Xukong asked, feeling interested.


    He knew that Lin Mu wouldn''t talk about something like this, unless it was concerning.


    "It would be easier to just show you the memory." Lin Mu said before sharing it with Xukong.


    Xukong essed the memory in their shared mind space and observed all that had happened to Lin Mu in the dream. He saw the vault, with all the fortune as well as the unique markings on them. He also saw the spatial storage tool which was in the form of a cupboard and the weapons and tools that were kept inside it.


    Of course, the most important part of it was none other than the Third Ring that was kept inside the box. Xukong went silent for a while as he processed it all.


    "Hmm¡­ We did suspect this before, didn''t we?" Xukong spoke up. "There being more rings."


    "We did¡­ But now that it''s confirmed it feels surreal." Lin Mu replied with a frown.


    "But it is definitely true. You saw a dream about the second ring too." Xukong said taking a pause. "Are you feeling any desire like before?" he questioned.


    "Thankfully, I am not." Lin Mu said in a slightly relieved tone. "That burning desire¡­ It not exactlyfortable and takes away my peace." He stated.


    "That is true. But then again, you didn''t feel it right away in the past either. It took a while, until the second ring was taken away." Xukong said, making Lin Mu frown even more.


    "Hmmm, but in that case it was found by Huangyu Shiyi. If my dream is correct, then the ring is already in the possession of someone or some organization. But if so, that desire isn''t triggering." Lin Mu exined his doubts.


    "Perhaps it might trigger in the future." Xukong responded. "After all, there is still a difference. While the ring is in the possession of someone, they aren''t ''wearing'' it. You felt that burning desire with the second ring since Huangyu Shiyi was actively wearing and using it. But that is not the case here." He exined.


    Lin Mu had to think further about his situation after listening to Xukong''s words. He knew there was still a lot he didn''t know about the rings, and whatever they might be specting might just flip on its head. But for now, they could still postte some things.


    "If the past condition is correct, and the third ring is indeed in the possession of someone but not being used, it means that desire is only triggered upon sessful use. Which means I have enough time to obtain it till then." Lin Mu analyzed. "The only question is¡­ How long do I have left?"


    "However time you might have, I think you still want to prioritize getting it right?" Xukong asked next.


    "I do. But we have no idea where it is." Lin Mu replied.


    "I might have an idea where it is." Xukong said, surprising Lin Mu.


    "You do!?" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.


    "Yes¡­ While I don''t know exactly who has it, the ring is certainly in the Immortal Realm." Xukong answered. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    "How do you know that for sure?" Lin Mu asked in doubt. "Is it the symbol?"


    "I know because of the Vault itself. That is a highly secure design that is verymon in the Greater powers of the Immortal realm. Getting one made is certainly not easy and will cost millions of High Grade immortal stones.


    As such, it isn''t something an individual cultivator would make. Not to mention, the Spatial Storage cupboard inside it. That itself, might be worth more than the entire vault. With such a double secure method, it does reduce the number of organizations that could have it." Xukong answered, making Lin Mu excited.


    But this was just the start, as his next words made Lin Mu a bit disappointed.


    "As for the symbol, I do not know which organization or power it belongs to. At the very least I can tell you, it is certainly not from any of the main ones such as the Immortal court. No one would use an inauspicious symbol such as the Cmity Ruin Beast''s horns for their crest." Xukong exined his reasoning.


    "I see¡­ If even you don''t know about them, then are they obscure?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It is possible¡­ but then again, I do not know every power in the Immortal world, especially if they are new or have stayed hidden." Xukong replied. "But there is someone who might know more¡­ The Saintess."

 Chapter 2028 Clues From The Saintess

    Xukong''s suggestion was the option that Lin Mu had thought about taking before too.


    The Saintess seemed to be updated on recent matters of the world, and was more likely to know what the symbol was.


    "Hmm, yeah. The Saintess probably knows." Lin Mu replied.


    "Her sect¡­ Has an extensive react in the information and intelligence department." Xukong suddenly said. "Has she told you about that yet?" he asked.


    "No. While she''s said a few things about the Serpent Moon Sect, she hasn''t gone into details." Lin Mu shook his head. "But then again, it isn''t exactly something one would speak about easily." He added.


    "That''s true." Xukong replied. "But yes, she should probably know more, or at least be able to find out about it through her connections." He exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu responded, while a few thoughts appeared in his mind. "Say Senior¡­ Do you know more about the Serpent Moon Sect?" he inquired, feeling curious.


    "You could say that¡­ I''ve known about the sect since before it was created." Xukong answered.


    "That far?" Lin Mu was surprised. ''I could tell the Serpent Moon Sect was old, but Senior Xukong knew about it before it was created too¡­'' He couldn''t help but be amazed


    "Or more urately, I know the founder." Xukong revealed.


    "The founder, is not the Saintess?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You probably should not say that in front of her." Xukong replied inside. "She might be old, but she''s not that old." He added.


    "I¡­ didn''t mean that." Lin Mu said, feeling a bit flustered. "The founder of the Serpent Moon Sect is someone, that is¡­ or was¡­ A being at the same level as me." Xukong revealed stunning Lin Mu.


    "WHAT!?" Lin Mu couldn''t believe his ears at the shocking information.


    "Yes¡­ We were once acquaintances." Xukong added with a hint of mncholy in his voice. Lin Mu didn''t know how it was, but he could at least tell that the rtionship between Xukong and the Founder of the Serpent Moon Sect was closer than he was telling.


    "You said once¡­ What happened to the Founder?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I do not know¡­ but for beings like us, if there is no sign¡­ It usually means they perished." Xukong answered.


    "Perished¡­ so they no longer exist." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The two didn''t speak for a few minutes, reminiscing over old memories while Lin Mu went over the information.


    "Anyway, this is all I can tell you about that symbol. You''ll need to speak with the Saintess to know more." Xukong stated at the end.


    "Very well, Senior." Lin Mu replied, opening his eyes.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, he stood up and left the bedroom.


    The Saintess was still sitting outside and had her eyes closed. Lin Mu couldn''t see that due to the veil, but over time he had managed to figure that out without even needing to.


    Having spent enough time with the Saintess, he could guess what her expression was just from a vague feeling he got from her.


    "Saintess," Lin Mu said, lightly making her open her eyes and look at him.


    "What is it?" She asked.


    "I have something to talk to you about," Lin Mu replied before taking out a jade slip.


    "Mm?" The Saintess watched as Lin Mu fiddled with the Jade Slip and injected some information into it.


    ~SHUA~


    Then thirty secondster, a formation screen appeared above it showing a particr symbol.


    It was that of a polyhedral gemstone that had two curved horns attached to it. The Saintess looked at it closely and narrowed her eyes.


    "I wanted to ask¡­ Have you seen this symbol before?" Lin Mu asked.


    "How do you know about this?" Instead of answering him directly though, the Saintess threw a question back.


    "I saw it¡­ In my dream." Lin Mu answered.


    The Saintess listened to him carefully, finding it to be the truth. "A dream¡­ You saw the Crest of the Virtuous Cmity Daoist in your dreams?" The Saintess replied, showing that she knew about it.


    "Virtuous Cmity Daoist? It belongs to a person!?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Yes, it is a person. But it is more concerning that you saw it in your dreams." The Saintess replied. "Why is that?" She inquired.


    "Well¡­ it is rted to something I need to find," Lin Mu said, not knowing how to exactly talk about the ring. "Is it rted to your ''legacy''?" She asked, guessing somewhat.


    "¡­You could say that." Lin Mu decided to go along with it.


    While it was not urate, it wasn''t exactly wrong either. The rings did seem like some kind of legacy, though he didn''t know what they were yet. As such, it wasn''t totally wrong.


    "I had a dream about where the next part of it is." Lin Mu revealed.


    "Hmm¡­ So it is a legacy split into multiple parts¡­ How many do you have right now?" The Saintess replied. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "Two." Lin Mu answered.


    "And did you get clues to them in your dreams before, too?" She asked, wanting to confirm.


    "Yes, I did." Lin Mu nodded his head. "The first time I did, it was very vague and I didn''t even remember it. Butter on they got stronger, and I felt an innate urge to find it." He exined.


    "That sounds about right¡­ A prophetic legacy dream then." The Saintess seemed to know more about it. "But it doesn''t fully make sense for it to be in your dreams." She added.


    "It is not possible for you to have seen the Crest of the Virtuous Cmity Daoist." The Saintess said with some hesitation.


    "Why''s that?" Lin Mu questioned, finding the tone of the Saintess a bit strange.


    "That''s because the Virtuous Cmity Daoist doesn''t exist anymore." The Saintess answered, surprising Lin Mu. "He died under the onught of his enemies a hundred thousand years ago." "What?" Lin Mu said with surprise. "But I''m sure the dream is urate. Doesn''t that mean¡­"


    "Either the Virtuous Cmity Daoist is alive or¡­ Someone has his belongings."

 Chapter 2029 Virtuous Calamity Daoist

    The fact that the vault belonged to the Virtuous Cmity Daoist was important to Lin Mu. As it meant that he would either have to find the man, or whoever that had taken the vault.


    But before he could proceed, he needed to verify several things.


    "Do you think he is alive?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "There''s a ny nine percent chance he is dead. The Immortal court had announced it officially after all." The Saintess replied.


    "The Immortal court did? Were they the ones to kill him?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Not exactly. It was actually his own allies that killed him." The Saintess replied. "What?" Lin Mu was confused by it. "Who was the man?" He wished to know more, as he hoped it would help him figure out how the man came into having the third ring.


    IF¡­ he was even the one to find it.


    "The Virtuous Cmity Daoist was a high ranking official of the Immortal court. He belonged to the hardliner faction and became a renegade when his extreme ideology wasn''t epted." The Saintess revealed.


    The name Virtuous Cmity Daoist was not something that seemed good to Lin Mu, and once the Saintess had spoken about his origins, he couldn''t help but be surprised.


    "He belonged to the Immortal Court!?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected him to be someone of the mainstream orthodox order.


    The immortal court was the De facto orthodox power of the Immortal realm and most worlds followed their rules andws. As such, their members were upstanding and righteous, being respected by many. There was nock of people wanting to join the Immortal court, and talented cultivators that were younger were often invited by the immortal court to train there. It was a great opportunity for them to not only get excellent guidance from top experts, but also expand their scope of knowledge.


    Thus, it was a great shock that such an individual had been from the Immortal court.


    "What did he do though?" Lin Mu asked the Saintess.


    After all, for a member of the Immortal court to turn renegade was not a normal thing. There must have been something major behind it all.


    "You know the stance of the Immortal court being righteous, right?" The Saintess spoke. "Of course." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Well, in the Immortal court there are different factions that have varying degrees of that. There''s the three main factions who vary on how they should deal with the unorthodox path and the races that usually constitute it like the Demon race, the Asura race and several others. Firstly, there is the Peaceful faction who believe in active cooperation with the Unorthodox factions and keeping alliances with them. Second, there is the Neutral faction, which is the current ruling majority, and believe that as long as the Unorthodox faction powers do not oppose them or cause, it is fine to let them exist. But if they cause trouble, they will have no issues dealing with them.


    Then finally there is the Hardliner faction that is extreme in their beliefs. They believe that unorthodox powers should be eliminated as long as they are in the open. They do not believe in alliances with them and wish to remove them by hook or by crooks. The third faction is the smallest in the Immortal Court, but they do have several strong individuals among them that hold great influence. In the past, the hardliner faction used to hold majority and were also the ones that had forcibly established the rule of the Immortal court. Of course, this was during a time of strife and was necessary. Later on when things had calmed down, the neutral faction became more popr and elevated the status of the Immortal court. Through their diplomatic rtions, they brought prosperity to the immortal court as well as the powers that constitute it.


    They are still the majority faction now, but the Peaceful faction is slowly growing in size too. And of course, their rise in poprity was not eptable by the Hardliner faction, which led to direct conflict between the two. At the forefront of this conflict was none other than the Virtuous Cmity Daoist. He was the second highest ranked member of the Hardliner faction and was considered extreme, even among their people. His ideology was to erase all the worlds that were ruled by the unorthodox factions, going as far as to purge the mortals too, as their mere influence might have corrupted them." The Saintess exined in detail, making Lin Mu quite shocked. "It was this extreme ideology that harmed the interest of the hardliners too. After all, the destruction of worlds meant that they would lose out on the talented individuals from those world, as well as the resources that might be present in the world.


    Lin Mu hadn''t expected even the great Immortal court to be divided in their own politics.


    "That does sound quite extreme¡­ to erase an entire world over the actions of a few?" Lin Mu muttered. "So it was the hardliners that got rid of him, too? His allies?" he asked.


    "Not exactly. They couldn''t kill a member of their own faction, since they were also part of the Immortal court. As such, they first dered him a renegade and exiled him. Of course, the Virtuous Cmity Daoist wouldn''t stop just from this and gathered other people that shared his ideology.


    This was where the Hardliners had set a trap. Among those that the Virtuous Cmity Daoist recruited, there were several spies. It was these very spies that sabotaged the ns of the Virtuous Cmity Daoist and led him to his death.


    It gave the Hardliners usible deniability and also allowed them to continue doing as they pleased." The Saintess revealed. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    It was a lot to process for Lin Mu, and he learned about some dirty secrets of the Immortal court as well.


    "So the Immortal court had confirmation he died?" Lin Mu asked at the end.


    "Indeed. The immortal court can tell if any of their members die, as they have special tools that can keep track of their souls." The Saintess confirmed.

 Chapter 2030 The 5 Courts

    Lin Mu had long since known that various ns and powers had ways to know whether their members died or not. They could even know if the member that died, just lost their body or even their Nascent soul was destroyed.


    Depending on this, it made it easier for them to deal with the aftermath.


    If just the body was destroyed and the cultivator survived due to their Nascent soul, the power backing them could find the Nascent soul and help them revive. After all, a Nascent soul might have power, but it didn''t have much in terms of defense.


    As such, it was important to find and secure it quickly.


    But if both the body and the Nascent soul had been destroyed, it meant that the member was truly killed. In that case, the power backing them would instead focus on finding the killer and enact revenge.


    Of course, this was not the case for all powers, but it was still necessary to know the status of their members. It made sense that the Immortal Court could do so too.


    "Hmm¡­ if he has died for sure then it is likely that all his belongings are with someone else." Lin Mu guessed.


    "That is true." The Saintess replied. "And I think we have a good guess as to who might have it." She added. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "The Hardliners of the Immortal Court¡­" Lin Mu replied as a frown appeared on his face. "They were the ones behind his death, and as such, they are an obvious choice." He spoke.


    "Yes, but thatplicates things." The Saintess replied. "They aren''t exactly ones that would give up something they have in their possession. Especially not of its part of a legacy. Considering they haven''t used it till now, there''s a chance they simply don''t know what it is. But if they do find out¡ª"


    "They will never give it up." Lin Mu understood that much.


    The Saintess simply nodded in response, knowing this was not going to be easy.


    ~Sigh~


    "At least I have a significant lead this time¡­ I won''t have to wander like blindst time." Lin Mu muttered, feeling a bit better.


    The Saintess kept silent and let Lin Mu process it all. After a minute or so Lin Mu spoke again, this time in a much better mood.


    "Looks like I''ll be paying a visit to the Immortal Court after all." Lin Mu chuckled. "Maybe Crown Prince might be able to help me in this aspect."


    "You are going to help him on the expedition, so it is worth making use of him." The Saintess replied. "Besides, you still need to determine exactly which part of the Immortal Court that vault might be in." She added.


    "Oh yeah¡­ While we know it''s in the Immortal Court, we don''t know which section¡­ East, West, North, or South." Lin Mu agreed.


    "There''s also the Central Immortal Court." The Saintess added. "But it is definitely not there." "Huh? Central? But aren''t there only Four as per the four guardian beasts?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Yes, but that is for the control of the immortal realm. There is still the Central Immortal Court, which is the main seat of administrative power that looks over the four branches. That is where the great decisions take ce." The Saintess added.


    "Then who presides over that?" Lin Mu questioned. "Among the four guardian beast ns, I mean. Do they all rule it collectively?" He asked further.


    "No¡­ they don''t." The Saintess said, much to his surprise. "The power that rules over the Central Immortal court is another beast n¡­ The Yellow Dragon of the Center¡­ The Ruler of the four guardian ns!" She revealed.


    Lin Mu''s eyes went wide in surprise as he learned this new information.


    "There''s a n that rules over the four guardian beasts!?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Of course¡­ Didn''t you think there was one representative beast missing among the five elements?" The Saintess asked.


    "Of course! The earth element!" Lin Mu said in realization.


    "The Azure Dragon belongs to the Wood Element, and represents Spring. The Vermillion Bird belongs to the Fire Element and represents Sumer. The White Tiger belongs the Metal Element and represents Autumn. The ck Tortoise belongs to the Water element and represents Winter. Then finally, the Yellow Dragon belongs to the Earth element and represents the changing season!


    The Yellow Dragon n has ruled over the four guardian ns since the immortal court was established and ensures that the members of the four guardian ns uphold their principle and holds them ountable for any mistake that they might make.


    Of course, other than that, they don''t actually interfere in the normal workings of the immortal court. They let the Four Guardian ns handle their duties and only act if it is necessary." The Saintess exined in detail.


    "Is that why there are no Hardliners there?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Indeed. The Yellow Dragon n stands for harmony between all, and would not allow someone of the hardliner ideology within theirpany. The number of external members in the Central Immortal Court is already quite low, and among them almost all are members of the Peaceful faction." The Saintess revealed.


    "Wait¡­ Is that why the Peaceful faction has been rising in recent times, as you said?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "Indeed¡­ They''ve gathered support from the Central Immoral Court. Plus, some of their high ranking members are also from the Yellow Dragon n. So while their numbers might be lower than the Neutral Faction, their influence is certainly substantial." The Saintess rified his doubt.


    "Huh¡­ there''s certainly a lot ofplexities to the workings of the Immortal court." Lin Mu knew that things won''t be simple. "At least that''s one less ce to look." He looked at the silver lining.


    "If you wish to obtain that legacy, it might be better to get that entire vault. That way, they won''t suspect you as much." The Saintess suggested. "I think you should probably look at trading for the Vault in itself."

 Chapter 2031 Trade As The Solution

    Lin Mu listened to the Saintess''s words and reckoned that it was definitely the most straightforward option.


    "Yeah¡­ Trading with them should be the best way." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I doubt they would sell it. I don''t think they would becking anything after all." He stated.


    "Indeed. For someone of their status, there aren''t many things they wouldck. Even Celestial realm resources would not be out of their reach." The Saintess replied. "After all, one day they would be celestials as well." She added.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, understanding that cultivators that were that high ranked in the Immortal Court had a very high chance of bing Celestials. It was merely a question of time, simr to him. They had the best resources as well as guidance from other experts.


    As such, they would not face many obstacles in their path and would continue realistically smoothly.


    ''Haaah~ Guess not only do I need to find who has the vault, but I also need to see if theyck something.'' Lin Mu let out a breath at the long path ahead. There were many things he needed to do before that, and other things he had promised to do. ''After this expedition is over, I still need to go with Monk Hushu to the Silent Lotus World. Maybe I''ll be able to inquire more about the vault while we go there. Or on the way there¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as there was a chance they might pass through the Immortal Court.


    It was now that Lin Mu remembered another thing he had almost forgotten.


    ''The Haima Tribe¡­ I need to bid them farewell before I leave too.'' Lin Mu recalled.


    He had promised that to the Mermaid Lanbao too. They had helped him a lot and as such, he owed them that much.


    "I guess there''s a lot I have to wind up after the expedition." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    The Saintess heard him, but didn''t say anything, letting him deal with his own things.


    "Can you tell me if Crown Prince Feng Shun arrives, Saintess?" Lin Mu requested.


    "I will." The Saintess replied.


    "Thank you." Lin Mu said before calling Little Shrubby and Ashy.


    He had decided to return to cultivation once he had finished conversing with the Saintess. At the same time, he also sent Little Shrubby and Ashy into the Sleepscape. The bird had been asking him to go there for a while, and Lin Mu reckoned it was finally the time.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu entered the bedroom and sat down on the bed before letting out a long breath.


    He had learned a lot of things in thest few hours, including things that were quite stunning. He had already digested all these facts, but still needed to organize them in his mind. He needed to see how they fit in with his other ns and if there were any interactions with them.


    As such, Lin Mu let his body cultivate passively while he himself entered the Sleepscape.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu opened his eyes in the Sleepscape and found himself standing in front of the Immortal Apple Tree. "You grew a lot more apples, huh¡­" Lin Mu looked at the tree that was mostly filled with the fruits.


    ~rustle~


    The Immortal Apple tree waved its branch in greeting upon seeing Lin Mu.


    About half of the apples on it were the normal Immortal apples that were ripe, while about forty five percent were unripe apples. Then there were the Wood Essence apples that were still growing and would take a while to fully mature. ''Though a couple of them are almost near maturity.'' Lin Mu observed. "Guess I should free up the space on the tree." He said before he plucked the ripe apples from the tree.


    In a few minutes, the Immortal Apple tree became lighter, as half of the apples on it were removed. The tree swayed lightly and felt a bit free, as if it had just taken a haircut.


    Lin Mu let the tree enjoy and moved on to check on the other things in the Sleepscape. After all, it had been a while since he had been here and he wished to see how the nts were faring.


    The first ce that Lin Mu went to was none other than the location where he had nted the Snow ss Pear trees.


    He had made a special formation array so that they would grow. They had very specific conditions for growth and as such, there was no telling how they would be performing now. "Oh? They grew more." Upon reaching there, Lin Mu could tell right away, the trees were taller than before. New branches could be seen on them, while tender shoots were rising from their nodes.


    "Looks like I won''t have to worry about it much." Lin Mu reckoned.


    While there was still a lot of time until the Snow ss Pear trees would bear fruit, it was not something Lin Mu was in a rush for anyways.


    Next, Lin Mu checked on the Wood Spirit Tulip, which was calmly cultivating on its own. It absorbed the wood elemental Qi from the air and silently grew in strength. Lin Mu didn''t disturb the nt, as it seemed to be focused for the first time. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    ''Looks like it is nearing a breakthrough, too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he observed the nt.


    He didn''t know what kind of breakthroughs herbs and other nts had, but he had heard that they too underwent immortal tribtions. Though it was not the same way as cultivators, since their path was different.


    After this, Lin Mu went to check on the Purple Sickle Amaranth, which had no significant change. "Hmm¡­ is it at a bottleneck?" Lin Mu wondered before moving on.


    He finally arrived at the Mutated Violet Mystic Life Tree. The giant tree stood tall and proud while the red crystal on and around its trunk glowed lightly.


    But when Lin Mu looked up, he saw something interesting.


    "What''s that now?"

 Chapter 2032 A Nest And Options To Buy

    One one of the lower branches of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, there now existed a small structure.


    It seemed to be made out of the tree''s leaves along with a few broken twigs and bark that had been woven into them.


    "A nest?" Lin Mu muttered.


    But that wasn''t all, as the nest was certainly not finished. He saw not just Ashy, but the twins helping her out too.


    The twins broke the leaves from the tree, which were too hard for the bird to break while Ashy herself attached them into her nest.


    "Master!" Ashy and the twins noticed Lin Mu''s arrival and flew down from the Violet Mystic Life tree.


    "Why are you making a nest?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    After all, there was no need to make a nest since the entire Sleepscape was technically theirs.


    "I''ve never had a nest before. So I wanted to make one." Ashy spoke, before exining her desire.


    In the past, she had been exiled from her home by her kin and as such, didn''t get to make a nest there. And when she arrived in the Evergreen Pirs forest, she couldn''t make a nest there either as there was quite a bit of danger to stay in open.


    Instead, she would live in the hollow Evergreen Pir Bamboos as it was safer and would also get her some food inside.


    Making a nest was an innate desire of many bird beasts and as such she still wanted to make one.


    "Huh¡­ I guess you can make one." Lin Mu replied. "Though a nest on the Violet Mystics Life Tree¡­ Perhaps this is the first time one is being made." He muttered to himself.


    From what Lin Mu had read, a Violet Mystic Life Tree didn''t really have any creatures living on it. Sure it had many beasts that would live around it, to enjoy the fruits but they wouldn''t exactly live on it. After all, the tree wouldn''t allow something like that.


    ''I suppose now that its part of the Sleepscape, it doesn''t have a need to resist.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He then watched the three beasts finish building the nest, which was very bigpared to Ashy. The nest was nearly two meters wide and equally as long. It didn''t have an exact shape and was built to the best of Ashy''s capabilities. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    It was after all¡­ quite literally her very first nest.


    But with such a big nest, Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang also felt like they wanted to make one and got to doing so. Unlike Ashy though, they decided to make one among the crystals. Lin Mu watched the beasts y around for a while and then switched to doing his own work. After all, he needed to sort out quite a lot of things and also take notes on some stuff.


    ''The items I saw in the vault¡­ I should keep an ount of them.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    His memory was very clear, and he remembered each and every thing that he had seen in the vault. Even the books that were present there, while he couldn''t read them, he could at least recognize them from their covers.


    As such, Lin Mu took out a nk Jade Slip and took a tally of every item that was present in the vault, as well as their appearance.


    He did this, as he wanted to have a reference in case he saw them anywhere or had to ask others what he was looking for. There was no guarantee that all the contents of the vault might stay in the same ce by the time Lin Mu gets to it, as such it was better to search on multiple fronts.


    Then there was the fact that asking about a vault was quite suspicious. It was much better to look for individual items inside and then track down the owner through that. This option could be employed if Lin Mu made use of organizations such as auction pavilions or intelligence pavilions to find them.


    They had the means and connections to find them, after all.


    The best way for Lin Mu to find the ring was actually to track down the other Immortal weapons and tools that were kept with them.


    "Perhaps setting a ''buy order'' for those weapons could be an option." Lin Mu pondered on it.


    But this was just one half of the ordeal.


    Lin Mu still needed a method to actually buy those items. He was not na?ve enough to think that their owner would be inck of funds. It was questionable whether they were in need of anything in the first ce. As such, Lin Mu needed to be prepared to do some other tasks that the person might need.


    And if it was someone high up in the Hardliner faction of the Immortal Court, Lin Mu didn''t expect the requests to be easy at all. Considering all this, Lin Mu estimated that it would take him quite some time to even attempt tomunicate with them.


    ''I doubt they''d even talk with me at the current level. I''d have to raise my cultivation base as well as status first.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Raising his cultivation base was the most direct option, as it would also raise his status. Talking to an Immortal who was in the Transcendent Immortal Realm was much easier, if one was at the same level as them.


    But that was not something even Lin Mu was confident in doing anytime soon.


    "Guess I''ll have to n it out for the long term¡­" Lin Mu sighed and finished his notes.


    It had been a few hours since he had been in the Sleepscape and something else was happening outside.


    Above the Morning Glory n, arge ship appeared. It had three tall masts and had space for hundreds of people on it. One could see many arrays glowing on it, while the runes powered its flight.


    And standing at its helm was none other than the Crown Prince: Feng Shun!

 Chapter 2033 Feng Shun’s Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 2033 Feng Shun''s Arrival </h4>


    Feng Shun looked down from the ship, gazing at the Morning Glory n below.


    He could notice that things weren''t the same as they were thest time he had been here.


    "They certainly look quite busy." Crown Princess Shang spoke seeing the scene below.


    "They sure do¡­" The Crown Prince said before searching for the person they hade here for.


    He guessed that Lin Mu would probably appear soon once he saw the ship.


    "Did you return his messages?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "I''m doing it now." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    ~Sigh~


    "You''re like¡­ dayste with it." Crown Princess Shang said with a sigh.


    "Not my fault, we got stuck with that old man." Feng Shun replied. "He''s a real stickler for rules¡­ Didn''t even let us have any contact outside." He added with a hint of frustration.


    "You''re the one who chose to go to him." Crown Princess Shang narrowed her eyes at Feng Shun.


    "He''s the only one who could modify this ship." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "If¡­ we wanted to be on time anyways. If I used the formation masters and immortal tool refiners from the imperial court, they would have taken more than a month. They are good, but they already have too much work on their te." He said in a helpless tone.


    "I guess¡­ At least we''re here now." Crown Princess Shang replied before looking down as well.


    And when she did, she noticed something peculiar.


    "What''s that?" She pointed to a particr ce in the Morning Glory n that had clouds surrounding it.


    "I don''t know¡­" The Crown Prince found it rather strange too.


    The two immortals try to take a close look at it, but couldn''t look past the clouds.


    "What is that even¡­ That''s not something an immortal would be able to make." The Crown Prince''s expression turned serious.


    "Wait¡­ aren''t those clouds¡­ the same as the Tournament?" Crown Princess Shang suddenly spoke.


    Hearing that, the Crown Prince''s eyes went wide.


    The two royals looked at each other and had a mutual understanding of what it might be now.


    ~gulp~


    They both swallowed their saliva as a chill went down their spine. The events of the Finals were still fresh in their mind and they knew how dangerous it was. The Crown Prince had also understood just how strong Lin Mu''s backing was from that.


    Not only had he been saved, but even the Temple had not said anything with the interference of the external powers. The Emperor looked to be shaken as well, which showed that whoever it was, they were someone even the Immortal Court would have to take seriously.


    With all these factsbined, the two knew they had to be careful here.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as they were thinking about their next step, they saw the clouds below move.


    "Something''s happening!" Crown Princess Shang eximed.


    The two watched as the clouds below moved and faded away, revealing the courtyard that was hidden inside it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And from that courtyard flew out a person.


    "Brother Mu Lin!" Crown Prince Feng Shun called out seeing the person he was here for.


    "Crown Prince Feng Shun, Crown Princess Shang," Lin Mu cupped his hands in greeting.


    A couple of minutes ago he had been woken up by the Saintess. She had sensed the approach of therge ship hours ago, but had waited for it to get closer. She didn''t know if Lin Mu was going to wake up on his own after all.


    And when he didn''t she finally decided to wake him up.


    Lin Mu already knew that the only reason she would wake him up was if the Crown Prince was here, thus he simply spread his Immortal sense to confirm it. And sure enough, he was here¡­ and with quite an entourage too.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But he wasn''t the only one who had sensed the arrival of the ship. Another man flew up from the Morning Glory n and came to a stop next to Lin Mu.


    "Ah! Brother inw Guang!" Crown Prince greeted the n head of the Morning Glory n.


    "Greetings Crown Prince," Guang San replied. "We''ve been waiting for your arrival for some time now." He added.


    "Ah yes¡­ We got held up." Crown Prince replied. "Also, it seems like congrattions are in order." The man said with a smile.


    "I officially greet Duke Guang San of the Morning Glory Dukedom!" Crown Prince said out loud.


    "Thank you, Crown Prince." Guang San replied.


    Lin Mu heard it and was a bit surprised.


    "I thought you were uncontactable." Lin Mu responded.


    "I was¡­ yes. But as soon as I was not, I got a flood of messages." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Father particrly sent me a long message, or rather¡­ a report." He said with a wry smile.


    It was not hard to guess that he had probably gotten a decent amount of scolding as well.


    "Ah I see, so you are updated on all the matters." Lin Mu stated.


    "I am indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "As such, I also need to thank you for saving my niece and granting our empire this great opportunity." He said, while cupping his hands in gratitude.


    Feng Shun knew just how big of an opportunity it was to have a Celestial take Meihua in as her disciple. And it was an even greater thing that she was willing to have an alliance between her domain and the Dao Wind Empire. This was something that was hard toe across.


    Even for the powers in Immortal worlds that had given birth to Celestials, themunication between the two realms was limited.


    Only a few influential celestials could do something like this. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    Feng Shun had learned that the celestial that had taken Meihua in was called as the Ever Spring Mistress, but he had never heard of her before. But knowing just how easily she had arrived in the Immortal realm, proved to him that she had great influence in the Immortal court.


    Having trained there himself, he knew just how big of a stickler for rules the Immortal court was. As such, having to skip the red tape and descending to the Rust Sky World within a day''s notice was certainly something.


    "Who would''ve thought that my niece and sister would enter the Celestial realm before me, ahaha~" The Crown Prince couldn''t help butugh.


    "Since you''re here, I suppose you are going to leave now?" Guang San inquired.


    "As much as I''d like to stay a while, it is time for us to leave." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "We''re in somewhat of a tight schedule." He added.


    "Very well, I won''t hold you up," Guang San replied. "But please do visit the Morning Glory n in your free time." He added.


    "Of course." The Crown Prince nodded.


    With that, they bid farewell and Lin Mu got onto therge ship.


    ~SHUA~


    The ship then rose higher into the sky, while the arrays on it glowed.


    Lin Mu observed it all with interest, guessing that this ship might be the reason why it took the Crown Prince this much time.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A minuteter, the ship was above the clouds before it started to move to the west.


    "There we go," The Crown Prince said, letting go of the wheel.


    The wheel was the control center for the entire ship and allowed one to control its movement. It could even move on its own, once a course had been set, making it very convenient.


    "I''m guessing you recruited quite a lot of people?" Lin Mu asked, having already scanned the entire ship.


    He could tell that there were over a hundred people on the ship, but not who they were. The internal areas were protected by various arrays, and as such, Lin Mu couldn''t look at it in detail.


    "Yes, I got as many people as I could." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "Daoist Chu and Monk Hushu and others are below the deck as well, managing some matters." He added.


    "I see," Lin Mu replied before looking in the direction that the ship was flying in. "So where are we going exactly? He asked the question that had been bugging him for a while.


    After all, he still didn''t know what their location for the expedition was.


    "We''re going to the ocean." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Our rendezvous point with the others is there." He added.


    "How many more people are joining us exactly?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "And where''s the location for the expedition?" He asked.


    "Well¡­ there are two more groups." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Once we meet up with the others, we''ll be going further east into the ocean. As for the exact location, I do not know about it. What I do know is that it''s an uncharted ind." He revealed.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu was a bit surprised. After all, going into the ocean was not a simple task.

 Chapter 2034 A Month’s Journey

    <h4>Chapter 2034 A Month''s Journey</h4>


    Listening to the Crown Prince''s words Lin Mu understood that the location of the expedition site was not something anyone could figure out.


    Just the fact that it was far in the ocean was a concerning thing. Not only getting there would take long, there was a high chance that it would not be a simple task at all.


    Lin Mu had been in the ocean back in the past when he had just left the Haima Tribe. He had traveled on a ship and went to the Huiqing Continent. During this time, he had witnessed a lot of things which were all interesting to him.


    He had witnessed many massive ships that had various features and were owned by rich and influential people. It was also on such a ship that Lin Mu had met the Saintess.


    If not for that fated encounter, perhaps he had not been in the current position at all. He wouldn''t have learned about the Seven Ancestral Serpents of the Serpent Moon Sects as well as the Yin Yang twin serpents.


    As such, it was a major event in the life of Lin Mu. And now that he was about to head on anotherrge ship, he couldn''t help but analyze it all.


    While he was doing this, Lin Mu sensed many formation arrays that had slightly unstable immortal Qi fluctuations. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    ''Were these made recently?'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    He observed the said arrays in detail and confirmed that fact. To him, it wasn''t hard to tell which formation arrays were addedter and which ones were originally present on therge ship.


    ''This is simr to the many other ships I''ve seen except with more defensive arrays,'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''The ability to fly though has been addedter,'' He reckoned.


    While he was thinking all this, the Crown Prince saw him.


    "It''s a good ship, isn''t it?" He asked.


    "It sure is." Lin Mu replied. "But it couldn''t always fly, could it?" he asked back.


    "It didn''t yes." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "In fact, this was the reason I got dyed." He revealed.


    "Oh? You were getting this ship modified?" Lin Mu raised a brow.


    "Yeah, it was a necessary task. I had been trying to get it done for a longtime, but the damned old man simply wasn''t avable." Crown Prince said with slight frustration.


    "You mean the formation master?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Yeah, the formation master¡­ The old man''s probably one of the top three formation masters in the entire Rust Sky World." Crown Prince answered, much to Lin Mu''s surprise. "But he''s a pain to contact and even bigger pain to actually get things done."


    Lin Mu could clearly tell by the frustration in the Crown prince''s voice and knew that he probably endured a bit of a suffering.


    "Is that also released to why you were uncontactable?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    "Indeed. The ce the old man lives is hidden under hundreds ofyers of arrays. One cannot contact those inside with ease." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "And if you''re getting somethingmissioned by the old man, he doesn''t let you leave and that prevents anyone from contacting you. He''s a stickler for not getting ''disturbed''." He added.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu was intrigued by this ''old man''.


    ''If he''s one of the top three formation masters of the Rust Sky world, he must not be simple.'' He thought to himself.


    "This old man, who is he?" Lin Mu asked. "Is he part of the Imperial court?" he wondered.


    "Part of the Imperial court? HAAAH~" The Crown Princeughed. "He despises most nobles and has even rejected father''s summons in the past. He''s not part of the Dao Wind Empire either. Technically, he lives outside it." He revealed.


    It was quite surprising for Lin Mu, as not many would dare to reject an emperor''s summon. Even if it was an Emperor of another empire, most would think twice before offending them. And yet this old man seemed to be fearless in that regard.


    "Does that mean he lives outside of the Dao Wind Empire?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "Yeah, he lives alone past the northern coast of the Dao Wind Continent on an ind. Since its past the official limits of the Dao Wind Empire, he isn''t part of it technically." The Crown Prince answered.


    "I see¡­ looks like he picked the ce intentionally. He''s a hermit." Lin Mu replied.


    "He sure is¡­ Anyways, enough of that old man." The Crown Prince stated. "We should probably get started on the contents of the expedition." He changed the topic.


    "Of course." Lin Mu nodded and watched the Crown Prince take out a jade slip.


    ~shua~


    The jade slip floated in front of them and projected a formation screen above it. Lin Mu watched it intently, while the Crown Prince controlled it.


    "Let me start from the beginning." The Crown Prince said, making an image appear on the Formation screen. "You remember this, right?" he asked.


    "Yeah, it''s the tablet that I helped you trante." Lin Mu replied.


    "Mmhmm, correct. This is also the confirmation we needed for this expedition, basically. It was the final bit of a thing that had been holding me back." Crown Prince spoke. "This expedition has been in the works for nearly a century already." He revealed.


    "A century?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Back when we were still in the Immortal Court, a peculiar messaged arrived for the Crown prince inviting him for an expedition." Crown Princess Shang spoke up this time. "We were of course, suspicious of it, but because it had arrived through official channels, we decided to check it." She added.


    "Yeah, it hade from a man named Qiao De, who''s the manager at the ck Candle Pavilion in the Holy Topaz Dynasty." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "I believe you''ve already met him."


    "Yes, I have. He invited me too, like I said before." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Qiao De asked me to join on an expedition to what is supposedly the inheritance ground of a Celestial. At first I didn''t believe it since he said that it was actually on the Rust Sky World itself. There had been other inheritance grounds in the past, but they had all been uncovered already.


    It wasn''t until he said that it existed in a separate spatial ne did I realize why it had managed to stay hidden." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined.


    "What about it being the treasure of a Celestial?" Lin Mu remembered that Qiao De had told him something different.


    "Ah yeah, I had to verify it with Qiao De." Crown Prince replied with a slight frown. "So apparently it is a high chance that the entire spatial ne is actually the treasure of the Celestial and is also an inheritance ground.


    We don''t know who the celestial is, but we do know that they existed a long time ago in the Rust Sky World and fought against the Demonic Tribes in the past. Of course, they weren''t a celestial back then and were just an immortal.


    Butter on they broke through and became a celestial, leaving behind their inheritance in the Rust Sky World, in hopes of someone obtaining it and carrying on their legacy." He exined further.


    "I see¡­ and you said it''s on an uncharted ind?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "It is somewhere in the ocean west of the Dao Wind Empire. Even I don''t know the exact coordinates as only Qiao De has the means to finding it. This is also why we are going to meet up with him first." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "It will take us about a month to reach the rendezvous point."


    "There''s also a few others joining us." Crown Princess Shang added.


    "Ah yeah, you spoke about that too. Who is it do we know?" Lin Mu questioned. "Other than Qiao De, of course."


    "The Inheritance ground is apparently a cluster of several spatial nes, but only one of them is the real one. As such, we''ll be entering the main one and the others I''ve brought will enter the other nes as distraction.


    Of course, the other nes also have treasures and resources and as such, it won''t be a loss for them either.


    But to figure out which one is the main ne, we need the assistance of another party¡­ Someone from another world." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "I''ve only heard of this person before and never met them, but the power they are from are quite well known." He said, arousing Lin Mu''s interest.


    "Who is it?" Lin Mu wondered if they were from the Immortal court or something.


    "It is Lady Kang of the Great Kang Auction house. One of the top auction houses in the entire Immortal Realm." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed. "If anyone needs to find a peculiar item or resources outside of the Immortal court, there''s a 99% chance the Great Kang Auction house has it or can find it."

 Chapter 2035 Meeting Tournament Acquaintances

    Hearing the name, Lin Mu didn''t recognize it.


    "Lady Kang¡­" He muttered the name, trying to remember if he had heard it before.


    Even the Great Kang Auction house was a new name for Lin Mu. But now that the Crown Prince had spoken about it, there was no way he would be left hanging.


    "Lady Kang is the one that will be able to help us figure out which of the spatial nes holds the actual inheritance of the Celestial." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    "Oh? There is a tool for that?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Yes, if it is a Celestial''s Inheritance ground, there is bound to be residual energy in there that can be detected through special tools." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "Of course, it is not a tool that''s easy to get. Even for me with the Imperial Court''s resources and Qiao De with the ck Candle Pavilion behind we cannot get it." He exined.


    "No wonder, you had to add her to the list too." Lin Mu understood now. "But is she strong enough to endure the expedition?" he asked the other thing that had been bothering him.


    After all, having a great auction house behind them didn''t necessarily mean that the person would be strong too. "Oh, you don''t have to worry about that." The Crown Prince chuckled. "While I haven''t met Lady Kang before, I do know she''s not weak. With the sheer fortune that she has, cultivating isn''t exactly hard." He added.


    "That does make sense." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And I supposed she''ll be bringing more people with her?" he asked next.


    "Highly likely." The Crown Prince responded. "Though the slots to enter the Inheritance ground are limited. We don''t know the exact number, but it is at least 10 from what Qiao De informed us." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ ten people so that would be Me, You, Crown Princess Shang, Monk Hushu, Daoist Chu, Qiao De, Lady Kang¡­ there''s three spots left." Lin Mu counted.


    "Lady Kang and Qiao De will likely fill it with their own people. I''ve already gotten four spots." the Crown Prince replied.


    "Hmm¡­ I guess it''ll be a meeting to look forward to." Lin Mu said.


    "Speaking of that, I think there are a few acquaintances of yours with us too." Crown Prince Feng Baxing suddenly said.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "Who?" he wondered.


    "Why don''t you go downstairs and take a look?" The Crown Prince smiled.


    "Alright," Feeling a bit excited, Lin Mu decided to head down.


    While the deck of the ship was quiterge, its insides were even bigger. No spatial formations were even needed as the ship could easily amodate over a thousand people inside it without any issues.


    And right now it was barely at ten percent of its full capacity.


    Lin Mu descended through the central stairwell and arrived in a wide open hall. The first floor below the deck didn''t have any room and was just a hall where meetings could be held easily.


    ''It can amodate a thousand people with ease.'' Lin Mu estimated before looking at the floating formation screen in the center.


    Tens of people were surrounding it, while a man in Daoist Robes was speaking.


    ''I guess Daoist Chu is assigned to this task.'' Lin Mu saw the Crown Prince''spanion. But while he was gazing at the crowd, his eyes couldn''t help but notice a peculiar pir in the middle of the crowd.


    It was ck in color and was nearly two meters tall.


    "Hang on, isn''t that¡­ Chang Fa?" Lin Mu was surprised to see the man.


    The pir was none other than the tall hat Chang Fa wore on his head to cover his hair. Hearing his name being called, the Inheritor of the Iron Pir Mane Arts couldn''t help but turn around.


    "Daoist Mu Lin!?" The man saw his benefactor.


    He hadn''t forgotten the grace that Lin Mu had shown him by ending their match in a tie. If not for that, there was no way Chang Fa would be able to reach that high in the tournament and let the name of his n be known. Having fulfilled his aim, Chang Fa was extremely happy. Since he was injured during the tournament, he had to rest for a while and as such he didn''t get to thank Lin Mu after. His win had also gotten him noticed by the Crown Prince and was the reason why he was here today. The Crown Prince had offered him to join them on an expedition which was something he would never refuse. Not only would it grant a chance for him to get stronger, but also help his n as he would have a chance to bring them techniques and resources he might find on the expedition.


    His win had also made his n very proud, and as such they had rewarded him too. And once they learned that he had been invited by the Crown Prince, there was no way they would keep him in the n.


    "So this is what Crown Prince Feng Shun meant by that." Lin Mu muttered and went forward to meet the man.


    While they hadn''t interacted much, Lin Mu knew Chang Fa was a good man.


    "I would like to offer you my heartiest congrattions, Daoist Mu Lin." Chang Fa said right away. "I would also like to thank you personally as well as on behalf of my n." He cupped his hands and bowed.


    "It was nothing." Lin Mu replied. "I just thought you deserved to go farther. And after seeing yourst match, I can say for sure it would have been a shame if you lost early on." He added.


    "It is by your grace that I am here today and can stand with my head tall and proud." Chang Fa felt quite happy at Lin Mu''s words even though he tried to downy it.


    He knew just how big of a thing it was to spare one''s foe in an important tournament.


    "It''s Daoist Mu Lin!"


    "Whoa! He''s here too!" It didn''t take long for other people to notice Lin Mu''s arrival too. After all, he was nothing short of a celebrity now having be the winner of the Tournament of the Four guardian beasts.


    "Wee, Daoist Mu Lin." Daoist Chu also greeted him.


    "It''s nice to see you again, Daoist Chu." Lin Mu replied. "Where''s Monk Hushu though?" he asked, not seeing him here.


    "In his room doing his daily chanting." Daoist Chu replied. "He''s been there since this morning. Though I think he should probably leave." He added.


    "Ah, I guess I''ll meet him once he''s done." Lin Mu knew that being a monk came with a certain responsibility that would not leave them even if they were no longer at a temple.


    ~step~step~step~


    While Lin Mu was talking to Daoist Chu though, a set of footsteps were heard behind him. ~shua~


    A cool breeze blew past Lin Mu, catching his attention. It was colder than normal air and certainly wasn''t normal.


    He turned around, only to see a pale white hand in front of him. The hand was unique though, with its fingertips being painted ck.


    "Here." A couple of white berries could be seen on the palm as an offering.


    "Mei Nienzhen," There was no way Lin Mu would forget another one of his opponents from the tournament as well as someone who had shared a meal with him.


    She was a slightly strange woman, whose actions were hard for Lin Mu to understand.


    Mei Nienzhen looked at Lin Mu with a calm expression on her face before gesturing to him with her eyes.


    "Take," She spoke.


    "Alright, thank you." Lin Mu said, taking the Rimed Pearl Berries from her palm.


    "Eat." She spoke again.


    Lin Mu knew she wouldn''t take no and insist that he ate it, which was exactly what he did.


    Soon the cold taste of the Rimed Pearl Berries spread in Lin Mu''s mouth, which then trailed down into his stomach.


    "There." Lin Mu replied, showing that he had finished it.


    "Give," Mei Nienzhen spoke next, gesturing with her fingers. "What do you want?" Lin Mu asked in amusement. "Food." Mei Nienzhen replied, using the same ploy she hadst time.


    "Haha," Lin Mu couldn''t help butugh seeing her actions. "I''ll give it to you, butter. You''ll have to wait for a while." "Okay. Promise?" Mei Nienzhen responded.


    "Promise." Lin Mu gave a nod.


    "Mmm." Mei Nienzhen turned around and went further down the stairs. The floor below held the living quarters for the people on the ship and would allow them to stay infort as well as cultivate before they reached their destination. After all, if there was one thing that all cultivators wanted was a ce to cultivate in ce.


    They would have to be in their peak condition for the expedition after all. Which was also why the Crown Prince had specifically gotten this ship.

 Chapter 2036 The Missing Members

    Once Mei Nienzhen was gone, Lin Mu met and talked with the other people that were present here.


    Since they were all headed on the expedition together, he reckoned there was no harm in getting to know them. But once Lin Mu talked to them a bit, he realized that a majority were actually from the tournament too.


    Of course, not all of them were people that Lin Mu had fought, but there were certainly others that he had seen in the matches, such as Xiong Guo and Fu Xiaoling. But none of Lin Mu''s closepanions were present in the group.


    He could already guess why Ming Aolian and Ming Dandan were not present there, as they had left the Rust Sky World along with their master.


    ''They did say they''ll go in search of more beasts.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. Qian Wen was out of the question too as he was part of the Imperial Army and would be busy handling the matters, especially after the events of the Tournament. Not to mention, Yao Changying was still missing and the search for her was on.


    This was part of the army''s duties and was necessary.


    Luo Liqin on the other hand, wasn''t exactly meant for an expedition like this. Lin Mu didn''t mean ill will towards the man, but he knew that hispanion was a bit too weak to be here.


    This finally left Lu Xu.


    "Strange that Lu Xu isn''t here." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Daoist Chu who was standing next to him, heard and replied, "yourpanion, I assume?" "Yeah, you met him too." Lin Mu nodded. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    "Ah, I do recall Crown Prince Feng Shun inviting him." Daoist Chu spoke.


    "Oh? He was invited?" Lin Mu was surprised. "Why''s he not here then?"


    Lu Xu was the most qualified among Lin Mu''spanions from the tournament and was also decently strong.


    "I''m afraid Lu Xu is far too busy handling his business in the Capital." Daoist Chu replied. "After receivingnd as reward from the crown prince, he spent no time waiting and quickly set up a few shops on it. And since they are new, he''s busy managing them until the work stabilizes." He exined.


    "Or at least, that''s what he said in his rejection letter." Daoist Chu added.


    "Huh¡­ That does fall in line with what he wished for." Lin Mu recalled Lu Xu saying that he wanted to set up a great business empire.


    Even if he was decently strong, his goal actually wasn''t just his own strength, but also the strength of wealth. And what better way to acquire it than to set up multiple businesses?


    "Though he isn''t the only one that rejected the invite. Most of the good prospects we invited from the participants of the tournament actually rejected us," Daoist Chu stated. "Then there were those that had already left the Dao Wind Continent as they belonged to other empires or even the Rust Sky World entirely." "I see¡­ Guess it is mostly the mid to lower tiered cultivators from the tournament now." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed. The ones here are the best among those that we had originally picked from." Daoist Chu replied. After learning this, Lin Mu conversed with Daoist Chu and the other members a bit more before deciding to explore the ship.


    ''May as well see how the ship is constructed as well as the formation arrays that are present on it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had already seen the first floor below the deck which was the meeting hall with the formation screen. Below this was the floor with living quarters. It was linked with a long corridor which then branched out into a smaller corridor.


    Along these smaller corridors were individual rooms that were all secured with both istion as well as defensive arrays. This would make it so that the people inside would have no issues in cultivating.


    In addition to this, each of the doors had a rune on it that would change, depending on whether the room was upied or not, as well as the name of the person inside. Anyone could take an empty room, and use the formation to change this.


    "Hmm, not bad." Lin Mu said as he observed the arrays.


    He even checked out one of the empty rooms and saw that it was ratherfortable. There was a bed, along with a tea table, desk and chairs in the room. The rooms seemed to be about four by four meters in size and even had a formation screen on the wall that functioned as a virtual window.


    Lin Mu hadn''t seen any windows on the ship from the outside, which was probably due to a defensive measure. But the use of formation screens made that a non-issue. One could see the sea of clouds from the virtual window that extended on all sides of the window.


    "Would this show an underwater scene if this ship was sailing in the sea?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder. "Or would it show the scene from the top?" He left the room and walked through the corridor, finding all other rooms to be exactly the same. Lin Mu then went down to the third floor, which was also filled with more rooms. The only difference was that these rooms were smaller and only had a bed and a table with a smaller formation screen in them.


    All of the rooms were empty though, as the better rooms in the second floor were more than enough for all the members of the expedition. Though the third floor had three times as many rooms as the second floor.


    ''Are all the floors residential after this?'' Lin Mu wondered and went further down.


    The fourth floor wasn''t residential in nature and was instead arge storage hold. Of course, the storage hold was empty as there was nothing to store there.


    It was evident that the ship was meant for exploration with arge crew.

 Chapter 2037 Exploring The Ship And Evening Chat

    Lin Mu observed the arrays of the storage hold and found them to be better and moreplex than the ones above.


    "Hmm, multiple reinforcement formationsyered together into a mass durability array and then Impact dampening arrays too." Lin Mu saw through theplex arrays with just a little effort.


    But these were just the extra arrays that were added on top. The actual defense of the ship came from none other than its base materials.


    ''Ten Thousand Ringed Heavy Teak as the wood, along with being further strengthened with Deep Ocean Immortal Iron tes. This''ll make it highly durable and resistant against Qi skills.'' Lin Mu analyzed it.


    He ced his hand on the wall and pressed on it lightly, finding it to be incredibly firm. The formations hadn''t been triggered either, as this was well within the limits of the wood.


    Of course, even Lin Mu''s ''light'' press was enough to poke through solid iron. This was enough to show just how durable the wood Ten Thousand Ringed Heavy Teak was.


    "An excellent material for a ship indeed¡­ Even though we are flying right now." Lin Mu appreciated the design.


    Lin Mu also checked the pirs that held up the entire ship''s structure. These pirs only had two arrays on them though. The first was ayered reinforcement array like the other walls, but the second was a connective formation array.


    ''So they use the pirs that extend throughout the ship as connective channels. It''s a neat way of making the arraysmunicate with the core without having to modify it too much.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He explored the storage hold more and studied the arrays further. He would always look to improve his understanding of formations and understand how different ones worked. This was a great opportunity to do so, and there was no way Lin Mu would waste it.


    After a while, Lin Mu had done all he could here and decided to return to the deck. This was thest floor after all, and there was nothing below it.


    "Had fun?" The Crown Prince''s voice was heard the moment Lin Mu was on deck. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    "I suppose." Lin Mu replied and joined the man who was standing on the upper deck.


    There were two more floors on top of the deck, but they didn''t take the entire ship like the floors under it. Instead, they only took up a third of the entire ship''s length. And the very top of it functioned as an observation deck, allowing one to see farther than normal.


    "Come join us," Crown Princess Shang invited him.


    Lin Mu did as told and walked up to the observation deck where a table had been set up. At the table sat Crown Prince, and hispanions Crown Princess Shang, Daoist Chu and Monk Hushu. "Greetings, Monk Hushu." Lin Mu cupped his hands. "You finished your chants?" "Amithabha, I did," Monk Hushu replied while greeting with his palm in front of him.


    It was now evening, and the sun was about to set, causing the entire sky to turn a unique dusky orange.


    "Beautiful isn''t it?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, seeing that Lin Mu''s gaze lingered on the horizon.


    "Of course. The evenings in the Rust Sky World are unlike anything I''ve seen before." Lin Mu replied. "The sky of my world is usually blue, so the evenings are a bit different." He added, recalling his time in Xiaofan World.


    "Ah yes. The Rust Sky World is a bit unique in that aspect." The Crown Prince said with a smile. "This is nothing. If you want to see a really beautiful sky, you shoulde to the Three Aster World." Crown Princess Shang added. "We have floating sky inds that make it even more beautiful." She revealed.


    "Floating Sky inds?" Lin Mu raised his brows in surprise.


    "Indeed. If you evere, I''ll show you around," Crown Princess Shang offered.


    "I''ll definitely try." Lin Mu wasn''t one to reject an offer like that.


    "Anyways, how was your seclusion?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, since that was what Lin Mu had told him in the past.


    "Very fruitful. Going to the Evergreen Pirs Forest was indeed the right choice." Lin Mu answered. "I can''t help but thank you for your suggestion."


    "Haha, I''m happy that I could be of use." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before taking a sip from his wine cup.


    "Looks like Daoist Lin Mu had a breakthrough in this time too." Daoist Chu said, sensing his cultivation base.


    This made others take a closer look too and they sensed the change in his cultivation base.


    "I had a small fortunate encounter and managed to break through." Lin Mu said, not exining that he had done it all drunk.


    It was a hard thing to exin after all. Plus, if he were to talk about that, he would also reveal other secrets.


    The group made some small talk for a while, and enjoyed the evening until it was finally dark. It was at this time that Crown Prince Feng Shun received a message. Lin Mu watched as the man took out a jade slip.


    "What is it?" Crown Princess Shang inquired.


    "Seems like Qiao De has already reached the rendezvous point." Crown Prince spoke, putting the Jade Slip away.


    "Already?" Daoist Chu raised his brows. "I thought he would reachter than us considering how far he''sing from." He expressed his doubts.


    "Looks like Qiao De has his ways too." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke, narrowing his eyes.


    "I''m guessing he used a teleportation array?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­ On the contrary, he took the long route on a ship." The Crown Prince answered. "If he had taken the teleportation array, I would certainly have known." He added.


    "Strange¡­ why would he take a ship and not the array?" Lin Mu wondered. "He doesn''t have the need for a ship after all." "Who knows? We''ll know once we meet him." The Crown Prince replied.


    "And how about thest group." Monk Hushu asked this time.

 Chapter 2038 Revealing Shrubby

    Lin Mu wondered where Lady Kang was as well.


    "There is no news from Lady Kang. But she should be on time as she was already in the Dao Wind empire." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "Huh, and she didn''t choose to join you?" Lin Mu asked considering it would have been the more efficient option.


    "I think she prefers her privacy." Crown Prince Feng Shun responded before standing up and walking to the edge of the observation deck. "Just a couple of days until we see them all."


    "Having a flying ship certainly makes it convenient to travel. Perhaps I should get an Immortal vehicle too." Lin Mu said after hearing how fast it was. "For long term travel I usually just fly or use Little Shrubby."


    Of course, Little Shrubby''s speed was much faster, but the ship was a lot morefortable.


    "Little Shrubby?" The Crown Princess was a bit surprised. "You use him as a mount?"


    "I do." Lin Mu nodded.


    "That small cat?" Even Daoist Chu didn''t expect that.


    "Well¡­" Lin Mu reckoned it was fine to reveal it now since they would probably learn about itter.


    The expedition was a dangerous venture and thus it was highly likely that Lin Mu would have to get Little Shrubby to assist them too. With his speed, the liger beast would be an invaluable asset to them all.


    Lin Mu''s pause kept the group hanging, as they were all curious to understand the meaning behind their words.


    "He isn''t always ''small''." Lin Mu spoke. "His actual form is quite big."


    While the Crown Prince Feng Shun and the Crown Princess Shang had thought that there was more to the beast than they could see, hearing about it from Lin Mu was still surprising.


    "How big?" Crown Princess Shang wondered.


    She almost couldn''t imagine the cute kitten being a big beast.


    "Do you just want to see it?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that it was the better option.


    "If you wish to." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied, feeling even more interested now.


    He too, wondered just how strong Lin Mu''s tamed beast would be.


    "Come out, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu called the beast.


    ~shua~


    In the next second, they saw the beast appeared on the table.


    "Hello there," a smile appeared on the Crown Princess''s face right away upon seeing it.


    She couldn''t resist petting the beast right away, which Little Shrubby let her do.


    ~purr~


    This made the Crown Princess think that even if Little Shrubby was big, it wouldn''t be by that much. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    "Grow to your full size, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Here?" Little Shrubby asked, seeing that they weren''t exactly on the ground.


    "Yeah, it''s fine. We have plenty of space." Lin Mu confirmed.


    The entire deck was empty, and other than them, there was no one present. All the others that had been invited on the expedition were staying in their rooms, trying to cultivate as much as they could before their arrival.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby jumped down from the observation deck, disappearing from the view of the others. But before they could even stand to take a look, they saw a giant red figure appear.


    Crown Princess Shang''s eyes went wide, while a smile appeared on the Crown Prince''s face. Daoist Chu''s expression on the other hand, became stiff while Monk Hushu silently gulped.


    They all gazed at the full form of Little Shrubby that was now on eye level with them, despite being on the deck below.


    Gone was the cute kitten that they had seen earlier. What stood in front of them was a ferocious beast with a fierce aura.


    Now that Little Shrubby was in his full form, his cultivation base was no longer suppressed. All of them could now see that he was at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, but the sheer amount of Qi wavesing from him showed that his strength was far above that.


    If not for the fact that there were excellent isting arrays on the ship, it was likely that the people below would have sensed the presence of a new beast there.


    But that was not all, as they could also tell the beast held more abilities unseen to the eye.


    They were all experienced individuals and knew better than to judge by mere cultivation base.


    "My, my¡­ You sure hide one surprise after the other." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke, seeing the beast.


    "I certainly didn''t expect this¡­ Way too big." The Crown Princess muttered. "No wonder you said you use him to travel. He''s big enough to carry several people." She spoke.


    ~Growl~


    Little Shrubby let out a low growl as a greeting to them.


    ''What beast is this even¡­?'' Daoist Chu couldn''t help but wonder.


    He had seen many beasts, but Little Shrubby didn''t fit any of them. The mere ability to change sizes was also unique.


    After all, it was not something as simple as just shrinking in size. That was actually something several beasts could have, but what Little Shrubby did was a step further than that. His body didn''t just shrink, but even reverted in growth.


    This allowed him to hide his cultivation base perfectly, and also restrain his aura, making it seem like he was a mere spirit beast.


    It was certainly an impressive skill to have.


    "WAIT! Wood elemental affinity and a Wood Dao Embryo too!?" Crown Princess Shang sensed something more. "The way he changed forms too¡­ That was Vitality Reversal!" She urately identified.


    The others heard her words too and were more surprised. They weren''t able to sense that Little Shrubby had a Wood Dao Embryo too, but since Crown Princess Shang had a great affinity to wood, she had no issues in doing it.


    But learning that Little Shrubby had used Vitality Reversal was something else.


    "A beast using Vitality Reversal? Is that even possible?" Monk Hushu said in disbelief.


    "It sure is¡­ The proof is right in front of our eyes." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, feeling highly impressed.

 Chapter 2039 Showing Off

    The group marveled at Little Shrubby and the small disy of his abilities.


    But they didn''t know that this was barely the tip of the iceberg. ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby jumped off the ship and out into the sky. He hovered in the air and looked at Lin Mu for a bit who nodded in response.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby let out a thunderous roar before turning into a red blur.


    ~WOOOO~


    Even though the ship was flying at a high speed through the sky, Little Shrubby''s managed to make it tremble from the mere wind generated from his movement.


    ~SHUA~


    The group watched as the red blur ran far ahead of the ship before turning to the right and circling around in a radius of a kilometer.


    "He''s faster than me¡­" Daoist Chu spoke seeing Little Shrubby''s blurry form. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    They were on a fast moving ship, which was already faster than most immortals and Little Shrubby was oveing that with ease.


    "He''s even faster onnd." Lin Mu said as if it wasn''t shocking enough. "He''s a big slower in sky since he doesn''t have a solid surface to run on." He added.


    Lin Mu didn''t know why, but he felt a bit proud showing off Little Shrubby. It sparked a bit of new joy in his heart, while Little Shrubby seemed to enjoy the attention too.


    "Even faster than this? Isn''t that already touching upon the speed of a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal?" Monk Hushu estimated.


    "Hoho¡­ Just his speed alone is enough to contend against those several times stronger than him." Crown Prince said while stroking his chin.


    After a minute or so, Little Shrubby returned to the deck having showed off enough.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby shrank back to his kitten form and came back to sit on the table.


    Crown Princess Shang, Daoist Chu and Monk Hushu almost felt like they had seen an illusion earlier. It was hard to think that the small kitten on the table was the same as the speedy giant beast earlier.


    ~huu~


    The three of them took a collective breath and calmed down. While it was quite surprising to them, they also managed to recover fast enough. After all, they had all trained in the Immortal Court and had seen many more beasts with shocking abilities.


    And yet, Little Shrubby''s most shocking ability had yet to be reveled.


    "What kind of food do you like, Crown Prince Feng Shun, Crown Princess Shang?" Lin Mu suddenly asked them.


    "Some nicely marbled steak from a Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm beast or above." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke in an entertained tone. ''Where is he getting at with this?'' he wondered.


    "Ah, a man of my own tastes." Lin Mu replied. "Excellent choice. How about you Princess?""


    "Some milk stewed fish of a simr cultivation base as what Crown Prince said." She replied.


    ~Meow~ This time Little Shrubby replied, showing that he agreed with the Crown princess''s choice.


    "That can work too." Lin Mu said before looking at little Shrubby. "You know what to do."


    ~Growl~


    "Time for a FEAST!" Little Shrubby said with a growl before growing in size again.


    But he didn''t return to his full size, instead keeping to a size that a normal tiger would be of.


    "What''re you doing?" Crown Princess Shang asked, while the others watched on.


    The Crown Prince didn''t say anything instead watching in silence and enjoying. He didn''t know what kind of show Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were putting on, but he was up for it.


    "How about we treat you all to a nice meal?" Lin Mu replied instead.


    "A meal?" Crown Princess Shang repeated before looking at Little Shrubby that seemed to be pulling out cooking utensils one after the other. "Wait¡­ It''s Little Shrubby that''s gonna be cooking?" "Of course." Lin Mu confirmed. "I assure you¡­ It is nothing but excellent." The Crown Princess couldn''t help but feel amazed while the Crown Prince approved of it. "Go ahead." Feng Shun pped his hands.


    ~Thud~thud~thud~


    Little Shrubby then took out the beast corpses they had obtained before.


    ~shua~shua~shua~


    Next, five prosthetic hands appeared which floated around him. The hands took hold of several knives and started to expertly carve up the beasts.


    The group watched on, as a beast prepared their next meal. While they were doing this though, Lin Mu recalled something.


    "Ah yeah! Is it fine if I invite one more person to join us?" Lin Mu suddenly asked.


    "Sure." The Crown Prince saw no reason to deny. Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were the ones treading them this tonight after all.


    "Thanks." Lin Mu said before going downstairs.


    While he was gone, they saw Little Shrubby moving onto the cooking part. The meat had all been chopped up andrge steaks that were about a meter in size were beingid on a grill. On the size, a pair of hands had also finished deboning an Immortal Sail Fin Marlin.


    Arge pot that was filled with milk was boiling on the side, into which Little Shrubby added the fish. He then added a few herbs before closing the lid and letting it simmer.


    ~step~step~step~


    In this time, Lin Mu also made his return.


    "Oh? So this is ourst member for the meal." Crown Prince Feng Shun noticed the woman with the white hair.


    "You all should have met already, but this is Mei Nienzhen." Lin Mu introduced her as a formality.


    She had asked him to treat her too, and Lin Mu hadn''t forgotten the promise.


    Since he was using Little Shrubby to show off, Lin Mu reckoned he could also fulfill the promise at the same time by doing this.


    Mei Nienzhen though didn''t even look at the group, instead staring at the beast cooking below. Or more urately at the piles of food that was being made.


    There was already a tantalizing scenting from it that lured her attention.


    "Beast Cook¡­ I want one too¡­" Mei Nienzhen said with stars in her eyes.

 Chapter 2040 A Feast Good Enough To Impress Royals

    After a while, the food was ready to be served and Little Shrubby handled that too.


    He divided the food into five equal portions, and one massive portion that was intended for Lin Mu. "It''s done!" Lin Mu said, gesturing to the tes.


    On the table, a total of five dishes were present. First was the steaks that the Crown Prince Feng Shun had requested.


    The second was the milk stewed fish requested by Crown Princess Shang Yingtai.


    The third dish though was a hearty stew made with various organs that was mostly for Lin Mu and Little Shrubby.


    The fourth dish was stir-fried immortal herbs with young Evergreen Pirs Bamboo shoots, and thenyered on top of Immortal Rice. This was the vegetarian option that Lin Mu got Little Shrubby to make with Monk Hushu in mind. After all, from what he knew, most Buddhist monks didn''t eat meat.


    The fifth was a dessert made from various immortal fruits, which were thenbined with the gtin from bones to make a fruit jelly. This was intended for everyone to enjoy as a treat, though Lin Mu reckoned Mei Nienzhen would probably like it the most, considering what he had seen before.


    And with that, a rtively ''simple'' four course meal was prepared.


    Of course, it was only simple whenpared to what Lin Mu and Little Shrubby usually prepared for themselves. But even then, the ingredients were nothing but simple. They were fit for a king and would cost a lot if one were to get them in a restaurant at the Capital city.


    Most of the time, it wasn''t even something that just anyone could cook, and only the imperial court might enjoy it regrly.


    And yet, a beast had managed to aplish the same.


    "MMMMM!~" Its effects were also quite prominent as all those that ate it felt pleased.


    The steak had a crisp sear on the outside, while being juicy and tender on the inside. The fish on the other hand, basically melted one one''s tongue, while the creaminess of the milk carried the vor from the herbs that had been added to it.


    The hearty organ soup was full of vitality that could get one''s blood roaring with energy. If a mortal were to eat it, they might just find their heart exploding from all that energy. Even for immortals, they might not be able to eat more than a couple bowls of it, unless they were Body cultivators.


    For body cultivators, it was the perfect tonic and would help them improve their cultivation base.


    Once everyone started to eat, they found it hard to stop. Even for Feng Shun and Shang Yingtai, both of whom were royals and had luxurious food, this was something new. This was due to the fact that Lin Mu and Little Shrubby would gather ingredients wherever they went.


    As such, there were many herbs and spices added that others won''t normally think of using. Not to mention, Little Shrubby''s own expertise had been added to it, taking it to the next level and making it unique.


    For the first fifteen minutes, no one spoke as they were busy eating. Even for Monk Hushu, who had better control over his desires, the food was too good. ''I''ll chant for longer after this.'' Monk Hushu thought to himself.


    While the Crown Prince and hispanions had seen how much Lin Mu ate, and were expecting him to do the same now, they didn''t expect that there would be another glutton with them today.


    Mei Nienzhen''s eyes were filled with stars as she continued to eat. She didn''t even pay attention to the gazes on her as she stuffed her face already having finished twice as much as others. te after te were cleaned out by her, and was only matched by Lin Mu, who had eaten three times what she had eaten so far. And just as Lin Mu had thought, the dish that she liked the most was none other than the fruit jelly.


    This was originally a dish that Lin Mu and Little Shrubby had thought to make for the Saintess, but it was nowing in handy here too. Of course, the Fruit Jelly was also enjoyed by the others too.


    "I''ve never had anything like this before." Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but say.


    "It''s indeed quite exquisite." Crown Prince Feng Shun said feeling impressed. "Say¡­ do you want to sell the recipe? I''m sure the imperial chefs will buy it for a decent price." He asked.


    "Haha, sure." Lin Mu replied. "I''ll give it to youter." He felt pleased that they were enjoying it.


    "Looks like we were still underestimating Little Shrubby." Crown Princess Shang spoke. "His greatest ability wasn''t even his speed, but rather his ability to cook!" she was pretty much enthralled. ~Purr~


    Little Shrubby showed his appreciation and rubbed his head against her hand, which made her feel quite nice too.


    Most of the group enjoyed the food for about an hour, after which the Crown Prince, Crown Princess Shang, Monk Hushu and Daoist Chu were full. Only Lin Mu and Mei Nienzhen were still eating. Of course, the woman had slowed down by this time and was close to getting full.


    Lin Mu noticed the way she was eyeing the tray of jelly and guessed what she was thinking.


    "If you want, you can keep the fruit jelly forter." Lin Mu replied. "You don''t have to finish all of it right now." He added.


    "I can?" Mei Nienzhen asked.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Okay." Then without hesitating, Mei Nienzhen stored away the entire tray of jelly forter.


    Of course, the tray had at least ten kilograms of jelly on it which would be more than enough for her to eat for a couple of weeks. But it was another question where she would be able to resist and eat it sparingly.


    Lin Mu didn''t know that gifting Mei Nienzhen the fruit jelly had earned him her trust as well. ''Should I bring him home like mother said?'' She wondered.N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.

 Chapter 2041 To The Rendezvous Point

    Lin Mu had no inkling of what went on in the mind of Mei Nienzhen. Though if he did, he would have no idea what to make of it.


    ~yawn~


    Thankfully, it didn''t seem like Mei Nienzhen intended to speak about it, as after she finished eating, she went directly down to her room. "Guess she''s sleepy," Crown Prince Feng Shun said, seeing her yawn.


    "One can actually sleep after eating all that food? The sheer amount of energy in it will keep me awake for a week at least." Daoist Chu said, feeling the Immortal Qi pouring into his Dantian and the Vitality coursing through his blood.


    Even if he wasn''t a body cultivator, it didn''t mean that the food wouldn''t help improve his body. It was basically the same as an elixir that could strengthen one''s body and even temper the meridians to some extent.


    Only Lin Mu and Little Shrubby who ate food like this regrly would find there to be few to no extra benefits like that. "I shall retire to take benefit of all this blessed food, Amithabha." Monk Hushu said standing up as well.


    "Ah yeah, we should take advantage of it while we have the time." Daoist Chu agreed and decided to assimte all the energy too.


    "It''s decided then." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "You can rest too Daoist Mu Lin. I''ll inform everyone when we are at the rendezvous point." He stated.


    "Very well." Lin Mu replied, hoping to cultivate and train his skills too.


    The group soon split up, with most of them heading downstairs to rest. Only the Crown Prince was now left on the observation deck, with even Crown Princess Shang decided to cultivate and assimte all the immortal Qi from the food.


    Downstairs, Lin Mu and Little Shrubby quickly picked an empty room before settling in.


    "You go on first, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu said, sending him to the Sleepscape.


    Next he sat down on the bed, and assimted all the Immortal Qi and Immortal essence from the food he had consumed. He had eaten a lot and thus his stomach was very active, trying to absorb all the energy without leaking even the slightest bit.


    ''The faint feeling of hunger is reducing even more.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was the reason why he had eaten so much today too, even though he had done the same just a couple days earlier in the feast with the Ever Spring Mistress. Lin Mu could sense that his hunger was returning and he''d have to regrly eat to keep it suppressed.


    He certainly didn''t want a repeat of what happened in the Evergreen Pirs forest again. Especially not with others being around him.


    Lin Mu had a hunch that if the hunger got out of control, he would probably not care what was in front of him.


    ~huu~


    ''I do have the extra pre-cooked food kept in the storage too. If need be, I can always eat that.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    Little Shrubby had cooked and prepared a decent enough stock for Lin Mu to eat in emergencies. Though Lin Mu reckoned that it might be better to ask him to cook moreter. For the time being though, Lin Mu focused on assimting all the energy from the food.


    And once he was done, Lin Mu entered the Sleepscape.


    ~shua~


    Appearing in the Sleepscape Lin Mu wasted no time in getting to work. He took out a jade slip and started to revise the formation arrays that he had seen in the ship earlier. He added the new information to the jade slip while modifying what needed to be changed.


    He also went over it again, analyzing it in depth to find other methods of using it. Lin Mu wanted to thoroughly understand this new information and make it his own.


    Most of the people in the ship were now engrossed in cultivating with the exception of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess. The two were talking on the observation deck, while the ship soared through the sky.


    They couldn''t rx and cultivate like the others as they needed to be awake for anything that might happen. Not to mention, the Crown Prince was also the one controlling the ship. Crown Princess Shang was there to take over in case the Crown Prince needed to attend to other matters.


    If others were to see how the two royals were working, they would be stunned. It was quite unusual for nobles like them to work while others rested, as usually it would be the other way around. With how expertly they handled it all, it was clear that this was not their first time. The two had shared this responsibility many times before when they had traveled to various worlds as part of their training in the Immortal court.


    And due to being used to this, time didn''t bother them. Minutes turned into hours and hours turned into days. The clouds under the ship had cleared out at one point and recing it was a vast blue ocean. Of course, the ship was still in the sky many kilometers from the ocean surface, but it was slowly descending towards it.


    "Hmm¡­" The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes as he looked at the ocean below.


    "We should almost be at the rendezvous point." Crown Princess Shang said, checking the message from Qiao De.


    "Yeah, I can see it now." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied, having spotted a ck dot in the distance. "You should go and inform the others, I''ll control the ship." He spoke.


    "Alright." Crown Princess Shang nodded before heading downstairs.


    ~Whoosh~ Crown Prince Feng Shun controlled the descent of the ship and let it fly in a downward arc. A few minutester, the shipnded on the ocean surface for the first time and parked itself on the shore of a small ind that was barely two thousand meters in size.


    "Now then, where are they?" The Crown Prince spread his immortal sense.

 Chapter 2042 Where Is The Host?

    The Crown Prince stood at the edge of the observation deck and looked at the ind in front of him.


    The ind had a couple of hills on it with one side of it ending in a tall cliff. The other side had a freshwaterke surrounded by trees and other nts. Most of the ind was filled with dense trees that were quite tall, and hid its insides well.


    The ind did not have any sandy beaches though, with most of it being rocky shore or cliffs.


    The ce where the ship was docked was at a shallow bay that had a rocky shore, which was at the edge of the cliffs. This gave a perfect ce for the ship to anchor, and people could get off with ease.


    "Hmm¡­ He''s hiding his presence well." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    Normally, he should have seen them right away, but he couldn''t. ~shua~


    "Looks like I''ll have to take a deeper look." The Crown Prince muttered, extending his immortal sense over the entire ind.


    Within seconds, the entirety of the ind was within the scope of his senses. He could sense every tree, every rock, and insect that was present on the ind. But soon he realized that the things he saw weren''t exactly urate.


    "A decent illusory formation array." Another voice was heard from behind the Crown Prince.


    He turned around and saw Lin Mu approach along with Crown Princess Shang.


    "You can sense it?" the Crown Prince asked, since he didn''t feel Lin Mu''s immortal sense there.


    "It is faint, but there are indeed traces of an illusory formation." Lin Mu replied. "They managed to hide them on the ind well enough, but they forgot one ce." He said before pointing to the sky.


    There were a couple of small clouds that could be seen. They were floating calmly and seemed to be normal.


    "What about them?" The Crown Prince asked.


    "They''re moving." Lin Mu replied. "But there is no wind." He smiled.


    Hearing that, the Crown Prince couldn''t help but raise his brows. "You knew that without using your immortal sense?'' He was intrigued. "How?" he inquired.


    "We both practiced the same school of techniques." Lin Mu replied. "Storm King Shirong''s techniques." He added.


    "Oh?" the Crown Prince was surprised. "You have an affinity to wind and lighting elements too?" "No, I don''t." Lin Mu replied. "I just learned one of the preliminary techniques, The Bending Will Fists, so that I could sense wind better and utilize it in my other skills." He exined.


    "Ah, no wonder." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a look of realization. "Still, for you to sense whether there''s wind blowing that high up without using your Immortal sense¡­ your sensitivity to wind has be quite good." He praised.


    "Thank you. Though it''s nothingpared to your attainments." Lin Mu replied. "I''m sure you would be able to do the same too, if you were a formation master as well." He added.


    "True¡­ You do have an advantage in that aspect." Feng Shun nodded. "He doesn''t offer praise like this easily." Crown Princess Shang chuckled. "Perhaps you should ask him to teach you the Storm King''s techniques." She suggested.


    "Oh? Is that possible?" Lin Mu asked. "I can indeed pass you some of the techniques that are avable openly. But the ones from the inheritance cannot be passed on." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "If you wish to obtain those, you''ll have to go to one of his inheritance grounds." He added.


    "I see¡­ I''ll be fine with whatever you give me." Lin Mu wouldn''t mind getting more techniques to learn. "Sure, but before that." The Crown prince said before taking a pause. "Why don''t you show me where the people who invited us are?" he asked in an amused tone.


    "A little test?" Lin Mu didn''t mind.


    "You can consider it that." The Crown Prince chuckled.


    "Very well." Lin Mu replied before looking at the ind.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next second, his immortal sense covered the ind too. The Crown Prince sensed Lin Mu''s immortal sense and found it to be quite refined.


    ''Better than ny nine percent of other immortals¡­ especially those at his cultivation base.'' The Crown Prince judged. ''Wait¡­ what''s he doing?'' but a momentter, he found something strange.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense didn''t move like what one would normally expect. Instead of scanning the ind in one go using a long tendril of Immortal sense, Lin Mu instead turned it into thousands of threads.


    These threads then interwove and turned into a massive!


    The then wrapped around the entirety of the ind as if it were a fish. Then, from each of the intersecting nodes of this, tens of immortal sense threads grew out. These threads joined up with the threads on the other end and formed a link.


    Faint waves of immortal Qi spread out from this intricatework, forming a highly detailed three-dimensional structure in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Found them." And not even thirty secondster, Lin Mu spoke up.


    He pointed with his finger and shot a small ball of immortal Qi. The Qi was just pure and wasn''t offensive in nature, so it just went straight through the illusory formation and struck a particr point in the air.


    ~HUMM~


    But that small ball of Qi caused a chain reaction. Runes suddenly appeared in the air and a formation array flickered into existence.


    The formation was apparently covering the entire ind, but was invisible. "Huh¡­ It was actually this big?" The Crown Prince was surprised. "I thought it was just theke and its shores." "That''s the trick." Lin Mu replied. "It invites you in and gives you an obvious target to look at." He exined.


    "Hiding in in sight." Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu agreed. "Why don''t you guyse out now?" he asked out loud.


    ~SHUA~ N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    In response to that, two people soon flew out from the Ind andnded on the deck.


    "Greetings Crown Prince." The man in the lead spoke.

 Chapter 2043 Qiao De And Ziran

    Lin Mu looked at the man who he hadst seen more than a year ago. "Qiao De¡­ I guess the others were right. You really do like to y some games." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    The man was dressed in simple ck robes that had no symbol or design on them. His hair was covered with a hat as well, and his beard was well groomed. Thest time Lin Mu had seen him, the auction manager was dressed in rather luxurious clothes. As such, it was quite striking to see him in such a sober outfit.


    "Haha, what''s life without a little fun?" Qiao De replied. "Plus I wanted to see just what kind of people you''ve added to your repertoire." He added.


    "And¡­ what''s the assessment?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned.


    "Nothing less than excellent." Qiao De answered. "You''ve picked a decent formation master." He added All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    "Of course. He is after all someone you picked too." Feng Shun smirked at that moment.


    Lin Mu who heard it was a bit confused though. ''Didn''t the Crown Prince already inform him?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    And it was clear that he wasn''t the only one that was confused. Qiao De showed the same reaction and looked at Lin Mu deeply.


    "Show him the letter." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    "Ah yeah!" Lin Mu recalled the letter that Qiao De had given him.


    It had been lying in the ring for a long time and was supposed to have opened automatically when it was time for them to go on the expedition. But Lin Mu didn''t know whether it was because it had been kept in the ring all this time, but it had never opened.


    ~shua~


    Qiao De watched as a letter appeared in Lin Mu''s hands.


    ~pop~


    Then in the next second, the seal on the letter disappeared, and the letter opened up on its own. It was then that Qiao De figured it out.


    "And here I thought you had decided not toe, Daoist Mu Lin." Qiao De said with a fake frown. "And Crown Prince kept it from me too¡­ Even poaching my guest." He added.


    "Haha, you aren''t the only one who likes a little fun." The Crown Prince jested. "But yes, it seems like both of us ended up having the same choice in the candidates." He added. "Perhaps it is fate that brought us together." Qiao De said, his frown disappearing in an instant. "If I had known you had picked Daoist Mu Lin as your choice, I wouldn''t have been so worried." "You? And worried?" Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled. "If what I''ve heard is right, you probably had a few backup ns ready." He stated.


    "I''m honored that Crown Prince takes such a deep interest in me." The auction manager expertly replied. "But yes, I did manage to get another suitable candidate." He agreed.


    The Crown Prince and others looked at the second person that hade with Qiao De. It was a slender man with shoulder length hair. His skin was different from the natives of the Rust Sky World, being sun kissed brown. He was also dressed in different styled clothes than what were often seen in the Rust Sky world.


    He was wearing a dark brown leather armor with an off-white shirt underneath it. His paths were simrly made from leather and had reinforced patches on his knees. A metal belt that had several pockets on it that looked to be made for utility was also on his waist.


    Lin Mu who observed the man couldn''t help but find him a bit strange.


    ''His aura is a bit¡­ different.'' Lin Mu couldn''t exactly ce his finger on it.


    And when the man''s eyes met Lin Mu, he found them to be rather sharp as if they belonged to a hunter.


    Lin Mu had met many people and experts, but the man in front of him stood out quite a lot. ''There are no immortal Qi fluctuationsing from him either¡­ Either a tool or technique is masking it.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    He couldn''t help but wonder just who this man was and waited for Qiao De to speak.


    "This is Ziran." Qiao De introduced. "He''s someone I found after quite an intensive search. I almost didn''t think I''d be able to get him in time, but thankfully the spatial ne showed no signs of activating back then." He exined.


    Hearing the name, the Crown Prince, Crown Princess Shang and Lin Mu found it unique.


    "Ziran?" the Crown Prince repeated, furrowing his brows.


    ''That is definitely not amon name.'' Lin Mu knew it didn''t belong to the Rust Sky world.


    Most of the names that Lin Mu had seen in the Xiao Fan world were simr to those in the Rust Sky World too. As such, he had thought that they followed the same nomenture. But the slender man''s name was definitely not something that was used by people of these worlds.


    "Isn''t that¡­ An Elf name?" Crown Princess Shang suddenly spoke.


    "Indeed." Qiao De confirmed. "A Half Elf to be precise." He added.


    "Quarter Wood elf, Quarter Dark elf and half human¡­ to be urate." Ziran said himself this time.


    Learning that the man was a part elf, Lin Mu was surprised. "It''s my first time seeing a half elf¡­ or any elf for that matter." Lin Mu said honestly before spotting the slightly pointed ears that were hiding behind his hair.


    He had read about their race before, but it was merely mentioned in the passing. Even in the memoirs of the lost immortal, there were barely two mentions of elves. At least until the part that Lin Mu had unlocked.


    All Lin Mu knew about them was the fact that they were an intelligent humanoid race that could be found on several worlds. They also followed many different systems of cultivation which often made it difficult to sense their cultivation base.


    Unless one knew about their cultivation system, one might judge it inurately.

 Chapter 2044 A Half Elf

    Meeting a Half Elf was certainly an interesting experience for Lin Mu and he was looking forward to learning more about them. "I wouldn''t be surprised that you haven''t seen many elves." Ziran spoke hearing Lin Mu''s earlier words. "Most of the elves are attached to their worlds and rarely leave. And if they do it''s usually to find new worlds to live in or to trade. What you would mostly see though are half elves like me." He exined.


    "I see¡­ I''ve heard there are many sub-races of the Elves?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Yeah, for example I have two sub races'' blood within me: the Wood Elves and Dark Elves. Other than these, there are also the High Elves. These three are the major sub-races of the elves but there are said to be more. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    But even for me, I''ve only ever met other elves from the three major sub-races. The more rarer sub-races such as the Deep Elves, Sea Elves, Snow Elves and the elusive Moon Elves are far too rare now.


    Moon Elves in particr are even said to be almost extinct." Ziran exined openly.


    It was clear that the man was decently knowledgeable and was open to sharing about it too. This gave Lin Mu a hint as to what his job was here and Qiao De''s next words confirmed it.


    "Ziran here is an explorer and has seen many ruins and tombs of experts. He also happens to be an expert at the Shamanic script of the Demonic Tribes as well as demons in general." Qiao De informed. "He is also decently strong and has enough experience to handle himself." He added.


    Hearing that, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lin Mu couldn''t help but be pleased.


    "While I''d be fine taking your word, I do wish to know what is Ziran''s cultivation base." Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned. "Ah yes, it is hard to sense my cultivation base for the normal Qi cultivators." Ziran replied before making his aura more pronounced.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu could feel the Qi wavesing from the man, and it didn''t take much for him to estimate that he was actually equivalent to the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    "Hmm¡­ Fifth Tribtion Stage¡­ That''ll be fine." Crown Prince Feng Shun approved.


    Lin Mu too paid extra attention to the man, and realized that he cultivated Qi too. ''Even the cultivation system is the same¡­ The only difference is that the cultivation technique naturally hides his cultivation base, unless intentionally shown. Interesting¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Crown Princess Shang was also a bit interested and spoke up.


    "Are you using an Immortal tool to hide your cultivation base or is that a technique?" She inquired.


    "Neither." Ziran replied, much to their surprise.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu tilted his head.


    "It is actually a natural ability that my race has¡­ well the Dark Elf race has." Ziran answered. "The Dark elves have a natural affinity to the Darkness elements and are excellent hunters. As such they can naturally hide all their energy fluctuations and are extremely well versed in stealth." He exined.


    "No wonder¡­ That is a handy ability to have." Lin Mu replied.


    "Though I am only a quarter Dark Elf, so I do not have all the abilities. I can only hide my cultivation base to some extent." Ziran rified. "Since we are to explore an uncharted territory, it is best you all know about my capabilities so that we have the best chance at survival." He added.


    "That is indeed an excellent thought." Qiao De chimed in. "Why don''t we all get familiar with each other, while our third set of guests arrive?" he suggested.


    "I guess that would be fine." Crown Prince Fen Shun agreed. "Though¡­ Where is Lady Kang?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    Lin Mu wondered the same and so did Crown Princess Shang. "Has there been any message from her yet?" The Crown Princess asked.


    "I believe she should be here in a few hours." Qiao De responded. "She sent a message an hour ago that she was already on the way and was in the ocean." He stated.


    "That''s good. At least we won''t have to wait long." Crown Princess Shang nodded. "Daoist Chu and Monk Hushu are also getting the others ready. Do I need to call them up?" she asked.


    "No, let them stay for the time being. We''ll inform them when we are a day from the inds." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Just Daoist Chu and Monk Hushu being here would be enough since they need to be updated on everything." He added.


    "Very well." Crown Princess Shang nodded and went to inform the others.


    Since the actual mission of the expedition was to obtain the inheritance of the Celestial which was a secret it was best that others were unaware about it. Officially, all that had been told to others was that they were going on an expedition to explore a spatial ne left by ancient experts.


    It was not something umon and there were often such expeditions happening all over the Rust Sky world every century or so. In fact, the number of people going for Expeditions was many times the number that they had here. Usually there would be hundreds of thousands of people going on such expeditions and thepetition was a lot stronger.


    But right now, it was a mere fraction of that. As such, the people were quite excited and did not ask any further. Just being invited by the Crown Prince was a great honor for most of them and as such they were not ones to pry any deeper.


    But once the Crown Princess was gone, Feng Shun seemed to have a new question lingering on his mind.


    "Would you mind telling me how you two got here?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked. "I didn''t get information about you two arriving through any of the Teleportation Arrays in the Dao Wind Empire that is for sure." He added.

 Chapter 2045 Secret Array

    Lin Mu too wondered what method Qiao De and Ziran had used to get to the rendezvous point. Since they had not used the Teleportation arrays in the Dao Wind Empire, themon assumption would be that they had used an Immortal vehicle to get here. But when one considered the fact thating here on an Immortal vehicle here would be incredibly hard, it didn''t make sense.


    Especially with the dangers of the great ocean and the terrifying storms that filled it.


    A small Immortal Vehicle would not be able to traverse the ocean. Or even if it could, there was no way they would be able to reach here in time. Only arge immortal ship like the one Crown Prince Feng Shun had brought would be able to traverse the harsh ocean.


    But it was not something anyone could obtain or buy. Plus, it was doubtful whether Qiao De would want to use such arge ship for just two people. As such, it was a bit confusing as to how the two of them had arrived here.


    "They did use a Teleportation array though." Lin Mu suddenly spoke up, much to the surprise of others.


    "Teleportation array?" Crown Prince Feng Shun raised his brows. "That''s not possible. I know of every teleportation array in the Dao Wind Empire." He stated.


    "Yes, but this one is not in the empire." Lin Mu replied. "It''s here¡­ Right on the ind." He added.


    Hearing that, the Crown Prince looked at Qiao De.


    "An unofficial array?" It didn''t take much for Feng Shun to realize what was going on.


    "We did use one." Qiao De replied. "Though I''m surprised Daoist Mu Lin can even tell it''s there¡­ it''s not exactly a stable one." He added, feeling a bit surprised too.


    "What do you mean?" Feng Shun questioned with concern.


    An unofficial array located this close to the Dao Wind Empire was a matter of security for them. After all, it could be utilized in a nefarious manner and pose a great problem to the entire empire.


    There was a reason why each and every array in the entire empire was registered and a record was kept of every person that used it.


    As such, it was almost impossible to sneak into the Dao Wind Empire.


    This was the reason why they were so sure that Yao Changying had not escaped and was still hiding somewhere within the empire. It was also why the army of the Dao Wind Empire was on high alert, and so were the members of the Temple of the Four Guardians.


    Of course, they knew that there could be some unofficial Teleportation arrays hidden outside the empire, but those did not concern them as much as long as they weren''t too close. But this ind was different, it was only five hundred kilometers from the coast of the Dao Wind Empire. It was a short enough distance that even a First Tribtion Stage Immortal would have no issues simply flying over. And once they entered the empire, things would be a lot moreplex.


    If there was really an array on this ind, Feng Shun needed to know more.


    "The Teleportation array wasn''t a permanent one." Lin Mu spoke up instead. "I can sense its traces¡­ it could only be used once." He added.


    The Crown Prince paid attention to Lin Mu''s words and was a bit relieved.


    ''If it''s Daoist Mu Lin saying this, then it should be true.'' The Crown Prince had more trust in him than he did on Qiao De.


    Besides, Lin Mu had already proven his skills and sensitivity to formation arrays earlier. "Like Daoist Mu Lin said, it was indeed a single use Teleportation Array." Qiao De replied. "You can consider it a¡­ Life saving option. A trump card of sorts." He added.


    "Who built it?" Feng Shun questioned in a straight tone. "And if it was a life saving option, why would you use it right now?" "Well, I didn''t say it was my trump card." Qiao De replied. "I bought it from someone else. A person desperate enough to sell his life saving talismans." He added. Hearing that Feng Shun didn''t lessen his concern. Qiao De sensed the tenseness and knew it was better toe clean.


    "If it''s any saving grace, this array was actually made by someone from the Dao Wind Empire too." Qiao De answered. "An itinerant cultivator by the name of Daoist Laotian." "Daoist Laotian? The same Daoist Laotian who betrayed the Porcin Tiger Pavilion and stole their treasures?" Crown Prince Feng Shun seemed to recognize the name.


    "The Crown Prince is well informed." Qiao De confirmed the identity. "The man ran away from the Dao Wind Empire using the official arrays and came to the Holy Topaz Empire. But he knew that he would never be able to return to the Dao Wind Empire, and as such, decided to sell this off." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ And it only had a single use?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned next.


    "Indeed. There was just a single talisman and I used it to get here. If you wish to confirm it, I believe Daoist Mu Lin''s testimony should suffice." Qiao De replied, diverting the attention to Lin Mu instead.


    "He''s right." Lin Mu nodded his head. "The Teleportation array was intentionally made to be for a single use only. Probably to prevent anyone else from chasing the owner through it or tracking them down. The array was built to self destruct after it was activated." He exined. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun felt a lot better after hearing that. "Thank you, Daoist Mu Lin." The man spoke. "Though¡­ I would prefer if you would have juste through the official route." He said, looking at the auction manager.


    "I just thought it was best to maintain some ''privacy''." Qiao De responded without feeling any pressure. "Besides, I''m sure my arrival in the Dao Wind Empire would probably raise some eyes. Especially if Ie with Ziran, who''s a half elf." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ very well. Though I would have liked it if you informed me beforehand." Feng Shun said, letting out a sigh.

 Chapter 2046 Elves And Magic

    After the little ''friendly'' conflict was resolved, things became a lot more rxed.


    They all took a seat on the table at the Observation Deck. Daoist Chu and Monk Hushu had also joined them by this time and were introduced to Qiao De and Ziran.


    There, Lin Mu took the opportunity to ask Ziran several more questions about the elves, as well as their cultivation systems.


    He got to learn that while most of the elves also utilized Qi for cultivation, there were a few elves in mortal worlds that actually used another type of energy.


    "Mana?" Lin Mu repeated the word, finding it rather novel.


    He couldn''t get its meaning and was sure it didn''t belong in the Dao Script either.


    "Yes, Mana." Ziran nodded. "You can consider it an alternative energy that is found in some worlds instead of Qi. Though once the inhabitants of those mortal worlds would often switch to Qi once they expanded to other worlds or learned about cultivation." He exined.


    "Wait¡­ so they don''t cultivate?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Yeah, they use something called Magic." Ziran nodded his head.


    Now that was a word that Lin Mu could understand. It was part of the Dao Script too and was often used in a lot of techniques too.


    "How does this¡­ Magic work?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It is quite simr to how we use our Qi. Mana is the energy which can be used to fuel spells which are an equivalent of Qi skills." Ziran replied.


    "Huh¡­ No wonder they say all rivers lead to the same ocean¡­ The words might be different and so is the fuel, but the core of it is the same concept." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Ziran nodded, hearing that before speaking, "though there are some differences. Such as the fact that Magic is rtively easier to use and learn than Qi." Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "Oh? How so?" Lin Mu questioned with interest.


    "A major part of magic is also based on runes. Just like how formations are made from runes, spells are also made from runes. Of course, the magic runes I speak are different from the ones we use." Ziran said first. "As such, as long as one knows how to use the runes and studies them, they can use magic. Something as simple as writing down the runes urately is enough to trigger magic.


    But that is only on the entry level. Those that are better and stronger don''t need to do that and can utilize magic instinctively. And when one can do that, they are called as Mages." He exined.


    Lin Mu''s interest kept on rising the more listened to the man, especially considering the simrities between the two different systems.


    "In fact, most mages when they reach the peak of power realize that they need superior forms of energy to progress further. This is when they start to discover Qi and adapt it." Ziran added, making it click for Lin Mu.


    "Just like cultivators upgrade from Spirit Qi to Immortal Qi, or Vital Energy to Immortal Essence!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    "Indeed. Though a Mage at their peak wouldn''t need to use spirit Qi for too long. A peak Mage is strong enough to go against even a False Immortal." Ziran revealed another fact.


    "Whoa¡­" Lin Mu couldn''t help but be surprised.


    "But that''s not all. It takes far less item for a Mage to reach their peak than it does a cultivator." Ziran stated. "It might take a cultivator thousands of years to reach the False Immortal realm, but a mage will take less than a thousand years for the same." He added.


    "What are the drawbacks?" Lin Mu could tell that there should be some trade off.


    "The drawback is the main advantage of Cultivation¡­ Longevity." Ziran answered. "While mages can live longer than mortals, they have a limit to their lifespan. Even with their magic extending their life, as well as some external resources, they often have a hard time living longer than a thousand years.


    Not to mention, even if they live that long they still continue to age." He exined.


    "That is a great disadvantage¡­" Lin Mu said with a frown. "At the expense of power they give up on longevity."


    "Indeed." Ziran replied before taking a pause. "Though that is mostly an issue for Humans." He added.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Races like Elves are long lived. Even an elf that doesn''t really practice magic much will live to at least a thousand years. Those that excel in magic will live up to three times as long." Ziran said with a smile. "Elves also tend to have a natural talent in magic."


    "Oh my¡­ I guess Magic isn''t as favorable for humans." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.


    "Though they also happen to be the ones that have brought the most development to magic. Naturally long lived races tend to get stuck up in their waves and forgo innovation. Humans on the other hand, keep on improving more and more." Ziran responded. "In fact, it is even said that it was a human mage that discovered Qi for the first time. In his pursuit for longevity he eventually realized Mana was not enough and discovered the new energy known as Qi." He stated.


    "Interesting¡­ And how about you. Being a half elf, do you also have a long life? And a talent in magic?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Nah, since I am only half blooded, I don''t have the same long life. Depending on what elf blood a half elf has, they can have anywhere from a third to half as much longevity as normal elves." Ziran answered. "For example, half elves with High Elf blood have half as long longevity as a full elf. While half elves with dark elf and wood elf blood have about a third of that."


    "Hmm¡­ what about the talent in magic?" Lin Mu asked further.


    "I do have that." Ziran replied, arousing Lin Mu''s interest, who waited for him to exin.

 Chapter 2047 Ziran’s Woes

    "Dark elves have a natural affinity to darkness, while wood elves have a natural affinity for wood, just like their names. High elves on the other hand have a varied affinity with the exception of the darkness element. If I had half dark elf blood I would inherit the darkness affinity, but I am only quarter with the other quarter being wood elf. As such they canceled out." Ziran exined in detail.


    "Ah, that''s a shame." Lin Mu said with some sympathy.


    "It doesn''t matter. I didn''t grow up in a magic world anyways." Ziranughed. "I was brought up in a world full of cultivators. In fact I grew up in a sect." "Is that why you became an explorer?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Indeed¡­ I wished to see more of the universe and learn about it. It was my mother''s dream too¡­ in fact that''s how she met my father." Ziran said with a fond look in his eyes. "Unlike me, my mother grew up in a world of elves. She was born from a Dark elf and a Wood elf, gaining the benefits of both being a great mage.


    As such had a great desire for knowledge which further led to her dream of exploring. She went against her family and left her world to explore. She soon learned to cultivate and even joined a sect.


    That''s where she met my father and gave birth to me. She didn''t wish for me to be limited to the sect and as such let me choose my own path. I took after her dream and chose to explore the myriad worlds." He narrated.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu felt that Ziran''s mother had a simr mindset as him. He found a kindred spirit in her as well as Ziran. Lin Mu could almost imagine the journeys that Ziran and his mother had been on.


    His conversation with Ziran was something that even made the others on the table listen silently. The Crown prince and hispanions had stopped their own conversation to listen to it. Though hearing all that actually made them a bit morefortable too.


    ''This Ziran is a lot more tolerable than Qiao De for sure.'' Crown Princess Shang thought to herself.


    The same thought was mirrored by Crown Prince Feng Shun too, but he knew that Qiao De was like that simply because he was a merchant through and through.


    He had met many people like him and knew how to deal with them. "No wonder you''re an expert in the Shamanic Script of the Demonic tribes." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke up.


    "Not just that. He''s an overall expert in Demonic Tribes." Qiao De chimed in.


    "Is that right?" Crown Prince Feng Shun raised his brows.


    "I am." Ziran nodded his head. "I''ve learned a lot of their history and culture personally from their elders." "Oh? You lived with them?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I did." Ziran confirmed. "I''ve spent about a thousand years living in Demonic worlds. Though not all of it was voluntarily¡­" he added.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu asked, sensing some negativity there.


    "Well¡­ I kind of got kidnapped by some demons in the past. Then got trafficked to their world and made to work as a ve for about a hundred years." Ziran said, shocking others. "I did manage to buy my freedom, but then I got married off to the daughter of one of the Demon Chieftains for a while." He dropped more shocking facts.


    "Huh¡­ that''s something for sure." The Crown Prince couldn''t help but feel that Ziran certainly had an exciting life.


    "Are you still married?" the Crown princess asked with a strange glint in her eyes.


    In response, Ziran raised his hand and pulled his left sleeve back. "I sure am." He said, showing them a mark that had been seared into his skin. "It still burns whenever my wife thinks of me." "Haha! I want to learn how to do that." Crown Princess Shangughed. "What better way than to keep your husband in line!" Crown Prince Feng Shun and Daoist Chu who heard it couldn''t help but feel a chill go down their backs. "Amithabha." Monk Hushu was the least bothered and unaffected by it all. "Celibacy is the way to go past the illusions of mortal desires." Qiao Deughed as well and spoke, "Ziran''s wife is why I had a hard time getting him here. I had to pay her a lot to let Ziran free for a while." "And I''m thankful for that." Ziran said with true gratitude on his face. "The kids are a headache¡­ I haven''t been free for six hundred years! I needed a vacation." "Six hundred years? Isn''t that more than enough for the children to grow up?" Lin Mu was confused. "It is¡­ but not when you keep on adding new children every decade!" Ziran said with a wronged expression. "Wait¡­ How many children do you have?" Daoist Chu asked, narrowing his eyes.


    "Uhh¡­ Seven hundred and eighty eight." Ziran replied. "Will be Seven hundred and ny next year, once my wife gives birth to the twins." He added.


    Everyone''s eyes went wide as they heard it.


    While it wasmon for most cultivators to have a lot of children, it was still over a long time. "Six hundred years and nearly eight hundred children?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, feeling a bit afraid.


    "Yes." Ziran nodded.? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    "And from one wife?" Crown Princess Shang asked this time.


    "Yes¡­ I only have one wife." This time it was Crown Princess Shang''s turn to feel afraid. Everyone couldn''t help but feel collective pity for Ziran at this moment.


    "I think even I would prefer to go on a possibly fatal expedition than be in the same situation as you." Daoist Chu stated.


    "I think it is an improvement." Ziran replied. "The kids are far more dangerous¡­ Demon Children are a lot more unhinged and don''t mature mentally for nearly a hundred years. What''s worse is they gain the strength of an adult in just ten years."

 Chapter 2048 Ancestral Spirit Of The Demonic Tribes

    "Oh my¡­ that does seem excessive." After hearing his woes, even Lin Mu felt quite bad for the man.


    The same sentiment was echoed by the others and caused a few thoughts to appear in their minds.


    "So why do you still live there?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked. "You are free and no longer a ve, so couldn''t you just leave?" "Well, she is my wife." Ziran said with a positive change in his expression. "She isn''t all bad and is actually caring." He said, showing genuine affection.


    "Huh¡­" Daoist Chu and Lin Mu were perplexed by the sudden reverse made by Ziran.


    "Other than it being a bit of an effort, living there isn''t that bad." Ziran stated. "Plus, my wife is the strongest demon among several tribes there." "No wonder¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered.


    "What does that mean?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Most Demons consider strength as the absolute measure of authority." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined. "If his wife is that strong, there''s a high chance she''s next in the line to be the chieftain. It''s the same as being the Patriarch of a great n." "I see¡­" Lin Mu now understood.


    "Yeah, she''s ted to be the next chieftain already. I just have to wait a few hundred years more until all the kids grow up, then they''ll handle themselves." Ziran spoke. "I''ll be free to go out after that. I''m an immortal and have plenty of life left. I''m not in a hurry anyways." He added.


    The group finally understood his situation and that Ziran was merely frustrated for a bit and needed some time to unwind. Hence the expedition, which he was looking to enjoy.


    Though it was unknown if an expedition to an unknown spatial ne full of dangers could be considered enjoyment or not.


    "Ziran will be invaluable to us in deciphering and understanding the traces of the demonic tribes." Qiao De stated.


    "Yes, if you''ve been actively living with the Demons, you probably have the most information about them." Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t help but approve of Qiao De''s choice.


    While he was pleased by Lin Mu too that he could read the Shamanic Script of the Demonic Tribes, it was entirely a different thing when Ziran was so closely connected to the Demons.


    "Wait¡­ Do you know about the Demonic Tribes that used to live in the Rust Sky world then?" Daoist Chu suddenly asked. "I''ve heard that the Demonic Tribes often worship the same ancestors even if they live on different worlds. Often times their origins are the same." He inquired. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu couldn''t help but be surprised that it was such a great expert.


    "Wait, if he was defeated then how is his spirit still there?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well, he was defeated¡­ not killed." Monk Hushu replied. "Even with thebined power of the Buddhist alliance and the Immortal court, it was not enough to kill him. He was merely defeated and chose to flee.


    With how many casualties the Immortal realm had, no one had the will to go after him. Thankfully for them, the Demon King of the Jagged Crown was greatly injured, both in body and soul. It was rumored that he would have perished to his injuries and nothing could cure him.


    Thus, instead of dying entirely, he willingly sacrificed his body and became an ancestral spirit. As long as the Demonic Tribes worship him, his spirit will continue to exist," Monk Hushu exined in detail.


    Other than Ziran, the others didn''t know this and were quite intrigued by such an expert of the demonic tribes. "To be able to exist even after death¡­ No wonder the Demon King of the Jagged Crown managed to seal the Demon Queen even after having be an Ancestral Spirit." Lin Mu muttered.


    "This is also why things be a bitplicated." Ziran interrupted. "How did you find this stele?" he asked first.


    "The stele was unearthed in the Deste Blood Battlefield." Qiao De answered finally.


    "There?!" Lin Mu couldn''t believe that it ended up linking to the same ce.


    While he had a hunch about it, this was getting far too close.


    "Yes¡­ Though it was unearthed a long time ago. Over fifty thousand years ago along with a few more things." Qiao De revealed. "It took me a while to gather all the items since they had been scattered since then, but through them I figured out that it was indeed the inheritance of a celestial." He spoke.


    "That is also how Qiao De came in contact with me." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "The stele was in the imperial vaults for a long time." "What other things do you have in addition to that?" Lin Mu asked, since he had only seen the stele.


    "There''s just a few documents and a broken immortal tool." Qiao De said taking them out. "I''ll trante them." Ziran said, taking the documents first. While he read them, Lin Mu took a look at the broken immortal tool that looked like argepass of sorts. It was circr in shape and had a red stone set in its middle. But the body of thepass was cracked and its needle was also missing.


    Lin Mu sensed no immortal Qi fluctuationsing from it, which confirmed that it had been broken for a long time now. And just as he finished checking the brokenpass, Ziran started to speak.


    "These documents are a bit different¡­ They aren''t written in the Shamanic Script. At least not entirely." Ziran said first. "These documents are actually written by demons too, but whoever wrote it had been looking for the inheritance too. They were also the first ones to discover the stele." He revealed.

 Chapter 2049 Belonged To The Thorn Rage Demonic Tribe

    Learning that they weren''t the first ones to go after the Spatial ne, the Crown Prince wasn''t really that surprised.


    "I expected that. Most such ces have already been visited by others, or were at least attempted." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    "So what else do the documents say?" Lin Mu asked for more information.


    "The person who was looking for the spatial ne was also a Demon. Though, ording to their worlds, they were looking for the remnants of their ancestors." Ziran read. "If the inheritance is really left by a Celestial, then there is a high chance they belonged to the Thorn Rage Demonic tribe." He finally revealed.


    Hearing that, the people present couldn''t help but furrow their brows.


    "If it''s the inheritance of a Demonic tribe, will it even be of use to us?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "There will still be resources and other things that will be beneficial." Crown Princess Shang chimed in.


    "There is another option you are forgetting." Qiao De spoke up this time. "Having the inheritance of any celestial is massive. Even if it is notpatible with you, there might be someone else that ispatible with it. You could very well sell or exchange it for another such opportunity. And if you''re lucky, you might even be able to directly buy another celestial''s inheritance that might work for you." He exined.


    "That is indeed true." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded his head.


    This was also what he was intending to do, and having trained in the Immortal court, he had plenty of connections to do so.


    "Yeah, you don''t have to worry about it going to waste." Ziran chimed in. "There will be plenty of demons that will pay a great price to get it. If you don''t have a seller, I can always check in with my wife and the other chieftains." He offered.


    "That works." Lin Mu didn''t see any loss here.


    The group discussed a few more things as hours went by.


    Lin Mu got to know that their journey could take anywhere from a few weeks to a month to reach their destination. This was due to the fact that the ocean was unpredictable and even with the ship being strong enough and there being strong people, there could be other issues.


    Not to mention, getting to the inds where the Spatial ne was also not simple. The way to getting there would actually be guided by the brokenpass that Qiao De had shown. Of course, an additionalpass that was adapted to the broken one would be used. But it would take some time to adapt and work urately, and as such it was best they took a steady path than rushing in. If they didn''t let thepass work steadily, there was a chance they might end up going in the wrong direction.


    And by the time evening rolled in, Lin Mu and the Crown Prince sensed an energy fluctuationing in from the distance.


    "Looks like our final member is here," Crown Prince Feng Shun said, looking at the ck dot that was approaching from the sky.


    Lin Mu too looked at it and narrowed his eyes, trying to identify what it was. And as the object got close, it became clear.


    "A carriage?" The others also noticed it at this point.


    "It''s being pulled by a beast¡­" Lin Mu sensed the immortal Qi fluctuationsing from the beast. They were quite vigorous and showed that the beast was not simple.


    ''At least fourth tribtion stage of the immortal realm¡­'' Lin Mu sensed.


    And once the carriage got closer, Lin Mu was also able to get a proper look at the beast.


    It was a giant ck horse that was bigger than an elephant. Its four legs were full of muscles that were like steel cables and its ck eyes were piercing. Steam rose from its nose, while six sharp tusks jutted out of its mouth. It had a long flowing mane that was red, unlike the rest of its fur.


    A metal harness that was crafted with gold and silver was attached to its body and was being used to pull the carriage. ~NEIGH~


    The beast called out its presence. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    "Is that¡­" Daoist Chu and Ziran were the first ones to recognize the beast surprisingly. "A pure blooded Immortal Steppe Stallion?!" Lin Mu had heard about the beast and knew that it was valued highly by many immortals, as it was perfect for a mount. Not only was it strong, but its stamina was unending. It was said that a proper pure blooded Immortal Steppe Stallion could run for a decade if it wanted to.


    Whether one could get one to run that long though, was another question altogether.


    They were proud and stubborn beasts and getting them to submit to a master was very difficult. Only those that could dominate the beast would be able to control it. Otherwise, the beast would probably end up killing them instead.


    And then, an Immortal Steppe Stallion would only ept one master. As such, they were high in demand, as reselling them was simply impossible. Thus, anyone that could own one was not only wealthy, but had to be strong too.


    Looking at the Carriage attached to it though, proved this point.


    It was a golden carriage that had arrays upon arrays covering it. If Lin Mu were to estimate it, he could easily tell that it was a Peak Grade Immortal weapon as well as an Immortal vehicle!


    The most striking part of it was a particr symbol that shone on the carriage.


    "A Constetion¡­" Lin Mu saw the twelve stars shining on the carriage that were linked in a particr pattern. "Kang¡­" He quickly understood.


    The Kang n took the Virgo constetion as their n crest and it was well known across the Immortal Realm. Anyone that saw it would know the power and wealth they held.


    The carriage finally came to a stop next to the ship and its door opened, several pairs of eyes watching.

 Chapter 2050 Lady Kang

    An elegant woman walked out of the carriage, exuding an aura of pure confidence and dominance.


    Her gaze was sharp yet calctive and quickly observed everyone that was present there at that moment.


    Lin Mu felt the woman''s gazend on him and linger for a couple of seconds before moving on. He didn''t pay attention to it much, but the woman sure did.


    ''So he''s here¡­ Looks like he was picked up by the Crown Prince before I could approach him.'' Lady Kang thought to herself. She had intended to pick Lin Mu as the member of the expedition too, but was unable to find him after he had left the Capital City. After all, there was no way she would know that he intended to enter seclusion for a while to learn the Litany of the Verdant Forests.


    Plus after that, he didn''t return to the Capital city either, and as such it became a lost cause for Lady Kang and her servants.


    She reckoned that it was probably out of their reach and she let it be. But now that she saw Lin Mu there, she couldn''t help but be a bit surprised.


    Of course due to being highly experienced with such matters, her face did not betray her thoughts at all. Instead, her expression and gaze was such that most people would rather look away instead of meeting her eyes.


    It was simply overpowering and only those of equal or higher status might be able to bear it.


    Though all the people gathered here today were those that could take it.


    The Crown Prince Feng Shun and Crown princess Shang were both royals and were next in line to be the rulers of their empires. As such, Lady Kang''s gaze was not much to them. Daoist Chu belonged to a sect and had faced the domineering gaze of the high elders and patriarch, and wasn''t fazed by it.


    In the case of Monk Hushu, he was a Buddhist monk and there was little that could sway his heart. The gaze of a woman was the farthest from it.


    Qiao De was shrewd and had dealt with countless people before, whether they be experts stronger than him, or those of simr upation as him. Thus he wasn''t affected by it either. Not to mention, he was familiar with Lady Kang and had even met her in the past.


    Ziran had been through tough times and was married to a domineering demoness. He was basically immune to the strong gaze of a woman.


    As for Lin Mu, he was used to the Saintess now and thus found Lady Kang''s gaze to be rather mild.


    Instead of paying attention to that, Lin Mu was analyzing Lady Kang right now.


    She wore Purple and White robes that were high grade Immortal robes and emanated faint Immortal Qi waves that showed that they had strong defensive capabilities. Lin Mu estimated them to be on the same level as the Imperial Robes that Feng Baxing wore during the tournament.


    A long scarf could also be seen around Lady Kang''s neck, which was actually an Immortal Weapon too. It was disguised to be part of her robes and matched the color scheme, but the faint immortal Qi fluctuationsing from them couldn''t miss Lin Mu''s senses.


    ''Another High Grade immortal weapon¡­ Probably one that can defend her in close range.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    Lady Kang''s hair was braided into a single thick and long braid.


    Several ornaments were also woven into her braid, adding extra beauty to it. The ornaments were a mix of braid rings, ribbons, and hair pins, all of which had gemstones embedded in them.


    These ornaments were ced in such a manner that from the back it looked like a swan was taking flight and the pattern was simply too unique. The gemstones on the ornaments even formed the features of the swan.


    The ribbons were its wings, the braid rings were its body, while the hair pins were its legs. Finally, tworge ruby gemstones intimated the eyes of the swan while a long silver hairpin functioned as its beak.


    It was truly beautiful and nothing like Lin Mu had seen before. ''It''s not just beautiful either¡­ It''s functional too¡­ Every ornament is actually an Immortal tool too!'' Lin Mu sensed.


    Some of the ornaments worked as Spatial Storage tools while some were defensive immortal tools. Though the hair pins were all mid grade Immortal weapons with the one acting as a beak, a High Grade immortal weapon.


    On top of her head, Lady Kang wore a cor encrusted with a twelve diamond that shone like the stars. They also happened to be ced in the same manner as the crest of the Kang n which was the constetion Virgo.


    Lin Mu didn''t feel any immortal Qi fluctuations from the cor, but had a great hunch that it was also an Immortal tool of some kind. Though its function was unknown and guessing it was impossible.


    Her eyes were fox-like and were dark ck in color as if made out of onyx. Red eye liner red out from the side of her eyes and curled up, looking like a fox tail.


    A light pink belt wrapped around the woman''s waist which had several runes embroidered on it.


    In her left hand, Lady Kang held an open paper fan which was also a High Grade Immortal weapon.


    Lin Mu saw a painting on the fan, which depicted the scenery of a vast forest with a single river cutting through it.


    Among all the women Lin Mu had seen so far, Lady Kang easily ranked in the top three in terms of beauty.


    But the thing that stood out the most was her cultivation base. ''Is she¡­ At the Sixth Tribtion stage of the Immortal realm too!?'' Lin Mu was surprised by this the most.


    She was actually as strong as the Crown Prince! Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    And this was just outwardly, there was no telling what other secrets she hid.

 Chapter 2051 The Elegant Woman’s Entourage

    <h4>Chapter 2051 The Elegant Woman''s Entourage</h4>


    Finally seeing Lady Kang, Lin Mu understood that Qiao De had not chosen the members of the expedition casually.


    ''She didn''te here unprepared at all¡­ She''s basically ready for war.'' Lin Mu thought to himself seeing the equipment of the woman.


    Plus, he knew that considering her position, all of the Immortal tools and weapons she brought with her werepatible. Not just that, the way she carried herself showed that she was no stranger to conflict and had been in many of them before.


    "I greet Lady Kang of the great Kang Auction house!" Crown Prince Feng Shun greeted with cupped hands.


    "We greet Lady Kang!" Hispanions said in unison.


    "Lady Kang, always so elegant and full of beauty." Qiao De ttered her while bowing his head.


    "Greetings, Lady Kang." Lin Mu greeted her too.


    "Mmm, Looks like you''re the same Qiao De." Lady Kang spoke, her voice carrying a hint of detachedness. "Greetings Crown Prince, Crown Princess." She looked at the two royals before stepping down from the carriage.


    Two more people left the carriage after her, who were rather eye catching too.


    The first seemed to be a man that was covered head to toe in armor. His face could not be seen, as the helmet fully covered his face too, leaving just a slit for his eyes.


    His armor was maroon in color and had faint immortal Qi fluctuation too, showing that it was an Immortal armor.


    ''At least high grade armor made out of Barren Dune Pangolin scales.'' Lin Mu quickly recognizing it from the color of the armor and the texture.


    Barren Dune Pangolin was a beast that was highly specialized in defense and its scales could even take a hit form a Peak Immortal even if it was at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. Though it had its downsides too, as the scales weren''t exactly good at conducting Immortal Qi.


    Thus while they worked well as a defensive armor, they couldn''t be used for weapons. This also affected how an immortal could use Qi skills, as most of them would either be weaker or simply impossible to use. Thus the scales were mostly used to make shields or individual pieces of armor rather than a full set.


    Using a full set basically made it very difficult to use one''s Qi skills. This only left a few people who would be able to properly utilize a full set of armor made from Barren Dune Pangolin scales.


    ''Is he a specialized weapon user?'' Lin Mu wondered, but didn''t see the man carrying any weapons.


    The armor also made it hard for Lin Mu to estimate the cultivation base of the man, as they were muffled by the armor. Right now it seemed like the man was at the third tribtion stage of the Immortal realm, but Lin Mu was highly sure it was higher than that.


    "Mydy, would you like to get your room ready?" The third person who had walked out of the carriage spoke.


    It was a woman dressed in the robes of a servant. She had a cold face and looked to be in herte twenties from her face. Her cultivation base was at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and was not hidden. Lin Mu also didn''t see any Immortal tools or weapons on her person.


    "Get it done, Min Ju." Lady Kang replied to her servant.


    "At once." The woman said.


    "I''ll bring you to the quarters. We''ve set aside a room for Lady Kang." Daoist Chu said and guided the servant downstairs.


    Lady Kang looked around the ship for a couple of seconds before speaking, "Mmm, not bad."


    "I tried to make our journey asfortable as possible, Lady Kang." Crown Prince Feng Shun said in a respectful tone.


    Seeing him talk like this made Lin Mu think that the Crown Prince had returned to his formal ways. He wasn''t talking casually like he did with him and the others anymore.


    ''Looks like Lady Kang''s status is much more than I thought.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The way Crown Prince was behaving with her was as if she was another royal too.


    "You did well." Lady Kang replied. "And what about you, Qiao De. Did you get all the things prepared?" She asked the ''host''.


    "Of course." Qiao De said with a smile. "Now that you are here, we can leave right away."


    "That''ll be for the best." Lady Kang said before waving her hand at the carriage.


    ~SHUA~


    The Carriage shrunk at her gesture and turned into a small charm. It flew out and attached itself to a bracelet on her wrist.


    "Neigh!" The Great Steppe Immortal Stallion neighed, as if asking something of the woman.


    "You can go rest too." She said holding out a rectangr wooden te that had a unique pattern on it.


    Looking at the Pattern, Lin Mu recognized it. There was a snakes'' tail, a bird''s feather and a tiger''s w on it showing that it was a Beast storage treasure!


    Lin Mu had seen it a long time ago when he had found out about the merchant that had brought the Great Slumber Bear into the Xiaofan world. He was in the ownership of such a beast storage treasure too, though it had been damaged beyond use.


    With that done, she spoke again.


    "Let''s get moving," she ordered.


    "Of course." Qiao De said, taking out the brokenpass that had the red gem in its center.


    Lin Mu wondered how they were going to use it and as such watched curiously.


    "Crown Prince, if you would assist me." Qiao De requested.


    "Come," The man said, bringing him to the control wheel of the ship.


    Above the wheel, there was a pedestal that had an empty circr slot. It looked like it was meant to hold apass.


    ~shua~


    Qiao De ced thepass in it, which easily fit in the groove.


    ~Humm~


    The ship trembled at that action and thepass let off energy fluctuations.


    But from them, Lin Mu could tell that it was actually just malfunctioning. Since thepass was broken, there was no way it could work.


    "Here we go." Qiao De said as he took out anotherpass from his spatial storage too.


    The difference though was that thispass was three times as big as the brokenpass.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    Multiple metaltches extended out from the bottom of thergepass. Qiao De lowered it over the smallerpass, causing the metaltches to hook onto it.


    ~Kacha~


    Once both thepasses were attached, thergerpass retracted thetches, causing the smallerpass to be pulled into it half way.


    This still kept thepass attached to the pedestal, but also amodated thergerpass.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu watched as thergepass glowed in a faint red light, while the needle on it started to twitch.


    "It''s ready now, Crown Prince Feng Shun." Qiao De stated.


    "Alright, time to move." Feng Shun said, injecting his Immortal Qi into the pedestal. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    ~humm~


    A humming sound was hearding from the pedestal, before the ship finally shook.


    ~SPLASH~


    The ship caused waves as it started to move backwards.


    ~drrrrr~


    The ship''s wheel turned automatically, causing the vessel to turn as well.


    ~DINK~


    The needle on thergepass finally moved and shifted to a particr direction.


    "There we go, it caught on." Qiao De smiled seeing that his fix was working.


    The ship moved away from the Ind and started to sail towards the west.


    With that done, both the Crown Prince and Qiao De were satisfied.


    "It will take us at most a month, if the weather holds up well." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "That is eptable." Lady Kang replied.


    "Speaking of that, did you face any difficulties ining here Lady Kang?" The Crown Prince asked, since he could tell the woman had been dyed for a bit.


    "There were a few dys¡­ a little work came up which I needed to deal with." Lady Kang said, ncing at Lin Mu for a moment. "But it was wrapped up without any issues."


    "That''s good. Now you can rx until it is time for us to disembark." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    ~step~step~step~


    As if on cue, Lady Kang''s servant walked up from the stairs.


    "Your room is ready, mydy." Min Ju informed.


    "Good." Lady Kang replied before the Crown Prince spoke again.


    "Will these two be your candidates for the expedition, Lady Kang?" Feng Shun asked, looking at the servant woman and the armored man.


    "Yes." Lady Kang replied. "This is Min Ju, my personal maid and Elder Ho. They''re the people I''ve chosen toe along with me." She introduced.


    "Ah, I see. I''ll trust your judgment then." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied before extending a hand to hispanions, introducing them before finally stopping at Lin Mu. "And this is Daoist Mu Lin¡­ The Winner of the Tourna¡ª" but before he could finish his words, he was interrupted.


    "Winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts¡­ I know." Lady Kang said, looking at him directly.

 Chapter 2052 A Private Talk

    Lin Mu''s familiarity was somewhat expected at this point due to him having won the Tournament.


    With how far the news had spread, there would be no major city in the Rust Sky World that would not have at least heard of his name once. Plus, with the visitors from the other worlds that hade to witness the event, his name would have been carried over to the other worlds too.


    Still hearing it from Lady Kang herself was a unique experience.


    "You know me?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I do." Lady Kang replied. "I saw your fight as well." She added.


    "Oh, looks like Lady Kang paid attention to Daoist Mu Lin too." Qiao De smirked. "I wouldn''t be surprised if she had picked him as a candidate too¡­ though that would be too much of a coincidence." He chuckled.


    "Haha, that would certainly be interesting." Crown Prince Feng Shunughed as well, thinking it would be too far-fetched.


    No one knew though how correct they were.


    Lady Kang merely looked at them with an expressionless face, but internally she hadn''t expected that Lin Mu had indeed been picked by all three parties.


    ''Guess a star can only be hidden for a short while.'' Lady Kang thought to herself. ''Still, he''s here now so it doesn''t matter who brought him.''


    She still remembered the skills that Lin Mu had shown before.


    ''Though he didn''t use all of them in the Tournament for some reason.'' Lady Kang recalled how Lin Mu had saved a few people from the Saber Battle Union. ''He can use Spatial Skills and yet he didn''t use them even once in the tournament¡­ He had been holding back.'' She thought.


    Lady Kang couldn''t help but think that if Lin Mu had won the Tournament while he was holding back all that time, what would happen if he had used his Spatial skills.


    ''Those fights would have be a joke¡­ Even the Third Prince Feng Baxing would have had no chance to win.'' Lady Kang was perhaps the person that knew the most about Lin Mu''s skills here; even more so than Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    She had been observing Lin Mu silently for a while now and had been keeping tabs on him too. Though it was another thing that she hadn''t interacted with him directly before. "I''ll go rest for now." Lady Kang said, wishing to end the talks. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    "Of course, Lady Kang. Feel free." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "We''ll keep you informed in case anything happens." He added.


    "Very well." Lady Kang said before taking her leave along with the maid Min Ju and Elder Ho.


    It was clear that they were not intent on staying and interacting with the others for the time being.


    Lin Mu and the others didn''t find it strange though, as she was unfamiliar with them in the first ce. Plus Lady Kang seemed to be a bit reserved in nature too on some level.


    With her gone, the group sat for a few more hours and talked. It wasn''t until it was midnight that they decided to retire.


    "I''ll be up on the deck, so you can feel free toe up whenever you want. I''ll have to control the ship." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "Is it fine for you to do it alone?" Lin Mu asked. "Won''t you be exhausted?" "It''s nothing. I''m not fueling it after all. I''m just making sure it stays on the course and adjusts ording to thepass." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "And I''ve done several journeys like this before, so I''m not worried." He added.


    "Ah, that''s good." Lin Mu replied.


    "I''ll also stay up for the time being." Ziran stated. "I''d like to record the ecology of the oceans here as well as the beasts that live in it." "I''ll go socialize¡­ I''m sure I can find a few customers downstairs." Qiao De said feeling quite eager.


    "Feel free." The Crown Prince had no reason to stop them.


    Lin Mu too decided to leave as he had a few things he wished to do in the time they had.


    ''We have a few weeks till we reach the inds¡­ May as well cultivate and test out some things.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as he went downstairs.


    When he went there though, he saw Qiao De mingling with the people in the meeting hall. ''Huh, just like he said, he really is selling things.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Since not everyone was going to cultivate all the time, they would go to the meeting hall and talk. Qiao De took that as an opportunity to sell all the things he had brought with him. He was a merchant through and through and was now selling items like pills, talismans and other things they might need on the expedition.


    The members of the expedition were also open to buying them as they were of a much better quality than they would normally get. Qiao De even got a few immortal tools and weapons that they might find interesting. In addition to that, he was also willing to buy their own tools and weapons, in case they did not have enough Immortal stones to pay with.


    ''He really brought an entire shop with him, huh¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Perhaps the only other person other than Qiao De who had more items with them at the moment was none other than Lin Mu himself. He was carrying so many items in his ring that even he did not know at this point. And that was exactly the thing that he wished to rectify.


    ''I best sort all the items out before the expedition. It''ll help in case of emergencies if I know what things I have.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Because he had also taken a lot of Spatial Storage tools from others, which he had never checked properly, Lin Mu reckoned he had a lot of untouched items hidden in the ring. There were also a lot of items that Lin Mu Knew he had, but didn''t know the quantity of them.


    While thinking all this, Lin Mu went down to the second floor, which was the main residential floor. Shortly after walking past a couple of corridors, Lin Mu spotted a man in maroon armor.


    "Elder Ho?" Lin Mu muttered as he saw the man standing in front of a room.


    ~Creak~


    The door opened and Min Ju walked out from inside.


    "Daoist Mu Lin." It was as if Min Ju had been waiting for him.


    "Uh, yes?" Lin Mu wondered what she wanted.


    "Lady Kang has invited you to the room." Min Ju stated.


    "Okay¡­ is there a specific reason?" Lin Mu asked, finding it a bit strange.


    "She''ll exin it to you in private." Min Ju said with a calm face.


    "Alright." Lin Mu reckoned there wasn''t any harm in seeing the woman.


    Elder Ho nced at Lin Mu silently, but didn''t do anything else.


    ''Weird¡­'' Lin Mu thought before Min Ju opened the door for him.


    "Please," She said, letting him in.


    Lin Mu gave a nod and walked inside, the door shutting behind him.


    ~thud~


    Once he was inside though, the silent armored man spoke.


    "Is it fine for him to be here?" Elder Ho spoke, his voice rather heavy and deep.


    "It''s the Lady''s decision, I cannot question it." Min Ju replied. "Hmm¡­ That man is strange¡­ I cannot figure out what is wrong with him though." Elder Ho stated.


    "In what way?" Min Ju asked, furrowing her brows.


    "He seems to be hiding his strength, but there is no reason for it." Elder Ho stated. "There is also this aura around him¡­ An aura of unfathomable presence." He added as his tone became lighter.


    Min Ju didn''t reply, but looked at the door. "Perhaps¡­ that is the reason why Lady Kang chose him?" Min Ju replied.


    "Possibly¡­ But for any man like that to be close to the Lady¡­ Especially with her condition does not seem good." Elder Ho stated. "It is hard for men to resist her."


    "I''m sure Lady Kang knows better than us about her condition. She''ll be careful about it and has been for a long time." Min Ju said, trying to assuage the elder''s worries. "Besides, Daoist Mu Lin has shown no drastic reaction to her so far. I think we''ll be fine." She added, looking at the silent man.


    "Is that why you decided to join at thest moment?" Min Ju questioned.


    "Yes¡­ The others at the n were not sure of letting Lady Kang go out alone like that." Elder Ho replied. "Though I''m sorry that her journey got dyed because of me." He added.


    "The Lady does not mind that at all." Min Ju said. "Besides, it was her choice to have someone from the n join in since she could not recruit Daoist Mu Lin in time." ~Sigh~


    "Let''s hope it all goes well. Lady Kang is far too precious to us and the n." Elder Ho said, looking at the door.

 Chapter 2053 An Inquisitive Woman

    Lin Mu was unaware of the conversation that had happened between the silent Elder Ho and the Maid Min Ju. Instead, he was wondering just what it was that Lady Kang wanted to talk to him in private about.


    ~shua~ N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    As soon as he entered the room, he felt the istion array activate and secure the room. No sound from the room would go out and vice versa. Simrly, one could not sense what was happening inside with their Immortal sense either.


    ''They changed the room?'' Looking inside, Lin Mu found the room to be different than the ones he had seen before.


    All the rooms on the floor had the same design and the same set of furniture. But this room seemed to have been entirely changed. There were tassel curtains hanging in the room, with arge cultivation bed in the middle. The bed was crucial and had hundreds of runes carved on it, which were meant to enhance the cultivation experience. The smaller desk in the room had been reced by arge study desk which had writing instruments like a set of brushes, an inkstone and several ink sticks present on it.


    A stack of parchment papers could be seen on the side, along with a small shelf full of scrolls. Lin Mu noticed the faint scent of inking from the scrolls on the shelf, showing that they had been freshly written.


    ''Was she working?'' Lin Mu thought upon seeing a half written scroll on the table.


    "My work rarely stops." Lady Kang interrupted him, upon seeing his gaze.


    "Ah, I guess you have a lot of work." Lin Mu replied. "You''ve barely been here fifteen minutes." He said, recalling how long it had taken him to get here.


    "I do yes¡­ Running a business on the scale of the Great Kang Auction housees with a heavy workload." Lady Kang replied before gesturing to him to sit. "Come, take a seat." "Sure," Lin Mu said, sitting at the table which had been changed to arge one.


    The chairs had also been reced by them and now had a soft cushion along with a mild Qi channeling array that helped keep onefortable, even if they sat for long periods of time.


    The equipment was all of luxurious quality and showed the wealth of the woman.


    "So what did you want to talk to me about?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Your skills." Lady Kang jumped to it directly. "Your Spatial Skills, to be exact." She revealed.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu''s expression changed, not having expected this at all. "How do you¡­ know that?" he narrowed his eyes.


    "The auction for the Spiral ke crystal." Lady Kang replied. "You might have used the mask, but it''s hard to hide skills like those." She added.


    "You were there¡­" Lin Mu started to figure it out. "What were you doing there?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "I was, yes." Lady Kang replied. "That was the time when Qiao De had called me to discuss about the expedition." She answered.


    "Hmm¡­ and you just happened to follow me?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I don''t need to follow when I can sense it all from afar," Lady Kang smirked. "You were still within the scope of my Immortal sense and your way of fighting was shy enough too." She added.


    "So that''s how you confirmed it was me." Lin Mu hadn''t expected her to be someone from back then.


    "Your use of that bow and other weapons basically confirmed it all for me." Lady Kang stated. "If you wanted to really hide your skills, you should''ve avoided using them as well." She advised.


    ~Sigh~


    "It''s fine. That wasn''t my goal anyway." Lin Mu said after a moment. "I simply wished to increase my proficiency with the other skills I have. Rather than relying on my spatial skills." He exined.


    "So it was a self imposed restriction¡­ a challenge of sorts?" She questioned.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Hmm¡­ Cultivators who use the Spatial Element do tend to be reliant on them. Amon trend I''ve seen often." Lady Kang replied, catching Lin Mu''s intrigue. "I guess it is good that you did this. You''re already doing better than several other Spatial masters, I suppose." She praised in a genuine tone.


    "They do?" Lin Mu questioned. "You''ve seen more spatial masters?" he inquired.


    "Quite a lot¡­ Our Auction house sells enough spatial tools that we have our own set of spatial masters that make them." She answered, shocking Lin Mu. "Though they aren''t exactly spatial masters that have a proper affinity with the Spatial element." She added.


    "As in, they are Formation masters that can use some aspects of the Spatial element?" Lin Mu guessed what she was getting at.


    "Indeed." Lady Kang nodded her head. "So while they can make the spatial tools, and even some spatial formations, they aren''t actually true Spatial masters who have an affinity with the Spatial element." She rified.


    Listening to her words so far, Lin Mu started to figure out why she had asked to meet him here.


    ''Does she want to¡­'' a few thoughts wandered into Lin Mu''s mind.


    "But you¡­ You have a natural affinity to the Spatial element, don''t you?" Lady Kang asked with an amused expression. "I''ve seen the way you fought against the members of the Saber Battle union¡­ it was not speed, it was teleportation." She said, but Lin Mu stayed silent.


    "And teleportation at that level is not done by an Immortal tool intended for teleportation. At least it could not be used several times in a row like that. Plus, using it several times in a row like that would also leave behind spatial disturbance that could be detected by others.


    But I¡­ didn''t sense any. Stealthily using spatial skills like that is only possible for a cultivator who has an affinity with the space and also the proficiency to hide all that." Lady Kang gave her an analysis. "I''m right, aren''t I?" she questioned.

 Chapter 2054 A Commission From Lady Kang

    Lin Mu didn''t reply to Lady Kang''s right away. Instead, he kept silent for a minute. Lady Kang also didn''t seem to be in a hurry and let him process it all. Lin Mu processed the pros and cons of conversing further with her and also about confirming her theory. ''If she was interested in my Spatial skills and came all the way here searching for them, she definitely wants something from me.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He organized all the thoughts in his mind, before finally opening his mouth.


    "You are correct." Lin Mu confirmed directly.


    "That makes it easier." Lady Kang said, slight relief appearing on her face. "You probably figured out that I want something from you, didn''t you?" she asked.


    "I did. It is better that we just ce all the things out in the open." Lin Mu replied. "We are to head into an expedition for quite some time and it is best we have no apprehensions or conflict about each other." He stated, calmly.


    "Very well. I am of the same mind." Lady Kang responded. "And don''t worry, what I want to ask of you is of benefit to you too." She added.


    "So what is it?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious about the exact request.


    "I have amission for you. It is something only a true Spatial master can do¡­" The woman said, raising Lin Mu''s curiosity. "I wish for you to find something for me¡­ In the Void." She revealed.


    "In the void?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected a request like this at all. ''I thought she would ask me to make a spatial storage tool, or maybe fix a spatial array¡­ but this¡­'' he was astounded.


    "Yes, I want you to find an item in the void." Lady Kang confirmed.


    "You do know, that''s not a simple thing right?" Lin Mu said with slight apprehension. "The void isn''t exactly a small ce¡­ it is infinite." "Of course I do. I also know it is not something that can absolutely be done." Lady Kang responded. "But I know it can be done, when certain conditions are met." She added.


    "Let''s say I do ept it, but I''d at least need to know what I''m searching for and what part of the void is it supposed to be." Lin Mu replied. "It is only possible for me to search the Minor Void, the Lesser Void and to some extent the Great Void." He stated his limitation right away.


    "Of course, I have all that sorted out beforehand. And don''t worry, I won''t do something as unreasonable as searching the Greater Void or the Grand Void." Lady Kang assuaged Lin Mu''s concerns. "The item I am looking for is somewhere in the Lesser Void or the Great Void." She spoke.


    "You don''t know exactly?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "The item I''m asking you to look for was actually a Spatial Storage tool and it was lost in the Void during teleportation." Lady Kang revealed.


    "Hmm, so that''s why you said it could be either in the Lesser Void or the Great Void." Lin Mu somewhat understood now.


    "Yes. If the Spatial Storage tool managed to stay intact during the teleportation, it is probably in the Great Void." Lady Kang replied.


    "And if it broke, its contents were dispersed into the Lesser Void." Lin Mu added.


    "Indeed." Lady Kang replied. "What I want is actually a specific item from that spatial storage tool, but if you can get the entire ring, you can feel free to keep the rest of the items in it." She stated.


    ''If it''s a Spatial Storage tool, at least tracking it down will be a bit easier.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Though I''d need an approximate location of where it was lost.'' He reckoned.


    "So what item is it exactly?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "A seal. My n''s seal, to be urate." Lady Kang answered, surprising Lin Mu a bit. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    "Your n lost your seal?" Lin Mu knew that was a major mishap.


    A n seal was basically the symbol of authority and was usually held by the Patriarch of a n. Losing it could not only put the n in jeopardy but also lead to a great loss of face. "It wasn''t mistakenly lost." Lady Kang shook her head. "It was lost in a battle." She revealed.


    "Hmm¡­ tell me more." Lin Mu asked, hoping that she would. "The Seal was lost by the Patriarch of the Kang n four generations ago. Our n was involved in a conflict with several other powers back then, and the patriarch was ambushed. Being surrounded, he chose to use a long distance teleportation talisman to escape, but before he could, a Great Severance curse was cast on him.


    He managed to block the curse from hitting his vitals, but it attached to his arm. During the teleportation, the curse activated and severed his arm, which was lost in the teleportation channel." Lady Kang exined.


    "And the Spatial Storage ring was on that arm¡­" Lin Mu put it together. "Yes." Lady Kang affirmed.


    "But if the seal was lost four generations ago, that was tens of thousands of years ago, right?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling some doubts. "I don''t think a seal lost that long ago should be a cause for concern now. With a n as great as yours, you should have managed to forge a new seal by now." He expressed his doubts.


    "You are correct. The seal was lost nearly fifty thousand years ago, and our n has a new seal now." Lady Kang agreed. "But the seal that was lost wasn''t just the symbol of the n, it was much more special than that. It also held the power of authority over the entire formation spirit of the n." "Wait¡­ you don''t mean to say¡­" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.


    "Yes. The n''s formation spirit has been dormant since then. While it can work autonomously, we cannotmand it anymore. The n has tried for years, but we still cannot gain control over it." Lady Kang revealed.

 Chapter 2055 A Clan Conflict

    The information revealed by Lady Kang was concerning to hear. Lin Mu even wondered if this was fine to be revealed like this.


    "Are you sure you want to tell me this?" Lin Mu asked, just in case.


    "It''s fine." Lady Kang replied. "This hasn''t been a secret for a long time." She added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu replied, as he thought about the implications of it all.


    While he was thinking this though, something obvious became apparent to him.


    "Wait¡­ If you need to find the seal, why are you asking me?" Lin Mu questioned. "I''m sure with your n''s resources, finding a much more renowned Spatial Master shouldn''t be hard." He was rather doubtful.


    "There''s another reason why I''m asking you rather than utilizing my n''s connections." Lady Kang said, making Lin Mu look at her with full attention. "My n cannot know that I am looking for the seal. Or rather¡­ The other Branch Head cannot know." She added.


    Lin Mu felt like his hunch was right and there was indeed more to it.


    ''Some kind of internal conflict perhaps.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "So why is it that you need the seal?" Lin Mu questioned next, hoping to figure out more things from it.


    "The Kang n owns several businesses and not just the Auction house. It just so happens that the Auction house is more well known now under my control." Lady Kang started to speak. "But in addition to the Auction house, we also have a Merchant Union, an Alchemy pavilion, a Weapon and Immortal Tool Refinement hall, as well as an Immortal Herb farm. Each of these are run by different branches of the n, and at the top of them are branch heads." She exined.


    "Hmm¡­ So you are the head of the Auction house branch and cannot let the others find out about this?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "More specifically I cannot let the Mercenary Union Branch Head find out about it." She replied.


    "And why''s that?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Because he''s mypetitor in the position for the head of the entire n." Lady Kang revealed which almost made Lin Mu chuckle.


    ''It really was a n conflict.'' He hadn''t expected his guess to be this close.


    Still, Lin Mu didn''t think it was the time to shoot down the offer yet. He still wanted to see what could be obtained from this. Plus, it didn''t seem like amission that would lead to direct conflict with others, and as such he decided to listen to more information first.


    "So from what I''m getting¡­ You all arepeting for the position of the n head and the one that obtains the n seal will be one?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, that''s not correct. There is a recement n seal, it just isn''t the same as the original one." Lady Kang spoke. "While I might still be able to be n head without that, I won''t have all the power over the n. The n head right now is mostly a nominal position, with the other branches still having voting power.


    But it was not so in the past. The past n heads had full power over the decision making of the entire Kang n. Once the n seal was lost though, the branch of Kang n that used to rule, lost its support and the n''s power became divided.


    But I wish for it to reunite again." She exined in detail, her eyes overflowing with ambition.


    "I see¡­ and if others learn that you are searching for the Original n Seal, they will probably interfere in it." Lin Mu replied after listening to it all.


    "Indeed." Lady Kang nodded. "There''s a reason why the original n seal hasn''t been found even after all these years. The branches have a tacit understanding of not finding it if they wish to keep their power. They prevent each other from finding it as well.


    As such, using the n''s resources to find a proper Spatial Master to find the n seal is simply impossible. The only way left was for me to find someone not affiliated with the n and itswork, which was basically impossible since almost all Spatial masters are well known." She stated.


    "So that''s why you came after me¡­ Someone who hasn''t been known to the others." Lin Mu realized.


    "Indeed." Lady Kang nodded. "If you can help me find the original n seal, it''ll solidify my position as the absolute n Head of the Kang n, and for that I''ll be willing to pay a suitable cost." She said looking directly into Lin Mu''s eyes.


    Hearing this, an idea appeared in Lin Mu''s mind. ''Could that work?'' "Hmm¡­ What would be the limitation of the payment?" Lin Mu asked, narrowing his eyes.


    "Our n has vast connections across the Immortal realm along with the Immortal Court. Thus whether it be specific resources, pills, cultivation manuals or Qi skills, we''ll be able to find them. If you need rare spatial elemental resources, we can obtain those too¡­ Including Spatial Skills." Lady Kang answered with a slight smile. She knew her offer would tempt Lin Mu, especially thetter parts of it.


    ''Spatial Skills are the hardest to obtain. Even if one has a natural affinity with the Spatial Element, if they do not have suitable Spatial Skills, it is a waste.'' Lady Kang thought, but didn''t know that Spatial Skills held the least value in Lin Mu''s eyes.


    ''With Senior Xukong, what spatial skills would I even need that he cannot teach?'' Lin Muughed in his mind.


    "Forget all those." Lin Mu suddenly spoke. "Would you be able to obtain someone from the Immortal Court instead." He turned the conversation in another direction.


    "Yeah that is possible." Lady Kang nodded her head. "If you need an entry into the Immortal Court, or wish to be the disciple of an elder, that can be arranged too." She stated.


    But both of these things weren''t something Lin Mu needed either. Plus they were something he could very easily obtain if he wished to with his own abilities.N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.

 Chapter 2056 A Solution To Obtain The Vault

    2056 A Solution To Obtain The Vault


    Lin Mu was silent for a bit and didn''t answer the woman right away, which made Lady Kang wonder what he was thinking about.


    ''Is he deciding what reward to pick?'' She wondered, not knowing that Lin Mu''s request was about to throw her off.


    "How about the possession of an expert from the Immortal court?" Lin Mu questioned, making Lady Kang a bit confused.


    "Possession of an expert? Do you mean to say¡­." She figured out that Lin Mu didn''t mean an existing person.


    "They are dead, yes." Lin Mu nodded. "Ah, that should be possible." Lady Kang replied, "Who is this expert though?" she asked.


    "The Virtuous Cmity Daoist." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing that though, the expression ofdy Kang became still. Then a frown appeared on her face and she took out a jade slip from her Spatial Storage too. She held it for a couple of seconds, before a look of surprise appeared on her face.


    "Why do you want the possession of a rebel?" Lady Kang asked, feeling some apprehension.


    "Is it something you need to know?" Lin Mu replied instead.


    Lady Kang stared at him for about ten seconds before letting out a breath.


    "I do not." Lady Kang replied. "I won''t ask why you need the possessions from a person like that, as long as you can finish mymission." She knew it was best not to ask whatever reason that Lin Mu had.


    ''As long as he finds me the original n seal, the rest does not matter.'' Lady Kang said to herself.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu liked that she didn''t pry further. "If you can find me those, I don''t see why I can''t do this job for you." He gave his response.


    Hearing that, Lady Kang felt pleased as well. "Excellent." She said with a smile that was rather rare. If others were to see it, they would be mesmerized by it. Even for Lin Mu, it was pretty, but he didn''t pay attention to it as much since he was more distracted by the solution that had just dropped in front of him.


    ''And here I was wondering how I would go about finding the ring¡­ If Lady Kang can do this, it''ll be easier and won''t raise suspicion either.'' Lin Mu thought that using an established power to obtain them would be a lot better.


    "So what is it that you want as the reward?" Lady Kang questioned. "I know you want the possession of the Virtuous Cmity Daoist, but I still need to know more details." She added.


    "Of course." Lin Mu knew his words were a bit vague earlier. "What I want is actually a Vault that the Virtuous Cmity Daoist kept." He said before taking out a jade slip too.


    Lin Mu tapped on the jade slip, causing a Formation Screen to appear above it. ~shua~


    The formation screen flickered and an image appeared on it.


    "Huh, a top grade vault like this is certainly not easy to get." Lady Kang seemed to recognize it rather quickly. "It should also be blood bound, so others will not be able to open it. Are you sure you want this?" she asked after looking at the details.


    Seeing that Lady Kang seemed to know a bit about the vault type, felt like a green g to Lin Mu.


    ''If it is blood bound, then it''s even better. A higher chance that its contents are intact and the ring should be too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Yes, I want that vault." Lin Mu nodded. "I know what happened to the Virtuous Cmity Daoist and the aftermath of it." He added.


    "Finding the vault''s whereabouts will be difficult, but I should still be able to do it." Lady Kang replied. "Of course, it will take time. As I doubt many would be forthright with revealing its information. I''ll have to utilize our connections and some information pavilions." She exined.


    "That is fine." Lin Mu nodded. "Alright. Then as long as you give me your confirmation, and find me the original Kang n seal, I''ll find the vault for you." Lady Kang stated.


    "I agree." Lin Mu replied. "I''ll help you find the original Kang n seal." He assured.


    "Then with my name as Kang Yu Ai, I''ll find the vault as the payment." Lady Kang stated with confidence.


    With the twoing to an agreement, the atmosphere in the room eased up while a connection was also made.


    "Can I know a few more details about the job though?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Sure." Lady Kang nodded and spoke. Lin Mu continued to listen to hear and learned a lot more about the Kang n.


    He learned that the branches of the Kang n all had different names while Lady Kang was of the Yu Branch of the Kang n. It was also the same branch that used to rule the Kang n in the past. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    The n head that had lost the n seal was also from the Yu Branch and was the ancestor of Lady Kang.


    But after that incident, the other branches did not trust in them and the Yu Branch lost power. It took them many years to gain power again, but the Kang n was no longer the same.


    With the internal fracture, the Kang n was a n just in name.


    In reality, the branches were basically the same as different factions by now and were even spread across in different worlds.


    But in the recent ten thousand years, the Yu branch has managed to rise again with talented people leading it. The best among them was none other than Lady Kang, who had be the youngest Branch Head.


    Under her lead, she had brought the Great Kang Auction house to the top and let it be known across the Immortal worlds.


    Hearing this though, a question appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "How long have you been the Branch Head, Lady Kang?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "About six thousand years." Lady Kang answered. "Why?"

 Chapter 2057 The Timescape Of An Immortal

    2057 The Timescape Of An Immortal


    Lady Kang''s words were surprising for Lin Mu.


    ''Six thousand years¡­ She''s already been leading her branch for that long.'' Lin Mu found it quite impressive. ''She said her branch only started to rise again about ten thousand years ago and considering how long she''s been leading it, more than half the effort has been done by her.'' He realized.


    It just showed how much work Lady Kang had put into all this. This also reflected in her cultivation base as she was at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. ''If she took charge back then, she must have already been cultivating for quite some time before that.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    He didn''t know how old Lady Kang was, but considering the fact that one would have to be a strong immortal to be able to lead the branch, Lin Mu guessed that she might already be at least a couple thousand years old by the time she became a branch head.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t know what her cultivation base was back then, but considering her current state, he wondered if her cultivation had actually been slowed down.


    While Lin Mu thought all this, the gaze of the woman didn''t move from him which brought him back.


    "Six thousand years is quite some time. It''s impressive you''ve managed to aplish this much." Lin Mu replied to her. "Managing your n and the Auction house while also cultivating does not seem easy." He added.


    "Ah yes¡­ it is a w one has to ept once they take on a position of authority." Lady Kang said with a hint of mncholy in her eyes. "Still, for you to reach the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm in this time. I suppose your talent is about the same as Crown Prince Feng Shun." Lin Mu guessed.


    "Haha, no." Lady Kang shook her head. "Crown Prince Feng Shun is a lot more talented. He started cultivating after me and yet managed to reach the Sixth Tribtion Stage in that time." She revealed.


    Hearing that basically gave confirmation to Lin Mu that Lady Kang was even older than the Crown Prince.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu responded, knowing there wasn''t much more he could say here.


    ~Sigh~


    "Anyways, I''ll have to get things in order after we are done with the expedition." Lady Kang replied. "You will have toe to my world for that." She added.


    "Hmm¡­ I have a few things I need to do before that." Lin Mu said. "I''ve promised a few people I''ll be visiting them first." He added.


    "Where are you heading to first?" Lady Kang asked.


    "I''ll be heading to the Silent Lotus World with Monk Hushu." Lin Mu replied. "After that, I''ll probably be in seclusion for a bit."


    "I see, that''ll work." Lady Kang replied. "It''ll take me some time to process everything, so you can finish up what you want to do in the Silent Lotus World first." But by the time she said this, she saw a strange look on Lin Mu''s face.


    "What is it?" Lady Kang asked.


    "The seclusion willst a hundred years at least," Lin Mu answered, knowing that it was probably best to activate the Well of Slumber after the expedition was over.


    He hadn''t done so for a while, and thankfully enough, he hadn''t hit the natural limit of the innate skill yet. Lin Mu didn''t wish to fall asleep in the middle of something important, thus it was better he did it himself before that.


    "Just a hundred years?" But much to his surprise, the woman didn''t find it strange.


    "Could be a bit more, but about a hundred years." Lin Mu replied. "Is that too much?" he asked.


    "I thought you were going to say a thousand years or more." Lady Kang replied. "Hundred years is nothing. It''s going to take me longer just to prepare everything. Also, traveling to my world is going to take about twenty years too." She exined.


    "That long?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that.


    Unlike the other immortals, his scale of time hadn''t shrunk yet since he had lived barely a fraction of what they had.


    "Do you think it''ll be simple getting information from the Immortal Court?" Lady Kang raised her brows. "Even with me using my connections, it''ll take time to get through the bureaucracy. Plus, it isn''t an emergency, thus we cannot force them to act quickly. Besides, doing that will also raise their suspicions.


    You are trying to get the vault of a rebel¡­ that isn''t something that they will just ignore if we force their hand. It''s best to take it slow." She exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu was still stuck to the time frame of a mortal and was finally limatized to the real immortal life. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "Also, finding the coordinates where the n seal was lost will also take time. You need those before you can search, right?" Lady Kang asked.


    "Yeah, I''ll at least need the location where the teleportation array was activated." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I can follow it from there." "Yeah, that will take some effort to find as well." Lady Kang replied.


    "Didn''t your n already investigate it in the past?" Lin Mu questioned, thinking that they should have already had it.


    "They did. But the ce where it happened is no longer there." Lady Kang answered.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    "They were in the space when the ambush happened and were forced tond on an asteroid." Lady Kang replied. "Do you think that asteroid will still be in the same ce after all that time?" She questioned.


    "Ah yes¡­" Lin Mu grasped that this was not a fixed ce like a world, but the ever shifting expanse of the space. He had learned quite a lot about it from Senior Xukong and knew that thews changed quite a bit once they were in the space. Even the worlds themselves weren''t actually stuck in once ce and weres that revolved around a sun. There were exceptions to this, of course, but they were far and few in between.


    "I guess I have plenty of time, then." Lin Mu stated.


    "About two hundred years, give or take." Lady Kang estimated.


    ""Hmm, that should be enough." Lin Mu calcted in his mind.


    The two discussed a few more details about the n before finally parting. Lin Mu left the room about four hourster, finding that Min Ju and Elder Ho were still standing there.


    "Daoist Mu Lin," Min Ju cupped her hands in greeting.


    "I''ll be heading to my room. You can contact me if you need something." He said before leaving.


    Lin Mu found most of the corridors to be empty, showing that most of the people had returned to their rooms as well.


    "Two hundred years, huh¡­ things are getting faster and slower at the same time." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he stood in front of his room.


    ~Creak~


    He opened the door and entered, ncing at the empty bed. He sat down on it cross legged before taking a deep breath.


    ~huu~


    "Time to organize all this mess." Lin Mu said before directly entering his ring.


    ~SHUA~


    He reappeared inside the endless expanse of the ring, where silvery streaks of Spatial Energy flew around. A tall pir of glowing light could be seen in front of him, which was none other than the altar located in the center of the ring.


    It had changed once Lin Mu had obtained the second ring, but the altar had not done anything new after that.


    ''After getting the Murdering Heart Sutra, the Altar has been silent. And neither has it given me any new spatial skills.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Perhaps there are no more spatial skills for it to give me.'' He wondered.


    He knew there were more Sutras, and that he would only get them when he satisfied certain conditions. But the Spatial Skills seemed to have stopped at five. "Or maybe¡­ does it want me to learn new ones on my own?" Lin Mu muttered to himself. ~Sigh~


    "It doesn''t matter¡­ I have plenty of time for it." Lin Mu said, before waving his hands.


    ~HUALA~


    It caused waves to spread in the ring''s space and summoned all the items that were stored inside it.


    Usually they were spread around when Lin Mu stored them and there was no order to where they were kept, unless Lin Mu specifically ced them somewhere.


    This was also why he didn''t know how many things he actually had in the ring.


    "How do I do this now?" Lin Mu scratched his head as he nced at the literal mountains of items in front of him.


    There were things he had gotten back in the Xiaofan world mixed with the things he had gotten here in the Rust Sky World.


    "Perhaps I should separate them into two broad categories¡­ Mortal and Immortal." Lin Mu finally knew where to start.


    Chapter is fixed now

 Chapter 2058 Doing An Inventory

    While Lin Mu had been in the Immortal world for quite some time now, it didn''t mean that he had only obtained Immortal items here. There were still plenty of Spirit herbs, spirit fruits and spirit stones that people used. After all, it was a lot more economical to use Spirit Stones to power formations that weren''t too important.


    As such, they were still in use and there were even several mines present everywhere. Of course, their value was a lot less than it was in a Mortal world.


    Even for False Immortal, having a few million High Grade or even Peak Grade Spirit Stones was nothing.


    In the case of Lin Mu, that number was taken to a ridiculous number.


    "Just how many Spirit stones did I even umte? Didn''t I use them a lot before?" Lin Mu said to himself, as he nced at what was basically a four hundred meter tall mountain made just out of Spirit stone.


    A dense cloud of spirit Qi was swirling around it and it looked like the cloud had been there for quite some time now since the mountain, which should have been individual pieces of spirit stones, had turned into a single mass.


    It was clear that the spirit Qi clouds had rained down Liquid Spirit Qi over the mountain several times over such that the pile had be a single entity.


    And this wasn''t even the only mountain of Spirit stone Lin Mu had; it was just the tallest one.


    There were eight more ''hills'' of Spirit stones too, though they weren''t on the same level as this mountain since they hadn''t condensed into a single mass yet. Some of them were partially fused together, but they were still piles of Spirit stones.


    "Okay¡­ Let''s get the list started¡­ One solid mountain of Spirit Stone and eight hills." Lin Mu held a scroll in his hand and wrote using his Qi. "Check."


    These were just the spirit stones that he had looted and were left open. Lin Mu still had to remove the spirit stones that were kept in the hundreds of spatial storage tools he had gathered.


    "Maybe I should have starred with these instead." Lin Mu frowned and made a gathering gesture.


    ~SHUA~


    All the Spatial Storage tools floated over to him and Lin Mu used his Immortal sense to link up with all of them.


    ~humm~


    Spatial fluctuations radiated out of all the rings, which intersected and created arge wave that spread across the area. But once the wave exceeded a certain range, the Spatial Energy Streaks overpowered them, erasing them out of existence.


    ~Rumble~


    But that was just the start as a momentter, a rain started.


    And it was no normal rain¡­ It was a rain of treasure!


    Items started pouring out of the Spatial Storage tools, whether they be rings, bracelets, belts, pendants, earrings, nes, cors or more.


    Even for an experienced immortal, the scene would be stunning. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    There were various herbs, pills, millions of spirit and immortal tools, along with an endless number of spirit stones and immortal stones. An area of almost two kilometers around Lin Mu was now cluttered with piles upon piles of items.


    One tall Spirit Stone mountain along with eight hills stood tall amongst the non-homogeneous sea of items.


    ~Sigh~


    "Okay¡­ this was much worse than I thought." Lin Mu held his head for a few seconds before covering the area with his immortal sense.


    ~SHUA~


    He waved his hand and used his Immortal sense to sort the items out. He first separated out the bulk resources such as the spirit stones, ores and more.


    Soon, four more hills of Spirit Stones formed along with more hills of ores, stacks of metal ingots and colorful hills of gemstones.


    "Okay, that''s one part done." Lin Mu said and snapped his fingers.


    ~SNAP~


    The hills of spirit stone all disappeared and were teleported four kilometers away in the section that Lin Mu had designated as the ''mortal'' area. Once that was done, Lin Mu repeated the same for the other Mortal Resources.


    For specific resources like Spirit Herbs, Spirit fruits and pills, Lin Mu sorted them into a smaller section of ''refined'' resources. Thankfully, there were more than enough shelves and other furniture pieces in the ring to organize them as well.


    Even then, the sheer amount of herbs and Pills Lin Mu had umted was a high amount.


    Though unlike the Spirit stones, Lin Mu actually used some of the spirit herbs and fruits. They were mostly used in cooking as a voring ingredient and as such still had use. These ones, Lin Mu moved to a ''cooking'' section.


    But that still left plenty of spirit herbs that weren''t of a use to Lin Mu which he sorted based on their type.


    Then there were the various cultivation manuals and skill books. These Lin Mu took a lot more seriously and created a library department in the ring. This would be abined department and would have different levels depending on theplexity of the book.


    Books meant for those in the Body Tempering being in the lowest level while those intended for Immortals at the very top.


    This was also the section that Lin Mu curated carefully, as he also revised whether he had missed any book.


    "There''s actually quite a lot I haven''t read yet." Lin Mu didn''t ignore the books meant for cultivators below the Immortal realm as he knew they still had useful bits of information that coulde in handy.


    He was tempted to read them right away and add the condensed note to his special jade slip, but resisted it.


    "I need to finish sorting everything first." Lin Mu said to himself. "I''ll keep reading as a treat for thest." He decided.


    Hour after hour went by as Lin Mu engrossed himself in doing an inventory in the ring.


    Bit by bit, the sea of items was cleared out and the empty expanse of the ring started to take on a new look.

 Chapter 2059 Lin Mu’s ’Hoard’

    <h4>Chapter 2059 Lin Mu''s ''Hoard''</h4>


    Five days had passed since Lin Mu had taken on the initiative of sorting out the items in his ring.


    He had made great progress in it, and theyout of the ring had changed quite a bit. If one looked at it from above, they would find a particr pattern to it all. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    At the very center of the ring was the Altar which was surrounded by its barrier. Past this, there were six circles that surrounded the boundaries of the altar. Each of these six circles contained items of different types. If one looked closely, they would see that these circles were actuallyposed of hundreds of shelves organized immactely.


    Among these six circles, one circle was the biggest and it was none other than the one filled with all the books and other documents.


    It was actually not a circle but a tower of bookshelves that was about five hundred meters tall!


    This was the library section that Lin Mu had made and organized personally.


    The circle next to it was smaller than it and wasposed of shelves that were filled with Alchemical pills. All of these pills were simrly sorted into different categories, such as Healing Pills, Cultivation pills, Qi restoration pills, supportive pills and more.


    They were ced in a descending order too, with those intended for immortals at the top and others at the lower levels. Unlike the Library shelf Tower, this one was just a hundred meters tall.


    The third circle next to it was actually wider in diameter, as well as taller in height because it had bigger shelves in it. This was the section that held all the Weapons and tools inside it. And because they were inherently bigger in sizepared to books and pills, they took up more space too.


    The fourth circle was filled with shelves that all contained various herbs while the fifth circle was intended for fruits. These two were about the same size as the circle of pills but were taller than them, being about a hundred meters tall too.


    The Sixth and final circle was special in that it wasn''t intended for a specific item type. It was also the smallest circle and had all the items that Lin Mu deemed to not fit in any other categories.


    Some of the dangerous and unknown items were also kept here, which Lin Mu intended to study further. Important items like Lin Mu''s Immortal weapons, Wonder Seeker, Ocean Raker and Afternoon Pine were also kept here along with things like the Wooden Slip that contained the memoirs of the Lost immortal.


    Though at the center of this circle was the most peculiar item. It was this very item that was the reason behind why Lin Mu had made this circle.


    "This great sword¡­" Lin Mu looked at the unique greatsword that wasposed entirely out of runes and formations.


    It was the same runaway great sword that would not let anyone hold it. Since it was lying here peacefully, Lin Mu simply decided to leave it be and made this circle surrounding it.


    ''I''m still nowhere close to understating this great sword.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he nced at the ever changing runes on the weapon.


    Even if he could understand the individual runes on it, together they made no sense. They were soplex that even Xukong had a hard time figuring out what the thing was in the first ce.


    He had described the weapon to be abination of gibberish runes.


    And yet, they were still being held together somehow and were stable. Not just that, but the weapon could respond to external stimuli and didn''t let anyone touch it freely.


    "It''s certainly not a spirit weapon, or an Immortal weapon¡­ it''s hard to categorize it into anything. How did it end up in the Xiaofan world?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    It was one of the questions that had been bothering him for a long time, but he was unable to find an answer to it.


    He also didn''t wish to test out more with the great sword, as he reckoned it would just run away again and wreck the ce.


    ''I barely finished organizing all this. I don''t want the great sword to make a mess of it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and left the strange weapon alone.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu flew up and nced at the result of his hard work.


    Beyond the six circles, which Lin Mu had now named as Library tower, pill tower, herb tower, fruit tower, weapon tower and special tower, there were mountains.


    These mountains were basically raw resources that hadn''t been refined yet such as various ores, metal ingots, crystal, beast materials as well as the Spirit Stones and Immortal stones. There were roughly eight hundred mountains along with over two thousand smaller hills spread in a radial manner, with the altar as the center.


    Of course, the more valuable a resource, the closer it was to the center while the lower value materials were in the outer rings.


    The surprising part though, was that the biggest mountain in the ce was in the outermost ring which was about six thousand meters tall. It was the one with the lowest value and was nothing but a mountain full of dirt.


    That''s right¡­ Just dirt.


    "How did I gather that much dirt?" Lin Mu couldn''t figure it out as he nced at the mountains.


    And the dirt mountain wasn''t alone, with there being more such mountainsposed of different rocks that had no value. Of course, even these mountains were not small, being at least a thousand meters tall or more.


    "I guess one can call this a hoard?" Lin Mu said to himself.


    Even though the soil and other rocks had no value, Lin Mu didn''t think about throwing them away. Since he had an endless amount of space in the ring anyways, he reckoned he may as well keep them here.


    "Someday I''ll have a use for them." Lin Mu reckoned.

 Chapter 2060 Loot Goblin

    While Lin Mu was observing his ''hoard'' and marveling at his organization skills, a silver sphere manifested behind him.


    ~shua~


    The sphere faded away and the figure of Xukong was revealed.


    "You know, there was once a person that said the same thing. He kept on hoarding and hoarding until one day he had hoarded several world''s worth of stuff.


    They called him the Great Loot Goblin who could put a dragon to shame." Xukong spoke, feeling very amused.


    "Oh? There was actually someone like that?" Lin Mu was intrigued by the little story.


    "Indeed. They even say that he is still hoarding to this day." Xukong replied.


    "He must''ve hoarded a lot right? How much would it be today?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Possibly a thousand worlds worth or more." Xukong guessed, having no idea. "Though it''s good that you finally got to this." He said finding it much cleaner than before.


    "Ah yeah. It does feel quite good." Lin Mu replied. "I feel a sense of satisfaction that I can''t quite describe." He added.


    "Mmhmm, you did well." Xukong praised.


    "Did I disturb you, though?" Lin Mu asked. "I didn''t wish to wake you up." He said.


    Xukong was usually cultivating in one part of the ring while absorbing the Spatial Energy, and Lin Mu didn''t want to break his focus. Thus he hadn''t spoken to him while he was organizing all the things.


    "It''s fine." Xukong stated. "I wanted to see the final result."


    "Took much longer than I thought." Lin Mu said, checking the time. "It''s been about six days now."


    "That''s still a lot faster than what it would take you outside the ring." Xukong chuckled. "Imagine manually moving all those items."


    "Oh¡­" Lin Mu could feel the dread simply by thinking about it. "I can at least teleport items instantly and rearrange them with a thought here. Outside¡­ no way I''d be done, even in a couple of months." He stated.


    In the ring, Lin Mu had absolute control over the items that were present within it. As such, teleporting them with a mere thought was nothing and took no effort from him.


    While thinking of all this, Lin Mu was reminded of something.


    "Ah! Senior, I found a way to obtain the third ring." Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "You did?" Xukong asked before checking the memory that Lin Mu had just shared with him.


    After seeing it, he learned about the conversations that Lin Mu had with Lady Kang.


    "Seems like you''ve obtained a small fortune." Xukong said.


    "Not exactly. I still need to finish the work that Lady Kang asked me for." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hahah! You got nerve thinking it is something impossible with me around." Xukong couldn''t help butugh.


    "You''re willing to help me, senior?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    From what he could recall, Xukong wished for Lin Mu to learn on his own and limited the amount of influence he had on it all.


    "Of course. You are searching for the third ring which is something beyond the normal scope of things. The ring is something even I cannotprehend, thus I''d be a fool not to assist you." Xukong replied, making Lin Mu a bit relieved.


    Having heard that Lin Mu was content and his hidden anxiety vanished.


    "Though considering the time it has been, finding it will certainly be a bit hard." Xukong admitted. "The void is a fickle ce, and it is hard to estimate where anything goes." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll try to get the closest coordinates possible." Lin Mu replied.


    "We''ll see how that goes," Xukong said, letting Lin Mu think about the rest. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    But while Lin Mu was doing this, Xukong''s thoughts went to the woman Lin Mu had been with a while ago.


    ''Hmm¡­ that woman actually dares toe out of her n¡­ I gotta say, she''s probably the bravest woman I''ve seen with her condition.'' Xukong thought to himself, thinking about Lady Kang.


    Lin Mu had no idea that Xukong seemed to have different thoughts about Lady Kang.


    ''Though for someone of her physique to be that ambitious¡­ She''s either very confident or na?ve.'' Xukong thought, looking at Lin Mu. ''She has no idea the kind of risk she is at, merely being in the vicinity of others like him.'' He reckoned.


    Xukong didn''t speak about this though, letting the woman keep her privacy. He also thought Lin Mu had no need to know about something like that for the time being.


    The spider watched, as Lin Mu finished his work and finalized theyout of the ring. There were now multiple towers in the ring, each having a different function, and it was something unlike anything that had been seen before.


    The closestparison would be a sect, but a sect was much more widespread and also had tens of thousands of people.


    If onepared the area that the towers had taken in the ring around the altar, it would be about the same as a small to medium sect in a mortal world. As such, it didn''t feel much to him, and he simply felt like it was his own personal abode.


    "An abode, but infinitesimally expandable." Lin Mu said with a smirk.


    Having done that, Lin Mu touched up on some of the things he had kept forst and finally moved onto the treat.


    ''Finally¡­ time to read all the things I had been waiting for.'' Lin Mu thought and went to the library tower.


    There, Lin Mu read all the books he had been desiring too and analyzed them as well. He took his time doing all that, and took out his personal jade slip to add his notes. Day after day passed and it was now the fourteenth day since Lin Mu had entered his ring.


    Lin Mu was nowhere close to finishing the mortal books in his ring. There were simply so many books in it, that he had basically not even seen them due to them being in spatial storage rings. But now he was stopped by a particr thing.

 Chapter 2061 Discovering An Old Theory

    In all the books that Lin Mu had acquired in the Library Tower he found something that caught his eye. "Huh¡­ there''s something like this?" Lin Mu found a unique book.


    It was a book he had read about in the Immortal World, but now that he was re-reading all the older books, he found that there were actually links to it in the mortal worlds too!


    That book was actually from Xiaofan world too, but Lin Mu had never read it before. He had only acquired it at the end, during his conflict with Gu Yao and had been missed among the many items he had.


    After all, with the sheer amount of items he had acquired during it all, it would be strange that Lin Mu knew exactly about all that he had.


    Especially in the case of a rather mundane book that had basically nor Qi fluctuation and seemed to have been written by a mortal. If not for the content, there was no way Lin Mu would have even discovered it.


    "Why would someone write it in this format?" Lin Mu questioned, looking at the leather-bound book.


    The book was about three inches thick, and was handwritten. There was not a single trace of Qi in it, and was made out of mortal materials. It would be very easy for a cultivator to miss it due to itsposition.


    It was the same case for Lin Mu and he had only discovered it due to his urge to organize.


    The book that Lin Mu had found was a simpleption of insights that a certain cultivator had during his lifetime.


    Though the main crux of it all was a certain concept.


    It was a concept that basically talked about multiplicative potential of the elements over the long term. It stated that as long as materials of arithmetically higher gain were utilized, a multiplicatively greater gain could be obtained depending on the technique that one cultivated.


    Of course, this was just a theory that its creator was unable to fully verify. But to Lin Mu, it was an entirely different thing.


    "This person actually managed to figure it out, despite being a Dao Shell realm expert?" Lin Mu muttered to himself, having read the book.


    This info wasn''t foreign to him, but was something he hadn''t paid much attention to. But now that he was reading it again, a few new thoughts appeared in his mind.


    ''The Theory states that for a process that requires a specific type of cultivation resource, using materials that steadily increase in strength are better than using vast jumps in quality. If this works for refinement¡­ would this work for cultivation too?'' Lin Mu questioned himself.


    He did this because he had a technique that was a good representative of this.


    ''If this works, doesn''t this mean, I can actually optimize the Omnicore Ascendancy?'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was the Auxiliary skill that the Second ring had granted to Lin Mu. If the Nine Divine Heart Sutras were the auxiliary skill for Qi cultivation, then the Omnicore Ascendancy was the perfect skill for Body cultivation.


    It would result in a qualitative skill that would grant one a natural affinity to the elements that they condensed cores of.


    Lin Mu had the natural affinity to Metal Earth and Space as of now.


    Even for fire, he did not have the total natural affinity but was merelypatible with.


    As such, he couldn''t help but imagine what kind of thing it would be if he managed to get an affinity to the elements that were described within Omnicore Ascendancy.


    ''Here I thought, I would need arge amount of items to start off the technique.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''But if the theory of this book holds up true, it would mean that I don''t need a heavy investment right away. I can actually start small, and as long as it ispatible, it would work out.'' He reckoned.


    In a way, the book basically described how one would make a foundation.


    One would have to start small, and expand upon it with basic materials until they could grow bigger and stack it tall.


    It was the same in the case here, where one could start with weaker and simpler resources, before using resources that were slightlyplex on top of it. These resources that werepatible would continue to stack, until there was a significant gain.


    Of course, just reading did not mean that Lin Mu had trust in it.


    "All this is just theory, if I am to verify it, I need to actually test it out in the real world." Lin Mu stated, turning his gaze to one of the towers he had made.


    It was the Herb tower and held all the herbs he had gathered over all these years. "Since the Omnicore Ascendancy allows me to use basically any elemental materials, I may as well use the herbs I have a low chance of using now." Lin Mu said to himself, before moving towards it.


    Upon arriving there, Lin Mu directly went to the lowest section of ''mortal'' herbs. ''Hmm¡­ since it states I can use all resources, I should start with the lowest, shouldn''t I?'' Lin Mu thought and searched for the ''worst'' herb in the section.


    He ended up in the wood section that had the most herbs.


    Being nts in general, there was an abundance of wood elemental herbs whether they be spirit herbs or immortal herbs. Thus it was understandable why this was Lin Mu''s first stop.


    "The lowest quality herb, let''s see¡­" Lin Mu opened a specific drawer and pulled out a bunch of dried leaves. "Eight Lobed Mellow Coriander." He muttered, looking at the herb. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    It was a wood elemental herb that was barely ssified as a spirit herb. It was something even mortals could consume and they often did, unknowingly due to the herb acting as a voring agent.


    Lin Mu sniffed its fragrance while holding it in his hand.


    "No harm in testing it out."

 Chapter 2062 Testing The Theory

    Lin Mu recalled the Mnemonic of Omnicore Ascendancy that was deep within his memories.


    It was directly imprinted onto his mind by the Altar and as such, it was fully remembered by him by instinct. He activated the Mnemonic silently and targeted the Eight Lobed Mellow coriander in his hand.


    At first, nothing happened, and the herb stayed stationary. But then, a few secondster, the herb started to float.


    ~shua~


    It rose from Lin Mu''s hand and glowed in a faint green light before dissipating entirely. Its body broke apart, leaving behind tiny green wisps of light. They hovered over Lin Mu''s hand for a second before floating towards his chest.


    Silently they entered the middle right side of his chest and disappeared into it.


    From the outside, there was no other change, and even on the inside, there didn''t seem to be much of a difference. But when Lin Mu used his Immortal sense to track the green wisps of light, he found them traveling to his liver.


    The liver belonged to the wood element, and as such the wood elemental energy from the Eight Lobed Mellow Coriander went there.


    ''It''s gathering.'' Lin Mu found that the small wisps reached the center of the liver.


    There they clumped together and started to condense. Their glow started to fade the smaller they got, and after a certain point it just lost all illumination. At this point, Lin Mu couldn''t even sense where the energy had gone.


    ''It''s definitely there¡­ I just can''t sense it with how minuscule it has be.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''At the very least, the technique activated as it was intended.'' He was assured that this could work.


    ~creak~creak~creak~


    Wanting to test this out further, Lin Mu willed tens of drawers to open. ~shua~


    More herbs started to float out from the drawers and floated around Lin Mu. Half of these herbs were still Eight Lobed Mellow Coriander and Lin Mu wished to see just what was the effective limit.


    "Time to increase the amount." Lin Mu muttered and held half of the bunches of Eight Lobed Mellow Coriander.


    He activated the Mnemonic of the Omnicore Ascendancy once more, letting it do its work.


    ~shua~


    Just like before, the bunch of the herb floated up and dissipated, turning into wisps of green light.


    The wisps of light entered Lin Mu''s liver once more, and clumped together. Because a higher amount of herb was used, the energy was more and thus the clump was also bigger. This time, Lin Mu observed it with more focus and watched as the clump continued to condense. It shrank and shrank until it was smaller than a speck of dust. It reached a point where even Lin Mu''s superior senses could not perceive it.


    Before he was using wood elemental spirit herbs that were intended for those at the core condensation realm and below. But now he was using those that would usually be consumed by Nascent soul realm cultivators.


    ~shua~


    And once the energy was absorbed into his liver, the effect was certainly different.


    "It is still present there¡­ About half the size of a spec of dust¡­" Lin Mu got a better result.


    The energy that had been gathered was still small enough to not be physically visible, but Lin Mu''s immortal sense picked up on it. From before, its size had increased, which showed that the technique was indeed working as intended.


    "I''ll keep this up until I have a ''visible'' result." Lin Mu decided and a serious look appeared on his face.


    He gazed at the tall tower of shelves and waved his hand.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The herbs all started to fly out of the shelves in a systematic manner. From the lower quality to a higher quality, they lined up in front of Lin Mu.


    ~WHOOSH~ Lin Mu kept his hand extended, letting the herb touch it and be turned into wooden energy. The energy would then enter the liver, while the next herb approached and repeated the process. Like this, a cycle was soon created, as the herbs started to be consumed fast. It was like Lin Mu had turned into a factory, while the herbs were being fed to it with an invisible conveyor belt.


    One herb per second, five herbs per second, ten herbs per second!


    The process sped up, the more Lin Mu used the Mnemonic of Omnicore Ascendancy. His mind was split into several tasks, with one part using the technique, one observing his liver, and one calcting the amount of herbs that were used.


    Minute after minute passed, and soon two days had passed.


    In this time, the wood elemental energy within Lin Mu''s liver had be visible. It was now twice the size of a spec of dust!


    Not just that, but Lin Mu could actually ''see'' it now. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    "It''s really there¡­" Lin Mu watched with his immortal sense.


    The energy had turned into a single green point within his Liver. It was of course still very small, and hard to see. But it was certainly there and had a certain presence to it.


    ''Though there are no actual effects on my body from it.'' Lin Mu realized it would take a lot more for the effects to show.


    So far, the total amount of herbs that Lin Mu had consumed was already over four hundred kilograms.


    "I''m supposed to form a core with this¡­ at this point it is just a dot¡­ I guess I need tons more wood elemental energy." Lin Mu understood.

 Chapter 2063 A Mistake And Learning

    Lin Mu knew that he would need a lot of resources to practice the Omnicore Ascendancy. But what he didn''t know was that the sheer amount would exceed his imagination.


    "I''ve emptied out seventy percent of the Wood Elemental herbs." Lin Mu muttered as he looked at the empty open shelves.


    Twenty five days had passed since Lin Mu had entered the ring, and he had been practicing the Omnicore Ascendancy nonstop, while alsoprehending it further. Most of the drawers were open in the wood elemental section and stacked straight up in the towner. It basically showed how far he had progressed.


    Other than the wood elemental herbs that he couldn''t use due to simply hitting the quantity limit, Lin Mu had basically used them till they were exhausted. He had started from the most basic, and was now at the False Immortal realm.


    "I guess this will be the Transition point¡­ Let''s see how much effect something above the spirit realm has." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    ~shua~


    An immortal herb that was in the form of a thick and sulent leaf flew out from one of the upper shelves. It was light green in color and had multiple thin spines on it. "Spiny Immortal Bedonna¡­ Rather poisonous." Lin Mu picked a different choice.


    Unlike the other herbs which were mostly beneficial in nature and were used in pills and medicines, the Spiny Immortal Bedonna was a poisonous herb and was very dangerous. Even for First or second tribtion stage immortals, it could easily kill them in small doses and those above might still be debilitated.


    But even if it was poisonous didn''t mean that it wasn''t of the Wood Element.


    Lin Mu was curious whether something like this would work for Omnicore Ascendancy too. ''In a way its potency is actually higher than other herbs above its level. But if it is just the wood element within it that Omnicore Ascendancy needs, then this should still work.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    If it worked out, Lin Mu would have another source of resources that he could utilize for the technique. It would basically be expanding his options and would speed up the process.


    "Here goes nothing¡­" Lin Mu took a deep breath and activated Omnicore Ascendancy. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    ~SHUA~


    This time, the process took a bit longer. The Spiny Immortal Bedonna floated up and started to glow. It hovered for a bit before finally starting to dissipate. ''Huh?'' But when it did, Lin Mu saw that there weren''t just green wisps of light there. ''There are dark blue wisps too¡­ what element is that?'' he wondered.


    The green light wisps were clearly the wood element as established earlier, but the dark blue wisps did not seem like the water element at least.


    Feeling a bit apprehensive, Lin Mu raised his focus and let both the wisps to be absorbed into his body.


    ~shua~


    It was still the size of a grain of sand, but it was fractionally bigger. Lin Mu could barely estimate it to be around ten percent increase.


    ''Still small, but a steady increase.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With a more quantifiable increase, Lin Mu now wished to see the limits of false immortal herbs. He drew out another leaf of the Spiny Immortal Bedonna and used Omnicore Ascendancy. Separating out the two essences, Lin Mu absorbed the good one and left the bad one behind.


    ''Hmm¡­ ten percent increase again.'' Lin Mu observed before repeating the process.


    Three leafs¡­ four leafs¡­ five leafs¡­


    The increase in the sand grain''s size was ten percent each time, until the sixth time.


    ~shuuuu~


    The Spiny Immortal Bedonna simply dissipated and didn''t turn into wood element.


    "So five''s the limit¡­ lower than the spirit herbs but considering the overall higher energy, I guess it is still a new gain." Lin Mu analyzed.


    He added this information to his notes and moved onto another herb. This immortal herb wasn''t exactly poisonous, but could be overwhelming for some cultivators.


    "Broad Leaf Immortal Nepenthes." Lin Mu muttered the name of the carnivorous immortal herb that exclusively ate beasts as nourishment. Because of its unique diet. Not only did the Broad Leaf Immortal Nepenthes contain the wood element, but also had high vitality. But this high vitality was vtile and could end up harming normal immortal Qi cultivators.


    One needed a tough body in the form of a body cultivator, or suppress the effects of the Broad Leaf Immortal Nepenthes with other herbs. For most immortal Qi cultivators, the herb was turned into a dual immortal Qi restoration as well as a healing pill.


    But for Body Cultivators, it could be consumed to progress their body cultivation. Thus the Broad Leaf Immortal Nepenthes was actually quite a valuable herb, and with its diet of beasts, it was not cheap to grow either for most individual cultivators.


    But Lin Mu had a decent stock of them which he had bought in the capital city along with several other herbs. ~shua~


    He activated the Omnicore Ascendancy and watched as the Broad Leaf Immortal Nepenthes broke down into pure elements.


    There were the green wisps of wood element, but along with it were vibrant red wisps.


    This time though, Lin Mu could reorganize it. ''The blood element¡­'' The amount was quite low, as there were just a couple such red wisps, but they were still recognizable to him.


    ''The blood element isn''t part of the Omnicore Ascendancy¡­ what kind of effect will this have?'' Lin Mu now wondered.

 Chapter 2064 [Bonus] Growing The Wood Core

    <h4>Chapter 2064 [Bonus] Growing The Wood Core</h4>


    Lin Mu had learned about the blood element before and knew that it was one of the derivative elements. It was also not something he had an affinity with, nor something he had used before. But now that it was in front of him, he wanted to see its effects.


    ~SHUA~


    The elemental wisps entered Lin Mu''s body, with the wood elemental wisps going to his liver directly and condensing. The Blood Elemental wisps though, didn''t enter his liver. Instead, they seemingly wandered around his body, having no particr ce to go.


    Lin Mu watched this and found it to be a bit strange.


    ''Is this because I have no affinity?'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Blood Elemental Wisp were pure energy and weren''t Qi as such they didn''t enter Lin Mu''s meridians and go down to Dantian like usual. Lin Mu observed them for a while and saw that they just continued to wander in his body without a direction.


    ~Humm~


    That was until, his stomach seemingly awakened and drew the Blood Elemental wisps to it. The wisps responded to it and entered into his stomach, where they were absorbed and continued like many other energies that Lin Mu had consumed in the past.


    ''Guess that''s the only ce that suits it¡­'' Lin Mu honestly had no idea what he could even use the blood elemental energy for, thus was fine with it just being stored in his stomach. ''Perhaps it can be processed by my stomach when needed.'' He reckoned.


    Having witnessed this, Lin Mu continued with his work. He checked the wood core and found that just like before, it had increased by ten percent. The core which was the size of a sand grain was now sixty percent bigger than its original size.


    ''It''s still a bit overstatement to call this a ''core''.'' Lin Mu thought seeing its tiny size.


    ''So this gives a ten percent increase too¡­ if I use more of the Broad Leaf Immortal Nepenthes, I should be able to double the size of the core.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    As such, he took out more and more of them and started to consume them using Omnicore Ascendancy.


    ~shua~shua~shua~


    After half an hour, Lin Mu had finished consuming the Broad Leaf Immortal Nepenthes until they had hit their limit. And sure enough, the Wood Core in his liver had doubled in size. It was as big as two grains of sand!


    ''It''s still a bit overstatement to call this a ''core''.'' Lin Mu thought seeing its tiny size.


    He estimated that at its current rate, he would need a lot of herbs to progress to a point where his body would benefit from it. At the very least, Lin Mu could tell that there was no change in his affinity with the wood element right now.


    "Guess I''ll just have to make do with what I can now." Lin Mu muttered to himself, and pulled out all the Wood Elemental Immortal herbs he had left.


    There were about forty one such herbs, and some of them were only singr in quantity. ~Hu~


    A day had passed and Lin Mu had consumed about twenty out of the forty one herbs. All these herbs were at the False Immortal level and were the cheapest ones he had. They also were those herbs which he had plenty of stocks.


    "Four times the size." Lin Mu nced at the wood core.


    Consuming all the herbs had allowed him to double the cores size once more, but Lin Mu also noticed that the growth rate had slowed down once more. No longer was it rising be ten percent with each herb used.


    ''The consistency is changing¡­ Which does not hold up to the previous progression¡­'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows. This wasn''t in his favor of course, but he knew there wasn''t much he could do. The only thing he could do was to continue onwards.


    ''Twenty one herbs left¡­ time to start on higher quality ones.'' Lin Mu thought and held a small bunch of grass.


    The grass was like fine hair and was collected from none other than the Evergreen Pirs Forest. And the one to collect it was Little Shrubby when he had gone out with the twins to explore. He found this grass growing on the sides of some rocks and found it to be a low tier Immortal herb called as the Lady Mane Grass. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    It was a rtivelymon Wood Elemental Immortal Herb that grew in ces with rich Wood elemental Qi. It would grow on top of rocks, nting it''s long roots in the solid rock, eventually breaking it down into fine soil. When this happened, the Lady Mane Grass would reach maturity and flower, creating tons of cotton like seeds that would fly away.


    The seeds wouldnd on more rocks and continue the life cycle.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu absorbed all the wood elemental wisps from it and let it condense in his liver. ''Five percent increase¡­ Improving the quality helped restore the progression.'' Lin Mu observed.


    Feeling better, Lin Mu used more of the Lady Mane Grass and absorbed all of it until he had hit the limit again.


    He continued practicing the Omnicore Ascendancy and grew his Wood Core with the other Wood Elemental herbs he had, raising their quality bit by bit.


    This was until he finally reached the final herb.


    The forty first herb was the best Wood elemental herb that Lin Mu had and was of a high grade. One could make wood elemental immortal Qi pills that could even be useful to Sixth and Seventh Tribtion stage immortals.


    "Lanbao only had one of these in their stockpile¡­ Makes sense that the wood elemental herbs are fewer in quantity in the ocean." Lin Mu looked at the herb which looked like a coral branch.


    It was green in color and had lots of holes in it.


    It was called a Faux Green Brain Coral. Most would not even recognize it as a herb and think that it was just a coral. It was also very good at containing all of its immortal Qi fluctuations.

 Chapter 2065 [Bonus] Moving To The Water Core

    <h4>Chapter 2065 [Bonus] Moving To The Water Core</h4>


    The coral like Immortal herb was decently big though, being about thirty centimeters in size with multiple branches. Its weight was also about eight kilograms which seemed lightpared to its volume. But because of how hollow it was with all the holes, Lin Mu understood the weight difference.


    "Let''s see what a high grade herb''s effect is on the core¡­" Lin Mu was a bit excited and activated the Omnicore Ascendancy.


    ~Hu~


    This time the effect was a lot more drastic, with the Faux Green Brain coral glowing brightly. It then broke apart into fine particles, transforming into pure wood elemental energy. "This is¡­ So much greater¡­" Lin Mu was stunned at the amount that was released from it.


    The light wisps were actually greater in amount than the original volume of the Faux Green Brain coral, which just showed how much energy had been condensed into it.


    ~humm~


    And once it was absorbed into Lin Mu''s body, the effects were much stronger. Unlike the previous times, he acutely felt the vibrant wood element passing through his body and crossing his muscles and tissues. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    It was a pleasant and yet pressuring feeling which soon reached his liver. There the wood elemental energy wrapped around the wood core that was about eight sand grains in size and started to condense.


    ~shua~


    It took longer than usual, as the amount wasrger than what Lin Mu had used before. ''It''s possibly seventy percent of the total wood elemental energy I''ve consumed so far.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    And sure enough, once all the wood energy was condensed into the core, it had reached a bigger size. No longer would it bepared to a sand grain.


    It was now as big as a mung bean!


    "It feels a lot more appropriate to call it a ''core'' now." Lin Mu said seeing the small green core. "It really is like a spirit Qi core¡­ other than the fact its color is green." He chuckled.


    "Hooh¡­ this feels¡­ new¡­" Lin Mu felt the pleasant feeling spreading across his body, while it adapted to the newly expanded wood core.


    Lin Mu was engrossed in it for a couple of minutes after which the feeling faded away. "It feels a lot more appropriate to call it a ''core'' now." Lin Mu said seeing the small green core. "It really is like a spirit Qi core¡­ other than the fact its color is green." He chuckled.


    Though if he considered the qualities of the two cores, the wood core was worlds apart. Not only was it incredibly hard to make, and needed a crazy amount of resources, it was not something a spirit Qi cultivator would even be able to fathom.


    "And that''s all for the pure wood elemental herbs for the most part¡­" Lin Mu said as he looked at a few shelves that were still closed. He still had some herbs that had the wood element within them, but they weren''t pure wood elemental herbs. Instead, they were hybrid herbs with other elements in them.


    This was a bit simr to the Spiny Immortal Bedonna and the Broad Leaf Immortal Nepenthes, but unlike them, these contained the elements that would be needed for the cores.


    ''I can''t use them until I''ve started on the other cores. Best to start low and proceed higher¡­ if I use these, I would be wasting out on the lower rank herbs.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    As such, he stopped working on the wood core and began working on the next core.


    "Hmm¡­ Water core it is." Lin Mu looked at the next pir of shelves, which were all water elemental herbs.


    The number of water elemental herbs that Lin Mu had was lower than the Wood Elemental herbs, but they were still significant in number. At least, the spirit herbs were plentiful and Lin Mu wouldn''t have to think much.


    ''Time to start.'' Lin Mu thought and drew out all the herbs in an ascending quality.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~ With his experience with the wood core, Lin Mu was a lot faster with the water core. He didn''t need to take it slow and observe it too much, as the process was basically the same. The difference being the location of the core. The water core formed between the two kidneys and started off minuscule too. But it only took Lin Mu a single day to consume all the water elemental spirit herbs and grow the core to the size of four sand grains in size.


    Now that he had reached this point, Lin Mu could move onto Water elemental Immortal herbs.


    "Let''s see¡­ the next herb that fits would be¡­ ah, a hybrid herb." Lin Mu checked the shelves.


    He pulled out a box from a shelf that was between the water and wood elemental sections. It was a type of grass, and there were several neatly packed bundles present in the box. The grass was blue and green in color, while fine glittering patterns shimmered on it. ''Sapphira Ocean Grass¡­ I guess I''m finally tapping into more of the stuff Lanbao gave me.'' Lin Mu had obtained this from none other than the Deep Sapphire City.


    This was a special immortal herb that had dual properties of wood and water. Though it was still more focused on wood element and yet was found at the bottom of the ocean. Finding it on the continents would be simply impossible, and there was a high chance Lin Mu might be one of the few people actually having this in the Rust Sky world, other than the Haima n now.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon using the Omnicore Ascendancy, the Sapphira Ocean Grass dissipated into its base elements. Green and blue wisps of light floated in front of Lin Mu, which he observed for a bit.


    ''I guess I''ll also expand on two Cores at once from this.'' Lin Mu reckoned and absorbed the two types of wisps.


    This was his first time growing two cores at once, thus he actually observed it in detail. The wisps entered his body and split into two paths. The wood elemental wisps went to his liver and the water ones went to his kidney.


    The sensation he got from this was both cooling and pleasing, which almost made Lin Mu tremble.

 Chapter 2066 Switching Materials

    The two cores grew simultaneously as Lin Mu observed them closely.


    ''I guess this confirms, two cores can be refined with the Omnicore Ascendancy at once and there are no problems with it¡­ at least if there is just pure elemental energy in the herbs and nothing else.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He already knew that having other ''impurities'' like the poison could harm him and affect the rate of absorption. Thus it was better that he only used herbs with pure elements when doing more than one core at once.


    ''For now it''s best I just limit myself to that. Perhaps once I get more limatized to it, I can do more cores.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    With that done, Lin Mu used a few more herbs of a hybrid type until he was out of them.


    ~huu~


    There were now just two days left, and Lin Mu wondered what he should do.


    "Should I go outside?" Lin Mu wondered.


    This was the longest he had been within the ring and it was something which had been impossible before. But as he grew in his cultivation base as well as his ownprehension of the spatial element, it became possible for him to stay longer.


    Though he also wondered if the addition of the second ring had contributed to this or not.


    ''High chance it did¡­ My control over the ring''s inside has also improved greatly since I got the second ring.'' Lin Mu remembered.


    ~shua~


    But it was now that a figure approached him.


    "Senior." Lin Mu saw Xukong.


    "I''m guessing you had some progress?" Xukong asked, observing Lin Mu.


    "Yes¡­ I managed to get started on the Wood Core and the Water core." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Hmm¡­ I can''t sense anything from the outside." Xukong replied.


    "You can''t?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "I guess that''s a good thing. Even I was having a hard time sensing them. Though I wonder if it''s just because of their size." He said before sharing the memories with Xukong.


    The spider saw the mung bean sized cores and nodded.


    "It could be due to the size, or perhaps it''s just how their properties are." Xukong stated. "I''ve no idea about this technique, as such, these are allpletely new discoveries." He added.


    "Indeed. We''ll need to observe and study them further." Lin Mu said. "Though I don''t sense any benefit from them either." He added.


    "ording to the technique they will only grant you the affinity to the elements once a core is fully formed, so it isn''t unusual for it to be like this." Xukong replied. "Though considering the number of herbs you used, the growth is indeed a bit underwhelming."


    "Yeah, I didn''t expect even nine hundred kilograms of precious herbs would only result in this much. Thepression is quite a lot." Lin Mu said, before turning to another direction. "Thankfully I still have other things I can use."


    Xukong followed his gaze to the section where all the raw materials and beast materials were piled up. "Ah, yes! You can use any elemental material¡­ You''ve only used herbs so far." Xukong recalled.


    "Yeah. I''ve used the herbs in ascending order of quality. I intend to do the same for the other resources too." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I also have the fruits, but I''ll keep them for thest. They are still useful for other things after all." He added.


    Unlike the herbs, the spirit fruits and Immortal fruits could be consumed directly without having to be refined like most herbs. Fruits also had higher potency usually and could be used for a lot of things. Trading them was also a ready option, and as such Lin Mu didn''t think he should use them right away for Omnicore Ascendancy.


    At the very least, he thought of waiting until he was out of other materials.


    Xukong paused for a second before suggesting something. "Why don''t you try out some of the materials?" He asked. "You still have two days left."


    "Hmm, I guess that won''t hurt." Lin Mu answered after thinking.


    With that said, the two left the herb pir and shifted to the section with the raw materials.


    Most of the materials here were piled up, rather than being kept in shelves due to their sheer quantity. There were almost three thousand piles, which varied in size from mountains to hills. There were metal ingots, ores, various kinds of woods, gemstones, crystals, minerals as well as beast materials here.


    Every time Lin Mu and Little Shrubby butchered beast corpses, they would separate out the usable materials like the fur, hide, ws, teeth, and bones. In the case of bones, Lin Mu sometimes ate them whole, but he still did store away the majority of them.


    And with how much they ate, there was nock of such beast materials. "Let''s see¡­" Lin Mu spread his immortal sense and scanned all the materials, figuring out which ones he should get started with.


    Simr to before, his gazended on the ''mortal'' materials. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    Particrly the wood from many trees that Lin Mu had somehow ended up gathering during his time in the Xiaofan world. These weren''t even spirit trees, but rather just normal trees that would grow everywhere.


    It would be fine if it was whole trees or timbers, but there were actually more of broken wood chunks and splinters that were piled up.


    "Oh wait¡­ these are all from the cleanups." Lin Mu realized.


    Whenever he practiced his skills, he would often leave a trail of destruction in the forests. Sometimes he would leave it be, but when he thought it was not right to leave his mess behind, he would actually clean it up.


    And over the years, he had gathered enough wood, both whole and fragmented that he could probablypare it to a few forests in quantity.


    "I guess this is as low as I can go with it." Lin Mu reckoned starting with a pile of wood splinters that were a victim of his many uses of Boulder Copsing Fist.

 Chapter 2067 Low Efficiency

    Even if the wood splinters were from just normal trees, it didn''t mean that they had no wood element in them.


    All things in the world contained energy and had an inclination towards one or more elements. Just because one couldn''t see it or make use of that energy didn''t mean that it didn''t exist.


    Of course, even for cultivators, refining this energy from mortal materials was not a viable option. They might be able to extract some energy, but the effort and time needed to do that would not be worth it. And even that tiny amount would be extracted from a massive amount of raw material.


    It was the same as using hundreds of kilograms of rose petals, just to extract a few milliliters of pure rose essence oil.


    But in the case with Lin Mu, he didn''t need to put in as much effort. Omnicore Ascendancy directly broke down materials into their base elements, thus Lin Mu wouldn''t be spending too much time in doing it.


    "Time to start." Lin Mu muttered and raised his hand towards one of therge piles of wooden splinters.


    ~SHUA~


    The wooden splinters flew up from the pile and moved towards his hand as he activated Omnicore Ascendancy. The mnemonic worked as intended and the wooden splinters turned into nothingness.


    "No wisps this time¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    The splinters were just breaking down into nonexistence. But Lin Mu didn''t stop there, continuing the process and letting the stream of wooden splinters move towards his hand.


    ~roooooo~


    The splinters breaking down created a strange droning sound that filled the otherwise silent insides of the ring. It took an entire minute and possibly hundreds of kilograms of Wooden Splinters before a single green wisp appeared.


    "Oh!" Lin Mu watched as the tiny green wisp entered his body before finding its way to his liver.


    There it clumped with the mung bean sized core and became a part of it.


    ''It does work as expected¡­ just the quantity needed is exceedingly high, unlike the herbs.'' Lin Mu learned another aspect of the technique.


    Unlike the spirit herbs which he could use a few bunches to get the wisp and was limited to that amount, the wooden splinters were being used at an rming rate.


    The limitation on their quantity was vastly different from the herbs, which was possibly due to their quality. After all, they weren''t from spirit wood and were just normal mortal wood splinters. Still, Lin Mu wished to see its limit and continued using them.


    Minute after minute passed by, as Lin Mu finished the entire hill of wooden splinters. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "Twenty wisps¡­ that''s not really much." Lin Mu confirmed at the end.


    What was possibly over a few tons of wood had barely given him the same amount of wood elemental wisps as just a few bunches of spirit herbs.


    The amount he had obtained was barely more than the Eight Lobed Mellow Coriander he had used at the very start.


    "I guess this isn''t really an effective way of gathering the elemental energy¡­ though I may as well make use of them since I have them." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "It''s one way of cleaning up the mess." Xukong chimed in.


    "True." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I''ll have more space in the ring¡­ or at least the ''good'' space." He reckoned.


    The space in the ring was immeasurable, thus it wasn''t as if Lin Mu was going to run out of it. It was just the closest space to the altar where he would usually be that was getting filled.


    Plus, Lin Mu didn''t think he had hit the limit for the use of the wooden splinters yet. ''Estimating the limit is also hard, since this isn''t just one type of wood¡­ it''s a mix of different kinds of woods.'' Lin Mu thought.


    He wasn''t going to waste time in something as numbing as separating out literal wood splinters from each other. Thus he had just kept them together in the pile.


    Because there were so many kinds of woods mixed in together, Lin Mu wasn''t going to hit the limit for one type of wood directly. There was a high chance he would end up hitting the limit for multiple wood types at once.


    "Guess I''ll just have to keep on doing it until it doesn''t work." Lin Mu said before starting again.


    ~shua~


    A stream of wooden splinters flew towards his hand and started breaking down. For ten entire minutes, not even a single wisp of energy was made, making Lin Mu wonder if he had indeed hit a limit since it hadn''t taken this longst time.


    ~sha~


    But just a few secondster, another wisp of wooden element was formed.


    "Not yet." Lin Mu continued, draining hundreds of kilograms of splinters.


    Minutes turned into hours, as Lin Mu depleted almost all of the ''waste'' wooden splinters that he had gathered over the years.


    By the time he was done, it was almost thest day before the 30 day period of travel.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath and took a break, checking on his progress.


    "All that wood and it''s barely grown by a couple grains of sand in size¡­" Lin Mu estimated.


    The efficiency was certainly low but the cost for it was negligible. All the wooden splinters he had consumed would probably be a fraction in cost aspared to just the low grade spirit herbs he had consumed.


    And yet the amount of energy he had obtained from them was the same. ''Other than the sheer quantity needed, the cost itself is negligible for it.'' Lin Mu thought. ''And I still don''t know if I have hit the limit for the splinters.'' He realized that estimating the limit for very low quality materials was going to be hard.


    He looked at the other piles of simr quality materials and thought about what to do. There were still piles of wood chunks left after all.

 Chapter 2068 A War

    Lin Mu was just about to restart the process of refinement when he stopped in his tracks.


    "Someone''s outside." Lin Mu sensed a presence.


    "Indeed¡­ Looks like you have someone calling for you." Xukong could also sense it.


    "Hmm, it is thest day so perhaps they''ve probably called me to discuss something." Lin Mu guessed. "Though there''s also a chance that we''ve reached the inds already. Reaching a day early is still possible." He reckoned.


    It was a reasonable thing, as the Crown Prince probably wanted to get things revised for their group. After all, the expedition was not a simple thing and involved a lot of unseen dangers. It was best that they were all prepared to take on all the obstacles that came in their path.


    Lin Mu had been through enough unexpected situations than to take them lightly.


    ~Sigh~


    "For now, just two cores'' progress is good enough. I can always resume it when I have free time." Lin Mu muttered to himself, before leaving the ring.


    ~shua~


    He opened his eyes back in the room and got up from the bed.


    ~Creak~


    The door opened under hismand, revealing none other than Daoist Chu.


    "We wondered if you were deep in cultivation. Though thankfully you woke up early enough." Daoist Chu said, taking a look at Lin Mu.


    "Are we there already?" Lin Mu asked, wondering if they had traveled faster than he had thought.


    "No, not yet." Daoist Chu shook his head. "There''s something else." He added, his tone a bit strange.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu could sense something was wrong.


    "It''s best youe up. The Crown Prince will be exining it for all ten of us." Daoist Chu spoke, knowing what Lin Mu was thinking.


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied leaving the room with Daoist Chu.


    Lin Mu nced around the corridors, finding all of them to be empty and the rooms to be closed.


    "So the others are still busy cultivating." Lin Mu said.


    "Yeah, we didn''t disturb them. This matter doesn''t concern them anyways." Daoist Chu replied, raising Lin Mu''s interest.


    They went up to the first floor with therge meeting hall, which was also empty. This was a bit surprising, as there were always a few people mingling when they felt bored. Perhaps because it was so close to the expedition, none of them wanted to be unprepared and tried to be in their most optimum state.


    Lin Mu and Daoist Chu finally reached the deck, the rust colored sky finally bing visible. With how bright the sky was, it was clear that it was in the middle of the afternoon. The sky also seemed to be clear, with almost no clouds seen for over a hundred kilometers.


    ''Strange¡­ isn''t this part of the ocean supposed to be filled with almost perpetual storms?'' Lin Mu recalled what he had read previously.


    "Come on up," Crown Prince Feng Shun called them from the observation deck, leaning over the side.


    "Greetings, Lady Kang." Lin Mu said to the woman, seeing her after almost a month.


    She was sitting at the table gracefully with the others, and looked up at Lin Mu, peering into his eyes. A slight smile appeared on her face, unseen by others, before retreating like a sh. Lin Mu reciprocated and took his seat at the table along with Daoist Chu.


    The people at the table looked at the Crown Prince, wondering what was going on. Though some of them, like Daoist Chu, and Qiao De, already seemed to be aware of it while the Maid Min Ju and Elder Ho were unconcerned.


    "What''s happening?" Lin Mu asked.


    ~huu~


    In response, the Crown Prince took a deep breath, making the other furrow their brows.


    "A war." The Crown Prince revealed, making the expressions of everyone change a bit.


    "A war? Where?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    "Don''t tell me it''s between the empires?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "It''s not the empires¡­ A war has broken out in the Eight Kingdom Alliance." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed.


    "What?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "Why?"


    "They are still looking into the details, but I just got the message an hour ago. I was waiting on more details before telling you all, but something Qiao De said concerned me." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Hence, I decided to call you out earlier than expected." He said before looking at Qiao De.


    "The Eight Kingdom Alliance might be an alliance, but they''ve had their own internal conflicts. Plus, due to their unique geography, they do not have the same kind of unity that the other continents do.


    As such, they were never able to turn into a proper empire. I think this much is something most of us know here." Qiao De started to speak.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He had been in the Eight Kingdom alliance for a while after all, or more urately, inside the Sea of Muxuan.


    "The bnce between the Eight Kingdoms of the alliance was mostly maintained through diplomacy, but the true factors behind it were their powerhouses. But about a year ago, there were rumors that three such powerhouses had mysteriously died." Qiao De revealed, making everyone listen on in interest.


    "Isn''t that¡­ Around the same time as the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts?" Ziran seemed to recall. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    While he was not in the Rust Sky world at that time, Qiao De had still updated him on all the recent matters that had happened in the Rust Sky World. Ziran himself had also asked the people on the ship more questions in an effort to learn more about the world.


    It was mostly curiosity on his part as an explorer, and he also thought there was no harm in learning more about it all.


    "Yes, it was at that time." Qiao De replied. "Or more urately, that was when the first powerhouse was rumored to have died." He added.


    "Do we have confirmation on these rumors, though?" Lady Kang spoke up for the first time.


    They all knew rumors like these were often exaggerated and were merely created for some gains. Oftentimes they were not even true and were made to take advantage of the chaos that would happen from them.


    "I''ve contacted the Imperial Court already. They will confirm it for me soon enough." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "We''ll wait for that. But I''d like to hear more of what Qiao De has to say." Lady Kang replied.


    "Of course." Qiao De said before coughing. "As I said, the powerhouses of the eight kingdoms were the reason why they were able to maintain a semnce of bnce. While they had cross border conflicts and more, it never reached the level of a war.


    But ever since the first rumor started, there was an increased tension between the kingdoms. More specifically, the two kingdoms Purple Sparrow Kingdom and the Great Wave Kingdom." He revealed.


    Hearing those two names, Lin Mu''s ears perked up.


    ''Huyun Chuan''s kingdom was the Purple Sparrow Kingdom.'' Lin Mu recalled the young aristocratic he had ''met'' in the Land of Exile.


    The man was the first person to have told him about the powers of the Rust Sky World as well as their dynamic. The reason for him being exiled was also a conflict between the Purple Sparrow Kingdom and the Great Wave kingdom.


    "Weren''t these two kingdoms already in some sort of conflict?" Monk Hushu suddenly spoke up. "I remember reading about it in one of the reports back when we were in the capital city." He added.


    Since the Crown Prince''spanions were helping him out, they had ess to a lot of records and reports that came from all over the world. As such, they were decently updated on the matters.


    "Yes, a significant diplomatic issue happened about four years ago, which led to the exile of a noble by the name of Huyun Chuan." Qiao De revealed, surprising Lin Mu.


    ''It''s looping back to him, huh¡­'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    "He was sent to the Land of Exile in the middle of the sea of Muxuan as a way to cate the Great Wave kingdom." Qiao De spoke. "But much to their surprise¡ª" before he could finish his words though, he was interrupted.


    "He had made his return to the Purple Sparrow Kingdom secretly." Lin Mu uttered.


    This time, it was the others'' turn to be surprised.


    "You know about this?" Qiao De didn''t expect that.


    "You can say that¡­ I met someone who had seen Huyun Chuan before." Lin Mu replied, knowing he couldn''t reveal the full truth.


    Thankfully enough, the others didn''t question it as they already had trust in him. Besides, they didn''t think there would be any link between Lin Mu and the exiled man. It was far too apart to be a connection to them.


    "Huyun Chuan had been in hiding but was discovered by some intelligence agents of the ck Candle pavilion branch there." Qiao De stated. "And of course¡­ that branch sold the information to the Great Wave Kingdom."

 Chapter 2069 New Conflict In The 8 Kingdoms

    Qiao De''s words werepletely understandable by everyone and they knew what had happened was normal.


    "So one party went back on their word and got snitched on by a third party." Ziran stated hearing it all. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    "Yes." Qiao De nodded his head.


    "And things got worse after that?" Lin Mu asked, wondering how it progressed.


    "Well, upon learning that the conditions of the bargain were not held up the Great Wave Kingdom obviously demanded Huyun Chuan over so that they could punish him themselves. In addition to that, since the Purple Sparrow Kingdom had broken the deal, they also wanted additionalpensation." Qiao De replied. "Until this point, things were still fine but it gotplex once the Royal court of the Purple Sparrow Kingdom got involved. They quickly learned that the Huyun n had been behind the return of Huyun Chuan.


    As such, they looked to push me on the Huyun n and got them to pay out thepensation that the Great Wave Kingdom demanded. This was of course in addition to handing over Huyun Chuan. The Huyun n of course resisted, but had to yield under the threat of getting their titles removed and their property seized by a royal decree.


    They decided to pay the Great Wave Kingdom and even hand over Huyun Chuan who had now been imprisoned in the Royal Prison. But before the Royal Court could get all the things sorted out, the Great Wave Kingdom seemed to have gotten impatient.


    A day before the Royal Court was going to inform the Great Wave Kingdom about the new agreement and the payment ofpensation, the kingdom took a drastic and rash decision." The merchant said before taking a pause, as if teasing them like he was selling some goods.


    But he could see the hints of irritation on the faces of Lady Kang and her servants as such he decided it was best to continue speaking.


    "The Great Wave Kingdom sent their experts to infiltrate and kill the people of the Huyun n. They were also told to search for Huyun Chuan but did not find him in his n. Thinking that the royal court was actually hiding the man, they considered it an even greater offense.


    Of course, thetter attempts of the Purple Sparrow Kingdom''s ruler failed as the Great Wave Kingdom simply saw it as them trying to shift me and give excuses. Allmunication fell through after that and the border between the two kingdoms was shut.


    While the orders for war were not given out yet, cold tensions had already formed between the two kingdoms. The only reason they hadn''t acted out was because both knew a war would be a tough choice as both kingdoms had strong experts that could keep each other in check." Qiao De exined, causing others to reach their conclusions from previous information by the Crown Prince.


    "And the breaking point was the death of a powerhouse?" Crown princess Shang spoke.


    "Indeed. When the tournament happened, the top powerhouse of the Purple Sparrow Kingdom was said to have disappeared suddenly. The other kingdoms investigated it and rumors spread that the powerhouse had died." Qiao De replied. "Afterwards the Great Wave Kingdom increased their forces along the border and showed all signs of an impending war. It didn''t take much for others to figure out that the kingdom had probably found some confirmation about the powerhouse''s death.


    It they were dead, it meant the bnce of power was now shifted in the favor of the Great Wave Kingdom. Now even if the conflict was based around Huyun Chuan, they were not going to stop at that. A weakened kingdom was a lot more tempting to them." He revealed.


    The people at the table digested this information and thought about all things that could have happened in the background.


    "What about the other kingdoms?" Monk Hushu questioned. "And the other experts that were rumored to have died?"


    "Well after the first powerhouse was rumored to have died, the tensions rose and the other kingdoms watched carefully. They didn''t do anything though, instead choosing to observe how things would turn out.


    But no one expected that mere four months after rumors of another expert dying would arise. This time the powerhouse belonged to the Cloud Fall Kingdom." Qiao De answered.


    "That¡­ is the kingdom on the left of the Purple Sparrow Kingdom, is it not?" Ziran recalled having read the map earlier.


    "Indeed. The Eight Kingdom Alliance is basically a ring and on the left of the Purple Sparrow Kingdom is the Cloud Fall Kingdom. Going counter clockwise from there, was the Dragon ne Kingdom, the Dust Light Kingdom, the Ring Mist Kingdom, the Steel Heart Kingdom, the Rock Drop Kingdom and then finally back to the Great Wave Kingdom." Qiao De gave the rundown to them before cing a jade slip on the table.


    ~humm~


    The jade slip glowed and a formation screen was projected above it, showing the map of the entire Eight Kingdom Alliance. The names of the kingdoms were highlighted, along with a few more important markers showing on it.


    "Once the rumors about the Cloud Fall Kingdom''s powerhouse dying spread, the Great Wave Kingdom seemed to have be firm in its resolve and openly became aggressive against the Purple sparrow Kingdom." Qiao De stated. "But the other kingdoms were now getting anxious." He added with a smile.


    "They smelled the weakness." Lady Kang spoke this time. "With the Purple Sparrow Kingdom losing its powerhouse, and then the neighboring kingdom doing the same¡­ They didn''t think the Great Wave Kingdom would stop at just one kingdom." She guessed.


    "Well said, Lady Kang." Qiao De nodded with a smile. "That is exactly what happened. The other kingdoms started to prepare for any possibility and became alert. This was especially the case for the smaller kingdoms like the Dust Light Kingdom and the Dragon ne Kingdom. They even initiated talks for a direct alliance between them, in case the Great Wave Kingdom didn''t stop.


    The Dragon ne kingdom was the next one after the Cloud Fall kingdom, and the Dust Light kingdom after, thus their fears were not unfounded. Plus, considering they were the two smallest kingdoms of the alliance, their power was also not as great.


    The only security they had was their own powerhouses, which could stop the incursion of other kingdoms." He exined.


    By now, the others were able to figure out well enough how this would proceed. It was the same for Lin Mu, who had already experienced geopolitical conflict like this in the Xiaofan world.


    That one could be considered even a bit moreplicated due to the mixture of Sects as well as kingdoms colliding. Though if one considered the size of it all, the entirety of the Xiaofan world would probably be the size of the Eight Kingdom Alliance.


    An entire world''s conflict was the same as a continent''s conflict here with a few more topographical constraints such as the Sea of Muxuan added to the mix.


    "When did the rumors of the third expert dying appear?" Crown Princess Shang questioned.


    "A year after the first expert''s death and eight months after the second expert''s death." Qiao De answered.


    "And which kingdom did this expert belong to?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "It was the Ring Mist Kingdom." Qiao De replied, causing the kingdom to be highlighted on the formation screen.


    "That''s¡­ three of the top four kingdoms weakened." Monk Hushu said, looking at the map.


    "Indeed. And that was basically thest straw for all the kingdoms. They now knew conflict would be impossible to stop and the Great Wave Kingdom''s greed would rise.


    If they were in that position, they would do the same too as it was far too tempting. It was the most beneficial choice for any kingdom in that position," Qiao De said as a matter of fact.


    "But that''s still a year ago, right?" Lin Mu said, thinking about the timeline. "Why didn''t the war happen in this one year?"


    "That''s because the Four kingdoms, the Dragon ne Kingdom, the Dust Light Kingdom, the Ring Mist Kingdom and the Rock Drop kingdom ended up forming a close alliance between them against the Great Wave Kingdom.


    This prompt action of theirs slowed down the Great Wave Kingdom''s offense and they only focused on the Purple Sparrow Kingdom. The Cloud Fall Kingdom, on the other hand, supported the Purple Sparrow Kingdom from the back, knowing that they would be next if their neighbor fell.


    Things entered a stalemate from that point until¡­ Last week." Qiao De said, his expression turning serious.


    He circled his finger around the Rock Drop kingdom and expanded its size.


    ~gasp~


    Lin Mu silently gasped as he saw the change.


    "The Rock Drop Kingdom took over the Ring Mist Kingdom?!"


    "Yes¡­ it was a silent takeover faster than anyone could have thought. All the other kingdoms were left shocked, as the Rock Drop Kingdom suddenly announced they had captured their neighbor."

 Chapter 2070 Three Way War

    The actions of the Rock Drop kingdom came as a shock to Lin Mu and the others.


    "They conquered the Ring Mist Kingdom? How''s that even possible?" this time it was Crown Prince Feng Shun that asked.


    He knew a bit about the Eight Kingdom alliance as well as where their rtive strengthsid. Thus he knew that while the Ring mist Kingdom might have lost their powerhouse, it still didn''t make sense for the Rock Drop Kingdom to be able to do that. At the very least, they wouldn''t be able to do it silently. They might still have their own powerhouse, but that didn''t mean that it would be enough to overwhelm an entire kingdom in one go. "It is still a mystery." Qiao De answered, shaking his head. "All the intelligence sources we had in the Ring Mist Kingdom as well as the Rock Drop Kingdom seem to have been eliminated. Because of this we don''t know how it happened. But if they can erase the hidden intelligence agents like that, it does make sense that they could replicate the same for the Ring Mist Kingdom." He exined.


    "What about the Royal family?" Crown Prince Feng Shun furrowed his brows.


    "All gone." Qiao De answered. "Hmm¡­ The information you got seems to be a bit more detailed than ours." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied, admitting that they werecking in some aspects.


    The ck Candle Pavilion was a widespread power and had established links all over the Rust Sky world and even on other worlds. As such, it was understandable that they were able to be on top of the other empires despite having lower power.


    "I must admit I got a bit lucky with it." Qiao De replied. "The branches of the ck Candle Pavilion both the kingdoms sensed the danger and escaped beforehand. They also spread all the information they had about the situation to the other branches, which is why I had this report." He exined.


    "I see¡­ But still, for the Rock Drop kingdom to break the alliance¡­ has it also decided topete for thend of the Eight Kingdoms?" Lin Mu muttered.


    "There is a chance¡­ but it is quite suspicious as to how they managed to aplish this. At the very least, their actions have made the Great Wave Kingdom wary too and now they will have to watch both sides. On the front they''ll be fighting against the Purple Sparrow Kingdom while on the back they have the rising threat of the Rock Drop kingdom." Qiao De stated.


    "Hmm¡­ so this is why the war was officially dered now." Ziran said, thinking over it.


    "What about the Dragon ne Kingdom and the Dust Light Kingdom?" Crown Princess Shang questioned. "Since the Rock Drop Kingdom took over the Ring Mist kingdom, the alliance is gone right?" she wondered.


    "Their situation is a bit ambiguous. The Rock Drop Kingdom has asked them to join them permanently, but they haven''t responded yet. They are merely strengthening themselves for now." Qiao De replied. "From what we can tell, the two kingdoms will actually try to stay neutral. Thus, the actual war is only between the Great Wave Kingdom, the Rock Drop kingdom and the duo of Purple Sparrow and Cloud Fall kingdoms." He hypothesized.


    "A three-way war¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "That is a good option. Considering their background, it is better for them to wait it out and let the other fight and get weaker. They can then take the side of the winner or even choose to capture those powers themselves if they are daring enough." Lady Kang gave her own theory.


    "Though now, the question is¡­" Qiao De said taking a look at Crown Prince Feng Shun. "What is the stance of the Dao Wind Empire on this?" he questioned.


    The Dao Wind Empire was located east of the Eight Kingdom alliance and as such could be considered ''neighbor'' in a way. It was certainly closer to the Eight Kingdom Alliance than the Holy Topaz Dynasty considering the span of ocean between them.


    Then there was also the fact that the Dao Wind Empire was thergest continent on the Rust Sky World. Their actions often dictated how things would go and directed the flow of the world.


    A war breaking out in one of the continents like this was certainly a matter of concern. Especially a major war like this that might result in the birth of an entirely new empire. If that happened, the overall bnce of power in the Rust Sky World would change. After all, the Eight Kingdom Alliance Continent was the second biggest continent in the Rust Sky world. If they became an empire, they would thus be the secondrgest empire in the Rust Sky World, rising from the fourth position to the second directly.


    "The Imperial court hasn''t given a statement yet, but we''ve just been told to observe closely." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, before the jade slip in his hand hummed.


    ~humm~


    "Huh?" The Crown Prince read the message on it and became a bit tense.


    "What is it?" Daoist Chu asked, seeing his friend.


    "The Imperial Court has confirmed the rumors are true¡­ The three powerhouses were really killed." Feng Shun stated.


    "How did they confirm this?" Lin Mu asked, wondering what kind of method they used.


    ~shua~ Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    In response, the Crown Prince projected a formation screen from his jade slip, showing the information. Three faces appeared on it, all of which belonged to old elders.


    "These are the three powerhouses that were killed. All of them were Peak Immortals at the Seventh Tribtion Stage and were quite close to reaching the Transcendent Immortal stage too." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated before pointing to one of the faces. "Ancestor Teo who belonged to the Purple Sparrow Kingdom was killed on the Final day of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts. This was witnessed personally by Emperor Feng." He revealed, surprising everyone.


    "He witnessed it personally?" Qiao De hadn''t expected that.

 Chapter 2071 Result Of Past Actions

    The revtion from the Emperor changed a lot.


    It was one thing, with the rumor being confirmed through the Imperial Court and a wholly different thing the Emperor witnessing it.


    "How''s that possible?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "He was there when Ancestor Teo was killed?" Lin Mu questioned finding something to be wrong.


    "Yes¡­" Even the Crown Prince was surprised. "He has said that he has witnessed it along with Emperor Huiqing and the Holy Topaz Emperor." He added.


    Lin Mu recalled that all three Emperors had appeared together on the day of the finals when Feng Baxing had been defeated. ''Is that why they were there?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "This¡­" Qiao De hadn''t expected not just one but all three emperors to be involved. "Does this mean¡­ they had a hand in it?" he questioned.


    It was a reasonable thing considering the fact that all three Emperors were Transcendent Immortals and would have no problem killing Ancestor Teo. They were the strongest experts in the Rust Sky world after all. But their actions would also mean that they might have been behind the start of the war.


    "No." The Crown Prince denied. "It wasn''t any of the Emperors. The one who killed Ancestor Teo was another expert." He exined.


    "Another expert?" Crown Princess Shang furrowed her brows. "Who?"


    "I don''t know¡­ Father said that it is not up to us to know. But he can assure us that the expert has nothing to do with any of the Three Empires." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined, feeling a bit relieved internally.


    If it really was Emperor Feng being involved, things would take a drastic turn. Conflict between the Kingdoms of the Eight Alliance was different from another Empire killing their experts. The first was just their own matter but thetter would invite scrutiny from the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts. ''After the fiasco at the tournament, it''s best we avoid anything more.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought to himself.


    "What about the other two experts?" Monk Hushu asked next.


    "Ah yeah, we only know about the first one." Daoist Chu spoke.


    "We do not have information about the other two experts." Crown Prince Feng Shun shook his head. "We only have the confirmation for the first one." "Hmm¡­ Thisplicates things." Qiao De muttered, rubbing his beard. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    Lady Kang also thought about it and found things to be a bit strange.


    ''Who could have killed them¡­ and who killed Ancestor Teo? Was it the same expert behind the death of Ancestor Teo?'' Lin Mu wondered to himself, before a voice was heard in his head.


    "That¡­ Was me." Xukong suddenly spoke.


    "HUH?" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide, but thankfully others were not looking. "What do you mean senior?" he thought he had heard wrong.


    "The one who killed Ancestor Teo¡­ That was me." Xukong replied. He had been listening to all that had been happening, and once he saw the picture of Ancestor Teo on the formation screen, he reorganized the man.


    "I might have killed him to set an example." Xukong stated.


    "What¡­ W-When?" Lin Mu questioned it before thinking about it. "Wait¡­ When you intervened in the Tournament!" he soon realized.


    "Yes. When the Saintess intervened, her power as a celestial attracted all the experts of the Rust Sky world, including the three Emperors. I stopped them from interfering and dying her." Xukong exined. "I¡­ Might have used a little too much force and erased that man." He confessed.


    Even Xukong had not thought that his little action back then would reflect this far down.


    "What about the other two experts that died?" Lin Mu asked just in case.


    "Well, I didn''t kill them for sure." Xukong said with confidence. "I might have injured them¡­ well I injured most of the experts that gathered back then, but definitely did not kill them." He added.


    "Hmmm¡­ So there is someone else." Lin Mu didn''t question the fact that Xukong was involved in this, as it was something for his own sake. "Though I think you injuring them might have still contributed to it." He added.


    "How so?" Xukong asked.


    "Well, since you managed to injure them, I reckon they would be weakened right?" Lin Mu replied. "That means if anyone else also knows that fact, they have the perfect chance to target them." He exined.


    Xukong thought over it and realized that Lin Mu was right.


    "Yes¡­ There were other experts present there who saw it all and got injured. Thus they know who''s fine and who''s not. The three emperors were the strongest and as such had almost no injuries. Only the weaker ones did." Xukong stated. "Exactly! Which means the culprit behind the deaths of the other two experts might be from the group too." Lin Mu inferred.


    Even if these experts were injured, that didn''t mean just anyone could kill them. It would have to be someone that was around their level, or at most a level below them. The more Lin Mu thought about it, the more he found that this seemed to be the case.


    ''Did the other experts decide to take advantage when they were weakened?'' Lin Mu wondered. ''No wait¡­ if it was also someone from the same ground, they would have been injured too. The fight would still be on an equal level somewhat.'' He realized.


    Understanding that there were more factors to this, Lin Mu knew he shouldn''te to conclusions so fast. "Crown Prince, do you have any information on the Rock Drop Kingdom''s powerhouse?" Lin Mu suddenly asked. "And the other kingdoms?" "I do on the Rock Drop Kingdom." Crown prince Feng shun replied. "And also the Great Wave Kingdom." ~shua~


    He tapped on the jade slip again, causing some information to be disyed on it. The pictures of the two powerhouses also appeared on it.


    Lin Mu looked at them, while talking to Xukong.


    "Senior, were these two there too?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes." Xukong confirmed it. "Both of them were present, and both were injured too."

 Chapter 2072 Involvement Of External Powers And Coming Clean

    Xukong''s words sealed his involvement in the entire issue.


    ~Sigh~


    Lin Mu let out a sigh, knowing that things had indeed happened due to Xukong and party due to him. ''Though considering they decided to take advantage of the weakened states, this was probably something they had thought of before anyways.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He didn''t think that this was the first time the Kingdoms would have thought of expanding and conquering their neighbors. After all, the Eight Kingdom Alliance was the only continent that hadn''t seen the rise of an empire yet. They all knew just how prosperous and wealthy the other empires were, as well as the kind of gains they had after bing empires.


    They too desired the same, and wished to be the Imperial Family. Only by doing that would they get the most benefits and end up on the top. After all, there could only be one imperial family, as the other would all be eliminated.


    ''Considering they were all injured together, the three Emperors should have known this too. Perhaps that''s why they are watching things for now.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    What Xukong did was basically giving the kingdoms a chance. He shortened the time it would have needed for them to do the same.


    "If not today, they might have done the same tomorrow." Lin Mu muttered, his voice heard by everyone.


    "Yeah, this is something that would have happened in the future anyways." Ziran was the first one to speak. "I''ve seen this many times¡­ Sects, kingdoms, empires¡­ They''re all the same. They all tend towards conflict and growth." He stated.


    "That''s true." Lady Kang chimed in too. "This is just a small conflict in the history of this world. And not thest one for them." She said with some detachment.


    "Lady Kang is right." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "Father knew this as well. The Eight Kingdoms might have been in an alliance, but it was an alliance maintained by equal strength. Now that the bnce has been shifted, this was inevitable. Even if the Powerhouses weren''t killed, it wouldn''t have changed the oue. Experts still die, whether its from cultivation or from being killed. Any one of them could have perished under an Immortal Tribtion or Qi deviation and the same things would have happened." He exined.


    "Or if one of the kingdom happens to be fortunate and births more powerhouses, the bnce of power would tilt as well. The result would simply be dyed but not canceled." Qiao De agreed.


    Hearing their words, Lin Mu nodded finding it to be agreeable.


    "What does this mean for us now?" Lin Mu asked. "The Imperial court must have a reason for informing us, right?"


    "Yes." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "Since we still don''t have details on how all it happened, and whether some other powers were involved in the killings the Imperial Court wants us to be careful. We are between the Eight Kingdom Alliance and the Dao Wind Empire, thus anything can happen.


    Even if they are unlikely to discover this ce, we cannot predict it. Plus there is always a chance some expert decides to follow us directly, without us knowing." He exined. "Hmm¡­ So they think the other two empires could be involved in the killing?" Qiao De inquired.


    "Rather than those¡­ My bet is on external powers." Feng Shun said, furrowing his brows. "They did try to interfere during the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts after all. I wouldn''t put it past them to not try this." He added.


    "We did learn of some suspicious activities happening in some organizations in the immortal realm." Lady Kang suddenly spoke. "They were a bit muffled, but considering it happened around the time of the tournament it does seem likely that someone has their eye on this world." She revealed.


    The expressions of Crown Prince Feng Shun and Qiao De changed, turning a bit serious. "Do you have anymore details on these organization, Lady Kang?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked. "Of course, the Imperial Court will pay the right price for this information." He added quickly.


    "It''s fine. They aren''t that big for it to be hidden." Lady Kang waved her hand. "Qiao De probably has an idea who they are already."


    "I did hear some whispers¡­" Qiao De spoke. "But I didn''t expect they were about this." He said stroking his beard in thought.


    "So who are they?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Well there are several of them, but most of them do not matter. They are small and are either under other organizations or just insignificant. The only ones that matter are two: The Myth King''s Chamber and the Silent Whisper Troupe." Qiao De answered. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    Hearing the name, only two people seem to recognize them, the Crown Prince and Ziran.


    "Who are they?" Lin Mu asked, not knowing much.


    "The Myth King''s Chamber is an independent power that is not based on any world. They aren''t a sect, or a kingdom. They are an unorthodox merchant group that also dabbles in intelligence." Qiao De replied.


    "And what about the Silent Whisper Troupe?" Lin Mu asked next, causing the atmosphere to be a bit more tense.


    "While they are an independent organization on the surface they are actually an external wing of an even greater power¡­ The Indigo World Hegemony." Lady Kang was the one to reveal it this time.


    Lin Mu''s brows were raised upon hearing the name, which he was familiar with.


    "The Indigo World Hegemony again, huh¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    The Crown Prince and Feng Shun looked at Lin Mu, knowing that he had an affiliation with them.


    "Daoist Mu Lin¡­ aren''t you?" Qiao De spoke. "Your ring." This caused everyone to stare at him in surprise. Evendy Kang hadn''t expected that Lin Mu had such links making her take a look at the ring on Lin Mu''s hand. ~Sigh~


    Lin Mu had known this would happen one day, and decided toe clean.


    "I don''t actually belong to the Indigo World Hegemony." Lin Mu stated. "This ring I have was acquired¡­ not given." He added.


    "I see¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun replied, still processing it.


    "How are you using the ring then?" Qiao De asked in confusion. "If I recall correctly, the rings are a proof of identity and not everyone can use them unless authorized." He added.


    Evendy Kang wondered the same. She and the Great Kang Auction house had interacted with the Indigo World Hegemony''s members several times in the past and she took knew the importance.


    "Well, the ring wasn''t exactly intact when I got it." Lin Mu replied. "I had it fixed and repaired some formations." He added. "Huh¡­ that''s actually possible?" Qiao De hadn''t expected that. "To bypass the encryption of the Indigo World Hegemony¡­ is not simple." He said.


    "Well, Daoist Mu Lin does have a Formation Dao Embryo." Monk Hushu reminded them. "We also know his talent in formations¡­ I suppose it is good enough to take care of some encryption." He added.


    Qiao De couldn''t help but feel a bit amused.


    "You certainly had me fooled." He chuckled. "Though I supposed, it was my fate and luck to be fooled. If not for that, I wouldn''t have thought of asking you for the expedition." He stated.


    "Even if you didn''t, I still would." Crown Prince Feng Shun chimed in.


    ''Or I would.'' Lady Kang said in her mind. "I guess it is good you are not affiliated with the Indigo World Hegemony. They aren''t exactly clean in their workings and aren''t in a good standing with the Immortal Court." She spoke.


    "That''s true¡­ While the Immortal Court is not acting directly against the Indigo World Hegemony they certainly did in the past. And even now they watch what they do." Crown Prince Feng Shun added.


    "Hah! The Immortal Court knows very well how the Indigo World Hegemony is. I''ve seen them, and their operations." Ziranughed. "The Indigo World Hegemony is just good at hiding them and leaves no open strings. If not for that, the Immortal Court would always go after them." He stated openly.


    This was somewhat of an open secret and the members of the Immortal Court had a tacit understanding to not mention it since it was a matter of failure on their part too. Even if they were considered the ruling power in the Immortal realm, they still had their own drawbacks.


    They couldn''t just rule as they wished, since there were far too many people, races, powers and worlds involved in it. There would always be conflicting opinions and some had vested interests in powers they might not be in proper agreement with.


    Still, they couldn''t just offend all their members thus had to let things be until they were given a proper reason to act.


    "They do tend to dodge most of the actions by cutting away their losses¡­ They have far too many pawns running around they can make use of and dispose of." Lady Kang said with a frown. "The Silent Whisper Troupe is the same¡­ They''re just another group of dogs the Indigo World Hegemony feeds."


    Hearing all that, Lin Mu had aplex expression. ''The involvement of the Indigo World Hegemony only goes deeper¡­'' Lin Mu thought, a frown appearing on his face.


    He didn''t have a good opinion of them and didn''t know how he would react if he ever met them face to face. But one thing was clear¡­ There was some conspiracy spanning several worlds now with many people involved.


    "For now, we just have to be careful and keep to our mission." The Crown Prince spoke, bringing everyone out of their thoughts.

 Chapter 2073 The Stormy Ocean

    With the discussioning to an end, the group continued to sit at the table.


    ~Rumble~


    The faint rumbling of thunder could be hearding from afar, a dark curtain hanging from the skies in the distance.


    "How long till we reach the Inds?" Lin Mu questioned seeing the storm that they seemed to be heading towards.


    "We shouldn''t be that far¡­ A day or two at most." Qiao De said, looking at thepass embedded in the pedestal.


    "I see¡­ Though it looks like we have a rocky journey ahead of us." Lin Mu replied, looking at the storm that continued to get closer and closer.


    ~shua~


    His immortal sense spread to the maximum range, allowing him to feel the storm. The lightning and wind raging there were prominent and were easily picked up by his Immortal sense, even though it didn''t exactly reach the storm which was at least twenty five kilometers away. ''The lightning and wind energy is quite strong¡­ far too strong for it to be a normal storm.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Normally the energy of a storm should be limited to a short area around it, really exceeding more than a kilometer from its limits. But this storm seemed to have its energy spreading more than fifteen kilometers. "We''ll be fine." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "This ship can take a lot more. And we''ve already been through hundreds of storms getting here. The people on it won''t even feel it rock." He chuckled.


    "Oh¡­ Guess this''ll be a good chance to observe it." Lin Mu said.


    He had been inside most of the time when they had passed though the storms, as such he didn''t get to experience it personally. But now he would get to see the effects of all the arrays that were present on the ship.


    A few minutes passed, before the ship finally entered the embrace of the storm. The sky disappeared, and only dark grey clouds were now visible above them. Streaks of white lightning ran through the clouds, jumping down from them time to time. The ocean below them stirred like an endless grinder, while whirlpools formed everywhere.


    And yet, the ship passed through it peacefully as if it was not sailing on a stormy ocean, but a stillke. No matter how tall the waves were or how strong the winds were, the ship did not sway or rock. It held on steady and cut through it all, as if they didn''t even exist. This allowed Lin Mu to witness the excellent capabilities of the ships arrays first hand.


    ''If it were any other ship, it would have already been damaged¡­ even among other storms, this one is quite strong¡­ Enough to harm even a Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal if they were careless.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~BOOM~


    And just as he thought that, a bolt of lightning fell from the clouds on to the ship. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    ~HUMM~


    But before it could actually touch the ship, a barrier appeared over it, stopping and dispersing the lightning bolt in a second.


    "Truly impressive." Lin Mu couldn''t help but admit.


    "Of course. This is one of the treasures of the Imperial court and has been in the family for a long time. We''ve spent a lot on bringing this ship to this level." Crown Prince Feng Shun said proudly.


    ~Ding~


    A sound was hearding from thepass controlling the ship, causing Qiao De to take a look.


    "Time to change directions." Qiao De said. "To the right!"


    "On it." Crown Prince Feng Shun controlled the ship, turning it as directed.


    ~SPLASH~


    The turning of the ship caused the waves to strike it t from the sides, creating arge ssh that reached a few hundred meters into the sky. "There is a beauty in it for sure¡­" Ziran said, watching it all with amazement.


    The churning ocean, crashing waves, roaring winds and rumbling skies seem to all merge together, forming a picturesque scene that could be appreciated well when one was in the peaceful defenses of the ship.


    "There is a certain sereneness to it," Lady Kang agreed, watching it too.


    The group seemingly watched the stormy ocean, feeling faintly connected to it and marveling at it. Lin Mu was the same, and found a certain harmony in it all, making him ponder on it.


    Their time passed quickly in this, and twenty hours swiftly went by. ~WHOOSH~


    At a certain point, the ship passed through another stormy curtain beforeing out on the other side.


    "The storm''s gone." They all saw.


    Lin Mu turned and looked back, finding the curtain of the storm firm in its ce. It was unmoving, as if acting like a barrier. He followed the expanse of the curtain and found it curving in the distance. "We''re here!" Qiao De said, spotting some dark spots in the distance.


    Everyone stood up at that moment and followed his gaze, quickly noticing thendmasses on the horizon. "The storm¡­ It specifically surrounds these inds, doesn''t it." Lin Mu said, having understood its uniqueyout.


    "It does indeed¡­ that''s how it has stayed hidden all these years." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded his head.


    "Without thepass, finding it would certainly have been impossible." Ziran agreed. "There are far too many storms in the ocean after all¡­ and one can easily get lost in them."


    When one was sailing through the ocean, they would usually choose to avoid storms so as to avoid dying their journey and to prevent damage to their ships. Thus, it would have been quite easy to miss the inds. Not to mention, not everyone would have a ship that was durable enough like the Crown Prince''s. As such, even if they did know the inds were hidden inside this specific storm, they would still have a very difficult time in getting through.


    There was a high chance their ship might just get destroyed from the storm and sink to the bottom of the ocean!


    Even if the people on it managed to survive and reached the inds, going back would not be an easy task at all.

 Chapter 2074 Reaching The Uncharted Islands

    "So these are the uncharted inds." Lin Mu said looking at the hundreds of inds that were spread around in a wide area.


    Their sizes were also quite varied, ranging from as small as just hundreds meters all the way to ten kilometers. "I guess it''s more appropriate to call it an uncharted Archipgo." Qiao De said, looking at the inds himself.


    The inds had hills, mountains, cliffs and beaches. Some were full of nt life, while some were just barren and rocky. But all of them seemed to have one thing inmon¡­ They all had shrines on them!


    "That''s a lot of shrines." Crown Princess Shang said, looking at the stone shrines that all had the same design.


    Ziran who saw them though, furrowed his brows.


    "Wait¡­ these aren''t just any normal shrines." Ziran said before flying up.


    ~shua~


    "We''ll go take a look too." Crown Prince Feng Shun said and followed behind the man.


    The others did the same and flew to the nearest ind that was about four hundred meters wide. It was mostly t and had little in terms of vegetation. Half of its mass was rocky with the shrine located at the very center of it. And on top of the shrine was a stone arch that was about ten meters wide.


    ~shua~


    Zirannded in front of it, and observed the shrine which was about twenty meters tall.


    It only had two floors, and was built in a stacked manner. It was entirely made from rock which had been joined together by carving the perfect sized sockets in them. The weathering on them showed that they were certainly very old, but that still didn''t manage to disperse the detailed carvings that were present on them.


    They were filled with strange characters that were hard for most people to understand.


    And yet, Ziran and Lin Mu recognized them instantly.


    "Shamanic Script of the Demonic tribes." Lin Mu and Ziran said in unison.


    "We''re in the right ce at least." Daoist Chu said. "Though perhaps not the right shrine?" he added looking at the many other structures.


    "Indeed, this isn''t the right one." Qiao De replied. "Thepass points to another ind." He had checked before disembarking the ship.


    This was merely the closest ind they had stopped to check, and not the main one they needed to go. "What do the carvings say?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "The carvings are all talking about those that died and those that will die." Ziran said. "These aren''t just normal shrines¡­ These are Burial shrines." He revealed.


    "Burial shrines?" The group furrowed their brows, feeling a bit confused.


    "Aren''t they built in graveyards, though?" Lin Mu asked, finding no graves around them.


    Even if they had been built a long time ago, there should have been some traces of it. Especially considering that the shrines were still intact. He didn''t think that the people who built this ce would let the graves be defiled by the natural elements that easily.


    "Yes." Ziran replied. "Which is what''s concerning me." He said, walking up to the shrine and cing his hand on it.


    ~Shua~


    His immortal sense entered the shrine and tried to see if there was anything hidden inside. ~WHOOSH~


    And sure enough, as soon as Ziran sensed something, his Immortal sense was pushed back.


    "Ugh¡­ this is unusual." Ziran stated. "The shrines all have an array, but it is a bit too obscure for me to recognize. It also pushes my Immortal sense back." He revealed. "Daoist Mu Lin, would you¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun was just about to ask Lin Mu when he moved on his own.


    "Let me check." Lin Mu said, cing his hand on the shrine and letting his immortal sense enter it.


    ~Humm~


    Unlike Ziran, Lin Mu faced no resistance and quickly discovered the runes that were inside the shrine. The runes were all assembled into arge array that was contained entirely within the Shrine. It was dormant, and anyone that tried to probe it would face a resistance.


    Thankfully enough, it did not have any offense formations within it and could not harm others.


    Lin Mu though, found it a bit familiar and a familiar energy also exuded from it.


    ''This¡­ Spatial Fluctuations¡­ This isn''t just a normal array.'' Lin Mu realized before opening his eyes. "A Teleportation Array." He revealed it to the others.


    "The Shrine has a teleportation array inside it?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned.


    This was a bit surprising to them, as they should have been able to tell this too. After all, they were experts and talented individuals who had seen their fair share of teleportation arrays. To their senses, finding these in the hidden form shouldn''t be hard either.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    They tried to check it themselves, but found themselves getting repelled as well. "The force of repulsion is quite strong." Crown Prince Feng Shun said.


    "Stronger than it should be for an array like this." Lady Kang added. "Which means the repulsion isn''t from the formation array itself¡­ but a by-product of its function." She said, narrowing her eyes.


    "The repulsion is from the Spatial Fluctuations themselves." Lin Mu exined. "They are contained within the shrine thus aren''t felt directly by us. The shrine is also made of a rock that seems to dampen our senses and make it harder to recognize it all." He added.


    "I see¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded.


    "But that still doesn''t exin why there''s a Burial Shrine here." Daoist Chu spoke. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "I sense no dead here." Monk Hushu chimed in. "This ce is clean. There have never been any graves here." He said after using his own Buddhist techniques to sense.


    "Which is what bothers me¡­ These are Burial Shrines that Demonic tribes build to worship the dead. But since there are no graves here they do not have a reason to be made." Ziran stated. "Unless¡­"


    "The graves are somewhere else¡­ The Teleportation array¡­ It is meant to take us to the graves, isn''t it?" Crown Prince Feng Shun guessed.

 Chapter 2075 The Saintess’ Warning

    <h4>Chapter 2075 The Saintess'' Warning</h4>


    The Crown Prince''s guess seemed correct to the others too, as that was the only logical exnation to it.


    "And this is supposed to be a Celestial''s treasure¡­ Did they acquire it in this way, or their treasure was turned into a grave site?" Ziran wondered.


    "Whatever it might be, we''ll know once we enter it." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "Daoist Mu Lin, what''s the condition of the Teleportation Array? Can you activate them?" he asked.


    "I don''t think these are meant to be activated by us," Lin Mu answered. "These will activate on their own when the time is right. Or a certain condition is fulfilled." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ So I guess we''ll have to check out the main array first." Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered.


    Their main goal was a specific spatial ne, after all. The group returned to the ship which then started to move towards an ind as per the directions of thepass. "Daoist Chu, why don''t you go announce it to the others, we''ll be disembarking soon." Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Of course." Daoist Chu said before going downstairs.


    While the group waited for the other members of the expedition toe up, Lin Mu was looking around the inds. His Immortal sense was able to observe several inds at once, and the Shrines that were present on them.


    All of the shrines seem to be the same, as Lin Mu checked the Spatial fluctuationsing from them. The teleportation array was also the same in all of the shrines and confirmed the condition of its activation. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    ''Since all of them are the same, they should be linked together. They will probably activate when the true entrance to the Celestial''s Inheritance is opened.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    ~shua~


    But while he was observing all the inds, his immortal sense picked up on a strange energy fluctuation.


    "What the¡­" Lin Mu felt a faint ache from his Immortal sense, making him surprised. He narrowed his eyes, and followed the direction where the pain hade from. This was actually the exact direction that the ship was heading towards. There was an ind that was about two kilometers wide with a mountain on one half and a forest on the other. There was also a shrine here like the others, and it was located in the center of the ind. Though there was a difference between this shrine and the others¡­ there was a nefarious energy pulsing from it.


    ''This energy¡­ what is this¡­ dreadful and cold¡­'' Lin Mu tried to sense the energy further.


    He couldn''t identify it right away, but could at least tell that it was probably a type of Baleful energy.


    ''Considering its properties, it definitely fits the bill for Baleful energies. But for it to actually transmit pain through my Immortal sense too¡­ It''s definitely not simple.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He wondered if he should inform the others, when he suddenly heard a voice in his ears.


    "It''s Death Energy." The Saintess'' voice was heard.


    "Death energy?" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide. "I didn''t expect you would be heading here. If you were, I''d have warned you in advance." The Saintess replied.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu turned his head and saw the vague figure of Saintess appearing on the deck. No one else could see her though, as she had only made herself visible to him which was normal for her to do so.


    "Wait¡­ You''ve been here before?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "When?" He asked.


    "You remember when I said I have to check something out back in the Evergreen Pirs forest?" The Saintess replied. "What I had sensed was this very ce." "I see¡­ so do you know what this ce is? Or if it really is a celestial''s inheritance?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Like what the half elf said, it is indeed a burial ground of sorts. And from what I can tell now, this is actually a massive Spatial ne that has been contained within some kind of a treasure. It has multiple entrances, but only one of them is probably the real one, with the others opening into a smaller fragment of a spatial ne. The death energy you felt ising from the main section of the Spatial ne¡­ and if there''s death energy, there''s probably a lot of graves inside there." The Saintess exined. "Something like this isn''t easy for an immortal to control, so it does seem like a Celestial set this up." She added.


    "I see¡­ Looks like we''re on the right path at least." Lin Mu replied.


    "It won''t be easy. If there is death energy, the danger will be quite high." The Saintess warned. "There''s also the fact that the entire spatial ne has restrictions too on who can enter." "Restrictions? What kind?" Lin Mu asked since he hadn''t been able to determine them himself.


    "Only those below the Transcendent Immortal Realm can enter it." The Saintess revealed. "Which means, if you go inside, I won''t be able to help you." She stated.


    "I see¡­" This gave Lin Mu a bit to think about. "Even with your cultivation base restricted?" he asked.


    "Yes. That is how I can tell it is indeed a Celestial''s treasure. Otherwise it wouldn''t have been able to detect my restricted cultivation base." The Saintess answered.


    "Hmm, guess I''ll have to deal with it on my own." Lin Mu said, not feeling any apprehensions.


    He didn''t mind that the Saintess was going to be unable to enter with him. Lin Mu was used to taking risks himself and knew that he shouldn''t fall into the habit of having protection from others all the time.


    Plus the Saintess had already helped him several times before, thus asking her for it again would not be appropriate.


    Then there was the fact that Xukong always emphasized to Lin Mu; he could only grow though facing danger and oveing obstacles himself. Without that he would becking in his capabilities and fall into a state of false confidence.

 Chapter 2076 Briefing And A Feeling Of Danger

    With the Saintess''s warning, Lin Mu now had an idea of what he would potentially be facing. This actually increased his confidence, as he could now think further about the dangers and how to ovee them.


    "Don''t forget to make use of the Twins." The Saintess suggested. "They will be able to help you battle against Baleful Energies and even the Death Energy." She added.


    "Of course, Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang can digest those energies." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Mmhmm, it''ll also give the twins the chance to grow further." The Saintess said, not feeling worried about them.


    She knew the capabilities of the twins very well and knew that they would fare well. Plus, with Lin Mu there, she didn''t think there could be any issue. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    ''With Great Senior Xukong guiding Lin Mu, he shouldn''t have too many issues.'' The Saintess thought to herself. While she knew that Xukong probably would be limited in how much he could help Lin Mu, even if he didn''t assist him directly, just his advice would be more than enough. She also knew that if there really was a danger that Lin Mu wouldn''t be able to face, Xukong would be the first to stop him.


    "Will you be waiting here, Saintess?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I''ll be around. I''ll know when you leave the ce." The Saintess replied.


    "Very well. I''ll be out quickly anyway." Lin Mu said.


    "I doubt that." The Saintess responded. "Considering it is a Celestial''s inheritance, the trials inside won''t be simple. Even for an Immortals inheritance, it isn''t unusual for cultivators to take months to a year to get out. For a Celestial''s Inheritance, it will be even longer." She exined.


    "Hmm¡­ So at the very least, it might take a year." Lin Mu noted that. It was an important fact that he needed to keep in mind, considering his own body''s conditions.


    ''Thankfully I''ve eaten enough tost and I also have more food in the storage.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~step~step~step~


    ~chatter~


    The sound of people approaching could be heard, which made Lin Mu stop his conversation with the Saintess. Behind him, he saw that the other members of the expedition had started toe up and were now gathering on the deck.


    "Guess this is it for now." Lin Mu spoke. "I''ll see you soon, Saintess." He said with a smile.


    "I''ll be waiting." The Saintess replied before disappearing.


    Lin Mu returned to the observation deck where the Crown Prince was waiting along with the others.


    They looked down at the members of the expedition who had all gathered by now and were now silent, as they waited for the Crown Prince to speak.


    "I suppose we should get started on what we should be doing now." The Crown Prince said out loud. "Everyone can see the inds around us, right? Those Inds will be the entry points into the Inheritance grounds.


    They all have shrines on them, where the Teleportation gate will open. You can divide yourselves into groups and head to the inds. Or if you wish, you can go alone too, as there are more than the number of people here." He exined.


    "We understand, Crown Prince!" The crowd replied.


    "Good. Though be careful in there as danger will be abound. This is a Celestial''s Inheritance and I doubt the trials will be simple. Prioritize your life and don''t hesitate to retreat if it proves to be too much for you." The Crown Prince advised, making the crowd nod.


    They knew how dangerous inheritance grounds could be, and even more so for something like a Celestial''s inheritance.


    Some of them had been to other immortal inheritance grounds before and knew the risks one had to take. The level of risk one would have to take would probably increase by several times if it was a Celestial''s inheritance, thus they took the Crown Prince''s words seriously.


    ~SPLASH~


    Just as the Crown Prince had finished speaking his words, the anchor was dropped.


    "We''re here." Qiao De spoke after the ship had docked on the side of the ind.


    This was the ind with the main entrance, though it didn''t particrly stand out. At the very least, Lin Mu could tell that not everyone was able to sense the death energy like he could. Among their main group, Lin Mu could tell that the Crown Prince, Monk Hushu and Ziran were able to sense the Death energy as their expressions were tense. Plus, every time a pulse of Death energy radiated over them, there were faint Qi wavesing from them three men, showing that they were subtly defending against it.


    Lin Mu reckoned that they were only able to sense it due to their cultivation techniques or other factors. The Crown Prince had the experience as well as some other tool to sense it, while Monk Hushu was a Buddhist monk and cultivated Buddhist energies which were in opposition to the death energy. Ziran on the other hand, also had the blood of a Dark Elf in him, which gave him the ability to sense the Death energy too.


    ~step~step~


    But while Lin Mu was thinking this, a person approached him.


    "Mei Nienzhen?" Lin Mu saw the still faced woman. "What is it?" he asked.


    "Be careful with the expedition." She warned. "There''s bad energy here." She said with concern.


    "You can sense it?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Yes¡­ It''sing from the center." The woman nodded.


    "Hmm, I''ll be careful." Lin Mu replied. "Thank you for your concern." He said with a smile.


    In response, the white haired woman extended her hand towards Lin Mu. "Take this." She said.


    Lin Mu looked at her palm and found a snowke in it. "What''s this?" Lin Mu asked. "It''ll help you resist the Yin." Mei Nienzhen replied. "Keep it with you." "Alright." Lin Mu said, taking the snow ke as he didn''t think she would take a no for an answer.


    And once he put it in the pocket of his robe, the woman seemed to be satisfied.

 Chapter 2077 Entering The Inheritance Ground

    "Alright everybody, disembark!" Crown Prince Feng Shun ordered.


    ~WHOOSH~WOOSH~WOOSH!~


    Upon hismand, the members of the expedition all split up and flew to different inds. Some of them had chosen to enter as teams, while there were a few that were intending to enter solo like Mei Nienzhen and Chang Fa.


    "Let''s go," Crown Prince Feng Shun said and went to the shrine in the middle of the ind.


    Lin Mu and the others followed after him, while staying alert.


    A few secondster, theynded in front of the shrine which looked the same as the others. Though the pulsing death energying from it was a bit nerve wracking. "What''s this feeling?" Daoist Chu and the others who hadn''t felt the energy before were able to sense it now too.


    Lady Kang furrowed her brows as one of the pins on her hair shone lightly. A thin and translucent barrier surrounded her, preventing the death energy from getting close to her.


    "Death Energy." She uttered, having recognized it.


    "It''s death energy?" Daoist Chu looked at Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "Indeed." He nodded.


    "For Death Energy to be pulsing like this, there is definitely a major burial ground here¡­ Millions upon millions would have to have died for Death Energy to reach this level." Monk Hushu spoke.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu spread his immortal sense and checked the shrine for a method to activate it.


    ~HUMM~


    He didn''t have to do much though, as the shrine seemed to respond to the presence of ten people on the ind. ~HUALA~


    "Ugh!" They grunted as a stronger wave of death energy swept over them.


    "It''s getting stronger." Min Ju muttered, causing Elder Ho to walk in front of Lady Kang as a protective measure.


    They watched as the shrine glowed and the stone arch above it started to glow as well. Hundreds of runes started appearing from the rim of the arch and moved towards its center.


    "Get ready, it''s activating." Lin Mu spoke, sensing the spatial fluctuations that were getting stronger too. All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    The same process was happening on the other inds too, and a chain reaction had been set in motion. The expedition members all saw the stone arches glowing and knew that it would soon be the moment of entering. Though these shrines did not seem to be releasing any death energy even now.


    Back on the main ind, the runes on the stone arch seemed to be growing in number. They were joining up and soon enough a was formed inside the stone arch.


    It extended from the rim of the stone arc and formed a repeating pattern that looked like a sixteen sided polygon. ~humm~


    At a certain point the pattern couldn''t sustain itself and bulged inwards.


    ~SHUA~


    Finally, a swirling ck portal was created from which a stream of death energy poured out.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a moment, and activated his spatial perception, taking a deep look at the portal. He looked past the fabric of space and saw the spatial fluctuations that highlighted the teleportation channel behind them. They headed deep into the void, and started to spread as they got further.


    "Be careful as you step in. There''s a chance we won''t all end up in the same ce." Lin Mu informed from his experience.


    He could already sense that the teleportation channel formed from the stone arch was not singr. It had a single entrance, but branched out into multiple channels midway and could throw one anywhere in the spatial ne. ~huu~


    Everyone took a deep breath before they jumped into the portal.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    The portal flickered with each entry with Lin Mu being thest one to jump in. ''Let''s see who goes where¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself, keeping his Spatial Perception active.


    He had intentionally enteredst as he wanted to know where everyonended. That way he would be able to find the others quickly.


    And sure enough, his Spatial Perception allowed him to track the trajectory of everyone. This allowed him to see that the group had been split into duos now.


    ''Two persons to each channel.'' Lin Mu determined.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun and Qiao De ended up together going to the first channel, Crown Princess Shang and Monk Hushu entered the second, Daoist Chu and Min Ju entered the third, with Elder Ho and Ziran entering the fourth.


    "That leaves¡­" Lin Mu looked to his side and saw Lady Kang there.


    The woman couldn''t see him in this state and didn''t even know he was right next to her. This was the case for everyone as they didn''t have the Spatial Perception to observe things inside the Teleportation Channel.


    Lin Mu also nced at the Lesser Void outside the Teleportation Channel, finding it to be different from others.


    He could faintly see several lines extending through the lesser void anding from the same ce the Teleportation Channel had originated from.


    ''Those should be the teleportation channels from the other shrines.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    He tried to see where they were going, but could not determine their end due to being too far. Plus being inside the teleportation channel made it hard to look outside properly. It was as if he was trying to look through some frosted ss.


    ''Is this spatial ne singr and has different sections or are there multiple smaller spatial nes stuck together?'' Lin Mu wondered what was theyout of this ce.


    If he knew what it was, he would have an easier time navigating it as well as having an escape route in case things went south.


    ~HUALA~


    About fifteen secondster, Lin Mu felt like he had reached the end of the teleportation channel and seemingly passed through a viscous membrane.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    Hended on his feet hard, cracking the ground below him.


    There was darkness all around him, making it hard for him to see anything with his naked eyes.


    ~SHUA~


    He immediately extended his Immortal sense, scanning the area around him.


    This allowed him to sense the presence of Lady Kang near him, as well as the room that they were in.


    ~SHUA~


    Then a secondter, an orb of light appeared illuminating the entire area.


    "We really did split up." Lady Kang spoke, seeing that the others were gone. "Though I feel better that you ended up with me." She added, turning to Lin Mu.


    "I suppose I can say the same." Lin Mu replied while looking around. "We are in a room of some kind." He said trying to check if the walls had anything on them.


    But the walls all seem to be in, and made out of stone blocks. The blocks were all of an equal size being one by one meter. Though Lin Mu didn''t know if this was the case for its thickness too.


    ~SHUA~


    His Immortal sense tried to probe the wall, but was stopped just a few centimeters into it.


    "Looks like we can''t use Immortal sense here." Lin Mu stated. "The walls are enchanted." "Enchanted? Not restricted with formations?" Lady Kang asked, checking them herself.


    She ended up getting blocked too and was surprised.


    "Indeed¡­ There are no formations here. The walls are able to stop us directly¡­ as if it''s their innate property." Lin Mu replied. "For this to happen, they would all have to be part of a whole¡­ this is indeed a celestial''s treasure." He said after a pause.


    Usually a building or other structure would have many formations carved into it or written on it. This allowed one to modify how different parts of it functioned as well as improve the structural integrity.


    But this also came with the disadvantage of instability when there were too many formations present. One would have to pay great attention in order to make all of them work in cohesion without any resistance.


    This would often take more time to make, as well as greater resources.


    A way to avoid this was by turning the entire thing into a singr tool. This way there would be a singr formation array managing it all, though it would probably be incrediblyplex. Doing this would also ensure that the areas within the treasure would be able to have certain properties imbued into them as needed.


    Thus, even if there were no individual formations present in those areas, they would still function as if they were there.


    This was a change that was brought on a base level, causing the structure''s entire properties to change. Doing this was something that was limited to great experts who had skills to refine such a treasure. For an immortal, making something like this was possible up to a certain scale.


    They might be able to make something a few kilometers in size, but anything beyond that would enter the territory that they would not be able to handle. At this point, only a Celestial would be able to control and manage it.


    "Hmm¡­" Having understood this, Lin Mu decided to try something else out.


    He walked up to the wall and pushed on it.


    "What are you doing?" Lady Kang asked.


    "Seeing how this ce works." Lin Mu said before increasing the force.


    But no change happened to the wall, and it stayed firm.


    "It is indeed quite strong." Lin Mu muttered before clenching his fist. "Wonder if it can take a direct impact?" he said before pulling his arm back.


    ~BOOM~


    Then in the next second, Lin Mu punched the wall, causing an explosion to happen.


    Lady Kang was unmoving as she watched Lin Mu testing out his theories.

 Chapter 2078 Durable Inheritance Ground

    Lin Mu''s punch knocked up a lot of dust and debris, clouding their vision. But once it settled down, they could see the effect on the wall.


    "Huh¡­ It could actually withstand it." Lin Mu was surprised.


    The wall now had a hole in it that was about half a meter deep and equally as wide. Fine cracks were also spreading from its edges and had ended after growing for about ten centimeters. While this looked decently big, one must know that Lin Mu''s fist was enough to punch through a meter thick sheet of solid steel.


    For a rock wall to limit the damage by this much was rather impressive, especially considering that there were no formation arrays reinforcing it. It was also not made of any precious material, but was just somemon rock. And yet it was able to withstand so much damage.


    ''Is this the limit of its depth?'' Lin Mu wondered and checked it again with his Immortal sense, but found it to be blocked again. "Hmm¡­ it is definitely thicker." He realized and pulled his fist back again.


    ~BOOM~


    He threw another punch, deepening the hole by another fifty centimeters. "Still no change." Lin Mu noted. "Let''s see how much it can take and how far it really goes." He narrowed his eyes and started throwing punch after punch.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Hi fists turned into a blur as a flurry of fistsnded on the wall, expanding the hole in it.


    Lady Kang on the other hand watched it from the back, feeling a bit amused seeing Lin Mu acting rather barbaric. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    ''To think the first thing he would do after entering the Inheritance ground is to test its durability¡­'' she thought to herself.


    Though this did make her wonder just how tough the wall really was. She didn''t have a reference for Lin Mu''s strength after all, and tested it out herself.


    She pointed a finger at the wall as its tip glowed.


    It was as if a tiny star had manifested on Lady Kang''s finger before she shot it at the wall. The star flew like a bullet and struck the wall, causing a hole to appear on it as well. But unlike Lin Mu''s it was much smaller.


    ''Huh¡­ Barely twenty centimeters deep and ten centimeters wide¡­ He can actually exert that much power without actually using any skills?'' Lady Kang couldn''t help but be surprised.


    She could easily tell that Lin Mu was just using his baseline strength and not even his body cultivation. And despite doing that he was able to exert greater strength than Lady Kang using one of her Qi skills.


    Of course the Qi skill she used was not that strong and was one of her basic ones, but that was still a skill. Even if she was a sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal, she didn''t think she would be able to exert raw power the same way as Lin Mu.


    ~huu~


    A strong breath from Lin Mu made Lady Kang look back, making her witness his handiwork. Now arge man sized hole was created in the wall. It was about four meters deep and one could walk into it. Rather than a hole, one could even call it a small tunnel now.


    "Looks like the walls are quite thick¡­ Though it doesn''t seem like we are inside the ground. The walls are still the same stone bricks." Lin Mu determined.


    "Are you done with your test?" Lady Kang asked.


    "Yeah, with how tough the walls are, I don''t need to worry about this ce copsing under our attacks at least." Lin Mu replied. "Let''s see the rest of the area." He said before moving towards one of the directions.


    The room they were in was about a hundred meters wide and twice as long. It waspletely empty and it didn''t seem like there was anything present here.


    ~Humm~


    But just as Lin Mu and Lady Kang were about to move, a change happened.


    "What''s that?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, as his Immortal sense picked up on something. "The wall¡­ it''s repairing itself." Lady Kang saw the hole filling up.


    Lin Mu observed it and found there to be no formation working there. It was as if the wall was a living object and ''healed'' the wound that Lin Mu had inflicted onto it.


    About thirty secondster, all the damage was healed and it was as if Lin Mu had never even touched the wall. Lady Kang checked the hole that she had made, and it had healed as well. "Merely half a minute to heal all that damage¡­ The creator of this ce certainly kept durability in mind along with sustainability." Lin Mu muttered. This was amon thing for several Inheritance grounds that were meant to be used by several people over the years. When people entered these grounds, it was inevitable that they would end up inflicting some damage. The grounds might be fine for a few cycles of this process, but at a certain point the damage would be too much.


    This would cause the Inheritance ground to eventually be ineffective and lose its purpose.


    To prevent this, the Inheritance grounds would usually have self repairing arrays in addition to having high durability. But even then, the repairs would usually happen when the people had left the Inheritance grounds and it was in its sealed state.


    It would take this time to repair itself, and reach its original state to be ready for the next group of entrants.


    But this Inheritance ground seemed to be on another level, to be able to repair itself within a minute. "A Celestial''s treasure is certainly on another level." Lady Kang said having witnessed the process herself.


    "Indeed¡­ We might have more surprises perhaps." Lin Mu replied, finally moving towards the end of the room. There a pair ofrge stone gates with no designs or carvings awaited them.


    Lady Kang and Lin Mu looked at the gate wondering if they were supposed to push this open.

 Chapter 2079 Encountering Familiar Beasts

    ~Rumble~


    Before Lin Mu and Lady Kang did anything though, the two gates moved on their own. A rumbling sound was heard, while fine dust and stone fragments fell from the gates. "Perhaps we were just supposed toe here directly." Lin Mu said, knowing that his earlier test was a bit too excessive.


    This was merely the entrance hall and the real part of the Inheritance ground started from here on.


    "Let''s go in." Lady Kang said, taking the lead this time.


    ~Rumble~


    Once the two were inside the new area, the gates closed behind them. "No going back I suppose." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes before feeling a Qi fluctuation.


    ~shua~


    The room suddenly turned bright as several lights glowed on the ceiling. With the room fully illuminated, they didn''t need to use their immortal senses to see what was inside. This room was bigger than the previous one, being six hundred meters by six hundred meters.


    The roof was also about a hundred meters above, hinting to the both that this was made with movement in mind.


    "A bit too big for a normal room¡­ this isn''t going to be a trial of intelligence, is it?" Lin Mu questioned, looking at Lady Kang.


    "Doesn''t seem like it," She said, bing alert.


    Lin Mu did the same, spreading his Immortal sense to pick up on any surprise attacks. ~shua~


    The two watched as a few runes appeared in front of them. The runes joined together and spelled a single word.


    ''Survive.'' As soon as the two saw it, they knew what was going to happen.


    ~HUALA~


    A dark gas of some kind poured out from the floor and filled the room.


    "Poison?" Lady Kang guessed.


    "No¡­ This is different¡­" Lin Mu said, feeling the flow of energy within the gas. It didn''t flow like normal gas and seemed to be gathering around a few points. The two watched as the gas coalesced into six spheres around them. ~POOF~


    In the next moment, Lin Mu threw out a punch causing a jet of air to shoot towards one of the spheres. The sphere broke apart and turned into a gas. He didn''t know what was going to happen, but reckoned it was best to not let the gas do what it wanted to do.


    ~shua~


    Unfortunately, before Lin Mu could attack the other spheres, they transformed into beasts!


    "Wait a second¡­" Seeing this Lin Mu remembered something. The beasts had a dark body with pitch ck eyes. They had four legs with three small ws, and a head that looked like that of a dog, but the lower jaw was a bit oversized. Its teeth jutted out like tusks, while a bony ridge went down its spine. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    These were beasts that Lin Mu was quite familiar with and had fought thousands of them.


    "Chasm Beasts?!" Lin Mu said in shock.


    "You recognize them?" Lady Kang asked in surprise. She herself didn''t know what these beasts were and it was the first time she had ever seen something like them. "I''ve fought them before." Lin Mu said, before striking one of them.


    ~CRACK~


    The attack directly broke the head of the Chasm Beast apart, causing it to turn back into gas. ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Lin Mu hit three other beasts, and defeated them in an instant.


    "They''re weak." Lin Mu stated.


    Lady Kang nodded and pointed her finger at the Chasm Beast in front of her, shooting a small star at it.


    ~SHIK~


    The star pierced through the head of the Chasm Beast with ease and came out of its back, just like a bullet.


    "They really are weak. Not even equal to a False Immortal." Lady Kang judged before killing thest beast as well.


    Once all the six beasts were defeated, the gas they had reverted to returned into the floor.


    ~SHUA~


    Rune appeared in front of them once more, forming a new word.


    ''Pass''


    "Guess that was it for the first trial." Lin Mu understood. "We will probably face stronger foes, as we go onwards." He guessed.


    "Probably¡­ Though how did you know about these: Chasm Beasts?" Lady Kang questioned, feeling intrigued.


    "I''ve encountered several of them in the past. They are a type of an illusory beast and are made out of a strange gas. They have no internal organs and provide no useful materials." Lin Mu answered. "This gas is mostly a chaotic mix of different energies without a specific proportion." He exined. "How peculiar¡­ I''ve seen some other illusory beasts before that were alsoposed of pure Qi, but nothing like these." Lady Kang replied. "They don''t seem to have a particr ''will'' of their own." She added.


    "They don''t, yes. I''m unsure as to how they are exactly created but there is definitely some logic to them." Lin Mu replied. "Considering we are in here as a trial, they are possibly being controlled by the Celestial Treasure itself." He guessed.


    "Perhaps¡­ We''ll learn more once we see more of them." Lady Kang said, turning to the exit which had now opened.


    ~Rumble~


    Simr to before, two in stone gates opened allowing Lin Mu and Lady Kang to pass through. Their immortal sense scanned the next room, which was also illuminated just like before. Once the two were inside, the gates closed, locking them in.


    ~shua~


    "Same as before." Lin Mu watched the runes spell Survive again.


    ~HISS~


    Dark gas rose from the floor again, and coalesced into multiple spheres. ~WOOSH~WOOSH~WOOSH~


    But this time, Lin Mu and Lady Kang reacted instantly, attacking the newly formed spheres.


    In just a second, the two of them had destroyed eight spheres that had formed around them.


    ~GRAAAA~


    But that was not enough, as the number of Chasm Beasts had increased by several times. Instead of six, there were now thirty two of them!


    "The trial adjusted in difficulty huh¡­ though they''re still weak." Lin Mu said, easily defeating ten of them with a few more punches. "I wonder how long they''ll stay at this level." Lady Kang said, killing the rest of the Chasm Beasts.

 Chapter 2080 Growing Numbers And Exponential Trials

    Lady Kang was faster than Lin Mu. Her stars, shot from her finger like bullets from a gun and pierced through the heads of all the Chasm Beasts within a fraction of a second.


    Lin Mu observed this and found it to be a rather interesting Qi skill.


    ''It doesn''t use much Immortal Qi, but has a strong piercing power.'' Lin Mu assessed. ''Though it does not seem to be like anymon Qi skills that I''ve seen before this.'' He thought to himself.


    On the surface, it seemed simr to something like Searing sparrow darts that Lin Mu had learned. But the concept behind it was different. Lin Mu tried to sense the stars and found it to be a lot moreplex than one would think. ''Definitely not like any other Qi skills I''ve seen before.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as the pass message appeared.


    "Now we move," Lin Mu said, watching a gate open on the other side.


    "Yeah." Lady Kang replied and the two moved into the third room.


    It was the same as the previous one, and the runes told them to survive.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    "They''re really ramping it up, huh." Lin Mu said, as over a hundred spheres made out of the dark gas appeared.


    ~shing~ N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    This time, he drew out Afternoon Pine and made a single sh. ~HONG~


    The immortal Qi imbued into the double edged sword let out a sword light that cut through all the dark gas spheres in front of it. ~POOF~


    In one go, Lin Mu had cleared out 80% of the spheres. The one that had managed to survive were those that were not in the range of the sh.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Lady Kang took care of those and the pass message appeared once more.


    "This is much faster." Lin Mu nodded, though he also wondered if this was a fault of the trials or whether the enemies were just too weak.


    If they didn''t let the Chasm beasts form in the first ce, they wouldn''t have to fight them, allowing them to continue without stopping for too long. They did this for about five more rounds, and cleared them out quickly. In every round, the number of enemies increased, and by the eighth round, the number was already at two thousand!


    ~SHING~


    In the ninth round, Lin Mu did the same and shed out. But this time around, something changed. The sh tore through about a hundred dark gas spheres that were yet to transform into Chasm Beasts before suddenly being stopped. ~GRRR~


    A few beasts had actually managed to form sessfully and had even blocked the sword sh!


    "Huh¡­ They''re getting better too now." Lin Mu said with slight surprise.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Lady Kang noticed this too when she shot the other beasts. Previously, she was able to pierce through tens of spheres in one shot, but now, it was seemingly stopped after a few of them, which allowed the spheres at the back to sessfully transform into Chasm beasts.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t really mind it much and shed out a few more times, clearing the Chasm Beasts out. This also allowed him to judge their strength which was finally at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm now.


    "It''s finally ramping up." Lin Mu said as he started to walk towards the next room.


    "The increase is exponential too¡­ Their strength has been upgraded, but their numbers haven''t decreased." Lady Kang replied.


    If before they had faced two thousand Chasm Beasts below the immortal realm, now they were facing two thousand Chasm Beasts at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    "Hmm¡­ Still, they aren''t beyond our level yet." Lin Mu replied.


    Though he still kept in mind that the difficulty would jump rapidly and they could make mistakes if they didn''t pay attention.


    ~SHUA~


    They entered the tenth room and the process repeated.


    Lin Mu shed at the spheres, trying to get rid of as many of them as he could before they transformed into Chasm Beasts, while Lady Kang did the same. But now the numbers had reached three thousand, which meant more Chasm Beasts were able to survive.


    Though their strength was still at the First Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm thus the two didn''t have any issues other than taking a few more minutes to kill them.


    Every round from here on, the number of Chasm Beasts increased by a thousand, which increased the time needed for them to clear it. Lin Mu and Lady Kang had the capability to kill all the beasts at once if they used their stronger skills, of course, but they chose not to do it. This would save the amount of immortal Qi they used as a precaution. No one knew how long this trial wouldst and whether they would have time to rest.


    Thus, it was better to be conservative until they were forced to use stronger Qi skills.


    By the seventeenth round, the number of beasts had reached ten thousand, which took about fifteen minutes for the duo to kill. The size of the room had stayed the same, which was now a bit constricted for them.


    If all the Chasm beasts had sessfully managed to appear, they would upy over 90% of the room''s space. Thankfully they killed enough at the very start so there was always space for them to move around decently.


    But when the eighteenth round started, they were in for trouble.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Thousands upon thousands of spheres appeared and started to transform into Chasm Beasts.


    ~SHING~


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    The duo attacked like before, but their attacks killed half as many beasts as before.


    "They''re stronger." Lin Mu realized instantly.


    "My attacks aren''t piercing through as many spheres as before too." Lady Kang furrowed her brows.


    And when the Chasm Beasts finally appeared, Lin Mu and Lady Kang assessed their strength.


    They were as strong as Second Tribtion Stage beasts now!


    With thousands of Chasm Beasts at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm, Lin Mu and Lady Kang were forced to use more strength.


    "Afternoon Pine!" Lin Mu shed out and used the sword''s innate skill.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Several yellow metal pine trees sprouted from the ground, and started to grow rapidly. Their sharp branches stabbed through the Chasm Beasts, while the twigs extended through them and the leaves sliced them apart.


    Two thousand Chasm Beasts were killed with this attack while Lady Kang attacked too.


    Instead of shooting small stars like before she extended her middle finger and index finger. She then split them apart in a ''V'' shape causing a shimmering energy to form between the two fingers. This shimmering energy turned into arger star that seemed to be surrounded by glitter that was orbiting around it.


    "Fragmenting Star!" Lady Kang threw it with her two fingers, causing it tond in the middle of the Chasm beasts.


    ~BOOM~


    Then a momentter, the star exploded, hurling hundreds of tiny glitter fragments everywhere. These glitter fragments pierced through the Chasm Beasts with ease, shredding them almost instantly. They turned back into the dark gas and dissipated.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Lady Kang threw out three more Fragmenting stars and cleared out her half of the room. "They certainly are taking more effort now." Lady Kang spoke, taking a breath.


    "Indeed¡­ and I think they will increase in strength every nine rounds." Lin Mu calcted after having observed the change.


    "We''ll know for sure once we reach the twenty seventh room." Lady Kang replied, not feeling concerned.


    "Mmhmm." Lin Mu also felt like they could continue to handle them at their level.


    ~Tremble~


    The gate opened up, allowing them to move into the neenth room that was twice as big as before.


    "Huh¡­ guess even the Trial wants to be a bit fair and improve the space it gives us." Lin Mu said seeing the room that was nearly a kilometer in size.


    "Or, it has run out of space to fit more Chasm beasts." Lady Kang said as she readied four Fragmenting Stars beforehand. ~swoosh~


    She threw all four Fragmenting Stars in the room before the spheres had even appeared, being ready for them.


    ~BOOM~


    And when the Chasm Beasts did appear, they were sted to smithereens in an instant. The spheres didn''t even get the chance to fully form and were cleared out. "If they''re faster we''ll be faster than them." Lin Mu said created tens of shes in the blink of an eye.


    In just a couple of minutes, the entire room was cleared out by the two showing that just because they were slow earlier, didn''t mean that they were weak. They were merely optimizing the energy they used. And now that it was justified, they wouldn''t hesitate to use more energy.


    Twenty first¡­


    .


    .


    Twenty second¡­


    .


    .


    .


    Twenty fifth¡­


    .


    .


    .


    Twenty Seventh!


    They cleared the rooms as fast as they could and soon reached the Twenty Seventh room which confirmed Lin Mu''s inference.


    About Seventeen thousand Chasm beasts appeared, that were all as strong as a Third Tribtion Stage immortal!


    "Looks like we need to be a bit more serious now." Lin Mu said, seeing the speed at which the Chasm Beasts had managed to transform.


    Lady Kang simply nodded and threw out the Fragmenting stars into the crowd of Chasm Beasts. ~BOOM~


    "Afternoon Pine!" The two began their assault once more, but this time it took them significantly more effort and time.


    By the time they cleared the room out, over thirty minutes had passed.

 Chapter 2081 The Twin’s Assist

    <h4>Chapter 2081 The Twin''s Assist</h4>


    ~huu~


    "We just might need a bit of help." Lin Mu spoke, having cleared the room. Lin Mu now understood that if the numbers kept on increasing like this, things might not stay good.


    "That we do¡­ This doesn''t seem normal anymore." Lady Kang nodded. "Though I don''t know how we can group up with others again." She stated.


    "I don''t know when we''ll meet others either, but there is someone else that can help us." Lin Mu said before moving towards the next room. "We should be able to clear the rooms with a bit more ease again." He said, making Lady Kang wonder what he was going to do.


    ~SHUA~


    In the twenty eighth room, eighteen thousand Chasm beasts that were at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm appeared. Just like before, their speed of manifesting was so fast that Lin Mu and Lady Kang wouldn''t be able to get rid of them in sphere forms. But that didn''t matter, as Lin Mu summoned hispanions.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang!" Lin Mu extended both his hands, causing two ribbons to shoot out of them.


    The ribbons moved incredibly fast, leaving behind a ck and white trail behind. At first, Lady Kang thought that it was a Qi skill that Lin Mu was using, but his earlier words contradicted that.


    As such, Lady Kang tried to see what the ribbons were and narrowed her eyes.


    "Snakes?" She finally realized.


    ~HISS~


    The twins pierced through Chasm Beast after Chasm beast and seemed to be unstoppable. They streaked through the entire room, erasing the Chasm Beasts as if they were mere air. Wherever they passed, the area was cleared out, as even the Dark Gas seemingly disappeared.


    ''They''re consuming it?'' Lady Kang noticed that the two snakes were not only killing the Chasm Beasts but also eating them at the same time.


    ~SHING~


    It was at this time that Lin Mu joined the fray, shing out with Afternoon Pine. The yellow sh tore through the beasts, reducing them to the dark gas they were made out of. ~WHOOSH~


    And much to Lady Kang''s surprise, the dark gas didn''t manage to return to the floor like before. Instead, it was sucked towards the two ribbons that were flying through the room nonstop.


    The twins weren''t going to let go of free food and continued to consume all that was avable.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Lady Kang also decided to join them and ask questionster once the room was cleared out.


    With the addition of the twin snakes, the time needed for them to clear out the room was halved and it only took them fifteen minutes.


    ''Pass'' The runes disyed the message that they had seeded and allowed them to move onto the next room.


    ~hiss~


    The twins returned to Lin Mu and wrapped themselves around his arms.


    Lady Kang got a proper look at the snakes and found them to be quite strong.


    "They''re at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm?" She hadn''t expected that considering their size.


    "They are." Lin Mu nodded. "We''ll be able to clear out the rooms faster with them¡­ plus they''ll have a decent meal too." He added.


    "Indeed, I suppose using tamed beasts is still a good option to speed up." Lady Kang replied.


    She was interested in the snakes and wondered what kind of beasts they were. She knew of many snake beasts that were white and ck, but none that were as fast as them and could consume the Dark gas like that.


    ''Their aura too¡­ It''s a bit unsettling.'' Lady Kang thought to herself.


    She couldn''t ce a finger on it exactly, but her body felt a faint sense of threat from the twin snakes. This was surprising to her, as she was much stronger than the two snakes. ''Strange¡­'' she thought to herself.


    ~shua~


    Entering the twenty ninth room, they were now faced with neen thousand beasts.


    But with the twins assisting them, the process was rtively smooth and it still took them around fifteen minutes to clear the room out.


    Room after room, they progressed with each room taking slightly longer toplete. By the thirty fifth room, it was now taking them thirty minutes again. This was due to the fact that the number of beasts had reached twenty five thousand!


    And it was about to get even more difficult as the next room was going to increase the strength of the Chasm Beasts.


    The room had increased in size and was now nearly two kilometers wide. "Here we go¡­ the Thirty Sixth room." Lin Mu muttered, holding the Afternoon Pine firmly in his hand.


    The snakes were coiled up on his shoulders, ready to strike as soon as they saw their foes. They were quite excited, as they were basically getting a great source of energy for them. Their bodies were quickly digesting and processing the immortal Qi present in the dark gas and converting it into pure Yin and Yang Immortal Qi.


    ~SHUA~


    The dark gas spewed out from the floor again and quickly transformed into twenty six thousand Chasm Beasts!


    And just as they had calcted, the strength of the Chasm Beasts was equivalent to that of Fourth Tribtion Stage Beasts now!


    ~HISS~


    The twins were the first to act and rushed out towards the Chasm Beasts fearlessly. Their eyes had a fierce glint and they saw the beasts in front of them as nothing but prey. Even if the strength of all the Chasm Beasts was equivalent to their cultivation base, it didn''t mean that they were as strong as the two. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    The twins had an incredible bloodline that was iparable to most in the world. Not to mention, they had the advantage over the Chasm beasts due to them being able to pierce through their defenses as well as consume them.


    In a way, they were basically the natural predators for them.


    Lin Mu and Lady Kang had now gotten used to the Chasm Beasts and found fighting them to be rather methodical.

 Chapter 2082 45th Round

    <h4>th Round</h4>


    The Chasm beasts might have increased in strength, but their skills hadn''t changed much. Their attack patterns were the same and their responses were the same too. It was not hard for Lin Mu and Lady Kang to predict their reactions.


    ''Even if the Chasm Beasts are equivalent to Fourth Tribtion Beasts, they are nowhere close to them in terms of skill.'' Lin Mu thought. ''They are alsocking intelligence¡­ simr to the ones I fought in the Land of Exile. If they had better intelligence, they might have been able to adapt to our attacks too.'' He understood.


    An immortal beast at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm would basically have the same intelligence as that of a human. Thus, they could grow at the same rate as humans and adapt simrly. This was what made them so dangerous in addition to their strength.


    But the Chasm Beasts entirelycked that.


    ''It''s the same as fighting puppets¡­'' Lady Kang had simr thoughts as Lin Mu.


    The two humans and two snakes fought the hoard of Chasm Beasts and it took them over an hour to kill them all. They also had to use more of their stronger Qi skills, which used up more immortal Qi.


    For the first time, the two were actually feeling a bit tired. Of course, their Immortal Qi stores were still high enough, but that didn''t mean they couldn''t perceive the fatigue. It was concerning, since they had no idea when this trial would stop.


    ''There''s no way this would continue till we encounter seventh Tribtion stage beasts, would it?'' Lady Kang thought to herself. ''No¡­ even reaching the fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm would be stretching it. Especially if their numbers keep on growing.'' She reckoned.


    Creating Thirty five thousand Chasm Beasts with the strength of the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm would have an incredible energy demand. And this was just in terms of them, there were still four more duos that were possibly undergoing the same trial.


    They didn''t know how the other duos were faring. If the trial would really extend till the forty fifth round, there would be a total of one hundred and seventy-five thousand Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chasm Beasts!


    It was doubtful whether there were even that many human cultivators at that stage in the entire Rust Sky World!


    Not to mention, the dark gas that the Chasm beasts were made out of was no longer being recycled. The twins were consuming it all without leaving much behind. This meant that the Inheritance ground was actually having a loss that was growing by every second.


    With these thoughts in their mind, the group continued to battle through the rooms.


    The time needed for them to clear out each room had reached almost two hours now, as they had to pace themselves a bit. And when they reached the forty fourth room, it took them an entire three hours to clear it out.


    ~Haa~


    Lin Mu let out a breath, furrowing his brows.


    "The next round will be the most difficult so far¡­" Lin Mu spoke. "If the trend stays the same, we might actually get injured." He said honestly.


    Even he wouldn''t say that he had the full confidence of getting out unscathed from that many Chasm Beasts.


    "We''ll have to get through it. We knew the Inheritance ground was going to be tough after all." Lady Kang replied.


    "That is true¡­ we''ll see how it goes." Lin Mu said and took a deep breath.


    He wondered if he should call out Little Shrubby too at this point.


    The beast would certainly be of help with his speed and strength. It would also help split the load further.


    ''If we really need it, I''ll call him out.'' Lin Mu decided to see how it was first.


    After all, if things were really difficult, he might have to get ready to escape too, and Little Shrubby would be crucial to that.


    ~tremble~


    The gate to the next room finally opened, and the time of reckoning arrived.


    Lin Mu and Lady Kang walked through the threshold into the dark room, while holding their breath.


    But after ten seconds passed, nothing happened.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu raised a brow, finding it to be strange. ~Rumble~


    Instead, a loud sound was heard before the entire room started to tremble. "This is different¡­" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and spread his Immortal sense.


    Lady Kang did the same and quickly realized that this room was much smaller than the previous ones. The room also didn''t turn bright right away, like before showing that this round was going to be different.


    ''The room is too small for a fight though¡­ Just fifty meters.'' Lin Mu measured.


    This made him think that perhaps it was not going to be what they had originally thought. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    ~tremble~


    A few secondster, the walls around them seemingly sunk into the ground, while the roof parted.


    Some light finally filled the ce, revealing a new area.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu looked up as a dark grey sky revealed itself to them.


    There were no clouds in the sky, but it still seemed to be grey. There was no sun or moon in the sky either, thus it was impossible to tell if it was day or night.


    ''No wait, this is a Spatial ne so there is no concept of day or night in the first ce.'' Lin Mu thought before diverting his attention to the characteristics of the area around him.


    Lin Mu and Lady Kang seem to be standing on a fifty square meters sized stone dais, while the area past it was just simple ground filled with dirt and rocks.


    Tall mountains could be seen in the distance, with a steep canyon behind them.


    ~shua~


    Runes appeared in front of them at this moment, spelling a few words.


    ''Trial of Persistence has beenpleted.'' It was now that the two realized something.


    "It wasn''t forty five trials¡­ it was just one trial."

 Chapter 2083 Unknown Goal

    The Duo''s gaze lingered at the words hovering in the air feeling quite surprised.


    "So we spent all that time in just one trial¡­ and it reached that level of difficulty too." Lady Kang muttered.


    Having to deal with tens of thousands of Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal Chasm beasts was quite a lot, even if they didn''t seem to have proper intelligence. If this were a normal inheritance, this would have already been more than enough to give them several rewards.


    "A celestial''s inheritance sure is something else." Lin Mu said, looking around. "But since that was the first trial, I suppose this is the second trial¡­ or the first part of the second trial." He added.


    ~SHUA~


    Both of them extended their Immortal senses and scanned the area around them. But after a minute or so, they narrowed their eyes.


    "Nothing here." Lady Kang spoke.


    "It is a bit too empty¡­ What is the goal in this trial?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    Unlike the previous trial, there was no message for them. Thus they didn''t know what they were supposed to do.


    "Perhaps that is the purpose of the trial?" Lady Kang guessed. "It didn''t tell us the goal, so that we can figure it out ourselves." "Hmm¡­ That is possible¡­ A puzzle of sorts." Lin Mu stroked his chin. "Then the first step would have to be asses the area around us and see if there''s anything peculiar here." He said before looking at the twins on his shoulder. The two seemingly understood his thoughts and flew out.


    ~SWOOSH~


    The twins headed in opposite directions and soon disappeared from their line of sight.


    "They have a good sense of smell that can extend further than our Immortal sense." Lin Mu stated. "They will be able to find things faster than us." He added.


    "Is it fine letting them go like that?" Lady Kang asked. "Even if they are at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, they can get injured." She spoke.


    "They''ve been through worse, this is still fine for them." Lin Mu replied. "Plus, I trust in their teacher." He chuckled.


    Lady Kang raised her brows at that, wondering who Lin Mu was talking about.


    "A teacher? For the snakes?" She felt a bit confused. "It''s not you?" she asked.


    "No, someone else." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "A teacher for beasts¡­ Isn''t that the job of the beast tamer though?" Lady Kang questioned.


    "It is, but this person has better skills than me." Lin Mu answered. "Stronger than me too¡­ and you." "I see¡­" Lady Kang couldn''t help but note this information in her mind.


    If there was someone stronger than Lin Mu and her, they must not be simple. Not to mention, the person would have to be at the seventh tribtion stage of the Immortal realm or above, thus the list wouldn''t be long. The number of experts at that cultivation base in the Rust Sky World were quite limited.


    Though Lady Kang also didn''t think it would be a Transcendent Immortal expert, as that would mean that they would have to be one of the Emperors. And as far as she knew, Lin Mu didn''t have any connection to the emperors other than the tournament and through Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    But even that should have been in the passing, and not something dedicated like a teacher.


    "I''ll take a look at the space too." Lin Mu stated, closing his eyes.


    Lady Kang nodded and watched him as the aura around him subtly shifted. It was almost imperceptible and most wouldn''t even be able to sense it. But the woman had met many people and had seen various kinds of people before.


    Thus, when the look in Lin Mu''s eyes changed, she knew he wasn''t just looking at random things.


    ''He is looking past it¡­'' Lady Kang knew. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    Lin Mu seemingly stared into the air, his vision extending past the mere surface of reality and into the fabric of spaceposing it. At first, everything seemed normal, like he would normally see in a world, but once he had gone past the firstyer of Spatial Fabric, he found out that it was all an illusion.


    ''So that''s why we see no Formation arrays¡­'' Lin Mu thought. ''To think they wouldpose it in a way like this¡­'' he couldn''t help but marvel at it.


    The runes thatposed the entire ce''s arrays weren''t present in the world itself, but were actually hidden inside the Fabric of Space!


    This was something that was usually only done with Spatial Arrays like in the case of Teleportation Arrays and Spatial Storage Treasure.


    The runes thatposed them would form the Teleportation Channel in the case of the Teleportation Array and the boundary of the Spatial Storage Treasure. In a way, one could think of it as an invisible that surrounded the area that was affected by it.


    It was somewhat simr in this case too, but instead of Spatial Arrays, different Formation arrays had been introduced into the Spatial Fabric.


    ''There don''t seem to be any Spatial arrays present in the Spatial Fabric, which means this was indeed a naturally formed Spatial ne.'' Lin Mu analyzed. ''Whoever turned this into a treasure, took this natural spatial ne and isted it before adding formation arrays into the Spatial Fabric. Not only this made the ce immune to intervention by most Formation masters, even sensing it is going to be impossible unless they have Spatial Perception,'' He thought.


    Even for a Transcendent Immortal, recognizing the structure of this Spatial ne was going to be impossible unless they had spatial skills too. And even then, there was no guarantee if they would be able to do anything with it.


    This allowed Lin Mu to understand a bit more about what this Celestial Treasure was like. ''The Formations Arrays that are present in the Spatial Fabric are too spread out to read properly¡­'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he looked around more.

 Chapter 2084 Composition Of The Spatial Fabric

    With the unique properties of this Spatial ne, Lin Mu couldn''t help but be greatly interested in it.


    The Formation arrays in the Spatial Fabric were extremely spread out, simr to an extremely stretchable muslin cloth that was pulled so much that the fine holes in it were now as big as arge gate!


    It was the same as throwing a few grains of sand in arge pond or ake, but the grains of sand were still connected. There was an extreme level of dilution in it that was very difficult toprehend. ''It''s certainly something that''s beyond my level right now.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''So this is what kind of skills are needed to make a Celestial Treasure.'' It was quite impressive, and Lin Mu observed it further. He tried to piece some of the runes together, but they were wandering around freely like specs of dust in air.


    ''There''s also multiple Formation Arrays in the Spatial Fabric, which will make it hard to recognize them if they''re this spread out¡­ theyers between them have also be quite thin with them being stretched this far apart.'' He analyzed as much as he could.


    Lin Mu then looked down into the ground and found that he actually couldn''t look that far into it. After a certain point, his Spatial Reception simply saw ''nkness''.


    ''I can''t actually see?'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows. ''An illusory array mixed into the Spatial Fabric¡­ now that''s new.'' He noted.


    While Lin Mu could often look past illusory arrays, that was only when they were present in the usual format. He would ignore them with his Spatial Perception, but when the Illusory Arrays were added to the Spatial Fabric itself, things became a bit moreplex. Lin Mu was technically still able to ignore the Illusory Arrays, but only up to a certain point. After that, things became too blurry before eventually turning nk.


    ''If my Spatial Perception hadn''t improved earlier, I might not have even been able to see this.'' He thought to himself.N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    A few minutes had passed since Lin Mu had started his observation now, and a message appeared in his mind, making him stop.


    Lin Mu stopped his spatial perception and turned to Lady Kang.


    "Let''s go, they found something." He spoke. "Alright." Lady Kang nodded and then saw Lin Mu summon something.


    ~SHUA~


    Another beast appeared in front of them that was several meters tall.


    "This¡­ is another one of your tamed beasts?" Lady Kang looked at the Liger Beast.


    "Yes, it''s Little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke before getting onto his back. "Get on, it''ll be much faster this way." He responded.


    Lady Kang had known that Lin Mu had a cat beast from the information she had asked to gather, but didn''t know it was this big.


    ''Was the information wrong? But the name matches.'' She thought to herself before getting onto Little Shrubby''s back.


    With his size, there was plenty of space for several people to sit.


    "Head to Xiao Yang''s location, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Okay!" Little Shrubby said with a growl and started to run.


    ~WHOOSH~ At first, Lady Kang didn''t know why Lin Mu was taking a tamed beast out when both of them were immortals, with her being at the Sixth Tribtion Stages of the immortal realm and being quite fast. But once Little Shrubby had ran for a few seconds, she quickly understood why.


    "This is¡­ already higher than a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortals''s speed." Lady Kang spoke.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu replied, the wind blowing past them. "He is specialized in speed." He replied.


    Lady Kang had thought that the twins were already quite fast for beasts at their cultivation, and now there was little Shrubby who blew that away by arge margin.


    ''This beast is at a lower cultivation base too.'' Lady Kang noticed that Little Shrubby was just at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    From afar, Little Shrubby just looked like a red streak and the two humans on his back couldn''t even be made out. He was covering hundreds of meters of distance within seconds and in just a few minutes they had already traveled more than a hundred kilometers away from their original location.


    The mountains that were in the distance were now growing in size, getting closer. This was the direction that Xiao Yang had gone towards, while Xiao Yin had gone towards the canyon at the back. Among the siblings, the brother was the one to find something first.


    ~SHA~


    Long streaks were left in the ground from his ws as he used them like breaks. Little Shrubby slowed down and soon came to a halt, making the two people on his back to hold on tight, so as to not be thrown off due to the sudden change in momentum.


    "Where are you Xiao Yang?" Lin Mu called out while also spreading his Immortal sense.


    ~HISS~


    A sound was heard before a white blur appeared.


    "Found something in the ground." Xiao Yang spoke.


    "Oh? Show us." Lin Mu replied.


    Xiao Yang nodded and guided them to what was a small hole in the ground. It was barely as wide as a palm and seemed to be quite deep. At the very least, Lin Mu could not see its bottom.


    "What''s down there?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Water, lots of it." Xiao Yang answered with a hiss. "The water smells nice." He added.


    "Huh¡­ That''s interesting." Lin Mu spoke, making Lady Kang look in intrigue.


    "What is it?" She questioned.


    "Looks like there''s an underground water source of some kind¡­ and not the normal kind of water." Lin Mu answered.


    "I see¡­ Guess we''ll have to dig down." Lady Kang replied to which Xiao Yang hissed.


    "Seems like we can''t dig¡­ the ce will copse." Lin Mu replied, having understood Xiao Yang.


    "How do we get there then?" Lady Kang asked.


    "I have a way," Lin Mu replied. "Give me a minute." He said before suddenly sinking into the ground as if it were water.

 Chapter 2085 A Milky Pool

    Chapter 2085 A Milky Pool


    Lady Kang was left watching as Lin Mu casually disappeared into the ground.


    ''He really has been holding back on his Spatial Skills¡­ Could he have used this in the previous trail? And what of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts?'' Lady Kang wondered to herself. ''If he simply hid in the ground, most of the enemy attacks would be useless¡­ He would even be able to sneak up on them.'' She reckoned.


    While she didn''t know the conditions or the cost of using the Spatial Skills, the woman quickly understood that Lin Mu had actually put a major handicap on himself when he participated in the Tournament. If he really was taking advantage of his Spatial Skills, which he rightfully was allowed to, he would have wiped thepetition.


    Even in the case of the finalist, Feng Baxing it would have been the same. In fact, there was a chance that even the Imperial Might Talisman he had used would be ineffective, if Lin Mu had employed all his Spatial Skills.


    "What else is he hiding?" Lady Kang muttered.


    Lin Mu was unaware of all this and was instead focused on finding out what Xiao Yang had discovered.


    He sank through the ground and continued downward, passing through soil, rocks and old dead roots that seem to have been there for a very very long time. ''There''s actually roots left in the ground¡­ interesting.'' Lin Mu thought.


    So far Lin Mu had not seen any nt life here but the presence of old roots proved that there were indeed nts here once upon a time. There was no vitality left in the roots and they had also shrunk quite a lot, showing that they had probably been here for centuries or thousands of years.


    They had dried to the point where it was impossible to tell what kind of nt they belonged to, and whether it was a spirit herb or immortal herb.


    Though Lin Mu was at least sure that it wasn''t a mortal nt.


    ''If it was a mortal nt, the roots would have turned into soil a long time ago.'' He thought.


    He followed the hole that Xiao Yang had used and realized that it was not made by the snake but was actually a natural gap left in the rocks and boulders in the ground. It was also not straight, and had a rather winding path downwards.


    But Lin Mu didn''t have to follow, that as he could simply use his Immortal sense to judge the path of the hole and just move downwards with Phase. ''It''s actually good that the Formation arrays are all embedded directly into the Spatial Fabric and not into the real world like normal. Or I would not have been able to use Phase freely like this.'' Lin Mu understood.


    If there were formation arrays that acted as a restriction or a barrier, Lin Mu would not have been able to pass through them with Phase as the skill did not work like that.


    But the unique structure of the Inheritance ground allowed Lin Mu to use Phase as he wanted and basically swim through the ground and other materials if he wished to do so.


    Still, the hole went quite far down and Lin Mu was already over five hundred meters deep into the ground. And along the way, he saw several causes for concerns.


    ''We definitely cannot dig into this from the top, the empty cavities left from the shifting rocks would have caused the ce to copse quickly.'' Lin Mu thought. ''If there is something sensitive and delicate below all this, it would get destroyed.'' He reckoned that it was better to be as cautious as possible.


    With Phase, he could move without affecting the ground, and caused no interference which kept the ground stable.


    It wasn''t until Lin Mu had gone nearly a kilometer into the ground that he finally reached a wide open space.


    "An underground cave?" Lin Mu observed the space.


    It mostly seemed to be empty and Lin Mu was currently hanging from its ceiling. The area around him was mostly dark, but if he looked down there was a spot that was faintly glowing. "Is that the ce, Xiao Yang found?" He wondered and exited the ceiling.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense quickly spread in the entire cave, getting a measure of it. ''About two kilometers wide and four kilometer long¡­ though its height seems to be varying at different ces.'' Lin Mu thought. ''There''s also no stctites on the ceiling, which means this wasn''t made from water dripping down.'' He noted.


    Another importance thing Lin Mu learned was that the ceiling basically had no support. There were no pirs or rock walls propping it up other than the ones that were at the borders of the cave. The middle part of the cave was entirely freestanding and the entire weight of the soil above was on it.


    ''Its already a miracle that it is standing like this, especially with the smaller empty cavities in the soil above. Even small tremors could technically make the entire ce copse.'' Lin Mu observed the characteristics. ''Xiao Yang made the right judgment.'' He thought feeling a bit proud.


    After all, figuring something like this out was not easy, even if one had the intelligence to do so. One also needed the experience and wisdom along with it to analyze the situation and then grasp the risks that came with it. For Xiao Yang who was less than a handful of years old, this was already quite impressive as Lin Mu did not think he would have been in another situation like this before.


    Lin Mu went to the ce that seemed to be faintly glowing and found to be brighter the closer he got. Eventually he arrived at what looked like a luminescentke that was about fifty meters in size. From the top, it just looked like a small spot, especially with the total size of this cave.


    "What is this?" Lin Mu used his Immortal sense and probed theke, trying to get an idea of it.


    Theke itself had a rather shallow depth, being two meters deep. The water inside it had a milky appearance whichbined with its natural luminescence made it look quite pretty.


    ~sniff~


    Lin Mu also got to smell theke, finally understanding what Xiao Yang meant by a good smelling ce. ''This scent¡­ As if its the first rain after a harsh summer¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    To him, the scent was faint but to a beast like Xiao Yang it was decently intense to find it good. Lin Mu''s Immortal sense probed the milkyke and felt its energy finding it to be very mild. One thing he was sure about was that this was not a Immortal Qi or Spirit Qi pool of any kind. In fact, the milky water had no Qi inside it. The energy that was present inside it was entirely different in nature. Having observed all this, Lin Mu was able to narrow down the potential answers but still had about four choices left in his mind.


    "Hmm¡­ only one way to confirm it." Lin Mu muttered and dipped his finger into the milky water.


    He then lifted the liquid coated finger and brought it to his mouth, licking the singr drop of water from it. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    As soon as he did, a crisp and refreshing taste spread on his tongue.


    This caused Lin Mu''s eyes to go wide, as he finally figured out what the right choice was.


    "There''s no doubt¡­ This is a pool of Pure Petrichor Cave Milk!" Lin Mu stated.


    It was a unique liquid that was formed over a long time under very specific conditions. As its name, it had to form in caves but there had to be no effect of rain on it. No rain water should reach it and the cave should stay dry.


    Then there was the fact that the concentration of Qi in the air should also be low, which was also the case here.


    Lin Mu and Lady Kang had felt the moment they had left the previous trial that the Qi in the air had be quite sparse. This was the case for both Spirit Qi and Immortal Qi, showing that the inheritance ground was testing them even now.


    With such concentration of immortal Qi in the air, restoring one''s condition to the peak was not easy.


    The air inside the first trial was basically devoid of any kind of Qi, as it was meant to be a trial of persistence. If one could restore their Qi naturally from the air, it would defeat the purpose of the trial.


    Though of course, they were still free to recover their immortal Qi using other resources which they thankfully hadn''t due to their cultivation bases.


    The Pure Petrichor cave milk was very rare, and as such its value was quite high too. In fact, it was something every alchemist desired.

 Chapter 2086 Pure Petrichor Cave Milk

    Chapter 2086 Pure Petrichor Cave Milk


    Lin Mu gazed at the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk and realized that there was a massive amount present here.


    "How long has this been collecting?" Lin Mu wondered to himself. "Even a small vial of this would be enough to sell for a few thousand high grade Immortal stones." He muttered.


    The reason why the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk was so valuable was the fact that it had the simple property of purifying.


    Or more urately when it was used in the process of alchemy, it could improve the quality of the end product. Its properties also allowed the toxins of the ingredients that were used in the process to be reduced, resulting in a superior pill.


    If an alchemist at some Pure Petrichor Cave Milk, they could elevate the alchemist pill they were making to the next level merely by adding a few drops to it. Of course, using this for just some normal alchemical pill was an incredible waste, and most alchemist only used it when they were making a pill that was at the limit of their abilities. That way, they had a better chance of seeding and improving their skills after studying the pill at the end.


    Many alchemists even umted arge amount of Pure Petrichor Cave Milk and used it when it was time for them to advance to the next rank and make a new pill. That way, they could repeat the process as many times as they could, with the hopes of being sessful.


    As such, Pure Petrichor Cave Milk was something that was readily sold and always in demand. And due to the fact that not much of it could be farmed steadily, its value fluctuated greatly depending on the supply avable.


    There was also the fact that it was a substance that was easily sabotaged if the conditions for its creation were harmed in the slightest.


    Which was why when most people ended up finding the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk, they could note to obtain more of itter. They usually damaged the ce when they stumbled onto it, thereby removing the specific conditions that allowed the creation of the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk.


    It was the same case here, as Lin Mu had only found this ce due to Xiao Yang''s sense of smell. And with how deep it was underground, they would have lost the entire pool if they tried to dig it normally. Thus, there was a high chance that other than him, there was no one else that could have even managed to obtain it.


    ''I still need to get Lady Kang here first.'' Lin Mu didn''t think it was good to take it all himself right now, as it would not be a fair choice. ''Though how am I supposed to get her down here? This ce doesn''t seem like it''ll hold up with a direct tunnel from the top.'' He thought.


    His immortal sense scanned the ce for a bit before Lin Mu finally thought of a solution.


    "Hmm¡­ that''ll work. Though it''ll take some effort." He muttered as Lin Mu moved towards the thickest part of the cave.


    It was one of the bordering walls, and was mostlyposed of solid rock with somepressed soil and other minerals mixed in it.


    Lin Mu ced his hand on it and checked it to ensure that it''ll hold up.


    ~thud~ thud~


    He tapped on it lightly, judging its density.


    "Hmm¡­ This should be stable enough." Lin Mu judged. "At least more stable than the ceiling itself." He reckoned.


    With that done, Lin Mu looked at the wall and used his Immortal sense to plot out a rough n. He checked if there were any ws and empty cavities in the wall that could lead to a full copse and learned that other than some minor cracks, the earth was mostly stable.


    "Time to get to work." Lin Mu muttered and spoke, "Meld." ~SHUA~


    Spatial Fluctuation spread in the area as Lin Mu targeted a specific area in front of him. His hand was extended towards it before he made a grasping motion.


    ~Creak~


    In the next moment, a perfectly cylindrical chunk of section was cut out of the wall in front of him!


    It was about two meters in diameter and ten meters long, going straight into the wall. Lin Mu had checked most of the wall in front of him and learned where the ws and cracks were present. Thus, to avoid any chances of copse, he created a tunnel that would go past them.


    ''Doors done, now to make the actual tunnel.'' Lin Mu thought and stored the chunk of cylindrical rock in the ring.


    Then he entered the hole and reached its end before looking up. His immortal sense plotted out the path that he was to take, before Lin Mu used Meld again.


    ~shua~


    Spatial Fluctuations spread in the area before Lin Mu cut apart another part of the earth. It was also a cylindrical chunk but was just three meters long, which Lin Mu quickly stored in the ring so that he could move upwards. And after doing that, he took a pause to ensure that everything was fine.


    "Hmm¡­ no tremors¡­ seems stable enough." He reckoned and ced his hand on the rock above him again.


    ~shua~


    Another cylindrical chunk of rock was cut out with Meld, which Lin Mu stored into the ring and moved upwards.


    He repeated this and continued to cut an equal length of such cylindrical portions as he made his way up to the surface.


    Even with Lin Mu''s speed, it took him a little over an hour to finish this, as he couldn''t just go straight up. He had to go deeper from time to time, to avoid some of the cracks and fissures that appeared above him.


    He wanted to avoid any chance of a copse, thus went for the cautious option.


    Thus, the end path ended up being quite non-linear. If one was able to look through the solid wall, they would realize that it was almost zigzagging through the solid wall. But it perfectly avoided any cracks and other unstable parts of the earth, preventing it from copsing.


    ~shua~


    The disappearance of a chunk of earth was easily felt by Lady Kang as she looked in a particr direction. It was all still within the limits of her Immortal sense, thus she discovered it quickly. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    "Hmm?" She was also alert for any danger, thus picked up on it immediately. ''Wait¡­ Spatial Fluctuations?'' She sensed next, making her think of something else.


    Once she knew that there were Spatial Fluctuations involved, she knew who was behind it.


    ~whoosh~


    And sure enough, once Lin Mu flew out of the hole, her guess was confirmed.


    "Took a different path than thought." Lady Kang spoke once Lin Mu flew over to her.


    "Ah yes, couldn''t dig straight through or the ce would copse." Lin Mu replied. "I wanted you to get a look at the ce yourself before I decided to do anything with it." He added.


    "Found something good?" Lady Kang asked, feeling interested.


    "Very good." Lin Mu nodded. "Alright, let''s go." Lady Kang nodded.


    But before she could, Lin Mu interrupted her.


    "Wait a minute, let me call Xiao Yin back." Lin Mu said, thinking of something.


    He quickly sent the message to the snake before speaking to Little Shrubby, who had been waiting on the surface with Lady Kang. "Go get Xiao Yin." He stated.


    "On it!" Little Shrubby replied with a growl, and turned into a red blur.


    Lady Kang looked at Lin Mu, wondering why he had done this.


    "We don''t know what would happen once we get the stuff below. You know what these ces can be like¡­ things change quickly and traps are everywhere. Especially considering there are no normal formation arrays present here, we could very well be triggering something." Lin Mu exined.


    "That is indeed a possibility." Lady Kang nodded in agreement.


    Such caution was something she would take too, and she waited for a bit until Little Shrubby returned with Xiao Yin on his back. The ck snake peeked out from Little Shrubby''s dense fur and spoke.


    ~hiss~


    She greeted Lin Mu before conveying something that Lady Kang didn''t understand.


    "Oh? You found something too?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "Looks like we have our next location decided." He said.


    "That was faster than I thought." Lady Kang replied. "What is it, though?" she questioned.


    "Some crystals this time." Lin Mu answered. "We''ll check them outter." He said before sending the three beasts to the Sleepscape. Lin Mu didn''t know what would be happening, thus reckoned it was best to keep them there. That way, there was no chance they would be separated.


    ~Whoosh~


    With that done, the duo flew down the tunnel that Lin Mu had made and finally reached the cave below. Inside, Lady Kang smelled the faint scent in the air before being guided to the pool by Lin Mu.

 Chapter 2087 A True Businesswoman

    Chapter 2087 A True Businesswoman


    When Lady Kang finallyid her eyes on the milky pool of liquid emitting the scent of Petrichor, she immediately recognized it.


    "Pure Petrichor Cave Milk!" She eximed seeing the sheer amount of it present. "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded.


    "This amount¡­ This''ll be enough for the Great Kang Auction House tost for at least a decade!" Lady Kang said excitedly.


    Now hearing that, Lin Mu was surprised.


    "A decade? Do you mean the Great Kang Auction house will use it personally, or sell it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Both of course. For the optimum profits, we would have to split it into a 65:35 split. Thirty five percent of it will be sold as it is, to generate the cash inflow, while sixty five percent of it will be given to our own alchemists to make pills, which in turn will earn a higher profit margin." Lady Kang answered quickly, her eyes shining with the experience of thousands of years of business.


    "Huh¡­ So it isn''t better to sell it as it is¡­" Lin Mu spoke, wondering how much the profits would be from the pills. "Considering the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk so rare, would the pills made from it really yield that high of a profit?" he questioned.


    "Theoretically speaking, if we sold the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk as it is we''d make 100 units of profits. But if we split it as we said, and employed our own alchemist to make the pills and then sell them, we''d make about 230 units of profit." Lady Kang answered. "And this is even when we deduct the base costs such asbor and raw materials!" N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    "That¡­ is indeed quite high." Lin Mu hadn''t expected it to be that much. "Of course, this profit margin isn''t something just anyone can replicate. They would need the exact kind of expertise our people have, as well as the right connections to have them sold fast enough to generate the most profit." Lady Kang exined again, with quite a lot of enthusiasm.


    ''She really is a businesswoman through and through.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The shift in Lady Kang''s tone and behavior was enough for Lin Mu to grasp it fully now. The woman definitely thrived in business and even enjoyed it greatly.


    ''No wonder she managed to take the Great Kang Auction House to such a level on her own.'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel impressed by moneymaking abilities. "How about I give it all to you?" he suddenly spoke, thinking of something.


    "You mean, giving it to me to sell?" Lady Kang''s merchant instinct immediately grasped what Lin Mu intended.


    "Yes." Lin Mu replied. "Of course, I''ll keep some amount for myself if I ever need it, but I think it''ll be best to give it to you to sell it ording to your business n." He added.


    "That is, of course, possible." Lady Kang replied. "We are the Great Kang Auction house, and it is one of our services to domissions such as these." She added.


    "It''s settled then." Lin Mu replied. "You can handle my share and sell as you see fit." "Alright," Lady Kang said before turning to the milky pool.


    She then pulled her left sleeve back, revealing a bracelet with several charms hanging on it. She plucked one of the charms, which then expanded into arge porcin bottle. It was pure white in color with several delicate designs on it that were painted in blue and green.


    ~pop~


    She opened its cap and pointed it at the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk pool, causing the liquid to fly out!


    ~WHOOSH!~


    The milky liquid turned into a flying river, which entered the mouth of the porcin bottle. The bottle was about fifteen centimeters tall and eight centimeters at its widest point, and yet it was swallowing up more liquid than should be possible for its volume.


    ''A Spatial Storage tool¡­ But one thats intended for specific kinds of materials.'' Lin Mu quickly identified.


    Not all spatial storage tools were perfect for keeping all types of materials. Even if they were kept inside, they would still deteriorate and as such, resources like herbs, pills and more were kept in special preservative boxes that maintained their quality.


    But this often meant that one had to carry extra boxes and more just to keep them and if they encountered too many raw resources that they could not store, they would end up wasting them. To solve this problem, special Spatial Storage tools like these were made.


    They were specialized for different types of resources, like in the case of this porcin bottle that was meant for liquid alchemical resources. The porcin bottle could not only hold one, but many types of liquids at once. Every liquid would have different conditions for preserving them, and the bottle was able to identify this and apply those conditions automatically due to how it was made.


    With how valuable the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk was, the bottle would be able to maintain it at its best quality like it was here, since it was prone to spoil when it came in contact with higher concentrations of immortal Qi. As such, the porcin bottle would make an environment that was devoid of Qi, keeping the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk in its best condition.


    ~pop~


    About five minutester, all the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk was gathered up, leaving only about a liter of it left behind. Lady Kang put the cap of the bottle back on and took out another smaller vial and pointed it at the pool again.


    ~Whoosh~


    Thest one liter of the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk was drawn into it which she then handed to Lin Mu.


    "Would that be enough?" She asked. "Or do you want to keep more?" "I think a liter would be enough." Lin Mu nodded. "After all, most alchemist only use a drop or two of it when making a batch of pills." Lady Kang nodded before taking out a nk scroll. She tapped on it as hundreds of words appeared on it before she handed it to Lin Mu.

 Chapter 2088 Do You Want To Be A King?

    Chapter 2088 Do You Want To Be A King?


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu questioned, seeing the scroll. The scroll was made out of high quality paper and was emitting faint waves of immortal Qi.


    "Our business agreement. You can read it and sign it." Lady Kang answered. "It mentions the amount, and the profits that would be offered to you." "Ah yes," Lin Mu replied before reading the document.


    The document stated that there were exactly three thousand two hundred and thirteen liters of Pure Petrichor Cave Milk that was in Lin Mu''s share, including the one liter that he had taken separately. It was stated that the share would be handled by the Great Kang Auction house and be sold ording to their ns, while the profit would be remitted to Lin Mu.


    For everything, 1.5%mission would usually be taken by Lin Mu, but due to the unique circumstance where they simply would not have been able to find the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk, Lady Kang reverted that to 0%. As such, it would basically be a free sale.


    There were a few more conditions also written on the document, such as what would happen if they were unable to pay or what kind of payment Lin Mu wanted. He could take it in Immortal stones, cultivation resources, or even in cultivation techniques or special services that he might need.


    Among the payment terms, there was a specific one that made Lin Mu halt.


    "Wait¡­ I can get paid in terms of¡­ A country?" Lin Mu''s eyes narrowed.


    "It''s the same as getting paid in terms ofnd, but in this case they are actual countries." Lady Kang replied. "Fallen or captured nations are sold through our auction house too." She added.


    "Huh¡­ never seen that before." Lin Mu blinked at it a few times,prehending it. "What kind of countries are they, though?" he asked. N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    "All kinds. Mortal as well as immortal ones included. Their prices vary ordingly and every country has its own unique condition for sale." Lady Kang replied. "I see¡­ Do people really buy entire countries like this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It is quite a popr option actually, since it is an investment that can generate more ie for them in the long term." Lady Kang answered. "At least among the wealthy individuals, buying and selling a few countries isn''t umon." She said.


    "There are even immortals that turn it into a full blown business. They go to various worlds and conquernds before establishing their rule and dering it a nation. Once they gain recognition from the Immortal Court, they gain a standing.


    After that, they were fully free to sell it if they wish to do so. Several strong immortals do this, and have gained a massive fortune by selling them." Lady Kang exined in detail.


    "That''s¡­ something." Lin Mu didn''t know what to think of it.


    While Lin Mu knew very well that most Immortals had the strength to establish dynasties, not many would actually do that, as it was aplex and difficult affair. They would have to deal with opposition from other immortals as well as various powers that would not wish for a new kingdom to rise.


    Not to mention, doing it in an already established immortal world was something that would gain them thousands of enemies from everywhere. They would have to do this on a Mortal world, or a new world that hadn''t fully reached the realm of cultivation.


    But those options weren''t exactly profitable. At least not if it was just going to be a world of Spirit realm cultivators. Unless one was able to elevate it to the level of an Immortal world, even selling it would be difficult as not many were interested in obtaining Mortal worlds.


    The only ones that usually did something like that were actually sects that recruited fresh blood from mortal worlds. While mortal worlds were weak, they were also the cradles of new talent. Diamonds might be rare, but when one had an entire world to harvest them from, they became moremon. As such, sects could cherry pick talented individuals from mortal worlds they owned, and the nurture them.


    Not only would this make those individuals highly loyal to the sect, but it would allow them to reach peaks they would never be able to do on their own.


    While Lin Mu was thinking all this though, Lady Kang spoke up.


    "Well, do you want to be a king? We have several countries on sale right now," Lady Kang suddenly asked. "You can be the king of an Immortal country for the low price of a Three Hundred Million Immortal stones." She offered.


    "Uhh¡­" Lin Mu had been sessfully stunned by Lady Kang by just a few words.


    It took him a minute toprehend it all before he managed to reply.


    "I think I''ll pass on that offer." Lin Mu replied. "Would be too much work." He added.


    "Fair." Lady Kang replied.


    "Though¡­ just to be curious, what kind of immortal country is it?" Lin Mu asked as he didn''t know how to judge the sale price.


    "It''s a fallen country that has been ruined by thirty thousand years of conflict in an Immortal world located in the territory of the Southern Immortal Court. Half of it is barren, a quarter of it is basically a battlefield with rest holding most of its poption." Lady Kang stated methodically as if she had memorized it all a longtime ago.


    "And something like that is selling for three hundred million Immortal stones!?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "Of course. Even at the cheapest, most Immortal countries do not go for less than a hundred million immortal stones. And those that go for that price are basically lifeless barrennds with no humans living in it anymore. You can consider them justnd at that point rather than a productive nation.


    One would not be a king with that. They would just be andlord at most. Though of course, one can still bring other people in and harvest the resources of thend, turning it profitable eventually." Lady Kang exined.

 Chapter 2089 The Second Trial And Restrictions

    Chapter 2089 The Second Trial And Restrictions


    After listening to Lady Kang''s words, Lin Mu understood that one basically got what they paid for. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    A country that was functioning would have a massive value that would often be impossible to estimate with normal methods. Getting the value of the property and fixed assets was the easy part, but when it came to things like manpower, raw resources that were unexplored, as well as the future potential, it became hard to put a price tag on it. Not to mention, even if one did by a country, they also needed to have the strength to manage it.


    If not, the other people that were present in the country would simply takeover and it would be a worthless purchase. This was also why selling countries was quite difficult. If a ruler were to sell it, they would need toe to an agreement with the other people of the country. Otherwise, it would just be the same as selling nothing as the people would simply not ept a new ruler. It also wasn''t unusual to see rebellions and coups taking ce all the time in countries that were sold.


    Thus, it was very important to have a firm hold on it with great power.


    Another way to prevent rebellions was to actually have a cooperative agreement with the inhabitants of the country. Rather than ruling it directly, it was better to let the people living there pick their own ruler and then work together with them as a business partner.


    This is basically what a lot of sects did, as it was less work on their end and still yielded them plenty of benefits. The fewer conflicts there were, the smoother it was for them to work.


    "After hearing all this, I feel even more disinclined to be a King." Lin Mu stated while shaking his head.


    "I suppose it''s not something for everyone." Lady Kang replied. "Though there''s always many that dream to be kings and queens." She added.


    "Those that dream about it, only see one aspect of it. When they see the rest, it won''t be a dream¡­ It''ll be a nightmare." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.


    Lady Kang was a bit stunned hearing that, as it made her think about it for a few seconds.


    "If only others understood that." Lady Kang muttered before a strange sensation was felt by her.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu immediately became alert as he could feel the space shift. "Be ready, something''s happening!" he said out loud.


    They then saw runes appearing in front of them and turn into a sentence.


    ~SHUA~


    ''Reward Period has ended.'' "Reward Period?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes before feeling the spatial fluctuations surrounding them. "Are we being moved?" Lady Kang also sensed them now, as they had grown quite strong.


    "We''ll be teleported." Lin Mu could already see the spatial fabric twisting. "Hold on!" he said before quickly grasping Lady Kang''s hand so that they won''t be separated.


    ~HONG~


    In the next second, the space around them bulged inwards as the two were seemingly pulled into it. As if they had passed through a viscous membrane, the space around them turned blurry with a ssy tone around it.


    But they only saw this for a couple of seconds, before they felt returning to normal reality. This was such a short time that Lin Mu didn''t get to nce much at his Spatial Perception either. All he got to see was the Teleportation Channel before they were already on the other side of it.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    Lin Mu and Lady Kangnded on solid ground under them, and immediately spread their Immortal sense around.


    ~HISS~


    Sizzling sounds could be heard all around them, while hot air filled their surroundings.


    It didn''t take them much to figure out that they were in a rather dangerous area. "A volcanic area?" Lady Kang observed.


    The two were standing on a two meter sized rock that was floating in argeke ofva. There were tall cliffs from whereva was pouring down behind them, while in front of them there was a vast expanse that could only be described as a hellishndscape.


    Thevake they were standing in was just one of the hundreds present in the area, with even more floating rock inds in them. Tall rock pirs rose to the sky, that looked like someone had bitten out chunks from them. This was apparently due to the deep marks that were rather symmetrical and could be considered as teeth marks. And since they were present on many such pirs, it seemed obvious that some creature or creatures had done it.


    "Looks like this is the next trial¡­ The ce we were in previously wasn''t a trial ground." Lin Mu stated, having put two and two together.


    And as if to confirm his words, runes appeared in front of them once more.


    ''Find The Keys''


    "Those Keys should be our way out." Lady Kang said, seeing the message.


    "Hmm¡­ Considering we were teleported here, this should be another section of the Spatial ne." Lin Mu said before using Spatial Perception and looking around.


    The Spatial Fabric here was rather thick and prevented Lin Mu from looking out. It was definitely intentional as doing something like this needed extra effort on the creator''s part.


    Still, Lin Mu forced through the limits of the Spatial Fabric and managed to barely nce at the formations that were hiding behind them. He didn''t get to see them for long though, as the strain was getting too much.


    "Haah¡­ This is an isted space." Lin Mu stated. "We won''t be able to leave this ce easily." He added.


    With how thick the spatial fabric was, Lin Mu didn''t even know if he could tear open a rift into it. ''Ripping through the Spatial Fabric itself should be possible, but the formations behind it will quickly retaliate.'' Lin Mu recalled the formation array he had nced at behind the Spatial Fabric.


    Lin Mu had only gotten to take a look at it for a few moments, but he was able to recognize it.


    It was a offensive Formation Array that was meant to attack anyone that tried to interfere with the trial externally or internally.


    Lin Mu could use his ring''s power to open a rift, but this would definitely cause the array to react and attack him. Normally, he would be able to manage it, but considering this was a celestial''s treasure, it would be foolish to take it lightly.


    After all, the creator of this ce would keep other people of their level in mind while making it. They wouldn''t think anyone weaker than that would be able to interfere in its workings. Thus the force that they would counter with would also be simrly great.


    There was a great chance that if Lin Mu got caught in it, he would be greatly injured.


    "They didn''t tell us the number of keys we need to search. They are definitely making it vague on purpose." Lady Kang spoke.


    "Yeah. I think we have to continue collecting them until we have the right amount. The teleportation will probably trigger automatically once we have the correct amount." Lin Mu analyzed.


    "Let''s check the ces out and see if we can find the keys nearby." Lady Kang suggested.


    "Mmhnn." Lin Mu nodded and leaped into the air.


    But a secondter, his expression changed as he felt his body descend uncontrobly.


    ~THUD~


    ~CRACK~


    Lin Munded back on the floating rock with all his body weight, cracking it in the process. "Are you okay?" Lady Kang asked, seeing the unusual act.


    "The difficulty rose another level." Lin Mu said with a frown and stood up. "We can''t fly here."


    "We can''t fly?" Lady Kang hadn''t expected that because she didn''t feel any restrictions. She tried to fly, but realized that her body simply didn''t ascend. Flying, which was basically a second nature to her at this point and as natural as walking, didn''t work!


    "To restrain flight and have no signs of it¡­ What kind of formation is this?" Lady Kang muttered to herself. "A Celestial formation, for sure." Lin Mu replied. "Only something like that would be able to restrain immortals like us with ease and prevent us from sensing it." He exined.


    "A Celestial¡­ We''ll have to be extra careful in this trial, then." Lady Kang furrowed her brows before feeling the rock under her shake.


    ~tremble~


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The rock started to split apart from Lin Mu''s previousnding, andva was now bubbling up from the middle.


    "We need to move." Lady Kang said with urgency. "Or we''ll get swallowed by it." But unlike her, Lin Mu was not worried at all.


    ~HUALA~


    Instead, a searing energy flowed out of Lin Mu''s body and covered it entirely before seemingly condensing into a solid rock armor.


    "No, we''ll be fine." Lin Mu replied. "This ce may as well be a grasnd for me." He said, stepping onto theva as if it were solid ground.

 Chapter 2090 Maneuvering In The Lava Field

    Chapter 2090 Maneuvering In The Lava Field


    Lin Mu had learned the Longgui Bulwark Armor to a decent level and was now a master in being able to handle the Magma. As such, being able to stand on thevake was a simple thing for him. The heat of the Lava was higher than normalva that would be found in mortal worlds though, with most things burning and melting in it, if they were not strong enough to endure it.


    Lady Kang watched as Lin Mu was now encased in solid rock armor and became impervious to theva.


    ''A Qi skill?'' She could tell that it was a skill and not some Immortal Armor with how it had appeared. Even the immortal Qi fluctuationing from it were different and were not just pure Immortal Qi fluctuations.


    ''Its a mix of different types of immortal Qis¡­ it''s definitely not somethingmon.'' Lady Kang thought to herself.


    She also didn''t know what technique it was as she had never seen or heard of a technique like this. Of course, she knew of many techniques that could condense an armor for defense, but none of them matched what Lin Mu was using.


    "Come out Little Shrubby," Lin Mu summoned hispanion.


    ~shua~


    Little Shrubby''s body manifested in front of the, and he looked around the new ce.


    "Its warm here." Little Shrubby spoke, feeling all the Fire Immortal Qi in the air.


    "Lady Kang, you can stay with Little Shrubby." Lin Mu offered. "I can still move, around." Lady Kang shook her head. "I have my ways." She said, before taking out a talisman and activating it.


    ~humm~


    The talisman transformed into a flurry of lights that went to her legs, transforming into long boots with four pairs of wings.


    ~p~p~p~


    The wings pped lightly, causing Lady Kang to rise up into the air by about a couple inches.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was intrigued.


    "The Immortal Tria Talisman still works here." Lady Kang spoke. "Its abilities are limited by the restrictions that are put in this space, but they at least still allow me to hover." She exined.


    "I''ve never seen this talisman before." Lin Mu replied.


    "The Immortal Tria Talisman is from the Ster Talisman school. They are a bit rare now and not many make them. But theye in handy from time to time." Lady Kang answered.


    ''Ster Talisman school¡­'' Lin Mu took note of them. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    He knew that there were several schools of thought and practice in the world of formations. They specialized in paths that could be linked to a singr individual and then expanded on those. In a way, they were simr to Sects, but were more focused on research and were notposed of a singr entity. Rather, people belonging to a single school of thought could be part of many different organizations.


    "Still, if things get difficult, get on Little Shrubby. It''ll be much faster." Lin Mu advised.


    "Alright." Lady Kang nodded, knowing how fast the Liger Beast was.


    "Time to find those keys now." Lin Mu said, using his Immortal sense to find anything unusual.


    Lady Kang did the same, but couldn''t find anything right away. They also tried to get a sense of how big the location was, but it was wider than the range of their Immortal senses.


    "This ce is definitely bigger than the previous trial." Lin Mu spoke.


    As far as his sight went, Lin Mu either saw glowing hotva, or ck rock structures. And upon looking up, all he saw was darkness. Even with the full range of his immortal sense, Lin Mu did not pick upon on anything above them.


    "Hmm¡­ its impossible to tell if we''re under open sky or somewhere enclosed." Lin Mu said as he tried to extend his Immortal sense upwards.


    "I think we are definitely somewhere enclosed." Lady Kang replied. "Otherwise, the restriction on flight would not make sense. The trial wants to make it hard to find the keys, which means that being able to fly would make it simpler to do so." She analyzed.


    "Is that so¡­" Hearing that, an idea appeared in Lin Mu''s mind. "Let''s get to somewhere solid first. I might be able to do something." He stated.


    Lady Kang obliged and the three walked towards the shore of theke. Theke was roughly two hundred meters wide and thus it didn''t take them long to stand on solid ground once more. Though the heat here was still quite a lot.


    If a mortal were to stand here, they would find their shoesbusting spontaneously. Even the ck rock was hot enough to melt lead!


    "What is it that you want to do?" Lady Kang asked.


    In response, Lin Mu took out a couple of talismans himself and activated them. Both the talismans were meant for protection against fire and heat, but they worked in a set area, instead of applying to a person.


    ~SHUA~


    In a couple of seconds, a thin dome that was about five meters in size formed around them.


    "This should work." Lin Mu muttered before summoning another beast.


    ~shua~


    Lady Kang watched as a small bird now stood on Lin Mu''s hand.


    ~Chirp~


    Ashy let out a confused chirp as she had just been summoned randomly. One moment she was inside the Sleepscape and now she was in a ce that seemed to be burning everywhere. It was unlike anything she had seen and it left her quite surprised.


    "What is this ce?" Ashy questioned, making Lady Kang surprised too.


    "We don''t know exactly. But we are inside an inheritance trial." Lin Mu answered. "We need some help in finding, Ashy. Can you fly around and help us?" he requested.


    "Yeah!" Ashy nodded her head.


    Lady Kang watched in amusement as the tiny bird seemed decently smart. Though when she checked the cultivation base of the bird beast, she found it to be quite weak.


    "Dao Shell realm?" Lady Kang uttered. "It won''t be safe for her here." She stated.

 Chapter 2091 Help From A Weak Bird

    Chapter 2091 Help From A Weak Bird


    Lady Kang''s concern was echoed by Lin Mu too and he knew the bird would not even be able to endure the lower heat here on solid, not to mention the heavy heat over thevakes and more.


    That was also why he had created the barrier around them that could protect them from heat.


    "I know, which is why I''ll have to use a few things first." Lin Mu replied before taking out several talismans from his storage.


    Overtime he had gathered tons of talisman of various kinds and in them were defenses talismans as well as talisman that could raise one''s resistance against specific elements. This included the talismans that Shuijing Mingzhu had gifted Lin Mu.


    They were finallying in use now.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lin Mu activated all of them and let their effects be applied to Ashy.


    "These will help protect her against the heat as well as any attacks from up to Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." Lin Mu stated.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll add some too." Lady Kang said before making a few hand seals. Ashy watched the new woman who she had never seen before. ''Is this master''s new mate?'' She wondered.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Runes appeared around Ashy and turned into a glow that coated her body. "This Ward should be able to take at least six attacks from a Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal." Lady Kang stated.


    "Oh, that''ll be good." Lin Mu was thankful.


    With this, the tiny bird now basically had defensive power at the Immortal realm. At least for the time being, there was a low chance of her getting into danger. They had added the protection from attacks, since there was no telling what else was present here. Heat wasn''t the only danger to their lives, as Lin Mu and Lady Kang had a good hunch that there were enemies present here, too.


    And since they could not see them openly, it only meant the danger was higher. An ambush was often worse than a head on attack.


    "I feel strong," Ashy spoke, feeling the strengthing from the talismans.


    "There are a couple of Qi amplification talismans in them, so they''ll make you more powerful." Lin Mu answered. "See if you can fly here now." He asked.


    "Okay~" Ashy spoke before starting to p her wings.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And sure enough, in just a couple of seconds, she soared into the air as if the restrictions did not exist.


    "Any problems with flying?" Lin Mu asked.


    Since the bird was in the Dao Shell realm, she had never actually flown using her cultivation base before, as that was not possible in an Immortal world like the Rust Sky World. As such, she did not feel any difort in flying with her own body.


    "Nothing, it''s the same as flying normally like I do." Ashy said before she flew over avake, feeling something new. "Oh wait! It''s actually easier to fly here! I feel lighter!" she said out loud.


    ~CHIRP~ N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    Her body streaked through the air as she utilized the hot air to maneuver effectively.


    "The hot air allows her to fly better due to it being lighter in weight." Lady Kang understood why it was happening.


    "What do I look for?" Ashy asked while circling in the air.


    "See if you can find anything unusual. We are looking for a key, but we don''t know what it looks like." Lin Mu instructed.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Ashy did as told and used her sharp eyes to scan the area. With her speed, she could cover several kilometers of area in a short time and figure out what was where.


    Even if Lin Mu and Lady Kang could cover ten kilometers of area with their immortal sense, it didn''t mean that they would necessarily be able to tell if there was something like a key there unless it stood out.


    The bird flew around, her watchful eyes looking for any sudden movements as well as unusual things that might stand out. Since she had never been in an area like this and was mostly used to snowy and forested areas, it took her a bit of time, but soon enough she spotted something.


    "I found something!" Ashymunicated through their link.


    "We''reing!" Lin Mu said before turning to Lady Kang. "Let''s go." He jumped onto Little Shrubby''s back.


    Lady Kang joined him and the trio sped towards Ashy''s location. Little Shrubby had a great affinity to the fire element, and theva around him was nothing to him. As such, running over theva was also not an issue.


    Though of course, it wasn''t the same as running on solid ground, so his speed suffered a bit. But he simply utilized the solid chunks ofnd more and used it to boost his speed more, increasing the distance he covered in each step.


    ~SWOOSH~


    In about a minute, they reached the location of Ashy and finally saw it.


    "Oh yeah, that''s definitely peculiar for sure." Lin Mu said, seeing the ce.


    It was a sight that basically screamed ''THIS IS THE PLACE WITH THE KEY!''


    What they were looking at was perhaps thergestvake they had seen so far that was surrounded on one side with a tall cliff, from which several streams ofva were falling.


    It was nearly two kilometers wide and had several stone tforms floating around in it. The heat of theva also seemed to be higher than otherkes, with some parts glowing white.


    If a mortal were here, they would be blinded by just how bright it all was. But for Lin Mu and Lady Kang, it was still manageable. There was also intense fire elemental immortal Qi filling the area. Something would scorch most people.


    In the center of thisrgevake, there was a tform that seemed to be man-made with its perfectly square shape. And on this tform floated a key.


    It was a very simple looking key too, that one could find anywhere.

 Chapter 2092 Lava Slugs

    Chapter 2092 Lava Slugs


    Looking at the simple key, Lin Mu found it a bit suspicious.


    ''A bit too simple¡­'' Lin Mu thought as there were basically no Immortal Qi fluctuationsing from it at all.


    This definitely would have made it hard to spot it even with their Immortal sense as the fire immortal Qi would cloud their senses. The simple key would have basically been a grain of sand in a sea; unassuming.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu made contact with the key with his Immortal sense and learned another thing about it.


    "It really is a simple iron key." Lin Mu muttered.


    "There must be something more to it." Lady Kang found it suspicious too.


    ~Ripple~


    And sure enough, a few secondster they felt thergevake in front of them ripple. These ripples would have been easy to mistake for the normal ripples that happened due to the bubblingva, but for the senses of two immortals, they easily stood out.


    "Of course, it wasn''t going to be easy." Lin Mu said as he drew out Afternoon Pine.


    A sense of danger could be felt by them, and they got ready for whatever was about toe.


    "The fire elemental Qi is gathering." Little Shrubby informed. "A new presence is forming." He added.


    "Oh?" Hearing that information Lin Mu realized something. "So that''s why we saw no foes¡­ They don''t exist until we cause them to appear." He spoke.


    "Just like before." Lady Kang said before pointing her finger towards the source of the ripples.


    ~SHA~


    She shot out a single small star which strut theva, causing an explosion.


    ~BOOM~


    The thickva sshed and a depression was created in theke. But this also ended up revealing a being that had freshly formed.


    It had a long t body without any limbs that were about three meters long and half a meter wide. Then it had several tentacles wiggling on its back, and two long eyes that were attached by a fleshy branch. In the center of its head, there was a circr mouth that was filled with hundreds of teeth that were made from sharp rocks.


    It was a slug!


    ~PWESH~


    Theva slug targeted Lin Mu and Lady Kang right away and shot a ball ofva towards them from its mouth. ~SHA~


    Of course, Lady Kang easily blocked with a single star and caused theva ball to be sted apart. But that was merely the start as theva slug amped up its offense. Several of its tentacles bulged before spitting out streams ofva that soared towards Lin Mu and Lady Kang.


    ~ROAR~


    This time though, Little Shrubby was the one to retaliate.


    With his superior speed and massive resistance to fire, the beast simply pped theva streams away. He then tanked the next flurry of attacks from the slug with his body, sustaining no damage before his jaws closed around the head of the slug.


    ~SPLAT~


    Little Shrubby crushed the slug''s head in its jaws before ripping it from the rest of the body. ~POSH~


    Theva slugs body broke down into the sameva as the rest of theke, though Lin Mu''s eyes picked up on a strange energy mixed into it.


    ''It is simr to the previous trial¡­ The Chasm beasts were also created from that dark gas.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as another memory returned to him. ''Those mud beasts I fought back on the spatial ne with that indigo woman¡­ they were also animated using some kind of energy.'' The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that all these kinds of beasts had some link to each other. "I''ll need to see what that energy is first." Lin Mu muttered to himself and directly rushed to the disappearing body of theva slug.


    ~shua~ But before he could reach there, the unknown energy had already disappeared.


    "Missed it." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    ~Ripple~


    As if to tell him that this was not thest of it, more ripples appeared around the area. "Fire elemental Qi is gathering again¡­ More presences are gathering." Little Shrubby spoke, his sensitivity to the fire elementing in handy.


    "Try to see if you can restrain them, Little Shrubby. I want to test something." Lin Mu spoke before turning to Lady Kang. "I think these might be simr to the Chasm beasts. I want to see what kind of energy is animating them." He informed.


    ~PWESH~PWESH~PWESH~


    A couple of secondster, six moreva slugs rose from thevake and surrounded Lin Mu.


    "Now!" Lin Mu shouted, causing them to start their assault.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Lady Kang shot off several stars, hitting the bodies of theva slugs and causing holes in them.


    But unlike before, they didn''t just explode right away. Instead, the holes in their bodies reformed while the stars exploded behind them.


    "They are more resilient than the Chasm Beasts." Lady Kang narrowed her eyes.


    Lin Mu heard her words and knew there must be something more to these beasts. "Can you sense anything peculiar about them, Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked the fire expert.


    Little Shrubby red at theva slugs and soon came to a decision. He suddenly pounced at one of the Lava Slugs, pulling their attention towards him. The slugs shot streams ofva at him with no effect, while the beast tore at them with his ws. Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    ~SPLASH~


    Simr to what had happened with Lady Kang, Little Shrubby''s ws simply passed through the slug''s body like it was water, which then reformed. What was surprising was that even hitting their heads and cutting them apart didn''t work.


    ~SPLAT~


    But at a certain point, Little Shrubby''s w struck the base of one of the tentacles, causing the entire slug to burst apart.


    ~GROWL~


    "They have a central source in their body that is maintaining their form." Little Shrubby said with a growl. Hearing that, Lin Mu knew there was a difference between Chasm Beasts and these Lava beasts.

 Chapter 2093 Blasted Apart

    Chapter 2093 sted Apart


    "Truly annoying." Lady Kang scoffed as she sted the entire body of a Lava Slug apart.


    ~PWESH~


    But as it to taunt her, the scattered remains of the Lava Slug swirled in theke and gathered back together, reforming its body.


    Lin Mu saw this scene just as he learned the new information from Little Shrubby.


    "Lady Kang! You''ll need to target a cluster of energy within their body that is maintaining their form." Lin Mu quickly informed hispanion. "That cluster keeps on moving, which is why they seem impervious to damage." He added.


    "A cluster of energy? So a core of sorts¡­" Lady Kang narrowed her eyes and used her Immortal sense to probe the body of the Lava Slug.


    It was a bit hard to do so though, as the sheer amount of fire elemental immortal Qi in the Lava Slug''s body muffled the ''vision'' of Immortal Sense.


    But Lady Kang was not one to back down from a little challenge. She was an immortal who had built up the Great Kang Auction house from the ground up after its fall. If she had anything in plenty, it was pure determination and willpower.


    ~SHUA~


    "Found it!" Lady Kang''s eyes locked onto the tail of a Lava Slug and shot at it.


    ~BOOM~


    This time, the body of the Lava Slug exploded on its own, even though it was only pierced by the tiny star.


    ~shua~


    And when the body of the Lava Slug reverted to its original contents, Lady Kang ''saw'' the strange energy inside the beast too.


    ''There really is something inside it¡­ It doesn''t seem like the dark gas from the previous chamber.'' Lady Kang thought to herself before turning her attention to Lin Mu and Little Shrubby who were fighting in the middle of theke.


    "Hold it Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu said as he jumped behind one of the Lava Slugs.


    ~GRRR~


    Little Shrubby used its jaws to hold the Lava Slug in ce while one of its ws pinned it down. The ws pierced through the base of its body and prevented any of the tentacles fromshing out at Lin Mu.


    Of course, the Lava Slug was not one to give up so easily, and directly tried to sprayva inside Little Shrubby''s mouth.


    "me Tongue Chili Peppers are hotter than that!" The beast scoffed, finding theva to be nothing more than some warm tea for him.


    ~gulp~


    He even swallowed it down, absorbing the fire elemental immortal Qi in it, as if adding insult to injury for the Lava Slug.


    If not for the fact that the slug was utterly devoid of intelligence, perhaps it would have taken offense to it and iled better.


    But its struggles were about toe to an end, as Lin Mu''s senses had locked down onto the energy core that was seemingly moving around in its body.


    "GOT IT!" Lin Mu said as he stabbed Afternoon Pine through the Lava Slug''s body.


    ~SPLAT~


    The sword pierced through what was a translucent cluster of energy and broke it apart, causing the slug''s body to explode!


    Lin Mu took this chance to scan the unknown energy and tried to analyze it. He could tell that there were some simrities between this and the dark gas that the chasm beasts wereposed off.


    ''If there is a major different, it''s that this energy is a lot more neutral.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he looked around.


    ~PWESH~


    More slugs had started to appear, so Little Shrubby went around to fight them while blocking them from attacking Lin Mu. He knew that his master was still testing and studying things, so didn''t want him to be bothered.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby''s ws tore through the bodies of the slugs, destroying the energy cores in them. The beast decided to increase the size of the attack, instead of raising its precession. This way, he was basically guaranteed to destroy the core with every strike. But that didn''t prove to be much of a benefit as more slugs kept on appearing. This time there was a change in the slugs though, as their size seemingly grew.


    Unlike the previous ones that were three meters long in size, the newva slugs that were appearing were five meters in size! N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    With these giantva slugs joining the fray, the battle became a lot more intense.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Lady Kang started using fragmenting stars which exploded into countless shrapnels, in order to stun and dy theva slugs.


    This gave her the opportunity to scan for their energy core better, as it seemingly became exposed in air without a body to cover them. Of course, the core was very fast and wound dive back into theva to reform a new body.


    But the more Lady Kang practiced, the better she got. And as an immortal that had lived for thousands of years, she quickly figured out the best method of hunting down the energy core.


    It all seemed to click for her at a moment, as she shot a single piercing star that went through three Giant Lava Slugs in a row. It entered through the belly of one, then into the head of second and finally exited through the lower middle portion of the third.


    ~SPLAT~ SPLAT~ SPLAT~


    Then in the next second, all three Giant Lava Slugs were sted apart!


    "Three slugs with one shot." Lady Kang uttered before turning to see that Lin Mu had figured out the same thing.


    But unlike her, he seemed to targeting them with urate stabs. Every thrust of his sword sent an illusory sword tipposed of metal immortal Qi tearing through the bodies of the Giant Lava Slugs.


    ~SPLAT~ SPLAT~ SPLAT~SPLAT~ SPLAT~ SPLAT~


    Multiple Lava Slugs exploded at once, as the entirevake was cleared off them.


    ~huu~


    "Is that all of them?" Lin Mu muttered as he scanned the field.


    ~Rumble~


    But just to prove him wrong, the entireke shook as arge mound ofva started to rise!

 Chapter 2094 A Colossal Lava Slug

    Chapter 2094 A Colossal Lava Slug


    Lin Mu could feel a massive presence forming in theke.


    The presence was strong enough that one didn''t even need to have an affinity to the fire element to sense it. The same was the case for Lady Kang and Little Shrubby, they too felt the presence and knew that it was going to be a tough battle ahead of them.


    ''Considering its sheer size, it will take at least a quarter of theke''s size.'' Lin Mu estimated before his gaze went to the iron key in the central tform. The ce that the tform was forming was right next to it, and with the risingva mound, Lin Mu felt worried about the key.


    ''Considering this is a trial, there should be fail conditions too¡­ If we let that key get damaged, we''ll probably fail it.'' Lin Mu grasped and decided to prevent that from happening.


    ~SHUA~


    Then in the next moment he disappeared, appearing at the central tform. "Teleportation?" Lady Kang witnessed Lin Mu''s sudden movement and knew what it was. "But to do it so effortlessly¡­ His proficiency with Space is indeed quite good¡­ If he really was using all his skills during the tournament, others simply would not havested more than a minute." She muttered to herself.


    In fact, she thought that even for her going up against Lin Mu would be a difficult task. Lin Mu''s spatial abilities gave him superior maneuverability as well as the ability to dodge basically every attack that came his way.


    ''The only way it would be possible to go against him would be to let him exhaust himself. Using Spatial Skills is not easy and costs quite a lot of Qi after all.'' Lady Kang thought to herself, not knowing that she was wrong.


    Though her assumption was wrong only in the case of Lin Mu. If it were any other cultivator, using spatial skills would indeed cost quite a lot of Qi. Then there was the fact that she didn''t know the true extent of Lin Mu''s Spatial abilities. He hadn''t revealed all of them yet.


    While she was thinking all this, Lin Mu had taken hold of the iron key. His immortal sense scanned the key closely and found that it was indeed just a basic iron key. Something which could be easily damaged by an attack, or melt if it fell in theva around it.


    In fact, the key was actually quite hot from the surrounding heat. If a mortal were to touch it, their skin would be charred.


    ~SHUA~


    "There we go," Lin Mu said, safely storing the key away in the ring.


    ~SPLASH~


    And just as he did that, arge glob ofva fell right where the key had been a moment ago.


    "Yeah, it was the right decision to get the key." Lin Mu muttered, knowing just how close to failure they had been. "Though it''s not over yet¡­ gotta get rid of this thing too." He said looking up at the mound ofva that had now taken on a proper shape.


    Thisva slug was several times bigger than the previous giantva slugs and also had a different body type. It had two heads that were attached to a singr t body that was about two hundred meters long!


    It then had ck rocky spikes that covered its back, and extended all the way to its heads. On its head, it had two pairs of eyes each that glowed in a bright orange light. Its mouths wererge and cavernous, filled with sharp and spiky teeth that were made from dark obsidian.


    ~Rilllllllllll!~


    The massiveva slug let out a trilling cry from its two heads, that red at Lin Mu and Lady Kang.


    ''At least as strong as a Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal.'' Lin Mu estimated feeling the sheer amount of energy that was emitting from the beast''s body.


    If he were to consider the previousva slugs, the small ones were as strong as First Tribtion Stage immortals, while the giant ones were as strong as Third Tribtion Stage Immortals. And now the colossal version was skipping two stages again, reaching the fifth stage.


    Though it would be a mistake topare it to a normal fifth tribtion stage beast. Not only was itrger than most such beasts, but it also had bigger energy stores. "Can you sense its core, Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu questioned finding the density of fire element within the colossalva slug to be a bit too high.


    "I can''t right now." Little Shrubby replied. "Its all feels the same inside its body." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ Looks like we''ll have to explore on our own." Lin Mu said, getting ready for the battle.


    ~BOOM~


    "I''ll start first!" Lady Kang took the lead and shot a fragmenting star right into the right head of the colossal slug.


    The fragmenting star exploded and created a meter wide hole in the Colossal Lava Slug''s head. ~Rilllllllll!~


    But that only served to enrage theva slug, as it spat out a giant ball ofva at Lady Kang.


    ~SPLASH~


    The ball ofva was avoided by Lady Kang, and itnded on the ground, creating a pool ofva there. The heat from theva was strong enough to melt the floor under it, showing that it was strengthened by the colossalva slug.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Lin Mu shed out with Afternoon Pine, cutting three notches into the body of the slug.


    "Hmm¡­ It''s quite dense." Lin Mu observed that his cuts hadn''t gone deeper than half a meter.


    Which was basically the same as a notch when considering the size of theva slug. "Afternoon pine!" This time, Lin Mu used a strong attack, activating the sword''s skill.


    The yellow sword sh transformed into arge pine tree, that stabbed into the colossalva slug!


    It then quickly grew branches and leaves inside the slug''s body, before they started protruding out of multiple holes.


    The metal elemental immortal Qi from the yellow Metal pine tree started spreading from the leaves, causing thousands of small cuts to appear on the beast''s body.


    ~st~st~st~


    This caused a lot ofva to ssh around, but the beast still seemed to be tolerating it.


    ''Hmm, the core is hidden well.'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    Lin Mu had intentionally used the skill of Afternoon Pine, as he knew it had a ratherrge spread. And since the energy core was hidden in the body of theva slug, it would be the perfect to hit it from the inside. Though it didn''t seem like Lin Mu had managed to hit the core.


    ~Rillllllll!~


    The Slug let out a cry before its back bulged. ~SHA~ SHA~SHA~SHA~


    The sharp spikes that were on its back suddenly shot everywhere at great speed, causing massive damage to the area.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Craters were left wherever the stone spikesnded, as if they were mortars. ~BOOM~


    Lady Kang urately shot at the ones that wereing towards her, causing them to explode midair. ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby directly dodged them with his speed, managing to track their moment with ease.


    Lin Mu on the other hand, didn''t even dodge them instead getting closer to them and directly letting them pass through him. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    Flicker!


    While the Longgui Bulwark Armor would have easily managed to block the iing spikes, it would have also slowed down Lin Mu. And since he couldn''t fly here, he had to do his best in dodging them instead. ~SHING~


    And when Lin Mu was just ten meters from the slug, he used Afternoon Pine''s skill again, causing another metal pine tree to grow inside the beast''s body!


    ~Poot~poot~poot~


    As it pustules were exploding, branches and leaves popped out of the slugs body.


    "If one doesn''t work, I''ll just add ten more!" Lin Mu smirked.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Lin Mu continued to sh out, each sh creating another yellow metal pine tree that pierced through the colossal slugs body. In just a few seconds, the two headed slug had been skewered from all sides, causing it to get stuck in a single ce!


    "Now to look properly for the core," Lin Mu said before directly diving into the body of the slug!


    Lady Kang couldn''t even say anything before Lin Mu had already entered theva slug''s body. She was a bit concerned, but reckoned if he had taken this decision, he should be confident of himself.


    "Sure enough¡­" A couple secondster, she saw Lin Mu swimming inside the slug''s body.


    Unlike the energy core, it was a lot easier for Lady Kang to sense Lin Mu inside the beast''s body. He stood out in all that fire energy inside the beast''s body while the pine trees kept the slug frozen. ~CREAK~


    But it didn''t seem like the tactic was going to work for long, as the slug started to struggle against the skewering trees.


    ~HUA~


    And ten secondster, its anger seemed to have reached a point where it was burning hot. This reflected on its body, as the metal pine trees started to sumb to the heat of theva. After that, it didn''t take long for them to melt down and be part of its body.


    ~BOOM~


    But just as it had finished melting down all the metal pine trees, one of its head exploded!


    "Haha! Knew it would be easier to find it from the inside." Lin Mu''sughter could be heard, as he jumped out from the slug''s neck.


    He had just destroyed the energy core that was hiding inside the slug''s head.

 Chapter 2095 Ineffective Skills

    Chapter 2095 Ineffective Skills


    Lady Kang saw Lin Mu who had jumped out of theva slug''s body and felt a bit confused.


    "Why is it still alive!?" Lady Kang questioned out loud.


    "There''s more than one core inside its body!" Lin Mu replied. "I only managed to destroy of one them." He had sensed several of them inside, but only got to the one that was hiding in the left head.


    "How many more are there?" Lady Kang asked, narrowing her eyes.


    "At least ten." Lin Mu replied. "I can destroy them from the inside, but the slug needs to be held in ce. It will expel me if it senses I''m getting close to the cores." He added.


    Lin Mu had already felt the resistance inside the slug''s body, and if not for the fact that he had the Longgui Bulwark Armor he wouldn''t have been able to go against it.


    Due to having practiced with magma andva before, Lin Mu did not have a problem pushing it apart with his own magma. This was also how he was able to swim inside the slug''s body, as he was using magma too.


    He might not be able to control the slug''sva, but he sure as hell could control his own. Thus, he simply spread some magma inside the slug''s body with Magma fury, which was epted by the slug''s body since it detected to be the same material.


    But this was still under Lin Mu''s control, and he could freely move his body through it. In a way, he had created a controble sphere of magma inside the slug''s body which he could then move around as he felt like. It was also his own magma that allowed him to sense the energy cores, as they became highlighted every time they came in contact with his magma.


    Lin Mu had sensed several cores inside the slugs, body but they were moving constantly. And when he caught one, that part of the slug''s body exploded directly, causing it to expel him out.


    ~Rilllllll!~


    The Colossalva slug though seemed to have enough of the abuse and let out a loud cry. Its destroyed head recovered as it drew on moreva from its body. But when Lin Mu saw it, he found that there was a slight change.


    ''Did it get smaller?'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    While it was still two hundred meters long, Lin Mu could somewhat tell that its thickness had reduced. Though it became hard to tell that once the slug began its own flurry of attacks.


    ~FUWA~


    Arge tentacle grew from the base of its heads and rose directly to the sky. It quickly grew taller than its heads and an opening appeared at its end. A bulge appeared at the base of the tentacle before it started to move to the top. And once it reached the top, an explosion happened.


    ~BOOM~


    Argeva ball exploded and shot out hundreds of smallerva balls. But these balls seemed to be several times hotter than the rest of the Lava, and glowed white hot!


    ~WHISTLE~


    The projectiles made a whistling sound as they descended from the sky, raining down like meteors everywhere.


    Lady Kang flitted across theke''s shore, dodging all the fallingva meteors while retaliating with her own attacks.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby though was confronting them directly, pping them away with his ws. Unlike Lady Kang he didn''t have to worry about the heat or damage. ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    The colossalva slug kept in releasing more such projectiles, and soon the entire area turned into a fieryva storm.


    Not just that, but more tentacles grew out from its back and sprayed out streams ofva at Lin Mu. He continued to dodge them and tried to get close to the slug, but it blocked Lin Mu at every turn.


    Blink!


    But Lin Mu had his own aways and directly teleported beside the slug.


    ~SHING~ ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    He then swung Afternoon Pine and activated its skill, creating another yellow metal pine tree that pierced into the body of the slug.


    ~HONG~


    But this time, Lin Mu''s attack seemed to be facing an obstacle.


    ~HISS~


    The parts where the metal pine tree had entered from started to heat up quickly and turned white hot. This allowed the colossalva slug to melt it down quickly, thereby rendering the attack unless.


    ''I''ll have to be faster and use more.'' Lin Mu thought and shed out several times in a row, using Afternoon Pine to the fullest.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Just like before, multiple metal pine trees skewered the slug, trying to prevent it from moving too much.


    ~Hiss~


    But the skill seemed to have lost its effectiveness as the metal trees melted down far too fast for Lin Mu to jump in.


    "This won''t work anymore." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, thinking of another method.


    "I''ll hold it in ce, you can try to get inside and destroy its cores again." Lady Kang spoke witnessing Lin Mu''s effort. "You can do it?" Lin Mu asked. "Metal is weak against the fire element thus your skill won''t work for too long, but I have other ways." Lady Kang replied. "Go, we''ll handle it here." "Alright." Lin Mu replied before turning to his beastpanion. "Little Shrubby, defend Lady Kang while she does her work!" he said before rushing to draw theva slugs attention.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby did exactly that and used his superior speed to block every attack that came towards Lady Kang. He even managed to block the iing streams ofva by simply sting them back with his own fiery breath.


    Despite being at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, Little Shrubby seemed to be having no issues with the attacks of a Fifth Tribtion Stage Beast. Though one could also say that their match up put Little Shrubby in an advantage as he basically had an immunity to fire unless it was extremely strong. And while he was doing this, Lady Kang was preparing a skill.

 Chapter 2096 Chains Of Andromeda

    Chapter 2096 Chains Of Andromeda


    Lady Kang made several hand seals and chanted a mnemonic as her hands started to glow.


    Once both her hands were glowing with power, she pointed them in the air, creating a pattern. The pattern started with 12 dots which she then connected with her finger, drawing them across the air.


    "Divine Mystic Constetion Art." Lady Kang muttered throwing the pattern towards the Colossal Lava Slug. The pattern entered the beasts body and disappeared before Lady Kang pointed at it with her thumb, index finger and middle finger separated. She then twisted them in the air, causing the pattern she had made to suddenly erge.


    ~SHUA~


    The pattern rapidly grew to a size that wasparable to the Colossal Lava Slug.


    "88 Constetion Series: Neenth form- Chained Woman!" Lady Kang chanted as the pattern suddenly transformed.


    ~HUALA~


    From the pattern appeared the illusory figure of a woman that seemed to be made out of stars. Her body had twelve shimmering starsposing it while her eyes swirled like there were gxies within it!


    "Shackles of Andromeda!" Lady Kang shouted before swiping her fingers in the air.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Each swipe she made, created a chain that pierced through the body of the Colossal Lava Slug. The chain glowed in a shimmering white light, as ifposed out of pure starlight. One end of the chain, was bound to the Colossal Lava Slug while the other end was held in the hands of the the illusory woman.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lady Kang continued to swipe her fingers, creating chain after chain, until finally the Colossal Lava Slug was fully bound in ce.


    Even if its body was made out of a liquid, it didn''t matter to the chainsposed out of starlight. They seeming had a property that transcended normal understanding and kept the slug in one ce.


    "NOW!" Lady Kang said out loud, letting Lin Mu proceed.


    "Perfect," Lin Mu said as he shed open arge wound on the side of the Colossal Lava Slug''s body.


    ~WOONG~


    Lin Mu jumped into the wound, and swam within the beast''s body with the use of Magma Fury.


    Searing hot energy was released from his body, before it coated him entirely. This searing hot energy than became corporeal and turned into boiling magma. The magma surrounded Lin Mu like arge bubble and allowed him to move as he wished inside the Colossal Lava Slug''s body.


    ''I need to expand the scope of the magma bubble to sense the energy cores of the Colossal Lava Slug.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He controlled the Longgui Bulwark Armor''s abilities and expanded the magma bubble reaching a size of about ten meters. Once this was done, he used his Immortal sense and connected it with the bubble, allowing him to know whenever an energy core came in contact with it.


    ~hum~


    ''There!'' And sure enough, just a few secondster, Lin Mu felt an energy core touch the side of the magma bubble before running away. "Not so fast!" But he wasn''t going to let it go free.


    "Magma Fury!" Lin Mu directlyshed out with the very same magma, transforming a point of it into a sharp w which then struck the Energy core.


    ~BOOM~


    As soon as he did that, the part that the Energy Core was in exploded!


    A hole appeared in the back of the Colossal Lava Slug, causing it to let out a cry of anger.


    "Its trying to expel me¡­ But Lady Kang''s skill is holding it." Lin Mu was pleased that it couldn''t do what it wanted.


    He continued his search and soon enough found another energy core.


    ~BOOM~


    This time the tip of the Colossal Lava Slug''s tail exploded, sshingva everywhere.


    ~ROAR~ N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    ~SPLAT~


    Little Shrubby smashed all theva that was sshed towards Lady Kang and prevented her from being disturbed. "It''s getting smaller." Lady Kang noticed, as the chains made out of starlight were getting tighter.


    She could tell it much more urately, since her immortal sense was connected with the Illusory figure. The same could be said for the chains too and every small movement in it were registered by her.


    ''How much smaller will it get?'' She wondered.


    ~BOOM~


    Lin Mu destroyed the fourth Energy core, causing the neck of the right head to explode. ~SHUCK~


    Perhaps this time the effect was bigger, or due to a limit being exceeded the Colossal Lava Slug started to shrink rapidly.


    Its size quickly reduced to 60% of its original size and the chains that were holding it became tighter as well.


    ''Ugh, its resistance has gotten stronger too.'' Lin Mu realized that swimming in its body was getting harder.


    The slug was trying to push him to a corner of its body, so that it could directly expel it out of there.


    "You won''t be able to do it that easily!" Lin Mu was not one to give up and forced his way to the next energy core that he had sensed.


    ~SWOOSH~


    He extended another w made of solidified magma and pierced through the energy core.


    ~BOOM~


    The back of the Colossal Lava Slug exploded, sshingva everywhere. This was also the part where the giant tentacle that was showeringva everywhere was attached to and exploded as well.


    "Ugh!" But as a side effect, Lin Mu was pushed outside with it too and finally expelled from the slugs body.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    At the same time the chains made out of starlight couldn''t hold on anymore either and broke part.


    ~HUALA~


    And a few secondster, the illusory figure of the woman also disappeared.


    "Are you okay?" Lady Kang asked.


    "I''m fine." Lin Mu replied. "I destroyed half of its energy cores." He reported.


    "So we still have five more to break¡­ I''ll restrain it again." Lady Kang replied.


    But just as she was about to activate her skill again, Lin Mu interrupted her.


    "No need, at its current size, I have a different method." Lin Mu replied with a smile.

 Chapter 2097 Mountain Collapsing Fist!

    <h4>Chapter 2097 Mountain Copsing Fist!</h4>


    The colossal Lava Slug was no longer as colossal as before.


    From its original 200 meter size, it had now fallen to just under a hundred meters. This was something that would still be hard to cut apart with normal skills, as the beast would be able to regenerate it. Plus it was still enough space to move its energy cores around.


    And now that it was smaller in size, the Lava Slug was able to prevent Lin Mu from getting in too. It was clear that having a smaller body meant that it could control it a lot better too.


    But Lin Mu didn''t care about that, because he had skills that could take care of it regardless.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he pulled his right fist back.


    He stood in a horse stance while energies began to swim in his arm.


    ''Five percent should be enough for this try,'' Lin Mu judged and guided metal elemental immortal Qi from his Dantian into his arm.


    ~SHUA~


    The metal elemental immortal Qi glowed in a yellow light, and was met with a stream of rich vital essence. The two streams of energy spun in a spiral and started to coalesce. But just as they where half way to merging, two more streams of energy appeared!


    The two streams of energy were the same as before, one being metal elemental immortal Qi and the other being vital essence. The two new streams of energy also started to spin and came close together before reaching the state of coalescing. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    ~WOOM~WOOM~WOOM~


    And as the energies spun, the air around Lin Mu started to pulse with power.


    But it was not done yet, the four streams of energies sessfully merged into two streams of energy which continued to spin. But they weren''t spinning together!


    Instead, they were spinning in the opposite directions. One was spinning in a clockwise direction and the other was spinning in a counter-clockwise direction.


    ~HUMM~


    The spin of the two streams of energies reached an equilibrium and their pace matched.


    ''Ahh¡­ It is definitely harder than the original method¡­ But since it hase this far, it should work.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He was trying something he had hypothesized a while back and reckoned it was the right time to try it. Since the enemy in front of him was something that could regenerate and ignore most injuries, he knew he had to take it out in one go.


    As such he decided to use his strongest skill that could devastate a target¡­ And then take it to a next level!


    "HAAAH!" Veins bulged out on Lin Mu''s arm as the spiraling energy streams started toe close.


    The closer they got, the greater pressure Lin Mu faced. The sheer amount of energy swirling within his hand was enough to injure even himself if he were to lose focus even for a moment. Even though the enemy was right in front of him and could attack him, Lin Mu didn''t fear it.


    Instead, he felt a kind of excitement that could only be felt by risking ones life.


    And it was this very excitement that was now allowing him to take the next step in the technique had had obtained a long time ago.


    An iplete technique that only had its first stage.


    The Boulder Copsing Fist.


    ''Even if I don''t have the next part of it, it doesn''t mean I can''t just make it myself!'' Lin Mu said to himself and bet on it. "MERGE!"


    ~HONG~


    At hismand, the two spiraling streams of energy came together, and fluidlybined turning into a helix structure!


    The opposite spinning streams formed a double helix that continued to spin nonstop.


    But the energying from it was on a different level. It was greater than if one were to simply add the energy of the two basal energy streams. It had grown on a exponential level!


    It was as if one had mixed in two vtilepounds into a new mix that could explode with ten times the power.


    Lin Mu''s hand trembled nonstop, as the energy within it threatened to explode.


    "Hahaha! It works!" Lin Mu''s bet had worked out as he felt the energy double helix within his arm.


    One half of it was yellow in color from the metal element while the other half was vibrant red in color from the immortal essence. And as the double helix spun, the two colors seemingly spun, as a spinning orange hue appeared!


    ~Rilllllllll~


    The Colossal Lava Slug felt incredibly threatened by the energying form Lin Mu and decided to stop him before he could do anything.


    Both of its heads bulged, as a searing hot stream ofva was shot out of it.


    "Mu Lin!" Lady Kang shouted as she rushed to interrupt it.


    She knew that Lin Mu was in the process of readying a skill and getting interrupted in the middle would be very very bad.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby also rushed in, trying to block one of the heads.


    But they didn''t even move more than a couple of meters, before Lin Mu punched out.


    "Mountain Copsing Fist: Third Form - Metal Devastator!" Lin Mu roared.


    ~WOONG~


    A sound that was simr to an stic band being pulled was heard, as a vibrant orange double helix was shot out of Lin Mu''s arm.


    The double helix emitted powerful pulses of energy such that the ground underneath it started to crumble and turn to dust. And when it went over theva, theva simply started to split apart.


    "This¡­" Lady Kang felt and incredibly high threat from the double helix that was filled with such a vtile energy that she reckoned her defenses might break apart too.


    ~SWOOSH~


    Little Shrubby could sense the threat much better than Lady Kang and judged it to be much more dangerous than when Lin Mu had used Boulder Copsing Fist''s third form earlier. He could already tell that they might get injured in the recoil as such burst forward with great force, carrying Lady Kang away from the area.


    ~KABOOM~

 Chapter 2098 Devastation

    Just as Little Shrubby had taken Lady Kang away, the vibrant orange double helix struck the Colossal Laval Slug.


    The double helix was like a grinder, directly breaking down theva thatposed the slug''s body.


    And it didn''t just break it down, as it remove it from the body, but rather break it down on a more basic level.


    The red hotva directly transformed into a heated powder of some kind and separated out!


    It was a new effect that was not seen before.


    Perhaps it was because there was metal elemental immortal Qi in it, the shredding properties of the original Metal Devastator had been enhanced several times over.


    But this was just the start, as the vibrant orange double helix then entered the body of the Colossal Lava Slug.


    ~WOONG~


    Another strange sound was heard before theva slug started to behave differently. It froze for a moment, before its heads were sucked into its body!


    ~SQUEEZE~


    And it wasn''t just its head either, the tentacles on its body as well as the spikes on back were sucked into its body too. Then, its body started to gather together, and turned into argeva sphere in just a couple of seconds.


    It all happened so fast that a mortal would only see a blur before ava sphere would appear.


    The Lava Sphere was static for a moment before suddenly bulging out in hundreds of spots, as if unable to maintain its structure.


    ~KABOOM!~


    Then finally it exploded! ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    The entireva sphere seemingly broke down into a hot dust and increased the force of the explosion further with the added mass. The Lavake under it was also not free from the effects of the skill and started to break down as well, turning into a hot dust from the initial wave of the explosion.


    A three hundred meter wide depression appeared in thevake, with all of it having been broken down into hot dust before theke was struck by the full force of the explosion!


    ~BOOM~


    A mushroom cloud seemingly appeared where theke was, hiding everything inside it. The mushroom clouds were bright orange in color and emitted a heat that melted the hot dust back down intova again. But thisva wasn''t red, but white hot in color.


    Even low grade immortal weapons would melt if they were to touch this white hotva that was like the surface of the sun!


    The explosion was blindingly bright and the force generated from it was enough to send Lin Mu flying back. Sshes ofva and rocky debris from the area struck Lin Mu, but due to the Longgui Bulwark Armor was enough to protect him.


    Little Shrubby, who was already dragging Lady Kang away, gained another burst of speed due to the force of the explosion, directly sending him five kilometers away.


    ~HUALA~


    In all this, four of the hair ornaments on Lady Kang''s braid glowed before arge barrier surrounded both her and Little Shrubby at the same time.


    ~CRASH~


    The two crashed into a hill far away, directly destroying it in its entirety. Though thankfully, the mass of the hill was more than enough to slow down their momentum and make them stop. Though they still ended up leaving a hundred meter wide crater where theynded.


    It was the same in the case of Lin Mu, who had beenunched over five kilometers away too.


    But unlike Lady Kang and Little Shrubby, he had been able to resist the impact a lot better and had even managed to witness the entire scene from start to the end.


    ~CRASH~


    He dug his hands into the ground to break his momentum and left a three hundred meter long gully in it before he finally stopped.


    "HOOH~ That¡­ Was way bigger than I thought." Lin Mu said to himself, taking a deep breath.


    ~SHUA~


    He spread his immoral sense, and quickly sensed where Lady Kang and Little Shrubby were. In the next moment he disappeared, as he started to move towards the two while using blink. Soon enough, he had reached where they were and found them to be fine.


    "Are you okay?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes¡­" Lady Kang said, as she got up from the crater.


    ~Growl~


    Little Shrubby shook off the dust and dirt from him as he turned to look at the scene of devastation.


    ~HONG~


    But the sound of an aftershock pulled their attention again.


    The Mushroom cloud was still present and had seemingly grown in size!


    "What did you do?" Lady Kang questioned, seeing that the explosion had still not stopped.


    It had now been a minute since Lin Mu had utterly destroyed the Lava Slug, but the mushroom cloud was still present there. But that wasn''t all, as they could still sense smaller explosions happening inside the mushroom clouds that could be felt by their immortal sense.


    Erratic pulses of energy continued to spread as the ground trembled from it.


    ~TREMBLE~


    "I upgraded one of my skills¡­" Lin Mu replied. "Though I didn''t expect it to reach this level." He spoke as the ground continued to shake.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The shaking only got stronger before cracks started to spread in the ground.


    "I think we should get away from here." Lady Kang could sense further danger.


    "Probably." Lin Mu nodded and the two got onto Little Shrubby.


    ~SWOOSH~


    The beast turned into a red blur and carried the pair further away.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    ~RUMBLE~


    But even if they got further, the ground continue to shake and crack. It was as if it was the start of an earthquake.


    It was not until they had gone over fifteen kilometers from thevake did the trembling of the ground stop.


    But when they looked back, all they saw were hundreds of fissures in the ground that had all grown from where thevake was.


    The Mushroom cloud had mostly faded away by now, but had left behind a biggerke behind.

 Chapter 2099 Definite Overkill

    Lin Mu, Lady Kang and Little Shrubby nced at the newly expandedke.


    "That¡­ was definitely overkill." Lin Mu said, seeing the sight.


    The Lava Lake that was about two kilometers wide previously had now expanded to a size of nearly six kilometers!


    Not just that, but its depth had also changed, due to the level ofva falling by several meters. And this was despite the fact that the surrounding rocky ground had been melted down from the heat and added to the volume of thevake.


    "While it was overkill, the skill definitely did what it was supposed to." Lady Kang spoke. "There''s no sign of theva slug." She added.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu said before turning to Little Shrubby. "Do you sense any more of them?" he asked.


    ~sniff~


    Little Shrubby sniffed the air for a few seconds before shaking his head.


    "Nope, nothing nearby." Little Shrubby replied.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu said as he spread his Immortal sense and scanned the area for anything new. "I suppose we now go and find the second key." He stated.


    "Yeah¡­" Lady Kang agreed. ''Hopefully it wasn''t in the area that was destroyed¡­ though I suppose if there was a key there the trial would have already failed us.'' She thought to herself.


    Though watching Lin Mu''s little skill test definitely allowed her to learn better about his capabilities. She now knew that if Lin Mu really wished to, he could probablypare against Immortals several times stronger than him with ease.


    But that also left the woman a bit baffled as to how he was actually handling the consumption of Qi.


    ''That attack definitely consumed a lot of his energy¡­ it was certainly not a casual one.'' Lady Kang thought. ''Though his immortal Qi fluctuations seem to say otherwise.'' She reckoned sensing that Lin Mu seemed to be the same as before.


    If it were any other immortal, they would be exhausted and the immortal Qi fluctuationsing from their body would be irregr or downright erratic. Then there was also the fact that there would be a load on their body too from the skill they had used.


    In this part though Lady Kang was correct.


    ''Using the Mountain Copsing Fist is certainly a lot more taxing on my body¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as he checked the condition of his arm. ''My meridians are fine, but they are definitely a tensed¡­ the same can be said for my muscles. And all this was just from five percent of my energy stores.'' He analyzed.


    Lin Mu estimated that a single use of Mountain Copsing Fist''s Third Form was the same as at least four to five uses of Boulder Copsing Fist''s third form and that too at ten percent at the very minimum.


    ''Though the effect is ten times greater too¡­ The energy consumption was lowered for a greater power as well as greater strain.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''I wonder how much more I can increase it. Though handling that much energy might also destabilize it.'' He thought.


    That was one of the reasons why Lin Mu had used the skill with just five percent of his energy. It was his first time using the Mountain Copsing Fist, and he had even started with the third form right away, which was supposed to be the mostplex.


    Though this also meant that Lin Mu now had better confidence in using its first and second form, as he didn''t think they were thatplex.


    ''Merging Immortal Qi with Immortal Essence into a double helix is certainly harder than doing it with just one type of energy,'' Lin Mu concluded.


    By going for the harder option, Lin Mu had raised his confidence while also testing his own limits. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    ''I should test the upper limit of the Mountain Copsing Fist at atter time¡­ or unless I''m forced to do so during a battle,'' He noted in his mind.


    At the very least, Lin Mu was now sure that he had a stronger trump card to destroy foes that stood in his path. While Lin Mu had a variety of skills, he still knew that having a strong skill that could kill an enemy in one go was important to have.


    ''Considering how this went, I should have no issues using the First Form of Mountain Copsing Fist with the power of the Tyrant Bull either. They should synchronize well enough and improve the power further.'' Lin Mu reckoned the strain on his body would still be less than that of the Third Form Devastator.


    With his self reflection finished, Lin Mu reckoned it was time to search for the next key. Though he didn''t know what they would face now.


    "There''s definitely a chance we would face simr beasts again." Lin Mu spoke. "Little Shrubby, will you be able to sense them?" he asked.


    "I''ll try." Little Shrubby replied. "Though Ashy seems to have already found something." He added, having received a message.


    "Oh, she did?" Lin Mu was surprised, causing Lady Kang to listen in too.


    He had already gotten the bird to move away from the battle zone earlier, as he knew there was always a chance of it getting injured in their conflict. Instead, he let Ashy go on ahead and search for the next key or another area that might be peculiar.


    And by the time they had finished the battle, she had already aplished that goal.


    "I suppose we can go see what she found now." Lin Mu said and urged Little Shrubby to run towards Ashy''s location.


    "How far is the next location?" Lady Kang asked, seeing that they were already moving.


    "About fifty eight kilometers." Lin Mu replied while keeping his Immortal sense extended.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The trio didn''t take long to reach the position of the bird, who was perched on top of a rather sharp and tall granite pir.


    "Master! Here!" Ashy called out to Lin Mu. "Look!" she said, pointing to the area below with her wing.

 Chapter 2100 A Lava Current Puzzle

    Chapter 2100 A Lava Current Puzzle


    Lin Mu looked at the area that was another Lavake. This one was about a kilometer wide, but seemed to be a bit different. There were several whirlpools swirling in it from time to time and waves could also be seen flowing on its surface. "The fire elemental immortal Qi here is stronger." Little Shrubby informed.


    "And so is earth elemental immortal Qi." Lin Mu could both the elements in theva.


    Though Metal elemental immortal Qi wascking it it, possibly due to the fact that theva was mostly made from earth. Theposition ofva could vary greatly depending on how it was formed, thus it was not usual for it to be missing some metal elemental immortal Qi.


    "It certainly looks a bit strange." Lady Kang spoke, while her Immortal sense swept over it. "No signs of enemies for now though." She added.


    Lin Mu nodded and looked for a key but couldn''t spot it anywhere on the surface like before. "Let''s go closer. Perhaps the key might be hidden still." Lin Mu suggested and the group moved towards it. "Ashy stay up there and inform us if you spot anything different." He informed the bird.


    "Okay~" The small bird replied.


    ~SHUA~


    The group reached the edge of thevake and started scouring it.


    ~step~step~step~ ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    Lin Mu directly walked onto the surface of thevake and used his Immortal sense to probe it. He wanted to see if there were any signs of the enemies or if the key was hidden in there. While doing this, Lin Mu discovered that theke was a lot deeper than the othervake.


    ''At least a kilometer deep¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as his Immortal sense reached the bottom of theke.


    It was not easy to control his Immortal sense in theva, as it was quite dense and full of Immortal Qi that disturbed the movement of his Immortal sense. Still, Lin Mu simply used more focus to do that and started to scan the entirety of theke.


    After about five minutes or so, there were no sings of the enemies but he did find out that there was something strange inside theke. "The whirlpools¡­ They are forming due to the flow of immortal Qi inside theke." Lin Mu determined.


    With his Immortal sense, he could feel currents ofva beneath the surface which were being caused due to the Immortal Qi. This immortal Qi flowed in specific ways and pulled theva along with it creating the currents. But what Lin Mu could not figure out why these currents were being formed.


    "Lady Kang, can you also check theke. I think there is more to these currents." Lin Mu requested.


    "Of course," Lady Kang replied.


    The two thus scanned the depths of the Lavake and about ten minutester discovered something.


    "There''s a sphere in theke!" Lin Mu sensed.


    "Oh?" Lady Kang followed Lin Mu''s Immortal sense and quickly found what he was talking about.


    A reddish orange sphere was floating in the depths of theke and moving around.


    "This is definitely linked to something." Lin Mu was sure.


    But not just that, he could see that theva currents were actually pushing the sphere around!


    Lady Kang also noticed this and furrowed her brows. "Let me check something," She said before jumping up high.


    ~WOOSH~


    From the top, she nced at thevake below and saw the appearing and disappearing whirlpools. Watching them she knew there was some link between them and the sphere below theke.


    ~THUD~


    Shended back on theke side and had figured it out.


    "It''s a puzzle." Lady Kang informed. "I''ve seen a few of them being used as tests in various sects and ns." "What kind of puzzle?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The whirlpool are the indicators for the currents, which move the sphere around. The sphere is the clear target, but to obtain it one needs to resolve the currents themselves." Lady Kang said before shooting a small star towards a whirlpool. "Like this," she said.


    ~SPLASH~


    The attack struck next to a whirlpool, and caused theva to ripple. This changed the flow of the whirlpool and caused it to dissipate.


    "Huh¡­ the current changed." Lin Mu muttered and then used his Immortal sense to observe the sphere in the depths of theke.


    ~SWOOSH~


    The movement of the sphere was certainly updated as theva current pushing it around had been reduced by one. "If we are to obtain the sphere, we have to get rid of all the whirlpool and thus the currents." Lady Kang stated. "Once we do that the sphere will probably float up." She added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu nodded but then saw a new whirlpool forming in theke. "It''s back?"


    "There''s definitely a time limit to it." Lady Kang guessed. "It needs to be done in a continuous pattern or the current will form again, thus leading to the creation of new whirlpools.


    But hearing this, another idea appeared in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "If we are to only disrupt the currents won''t arge scale attack be enough to do the same?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "If this is simr to the puzzles I know, there will be a penalty to it. That sphere will probably be destroyed if you use the wrong method." Lady Kang answered, having see several tests like these before.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "And what if I directly go down and pick up the sphere?" he asked.


    "Considering the movement of the currents, youing near it might cause them to go erratic and possibly destroy the sphere and whatever is inside it." Lady Kang hypothesized.


    Her guesses were rather urate too as this was a Trial and was meant to test the skills of those that entered it. Unlike the previouske where they could use might to solve it, one needed skill to solve this one.

 Chapter 2101 An Absurd But Valid Solution

    Chapter 2101 An Absurd But Valid Solution


    Lin Mu thought over Lady Kang''s words and knew that she was highly likely to be correct.


    ''They probably want us to use our problem solve skills and proficiency with our immortal sense to obtain the sphere.'' Lin Mu reckoned. Lady Kang didn''t know what Lin Mu was thinking, but guessed that it was probably a method to solve the problem.


    "Just follow my lead and we can figure out the pattern of the whirlpools." Lady Kang stated. "I''ve seen puzzles like these several times before." She added.


    But before they could proceed with all this, Ashy flew in.


    ~Chirp~


    Shended on Lin Mu''s shoulder and spoke.


    "If you have to get rid of the swirly things¡­ Why don''t you just get rid of theva instead?" Ashy asked tilting her head.


    It was an innocent question and one would easily be able to tell that it was not a viable solution at first nce.


    "Move theva? That would only cause¡ª" but before Lady Kang could finish her words, Lin Mu interrupted her.


    "Wait¡­ that can actually work!" Lin Mu realized he had forgotten such an obvious solution.


    Lady Kang could somewhat tell what Lin Mu had thought about and decided to stop him before he made a mistake. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Even if you are thinking to removing theva, it''ll simply make the flow of the currents change for here worse. The currents would close in on the sphere if you remove theva." Lady Kang replied. "You won''t be able to remove arge enough amount of it before the sphere is destroyed. As such destroying the boundary of theke isn''t an option." She exined.


    "Oh that''s not what I meant." Lin Mu said with a smile. "Who said to destroy theke?" he asked.


    Lady Kang had thought that Lin Mu intended to remove theva from theke but destroying the boundary of theke and letting theva flow out into another reservoir. She had seen his attacks createrge craters as such thought that he was thinking of using them to make one such reservoir.


    But Lin Mu''s thoughts werepletely different.


    "What do you want to do?" Lady Kang furrowed her brows.


    "This," Lin Mu said as he dipped his hand into theva.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as he did, ripples formed around his arms before a depression appeared. A couple more secondster, the depression became deeper and theva around Lin Mu started to flow towards his arm.


    Watching this, Lady Kang quickly determined what Lin Mu was doing.


    "Wait¡­ You intend to store theva in your Spatial Storage tool?" Lady Kang questioned finding it surprising.


    "I do yes." Lin Mu answered calmly.


    "Do you know how muchva you will have to store? It''ll be a waste, not to mention it can harm the other things you might have in your spatial storage tool." Lady Kang stated finding it absurd.


    "Oh, I don''t need to worry about that." Lin Mu replied. "Besides I have plenty of space." He added.


    ~SHUA~


    And as he said that, a wave of energy spread from his hand as he increased the pace of absorption.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The increase caused ava to ssh around as waves started to intensify. The Lava in theke tried to reach an equilibrium but because Lin Mu kept on absorbing it, it could not do so. As such it surged towards his hand as if there was an invisible hole there.


    ~SPLASH~


    A gushing sound was heard as the level ofva in theke started to fall at a visible pace.


    Lady Kang looked at theke''s edge and saw that it had already reduced by more than a meter!


    ''Considering the size of theke¡­ he''s moved at least one thousand cubic meters ofva in less than a minute.'' Lady Kang was stunned.


    While she knew that storingva in Spatial Storage tools was easily possible, the storage capacity would have to be quite great. And what Lin Mu had stored was already big enough to fill most of the average sized tools. But he didn''t seem to be stopping any time soon.


    In fact, the more time passed the faster his pace of absorption got.


    This was actually due to Lin Mu observing the state of the sphere in the depths of theva. He didn''t want it to be identally destroyed and thus he was increasing the rate of absorption at a steady pace. ''I guess I can continue to increase it further.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    And sure enough, another couple of minutester theva in theke had fallen by more than fifteen meters!


    "You should get to the shore, I''ll handle the rest here." Lin Mu suggested to Lady Kang since the level of theva kept on falling.


    She had been standing on top of Little Shrubby so far since she wouldn''t be able to stand in theva, but it would be better for her to be away now. "Alright." She decided to trust Lin Mu and see how it all went. ''Never thought I''d see such an absurd method to solve a puzzle like this¡­ though it is still a solution¡­'' she thought herself.


    It was solution that not everyone would be able to use and those that could were highly limited in number.


    Lady Kang would be able to do it too if she used all the Spatial Storage tools she had, but there was no way she would use a wasteful method like that. Not to mention, the speed of absorption for her would be slower too and would depend on the type of Spatial Storage tool she had.


    The better their quality the faster the rate of absorption.


    ''Though the consumption of Immortal Qi in storing all that would also be higher.'' Lady Kang knew.


    That was one of the reason why this solution would not work for others.


    But Lin Mu didn''t care about all that and continued to do as he pleased.

 Chapter 2102 The Second Iron Key

    Half an hour passed before theke had been emptied out.


    Much to Lady Kang''s surprise, Lin Mu didn''t seem the least bit tired and she could tell this due to the stable immortal Qi fluctuationsing from him.


    ''He really did store the entirevake away,'' Lady Kang thought in slight disbelief. ''It''s as if he didn''t need to use Qi to do this at all.''


    Though she didn''t know that on some level, she was correct. Lin Mu used the ring''s power to store the Lava Lake away, thus he didn''t have the same level of consumption that a normal spatial storage tool would have. The reason for consumption of Qi when using a spatial storage tool was due to the fact that not all spatial storage tools kept the space inside them at maximum volume. Instead, one could think of the space inside them like a stretchable rubber bag.


    If one wanted to store items inside them, they would have to expend some energy to stretch the bag; in this case, using Qi to expand the space to a bigger size. Thus, the consumption was two fold, the first being to expand the storage in the spatial storage tool, before using more energy to transport the items inside them.


    Of course, this could only be done until a certain limit before the space wouldn''t be able to hold and either break apart or the user would simply not have the Qi needed to expand it further than that. And the bigger the spatial storage tool, the more energy one would need to store items if the space inside continued to grow.


    This was also why storing mass items like what Lin Mu was doing with theva or other junk like the literal mountains of soil and rocks, was not something people normally did.


    Of course, higher quality Spatial Storage tools had better efficiency and didn''t need as much Qi to store items. But even the highest quality spatial storage tools would have a certain cost to them.


    But in Lin Mu''s case, that cost to expand the storage was nil.


    The space inside the ring was constant and didn''t seem to change. As such, the only cost he had was the Qi needed to transport the items inside it, which was mostly negligible to Lin Mu.


    ~huu~


    "Here we go." Lin Mu said as he stood up and looked at the sphere which had been left lying at the bottom of theke.


    With how deep theke was and now that theva had mostly been stored away, it was quite dark there. ~SHUA~


    But a momentter, Lady Kang descended into theke, bringing illumination with her as a few stars glowed around her.


    "Let''s see what this actually is," Lin Mu said as he probed the sphere with his immortal sense.


    ~POP~


    But when he did, the sphere suddenly burst as if it were a balloon. "Huh?" Lin Mu was surprised and Lady Kang was concerned by it, but then they saw an object fall out of the sphere. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    "The key!" Lin Mu and Lady Kang saw.


    It was the same as the previous key that they had obtained and looked very simple.


    "It really could have been destroyed if the puzzle wasn''t solved in the ''right'' way." Lin Mu said as he picked it up. "Now we have two of the keys. How many more do you think we''ll need?" Lady Kang asked, ignoring the fact that they hadn''t exactly used the ''right'' way.


    "Hard to tell. With a space this big, it could be tens of keys." Lin Mu replied. "Plus, it seems like the keys will have different ways of obtaining them. The first was guarded, while the second was hidden with a puzzle." He added.


    "Guess we''ll just have to keep on looking." Lady Kang said, knowing that this step of the trial might take long.


    Lin Mu nodded in agreement and the two looked up from the now emptyke. "Let me make a path," Lin Mu said as he took out Afternoon Pine.


    ~SHING~


    He then shed out, creating a long yellow cut that struck the tall wall of the emptyke.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The sh created a diagonal cut in the wall, which went deeper the farther up one went. "There we go¡­ That should be a good enough staircase." Lin Mu said after doing some quickndscaping.


    ~Whoosh~


    A red blur appeared at their side, ready to take them up.


    "And here''s our ride." Lin Mu chuckled as he got onto Little Shrubby.


    Lady Kang jumped on too, and the trio quickly rushed out of theke through the new ramp Lin Mu had made.


    ~Chirp~


    Ashy also flew down tond on Lin Mu''s shoulder. "Did you find anything more?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Nothing here. We''ll need to go farther." Ashy replied.


    She had already searched everything within her scope of movement, and it was much better to rely on Little Shrubby to take them further from here. His speed was superior and once they were in a new section, Ashy could begin her search again.


    "Alright Little Shrubby, full speed ahead!" Lin Mu said, causing the beast to roar.


    ~ROAR~


    The beast sped up, and soon they were nothing but a blur. Little Shrubby continued to run for a while until they hade more than three hundred kilometer from their initial location. Lin Mu and Lady Kang had kept their immortal sense extended this entire time and were observing if there was anything they could have missed, but there really was nothing there.


    "Master," At a certain point though, Little Shrubby alerted Lin Mu.


    "I sense it too." Lin Mu said, narrowing his eyes. ~CREAK~


    Little Shrubby braked using his ws and came to a halt next to a steep cliff. From here, the group got to look at a rather lively scene below them.


    "Looks like we were in the ''outskirts'' all this time." Lin Mu said as he looked at what looked like a rather bustling area filled with beings.

 Chapter 2103 Lava Valley And Sagittarius Barrage

    "That''s a lot of them¡­" Lady Kang looked at the wide valley filled with thousands upon thousands ofva creatures.


    "Those slugs we saw were indeed just one variant¡­ there are more of them." Lin Mu said he sawva creatures that looked like various animals.


    There wereva wolves,va foxes,va tigers,va snakes, and many kinds ofva insects. ''If there''s so many of them here, there''s bound to be a key nearby.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as his eyes observed everything.


    Theva creatures were all moving around randomly, as if they were mindless puppets. Which they may as well be.


    But as Lin Mu and Lady Kang observed they started to find some patterns.


    "There," Lady Kang pointed to a spot that was roughly half a kilometer away. "Look at that squirrel." She spoke.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he nced at a rather smallva creature. Unlike the others that were at least a meter in size, this one was just half a meter tall. Of course,pared to a normal squirrel it was still quite big, but it stood out here. "The otherva creatures seem to be moving around it but don''te too close." Lady Kang replied. "As if they are¡ª"


    "Guarding it." Lin Mu finished her words.


    ~SHUA~


    His Immortal sense directly probed theva squirrel and quickly found the reason. "Hah, so this time the key is kept with ''guardians''." Lin Muughed finding that the iron key was embedded inside the body of theva squirrel.


    "It''s not the only one either." Lady Kang spoke as she picked up on more such creatures. "Look there," she pointed.


    Lin Mu looked into the distance and found that anotherva beast was surrounded by hundreds of its kin, but a distance was present between them. It was a small butterfly that pped its wings and hovered in the same ce.


    And simr to theva squirrel, theva butterfly had the iron key embedded in its body too, contained within a sphere.


    "Hmm, theva beasts seem rtively uniform in terms of their strength." Lin Mu said as he used his immortal sense to analyze the beasts.


    All of them seem to be at around the third tribtion stage of the Immortal realm. Though a few of them were weaker than that too.


    At the very least, Lin Mu couldn''t see anyva beasts that seemed to be as strong as a Fourth Tribtion Stage immortal beast or higher.


    "With such numbers, it''s best we split up." Lin Mu said before he called out a little more help. "We''ll be able to cover more ground now." He said as two snakes appeared.


    ~HISS~


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang looked at the sea of prey to them and hissed in excitement.


    "Yes, you can eat them all but leave the key alone." Lin Mu replied to the twins.


    ~HISSSSS~


    The twins swayed their heads in excitement, waiting for Lin Mu to give the go ahead.


    "Now then¡­ GO!" Lin Mu permitted as the twins turned into blurs that looked like a white and ck ribbon.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The two ribbons directly pierced through all the Lava Beasts that came in front of them as they started to weave through the area. The heat of theva could not harm them, while the beasts were far too slow to react to them. ~SPLAT~SPLAT~SPLAT~


    Theva beasts exploded while their energy was consumed by the twins, further energizing them.


    "I''ll go for the key," Lin Mu said before he disappeared.


    ~Growl~


    Little Shrubby was left with Lady Kang and gestured to his back with is head.


    "I suppose it''ll be faster if I go with you." Lady Kang understood what the beast meant. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    ~grrr~


    Little Shrubby nodded with a growl and let her climb up again.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then in the next second he jumped straight into the air and then dived down in an arc,nding smack dab in the middle of arge group ofva beasts.


    ~BOOM~


    A crater was created where hended, while the unfortunateva beasts were all smashed into a puddle. ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Lady Kang created tens of handseals as the power of stars exuded from her. Her eyes shimmered from the starlight before she activated her skill. Upon doing this, twenty stars flew out from her back, and hovered behind her.


    "88 Constetion Series: Fifteenth form- Half Beast Archer!" As soon as she chanted that, the stars transformed and formed an illusory figure of a giant man.


    But this man wasn''t a normal human but rather a demihuman, having the upper body of a human while its lower body was that of a horse.


    It was a demihuman that belonged to the Centaur Race!


    Once the figure of the centaur had fully formed, it towered over her and Little Shrubby, almost ovepping with them.


    Lady Kang''s Immortal sense split into hundreds of fine threads and rushed towards theva beasts that were around them. Once all the threads were connected to theva beasts, she finished the hand seals.


    "Sagittarius'' Barrage!" Lady Kang shouted.


    The illusory figure of the centaur stretched the bow in its hand as a long arrow condensed on it. Once the bow was fully arched, the centaur let it loose into the sky!


    ~TWANG~ The shimmering arrow shot into the sky and reached a great height before it split apart into hundreds of smaller arrows that rained down into the valley!


    ~feng~feng~feng~feng~


    All theva beasts that had been connected with Lady Kang''s immortal sense threads were urately targeted by the rain of arrows. Not a single shot was missed, and theva beasts were sttered across the floor of the valley.


    While this happened, Lin Mu had already reached theva squirrel and ripped out the iron key from it. "Whoa¡­" He had just looked back when the rain of arrows happened.


    An area of three hundred meters was cleared out in one go, as the illusory figure of the centaur pulled the bowstring once more.

 Chapter 2104 Eight Keys

    Chapter 2104 Eight Keys


    ~TWANG~


    The illusory centaur shot another arrow into the sky which then rained down hundreds of arrows around Lin Mu. The Lava beasts that he had ignored in favor of getting the iron key from the Lava Squirrel were killed, allowing him to move forward freely.


    "Thanks!" Lin Mu said as he made his way to the next Lava beast that had the iron key.


    ~HISS~HISS~


    A ck and white ribbon joined along his side, as they ripped through the Lava beasts that were trying to get close to Lin Mu. It was as if two walls were created beside him, that prevented anything from stopping him.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu quickly reached the nextva beast that held the key, it was a butterfly.


    It was about the size of a man''s arm and was smaller than mostva beasts. But the Iron Key stuck in its chest was rather prominent.


    ~FLAP~


    But just as Lin Mu was about to grasp it, the butterfly pped its wings in the air hard, propelling it into another direction at a great speed allowing it to dodge Lin Mu''s grasp narrowly.


    "Huh, gonna make it hard for me, aren''t you?" Lin Mu chuckled before directly teleporting next to theva butterfly.


    ~GROWL~


    Theva beasts around the Lava butterfly cried out in anger as they rushed towards Lin Mu. They were supposedly guarding the butterfly, but their effort was for naught.


    ~SPLAT~


    Lin Mu hand closed around the butterfly''s torso as it were were a vise and ended its life. His hands that contained the raw might of the Two Legged Tyrant Bull wasn''t something that could be endured by most beasts.


    The soft Lava Butterfly was nothing when Lin Mu''s hands could crumple iron sheets that were a few inches thick with ease.


    Still that didn''t mean that Lin Mu overexerted his strength. As when his fingers reached the Iron Key inside theva butterfly they quickly slowed down and gently held onto it.


    It was as if a ten ton rock had suddenly turned into a gentle feather.


    "There we go," Lin Mu muttered and quickly stored it away. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    ~HISS~


    And just when theva beasts were closing on him, the twins pierced through them, devouring their energy at the same time.


    "Time to hunt more," Lin Mu''s immortal sense spread and quickly searched for the next target.


    ~CHIRP~ "There''s one running on the walls!" Ashy informed him from the sky.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu quickly found it under her guidance and saw that there was a Lava Lizard running on the walls of the valley!


    It was as long as an adults arm and had a key embedded in its body too. Though it was running quite fast and was already a kilometer away from Lin Mu.


    ~TWANG~


    Another barrage of arrows rained down from the sky, as Lady Kang caught up.


    Lin Mu nced back and saw that nova beasts were left alive.


    Their group was working perfectly in tandem and had their roles.


    Lady Kang cleared out beasts in a bulk, while Little Shrubby carried her and guarded her at the same time. The Twins escorted Lin Mu, so that he wouldn''t be disturbed by the other Lava beasts, while Ashy monitored everything from the sky.


    With such a coboration Lin Mu had no issue in reaching the next target.


    ~SPLAT~


    Lin Mu mmed into the Lava Lizard, turning it into a burning stain on the wall before grabbing the fifth Iron Key.


    ''No reaction¡­ Need to get more keys.'' Lin Mu had hoped that five keys could have been enough, but the trial was not going to let it be easy for them. "Do you see anymore, Ashy?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "None in sight. I''ll go on ahead!" The small bird answered before soaring forward.


    Lin Mu continued onwards as well, while the others apanied him doing their duties.


    The twins were having a feast and left no Lava beast alive.


    The group traveled for about an hour before they finally found anotherva beast with an iron key. It was argeva beast in the shape of an elephant but Lin Mu didn''t need to use much effort to kill it.


    But the sixth key didn''t seem to be enough either and the journey continued.


    Finding the keys was getting harder the more time passed as theva beasts became sparse.


    To find the seventh key it took them over five hours, while the eighth key took twelve hours!


    And yet there was no end in sight.


    After another day had passed and no moreva beasts appeared, Lin Mu reckoned they had to move on from the region.


    "We''ll have to go deeper." Lin Mu spoke.


    "This seems to be the core area of this trial, I don''t think finding the next key is going to be simple." Lady Kang replied.


    "That does seem likely." Lin Mu said as he looked up at the sky ahead of them. "Its now rainingva too." There was a red hue above them that gave an illusion of sky during sunset. But with Lin Mu''s vision he could urately see that it wasn''t actually sky, but fine drops ofva raining down. From the distance, they all melded together making it look quite blurry.


    But as they got closer they saw the hellish scene.


    ~CHIRP~


    It was at this moment that Ashy let out a panicked cry.


    "Ashy are you fine?" Lin Mu asked, his eyes narrowing in concern.


    He quickly tracked her down and saw that she was already in the area with theva rain.


    "I''m okay¡­"Ashy said after a couple of seconds.


    "Did you get injured?" Lin Mu asked, just in case even if he knew that the talismans could protect the bird.


    "Okay," Lin Mu took a breath of relief. "Theva is a bit heavy though." Ashy replied, "it''s sticking to me." She added.


    Hearing that Lin Mu guessed what must have happened.

 Chapter 2105 Drizzling Lava And Toxic Smoke

    Chapter 2105 Drizzling Lava And Toxic Smoke


    While Ashy was flying in the sky, theva started to fall onto her.


    Of course the talismans that had been used on her protected her from any harm, but theva still stuck to her. It was like extra weight had been added to her, causing her to suddenly dive from it.


    This was what had panicked her, after all this was the first time she wasing in contact withva. Normal rain was fine for her as the water did not have much weight, butva was certainly a lot more dense.


    Not to mention, this was not normalva and was highly condensed, making it heavier than usual.


    "You should return." Lin Mu suggested. "We''ll head on foot from here." "Alright." Ashy replied before turning around.


    "Its best to keep her near us. I don''t get a good feeling here." Lady Kang agreed with Lin Mu''s decision.


    "Yeah, if its rainingva from the sky even we would have to stay on guard." Lin Mu replied. Lin Mu had the Longgui Bulwark Armor to protect him and Little Shrubby had his resistance to fire, but Lady Kang would have to put in extra effort to protect herself.


    The twins would be fine on their own, but Ashy''s talismans would eventually wear down.


    When that happened, she would start taking damage from theva too. To prevent that from happening, Lin Mu let her return to his side.


    ~CHIRP~


    After a short while, the bird was perched on Lin Mu''s shoulder again.


    "Did you see anything there?" Lin Mu asked.


    "There''s a lot more of thoseva beasts below along with rivers ofva. Theres also tall pirs that are spewing out smoke andva." Ashy reported what she had seen.


    "Tall pirs?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he tried to spot them.


    But the view in front of him too obscured to see clearly.


    "They might be theva vents." Lady Kang spoke. "And if they are, we''ll have to be careful with them." She added.


    "I don''t think theva spewing from them can do much to us though." Lin Mu replied. "It''s not theva, but the smoke that is of concern. It will be highly toxic." Lady Kang exined. "We have no idea what is the source of that smoke. There are some kinds of volcanic emissions that can even kill Immortals. It will shred up your lungs if you identally breath it in." She warned.


    "Hmm¡­ if so that smoke might have gotten through the talismans protection too." Lin Mu said knowing that Ashy would have a lower resistance to it than them since she wasn''t an Immortal beast.


    "Yeah," Lady Kang nodded.


    Now that they knew of the danger that lurked ahead, the group was a lot more careful as they approached it.


    ~tap~tap~tap~


    Theva raining down made tapping sound as it struck Lin Mu''s stone armor. Though no damage was done.


    Lin Mu had also sent Ashy back into the Sleepscape for her safety as they decided to search this area on their own.


    Wide and long rivers ofva flowed through this ins while they snaked around tall Lava vents that spewed out toxic smoke and hotva.


    Lava Beasts roamed the ins that were easily the size of elephants or bigger.


    "They''re stronger¡­ at least Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." Lady Kang estimated.


    "We''llb the area, while clearing it out the same as before." Lin Mu said while keeping his Immortal sense extended to the limit.


    ~RAAAAA~


    They had barely walked for five minutes before the cry of ava beast was heard.


    ~BAM~BAM~BAM~


    It was argeva gori that started to beat its chest in intimidation. ~SHING~


    But that did little to intimidate them, as Lin Mu simply shed out. "GRAAAAA~!" Theva gori groaned in pain as a deep cut appeared on one of its arms.


    "Oh? It actually blocked it." Lin Mu was a bit surprised.


    The gori had absorbed the blow and was now regeneration its arm. Whereas normally its mar should have simply been cut off from the sh.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Lady Kang also shot a few small stars at theva gori from her fingers, causing indents to form on its body. But this only served to infuriate the beasts as it started charging towards them.


    ~HISS~ Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    But before it could even reach half way, a scornful hiss was heard.


    ~THUD~


    In the next moment, theva gori copsed to the ground, its legs now missing. Behind it, one could see a snake stringing along two legs on its body.


    ~HISAAAAAA~


    Xiao Yang red at the Lava gori for daring to try and intimidate them.


    ~SPLAT~


    The legs burst apart and fell to the ground in the form of normalva while the Gori tried to regenerate its body. It propped itself up with its arms and suddenly shank.


    ~POP~POP~


    It directly decreased in size by about a meter. But this also allowed it to quickly regenerate its legs recovering its mobility.


    "GRAAA!" Now that its legs were back, the gori continued its charge towards Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu observed the beast and saw the hint of intelligence in its ssy red eyes. ''It decisively shrank down in favor of getting its legs back¡­ this one is a bit different.'' Lin Mu noted. And just as the Lava gori a meter aways from him, Lin Mu thrust his hand.


    ~HUALA~


    A searing hot energy surrounded his arm before transforming into arge w. Lin Mu used Magma fury to extend his reach and raked at the gori with a ws that were a meter in size!


    ~RIP~


    Theva gori tried to defend with its arms that were quickly cut apart by the sharp rocky ws before they dug into its head, causing it to burst apart.


    ~BOOM~


    "They definitely have better defenses now." Lin Mu said, having felt the resistance when he was cutting through the gori''s body.

 Chapter 2106 Lava Beasts Versus Magma Fury

    Chapter 2106 Lava Beasts Versus Magma Fury


    Lin Mu had seen a gradual improvement among the Lava beasts the further they went.


    Not only did they get stronger and the area got more dangerous, the beasts even seem to be gaining more intelligence now. Of course, Lin Mu didn''t know if the beasts were all like this or if this Lava gori was an exception.


    ''I suppose we''ll find out soon¡­'' Lin Mu thought as he felt several beasts approaching.


    There was another Lava Gori apanied by two smaller monkey variants.


    ~SHA~SHA~


    Lady Kang detected them too and shot fragmenting stars towards them.


    ~SPLAT~


    One of the Lava monkeys exploded from the fragmenting star, but the other monkey managed to avoid it.


    "Ki! ki! ki!" The surviving Lava monkey was startled and had flipped to avoid the fragmenting star, which exploded some distance behind it.


    "GRAAAAH!" The Lava Gori saw the power of its foe and seemingly became wary. ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    Instead of charging in like the previous one, it gauged its enemy.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    It then started to beat its chest, causing it to thunder like war drums!


    "Ki! Ki! Ki! Ki! Ki!"


    "Gar! Gra! Gra! Gra!" That seemed to be a call for aid as severalva beasts started charging at them. They were all ape like beasts, being either monkeys, goris, chimpanzees or orangutans.


    "Looks like there is indeed a theme to them." Lin Mu said as he quickly created tworge magma ws.


    They extended out from his arm, as if they had an independent mind and rushed towards the iing beasts.


    ~SLAM~


    The threeva beasts in the lead were pped away from the rocky ws of Magma Fury while sustaining major injuries. ~THUD~


    ~CRACK~


    Lin Mu thrust his leg into the ground and gave him a boost, propelling him towards the beasts while the ground cracked apart. He then spread his arms apart, causing the ws to move along them.


    "Lava versus Magma, let''s see whatsts!" Lin Mu chuckle and brought his arms together in a pping motion.


    This caused the magma ws to spring forth like whips and spray out sharp rocks from their back, while the frontal ws squished the Lava Gori between them.


    "GRAAHA!" The Gori of course tried to resist and used its own arms to block it.


    ~SQUELCH~


    But that only seemed to hold for a moment before his arms were stretched like a rubber band to its limit and then ripped apart!


    Seeing his opening, Lin Mu curled his four fingers and extended his thumb, causing the respective w to extended and directly pierce through theva gori''s chest.


    It urately targeted the Lava beast''s energy core, causing its body to break down.


    "Hmm, finding their energy cores is getting easier." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He had figured out that he could use his Immortal sense in tandem with the Magma Fury''s appendages to sense the energy flow within the Lava Beasts'' bodies.


    Since the Magma and Lava were essentially simr fluids, it made it easier for Lin Mu to sense the energy core within it. But when he tried to do it with just his own Immortal sense, the beasts resisted it sensing it to be a foreign object.


    ''It''s the same as disguising oneself as someone from the enemy camp and sabotaging them.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    ~SLAPS~


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t pause at all while he was thinking all this and spun in one fluid moment, causing the magma ws to turn into long magma whips that were tipped with ck rock spikes.


    The whips stuck two Lava Monkeys along with a Lava orangutan ,causing the monkeys to lose one of their arms and half of their torso, while the Lava Orangutan only lost one of its hands.


    ''The Orangutan is stronger¡­'' Lin Mu could tell that while the beast was not as fast as the other beasts, its arm strength might just be greater than the gori.


    As such it lost one hand in favor of gripping the magma whips. "Oooooogh!" The Orangutan chattered before holding onto the magma whip and pulling Lin Mu towards him.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu let the beast do as it pleased, while he flipped mid air, orienting his legs towards Orangutan.


    ~SHUA~


    Dark red aura poured out of his body suddenly, causing a tyrannical feeing to spread in the area. This stunned some of the weaker Lava Beasts, while the stronger ones could vaguely see the image of a two legged bull appearing above Lin Mu.


    One of Lin Mu''s legs suddenly bulged and grew in size, bing as big as that of an elephant''s leg.


    Tyrant Stomp!


    ~BOOM~


    The Lava Orangutan seemed to have signed his own death sentence, as Lin Mu''s foot stuck it square in the chest. The force was great enough that the impact zone was several timesrger than the beast''s body. It didn''t matter where the beast''s energy core was, since its entire body was stomped midair.


    In fact, after sting the beast into someva stter, the area of effect of the skill spread behind it, taking down eight moreva beasts as Lin Mu continue to fly with the momentum.


    ~CRASH~


    And when he finallynded, he left a V-shaped groove in the ground that was about fifty meters wide and six meters deep!


    "Huh, that worked better than I thought." Lin Mu had thought of the move set instinctively. "Realbat really is the best way to hone one''s skills!" Lin Mu said with excitement as he looked at the growing number of Lava Beasts.


    Their battle had created enough of amotion that even the other Lava beasts were now attracted.


    A few thoughts appeared in Lin Mu''s mind before he made a decision.


    "Lady Kang, why don''t you rest and recover your Qi. I''ll take care of all these for now." Lin Mu said out loud.


    "Are you¡ª" But before Lady Kang could reply, Lin Mu had already jumped into the fray


    All Lady Kang saw was him soaring into the sky.

 Chapter 2107 Lin Mus Solo Battle And The Teams Recovery

    Chapter 2107 Lin Mu''s Solo Battle And The Team''s Recovery


    ??~WHOOSH~


    Using Magma Fury Lin Mu created elongated ws thattched onto the ground. He then pulled himself back causing the ws to stretch, and finallyunched himself like a slingshot!


    ''Even if Magma does not have the normal property of being stretchable, as long as I am controlling it I can mold it to be as I want¡­ Hard, soft, stic, brittle or sharp¡­ Nothing is impossible with the fury of Magma¡­'' Lin Mu unconsciously took another step forward with the Longgui Bulwark Armor''s abilities.


    His body wasunched in an arc andnded in the middle of tens of Lava beasts.


    But as soon as hended, he spun around while spreading his arms apart.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The Lava beasts within his range were all pped by the whip like appendage, or cut by the ws that were at its ends. Some of the beasts were killed due to their energy cores being destroyed while some merely lost parts of their body.


    ''Hmm, need to focus better at striking their energy cores.'' Lin Mu realized that while the appendages created from Magma Fury were versatile, the more he expanded them the worse his control was.


    Even when he was trying to target the energy cores, his uracy was misces causing him to miss it half of the time. He thought about how to fix this and realized that he had two options.


    ''Either I reduce the range, or simply continue to use it until my proficiency improves.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    From the two options, it was an obvious choice to pick.


    ~HUANG~


    The Magma appendages stretched again turning into elongated whips but this time having a solid rock spine. It looked like someone had braided rocks into a long whip while magma flowed in the gaps between it.


    The whips flew around at a great speed, tearing through the bodies of theva beasts. Some of the beasts managed to get injured and survived but some couldn''t avoid that, as their energy cores were destroyed by the whips.


    At first ny percent of Lin Mu''s attacks missed the energy cores, but the more he kept on using the whips the better his uracy got.


    If an immortal observed it all closely they would realize that whenever the whips touched the beasts, they seemingly changed their paths. This was due to the fact that Lin Mu was actively recalcting his attacks once they made contact with the bodies of the Lava beasts.


    He sensed their energy cores inside and guided the whips towards them.


    The rocky spine of the whips helped in this, as Lin Mu could selectively change their size and shape in order to make the whip bend really fast.


    In fact it was so fast that it could almost be considered instantaneously.


    About two hours had passed since Lin Mu had began his ''solo'' battle with the Lava beasts.


    Lady Kang and Lin Mu''s beasts were resting while observing everything that he did. They hadn''t needed to do anything just as Lin Mu had said.


    lights¦­¦Ïv¦Ål ?¦Ïm ''I thought I would have to interfere when the beast''s came closer or some slipped by, but he really managed to stop all of them. And it doesn''t seem like he''s slowing down at all.'' Lady Kang thought to herself.


    She had actually used up a decent amount of her Immortal Qi since the time they had entered the Trials, and had intended to recover her Immortal Qiter on once they were done with this trial.


    She was sure that she had more than enough immortal Qi to endure this, but hoped that they could finish this before that. And now that Lin Mu had given her the chance she could really see the benefit in it.


    The twins didn''t really need to recover much, since they were regenerating all their immortal Qi as they consumed the beasts at the same time. Though this did give them the chance to refine and expel the unsuitable immortal Qi from their bodies.


    Xiao Yang expelled all the Yin elemental immortal Qi that he had umted, while Xiao Yin did the opposite. After doing this, the two exchanged the Yin and Yang Elemental Immortal qi''s allowing them to improve their cultivation base.


    And since they had done this after quite some time, the umted Qi was quite a lot too.


    Lady Kang saw this and couldn''t understand it at first.


    She then realized that the Immortal Qi was Yin and Yang element causing her to be surprised. After all, she knew that even for cultivators using pure Yin and Yang elemental Qis was an incredibly difficult task.


    Most of the time, only the peak experts could grasp it and even then they had their own limitation.


    Refining normal immortal Qi into Yin or Yang immortal Qi was not a simple task either and had a high consumption of immortal Qi.


    It didn''t matter what element they were, as the output was still less than optimum.


    Often, the conversion rate would barely be a couple of percent which was abysmal for a normal expert. It would be the same as wasting a majority of their immortal Qi.


    But for beasts like these that really belonged to the Yin and Yang element, it was a different equation.Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    The elements were their very source of existence and it didn''t matter how much immortal Qi they needed to consume. Besides, they would still end up at the top due to the sheer qualitative difference.


    After all, it was said that the Yin and yang elements were the second set of elements that were created from the very chaos when the cosmos came into being.


    Lady Kang also saw Little Shrubby who seemed to be the most calm out of all of them. He had been with Lin Mu the longest and had the greatest faith in him.


    As such he took it all casually, and spent his time in absorbing the rich fire elemental immortal Qi in the area.


    This ce was basically a tonic to him, and thus Little Shrubby had not only recovered by his cultivation base was growing too.

 Chapter 2108 8 Weeks And A Gate

    Chapter 2108 8 Weeks And A Gate


    While Lin Mu''spanions rested, he continued to fight and improve his proficiency with the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    The longer he went, the better he got at finding the energy cores of the Lava beasts. And eventually he reached a point where he could find it in a single strike, managing to eliminate them in one go.


    But that didn''t mean that the beasts were all killed soon. In fact, it took Lin Mu a long time.


    Minutes turned into hours and hours became days.


    It wasn''t Lin Mu''s first time getting lost in battle, with his mind tuning into a keen machine that finely calcted each of his actions. He observed, analyzed, and improved his moves with the progressing battle, his skills getting better and better with each passing hour.


    And by the time an entire week had passed, all that was left was a boiling, molten and barrenndscape.


    All the Lava Beasts had been eliminated while two red spheres floated in front of Lin Mu.


    ~huu~


    He let out a breath as he looked at the two spheres, knowing what they were.


    "So this was the condition¡­ if we had ignored them, we probably would have missed out on these keys," Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    When he had eliminated about half of the Lava beasts in this area, the first key had popped up. Of course, he was surprised by this and had rushed to store it away to prevent it from getting damaged.


    He then went back right to killing theva beasts and hunted hundreds of them down before another key appeared.


    This time though, the key''s appearance wasn''t detected by him but rather by Lady Kang as it had appeared next to her. They wondered why the keys were appearing like this and reckoned that there was a condition they were not able to understand at first.


    But when the third key was spotted by Ashy far back at where they had started from, Lin Mu soon realized what the condition to obtaining the keys in this area was.


    ''Upon the killing of a certain number of Lava beasts, an Iron key will randomly spawn in the area.'' Lin Mu understood.


    Three keys had been obtained in the way and there were still more Lava beasts appearing in the area.


    Thus, Lin Mu got the idea that as long as the Lava beasts were here, there would still be more keys appearing. This proved to be a good thing for him, as he could focus on one thing and keep on eliminating them while Lady Kang and his tamed beasts watched out for them.


    Lin Mu fought nonstop and eventually reached a point where basically no beasts were left alive in the area, and yet a short whileter, more of them suddenly spurted out from theva rivers that were spread around in the area.


    And not just that, even the rocky vents from which the smoke spewed also birthed more Lava beasts.


    These happened to be the bigger Lava beasts that also had greater intelligence than the others.


    This led to Lin Mu understanding the difference in the various Lava beasts that were present in the area. Those that were born from theva rivers were the normal ones with low intelligence, while those born from the vents were those with a higher intelligent.


    Once Lin Mu had eliminated all theva beasts for the second time and obtained another Iron key, the Vents in the area seemed to be overactive.


    They kept on spitting outrge balls of Lava that transformed into various Ape like Lava Beasts.


    These were the sources of the various Gori, Monkey, Chimpanzee, Orangutan and other ape beasts. At a certain point, there were literally monkeys raining down in the entire area, which created a memory for Lin Mu that most others would simply find odd.


    But once he got through it, all two more Iron Keys appeared directly in front of him.


    These were in the form of the red spheres and were still contained in their shells.


    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~


    "No more Lava beasts seem to be appearing." Lady Kang spoke.


    "Yes¡­ Either its due to the fact that we haven''t collected the key or because this isn''t the end." Lin Mu replied magma flowing around his body.


    Unlike before, Magma fury functioned differently for Lin Mu.


    There were two ws on his arms, while two whips with spiked rock tops extended from his back. His body was also fully d in a rock armor at the same time, keeping his defense at the maximum.


    It didn''t seem like he could be threatened at all if one saw him right now. The aura that he had around him also spelled utter fear for most beings that would see him.


    The Tyrannical aura from the Tyrant Bull and the Stubbornness from the Longgui Bulwark Armor mixed together along with all the killing he had done, creating an unmentionable aura of terror.


    Though it was dispersing at the same time and it didn''t seem like it would be able tost for a long time.


    Lady Kang could see it and knew what it was.


    ''He managed to condense an aura of ughter even while killing beasts that are nothing but puppets¡­ the techniques he is cultivation are certainly ones that are made for battle.'' Lady Kang thought to herself.


    She knew of many techniques that worked like this and all of them were those that were made for war and ughter.


    The manifestation of a ughter aura was considered as a pro and con by most people. Some considered it a pro since it further added to the domineeringness of the skills, along with its power and added the ability to scare others.


    While some considered it a con, as it further pushed such skills to the unorthodox path, making it seem negative and evil by several factions. This was further enhanced by the fact that many techniques of the Orthodox path condensed a righteous aura instead of a ughter aura when one used it to kill others.


    There were exceptions to this, but the majority agreed on the basic norms as such, there were many misconceptions to it all.


    Regardless of what it might be though, Lady Kang was not one to misidentify Lin Mu.


    She didn''t belong to the orthodox or the unorthodox path. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    She was an ambitious merchant thorough and through, a businesswoman at the very minimum and thus what she respected was power and knowledge in the end.


    Both of which that Lin Mu held.


    As such, observing his capabilities only inspired confidence in her. Especially with the two Iron keys appearing upon thepetition of his ughter.


    "Let''s see if this is it." Lin Mu said as he finally made his move towards the two keys that were still contained within the red spheres.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s hand, that was protected by a stone gauntlet, made contact with the first sphered, causing it to disappear. The Iron Key became visible behind it that Lin Mu quickly took hold of and stored it away in the ring.


    "Hmmm¡­ Nothing yet." Lin Mu muttered as he narrowed his eyes.


    He turned and looked at the second red sphere that contained the iron key. Lady Kang was looking at it as well and questioned what would be happening.


    They had no idea of the next trial and neither of the current one.


    ~SHUA~


    And when Lin Mu touched it, the sphere disappeared as well, revealing the lone iron key inside it.


    "One more." Lin Mu steeled his heart and touched at.


    ~HONG~


    As soon as he did, a change seemed to happen as a echoing sound spread in the entire trial ground.


    ~GURGLE~GURGLE~


    Theva all around them seemed to boil over, while the vents spewed out copious amounts of smoke. No matter what way one observed this, it was clear that something was happening to this space.


    Little Shrubby sensed several spikes in the fire elemental energy, as well as Lin Mu, making them look at the space in front of them.


    ~HISS~


    The twins quickly jumped in front of Lin Mu, as if protecting him, and red at a stone arch that appeared.


    It was made out of rock andva, but contained hundreds of runes. These were runes that both Lin Mu and Lady Kang could understand and made their eyes go wide.


    "Those runes¡­" Lady Kang muttered.


    "A Teleportation gate." Lin Mu finished her words.


    "Is this the end?" Lady Kang asked, looking at Lin Mu, knowing that his abilities would allow him to perceive better.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.


    And when he did, the scene in front of him changed.


    He looked past the gate and saw a Teleportation channel that went to the depths.


    "No¡­ there''s more." Lin Mu could vaguely see several branches joining in, showing that this was not the end yet.

 Chapter 2109 Trial Of Discovery

    Chapter 2109 Trial Of Discovery


    Lin Mu could urately gage that the multiple branches he was seeing wereing from other locations of the trials.


    "Nine branches¡­ Nine Teleportation channels." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Nine¡­ So the others will be taking the same path in the end." Lady Kang replied.


    "They just might if the trial they area in simr to us. Though I reckon they will be in different ones." Lin Mu replied. "Considering that strange energy that imbues life into different materials, there could be more such trials with different habitats." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ we saw the beasts that were purely condensed out of that energy before¡­ then the Lava ones here and you''ve said you''ve encountered them before too." Lady Kang replied.


    "I''ve also encountered those made from earth and mud." Lin Mu added.


    "So that means your guess is highly likely to be urate." Lady Kang nodded. "While having simr trials ismon in many inheritance grounds, with a Celestial''s inheritance I can''t help but think they won''t keep it this simple." She stated.


    "Indeed¡­ To make things moreplex an unpredictable they are likely to change it around." Lin Mu said. "If the others got different habitats, the time needed for them might be different too." He guessed.


    "I see¡­ so there is a chance we might be the first ones there." Lady Kang wondered.


    "Or thest." Lin Mu didn''t leave out that possibility either.


    After all they had been here for over two months now. Whatever might in held in the future for them, the only way to figure that out was to proceed through the Teleportation gate and see how it worked.


    "Time to head in, no use in us waiting here." Lin Mu said looking at the gate. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Alright." Lady Kang nodded and Lin Mu quickly sent the beasts into the Sleepscape.


    This would keep them safe and ensure that they all ended up at the same ce. ~SHUA~


    But just as they were about to step in, runes appeared in the air.


    ''Trial of Discovery passed.''


    Lin Mu and Lady Kang both saw this finding that it was indeed urate to the contents of the trial.


    ''We had to discover the method to get out which was the keys.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ''We had to discover the keys that were needed for it without knowing where or how to get them.'' Lady Kang thought.


    ''If one didn''t take the risks to find the keys forge out their own path in the unknown, they would certainly fail this trial¡­ The Trial of discovery.'' They both thought.


    Their gazes lingered the runes for a bit until they disappeared.


    Next, Lin Mu and Lady Kang stepped through the Teleportation gate that was made out ofva, rocks and stones, together. As soon as they did, they found their bodies bing weightless, making them aware that the Teleportation had begun.


    Lin Mu had kept his Spatial Perception active and could look around the Teleportation channel. He took this chance to observe the other branches and tried to figure out whether others had used it or not.


    ''The Teleportation gate appeared when we obtained the necessary number of keys, this signals that the channels might only appear when the conditions are fulfilled. But if so, then the other channels should not have existed.'' Lin Mu analyzed the situation, trying to learn more about the next trial.


    He didn''t know if this was a default setting for the teleporting array or not, but depending on this the next stage of the trial might bepletely different.


    ''The trial definitely allows multiple people to pass, which means this isn''t an eliminative process where only one or a handful people obtain it. We were divided into give groups and yet there were nine channels, which means that there is a chance not all groups are of two. There might be solo people too.


    But¡­ there''s also a chance that the default number is two but the trial grounds are greater than that just to create a sense of unfamiliarity.'' Lin Mu analyzed what could be the possibleposition of the trial of discovery.


    And by the time he finished thinking all this, he seemed to have reached the end of the Teleportation channel.


    ~SHUA~


    A blinding light filled the vision of LinMu and Lady Kang before they felt their bodies bing weighted again.


    ~THUD~THUD~


    The two of themnded on the ground, feeling the pressure on their bodies that seemingly increased after a second or so.


    Next, their vision returned and they seemingly found themselves in arge dome. The area was illuminated brightly, and everything could be seen inside it. Lin MU observed the structure of the dome and found it to be perfectly symmetrical and made out of the same kind of stone they had seen in the previous trial.


    The dome was about three hundred meters in radius, having plenty of space for thousands of people. The inside of the dome had no designs and carvings on it, but looking to the floor of the dome, Lin Mu quickly saw something eye catching.


    "That''s a clear clue." Lady Kang spoke, having seen it too.


    "Yeah," Lin Mu said as he looked at the circr tform that was slightly raised from the rest of the floor.


    It had multiple holes in it that wereid out in concentric circles.


    If one looked closely at the holes, they would realize that they were not just normal holes, they had a specific shape.


    "Keyholes." Lin Mu said upon seeing them. ~SHUA~


    He took out one of the Iron Keys and inserted it into one of the keyholes, finding that it was a perfect fit.


    "So this is what the keys were for." Lady Kang spoke. "Does it turn?" she asked.


    ~CLACK~


    Lin Mu tried it out, making the key turn effortlessly.


    "It does turn¡­ though something is not right¡­" He said looking at the holes. "There are too many of them," he counted the keyholes.


    There were exactly a hundred of the keyholes on the tform.


    Lady Kang too found the number a bit concerning and furrowed her brows. ''Did we make some kind of mistake?'' Lady Kang wondered.


    There were one trials that could have a trick to move onto the next round. Sometimes one might not have finished all the conditions needed to finish the trial and be unable to proceed to the next stage.


    This was intentional and was intended for the trial takers to have good analysis skills as well as the drive to explore all options.


    If one didn''t do so, they might end up getting soft-locked in their trial.


    The way to get out of that would not always be avable to them and they could very well end up dying there if the trial creator was not a forgiving individual.


    There had been nock of cultivators that had forever be trapped in the trials, unable to ever exit it.


    Though there could be some that managed to get out of it through unorthodox means. But those that could, were far and few in between. And even those that did needed to have the fortune of heavens on their side.


    This was one of the biggest reasons why such trials were risky and one needed to be well prepared.


    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~


    Lin Mu decided to test some things first and inserted more keys into the holes and turned them.


    "They all turn." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hmm¡­ use all the keys we have for now. Perhaps there might be a chance once we do that." Lady Kang added.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said and inserted the rest of the keys.


    Once he had done that, all the keys in the outermost circle of holes were turned.


    ~SHUA~


    Once he did that, the outermost circle started to glow in a faint light showing that this was indeed what they were supposed to do.


    "No more keys." Lin Mu replied, seeing that they needed to fill more holes.


    "I don''t think we are supposed to fill all of them alone." Lady Kang replied before turning to the spot they hade from.


    It was very faint, but one could see a circle there.


    "Can you see the other spots?" Lady Kang asked.


    Lin Mu spread his immortal sense and found nine more spots around the entire dome, spread out in an equidistant manner. "Yeah¡­ Theres more of them." Lin Mu said before using his spatial perception and observing the Teleportation channels.


    "Looks like this trial was aposite one¡­ it was never meant for us to bepleted alone." Lady Kang stated. "We need to wait for the others to arrive." She added.


    "So we really did end up being the first ones here." Lin Mu muttered as a few thoughts appeared in his mind. "It took us over two months to finish this. Will the others be able to finish it soon?" he wondered.


    "I don''t know. All we can do right now is wait and watch." Lady Kang replied.

 Chapter 2110 Two Weeks Of Wait For Others full

    2110 Two Weeks Of Wait For Others


    Lin Mu and Lady Kang had nothing to do while waiting here for others, thus they decided to recuperate their Qi stores. But there was ack of ambient immortal Qi in the air, which meant that the two could not cultivate normally.


    Thus they had to use the Immortal stones and other resources they had in their storage. Normally doing this in a trial would have been risky, and they only relied on their natural absorption of Immortal Qi to restore their stores. But now it was a rare opportunity where they could do this without any danger or threat looming over their heads, as such they would be fools to miss it.


    Little Shrubby, the Twin snakes and Ashy were steadily cultivating in the Sleepscape too thus, Lin Mu let them be until it was time to call them out again.


    But as time continued to pass, no signs of anyone appearing could be seen. Lin Mu periodically checked on the Teleportation channels and saw no sign of them activating.


    By the fifth day of waiting, Lin Mu and Lady Kang had fully recovered and were ready to handle anything that mighte their way. Still, they were patient and continued to wait.


    On the tenth day though, Lin Mu decided to look into some alternatives.


    ~SHUA~


    He opened his eyes with the Spatial Perception active and started to observe the spatial fabric around them.


    ''It''s tougher than usual.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he extended his gaze beyond the mere surface.


    This was usually harder for him in other ces, but since there were already Teleportation channels build into the space by the creator of this inheritance ground, Lin Mu had a pathid out for him to follow.


    And when he observed them for a while along with the formation arrays that were woven into the fabric of Space, Lin Mu learned a few things.


    ''The Teleportation channels pass through four differentyers, but I can only observe up to the thirdyer. The fourthyers is far too obscured to observe.'' Lin Mu noticed.


    This was important, as it meant that if things really went sideways, he could still escape through a spatial rift. ''I''d have to carve a path through all theyers¡­ Though there is no telling if a restriction will activate upon sensing my tampering.'' Lin Mu thought. ''At the very least, I should be able to make my way through it, but with Lady Kang it might beplex.'' He reckoned as he gazed at the meditating figure of the woman.


    She was sitting cross legged on a cultivation mat that was a high grade supportive immortal tool. Faint streams of Immortal Qi surrounded her, arising from the cultivation mat under her. The cultivation mat basically functioned as a reserve store of Immortal Qi and one could recharge it using Immortals stones, or simply letting it absorb ambient Immortal Qi in the air.


    Since there was no Immortal Qi in this ce, Lady Kang had used the Cultivation mat. Not only did the mat have an ability to store the immortal Qi, it could also streamline it and channel it in the most optimum rate that waspatible with ones body.


    Not everyone benefited from a fast immortal Qi infusion. It would be the same as pouring a bucket of water into someone''s mouth when all they could drink was a ss.


    The rest of the water would be wasted, thus leading to an efficient manner of absorption.


    With such stable absorption, Lady Kang could continue to cultivate even in a ce like this.


    ''The main issue will be to keep her defenses up when we pass through the Space, other than that she should be able to handle things on her own.'' Lin Mu thought after a while.


    By now he was confident of Lady Kang''s abilities and knew that she could easily carry her weight when unexpected things were thrown at her.


    Lin Mu further observed the formations, trying to see if he could understand them. This was an uphill task though as the formation array was spread in a wide area making it almost impossible to observe it all at once.


    He had to look around in a wide area just to make sense of a single part of a formation, not to mention the entire array. Lin Mu wanted to see if he could figure some of them out at least so that he would have an idea how to navigate through them, but it turned out to be impossible while he was contained in the space. ''The entire spatial ne is covered with the formation arrays, making it an effective way to encrypt them while also simplifying them. But one would need to be able to inscribe them in the space in the first ce for it to be effective.'' Lin Mu was lost in the study of formations for a while before his attention returned to the area around him.


    ~sigh~


    "May as well cultivate now¡­" Lin Mu thought to himself and decided to return to a task that he had halted earlier in the ship.


    What Lin Mu intended to cultivate was none other than the Omnicore Ascendancy. If he wanted to cultivate it in the most efficient manner from the lowest quality materials to the highest, Lin Mu needed some time.


    ''I''ve already finished the absorption of materials up to the Immortal realm with the water and wood cores, I should get started on the other cores too now.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Let''s see¡­ I have a lot of earth elemental low quality materials in the store with literal mountain''s worth of soil, may as well start with that,'' He reckoned.


    Since Lady Kang was here, he didn''t enter the ring though and just cultivated it here by continually ejecting small amounts of soil into his hands, which was then quickly broken down into pure elemental essence and being absorbed into his body.


    With how much soil Lin Mu had, which was the lowest quality earth elemental material, he could continue to absorb it for a long, long time.


    ~SHUA~


    The soil continued to appear in his hands that were kept in a cupped gesture in front of them and was broken down instantly. The more Lin Mu this, the better his speed of withdrawing and absorbing got until eventually it was all just a singr blur.


    The soil wouldn''t even appear for more than a few moments before disappearing.


    Lin Mu sped up the process, absorbing the wisps of earth elemental essence and in about two days time he had reached the limit.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a breath as he checked the tiny sand grain sized Earth core inside his spleen.


    ''Three mountains of soil yielded this¡­ I suppose it is a good exchange,'' Lin Mu thought before he moved onto better earth elemental materials.


    Of course, he also took a momentary nce at the Teleportation channels and saw that they showed no signs of activating for now. Lady Kang was still cultivating too and hadn''t moved from her ce.


    "Min Ju!" Lady Kang rushed to check up on her maid while Lin Mu quickly scanned the two with his Immortal sense.


    21:04


    Since she was deep in cultivation, Lin Mu didn''t disturb her and returned to his own cultivation.


    This time it took Lin Mu about four days before he had finally hit the limit of the Spirit herbs of the earth element.


    He was now on the cusp of the immortal realm and was just about to start it when he felt a wave of energy.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu immediately stood up and so did Lady Kang as they both felt it.


    ~SHUA~ ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    They saw one of the Teleportation circles glowing and knew that it was time for one of theirpanions to arrive.


    Lin Mu activated his spatial perception too and nced at the Teleportation channels finding a vague image of two people passing through it from the distance. The closer the figures got the clear they became and once they were at the very edge, Lin Mu recognized them.


    "Daoist Chu and Min Ju." Lin Mu determined.


    ~HUALA~


    And then in the next second, the two people materialized in front of them.


    ~THUD~THUD~


    But upon arriving, the two copsed to the ground right away.


    "Min Ju!" Lady Kang rushed to check up on her maid while Lin Mu quickly scanned the two with his Immortal sense.


    Upon doing so, he quickly noticed several concerning things.


    First was the fact that the clothes of the two had ice and snow coating it on severe ces, while their flesh even had signs of frostbite on it.


    Daoist Chu had a few cuts on his arms that had been seemingly frozen and expanded, allowing one to nce at the red flesh inside while Min Ju had the same, but on her back instead.


    One of the cuts was deep enough that her ribs could even be seen.


    The immortal Qi fluctuations of the two also seemed to be in a rather unstable state, showing that they had exhausted a lot of their energy.

 Chapter 2111 Healing The Injured Companions And The 11th Form full

    2111 Healing The Injured Companions And The 11th Form


    Daoist Chu and Min Ju were both unconscious, having passed out the moment they had jumped into the teleportation gate. It was likely that they had been pushed to their limits and were probably betting on the teleportation gate, saving them by taking them to another ce.


    It was a risky choice, but had now worked in their favor, as theirpanions had found them.


    Lin Mu and Lady Kang had quickly finished their assessment of the two, knowing what to do now.


    "Here, Frost Warding Pills." Lin Mu quickly took out two pills that were suitable in dealing with damaged cured by Ice elemental immortal Qi. "Help them circte the energy. I''ll prepare the area." Lady Kang took them and put them in the two individuals mouth, before using her Immortal Qi to stimte the pill to melt down and enter their bodies. ~SHUA~ Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    While she did that, Lin Mu began setting up a formation. He threw out eight formation gs that nted around them in an octagonal pattern before a brush appeared in his hands.


    Lady Kang felt strong Dao Traces around her, making her look towards Lin Mu.


    ''That brush¡­ It''s a Dao Embryo.'' She recognized and watched Lin Mu draw out hundreds of runes in the air.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The runes were written at a great speed such that Lin Mu''s hand was but just a blur. The runes flew around Lin Mu before being controlled by his Immortal sense and being guided to specific spots in the air. Bit by bit, the runes were assembled into a formation that looked like an inverted dome above the octagonal array made from the formation gs.


    ~HONG~


    "Warming Hemisphere Formation! Octagonal Pagoda Formation!" Lin Mu chanted, having finished the two formations before drawing a single line in the air that connected the inverted dome with the octagon on the ground. "Transform! Warming Pagoda Array!" But he was not done yet, as he called out to someone for help.


    "Xiao Yang, I need your Qi." Lin Mu spoke.


    ~HISS~


    In the next moment, the snake responded to his master''s call and breathed out a mass of white Qi. Lady Kang could easily identity this to be none other than Pure Yang Elemental Immortal Qi!


    ~HUALA~


    As soon as the Qi appeared, the Warming Pagoda Array rapidly absorbed it and started to glow.


    ~Woong~ Once all the Yang Elemental Immortal Qi was absorbed, the array activated and beams of gentle light fell from it, coating the two injuredpanions.


    "The array should be able to prevent further damage and restrain the cold Qi in their bodies, giving the Frost Warding Pills to do their work properly." Lin Mu said after seeing the array was working perfectly.


    With Lady Kang guiding the Medicinal Efficacy on the inside and the effect of the array, Daoist Chu and Min Ju started to recover. The frost and ice on their bodies rapidly melted away, while the wounds started to bleed again. Lady Kang watched this and let the wounds bleed for the time being, as it was necessary.


    ''Their blood had congealed and dposed due to the cold, its best for it to be expelled first.'' She thought.


    After about an hour or so, the frost was fully expelled and color returned to the face of the two injuredpanions.


    "Looks like we can feed them healing pills now." Lin Mu spoke, having checked their condition. "We can use these," He said, taking out some pills he had gotten previously from the Morning Glory n.


    "These won''t be necessary. You can conserve those pills." Lady Kang denied before saying, "I have a faster method." Lin Mu tilted his head a bit and wondered what she intended to do. ''Faster than the Healing pills? Is she going to use a Healing technique?'' He wondered before watching her use one of her skills.


    ~HONG~ Lady Kang made several hand seals before ten glowing stars manifested above her. "88 Constetion Series: Eleventh Form - The Serpent Bearer!" Lady Kang chanted.


    The stars emanated a gentle glow before taking the form of a man holding a serpent!


    The illusory man nced down at the two injured people before raising the serpent above its head.


    "Ophiuchus'' Healing Mizzle!" Shepleted the skill.


    ~SHAHA~


    A whistling sound was heard before the mouth of the serpent opened. Inside its mouth, one could see a single star that was rather dim. But the very same dim star seemingly released a tiny wisp of light that rained down onto Daoist Chu and the maid Min Ju.


    The wisps entered their body and quickly started to mend their wounds. Their unstable immortal Qi became uniform while their vitality surged. In just a couple of minutes, the two had returned to the peak of health.


    21:05


    If not for the damaged clothes, it would have been impossible to tell that the two had been injured at all.


    ''That healing skill¡­ It really is quite good.'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but admit. ''Though it doese at a high cost too.'' He realized as he felt the Immortal Qi draining from Lady Kang.


    It was invisible to the naked eye, but with Spatial Perception, Lin Mu could see her Immortal Qi being channeled into the illusory figure above her. "Wait¡­" But as he did, Lin Mu suddenly realized something else. "That skill¡­ it''s extending past the void?" he observed that there was an almost invisible link connecting the illusory figure to something in the void.


    But Lin Mu was sure that it wasn''t connecting to the void, but rather something beyond it.


    ''If it was connecting to the void, I would have known¡­ But it travels past it before leaving the void¡­'' Lin Mu tried to look past it all and track the link down, but his sight could not reach that far.


    It became apparent to him that wherever the link went, it was beyond his reach for now.


    But it did leave him with many questions, such as the fact that just what kind of skills was Lady Kang even using.


    ''That link¡­ it was not anything normal¡­ It doesn''t seem to be made from Qi, or Dao Traces.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Unknown to him, Lady Kang had registered his inquisitive look and had also heard his words earlier. Even though they might have been spoken lightly, in a closed and silent ce like this, they may as well have been screamed into her ears.


    "They are Ster Dao Insights." Lady Kang spoke, turning to Lin Mu. "I didn''t expect you to be able to see them¡­ Even I can''t see them yet." "Dao Insights? I''ve seen those before, but they didn''t feel like that," Lin Mu replied. "No, wait¡­ How are you using Dao Insights in the first ce?" he asked, finding it unusual.


    "Well, the simple answer is I''m not." Lady Kang replied. "The Cultivation Techniques that are rather unique¡­ They draw their power from the Ster Dao and as such have several exceptions to them that other techniques don''t." She exined.


    "The Ster Dao¡­ You mean the power of the stars and constetions¡­" Lin Mu had heard of it before, though it was in rtion to something else. "Isn''t that primarily something used by Diviners?" he spoke.


    "Just because it is used by diviners doesn''t mean that it can''t be used for other things." Lady Kang chuckled. "The reason it is used by Diviners is because it is one of the more elusive forms of Dao that is suitable for divining. But if one has the talent for it, one can also use it for other paths." She added.


    "Hmm¡­ So you transformed it into a multifaceted cultivation technique." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "You could say that," Lady Kang replied before seeing a strange expression on Lin Mu''s face. "What is it?"


    "Is it fine for you to say this, though?" Lin Mu questioned. "Revealing what it is." "If we are to get through this trial and survive the Inheritance ground, I think it is best we know more about each other''s abilities. We need to be able to trust each other." Lady Kang answered. "Besides, it isn''t exactly information that has been a secret. If someone is knowledgeable enough, they would be able to figure it out eventually¡­ And you would have been able to do that too. Or at least that''s what my hunch says." She stated it as a matter of fact.


    Her guess was indeed correct, as Lin Mu would have only needed some more time to look through some documents to verify the facts. And if he still couldn''t figure that out, Xukong would probably be able to answer him when he woke up again.


    Lin Mu didn''t disturb him unless he absolutely needed to these days and let the senior cultivate as he pleased.


    Plus, if it was something that aroused Xukong''s interest, he would speak up on his own. But for now, it was fine for Lin Mu to do things on his own.


    I''m back from my uncle''s wedding after 5 days, but seem to have caught something there and feel sick. Grand_Void_Daoist

 Chapter 2112 Exchanging Trust

    Chapter 2112 Exchanging Trust


    Having heard Lady Kang''s exnation, Lin Mu was in agreement.


    "You''re right." Lin Mu replied. "If you wish to ask something from me, you can do that too." He reciprocated.


    "Very well¡­ I''ll do when I wish to." Lady Kang said before focusing her effort on healing their two injuredpanions.


    The drain on her Immortal Qi was high, and as such she needed to focus to make sure she didn''t make a mistake. When one was dealing withrge volumes of Immortal Qi, it was best to not lose focus, or they could cause injuries to oneself.


    This was especially important for healing techniques as they directly dealt with bodies and could very well cause longsting damage due to their bacsh.


    There had been nock of cultivators who had killed others as well as themselves due to making a mistake while using a Healing technique. There were even some healing techniques the bacsh from which could directly consume one''s longevity.


    The stronger they were, the bigger the risks could get thus Lady Kang was fully paying attention to Min Ju and Daoist Chu. She might not know the man, but Min Ju had been dedicated to her and been with her for a long time, having earned her trust and goodwill.


    There was no way she would lose such a valuable person close to her like this.


    By the time she was done, Lin Mu estimated that Lady Kang had used at least a tenth of her immortal Qi stores.


    ''Might even be as high as fifteen percent.'' Lin Mu guessed as best as he could without probing Lady Kang''s Dantian.


    Doing that was a big no-no as that would be bound to offend most cultivators. But from the faint changes in her ambient Immortal Qi fluctuations, Lin Mu managed to estimate this much. Of course this was only possible because Lin Mu had seen her fight earlier and deplete her Immortal Qi. This gave him a frame of reference to analyze it.


    ~huu~


    Lady Kang took a breath after finishing her work, and drew back her Qi. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    The illusory figure of the constetion above her disappeared and no signs of it were left. Lin Mu also watched on as it disappeared, noting the Dao insight links that disconnected without causing the slightest bit of disturbance.


    They were something even Lady Kang could not sense right now, she only knew they existed since she was the practitioner of the technique. Only someone with the ability to look at the very space itself, or extremely high sensitivity would be able to see those Dao Insight Links.


    "Are you fine?" Lin Mu asked about her first.


    "Yeah. Just need to rest for a bit." Lady Kang replied. "I saw that this technique is rather taxing." Lin Mu stated his observation.


    "It is one of the most exhaustive skills of mine." Lady Kang nodded. "But nothing I can''t recover from in a bit." She added.


    "What about the two?" Lin Mu asked, looking at Daoist Chu and Min Ju who were still unconscious. "They''re fully healed, and should wake up in a bit." Lady Kang answered. "They probably still have mental fatigue. Unlike us I don''t think they had much rest in between battles." She added.


    "That''s true¡­ Considering our theory about different trials having different condition is true, they probably ended up in a frozen area where a blizzard might be raging." Lin Mu guessed. "Fighting in a cold area like that is greatly different than in a hot area like the volcanic zone we were in." He added.


    "We also had advantage in the volcanic zone. Both of us have ways to resist the heat and fire. In addition to having help from your tamed beasts." Lady Kang stated as a matter of fact.


    "That is true¡­ if we consider that, it makes sense that we finished earlier." Lin Mu responded. "Though it is a bit surprising that it is Daoist Chu and Min Ju who managed to finish second¡­ I would have thought someone like Crown Prince Feng Shun or Ziran might be the one toplete it second. If we consider their strength and experience." He exined.


    "We need to consider their luck too. If they weren''t able to find the keys or took longer to explore the area, it could very well take longer. Besides, we don''t know what kind of difficulties the beasts would bring in different habitats." Lady Kang expressed her thoughts.


    "Luck is indeed a big factor." Lin Mu couldn''t help but nod. "I suppose we now wait for them to awake, and see how many keys they have." He added.


    The keys were the most important thing they needed to pass the trial truly. ''It somehow ended up being a collective trial. Did the inheritance ground set this intentionally or was this random?'' Lin Mu wondered, as there could be multiple possibilities.


    Depending on how the second trial was chosen, it could be unfair or fair to the participants.


    It would only be fair, if the trial grounds knew that the people would have a cooperative rtionship. They would also have to bepetent enough to finish all trials and have the necessary number of Iron keys to qualify it all.


    If even one of them failed, the entire trial would be failed for everyone.


    That would be the worst option.


    ''Though there''s also a chance the number of keys one needs changes depending on how many people enter or pass.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    There were more conditions that they were unaware of and there were no source of information for them to analyze right now. All Lin Mu could do was wait and observe how things proceeded.


    Lady Kang continued to recover her Immortal Qi while sitting on the meditative mat while time passed.


    About six hourster, a groan was heard.


    "Ugh!" Daoist Chu stirred.


    Lin Mu''s ears perked up and he quickly went to check up on the man.

 Chapter 2113 Daoist Chu Awakens

    Chapter 2113 Daoist Chu Awakens


    "Daoist Chu," Lin Mu spoke, helping the man sit up.


    "Daoist Mu Lin? What¡­" The man seemed to be a bit disoriented. "Why are you¡­ here?" it was clear that Daoist Chu hadn''te to terms with his location yet.


    "You''re out of the Trial grounds." Lin Mu rified for the mans.


    "Out?" Daoist Chu furrowed his brows before his eyes went wide. "THE GATE!" he said out loud, feeling agitated.


    He swiveled his neck to look around, before spotting Lady Kang some distance from him and Min Ju lying next to him. "We really are out." Daoist Chu said while taking a deep breath.


    The then checked his body finding it to be in a good condition other than the clothes that were damaged. "Huh, I''m healed?" Daoist Chu titled his head in confusion. "But the first trial didn''t heal us upon passing." He muttered.


    "Lady Kang healed you." Lin Mu rified for him.


    "Ah! I''m indebted to Lady Kang." Daoist Chu hurriedly cupped his hands in gratitude, causing Lady Kang to open her eyes too. "It''s fine. We''re all in this together." Lady Kang spoke. "We literally wouldn''t be able to get out, if anyone died." She added.


    "What do you mean?" But this only served to rm the man. "Daoist Chu, did you two gather the keys?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course! The iron keys!" Daoist Chu recalled the thing they had almost died for.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Ten keys appeared in his hands in the next moment, which were visible to the others.


    "Ten?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "You only got these many?" he asked.


    "Yes¡­ it took us a long time to find all of them. We barely managed to escape the ce by the skin of our teeth¡­ If Min Ju hadn''t thrown herself at the key to protect it, the iron key might just have been shattered by the ice beasts." Daoist Chu replied.


    "Tell us more¡­ what happened in your trial?" Lady Kang asked, wanting to know the details. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Is she fine," Daoist Chu asked before ncing at Min Ju who was still sleeping. "Haa~ That''s good¡­ I wouldn''t have been able to survive this without her." Daoist Chu stated. "I have to admit, Miss Min Ju certainly exceeds me in terms of experience." He spoke.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was intrigued.


    "It was her wits that allowed us to figure out how to get out, as well as how to find the keys." Daoist Chu stated before narrating his entire experience.


    Lin Mu and Lady Kang listened intently, learning that Daoist Chu and Min Ju ended up in what looked like a frozen wastnd.


    There was snow everywhere with a dark grey sky that swirled with scathing cold winds. Mountains honed by sharp winds dotted thend, with peaks that reached high up into the sky. This made the two think they had ended up in an illusory realm at first, but it was soon proven to be much more than that when they couldn''t fly.


    This made it much difficult for them than the previous trial which had already exhausted them to no extent. The Trial of Persistence was very taxing on their bodies and they had been constantly using Immortal Stones as well as Qi restoration pills to carry the thorough the trial.


    They had also sustained many injuries during it all, and had tough times during the end of the first trial but managed to survive it with both their skillsbined.


    The illusory beasts were not that problematic to them in the first trial, as it was the numbers that exhausted them for the most part.


    But in the Second Trial, when they ended up facing beasts that could continually regenerate, things began to go downhill.


    Since they were already exhausted from the start, andnded in a frozen wastnd, their recovery became difficult. The cold air there contained Icy Qi that made it difficult for them to recover Immortal Qi normally.


    Whenever they tried to absorb it form the air, it would also try to infiltrate their bodies. This would be a godsend for those that cultivated Yin or cold cultivation techniques for someone like Mei Nienzhen, but in the case of Daoist Chu and Min Ju it was not the case.


    None of their cultivation techniques were orientated towards that and it only ended up bing a hindrance. They had to put extra effort in recovering their Qi and spent the first week hiding while they got better.


    The second week onwards, they went out exploring and came across their first ice beast that was in the form of a wolf.


    It was fullyposed out of ice, and was almost transparent.


    The two of course, had no issues in fighting it and managed to shatter it with just a couple of attacks. But they had no idea that the beast would just recover within moments. They attacked it again, but it recovered once more.


    This repeated for over ten times, before one of this hits seemingly struck the energy core and killed the beast for sure.


    This let the two know that there was a specific method to kill the beasts, but they didn''t know the weakness yet.


    An entire week passed before they managed to sense the energy cores of the beasts there. But even then, it wasn''t easy as the numbers of the ice beasts continued to increase.


    The more there were, the harder it was to determine where their energy cores was.


    Time continued to pass and the two struggled through it all before they finally found their first key hiding on top of a Snow d peak.


    It was guarded by snow tigers that regenerated constantly too.


    Learning that the iron keys were the clue to exiting it all, Min Ju started to guide Daoist Chu until the very end, when they found the tenth key and leaped through the Teleportation gate.

 Chapter 2114 Backup For Escape

    Chapter 2114 Backup For Escape


    After Lin Mu and Lady Kang had finished listening to Daoist Chu''s exnation of all that had happened to them, they realized that the trials would indeed be quite variable.


    The Frozen Wastnd added a difficulty that might have bothered them as well if they were there.


    ''Perhaps the Volcanic area was an easier option.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ''There are still others who haven''t arrived and are taking their trials. Perhaps they might be in an even greater trouble than Daoist Chu and Min Ju.'' Lady Kang thought.


    Whatever it might be, they knew that there was nothing they could do other than to wait.


    ~groan~


    It was around this time, that another groan was heard before a head rose up.


    "Min Ju," Lady Kang spoke.


    "Ldy Kang¡­" Min Ju was also disoriented like Daoist Chu, but she was quickly brought up to speed by Lady Kang.


    Once she knew that they were safe and fine, she took a breath of relief and the stress that had been clouding her mind faded away as well. The two had been walking on the edge of a sharp sword, that could cut them the moment they lost their focus. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    As such, now that it was all over, they were incredibly rxed.


    Though it was hard to say how long this wouldst for, as this was merely the second trial and there was more toe.


    "So it''s just us four that have finished the second trial?" Min Ju asked.


    "We haven''t finished the trial¡­ But it is indeed just us four." Lin Mu replied.


    "We haven''t?" Min Ju furrowed her brows.


    "The trialpletion message hasn''t appeared yet." Lady Kang replied this time. "Those keys that you collected they need to be used before the trial will be deemedpleted." She said, pointing to the elevated tform in the center in which the keys had all been inserted.


    About 30% of the holes had been filled by the keys, but there were still more left. Lin Mu and Lady Kang had obtained more keys than Min Ju and Daoist Chu. As such, they didn''t even know if the number of keys others will obtain would be stable or not. If they were short, even a single key, things would not turn out well.


    And with how many variables there were present, Lin Mu had already prepared a contingency n.


    ''We can''t be stuck here after all. If things don''t work out, I''ll simply have to tear open a rift for us to escape from.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as his Immortal sense went deep inside his Dantian where his Spatial Dao Embryo stayed hidden.


    The Four Faceted Neb was formless and didn''t even appear inside his Dantian normally. If others scanned his Dantian, they wouldn''t be able to spot it. Only when Lin Mu chose to make it visible would the Four Faceted Neb Dao Embryo appear.


    Its powers were elusive and Lin Mu had only understood its first facet.


    ''If I use the First Facet and activate Warp, I will definitely be able to leave this ce.'' Lin Mu knew. ''But I don''t know if bringing others along with it would be possible or not¡­ I also don''t know where we would end up at.'' He pondered on it.


    Warp was the more surefire way of getting out that Lin Mu reserved forst.


    With the conditions of the Four Faceted Neb still a bit obscured, Lin Mu didn''t know how long it took to use Warp or how long it would take for it to renew. He knew for sure that the skill needed a massive amount of Spatial energy to work and it umted over time.


    It wasn''t even something Lin Mu could consciously feed to make it work.


    Thus, it had to be his veryst resort when nothing else worked.


    "You two should cultivate for the time being. We don''t know when the others will be arriving." Lin Mu stated, looking at Daoist Chu and Min Ju.


    "Yes, best be prepared for whatever this inheritance ground will throw at us," Lady Kang agreed.


    "We''ll do that." Daoist Chu nodded and cupped his hands. "I thank you once more for healing us, Lady Kang." He said again.


    "It was merely what needed to be done." Lady Kang said calmly before returning to sit on her cultivation mat.


    Min Ju apanied her and sat next to her on what seemed like a pillow made out of beast skin of some kind.


    It was also an Immortal tool, but it was not as strong as Lady Kang''s.


    Daoist Chu didn''t take out a cultivation mat through but instead set a pillow and sat down to read through some books. He seemed to be fully focused on it and it seemed to be quite important, from what Lin Mu could tell.


    ''Time to return¡­'' Lin Mu internally muttered and sat down some distance away with his back turned to them.


    ~SHUA~


    More Earth elemental materials came out of his ring and started being broken down by the Omnicore Ascendancy technique.


    Hour after hour passed as Lin Mu grew the size of the Earth Core inside his spleen, unaware to all the others.


    He didn''t know how long it would take for others to arrive, thus was trying to be faster than usual. ''If I manage to bring at least five cores unto the immortal level, it''ll make things more streamlined forter.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    About two days passed, as Lin Mu finished, bringing the Earth core to the Immortal level.


    ''Time to switch,'' Lin Mu decided to go with the Metal Core now as it was the next element that he had tons of resources for.


    He had mountains'' worth of ore and other metal elemental items that could be used for it. As such, he wanted to get it out of the way first.


    But only a day had passed before Lin Mu was interrupted.


    ~HUALA~

 Chapter 2115 Inelegant Princess And Befouled Monk

    Chapter 2115 Inelegant Princess And Befouled Monk


    Spatial fluctuations spread in the area, signaling the activation of a teleportation array. Lin Mu''s eyes popped open as he stood up and looked at the glowing circle.


    "Someone''s arriving!" Daoist Chu also looked at it, while the two women woke up from their cultivation state.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    They quickly stored their Immortal tools away and walked up to the Teleportation circle.


    "Lady Kang, perhaps we should be proactive this time." Lin Mu spoke in preparation.


    "Definitely." Lady Kang responded before immediately starting to make hand seals as an illusory figure started to manifest above her.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lin Mu also took out his Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo and began writing runes in the air, preparing a few formations that would be beneficial in dispelling foreign Qi and assist in healing.


    Having seen how injured Daoist Chu and Min Ju were, Lin Mu and Lady Kang knew that others were highly likely to be injured too. They also didn''t know the extent of their injuries.


    If they were in a worse condition than Daoist Chu and Min Ju, they might not have much time to help them. Thus it was best that they kept their skills ready and heal them immediately once they arrived.


    Of course, the exact kind of care they needed would only be known after they checked the others, but they knew what could be the possible issues.


    Lin Mu activated his Spatial Perception to check who was about to arrive, and quickly spotted the two figures that became clear at the very edge of the Teleportation channel.


    ~HONG~


    The teleportation waspleted and two figures manifested in front of them. At the same time a foul rotting smell filled the area, as if someone had crushed a hundred corpses, rotten eggs and beast dung together and let it ferment for a decade.


    "I FUCKING HATE THAT PLACE!" A woman''s angry voice was heard. "Amithabha! Buddha be blessed for guiding us out of that foul ce." A man''s helpless voice was heard next.


    "Crown Princess Shang! Monk Hushu!" Daoist Chu spotted hispanions, calling out to them.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    The immortal sense of Lin Mu and Lady Kang quickly swept over the two, checking them for any injuries. At the same time, the two got to observe their condition, which wasn''t exactly pristine.


    The regal appearance of the Crown Princess was long gone, as a look of disgust was present on her face while her body was covered with questionable fluids and materials.


    The same could be said for Monk Hushu, whose yellow Kasaya had been stained dark brown. His bald head had ayer of mud on it¡­ or at least that''s what it looked like to Lin Mu.


    Daoist Chu, who finally finished observing his twopanions from top to bottom, was left dumbfounded.


    "What¡­ What happened to you two?" Daoist Chu couldn''t help but question.


    "Hell¡­ Hell happened." Monk Hushu expressed with deep sorrow on his face. "I need a bath with Six Blessed Stream water from Abbot''s mountain after this," He spoke, digest clear in his voice.


    "Whoever designed that trial is an insane bitch!" Inelegant words spewed out of the mouth of normally dignified princess. Lady Kang and Min Ju couldn''t help but raise a brow seeing the state of the Crown Princess. Being someone of her standing, she would normally try to keep aposed persona, but her current state seemed to be like that of somemon washerwoman going to bargain in a fish market. It didn''t help that the foul odor oozing from her also contained some fishy stench, matching the idea in their minds. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Perhaps it is best we let them clean up first." Lin Mu suggested, after knowing that their moods were fouled. "At least it seems like Crown Princess Shang and Monk Hushu aren''t particrly injured." He added.


    "It does seem like it," Lady Kang agreed. Her immortal sense had picked up on some injuries, but they didn''t seem to be that bad. At the very least, it wouldn''t need her intervention to heal them. The two would be more than capable of restoring themselves.


    Other than that, the only thing that was not optimum was their immortal Qi fluctuations that were erratic. It was hard to tell how much of it was due to the fact that they had been through a long trial that had tested their minds with disgust or whether it was just from the sheer consumption of their immortal Qi.


    Whatever it might be, the two should be able to manage it on their own.


    "Yeah, I need to wash this MUCK off me," Crown Princess Shang said before walking to a corner of the area.


    ~THUD~


    She then threw out what looked like arge seed of some kind.


    ~RUSTLE~


    The seed sprouted and hundreds of vines burst out of it quickly, covering an area of a few meters. The vines formed a circr wall around Crown Princess Shang before rising up and hiding her entirely inside it. Nothing could be seen through the vines and Lin Mu couldn''t even feel any Immortal Qi fluctuations anymore.


    ~Sigh~


    Monk Hushu looked at himself and didn''t even know where to begin.


    "Daoist Chu¡­ Could you burn me?" He suddenly asked, turning to his oldpanion.


    "Burn you?" The man was surprised.


    "Yes¡­ I don''t think washing this filth off is an option. It is best to be erased entirely." Monk Hushu replied. "Are you sure?" Daoist Chu narrowed his eyes. "You''re skin will be burned too."


    "Yes¡­ that''s what I want. Make sure to burn off the topyer of my skin." Monk Hushu stated. "I want no trace of that filth lingering on my being." He said firmly, showing just how serious he was.


    Daoist Chu was a bit confused, but decided to go with the will of hispanion. At the very least, he knew that even if he burned the man, Monk Hushu would be able to recover quickly.


    ~BLAZE~


    In the next second, Daoist Chu chanted something before thrusting out with his palm that let out arge stream of mes.

 Chapter 2116 Purging Filth

    Chapter 2116 Purging Filth


    Monk Hushu''s body was covered in red-orange mes, leaving not a single inch of his skin exposed.


    ~SIZZLE~


    The damp muck on his body first boiled and dried out before it finally turned into ash and fell off. The same happened to his robes, that had been stained to a questionable dark brown. The Kasaya was an Immortal tool originally, but seemed to have lost all of its capabilities, having been subjected to unknown filth and damaged beyond recognition.


    This was also why it had ended up in the state it was. If not, the Kasaya had formations that would prevent it from getting dirty and stained. That was one of the most basic formations that were present in the clothes of cultivators.


    Even Spirit Realm cultivators had them on their robes at times, and as such, it wasn''t hard to make. ~WOOSH~


    The robes eventually turned into ash as well, and the mes now reached Monk Hushu''s skin. The heat was resisted by him at first, but Monk Hushu willingly lowered his defense, allowing the mes to immte him. ~HISS~


    His skin blistered up all over his body, before it popping and spilling fluid that instantly turned into vapor.


    ~SHAAAAAAA~


    This happened all over his body, and if a mortal were to see it, they would find it terrifying. A normal person undergoing this would be screaming nonstop, but Monk Hushu was totally calm. To him, this wasn''t much and may as well be a hot bath.


    While his skin was burning off, Monk Hushu could easily ignore the pain.


    Of course, Daoist Chu also controlled the mes very well, ensuring that they did not burn too deep. ~Fwoop~


    And about ten secondster, Daoist Chu withdrew his mes, revealing the charred figure of Monk Hushu.


    "Is that fine?" Daoist Chu asked hispanion.


    ~CLAP~


    "This will be enough." Monk Hushu replied as he brought his palms in a praying gesture.


    ~HONG~


    As soon as he did that, a golden light shone from his body, brightly illuminating the area. ~HUALA~


    A Kasaya flew out of his Spatial Storage tool and wrapped around his body automatically while his charred body healed. About thirty secondster, the golden light faded away, revealing the normal form of Monk Hushu.


    "Amithabha¡­ Fire truly is good at purging away impurity." Monk Hushu chanted before opening his eyes.


    Lin Mu and Daoist Chu nced at the bald man, who was now back to his optimum condition. Not a single sign of his previous state was left, and it looked like the man had just walked out of a monastery on a serene mountain.


    The foul odor had also disappeared, which made it a lot morefortable for everyone there.


    ~rustle~ rustle~


    And just as Monk Hushu was cleansed, Crown Princess Shang seems to have done the same too. The vines that were surrounding her disappeared, revealing her purified form. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    She was wearing red and green robes, along with long shoes that were adorned by silver leaves. Her hair was now in a long braid that was kept ratherpact, allowing for the ease of movement.


    While she didn''t have her previous Crown Princess look, she still looked dignified in her current clothes that were intended for a battle.


    ~huu~ "That''s so much better¡­" Crown Princess Shang said, feeling relieved. She then nced at everyone who was watching her and knew what they wanted to know.


    "It was¡­ just hell, I can say." Crown Princess Shang spoke.


    "What kind of ce did you guys end up in?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "You mean to say it wasn''t the same for you?" Monk Hushu asked. "No¡­ Lady Kang and I ended up in a volcanic region." Lin Mu answered.


    "Meanwhile, Miss Min Ju and I ended up in a frozen wastnd." Daoist Chu answered too.


    "You four were really lucky. I''d take those ces anytime over what we had to go to." Crown Princess Shang said, shaking her heard. "We ended up in a marsnd." "A marsnd¡­ is that why you guys were covered in mud?" Lin Mu asked, but realized that it was definitely more than just mud.


    "We wish it was just that much." Monk Hushu said, recalling their struggles.


    After taking a couple of seconds of break, he started to tell them what had happened along with Crown Princess Shang.


    Simr to the others, the first Trial was the Trial of Persistence and they had to fight the Chasm Beasts too. While it was a bit taxing in terms of numbers, Crown Princess Shang and Monk Hushu didn''t really have their lives threatened by it.


    It was mostly just a bother for them and took some time for them to finish it. Since both of them had decent strength to ovee it all, they ughtered all the Chasm Beasts before finally reaching the Second Trial. The two arrived in a vast marsnd with dense flora. There were tall trees that towered into the overcast sky, along with water everywhere mixed with a small ind that allowed one to stand for a short time. If one stood on the inds for too long, they would start to sink.


    Being a marsnd, there was nock of rotting nts and trees which were also behind the smell.


    But this was still fine for them, as it was not the first time they had been to a marsnd. The smells, while bad, were easily bearable, plus they could avoid the mud and other things without much issue¡­. Or so they thought.


    As soon as Crown Princess Shang tried to fly, she realized she couldn''t and plummeted down. Of course, being an immortal, she wouldn''t be injured and tried tond on her feet. But that was how they discovered that thend they stood on wasn''t exactly ''solid''.


    Uponnding, Crown Princess Shang directly sank into the soft ground, her lower half getting covered in mud.


    She pulled herself out and the formations on her robes prevented the mud from sticking to her body, but it was still an ufortable experience for them.

 Chapter 2117 Unforgiving Marshland

    Chapter 2117 Unforgiving Marsnd


    The inability to fly became a major hindrance to Monk Hushu and Crown Princess Shang in the Trial.


    Unlike the frozen wastnd and the volcanic region, they didn''t have solid ground everywhere to walk on. They tried to use their immortal sense to tell what ce was ''solid'' enough, but the area seemed to be making it hard to do that with its unique properties.


    Their immoral sense seemingly became muffled as it entered the mushy soil, and the muddy waters of the marsnd.


    Monk Hushu found it strange and looked more into it, before realizing that there was some kind of energy permeating the entire ce. This was the energy that made it hard for their Immoral sense to work when going through materials.


    The two weren''t ones to back down just from this and started exploring the trial grounds.


    It didn''t take them long to encounter the enemies after that, as they seemingly rose out of the ground as well as the water.


    They were shaped like Alligators,rge frogs as well as insects like Dragonflies, Water Striders and more creatures that one might find in a marsh.


    These mud beasts were also hard to kill due to them regenerating. But here, Crown Princess Shang seemed to have an advantage. Since she was proficient in both fire and wood elements, it allowed her to sense the energies of the mud creatures better.


    Due to it being a swamp, there was still wood element mixed into it, which also mixed into the bodies of the mud beasts. This allowed Crown Princess Shang to pinpoint the energy cores of the mud beasts, finally figuring out a method of killing them. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Crown Princess Shang and Monk Hushu wandered the marshes for about a month before they finally encountered their first key. They had killed a ratherrge Leech that was guarding the said key and discovered it hidden near it.


    They took it as the thing that was needed to clear the trial and started searching for it. But the deeper they went into the Marsnd the worse it got.


    At first the area had nt life such as shrubs, trees and lots of moss and algae. But after a certain point, only mangrove trees could be seen. The amount of mushy ground they had left to walk on also reduced and everything was wet. The humidity had also reached the saturation point, causing everything to be damp. In fact, the amount of Water elemental immortal Qi in the air had also be high enough that using any fire elemental skills would be difficult.


    The water element in the air would suppress those skills, causing those that used fire like the Crown Princess to be weaker too.


    But She still had her Wood element, which finally prevailed over everything here. She could ovee the earth and water elements in mud with her Wood Elemental skills and was easily able to use them to kill the mud beasts.


    In fact, her wood elemental skills became stronger allowing her to propagaterge and long vines and roots, that killed every beast that came near them. This initially made their search for the Iron Keys easier and they obtained ten keys doing this.


    But in the next area, the marsh be several times worse. No nt life was visible here with only remnants of dead trees spread around. Their trunks were rotting and branches floated around in the muddy water. Strange mushrooms grew everywhere that reced the algae and moss.


    The air also became a lot more pungent, making them find it bothersome too.


    The Mud Beasts also got stronger and started to avoid their attacks. But it wasn''t until a weekter that they found the air bing toxic. The rotting matter released poison into the air that eventually transformed into poisonous Qi that hampered the two.


    They couldn''t absorb the immortal Qi from the air anymore as it would be apanied by the poison Qi too. Not just that, but they had to use more Qi to protect themselves too. The deeper they went, the denser the poison Qi became until it reached a point where it would try to enter their body at all times.


    Finding the Iron Keys also became harder as they were no longer found on the surface.


    The keys were hidden deep in the depths of the muddy water, or sunken in the swamps. The two had no option but to get their hands dirty to find the Iron Keys. This was the major reason why it took them this long to finish the second trial, as the keys had to be carefully dug out of the swamps or fished out of the muddy water. If they identally used a skill that was too strong, they could destroy the keys as such they had to hold back a lot, causing them to further slowdown.


    The mud beasts in the central area were the strongest and used a lot of mud attacks that coated them hundreds of time which they had to clean up. But eventually they gave up as it was simply not worth it, deciding to bear through it all.


    They grit their teeth and did their best in finding the Iron Keys, until finally they obtained the final key that opened up a Teleportation gate.


    "And that''s how we ended up here." Crown Princess Shang finished.


    "Wow¡­ that was certainly¡­ Harsh." Lin Mu said listening to their ordeal.


    "I''ve been to many marsnds and swamps before but never to one as disgusting as this." Crown Princess Shang spoke.


    "I don''t want to see another swamp for a few years at least." Monk Hushu chimed in.


    "Perhaps that''ll be for the best." Daoist Chu couldn''t help but agree.


    "Though, how many keys did you two obtain?" Lady Kang who had been silently listening to it all finally asked.


    Lin Mu''s ears perked up, as he wanted to know this too as it was the only thing that would allow them to get to the next trial.

 Chapter 2118 More Than Half The Keys

    Chapter 2118 More Than Half The Keys


    ??~SHUA~


    Crown Princess Shang took out several of the keys that they had obtained.


    "Oh? That''s a lot." Lin Mu was stunned seeing over thirty keys.


    "So you all got less¡­ No wonder our trial was so bothersome." Crown Princess Shang spoke, feeling upset.


    "Perhaps¡­ but we don''t know how the number of keys vary as the trials themselves seem to be random." Lin Mu replied. "Though seeing there are nine circles here, there are probably nine different trial zones." He added.


    "Volcand, Frozen wastnd, and a Marsh¡­ That''s just three out of nine." Monk Hushu counted, wondering what else could be there.


    "We''ll know once the others arrive." Daoist Chu said. "You two should cultivate and restore your Qi stores for now, as there isn''t much to do." He exined.


    "Yeah, that seems to be the case." Monk Hushu replied before looking at Lin Mu. "What do we do with the keys?" he asked.


    "Oh, there." Lin Mu pointed to the elevated tform.


    Because of how bothered they had been due to their condition, Monk Hushu and Crown Princess Shang had managed to entirely miss the tform with concentric keyholes.


    "So that''s where we use the keys." Crown Princess Shang said before walking up to it.


    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~


    She inserted all the keys and turned them, causing more than half of the holes to be filled.


    ~SHUA~Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Once she did that, three of the circles started to glow.


    "Half done¡­ Now others need to get the rest of the keys." Lady Kang muttered, seeing the state.


    Lin Mu observed the tform, using his Immortal sense and seeing if he could find any insights into how it worked or what it would be doing. But nothing could be perceived yet.


    Even when he used his Spatial Perception, it wasn''t of much help. There was nothing beyond the tform, and the formation arrays woven into the fabric of space were spread too broadly for Lin Mu to pry any information from it.


    ''A celestial''s treasure really is beyond the understanding of an immortal,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Him even being able to observe the formation arrays was a miracle that was possible due to his skill with the space. Otherwise, even for a Transcendent Immortal, this would be an incredibly difficult task.


    Lin Mu''s gaze lingered over the tform for a bit while the others went to do their tasks. Monk Hushu and Crown Princess Shang still needed to recover their minor injuries along with their Immortal Qi, thus they focused on that, while Lady Kang and Min Ju cultivated.


    Daoist Chu returned to reading whatever book he was, being the slight outlier.


    Lin Mu nced at all of them for a moment before sitting back down some distance away. Now that there were more people, he had to put more distance between them.


    ''Back to Omnicore Ascendancy¡­'' Lin Mu thought and took out more ore and started breaking it down into metal elemental wisps and rapidly absorbing them into his body.


    Time passed fast and Lin Mu didn''t have any interruptions for about two weeks. In this time, he managed to bring the Metal Core to the Immortal level and had used up a lot of his low quality materials in it. Though he still had several mountains of them leftover which had no use for the time being.


    Though Lin Mu reckoned there could always be more use for them in the future.


    After having finished bringing the Metal Core to the level of the other three cores, Lin Mu finally moved onto thest Basal Element.


    ''The fire core¡­'' Lin Mu thought of the Fire Elemental materials that he had, which wasn''t that highpared to the other elements. ''Compared to the other elements, I don''t have the ''raw'' materials for fire. I can''t exactly just keep fire inside my ring anyway. It''ll go out after a while.'' He thought to himself.


    But then he recalled a copious amount of hot fluid that he had stored.


    ''Wait¡­ I do have some. But it isn''t something for the mortal level¡­ The Lava I got from the trial is something useful for the immortal level.'' He reckoned.


    He had quite a lot of Lava which he could definitely use, but it won''t be good at the start since he wanted to begin from the very basics.


    ''Looks like I''ll just have to use mortal herbs then.'' Lin Mu thought as he took out a rathermon spirit herb.


    It was a small red fruit the size of a strawberry but was slightly oblong in shape, like a grape. It had fine fuzz on it that could cause one''s throat to itch if they ate it directly.


    ~SHUA~


    But it was not a problem for Lin Mu, as he directly used the Omnicore Ascendancy to break it down into fire elemental wisps. The red wisps were quickly absorbed into his hands and guided into the location of his heart.


    ~Huu~


    Once it reached there, Lin Mu couldn''t help but take a deep breath as a heat filled it.


    ''That was more intense than the other cores for sure¡­'' Lin Mu noted.


    The heat faded away after a couple of seconds though, thus he didn''t think anything was wrong at the very least.


    Lin Mu took out another herb and used Omnicore Ascendancy again, observing what would happen this time. But once the fire elemental wisps reached his heart, the heat couldn''t be felt.


    ''No difference huh¡­ Was it only a one time thing?'' Lin Mu wondered, and decided to keep an eyes on it.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    One after the other, Fire elemental spirit herbs started being broken down and the Fire Core in his Heart slowly started to form.


    Simr to others, it was just a tiny grain of sand before starting to grow. About a month passed and Lin Mu continued to cultivate.


    None of the teleportation gates activated and when it was finally the fifth month since they had arrived here, both Lin Mu and Lady Kang became worried.

 Chapter 2119 A Deadline Of Two Months

    2119 A Deadline Of Two Months


    Six people gazed at the elevated tform in the middle of the dome at this moment.


    "What do we do?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "We don''t have many options¡­ We''ve waited all this time but there has been no sign of others." Monk Hushu replied. "Perhaps it is time we think of alternative solutions." He added.


    "I''ve checked theposition of this dome we are in, and it is not something we can destroy." Daoist Chu replied. "You did?" Lin Mu asked with raised brows.


    "Yes, I''ve beenparing it with other materials as well as inheritance grounds." Daoist Chu said taking out a book.


    "That''s the thing you''ve been reading all this time." Lin Mu remembered.


    "Yes¡­ I found this ce strange so I''ve been researching." Daoist Chu nodded. "If my research is correct, then even if we do manage to destroy this dome, we''ll end up nowhere. There is nothing beyond this ce¡­ Nothing but the void." He revealed.


    Hearing this, the people had various reactions with Lady Kang looking at Lin Mu with a knowing look. "The void? That makes things really difficult." Crown Princess Shang furrowed her brows. "We won''t have issues surviving inside, but getting anywhere from there is the major problem." She added.


    "We need the Crown Prince here. If he uses the Immortal Court''s guidance beacon, we should at least have a direction we might be able to go to." Daoist Chu stated.


    "A guidance beacon?" this was the first time Lin Mu was hearing of this.


    "The immortal court grants their members a Guidance Beacon whenever they go out on missions. It helps them find their way back to the closest outpost of the Immortal Court if they get lost in any way. And because of the reach of the Immortal court, it can function inside the void too¡­ at least to a certain limit. Since we are technically still within the range of the Rust Sky world, we definitely will be in the range for it to work." Daoist Chu exined.


    "I see¡­ But unless he arrives, we''ll still be stuck." Lin Mu replied. It was at this point that Min Ju looked at Lady Kang with a confident expression.


    "If we really have to¡­ I can guide us out too." Lady Kang suddenly said while looking at Lin Mu. "I can use one of my Constetion skills to bring us out, but we will still need to deal with the dangers of the void itself. There''s a high chance if we forcibly break this ce, the void will scatter us all." She exined.


    Hearing this, the expressions of everyone fluctuated. But Lin Mu remembered the promise he had made with Lady Kang and spoke up.


    "What is the constetion skill, if I may ask?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Sixty Fifth Form: The Mariners Compass- Pyxis." Lady Kang answered. "Its abilities exceed even that of the Immortal Court''s beacon and can guide us across the entire Immortal realm, even if one is stuck inside the void." She added.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu raised his brows, as this skill of Lady Kang seemed to be something she could have used before.


    ''If she wanted to find the Lost Seal of her n, won''t she be able to use this for it?'' He wondered.


    "But there are conditions to it, aren''t there?" Monk Hushu could tell.


    "Yes¡­ It has a heavy cost depending on where it guides us and is also limited to only guiding. It won''t be able to actually bring us out of the void." Lady Kang replied before taking a pause. "Inside the void, it''s cost will be high and I probably won''t be able to maintain it for long." She added.


    "How long would you be able to maintain it, just in case?" Crown Princess Shang questioned.


    "About two minutes." Lady Kang answered, much to everyone''s surprise. "That''s how long I managed tost, when I used it in the void previously." She added.


    This finally answered why she hadn''t used it in order to find the n seal for Lin Mu. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Considering how long the n seal was lost, she really won''t be able to find it.'' Lin Mu thought. "Two minutes certainly won''t be enough for you." He muttered, making everyone look at him.


    "But if it''s you, it should be enough for us," Lady Kang said with a slight smile.


    "Yes." Lin Mu affirmed, making the others a bit confused.


    Those that didn''t know of Lin Mu''s Spatial Skills were bound to be confused after all.


    Here, only Lady Kang and Min Ju knew of Lin Mu''s spatial skills and how great they were. Plus, since Lin Mu had already talked to her about this before, she knew that even without her help, Lin Mu would be able to get out.


    The only problem was that he won''t be able to bring others along on his own.


    But if hebined his abilities with Lady Kang''s, they would be able to aplish this.


    "You''ll be able to really bring us out?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Yes¡­ I have my ways." Lin Mu didn''t fully rify, but his previous acts had made them have confidence in it.


    "Very well. Guess we''ll rely on you." Daoist Chu stated.


    "Indeed." Monk Hushu nodded.


    "Though we still have one thing to deal with¡­ How long do we wait?" Crown Princess asked. "After all, there is still a chance Crown Prince Feng Shun and others will be able to reach us." She added. "That''s true." Lin Mu said before narrowing his eyes. "I say¡­ we wait another two months. Anymore than that, and we''ll just have to assume that they are stuck and unable to progress." He stated.


    This made thepanions of Crown Princes Feng Shun haveplex expressions, but they knew there wasn''t much they could do here.


    "It''s decided then." Lin Mu said, seeing that they all seemed to be in an agreement.


    With this, a heavy wait began as the days started to pass once more.

 Chapter 2120 Deliberation Over Conflict

    Chapter 2120 Deliberation Over Conflict


    While Lin Mu and hispanions were waiting in the Inheritance grounds in these six months, other events were unfolding in various parts of the Rust Sky World.


    Back in the Capital of the Dao Wind Empire, a secret meeting was currently taking ce.


    It happened in the temple of the Four Guardian beasts and was attended by several influential and powerful people.


    Several seats were set in a circr hall, allowing all the people upying it to have a clear view of the center where arge Formation Screen was floating.


    Everyone focused on the Formation screen that depicted a rough doughnut shaped map with several borders drawn on it. The map was highly detailed, showing every twisting and winding river, edges of territory that zigzagged through thend in a nonuniform manner as well as theplex topography.


    Several names also hovered on the map,beling the territories as well as various locations within them. Ring Mist Kingdom, Rock Drop Kingdom, Great Wave kingdom, Purple Sparrow Kingdom, Cloud Fall Knight, Dragon ne Kingdom, Dust Light Kingdom, and Steel Heart kingdom.


    These were all the members of the Eight Kingdom Alliance, showing that this was a map of their continent.


    "The conflict only seems to be getting worse." An old man spoke. He had a long beard that seemed to reach his waist and was bound at the bottom to his belt. One of his eyes seemed to be clouded, showing that it didn''t work while the other eye had a sharp look to it.


    "War Minister, we need to prepare some response to the war in the Eight Kingdom Continent." Another man dressed in the armor of a general spoke.


    "General Po Jun, we need to tread carefully here, we cannot be the first ones to act." War Minister replied. "As of now, the conflict has nothing to do with us and as such we are not liable to participate in it. Isn''t that correct, High Elder Juxue?" he asked looking at another old man.


    This was none other than the High Elder of the temple of the four guardian beasts and was the overseer of the current meeting.


    "It''s correct." High Elder Juxue nodded. "As per the rules of the Immortal Court as well as the Temple of the Guardian beasts, this conflict is an internal matter of the Eight Kingdom Alliance. We do not rmend participating in it." He stated.


    "But we cannot just sit around like this." General Po Jun protested. "If we don''t do anything and the conflict spills over, the very bnce of the entire Rust Sky World''s powers can change. Their conflict can very well turn into a Transcontinental War!" he said out loud.


    The people sitting in the circle were at unease after hearing this, and understandably so. No one wanted their prosperous empire to be pulled into a war, especially since all of them had vested interests in their empire and its wellbeing.


    With Emperor Feng being the biggest party here.


    The man in question hadn''t spoken anything so far and was simply listening to the words of his counselors. ''Even here their conversation devolves into the same state¡­'' Emperor Feng thought to himself. ''And here I thought they would be a bit better behaved under the observance of the Temple.'' This was why he had requested the Temple to organize the meeting, as he wanted a better solution to be obtained while also keeping the temple aware about their actions. Emperor Feng did not want to antagonize them further after the fiasco at the Tournament.


    They had already paid a heavypensation to the temple earlier which was still hurting them. "Emperor Feng, please you have to decided!" War Minister and General Po Jun said in unison.


    "Let me tell you all this¡­ A war will not happen." Emperor Feng stated firmly. "Emperor Huiqing and the Holy Topaz Emperor have already agreed to it." He revealed.


    "What!?" The two men were stunned while the other participants were left confused.


    Even High Elder Juxue didn''t expect something like that.


    "How''s that possible?" Someone questioned.


    "When was this decided? There have been no diplomatic meetings in thest month!" They wondered.


    ~Sigh~


    Emperor Feng let out a sigh, knowing that this ''unofficial'' treaty would have to be revealed now.


    "I''vee to an agreement with the other Emperors informally that no one will start a war." Emperor Feng revealed. "We all have agreed to watch the condition of the Eight Kingdom alliance and have taken on a stance of firm observation without action." He stated.


    "That¡­" The people couldn''t believe that the three emperors had actually managed to something like this.


    As far as they knew, it was very hard for the three emperors toe to an agreement on a single thing. Even if two people agreed, there would always be a third person that would oppose it, thus leading to the n never working out.


    And yet, a resolution had been reached despite their being no long diplomatic talks. Something that had been obligatory in the past was now made obsolete by the sudden deration.


    "I give my word, that none of us will do anything. The Dao Wind Empire, the Holy Topaz Empire and the Huiqing Empire have all taken the stance of nonaggression." Emperor Feng rified knowing that the people needed assurance.


    "If you say so, Emperor Feng." Now that the ruler had given his word, there was no way they could debate it further as that would be taken as not giving face to him.


    Such forceful deration was not something Emperor Feng liked as it suppressed healthy discussion in his court. He let his counsel reach a proper agreement through conversation, but the current situation forced his hand in revealing the agreement.


    Though all the people wondered the same thing¡­ Just what hadpelled the three Emperors into taking this step.


    ''We cannot afford a war with such a being watching us¡­ even if he is not watching us, it would not be good to embroil those being backed by him into this conflict.'' Emperor Feng thought to himself.


    It was none other than the fear of Xukong that hovered over their heads. The fear that he had struck into their hearts was still fresh, and they were like moles wanting do dig a hole and hide themselves. They didn''t even dare to make any noise for the fear of the foxing to hunt them down.


    Even if it might not be their fault, there was no saying when great beings like that might take offense. For someone with their power, it was as easy as blinking to get rid of all those that seemed displeasing to them. The three emperors were no fools and knew how powerhouses thought.


    If something irked them, they would snap their fingers to get rid of them.


    After all, they were powerhouses too and would act the same. "Emperor Feng, what about Crown Prince Feng Shun?" Someone asked. "He is currently away from the empire has gone on an expedition to the west after all." "It''s fine. I''ve already warned him earlier of the issue and he knows how to handle things." Emperor Feng did not seem worried. ''Feng Shun also has Daoist Mu Lin with him¡­ I doubt there could be any ce safer than with him¡­ especially with those beings watching their safety.'' He thought.


    He couldn''t reveal this fact to the others, thus they only had to trust his judgment.


    They discussed a few more topics after this that were all rted to the empire and things they needed to do before an old topic arose.


    It was one that had been concerning them for a long time and even involved the temple of the four guardian beasts.


    ~SHUA~


    "Please take a look." An elder controlled the formation screen and changed the map as a red line appeared on it. "This is the route we hypothesize had been taken by the Criminal Yao Changying." He informed.


    Everyone looked at the red line that ran through the map of the Dao Wind empire. It took a ratherplex and winding route before finally ending up at the very south of the Empire.


    "From the information we managed to collect, Yao Changying was spotted thrice. Or at the very least a person with a description matching her was spotted." The elder stated.


    "Are we sure this information can be trusted?" The general asked. "You do know we cannot believe on mere rumors?" "Of course." The elder replied. "Our intelligence team has taken great efforts in tracing her Qi signatures as well as that strange Yin energy she was using. She managed to hide them well, but it was not enough. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Her injuries probably stopped her from being immacte and that allowed her to trace her path." The Intelligence team elder rified.


    "What if she has done this intentionally to fool us?" the war minister asked. "After all, she should be well aware of the fact that we would be tracking her." He added.


    "The Temple knows this and we employed some special help in verifying all this¡­" High Elder Juxue suddenly chimed in.


    "You don''t mean¡­" The members of the council seem to realize what the high elder meant.


    "The Diviners¡­ The Temple consulted its own diviners and has confirmed that Yao Changying took this path." High Elder Juxue rified. ~gasp~


    They were surprised by this as they all knew how good the Diviners of the temple could be. They were some of the best in the upation and were also very expensive.


    If they were working, it meant the temple was truly taking it seriously.

 Chapter 2121 Lacking Divination And The Spymasters Intel

    Chapter 2121 Lacking Divination And The Spymaster''s Intel


    The involvement of diviners inspired confidence in the members of the Imperial Court, thus making them feel a bit more relieved.


    But among the members, there was still one person that seemed to be skeptical of it all.


    "That''s not all is it?" A rather youthful looking man questioned.


    He wore green brocade robes and had a folded hat on his head. Six dots were painted on his forehead with cinnabar while long tassel earrings hung from his ears. The earrings seemed to have small beast fangs hanging from them too with a sinister feeling surrounding them.


    The youthful looking man''s eyes were silver as if belonging to a wolf but the expression on his face was that of a sly fox.


    "Grand Eunuch Tao¡­ What are your doubts?" Emperor Feng asked.


    The other members also became a bit tense seeing that this particr man had spoken. From their demeanor it was clear that he had their respect¡­ or perhaps fear too. Regardless of whatever it might be, the man was not simple for sure.


    "If the diviners were able to trace Yao Changying''s path, why haven''t they found where she is yet?" Grand Eunuch Tao questioned. "As far as I know, the divining arts of the Immortal court should be able to find those below the Transcendent Immortal realm with ease." He added.


    "This¡­" it was something that ended up stumping the others too.


    They then realized that, even if they had the traces of Yao Changying, that did not mean they also had her. It was the same as catching a bit of smoke, while the arsonist ran away.


    "Do we have her location?" Grand Eunuch Tao questioned on behalf of others. "Or rather¡­ Can we even find her location through divination?" he added.


    This caused everyone to look at High elder Juxue, putting the man in the spot.


    "We¡­ Cannot." High Elder Juxue revealed.


    "What?!" War Minister asked out loud.


    "How''s that possible? Even with the immortal Court''s efforts?" The General questioned.


    "The diviners of the Immortal Court were close to finding her location, but all of them suddenly had bacsh from their techniques causing them to pass out or get heavily injured. We had more Diviners try it, but they faced a block too¡­" High Elder Juxue answered. "Whatever Yao Changying has done is not normal, and now that she''s managed to hide her presence from diviners too we can only consider that she''s gone past the point where we can imagine it." He added.


    The High Elder''s words seemed to make the already tense room, further stressed. Some of the members were even feeling cold at the consequences of it all. "Never had it been that we were unable to go against a foe of the Dao Wind Empire like this." Grand Eunuch Tao stated. "Perhaps it is time we consider that this might just be beyond us. Yao Changying is obviously colluding with powers beyond our recognition." He added. "That does seem like it." At this point even Emperor Feng had no choice but to agree.


    The whole situation surrounding her was extremely strange, and they were unable to pinpoint what had exactly happened with her. Even when they tried to look into her past, all they found were dead ends as most of the people involved with her had either gone missing or were simply dead.


    "It might be time we send an official summons to the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect¡­ They need to give us an exnation." Grand Eunuch Tao suggested. "Hasn''t the Holy Topaz Dynasty already done that?" Someone asked.


    "I don''t trust them. They have all the reason to hide their involvement." Grand Eunuch Tao replied, his eyes narrowing before he pointed at the formation screen. "Besides¡­ there have been some strange movements since thest few months in the Holy Topaz Dynasty''s territory." Hearing that the Emperor sat up straight, looking at the formation screen.


    "Did you learn something through your ''ears'' Grand Eunuch Tao?" Emperor Feng questioned the man who was perhaps one of the most important members of the Imperial Court.


    Grand Eunuch Tao wasn''t just any Eunuch, but rather the Imperial Spymaster of the Dao Wind Empire!


    He was a figure that was unknown to most outside the Imperial Court, but those that did knew of him feared him. As whenever they ended up encountering him, there was a high chance it would be either their final day, or the day they would have to pay dearly.


    The other Intelligence Organizations in the Rust Sky World feared the man too, as his reach was simply iprehensible at times.


    "The Crown Prince had asked me to look into some things after the Tournament. I had assigned it as a task to one of the teams, but there were no results for a while. We didn''t find it suspicious and let it run for the time being." Grand Eunuch Tao answered. "That was until three months ago¡­" "When the Crown Prince left." Emperor Feng muttered in realization.


    "I thought that it might just have been coincidence, but now that I''vepared the time line that the diviners have discovered from the traces of Yao Changying, I''m sure they are linked." Grand Eunuch Tao stated before standing up.


    ~SHUA~


    He took out a ck jade slip and threw it in the air, causing it to merge with the Formation screen and adding more information to it.


    The map on the screen changed slightly with a few new routes appearing. These new routes ovey the paths Yao Changying had taken and seemingly showed the path that Crown Prince Feng Shun had taken too. But this was just on the Dao Wind Empire, as when the Grand Eunuch turned the map, one could see more routes on the other side of the Rust Sky World. Particrly at the top of the Holy Topaz Empire. "Those inds¡­ ck Fish Inds, Dagger Sheathe inds and more¡­" the people recognizing them. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    The locations were rather small due to being inds, but they had a great value and were important as all of these inds were once the headquarters of the secret squads of the Holy Topaz Empire in the past.


    Back when the wars were stillmon, these inds were mysterious and most simply thought of them to be some fishing inds. No one knew that they all contained tens of thousands of assassins that would go around the world doing the work of the former Holy Topaz Emperor.


    It was a matter of fear for most, and it wasn''t until peace was established in the Rust Sky World thousands of years ago when those assassin were abolished.


    The assassins were officially said to have disbanded, but the inds still existed. And as such they continued to live there perhaps waiting for the day when it would be time for them to show their might to the world again.


    "Some sailors reported strange movements from fishing boats which went unnoticed until we discovered the very same fishing boats docking on the Huiqing Continent." Grand Eunuch Tao stated.


    "What? Why there?" The general asked.


    "That is what caught our attention too. The mosts surprising part was that they had no goods to sell and yet they brought a lot of people." Grand Eunuch Tao replied. "Though what truly confirmed our suspicion was when they simply abandoned the ships and disappeared." He added.


    Emperor Feng raised his brows upon hearing this, as the implications of it were not good.


    "That''s not all, a few groups that had left from the Dao Wind Empire also reached the very same port in Huiqing Continent and followed the same pattern of abandoning their ships and disappearing." Grand Eunuch Tao exined further. We are now sure that these groups are all linked with a few of them having involvement with Yao Changying in the past. She had even gotten them to participate in the Tournament of the Guardian beasts before." He added.


    After the Eunuch had finished his exnation, the entire hall was surprised. They couldn''t believe that such arge operation had been running right under their noses.


    "What of the involvement of the Holy Topaz Dynasty itself?" War Minster questioned.


    "That''s another surprising thing¡­ They evidently have no direct involvement themselves. They are only guilty of hiding their past attempts at downying Yao Changying''s sins. Other than that, they have not done anything to help her. Even the groups from the northern inds have moved on their own." Grand Eunuch Tao answered.


    Aplex expression appeared on the Emperor''s face as he went over everything. There was still a lot of information that they werecking, thus he couldn''te to a decision on the spot, but he knew they had to be a lot more proactive in things now.


    "As Grand Eunuch Tao have said, we''ll have to take the next step since the others are not listening." Emperor Feng spoke. "Send a summon to the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect¡­ I want to meet the Patriarch myself." He dered.

 Chapter 2122 Ziran And Elder Hos Arrival

    Chapter 2122 Ziran And Elder Ho''s Arrival


    About Thirty Five days had passed since Lin Mu and hispanions had begun the Two months long deadline.


    They had embroiled themselves in cultivating while they prepared for thest remaining four people to arrive. But with each day that passed, their hope of them arriving reduced. ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he opened his eyes.


    ''That''s it for the Five cores¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he nced at the tform.


    Lady Kang and Min Ju were sitting next to it while Daoist Chu seemed to be observing the tform closely. Monk Hushu was deep in mediation on the side, while no one was paying attention to the teleportation circle.


    It was clear that even they felt like the chances of othersing were low and it would be a waste to keep on watching the circle. As such, they moved their attention to the tform with the keyholes instead, hoping to find something they might have missed or another solution.


    Lin Mu had finished bringing five of the elemental cores to the Immortal level in all this time. He had consumed all the raw materials as well as low quality resources that he could before the limit of the Omnicore Ascendancy was reached.


    For the fire core, Lin Mu even used up the Lava that he had taken from the previous trial and stored in the ring. Since theva had Immortal Qi in it, that two of multiple elements, it was important for Lin Mu to only use it once the Fire, Metal and Earth cores were up to the immortal level.


    With that done, he consumed the Lava, progressing the three elemental cores to a slightly higher bigger size. And with all that he had consumed, Lin Mu''s Earth Core was thergest in size, with the Metal Core being the secondrgest and the Fire Core being the thirdrgest.


    ''Even though I started themter, they still had the most resources.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The two elements that he already had a natural affinity ended up being the cores that grew the most. Though it was also due to the nature of the resources themselves, as they could be found everywhere and Lin Mu had them in abundance having been collected over a long time.


    Once he had finished all the Five basal elemental cores though, Lin Mu faced an obstacle. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ''I can''t progress the Wind Core and the Lightning Core the same way. I don''t really have many low quality elemental materials for them,'' Lin Mu thought to himself. He had checked his ring and found that while he did have several spirit herbs of the Wind element; hecked them for the Lightning element. And even for the Wind Element, he wouldn''t be able to use the same method of using low quality materials and stacking them until he reached a high level since Wind wasn''t something that was as plentiful as the other elements in nature.


    ''Even if it is technically everywhere, it isn''t in a usable form for me¡­ No wonder Wind and Lightning are both part of the Four Heavenly elements,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~SHUA~


    But while Lin Mu was thinking about this, he saw the Teleportation circle in front of him suddenly glow.


    "It''s activating!" Lin Mu eximed before standing up.


    "What!?" The others quickly became alert and looked towards the teleportation circle as well.


    They had been waiting a long time and wondered who was it that was going to arrive now.


    A couple of secondster, two figures appeared from the teleportation circle.


    ~drip~drip~drip~


    The sound of water dripping could be heard, as two soaked individuals could be seen.


    "I never would have thought that we''d spend more time lost at sea in the trial than we did getting to the inds themselves." A long eared man spoke. "It was indeed longer than I would''ve liked." The Hoarse voice of an old man could be heard, while water spilled from his armor.


    "Elder Ho." Lady Kang saw the man who was supposed to be her guard. "It''s Ziran," Lin Mu called out to the Half-elf.


    "Ah! Daoist Mu Lin and others!" Ziran saw that they were surrounded by theirpanions and felt better. Elder Ho did the same and saw that the two people he cared about, Lady Kang and Min Ju, were both present, making him feel content.


    "Someones missing though¡­ Where''s Qiao De and the Crown Prince?" Ziran soon noticed.


    "They''re the only ones left." Lin Mu replied.


    "Huh¡­ How long has it been?" Ziran asked, narrowing his eyes.


    "More than five months." Daoist Chu replied. "Daoist Mu Lin and Lady Kang were the first ones to arrive." He added. "That''s longer than I thought." Ziran said before taking out a small disc like object. "Our calctions were wrong."


    Lin Mu looked at it and found it to be simr to apass. But instead of having a single needle, it had six of them!


    The needles were all of different sizes, with three attached to the center and three set at the bottom of the disc in a triangr form. There were also some characters printed around the edge of the disc to which the needles pointed. There were also several white and purple crystals embedded in different sections of the clock.


    Looking at the crystals, Lin Mu could see that they were very faintly vibrating. These vibrations were minuscule and a mortal wouldn''t be able to perceive them with their naked eyes. But for Lin Mu, they were still noticeable. "What''s this?" Lin Mu asked, seeing something like this for the first time.


    He couldn''t feel any Immortal Qi fluctuationsing from it thus was sure it wasn''t an Immortal tool. But the vibrations that the crystals on it were showing seemed to be a bit too uniform for them to be normal. At the very least, Lin Mu could tell that they yed a function.


    ''Forget Immortal Qi, there aren''t even Spirit Qi fluctuationsing from it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.

 Chapter 2123 Differential Time Flow

    While Lin Mu wondered about the strange tool, Ziran seemed to have a look of rxation.


    "Ah! I forgot clocks like these aren''t used in this part of the world." Ziran replied. "A clock? This is a clock?" It was Lin Mu''s first time seeing a clock like this. There were no energy fluctuationsing from it thus he didn''t think it was a clock. Most cultivators either used a jade slip to keep time or simply used a part of their mind to keep track. Even if they wouldn''t be able to tell the exact time of the day that way, they could at least tell how much time had passed.


    "Yes." Ziran nodded. "Well to be urate, it''s a Magic Pocket Chronometer." He revealed.


    "Magic¡­ As in powered by Mana?" Lin Mu asked with great interest.


    The others too listened to this, finding it interesting. After all, they didn''t get to see magical tools like this often either. In fact, among them it was only Lady Kang who had seen Magical tools before and knew of some people that used Magic.


    "Indeed." Ziran nodded. "The magic powers this clock, and keeps it urate¡­. Or so I thought." He added before pressing on a small button on its top, causing the transparent ss on its top to open.


    ~CLICK~


    Ziran then pointed at it with his finger and released a thin string of blue energy from a ring he was wearing. The blue energy entered the central axis of the clock and caused the three smaller needles on its bottom to suddenly move.


    "It really did be imbnced." Ziran furrowed his brows. "What''s the issue?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well, I brought this Clock with me to keep track of time in the trials. Since normal Qi tools can get affected by such trials due to teleportation as well as the differences in different spaces, I opted for a Magic Chronometer since they are usually resistant to it.


    But despite that this one managed to be slow." Ziran answered. "Instead of showing five months and five days like you said, it''s only showing three months." He stated.


    ~gasp~


    Hearing that, Daoist Chu seemed to let out a visible gasp.


    "Are you sure?" he asked, showing visible worry on his face.


    "Yes." Ziran nodded. "You can ask Elder Ho how much time he thinks passed." He suggested.


    "Is that correct, Elder Ho?" Lady Kang asked herself.


    "Indeed¡­ To me it didn''t seem longer than three months." Elder Ho replied. "We spent twenty two days in the First Trial and the rest of the time in the second trial." He exined.


    "Wait¡­ if even Elder Ho is saying this¡­ doesn''t that mean that only three months passed for you two?" Min Ju asked. "Elder Ho won''t be wrong with his judgment." She added. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "I agree. In my personal opinion, I felt like three months passed too even if I hadn''t seen the clock." Ziran nodded.


    "That only means one thing¡­ I was dreading it but it seems to be true." Daoist Chu said looking at everyone. "The passage of time is different here¡­ and not justpared to the Rust Sky world¡­ Even the time spent in different trials is different." He rified.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu''s eyes went wide not having expected that.


    ''This is just like the Memoirs of the lost Immortal.'' Lin Mu recalled having read about this before. There were many times where the Lost Immortal had been to different inheritance grounds, ornds of fortune. Such grounds often had a different time flow in them which meant that one could spend a disproportionate amount of time aspared to outside.


    There were some grounds that made the time inside them flow faster where a single day outside could be two days inside.


    Of course, this number varied too, and the opposite was possible too.


    But in some rare cases, there could be inheritance grounds where there were multiple different timezones. Each section could have its own flow of time causing things to be quite chaotic for people to figure out.


    While many experts could use their excellent abilities as well as great sessor to change the flow of time, it was not an easy task to do this. And if one were to add multiple time zones, theplexity would multiply exponentially.


    Most such inheritance grounds weren''t manufactured and were made naturally due to mysterious factors before finally being obtained by the experts. As such, the flow of time was not something they had done and couldn''t be controlled by them either.


    They could only make use of it and adapt it into their inheritance grounds.


    "Does this mean that we''ve been waiting here for a shorter time than we thought, or a longer time?" Monk Hushu questioned, having been silent since the start.


    "Our experience seems to tell that time was slower for us inside the trial, but not for for all." Ziran answered.


    "No¡­ I think this is a multifaceted thing." Lin Mu replied as a few things started to click in his mind. "What if the time inside each trial zone is different? And the time inside this waiting area is also different? From all the illusory beasts we saw, it does feel like there is multiple time zones as they manage to recover too fast.


    If the time flow is varying, it makes sense that the energy that controls them restores faster than we can handle it." He gave his hypothesis.


    "The Illusory beasts? You mean the Yin Heart Puppets?" Ziran suddenly asked.


    "Yin Heart Puppets? You know of them?" Lin Mu questioned. "Yeah, I have¡­ But you seem to know of them too." Ziran replied.


    "I do¡­ with a different name though- Chasm Beasts." Lin Mu answered.


    "Did you see them in the Rust Sky world too?" Ziran questioned, aplex expression on his face. "If so, where?" he narrowed his eyes.


    "Yes¡­ in the Land of Exile in the Sea of Muxuan." Lin Mu revealed.


    "Sea of Muxuan? You mean in the center of the Eight Kingdom Alliance?"

 Chapter 2124 The Yin Heart Puppets

    Chapter 2124 The Yin Heart Puppets


    Beforeing to the Rust Sky world, Ziran had studied the geography of the world as well as any other information he might need.


    He had been an explorer for thousands of years and knew that such information was absolutely necessary when one went to a new ce. If one already knew about the ce, they would know what to watch out for as well was what dangersy there.


    It wouldn''t matter what kind of dangers they were either, whether they be geological, animal or political in nature. All sorts could be managed as long as one was aware about them and could think about solutions to them.


    As such, one of the basic things that Ziran had studied was the dangerous areas of the Rust Sky World, the forbiddennds.


    Once such ce could be considered the Sea of Muxuan that was full of story seas as well as stray spatial anomalies that could send one anywhere. Only the most skilled of sailors could traverse the sea with the assistance of the special lighthouses that guided them.


    And in this Sea of Muxuan there were many inds, the biggest of which was the Land of Exile. A ce one could not escape due to its unique properties as well as the danger that lurked within it.


    "How did you¡­ end up in thend of exile?" Ziran asked.


    "It''s a long story¡­ But when I first came to the Rust Sky World, my teleportation went a bit haywire and I was thrown into the Land of Exile." Lin Mu replied. "A teleportation ident?" Ziran furrowed his brows while others were surprised by this information. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    Even Lady Kang who had looked into Lin Mu and his history was surprised, as nothing of this sort was recorded anywhere. The others had simr thoughts and didn''t know what else Lin Mu had experienced in his past. But while they were thinking all this, Ziran seemed to have reached a realization.


    "Of course! The Spatial anomalies!" Ziran eximed. "The regr spatial anomalies have weakened the Spatial Fabric there, making it easier for Teleportation channels to skew towards them and ejecting people there. You just happened to be unlucky enough to be thrown right into the Land of Exile." He exined.


    Lin Mu raised his brows, as he hadn''t expected someone to understand it this well. Him and Xukong had reached the same conclusion in the past as to why he ended up specifically in the Land of Exile and not anywhere else in the Rust Sky world.


    The answer for it was indeed the unique spatial structure around the Sea of Muxuan.


    The Teleportation Channel Lin Mu had taken from the Xiaofan world didn''t have a set of coordinates in the first ce, and as such it was merely sending them through whatever path was avable through the space. It was like water taking the easiest route through grains of sand before eventually reaching the bottom.


    "Yes, that''s where I encountered the Chasm Beasts." Lin Mu nodded. "More specially, there is arge chasm that splits the Land Of Exile into two sections. It is from this very Chasm that these Chasm Beasts spawn. It also contained a simr dark energy to what we saw in the first trial. Those were the same beasts that I fought there." He exined.


    "I see¡­ Considering how rare the Yin Heart Puppets are now, it isn''t unusual for them to be called different names." Ziran responded. "But I certainly didn''t expect them to found in another ce in the Rust Sky World. I can still understand them being in a Celestial''s Inheritance like this since it is old, but not anywhere outside. Especially considering the condition they need to be spawned." He spoke as slight confusion appeared on his face.


    "So what are these Yin Heart Puppets exactly? And why is it strange for them to be there?" Lin Mu questioned while others also wondered the same.


    Even Lady Kang had not heard of Yin Heart puppets before and neither had the other people. "Well, as you already know, Yin Heart Puppets are a type of Illusory beast formed though the maniption of a specific mixture of Yin Qi and transform it into the dark energy you''ve seen. This Dark energy is called as the Yin Heart essence and is highly versatile, being able tobined with the other elements.


    It can animate all kinds of materials and assimte the energy to give birth to the Yin Heart Puppets." Ziran started to exin.


    "Wait¡­ if these are puppets, who''s controlling them?" Daoist Chu questioned. "Well, in the current case it is almost certain that the inheritance ground itself is controlling them." Ziran answered before looking at Lin Mu. "But in the case of the Chasm beasts¡­ I do not know." 11:59


    Lin Mu''s expression darkened as he recalled his encounter with that strange indigo woman. Her power was something that was far too great for an Immortal and she was also controlling the Yin Heart Puppets. Lin Mu had even seen her create different kinds of them on the asteroid.


    "You''ve said you have seen these Yin Heart Puppets before, where was it?" Lady Kang questioned next.


    "I''ve seen this specifically thrice in my explorations." Ziran answered. "The first time I encountered them was in a Mortal world and those Yin Heart Puppets were rather weak since they were only being powered by the Spirit Qi. That world was rtively small and there wasn''t much human poption either, with most of it being upied by beasts. The ce I found the Yin Heart Puppets there was at an old temple, and they were protecting it.The temple was far too dpidated for me to tell whom it belonged to thus I left the ce. But when I encountered them the second time, it was in an Immortal world.


    There were tens of thousands of Yin Heart Puppets all being controlled by one of the ruling powers of that world." He revealed.


    "What world was it?" Monk Hushu questioned.


    "The Greengage in World." Ziran answered.


    "Greengage in World?" Daoist Chu seemed to have recalled something and pulled out a jade slip before going through it.


    "I''ll make it easy for you¡­ That world is now destroyed." Ziran spoke.


    Daoist Chu paused upon hearing that, before quickly switching to a specific section and finding the world.


    "Here it is¡­ Greengage in World, located in the outskirts of the Southern Immortal Court''s territory. Was a freshly ascended immortal world about a hundred thousand years ago, but was devastated by the conflict among its residents. It was officially deemed ''lost'' eight thousand years ago by the Immortal Court once the Beacons of the Guardian beasts were wiped out." Daoist Chu read the entry.


    "Is that¡­ Correct?" Lin Mu asked, looking at Ziran.


    "Indeed¡­ I was among thest few people to be there." Ziran nodded.


    "No way¡­ This entry, it was made by you?" Daoist Chu asked in shock. "It''s written right here," he showed the others.


    Lin Mu saw it too and noted that Ziran''s name was recorded alongside a few more people, some of whom belonged to the Immortal Court.


    "So you went there for work?" Lin Mu asked, feeling very curious.


    12:00


    "Yes, back when I was still active in exploration, the Immortal Courtmissioned me for it. I was one of the few people that knew of that region and as such, they asked for my guidance." Ziran replied. "We arrived at thest struggle of that world when the battle was about to reach its end. The two powers of the Greengage World, the Renegade Asura Sect and the Onyx Jackal Sect had been in a war for a long time.


    It was also the Onyx Jackal Sect that had been using the Yin Heat Puppets." He revealed.


    Hearing all that, Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel a bit of Deja Vu.


    "Anyway, that was the second time I saw those beasts. And since I saw their true power that day, I was interested in learning more about them, but even the Immortal Court''s members seemed tock information about them. It wasn''t until four thousand yearster that I saw them for the third time." Ziran spoke.


    "And where was the third time?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "On the Demon World." Ziran answered. "We had an invasion of sorts." He added.


    "What?!" Lin Mu was shocked and so were the others. "There aren''t many that would dare to invade a Demon World¡­ especially not if they aren''t on the hit list of the Immortal Court. Demons are still a neutral race as deemed by the Immortal court." Lady Kang stated.


    "Exactly. Which is why we were sure that this was not an invasion by any orthodox power." Ziran replied. "It was by a group of six individuals that hade to the Demon World to search for something. The invasion was only staged by them as a way to disguise their real goal.


    They too used the Yin Heart Puppets to make it seem like they hade to decimate the world, but they themselves were searching for something." He added.


    "What were they searching for?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Well¡­ When we defeated them, we couldn''t make them tell us that. But we did find out who they were¡­ They apparently belonged to Onyx Chimeric Legion." Ziran answered. "I looked into their background, but found little information other than the fact that they were an old power that belonged to a great being.


    But had long since disbanded and had fallen from their glory." He revealed, making Lin Mu furrowed his brows.

 Chapter 2125 Onyx Chimeric Legion

    Chapter 2125 Onyx Chimeric Legion


    Upon Hearing Ziran''s exnation, Lin Mu couldn''t help but find a few simrities between the powers that had used the Yin Heart Puppets.


    "The Onyx Jackal Sect and the Onyx Chimeric Legion¡­ Are they linked?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "You got that right." Ziran nodded. "I found it suspicious too and when we looked into it further, it turned out that the founders of the Onyx Jackal Sect once belonged to the Onyx Chimeric Legion. They were basically offshoots of the same power." He revealed.


    "So these Yin Heart Puppets¡­ The technique used to make them is from the Onyx Chimeric Legion too?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "It does seem like that," Ziran replied. "I looked into some of the old repositories both in the Immortal Court as well as some independent sources and found a few entries that stated that the Yin Heart Puppets had first been seen under the control of the great being that ruled over the Onyx Chimeric Legion as well as other powers." He revealed.


    "Hmm¡­ So they were using their master''s technique." Lin Mu guessed. "But who is this great being?" he questioned.


    "There was no name mentioned there. But it did say the great being was someone who had brought forth a great Upheaval in the past and had shed with many great powers of that time, including the Immortal Court." Ziran answered, making Lin Mu furrows his brows. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Great being¡­ I''ve heard that before.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was a term that the Saintess used for none other than Xukong. But Lin Mu knew it was not Xukong that was being meant as the Great Being here.


    ''Someone else¡­ that could also be called as a Great Being.'' Lin Mu wondered who it could be. ''The only other creature that was said to be on Senior Xukong''s level was the founder of the Serpent Moon Sect, as stated by himself.'' He recalled.


    But he was sure this Onyx Chimeric Legion did not have a rtion to the Serpent Moon Sect either. Just to be sure though, he decided to ask a few more things.


    "This Onyx Chimeric Legion, did they have a crest of their own?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "They did, it was that of an Onyx Gem with the image of a strange creature on it. The creature had four heads, six legs, eight tails, and ten wings, all of which belonged to different beasts. It was a creature that is usually termed as a Chimera." Ziran answered.


    Monk Hushu seemed to show a look of concern on his face before he spoke.


    "Chimeras are not normal creatures and nothing ever goodes out of them ever being involved in anything." Monk Hushu said. "Any power that has connections with them are not to be taken lightly." He added.


    "You know about these, Monk Hushu?" Lin Mu could sense a hint of fear gin his voice.


    "Yes¡­ Our Temple had records about such creatures. The Buddhist alliance once had to cleanse a swarm of Chimeric Beasts in the past. Normal cultivators could not kill them, and they were highly resistant to most elements. This was when the Immortal Court was weakened due to a previous conflict and could not muster the needed forces to go against the Chimeric Beasts. Eventually the Buddhist alliance decided to act and save the people while eliminating the evil." Monk Hushu answered before taking a pause. "These Chimeric beasts weren''t just a problem on their own, but also managed to take many humans on their own side, by offering them power beyond a normal cultivator''s reach. Their techniques were mysterious and unorthodox, allowing talentless cultivators who never had the hope of reaching the immortal realm to be strong immortals within a few years.


    Their techniques and skills could overpower top cultivation techniques while also being hard to ovee. With such a temptation, many humans fell prey and joined their side. The Buddhist alliance had a hard time too and almost lost if not for some help." Monk Hushu said, his eyes showing a hint of respect. "Who helped them?" Lin Mu asked, quite engrossed in the story while others were interested too.


    "This might be strange to hear¡­ But it was a beast." Monk Hush said a smile appearing on his face.


    "I think¡­ I''ve heard of this," Ziran said, some information appearing in his mind. "A great ape that had the dignity of a bodhisattva and shone with divine light¡­ The Divine Light Monk Ape." He stated.


    "Indeed." Monk Hushu nodded. "The Divine Light Monk Ape was friends with the Grand Abbot of the Mahayana Pce; the seat of power of the Buddhist alliance. He had even served as the guardian of the Mahayana Ind once upon a time and the Buddhists owed him great debt." He exined.


    "Ah, so the beast was part of the Buddhist Alliance." Lin Mu said upon hearing that.


    "Not exactly." Monk Hushu shook his head. "While he had served as a guardian as well as had close rtions with the Buddhist powers, he was not part of us. He was in fact a disciple of a celestial¡­ The Taiji Celestial!" he revealed, making Lin Mu studded.


    "What did you say!? The Taiji Celestial!" Lin Mu eximed, having recognized the name. ''Didn''t Wu Hei''s technique alsoe from the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance?'' he recalled his old ally from the Xiao Fan world.


    "Yes¡­ THE Taiji Celestial. One of the biggest supporters of the Immortal Court once upon a time." Monk Hushu nodded.


    "So it was another one of Taiji Celestial''s disciples¡­ I didn''t know that." Ziran was impressed.


    "You know of too?" Lin Mu asked in surprise.


    "Who doesn''t know of him and his disciples?" Ziran chuckled. "Almost all major powers know of the Taiji Celestial and his disciples who have aplished great feats." He added.


    "Indeed. Bing his disciple is one of the biggest dreams of countless immortals." Daoist Chu agreed. "Even in my sect, our patriarch and elders revere him." He said with pride on his face.

 Chapter 2126 The Taiji Celestial

    Chapter 2126 The Taiji Celestial


    It wasn''t just Daoist Chu, Monk Hushu and Ziran that knew about the Taiji Celestial either, as Lady Kang joined in too.


    "Taiji Celestial''s techniques and skills always have a heavy demand in the market. Though most of them are impossible to learn unless one passes his trials and obtains the inheritance directly. But even themon ones that could be practiced by others sell for a lot." Lady Kang chimed in. "Our Great Kang Auction house once obtained one of his Qi skills that was sold for over six hundred million Immortal stones." "That much?" Lin Mu was shocked.


    "Of course¡­ it was a Qi skill that utilized both Yin and Yang elements in it." Lady Kang revealed. "You already know how rare and difficult that is." She said looking at him, knowing what its like.


    "Indeed. If there is one expert that is known to be a master of the Yin and Yang elements, then it is none other than the Taiji Celestial. In fact, it''s even said that about half of the cultivation techniques and Qi skills that are for the Yin and Yang elements were either made by him or are derived from his original techniques." Daoist Chu said, being more knowledgeable about this aspect.


    "With how long he''s been in existence, his influence and techniques have spread wide. His inheritance grounds can be found in thousands of ces at this point. With more being added from time to time, by his disciples." Monk Hushu added, making Lin Mu quite interested.


    "Wow¡­ that''s really big." Lin Mu hadn''t expected such a figure to be missed by him. ''Even Senior Xukong didn''t mention much about him after that.'' He thought.


    "Of course. Even though The Taiji Celestial hasn''t been in the Immortal Realm for tens of millions of years, his reputation has not reduced in the slightest." Daoist Chu stated.


    "Is he in the Celestial realm then?" Lin Mu questioned. "Considering his title, he must be right?" he asked.


    "That is¡­ a bit of aplex thing." Daoist Chu replied.


    "Yeah¡­ It is said that The Taiji Celestial got his title of celestial even before he was a celestial. Rather than it being a designation as his cultivation base, it was his Daoist Title itself." Ziran exined. "It isn''t just the Immortal realm either. I''ve heard rumors that it has been millions of years since the Taiji Celestial was seen in the Celestial realm. It is unknown whether he''s still there in seclusion or perhaps something happened to him." Lady Kang added, having her own sources of information.


    "Tens of millions of years¡­ could he have passed on?" Lin Mu wondered. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    "That is unlikely. With his disciple still present, it would have been known. Especially considering that his death would not be possible to hide. Most believe that he''s long since moved on¡­ broken past the limits of a Celestial." Daoist Chu stated. "He might have reached a position we cannot even imagine." He added.


    To Lin Mu, it all seemed rather dreamy and mysterious. To hear of such a great expert who has had an impact all over the world was awe inspiring.


    ''Yin and Yang element rted skills and techniques are excellent and are often superior to other top skills of the same level. If I have the chance, I should look into the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial too. Especially with Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang being with me, they should benefit from it too.'' Lin Mu added another goal to his list.


    "Still, considering the fact that it took a disciple of the Taiji Celestial to defeat the chimeric beasts is a major thing." Ziran returned to the original topic.


    "Yeah¡­ And if there are Yin Heart Puppets here too that can only mean¡­" Lin Mu replied before taking a pause.


    "The Onyx Chimeric Legion might have something to do with this ce too¡­ Or the Celestial could have belonged to them as well." Ziran stated.


    This made both Monk Hushu and Lin Mu furrow their brows as they both had their concerns about it.


    Monk Hushu had listened to the old stories taught to him by the elders and the danger they spoke about the Chimeras. While Lin Mu had his own sh with the Chasm Beasts as well as the Indigo woman that seemed to be able to control them.


    ''Where does this all link?'' Lin Mu questioned himself. "If it really has something to do with the Onyx Chimeric Legion, perhaps we might need to reassess what kind of inheritance this ce bears." Lady Kang suddenly said hinting at the fact that it might not be something they would be able to use.


    Even so, they now had no choice but to go further, as one could not simply leave the inheritance ground easily.


    Plus, going back now would be a great waste and no one wanted to do that. Everyone knew that one needed to take a risk to obtain great fortune in the Jianghu.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath before silently chanting the Calming Heart sutra,posing himself, as well as sorting out his thoughts.


    "I think we''re getting strayed from our current goal. We should focus on how we are to move onto the next trial." Lin Mu said before ncing at the tform with the keys. "As such, how many keys did you manage to obtain?" he asked, looking at Ziran.


    "Ah yes, the keys!" Ziran had almost forgotten about them in the conversation. "We got quite a few, actually." He said before taking out arge bunch.


    "Huh¡­" Seeing the number of keys, not only Lin Mu, but the others were stunned. "This is more than all of usbined."


    They counted the keys that Ziran had and the ones they had obtained and realized that they now had a total of ny five keys!


    "This¡­ Is almost enough to fill all the keyholes!" Daoist Chu said out loud.


    They didn''t wait anymore and quickly socketed all the keys before turning them.

 Chapter 2127 The Outer Territories Of The Immortal Realm

    Chapter 2127 The Outer Territories Of The Immortal Realm


    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~


    All the keys were inserted and turned, filling the holes. Once that was done, only one circle was left empty at the very center.


    This circle only had five holes and was the exact number of keys that were missing.


    "Five keys for the innermost circle¡­ The Trial indeed was giving the keys in a specific order." Lin Mu spoke, seeing the glowing circle. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    He didn''t think it was a coincidence, since it would have had to be an exact number for it to be like this. Plus, considering everyone had gotten a different number of keys, even though the trial was supposed to be the second trial, they were sure this was designed by the creator.


    "It''s almost as if they want us to have patience¡­" Lady Kang muttered, seeing this.


    "It does seem like it," Monk Hushu agreed.


    "If so, we may as well have patience and wait. Now that we know that there is a differential time difference, we might just be making a mistake if we hurry. Best we wait for Crown Prince and Qiao De to arrive." Lin Mu decided.


    The others agreed too, and the wait began again.


    The original deadline they had decided was two months, of which 35 days had passed. But now they reckoned they should wait as long as needed for the Crown Prince and Qiao De to arrive. They never knew if the next trial they entered would be in a different time flow, too. The days passed rather quickly as everyone engrossed themselves in their work. Some cultivated, some studied while some talked.


    Lady Kang and Min Ju both cultivated with Elder Ho standing on guard beside them. With the full armor covering his body, his face could not be seen, and one might think that he was cultivating too. But in reality, his eyes were open, and he was observing everything.


    His duty was to protect Lady Kang and guard her with his life and there was no way he would take that lightly. In not for the fact that he was forced to be separated from her in the trials, he would have chosen to stick with her the entire time.


    Though he did feel a bit better that Lin Mu was with her out of everyone. Since he knew that Lin Mu was a formation master and also had Spatial Skills, his ability to escape danger should be the best among all of them. And from what he had observed, he didn''t think Lin Mu would be dishonorable either, and would definitely try to protect Lady Kang if needed.


    Which was correct, as Lin Mu had already nned that out. He was also thankful that Lady Kang had a method to guide them out of the space too since it would take him a lot of trial and error to do the same. If it was just himself, he would be fine, but bringing along others with him would reduce the amount of time they would be safe in a spatial rift.


    The void was unpredictable, and no one could tell where danger coulde from.


    Lin Mu could defend himself from stray Spatial Disturbances, but others would not be able to do the same. Thus, escaping the void as soon as possible would be necessary.


    Daoist Chu and Ziran seemed to have struck up a conversation from the earlier topics and were exchanging ideas with each other. The man was interested in the explorations of the half-elf and the worlds he had seen, especially the outer territories of the Immortal Courts.


    Those were areas that most cultivators did not go to if they were from the main territories of the Immortal court. This was mostly due to the fact that they were very far and the Teleportation arrays needed to reach them did not always exist. Even from the closest teleportation array, one might need to travel for years, decades or even centuries to reach some of the parts. As such, it was rare for people to go there other than those that were born there in the first ce.


    The news from the outer territories was slow to reach, and the exchange of people was minuscule, too. Daoist Chu was especially interested in this, since he had heard that his own sect had originated from an outer territory too. It wasn''t until they had grown strong enough to move themselves to the main territories of the Immortal Court did they truly gain a standing in the Immortal realm.


    With the limited amount of information that traveled to those parts, the outer territories oftengged behind in terms of cultivation knowledge; whether this be in terms of cultivation techniques, skills, or just general knowledge about things.


    There were even some worlds in the outer territories that didn''t know about the existence of the Immortal Court.


    But this was nothingpared to the Fands.


    These were the uncharted areas where the influence of the Immortal Court did not reach. The four guardian beasts did not have any temples there and their powers would not work there either. Though it was one of their main goals to spread their reach as far as possible.


    One of the major expenses of the Immortal court was actually to spread the reach of the Four Guardian beasts. They would regrly send members to establish new temples of the guardian beasts as well as spread the awareness of the immortal court.


    This was something that was often weed by those uncharted worlds if they had human life, since it benefited them greatly, but there were always some worlds that did not like outside influence extending into their sphere. Such worlds could belong to other races, or humans that simply did not like others being there.


    There were even many conflicts that happened and wars that were fought. It was even said that at any given time, there were hundreds of wars that the Immoral Court was fighting in the Fands.


    This was another major expense that the Immortal Court had, but also where they made a lot of their fortune.


    While the worlds in the Fands and outer territories mightck in terms of cultivation knowledge, they didn''tck resources. After all, they were still in the Immortal realm and Immoral Qi was present there, too. As such, natural cultivation resources would appear there too.


    Rare and unseen herbs, mystical metals and magical fruits could all be found in the Fands, since they were often left untouched. There were explorers that went to the Fands to find these rare resources for themselves as well as to sell them. It was quite a profitable venture, even with the risk that came with it. So much so that Ziran had taken on a couple of such expeditions to the Fands too. He had spent over a thousand years in those and had found quite a lot before contributing his knowledge to many books in the Immortal court which earned him a lot of credits.


    As such, the man was quite wealthy. Plus, it helped that he was basically the king consort of a demon world.


    Daoist Chu also learned that Fands were one of the best ces for unorthodox cultivators to hide. Since the reach of the Immortal court was limited there, it gave them the best ce to gain power and grow stronger.


    It was also said that many evil powers that had entered into conflict with the Immortal Court had alle from the Fands. Many cultivators often had a major misunderstanding that the Immortal Court was the ''center'' of the Immortal realm. But in reality, it was not. The Central Immortal Court was merely called that because that is where they established the first Immortal Court before the four Cardinal courts were created. Even the directional names were only given due to the guardian beasts that took control there.


    No one knew how big the Immortal realm was and as such, it was entirely possible that the Immortal Court could be located in some corner of it, while the Fands was the true region of the Immortal realm. Even after billions of years, no cultivator had managed to explore the entirety of the Immortal realm.


    Even the best spatial masters were unable to figure out the true extent of the Immortal realm with all their power and skills. Hence, all that the Immortal Court could do was to steadily expand and grow its power, like a tree expanding its roots through the ground silently.


    Lin Mu listened to their words too, finding them quite interesting. He himself had heard quite a bit from senior Xukong before and could corrte and confirm many of the facts. In some factors, Lin Mu knew even more than them as he himself was originally from the Fands too.


    The Xiaofan World was located in the Fands of the Mortal Realm. Simr to the Immortal realm, the Mortal realm had Fands too. Though unlike the immortal realm, there wasn''t an exact central power like the immortal court, as the limitations of the cultivation base did not allow it. Immortals could still travel through space with a few minor issues, but for spirit realm cultivators to do so was a huge hindrance. They might be able to do that for a short period, but they would eventually sumb to it. Not to mention, they also couldn''t travel for literal centuries or millenniums like the Immortals due to their limited lifespan.


    As such, they could not explore as much and it was often left to a few Immortals that could descend to the Mortal realm with their cultivation bases sealed to do this.

 Chapter 2128 Growing The Wind Core

    Chapter 2128 Growing The Wind Core


    Daoist Chu and Ziran''s conversation shifted from the Outer Territories and Fands to other matters which didn''t interest Lin Mu as much, so he fully focused on his cultivation.


    He had grown five of the basal elemental cores to the Immortal level and was now stumped with the Wind and Lightning cores.


    ''I do have a few herbs for the Wind Element, but for Lightning element I barely have a handful.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had hundreds of Wind Elemental Spirit herbs and about ten for Wind Elemental Immortal herbs, but he only had six Lightning Elemental Spirit herbs and two Lightning Elemental Immortal herbs. Other than the herbs, he had a few other materials that also had the two elements such as some Mountain Peak Jade that was formed under the sharp winds of a mountain peak and the lightning of a storm.


    But having progressed the other cores, Lin Mu knew for sure these will be barely a drop in the ocean.


    ~Sigh~


    ''May as well use them.'' He thought to leftism and started with the Wind Core.


    Lin Mu took out some Wind Elemental Spirit herbs, which were the lowest quality wind elemental material he had. It was a herb called as Breeze Grass and was used to make Wind Resistant Armor and clothes. It wasn''t meant for consumption but it could still be used for the Wind Core.


    ~SHUA~


    The Omnicore Ascendancy worked as the bunch of Breeze Grass broke down into Azure Wisps of light that were immediately sucked into Lin Mu''s hands. He had gotten decently good at using Omnicore Ascendancy and as such his speed of absorbing these elemental energy wisps had improved a lot. It took him a fraction of a second to absorb them, aspared to before when it took him a few seconds to do the same.


    ~FUA~


    And when the Azure wisps entered his body, they were guided into the center of his chest under the control of the Omnicore Ascendancy Technique. It reached an area right below his lungs and above his intestines, entering a wide and t organ.


    This was none other than Lin Mu''s diaphragm.


    Once there, the Azure Wisps collected in the center of the diaphragm before coalescing together.


    ~HUU~


    This caused Lin Mu to take a deep breath, his diaphragm expanding automatically. He felt like his lungs had inted to the limit before it finally stopped. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    ''That¡­ was different,'' Lin Mu noted. ''When I formed the fire core in the heart, I felt a heat before and here my diaphragm moved on its own.'' He wondered what was the reason for this.


    Knowing that he needed to test it out further, he took out another bunch of herbs and repeated the process.


    The herbs that Lin Mu was using this time were called as Cloud Foot Roots. As per their names, they had a cloud like shape and were very light. If one pressed them, they could cause them to burst, causing an air explosion that could very well shred clothes and cause injuries.


    This was also a herb that was not intended for consumption, but was used in making expendable Spirit Weapons in the form of bombs. But what it did have was a lot of Wind Elemental energy in it. The only issue with it was this wind energy was unstable and could not be absorbed by cultivators. But the Omnicore Ascendancy did not care for that. It merely turned it all into pure Wind Elemental energy wisps and absorbed it.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu''s diaphragm moved once more, causing his lungs to expand uncontrobly. For a mortal, this would have been incredibly painful, but to a body cultivator like Lin Mu, it was the same as taking a normal deep breath. ''Strange¡­ It can actually go beyond my control over my body and make my diaphragm work forcibly,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    He absorbed more of the Azure wisps and saw the same process repeat. But he did notice that the effect was weakening over time. And when he had run out of all of the Mortal Wind Elemental materials he had, the uncontroble expansion had long since stopped.


    ''Hmm¡­ So it was dependent on the size of the Wind Core itself.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as he gazed at the sand grain sized core.


    Before this, the core was microscopic and every time more energy was added to it, it caused his diaphragm to react, but now that it had reached a somewhat ''visible'' size, it had stopped.


    ''A matter of stability, perhaps?'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Lin Mu looked at the other wind elemental materials that he had left in his ring and knew that he shouldn''t use them.


    ''It''ll be a waste if I use them right now when I can still use a lot of mortal materials,'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''I''ll pause this for now and make it a priority to collect more of themter along with more Immortal materials,'' He decided.


    With the Wind Core progressed to a certain point, Lin Mu decided to try the Lightning Core too.


    For this, he only had six spirit herbs of the Lightning element and a few more materials.


    But Lin Mu was disinclined to use those materials.


    ''It would be a lot better to keep them for other uses. I''ll need them for Formation Arrays and more.'' Lin Mu thought as using them would not bring him much benefit right now anyways. The sheer quantity he needed was massive and these would be a few drops in a colossal ocean. ''Its best to only use surplus materials for Omnicore Ascendancy or those that I really have no use for,'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    As such, Lin Mu only used the six herbs that he had.


    The herb he started with was called as the Spark Leaf Herb and was something that created sparks if one smashed it. It was used as a stabilizing agent with other herbs in making pills and was of rather low quality.

 Chapter 2129 Growing The Lightning Core

    Chapter 2129 Growing The Lightning Core


    Lin Mu focused on the Spark Leaf Herb when the Omnicore Ascendancy broke it down into Purple Wisps of pure lightning elemental energy.


    This time he was a lot more careful as Lightning element was something that was possibly the most destructive among the basal and heavenly elements. It was the strongest force of nature and was also how the Heavens showed their displeasure through Tribtions.


    As such, it was best to be careful with it especially when the location of the Lightning core was in the most important organ of Lin Mu''s body¡­ His brain.


    ~Zing~


    Though Lin Mu found the actual process to be a bit underwhelming as all he felt during it was a tingly sensation in his head and spine when the Purple Lightning Elemental wisps entered his brain. ''Rather mild¡­'' Lin Mu thought before repeating the process with more Spark Leaf Herb. ''Maybe it''s because this is such a low rank herb.'' He thought of using a higher quantity of it.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    This time Lin Mu used a whole bunch of them with hundreds of leaves and let them breakdown into Purple Wisps


    ~ZING~


    "Ooo!" The sensation this time was a lot more stronger and even made Lin Mu''s entire body shiver when it was absorbed into his brain. ''Oh yeah, it''s definitely a matter of quantity.'' Lin Mu now knew. ''Though I should still check up on the condition of my brain just in case,'' He thought and used his Immortal sense to scan it.


    He saw no problem with his brain and the Purple wisps had clumped together in the center of his brain, right above the brain stem. It was on the location of a small bulb like structure that was behind the center of his forehead.


    This was none other than the location of the Pituitary nd.


    Lin Mu was soon done with the Spark Leaf Herbs and moved onto the second herb called as the Shackling Nut Shell.


    It was actually a poisonous spirit herb which, when consumed, could paralyze someone''s legs as if they had been shackled to the ground. Its properties were sourced from the numbing properties of the lightning element and as such, it could be used for Omnicore Ascendancy too, despite being a bit too unstable for normal consumption.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu saw about ten times as many purple energy wisps whenpared to the Spark Leaf Herb and decided to be a bit careful. He didn''t absorb all of them at once and only let a quarter of them be absorbed into his brain first. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    ~Zing~


    His body shivered for a moment before the purple wisps were added to the Lightning Core. ~ZING~ZING~ZING~


    Lin Mu absorbed the rest of the wisps and let the lightning core grow while he shivered, as if he was standing in a frozen tundra.


    Thankfully, no one was looking at him, or they would certainly be confused as to why Lin Mu was shivering here.


    The third herb Lin Mu used was the first proper Lightning Elemental Spirit herb that was directly used by cultivators. It was a Streak Petal Lotus Flower that had lightning streak like patterns on its petals. These were special flowers thatwere transformed from normal Lotuses when a Core Condensation realm cultivator underwent a Heavenly Tribtion near them.


    The Lotus flowers would absorb the trace amounts of lightning from the air causing them to transform. Of course, not all of them would transform, with most turning into ashes from the overwhelming energy. But those that did survive would be quite valuable.


    As such, it was customary for there to be lotus ponds around a Tribtion Attenuation tform, since it would serve as a source of Streak Petal Lotus flowers in cultivation sects. Still, with how rare Nascent soul realm cultivators were in the Mortal realm, it was not often that one could obtain these flowers.


    There were even a few cultivators that always carriedrge pots of lotus flowers in their spatial storage tools and would take them out whenever they sensed a Heavenly Tribtion happening in the wild. It didn''t matter whether it was a beast or a human undergoing the Heavenly Tribtion, after all.


    It also didn''t matter if one seeded with the Heavenly Tribtion or not, the flowers would still be created if there were a sufficient number of them.


    And due to how these Streak Petal Lotus flowers were created, they had a strong Lightning Elemental energy inside them. They were potent herbs that were used by cultivators who had an affinity for the lightning element and were prized by them.


    Lin Mu had obtained these flowers back in the Xiaofan world when he had raided the vaults of the sects.


    ''They''re finallying in handy now,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had not used them, since he didn''t have the lightning element, but they ultimately came in handy after more than five years.


    ~SHUA~


    The pretty flower turned into nothingness, leaving behind purple wisps that flowed into Lin Mu''s body steadily.


    These flowers had an even greater amount of lightning elements energy aspared to the Shackling Nut Shell and Lin Mu estimated it to be at least three times as higher.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lin Mu used all the eight flowers that he had before checking on the Lightning Core that had already reached half the size of a sand grain.


    ''That was a bit faster than I thought¡­ But I suppose it is due to the higher ranked lightning elemental herbs,'' He reckoned.


    He was soon finished with the flowers and moved onto the fourth herb, that was also another poisonous herb.


    A Meridian Rending Zap Grass. It was violent grass that could destroy one''s meridians with the power of lightning. But something that could cripple even a Dao Treading realm cultivator was easily absorbed by Lin Mu, and soon became the foundation of his future powers. Lin Mu continued using the herbs, as his Lightning Core grew bigger and bigger until it finally reached the size of a sand grain, too.

 Chapter 2130 Rewards Of The Previous Trials And Wait For The Final Companions

    Chapter 2130 Rewards Of The Previous Trials And Wait For The Final Companions


    With the Lightning Core reaching the baseline size that Lin Mu found to be stable, he decided to give it a rest. ''At least it reached this size before I ran out of materials.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Once we''re out, I should stock up on as many elemental herbs and other materials I can. The low quality ones will be dirt cheap here anyways.'' He reckoned.


    There was still a long way before the Wind and Lightning cores would reach the Immortal level, thus Lin Mu still had a lot of leeway in using Spirit herbs and other lower quality mortal materials. ''Even for the Five Basal elemental cores, finding immortal materials for them at a decent cost won''t be a problem.'' If there was one thing Lin Mu had, it was money.


    Plus, he hadpanions who could easily supply and source him whatever he needed. ''Perhaps I can make a list to be bought¡­ Herbs and materials of all kinds as long as I''ve never used them.'' Lin Mu thought and started making a list. Using a Jade Slip, Lin Mu noted down every herb, fruit and other materials he had used so far and sorted them down into the seven sections as per the elements. Since Crown Prince Feng Shun and Qiao De hadn''t arrived yet, there was a lot of time for him to pass anyways.


    He had also no way to practice the Omnicore Ascendancy anymore and needed to move onto the other matters. As such, making a list like this was no issue. Plus, it would help Lin Muter, as he would only need to update it with any new material that he might use for the Omnicore Ascendancy.


    It didn''t take that long for Lin Mu to finish this and a dayter he had finished it. He even noted down the othermon herbs and materials he hadn''t used in the Rust Sky world and added them to a separate list to be added.


    ~Sigh~


    "What do I do now?" Lin Mu wondered as he looked around at the others. Since everyone was an immortal here, they were not unfamiliar with long periods of istion, since all of them had cultivated in seclusion before. This time for wait was even easier since they had others to interact with and learn from too.


    As such, a sense of rxation was spread in the middle of this trial.


    After a minute of looking, Lin Mu decided to join Ziran and Daoist Chu in their discussions. They were talking about a lot of varied matters and Lin Mu had been listening in from time to time, and reckoned he could now join in properly.


    There was a lot to learn from an explorer like Ziran and an expert who had been trained in the Immortal court like Daoist Chu.


    He also talked to them in detail about what had happened in the first trial with them and also what reward they had obtained after it.


    It was here that Lin Mu learned the rewards were somewhat randomized for everyone. Though the area they went to obtain the rewards was the same.


    It was the same barren and gloomy ce that Lin Mu and Lady Kang had arrived in and eventually found the Pure Petrichor Cave Milk. It turned out that the area was the same, but the location one arrived in was randomized. Lin Mu even wondered if they could have met up if they had waited around long enough. But then Daoist Chu stated that there was a time limit to how long one could be there. He had tested this out unknowingly since they had only found something at the end of the time and barely took it before being teleported to the next trial.


    Daoist Chu and Min Ju had only managed to find a single Yan me Crystal before they ended up being sent out.


    In the case of Ziran and Elder Ho, they had managed to find a reward right at the start. In fact, they didn''t even need to walk far and only took ten steps before ending up in front of a withered tree.


    Lin Mu was surprised that there were actually trees in that barren ce, but it was indeed possible. The only thing was that things were so far spread out, one might not be able to find it as easily. Ziran quickly recognized this withered tree to be a Scarab Ash Tree. It was something that had basically be extinct in most worlds due to being used extensively in the past. It was a tough tree that was excellent for making wooden weapons, as it had a natural toughness.


    There was said to be a Scarab Deity in ancient times that had blessed a tree to have its toughness, and that is how the Scarab Ash Tree was born. Finding an entire tree was quite a fortune, and Ziran and Elder Ho took it. After all, even a small branch of the Scarab Ash Tree could be sold for tens of thousands of Immortal stones at an auction house, and here was an entire tree.


    Thus, they didn''t hesitate at all and took it, causing them to be teleported to the next trial soon after.


    After learning of this, Lin Mu wondered how the others experienced the reward grounds. Upon asking them, Lin Mu learned that Crown Princess Shang and Monk Hushu had also taken a decent amount of time before finding a reward. Though in their reward ground, they had found an Immortal Fruit instead.


    It was a small fruit called Feather Puff Fruit, and was something that was actually formed in the sky. The nt it was created on was called the Sky Puff nt that floats in the skies. It is a rather unique nt that didn''t need the earth to sink its root into.


    It directly abosrbs water from the clouds and and wanders around in the winds. The fruits born on it are covered with puffy feathers that allow them to float around for long periods of time.


    Winds and storms would carry them for long distances before they finallynded on some tall peak and began the first phase of their live.


    It would grow its small body that was attached to a thin stalk. And when it wasrge enough, strong winds would blow it away, allowing it to reach its second stage of life in the skies. There it would grow its proper roots and drink from the skies and absorb the sunlight before beginning its third stage of the life and creating more fruits.


    These fruits were used by cultivators who specialized in the Sky Dao, as well as the Wind Dao techniques, as they allowed them to sense the Dao Traces of those specific Daos better. There were even some techniques that absolutely needed these fruits and as such could sell for a lot.


    Thus, even though Crown princess Shang and Monk Hushu couldn''t use the Feather Puff fruit, it was still a good enough reward for them.


    Having learned all this, Lin Mu wondered if they would end in the reward grounds again or if it would be a different ce this time.


    Ziran and Daoist Chu both had theories about it, with Daoist Chu thinking that they would probably end up in previous the reward grounds again, but Ziran thought that they area might not be the same and there could be a different reward grounds.


    Ziran had the idea that the rewards in the previous reward grounds weren''t sufficient enough to justify for the second trial''s difficulty. As such, he didn''t think the creator of the inheritance ground would use it again.


    But Daoist Chu thought that the creator of the inheritance ground was more focused on the natural luck of the trial takers and there might be better rewards present in the previous trial grounds too.


    Lin Mu found both of their points good, but knew that there was no way to confirm it until they actually ended up there.


    Their conversations continued as the others joined in from time to time too, letting the minutes turn into hours and hours into days.


    The days passed quickly as the deadline soon approached. Even though Lin Mu and the others had decided that they won''t mind waiting more than 2 months for Crown Prince and Qiao De, it was still getting a bit concerning for them.


    "Sixty days¡­" Lin Mu muttered, as the count had reached its end. "Still no sign of Crown Prince and Qiao De." Daoist Chu said, looking at the teleportation circles.


    "I suppose waiting more is not an issue with anyone." Ziran replied. "Plus, these conversations have been quite delightful." He added. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Indeed¡­ I don''t think it feels like we''re inside a dangerous inheritance trial at this point." Lin Mu stated.


    "True." Monk Hushu chimed in.


    With the sixty day deadline officially over, Lin Mu and the others became even more rxed, as they realized they had unconsciously ced extra stress on themselves by setting the deadline when there was no need to do so. ~HONG~


    And much to their surprise, the very next day after the deadline was over, a teleportation circle started to glow!


    "They''reing!" Lin Mu stood up, eximing.


    His spatial perception was active as he peered into the fabric of space, tracking down the teleportation channel that was carrying to blurry individuals within. A few secondster, they became clear and were none other than the Crown Prince and Qiao De.


    ~SHUA~


    "Crown Prince Feng Shun!"


    "Qiao De!"

 Chapter 2131 Feng Shun And Qiao Des Arrival

    Chapter 2131 Feng Shun And Qiao De''s Arrival


    Daoist Chu and Ziran spoke up seeing the final twopanions arriving.


    Lin Mu quickly scanned them and saw that they were probably in the best condition aspared to the others when they had arrived.


    ''Almost the same as us. It doesn''t seem like they have exhausted much of their immortal Qi either.'' Lin Mu thought upon sensing the Immortal Qi fluctuationsing from both that were stable.


    It made him wonder whether it was because the trial had been easier for them, or if they had simply taken a slower method to deal with it.


    "Huh? Everyone''s here?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was a bit surprised seeing the group.


    "Oh? Weren''t we supposed to enter the reward ground?" Qiao De said, feeling a bit surprised too.


    "It''s good that you''re here, Crown Prince." Crown Princess Shang approached. "We''ve been waiting for a while now." She added.


    "You all have been waiting?" The Crown Prince furrowed his brows. "How long have you been waiting exactly?" he asked, sensing some distress in the air.


    "A little over two months." Lin Mu answered.


    "Two months?" Qiao De raised his brows, finding it wrong.


    "Well, two months since all of us were here. But Daoist Mu Lin and Lady Kang have been here for much longer." Daoist Chu stated.


    "We were the first ones to arrive." Lin Mu answered.


    "Wait¡­ How long did it take since you entered the trial grounds?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, knowing that something was not adding up.


    "I''ll exin it." Ziran said before giving the two arrivals a run down of all that had happened.


    He told them how long it had taken each person to arrive and also the potential time difference that was present for each group. After listening to it all, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Qiao De were both astonished.


    "I never would''ve thought there were multiple different time flows in this inheritance ground." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    "For there to be so many of them is not simple¡­ That just means that the arrays controlling this ce are of an even higher level than I thought¡­ this raises the value of this ce several times." Qiao De said, a hint of ambition in his eyes.


    "How long did it take from your perspective, Crown Prince?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious.


    "Well, it took about a week to finish the first Trial for us," Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "A week?" Lady Kang was surprised. "That''s faster than us." It was clear that therge quantity of beasts was not a problem for the Crown Prince and Qiao De. "And what about the reward grounds?" Lin Mu asked next. "Hmm¡­ we spent about two days there." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Though the reward was certainly not worth it." He added.


    "What did you get?" Ziran asked. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    ~Sigh~


    To this, Qiao De had a disappointed expression while he sighed.


    "We only got a simple Luminous Jade from there," Qiao De revealed.


    Lin Mu was intrigued upon hearing that, as he knew that even if a Luminous Jade was decent valuable, being sold for a few thousand Immortal stones, it was definitely not on the same level as the other items they had obtained from there.


    "How big was this Luminous Jade?" Lady Kang questioned, finding something to be off.


    ~THUD~


    In response, Qiao De took out the object in question. The bright lighting from the jade almost blinded everyone for a second, but they quickly shielded their eyes. There were several light beams emanating from therge jade b that was about two meters in size and roughly forty centimeters thick.


    It had an irregr shape and it was clear that it had been plucked directly from a mineral node.


    "That''s¡­ not just a ''simple'' Luminous Jade." Monk Hushu said with a bewildered expression. "Have you seen a Luminous Jade this size before?" he asked, feeling stunned.


    "Indeed¡­ this is a bit too big. Thergest I''ve seen was about a meter in size and just ten centimeters thick." Daoist Chu agreed.


    "Even if it is big, the Luminous Jade is only good for a limited number of things. It is at most a gloriedmp for experts." Qiao De sighed, knowing that it won''t make much of a profit for him.


    His goals were far too high, and he didn''t think this was enough for a ce like this.


    "Still¡­ You do know this will sell for at least fifty thousand high grade immortal stones?" Daoist Chu stated. "Acutally, it can sell for a lot more." Lady Kang replied, her expert eyes analyzing the b of jade. "Considering its thickness, this can easily be sculpted into an Auspicious statue. Or can be used to make the main Ancestral tablet. ns will buy something like this for a lot if it is auctioned. I can see its cost going as high as five hundred thousand high grade immortal stones." She appraised.


    "OH!?" Qiao De''s expression rapidly changed as he heard the words of the wealthiest person here. "If it is Lady Kang herself appraising this, then I must trust it. You certainly are the true merchant among us, my eyes cannot simplypare." He quickly ttered.


    He knew if he had to make a decent profit, there was no other way than Lady Kang. Even if he tried to do what she had said himself, and auction it, the reach would not be as good as what the Great Kang auction house had.


    Plus the sculptors that the Great Kang Auction house was on another level. Even if he was the manager of one of the ck Candle Pavillion branches, it could notpare to the Great Kang Auction house.


    As such, he quickly humbled himself and wished that the woman would help him out.


    Of course, Lady Kang could easily tell this too and had intended for this to happen anyways. "Lady Kang, would you¡ª" and before Qiao De could finish speaking, the businesswoman replied.


    "If you wish, I''ll buy it right now at Four Hundred Thousand High Grade Immortal stones." She stated. "DEAL!" Qiao De didn''t hesitate after hearing that.


    He also didn''t care that the cost was lower than what Lady Kang had quoted earlier, as he knew this was the more realist option.


    ''I don''t have to work to get it sculpted and neither do I have to wait for the auction to be done. This is a lot faster and stable.'' Qiao De thought to himself. If he had made a different deal with Lady Kang and waited for it to be processed and then auctioned, it might have even taken them years for this to be done. That was a normal thing that happened for high end items like this.


    "Very well," Lady Kang was pleased with it and quickly took out a gold paper from her spatial storage. ~SHUA~


    She then wrote on it with her finger and handed it to Qiao De.


    "I believe you know what to do with this?" Lady Kang asked.


    "Of course! Of course!" Qiao De''s eyes shone, looking at the golden paper. "A Promissory note of the Great Kang Auction house! This is even more stable than the Immortal Stone economy!" the man behaved like it was a collector''s item.


    Lin Mu looked at it with interest, having thought that Lady Kang was going to pay him in actual Immortal stones first. ''I suppose if someone has a stable and rich background like the Great Kang Auction house, one can actually write things like this. Their mere word is enough to have great value,'' Lin Mu thought to himself, finding it kind of impressive.


    "Crown Prince, about your share¡­" Qiao De turned to the royal.


    "It''s fine. You can deposit it at the Imperial Treasuryter." Crown Prince Feng Shun was not going to be bothered about something like this here.


    Since this was more of a luxury decoration item, he didn''t care about the value. But if this were some kind of cultivation resource, he would not have been this lenient. He would have preferred an on the spot split.


    After all, that would be a much better option for him when he was in a dangerous ce like the Inheritance Ground, where anything could happen.


    The right kind of cultivation resource could very well save his life after all, or even get him out of a pinch.


    With this transaction done, Lin Mu decided to ask them more things about the trials.


    "Crown Prince, how long did it take you in the second trial, though?" Lin Mu asked.


    "About a month, give or take a couple days." Crown Prince said, after thinking for a bit.


    Hearing that, they all were surprised.


    "A month¡­" Lin Mu turned to Ziran. "You were indeed correct¡­ the time difference is far greater than we thought." ~phew~


    "It''s good that we decided to wait," Daoist Chu spoke. "Or we would have made a mistake." "Yeah¡­ it wasn''t them taking too long. It was the time difference itself." Lin Mu nodded.

 Chapter 2132 Completion Of The Second Trial

    Chapter 2132 Completion Of The Second Trial


    "Wait¡­ You all were going to continue past this?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded.


    "But how would you get out of here?" Qiao De asked, knowing that everything in the Inheritance ground was under the control of the arrays.


    "While we are confined here, we still have the final option of tearing through the space." Ziran replied this time.


    "Tearing through space?" The Crown Prince raised his brows. "You all intended to jump into the void?"


    "We did." Lady Kang spoke up. "I have a method to help guide us out of this ce if need be too. Though it was the final option, if nothing else was possible." She added.


    "Thankfully, that didn''t happen as Ziran figured out that there was differential time flow in this ce." Daoist Chu stated.


    "That''s good." Crown Prince chuckled nervously. "Otherwise these keys would have been unless." He said, taking out exactly five iron keys.


    "It really is five keys¡­ the Trials were set ordingly." Lin Mu muttered.


    "They were a pain to get¡­ I never thought someone could even make a trial like that," Crown Prince replied.


    "Oh yeah, what kind of area did you two end up in?" Crown Princess Shang questioned. "It couldn''t have been worse than that disgusting marsh." "Well¡­ it''s hard to call it an area." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "There wasn''t exactly much ofnd." He added.


    "Not much ofnd? What was the theme? Sea? Ocean?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Sky." Qiao De answered.


    "Sky?" Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion.


    "Yeah¡­ Sky." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "The enemies we faced were also made out of air." He revealed.


    Everyone was surprised and a bit confused by this, before the Crown Prince started exining all that he and Qiao De had gone through.


    The Second Trial of the Inheritance Ground sent them to a strange location that basically had nond other than a few chunks of stone bs that floated in air. These stone bs were spread in quite some distance and reaching them was not easy since the Crown Prince and Qiao De couldn''t exactly fly. This was furtherplicated by the Yin Heart Puppets that were made out of literal air.


    Spotting them was quite difficult, as they basically had no outline for their body. Unless one had their immortal sense at maximum alertness, it would be very easy to get hit.


    "So there was no ground below either?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Nothing¡­ Or at the very least, we didn''t want to see if there was," Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "If we fell, we had no idea where we would end up. If we were lucky, we would simply fail the trial, or if we were unlucky, we might die instantly." He added.


    "How did you twoplete the trial, then?" Daoist Chu inquired.


    "Well, the one good thing about the sky is that it has plenty of wind." Crown Prince Feng Shun smiled.


    "No wonder¡­" Hearing that, Lin Mu figured it out. "If it''s wind, you can still control it." He spoke.


    "Indeed. Harnessing a bit of wind to move around isn''t that hard, especially with the Storm King Immortal arts." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "In addition to that, Qiao De has a few nifty tools that helped us highlight the enemies too." He added.


    With thebined efforts of Crown Prince Feng Shun and Qiao De''s resourcefulness, the two managed to traverse thendless region while killing the Yin Heart Puppets and obtaining the keys that were spread around. Two of the iron keys were located in some distant floating bs, while the rest were obtained by killing the Yin Heart Puppets made out of air.


    Thankfully, since they were carrying the keys in their bodies, it was very easy to spot them, and as such it actually didn''t take Crown Prince Feng Shun and Qiao De that long to finish the second trial. It was only the time flow, which made it seem like they had been at it for months.


    "Haaah!~" Daoist Chu let out a tried breath. "That was certainly a harder ce than ours. At least we could move around in the frozen wastnd. We would be helpless in the sky when we can''t fly." He added.


    "Hmm, perhaps you two did have a harder difficulty, but ours was simply too disgusting." Crown Prince Shang stated, still convinced that she had the worst trial.


    "Though¡­ I wonder what the other four trials are like." Lin Mu stated. "We only saw five of the teleportation circles activate¡­ there are four more that are linked to different locations." He added.


    "I don''t really care about them now. It''s good that we are all here now." Crown Prince Feng Shun shook his head. "We should probably head onwards now. I don''t think it is best to wait around. I have a bad feeling." He exined.


    "I agree, we''ve waited for far too long." Lady Kang chimed in.


    "Very well, let''s get to it then," Lin Mu nodded and took the five iron keys from the Crown Prince.


    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~


    He inserted them into thest circle and turned them, making it light up.


    ~SHUA~


    All the circles of the elevated tform were now lit up as Qi started to flow through it. Everyone was focusing on it ready to act, if something happened while Lin Mu used his Immortal sense to scan it. ~HUALA~


    His immortal sense picked up on an Immortal Qi channel from which the Qi seemed to being from. He tracked it backwards and found that it ultimately merged into one of the arrays in the fabric of space.


    ''Another dead end¡­'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows before closing his eyes.


    When he opened them, his Spatial Perception was active once more, and he looked directly past the physical limits of the glowing tform. He soon saw that the flow of Qi was in a specific pattern, as if a formation was currently being manifested.


    ''This method, though¡­ there is no extended link to the array. It is as if the Qi knows what to do by itself.'' Lin Mu thought to himself upon witnessing it.


    It was a rather unique thing that was only possible for a few arrays.


    ''If it can do this, it can only mean one thing¡­ this ce has a Formation Spirit!'' Lin Mu determined.


    While he had a hunch that arge ce like the inheritance grounds might need something like that, he didn''t have a sure answer. But now he had obtained an answer in a roundabout way. ''But if this ce has a formation spirit, it is definitely not a simple one¡­ this is a Celestial''s treasure after all.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, recalling Lanbao.


    The mermaid was the formation spirit of the Deep Sapphire City, which was the home of the Haima tribe. Since the arrays of the entire Deep Sapphire City were on a massive scale and were quiteplex, a formation spirit had been formed over time.


    Lanbao''s powers within the city were great too, easilyparing to that of a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal or perhaps even greater.


    Lin Mu did not have an exact estimate since he had never actually seen her fight, but with the sheer amount of Immortal Qi she had at her disposal, and also her own abilities granted through the city, it was bound to be great.


    ''And this ce is even beyond that¡­'' Lin Mu wondered just how strong the formation spirit of this ce could be. ''It would be at the Celestial level at least, right?'' he reckoned.


    ~HUALA~


    And as he was thinking all this, the formation seemed to havepleted its working as something changed within it. Faint spatial fluctuation started seeping out of the ground, making Lin Mu alert.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~ Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    At the same time, some runes formed in the air above the group before stringing together to form a few words.


    ''Trial of Patience has beenpleted.'' Watching the sentence, Lin Mu and Lady Kang couldn''t help but be surprised and looked at each other.


    ''It really was about patience.'' They said wordlessly.


    Though for the others it was a bit scary, since the contents of the trial seemed a bit too different and conflicting with patience.


    "One would be tense and unable to think after undergoing hardship¡­ To have patience even after countless hardships is the true test of patience." Monk Hushu spoke, a look of understanding on his face.


    The trial had taken one''s patience to another level by tricking them and making them think the trial was about something else. If someone had tried to go ahead despite not having the necessary keys, perhaps things might not have gone well.


    "Now that I think about it¡­ The trials were all something we could solve and somewhat suitable for our skills." Lin Mu suddenly realized. "The Trial picked us ordingly." Ziran said. "No wonder this was a trial of patience¡­ the real trial wasn''t the Yin Heart Puppets we fight. It was actually the wait for others."

 Chapter 2133 A New Rewards Ground

    Chapter 2133 A New Rewards Ground


    The runes in the air faded away, as the Spatial Fluctuation''s intensified.


    ~Rumble~


    And a few seconds after that, the entire dome shook before the elevated tform started to move.


    "Its¡­ Going up?" The group watched as the tform raised to a height of five meters.


    It was like a pir now and several patterns could be seen on its curved sides. If one observed them closely, they would realize that these were none other than arrays for a Teleportation Array!


    ~HUALA~ Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Under Lin Mu''s observations, all the runes activated as a gate finally opened up on the side of the pir.


    "This should be the way ahead." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded as he observed it with his Spatial Perception.


    He could see that a new teleportation channel had been established which wasn''t there earlier. Following along the channel, Lin Mu could vaguely tell that the channel did not branch out after this. "Hopefully we''ll be together in the next trial too." Daoist Chu spoke.


    "I think we''ll be together." Lin Mu said before taking the lead and stepping in.


    ~SHUA~


    His figure disappeared in the gate before others followed behind.


    One by one, the ninepanions all entered the gate and arrived in the teleportation channel, their bodies turning weightless. Lin Mu was present with them too and was taking this brief opportunity to observe the internal arrays of the inheritance grounds better.


    ''They are a bit easier to observe from inside the teleportation channel, but they are still quite spread out to put together.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he watched the arrays.


    ~Humm~


    He then felt a change in the spatial fluctuations, that became more frequent. This made him look towards the direction that he was heading to and found it to be quite close. But when he tried to look past it, to get a peek at their destination all he saw was a vast expanse of what could only be called as an iridescent mist!


    "What is this¡­" Before Lin Mu could finish his words, he had reached the end of the teleportation channel, his vision turning nk.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    He was ejected out of the channel along with others, and found himself standing on a solid surface. A couple of secondster when his vision returned, Lin Mu was gazing at the ground, which looked a bit simr. "A Teleportation Circle." Lin Mu quickly determined before looking up. "Huh?" And when he did, he was surprised.


    Instead of the Iridescent Mist he had seen earlier, what was in front of him was a corporeal ce.


    There were shelves upon shelves stacked on top of each other wherever one''s eyes went. The shelves were more than a hundred meters in length and seemed to be curved, rather than being straight. And when Lin Mu followed them, he found that the shelves were located around him in a circr manner.


    "A Library?" Ziran''s voice was heard.


    "That''s good, no trial." Crown Princess Shang spoke.


    "Looks like we are in the next reward grounds." Lady Kang stated, looking at the vast library.


    "You all should look back," Daoist Chu asked, slight confusion in his voice.


    The others turned and saw that there was a pir behind them. It was simr to the pir they had just taken to arrive here, but it was a lot bigger. Not just that, but the patterns on the pir were different, too.


    But the most eye catching part was that it had ten niches present on its sides. Each of the niches was about thirty centimeters wide and was arched. The arches were rather in, but seemed to be made out of pure white marble.


    And above these ten niches, one could see five grey crystals each. The crystals seemed to be firmly embedded and there were runes around them too that were a little too small to read from this distance. But if one looked closely, they would find that these runes were part of a bigger formation that was built into the body of the pir.


    It would be almost impossible for one to read these just from the surface and would need Immortal sense to probe the depths of the pir for more.


    The group had understood by now that the trials were moreplex than they seemed, and the same could be said for the reward grounds. As such, the first thing they needed to do was to gather information about their surroundings.


    And what better ce to start with, other than the eye catching pir?


    ~SHUA~


    As such, all of them used their immortal senses and probes the pir, finding out more about it.


    Lin Mu sensed that the pir was made out of the same kind of rock that the rest of the trial''s areas were made from. But this pir also had additions to it in the form of marble niches that had been embeddedter on.


    ''There''re connections made though runes between the niches and the pir. The array expanded further into the ground, but I can''t sense any Qi flowing in the circuits.'' Lin Mu analyzed it. "Looks like this might be our exit from here too." He said after having understood a few more things about it.


    "Our exit?" Monk Hushu asked.


    "The circles on the ground are all teleportation circles, though they are inactive right now," Lin Mu answered. "I can also sense the formations linking these circles with the niches on the pir. There are ten niches and ten of us¡­ it is quite obviously meant for us to interact with." He added.


    "It does seem like it," Lady Kang agreed before turning to the many shelves that were present around them. "And those jade slips probably have something to do with the niches too." She guessed.


    The others looked at the shelves that were neatly stacked with the jade slips and found it likely. "Ah! I''ve known what this ce is." Ziran recalled something. "We''re meant to pick out our rewards here!

 Chapter 2134 Freedom To Choose A Reward

    Chapter 2134 Freedom To Choose A Reward


    "Have you seen these before?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I''ve read about these kinds of reward grounds before and have been to one of them." Ziran answered. "While there are some difference among them, the basics of them are the same. We pick what we like and if it is reasonable enough, the arrays should approve it and allow us to move onto the next trial." He exined.


    Hearing this, the group couldn''t help but feel quite relieved. Unlike the previous rewards ground, they didn''t need to wander around and search for their reward which was much more preferable to them. And not just that, it didn''t seem like they had a particr time limit here either, as the teleportation circle implied that they would only be sent to the next trial once they had all picked their rewards. "That''s good. We''ll also be able to coordinate with each other." Crown Prince Feng Shun said while looking at the Jade Slips. "It''s clear that this holds cultivation techniques and skills along with other possible information that can be considered valuable. We can pick the most optimum jade slips that can also be shared if needed." He exined.


    "That is indeed good for us," Daoist Chu agreed. "Though we still need to see if there are other restrictions on all this," He added.


    ~step~step~step~


    While they talked about this, Lady Kang had already approached one of the shelves and picked up a jade slip.


    "Daoist Chu is right¡­ Looks like this ce won''t allowmon loopholes like that." She said, looking at the jade slip.


    "What do you mean?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Come look, these jade slips are not normal." Lady Kang replied, raising it for others to see.


    Everyone approached and checked out the jade slips. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    The jade slips were not smooth like usual ones, instead they seemed to have a grey crystal embedded in the middle. But it wasn''t the same for every jade slip either.


    "They have a varying number of these grey crystals." Lin Mu noted. "And they are the same kind as those embedded over the niches." He added.


    "The number of crystals on them varies from one to five," Crown Prince Feng Shun confirmed after scanning the shelves with his immortal sense. This made them think about how it all worked, while Ziran decided to test it out directly. "Hmm¡­" He stroked his chin as he looked at the jade slips for a few seconds before finally picking up three of them.


    Lin Mu watched and saw that the three jade slips had one, four and five grey crystals on them each. Ziran walked up to one of the niches and ced the jade slip with the single grey crystal on it first.


    ~SHUA~


    Doing so triggered a reaction from the niche and a faint wave of Immortal Qi could be felt. ~HONG~


    And a couple of secondster, one of the grey gemstones on top of the niche glowed!


    "It changed." They observed.


    "It corresponded to the number of crystals, huh." Ziran muttered before picking up the jade slip from the niche and recing it with another jade slip that had five crystals instead of one.


    ~HONG~


    This caused a different change.


    Instead of just one crystal glowing, all five of them were glowing and not just that, but a thin membrane of some kind had also appeared on the niche!


    "Interesting¡­" Ziran smiled. "Are you sure you should be doing this?" Qiao De questioned. "What if you only get one try?" he asked.


    "It''ll be fine. Even if it is one try, at least we''ll have more information." Ziran replied. "I don''t mind sacrificing my reward for this, if it means I get to learn more about this ce." As an explorer, the half elf didn''t care about the end rewards as much as the exploration itself.


    "Quite daring of you." Qiao De couldn''t help but say.


    "I''m used to it. Besides¡­" Ziran said before taking back the jade slip with the five crystals. "I had a hunch this ce is a bit more logical than the one before." He watched as the membrane disappeared.


    "It reverted to normal." Lin Mu spoke, realizing that it was indeed giving them more than one chance.


    But Ziran was not done yet and put the jade slip with the one crystal back in the niche. ~HONG~


    The crystal on top glowed once more, but Ziran didn''t stop and put one more jade slip inside. This jade slip had four crystals on it.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon doing this, the membrane appeared again while all five crystals above the niche glowed.


    "Cumtive¡­ So the crystals determine the value of the jade slip." Ziran figured it outpletely. "So we can take more of the jade slips, as long as the total number of crystals amounts to five," Daoist Chu understood. "Though this might actually make things a bit harder to pick." He chuckled, knowing they would be spoiled for a choice here.


    "Oh, you have no idea¡­" Ziran said as he scanned the jade slip with his immortal sense, reading its contents. "This single jade slip is worth hundreds of thousands of immortal stones." He spoke.


    Lin Mu noticed that the jade slip that Ziran was reading was the five-crystal jade slip.


    "What is it?" He asked, wondering what was inside it.


    "Here." Ziran directly handed it to Lin Mu, allowing him to take a look. Lin Mu obliged and his Immortal sense quickly scanned it, the contents appearing in his mind.


    "Eight Valleys Holy Spear Art¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "This¡­ is a High Grade Qi skill!" he eximed.


    The jade slip did not contain the entire Qi skill, of course, but only gave an overview of it that was enough for a cultivator to know what it was like. And this was enough for Lin Mu to determine that this was no simple Qi skill.


    "What did you say?" Crown Prince Feng Shun seemed to have recognized the name. "How is this¡­ here? A Qi skill of the Eight Valleys Immortal sect!"

 Chapter 2135 The Great Domain Violator

    Chapter 2135 The Great Domain Vitor


    While Lin Mu could read what the skill in the jade slip was and what its quality was, he didn''t know anything about the origins of the skill. It wasn''t mentioned in the jade slip and left him wondering why the others were surprised.


    "What is the Eight Valleys Immortal Sect?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Eight Valleys Immortal Sect was one of the top sects of the Eastern Immortal Court about two hundred thousand years ago." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "They were massively sessful and were quite widespread, having control over eighty Immortal worlds and having their branches in over a thousand Mortal worlds." He added.


    "What? That''s a lot." Lin Mu couldn''t help but be surprised.


    He knew that bigger Immortal Sects often had branches in Mortal worlds, but it was rare for them to be spread in so many worlds. Even a hundred worlds would be a big number, not to mention a thousand of them. Then there was also the fact that they had control over Eighty Immortal Worlds too.


    That was an even bigger achievement than the thousand Mortal World.


    After all, to have control over a mortal world, all they needed to do was establish a branch and keep on supplying them with good resources to maintain their superiority. But doing that in the Immortal realm wasn''t exactly easy since other powers would also have ess to such resources.


    Then there would also be resistance from the powers of the Immortal realm, making it harder for them to spread their influence. As such, the only way one could spread their influence over Immortal worlds would be to take it slow and grow their ranks there or support existing powers on those worlds before taking over them, eventually. Doing anything forcefully was not a good option for them either, as it would easily bring the ire of the other powers of the Immortal realm as well as the Immortal Court itself. The Immortal court had their own allies too and if some Immortal worlds asked them for help, they would be obliged to help up to a certain extent.


    "How is there one of their skills here?" Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but ask. "I thought they had been destroyed long ago." It was clear that other than Crown Prince Feng Shun and Ziran, others also seemed to know of the Eight Valleys Immortal Sect.


    "I don''t know." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "But if their skill is here, it means this ce has been here since before the destruction of the Eight Valleys Immortal Sect." He added.


    "What happened to them?" Lin Mu wondered. "If they had such great influence, it wouldn''t have been easy for them to be destroyed." He added.


    "It was a tragedy." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "The Eight Valleys Immortal Sect became the target of someone that was very dreadful. He was known as the Great Domain Vitor and had destroyed many sects and powers before." He exined.


    "The Great Domain Vitor?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but find the name a bit irksome.


    "He would infiltrate the powers and destroy them from within¡­ Sowing discord and distrust among their members, which lead to great malice spreading in their ranks. This would then further turn into conflicts that could not be resolved easily. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Over time, they would only grow until a war would breakout within their branches. Elders would fight elders and disciples would kill other disciples." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined.


    His voice held a certain level of dread for it all, showing that it was certainly not something that was easy to talk about. It showed just how much fear that person had sowed into the history, causing it to be passed down to people in the future.


    "The abbot once spoke about this too." Monk Hushu said, his brows furrowed in displeasure. "He said that the Great Domain Vitor had tried to do the same with a few of the Buddhist powers, too. If I recall correctly, the Qingmeng Buddhist Sect and the Chrysanthemum Arhat Ind perished in the actions of the Great Domain Vitor too.


    This caused great distress to the Buddhist Alliance and the Great Domain Vitor was deemed as a sworn enemy of the entire Buddhist alliance. His future attempts at infiltrating the powers of the Buddhist Alliance were foiled, but came at a great cost.


    The people he corrupted could not be redeemed and had to be killed." He exined.


    Hearing Monk Hushu''s words, Lin Mu now understood that the fear caused by the Great Domain Vitor was something deeper than just a threat. It was the man''s ability to destroy the very origins of a power.


    "How did he do all that?" Lin Mu questioned. "And did he do it alone?" he asked since their worlds made it seem like it was all done solo.


    "He had many methods, but the mostmon ones were temptations." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered this time. "The Great Domain Vitor had ess to unorthodox techniques and skills that, of course, offered a shortcut to breakthroughs.


    It was easy to tempt those of weak hearts and allow them to fall for his ploys. But it was all a trap, as the techniques and skills he offered were nothing but curses. They would bound those that use them to him, eventually.


    We don''t have the details, but the powers that he offered did note a simple cost¡­ it came at the cost of one''s soul. It would burn the essence of the soul in exchange for a stronger cultivation base.


    And when they were doing this, a lot of side effects would pop up. Side effects that could only be suppressed by the Great Domain Vitor. As such, even if one was a Transcendent Immortal, they would be a ve to his whims unless they wished to die in the end." He exined in detail.


    Lin Mu listened to it carefully, and realized that there were still some things that did not exactly add up.


    "Wait¡­ Considering he''s done this multiple times, how did others not realize it?" Lin Mu questioned. "And he was manipting the different people within the sects, right? Would they not eventually realize they were using the same kind of techniques and skills?" he expressed his doubts.


    "Most of the time they were too blinded by power, while in some cases they only realized toote." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "That''s not all. The Great Domain Vitor was also a master of disguise. Not just in terms of appearance, but even the techniques and skills themselves. somehow he was able to change the outward aspects of the techniques, making one think they did not match.


    But in reality, the core of the technique and skills would remain the same." Ziran chimed in. "It took them a long time to figure out that the Great Domain Vitor was also well versed in formations, being able to freely modify techniques as he wished." He revealed.


    Lin Mu obviously knew that in order to make a new cultivation technique, some level of mastery of the formations was needed since cultivation techniques often relied on the creation of Qi circuits and channels that determined how the technique would work. And the application of these would be used to create Qi skills.


    But he also knew that to modify the cultivation techniques to the extent that the Great Domain Vitor did was also not simple. It needed a mastery of more than formations¡­ one would have to have studied hundreds of thousands of cultivation techniques and skills, throughly understanding them and their workings before being able to make any changes.


    Only by doing all this would one be able to replicate what the Great Domain Vitor did.


    "The Eight Valleys Immortal Sect was a great pir of support for the immortal court and their destruction was not easily endured by the Immortal Court. They could not stay still after learning the truth of what had happened and thus they mounted an offense against the Great Domain Vitor." Monk Hushu continued from earlier. "They eventually managed to deal a major blow to the Great Domain Vitor, erasing his grasp over the powers." He added.


    "But they didn''t manage to kill him?" Lin Mu understood from his words.


    "As much as they wished to do that, it was a distant dream. They did think that they had killed him, but the Great Domain Vitor was more stubborn than they realized. Even with the near fatal injury he had suffered, he managed to get out of it." Monk Hushu answered. "But it still cost him." Ziran said with slight hesitation. "We don''t know what he did, but whatever he did changed his entire being. It cost him his humanity." "Humanity? He wasn''t human anymore?" Lin Mu asked in a surprised tone.


    "Indeed¡­ He turned into an entirely new being¡­ an abomination only known as the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord." Monk Hushu stated, making Lin Mu''s eyes go wide.

 Chapter 2136 Infuriated By A Past Foe full

    2136 Infuriated By A Past Foe


    The mere mention of the name made Lin Mu''s expression change. This caught the attention of all those that were looking at that moment and found it to be a bit strange. But they didn''t know that it was merely the start of it.


    "What did you say?" Lin Mu asked again, a cold expression on his face. "The Shadow Gloom Bone Lord?" "Yes¡­" Monk Hushu confirmed.


    "Him again!" Lin Mu said, his voice trembling in anger. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    ~HUALA~


    At the same time a strong waves of energy spread out from Lin Mu''s body, as if his anger was manifesting.


    ~MOOO~


    ~ROAR~


    A deep red aura emanated from his body and rose above him, before coalescing and taking on the form of two figures. The first figure was that of a towering bear with horns on its head while the second figure was that of a Bull with two legs.


    These were none other than the bloodline figures of the Great Slumber Bear and the Tyrant Bull!


    ~huuu~


    Daoist Chu, Monk Hushu, and Min Ju couldn''t help but take a breath to stabilize themselves, as the aura was simply too oppressive.


    Ziran, Crown Prince Feng Shun, Crown Princess Shang, Elder Ho and Qiao De were fine though and watched with concerned expressions. They could tell that something had infuriated Lin Mu.


    "What is it?" Lady Kang asked, showing clear concern.


    Hearing her voice Lin Mu closed his eyes for a second and silently chanted the Calming Heart Sutra. Monk Hushu raised his brows seeing that and saw Lin Mu''s aura recede quickly. The bloodline figures disappeared and the imposing pressured disappeared.


    "I''m sorry¡­ I didn''t expect to hear the name again here." Lin Mu apologized.


    "It''s fine." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied not minding it. "But it doesn''t seem like it was a good thing for you."


    "Did something happen for you to react like this?" Ziran asked, a few thoughts going through his mind. "I''ve seen many people and the only ones who would respond like this are those with great enmity." He added.


    "You are correct." Lin Mu answered. "That Shadow Gloom Bone Lord¡­ I''ve fought him before." He added.


    ~gasp~


    They knew of the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord as they were all decently influential people with a good source of intelligence about matters like this. Thus they knew the danger the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord posed as well as his strength.


    They also knew of his past exploits and the terror that he had spread in the Immortal realm.


    Thus for Lin Mu to fight someone like that being did not seem simple.


    "You fought him?" Monk Hushu was rather surprised too.


    "Indeed¡­ Though to be more urate it was one of the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord''s avatars." Lin Mu added. "I knew that he could have more than one body, but didn''t expect him to have been existing for this long. And he''s also a well known threat to the entire Immortal realm." He stated honestly.


    "No wonder¡­" Ziran said a look of understanding on his face. "I didn''t know anymore of the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord''s avatars were still alive in the Immortal world¡­ as far as I remember thest one was destroyed three thousand years ago." He added.


    "That''s correct." Lady Kang spoke up. "The Immoral Court set up arge cordon around the world that its avatar was found in. It was the Omero World that was one of the few worlds with a steady production of Omeran Steel, but it was stopped due to the cordon.


    It lead to a great spike in prices back then and the Great Kang Auction house had to procure them from other worlds at a higher price." She said, having recalled what had happened back then.


    Lin Mu heard their words but then shook his head.


    "I didn''t face it in the Immortal world¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    "Then where did you face it?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, finding something to be missing.


    "I faced it in a Mortal World¡­ My Home world." Lin Mu revealed, surprising them all.


    "You¡­ You''re from a Mortal world?" Crown Princess Shang couldn''t believe it.


    With the skills and abilities that Lin Mu had demonstrated, along with his links to a celestial, they couldn''t believe that a person like him could havee from just a mortal world.


    Even in the Immortal world, finding someone like him was not simple and he would be like a hidden gem found after unearthing a hundred coal mines. Talented individuals like him would be invaluable to the powers of the Immortal realm as well as the Immortal Court itself.


    For an individual like him to be born in a Mortal World seemed almost impossible to them. They had of course heard of great geniusesing from mundane and obscure worlds, but seeing it with their own two eyes was another experience entirely.


    Even for Crown Prince Feng Shun, Lady Kang and Ziran who had seen and experienced a lot of things, it was a new thing.


    Though this also made them feel marveled at Lin Mu''s talent, as it was a great aplishment to be able to reach this level when one started from a mortal world. As that showed that it wasn''t just talent that had brought him this far, there was also a lot of hard work involved in it.


    "I am." Lin Mu finally confirmed it himself. "For you to face an avatar of the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord in a mortal world¡­ This is quite concerning." Ziran muttered before turning to the Crown Prince. "As far as I recall there have never been any records of the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord descending to the mortal Worlds, have there?" he questioned.


    "None¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun shook his head. "The Immortal court had us memorize all the major foes that the court has current as well as those in the past. As such I can clearly remember there never being anything like this before." He exined.

 Chapter 2137 The Shadow Gloom Bone Lords Past

    Chapter 2137 The Shadow Gloom Bone Lord''s Past


    The Crown Prince''s words were concerning to them while Lin Mu furrowed his brows in slight confusion.


    "What do you mean by that? The Shadow Gloom Bone Lord has never targeted any Mortal world before?" he questioned.


    "Indeed. Even if he was that powerful, he still has the same restrictions as us and cannot easily descend to the Mortal Realm." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered.


    "Besides, he has no reason to do that." Monk Hushu chimed in. "From what I''ve been told by the Abbot, the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord''s goal in taking over worlds was to absorb the power of the world itself. A Mortal world would not be worth his time and effort, not to mention descending to the Mortal World would greatly weaken its powers too." He added.


    "That''s strange¡­ why did the Shadow Gloom Bone Lorde to my world then?" Lin Mu couldn''t figure it out exactly. He knew that there was involvement of some smugglers in it as well as the merchant from the Indigo World Hegemony, but he didn''t know if it was the will of the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord himself.


    "If he had chosen to go to a Mortal World, it probably means he had no other choice left." Lady Kang guessed. "He has been targeted everywhere in the Immortal realm and cannot live freely within the influence of the Immortal Court. And with his powers running low, he probably had to pick a mortal world at that point." She exined.


    "That does seem likely." Monk Hushu nodded before turning to Crown Prince. "The records show that his avatars significantly decreased from five thousand years ago right?" he asked.


    "Yes." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "After that there had only been three of his avatars being spotted and eliminated in the Immortal realm." He added.


    But Lin Mu picked up that something was missing there. "What happened five thousand years ago?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The official records state that the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord''s main body was destroyed five thousand years ago." Crown Prince Feng Shun ordered.


    "Huh? The Immortal Court did it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ The one above the Immortal Court did it." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu asked, slight dread rising in his heart.


    "After the Great Domain Vitor became the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord, he managed to survive at the expenses of losing his humanity and getting weaker. But this new form of his also granted him other abilities that he did not have in his human form.


    It also added new conditions to his existence that demanded that he consume more than just Qi and vitality to survive¡­ The Shadow Gloom Bone Lord needed the powers of the World itself to sustain itself. And when he started to consume the worlds, his power grew quite fast. Eventually it reached a point where he broke through his original limits and became a Celestial!" Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed, making Lin Mu shocked.


    "He was a Celestial too?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that.


    "Indeed. He moved onto the Celestial Realm, but his avatars were still spread around in the Immortal World, growing and expanding his influence while maintaining his power here." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "He had absorbed over a hundred worlds in the Fands particrly back then." Ziran chimed in. "There was an avatar that invaded one of the world''s near my wife''s worlds. But he was killed swiftly by the powers present there along with the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts." He added.


    "The Shadow Gloom Bone Lord caused trouble for the powers of the Celestial Realm too, garnering enmity from them. Several Great powers were infuriated and couldn''t take it anymore." Monk Hushu narrated. "His Growing Influence had to be curbed, and thus many celestial powers banded together to eliminated the main body of the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord, ending his influence in the Celestial Realm." He revealed.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu could now put together a decentlyrge picture in his mind.


    He understood the time line of it all and where it linked with his own events as well as what was the involvement of the Serpent Moon Sect in it.


    ''So the Saintess and the Serpent Moon Sect became enemies with him back then.'' Lin Mu reckoned. Lin Mu could easily imagine the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord attempting to take over one of the worlds under the influence of the Serpent Moon sect and then offending them. From the Saintess''s demeanor it certainly did not seem like she would be very forgiving with that which lead to him getting attacked.


    Though it was a bit surprising to Lin Mu that it had happened only five thousand years ago. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    It was a long time for him, but for most immortals it was not that much. To people like Lady Kang, Ziran and Crown Prince, it may as well have been fifty years of differenceparatively. Two of them were alive at that time and one of them had even seen the fragments of the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord in the past.


    "Looks like we have some work to do after we get out of here." Daoists Chu stated. "We need to report the sighting of the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord to the Immortal Court." He spoke.


    "I''ve killed him." Lin Mu stated. "He threatened my entire world and took control over many people¡­" he gave a short summary of what had happened in the Xiaofan world.


    After hearing it, Monk Hushu nodded. "That does sound like what the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord has done in the past. It''s his typical mode of operation." "At least it''s good that Daoist Mu Lin managed to eliminated the avatar. Though it is surprising that you could do something like that in the Mortal World¡­ Even with his powers suppressed he is not weak." Ziran spoke, feeling impressed.


    "I had help¡­ A lot of help from allies." Lin Mu said, fondly recalling the faces of all those that had assisted him.

 Chapter 2138 One Crystal Jade Slips

    Chapter 2138 One Crystal Jade Slips


    Everyone was paying attention to Lin Mu''s words and could tell that his allies had meant a lot to him from the tone of his voice as well as the look in his eyes.


    Though a few of them seem to be a bit mistaken.


    ''Does he mean the people backing him?'' Crown Prince Feng Shun wondered.


    Though they didn''t voice out their thoughts and simply listened for a bit before Lin Mu was done speaking.


    "At least now I know that the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord is a known threat." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed. In fact, if your world had even the slightest link with an established Immortal world, it would have been noticed by the Immortal Court." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "As such, even if it was against the rules, the Immortal Court would still allow a few immortals to descend as an exception." He stated.


    "I see¡­ Though there have been one case in the past when immortals appeared in my world. Though it was probably not a descent that was allowed by the Immortal Court considering their fate is unknown." Lin Mu replied remembering that other than the Immortal that had died and the one that had been turned into a Skeleton the other two had returned to the Immortal world with no news. "Hmm¡­ Your world is a bit too obscure and possibly very new." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "I''ve never heard of Xiaofan world before either." Lady Kang chimed in.


    "Do you happen to know what region it is based in? We might be able to discover more records that way." Ziran asked..


    "I don''t know¡­ I directly arrived in the Immortal would from there." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "That makes it difficult. There are too many mortal worlds¡­ Several times more than the number of Immortal worlds as such it is impossible to find a specific one without a reference." Ziran said. "Especially if it is in the Fands region of the Mortal realm. They have one too just like the Immortal realm. There are a lot of newborn mortal worlds there that might not be older than a hundred thousand years." He exined.


    Lin Mu knew that it would be a tough thing to figure out for him too.


    ''Thought I still have a way to find my way back¡­ The Four Faceted Neb should be able to bring me back as long as I can manage to let it charge.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It was possibly one of the surefire ways of getting him back, as the power of the Four Faceted Neb was great enough to match a Transcendent Immortal. This was something that should not have been normally possible and had surprised Xukong too.


    After thinking about all this, Lin Mu realized that they should probably get back to the task at hand.


    "Now that we know what kind of techniques are present here, we need to be more prudent in choosing them." Lin Mu spoke up. "Let''s check all the jade slips and see what are the best suited." He stated.


    "Yes!" They all agreed.


    With that said, everyone split up and went around to look for suitable techniques for themselves. There were easily thousands of jade slips here and it would take quite some time to look thorough them one by one. But with all of them dividing the work, things would be a bit easier.


    Lin Mu was actually feeling quite excited too and wondered what rare skills and techniques might be found here.


    As such, he picked a random shelf, and started from the very bottom. The jade slips were ced in order of the number of crystal they had on them. The one crystal jade slips were kept at the bottom, while the five crystal jade slips were kept at the very top.


    Their numbers also varied depending on this, with some shelves having only one or two, five crystal jade slips and over a hundred one crystal jade slips.


    Lin Mu picked up a few one crystal jade slips and used his Immoral sense to scan them.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Memories appeared in his mind, as he understood the contents of the jade slips.


    "Flowing Panda Rolling Charge." Lin Mu read the first skill. "Huh¡­ this is¡­ definitely unique." He raised his brows in a bit of surprise.


    The jade slip contained a Qi skill that allowed on to roll like a panda and crush enemies under themselves. The only problem was that the skill had specific requirements on the body of the user. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    One had to be fat to use it.


    Other than this, the technique seemed simple enough for Lin Mu to figure out, even though the actual mnemonic was not mentioned in it. ''The user simply has to circte the immortal Qi in a surging pattern while maintaining a harmonic frequency that matches the roll. This way the speed of rolling would increase and the momentum would add extra power to the Qi skill.'' Lin Mu analyzed how it might work.


    For skills like this, it was safe to say that they didn''t interest Lin Mu at all. Thus, there was no way he was going to pick this.


    The next one crystal skill that he read was called as the Dark Cursed Three Series Kick. "An impressive name, butcking effects¡­" Lin Mu had a frown on his face as he finished going through its contents.


    This was a Qi skill that specialized in kicks that could ''curse'' the enemy that was struck by it. But this was not a curse and merely a method of disrupting the Qi flow of the enemy by striking them at the right points.


    This inherently wasn''t bad, but the restrictions of the technique were rather bad as it only worked on those below the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.


    Lin Mu discarded the jade slip and moved onto the next one.


    ''Doesn''t feel like the one crystal ones are going to be as good as I thought.''

 Chapter 2139 Hard Choices

    Chapter 2139 Hard Choices


    It had been an hour and Lin Mu had gone through all of the one crystal jade slips as well as the two crystal jade slips in the nearby shelves.


    The one crystal jade slips were all Qi skills without exception and were basically useless for Lin Mu. At first he thought that this was just the case for the first shelf that he had picked. But when he checked out the other shelves, he found it to be the same.


    Lin Mu asked hispanions too and they confirmed that they had found all the one crystal jade slips to be Qi skills. Almost all of them found them to be useless other than a couple of obscure ones that appealed to Daoist Chu and Ziran.


    And those Qi skills weren''t offense skills, but had supportive or auxiliary effects.


    For example Daoist Chu liked a Qi skill called as the Echoed Shivers. It was a sensory Qi skill that allowed one to sense vibrations through the air. While this was something most immortals could do with the help of their Immortal sense, this Qi skill allowed one to do the same without it. As such, it could be a good backup skill in case one was unable to use their Immortal sense for some reason.


    Another good use for it was to cause misdirection for others in the scenario of an ambush.


    The enemies might think that the user is unaware and is not using their immortal sense, but the Echoed Shivers Qi skill would allow them to know of their movements, regardless. As such, the Qi skill was actually not that bad and Lin Mu found it good to have in one''s repertoire too but the limitations on the Qi skill also reduced its use. Not only did the Qi skill consumed a high amount of Immortal Qi to do this, it also had a limited range of ten to twenty meters.


    Such a range was only good for close encounters whereas most immortals fought at a longer distance.


    Lin Mu didn''t need this Qi skill either as he had a far superior ability¡­ His Spatial Perception.


    Even for Daoist Chu, while he did add it to his list of potential choices, he hadn''t actually picked it.


    The Qi skill that Ziran had found to be useful was something that was suited to exploration.


    It was called as the Shadow Mote Tag.


    It was a Qi skill that could only be used by someone that could use Shadow element or the Darkness element. It allowed on to create a small shadow tag that could be attached to other objects, whether they be living or nonliving. This could then be identified by the user even if the appearance of the object changed, whether due to another Qi skill or some formation.


    As such, the Shadow Mote Tag could be quite useful in navigating through illusory arrays and mazes that changed often and also in tracking down others.


    This was actually a Qi skill that impressed Lin Mu, and he found it to be the best one among all the one crystal jade slips he had seen so far but its restrictions basically made it impossible for him to use it. In the two crystal jade slips, Lin Mu found that these were also Qi skills, but there were still some auxiliary skills mixed in them.


    The quality of the Qi skills was also a lot better, and they had fewer restrictions than the others. Lin Mu found them a bit more useful and picked out a few that could be potential picks for himter.


    After another two hours of scouring the shelves, Lin Mu had looked through most of the two crystal jade slips and had chosen three of them as potential options. He set them apart, and wouldter discuss with the others if they were viable or not.


    "Finally, the Three Crystal Jade Slips¡­" Lin Mu muttered and picked up the first one.


    The number of Three Crystal jade Slips was quite low aspared to the one crystal jade slips. On a single shelf, there weren''t more than fifteen to twenty of them.


    Among them, about half of them were Qi skills, and one could finally find some cultivation techniques mixed in. Though of course, the cultivation techniques were not something anyone here would pick easily as they had their own top quality cultivation techniques they used. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Even Min Ju and Elder Ho had top quality cultivation techniques as part of the Great Kang Auction house.


    There was no way, anyone weaker would be qualified to serve Lady Kang after all.


    The two royals had either their signature techniques or something better they had obtained in the Immortal Court.


    Qiao De also had a top tier cultivation technique due to him being part of the ck Candle Pavilion.


    Monk Hushu was a Buddhist cultivator, so almost all of the cultivation techniques were ipatible with him by default, while Ziran had his own cultivation technique that was suited to his unique race.


    Then there was Lady Kang who had a rather obscure and unique cultivation technique that used the power of stars.


    Even among the top tier cultivation techniques Lin Mu knew that not many could use the power of stars.


    ''Even if I can''t use them, it might be good to study them.'' Lin Mu thought and still picked out a few that garnered his interest along with the good Qi skills.


    Among the Three Crystal Jade Slips, Lin Mu particrly liked the Qi skills that were projectile type Qi skills.


    ''These would be perfect to use with Wonder Seeker,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    For this, he was a bit spoiled for choice as there were a lot of them that he could use and found good. As such, he picked out more than twenty such Qi skills before finally moving onto the four crystal jade slips.


    This was where the number of jade slips was skewed towards cultivation techniques more instead of Qi skills.

 Chapter 2140 Picking The Jade Slips

    Chapter 2140 Picking The Jade Slips


    The Searing Sparrow Darts was a skill that was decent, but wascking for Lin Mupared to his other skills. But whenbined with Wonder Seeker, it became several times better. The skill could be adapted into an arrow by the bow and even amplify its power further, thereby making it stronger.


    Not just that but the bow could even attack on its own without Lin Mu needed to control it if he wished for it. As such, having more skills to use in conjunction with Wonder Seeker would be great. While he used the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo to create stone arrows, it was still from his Dao Skill and needed greater power to do so.


    The metal arrows he created were also a bit vague since they were just made out of pure metal elemental immortal Qi and weren''t an actual Qi skill. Thus having a Qi skill here would be a good choice for it.


    For example, among the twenty Qi skills Lin Mu had picked out, there was one that was called as Elephant Shredding Bolt.


    It was a Metal Elemental Qi skill that allowed one to create arge illusory ballista that shot a bolt which could shred an elephant sized beast with ease. This skill was fullypatible with Wonder Seeker from what Lin Mu could tell and would be a perfect fit for it.


    Then there was a dual Fire and Earth Elemental Qi skill called as Foot Swallowing Tar Bombs. Just like its name, it allowed one to create bombs that would spread sticky tar wherever they exploded. This could help restrict humans as well as other beasts, and coulde in handy when Lin Mu needed to deal withrge numbers of them at once without killing them.


    While it could still cause damage, it was not that great and wouldn''t kill the others.


    Lin Mu reckoned, using it with Wonder Seeker will probably increase its efficiency and reach by several times.


    In addition to these, there were several other Qi skills that he picked out, but these were the top on his list.


    Once Lin Mu was done with the three crystal jade slips, he finally moved onto the four crystal jade slips.


    "Oh? There''s other things than Qi skills and cultivation technique mixed in this." Lin Mu noticed feeling a bit surprised. "A weapon forging blueprint¡­" he muttered.


    Immortal weapons were certainly valuable, but what was often more valuable than that would be the method of making them. These methods were priceless to their creators and they would seldom reveal it to others. Most of the time, they would only pass it on to their disciples, and thus keep it limited to their legacy.


    This was why great Weapon Forgers were so valued, as a good weapon could multiply the strength of an Immortal with ease. It was the single most straightforward method of growing one''s power after all.


    Depending on the type of weapon, the value of its blueprints would also vary greatly. A higher rank weapon''s blueprint would obviously have a greater value. This was especially the case for organizations and powers like cultivation sects who would pay no expense in obtaining a good weapon blueprint. After all, it could greatly elevate the power of an entire sect if they could replicate the weapons.


    The weapon blueprint contained in the jade slip was exactly that. "Eighteen Notched Cavalry Saber¡­" Lin Mu read the weapon''s name.


    The Immortal Weapon was a mid grade immortal weapon and was perfect for those in below the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm. This was usually what the majority disciples of a sect were at thus the Eighteen notched Calvary Saber would fit their needs.


    And it wasn''t just because of its rank either, but because the materials needed to make the Eighteen Notched Cavalry Saber were also cheap and easy to find. "It can be made from Hundred Refined Immortal Iron mixed with a small quantity of Heavy Corundum, they will give it toughness and with the technique prescribed in the blue prints, one can add a great sharpness to it too." Lin Mu read the contents of the jade slip. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    The cost to benefit ratio of this jade slip was quite high, as it could be used to mass produce immortal weapons. But ultimately this was something that didn''t really matter to Lin Mu. He had his own high rank immortal weapons and thus something as simple as the Eighteen Notched Cavalry Saber would be useless to him.


    ''If there''s something like this in the Four Crystal Jade Slips, there should be better stuff too.'' Lin Mu reckoned and scoured through the rest of them.


    The number of Four crystal jade slips was not that high, being less than ten in most of the shelves. As such, it didn''t take Lin Mu to check all of them, especially with the others having already gone through their sections. Lin Mu''spanions merely told them what they had found, making it easier for Lin Mu to determine whether they were good for him or not.


    Surprisingly, a majority of the four crystal jade slips turned out to be worthless for Lin Mu. Even more so whenpared to the Three Crystal Jade Slips that had the projectile Qi skills he would be able to use. There were several good cultivation techniques in the four crystal jade slips too, but they weren''t needed by Lin Mu anyway.


    As for the Qi skills, there were barely a couple of them on each shelf and they weren''t necessarily better than Lin Mu''s own skills. Adding them would not be of much benefit to him, thus he ended up not picking any of them finally.


    After about sixteen hours of scouring the library, Lin Mu finally moved onto the ''dessert'', the Five Crystal Jade Slips.


    These were supposedly the best out of all of the, from what they had learned from the first one they had checked.


    The Eight Valleys Holy Spear Technique was the signature technique of the Eight Valleys Immortal Sect and was a top quality Spear technique that would allow one to greatly improve their abilities.


    Lin Mu wondered what other high quality Qi skills he would find among them.


    The first five shelves he checked all had cultivation techniques on them, that weren''t useful to Lin Mu. Though to most Immortals they were something they would kill to obtain. Everyone present here had top rank cultivation techniques thus these ended up being thest thing they would prefer picking from here.


    ''There are several Weapon blueprints in the five crystal jade slips too.'' Lin Mu thought after going through more shelves. These were for High Grade Immortal Weapons and were not exactly meant for mass production. Instead these would be weapons that would be given to the elites of an organization or the elders of a sect. Making them also needed more valuable materials and needed skilled weapon forgers to make them.


    There were several swords, sabers, spears, daggers and other weapons in it, but they weren''t a need for Lin Mu in the end.


    He wasn''t going to spend effort in making a weapon and the nurturing it from the start when he already had others that were better than that.


    In the end, his focus came back to the Qi skills among them. Their numbers were the lowest among the five crystal jade slips, and in the entire library the group only found a grand total of twenty one such jade slips.


    And only one of them had caught Lin Mu''s attention. But not due to its power, but because of how it was presented.


    "This Qi skill¡­ it is iplete." Lin Mu discovered.


    The description in the jade slip itself stated that this Qi skill was iplete and only one part of it was contained in this.


    "Grand Bagua Mythic Series Art¡­ This does not seem normal." Lin Mu read the entire jade slip but could not exactly figure out what kind of Qi skill this was. Perhaps it was due to it being iplete, but the description was a bitcking.


    ''This jade slip has¡­ the Qian Series inscribed in this.'' Lin Mu read at the end. ''If this has to do with the Bagua, then there should be eight series.'' He guessed.


    It was one of the earlier concepts that Lin Mu had learned a long ago.


    It was born from Taiji and was divided into eight parts: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Gen, Dui, Kan, Li. Some of these corresponded to the basal elements, while some did to the heavenly elements, with a few being different entirely.


    Bagua was considered more as a representation of the world itself and thus being part of the Dao too.


    ''Any technique that has to do with Bagua would have to touch upon the Dao for it to work¡­ is this why it is iplete? Even a fragment of the technique is worth a five crystal jade slip.'' Lin Mu reckoned.

 Chapter 2141 The Grand Bagua Mythic Series

    Chapter 2141 The Grand Bagua Mythic Series


    With such an option that stood out, Lin Mu didn''t know if it was worth getting anything other than this.


    ''On its own it might not be as usable, but perhaps with the rest of its fragments it would be the best among all¡­'' Lin Mu thought.


    And just as he did this though, a loud shout was heard.


    "It can''t be!" Daoist Chu eximed pulling the attraction of everyone. "Crown Prince Feng Shun! Crown Princess Shang! Monk Hushu! COME QUICK!" he yelled.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Of course, with such amotion, everyone rushed there instead of just the ones that were called. Lin Mu did the same, wanting to find out what had happened.


    "What is it!?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned hispanions.


    "L-Look! This Jade slip, it has the¡­ G-Grand Bagua¡ª" Daoist Chu hadn''t even finished speaking when the Crown Prince took the jade slip from his hands.


    ~SHUA~


    He quickly scanned the jade slip and read the contents. His expression changed rapidly, and shock was present on his face.


    "We HAVE to take this!" Crown Prince Feng Shun stated firmly.


    "Of course!" Daoist Chu nodded furiously.


    Lin Mu who had heard the two words spoken by Daoist Chu couldn''t help but furrow his words.


    "Did you find another fragment of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series?" Lin Mu asked out loud.


    "Another!?" Daoist Chu looked at with wide eyes.


    "You found one too!?" Crown Prince asked rushing to him.


    "Yes," Lin Mu replied, showing him the jade slip.


    ~SHUA~


    Crown Prince quickly scanned the jade slip and was surprised by its contents.


    "The Qian Series¡­ it really is another undiscovered fragment!" Crown Prince eximed. "Qian and Dui! Both undiscovered fragments were here!" he said with great joy.


    "There really are two fragments of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series here?" Crown Princess Shang who heard his confirmation couldn''t help but be pleased too.


    Lin mu who watched their collective excitement couldn''t help but feel a bit confused.


    "Do you know about the Grand Bagua Mythic Series?" Lin Mu questioned, realizing that there was more to this technique than he knew. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "Of course! This is the Grand Bagua Mythic Series we''re talking about!" Crown Prince Feng Shun answered.


    "It is perhaps one of the best techniques out there that is not only good, but is alsopatible with various paths." Monk Hushu chimed in.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, this is a great discovery. The Immortal Court has been looking for the fragments of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series for a long time. So far they''ve only obtained three of them." Daoist Chu revealed, making Lin Mu surprised.


    "Even the Immortal Court only has three of them?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected this technique to be this rare.


    "Of course, it is an old technique that has a long history¡­" Daoist Chu said before telling Lin Mu about the history of the technique.


    Apparently, the Grand Bagua Mythic Series was aprehensive technique that was made million upon millions of years ago. It had been considered a top technique since the ancient times and in itsplete form it was an all inclusive technique that not only functioned as a cultivation technique, but also had Qi skills within it too!


    The technique also had the ability of allowing its user to grasp the eight Dao that were part of the Bagua. One could grasp the Sky Dao, the Earth Dao, the Lightning Dao, the Wind Dao, the Mountain Dao, the Marsh Dao, The Water Dao and The Fire Dao.


    Five of the Dao''s that were part of the Bagua were the elemental Dao''s that many cultivators used, and as such it was useful for a lot of them. And the ones that were a bit more unusual, such as the Mountain, Marsh and Sky Dao were still not simple.


    All three of them had their own strengths and were no less weaker than the other Daos.


    Just like Lin Mu had guessed, the Grand Bagua Mythic Series was divided into eight series, and each of them had their own skills.


    But what was special about the fragments was that there was only one skill present in them. These skills were not fixed either, and they varied depending on who had made the jades slip. For example, two jade slip containing the Li Series will have different skills depending on the creator. Thus was due to the fact that the skill that came with the series wasn''t meant to be a staple skill, but rather an introductory skill that would allow the new users to learn it.


    Every user of Grand Bagua Mythic Series was supposed toprehend their own understanding of the Dao and then create their own skill. As such, there were N-number of Qi skills that were part of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series ever since its creation.


    Not just that, but these Qi skills often became misced over time and their details were lost. Some might be so distanced that there might not be any clue left that the skill had once been part of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series.


    It was even said that there were over a thousand Qi skills that had originally been sourced from some skill of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series. There were cultivators who only found that a Qi skill they had been using for thousands of years was actually part of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series only when they started to learn the technique. Of course, most that learned the technique only learned from the fragments.


    From what Lin Mu learned, there hasn''t been anyone that had managed to find all fragments of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series and then master them.


    While the technique might be widelypatible with various cultivation paths, that didn''t mean that it was simple to learn. In fact, even learning a single series was a difficult task and took a long time to do so if one wasn''tpatible with them.


    Among the Eight Series, the Kun, Kan, and Li series were the easiest ones to learn as they were from the five basal elements. In the Grand Bagua Mythic Series, the Zhen and Xun series were the second easiest ones to learn. But since they were still part of the Four Heavenly elements, there was some additional difficulty in learning them.


    Then there was the Gen, Dui and Qian Series that were the hardest among all eight. Only those that had some affinity to them were able to learn them, or those that had greatprehension ability, were also able to grasp them with some effort.


    "What Series does the Immortal Court have?" Lin Mu asked feeling curious.


    "The Immortal Court has the Xun, Kan and Li series with them." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "I''ve been wanting to get the Xun Series for a long time, but it is hard to get it without significant merits. One cannot simply buy it." He added.


    "Even the Immortal Court was unable to obtain the others? Are they that rare?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling surprise.


    "Yes." The Crown Prince nodded. "The Immortal Court actually has multiple copies of the three series they''ve obtained. Since each copy of the Series has a different skill, they''ve umted a lot of those three, as they are the mostmon to find. Many cultivators find Wind, Water and fire Dao''s easy to learnpared to most, so their numbers are the most abundant." He exined.


    "Huh¡­ Then why don''t they have the Kun Series?" Lin Mu questioned. "The Earth Dao is also rtively easier to learn." He added.


    "The Immortal Court did have the Kun Series once upon a time, but it was lost after the two people who had it died. One of them perished in a battle while the other was lost on a mission." Daoist Chu answered.


    "But now¡­ Now I can obtain it." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "One of the most straightforward ways of obtaining them is to provide them with another copy of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series." He added.


    "Since we now have two entirely new series, we can get the Xun Series as well as the Kan and Li series." Daoist Chu spoke up. "With how many copies they''ve umted, they won''t mind giving one each to you." He added.


    "Not just me." Crown Prince Feng Shun shook his head. "All of us will get them." He said, much to their surprise.


    "It was all our collective effort that we''ve managed to reach here. As such, the reward should be equal too." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "I believe all of you would like to have them, wouldn''t you?" he said with a smile.


    "Of course!" Lin Mu was not one to deny something like this.


    Even if he might not be able to use them right away, he reckoned with some effort he''ll eventually figure it out.


    Plus, now that he knew just how valuable the Grand Bagua Mythic Series was, he would keep a lookout for them in the future.

 Chapter 2142 Final Picks

    Chapter 2142 Final Picks


    Lin Mu had a hunch that Senior Xukong and the Saintess might know more about the Grand Bagua Mythic Series.


    With how Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others were exerting its value, it was clearly something well known among the experts of the Immortal realm. As such, the Saintess and Xukong would probably know about it too.


    Lin Mu even deliberated whether he should ask Senior Xukong right away, but didn''t do so.


    ''He''s been silent for a long time¡­ He''s probably deep in cultivation right now.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Thest time he had met Xukong in the ring, Lin Mu could somewhat tell that the spider was a bit different. He couldn''t exactly ce his finger on it, but it did feel like he had grown ''bigger''. ''He might just be close to a breakthrough¡­ though it is still hard to tell what kind of breakthroughs he has,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Xukong''s cultivation was a mystery and unlike the normal cultivators, it didn''t seem like the power of his avatar changed much. ''Perhaps it''s because he has been in the ring that I cannot tell any difference or maybe he''s just masking it.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    Whatever it might be, he did think that Xukong was his most significant source of information for things that were unknown to him.


    With the decision over the Grand Bagua Mythic Series having been made, the rest of the people started picking their choices.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, you can pick whatever you want. I''ll use my chance to take this jade slip." Crown Prince Feng Shun offered. "After we obtain it, we''ll be sharing it of course." He added.


    "That''ll be fine." Lin Mu didn''t mind getting more options.


    With the Crown Prince taking the Qian Series and Daoist Chu taking the Dui Series, two of the niches on were now filled. Some time passed, as the rest of them also finished making their choices. Unsurprisingly, not many of them took the Five Crystal jade slips as their reward. Only Lady Kang and Qiao De had picked give crystal jade slips other than the Grand Bagua Series.


    And of course, both of them had picked the options that gave them the most profits.


    Lady Kang picked the blueprints of an armor that could be mass produced and sold on the market for a hefty profit. For someone of her status and connections, this would bring her the most benefit. The Great Kang Auction house had their own armor smiths that would be able to manufacture it and ensure that they had the best gains.


    On the other hand, Qiao De picked something simr, but instead of a Weapon or Armor blueprint, it was the recipe for an Alchemical Pill.


    There had been several Alchemical Pill recipes in the jade slips, but there was only a single Alchemical Pill Recipe in the Five crystal jade slips!


    It was a pill that was specialized in stabilizing foundation for immortals called as the Immortal Faith Mending Pill. It was something that was intended for those Immortals who had broken through without proper preparation and had barely survived the tribtion. This often left longsting damages to their foundation and took them quite a bit of effort to resolve.


    The Immortal Faith Mending Pill was something that could resolve this instability in a shorter time, with some only needing half as much time as normal. This was a great boost to most immortals, and there would be nock of Immortals that wouldn''t want a pill like this.


    Even those that were fully confident in breaking through would keep at least a couple of pills on their person just so that they would be ready for any unknown factors. Foundation Stabilizing Pills for immortals were a bit rare and the number of recipes for them was limited. Majority of them were monopolized by a few alchemists and organizations, with a limited being circted in the market.


    But those that were circted in the market weren''t as effective and many only reduced the effects by as little as five percent. Thus, one could imagine that the profits from a Foundation Stabilizing pill like that wouldn''t have many buyers.


    One would have to consider the risk to benefit ratio of a pill like that, as there was also the risk of pill toxins from a low efficacy pill like that. But the Immortal Faith Mending Pill wasn''t like that. Not only did it have a better efficacy, it also had the faint effect of removing Pill toxins from the body. Thus making it one of the best pills to be used for immortals.


    It wasn''t like there weren''t other pills with simr effects in the market. There were a few. But they were controlled by the few dominators in the market and certainly couldn''t be manufactured by others. Their methods were secret and couldn''t be obtained.


    Many had tried to obtain them, either by hook or by crook, but their luck had mostly been bad.


    But now, Qiao De had found the recipe for a pill like that!


    The joy on his face was evident, with his smile that simply wouldn''t go away. It almost felt like someone had stitched his lips to the side to keep them stretched.


    ''Haha¡­ this single recipe makes this entire trip worth it!'' Qiao De thought, dreaming of the wealth he would obtain from this. As a manager of a ck Candle Pavillion''s branch, he obviously had ess to alchemists too. It wouldn''t be hard for him to recruit a few of them to his side and start manufacturing the pills. The question of obtaining ingredients was nonexistent for the man too, as his branch had their own stable supply of them.


    With such advantages, the Immortal Faith Mending Pill was the perfect reward he could''ve asked for.


    ''Ten years¡­ Ten years should be enough for me to be the Head Manager for the entire Rust Sky World''s ck Candle Pavilion.'' Qiao De''s dreams were certainly not small.


    While some picked jade slips with great value, there was someone that didn''t care much about that and picked what he took a fancy to.


    This was none other than Ziran, who had picked five One Crystal Jade slips from the shelves.


    Lin Mu who saw this, couldn''t help but find it a bit strange. "You''re only taking One Crystal jade slips?" Lin Mu questioned.


    He could understand Ziran taking one or two of them, but not all five. While the quantity was greater, it didn''t mean that the quality would be any good.


    "Yes. They are quite interesting." Ziran answered.


    "How so?" Lin Mu asked in curiosity.


    "Well¡­ I more than the techniques themselves, I find their origins more interesting." Ziran replied before presenting them to Lin Mu. "Why don''t you scan them and tell me what you think?" he asked.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded and did as asked.


    ~SHUA~


    His Immoral sense swept over the five jade slips, their content appearing in his mind.


    Two of the jade slips were Qi skills meant for offense, two were meant for defense, and thest one was meant for movement. "Unrivaled Tiger Fist, Unrivaled Whip Kick, Unrivaled Rock Back, Unrivaled Iron Arms, and Unrivaled Skipping Legs¡­ All of them have a simr name." Lin Mu replied. "Though all of them are quite weak¡­ Only the First Tribtion Stage Immortals might find them decent to use." He added. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "Indeed." Ziran nodded. "What else?" "Their name¡­ it is a bit of an exaggeration, isn''t it?" Lin Mu asked. "Unrivaled is a bit too much for this." "That''s correct too." Ziran chuckled. "But that exaggeration is exactly why I find them interesting." "Oh?" Lin Mu was intrigued.


    "I already know that these skills were all made by the same person, but I also suspect that these skills actually came from a lost power from the past." He added.


    "What?" Lin Mu was surprised. "Such skills?" "Of course, I don''t think they were directly made by them, but definitely are linked to them." Ziran replied. "I have a hunch that these were made by some remnant of the Unrivaled Mayhem Martial Sect." He added.


    "Unrivaled Mayhem Martial Sect¡­ Wasn''t that a body cultivating Sect?" Lin Mu could somewhat recall reading about it.


    "Oh? You know about them? That''s rare. Not many know about them anymore." It was Ziran''s turn to be surprised.


    "I read about them in a book about the history of Body Cultivation sects. If I recall correctly, they were one of thest few major body cultivation sects left when Qi cultivation had be mainstream." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    "That''s correct." Ziran nodded his head. "Most of the traces of the Unrivaled Mayhem Marital Sect have been erased by the annals of time after all this time, but some of them pop up asionally. It was one of the things I''ve been looking into on behalf of a friend.


    I didn''t have much luck for the past couple of thousand years, but I didn''t expect to find clues now." He exined.


    "Oh? Was your friend a body cultivator, too?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Yes, he was possibly one of the strongest Body Cultivators I''ve ever met," Ziran replied with fondness. "It was his goal to unearth the forgotten history of the Body Cultivation path and restore it to its glory." "Was? Is he not alive?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.


    ~Sigh~


    "I don''t know¡­ It''s been over four thousand years since I''vest heard of it. I have hope that he is still alive, though." Ziran answered.

 Chapter 2143 Teleporting To The Third Trial

    Chapter 2143 Teleporting To The Third Trial


    Lin Mu could tell that Ziran really thought well of his friend and wished to see him.


    "What was his name?" Lin Mu questioned. "Maybe I''ll find some information about him." He added.


    "His name was Sanga, but he was also known as the Iron Blooded Colossus." Ziran answered.


    "Hmm, I''ll remember that." Lin Mu memorized it while also trying to see if he could recall the name. ''Doesn''t seem like a name I''ve heard before at least.'' He thought.


    "Well, rather than the name I think it''ll be easier for you to spot him by his appearance. He stands out in the crowd really well." Ziran said with a chuckle.


    "I''m guessing he''s really big from his title?" Lin Mu replied.


    "That is an understatement." Ziran replied. "Sanga was originally a human born in a barbarian tribe in some mortal world. But he was born with a natural strength that allowed him to rule his tribe and eventually the entire region. He didn''t want to be limited to that though and sought out ways to increase his strength.


    He trained nonstop, using various methods known and unknown. He almost killed himself doing this, and came close to dying many times. His body had almost given up too until he seemingly gained enlightenment on the verge of death andprehended a body cultivation technique. This was when he truly embarked on the real path of cultivation and became a body cultivator." He exined.


    Lin Mu found it very interesting, especially considering that Sanga hade from a mortal world like him too.


    "Sanga is usually ten meters tall and has blonde hair. So spotting him shouldn''t be a problem." Ziran revealed.


    "Ten meters tall¡­ No wait, what do you mean by ''usually''?" Lin Mu sensed something strange.


    "The Body cultivation technique that Sanga uses is called as the ne Crush Colossus Technique. It is said that at its peak, one can grow as big as the sky and crush an entire ne." Ziran answered surprising Lin Mu greatly. "As such, in his usual form Sanga would be ten meters tall. But if he''s actively using the technique, he''ll be a lot taller than that." He added.


    "Whoa¡­ even with Ten Meters size he''d be bigger than a lot of beasts." Lin Mu said feeling awed. "And he can grow even bigger¡­ The ne Crush Colossus Technique really seems to be amazing." He added.


    "It is." Ziran nodded.


    "How did Sanga find the technique though?" Lin Mu asked. "Even he doesn''t know." Ziran replied. "Sanga seeminglyprehended it out of nowhere. But he did say that on the precipice of his death he felt something change in his body. We had a faint hunch that it might just be a bloodline memory being unlocked." He exined.


    "I see¡­ Still for him toprehend a great technique is his own great fortune." Lin Mu stated ~shua~shua~shua~


    Just as they had finished talking though, the sound of several niches being filled was heard.


    "We are ready, Daoist Mu Lin." Crown Prince Feng Shun called them.


    "Ah, let''s go. We shouldn''t leave the others waiting." Ziran replied and ced the five jade slips he had picked out in thest remaining niche. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as he did that, the membrane appeared on the niche showing that it had been filled. The five grey crystals on top of the niche also lit up, showing that it was satisfactory.


    ~HUMM~


    A couple of secondster, Lin Mu could sense the immortal Qi shifting within the pir.


    "It''s going to activate!" Lin Mu informed them as soon as he felt the change in the Immortal Qi.


    ~HUALA~


    And sure enough, a few secondster the teleportation circles all lit up.


    A few runes also appeared in the air, spelling a couple of words.


    ''Reward Period is now over.''


    They know knew for sure that their guesses had been correct and that they needed to select the jade slips to progress. "Time to go to the next trial." Lin Mu said as he took his ce in one of the teleportation circles. He also activated his Spatial Perception to observe where everyone would go. Next to him stood Lady Kang and Ziran, while the Crown Prince was on the opposite side along with Crown Princess Shang and Daoist Chu.


    The rest of the group filled on the remaining spots and the teleportation finally started.


    ~HONG~


    Their bodies disappeared into the bright teleportation channel and were quickly sent through them. Lin Mu kept his eyes open through this all and saw that they were being carried quite far through this teleportation.


    ''I can''t see the end of this Channel¡­ What is the third trial going to be like?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He observed the others and saw that they were being carried at the same pace and were visible for most of the time. The teleportationsted more than fifteen seconds, which was quite longpared to others times, showing that they were indeed traveling arge distance.


    It wasn''t until at the very end of the teleportation did Lin Mu find themselves getting split again. ''We''re getting split in two groups this time.'' Lin Mu noticed the ten channels diverging to two gates.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    A few momentster, Lin Mu felt his vision turning nk before a new ce materialized around him.


    He quickly spread his Immortal sense to get an assessment of the new ce, and also to see who had arrived with him.


    ''Lady Kang, Min Ju, Ziran, Elder Ho and me¡­ So the division was roughly based on how we stood on the gates.'' Lin Mu understood. "Oh? What''s these?" Ziran said looking at the object in his hand.


    It was then Lin Mu realized that he was also holding something in his hand. "It''s those grey crystals¡­" Lin Mu muttered, recognizing them. Though unlike before, the grey crystal weren''t dull. They had brightened up and there was a faint glow within them. The others noticed the crystal in their hands too looked at them.


    "Looks like this is our reward." Ziran said, having checked the crystal with his Immortal sense.


    ~CRACK~


    And a second after he did that, one of the crystals in his hand shattered before turning to dust.


    The number of crystals they had in their hands also corresponded to the number of techniques they had picked out. Ziran had five in his hand, while others one or two.


    ~Crack~


    Lin Mu, who scanned the crystal in his hand, felt new information pouring into his mind. ''So these are the full parts of the Qi skills.'' Lin Mu felt like he could almost use them.


    If what was in the jade slips earlier was just some description of the Qi skills and technique, Lin Mu now had the full mnemonic and details of them in his mind now.


    ~SHICK~


    And sure enough, a secondter a ck sphere appeared above his hand. It looked to be rather sticky and radiated some heat from it.


    "They are easy enough to grasp." Lin Mu muttered.


    This was none other than the Foot Swallowing Tar Bomb that Lin Mu had selected from the list. The current sphere form was what it looked like when activated normally, but Lin Mu was sure it would be different when he used it with Wonder Seeker.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~


    The others also finished using their crystals, making all of them shatter.


    "Though thisplicates things a bit¡­ Transcribing this won''t be easy." Lin Mu stated.


    "I guess there was a reason it gave the reward in the form of these crystals instead of the normal jade slips." Ziran replied. "It''s a safety feature to prevent others from robbing you of it right away." He added.


    "These crystals were a lot more efficient than a jade slip too." Lady Kang spoke. "They''re definitely not normal memory crystals." She added.


    In her mind, the worth of the crystals was decently high too, as they could be used in many ways. It could be used to keep information discreet as well as efficiently transfer information. Jade slips were convenient but took some time to read through, unlike these crystals that quickly injected the information into their minds.


    "Looks like Crown Prince and Daoist Chu will have quite some work on their handster." Lin Mu stated.


    ~HUALA~


    A minute after they had finished chatting through, a bunch of runes appeared in front of them signaling the start of the trial.


    ''Reach the end.'' "That''s straightforward." Min Ju looked at the words.


    "Perhaps not." Elder Hu said, looking ahead of them.


    They stood in a hall that was lit up by some formations and an dark corridor was ahead of them. What was strange was that one could not scan it with their immortal sense, as a barrier prevented it from progressing.


    "They want us to go in blind¡­ Seems like this trial is going to be a bit more risky." Ziran muttered before taking out something. "But that doesn''t mean we should take the risks blindly too."

 Chapter 2144 Treading Carefully

    Chapter 2144 Treading Carefully


    Everyone watched as Ziran took out a small marble. The marble was made out of ss and had a few runes painted onto it. "Gimme a minute, I have to configure this." Ziran said before getting to work on the marble.


    His finger moved as he started writing some runes and erasing old runes on the marble. While this happened the others watched.


    Lin Mu also decided to take things one step at a time, since it didn''t seem like they were being rushed at the moment.


    His immortal sense had already scanned the hall they were in and found it to be mostly safe, with nothing in there other than them and the teleportation circles. The hall was made out of the same stone as all other structures and no sign of runes was present on it.


    Not just that, but one couldn''t use Immortal Sense on it properly either as it had the effect of obstructing it.


    Thus Lin Mu couldn''t tell what was beyond this hall. He also didn''t try destroying it like before as there was no telling whaty behind it. There was also a chance that it could trigger some self defense mechanism that might put them in jeopardy.


    He could have attempted it if he was alone or if there were fewer people, but with hispanions here, he didn''t wish to take a risk. He could guarantee his own safety, but saying that he could do the same for others would be too naive of him.


    ~SHUA~


    "Here we go." Ziran seemed to have finished his work on the marble and now it looked a bit different.


    The runes were arranged in a circle on the marble, with a single line going through its middle.


    ~HUALA~


    The runes glowed before the line in the middle moved. It spread apart, as if an eye was opening before a small formation screen materialized above Ziran''s wrist. "Huh¡­ A Monitoring Formation linked to that bracelet." Lin Mu urately identified what it was.


    "Indeed." Ziran confirmed. "These ss eyes are quite nifty in exploring ces like these. I''ve modified it to see in the dark, as well as see immortal Qi in the air." He stated before throwing the eye.


    ~thud~thud~thud~


    The eye bounced on the ground a few times before rolling into the dark corridor. Whatever the eye saw was projected onto the formation screen, which was being watched by Ziran and the others. The ss eyes passed through the dark curtain at the entrance of the corridor and proceeded. ~flicker~


    The formation screen flickered and turned dark for a couple of seconds, before a scene finally appeared on it.


    "Hmm, it works so that''s a plus." Ziran said before furrowing his brows. "Though the range is quite limited." He said, as the screen started to seemingly flicker after twenty meters or so.


    "Considering our Immortal Sense ispletely blocked from entering, this is already quite good." Lady Kang said. "Yeah, at least we know there is no immediate danger." Lin Mu agreed. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    "Guess we have to tread it now." Ziran said, but before he could take a step ahead Elder Hu moved.


    Without saying he word, he took the lead and stepped through the dark curtain. Lin Mu raised his brows in surprise, but Ziran didn''t seem to be as surprised. The same was the case for Lady Kang and Min Ju.


    He couldn''t help but look at them in question, making Lady Kang speak.


    "Don''t mind Elder Hu. He''s just doing his duty." Lady Kang spoke. "He''s sworn to protect me and has since I was a child." She added, with a hint of happiness in her voice.


    Lin Mu could tell that the staunch businesswoman did have a soft side to her, thought it might be hidden deep inside her. "Elder Hu is very capable. He was a great help to me in the previous trials." Ziran chimed in. "I don''t think he''ll have any problems dealing with danger." He added.


    "I see¡­ it is very nice of him to do that." Lin Mu said. "Plus we have the ss eye to scout ahead." Ziran and Lady Kang nodded, while Min Ju merely listened in silence. As Lady Kang''s personal maid, she only spoke when it was needed and it was not her ce to interfere in most matters. Plus, she was well acquainted with Elder Hu too and knew what his duties were, thus this was no news to her.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The group walked in through the dark curtain and arrived in a rather gloomy corridor. Their vision was quite limited and their immortal sense was also suppressed.


    "Three¡­ No at least fouryers of Sense Countering formations." Ziran estimated. "You can tell that?" Lin Mu asked feeling surprised.


    He would have been able to do the same if the formations in the location were normal. But with them being woven into the very fabric of space itself, Lin Mu couldn''t read them the same way. Even with the Spatial Perception, it was difficult to read them with how spread they were.


    "Well I can only estimate it, but yes." Ziran affirmed. "I''ve experienced a lot of Sense Countering Formations and they seem to be a staple that many experts use in their inheritance grounds. Considering the force begin exerted on our Immortal Sense, it is at least fouryers of the formations at work." He exined.


    "There''s more formations in it too¡­ Light is being suppressed too." Lady Kang said, as she looked at a small glowing star on her finger. The star''s glow was rather dim, and looked more like a piece of glitter. Normally, this very star should be enough to light up an entire room.


    "Yeah, there should definitely somebination of Fire suppressing formation, Light Consuming Fomentation and Dark Entrenchment formations added to it all." Ziran nodded.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but be impressed by the man''s skill. Even if he might not be as good at formations as him, Ziran still had his thousands of years of experience at his back that could carry him through hardships.


    It just proved that Qiao De choosing Ziran as an expedition member was the right choice. Perhaps among them he was the one who had gone on most of them and had the perfect skills for it too.


    ~step~step~step~


    They continued walking a bit more, before reaching the location of the ss eye. It was seemingly waiting for them, and Elder Hu was also next to it.


    ~roll~


    Ziran controlled the ss eye to scout ahead, and about twenty seconds of walkingter he saw something on the formation screen.


    "Ho~ And here I was wondering if this was just a dark yet empty corridor." Ziran smirked. "The traps are right ahead, Elder Hu." He informed.


    "I''ll take care of it." Elder Hu said fearlessly. Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and activated his Spatial Perception trying to see what kind of traps were present. Even if he might not be able to see in this darkness, he could still ''see'' the contrasting movement of Qi in the space. For a trap, there was definitely Immortal Qi going to be involved in its operation, thus it should be visible.


    In fact, that is how Ziran had spotted the trap too, since a few vague objects could be seen on the formation screen. They stood out in the darkness and were very conspicuous against the ''empty'' background.


    ~GANG~


    And sure enough, just as Elder Hu had taken his fifth step a loud sound was heard. Lin Mu also saw the Immortal Qi moving, as a t yet very wide object rose from the ground.


    "Humph!" But Elder Hu wasn''t one to be startled and merely thrust out his hand.


    ~CLANG~


    His armored hand collided against something hard, and faint sparks could be seen due to it. It was surprising that these sparks very still visible in this darkness.


    ''If they are still visible in this, just how bright would they be if there was no light suppressing formation here?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Elder Hu seemingly kept the metal object from rising fully, which became a bit more clear as the others got closer. "Arge de?" Ziran saw. "Huh¡­ The creator really went with the ssic traps." He said with some surprise.


    Elder Hu didn''t care what kind of trap it was though and only intended to get rid of it. He couldn''t let an obstacle halt the progress of his Lady after all.


    ~DENG~DENG~


    He held the de in ce with his left arm before starting to hammer it with his right arm. Loud sounds were heard, as the metal de started to deform bit by bit. It was still trying to rise despite this, but by the time Elder Hu was done with his work, a ''door'' had been carved into the de.


    ~SHING~


    Therge de fully rose up to the ceiling, leaving only one way through it¡­ The Door that Elder Hu had made.


    "I suppose we can proceed," Ziran said, before controlling the ss eye to roll further.


    The eye passed through the ''door'' and looked out for anymore traps. Lin Mu also kept his Spatial Perception active, though he had to focus to limit his range. If he used his ability at the normal level, he would miss what was in front of him and only see the Spatial Fabric all around him.


    It was simr to how one adjusted a telescope or binocrs to focus on a specific object or range.


    "More traps!" This time Lin Mu ended up spotting them first.

 Chapter 2145 Mundane Traps

    Chapter 2145 Mundane Traps


    In Lin Mu''s scope of vision, he could see several sets of flowing immortal Qi. These sets had multiple weaving Qi streams and were certainly not like ambient Immortal Qi. As such, it wasn''t hard to tell that they were quite clearway a trap. And with how many of them that were spread around, it only made sense that it would be due to a trap.


    In this spatial perception, he couldn''t tell what kind of trap it was of course, but the fact that it was floating in air and not in the roof or ground meant that it was different than the previous one.


    "Oh? Its invisible huh¡­" Ziran looks at the formation screen his wrist.


    The ss eye had the ability to directly observe immortal Qi too and could see it floating in air.


    But Elder Hu had a direct response to the trap, he simply threw out a punch that transformed into an illusory gauntlet and struck the air.


    ~BANG~


    The illusory gauntlet was blocked by the sudden appearance of a spiked wall. It seemed to have been made from a formation but the power in it was greater than one would expect.


    ~HISS~


    Not just that, but the spikes on the illusory shield were not simple and exuded a dark green smoke while a hissing sound was also heard.


    "Those would definitely hurt." Ziran said seeing the spikes that were leaking acid.


    Still, the shield couldn''t stop the illusory gauntlet for long, and neither could it damage it. ~CRACK~


    A secondter, the shield cracked apart and the formation dissipated.


    "If all of them are going to be at this level, this trial will be simple." Lin Mu said. "But I have a hunch its only going to ramp up from here." He added.


    "For sure." Ziran nodded. "These trials like to create a false sense of confidence which can be more deadly than any trap." He said to everyone''s agreement.


    Lin Mu had understood this fact for a long time and had seen many of his foes fall to it too. As such, he knew better than to trust in everything blindly and not to have too much confidence in how things would go. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    It was always better to analyze something multiple times than make a deadly mistake.


    ~roll~


    The ss eye started to roll once more and proceeded further. After about twenty meters or so, it encountered another invisible trap, which was quicks taken care of by Elder Hu.


    This was the case for several more traps, that were rather simple and easy to deal with for the group.


    After a while, the corridor came to an end, and they reached a pair of stone gates.


    "Hmm¡­ Looks like we can''t scout ahead this time." Ziran said, as he looked at the gates.


    They were rather in and matched what Lin Mu and the others had seen in the first trial. Though these were much smaller than the ones they had seen previously. ~shua~


    Lin Mu tried using his Spatial Perception to look past it, but didn''t spot anything peculiar. And when he extended his range, he only ended up peeking beyond the trial area and into the void itself.


    "Seems like we can only open it," Lin Mu said while Elder Hu took the lead like before.


    ~CREAK~


    A loud creaking sound was heard, while the gates scratched against the floor, leaving marks on it. It was clear that they were heavy, but to Elder Hu I was still nothing and he easily pushed them open.


    ~WOOSH~


    And when the gates were open, a gust of wind blew through them along with a burning smell.


    "This smell¡­ Burning pig fat?" Lin Mu quickly identified. With how much food he and Little Shrubby ate, it would be a shame if Lin Mu couldn''t recognize the smell.


    "Why''s there pig fat burning here?" Lady Kang couldn''t help but say.


    So far, they had not seen any ''normal'' living creatures in the trial, thus the given smell stood out. Of course, it was totally possible that one could be using pig fat asmp fuel, but in a ce that was a Celestial''s treasure, it would be a bit too lowly.


    The area in front of them was still dark, and the Immoral sense suppressing arrays were still active. "Let the eye check it out." Ziran said and controlled the eye to move.


    The eye moved for about a hundred meters uninterrupted. Nothing of concern was found so far, but after a certain point, the area suddenly brightened up!


    ~HUALA~


    "What the¡­" Lin Mu, who saw the formation screen, was surprised by the sudden sh of light.


    The image became clear a few momentster, and they could finally see what was hidden behind that dark. "A pool full of boiling and burning oil." Ziran observed.


    The pool seemingly covered the entire area, and the eye could not see any solid path. The oil in the pool was also burning and was the source of the smell. "What''s up with this? It wouldn''t do much harm to most immortals." Lin Mu said, seeing it.


    Even if the mes might be hot, they weren''t even enough to hurt a Nascent Soul realm cultivator to forget an Immortal expert. "I doubt it''s just normal oil, even if it smells like pig fat," Ziran said, wrinkling his noise.


    ~HUU~


    He took a deep huff and tried to see if there was anything wrong in the air.


    "It''s not poisonous at least," Ziran said. "But I can''t tell anything more." He added.


    Lady Kang tried to sense it too, but couldn''t find anything peculiar.


    "Elder Hu, do you sense anything?" She asked.


    "Nothing. It just smells like pig fat¡­ Though it certainly feels more like a disguise." Elder Hu gave his opinion.


    "The smell could be masking something else," Min Ju chimed in.


    "Masking something, huh¡­" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes before calling someone. "What do you think, Little Shrubby?" ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, a red cat appeared on Lin Mu''s shoulder.

 Chapter 2146 Zirans Abilities

    Chapter 2146 Ziran''s Abilities


    It was Ziran''s first time seeing Little Shrubby thus, he couldn''t help but be surprised. The same was the case for Min Ju and Elder Hu, but they didn''t show much of a reaction.


    "Is this your tamed beast?" Ziran asked. "Yes." Lin Mu nodded. "This is little Shrubby." He introduced.


    Ziran was feeling a rather pleasant aura from Little Shrubby, and the same could be said for the beast, as Little Shrubby looked at him and tilted his head. He gauged the new person and found him to be different.


    "He doesn''t smell like a normal human." Little Shrubby said with a little meow. "That''s because I''m only half human." Ziran replied, much to everyone''s shock.


    "Huh?¡­ You can understand him?" Lin Mu was stunned. It was his first time seeing someone other than Xukong and the Saintess understanding Little Shrubby. Xukong was a beast himself. Hence it was obvious why he could understand Little Shrubby, and the Saintess was a celestial, thus it was also not that surprising.


    But Ziran was neither.


    "Yeah." Ziran said before extending his hand towards Little Shrubby. The beast didn''t feel any threat from Ziran, thus let him be. ~tap~tap~


    Ziran gently petted Little Shrubby''s head, making him purr.


    "It''s the first time, I''ve seen someone understand him." Lin Mu spoke. "I suppose it is a bit surprising." Ziran replied. "I just have an advantage when ites to most beasts." He added.


    "How?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Are you using a Qi skill?" Lady Kang asked. "It doesn''t seem like it though." She wondered too.


    "It''s not a Qi skill exactly. It''s more of a bloodline ability." Ziran answered. "I was born with it." He revealed.


    "Born with it¡­ Your elf blood?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Indeed. Though more specifically, it''s the Wood Elf Bloodline." Ziran answered. "Wood Elves have a close rtion with the forests, which also gives us a natural affinity to beasts. The Wood elf race often coborates with beasts and live in harmony with them. The ability to understand is something that some of them naturally obtain.


    While the Wood Elf bloodline in me is only a quarter, it still managed to give me that ability." He exined.


    "No wonder¡­ It is certainly a good ability to have," Lin Mu replied.


    "Does that apply to all beasts?" Lady Kang asked with interest.


    She had her own Tamed beast and couldmunicate with them, but it was more of an understanding of thoughts rather than actual words being spoken. Thus, it interested her quite a bit to see it being used in such a way.


    "Well, it certainly does not apply to all beasts." Ziran answered. "The beasts need to have a certain level of intelligence for it to work. Though there are still some exceptions to it such as some rare beasts and those with unknown mutations that the bloodline ability cannot understand. And of course, there''s always beasts that simply refuse to talk." He exined.


    It was certainly very interesting to Lin Mu, as even he could only talk to the beasts he had tamed. If he needed to talk to other beasts, he would have to rely on Little Shrubby so far. ''I wonder if the Nurturing Heart Sutra can help with that.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''I''ve only reached its second stage after all,'' he reckoned.


    Since the Nurturing Heart Sutra was of the beast path and could generate Beast Qi, Lin Mu hoped that it could help him in understanding the beasts too. But unfortunately, he hadn''t been able to progress it any further. It wasn''t something he could force and would have to wait for the right moment to appear.


    ''If it could really take that path, I might have more options in dealing with beasts.'' Lin Mu reckoned. He did feel good that Ziran''s ability had given him a clue as to how the Nurturing Heart Sutra could progress.


    "Anyway, Little Shrubby, can you smell what''s up with the pig fat?" Lin Mu requested.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby said before taking a few sniffs. "There''s something more in the oil." Little Shrubby realized.


    "Poison?" It was the first thing Lin Mu could think of. "It''s not poison." Little Shrubby replied. "The pig fat itself is only a small amount of the oil¡­ the actual oil is something else," He said before jumping off Lin Mu''s shoulder.


    In the next second, he erged to the size of arge tiger. He didn''t take his full size, since it was not possible in this hall which wasn''t that tall.


    ~SHUA~


    "Hoho¡­ Vitality Reversal!" Ziran eximed. "I never thought I''d see it in a beast again." "You can recognize it too?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Of course! I have a Wood Dao embryo. there is no way I wouldn''t be able to recognize Vitality Reversal which is very close to my own Dao Skill." He revealed before tapping his chest.


    ~SHUA~ Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    In the next moment, a small sphere flew out of his chest before it uncovered to reveal a small sapling.


    It was barely the size of a child''s hand and had two small leaves on it. Its stalk was slender and supple, having a greenish brown color, while its leaves were bright green instead. And on its top, a small bud could be seen that looked like it could grow more leaves.


    The sapling''s roots though were encased in a pot like object which Lin Mu identified to be nothing but a Dao Shell!


    ''He shaped his Dao Shell to be a flower pot?'' Lin Mu was seeing something like this for the first time. ''And that sapling¡­ What kind of Dao Embryo is it?'' he wondered.


    ~SHUA~


    When the Dao Embryo appeared, a reaction was elicited from Little Shrubby. The leaf pattern behind his ears glowed brightly, while Wood Dao Traces swirled around his body.


    "This is the Nascent Life Sapling Dao Embryo." Ziran revealed.


    It was Lin Mu''s first time hearing about this Dao Embryo, though Lady Kang looked at it with raised brows.

 Chapter 2147 Similar Dao Embryos And Removing Obstacles

    Chapter 2147 Simr Dao Embryo''s And Removing Obstacles


    The Dao Embryo was certainly different than most other Wood Dao Embryos Lin Mu had seen, and actually felt simr to Little Shrubby''s own Dao Embryo.


    "How were you able to recognize the Dao Skill from this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Just like how new saplings have rich vitality and are resilient, my Dao Embryo embodies that and imparts those characteristics to me." Ziran answered but saw the confusion on Lin Mu''s face. "I think it is much easier to demonstrate it," he said before swiping his thumbnail across his finger.


    This inflicted a small cut, from which red blood seeped out.


    ''So half elves have normal red blood too,'' Lin Mu noted. ''Though does this apply to full blooded elves too?'' he wondered upon seeing this.


    But what he saw next, made him wide eyed.


    ~Rustle~


    The Nascent Life Sapling Dao Embryo quivered before a wave of energy traveled from it to Ziran. Then in the next second, the cut on his finger closed up without leaving even the tiniest trace of injury. "Regeneration?" Lin Mu muttered. While he himself could regenerate like this due to being a Body Cultivator that was not the case for Ziran as he was a Qi cultivator. ''No wait¡­ The Speed is higher and there was no change in his vitality.'' Lin Mu realized more things as he watched it.


    Usually when he or someone else healed their wounds through such regeneration, it involved the vitality of their body flowing towards the wound to fix it. As such, one would be able to sense the flow to recognize when one was regenerating.


    This was an important skill to learn when facing beasts with great vitality as injuring them was often a thankless task. Unless one could outmatch their regeneration, defeating beasts like those was a difficult task. This very tactic was employed by Lin Mu too, as he relied on his body''s regeneration to ignore whatever injuries he usually took despite his defenses. But in the case of Ziran, Lin Mu certainly did not see a change in the flow of vitality. It was somewhat simr to how one would use a healing Qi skill, but there was no flow of Qi there either.


    "Regeneration, exactly." Ziran replied. "Though my regeneration relies on Dao Traces instead." He added.


    "I see¡­ but then how does it rte to the vitality that you sensed from Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "While The Nascent Life Sapling Dao Embryo uses Dao Traces to heal, it still is an embodiment of vitality. In a way you can think that it simply converts the medium of healing from Vitality. Thus, it can still detect other Dao Embryos thate under the domain of vitality." Ziran exined. "It is quite useful and needed when one goes exploring as there are dangers anywhere." He added.


    "No wonder." Lin Mu now understood.


    "Though I hadn''t expected to see a beast manage to obtain the Vitality Reversal Dao Skill." Ziran spoke. "It isn''t exactly something beasts usually obtain as it is more inclined towards nts." He added before taking a closer look at Little Shrubby.


    "Well, Little Shrubby is an exception to it due to his bloodline." Lin Mu said while a Dao Shell rose from Little Shrubby''s body. Within that Dao Shell was none other than Little Shrubby''s Dao Embryo.


    "The Verdant Bloom Seed?!" Ziran''s eyes went wide upon seeing it. "Little Shrubby has the Fume Wood Panther Bloodline?" he quickly recognized it.


    "Yeah¡­ You know it?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "I do, there used to be a few of them living near the sect I came from." Ziran answered. "They were quite elusive and were the rulers of the forest. I''ve encountered a couple of them in the past when I was still a disciple there. They were very strong¡­ Their leader was even said to be as strong as the Sect Patriarch thus the Fume Wood Panthers were given a wide berth." He exined.


    Hearing that Lin Mu was intrigued as so far there hadn''t been many that had seen or heard about a Fume Wood Panther.


    "It isn''t the only bloodline in Little Shrubby though." Lin Mu added. "There''s more.


    "To see the bloodline of a Fume Wood Panther coexist with others¡­ how peculiar." Ziran stroked his chin. "With how domineering they are, it would be hard for other bloodlines to be able to express themselves, not to mention be able to suppress and be the dominant one. If I weren''t for my Dao Embryo I wouldn''t have been able to tell at all. The fire affinity of Little Shrubby is extremely high and yet the Wood Affinity is still there." He pondered on it a bit.


    "Yeah, he''s a unique case." Lin Mu said before seeing Little Shrubby move towards the pool of burning oil.


    The beast''s Dao Embryo was hovering behind him while he peeked into the pool. After a couple of seconds of looking at it, Little Shrubby licked it.


    ~slurp~


    Min Ju and Lady Kang were a bit taken aback but since they knew that Little Shrubby had an affinity to fire they didn''t think he would be injured by this.


    "There''s something that makes the mes powerful in this." Little Shrubby said after having tasted the oil. "The pig oil is merely there to mask it." He said before swiping his paw through the mes.


    ~WHOOSH~


    His paw became coated in mes as they tried to burn him. Of course, he wouldn''t be burned by it as his own mes were a lot stronger, but Lin Mu and the others could now feel the power of the mes.


    "To disguise the pool to seem like a normal me¡­ If a careless immortal decided to pass through it they would be easily burned." Ziran said as he looked at the mes that rose as high as the roof.


    09:47


    There was no other way to get past it and one would have to go over the pool. "Well that also means the solution is quite easy." Lin Mu said as he took the lead this time.


    ~SHUA~


    A searing hot energy swirled around his arm before condensing into a rocky armor. Longgui Bulwark armor was active and protected Lin Mu''s hand as he directly dipped it into the oil!


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then in the next second, the pool of oil started to decrease.


    "Huh¡­ You''re storing it away?" Ziran saw. "But is that a good way to use Spatial Storage Space?" he wondered.


    "I have plenty of it." Lin Mu said, but thought about how he had just gotten more things to absorb. ''This should definitely help with the Omnicore Ascendancy.'' He thought happily.


    ''I suppose ''erasing'' the obstacle counts as a viable method of clearing the trial too.'' Lady Kang thought to himself. ''He''s using the same method as before.'' About a couple minutester, Lin Mu had fully drained the pool of oil making the area darken again.


    "That should be enough now." Lin Mu said as he easily jumped over to the other side.


    "Yeah, that''ll do." Ziran said as he jumped over.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The others did the same and they continued their journey.


    The next obstacle they faced was a tract of corridor fully filled with holes. "How much do you wanna bet that something sharp is gonnae out of those holes?" Ziran chuckled. "It won''t be much of a profitable bet." Lin Mu said before throwing a rock from his storage.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~ Hundreds of sharp spikes were shot from the holes that pierced through the rock and quickly turned into into fine gravel.


    "Hmm¡­ The spikes are strong enough to pierce through the defense of a Third Tribtion Stage Immortal." Ziran said. "So not an issue for us." Lin Mu said directly stepping through it.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    The spikes tried to pierce Lin Mu but merely collided with the rock armor that had manifested at a moments noticed. The armor blocked the spikes with ease, and cracked several of them in the process.


    The spikes should have pushed an Immortal around even if they couldn''t pierce through them due to the stiffness, but with how much Lin Mu weighed, that was an impossible task. ''The trap would have to be a lot stronger to work.'' Lin Mu reckoned as he finished crossing it. "There we go."


    ~SHUA~


    Little Shrubby also appeared next to him, his speed being unmatched against the spikes.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    Elder Hu took the same approach as Lin Mu and walked through the spikes uninjured due to the armor.


    "Is this perhaps a small test for defensive skills, I wonder?" Ziran muttered to himself, trying to figure out the thinking of the creator of this ce.


    ~DAK~DAK~DAK~DAK~ Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    His skin turned dark brown and rough, as if it were tree bark when he stepped through the spikes. The spikes were unable to pierce through it too, though Ziran had to put in a bit more effort to move as the spikes did manage to slow him down.


    Now it was only Lady Kang and Min Ju left.


    "I''ll handle it." Lady Kang said to her maid and made a hand seal.


    ~SHUA~


    Five stars rose from her palm and covered Min Ju''s body before the same happened to her. The five stars arranged themselves around them in a pentagonal shape and a barrier was created.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    The Star barrier protected both of them as they crossed the spiked path.


    "I think I might have an idea as to what is the theme of this trial." Ziran suddenly said.

 Chapter 2148 The Theme Of The Trial

    Chapter 2148 The Theme Of The Trial


    The group heard Ziran''s words and paid attention.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The theme should probably be resourcefulness or at the very least versatility." Ziran replied. "Considering how the different obstacles need us to use varying methods, it does seem like it."


    "Hmm¡­ Now that I think of that," Lin Mu stroked his chin. "Our grouping seems to beplimentary too. I reckon the same is for Crown Prince and the others." He guessed.


    "It might really be so. The Trial grounds are testing us in a rtively ''bnced'' manner. And seeing as it wanted us all to trust each other and seed in the second trial, it definitely wants us to rely on each other to progress through them." Ziran agreed.


    "It wouldn''t be the first time something like this has been seen." Lady Kang chimed in. "Though it is indeed a property one usually sees in the inheritance grounds of orthodox experts. Those of the unorthodox path are a lot more sly and the trials are often unfair." She borated.


    "If this holds up, it is a good thing for us." Ziran replied. "At the very least we know that the creator does not wish to doom us right form the start." "It also gives us hope in terms of failure." Elder Hu spoke up. "We might not necessarily be trapped if we fail a trial." Since his duty was to ensure the safety of Lady Kang, all that mattered to him was that they got out alive, and unharmed.


    Thus he didn''t care whether they failed or not. "That does feel reassuring." Lin Mu could agree with the armored man. "Though I do wonder how Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others are faring." He expressed his thoughts. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    "I''m sure they''ll be fine." Ziran stated. "Other than Qiao De, all of them have been trained in the Immortal Court and are strong experts. Qiao De himself is resourceful and wouldn''t fail easily either." Lin Mu nodded before they moved forward.


    The corridor seemingly extended into an infinite expanse of darkness, hidden within it tens of obstacles.


    About eight hours had passed by and the group had crossed more than thirty obstacles by now. Each of them was different from each other and needed varying methods to cross. But none of the obstacles were something that the group had trouble for longer than a few minutes.


    "Oh? Another gate." Ziran saw through the ss eye.


    "It looks the same as before." Lady Kang spoke, but Lin Mu shook his head.


    "No, this one is different." Lin Mu replied. "The flow of Immortal Qi in this is rather strange¡­ I can also feel something behind it." He narrowed his eyes.


    "You can see the Qi?" Ziran raised his brows. "The ss eye can''t see it through the gate."


    "Yeah, I can see it faintly. But there is certainly something behind that gate." Lin Mu confirmed. "We should be extra careful here." He said before approaching the gate.


    Elder Hu wanted to take the lead again, but Lady Kang gestured him to wait. He obeyed her and stayed back, letting Lin Mu open the gate.


    ''It''s better for Daoist Mu Lin to open it as his Spatial Skills allow him a greater margin of safety.'' She thought.


    ~RUMBLE~


    And sure enough, once Lin Mu pushed the door open a loud rumbling sound was heard.


    It pushed on their hearts, and a sense of anxiety welled up.


    "GET BACK!" Lin Mu immediately shouted as he disappeared.


    Blink!


    Lin Mu teleported next to Ziran, the Longgui Bulwark Armor already active.


    ~BANG~


    Just a second after he had retreated, a giant object struck where he had stood earlier.


    "That was close." Lin Mu took a breath.


    "What was that?" Min Ju asked, having not seen it clearly.


    "A brass knocker¡­ The ones that are used to ring temple bells." Ziran answered.


    "Not just any brass knocked though, it''s made with Thrice Alloyed Immortal Brass and has a hammering array carved on it." Lin Mu identified. "Its enough to break the bones of a Fourth or even a Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal." He added.


    This made them quite vary, as the difficulty had clearly risen.


    ~Tremble~


    The Brass knocker had retreated back into its original position and couldn''t be seen anymore. "If not for this darkness, it would have been easier to project its trajectory." Lin Mu said. "But we still need to get past it, to progress." "From what I can tell, we have three solutions here. Either we block it head on, avoid it somehow, or disable it." Ziran stipted. "Avoiding it doesn''t seem possible for us," Lady Kang stated. "Daoist Mu Lin can, but we cannot." "I can try to block it." Elder Hu volunteered.


    "As much as Imend that, I wouldn''t trust for this to be the only trap," Ziran replied. "Don''t you think so too Daoist Mu Lin?" he questioned.


    "Indeed¡­ it''s definitely not the only trap waiting for us." Lin Mu gazed past the brass knocker and saw the other traps. "Even if we block this and rush past it, we''ll step onto the next trap. One that I cannot judge from here." He exined.


    "What do we do then?" Min Ju wondered.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll get past it and take a look at whatys for us in wait." Lin Mu offered. "If there is trouble, I''ll be able to retreat anyway. It is better than you all risking it." "If you wish to, Daoist Mu Lin." Ziran could also see that this was the superior option.


    "We''ll be ready to support you from the back." Lady Kang chimed in.


    Elder Hu simply nodded in approval and Lin Mu was ready to move.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, he got closer to the gate and kept his senses alert for the knocked.


    ~WHOOSH~


    As soon as the knocker moved, Lin Mu''s Spatial Sense saw it and he quickly Blinked past it!


    Upon arriving on the other side, Lin Mu found that there were several spike traps on the ground, ready to kill the unsuspecting immortal.

 Chapter 2149 Mechanisms

    Chapter 2149 Mechanisms


    "Back to spikes, huh¡­ I suppose they are still effective." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he stood on top of the spikes.


    The Longgui Bulwark armor was covering him and the spikes could not pierce through the rocky boots.


    ~SHING~


    Lin Mu withdrew Afternoon Pine and shed at the spikes, cutting them all down in one go. While they were tough, they could notpare with a High Grade Immortal Sword.


    ~thud~


    With that done, Lin Mu stood on stable ground again though he was still alert for any other ambush. His Immortal sense didn''t work here either, thus he quickly took a look around with his Spatial Sense. ''Nothing in the immediate vicinity other than the brass knocker at least.'' Lin Mu determined before turning to look at the object that threatened to hammer him.


    The Brass knocker was attached to the roof with a metallic mechanism, with several moving parts pushing and pulling it. It looked quite novel to Lin Mu, despite being what mortals would use.


    ''They modified a Mortal Trap into an Immortal trap¡­ The force with which it hits is also several times greater. This cannot be generated alone by some mechanical mechanisms¡­ there is definitely some formation powering it.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    From what he could observe, the mechanical levers controlling the Brass knocker went into the roof and their origin could not be seen.


    "Doesn''t matter. I can just get rid of it in the straightforward way." Lin Mu said and directly shed at the levers that held the Brass knocker in ce.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    But surprisingly they managed to withstand the sh, leaving faint marks on them.


    "Of course, they would be extra durable." Lin Mu said before a voice was heard.


    "Is everything fine?" Ziran questioned from the inside.


    "Yeah, it''s all good. Just going to get rid of this trap. Give me a minute." Lin Mu said before narrowing his eyes.


    ~SHING~


    He channeled his Sword Intent into Afternoon Pine along with the metal elemental Qi, amplifying the sword''s power by several times.


    ~CLANG~


    Then in the next moment, he shed out!


    This time, the sword wasn''t blocked by the metal levers and cut through it with ease.


    ~DENG~


    Due to this, the Brass knocker fell to the ground causing a harsh sound. "Ugh¡­ It definitely is irritating." Lin Mu groaned but was thankful that the trap was now disabled. "You cane out now." He informed them.


    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~


    They got out and saw the threatening brass knocker lying harmlessly on the ground. It didn''t seem like it could do anything now, even though the formations in it were still intact.


    "They''re even using such mechanisms¡­ this is rather strange." Ziran noticed the metal levers that were controlling the brass knocker. "To think they would put it in an inheritance ground¡­ The creator was certainly going for variety." He spoke.


    He touched the brass knocker as well as the metal levers that attached it. His fingers stroked the fine carvings on them, trying to identify them.


    "They''vebined the mortal mechanisms with Immortal Formations." Lin Mu informed. "It is indeed a bit confusing as to why they would do this." He could guess Ziran''s thoughts.


    "The spikes seem to be mechanical in nature too." Lady Kang said, having noticed the broken pieces on the ground as well as the holes.


    It was the holes that caught her eye, as they weren''t the usual circle. Instead, they were in a + shape, having been cut perfectly. They looked more like sockets instead of trap holes. The tolerance was so low that if the spikes were fit inside the sockets, one would think that the floor under them was just the usual t floor.


    Lin Mu looked at the brass knocker for a moment before storing it away.


    ''This can be easily re-purposed.'' He thought before moving.


    The group next checked the area around them, finding that it was a lot more wider than the previous corridor. This allowed them a lot more space to maneuver but they didn''t lose their wariness. Instead, it only raised it further, as they didn''t think the hall was wider just to make it easier for them.


    If anything, it was a matter of concern, as it now meant there were more ces for traps to be hidden.


    ~CREAK~


    And after the group walked for a hundred meters, the roof suddenly creaked and multiples openings appeared on them.


    "Watch out!" Lin Mu warned before shing out with Afternoon Pine.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    The yellow sword shes tore through the metal orbs that were falling through the roofs, while blowing more of them away alongside it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Ziran waved with his hand as a giant illusory banana leaf formed. The leaf swatted the metal orbs away while Elder Hu took a more direct approach of simply punching them.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Lady Kang extended all ten of her fingers, and shot out multiple tiny stars that repelled the metal orbs away. ~BANG~BANG~BANG~


    Once the orbs were flung away or destroyed, they exploded in various colors. There were plumes of fire, gusts of winds, globs of poison and icicles that could pierce through flesh.


    Every metal orb contained a different attack and was definitely quite deadly if taken on directly.


    "This only gets more strange¡­ Those were Elemental Bombs." Ziran stated, furrowing his brows. "They''re mechanical in nature too." "We''ll need to watch out for anymore falling from the roof now." Lin Mu said as they continued. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    ~CREAK~


    And sure enough, several more panels opened up on the ceiling from which the elemental bombs fell. The group either blocked against them or simply swatted them away at fist, but as they went further, more of the bombs started to fall.


    Eventually, it reached a point where the bombs were being thrown at them from the top, as well as left and right!


    As such, the group had to keep their defensive skills active as they sought to get past this obstacle.

 Chapter 2150 Gnomish Design

    Chapter 2150 Gnomish Design


    Lin Mu had Longgui Bulwark Armor, and swung Afternoon Pine nonstop, trying to get all the bombs away from them.


    Since they wereing in from three directions, he had to use wide arcs, but the others were also helping him block them.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lady Kang extended her palms side ways, as two star shields flew out. They hovered along their sides, and either blocked the iing elemental bombs or deflected them away.


    Ziran and Elder Hu were blocking the elemental bombs falling from the roof. The elf grew out long vines on his hand which he used to swat the bombs, while Elder Hu simply punched them all away.


    This left Min Ju, who took care of any elemental bombs that were missed in all this.


    "Just a bit more!" Lin Mu said, as he soon saw the end of the area.


    The group had already been walking for over an hour now, and it head be a matter of endurance. Thankfully, it was nowing to and end.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    Just a minuteter, the groupnded on trap-less floor, making them relieved. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    Just a minuteter, the groupnded on trap-less floor, making them relieved.


    ~huu~


    "That was certainly nerve wracking." Lin Mu said as he looked back. There were still some elemental bombs flying around, but none of them came to the area they were in now. It was clear that the formation controlling them had an area limitation.


    "It was indeed a bit exhausting." Ziran nodded before flicking his wrist towards the flying elemental bombs.


    ~TWANG~


    A thin vine extended from his hand and wrapped around one of the bombs before pulling it back. "Won''t it explore?" Min Ju questioned.


    "No, it won''t." Lin Mu answered, having understood their working.


    Ziran took hold of the elemental bomb and traced over the fine patterns carved on it. He then used his nails to pry open the bomb from a thin crevice on its center.


    ~CREAK~


    The metal bent a bit before the two halves of the bomb popped open.


    "Huh¡­ Gnomish mechanism?" Ziran said upon seeing the interior.


    "Gnomish? You mean the race of Gnomes?" Lin Mu asked.


    He had read about the small race and knew that they were experts at engineering. If there was one race that could match Dwarves at making artifacts, it was none other than the Gnome race.


    Though of course, Lin Mu had never seen a Gnome before and had only read about them.


    "Yeah, this is definitely a Gnomish design." Ziran confirmed. "Gnomes and bombs go hand in hand. I''ve seen simr designs before." He added.


    "That''s quite strange for Gnomish designs to be used here." Lady Kang spoke. "Why would the Celestial use that?" she wondered.


    "It''s hard to tell what the Celestial might have been thinking. But it looks like they certainly wanted great variety in their inheritance ground." Ziran answered. "Though there is always a chance that Gnomes might have assisted in the making of this inheritance ground too." He added.


    "Are there Gnomes in this part of the Immortal realm?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Not in this region, no." Ziran shook his head. "Though there is a small world with Gnomes living in it about eight Sr Systems away." He stated.


    "Huh¡­ So they might have a hand in this?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "There is a slight chance. Though considering this is a celestial''s treasures they wouldn''t be restrained to just this part of the Immortal realm. If they wished for it, they can get the Grandmaster Gnomish Engineers from anywhere in the entire Immoral realm to help them make the celestial inheritance ground. I''m sure many of them would jump at the opportunity and might even do it for free." Ziran answered, showing that he knew a lot about the Gnomes.


    "What does this say for our trials here?" Elder Hu asked the crucial question.


    "Well¡­ Its both good and bad." Ziran answered. "It''s good that there are Gnomes involved in this, which means there will be bnce in this trial. They won''t be unfair. But what''s also bad about it is that the Gnomes can make some really nasty traps. What we''ve seen so far is merely the tip of the iceberg." He stated.


    Hearing that, the group became a bit more wary.


    "Maybe it''s just this area. Perhaps the next area will be different." Lin Mu said before opening the gate.


    He hadn''t sensed anything behind this door with his Spatial sense, and it seemed to be the most ''calm'' one.


    ~CREAK~


    Once the door was open, there was no surprise.


    In fact, they could actually see what was behind the door now. The darkness had been reced by proper illumination.


    "Huh¡­ you really were right." Ziran who could see the next area, was surprised.


    Instead of traps and mechanisms hidden in the dark, what stood in front of them was a rtively simple hall with a few small stone walls. These stone walls were spaced in the middle of the hall at equal distances and seemed to have some symbols written on them.


    "Dao Script¡­ Yeah, this isn''t Gnomish design." Lin Mu said as he stepped inside.


    Ziran checked the formation screen of the ss eye and didn''t find any concerning Immortal Qi flows. In fact, the only Immortal Qi he could see flowing was in the small stone walls.


    "A Dao Puzzle." Lady Kang recognized it. Lin Mu heard her words and couldn''t help but take a closer look at the small walls. He read each of the symbols and realized that the individual symbols didn''t make any sense. But if theybined two or more of them together, they suddenly made words.


    "Let''s see¡­ This shouldn''t be hard." Lin Mu quickly read all the stone walls and a solution formed in his head.


    He touched one of the symbols and saw that they were carved on individual tiles that freely moved. ''So I just have to move these in the right position.'' Lin Mu understood and did exactly that.


    ~ck~ck~ck~


    Lin Mu''s hands moved like a blur as he solved the puzzle within ten seconds.

 Chapter 2151 Use Of Poetry

    Chapter 2151 Use Of Poetry


    Once all the tiles were in the right position, the symbols all made sense.


    A few lines of poem could now be understood from it.


    ''Green hills skirt the northern border,


    White waters gird the eastern town;''


    Lady Kang read the words, finding them unfamiliar.


    ~Rumble~


    But just as she had finished reading them, the stone wall suddenly sank down into the floor.


    ~SHUA~


    And after that happened, a circle glowed around the spot where the wall once stood.


    "One down, four more to go." Lin Mu said as he gazed at the rest of the walls.


    Ziran and the others who saw this couldn''t help but be impressed.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, you dabble in poetry too?" Ziran asked.


    "Not particrly, but I have read a few." Lin Mu answered. "One of the methods of encrypting formations is to use poems as ciphers. As such, it bes important to know them too." He stated.


    "I see¡­ Still, for you to know this; I don''t think this is amon poem." Ziran replied. "At least I''ve never read it."


    "Neither have I." Lady Kang chimed in.


    "It ismon, though." Lin Mu said with a slightly confused expression. "It''s part of the one million, one hundred and eleven thousand, one hundred and eleven poems of the Poetry King." He stated.


    "The¡­ what?" Ziran was at a loss.


    "Yeah, this is poem number eighteen thousand. It''s not even that far in." Lin Mu said as he got to working on the second stone wall.


    ''Eighteen thousand isn''t far?'' Ziran, Lady Kang, and Min Ju all found it to be a bit absurd.


    While Immortals did have good memory, it didn''t mean that they were also good at recalling them right away. At the very least, it would take them some time to think and figure it out. Then there was also the fact that, they still needed to read and learn the specific bits of information to know them.


    If an immortal did not have an interest in something peculiar like poems, they wouldn''t necessarily learn more about them.


    Especially not something like the poems Lin Mu was talking about.


    ~shua~


    But by the time the group thought about this, Lin Mu had finished solving the second wall.


    ''Here we part with each other,


    And you set out like a lonesome wisp of grass,''


    Lin Mu read it, just to make sure that it sounded correct.


    "Yeah, this should be it." He muttered before getting to work on the third wall.


    Watching Lin Mu work with confidence, Ziran had a question in his mind.


    "How many of those poems did you learn, Daoist Mu Lin?" Ziran asked.


    "How many?" Lin Mu looked back. "It wouldn''t make sense to just learn a few. I just learned the entire book." He said before finishing the third stone wall too.


    "All of them?" Ziran didn''t know if that was excessive or impressive.


    ~shua~


    ''Floating across the miles, farther and farther away.


    You''ve longed to travel like roaming clouds,'' N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    Min Ju read the third stanza of the poem, finding it to be rather nice.


    "Yeah, all of them." Lin Mu answered. "We''re lucky that I found the book not long beforeing here. I was at the Serene ss Valley and got it there." He added.


    "So you only read it a short time ago?" Ziran found that even more absurd.


    "I suppose. Though I didn''t have much time to read it, as there were a lot of books I needed to finish." Lin Mu replied as he worked on the fourth wall. "I had to skim through it quickly, so I missed out on some of the footnotes." He said before finishing his work.


    ~shua~


    ''But our friendship, unwilling to wane as the sun is to set,


    Let it be here to stay.''


    "Is this poem about farewell?" Min Ju asked, having read so far.


    "It is." Lin Mu nodded. "You''ll see once itsplete." He said as he worked on the fifth and final wall.


    The group watched as Lin Mu finished arranging the symbols urately.


    It wasn''t a thing as simple as simply matching the letters, as that was not how Dao Script worked. The same word could be spelled using different characters, thus if one didn''t know enough Dao Script they wouldn''t even know that the answer was known to them.


    As such, one not only needed to know the poem, but also have learned a lot of Dao Script for this to work.


    Of course, everyone present here was well educated in terms of Dao Script, but that didn''t mean that they knew each and every character that existed. There were always characters that were very obscure or unknown that would stump even celestials.


    Also, using those characters in a poem was a matter of another level'' as the difficulty could be increased by several times. ~shua~


    ''As we wave each other good-bye,


    Our horses neigh, as if for us they sigh.''


    Min Ju read the final stanza, fully understanding the poem.


    "So it''s about the farewell of two friends¡­" Min Ju realized.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded as he watched all the circles light up.


    ~HONG~


    The flow of immortal Qi in the floor changed, as the five circles linked up. Several lines glowed on the floor before linking up to the other end of the hall.


    ~HUALA~


    Then in the next second, a gate materialized out of thin air, showing them the path that had to be taken.


    "That was simpler than I thought." Lin Mu said, seeing that they could already progress to the next area.


    "It''s only because you were solving it, Daoist Mu Lin." Ziran said. "Yeah, I don''t think it would have been easy for us to solve it." Lady Kang replied. "It would probably have taken us a lot of trial and error to figure out the answer." She added.


    Since they could still read the Dao Script, they would have to shuffle the symbols around until the rightbination was found.


    Though the time needed for that could be anywhere from hours to days.

 Chapter 2152 A Demonic Sentinel

    Chapter 2152 A Demonic Sentinel


    ??With the gate to the next area open, the group could now freely move on.


    "Let''s see what stands in our way next." Ziran said as he sent in the ss Eye first.


    ~roll~


    The ss eye swiftly traversed the floor and passed through the gate, arriving in the next area.


    At the same time, Lin Mu had his own Spatial Perception active, trying to find anything suspicious.


    "There''s¡­ a lot of Qi." Lin Mu discovered.Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ~shua~


    The ss eye transmitted the scene to the formation screen on Ziran''s wrist, allowing others to see it too.


    In the next area there was a dense amount of Qi in the air, which was unlike all other areas they had seen before. After all, theck of Immortal Qi made the trial harder, as the participant could not recover their Qi stores this way.


    They were forced to rely on the materials they might have brought with them or use whatever else they had avable in the trial.


    "Is there anything else?" Lady Kang asked, as she too peered at the screen.


    "Nothing solid¡­ The Qi sense of the ss eye only says that there''s a lot of Qi but nothing like an actual physical trap there." Ziran furrowed his brows as he assessed what mighty ahead. "Perhaps the Qi is obscuring whatever''s behind it." He added.


    "There''s a way to check." Elder Hu said as he walked forward and stood in the gateway. "If the Qi is obscuring something, we just need to blow it away!" he said before punching with great force.


    ~WHOOSH~


    An illusory gauntlet shot forward from his fist and entered the next area. There all the Qi that came into contact with it was blow away, while the gauntlet kept on flying uninterrupted.


    This entire scene was visible on the formation screen, thus the group got to see just what was hiding behind the Qi.


    Arge statue of some kind stood tall in the next hall.


    It had eight arms and four legs, with a faceless head. There were tens of eyes ced all over its body, looking rather eerie.


    "That doesn''t look good." Lin Mu muttered.


    His spatial perception couldn''t sense any immortal in the statue, but he had an irksome feeling that it was not just a normal statue.


    ~tremble~


    This soon became a fact, when the illusory gauntlet was about to collide with the statue. It''s arms moved like a blur before mming into the illusory gauntlet!


    ~BOOM~


    The illusory gauntlet which had been unstoppable so far shattered into fragments and quickly dissipated.


    "WOOONG~!" The statue then let out a strange booming sound before it started to move.


    Even though it had no mouth, sound was stilling from its body.


    "Another Gnomish Design?" Lin Mu asked. "I don''t sense any immortal Qi controlling that thing." He added.


    "Now that''s not Gnomish." Ziran replied a frown on his face. "That''s of demonic make!" He revealed.


    "What!?" Lin Mu and the others were shocked.


    "What is it?" Lady Kang questioned, while Elder Hu rushed ahead to block the iing statue.


    It had spotted them and was clearlying to attack.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    A fight soon broke out between Elder Hu and the eerie statue. The eight arms of the statue were rather slender, as if they were mere sticks, but they still had considerable mass to them.


    As when the fists of Elder Hu struck them, a resounding collision was heard.


    The eight arms moved fast, but Elder Hu was able to match them. The statue''s eyes gazed at Elder Hu, watching his every move as if trying to find an opening.


    And just a couple of secondster, the statue did exactly that.


    ~THUD~


    One of the arms bent at a strange angle and snaked its way to Elder Hu''s back.


    "Ugh!" This caused the elder to be pushed forward towards the statue, where five fists rushed at him. "HAAA!" Of course the man was not going to be swayed by just this and unleashed a flurry of blows.


    His fists glowed in a grey and blue light asrge illusory gauntlets formed over them. But that wasn''t all as the same thing happened to his legs, which became covered in illusory spikes boots.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    Elder Hu moved with the agility of a leopard, using both his fists and legs to strike. His kicks were like that of an Axe chopping a tree, while his fists were like hammers crushing rocks in a mine.


    His form was impable and no opening could be perceived from it.


    "Elder Hu you need to put distance between you and the statue! It''s a Demonic Sentinel!" Ziran shouted.


    Hearing that the Elder seemed to be a bit surprised, but decided to oblige.


    But before he could do so, the statue seemed to faster.


    ~HONG~HONG~HONG~


    All the eyes on the body of the eerie statue lit up before a red beam was shot out of all of them!


    When Lin Mu saw the red beams, he could feel the power contained within them. They weren''t just any normal kind of energy.


    "Demonic Dao Traces!?" Lin Mu was astonished.


    Even if he had never seen Demonic Dao Traces outside, he could still innately recognizing them. After all, with the Burning heart Sutra, he hade close to the demonic path.


    To him, this felt rather familiar and the danger contained within them was also prominent.


    ~BOOM~


    Elder Hu couldn''t dodge all of the beamsing at him, and was struck by several of them all at once.


    "AAAGH!" The elder cried in pain, as he was pushed back.


    The red beams seemed to pass through his armor as if it were non existent and directly attack his body.


    A searing pain filled his body, as if someone was poking him with burning hot rods. Ever spot that he was stuck with the red beams felt like they had been stabbed by red hot pokers.


    Not to mention, this attack was not made with normal immortal Qi but rather Demonic Dao Traces!


    As such it may as well be a Dao Skill!


    The effect of it was apparent, as not only was Elder Hu''s concentration broken, but his flow of immortal Qi was affected to!


    He found himself unable to move, even if he wished to.


    ~SHUA~


    The Demonic Sentinel Statue was not going to let go of a helpless prey and rushed to eliminate it.


    "No you won''t!" Before before it could do so, a furious shout was heard. "Star Break Lance!"


    Lady Kang thrust forward with her hand, causing argence made out of stars to condense. The stars glowed with pure ster Qi as they surged towards the statue.


    ~BOOM~


    The statue was struck by thergence, and was thrown back to the other end of the hall.


    "SPLIT!" But Lady Kang was not done just yet, as she twisted her hand causing thence to divide.


    It split into ten longitudinal sections that stabbed into the statue. Eight of them stabbed through the arms, while two stabbed through the torso, trying to hold it in ce.


    Taking the chance that the statue was held back, Lin Mu made his move.


    ~SHUA~


    He appeared next to Elder Hu with Blink and picked him up before retreating to safety.


    "Take care of him." He said to Min Ju before joining the fray.


    He had not read much about Demonic Sentinels and only knew a couple of things about them.


    The first thing was that these statues were used to guard the most important ces of the Demons and the second was that they were very strong.


    The second fact was demonstrated by the statue just now, while the first fact seemed to be implied considering it was guarding the hall.


    But a question still stood.


    "Why''s there a Demonic Sentinel here?" Lin Mu wondered.


    Ziran had the same doubt in his mind, as he couldn''t figure it out. The Demonic Sentinel being here meant that there was the involved of demons no doubt. But since this was a Celestial''s inheritance ground, it also didn''t make sense that they would use a demonic weapon.


    They had already established the fact that this was not the inheritance ground of an unorthodox expert, thus they hadn''t thought of something like a Demonic Sentinel to be present here.


    ''Even if it''s here, it would still need a power source. It cannot run on Immortal Qi, so where is it?'' Ziran wondered as he looked around.


    Having lived in a demonic world for thousands of years, he knew very well how these things worked. He had close experience with the, as his wife''s tribe had several of these too.


    The Demonic Sentinels needed several things to work, the first of which was a power source which would supply it with Demonic Qi. The next was a vessel that would contain Dao Traces. This was what made it so deadly and needed to be powered by a Demon personally to work.

 Chapter 2153 A Tough Statue

    Chapter 2153 A Tough Statue


    With Demonic Dao Traces powering the attacks of the Demonic Sentinels, its attacks could be particrly dangerous for several cultivators.


    Demonic Qi was already something that could cause the Qi of immortals to go in an array, not to mention Demonic Dao Traces that would easily punch through their defenses if they were not prepared.


    Even if they had used defensive Qi skills, there was a chance that the Demonic Dao Skill would be able to overpower it. It did not work the same as immortal Qi after all, and there was no guarantee a normal Qi skill would defend against it.


    After all, Dao Skills were often a lot more powerful than most Qi skills. One of the few ways of defending against them was to use another Dao Skill. But that would only be possible if the person fighting knew that the opponent was using a Dao Skill.


    In the case of the Demonic Sentinel it was almost instantaneous and none of themon signs, such as the appearance of a Dao Embryo and Dao Shell were noted. Even the presence of Dao Traces was hard to note, especially if they were something a person had not experienced before, like the Demonic Dao Traces.


    As such, Elder Hu was disadvantaged from the start.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    The arms of the Demonic Sentinel struggled against thences that were impaling it and tried to pull them out. But these were no normalnces and the starlight in them seemingly overpowered the Demonic Sentinel''s Demonic energy.


    "We need to find the source of Demonic Qi as well as the Dao Trace Vessel for the statue. It will stop working if both are removed." Ziran informed.


    ~WOONG~


    And just as he said this, the Demonic Sentinel seemingly charged up for another attack. Its hundreds of eyes moved and red at thences that were impaling it. Then a secondter, they glowed red, before shooting beams at thences.


    ~SHATTER~


    Thences onlysted for a couple of seconds before breaking under the power of a Dao Skill.


    "I''ll hold it back!" Lin Mu shouted before punching at the Demonic Sentinel, trying to keep it in ce.


    But Lin Mu did not have the same disadvantage as Elder Hu. He fought against the Demonic Sentinel with the Longgui Bulwark armor active. It protected him from the statue''s attacks that came from all directions while also amplifying his own power.


    The eight arms of the Demonic Sentinel moved like snakes trying to hit Lin Mu''s vulnerabilities, but they were unable to do so. "HAAA!" Lin Mu raised both his hands and brought them down like a hammer at the center of the statue.


    ~BANG~


    The Demonic Sentinel was struck hard and pushed back, its arms iling around but unable to strike Lin Mu.


    ~HUSSA~


    Lin Mu slid back, putting some distance between him and the Demonic Sentinel. He had seen the red beams and knew that they were the greater threat than the physical attacks. ''It cannot use them nonstop, and needs to charge every so often.'' Lin Mu understood from seeing the dy between the usage of the Dao Skill. "But where is its power source?" he wondered, trying to scan the statue with his Spatial Perception.


    Their immortal sense was still suppressed in this area, thus they were disadvantaged on the analytical side too. Otherwise, it would have been much easier for them to navigate the trapped areas.


    But after a while, Lin Mu was still unable to determine where the power source of the Demonic Sentinel was.


    "I can''t tell where the power source is!" Lin Mu informed them, before heading in to block the Demonic Sentinel again.


    Its arms glowed with red energy, as it started to utilize a different type of attacks now. Each blow of the statue''s arm left red trails behind it while the power behind them increased by at least twice.


    ~SHING~


    "Let''s see how you fare against a de!" Lin Mu reckoned if he couldn''t spot it from the surface, he might as well cut into it.


    He drew out both Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker, using them at once.


    ~SLASH~ Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    He swung out Ocean Raker first, creating a long energy rift infused with Sword Intent that charged at the Demonic Sentinel. ~HONG~


    He swung out Afternoon Pine next, using the inbuilt Qi skill. Metal elemental immortal Qi surged into the de along with Lin Mu''s Sword Intent, transforming into a yellow metal pine tree that tried to shred the Demonic Sentinel.


    ''If not for Immortal Sense being suppressed, I could have let Afternoon Pine fight on its own.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Immortal weapons needed Immortal sense to control them. If the Immortal Sense was restricted, it meant that the weapons could only be used when the cultivator was holding them physically. Sparks flew everywhere, as the sword shes collided with the Demonic Sentinel. Its body was tough and only faint scratches were left on it, despite Lin Mu''s attacks. But this didn''t mean that his attacks were doing nothing.


    The metal pine tree was especially good at holding it back, as its branches intertwined with the Demonic Sentinel''s arms and its trunk acted like an anchor keeping the statue in ce.


    "So this works¡­" Lin Mu noted and used Afternoon Pine''s skill six more times, causing multiple metal pine trees to sprout.


    These entangled the Demonic Sentinel even more, keeping its arms upied. Even if its arms managed to break the branches, the other trees grew more to keep it in ce.


    With theDemonic Sentinel being held in ce, Lin Mu could now focus onrger attacks. ~huu~


    As such, he took a deep breath and sheathed Afternoon Pine. Instead, he held Ocean Raker with both hands and raised it up high.


    While Afternoon Pine was more versatile, making Lin Mu use it more; in terms of pure power, Ocean Raker was actually better.


    ''Perhaps a more concentrated sh might break through its defenses.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as a n appeared in his mind.

 Chapter 2154 Ocean Rakers Might

    Chapter 2154 Ocean Raker''s Might


    From what Lin Mu had seen so far in his fight against the Demonic Sentinel, he knew that its body was incredibly tough. In fact, he reckoned it might just be as tough as the Longgui Bulwark Armor itself. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ''If I take that as a frame of reference, I need to use an attack that will be able to break through my own armor.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Let''s test it with pure power first¡­'' he gripped the long sword tightly as it was raised high.


    ~HUMM~


    The long sword hummed with joy, as Lin Mu''s Metal Elemental Immortal Qi and sword intent poured into it. Due to being a Long Sword, Ocean Raker was more suited to straight shes with great power. It had the best cutting power and could even split a mountain in half, if Lin Mu used it seriously.


    Which was exactly what he intended to do right now.


    ~HUALA~


    After a couple of seconds, the sword was thrumming with power and glowed in a faint blue light.


    "SEVER!" Lin Mu uttered, swinging the sword in a downward sh.


    Upon doing this, Ocean Raker glowed brightly as a massive energy poured out of it. This energy turned into arge sword imprint that shed with the sword, resulting in a giant blue sh that charged towards the Demonic Sentinel.


    The sh was as tall as the roof and about ten inches wide. It was filled with blue energy with white edges around it. This was rather contrasting to the normal metal elements immortal Qi, which was yellow in color and was due to the Blue Vein Heart Metal, which was considered one of the best metals to make a sword with.


    Not only did this increase the sharpness of the de by a lot, its durability was also great, allowing it to handlerger amounts of Qi and sword intent within it.


    ~BOOOOM~


    The shy attack made it hard to see when it struck the Demonic Sentinel, but the resulting sound from it was extremely loud. Strong winds blew from the impact, which could be felt by everyone in the back. Ziran created a wooden barrier to prevent them from getting hit by any stray fragments, just in case, while the ss eye continued to observe the scene.


    Due to the sheer amount of Immortal Qi that was present in the air, it made it a bit hard to see, but eventually it became clear.


    "Daoist Mu Lin¡­" Ziran muttered as he gazed at the scene.


    The bright light faded away as the aftermath of the attack was revealed.


    Lin Mu stood where he was earlier, while a deep gully was left in front of him, as well as on the roof. The tough stone that had not broken from their earlier attacks had been cut apart!


    "This¡­" The scene was quite stunning to Min Ju, who was witnessing Lin Mu''s power for the first time.


    While he had shown some of his skills and attacks earlier, they were not enough to shock the maid. Only Lady Kang had gotten to see it firsthand in the previous trials.


    The Demonic Sentinel was stuck against the wall, with its body having been buried half way in the wall. It was clear that the impact was enough to break the wall behind it too. But that was not the most eye catching thing. It was actually the front of the Demonic Sentinel that had been split apart!


    It was as if a saw had been used to cut through its body, as a ten inch deep cut was inflicted from the top of its head to the bottom of its body. Two of its arms had been shredded apart from the stray energy of the sh, while one of its leg was also chopped off.


    Even if the sh might not have been directed at its limbs, it didn''t mean that the energy of the sh would stay contained in one part. The Demonic Sentinel also tried to use its limbs to defend itself, which resulted in its extra injuries.


    And despite trying to defend, it had still gotten damaged to this extent.


    Half of its eyes had also been scraped away due to the sharp sword intent, rending it unable to use the Dao Skill at full power again.


    Lin Mu though, stared at the split part of its body, gazing at its internals. "What are those?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he found strange channels inside the body of the Demonic Sentinel.


    They were carved using an unknown method, as the entire Demonic Sentinel was seemingly a solid statue made from a single piece of material. And yet, it had all these channels which were perfectly carved. "Are those¡­ Meridians?" Lady Kang said upon seeing them.


    "Yes¡­ Or rather, they are a replica of Meridians." Ziran nodded. "But if it has these meridians, it is not just any Demonic Sentinel. This is a Tomb Guardian Demonic Sentinel." He revealed.


    "A Tomb Guardian?" Lin Mu who heard it, was surprised.


    "Yes, they are stronger than normal Demonic Sentinels and cannot be made easily. It needs a grandmaster Demonic Refiner to make these. It has an internal structure that is simr to the meridian system of a cultivator, which makes it quite efficient. Its tough body protects its internals and the addition of its Dao Skill makes it a terrifying guardian." Ziran exined.


    ~Creak~


    And just as Ziran said this, the statue moved.


    "It''s still alive!?" Min Ju said in disbelief.


    The Demonic Sentinel moved and the eyes on its body swiveled around, trying to analyze what had happened.


    "Wait, if it has the internals of a cultivator, doesn''t that mean it should have something like a Dantian, too?" Lin Mu suddenly said.


    "Yes, that should be where its power source should be!" Ziran answered.


    "Looks like we can put it to rest, then." Lin Mu said, trying to trace the meridians and find the position of the Dantian.

 Chapter 2155 A Method To See The Dao Traces

    Chapter 2155 A Method To See The Dao Traces


    Finding the Dantian of the Demonic Sentinel was not easy as Lin Mu had thought.


    Even if he had cut the statue and revealed its insides, it had not been split entirely. Thus arge portion of its insides were still hidden within its tough interior. Then there was also the fact that the Demonic Sentinel was a lot bigger than a normal cultivator.


    Thus the position of the Dantian was not exactly the same aspared to a human cultivator.


    A few secondster, the Demonic Sentinel started moving again, as the injuries had not weakened it much. "WOROOOOOON!~" A loud sound came from its body, as it rushed towards Lin Mu.


    Even with one leg damaged, the Demonic Sentinel was still quite speedy. Its six remaining arms thrust towards Lin Mu which he was forced to block.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    The Longgui Bulwark Armor defended against them sessfully, as Lin Mu focused on trying to find the Dantian.


    ''Even if I can trace out the pathways of the meridians, pin pointing the Dantian is not possible this way.'' Lin Mu understood. ''I need some other way to do this,'' He realized.


    He fought with the Demonic Sentinel for about a minute before he finally figured out a potential solution.


    ''Wait¡­ if it has Demonic Dao Traces, then I should be able to sense it with the sutra.'' An idea appeared in his mind. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    Then, without hesitating, Lin Mu acted on it.


    ~shua~


    Esoteric chants escape his lips, causing his aura to change. It was a subtle change first but soon his entire presence seemed to have be different. This was especially noticeable to the others in the back. After all, they were immortals who were not weak and having stayed with Lin Mu for all this time, they could at least tell what his normal aura was like. "What is he¡­" Lady Kang became concerned.


    If before, Lin Mu''s presence used to be calm, it was now like a boiling cauldron with a closed lid.


    Even Elder Hu was alerted, despite his injured state and looked at Lin Mu. His thousands of years of battle experience was telling him that Lin Mu was extremely dangerous right now.


    "My Lady¡­ Daoist Mu Lin seems¡­" Min Ju felt apprehensive and took a step back.


    Among them, Ziran was the only one who seemed to recognize that aura.


    ''Demons? How does Daoist Mu Lin have that aura?'' Ziran wondered.


    Having lived in a demon world and even having a demon as a wife, Ziran was the one who had the most experience with demons. As such, he wouldn''t mistake the change in Lin Mu''s aura. His ears twitched slightly. As he focused on Lin Mu. Being an elf, he naturally had a sensitive sense of hearing which he could freely control as needed. Normally he kept this limited, as excess sensitivity could disorient oneself during a fight or if one was caught off guard by loud sounds.


    Only in specific cases would Ziran use his ears to focus on something.


    ~Gasp~


    But upon doing so, he heard the esoteric chants which quickly raised his heart rate. This startled him internally and his hurriedly stopped listening to them. ''What are those chants¡­ To affect me merely by listening for a moment¡­'' Ziran couldn''t believe it.


    He didn''t get to dwell on this long though, as Lin Mu made his move.


    A red aura covered Lin Mu''s fist as he punched on the side of the Demonic Sentinel.


    ~BANG~


    The impact was enough to push the statue back, while a fist imprint formed on the Demonic Sentinel''s side. This caused the cut in the middle of his body to get warped and bent, revealing more of its insides.


    ~BANG~BANG~BANG~


    Lin Mu didn''t stop there either and let off a flurry of blows, forgetting various spots on the Demonic Sentinel''s body.


    ''Its getting better¡­'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes. ''Burning Heart Sutra works to improve my sensitivity for the Demonic Dao Traces.'' He confirmed his guess.


    Normally, this wouldn''t have worked as there wouldn''t be enough Demonic Dao Traces around for him to sense. Then there was also the fact that using the sutra would lead to his transformation.


    But what Lin Mu was doing here was to maintain a very fine bnce to not activate the Burning Heart Sutra to the maximum. He was in fact, chanting and stopping every so often, and notpleting them.


    This way, he could still get some effects of the sutra but not transform into his beastly form.


    Doing that in front of others would be really hard to exin.


    Even if Lady Kang hadn''t seen the ''Demon'' who ''stole'' the Violet Mystic Life tree with her own eyes, there was no doubt she had seen the reports of the incident. Considering the scale of the event, nearly every power on the Rust Sky World knew of it.


    And for influential people like Lady Kang, it was important information they wouldn''t miss. Especially considering the value of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, which was simply impossible to determine.


    Its fruits could increase the longevity of an immortal, which would be priceless to many immortals. Every Immortal would like to have at least one of them in backup, while the experts who were nearing their lifespan and didn''t have the confidence to undergo an immortal tribtion would absolutely need them.


    When it was a matter of life and death, they would be willing to pay any price.


    Lin Mu wouldn''t be surprised if almost every major power had memorized the appearance of the demon that had stolen the tree, including those that were merely visiting.


    He even thought that Ziran would know about them too. Thus, Lin Mu prevented his transformation. It would be much easier for him to exin the demonic aura, as a special skill rather than a full on transformation. At the very least, he didn''t think this was the right moment to use it when he still had other means of fighting.

 Chapter 2156 Breaking The Dao Trace Source

    Chapter 2156 Breaking The Dao Trace Source


    With the partial form of the Burning Heart Sutra active, Lin Mu was able to perceive the faint traces of the Demonic Dao Traces within the Demonic Sentinel''s body.


    Since this was his first time doing this, the location wasn''t urate, but that didn''t mean Lin Mu would just wait. ~BANG~BANG~BANG~


    He struck wherever he felt the Dao Traces, in hopes of figuring out the exact position. ''It''s certainly moving¡­ or rather the Dao Traces have multiple pocket that they move around in.'' Lin Mu determined.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu focused on the sensation of the Demonic Dao Traces.


    They were rather peculiar, and felt like a mix of both heat and cold at the same time. It was like when someone dipped their hand into scalding hot water, but felt it to be cold for a moment. Or the opposite when they dip into an icyke, and don''t find it cold at the start.


    Going off this very feeling, Lin Mu tracked the Dao Traces down. They felt like twinkling stars and could only be perceived for a moment at a time. Thus, Lin Mu had to be quick in striking them. He did this for a couple of minutes, while hispanions watched.


    "The Demonic Sentinel¡­ It''s getting slower." Lady Kang realized from the movements of the statue.


    "Whatever Daoist Mu Lin Is doing is working." Ziran nodded.


    At first they had thought that he was striking the Demonic Sentinel at random ces, but now they realized that there was a reason behind it.


    ''Is that demonic aura behind it?'' Ziran wondered. ''Is it a skill or some item? I don''t think I''ve seen anything like it before.'' He thought to himself.


    He made a note to ask Lin Mu about itter. Ziran reckoned that since Lin Mu had not used it before, it might not be something he was particrly inclined on using, unless absolutely needed. Which was true to some extent. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    Five minutes passed in this, as Lin Mu continued to pummel the Demonic Sentinel. It had sustained hundreds of dents on its body by now, and it had started to bend to the left. Another one of its arms had been broken, or rather crumpled, while more eyes were dented so much that they were simply unrecognizable.


    "The Demonic Sentinel hasn''t used its Dao Skill, either. There have been no red beams ever since Daoist Mu Lin started his random attacks." Min Ju soon realized. "That''s right." Elder Hu saw it too. "Is he striking its meridians to interrupt its skills too?" he wondered.


    "It might be so," Ziran agreed.


    "FOUND IT!" And just as he said that, Lin Mu eximed.


    ~SHING~


    He drew out Ocean Raker once more and rapidly infused it with Metal Elemental Immortal Qi along with as much Sword Intent as he could at once. ~HUALA~


    The sword glowed in a blue light, and hummed with power. But instead of shing down, Lin Mu pulled the sword back while pointing it at the Demonic Sentinel.


    ~HUU~


    Then taking a deep breath, Lin Mu started chanting again. But this time, his chants were audible to everyone, making their hearts feel cold. Everyone''s eyes went dull for a moment, before they recovered.


    "What in the¡­" Ziran and Lady Kang had no idea just what had Lin Mu done to affect them too.


    Not only that, but his aura had changed once more.


    "An aura as sharp as that¡­ can only be obtained by Swordsmen who''ve cut apart millions of foes." Elder Hu muttered in a knowing tone.


    He had been in thousands of battles and had met many talented cultivators. There were several among them that had an aura simr to what Lin Mu had at this moment. It was so sharp that merely looking at it would hurt one''s eyes and their skin would feel prickly.


    This was due to none other than the Severing Heart Sutra!


    Lin Mu''s eyes glowed in a fierce light as he thrust Ocean Raker at a specific spot on the Demonic Sentinel''s body!


    "BREAK!" The glowing sword pierced through the tough exterior of the Demonic Sentinel, cutting through it as if it were soft cheese. The Sword Intent and Metal Elemental Immortal Qi poured out of it in the form of countless tiny des, that threatened to shred everything that was in their path.


    This caused a shredding effect that tore through the Demonic Sentinel''s body like a drill would through rock.


    ~WEENG~WEENG~WEENG~


    The drilling effect excoriated more and more of the Demonic Sentinel''s body before arge hole had been carved into its body!


    And hidden behind this hole was none other than the Dantian of the Demonic Sentinel!


    "So that''s where it was¡­" Ziran muttered in surprise.


    Unlike what one might think it to be, the Dantian of the Demonic Sentinel was located at the very base of its body, right where the legs attached. If onepared it to a human cultivator, their Dantian was at the navel, but in the case of this statue, it was at its sacral bone!


    And with how long its body was, the positioning was also a bit awkward, making the attacks not hit the locations as often. The Demonic Sentinel was even using its hands to defend against the attacks that reached there, but it had been hard to notice at first due to the erratic movements of the hands.


    But now it had all be clear.


    "Huh¡­ that''s very simr to a Dao Essence Crystal." Lin Mu saw two objects in the body of the Demonic Sentinel.


    First there was a translucent red orb, that was the statue''s ''Dantian''.


    And inside this Dantian, there was a crimson crystal. Lin Mu had seen familial crystals before, and with the Dao Traces that could be felt from it, he determined it to bet none other than a Dao Essence Crystal.


    "If it''s this, then breaking it is easy." Lin Mu directly blinked and appeared in front of the Demonic Sentinel before punching through it.


    ~SHATTER~

 Chapter 2157 Demonic Dao Essence Crystal

    Chapter 2157 Demonic Dao Essence Crystal


    Lin Mu''s fist struck the Dantian of the Demonic Sentinel shattering it with ease. ~WHOOSH~


    With it breaking, a surge of Demonic Qi spread in the hall, pushing away all the Immortal Qi that was dispersed in it. It spread all the way to where Lin Mu''spanions where and threatened to wash over it.


    "Great Palm Hedge!" but Ziran acted quick, and erected a barrier that looked like it was made out of Palm Leaves.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    The Demonic Qi collided with the leaf barrier and made it tremble, as damaged started being inflicted on to it. It wasn''t exactly an energy that most cultivators were fine with. It could also be corrosive to others, depending on its concentration simply due to its natural domineering nature.


    ~FUUUSH~


    But after a few moments, it held up and the barrage of demonic Qi ended.


    While this happened, Lin Mu did something sneakily. ''The Dao Essence Crystal coulde in use¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as he firmly grasped it within the Dantian of the Demonic Sentinel.


    He tried to store it away, but the Dao Essence Crystal resisted. Or rather, it was the will of the statue that was preventing it from being taken.


    Even if it''s Dantian had been shattered, it didn''t mean that it waspletely ''dead'' just yet.


    "If you''re gonna be bothersome, I don''t have time for this." Lin Mu knew time was of the essence thus took a decisive step.


    "Meld." He directly used the ring''s fourth skill and covered the space around the Demonic Dao Essence Crystal.


    This caused it to be forcibly cut off from the rest of the statue, and allowed Lin Mu to take it away without any resistance.


    ~shua~


    The entire Demonic Sentient seemingly turned limp once the Dao Essence Crystal was pulled out. Its arms slumped down, while its legs bent, unable to maintain their rigidity.


    ~THUD~


    The statue copsed to the floor, causing a few cracks to spread on its body as well as the ground.


    ~Phew~


    Lin Mu''spanions took a breath of relief seeing it dead. "It''s finally dead¡­ It would have been difficult to go against something that could use a Demonic Dao Skill." Ziran spoke. "Indeed¡­ While we might have been able to take it on in a group, we would certainly have sustained injuries." Lady Kang agreed. "It was at least as strong as a Sixth Tribtion Stage expert in terms of pure power." She added.


    "Thankfully itcked intelligence." Elder Hu chimed in. "The programmed behavior in it was built to fight and analyze an opponent, but there is still a limit to it. And I don''t think it was built to go up against someone that could sense its weakness." He added while looking at Lin Mu.


    The oppressive aura around Lin Mu had long since faded away, while the sword in his hand had also calmed down. He stood there looking at the now dead statue, a few thoughts going through his mind unknown to the group.


    They didn''t know that he was simply reveling in the spoils he had obtained.


    ''That''s more like it.'' Lin Mu felt pleased with the little ''bonus'' reward from this round.


    Dao Essence Crystals weren''t always easy to find, especially those that belonged to more rare or unique Daos.


    The Demonic Dao might not be as rare when considered the entirety of the Immortal realm, but it was still rare for most human cultivators. Even among the demons, it was quite unusual for a Demonic Dao Essence Crystal to be left behind as they were not creatures that would die easily.


    If they were pushed to the brink of death, they would give it their all and would rather detonate their soul and body than to give into the enemy.


    As such, it was rare to see a Demonic Dao Essence Crystals. Even for the demons that ''peacefully'' passed away, such crystals were rare as they would not let these be created.


    Instead the demons would let their spirits be merged into the Ancestral Tablets, which would ensure the protection of their tribe for centuries and millenniums toe.


    This led Lin Mu to believe that this was probably not from a demon. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    ''The aura from this Dao Essence Crystal is not as ''domineering'' as it should be. It is weaker than even the old aura of the Burning Heart Sutra when I was in the Spirit realm.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''This is probably from a human that had taken the Demonic Path¡­ A Demonic Cultivator.'' He guessed.


    There was actually nock of such cultivators in the Immortal realm either, though they were certainly concentration in specific parts. This was either in the form of Demonic Sects, or rogue Demonic cultivators that were part of some organizations externally.


    Of course, there were exceptions to it, such as the few that were also part of the Immortal Court, but most of them were usually not found roaming around in the territories of the Immortal Court.


    ''Perhaps this was acquired by the creator of the inheritance ground, some time ago and then utilized here. Ziran did say that a normal Demonic Sentinel needs to be powered by a Demon for it to work properly. Seeing how it was designed with great detail, this was certainly nned with the Dao Essence Crystal in mind.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    While Lin Mu didn''t know what he would be doing with the Demonic Dao Essence Crystal, he did know that there would be plenty of uses for it. Since it was still a Dao Essence Crystal in the end, it would have plenty of buyers on the market.


    Even among the cultivators of the righteous path, they would still like buying it as it could give them a chance at getting experience with Demonic Dao Traces. They would gain some resistance to it and won''t be as oppressed as others.


    And for righteous sects, such Dao Essence crystal would be the perfect opportunity to let their disciples experience Demonic aura in a safe environment.

 Chapter 2158 Elder Hus Advice And A Quick Gate

    Chapter 2158 Elder Hu''s Advice And A Quick Gate


    With the Dao Essence Crystal firmly stored away in the ring, and the Demonic Sentinel Dead, Lin Mu rxed.


    His immortal Qi calmed down, while the others approached him.


    "That was impressive Daoist Mu Lin." Ziran spoke. "I didn''t expect you to be able to track down the Dantian of the Demonic Sentinel." He added.


    "What skill was that?" Lady Kang asked with interest. "Your aura was unlike what I''ve seen before." She added.


    Lin Mu heard it and knew that they were talking about the Burning Heart Sutra.


    "It''s a skill I obtained a while ago. It amplifies my aura and allows me to sense simr vtile auras." Lin Mu replied. "It has a lot of side effects, so I don''t use it, but it fit this situation." He exined.


    "No wonder." Lady Kang nodded. They had felt the power of the skill from afar and knew that it must not be a normal one. "Did you have a breakthrough in terms of your swordsmanship?" Elder Hu asked which was a bit surprising to the group as he didn''t usually speak.


    "No." But Lin Mu denied it.


    "Then what was that?" Min Ju asked. "Your aura¡­ it turned sharp like a de." She added.


    "That was just my sword intent." Lin Mu replied. "I was simply using it at full potential." He revealed.


    This was true, as Lin Mu had merely used the Severing Heart Sutra to speed up the process. Other than that he was simply using his Metal Elemental Immortal Qi and his Sword Inte to amplify the power of Ocean Raker.


    "If you fully specialize in Swordsmanship, you might just be a Sword immortal." Elder Hu replied to Lin Mu. "But your focus is divided into too many things." He added.


    "Thanks for the advice, Elder Hu." Lin Mu responded. "But I like being adaptable to various situations." He stated.


    The elder didn''t speak anymore after this, simply epting his words as it is. After all, he wasn''t in a position to teach Lin Mu, and neither did he have any authority to do that. The man simply felt like Lin Mu''s potential was being wasted on other things.


    But if he knew that Lin Mu had reached his current level with Sword intent in less than fifteen years, he would have been stunned. He would never be able to believe that someone could reach this level in that short of a time. Elder Hu knew many experts that were swordsmen and spent thousands of years in improving their swordsmanship. Only after that were they able to reach the state Lin Mu was in. He knew that Lin Mu was certainly younger than most of them, but didn''t know how young.


    As such, he thought that Lin Mu was talented with it and was wasting his talent in other things, when he should have focused on a single thing.


    But he had no idea, this was merely one of the paths that Lin Mu learned. In fact, Sword Intent wasn''t even his most powerful ability. There was the Boulder Copsing Fist that was a fist technique, but it was something that couldn''t have been used in this hall. The area was far too small, and the fallout from the move was simply too big. Lin Mu didn''t dare to use it carelessly with the fear of hurting others in the process.


    He knew the power of the move, and also knew that blocking it in that short time would not be possible for others.


    So as to not cause any untoward incident, he chose to not use that. The same could be said for the upgraded form of the Boulder Copsing Fist, the Mountain Copsing Fist.


    Lady Kang had witnessed its power first hand, and was awed by it. It was a move that could erase several square kilometers ofnds, thus it was entirely out of question to use it here.


    But one thing was sure, that either of those two moves would have been enough to damage the Demonic Sentinel, with thest one being capable of entirely eliminating it.


    Then there was Meld, which could also inflict damage to the Demonic Sentinel by directly cutting off the space. The only reason Lin Mu hadn''t used it was to make sure that he would be able to properly pin point the Dantian of the Statue first.


    Since even his Spatial Perception was unable to sense the Dantian, he was afraid that using it wrongly might just cut the Demonic Sentinel in the wrong spot. If the flow of energy became haphazard, there was a chance that it might end up exploding.


    And anything that could match a strong immortal would be quite dangerous when it exploded.


    As such, Lin Mu held back on using it until he had fully pinpointed the Dantian.


    ~SHUA~


    Just as they were talking about the Demonic Sentinel though, a changed happened. "Huh? The formations are lighting up." They noticed.


    Several patterns appeared on the ground in the form of lines, that were extending towards the other end of the hall. This ce had been a t wall so far, and didn''t seem like much. The Demonic Sentinel had also been mmed here several times, with plenty of damage being inflicted onto it from their battle.


    But now, the lines had grown into this wall and activated a hidden formation.


    ~HUALA~


    The lines joined together before an arch was created.


    "It''s a teleportation gate¡­" Lin Mu said, sensing the Spatial Fluctuations.


    "A Teleportation Gate? Is this already the end?" Min Ju wondered.


    Unlike the other trials, this one had been quite short. They had only been at this for four days or so, thus they didn''t think that a teleportation gate would be presented to them this early. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    After all, a teleportation gate only appeared when one reached the end of a trial.


    Lin Mu tried to look into the void to see where the Teleportation Channel linked to, and found it to be rather close.

 Chapter 2159 Meeting The Other Groups And Comparisons

    Chapter 2159 Meeting The Other Groups And Comparisons


    With Spatial Perception, Lin Mu saw that the destination of the Teleportation Channel was within the scope of his vision. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    While this distance might be quite far in terms of real world distance, it was still quite close in terms of the void. At the very least, being able to see it directly was a good thing, as it meant that Lin Mu had better control over things, in case anything problematic happened.


    Thinking that they should move on, Lin Mu decided to clear the spoils first.


    ~SHUA~


    He stored away the broken Demonic Sentinel, thinking that its scraps would still be useful for something if not for Omnicore Ascendancy. The others saw this but didn''t really question it, as they would''ve done the same.


    "Let''s head in." Lin Mu said. "I think the others might just be on the other end." He added, having a hunch.


    He might not be able to see a second teleportation channel linked to the destination, but since the trialpletion message hadn''t appeared yet, it was probably not over.


    "Yeah, no use in waiting around." Ziran agreed.


    ~shua~shua~shua~


    The group stepped into the teleportation gate, finding themselves arriving on the other end in just a couple of seconds. The teleportation time was short enough that they didn''t even get the sensation of being weightless in the teleportation channel.


    Only Lin Mu had seen the entire process of them traveling through the channel.


    "You guys are here!" A familiar voice was heard upon the arrival of Lin Mu and the group.


    "Huh?" Once their vision returned, they saw none other than Crown Prince Feng Shun and the rest standing there.


    "Seems like we managed to arrive early this time." Daoist Chu said, seeing them.


    "Your hunch was right." Ziran was impressed. "They really were waiting for us." Lady Kang wondered if Lin Mu had actually ''seen'' the others here beforehand. While the rest didn''t put much thought into it.


    "How long have you guys been here for?" Lin Mu questioned, wondering just how short the trial was for them.


    "About a day, not much." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. Hearing that, Lady Kang and Ziran were intrigued. "The third trial is either really small, or we haven''t reached the end yet." Lady Kang stated. "Even for us it took four days, and three days for you. Considering the previous two trials, this sees a little too short." She added.


    "Not necessarily." Qiao De interrupted. "This trial seemed to be based around versatility and ability to ovee various kinds of obstacles. It needed us to know all kinds of skills and abilities to pass it. But considering our teamposition, this was bound to happen." He exined.


    "He''s right." Lin Mu agreed. "Ziran thought the same about the trial." He added.


    "While there were a lot of obstacles, at least they didn''t seem to be that hard." Crown Prince nodded. "Except for a few strange ones." Crown Princess Shang said. "What was up with those strange mechanical traps?" she added, feeling a bit irked.


    "So you guys saw the Gnomish mechanisms too?" Lin Mu had been wondering what kind of obstacles the other group had and it seemed like they might have been simr.


    "Gnomish?" Crown Princess Shang furrowed her brows. "They weren''t Gnomish." She stated, making Lin Mu confused.


    "Huh? What were they then?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Dwarven." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "I know about both Gnomish and Dwarven designs, and that was definitely Dwarven. It even had some of their script on it." He borated.


    "So two different trap styles from different races." Lady Kang muttered, thinking about it.


    This made them a bit more curious, and they asked about the other obstacles they had faced. Lin Mu and Ziran started noting them down, and marked the simrities as well as the difference between the traps that the two groups had faced.


    It turned out that while half of the traps were the same, there were some that were markedly different, such as the Mechanical traps. Lin Mu''s side faced Gnomish designs, while Crown Prince Feng Shun''s side faced Dwarven designs.


    Lin Mu''s side faced poem puzzles, while Crown Prince''s side faced an alchemical puzzle.


    Afterparing over a hundred trap areas, it finally came to thest one.


    "What did you fight in thest trial?" Lin Mu questioned. "We had to fight a Demonic Sentinel." "A Demonic Sentinel?" Monk Hushu raised his brows in surprise. "There was actually a functional one here?" he almost couldn''t believe it.


    "Yeah, it was astounding to me too." Ziran confirmed.


    "Amithabha¡­ This ce bes more of a mystery as time passes." Monk Hushu muttered.


    "Looks like you guys definitely had it harder with the Demonic Sentinel." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "We only had to face a golem." He revealed.


    "A golem? What kind?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Well, it was a mix of several elements." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "All five basal elements." He added.


    Golems were a familiar construct to all of them, as they were quite widespread among cultivators that used puppets to fight. They were also used to protect sects as well as by various organizations as effective guards, thus most cultivators would have at least seen one of them.


    "A golem with five basal elements will be tough to fight, but for you all it shouldn''t have been that hard I suppose," Lin Mu replied. ''Though fighting one could have been a good experience. Perhaps it might have had an energy source in it too. Something that could have powered all five elements.'' He thought to himself.


    Lin Mu was sure that the power source from the golem would have helped him with Omnicore Ascendancy for sure.


    "Yeah, the Golem was tough, but we managed to destroy it in an hour." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "I think it was weaker than the Juvenile Tyrant Bull I killed." Hepared.


    Lin Mu marveled at the fact before his attention was brought to a structure in the middle of the hall.

 Chapter 2160 A Puzzle Of Immortal Senses

    Chapter 2160 A Puzzle Of Immortal Senses


    In the middle of the hall, a circr structure was erected. It had an borate design with ten horizontal protrusions rising from it. These protrusions were at an equidistant position from each other and were at the exact height for a person to touch itfortably. They were sharped like spheres, and even had the imprint of hands on them, hinting that they needed to be touched. There were several runes carved onto the sphere, as well as the rest of the structure, showing that this was arge formation array of some kind. Lin Mu couldn''t recognize it from a single nce, but seeing the ten spheres, guessed that it needed all ten of them to activate it.


    "Is that the final obstacle?" Ziran asked, seeing the structure and its design.


    "Yes." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "We''ve tested it a bit, but we''re unable to do anything." He revealed.


    "We confirmed the fact that we would need you all to arrive before being able to do anything." Monk Hushu stated. "I''ve been trying to analyze the runes on it, but they don''t seem to be coherent." Daoist Chu said before taking out a jade slip. "Would you like to take a look? I''ve recorded them here." He asked.


    "Sure," Lin Mu nodded, finding it convenient.


    ~shua~


    His immortal sense entered the Jade Slip and scanned its contents. All the runes that were present on the structure had been copied onto here, and Daoist Chu had even organized them in a way that seemed the most likely pattern a formation would be made.


    But even then there were several ring ws to it all, making the formation look iplete. ''It''s as if there are several runes missing in this. The entire thing looks like gibberish in the current state.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''If the rest of its runes are present inside it, we won''t be able to check it with our Immortal Senses suppressed.


    Just as Daoist Chu had felt, Lin Mu reached the same conclusion.


    "Looks like we''ll have to directly try it out to figure the puzzle." Lin Mu spoke after thinking over it for a bit.


    "Mmmhm, at the very least, there isn''t any obvious danger here." Ziran said, having checked the hall.


    "Well then, let''s do it." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "Everyone take a spot." He said.


    ~step~step~step~


    Everyone picked one of the protruding spheres and ced their hands on the imprint that was carved on them.


    ~HUMM~


    As soon as they did, a visible change was seen by them. Several runes lit up on the structure before a humming sound could be heard. ~shua~


    And a couple of secondster, they all felt a draw on their Immortal Qi. "It''s absorbing our Immortal Qi¡­" Lin Mu muttered and continue to observe. "No, not just that." Lady Kang realized something else. "We can use our Immortal sense now!" She said out loud.


    "We can?" Crown Prince Feng Shun immediately tried, finding that he could inject his immortal sense into the structure.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The rest of them tried it too, their immortal sense being drawn in along with their Qi through the sphere.


    "Strange, when we tried it earlier, it didn''t work." Daoist Chu uttered in confusion.


    "This ''interface'' sphere seems to be acting as a gate." Monk Hushu said, furrowing his brows. "We still cannot use our Immortal Sense outside. We can only do it through direct contact with the interface sphere." He realized.


    "Hmm, perhaps it needed all ten people to work. It might have been the trigger." Lin Mu said, as he let his Immortal sense explore the structure.


    Closing his eyes, he ''observed'' the interior, finding it to be quite vast andplex. There were runes upon runes spread throughout the entire structure and they even seemed to be free floating. This was quite mind-boggling to Lin Mu, as something like this should have copsed due to instability.


    ''And yet, it is intact¡­ There is definitely some logic to this.'' Lin Mu now understood that this was being disguised as a broken formation.


    Ziran who was observing it too, had some different ideas upon seeing it. His immortal sense swam around the structure and soon discovered another Immortal sense within it.


    "Qiao De." He looked at the man next to him.


    The merchant nced at the man for a moment before spotting something.


    "Wait! What''s that?" He suddenly said.


    "Huh? Where?" They all followed his gaze and saw that a new rune had appeared on the structure. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    It had appeared between Qiao De and Ziran and was certainly not there before.


    "How did that happen?" Daoist Chu asked. "What did you do?" he inquired.


    "Our Immortal Senses simply met," Ziran answered for them.


    "They met?" Lin Mu thought about an idea. "Lady Kang, pardon me." He said before moving his Immortal Sense towards her.


    ~SHUA~


    The woman wondered what he was doing and felt both their immortal senses touching. Faint shivers went down her back, finding Lin Mu''s immortal sense rather heavy.


    ''His Immortal Sense is quite deep¡­ He''s refined it a lot,'' Lady Kang thought to herself, before seeing a new rune appear.


    ~SHUA~


    Just as Qiao De and Ziran, a rune was now present between Lin Mu and her.


    "This puzzle definitely has something to do with our Immortal senses." Lin Mu said, seeing this. "Everyone, connect our Immortal sense!" he ordered.


    "Alright." The agreed and ten Immortal senses joined with each other.


    Every single Immortal sense split in two, joining with their nearest person before more branches appeared and joined the others that were present in the group. Each person ended up with ten branches of immortal sense that now connected them.


    ~HUALA~


    When this happened, more runes appeared on the structure, filling the missing gaps that Lin Mu and Daoist Chu had noted earlier.


    "So that''s what it was¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "This structure needed ten different Qi signatures to activate as the first steps and then ten Immortal senses as the connecting channels." He analyzed.

 Chapter 2161 A Collaborative Puzzle

    Chapter 2161 A Coborative Puzzle


    It was a new kind of puzzle that Lin Mu hadn''t seen before. Though he could still understand the theory behind it on some level.


    ''It''s simr torge scale arrays that need multiple formation masters to control. Since they have multiple aspects to be controlled which can be too much for a single formations master to bear or control, it is a good way to distribute the workload.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''What do we do now?'' Everyone heard a voice.


    "Huh? Who said that?" Lin Mu asked out loud.


    "I didn''t." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "I didn''t either." Lady Kang replied.


    The others said the same until it came to Ziran. "I did say that¡­ but in my mind." Ziran said with a slight smile on his face. "I think this puzzle is a bit more interesting than I thought." He added.


    "Wait¡­ It''s connecting our thoughts too?" Lin Mu understood. "But it can''t be all thoughts right?" he wondered before attempting something.


    ''Can you all hear this?'' he thought intentionally. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    "We do." They all replied.


    ~SHUA~


    And when they did, a new rune appeared on the structure.


    "It responded too." Ziran said looking at the new rune that was above Lin Mu''s interface sphere.


    "Huh¡­ Looks like this needs some kind of mental interaction for it to work. All of us would have to try stuff to see how it works." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    This time his thoughts weren''t heard, which proved to them that only those thoughts that they wished to convey would be heard by others.


    "Let''s see what this thing holds¡­" Daoist Chu said, and the group started testing things out.


    They talked to each other with their mind and saw different runes appearing on the interactions. These runes seemed to be random at first, but after a while Lin Mu could tell that the runes that appeared seemed to fit somewhere in the entire array.


    The erratic array that seemed like a unsolvable puzzle now seemed a bit more reasonable.


    Daoist Chu, and Lin Mu worked together to figure out where each rune fit, while the others watched. They would only talk when I was time to do so, as they didn''t wish for the runes to be affected. They had discovered this too when a rune disappeared in the middle of being tested when someone spoke out of turn.


    AN hour passed like this, before Lin Mu hit a wall.


    "I can''t move this rune." Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "You can''t?" Daoist Chu tried to next. "I can''t either¡­ Strange." "Is something wrong?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "I don''t know, the rune suddenly stopped responding." Lin Mu said, not being able to figure out what the problem was.


    "It''s stuck?" Crown Prince''s Immortal sense touched the rune, which suddenly made it move. "It moved!" "How did that¡­? Wait!" An idea appeared in Lin Mu''s mind. ~shua~


    He moved another rune from before in to the center before looking at Crown Prince. "Can you try moving this one?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Uh¡­. It doesn''t move." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "How about you all?" Lin Mu inquired next.


    "I can''t move it." Ziran replied.


    "Yeah, it''s frozen." Lady Kang did too.


    Everyone tried one by one, and failed to move it other than Lin Mu.


    "So we have a limited scope of runes for each person." Lin Mu was starting to understand it better. "How many moves did you move so far?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Seventy." Lin Mu answered. "How about you?"


    "Seventy as well¡­ Perhaps the limit is seventy for each of us?" Daoist Chu guessed.


    "It might just be so. So far only us two have been controlling them, and perhaps we took up all the slots we were supposed to." Lin Mu inferred. "Others will have to do the work now." He stated.


    "I''ll do it." Crown Prince agreed and got to it.


    While he might not be fully versed in Formations, it didn''t mean that he couldn''t use it. At the very least, he was better than 99% of normal Immortal experts in terms of proficiency with Fomentation arrays. In fact, everyone here was somewhat versed in formations and could be considered above average.


    After a while, Crown Prince Feng Shun also reached the limit of seventy runes.


    "Let''s see¡­ We''ve got at least a quarter of the array solved." Lin Mu said after observing the entire thing. "Everyone will have to do a part topletely solve this." He added.


    With that said, the others quickly got to working. Sometimes they needed a little assistance which was quickly provided by Lin Mu and Daoist Chu.


    One by one, everyone was reaching their rune quota and Lin Mu was now understood why this puzzle needed all ten people to work. ''It is testing us on our cooperation skills. If it was a group that was not in cohesion with each other, or if someone was too stubborn or egotistical to listen to others, I can see how it would be hard to solve this.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This was actually a thing that happened more often than not among immortals, especially talented immortals. They didn''t want to be considered inferior to others or be shown up, thus they would often be stubborn. While they might listen to it eventually, it might just take extra time to finish the puzzle. Thankfully Lin Mu''s group didn''t have that problem, as everyone was genial to each other and had amon goal in mind. One could grasp from this, just how important it was to vet the members of an expedition carefully.


    ~HONG~


    After about six hours of work, the runes seemed to have all been ced in the right positions, and the array finally made sense to everyone.


    A wave of immortal Qi spread from the structure before the array presented itself before turning into a key!


    ~WHOOSH~


    This incorporeal key flew out of the structure before embedding into the very air above while everyone watched it with surprise.

 Chapter 2162 Dreadful Teleportation

    Chapter 2162 Dreadful Teleportation


    Lin Mu observed the key and the clear spatial fluctuations that were being created.


    "What''s happening?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Looks like this is the true end of the trial." Lin Mu replied, his gaze extending past the reality that was presented to them and into the void. "Get ready, this is not the same as the previous one." He stated.


    Unlike thest time, Lin Mu didn''t see a teleportation channel. ''Either it hasn''t formed yet, or the teleportation is not in the books¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The first option would still be fine, but if it was the second things would getplex. ~SHUA~


    A few secondster, several glowing lines spread out from where the key was embedded. The lines expanded and took the structure of a circr gate. There were fine patterns on it but these weren''t runes. Instead these patterns seem to be showing a mural instead!


    "What''s this?" Ziran narrowed his eyes and observed the murals closely.


    Others did the same and tried to make sense of it.


    On the mural they could see tens of figures that had horns and fangs. "Demons?" Qiao De muttered. "No not just demons¡­" his gaze moved onto arge figure.


    It was of a strange creature that had a feminine torso, but the lower half of an insect!


    The half woman half insect creature towered over the demons and seemed to be attacking them. ~SHUA~ Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    The group didn''t get to observe it for long though, as a split appeared in the middle of the gate before it started to open!


    "Get ready!" Lin Mu could finally see the teleportation channel forming. ''That''s good¡­'' he thought.


    If the channel hadn''t been formed, it would have meant that they were being directly thrown into the void for some reason. Once the teleportation channel was fully connected, a suction force could be felting from the gate.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    The ten were pulled into the gate in the next moment, causing their bodies to turn weightless. They entered the teleportation channel and passed through it at great speed while Lin Mu observed it as much as he could.


    "What in the¡­" And when he did, he found something astonishing. "Is that¡­ Another ne?!" in front of Lin Mu was an entire Spatial ne!


    It was bigger than anything Lin Mu had seen before and the spatial disturbances he could see around it showed him that it was definitely a separate ne. ''There are two nes in the Celestial''s Inheritance ground?'' Lin Mu was confused.


    At first he thought that he might have mistaken one of the other spatial nes. After all, there were multiple of them in the inds from where they had entered. But the intensity of Spatial fluctuations was greatly different for them to be the same.


    Lin Mu could at least tell whether the Spatial Fluctuations wereing from a world, a Spatial ne or just a small Spatial pocket. And what he was feeling from this Spatial ne was several times greater than all others he had seen so far. In fact, it was almost as great as a world!


    "Just how big is this spatial ne?" Lin Mu was at a loss for words.


    He also realized that it was taking them quite some time to pass through the teleportation channel, as over thirty seconds had already passed. This was a long time for an inheritance ground, only affirming Lin Mu''s belief that they were not going anywhere close.


    His eyes were locked onto therge Spatial ne as he tried to get a sense of it, trying to make out any unique markers for it. He couldn''t see inside the Spatial ne as it was still protected by its barrier and the Spatial Fabric that kept it contained. It was simr to seeing a bubble underwater, but that bubble had a membrane that was made out of thick leather. It contrasted heavily against the rest of the void, thus Lin Mu could tell that this Spatial ne had existed for a long time.


    ''It is certainly stable¡­ But for such arge Spatial ne to exist alongside the Rust Sky World¡­ Is this the work of the Celestial too?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    ~HUMM~


    And as they were passing by, Lin Mu felt a change in the Spatial Fluctuations. They suddenly dampened, as if something was blocking them. ''Are we close to the end?'' Lin Mu turned to look at the Teleportation Channel, but didn''t see an exit gate. About a minute had passed by now, and even the others were feeling that this teleportation was not normal. But unlike Lin Mu they could not see what was happening outside the teleportation channel. In fact, they couldn''t even tell the others that were around them.


    ~WOONG~


    At a certain moment though, a feeling of absolute dread filled them. Even though they were inside a teleportation channel, all of them felt it clearly. "AHH! What is¡­" Lady Kang and the others groaned in pain. It was a strange pain that directly appeared in their bodies without any external source.


    "My Qi¡­ it''s getting slowed?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was shocked.


    Among them though, there were two that were extremely rmed and had a hunch of what was happening.


    "The feeling of death!" Monk Hushu said out loud. "It''s the aura of death!" Ziran''s elven bloodline screamed at him.


    It told him to get as far as possible, but that was out of the question since they were stuck inside a teleportation channel.


    Lady Kang tried to use one of her abilities, but couldn''t muster her Immortal Qi to work. It was being suppressed by the aura of death, making it hard to move.


    Lin Mu was getting anxious too and didn''t know why they were suddenly feeling the aura of death.


    The aura of death continued to grow stronger, until someone else inside Lin Mu''s ring sensed it too.


    "WHERE ARE YOU?!?" Xukong''s voice boomed.

 Chapter 2163 A Profound Voice

    Chapter 2163 A Profound Voice


    Xukong had been deep in cultivation for quite some time.


    He had known that Lin Mu was entering an inheritance ground and that it was an uncharted territory. But he didn''t mind it and knew that Lin Mu would be able to handle things. Xukong himself was close to a minor breakthrough in his cultivation and was fully focused on it.


    Of course, he could sense when Lin Mu was going through teleportation channels or through the space, but it didn''t bother him since it was all normal. For Xukong, Lin Mu was finally at a level where he didn''t have to watch him all the time. Even if he was entirely unable to contact him, Lin Mu was capable of handling himself, or at the very least escape. He had all the skills in his arsenal and had nned for it.


    But there was a limit to which Xukong gave him a freehand.


    He wouldn''t have minded if Lin Mu was wandering the void or swimming in space.


    But he certainly didn''t expect him to be jumping into a pit of death!


    As such when he felt the overwhelmingly strong aura of death, Xukong was forced to awaken.


    "WHERE ARE YOU?!?" his voiced boomed, not only in Lin Mu''s mind but everywhere within the space.


    Since Lin Mu was technically within the void still, Xukong had fewer restrictions than normal. But this also meant that the others that were with him could also hear it.


    "AGH!" To them, the voice was not easy to bear and almost knocked them out merely by listening.


    On some level, its impact felt stronger than the Aura of Death itself.


    "Senior!" Lin Mu was surprised by Xukong''s voice too, especially considering that it was audible outside his mind. "We''re in a Teleportation Channel." He quickly informed.


    Lady Kang and Crown Prince Feng Shun had managed to get over the impact of Xukong''s voice and were unable to wrap their minds around what it was. Elder Hu and Ziran were the next ones to snap out of it, with the rest soon following after.


    All of them had the same thoughts, but a few of them felt a strange fear within their bodies. It was a fear that even surpassed the effects of the death aura.


    Ziran''s elven bloodline quivered within him, leaving him speechless. ''What¡­ in the name of¡­ Tree mother¡­'' Ziran tried to keep his thoughts coherent but was finding it hard. ''What kind of voice¡­ can have this power¡­'' He didn''t couldn''t ce a finger on it, but felt like he had lost something. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    It was not a physical loss that Ziran could estimate, but something immaterial. Both his elven bloodlines, the Wood Elf and Dark Elf bloodlines found the voice to be something beyond their limits. It was something Ziran had only seen a couple times in the past.


    It was a feeling of suppression. Having lived in the Demon World, he had seen demons with purer bloodlines suppression those with weaker bloodlines. But Ziran hadn''t experienced it himself, as there had been no one that could do that. ''Suppression¡­ over me? Even a full blooded elf wouldn''t be able to do this¡­ Just what is this?'' Ziran had a thousand questions which couldn''t be answered.


    Monk Hushu felt it differently. ''Such might within a voice¡­ Even the direct oration from an Arhat wouldn''tpare to this.'' Monk Hushu thought.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun meanwhile felt it as a sense of majesty. ''Father isn''t even a fragment of sandpared to this¡­'' Feng Shun didn''t know what kind of a ruler one would have to be, in order to develop such majesty within their voice.


    The others all had simr effects, with most simply finding the voice powerful. They didn''t have the kind of insights that these had with the exception of one, Lady Kang.


    Her experience was perhaps the most profound among them all. Her senses had went nk once the voice passed over, and she suddenly found herself in a new ce


    ~shua~


    A shimmering sea whose shores could not be seen was beneath her, while a star light sky was above her.


    But if one looked closely, they would realize that what was below her wasn''t a sea filled with water, but Qi!


    And the sky above her was not the night sky, but rather arge diagram!


    "This¡­ My Dantian?" Lady Kang recognized the space she was in.


    She had seen it many times, and was deeply familiar with it. As such, there was no chance that she would miss her sea of Qi and the Dao Embryo above her.


    This also meant that she was currently conscious as her Nascent Soul.


    ~HUALA~


    Lady Kang''s attention was drawn by her Dao Embryo, forcing her to gaze at it. It was bigger than most other Dao Embryos and if Lin Mu saw it, he would be stunned since the Dao Embryo took up almost the entirety of the Dantian''s surface area! It looked like a realistic sky with millions upon millions of stars on it, but in reality it was actually a Star Chart.


    "The Astral Star Chart Dao Embryo¡­" Lady Kang muttered as she watched something she had never seen before.


    The stars on the Star Chart seeming moved, which should have been impossible. ~WEENG~WEENG~WEENG~


    They flew at a great speed, and gathered around her, as if protecting her. With how many stars there were, even if they were the size of dots, they still managed to form a solid dome around the Nascent Soul.


    "What is it¡ª" Before Lady Kang could even question anything, the dome around her was rocked!


    ~BOOM~


    The dome shook violently from the impact of the wave, but eventually managed to hold up. She saw what could only be described as a giant wave striking the dome. She didst know what kind of energy the wave was made of, but for a moment she managed to peer inside the wave.


    ''Webs?'' She was baffled.

 Chapter 2164 A Wave Of Karma

    Chapter 2164 A Wave Of Karma


    Lady Kang had never witnessed anything like this before. The webs thatposed the wave seemed to be ethereal in nature and even looking at them proved to be hard. They disappeared the moment one lossy focus, as if they didn''t even exist.


    ''For a property like that to be disyed¡­ What kind of presence is trying to encroach upon my being?'' Lady Kang wondered.


    The waves swished around the dome of stars, but was unable to do anything to it while Lady Kang watched it pensively. She had faith that the dome of stars would protect her, but she was still apprehensive of the wave that had managed to appear within her Dantian. It was clearly trying to crush her Nascent soul somehow but she didn''t know why it happened. The wavessted for a bit before they finally disappeared into nothingness.


    "No sign of its origin or source¡­" Lady Kang muttered in confusion.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Once the danger seemingly passed, the stars flew back up, as if wanting to take their rightful ces. "What was that?" Lady Kang questioned looking up at the Star Chart.


    ~humm~


    In response the stars trembled, as if showing their hesitation too.


    "Can you show me? I need to know." Lady Kang asked the Star chart.


    To others this might seem like a strange scene as Cultivators didn''t necessarilymunicate with their Dao Embryo''s like this. If they needed something from them, they could simplymand. Requesting was not a thing, since the Dao Embryos were supposed to be a part of themselves.


    But in the case of Lady Kang, it was different. Her Dao Embryo was unique and had its own consciousness!


    ~HONG~ Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    At the woman''s insistence, the stars decided to answer her. They swirled in the sky, and became brighter.


    Lady Kang watched it all closely before seeing a vague image forming within them. ''It''s iplete?'' The image seemed to not show whatever being that had targeted her properly. All she could see were, "Legs?" Eight massive legs were depicted by the stars, the ends of which could not be seen. From their shape, Lady Kang could at least tell that they belonged to a spider, but had no idea what kind of spider could be this big.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The image didn''tst long though, as the stars seemingly hit an obstacle. "AH!" Lady Kang also felt a pain in her head, which was reflected in the stars that beam unsettled.


    ~WHOOSH~


    As if afraid, the stars quickly returned to their own ces and became stagnant.


    "I¡­ Such response from the stars¡­" Lady Kang''s face went pale as she finally understood what had happened. "There''s actually someone that could cause the Astral Star Chart to recoil¡­" she had only ever read about something happening before.


    ''The Astral Star Chart that can protect from divination is actually afraid of this¡­ There can only be one thing that can pressure it¡­ Karma.'' Lady Kang''s heart beat wildly.


    She had long since heard and read about the power of Karma and how it was something cultivators needed to take heed of. For those that that had just started cultivating or those that were below the Immortal realm, Karma didn''t matter as much.


    The cultivators in those stages were more worried about their next breakthrough and how to gather the needed resources for it. As such, there was no way they could be bothered to think about the Karma they would be umting alongside it.


    In that stage, the Karma didn''t matter as much, since they simply couldn''t umte much of it.


    It was in the Immortal Realm that Karma started to matter a bit more and cultivators might start paying attention. Even then they often ignored it or were simply unaware, going through the realm until it was time for a tough breakthrough.


    Karma was said to affect fortune itself, thus one needed to be aware of how much they had. Estimating it was obviously not an easy thing and one could only have a vague idea of how much Karma they had. The only thing they could do was to make sure they were as prepared as they could.


    But when one went past the Immortal Realm and became a Celestial, Karma would be an important thing they needed to watch out for. They would double think about anything they did, while trying to keep the Karma in check.


    Another major thing Karma affected was divination. Many forms of divination primarily utilized Karma as a means of sensing. Without it, many of them might simply not work. Lady Kang''s Astral Star Chart Dao Embryo had a special ability of being able to defend against divination attempts by obscuring her own Karma with the power of the Stars. But while it could obscure her own Karma, it could not block other''s Karma as well.


    But for someone''s Karma to directly affect her like this was not an easy thing. Lady Kang had researched a lot about her Dao Embryo and knew that even a Celestial might not be able to affect her through Karma easily. And especially not by something like a voice.


    ''What kind of being can have Karma so great, merely their voice can affect me?'' Lady Kang was at a loss.


    But she didn''t know that this was merely the start of her shock, and there was more toe.


    ~SHUA~


    She returned her consciousness to her body and observed what was happening outside. Her Immortal Qi was still being slowed down by the aura of death, but she could still hear things around her.


    Another thing was that, everything within her Dantian had happened in the span of a few seconds, even though it felt like a long time had passed. It was rather mystical and was such was the effect of Karma that even time might slow down.


    "The Aura of death here is far too strong!" Xukong''s voice was heard once more, shocking Lady Kang and the others. "You need to get out of this teleportation channel." He stated.

 Chapter 2165 A Special Snowflake

    Chapter 2165 A Special Snowke


    Lin Mu heard Xukong''s words and could tell the urgency within them.


    He knew that there were not many times he would act like this. Even if he had been lost in the Void, he wouldn''t be that bothered. At might he might give him some words of advice, but definitely won''t be acting with such haste.


    "The Aura of death? Is that what''s restraining them?" Lin Mu questioned but then realized that he himself had not been affected as much. Unlike the others that were having a great difficultly mobilizing their Immortal Qi, Lin Mu was still finding it fine. Where was a little pressure and unease present for him of course, but it wasn''t hindering him in anyway.


    "With how dense it is, they won''t be able to handle it." Xukong answered. "Cut through this Teleportation Channel, it won''t be worth taking it like this." He added.


    ''Escape midway?'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows wondering if it would be the right choice. With the ring''s power he would have no issues breaking out of this Teleportation Channel and he would even be able to bring the others out. But whaty outside it might just be even more problematic.


    "Senior Xukong, I think doing might just end up being more trouble." Lin Mu said as he looked towards the giant ne. "I think if we leave midway, the only ce we would be able to go is that ne. But considering its size, we might get lost." He added. "You will have to decide quick, they won''t have long." Xukong said before realizing something. "Hang on¡­ The aura is avoiding you¡­ That Snowke!" he pointed out.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu suddenly recalled a gift that he had been given.


    "Mei Nienzhen''s snowke!" Lin Mu took out the small snowke from his pocket.


    Unlike the other items, he hadn''t kept it in the ring and was physically on his person as per the request of Mei Nienzhen. ~shua~


    Now that Lin Mu was observing it in his hand, he saw that it was actively defending him against the Aura of death. It glowed in a faint snow white light and warded the aura.


    "The illusion of the Silver Mirage Circlet¡­ It actually hid the Snowke''s effect too." Lin Mu now realized why he didn''t sense it right away. The physical glow of the snowke was also hidden under the illusion, whichbined with the stressful event made it easy for Lin Mu to miss. After all, his Immortal sense was concentrated on the others, while his Spatial Perception was also scanning the surroundings.


    In short, he had been distracted enough to miss the obvious.


    "That might just work." Xukong who saw the snowke had an idea. "The ward on this is strong enough to resist the aura of death entirely with a little more help." He quickly developed a n in his mind.


    "What should I do, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned. "Summon Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang. Let them bnce the power of the Snowke." Xukong urged.


    Without replying, Lin Mu immediately called the twins out.


    ~HISS~


    The twins were a bit disoriented by the sudden change in the environment but Lin Mu''s voice calmed them.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, I need you help!" He said conveying his thoughts.


    "We''ll do it!" the twins were ready.


    They could sense the urgency too, plus the Aura of Death made them feel a bit unsettled too.


    "Now, link with the Snowke and guide the power of the twins through it." Xukong instructed.


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied and did as told.


    ~SHUA~


    His Immortal sense connected with the snowke and all the formations that were within it. "Do it now, you two." Lin Mu spoke.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins wrapped their tails around Lin Mu''s arm and channeled their Qi through it.


    Lin Mu felt his arm feeling hot and cold at the same time, as two opposite types of Qi flowed through it. The Yang Elemental Immortal Qi and Yin Elemental Immortal Qi coursed through his meridians, pressuring them more than he had been used to for a while.


    It wasn''t easy to stress Lin Mu''s Meridians ever since his cultivation base had grown, and only the Mountain Copsing Fist had managed to strain them recently. But now, Lin Mu felt a great pressure from the Qi of the twins too.


    ''So this is the power of the Yin Yang Twin Serpents.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While he had witnessed the power of the twins many times, it was never directed towards himself. Thus he didn''t know the true impact of what it felt like. But now that he had both their qi''s flowing through him, he realized how unlucky their foes were.


    ~HONG~


    Still, Lin Mu could handle it and the twins were also trying to keep their Qi stable. As such, he sessfully managed to guide it into the snowke which started to glow brightly.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A change urred in the Snowke, as an absorption force was generated from its radial tips. This force pulled the aura of death from Lin Mu''spanions towards itself, making them feel better.


    "This¡­ I can feel my Qi flowing better again." Crown Prince Feng Shun felt a lot better.


    The others had the same feeling, but this was merely the start.


    ~Sssssaaaa~ This was part of Xiao Yin''s power and she was forcefully drawing in the Aura of death through the means of the Snowke. And once Xiao Yin reached a certain point, she linked with her twin, letting Xiao Yang exert his power too.


    ~SHING~


    Now, the center of the Snowke was exuding a bright radiance, that soon burst out in the form of a beam. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    "Its¡­ Erasing the Aura!" Lin Mu was stunned by the effect.


    The beam of light purged the Death aura that continued to fill the Teleportation Channel, while the group traveled through it!


    Seeing that it was working well, Lin Mu moved to the front, letting hispanions be safe at the back,

 Chapter 2166 Purging The Tunnel And Safe Arrival

    Chapter 2166 Purging The Tunnel And Safe Arrival


    ~WOONG~ WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    The beam of light from the Snowke continue to purge the death aura as Lin Mu flew through it.


    ''Daoist Mu Lin has a solution to this too.'' Daoist Chu was impressed. ''Those snakes of his are also quite strong.'' He could feel their power too.


    ''To remove Death aura like this¡­ Even with scriptures I would have a hard item warding against them, and he''s here purging it.'' Monk Hushu thought to himself. ''He really is built for the Buddhist path.'' He reckoned.


    But while they were thinking this, the Crown prince had some other thoughts.


    ''That voice¡­ Is it what Father was talking about?'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought, as a serious expression appeared on his face. ''Daoist Mu Lin''s backing¡­ Was that the voice of a Celestial?'' he wondered.


    From what he had learned, Lin Mu was being backed closely but a Celestial and for them to be watching him like this showed just how close they were.


    ''The way they talked too¡­ What kind of a rtion do they have?'' Crown Prince wondered.


    He could only marvel at the power of a Celestial and also the guidance that had been provided to Lin Mu. Just a little guidance was all that was needed for a solution to be presented.


    Lady Kang was also wondering if that voice was the backing of Lin Mu.


    ''That wave of Karma, was certainly not from an Immortal. It was too strong for a Celestial too¡­ Is that the true backing of Daoist Mu Lin?'' Lady Kang couldn''t help but wonder.


    While she knew that Lin Mu had the backing of a Celestial from her investigation into him, she didn''t expect it to be this strong. She had also observed the tournament and seen the Cloud Serpent at the end that had crushed third Prince Feng Backing.


    That kind of power certainly didn''t belong to an Immortal. Then there was also the behavior of the three Emperors. Having been a merchant for so long, she knew how to read their behavior.


    She had met plenty of Transcendent Immortals, and as such wasn''t a stranger too them. In the Kang n itself, there had been many Transcendent Immortals too. Thusdy Kang had plenty of exposure to them, and knew how they acted.


    She knew for sure they were rattled by something earlier, and had been trying to maintain theirposure.


    ''The only thing that would be able to do that is a Celestial no doubt.'' Lady Kang thought to shelf, before cementing the fact that Lin Mu was fully being backed by a Celestial in her mind.


    ~SHUA~


    She didn''t have the time to think much after this though, as the situation in the Teleportation Channel was getting serious.


    Lin Mu was like the Snowplow attached to the front of a Train right now. He passed through the Teleportation Channel and split the Death Aura with the help of the twins. The Snowke that Mei Nienzhen had given was reallying in clutch and Lin Mu was thankful for it.


    ''It was definitely worth feeding her all those times.'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but think.


    For the price of a little food, their lives were definitely worth it. In fact, Lin Mu reckoned he should get her more food if she wanted too.


    ''Perhaps Little Shrubby and I can pack a year long package for her.'' Lin Mu noted in his mind forter.


    ~CRACK~


    But he was soon brought out of his thoughts by the sound of something cracking.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu looked at the Snowke and saw that it one of its points had broken. "What!?" He was shocked.


    ~CRACK~


    And a few seconds another one of the points broke.


    "This¡­ It can''t take the load." Lin Mu realized.


    "It wasn''t built to resist Death Aura of this density. Its only surviving because of you three right now." Xukong replied.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and thought of a potential solution. His spatial perception searched for their destination and could vaguely see something beyond all the Death aura. It was heavily obscured but Lin Mu hoped that it was the end.


    "We''ll just have to bear through it." Lin Mu stated. "We can get through this!" he said with gritted teeth.


    He prepared for any impending problem and roused the Immortal Qi in his body to the full extent. His vitality also started growing, while his heart beat like a drum, pumping blood through his body.


    ~WOONG~ WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~ Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    The Snowke had four points broken by now, but was still managing to hold on. The light beam from its center was just as effective at purging the Death aura as before, but Lin Mu didn''t know how long it wouldst.


    ~CRACK~CRACK


    Two more points snapped off, making Lin Mu tense.


    ''Come on¡­ You can hold on.'' Lin Mu prayed in his mind.


    ~HISS~


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang could sense Lin Mu''s anxiety and poured in more of their Qi to make it easier. ~BOOM~


    The beam of light got thicker and burst out in the form of a cone, cleaning out arge span of the channel.


    "There! I can see it!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said out loud. A location could now be seen by everyone, even if they didn''t have Spatial Perception. It was well lit and was quite big, making it hard for them to ignore it.


    Though the best thing was that, no Death Aura was present in or around it!


    "We''re almost there! Everyone hold on!" Lin Mu shouted before pushing through thest segment of the Death Aura. "HAAAH!" this was the thickest part and felt like a wall made out of Sand.


    ~BOOM~


    But the Snowke managed to breakthrough it as well, before crumbling into pieces.


    ~SHATTER~


    "We¡­ We''re out!" Ziran eximed.


    Monk Hushu and Min Ju looked behind at the vast expanse of Death Aura they''d left behind and took breaths of relief.


    "Wait¡­ We''re not slowing down!" Daoist Chu realized something.

 Chapter 2167 Crash Landing With Friends

    Chapter 2167 Crash Landing With Friends


    Usually when one used a Teleportation gate, they would pass through a gate that would naturally slow them down. But for Lin Mu and the rest, their current destination seems to be situated in the void and there was no such gate.


    In their conflict with the Death Aura, Lin Mu and and the rest had forgotten that they would still have to deal with this at the end.


    "Shit! BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Lin Mu warned as the Longgui Bulwark Armor appeared around him.


    Their speed was quite great and even for an Immortal, colliding into a solid object would be enough their bones crushed. A Body Cultivator like Lin Mu might be able to take it, but that didn''t mean he would bepletely fine. He would still take some damage and be dazed by the impact.


    Then there was also the fact that they had no idea what kind of danger was awaiting them next. Thus it was highly important for them to be fully ready for it and not be injured.


    As such, Lin Mu used his defensive skill and so did the others.


    Several of the ornaments on Lady Kang''s braid glowed and created a barrier around her as well as Min Ju who was next to her.


    Elder Hu on the other hand, activated a skill from his armor which basically turned him into a solid sphere of iron.


    Ziran surrounded himself with ayer of vines, then ayer of branches and finally ayer of leaves to turn into arge ball as well.


    Crown Princess Shang did sometime simr, but she used a few seeds to do the same. The seeds sprouted and rapidly grew, forming a protectiveyer around her. Crown Prince Feng Shun used Wind Elemental Immortal Qi to create a wind curtain around him, and then cast a few more Qi skills toyer on top.


    Qiao De did the simple thing and pped on a hundred defensive talismans onto his body, an effective method he had learned from a legend long ago.


    Monk Hushu was thest one to prepare his defensive skill and sat cross legged in the air, as the illusory form of an Arhat manifested. The Arhat was made out of stone and one might think that it was some random statue one might see in a temple.


    But an aura of firmness surrounded the Arhat Statue showing that it would be tough.


    "Go in, you two." Lin Mu quickly sent the twin snakes into the Sleepscape so that they would be safe.


    Just a second after he did this, he reached the end and crashed into a solid stone tform.


    ~BOOM~


    ~CRACK~


    His body was directly embedded into the tform as cracks spread around the hole. ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    And shortly after, the others crashed too, creating more holes in the tform. Thankfully enough, they could at least change their trajectories to some extent and didn''t just pile on into one ce. If they did, the damage from that would be a lot greater.


    A cloud of dust spread in the area, making it hard to see anything for a while before a sound was heard.


    ~COUGH~ COUGH~


    "UGH!" Lin Mu climbed out of the hole, while coughing.


    The wind had been knocked out of his lungs from the crash, but thankfully his body was uninjured. Though the same could not be said for the Longgui Bulwark Armor which was shattered for the most part.


    Lin Mu''s front part of the Armor had basically been shattered into gravel as he hadnded t onto the tform. This might not be considered the best way for a normal person, but with the Armor, Lin MU knew this was the best way to distribute the force of the impact.


    As such, Lin Mu''s chest te, greaves and gauntlets shattered from the front. His helmet was also broken from the jaw part, though the top survived. Back of the armor also had lots of cracks, but it was still holding on.


    If this were a normal armor, it would have fallen off right away, but since it was actually a Qi skill, it was still stuck to Lin Mu''s body.


    ~shua~


    But he dismissed the skill and let it recover.


    "How''s everyone?" Lin Mu questioned before realizing that he could use his Immortal sense here. ''The immortal sense suppressing arrays are gone.'' He thought.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense quickly covered the area and checked the condition of his friends.


    "We''re fine." Lady Kang''s voice was heard, as she jumped out of the hole with Min Ju.


    The maid seemed to be a bit rattled, and her face was also peppered with dust.


    On the other hand, Lady Kang seemed like she had just walked fresh out of a boudoir. Not a single hair was out of ce and she looked immacte.


    ''A Qi skill or an immortal tool?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder how she did that, as he himself was a bit dusty too.


    "I''m fine as well." Crown Prince Feng Shun''s voice was heard before he flew out of the hole. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Wind propelled him and had also managed to keep him mostly dust free. Though his hair hade loose and his hairpin seems to have been lost somewhere too, letting it flutter freely.


    "Ugh, I''m dirty again." Crown Princess Shang''s frustrated voice was heard, as she climbed out of her hole too.


    She had twigs stuck in her hair which had basically turned into a birds nest. It was clear that the skill she used, didn''t really care about form and was all function, thus she ended up with really messy hair.


    "I''m fine too." Ziran said, climbing out in a simr state.


    "Amithabha!" Monk Hushu had his robes torn in several ces.


    Daoist Chu was fine too and simply gave a thumbs up to them. But the most stunning was Qiao De.


    "Looks like I''m fine too." Qiao De said as he wormed out of the ground.


    "Are you sure you''re fine?" Lin Mu said looking at the man''s appearance.


    "Yeah I''m fine." Qiao De replied with a smile, several teeth missing in it.

 Chapter 2168 Recovery And Reward

    Chapter 2168 Recovery And Reward


    ??Upon hearing Lin Mu''s words, the others also nced at Qiao De who was quite obviously not fine.


    From the initial look, it was clear that he was missing a few teeth and blood also seemed to be dripping out of his nose that was slightly crooked.


    "Uh¡­ Qiao De, you should take a look at yourself." Ziran spoke, waving his hand and creating a formation screen that acted like a mirror.


    The merchant couldn''t help but look and saw his state.


    "Ah¡­ Much better than I thought." He said, to everyone''s surprise. "I had expected to break a few bones too. But just a few broken teeth and a nose are fine." He added.Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    His nonchnce seemed strange to them, but then they saw him taking out a bottle of pills.


    "Nothing a few of these can''t fix," Qiao De said before downing the entire bottle of pills.


    ~GULP~


    It wasn''t hard for them to recognize that these were healing pills. It looked quite opulent that the man was consuming so many of them at once.


    But when Lin Mu took a closer look, he realized what the pills were.


    ''Tooth to Tail all purpose pills?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but widen his eyes. "Aren''t those¡­ Spirit pills?" he said out loud.


    "Yes, but they still work." Qiao De replied. "All these only cost a tenth of a normal immortal healing pill." He exined.


    Lady Kang who heard the man, couldn''t help but marvel at his frugality.


    ''You win this time, Qiao De.'' She had to admit the man''s sense for saving was greater than her in this instance.


    With everyone mostly fine, Lin Mu finally got to checking the area that they were in.


    "Where are we?" Daoist Chu asked after having eaten a low potency healing pill as well.


    "We''re in the Void still." Lady Kang said, sensing the faint spatial disturbances in the area.


    "Wait¡­ Did the trialpletion message appear?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned.


    "It hasn''t¡­ yet," Ziran answered. "Was that another obstacle too?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "Yes. This is still part of the trial¡­ or at least the end of it." Lin Mu answered, having checked the area.


    With his spatial sense he could see the boundaries of this tform, as well as the invisible arrays that were keeping it contained. It was these very arrays that were keeping the Death Aura outside, as well as preventing the turbulent spatial disturbance of the void from harming them.


    The tform they were on was perfectly square and was made out of rock which was further reinforced by other arrays. If it had not be reinforced, it would have shattered under the impact of ten immortals that were travailing at a breakneck speed.


    At the center of the tform, a pentagonal pedestal could be seen. It was some distance from where they hadnded and was the only thing that stood out.


    ''That should be the control center,'' Lin Mu guessed and walked towards it.


    He could sense the faint immortal Qi wavesing from it that matched the arrays and confirmed his guess.


    "Hmm¡­ Nothing on it." Lin Mu didn''t find any obvious carvings or writing on it.


    ~SHUA~


    But when he touched it, he made it activate. The pedestal glowed and several runes appeared on it. The runes floated up and turned into a formation screen above it.


    ''Trial of Versatility has beenpleted!'' The runes spelled.


    "NOW IT ENDS!?" Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but groan. "It keeps on letting us on without a clue."


    "Shouldn''t we be in a rewards ground then?" Monk Hushu reminded.


    "Indeed¡­" Crown Prince furrowed his brows and looked around, finding nothing that seemed like a reward.


    "The reward is indeed here." Lin Mu spoke up. "Come here, everyone." He requested.


    Hearing that, everyone quickly gathered around, wondering what he was talking about.


    "ce your hands on it." Lin Mu said, having already read through the information in the pedestal.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    The others did as told and instantly felt the effects.


    ~HUMM~


    Energy channeled out of the pedestal and entered their bodies.


    "This¡­ Immortal Qi?" Daoist Chu was surprised by it.


    "Give it bit," Lin Mu said before they started to feel it too. "There we go."


    "Vitality and Immoral essence?" Crown Prince Feng Shun could feel his injuries healing.


    While they were mostly minor, it was still good for them to be healed. And once they were healed, the extra vitality left him feeling refreshed and energetic.


    The same happened for the others too, as their injuries healed.


    "Ah damn¡­ Should have held off on the pills." Qiao De regretted using the pills so fast. "I could''ve saved them forter." He stated.


    The others couldn''t help but wrinkle their brows at the man''s frugality, but didn''t say anything about it.


    "Though it is this all there is to the reward?" Qiao De couldn''t help but ask. "Healing us is good and all, but it doesn''tpare to the other rewards we''ve gotten so far." He added.


    "Give it a minute." Lin Mu said before closing his eyes.


    ~HUMM~


    And sure enough, a few seconds after Lin Mu said that everyone felt a strong surge of Immortal Qi.


    The immortal Qi first topped of their own stores, bringing them back to their peak. But it didn''t stop just there, it continued to pour and GREW their immortal Qi stores.


    "THIS!?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was stunned, as even high quality immortal pills couldn''t help him much with growing his immortal Qi stores.


    He had used a lot of them and had to rely on manual cultivation to grow them. But now here they were being increased without a hindrance.


    Lady Kang was surprised too, as she had long since been at a bottleneck for that.


    "HAHA! THIS IS BETTER THAN I THOUGHT!" Qiao De''s attitude flipped 180 as he became indescribably happy. "This is at least a few hundred thousand immortal stones worth of Qi!"


    With such a good and effective reward, everyone focused on absorbing the Immortal Qi, ensuring that no problems arose.

 Chapter 2169 A Growth In Qi

    Chapter 2169 A Growth In Qi


    To immortals, Immortal Qi was obviously their lifeline. Without it they would have no cultivation base, and they needed it to do everything they could.


    The more Immortal Qi one had, the more they could fight for. As such it was important for them to have as much as they could. Lin Mu and hispanions all had good cultivation bases and their Immortal Qi stores were quite big too.


    But for immortals of their cultivation base, growing their Immortal Qi stores became difficult after a certain point. Their Dantian would be stagnant and rigid, making it hard for them to store more Immortal Qi.


    It took them precious resources to grow it and after a certain point the returns became diminishing. As such they would have to rely on themselves to slowly grow their stores.


    But right now they were getting a reward that was managing to increase their overall immortal Qi stores without an issue.


    To Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lady Kang this was almost miraculous.


    In a dangerous ce like the Inheritance grounds, they needed every wisp of Immortal Qi they could have. Even a single wisp could be the difference between life and death especially when their chances for recovery were low in the middle of a trial.


    Even for Lin Mu, who already had a greater capacity for Immortal Qi, the gain was significant.


    ''And here I thought it would take me long time to expand my Dantian again.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he felt the Immortal Qi pour into his body effortlessly.


    The immortal Qi sea in his Dantian was filled with waves as more Qi rained down on it, as if a storm were running. Lin Mu''s Nascent Soul bathed in the shower of Qi with a gentle smile, clearly enjoying it all.


    The infusion of immortal Qisted for about two hours during which they felt no difort. It was a smooth process that was almost unbelievable.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he finished absorbing all the Immortal Qi. He lifted his hand from the pedestal, when no more Immortal Qi came out of it.


    He then observed his Dantian to check how much growth he had obtained.


    ''Hmm¡­ at least ten percent.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    This was a great amount considering he had managed to do this in just two hours. Plus with Lin Mu''s already great capacity, this ten percent was even greater than usual.


    Though the gains were not the same for others.


    Lady Kang checked her Dantian and estimated that she had obtained an increase of at least twenty percent. This was greater than Lin Mu, but was still rtive to their original capacities.


    "This is a better increase than a Peak Grade Immortal Qi pill." Lady Kang couldn''t help but say. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Indeed¡­ I once consumed a Nine Petal Immortal Osmanthus and it barely gave me a five percent increase." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "Where as this managed to give me an entire twenty five percent increase!" the man was clearly quite thrilled.


    He cultivated the Storm King Immortal Arts, which had a high immortal Qi consumption for some of the skills. As such, he needed to be a bit more prudent with them, but now he had a bit more leeway.


    "Twenty five percent? Damn, lucky." Crown Princess Shang said in slight envy. "I only got twenty two percent increase." She revealed.


    "Better than mine, I got twenty percent." Daoist Chu said with a wry smile.


    "How about you?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked noticing that Monk Hushu had a slight smile on his face.


    Monk Hushu was usually quiteposed and wouldn''t show such expressions even when he got a reward. Thus for him to do it right now was certainly strange.


    "Amitabha! Buddha has shown his grace and blessed me with a thirty percent increase." Monk Hushu answered much to their surprise. "Perhaps Buddha wishes me tost longer so that I can spread his teachings." He justified.


    "Ugh¡­ He''s the same." Crown Princess Shang shook hear head.


    "How about the others?" Lin Mu was curious.


    "Fifteen percent." Ziran answered. "How about you, Daoist Mu Lin?" he asked, making others wonder too.


    "Lower than you all. Ten percent." Lin Mu answered. "Though any increase is good for us, so I don''t mind it." He added.


    "Of course, it is all up to our fates." Monk Hushu spoke.


    Lady Kang turned to Min Ju and Elder Hu inquiring about their gains too. They were her people, and an increase in their strength was good for her too.


    "My Lady I gained an increase of eighteen percent." Min Ju answered.


    "Twenty percent as well for me." Elder Hu replied.


    "Hmmm¡­ that''s good for both of you." Lady Kang was content and so were her people.


    It was then they realized there was one person still left. Ziran looked at Qiao De who had his head down for some reason.


    "Are you fine, Qiao De?" Ziran inquired.


    "Did you get a lower reward?" Crown Prince Feng Shun inquired.


    "Haha¡­ hahahaha!" But in the next moment, Qiao De burst outughing. "Looks like the fates are turning in my favor again!" he said out loud.


    "How much did you get?" Ziran finally asked.


    "Fifty Percent!" Qiao De revealed, surprising everyone.


    Monk Hushu''s tiny smile turned into a straight line and he became somber right away.


    "Amitabha, temptations and envy is wrong." He muttered to himself.


    Crown Prince, Lady Kang and Lin Mu had not expected the maximum gains to be for Qiao De. That too being fifty percent, which was quite a jump from thirty percent that Monk Hushu got.


    Lin Mu wondered if there was a way the reward was determined or if it was just based on luck. Whatever it might be though he didn''t mind it as it was still a positive for them all.


    "With such an increase in Immortal Qi, I won''t have any issues with my next Immortal Tribtion at all." Qiao De was incredibly pleased.

 Chapter 2170 Coming Clean To Others

    Chapter 2170 Coming Clean To Others


    Qiao De''s earlier regret of eating the healing pills to early was nowhere to be seen and he was high on the pleasure of reward.


    The others could only smile wryly and let the man revel in it for a bit while Lady Kang and Crown Prince wondered where they where to go from here.


    "What''s the way out?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked. "It doesn''t seem like the arrays are doing anything more after the reward." He said.


    "I''m a bit confused about this too." Lin Mu replied. "There''s nothing more in the arrays that hint as to what were supposed to do next." He added.


    "Hmmm¡­ Does it perhaps have something to do with us getting out of here then? Could the fourth trial be rted to escaping?" Daoist Chu wondered.


    "No¡­ I have a hunch as to where the Trial would happen, but it should have been initiated by now." Lin Mu said as he gazed past the barrier and looked at the giant Spatial ne.


    The others couldn''t see it, but followed Lin Mu''s gaze only to realized that he seemed to be looking at thin air.


    "What is it?" Lady Kang had a better idea as she easily guessed Lin Mu was using her Spatial skills. "There is a Spatial ne beyond this ce." Lin Mu revealed. "A ne bigger than I''ve ever seen." He added.


    "What?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was surprised. "But aren''t we on a Spatial ne earlier?" he asked.


    "Yeah, all the trials we did were on a Spatial ne." Daoist Chu said.


    "The spatial ne that we did trials on so far, can''tpare with the Spatial ne here¡­ By my estimation, this Spatial ne might just be as big as the Dao Wind continent." Lin Mu said, stunning them. "Or there is a chance it might be evenrger¡­ There was a limited area that I managed to observe." "Wait¡­ what do you mean observe?" Crown Prince Feng Shun realized something was amiss. "How did you observe outside this ce? Our immortal sense cannot even go out. Theres only void outside it." He said before a shocking thought appeared in his mind.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, you¡­" Daoist Chu seemed to figured it out by now too.


    "You''re a Spatial Master, aren''t you." Ziran had already suspected it, but Lin Mu''s current words confirmed it for him.


    Crown Princess Shang hadn''t expected this, and Monk Hushu was also taken aback.


    ''He has a great affinity with the Buddhist path and is also a Spatial master? Amitabha, Buddha be merciful.'' Monk Hushu felt a bit overwhelmed.


    After all, having an affinity with the Buddhist Path was already a great blessing. But being a Spatial Master on top of it was simply too grand for them.


    It was now that the Crown Prince and hispanions realized, there were a few among them that didn''t seem to be surprised. Namely, Lady Kang, Min Ju and Elder Hu.


    "You knew?" Crown Prince Feng Shun inquired. "Since when?" he could at least tell that Ziran had only figured it now, but the woman seemed to be on a different level.


    "I did¡­ Since the start." Lady Kang answered. "I was waiting for Daoist Mu Lin to speak of it himself, as it would not be my ce to reveal it." She added. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    The Crown Prince was at a loss for words and a hundred questions popped up in his mind.


    "Wait¡­ But Daoist Mu Lin used no Spatial Skills before this¡­ Not even in the Tournament." Daoist Chu suddenly realized.


    "Yeah¡­ I didn''t use them." Lin Mu confirmed.


    "Why did you do that?" Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t figure it out.


    "It was a test¡­ for myself." Lin Mu spoke. "I ced a handicap on myself so that I could improve my other skills." He exined.


    "How good are you with Spatial Skills, Daoist Mu Lin?" Daoist Chu asked what had been bothering him the most.


    After all, they all knew there were several Spatial Masters, but their skills were quite varied. Everyone had a different affinity with the Spatial Element and ass such their capabilities would greatly vary too.


    One could have strong martial skills, but be bad with Spatial Skills despite having them. "I can answer that." Lady Kang chimed in. Lin Mu was about to answer, but reckoned this was better than to toot his own horn. Having someone else vouch for one''s capabilities was always better after all.


    "You can?" Crown Prince now started to wonder if the rtion between Lin Mu and Lady Kang went deeper than he thought.


    "Daoist Mu Lin is good enough that he has been hired by the Kang n in officially capacity as a Spatial Master." Lady Kang stated.


    It left them at a loss and it took them a while toprehend it all. Someone that could be good enough to be hired by a great n like the Kang n was already someone who had been established in their upation.


    They didn''t think Lady Kang would lie or overestimate either, as it was not in her nature or benefit to do that.


    "Does this mean¡­ You could''ve had an easier time had the Tournament but you chose not to?" Crown Princess Shang asked in disbelief after listening to everything.


    "In a way yes. But it would''ve felt like cheating so I limited myself." Lin Mu replied. "While using them a life threating battle is good, I don''t think I would like to use them to end a fight quickly. One of my goals in the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts was actually to learn from others too. If I ended matches early, it would defeat the purpose." He exined.


    Hearing that Crown Prince and hispanions couldn''t help but think that Lin Mu''s thinking was simply beyond what they had seen so far.


    "Then in the fight against Feng Baxing¡­ He never had a chance at all." Crown Prince Feng Shun finally realized why Lin Mu always had a hint of confidence around him.

 Chapter 2171 Team Effort

    Chapter 2171 Team Effort


    The true abilities of Lin Mu were certainly stunning to the group. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "From now on though, I suppose it would be unwise of me to not use my Spatial Skills." Lin Mu stated. "I also think something might be wrong with this ce." He said furrowing his brows.


    "What do you mean?" The Crown Prince was now talking the matters a lot more seriously.


    "The death aura that was present in the Spatial Channel is not normal." Lin Mu replied. "Not just that, but the size of the Spatial ne below us is massive too¡­ in fact, the size it has is not something that should have kept it hidden. As a Crown Prince you should have information about those not known to the public right?" he inquired.


    "I do¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "There are thirty four known Spatial nes in the Rust Sky world, thergest of which is the Deste Battlefield in the Holy Topaz Dynasty. In addition to these, there were six more Spatial nes that contained a legacy of an expert that have already been explored and closed.


    But as you''ve said, none of them seem to match the scale of what you are talking about." He added.


    "With the powers of the three emperors and the temple of the guardian beasts, discovering the presence of a Spatial ne, thisrge should have been possible even if they couldn''t enter it. A ne thisrge will exude strong enough Spatial Fluctuations for them to be sensed by experts as well as formation masters. Not to mention, the Teleportation gates that join the worlds and continent would also be affected by the sheer scales of this Spatial ne, forcing them to be adjusted ordingly.


    With such factors, someone should have suspected there to be a ne like this," Lin Mu exined.


    "And yet there were no signs of it." Ziran spoke. "Its presence was concealed."


    "Exactly¡­ That Death aura might be behind it." Lin Mu nodded. "The sheer amount of it is so high that it managed to generate the Spatial Channel, which shouldn''t have been possible normally. And I don''t think this was part of the trial either.


    The death aura would''ve had certainly killed us or at the very least crippled us if we didn''t defend against it. Not to mention, doing that in the Spatial Channels is not possible for those that do not have proficiency with space. They wouldn''t even be able to see iting." He added.


    "It would indeed be unfair¡­ something the trial has not been so far." Lady Kang could now tell there was something strange going on with the trial.


    "This ce is supposed to be the graveyard of the demons right?" Monk Hushu suddenly spoke up. "What if¡­ the trials we went through were not the actual graveyard¡­ it looked like a manufactured ce." He gave his hypothesis.


    It didn''t take much of others to connect the dots from this and figure out the problem.


    "The trials we went through¡­ Weren''t like that to be fair." Elder Hu spoke. "They were meant to prepare us¡­ If we were to fail them, we possibly would''ve managed to return to the Rust Sky World. But since we''ve passed them all, the trial possibly thinks of us to be qualified enough to arrive here." His thousands of years of experience reflected in his words.


    They thought over his words and found it to be the most likely hypotheses.


    "If so¡­ this should be the ''real'' site of the inheritance ground. Whatever happened to this ce was possibly not intended by the Celestial that made it¡­" Crown Princess Shang chimed in. "The reward we got now was also to restore us to the best condition and further improve us¡­ as if it wanted us to be fully prepared." "We''ll know more once we are down there." Lin Mu said, gazing at the vast ne below. "Let''s see how we do that." He said before taking a deeper look at the area around them.


    "Could it be the pedestal?" Min Ju wondered.


    "It does not seem to have any formations that take us below. I also don''t see any spatial array that can teleport us further." Lin Mu had already checked.


    "You can break through the barrier and go into the void, right?" Lady Kang suddenly asked. "I can yeah. But it would mean we''ll get assaulted by the Death Aura." Lin Mu replied. "I will be able to protect myself, but it will be hard to do the same for you all." He added.


    "You won''t have to do it alone. We''ll do it together." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "I believe with all our abilities, a little death aura shouldn''t stop us." He added.


    "Indeed. We only became disadvantaged earlier because we were in a Teleportation channel and caught off guard. If we had time to prepare, I don''t think we would be that troubled." Daoist Chu spoke up.


    "Amitabha, the foul death aura is nothingpared to Buddha''s grace." Monk Hushu wasn''t going to back down either.


    The others gave their agreement too, and none of them were discouraged. Hearing everyone''s words, Lin Mu nodded and decided to go with it.


    "Very well, we''ll have to do this in order then." Lin Mu stated. "I can open up the path and bring us into the void, but I''ll need Lady Kang''s assistance to guide us through it. I can do it for myself, but not everyone." He added.


    "We''ll focus on the defense then." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "We''ve dealt with Death aura before on missions. We just have to replicate the same." He said, looking at hispanions.


    "Amithabha, it shall be done." Monk Hushu said, his eyes sharper than usual.


    "At least this is better than the disgusting swamp." Crown Princess Shang said as she recalled the horrifying experience.


    With everyone in agreement, Lin Mu began discussing the procedure of how things would have to go. Since it was his first time doing this, Lin Mu consulted with the Crown Prince a bit about how they had done it in the past.


    They didn''t go through the void in the past, but just normal ground that was tainted with Death Aura, so it was a bit simpler. They simply used their Yang oriented skills to repel the death aura.


    It was a constant drain on their immortal Qi, and since this ce was even more dense with Death Aura, they''d definitely have to coborate to have the best effect.


    With the defense part down, they now had to figure out how to get down there together. Opening a path into the void was the simple part. The main trouble would be to stay together.


    "I can take care of that." Ziran stated. "And I believe Qiao De has something that is ''disposable'' enough for us to use in the Death aura." He turned to his old friend.


    "Ah, of course! I especially brought it for situations like this," The merchant said before taking out an object.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu asked, looking at the palm sized cage.


    It looked rather rusty and was a bit too small for it to be intended for a bird or any creature.


    "An expert of the Huiqing Empire pawned this off to the ck Candle Pavilion, but was never able to pay off his debt." Qiao De replied. "Its called as the Forbidden Exiles cage." He reveled.


    "Is that thing fine, though?" Daoist Chu asked, seeing its condition.


    With the rust it had on it, and theck of Immortal Qi fluctuations, it didn''t seem to be exactly in an immacte condition.


    "It''s still got a couple of uses left in it." Qiao De replied. "This cage was meant to imprison exiles in a prison filled with baleful energy. It protected them from the baleful Qi, but also keep them trapped inside. A rather cruel tool, but very effective." He added.


    "That Death aura will overwhelm it within minutes though." Elder Hu knew about the cages and informed.


    "Which is why I''ll reinforce it." Ziran replied. "Crown Princess Shang can assist me too, as we both have the wood element."


    "It won''t be a problem." The Crown Princess replied.


    "I''ll focus on defense, along with Monk Hushu, Daoist Chu, Elder Hu and Min Ju." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    With the n being set, they spent no time on getting ready.


    "Can you activate the cage?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course," Qiao De said before controlling the cage.


    ~SHUA~


    The cage grew in size and soon became over ten meters in size!


    "That''ll be enough for us," Lin Mu said before turning to Ziran. "Now you two." "On it." Ziran said before chanting.


    ~HUALA~


    His entire body glowed in a green light as strong Wood Elemental Dao Traces surrounded him.


    "Grace of the Tree Mother! Wood King Fortress!" Ziran activated a Dao Skill!


    ~RUSTLE~


    The Dao Traces turned into vines and wood branches that started to surround the cage.

 Chapter 2172 Reinforcing The Cage

    Chapter 2172 Reinforcing The Cage


    Lin Mu watched as Ziran''s Dao Skill started reinforcing the cage. First the vines crept up the bars of the cage and tightly wrapped them. Next, branches grew out from the vines and connected with the rest of the bars, forming a tight. ~rustle~rustle~rustle~


    The density of the vines and branches kept on increasing unit it became over a meter thick!


    "Crown Princess Shang," Ziran gave her the signal.


    "On it." She said before making a few hand seas and readying a skill. She didn''t use a Dao Skill though and intended to use another skill of hers to support Ziran''s Dao Skill. "Shang Imperial Technique: Blessing of the Bountiful Orchard!" Crown Princes Shang chanted, as hundreds of green tattoos formed on her hands. Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    She then touched her hands onto the reinforced cage, causing the tattoos to transfer onto the vines and branches. The tattoos seem to be runes of some kind, and covered the entirety of the cage within a few seconds.


    Once that was done, Lin Mu could sense a great difference in the reinforced cage.


    If Ziran''s Dao Skill earlier had made it ''tough'', Lin Mu now felt that the not only was the cage durable, but also flexible.


    "The vines will keep on regenerating for a while once they take damage." Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "That''ll make things easier." Ziran nodded.


    Now that the cage was stable and wouldn''t break easily, it was time to add more defenses to it.


    "Daoist Chu." Lin Mu called the next person in order.


    Everyone had a different step assigned to them, in order to create the best defense possible. Some skills could not beyered over others, thus it was important to follow the order.


    Then there was also the fact that some skills would only be usable when someone was inside the cage. As such, they went with the defensive skills that could be applied from the outside first..


    "Give me a few minutes." Daoist Chu said as he began his work.


    His n was to add multiple defensive aspects to the cage instead of just a skill. The first step to this was the most basic disposable defensive item that cultivators kept, talismans. Daoist Chu stuck on about a hundred defensive talismans onto the outside of the cage. Now the vines were further covered up, and about half of the runes on them couldn''t even be seen.


    But this was merely the start for Daoist Chu, as he next step up an array. The man took out thirty six formation gs and ced six of them on each side of the cage. The gs were inserted deeply such that, only the cloth was hanging outside and it wouldn''t fall off.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, can you lift this." He asked.


    "Sure." Lin Mu nodded and easily lifted the heavy cage with one hand.


    Daoist Chu then inserted the final six gs under the cage, covering all of its sides.


    With that done, he took out four sheets of paper and stuck them on the horizontal sides of the cage. He then drew aplex pattern on it, that Lin Mu recognized to be a connecting formation.


    Once Daoist Chu was done with all four sheets, they glowed lightly and an invisible link between the thirty six formation gs was created.


    "Now for the final part." Daoist Chu took out arge ck crystal.


    It was about the size of a watermelon and looked to be decently heavy.


    "You''re going to use that?" Crown Prince Feng Shun recognized it.


    "Didn''t you say that you''d keep it for your abode?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "What use will be the abode if I''m dead?" Daoist Chu chuckled. "Besides if we''re lucky, this crystal might survive too. Even if the energy inside it is drained." He added.


    "What''s that crystal though?" Lin Mu questioned, unable to recognize it other than the fact that it seemed to be some kind of obsidian.


    He tried to probe it with his Immortal sense but found out that the crystal was entirely impermeable!


    ''Huh¡­'' And when Lin Mu tried to use his Spatial Perception he realized that even that didn''t work!


    "This is¡­ Not a normal obsidian, is it?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    There were not many things that could block his Spatial Perception. Even if they were opaque to it, if Lin Mu focused a bit more, his perception would go past it and show him the things behind it.


    But right now, Lin Mu could neither see inside nor past it.


    Both these properties hadn''t been seen in anything Lin Mu had encountered so far. Even strong Isting Arrays that blocked his Spatial Perception didn''t stop him from looking into the Void.


    But here, the obsidian crystal could do that as long as Lin Mu directly looked into it.


    "This is actually a treasure I found in one of the inheritance grounds we went to in the past." Daoist Chu answered. "Though it isn''t exactly a natural mineral, but is actually from a beast." He revealed.


    "A beast? What kind?" Lin Mu was intrigued, as a beast like this would be able to evade his Spatial Perception. He would definitely like to know more about a creature that could make his trump card ineffective.


    "It is said to be from a great beast called as the Unyielding Obsidian Weasel." Daoist Chu stated. "It was a beast that lived a long time ago and was very powerful. It was impervious to most skills and its defenses were even said to be greater than that of the ck Tortoise." He exined.


    "Greater than even the guardian beast?!" Lin Mu was shocked. He knew just how strong the defensive skills of the ck Tortoise n were and had intended to obtain one from them as a reward. But in exchange he had obtained the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    "Of course, the Unyielding Obsidian Weasel was a beast that broke through to be a Celestial." Daoist Chu stated.


    "Wait¡­ So that obsidian crystal is technically a celestial object?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "I wish." Daoist Chu shook his head. "This is from back when the Unyielding Obsidian Weasel was still in the Immortal realm. Technically speaking, this crystal is just some fur it shed." He exined.


    "Huh¡­ Just fur?" Lin Mu couldn''t tell what kind of beast it would have been. "It should be very rare right?" "In this part of the Immortal realm, yes. But there are other areas where it can be found from time to time. The Unyielding Obsidian Weasel traveled a lot and its fur was spread in many ces." Daoist Chu answered.


    "Chunks of them do turn up on the auction houses from time to time." Qiao De spoke up. "Though I''ve never seen one in this part of the Immortal realm."


    "Our Great Kang Auction house has had the opportunity to auction these too. And from what I know, there are at least a thousand chunks circting in the market right now." Lady Kang revealed.


    "That many?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected such a rare resource to still be avable from a time long past.


    "It isn''t exactly something we can use easily." Lady Kang could sense the confusion in Lin Mu''s mind. "While it has excellent defensive capabilities, it cannot be forged or refined by just anyone. The wrong method would only lead to its destruction or the backsh for the refiner or forger.


    Most people only manage to keep it as a show piece or use it in arrays." She exined further.


    "I see¡­ So Daoist Chu is doing the same." Lin Mu now understood the connecting formations.


    "Indeed." The man replied before cing the obsidian crystal on top of the cage.


    ~SHUA~


    Runes flew out from the talisman gs and linked up with the four connecting formations before illusory chains rose from them. The chains crept up from the sides and reached the obsidian crystal.


    It tightly wound around the crystal from all sides, keeping it held in ce.


    ~HUM~


    The crystal glowed lightly for a moment and a faint energy fluctuation was also felt by everyone.


    But to Lin Mu it was far greater than that.


    ''What in the¡­'' A strong aura was felt by Lin Mu that originated in the crystal.


    For a moment, he saw a figure of a beast above the crystal. It was a few meters in size and its entire body was covered in the same obsidian crystals. It had long sharp ws that were moreparable to long swords, along with fangs that should be able to cut into meter thick steel with ease.


    But the most striking were its topaz yellow eyes that shone with a sharp gaze.


    The gaze was something familiar to Lin Mu, but the strange thing was that it didn''t match the form of the beast.


    ''A weasel with the gaze of a Dragon?'' Lin Mu was confused.


    Before he could observe it though, the figure disappeared as if it never existed.


    "Did you see that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Saw what?" The others asked.


    "Never mind." Lin Mu shook his head, knowing that it was something only he had felt. ''That was definitely a bloodline manifestation¡­ but for something like that to be present in a chunk of shed fur¡­ Just how strong was the beast?'' he couldn''t help but marvel at the beast.


    This also raised his hopes of the defensive power. Even now, Lin Mu had a hunch that the cage won''t break easily.


    With the crystal ced, Daoist Chu''s work was done and it was now turn for the others.

 Chapter 2173 Door Gods And Rift

    Chapter 2173 Door Gods And Rift


    The next to work on the cage were Elder Hu and Min Ju.


    Both of them had the same skill that they wished to use on the cage and it was something that worked better when two people cast it.


    "Kang Secret Arts¡­" the two chanted in unison while Lin Mu listed on.


    ''This must be a signature technique of the Kang n.'' He guessed listening to the skill.


    He watched as Elder Hu and Min Ju made several hand gestures. First they made a circle in the air with their left hand and then tapped in the middle with their right.


    Then extending to the right from the center, they extended a line which started to glow. The circle glowed too before they chanted again.


    "Neenth Technique: Guardian Bound Ward!" They said while mming the circles into the cage.


    ~HONG~


    The circle imprinted onto the cage, with one line extended from its center. Both of the lines came from the right, but with the circles being in an opposite position, the lines curved along the side of the cage and joined with the other circle.


    With this, a loop now connected the two circles.


    ~HUALA~


    Mystical symbols appeared on the circles before they rose to form two figures. Both of these were humanoid figures, but looked a bit strange. They had solemn expression on their faces, but their eyes seem to be exuding a sharp fury.


    They wore a cor on their head, that tired their hair, while an armor covered their body. The armor looked to be rather ancient, with several scuffs and marks on them, as if they had gone trough hundreds of battles.


    One of the figures held antern in its right hand, while a long baton in the other. The second figure held a crescent staff in his left, and a bundle of rope in the right.


    The illusory figures looked to be different than what Lin Mu had ever seen before in a skill, but he was reminded of one instance where something simr had been witnessed.


    ''This is like the door god figure that Jing Luo manifested all those years ago in the fragmented ne.'' Lin Mu recalled.


    But the details of the the door god Jing Luo summoned was a lot differentpared to the two Elder Hu and Min Ju had summoned. Not to mention, the difference in power was simply massive. The skill that Jing Luo had used was when he was a Nascent Soul realm. Whereas, Elder Hu and Min Ju were both immortals! The powers could not bepared and the profundity was also quite deeper.


    ~SHUA~


    The two door gods turned translucent before forming a motif on the sides of the cage.


    "Were those the door gods of the Kang n?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked feeling intrigued. "I never thought I''d get to see them today." Qiao De spoke in surprise as well.


    Lin Mu listened to them, realizing that these door gods were more famous than he had thought.


    "They are, yes." Lady Kang nodded. "They are the Door Gods that serve the Kang n and their power can be utilized by high ranking members and servants of the n." She exined.


    "No wonder¡­ So their poweres from an actual being." Lin Mu was surprised. "Are they in the form of an Immortal tool?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "These door gods are a projection of the real door god statues at the Kang n. Both of them are Peak Grade Immortal tools and have their own spirits. They''ve been nurtured by the Kang n long enough that they are now an integral part of our skills." Lady Kang answered.


    "To think they could manifest their power all the way here." Monk Hushu was impressed. "They must''ve been given offerings and prayed for at least a hundred thousand years to reach this level. If it were a Buddhist treasure, it would''ve already obtained the aura of an Arhat." Hepared.


    This gave Lin Mu a little insight into the deep background of the Kang n, as well as their capabilities. ''Two peak grade immortal tools is already a great fortune, and if they''ve been nurtured for all this time they are definitely a lot stronger than normal peak grade immortal tools.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''To project their power this far through the space¡­ And there are no Spatial Fluctuations either so there is no spatial influence in this. This is a direct projection for sure.'' He analyzed.


    It was not easy to project one''s power this far at all. Even if it were a Transcendent Immortal, their power would stop after crossing a few worlds if they tried to project it. If they wished to use their power a long distance away, they would have to imbue it into something instead of projecting it.


    Projecting would also lead to a loss of power greatly, and even if the location was somewhere within its range the power might be reduced to less than a percent.


    One would need a highly specialized tool to do so, and it would also need a loci to work.


    This made Lin Mu look at the two who had used the skill with intrigue. A thought appeared to him and he activated his Spatial Perception.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as he did, he could see what he had missed earlier.


    Hidden to everyone''s eyes, two tiny threads were attached to them. The threads came out of their bodies and connected to the hidden forms of the door gods.


    ''I don''t think they are aware of that either.'' Lin Mu thought. ''Instead of using a talisman as a stored medium, this skill actually imbues the projection of a door god directly into the body of a person¡­ They even added this into their n''s signature skills¡­'' he couldn''t help but feel impressed.


    Doing something like this was not easy, and they probably had to withstand the full power of the Door God statues to obtain this skill.


    This made Lin Mu wonder if this was a singr use skill. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ''They probably need to recharge at the statues to use it again.'' Lin Mu thought, realizing how precious it was to use such a skill.


    It was something they might only be able to utilize one and they had chosen to use it here, as they needed to ensure the absolute safety of theirdy.


    "We''re done." Elder Hu spoke, having finished his work.


    "I''ll be the next one then." Lin Mu said, looking at the cage and then at a specific location. "You all should move into the cage now, the rift won''t be a forgiving one." He warned.


    "Very well." Lady Kang and the rest replied before moving into the cage.


    Qiao De, Ziran and Crown Princess Shang stood at the very back as they had little to nothing to do after this. Daoist Chu, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Monk Hushu stood in the middle, as they would be controlling the arrays and skills that they would be casting at the end.


    Elder Hu and Min Ju stood after this, their positions in line with the position of the Door gods on the outside earlier.


    Then the one to stand at the front was Lady Kang, as she would be the one to guide them. Lin Mu would be thest one to enter, as he needed to be the one to open the rift.


    Everyone watched with curious eyes, wanting to see just how Lin Mu would be opening a rift. It wasn''t everyday they got to see a Spatial Master at work, and the few times they had seen it before, they had found it to be a learning experience.


    Spatial Skills were veryplex and even learning a little bit about them could allow one to have an advantage. Not only would this advantage help in going against other Spatial Masters, it would even allow them to improve their own skills by adding the intricacies of the skill to it.


    But when they finally saw Lin Mu do it, they were left surprise.


    Lin Mu extended his right hand towards the barrier of the area and channeled his Immortal Qi into the ring.


    "Open!" One of the ring''s innate skills was activated, as a tiny dot appeared in the barrier. ~SHUA~


    This dot then expanded in the blink of an eye and turned into a fifty meter wide rift!


    "No chants? No runes? No gestures? Not even the movement of Immortal Qi¡­" The group was left confused. "Just like that?!?" Lin Mu didn''t notice their reactions though as he was focused on checking whether the rift was stable or not. ''Looks good enough. Though the death aura is already approaching it.'' Lin Mu noticed with his Spatial Perception. "We now have to be very quick!" Lin Mu said out loud before jumping into the cage.


    "Time for us, Monk Hushu." Crown Prince Feng Shun finally made his move.

 Chapter 2174 The Final Three Act

    Chapter 2174 The Final Three Act


    Lin Mu didn''t know how long it would take before the death aura would prate the portal and as such knew they would have to hurry. His eyes were locked onto the portal as well as the space behind it, watching every single movement.


    ''The portal is stable and the ring doesn''t seem to be considering the death aura a threat to it. We just need to get past it then.'' Lin Mu assessed before turning to Monk Hushu and Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "Time for us, Monk Hushu." Crown Prince Feng Shun finally made his move.


    "On it!" Monk Hushu said before mming his palms together. ~HONG~


    A yellow light illuminated his body while his eyes closed. He chanted softly under his breath while a pleasing yet firm aura spread from him.


    Everyone in the cage could hear the chants and soon found them getting louder. Lin Mu paid attention to them and found them to be a lot more different from the Calming Heart Sutra.


    ''This is not exactly calm¡­ Its more of a reassuring feeling¡­ And yet there is something else to it.'' Lin Mu pondered on it,paring it to the Buddhist aura he had experienced before.


    The entire aura of Monk Hushu had changed and it was no longer as peaceful as before. Instead the firmness turned into an immovable feeling while a hint of fierceness arose within it.


    After a minute of chanting, Monk Hushu suddenly opened his eyes that glowed in a golden light!


    ~RUMBLE~


    As if thunder had struck, the entire area shook before an illusory image formed above the cage. The group saw arge figure. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Just one look at the figure gave rise to countless thoughts in one''s mind. It was as if the figure embodied the serene power of enlightenment and the unstoppable force of the thunderbolt.


    It was none other than the Golden Vajra Idol!


    d in robes of shimmering gold that seemed to dance with every movement, the Vajra stood tall, his demeanor radiated an aura of tranquility and inner strength. His eyes, deep pools of wisdom, surveyed the world with a knowing gaze, as if he held the secrets of the universe within their depths.


    In his hand, he wielded the sacred Vajra, a weapon forged from the purest of metals and imbued with divine energy. Even while being held it crackled with lightning, leaving trails of brilliance in its wake, a testament to the Vajra''s mastery over both the physical and spiritual realms.


    Yet, despite his formidable presence, the Vajra remained humble, ever mindful of the teachings ofpassion and non-attachment. His every movement was filled with grace and purpose, his every action a reflection of the boundlesspassion that defined his being.


    "Golden Vajra Illumination!" The monk uttered loudly.


    Watching the figure, everyone felt awed and even Lin Mu felt his heart quicken.


    ''Is this the true power of the Buddhist Path?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He had touched upon the path, but had not delved far in it. If hepared it with the Sword path, Lin Mu was farckingpared to Monk Hushu.


    Despite being the very first Sutra that Lin Mu had obtained, the Calming Heart Sutra was yet to fully unlock its true potential. As such, Lin Mu was getting a clue to what it could hold.


    Of course, while there were many roads that split from the Buddhist Path, Lin Mu had only seen one himself. The one presented by Monk Hushu was something new.


    ''I''ve felt Calmness, but this is Stability with profound power.'' Lin Mu assessed. But that was not all he felt, he could also sense a deeper connection between the Golden Vajra Idol and Monk Hushu.


    "Is this¡­ A Dao Skill?" Lin Mu finally asked.


    "It is the manifestation of Monk Hushu''s Dao Embryo the Golden Vajra Dao Embryo." Crown Prince Feng Shun said in a low voice not within to disturb the man that was busy in setting up the skill.


    This made Lin Mu take a deeper look at the Golden Vajra Idol. Deep within the figure he saw a smaller idol inside that looked quite simr to the full sized figure. And in all that, Lin Mu finally managed to observe the Dao Traces too.


    They were unlike any other Dao Traces he had seen and actually felt a bit familiar to him at the same time. Perhaps if it were not for the fact that Monk Hushu was using the Dao Skill at full power, the Dao Traces might have even approached Lin Mu.


    But this did prove the monk''s potential.


    "It is indeed quite strong¡­ I hadn''t expected Monk Hushu''s powers and aplishment in the Buddhist Path to be this deep." Lin Mu admitted.


    "Haha," Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled upon hearing that. "Among mypanions and me, Monk Hushu ranks second, right below me if wepare the full extent of our cultivation." He revealed.


    "What?" Lin Mu certainly hadn''t expected that. ''I''d been thinking it was the Crown Princess and then Daoist Chu after that.'' He had ranked the monk at the veryst since he had not been able to judge his true potential.


    "Monk Hushu might not be as good in offense as me or Crown Princess Shang, but he is certainly better than us in defense and support. His skills are also excellent in dealing with negative aspects of the cultivation world." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "As such, his skills shine the best in situations like this." He added.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but nod in approval while the other continued to watch in marvel.


    The Golden Vajra Figure exuded a power that coated the entire cage without affecting the other skills and formations that had been cast on it. This was all done under the fine control of Monk Hushu and took great focus.


    ~huu~


    Monk Hushu let out a breath as the Golden Vajra figure disappeared and so did the Dao Embryo. But the cage was now glowing with a golden light.


    "That will hold¡­" Monk Hushu said in a low voice.


    It was clear that he still needed to focus on keeping the skill active and the Crown Prince understood that too.


    "I''ll handle the rest." The prince said before his body radiated with power as well.


    ~CRACKLE~


    Fine sparks appeared in Crown Prince Feng Shun''s body as if glitter was being sprinkled onto him. But a momentter, the sparks became bigger until they turned into arcs of lightning!


    ~HUM~


    The low hum of lightning could be heard as it crawled over Crown Prince Feng Shun''s body. The lightning was a mix of white and purple, showing that it was stronger than normal lightning.


    ''So this is Crown Prince Feng Shun''s lightning element.'' Lin Mu was getting to witness it for the first time.


    He had seen the man''s wind element before, but also knew that the Crown Prince had affinity with Lightning Element too. This was the reason why Crown Prince Feng Shun practiced the Storm King Immortal Arts, instead of the signature cultivation technique of the Imperial Feng n.


    He had inherited the wind affinity from his n, but also managed to be born with lightning affinity. With two of the four Heavenly Elements, it would be a shame for him to practice just the signature technique of his n even if it wasn''t a weak technique.


    If onepared the potential and ranks, the Storm King Immortal Arts and the Feng Imperial Technique were on the same level. But with dual affinities, Crown Prince Feng Shun could achieve a lot more with the Storm King Immortal Arts.


    This allowed his power to be far greater than his peers of the same level.


    Perhaps only those with a Primordial element affinity could outmatch him.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Great Fulgarian Ward!" Crown Prince Feng Shun uttered while extending his hands sideways.


    ~BZZT~


    Two trails of lighting shot from his hands and entered the cage. The bars sparkled as the arcs of lighting snaked all over them.


    The lightning soon wrapped around the eternity of the cage, electrifying it. ''The sheer amount of lighting elemental immortal Qi in this is massive.'' Lin Mu observed. ''If someone casually touched it, they might just turn to charcoal in an instant.'' He thought.


    Perhaps even a Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal might notst more than a few seconds against the skill. If it were not for the fact that Crown Prince Feng Shun had enchanted it onto the cage only and directed it to be ineffective against its inhabitant, they all would have been suffering right now.


    With the cage electrified, the cage now had an offensive defense on it. Lightning was considered to be of Extreme Yang, even more so than fire. Because of this it was considered as the bane of ghosts, evil spirits, baleful energies and all things yin.


    Thus it would certainly be effective against the Aura of Death.


    With all the defensive skills cast, there was only one thing remaining now.


    "Lady Kang, the stage is yours." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Leave it to me." Lady Kang said before making a few hand seals. She then tapped out in the air, as three stars made out of ster energy manifested. The stars rose in the air and glowed brightly before an illusory figure started to form.


    "88 Constetion Series: Sixty Fifth form- Mariner''s Compass!" Lady Kang chanted.


    ~HUALA~


    The illusory figure waspleted and took a disc like shape. It was none other than apass!


    It exuded a mysterious aura as the needle on it spun nonstop.

 Chapter 2175 Guidance Of Pyxis

    Chapter 2175 Guidance Of Pyxis


    Lin Mu and the others watched the illusorypass that seemed to be exuding a mysterious aura.


    ''That Compass¡­ That aura is almost like a Dao Trace.'' Lin Mu thought upon firstying his eyes upon it.


    It was very obvious for him which he did not know why. He couldn''t tell what kind of Dao they belonged to, but he could tell he hat felt it before somewhere.


    ~SHUA~


    As they watched, thepass gathered its power before a long beam of light shot out of it.


    "Guidance of Pyxis!" Lady Kang chanted,pleting the skill.


    The light beam flew out of the portal and entered the void. One it was there, it seemingly wandered around in random paths, while the needle on the illusorypass also kept on spinning.


    "Bring me to a safe ce on the ne below." Lady Kang whispered.


    Her whisper was amand to thepass as it suddenly stopped spinning. The needle twitched a few times before slowly turning to a specific direction.


    ~WANG~


    The needle trembled after pointing at a certain direction before the beam of light was shot out of it again. This time the beam of light had a destination in its mind as it curved around before heading straight down to a certain point.


    "It''s done!" Lady Kang said before they closed the gate of the cage. "We just have to follow the lighted path." She stated.


    "Very well." Lin Mu said as they began their ascent.


    "Everybody hold on!" Qiao De said as he controlled the cage to move towards the portal.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The cage was immediately sucked in by the portal and thrown out into the void! Content is ? by N?velDrama.Org.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    The barriers made by the hundreds of talismans that Daoist Chu had stuck on worked to protect it from the pressure exerted by the spatial travel. Passing through a portal was not always safe, especial if it was not a fully stable one. Thus it was important to make sure that the vehicle they were using was durable enough. In the current case it was a cage that was not meant to be a vehicle, but was still under the same conditions.


    "It''s working!" Daoist Chu said as he watched his handiwork.


    ~TREMBLE~


    Still that didn''t mean that the danger was over, in fact they were just starting off on their journey.


    Qiao De controlled the cage and followed the light beam that charted out their path. He could not see the end of the path, as it was too far away and also obscured behind a thick mass of death aura.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    The cage was seeming struck by something invisible, making it rattle on the way. "There''s a lot of debris on the way." Qiao De informed.


    "Just pass straight, it''ll be fine." Lady Kang stated. "This is the safest path that is possible for us. Any other path is guaranteed to be more dangerous." She assured.


    Qiao De gave simple nod and continued on the path while the cage kept on getting pelted by the debris in its way. Thankfully the defenses that had been added by them basically made it harmless.


    The wooden vines covering the cage protected against the minor collisions with the debris and worked well enough until they finally reached the area that was covered with death aura.


    "We''re in the aura now." Lin Mu informed, his spatial perception active and scanning everything ahead of them.


    Unlike the others, he could fully see what was outside including therge swathes of debris and rubble that was spread in the expanse of the void. At first Lin Mu had thought that it was just rocks and other solid materials of the earth that were spread in the void. These often came from breaking away from the spatial nes or other chunks ofnd that might be present in it. As such, one could find a lot of Asteroids and such in the void too. But Lin Mu observed that not all of them were chunks of natural rock.


    ''Are those bricks and more?'' Lin Mu noticed that there were stone bricks and carved tiles that were certainly man made mixed in the debris.


    It wasn''t until a couple minutester that he spotted a ratherrge object which turned out to be a massive segment of a stone wall!


    "Where did thate from?" This time Qiao De and the others were able to spot it too with howrge it was.


    The light beam that was guiding them also illuminated the path, thus they could see in the dark of the void.


    "That is either from the Spatial ne below, or something that no longer exists." Lin Mu stated. "The remnants of the Spatial energy I detect on it show that its been here for a long, long time." He added.


    "Hmmm¡­ There might be more to this ce than we can tell right now." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he maintained his alertness.


    ~THUD~


    The chunk of wall struck the cage, but the barrier held up.


    ~HUALA~


    But intermediately after the death aura started to assault them!


    The cloud of death aura covered the cage, trying to enter it and consume it all.


    ~HONGLONG~


    It was now that the two door gods manifested again and attacked.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~


    The death aura was blown away, letting them pass through without a problem. Elder Hu and Min Ju maintained their focus over the two door gods and ensured that the skill continued to protect the cage.


    They continued like this for nearly thirty minutes after which the two door gods started to weaken.


    "The skill is about to run out." Min Ju informed while Elder Hu frowned. "We can''t cast it again." Elder Hu added.


    "It will be fine, we still have more defenses up." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "We''ll endure through it." He had assessed the amount of damage they had taken so far and what they would have to go through.

 Chapter 2176 A Massive Plane

    Chapter 2176 A Massive ne


    It had been about forty minutes since the group had entered the void. By now, Daoist Chu''s barrier along with the vines made by Ziran and Crown Princess Shang were still intact and were enduring the impact from the debris.


    On the other hand, the defenses cast by Elder Hu and Min Ju had now ended due to being exhausted by the death aura. But they still had Crown Prince Feng Shun and Monk Hushu''s defenses to go through, so they didn''t mind it.


    In a way the work was divided into two. One group took care of the physical defenses against the debris and items on the way to the spatial ne, while the other group took care of the Death Aura that threatened to corrode and consume everything.


    Lady Kang''s energy was being spent in powering thepass that was showing the path. Lin Mu who was observing everything could tell that Lady Kang''s immortal Qi was being consumed quite rapidly.


    ''She''s already exhausted at least five percent of her Immortal Qi stores in this time.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    It was arge amount, considering the fact that Lady Kang had managed to increase her immortal Qi stores earlier. If they kept up such a consumption, Lady Kang would at least be half drained by the time they reached it.


    ''I still can''t see the end of the path.'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    To him, the death aura was too thick and obscuring his spatial perception. He could somewhat spot the Spatial ne behind it due to the gaps that appeared from time to time, but it only felt far.


    It was like looking at a mountain in the horizon.


    Even if one walked for hours, the mountain seemingly stayed the same size. This only meant that the distance was massive and that they needed longer time to cover it.


    ~HONG~


    And after the two door gods seemingly faded away, the Golden Vajra Figure took over the work.


    Its figured manifested above the cage and radiated a bright light that purged the Death Aura that came in their way. It was like one was using an erased on a sheet of graphite.


    It cleared a path while the debris in its path was crushed and cleaved apart.


    It was a very rocky journey and the cage shook nonstop for the most part. Monk Hushu''s Dao skillsted much longer, going on for nearly two hours before even that was exhausted!


    "Amitabha!" Monk Hushu opened his eyes that seemed to be exhausted. "This is as far as I canst." He confessed.


    "How far are we now?" Daoist Chu inquired. "I still can''t see the Spatial ne, but the ambient spatial fluctuations have certainly gotten stronger. We are much closer than we were before." Lin Mu answered. "We might just be halfway there." He added.


    "If its that much, we can still hold on." Crown Prince Feng Shun was confident.


    ~FLICKER~


    Sparks of electricity lit up the cage, burning the death aura that tried toe close.


    "Lemme increase it a bit more." Crown Prince Feng Shun held the bars and injected his Lighting element immortal Qi into it.


    ~BZZT~


    A high frequency sound was heard as the power of the lightning created an area of denial around the cage. A hundred meter diameter was cleared around the cage as the lightning of the Storm King Immortal Arts cleansed it all.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    But that wasn''t all it did.


    The slivers of lightning sted apart anything else that came close too, which included the debris. It didn''t matter if it were massive chunks the size of a building or tiny rocks.


    All of the were turned into gravel upon being struck by the lightning.


    The power of lightning was highly destructive, especially one that was being used by someone as strong as Crown Prince, that too with a top grade immortal cultivation technique.


    ~WHOOSH~


    "We can speed up this way." Qiao De could control the cage a lot better sine he didn''t need to be slowed down by the debris.


    The debris was destroyed before it even came in their path and thus they could travel at the speed of wind. The death aura couldn''te close either and the cage was a glowinget tearing through thee darkness.


    Minute after minute passed as the group flew through the void.


    An entire three hours had passed after thest barrier was destroyed when Lin Mu finally sensed that they were close to the destination.


    "I can see it now!" Lin Mu said squinting his eyes. The death aura was still obscuring the path, but it had a lot more gaps for Lin Mu to peek through. "How are you holding up?" Ziran asked Crown Prince. "I can take it, no problem." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Since we split the effort, I can take this stretch of the journey." He assured.


    If he had to do the entire journey alone, even the Crown Prince did not have the confidence tost that long. Even if he had used Qi restoring pills the entire time, he still would have been drained out. Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    Not to mention, focusing on a skill like this through the death aura still took a toll on one''s mind.


    Another half an hour passed, before Lin Mu finally sensed the boundary of the Spatial ne.


    "We''re here!" Lin Mu eximed.


    "Let me clear the view." Crown Prince Feng Shun gathered his power for onest push. His hands glowed in a purple light before he released a pulse of lightning.


    ~WOOLONGONG~


    It spread in a circle all around the cage and burst through thest cloud of Death Aura. With the aura being cleared, they could now see the massive spatial ne ahead of them.


    The ends of the ne could simply not be seen and stretched to the ends of the horizon. Only when they looked back did they realized that they could see the void.

 Chapter 2177 The Expanse Of Void And Apprehension To Danger

    Chapter 2177 The Expanse Of Void And Apprehension To Danger


    The expanse of the void was overwhelming to look at, making one feel minuscule in front of it.


    The vast darkness seemed all consuming, as if merely looking at it might end ones existence. It was unknown what was hidden in the void, for its in darkness held things in open view that could threaten many.


    One couldn''t even see a single twinkle or sparkle in the void either. Unlike the silvery streaks of Spatial Energy that Lin Mu often saw in the ring, there were no such shes of light.


    This didn''t mean that there was no Spatial energy here, it was still there. The difference was that it wasn''t as concentrated, which actually made it more dangerous due to being invisible.


    Lin Mu might not have any problems with that level of Spatial Energy, but for any immortal that was not on guard they might just get their flesh rendered by it. If they were lucky it could just be a small straight cut, but if they were unlucky it might mince and crush one''s flesh into a paste.


    The flow of Spatial Energy could be very dangerous and unless one could sense it, defending against it was highly difficult.


    In contrast to the empty void, the Spatial ne stood out greatly. With how close they were to it, the Spatial ne looks almost as big as the void. But this was merely a matter of perspective. It was the same as thinking a mountain in front was bigger than the sun above.


    Just because something was big nearby didn''t mean the other things would be the same.


    "This¡­ It really is bigger than the Dao Wind Empire." Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t help but say.


    "No it might actually be a lot more than just that." Ziran furrowed his brows. "Yeah, now that we''re this close I can sense the spatial fluctuations properly¡­ This is at least as big as a third of the entire Rust Sky World." Lin Mu said feeling quite surprised.


    From what Lin Mu had observed all these years, all the worlds had their own spatial fluctuations. Usually these were very faint and minute, making them impossible to sense unless one was a Spatial Master.


    Many cultivators might not even sense the spatial fluctuations of the world they lived in, since they were too used to the background fluctuations. But one they encountered other nes and worlds, they would sense the difference.


    Lin Mu could sense the background fluctuation a lot better and also found their intensity to be rtively stable. ''Spatial nes usually only have such stable spatial fluctuations when they''ve been in existence for a long time. And with how stable they are here along with their intensity, this ce has certainly been here for at least half the time the Rust Sky World has been in existence.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It wasn''t often that the Spatial nes could be in existence that long. This was due to the fact that the longer they existed the greater their chances of disintegration due to the natural erosion of the void. Most spatial nes would have to be protect by a barrier to prevent this. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    But therger a spatial ne was the more energy it would cost to protect it. Even if one set up arge array, it would still have to be powered by a source of energy.


    Unlike a proper world that produced its own Qi, a Spatial ne did not have the same capability.


    That was in fact one of the bigger differences between a Spatial ne and a proper world.


    A real world generated its own Qi, thus allow it to sustain life on it naturally. But the same could not be said for a Spatial ne.


    A Spatial ne could have Qi on it, but this was not generated by itself, but rather from some resource present on it, or being absorbed from somewhere else.


    Most of the Qi of a Spatial ne actually came from another world that was near it. There would be Spatial Channels that would absorb Qi for the sustenance of the spatial ne. These spatial channels would usually be tiny, but some could be big enough to act as entire Teleportation channels.


    ''It must have been a celestial that set up the barrier otherwise this ne would not have been able to exist this long.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~shua~


    The cage seemingly touched upon the barrier of the Spatial ne as they finally entered it.


    "Get ready!" Lin Mu warned.


    ~DANG~DANG~DANG~


    As soon as he said that, the cage was hammered by a strong force. "What is hitting us?" Min Ju asked unable to spot anything.


    "It''s wind!" Crown Prince Feng Shun sensed. "The winds are chaotic this far up, we need to descend quick or we might be thrown off the path!" "Follow the light, it''ll show us the safer path through the sky." Lady Kang added as she exerted more Qi in powering the illusorypass.


    Guidance of Pyxis was very helpful and Qiao De soon managed to keep them stable on the path. The group was very alert and watched out for any more danger that could be heading their way.


    Which was actually plentiful.


    "What''s that?" Daoist Chu saw something. It was arge swathe of darkness that seemed to be moving on the ground. It easily covered an area of a few kilometer due to how prominent it was.


    "Is that Death Aura?" Qiao De furrowed his brows.


    Everyone tried to watch it closely but due to the distance they could not exactly recognize it. It wasn''t until a minuteter that they got closer did Lin Mu realize what it was.


    His Spatial Perception was active when his eyes went wide in shock.


    "That is not death aura¡­ Those are beasts!" Lin Mu said out loud.


    "Beasts? There must be millions of them to look like that." Crown Process Shang said feeling surprised.

 Chapter 2178 Nauseating Beasts

    Chapter 2178 Nauseating Beasts


    The army of beasts waiting for them at the bottom did not seem to give them a good feeing about it. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Should we change our location ofnding?" Qiao De and Daoist Chu both asked.


    With the path that was being charted by the Mariner''s Compass Pyxis, they would bending at the very edge of the beast swarm.


    On the outside it did not seem like the best choice to do that.


    "We mustnd there." Lady Kang said firmly. "Even if it looks dangerous, know that any other option other than this will always be more dangerous. The Guidance of Pyxis has never wronged me." She assured.


    "We''ll follow Lady Kang''s words." Lin Mu backed her up. "I think there is more to the beasts than we can see from up here. The flow of Qi down there is a bit strange." He added.


    Lin Mu could see the flow of Qi in contrast with the spatial fluctuations and saw thy there was a strange demarcation there. The edge of where they werending seemed to have a thin line of Qi separating it.


    "We can handle the beasts enough to make our retreat in case anything happens. It will be fine." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated not minding it. "We still got plenty of energy."


    "Yeah it should be fine." Ziran agreed too.


    "Very well." Qiao De said and sped up their decent.


    ~WHOOSH~


    They flew down as fast as they could, causing the cage to start glowing red from the friction. Thankfully the defenses cast by Ziran and Crown Princess Shang were more than enough and managed to keep them safe.


    Though it wouldn''t have mattered much to them in the end as they were all able to defend against this heat. The main issue was actually the slivers of Death Aura that blew over them like wind.


    The slivers would cause the most damage as they would try to corrode the vines. But the vines simply regenerated again since they were being supported by two cultivators at once.


    "Almost there, brace for impact!" Lin Mu warned just a few seconds before theynded.


    ~BOOM~


    The impact of the cage was enough to make it sink a few meters into the ground while also creating a twenty meter sized crater. And this was after Qiao De had decelerated at the very end.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~


    Thankfully the defenses cast on the cage were enough to endure the damage and left them unharmed. The vines seemingly withered into dust after a few more seconds and exposed the original cage.


    ~CREAKS~


    The cage door opened, letting everyone out.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    The group spent no time waiting and quickly flew out before rising up in the sky. They were alert and ready to retaliate against anything that might being their way.


    Their Immortal Senses also spread to the maximum range and assessed everything within. They were a mere hundred meters or so from the Beast swarm and could see them clearly this time around.


    "What are those?" Daoist Chu wondered. "They don''t seem like the Yin Heart Puppets." He said observing them.


    The beasts were not something they had seen before and had a hybrid body shape. They had four legs that looked like they belonged to some kind of bovine creature due to their hooves.


    But their body was that of some kind of a carnivore with thick gray fur. Their tails were spiked and ended in a sharp hook. Their head was wide almost like that of a frog, but it was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of sharp teeth. Then there were the eyes¡­ not only did they have eyes on their head, they also had eyes on their back and at the base of their tail. Their eyes seemingly had no pupils and were just in ck orbs.


    Looking into their eyes caused one to have an eerie feeling, making one''s hair stand on its ends. The sounds that they made were also not fun.


    ~Bihihihihihihihi~


    ~bihihihihihihih~


    Their cries were like a mix of a screaming child and a shrieking beetle''s cry.


    It made one want to shut their eyes and simply not hear the highly ufortable sound.


    "That just made me nauseous." Crown Princess Shang frowned.


    "Likewise." Min Ju did not like it either.


    "At least they don''t seem to be that strong." Qiao De said. "First to Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm for the most part." He observed.


    Lin Mu''s mind went through all the beasts he knew about but did not find any that remotely matched the description of these beasts.


    They were far too strange and what was even more strange was their behavior. Even though Lin Mu and the group was standing a mere hundred meters from them, the beast did not approach them. They only stared at them nkly while letting some asional cries.


    The cries didn''t even seem to be directed towards them either, as they let them out merely on instinct.


    "Amitabha¡­ These are certainly not creations of nature." Monk Hushu chimed in, narrowing his eyes. "The aura of these beasts is repugnant and I can think nothing but disgust for them." He added.


    He made it very clear that he was not a fan of the beasts, joining the camp of Crown Princess Shang and Min Ju.


    "Do you know what they are Ziran?" Qiao De asked, making Lin Mu look at the half-elf as well. "I can''t seem to figure out what they are." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "I am at a loss as well." Ziran admitted. "I''ve never seen anything like them before. At the very least I can tell they are not any type of Yin Heart Puppets and are actual beasts." He said, his words a bit of a disappointment to Lin Mu.


    "I suppose we''ll just have to figure out what they are on our own." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, his eyes locked onto the eerie beasts for any sign of danger.

 Chapter 2179 A Desire Of The Blades

    Chapter 2179 A Desire Of The des


    The experienced prince''s eyes wandered around the area for a minute before he spoke again.


    "Though I must admit, Lady Kang was right, the beasts do nothing despite being so close to us." Crown Prince Feng Shun praised.


    "The Guidance of Pyxis has always been urate." Lady Kang replied withposure. Though Lin Mu could tell that she was slightly exhausted. There was a faint shade of fatigue behind her eyes that he could only recognize due to being with her all this time.


    ''She definitely expended more than ten percent of her Immortal Qi in that.'' Lin Mu estimated seeing her state. Others might not know the state she was in but there was no way Lin Mu wouldn''t know what she had expended in order to get the group to safety.


    As such, Lin mu was a lot more sympathetic to the woman and even wondered if he should offer her a method of restoration.


    ''But would that be fine?'' Lin Mu wondered. ''Could that potentially be offensive¡­ Is offering someone well off and rich an offense?'' Lin Mu truly had no idea.


    In order to err on the side of positive chance, Lin Mu took the stance that he had done.


    "I agree with Lady Kang. The Guidance of Pyxis seem to be the good so far. If it were not, perhaps we would have been attacked by now." Lin Mu stated to the group.


    He could truly see that the beasts seem to be disinclined oning on their side and attacking them. The reason for this was still unknown, but that didn''t change the fact that Lady Kang''s technique had been very urate.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as Lin Mu said his words, the beasts seemingly changed their demeanor.


    ~RAMBHA~


    A collective grunt could be hearding from the eerie beasts as their sound echoed across the entire area.


    "What''s happening?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Nothing good." Ziran frowned. "Get ready and brace!" he warned.


    ~RUMBLE~


    As if his words were a prophecy, the entire ne shook and the eerie beasts started to make their move.


    First they changed their gaze and looked towards where Lin Mu and his group was before starting to move towards it.


    "How are they moving?" Crown Princess Shang questioned, her eyes tracking the strange movement of the beasts.


    "Something is happening¡­. The beasts have certainly been affected." Min Ju chimed in.


    "ON GUARD!" Lin Mu roared as two swords sprang into his grasp. "BEASTS ARE COMING!" he voice echoed before he swung.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Lin Mu''s warning certainly did not go unnoticed as the others retaliated in equivalence. Lady Kang shot out fragmenting stars, Crown Prince Feng Shun shed out with wind des that separated ones parts while the rest contributed on their own way.


    "Afternoon Pine!" Lin Mu uttered, shing out to created a golden sh that bloomed into a metal pine tree.


    The metal pine tree sprouted and immediately turned into arge creature that expanded its branches and twigs. These very branches and twigs cut into the beasts, severing apart their very being, and tearing apart their flesh as if they were mere radishes set out for pickles.


    But this was merely the start as it was just the first sward that had begun its work.


    Ocean Raker had a different demeanor to it all.


    Even Lin Mu seemed a bit surprised by the long swords reaction that wished to cut all that stood in front of it.


    "SEVER!" Lin Mu spoke as per his de''s desire.


    Just as hismand had said, the de obliged.


    ~JUWANG~


    Ocean Raker resonated with the very air itself, manifesting a great de that tore across the area in front of it. The de imprint was over fifteen hundred meters long and severed all that stood in its path.


    Thebined work of the two des waspetitive, as if both were trying to prove their worth to the owner.


    This was both a surprise and pleasure for Lin Mu as the power of both swords exceeded what they normally where.


    The eerie beasts were turned into minced meat on one side while the other side was turned into perfectly cut halves.


    But themon part was the fact that the souls of both sides were eradicated regardless. At the same time, Lin Mu felt the drain on his Immortal Qi as well as the desire the two swords felt.


    ''They''ve never acted like this before¡­ what is this¡­ these beasts feel as if they are the arch enemies of the two swords.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After the two attacks had psed, Lin Mu could feel the deep desire that stemmed from them. Because the two des were linked to him, he could feel it in his heart as well and knew that this desire went deeper than what they had originally thought.


    ''For you two to act like this¡­ Did you encounter them in the past too?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    Lin Mu had obtained both des from the Deep Sapphire City and they had been obtained due to his affinity to them. Lin Mu had epted both des due to the fact that he had a great chance of nurturing them and growing them to the next level.


    As such, it was an obvious choice to get them when it was literally free to do so.


    Lin Mu had expected that he would be growing both weapons by slowly nurturing them over time with the resources he had.


    It was a matter of waiting and thinking.


    But now, it was as if a golden opportunity had been presented to him.


    ''The des convey¡­ they wish for the ughter of these eerie beasts.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, a grim smile appearing on his face. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    With a wish that did not contradict his own, there was no way it would be rejected.


    "Drink and y! Afternoon Pine, Ocean Raker!" Lin Mu uttered, stunning hispanions.


    His demeanor seemingly flipped as an aura of ughter sprouted.

 Chapter 2180 Growth And Domination!

    Chapter 2180 Growth And Domination!


    Lin Mu felt a surge of emotions at this very moment.


    These emotions stemmed from the two des and were a mix of fury and disgust. Fury that these beasts continued to exist, and disgust that they dared to stand in front of them. Lin Mu''s own emotions soon mirrored the swords and he let them ''guide'' him.


    "Drink and y! Afternoon Pine, Ocean Raker!" Lin Mu uttered, his voice almost trembling with excitement.


    The excitement seemingly turned into a key that unlocked a dam within Lin Mu''s body. It was the dam that held back his more¡­ ''Darker'' desires.


    The desire that spilled out was none other than that of ughter!


    ~RUMBLE~


    The aura was like boiling hot steam, making the very air sizzle from it. The aura excited the des further, a synchronous effect taking ce.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The des hummed a song, their voices being heard far and wide.


    "KIHIIIIIIII!" The beasts were visibly affected by the song, showing fear and anxiety.


    Unfortunately for them, this was just the start of a very, very bad day.


    ~SHING~SHING~


    With his left hand, Lin Mu swung Afternoon Pine that let out arge yellow sh. The sh seeminglyid a path on which tens of metal pine trees grew.


    These trees were no somber and peaceful pine trees in a tundra, they were fierce and deadly, wishing to end all that was in their path.


    Their branches grew sideways, piercing through the bodies of the eerie beasts and propping them up. From these branches grew smaller branches, skewering the beasts further as horrifying sounds were unleashed.


    Some of the beasts didn''t even get to cry out, for twigs and leaves sprouted from their mouths. These might as well be razors, cutting and splitting their mouths, and skulls apart.


    The foul blood of the beasts was spilled and rained down on the pine trees, acting as a fertilizer. The trees drank and drank, continuing to grow as they cut through more beasts.


    Then there was Ocean Raker.


    If Afternoon Pine created a gruesome artwork from the beasts, the longsword was simple. It took the more sober path and merely cut all that stood in its path into half!


    And yet, the longsword''s work was no less impressive. Hundreds of beasts were ughtered by it in a mere moment, as the sword sh continued to grow.


    The beasts were first split in the middle, then they were pushed apart as the power of the sh could not be contained by their bodies.


    Whether it be first, second or third tribtion stage Immortal beasts, it was all the same. None of them stood a chance in front of Ocean Raker.


    Lin Mu spun in the air, as sh after sh was thrown out by him. Only two colors could be seen in the gloomyndscape, yellow and blue, for even the blood of the eerie beasts matched the color of thendscape.


    The beasts couldn''t even try to charge at Lin Mu, as they were killed in their tracks. A radius of five hundred meters was carved out by Lin Mu, where no beast was left alive.


    ~HONGLONG~


    But there was no way the swords would be satisfied by just this.


    "You wish for more¡­ Then more you shall get!" Lin Mu''s aura red, turning into a fountain of ughter.


    The aura pushed the ground around him, dirt and stone both breaking down into fine dust.


    ~GEDENG~


    The two swords glimmered, as a new fuel flowed into them. They sang in joy with the power that was being fed to them by their master.


    It was none other than Sword Intent!


    In all killing that Lin Mu had done so far, there was actually no sword intent used. It was just the pure power of the swords being disyed.


    But now with the Sword Intent as a catalyst, the two swords rejoiced. Their power grew even more, along with their hatred for the beasts.


    The two swords unleashed a power greater than ever before, as a new act was witnessed by Lin Mu.


    ''This¡­ THEY ARE GROWING!'' Lin Mu understood.


    The two des were being nurtured for a long time in the Deep Sapphire City and then by the Sword Nurturing boxes that Lin Mu had made. This in addition to the killing they had done, certainly had been adding to their might.


    And now the ughter of the beasts seemingly led to a breakthrough for both des!


    Two pirs of light surged from Lin Mu''s hands as the swords proimed their ce on the stage. Yellow and blue could be seen for tens of kilometer away, dering to all creatures that lived in the Spatial ne of their impending doom.


    It was a decree that spelled their end.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker moved in tandem, each wishing to demonstrate their talent. The first birthed a tree that grew bigger than all. It split the very earth apart and reached for the skies, growing for more than a thousand meters!


    The giant pine tree was like a colossus of war, each of its branches sharp like the finest great swords. Each twig was like a long sword that had been honed by a master while each leaf was a dagger crafted for nothing but ending lives.


    The giant pine took up the empty space that had been carved out by Lin Mu, but its reach was vast. Even though it hadn''t killed any beasts yet, and had only grown it was just the initialization.


    Once the tree fully grew, it unleashed its power.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Tens of thousands of sword imprints shot out from the giant pine, raining down upon the beasts far and wide. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It was like a cannon tower that dominated the battlefield, erasing all beasts for over four kilometer in one go. The rain of swords was augmented by the Sword intent, causing multiple smaller shes to burst out from the beast corpses, further damaging the others around them.

 Chapter 2181 Great Slaughter Pine & Great Ocean Rake!

    Chapter 2181 Great ughter Pine & Great Ocean Rake!


    The ughter caused by the great pine tree was truly astonishing.


    The smell of the foul blood spilled wide, irritating the noses of all those that smelled it. As for the eerie beasts whom the blood belonged to, they were only terrified further.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but be impressed by the new skill that Afternoon Pine had created. It was certainly more powerful than the original skill and its range was also greater.


    Of course the consumption of Immortal Qi was also higher than normal, but Lin Mu did not mind it much.


    ''It is still fine for my Qi stores¡­ I can use it several times more if needed.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Afternoon Pine might even be capable of executing the skill by itself at least three times.'' He reckoned.


    While normally a cultivator provided their Immortal Swords with their Qi, the swords themselves also had their own stores of Qi. They usually used this when they were being used with a cultivators Immortal sense.


    Some of the Immortal swords whose spirits had developed more could also battle on their own. They were even capable on absorbing more Qi from the air to restore themselves.


    As such, the swords could be fighting autonomously for as long as needed if the consumption of Immortal Qi was lower than the absorption.


    "I shall name this skill¡­ Great ughter Pine." Lin Mu decided making Afternoon Pine hum in agreement


    While Lin Mu appreciated the work of the sword, the eerie beasts had a change of heart.


    Their aggravation was seemingly gone and now they tried to run away instead!


    It was clear that the aura of ughter emanating from Lin Mu and the sword intent pouring from the sword was too much for them to bear any longer.


    "Bihiiiiiiiiii!" The beasts cried before running in the direction opposite to Lin Mu.


    "They''re running away?" Lin Mu''spanions were surprised.


    They had been fighting against the eerie beasts in their own sections, but hadn''t expected such a reversal in the span of a couple minutes.


    Of courses they too had witnessed the power that Lin Mu and his weapons had shown. The pure aura of ughtering from Lin Mu was also heard to miss and left them all quite unsettled.


    "Amitabha¡­ For such a ughter aura toe from Daoist Mu Lin¡­ It almost makes his affinity to the Buddhist path seem strange." Monk Hushu couldn''t help but mutter.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun and Daoist Chu felt simrly as they gazed over. The beasts had already retreated from around them, giving free hand to look around.


    Same happened with Lady Kang and her two attendants, while Ziran and Qiao De finished up the stragglers that were near them. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "What is Daoist Mu Lin doing?" Qiao De uttered in a mix of confusion and concern.


    No one had the answer for it right now, and could only watch as Lin Mu continued his ughter.


    ~HUM~


    Ocean Raker trembled in unease as it too wished to kill more. Only Afternoon Pine had gotten its turn and the longsword wished to prove itself to Lin Mu took.


    "Of course, I won''t leave you hanging." Lin Mu spoke to the sword, making it glimmer with excitement.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu stomped the ground and soared into the air with the two swords. He quickly caught up with the runaway group of beasts and made them trembled under his presence.


    ~SHING~


    Lin Mu then raised Ocean Raker high as a blue light spread from it. The light soon radiated in an area of a kilometer and flooded everything. It was like an ocean had just been created with the eerie beasts trapped in it. The aura churned and waves flowed, just like a normal ocean would act.


    A few slivers of blue aura was carried over by the waves reaching where Lady Kang and the others were standing.


    "This aura¡­ it can almost cut through our immortal senses." Daoist Chu spoke upon feeling it.


    They could find their immortal senses feeling a hint of pain as the aura rolled over it. While it was not enough to harm their bodies themselves, the fact that it could affect their immortal sense showed the danger.


    ''And this is when the aura isn''t targeting us¡­ this is just a passive effect with the sword.'' Lady Kang thought to herself, furrowing her brows. The blue aura seemed like a mix of sword intent and Ocean Raker''s own aura. And it was merely a prelude to what was about toe.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The blue aura clumped around Ocean Raker and quickly rose up into the sky in the form of a pir. ~RUMBLE~


    The pir soon changed shape and became a bit more tter.


    ~HUA~HUA~SHUA~


    Next, the pir started to divide. First it split into three, and then the three became five!


    It looked quite menacing and if one looked from afar they might find it to look like a giant w.


    Lin Mu could barley be seen holding up the giant w that dwarfed him by hundreds of times.


    "DIE!" Lin Mu yelled as he swung down the w.


    ~WOOOOOOBOOOOM~


    The w ripped through the air before tearing through the swarms of beasts. Blood, flesh and bones were mixed into the soil, leaving only an imagination of what beasts stood there mere moments ago.


    The ws power was massive and dug into the earth for at least two hundred meters. But this was not, as the crashing of the w had resulted in the blue aura ocean to toil.


    It churned like a storm had appeared and its power was greatly amplified. The beasts that had somehow managed to escape the reach of the ws were churned by these waves and were soon turned into fine paste that was ''washed'' away by the blue aura.


    If one observed the scene from the sky they would think that a giant dragon''s w had raked the ocean!


    Seeing this, Lin Mu couldn''t help but smirk.


    "This shall be¡­ Great Ocean Rake!" He dered.

 Chapter 2182 Peak Sword Intent

    Chapter 2182 Peak Sword Intent


    The power of Ocean Raker''s new skill proved to be no less than Afternoon Pine''s.


    On some level, the damage caused by Great Ocean Rake was even greater, since it fully covered the area and unleashed its power on it.


    Unlike it, Great ughter Pine actually targeted the foes specifically and didn''t necessarily damage the area with the attacks. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    If one had to differential, Great ughter Pine was an enemy only targeted skill while the Great Ocean Raker was an expansive area of effect attack that targeted everything within the range.


    With two great skills added to his repertoire along with the improvements of his swords, Lin Mu felt quite great. The aura of ughter and sword intentplemented each other, urging Lin Mu to continue his work.


    ~HUMM~HUMM~


    "You two want to hunt more? Very well then!" Lin Mu said before flying towards the beasts that were over nine kilometers away.


    His two skills had wiped out a lot of the eerie beasts and brought their numbers down to the fifty percent mark. Of course Crown Prince Feng Shun and others had contributed to this too, but theirbined contribution might not even be enough to reach ten percent.


    It just showed how effective and powerful Lin Mu''s skills had been.


    They were left awed as well as concerned through as Lin Mu''s behavior seemed to be quite different.


    "What has happened to him?" Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but ask. "Even when he fought before he wasn''t this¡­ Wild." She added.


    "That''s not all, the ughter Auraing from him isn''t normal either. It isn''t something one can gather in a short time¡­ the amount he''s emanating almost feels like he''s ughtered a hundred armies." Daoist Chu spoke. "Not to mention, gathering ughter Aura is different than maintaining it.


    We''ve killed a lot of creatures too, but we haven''t maintained that aura of ughter." He added.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun could nod in response finding it quite concerning.


    "I''ve quite certainly killed more beings than Daoist Mu Lin, and yet the ughter Aura he has is quite deep. The only others I''ve felt with an aura like that are either generals who live to battle, or Assassins who live to kill." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "It also doesn''t make sense when Daoist Mu Lin has a high affinity to the Buddhist path. He has a pure Buddhist aura to himself, which should have purged that ughter Aura over time. For the ughter Aura to still be present means that either he had a far greater ughter Aura that has been reduced by the Buddhist aura and is stills great. Or¡­ The ughter Aura was simply unaffected." Monk Hushu spoke up.


    The people talked about Lin Mu and his current state for a couple of minutes, while Lin Mu continued his ughter. More beasts were killing by the second and they could visibly see their numbers falling. "That child¡­ He might be at the precipice of a breakthrough as a swordsman." Elder Hu suddenly said.


    "What do you mean?" Ziran asked.


    "This is something usually Sword Cultivators go through. But when they reach a certain state and their connecting with their sword grows, they''ll experience a change.


    The link between man and sword will deepen and their emotions will mix. In that state, the man and sword will be one and unleash a greater power than before. But it is only a temporary thing and what happens next will be crucial.


    If the cultivator is unable to maintain his control over the sword, and gives into the sword''s desires he''ll lose his mind. He might be totally controlled by the Sword and even gain a Sword Heart Devil. But if he is able to maintain his control, he''ll solidify the connection and not only improve his own Sword Intent but also grow the sword''s power. He''ll achieve Peak Sword Intent." Elder Hu exined in detail. "Daoist Mu Lin has been at the Advanced Sword Intent level so far."


    "Peak Sword Intent¡­" They all muttered the name.


    It was a level that not many could reach. For Immortals even reaching Intermediate Sword Intent was a bit thing and could greatly increase their power. Unless one was specifically focused on sword, they would have a very hard time reaching the intermediate level.


    In fact this could be achieved in the Spirit realm too and those that were talented and focused on sword could reach unto the Intermediate level and a few lucky ones could hit the Advanced level too.


    But most that became immortals had a hard time reaching the advanced level from the intermediate level. Only those well versed in swords and the Sword Dao would be able to do this.


    But Lin Mu wasn''t exactly focused on the sword. In fact, he didn''t even have a Sword Dao Embryo. He had versatile skills that were from various paths, as such he shouldn''t have been able to reach this point. And yet he had gone past it, almost reaching the Peak Sword Intent!


    "Daoist Mu Lin¡­" Lady Kang muttered as she looked over at him.


    Lin Mu continued to ughter the eerie beasts without caring for anything else. His eyes carried confidence in them while his face held a murderous grin.


    If a normal person were to watch him right now, they would only think of him as an evil rogue cultivator that hade to devastate and.


    "Will Daoist Mu Lin be able to get through this? And can we do anything for him?" Qiao De asked.


    "We shouldn''t interfere. At least not until, he shows signs of failing." Elder Hu stated. "Any effort at interfering or stopping an backfire, even pushing him into developing a Heart Devil more." He warned.


    "Amitabha, I believe with the Buddhist path behind him, Daoist Mu Lin will be firm. A sword cannot stand in the path of the Buddha." Monk Hushu said with full confidence.


    Ziran nodded in response as he felt the same.

 Chapter 2183 Three Bless Tolls

    Chapter 2183 Three Bless Tolls


    From what they had seen of Lin Mu, they at least knew that he was aposed person.


    Lin Mu had been highly resourceful as well as dependable, thus they didn''t think that he would falter to something like this.


    ''With his talent, this should be easy enough for him.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun and Ziran had the same thought.


    Even though the half elf hadn''t spent much time with Lin Mu, he had understood a lot about the man. With how many people he had met in his life, Ziran was well versed with people and could get a great guess on them just by observing them.


    The same happened with Lin Mu, and he could tell that the man''s talent was greater than he let on.


    Lady Kang felt simrly and had even more trust having seen Lin Mu closer than others.


    But the most trust was from none other than Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    He knew the fact that Lin Mu was being backed by a Celestial.


    ''There''s no way a Celestial''s disciple would have no means of prevention against a Sword heart devil or bacsh from the process.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought. While they all wondered about this, Lin Mu continued with his fight. He was unaware of their conversations and was fully immersed in the ughter.


    ''I can hear¡­ Them. Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself in his heart.


    Most parts of his mind were busy in the battle and only a few could think to himself. Normally this would have broken one''s focus in the middle of a battle or make themmit a mistake.


    But for Lin Mu, the battle felt natural for the two swords themselves guided him through it. As such, Lin Mu still had a part of his mind left to think further about his connection with the swords.


    ''I could understand them before but this¡­ This is on an entirely different level.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    A faint hum spread in the area, but Lin Mu heard it as another thing.


    ''We can understand you too.'' The clear response of the swords was amazing to Lin Mu and he couldn''t help but talk more with them. He told them how they should move better while the swords gave him input on what he should do to better his movements and posture.


    The swords and man worked in union reaching the state of unity.


    When this happened, Lin Mu''s entire body hummed with the power of a sword before a wave of aura spread in the area.


    ~HUALA~


    The burst of the aura was stronger than even the ughter Aura Lin Mu had been emitting all this time. In fact, this new aura had fully extinguished the ughter Aura from Lin Mu.


    Instead this aura had a greater sense of danger to it.


    This was nomon aura, but Sword Aura!


    ~HONGLONG~


    The Sword Aura spun before a sharp energy rose from it.


    "Such Strong Sword Intent!" Daoist Chu and Qiao De stumbled.


    The Sword Intent was like a water spout that was gathering water from the ocean and spewing it into the sky.


    The waves of Sword Intent that rolled over were naturally dangerous to them even if they weren''t being targeted by it.


    "Get back," Elder Ho warned as he swung his fists, trying to ward off the Sword Intent wave that wasing towards them.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    The others didn''t need more advice after this as they quickly put up their defenses.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Lesser Fulgar Ward!" Crown Prince Feng Shun sketched out a square with his hands.


    The square transformed into a barrier that surrounded the group and sparkled in a purple light.


    ~ZIIIIP~


    Then in the next second, pirs of lightning shot out from it, containing everyone inside it securely.


    "That should hold against the Sword Intent." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "Or it should at leastst till we are at a safe distance." He added before the group decided to back off.


    The collective retreat was the right answer as the wave of Sword Intent was only getting stronger. Its range was about five hundred meters at first, but then became one thousand meters. By the time Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others realized the growing range they had already retreated five kilometers away. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    This gave them plenty of chance to properly observe the rapidly changing range as well as the intensifying Sword Intent.


    ~HONGLONG~


    ~HONGLONG~


    ~HONGLONG~


    It was as if someone was ringing celebratory bells as the Sword Intent grew.


    All those that were present in the area could hear it, and a few of them even realized what it meant.


    "The Three Bless Tolls!" Elder Ho, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Daoist Chu eximed in unison.


    "That phenomenon¡­ One of the Dao Phenomena that only happen in exceptional cases¡­" Min Ju muttered in disbelief.


    The bells continued to ring in sets of three. All those that heard them couldn''t help but feel a bit mesmerized. The tune of the bells could directly affect their minds and was astonishing to them.


    But they knew that these bells meant no harm and were in fact a great opportunity.


    Even though the bells might not be ringing for them, just the fact that they were getting to listen to them along was a great thing.


    It might open them up to new opportunities and chances as their very luck would change upon hearing them.


    These bells signified auspiciousness after all.


    "For them to ring for Daoist Mu Lin¡­ His progress to the Peak Sword Intent might not be the only limit." Elder Hu couldn''t help but mutter.


    While the group was marveling at this, Lin Mu was also thrilled by it.


    He could innately tell that all this was beneficial to him and would greatly improve him.


    ''I can sense¡­ the Sword Dao so clearly.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as hundreds of Sword Dao Traces became visible to him.

 Chapter 2184 Visions Of The Sword Dao

    Chapter 2184 Visions Of The Sword Dao


    Lin Mu had felt the Sword Dao Traces many times before, but they had always been a bit elusive.


    Despite having decent proficiency with swords, Lin Mu still hadn''t reached the point where the Sword Dao would present itself to him.


    This was especially so when considering the fact that he used a variety of weapons and was not dedicated to swords. Even for a lot of the immortals that were dedicate to swords, it took them hundreds of years to gain the same proficiency. Lin Mu was still doing the same in a span of thirty years.


    Thus it was still negligible of a time difference for him.


    ''The Sword Dao Traces¡­ They are showing something.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he observed them.


    Lin Mu tried to make out what they were trying to show him but had a hard time. It seemed to be obscure and he had to focus a lot on figuring out what it was.


    The Sword Dao Traces kept on shifting as if they were some pale clouds in the sky. Their form and shape changed every second and one needed extra effort to keep track of them.


    It took Lin Mu an entire fifteen minutes before he finally observed a structure.


    It was a giant mausoleum that towered high into the sky. In fact, the more Lin Mu looked at it the clearer it got until finally it turned into a real image that was projected into his mind.


    "What is this¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he was drawn into the illusion by the Sword Dao Traces.


    He saw the image of the giant mausoleum getting detailed, allowing him to finally see what it was made out of.


    "Swords!?" Lin Mu was left stunned. "How many are there? Million? Ten million? Hundred million or even more?" He couldn''t help but question.


    It was a structure entirelyposed out of swords. Mountainous towering swords formed its four support pirs, while countless sharp swords filled in to be each brick and beam. And it wasn''t a crude structure with the bare minimum either. There were fine decorations and statues that seemed to be made out of swords too!


    The statues were of swordsmen practicing their art, as they stood at the eaves of the mausoleum.


    But the center piece of this was a great battle that seemed to be happening in the middle with all the statutes. Two armies were fighting each other, with each soldier depicted in great detail.


    The more Lin Mu gazed at it, the more he felt like it was the real depiction of a battle that had happened in the past. Looking at it for longer made him feel as if the statutes were really moving.


    ''Not only do they move, they are using different sword styles too.'' Lin Mu noted.


    At the base of the mausoleum there was a great moat surrounding it. This moat was not filled with water though, but was instead overflowing with blood!


    The blood churned like a stormy sea and a few rusty swords could be seen being broken down from time to time. One could almost imagine the number of beings that would have been needed to fill a moat this big with blood.


    The bloody moat surrounding the mausoleum added a grim feeling to it and Lin Mu was confused as to why the Sword Dao Traces were showing him this.


    ''Perhaps the Mausoleum is the key to it?'' Lin Mu thought to himself and looked at its depths.


    The bloody moat surrounding the mausoleum added a grim feeling to it and Lin Mu was confused as to why the Sword Dao Traces were showing him this.


    ''Perhaps the Mausoleum is the key to it?'' Lin Mu thought to himself and looked at its depths.


    The dark insides of the Mausoleum slowly became visible to Lin Mu, allowing him to nce what was held within.


    "More swords?" Lin Mu saw tens of thousands of swords that were stabbed into the ground.


    The mausoleum seemed to be filled with swords on the inside too, though at least these swords seem to be independent and not fused together into a singr structure.


    Lin Mu could not properly judge the quality of the swords like this, but had a hunch that none of these swords would be weaker than Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker at the very least.


    The way the swords were kept inside was also very peculiar. They were carefulid down in specific patterns, while some symbolic markers were kept above them.


    ''Graves for swords?'' Lin Mu thought upon seeing that.


    The markers were quite simr to tombstones, which in addition with the swords beingid down added to it.


    "An entire mausoleum dedicated to swords¡­" Lin Mu was certainly left confused.


    He tried to understand if there was more things hidden inside it, but was unsessful. Even trying to make out what kind of swords were buried in their became an impossible task once the swords started to blur.


    ''The image is fading¡­'' Lin Mu scrunched his brows.


    The swords weren''t just bing blurry for no reason. The scene itself had started to fade and about a minuteter the entire mausoleum was gone.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu opened his eyes in the real world, as he felt the progression of his Sword Intent.


    ''Peak Sword Intent!'' Lin Mu felt with excitement. "But¡­ What was that Sword Mausoleum?" he still wondered.


    He hadn''t grasped the reason why the Sword Dao Traces wished to show him this as such Lin Mu was in an uneasy state.


    20:35


    Still, there wasn''t much more he could do other than to let it be for the time being.


    ''Perhaps I still have more to learn¡­ I''ll understand what it waster.'' Lin Mu said in his mind before focusing on the task at hand.


    ~HONGLONG~ Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    His body was overflowing with Sword Intent as it solidified into his being. At the same time, Ocean Raker and Afternoon Pine finished their growth too and had stabilized.


    ~SHUA~


    The Sword Dao Traces all disappeared with the wind as Lin Mu''s body became fully visible in the sky again.


    "He''s done it." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, feeling proud.


    "He managed to ovee the temptation." Lady Kang nodded, as if she already knew this was a gurantee.

 Chapter 2185 Well Deserved Congratulations

    Chapter 2185 Well Deserved Congrattions


    The group was happy that Lin Mu had managed to ovee the tribtion that was thrust upon him by his own progress. It was a necessary one and something that needed to happen.


    But Lin Mu still had a bit of confusion about it all.


    The Mausoleum of swords he saw was on his mind and wouldn''t let him think about anything else.


    ~SHUA~ SHUA~


    But soon he was distracted by the presence of hispanions.


    "Congrattions Daoist Mu Lin!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said out loud.


    "You''ve done great!" Ziran and Daoist Chu spoke.


    "Looks like I''ll have to increase themission for you. I can''t just be hiring someone with Peak Sword Intent for that price." Lady Kang replied with a hint of joy in her tone.


    "To ovee the temptation of ughter is not easy. Daoist Mu Lin might have Peak Sword Intent now but he still has the grace of the Buddhist path." Monk Hushu praised.


    He was sure that the reason Lin Mu managed to ovee it was due to the Buddhist Path. Practitioners of it had high resistance to mentally affecting conditions and techniques.


    As such, Lin Mu would have had an upper hand in dealing with it.


    "I thank you all for the wishes." Lin Mu replied with a smile. ~HUMM~HUMM~


    The two swords hummed in response as well, as if thanking the others for wishing their master.


    Elder Hu couldn''t help but nce at the des as he felt a stronger presence from both.


    "The swords¡­ Their spirits have matured." Elder Hu stated. Lin Mu raised Ocean Raker and Afternoon Pine to look at them and smiled. "They sure have." Lin Mu replied. "I can hear them now." He added.


    "That''s great." Qiao De said out loud. "The value of those swords should easily be in the millions now. Perhaps they will even be Peak Grade Immortal Swords in the future." He added as his eyes couldn''t help but appreciate a good weapon.


    "They sure will." Lin Mu replied, knowing that it was an inevitable fact.


    "Though I must say, it was quite ''concerning'' seeing you rush into the battle earlier." Crown Princess Shang spoke. "You almost became¡­ Unrecognizable." She added. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Hearing that, the others couldn''t help but nod in response.


    "Are you fine now?" Min Ju inquired. "I am yes. It was a momentary thing¡­ A grudge that needed to be resolved." Lin Mu replied.


    "A grudge?" Elder Hu narrowed his eyes. "Those swords had a grudge."


    "How would they have a grudge?" Min Ju furrowed.


    "Immortal weapons have spirits and a consciousness, thus they are capable of holding grudges in addition to several more emotions." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "But for them to hold a grudge, someone should have wronged them or happened to them." He added. "You are not the first owner of the two swords, are you?" Ziran asked. "I certainly am not." Lin Mu shook his head. "They were gifted to me." "Their previous owner gifted them to you?" Qiao De was surprised.


    It was not a thing for swordsman to give away their swords easily. Most would have a deep bond with them and the swords would also not prefer others using them.


    In fact, some swords might just outright deny their use by anyone else. There were even cases where a sword would choose to destroy itself, rather than let anyone other than their master hold them.


    This gave Sword cultivators an advantage as killing them for their weapon was useless. Even if one was greedy over their strong swords, it would only result in naught.


    In fact, the self-destruction of the sword would probably end up killing the person that killed their master.


    It was another one of the reasons why sword cultivators were feared in battle. Even when dead, their weapons would not give up.


    As such it was often said that to kill a swordsman, you had to kill their sword first.


    "It wasn''t their owner." Lin Mu shook his head. "I could say¡­ it was their caretaker." He added.


    "A caretaker, I see." Qiao De replied, still feeling a bit surprised that someone would gift valuable swords like this. "Daoist Mu Lin must have done them a service, to be granted swords this good." Lin Mu simply responded with a smile to that, not borating further. The Haima Tribe still needed to be kept secret for their safety.


    "What grudge did the swords have?" Crown Princess Shang asked feeling curious. "Seeing how you acted, it must have been very strong and deep rooted." She added.


    "I don''t actually know¡­" Lin Mu said furrowing his brows.


    In the heat of the moment, Lin Mu simply embodied the thoughts of the swords and did as they wished. He didn''t stop to think the reason behind it all.


    "Why don''t you ask the swords?" Elder Hu suggested. "You can speak to them now after all." "That''s right. Ask them." Ziran agreed. "Better to know what''s drove them. You should know everything about your swords after all." "Ah yes!" Lin Mu realized and closed his eyes.


    The others stayed silent, letting Lin Mu do his things. Lady Kang looked around the area that had now be empty. The eerie beasts had all been killed and it didn''t seem like anymore were going to approach.


    There was still sword aura lingering in the area which would scare all beasts that came close.


    ''To think the aftereffects wouldst this long.'' Lady Kang was a bit astonished. ''Though if he can do this just as a passive thing, how much more can it do if done intentionally?'' she wondered how much Lin Mu''s strength had grown.


    He was still at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm in terms of Qi cultivation thus the ''weakest'' amongst them. But on the basis of his sheer skills and abilities, he could match them.


    And now, Lady Kang reckoned Lin Mu might have exceeded that.


    ''His future breakthrough might give him exponential power than before.'' Lady Kang thought to herself.

 Chapter 2186 Old Grudge

    Chapter 2186 Old Grudge


    While Lady Kang thought about that, Lin Mu was deep within his mind.


    But his mind was not empty this time, instead two new presences hovered in it.


    The first one looked like a small pine leaf that shone with a golden light while the second was a blue drop of water that glowed like a brilliant sapphire.


    "Afternoon Pine? Ocean Raker?" Lin Mu felt a bit amazed at seeing their forms.


    "Yes, master." The two replied having distinct tones.


    Afternoon Pine''s voice was melodious, as if the rustling of leaves while Ocean Raker''s voice was like the whisper of the ocean waves.


    Though there was one thingmon with both voices, there was a tinge of child-like joy in them. It was hard to exin but hearing them made Lin Mu think as if both the swords were children.


    Though considering they had been in existence for thousands of years it was not the case.


    ''Now that I think of it¡­ Lanbao had a simr child-like vibe to her too. Is it just how formation and weapon spirits end up being like?'' Lin Mu wondered if it took them a long time to be mature.


    Even if they had technically existed for a long time, their spirits were still young and did not age fast. Simr to humans they would have to have various experiences in life before they could grow their personality.


    "Its nice to hear you two directly." Lin Mu replied to the swords. "Are these your spirit forms?" he asked.


    "Yes, you are correct." Afternoon Pine replied.


    "In your mind we can take this form." Ocean Raker replied.


    "I see¡­ Well I wished to ask you about your past." Lin Mu questioned. "What happened to you two to have such a deep grudge against those beasts?" he inquired.


    "We''ve faced those beasts in the past." Afternoon Pine revealed.


    "You have!?" Lin Mu had a hunch about it, but now that he had confirmation he couldn''t help but be surprised.


    "Our masters fought against them¡­ And perished to them." Ocean Raker added.


    "No wonder¡­ Those feelings of fury¡­ They were carried over from the past." Lin Mu muttered. "Wait does that mean, you know all that happened in the past?!" he realized.


    "No¡­" The golden leaf shook, as if denying. "In that battle, both of us were heavily damaged. It also damaged our memories, thus we do not remember most things." It exined.


    "Other than the most immediate memories back when we were damaged, we don''t remember anything else." Ocean Raker stated. "We do not even remember who our previous masters were other than the vengeance that was imbued into us." It added.


    Lin Mu listened to the two swords and could understand their situation. In a way they were in a helpless state, where they couldn''t even have revenge unless they had someone help them


    After all they were immortal swords and not humans. They could not just walk out and find their foes on their own, they would still need a suitable person to wield them.


    As such the two swords could only wait until finally Lin Mu obtained them.


    "Can you two show me your memories? Whatever that is left." Lin Mu asked, wishing to see it himself.


    That way he would have a much better idea of what happened, as well as what links the swords had to this ce. After all, if the swords had fought the beasts before, it meant that they had been INSIDE this spatial ne in the past.


    ''Considering the fact that there were basically no sources of information about this inheritance ground, the people who entered herest should have done so a long time ago.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The two swords were silent for a bit, as if trying to figure out whether they could do what Lin Mu wished for. Lin Mu let them be for a minute, after which they finally spoke.


    "We can show you." Afternoon Pine stated.


    "But it will not be pleasant." Ocean Raker added. "The memories are fragmented and raw, and might hurt you." "It will be fine." Lin Mu assured them. "I can take that. Its not my first time scouring memories anyway." "Very well." The two swords said in unison. "Brace yourself, master." They warned before a blinding glow was released by both.


    ~HONG~


    The space in Lin Mu''s mind turned a nk white before a scene manifested.


    The scene was that of a battle, and Lin Mu found himself right in the middle of it.


    "AAAHHHHH!"


    "BIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!"


    "KILL THEM ALL!"


    "DON''T LET THEM BREAK THE LINE!"


    Tens of cries along with shouts were heard echoing among the horrendous cries of the eerie beasts.


    ''This¡­'' Lin Mu found his vision moving on its own as he found a familiar sword in his hand. ''Am I seeing this from the perspective of Afternoons Pine?'' he wondered.


    But after a few movements he realized that it wasn''t the sword''s perspective but rather the perspective of the former owner! Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu found the cultivator fight fiercely against the eerie beasts and ughter tens of them within seconds. But it was simply not enough as hundreds more swarmed in to join the fight.


    "Uproot and rend!" The former ownermanded. "Pine Master Style- Third Form: Forest of a Million Cuts!" he uttered.


    Lin Mu watched as an entirely new skill was demonstrated.


    ''Is this the original cultivation technique and skills of the former owner?'' Lin Mu wondered as he saw its effect.


    The sword seemingly flew out of the man''s and rose into the sky. It then dived down right into the middle of the beast swarm and disappeared into the ground.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A momentter, strong sword intent burst out of the ground and transformed into hundreds of thousands of sword shes. The sword shes seemingly looked like a forest had appeared, but anything that entered this forest was reduced to a bloody mist.


    Seeing this, Lin Mu couldn''t help but be impressed.

 Chapter 2187 Memories Of The Swords

    Chapter 2187 Memories Of The Swords


    Lin Mu was sure that the skills of Afternoon Pine''s former owner were no less than his own.


    ''He was certainly strong¡­ This cultivation technique is also unique, almost perfect for Afternoon Pine.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Did he perhaps make Afternoon Pine specifically for that?'' he wondered.


    It would make sense considering that the Qi skills that came with Afternoon Pine were not exactly conventional. They seemed something that had been specifically made by keeping a cultivator''s style.


    While Lin Mu had no problems in using Afternoon Pine, it would not be the same case for others. Because he already had Advanced Sword Intent when he obtained them, he could quickly adapt them into his style. For other cultivators that didn''t have sword intent, the sword would not only be unwieldy it would also strain one''s Qi circuits to use its Qi skill.


    It was a metal elemental Qi skill in the end, and if one did not have a proper affinity they might even damage their own meridians in using it.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    The forest of sword shes had wiped out arge chunk of the beast swarm, making things easier for the other cultivators that were participating.


    Lin Mu could see at least thirty more people passing by in his field of vision, though their faces were very vague and could not be properly made out.


    But this did give him a major clue to the inheritance ground or rather the Spatial ne.


    ''More than thirty people are here? How''s that possible?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder. ''Only ten of us were allowed and yet this battlefield is definitely the same spatial ne.'' He thought afterparing the scenery.


    He even wondered if there were other restrictions they didn''t know about that allowed more people inside.


    ''I''ll have to look into it more.'' Lin Mu noted and continued to watch.


    Afternoon Pine''s former owner continued to battle the eerie beasts, but was getting slower as time passed.


    ''He''s exhausted and injured.'' Lin Mu could see a few attacks that hade his way had not been sessfully dodged or blocked.


    As such the man had certainly taken damage. In fact, the feeling of pain was even transmitted to Lin Mu, but he could easily ignored it with his willpower.


    ''Compared to what Dugu Shanhe did, this is nothing.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The mental attack skill of that man was simply on another level, considering the fact that it could actually extract memories from Lin Mu''s soul. It had taken Xukong''s intervention for Lin Mu to get out of it.


    But that wasn''t all that allowed Lin Mu to endure this. What made it easy for him was in fact the defensive soul skill, Litany of Verdant Forests!


    Even though it hadn''t openly shown its effect, the skill was in fact defending Lin Mu''s mind and soul at all times. ''Effects of this level are not even enough for the Litany of Verdant Forests to activate properly. It can defend against them by merely existing.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    This served as a good test for the skill and was perhaps the first time it was showing its power. The demonstration was simply effortless, and made it simpler for Lin Mu to observe the memories. He could pay better attention to the finer details and allowed him to obtain more information.


    He paid attention to each and every voice that could be heard, trying to make out what they were saying. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "The Auroch Chimeric beasts are reducing! Everyone hold on until reinforcements arrive!" The Former Owner of Afternoon Pine called out.


    This taught Lin Mu two facts; the name of the eerie beasts and who the owner was.


    ''So those eerie beasts are Auroch Chimeric Beasts¡­ So they are rted to Chimeras for sure.'' Lin Mu noted. ''Also the former owner of Afternoon Pine seems to be in a leadership position of some sort. He''s definitely directing the battle with the others.'' He observed.


    ~SHUA~


    But after a minute, Lin Mu''s vision suddenly turned dark and he felt a strange sense of discement. ~WHOOSH~


    When his vision returned, he found himself in another point of view with arge wing towards him.


    Lin Mu felt the urgency as well as the anxiety that this person was feeling. But these feelings were not due to therge w that was about to attack him, but rather for the safety of other people.


    The emotions were very strong and Lin Mu would not mistake the intentions contained within them.


    ~CLANG~


    This person casually blocked the w, as a familiar long sword presented to Lin Mu.


    ''Ocean Raker''s former owner¡­'' Lin Mu understood. ''And that hand¡­ A woman?'' "VILE BEASTS! BEGONE!" A feminine voice was heard.


    The woman swung Ocean Raker and split the w into two, while also cutting the beast that had attacked her. Lin Mu also got a proper look at the beast that was different from the previous ones.


    ''It''s big¡­ And is also a mix of various creatures.'' Lin Mu observed it.


    It stood at a tall ten meters, and had six slender limbs that looked like they belonged to a stick bug. It also had four long scythe-like ws that belonged to a mantis. Its head was seemingly missing though, with only a stump present.


    For some reason the beast was alive despite its head gone.


    It was one of these very ws that had been blocked by the Swordswoman and was now severed. The power behind her cut was obvious and contained a hint of Sword Intent too.


    Though Lin Mu didn''t know if she was on the same level as Afternoon Pine''s owner.


    "Seven Seas Sword Style!" She uttered before doing a crescent cleave in the air. "Second Form: Riptide!" ~WOOLONGONG~


    Her sword sh transformed into arge wave that rushed at great speed and overwhelmed therge beast.


    The beasts entire body was turned into fragments before being washed away by the wave. A few other beasts that were behind it were also caught and destroyed.

 Chapter 2188 Tragic Fate

    Chapter 2188 Tragic Fate


    Watching the sword skill of the Swordswoman, Lin Mu couldn''t help but be impressed. ''Her skill is almost at the same level as Great Ocean Rake.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The skill had a different appearance and function but the end result was the same, the decimation of the beasts.


    It also suited Ocean Raker greatly, as if the de was crafted for the technique itself.


    ''Seven Seas Sword Style¡­ I''ll have to remember that.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While he had observed the skill, there was no way Lin Mu could replicate it. It was simply tooplex to do that simply by one look. He would have to know the proper manual to be able to learn it.


    Though Lin Mu had to admit, he was quite tempted to have it too. ''The former owner of Afternoon Pine also had a great skill.'' Lin Mu thought before he saw the woman flying frantically towards a certain location.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    "Waste no time! Elder won''t be able tost long like this." The woman spoke out loud to herpanions that were flying behind her.


    Lin Mu finally got to see just how many people were present here now.


    ''Over two hundred?'' Lin Mu was stunned. ''Did the rules of the inheritance ground change or something? Why were only ten allowed when we came?'' he couldn''t help but wonder.


    This now made him sure that there was more to the Spatial ne than they had understood. Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Before Lin Mu could think anymore about this though, he saw the swarm of Auroch Chimeric beasts. And among those beast there were a few cultivators fighting.


    ~SHING~SHING~


    Yellow sword shes tore through the beasts as a man fought valiantly at the front. Lin Mu recognized who he was as soon as he spotted what sword he was using.


    ''So that''s how the former owner of Afternoon Pine looked like.'' Lin Mu studied the man.


    He was dressed in snugly fitting blue robes that did not p around. They had a simple design, but most of it was obscured by the blood of the beasts as well as tears.


    The man wore his hair in a bun and had no ornaments on.


    His face was stern, his eyebrows fierce and his eyes sharp. It made it seem like if the man looked at someone, they might just freeze from the sheer intimidation he exuded. He gazed at the beasts with disgust and anger, ughtering as many of them as he could. Hispanions also fought bravely but could not match the level of power he showed.


    "ELDER!" The woman called out.


    The man saw her and a hint of joy appeared in his eyes.


    "THE REINFORCEMENT ARE HERE!" the man''spanions shouted in joy.


    With that, the battle shifted in their favor as the woman and her group joined them in the ughter of the Auroch Chimeric beasts.


    The battlested for two hours, after which they finally got some respite.


    "Hall master¡­ I can''t thank you enough." Afternoon Pine''s former owner said while cupping his fists.


    "I need no thanks. We could not let you all die after all." The Swordswoman replied, though relief was certainly present in her voice.


    "Still, I must do so." The man replied. "I never expected things to go like this."


    "We never should''vee here¡­ It was a mistake." The Hall master replied. "Come, we should not wait here. We need to leave as soon as possible." "But how? We still haven''t found an exit." The Elder replied. "We have some hope this time. A few of the scouts have reported a Spatial rift that seems to be stable." The hall master spoke.


    "A Spatial Rift?" The Elder furrowed his brows. "Should we be taking that risk? We don''t know where we''ll end up." He said with concern.


    "At this point, I''ll take jumping into the void over staying here." The Hall master replied. "We still have a few life saving treasures the sect gave us. They''ll be enough to tide us over once we''re there." She added.


    "Shouldn''t we have used the life saving treasures here?" The elder frowned.


    "It would be a waste. The sheer number of chimeric beasts here is horrendous. It would only dy the imminent danger, but would not save us in the end." The hall master replied. "Mm¡­ No use filling a bucket full of holes." The elder nodded. "Very well, we''ll take whatever chance we get." He agreed.


    Soon therge group flew towards a certain direction. During this time, they encountered more beasts but they seemingly defeated them with ease.


    ~SHUA~


    "Ugh¡­" Lin Mu felt his vision sh before his perspective changed. "Back to Afternoon Pine." This finally allowed him to see just how the former owner of Ocean Raker looked like. The woman had sharp eyebrows simr to that of the Elder''s but her face was a lot more softer. Her eyes carried a sense of duty in them, but when they looked at the elder, it changed to affection.


    The emotions emerged in Lin Mu''s mind, revealing the true thoughts of the elder.


    ''Love?'' Lin Mu realized.


    It was an emotion that was hard to mistake. It was pure and unfiltered love that made Lin Mu''s heart feel warm. In this cold and dangerousnd where death coulde at any moment, the love was like a warm nket that made one feel protected and calm.


    Lin Mu couldn''t feel the emotions of the hall master, but the look in her eyes hinted that she was probably feeling the same at this moment.


    ~BIHIIIIIIIIIIII~


    While the two lovers were gazing at each other though, a loud cry put a sour taste to it. Their eyes turned alert and they drew out the des.


    "Heavens! WHAT IS THAT!?" Someone in the group shouted.


    The elder looked at it and couldn''t help but freeze for a moment.


    It was a beast bigger than anything Lin Mu had ever seen before. It easily towered over a hundred meters and had four heads.


    Each of the head looked different, belonging to a goat, a horse, a panther and a bull. But despite being different animals, they all had the same sharp and jagged teeth that seem to haverge chunks of flesh stuck in them.


    The flesh was rotting for who knows how long, and the stench was carried over by the wind.


    Lin Mu could feel the same disgust that the elder had felt in the past, with the memory being strong.


    The beast had four legs that looked like that of an elephant but were tipped with de like ws. Its eyes held no emotion other than malice and a row of spikes stood on its back, going all the way to its tail that was shaped like a trident.


    "More Auroch Chimeric beasts!" But that was not all.


    Apanying the giant beast was an army of Auroch Chimeric beasts. They seemed like dwarfs in front of it, but were still fearsome none the less.


    The army of chimeric beasts appeared on the horizon and was charging towards the group.


    "We cannot fight this, that giant beast is easily at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm!" The hall master said in a tense voice.


    "We will have to cut past them, the spatial rift is behind them." A cultivator next to her informed.


    "Dammit¡­" The elder cursed, but still held onto the sword. "Use all your might, and SURVIVE!" he shouted, before the group charged in.


    The army of chimeric beasts was simply too massive though and even though they tried to go from the edge, they still ended up fighting them.


    Lin Mu watched as the group struggled against them, with members starting to die. They ended up losing half of their people by the time they were in the middle of the beasts.


    "Elder Zen, Hall Master Fei! You two have to leave. We''ll open a path for you." One of theirpanions said before taking the lead and cutting open a long path.


    "You''ll die like this!" Elder Zen who was the owner of Afternoon Pine replied. "You two have to survive at least. We need to inform the sect and the other powers." Another cultivator spoke, trying to convince them. "We cannot let this ce spill out into the world, we need every powers strength to seal it or destroy it." Elder Zen felt conflicted by the sacrifice of hispanions but also knew that their words were correct.


    "They''re right, Elder Zen." Hall Master Fei agreed. "Even if we all die, we cannot let the horrors of this ne be unleashed." "Curse this ce and these beasts," Elder Zen said but still went on with the decision.


    The two lovers charged through the army of beasts while the others acted as a shield, sacrificing themselves for their survival.


    Still, when they were at the end of the army, they had lost all theirpanions.


    ~SHUA~


    But there was still a silver lining to it, as a flicking portal could be seen in the distance.


    "We''re almost there!"

 Chapter 2189 United They Stood

    Chapter 2189 United They Stood


    The portal was something that Lin Mu could easily recognize.


    ''It''s certain a Spatial Portal¡­ But it isn''t stable for sure.'' Lin Mu thought after seeing its state. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    In fact, he wasn''t even sure why the portal was open right now as there didn''t seem to be anything holding it up. Normally a portal would appear under the influence of a Teleportation array or a direct break in the spatial fabric.


    But this didn''t seem to be either of those things.


    ''I can''t use Spatial Perception to check, but it doesn''t look like it was opened normally.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    ~BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZHIIIIIII~


    But the misfortune for Elder Zen and Hall Master Fei didn''t end there. The giant chimeric beast seemingly let out an earth shattering cry as a massive energy fluctuation was felt.


    "It''s caught up!" Elder Zen sensed the presence of the beast behind them growing.


    "We are so close, we need to do something." Hall Master Fei said as she saw the four heads of the chimeric beast opening wide.


    A massive amount of energy gathered in the gaping maws and grew into a giant orb.


    "We''ll die trying if that''s thest thing we do!" Elder Zen was not going to give up without a fight.


    Hall Master Fei was also not going to leave him behind. As such, both of them charged up their strongest skills in order to counterattack.


    The giant chimeric beast was at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm which was something they would never be able to deal with on their own.


    Both of them were at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, and even if they were stronger than most other cultivators at the same stage, there was still a limit to what they could do.


    ~HUMMM~HUMMM~


    Waves of Sword Intent spread from the two, as two pirs of light rose into the sky. One of the pirs was yellow while the second was blue,ing from Elder Zen and Hall Master Fei respectively.


    If one looked at the pirs of light, they would find their eyes hurting. A sharp sword intent was imbued in both the pirs and it was clear that these were the representation of their individual powers.


    But as the two pirs reached the sky, they seemingly melded together, turning into a bright green color.


    The cultivation bases of the two seemingly melded, as a unison was reached. Both of them had their swords raised, as Ocean Raker and Afternoon Pine resonated.


    "Pine Master Style- Seventh Form: Zenith Sky Pine!" Elder Zen chanted, as Afternoon Pine flew out into the sky.


    Imbued with the Sword Intent and the skill that had been executed by the man, it grew in size. It reached a size of fifty meters and filled the sky with a sharp aura.


    But this was just half of what was to happen. Hall Master Fei too executed her own skill, joining her lover.


    "Seven Seas Sword Style- Fifth Form: Tsunami!" Hall Master Fei''s Ocean Raker flew out as well.


    But instead of erging, it instead created millions of mirror image that filled the area. Thisbined with the blue sword intent looked like a giant wave that rushed towards the four headed beast.


    With both sky andnd being covered, the four headed beast had no scope of avoidance. Though it didn''t seem like it intended to do that anyways.


    ~ROAR~


    The four heads roared andunched the energy orbs that rushed towards the two cultivators.


    The erged Afternoon Pine cut through two of the orbs from the sky, as it it were an executioners Axe cutting off a head.


    ~KABOOM~


    On the bottom, the Tsunami overwhelmed the final two energy orbs, causing the to explode and push them back.


    The explosion was bright and strong, forcing them to be blinded for a bit. The Four headed chimeric beast was not safe either and suffered quite a bit of damage under it.


    Their sword skills had managed to not only destroy the orbs but also reach then beast. But by that point, the power of the attack had reduced considerably and now only a fraction of it had affected the four headed chimera.


    A few wounds appeared on its body, while its four heads let out blood curdling cries.


    ~SCREECH~


    Their cries seemingly melded into a horrendous screech that could make one''s ears bleed. Even Lin Mu could feel their difort being transferred to him at this moment.


    ''A Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm beast certainly isn''t simple¡­ Even its cry has enough power to kill several immortals if they didn''t defend against it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "It''s still fine." Hall Master Fei said with a frown.


    "At least we managed to stop its attacks¡­ But not for long." Elder Zen stated as he felt the Qi within his body going wild.


    The skill he had used earlier was not something he could use without paying a cost. But in the current situation he was more than willing to pay it.


    Hall Master Fei was in a simr condition and had strained herself to use her skill.


    Both of them had exhausted a lot of immortal Qi in this and they certainly wouldn''t be able tost long after this.


    ~ROAR~


    "We''re still some distance away¡­ Those Auroch Chimeric beasts have managed to survive and are still blocking the path." Hall Master Fei stated, her eyes tinged with exhaustion.


    "We only have one option¡­ We have to use that." Elder Zen said, hinting to something.


    Hall Master Fei then saw Elder Zen taking out a red thread. It looked like a simple cotton thread, but a mysterious power was exuding from it.


    "Looks like this will be our final stand." Hall Master Fei said with a sad smile.


    But she took out an item too.


    It was a miniature sword that was half ck and half white. Fine runes were carved onto it and a mysterious power exuded from it.


    "If its with you, I can definitely do this." Elder Zen said as he tied the red thread on his left hand. "I''ll be with on till the very end." Hall Master Fei said, tying the other end of the red thread to her right hand.


    With both their hands linked, they then sped their fingers together.


    Hand in hand, Hall Master Fei let go of the miniature sword.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The miniature sword flew out and transformed into a ck and white light that merged into Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker.


    This imbued the two swords with that same mysterious aura. Hall Master Fei and Elder Zen then made a sword gesture with their free hand and pointed at the four headed chimeric beast.


    "Dual Unity Swordsmanship! de of Companion!" They uttered in unison.


    Upon their chant, Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker seemingly transformed. An illusory field appeared, as the two swords merged not a single entity.


    It looked like the full sized version of the miniature sword they had used, but its power was massive now.


    The dual colored sword rose into the sky, creating a tall illusory de that was over a hundred meters tall!


    "SEVER!" They shouted in unison while moving their fingers in a downward sh.


    ~HONGLONG~


    A loud grating sound was heard as the sword cut down into the four headed beast!


    The four heads cried out in pain, as they found their body being split into half. The sword sh was not simple though, as the energy contained within it wreaked havoc in the body of the Four Headed beast.


    That was not all either, as the area of effect from the sh was enough to kill all the Auroch Chimeric Beasts that were around them.


    They too were cut in half, while the sword intent contained within the sh started to churn through their corpses. Simr thing was happening to the Four Headed Chimeric beast as its meridians were being ravaged.


    A long cut had appeared in the middle of the four heads, allowing the skill''s power to easily sink into the beast. The beast felt like a million knives were cutting it apart from the inside.


    The power of the sh eventually reached the Four headed chimeric beast''s Dantian. This was when the sh''s effect improved exponentially and broke through the Dantian.


    ~KACHA~


    An almost inaudible sound was heard, as the Sword Intent contaminated the Dantian.


    The contamination was not simple and caused a cascading effect as the Qi within the Dantian raged.


    The Sword Intent and Qi reacted in a vtile manner, until they caused another explosion.


    ~KABOOM~


    The explosion was greater than anything before and directly sted the beast apart.


    "It was¡­ Nice to be in yourpany¡­" Elder Zen said as he felt the explosion reaching them.


    "I wish to be reincarnated and meet you again¡­" Hall Master Fei said right before the explosion swallowed them whole.


    Their bodies disappeared within the explosion, while two metallic glints were sent flying into the portal.


    If one had good eyesight, they would have seen that these were the two swords!

 Chapter 2190 Vow To Fulfil The Wishes

    Chapter 2190 Vow To Fulfil The Wishes


    Lin Mu felt a searing heat when the explosion happened.


    Even though it wasn''t him present there, the memories contained within the swords was still strong enough to convey the pain they had felt.


    ''It was certainly a tragic end for them.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~SHUA~


    The scene changed again, this time though what Lin Mu saw was absolute darkness.


    ''This should be the void.'' Lin Mu guessed finding the experience to be new. "So this is what everyone usually sees in the void¡­ It certainly is quite unsettling." He muttered.


    Since this was still the memories of the swords all they could see was the same as normal people. Though Lin Mu also noticed that the field of vision had reduced considerably.


    ''The swords got damaged for sure.'' Lin Mu could now feel the difort that was being transferred.


    An unknown amount of time passed as Lin Mu was suspended in darkness. ''So they were lost in the void for a long time too¡­ but how did they end up in the Deep Sapphire City?'' He wondered.


    And just as he thought this, the scene changed once more. ~WOONG~


    The sound of Spatial Fabric opening was recognized by Lin Mu before a vast blue color filled his sight.


    ~SPLASH~SPLASH~


    Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker fell into the sea, and sank down quickly.


    "So it did eventually throw them out into the Rust Sky World." Lin Mu now understood.


    He also saw the damage that was done to the swords. Both of them were cracked, and their edges were ruined. They lookedpletely different from what Lin Mu knew them as.


    ~HUM~


    At this point, the memories ended and Lin Mu found himself standing in front of the spirit forms of the swords.


    "That was¡­ Indeed quite sad." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Our former masters will be happy that you killed the beasts. Though their wishes were still left iplete." Afternoon Pine spoke.


    "Yes, they intended to inform their sect about this ce?" Lin Mu found that a bit strange. "But there are no sects in the Rust Sky World."


    "We don''t have anymore memories left from before that, thus we don''t know what sect they belonged to either." Ocean Raker stated.


    "Hmm¡­ Though we do have a few clues we can go off on." Lin Mu stroked his chin. "The Sword techniques they used were certainly notmon. We just need to find which power had it. Plus we now know their names too, though notplete names." He wished to fulfill the dying wish of the former owners too.


    Plus he was now in the very same ce that they had died, thus he also had more of a reason to so.


    ''We also now know that this ce is a lot more dangerous¡­ I doubt whether this was supposed to be a Inheritance ground or not.'' Lin Mu was doubting the entire thing.


    Then there was the fact that the number of people that were present in the spatial ne was a lot more than Lin Mu''s group. That was another clue, hinting to Lin Mu that the Spatial ne had certainly changed over time.


    "Thank you for showing me all this. It''ll be a big help to us in our trial here." Lin Mu said with gratitude. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "We always wished to show you, but we only managed to awaken now." The two swords replied.


    "Though¡­ Were you two not fully formed when you were with your former owners?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No." Afternoon Pine replied. "We were not as strong as we are now." "We don''t remember the details, but our owners had not reached the point have. Plus we were also nurtured a lot in the Deep Sapphire City." Ocean Raker exined.


    "Hmm¡­ I suppose that makes sense." Lin Mu replied.


    He hadn''t been able to fully judge the powers of the swords from the memories, but the skills the former owners used were more than enough topensate for it.


    ''I saw three sword techniques in all. The two that were signature to the former owners and the third they used at the end.'' Lin Mu thought over it. ''Dual Unity Swordsmanship¡­ A Sword technique that needs two people to execute it. There must not be many like those¡­ it might just be possible to find them using that.'' He reckoned.


    The power of the Dual Unity Swordsmanship was also quite strong and Lin Mu could tell that it was a notch above the other two sword techniques. Though Lin Mu also noted the two items they had used with it.


    ''The red string and that miniature sword¡­ Were those the requirements for Dual Unity Swordsmanship?'' it was unusual for one to need other items to execute a sword technique.


    Normally for a Sword Technique the only requirement as a sword, and sometimes not even that. Though it did hint to Lin Mu that the technique was not simple.


    ''They managed to kill a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal realm creature with that while being at the fifth stage¡­ and it was not a normal sized beast either.'' The power of the skill was quite evident.


    ~HUM~


    Lin Mu felt an energy fluctuation, letting him know that he needed to leave now.


    "Looks like this is it. I''ll see you two again." Lin Mu stated. "We''ll always be here." Ocean Raker and Afternoon Pine said in unison.


    "Of course." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Wait master!" Afternoon Pine suddenly stopped him. "What?" Lin Mu wondered what they had to say.


    "Wonder Seeker¡­ It needs to awaken too." Afternoon Pine stated. "It does have its consciousness but hasn''t reached the state of manifesting a spirit like us." "Hmm, I don''t know how long it''ll take. Plus its not the same with Wonder Seeker, since I have Sword Intent with you two." Lin Mu didn''t know how to nurture its spirit. Though Lin Mu had already seen some memories from Wonder Seeker when he first obtained it. Thus he did know that the bow was already quite developed.

 Chapter 2191 Revealing The History

    Chapter 2191 Revealing The History


    Wonder Seeker had been in the lead aspared to the two swords, but Lin Mu''s Sword Intent growing had sped up their growth and let them overtake the bow.


    "Wonder Seeker is also like us. You merely need to use it for it to grow." Ocean Raker stated.


    As weapons, they could certainly understand each other.


    It was a novel experience for Lin Mu, as he had never thought about this before. Though it did make him wonder what kind of skill the bow will gain once it grew more.


    The ability of the bow to adapt certain Qi skills into an arrow was already quite great. Especially considering the fact that it could even amplify its power further.


    Thus Lin Mu reckoned the next skill it obtained might be even better.


    With that though, Lin Mu left his mind and opened his eyes.


    He found himself being stared by everyone with concern on their faces.


    "Did something happen?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You¡­ Your aura was going wild." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "It changed so many times. Calm, fierce, strong then weak." "It did?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "Looks like the memories affected me more than I thought." He muttered.


    "So you learned from the swords?" Elder Hu inquired.


    "I did¡­ A lot." Lin Mu replied. "Important things that you all need to know too." He added.


    "So what is it?" Lady Kang asked, as a serious expression appeared on her face.


    "Well first thing is that, the former owners of the two swords died here, in this very Spatial ne." Lin Mu revealed.


    "They really did?" They were all surprised. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    "Yes¡­ Though a lot of things were different with them." Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "They didn''t seem to have the same limit as us either."


    "Limit on the number of people?" Qiao De furrowed his brows.


    "Yes¡­ They had over three hundred people. Or at least those are the ones I saw." Lin Mu stated. "There could have been more, but died because of the dangers here." "Can you exin everything from the start?" Ziran asked, knowing that there was a lot more to it.


    "Of course." Lin Mu said before narrating all that he had seen. It took him some time and when he was done, the group had an expression that was mix of anxiety and concern.


    "To think there would be so many people that hade in the past¡­ This ce has certainly changed." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Or¡­ There is more than a single entry point." Ziran chimed in, making Lin Mu look. "Some inheritance grounds do have multiple entrances, especially for a spatial ne as big as this." "That is indeed a possibility." Lin Mu thought over it. "Considering the span of the Spatial ne¡­ and the location that we entered from¡­" he went over the map in his mind.


    Normally locating and matching a Spatial ne''s coordinates to a World it was attached to was not task that could be done by anyone.


    The distance between the void and the real world made it so that the coordinate would be mismatched. This was the reason why one needed a Teleportation gate to travel between them.


    Simply making a hole in the Spatial Fabric and entering the Void would not guarantee where one ended up.


    But things were different when one had Spatial Perception. ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu started writing down a few things in the air. They were runes that formedplex algorithms that no one in the group could understand.


    "What are these?" Daoist Chu couldn''t help but ask. "They are in Dao Script but are still iprehensible."


    "Spatial Coordinates." Lin Mu stated without stopping his work.


    "So this is what they look like when written down? I always thought they were more of an abstract concept." Daoist Chu said feeling surprised.


    Since none of them were Spatial Masters, they simply could not understand it. Even being a formation master wouldn''t help as one still needed to be able to observe the fabric of space for it to work.


    In fact, this was Lin Mu''s first time doing this too.


    They all watched Lin Mu work, with Lady Kang being very interested.


    ''He''s definitely worth his salt.'' She thought seeing his skillful work. Since she had decided to hire him, getting a demonstration of his skills was quite assuring him. Especially considering the fact that themission was to find an object lost in void.


    Locating that would need some initial coordinates, and then the Spatial Master would need to interpret them to actually go there. ~SHUA~


    After about thirty minutes of writing, Lin Mu had basically surrounded him with tens of thousands of runes. They floated around him and changed their positions seemingly randomly.


    "Okay, this should be enough." Lin Mu said before looking at the Crown prince. "Could you lend me the map of the Rust Sky world?" he requested.


    "Sure." Crown Prince Feng Shun handed him the jade slip.


    This was no normal map, and contained all the details about the Rust Sky world''s geography. It wasn''t even something that could be bought and only the royal families had ess to it.


    The one that Crown Prince Feng Shun had was even special as it could projects the entirety of the Rust Sky World at once.


    Lin Mu held the jade slip and activated it with his Immortal sense.


    ~SHUA~


    A three dimensional image of the Rust Sky World became visible. "Hmmm¡­ it has the coordinates too, so this''ll make it easier." Lin Mu muttered.


    In order to project such an image, these coordinate were obviously necessary. This was the reason why the map was so special, as normal maps would not have them.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu suspended the jade slip in the air before summoning something special.


    "Is that your Dao Embryo?" Ziran felt the strong Dao Traces from it.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded. "My Formation Dao Embryo, the Rune Shaping Brush." The others had all seen it before, as Lin Mu had used it in the tournament too.

 Chapter 2192 Tracing Coordinates And Mapping An Array

    Chapter 2192 Tracing Coordinates And Mapping An Array


    Lin Mu''s reveal with his Formation Dao Embryo had been quite surprising for most of the audience. After all, the skills he had shown before that didn''t match this at all. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    If they were to guess at all, they would think that he was someone with a Sword Dao Embryo. But they didn''t know how wrong they were.


    The disciples of the Serene ss Valley were impressed enough by it that they ended up inviting him over. And at the Serene ss Valley Lin Mu had a pretty great time discussing things with the elders there.


    He learned a lot and it was something totally worth it.


    Even Qiao De knew that Lin Mu had a Formation Dao Embryo since he had clearly been watching the news about the Tournament the entire time. As a member of the ck Candle Pavilion it was part of his duties to be updated about things like this.


    Then there was also the fact that there was a betting section that ran in their branch too and people had been betting on the winners.


    Qiao De didn''t know that Lin Mu was the same person he had met back then, thus hadn''t bet on him at first. But there were still a few people that did in the ck Candle Pavilion and had made a great fortune off that.


    It was why the man had been so excited when he finally found out that it was Lin Mu who was selected by Crown Prince Feng Shun. Three invites had been offered to him, which just showed his suitability for the trials.


    And now that he had seen him himself, he knew it was totally worth it all.


    Ziran was the outline in this all due to being an outsider. While he had been updated about the matters in the Rust Ky World, he was still not aware about the details of each match. Thus while he knew that Lin Mu had won with various skills, he still didn''t know about the Formation Dao Embryo.


    Lin Mu had also not used it so far in the trials, so it made sense that he hadn''t seen it.


    The other Dao Embryo that the group kind of knew about was the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo.


    But the Spatial Dao Embryo of Lin Mu was still unknown by them all.


    But the Formation Dao Embryo was no less special to Ziran. Looking at it and the dense Dao Traces it emitted, he could already tell it was a notch above many other formation Dao Embryos.


    "The Rune Shaping Brush¡­ How peculiar, I don''t think I''ve ever heard of it before." Ziran said feeling quite surprised.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu simply held the brush and drew it across the air. His immortal Qi was injected into it as it started to create runes. The power of these runes was rather profound and everyone could feel a deep aura contained within each rune that was made. These runes also stood out against the other runes Lin Mu had simply drawn with his fingers.


    They were a lot more ''solid'' and stable due to not moving around.


    It took Lin Mu about Ten minutes to finish writing the runes. Each rune was a lot moreplex than the other runes and took multiple strokes to make.


    But once the runes were made, they took up key positions among the other runes. If one looked at it from the bottom, they would almost feel like they were stars glittering in the night sky.


    ''That is a lot of runes for this short of a time.'' Daoist Chu couldn''t help but think.


    He had seen the way Lin Mu''s hand move and it was more fluid than most formation master. There was almost no pause between the strokes, as if he wasn''t even lifting the brush.


    They could also see a significant difference between when Lin Mu simply wrote runes with his fingers, and when he used the brush. Not only was the Rune Shaping Brush faster, but it also made the runes better. "Merge!" With the fine rune made, Lin Mumanded while using the brush like a pointer.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The runes all flew around the jade slip and started to merge into it.


    The runes made with the brush were part of the main nodes, while the rest of the runes filled in the empty position''s. An entirely new formation array was created, that was both an amplifying as well as a spatial array!


    ~HONGLONG~


    The three dimensional figure of the Rust Sky World flickered before a few changes appeared.


    "The map¡­ it''s extending beyond the limits of the worlds?!" Crown Prince Feng Shun watched with wide eyes.


    ~TING~TING~TING~TING~


    Millions upon millions of tiny dots popped up around the Rust Sky World, floating and flowing in the air. They changed their positions often an seemed to be revolving around the Rust Sky World at their own pace.


    "Are those¡­ The asteroids surrounding the world?" Crown princess Shang asked feeling quite surprised. "They certainly are." Monk Hushu said having been silent for a while. "But it''s not all." He said sensing more changes happening.


    With the asteroids being present, several lines of light extended from them and went outwards. The lines seemingly extended in random angles, but to Lin Mu there was an order to them.


    ~HUALA~


    The lines seemingly disappeared into the thin air.


    "Coordinates locked. Spatial Fabric traced." Lin Mu muttered, continuing his work as he moved the brush once more.


    He drew out two strings from the Rust Sky World. He did so from the edge of the Dao Wind Empire for one string and one string from the edge of the Eight Kingdom alliance.


    The two strings were drawn seemingly randomly, but when they extended into the air they melded into the spatial fabric.


    ~HONG~


    The lines made the space tremble, before a translucent rift opened up in the air.


    The rift widened before a newnd mass presented itself!

 Chapter 2193 A Bridge Plane

    Chapter 2193 A Bridge ne


    Lin Mu''s work was stunning as well as beautiful to those watching. It was like a master painter making an artwork that was almost like breathing life into scripture.


    And at Lin Mu''s final step, they were awed.


    "This¡­" All those that saw thend mass appearing were left stunned.


    Thendmass seemingly appeared from the void and had a mostly linear shape. It was longer than it was broad and looks vaguely like a sea slug.


    "Closer," Lin Mu pulled thendmass with the brush an anchored it against the Rust Sky World.


    Thendmass seemed resistant against his actions, but could not resist it. It was pulled along and trembled a bit before finally settling in a specific position.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~


    As if metal nails had been hammered, thendmass was locked against the Rust Sky world. It nowyered above the Rust Sky World and once could see through it too, as it was translucent when needed.


    "You matched the topography?" Ziran observed.


    The newndmass was none other than the spatial ne that they were on and was now juxtaposed against a region of the Rust Sky World.


    It extended from the Dao Wind Empire all the way to the western shores of the Eight Kingdom alliance. The ocean between the two continents was also part of it, but instead of being water, it was just solidnd.


    "This is bigger than any continent on the Rust Sky World." Crown Prince Feng Shun said observing it.


    "Not just bigger¡­" Qiao De said feeling quite shocked. "It is a bridge¡­ isn''t it?"


    "A Bridge ne¡­ We don''t get to see those often." Ziran said narrowing his eyes.


    "A hidden Bridge ne to be exact." Lin Mu corrected.


    He knew what Bridge nes were and also what their use was.


    These were basically natural or artificial spatial nes that were modified by great experts to serve as a bridge between two continents orndmasses. In a way they acted as a short cut when one had to cross an obstacle like an ocean between the continents.


    A goodparison for this could technically be the Kong ne in the Xiaofan world. But that ne was even better since Teleportation ry arrays had been added to it, further increasing their scope.


    The difference with a Bridge ne was the fact that it directly coincided with the locations of a world. As such, if one really wanted to they could simply cut through the fabric of space and arrive in the location they wanted in the world.


    The opposite could also be done, and one could enter a Bridge ne from the world as long as it was within the scope of the Bridge ne''s span.


    There were certainly restriction to this though.


    Exiting and entering the Bridge ne was dangerous as one was still passing through the ne. Though this could be solved by granting special passes that allowed safe entry.


    These were usually cheaper than using a teleporting array and could also be issued inrge quantities without affecting the stability of the spatial portals.


    Then there was the fact that the Bridge ne was still a different ce than a proper world, so the restrictions would change. Depending on the restrictions on cultivation base, some people might be locked out or in of the ne.


    Changing these restrictions was also not possible all the time and those that could do this were only in the case of a fully artificial Bridge ne.


    The biggest restriction with it though was the fact that it needed a Spatial Master constantly monitoring it. Since a Bridge ne was still independent, the anchors attaching it could weaken.


    Thereby it could drift away, making it just a normal Spatial ne.


    Lin Mu had learned about Bridge nes but there wasn''t much information that he had found on the books he had obtained. It had all mostly been from Senior Xukong.


    "To think there was a Bridge ne in the Rust Sky world¡­ How did we never find out about this?" Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t believe it. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "It has certainly been in existence for a long time, that''s for sure." Ziran stated. "Perhaps it has been in existence before the current powers of the Rust Sky world came into being?" He guessed.


    "That is what I think too." Lin Mu chimed in here. "If it is like that, it would make sense that the limitations of the Bridge ne have changed." "Hmmm¡­ ording to the memories of your swords, there had been hundreds of people entering it. If it really was a Bridge ne in the past, and also ''closer'' to the Rust Sky World, it would make sense that more could enter it.


    An now that it has ''drifted'' away, the limitations have increased." Lady Kang analyzed the information.


    "Lady Kang is correct." Lin Mu nodded. "I think the time difference between when it was a Bridge ne and its current state is quiterge." He thought.


    "The time line must be quite vast for it to be like that." Qiao De said thinking over it.


    "We do know that this ce was found by a Celestial and turned into a inheritance ground by them. What if¡­ this used to be a Bridge ne originally, but then it drifted way. A Celestial then found it and transformed it into what it is today?" Lady Kang hypothesized.


    Her words were impactful and made everyone consider these facts seriously. The more they thought about it, the more likely they found it to be.


    They started discussing more about it and tried cing the facts on a rough time line.


    After about an hour of discussion or so, they still thought that there were unexined things in it all.


    "Your two swords shouldn''t have been here more than ten or twenty thousand years ago." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "The Inheritance ground was also made long before that, at least a hundred thousand years or more." He continued.

 Chapter 2194 Taking Actions

    Chapter 2194 Taking Actions


    The time line seemed to be a bit awkward but they were starting to patch things together.


    "This means¡­ our guess of there being another entrance just might be correct." Ziran stated. "An entrance that does not have the same restrictions." He added.


    "But why would someone make different requirement for an inheritance ground? Wouldn''t that defeat the purpose of it being ''fair''?" Crown Princess Shang questioned.


    "No¡­ It was something that probably existed before the Inheritance ground was created. It should have been one of the original entrances from when this was used as a Bridge ne and couldn''t be removed.


    Its highly likely that there are multiple unstable spatial entrances that area still present with this Bridge ne and they probably have no restrictions on the number." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    "For ces like these, only broad rules can be ced. Such as those of the cultivation base." Ziran agreed.


    This was correct as Lin Mu had already been told by the Saintess that she couldn''t enter the spatial ne without causing damage to the Rust Sky World itself. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    ''If it is her, I think she would have found other entrances. And if she still didn''t enter, it means the restrictions are indeed broad for the insides. A limitation that only allows those below the Transcendent Immortal Realm to enter.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "This certainlyplicates things¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun said, aplex expression on his face. "What are the chances we will encounter others here?" he went for the worst possibility first.


    "Well, if we think about our luck so far¡­ I''m inclined to believe it is quite likely to happen." Qiao De stated. "Though the true question is, just what kind of people will we encounter?" he asked.


    "The goal of this trial is to survive, and we came here in a group of ten. If we consider us as a single party, then it would mean we are to eliminate the others." Ziran inferred. "And they would be inclined to do the same. The only difference will be that they would not have gone through the previous trials if they came through the alternate entrance." He added.


    "So we have an advantage still," Lady Kang could see. "We are also here first and now know more about this ce. We could very well set up a stable base here before we encounter others." She added.


    "But thetter is only possible if we are indeed the first ones here. With the size of the ne, it is highly possible others could be here already and we simply haven''t encountered them." Elder Hu spoke, thinking of the disadvantageous scenario.


    "With ourbined strengths, there won''t be many that can stand against us." Lin Mu said feeling a bit confident. "Plus we still have time to prepare a favorable ground for us. Just like I did in the Tournament before." He exined.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun found that idea good.


    "That will be good. At least we''ll have a ce to retreat to in case things go south." He agreed.


    "Very well then, we''ll survey this ce first and set up a temporary base." Lin Mu already had a n forming in his mind.


    He returned the map to Crown Prince Feng Shun who safely stored it away. Lin Mu had greatly increased its value now, and Feng Shun reckoned Emperor Feng will be highly pleased.


    ''Father is certainly going to replicate this and add it to the war room.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought to himself.


    Of course he also knew that some payment was in order for this. But it was something they would think aboutter. His father was the Emperor and there was no way he was going to be a miser in matters like this.


    Lin Mu had very well upgraded their intelligence by several notches. ''Dao Wind Empire has gained and advantage¡­ Even the asteroids that have erratic movements and could not be actively tracked were added by Daoist Mu Lin. Eunuch Tao will be having a lot of fun with this.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun could only imagine the expression the Imperial Spymaster would be having.


    While Crown Prince Feng Shun thought all this, Lin Mu exined the n and divided the work among the group. The work was divided into three parts.


    The first was the survey of the area which would be done by Crown Prince Feng Shun, Monk Hushu, Min Ju and Crown Princess Shang.


    They would record everything they saw as well as the different kind of Chimeric beasts they saw. In case they felt any danger, they were to return at the first sight.


    The second task was to set up a base. This would primarily involve a lot of formation arrays and the work fell on the shoulders of Lin Mu, and Daoist Chu.


    The third task was that of immediate defense. For this, Lady Kang, Elder Hu and Ziran would be keeping an eye out. They would protect the base while it was being built and would also be able to assist them in formations if needed.


    With the work divided, they got busy. "I''ll replicate the same base I made in the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts with a few more improvements. You remember those right, Daoist Chu?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course. I''ll handle the connective nodes, you handle the core." Daoist Chu stated.


    Lin Mu nodded and quickly got to work.


    ~SHUA~


    He directly started using Rune Shaping Brush from the very start, knowing that they could not afford to waste any time. He needed to be fast and efficient, with the arrays being strong from the start.


    Lin Mu had witnessed just how strong the Chimeric beasts could get and it would be in their favor that they had strong defenses ready.


    ''A Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chimeric beast will be manageable for us if we all fight together. But if more than one appears, we''ll definitely need some defenses to give us leeway.'' He thought.

 Chapter 2195 Setting A Base

    Chapter 2195 Setting A Base


    Lin Mu continued to think while working on the arrays.


    ''It is best that we avoid injuries as much as we can. We still don''t know how long we''ll be stuck here.'' Lin Mu thought of as far as he could.


    Runes flew all around him while the brush turned into a blur. It never stopped moving, and drew out long lines that wound together to form more runes.


    It was as if Lin Mu was simply drawing a single string that got tangled in unique ways.


    For most people that saw this, it would be baffling how Lin Mu was doing this, as writing runes was a very systematic. A single wrong stroke could cause the rune to copse and when one was making so many there were bound to be some mistakes.


    And a formation needed arge collection of runes to form, thus mistakes had an even greater chance of happening.


    Then there was a formation array that held multiple formations, further increasing the chances of errors.


    Despite all that, it felt like Lin Mu was taking shortcuts as he simply let the brush guide his hand. He merely had to think and the brush would write the rune for him.


    Of course, this was a very energy heavy task, but for Lin Mu who had increased his Immortal Qi stores, he could do this for days on end. He was also replenishing his Immortal Qi at the same time, though it was a bit difficult.


    ''There are foul energies mixed in the air¡­ Absorbing Immortal Qi bes difficult as they seemingly interfere in it.''Lin Mu thought to himself.


    His mind was still able to handle these tasks at once and allowed him to analyze the difficulty with it. It was something that might have made many formation masters cause errors, but Lin Mu didn''t have that issue.


    His work was highly impressive to Daoist Chu and he was almost mesmerized by it.


    While he was a formation master too with decent achievements, he was still below Lin Mu in terms of proficiency.


    ''Daoist Mu Lin''s skills with formations are more than enough to make him a High Elder¡­ Would he be interested in taking up a position perhaps?'' Daoist Chu wondered.


    He was sure that the Patriarch and elders of his sect wouldn''t mind it at all. After all, Lin Mu had severalurels on his head including being the winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts.


    There weren''t many powers that would say no to someone like this.


    But all this was a matter for the future as he had to focus on handling his side of the work.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Daoist Chu started with throwing out formation gs that created a stable zone before using hundreds of talismans to further reinforce them. ''Now to connect the defensive nodes.'' Daoist Chu manually drew runes to make intricate connecting formations that fit perfectly in the nodes.


    Harmonious connections were made between the talismans and the formation gs, as a barrier was soon erected.


    ~HUALA~


    The barrier was shaped like a dome on the surface, but in reality it was aplete sphere. There was no way they were leaving an underground path open for enemies to infiltrate from.


    It was one of the very first things that was taught to him as many amateur fomentation masters forgot to set up underground defenses.


    They would think that no one would dig and enter from the ground, as it would cause amotion and would also take a lot of effort.


    They also relied on their immortal sense to detect things all the time, which made themcent. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    But Lin Mu and the group was not dealing with just humans here. They were dealing with Chimeric beasts that could very well have uncanny abilities that could easily allow them to bypass something as simple as this.


    They might even be able to dig without a sound, if they were specialized in it. And considering the fact that chimeric beasts had features and abilities of multiple beasts, it was a high on the possibility scale.


    The size of the barrier was quite big too, as they wanted enough space to defend as well as retreat. But since they were only at the initial stages, Daoist Chu also didn''t want to make it too wide as that could lead to it bing weaker.


    As such the current size of the dome was a kilometer wide. ''We can always expand thister, I''ve kept the nodes flexible.'' Daoist Chu reckoned.


    With the initial barrier set up, Daoist Chu got to reinforcing it further and working on the natural structures that were already present in the dome.


    There was a mountain, along with two smaller hills that were growing at its sides. The mountain didn''t seem to be that special, and had the same color as the rest of the soil that was present in the spatial ne.


    Though in the hills, Daoist Chu detected a few interesting things.


    "Huh¡­ This cane in handy¡­" Daoist Chu smiled as an idea appeared in his mind. He waited for a bit and watched Lin Mu, until he could tell that there was an avenue for break for him.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, can youe over for a minute?" he requested.


    "Sure," Lin Mu said, leaving the brush.


    ~HUALA~


    The Rune Shaping Brush floated in the air and continued the work on its own.


    "Oh wow¡­ it can do that too?" Daoist Chu hadn''t expected that. "As long as it isn''t tooplex and is within the range of my Immortal sense, there are no issues in letting it work." Lin Mu replied.


    "The Formation Hall master of my sect will die from envy if he heard about your Dao Embryo." Daoist Chu could only smile wryly before directing Lin Mu to what he wished to show. "Scan these hills."


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu did as told and detected several interesting materials within.


    "Looks like we have a natural offense prepared for us."

 Chapter 2196 Yang Marker Array And Utilizing The Environment

    Chapter 2196 Yang Marker Array And Utilizing The Environment


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense detected several impurities within the two hills. They stood out against the normal rock of the hills and the mountain and even held a certain energy to them.


    "Yin Charged Maite¡­ There''s quite a lot of it." Lin Mu said after fully scanning the two hills.


    "But in the size it is, the uses for refinement would be quite limited. Plus refining it is a pain too." Daoist Chu said. "But we don''t need to refine it." Lin Mu smiled. "They are all finger sized at the biggest and the size of dust at the smallest. Their piercing power will be decent." He added.


    "Which method do you intend to use?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "The simple one¡­ We turn them into projectiles." Lin Mu answered. "You''re not gonna do the refinement?" Daoist Chu asked. "How will they be targeting then?" "Well we don''t need to refine them to make them targeted. It is Yin Charged Maite¡­ Instead of refining it to add targeting, we can simply put markers on the things they need to target." Lin Mu answered making Daoist Chu a bit confused. "We simply set up an illusory arrayyered on top of a marking array. The marks will infuse a strong Yang Charge into those that step in." He exined.


    "This¡­ The Yin Charged Maite will rush towards the foes on its own by being attracted to the Yang Charge!" Daoist Chu finally understood. "This is brilliant!" he eximed.


    "It''ll take much less effort to do as well. The only thing we''ll need to is to modte the hills themselves with a Rock Shifting Array." Lin Mu answered. "We don''t want all the fragments to be charging at a single foe after all." He added. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "True." Daoist Chu nodded. "I guess I can use my Nine Yang Purge Talismans here for that." He stated.


    "Oh we don''t need anything like that." Lin Mu shook his head. "I have a more¡­ ''Potent'' option instead." He said making Daoist Chu curious.


    "What is it?" he wondered.


    "Xiao Yang," Lin Mu called the snake out.


    ~HISS~HISS~


    A white snake materialized around Lin Mu. It was wrapped around his arm and looked at the area curiously. "Lots of food." Xiao Yang said smelling the various scents.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded. "I need some of your Yang Qi." He requested.


    "Okay~" Xiao Yang nodded without a problem. "Xiao Yin¡­ Call her too." He asked.


    "Alright." Lin Mu didn''t deny that request.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, another snake materialized around Lin Mu''s left shoulder. It had ck scales with a single white spot on its forehead.


    ~HISS~HISS~ Xiao Yin''s eyes gleamed as she smelled the negative energies in the air. Her tail whipped around in excitement as she knew that a feast was in waiting.


    "Eat, refine, give." Xiao Yang spoke to his sister.


    "Let''s go." She was very eager and the twins soon flew out.


    ~WHOOSH~


    They turned into ribbons of ck and white and soon disappeared.


    "What¡­ was that?" Daoist Chu was surprised. "You''ve seen one of them." Lin Mu replied. "Xiao Yang is the one that got us through the Teleportation Channel at the end." "That was the white snake?" Daoist Chu had not seen it clearly and had thought that Lin Mu was using some tool.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded.


    "And they''re going to provide us Yang Qi?" he asked.


    "Indeed. Pure yang Qi would be much better than using Talismans, wouldn''t you think?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Of course, the efficiency and potency will both be higher." Daoist Chu replied. "But those snakes¡­ They''re almost as strong as us." He could tell instinctively.


    The Immortal Qi fluctuationsing from the twins were at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, and their own unique aura was enough to intendant Daoist Chu.


    Lin Mu didn''t responds with words to this, instead just giving a simple smile. "Though is it fine to let them go alone?" he asked. "There is still a lot of chimeric beasts and more out there." "It''ll be fine. This may as well be a yground to them." Lin Mu replied. "We''ll have a steady supply of energy with them. We''ll be able to turn this ce against itself." He added.


    The Saintess had already told him that the Twins would be very helpful to him, and now that they were in an area that was perfect for them, Lin Mu reckoned it was fine to let them eat while also helping out.


    This way not only would they grow stronger, but also finish Lin Mu''s goals.


    "Let''s get started on the Yang Marker Array then, shall we?" Lin Mu said.


    "I can do that. I''m almost done with the barriers anyways. You can continue to focus on the core of the array, Daoist Mu Lin." Daoist Chu suggested instead.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded and the two split up to work.


    Lin Mu took hold of the Rune Shaping Brush and sped up the work, while Daoist Chu finished the barrier and got to working on the Yang Marker Array.


    The Yang Marker Array was originally made to be used in Refinement of materials. It would add a Yang Marker on materials, which was basically infusing a small amount of Yang Qi in it that would stay contained.


    Then when the right condition was reached, this Yang Qi would be released.


    Something like this was needed for sensitive materials that had a very specific trantion points in refinement. If it was done too early, the material would burn away and if it was done toote the material would get corrupted.


    Thus the infusion of Yang had to be at the right moment which was perfect when it was already present inside the material.


    Thus the Yang Marker Array provided a safe way of doing that without damaging them.


    But now the application of the entire Yang Marker Array had been changed into an offensive one.


    Daoist Chu worked diligently and soon set up the base structure of the array.

 Chapter 2197 Fuel From The Twins

    Chapter 2197 Fuel From The Twins


    Lady Kang, Elder Hu and Ziran were located in a triangr position just outside the barrier that had been deployed. They didn''t hear what Lin Mu and Daoist Chu were talking about, but they could still observe it all with their immortal sense.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Thus when they saw two ck and white ribbons fly out they were surprised. Thankfully they recognized them to be Lin Mu''s tamed beasts. ''So he''s sending them out¡­ It will certainly help us. They are quite strong after all.'' Lady Kang had seen their power first hand and knew that they were no less stronger than most of their members.


    Then there was also the fact that they were in their home ''element'' thus there wasn''t much danger to be encountered by them anyways.


    Elder Hu had slightly different thoughts though.


    ''Those snakes¡­ The threat I feel from them is strong.'' Elder Hu furrowed his brows.


    His expression was hidden behind his helmet, but if one saw it they would spot a mix of wariness and anxiety on his face. He was basically a body guard for Lady Kang and thus focused on anything that could threaten her.


    His ability to detect threats was high, whether they be from other humans or any creatures.


    Thus while the Twin Snakes weren''t actually targeting any of them, their mere presence was strong enough to make him concerned.


    Ziran on the other hand looked at the twins with fondness.


    "So young and yet so strong." Ziran was part Wood Elf, a race that had connection to the forests and its inhabitants.


    As such he could alsomunicate with animals betters. Thus could tell that the twins were very young, and were still juveniles.


    ''For them to be this strong at this age¡­ Their bloodline is impable.'' Ziran couldn''t tell what kind of snakes they were but he was sure they were not simple.


    Unlike Elder Hu, he didn''t feel even a single sense of threat from the twins. He didn''t know if it was because they had been tamed by Lin Mu, their presence was strong yet weing.


    A hint of innocence could also be perceived in all that.


    While the three members watched and guarded from the outside the work in the barrier continued. A few hours passed like this as the two formation masters toiled.


    At its base, the Yang Marker Array was very simr to a thin, invisible membrane. If one used their Immortal Sense to scan it, they would see a finework of Qi channels inside it that had nodes that could eject Qi too.


    Due to its form, the Yang Marker Array was very easy to be set up around an an alchemical cauldron or other refinement tools. "I''m done, Daoist Mu Lin." Daoist Chu informed, having finished the work. "Just need to make the Yang Qi reservoir and I can get started on the illusory array after." He stated.


    "Ah, just in time." Lin Mu paused his work and sent a message to the twins. "They''re on their way back now." He stated.


    Daoist Chu looked in the direction they had gone towards and soon felt a wave of energying from it. Or rather, rushing towards them.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~HISS~HISS~ The twins charged back into the barrier and soon stood in front of Lin Mu. Their eyes showed satiety as well as eagerness to do more. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Looks like you two had your fill." Lin Mu said. "What did you eat?" he asked.


    "Baleful energies." Xiao Yin replied.


    "Beasts." Xiao Yang replied.


    "Good. Those Chimeric beasts are no good to us. And the Baleful energy is dangerous either way." Lin Mu said before ncing in the direction of the Yang Marker array. "I suppose you two know what to do?" he asked.


    "Yes!~" The twins replied in unison and quickly flew towards the membrane.


    "Show them where to make the reservoir." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Right here." Daoist Chu had plotted out an area with a few formation stones. The stones would create a vessel that would keep the Yang Qi contained.


    ~SHAAAAAAA~


    In the next moment, the twins opened their mouths and spewed out a white mist. But this was no normal mist, but rather pure Yang Immortal Qi!


    "This¡­ This is a lot." Daoist Chu hadn''t expected the two to be able to provide such an amount.


    The Yang Purging Talismans he had thought about using for the array barely provided ten percent of this amount.


    "They''re not done yet." Lin Mu said knowing that the twins were merely starting.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The twins sped up as more and more Yang Immoral Qi was spewed out. ~HUALA~ The Yang Immortal Qi was absorbed by the designated area and was contained within it. Soon it turned into a square column and looked like someone had trapped white mist within a ss container.


    But as the twins kept on releasing more and more Yang Immortal Qi, the container filled up quickly and became saturated. "It¡­ It''s condensing?!" Daoist Chu could see a white liquid gathering at the bottom. ''Pure liquid Yang Immortal Qi¡­ Just this alone could sell for a fortune.'' He thought feeling dumbstruck.


    He knew just how many uses this could have for basically all upations. If he didn''t know that this had been made by two beasts, he would have thought that some refiner had spent a great amount of time and effort to condense this pure liquid Yang Immortal Qi from thousands of materials. The cost of using that to make this array would be simply too high.


    But now it was being done with ease, with just a some chimeric beasts and the baleful energy as fuel.


    They were literally recycling the environment and turning it against it.


    Soon, the entire reservoir was filled up and Daoist Chu had to speak up.


    "Enough! The vessel might copse at this rate." He had never thought he would every think there was ''too much'' of such a precious resource. "Alright, stop you two." Lin Mu ordered, making the twins finally close their mouths.

 Chapter 2198 Dual Yang Repulsing Array

    Chapter 2198 Dual Yang Repulsing Array


    The twins stopped spewing Yang Immortal Qi, finally allowing Daoist Chu to draw a breath.


    The entire scene had been far to shocking for him and he had been holding his breath without him knowing.


    "That¡­ Will be more than enough." Daoist Chu judged. "With this much Yang Immortal Qi, we may as well be supercharging those Yang Marks." He added.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu nodded. "Will we need to top it off again?" he asked.


    "I doubt." Daoist Chu shook his head. "It is more likely we''ll expend all the Yin Charged Maite before we even finish the Yang Qi reservoir." He stated. With the sheer quantity of Yang Qi that had been contained, Daoist Chu even reckoned they could add an additional array to it all.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, what are your thoughts on a Self-destructing array?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Go on," Lin Mu probed further.


    "Well with the amount of Yang Qi we have, it''ll be a waste to just let it stay. I think if we are really pushed to the limit''s, we can always retreat and let this ce be reduced to smithereens.


    A Dual Yang Repulsing Array would work perfectly here." Daoist Chu suggested.


    "Oh? That does seem quite a good option." Lin Mu hadn''t thought of it before and was in approval. "Since we got time, I don''t see why not." He gave his verdict.


    "Great! We can add that too then." Daoist Chu was joyed. "We don''t need to do much since we already got the Yang Marker Array. We just need a couple of High Strength Qi Channeling formations and two Yang Jet Arrays." He exined.


    "That''s simple enough." Lin Mu could tell.


    The Dual Yang Repulsing Array was not something he had ever made, but he had certainly heard about it. It wasn''t exactly amon array that most formation masters would use anyways.


    It had rather niche uses and was often unnecessary for most since the cost of using Yang Qi was almost always too high. Only those that had a source of plentiful Yang ever made it and even then it was at a high cost.


    This was due to the fact that the Dual Yang Repulsing Array used Yang Qi in the crudes way possible.


    It basicallybined a Yang Qi reservoir with two Yang Jet Arrays set opposite to each other with High Strength Qi Channeling Formations.


    This caused it to eject out two streams of Yang Qi that would collide against each other. Normally this would do nothing and the Yang Qi would simplye together and be dispersedter. But due to the effect of the Yang Jet Arrays, the pressure at which the Yang Qi would be ejected would be too high.


    And when there was something in between the two jets, it could easily crush it.


    But this would also cause disharmony in the flow of Yang Qi which could easily lead to a cascade of energy that would eventually result in a massive explosion.


    This was not all though, as Yang Qi could also pull along other Yang Oriented Energies along with it, causing the explosion to increase in strength.


    Also depending on the kind of unfortunate creature that was caught in the middle of it, the power of the explosion could increase even more, using the corpse of its victims as fuel.


    It was certainly quite a devastating array and was only affordable by some really great powers.


    After all, a self destructing array was only useful as a final gambit. Either to ensure mutual destruction or to go scorched earth so that the foes would have no spoils to earn.


    Though in the case of Lin Mu and the group, it was perfect since it was only to destroy all the enemies that they wouldn''t be able to take care of in this short time.


    Plus they didn''t have to worry much about the base they were building as there was no major value attached to it.


    It was merely there so that they had some stable ce to explore form and gather when the time came.


    "I''ll finish up on the Yang Marker Array and then get started on the Dual Yang Repulsing Array." Daoist Chu stated.


    "Very well, I still have some parts to finish before we can add the Rock Shifting Arrays to the two hills as well." Lin Mu replied.


    With that said, the two returned to work.


    Daoist Chu finalize the Yang Qi reservoir and made sure that it would be stable. In order to prevent any leaks, he even added an additional reinforcing array on top of it to protect it.


    With that done, he made the High Strength Qi channeling formations that would be able to withstand the pressure from the Yang Immortal Qi.


    The two fomentations went in the opposite directions and reached the edge of the barrier.


    From there, Daoist Chu got to working on the Dual Yang Repulsing Arrays.


    The process was a bitplicated as he needed to make a lot of runes that he had only made a couple times before. This took, Daoist Chu about four hours to finish, but by then Lin Mu had also finished his work.


    ~HUALA~


    The core of the array was finished Lin Mu could let it assemble on its own.


    ~HUALA~


    The runes turned into formations and quicklybined into the true state of the array.


    With that, the core section of the base as well as the defenses had been set up. Done with this, Lin Mu was free to help out Daoist Chu and made the second Dual Yang Repulsing Array.


    While he hadn''t made it himself before, he observed what Daoist Chu had done and managed to replicate it with the help of the Rune Shaping Brush. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ~HONGLONGGONG~


    A loud sound was heard as the array started to stabilize.


    Lady Kang, Elder Hu and Ziran who were all observing from the outside saw it and couldn''t help but be surprised.


    "What did they make?" They couldn''t help but say after seeing the Dual Yang Repulsing Array.

 Chapter 2199 The Allies Recognition

    Chapter 2199 The Allies'' Recognition


    ~HONGLONG~


    The sheer amount of power exuding from the array at the time of its inception was simply too high. And with the pure Yang Immortal Qi mixed in with it, the three couldn''t help but feel rmed.


    "Such pure Yang Immortal Qi¡­" Ziran muttered in disbelief. "This is more than enough to match a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal if not more." He said.


    Elder Hu on the other hand only became more wary as he felt the power of the array.


    ''To think he has the capability of making something like this too. And that''s when we are in unfamiliar territory." Elder Hu recognized the Dual Yang Repulsing Array at first sight.


    He had seen a few of them in the past and all of them had been Mae by the strong powers of the immortal realm which included, sects, the great ns as well as the Immortal Court itself.


    Even the Kang n had the Dual Yang Repulsing Array set up at several of their key locations that held valuable information. They would rather it would all be destroyed that let it fall in the hands of enemies.


    Elder Hu had even lived long enough to have seen the Dual Yang Repulsing Array in action.


    ''That explosion was already great in the past but this one feels different¡­ if that was an explosion enough to destroy an entire n, this would be enough to devastate an entire city alone and more.'' Elder Hu judged. But on the counter side, he also felt a bit pleased.


    "If there is such protection, Lady Kang will be safer." Elder Hu muttered to himself.


    The person in question though had a mixed thoughts.


    ''His skills are certainly improving every day.'' Lady Kang thought. "If he can help set up something like this, he is already good enough to be able to give the test to be an Immortal Formation Grandmaster." She muttered to herself.


    An Immortal Formation Grandmaster was the peak of their upation in the Immortal realm. Bing one was not easy and one certainly needed to have the talent to do so.


    Though bing an Immortal Formation Grandmaster was something of an official recognition. One could have the skills equivalent to it, but if they never gave the exam for it they would never receive the certification for it.


    Of course the only authority that was eligible to assess and issue such a certification was none other than the Immortal Court.


    But not everyone was eligible to give the examination.


    In order to be eligible, one would have to make an array that was considered as High grade at the minimum while also having made their own unique immortal array on top of it.


    Lin Mu had fulfilled those conditions and could give the exam whenever he wished to do so. In fact, Lady Kang would be more than willing to apply on his behalf as it was basically an inevitability that he would be getting it.


    ''Though will he even desire it?'' Lady Kang wondered. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    While the title of an Immortal Formation Grandmaster was great, it only appeased to those that were in the desire for it. There were always formations masters that didn''t care about the opinions of others and only strives to improve their skills.


    The primary reason to get the title was nothing but fame and mary gain. After all, one could charge a very high cost when they weremissioned as an Immortal Formation Grandmaster.


    Whereas one that was not certified would have to charge lower


    It basically added a proof to their capabilities and was epted by most powers in the Immortal realm.


    Even Unorthodox powers would be respectful of someone that was an Immortal Formation Grandmaster. The same could be said for the opposite, though it was rare that an Immortal formation master of the unorthodox path was considered for the examination.


    Thus for those that were truly strong, they didn''t care about the recognition in the end.


    But it did make things a lot more easier when one had official recognition from one of the greatest powers in the entire realm.


    ''The backing of a celestial and more¡­ him being a Spatial Master and his sword skills¡­ each of his abilities are great such that every power would desire him.'' Lady Kang pondered on it. "Can the Kang n have him for ourselves?" she muttered to herself.


    "Or myself¡­" A whisper was released, unheard by everyone.


    But Lady Kang''s expression still changed a bit, while her heart changed more.


    Lin Mu had no idea about the waves of emotions he had whipped into the hearts of hispanions. All he was focused on was the work at hand and would not be diverted from it easily.


    "That was great work, Daoist Mu Lin." Daoist Chu praised. "Your Formation Dao Embryo is truly envious." He said.


    "Haha, you tter me." Lin Mu responded. "Should we move onto the Rock Shifting Array then?" he asked.


    "Of course." Daoist Chu said, eager to see how Lin Mu would perform.


    The man in question got to work and took out the Rune Shaping Brush once more, as he started to directly write down runes onto the hills. The brush acted like a sharp chisel, as every rune was directly carved onto the hills.


    It took Lin Mu six hours to finish a single hill and by the time he was done with it all, the first update had already arrived.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu drew thest stroke andpleted the array, causing the two hills to shift slightly.


    "There we go." Lin Mu said. "Now the rocks should shift and soften as we need." He stated.


    "That was impable." Daoist Chu agreed. "And with that we''ve set up the defenses as well as the offense of our base for the time being." He added.


    "Well there''s one thing left though." Lin Mu said looking at the mountain in the middle. "We still don''t have actual rooms to stay in." He added.

 Chapter 2200 Completion Of The Base

    Chapter 2200 Completion Of The Base


    Having finished the major part of their work, Lin Mu checked on the message that had arrived.


    ~SHUA~


    He held the Jade Slip and read what Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others that had gone on the survey had found.


    Daoist Chu had also received the same information and so had the rest of the people standing guard outside.


    "Huh, so the number of beasts is still high outside the hundred kilometer mark." Lin Mu noted the first important piece of information.


    "There''s also a lot of Baleful Energies present in the Spatial ne along with Death Qi that is dispersed everywhere." Daoist Chu read the next important piece of information.


    "Looks like they''ll be returning in a few hours. We''ll discuss the rest in detail once they are here." Lin Mu said before looking at the mountain. "We should get some rooms ready for all of us."


    The mountain in the center was solid and didn''t have any caves inside it.


    As such, it would be useless for them to stay in for the time being. But once a ce was carved out, they would have no issues with it.


    After all, they had no idea how long they would be staying here. ''Considering the size of the Spatial ne, we might be here for long time. As such the base needs to be appropriate for that time line too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Should we carve out an internal area?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu nodded and flew to the base of the mountain.


    Daoist Chu followed after him and watch as he drew out his sword.


    ~SHING~


    Afternoon Pine glowed lightly before Lin Mu shed out.


    ~KABOOM~


    The sh pierced through the mountain''s base and cut open a long streak into it.


    ~SHING~SHING~


    Lin Mu shed out a few more times, turning the opening into a rectangr entrance.


    "There we go," Lin Mu said as sheathed the sword.


    He then ced his hand on the section he had cut out, and directly stored it into the ring.


    ~SHUA~


    "That was fast¡­" Daoist Chu saw the hundred meter deep entrance that had been opened up within a few seconds and even cleared out.


    "This is the easy part anyways." Lin Mu said as he assessed the area inside with his immortal sense.


    The tunnel he had opened up was about twenty meters wide, ten meters tall and hundred metered deep.


    "Ham, I suppose one room for each of us along with a central room should be good enough." Lin Mu came up with a floor n. "If we need more we can always addter." He said before drawing out Afternoon Pine again.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Tens of sword shes flew as they cut out the necessary branches in the main tunnel. Lin Mu then went inside each branch and created arge room along with a few venttion channels.


    Thetter were easy to make as all Lin Mu needed to do was do a few stabs with his Sword Intent, allowing long and thin holes to be created in the wall.


    Lin Mu expanded each room to be at least a hundred square meters each. This would be more than enough space for each person to live in.


    He didn''t bother to make any stone furniture though, as he was sure all of them were carrying personal furniture that they might needed.


    Once the personal rooms were all built, Lin Mu move into the central room. This was meant to be their all purpose room as well as a meeting room.


    It was located at the center of the tunnel branches and Lin Mu only had to expand it by carving out more rock. ~SHING~SHING ~SHING~


    Lin Mu spun Afternoon Pine in a circle, causingyer afteryer of rock to be stripped. The sword intent infused into the sword sh continued to flow.


    It ground the rock away like a grinder and a couple minutester, arge circr room had been created.


    It was about two hundred meters in diameter and about fifty meters tall. It would be more than enough for them.


    "Now to clear it out." Lin Mu quickly stored the debris away, but kept arge rock chunk behind. The rock chunk was about forty meters long and five meters wide, having been cut off the roof.


    "This can be a nice table for us." Lin Mu''s hand moved like a blur, as the rock chunk was carved into the shape of a table.


    Its legs were thick and provided it stability, while its top was t and smooth. It almost felt like someone had carved out a durable table out of solid granite and polished it to the best level.


    Though for Lin Mu, it was just a few sword shes that had achieved the same.


    "Now for the final touches," Lin Mu took out the Rune Shaping Brush once again.


    He started writing down runes, that automatically flew towards the walls and merged into them. These turned into formations that would provided some quality of life while they were here.


    It included things like temperature regtion formations, dust repelling formations, Qi channeling and Qi gathering arrays, and finally some security arrays that would act as doors.


    In the end, all Lin Mu had to add was a few illumination formations to brighten the base up.


    While he was doing this, Daoist Chu was taking care of the things on the outside. He made a gate for the entrance, as it would be a bit too casual to just leave it open. He also added the final illusory array that would hide the entrance, and make it look like this ce was untouched by humans.


    "There we go," Daoist Chu wiped his forehead seeing that his work was finished. "I should call them in." He said before sending a message. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lady Kang, Elder Hu and Ziran quickly appeared, having received the message.


    "Are you done with everything?" Ziran asked seeing that the mountain and the hills looked the same as before.


    "Yeah, we''re done." Daoist Chu replied. "Daoist Mu Lin should be done with our amodations too." He added.


    And just as he said that, they felt someone approaching from the tunnel.


    ~CREAKS


    The stone door opened up, as Lin Mu walked out.


    "Ah, you all are right on time." Lin Mu greeted. "Come see how it is inside. If needed we can still change whatever needed." He added.


    "Very well." Lady Kang replied and was the first one to step inside. She saw the brightly light tunnel that had smooth walls as well as multiple floating orbs of light that were stuck to the ceiling.


    There were no designs or decorations here, but it still carried a slight appeal to it. ''His Sword Intent is still lingering here¡­ It permeated into the walls.'' Lady Kang thought to herself.


    She lightly touched a wall with her finger and felt a tingle travel down her finger.


    ''Yeah there''s certainly sword intent mixed in the walls. He used his own sword intent to carve out this ce it seems like.'' Lady Kang thought to herself.


    While it was nothingpared to the luxurious ces she had lived in, this was still fine for her. Lady Kang knew thats they were in a dangerous location and even such modest amodation would be more than enough for them.


    ''They''ve certainly done well with the formation arrays. I don''t think we''ll be having any issues here.'' Elder Hu thought. "Lady Kang will also be morefortable with this." He muttered. "Each of the rooms has its own control node for the arrays while the core area has the arrays for the entire base." Lin Mu informed them. "As such you can make changes to your room as per yourfort." He added.


    "What about the defenses of the base?" Lady Kang inquired.


    While she had seen them set up the Dual Yang Repulsing Array, she still didn''t know how it would be functioning in the current state.


    "The defense are automatic for the most part, except for the self-destruction. That will have to be triggered manually and will give us two minutes to escape." Lin Mu exined. "There is also a monitoring array in the central room, thus we can observe the condition outside without going their ourselves." He added.


    "Two minutes should be more than enough for us." Lady Kang nodded. "And the monitoring array will certainly be useful." She stated.


    "Mmhmm, you all can take a look at your rooms. I''ve added markers for names, so you can just take your pick and it''ll be bound to you." Lin Mu informed. "You all should get settled in before Crown Prince and the others arrive. We can get started on the new information once they are here." He suggested.


    "Very well." Lady Kang said before picking the room nearest to them.


    "I''ll get one too." Ziran picked a room on the opposite side.

 Chapter 2201 The Members Gather

    Chapter 2201 The Members Gather


    With everyone present having picked a room, all that was left was for Lin Mu to wait.


    ''The Crown Prince and the rest shouldn''t be that far.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    He was very interested in what this ce held, and knew that there should be more to it than just the Chimeric beasts and the baleful energies.


    ''If there is so much Death Qi, there should be some graves here too right? Or at least a massive burial ground.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He couldn''t help but think that there were possibly more rewards present in the Spatial ne. After all, it was an independent ne and should have nurtured its own resources over time.


    "The mixture of Baleful Energies and the Death QI alone should give birth to some unique treasures." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    While these energies were quite harmful to most cultivators, one could still utilize this in the form of weapons. If one could find a material that could contain all these energies while maintaining a steady form, one could very well refine it further to control it better.


    At that point, one would be able to release them at the right moment as an offensive attack.


    Other than weapons, one could also utilize them in warding, defensive and offensive formations if needed. They would be quite powerful and would prevent most cultivators from getting close. ''It would be good to keep some for future use. Storing them in the ring shouldn''t be that hard at least.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    While Lin Mu waited, he went over the arrays and ensured that they were working as expected.


    ''So far no beasts have dared toe close. That should be the effect of my previous battle.'' Lin Mu thought. ''Though how long would thatst?'' he wondered.


    It had already been three days since the battle, and yet the effect was still maintained. Though Lin Mu also recalled the strange behavior of the Chimeric beasts when they had first arrived.


    The beasts were staying behind a boundary that had been breeched shortly after they had waited. Lin Mu wondered what was the reasoning behind it.


    ''Is there something else that causes the Chimeric beasts to react like that?'' Lin Mu questioned but couldn''te up whit anything right away.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    While he was thinking all this, the formations alerted him to the arrival of Four individuals.


    "Huh? Only four?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    He checked who had arrived and found one person to be missing.


    "Where''s Monk Hushu?" Lin Mu wondered before heading out to see the group.


    "Looks like you''ve set up quite a ce for us, Daoist Mu Lin." Crown Prince Feng Shun said looking at the mountain and the hills.


    His Immortal sense could pick up on the strong arrays that were concealed within. His instincts even told him that these could even threaten him if they were activated at full potential.


    "Come on in, I already have the rooms set up for everyone too." Lin Mu informed. "Though I see Monk Hushu is missing." He asked.


    "I was about to talk about that." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "We found a strange structure about a hundred and fifty kilometer from here. It is certainly man made and seems to be closed. It is also surrounded by a lot of Baleful energies and as such, Monk Hushu is purifying it there." He exined.


    "A strange structure?" Lin Mu wondered what it could be.


    "Let''s go inside, we''ve already recorded it so you an view it along with the rest of the information." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded and the group finally entered.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Upon passing through the barrier, they all felt a mark being ced on them.


    "A Yang Mark?" Crown Princess Shang recognized it.


    "Oh, hang on." Lin Mu tapped on the air and changed a few runes.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The Yang Marks that were ced on them were released and they didn''t feel as rmed now. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "That''s the new defense system, is it?" Qiao De asked with interest.


    With how quickly the Yang Marks had been ced and their potency, he couldn''t help but wonder just how much Lin Mu might have expended on it.


    "Yes, I just need to add your Qi signatures to it." Lin Mu said before doing exactly that.


    ~HONG~


    A wave of energy spread from the four individuals as they were now considered as ''allies'' for the array.


    "There we go. It won''t target you all now." Lin Mu said finishing the final bit of work.


    This was why he hade out to greet the group, as he knew they would get targeted without him intervening. Adding them was left, since they weren''t there, but now it was all good.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The gate opened up for them, allowing them to see the illuminated interiors of the mountain. The cave system was made symmetrically and looked rather sleek having been cut by Lin Mu''s swords.


    There were no stray chipping marks or cracks in it either.


    Plus even if someone attacked the walls, they wouldn''t break easily as Lin Mu and Daoist Chu had already added several reinforcing formations as well as durability fortifying arrays to it.


    It was one of the basic things one needed to do, and now even if the outer arrays were destroyed in one hit by some miracle, the mountain should be able to withstand more.


    This further added to their survivability and granted them more leeway.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others looked at the branches inside that extended from the main room.


    "Oh? So this is where we''ll be staying?" Crown Princess Shang said looking at it with interest.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded.


    "May I ask where my Lady is?" Min Ju inquired.


    "The first room on the right from the entrance." Lin Mu pointed.


    "Thank you." Min Ju said before going to report to Lady Kang.


    It was her first duty as her maid and only after she had informed her would she talk to the others.

 Chapter 2202 Death Qi Boundary

    Chapter 2202 Death Qi Boundary


    "You can use the desk," Lin Mu spoke. "It''s connected to the arrays." He added.


    "Ah perfect. You even made this work as a war room, huh." Crown Prince Feng Shun was impressed by the amount of work Lin Mu had done.


    "Daoist Chu assisted a lot too." Lin Mu couldn''t take credit for it all alone.


    "Of course," Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a smile before taking out a jade slip.


    The others did the same and they all ced it on therge stone desk.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as they did, a few formation circle appeared under the jade slips and linked up with the array in the stone desk. They connected sessfully before the information was all transferred to a central formation array.


    ~HUALA~


    Three Formation Screens manifested above the desk, showing the information that was contains within the jade slips.


    Each of the Jade slips had been recorded with all kinds of information, both textural as well as visual.


    ~Step~step~step~


    Just as they had set these up though, several sets of footsteps were heard.


    "Right on time." Qiao De said, looking at the others who had now joined them. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    "I reckon you got a lot of information from surveying?" Lady Kang asked.


    She had already gotten a bit of input from Min Ju decided to head here immediately so that she could get all of it at once.


    "We sure did." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded.


    "Min Ju, ce yours as well." Lady Kang ordered.


    "Yes," The maid said, adding the fourth jade slip causing another formation screen to appear.


    Lin Mu looked at the formation screens, finding swarms of Chimeric beasts being disyed on them.


    "Auroch Chimeric Beasts, and several other mixed Chimeric beasts." Lin Mu observed.


    "There''s at least four swarms of the Chimeric beasts within a five hundred kilometer radius of us." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "Though thankfully none of them seem to be as big as the swarm that you ughtered." He added.


    "That''s good to hear." Lin Mu said. "How big are theypared to the previous one though?" he asked.


    "They are of varying sizes with the smallest being twenty percent of the first one and the biggest being eighty percent of the size." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as the visually showing the Chimeric beasts appeared on the formations screens under his control.


    "Hmm¡­ One of the swarms is entirelyposed of the Auroch Chimeric beasts, but the other three are mixed." Lin Mu noted.


    "Their behavior is a big strange though." Crown Princess Shang spoke up.


    "How so?" Lin Mu asked while the others paid attention.


    "Let me show you all." Crown Princess Shang said and changed the view.


    They now saw the edge of the four Chimeric beast swarms.


    "Huh¡­ They are standing in a single file?" Lin Mu saw that not even a single beast was out of order.


    This was extremely strange, as these weren''t intelligent beasts at all. And even if they were, there was no reason for them to act like this.


    Beasts would roam around as they wished or sleep when they didn''t need to hunt.


    But the Chimeric beasts simply stood while letting out asional cries. They didn''t even sway or step around while standing. It almost felt like they were statues.


    "Did they attack you?" Ziran asked, finding the behavior quite strange. "Chimeric beasts are certainly not known for their patience¡­ if anything they attack everything on sight unless it is their kin. Though sometimes they attack their kin too." He exined.


    "They did attack us." Min Ju spoke up this time. "But when they did, there was a strange movement of the Death Qi." She said, controlling the view.


    ~SHUA~


    The formations screens changed to show a thin line of Death Qi rising from the ground. The line didn''t exist before and was probably deep in the ground.


    But once it appeared above the surface, the Chimeric beasts got restless.


    The sounds of the beasts became louder, while they started to shuffled around.


    Lin Mu watched it all careful until finally the line of Death Qi dispersed!


    ~RUMBLE~


    One that happened, the Chimeric beasts started to rush out and moved around chaotically. They stomped on all that stood in their path while crushing boulders with ease.


    It was quite a shocking sight and would terrify the average person if they saw it.


    "This is easily on the level of a massive Beast Tide." Daoist Chumented.


    "This is worse than that. The beasts seem to go insane once the Death Qi ''boundary'' disappeared." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "We all saw this happen in different sections of the area and they beasts attacked us." He added.


    "We fought the ones that came close and retreated as far as we could." Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "Did the Chimeric beasts stop pursuing you all?" Elder Hu inquired this time.


    "They did¡­ But only when another Death Qi boundary formed." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered.


    "The movement of the Death Qi boundary is unusual. We cannot sense any logic or reasoning behind it." Qiao De stated. "None of my tools gave a satisfactory response, while some of them directly broke." He added.


    ~SIGH~


    The merchant let out a sad sight at the loss of his tools. They were at least mid quality Immortal tools that were able to work even in Baleful energies. But the Death Qi turned out to be ab it too much for them.


    The group looked at the recordings and tried to make sense of just what was happening. "How often did this boundary shift happen?" Lady Kang seemed to have thought of something.


    "There isn''t an exact time frame for it. It ranged anywhere from an hour to eight hours." Crown Prince Feng Shun informed.


    "Still, since there is a uniform boundary like that which is passively controlling the movement of the Chimeric Beasts, it is probably the work of some kind of array." Ziran spoke up. "I''ve seen something like this before, but it was not with Death Qi." He added.

 Chapter 2203 The Variety Of Chimeric Beasts

    Chapter 2203 The Variety Of Chimeric Beasts


    Ziran''s expeditions and exploration experience was being useful for everyone now, as he could provide important insights on things like this.


    "You have?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed." Ziran nodded. "The way the Death Qi is moving and forming boundaries¡­ it is almost like a Herding Array." He revealed.


    "Herding Array?" Daoist Chu and Lin Mu both knew what it was. "Like the ones used to herd tamed beasts?" they asked.


    "Yes just like those." Ziran confirmed. "I''ve seen these in some sects where they raise beasts for their materials and resources. There these are used to make sure the beasts are only in the areas they need to be in.


    Or in case the beasts need to be regrly moved around, they are used too. They are helpful since one doesn''t need to tame every beast.


    They can simply used this array to handle the weaker beasts as they would be intimidated by the power of the array." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ Now that we think of it, the Chimeric Beasts were waiting patiently until the boundary disappeared. And once it was gone, they charged at us." Crown Prince Feng Shun thought over it. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Yes¡­ they only became stimtedter. And even in the other locations that we saw them, they were waiting until the boundary was gone." Crown Princess Shang was in agreement.


    "So it really is a Herding Array?" They almost found it a bit ridiculous.


    It was due to the fact that dangerous and uncontroble beasts like the Chimeric Beasts were under the influence of a mere Herding Array, then it was further exaggerated by the fact that something as vtile as Death Qi was being used there.


    Normally only some Immortal Qi would be more than enough for it. But Death Qi was taking it to the next level.


    "That leaves us with the question¡­ If there is a Herding Array, there should be a Herder too." Lady Kang chimed in. "Who or what might just be the Herder of the Chimeric Beasts?" she questioned.


    "That is yet to be confirmed, but it does seem like the central array of this Spatial ne might be controlling the Herding Array too. While we don''t know how far its influence is spread, it would be safe to assume that the entirety of the Spatial ne might be under its grasp." Ziran spoke up. "If it is only a specific part of the Spatial ne, then we''ll be at an advantage. But if it really is spread everywhere, we would have to be quite careful." He warned.


    "Ziran is correct, taking precaution here would be key." Elder Hu stated.


    "Though why would they be herding the Chimeric Beasts?" Lin Mu still could not figure it out. "I mean it would take extra effort to do that. They could just let the Chimeric Beasts roam and it would still be fine." He said.


    "We cannot be certain of what the true reasoning behind it was, but it is certainly an obstacle for us." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. With the true motives behind the herding of the Chimeric beasts unknown, the group decided to move onto to the next few things that they had discovered.


    "So far we''ve discovered eight types of Chimeric Beasts, but I think there should be more." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, showing their images on the formation screens.


    The mostmon type of the Chimeric beast was none other than the Auroch Chimeric Beast. After them were the three Chimeric beasts that looked like hybrids of various insects. The first among them had major features of a mantis with other bugs mixed in. It had sharp sickles and long limbs, allowing it to have great agility and attack ability.


    The second insect Chimeric beast had the body of a giant beetle but the wings of a dragon fly and the stinger of a scorpion. It could fly really fast for its size and could easily spell trouble if multiple of them gathered up.


    The third insect chimeric beast was a strange maggot that had three tails. The tails belonged to an Earwig. A foul smelling liquid also dropped down from the tips of the tails, possibly being corrosive in nature. Other than the tails, the maggot also had multiple pairs ofpound eyes, that surrounded its mouthpletely.


    It had the best vision among them all and could spot a foe approaching from any angle, whether it be from behind, front, sky or the earth.


    The fifth and sixth chimeric beasts they had seen were a bit more rare. The fifth looked like a mix of a toad and some kind of a nt. It had multiple vines growing out of its body, and even its tongue was a vine of some kind, with a flower on its tip.


    But this was no normal flower and had hundreds of sharp teeth on it, easily capable of devouring an entire cow in one go. Thankfully this toad chimeric beast seemed to be all gatherer around the few bodies of water that were preset in the Spatial ne.


    The sixth Chimeric beast was a bit more ''normal''pared to most and actually looked very simr to another well registered beast: The Griffin!


    It had the body of a lion with the head and wings of an eagle. But it became a Chimera due to the strangebination of feathers that looked scaly on one side, metallic on the other and normal on the back. Its beak was also rather big, having jagged teeth poking out from its sides, preventing it from fully closing.


    The Seventh Chimeric Beast was something Lin Mu had seen before in the memories of Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker.


    It was therge stick bug that had been killed by Hall Master Fei with Ocean Raker.


    ''So there were more of them still left.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Finally the Eighth Chimeric Beast was also something Lin Mu had seen before. It was the beast that had led to the end of Elder Zen and Hall Master Fei.

 Chapter 2204 Dazzling Mud Lotuses

    Chapter 2204 Dazzling Mud Lotuses


    ''But that one had four heads and was a massive hundred meters in size. This one only has three and is about thirty meters in size.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "This one was the strongest Chimeric Beast we''ve seen so far." Qiao De said this time. "It almost hit me from over three kilometer away." He said, as a few beads of sweat appeared on his face.


    "What is the cultivation base?" Lady Kang inquired.


    "I couldn''t estimate properly from afar, but considering the fact that it could urately target me from that far and still make me feel threated, it should at least be at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm or even the Sixth." Qiao De answered.


    "That Chimeric beast is very simr to what killed the former owners of my swords. Though it is much smaller in size and only has three heads." Lin Mu informed.


    "Hmm, if so we''ll have to be careful of this one." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. They further discussed the attacks and skills of the Chimeric beasts they had observed, making ns about how to defend against them as well as how to counteract against them.


    For a majority of the Chimeric beasts, it wasn''t really a problem as all of them had skills that could deal with it. But there were two that were particrly problematic.


    First was the maggot that produced a foul fluid from its tail. It could spray the liquid that had highly corrosive properties that could even melt rock.


    Then there was the Toad nt hybrid. It could disguise really well with the nts that were present in the water bodies and mix in with the flowers there.


    "There are quite a few good herbs there," Min Ju informed.


    She was the one that had encountered it and recorded about it. "I even saw a Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus in it." She revealed.


    "A WHAT!?" Qiao De and Crown Princess Shang had the strongest reactions.


    Lin Mu was a bit surprised by their reactions, wondering just what this flower was.


    "What is that?" Lin Mu questioned. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "You don''t know about the Dazzling Mud Lotuses?" Lady Kang looked at Lin Mu with surprise this time.


    With how knowledgeable he had been so far, she was more shocked that he didn''t know about something.


    "No¡­ I don''t think I''ve heard about them." Lin Mu shook his head.


    He tried to recall all the books he had read, but none of them seemed to have a mention of it.


    "A Dazzling Mud Lotus is a special kind of flower that grows in foul mud. The worse the mud is the stronger the properties of the Dazzling Mud Lotus. A normal one colored Dazzling Mud Lotus is an the level of a Nascent Soul realm being. A Two Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus is on the level of a First Tribtion Stage Immortal, while a Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus is almost on the level of a Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal.


    But it isn''t the strength that it is known for, but rather its ability to rapidly stabilize one''s foundation as well as strengthening one''s cultivation base. Since it can be taken by those at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal ream to fully stabilize their foundation and give them an almost perfect guarantee to ovee their next Immortal tribtion." Lady Kang exined.


    Hearing the information Lin Mu could now understand why the two individuals had reacted like that.


    For Qiao De the value of the flower was high for obvious reasons, as he could sell it for any price he wanted. After all, there were many fifth tribtion stage Immortal realm cultivators nearing the end of their lifespan that wished for something that would guarantee their breakthrough.


    This was especially the case for n patriarchs and elders that were desperate for a breakthrough but could not risk dying or their ns would suffer.


    They would rather pay a massive price than to take a risk.


    And in the case of Crown Princess Shang, Lin Mu reckoned she wanted a Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus for herself, as she could both use it for herself, as well as enhance her own skills since she had affinity to the wood element too.


    "If there''s one Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus there, there''s bound to be more." Qiao De said with great hope. "Just think about it, this ce has been untouched and provides the best condition for them to be nurtured. They''re even guarded by those toad nt chimeric beasts." He added, hinting that they should go after him.


    "Indeed. I would definitely like a cutting of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus. If we can obtain its roots or perhaps even a seed pod, it would be simply divine." Crown princess Shang stated. "I''ve been wanting to grow one myself for a long time, but only had a luck with a Two Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus at the maximum." She stated.


    "Our Great Kang Auction house hasn''t had one for sale for a long time either." Lady Kang showed some interest too.


    "Having a backup for our breakthrough will be nice." Daoist Chu simply said.


    Seeing that everyone was showing interest in the flower, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lin Mu knew it was now a done deal.


    "Seems like we''ll be going after the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotuses then." Crown Prince Feng Shun decided.


    "Though, how far is it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Its about Four hundred and fifty kilometers to back of the mountain." Min Ju informed.


    "Perhaps it is best we designate the directions now." Ziran stated taking out apass. "This is a Magicalpass so should work fine despite the Qi saturation here." He added.


    "Will it work though? We aren''t one a world." Daoist Chu asked.


    "This is a rather massive Spatial ne, as such should have its own maic fields. I don''t see why it won''t work." Ziran said before tapping on thepass, making it spin to life.

 Chapter 2205 New Directions And Humbleness

    Chapter 2205 New Directions And Humbleness


    Everyone watched as the magicalpass in Ziran''s hand became active.


    It was shaped like a basicpass, having four markers designating North, South, West and East.


    The only difference was that the needle of thepass was suspended over a tiny blue crystal whose top had been shaven into a fine point. The needle was bnced on this and spun rapidly, as if it were being pushed around by a strong gust of wind.


    "Is it working?" Lin Mu asked, seeing that the needle didn''t stop even after a minute.


    "It might take a bit of time, considering the size of this ne." Ziran assured. They watched for another couple of minutes,before finally the needle showed signs of slowing down. ~TING~


    Then all of a sudden, it snapped into a certain direction and didn''t move anymore. "There we go," Ziran said, feeling pleased.


    He then adjusted thepass so that the markers were aligned properly and found out the exact directions.


    "Alright, so it looks like we are facing the west right now." Ziran read thepass.


    "West?" Lin Mu aligned it with the map they had made and quickly adjusted it ording to thepass. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    The map rotated a bit and was now oriented towards the north.


    "So our base is basically oriented in the North East and South West direction." Crown Prince Feng Shun observed.


    The mountain with the two hills on its sides formed a diagonal line that perfectly aligned in the said direction. And the way the main room inside it was made, it was facing towards the west.


    "This will certainly make things easier," Lady Kang said as she watched the new map.


    "We can now add all the locations to the map," Daoist Chu suggested.


    "Alright, let me do that." Lin Mu said and consolidated all the information he had gotten from the jade slips and added it to the map.


    Now they had a rather detailed map of about five hundred kilometers in radius, and a more rough map for about a hundred kilometer past that. With the new modification made, they could now see where each of the swarms of the Chimeric beasts were located.


    "Though we''ll have to modify this often, since the Chimeric beasts move around ording to the Death Qi boundary shift." Daoist Chu stated.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu agreed. "Though there might be an easier solution to that." He added.


    "What is it?" Qiao De asked.


    "Eliminate them from the map itself." Lin Mu stated.


    "Eliminate them?" Qiao De and a few others raised their brows.


    "Daoist Mu Lin has already done it before, so I don''t see why it can''t be done again." Lady Kang had plenty of confidence in Lin Mu''s abilities.


    "That''s right." Crown Prince Feng Shun was in agreement, too.


    He had seen the scene of ughter that Lin Mu and his two swords had created, and knew that perhaps he could do that again if he wished to. This was especially considering the fact that the Lin Mu had improved since then and the Chimeric Beast swarms were smaller than that one.


    "I might advice you to err on the side of caution." Ziran said with a hint of warning. "Considering the fact that there are valuable herbs like the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus here, I don''t see why there cannot be other herbs here too. Or other minerals and resources." He reminded.


    Lin Mu understood the half elf''s train of thoughts and realized that he could have made a mistake.


    "Ah, I apologize." Lin Mu replied. "It could indeed lead to a loss for us if the herbs and resources got damaged in the process." He admitted.


    "That is true¡­ Even if you can take care to avoid damaging them, the Chimeric Beasts will have no such restrictions. They could end up trampling those things while running away or battling you." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded.


    "But on the other side, if we are sure that there are none of those resources present in the area of a swarm or if they are extracted in advance, I see no reason to not eliminate them." Ziran chimed in again with a smile.


    "That is certainly the better option." Lady Kang nodded.


    "We''ll do that." Lin Mu replied. "I''ll be relying on everyone''s experience for that." He said with cupped hands. "We''ll do our best to help. It is for our benefits too, after all." Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled.


    The people were a bit pleased by the humbleness that Lin Mu showed. Most of the cultivators that they had seen at the level or even below Lin Mu tended to be quite arrogant and stubborn. It was far rare to find a flexible genius than a stubborn one.


    Even in the case of Royalty, like in the case of Crown Prince Feng Shun and Crown Princess Shang, such things weremon.


    In fact, Crown Princess Shang herself knew that she wouldn''t be so forting and adaptive like Lin Mu if she was caught being in the wrong. There was a certain level of pride they developed as being royals, as well as being good at cultivation.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun had plenty of siblings and cousins in his family that acted rather arrogantly and could even be abusive to those below them. While Emperor Feng was known to be rather just, he couldn''t always monitor everything that his family was doing.


    There were a few things that could be spared on the ount of maintaining the dignity of the imperial family, but when things went a little too bad, the Emperor would have to act. Or rather, he would designate someone to act on his behalf.


    After all, an Emperor personally punishing others would be quite degrading and below his status.


    This was where Crown Prince Feng Shun came in. He often acted as the punisher for his father, at least in the case of the Imperial Family. This is also why Crown Prince Feng Shun had targeted Feng Baxing the Third Prince.

 Chapter 2206 Heading To The West To Meet The Monk

    Chapter 2206 Heading To The West To Meet The Monk


    Feng Baxing had not been acting in the most ideal manner, thus the Crown Prince chose to punish him. He did so while making use of someone else, that ended up being Lin Mu.


    But the Crown Prince had no idea that his Third brother would be too foolish for his own good and end upmitting a sin that would jeopardize the entire Imperial Family if not the entire empire. It would have been a situation where even the Emperor would not hesitate in punishing the third Prince, but that was never needed.


    For there were greater powers that did it for them.


    ''Someone of this personality would be quite good as an adviser for the Imperial Family¡­ and me.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought to himself, as a few ideas appeared in his mind. While there was a long time till he would be the Emperor, it didn''t mean that he couldn''t prepare his own group of people till then. People that would not only support him but also help him be a ruler that could exceed the achievements of his father and predecessor.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun was highly tempted to recruit Lin Mu. But he also knew of the reality.


    ''Someone of his caliber won''t be restricted to a mere Immortal world¡­ Perhaps a different approach might be better for it.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought of what could be done. ''We have plenty of time anyways. I''ll have to talk with father once we''re out.'' He decided.


    No one knew the thoughts that Crown Prince Feng Shun was having, but there was one other person who had been having simr thoughts. Lady Kang was also having certain desires pertaining to Lin Mu, but she wasn''t as clear as Crown Prince Feng Shun. She hadn''t made up her mind about what should be done and was still in the pondering phase.


    But whatever it might be, there was a high chance it would still be in the favor of Lin Mu.


    ~SHAU~SHUA~SHUA~


    While they were having these thoughts, Lin Mu was busy marking the various locations on the map.


    "There we go, that should be about all of them." Lin Mu said putting his hand down.


    The people came out of their thoughts and watched the map.


    The water bodies that Min Ju and a few others had seen with the Toad nt Chimeric beasts were spread out in the eastern and north eastern area. While the three headed, strong Chimeric beast that Qiao De had encountered was far to the south.


    It was located just outside the five hundred kilometer radius, and Qiao De had turned back as soon as he had avoided the attack by the Chimeric beast. The rest of the Chimeric beast swarms were moving around due to the boundaries shifting, but ording to thest reported locations, Lin Mu designated each of them to be in the North, South, East and West directions.


    "I suppose we can designate these swarms as the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Chimeric beast swarms." Ziran stated.


    "That works." No one disagreed.


    "Now that we have all this done, perhaps it is time we go to meet up Monk Hushu." Lin Mu suggested. "He hasn''t contacted us yet, so he''s probably still busy in purifying the baleful energies. We should go give him a hand." He added.


    "Yeah, we should go there." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed.


    "To the West then." Ziran said and the group began its move.


    The structure that Monk Hushu had discovered was located about three hundred kilometers in the western direction. It was a distance that the group wouldn''t take long to cover if they flew at their maximum speed, but they also had to deal with a few Chimeric Beasts that stood in their paths.


    "So there are other Chimeric beasts that aren''t in swarms." Lin Mu said seeing the strays that were moving around.


    Thergest group for these strays was just ten to twenty, while there were many singr Chimeric beasts that were moving around. "I think they might have gotten separated somehow when the Death Qi boundary shifted." Ziran suggested.


    "Is there any Death Qi boundary here though?" Lin Mu wondered. "Something that could be keeping them from reuniting." He looked around.


    "There sure is." Lady Kang said, pointing to a faint line in the distance.


    It was like a ck mirage that twisted and turned in the distance. It was roughly thirty kilometers away, and when they got closer, Lin Mu finally got a proper look at it.


    "Huh¡­ This is much thicker than the one we saw at the start." Lin Mu said seeing the Death Qi Boundary that was roughly three meters wide.


    "I''ve seen a couple more that were even thicker than this." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "Upto ten meters thick." He informed.


    "That thick?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    It was easy for him to assume that the thickness of the boundary was dependent on something.


    "What of the shifting boundaries? Were any of them this thick?" Lin Mu asked next. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "No, all of them seemed to be very thin. Perhaps not even an inch thick." Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "I see¡­ Perhaps when the thickness of the boundary is directly rted to the time of it shifting." Lin Mu stroked his chin.


    "That does seem likely." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "But the boundaries certainly don''t shift at an equal times." Qiao De stated. "We might just need to observe them more. I don''t think we''ll be unable to figure it out." Lin Mu said as they got closer.


    Soon he stood merely a meter away from the boundary.


    His immortal sense was trying to probe it, but found itself getting damaged in the process.


    "It still is as bad as before." Lin Mu said, repairing his damaged Immortal sense. "We can just fly over it." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "The boundary''s effect is only limited to a hundred meter height." He informed.

 Chapter 2207 The Death Qi Boundarys Effects

    Chapter 2207 The Death Qi Boundary''s Effects


    Crown Prince Feng Shun''s words were a bit surprising to Lin Mu.


    "Only hundred meters?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "That''s a bit small for the Chimeric beasts to be affected, isn''t it?" he asked.


    It was a distance that the Chimeric Beasts would be able to cross simply by jumping over, not to mention that they could fly over it too. Though most of them seemed to have their own preferences as to how they fought, with those having the body types of and animal preferring to fight onnd.


    As such, just a hundred meter limit seemed a bit too small overall.


    "We thought the same, but the effect on the Chimeric Beasts seem to be a lot more intense. They don''t even think about trying that." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "Hmm¡­ This can be used to our advantage perhaps." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "Has anyone tried to go through the boundary before?" he asked next.


    "We didn''t try¡­ It didn''t seem wise to do so." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "It won''t be good to touch the Death Qi ourselves after all. Even with our cultivation base, it can very well corrupt our flesh and Qi." Elder Hu warned.


    "That is true." The others agreed.


    "I can still try." Lin Mu was not discouraged though. "I''ve already had a close encounter with it before, so I do know how to repel it for now." He stated.


    "You sure you are going to do it?" Lady Kang couldn''t help but ask in concern.


    "It is better to know now the consequences ofing in contact with it, than when we inevitably end up doing it without meaning to." Lin Mu replied. "We never know what can happen in the heat of the battle." He added.


    "Daoist Mu Lin''s words are urate." Ziran said in agreement. "I''ve had some encounters with Death Qi, and while it can be really deadly, with some precautions we can at least resist it." He added.


    "I''ll try it now then." Lin Mu said, making everyone take a breath.


    ~HUU~


    They all watched with bated breaths as Lin Mu extended his hand towards the Death Qi boundary. The boundary was flickering every so often, as if a ck smoke was rising from the ground. Though it didn''t exactly sway like normal smoke did even though there was wind here. It showed that the Death Qi itself had different properties and the flickering was merely a byproduct of it rising from the ground.


    ~HISS~


    As soon as Lin Mu''s fingertip touched the surface of the Death Qi Boundary, a hissing sound was heard. It was simr to a globule of water sizzling up on a hot pan. ~HUMM~


    But as they all watched, Lin Mu''s finger suddenly started to glow in a yellow light.


    "What''s that?" Crown Prince Feng Shun wondered.


    "A defensive skill?" Daoist Chu tilted his head.


    "Has he ever used it before?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "I don''t think so." Daoist Chu shook his head.


    "Metal elemental Qi¡­ It is quite dense too." Elder Hu said seeing the yellow glow on Lin Mu''s body. "Its coating his body." He stated. "Is he just using Metal elemental Qi for the defense?" Crown Princess Shang wondered.


    "No¡­ that''s not it." Crown Prince Feng Shun soon noticed something different.


    "Indeed¡­ that''s not a normal Qi skill." Lady Kang noticed it by now too. "It is a Body Refining technique." She added. "A Body refining technique?" Ziran narrowed his eyes as he took a closer look.


    What Lin Mu was using or rather his body had activated was none other than the True Gold Body Forging Arts. It was still present in his body but was rarely activated as he had the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    Though it did provide a passive defense boost to Lin Mu at all times, it was just that it wasn''t fully apparent until a certain amount of force was applied. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    And right now, since Lin Mu was holding back using the Longgui Bulwark Armor, his golden body due to the True Gold Body forging Arts was aromatically activated.


    ~HONG~


    Lin Mu maintained his focus and used his Immortal Sense to finely observe what was happening to his finger.


    ''The Death Qi is trying to prate but my golden body is preventing it from doing so right now.'' Lin Mu observed. ''It is quite simr to the Baleful energy in this regard.'' He recalled thest time he had done this in the Blood Strewn Battlefield.


    He watched as the Death Qi slowly started to corrode the golden surface of his finger.


    ''So it only needs a bit of time to do this¡­ its stronger than the Baleful Qi in this regards.'' Lin Mu understood. ''But what if I further reinforce it with some Metal elemental Qi?'' he wondered.


    Intending to try it out, Lin Mu channeled the Metal elemental immortal Qi into his finger.


    ~HONG~


    As soon as he did, the rate of corrosion slowed down and in a few seconds it even started to reverse. "Hmm¡­ So I can resist it this way." Lin Mu muttered.


    But this was just the start, Lin Mu had merely touched upon the surface. His finger wasn''t even one centimeter inside the Death Qi boundary.


    "Time to probe deeper." He said before pushing his finger in two centimeters.


    The group watched as Lin Mu did experiments on his own body.


    It was a bit shocking to them, as they themselves wouldn''t really attempt something so risky like this. They were cultivators and knew that taking risks was innately necessary for their growth. But they also knew the situations in which they should take risks.


    For example, they would take risks in their cultivation, and test out some new theories and methods that might help them progress faster. This was a risk that would bring them benefits, thus they felt justified in doing this.


    Or there was the case ofing to an expedition like the one they were in.

 Chapter 2208 Acting Like A Guinea Pig

    Chapter 2208 Acting Like A Guinea Pig


    The expedition was also highly risky and came with arge chance of death. And yet, the rewards were well worth it, thus they were willing to take it on.


    But what Lin Mu was doing was a sure shot way of getting injured and harming oneself.


    And yet, he didn''t seem to be scared in the slightest and there was even a hint of curiosity brimming on his face.


    ''He should be in pain, and yet he''s testing this out as if he''s ying with some herbs.'' Crown Princess Shang thought to herself. ''How¡­ Thrilling.'' That was the only word she coulde up with.


    ''Is he foolish, or too headstrong to try something like this?'' Lady Kang wondered. ''Though he hasn''t harmed himself much so far, so perhaps he is calctive enough to take this risk.'' Her thoughts were a bit different.


    The group had varying thoughts, as some thoughts it was a bit too reckless while others couldn''t help but appreciate Lin Mu''s bravery.


    After all, he was technically doing it for them too. If they knew what could happen to one''s body, they would have a better chance at dealing with it. Plus they had seen how Lin Mu had resisted the death Qi in the Teleportation Channel before.


    While they had been paralyzed by it, he alone was able to resist and bring them out of it safely.


    Thankfullyter on they were fully restored to their peak condition by the pedestal, and even their cultivation base was improved. Otherwise, there was no telling when they would be able to recover from it and then enter the Spatial ne.


    ~HISSAAA~


    The sizzling sound got louder as Lin Mu went deeper.


    "Ha¡­" He took a little breath, as a stream of pain shot through his finger and into his arm. ''Its getting intense now.'' Lin Mu noted. ''It the Metal elemental Immortal Qi didn''t evenst five seconds.'' He noted.


    He increased the Qi output and tried to outpete the Death Qi, but even after increasing it by four times, the effect was the same.


    ''The death Qi will render it ineffective after a certain point.'' Lin Mu now understood.


    His golden finger was now a strange mottled green, with grey spots appearing. Even the part that was outside the Death Qi Boundary was being affected as the corrosion spread. In a few seconds, Lin Mu''s entire finger had turned mottled green, with the part that was inside the Death Qi boundary bing fully grey.


    "Huh¡­" Lin Mu pulled his finger back out and checked on its condition. "Meridians are being infiltrated by the vitality from my flesh is resisting it and actively trying to regenerate the damaged tissue." He noted.


    ~HUALA~


    Lin Mu then stimted his aura, causing his vitality to surge into his finger.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The aura overpowered the remnants of the Death Qi and stared healing his finger. In the next minute, Lin Mu''s finger was fully back to its normal state.


    "So Metal elemental Immortal Qi with my Body cultivation can resist a surface level interaction, but not more." Lin Mu informed them.


    "That''s good to know. At least we know it won''t be too bad if we end up touching it unknowingly." Crown prince Feng Shun said. "Thank you for your work." "Oh, I''m not done yet," Lin Mu replied. "Uh¡­ What?" They had not expected this at all.


    "That was just the basic level test. I still need to see if my other defensive techniques can resist it." Lin Mu answered. "I''ll go with a stronger one this time." He said before his aura red up.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Lin Mu''s aura surged as a searing hot energy rose out of his body.


    ''Longgui Bulwark Armour: Magma Hardening!''


    The searing hot energy that was abination of the fire, metal and earth elements condensed around Lin Mu''s arm and turned into a stone gauntlet. It looked rather rugged and it was as if it had been forged from fresh magma and tempered by cooling it in the waters of the arctic.


    ~Sha~


    Lin Mu thrust his finger back into the Death Qi boundary, but this time around no sizzling sound was heard.


    "Huh?" Daoist Chu, who was watching it closely, couldn''t help but be surprised.


    "It''s not¡­ Corroding him?" Crown Princess Shang noted too.


    "That stone armor¡­ it isn''t affected by the Death Qi as easily." Elder Hu noted.


    Lin Mu let his finger be there for a minute and saw no reaction to it.


    ''Much better.'' He thought. "Now to try deeper." He said before pushing it in deep.


    Feeling more confident, he directly let his entire finger sink in. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    Still, no sound was heard for a minute. He observed the process with his immortal sense and saw how the Death Qi was basically unable to prate the stone gauntlet at this level.


    Lin Mu waited for an entire five to confirm that it couldn''t harm him right now, before he finally pushed his hand deeper. Now his hand had sunk all the way to his wrist!


    "Should we stop him?" Qiao De couldn''t help but ask, seeing the risky act.


    "He''s fine so far¡­ so let him be," Lady Kang replied. "If he really gets injured, I have means to heal him." She couldn''t help but be invested in the ''experiment'' now.


    As such, the group watched as Lin Mu acted like a guinea pig.


    Lin Mu observed his hand and saw that it was finally starting to affect the stone gauntlet. There was no hissing sound yet, but he could observe with his immortal sense that the Death Qi was affecting the stone on a microscopic level.


    ''So the deeper we go, the more the strength and concentration of the Death Qi.'' Lin Mu noted. ''But it is still low at this point. I should see when its fully affecting the Longgui Bulwark Armor.'' He thought and pushed his arm deeper.


    Now his hand had sank all the way to his elbow, making the group gasp inwardly.

 Chapter 2209 Limits Of The Boundary And Ambush Method

    Chapter 2209 Limits Of The Boundary And Ambush Method


    With his hand so deep, the effects of the Death Qi were also stronger.


    ~HISS~


    The hissing sound was finally heard as it started corroding the stone gauntlet. Though this time around, the process was not as fast, and unlike when Lin Mu was just using his golden body to resist, he was feeling no pain.


    This was due to the fact that the Longgui Bulwark Armor was an external technique and even if it was destroyed, it could be restored with a little effort from Lin Mu. As such, he could wholly bear the expense of it getting damaged by the Death Qi.


    "Hmm, it can corrode, but the speed is slow." Lin Mu noted. "But what if it has additional opposition?" he wondered.


    As soon as he thought that, the searing heat rose from his body once more. The stone gauntlet glowed in a bright red and orange light, as magma started to flow around it!


    ''Longgui Bulwark Armors: Magma Fury!''


    Lin Mu maintained the state of the gauntlet while letting more of the searing Qi to fuel it. This turned into the magma that now coated it and burned brightly!


    Thebination of three elements: Fire, Metal and Earth was reinforcing each other, providing a multiplicative effect.


    ~SHAHA~


    As soon as the Magma showed its power, the Death Qi was sent reeling!


    It was not only purged from corrupting the stone gauntlet, it even created a five centimeter empty area around the entire gauntlet!


    "This is better than I thought." Lin Mu said. "Strong Yang effect is good enough to repel the Death Qi, even if one doesn''t use Yang Qi itself." He stated before turning to Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "Lightning elemental Immortal Qi works the same for Death Qi, but my consumption will be much higher." Crown Prince Feng Shun knew what Lin Mu was thinking.


    "You''re using abination of three basal elements, thus the consumption is low, but the effect is great. The effect might be equal with lightning, but as a heavenly element, the consumption will certainly increase and might even strain the user." Ziran said, after observing what Lin Mu had done.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll think of a method that can be applied to others." Lin Mu stated, knowing that he could only defend himself like this. "For now though, this''ll be enough." He stated.


    "Yes." Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others nodded.


    The group was still a bit shook by the fact at how Lin Mu had tested all of this out. If it were a normal cultivator, they might have already been considered as insane to try something like this. Perhaps only a suicidal individual might try something like this, but then it won''t be an easy death either.


    Death Qi was very cruel in nature. It would corrode and corrupt every inch of one''s body bit by bit, killing every cell while sending pangs of pain that would make one wish they never existed, until it fully consumed them and truly made their wishe true.


    Perhaps that was the reason why even the Chimeric Beasts kept their distance from the Death Qi boundary and feared to even jump over it.


    "Let''s continue to Monk Hushu." Lin Mu said and flew back up in the sky.


    Their break here had been short and not much time had passed, thus it was just a temporary pause in their journey. But it had certainly provided important input to them.


    While flying, Lin Mu made sure to pay attention to the death Qi boundaries that appeared and how they varied. He could certainly see the different sizes and thickness of the Death Qi boundaries. It was here that he noted that the Death Qi boundaries intersected in many areas.


    ''Hmm¡­ So the Death Qi boundaries are individual lines. And they end whenever they intersect another such boundary.'' Lin Mu learned.


    He also observed that the thickness of each boundary was independent of each other. Some were thin, some were thick, while some were in the middle of that. As such, multiple boundaries like this would intersect and form a ''container'' for the Chimeric beasts.


    Whichever ''wall'' of the container became thin and weak was also the spot where the Chimeric Beasts would gather.


    ''So that''s what dictates their movements?'' Lin Mu watched while avoiding the beasts.


    While he could easily kill them, he didn''t want to do that just now. Not when he was getting a lot of information from just observing them. Plus, they could very well do that once, they had met up with Monk Hushu and seen what the structure was.


    After a couple hours of flying, Lin Mu learned one final think about the Chimeric beasts and the Death Qi boundaries.


    ''While they tend to avoid the thick boundaries, if all the intersecting walls are thick, they will just gather in the center.'' Lin Mu could see that this could be a really good opportunity for an ambush.


    Such an idea was best to be shared, and he did exactly that. And once the group heard it, they were in agreement.


    "That is indeed quite excellent!" Daoist Chu said with excitement. "Yeah, the Chimeric Beasts don''t dare to jump up and don''t fly unless they are forced to. Thus we can take advantage of their passiveness." Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "They won''t have a ce to run and since they are on the ground, they will still be at a disadvantage when they try to fly up." Qiao De spoke.


    "We can very well look for groups like this and eliminate them all at once from the sky." Elder Hu was in agreement too.


    "How about we try it out, then?" Lady Kang said, taking the initiative this time. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "You wish to have a go?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Very well." Lady Kang said, wishing to see how much Qi she''d need for a group like this.


    They counted the Chimeric beasts and there were roughly nine thousand of them. They took up an area of about three hundred square meters and were huddled rather closely, making them the perfect targets.


    Lady Kang got the sense of the area and prepared her skill.


    Bringing her hands together, she made a circle, before drawing two lines from its center at a forty five degree angle.


    She then extended this line along her shoulders and chanted lightly.


    "Divine Mystic Constetion Art." She spoke as the lines she had drawn started to glow.


    The circle expanded to berger while the lines did too. But this was merely the start as Lady Kang then made two spirals along the ends of the lines that flitted with runes.


    In fact, if one looked closely, they would see hundreds of runes budding from the lines that Lady Kang had drawn!


    It was a different method of making runes that they had not seen.


    ''Runes without any strokes or direct draw?'' Lin Mu wondered if this was the unique effect of the skill itself or something else.


    ~SHUA~


    But before he could think further, the skill started to progress.


    "88 Constetion Series- Thirty Ninth Form!" Lady Kang said out loud, as ifmanding the skill to take form. "Golden Fleeced Chrysomallos!" Her words seemingly spurred the skill to transform as arge being materialized.


    It was that of a winged ramposed out of shining stars!


    The stars were made out of the runes that had budded out of the lines that she had drawn and then twinkled like the night sky. But that was not all as the ram glowed an golden light too. Its fleece that was originally colorless took on a golden color and turned thick. It held a toughness that was hard to describe and also contained dignity that seemed to repel evil itself.


    ~BAAA~


    The Ram let out a loud bleat as it rose its head to the sky. ~BIHIIIIIHIHIHI~


    Its cry caused the Chimeric beasts below to panic as they started to cry anxiously too. They felt an instinctive fear of the constetion in the sky and what fate held for them.


    But it was all for naught, as their existence was just temporary, for Lady Kang hadpleted the skill.


    "Banishing Horns Of Aries!" She chanted, causing the ram to take action.


    The constetion descended from the sky, its head pointed towards the Chimeric beasts. As it got closer, its size grew bigger, and its horns covered the entire span of the Chimeric beasts.


    The chimeric beasts could only look up fearful as their end shed in their eyes.


    ~BOOM~


    Then finally, the ram struck the chimeric beasts, the ster energy contained within the horns purging the Chimeric beasts into dust. Their flesh and blood was burned away by the pure ster energy while their cries were suppressed.


    The group watched in awe as the Kang n''sdy decimated nine thousand chimeric beasts in one go.


    The impact left a dual spiral imprint on the ground. That was a mark of the Aries.

 Chapter 2210 The Structure

    Lady Kang''s demonstration of strength was quite effective, for all the Chimeric beasts in the enclosed area had been killed.


    ~huu~


    She drew in a breath and stabilized her immortal Qi, as it was still one of the skills from the 88 Constetion Series. Each and everyone of the skills took a lot of Qi to use. Though the function of each skill was a bit different.


    The one that she had used right now, the Banishing horns of Aries were especially intended to be used against beings of the Yin inclination.


    "Hmm¡­ I suppose this can handle about twice the amount or more with this too." Lady Kang muttered to herself.


    "Yeah the skill can take on more Chimeric beasts." Lin Mu chimed in.


    "I suppose Lady Kang still needs a bit more time toe limatize to the increase in her cultivation base." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    "Possibly." Lady Kang understood that too.


    "Well at least we now know this kind of method is quite useful. As long as we see any Chimeric beasts in such an enclosed area, we should take the opportunity to eliminate them." Ziran stated.


    "Our goal here is Survive in the end. If there are less threats, our chances of survival will increase." Daoist Chu could see the benefits too.


    While killing so many Chimeric beasts in one go would take a strong skill and higher expenditure of Immortal Qi, it was something that was still better than risking and fighting them directly. At least this way they could save time, and the effort needed to battle them one on one. Not to mention, they would also be avoiding any potential injuries this way.


    With such conditions, the benefits outweighed the risks and it was beneficial to kill the Chimeric beasts at once.


    "I suppose we can keep a look out on the way to Monk Hushu." Lin Mu said while the others agreed.


    After this momentary pause, the group continued on their journey and spotted arge structure after about an hour.


    "There it is!" Crown Princess Shang said out loud.


    Lin Mu and the group looked at it, finding it to be rather ancient looking.


    It was made from a ck stone of some kind, that was different than the rest of the Spatial ne. There were also fine carvings made all over it, with each brick having at least three such carvings on it.


    The structure was three tiered, with eight pirs supporting each tier.


    It looked like a mix between a pagoda and a castle of sort, with an outer boundary that was two square kilometer is size.


    The structure itself was about five hundred meters tall, and equally as wide in area. And from the sky, the group could only see one entrance to it, with no other exists present.


    There were no windows or galleries on it, and neither were there any openings to nce at what was present inside.


    Though what did stand out was a dense curtain of Baleful energies surrounding the inner entrance of the structure. And sitting in front of the gate was none other than a bald monk whose body seemed to be glowing in a yellow light.


    "What is that thing?" Qiao De asked, unable to figure out what kind of structure it could be.


    "Ziran do you know what it is?" Lin Mu turned to the half elf, guessing that he might have the best idea.


    "I do." The Half elf replied with some doubt.


    "So you know what kind of structure it is?" Crown Prince Feng Shun looked at Ziran too.


    "I haven''t seen this style before, but this is surely an offering hall." Ziran replied narrowing his eyes. "The demons often use these to provide offerings to their ancestors as well as those that passed away. The styles can vary between different Demonic tribes, and they are usually a lot more ''open'' and simple than something thisplex." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ So it is indeed from the Demonic Tribes." Lin Mu wondered what might be inside.


    "It is a bit strange though, I''ve never seen an Offering Hall thisrge." Ziran expressed his doubts. "They are usually a bit smaller and are located in a graveyard." He added before looking around.


    The others got the hint and they observed the area too, finding that it was indeed a bit different. The biggest thing that stood out was the fact that there were no Death Qi boundaries appearing here.


    And neither were there any stray Chimeric Beasts wandering around here.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu extended his Immortal sense and swept over the area, scanning everything that was within the range.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The others did the same and after a minute didn''t detect anything on the surface.


    "Looks like it is indeed a graveyard." But Lin Mu soon found something underground.


    ~THUD~


    Hended on a particr spot and lightly shed.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The ground was unearthed, and a ten meter deep hole was opened up. Inside it, one could spot a mottled and cracked stone that was very clearly carved into the shape of a tombstone. The letters that were written on it had faded away over the countless years it had been here, and nothing could be seen below it.


    No remains were there, whether it be bones, teeth or hair.


    It had been far too long since this gravestone had been ced here.


    "There are a few more of these spread around the area. Though not all of them are as intact as this gravestone." Lin Mu spoke.


    Ziran picked up the gravestone and checked it properly, trying to see if he could read what was written on it. But that was simply impossible as all traces of letters were now gone and they were illegible. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    No runes were present inside it either, and neither were there any Qi fluctuationsing from it.


    "This was indeed a graveyard once upon a time." Ziran confirmed. "Though it is unknown how long it has been here for." He added.

 Chapter 2211 Assisting The Monk

    Chapter 2211 Assisting The Monk


    The confirmation that this was a Demonic Tribe Graveyard, matched their original thoughts when they had first entered the Inheritance grounds. The shrines on the inds outside had the same inclinations and they were finally seeing these graves themselves.


    "So all this Death Qi is ultimately due to these graves." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Indeed¡­ Though normally this should not have happened." Ziran replied.


    "Yeah, the function of an offering hall is to cate the souls of the dead and also the disperse any negative energies that may arise due to that." Crown Prince Feng Shun knew about this, since Offering Halls were amon thing for a lot of cultures.


    "But that is clearly not being done." Crown Princess Shang said.


    "What could have led to this then?" Lin Mu wondered. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    "All I can think is that¡­ This ce was abandoned and there was no one to take care of the graves. Ultimately the offerings stopped and the negative energies were no longer being purified. Overtime they have umted and now there is a mix of Baleful Energies as well as Death Qi here." Ziran exined. "Though that also means we are free to take a look inside the Offering Hall right?" Qiao De''s eyes glinted with desire. "There will surely be some valuable things inside." He added.


    "Yes¡­ Since this is no longer a proper graveyard, and it has been this long it isn''t disrespectful." Ziran confirmed. "It is free for our taking." "That''s good then. That is what we''re here for anyways." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before turning his attention to the golden light some distance away. "Now let''s go assist our hardworking monk." He added.


    "Of course." Lin Mu said and the group finally approached the structure.


    They passed through the outer boundary wall without any issues and entered the inner courtyard. The main building stood here, and Monk Hushu was sitting in the za in front of the main entrance.


    The curtain of Baleful energies swirled without a care, while the Monk''s chants continued.


    Though it didn''t feel like any effect was happening.


    ~step~step~step~


    The Monk had been deep in his work, thus hadn''t sensed the group appear in the sky, but now that they were close enough that their footsteps could be heard, he decided to pause and open his eyes.


    "Seems like you all are finally here." Monk Hushu said, letting out a breath of relief.


    "Sorry if it took a bit too long. We had a few things to do on the way." Lin Mu apologized.


    "It is fine. The work here is going to take a while anyways." Monk Hushu replied before turning to the Crown Prince and others. "I managed to disperse the outer barrier, but this inner one is very strong." He added.


    "Oh? So this is a second one?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Indeed. I barely finished the first barrier yesterday." Monk Hushu replied.


    "No wonder it felt like there has been no progress." Crown Princess Shang said looking at the curtain of baleful energies.


    "Have you figured out what kind of baleful energy this is?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes. It is Rot Wind Qi mixed in with some Corrosive Qi." Monk Hushu answered.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu spoke looking at the curtain.


    The Corrosive Qi was something he had encountered before too and was one of the moremon types of baleful energies. But the Rot Wind Qi was something new.


    "Rot Wind Qi will be hard to deal with." Ziran said furrowing his brows. "It is a Qi formed from the Derivative Dao of Rot and mixed with Wind Qi." He informed.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun approached the curtain and extended his palm towards it before trying to exert some pressure with his own Wind Dao Embryo.


    ~SHUA~


    The curtain shook lightly, but the Rot Wind Qi didn''t budge.


    "Hmm¡­ it cannot be affected by me." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "The simplest thing would be to destroy it indeed." "The Corrosive Qi is not a problem, but the Rot Wind Qi is rather vile." Monk Hushu replied. "It took me a while to remove the first barrier and that one had lesser concentrator of Rot Wind Qi. This one though is denser." He informed.


    "Are you using Buddhist techniques to disperse it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, I am using the Evil Dispelling Mantra to get rid of it." Monk Hushu replied.


    "Well, you can try again though this time I''ll support you." Lin Mu suggested.


    Hearing that, Monk Hushu''s eyes lit up as he knew that Lin Mu would be a great help in this.


    "That''ll be perfect." Monk Hushu agreed. "Let''s get started right away then." He said as he sat back down.


    He brought his hands together in a praying gesture while holding the prayer beads between his palms. ~HUU~


    Monk Hushu then took a deep breath before beginning his chants. Lin Mu heard the chants that felt pure and serene. This was the second time he was seeing a Buddhist chant technique other than his own.


    ''Time to see how much I can boost him.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and sat beside the monk.


    ''Calming Heart Sutra!'' Then in the next moment, Lin Mu started to audibly chant the Calming Heart sutra.


    The group could heard his chants preparedly this time and found them to be rather esoteric. But the effects of the chants were rather apparent for them as all of them felt their minds bing calmer.


    ''Monk Hushu wasn''t wrong¡­ Daoist Mu Lin can very easily join a Buddhist temple like this. He can already use such profound chants without having even been trained by a senior monk.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought to himself.


    ~HONGLONG~


    But his attention was soon pulled by the change that happened.


    The two men chanting together seemed to have created a new harmony. The very air started to tremble as the golden glow surrounded both Lin Mu and Monk Hushu.


    ~WOONG~


    The Calming Heart Sutra was amplifying Monk Hushu''s power!

 Chapter 2212 Harmonizing

    Chapter 2212 Harmonizing


    With the two chants working in union, a mystical harmony was created.


    ~HUMMMM~


    The effect was so profound that they became visual!


    Strings of golden light radiated from Lin Mu and Monk Hushu, vibrating in the air while a melodious tune yed.


    "This¡­ this is¡­" Daoist Chu and several others were stunned.


    "Tune of the Buddhist Dao¡­ Perfect Harmony." Crown Prince Feng Shun recognized. "So Monk Hushu finally achieved it." He added.


    "With assistance from Daoist Mu Lin." Crown Princess Shang added.


    The rest of the group watched in marvel while the two continued their chanting. The chats got deeper and deeper, while resonating with the tune of the Buddhist Dao. It soon turned into echoes that radiated for tens of kilometer.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    And with each echoing chat, the strings vibrated in unison sending forth waves of energy. The energy pushed against all the Baleful energies in the area, either purifying them in one go, or breaking them down to a reduced concentration.


    The strongest effect was of course on the curtain of Baleful Energy in front of them.


    The Corrupting Qi was the first one to be purified by the unified chant and the curtain reduced by 10% right away.


    But the Rot Wind Qi was not as easy to dispel. It was stubborn and withstood thebined attack of Lin Mu and Monk Hushu. But even then it was trembling with each note.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    The voices of the two men got louder, as the Evil Dispelling Mantra and the Calming Heart Sutra turned into hammers that mmed upon the curtain.


    A serene and holy atmosphere was created in this deste ce, and it felt like one was standing in a Buddhist Monastery while a hundred monks chanted the scriptures.


    Both Lin Mu and Monk Hushu seemed to have entered a trance as their focus deepened. The glow from Monk Hushu seemed to be getting stronger, as his cultivation seemed to be improving!


    Lin Mu was not losing out either, but his progress was not with his cultivation base. Instead, it was the Calming Heart Sutra that seemed to be progressing!


    He had reached the Third Stage of Internal Resonance with the Calming Heart Sutra a while back. In this stage, he didn''t even need to physically chant to get the effects of the sutra. Though the effect was limited to himself.


    He could not affect the others without chanting it.


    Lin Mu had thought that it would take him a long time to progress any further. But helping Monk Hushu in amplifying his own Buddhist technique seemed to have acted as a catalyst.


    The effectiveness of the Calming Heart Sutra had increased by twice when it reached the third stage, but this was limited to Lin Mu himself. Even if he physically chanted it, the Sutra''s effectiveness would be the same as before for others.


    But now, the effectiveness on others was reaching the same level as his own body!


    ~HONGLONGGONG~


    After a few minutes of this, the power of their chant seemed to reach a breakthrough and a loud sound was heard.


    "A temple bell?" Qiao De recognized.


    "Something we would only hear in a monastery¡­ Monk Hushu seems to have benefited a lot." Crown Prince Feng Shun smiled.


    ~HONGLONGGONG~


    But it wasn''t only the sound of a bell that was heard, as soon a giant bell manifested!


    It was made from the golden strings that were radiating off Lin Mu and Monk Hushu. These strings were vibrating to create the tune of the Buddhist Dao earlier, but now they had metamorphosed to form an entire temple bell.


    The bell was entirely golden, and had auspicious motifs on it. And on its top one could seerge prayer beads wrapped. If one looked closely, they would realize that the prayer beads looked like the erged version of the same prayer beads that Monk Hushu had in his hands.


    ~HONG~


    When the bell formed entirely, Monk Hushu''s eyes opened. His gaze was serene and yet it would imbue terror into all things evil. "Five Evils Purging Beads!" Monk Hushu uttered, causing the prayed beads to fly out of his hands. ~SHUA~


    The beads erged in size and soon became big enough to surround the entire curtain of Baleful energies!


    "Vajra''s Compassionate Embrace!" Monk Hushu said out loud.


    As soon as he did that, the prayer beads shrank in size, squeezing the curtain of Baleful energies.


    This restrained the size of the curtain and made it tremble intensively.


    ~DENG~


    The golden bell above them also rang at the same time, its sound sending cracks in the curtain.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    The bell kept on ringing while Monk Hushu controlled the Five Evils Purging Beads to restrain the curtain. Lin Mu''s support was maintained throughout this and Monk Hushu felt endless energy at this moment.


    His eyes lit up with a hint of fury as he swiped his hand in a cutting gesture.


    "BEGONE!" ~BOOM~


    The Curtain of Rot Wind Qi shattered apart under the unified attack and dissipated into nothingness.


    Even though an explosion happened, it was fully contained under the power of the Five Evils Purging Beads. As such, neither Lin Mu and Monk Hushu or the rest of the group was affected by it.


    The Rot Wind Qi curtain was like a paper tube being crushed helplessly under the weight of a rock.


    ~HUU~ Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    Monk Hushu took a deep breath after doing that, as his gaze returned to normal.


    "Return." He said lightly, causing the Five Evils Purging Beads to shrink down and return to his hands.


    The chants stopped too, and the Tune of the Buddhist Dao disappeared.


    Lin Mu sensed this too and opened his eyes, ncing at the gate that was now visible.


    "Congrattions Monk Hushu." Crown Prince Feng Shun greeted his long-termpanion. "Looks like you''ve finally achieved what you''ve wanted to." He added.


    "Amithabha¡­ I owe Daoist Mu Lin a great load of debt." Monk Hushu said, turning to the man and bowling deeply.

 Chapter 2213 Tune Of The Buddhist Dao And Fulfilling A Goal

    Chapter 2213 Tune Of The Buddhist Dao And Fulfilling A Goal


    Monk Hushu had found the strange structure and decided to investigate it since his mission here was to survey and learn about the area.


    And once he was close enough to the structure, it didn''t take much for him to guess that there was certainly something valuable inside. Especially considering the fact that it was being protected by a barrier of Baleful energies.


    He was sure that this was no normal gathering of baleful energies like in the rest of the Spatial ne, as it was far too organized. It was simr to the Death Qi boundary, but it was made out of Baleful energies and was surrounding a single structure.


    Still, since it was a yin oriented barrier in the end, Monk Hushu could take care of it.


    He was a Buddhist Monk after all, and had been taught to cleanse the world of evil while obtaining enlightenment on the way. Thus this was something that could even be considered his duty in the end. With both goals aligning, he did what he was supposed to and got to purifying it. He also sent a message to hispanions so that they would know where to find him. He hoped that he would be done by the time they arrived, but the work turned out to be a lot more difficult than he had thought.


    Still, he purged the first barrier before they arrived but couldn''t do the same with the inner barrier which was tougher than the first one due to beingposed majorly of Rot Wind Qi.


    But he had never thought that he would manage to invoke the Tune of the Buddhist Dao in purifying it!


    "Amithabha¡­ I owe Daoist Mu Lin a great load of debt." Monk Hushu bowed.


    "It is fine." Lin Mu replied. "I''ve benefited from you too. My own chant seems to have improved due to it." He added.


    "Haha, I don''t think Daoist Mu Lin knows what this means to Monk Hushu." Daoist Chu, who knew more about the monk, said.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "It was actually a mission assigned by my teacher. He wished for me to invoke the Tune of the Buddhist Dao before I returned to my Temple." Monk Hushu replied.


    "Oh? Is there a reason for it?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Of course. The Buddhist Technique I cultivate has several sections to it and in order to qualify to learn the next part, I needed to achieve the Tune of the Buddhist Dao." Monk Hushu exined. "I''ve been trying for several years now, and it was also one of the reasons why I was sent to the Immortal court.


    They hoped that by obtaining more experience and seeing the world, I might just gain the enlightenment necessary to achieve the tune of the Buddhist Dao. I''ve been at it for decades, but now I''ve finally done it¡­" he said with emotion in his voice.


    "I didn''t expect it to be that serious." Lin Mu was genuinely surprised.


    "Do you know what the Tune of the Buddhist Dao is?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "No¡­ this is the first time I''ve heard of it." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "It is one of the major bottlenecks for a Buddhist Cultivator. Those who cannot reach it will never be qualified to be Senior Monks and, of course, they will not be able to progress in their cultivation past a certain stage either." Monk Hushu exined. "Even if my Qi cultivation managed to reach the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, myprehension of the Buddhist Dao will becking. As such, my foundation will be ultimately weak." He added.


    "It''s the same as your Sword Intent. You''ve reached the Peak Sword Intent, which is something that would be needed for a sword cultivator to progress in their Sword Dao." Elder Hu chimed in. "A Sword Cultivator with his cultivation at the Seventh Tribtion Stage, without having the necessary Sword Intent to back, it would basically be the same as a castle standing on sand. He may as well be using a rusty sword that had been dulled by the years at that rate." He gave an example.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu could understand it better now. It was all a matter of bncing one''s cultivation base with theirprehension of the Dao. Both things affected one another, but one could not progress far in either if the bnce was not maintained.


    "Now that I''ve achieved the Tune of the Buddhist Dao, I can obtain the next part of my scriptures and have a free hand to progress all the way to the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and perhaps even beyond if fate holds it for me." Monk Hushu replied. "I am happy for you then." Lin Mu said with a smile. "May you go beyond and touch upon the realm of celestials." He blessed.


    "Amithabha." Monk Hushu chanted. "May you achieve the same." ~Sigh~ Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Even Monk Hushu has finished his goal. When will we finish ours?" Crown princess Shang let out a sign.


    "You haw them too?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Most candidates that are sent to learn at the Immortal court have their own missions assigned by the powers theye from, of course." Crown prince confirmed. "Then has only Monk Hushu finished his goal?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Well, I have finished it too." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "You were the first one to finish it. And now Monk Hushu is the second. I sure as hell thought I was going to be second." Crown Princess Shang shook hear head.


    "At least you three have your goals in sight. I don''t think mine is even possible at the current stage." Daoist Chu smiled wryly.


    "And what is your goal?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "Create my Second Dao Embryo." Daoist Chu answered.


    "A Second Dao Embryo? Shouldn''t that be easy for someone like you though, Daoist Chu?" Lin Mu didn''t think the man should have that many issues.

 Chapter 2214 Three Suggested Dao Embryos

    Chapter 2214 Three Suggested Dao Embryos


    Lin Mu''s question only made the man have a smile filled with disappointment.


    "If only it was that easy." Daoist Chu replied. "If I could form any Dao Embryo, it would have been fine, but the limit is that I need to form a Dao Embryo from among three Daos that have been assigned to me." He exined.


    Now Lin Mu understood what the issue was. ''I suppose making normal Dao Embryos aren''t as big of a problem. If it was just some Basal elemental Dao Embryo, it would be simple enough.'' Lin Mu reckoned before a question appeared in his mind. "Wait, what Dao Embryo do you have right now?" he inquired.


    "My Dao Embryo is this," Daoist Chu said before summoning it.


    A cube rose out of his body that was none other than a Dao Shell. And contained within the Dao shell was his Dao Embryo that looked like a rectangr piece of paper. There were a few runes written on it too, that seemed to be flickering and changing every few seconds.


    "A Talisman?" Lin Mu saw.


    "Indeed. I have the Thousand Talisman Dao Embryo." Daoist Chu replied.


    "A Talisman Dao embryo should technically be from the Formation Dao too, shouldn''t it?" Lin Mu asked. "So you''re focusing on the Formation Dao too?" he was surprised since he hadn''t seen many Formation Dao Embryo''s other than his own.


    "Not exactly¡­" Daoist Chu shook his head. "It is a subset of the Formation Dao sure, but it is more of a supportive Dao embryo and doesn''t assist with the creation or maniption of formations." He added.


    "How so?" Lin Mu asked. "What does it do?" "The Thousand Talisman Dao Embryo can boost the power of every talisman or talisman based skill I use, as long as I have made it once and it has been recognized by the Embryo. As per its name, I can register a thousand talismans in the Dao Embryo." Daoist Chu exined.


    Hearing the exnation, Lin Mu could see the benefits of Daoists Chu''s Dao Embryo. He had seen the many use talismans and talisman skills often. Lin Mu had wondered if this was just the method that the man preferred, but now it was clear that it was actually oriented around his Dao Embower.


    "The Thousand Talisman Dao Embryo is rather efficient in its usage to and passively boost my use of talismans, thus I can almost always keep it active." Daoist Chu revealed.


    "Oh? That is indeed quite good." Lin Mu could see the benefits of it. After all, his own usage of Dao embryo consumed quite a bit of Immortal Qi. Only the Rune Shaping Brush had a lower usage,pared to his other two Dao Embryos, and that was because it was especially intended to help in the creation of formations and runes.


    The True Earth Heart Dao Embryo took a lot more Immortal Qi than the Rune Shaping brush and also had more Dao Skills in it, including the Earthen Armament Aspect and the Aspect of Heaviness. These could be used both offensively as well as defensively.


    Then there was the Four Faceted Neb Dao Embryo. Technically speaking, Lin Mu hadn''t used it so far. He had learned its very first skill, which was the first facet, the Freedom of movement: Warp. But the cost of using Warp was simply too high. Lin Mu didn''t even know when it would umte enough energy to be active, but considering the fact that he couldn''t use it onmand like his other two Dao embryo''s he knew that its consumption was the highest.


    Daoist Chu''s Thousand Talisman Dao Embryo was a lot more efficientpared to all, as it could be kept active at all times. And since it was always contained within his body, there was no chance of the Dao Shell or Dao Embryo being damaged during a battle either.


    "So what are the Dao Embryos you have been asked to create?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "My sect, or rather my masters and uncle masters, have suggested that I create any, one Dao Embryo from three." Daoist Chu answered. "They are the Nine Links Chain Dao Embryo, the Six Tiles Dao Embryo and the Four Schrs Mystic Compendium Dao Embryo." He revealed.


    Hearing the three names, Lin Mu was surprised. He could recognize the first two Dao Embryos as he had read about them. But he was also confused by it as these were highly unrted to the Formation Dao.


    "Nine Links Chain Dao Embryo belongs to the Dao of Restrictions and the Six Tiles Dao Embryo belongs to the Dao of Confinement." Lin Mu spoke furrowing his brows. "They want you toprehend these Daos that you have never experienced?" he expressed his doubts.


    "Indeed¡­ I was in quite a dilemma. I have learned no skills nor techniques that are rted to those two Daos." Daoist Chu shook his head. "I do not know why my master and Uncle Master asked me, but if they have suggested them, then there must be a deeper reason to it." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ it is indeed quite difficult to form those since you will take a long time to even get closer to understanding the two Daos," Lin Mu said. "And what about the final Dao embryo? I have not heard of it before." He inquired.


    "The Four Schrs Mystic Compendium Dao Embryo¡­ Quite ambitious of them to suggest this one." Lady Kang spoke up this time.


    "You know of it?" Lin Mu and Daoist Chu asked in unison. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    "Of course." Lady Kang nodded. "It is possibly one of the hardest Dao Embryos to create if one does not have luck with it. The Four Schrs Mystic Compendium Dao Embryo¡­ Comes from the Dao of Schrs." She stated.


    Lin Mu listened to the woman and was intrigued by it.


    ''The Dao of Schrs¡­'' It was something Lin Mu was well aware of. "I suppose it is a lot closer andpatible with the Dao Of Formations or perhaps the Dao of Talismans." He added.

 Chapter 2215 Dao Of Scholars And Scholarly Advice

    Chapter 2215 Dao Of Schrs And Schrly Advice


    Lin Mu wondered if the Dao of Schrs and the Four Schrs Compendium Dao Embryo was what Daoist Chu had focused on. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Indeed." Daoist Chu nodded. "But the Dao Of Schrs is something that eludes even the most erudite of people. Whether it be us formation masters, Alchemists, Weapon refiners, or immortal tool refiners¡­ any upation you choose in the path of cultivation needs endless study.


    There is never a stage of perfection and one needs to forever continue in the pursuit of knowledge. Billions upon billions of cultivators do this for their entire lives, and yet they nevere close to touching upon the Dao of Schrs. I thought that as long as I studied hard and expanded my scope of knowledge, I would eventually be able to touch upon the Dao of Schrs. But it was simply my foolishness. Ites from a burst of enlightenment that one can only wish for and never obtain it on demand." The man exined his struggle.


    "That does seem quite tiring." Lin Mu could understand, since he himself was someone who was often enthralled by schrly pursuits.


    He couldn''t even count the number of times he had been lost in reading records, books, tomes, manuals and more. Whenever he slept, he would always try to have some time to read while his body passively cultivated.


    The Sleepscape allowed him to progress in it without a stop, and whenever Lin Mu had free time, such as when he was traveling atop Little Shrubby, he would be reading too.


    His learning never stopped, and even when he didn''t have a book in his hand, his mind would still be working on organizing and analyzing all that he had learned. Being and immortal meant that his memory was far greater than any mortal and the only limiting factor he had was that he needed to recall the things himself.


    And the best way to make sure that one could recall and remember things was to organize them in the best way possible. Even now, Lin Mu wouldn''t say that he was the best at it and was trying to improve at every chance.


    This was why he couldn''t remember things at times, even though he might have read them and had to revise them. It wasn''t that he had actually forgotten about them. He did remember them, but he didn''t know what part of his brain it was stored in.


    As such, the revision helped him recall it and then recognizing it for better recall in the future.


    "Perhaps it is best that you give up on the Four Schrs Compendium Dao Embryo." Ziran said, surprisingly. "It is not a Dao Embryo that one can obtain by pursing it. In my entire life, I''ve only known of two individuals that have it and both of them obtained it by chance." He added.


    "He is correct." Elder Hu spoke up as well. "One does not simply create the Four Schrs Compendium Dao Embryo¡­ One has to be chosen by the Dao itself to obtain it." He added.


    The advice of the two individuals who could be considered seniors to Daoist Chu hurt him slightly, but he also knew that they held truth in it. Both Ziran and Elder Hu had lived longer than Daoist Chu and were older than ten thousand years.


    They had also seen a lot of the world, especially Ziran, thus their advice held quite a lot of weight.


    "I don''t know why my master and uncle masters would assign the Four Schrs Compendium Dao Embryo to me then. When the other two Dao Embryos are even farther for me." Daoist Chu knew he had no talent in the Dao of Restrictions and Dao of Confinement.


    The two Daos sounded simr, but they were different in the end.


    The Dao of Restrictions had multiple applications and could not only be used in formations, but was also used in countless Qi skills and cultivation techniques. It was very broad and as such, anyone that couldprehend it would have quite an advantage in multiple fields.


    The Dao of Confinement, on the other hand, was a bit simpler. In some ways, it derived a bit from the Dao of Restrictions, but its scope was more focused around istion and imprisonment. It could be used in formations as well as several Qi skills that were meant to imprison foes.


    But both were distant for Daoist Chu, who had focused on talismans.


    "Hmm¡­ I don''t think your master and uncle master would have suggested an unachievable goal for you." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit. "I think you might be mistaken about what they said in the first ce." He added.


    "Huh? What do you mean?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Like you said¡­ they ''suggested'' you these three Dao Embryos. They never told you to ''only'' pick from these three Dao Embryos." Lin Mu rified, making the expression of Daoist Chu change.


    "It¡­ It was that literal?" Daoist Chu couldn''t almost believe it. "And here I thought they merely said it as a suggestion as a more kind way of speaking." He was bewildered.


    "Teachers often test students not only on their learned skills, but their skill to understand their words." Monk Hushu spoke. "Perhaps it was a test for you." He advised.


    "Yes. What if the real goal they set for you was to learn your own limits?" Lin Mu stated. "Being realistic about one''s goals is also very important after all." He added.


    "If it is like that, then¡­ haven''t I already fulfilled the goal?" Daoist Chu wondered.


    "Perhaps." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    The others couldn''t help but chuckle as they realized the trick of Daoist Chu''s masters. It might have been an exhaustive way of testing the man, but depending on how long he took to learn, the effect would be a lot better.


    "Take Daoist Mu Lin''s advice." Lady Kang suggested. "He is perhaps the closest to the Dao of Schrs among all of us here." She added with a smirk.

 Chapter 2216 The Offering Hall

    Lady Kang''s words echoed within the ears of all present, and they couldn''t help but think that she was right.


    Even though it was said half as a joke, it was still quite close to the truth.


    Lin Mu who heard it couldn''t help but thinking about it either.


    ''Me close to the Dao of Schrs?'' He thought to himself.


    He had never thought about pursuing the Dao of Schrs before in his life, and the only reason he had even learned all the things was due to his innate desire for knowledge. Other than that he never yearned to obtain that Dao.


    "I''ve never intended to pursue it." Lin Mu said after a bit.


    "That is probably why you are closer to itpared to us all." Ziran stated.


    "Those who seek may not find, those who yearn may not obtain, but those who strive for excellence may gain all." Monk Hushu uttered an idiom.


    It gave Lin Mu a lot more to think over forter, and he decided to continue on their task at hand.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, he turned towards the entrance and took a step. The others followed, knowing it was time to check out just what this ce held.


    "Huh, this ce is a lot bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside." Daoist Chu said as he nced around.


    The group had entered and passed through a small passage before arriving at the front hall. There were multiple pirs holding it up, and the hall was perfectly square in shape.


    "There''s something on the walls too." Qiao De said, spotting it through the dim light.


    There were no lights inside the Offering Hall itself, so it was a bit hard to see if they didn''t use their immortal sense.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    In response, Daoist Chu created a few light sources which were in the form of brightly glowing talismans. The talismans floated in the air and filled the hall at equal distances, perfectly illuminating everything.


    This allowed the group to see the true size of the hall, that was at least forty meters tall and had murals on the ceiling too!


    "That''s a lot of murals¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he gazed at the walls and the ceiling.


    Both were covered with murals that depicted various beings such as Demons, humans, and the Chimeric beasts.


    "Looks like this is the recorded history." Lady Kang said, scanning each mural carefully.


    "Oh, they have some things written here too." Lin Mu noticed that at the bottom of each mural there were tiny characters carved. They were no bigger than a couple millimeters and reading them needed Immortal sense.


    If one looked at it with naked eyes, they would think that it was just some pattern that had been carved at the bottom to apany the murals.


    "It does seem to be the Shamanic Script of the Demonic Tribes." Lin Mu said after scanning them. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "It is." Ziran confirmed. "They''re indeed the records of the Demonic Tribes." He added.


    "Can you read them for us?" Crown prince Feng Shun requested.


    "Of course." Ziran said and started from the very first mural on the left.


    The first mural was that of only demons, and they were surrounding arge mountain.


    "We the Sacred Tear Tribe, have lived in ournds for hundreds of thousands of years in peace. We found thisnd after a million years of sacrifice and ended up here by a miracle. We started from a humble thousand individuals before we grew out tribe to that of a million." Ziran read.


    "So they were named as the Sacred Tear tribe¡­ have you heard of them Ziran?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No¡­ I''ve never heard of them." Ziran shook his head.


    "How about their appearance? Do they seem familiar to you?" The Crown Princess asked next.


    "They seem to be a mixed tribe, for the most part." Ziran said, observing the murals. "They don''t have a unique trait to their appearance, so they are definitely not a pure blood demonic tribe. They''re a mix of multiple demon subtypes." He exined.


    "Are such Demon Tribesmon?" Qiao De asked.


    "Considering the time back then, it would certainly not be asmon. Back then, it was important for demonic tribes to maintain their purity as it was tied to their cultivation methods. The cultivation method of one tribe often didn''t work for another tribe.


    Thus, it was quite rare for there to be mixed demons, not to mention an entire tribe of them." Ziran answered. "Such a tribe would not be formed intentionally and is likely a product of something else," He added.


    "I see¡­ There should be more information in the rest of the murals, perhaps." Lady Kang suggested.


    "Yeah." Ziran nodded.


    "Hmm¡­ is that mountain the main site for the Sacred Tear Tribe?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It''s hard to tell. It doesn''t explicitly mention it here at least," Ziran answered. "Why? Did you see something like it?" he asked.


    "When we were arriving in the Spatial ne, I saw a few veryrge mountains. I wonder if it could be one of those." Lin Mu replied.


    "It is possible¡­ Were they far?" Ziran inquired.


    "Very far from where wended, for sure. If I were to estimate, it should be at least half a continent away." Lin Mu replied after thinking for a bit.


    "That far?" Crown Prince Feng Shun raised his brows. "That''ll be tens of thousands of kilometers."


    "We''ll think about thatter once we have more information. For now, it is important we learn what happened here." Monk Hushu stated.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded and Ziran began reading the second mural.


    This mural depicted demons, but they were situated in a vige this time around. But there were also a few vague figures at the very corner of the mural.


    "We established our presence and took a foothold in thisnd. But it wasn''t just us that was present here." Ziran read the second mural.

 Chapter 2217 The Sacred Tear Tribes History

    Chapter 2217 The Sacred Tear Tribe''s History


    The group looked at the vague figures, but couldn''t make out what they were. Instead, they moved onto the third mural that had a lot more depictions.


    This time, they could see hundreds of demons standing on a cliff holding weapons. And below the cliff there were thousands of creatures of various forms. These were creatures familiar to the group.


    "Chimeric Beasts." Lin Mu muttered while Ziran began reading it.


    "Shortly after we had created our vige, we encountered strange beasts we had never seen before. They numbered in the thousands and were as strong as our warriors. We were concerned about them and wondered if we needed to fight them. But much to our surprise, the beasts stayed in their territory." Ziran read the third mural.


    "Hmm¡­ So the Chimeric Beasts have been living here since that long," Lin Mu noted.


    "But the Chimeric beasts aren''t a natural creation¡­ They have been made by someone. Even if they can reproduce on their own, they would still have to be brought here by someone." Ziran said, furrowing his brows.


    "There should be more information about them." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before ncing at the next mural that made his eyes go wide. "There!" he pointed.


    The group looked at the mural that looked like a more expansive scene than the previous mural.


    The Demons were still standing at a cliff, but it was located far in the distance and they were small in size. The main part of the mural was actually a giant object of some kind that seemed to be falling down from the sky.


    And below it, hundreds of Chimeric Beasts were gathered.


    "A decade after we had arrived in our new home, we found out that our ''neighbors'' weren''t natives here either." Ziran read, confirming his guess. "Those strange beasts seemingly arrived from the sky inrge rocks. These rocks would crash and from it would spill out hundreds of those strange beasts." He continued to the next mural right away.


    On the next mural, they could see a more zoomed up scene of the rock, which was clearly an asteroid. Hundreds of Chimeric beasts seem to be walking out of the holes in the asteroid and joining the other chimeric beasts that were already present there.


    "We called these rocks the Harbingers. Every few years or so, a rock would descend from the sky, growing the number of those beasts. By now, we had a few conflicts with some stray beasts, but they never involved the entire swarm of them. They knew of our existence too, but didn''t attack us for the most part. Though they certainly hunted the normal beasts that lived on the ne." Ziran read the Fifth mural.


    "So the Chimeric beasts arrived in meteorites? But that shouldn''t be possible, considering the Spatial ne is located in the void." Daoist Chu furrowed his brows.


    "Not exactly." Lin Mu shook his head. "There are plenty of asteroids floating around in the Void, and as such, a few of them crashnding on a Spatial ne asrge as this is not strange. Especially considering the fact that it would be the only thing with a significant gravitational pull in a vast, empty area." He exined.


    "I''d understand a single or perhaps a few such asteroids filled with Chimeric beastsnding here, but for it to happen regrly? Isn''t that unusual?" Lady Kang expressed her doubts.


    "That is indeed strange¡­ it would certainly have to be a targeted attempt for it to happen so many times." Lin Mu agreed.


    Ziran thought about it too and felt like it was the most likely option. To know more, he moved onto the next mural.


    The Seventh Mural was about hundreds of such asteroids crashnding on the Spatial ne all at once. The entire top half of the mural was filled with dots, which were all asteroids carrying more of the Chimeric beasts.


    The bottom half of the mural, on the other hand, showed the Sacred Tear Tribe gathered in an army of over ten thousand. They were armed to the teeth, and it was very clear they were here for a battle.


    "As years went by, the numbers of the strange beasts grew. We had started calling them ''Hrothak'' which our elders said was a word for vile invaders. It matched their actions, for they consumed all the resources they could find and continued to grow their numbers. And as if that was not enough, more of them kept on arriving. We had long since known that there would be a time where the ''peace'' would break.


    As such we had been preparing for it too and growing our army.


    Thousand years after we had arrived, the first great war between the Scared Tear Tribe and the Hrothak began." Ziran read carefully and nced at the next mural.


    The eighth mural was that of the great war, and the Demons of the Scared Tear Tribe battled the Chimeric beasts valiantly. "The battlested for weeks and we lost half of our army in it. But victory was in our hands, for the Hrothak had been defeated. Our Army of thousands had defeated their swarm of millions!" Ziran read the words that were written with great emotion.


    "So they did win¡­ that sounds good, but then again¡­ We don''t see any of the demons now. Only the Chimeric beasts." Daoist Chu said with a dark expression. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Indeed¡­ it was only the first war, after all." Ziran said as he directly read the next three murals since they seemed to be a single event.


    They depicted the injured demons and how they rebuilt their tribe. It took them years, but they eventually managed to reach their peak and grew their numbers back to the original. "A time of peace." Ziran spoke.


    "How long did thatst?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Two thousand years¡­ A decent amount of time." Ziran replied. "But it was only the start of the downfall." He said after looking at the next mural.

 Chapter 2218 Complex History

    Chapter 2218 Complex History


    The group looked at the mural, finding it to be filled with corpses.


    The corpses belonged to both, Demons and the Chimeric Beasts. They were spread in an area filled with devastation. Broken trees, shattered hills and a lot more could be seen, with the corpses filling in the gaps.


    Lin Mu and the others were a bit surprised by the trees as this was the first time they were seeing them depicted on any of the murals.


    ''So there was indeed nt life here once upon a time.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "What does it say?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Two thousand years had passed, and no Hrothak was witnessed in that time. We thought the time of Hrothak hade to an end as no new Harbingers arrived in that time either. This made uscent and we dropped our guard.


    This was the greatest mistake we could have made. For one day, the Hrothak burst out of the ground right in the middle of one of our cities. They killed almost all the citizens and ended up wiping out the city, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake." Ziran read word by word, making the group stir.


    "If there was two thousand years of no attack, I think most would be like this." Crown Prince Feng Shun gave his opinion. "Mm, even if they had warriors on standby, I doubt they would have been able to handle an ambush like this." Lin Mu agreed. "Even if they had an entire army, I doubt they would have been gathered at this specific city to retaliate against the Chimeric beasts." He added.


    "It does seem like it." Ziran nodded before moving onto the next few Murals.


    He read all the way to the Eighteenth mural in one go, as they seem to be describing a single event.


    "The fall of the city sent waves of fear and anger across the Sacred Tear Tribe. While it had been two thousand years since the great war, our elders and warriors that had been alive since then still had the memory fresh in their minds.


    The Sacred Tear tribe was not going to fall to some Hrothak. As such, we prepared for another battle. In just two days, we wiped out all the Hrothak that had attacked the city. But that was not enough to satiate our hunger for revenge.


    We knew that if there were so many Hrothak appearing from the ground, there should be more of them hiding somewhere. We hadn''t witnessed any Harbingers arriving, thus we reckoned there had been a group hiding all this time.


    We analyzed the Hrothak and found that they were different from the ones we had battled in the past. These were Hrothak that were made to live underground, having the bodies of worms, moles, rats and other such subterranean creatures mixed with different animals.


    We now knew the threat was underground, thus we began to scour caves, caverns and any opening that lead to underground." Ziran read as the group observed the murals.


    They all showed the Sacred Tear tribe searching the Spatial ne for the traces of Hrothak, along with any caves and other underground openings.


    Lady Kang''s gaze went to the neenth mural where a new development took ce.


    "Humans." She spoke up.


    Everyone looked over and saw a figure depicted on the mural that was definitely a human. The human seemed to be standing in the sky while two demons were watching him from afar. And below them was the vast expanse of a forest along with a mountain range at the back.


    "In our search, we spread our scouts far and wide, trying to cover as much of the Sacred Land as we could. In this though, we ended up encountering a race unlike ours.


    Several generations had been born natively in the Sacred Lands, as such they had never seen this race with their own eyes before. But the elders and several older warriors remembered this race very well¡­ For this was the very race that had driven the Sacred Tear Tribe out of our old home.


    It was¡­ Humans." Ziran read the mural.


    "No wonder¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "So they were indeed exiles." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ Considering that the humans drove the Sacred Tear tribe, they should have adoringly been part of the other Demonic Tribes that lived in the Rust Sky world. As such it should have all happened before the rise of the Empires." Lin Mu said after thinking over the history of the Rust Sky world that he had learned.


    "That sounds about right." Qiao De agreed. "There have wen so many conflicts with the Demons in the past, that there are simply not enough records left. Not to mention, many records were specifically destroyed so that there would be no mentions of Demons." He added.


    "History is written by the victors." Monk Hushu muttered.


    "Indeed." Elder Hu nodded.


    It was not unusual for the history of the losers to be erased, as it would give legitimacy to those that had won and thends they had conquered.


    "What did they do when they encountered the humans?" Min Ju asked.


    Ziran nodded and began to read onwards.


    "The discovery of the humans was an additional burden to the tribe. Now we had two potential threats in ournd; The Hrothak that were mindless but would kill all that they saw and the Humans who were our old foes and the ones that had driven us out.


    We didn''t know which was a bigger threat at first, thus the elders decided to observe first. The humans had not entered into a direct conflict with us just yet, thus we decided to wait and watch. Of course, we would not be so naive as to be unprepared, thus we raised an army specifically to fight against humans. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    For we knew, Humans could fight with tactics and the potential danger they could pose was several times higher than the Hrothak.


    After all, the Hrothak were mere beasts in the end that functioned on instincts." The half elf narrated.


    The group then moved onto the twenty first mural that showed a surprising change. "Are they¡­ Shaking hands?" Min Ju narrowed her eyes.


    "Looks like it." Lin Mu was a bit surprised too. "What does it say?" "Perhaps the ancestors thought our burdens were too heavy, thus they decided to lighten them by removing one of our foes¡­ The Humans were now our allies.


    The humans sent out an envoy to talk to our elders. Much to our surprise they were respectful of our customs and even knew how to speak our tongue. Seeing this, the Elders decided to attempt a dialog with them, hoping that it would yield something good.


    And it ended up favoring us. The humans decided to help our tribe in exchange for safe passage through ournds.


    Of course, the Sacred Tear Tribe couldn''t just allow wanton intrusion into ournds from humans thus they set certain terms. The humans could have safe passage through ournds, as long as they restrained themselves to paths we would set.


    The humans had no disagreements and they went with the n. All they wished for was to go from one end of ournd to the other." Ziran read, feeling a bit shocked at the coboration.


    "To think the humans would actually agreed to work with the demons back then." Crown Prince Feng Shun had not expected that at all. "If this was revealed, the people would be in an uproar for sure." He added.


    "Quite possibly more." Qiao De said. "With how the Demons have been vilified now, it would be bigger issue now. I''m sure they would search for the descendants of those humans or whatever power they belonged to and make them pay for such actions." He added.


    It might seem a lot, but Lin Mu could totally see that happening. After all, taking revenge for the actions of someone''s ancestors was not that umon in the Jianghu. Even in the Xiaofan world, Gu Yao was technically taking revenge for his n and so were the Northern Tribes.


    Ziran was getting heavily interested in this too, as he knew that Demons were not really epted in the Rust Sky world. And since he himself could be considered to be from a Demonic power now, he had some vested interest in knowing how it all went.


    "Our alliance with the humans went much better than we thought, and we managed to find out where the Hrothak were hiding. Turns out they had been breeding inrge numbers underground, and had built hundreds if not thousands of nests in ournd.


    The humans had special tools that could track the Hrothak down and they helped us find them. In this, we also learned why the humans sought safe passage through ournds. We had been mistaken about our new home¡­ it was not an entire world, but something called as Bridge ne. In reality we weren''t even that far from our old homend."

 Chapter 2219 Fall Of The Sacred Tear Tribe

    Chapter 2219 Fall Of The Sacred Tear Tribe


    The discovery by the Sacred Tear Tribe depicted in the mural was a confirmation for Lin Mu and the others.


    "So they were indeed from the Rust Sky World." Lin Mu muttered.


    "That much was expected. While it wasn''t out of the realm of possibility that they could havee from some other world, the chances of that happening would be quite rare." Ziran stated.


    "Considering they were exiled, it would also match the ideals of the humans of the Rust Sky World." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "How did it all go? I don''t think the alliance wouldst that long." Qiao De wondered, prompting Ziran to read further.


    "The Hrothak were on the losing end for about a thousand years while our tribe managed to keep thends under our control. Our alliance with the humans was stable, and they even engaged in trade with us as time went out. During this time, we learned that the humans we were allied with weren''t the same ones that had driven us out. Our elders remembered thend we had lived in and thatnd was different from the ones these humans were from. In fact, it wasn''t even the same continent. We had been driven out from the Land of Topaz and the humans that we met were from the Land of a Hundred Kingdoms." Ziran read while others watched a very peculiar mural.


    "Is that¡­ A Map of the Rust Sky world?!" Qiao De was stunned seeing it.


    "It is¡­ That is certainly the Holy Topaz continent." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, seeing the shape of thend.


    On the mural, twondmasses were depicted. The one on the left was smaller of the two, while the right wasrger. Though the thing was, they couldn''t recognize what the rightndmass was.


    "If the Land of topaz is the Holy Topaz Continent¡­ then what is the Land of a Hundred Kingdoms?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    Lin Mu too looked at it and could tell that thendmass depicted didn''t seem to be of any continent that they knew of. It was unlike any map of the Rust Sky world. But then it finally struck Lin Mu.


    "The Eight Kingdom Alliance¡­ this is long before their existence¡­ Long before the creation of the Sea of Muxuan." Lin Mu stated, remembering the history that had been known to him.


    Not many knew of the creation of the Sea of Muxuan in recent times, nor of the great beast that had made it. Lin Mu had personally witnessed the Great Ocean Hippocampus that was slumbering in its own spatial realm. It had been alive for an unknown amount of time and was possibly the being closest to reaching the Celestial Realm in the Rust Sky world as of now.


    Even in the past, it was strong enough to go up against all experts of the Rust Sky world and no one could fight it. It was this very beast''s wrath that had taken out an entire chunk of a continent and created the Sea of Muxuan.


    "That''s the Eight Kingdom Alliance continent?!" Even Qiao De couldn''t tell with how different it looked.


    It wasn''t just the fact that it didn''t have the Sea of Muxuan in it, there were also several other parts around its border that seem to be different.


    "This is possibly the oldest map of the two continents in existence right now." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated before taking out a jade slip. "I need to record this," He said, imprinting the image of the mural onto it.


    Even the Dao Wind Empire''s Imperial records didn''t have such information in it. The Crown Prince could only guess how old this map was and try to ce it on a time line. Though he was at least sure, no one would know of this, or have any known records.


    ''This is certainly before the persecution of the Haima Tribe and long before they were betrayed,'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Perhaps Lanbao might have some information about this¡­ I didn''t particrly check the history of the Rust Sky world in the records of the Deep Sapphire City after all.'' He realized.


    It was not high on his list of things to check when he was there, thus it was normal for him to not have read about it.


    Plus, the Haima tribe was just getting settled in and Lin Mu was busy in helping them fix their arrays and power supply. While Lin Mu was thinking about this, Ziran started on the next mural that had more stunning changes.


    "Six thousand years after we had arrived in our new home, a great tragedy stuck. The Hrothak which had been on the losing end were mostly gone, but a great rain of Harbingers arrived all of a sudden. Millions of Hrothaknded at once all over ournd, overwhelming both us and the humans. Half of our cities fell in the first month while the humans faced grave losses, too. Their trade had basically been halted and all those that were present in ournds tried to run away. We were left alone defending against the Hrothak that was more powerful than ever.


    The Hrothak that had arrived this time around were more powerful than ever,parable to the Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortals and above. And among these, there were three that were at the Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal.


    Even in our entire tribe, there was just one elder that was at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. As such, opposing the Hrothak was going to be an impossible task without the assistance of the Human experts." Ziran read the mural that depicted the corpses of the Demons as well as the invading Chimeric beasts.


    "All of a sudden there were so many Chimeric beasts?" Lady Kang could tell that something had gone wrong. "Is it possible for so many of them to arrive all at once?" she turned to Lin Mu.


    "There is certainly something wrong here." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 2220 Prophecy Of The Ancestral Spirit

    Chapter 2220 Prophecy Of The Ancestral Spirit


    Lin Mu could understand the arrival of the asteroids carrying the Chimeric beasts earlier. They were mostly spaced out and their numbers weren''t that high.


    But now there was a massive cluster of them arriving all at once. It was a number that was far greater than the total number of ''Harbinger''s that hadnded in the pastbined. "Do you think there is external interference?" Lady Kang asked.


    "I would have not thought that first, but now it seems likely." Lin Mu replied. "Ziran," he urged the man to read on.


    "The Sacred Tear Tribe had lost¡­ over ny percent of our tribe had been killed in the second great war and those that were left were weak, with a few warriors in between. The Humans had tried to assist us, but even they had limitations on how much they could help us. A Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal realm expert was a great powerhouse even for them, as such they couldn''t easily spare them.


    Only one such expert was sent whobined with our own Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal realm elder fought the three strongest Hrothak. This was the greatest loss for us and that basically doomed us forever for both experts lost. But their effort had still managed to carve out a few areas of safety in thend. But we didn''t know how long these would be safe. The elders decided to cut our losses and knew that we didn''t have many chances left. As such, we decided to attempt some ancient ways¡­ We first set up a graveyard for all the fallen members of our tribe and then Offering Halls to worship them.


    Next we sought out the help of ancestors.


    A great ceremony was held to call forth the might of the Ancestors." Ziran read the mural that wasrger in sizepared to others.


    On the mural, one could see several sights. The first was that of a massive graveyard along with an Offering Hall that looked just like the one they were in. The second was that of a settlement that had been barricaded with barriers, both physical and non-physical in nature.


    The third sight was a massive Ancestral temple that was at least a six kilometers in area. All the remaining members of the Sacred Tear Tribe seemed to be worshiping the ancestral tablets there.


    "We worshipped the ancestor day and night, asking for help nonstop. And yet help was far.


    Days turned into months, and months turned into years. The assault of the Hrothak was dyed due to the safety zones that had been made, but they eventually found us again and started more attacks. With our meager numbers, we managed to hold on for a decade before the barriers finally gave in.


    The Hrothak poured in through the shattered barriers and destroyed what little we had left. But just as they were about to reach the Ancestral temple, a massive presence was felt.


    All the Hrothak that had dared to attack us were turned to dust, while all our tribe members were healed. The ancestors had answered us!" Ziran read with wide eyes.


    The others were surprised too as they observed the mural that depicted an Ancestral temple surrounded by the dying chimeric beasts. Above the Ancestral temple, one could see arge figure that was surrounded by a mass of energy.


    The figure was quite vague and as such, one couldn''t tell what it was exactly.


    "They managed to summon an Ancestral spirit?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Quite possibly¡­ This is exactly how it happens." Ziran replied, being the expert in demons.


    The group looked at thest three murals that were remaining.


    The first among the three showed the ancestral spirit in better detail. It was that of a giant horned demon with four arms and two wings!


    The giant horned demon wiped out all the Hrothak that were around the settlement as well as the three strongest Hrothak. It then seemed to be giving some directives to the Sacred Tear Tribe.


    "The Ancestral spirit answered our call and did what we wished for. But he also told us that our fate was not safe in thesends. The Ancestral spirit told us to leave this ce and return to our old home in the human world, for our fate would be better there.


    We didn''t have much to lose now, thus we decided to ept it. But before that, the Ancestral spirit gave us a few tasks." Ziran read and moved onto the secondst mural. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    It showed more of the Offering Halls as well as the Chimeric beasts.


    "The Ancestral spirit asked us to establish more offering halls as well as graveyards, so that the spirits of the fallen would curse the damned invaders that had hurt us. We did exactly that and prepared to depart from thisnd. But to do that, we had to ask the humans for help, which was impossible as all sources of contact had been broken off." Ziran read, making the group observe with bated breaths.


    They looked at the veryst mural that showed the departing demons and the giant figure of the Ancestral spirit that seemed to be saying something.


    "The Ancestral spirit helped open a path for us so that we could return to our old home since the humans were uncontactable. And when we were departing, the Ancestral spirit told us a revtion.


    The Ancestral spirit prophesied that our struggle here won''t be in waste and that all the Hrothak would pay a grave price for it. He predicated a great expert would one dayy their eyes upon thisnd and purge it of all the Hrothak.


    It would be this very being that would grant us our vengeance.


    With this hope, we left our sacrednds for the old home. We know not of what would happen after our departure, or who would arrive in thisnd.


    But we hope that they would be safe and oppose the Hrothak that have defiled thesends." Ziran finished reading it all.

 Chapter 2221 Number Of Kills

    Chapter 2221 Number Of Kills


    The history of the Sacred Tear Tribe had indeed been quite harsh and the group finally all that had happened in the Spatial ne.


    "The prophecy by the Ancestral spirit¡­ it''s the Celestial, isn''t it?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "That seems like the most obvious answer." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "But it doesn''t seem like the prophecy was fulfilled¡­ The Hrothak or rather the Chimeric beasts are still present here." He added.


    "We can now assume the Celestial probably turned this ce into their ''treasure'' much after the departure of the Sacred Tear Tribe." Lin Mu said, detailing the timeline in his mind. "Considering the fact that the Sea of Muxuan was created over a hundred thousand years ago¡­ and the empires didn''t exist until a hundred and fifty thousand years ago¡­ All these events should have happened over two hundred thousand years ago." He estimated.


    "Two hundred thousand years ago¡­ there are some ns that are still present since then, but I doubt they would have records about this ce. Whatever humans that arrived here were from the Eight Kingdom alliance continent, which had been embroiled in many conflicts over the years.


    They probably are the worst in keeping history, thus we probably don''t have much hope in finding more records." Qiao De said, after thinking for a bit.


    "Well, we do still have the rest of the Offering Hall. Perhaps there''s more inside here that we can find." Daoist Chu said, making the group nod.


    "We haven''t checked inside¡­ there could very well be more records inside along with whatever ''offerings'' that could be present." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed.


    "Let''s go in and see for ourselves." Lady Kang said, making the group moved.


    A pair of doors stood at the other end of the circr hall that was easily opened by Lin Mu.


    ~CREAK~


    Dust and bits of debris fell from the door as it was pushed open, revealing a small passage way.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Daoist Chu illuminated it with more talismans and showed them the path.


    "Hm¡­ no murals here." Lin Mu looked at the passageway that was rather in.


    ~step~step~step~


    With nothing of interest in the passageway, the group walked in silence, only the echoes of their steps being heard.


    ~SHUA~


    They finally arrived in a new hall that was circr in shape, with no supportive pirs present. But Lin Mu and the others could sense Immortal Qi in the air here.


    "There are formations here, for sure." Lin Mu said, sensing the faint flow of Immortal Qi.


    At first it felt like the immortal Qi was just ambient, but if one paid more attention and focused, they would sense that it was actually flowing in a specific pattern.


    "Indeed." Even the Crown Prince and the others could tell that now.


    "They are probably intended for these." Lady Kang said, looking at the ground.


    Unlike the in floor from the earlier hall, this one had a few unique looking segments.


    There were several hexagonal segments on the ground that had fine lines linking them to the walls. ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu used his immortal sense and probed these segments, finding that there were many runes hidden within. But before he could read what these runes were, a wave of energy was felt.


    ~HONG~


    The wave of energy came from all the walls and washed over the group. But that wasn''t all as they felt the energy prate their bodies.


    This rmed them quite a bit and they tried to put up defenses.


    "It didn''t get blocked!?" Lady Kang was shocked.


    With the amount of immortal tools she had, it should have certainly gotten blocked. The rest of the group was also concerned, but since no harm had been done, they were a bit relieved. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    ~HONGLONG~


    But a few secondster, a rhythmic sound was heard and thousands of runes appeared in the air!


    "The runes¡­ they''re simr to the notification we got at the start and ends of the trials." Crown Prince Feng Shun recognized.


    ~humm~humm~Humm~


    The runes transformed into ten streaks and rushed into the bodies of each individual present. Lin Mu flinched, but couldn''t dodge the runes that had easily entered his body.


    ''It inscribed a formation onto us?'' Lin Mu quickly sensed.


    ~Weeng~weeng~weeng~


    And a momentter, bands formed around the wrists of every one. The band was green in color and was certainly made by the formation that had been inscribed onto their bodies.


    ~SHUA~


    This was not the end of the surprises though, as they saw a string of numbers pop up above the green band.


    Each person seemed to have a different set of numbers, some small, somerge, making them wonder what it was.


    Lin Mu took a quick nce around and realized that he had thergest number in the group.


    "Three million, six hundred and twenty-four thousand, three hundred and one." Lin Mu read the number above his band.


    Compared to him, the second biggest number only seemed to be in the tens of thousands and was held by none other than Lady Kang.


    "Thirty eight thousand four hundred and twenty." Lady Kang read her number before looking at Lin Mu and then at the others.


    "What are these numbers?" Qiao De asked, looking at his own number. "And why''s mine so small?" Lin Mu looked at the man''s number. That was barely above three thousand.


    "I think¡­ These are kills." Ziran guessed. "Daoist Mu Lin has had the most kills¡­ or has killed the most Chimeric beasts here. While we don''t know the exact number, it does seem to be the most likely one." He exined.


    "So the Spatial ne''s formation array has been keeping track of how many chimeric beasts we killed¡­ interesting." Crown Prince Feng Shun narrowed his eyes.


    "But there should be some reason that it''s keeping track of the kills, shouldn''t there?" Min Ju asked.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Just on cue, they felt the hexagonal segments on the ground rise as more runes shone on their surface.


    "Looks like we''ll know soon enough." Lin Mu said, as he felt the formations working.

 Chapter 2222 A Large Reward List

    Chapter 2222 A Large Reward List


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lin Mu and the group watched as ten hexagonal segments rose from the ground. The number of segments matched the number of people present and were equidistant from each other. These segments had now turned into hexagonal pirs that had runes glowing on them which seemed to be forming a pattern. A few secondster, they felt a pull between the hexagonal segments and the green band on their hands.


    "The bands seem to have something to do with these." Ziran said looking at the two objects.


    "Let''s take a look then." Lin Mu said, approaching the nearest pir.


    The runes on the pir changed and a string of words appeared on it. They were written in Dao Script thus, Lin Mu and the others had no problem reading them.


    "Avable Rewards?" Lin Mu read the words before the group finally realized what this was.


    "This is where we get our rewards!?" Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others were surprised.


    "But I see nothing here?" Qiao De looked around and was sure that there were no actual objects kept in this structure. "We''ll know once we get something from it." Lin Mu said, wishing to test it out. He looked at the object and used his immortal sense tomunicate with it.


    The process was rather simple, and he merely had to think what he wished for for it to respond appropriately.


    ~SHUA~


    The letters on the pir changed and new words appeared on the pir.


    ''Pick a reward from the list.'' The pir said.


    "What list?" They looked at the pir but there was no list on it.


    ~HUALA~


    Then a few secondster, they felt a wave of energy spreading, before pulling their attention.


    "The walls!" Daoist Chu pointed. "New words are appearing on it!" The group looked at the walls and saw that lines after lines of words filled all the walls. They started from the top and filled it all the way to the bottom. Reading it they found various item names on it. They ranged from something as basic as some Immortal stones, all the way to precious alchemical pills, formation blueprints, and even a few techniques.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu saw the giant list and couldn''t help but be surprised. "This is more than any other reward grounds." He muttered.


    "It sure is." Crown Prince Feng Shun said.


    Even without counting, they could easily tell there were over a million items present in the list here. But with so many items avable, the group had a few doubts. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "It can''t be that we can just take everything, can we?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "It definitely isn''t." Lin Mu shook his head. "They won''t give it that easily." He added.


    He furrowed his brows and made a request to the hexagonal pir.


    ~SHUA~


    A new line appeared on the pir, showing his request.


    <1 High Grade Immortal Stone>


    <Cost: 100 credit>


    "Just as I thought¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "We can buy the things here, using the kills we umte." He exined.


    "But how does it give us things?" Qiao De asked. "Try buying it." ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu did just that and saw the change.


    The number on his green band reduced by 100 while the words on the pir changed.


    ''Granted''


    ~HONG~


    Then in the next moment, Lin Mu felt spatial fluctuations appearing in front of him. His eyes went wide while he became alert.


    ~Thud~


    But the fluctuation were short lived as a very small rift dropped a High Grade Immortal Stone on the ground. The group was surprised while Lin Mu picked up the Immortal stone to inspect it.


    "It really is a High Grade Immortal Stone." Lin Mu stated.


    "Was that¡­ A Spatial Teleportation Gate?" Min Ju asked seeing it.


    "Not exactly," Lin Mu shook his head. "It is a smaller scale version of that. A Spatial Transfer Formation." He answered.


    "So the items here aren''t really stored here." Qiao De now understood.


    "Hmm¡­ so there must be a central area where they are stored right?" Daoist Chu guessed.


    "There probably is." Lin Mu nodded. "Can you track where it could be, Daoist Mu Lin?" Lady Kang asked, knowing that his Spatial Skills could be helpful here.


    "I wish I could." Lin Mu replied much to her surprise. "But I cannot."


    "You can''t?" Lady Kang and even the others were surprised.


    They had seen Lin Mu''s Spatial skills that seemed to be quite good. Lady Kang even knew how he had figured out a way to get out of the initial area and arrive in the Spatial ne. "No¡­ Whatever type of array they are using for this¡­ It''s certainly not an immortal array." Lin Mu spoke furrowing his brows. "My perception cannot pick up on it properly." Even he hadn''t expected it to be like this.


    "So it''s like that." Lady Kang was a bit disappointed, but she knew that not everything would be possible here.


    "You cannot check it with your skills?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "No¡­ it seems to be above anything I''ve seen so far." Lin Mu replied honestly.


    When the spatial fluctuations had appeared, Lin Mu had indeed tried to use his Spatial Perception to look just where they wereing from. The activation was almost instant and yet he had been unable to see it.


    "What if you try it once more?" Crown Princess Shang suggested.


    "I can try." Lin Mu didn''t see any harm in that.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu activated his Spatial Perception in advance and requested for another High Grade Immortal Stone from the pir causing 100 credits to be deducted from his band. He


    ~HUALA~


    As soon as the request went through, the Spatial Fluctuations appeared once more and made the space in front of him flicker. Lin Mu''s eyes locked onto it and he tried to see just were these were originating from.


    And yet, all he saw was a ck background behind it, and not the normal Spatial Fabric or the expanse of void itself.

 Chapter 2223 Celestial Level Arrays

    Chapter 2223 Celestial Level Arrays


    ''What is this?'' Lin Mu didn''t even know what he was gazing at.


    It was just pitch ck, as if there was nothing there. And it wasn''t the normal darkness of the void either¡­ it was different. It was¡­ nk. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    ~THUD~


    And before Lin Mu could look at it any longer, the small portal threw out a High Grade Immortal Stone and disappeared.


    "Any sess?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "No." Lin Mu shook his head, his expression a bit confused. "This is strange, I cannot see anything there. It''s just¡­ Empty." "We are in a Celestial''s Treasure, so there is a chance it is a Spatial Array at the Celestial level." Elder Hu reminded them.


    "That is true." Ziran nodded. "If it is indeed something at the Celestial level, even Daoist Mu Lin won''t be able to observe it." He knew just how far Celestials were from Immortals.


    "That does seem like it, now that I think of it." Lin Mu had seen the other Celestial Arrays that were imbued into the very fabric of space before. He knew just how difficult it was to read them and those were just normal arrays. In case of the Spatial Arrays, they could be even moreplex as was witnessed by him.


    Even a small scale, Spatial Transfer Formation seemed to be impermeable to him. Their thought of tracking down the origin of the items and simply raiding them was unless now. "You won''t be able to pry into these arrays at your current level, Lin Mu." A voice was heard while Lin Mu was thinking about it.


    "Senior Xukong." Lin Mu knew who had spoken.


    "I sensed the array." Xukong spoke. "It is indeed on the Celestial level." He had quickly read through the shared memories and knew just what had happened so far.


    "No wonder. So there is no chance of me tampering with them." Lin Mu replied.


    "None at all." Xukong confirmed. "Unless you wished to simply destroy it all¡­ That might be possible but you definitely won''t be able to obtain the rewards and there is quite certainly a contingency set for an event like that too. This ce would likely self destruct if someone tries anything like that." He exined.


    "That would be quite dangerous for us." Lin Mu raised his brows. "I reckon it was designed with interference form other celestial''s in mind?" he guessed.


    "Indeed. Only another celestial would be able to interfere with the arrays after all." Xukong agreed. "Though it seems like you''ve been through a lot in thest few days." He added.


    "Ah yes¡­ I''ve been meaning to talk to you about things, but you were cultivating." Lin Mu replied.


    "Mmhm, after awakening earlier, I had to return to cultivation. I had woken up in the middle of a cycle forcefully." Xukong exined.


    "Ah I see¡­ I apologize for the disturbance then." Lin Mu said.


    "It is fine. You were in danger back then, but you managed to resolve it on your own." Xukong said with a hint of pride. "You did well." He praised.


    "Thank you senior." Lin Mu replied. "Ah yeah, I''ve obtained a few things and other matters I need to talk to you about¡ª" Before he could finish his words though, Xukong interrupted him.


    "You should resume what you were doing. I''ll take a look through the memories and talk to youter." Xukong suggested instead. "Yourpanions are waiting after all.


    "Yes. I''ll wait for a bit then." Lin Mu said and looked at the others who seemed to be staring at him.


    "Is everything fine?"dy Kang asked, seeing that Lin Mu had been silent for a while. "Yes, I was just thinking about the array." Lin Mu replied. "It surely is a Celestial array, thus I cannot interfere in it." He stated.


    "If it is like that, then we cannot do anything." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "Still your effort is appreciated." He added.


    "We should focus on the matter at hand." Monk Hushu spoke up. "I''m seeing some¡­ Interesting things here." He said from near the wall.


    "What is it?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Look here." The monk called him over.


    Lin Mu went along and saw him pointing to a certain line near the very top. There were over ten thousand lines in a single column, thus making it hard to focus on a single line.


    The specific line that Monk Hushu was looking at might have been just sixth or seventh from the ceiling thus they had to use this immortal sense to look at it.


    "Immortal Paragon''s Ring." Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lin Mu read in unison.


    "Wait, what did you say?" Daoist Chu''s looked over upon hearing it.


    "It can''t be¡­ How''s that thing here?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was surprised.


    "You know what it is?" Lin Mu asked, feeling confused.


    "Ah, people outside the Immortal Court probably don''t know of it." Crown Prince Feng Shun realized. "But this ring is very important to the people of the Immortal Court." "Is it a strong Immortal tool?" Lin Mu asked. "What does it do?" he inquired thinking that it could be a Spatial Storage tool or something even better.


    "It isn''t exactly an Immortal tool¡­ and it only has one function." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "So what is it?" Lin Mu was getting curious.


    "It is the symbol of identity for the Immortal Court''s Leader." Monk Hushu stated.


    "The Immoral Court''s leader!?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected something like that to be here. "Indeed¡­ Each Court has a leader and they are called as Immortal Paragons." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined. "Or at least they used to be called in the past." He said with a serious expression.


    "They''re not anymore?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "Not every Immortal Court''s leader is qualified to be an Immortal Paragon. While we don''t know the exact qualifications behind it, we do know that there hasn''t been an Immortal Paragon in the Immortal Court since thest generation."

 Chapter 2224 Immortal Paragon

    Chapter 2224 Immortal Paragon


    The information about an Immortal Paragon was entirely new to Lin Mu.


    While he had learned a bit about the Immortal Court, he was still unaware of their major workings. Though that was not unusual either, as it was mostly information that people of the Immortal Court would know or those at the higher echelons of the realm. For example, an Emperor might know how things went in the Immortal Court, but that information might not be all epassing.


    This was intentional too, as the Immortal Court preferred their internal workings to be limited to those that were within their camp. "They don''t have Immortal Paragons at the helm anymore?" Lin Mu heard the surprised voice of Xukong. "Is the Immortal Court in a depression?" he wondered.


    "You know of them senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course. Immortal Paragons can be considered as one of the most important cultivators in the entire Immortal Realm. They can dictate the working of an Immortal Court andmand great power, both physical as well as political." Xukong replied.


    "What did Crown Prince Feng Shun mean by not every Immortal Court leader is qualified to be one?" Lin Mu questioned, seeing that Crown Prince and hispanions were still thinking about the ring, giving him some time.


    "In order to be an Immortal Paragon, not only does the leader have to be strong and be selected by the majority of an Immortal Court, they also need to gain the approval of the Paragon''s Will." Xukong answered. "Paragon''s Will? What''s that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You can think of it as the collective will of every Immortal Paragon that has been in the Immoral Courts since times immemorial. They decide whether an Immortal would be qualified to be an Immortal Paragon.


    As to how they decide this, or what the conditions are, that are unknown to me. Even the immortal courts themselves don''t know the conditions. The Paragon''s Will is independent of the Immortal Court''s control and cannot be opposed." Xukong exined.


    "What difference does it make though? If one is considered as the leader of an Immortal Court, it shouldn''t matter if the Paragon''s Will gives its approval or not, right?" Lin Mu was a bit confused.


    "Of course it matter." Xukong replied. "An Immortal Paragon has a Veto right on matters of the Immortal Courts. If there is one immortal Paragon and three normal leaders, the Immortal Paragon''s decision will be final.


    In addition to this, they also have ess to several special privileges that are only granted to the Immortal Paragons, such as special weapons, services and a the entire wealth of the Immortal Court." He exined.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu understood the power of an Immortal Paragon.


    "So it allows them to trump over other leaders¡­" Lin Mu muttered. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "It''s more than that. The presence of an Immortal Paragon is important for the Immortal Court to have. At the very least there should be a single paragon in every generation. The Immortal Paragons are a sign that the Immortal Court can be trusted in its decisions and that they will stay incorruptible. If there is no Immortal Paragon, the Immortal Court is weakened¡­ the ns that have supported the Immortal Court will not have full trust in its workings, and neither will the other powers." Xukong further exined. "It is a serious issue that they do not have an Immortal Paragon¡­" Lin Mu could feel genuine concern in Xukong''s tone.


    "So that ring is something that is only granted to the Immortal Paragons?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Indeed. It is the physical manifestation of the Paragon Will''s approval." Xukong answered. "Normally it is inseparable from the Immortal Paragon and only upon their death can it be removed¡­ though it is highly unusual that it is still intact. They usually shatter soon after being returned to the Immortal Court, signaling that the Immortal Paragon has died." He added.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows, hearing that. He thought about for a bit before thinking of an obvious answer.


    "What if the Immortal Paragon isn''t dead?" Lin Mu wondered. "What if they merely ascended to the Celestial realm?" "Hmm, in that case the ring would indeed stay intact." Xukong replied. "But that doesn''t mean it should be here. An Immortal Paragon Ring is very valuable to the Immortal Court and it cannot be left outside it even if the owner hasn''t died.


    The consequences of it falling into the wrong hands can be very grave." He added.


    "Wait, so simply by having the ring one can have the same rights as an Immortal Paragon?" Lin Mu hoped it was not like that, as it would be a grave oversight.


    "Of course not." Xukong said, making Lin Mu relieved. "They will obviously not be epted by the immortal Court, but that doesn''t mean that all the privileges will be voided. They will still be able to ess some of the exclusive services and wealth that the Immortal Paragon has.


    Since that is bound to the ring itself, rather than the person and one doesn''t necessarily need to show their face to use them." He borated.


    "That¡­ Is quite bad¡­ But also very lucrative." Lin Mu spoke. "Indeed." Xukong nodded. "Though I wonder what generation this Immortal Paragon Ring is from. It is certainly not a ring from the recent generations. Even if I consider thest fifty generations, I doubt a ring would have been left out." He added.


    "Looks like we''ll have to see it ourselves to know whom it belonged to." Lin Mu said before a shout of shock was heard.


    "What in name of heavens!?" "What happened?" Lin Mu snapped out of his conversation and looked at Crown Prince Feng Shun and hispanions that were gathered around a hexagonal pir.


    But they didn''t reply to him, prompting Lin Mu to check it himself. He walked over and peeked at the pir that showed a single line.


    <Immortal Paragon Ring>


    <Cost: 300,000,000 credit>


    Seeing the line, Lin Mu quickly understood their shock.

 Chapter 2225 Apprehensible Costs

    Chapter 2225 Apprehensible Costs


    The sheer cost of the Immortal Paragon Ring seemed to be apprehensible. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    "Three hundred million?" Daoist Chu muttered in shock. "Even Daoist Mu Lin only has three million after killing all those Chimeric Beasts."


    "Is this even realistic?" Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but ask.


    "If it''s here, then it should certainly be an achievable target." Lady Kang spoke. "I doubt they would put something that cannot be obtained." She added.


    "Indeed. We''ve already seen four more swarms that around the area of our base. If we kill all of them, they will probably add up to at least ten million or so." Ziran calcted. "And that is in just these five hundred to eight hundred kilometers of area. Who knows how many more there are in this entire Spatial ne." He added.


    "Ziran is correct. The sheer number of Chimeric beasts should be much higher than we''re thinking." Elder Hu chimed in as well.


    "Though we can say one thing for sure." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke with a chuckle. "That is definitely a worthy price for an Immortal Paragon Ring." He stated.


    "Out on the market, I doubt we would be able to estimate a cost for it." Lady Kang said. "And if it were ever put on the auction¡­ if it is even possible, the bids would go as high as the heavens." She added.


    The rest of them couldn''t help but agreed other than the ones that didn''t know the true value of the object.


    "Is it really that valuable?" Qiao De asked, not knowing about the Immortal Paragon Ring. Lin Mu would have been in the same boat, if not for the fact that Xukong had already informed him about the importance and power of the ring. The others including Ziran, Elder Hu and Min Ju seemed to already know about the Immortal Paragon Ring. Though Lin Mu could attribute this to their background as well as life experiences. Compared to the rest, Qiao De probably had the lowest standing here as such it was normal that he didn''t know about it.


    "It is far more valuable than even a Hundred Peak Grade Immortal Weapons." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "Though anyone that dares to hold it will also have to bear a great burden." He added.


    "What kind of burden?" Qiao De asked, realizing that this ring was something beyond the scope of his understanding.


    "The burden of being hunted down by the entire Immortal Court, all of its allied powers, the ns under it as well as the temple of the Guardian Beasts." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered.


    ~GASP~


    Qiao De couldn''t help but let out a shocked gasp upon hearing that. "That¡­ severe?" He was stunned.


    "You can think of the Ring as being simr to the Imperial Seal. One that holds it will also hold great authority. Of course, the Immortal Court wouldn''t let someone like that exist outside them." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined.


    But hearing this, Lin Mu had a different thought.


    "Wouldn''t that apply to you too then?" Lin Mu asked. "You are trying to get it, right?" "I am yes, but I am still part of the Immortal Court." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "And my intentions are different too¡­ We need to return this to the Immortal Court at all costs. Something like this cannot be allowed to exist outside it¡­ The implications of anyone obtaining it would be heavy for the entire realm." He added in a serious tone.


    Lin Mu nodded his head, knowing how many privileges it could grant one even if they were greatly reduced.


    "Besides, we also need it to obtain for another reason." Monk Hushu stated. "There has never been a case that an Immortal Paragon Ring had left the ownership of the Immortal Paragon or the confines of the Immortal realm. We need to know why it is here, and who brought it here." He stated.


    "Indeed. That might be even more important." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "Heavens forbid, if this ring was somehow sneaked out or stolen¡­ it might be even more horrendous for the Immortal Realm." He went to the worst case scenario.


    "For someone to be capable enough to steal an Immortal Paragon Ring¡­ just how strong and crazy would they have to be even?" Daoist Chu wondered. "Would someone like this even exist?" "Well, we do have a suspect for it though." Lin Mu stated. "The Celestial that owns this realm." He added.


    "A celestial¡­ Indeed its a task that only a Celestial might be able to aplish." Elder Hu could see the possibility.


    "Still, even if a Celestial took it, the implications of it are quite great. We still need to bring the ring back and report to the Immortal Court." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Looks like we''ll have more reasons than just the Grand Bagua Mythic Series to return to the Immortal Court." Daoist Chu stated.


    "Don''t forget to take the two Grand Bagua Mythic Series fragments that they have." Xukong reminded Lin Mu. "Those aren''t easy to obtain at all." "I will." Lin Mu responded. "I''ll ask them at a more opportune time." He added.


    "Alright." Xukong responded, knowing that the time was a bit tense right now.


    "I suppose we''ll be going on a hunting spree then." Crown Princess Shang said. "At least we now know there is indeed some value to hunting the Chimeric Beasts down." She added.


    "Yes! The rewards here are quite good." Qiao De''s eyes shimmered with greed. "I took a look at the base level items and they are already quite rare and good." He added.


    This prompted Lin Mu to look up at the walls full of reward lists.


    "Wait, is the Immortal Paragon''s Ring the most expensive item here?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "I¡­ Don''t know." Daoist Chu said before looking at the list.


    Lin Mu looked at the item that was right above the Immortal Paragon ring and its cost.


    <Cost: 320,000,000 credit>

 Chapter 2226 Unbelievable Rewards

    Chapter 2226 Unbelievable Rewards


    Lin Mu''s face became still as he saw the item. He then blinked a few times, making sure that he was reading the Dao Script Characters correctly.


    "PURE AZURE DRAGON BLOODLINE ESSENCE CRYSTAL!?" But before Lin Mu could even give a reaction, Qiao De exploded with shock. "HOW''S SOMETHING LIKE THAT EVEN HERE?!" Lady Kang and her two attendants were both stunned, their jaws left open. Crown Prince Feng Shun and hispanions on the other hand, were rubbing their eyes to make sure it was really something they were seeing.


    "Hoho¡­ This Celestial really spent a lot of effort in setting this up." Ziran chuckled nervously. "Just this alone will be enough to cause the entire Immortal Realm to charge at this Inheritance ground." He rubbed his forehead while a thousand thoughts went through his mind.


    Lin Mu kept silent though and let his Immortal Sense scan the rest of the items in that list column, feeling like this was not going to be thest time they were to be shocked.


    <Cost: 320,000,000 credit>


    He read all the way to the top in that column and made all of the items and their costs appear on the pir.


    <Cost: 320,000,000 credit>


    With each appearing line, the shock among the group only deepened.


    <Cost: 320,000,000 credit>


    And when all four guardian beasts'' bloodline essence crystals were presented, the group was utterly speechless.


    They stood like frozen meerkats for about five minutes as their minds wrapped around the reality before they finally let out a collective breath.


    ~huu~


    "This ce is not good for our Dao Hearts¡­" Elder Hu spoke. "I''m going to sit down." He said before doing exactly that.


    "Could this all be a lie?" Daoist Chu felt doubts arising in his heart. "That''s right¡­ This is probably all fake. It might also be why there is an Immortal Paragon Ring here. It is all a trick of some kind." He spoke.


    ~SHUA~


    But in the next moment, he found his doubt being erased. The credits on Lin Mu''s green band reduced rapidly and quickly fell to double digits.


    ~HUALA~


    Then in the next moment, spatial fluctuations appeared and a small box was ejected out of a small portal. Lin Mu grabbed it and opened it right away.


    ~ck~


    Daoist Chu and the others looked at what was inside it, their eyes trembling.


    It was a small red crystal that had an irregr shape. But no matter what shape it had, the group could already tell what it was.


    "A Bloodline Crystal¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered before looking at the Hexagonal Pir, checking just what it belonged to.


    <Cost: 3,624,050 credit>


    "Is that really¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun recognized the name and knew what beast it was. But it was still unbelievable to him. ~HUALA~


    The proof was easy to obtain though, as all Lin Mu had to do was to stimte the crystal a bit of his own aura.


    ~HONG~ Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Dark red aura spilled out of Lin Mu''s body and touched the bloodline crystal causing a reaction. A projection rose above the bloodline crystal as an illusory image formed.


    ~HOWL~


    It was that of a giant four winged wolf that seemed to be howling at the sky. Its fur was pure white, as if the first snow of winter, while its wings were a creamy white. Every feather was pristine and looked to have been preened to perfection.


    Its tail was long and fluffed up as it swayed. But contrary to its beautiful fur, its head was a personification of might. Its eyes held a sharp re that seemed to make a person quake in their boots. The wolf''s fangs were as sharp as the best spears crafted by an Immortal refiner, while the symbol for ''Qian'' was present on its forehead.


    It looked like it had been painted on at first, but if one looked closely, they would realize that it was actually formed from pure energy.


    "It really is the Sky Swallowing Wolf." Lady Kang muttered in surprise.


    "Indeed." Ziran nodded, feeling a bit intimidated too.


    Nearly everyone in the group knew what the beast was, for it was considered as one of the top bloodlines an Immortal could obtain in the Immortal realm.


    It belonged to the Sky Swallowing Wolf that was a great beast that had the innate potential to be a Transcendent Immortal Beast!


    It even had the innate affinity to three Daos!


    These were the Sky Dao, the Wind Dao as well as the Air Dao!


    Any immortal that could obtain and assimte this bloodline would have their potential raised greatly and their chances of reaching the Transcendent Immortal Realm would be increased greatly!


    While many wished for the Sky Swallowing Wolf Bloodline, obtaining it was simply not possible for most. It was a beast of great strength and hunting it to obtain its bloodline was a uphill task. Sky Swallowing Wolves lived in packs like many other wolves and were lead by the Alpha that would at least be in the Transcendent Immortal realm.


    There would also be several wolves that would be at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm among them.


    As such, even if one wished to hunt a younger Sky Swallowing Wolf to obtain the bloodline, they would have to face several beast experts in order to do that. And the Sky Swallowing Wolves would protect their young fiercely.


    Thus, the only person that might even have the chance of obtaining its bloodline would be another Transcendent Immortal. And even then, they would first have to find where these wolves lived. Chasing after them was difficult due to their mastery over the Sky, Wind, and Air Daos. It granted them great ability to fly and they could cover thousands of miles in a matter of hours.


    Not to mention, they could create horrifying hurricanes that could rip through entire mountain ranges with ease.


    And yet¡­ That very same bloodline that was considered very difficult to obtain was now within Lin Mu''s grasp.


    "If this ce has the Sky Swallowing Wolf Bloodline¡­ I don''t think it is possible that they''re faking the other items and tricking us." Lin Mu stated. He had intentionally spent all his credits to confirm the truth. He had picked a bloodline that seemed to be rare and hard to obtain, and it was barely within the budget. But now that he had it in his hands, and confirmed it with his own two eyes, he was sure that nothing here would be fake.


    ~thud~ thud~


    Qiao De and Daoist Chu couldn''t help but sit down as well, wondering just what kind of Inheritance ground they had arrived in. The shock with the rewards was far greater than this being a celestial''s treasure to them now.


    "If all these bloodlines¡­ and other previous treasures here are indeed real then¡­ The value of this Inheritance ground is far greater than any other Inheritance ground in the Immortal Realm¡­ I can''t think of any other Inheritance ground that could match the rewards here." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, his voice trembling slightly.


    "Amithabha¡­ Perhaps this is a test from Buddha¡­ Whether we can control our hearts or not." Monk Hushu said lightly.


    "We need to¡­ Assess each and every item that is present here." Lady Kang said with full seriousness. "Even if we can potentially afford the rewards here, I doubt we''ll be able to get all of them. We need to n it properly and pick out what is realistically achievable. After all, we still don''t know how many Chimeric beasts can actually be hunted." She exined.


    "Lady Kang is correct." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Depending on what we pick, our futures can be greatly different." He added.


    "Not just ours¡­ perhaps the future of our descendant and the ones behind us will change too." Ziran stated, looking at the list. His eyes scanned every item one by one, going from column to column.


    The others were all in agreement and started to scan every possible item present. While doing this, they soon realized a pattern.


    "Looks like the higher we go, the greater the value of the item." Lin Mu spoke. "And each column has the items of simr rarity." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ if so¡­" This prompted Crown Prince Feng Shun to look at the column where they had seen the Immortal Paragon Ring and the bloodlines of the guardian beasts.


    He looked at the right and left columns next to it and saw the difference.


    "They seem to be getting rarer, the further we go left." Crown Prince Feng Shun said.


    "By that logic, thest column should have the highest value item right?" Qiao De said, trying to find it.


    "I think I found it¡­" Lin Mu said. "Three columns to the left of that." It wasn''t that far as the fourth column seemed to be filled with rathermon items.

 Chapter 2227 The Most Expensive Column

    Chapter 2227 The Most Expensive Column


    Lin Mu nced at the column, reading the items on it. He started from the bottom, since the items there seemed to be the ''cheapest'' and their value increased the highest one went. ''Let''s see what the cheapest item in the rarest column is.'' Lin Mu thought and pulled it up on the pir.


    ~SHUA~


    <Tri Essence Mandragora>


    <Cost: 400,000,000 credit>


    ~gulp~


    Of course, the cost was still enough to make the others gulp.


    "What is this?" But to Lin Mu, it was the item in question that seemed to be unknown.


    "I don''t know¡­" Daoist Chu said. "I don''t either." Crown Prince Feng Shun seemed to be unaware too.


    "Does Lady Kang or Ziran know?" Lin Mu knew that the two had the highest chance of knowing it.


    "I''ve heard about Mandragora, but not this." Lady Kang replied. "But for it to be worth four hundred million credits¡­" the price was high for her too.


    Ziran furrowed his brows and looked at the name for a minute without speaking.


    "I think¡­ This is a Legendary Herb." Ziran replied after thinking deeply. "I''ve heard vague mentions about it before in some stories. But I thought it was just that¡­ a legend." He added.


    "What does it do?" Lin Mu asked. "Considering it''s value it should be very good, no?" "Well, normal Mandragora have both positive and negative effects. It is said that while they are potent medicines, they also have hallucinogenic effects." Ziran replied. "But these effects would be nothing to immortals and they would be able to get through it. But a Tri Essence Mandragora¡­ it is supposedly a herb that''ll make you see Heaven, earth and hell at the same time." He exined. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Huh¡­ Heaven, Earth and Hell?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but raise his eyes.


    "The legend says that for one to be worthy of taking the Tri Essence Mandrake, they need to ovee its trails. They''ll see the three realms of existence and suffer through it. Only those that can ovee it will be able to take the benefit. If not, their souls would simply be extinguished." Ziran exined, making the group surprised. "Also no immortal is safe from their efforts¡­ whether you be body cultivator or Qi cultivator, it is the same. Even Transcendent immortals will suffer from it all." He added.


    "What about the benefits?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Well¡­ the description about that was vague, but they did mention that if one can ovee the illusion of Heaven, Earth and Hell, they can ascend to the heavens." Ziran answered.


    "That¡­ can be interpreted in a lot of ways." Crown Princess Shang said. "Yeah, won''t that mean they die too?" Qiao De chimed in.


    Lin Mu could see that this was a rather risky herb considering theck of information they had.


    "Yeah, it is a gamble to take that." Xukong spoke up seeing their confusion. "The Tri Essence Mandragora has always been a troublesome herb." Lin Mu listened intently wondering just what kind of trouble it could bring.


    "It is very potent and can grant one enough immortal Qi to jump three to four Immortal Stages in one go." Xukong stated first.


    "What?!" that was a major jump for Lin Mu. "But won''t they still have to ovee the Immortal Tribtions?" he asked.


    "They will of course. But the potency of the Tri Essence Mandragora takes care of that too. The sheer amount of Qi that is produced from it will protect the person from the tribtion too." Xukong replied. "The only problem is one needs to ovee the illusions. And those are something even Transcendent immortals have failed before." He added.


    "Damn¡­ it really is a gamble." Lin Mu replied. "But wait, it can protect one from any kind of immortal tribtion? Even variant ones?" he asked.


    "Not all of course." Xukong replied. "That''s why its a gamble. If by some misfortune you trigger a variant immortal tribtion, you will still die." He added.


    "A gamble indeed." Lin Mu now understood. "Though I suppose even with that gamble, its value is quite high. And it is still the cheapest item in this column." He added.


    "What other stuff is here?" Daoist Chu wished to look at more.


    Lin Mu went to the next item, which was also a herb.


    <100,000 year old Red Lingzhi>


    <Cost: 420,000,000>


    "Oh wow!" Lin Mu eximed.


    It was an item that everyone recognized. "They even got this?" Qiao De was surprised and happy. Red Lingzhi was a mushroom that was used as an ingredient for several alchemical pills that were beneficial to immortals. As such no one was unfamiliar with it. But, the age of the Red Lingzhi was simply stunning.


    "Lady Kang, the Great Kang Auction house once sold a hundred thousand year old Red Lingzhi right? What was the cost?" Crown prince Feng Shun asked.


    "We did yes¡­ but it was long before my time." Lady Kang replied. "If I recall correctly, it sold for about half of an Immortal Empire." She stated.


    "I-immortal empire!?" Qiao De gawked at the woman.


    "Yes, a fixed cost for it was simply impossible to set with the demand. In the end, an emperor sold half of his empire for it." Lady Kang exined.


    Lin Mu had already heard of people buying and selling nations from Lady Kang, and she had even offered him one to buy for cheap. But he had never expected that someone would buy a single Immortal material for the cost of half an empire.


    ''Even if it was just half an empire, it would be worth several kingdoms right?'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Truly a high price¡­ But worthy regardless." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "What would one even do with it?" Qiao De asked. "With such high potency¡­"


    "Well once can simply consume it right away for a massive amount of Qi, or if one wants to make a major profit they can turn it into a giant batch of pills. That one Red Lingzhi may as well be enough for an entire alchemy pavilion to use for at least a century. Plus the cauldron it is refined in will bee inundate by it''s essence, improving the quality of it over all. There''s even a chance the Immortal Cauldron will be upgraded straight to the Peak Immortal Grade as well." Lady Kang exined. "Not to mention the benefits the alchemist themselves will gain from it. By merely being in its presence, they will gain a lot of cultivation and their bodies will improve." After hearing that, Lin Mu and the others could exin why the value of the Hundred Thousand Year Old Red Lingzhi was so high. "So if one cannurture it long enough, their n can enjoy its benefits for a long time." Ziran said.


    "One might not be able to grow one for that long even if they wanted to." Lady Kang stated. "Most Red Lingzhi''s even with proper nurturing might not live past fifty thousand years. The cost of nurturing them to a hundred thousand years might even be more expensive than the end price of the Red Lingzhi." She added.


    "Indeed. This is the kind of Immortal material that is only viable when found naturally." Crown Princess Shang agreed.


    "Well if they got something like this, what other herbs are there in the list?" Daoist Chu asked.


    Lin Mu and the others read through the list and saw that most of the items were just herbs and other immortal materials.


    The cost only continued to go higher and higher as they read each herb. Most of the herbs were basically older variants of well known immortal herbs, which resulted in their value being massively high. But there were also some herbs that were simply unknown to them all.


    Lin Mu ended up asking Xukong and found out that these were herbs that were actually extinct in most worlds. Lin Mu was surprised that something like those extinct herbs was also avable here.


    "Of course, a celestial has many ways for that. Just by the fact how long they could have lived, there''s a high chance they had arge supply of them from long ago. Then there is also the fact that they could be growing them in the celestial realm." Xukong spoke. "Even if something is extinct in the Immortal Realm doesn''t mean it''ll be gone in the Celestial realm too." He reminded.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu nodded.


    Other than the Immortal herbs, there were a couple of precious ores and metals, but majority of the column was just herbs. But that was until Lin Mu reached the very top.


    "The final item," Lin Mu requested its information while everyone watched with bated breaths.


    <The Heaven Silencing Seal>


    <Cost: 1,000,000,000>


    As soon as the information appeared, everyone''s breaths stopped for a few seconds.


    "One¡­ Billion¡­ Credits?" Daoist Chu counted each zero to make sure he wasn''t mistaken.


    "This isn''t a herb or a metal¡­ Some Immortal tool?" Crown Prince Feng Shun thought from the name.

 Chapter 2228 The Heaven Silencing Seal

    Chapter 2228 The Heaven Silencing Seal


    Everyone''s eyes were locked onto the hexagonal pir, for the item written on it was simply iprehensible to them.


    The first part was of course, the price, but the second was the name itself.


    "The Heaven Silencing Seal?" Lady Kang read the name. "That is¡­ Very domineering." She added.


    "While there are many that name their creations ''heavenly'' most are simply exaggerations." Ziran spoke. "But if it''s in a ce like this, I doubt this is an exaggeration at all." There was nock of cksmiths and refiners that named their weapons and tools with the term Heavenly. But of course, it was never actually that mighty, mostly being a way to sell better and also to make the name sound more impressive.


    "While the price for it is high¡­ We still don''t know what it might do." Elder Hu said cautiously. "Would it be wise to go for something like this?" "Indeed, the price is not something we might be able to afford." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "Even reaching the amount to get the Immortal Paragon Ring alone seems like a distant dream right now, not to mention something that will cost more than three times that." He added.


    "Unless we can pool our points together, I don''t see a way to get this." Daoist Chu reckoned. "And not to mention the time it''ll take for us to gather that many points. Who knows how long we''ll have to hunt the Chimeric Beasts." He added.


    "That''s true. It''s not like we can continually fight nonstop." Crown Princess Shang agreed. "Especially in a ce rife with dangers like this. It would be different if we were out in the real world¡­ But there are Baleful energies and not to mention Death Qi itself. Even the Chimeric Beasts can quickly be overwhelming if we are not careful." She expressed her concern.


    "There is that Strong Chimeric beast too¡­ That''s possiblyparable to a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal. For something like that, it''ll be hard for us to defeat even if we all band together." Qiao De remembered something that had almost killed him from afar.


    While the group conversed about the item and the possibility of getting it, Ziran noticed that one person was awfully silent. His gaze went over to Lin Mu and he realized the man hadn''t moved.


    "Daoist Mu Lin¡­ Is everything fine?" he asked, but received no answer.


    "Huh?" the others looked over after hearing that and saw Lin Mu''s state.


    "Daoist Mu Lin?" Crown Prince Feng Shun ced his hand over Lin Mu''s shoulder, trying to shake him.


    But the man was still unresponsive.


    ~SHUA~


    Lady Kang took a different approach. Her immortal sense scanned Lin Mu to ensure that he was fine.


    "He''s fine physically." Lady Kang stated. "But mentally¡­" she saw the nk gaze with which Lin Mu was looking at the Heaven Silencing Seal.


    But after a few seconds, something seemed to change as Lin Mu moved.


    "ITS THAT!?" Lin Mu eximed, shocking the others before shuffling through his ring.


    They were surprised at seeing Lin Mu take out a wooden slip. The slip seemed to be quite old and it was hard to tell what kind of wood it was. "What is¡­" But before Lady Kang could say more, Lin Mu''s immortal sense seemed to be scanning through the wooden slip.


    "Where is it¡­ it should be here¡­ I remember it¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself for a few seconds before finally finding what he was looking for. "GOT IT!" he seemed to be very excited.


    "You recognize the item, Daoist Mu Lin?" Ziran understood a bit more.


    "Mmhmm." Lin Mu simply hummed in response, not borating further.


    In his mind though, a hundred thoughts were rushing through.


    ''It really is the Heaven Silencing Seal¡­ It''s written exactly in the same way so I''m not mistaken.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "What is it?" Xukong was a bit concerned about Lin Mu''s behavior too and spoke up in his mind. "That''s the Memoirs of the Lost Immortal. Why are you looking through it?" he asked.


    "Ah! Senior Xukong, this Heaven Silencing Seal is from the Memoir of the Lost Immortal!" Lin Mu informed him excitedly. This was the very first time that Lin Mu was actually finding an object that was mentioned in the Memoirs of the Lost Immortal. It was something he could recognize and see in person. All the other things that were emendation in the memoir of the Lost Immortal were about the man''s stories and the things that had been encountered by him.


    Even the beasts that were mentioned were names that Lin Mu could recognizing and even find if he wished too. But that would not be useful as it would not be likely that it would be the very same beast that had met the Lost Immortal.


    It had been Lin Mu''s wish to learn more about the elusive man, and even though he had the memoirs and read it often, there were always a few things missing.


    It was quite likely to be intentional, as if the Lost Immortal himself wished for the person who had found his memoir to learn more themselves.


    The Lost Immortal could be called as a man who had explored a lot, and some of Lin Mu''s desire to explore the worlds and learn about them had alsoe from it. He had been inspired by the memoirs, thus finding something that was explicitly mentioned it was quite thrilling for him.


    But it wasn''t just because of the presence of the item, but what it could actually do.


    ''I thought it was just a metaphorical mention back then¡­ but now¡­'' Lin Mu thought something.


    He read through the entry again that told of the Lost Immortal''s encounter with a strange ''creature.'' This creature looked to be human, but the Lost Immortal was highly sure that he was not. Not only was the creature''s aura different from humans, the way the man had encountered was also very rming.


    The Lost Immortal had just survived an Immortal Tribtion and was greatly injured. This was technically fine, but the creature''s sudden appearance was concerning due to the fact that the Lost Immortal had been in seclusion in a very remote ce and no one should have known he was there. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    Then there was the fact that there were many barriers and isting arrays that had been set. Thus, normally speaking, not many should have discovered him.


    And this was on top of him being in a remote and barren world that didn''t seem to have much life in general. This was all the result of him dying his breakthrough until he was at the end of his lifespan. He was forced to endure an Immortal Tribtion in the middle of his travel and ended up getting injured due to it.


    While he had survived, the situation was still very dangerous due to the creature he had encountered.


    What was also bad was the fact that the Lost Immortal wasn''t particrly strong. He was barely at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm after his breakthrough, thus it wouldn''t be hard for a lot of cultivators to kill him. Especially considering that he was weakened.


    Even a First Tribtion Stage Immortal would be able to kill him with a little effort, not to mention someone stronger.


    And anything that could get in despite the barriers and arrays was certainly strong since the Lost Immortal had not sensed any of the barriers or arrays breaking. It meant that the creature had easily bypassed them.


    The Lost Immortal was rmed, but much to his surprise, the ''creature'' didn''t seem to be hostile towards him. Of course, the way the creature spoke was inhuman, his voice bordering on monstrous and mechanical. It almost felt like multiple creatures were speaking at once, their voices almost melding into a screech.


    The Creature ended up offering the Lost Immortal a gift. It didn''t say why he was giving a gift. The creature simply said he thought it would be interesting to see the man use it. He also said that the man will probably need it in the future and that he could keep it.


    The man was obviously very wary, but after thinking about it, he reckoned it might be offensive if he didn''t take it. But when the Lost Immortal was taking the gift, he noticed something peculiar about the creature.


    While it had a human form, there were some strange physical aspects to it. The most stunning one seemed to be Emerald Green Crystals that seem to be embedded in the back of the creature''s palms.


    After taking the gift, the Lost Immortal asked what it was and what it did.


    To this, the creature replied it was called as the ''Heaven Silencing Seal''.


    As for what it could do, the creature only said a few words.


    ''Silence the voice of the heavens.''


    Of course, the words were stunning and the Lost Immortal didn''t believe them for a long time until it was finally the chance to use it.

 Chapter 2229 A Plan To Follow

    Chapter 2229 A n To Follow


    Lin Mu was now sure that the words in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal were not mere metaphors.


    "Silence the Voice of the Heavens?" Xukong who had been paying attention to it all couldn''t but find the words a bit audacious. "The Voice of the Heavens¡­" Lin Mu spoke. "It is the Tribtions, aren''t they?" he stated.


    "It is likely¡­ But for one to proim something can silence the voice¡­ It is quite a concerning as well was bewildering thing." Xukong replied.


    "The Memoirs of the Lost Immortal have been urate so far, and the name matches too. As such, the Heaven Silencing seal should be true to its name and purpose." Lin Mu stated. "We should¡­ get this shouldn''t we?" he expressed his desire.


    Not only would it allow him to learn more about the Lost Immortal, but also give him a tool that seem to promise a great ability.


    "But to obtain an item like this is not easy. Not only the cost, but also the consequence of having it." Xukong responded.


    "Consequences?" Lin Mu raised his brows in doubt.


    "Did you read where the Lost Immortal used it?" Xukong asked.


    "No, that part hasn''t appeared yet." Lin Mu shook his head. "The entry ends at the confirmation that it indeed does what the creature said it does." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ While you can strive to obtain the seal in that time, I don''t advise on using it until you know exactly what it does." Xukong replied. "The cost of anything that can ''silence the voice of the heavens'' will not be light. I know some that have done something simr, but they always had to pay a cost for it." He said without borating.


    Lin Mu could sense the seriousness in his voice and decided to be careful. "Though there is another thing that concerns me." Xukong expressed. "What?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "The ''creature'' that gave it to the Lost Immortal." Xukong stated. "I am sure it a Chimera too." "A Chimera?" Lin Mu raised his brows in surprise. "They can take human forms?" he had thought that they were mostly in beast forms.


    "Not all of them of course." Xukong replied. "But there have been a few Chimeras in the past that could do that. Unlike the Chimeric beasts that are here, those were personally created by certain beings to serve them. But any Chimera that can have a human form is highly dangerous. It still has the deadly instincts of a beast and will desire destruction and death." He exined.


    "But the one the Lost Immortal met didn''t do that¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "It gave a gift instead¡­"


    "That is exactly the concerning part. It wasn''t acting true to a Chimera." Xukong responded. "Whoever created it¡­ Intended to have it serve a very specific purpose. While we cannot confirm them, they were certainly not as benevolent as they seem." He warned.


    Lin Mu frowned and thought about it, realizing that things were indeed a lot more suspicious now.


    "I''ll be careful." Lin Mu agreed. "Besides there is no guarantee I might be able to obtain it. A billion credits seems like a very high amount." He knew the possibility was not that high.


    "Mm, best would be to check how many points are given by the Chimeric beasts you hunted. If you know the amount, you will be able to approximate how many you will need to realistically hunt." Xukong stated. "And it''s not like you can hunt ever beast here either. There are others too that will need to hunt and obtain credits for themselves." He added.


    "True¡­ I''ll check that after this then." Lin Mu prioritized the task.


    With the conversation finished in his mind, Lin Mu focused back on hispanions who seem to be waiting for him to speak.


    Since he had been holding the wooden slip, they thought he was still reading through it. "Daoist Mu Lin?" Lady Kang saw that he seemed to be done.


    "Pardon me. I was a bit too excited." Lin Mu apologized first, realizing that it might have been a bit too strange for them.


    "It is fine¡­ But what is it that got you like that?" Ziran asked before looking at the Wooden Slip. "Does it have to do something with that slip?" "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded. "This is the Memoir of an expert from long ago and this seal¡­ was once his." He revealed.


    "Wait so you really know of it?" Qiao De and Daoist Chu seemed to be quite surprised.


    "Yes," Lin Mu replied. "This is the first time I''ve found anything repeated to the expert personally, and as such I wish to obtain it." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ that is understandable." Crown Prince Feng Shun could see the man''s thought process. "But to obtain it¡­ will not be easy." He said, ncing at the cost.


    "I do know that, which is why we need to check a few things." Lin Mu replied. "To see what will be a reasonable amount of credits to obtain." He stated.


    "You wish to hunt the Chimeric beasts and check the credits you get." Lady Kang quickly grasped what he meant.


    "Precisely." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Good, I was intending to do the same." Lady Kang was in agreement.


    "Well, I suppose we now have a flow to our n now." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "But first we should pick out what rewards we wish to obtain so we have a goal to work towards." He said to everyone.


    "Ah yes! I got a lot to choose." Qiao De said and went to read up on all the items.


    While he already had a few in his mind, there were still many more he hadn''t checked yet.


    "I''ll make a copy of the list for our use." Lin Mu offered. "It''ll make things convenient for sure." Ziran could see the benefit.


    With that set, the group went to each hexagonal pir and checked the items along with their costs. On the other hand, Lin Mu first recorded every item that was on the walls and then began to add their prices to the list one by one.


    This way things will be easier to check when they were outside.


    The whole process didn''t take longer than an hour for Lin Mu, but the others took a lot more time to pick out the rewards. Though a few of them were already sure of what they wanted.


    For example, the Crown Prince wanted the Immortal Paragon''s Ring, along with hispanions.


    They had originally hoped that they would be able to pool in their points, but when they tried to do it, they were disappointed. As such, only a single person would be able to get the item and would need to have all the points from the start.


    Thatplicated the things a bit as it didn''t allow the group to split up and hunt to get the ring first. As such, Crown Prince took on the task himself. He was at the Sixth Tribtion Realm of the Immortal realm and as such was able to go around to hunt alone with little to no issues for the most part. He would thus have a high chance to gather the credits, even if it might take long.


    Ziran on the other hand, had already obtained a few items. These were simply some books that were very cheap and contained some travelogues and misceneous records. They seemed interesting to the man so he bought them to check them out. In this, he also discovered something interesting. The list on the wall could actually change!


    He informed this to everyone and they were a bit surprised since the list hadn''t changed when Lin Mu took out the items. But they soon realized, that there were probably a varied amount of items on the list for each entry.


    For example, something asmon as Immortal Stones would certainly be in high supply. On the other hand, rare materials and resources like the Hundred Thousand Year old Red Lingzhi, or the Immortal Paragon''s ring would only have a single copy.


    And it wasn''t even a matter of question whether the Heaven Silencing Seal would have a copy or not. It would be a singr item through and through.


    The same was the case for the records, as most seemed to only have singr copies that Ziran wanted. But there were a lot more records, thus he wished to get more of them if he could. Though not all of them were as cheap at the first ones he had bought. There were even a couple of records that cost over a hundred million credits. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    Even Lin Mu was curious about what they might contain, and Ziran offered to let him take a look when he got them eventually.


    Lady Kang meanwhile looked for cultivation techniques and Qi skills that might be worthwhile to keep for herself, or for the Kang n. She was also on the lookout for blueprints for weapons or tools, that can be mass produced to be sell.


    Of course, there were both of these and if she wished to obtain all of them the amount of credits she would need was high too.


    Since Lin Mu was done with the copying, he helped others look for the things they wanted. In this, Daoist Chu told Lin Mu that he was looking to see if there were any more fragments of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series here.


    Lin Mu shook his head in disappointment though, as it was one of the first things he had looked for too.

 Chapter 2230 Measuring Credits

    Chapter 2230 Measuring Credits


    The Grand Bagua Mythic Series was truly desirable for a lot of cultivators, as such it was normal for them to seek it out.


    Even Lin Mu had thought that there was a high chance there might be more fragments of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series in the rewards list. But luck didn''t seem to be on their side in terms of that.


    "It''s already a great fortune we found two new fragments of it here. I suppose we cannot be greedy for more." Daoist Chu stated before being reminded of something. "Ah! I almost forgot." He suddenly said before taking out two small jade slips.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu asked, seeing that the man was handing them to him.


    "The two fragments of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series." Daoist Chu replied. "Crown Prince copied them back when we were separated and intended to give it to you just in case we didn''t manage to leave together in time." He exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu took the two small jade slips. ''Looks like I didn''t even have to ask again, Senior Xukong.'' He said in his mind.


    "You can try seeing if you canprehend them." Daoist Chu replied. "The Crown Prince and I already tried, but we didn''t have much luck." He chuckled. "Well, considering how difficult they are supposed to be, I reckon it''ll take a long time toprehend." Lin Mu said.


    "Indeed. We just took a surface level look anyways. It is hard to read it in the first ce too since the Dao Script used in it is a bit too cryptic. It''ll take a while for us to analyze it." Daoist Chu exined. "Perhaps you might have a better luck than us. You do have better skills in that aspect after all." He added.


    "I''ll try my best." Lin Mu nodded, wishing to take a look at itter anyway.


    Another hour passed while Lin Mu assisted the group and soon everyone had picked out the things they wanted. Almost everyone wanted multiple things, but whether they could afford everything was something that was yet to be seen.


    "Now that we got this down, I suppose we can head out to hunt some of the Chimeric beasts." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Of course! I can''t wait to get my hands on them." Qiao De said, already excited to gather the credits.


    "Let''s head out then." Crown Prince Feng Shun said and the group soon departed the Offering Hall that had been re-purposed into a Reward Hall.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    The group flew out and looked for the nearest group of Chimeric beasts which didn''t take them very long.


    "There!" Ziran pointed to a decent sized group that had a few thousand Chimeric beasts.


    "We need to measure how many points each Chimeric beast gives, thus it is best to hunt them one by one. Otherwise the points might get mixed up." Lin Mu informed them.


    "Alright!" they all replied.


    "Time to hunt!" Lin Mu said and charged into the swarm of Chimeric beasts.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense scanned the Chimeric beasts and determined their cultivation bases.


    ''Hmm¡­ First to third tribtion stage of the Immortal realm.'' He assessed before picking the weakest one.


    ~SHUA~


    He appeared in front of an Auroch Chimeric beast that was at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    "BIHIIIIIIII!" The Chimeric beast was obviously agitated by this and let out a loud cry.


    The eyes on its back all shifted towards Lin Mu, while its mouth dripped with foul saliva. The stench was strong enough to make Lin Mu, wrinkle his nose and wanting to seal his sense of smell.


    ~SHING~ Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Afternoon Pine! Ocean Raker!" He called out his swords, letting them have the joy of killing the same beasts that had ended the lives of their masters again.


    They already knew of Lin Mu''s intentions thus they didn''t go on a broad scale ughter right away. They needed to know the credits that they will get thus, they only directed small attacks towards their foes.


    ~WOONG~


    A golden sliver of Qi shot towards the Auroch Chimeric beast, causing its'' body to be split into two in a moment.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    The two halves fell on the sides, while the eyes on the back swiveled in confusion.


    "Let''s see¡­" Lin Mu nced at the green band on his hand and saw the numbers pop up.


    ~shua~


    He had basically spent almost all his points in buying the Sky Swallowing Wolf Bloodline Crystal and barely had two hundred points left there.


    "Three hundred points¡­ Exactly a hundred increase from before." Lin Mu noted. "So a First Tribtion Stage Immortal gives one hundred points?" he wondered if this was applicable to all of them or if it varied.


    After all, there were different types of Chimeric beasts and their abilities varied. Some could be tough despite being the same cultivation base and their points could thus be influenced.


    ~SHING~


    In response, Ocean Raker carried out the test, letting out a thin stab that was like an iron peg stabbing through the head of a different Chimeric beast.


    This was a Chimeric beast that had the Head of a Horse but the body of a distorted wolf. It had four main limbs, and two ''hands'' that looked like they belonged to some kind of a primate.


    Of course its teeth were also horrible, but it also seemed to be limited in its scope of vision. It had a single eye at the top of its head, which was a bit strange.


    Which was also why it didn''t manage to see Lin Mu''s attacking at it. ~SPLAT~


    Its head exploded in one go, ending its life cans causing its body to tumble to the ground.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu nced at the green band once more, seeing the points jump by another hundred to a total of four hundred credits.


    "Still the same¡­ Hopefully it is equal for all." Lin Mu muttered as he started killing more of them.


    It had barely been ten seconds since Lin Mu hadnded and the rest of the group charged in as well. The swarm of the Chimeric beasts was rmed by the sudden arrival of foes and started fighting them. But of course, they were barely qualified for it and they started to die by the tens every second.


    The corpses of the Chimeric beasts soon littered they entire area, and about fifteen minutester the group had wiped them all out.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a breath and gathered with the group.


    "Looks like we have a rather linear increase in the points." Lin Mu informed.


    "I saw that too." Ziran nodded. "I got a bit to into killing the Chimeric beasts, so I didn''t notice. What is it?" Qiao De said, feeling a bit embarrassed.


    "I only got to kill the First and Second Tribtion Stage Immortal realm chimeric beasts, so don''t know about the Third Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric beast." Daoist Chu spoke up.


    It was normal since in the entire group there were only twelve or so Third Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric beasts in them. Four of them had been killed by Lin Mu, while the rest were split among Lady Kang, and Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    While they might not know how many points these gave, it was expected that the higher the cultivation base, the more points they would give.


    "Well, its rather simple." Lin Mu replied. "100 points for a First Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric beast, 1000 for a Second Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric beast and finally 10,000 for a Third Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric beast." He informed.


    "I see¡­" Qiao De thought about it. "If this pattern keeps up, which I hope it does¡­"


    "It means the Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric beast will give us a 100,000 credits, Fifth will give 1,000,000, Sixth will give 10,000,000 and finally the Seventh will give a whopping 100,000,000." Lin Mu extrapted.


    "A hundred million for the Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric beast¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun''s eyes narrowed. "We''ll need to kill about three of them to get enough for the Immortal Paragon''s ring." He calcted while looking at hispanions.


    "We might be able to kill those with a bit of nning, but I don''t know how many of those are present here." Lin Mu said. "We at least know of one such beast though." He hinted to the one that had almost killed Qiao De.


    "Ah yeah, that one." The man remembered.


    "But wait, how are the credits divided, if multiple people kill a beast together?" Crown Princess Shang expressed her doubts.


    "That can be tested very easily, can''t it?" Lady Kang smirked and nced at a lone Chimeric Beast that seemed to be wandering in the distance. "Elder Hu," she spoke.


    "As youmand." The man said before clenching his fist.


    ~SHING~


    ~SHA~


    Lady Kang shot out a small star while Elder Hu punched out, sending a fist imprint.


    ~BOOM~


    It was safe to say the Chimeric Beast was reduced to a mush from the attack.

 Chapter 2231 Systematic Work

    Chapter 2231 Systematic Work


    Lin Mu and the rest all watched Lady Kang and Elder Hu''s hands, waiting to see what points they would get.


    ~SHUA~


    But much to their surprise, only Lady Kang''s band lit up.


    "One hundred increased." Lady Kang spoke.


    "None for me." Elder Hu added.


    ~Sigh~


    "Looks like this is indeed going to be a bit bothersome." Crown Prince Feng Shun shook his head.


    "It only grants credits to those that get the final hit." Ziran understood.


    "It''s not all bad." Lin Mu thought more of it. "At least it gives us a method to ''distribute'' the points for all of our gains." He added.


    "All we need now is to work together to weaken the stronger foes, and let the right person get the final kill." Monk Hushu spoke. "Amitabha, our trust is good enough that we do not need to worry about foul y here, at least." He added.


    "True." Crown Princess Shang agreed. "It''s much better than some of our missions." She said with a frown.


    "Ugh¡­ I almost never want to work with the other trainees at the Immortal Court onrge scale missions because of it too." Daoist Chu shook his head.


    Lin Mu looked at them, feeling curious about what that was all about. Crown Prince knew what Lin Mu was thinking and gave him a quick rundown.


    "Well, the reason why Crown Princess Shang, Monk Hushu and Daoist Chu are in a group with me is because we''ve never had problems with each other and have a stable rtionship. This took us a long time to achieve as all the others we''ve worked with have not been the most ''ideal'' to work with. While I wouldn''t say I''ve been betrayed, but trickery was not umon for gains." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined.


    "Yeah, and as part of our training at the Immortal Court, we cannot even reject those missions." Crown Princess Shang said with a tired expression. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Can''t youin about that?" Lin Mu asked. "I don''t think the Immortal Court would be blind to acts like that, would they?" "We can, but only for major infractions. The way these other trainees do is things that can be considered under an honest mistake or have a usible deniability. So it''s rare to be able toin unless they make a big enough mistake." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined.


    "The Immortal Court also wishes to temper us to learn how to deal with people like those and either control them to behave or bend to them. It is up to us how we grow through it." Monk Hushu added.


    "No wonder you keep on getting the highest merits in most missions." Crown Princess Shang rolled her eyes.


    "Monk Hushu does?" Lin Mu raised his brows, thinking that it surely must have been Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "Yeah, he has the higest scores among us." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "He can work with the worst people and still somehow manage to get on top." He revealed. "Amithabha, all we need is temperance and eptance of suffering." Monk Hushu brought his palms together in prayer.


    "Ugh, this monk." Crown Princess Shang shook her head. "Though I wonder what the situation will be like if Daoist Mu Lin was with us too." Daoist Chu suddenly chimed in. "He is technically eligible to join the Immortal Court as a trainee too." "Haha." A suddenugh was heard, pulling their attention. "Lady Kang?" Lin Mu raised his brows, seeing that. "A Trainee in the Immortal Court?" Lady Kang couldn''t help but recall the scene she had seen in her Dantian. "If Daoist Mu Lin were to go there, I''m sure they wouldn''t ept him as a Trainee." "Surely he''s more than qualified to be a trainee." Daoist Chu said, wondering what the woman was getting wrong.


    "I mean yes, he''s qualified to be one. But is the Immortal Court qualified to take him in as just a ''trainee''." Lady Kang said without borating further.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun fell in thought after hearing that and remembered all the events that had happened before. "Ah, how foolish of us." Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled while cing his hand over his face, as if realizing the mistake. "Daoist Mu Lin is also a Spatial Master that already has great capabilities. "He''s already qualified to be a direct part of the immortal Court." He stated.


    "Sure¡­" Lady Kang narrowed her eyes, knowing that even that might not be enough.


    Lin Mu didn''t know what to say here, so he just stayed silent with a wry smile on his face.


    Ziran and Qiao De who were hearing all this, simply listened in silence, knowing it was not their part to say. While Elder Hu and Min Ju had the same thoughts as Lady Kang. ''Even his talent in Sword would be enough to grant him a direct discipleship¡­ forget being a trainee.'' Elder Hu knew a bit more. ''And if we add the rest¡­ there won''t be many qualified to take him in.'' The short banter didn''tst long, as the group heard the sound of a stampeding swarm.


    "Oh look, more creditsing our way." Qiao De said, before springing into action first.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He threw out two discs that spun through the air, cutting through the small swarm within a minute.


    "Damn, not much." Qiao De said, looking at the green band that showed he had only gotten about six thousand credits. "These First tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chimeric Beasts won''t give us much." "Well, we may as well kill all thate in our way, but focus on the stronger ones if we find them." Lin Mu said before taking a nce at the map. "How about we start clearing out one of the fourrge swarms?" he suggested.


    "That''ll be good." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "We can start with the small one and move to the big ones."


    "Oh! That way we''ll be able to get the three colored Dazzling Lotus too!" Crown Princess Shang had still been intent on getting it. "Is it one of the goals for you?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that each of the four members had a goal.


    "Yeah. My goal is to find herbs that the Shang Dynasty does not currently have in their herbarium." Crown Princess Shang answered.


    "Very well. We can get to it once we''ve taken out the weaker ones." Lin Mu stated.


    "Time to head out!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said, and the group soon soared into the sky.


    The first location they were going after was the Chimeric Beast Swarm in the west. It was the smallest one amongst them, being only twenty percent of the size that Lin Mu had ughtered before.


    They were already in the west, thus it was the closest to them and it wouldn''t take them long to get there.


    "Huh, looks like the Death Qi boundary shifted." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, seeing that there were no Chimeric beasts here.


    "They won''t be that far¡­ I think." Monk Hushu said, as he was the one who had recorded the Chimeric beasts here.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    All of them extended their Immortal Senses in search of the traces of the Chimeric Beasts. They couldn''t spot them in the field of their vision, but there was a chance their aura would still be lingering, which would be found by their Immortal sense.


    And after about a minute of searching, Ziran was the one to find them.


    "Got em," Ziran said, turning southwest. "They seem to have run over there." He pointed.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The group quickly flew over and about ten minutester, spotted the dark line in the distance.


    "Theres the new Death Qi boundary." They saw. "And the Chimeric Beasts are on the other side." They observed.


    The Death Qi boundary near them was thick, thus the Auroch Chimeric Beasts had chosen to go to the most distant part where the Death Qi Boundary was thinner and would allow them to leave soon enough.


    Of course, to the group, the Death Qi boundary''s working was already known and they simply flew over it.


    "Who want''s to take this one?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Crown Prince Feng Shun can go on first. We''ll rotate one by one and assist when needed." Lady Kang suggested a more systematic option.


    "That''s eptable." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded and dived at the swarm.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    Winds swirled around him and got faster by the second. And by the time he was a mere hundred meters from the swarm, the winds had already turned into sharp des that were spinning like a grinder.


    "Storm King Immortal Art: Shredding Twister!" Crown Prince Feng Shun chanted and finallynded in the swarm.


    ~BIHIIIIII~


    Only the Auroch Chimeric Beasts that were on the edge of the swarm even got to cry out as the rest were shredded into chunks of flesh before that. The sharp winds were formed from Wind Immortal Qi and held quite a lot of power, especially considering that this was a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal using it. The Storm King Immortal Art was also one of the best immortal cultivation techniques one could have, thus its power was quite high.


    There were about hundred thousand Auroch Chimeric beasts in this small swarm and it was mostlyposed of first and Second Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chimeric beasts with a little under hundred Third Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chimeric Beasts mixed in.


    By the time the Crown Prince was done with the hunt, he was up by quite a lot of credits.

 Chapter 2232 Higher Credits

    Chapter 2232 Higher Credits


    It had taken the Crown Prince less than an hour to kill all the Chimeric Beasts, but the return from it was much better than he had thought. "11,400,000." He read the number.


    "What?" Daoist Chu said in surprise.


    "Isn''t that higher than what Daoist Mu Lin got?" the others were confused too.


    "It does seem unusual." Crown Prince Feng Shun furrowed his brows while Lin Mu tried to think of a reason.


    "I killed many more, but the number was barely a bit over three million¡­ those were stronger beasts too." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "The credits Crown Prince Feng Shun got are about three times the ones you got, despite it being from a lower amount of beasts." Lady Kang was wondering what went wrong.


    ''The number of beasts here was just 20% of the original swarm I killed¡­ so if the amount I got was in a ratio of this I should have had at least¡­ twenty five times that¡­ seventy five million.'' Lin Mu calcted, feeling a bit wrong. "There is definitely something different that happened here." He was now sure of it.


    The group thought about it for a bit before Qiao De realized something.


    "The only difference between back and then would be that we visited the Offering Hall and now have these Green Bands with us," Qiao De stated.


    Hearing that, the group now became sure of it.


    "So the Green Bands do have benefits to it¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun looked at his wrist. "But why would there be such a condition in the first ce?" he found it a bit overreaching and unnecessary.


    "It is hard to say what went through the minds of the celestial that set the condition." Ziran spoke. "But there must be a good enough reason for it." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ Perhaps the cost of it all." Elder Hu muttered after thinking for a bit. "This ce underwent great tragedy and its denizens paid a great price for it to reach its state. The Offering halls were built by the Sacred Tear Tribe and as such, one must know about their suffering for one to be deserving of the rewards." He gave his opinion.


    Hearing that the group couldn''t help but be in thought.


    "Elder Hu is right. There were murals there for a reason and since we were able to enter and pass all the trials, it meant that at least one person among those chosen was supposed to be able to read the Shamanic Script of the Demonic Tribes." Lin Mu borated. "There is also the chance that they considered us splitting up." Lady Kang stated. "After all, the murals did say there were more Offering Halls spread across the entire Spatial ne." She reminded.


    "True." Crown Prince Feng Shun and Daoist Chu realized something. "There is was always a chance that we had split up for one reason or the other and stumbled onto these Offering halls." Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "There is also no guarantee we would havended where we did if not for all our efforts." Monk Hushu stated. "We might havended on some other side of the Spatial ne and perhaps discovered an Offering Hall there too." He reckoned.


    "That does make sense." Lady Kang was in agreement, too. "Only those that had visited the Offering halls and obtained the Green bands would have been qualified enough to get the full potential credits from the foes that they eliminated." She added.


    "At least this is good news for us. It will significantly help us improve our rate of hunting and obtaining more credits." Qiao De was the happiest of them all.


    "Indeed. Now it doesn''t seem like obtaining the Immortal Paragon Ring is out of reach for us." He said, raising their spirits.


    Lin Mu too felt better, thinking that he''ll be able to get the Heaven Silencing Seal.


    ''It might take longer than others, but I''ll certainly get it now that I''m here.'' He said to himself.


    Having learned all this, the group was reinvigorated and was ready to hunt more.


    "Alright, let''s head to the next swarm." Crown Prince Feng Shun decided.


    The next direction they decided to head towards was the south, since that''s where the second smallest swarm of Chimeric beast seemed to be.


    This was about forty percent of the size of the original swarm that Lin Mu had killed, though this one didn''t have any Auroch Beasts from what the others said.


    It took the group about an hour to reach there though as the Death Qi boundaries seemed to be shifting in the area, causing gusts of Baleful Qi to blow.


    "This is gonna be a bit of a bother when we fly." Lin Mu said, as he dodged the sharp gale of the Baleful Qi.


    While he wouldn''t be hurt as much, it would still be troublesome to deal with.


    After all, why would one get hit when it could be avoided?


    "Yeah, the Baleful Qi is also a lot violent and is influenced by the shift in the Death Qi boundary." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "Though the gusts seem to be short-lived and dissipate after some time. We only need to go around for a short time and they''ll be no problem." He said, having navigated a few of them earlier in this area.


    He had been the one to go in this area, thus knew a bit more about it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A few such gusts shed in the skies, bringing forth currents that could easily bring down bird beasts. But the Immortals had better control, not to mention Crown Prince Feng Shun could use his own Wind Qi to help them fly better if the winds were sapping their momentum.


    With a little extra effort, the group soon got past the short lived obstacle and arrived in the next area of the hunt.


    ~WHISTLE~


    Qiao De''s eyes lit up with a hint of desire as he nced at the swarm of Chimeric beasts.


    "That''s a lot of credits in our future I see."

 Chapter 2233 Second Hunt

    Chapter 2233 Second Hunt


    With the swarm in their sights, the group didn''t spend much time waiting and began their hunt.


    This time though, they hunted them all together, as there was a higher number of them. Plus now that they knew that the gain from the Green Bands was higher, they wouldn''t have to worry too much about gathering the needed credits.


    They might take some time, but they didn''t mind it as much.


    Plus it was way faster to kill the Chimeric Beasts in a group as they could support each other and ensure that no one got into a bad situation or got injured in anyway.


    Not to mention, their pace of hunting was faster too and sure enough, it barely took them forty minutes to wipe out the entire swarm despite it beingrger. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    They were also mostly insects type Chimeric Beasts, so it was better for them to hunt them together. These beasts had varied abilities, including a wide scope of vision from the maggots as well as the corrosive fluid they spewed.


    Then there were the beetles with scorpion stingers that could fly around at a blinding pace. These were a pain at first, since they could actually avoid several attacks. Not to mention they were mostly at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, but their speed allowed them to move twice as fast.


    And with how many of them there were in a group, they could even create illusory images that could make one miss. One had to keep track of them with their immortal sense to make sure that they were hitting the correct foe.


    Compared to those, the stick bug like insect chimeric beasts were rtively easier to kill and no one had any problems.


    But the strongest were none other than the Mantis like Chimeric beasts. They were also at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and had swift and sharp attacks.


    Their ws were actually much stronger than they thought and could resist many attacks. Lin Mu remembered the previous owner of Ocean Raker having fought one of them and thus tested them out himself.


    And sure enough, if he didn''t use his Sword Intent to amplify the swords, his attacks actually managed to be blocked by the ws of the mantis Chimeric beasts. Even extra Metal Immortal Qi was not enough to break their ws.


    But once he used his Sword Intent, the ws became the same as some cheap iron and he managed to cut through them.


    The others took a different approach though, with Crown Prince Feng Shun simply zapping them with lightning bolts, since they actually couldn''t resist it well. Their carapace could resist the Wind Telemann Immortal Qi but the same was not the case for lightning.


    Lady Kang''s Fragmenting Stars were also quite effective against most of the insect type Chimeric beasts as the ster Qi was on a different level, being able to pierce through their defenses.


    By the time they were all done, they had gotten a good idea about how the Insect Chimeric Beasts were like and how to deal with them better.


    ~phew~


    "That was some a hunt." Qiao De said, looking at his credits. "3,760,000¡­ Just need about a quarter billion more and I can get most of the things I want." He chuckled.


    He had hunted around thirty thousand Chimeric Beasts himself, but had also managed to kill one of the Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chimeric beasts that looked like a mantis.


    "You got more than me." Ziran said, seeing his own points that were lower than two million. "Well, you should have targeted the high value ones. Haha." Qiao Deughed.


    "With Crown Prince Feng Shun, Lady Kang and Daoist Mu Lin here? I doubt I can match their pace." Ziran didn''t mind it much in reality. Though Qiao De knew his words were correct.


    "Ah yeah.. Matching their pace is a different thing." He said, looking at the trio that had killed around two thirds of the Chimeric beasts on their own.


    Their attacks were all those that could break through the carapace defenses of the Insect Chimeric Beasts, thus they had an easier time. Not to mention their cultivation bases were also the highest here, with the exception of Lin Mu.


    But no one in the group judged him by his cultivation base for his abilities alone ced him above them.


    In fact, they couldn''t help but think that it was a good way to fool others. Since Lin Mu genuinely had a lower Qi cultivation base, it could give a weak impression on others. And since his body cultivation would be missed due to others focusing on his Qi cultivation, they would have an even worse time.


    Plus, they wouldn''t even think that he was using some method to hide it, since the cultivation base would be in full disy.


    After all, a Third Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm cultivation was decent, but was nowhere enough to be considered as an ''expert'' in the Immortal world. At the very least, one would have to be Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal to be taken truly seriously.


    But Lin Mu could very well match against them all, thus it was all meaningless.


    "So who got the most credits?" Daoist Chu asked, having checked his points. "Daoist Mu Lin?" "Six and a half million." Lin Mu replied before looking at Lady Kang.


    "Six and a quarter million." The woman replied. "Oh! Lady Kang was very close." Daoist Chu was surprised. "How about you Crown Prince?" he asked thest person.


    In response, Crown Prince Feng Shun smiled. "Why don''t you take a look?" he said, showing them the number.


    "Damn¡­ Nine million and eight hundred thousand." Daoist Chu couldn''t help but be shocked.


    "Hey! How''d you get that high?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Lightning is very, very good. I can hit multiple and keep on chaining them, haha!" Crown Prince Feng Shunughed.


    "No fair!" Crown Princess Shang pouted. "I should''ve studied the Lightning Dao too."

 Chapter 2234 The Muddy Lakes

    Chapter 2234 The Muddy Lakes


    The Crown Princess''s dissatisfaction was understandable, but at the same time it wasn''t exactly something she would have been able to do anyway.


    "You sure you want to try that now?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was no stranger to her small tantrums and knew that this was just temporary.


    "I know, I know." Crown Princess Shang let out a sigh.


    "At least we''re off to a good start." Lin Mu said. "No reason in slowing down I suppose?" he asked. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "I don''t so why not." Ziran said, still feeling rtively energetic.


    "Same for me." Daoist Chu agreed.


    "Very well, onwards to the next swarm!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said as the group flew towards the nearest swarm. This was of course to the east, and also the direction that Crown Princess Shang had gone towards.


    "Oh, before we cause too much chaos, we need to take the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus." Crown Princess Shang reminded. "We can''t have them our their parts getting damaged." She added.


    "Of course." Lin Mu nodded his head. "We''ll do a proper surveince of the area first." He said.


    With how far the group was it took them about an hour and a half to reach the outer edge of the area. They also saw the changes with the deste ground bing ''softer'' and more moist.


    Even the air was saturated with moisture, as a humid head surrounded them.


    "We''re definitely near a lot of water." Daoist Chu said feeling the moisture in the air.


    "There''s quite a lot of water bodies here." Crown Princess Shang said pointing in the distance. "From puddles tokes, there''s everything spread here." ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu and the others spread their immortal senses and felt the area in deeper detail finding the slivers of Baleful energies mixed in the ground.


    "This is different¡­" Lin Mu could tell this was not the Baleful Energies they had encountered before.


    "Murkwater Qi." Lady Kang recognized. "This''ll be a bit problematic." She said looking at the ground.


    "Yeah, we really shouldn''t step on the moist ground." Crown Princess Shang stated. "The Murkwater Qi is extremely sticky and will try to suck you in." "Like a Swamp?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Worse. It will also infiltrate your body and contaminate your meridians. Even if you manage to leave it, the contamination willst a long time." Crown Princess Shang exined.


    "That¡­ Makes thingsplex." Lin Mu furrowed his brows, wondering how they were supposed to get the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus now. "Wait are the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric beasts not affected by it?" he asked.


    "No." Crown Princess Shang shook her head. "It''s the opposite, they''re thriving in it. They don''t seem to be using it themselves though so that''s good enough. But still, fighting them will mean that we will have toe in contact with the Murkwater Qi." She added.


    "We should be able to defend against it though right?" Lin Mu asked. "It''s not something that''ll break through our defenses right away, will it?" "Of course we can resist it. But it can get harder the greater its concentration bes." Crown Princess Shang exined.


    "That''s still a way then." Lin Mu said. "As long as we can resist it for a minute, I should be able to get the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus." He said after thinking for a bit.


    Lin Mu had managed to resist Death Qi for a reasonable amount of time, thus he didn''t think that the Murkwater Qi would be worse than that.


    Not to mention, he had another trump card under his sleeve that was perfect to y here.


    "There, that''s where thekes start." Crown Princess Shang pointed out.


    The group looked over and saw the fast expanse ofkes and ponds intermingling with what looked like the remnants of an old meadow. Whatever trees and nts that existed there originally had been morphed into horrible shadows of their past.


    All that was left of tree were their twisted and corrode trunks that seemed to have taken on a grainy texture under the influence of the Murkwater Qi and other baleful energies that were dispersed in the area.


    The nts on the other hand had joined the ''water'' of thekes and ponds that was more urately describe as Sludge.


    And between all thesekes and ponds were the Death Qi boundaries that seem to never leave an area untainted. Just like before, some of the boundaries were thick and some thin, dividing the muddy bodies into several segments.


    And in them, they could actually spot some color for the first time. There were a bunch of leaves and flowers seemingly floating on top of the mud.


    They looked rather unassuming and one might assume it was just somemon duckweed. "Are those the¡­" Qiao De watched the unassuming weeds.


    "Yeah¡­ the Toad nt hybrid Chimeric Beasts." Crown Princess Shang confirmed.


    "They''ll definitely trick the others into thinking there are actually normal nts here." Qiao De said, feeling wary. "Yeah, if one doesn''t have an expertise in them they''ll be tricked." Crown Princess Shang nodded.


    "They even have the Wood Elemental Qi within them." Ziran noticed. "Their disguise is almost perfect." He couldn''t help but be a bit impressed.


    "Yeah, if not for the fact that I knew these kinds of water weeds cannot grow in such conditions, I would''ve been tricked too." Crown Princess Shang stated. "Besides, the only reason I even ended up getting close was because I spotted a lotus. Unlike rest of the fake nts, Lotuses certainly have a better chance of growing here." She added.


    "And when you got close you noticed what kind of Lotus it was." Lady Kang could easily guess the rest.


    "Correct." Crown Princess Shang nodded. "I was tempted to take them, but as soon as I got close the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric beasts started attacking." She narrated her experience in a bit more detail.


    One the group had heard them, they knew how these foes would be fighting them.


    Every nt that they saw floating on the surface was actually part of the Toads. The stems and branches were actually vines that grew from the bodies of the toads, and the flowers were actually the mouths attached to these vines.


    Of course when they were dormant, one would not think these were flesh eating flowers. Only when they were ready to strike out would they transform.


    "Where is the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus though?" Daoist Chu asked unable to spot any of them. "Yeah, shouldn''t they be eye catching?" Lin Mu asked, not seeing anything peculiar that stood out.


    "The Dazzling Mud Lotus can hide in the ''mud'' at times and ''bloom'' when they feelfortable." Crown Princess Shang exined. "My earlier conflict with the Toad nt Chimeric beasts might have rmed them into hiding." She reckoned.


    "Hmm¡­ and we need the other parts of the lotus too right?" Lin Mu asked. "Roots, stems and seedpods." "All parts of it are valuable, but the flowers themselves and the seedpods have the highest value." Crown Princess Shang exined.


    "On the off chance you do not find the flowers, you can still bring us the roots." Lady Kang stated. "Those are still valuable."


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Though¡­ How deep do you think thesekes are?" Daoist Chu wondered.


    "Let me take a look." Ziran said and used his Immortal sense to probe the nearest one.


    But as soon as he did that a trilling sound was heard.


    ~TRRRRRRRR~


    The sound got loud all of a sudden and the surface of the muddyke burst open.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    "Dammit." Ziran stepped back, dodging the vine that was tipped with thorns that could easily rip through flesh. "They''re faster to react than before." Crown Princess Shang furrowed her brows. "They seem to be recognizing our Immortal senses faster too."


    ~SHING~


    Lin Mu swung out Afternoon Pine, and sent a Metal Qi infused sh that split the vines into tiny chunks.


    ~SKEEEEEEE~


    A shrill screech was hearding from the mud, before it started to bulge up.


    ~SPLASH~


    In the next second arge Toad the size of a horse carriage could be seen. It had brown skin simr to the mud along with tons of warts on its body. But these warts seem to ''bud'' into vines that grew into the flowers and leaves.


    It looked rather gnarly just from the surface appearance but there was more to it.


    ~TRRRRRRRRR~


    Especially when it opened its mouth to let out a cry, one could see the hundreds if not thousands of wiggling vines inside them. Each vine terminated in a sharp tooth, and could move independently as needed.


    One didn''t need much to imagine how easy it would be to get chopped into pieces by the Toad nt hybrid while being swallowed by it.


    It was an unpleasant thought and certainly would not be on ones list of ways to die.


    "It''s worse than you described it as." Qiao De scowled.

 Chapter 2235 Toad Swarm

    Chapter 2235 Toad Swarm


    The group looked at the Toad nt Hybrid and was not exactly a big fan of it either.


    ~SHA~


    The same could be said for the toad too, as it directed its vines towards the group. The vines slithered like snakes in the air, while their sharp teeth were ready to pierced through their flesh.


    ~SHING~SHING~


    Lin Mu shed out in response, his sword intent infused attack splitting the vines before totally obliterating them from the sheer power.


    ~SPLAT~


    Green blood that smelled rather foul was spread in the air in the air, making everyone wrinkle their noses. "Ugh, disgusting." Crown Princess Shang said before throwing out a small seed in the air. ~WHOOSH~


    The seed bloomed into a small bush of Trumpet flowers that all pointed outwards. A secondter the Trumpet flowers started to suck the air and along with it they pulled in the dark green foul blood too.


    In just a few seconds it was all clears out and the air became rtively ''clean''. This was of course not taken nicely by the toad and it swallowed up the Trumpet flower bush entirely.


    "Detonate!" But in the next second Crown Princess Shang shouted.


    ~BOOM~ Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    The Trumpet flower bush was a trap, as it exploded within the mouth of the Toad, causing more blood to spray out. "Huh, it survived that." Crown Princess Shang was surprised.


    "They''re more durable than others." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes. "Did you fight them before this?" he asked.


    "No, I avoided conflict since I didn''t want the Dazzling Mud Lotus to get damaged." Crown Princess Shang replied.


    "What''s the cultivation base of this toad?" Qiao De asked.


    "Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." Crown Prince Feng Shun detected. "So the big one is came out first to wee us." He chuckled before pointing at the toad with his index and middle finger.


    A small green light formed at the tip of his fingers, which soon expanded and took the shape of a long spear. The spear had a slender de and two fine points extended from its base. Looking at it, one could feel the power that was contained within it as well as the strange ability it had.


    The wind that was blowing around it started to slow down before finally stopping.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Wind Quelling Javelin!" Crown Prince Feng Shun chanted.


    ~SHALA~


    The Javelin soared through the air, silencing all winds that blew in the air, including the ones that were mixed with Baleful energies.


    It shone like a jade that had been imbued under the moon light and reached the toad within moment.


    ~SLICK~


    The javelin sank into the mouth of the Toad that was already open due to it having eaten an explosive bush earlier. Strangely enough though, after the javelin entered its body, nothing happened.


    "Huh?" Qiao De wondered why there was no impact. "Give it a second." Crown Prince Feng Shun smiled, knowing that the toad was already going to be dead.


    ~WOONG~


    ~WELCH~


    Suddenly, the body of the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric Beast started to squeeze. It copsed inward, before blood started to spill out from all its orifices.


    Even the vines were all pulled back, as if it were a sinkhole.


    The body of the toad got more and morepressed, until it had been reduced from the size of a horse carriage to a mere hand cart!


    ~SPLAT~


    And finally, it could no longer take it and exploded into a green mess.


    The blood was going to be sttered on the group too, but it was easily repelled by a curtain of wind that the Crown Prince created in advance.


    "A vacuum¡­ Quelling winds by sucking them." Lin Mu understood the principle behind the attack. "Creates less impact than other attacks too, reducing the chances for it disturbing the area." He could tell why the Crown Prince had chosen this skill.


    ''The Storm King Immortal Arts certainly has a lot of useful Qi skills within it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, his interest in the Storm King Shirong''s techniques and skills rising.


    "Indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "If it likes eating that much, may as well let it eat ''itself''." He said with a chuckle.


    With that done, the green band on Crown Prince Feng Shun''s wrist lit up as the one hundred thousand credits were deposited into it.


    "Nice start." Crown Prince Feng Shun said.


    "Damn, we can''tg behind." Daoist Chu said seeing the rising score. "Gotta hunt some ourselves too." He added.


    "Won''t have to look far." Ziran said, sensing the energy fluctuations within the area. "Looks like Crown Prince Feng Shun''s skill was still enough to disturb the toads." He spoke.


    The group nced at the muddyke that seemed to now be rippling in hundreds of ces.


    "Get ready." Elder Hu said, clenching his fists.


    ~TRRRRR~


    ~TRRRRR~


    ~TRRRR~


    The trilling of a hundred Toads was heard at once, making the group alert.


    ~SPLASH~SPLASH~SPLASH~


    "So much for going in low key." Monk Hushu muttered while Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, Lin Mu disappeared while his voice was left behind. "Handle these, I''ll go get the Dazzling Mud Lotus before things get worse." "Alright." The group had no problem with that and quickly got to battling.


    The Toad nt Hybrids that had appeared after the death of the Fourth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric Beast were all weaker than it, so the group wasn''t worried.


    Rather they wished that stronger Chimeric beasts would appear so that they could gather the credits faster. Still, even this swarm had tens of Third Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chimeric beasts, so they didn''t mind it as much. Though of course, the majority were still the First and Second Tribtion Stage Chimeric Beasts.


    While the group handled these, Lin Mu was rushing to find the Dazzling Mud Lotus. He used Blink several times in the row, traversing through the area at a rapid pace.


    This also allowed him to leave very little of his presence in the area, thus preventing the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric Beasts from sensing him any time soon.


    ''Since using Immortal sense isn''t an option here, Spatial Perception it is.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, activating it.


    Even if the mud infused with the Murkwater Qi was enough to prevent the Immortal sense from working, it didn''t mean anything to Lin Mu''s Spatial Perception.


    He kept on using Blink, only staying in an area for less than a second. But even this was enough for him to get a look at the area and see what was hidden inside the muddyke.


    ''There sure are a ton of toads here.'' Lin Mu could see at least a hundred thousand presences within this easement of the area alone.


    ''They certainly do stand out in the Murkwater Qi though¡­ its a strange condition where they aren''t affected by the Qi but are not interacting with it either.'' He noticed.


    In a way it was acting like a camouge for the toads, preventing them from being noticed by other beings.


    ''Though why would they need camouge here? Do they get hunted by other Chimeric beasts?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    So far they hadn''t seen any chimeric beasts fighting against the others, thus it didn''t make sense for them to need such an ability.


    It was usually something the creatures would have when there was a prey and predator system. But here there were only ''predators''.


    Lin Mu and the others hadn''t seen any other beings here other than the Chimeric beasts either, which meant that the only reason these had this was for the ''trial takers'' that might being here.


    ''Though I suppose it doesn''t matter in the long term anyways since I can see them.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, and continued his search.


    He particrly looked for areas with the dense ''foliage'' since the Dazzling Mud Lotus was likely to be hidden under there.


    He also knew that the Dazzling Mud Lotus would be very¡­ Dazzling, thus it wasn''t like he would miss the flower itself.


    ''So they were right, the flower is likely hiding under the mud.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Then I''ll need to look for signatures that are different from the Toads.'' He now understood.


    This made his search a bit easier and he became efficient.


    Lin Mu began moving from one area to the other faster than before, as he only needed to look for anything that was differentthan the ''normal''.


    It took him about forty minutes before he saw something that was unusual.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu halted in the air for a moment as he saw a strange line in the mud.


    The line was rather narrow from the sky, but he could tell with his spatial perception that this was just the bare minimum. Under theke he could sense a vastwork that was spread out in an area of at least a kilometer or more.


    "Looks like this is it."

 Chapter 2236 Finding The Roots And A Surprise In The Parallel Dimension

    Chapter 2236 Finding The Roots And A Surprise In The Parallel Dimension


    Lin Mu looked at thework and knew that this was definitely what he had been looking for.


    "Should be the root system of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "If this is here, the Lotus should be down there too." He reckoned.


    He tried to look for it, but it was hard to make out from just his Spatial Perception. The roots and the lotus were connected in the end, thus the energy signature would be too simr.


    Not to mention, the lotus would be closed thus it wouldn''t have a vastly different shape from the roots. Especially when one looked at it from here with Spatial Perception. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    ''Will just have to take a look directly.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. "I was told to get the roots anyways, so it''ll be fine." He reckoned.


    ~WHOOSH~


    With that in mind, Lin Mu dived down into the muddyke. ~SHUA~


    But at the same time his body became translucent, as if it were air.


    ''Phase.''


    Lin Mu easily entered the muddyke without creating even a single ripple. In the water, he sense several Toad nt Hybrids but they seem to be in lower numbers.


    ''Looks like they were separated due to the Death Qi boundary.'' He thought.


    Barely four hundred meters from where he was, three Death Qi boundary line intersected, thus partitioning the area off. This prevented the Toad nt hybrids from getting closer and further provided an opportunity for Lin Mu.


    ''If I y this well, I''ll be able to get the roots before these even get a chance to act.'' Lin Mu thought as his immortal sense spread in the muddyke.


    While the range was limited due to the Murkwater Qi in it, since he was rather close to the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus Roots now, it didn''t take him much to find them.


    "Here they are¡­ but where''s the anchoring root?" If he wished to take it all at once, he would need to cut it off from the base. ''Deeper perhaps?'' he sank further into the ground and continued to do so.


    He must have gone at least five hundred meters deep before he finally reached what looked like the base of the ke''. Lin Mu''s Spatial Perception tracked for the presence of the roots and soon spotted them a bit far from him. But before he could get there, the duration of Phase hade to and end.


    ''Fade.'' But without missing a beat, Lin Mu directly used his fourth skill, arrive in the parallel dimension.


    ~SHUA~


    "Huh¡­ this is¡­ different." But upon arriving there, a surprise awaited him. The parallel dimension was barren and was a mix of gray, ck and white colors. This had been the case forever since Lin Mu had acquired the skill.


    While the topography of the area in the parallel dimension varied a bit, with a few mountains and more being mixed in, it was still mostly empty.


    But now what Lin Mu was seeing was vastly different.


    "Is this¡­ A city?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Instead of the usual barren area, what surrounded Lin Mu was an ancient looking city. It was entirely empty of course, but the structures that stood there were still different.


    Lin Mu could easily tell these structures were made in the style of the demons tribes and were possibly what existed in the area in the past.


    He quickly scanned the area with his immortal sense, getting a model of it in his mind.


    From that he quickly realized that what he stood in was still theke area, but it was surrounded by various buildings like pavilions and smaller residences.


    ''Is this what this area used to look like in the past?'' Lin Mu wondered. "Senior Xukong, what''s happening here?" he asked.


    Xukong who had been observing it all was confused too. He was silent for a few seconds before speaking.


    "I cannot exactly tell what all this is, but I do have a guess." Xukong replied. "This seems to be a remnant of the past¡­ an echo of what used to be." He stated.


    "A remnant? An Echo?" Lin Mu muttered to himself. "So it is being mirrored in the parallel dimension?" "Perhaps¡­ this is the first time you''ve used Fade in a Spatial ne like this. Not to mention this ce is different than most spatial ne and is actually a celestial treasure.


    We do not know fully about what the parallel dimension that''s linked to Fade is, but now it seems like it can ess a version of the past that is ''iplete'' in some way.


    Or you can describe it as an empty ''temte'' of sorts." Xukong exined it the best way he could.


    "A temte huh¡­ so this is what the ce originally looked like?" Lin Mu wondered. The more he looked around, the more he found his guess to be urate. There were a lot of structures that seemed to be perfect fit for here. In fact, the entireke seemed to be a part of the city''s area and was intentional. Though of course theke here was empty and barren just like the rest of the parallel dimension.


    Lin Mu also took a look inside the buildings, finding them to be bare too.


    ''The carvings and murals inside the buildings are gone too¡­ either they are weathered to the point of being undifferentiated or they were simply not recorded in the ''temte''.'' Lin Mu was now realizing that the Fade Skill seemed to hold more mysteries than he had thought before.


    It made him wonder why he had not seen anything like this before.


    "I think the key lies in this spatial ne." Xukong spoke. "All the worlds before were plete'' worlds and as such I doubt they would be as easy to ''copy'' into a temte. Whereas this spatial ne is not only limited, but was also manipted by a Celestial. I wouldn''t be surprised if there were more spatial changes done that we cannot notice right now." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ that does seem like it Senior." Lin Mu could only go on with it as it seemed themon denominator here.


    The Spatial ne being a celestial''s treasure seemed to be the only reason why there was something like this being shown to him in the parallel dimension.


    ''Though I''ll need to see another ne like this to see if it is indeed true or if this is just unique to this ce.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. "You should get moving, the duration wille to an end soon." Xukong reminded him.


    "Ah yes!" Lin Mu realized before estimating the distance he needed to cross in order to be in the right ce. While it might not be the most urate, the approximation would still be more than enough for him to be able to get to the base of the lotus roots with ease.


    ~SHUA~


    And sure enough once, the duration ended and Lin Mu was sent back into theke, he was right where he needed to be. He immediately activated Phase and rushed to the spot where he needed to sever the root from.


    ~SHING~


    With a single swift stroke of Afternoon Pine, the roots were severed at the base. They were attached to a rock which kept them anchored to the ce.


    But with Lin Mu cutting off the rock itself, the roots were now free to be ''moved''.


    ~HUALA~


    Of course, Lin Mu''s actions weren''t unnoticed by the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus either. The nt detected the attack and tried to rush away, while strong immortal Qi waves were released by it.


    It was an Immortal realm nt in the end and could even retaliate if need be. But Lin Mu wasn''t going to give it that chance.


    "You aren''t going anywhere." Lin Mu said as he canceled Phase and directly grabbed into the roots that were trying to slip away.


    His body was about to be covered in the foul mud, but he didn''t care as the Longgui Bulwark Armor immediately manifested on his body.


    Of course with the armor appearing, the immortal Qi fluctuations were strong enough to fully rm not only the lotus nt but also the Toad nt Chimeric beasts.


    ~SHA~


    But before they could give any reaction, Lin Mu stored the entire nt away in his ring.


    "Now to get away." Lin Mu flew back up, knowing the toads would rush to this area soon.


    ~WHOOSH~ Just a few seconds after he had left the spot, tens of vines rushed to attack. ~SPLASH~SPLASH~SPLASH~


    The vines ended up hitting each other, and sshing the mud around. ~TRRR~


    ~TRRR~


    ~TRRR~


    The cries of the Toads were heard once more, as they detected an intruder in their area.


    "I''d like to stay and fight, but need to see if I can find more of these." Lin Mu chuckled to himself and reactivated Phase before flying back into the sky.


    The toads were left confused and tried to find the enemy, but to no avail.

 Chapter 2237 Camouflage And Wide Search

    Chapter 2237 Camouge And Wide Search


    Lin Mu used Blink several times Ina row and quickly got away from the Toads, that were still looking for a foe nearby.


    ''Would they notice the disappearance of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus roots too?'' he thought, as it didn''t seem like the Toads were particrly interested in them.


    It just seemed like the two were existing here without interfering with each other. At first Lin Mu and the others had thought that the Toad n Hybrid Chimeric beasts might have been guarding the Dazzling Mud Lotus for their own use.


    But now it seemed like the Toads didn''t seem to care about them. It was in fact the Dazzling Mud Lotus that was taking advantage of them by living in the same area as them.


    Though this only made the work easier for Lin Mu as he could now take the Lotus without there being any extra problems. The only reason the toads were even attacking Lin Mu was because he had intruded in their territory. Other than that they were the least bothered about the Lotus themselves.


    This actually led Lin Mu to think of another factor.


    ''What do the Chimeric beasts consume for sustenance here? While there is Immortal Qi here, don''t they also consume other things as beasts? Lin Mu wondered.


    But so far here, he had not seen any normal beasts or even any number of significant nts. Also it didn''t seem like the Chimeric beasts were eating each other.


    That was possibly the strangest part, as they had a ''peace'' amongst them.


    ''There''s a lot about the Chimeric Beasts that we don''t know about.'' Lin Mu thought as he continued his search for the other Dazzling Mud Lotuses.


    He knew that this was not the one that Crown Princess Shang had found, as this one didn''t seem to have a flower growing from it. Lin Mu took a peek inside his ring, and saw that the roots of the Dazzling Mud Lotus were rather ''confused'' at being shifted.


    ''Perhaps I should ce it in something familiar?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    The roots were still alive, which would preserve their quality and let them maintain their properties, until Crown Princess Shang took a look at them.


    Since Lin Mu didn''t know exactly how long it was going to take to find the proper Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus, he reckoned it was best to keep the roots in a good condition.


    "I''ll just scoop up some of the mud." Lin Mu muttered and streaked past the muddyke''s surface.


    He lightly dipped his finger in, rapidly sucking in the mud into the ring and creating a makeshift pond inside one of the sections of the ring where other things would not be disturbed.


    Though of course, Xukong''s presence would ensure that the root wouldn''t even think of moving past the designated area.


    ~Ripple~


    In just a few seconds, the Dazzling Mud lotus roots were ''nted'' in their new temporary house. With that done, Lin Mu continued his search, his Spatial Perception fully active.


    Luck didn''t seem to be on his side though as all he saw were more Toad n Hybrid Chimeric beasts. ''Are they spread thin?'' Lin Mu wondered as he soon reached the edge of theke. ''Probably not in thiske anymore.'' He reckoned.


    With that in mind, he decided to explore the otherkes. Though he also sent a message to hispanions telling him about his status.


    ''We''ll catch up after wiping out the Chimeric Beasts here.'' Lin Mu received their reply and sped up. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    He ended up scouring through four morekes before finally chancing upon what he was looking for. "More roots." Lin Mu''s eyes found the densework of the Dazzling Mud Lotus roots under the muddyke.


    Though this time around he could also see something slightly different. There were a few t and longitudinal sections spread in theke too.


    ''Those should be the leaves and shoots of the Dazzling Mud Lotus.'' Lin Mu thought.


    The one he had gathered earlier only seemed to be a bunch of roots and there were no shoots or leaves on it. Lin Mu knew that Lotuses could have different live cycles, and in some of them they could be dormant by terminating all shoots and leaves, leaving only roots behind.


    The roots would then gather enough nutrients for the next flower to blossom and finally create more shoots and leaves.


    The one that he had encountered now seemed to be in the sprouting stage.


    "Though this one is gonna be a but more difficult." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he saw more than just lotus leaves on theke''s surface.


    The flowers and leaves from the Toad nt Hybrids were also spread there and Lin Mu''s Spatial Perception could pick up on at least a thousand of them surrounding the Dazzling Mud Lotus.


    Seeing this though, one thing became sure for Lin Mu.


    ''The Dazzling Mud Lotus intentionally moves into the swarm of the Toads to provide it protection when its time to sprout it seems.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    And perhaps because the toads themselves had ntlike appendages, they thought that the Dazzling Mud Lotus was their kin and didn''t take it as threat.


    It was good defensive camouge and allowed the Dazzling Mud Lotus to protect itself without spending any extra effort.


    "Now how do I get down there?" Lin Mu wondered, as there wasn''t enough gap for him to dive into theke.


    The Dazzling Mud Lotus was tightly packed with the toads and they basically left no space for Lin Mu to go down. Even if he did through a few of the gaps, there was a high chance the Toads would detect him.


    After thinking for a second he understood that he needed to create a distraction.


    ~huu~


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, what do you two think about a few toads for lunch?" Lin Mu called the twins out.


    ~HISS~HISS~


    As soon as the twins heard his words, they appeared with great excitement in their eyes.

 Chapter 2238 Snacks For The Twins And Second Lotus Plant

    Chapter 2238 Snacks For The Twins And Second Lotus nt


    For the twins, toads, frogs, rats, birds and mice were perhaps their favorite snack. This was something instinctively present in them and as such they couldn''t help but be excited for it.


    ~HISS~HISS~


    The twins smelled the air that was rank with a variety of energies and scents. But the two were not repelled or bothered by it, for this was nothing to them.


    In fact, they were reveling in the scents as it was all food to them in the first ce.


    The Baleful energies may as well be an ice cream Sundae to them with all the vored mixed in.


    "I want you two to bring the toads away." Lin Mu spoke. "Can you do that?" he asked.


    "YES~" The twins replied in unison.


    "Good." Lin Mu smiled. "Go!" he said, letting the twins spring forth.


    ~HISS~HISS~


    The presence of the twins was fully exuded once they were some distance from Lin Mu. Their aura rapidly filled the area, as the gaze of two predators loomed over theke.


    The Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric Beasts within theke instinctively felt the fear. Just like the twins instinctively liked snacking on toads, the toads too had a fear of them. Even if they were Chimeric beasts and had multiple beasts mixed in them, it didn''t mean that the instincts would be totally changed.


    And this was without considering the pressure of the twins'' bloodline that would stun most beasts by a mere look.


    The twins red at the prey below, as the toads started to stir within theke.


    ~TRRR~TRRR~TRRR~


    Their trilling cries were a bit different this time, as one could sense some apprehension within it.


    "They''re noting." Xiao Yang spoke to his sister.


    "So we go to them." Xiao Yin said as she opened her mouth wide and dived down!


    ~SAAAAAAAA~


    Xiao Yang followed behind her, as the two turned into dual ck and white ribbons.


    ~SPLASH~


    Their entry into the muddy water was very impactful as arge wave was spread. For the twins, the Muddy water full of Murkwater Qi may as well be a hot spring. It wasfortable for them as they let opened their mouths and consumed the Murkwater Qi, purifying and digesting it within their bodies into Yin and Yang Qi.


    Their ''intrusion'' had been more than enough to cause the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric Beasts to be forced to act and they all rushed towards the position of the twins.


    Lin Mu was moving around the area with blink at this time, as he couldn''t stay still and let himself be sensed by them. But he was observing the Toads with his spatial perception and saw the entire group moving away.


    Thankfully the Dazzling Mud Lotus seemed to be unaffected by it, and its roots and shoots automatically moved to allow the toads to swim.


    It showed just how well the Dazzling Mud Lotus had adapted to this habitat.


    ''Hmm¡­ is it perhaps due to the presence of the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric Beasts that the Dazzling Mud Lotus has managed to develop all the way to the Three Colored variant?'' Lin Mu wondered after seeing this.


    It was a likely thing now that Lin Mu was thinking about it. From what the Crown Princess had told him, it was an almost impossible task to grow a Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus. She had been yearning to get a cutting or seeds so that she could learn how to grow it herself. But now it seemed like there could be another factor that had contributed to it all.


    ''Does the Murkwater Qi and the presence of the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric Beasts somehow contribute to it?'' Lin Mu noted it in his mind, intending to inform the woman.


    He had faith that she''ll be able to figure out the rest, as this was her path after all. Lin Mu might only need to give her a hint and she should be on her way. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''I also have that seed she gave me¡­ It has been unchanged too.'' Lin Mu remembered the extra reward that had been given to him.


    Lin Mu had no luck with it so far even though he had looked through a lot of books. Even Xukong had been unable to recognize what it was at its current state.


    After all nts were very adaptive and deceptive. They could easily breed with other nts and make new variants or entire species that could be impossible to identify.


    As such, it wasn''t unusual for Xukong to at a loss with it. Though he did say that if the seed managed to germinate, he''ll most likely identify it from its unique signature.


    One thing was sure, that it was an Immortal seed, thus it would have a very unique aura and Qi signature once it sprouted.


    Thinking of this, Lin Mu quickly found the right opportunity to dive down as all the Toads had left the area.


    Phase!


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu easily sank into theke without an issue and tracked down the location where the Dazzling Mud Lotus was anchored too.


    This time though, the depth was more taking Lin Mu longer to find. But once he did, the work was easy.


    ~SHING~


    Afternoon Pine quickly severed the rock that the roots were anchored to and Lin Mu stored it in the ring along with plenty of the muddy water so that it could have a suitable ce to stay in.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu rose back into the sky and took a look at the new arrival in the ring.


    ''This one is certainly a lot bigger and more active.'' Lin Mu thought seeing all of its green shoots, and leaves.


    Lin Mu checked if there were any flower buds on it that he might have missed, but there were none.


    ''So it hasn''t reached the stage either¡­ this isn''t the one that Crown Princess Shang saw either.'' Lin Mu now knew there was another Dazzling Mud Lotus somewhere and his search was not over yet.

 Chapter 2239 A Glance At The Past And A Dazzle In The Present

    Chapter 2239 A nce At The Past And A Dazzle In The Present


    Lin Mu went high up in the sky so that he could get a better look at the area below. With how high he was, the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric beasts wouldn''t react to him and he would also be far from the effects of the Death Qi boundaries.


    "There''s certainly a lot ofkes here." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he nced at the vast expanse. "I managed to find Two Dazzling Mud Lotus nts in all this¡­ the third one that is flowering will take some more effort." He started to divide the areas into segments.


    Lin Mu first separated the areas that he had already been to and only looked at the areas that he had not been to yet. And in those, Lin Mu singled out thekes that were a bit too small and could be called as ''ponds'' instead.


    ''With how big the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus can get, it certainly won''t be in a pond that small. Especially considering its tendency to stay in an area with the Toad nt Hybrid Chichi beasts.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Having done that, he manged to reduce his area of search by half. But this was still arge area that would take some time to search and scour through one by one.


    But as he watched it all, he realized something.


    "All thesekes and ponds¡­ They''re craters." Lin Mu spun around and saw that the distribution of thekes was simr to how a meteor shower would have. ''The areas that don''t have thekes are cut off on the southern side with a ridge while the further eastern side is covered with smaller hills.'' He noted the topography.


    This gave him an idea about what could have happened.


    "This might be where a lot of the ''Harbingers''nded. Perhaps these were the ones that were carrying the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric beasts." Lin Mu thought to himself. "Whatever city here was¡­ Got devastated by it. And perhaps the natural presence of water from theke before ensured that the Chimeric beasts continued to stay here." He now had an idea of possible scenario that could have happened in the past.


    But as he thought about this, he suddenly had another idea.


    "Wait a minute, can''t I just¡­" ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu disappeared from the Spatial ne and appeared in the Parallel Dimension. But he wasn''t on the ground like usual and was high up in the sky too.


    "Let''s see¡­ Sure enough." Lin Mu looked below and saw the ''temte'' of a city.


    Not just that, but he could also see the other areas such as farnd, beast rearing areas and more around it. Of course, these were all empty, but theyout left little to his imagination. A scene soon formed in Lin Mu''s mind and he could ''see'' hundreds of meteors falling form the sky and barraging the city and the area around it. The city was entirely devastated while the demons inhabiting it tried to escape.


    The strong ones survived while the weak died.


    Many were injured and more were to be injured by the arrival of the Chimeric beasts.


    The strong fought back, but it was a lost cause and they eventually had to abandon the city.


    The presence of the Toad nt Chimeric Beast along with the death andrgeke probably gave the prefect conditions for Murkwater Qi to be created here. What once started as a few wisps of Qi soon spread and over tens of thousands of years became the area that Lin Mu witnessed.


    ~huu~ Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "The past might have Faded, but it has not been forgotten¡­ The Void Remembers it." Lin Mu muttered to himself, a fewplex thoughts going through his mind. ''The Parallel Dimension¡­ what other secrets can it show?'' He wondered.


    The mysteries of the fourth skill seemed to be deeper than Lin Mu had thought, making him realize that he might have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far. After all, even Xukong was stumped by how the skill worked and what kind of dimension it brought Lin Mu to.


    "Senior Xukong, can you sense the void from here?" Lin Mu suddenly asked. "And can you get out of here, if you were here?" "I can." Xukong replied. "I might be able to forcefully breakout of here, but if I am to find a proper route, I don''t think I''ll know where to go. This ce¡­ Is not in a segment of Void that I''m familiar with¡­ this isn''t like any of the Void''s Layers. This is¡­ Its own existence." He had a lot to think about now too.


    As a being that had great mastery over the Space and one that had knew about Grand Void better than most existences in the cosmos, there weren''t many things rted to the void or space that could stump Xukong.


    And now that he was seeing the mysteries of the skill, he was doubting his own knowledge of the void.


    ''Would the Old Monster know what this is?'' Xukong wondered. ''No¡­ He wouldn''t make an outlier like this¡­ He is already too busy maintaining all that exists¡­ Innovation is not a word in his dictionary,'' He pondered deeply.


    Lin Mu didn''t know Xukong''s thoughts and reckoned he had already said what he wanted to and had gone silent. ''I suppose the rest will have to be uncovered on my own,'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as the duration of the skill came to an end.


    ~SHUA~


    He reappeared in the real world and gazed at the present. A solemn expression dressed his face as he couldn''t helppare the past to the present. The former glory of a ce that might have been a great city, and the deste area of deaththat it was now¡­ the change was drastic.


    But as he was thinking this, a tiny glint was picked up from the corner of his eye.


    "What''s that?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and focused on the glint.


    The glint was so small that if the conditions were not perfect, Lin Mu wouldn''t have seen it at all. After all, there were plenty of things that blocked ones line of sight and luded it such as the Death Qi boundaries, the baleful energies or just the particte matter in general.


    It just so happened, that a Death Qi boundary had shifted far in the distance, allowing Lin Mu to pick up on the glint.


    "It''s shining?" Lin Mu could now make out some colors. "White, Pink And Red?" once he recognized though, a name appeared in his mind.


    Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus!


    ~WHOOSH~


    "THAT SHOULD BE IT!" Lin Mu rushed towards the three colored glint.


    The flower had it in its name, ''Dazzling''.


    As such, it was normal for it to be shiny, and Crown Princess Shang had also described a bit more about it. And now that Lin Mu was seeing the shiny glint, he knew for sure there was only one thing that could be like that in this muddynd.


    ''If not for the fact that this is a t ne, and not a spherical world, there is no way I would''ve spotted the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus from that far.'' Lin Mu thanked his luck.


    Of course, even on a t ne, there was a limit to visibility due to theposition of air. Not to mention there were plenty of opaque things mixed in the air that already made it harder to see.


    He soared through the sky while using Blink nonstop, raising his speed to a blinding level. Lin Mu covered over a two hundred kilometers of area before he finally reached the area of interest.


    Lin Mu stood above a mid sizedke that was about twenty Kilometers in size. Theke stood out quite a bit as it was entirely filled with flowers and leaves. Of course, most of these were the Chimeric beasts, but there was an eye catching flower in the middle.


    As if a gemstone in the mud, it literally shone and called attention to itself!


    Lin Mu marveled at the Lotus that was at least a meter in size. It had three colored petals, with red in the bottom, pink in the middle and finally white on the tips.


    Each petal was like shimmering silk, and swayed in the air while wide leaves that were over five meters in diameter each surrounded it.


    It looked beautiful and elegant, while also exuding a faint power that would be easy to miss if one didn''t ''look'' at it. But before Lin Mu could get it, he needed to assess what he was up against.


    ~SHUA~


    Activating his Spatial Perception he saw the swarm of toads that filled theke that was deeper than expected.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang¡­" Lin Mu whispered, calling the twins over through his link.


    Even if they were far, he knew that it wouldn''t take them long to finish their snack ande over.

 Chapter 2240 The Twin Assist

    Chapter 2240 The Twin Assist


    ~HISS~


    The twins soon returned to Lin Mu''s side and seem to be covered with a mix of mud and blood.


    ''Will have to get you two cleaned after this¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself. "You know what to do." He said pointing down.


    "More toads!" Xiao Yang said with excitement.


    "Tons more!" Xiao Yin was not one bit behind with her excitement either.


    ~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~


    The twins dived down like thunderbolts, causing massive waves across theke.


    ~SPLASH~SPLASH~SPLASH~


    The waves were as tall as fifty meters and shook the entireke. Though the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus inside was unaffected. It merely swayed with the waves and did not seem bothered by the waves. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    ''It does live here with those toads, so I guess it is already adapted to it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Looks like I won''t have to worry about it getting damaged as much. It should be resilient having been here all this time. After all, I doubt the toads would be ''careful'' with the flower.'' He reckoned.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The waves hid the upheaval that was taking ce underneath the surface of the muddyke.


    The twin snakes pierced through one Toad after the other, draining their lives and their energy while consuming all that was in their path. Their bodies were like endless ck holes that could consume nonstop.


    Of course, they didn''t consume the bodies of the Chimeric beasts, instead they chose to consume only the ''best'' parts.


    The Dantians.


    These contained all their energy and Qi thus were perfect for the twins. Plus they could quickly digest and process them rather than the bodies themselves that might take longer to process additionally with lower gains.


    It didn''t mean that they didn''t eat the bodies, they still did that, but it was limited to a few good parts such as their hearts and livers that tasted good to the twins.


    And of course, the twins were speedy, preventing the toads from even reacting to them in time. Before the Toads even realized there were intruders in their territory, they were already pierced through and their Dantians consumed.


    ~TRRRRRRR~ ~TRRRRRRR~ ~TRRRRRRR~


    This didn''tst long though, as the rest of the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric beasts picked up on it and became furious. They retaliated, but that was exactly what Lin Mu wanted.


    The twins mowed through the Toads until they were at the very edge of the area. A six inch thick Death Qi boundary existed here, that had prevented the toads from wandering over. ~POOF~


    But of course, the twins merely passed through it like air, leaving the Toads baffled. They gathered at the boundary, which was being used by the twins to y monkey in the middle. They would jump into the toads and kill them, before retreating past the boundary and leaving the Toads as sitting ducks¡­ or just sitting Toads.


    ''They''re doing much better than I thought¡­ Looks like they devised their own strategies.'' Lin Mu was impressed by their method of using the Death Qi boundary. ''I almost forgot that this much Death Qi wouldn''t do anything to them.'' He realized.


    Lin Mu himself, could resist the Death Qi to a certain point, and the twins could do the same. In fact, they might just be better at it than him, since they could ultimately process it into Yin and Yang Qi.


    As such they were the almost perfect counters to the dangers of the Spatial ne.


    "They are pretty fast at hunting them, but¡­" Lin Mu looked at the green band on his wrist. "Them killing the Chimeric Beasts is a loss." He looked at the unchanging numbers.


    It was clear that if one wanted to get the credits, one would have to hunt the Chimeric Beasts themselves. It was a pity since it would certainly speed up Lin Mu''s endeavor to get the credits.


    ~Sigh~


    Lin Mu was a bit disappointed, but quickly pushed the thought away as the Toad Swarm finally left the area.


    "Time to get working." Lin Mu muttered before he plummeted from the sky.


    Phase!


    Unlike the twins, his body left no effects as it entered theke and quickly reached the bottom.


    ''This one is even deeper than I thought.'' Lin Mu estimated that he was at least two kilometers deep. In a mortal world, this would already be as deep as an ocean and may as well be considered that. But then again these weren''t even normalkes but had been formed as a result of meteors pelting the area.


    ''The meteors were certainly powerful to cause such depressions in the ground.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he searched for the anchoring roots of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus.


    Now that he knew the nt liked to anchor itself to some rocks, he searched for some outcroppings in theke bed.


    "There it is." Lin Mu soon found it and took out Afternoon Pine to sever it from the rest of the ground.


    ~CLANG~


    "Huh?" But when the sword struck the rock, it bounced off harmlessly. "It stopped it?" he was a bit surprised.


    ~SHUA~


    Thinking that the rock might just be tougher than usual, he infused Metal elemental Qi into the sword and shed again.


    ~CLANG~


    But once more, the sword bounced off without even leaving a dent in the rock.


    "Tougher than I thought¡­ what kind of rock is this?" Lin Mu wondered.


    He couldn''t even check it properly with his Immortal sense due to the Murkwater Qi around him, but knew that it was not normal.


    ~SHUA~


    He increased his power further, but infusing Sword Intent into the sword and swinging it at the rock again.


    ~SCREECH~


    This time around, the rock couldn''t stop it right away and left a three inch gash on it. "It still stopped it?!" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that at all.


    Even though there was a cut in the rock, it had still halted the sword.


    "What even is this?"

 Chapter 2241 Stubborn Rock

    Chapter 2241 Stubborn Rock


    Lin Mu was left astounded at the rock that had managed to resist a sh infused with Sword Intent.


    ~WOONG~


    Even Afternoon Pine was shocked by this and showed it by a hum.


    ''A rock that can resist a sh like this¡­ It''s certainly not normal.'' Lin Mu now understood. He had only managed to cut a few inches, and the rock was at least a few meters thick. Lin Mu could see the roots of the Three Colored Drizzling Mud Lotus tightly wrapped around the rock and also anchored into the small pores that were present in it.


    ''Do I need to cut the roots directly?'' Lin Mu wondered. ''That will certainly cause some harm to the Lotus.'' He knew.


    Since he had managed to take the previous two Dazzling Mud Lotus flowers whole, he hoped to do the same for this one too. He knew that Crown Princess Shang wanted to study the flowers and figure out a way to grow one herself, thus he reckoned having a live nt would be much better.


    While it was not an absolute obligation on Lin Mu''s part to do this, he had a different thought process.


    ''Since I can do it, why not do it?'' Lin Mu simply thought.


    But now that he had faced an obstacle, he had to change his thoughts a bit.


    "Hmm¡­ since I can''t cut the rock, I should just take it along entirely." Lin Mu thought of another solution. Of course, whether he could carry out this solution was yet to be seen as there were still uncertainties. Lin Mu ced his hand over the rock and tried to directly store it along the Lotus nt at first.


    The rock that was jutting out of theke bed was about six meters wide and eleven meters tall. The particr part that the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus was attached to was a small ''peak'' on its top and was roughly three meters thick.


    "Hmm¡­ Just as I thought, it won''t work when its anchored in the ground like that." Lin Mu was unsessful. "I need to separate the rock out first." He muttered to himself before getting to the base and putting both his hands on the rock.


    With a rock this size, it would be important for Lin Mu to get a proper grip and positioning to get the most force.


    Lin Mu gripped the rock as best as he could, fully using the ws of the gauntlets that were part of the Longgui Bulwark Armor. ''Need more strength.'' Lin Mu realized that using the ''normal'' amount of strength was simply not enough to affect the rock. As such, he stirred up the Immortal Essence within his body, letting it surge in his arms. Veins bulged out on his arms, as they started to slowly swell in size. The gauntlets adjusted automatically, adapting to his arms that were now as thick as tree logs.


    ~CREAK~


    A faint creaking sound was heard, as Lin Mu exerted force with his fingers. The ws pushed on the rock, denting it bit by bit until finally ten holes were poked into it.


    With that, Lin Mu now had a perfect grip on the rock. "MOVE!" Lin Mu finally started to exert force, pulling it up.


    ~TREMBLE~


    Theke floor shook slightly, as the force was transmitted through the rock to the bottom. But the rock didn''t budge at all, showing that it was embedded firmer than Lin Mu had expected. ''I can''t even assess how big the full size of the rock is.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had a hunch that the rock was bigger than he could ''see'' above theke''s bottom. Since his immortal sense was limited here, he could only do a little guess, and considering the amount of force he had applied, Lin Mu judged the rock was several times bigger than what he could see right now.


    ''Maybe even tens of times bigger.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With such a mass, Lin Mu knew just using his strength with body cultivation won''t be enough.


    ''I need to take a substantial move.'' Lin Mu knew.


    With that in mind, a red aura surged from his body.


    ~HUALA~


    The red aura was dense and caused the Murkwater Qi in the muddy water to sh with it. The two energies had a violent interaction, as more waves were created due to it. If not for the fact that the Twins had already lured all the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric beasts away, Lin Mu was bound to catch their attention.


    But the appearance of the red aura didn''t just create waves, it even affected the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus.


    The shoots and leaves of the nt quivered while the flower shrunk slightly.


    ''I need to be faster.'' Lin Mu hoped that the flower won''t be affected too much by it.


    ~RUMBLE~ All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu raised the output even more as a Tyrannical presence spread.


    The red aura now took on a different feeling, and tiredest the muddy waters. The Murkwater Qi was now being repelled at a great pace, while it the aura increased Lin Mu''s size.


    His muscles bulged and grew in size, with even his legs growing.


    This provided him two fold strength and a firm stance.


    Soon enough, Lin Mu''s arms were as thick as an elephant''s legs, while power rippled from them.


    ~HUALA~


    The Tyrannical Red Aura wrapped around Lin Mu''s arms as an illusory image formed. It was that of giant horns belonging to a menacing beast; The Tyrant Bull!


    ~MOOO~


    The cry of the Tyrant Bull was heard as Lin Mu executed its skill.


    "Tyrant Lift!" ~TREMBLE~


    An exponentially high power was exerted by Lin Mu''s arms as the entireke bottom shook. Waves after waves were spread as Lin Mu started to lift the rock.


    At first, it only rose by a few inches every second, but it then reached a tipping point.


    ~BOOM~


    It was as if an entire new hill had risen from theke!

 Chapter 2242 Pulling Out A Hill

    Chapter 2242 Pulling Out A Hill


    The power of the Tyrant Lift skill was great and could move a lot of things.


    When Lin Mu had tested it for the first time with the Saintess, it had been enough to break the pirs she had made. As such, it was the perfect option for Lin Mu to lift the rock that was stuck in the bottom of theke.


    But now it was clear that this was not a ''rock'' at all.


    It was an entire solid chunk of some kind of ore that was the size of a hill!


    "This is way bigger than I thought¡­" Lin Mu saw the rock and realized that he had uprooted around four hundred meters of area.


    The ''hill'' was about four hundred meters wide and roughly three hundred meters tall. There were a lot of pores on it, and now that Lin Mu could take a better look at it, he could see the roots of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus fully embedded into it.


    The pores were used astching points for the nt and it had used up all the pores that were present, right from the top all the way to the bottom!


    ''If I hadn''t pulled it out, I surely would''ve cut off arge portion of the roots.'' Lin Mu now understood.


    Because of the limitation of his immortal sense and the Murkwater Qi, it had been difficult for him to get a proper sense of just how deeply the roots were embedded. The other rocks had been easy to cut, as they were just normal ones.


    But this one was much different.


    Now that the ''rock'' was out though, Lin Mu quickly stored it away along with arge volume of the muddyke water.


    It would be enough for the disced Dazzling Mud Lotus to live decently.


    ~SHUA~


    ~SPLASH~ All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    The sudden disappearance of therge hill sized rock and theke water left an empty vacuum that caused the muddy water to rush in. Multiple whirlpools were created along with strong water currents that would''ve pulled along even an elephant with them.


    But Lin Mu was unaffected and easily resisted it by simply using Phase and flying back to the top. ~Ripple~


    Lin Mu''s body returned to normal proportions as the effects of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets faded away.


    The Armor also turned into a searing hot energy that returned to Lin Mu''s body, leaving him in his normal appearance.


    He had no signs of being in the muddyke and was still as clean as before.


    ''The armor is really good at preventing anything from getting in contact with my body.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Even the power of Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets is further improved with the durability of the armor.'' He reckoned.


    The armor was a perfect fir for physical attacks that used raw strength, as they could provide better durability as well as further amplify the strength. After all, a punch with a bare fist would be weaker than a punch with a gauntlet. Lin Mu didn''t use one before since they simply couldn''t endure his strength, and even if they could, they would break over time by getting damaged. But now that he had the Longgui Bulwark Armor that had high durability, as well as the ability to repair on its own upon breaking, there was no reason for him to avoid using one.


    This even gave Lin Mu another idea.


    ''I might be able to reduce the recoil of Mountain Copsing Fist, if I use it with the gauntlet and perhaps the full armor too.'' Lin Mu wondered if it would be viable.


    He had seen the upgraded skills power with thergeva slug and knew that it was several times greater than the normal Boulder Copsing Fist.


    "I''ll haves plenty of opportunities to test it anyways." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he looked in the distance where the swarm of Toad nt Chimeric beast hybrids were fighting against the Twin Serpents.


    Of course, fighting was a big word, as they were merely struggling while the twins reaped their lives. The Toads attacked with all they had, but the twins easily dodged the vines, thorns and any other attacks they threw their way. Not only were the twins faster than them, their size and agility also made it impossible for therge Toads to target them.


    Not to mention, they kept on taking advantage of the Death Qi boundary to keep the Toads stuck in one ce.


    It was unfortunate for the Chimeric beasts as they didn''t have much intelligence. In fact, if it were a normal beast at the same cultivation base, they would have already understood the trick and either ran away or found some other method to ovee it.


    They wouldn''t have just stayed in one location and let the twins kill them like ''toads in a barrel''.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu soon appeared above the twins, finding them to be having quite a lot of fun.


    "I''ll take over from here." Lin Mu spoke.


    "You''re back." Xiao Yang replied.


    "We want to eat more though." Xiao Yin stated.


    "You can still eat them. I just have to kill them myself, so I get the credits." Lin Mu showed them the green band. "Ah!" Xiao Yin now understood.


    "We''ll wait for you to kill them, then." Xiao Yang said, as he moved behind the Death Qi boundary with his sister.


    "It won''t take long, so don''t worry." Lin Mu said as he drew out both his swords.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker hummed with excitement as they saw the swarm of Chimeric beasts in front of them.


    "Kill them all!" Lin Mu said as he raised both swords and spun.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    He directly jumped into the middle of the swarm and kept on spinning, as the two des cut through the chimeric beasts with ease. Arcs of sword energy were let out at every second, creating a two colored vortex that tore through all the toads.

 Chapter 2243 45 Million Credits

    Chapter 2243 45 Million Credits


    If someone looked at the area right now, they would think that yellow and blue ribbons were spinning around a top that had been unleashed in theke.


    If one looked at it from the top, it even looked beautiful as one wouldn''t be able to make out the blood and gore of the toads with it mixing into the muddyke.


    Lin Mu''s credits started to increase with the death of every toad.


    In about fifteen minutes, all the Toad nt Chimeric beasts had been killed.


    "You can finish eating now, Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang." Lin Mu stated, as he stored the two swords away.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins waited no more and rushed into the pile of corpses that were floating in the muddyke. They absorbed all that they could and consumed the Dantians of the toads.


    Since the Chimeric beasts had only died recently, they still had their Dantians intact for the most part. Lin Mu had tried to reduce the ''damage'' he would inflict on the corpses to ensure they wouldn''t be obliterate into a mush.


    He also didn''t use Sword Intent, as that would have destroyed their Dantians right away. Otherwise, all Lin Mu would have needed to do was use either of the two sword skills.


    Both Great ughter Pine and Great Ocean Rake would have been enough to kill the entire swarm with it.


    ~SHUA~


    "Hmm¡­ About forty five million credits." Lin Mu looked at the number that was decently high now.


    He had expected that it would take them a long time to even reach a number like this. But now that they had the green bands it was faster than expected.


    ''Though the twins did kill a lot of Chimeric beasts before¡­ if I killed them I should have already hit fifty million perhaps.'' Lin Mu calcted how much he had missed and how much more he would need. "Considering the size of the area, andkes there should be at least twice as many Toads left." He estimated.


    He wondered if he should continue hunting or go back to the group first.


    "I''ll just message them." Lin Mu took out the Jade Slip and contacted the group.


    He didn''t receive a reply right away though and had to wait a minute.


    "Ah! Daoist Mu Lin." The one to respond turned out to be Qiao De.


    "What''s going on?" Lin Mu asked, feeling that it took them this long to respond and that too Qiao De picked up.


    Usually it would be Crown Prince Feng Shun or Daoist Chu that responded.


    "Well¡­ we ran into a little trouble." Qiao De replied.


    "Trouble? What kind?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "Remember the Griffin like Chimeric beast we talked about?" Qiao De replied.


    "Yes?" Lin Mu had an idea appearing in his mind.


    "Well, it is now attacking us." Qiao De answered.


    "Attacking you all? Do you need help?" Lin Mu questioned with some concern.


    "Oh, it''s fine." Qiao De responded. "We''re handling it right now so you can continue your work." He stated.


    "Are you sure?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yeah, it''s fine." Qiao De responded. "I think we''ll be done by the time you return." He added. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    "Alright." Getting that answer, Lin Mu knew he had plenty of time to hunt himself. ''Looks like I can focus on gathering the credits then.'' He thought and rose up to the sky.


    ~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~


    "Where are we going?" Xiao Yang asked, returning to his side.


    "Hunting more?" Xiao Yin asked, her eyes still having the glint of excitement.


    "Yup!" Lin Mu nodded. "I''ll kill them, you eat them." He stated.


    "PERFECT!" The twins said in a unison.


    Since the others were busy, Lin Mu now had a free reign to hunt.


    ''If I finish up fast enough, I might even get to kill the Griffin Chimeric beastster. They are stronger, so should be worth more,pared to these Toads.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Among the Toad nt Chimeric Beasts he had killed so far, only three had been at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. All the others were either third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm or below.


    As such, it reduced the efficiency of hunting by a bit.


    ''Though if I do find arge enough swarm of Third Tribtion Stage Immortal realm chimeric beasts, I''ll still get a lot of credits.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Since each of them gave about 10,000 credits, a swarm with a thousand such Chimeric beasts would easily Lin Mu ten million credits. They were weak enough to be killed with arge area attack, thus Lin Mu would be able to earn all that within a few minutes.


    ~hiss~


    "I can smell some there." Xiao Yang alerted Lin Mu.


    "Ah yes! You two can search them out faster." Lin Mu''s eyes lit up.


    "Yes, we can smell them if we''re close enough." Xiao Yin nodded. "Though the energy in the air dulls their scents if it''s too far." She exined.


    "That makes sense." Lin Mu knew the Baleful energies weren''t exactly the best for it as they could even affect immortal senses.


    While the twins were able to consume, it didn''t mean that the energy didn''t suppress their other senses. Same as Lin Mu, their immortal sense was reduced too if it was in a high concentration area, while their sense of smell was limited due to the scents getting diluted.


    But it was still better than searching for the Chimeric beasts with just naked eyes.


    About ten minutester, Lin Mu and the twins reached anotherke with at least ten thousand Toads in it.


    "Here we go," Lin Mu raised Afternoon Pine and used its basic skill.


    ~SHING~


    ~HUALA~


    Yellow metal pine trees grew from theke and pierced through the Toads around them. It was a fast process as the Toads here were mostly weak. Even a single leaf of the tree was enough to end their lives while a branch skewered tens of them at once.

 Chapter 2244 Clearing The Toads

    Chapter 2244 Clearing The Toads


    Section after section of Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric beasts started to die as the pine trees shredded through their flesh.


    The credits continued to increase on Lin Mu''s green band steadily and he could see that it was a mostly linear increase with little to no jumps.


    ''Only a few Third Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric beasts.'' Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, seeing the points. ''Can the twins smell out the stronger ones?'' he wondered before asking them.


    "We can''t sense their cultivation base from smell." Xiao Yan replied.


    "Ah, that''s a shame." Lin Mu said. "But it''s still good that you can seek them out. It doesn''t take much to hunt them anyway." He added.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Topensate for it, Lin Mu simply swung out several times more, creating more and more Yellow Metal Pine trees and continued his ughter.


    In about half an hour or so, Lin Mu had cleared out the area and obtained ten million more credits from it, taking his total to roughly fifty-five million.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    With the toads dead, the Twins quickly swept over the area and consumed all that they could.


    "Where do we go next?" Lin Mu asked the twins.


    ~sniff~


    The smelled the air for a few seconds and couldn''t pick up on anything. "We need to wander more." Xiao Yin said.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head and flew to more areas with them.


    This time it took him about an hour as the Death Qi boundary seemed to have shifted some time earlier, driving the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric Beasts away.


    "There''s a lot of thick boundaries here¡­ It must have shifted not long ago." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Still, it meant that there was a decent chance there was another swarm of them nearby.


    ~HISS~


    And sure enough, the twins quickly picked up on one such trace.


    "There!" Xiao Yang darted towards the left and Lin Mu followed after with the other twin.


    In just a minute, they reached anotherke that was smaller than the previous one. "Huh¡­" Lin Mu looked at the scene with slight amusement. "Talk about being packed like Sardines¡­" he observed the area dense with Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric beasts.


    The area was less than a kilometer wide, but its length was just two hundred meters or so. And inside this, Lin Mu could sense at least a thousand Chimeric Beasts. They were packed almost side to side due to the Death Qi boundary having trapped them here.


    All sides of it were thick, thus Lin Mu knew they had moved here just recently and gotten trapped with then we boundaries.


    "Unlucky for them, lucky for us," Lin Mu said as he raised Afternoon Pine and gathered Qi into the sword, wishing to end them all at once.


    After a minute of ''charging'' Lin Mu stabbed down from the sky.


    ~WOONG~


    Arge sword imprint formed around Afternoon Pine that was glowing in a bright yellow light. The Sword Imprint stabbed down, following Lin Mu''s action, and ''pressed'' down upon the packed toads.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Hundreds of individual sword imprints spread out from therge sword imprint, stabbing into the Toad nt Hybrid Chimeric beasts at the same time. A ''single'' stab multiples into hundreds, thereby ending the lives of all the Chimeric Beasts in the area.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu then saw his credits jump by about one and a half million.


    "One and a half million in a minute¡­ If I can somehow keep this output indefinitely, it''ll only take me a little under seventeen hours to gather the needed billion credits." Lin Mu calcted.


    He did know this was just a theoretical situation, and it was certainly not possible to get an output this high.


    ~SHUA~ This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    With all the toads killed, the twins began this work and were done soon too.


    "To the next area." Lin Mu and the twins wandered more, finding new areas with the toad Chimeric beasts.


    They did this for about an entire day, by the need of which they had managed to clear out eight more areas. In it all, Lin Mu managed to gain a grand total of thirty million more credits!


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu hovered in the air as he nced at the number that had risen rather quickly.


    "Eighty Seven Million Credits." Lin Mu looked at the astonishing number that had seemed almost underivable to him before.


    When they had first started, he had never thought he would have gathered this many credits this early.


    ''Almost Nine percent of the goal umted.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The number thrilled him and motivated him to hunt more. He was even willing to do so, but he soon received a message that made him halt.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu held the jade slip and saw that it was the Crown Prince, Feng Shun message him.


    "We''re done with our hunt, how''s your progress in finding the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus? Any luck?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned. "It''s fine even if you didn''t find one right now, we can regroup and search for it." He added.


    "It''s all good. I found it," Lin Mu answered.


    "Great!" Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Crown Princess Shang will be happy to hear that." "I''ll be there soon." Lin Mu replied and put the Jade Slip away.


    "Are we done?" Xiao Yang asked.


    "Should we go back to the Sleepscape?" Xiao Yin asked.


    "Hmm¡­ Just stay here. It''s a better environment for you to gather Qi anyway." Lin Mu decided to let the twins stay with him.


    "YAY!" The twins said with excitement and wrapped around his arms in a hug.


    Letting them stay like that, he quickly flew to the area that Crown Prince and the rest of the group were present. He had already gotten their coordinates before and knew that they were out of the area now.


    Considering that Lin Mu hade to the other side of theke area, he had quite some distance to cross.

 Chapter 2245 The Stunned Crown Princess

    Chapter 2245 The Stunned Crown Princess


    It ended up taking Lin Mu about three hours to travel, during which he kept an eye out for any stray Chimeric beast to kill.


    The twins were also smelling for scents at all times and pointed out whenever there was something nearby. This made sure that there were no missed targets, and he had really cleared most of the area out.


    There were probably more Toad nt Chimeric Beasts left in theke area, but Lin Mu would have to search a lot more for them. The area was simply too broad and unless one was close enough, it was hard to even tell if there were Toads there even with the scent tracking of the twins.


    Still, the journey back was fruitful enough for Lin Mu and ended up raising his credits by another two hundred thousand.


    "There they are," Lin Mu spotted the familiar faces in the distance.


    They were gathered around a lot of corpses that were bigger than most chimeric beasts they had encountered.


    ''So these are the Griffin Chimeric beasts.'' Lin Mu saw the appearance.


    They had the body of a lion, the head of an eagle and feathers that were metallic and scaly in texture.


    Normal griffins could already be considered as hybrid beasts in a way, but their Chimeric form seemed to have been modified to have more properties. On the surface though, Lin Mu could only see the change in their feathers and the jagged teeth that jutted out of its beak.


    In a way it looked like someone had made the normal griffins more ''ugly'' as their appearance was now far too jarring.


    ''Normal griffins are smart and considered as excellent for taming. They are great mounts and are also good for fighting alongside. But this one¡­ while it strength is probably higher, its intelligence has been wiped out.'' Lin Mu reckoned seeing the corpse.


    ~SHUA~


    His immortal sense quickly scanned the beast and checked the traces of Qi for its cultivation base.


    ''Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.'' Lin Mu noted. ''The strongest we''ve killed so far.'' He wondered if the others were like this too.


    There were a total of eight griffin chimeric beasts here and they were slightly different in sizes. The one that Lin Mu had checked was thergest, and had the most ''intact'' corpse. The others were a lot more injured, with two of them missing their wings, and another two missing their entire heads.


    It was clear the battle had not been a casual one.


    "Daoist Mu Lin," Crown Prince Feng Shun greeted upon hisnding.


    The others turned their heads and saw their finalpanion return. Crown Princess Shang''s face bloomed with an eager smile, showing that she had been waiting for him.


    Lady Kang looked at him too, noticing the different Immortal Qi fluctuations that wereing from him.


    ''Hmm? What''s that?'' She wondered before noticing that the source was Lin Mu''s arms.


    There she saw two ''ribbons'' wrapped on his arms, one ck and one white. Seeing that, she soon realized what the immortal Qi fluctuation was.


    ''Ah, his tamed snake beasts. Was he hunting with them?'' She wondered.


    And just a secondter, she saw two small heads turn towards her. Their gemstone like eyes looked at her curiously.


    ''She feels different.'' Xiao Yin spoke to her brother through their connection.


    ''She smells different too.'' Xiao Yang replied. ''She doesn''t smell like food though,'' Xiao Yin stated. ''Yes¡­ She smells nice¡­ like a flower?'' Xiao Yang agreed.


    ''But she isn''t a nt, is she?'' Xiao Yin wondered. ''Rather than her, the other female smells more like flowers.'' She turned her head towards the Crown Princess.


    The serpents'' gaze made the Crown Princess halt for a moment, as if there was a faint pressure in it.


    The others saw the sudden stopping of the Crown Princess and noticed that two serpents were now ''ring'' at her.


    "Easy, you two." Lin Mu said lightly.


    ~hiss~


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang reeled in their inquisitive gazes, making the Crown Princess less tense.


    "Whoa¡­ what was that?" Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but say. "It was almost as if I were a mouse being caught in the eyes of a snake." She muttered, feeling a little surprised.


    "It won''t be too off." Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled. "I take it you had some gains too? Other than the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus, of course." He asked.


    "I did." Lin Mu nodded. "All of us." He said, making the twins hiss in response.


    "Well, that''s good. We had some gains too¡­ though it was a bit tiresome." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, looking at the griffins.


    "Tough fight?" Lin Mu asked. "With all of you though, it shouldn''t have been that hard, right?" "A bit tough. The abilities of the griffins are a bit of a pain. Not only can they fly really well, they are also resistant to quite a bit," Crown prince Feng Shun answered. "Their feathers are harder to get through than I expected." He added.


    "They''ll be perfect for refinement and use in armors, though." Qiao De chimed in. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was now interested in them, too.


    "Enough of that. Show me the lotus first." Crown Princess Shang couldn''t wait anymore. "Pretty please?"


    "Alright, but do you have something to keep them?" Lin Mu replied.


    Hearing that, though Crown Princess titled her head. "T-them?" She thought she had heard it wrong.


    The others heard it too and raised their brows.


    "Did you¡­ Get somehow get¡­ Two of them?" Lady Kang asked.


    "Yeah, I did." Lin Mu nodded. "I got three nts." He replied.


    "Wait! THREE PLANTS!? AS IN WHOLE!?" Crown Princess Shang was shouting at this point.


    "Yes, they''re intact and alive." Lin Mu replied. "I''ve kept them contained in my spatial ring, so if you want them, you''ll either need a simr Spatial container or probably chop the nts up." He added.


    "W¡­ What?" Crown Princess Shang''s ears couldn''t believe this.

 Chapter 2246 A Spatial Terrarium

    Chapter 2246 A Spatial Terrarium


    The Crown Princess''s goal upon leaving her empire had been to find a herb that was not present in their herbarium and could be cultivated to improve their own skills. There weren''t many such herbs that fell in this category, as the Great Shang Dynasty had several of them.


    The Crown princess had encountered such herbs on her time in the Immortal Court before, but they hadn''t been the ones that could be cultivated. As such, even if she collected them, the goal itself wouldn''t be fulfilled.


    But now that she had an opportunity to get the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus, she was happy to get even a cutting.


    She had never thought that Lin Mu would take that several steps further and not only bring an intact living Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus, but entire THREE of them.


    "If you don''t have a ce to keep them, I can keep them with me, too." Lin Mu offered, thinking that it might not be convenient for her.


    "No!" Crown Princess Shang said out loud. "I do have something!" She quickly said, showing that she had merely been stunned by his words before.


    ~SHUA~


    She quickly took out an object from her spatial storage tool.


    Lin Mu looked at it, and observed it to be a Bell Jar. He could see several small nts growing in the Bell Jar and it looked rather beautiful and elegant.


    "Oh?" But a momentter, he felt the unique fluctuations that wereing from it and recognized just what it was. "A Spatial Terrarium?" "Yes!" Crown Princes Shang nodded.


    A Spatial Terrarium was also a Spatial Storage tool, but it had the specific use of storing living herbs and nts inside it. In a way, it was simr to a Beast Storage Tool, but had more functions, such as being able to adjust the climate and other conditions to make it perfect for a nt to live inside.


    In fact, the better the rank and quality of the Spatial Terrarium, the more types of nts it could amodate within it while also having individual habitats for them. They were harder to make than Normal Spatial Tool, especially ones that could be stored in other Spatial Tools.


    It wasmon knowledge that one Spatial Tool couldn''t be stored inside another Spatial tool. But this was a bit more nuanced, as there were other conditions to it.


    As a Spatial and Formation Master, Lin Mu knew the exact reasoning behind it which was the conflict between the Minor Voids that were created by them. If a person put one Spatial Tool Inside another Spatial Tool, the minor voids would intersect, leading to a conflict.


    Normally, the Spatial Storage tool would simply not enter another, but if one forced it, the space inside them would collide in the void and the tools would break apart. The only way to ovee this was to make a Spatial Storage tool of a higher grade.


    Such Spatial Tools could amodate other ''minor voids'' within them by isting their segment of the void inside a bubble and containing them. But there were cases where a higher grade Spatial Tool might haw to be put inside an equal or lower grade Spatial Tool. Such as in the case of a Spatial Terrarium. Spatial Terrariums, by the virtue of the difficulty of creating them, put them in high grade immortal tools category. As such, one would either have to put them in a Peak Grade Spatial Storage tool, which was obviously not essible nor affordable to most, or use a Spatial Storage too fol the equal level. Thetter was possible for several, but that still didn''t mean they could put it there.


    And simply carrying them on person would be inconvenient and cumbersome, due to how big they were and also their shape. Unlike normal Spatial Storage tools that were made into the shape of various essories and ornaments, a Spatial Terrarium had more ''functional'' shapes, representative of a normal terrarium.


    Then there was the factor of security, too.


    Carrying an expensive Spatial Terrarium on person with herbs inside it would be a sure shot way of calling attention to oneself and opening up to people who would desire it.


    Other than a few cases where it could be transported in some carriage or other vehicle, it was imperative to ensure its privacy.


    As such, the Spatial Terrariums would have to be further modified so that they could at least be stored inside other Spatial Storage tools of the same level.


    Lin Mu had studied about them and Xukong had told him quite a lot about them too. He had been interested in them, but due to how rare they were in most cases, he hadn''t seen one. But finally he was getting to observe one in person.


    "It''s a High Grade Spatial Terrarium too." Lin Mu spoke. "You already seem to have some herbs inside it too." He could see the nts.


    "Yeah, they''re the other herbs and nts I gathered." Crown Princess Shang replied. "But there''s still a lot of space left inside. So I think it should be good enough to keep the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotuses inside." She added.


    "Alright. Though you should prepare a secured region for them inside the Spatial Terrarium first. I''ve kept the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotuses in the sameke water they grew in, so there are a lot of Murkwater Qi and other Baleful energies mixed in it." Lin Mu exined. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Ah, that won''t be a problem." Crown Princess Shang stated before putting the Spatial Terrarium down.


    ~SHUA~


    She made a handseal before the Bell Jar started to grow. It rapidly reached the size of a small house, and a ss door also appeared on its side.


    "Come on in." Crown Princess Shang invited.


    "Alright." Lin Mu was quite intrigued by it and the same could be said for the others.


    All of them entered the bell jar and looked around, finding the area inside to be much bigger than the outside. Inside, the group could see what was basically a widespread jungle. "This should be at least a couple kilometers in size." Qiao De was impressed by it. "Our branch of the ck Candle pavilion once had a Spatial Terrarium for sale, but it was much smaller than this." He recalled.


    "Mm¡­ Something of this level will easily sell for fifty to sixty million Immortal Stones." Lady Kang judged. "This one seems to have been further modified too." She could sense the arrays inside the bell jar.


    "You''re correct." Crown Princess Shang replied. "The Imperial Formation masters of the Shang Dynasty personally modified this ording to my specifications. There are multiple habitats inside here. The one you''re seeing right now isn''t the entirety of it." She exined.


    Lin Mu had already known this as his Spatial Perception, could see through it all.


    ''At least eight such divisions¡­ Four of them are ''filled'' the other four are empty.'' Lin Mu observed.


    Ziran saw the nts and found them to be rather rare too.


    "A Lampshoot Hydrangea and a Princess mor Rose?" the half elf nced at the flowers that looked like a bunch of tinymps, and a stunning rose that had petals that looked like the face of a beautiful woman.


    The first was a Light Elemental immortal herb that was only found in worlds with rich Light Elemental Qi and the second was a unique herb that was said to only grow in the presence of beautiful women.


    Both herbs had unique conditions to grow, with thetter being a bit too ''special. The princess mor Rose was only able to live if it was in the presence of a beautiful woman. As such the number of people who could grow and take care of one was limited to only a few female cultivators.


    It was even said to grow stronger if it was in the presence of a greater beauty.


    "I got these a while back." Crown princess Shang stated. "They''re nice aren''t they?" she asked.


    "They sure are." Ziran replied. "How did you maintain the Light field necessary for the Lampshoot Hydrangea though?" he wondered. "I buried a few High Grade Luminescent Pearls here." Crown Princess Shang answered before lightly waving her hand.


    The soil moved upon her gesture, and shining pearls were revealed.


    "WHOA!" Qiao De''s jaws dropped as he saw a very valuable item being kept in the soil like somemon rock. They were basically the same as gemstones and could sell for a lot. The bigger one was, the more it would sell for, and Qiao De himself had overseen the auction of many Luminescent Pearls before.


    It just made him think that the Crown Princess was really indulgent in her work.


    ~Rustle~


    But as they for closer, they saw the Princess mor Rose move. ~wuwuwu~


    The entire nt shook and leaned towards a certain person.


    Its petals opened up fully and they seemed to be ''ogling'' at the person.


    ~chuckle~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun and Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but chuckle seeing the seen. Lady Kang who was being ogled by the flower couldn''t help but raise her brows. "That''s the first time I''m seeing it act like that aftering in my ownership. Guess Lady Kang has earned its approval." Crown Princess Shangughed.


    "I suppose that''s apliment." Lin Mu muttered.


    "A big one." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "Many women fight to get the approval of a Princess mor Rose. It is a testament of their beauty and a mark of approval." He exined.

 Chapter 2247 Multiple Habitats

    Chapter 2247 Multiple Habitats


    Lin Mu listened with interest, not having known that there were such flowers too.


    It was his first time learning about the Princess mor Rose and the matters surrounding it.


    "Let''s go," Crown princess Shang said, spurring the group to move again.


    They passed the jungle area while watching the various herbs and nts that were nted there. Lin Mu scanned them all with his Immortal sense, finding several that he had either never seen before, or had only read about them in books.


    A short whileter, they reached the end of the area and reached another ss door.


    ~SHUA~


    The door opened and they walked thorough it, arriving in the second area that was entirely different.


    "A Desert?" Ziran saw the barren sandy area.


    The heat was also drastically high here, being the same as a normal desert.


    "You made a Desert habitat too?" Lin Mu asked, seeing that there were almost no nts here.


    "Yeah, there are a couple of herbs that needed it." Crown Princess Shang said, pointing to the distance. "There isn''t much here on the surface, though." She added.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu followed her finger and saw that she was pointing to arge sand dune that looked rather unassuming. ~rustle~


    But as they got closer, Lin Mu could sense something hidden underneath it. ~shua~


    Using his immortal sense, he took a peek inside and found a ratherrge object inside.


    "What is that?" Lin Mu could see a ten meter wide object inside. "A tuber of some kind?" It had plenty of immortal Qi inside and there were thousands of hair like roots extending from it.


    "It''s a Deep Sand Cassava Tuber." Crown Princess Shang answered.


    "Huh? A type of a cassava nt?" Lin Mu was a bit surprised. "Don''t they have a stem and leaves above the ground, though?" he asked.


    "They do, but this one hasn''t been nted long ago." Crown Princess Shang answered. "I barely nted this before we left the capital city." She added.


    "Is this the one you bough two days before we left?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Yeah." Crown Princess Shang replied. "I wanted one for supplemental energy supply." She added.


    "How would that work?" Qiao De asked.


    "The Deep Sand Cassava Tuber isn''t good for consumption, but can still store a lot of Immortal Qi. You can actually use it as a substitute for Immortal Stones in some cases." Crown Princess Shang exined. "It is best used in Spatial Terrariums like this where it can absorb the ambient immortal Qi and supply it to the arrays after its matured." She added.


    "Huh, interesting." Lin Mu muttered, "can this be used for arrays too?" he asked.


    He had heard and seen nts and trees forming natural formation arrays, but it was his first time seeing a nt that can function as an Immortal Qi storage.


    "It can, if you can make an array that ispatible with it." Crown princess Shang answered. "Though since it is a living nt and can change size, it can be a bother to adjust for it." She added.


    "I see¡­ so it''s best used for things that don''t need a fixed energy storage." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed." Crown Princess Shang nodded.


    As Immortals they had no issues with the desert and they quickly passed through it. Crown Princess Shang had also kept the desert area small, since there weren''t many nts kept in it anyways. ~shua~


    Passing through another ss door, they arrived at the third area that was theplete opposite of the desert.


    ~WHOOOOOOONG~


    Strong icy winds blew, while snow continued to fall from the sky.


    "A Frozen Tundra now?" Qiao De was astounded at the variety of habitats that the Spatial Terrarium could create.


    The ones that he had seen before could only create a few types of habitats, and the ones that were too opposite to each other couldn''t be made at the same time. One could either keep a desert or a frozen tundra.


    And yet the Bell Jar Spatial Terrarium could maintain all of them at once.


    "This one is a bit big." Crown Princess Shang informed them. "Though there are also lot more nts here." She added.


    Lin Mu scanned the area and found it to be as big as two kilometers wide.


    ''This is already as big as the Myriad Canopy Sky Abode that took the Jing n so many generations to make.'' Lin Mu recalled the first Pseudo Immortal tool that he had seen.


    It was the most precious property of the Jing n and was held by old man Jing Wei. He had also used the same to help during the war of the Xiaofan world.


    That tool had taken a lot of effort to be made, and yet the area in this ce was several times bigger than that.


    It just showed just how vast the difference could be between Mortal and Immortal worlds.


    Lin Mu didn''t find anything too new here, as most of the nts here were already known to him or were seen by him. He even a few of them in his storage, thus didn''t find them to interesting.


    ~SHUA~


    The fourth area they arrived in was a simple meadow with trees and a pond in the middle. There were hundreds of flowers growing here, all of which released waves of immortal Qi that melded together to be strong.


    "That''s a lot of Alchemical herbs." Qiao De could recognize almost all of them.


    "This is my main supply of herbs." Crown Princess Shang stated. ~Shua~


    They didn''t wait here long and soon arrived at their destination.


    The fifty area waspletely ''empty'', such that there wasn''t even a ground. The group was simply floating, simr to how they were in the void.


    "Will this be big enough?" Crown Princess Shang asked Lin Mu.


    "Yeah, plenty of space for the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotuses." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Alright, let me set it up then." Crown Princess Shang replied before using her immortal sense.


    It seemingly connected to the arrays present inside the area and certainmands were transmitted to it.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A few secondster, the space started to shake before a bright light spread. Lin Mu observed it all and could see the arrays working rapidly to create the necessary habitat.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Everyonended on solid ground, which had been newly formed and mostly looked rocky. It was simr to the ground in the Spatial ne, except for theck of Baleful energies.


    "Alright, you can proceed now Daoist Mu Lin." Crown Princess Shang informed.


    "Mmhm." Lin Mu nodded his head and extended his hand.


    ~shua~


    He targeted a specific area in front of him and summoned the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotuses along with the muddy water of thekes.


    ~SPLASH~


    With the sheer volume of water that was kept in the ring, it was as if a small tsunami had washed over the area. It quickly filled it up, and the barren rocky ground had now turned into a ''sea'' now.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotuses were a bit startled by the sudden change, but sensed that they were still in a familiar environment. As such, they simply spread their shoots and roots, adapting and amodating to the new area.


    Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but feel her heart shake seeing not one, not two, but THREE whole Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotuses. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Wait, what''s that?" Crown Prince Feng Shun noticed the ''hill'' that was attached to one of the nts.


    "Ah! I couldn''t cut that thing without harming the nt, so I uprooted it all and brought it." Lin Mu answered.


    "Huh?" The others were surprised by this and took a closer look.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    All of their immortal senses scanned it finding it to be rather dense.


    "You weren''t able to cut it?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "I cut a bit, but it was quite hard." Lin Mu replied. "I don''t know what kind of ore it is, but it is very tough." He added.


    Lady Kang observed it for a bit before narrowing her eyes.


    "I think¡­ This is Null Iron." Lady Kang replied. "Null Iron?" Qiao De and Daoist Chu had never heard of it.


    But Lin Mu who heard it, furrowed his brows. He recalled reading about it, but it was a very small mention in apendium of metal ores he had read some time ago. Problem was, it only mentioned the name and nothing about its properties or appearance.


    "It is a rather unique kind of metal that is mostly formed in the Void." Lady Kang said before looking at Lin Mu. "You don''t know about it?" she asked.


    "I''ve heard of its name, but this is my first time seeing it." Lin Mu replied.


    "Wait, if this is from the void¡­ is this a Spatial Elemental material?" Qiao De''s eyes lit up.


    "No." But Lady Kang quickly doused it with her words. "It is actually an Attributeless Ore."

 Chapter 2248 Null Iron Ore

    Chapter 2248 Null Iron Ore


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but take a second look at therge chunk of Ore.


    "What''s it use?" Qiao De asked, not being able to think of anything right away.


    "Since it is Attributeless, it can be used as an empty temte for a lot of arrays that might require multiple elements. Plus, it can also be used in weapons and other immortal tools to be used as a filler.


    While its is attributeless, it is also quite tough, as Daoist Mu Lin has already seen. But in its natural state it is highly porous, so it needed to be refined more." Lady Kang exined. "Though there is also another rare thing that can happen with it." She added.


    "What''s that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The reason it is porous is due to it being in the void." Lady Kang replied.


    "Hmm¡­ it gets pelted with the Spatial Energy all the time. That''s what creates the pores." Lin Mu could understand that.


    "Yeah and because of that, it can sometimes contain other materials inside it." Lady Kang said before looking at therge chunk. "That Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus took advantage of the pores and anchored its roots inside it. But I think there''s more to that." She spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ now that I think of it, there have never been records of a Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus, or just any Dazzling Mud Lotus anchoring their roots in this way." Crown Princess Shang stated. "In fact, they rarely embed their roots too deeply, since they need to be mobile in case of danger. They prefer to float away if they find an area inhospitable." She exined.


    "Then if it is putting its roots like this¡­ There must be something that attracted it to do that." Crown Prince Feng Shun stroked his chin in thought.


    "Can you see what''s inside it?" Ziran asked. "You should be able to now that we''re out of the Lake right?" "Yeah." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Give me a moment." He said before activating his Spatial Perception.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s eyes looked past the surface of the Null Iron and in its depths.


    The first thing he saw were the dense roots of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus. They were of varying thickness and covered every part of the Null Iron chunk. ''It certainly would''ve been harmed if I tried to cut it directly.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Let''s see just what made it take root here.'' He went deeper.


    After a couple seconds, Lin Mu observed a spindle shapedpartment inside the Null Iron Chunk. The roots of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus had been trying to reach this, but had been stopped a few inches before it. As such, it formed a contrast against the entire Null Iron Chunk, making it look like there was a ''core'' of some sort inside.


    ''Now what''s this? It''s definitely not something of the Spatial Element.'' Lin Mu didn''t perceive any Spatial energy fluctuations from it so reckoned it must be another material. The others could see the change in his expression and realized that he must''ve found something inside the Null Iron Chunk.


    "What is it?" Lady Kang asked.


    "There''s definitely something inside it, but I can''t tell what it is. It''s encapsted and the roots of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus cannot reach it." Lin Mu answered.


    "Hmm¡­ if we want to reach it, we definitely need to remove the roots of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus first." Lady Kang spoke before looking at the Crown Princess. "You have anyway to do that?" she asked.


    "I do." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Give me a minute." She said before closing her eyes.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Then, she made several hand seals before a wave of strong wood elemental immortal Qi could be felt from her. Crown Princess Shang''s body glowed in a green light as a small orb of simr color formed on her palm.


    It was barely an inch in diameter, but the amount of Wood Elemental immortal Qi contained within it was quite high.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Crown Princess Shang released it after a minute and controlled it to go near the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus.


    The green orb continued to release waves of energy that reached the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus and made it react.


    ~wuwuwwuwu~


    It started to move and swayed. Its shoots came close to the green orb, trying to touch it, but the orb moved away. The shoots went after it, but Crown Princess Shang kept on luring it away from the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus.


    She did this repeatedly until the Green Orb was far enough that the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus could no longer extend its shoots.


    ~wuwuwwu~


    But it was still desirous of the green orb and the energy that was inside it.


    "You''re gonna have to leave the Chunk if you want to get this," Crown Princess Shang spoke.


    But the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus seemed to be conflicted. Its instincts were telling it to get the green orb, but it also didn''t wish to leave the Null Iron Chunk.


    "Come on, it''ll be good for you." Crown princess Shang tried to coax the nt.


    Five minutes passed like this, and the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus was still unsure of its choice. The Crown Princess was getting confused by this time too and furrowed her brows.


    "They usually give in at this point." Crown Princess Shang spoke. "The temptation for the Wood elemental immortal Qi is too high for them to leave it be. This is one of the signature techniques of our Shang n after all." She added.


    "Oh? What is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "This is the Green Shang Lure." Crown Princess Shang answered. "Very useful to catch immoral herbs that do not want to be caught." She exined.Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu knew that even some of the non sentient immortal herbs would try to run away if they were being targeted.

 Chapter 2249 Skillful Separation

    Chapter 2249 Skillful Separation


    Every living thing wanted to try on ''living'' even if it meant risking it all. And these were immortal nts that could actually develop intelligence too. As such it was normal for them to give a reaction like this.


    But despite that, the result seemed to be unlike what the Crown Princess had intended.


    "It still hasn''t given up on the Null Iron Chunk." Crown Princess Shang said in disbelief.


    Ten minutes had passed since she had been using the Green Shang Lure and yet, the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus had not detached its roots from the Null Iron Chunk. They were deeply and firmly embedded into the pores of the chunk.


    No matter how much the Crown Princess tried to coax the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus it just would not yield.


    ~SIGH~


    "I''ve never seen a more stubborn nt as this before." Crown Princess Shang let out a sigh. "Should we just cut it then?" Ziran asked. "Considering its size, you can still stabilize it after that, right?" he inquired.


    "I should be able to. But then again I have never dealt with a Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus before. Considering how hard they are to grow, I don''t know if I''ll be able to manage." Crown Princess Shang expressed her doubts.


    "Is there no other way?" Ziran wondered.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he nced at the Null Iron Chunk for a bit.


    "I think¡­ I might just be able to do it." Lin Mu suddenly spoke.


    "You do!?" Crown Princess Shang asked in surprise.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu nodded. "I didn''t do it at theke earlier since it would have been risky, but I should be able to do it here." He added.


    "Try it then." Crown Princess Shang asked. "If it doesn''t work, we''ll have to cut its roots anyways." She added.


    "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    ~HUU~


    He took a deep breath and extended his hand towards the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus. His spatial perception was active and tried to get an urate image of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus.


    He observed each and every tiny root and the beds that they took though the hundreds of pores. With how densely packed the roots were and the pores being like a maze, it took Lin Mu a few minutes to get the sense of it.


    But after he did, Lin Mu began his work.


    ~HUALA~


    Strong waves of energy rolled off his body, as the group for wary.


    "This¡­ Spatial Fluctuations?" Monk Hushu recognized.


    "They''re really strong too." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "It''s almost as strong as a major teleportation array being activated." He stated.


    "Is Daoist Mu Lin using Teleportation on the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus?" Daoist Chu wondered. "But without any stabilizing arrays?" he was curious as to how Lin Mu would pull it off.


    "Let''s wait and watch." Lady Kang stated. "I''m sure he''s confident in being able to do it." She said.


    And a few seconds after she did that, they all saw movement.


    ~HUALA~


    The entire Null Iron Chunk along with the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus started to rise in the air.


    "Huh? He''s lifting it without touching it?" Crown Princess Shang was intrigued. They knew of many skills that could do this, and Crown princes Feng Shun himself could do this with wind elemental immortal Qi too. But the way Lin Mu was doing it was quite different.


    "The Spatial fluctuations are closely bound to the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus and the Null Iron ore." Ziran watched closely.


    "He isn''t just lifting the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus and the Null Iron ore¡­ He''s moving the Space itself." Monk Hushu''s eyes went wide.


    It was at this moment that Lin Mu uttered a word. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Meld!" As soon as he did that, the Spatial Fluctuations intensified, making the group take a step back.


    Even though they knew there was no threat to them, it was still a bit overwhelming to them.


    "It''s¡­ Splitting apart!?" Crown Princess Shang''s eyes went wide.


    The group watched as the Null Iron ore chunk started to be split apart into smaller chunks. The same happened with the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus''s roots as they turned into smaller segments.


    ~WUWUWUWWUU~ The nt was startled by this and was shaking nonstop. And yet the spatial energy surrounding it moved perfectly in sync.


    If one looked at it from afar, it looked like the objects were ''coated'' in Spatial energy now.


    Every millimeter that the nt moved, the Spatial fluctuations moved by it. This was not as simple as just the Spatial fluctuation being ''stuck'' to the nt, as that would result in a vastly different result.


    The nt would likely be cut apart if that happened as the Spatial Fluctuations would be harmful for it.


    But Lin Mu was able to move the Spatial Fluctuations exactly as the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus moved, preventing them from colliding and causing it harm.


    It took a skill that was beyond themon caliber and took a lot of effort to reach it. Lady Kang, Ziran, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Monk Hushu could see the intricate control and deep proficiency one would need for it.


    Daoist Chu couldn''t tell this since he was having a hard time pinpointing the spread of the Spatial Fluctuations, thus he didn''t see the same level of depth. But he could also tell that this was no simple task.


    A minuteter, the Null Iron Chunks had been separated out into multiple smaller chunks and the same could be said for the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus. "How''s the nt still moving despite being cut apart?" The group was confused.


    It now looked like both the objects had been chopped into hundreds of pieces. They were floating in the air but still seemed to be ''alive''.


    They had a lot of questions in their mind and wished to ask Lin Mu, but knew this was not the time to disturb him. They watched patiently, knowing that Lin Mu would soon be done.

 Chapter 2250 A Spatial Demonstration

    Chapter 2250 A Spatial Demonstration


    ~SHUA~


    Once the parts were all cut, Lin Mu started moving them around.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu broadly separated out the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus''s parts and focused on the Null Iron ore Chunk. There was still the object that they wanted to look at inside it after all.


    "There it is," Lin Mu soon spotted the spindle shaped object inside it.


    ~SHUA~


    He cleanly separated it out and lowered it next to him.


    The others took a look at it and found it to be of a different texture andposition to the Null Iron Ore Chunk.


    "Some kind of fossilized rock?" Ziran took a close look. "The way its encapsted surely makes it look like this was done over long time."He spoke.


    "Hmm, we''ll take a look once Daoist Mu Lin is done." Lady Kang stated.


    Lin Mu nced at them and replied, "it won''t be long now." With the ''core'' removed from the null Iron Ore Chunk, Lin Mu got to working on the next part of sorting the parts. They were separated into two ''piles'' one for the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus and one for the Null Iron Ore Chunk.


    The piles looked rather random, having the parts mixed together haphazardly. At first it seemed like the entire thing had been messed up, but that was only because Lin Mu was simply not done yet.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu spread his immortal sense. Hundreds of individual tendrils separated out from his Immortal sense and analyzed each and every part, finding thepatible parts for them.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Then in the next second, the parts started to all fly at rapid speeds. The parts joined together perfectly, one by one and began reforming the two objects.


    The parts got rearranged from the bottom up, as Lin Mu''s immortal sense kept on finding the right pieces to put together next. While it took Lin Mu several minutes to separate the two objects out, it only took him a couple minutes to reassemble them.


    ~WUWUWUWUWUW~


    Once its roots were fully restored and attached to it, the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus was feeling better. Though it still felt confused as to how it had been separated from the rock, it had been anchored to so far.


    That didn''t matter for now though, as Lin Mu simplyid it down into the muddy water again.


    ~SPLASH~


    Even if it didn''t have a ce to anchor its roots, the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus didn''t mind it for now and simply amodated.


    Lin Mu also finished reassembling the Null Iron Ore Chunk that kept on floating in the air due to Meld still active on it.


    "You can store it away, Daoist Mu Lin." Crown princess Shang stated.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said before keeping it in his ring.


    ~shua~


    The Hill sized chunk disappeared and Lin Mu had finally finished all his work.


    ~phew~


    He let out a breath, feeling slightly tired. "First time seeing you this exhausted." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "You seemed to be fine even after the Final battle at the tournament." He was a bit surprised. They all had seen Lin Mu''s great stamina and the Qi stores that seemed to be greater than all. As such, they were surprised by this exhaustion.


    "Hah... Well, it is due to the nature of the skill." Lin Mu replied. "I used my Spatial Skill that is quite straining on the mind with how long I''ve used it." He added.


    "Ah, that makes sense." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "It did look veryplex." He had seen how finely the space was being manipted.


    "Indeed, there wasn''t even a single moment of hesitation or a mistake." Ziran praised.


    There were several among the group that had met or seen Spatial Masters at work. Even if they might be rare, there were still a few that were famous among the Immortal realm and were often employed for various tasks.


    It was simr to how Lady Kang hadmissioned Lin Mu to find the lost n seal.


    Of course, the matters that the Spatial Masters were invited to help were usually quiteplex and did note at a low cost. As such, the opportunities to observe them working were rare.


    The Crown Prince, being part of the Immortal court along with hispanions, had seen such due to their positions. Lady Kang came from a great n and had employed such masters before, thus having the chance to see them work several times.


    Ziran on the other hand, had explored quite a lot and seen a lot of things, along with meeting many kinds of cultivators. There were also some Spatial Masters among them. As such, he wasn''t unaware of the strain and effort needed to use Spatial Skills.


    All of them could tell the way Lin Mu had separated the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus was an act of great talent. Even if one didn''t consider the great drain of immortal Qi that came with most Spatial skills, there was still the focus one needed to manipte and analyze several parts at once, while also making sure that the parts didn''t go in the wrong ce.


    If that happened, the skill would conflict and damage would be inflicted with certainty.


    "You improve my confidence in your work, every time." Lady Kang praised too. ''This might have been one of the best bargains I''ve gotten¡­ A spatial master of his caliber might be unaffordable even for the Kang n in the future.'' She thought.


    There was no one in the group, that doubted their fortune in getting to meet Lin Mu. Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    Qiao De was perhaps the outlier in the group, knowing that it was sheer luck that he had met Lin Mu that day and had the smarts to offer him a chance to join on the extension.


    ''At least I managed to establish a rapport back then, Qiao De thought to himself.


    But while the group had such thoughts, Lin Mu was focused on the spindle shaped rock.

 Chapter 2251 Collaborative Deals

    Chapter 2251 Coborative Deals


    Lin Mu scanned the spindle shape rock with his Immortal sense, finding himself unable to ''peek'' inside it.


    "Strange¡­ I cannot check inside it." Lin Mu spoke, making everyone focus on the rock. "You can''t?" Daoist Chu titled his head before trying it himself. "Huh¡­ It really is impermeable to Immortal sense." "Is it a material with Qi resistance of some kind? Or is it just better at blocking Immortal sense?" Qiao De asked.


    "Hard to tell¡­ I can''t even tell if its the rock on the outside that''s preventing the Immortal sense from prating or something inside it." Lin Mu replied.


    "Looks like we''ll just have to cut it to see." Lady Kang suggested.


    "Yeah, we can do that." Crown Princess Shang agreed. "I''m curious as to what would be inside a Null Iron Ore Chunk like this. Considering its been in the Void all this time, it must not be simple." She added.


    "We''ll cut open, but we should probably head out of the Spatial Terrarium first." Lin Mu replied. "After all, we have no idea what it is. There''s no guarantee it wouldn''t be an object that''s harmful for this ce." He said with some caution.


    "It is best to err on the side of caution." Monk Hushu was of the same thought. "I''d also suggest opening it outside." With that said, the group quickly walked back and left the Spatial Terrarium.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon exiting from the gate, Crown Princess Shang shrank the Bell Jar down and stored it away safely.


    "I''ll monitor the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotuses for a bit before working on them, Daoist Mu Lin. Since I have entire specimens, I best study them in an intact state before cutting the flowers and other parts." Crown Princess Shang stated. "Once that is done though, I''ll dly offer you and everyone some cuttings if you want them." She added.


    "Sure." Lin Mu was curious about the flower and wondered if it could be nted in the Sleepscape too. ''It did seem to have more intelligence than most other immortal nts.'' He reckoned.


    "Though it''s a shame, there are no seedpods on it right now." Ziran said, having seen the three nts.


    "That''s not a problem." Crown Princess replied. "From what it seems, it should soon grow a seedpod where the flower is. That''s also why I want to keep the flower intact, as that''s where the Seedpod will grow.


    Also, since we have three of them, there won''t be a problem with the flowers either. The Second Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus that Daoist Mu Lin got has plenty of green shoots and leaves, and I reckon it won''t be long before it reaches the flowering phase too.


    So once it does, we''ll have the flowers as well." She exined.


    "That''s great." Qiao De was pleased. "Even a single seed of a Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus will be worth a lot." He knew there was no way for him to grow one, but that didn''t mean he couldn''t sell it to someone that could try.


    "Also, considering the size of the flowering Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus, there will be plenty of seeds for all of us. I reckon more than fifty in a seedpod, so five per person." Crown Princess Shang estimated.


    It was good news for them all and Lady Kang couldn''t help but already pick out the herbalists that will be in charge of growing them in her n.


    If they managed to find a sustainable way of growing even a single Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus, the profits would be massive. After all, every lotus flower from it could almost guarantee one''s breakthrough into the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    There would be nock of cultivators that would want this for themselves, and ns that would want it for their members.


    Even the Immortal Court would not miss out on an opportunity like this and would want it for themselves. Thinking of all this, Lady Kang soon had an idea.


    "Crown Princess Shang, what do you think about having a coborative research between the Shang Dynasty and the Kang n''s herbalists?" Lady Kang suddenly offered. "Of course, we''ll spare no expense in whatever you''ll need to ensure that the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus grows efficiently." She stated.


    Hearing that, the Crown Princess Shang''s eyes went wide. While she was the Crown Princess of a major empire, that was still limited to the Three Aster World. Lady Kang might not be royalty, but she was still greater than her. Not only was her n had great influence in the Immortal realm, they also had contacts with many major powers, including the Immortal court itself.


    Not to mention, Lady Kang herself was the n head right now. As such, she was technically of a higher seniority than the Crown princess. If Lady Kang and the Shang Dynasty''s Emperor were to meet, they wouldn''t have to bow to each other. They would be equals as leaders of two great powers.


    The financial power of the Kang n was greater than the Shang Dynasty anyways.


    Thus, a coboration like this was massive for them.


    "OF COURSE!" Crown Princess Shang didn''t even hesitate for a second after hearing it. "I''ll be d to work with the Kang n and their herbalists. And I''m sure my father, the Emperor will be in agreement as soon as he hears this." She added.


    "Haha, looks like the Crown Princess will be solidifying her position even more." Crown Prince Feng Shun teased. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Hey, unlike you, whose position was already announced, mine is still temporary." Crown Princess Shang replied. "My siblings are also working hard and would spare no effort in taking the chance to take over and reach my position. I have to take every chance I can get." She narrowed her eyes.


    "I suppose it works for all of us then." Lady Kang was happy with such an agreement. ''Its also good that I get to have the future ruler of the Shang Dynasty in my allies.'' She thought.

 Chapter 2252 A Gamble On A Rock

    Chapter 2252 A Gamble On A Rock


    Lin Mu got to learn a bit more about the Crown Princess and the struggle for power that went in her empire.


    "I didn''t expect that Crown Princess Shang''s position was not confirmed." Lin Mu spoke.


    "It mostly isn''t for many empires." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Crown Prince Feng Shun is the exception to it due to being far superior to his siblings." She added. "Haha, it''s rare to see you praise me like this." Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled. "But I suppose it won''t be long before it''s the same for you. Your siblings won''t be able to match your achievements once you establish the research coboration with the Kang n. Especially if it all seeds." He stated.


    "I hope so." Crown Princess Shang nodded. "My brothers are close to me in cultivation base so all we''ve got separating our ranks is our achievements. So far I''ve managed to stay ahead due to joining the Immortal Court for training, but my Second Brother will be doing the same soon. So this coborationes at the right time." She exined.


    "Oh? Is that the brother from your second mother?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Yeah." Crown Princess Shang nodded her head. "Second mother''s influence is still as strong as ever. So if Ig behind even slightly, my brother will take over really quick." She added.


    "Amithabha¡­ The Secr Empire''s conflicts are indeed too much for this monk." Monk Hushu muttered.


    The Crown Princess gave him a look before turning to Lin Mu. "Should we check what that core is now?" She asked.


    "Ah yes!" Lin Mu nodded taking hold of the core that was about half a meter in thickness.


    He felt its texture that was slightly rough, somewhat simr to a mix between granite and sandstone. But the toughness of the rock seemed to be much higher, being almost on the same level as the Null Iron Ore itself.


    "The way this rock is shaped though, doesn''t it feel like this was sedimented over a long time?" Ziran suddenly spoke. "Look, there are faint lines on it too." He pointed at them.


    Lin Mu and the others looked and saw that there were indeed lines on the rock. Though they weren''t linear and were quite curved along the circumference of the spindle shaped rock.


    "It definitely formedyer byyer¡­ Covering whatever is inside it." Lin Mu said as he gripped it tightly. "Can you cut it open with your Spatial Skill like before?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "I can, but there is a chance it''ll damage whatever is inside." Lin Mu replied. "If it is sensitive, it might not be the right choice." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ I suppose you can take a more stable approach to it then." Crown Princess Feng Shun suggested.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu replied. "I first need to see how deep the object inside it is, so I''ll make a small incision for that." He said before taking out Afternoon Pine.


    ~HUMM~


    Lin Mu then infused Sword intent into the de before pressing on the surface of the spindle shaped rock.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    The Sword Intent made the de hum as it circted in the de. This made it act like a saw as the surface of the rock started to get cut. And under Lin Mu''s control the cut was very fine, making sure that whatever was inside wouldn''t get affected.


    Once he detected what was inside, he''ll be able to stop at a moment''s notice.


    Bit by bit, he cut into the spindle shaped rock while everyone watched with great interest.


    "Almost makes me wanna go back to rock gambling." Daoist Chu said in a lingering tone.


    "You best not. Last time you lost over half a million High Grade immortal stones." Crown Princess Shang reminded him. "If you do it again, we''re not bailing you out." "Amithabha, gambling is not good for the Dao Heart." Monk Hushu was in agreement too.


    "Yeah, yeah." Daoist Chu rolled his eyes.


    Lin Mu listened to their conversation, finding it a bit funny. ''Rock gambling¡­ I think I saw a few ces in the capital city that had it.'' Lin Mu recalled seeing them while passing through the entertainment district.


    "Wait¡­" Daoist Chu said looking at Lin Mu, making the man stop. "It isn''t gambling if we know the result right?" he suddenly spoke.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Can''t we just¡­ Take Daoist Mu Lin to the Rock Gambling centers?" Daoist Chu suggested. "With his Spatial skills, he should be able to peek inside the good rocks without even needing to touch them." He said with a hint of excitement.


    "Pretty sure that''ll get you thrown out." Crown Princess Shang replied. "It''s against the rules to use observational Qi skills after all. Plus, they''re all protected by barriers that prevent the skills from working." She added.


    "Actually¡­. It might still work." Lady Kang said. "As far as I recall, while observational Qi skills are prohibited, Daoist Mu Lin''s Spatial Skills are not exactly the same. You''d be able to use them despite the barriers right?" she asked.


    "Probably." Lin Mu replied. "As long as the barrier isn''t something that can block the space too." He said after thinking for a bit.


    "I doubt most ces would set up a barrier like that. It won''t be worth the cost to maintain one." Daoist Chu stated. "It''s decided then! I''m taking Daoist Mu Lin to a Rock Gambling center once we''re back." He was quite excited about it now.


    ~Sigh~


    "This man¡­" Crown Princess Shang shook her head in defeat. Lin Mu didn''t have any particr thoughts about it all, and reckoned it would be good to have a new experience. ~SHUA~


    He resumed the work after the little conversation and got to cutting in the rock. The others focused on it too, not disturbing him anymore. ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Bit by bit, the spindle shaped rock''s surface was carved away as a thin slit less than a millimeter was made by Lin Mu. He took his time, only carving a centimeter every minute as he didn''t wish to be too rushed.


    With how thick the rock was, it took Lin Mu about half an hour before he felt some change.


    "The thickness of the rock is different now¡­ It''s denser." Lin Mu informed. ~SHUA~


    He used his Immortal sense and probed the denser rock finding that it could still block their immortal sense. "That should have been the rock that becamepressed over time." Ziran stated. "Probably why its denser than the rest." "Yeah." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I think we''re probably close to whatever''s inside." He said.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu increased the amount of Sword Intent being used to match the density of the rock and continued to cut.


    Ten minutes passed like this before Lin Mu finally hit the finalyer.


    ~CRACK~


    "Huh?" But once he did, a chain reaction happened.


    The cut Lin Mu had made was tiny, but it soon started to spread from there.


    It took less than a second before Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.


    "GET BACK!" Lin Mu shouted, as the Longgui Bulwark Armor manifested on his body.


    The others were rmed at Lin Mu''s sudden shout but they still heeded it. ~HUALA~


    But it wasn''t enough, as a dark wave of energy leaked out of the rock!


    When it washed over the group, they all felt a chill going down their body. "Ugh! It corrodes Immortal sense!" Crown Princess Shang warned, having her Immortal sense damaged from it.


    The group was highly rmed now and wondered just what was inside the rock. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Throw it away!" Ziran shouted.


    Lin Mu did exactly that and used his entire strength to do so. His muscles bulged, and the spindle shaped rock soared into the air!


    ~WHOOSH~


    It flew at a great speed, but the dark energy kept on leaking from it. It was thick like oil and left a trail as it continue to rise into the sky.


    "What was that?" Qiao De felt his heart beat nonstop.


    "I don''t know¡­" Lin Mu said feeling the effect of the dark energy on his skin. It was trying to enter his body, but the Longgui Bulwark armor was preventing it. Lin Mu released some of the Searing Energy to burn the remnants away, but knew that he hade quite close to danger.


    "Baleful Energy?" Lady Kang guessed.


    "It''s definitely a Baleful energy of some kind." Lin Mu agreed. "Its corrosiveness is very high¡­ Even higher than the Corrupting Qi." He stated.


    ~HISS~


    "It tastes bad." Xiao Yin spoke.


    "Yeah, it tastes bitter." Xiao Yang nodded his head.


    The twins had been wrapped around his arms, thus got into direct contact with the energy. As such, they had ''tasted'' it right away and were now disliking it.


    "Are you two fine?" Lin Mu asked with concern. "It didn''t harm you, right?" "We''re fine." The twins said in unison. "But we don''t want to eat it¡­ it''s worse than the bugs we ate with Ashy." Lin Mu furrowed his brows, as there hadn''t been any energies that had made the twins detest them.


    "Do you two have any idea what it is?" Lin Mu asked them, while ncing at the spindle shaped rock that continued to rise into the sky.


    "It feels simr to the Baleful energy in theke¡­ but worse," Xiao Yin replied.


    "Yeah¡­ it feels like it has¡­ Rotten." Xiao Yang added.


    "Rotten?" Lin Mu had a bad feeling about it.


    ~HONGLONG~


    ~BOOM~


    The feeling came true, as arge explosion soon happened in the sky!

 Chapter 2253 Urgent Defense

    Chapter 2253 Urgent Defense


    The power of the explosion was massive and shook the entire area.


    "DEFEND!" Lin Mu shouted as he increased the searing energy around him while also strengthening the armor.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    "Great Fulgur Ward!" Crown Prince Feng Shun set up the first line of defense.


    Crown Princess Shang and Ziranbined their skills and set up a wooden barrier around them. Elder Hu and Min Ju activated their own defensive skills while Qiao De and Daoist Chu used several sets of defensive talismans.


    Lady Kang activated her defensive immortal tools, creating another barrier around her and her two attendants.


    But setting up the barriers was only a temporary measure, as the power of the explosion was far greater than they had thought.


    ~BANG~BANG~BANG~


    Lin Mu and the others were pushed back from the shockwave and felt the baleful energy wash over them.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The initial barriers broke rather quickly as the group struggled against it.


    "The barriers are being corroded!" Lady Kang warned as she felt the dark energy assaulting them.


    "What is this baleful energy?" Daoist Chu was confused.


    Lin Mu was wondering the same, but couldn''t spare an effort in thinking too much. He stimted his vitality as a red aura surrounded him. The vibrant vitality protected him and helped him resist the dark energy better while also improving his strength.


    ~TREMBLE~


    Lin Mu stopped controlling his weight and let his legs dig down into the ground, making him stable in one spot.


    ''This will only get worse.'' Lin Mu could sense the force increasing. ''This isn''t just explosion¡­ it''s like a dam has broken.'' He thought, looking up at the sky.


    There was no way to use Immortal sense since it would be corroded instantly by the dark energy, and with the darkness covering the sky, one couldn''t use naked eyes to watch either.


    ~SHUA~


    As such, Lin Mu quickly activated his Spatial Perception, allowing him to see through it all. He gazed at the contrasting flow of Qi and the dark energy that was present against the backdrop of the Spatial Fabric, showing him a rather rming scene.


    He could see a small ''dot'' from which an almost endless amount of energy seemed to be surging. ''Whatever was inside that rock wasn''t normal, and it isn''t stopping at all.'' Lin Mu had no idea how long this wouldst, but knew that if it intensified, things would get worse for them. ''Retreating will make things difficult too¡­ we''ll be hit from the back.'' With how strong the impact was, their defensive skills would need to be active at all times.


    And the strong defensive skills weren''t exactly suitable for mobile use. The ones the group had used were the fastest ones to be deployed, but there was no guarantee they wouldst long.


    Thinking of all this, Lin Mu quickly came up with a simple n. "Line up behind me!" Lin Mu spoke before the sound of heartbeats could be heard.


    ~LUBDUB~LUBDUB~LUBDUB~


    A secondter, a brown Dao Shell rose from Lin Mu''s body. It had a unique shape and inside it a Dao Embryo in the shape of a heart seemed to be beating. It was none other than the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo!


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu controlled his Dao Embryo and began to set up his strongest defenses. He transformed the Dao Shell, as rocks and solid started to form around it before taking a new shape.


    "Earthen Armament Aspect: Great Shield Form!" Lin Mu chanted.


    A five meters tall and equally wide shield was created in front of him.


    "Expand!" but Lin Mu knew it wouldn''t be enough to defend all of them, thus he began to increase its size.


    ~LUBDUB~LUBDUB~LUBDUB~


    The Earth Heart inside it beat with great might, its every beat sounding like the rumbling of thunder as strong Earth Dao Traces started to spread. The Dao Traces managed to create their own bubble of influence, preventing the dark energy from affecting them.


    Soon the Great Shield had expanded twice its size, bing ten meters wide and tall!


    It was also very thick, reaching the one meter mark.


    The True Earth Heart Embryo couldn''t be seen inside it, but the reverberations from every heartbeat were heard perfectly.


    He grasped the great shield from the back and nted his legs firmly as spikes grew from the bottom of the armor as well as his back.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~ This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    The spikes dug into the ground, forming a stable framework around him. But this along was not enough as Lin Mu knew it would eventually be pushed back. "ASPECT OF HEAVINESS: HUNDRED FOLD!" He activated his second Dao Skill, multiplying both his as well as the Great Shield''s weight.


    ~BOOM~


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    ~TREMBLE~


    The entire ground around Lin Mu sank in, forming a depression of at least a hundred meters. Of course, along with him the others sank in too, but it actually helped them since the wave of Dark energy was now washing above their heads.


    This was just temporary though, and the flow would soon shift on them.


    "NOW!" Lin Mu signaled for them to set up their better defuses.


    They did just that and made the best defenses they could in that time. While it might not be as good as what they did for the cage when descending into the world, it was still good enough.


    Lady Kang even took it a step further, by using one of her special constetion skills.


    Four stars rose above her and glowed with ster light.


    "88 Constetion Series: Eighty Fourth Form- Firm Shield!" Lady Kang chanted as the four stars created an illusory figure of a shield.


    The shield expanded rapidly and came to a stop right above where Lin Mu had created his own shield.


    Lin Mu saw this and had a hint of what she was doing.


    "Reinforcing Scutum!" Lady Kang said, causing the illusory shield to merge with Lin Mu''s shield!


    ~HUALA~

 Chapter 2254 A Brilliant Shield And A Dark Wave

    Chapter 2254 A Brilliant Shield And A Dark Wave


    The merging of two shields brought a transformative effect, as Lin Mu felt the power within it.


    The Earthen Great Shield that was made from rocks and soil seemingly metamorphosed and turned into brilliant crystals that shone like stars in the night sky. One could also see that the shape of the shield had be a lot more uniform and defined.


    It had five sides while the pattern of the constetion, Scutum could be seen on its front too. Four bright spots glowed on it, marking the four stars thatposed the constetion.


    From a mundane brown color, the shield had turned into an iridescent white color!


    "This¡­" Lin Mu could barely estimate that the strength of the shield had improve by at least three times!


    This was a major thing since the durability of the shield was already quite high due to it being a Dao Skill. ''A Qi skill that can reinforce a Dao Skill?'' Lin Mu hadn''t expected there to be something like this in Lady Kang''s arsenal.


    While he knew there were some skills that could do this, they were quite rare. Not to mention, they wouldn''t just work on all Dao Skills, the limitations were quite drastic in many cases. "This will help a lot!" Lin Mu was now confident in dealing with the dark energy wave.


    The others still set up more defenses, trying to do their best. After all, there was no telling what could happen, since they didn''t even know what all this was.


    All they knew was that the ''core'' from the Null Iron was not something they should have opened.


    ''If we really did open it in the Spatial Terrarium, it would have certainly been destroyed in moments.'' Crown Princess Shang thought to herself.


    Forgetting the damage to the Spatial Terrarium itself, there was a high chance they wouldn''t have been able to defend themselves properly either. After all, the entire space in the Terrarium would copse, and they would be ejected out haphazardly.


    Depending on their luck, they''d be ejected into the Rust Sky world, but that would still leave them unable to react in time with the Dark energy wave. And if they were unlucky, they could even be ejected out into the void directly.


    That was something that would be hard for Lin Mu to deal with as well, since they wouldn''t have the right positioning nor the solid ground to defend against the ie wave. They would simply be blown away far into the void, without being able to anchor to something. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    But as they all thought of this, the surge of dark energy only intensified.


    ~BOOM~


    Another explosion could be heard, but nothing could be seen in the darkness. They did feel the shockwave from it though, as it was quite powerful, making their bodies tremble.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The shockwave was endured by their defenses, but soon the Dark Energy wave arrived.


    It was like a Tsunami that could devastate an entire kingdom. ~CRASH~


    Of course, the wave hit the Crystalline Great Shield at the front which Lin Mu was manning. Lin Mu felt the impact, but was pleased that the shield did not budge even an inch.


    ''It''s holding!'' Lin Mu maintained his stance, keeping it in ce.


    The wave of dark energy was split due to the crystalline great shield and split into two parts, as if it were an unshakable mountain in the face of a Tsunami. This reduced the impact on the others considerably, and only a few smaller currents of the dark energy reached them.


    These were easily endured by their own defenses and they didn''t have to struggle for long.


    ~WOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    The first wave ended after a minute, but another wave arrived just a few seconds after that.


    ~CRASH~


    The impact of this wave was on the same level as the first, but it did not have a shockwave, showing that the phenomena was changing.


    The wavested a minute again, but the dark sky did not disappear. Instead it only kept on getting darker and darker, and soon it was pitch ck!


    Nothing could be seen with naked eyes, and even Immortal senses were rendered useless.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Their attempts to create some light using some illumination skills was also not very effective, since the radius of light was very limited. "I can''t see much." Qiao De spoke.


    "The darkness is very deep¡­ its consuming the light too." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    They could only see in their immediate vicinity and even then the scope of light seemed to be reducing every minute.


    "Our illumination skills won''t work here. It would need someone with the Light Elemental affinity to light up an area of such darkness." Elder Hu informed them. "Whatever this energy is, it''s not just a simple baleful energy¡­ it''s definitely a mix of elements." His experience was speaking to him.


    Lin Mu was the only one who could ''see'' right now with his Spatial Perception, but it was not of much help since the density of the dark energy was only increasing.


    ''What kind of energy is this?'' Lin Mu was wondering.


    Since the great shield was holding up well, it gave him some leeway to analyze the situation. He went over the possible culprits and tried to figure out the possibilities.


    ''Since the twins did not like it, this energy definitely isn''t just some Dark elemental Qi.'' Lin Mu confirmed. ''If it was that, they would have eaten it all up.'' After all, it was exactly within their scope of ''diet''.


    As such, Lin Mu knew it was an outlier¡­ and energy he had never encountered before nor had read about it.


    He observed it for longer and realized that there was slight change in it all.


    Lin Mu soon saw some strange particles that seemed to being out of the ''core''.


    ''Is that¡­ Dao Traces?!'' his eyes went wide.


    If it really were Dao Traces, then whatever was inside the ''core'' was not just any ''material''.

 Chapter 2255 Quakes And Fissures

    Chapter 2255 Quakes And Fissures


    Wave after wave of the dark energyshed at the group, but the Great Shield held up well. The others also defended sessfully with their own skills and about fifteen minutester, the waves finally stopped.


    ~huu~


    Everyone took a collective breath of relief as the barrage finally stopped.


    "What was that?!" Daoist Chu finally asked the question that was on everyone''s mind.


    "I have no idea¡­ But it certainly isn''t good." Lin Mu replied furrowing his brows. "We should leave¡­ I have a bad feeling about all this." He added.


    "I agree." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. ~RUMBLE~


    But just as he said that, the entire ce started to shake.


    "We spoke to soon." Ziran said as he looked around.


    Even if the dark energy waves had stopped, that didn''t mean the area had returned to normal. It was still dark and the dark energy itself had not dissipated. It was now suspended all around them like smoke and showed no signs of disappearing.


    ~TREMBLE~TREMBLE~TREMBLE~


    "An Earthquake?" Lin Mu could now tell this was different than what they had experienced earlier.


    "Is this due to that rock too?" Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but ask.


    "It does seem likely¡­ But we best retreat for now. We have no idea what would be happening now." Lady Kang suggested.


    "Yeah, let''s return to the base." Lin Mu replied before checking the dark energy. "We''ll have to push through the dark energy, I don''t think it''s going to leave anytime soon." He added before dispelling the great shield.


    ~SHUA~


    The Dao Shell and Dao Embryo returned to Lin Mu''s body, while Lady Kang''s Skill also dissipated.


    ~WHOOSH~ All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun threw out a palm imprint, causing a gust of wind that cut through the dark energy. "Looks like we can do that at least." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, seeing that the dark energy was movable.


    ~RUMBLE~


    More rumbling sounds were heard as the earth continued to shake. "Let''s move!" ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun created a constant gust of wind, that cleaved open a path for them. Everyone moved as fast as as they could but the earth didn''t stop shaking. It intensified until finally it started cracking apart!


    ~CRACK~


    ~RUMBLE~


    "Fissures are opening!" Elder Hu warned as they elevated their altitude of flying.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins seemed to have sensed something and alerted Lin Mu right away.


    "That''s not all!" Lin Mu heard their words and informed the others. "Death Qi ising!"


    ~GUSH~


    A few secondster, a geyser of Death Qi spurted out of the fissure, blocking their path!


    "Dammit." Crown Prince Feng Shun who had been leading them, was forced to stop. "Go up!" he said as he sent another palm imprint upwards.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The palm imprint pushed aside at least a hundred meters of dark energy, but it was stopped after that.


    "What''s happening?" Daoist Chu saw the imprint being stopped and was surprised.


    "The density of that dark energy is still high in the sky¡­ We can''t go higher up." Crown Prince Feng Shun frowned. "We can''t go straight either with the Death Qi." He said looking at the geyser that was at least five hundred meters high.


    It was as if an entirely new Death Qi boundary had been created. But this one was several times thicker than the thickest one they had seen. Not to mention its height was also greater than the others.


    "We''ll just have to go around it." Lin Mu said, making them change the direction.


    ~SHUA~


    They had to go diagonally and after about a couple minutes, they finally reached the edge of the fissure. ~TREMBLE~


    The earth had not stopped shaking and Lin Mu knew the fissures would keep on appearing. He could sense the movements of the earth and knew the entire area was being filled with fissures every minute. "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, can you sense where the Death Qi is spreading from?" Lin Mu asked them.


    "Yes!~" Xiao Yin replied. "It''s everywhere underground." She stated.


    "Everywhere?" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.


    "Yes, and it''s spreading upwards in some parts." Xiao Yang added.


    "So that''s what''s causing the Earthquakes and fissures." Lin Mu now understood. "This won''t be good if we can''t reach the base in time¡­" he furrowed his brows, knowing the danger they were in.


    ~CRACK~


    Another fissure blocked their path, and a geyser of Death Qi spurted from it too.


    "This won''t do." Lin Mu muttered. "LITTLE SHRUBBY!" he called out to the beast.


    ~SHUA~


    Little Shrubby immediately appeared in front of him, knowing the situation. He grew to his maximum size, as Lin Mu jumped to his back.


    "Everyone, get on!" Lin Mu called out. "We need to be much faster than we are right now. Or we''ll get trapped here!" he warned.


    "YES!" Crown Prince Feng Shun and hispanions had already seen Little Shrubby''s speed earlier, and so had Lady Kang.


    Lady Kang had even ridden on him before. as such she knew how fast the beast could be.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby let out a roar and burst into a sprint, making everyone grab on tight.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Great Wind Coat!" Crown Prince Feng Shun used a Qi skill, surrounding themselves in a curtain of wind.


    It protected them and also created a 10 meter wide area where the dark energy could not reach. It apanied Little Shrubby and cleaved a path for them as they continued onwards, as if it were a snowplow attached to a train.


    "TURN RIGHT!" Lin Mu suddenly said.


    ~BOOM~


    Little Shrubby pivoted off a hill and suddenly turned right, making the group a bit unease.


    "Why did you¡ª" Qiao De wanted to ask the reason for the sudden change but soon received the answer.


    ~CRACK~


    ~WHOOSH~


    A fissure opened right next to their turning point and a Death Qi geyser burst out of it. "That was close¡­" Qiao De''s heart raced like crazy.


    "You can sense them?" Elder Hu asked.


    "How are you doing it? We can''t use our Immortal sense for it due to the Dark Energy." Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "I''m not. It''s the twins that are," Lin Mu said, as the two snakes raised their heads. "They can sense it better than all of us." He stated.


    "That''s great." Crown Prince Feng Shun praised. "They''ll inform us in advance so that we don''t get trapped in between two geysers." Lin Mu said as Little Shrubby sped up again.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Soon he was a red blur tearing through a sea of darkness while death Qi geysers sprang up from time to time.


    Lin Mu''s nerves were stretched taught knowing that the situation was getting worse with every passing minute.


    "The Death Qi is getting stronger." Xiao Yin spoke. "It''s getting closer to the surface again." She warned.


    "STOP!" Lin Mu ordered Little Shrubby.


    ~CRASH~


    Little Shrubby''s ws dug into the ground, leaving deep marks as he braked.


    ~BOOM~


    Merely half a meter from them, another geyser opened up causing Crown Prince Feng Shun''s skill to be forcibly dispelled.


    "Ugh¡­ The Death Qi is too strong." Crown Prince Feng Shun recoiled from the skill being forcibly dispelled. "I''ll cast it again." But he wasn''t going to back down just from that.


    ~SHUA~


    The wind curtain surrounded them again, as Lin Mu plotted out a new route with the twins'' advice.


    ~WHOOSH~


    They began their escape again, while dodging the fissures and Death Qi geysers.


    But their journey was anything but smooth. They had to change directions too many times, and a short path to the base was also not possible for it had been blocked off by the Death Qi.


    It had now been an hour and they were still at least five hundred kilometers from the base.


    In normal times, they would have already reached the base with Little Shrubby''s full speed. But with the constant changing, they were slowed down, not to mention being forced to go around in circles at times.


    ~BIHIHIHIHIHI~


    But in all this, they saw another surprising thing.


    "The Auroch Chimeric beasts," Lin Mu saw a swarm of them running.


    "They''re scared too." Crown Princess Shang spoke.


    ~BOOM~


    ~BIIIIIIIJIIII~


    And not long after, a fissure opened up right under the swarm, destroying them all with the Death Qi geyser. Lin Mu and the others saw as the bodies of the Chimeric beasts were assaulted by the Death Qi as they turned into skeletons within seconds.


    "No wonder they''re scared of it¡­" Monk Hushu muttered.


    "Of course." Ziran replied. "Though this situation does not seem normal." He said.


    "Yeah, the Chimeric beasts wouldn''t have been able to live here otherwise." Lin Mu agreed. "Whatever we unleashed from that rock, is definitely behind this," He stated.


    "It''s certainly a chain reaction of some kind." Elder Hu replied.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby sped up more as he felt the urgency.


    He even debated using his innate skill to speed up even more.


    "Not for now." Lin Mu rejected it.

 Chapter 2256 Eruption Of Speed

    Chapter 2256 Eruption Of Speed


    Little Shrubby''s Seven Beast Burst Innate skill was incredible and would enhance all of his abilities by several levels.


    But doing that would also exhaust him greatly, and force him into a dormant state. Thest time Little Shrubby had used the skill, it had turned him into a seed and left him dormant for years. All that had happened in the Xiaofan World when Little Shrubby wasn''t even in the Immortal realm. And now that he was an Immortal beast, his strength had increased by several levels and the same could be said for his bloodline.


    As such, the Innate Skill had improved too and there was no telling how great its exhaustion would be at the end.


    There were many possibilities to it. There was a chance that Little Shrubby might be totally fine and wouldn''t enter a dormant state at all. But there was also a chance that he would fall into a long dormant state that might take many years to ovee.


    Lin Mu didn''t want to take that chance right now.


    After all, they weren''t out of all options and they could silt let through it on their own.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby increased his speed as much as he could while dodging the fissures and the Death Qi geysers.


    The twins were also working hard, using their senses to the maximum. They could sense the Death Qi better now that they had been at it for a while and were able to inform Lin Mu earlier. This allowed Little Shrubby to avoid the fissures beforehand and gave him plenty of time to change directions. That way, he wouldn''t have to slow down as much and could maintain his speed for a longer time.


    "How far are we?" Daoist Chu asked.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu took out the map he had enhanced and checked their location, finding it to be at least two hundred kilometer away.


    "Close, but still distant." Lin Mu replied. "We have to go around in circles, so the distance is much longer." He added.


    "The fissures are also increasing in frequency. And from how it''s going, I think it is also reducing the paths we can take." Ziran said after having observed it all this time. "If this keeps up, we might be trapped before we reach the base." Daoist Chu stated.


    "Is there anyway we can get there?" Qiao De asked. "We can defend ourselves if we are in the base, right?" he knew that the defenses they had set up would work against the Death Qi too and keep them safe for a while.


    "We will be safe there, yes. But getting there is still difficult." Lin Mu replied before a thought appeared in his mind. "Unless¡­ it is just me." He stated.


    Hearing this, Lady Kang had a thought too. "Can''t you¡­ Go there first and secure a way for us to get back?" Lady Kang knew Lin Mu''s spatial skills could allow him to skip all this. He had only been with them since they wouldn''t be able to get through all this alone for long.


    "I can, yes¡­ But I don''t know how long it''ll take for me to set this up." Lin Mu replied. "We have the arrays set up, so I''ll need to make some changes to them to secure our entry." He added.


    "You should go." Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly said. "We''ll also continue as we are right now. If we are lucky, we might just reach there on our own, or you might finish securing our path." He said, after thinking for a bit.


    "That is¡­ Certainly an option." Lin Mu replied, but wasn''t sure of it. "But it is also risky." He added. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "If it is Daoist Mu Lin, I believe you''ll be able to do it." Monk Hushu said with great faith. "Yeah, we are still capable enough to hold out on our own." Ziran added.


    "If we can''t deal with even this much, it would have been far too foolish of us toe here." Crown Princess Shang added. "We already knew the kind of risk we would be putting ourselves in when we came to this inheritance ground." She spoke.


    Hearing all that, Lin Mu wondered if he really should do it.


    ~hiss~


    It was now that the twins suggested something to him. "Yes! That can work." Lin Mu got a solution from that. "I''ll leave Xiao Yin and Little Shrubby with you all. They''ll continue guiding you back, while I head back with Xiao Yang first." He stated.


    "Hmm, the two will be able to help us greatly." Lady Kang nodded, knowing their abilities. "Go!" Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "It''s best you leave now." He said firmly.


    "Best make haste." Elder Hu agreed. ~shua~


    "Very well." Lin Mu said before sending Xiao Yang into the Sleepscape.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Then in the next moment, he jumped off Little Shrubby''s back and disappeared into nothingness!


    The group was a bit surprised, but knew that it was just Lin Mu using his spatial skills.


    "I can neverprehend how he does that." Daoist Chu muttered, a thought that was echoed by several others.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu appeared in the parallel dimension, having used Fade.


    "Can''t waste any second." Lin Mu stomped on the ground and gathered strength in his legs that bulged with power.


    ~BOOM~


    ~CRACK~


    The ground caved under his legs as he burst forward with great speed!


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    He further increased his speed, causing sonic booms in the air as he soared towards where the base was supposed to be.


    This left a trail of destruction in his wake as the ground and anything that was in the path were destroyed. Whether it be hills, ruins, rocks or anything else, they were all reduced to smithereens from the sheer force of his flight.


    "Not enough." But Lin Mu was not satisfied by just the speed of his flight. He needed to be much faster than that to reach the ce. Lin Mu''s mind worked as he thought of methods to improve his speed.


    ~SHUA~


    Searing hot energy was released from his body, as if the fires of a volcano were surrounding him. "Longgui Bulwark Armor!" Lin Mu''s body pulsed with power as the searing energy gathered below his legs. "Magma Fury: Eruption!" ~BOOM~


    It was as if Lin Mu''s body had turned into a volcano that was erupting. His legs spewed out mes that pushed his speed to the next level, as if he were a missile soaring through the skies!


    The concentrate jet of fire steadily continued to elerate Lin Mu''s body, and he only needed to maintain his direction. ''This is the fastest I''ve gone on my own, perhaps.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Though it does cost quite a bit of immortal Qi.'' He estimated that he was losing at least 0.1% of his Immortal Qi every second that he was maintaining this state.


    0.1% might seem small, but when one considered just how high Lin Mu''s Immortal Qi capacity was, the number was massive.


    And this was being continually used. If he maintained this state for a minute, he would have used six percent of his entire immortal Qi stores. And this was after they had been improved earlier by the inheritance ground''s reward.


    ''Ten minutes of this speed¡­ would allow me to travel very far at the cost of depleting over half of my Immortal Qi stores.'' Lin Mu wondered if spending 60% of his Immortal Qi stores would be worth it or not.


    But he didn''t have to spend that much, as it only took him half a minute to reach his destination!


    It was at this point that he realized a w in his n.


    "I can''t stop¡­ shit." Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as the skill came to an end.


    ~CRASH~


    Lin Mu struck the barrier of the mountain base, shattering through theyers as if they were ss.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    But that did slow him down rather fast, albeit at the cost of rocking his skull and turning the Longgui Bulwark Armor into shattered fragments.


    "Ugh¡­ Need to figure out a solution for that next time." Lin Mu held his head as he felt the world spinning for a second. If not for the fact the Longgui Bulwark Armor had taken the brunt of the impact and his body was strong, he would have certainly gotten a nasty concussion and been injured.


    Any other immortals would have broken most of their bones in the impact and perhaps even more.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he gathered his wits and observed the area.


    "Sure enough, the arrays held up against the fissures." Lin Mu could see several fissures around them, as well as the Death Qi geysers.


    They were surrounding the mountain in such a way that only two paths were actually open for them to enter.


    ''They were right. If I did stick with them, we wouldn''t have been able to enter by the time we reached it.'' He thought.

 Chapter 2257 Redirecting An Array

    Chapter 2257 Redirecting An Array


    The spread progression of the fissures was quite vast and if not for the fact that the arrays on the base were protecting it, the ce might have copsed a long time ago.


    But now that Lin Mu was here, he could act on it.


    ''I need to redirect the arrays to open a safe path for them.'' Lin Mu thought to himself,f as his mind started to work rapidly.


    He already knew what array needed to be changed for it and it was none other than the Dual Yang Repulsing Array.


    The other barriers that he had broken didn''t need to be handled right now, as they would repair on their ownter. Plus, they wouldn''t really y much of a role in the defense right now as they weren''t good for Death Qi, anyway.


    The arrays that were protecting the base against the Death Qi were different from the physical barrier arrays.


    ''The Yang qi storage is still full but if we are to open a path, the consumption might spike rapidly.'' Lin Mu understood after doing the calctions in his mind.


    "Xiao Yang, I''ll need Yang Qi¡­ as much of it as possible." Lin Mu instructed the serpent.


    "Okay~" Xiao Yang had eaten a lot earlier as such would not becking at all.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, he breathed out a cloud of Yang Qi that rose above him. "Yes, just like that." Lin Mu said, letting Xiao Yang umte the Yang Qi.


    While that was being done, Lin Mu got to working on the array. The first thing he needed to do was to change the directions of the Dual Yang Repulsing Array.


    ''Their power is the highest when they are facing each other, but I only need it to face outwards.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''I also don''t need the Yang Marker array active as there is no use for it at the current moment. Instead, I can redirect the power to the Dual Yang Repulsing Array for additional output.'' He quickly nned out.


    ~SHUA~


    He directly summoned the Rune Shaping Brush and dipped it in the Inkstone shaped Dao Shell, imbuing it with immortal Qi.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Lin Mu''s hands turned into a blur while the Rune Shaping Brush left shimmering trails of immortal Qi in the air. Runes started to form nonstop as Lin Mu began modifying the array.


    Changing the direction of the array sounded simple enough, but for a direction sensitive array like the Dual Yang Repulsing Array, it was not. One had to be careful with it or there was a chance that the immortal Qi channels would end up conflicting and cause damage to the array.


    In the worst case, this could even result in the total copse of the array, which would be the result that Lin Mu wanted to avoid at all costs.


    Thankfully he didn''t need to worry about it since the Rune Shaping Brush assisted him in it efficiently. Content ? N?velDrama.Org.


    His speed of making runes was impably fast, and he didn''t even need to think before the runes were already created. He almost felt like his arm was moving faster than his thoughts, but realized that this was just an illusion created by the Rune Shaping Brush.


    ''It can almost predict what I need to make next¡­ I suppose the more arrays and formations I work on, the better its capabilities would get.'' Lin Mu understood more about his Formation Dao Embryo.


    Such was the case with almost all Dao Embryos, as the more one used it the better one''s control and proficiency with it got. That was also how one was supposed to improve one''s understanding of a Dao, as was the situation with Lin Mu right now.


    While he could not perceive it, his understanding of the Formation Dao was increasing subtly.


    If he could keep this up for a long time, there was high chance for him to progress in it.


    Minute after minute passed, as Lin Mu continued to work on the arrays. At the same time, he sensed the position of hispanions through Little Shrubby. With their connection, he could tell exactly where they were, and Little Shrubby was also telling him how it was going.


    ''Looks like Crown Prince and the others are holding well enough. Though they haven''t gotten as far as I would have liked,'' Lin Mu thought after seeing their progress.


    The number of fissures and Death Qi geysers had resulted in the area bing contaminated with it. As such, they found it increasing harder to progress as they needed to use both defensive and offensive immortal Qi skills to get through it.


    Thankfully, they had not been totally stopped, as such the hope was still very strong.


    ''I need to be precise about it¡­'' Lin Mu calcted the path they were taking and the open spot he had between the Death Qi geysers. ''I''ll only have one chance if I am to open a straight path for them that is uninterrupted.'' He analyzed and changed the direction of the array ordingly.


    Ten minutes passed like this before Lin Mu sensed that the group was nearing the location he needed them to be. ~SHUA~


    He drew onest rune before gesturing with the Rune Shaping Brush to add it to the array. "This''ll have to do," Lin Mu said before checking the Yang Qi that had been umting behind him. "That''ll be good enough, Xiao Yang." He saw the white mist that seemingly filled the area now.


    If one looked at it from above, they would find the contrasting white and ck mist masking the area. The white mist was flowing towards the Yang storage and was overflowing.


    ~HUALA~


    Under Lin Mu''s control, the Dual Yang Repulsing Array glowed, and the array started to shift. Its formation circles turned towards a specific location and started to glow brightly.


    Instead of two heads facing at each other, they were now parallel and facing the same direction.


    ~HONGLONG~


    After a moment of dy, the Dual yang Repulsing Array fired two bright beams of Qi!

 Chapter 2258 Safe Arrival

    Chapter 2258 Safe Arrival


    ~SHUA~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others that were on Little Shrubby''s back could sense loads sounding from afar but didn''t know what was that.


    "Is that Daoist Mu Lin doing?" Qiao De wondered.


    ~HISS~


    Xiao Yin that was sitting on Little Shrubby''s head, informed him of the next change.


    "Turn around and go left." The ck snake spoke.


    The others couldn''t understand her words, but that was not an issue for Little Shrubby. Not to mention he was also getting the instructions from Lin Mu.


    ~SHUA~


    ~CRACK~


    Little Shrubby abruptly breathed and flipped around, causing those on the back to be a bit surprised.


    "Why are we going back?" Min Ju asked, since the path behind was soon going to be blocked by a Death Qi geyser.


    "I think¡­ it might be time." Daoist Chu spoke as he looked in the distance.


    The others looked there too, as two small dots of light could be seen.


    ~WOOONG~


    In less than a second, the dots of light intensified and almost blinded them. They came towards them almost instantly, startling them a bit.


    "Beams of light?" Daoist Chu looked at the two beams that were now on their sides. "No¡­ YANG QI." He realized.


    "Looks like Daoist Mu Lin made it in time." Crown Prince Feng Shun was pleased.


    The beams of light were incredibly bright and pierced through the geyser of Death Qi with ease.


    As if two great des cutting through cloth, they severed the Death Qi and created two long walls of pure Yang Qi. Each wall was a hundred meters tall and emanated massive amounts of Qi, causing the surrounding Death Qi to be purged or pushed away.


    This created a safe corridor between the two beams, and was the path that Lin Mu had made for hispanions.


    "COME ON!" Lin Mu sent a message through the jade slip while also conveying the same to Little Shrubby.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The beast spent no time and burst into a sprint, turning into a red blur that rushed through the corridor with the walls of Yang Qi.


    "I never thought one could use the Dual Yang Repulsing Array like this," Daoist Chu muttered.


    "If it is Daoist Mu Lin, then it was expected." Lady Kang spoke, having had the confidence in him since the start.


    ~SHAU~SHAU~SHUA~


    "The strength of the Yang Qi is very good¡­ It can actually push the Death Qi back several hundred meters." Elder Hu was impressed too, as he saw the state of the area.


    "The consumption of Yang Qi would be very high though." Qiao De could barely imagine it. "Such thick Yang Qi barriers that are even extending now¡­ They would definitely bankrupt many cultivators of they tried to use it even once." He added.


    "This would only be possible if one has a steady source of Yang Qi." Ziran said, knowing that Lin Mu had made use of his tamed beast,


    Without Xiao Yang, it would not have been possible. The group rode little Shrubby through the corridor and managed to cross over a hundred kilometers of distance in the shortest time possible. ~CRASH~


    Little Shrubby used his ws to break as soon as he went past the outer barrier of the base, leaving long trails of w marks on the ground. The group held on tight, as the momentum almost threatened to send them flying.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Xiao Yin though, used it to jump off and rush towards Lin Mu right away. This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    ~Hiss~


    She wrapped around Lin Mu''s arm and looked at him eagerly.


    "You did well." Lin Mu said, petting the snake.


    ~HISS~


    Xiao Yang felt left out, so he coiled around his other arm too. "You did well too Xiao Yang. We wouldn''t have been able to get them here safely without you either." Lin Mu petted the white snake too.


    ~MEOW~


    Of course, thest beast couldn''t hold back after hearing that ands rushed into Lin Mu''s embrace, shrinking back to his kitten form. This also ended up throwing everyone off, though they managed tond safely on tier own .


    "And you too, Little Shrubby." With three beasts in his arms, Lin Mu had his work cut out for the time being.


    Meanwhile, the group recovered from the sudden ''ejection'' and looked at Lin Mu and his beasts.


    "Well, I suppose they''ve earned that," Crown Princess Shang said, seeing the rather heartwarming scene. "Though¡­ is it fine to just leave the path open?" she asked, looking back.


    "It''ll close on its own." Lin Mu replied. "The array cannot be shut down until it runs out of power anyways. I couldn''t set up a ''shut down'' function in time since the output needed to be very high." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ Won''t that be a waste of the Yang Qi?" Daoist Chu asked. "The array will be inactive after that." He added.


    "I''ve already disconnected the Yang Qi storage. So we''ll have extra backup with it. This is just the Yang Qi that is already in the channels." Lin Mu answered.


    "Ah, I see," Daoist Chu said in understanding.


    And sure enough, a few secondster, the two beams of Yang Qi seemingly shrank in size before dimming in intensity.


    ~SHUA~


    The beams closed down and an empty corridor that was more than two hundred kilometers was left open.


    ~WOOSH~


    But it didn''t take long for the Death Qi to start reiming the area, as the geysers kept on spewing more and more of it. The fissures also expanded, totally surrounding the base with them. ~HONGLONG~


    The base also responded automatically and recreated the barriers, closing the ''path'' that was temporarily created from within it.


    ~DANG~DANG~DANG~


    Severalyers of barriers rose and protected the base as arge dome now encased it.


    Everyone watched it closely, wondering how it''ll hold up. While they had made this to be safe against Death Qi and other strong attacks, they didn''t expect it to be such bad of a situation after all.

 Chapter 2259 Death Qi Engulfs All

    Chapter 2259 Death Qi Engulfs All


    The group continued to watch as the Death Qi washed over the entire base. The mountain was covered in it, leaving only the peak visible through the ck curtain.


    And a few minutester, even the peak could not be seen as the Death Qi rose up and filled the skiespletely. Utter darkness descended upon the area, as if the very apocalypse had arrived.


    Considering the fact that it was Death Qi filling the area, it may as well be an apocalypse for all that lived here.


    The chimeric beasts died rapidly, and the devastation continued to spread more and more. Thend was further corrupted as the fissures spread, leaving ''open wounds'' upon the spatial ne.


    One couldn''t even see how deep the fissures went, as their depths were hidden in the ck Death Qi too.


    "This is bad¡­" Qiao De spoke. "With so much Death Qi, will we even be able to go out?" he wondered. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    This thought was echoed by the others too as they wondered the same. They didn''t know why such a massive amount of Death Qi had suddenly risen out of the ground and neither did they know how much of the Spatial ne had been affected by it.


    "Daoist Mu Lin, can you check on the map?" Ziran asked.


    Lin Mu took out the jade slip and attempted to do exactly that, but the map showed no change.


    Furrowing his brows, Lin Mu shook his head.


    "The interference from the Death Qi will not allow the map to be updated." Lin Mu denied. "I think we''ll just have to wait and watch." He added.


    "Do you think the entire ne is affected by it?" Ziran inquired. "The scale of it seems to be quite immense." "It might be¡­ but I doubt the arrays of the Spatial ne would do something like that. If this has happened, it should probably be in response to the strange dark energy that was released from that rock," Lin Mu answered after thinking for a bit. "What was that anyway?" Daoist Chu wondered. "I''ve never seen or felt anything like that before." "Hard to say." Lin Mu replied. "But I did feel Dao Traces of some kind within that rock¡­ deep within it." He revealed.


    "Dao Traces!?" Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others were surprised.


    "There can''t be Dao Traces in just any normal rock. Especially with that dark energy that was contained within it too. There must be more to it," Lady Kang replied. "Most of the objects that can contain Dao Traces are rather special after all." She said with her knowledge of such objects.


    The Great Kang Auction house had sold a plethora of such objects and they were quite valuable and in demand too. As such, there was no way Lady Kang would be unaware of them.


    "Yeah, such objects are usually Dao Essence crystals or rare Dao Treasures born naturally through the heaven''s favor." Monk Hushu stated.


    "Though considering the fact that it was inside a Null Iron ore chunk¡­ it might not be out of the realm of possibility." Crown Princess Shang added.


    Hearing this, a thought appeared to Daoist Chu.


    "Lady Kang since you''ve likely to have seen most of such treasures¡­ have there been any records of a Dao Essence Crystals or a Dao Treasure being found inside Null Iron ore?" Daoist Chu questioned.


    Hearing this, Lady Kang furrowed her brows, unable to answer it from the top of her head.


    "My Lady, it might be in the sales records for thest millennium." Min Ju reminded her. "Let me check then." Lady Kang replied before taking out a very special object.


    ~SHUA~


    It was arge register that was over a meter in size. It was about eight inches thick and looked massive. Upon opening it, arge formation screen could be seen appearing above it.


    It wasn''t hard to tell that this was also a variant of an Information storage tool simr to a jade slip. Not to mention, its quality was very high, allowing everyone to know that it was at least a high grade immortal tool.


    But when Lin Mu observed the formations on it, he found them to be a bit more different than expected.


    "Why are there¡­ ry and signaling arrays on this?" Lin Mu questioned, seeing the register.


    "This is my personal register of all the sales of the Kang n and its associates. It can automatically update all the information about any sale that happens within the Kang n as long as the register is within the range of our information pavilions." Lady Kang answered.


    Hearing that, Qiao De and Crown Prince Feng Shun were particrly impressed.


    "A mass updating information tool¡­ I''ve only heard about them before." Qiao De muttered. "Our ck Candle pavillion''s Owner and some of the higher ups also have something liker his. But I doubt they can be updated beyond a world''s range." He stated.


    "Even the Hall masters in the Immortal Court would not have something like this." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "Perhaps only the Department Heads would have something on this level." He added.


    Lin Mu had not expected that a tool like this would be rare as this. It also showed the standing and depths of the Kang n''s pockets to be able to have something like this.


    After all, it was not a matter of just owning a tool, one also needed the right infrastructure for a tool like this to work. The cost of creating and maintaining an infrastructure like that would be unimaginable, as it would have to be spread across multiple worlds.


    Therger one went, the more expensive it would get.


    And for awork like the Kang n''s to be created would take hundreds of thousands of years. ~SHUA~


    Lady Kang searched through the impressive register and soon found the information she was looking for.


    "There have indeed been instances like that." Lady Kang stated. "Two instances, to be exact." She added.

 Chapter 2260 Past Instances Of The Null Iron Ore

    Chapter 2260 Past Instances Of The Null Iron Ore


    Hearing Lady Kang''s words, the group became curious what they might be.


    "What are they?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked first.


    "The first instance of an item like that being found inside a Null Iron ore dates back at least three hundred thousand years ago." Lady Kang replied, making the groups surprised that a record that old was actually present within the Kang n''s register. "It was obtained by the Immortal court originally, but was stolen by a group of rogue cultivators and eventually came in the ownership of the Kang n." She revealed.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun and hispanions couldn''t help but frown, as this was an incidence of the Immortal Court''s property being stolen. Though they didn''t know whether it was something that could even be pursued after all this time or was taken care of before.


    "The Dao Treasure that was inside the Null Iron Ore was a Saber Dao Essence Crystal." Lady Kang revealed.


    "A Saber Dao Essence Crystal?" Daoist Chu and the others were surprised. "That''s an unexpected one¡­ I''d expect an elemental one being inside it but a Weapon Dao Essence crystal?" he expressed his doubts.


    "There aren''t details as to how that happened, since it just states how it was obtained and what was inside it." Lady Kang replied.


    "What was inside the second Null Iron ore?" Daoist Chu inquired next.


    "The Second Null Iron ore chunk was obtained by the exploration team of the Kang n during an expedition. There were several chunks of the Null Iron Ore but only one of them contained a treasure." Lady Kang answered. "What was inside it was a Shard of Pure Spatial Energy that had been condensed over time." She finally revealed.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu raised his brows as he knew just how strong Spatial Energy could be. Even he was unable to use it now and the streaks of Spatial Energy inside the ring just moved around.


    The Spatial Energy was after all, above Spatial Qi. It was the pure essence of Space and was something that would also contain Spatial Dao Traces inside it.


    "What happened to it?" Lin Mu asked this time.


    "It was kept by the Kang n and utilized by them to set up a Mass teleportation Arraywork." Lady Kang answered, feeling a bit surprised herself. "It was¡­ the main teleportation array that links the Kang n to the worlds around it." Even she didn''t know this history of the Kang n.


    "I remember that." Elder Hu suddenly spoke, making Lady Kang and Min Ju look at him. "It was set up during your grandfather''s time." He revealed.


    "My Grandfathers?" Lady Kang hadn''t expected it to be during that time period. "Thirty thousand years ago¡­" she knew that was the time when her grandfather was still alive. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    It was long before she had been born and as such, it was normal for her to not know.


    But this part of the information intrigued Lin Mu.


    ''If Elder Hu knows it from back then¡­ doesn''t this mean he''s over thirty thousand years old too?'' Lin Mu was a bit surprised since it would be hard for an Immortal to be alive that long considering Elder Hu''s cultivation base. "Wait, how''s that possible?" Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly asked. "With your cultivation base, you should have a maximum of Twelve thousand years of lifespan." It was clear that Lin Mu wasn''t the only one having the doubts.


    Elder Hu''s cultivation base was at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm which granted him a cumtive longevity of twelve thousand years. Six thousand years came from the Spirit realm''s cultivation while another six thousand came form his cultivation unto the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. This was less than half the amount of longevity one would need to live for the time Elder Hu had so far.


    The only way Lin Mu could think one would be able to live long is if they also did Qi and Body dual cultivation. But he was sure Elder Hu did not have body cultivation. ''A longevity increasing fruit perhaps?'' Lin Mu thought of another option. The Violet Mystic Life Tree''s fruits could increase one''s longevity by a thousand years, but even with that, Elder Hu wouldn''t have the needed lifespan. Plus, even if someone had multiple of them like Lin Mu, one couldn''t just keep on consuming them.


    The fruit would only be effective once. And if one wanted more longevity, they would have to find other such Immortal Fruits.


    "The Kang n''s background is deep." Elder Hu responded after seeing Lady Kang''s approval. "We do not have ack of techniques that can increase one''s longevity as well as treasures that cane do the same." He stated.


    This made the others realized that it was simply a matter of money and reach.


    "I see¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun didn''t pry further.


    But Lady Kang seemed to have thought of something.


    "The Kang n has over twenty two different Longevity increasing Immortal Fruits and Nine Immortal Pills." Lady Kang quickly switched to her merchant persona. "If any of you wish, they are avable for sale. The best Immortal fruit among them can increase one''s longevity by two thousand years and the pill by three thousand years." She revealed.


    Hearing that, everyone was stunned.


    "Two thousand years? That''s higher than a fruit of the Violet Mystic Life Tree." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say. "What kind of fruit is it?" "It is the fruit of a Great Spring Immortal Peach Tree." Lady Kang answered. "It is one of the greatest resources that our n owns." She added.


    Hearing that though, Lin Mu was reminded of a certain person. "The Ever Spring Mistress¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    It was a name that even Crown Prince Feng Shun recognized as it was the very celestial that had created an alliance with the Dao Wind Empire and was also the master of his niece!


    "You know of the Celestial?" Lady Kang was the one shocked now. "Our ancestors were granted a single sapling by her envoy long ago." She revealed.

 Chapter 2261 Privacy Of The Base

    Chapter 2261 Privacy Of The Base


    Lin Mu and the Crown Prince had not exacted that the Kang n would have such a history too.


    "Yeah, we know the Celestial." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied before giving her a rundown of what had happened before they had arrived at the expedition.


    The more Lady Kang heard, the more she was surprised and the same could be said for Elder Hu and Min Ju.


    But the most surprising part was the link to Lin Mu.


    "To think Daoist Mu Lin would be acquainted with the Ever Spring Mistress¡­" Lady Kang started to feel that his background was getting deeper and deeper. "And she was even on the Rust Sky World¡­ to think I would''ve been so close to her." Meeting a celestial was a very very rare thing and even those at the higher ranks of the Immortal world couldn''t meet them. Only those that were luck would have such a chance.


    And while the Kang n was highly influential, even for them contact with the Celestials was extremely rare and was never direct.


    ''Looks like the Kang n will have to develop closer ties with the Dao Wind Empire too.'' Lady Kang thought to herself. But she also knew that even more important than the Dao Wind Empire was Lin Mu himself.


    After all without his help, there the Ever Spring Mistress would have never even known of Meihua and thus never arrived at Rust Sky World.


    "Well now, that we know that there can indeed be Dao Treasures inside the Null Iron Ore, the only question left is just what kind was this one." Ziran brought them back to the original topic.


    Lin Mu had been thinking about this too and reckoned there was one way he would be able to find out more about it.


    ''Senior Xukong might know¡­'' he thought before informing the concerned party.


    "I can''t tell what it is either. I''ll need to take a proper look at it." Xukong replied to Lin Mu after a few seconds. Hearing that Lin Mu knew he''ll have to get some privacy to figure that out. "I might be able to find more about it." Lin Mu spoke up. "But I''ll have to check the documents and books I have. There might be a mention of something simr to that." He exined.


    "I''ll look into some of the records I have too. Perhaps I''ll have some sess too." Ziran replied.


    The others heard it and knew that there was nothing else to do than to wait.


    "Looks like we''ll be resting then." Daoist Chu stated. "Not like we can go hunt more Chimeric beasts now anyways." He added.


    "We''ve earned a rest. Time to recuperate our minds and body." Monk Hushu agreed.


    They had been on the run and had to use all their might to get away due to the nature of the situation, thus it was understandable why they were exhausted. They had used up quite a lot of their immortal Qi with the skills too.


    "Yeah, seems like we''ll just have to wait." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "Hopefully this clears up." He added.


    "It should if this is a Celestial''s artifact. I don''t think it''ll be filled with Death Qi permanently." Ziran responded. "This''ll give me time to observe the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotuses too." Crown Princess Shang was excited for it. "Once I''m done, I''ll give everyone their shares." She added.


    "I''ll be waiting eagerly." Qiao De said with a smile.


    There was no way he was going to say no to a free treasure. Even if he didn''t get the flower of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus itself, he was still fine getting a cutting or some roots. They would be valuable regardless.


    With that decided the group went inside the base, heading to their respective rooms.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu shut the door with the arrays, giving him the perfect privacy for anything he needed to discuss.


    "Will you be able to figure out what it is, Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked the spider.


    "It does feel a bit familiar to me, but I can''t ce my exact finger on it." Xukong responded before taking a pause. "Hmm¡­ tell you what,e to Sleepscape I''ll take another look there. You''re body should have some traces left over." He added.


    "Very well." Lin Mu replied beforeying down on the bed and closing his eyes.


    ~SHUA~


    Not even ten secondster, he opened his eyes in the Sleepscape to the sound of the Immortal apple tree swaying gently in the wind.


    ~rustle~


    Its branches rubbed against each other, as if it were weing Lin Mu.


    ~rustle~rustle~rustle~ N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    The tree even lowered its branches towards Lin Mu, showing him the bright red fruits that were right for the picking.


    "Ah! I guess the Immortal Apples are ripe again." Lin Mu said before quickly plucking them and storing them.


    With that done, the Immortal Apple tree went back to absorbing more energy and continued to sway.


    ~SHUA~


    Though a grey orb appeared behind Lin Mu, making him turn around. The orb faded away to reveal none other than Xukong.


    "Hmm¡­ I can''t sense any traces of it on you." Xukong said, narrowing his eyes. "This won''t help." He added, making Lin Mu a bit disappointed. "No traces on me? But I got directly exposed to it." Lin Mu hadn''t expected that.


    "The Searing energy from the Longgui Bulwark Armor probably purged it all." Xukong guessed.


    "Ah yeah¡­" Lin Mu understood.


    It was both good and bad for him, as it had saved him, but also it was hard to figure out just what that dark energy was. Though a few secondster, Lin Mu thought of something.


    "Wait, won''t the twins have the traces on them too?" Lin Mu wondered. "No¡­ if they did you''d know already by now." He realized since the twins were in the Sleepscape too.


    With Xukong''s senses, there was no way he would miss something like that.


    "Acutally¡­ it might still be possible." Xukong said, arousing Lin Mu''s interest. "The twins did consume that energy right?" he asked.


    "They did yes." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Then they should still have it in their bodies." Xukong replied. "They ate it very recently too." He added.


    "Of course!" Lin Mu''s eyes lit up.


    He knew that the twins could eat a lot and process it in their bodies. Whatever energy was consumed by them would get turned into Yin and Yang Qi which would then be absorbed or expelled depending on their initiation.


    But this was not an instantaneous process.


    While the twins could eat a massive amount, not all of it was digested right away. It would take some time for the process to be done, which could vary depending on the amount and quality of the energy.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang,e here." Lin Mu called out to the twins.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    The twins quickly rushed to him like bolts of lightning.


    "You two remember the dark energy from earlier right?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Yes~ the bitter one." Xiao Yang nodded.


    "The nasty energy." Xiao Yin showed her distaste.


    "Yup that one." Lin Mu nodded. "By any chance have you two finished digesting it already?" he asked.


    "No." The twins shook their heads. "We still have it."


    "Perfect! Can you two expel it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "We can yes!~" The twins nodded their heads again.


    "Very well. Do it for Senior Xukong." Lin Mu said gesturing towards the spider.


    "Okay~" The twins said before opening their mouths.


    A low hissing sound came from their throats before smoke started to rise from their mouths. The smoke was rather dark and looked just like the Dark Energy Lin Mu had felt.


    "Yes, this is it." Lin Mu was happy that the two hadn''t gotten to digesting that Dark Energy.


    While it was not tasteful to them, it didn''t mean that it would be useless. The dark energy would be digestedter, anyways. It would only take more time and the twins would not like it much.


    It was the same as eating an item one was allergic to.


    Lin Mu and Xukong watched as the dark smoke from the twin snakes gathered above them. ~SHUA~SHUA~


    The dark smoke then started to condense a bit more, before turning into a small cloud!


    If it were not for the fact that they were in Lin Mu''s Sleepscape, the dark energy would have already tried to dodge in some way.


    ~SHA~


    Xukong approached the grey energy before probing it with one of his legs. Lin Mu was a bit rmed by it, but knew that Xukong would have no issue. The spider closed his eyes as if he were in deep thorough, while the dark energy cloud started to shrink.


    Lin Mu didn''t pay much heed to it, until five minutes had passed and Xukong had not uttered a single word.


    "This!" but then Xukong suddenly woke up with a shocked tone. "How can this energy appear again!?"

 Chapter 2262 Origin Of Chimeric Qi

    Chapter 2262 Origin Of Chimeric Qi


    Xukong''s reaction was certainly not within Lin Mu''s expectations.


    There weren''t many things that shocked the spider and when it did, it was usually quite serious.


    "What happened Senior?" Lin Mu asked with concern.


    "This energy¡­ It shouldn''t exist anymore." Xukong replied, feeling confused and concerned too.


    His mind raced as he thought about how this could be possible, but no matter how much he thought there were iplete aspects that prevented him from reaching the conclusion.


    "What energy is this?" Lin Mu asked, wondering just how bad it could be.


    "This energy¡­ Is known as Chimeric Qi!" Xukong revealed.


    "Chimeric Qi!? As in the same chimeras that we''re seeing here?" Lin Mu asked in shock.


    "Yes. The same chimeras." Xukong nodded.


    "It¡­ came from them?" Lin Mu was confused as he hadn''t felt this Qi from the Chimeras at all. If he had, he would have surely remembered with how unique it was. Not to mention, the twins had eaten a lot of Chimeric beasts too and they would have surely recognized and told Lin Mu if there was something wrong with them.


    But nothing of that sort had happened so far.


    "No, it didn''te from them." Xukong denied.


    "Huh¡­ then why is it called Chimeric Qi?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "That''s because it is named after a cultivation technique." Xukong answered making Lin Mu furrow his brows.


    It only took Lin Mu a couple of seconds before he made a realization.


    "Wait¡­ if it is named after a cultivation technique then that means¡­ It is a type Qi that was ''created'' due to a cultivation technique?" Lin Mu questioned feeling stunned.


    It would be an almost terrifying thing if this were true.


    After all while there were an unknown number of Qis in the world, they weren''t ''created''. They had always existed, it was simply the cultivators that ended up discovering them.


    It was simr to fire. Man might have discovered fire, but it had always been in existence since the conception of the universe.


    As such a cultivation technique that led to the creation of a new type of Qi was simply unheard of. Lin Mu didn''t even know if something like this was possible.


    "Yes¡­ it was indeed created due to a cultivation technique." Xukong confirmed. "It was the Chimeric Grand Revolution Cultivation Technique." He revealed.


    Hearing that Lin Mu went silent and repeated the name in his mind, finding the name to be both interesting and confusing.


    It was interesting as it was a unique type of cultivation technique that had managed to create a new type of Qi and confusing since it didn''t seem clear whom the technique was intended for.


    "This Chimeric Grand Revolution Cultivation Technique¡­ is it meant for Chimeric beasts?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No." Xukong denied.


    "Then who?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Everyone." Xukong answered, making Lin Mu''s eyes go wide.


    "Everyone? As in humans, beasts, chimeras, and other races?" Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe it. He knew that there could be cultivation techniques that could be practiced by different races and species, but they still had their limitations. After all, the physiques of races varied and not all cultivation techniques would work for them.


    Not to mention, one would also need talent needed to learn andprehend the cultivation technique.


    Thus while something like a universallypatible cultivation technique was theoretically possible, making one was practically impossible.


    "Yes, everyone." Xukong replied. "It was a cultivation technique that practically brought a revolution in the world¡­ Quite urate to its name." He stated.


    "Then¡­ it is amon technique?" Lin Mu asked next but then realized that this contradicted what Xukong had said at first. "No¡­ On the contrary the technique is incredibly rare." Xukong answered. "It''s why I was surprised by the Chimeric Qi¡­ it can only be produced by the Chimeric Grand Revolutions Technique which hasn''t been seen for a long time." He exined.


    "Why is it rare? If it brought a revolution, that means there were many users of it, right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Once upon a time there were indeed hundreds of millions of practitioners." Xukong nodded. "But they weren''t exactly¡­ ''good''." He added.


    "What?" Lin Mu asked before a bad feeling rose in his heart. "Were they¡­" "Yes¡­ of the unorthodox path." Xukong confirmed. "There was a reason they brought a revolution in the world¡­ the revolution was a great rebellion against the ruling orthodox powers." He stated.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu''s feeling got worse. "Then the creator of this technique was of the unorthodox path too?" he asked next.


    "He wasn''t just someone of the unorthodox path." Xukong replied as aplex feeling appeared in his eyes. "He was THE UNORTHODOX PATH." He affirmed.


    Lin Mu took a step back as he wrapped his mind around such a person.


    "So he was the leader of the Unorthodox path?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You can say that. Though rather than just a leader, he was the unquestioned ruler of the Unorthodox path." Xukong answered. "He was someone who''s very name shook the universe. He''s done great things, both good and bad." He revealed.


    "What was his name?" Lin Mu asked carefully.


    "Simr to me, his name carries great karma." Xukong warned first.


    "So his name cannot be spoken?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Normally yes." Xukong nodded. "At the very least you should not speak it out loud outside in the presence of others, but here it should be fine as long as its me who says it." He added.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu asked while holding his breath.


    "The Chimeric Fiend God!" Xukong revealed.


    As soon as he said that, Lin Mu felt his mind shaking.


    It was as if a quake had urred in his mind, while his vision went nk.


    His chest felt like it was being squeezed while an image started to form in his mind.


    Inside a dark expanse, a massive mountain rose. It was bigger than anything Lin Mu had seen, perhaps even bigger than Xukong.


    The mountain continued to grow, before strange ''appendages'' rose from it. It was then that Lin Mu realized, it was not a mountain at all.


    It was a creature!


    A creature bigger than anything Lin Mu had seen or read about. It had tens of thousands of appendages of all kinds; wings, legs, arms, ws, tentacles, mandibles and more.


    It was a creation that could only be describe as an abomination¡­ A Chimera.


    The more one Lin Mu looked at its form, the harder his heart beat. His blood surged such that veins popped up all over his body.


    But the worst was when Lin Mu made eye contact with the creature.


    ~GASP~


    Lin Mu felt like his heart was being squeezed at that moment. The creatures eyes were crimson like fresh blood and had pupils that were as dark as the very expanse of void itself.


    Staring at them would find one getting lost, especially since it wasn''t just one or two pair of eyes.


    It was tens of thousands!


    The creatures form continued to get clear, as if a fog was being lifted. But the more Lin Mu saw, the worse his condition got.


    "BEGONE!" it was at that moment that a thundering voice was heard.


    ~SHATTER~


    Upon hearing it, the image in front of Lin Mu broke apart and a wave of relief filled him.


    ~HUU~


    He took a breath before trembling and copsing to the ground.


    ~THUD~


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins rushed to him, seeing his sudden fall.


    "Are you okay master!?" the twins asked in unison.


    "I''m¡­ okay¡­" Lin Mu said after a few seconds.


    He held his head, feeling it throb even now. His heart was still racing, but at least he could breathe now.


    After a minute or so, Lin Mu looked up at Xukong who was floating there with his eyes closed.


    "That¡­ thing." Lin Mu spoke. "Just how much Karma does it carry?" he couldn''t help but question.


    Lin Mu had learned that names of great beings could carry karma that could affect all those that spoke of it or knew about it. The effects varied from being to being, as well as the person who heard it.


    But since Lin Mu had met Xukong, he had been protected due to the spider''s karma.


    In a way it bnced it, as even the Saintess''s presence didn''t affect him.


    As such, Lin Mu hadn''t expected the effects to be this drastic.


    ''Is this how others feel when they hear Senior Xukong''s name?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "That thing''s Karma is something even I don''t know about." Xukong replied. "But I do know that it was a being that shook the realms. It fought the Courts to a standstill and even defeated some of them." He added. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Courts?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "As in not just the immortal court, but above too?" he asked.


    "Indeed." Xukong confirmed. "That being led one of the three greatest wars of the entire cultivation world. A war that could have led to the end of all things we know." He revealed.

 Chapter 2263 Chimeric Fiend God

    Chapter 2263 Chimeric Fiend God


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel a chill upon hearing about the war.


    "One of the Three Greatest Wars of the Entire Cultivation world?!?" Lin Mu visibly gulped. "Not just one of the great wars, but the Greatest¡­ Just how massive was it?" he couldn''t even begin toprehend something that could epass all that.


    It was a massive event, something that couldn''t be ignored at all. "It was something that still hassting effects." Xukong spoke in a serious tone. "And because it was the most recent of the three greatest wars, the memories are still fresh among those that lived through it." He stated. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Lin Mu went silent as he heard it. He had been through one war before, but it was minusculepared to it. He had fought the war against the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord on the Xiaofan world, and had been frustrated and tired of it.


    He wished to never have to participate in something like that again.


    Knowing how exhausting a ''small'' war like that was, Lin Mu didn''t know how much worse a war spanning the entire cuss world would be like.


    "When did the war happen?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The war happened over five million years ago." Xukong answered.


    "F-five million years ago?" Lin Mu did a double take at hearing it.


    Five million years was a massive time that was unimaginable even to the major experts of the cultivation worlds. No immortal would be able to live that long, which would only leave Celestials and greater experts being able to experience it all.


    "And its still ''recent''?" Lin Mu spoke.


    "It might seem long, but five million years is still a rtively short period of time for the true experts. Even for celestials it is a time that they can experience as long as they manage to stay alive." Xukong replied. "Though the actual time period that the Chimeric Fiend God led the war wasn''t long¡­ it was just a single century." He stated.


    "A century of war¡­" Lin Mu muttered thinking of all that could have happened.


    It looked like a long time, but if one considered the distance one would need to travel to get between the worlds it was actually short. Arge army wouldn''t just be able to teleport everywhere, as such would have to go there physically often, thus the time taken to get there could be a few years long.


    The fact that the Chimeric Fiend God managed to cause one of the three greatest wars alone was a testament to his power and reach.


    "No wonder his Karma is so great¡­ If he''s caused such a big conflict and affected the realms." Lin Mu had learned that the amount of Karma one had was dependent on how much that person affected the universe.


    The Saintess''s Karma was already great and her name was not something that could be lightly taken. Xukong was someone several times above that, which showed just how great his influence had been on the realms.


    And then there was the Chimeric Fiend God who had managed to do the same in a short period of time.


    "The Chimeric Great Revolutions Cultivation technique also affected the flow of the war a lot right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The Chimeric Great Revolutions Cultivation technique also affected the flow of the war a lot right?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "It did, of course." Xukong nodded. "Almost all people belonging to his camp practiced it, which gave them great strength. The technique is elusive such that it actually allows one to utilize not just one element, but all the Mortal, and Heavenly elements!" he revealed, much to Lin Mu''s shock.


    "W-what!?" Lin Mu was stunned. "They can use all of them? How''s that even possible? What about affinities?" he had a lot of questions.


    "Of course, affinities were still a thing, but the Chimeric Great Revolutions Cultivation technique allowed them to learn how to control other elements regardless. Not to mention, depending on the personal affinity of the cultivator, the properties of the Chimeric Qi would vary too. The Chimeric Qi that we saw here¡­ it seems to be highly inclined towards darkness and Corrosive Qi." Xukong exined. "The ability to be modified is one of the biggest abilities and benefit of the Chimeric Qi." He added. "So it can have different properties¡­ even the Qi is a ''Chimera'', true to its name." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "For someone to create a technique like this and invent the Qi too¡­ no wonder their karma was so strong¡­ That image almost made me stop my breaths." He said.


    "What?" Xukong was astounded by Lin Mu''s words. "What do you mean it made you stop your breath?" he was concerned.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu tilted his head. "When you told me the name, I saw the image of the Chimeric Fiend God." He answered before giving an ount of all that had happened.


    He told Xukong the features of the Chimeric Fiend God, the pressure he felt as well as the drastic situation he was in.


    "If not for your voice, I would have been in a really bad condition." Lin Mu stated.


    But this was even more shocking to Xukong.


    "My voice? I didn''t interfere in it." Xukong stated, making Lin Mu''s eyes go wide.


    "What¡­ that wasn''t you?" Lin Mu couldn''t believe it. "The voice brought me out of my stupor¡­ the illusion broke because of it." He had been fully convinced that it was Xukong that had helped him.


    After all, this was not the first time Xukong had done something like this before and Lin Mu had reckoned that he had been told the name with this in mind.


    "That voice you heard¡­ it was certainly not me," Xukong replied. "I didn''t even know you experienced all that." The spider himself couldn''t believe this had happened, but when he went through the shared memories of Lin Mu, he couldn''t help but confirm it.


    "If that wasn''t your voice that broke the illusion¡­ then who was it?" Lin Mu was at his wit''s end.


    The same could be said for Xukong, as the implications of all this were far too great.

 Chapter 2264 Defeat Of A God

    Chapter 2264 Defeat Of A God


    Xukong had seen Lin Mu copse earlier, but reckoned it was simply due to the impact of the Chimeric Fiend God''s name. He did know that Lin Mu would be affected by the Karma, but was willing to let him experience it.


    ''I was going to act if anything bad happened, but he managed to get through it on his own.'' This was what Xukong had thought earlier.


    He would have certainly known if Lin Mu was in trouble due to Karma and would have interfered. But to him, it looked like Lin Mu had managed to get through it all on his own.


    While he looked exhausted and his breath was unstable, that was not something that threatened his life.


    In fact, if that was all he rendered after bearing the Karma of hearing Chimeric God Fiend''s name, it was an excellent result.


    But once Xukong heard the details of all that Lin Mu had seen an experience, he understood that the situation was a lot different.


    "You actually saw the full visage of the Chimeric Fiend God¡­" Xukong muttered. "To think it would actually manifest that." He himself hadn''t expected that. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    "It was not supposed to happen?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­" Xukong denied. "While the Karma of the Chimeric Fiend God is still present, it isn''t something that should''ve caused such an effect. Something like this¡­ should only be possible if the Chimeric Fiend God is still in existence¡­" He stated feeling confused himself.


    "Wait¡­ the Chimeric Fiend God isn''t alive?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of course not." Xukong replied. "He was defeated a long time ago and was certainly killed. The Courts confirmed it themselves." He added.


    "Then¡­ how did I see all that?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but mutter. He thought for a bit before deciding to inquire a few more things.


    "The proof that the Courts have¡­ what is it?" Lin Mu asked. "Can it be trusted?" "Yes¡­ the Proof is none other than the Corpse of the Chimeric Fiend God." Xukong answered. "His corpse?" Lin Mu had seen just how big the Chimeric Fiend God was and didn''t even know what its corpse would look like. "They''ve kept its corpse?" "Yes." Xukong nodded. "Its kept safe at a secret location. Even I do not know where it is." He added.


    Hearing that there was a corpse as proof, Lin Mu wasn''t totally convinced. After all, most cultivators would be able to live even without their bodies, as long as their Nascent soul was intact.


    "The Chimeric Fiend God was certainly not just any Immortal or Celestial¡­ it surely had more methods to save its life." Lin Mu spoke. "Thus is it possible that it managed to stay alive with its soul?" he asked next.


    "Hmm, that is a possibility the Courts had indeed considered. But the defeat of the Chimeric Fiend God was brought upon by another being that had guaranteed that its soul had been exterminated too." Xukong answered.


    "It wasn''t the immortal Court that defeated the Chimeric Fiend God?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "No¡­ It was another being. Someone that was forced to act because his bottom line was touched. It was a being that was perhaps no less weaker than the Chimeric Fiend God too." Xukong replied making Lin Mu shocked.


    "Who was it?" Lin Mu couldn''t believe that there would be another being on the level of the Chimeric Fiend God.


    "It was a disciple of the Taiji Celestial." Xukong revealed, making Lin Mu''s eyes go wide. "Perhaps the strongest disciple of the Taiji Celestial and a Beast Emperor." He stated.


    The words were enough to give Lin Mu think of tons of more questions as it opened up a whole new realm of possibilities.


    "A Beast Emperor¡­ not a human cultivator?" Lin Mu said in intrigue.


    "Indeed. The detailed records about him are sealed and even I only know little about it since it all happened in a time period while I was in seclusion. The might of the Beast Emperor was said to be great and he had an alliance with the Courts too, as such all the information about him was sealed based on hismands." Xukong exined.


    "Why would he do that?" Lin Mu wondered. "Since he defeated the Chimeric Fiend God, it was a great achievement. Why would the Beast Emperor hide this instead?" he was confused.


    ~Sigh~


    Hearing that, Xukong let out a sigh.


    "When someone lives as long as I or other beings like me have, they tend to get¡­ Distant. They do not wish to be bothered by the matters of the cultivation world and only wish to live in seclusion while growing their own cultivation. Of course they could have other desires too, but they prefer to keep to their own matters.


    As such they do not like when they are bothered." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu could understand this part since he could simply take them as hermit experts who did not involve themselves in worldly matters.


    "And when someone is as strong as that beast emperor¡­ People tend to look up to them." Xukong spoke. "And what will happen when a great troublees along?" he asked Lin Mu.


    "They will look for someone that can solve it¡­ Like the Beast Emperor." Lin Mu was starting to figure it out.


    "Indeed." Xukong nodded. "The defeat of the Chimeric Fiend God was thest act that the Beast Emperor did¡­ A favor for the Cultivation world before he withdrew from it." He stated.


    "So his name is unknown?" Lin Mu asked after a bit of a pause.


    "Yes. Though I reckon the Karma that he bore was possibly greater than the Chimeric Fiend God too. After all he did defeat him." Xukong replied. "Thus I do not think you''d be able to bear it even if I could tell you about it." He added.


    Lin Mu had barely gotten through the Chimeric Fiend God''s Karma, thus he knew for sure he wasn''t ready for someone greater than that.


    "But¡­ there is indeed a title that was given to him informally." Xukong suddenly said.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "He was known as the Noblest of Beasts¡­ The Beast Emperor of Radiance."

 Chapter 2265 The Beast Emperor of Radiance And Chimera Seeds

    Chapter 2265 The Beast Emperor of Radiance And Chimera Seeds


    The title was quite impressive and Lin Mu could see the reverence the people had for the Beast Emperor to name him that.


    ''The only other beasts I''ve seen being referred to with such reverence are the Guardian Beasts.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It showed that the status of the Beast Emperor of Radiance was no less than the Four Guardian beasts, and perhaps might have been greater than that too.


    Just how great though, it was a matter that was not essible to Lin Mu.


    Neither was it something he should think about as it was beyond the scope of his understanding.


    "You''ve never seen the Beast Emperor of Radiance yourself?" Lin Mu asked feeling curious.


    "No, I''ve never had the chance." Xukong replied. "Though I dide close to it once¡­ but another matter drew me away from encountering him." He added recalling an old memory.


    "Then¡­ what would you ce the Beast Emperor Of Radiance''s cultivation base at?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "That is hard to say." Xukong stated. "It was certainly greater than most experts in the Cultivation world¡­ And he was certainly at the peak of the Celestial Realm too." He added. Lin Mu could read between the lines and knew that he could not know anything more than that. He was simply too weak to know about the matters of the realms above.


    But as Lin Mu thought about this, there was still a matter that had been left unsolved.


    ''Just who or what was it that broke the image of the Chimeric God Fiend?'' Lin Mu wondered. "Is there a chance you did it yourself?" Xukong asked just in case.


    "Myself?" Lin Mu shook his head. "I heard a voice that stopped it." He added.


    "Do you remember what it was like?" Xukong asked. "No¡­ my focus was on the image so I didn''t clearly listen to it. But I do know it said ''Begone''." Lin Mu replied. "Could it have been another external influence?" he asked.


    "That''s not possible." Xukong denied. "If there was anyone else that could do something like that, it would also mean they would be able toe into the Sleepscape. Something like that would be detected by me too." He exined.


    "Then who was it?" Lin Mu was now very confused about it.


    "Hmm¡­ whatever it might be, it helped you so it should be fine." Xukong had concerns about it too, but for now there were other things they needed to deal with. "But what matters right now is the Chimeric Qi." He stated.


    "Ah yes!" Lin Mu understood. "Now that the Chimeric Qi has appeared from that rock, what do we do or rather what will happen?" he asked.


    "That is a bit hard to say since there are a few possibilities." Xukong replied. "You said you felt Dao Traces there too right?" he asked.


    "Yes! There were certainly Dao Traces within that rock. But I can''t tell what kind they were." Lin Mu answered. "Wait, could it really have been a Dao Essence Crystal?"


    "That is indeed one of the possibilities." Xukong answered. "But if it was a Dao Essence Crystal and it was apanied by the Chimeric Qi¡­ that will make things a lot more difficult." He said, with a dark look in his eyes.


    Lin Mu could sense the tenseness and waited for Xukong to speak further.


    "I think¡­ that rock might just have been a ''Chimera Seed''." Xukong stated.


    "A seed? As in a nt?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Quite literally yes." Xukong nodded. "But it is a special kind of nt that produces more Chimeras." He revealed.


    "Huh? But the Chimeric Qi was killing all the Chimeric Beasts it came in contact with." Lin Mu replied. "It was also mixing freely with the Death Qi." He added.


    "Exactly. The Chimeric Qi is a derivative Qi that isposed of many kinds of other Qis, thus it can consume them. The Chimeric Beasts were simply being ''eaten'' by the Chimeric Qi as a fuel for the ''Chimera Seed''." Xukong answered.


    "Then even the Death Qi¡­ is going to be fuel for the nt?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Indeed¡­ and the Chimeras that will be produced from that will be on a different level than anything you all have seen so far." Xukong replied. "These Chimera Seeds have been used in the past for war¡­ they''re basically a source of endless cannon fodder that were used by the Chimeric Fiend God." He exined.


    "Then all the Chimeric Beasts we''ve seen so far¡­ they were made by Chimera Seeds too?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It is likely." Xukong nodded. "The murals in the offering hall said that there were underground nests of the Chimeric Beasts and they hade out from there even after being wiped out. Then there were also many that were produced by the meteors thatnded.


    It is likely that the ones born from the meteors were ''malnourished'' Chimeric beasts that were produced by a Chimera nt that didn''t have much to ''eat''." He exined.


    Hearing all that, Lin Mu felt rmed. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "If that is true then¡­ The Death Qi boundaries that had been restraining the Chimeric Beasts all this time¡­ they will¡ª" Lin Mu grasped the graveness of the situation.


    "They will no longer work." Xukong replied. "The new Chimera nt that will be produced¡­ it might make new Chimeric Beasts that are resistant to the Death Qi." He confirmed.


    "We need to stop it." Lin Mu stated. "We need to stop it before the nt grows." "I''m afraid it is already toote." Xukong shook his head. "The Death Qi won''t let you all wander out anyways. Even with your best defenses, it will be an impossible task." He stated.


    "Then what do we do?" Lin Mu asked.


    "You can only deal with it when the timees." Xukong answered. "Though it isn''t all bad. The Chimera nt will still take some time to grow before it can produce Chimeric Beasts. For now it will simply gather as much energy as it can." He exined.

 Chapter 2266 Two Skills Of The Grand Bagua Mythic Series

    Chapter 2266 Two Skills Of The Grand Bagua Mythic Series


    After listening to Xukong''s exnation, Lin Mu could make out a solution that might just work.


    "Death Qi will eventually clear out." Lin Mu understood. "So our moment to act will be when all the Death Qi has been absorbed by the Chimera Seed." He analyzed.


    "Indeed. You will have to find it once that happens." Xukong responded. "It is likely that all the ''Harbinger'' meteors thatnded in this Spatial ne might just be old ''war'' supplies left over from the Chimeric Fiend God''s time." He guessed.


    "Is that why they were in the Void?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, it actually makesplete sense to me now." Xukong said much to Lin Mu''s surprise. "The Chimeric Fiend God had Spatial skills too and moving through the void was not an issue. As such it would often use the void as a ''shortcut'' to various locations. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Not to mention, hiding his war supplies in the Void made it easy to ambush his foes. He could simply send these through the Void towards a world and let the Chimeric Beasts do their work." He exined.


    "That is indeed quite a terrifying method. An effective one nheless." Lin Mu could see how the Chimeric Fiend God had managed to aplish so much.


    It might not be a good aplishment, but it was an aplishment nheless.


    After all, there were not many that could fight the Courts to a standstill and cause one of the Greatest Wars in the entire Cultivation World.


    "Though it looks like we''ll have to dy our collection of credits now. And who knows if there will be many Chimeric Beasts left nearby for us to hunt once the Death Qi clears out." Lin Mu said, feeling a bit disappointed.


    "It might not be all bad. The Chimeras that are produced by the Chimera nt should still grant you all credits. And I expect they will give a greater amount than normal due to their strength." Xukong consoled.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu could see the silver lining. "I suppose we''ll just have to wait it out." "That''s not a loss for you all. Since you can prepare for the time being." Xukong stated. "After all you have a lot of things to study and learn, don''t you?" he reminded.


    "The Grand Bagua Mythic Series!" Lin Mu remembered the rare skills they had obtained.


    "Indeed. Those will be great help to you." Xukong replied. "Even if you cannot learn them in their entirety, you will still be able to apply their principals to other skills." He added.


    "I understand." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Though, have you seen what skills are contained in those two fragments?" Xukong inquired.


    "I haven''t¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows before taking out the two jade slips.


    The techniques had been copied into them by Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lin Mu could now take a look.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    The two fragments of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series that they had obtained were from the Qian Series and the Dui Series.


    "Qian Series: Cloud Dragon Stride and Dui Series: Mud Rot Fist¡­" Lin Mu read the techniques.


    The Qian Series allowed one toprehend the Sky Dao and as such all the skills contained within it had rtion to it. The same could be said for the Cloud Dragon Stride skill which Lin Mu recognized to be a footwork technique.


    "Oh? This is a good one." Xukong had also been reading and saw the potential of the technique really fast. "You don''t have a footwork technique that you use, so this can fit in that position perfectly." He suggested.


    Lin Mu had seen many Footwork techniques and hade across them in his journeys. In the ring''s space he had several of them too, but he had never learned one.


    This was due to the fact that Lin Mu''s spatial skills fulfilled that part of hisbat needs.


    Footwork techniques were intended to be used inbat, since they could allow one to effectively move, dodge, and outmaneuver the enemies. This was something Lin Mu''s spatial skills did in an outstanding manner, as such he had never needed another skill. Even if did wish to learn one, there weren''t any that could be worth his time ore close to the Spatial Skills.


    But now that Xukong had seine this skill, he was quite confident in it.


    "Do you know of this skill?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I''ve never seen it before, but from its description it''ll allow you to move much better than before." Xukong replied. "Not to mention, you will be able to hide your spatial skills too." He added.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu said, going over the Cloud Dragon Stride skill.


    The skill allowed one to manifest clouds around their legs and move with their power. Not only did it distract the enemies by blocking their field of view, it could also propel one really fast. Another plus point was that the Qi consumption with Cloud Dragon Stride was actually very efficient.


    ''If I really manage to master it, the Qi consumption with Cloud Dragon Stride will be less than half of my Spatial Skills.'' Lin Mu estimated. ''It will also allow me to get an insight into the Sky Dao.'' He saw the second major benefit.


    "You also have another advantage in learning the Cloud Dragon Stride." Xukong hinted.


    "The Saintess¡­" Lin Mu realized. "She does have proficiency with the Cloud Dao, Wind Dao and Air Dao¡­ and all these are linked to the Sky Dao." He stated.


    "Yes. And I wouldn''t be surprised if the Saintess has proficiency with the Sky Dao too." Xukong replied.


    "Yeah¡­ we haven''t exactly seen all of the Saintess'' capabilities." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Though the second skill isn''t bad either." Xukong replied, changing the topic. "The Dui Series is excellent at restraining from what I''ve seen." He stated.


    "Hmm¡­ The Mud Rot Fist, its a dual offensive and restraining technique." Lin Mu read the fist technique. "It is rooted in the Marsh Dao so one would need to understand that before this technique can be learned."

 Chapter 2267 A Wild World For A Playground

    Chapter 2267 A Wild World For A yground


    Xukong could see the limitations in learning the Mud Rot Fist, thus suggested something.


    "Comprehending the Marsh Dao will be an obstacle, but you should be able to learn it over time." Xukong had confidence in Lin Mu''sprehension. "Though for now, you should probably focus on the Cloud Dragon Stride." He stated.


    "Yes." Lin Mu agreed, knowing that it would have the best benefits in the current scenario.


    Comprehending Daos that were close to each other or having rtions was easier than learning a Dao that was entirely distanced from what one knew. Lin Mu had learned the Bending Will Fists and as such, had a faint understanding of the Wind Dao.


    Wind Dao was close to the Sky Dao and as such, Lin Mu should be able to inch at least a bit closer to it.


    But before Lin Mu could embroil himself intoprehending that, he needed to convey what he had learned to the others. He rified some things with Senior Xukong about what could be revealed and what could not.


    After all, he couldn''t tell the others about the Chimeric Fiend God without them getting greatly injured by it. ~shua~


    He quickly sent a message to every and gathered them in the meeting hall at the center of the base.


    Lin Mu was not the first to arrive there though, as Lady Kang, Ziran, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Qiao De were already there discussing things.


    "Did you learn something?" Lady Kang asked.


    "I did." Lin Mu nodded his head. This intrigued them, and they let the others arrive. About a minuteter, everyone was at the meeting hall, so Lin Mu began speaking.


    "I''ve learned what the rock we took out was, as well as the energy that was released from it." Lin Mu revealed. "I''ve also learned more about the origin of the Chimeric beasts." He added.


    "What?" Crown Prince Feng Shun hadn''t expected that Lin Mu would figure out so much.


    "How did you do that?" Ziran was curious.


    "All it took was a little consulting and checking old records." Lin Mu replied as per what had been decided between him and Xukong.


    "Oh?" Ziran was curious about such records, but held back for now. "So what did you learn?" he asked the matter at hand.


    "What we''re facing is¡­ A remnant of an ancient war." Lin Mu stated before beginning to exin everything.


    He told them about the Chimeric Beasts and their origins, as well as the link to an ancient power. Though he didn''t tell them about the Chimeric Grand Revolution Technique as Xukong had prevented him from revealing that.


    It was a cultivation technique that was far too sensitive and the mere mention of it could attract attention from people one wouldn''t want to.


    And it wouldn''t just be limited to the Immortal Realm either. The Chimeric Grand Revolution had caused issues across multiple realms, thus all those affected powers and their descendants would be watching carefully.


    It would be a bad idea if one identally got associated with the offending party after all.


    It took Lin Mu a while to exin it all, as it wasn''t exactly a simple thing. Not to mention, it had to be supplicated with a few other things that the people in the group didn''t know. But they weren''t as unaware as Lin Mu had thought.


    "To think it would be linked to ''that'' Beast Emperor¡­" Ziran muttered. "I''ve seen old ruins that have depicted him¡­ but to think his influence was that great." He revealed.


    "There are ruins with him still present?" Lin Mu was surprised by this as ording to Xukong, the traces of the Beast Emperor of Radiance were supposed to have been erased as per his request.


    "Well it''s just one ruins I found a long time ago." Ziran replied. "It was surprising since it wasn''t even in the Fands." He added.


    "Where was it then?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "In the territory of the Eastern Immortal Court, there is a wild world by the name of Tim''s yground." Ziran answered.


    "Tim''s yground?" Lin Mu raised his brows, finding the name rather strange. "What kind of name is that?" Even Qiao De found it strange.


    "Well, I didn''t find much about it. But since it''s a Wild World, there are no humans or intelligent races on it." Ziran replied. "Not even beasts with intelligence." He added.


    "Huh? That''s rare." Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "Are they not Immortal Beasts?" he asked.


    "No, there are immortal beasts there, but they aren''t of the same intelligence as normal immortal beasts." Ziran answered. "They''re more like normal animals if we are to estimate their intelligence." He added.


    "Interesting¡­" Lin Mu muttered. He had known about Wild Worlds, and they were just amon term for a World that didn''t have intelligent life. But it still had plenty of life, including both flora and fauna.


    Such Worlds would often be upied by those that found it and utilized for resources.


    "What power controls the world?" Lady Kang asked. "None." Ziran replied. "Not even the Immortal Court seems to have any records about its ownership other than the name which has been kept for a long time." He added.


    "Huh¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun hadn''t expected that. "A Wild World found in the territory of the Eastern Immortal Court would certainly be monitored by them. At the very least, they would send a Beacon of the Guardian temple there." He added.


    "For some reason they didn''t do that either." Ziran replied. "I went to the world due to amission long time ago. But it wasn''t even the main target. I simply ended up there after investigating some information that themissioner was looking for.


    In my search for it, I learned that the information was supposedly located at a certain coordinate. This led me to the Wild World named Tim''s yground." He exined.


    "If its named like that¡­ It should belong to someone named ''Tim'', shouldn''t it?" Crown Princess Shang guessed.


    "It should. But I found no further information about the name we don''t know who he was, but since even the Immortal Court kept the name in records, someone certainly approved of it in the past." Ziran replied. "Hmm¡­ Considering the fact that the Beast Emperor of Radiance''s traces were erased upon his request, it makes sense that the details about the Wild World were removed too. They only kept its name in the records while erasing any information about its background." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes, it''s clear that whoever this ''Tim'' was, they were certainly linked to the Beast Emperor of Radiance." Ziran nodded.


    "Though¡­ a yground. As if the world was given to someone as a gift." Qiao De said, going over it.


    "It wouldn''t be unprecedented." Lady Kang chimed in. "Our Great Kang Auction house certainly has a couple of Immortal Worlds like these for sale too." She added.


    This made some people in the group raise their brows, but since Lin Mu had already heard something like this before from Lady Kang, he was unaffected. "And in the past, there have been many cases of experts granting worlds in their ownership to people who pleased them." Lady Kang exined further. "Perhaps, this¡­ ''Tim''s yground'' was given to a person named ''Tim'' by the Beast Emperor of Radiance?" she guessed.


    "Hmm¡­ Someone of that level would certainly be capable of handing over an entire world." Ziran nodded. Lin Mu was in agreement too and couldn''t help but wonder just how strong would one be to causally do a thing like that.


    "But this is a bad thing for us in the end." Monk Hushu spoke after a while of silence. "I do not know how qualified we are to face a threat that was literally used as a war weapon by a being that threatened entire realms." He said with concern.


    "Monk Hushu is correct." Elder Hu could see the threat. "We might have been able to deal with the Chimeric Beasts all this time, but who''s to say the new Chimeric beasts that are created by the Chimera nt wouldn''t be ten times more dangerous?" he asked.


    "Whatever it might be, we can''t lose or morale." Lin Mu stated. "Besides, I do not think the Celestial that modified this Spatial ne would have missed a w like that. Even if it was a War weapon back then, I reckon for a Celestial it would just be a minor nuisance in the end. They should have certainly set a contingency for it." He added. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Let''s hope that Daoist Mu Lin is correct." Daoist Chu said. "Plus, now that we know all this, we can prepare for the threat." He added.


    "That''s right." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "We can cultivate, consolidate our strength and strategize!" Lin Mu was of the same opinion and knew this was the right way to go about it.


    "It''s decided then. We''ll prepare for the worst that cane, and hope for the best." Lin Mu said out loud.

 Chapter 2268 Seclusion For The Group

    ?


    2268 Seclusion For The Group


    With their n set, the group split up, intending to prepare in their own way.


    Crown Princess Shang went to her room and set up the Bell Jar Spatial Terrarium up. She still had the task of studying the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotuses after all. Not to mention, she also needed to make sure that the two nts that did not have flowers were growing well.


    Her n right now was to let the third nt to progress from a flower to a seed pod, so that she could harvest it while letting the second and third nts flower further. That way, they would have seeds which could be distributed amongst them and the flowers which could very welle in handy.


    The flowers were the main part of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus that were useful, and the shoots and leaves weren''t the best to be used. As for the seeds, while they could be consumed simr to a spirit fruit, it was a waste of them.


    It would be much better to grow more of the nts and let the flowers mature.


    Daoist Chu meanwhile worked on the arrays of the base.


    While Lin Mu had modified them at thest moment to open up a path, the array needed to be rectified again. This was something Daoist Chu was capable of handling too as such he got to working on them so that they could be turned back into the normal Dual Yang Repulsing Array.


    Thankfully there was still a steady supply of Yang Qi in the storage that Lin Mu had set up, so he didn''t have to worry about that.


    Another reason why Daoist Chu was enthusiastic about working on it alone was that he would be getting a chance to improve his skills too.


    Monk Hushu on the other hand, cultivated on his own. With the improvement in his Buddhist path earlier and achieving the Buddhist tune, Monk Hushu still needed toprehend it further. This would help him solidify his foundation and further pave the path for growth.


    That way when he finally obtained the next part of his scriptures, he would be able to progress faster and reach the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun on the other hand stayed ''awake'' and regrly monitored the map, to see if any changes happened. Since they couldn''t go out, the map was the only way to nce at the changes outside, however vague they maybe.


    He also wanted to be ready for anything drastic that happened, thus was staying awake.


    Qiao De went to cultivate too, while Ziran did multiple things.


    Ziran discussed things with Crown Prince from time to time while monitoring the map, read the books and documents he had to see if there was any new information he could learn from it and cultivated too.


    Elder Hu and Min Ju were in the rooms next to Lady Kang and all were cultivating silently. They all knew that being prepared for any kind of event was necessary and after they had learned about the Chimeric Beasts that might be stronger than before, they knew it was important to be ready.


    As of now both Elder Hu and Min Ju didn''t have many ways of fighting against Death Qi, but Lady Kang did. As such, she took the initiative to prepare a few methods that would allow the two to fight better too.


    Finally, there was Lin Mu who was in the Sleepscape and trying to learn the Grand Bagua Mythic Series. The Qian Series technique: Cloud Dragon Stride was quiteplex and Lin Mu would need to at least an inkling ofprehension of the Sky Dao.


    ''Since I can''t talk to Saintess right now, I''ll just have to try my best. Lin Mu thought to himself as he sat under the Immortal Apple tree.


    He read the jade slip repeatedly, going over the technique in his mind again and again.


    The way the technique was made was such that unless one learned the initial parts of it, the subsequent parts would simply be iprehensible.


    It was as if one was given a recipe to follow and was trying to read it from the middle.


    Even if one understood the words themselves, they would have no idea what to do with the food without knowing its actual state in that step. One would have to follow the steps one by one before reaching that step and seeing how the food looked, before being able to follow the rest.


    -huu-


    ''To think there''s only three parts and yet its thisplex... The Grand Bagua Mythic Series surely is something.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The Cloud Dragon Stride technique had three levels to it and each level was improvement of the previous one. The First level was called as ''Cloudy Step'' and was the most basic, only needing the practitioner to be able to manifest the clouds around their feet.Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    The manifestation was the hardest part, as it was the key to learning the technique. The actual footwork part of the Cloud Dragon Stride was actually something that was rtively simple on its own. Butbining that with the cloud manifestation made it quite hard.


    ''Perhaps I should divide these in two sections and learn them separately?'' Lin Mu had an idea.


    While he couldn''t make the clouds on their own, he reckoned learning the footwork wouldn''t be as hard for him. He had already memorized it and only needed to practice it now.


    "May as well try it." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he stood up.


    The Sleepscape was quite vast, thus he didn''t have to worry auto running out of room. Other than the ces where the nts were nted, the rest of the area was basically just empty, leaving it free for use.


    Lin Mu went over the footwork in his mind before taking the first step.


    ~WHOOSH~


    As soon as he did though, he shot forward awkwardly before stumbling.


    -THUD-


    "Okay... not as simple as I thought." Lin Mu got up from the ground.


    He had not expected to fall so easily, but understood he had underestimated the footwork part too. But he didn''t lose hope since this was just the first try.


    "Practice will make me perfect." Lin Mu said to himself and repeated it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He followed the footwork and took the first step again, sending him forward at a decent speed. But at the same time, he realized the reason for his stumbling and fall.


    ''Maintaining the posture isn''t exactly the best during the transition period between the steps.'' Lin Mu understood.


    -THUD-


    But when he tried to be a bit more ''flexible'' it only caused him to fall again.


    "Yeah, just being flexible with it isn''t gonna work." Lin Mu reckoned there were more things he''d need to try. -WHOOSH~


    He kept on trying the steps while doing slight modifications to it every time. He fell many times and kept on stumbling, but he was eventually figuring out how to do it without falling.


    Minute after minute passed, and Lin Mu had tried it over a hundred times before he finally managed to move without stumbling.


    ~WHOOSH~


    -STEP~


    "Huh, it worked." Lin Mu actually managed to move the next step without falling to the ground. ''I don''t have to keep the stance rigid, but I can''t be too loose either. It has to be a bnce in between. He now understood. This measure of bnce was not mentioned in the technique, since it wasn''t exact for each person. One would have to figure out their bnce point for their body, which would be dependant on factors like body weight, shape and what they were wielding at that moment.


    And this was all on top of following the Qi circuit for the footwork, which could easily get interrupted if one lost focus.


    Lin Mu continued practicing it further, to see just how many times he could repeat this.


    ~WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH-


    ~THUD-


    But soon he learned three steps were the limit with his current method, for he fell again.


    "Hmm... the stance changes again." Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he thought how to bnce this time.


    He got up and repeated the process again, changing the stance''s flexibility every time bit by bit until he achieved the next bnce.


    Lin Mu maintained this process for the subsequent steps too and fully engrossed himself in learning the footwork first.


    The hours turned into days rather fast, as Lin Mu practiced nonstop.


    Xukong would check in from time to time, but didn''t interfere as there was simply no need for it. Though he was certainly pleased that Lin Mu was understanding the technique without his suggestions or hints. "He figured out dividing the foot work and the cloud creation is the key to learning the technique quite fast. Looks like he won''t need that long to fully learn the footwork." Xukong muttered to himself as he observed Lin Mu working hard.

 Chapter 2269 Comprehending The Sky

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    2269 Comprehending The Sky


    Xukong watched as Lin Mu continued to practice while days continued to pass.


    He had thought that he would need to advise him more, but that time never came, as Lin Mu managed to learn it all on his own. Still, learning it was no simple thing and just the Footwork alone ended up taking Lin Mu an entire month to figure out!


    ~WHOOSH~


    -STEP-STEP-STEP-


    Lin Mu moved like fish in water, his every movement containing a fluidity that was seldom seen as his feet maneuvered on the ground of the Sleepscape. What was surprising was that his feet barely made contact with the ground before he had already moved.


    It was as if he was not walking on the ground, but rather a cloud floating in the sky.


    There were no abrupt changes in his stance or his steps, all of them seemed to be harmonized and were close to perfection.


    Every step carried Lin Mu at least a hundred meters, which was a major improvement from before.


    When he had started out, Lin Mu was stumbling and falling at even five meters. But now he could travel much farther without falling. And if he maintained his gait, he could repeat it tens of times before he would have to stop.


    -huu-


    "That was better." Lin Mu said as he came to a stop after making a circle of the Sleepscape.


    "You''ve certainly improved fast." Xukong praised.


    "I still haven''t fully learned it though." Lin Mu replied. "I''ve only grasped the footwork of the Cloud Dragon Stride and not the full technique." He stated.


    "That is still good progress." Xukong replied. "Most wouldn''t even memories the stances and the Qi circuit of the footwork in this time. And you''ve managed to not only do both but also apply them into your movements. Now all you have to do is to learn how to manifest the clouds." He exined.


    "That''s the hard part, though." Lin Mu said before looking up at the empty ''sky'' of the Sleepscape. "If I am to do that, though, it would be best to do it outside in the real world with proper clouds." He stated.


    "That''s true." Xukong nodded. "The best way to grasp a Dao is to immerse oneself in its presence. The Sky Dao is ever-present in the skies and yet not many can sense it. But you should also remember the Sky Dao isn''t just about the clouds." He reminded.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "The Sky Dao isposed of more things." Xukong replied. "What do you see in the sky?" he asked.


    "Hmm... Clouds, the sun, the moon, the stars..." Lin Mu answered.


    "And what do you ''not see'' in the sky?" Xukong asked.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he thought about it for a minute before speaking.


    "The air... The wind... the moisture... Dust?" Lin Mu answered.


    "Indeed. They are present in the sky, but cannot be seen by the eyes... at least not all the time." Xukong spoke. "As such if you want toprehend the Sky Dao, you have to sense all of these things... not just the clouds." He added.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu felt like he had obtained the missing aspect that had been stopping his progress.


    "Of course!" Lin Mu''s eyes lit up. "The Cloud Dragon Stride technique might only need one to manifest clouds, but it still needs one to grasp a fragment of the Sky Dao. But to sense the Sky Dao I need to sense all those things... I cannot do that here, but I can still focus on learning every aspect one by one." He stated.


    Lin Mu quickly understood that his method of dividing the technique into multiple parts could be applied here


    too. As such, instead of simply grasping the Sky Dao in its entirety, he couldprehend each part of it bit by bit.


    Among all the aspects, there were three that he couldprehend even now.


    "Air, Wind and Moisture." Lin Mu muttered. "These three are present here too and for Wind I''ve also learned the Bending Will Fists. Perhaps I can start off from there." He reckoned.


    The Bending Will Fists were a technique that had been made by the Storm King Shirong and were meant for a cultivator that didn''t have an affinity with wind. It would make an introduction for them into the Wind element and allow them to eventually grasp it.


    Lin Mu had fully learned the skill long ago, but that didn''t mean that he had ''mastered'' it.


    As such, he stood in a horse stance and began the fist routine of the Bending Will Fists. -SHUA-SHUA-SHUA-


    Each of his fists whipped up winds that spread in the area. Lin Mu executed punches with different force and direction, causing the winds to move in varying ways.


    ''I''ve to get a ''feel'' for the wind. I can make them move and twist with my fists, but that is not the same as what''s needed for me.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he continued to punch nonstop.


    His immortal sense was surrounding him in all directions, allowing him to finely sense the winds.


    The feeling of the wind was something everyone could feel. But it was not the same as grasping the wind itself.


    ''What is wind?'' Lin Mu questioned himself. Wind is simply air that is in motion...'' a chain of thoughts started in his mind.


    ''What is air?" He questioned next. ''Air is all the invisible particles that are spread around us... it can have impurities like dust, toxins and more... It can be pure and beneficial too...'' he continued to think more and


    more.


    The more Lin Mu thought, the closer he felt like he was getting to understanding it all.


    He had started from wind, and now he was thinking about air itself. But he realized that the air was also linked to other aspects like moisture and dust.


    From one concept, he had derived several others.


    Xukong watched him for a while before returning to the ring.


    ''He''ll be able to do it on his own. This part is something that''s fully on him anyway. I''ve already pointed him in the right direction.'' Xukong thought to himself, leaving Lin Mu to his devices.


    Lin Mu''s tamed beasts watched from afar, as he continued his practice. Immersing himself in it fully meant that the flow of time became vague to him and a week went by without a notice.


    ~Chirp~


    Ashy who had built a ratherrge nest on the Violet Mystic Life Tree, was watching too and was curious about what Lin Mu was doing.


    "How long will master be doing that?" She asked.


    "I don''t know." Little Shrubby replied, sitting on a branch next to her. "He can be training for a long time. I''ve seen him go on for over a year too." He added.


    "A year? Hmm... What''s he training for though?" Ashy asked.


    "He''s trying to learn about the Sky?" Little Shrubby recalled the discussion between Xukong and Lin Mu.This content belongs to N?/velDra/ma.Org .


    "The Sky? What''s there to learn about the sky?" Ashy titled her head. "The sky is the sky. You can fly in it and also hunt in it." She stated.


    As a bird, the Sky was basically home to Ashy. As such, her understanding of the sky was something that naturally came to her.


    The twins, who had also built a ''nest'' near Ashy, raised their heads. The duo had collected a lot of materials on their outings and used it to build a ''nest'' like Ashy.


    Though if one looked at the materials thatposed the nest, they would probably find it more like a pile of gems and bones instead. The bones were from the beasts that the twins had eaten, and the gems were gathered by them when they had gone wandering with Little Shrubby and Ashy in the Evergreen Pirs forest. With the twins'' sensing abilities, finding the gems was casy as they could see the Qi that was contained within them. And breaking rocks to obtain them was even easier.


    Ashy''s nest also had a few gems in it along with a few other shiny articles, but it was still a more ''traditional'' nest with plenty of branches, twigs, and leaves mixed in it.


    "Maybe you can help, master." Xiao Yin suddenly spoke.


    "Yes- Help him." Xiao Yang agreed.


    "Should I?" Ashy asked. "Won''t I be disturbing him?"


    "It''s fine." Little Shrubby replied. "He doesn''t mind when we talk to him." Having been with Lin Mu the longest,


    he knew him the best.


    "Okay-" Ashy said before diving from the nest.


    ~WHOOSH~


    She flew in a downward arc and quickly reached Lin Mu.


    -Chirp-


    She let out a soft chirp to let him know, and the man opened his eyes.


    "Ashy?" he spoke without stopping his punches.


    "You want to learn about the sky, right?" Ashy asked.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu replied.


    "I can teach you." She stated.

 Chapter 2270 Viewing Memories

    Chapter 2270 Viewing Memories


    Ashy''s words were surprising to Lin Mu as it was not something that he would think could be possible.


    After all, the bird was merely at the Dao Shell realm and was the weakest among his tamed beasts. It wasn''t even at the Dao Treading realm when one would start toprehend or at least touch upon the Dao.


    Thus it seemed beyond the realm of understanding.


    At least that was what Lin Mu thought initially.


    But he decided to try it out first.


    ''There''s no harm in it anyways.'' Lin Mu reckoned. He looked at Ashy''s tiny bead like eyes and spoke, "how will you do that?" he asked.


    "Do the thing you did when we formed the link!" Ashy replied.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was a bit surprised. "Bringing our consciousness closer?" he muttered.


    He had done this every time he had formed a bond with a beast and was one of the things they needed to do in order to tame the beasts.


    It was the same bond that allowed them tomunicate with him too. But what Ashy was talking about was much deeper than that.


    "Let''s try," Lin Mu said making Ashynd on his shoulder.


    ~Chirp~


    Ashy let out a little chirp before closing her eyes. Lin Mu did the same and his mind went to the bond he had in his sea of consciousness.


    The two were silent for a few minutes as their minds went deeper and deeper.


    Lin Mu could feel as if he was floating in a sea of nothingness. And yet, he didn''t feel lost.


    There was a beacon calling out to him, like a lighthouse beckoning to him. Lin Mu moved towards it and eventually reached it, finding it to be a small grey wisp. It blended in with the darkness of the nothingness, but still stood out once one was closer.


    The lighting from it was very faint, but to Lin Mu it was enough. He also knew what this was.


    ''Ashy''s soul¡­'' Lin Mu now knew having met the souls of his two swords before.


    It was a simr situation and condition, using a bond to reduce the distance between two souls and deepen the link.


    Lin Mu extended his hand towards the grey wisp knowing that it wouldn''t be able tomunicate on its own. After all unlike him and the two swords, the soul of Ashy was still quite weak.


    The bird was only at the Dao Shell realm.


    It was also why his soul was in the form of a mere wisp and not fully defined. Once it got stronger, it would eventually take a shape, allowing it tomunicate better two. But for Lin Mu, it wasn''t a problem as his own soul was strong and wouldn''t have a problem.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as his hand made contact with the grey wisp, a shiver went down his entire body. The same happened to Ashy and both trembled for a few seconds before stopping.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Then in the next second, Lin Mu felt a surge of memories filling his mind.


    These had no order to them and seemed random, as if one had torn up hundreds of books and mixed in their pages. There seemed to be no link between them and the they were filling in randomly.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but furrow his brow as he saw these memories.


    ''I suppose this should''ve been expected.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Considering her cultivation base, Ashy''s transmission of memories through her souls will be a bit chaotic.'' He understood. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    But he didn''t get discouraged, as he knew he could sort through them.


    He already had an inkling of what he needed to do, and his experience with Ocean Raker and Afternoon Pine was helping a lot.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s consciousness seemingly limited the memories that could enter it, as if a gate had been created.


    Instead of all the memories surging at once, only a single memory could enter it instead. The memory was about Ashy building her nest on the Violet Mystic Life Tree, which showed that it was a very recent one.


    ''Much better.'' Lin Mu thought as he read the memory and then ced it in a spot.


    ~SHUA~


    The gate opened again and another memory entered. Drastically different to the previous memory, this was about the time when Ashy was very young. Perhaps only being less than ten years old. Her cultivation base was also very low, being at the Early stage of the Qi Refining realm.


    ''I thought she lost these memories¡­ guess they were still present in her soul.'' Lin Mu knew that many beasts would not have all of their memories.


    They would often only remember properly once they developed a significant part of their intelligence. ''Does she have all the old memories, or only a part of them?'' Lin Mu wondered as he put the memory in another spot.


    ~SHUA~


    The third memory entered that was a bit further in the timeline as could be seen by Ashy''s age in it. She was now of a higher cultivation base and was at the Core Condensation realm. Lin Mu ced it in another slot before moving onto the fourth memory. He repeated this process for each memory, trying to make a rough time line. Each progressive memory was ced in an order, while those that were a bit vague were set aside temporarily. Only when Lin Mu found the right section for it would he add them to the timeline.


    On their own, the memories were quite short, some onlysting a few seconds. But once they started to add up, Lin Mu could view them in better depth. Not only did they became more ''clear'' Lin Mu could also ''sense'' a lot more from them.


    It was like a puzzle to Lin Mu and he did it for several days without stopping. It wasn''t until five days that he finally created a significantlyrge set of memories that were in order.

 Chapter 2271 Long Assembly

    Chapter 2271 Long Assembly


    ~huu~


    "I suppose I should view them now." Lin Mu said to himself as he nced at thergest memory set.


    It was a memory that extended for several hours and was thergest memory that he had assembled so far. The secondrgest memory set that he had assembled was barely half an hour long.


    It showed just how many memories there were and how many had arrived to be assembled in the same chronological unit.


    ~HONGLONG~ Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu touched the memory, as it brought him in the position of Ashy.


    ~Chirp~


    He felt as if he was the bird and was hunting for bugs in an orange evening. ~WHOOSH~


    The bird jumped off the side of a tree branch, falling for a few meters before soaring back up with her wings pping. The bird''s eyes darted around, as she searched for any movement and soon spotted some nearby.


    ~FLAP~ FLAP~


    Then with a couple fast ps, she sped up.


    ~CHIRP~


    She let out a joyful chirp as a tiny gnat was caught between her beak.


    She swallowed the gnat and looked at the swarm of hundreds that were waiting to fill her belly. With excitement filling her being, the bird flew fanatically; her beak snapping tens of times, eating as many gnats as she could.


    And once her belly was full, she returned to her small nest to rest.


    Lin Mu felt every sensation in this, the feeling of the wind in her feathers, the weight of her body as she dived down, and the excitement of seeing prey.


    The joy of hunting as well as the pleasure of having a full belly.


    It was a surreal experience and Lin Mu didn''t know how to fully describe it. There were no words spoken and the thoughts of the bird were quite vague. It was simr to how someone would describe something with a single word instead of a proper sentence.


    Instead of ''I want to eat'' all that was thought was ''eat''.


    It was a rather simplified form of thoughts, that Lin Mu didn''t even know was possible.


    After all, he was a human and even as an infant they had moreplex thoughts than what a beast would.


    But it also gave him a new perspective.


    For without thoughts, other sensations became intense.


    After a few hours, the memory came to an end, allowing Lin Mu to return to the memory library that he had made.


    ''This is it¡­'' Lin Mu now thought. ''If I can assemble several of these memories, I might just be able to gain an understanding of the Sky.'' He reckoned.


    Ashy might have a low cultivation base, but she was a bird that had been flying since she was just a few days old. Her experience was deep and flying in the sky was something that was ingrained into her very being.


    Birds were made for the skies and even if they did not have and understanding of the Sky Dao, they very well knew what the ''Sky'' was.


    With that goal in mind, Lin Mu started working on the memories again.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    One after the other memories appeared through the gate, which were quickly viewed and put in a suitable spot. The more Lin Mu viewed them, the faster he got until eventually he could view multiple memories at once.


    It was something that would be impossible for a normal human, as it was the same as reading multiple books at once. But for an Immortal like Lin Mu who was used to processing multiple things in his mind at once, this became easy. He might have been doing it one at a time at the start, but now that he knew not to make a mistake, he could do more.


    ~SHAU~SHUA~SHUA~


    The memories continued to enter through the gate and Lin Mu sorted through them rapidly. It reached a point where the gate never ''closed'' and the memories continued to walk in like a queue.


    This queue sped up, until it turned into a ''stream'' that flowed steadily.


    Lin Mu''s mind continued to view and scan through the memories, assembling them ording to chronology.


    Days passed like this, as the memories were being assembled. After all, Ashy had over three hundred years worth of memories.


    It was not something that would be finished in a short time. Even with Lin Mu''s rapid pace of assembling them, it still ended up taking him over two weeks before he was done with what he felt was enough.


    ~huu~


    "This might just be enough, if I''m lucky." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    He had assembled over one hundred and eightrge memory sets, each of which was at least five hours at the shortest.


    And if hebined them all, the memories would span at least a year total!


    It was of course a very short period whenpared to the entire lifespan that the bird had lived, but it wasposed of just the ''right'' kind of memories that Lin Mu wished to see.


    They were all rted to flying and being in the sky, as such Lin Mu would get the best experience in it all.


    He hoped that this would allow him to pry into the secrets of the Sky Dao.


    "No use waiting¡­" Lin Mu said as he ced his hand on the extremelyrge memory set.


    ~HUALA~


    His mind was pulled into it as he assumed the identity of the bird once more.


    Ashy was flying through the sky and a strong wind was currently blowing. The bird was having a hard time flying to where she wished to go, and yet she didn''t falter.


    She simply pped harder and harder until she could match the wind.


    The memorysted a while before switching to another where Ashy was flying in even worse conditions.


    A storm was raging and the bird was flying in it despite the danger.


    Lin Mu viewed hundreds of such conditions, and with each one, he got a step closer to his goal.

 Chapter 2272 Six Months In Sleepscape

    Chapter 2272 Six Months In Sleepscape


    Lin Mu didn''t know how many days he had been flying. It could have been months or perhaps even an entire year. But he knew that the act was now feeling natural to him. ''It''s almost as if I have wings myself¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    As an Immortal, he had been flying for a long time too, but it was never in the way that a bird flew. Cultivators flew in the air by the means of controlling the Qi within their bodies and the ambient around them.


    Usually they pushed and pulled, the ambient Qi allowing them to move through it.


    In a way it was simr to how someone swam in the water. If there was no ambient Qi in the surroundings, a cultivator would have a hard time flying but they still could. The difference would be that they would have to use the Qi within their bodies to fly.


    They would have to continually expel the Qi in their bodies in order to fly.


    This method was exhausting and could easily deplete their Qi. But for a bird, it didn''t matter if there was ambient Qi in the air or not. It could simply p its wings and fly in the air. As such, it got a ''true'' understanding of the Sky and the Air.


    By living through Ashy''s memories and going through various conditions, Lin Mu understood how it was to truly fly as well as what the Sky was like.


    Every feeling was thoroughly imbued in him, as if his very own instincts had been expanded.


    ~SHUA~


    Finally, he reached the end of the memories and returned to the memory library he had made.


    ~huu~


    He took a deep breath and nced at the gate that was still filling with memories.


    "This will be enough." Lin Mu had an inkling that this was the farthest he could get by living through other''s memories. ~SHUA~


    With that in mind, he canceled his current state as everything started to fade away. Lin Mu''s consciousness returned to his body, making him open his eyes in the Sleepscape.


    He turned his head to the left, and nced at the bird that was fast asleep on his shoulder.


    The tiny bird''s eyes were closed and seemed to be deep in sleep.


    "To think you''d actually maintain that state for over three months." Xukong''s voice was heard, making Lin Mu look up.


    The spider was floating a short distance from him and had possibly been watching him for a while.


    "Three months?" Lin Mu muttered hearing the period. "Shorter than I expected." To him the time experienced was much longer.


    "Well you were in your mind. The time experienced by you will always be a lot different." Xukong replied. "Though to maintain that link for so long¡­ You improved." He added.


    "Ah yeah¡­ I had practice." Lin Mu replied. "With the awakening and growth of Ocean Raker and Afternoon Pine, it gave me an idea of how to do it." He exined.


    "Oh?" Xukong had been deep in cultivation back then, thus didn''t know that Lin Mu had experienced that.


    Plus he hadn''t gone that far in his memories either, as such there was no way for him to know at the moment.


    "Yeah. I got to see their spirits." Lin Mu replied. "And I also saw their memories. Its how I learned more about the Spatial ne." He exined. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "I see¡­ Looks like there''s more things we''ll have to talk aboutter." Xukong replied. "But for now I think it might be necessary for you to check outside." He added.


    "Ah yes!" Lin Mu calcted and realized it had now been six months since he had started training in the Sleepscape. "Wait¡­ did they not contact me?" he wondered.


    "So far there have been no attempts." Xukong replied. "I didn''t sense anyone around your room either." He added.


    "Strange¡­ it has been six months, there should have been a few changes at least." Lin Mu muttered. "I guess I''ll just have to check in myself." He said before picking up Ashy from his shoulders.


    He then flew to the nest she had made on the Violet Mystic Life Tree and ced her there.


    "She''ll be asleep for a while now." Xukong informed him. "While there is no harm to her, it would have certainly exhausted her quite a bit." He exined.


    "I hadn''t expected that the link wouldst that long. I was simply trying to see how far I could go." Lin Mu replied. "I had always expected that she would be the link that would break first." He stated.


    "Your previous experience seems to havepensated for that. Plus it will bring certain benefits to her too." Xukong responded.


    "Benefits?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "Like what?" he asked.


    "Well that''s hard to say, but there''s one thing for sure. Her link to you will deepen even further and as such her growth will improve." Xukong answered.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu knew that while the Beast Qi had improved Ashy''s bloodline, her own cultivation base hadn''t improved as fast.


    He had been thinking that it was a side effect of the mutation that her bloodline had gone through. There were some bloodlines that were strong, but also proved hard to cultivate with at times.


    Of course, it had only been a short time since she had improved her bloodlinepared to her age, thus it wasn''t exactly a long period. Most beasts would take hundreds of years to cultivate anyways and often extended to thousands, thus it was nothing out of the ordinary.


    It was actually Little Shrubby and the twins that were the greatest outliers to it all, having reached immortal realm faster than almost all beasts. Thinking about them though, Lin Mu realized they weren''t here.


    "Where''s the three?" Lin Mu asked seeing that they weren''t on the tree.


    All his beast seemed to have taken a liking to the Violet Mystic Life tree and were usually staying there when they were in the Sleepscape. But he couldn''t spot them anywhere on the tree.


    "They''re cooking something." Xukong replied. "Went to the other side of the Sleepscape so that they wouldn''t disturb you." He revealed.


    "Ah!" Lin Mu extended his immortal sense and quickly found the trio cooking.


    It was mostly Little Shrubby cooking, while the twins assisted him. "They got bored and wanted to eat food, but you were still in the memories so Little Shrubby did it instead." Xukong exined.


    "No wonder." Lin Mu muttered. "Well, it''s fine for them to do that. I''ll go take a look outside first while they continue." He said knowing that it was important to do that first.


    "Alright." Xukong replied, before Lin Mu departed from the Sleepscape.


    He opened his eyes in the real world and roused from the bed.


    ~step~ step~


    "Huh¡­ Feels weird to walk." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    His legs felt a bit strange to him, as if he had lost the habit of using them.


    ''Is this due to being in Ashy''s memories for that long?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He was sure that it wasn''t due to being immobile, as he had done that for longer periods in the past. For years in a row, thus it shouldn''t have been an issue now.


    Thus the only factor that was left was him being in the memories.


    "Looks like being in the form of another body for that long affected me." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "Now that I think of it, I had flown in the Sleepscape upon waking, and didn''t walk." It had been done instinctively by him too.


    Thinking about it all now, Lin Mu became a bit wary of doing it.


    ''While it did allow me to get an understanding of the Sky, it also does affects me in other ways.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He understood that being in different body forms might not be the most ideal thing to do for long periods of time.


    But after he walked around the room for a bit, his body''s natural instincts returned and he felt normal using it again.


    "That''s better." Lin Mu was pleased that it was normal so quickly. "Perhaps its not that bad. I''ll just be more careful next time." He reckoned taking breaks in between might be the better option, instead of doing it nonstop like he had for three months this time.


    With that sorted, Lin Mu walked out of the room and looked for hispanions. A single sweep with his immortal sense told him where everyone was, making him go to the meeting hall where the closest individuals were.


    In there, the Crown Prince seemed to be present along with Qiao De. The others such as Crown Princess Shang, Daoist Chu, Monk Hushu and Lady Kang were in their rooms. Lady Kang''s two attendants were in their rooms too, cultivating. As for Ziran, Lin Mu found him to be outside the base near the formations.

 Chapter 2273 Marooned On The Death Qi Sea

    Chapter 2273 Marooned On The Death Qi Sea


    Lin Mu was curious as to why Ziran was outside, but decided to talk to the Crown Prince and Qiao De first.


    ~step~step~step~


    His steps caught the attention of the two men who had been looking intently at the map above them.


    "Daoist Mu Lin?" Crown Prince Feng Shun saw him.


    "You came out of seclusion," Qiao De spoke. "I supposed it was time to check in how things are going." Lin Mu replied as he came to stand next to them. "Hmm¡­ the map seems a lot different than before." He said.


    "Indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded his head as he looked back up. "Its less of map and more of an inkblot now." Lin Mu could see the simrity as the map looked like arge inkblot. None of the areas except the mountain base could be seen on the map. They all had been consumed by the Death Qi and had been fully obscured. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Theyer was simply too thick and as such the map''s formation couldn''t scan anything at all. The fact that they were still functioning now was a miracle in the first ce.


    "I had hoped that the Death Qi would have decreased by this time, but seems like I was wrong." Lin Mu said feeling disappointed.


    "Yeah, it''s been bad." Qiao De agreed. "I should get you up to speed." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before taking out a jade slip and holding it in the air.


    ~SHUA~


    The jade slip released a formation screen that linked up with the map and disyed a few images.


    The images were of the same map, but in each image, there were vast difference.


    "Is this the progression you recorded?" Lin Mu could tell from seeing them.


    "Yes." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "As you can see in the first image, the outer areas on the map could be seen clearly when the Death Qi had spread." He pointed.


    Lin Mu watched it clearly, seeing the irregr borders.


    "This was till the end of the first month, after which the Death Qi spread farther." Crown Prince pointed to the second image. "The Death Qi was still a bit vague back then, as some of the things like the mountains and hills could be made out even with the it covering the area. But as time went by, the Death Qi only got denser until they could no longer be seen." He said, moving onto the third image.


    Lin Mu nced at the fourth, fifth and sixth image that all looked almost the same. Only a few minor excursions could be seen along the outer edge of the map.


    "Looks like this won''t be stopping anytime soon." Lin Mu spoke after seeing all the images.


    "Quite likely." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "As you said, the Death Qi would eventually disperse after being absorbed by that Chimera Seed. But perhaps the amount of Death Qi in this Spatial ne was exponentially higher than we originally thought.


    We wished to see what the progress of the Chimeric Seed was but had no luck."


    "I''ve used some of my tools to measure and analyze things, but they all failed due to the sheer potency of the Death Qi." Qiao De added. "We all have used several methods to see how far this Death Qi ''sea'' extends to but we''ve been unlucky so far." Crown Prince Feng Shun chimed in. "Our tools aren''t made to handle Death Qi of this level."


    "What about skills?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "That''s what we did after learning about the limitations." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "But while some of our skills are effective against the Death Qi, it is only up to a certain limit. So far only Monk Hushu''s Buddhist Skills, my Lightning Skills and Lady Kang''s unique skills have worked on it. But the effectiveness is quite limited and we cannot learn what is beyond a hundred kilometers. Considering where the Chimeric Seed was ''released'' the area is at least five hundred kilometer away." He exined.


    "And that''s if the seed is still were we opened it." Qiao De spoke. "We don''t know if it would have moved." "That''s indeed a problem." Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "What about Ziran?" he asked, remembering the man was outside.


    "Since we all failed, Ziran thought of another method. He wasn''t sure about its effectiveness though so is figuring things out right now." Crown Prince Feng Shun informed. "What method is it?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "We don''t exactly know, but it is something to do with the race of elves." Qiao De answered.


    "I see." Lin Mu replied thinking that he''ll just have to talk to the man himself.


    "Perhaps you can understand it better." Crown Prince Feng Shun suggested.


    "Yeah, I''ll do that." Lin Mu nodded before turning around. "Once you do, you should also talk to Lady Kang." Crown Prince Feng Shun suddenly said. "She told me to inform you once you were out."


    "Huh? She could have just done it herself." Lin Mu was surprised.


    "I reckon she didn''t want to disturb you in your seclusion." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Alright." Lin Mu didn''t know what she wanted to talk to him about, but decided to talk to herter himself.


    With that done, Lin Mu walked out of the base and arrived in the outer area. ~huu~


    Taking a breath, Lin Mu felt the faint bitterness on his tongue.


    "Even the air has changed¡­" Lin Mu wondered if this was due to his year long stay as a ''bird''. "The Death Qi is darker than the night sky now." He muttered looking up.


    Nothing could be seen above and if not for the Formations illuminating the base, he wouldn''t have been able to see anything around him either. Unlike the night sky, there were no moons or stars in the sky either, making one feel uneasy.


    ncing at the sky for a few seconds Lin Mu let out a sigh and moved towards Ziran''s location.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu jumped into the air andnded direction onto the side of the mountain. There was a cliff that jutted outwards and was next to the very edge of the base. The half elf was sitting here with his eyes closed and was facing the outside.


    "Daoist Mu Lin," Ziran''s voice could be heard. "How''s it going?" Lin Mu inquired seeing the listless expression on the man''s face.


    ~Sigh~


    The man''s sigh gave Lin Mu all the answers he needed for that question.


    "That bad, huh¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    "Mmhmm, I''ve tried several things but nothing works in seeing past this sea of Death Qi." Ziran spoke. "We are marooned on this tiny ind now." "Even that elven method Crown Prince Feng Shun told me about?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Even that." Ziran nodded. "Though that may have to do with my own ipetence." He added in a self depreciating tone.


    "Why so?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected such an answer from the man.


    Ziran seemed to have a decentposure at all times and wore a robe of optimism on it. But now it felt like he had let go of it.


    "I''ve been an explorer for thousands of years and have faced many dangers. I''ve unearthed mysteries and lost secrets, and yet I''ve never failed as bad as this." Ziran replied. "Even when I was caught as a ve in the Demonic world, I still managed to get out of it¡­ even got a wife and a few hundred kids from it." He chuckled.


    Lin Mu listened to the man''s words and realized that he was simply in a state of loss.


    "If you''ve managed to get through all that, why give up now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I''m not giving up." Ziran shook his head. "I''m simply disappointed that I didn''t umte enough methods to get out of this situation." He stated.


    "Ah," Now this was something Lin Mu could understand quite well.


    He too was someone that liked to be prepared for a lot of situations, especially after having read the memoirs of the Lost Immortal all these years. The Lost Immortal was a man with the Broken Fate Physique and could be considered one of the most unlucky people in the universe.


    And yet the man had ovee odds that should have killed him a thousand times over.


    The only way the man had achieved it was through his wits, resourcefulness and unyielding will.


    Lin Mu had learned a lot from the man and knew that among all the resourcefulness was quite necessary.


    As even with the strongest of wills and cleverest of wits, one would still need a tool to open a door with no keyhole.


    "Haha." Lin Mu suddenlyughed, making Ziran look at the man.


    "What is it?" Ziran asked.


    "Well you haven''t failed." Lin Mu replied. "You simply forgot to see all the resources you had." He added.


    "What resources?" The half elf asked.


    "Mine." Lin Mu stated with a smile.

 Chapter 2274 Zirans Disappointment

    Chapter 2274 Ziran''s Disappointment


    Lin Mu''s words were a bit of a surprise to the man but soon his eyes went wide in realization.


    "Of course, I was so upied in this, I forgot I have others to help with." Ziran replied. He had mostly been exploring the worlds alone, as such didn''t really have that option. And when he did have others with him, they were seldom capable of helping him anyways. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    As such, he had mostly been limited to his own capabilities and all that he had learned.


    "So what would you propose, Daoist Mu Lin?" Ziran asked.


    "Well, let''s start with what you were doing. Some elven method?" Lin Mu asked first.


    "Yes, the method is more specifically a Dark elf technique that allows us to look through all kinds of darkness." Ziran replied. "All kinds? Even the Death Qi?" Lin Mu was a bit doubtful.


    "Even that." Ziran nodded. "I''ve been told of it even being capable of looking through the very darkness of the void. Though perhaps it is something that needs more than just the bloodline of a Dark Elf." He exined.


    "That is certainly quite strong." Lin Mu could see the power of the skill as looking through the void was something most immortals found difficult if not impossible.


    One needed Spatial Perception in order to be able to do it properly, otherwise Immortal sense was the only other way of sensing things there. But that limited one''s perception to the range their Immortal Sense extended in and only to the objects within it.


    And even then, using Immortal Sense was not the safest option either, as stray wisps of Spatial energy could very easily shred their immortal sense and damage the immortal as well.


    Unless these Spatial Energy wisps were concentrated enough, one wouldn''t even be able to see them normally. And if their immortal sense met it, it would already be toote.


    "What is the skill called?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It''s called as Eyes of the Underdark and is something most elves should be able to use it since it is linked to their bloodline. Though it does take a while to learn it." Ziran exined further.


    "So I reckon you''ve learned it?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "I did¡­ Except I wasn''t really good at it." Ziran replied. "While I can use it in normal darkness and a few illusory arrays, it does not extend beyond that. I''ve been trying to improve my control over the skill, but looks like I''ve hit a limitation." He exined.


    "A bloodline limitation." Lin Mu could already guess.


    "Indeed. As you know I am a half elf, but only a quarter dark elf. As such, the bloodline skill seems to have hit a bottleneck." Ziran stated. "Perhaps even an upper limit."


    "Hmm¡­ that is indeed aplex problem." Lin Mu replied knowing that problems of Bloodline weren''t easy to solve.


    This was often the case with people or creatures with multiple bloodlines and wasmonly called as bloodline dilution. It was why it was preferred to have a pure bloodline.


    It was very rare for beasts like Little Shrubby to have ess to multiple bloodline abilities as it often needed the bloodlines to be in a certain bnce.


    In Ziran''s case, his bloodline was divided into three being that of Wood Elf, Dark Elf and Human. And due to this, he didn''t get the elemental affinities of darkness and shadows that the Dark elves could have. But he did manage to get the Wood elemental affinity that the Wood Elves had.


    "My mother was a Half Dark elf and still managed to use the Eyes of the Underdark to its full potential thus I had hoped that it would not have limited me. But looks like it really has¡­" Ziran spoke.


    "Hmm¡­ Is there any other method one can use to improve the progression of the skill?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that bloodlines could very well be strengthened or amplified in certain ways.


    "There is¡­ though I don''t think it is something possible for us." Ziran answered. "Eyes of the Underdark was originally a skill that was created by the Dark Elves as a necessity because of the environment they lived in.


    It was actually simr to what we''re facing right now." He exined.


    "Oh? There was Death Qi there too?" Lin Mu asked feeling curious.


    "There might be, but the original records state there was a lot of Death Mana in the ancestralnds of the Dark Elves. They lived deep underground and as such, the dead souls and lingering resentment of dead would seep down, eventually affecting the ambient mana and transforming it into Death Mana." Ziran answered.


    "So the method is rted to the ancestralnd of the Dark Elves?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Indeed." Ziran nodded. "Such environment gave birth to various kinds of nts and animals, among which was a special kind of fungus. It was called as the Moonless Fungus and its juice when applied into the eyes of the Dark Elves could greatly assist in learning the Eyes of the Underdark." He exined.


    Hearing the name, Lin Mu could actually recognize it. But the problem was, he certainly didn''t have the Moonless Fungus with him. ''Doesn''t seem like that method will work.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. But it was now that he heard a voice in his mind.


    "He merely needs a little pressure." Xukong spoke.


    "Huh? Pressure?" Lin Mu was surprised by Xukong''s suggestion. "In what way?"


    "Something that would force his Dark Elf Bloodline to act out." Xukong replied. "If he tries to improve the skill with that pressure, he''ll surely improve. He''s a quarter Dark Elf, that''s already more than enough to learn all innate skills of that race. I''ve seen people with less than five percent bloodline manage to learn Bloodline Skills." He exined.


    Hearing that Lin Mu had a look of intrigue on his face.


    "Should I use the bloodline aura of the Great Slumber Bear for that?" Lin Mu asked wondering if that might work.

 Chapter 2275 Stimulating Eyes

    Chapter 2275 Stimting Eyes


    Using bloodline aura was a method that was often used by beast to keep other beasts in check.


    They would use their bloodlines to suppress weaker beasts, as a method of domination. But when a beast or creature had a sufficiently strong will, they could resist this suppression and might even be able to oppose it.


    If they were sessful, there was a chance they might even be able to improve their bloodline.


    It was a method of purification through raw pressures.


    But much to Lin Mu''s surprise, he received a different answer.


    "No." Xukong stated.


    "It won''t work?" Lin Mu wondered what was the reason.


    "Yes, it won''t." Xukong confirmed. "While the Bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear is strong, you''re forgetting it is inherently a beast bloodline. The Dark Elf Bloodline is a humanoid bloodline and wouldn''t respond in the same way to it as other beast bloodlines would. Of course, it would try to resist it too, but it wouldn''t stimte it." He exined.


    "Then what kind of pressure should I use?" Lin Mu asked.


    "One that you are more used to. One that can be applicable to everyone regardless of race." Xukong replied. "Pressure of death, a threat to life." He stated.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu got the idea of what he was supposed to do, but was hesitant.


    "Using ughter Aura for that¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "You don''t have to go for that right away. You try something a bit ''lighter''." Xukong suggested. "For example, your sword intent itself." He added.


    "True¡­ That should be more reasonable." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He knew just how pressured everyone had felt when he had progressed in his Sword Intent. With the guidance from Xukong, Lin Mu was now ready to try it out.


    "I think I can help you improve in another way Ziran." Lin Mu said, before giving him a gist of what he intended to do.


    Ziran''s eyes went wide hearing it, as it was a bit severe.


    "Hmm, it might just work." But Ziran was not one to back down from something like that.


    "If you agree, we can try." Lin Mu replied.


    "Of course." Ziran answered. "We''ll be facing far worse threats anyway." He stated.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said as he stimted the Sword Intent within him. "Get ready," he said as a sharp energy started to exude from it.


    Ziran instantly felt it and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. Even if his cultivation base was higher than Lin Mu, he could already tell that the threat he was facing was of an equal if not higher level. And this was only going to get stronger, as soon his entire body was covered with goosebumps.


    ~HUALA~


    Lin Mu''s eyes turned sharp as if swords were threating to jump out of them at any moment. If anyone were to look at Lin Mu at this moment, they would find their hearts beating wildly and make them avert their eyes.


    But Ziran held on, watching without looking away. If he wished to improve his Eyes of the Underdark, he needed the pressure to be directed exactly to his eyes.


    But as he continued to watch, the pressure turned his eyes red. His long nted eyes that gave away a hint of his Elven heritage were now tense, as veins started to pop up in them. A couple minutester, his eyes had turned blood shot. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Five minutester, they were watering and tears continue to train down the side of his eyes.


    And yet, he didn''t look away. He didn''t even blink!


    Ziran could tell that the method was working or was close to working, as he was feeling the change in his eyes.


    The Eyes of the Underdark bloodline skill was active at this moment, and Ziran was not only looking at Lin Mu, but also beyond him. In the dark shroud of Death Qi, Ziran was unable to see anything at first, but now he realized that the shroud was getting seemingly lighter.


    The shade had changed by only a couple of tones, and the wall of death Qi around them was still darker than the night. But it was still an improvement from before.


    This was already more progress than he had for thest couple months. And Ziran had a hunch that this was not the limit either.


    He continue to endure Lin Mu''s Sword Intent as it continued to increase. Ten minutes passed like this, by which drops of blood were leaking out of his eyes!


    Lin Mu was concerned about this, but wouldn''t disrespect the man by simply stopping right now. Until the man said so himself, he would do what he had acquiesced to do.


    "I''ll take it up another level." Lin Mu warned. "Get ready!" he said out loud.


    Ziran could only nod before he saw Lin Mu''s lips move.


    Unknown words came out of Lin Mu''s mouth, hearing which made Ziran''s ears go numb.


    Strange chants were uttered by Lin Mu, that made his own eyes still down further. A few secondster, it was as if an army of swords was raging in Lin Mu''s eyes while his body let out a pir of sword intent!


    ~HONGLONG~


    The pir of sword intent directly reached the limits of the mountain base''s barrier.


    If not for the fact that Lin Mu was controlling it to not harm anything, it might have already broken through a fewyers of the barrier.


    The sharpness of the Sword Intent was impable since it was at the the Peak level!


    At this stage, only a sliver of it would be enough to cut off the heads of Immortals if they were careless.


    Even looking at it without defenses was dangerous as could be seen from the lines of blood that were now trailing down Ziran''s eyes.


    But as the blood continue to trickle down his eyes, his vision only got clearer.


    With each drop gone, it got better and better, until finally nothing clouded his vision!

 Chapter 2276 Discovery And Bloodline Improvement

    Chapter 2276 Discovery And Bloodline Improvement


    Ziran was feeling a sensation he had not felt for a very long time.


    The blood within his body was pumping rapidly while his eyes continued to bleed. And yet, he felt no pain. Instead, it felt rather refreshing to him, as if impurities were being cleared out.


    "I can see it!" Ziran finally eximed. "I can see it all!" ~SHUA~


    Hearing that, Lin Mu quickly withdrew the Sword Intent. Now that Ziran had reached the level he needed to, keeping the pressure on him might just harm him further.


    And sure enough, once step pressure was lifted, Ziran could breathe better and took a proper look around.


    He saw the endless pressures that extended to the very limit of his vision as well as thend that had been tainted by the Death Qi. No chimeric beasts could be seen and nor were there any remains, as they had all been destroyed by the Death Qi.


    But in all this, he realized something.


    "The Death Qi¡­ it''s not being released anymore." Ziran revealed.


    "It''s not?" Lin Mu was surprised. "No¡­ the fissures no longer release the Death Qi. I can''t see any geysers either." Ziran replied. "The Death Qi that we''re seeing is merely the one that is lingering." He added.


    "I see¡­ that''s good then. It means that the Death Qi might finally start dissipating from this point onwards." Lin Mu said feeling relieved. "What about the Chimeric seed?" he asked next.


    "I can''t see it." Ziran shook his head. "Is it too far?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "No, I would have been able to see it. The Bridge ne is t, so my vision can extend past way more than it would on a spherical world." Ziran replied. "Plus Eyes of the Underdark enhance the range of vision too, so I would definitely see something that stands out in the Death Qi." He stated.


    "Ah yeah, the Chimeric Qi is different than Death Qi after all." Lin Mu nodded his head. "But you can''t see it?" "No¡­ though." Ziran narrowed his eyes slightly. "The ce where the Chimeric Seed was released¡­ I can definitely see a crater there." He added.


    Lin Mu rubbed his beard that had grown in these six months, hearing that.


    "The Chimeric Seed probably sank down. Don''t forget it is supposed to grow into a Chimeric nt." Xukong reminded him.


    "Of course." Lin Mu noddy his head in understanding.


    "Wait! I see something more." Ziran suddenly added.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It''s¡­ A river?" Ziran said in surprise.


    "A river? What kind and where is it evening from?" Lin Mu was sure there was no river in that direction.


    "It''sing from far in the direction of the crater but its water is utterly ck." Ziran answered.


    "Hmm¡­ Perhaps the Chimeric Seed is deep in the ground now. That crater is now the lowest point so a river probably started to flow somehow." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    "Perhaps." Ziran said before trembling. "Ugh¡­" He closed his eyes and held his forehead that was now aching.


    "Are you okay?" Lin Mu asked in concern.


    Ziran didn''t reply right away, and instead took out a small sulent leaf that he quickly chewed. ~huu~


    After having eaten that, he let out a breath of relief.


    "Mother was right¡­ The better the Eyes of the Underdark the stronger the headache." Ziran said wiping away the trails of blood on his face. "Will you be fine?" Lin Mu asked. "Yeah, I took some medicine." Ziran nodded his head, finally opening his eyes.


    Seeing his eyes though, Lin Mu was surprised. "Your eyes¡­ They''ve changed¡­" Lin Mu informed.


    "Huh?" Ziran took out a mirror and nced at himself, finding that his eyes were no longer the same as before.


    They originally used to be a light brown color, but now had a red color around outer edge.


    "Is it due to the skill?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that some Bloodline Skills could indeed bring about changes.


    "Yeah, though I didn''t expect it to reflect this way." Ziran replied. "It actually changed my eyes to match my Dark Elven bloodline." He added.


    "Dark elves have red eyes?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Several of them do yes." Ziran nodded his head. "I should''ve had them from the start, but since Wood Elves have brown eyes and humans can also have brown eyes, my Dark Elven eye color was probably suppressed." He exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu was interested in hearing that.


    Ziran looks at his eyes for a good minute before finally putting the mirror away.


    "Looks like I''ll have to pay mother a visit. She always wondered what I''d look like if I had eyes like her." Ziran muttered. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Of course, you can." Lin Mu said. "But first we have to get out of here."


    "Haha, yes." Ziran chuckled. "Which seems a lot more hopeful now." He added.


    Since the Death Qi geysers were no longer being released it meant that the dissipation rate of the Qi would finally be greater.


    "Did you see the Death Qi being absorbed anywhere?" Lin Mu asked thinking of the Chimeric Seed.


    "Strangely enough, no." Ziran shook his head. "Isn''t the Chimeric Seed supposed to absorb all kinds of energies?" He asked.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Perhaps there''s more to it than we know." "Could be," Ziran knew that this was all too unknown to them, thus they''ll just have to see it all with their own two eyes. "We should probably go inform the others first."


    "Yes." Lin Mu agreed and the two quickly returned to the base.


    And much to their convenience, everyone was already gathered in the meeting hall.


    "Oh, you all are here." Ziran had thought that they''d have to call everyone first.


    "How could we not, when the rm rang?" Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "Ah¡­" Lin Mu then understood what probably happened.


    "The sword intent was quite strong." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "Almost made me think we were being attacked." He stated.

 Chapter 2277 A Short Gathering

    Chapter 2277 A Short Gathering


    Lin Mu and Ziran eased the group''s concerns and exined what had happened.


    The two also told them about their discovery of the Death Qi geysers being stopped as well as the crater with the river flowing into it.


    After hearing it all, the group was a bit surprised but was pleased, nheless.


    "If no more Death Qi is being added to the area, it might eventually dissipate. But we still cannot go out in such density." Crown Prince Feng Shun was the first to speak.


    "Indeed. It would be far too risky when we cannot see much." Elder Hu was in agreement.


    "Can your skill be used continually?" Daoist Chu asked Ziran. "At the level needed to see through the Death Qi? Not for long." Ziran shook his head.


    "Hmm. Then its best we stay in here till it''s a more opportune time." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Yes, it does seem like the better idea." Lin Mu replied. "We can prepare better for it too now." He added.


    The group discussed a bit more about what they should do, as well as all they had done in this time. "Ah yeah, I think I''ll have the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus seeds soon enough." Crown Princess Shang informed.


    "Oh? Has the seed pod developed?" Lady Kang asked.


    "The petals have all fallen off, and the peduncle has erged. It shouldn''t be more than three months before the seed pod has fully developed." Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "Huh, that''s pretty fast." Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "Don''t most immortal nts take longer to grow seeds?" he asked.


    "They usually do, but the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus is a bit different." Crown Princess Shang replied. "It''s actually one of the reasons why most have been unable to find its seeds. The seed pod develops quite fast and then falls off. This,bined with the rarity of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus makes it incredibly difficult toe across them in the first ce.


    And of course, most just end up plucking the flower, so the seed pods often don''t even get the chance to form." She exined.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu spoke. "Though it''s good, I suppose."


    "What about the other two nts?" Qiao De asked, feeling quite excited.


    "Those will take longer to develop flowers, for sure." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Most Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus nts only form one flower at a time since it takes a lot of energy to do so. Even at the earliest, I don''t see one forming in the next ten months." She added.


    "We''ll just have to wait then." Qiao De replied, feeling his excitement lessen slightly.


    But the others in the group were still feeling good about it. Getting even a single Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus flower was a rare thing after all.


    The group decided to disperse after that, with Qiao De and Ziran heading to their rooms first. Ziran needed to rest his eyes, as they were still a bit strained and also figure out the changes in his bloodline. Qiao De on the other hand simply wanted to cultivate.


    Min Ju and Elder Hu also went away first after being dismissed by Lady Kang. The two knew they needed to be a prepared for anything, thus they were also eager to cultivate more. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Daoist Chu stayed to converse for a while more but left after half an hour along with Crown Princess Shang who was gonna go tend to the lotuses.


    This only left Crown Prince Feng Shun, and Lady Kang there with Lin Mu.


    "Looks like Daoist Mu Lin hasn''t shaved for a while." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, seeing the decent sized beard that had grown. "This is the first time I''m seeing you like this," He added.


    Lady Kang also looked at Lin Mu for a while more than usual.


    "It does suit him though." Lady Kang stated. "Perhaps you should keep it." "Now that I think of it," Crown Prince Feng Shun tilted his head. "It does work for Daoist Mu Lin." He nodded his head.


    "Hmm," Lin Mu didn''t know what to think of it, as he had never kept a beard for long before.


    Most of the time, it had only grown because he hadn''t shaved simr to now. But he had never intentionally grown it out.


    Being a body cultivator meant that his body''s metabolism was faster and as such, his hair grew rather fast too. If he wished for it, he could even stimte his hair to grow faster than usual.


    Growing six to ten inches of hair in a month wouldn''t be an issue for his body at all. But he simply let it stay at its natural rate as there was no need for it.


    Though this was something that was handy if Lin Mu ever needed to disguise himself, as it would allow him to change his appearance in a rtively short time. It would even be a disguise that was quite natural and wouldn''t be see through.


    "I guess I''ll keep it then." Lin Mu said after thinking for a minute. "I wish I could keep one." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a sigh. "But I''ll have to wait a few thousand years."


    "Why so?" Lin Mu was surprised, as there shouldn''t be a problem for him to keep one.


    "Ah, Imperial Protocol." Crow n Prince Feng Shun replied. "Princes cannot keep a beard until they either ascend to be an emperor or have left the race for the throne." He exined.


    "I didn''t know that." It was a new thing for Lin Mu.


    Though he remembered that Feng Baxing didn''t seem to have a beard either. And the same could be said for several other princes he had seen in the Rust Sky world so far. It was a custom that was probably native to the Rust Sky world. But as he was thinking of this, Lin Mu was reminded of something.


    "Crown Prince Feng Shun, I need your help."

 Chapter 2278 The Crown Princes Assistance

    2278 The Crown Prince''s Assistance


    Lin Mu''s words made both Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lady Kang raise their brows.


    "Oh? And what help do you need from me?" Crown Prince Feng Shun replied quickly.


    He wasn''t going to deny something like that after all, but still needed to know if there was something that he could actually help with.


    "It''s something that you are well versed in." Lin Mu replied. "The wind." "Oh? You wish to learn how to control the Wind Element?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked before he remembered something. "Now that I think of it, you did learn the Bending Will Fists too right?" "I did yes." Lin Mu nodded. "Then you should already have some idea about it." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Though if you wish to fully control the Wind Element, it''ll still be dependent on our elemental affinity itself." He added.


    "Well, I don''t necessarily need to learn how to control the element itself. I merely need to get an understanding of it." Lin Mu stated. "My reason to learn it is actually to enhance my understanding of the Sky Dao." He exined.


    "Sky Dao?" Crown Prince Feng Shun furrowed his brows before he realized it. "The Grand Bagua Mythic Series¡­ You''re learning the Qian Series." He spoke.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I''m learning the Cloud Dragon Stride from the Qian Series." He added.


    "No wonder¡­ I''ve taken a look at it, but so far I''ve had no progress." Crown Prince Feng Shun was the one to transcribe it as such had read it fully.


    "It is indeed one of the most difficult techniques I''ve seen." Lin Mu nodded. "But I''ve had some progress in it." He revealed.


    "Oh?" Lady Kang was intrigued by it too.


    She knew just how difficult any technique from the Grand Bagua Mythic Series were to learn, with most people taking a few hundred years to understand it. Eventually most would just give up on it since the effort they had put into learning it was not worth the gains they had.


    Most people that had managed to learn the Grand Bagua Mythic Series had usually been those that had great talent, or those that were relentless in their effort.


    Only such individuals were capable of learning a technique like that. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "I managed to learn the footwork of the technique, but learning the Dao part is difficult." Lin Mu said before exining how he had divided the technique.


    It took him a while to exin it all, but after that, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lady Kang were quite impressed.


    "To think it could be learned in this way too¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered.


    "Rather than that, I''m surprised the technique can even work when its divided. Most techniques and skills simply copsed if you remove theirponents." Lady Kang replied. "I suppose thats the reason why each of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series techniques are considered as very profound." She added.


    "Indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "I suppose I''ll help you then." He finally agreed.


    "Great!" Lin Mu couldn''t wait to start.


    "Though I do not know how much of a help I would be. The Sky Dao is something that''s unknown to me too. But if its wind and lightning I can at least let you get a certain level of understanding." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. Both the elements wereponents of the sky, thus it was all the good to Lin Mu.


    With that done, the two headed outside while Lady Kang followed along, feeling very curious as to how it would go.


    The method that Crown Prince Feng Shun used to teach Lin Mu was rather straightforward. Instead of teaching him any methods, he simply let the man get used to wind around him.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun used the Storm king Immortal arts to create a flurry of winds that heunched towards Lin Mu.


    "You simply need to endure them andprehend the wind." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "I believe it is something that''ll be fine for you." He added.


    "Yeah, this much is no issue." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    Of course, the power that Crown Prince Feng Shun used was by no means weak. In fact it would be more than enough to kill a first or a second tribtion stage cultivator. But to Lin Mu, it might as well be a strong wind during a storm.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The winds swirled around him, as Lin Mu stood in it with his eyes closed. His Immortal sense was spread around him, and he felt every sliver of wind, every particle of air that moved and gave the momentum to the wind.


    He could feel the Wind Elemental Qi thatposed the wind, as well as the power it carried within it.


    Lin Mu stood like this in the wind for several hours before he spoke.


    "You can raise the intensity." Lin Mu stated.


    "Alright." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed and did exactly that.


    ~WOOM~


    The power of the wind was raised by at least fifty percent, as Lin Mu was almost forced to move back. But he simply released a bit of his weight and held no without moving. Once he was stable he could focus on the wind more.


    Lady Kang watched as the two men continued their training and the time passed.


    It didn''t take long before an entire week had passed by.


    Lin Mu and Crown Prince Feng Shun had been at it nonstop, but none of the men seemed to be tired. Lady Kang, on the other hand, simply sat there while cultivating herself too. She would take a look from time to time, but unless there was some major change, there wasn''t a need for her to focus too much.


    ''They are certainly quite patient to go through this method.'' Lady Kang thought to herself.


    It was not exactly the most efficient method, but considering their limited options, it was till good enough.


    Though this was only the start, as the two continued for week after week. An entire month passed like this, after which Crown Prince Feng Shun was forced to stop.


    ~huu~


    "I think¡­ We should take a break." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "Ah, yeah." Lin Mu realized that the Crown Prince had probably expended a massive amount of Qi in all this. "You can rest Crown Prince. I''ll cultivate on my own for the time being." He added.


    "Mmhmm." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before taking his leave and returning to his room.


    With him gone, only Lin Mu and Lady Kang were now left.


    "If you are toprehend the Sky Dao, wouldn''t it be better to make an array for it?" Lady Kang suggested.


    "I did think about that, but a mere illusory array won''t work." Lin Mu shook his head. "It might give the sensations of the Sky but it won''t be the same. I still need to experience it all on my own." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ I suppose you will need a proper training array that sects use then." Lady Kang replied after thinking for a minute.


    "Yes, something like that would work." Lin Mu nodded his head. "But making an array like that is not possible here. Not only would it need a bigger area, the conditions needed for it are also rather specific." He added.


    "True. They need to be very stable to work properly." Lady Kang knew in the limited area they had with the dangers around them, making an array like that was not viable. Not to mention the cost of making an array like that was not cheap either. And once an array like that was made, it could not be moved and disassembling it would not really returning all the materials. As such, it would ultimately be a loss.


    Plus, they weren''t meant to be here for long and could need to move at anytime.


    ~step~step~step~


    As they were talking though, footsteps were heard. The two looked over to see none other than Ziran walk out.


    "Finished?" Ziran asked. "I saw Crown Prince return."


    "He needs to rest." Lin Mu replied. "How about you? Hows your eyes now?" he asked.


    "Here to test exactly that." Ziran replied as he walked up to the edge and activated the skill.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu could feel the subtle change of aura around the man, as the Eyes of the Underdark were activated.


    Lady Kang watched it curiously too as it was her first time seeing something like this.


    "It''s a lot better." Ziran spoke.


    "Your eyes?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, but I mean the Death Qi." Ziran replied, making the two get closer. "The Death Qi density has certainly fallenpared tost month." "By how much?" Lin Mu asked, as they couldn''t see much of a difference on their own.


    "I''d say at least twenty percent." Ziran answered.


    "Twenty percent?" Lady Kang hadn''t expected that. "If this keeps up¡­ We''ll be able to get out in the next four months, wouldn''t we?" Chapter is fixed

 Chapter 2279 The Tense Capital City

    2279 The Tense Capital City


    Lin Mu was pleased by the result as he had been fully expecting for the Death Qi to take much longer than this.


    "Four months is good. It''ll certainly give us the right amount of time to prepare, I suppose." Lin Mu spoke.


    "If all goes well and no problematic changes happen, this does look to be in our favor." Ziran nodded. "I suppose we should update the others on this too then." Lin Mu said before quickly sending out a message through themunication jade slip.


    It was giving everyone a timeline to work with and allow them to look forward to the day.


    Lin Mu and Lady Kang also returned to their rooms, as there wasn''t much for them to do here.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape and checked on the condition of Ashy.


    "She''s still asleep." Lin Mu observed the little bird.


    ~hiss~


    "She hasn''t moved much either." Xiao Yin who was in the nest next to it spoke. "Yeah, she usually moves around and makes sounds but she hasn''t at all." Xiao Yang chimed in.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and scanned Ashy''s body with his Immortal sense, but didn''t find any problems with her. "Looks like its just the fatigue from before. I suppose doing that when she isn''t in the Immortal realm was a bit too straining on her." He reckoned. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    While no damage was caused to Ashy, she was still rendered into a dormant state.


    And since Xukong had assured Lin Mu that the bird would be fine, Lin Mu wasn''t as worried about her. He was only wondering when she would be waking up and what changes would take ce for her.


    Having checked on her, Lin Mu decided to return to hisprehension of the Sky Dao. His training with the Crown Prince had given him enough toprehend on his own and he could now ponder on it for a while.


    At the very least, he could do this until Crown Prince Feng Shun had recovered.


    But while Lin Mu and hispanions were stuck in the Spatial ne, an rming set of events were happening in the Rust Sky World.


    A tense atmosphere could be felt in the Capital City of the Dao Wind Empire.


    The Imperial Capital that was always busy and never seemed to sleep seemed to look drastically different.


    Themoners all stayed indoors, while soldiers and guards patrolled the city streets. Even the merchants that never closed their shops seemed to have taken a day off and almost no one dared to walk on the streets among them.


    It was a strange sight that had not been seen for a very long time. And that was not all, as the overall security of the city had been increased by several levels. In addition to the normal guards, entire regiments of the Imperials Army had also been brought in as they manned various positions in the city.


    The city squares, entrance and exits of the districts, and major buildings all had soldiers watching over them, while the normal guards patrolled the roads between them. The array of the city was prominently active, as millions of runes could be seen glowing in the sky.


    No one could fly in the air as the arrays prevented that, and the surveince was raised to the maximum through the arrays too.


    Thousands of formations masters observed everything that happened in the city, noting anything that was unusual.


    "Updates!" Head Formation Master Suzi demanded.


    The man seemed to have dark circles under his eyes, while his eyes were a bit red. It was clear that the man was under stress and had not been able to rest for a while now. As the Head Formation Master of the Dao Wind Empire, it was unusual for him to be in a state like this.


    But he wasn''t alone, as the thousands of formation masters that were present around him looked to be in a simr state. Tens of thousands of formations screens were floating in the air and were present on the walls around them, all of which were being monitored every moment by the formation masters.


    All of them were tense and had little rest in thest few days. While all of them were immortals and could go without sleep for months, it was a different thing for their mental fatigue.


    Especially considering the recent situation which was quite special.


    "No unusual activities in all the districts in the southern division!" One of the Formation masters reported.


    "Twomoners were caught trying to leave their houses in the sixthmoner district in the Eastern division!" another formation master sitting a bit far from him said.


    "A stray spirit beast was caught on the roof of the Little Leaf Merchant Hall in the Western Division." The third formation master reported.


    "Nothing to report in the Northern Division." The Fourth and final report was given.


    "Hmm¡­ Deal with all of them ording to the protocol. We cannot afford even a single mistake." Head Formation Master Suzi stated firmly. "Yes!" All the formation masters replied in unison.


    The hall went silent for a few minutes after this until one of the formation masters stood up.


    "Report! Fifteen flying Immortal ships have been detected!" Hearing this, the Head Formation Master''s eyes went wide as he quickly turned to look at the formation screen that had been erged. The screen showed a dark background ,and hundreds of stars could be seen on it along with a swathe of asteroids that floated around it. Fifteen small dots could also be seen in the distance, that were slowly gettingrger by the second.


    "Arm the cannons." Head Formation Master Suzi ordered.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon hismand, the formation masters all spurred into action as the Capital City''s grand Array lit up in a ming red color.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Tens of illusory cannons appeared in the sky and pointed up into nothingness.


    The soldiers and guards below all gulped in nervousness seeing this and gripped their weapons tightly for whatever was about toe.

 Chapter 2280 Arrival Of The Flourishing Flower Sword Sect

    Chapter 2280 Arrival Of The Flourishing Flower Sword Sect


    Millions of pairs of eyes watched the sky, as the Illusory Cannons glowed, showing that they were ready to shoot at any moment.


    Most of the guards and soldiers had not seen these cannons in action before, but they had certainly heard of their history.


    "Star Breaker Cannon Arrays are charged and ready to shoot!" In the formation hall, the Formation masters announced.


    "Hold." Head Formation Master Suzi said as beads of sweat dripped down everyone''s faces.


    They all knew how sensitive this situation was and the slightestpse of judgment could lead to grave consequences. They all held their breaths as the Fifteen Immortal ships got closer.


    It wasn''t until the ships were near the outer border of the Rust Sky World''s Atmosphere did they let out their breaths.


    "It''s the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect!" they said out loud.


    "Disengage! I repeat, Disengage!" Head Formation Master Suzi immediately ordered.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    As soon as themand was given out, the formation master got to work and the array in the sky changed once more. The Star Breaker Cannon Arrays dimmed down, as the illusory cannons disappeared. ~huu~


    With the deactivation of the cannons, all the soldiers and guards in the city below took breaths of relief.


    But this didn''t mean that they could rx just yet. There was still a lot more to go. At the very least, today was not going to be an easy day for them.


    The formation masters watched as the Fifteen Immortal flying ships of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect came to a stop hundreds of kilometer above the Dao Wind Empire. They were close enough that the ships could be clearly observed on the formation screens. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    In lead was the gship that carried the emblem of the Flourishing Flower Sword sect.


    It was that of a mountain on which a pink flower was painted. And on top of this mountain, a sword was embedded. The gship was thergest among the fifteen ships and had six masts, all of which were painted with thousands upon thousands of runes. The gship was easily over a thousand meters long and two hundred meters tall.


    The two ships on its either side were about a third smaller than it being six hundred meters long, and had four masts each.


    These were themander ships and the rest of the ships were just the standard Immortal Flying Ships of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect, having three masts each and being a hundred meters long.


    It was impossible to tell how many people were present in the Immortal Flying Ships, but considering their size, they could easily carry at least a quarter million people in total. It was a significant number of people, and if all of these were filled with immortals it could easily be considered as an army!


    Depending on the cultivation base of the Immortals, it was a number big enough to pose a great threat to the Dao Wind Empire. As such, the precautions taken by them seemed to be rather necessary.


    Head Formation Master Suzi watched the formation screens with his sharp eyes and waited until a message finally appeared on it.


    "The Flourishing Flower Sword Sect is asking permission to approach." The formation masters stated.


    In response, Head Formation Master Suzi took out amunication jade slip and held it. A message was sent out and a response was received within a minute.


    "The Emperor has permitted it!" Head Formation Master Suzi ordered.


    ~HUALA~


    Upon his order, the formation masters got working and a massive change happened above the sky of the Dao Wind Empire.


    Layer afteryer became visible in the sky, each being thicker than the previous one. It was not hard to tell that all these were barriers!


    If the empire didn''t permit anyone to approach, they would simply be unable to proceed through the barriers that protected the empire from any attacks that came from the sky. It was a testament to the defenses of the Dao Wind Empire and had been protecting it for thousands of years.


    ~SHUA~


    A circr gate opened up in all of the barriers, as a tunnel was formed. It gave the ships a path to enter through, but it was only big enough for one ship to pass through it at a time. As such, the ships of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect all stood in a single file and entered the tunnel.


    During this entire process, they were being closely observed but nothing out of the ordinary happened. And when they finally left the tunnel the ships could now be seen by everyone with their naked eyes.


    They were close enough that even themoners could see them by simply peeking out through their windows!


    It was certainly not their first time seeing an Immortal Flying Ship, as many such ships arrived in the Capital City every day, but the ships that had arrived today were clearly a cut above them.


    Especially considering the security measures that had been taken to ensure that nothing problematic happened during their arrival.


    The soldiers and the guards watched it all too and finally saw the shipse to a halt about five hundred meters above the city.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Thousands of individuals appeared on the ship decks and almost all of them seemed to be dressed in simr styled robes, along with a sword strapped to their backs. Their robes all had the emblem of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect on their chest, with a few more patterns added to it depending on the ranking of each individual.


    The most eye catching among them was a middle aged man. A thin mustache and a beard was present on his face but not a single hair of his was greying. He carried a single edged sword on his back that was unsheathed and was freely emanating a sharp aura.


    His demeanor was firm yet sharp and he looked down at the City below in an expressionless manner. "The Patriarch of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect has arrived!"

 Chapter 2281 A Meeting Between A Sect And An Empire

    Chapter 2281 A Meeting Between A Sect And An Empire


    The announcement could be heard all across the Capital city, making all those that heard it be shocked.


    This was due to the fact that none of them knew the very Patriarch of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect was going to being. Even the guards and soldiers were not informed of this, they were merely told that an important party would be arriving and to be alert at all moments.


    They were even told to be ready for a conflict which was what had made them highly concerned.


    After all a conflict that could happen directly in the Capital City was no small joke. Especially considering the fact that Emperor Feng himself was present in the city. For the city to be threatened in any way meant that the other party would have to watch the Emperor in their cultivation base.


    Going up against a Transcendent Immortal was not a task that most could do, especially Emperor Feng who had ovee not one but two Transcendent Tribtions.


    But the addition of the cultivators and the Flying Immortal Ships also made it extra risky since they could match the strength of an army too.


    With all these factors, it was reasonable for the city to be on high alert. After all, there was no telling how things could do.


    The Flouring Flower Sword Sect Patriarch looked at the city for a minute, his immortal sense expanding to cover arge area of it.


    "They certainly prepared for my arrival." The Patriarch muttered.


    "It is the least they could do Patriarch Yao." An elder standing next to him spoke. "After all, we are on an almost equal standing with them." He added.


    "Hmm¡­" Patriarch Yao didn''t say much after that and only waited for the ''wee''.


    ~SHUA~


    And sure enough, a few secondster a man dressed in regal looking robes appeared. His sported a thick beard and the dignity of a ruler that could only be obtained through years of work. This was none other than Emperor Feng of the Dao Wind Empire!


    Apanying him were the members of the court, and numbered in the fifties. The weakest among them was at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, showing the might of the Dao Wind Immortal Court. "Patriarch Yao Hanglu¡­ Wee." Emperor Feng greeted the man.


    "Emperor Feng¡­ It''s been a while." Patriarch Yao replied in an emotionless tone.


    "Come, we''ll talk in the Imperial Court." Emperor Feng replied while ncing at the thousands of cultivators that the Patriarch had brought with him. "You can bring an equal number of your people as the court members in." He stated.


    "Very well." Patriarch Yao already knew something like this was going to happen. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    The members of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect he had brought with him were merely as a show of force. After all, he had not been summoned here for a ''good'' thing.


    There was no telling how the talks could go and as such it was important for him to be prepared for anything.


    If he were to walk in foreign territory in a foreign world alone, it would be the stupidest mistake that he could make. For a person of his standing, it was important to maintain a level of authority at all times.


    ~SHUA~


    Emperor Feng descended to the Grand Pce along with Patriarch Yao while the Imperial Court members and an equal number of Sect members followed. The sect members that were following were all those of the highest rankings in the sect, below the patriarch, as such it wasn''t hard for them to sort themselves.


    The Imperial Court was as impressive as always and could be seen from the reactions of the sect members. While they didn''t say it out right, the shock was obvious from their expressions.


    ''Immortal Green Gold, Thousand Refined Soft Silver, and Immortal gems¡­ Just the sheer amount of materials used to make this Immortal Court would be enough to buy several peaks and run the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect for a century.'' The elders thought.


    ''I had known that the Dao Wind Empire was wealthy but to this extent¡­'' it was clear that they were certainly not expecting this.


    Of course, it was not their first time seeing the court of a ruler, as Zhuang World had kingdoms and empires too. But of course, unlike the Rust Sky world, they weren''t as strong or influential.


    Instead, it was the Immortal Sects that were the true power in the Zhuang World.


    And among them, the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect was among the top three. As such they could easily be considered a power on the same level as the Dao Wind Empire. After all, even the Rust Sky World had multiple empires that had been maintaining a certain power bnce.


    But despite that, the wealth of the Dao Wind Empire seemed to exceed what the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect seemingly had.


    The elders all wondered just how long it would take to umte something like this. What they were seeing in the Imperial Court was merely the surface too, as the real wealth would be hidden and would only be essible to the nobles.


    Even as the Elders of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect, they knew that the sect didn''t have enough wealth to make anything like this. While their Sect Pce might have formation arrays that might be on the same level in terms of defense, it was a lot more modest in terms of appearance.


    Everyone took their ces while the Elders continued to think all this. The Court had been modified for the arrival of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect, and more seats had been added.


    In a way the Imperial Court was now mirrored, as another throne, albeit a bit smaller sat opposite the main throne along with the seats on its sides. It was clear that these were all meant for the people of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect.


    "How long has it been since west met, Patriarch Yao?" Emperor Feng spoke after having taken his ce at the throne.


    "Seven Thousand Years I believe." Patriarch Yao replied. "At the "Ah yes, at the Grand Gathering of our worlds." Emperor Feng spoke. "The Rust Sky World, the Three Aster World, Misty Sea World and finally the Zhuang World¡­" he said recalling his old memories.


    A few of the elders who were in attendance back then couldn''t help but remember it too. It was a Gathering that only happened once every ten thousand years, and as such was a special asion. It not only gave the four neighboring worlds a chance to interact, it also gave the powers of the worlds a chance to demonstrate their strength.


    This was done in the form of a tournament which allowed the talented people of the worlds to fight and learn from each other. On some level this was even more popr than the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts, as it was on an evenrger scale and happened less often. Not to mention, it involved people of various worlds, so the difference in their skills, techniques and talents was a lot more.


    Everyone that participated in it got to experience a greater variety of things, as such it was a highly popr event.


    Not to mention, it also allowed the four neighboring worlds to decided on their rankings, which helped them in establishing a better rapport with the Immortal Court.


    For a long time the Rust Sky World had been ranked at the top amongst the four worlds. While the Zhuang World and Three Aster World both fought for the second position. It had changed several times over the past few Grand Gatherings, and it was almost a tradition for them to take turns to have the position.


    As for the Misty Sea World, it had always rankedst among the four worlds.


    Though it was through no fault of its own as it was a rather harsh world. It was an Immortal World, but itckedndmass for anyrge power to have time to grow properly. Not to mention, it wasn''t just humans that lived there either. The race of Merpeople and several other aquatic races lived there too, making the humans a minority. Technically speaking though, the Misty Sea World wasn''t truly weak, it was simply that the powerid in the hands of the aquatic races and not the humans.


    And due to the restrictions that these races had, they couldn''t really participate in the Grand Gathering. Though it wasn''t something they really desired anyways, thus it was never a matter of interest for them, leaving only the singr human power of the Misty Sea World to participate.


    As such the world lost out even in terms of the manpower needed.


    Among the four words, only the top three had truly been in a state ofpetition and as such conflicts also happened during it. "I remember back then you were not the patriarch." Emperor Feng spoke again. "But you did be one during the gathering. Can you tell me how that happened again?" he added, a serious expression on his face.

 Chapter 2282 Accusations

    Chapter 2282 usations


    Emperor Feng''s question was a bit confusing to some of the people in the hall.


    Even some of those that were present during the Grand Gathering of the Four worlds didn''t know the entire truth behind what had happened. ''Didn''t the former Flourishing Flower Sword Sect Patriarch take the Grand Gathering as a suitable chance to crown the top performer of their sect as the patriarch?'' some of the people thought.


    But the elders of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect knew more and frowned when the heard the question.


    "The former patriarch of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect deemed me worthy of being the patriarch and granted me the position." Patriarch Yao stated, his expression unchanged.


    "That might be true¡­ but do they know the reasoning behind it?" Emperor Feng asked, narrowing his eyes.


    "Was it not just because Patriarch Yao was suitable?" the newer members of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect muttered.


    They didn''t know all the history of their sect, and as such were a bit confused. But a look from the other elders, made them shut up quickly.


    Patriarch Yao didn''t reply right away, as if he was weighing his words. But after a minute he finally spoke.


    "The Former Flourishing Flower Sword Sect Patriarch was unable to keep his position and needed someone suitable to fill his seat." Patriarch Yao said.


    "That''s right." Emperor Feng replied. "And why did he be unable to do that?" he asked next.


    Patriarch Yao didn''t wish to answer that, but the Emperor''s sharp gaze made him unable to stay silent. Not to mention, all the people that were watching him right now.


    "The former Flourishing Flower Sword Sect Patriarchmitted a mistake that cost him his position." Patriarch Yao finally said.


    "Huh? What?" The newer members of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect didn''t know something like this had happened.


    "Exactly." Emperor Feng said, the corner of his lips rising. "More particrly, the former Patriarch of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect made the mistake of allowing his son unfettered freedom¡­ Freedom that made himcent and offend those that he should not have." He revealed.


    "Something like that happened?" The newer members couldn''t believe it.


    They knew that Patriarch Yao was not of the direct lineage of the past Patriarchs, but a disciple of an entirely new generation. This was unusual as most of previous patriarchs of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect had been from the lineages of the past higher ups of the sect.


    They were either rted to some elders or were direct descended of the former Patriarch. Other disciples had almost never be a patriarch directly and had to struggle for several generations. They could at most reach the position of an elder and then try to hold that position for several generations, until they had established their foothold in the sect.


    After that, it was a lot more easier for one of their descendants to be eligible for the position of the patriarch. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    But for the first time in a long time, the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect had chosen a Patriarch that was of free blood.


    When it had happened, the people of the sect were in an uproar. Many even wanted to challenge the position of the Patriarch Yao, but since he was made a Patriarch in the middle of a gathering, something that was basically impossible.


    Doing that would be the same as tarnishing the face of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect and would make others think that the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect was not worth their word.


    Thankfully, Patriarch Yao waspetent and had managed to run the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect well under his leadership. The newer elders had often wondered why it had all happened, but had never obtained the true reason for it. All they got was a made up reason that was even written down in the sect''s history.


    "Why is Emperor Feng doing this?" One of the high elders that had apanied Patriarch Yao questioned.


    It could be seen from his expression that he was not finding all this good.


    "Does the Dao Wind Empire not respect our Flourishing Flower Sword Sect?" Another high elder asked, a frown on his face. "Why would you ask something that has happened long ago?"


    "I am merely stating the truth." Emperor Feng replied. "As for why I am doing that¡­ Why don''t you ask Patriarch Yao?" he said staring at the man.


    The others looked at the Patriarch too, seeing the slightly tense expression on his face.


    Patriarch Yao was a staunch man that almost never wavered, and yet today he seemed to be a bit shaken. As a Sword Cultivator, his will was sharp and unwavering, and he had felled thousands of foes without so much as a blink.


    And yet, today he was affected by mere questions.


    "I¡­" Patriarch Yao knew he had to say something now, or things would only get worse.


    But he didn''t to get that, for Emperor Feng spoke again.


    "The former Patriarch of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect couldn''t control his son who made mistakes that cost him his position. Don''t tell me you wish for the same to happen to you?" Emperor Feng said, an imposing aura rising from him.


    ~gasp~


    Everyone found it hard to breathe in that moment, as the pressure of a Transcendent Immortal was released.


    Only Patriarch Yao was able to resist it and frowned deeply.


    "Emperor Feng!" Patriarch Yao said out loud. "Hmm? You think raising your voice will work?" Emperor Feng chuckled. "You couldn''t control Yao Changying and now she''s not only offended the entire Rust Sky world but also the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts. Do you really think your position will be stable after this?" he questioned.


    "Your son did the same too." Patriarch Yao regretted.


    "Hah!" Emperor Fengughed hearing that, as if he had already expected it. "Other than the fact that Feng Baxing has already received the punishment for that, there''s another thing we''ve discovered." He said before turning to one of the court members that looked rather youthful.


    Six dots were painted on the man forehead with cinnabar while long tassel earrings hung from his ears. The earrings seemed to have small beast fangs hanging from them too with a sinister feeling surrounding them.


    The youthful looking man''s eyes were silver as if belonging to a wolf but the expression on his face was that of a sly fox.


    "The investigation has on Third Prince Feng Baxing''s condition has beenpleted, your majesty!" Eunuch Tao stood up and loudly proimed.


    "What!?" Even the other members of the Imperial Court were surprised by this.


    "Wasn''t it deemed impossible to find out more about the Third Prince''s condition?" "I thought they already concluded it to be inconclusive?" They all wondered how all this had happened and waited for more information.


    The members of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect knew a little about the Third Prince and all that had happens during the Tournament. After all, it was a big enough debacle that even the Immortal Court had discussed the matter.


    And anything that could reach the Immortal Court was easily spread to the other worlds. Considering the fact that Yao Changying, their own sect''s young expert was involved in it only made things more concerning to the people of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect.


    But they didn''t know all that had happened with the Third Prince, other than the fact that he had made mistake on the same level as Yao Changying too.


    "Eunuch Tao, if you would please exin it properly to everyone." Emperor Feng requested, while Patriarch Yao''s expression darkened.


    He had a bad feeling about what was going to happen, and yet knew that there wasn''t much he could do to retort against it.


    "Originally we unable to figure out what had happened to Third Prince, but we employed other methods to analyze it." Eunuch Tao spoke up. "Through the use of Divination we were able to find a cup that Third Prince Feng Baxing had used a week before the battle." He said before showing a Jade slip.


    ~SHUA~


    The jade slip floated in the air, and released a Formation screen from it. On this screen, everyone could see a small porcin cup.


    It looked to be unassuming, and something that could be found anywhere.


    "Traces of Wrath Leaf Toxin were found on this cup." Eunuch Tao revealed. ~SHUA~


    Upon his words, the information on the formation screen changed to show all the relevant things. It included the information about the Wrath Leaf Toxin as well as the verification process.


    "Grand Alchemist Lao of the Northern Immortal Court himself has verified this andpared the traces of the toxins on both the cup and the body of the Third Prince." Eunuch Tao spoke. "Further more, we let the Diviners of the Temple personally analyze who this cup was linked too and they''ve found the person who had used the cup¡­ it was a person close to Yao Changying!"

 Chapter 2283 Forced To Drink A Forfeit

    2283 Forced To Drink A Forfeit


    The usations from Grand Eunuch Tao were big and everyone in the room was stunned by them.


    The people of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect realized that not even the members of the Imperial Court had been privy to this information as most of them seemed to be surprised too.


    It was unexpected, as this was the kind of information one might think would be known by everyone in the higher ups at least. And yet the information had been kept a secret for the majority of the time. "How do we know this is the truth?" but not everyone in the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect was going to ept the information at face value. "How do we know if this person is really rted to Yao Changying?" they questioned.


    "Of course, we have undeniable proof of that too." Grand Eunuch Tao stated, showing more information. "As you all can see, the cup had been in contact with Rueshi Kunming, a merchant that is decently known in the unorthodox factions for obvious reasons," he stated.


    ~SHUA~


    And as he said this, the information on the Formation screen updated to show the divination that had been done by the Diviners of the Temple.


    In it, the man named Rueshi Kunming could be seen not only holding the cup, but even personally putting in the Wrath Leaf Toxin. All of this looked rather unreal, but the proofs and verification attached by well known experts made them stop their doubts.


    "Rueshi Kunming has been known to have close contact with Yao Changying for a long time." Grand Eunuch Tao continued. "He''s been known to not only trade with her, but also with several other unorthodox factions outside of the Rust Sky world." He added, as the scene changed once more.


    This time, there were records from various establishments where Rueshi Kunming had been present along with Yao Changying. These records were not from divining, but rather from the individuals records that had been collected by the formation arrays present there.


    As such, this proof was a lot harder to deny than the presuppose one.


    And whenbined with the divination results from the diviners, they couldn''t help but agreed that this was indeed the workings of Yao Changying.


    "As you all can see, the diviners have clearly shown that Yao Changying was involved in all this and that Third Prince Feng Baxing had been poisoned with Wrath Leaf Toxin." Grand Eunuch Tao concluded. "And just in case anyone has doubts about this, Grand Alchemist Lao is a recognized alchemist by the Northern Immortal Court and is also a resident of the Rust Sky world. As such, his skills are well known." He added.


    By the time Grand Eunuch Tao had finished his statement, the people of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect had little to nothing to refute.


    There were a few that had thought that the Grand Alchemist had shown preference to the Dao Wind Empire through his work, but his designation was not something that could be ignored. Not even a ruling power of a world could ignore someone who was acknowledged by one of the Immortal Courts.


    Denying that would be the same, not giving the Immortal Court face, and denying their authority.


    Doing that would bring them more harm than simply epting the issue.


    As such, no one in the entire group of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect tried to deny it including the patriarch.


    Once the exnation had been finished by Grand Eunuch Tao, an awkward silence filled the court, making it hard for anyone to speak.


    Fives minutes passed like this, as everyoneprehended all that had happened in this time before Emperor Feng finally spoke.


    "Patriarch Yao Hanglu¡­ It is clear that Yao Changying has gone further than what can be considered as an individual transgression." Empower Feng stated. "We all believe that the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect needs to endure their part in this." He added, making all the members of the sect gulp in nervousness.


    There was not a single individual among them that didn''t know what this meant for them. After all, the news about the Dao Wind Empire having to cede a lot of authorities andnd to the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts was a well known thing.


    That had happened due to the actions of the Third Prince Feng Baxing, and now that it had been unearthed that his actions were due to Yao Changying, there was no way the Dao Wind Empire would not extract a suitable price from the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect.


    As for what the price was, the Patriarch and the members of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect were about to find out.


    "What do you say, Patriarch Yao?" Emperor Feng questioned. "Wouldn''t you say that Yao Changying should at least be tracked down by you and your sect too?" he asked.


    Now that this question had been posed, the sect had no rebuke.


    "Yes¡­" Patriarch Yao replied.


    "Great!" Emperor Feng said out loud. "Then you will have no problems with giving your blood to us." He quickly added.


    Hearing that, the elders of the sect were unnerved.


    This wasn''t a simple matter, of course. Blood provided like this could be used in various things unrted to the matter at hand.


    Not only could they frame Patriarch Yao in more matters, they could even incite discord among other powers and even invoke curses using it. The uses were endless and as such; they needed to be careful. But before the elders could even express their concerns, Emperor Feng was already prepared with aeback.


    "And don''t worry, the blood will be taken and handled by the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts." Emperor Feng stated. "They''ll be handling all the matters rted to it as well as use it to divine the true position of Yao Channing." He exined.


    Having said this, there was almost nothing left for them to protest against. They could have pretended it was unsafe to give the blood of Patriarch Yao to a foreign power, but since it was a neutral power such as the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts, the situation changed entirely.


    If the Patriarch of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect resisted giving his blood to the Dao Wind Imperial Court, it could actually be taken as an admission of guilt and as such be bad for them. After all, it would be the same as suspecting the integrity of the Temple of the Four Immortal Beasts.


    Though it was probably going to be a lot worse for them, since the involved of Yao Changying and the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect had grown deep due to all the things. Now it was inevitable that they would have to not only pay repercussions but also help find her.


    The fate of the Patriarch and the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect was sealed from here, and they ended up having to do whatever that was asked of them.


    The climate in the capital City of the Dao Wind Empire calmed down as well, with the sect acquiring to all demands.


    The security measures had all been made just in case that the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect decided that they would not heed the words of the Empire and resist them instead. It could have very well resulted in a war and it would have started in the very heart of the empire.


    While there was no doubt the Emperor would be fine, there was no telling if the city would be the same, as such the measures were necessary.


    But as soon as the orders were given out, the people were eased and the same could be said for the soldiers and the guards.


    For them, one of the most difficult situations had just been resolved.


    Though that was not the end of it for them, as their work only increased further when the people of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect were given ces to stay in the city.


    Officially, it was stated that the sect was working with the Imperial Court and the Temple of the Four Guardian Beasts to help in the investigation, but rumors had already spread across the city.


    And once it was known in the city, it didn''t take long for it to be known across the empire. A weekter, the news had traveled across the entire Rust Sky world with all powers and evenmoners knowing about it. The Holy Topaz Empire was especially embarrassed by it. The Flourishing Flower Sword Sect was their ''inws'' and were now being ''hosted'' by the Dao Wind Empire. It was certainly not a good representation for their face and left a lot to be thought about.


    For those that were aware about the political climate though it was clear what had happed.


    The Flourishing Flower Sword Sect had been offered a toast, but they rejected it; only to be forced to drink a forfeit!


    With a mix of humiliation and embarrassment, the Capital City moved onto a new time. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 2284 Leaving The Base

    2284 Leaving The Base


    With the undercurrents changing in the Rust Sky World, the people inside the trial grounds were unaware about it.


    Lin Mu and the group had been waiting for the Death Qi to fade, so that they could finally go out and gather credits. In the five months they had, they strove to improve themselves. Some cultivated, some learned new skills, and some merely studied.


    But everyone had progressed more than before.


    Lin Mu had improved his understanding of the Sky with the help of Crown Prince Feng Shun who had used his wind and lightning elements to help him out. They ended up practicing for about four months before they stopped as Lin Mu had hit the limit of what could be done with the help of Crown Prince.


    If he wished to improve his understanding of the sky furthermore, he would have to rely on his own. Or at the very least, it would improve on its own when he finally went out into the real world and felt the sky there.


    Once that happened, the Cloud Dragon Stride skill would finally be usable and reach its true potential.


    But for now, Lin Mu had only adapted the footwork into his fighting skills. Just the footwork alone could actually help distract the envies and outmaneuver them when needed. Having tested it with the Crown Prince, they had found that it allowed for better evasion than they had expected.


    The Crown Prince was especially curious about who the skill would fare when Lin Mu had finally grasped more of the Sky Dao. Feng Shun also looked to learn the skill one day and had learned through helping Lin Mu too.


    Crown Princess Shang had been busy at taking care of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus nts and had finally managed to nurture them to the point where the lone flower had transformed into a Seed Pod!


    The other nt had grown a bit and adapted to its new environment too and was currently creating a bud that wouldter turn into a flower.


    Monk Hushu had been in seclusion for most of the time and had improved after having achieved the Tune of The Buddhist Dao. He felt like he only needed the next part of the Scripture and he would be able to breakthrough to the next stage.


    Daoist Chu had also improved in his cultivation as well as his skills with talismans and formations. He made additional talismans that will help them in their time here and hunt more Chimeric beasts.


    Though he did focus more on defensive talismans, as he knew that they could be used quickly and held block dangerous blows. After all, with the presence of the Chimera nt, there was no telling what would be happening.


    Qiao De simply cultivated and asionally helped out the Crown Prince when they were monitoring the maps. Though he did prepare additionally items for when they finally left the base.


    Elder Hu and Min Ju learned some of the skills that Lady Kang had deemed would be needed in this ce, and they had taken these eleven months in the base to learn them. Lady Kang herself had been focused on improving her cultivation along with her skills, knowing that things would likely not be easy. They didn''t know what changes would have happened in this time, thus it was important for her to be prepared.


    She was the second strongest individual here along with Crown Prince Feng Shun, thus it was likely that she would be contributing a considerable amount to their hunt.


    With everyone working hard, time passed rather quickly and soon it was the day when they could head out.


    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~


    Evey one walked out of the base and stood next to the barrier.


    "It already looks a lot lighter than before." Qiao De was the first to speak.


    "True, even without the Eyes of the Underdark, I can make out a few things." Ziran agreed.


    Everyone could now see the area next to the barrier up to the ten meter mark. Granted, it was still a bit smoggy, it was much better than before. "Try your skill and see how it is now out there." Lin Mu asked.


    "Alright." Ziran nodded his head and closed his eyes.


    The next moment he opened them, the eyes had darked and a purple hue covered them. It was clear that the half elf had improved his proficiency with the skill further in these few months.


    Ziran''s vision peered through the darkness and scanned everything that could be seen.


    "It''s¡­ Definitely a lot different." Ziran muttered, feeling a bit surprised. "How so?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Not only has the Death Qi itself decreased¡­ there are areas it''s entirely gone. Even the fissures have been restored somehow." Ziran revealed.


    "What? The fissures are gone?" Lin Mu was surprised, as there was no sign of it so far. With how much activity they made when opening up, there was no way they wouldn''t have been able to sense it when the ground trembled. But somehow it had all happened without them getting so much so as a little notice.


    The group waited as Ziran continued his observation of the entire area around the base, as well as beyond it. It took him quite some time, as he was able to see several hundred kilometer away. And covering all sections was a bit tiring too.


    It was important for them to know how the things were or they could run into trouble, evenst time they had surveyed the area well, before they had gone to properly hunt.


    As such, it took Ziran about two hours to finish it all and even in this time the concentration of Death Qi was rapidly falling.


    ~HUU~


    He took a deep breath upon finishing his work and rested his eyes.


    "Looks like we''re in luck." Ziran spoke. "The area till the four hundred kilometer mark is basically empty. While there are a few fissures left that far out, they don''t seem to be spewing any Death Qi. I even managed to spot a few Chimeric Beasts after the four hundred kilometer mark." He revealed. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    "That''s great!" Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others were pleased.


    This meant that they could go out to hunt, and that there were still Chimeric Beasts left in the area. "I feel like we won''t have to wait much longer before the Death Qi fades." Lin Mu spoke as he nced at the dark area. His Spatial Perception was active and he could sense the movement of energies in the air. Even the Death Qi seemed to be moving towards a specific direction, which was why it was rapidly decreasing.


    The group watched the change without moving for about two more hours. During this, the speed of dissipation continued to increase until finally there was a massive gust.


    ~WHOOSH~


    "Huh?" the group was surprised by the sudden shift.


    "The death Qi''s gathering?" Land Kang narrowed her eyes.


    All the Death Qi moved towards a specific area and gathered in a longitudinal manner. About two minutester, they saw a familiar construct form.


    "A Death Qi boundary!" Daoist Chu spoke out loud.


    "Looks like the arrays of the Spatial ne are working normally again." Elder Hu spoke. "That''s good. We''ll now be able to follow our previous patterns." Monk Hushu nodded.


    They watched it for a few minutes more just to be sure of the change before finally deciding to move.


    "Alright, here we go." Lin Mu said as he opened up a gate in the barrier.


    ~SHUA~


    An opening appeared in the multipleyer of barriers, allowing the group to pass through it.


    They quickly moved through it and arrived on the outside. "Still smells the same." Crown Princess Shang said, slightly wrinkling her nose at the faint stench that didn''t seem to go away.


    "Yeah¡­ though I suppose we''ll get used to it." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "So where do we go first?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Let''s go to the ce that started it all." Lin Mu said, feeling determined. "We need to know if the Chimeric nt is there or if not, where it went." He stated.


    "Amithabha, it would indeed be wise to know what stands before us." Monk Hushu was in agreement.


    "It''s decided then." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before Lin Mu called out someone.


    ~Roar~


    Little Shrubby''s massive body manifested in front of them, ready to go for a hunt.


    "He''s been eager to go out for a while now," Lin Mu said, knowing how long he had been inside the Sleepscape.


    A few of the people chuckled and smiled before they all got onto Little Shrubby''s back.


    "Time to hunt!" Little Shrubby said with a roar before bursting into a sprint.


    ~CRACK~


    The ground shattered under the power of his ws as he used the force to get a jump start.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In just a few seconds, his speed rose rapidly and soon only a red blur could be seen.


    Chapter is fixed now


    Grand_Void_Daoist


    Creator''s Thought

 Chapter 2285 Change In Chimeric Beasts

    Chapter 2285 Change In Chimeric Beasts


    Little Shrubby rushed through the empty expanse of the Spatial ne without an obstacle.


    The clearance of the Chimeric Beasts also made it easier for them and the Death Qi boundaries that they were now returning wasn''t much to stop them. It took them an hour before they finally encountered the first Chimeric Beast. "Our first Chimeric Beast after more than a year." Lin Mu spoke. "Who wants to do the honors?" he asked.


    "I''ll do it." Qiao De was quite eager after all and jumped at the opportunity.


    ~BIHIHIHIHI~


    The Chimeric Beast was amon Auroch Chimeric Beast, but was slightly smaller body than usual. The energy fluctuationsing from it were also around the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. It let out a cry upon seeing the group and was ready to attack them. Unfortunately for it, Qiao De was faster.


    "Let''s get some credits!" Qiao De threw out a spear that tore through the air and stuck the Chimeric Beast through though the side of its head and skewered it to the ground. "There we go!" the man was pleased by the attack.


    ~SLICK~


    But he didn''t expect that the Auroch Chimeric beast had different ns. It pulled out its head as the dark green blood dripped down the spear''s shaft as well as the beast''s neck. No sign of pain could be seen in its ck eyes and they merely stared at Qiao De as a prey.


    ~BIHI~


    A short cry was let out by the Auroch Chimeric Beast before it suddenly charged at Qiao De. Its aura also spread at the same time and could be felt by everyone. "It''s not the same." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes upon feeling the aura.


    "I can feel the Death Qi in it." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he spread his immortal sense. "Wait¡­ it''s also getting stronger?" he realized.


    The others sensed it too and realized that the beast''s cultivation base seemed to have increased by one stage!


    It was now as strong as a Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    "That is certainly not normal¡­" Daoist Chu said a frown appearing on his face.


    "Amithabha, this does not bode well." Monk Hushu agreed.


    "End it, Qiao De." Ziran said. "We have to see if others are like this too." He added.


    "Sure." Qiao De intended to do the same anyway and withdrew the spear that flew back into his hands.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Heunched the spear again, and this time it skewered the Auroch Chimeric Beast from the front of his head all the way to the base of its tail.


    ~SPLAT~


    And that wasn''t all as a Qi skill was executed by the spear releasing long whip like energy streaks, that tore out of the beast''s body.


    Blood was sttered everywhere, and the Auroch Chimeric Beast was finally killed.


    ~SHUA~


    The green band on Qiao De''s wrist lit up and the number rose.


    "One thousand credits." Qiao De saw the increase. "The credits seem to match the same as before." "Hmm¡­ So that''s consistent¡­ But we still need to see if this applies to all the Auroch Chimeric Beasts." Lin Mu said, having a hunch that it was certainly going to be different.


    From all that Xukong had told him about the Chimeric Seed and the nt that would be born from it, there was no telling what kind of surprises awaited everyone of them. Even if they could kill the Chimeric Beasts now, it didn''t mean that it would always be the case.


    They might be able to handle the surprise with a weaker beast like this, but if it was a stronger one, there was no telling how vast of a difference it could bring. Lin Mu could already think of a few scenarios and nned for them.


    "We''ll have to find more of the Chimeric beasts." Lin Mu stated. "Keep your senses alert. We''ll seek them out."


    The others were in agreement, since they all wanted to gather more credits as well as learn more about their foes here now.


    ~WHOOSH~ Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Little Shrubby sped up and followed Lin Mu''s directions to find the next Chimeric Beast.


    It was another Auroch Chimeric Beast that was at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    "Let''s see what this one is like." Crown Prince Feng Shun attached this time.


    ~SHAHA~


    He thrust his palm, sending a strong jet of Wind Elemental Qi that tore through the Auroch Chimeric Beast within a couple seconds. It shredded its body apart with ease, leaving a mess of blood and flesh below.


    Compared to Qiao De, the attack was certainly several notches above and had killed the beast in one go.


    ~SHUA~


    The green band lit up, and showed the points that the Crown Prince had obtained.


    "Hundred?" Crown Prince Feng Shun raised his brows. "Not one thousand¡­ is there a difference between the two Auroch Chimeric Beasts despite being at the same stage?" he wondered.


    "We''ll hunt down a few more to see what''s changed." Lin Mu said and tracked down another one.


    While the Death Qi had faded, the Chimeric Beasts didn''t seem to have returned to their old numbers. Or even if they had, they hadn''t gathered in this area at least. Still, it didn''t take long for Lin Mu and the group to find the next few Chimeric Beasts, all of which they killed.


    In this, they soon realized something.


    "The Auroch Chimeric Beasts seem to change after a near-fatal blow¡­ Their defenses are also a bit higher than before and they''re certainly resilient." Lin Mu analyzed.


    "Yeah, if they manage to survive the lethal blow, they seem to increase in strength all of a sudden." Lady Kang spoke. "It seems to be a new ability." She added.


    "And with the inclusion of Death Qi in their energy, it feels like this has certainly been the change brought upon after the Chimeric Seed was released. These are certainly not the same kind of Chimeric beasts we were used to." Ziran stated.

 Chapter 2286 Berserk Skill

    Chapter 2286 Berserk Skill


    With more experimentation, Lin Mu and the group soon understood the new ability of the Chimeric beasts.


    Lin Mu termed it as a Berserk ability, which was actually something several beasts could have. Even human cultivators had skills like that, and it could boost the power of a cultivator in a pinch. Of course, the increase was varied and in the case of beasts, it was usually much stronger.


    The increase in an entire stage was not seen often for cultivators at least, but for beasts it was possible. Even Little Shrubby''s Seven Beasts Burst innate skill was of the same type, and the increase in power brought by it was even higher.


    But simrly, it had a bacsh when the skill ended.


    Once Lin Mu and the others had figured this out, they intentionally dragged out a fight to see how the Chimeric Beast would fare. The discovery showed them that the Chimeric Beast would usually just end up dying on its own, or get paralyzed.


    Another important thing they learned was how the credits they obtained changed.


    If the Chimeric beast hadn''t undergone Berserk, it would give the credits appropriate to its stage. But if it Berserked and was killed, it would give credits of the next stage.


    Which was why Qiao De had obtained 1000 credits, whereas Crown Prince Feng Shun had only gotten 100 credits. If the beast was killed right away, the yield became lower. The difference in number was of ten times, thus while it could slow down their pace of hunting, it was still a decent return.


    The only problem was holding back against the weaker Chimeric Beasts at the First and Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. For everyone in the group, killing them was not a problem at all and they died in a couple hits.


    They had to intentionally cut down their power, so that the blow wouldn''t kill the Chimeric Beasts right away and give them a chance to Berserk.


    "Perhaps this gives us a better chance to ear the higher levels of credits." Crown Princess Shang spoke. "We only need to find a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric beast and let it berserk to get a hundred million credits from it." "But we don''t know if there are any of them that strong." Lin Mu replied. "So far we''ve only encountered the first and second Tribtion Stage Immortal realm beasts." He stated.


    "Hmm, perhaps we''ll have to look farther in." Ziran said, thinking for a bit. "Though there is always a chance the stronger variants of the Chimeric beasts simply haven''t had a time to change in this one year. Though we still don''t know how the change happens. Aren''t they supposed to be consumed by the Chimeric Seed and then ''created'' again?" he had a few doubts.


    "We also saw the Chimeric Beasts all dying en masse when the Chimeric Seed was released. So these ones are either too far from it, or have been freshly born." Daoist Chu added. There were a lot of things they didn''t know yet, and Lin Mu knew there was only one way to figure more out. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "We need to go to the site where the Chimeric Seed was released." Lin Mu stated. "If we can find it, we will learn more and perhaps even eliminate it altogether." While that could cut down their additional credit gain, it was still a better option to cut out extra dangers for them in the trials. After all, it was one thing for the Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm Chimeric Beast to Berserk and reach the power of a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm beast.


    But if a Seventh Stage Chimeric Beast somehow Berserked, no one knew what would happen.


    The difference between a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal and a Transcendent Immortal was very vast and no one in the group paws confident in going against them. Even if they could resist it, there was always a chance they would have to take some losses.


    Though they did have a few methods to fight against that too. For example, Crown Prince Feng Shun had the Imperial Might Talisman that could release the full powered blow of the Dao Wind Emperor. Emperor Feng was a Transcendent Immortal that had survived not one but two Transcendent Tribtions. As such, his strength would be a notch above others.


    The Talisman might just be enough to kill one such beast. But it was something that was in limited supply.


    Imperial Might Talismans couldn''t just be made in arge supply and each one took years to make. As such, they were very precious and in the entire Imperial Feng Family, there weren''t more than ten.


    It was something they could only use in the worst of emergencies, and Crown Prince Feng Shun was not going to use it carelessly.


    Having understood a bit more about the Chimeric Beasts, Lin Mu and the others utilized Little Shrubby''s skills and went directly to the site of the Chimeric Seed. The Chimeric Beasts couldn''t even notice them in time, and the Death Qi Boundaries that were present could be easily bypassed.


    Without any interruptions, the group managed to travel for hundreds of kilometers and reached the ce where it had all started.


    "Let us down here, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu instructed.


    ~CRASH~


    Little Shrubby''s ws dug into the ground, leaving long gullies as he slowed down.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Everyone jumped down and took a look at the area ten kilometers ahead. Simr to the other ces, this area had also recovered, and no signs of the previous fissures could be seen.


    "This is¡­ Unexpected." Lin Mu muttered. "I know Ziran said he saw no sign of the Chimeric nt, but this is underwhelming." "I only saw the surface. We don''t know what''s hiding underneath it all." Ziran replied. "It is a seed so it could have gone down deep to take root." He suggested.


    "Possibly." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I''ll take a look." He said before letting his immortal sense prate the ground.

 Chapter 2287 Explosive Excavation

    Chapter 2287 Explosive Excavation


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense sank down into the ground, and observed everything on its way.


    In this, the first thing he noticed was the rich presence of Death Qi in the soil and rocks. This bothered him since using Immortal Sense became extra hard. He had to maneuver between the Death Qi to go downward but that wasn''t possible in all parts.


    It was okay if it was smaller pockets of Death Qi mixed in the soil, but when there was arge chunk that simply prohibited one, Lin Mu had to take the long route around it, causing his Immortal Sense to be strained.


    His Immortal Sense was already the best among everyone here, and his control over it was also higher than most. As such, if not for him others wouldn''t even be able to attempt the same.


    Lin Mu felt like he had entered abyrinth with no sign of the exit.


    Still, he didn''t stop and kept on going deeper and deeper.


    ''If anything, the higher concentration of Death Qi alone is a sign there is something here.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But after about a kilometer of depth, Lin Mu met what felt like a massive wall of Death Qi. It was the same as a Death Qi boundary, but underground.


    ''Is this how the Death Qi usually is?'' Lin Mu wondered. ''It stays underground until it is time for a Boundary on the ground to shift?'' he thought.


    It was a reasonable thought, as Lin Mu and the others hadn''t been able to probe the ground before properly. The Death Qi had often been just below the surface, making it hard to see just what was inside there.


    But now it had be a lot more ''porous'' on the top and condensed at the bottom.


    ~Shua~


    Lin Mu withdrew his immortal sense, knowing that it couldn''t help anymore.


    "What happened?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "There''s definitely something down there. A denseyer of Death Qi is blocking me." Lin Mu replied. "Though at least we can go deeper than usual here." He added.


    "We can?" Daoist Chu asked before trying it himself. "Ugh¡­ I don''t think I can." He was stopped by the scattered Death Qi alone.


    The others tried too and some of them got farther than Daoist Chu, like Crown Prince Feng Shun, and Lady Kang, but the others either failed before Daoist Chu or did the same as him.


    "You got past all that?" Ziran asked.


    "The firstyer is hard to get through, but there are paths in it." Lin Mu answered. "Its after that where the real barrier stands. A thickyer of Death Qi that''s hard to estimate." "Hmm¡­ what do you suggest we do?" Monk Hushu inquired.


    "Well, even if we can''t check with our Immortal Sense. There is more ways to do it." Lin Mu said as he clenched his fist. "Give me a bit of space." He said.


    That was more than enough for others to guess what Lin Mu was about to do and they all flew up into the sky.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath and stood in the punching stance as a vast amount of energy stirred within his arm.


    His Immortal Essence and Earth elemental Immortal Qi spun together in his arm, turning into long ribbons that came together. They eventually melded together into a helix and spun at a great speed, turning into a blur.


    Then another set or such ribbons mixed into it, while it was also mirrored in Lin Mu''s other hand. The new set of ribbons mixed together as well, turning into another helix.


    Now there were two blurred helices in Lin Mu''s arm that continued to spin at a speed that was quite dangerous.


    ''Merge!'' Lin Mu finely control the unstable energy ribbons and allowed them toe together.


    Finally, they had turned into a double helix structure that revolved at a steady pace.


    ~CRACK~


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s bones popped as he cocked his hand back. The Longgui Bulwark Armor also formed around him, providing him with additional protection of the recoil that was about toe.


    "Mountain Copsing Fist: Third Form- Earthen Devastator!"


    A dark brown double helix was released from his hand, passing through the rock gauntlet with ease. Under the gauntlet, Lin Mu''s knuckles ended up getting bloodied as the skin ruptured under the power of the double helix.


    Though Lin Mu''s arm wasn''t as strained as the first time he had used the Mountain Copsing Fist. He still remembered its effects, and this was his first time using it with the Earth Elemental Immortal Qi.


    Thus, he wondered what the scope of effects would be, though he already had a hunch about it. Which was also why he had chosen it as the skill to use right now.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The dark brown double helix directly entered the ground, as if it were a diamond bit drill and bore a straight hole down.


    Normally he would have picked Phase to survey the ground, but the presence of Death Qi made it impossible to pass through it with that. The skill would be interrupted with the Death Qi, harming Lin Mu in the process.


    Thus, the best way to see what was underground would be to simply dig. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    But instead of digging with a shovel, Lin Mu took the more explosive option of sting it apart.


    ~TREMBLE~


    The ground started to shake lightly at first, but soon the vibrations turned into full scale tremors. And eventually the tremors transformed into a quake!


    ~BOOOOOOOOOOM~


    A thunderous sound was heard as the earth split apart!


    First a massive fissure that spanned at least five hundred meters formed, but then it started to copse on itself. The soil, rocks and everything in between thatposed this part of the ground started to crumble and turn into fine dust as Lin Mu''s energy ravaged through it all.


    The Death Qi that was present in it was simply destroyed in the process, as the power contained in the Mountain Copsing Fist was too high.


    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~


    Explosions could be hearding from therge fissure, but nothing could be seen inside it as it was dark in it. And these weren''t fiery explosions either, but rather those of pure energy and shock waves that spread through the earth.


    An entire minute passed while the explosions, and tremors continued to happen. Everyone that was watching it was left stunned, as they hadn''t expected such an effect.


    The fissure also kept on expanding longitudinally and had already reached the three kilometer mark!


    It was no shorter than when the Chimeric Seed had triggered the Death Qi guesser to sprout everywhere.


    In some levels, it was also stronger, as the force was directed inwards into thepressed ground. Since the ground could notpress anymore, it fractured under the vibrations, and the force continue to transfer without a stop.


    And since the Death Qi was getting eliminated with it too, the group could sense better now.


    Another minute passed as the explosions started to reduce. And two more minutester, they had almost faded away leaving a gaping maw in the ground.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he assessed the condition of the area. "That¡­" Daoist Chu was left gobsmacked at the scale of the damage.


    "That''s one way to excavate¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke, feeling no less shocked.


    But they didn''t know the true extent of the damage yet, as they were only seeing the fissure on the top. Lin Mu, who was already scanning it with his immortal sense, knew that the depth was greater than its width!


    "The Death Qi barrier is broken." Ziran stated, seeing it with the Eyes of Underdark active. "Can you see what''s there?" Lady Kang asked, trying to get over the situation.


    "There are roots¡­ lots of them." Ziran narrowed his brows. "We should be able to go down now." Lin Mu said, having assessed the fissure. "The Death Qi no longer stands in our way¡­ and considering what Ziran just said, we have our target down there too." He added.


    With that said, the group had little to wait for, though they were still a bit shaken by the impact of the attack. A few of them couldn''t help but wonder if they would be able to withstand something like that. And even if they could, how much damage would they endure from it.


    Some also wondered if they could inflict that much damage themselves and realized that they couldn''t.


    Perhaps only Lady Kang and Crown Prince Feng Shun had skills capable of replicating something like this. But even then, the force of the attack wouldn''t prate as deep as Lin Mu''s had. It would spread more on the surface, but wouldn''t be able to go deep.


    In fact, it might even be shier than this, but the power of this skill was still greater. At least that''s what Crown Prince Feng Shun assessed in his mind.

 Chapter 2288 A Potential Transcendent Skill?

    Chapter 2288 A Potential Transcendent Skill?


    ''This attack might already be equal to a Seventh Tribtion Stage Realm immortal realm experts attack.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought. ''If Daoist Mu Lin can execute it multiple times¡­'' he could imagine how terrifying it would get.


    While the Crown Prince thought that, the rest got ready to head down.


    "Everyone gather around." Daoist Chu said before taking out a stack of talismans. "It''ll keep us protected and give us enough time to act." He stated.


    ~SHUA~


    The stack of talismans flew up on their own and surrounded the ground. They continue to revolved around them, forming multipleyers of barriers. Eachyer seemed to be just as thick as the talisman paper, but was strong enough to endure several blows.


    And with multipleyers stacked, it was even tougher.


    "You added Yin Repelling Formations to it too?" Lin Mu noted.


    "I did." Daoist Chu nodded. "Working on the base''s array gave me enough inspiration to make a new talisman of my own." He stated.


    "That''s good." Crown Princess Shang said. "Looks like you''ll be progress in the Dao of Formations at least." ~SHUA~


    The group started to descend while being enclosed in the spherical barrier of talismans.


    With how the barrier was glowing, it was like someone was lowering amp into the dark depths of the fissure. Things became illuminated and the true scale of the damage was finally revealed to the ground. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Those rocks¡­ they''ve been turned into sieves." Ziran noted.


    "Same with the soil." Monk Hushu added.


    Everyone could see thousands upon thousands of fine holes that had been created in everything. They were of varying density too, with some being as dense as having a hundred holes in just a square inch of area, while some having only a couple in the same.


    This was all due to the effects of the Mountain Copsing Fist''s Earthen Devastator.


    The skills power had drilled through everything, leaving holes everywhere. ~Crumble~


    Qiao De found the rocks crumbling at his touch.


    "This is no joke¡­ I think this entire ce might copse at the next tremor." Qiao De spoke. "Rather than rocks and soils, this is more like a snowy cliff ready to copse in an avnche." He stated.


    "Theyer of rocks aren''t all the same. Even if they do copse, only this porousyer will fall, the rest will stay the same." Lin Mu said sensing the area. "What was supposed to have copse has already copsed." He added.


    They were now getting a closer look at the power of Lin Mu''s skill, feeling curious at the limits.


    "Can you use this again, Daoist Mu Lin?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "I can yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Though it does take a lot of Qi to use it." He added.


    "How much?" Elder Hu asked, feeling curious too. To him, a skill like this was already at the upper limit of a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal and perhaps what a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal realm expert might use. "About ten percent of my entire Qi stores." Lin Mu stated.


    "T-ten percent?" Qiao De almost stumbled.


    "Just ten percent?" Min Ju couldn''t believe it.


    "Well I can use more, but the recoil would not be worth it." Lin Mu replied. "The power of the skill depends on how much energy is used in it." He added.


    "What''s the maximum you can use in it?" Lady Kang inquired.


    "Theoretically? All of it." Lin Mu replied, making them gasp. "But I''ll probably implode as well." He added.


    The group was still stunned after hearing it. For ten percent of Immortal Qi, the extent of the attack was massive. Even Crown Prince Feng Shun wouldn''t be able to do something like this without using at least a third of his entire Qi stores. And if he did he would have a hard time using other skills right away too. But Lin Mu would be able to use this skill repeatedly at least a few times.


    If he unleashed it five or six times in a row, Crown Prince Feng Shun was sure that Lin Mu might just create arge hole that would be big enough that if water filled it, a new sea would be formed.


    "What skill is this?" Ziran asked. "Well the original skill is called as the Boulder Copsing Fist, but I''ve further modified it and upgraded it." Lin Mu answered. "It can use any forms of energies, whether it be Qi or vital energies."


    "Wait¡­ so this is your original skill!?" Daoist Chu eximed.


    "Not exactly." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "What was the level of the original skill?" Lady Kang asked. "It was for the Spirit Realm." Lin Mu replied.


    "There you have it." Lady Kang chuckled. "You''ve turned a Spirit Qi skill into an Immortal Skill. Not just that but you''ve also fused both body cultivation and Qi cultivation into it. This is already more than enough to call it an entirely new skill." She exined.


    "Lady Kang''s right." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "You can very well call this your original skill and even pass it down." "If Daoist Mu Lin contributes this to the Immortal Court, I''m sure he''ll get a lot of credits too.This is already a Top Grade Immortal skill." Daoist Chu stated with confidence.


    "No this would be far beyond that." Lady Kang said. "For a skill that can use any form of energy and evenbine them, this might just be ced as a Transcendence Skill." She estimated.


    The word made the group think a lot about it, as even Lin Mu hadn''t expected that the Mountain Copsing Fist would be good enough to be ssified at that level.


    "Are you sure? It does have a nasty recoil with it." Lin Mu said having doubts. "Unless you have a body strong enough to endure it, you''ll injure yourself. I''ve had my arm ripped apart more than once with it." He added.


    "Even with a recoil it is still good enough to ssify as that." Lady Kang nodded.


    "Indeed, Skills such as these aren''t without restrictions." Elder Hu nodded too. "It just means it is something meant for Dual Body and Qi cultivators. Or those with just innately strong bodies." But as he said this, Lin Mu thought of something.


    "Though I think this skill might have already been imed by someone." Lin Mu suddenly said. "The manual I got was iplete, only having the first part of the technique. The Mountain Copsing Fist was something I came up with after extrapting on its initial concept." He exined.


    "We can always take a look if there is Boulder Copsing Fist in the Immortal Court." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    "As far as I remember, there isn''t any skill of such power and qualities in the Immortal realm." Lady Kang chimed in. "I would know if something like this would havee into anyone''s possession." She added.


    "Indeed." Elder Hu agreed. "Even if there was a skill like that, I doubt it could show the same prowess as yours does. This has certainly been elevated beyond its original scope." Everybody in the group was convinced that the skill was unique now, with only Lin Mu having doubts about it. But he decided to let it go for now, as a few concerning things came to his Immoral Sense''s notice.


    "We''re getting close!" Lin Mu said, sensing the roots.


    ~SHUA~


    Daoist Chu released several more talismans that illuminated the area better. They could now see a vast cavern that was at least twenty kilometer wide. At first the group thought that this was all due to Lin Mu''s skill too, but then they saw several stone pirs that extended from the bottom to the walls and ceiling. Lin Mu also observed the walls in detail, finding them to be of a different texture.


    "Looks like this ce has been here since the start." Lin Mu stated. "Theyer of Death Qi that was forming a barrier was just above this point." He said.


    "This does seem like a natural cave." Ziran nodded. "Though it wasn''t made from flowing water." He noted.


    And sure enough, when they descended a bit more, their doubts were rified.


    A sea of roots could be seen below them, twisting and contorting in various ways. Some of them wrapped around the pirs, while some dug further into the ground. Thework wasplex and it didn''t seem like any normal nt they had seen before.


    The thickness of the roots also varied greatly, form as thin as a hair all the way to several hundred meters thick!


    The tried to probe the roots, and found that their Immortal sense''s were unable to prate it at all!


    "Its not a normal Immortal nt." Crown Princess Shang said narrowing her eyes.


    Lin Mu activated his Spatial Perception to get a better look and looked past the limits of the roots, ncing at the flow of energies against the Spatial Fabric directly.

 Chapter 2289 Unbreakable Roots

    Chapter 2289 Unbreakable Roots


    To the others, the roots were impermeable, and their immortal senses were useless against it.


    Ziran couldn''t use his Eyes of the Underdark for it either, as it wasn''t a skill that could look through solid objects in the first ce. Crown Princess Shang did try to use her expertise of immortal herbs and nts to check what kind of roots these were, but was unable to feel anything.


    But for Lin Mu, his Spatial Perception allowed him to look through the very void. As such even if something was trying to hide, it couldn''t hide against the very background of spatial fabric. And when he did, he found the things he had suspected from the start.


    ''Chimeric Immortal Qi, Death Qi, and a mixture of Baleful energies.'' Lin Mu could see the flow of the Qis against the spatial fabric.


    He observed them for a bit and saw that their flow was actually very stable and systematic. It flowed from the base of the roots and went up thework before disappearing past the range of Lin Mu into the rest of the earth.


    This was more than enough to confirm the target for him.


    "This is it." Lin Mu said. "This is the Chimeric nt." "It really is that?" Daoist Chu said, finding almost no sign of the ominous nt that they had heard from Lin Mu. The roots were certainly big, but they didn''t seem to have any signs of being dangerous. Neither were there any signs of there being Death Qi or Chimeric Qi around it. Thus it was hard to believe it at first. But since it hade out of Lin Mu''s lips, they were fully trusting of it.


    "I can see the Chimeric Qi inside it. There''s no doubt about it." Lin Mu stated. "Amithabha, a foul existence such as this should be eliminated at the earliest." Monk Hushu broke his silence and directly took out his prayer beads.


    ~humm~


    The beads trembled in his hands, as if excited.


    Though this time they weren''t excited because of Lin Mu, but because of being taken out to perform a righteous task.


    Monk Hushu''s progress and invoking the Tune of Buddhist Dao had earned him a devout approval from the prayer beads. As such, the beads weren''t looking to jump ship the moment they say Lin Mu anymore. Now they could see that Monk Hushu was also worthy of them.


    As such, the Monk was now a lot more safe using the prayer beads around Lin Mu. Though previously he was always anxious that the beads would run away from his hands and stick to Lin Mu.


    It would have been quite embarrassing for him if that happened. And he wouldn''t even be able to tell the temple as they would simply consider it as the right choice. After all the prayer beads had been nurtured in the temple over a long time with Buddhist incense.


    As such the Prayer beads were fully allowed to pick their own master.


    "That''s right, we need to destroy these." Lin Mu was in agreement. "Though¡­ there is something strange about this," Qiao De suddenly said.


    "What is it?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "The roots¡­ they have no signs of being damaged by Daoist Mu Lin''s earlier skill." Qiao De spoke. "We saw the signs on the rocks above, but none were here." He added.


    "Isn''t that just because the skill didn''t reach this far?" Daoist Chu replied. "Yeah, even the markings on the rocks stopped far above the roots." Min Ju agreed.


    But Lin Mu who heard it, narrowed his eyes and could see the validity.


    "Hmm¡­ let''s test it first, then." Lin Mu said. "Qiao De can be right." He didn''t deny it.


    They had no idea the true extent of the power of Chimera nts and from what Senior Xukong had told Lin Mu, they can be quite terrifying. After all, they were used by the Chimeric Fiend God in a war.


    Thus, it was reasonable to expect a literal War Machine to be tough.


    Otherwise, it would be rather embarrassing if the factory that made the soldiers would be destroyed with ease.


    This was the very same nt that had brought the entirety of the Chimeric Fiend God''s army to victory.


    And this was just one of them. There was no telling how far it was spread, or how strong it could truly get.


    They couldn''t forget that it had only been a year since they had released the seed. The true potential of the Chimeric nt was only revealed after a longer time. ~SHING~


    Lin Mu drew out Afternoon Pine and directly shed at the roots.


    ~CLANG~


    And sure enough, the sword simply bounced off the surface of the roots.


    "Huh." Crown Prince Feng Shun was surprised, and so were the others.


    "Let me try a stronger cut," Lin Mu said, this time infusing Metal Elemental Immortal Qi into the sword.


    Since the Metal element could suppress the Wood element, it was often the best choice against nts. ~CLANG~


    And yet, no difference was made and Afternoon Pine was bounced off just like before.


    "Perhaps harder than this." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, as his aura changed.


    ~HUALA~


    Sword Intent flowed from his body and poured into the sword, before he shed at the roots again.


    This time Lin Mu was using a proper sh that used his strength and if it was used on a giant boulder, it could be easily cut apart and shredded into gravel.


    ~GANGLAN~


    The impact of the attack was certainly greater, and a sh was left on the ground and the rock wall behind the roots. But the roots themselves were left unaffected, with not even a single scratch on them. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Seeing this, everyone''s eyes went wide.


    "Okay¡­ this is a lot worse than I thought." Lin Mu said, putting the sword away.


    The group thought about it for a few seconds before thinking of alternative solutions.


    "Maybe swords aren''t good on it?" Daoist Chu suggested. "Fire might just work." "Yeah, fire is often good against nts." Qiao De nodded too.


    "We can try that." Lin Mu said as he directly released searing hot energy from his body.


    The energy, which was a mix of Fire, Metal and Earth elements flowed like Magma around him, and elevated the temperature of the area by at least a hundred degrees within seconds. The others were able to bear this due to being immortals, but anything that was normal should have started burning at it.


    Of course, Lin Mu didn''t stop there and controlled the searing hot magma and turned it into ws around his arm.


    ''Longgui Bulwark Armor: Magma Fury!'' Arge Magma w shed at the giant root, causing a small explosion as arge amount of smoke was produced.


    ~BOOM~


    ~SHAHA~


    The area became filled with smoke, making it hard to see directly.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But a wave of Crown Prince Feng Shun''s wrist created a gust that blew away the smoke, revealing the area.


    "It can''t be¡­" they had thought that the smoke was due to the roots burning, but they were proven wrong.


    "This¡­" Crown Princess Shang took a closer look and saw that only ck marks were left on the surface of the roots, but no actual damage was inflicted onto them.


    It was the same as the soot that would settle on a candle holder, but it wouldn''t actually burn.


    Lin Mu was astounded, as he had actually used quite a bit of his power in this. While it wasn''t as strong as the Mountain Copsing Fist from earlier, it was still good enough to bore a hole through a normal mountain.


    And yet the roots showed no signs of damage at all.


    The ck marks left on its surface were like a mocking facade that teased them about their ipetence.


    "Perhaps we should try too," Ziran spoke up. "The roots might have very specific weaknesses." He added.


    "We all have different kinds of skills. One of them just might work." Lady Kang agreed.


    She had been thinking about how to affect this and was going through the skills she knew. Among them, there were a couple she reckoned might just work against this.


    "I''ll go first then." Monk Hushu who had been ready since the start, spoke. "I''ll try to weaken it from the inside." He said before controlling the Prayer beads.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The beads split apart and surrounded the roots, before trying to constrict it.


    "Golden Divine Vajra Purge!" Monk Hushu chanted for a minute before mming his palms onto the roots.


    ~THUD~


    His palms made a dull sound against the roots, before the prayer beads started to glow in a golden light.


    The golden light covered that area of the roots and soon grew bright enough to make it hard to see anything. But it didn''t stop there, as it tried to prate the roots.


    The group was unable to see for a couple minutes before the light finally died down.


    "Amithabha¡­ It is Unbreakable."

 Chapter 2290 Finding A Vulnerability

    Chapter 2290 Finding A Vulnerability


    The toughness of the roots was unbelievable to the group.


    Though they didn''t stop their efforts right away.


    "Let me try." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as spars started to cover his hands.


    ~BZZZT~


    The sparks soon turned into arcs of lightning that filled the area with buzzing sounds. A terrifying amount of power flowed from Crown Prince Feng Shun, causing the very air to tremble. The sheer amount of Immortal Qi fluctuationing from him were rming and the walls were starting to tremble.


    The dust in the air started to stick to the ground and the walls due to the static charge being deployed. Everyone in the group took a step back, knowing that it won''t be good to be close for this skill simr to Lin Mu.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun gripped air, as if he was holding something, causing the lightning to condense. It soon turned into a long spear that had a jagged de, as if it were a lighting bolt!


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Grand Bolt!" Crown Prince Feng Shun chanted before throwing it at the roots.


    ~ZAP~


    The Thunderbolt shaped spear traveled at the speed of lightning and struck the roots, causing the air to twist.


    ~BOOM~


    Then in the next fraction of a moment, a giant explosion was heard, as a blinding white light was released. A massive amount of Lightning Elemental immortal Qi fluctuations filled the air, causing the hair on everyone''s bodies to stand up.


    Little Shrubby who was in his smaller form, turned into arge fur ball due to it.


    Though the explosion settled down, just as fast as it had happened. Only the smell of ozone was left in the air now, even the stench of Death Qi being burned away with the power of lightning.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun waved his hand, clearing the smoke out and allowing everyone to see.


    "It really is Unbreakable¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered.


    They could only see the scorch marks where the bolt had struck, but no actual damage had been inflicted onto the roots. "This is an impossibly high level of durability¡­ it''s already on the level of a Top Grade Immortal Armor." Lady Kang couldn''t help but assess. "Don''t think my skills will do much to it either, if its like this." She was going to try too, but now knew it was best not to waste energy on it.


    Lin Mu who had witnessed it all, was now having further doubts about the Chimera nt. At the same time, he was also impressed by it, realizing just how strong of a ''weapon'' the Chimeric Fiend God had made.


    ''This is just one¡­ If multiple of these were used in a war, just how would someone even win against it?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    "They''re not all tough like this." In this a voice was heard in his mind.


    Xukong who had sensed the strong energy fluctuations was forced to see just what was happening around Lin Mu. And when he saw through Lin Mu''s memories he couldn''t help but be surprised too.


    "Senior Xukong¡­ what do you mean by that?" Lin Mu asked while the others thought of potential solutions in silence while someprehended what they could even do here.


    "While the Chimera nts are tough, they certainly aren''t as tough as this," Xukong replied. "With the level of skills that were used on it, a normal Chimeric nt would have certainly been destroyed. But this one has endured it all." He added.


    "So, this is an exceptional one?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "The Chimera nts can gain different properties based on what kind of fuel the Chimeric Seed will absorb. Considering the fact that there was a massive amount of Death Qi present here in this ne¡­ It must''ve granted it a durability beyond what should be normally possible." Xukong exined. "Heavens¡­ Won''t that make the Chimeric nt impossible to destroy?" Lin Mu spoke. "And this is just the nt''s own durability. We still don''t know what kind of Chimeric Beasts it could potentially produce other than the weak ones we encountered." He added.


    "Hmm¡­" Xukong thought for a bit before answered. "The Chimera nts were designed to be tough, since it would be a grave weakness if its roots could be destroyed by the enemies of the Chimeric Fiend God. The same can probably say for its stem and shoots that are probably spread in other areas.


    But¡­ There is still vulnerabilities that it will have." He stated.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu felt a greater hope.


    "What are they?" He asked. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    "The weakness of the Chimeric nt is also where it is the most dangerous¡­ Its Fruiting Body." Xukong revealed.


    "A fruiting body?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "Isn''t that something fungus and mushrooms have?" he recalled.


    "Yes¡­ But the Chimera nt isn''t a normal nt anyway." Xukong replied. "It is in these Fruiting Bodies that the fruits of the Chimera nt are produced¡­ The Chimeric Beasts." He added.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu got a few ideas in his mind.


    "So it should be something like a ''womb''¡­ and inherently weak due to its function." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Exactly." Xukong confirmed. "While you might not be able to damage it from the outside, if you can get inside the Fruiting Body, you''ll certainly inflict damage onto it." He exined.


    "I see¡­ So now we just have to look for the Fruiting Bodies," Lin Mu muttered. "I suppose that will be easy as long as we go along the roots." "Possibly." Xukong replied. "But there''s always a chance the Chimera nt would have started to divide and spread its shoots further than its initial location." He rified.


    "So the Chimera nt can multiply in numbers?" Lin Mu frowned.


    "It very well can. It is designed to be as hardy and fecund as possible after all." Xukong confirmed.


    "Great¡­" Lin Mu let out a sign. "So we''ll just have to find the Fruiting bodies before it spread too much."


    "Yes. But as long as you''ve found a set of roots, you''ll also be able to find the Fruiting Bodies. And since the Chimeric Beasts are produced by the Fruiting Bodies, you can also tract them down through the movements of the Chimeric Beasts themselves.


    There will be a high poption of them around a Fruiting Body." Xukong exined. "Though this won''t be permanent, so you will have to be fast once you discover clusters of Chimeric Beasts the Fruiting Body will eventually close and move somewhere else to better spread the beasts." He added.


    "I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Mu said before thinking of possible ways they could track down the Fruiting Bodies. ''I suppose we need to first take a look at what a Fruiting Body is like¡­ Once we know that, we''ll have a better idea on how to find more of them.'' He thought before looking at the group.


    ~huu~


    He took a minute to organize his thoughts and spoke.


    "I have a method that might just work." Lin Mu said before exining all that Xukong had told him.


    "Hmm¡­ So its strength is also its weakness¡­ Quite poetic." Ziran said, stroking his chin in interest.


    "This is good. If it''s a Fruiting Body, then it should be above ground and as such easier to spot from the sky." Crown Princess Shang spoke,paring it with the nts that she knew about. "Plus, I think Daoist Mu Lin and Daoist Chu can whip up something that can trackrge numbers of Chimeric Beasts, can''t you?" she smirked.


    "I can, yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "As long as we can narrow down on an Energy Signature for the Chimeric beasts, it''ll work." Daoist Chu could already think of several formation arrays that were made for things like this.


    "Amithabha, then we should haste." Monk Hushu spoke up. "It is not good to let foul creations like these to exist for too long." "I agree." Elder Hu nodded his head. "The longer it takes us, the more the Chimera nt will spread."


    "It''s only been a year, and it has grown to this extent. There might be a chance it has already spread." Qiao De was concerned about the time they had been forced to iste. "It''ll be fine." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "At most, we''ll have to spend a couple years more in this trial. But that just means we get more opportunities to gather the credits." He said with confidence.


    "That''s true." Lady Kang said, having a few more ideas. "If we eliminate most of them except for a single Chimeric nt, we might just be able to ''farm'' the Credits." She suggested.


    "With a few precautions and arrays to iste the nt¡­ I suppose that can be done." Daoist Chu thought about the viability of the n.


    "I do not know if we should tempt fate with something like that." Monk Hushu was not convinced about that though. "It is not wise to y with foul creations such as this."

 Chapter 2291 Heavy Excavation

    Chapter 2291 Heavy Excavation


    Lin Mu could see the conflict between the group on what was do be done with the Fruiting Bodies.


    "It''s fine. We do not know if the methods we''re going to use will work in the long term or not anyways." Lin Mu spoke. "We need to eliminate the Chimera nts first, and there''s always a chance we''ll have gathered enough credits that we need for the rewards before that." He added.


    "That''s true. It is far too early to discuss that." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "We''ll get to that when it is time." With that said, the group was on the same page again, and they could move on.


    "So how do we find the Fruiting Body of this Chimera nt?" Qiao De asked. "Do we just dig along the roots?"


    "That''s the most straightforward way. So we may as well do that." Lin Mu replied. "Plus the Fruiting body shouldn''t be to far since the roots are already here. We just need to see which part of the roots go upwards to the surface." He exined.


    "Plus there would be a lot of Chimeric beasts around the area too, wouldn''t there?" Daoist Chu reminded.


    "Yeah, so the signs will be plenty." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "Let''s get going then," Crown Prince Feng Shun said, and they flew into the caves.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The part of the caves they hadnded in was twenty kilometer wide and open, but that didn''t mean it was the only area. The roots of the Chimera nt extended further into the narrow parts of the caves and seem to be going even deeper.


    The first part of the area was easily covered by them, since all they had to do was fly. But they soon reached an area where they now had to dig. The roots had entered solid rock and there was no clear way ahead.


    "Get back a bit," Lin Mu said as he directly punched into the rock wall.


    ~BOOM~


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    Cracks spread all around the rock wall and soon a fifty meter wide area was opened up.


    "Hmm¡­ okay this is durable enough." Lin Mu said seeing that the rest of the walls and the ceiling hadn''t fallen on them. He had tested out a smaller attack since he had no idea whether using a full scale attack would copse the entire ce and cause a cave in. While the group wouldn''t be particrly injured, they would still have problems getting back down.


    Lin Mu stood in a punching stance and gathered power in his arm.


    Of course, this time, he didn''t go all the way with Mountain Copsing Fist.


    He only used the boulder copsing fist, as they only needed to make arge enough tunnel to pass through the ce.


    "Boulder Copsing Fist: Third Form- Earthen Devastator!" ~RUMBLE~


    A dark brown streak of energy was released from Lin Mu''s bare fist that quickly drilled into the rock wall. This time Lin Mu didn''t need to use the Longgui Bulwark Armor to protect him as the skill was used at a lower output.


    In fact, Lin Mu had barely used three percent of his Qi in it, which was still enough to do the task they were here for. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    ~BOOM~


    The rocks and soil were pulverized into dust from the skill, and a straight tunnel was opened up that seemed to have no end.


    "That''s certainly effective." Daoist Chu muttered.


    The group got to see the weaker version of the skill that Lin Mu had used and also the scaling of power that varied.


    "Here we go." Lin Mu said as he flew in first.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOSO~


    The others followed after and kept their senses alert for any danger. After all, the walls could still cave in and they could get trapped for a period. That would dy them, which they didn''t want to, as such, kept an eye on the cracks.


    Thankfully, the Death Qi wasn''t as spread in this part of the ground due to how deep it was. Thus, the group wasn''t as restricted on using their Immortal senses as they were on the surface. Still, that didn''t mean they could use it to the full extent, and were limited to less than five hundred meters of range.


    This was still better than being entirely unable to use it.


    The hole was quite long and by the group reached its end, Lin Mu had already punched out again.


    ~BOOM~


    Another tunnel was carved out by the Boulder Copsing Fist and they continued onwards. Though around this part, they realized that the roots weren''t moving as straight as before.


    "They''re curving quite a bit," Lin Mu spoke. "We might have to change path." He scanned the depths of the rocks, finding that the roots had entirely pivoted off the tunnel he had made.


    "Perhaps we should do a slower dig along the roots." Ziran suggested.


    "Probably." Lin Mu nodded his head. ~SHING~


    Doing that was no issue either, as Lin Mu could simply cut it apart the traditional way. ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    He shed out with Afternoon Pine, cutting open a path that he could change as he wished. The roots moved in tricky patterns and Lin Mu had to change often, sometimes going sideways, sometimes upwards and sometimes downward.


    They ended up doing this for more than six hours, before Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    "Perhaps we should switch." The man said as he stepped forward. "Recuperate your Qi, Daoist Mu Lin. We''ll take turns to dig." He offered.


    "Sure." Lin Mu didn''t mind that, as he had indeed used up a decent amount of his Qi today. He was down to about sixty percent of his Immortal Qi stores, which was mostly exhausted due to his use of Mountain Copsing Fist, Boulder Copsing Fist, and his sword skills. Lin Mu could have continued to dig, but there was no telling how long it would take for them to reach the final destination.


    If they did reach it and Lin Mu had exhausted more than needed, it would be a tough thing to fight out. After all, it could be a time sensitive matter and the Fruiting Body could very well change location by the time he had recovered.


    And this was without even considering the kind of danger they could face with it.


    With all these in mind, it was a lot more safe to conserve their immortal Qi and spread out the digging.


    This turned out to be a good choice as the search for the Fruiting Body and now turned into a full blown tunneling job, and over two days passed by.


    "Haah!~ Are there no end to these roots?" Qiao De couldn''t help but let out a tired sigh.


    "They sure have spread far¡­ We''ve definitely dug more than three hundred kilometers of area at least." Daoist Chu estimated. "And this is just one of the Chimeric nts¡­ Imagine doing the same for the others." Crown Princess Shang almost stammered at the thought of that.


    "I suppose this kind of effort makes sense, considering this was used for War." Crown Prince Feng Shun was tired too, but understood the situation. "If it was destroyed easily the Chimera nts wouldn''t have been feared so much."


    "Indeed. We are not against a simple foe," Elder Hu agreed.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    "Wait!" And just as he said that, Ziran stopped them.


    "What is it?" Min Ju asked. "Look," Ziran pointed up. "The roots¡­ they''re finally going up!" "Isn''t it just the normal deviation? We''ve seen that several times so far." Min Ju asked in doubt.


    "No¡­ We''re already the highest we''ve been so far. The roots have never gone above this point before¡­ there''s a high chance they''re finally going up to the surface." Ziran exined.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu used his Immortal sense to probe the area around the roots and scanned it until he could verify it.


    "Ziran''s right," Lin Mu said, feeling a bit excited now. "The roots are going straight up for at least six hundred meters uninterrupted. That''s how far I could scan, as there''s more Death Qi up there." He exined.


    "So we''re finally there," Lady Kang said, looking up. "Will you do the honors, Daoist Mu Lin?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "With pleasure." Lin Mu said as he gathered six percent of his Immortal Qi in his arm.


    The immortal Qi and vitality mixed, turning into ribbons and spun at great speeds. ~BOOM~


    Another Dark Brown Ribbon was shot out of Lin Mu''s fist that bore a straight path up to the surface.


    The force of the skill was enough that the debris was directly pushed out of the surface, and it was like a dust volcano had exploded. Arge cloud of dust shot up into the sky and spread around the area, hiding everything behind it.


    It lingered there for a few seconds before a strong gust of wind pushed it away.


    ~WHOOSH~


    From the hole in the ground, rose the ten immortals, as they faced the giant foe in front of them.

 Chapter 2292 The Chimera Plant

    Chapter 2292 The Chimera nt


    Lin Mu and the group hovered in the air as they gazed at the target in front of them.


    "It''s bigger than I thought¡­" Daoist Chu muttered seeing the body of the Chimera nt.


    The Chimera nt was a twisted, monstrous tree standing in the destend. Its bark was ckened and gnarled, resembling the withered limbs of tormented souls. The air around the nt was thick with a sense of dread, and the giant leaves on its top were spread proud.


    Each leaf was fifty meters in size, and was ck, as if made from pure soot. Its surface was covered in grey fments that looked like fur, but they were absorbing the Death Qi from the air and any other energy they could.


    The absorption of Death Qi was strong enough, that a dark cloud of it loomed over the nt, steadily raining the Qi upon it. The nt was over five hundred meters tall, and yet it felt a bit stumpy when one nced at it, as if its proportions did not match it. This was due to the twisted low branches, from which the Fruiting Bodies of the nt hung as well as the leaves that were big but low in number.


    The fruiting body of this malevolent nt was a nightmarish sight. It hung from the twisted branches like a grotesque ornament, each body pulsating with a mix of sinister energies which seemed to be hard to differentiate. It was shaped like a malformed dodecahedron and had openings on each of its side. Itwas roughly the size of arge mansion, its surface covered in jagged, spiked protrusions that dripped with a thick, ck sap. Its color on the inside was a deep, blood-red that seemed to absorb any light, creating an eerie, otherworldly glow. One look at this ck sap was enough for Lin Mu and the rest to realize that it was a poison that could easily harm them. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "That certainly does not look good¡­" Crown Princess Shang gulped. "I''ve definitely never seen any nt like this ever before in my life." She stated.


    "My Immortal sense just got corroded away in an instant." Ziran said with dread. "That sap is concentrated with Death Qi and Baleful energies. Stay away from it." He warned.


    "Wait¡­ What''s that on it?" Lady Kang noticed something.


    Upon closer inspection, they realized the surface of the Fruiting Body was marked with chaotic, ever-shifting patterns that seemed to depict scenes of suffering and torment, as if the fruit itself was a repository of ancient, malevolent spirits. A faint, unsettling whisper emanated from the fruit, filling the air with a sense of impending doom. "Are those¡­ The Chimeric Beasts it consumed?" Monk Hushu observed.


    Each of the pattern that appeared on it seemed to vaguely resemble the Chimeric Beasts they had seen before. There were Auroch Chimeric Beast, Toad-nt Hybrid Chimeric Beasts, various Insects like Chimeric Beasts, Griffin Chimeric Beasts and more that the group hadn''t seen yet.


    "Looks like it," Lin Mu muttered, furrowing his brows. The longer the group looked at the Chimeric nt, the worse they felt. It was as if the mere presence of the nt was enough to sow dread and despair into their hearts.


    ~SQUELCH~


    As if the mere looks of the nt weren''t enough, eerie and strange sounds could now be hearding from the Fruiting Body.


    "Wait a second, is that¡­" Qiao De narrowed his eyes to look through the openings of the Fruiting Body.


    The group changed their position a bit to get a better look and finally saw what was happening inside.


    There were hundreds of pods of various sizes present inside it. The pods were attached to the inner surfacer of the Fruiting Body and were encased in a tough, leathery seashell pulsating.


    A few of the pods seemed to have been broken though and their interior that was filled with a viscous, tar-like substance that reeked of decay and corruption could be seen. Foul stench apanied it, and made everyone wrinkle their noses.


    ~WHOOSH~


    "Ugh." Crown Prince Feng Shun created a spinning wall of wind around them to keep the stench away, as it was strong enough to give them headaches.


    ~BIWHIIIIIII~


    It was at that time they got to witness a stunning scene. Several of the pods inside the Fruiting Body split open as limbs of various proportions and shapes burst out of them. "The Chimeric Beasts!" Lin Mu gripped Afternoon Pine in his hand, read to strike at any moment.


    ~ROAR~


    ~SCREECH~


    ~CHIIIIIIIII~


    Various cries were let off by the Chimeric Beasts that had been freshly born as they left their pods. They didn''t have far to walk though, as they soon jumped out of the multiple openings that were around them.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The Chimeric Beasts allnded on the ground rather unceremoniously andid there for a bit, simr to how newborn animals would be like. They were surrounded by the thick ck sap of the Chimera nt that continue to drip from it.


    There wererge puddles of it everywhere, some of which were big enough to be called ponds at this time.


    "Are they¡­ Drinking it?!" Min Ju couldn''t help but cover her mouth in disgust.


    The Chimeric Beasts licked the disquietingly thick ck sap as if it were the sweetest of nectars. ~SHUA~


    And as they did that, their auras started to grow. From a meek and almost unnoticeable presence at first, they rapidly grew to the point where they could easily be considered as First Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Beasts!


    "Just a few minutes to reach the Immortal realm!?" Elder Hu felt like his understanding of the cultivation world was being rocked.


    The group watched in a mixture of horror and intrigue as the newly born Chimeric Beasts finished the sap before getting up. Not only had they increased in strength, they had also grown in size, reaching the more standard sizes that they had seen so far.


    "No wonder their numbers can grow so fast¡­"

 Chapter 2293 Rapid Production

    Chapter 2293 Rapid Production


    Having witnessed one of the creations of the Chimeric Fiend God, Lin Mu and the group finally understood just how terrifying its reign would have been.


    "It truly is made for war¡­ It is basically a factory of beasts." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke, feeling fear not only of the nt but also its creator.


    It was the sort of fear one could feel even if the being they were fearing had long since passed away. It was an innate fear that kept people alive and was present, even if one had be an immortal.


    "Monk Hushu is right." Lin Mu said, having observed it all. "We should kill them before they grow any stronger. This isn''t at the level we can control them and farm them¡­ there is no telling when they can go out of control. Not to mention the entire nt is corrosive for us." He stated.


    "Amithabha, the teachings of the Buddha are never incorrect." Monk Hushu spoke as the prayer beads in his hands started to tremble lightly.


    It was clear that even the conscience of the prayer beads was unable to ept the existence of the Chimeric Beasts and the Chimera nt.


    "I see it now." Lady Kang agreed. "It is not worth the risk." She changed the thoughts she had previously.


    "I agree about killing them too¡­ But where are the rest of them?" Daoist Chu asked, bringing the matter to everyone''s notice.


    "Huh," Lin Mu looked around and saw that other than the Chimeric Beasts that had been recently born, there were no others.


    "Yeah, weren''t there supposed to be a lot of Chimeric beasts around the nt?" Qiao De inquired.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and spread his immortal sense to scan for any presence of Chimeric Beasts. But strangely enough, there were none of them within a ten kilometer range of the group.


    "Did they wander off?" Lin Mu wondered.


    ~SCREECH~


    But he didn''t get to think about that long, as the Chimeric Beasts below finally noticed them. "Never mind, let''s finish these off first." Lin Mu said as he directly swung Afternoon Pine.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Golden yellow sword shes were released from the de, and struck down the Chimeric Beasts that had cultivation bases varying from the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm to the third stage.


    "Yeah, let''s clear them out and then the nt." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed and threw out his ns, creating sharp gusts of winds that targeted the Chimeric Beasts.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~ N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    The others joined in as well, since they too wanted the Credits from the ying of chimeric beasts. The group didn''t take long to kill at the Chimeric Beasts that had been born, as there was just over a hundred of them. ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath, and approached the Fruiting Bodies of the Chimera nt. ''Senior Xukong said that the insides of the Fruiting body should be its weakness.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. "But getting past this dripping sap is going to be difficult." He muttered.


    "Can''t we just attack it from here?" Daoist Chu suggested.


    "We can try." Lin Mu nodded his head and raised Afternoon Pine.


    ~HUMM~


    Sword Intent and Metal elemental immortal Qi flowed into the sword, as Lin Mu intended to destroy the Fruiting Body in one go. There were several of them hanging from the tree, and as such, they needed to see if they could destroy at least one before the others made more Chimeric Beasts.


    ~SHING~


    Arge sword sh filled with overwhelming Sword Intent rushed towards the Fruiting Body. It was targeted towards one of the openings on its sides and soon passed through it, leaving long cut marks on the surface.


    "At least the surface of the Fruiting Body can be damaged by it." Qiao De said. ~SPLAT~


    Once the sword sh struck the inner surface of the Fruiting Body, it ravaged it. The sap and corrosive fluids started to ssh around, while the Sword Intent started to shred the Fruiting Body from the inside.


    "Get back!" Lin Mu sensed the impending danger and warned.


    ~HUA~HUA~HUA~HUA~


    Thankfully, the talismans that Daoist Chu had made came in handy. They automatically created multipleyers of barriers around them, as the Fruiting Body finally exploded.


    ~BOOM~


    Its parts sshed everywhere, as sizzling sounds could soon be heard. It also sshed on the talisman barrier and started to degrade them within seconds.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    Tens ofyers broke in one go, while Daoist Chu hurried to deploy more talismans.


    "This is crazy!" Daoist Chu hadn''t expected them to be destroyed so easily by the fluids of the Fruiting Body. "We cannot destroy them from up close like this next time." Lin Mu nodded his head, knowing that this was partly a mistake on his side. "It''s not over yet," Ziran said, noticing the movement in the other Fruiting Bodies.


    ~SQUELCH~SQUELCH~


    "They''re being released!" Crown Prince Feng Shun eximed.


    "All of the pods are opening!" Crown Princess Shang observed. ~HUALA~


    As if that was not enough, the entire Chimeric nts seemed to have nowe ''alive''.


    Its branches started to sway, while the broad leaves on its top started to guzzle Death Qi at a rapid pace.


    ~CREAK~


    The twisted branches started to unravel, and new branches extended from the trunk of the nt.


    ~SCREECH~


    Soon, the Chimeric Beasts were released from the five or so Fruiting Bodies, and they were dropped to the ground. ~SPLASH~


    The Chimera nt seemed to have gone into an overdrive, as a waterfall of the foul sap stared to pour out of thorns the Fruiting Bodies. This sap covered the Chimeric Beasts that had fallen down, and they began to absorb it.


    ~HUALA~HUALA~HUALA~


    The group felt the rapidly rising Qi fluctuations and could see the Chimeric beasts growing in size too.


    "Doesn''t this feel like¡­" Daoist Chu realized something.


    "The Berserk ability¡­ They''re directly activating it." Lin Mu said, drawing out Ocean Raker as well.

 Chapter 2294 Targeting Weakness

    Chapter 2294 Targeting Weakness


    Lin Mu spun around, as tens of sword shes flew out of his two swords.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Multiple Chimeric Beasts were cut down by it but some of the beasts actually managed to dodge it too. Not to mention there were some that were actually strong enough to either block it entirely, or just regenerate the cut that had been made.


    The others also attacked, but they quickly discovered that the Chimeric beasts were indeed stronger than usual.


    "They''re stronger than the normal Chimeric Beasts after berserk." Elder Hu, sensing that something was wrong. "It might be the sap. The Chimera nt is empowering them!" Ziran guessed.


    "We''ll have to be quick. We can''t let them grow too strong." Lin Mu stated before shing out with both swords skills. "Great ughter Pine! Great Ocean Rake!" The sword sh from Afternoon Pine entered the ground before sprouting and turning into a giant yellow metal pine tree, that rained down thousands of sword shes from its numerous leaves. The Sword sh from Ocean Raker on the other hand, turned into waves of blue energy that racked the Chimeric Beasts before a giant w struck them down.


    Going all out from the start, Lin Mu killed hundreds of Third Tribtion Stage Chimeric Beasts in one go and a couple of the Fourth Tribtion Stage realm beasts too.


    But this was only on one side, as the other Fruiting Bodies were making more Chimeric Beasts too. "Wait! How are they being born so fast!?" Daoist Chu asked, feeling surprised. "Look! It''s absorbing the Death Qi at an even faster rate!" Crown Princess Shang pointed at the sky.


    There arge dark cloud of Death Qi had formed and it was raining down a constant stream of Death Qi onto the leaves, which was instantly absorbed.


    "Target the leaves!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he grabbed the bare air. Winds spun around his hands and turned into an azure halberd that emanated rich power.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Cloud Parting Gale!" Crown Prince Feng Shun swung the halberd down.


    ~GONGLONG~


    A massive wind de that was at least three hundred meters tall was released from it that targeted the leaves.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    At first it seemed like the leaves would all be cut apart, but they actually blocked the wind de with ease. It was as if the de was striking a metal wall and no damage was being done.


    "Dammit." Crown Prince Feng Shun cursed seeing his attack fail. "Its leaves are as strong as the roots!" "Can you disperse the Death Qi cloud?" Lin Mu suggested.


    "I can try," Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he raised both his arms above him.


    ~HUALA~


    The full extent of his cultivation base was released, as the aura of a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm cultivator spread.


    ~BZZZT~


    ~WOONG~


    Lighting crawled on his skin while wind roared around him. The Crown Prince''s entire body glowed in a mix of purple and azure colors from the elemental immortal Qis as he prepared his skill.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Banishing Ray!" Crown Prince Feng Shun chanted as the mixture of Wind and Lightning elemental Qis rose from his hands like pirs. The pir had both the colors, but contained an overwhelming power that threated to erase everything in its path.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The thunder and wind roared as it rose into the cloud of Death Qi.


    ~BOOM~


    And just a momentter, a ring of energy pulsed from the pir, burning and blowing everything that was in its path. This included the Death Qi clouds, as they were forcefully burned by the Lightning elemental immortal Qi and the wind dispersed it further.


    Since Lightning element was still of the extreme Yang orientation, it was perfect to work against Death Qi, which was undoubtedly of the Yin orientation.


    Soon, the gloomy dark sky of the Spatial ne was revealed again, as the Death Qi cloud disappeared.


    "It worked!" Qiao De said with excitement before throwing two javelins to kill the Third Tribtion Stage Chimeric Beasts that were trying to sneak upon him.


    But Lin Mu, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lady Kang weren''t excited just yet. ''Will it affect the Chimera nt though?'' they still didn''t know how much of the Death Qi supply came from the leaves.


    After all, the nt had roots, which were most certainly the chief supply of Death Qi along with stores. But those were basically impossible to destroy, which how tough they were.


    ~SQUELCH~SQUELCH~SQUELCH~ Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Look, the pods are breaking!" Daoists Chu pointed.


    They looked at the pods and saw that the pods had prematurely broken apart, releasing undeveloped and malformed Chimeric Beasts.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The premature Chimeric Beasts were barely at the Dao Treading Realm from the energy they released, but once they fell into the sap, they quickly rose up to the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. The group wondered if it was effective or not, but they soon realize that the Chimeric Beasts weren''t growing anymore.


    "They aren''t developing anymore!" Lin Mu guessed that the sudden decrease in the Death Qi supply probably strangled the growth. "Kill them all, then we can go for the Fruiting Bodies."


    "Say less," Crown Prince Feng Shun said as his fingertips glowed in a purple light.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Several explorations happened, as tens of lightning bolts shot out from the Crown Prince''s fingers. They sted apart the newly born Chimeric beasts, along with the previous remnants that hadn''t been killed yet.


    ~huu~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun took a deep breath and blew out, clearing the dust and smoke from the battlefield.


    There, all one could see was a mess of craters as well as scattered burned body parts of the Chimeric Beasts now.


    "Is that all of them?" Ziran said as he nced around. "It''s still producing them." Crown Princess Shang pointed at the couple of new Pods that had appeared. "No, wait¡­ they''re not growing as fast as before."

 Chapter 2295 Poisoning The Poisoner

    Chapter 2295 Poisoning The Poisoner


    With the Chimeric Beasts cleared, the group could now take the chance to assess the condition of the nt.


    "It no longer has the rich supply of Death Qi, we need to hit the Fruiting Bodies now." Lady Kang said as she began to prepare a skill.


    "Wait!" Lin Mu interrupted them. "Just destroying the Fruiting Bodies won''t do much to the nt itself, it will grow them back again. We need attacks that can prate the entire nt from the Fruiting Bodies." He exined, having listened to Xukong''s words before.


    "So we need to poison it?" Ziran quickly grabbed on.


    "If poison even works on that thing." Qiao De said.


    "Whether it be poison or skills that can spread through the body, throwing everything that has a chance to work." Lin Mu said as he clenched his fist.


    He already had a skill that was perfect for it, and he had used it to destroy many Dantians before.


    Two streaks of energy spun in Lin Mu''s arm, one red and one yellow. The two energies turned into ribbons before melding together. These were none other than Vitality and Metal Elemental immortal Qi. "Boulder Copsing Fist: Third Form- Metal Devastator!" Lin Mu punched out, sending a helix like robbing that directly drilled into the flesh of the Fruiting Body from the inside. ~SHAK~SHAK~SHAK~SHAK~


    From there, the energy of Metal Devastator spread, causing small bursts that sttered the sap of the Chimera nt. But soon, it found its way into the branch of the Chimera nt!


    Once it entered there, it was as if the energy of Metal Devastator had be overcharged.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    "The branch is cracking!?" The group watched as fine cracks appeared all over the branch, from which razor sharp bursts of metal energy escaped.


    Seeing that Lin Mu''s skill was working, Lady Kang switched up the skill she was going to use and activated it.


    Eighteen Stars rose from her hands and took shape above her.


    Bright light was released from the stars, as they transformed to take the shape of an animal.


    "88 Constetion Series: Thirty Third Form- The Scorpius!" Lady Kang chanted as the transformed stars moved.


    The illusory scorpion shook its tail and red at the Fruiting Body of the Chimera nt as if it were a foe.


    "Scorpion''s Toxifying Sting!" Lady Kang chanted.


    Then in the next second, the scorpion moved its tail striking the Fruiting Body through the openings in its sides.


    ~SHING~


    The sting prated the fruit right at the part where it attached to the branch.


    A shining white fluid dripped out of the ce where the Scorpion''s stinger had pierced. But more of the same fluid had entered the branch as well, which was soon about to show its effects.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    And sure enough, the branch started to crack again, as brilliant white energy leaked out from its cracks along with the shimmering white liquid.


    It was clear that this was a poisoning skill, that was much stronger than amon one.


    The cracks from the first branch had already reached its joining node, while the cracks from the second branch that Lady Kang had targeted were about half done.


    "I can''tg behind." Crown Princess Shang said as she took out eighteen small seeds. The seeds looked rather normal and were just a in brown in color. One couldn''t even feel an energy fluctuations from them, making them seem rather mundane.


    But once, Crown Princess Shang poured her energy into them, the seeds rapidly started to sprout.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The Crown Princess threw them urately into the opening of the Fruiting Body and watched as the seeds started to grow rapidly.


    Tens of vines burst forth from it and wrapped around everything they could grab. Roots also extended from it and pierced though flesh of the Fruiting Body, before it started to parasitize it.


    "Huh, will that nt help?" Qiao De couldn''t understand. "Won''t the poisonous sap of the Chimera nt hurt it?" he asked, seeing that several of the vines were literally corroding and melting down from the sap.


    "Just wait, they''llst as long as I need them to." Crown Princess Shang said as she gathered more energy within her palms.


    At the same time, the vines from the seeds she had thrown somehow managed to outgrow the corrosive effect of the sap. While the sap was still melting it down, the vines had a faster pace of spread and the same could be said for the roots that had somehow reached the point of attachment for the branch too.


    In just the span of thirty seconds, the vines had fully covered the Fruiting Body as well as the Branch it was attached to. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    And soon, small buds developed on the vines, before blooming into a flower that looked like a squash blossom.


    "Is that¡­ A Parasitic Immortal Curcurbita?" Lin Mu finally recognized seeing the flower.


    "It is indeed." Crown Princess Shang said as she continued to gather more and more Qi in her palms. Her palms had turned green while veins of red could be seen snaking through them. Whatever skill she intended to use was certainly one with a heavy energy consumption for sure.


    "But how''s the Parasitic Immortal Curcurbita withstand that sap?" Ziran was surprised. "While they tend to be hardy, they aren''t this hardy." "They were especially bred by me. I''ve modified them to have rich vitality, fast rate of growth and hardiness." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Though in exchange, their lifespan is very short."


    "How short?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Three minutes." Crown Princess Shang said as she mmed her palms together.


    ~HUALA~


    From her palms mes burst forth, before she drew them apart.


    "Shang Imperial Scripture: Weed Purging Sickle!" Crown Princess Shang chanted as a sickle formed.


    The sickle was green while red streaks of energy crawled through its de. Lin Mu could sense a strange feeling from the sickle, as if it was made to be the enemy of all nts.

 Chapter 2296 Destroying The Chimera Plant

    Chapter 2296 Destroying The Chimera nt


    The sickle in Crown Princess Shang''s hand trembled in excitement, as if it couldn''t hold itself back.


    "Time to cut the weeds!" Crown Princess Shang said as she burst forth.


    ~SHING~


    She swung the Weed Purging Sickle across the Parasitic Immortal Curcurbita vines, cutting them all in one go.


    This confused the others though, as they didn''t know why she cut the nt she had grown in the first ce. But in the next second, their doubt was rified.


    ~SHA~ SHA~SHA~SHA~


    As if a strong herbicide had been applied, all the vines of the Parasitic Immortal Curcurbita started to dry and crumble into dust. This spread from the part where Crown Princess Shang had cut them, and went along them until it finally reached the roots!


    That was where the true effect of the Crown Princess''s skill was revealed.


    ~FUUUSH~FUUUSH~FUUUSH~


    Fiery jets burst forth from the branch the Fruiting Body was attached to. It was clear that the branch was now getting burned from the inside!


    "Huh¡­ you used the Parasitic Immortal Curcurbita to propagate the effects of the Weed Purging Sickle?" Lin Mu now understood.


    "Indeed." Crown Princess Shang nodded. "The Weed Purging Sickle probably wouldn''t do much to the Chimera nt directly, but with the Parasitic Immortal Curcurbita prating its roots into the branch, the things be a lot more easier. The effects can affect even the branches and the nt." She exined.


    With that three out of the five remaining Fruiting Bodies had been taken care off. "Is that not enough?" Daoist Chu asked, seeing that the Chimera nt was still fine. "Perhaps not." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "Perhaps we should get thest two as well."


    "I don''t have a suitable skill for that." Daoist Chu shook his head. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Me neither. I have strong skills, but none that will be able to travel through to the tree." Crown Prince Feng Shun was also at a loss.


    ~SHUA~


    It was at this time that Lin Mu used the Boulder Copsing Fist again, sending another Metal Devastator into the fourth Fruiting Body.


    "It''s fine, I can take care of them." Lin Mu replied, charging up the skill again.


    Most people in the group had strong skills, but none of which that could ''infect'' the Chimera nt. Some even had Poison skills, but there was no way any normal poison skill would work against the Chimera nt.


    It would have to be something on the level of Lady Kang''s Eighty Eight Constetion Series for it to be effective.


    If they were a Poison cultivator, it would make sense to have something like that, but it wasn''t the case for them.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu sent the Metal Devastator into the final Fruiting Body as well, watching as the effects started to spread.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The first three branches had already been damaged to the point where the trunk was now being affected, while thest two branches were catching up.


    After a minute, the damage finally caught up, and all the branches had been damaged while the effects continued to spread into the trunk.


    "The shell of the branches can actually stay intact despite that." Elder Hu noticed, finding it rather strange. "The Chimera nt also doesn''t have any active offensive methods other than making more Chimeric Beasts." Ziran spoke. "For all its reputation, doesn''t that make it another liability?" Daoist Chu said after thinking for a bit. "Wouldn''t it make sense to add a way for it to attack?


    "Perhaps the way this particr Chimera nt developed is different from others." Lin Mu replied after hearing them all. "The Chimera nt''s adapt to their environment and develop ording to the fuel they get. The Death Qi made this Chimera nt have incredible defenses and a rapid way of producing Chimeric Beasts, but itcks direct offensive methods.


    Other than the sap of course." He exined.


    "No wonder¡­" Ziran stroked his chin. "I suppose another Chimera nt that was nurtured on just pure Immortal Qi would grow a lot differently."


    "At least it wouldn''t be as ugly as this." Crown Princess Shang was still disgusted by the nt''s appearance. As someone that specialized in them, she had seen a lot of nts many of which were ugly too, but none could match the disgust she had for this particr Chimera nt.


    ~KACHA~KACHA~KACHA~


    As the group talked, the Chimera nt''s trunk started to crack as well, as longitudinal gaps could now be seen forming on it.


    "Look! It''s finally breaking." Qiao De pointed.


    The cracks spread from the top to the bottom, and possibly reached the roots.


    ~RUMBLE~


    It was at this point, that the ground started to shake.


    "Perhaps we should step back¡­" Lin Mu had a bad feeling about this.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    The others didn''t need anymore exnation and they all quickly retreated five kilometer away into the sky. From here they could still observe the Chimera nt, but be safe enough to either avoid the fall out from the nt, or have enough time to get away further.


    ~TREMBLE~


    And sure enough, their choice was correct as tremors started to spread around the entire region.


    ~CRACK~


    A long fissure spread along the path that the roots of the Chimera nt had spread and Death Qi started to leak out from it.


    "It''s simr to before." Crown Prince Feng Shun said.


    "At least its not a geyser. This death Qi should be what the Chimera nt had absorbed all this time." Lin Mu spoke. "Though this might make the area inessible." He added.


    "That''s fine, we''ll have other ces anyway." Crown Princess Shang replied. "I doubt it will cover the entire spatial ne like before." Lady Kang agreed too.


    ~BOOM~


    Shortly after they said this, a ck explosion could be seen as the Chimera nt exploded in its entirety!


    Not just that, but wherever its roots were spread turned into fissures that were now filled with rivers of Death Qi!


    It was as if an entirely new topography had been created.

 Chapter 2297 Great Credits

    Chapter 2297 Great Credits


    The group watched as the Rivers of Death Qi started to flow, and further expanded the fissures.


    Some Death Qi also spread out from the rivers, as it turned into vapor but most of it seemed to be the liquefied Death Qi that had been condensed by the Chimera nt.


    "That does not look good¡­" Ziran spoke. "I don''t know how it''ll work out for the Spatial ne." "Considering it fixed all the damagest time, which was even more widespread than this, it should be fine." Elder Hu stated. "This ce''s arrays were made by a Celestial after all." He added.


    "Elder Hu is correct. Even if Death Qi is dangerous for us, a Celestial can still handle it." Lin Mu agreed.


    The group thought about it and reckoned it was the right thing.


    "So what do we do now?" Qiao De asked. "Hunt more Chimeric Beasts?" "We should¡ª" Before Lin Mu could finish replying though, he saw the green band on his hand light up. "Huh?"


    ~SHUA~


    <116,015,457>


    A number appeared above it, making Lin Mu be speechless.


    The others saw this too and were stunned.


    "H-Hundred¡­ Over a Hundred Million!?" Qiao De eximed, almost falling down from the sky.


    ~SHUA~


    But that was just the start, as the bands of Crown Princess Shang and Lady Kang also lit up.


    <54,621,159>


    <78,511,236>


    The two women looked at the numbers and were shocked at it.


    "How did it¡­ wait!" Lin Mu looked back at the destroyed Chimera nt and quickly understood it. "The destruction of the Chimera nt counted for credits." He muttered.


    All three of them that had participated in damaging the Chimera nt seemed to have been granted Credits for it.


    "Aww! If I knew it could grant credits, I''d have tried something at least." Daoist Chu was now regretting.


    "How many credits did it grant though?" Ziran could see some discrepancies. "The credits don''t seem to match what we''ve estimated before. Plus this is the first time it has granted credits to more than a single person." He stated his doubts.


    "That''s true. It didn''t divide the credits before." Lady Kang was also finding it unexpected. "Hmm¡­ now that I think of it. The credits you all got also seem to be a bit too uneven, if we discount the credits you had before." Min Ju said after calcting in her mind.


    "It is strange." Lin Mu looked at the other credits and tried to estimate how much was granted to each person. "It doesn''t seem to be an exact number¡­ Perhaps we need to destroy more of the Chimera nts to get a better idea about it." He said being unable to figure it out.


    "Yeah, at least this gives us another reason to destroy the Chimera nts." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "Besides, even if we don''t know the exact credits. From what it looks like, the total credits granted seem to be at least a hundred million, don''t you think?" he stated.


    "A hundred million credits¡­ that''s what we estimated for a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chimeric Beast." Lin Mu replied. "While the nt might not have the offense of one, it does make up for it with its other capabilities." He reckoned.


    "It can rapidly make more chimeric beasts, so it can technically exceed the credit value of a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm beast." Ziran said after thinking for a bit. "Given enough time, I think the value might just exceed past a billion or even more. And that''s just from one nt. Imagine what would happen when there are more of them¡­ ten, twenty, hundred or even more?" he gave a rather terrifying scenario.


    The others could only imagine the kind of devastation a hundred Chimera nts could cause. The more they thought about it, the more the scenes of the past war could manifest in their minds. They could feel the terror the victims of the nt might have felt in the past, and the despair they had to go through.


    But above it all, they couldn''t help but tremble realizing that above all this was still its creator, the Chimeric Fiend God!


    A being that had gone up against multiple courts and fought against entire realms, was not one to be taken lightly. The fear it had left could still be felt, even with it bing history. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu snapped out of the strange state first, taking a deep breath.


    "Is this what Karma is like?" He muttered to himself.


    He could tell that the feeling all of them were getting was not just their imagination, but a greater power affecting them from afar.


    "You''re correct." Xukong stated. "That is indeed the power of Karma." "No wonder¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "Just a single Chimera nt that has grown after millions of years, can still have an effect like this on us."


    "The more you think about it, the worst it will get." Xukong warned. "The Karma of the Chimeric Fiend God is not light and has properties that reflect its abilities too. Its best not to dabble much in it." He added.


    "I''ll keep that in mind, Senior." Lin Mu replied before looking at hispanions. "I suppose I should get them out of this then." He said before he started to chant.


    A sharp aura radiated from him and covered everyone making them all flinch.


    ~GASP~


    They all gasped as their hearts raced.


    ''I suppose Severing Heart Sutra works well on this.'' Lin Mu had guessed that it would be the perfect for such an effect. ''I''ll keep it in mind for future.'' "What¡­ happened?" Crown Princess Shang asked feeling confused.


    "It was karma." Lin Mu said, before giving a quick exnation of what Xukong had said to him.


    "Karma? That shouldn''t be¡­" Lady Kang muttered.


    But as she thought about it, she soon realized something.


    ''When I felt that being, my Dao Embryo was unable to block it too¡­ Perhaps this is something on the same level thus the Astral Star Chart Dao Embryo didn''t react fully.'' Lady Kang now understood.

 Chapter 2298 Remnants

    Chapter 2298 Remnants


    While the group came to terms with their first proper experience with Karma, Lin Mu went to check up on the remnants of the Chimera nt.


    After all, he didn''t know to what extent it had been destroyed and if there was anything remaining from it.


    "Hmm¡­ Nothing apparent." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he looked down.


    The Death Qi river now flowed where the Chimera nt used to be and from what Lin Mu could tell it was filled all the way to the bottom of where the roots used to be. ''Could the fragments of the roots or anything else still be left there?'' Lin Mu wondered having seen the durability of the branches and the roots.


    Even when they were being destroyed by their skills, the outeryer of the branches had mostly stayed intact with only cracks forming in them. This told Lin Mu that the entirety of the nt wasn''t as durable, it was only the outeryer that was the toughest like a shell.


    ~SHUA~


    With that in mind, Lin Mu activated his Spatial Perception and nced inside the depths of the Death Qi river. Since he was unable to look through the roots before, he reckoned if anything was leftover he''d be able to see it with his Spatial Perception as they would be the only thing that would ''block'' his vision.


    "Huh¡­ there actually are some remnants." Lin Mu was surprised. "Though the amount isn''t much." What he saw were only some inch long fragments that were now floating around in the Death Qi river.


    He didn''t think it was a good choice to leave them be, as anything could happen with such a thing lying around. Not to mention, Lin Mu thought that it would give them a good opportunity to study about them.


    ''Maybe we''ll be able to figure out more weaknesses. Then we wouldn''t have to specifically target the Fruiting bodies.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    With that in mind, he observed the Chimera nt''s fragments and followed them until they started to rise to the surface. "What''re you doing?" Lady Kang asked, approaching him.


    The others were also nearby and were curious about it too.


    "Waiting for the remnants of the Chimera nt to rise up." Lin Mu replied. "Perhaps we can study them." He added.


    "There''s still some left?" Lady Kang was surprised, as the explosion had been quite strong.


    "Just a tiny amountpared to the entire nt. But yes, there''s still some left." Lin Mu said as he finally saw one of the fragments surface.


    ~WHOOSH~


    As soon as Lin Mu saw that, he divide down and swung his palm, causing a gust of wind to blow.


    ~SPLASH~


    The fragment was swept up from the surface of the river by the wind and Lin Mu quickly caught it.


    "Using the Bending Will Fists for this, clever." Crown Prince Feng Shun could see the method clearly.


    Lin Mu didn''t dare to touch liquid Death Qi as it was most certainly hundreds of times more potent than the gaseous Death Qi he had touched before. While he might be able to ensure the normal form of the Death Qi, he didn''t think liquid Death Qi would be the same.


    As such, he decided to err on the side of caution since he could.


    "How is it?" Lady Kang asked, taking a look at the fragment of the Chimera nt that was barely an inch in size.


    It seemed to be part of the bark from its texture and was rough on one side while being smooth on the other.


    But what was more surprising was that it was entirely white on the underside.


    "That''s strange¡­" Lin Mu hadn''t expected it to be like this either.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    He tapped on it, finding it to have a texture simr to metal. He then pinched it between his fingers and tried to bend it, but was unable to make it bend even slightly.


    "That''s tougher than most Metals I''ve seen." Lady Kang said, her eyes shining in a strange glint. "If something like this was to be auctioned, it would certainly sell for a very high value." She stated.


    This was quite urate, as the toughness of the bark was even higher than diamonds. "Maybe. But I doubt this can be smelted in anyway." Lin Mu replied. "And even if it could be smelted, it would be far too small to be used as a weapon." He added. "No it can," Lady Kang replied. "It can very well be turned into a small set of needles, or perhaps even an arrow tip." She suggested.


    "Oh?" hearing that, an idea appeared in Lin Mu''s mind. "An arrow tip huh¡­" he stroked his beard as the ideas started to multiply.


    ~pop~


    While he was thinking about that, the second fragment surface making Lin Mu focus on it. ~WHOOSH~


    He picked it up the same way as before and took a look at it. This fragment was a bit smaller than the first one in length, but was broader than it.


    Testing it, he found it to have the same properties as the previous one. "Both are pieces of the bark." Lin Mu said. "I wonder if any of the root fragments are still down there." He muttered while waiting for the rest to rise up.


    About a minuteter, he saw the third and fourth fragment rise at the same time, so he scooped them up as well.


    "That one looks different." Lady Kang said, seeing that one of them was of a different texture. "It''s from the root, isn''t it?" "Yeah, it''s from the root." Lin Mu nodded, taking a closer look at it.


    Simr to the bark, the root was rougher on one side and smooth on the other, but the rougher side had longitudinal striations on it instead of the more zigzag ones that the bark had. Though on the inner side, both were white.


    "Are there any more fragments?" Crown prince Feng Shun asked from behind. "Just one more." Lin Mu said, waiting for the final one to rise up. It took about five minutes, but it finally reached the surface before being scooped up.


    "This one is bigger." Lin Mu looked at the two and a half inch sized piece. "Another root piece." Lady Kang observed.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head before storing them away. "We can study themter. Perhaps we might be able to find some weakness of the Chimera nt from these."


    "It will be a good chance to figure out something that can prate through its tough skin." Ziran agreed. "I have a few poisonous herbs and ingredients. I can perhaps whip up something that can work on it." Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "That''ll be good." Lin Mu agreed.


    "If that doesn''t work, we do have a ready ce to obtain something strong." Monk Hushu reminded. "The Offering Hall had plenty of poisons and corrosives. There might be something that''ll work on it." "Of course!" Qiao De''s eyes lit up. "Not just that, but we might be able to find something that can help us resist the sap too." He added.


    "Perhaps a trip to the Offering Hall is in order, then." Lin Mu reckoned.


    "We can go there and hunt the Chimeric Beasts on our way," Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "We haven''t been there sincest year, after all." He added.


    "It''ll be wise to take a look and reassess the situation of the region." Elder Hu was in approval too.


    "Very well, let''s head there." Lin Mu said as he took to the skies.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    Everyone followed along while keeping an eye out for any signs of Chimeric beasts. They also observed the changes in thend, but found that after twenty kilometer or so, thend seemed to be normal as before.


    But after a hundred kilometers, they saw a huge object in the distance. "Is that¡­ A Death Qi boundary?" Min Ju narrowed her eyes.


    "Is seems like one." Daoist Chu spoke.


    "But isn''t it¡­ a bit too big?" Qiao De asked, feeling a bit surprised at it.


    Lin Mu too nced at what was basically a kilometer tall ck wall that extended for at least fifty kilometers in both directions.


    "That''s definitely new." Crown Princess Shang said. "We never saw a Death Qi boundary that big, did we?" "No, we haven''t." Lin Mu said as he sped up to get a closer look. But when he was within ten meters of the Death Qi boundary, he suddenly got goosebumps making him stop.


    ~SPLASH~ All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    All of a sudden, a whip like appendage rose out of the wall and tried to hit Lin Mu.


    His eyes went wide and he immediately disappeared from the location, reappearing a few meters away.


    "That was close." Lin Mu muttered, not having expected the wall to react in that way.


    "Did it just attack you?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was shocked by it.

 Chapter 2299 Plenty To Hunt

    Chapter 2299 Plenty To Hunt


    So far, they had not seen any of the Death Qi boundaries that had reacted like this, thus the situation was a bit of confusion.


    "It looks like it did." Lin Mu replied.


    ~SPLASH~


    But as he watched, a few more such whip like appendages rose from the Death Qi boundary and pped the air. "No, wait." Seeing that, Lin Mu was intrigued. ~WHOOSH~


    He used Bending Will Fists and created a small gust of wind that passed by the proximity of the boundary.


    ~SPLASH~


    As soon as it did, the Death Qi boundary reacted and another whipshed out. But of course it only stuck air, since there was nothing there in the first ce.


    "It doesn''t seem to be targeting us intentionally." Lin Mu replied. "Instead, it is targeting any kind of movement. It cannot differentiate." He added.


    "Is this what happens when the Death Qi boundary bes bigger?" Ziran wondered. "Or rather, it''s more urate to call it a Death Qi wall now." He stated.


    "That''s true." Daoist Chu nodded. "It is far too big to be called just a boundary." "We should see how thick it is. I have a feeling it is not the same as before." Lady Kang chimed in.


    "Very well." Lin Mu agreed and the group rose up while keeping their distance from the wall.


    The wall was a thousand meters tall and once they exceeded its height, they finally saw how thick it was.


    "At least¡­ a hundred meters thick." Lin Mu estimated. "This is several times thicker than any Death Qi boundary we''ve seen." "Why would something like this happen?" Min Ju asked. "Did the arrays change, too?" "That seems likely." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Considering the fact that the Death Qi boundaries have been made to restrain the Chimeric Beasts, which have now grown stronger, it would also make sense that the arrays would strengthen the boundaries too." He analyzed.


    "Crown Prince Feng Shun is right." Lin Mu interjected. "The proof is right there," he said while pointing to the distance beyond the wall.


    ~Rumble~


    A faint rumbling sound was heard, as if thunder clouds were approaching from the distance. The source was as dark as thunderclouds too and seemed to fill the ground for arge range.


    "Are those¡­ Chimeric beasts?" Qiao De narrowed his eyes.


    "Looks like we now know where all the Chimeric Beasts that were produced by the Chimera nt went." Ziran said as he got ready to fight, his palms glowing in a green light.


    "This Death Qi wall was probably made to separate them out." Lin Mu spoke, as he took out Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker. "They are also stronger than the ones we saw at the Chimera nt¡­ these have been growing for a while." He added. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Well, time to reap some credits." Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled as a halberd condensed from wind elemental immortal Qi formed in his hands.


    "We''ll have plenty for all of us this time." Lady Kang said, small stars forming at her finger tips.


    Qiao De was also quite excited and took out eight javelins from his storage, letting them float behind his back. To him, the iing Chimeric Beasts may as well be a free coin pouch one found while on the way to shop.


    ~ROAR~


    ~SCREECH~


    ~KREEE~


    Various cries were heard as the Chimeric beasts neared. And when they were about five hundred meters from the group, several skills were activated.


    "Great ughter Pine!" Lin Mu shed out with Afternoon Pine, sending forth a yellow sword light that burrowed into the ground. "Great Ocean Rake!" he then lifted Ocean Raker up and shed down straight, releasing a w shaped blue sh that filled the area with an ocean blue aura that started to churn.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Lady Kang send forth fragmenting stars, that burst in the midsts of the swarm of Chimeric Beasts while Qiao De started hurling the javelins at the stronger Chimeric beasts he could spot.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun charged in directly and targeted the strongest aura he could feel.


    Ziran and Crown Princess Shang on the other hand coborated, utilizing both their skills in sync to create thorny bushes that broke the march of the Chimeric beasts.


    Monk Hushu threw out palm imprints while the Prayer beads hung on his neck. The prayer beads glowed while releasing Buddhist aura that amplified the monk''s skills. Daoist Chu, on the other hand, unleashed a storm of talismans that seemingly rained down on the Chimeric beasts, causing explosions everywhere.


    Elder Hu was a lot more straightforwards and charged straight into the swarm, while Min Ju supported him from the back, using several protective and auxiliary skills.


    With such an offense, the iing swarm of Chimeric Beasts suffered a great loss right at the start.


    There were tens of millions of beasts in this swarm, showing just how many had been made by the Chimera nt. It showed them that Lin Mu''s words of the nt being surrounded by a lot of Chimeric Beasts was not wrong.


    It was the arrays of the Spatial ne that had separated them away and kept the sequestered. But now that ''trial takers'' had arrived in the area, the Chimeric beasts detected them quickly, charging in to attack them.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense swept over the area, checking upon what kinds of Chimeric beasts were present in it.


    This time the majority of the cannon fodder were insect Chimeric beasts, ranging from the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm to the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. The ones at the Third Tribtion Stage were mostly the flying maggots and beetles.


    But there were also a fewrge Stick Bug Chimeric Beasts in it that had reached the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    ~PIIII~


    Though the strongest in the swarm were still the Griffin Chimeric Beasts that were at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    These were personally handled by Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lin Mu, while the rest took care of the ''lesser'' foes.

 Chapter 2300 Heading To The Offering Hall

    Chapter 2300 Heading To The Offering Hall


    With how many Chimeric beasts were present in the swarm, the group didn''t need to hold back and hunted to their heart''s content. They all watched as the numbers on their green bands jumped with each kill, and rose faster and faster.


    The battle raged for eight hours, as the number of Chimeric Beasts didn''t fall as fast as they had thought.


    "Are more of theming?" Daoist Chu asked, taking a brief rest.


    "Doesn''t look like it." Lin Mu answered as he nced over the horizon. "That was probably all of the Chimeric Beasts in the area that had been clumped together by the Death Qi wall." He stated.


    "That''s good." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "Let''s clear these out, then we can do some well deserved shopping." He stated.


    "Exactly!" Crown Princess Shang was eager for it too.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    The group did their final push, wiping out the final bits of resistance among the Chimeric Beast swarm.


    And about half an hourter, they all took a pause, assessing their current state.


    "That¡­ was¡­ more exhausting than I thought." Qiao De said as he sat on the corpse of a griffin. "For sure." Min Ju was in agreement too, her forehead covered in sweat and her breath uneven. Even with their increased immortal Qi stores, the battle was not an easy one. They had to use their skills constantly, thus draining them in a constant manner. If not for the fact that the strongest Chimeric beast in the swarm was only at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the immortal realm, they might just have had to take a temporary retreat to restore their energy.


    But thankfully there was Lin Mu, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lady Kang to absorb the more exhausting parts of thebat with their immense immortal Qi stores.


    "It was a worthy battle, regardless." Lady Kang spoke as she nced at the numbers on her wrist. "We''ve earned more than enough from this battle." "For sure." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "If we can have¡­ Nine or ten more such swarms¡­ We might just have enough credits for all of us to buy whatever we desire." He estimated.


    "Even now, we have enough that we can get some of the lower cost things we wanted." Qiao De said, a wide toothy smile on his face.


    Lin Mu nced at everyone''s credits and knew that they had gained even more than the Chimera nt from this battle.


    The biggest gainers were of course, Lin Mu, Lady Kang and Crown Prince Feng Shun. Their credits had all exceeded more than a hundred million, with Lin Mu''s reaching a hundred and eighty million.


    Crown Princess Shang was the next highest, simply due to having gained a lot from the Chimera nt earlier. She her touched the hundred million mark while Daoist Chu and Monk Hushu were both at round seventy million each.


    Elder Hu had exceeded them, reaching seventy five million, while Ziran was close at seventy two million. Qiao De had obtained sixty million, having targeted the high yield targets at the start until they were all gone and he hunted the weaker ones.


    The lowest was Min Ju, simply due to being in a more of a support role. Still, she had also managed to reach the forty million mark, which was higher than anything they had before this.


    With such gains, the group had no issues in getting a lot of the valuable rewards from the offering hall.


    The group rested for a few minutes, and also took the chance to gather some of the spoils from the battle. After all, a few of the materials from the Chimeric Beasts were actually useful like the Griffin Chimeric Beasts.


    The toxins from the flying maggots were also quite corrosive, thus they made sure to collect them too, just in case they woulde in handy against the Chimera nts. Lin Mu also stored the stronger corpses as food for Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang.


    With that done, the group was now ready to head to the Offering Hall.


    "Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu called out their fastest means of transport.


    ~ROAR~


    The beast appeared in a flurry of mes, ready to take them to their destination. ~sniif~sniif~


    "Why do I smell rosemary and lime?" Crown Princess Shang raised her brows.


    "Oh yeah, his fur smells of it." Ziran noticed too.


    Lin Mu had a good idea about it and looked at Little Shrubby.


    "Were you cooking?" he asked.


    "I was." Little Shrubby nodded. "The pot is still on fire, so I''ll have to be quick. I don''t want it to burn." He stated.


    "Alright, we can hurry." Lin Mu chuckled and got onto the beast''s back.


    The others gave a few curious looks but got onto the beast''s back, wondering if the beast was rolling in herbs. ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby turned into a red blur and followed Lin Mu''s directions as he carried them to the Offering Hall.


    Along the way, Lin Mu and the others struck down any stragglers they found, as they didn''t wish to waste any credit they could get. After all, it would be a great pain if they fell short of buying something they wanted and the credits they needed were just in the single or double digits.


    This was also why Lin Mu had not called out Little Shrubby and the twins. While they would be a great help in killing the Chimeric Beasts, it would also be a loss of points as none of them would be obtaining them.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    ~CREAK~


    Little Shrubby''s ws dug into the ground, as he slowed down a kilometer before the Offering Hall.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And before he even came to a full stop, he disappeared into thin air, having returned to the Sleepscape to tend to the stew. This of course meant, everyone was hurled from his back rather awkwardly.


    "Where''d he go!?" Crown Princess Shang had not expected to be thrown like this.


    "He seemed to be in a hurry¡­" Ziran could tell as an elf.


    "Yeah, did he leave something on the stove?" Qiao De joked, not knowing how true it was.All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.

 Chapter 2301 Picking Out Poisons

    Chapter 2301 Picking Out Poisons


    The group soon oriented themselves and moved towards the Offering Hall.


    "Looks like this ce didn''t really change." Crown Prince Feng Shun was the first to speak.


    "Yeah, with the Death Qi covering this area too, I had thought there would be at least some effects." Daoist Chu spoke. "Though perhaps the arrays here protected it from it."


    "That was expected, after all this is an important ce. I doubt the celestial would have made a mistake like that." Elder Hu stated.


    "That''s right." Lady Kang replied. "If anything happened to this ce, it would probably break the trial too." She added.


    "We likely would have found out since the Green Bands are technically connected to this ce." Lin Mu said as he stepped in through the door.


    He nced at the murals for a moment, the scenes of the Chimeric Beasts raging across a battlefield against an army of cultivators reappearing in his mind. He could almost feel the fear and despair that the Sacred Tear Demonic Tribe might have felt back then.


    ~huu~


    Taking a deep breath, he shook it off and finally arrived at the final room with all the reward lists.


    "Hmm¡­ what should we start with?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Since you''re versed in herbs, can you pick out the herbs that can be used as poison or corrosives?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Sure." Crown Princess Shang replied, getting to work.


    "I''ll also take a look." Ziran said as he started to read through the lists.


    While they all had the lists, that didn''t mean they knew what each and every object in the list was. There were simply too many things on it, with many being unknown to them too.


    The rest also decided to pick out a few things that might be of immediate use to them. After all, everyone had obtained plenty of points with the Chimeric Beast swarm and the Chimera nt. As such they felt a bit more released in getting the rewards.


    "It would be so convenient if we could transfer our Credits. It would make it a lot easier to get the Immortal Paragon''s Ring." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a sign.


    They all had the needed three hundred million points, thus they could have obtained it right away if it was possible to pool credits together. "Amithabha, it''ll be fine. As long as we have patience, we''ll obtain all the credits we need." Monk Hushu stated with his palms in a praying gesture.


    "You''re right. No use in hurrying." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed.


    Lin Mu listened to them while also going through the lists. He looked for the poisons that were rtively unknown, as Xukong could help him tell what they were. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    "How about this Senior?" Lin Mu asked, pointing to an item that cost about fifteen million credits.


    "Great Wart Toad''s Back Pus¡­ Hmm, it is certainly a poison but it''s something that only works on animals. It''s ineffective on nts, and will most certainly not work on the Chimera nt." Xukong denied. "Then, how about the ck Corpse Fly Stinger." Lin Mu picked out another item.


    This was a type of a beast material that Lin Mu guessed contained poison, considering the name. It cost about Twenty three million credits and was higher up on the rankings.


    "That''s a good one, but its poison is one that makes things rot." Xukong replied. "The sap of the Chimera nt was a lot more corrosive than that." "Hmm, I guess not." Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he looked at other poison.


    He went from one item to the other, but most of them turned out to be ineffective for the Chimera nt from what Xukong was telling. With how many things were present in the list here, it was simply impossible to get them all and then test them out manually.


    Thus Lin Mu reckoned, Xukong''s experience about them would be a lot better.


    Hour after hour passed as they continued this.


    It wasn''t until six hourster, that Lin Mu finally reached an item that showed some potential.


    "Wait," Xukong spoke up.


    "Is it something good?" Lin Mu asked looking at the name that they were at. "ck Hex Raven Tear." But when he did, he found it to be rather strange. "This is supposed to be a poison?


    "No, it isn''t a poison." Xukong replied. "But it can have an even better effect." He added.


    "What is it?" Lin Mu was curious. "It looks to be the tears of a beast."


    "It''s the Tears of the ck Hex Raven. It is a Bird beast that is considered as highly ominous. The areas it passes by be tainted with misfortune and people who sight it be unlucky." Xukong exined.


    "That''s a rather peculiar effect. It can change people''s luck?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    He had known of auspicious beasts which were real beings who had the ability to affect fortune and improve it. But this was the first time he wasing across ominous beasts.


    "The ck Hex Raven by itself is quite weak, and can be killed by even a mortal. But killing it is the worst thing one can do, as the beast''s death will curse whoever killed it along with their surroundings, making the area basically unlivable.


    The person who killed it would get incredibly sick and so would be their family members. The livestock in that area would go mad, and the crops would all wither from blight." Xukong exined.


    "How does it do that?" Lin Mu asked. "If it is that weak?" "That''s because the ck Hex Raven is a beast that naturally contains the Dao of Misfortune." Xukong revealed.


    Hearing that Lin Mu was surprised, as he hadn''t expected Misfortune to have a Dao too. And a beast that embodied it on top of it.


    "Do its tears carry the same power?" Lin Mu guessed now.


    "They do." Xukong nodded his head. "The tears curse whatever thing they touch." He stated.

 Chapter 2302 Cursed Tears And Potent Juice

    Chapter 2302 Cursed Tears And Potent Juice


    The ck Hex Raven Tears seemed like a rather potent material now that Lin Mu understood more about it.


    Though that didn''t mean he understood everything about it.


    "Wait, if they curse everything, how do we store it?" Lin Mu saw the first problem.


    "In order to prevent the effect of the ck Hex Raven Tears from spreading, they are to be stored in a special container that has misfortune warding seals on it." Xukong answered. "Though hopefully, if you get it from the offering hall it is already stored in that manner." He added.


    "If it is, it''ll be good. But it''s not a surety." Lin Mu said as he looked at the price of the ck Hex Raven Tears. "Plus it is quite expensive too¡­ Sixty Eight Million credits."


    "It''ll work good on the Chimera nt. Even if it has tough defenses, it cannot block the Dao of Misfortune." Xukong said with confidence.


    "But does that mean the defenses will be weakened?" Lin Mu asked. "Or just that the Chimera nt will have bad luck?" he was not clear about that.


    "Depending on how its utilized, the ck Hex Raven Tears will allow you to strike the weakest point of the Chimera nt. And when you do, the misfortune will start affecting the Chimera nt, making it have various issues.


    For example, if a cultivatores in contact with the ck Hex Raven Tears, they might experience Qi deviation or maybe even trigger a Tribtion out of nowhere.: Xukong exined further.


    "That bad?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected the power of the tears to be this strong. "Indeed. There''s even an infamous story about an Emperor who was fed the ck Hex Raven Tears." Xukong informed. "Since the tears themselves aren''t a poison, they passed through the checks easily, but once the emperor consumed it he choked on water.


    He then idental hit his head on the table, when he tried to handle that. Later, he tripped and rolled into his court''s pirs which copsed from his strength, leading to the entire throne room falling. In anger he screamed, which caused him to lose his voice and spit blood.


    Feeling infuriating from this, his anger red too much, making his Qi rage and pushing him into a Qi deviation. He barely managed to get out of it through the help of others, but that gave rise to a Heart Demon which drove him mad and he ughtered his entire city.


    This act of his is said to have enraged the heavens, which then struck him down with Punishment Tribtion Lightning that turned him into ashes." He narrated.


    Hearing the tale, Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel goosebumps.


    It even made him rethink whether it was a good choice to get this. After all, the risks of mishandling it was quite severe too.


    "Don''t worry, even if it doesn''te in the right kind of container it''ll be fine." Xukong assured him. "Are you forgetting you don''t need to touch things to handle them?" he reminded.


    "Ah! Yeah I can just use Meld." Lin Mu realized, taking a breath of relief. "Though we should still look at other options, just in case." He added.


    "Alright." Xukong didn''t mind and continued to tell Lin Mu about more things.


    Among them, they realized that many of the poisons were ineffective against the Chimera nt. And the ones that were effective, were simply too expensive.


    "Fury Manticore Venom¡­ Two hundred and fifty million credits." Lin Mu read one of the high ranking poisons.


    "That is almost sure to work." Xukong stated. "It''ll even melt through a Transcendent Immortal''s defense with ease. Those beasts are very strong and have the potential to be Celestial Beasts too." He added.


    "No wonder, it''s so expensive." Lin Mu muttered. "But it''s not the most expensive." Xukong said, bringing Lin Mu''s attention to another item at the top. "This is guaranteed to melt through its defenses." "Scarlet Heart Phoenix Bloom Juice." Lin Mu read. "Eight hundred million credits¡­ Yeah that''s¡­ Impossible." He stated right away.


    The item in consideration was the juice extracted from a Scarlet Heart Phoenix Bloom Flower. It was a legendary flower that was only said to bloom where a Phoenix had hatched. The flower contained such intense heat that it was said to melt a mountain simply from a breeze that blew over it.


    Of course, this was also indescribably valuable as it a treasure that could massively improve an immortal''s cultivation base. Though of course, those that were qualified to use it could be counted on one hand. Even Xukong didn''t think that Lin Mu would be able to handle it.


    It was one of the most potent herbs in the Immortal realm and was valued even in the Celestial Realm. The extracted juice was also highly potent and would melt through almost anything. If one wished to contain it, they couldn''t even use any metals or other solid materials. They would have to contain it directly inside a spatial pocket. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "How would one even consume something like this?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    "It is something Fire Elemental cultivators who have reached the apex can consume along with those that have some special bloodlines such as those of the Vermillion Bird, The Gold Crow, The Blessed Fenghuang, and The Great Volcanic Wyvern." Xukong exined. "It is possibly the best elixir they can consume and it''ll ensure they have more than enough Qi to reach the Celestial realm." He added.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu couldn''t help but be impressed.


    "Would it work on the Dragon Turtle?" He asked, knowing that it was also a strong beast with the fire element. "Unfortunately it only works on those with pure Fire elemental bloodlines." Xukong answered. "The Dragon Turtle wouldn''t be able to handle it either." "Hmm, that''s a shame. If not me, maybe it could have been good for Little Shrubby." Lin Mu said.


    Little Shrubby was the only one he knew with the highest affinity with the fire element among all of them.

 Chapter 2303 Taking The Raven Hex Tears

    Chapter 2303 Taking The Raven Hex Tears


    Since none of the options were viable for the Scarlet Heart Phoenix Bloom Juice, Lin Mu didn''t consider it.


    Even if he wanted to get in the future, it was much better to save up and get the Heaven Silencing Seal which he had been targeting since the start. It cost a whopping Billion Credits after all, which Lin Mu was not originally sure of getting.


    But now that he knew just how much credits could be obtained from the Chimera nt and the Chimeric Beasts produced by it, he was sure he''d eventually hit that number. Not to mention, there was no telling how far and wide they would spread.


    ''We wouldn''t be able to kill all of them in a short time anyways, and that would give the other Chimera nts, time to spread. Even if I reap around a hundred million credits per Chimera nt and the Chimeric Beasts made by it, it''ll still be a great harvest over all. The goal is a lot more achievable now, even if I buy a few minor things.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With that in mind, he finally went ahead and bought the ck Hex Raven Tears.


    ~SHUA~


    The credits on the green band decreased by sixty eight million, bringing down Lin Mu''s total to half of the original.


    It stung a bit, but Lin Mu knew it was only a momentary decrease and that soon he''ll be able to gain all of them back.


    ~HUALA~


    A small spatial portal opened up and the ck Hex Raven Tears were released by it. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Lin Mu saw it and immediately acted.


    "Meld!" Lin Mu grasped the space around the ck Hex Raven Tears directly, letting it hover in the air.


    ~phew~


    "That was close." Lin Mu said as he looked at the watery tears. "They really came without any container¡­" he had been hoping that there would be something, but they just gave it bare.


    He nced at the tears for a bit finding them to look like any normal tears. In fact, he couldn''t even sense any danger from them and neither were there any Qi fluctuationsing from it..


    If he didn''t know for sure that these were the ck Hex Raven Tears, he would simply think these were a few drops of water.


    ''There''s no Dao Tracesing from it either.'' He noted.


    Without any identifying signs, it was now understandable how the Emperor in the story Xukong had told about got tricked so easily.


    The amount of tears that he got were also a tiny amount. Not more than three drops total, for which he had paid a sky high price. After all, for sixty eight million credits he could simply buy Sixty eight million high grade immortal stones!


    That was a massive fortune!


    But at the same time, the potential of the ck Hex Raven tears was great too, as these could potentially change the entire fate of a world if used correctly.


    ''With such a devastating effect, how do the other high ranking cultivators guard themselves against this?" he wondered. "Wouldn''t the Immortal court have to be on guard against this all the time too?" he muttered in confusion.


    "The tears of the ck Hex Raven aren''t easily obtained. The ck Hex Raven itself is very rare and isn''t something that can be reared or bred. They are born spontaneously and can also disappear in the same way.


    As for the Immortal court being wary of it¡­ that part is correct. But they have sufficient measures against it." Xukong exined.


    "What do they do to guard against it?" Lin Mu was curious. "After all, it seems impossible to tell from its appearance." "The Immortal Court has a special array that was especially developed to deal with the ck Hex Raven Tears and other such cursed items that can harm them without knowing. In fact, the Immortal court has a dedicated department for it. It is called as the Great Warding Hall and is in charge of curses, hexes, and other such abilities and phenomena." Xukong exined further.


    Hearing it, Lin Mu couldn''t help but be impressed by the Immortal Court''s capabilities.


    "They seem to have people for everything." Lin Mu muttered.


    "There is a reason why they''ve managed to exist for all this time, after all. Without this, they wouldn''t be qualified for their position and would have long since been taken down." Xukong replied. "They have earned this position through blood and suffering, for each failure on their part was a painful lesson that eventually allowed them to progress.


    There is nock of people and powers that are looking to take down the Immortal court at all times. Even those that work with the Immortal Court don''t necessarily look up to them and are forced to work together." He stated.


    "That bad?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected the Immortal court to be in a state like this.


    "They routinely get betrayed by their own members too." Xukong added. "Though this is usually limited to the lower ranks members. Higher rank members defecting is rather rare due to their vetting process through which they recruit members." He exined.


    "Oh? Is that the same process that Crown Princes Feng Shun, Crown Princess Shang, Monk Hushu and Daoist Chu are undergoing?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Indeed. They are all in their training periods where not only are their capabilities assessed, their mentality and personalities are also checked. At the same time, they are taught various things that one might need to be part of the Immortal Court.


    Only after they qualify all these would one be truly eligible to be part of the Immortal Court and would be granted higher privileges." Xukong answered.


    "I see." Lin Mu now understood better and wondered how he should keep the ck Hex Raven Tears.


    "Just store it in the ring. As long as it''s in a distant area, it won''t do anything." Xukong suggested.


    "Yes." Lin Mu did exactly that as the tears disappeared.

 Chapter 2304 Unique Killer Herbs

    Chapter 2304 Unique Killer Herbs


    With the ck Hex Raven Tears safely stored away, Lin Mu could be a bit more rxed and see how the others were doing.


    He first went up to Crown Princess Shang and Ziran, who seemed to have already obtained a few things.


    "Oh? Looks like you''ve picked out some stuff." Lin Mu said as he looks at the herbs around them.


    "Right on time. We were almost done." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Ziran and I have picked out potential herbs that can either be used directly or after a little processing as poisons." She said while pointing at them.


    "We have eight herbs that you can use directly, and three that will have to be processed further." Ziran spoke. "So what are they?" Lin Mu asked, ncing at them. "Though I know these seven." He recognized the moremon ones he had read about.


    "This is the Liver Splitting Datura." Ziran pointed at the herb that had small hairy spines all over its stem and leaves. "Everything from its body contains poison which is powerful enough to destroy the liver of an Immortal. Even Body Cultivators will have a hard time dealing with this if the poison dose is high enough." "Oh?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected it to be this good. "What about those three?" he pointed at the small group that was kept separate.


    "These three are the ones that need further processing." Crown Princess Shang answered. "They aren''t poisonous in their current state and can just be used as normal herbs." She added.


    Ziran showed Lin Mu the first among the three herbs, which was a small potted flower that had no leaves. It was just a lone white flower hanging from a bare stem. It had five petals along with an equal number of yellow stamens hanging from its center.


    "This is the Barren Field Lily." Ziran introduced. "On its own, this herb isn''t poisonous to any animals, or humans, but it does cause the area around it to be barren, hence the name." He exined. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Huh, so it prevents the growth of any other nts around it?" Lin Mu was intrigued. "Even other Immortal herbs?" "Yeah, it has the uncanny ability to do that." Ziran nodded. "Sometimes it is used as an ingredient for pills that provide resistance to the Wood Element." He added.


    "That makes sense." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And what''s this? Looks like a raisin." "It''s a Ballooning Melon." Ziran answered.


    "Huh? This small thing is a melon?" Lin Mu was surprised, as the current appearance was that of a tiny raisin that was attached to a twig.


    "Indeed. It can absorb a massive amount of fluid, rapidly ballooning to arge size." Ziran answered.


    It was rather interesting to Lin Mu, and he wondered how it was used. Crown Princess Shang knew what he might be thinking and quickly spoke up.


    "Due to its absorbent properties, it is also used in pills to bnce the Water elemental energies." Crown Princess Shang spoke. "It can absorb the excess water elemental energy and is added in case of an emergency overflow of it due to some ingredients or mistake made during the refinement process." She exined.


    "But it can also kill, if injected." Ziran added. "By absorbing the water from one''s body?" Lin Mu could guess.


    "And blood." Crown Princess Shang added. "Though most of the deaths caused by it were idents by those that didn''t know what they were consuming was a Ballooning Melon and not a normal raisin." "Won''t they know from the Taste?" Lin Mu inquired. "Or do they taste the same?" "Well it just tastes sour. So one might just think its a sour raisin of some kind." Crown Princess Shang added. "And they sometimes grow with grapes and get mixed in, thus causing the issue." "I see¡­" Lin Mu nodded.


    "As for the final one," Ziran picked up the herb in his hand. "This is the Exploding Fire Balsam." "Exploding?" Lin Mu raised his brows and assessed the herb.


    It was a thirty centimeter tall herb that was kept in a pot, having a slender stem with a few leaves and branches. On some of the branches, its fruits hung, that seemed to be oval and bulging from their central part.


    "Don''t worry, its safe right now." Crown Princess Shang assured. "It only explodes with a heavy impact." She added.


    "Yeah, its a lot more resilient than one might think." Ziran added. "Plus, it''s only the fruits that are explosive. The rest of the nt is harmless." "I see¡­ so how are these used as a poison?" Lin Mu asked, as that was the reason why they had obtained these.


    "Barren Field Lily when refined, can be turned into a strong poison that works against nts. Basically, an Immortal Herbicide." Crown Princess Shang replied. "The Ballooning Melon can also be processed and refined to create a powder that has a very strong drying and desating properties. Its powder is often used by assassin and other such organizations to erase the traces of their kills since it can dry out a corpse within seconds. A dry corpse is a lot easier to burn and dispose off than a normal one after all." She exined.


    "The Exploding Fire Balsam as lot more straightforward." Ziran spoke this time. "It can be used to create explosive pills." He stated.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu could guess how these three would be used.


    "So you are hoping their properties would be applicable against the Chimera nt too." Lin Mu replied. "Indeed. Even if we don''t have skills that can directly harm them by infiltrating the inside of the nt, these might just work." Ziran nodded his head. "We just need to deliver a mixture of these directly into the Fruiting Body and it might just work." "That sounds good." Lin Mu could see the potential. "Of course, we''ll make a few different variants and see which one works out. All eleven herbs will be utilized in it." Crown Princess Shang added.

 Chapter 2305 A Missing Item

    Chapter 2305 A Missing Item


    With Crown Princess Shang and Ziran having picked out the herbs, they were now ready to experiment. "Will you two be able to do it on your own, or do you need my assistance?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "It''ll be fine, I can do it with Ziran''s assistance." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Unless Daoist Mu Lin can do alchemy too?" she asked.


    "Ah, I suppose not then." Lin Mu shook his head. "I''ve tried my hand at it, but I''m not exactly good." "So there is something you''re not good at." Crown Princess Shang chuckled. "I guess it''s my time to shine this time." "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Should we head back now?" Ziran asked seeing that most of the others seemed to be done, except for Daoist Chu and Qiao De.


    "I''ll ask them." Lin Mu said, moving to where Daoist Chu was first. "Are you done picking things out?" he asked, seeing a few items that were kept around him.


    "Almost." Daoist Chu replied. "I''m just looking for something that can extract the Qi signature of the Chimeric beasts." He stated.


    "These won''t work?" Lin Mu saw a lot of materials that were suitable for that around Daoist Chu.


    They were all meant to be used in a Qi extraction and istion array.


    "I''m afraid these might not be enough. We need something stronger than that too. The Qi signature of the Chimeric beasts is very¡­ Tangled from what I''ve seen. Even if we do extract it, I fear we may get mixed responses from the array." Daoist Chu expressed his concern.


    "Hmm¡­ what kind of material do you need specifically?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Something that is affordable and can withstand the vtility of the Chimeric Qi." Daoist Chu replied.


    "Let me see," Lin Mu nced at the list, while also letting Xukong know of it.


    "Get the Shambling Quartz." Xukong quickly spoke.


    "Shambling Quartz?" Lin Mu looked at one of the rather cheaper materials. "This can work? But isn''t this too weak?" he asked.


    The Shambling Quartz was barely ten thousand credits in value and was actually something that could be acquired elsewhere too. It wasn''t exactly rare, it was just that nobody really sold it due to it being mostly useless.


    The Shambling Quartz was shiny and sharp like natural quartz, but it was a lot more brittle. As such it was rarely ever used, and the uses were also highly niche with there being alternatives to it.


    "Shambling Quartz can be refined into Scr Quartz with the right process. You can turn powdered Shambling Quartz into multiple sheets of Scr Quartz, which can then be used as a istingyer for the Chimeric Qi." Xukong exined. "It was an older method that was used in the past before they made the proper tools to search for Chimeric Qi." He added.


    "Oh? That''s rather interesting. It''s cheap too." Lin Mu found this to be the perfect option. "Daoist Chu, get this." He said before giving a short exnation of what could be done with it.


    "What!?" Daoist Chu was certainly shocked by it. "It can really be used like that?" "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded.


    "That''s great! If I knew this earlier, I wouldn''t even need to get the other things." Daoist Chu replied. "Though it''s fine, I can still use them for other thingster." He said as he stored everything away and got the Shambling Quartz as well.


    ~shua~


    A small portal opened up and the Shambling Quartz came out of it.


    "Whoa! This is a lot." Daoist Chu held therge chunk that was the size of a barrel.


    "I suppose it is worth the price." Lin Mu said before Daoist Chu safely kept it away too.


    It would be a bother if it broke here, as gathering the powder would be extra work. But with that, Daoist Chu''s problem was resolved and he was ready to leave too.


    The only person left now was Qiao De, who seemed to be having a rather confused expression.


    "What''s up?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yeah, you seem rather perplexed." Daoist Chu saw that too.


    "Because I am." Qiao De said while holding a jade slip. "Are you unsure of getting something?" Lin Mu asked. "No¡­ I''m unsure because the list is wrong." Qiao De replied.


    "Huh? Wrong? How?" Daoist Chu didn''t understand.


    "Take a look." Qiao De said, handing the jade slip to the man. "The copy of the list we made does not match the list here." "How''s that possible?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "I''m sure I copied everything exactly." "And yet, there''s stuff missing." Qiao De added. "What should I look at?" Daoist Chu asked, his immortal sense inside the Jade slip.


    "The Vile Guarding Immortal Pill." Qiao De replied.


    Lin Mu recognized this pill and knew that it was one of the pills that was good against preventing the Baleful Energies from entering one''s meridians. It was one of the best suited pills they could keep while they were here, to guard against it. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Huh¡­ it''s really mismatched." Daoist Chu spoke.


    "Let me take a look." Lin Mu said as he checked the jade slip for the name and then the walls for the Vile Guardian Pills. "Peacock Eye Pill, Stealth Breath Pill, Dark Lock Pill¡­ Mallet Meridian Pill." He read the names, quickly finding the missing pill.


    "See, ording to the list it should have been right here between the Dark Lock Pill and the Mallet Meridian Pill." Qiao De stated. "It''s gone¡­" Lin Mu couldn''t believe it. "I''m certain I didn''t make a mistake." He was sure as he had rechecked the list a few times.


    Lin Mu had copied tens of thousands of documents, whether they be physical books, scrolls, or jade slips and he was yet to make an error in any of them. And those wereplex documents unlike the rtively simple list of items.


    Thus he was sure he wouldn''t make a mistake like that. But no matter how much he rechecked, it was really gone.

 Chapter 2306 A Shocking Mistake

    Chapter 2306 A Shocking Mistake


    The missing pill was rather befuddling to the three, so much so that the others noticed it too.


    They had all been cultivating to restore their Qi stores, as they had expended a decent amount earlier but they heard the slightly agitated voices.


    "What''s happening?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "The list that Daoist Mu Lin copied seems to be wrong." Qiao De spoke.


    "That can''t be, I doubt he would make a mistake like that." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Even a normal immortal wouldn''t make a mistake like that for thing simple as an item list." He added.


    "Is it just one item, or more than one?" Lady Kang asked upon approaching. "We haven''t checked that." Daoist Chu replied.


    "Do that. Perhaps we''re missing on something." Lady Kang suggested.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said, his immortal sense spreading out into the room and scanning each name column. At the same time, he also kept his immortal sense connected to the jade slip to match the items. With his speed, it barely took him five minutes to look through all of them. But when he was done, a serious expression appeared on his face.


    "Something was wrong, wasn''t it?" Lady Kang could sense.


    "It''s not just one¡­ there''s five items missing." Lin Mu said furrowing his brows.


    "Five items?!" Crown Princess Shang was surprised. "I''d understand if you missed one or two things, but not five." "But they are¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    "Which one''s are missing?" Monk Hushu asked.


    "Other than the Vile Guarding Immortal Pill, the Shadow Salve Paste, ck Leaf Laurentii, the Dark Mist Restoration Pill and Dark Husk Talisman are alls gone." Lin Mu revealed.


    The group went over the names and identified some of the items.


    The Shadow Salve Paste was an alchemical material that was used in the manufacture of different kinds of pills, though mainly they were intended to be used as a suppressive agent for the Light element.


    The ck Leaf Laurentii on the other hand was meant to be used in the opposite way. Consuming it would grant one temporary resistance against Yin elemental energies.


    The Dark Mist Restoration Pill was the most straightforward and was meant to be used for cultivators that had an affinity to the Dark element and cultivated it. It could restore their Dark Immortal Qi.


    "The Dark Husk Talisman are gone? That can''t be, I took a few of them thest time we were here." Daoist Chu replied. "See, I still have them." He took out a bunch of them.


    The Dark Husk Talismans were protective talismans that could guard against Dark Immoral Qi attacks. But Daoist Chu had taken them, thinking they''de in handy in their fights.


    "If you have those, then¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun went over the list thinking of the possibilities. "I''d understand if these were rare pills and materials, such that only singr or a handful of them were avable. But none of them are like that." He stated.


    "Exactly, all these are something that would be there in bulk." Crown Princess Shang agreed. The group went silent for a bit, as they wondered just how something like this could have been possible.


    "There''s amonality in all the items." Ziran suddenly spoke. "They all seem to be something that would be useful for the unique environment here, as well as for those that have an affinity to the darkness." He stated.


    "I don''t think any of us have an affinity to the Darkness here." Min Ju spoke. "And we haven''t picked out any of those items right now, either, have we?" she asked.


    "Other than the Dark Husk Talisman, I haven''t taken anything. Plus I didn''t even use them, as I still had other''s I could utilize." Daoist Chu spoke up.


    "The Dark Mist Restoration Pills are something that are a bulk good." Lady Kang said. "Same could be said for the ck Leaf Laurentii as it is a protective herb. The Shadow Salve Paste is a bit of an outlier, as it cannot be used on its own but needs to be processed, but it would still be kept in bulk, especially in a ce like this.


    Thus for them to be gone from the list, that would only mean one thing¡­" she analyzed.


    "Someone took them." Crown Prince Feng Shunpleted her words.


    "But how can that be possible?" Qiao De asked. "There''s no sign of anyoneing here either." It was now that, Lin Mu realized something.


    "I don''t think we are alone here." Lin Mu suddenly spoke. "And this isn''t the only Offering Hall, is it?" he added. "You think there''s others living in this ne?" Lady Kang inquired.


    "Someone from the Sacred Tear Tribe?" Min Ju asked.


    "No¡­ it''s definitely not them." Lin Mu shook his head. "It would have been far too long since then."


    "Could it be the other expedition members?" Elder Hu suspected. "That is one possibility." Lin Mu replied. "There''s a chance that the array here is linked to those smaller spatial pockets."


    "Even if it were linked, and the other members of the expedition somehow obtained these items, I highly doubt they would run out of stock here." Ziran could sense a problem. "The ck Leaf Laurentii for example is a nt that can grows in giant patches that can cover acres upon scores of areas at once. It doubt even if all 100 members of our expedition bought them, they''d be able to exhaust the supply here." He exined. "It''s also doubtful if they would even be able to pass through all the trials before reaching here." Lady Kang added.


    It was now that they were starting to doubt their presence here.


    "Do we really know for sure that was the only entrance into this Spatial ne?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    The more Lin Mu thought about it the more he realized they had been mistaken from the very start.


    "We are definitely not alone here¡­ Someone else has arrived in the Bridge ne."

 Chapter 2307 Splitting Up And Making A Refinement Room

    Chapter 2307 Splitting Up And Making A Refinement Room


    Lin Mu''s guess was highly concerning not just to himself, but also the others.


    "We definitely need to check who''s here." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "And if they really are here, how they got in." He added.


    "Indeed." Ziran was in agreement too. "It would be far too risky to go on without knowing that. After all we have no idea what kind of person they might be or how many of them are here." Everyone was in agreement and knew that doing this was important.


    "How do we go about this now?" Daoist Chu asked. "We still need to prepare things for the Chimera nts and the beasts." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ I suppose those of us that need to work on things can head to the Base while the others can survey the rest of the areas and search for any signs of other people entering." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.


    "That sounds workable." Lady Kang nodded. "Me and Ziran will work on the poisons then." Crown Princess Shang spoke.


    "I''ll work on the formation arrays to track down the Chimera nt and Chimeric Beasts." Daoist Chu replied.


    "I''ll also figure out methods of breaking through the defenses of the Chimera nt." Lin Mu stated. "I think I might be able to figure out something new." He added.


    "Then I suppose that leaves, us to survey the ne." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "Hmm, six of us so we can divide ourselves into teams of two and pick a direction. We can exclude this direction since we''ve already seen enough. Though we might have to go further than thister." He added.


    "That''s good. We don''t know what we might encounter, so being in pairs is the safer option." Monk Hushu was in approval.


    Having decided that, they quickly divided the groups. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Monk Hushu and Elder Hu would go together in the north, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Qiao De would go to the south while Lady Kang and Min Ju would go to the east. The first two groups left right away, but when Lady Kang was about to leave Lin Mu thought of something.


    "Oh wait!" He called out."Take little Shrubby with you." He said, calling the beast out as well.


    Little Shrubby had already been informed of what needed to be done, and he had finished his cooking too. "Go with Lady Kang." He spoke.


    "Okay~" Little Shrubby agreed right away.


    "You sure?" Lady Kang asked.


    "Yeah, the eastern region has not been explored by us much beyond the initial five hundred kilometers. Plus Little Shrubby will allow you to escape trouble easily too." Lin Mu replied. "And with his speed you can explore more of the region." He added.


    "Alright, he''ll be of great help." Lady Kang epted.


    With that the three groups had left, and Lin Mu and the other three started making their way back to the base.


    Along the way, they encountered a few stray Chimeric Beasts, which they didn''t hesitate in killing and got a few credits more. By the time they reached the base, they had obtained another fifty thousand credits just from killing the stray beasts.


    It was a decent gain for a rtively short trip and now they could get to working on the tasks they had prepared.


    "Looks like it''s time to expand the base a bit more." Lin Mu spoke. "I don''t think the area is enough for you to use as a refining room, is it?" he asked.


    "I was just about to ask you that." Ziran replied.


    "I''ll get it done." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Daoist Chu can you take care of the formations for the room?" he requested.


    "Sure." Daoist Chu replied and got to working on them.


    After all, a refinement room needed a sufficient amount of protection or it could very easily copse. Or there could be leakage of Qi, fumes, mes and more from the inside which could cause disturbance to other ces.


    As such they needed to make sure the room was safe not just for others, but also the refiners.


    Daoist Chu was no stranger to making such arrays and just had to follow a temte to set up a Reinforcing Array, a Strengthening Array, a Qi Isting Array, a me Warding Array and a Toxic Shielding Array. While he did that, Lin Mu got to opening a new room in the caves.


    He made it three hundred square meters in area to ensure that they had plenty of space and also stabilized it with the rock pirs while carving the space out. It didn''t take Lin Mu to finish that and Daoist Chu had only finished half of his work in that time.


    As such, he joined the man and finished the arrays before the duo of refiners could get to work.


    "Thank you, Daoist Mu Lin, Daoist Chu. This will be more than sufficient to work with." Crown Princess''s Shang replied. "Yeah." Ziran agreed and took out a few objects that included tables, workbenches and tworge cauldrons.


    Lin Mu nced at the two cauldrons, finding them to be rtively simple Alchemy Cauldrons. They had a simple design and had the basic four legs on them along with a smooth concave lid. Crown Princess Shang also took out a cauldron, but this one was simply massive. It was over ten meters wide at its mouth, and in the middle it was at least fifteen meters wide. It had eight legs and six handles, along with a lid that was shaped like a elephant head.


    ~POOOOOOOOONGGGG~


    As soon as the Cauldron was ced on the ground, the illusory figure of an elephant appeared over it and trumpeted loudly. At the same time, strong immortal Qi fluctuations were felt, making Lin Mu sure that this cauldron was a High Grade immortal tool, that had an almost guaranteed chance of reaching the Peak Grade. Lin Mu looked at the illusory image closely, trying to identify what beast it was. The elephant was certainly not a normal elephant as its skin seemed to haveyers uponyers of wrinkles that looked like a heavily frilled dress.


    Its tusks were like polished silver and shone under the light of the arrays. It''s trunk though was the most impressive, having several sequential bulges on it, as if they were all packed muscles.


    It was rather unique as it wasn''t streamlined like a normal elephant''s trunk.


    "It''s spirit is fully developed?" Ziran observed.


    "Not yet, it''scking just onest push." Crown Princess Shang replied.


    "What cauldron is this?" Lin Mu wondered. "That illusory image wasn''t from its spirit, but rather due to the materials its made from isn''t it?" he could sense a faint Bloodline Aura mixed in the energy fluctuations.


    "You got that right." Crown Princess Shang nodded. "It''s made from the Rampart Trumpet Elephant''s bones and skin." She revealed.


    Hearing this, Ziran seemed to have recognized it.


    "Is this the same Cauldron that one of the previous Grandmaster Alchemist of the Northern Immortal Court used in his younger days?" Ziran asked.


    "Oh? You know of it?" Crown Princess Shang was surprised too. "Not many know of this one."


    "I''ve heard of it being one of the toughest Alchemy cauldrons. Though if I recall correctly, it is also terrible for more precise refinements." Ziran said after thinking for a bit.


    "You''re correct." Crown Princess Shang nodded her head. "I got this from the Immortal court as a reward for one of the missions. It''ll be perfect for us as it is highly resilient against vtile materials and can also withstand poisons of various kinds." She exined.


    "But won''t it still be a hindrance for the refinement?" Lin Mu asked hearing all that.


    "It''s fine, I can manually manage that." Crown Princess Shang replied. "I am still a Master Immortal Alchemist." She said proudly.


    "Ah of course. Then it should go well." Lin Mu stated.


    "Crown Princess Shang has passed all but one alchemical exams in the Immortal Court." Daoist Chu spoke up. "If she passes that she''ll be qualified to be a Grandmaster Alchemist." He revealed.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected her achievements to be this high.


    "The Grandmaster Examination is still to far for me. I''mcking in both cultivation base and skill for that." Crown Princess Shang said, shaking her head. "I''d have to be at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm to even attempt to take it." A Grandmaster Immortal Alchemist was a highly respected and difficult rank to reach and less than a fraction of Immortal Alchemist even qualified to take the examination. But those that could reach this level were basically set for life.


    An Alchemist had a great demand no matter where they went, the pills made by them were one of the basic necessities of every immortal.


    "Hmm, I don''t think its something that''ll hinder you for long." Lin Mu thought. "With your talent, you''re bound to reach the Sixth Tribtion of the Immortal Realm."

 Chapter 2308 A Highly Durable Fragment

    Chapter 2308 A Highly Durable Fragment


    With the refinement room ready, Lin Mu left the two to work while Daoist Chu went to do his own research with the formations.


    ~shua~


    Lin Mu closed the door behind him and activated the arrays to secure the room. After all, he had no idea how things could do thus it was better to secure it. Plus he was going to be dealing with materials that were rather dangerous such as the ck Hex Raven Tears. "Let''s see¡­" Lin Mu took out the fragments of the Chimera nt that he had fished out of the Death Qi river.


    He ced them on a work bench and observed them. Among the five fragments, two were from the Roots of the Chimera nt and three were from the trunk.


    ''Five fragments that I''ll have to be prudent with.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''I should test out the limits of its durability first.'' He picked up the smallest fragment that hade from the Chimera nt trunk.


    It was barely an inch in size and could easily held by Lin Mu between his finger and thumb. While holding it like this, Lin Mu started to squeeze it, trying to see its limits.


    "HA!" Lin Mu didn''t find much sess with a single hand so he used both his hands to squeeze the fragment.


    Veins bulged up in Lin Mu''s hands as he continued to increase the force, and yet the Fragment showed no signs of bending or cracking.


    ~huu~


    Seeing that even after five minutes of effort, the fragment was unaffected Lin Mu stopped.


    "Physical strength won''t work¡­ I''ll try other methods." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he then took out the swords. ~HUALA~


    He infused Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker with Sword Intent as well as Metal elemental immortal Qi as he decided to strike the fragment with as much power as he could. He already knew how durable they were so went with the highest power input right from the start.


    ~CLANG~


    Sparks flew as Afternoon Pine Struck the Bark Fragment, but not even a single scratch was left on the fragment.


    "Again!" Lin Mu swung Ocean Raker, striking the Bark Fragment right on its side, leaving not even a faint mark.


    "This is a lot tougher than I thought." Lin Mu knew his attacks were more than enough to split a mountain and yet such a tiny fragment had managed to survive. "There''s no way its invulnerable. The Chimera nt''s destruction resulted in most of its bark and roots getting destroyed too, thus there is definitely some limit to it." He tried to think of possible reasons.


    The first one that stood out to him was the explosion that had appeared due to the infective skills that had prated the insides of the Chimera nt.


    "Perhaps that might work?" Lin Mu wondered as he directly pulled his fist back. He ced the fragment on the ground, so that even if the damage from the skill spread, it would go straight down and not explode everywhere.


    ~HUALA~


    Energy revolved in Lin Mu''s arm as he quickly released a Metal Devastator!


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    Since he had released it in a controlled manner, the size of the skill was limited. Lin Mu had in fact used less than a percent of his Immortal Qi in this attack, hoping to control the coteral damage and limit it to the fragment itself.


    And yet, all that happened was a flurry of sparks rising from the fragment and a spiral hole being dug into the ground.


    ~TREMBLE~ And a few secondster the ground trembled, as Metal Devastator finally dissipated deep underground.


    "Didn''t work at all." Lin Mu furrowed his brows. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    He sat down for a bit and thought over it all, beforeing to a conclusions.


    ''The way the Chimera nt was destroyed, the Death Qi that was contained within it certainly yed a part. As such Death Qi might be needed to cause it to break again.'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''But it is not something we can use, especially not at concentrations as high as that.'' He knew.


    The Chimera nt had been destroyed due to the pressure that had built up inside it. The Death Qi had basically imploded, causing the entirety of the nt to break down. It was simr to how even a rock would shatter, if it was heated high enough and the fine water drops inside it would expand to crack it.


    "Perhaps something else might work on this." Lin Mu thought of his skills and picked out another skill.


    He stood in a stance again and pulled his fist back, gathering Immortal Qi inside it.


    But this time he wasn''t using Metal Devastator.


    ''Boulder Copsing Fist: Second Form - Prator!'' ~SHUA~


    A thin needle of energy shot out from Lin Mu''s fist and stuck the Bark Fragment.


    ~TACK~


    A big blinding sh happened from it before the fragment was flung at sonic speeds!


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~SLICK~


    Lin Mu felt pain on his cheek, as a warm liquid dripped down. Touching it, he felt the blood that was now leaking out from a cut.


    "Damn¡­" He took a deep breath.


    ~THUD~


    And a secondter, he heard the sound of something copsing behind him. "Shit, the table broke?" he saw the table which was now cut diagonally. The cut was clean and had been done in one go. But this wasn''t from the needle of Qi, as Prator had went down straight into the ground, leaving a tiny hole. Rather this was from the Bark Fragment that was hit by it and flung at great speeds. Not only did it cut past Lin Mu''s face, it passed through the table and cut it down too!


    Now everything on the table had fallen on the ground, while the Bark Fragment was lodged deep in the wall. "Even the array didn''t stop it." Lin Mu could see the crack on the array, as well as the flickering runes that had sustained damage.

 Chapter 2309 Taxing Cut And A Sudden Discovery

    Chapter 2309 Taxing Cut And A Sudden Discovery


    Lin Mu''s body was tough, and even if his True Gold Body was no longer good enough to endure immortal level attacks, it could block minor attacks with ease. Not to mention, it would activate at a moments notice and endure it.


    At most, it would break, and the damage would finally be passed onto his body. And this was considering the Longgui Bulwark armor didn''t activate in time, which Lin Mu usually did within the fraction of a second. But he hadn''t been able to this time due to the sheer speed of the fragment.


    "I''ll have to be careful with that. The force of the Prator needle is far too high. It hit the fragment and turned it into sharp arrow." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he healed the cut on his cheek.


    Thankfully even if he had sustained the damage, his vitality was nor than enough to heal it. The cut stopped bleeding and scabbed over. It would take a day or so for the scab to be gone, but the skin would still heal fast.


    But it did serve as a warning for Lin Mu, as he now knew just how dangerous it could be if he didn''t take more precautions.


    ~SHUA~


    Keeping that in mind, he activated the Longgui Bulwark Armor and let it cover his entire body.


    "I best keep this on at all times." Lin Mu muttered to himself before trying to pluck out the Bark Fragment from the wall.


    It had been lodged about four meters deep, thus Lin Mu had to use Meld to pull it out without damaging the rest of the wall.


    Holding it in his well protected hand, Lin Mu looked at the Bark Fragment. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Hmm¡­ There is a tiny mark." Lin Mu could barely see it. As such he used his Immortal sense to get a proper look at it, only to find that it was less than a micrometer deep.


    ''Prator worked somewhat, but couldn''t pierce through. At most it ''dented'' it.'' Lin Mu observed. ''But this won''t be good at all. I used Prator at point nk range and this was the effect, if I use it normally with the Chimera nt it probably wouldn''t do much at all. Even increasing the power of the skill won''t be good.'' He thought.


    Holding the Bark Fragment in his hand, Lin Mu thought of another option.


    ~SHUA~


    The Fragment started to float above his palm as he used Meld on it. He controlled it finely, increasing the force bit by bit. And yet, the fragment held steadfast despite the very fabric of space trying to divide it. Lin Mu''s eyes widened as he continued to increase the power of his skill.


    It took an entire five minutes before the Bark Fragment started splitting it in half!


    Lin Mu''s eyes were bloodshot by this time as the strain had been too high.


    ~THUD~


    He copsed to the ground, before starting to pant.


    "Haa¡­ HAA¡­ HAA¡­" Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe the amount of power it had taken him. "It split¡­ but the power and time needed is too high." He muttered to himself.


    He nced at the divided fragment and the smooth edges that had been created from it. ''When I tried Meld on the Chimera nt, the skill simply refused to work due to the sheer quantity of Death Qi within the nt. But now that the bark is separate from the nt, it is usable again. Though despite that the Qi needed to use Meld is simply too high on it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Normally speaking, Spatial Skills were capable of splitting almost everything. But there were materials that could resist that too. Usually this was done through the means of arrays or special tools, but the fragment of the Chimera nt was unique.


    ''I suppose it makes sense for it to have such an ability to resist spatial skills. Otherwise in the past, it would have still been cut down by the Spatial Masters.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Though I suppose not all Chimera nts would be like this as this one has been nurtured on a high concentration of Death Qi.'' He corrected his assumption.


    He was facing a unique specimen that not many had faced even in the age when there were thousands upon thousands of Chimera nt. It was another testament to the capabilities of the Chimeric Fiend God since he was capable of making a nt such as this.


    ~huu~


    "This is certainly not the viable option, I''ll have to think of something else." Lin Mu took a deep breath and stood up.


    He cleaned up the broken table and picked up the other fragments that had fallen down due to the table''s copse.


    But when he was picking them up, he noticed something.


    "Wait a second¡­" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, as saw a fine notch on one of the fragments. He notch was tiny, being less than half a millimeter deep. In fact, it would have been easy to miss it and think that it was created when the Fragment broke from the rest of the nt. But Lin Mu was sure this was not there before. Not to mention the cut was far too smooth.


    ~SHUA~


    He used his Immortal sense to scan and and could feel the smoothness of the cut. "How did this¡­ wait, can it be?" An idea appeared in Lin Mu''s mind as he checked the fragment he had split in half. He scanned all of its edges before finding one that seemed to fit the notch that had been made in the other fragment.


    "The Bark Fragment Damaged the other fragment?" Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe it. ''It certainly happened when it was flicked and cut through the table. It must have also nicked the other fragment in the process.'' He guessed.


    And as he observed the nicked fragment, he realized another thing. "This is a root fragment and not a Bark fragment¡­" As soon as he understood this, it all clicked to Lin Mu.

 Chapter 2310 Cutting Diamonds With Diamonds

    Chapter 2310 Cutting Diamonds With Diamonds


    Lin Mu had been having a hard time damaging the Chimera nt Fragments and he had barely managed to do it with the use of Meld.


    But it was not a simple task and could certainly not be used in battle, as not only did it require high amounts of Qi, it also needed heavy concentration such that Lin Mu wouldn''t be able to move for several minutes.


    Something like that would be deadly in a battle and could not be used.


    But now there seemed to be a potentially better option.


    "Can the Chimera nt Fragments damage each other?" Lin Mu wondered. ''Diamonds cut other diamonds, does this apply to them too?'' he thought.


    With this in mind, Lin Mu spent no time in waiting and tried it out immediately. Fifteen minutes of testing showed him that it was not as simple as that.


    "Hmm¡­ no scratches on the other fragments¡­ Do I need to use more strength?" He muttered to himself. ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    ~CRASH~


    ~CRACK~


    The testing was bound to be unsafe and violent, as such a decent amount of damage was caused to the room that was endured by the formations. Though it was unknown whether they wouldst till the end.


    An hour passed like this, after which Lin Mu had finally obtained some results.


    "It worked!" Lin Mu was excited at seeing the tiny scratch. "So I didn''t just need to use more strength, but also the right fragment." He said while ncing at the five fragments in front of him.


    Among the five, two fragments had scratches while the other three were fine. The ones that had been scratched were none other than the fragments that were part of the roots. While the ones that were fine were the Bark fragments.


    ''Their hardness is very high, but the hardness of the bark is a notch higher than the roots. This gives it just enough of an advantage to scratch the roots.'' Lin Mu understood. ''But if I use higher amount of force, I''m sure the bark fragments will not only scratch but cut into it.'' He reckoned.


    He also thought about why it was like this and reached the conclusion that since the Chimera nt needed toe up to the surface to absorb the Death Qi and produce the Chimeric Beasts, it was the most obvious target. As such, it needed to have a higher defense than the roots that were rtively safe underground.


    Plus the volume of the tree part of the Chimera nt was several times less than that of its roots that were spread for tens of kilometer on end. As such, it was a lot more efficient to refine and toughen a smaller part of the nt than the entirety of the roots.


    But this also meant that Lin Mu now had a weapon against the Chimera nt.


    "These are small but can still work if I turn them into arrow tips." Lin Mu thought of a solution that didn''t involve too much processing. He definitely didn''t think that he had the forging skills to turn the hard fragments into anything like a set of needles or a small dagger. But he could very well turn them into arrow tips.


    ''I already know I can cut them with Meld, so I simply need to do it in a way that they resemble arrow tips.'' Lin Mu nned. ''With a tapered shape, their piercing power will be even greater.'' He knew.


    With that, Lin Mu got to work. Using Meld to cut was not easy and he needed to take a rest in between too. But despite that, he managed to make two arrow tips in less than six hours. ''It''s a shame I can''t use the first fragment since it was cut in half.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But it was a necessary sacrifice as without it he simply would not have known it would be possible to do something like this. The first fragment was cut into two smaller fragments that were simply not good enough to be cut into the shape of an arrow tip. And even if Lin Mu did try his best, they would still be too small for it.


    With that done, Lin Mu now needed to think of what to do next.


    "I''ll have two shots with this, so I''ll have to make them count." Lin Mu muttered as he thought about how he could improve it further. After all, these were just arrow tips, they were iplete and needed the shafts to make themplete. But not just any material would be good for the shaft, he needed to pick something that was suitable enough to ensure the force that would be applied to it.


    At first he thought of using the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo''s Earthen Armament Aspect to create an arrow shaft. But Lin Mu didn''t know if that was the best option, not to mention it would also dy him a bit in setting it all up.


    ''I definitely need something that is already prepared to be shot at a moment''s notice. If I do end up having some extra time, I can always use the Earthen Armament Aspect to reinforce it at that time.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Then there''s also the factor of using the ck Hex Raven Tears.''


    Using the tears directly was probably not the best way, as it would probably lead to waste. ''The entirety of the tears for just two arrows isn''t worth it. I''ll need some other method.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "You can simply dilute them and soak the arrow tips in them." Xukong spoke, seeing that Lin Mu had already reached this point in nning.


    "Would that work with just water or do I need anything special?" Lin Mu asked. "Just water will be fine." Xukong replied. "The effect of the tears will overpower anything else." He added. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Alright, that makes things easier." Lin Mu was pleased with that and got to working on the next step.

 Chapter 2311 A Cursed Manufacturing Process

    Chapter 2311 A Cursed Manufacturing Process


    The next step was to soak the arrow tips in diluted ck Hex Raven Tears, but it was not as simple as Lin Mu first thought.


    "How do I¡­ Contain its curse?" Lin Mu was stumped as he watched the pot and the ground around it crumbling as if it were chalk. No force or impact had been applied to the pot or the ground, it was simply the power of the diluted tears that was causing them to break down on their own. It was instantaneous fragmentation that could ur naturally when the right conditions were met.


    Of course, these conditions were rare and something like this would not happen normally. But with the curse being applied, the rare conditions were met and both the pot and the ground around it crumbled. This also meant that the diluted tears inside it were spilled around, affecting the arrays.


    ~BZZAT~


    ~CRACK~


    ~SHUA~ N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    "Even the arrays are experiencing a Qi disorientation." Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe his eyes.


    A lot of his arrays had gotten this bad effect before, but it only happened when the arrays were not systematic and the flow of Qi became erratic. This was one of themon problems that arose when someone was making a new array for the first time. But the arrays that Lin Mu had set up in the room were well practiced andmon arrays that he had made thousands of times before. As such, there was no reason for them to experience a Qi disorientation and yet it had now happened right in front of his eyes.


    "Shit, I need to contain it." Lin Mu directly used Meld and contained the entire area that was being affected by the diluted tears.


    ~SHUA~


    The area was cut off and directly sent into the ring.


    ~phew~


    "That could have gone really bad." Lin Mu couldn''t even imagine what would happen if the curse spread to the rest of the arrays of the base. ''It is still fine if it happened to the reinforcing arrays I had set up here, if it somehow caused Qi orientation to the Offensive or defensive arrays of the base, the entire ce might just blow up.'' It was a rather anxiety inducing situation but it also gave him an insight into the power of the ck Hex Raven Tears.


    "Its diluted form is more than enough to cause an array to copsed, so it should work against the Chimera nt too." Lin Mu had better hope now.


    This attempt also taught him that using any normal containers was useless. ''A viable option would be a specially sealed container that has curse resistive properties.'' Lin Mu thought. "But, I can also just do this." He said before using meld to raise another part of the ground.


    ~SHUA~


    After raising it, Lin Mu easily created a depression in it that could easily hold some water. "Just a little bit¡­" Lin Mu then summoned a minuscule amount of ck Hex Raven Tears from the ring and then dropped it into floating container isted by space. "There we go." ~Drip~


    Ripples spread across the water, but nothing special seemed to happen. "Sure enough, the earth copsed again." Lin Mu sensed. "If not for Meld holding the space together, the container I made would have fallen apart." He muttered.


    It might look like the earthen container was solid, but it had already turned into fine grains. But since Meld could hold space itself, it was forced to stay in the same form. It was the same aspressing sand to hold a shape.


    ~Ripple~


    Lin Mu dropped the two arrow tips into the diluted tears and let it do its thing.


    ''Hopefully the arrow tips themselves don''t break down¡­'' Lin Mu prayed in his heart. His analysis had told him that the arrow tips should just break due to how much tougher they werepared to simple earth, but there was no telling what kind of random and rare effects the tears could pull. Lin Mu waited an entire six hours before he was sure that nothing bad was going to happen. "This should be good enough." He said before immediately storing the entire container along with the arrow tips into the ring. "Half the work is done." Now all Lin Mu needed to do was to make the arrow shafts and attach them to the arrow tips. But this was also not simple and Lin Mu had a hard time picking out the materials.


    ''The curse is sure to spread to the shafts too, so I''ll need something that can endure that too.'' Lin Mu pondered on it. In his ring, there were tons of materials ranging from wooden to metal to crystalline that Lin Mu could potentially use. But since Lin Mu didn''t know how they would hold up against the curse, all he could do was to test them out directly.


    "I''ll just make a bunch of them and use whatever can withstand the curse¡­" He decided.


    Next, he took out over fifty different materials, of which half were various kinds of woods and the other half were minerals.


    He then spent the next couple of days turning these into arrow shafts. This part was easy for most of the woods, but hard for the minerals. In case of the metals, he could at least melt them down and cast them into the shape of a shaft, but he couldn''t do that for crystalline minerals like gemstones and more.


    For thetter, he ended up having to use meld to cut out the right shape, which also took a bit of an effort as the crystals could copse due to their structure changing rapidly from meld.


    And once he was done, Lin Mu began testing them.


    "Here goes nothing¡­" Lin Mu took a breath and held a wooden arrow shaft with one hand and the ''cursed'' arrow tip with meld. He then brought them together until the arrow tip was perfectly slotted into the cut he had made.

 Chapter 2312 Becoming A Fletcher

    Chapter 2312 Bing A Fletcher


    "Did it work?" Lin Mu watched his handiwork as the arrow was nowpleted.


    He had already let go of the arrow and was using meld to hold it since he didn''t want the power of the curse to be transferred to himself somehow.


    ~SHUA~


    This turned out to be the right choice as a couple of secondster, the ''Cursed'' arrow tip showed its power. The arrow shaft started to turn darker and soon became entirely ck. ''Will it hold?'' he wondered, hoping that it wouldst. Unfortunately, luck wasn''t in his favor as the wooden shaft soon disintegrated into dust.


    "Looks like this won''t work¡­ Doesn''t matter I got more to try." Lin M said as he moved the cursed arrow tip and picked up another arrow shaft.


    This was made from another type of wood and Lin Mu inserted the Arrow tip into the slot at front.


    ~SHUA~


    But a few secondster, a simr effect happened and the wood disintegrated. Lin Mu didn''t stop there and continued to use different kinds of wooden shafts one by one. He had made over shirt of them so he had several to go through.


    About an hourter, he had finished all the wooden shafts. "Guess wood is a no go¡­" Lin Mu concluded.


    Some of the wood types hadsted longer than other, with the one that Lin Mu had made from Evergreen Pir Bamboosting the longest at one minute. But it also disintegrated as the power of the curse was simply too strong.


    "Time for metal shafts¡­" Lin Mu picked up the first shaft that he had made from Hundred Refined Heavy Iron.


    It was a rather standard type of metal and was used for many Immortal weapons and tools.


    ~SHICK~


    Once the Arrow tip was slotted in, Lin Mu held his breath watching as the effect of the curse spread. "Oh?" Lin Mu saw a different effect this time.


    Instead of disintegrating, it was as if the metal shaft was rusting.


    "Hundred Refined Heavy Iron doesn''t really rust in normal conditions¡­" Lin Mu muttered as the entire shaft rusted into a rusty brown color.


    He waited to see if the shaft would hold or not and saw that it was maintaining its shape.


    "It rusted but held its shape¡­ Oh, it crumbled." As soon as Lin Mu touched it with a stick the rusted shaft broke apart as if it were chalk.


    While this wasn''t what he wanted, he did learn that going with metal was the good option as it could at least hold its shape even when it rusted. "I''ll try the others and see what happens. The Hundred Refined Heavy Iron is still a ''basic'' metal after all." He said before picking out the next shaft which was made from Thousand Folded Immortal Steel.


    In a way this was the upgraded version of the Hundred Refined Heavy Iron and was a lot more resistant while also being lighter.


    ~SHICK~


    He slotted the arrow tip into the shaft and waited for the inevitable curse to spread. This time it took ten seconds more before the effect spread, and simr to before the entire shaft rusted. ''Hmm¡­ other than slowing the rate of rusting, the Thousand Folded Immortal Steel wasn''t that different.'' Lin Mu thought before moving onto another shaft.


    The results were simr with only the time needed to rust changing. This kept on happening until Lin Mu reached a shaft that made from Immortal Silver!


    Now this was a ''precious'' immortal metal and was considered as the better version of the mortal silver. As such, it had simr properties and could resist corrosion.


    ~SHICK~


    Lin Mu had better hopes for this and quickly slotted in the arrow tip.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu saw as a small ckyer tried to spread on the shaft. "The curse is much slower than before." It took a whole five minutes before the curse had spread over the Immortal Silver Shaft. It had tarnished it until it had be fully ck. But Lin Mu didn''t end his test here as he touched it with another metal rod first.


    ~CLANG~


    "Sure enough, even if it is tarnished, it doesn''t mean it is rusted like the others. It still has its durability." Lin Mu observed. "But what are the limits of its durability?" he wished to check.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    As such, he started hammering the shaft with the metal rod, seeing how many blows it could take. After all, it couldn''t be too weak or it might just snap before Lin Mu even shot it. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    Wonder Seeker was going to be used to shoot the arrow, and its strength was no joke. Any normal arrow would simply snap or split in half from the force applied by the bowstring. There was a reason why Lin Mu didn''t use any normal arrows with the Immortal Bow and directly used his skills.


    Normal arrows would simply be unable to endure the power of the bow.


    ~CRACK~


    And after tens of hits, Lin Mu finally broke the shaft.


    "It endured well, but not well enough." Lin Mu deemed it as a failure.


    The next shaft he tried was something even more precious; it was a shaft made from Immortal Green Gold!


    It was considered as a noble metal and didn''t corrode. It was used in a lot of higher quality Immortal tools and weapons due to this and was valued due to its properties.


    Applying ayer of Immortal Green Gold in High Grade Immortal armors was almost a protocol and without it, the Armor was considered as iplete. Not just that, but even for Alchemical cauldrons Immortal Green Gold was indispensable due to its ability to resist a lot of caustic and corrosive effects of the various herbs that would be refined within it.


    This was the shaft that Lin Mu had the most hope for.


    ~SHICK~


    He slotted it and waited to see whether the ''Noble metal'' could endure it or not.

 Chapter 2313 Noble And Tarnished Shafts

    Chapter 2313 Noble And Tarnished Shafts


    Minute after minute passed as Lin Mu watched the Immoral Green Gold shaft with unmoving eyes.


    And once thirty minutes had passed, he finally blinked.


    "It''s actually resisting it." Lin Mu muttered as a part of him rxed. "At least on the surface it doesn''t seem like there''s any effect of the curse. But there''s always a chance it could be internal¡­" he didn''t be carrels just yet.


    He also couldn''t use his Immortal sense to check for any internal defects, as such he ended up using the previous method of testing its durability.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    He hammered the shaft and saw as it soon became deformed.


    "That won''t do¡­ while it doesn''t crack and break, it has be very pliable. The arrow will simply buckle under the tension of the bowstring at this state." Lin Mu understood that this was only half a sess. ''I''ll have to test out more methods. But the Immortal Green Gold does seem to offer at least a partial solution.'' He thought before looking at thest few remaining shafts.


    There was one metal and three crystalline shafts remaining.


    The final metal shaft was something he had the toughest time making, even more than the Crystalline Shafts. It was also made from a metal he had obtained very recently.


    "The Null Iron Ore¡­ it came in handy earlier than I thought." Lin Mu picked up the rather heavy shaft that was made from raw Null Iron Ore. It had a mix of ck and grey color along with a dotted pattern all over it. But the dots weren''t textured but rather just smooth against the shaft. It was part of its own natural structure and was rather unique. It had taken quite a bit of an effort to make this as Lin Mu was simply unable to smelt it.


    He wasted a decent amount of time in trying to smelt it but eventually gave up and used Meld to cut out a shaft directly. Lin Mu didn''t have any particr expectations with the Null Iron Ore, but from what he had learned so far, he at least knew it was highly durable and hard. And since it had managed to endure all that time under the muddykes that were filled with Murkwater Qi, he hoped that it could resist the effects of the curse too.


    ~SHICK~


    Upon slotting the Arrow Tip, Lin Mu saw an almost instantaneous effect.


    "What?" he hadn''t expected the curse to spread this fast.


    The Null Iron ore became several shades darker and started to emanate a grayish smoke from it. The effect was certainly different from before but Lin Mu didn''t know what it exactly meant.


    "Did it rust or tarnish? Or is this entirely something else?" Lin Mu was confused.


    Of course, he had to test it out, so the metal rod did its work again.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    He first tapped it with the metal rod to test its durability. The Null Iron Ore shaft gave a resounding ng, showing that it wasn''t brittle like the others.


    ''Its not rusted¡­ tarnished then?'' he started to hit the shaft harder.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    He did this for a minute and increased his strength by every hit. ~CRACK~


    It was at this time that a cracking sound was heard.


    ~THUD~


    "Huh?" but what had broken wasn''t the shaft. "The rod broke?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    So far the rod hadn''t been broken even while hitting the previous shafts but now it had without a notice. He observed it closely and saw that the part where it had broken had turned darker. "It actually got tainted by the curse?" This hadn''t happened before, as the contact time was short and the curse was also noting directly. Thus the rod had been intact all the while. At first Lin Mu wondered if this had been a collective effect, thus he picked up another metal rod to test it out. ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    He hit the shaft again, and in less than a minute the shaft broke again!


    "This is surely the effect of the Null Iron Ore Shaft." Lin Mu guessed that the effect of the curse had somehow be stronger. "The smokeing from it might be the effect of the curse. The Null Iron Ore retained its durability but became conducive to the curse." He analyzed.


    This was the same as trading off one effect for the other. ''It went in the opposite way of the Immortal Green Gold.'' Lin Mu realized.


    The Immortal Green Gold stopped the curse but was also weaker in strength. On the other hand, the Null Iron Ore was very rigid, but it also increased the effect of the curse.


    Regardless of this, Lin Mu knew it was aplete failure.


    "No way I can use Null Iron Ore shaft for this. The curse will end up spreading to me." Lin Mu shook his head.


    This finally left him with the three crystalline shafts. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    The first shaft was made from an Immortal Earth Elemental crystal. It was dark brown in color and was one of the more durable crystal among Lin Mu''s stores. It was also among the only few crystals that Lin Mu hadrge enough chucks to make entire arrow shafts from. Most of the others were far too small to make a full shaft from.


    "Let''s see¡­" Lin Mu slotted in the arrow tip and wondered what kind of effect the curse would have on it.


    ~BOOM~


    The answer was very violent as the shaft exploded almost immediately.


    "Yeah¡­ definitely not this." Lin Mu crossed out any kind of energy containing crystals from the list.


    Thankfully, he had been cautious from the start and had the Longgui Bulwark Armor active, so he wasn''t injured at all.


    The next crystalline shaft was a non-energy mineral and was actually a gemstone.


    "Misty Mirror Quartz¡­ Known to be able to disperse various energies." Lin Mu hoped that this shaft might perform better.


    He slotted in the arrow tip and held his breath for the result.

 Chapter 2314 Gemstone Shafts

    Chapter 2314 Gemstone Shafts


    Misty Mirror Quartz was a special mineral that was often used in fixed arrays in order to disperse and weaken energies before reflecting it to another point. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    It had a foggy appearance but was still able to reflect. Lin Mu had obtained a few long chunks of it from the Deste Blood Battlefield when he had unearthed the Immortal Stone mines. He had never used them before, so there was a decent quantity of them with him.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon slotting the Arrow tip in, Lin Mu could see a streak of darkness trying to enter the shaft. It reached the first couple centimeters rather easily, but after that it slowed down considerably until halting entirely by the ten centimeter mark.


    "Huh¡­ that''s a lot better than I thought." Lin Mu said seeing the effects. "And time I can visibly see how the curse spreads too."


    He watched it for a few minutes more just to be sure and then picked up the arrow with his armored hand. Lin Mu wished to see if the effects could spread in any other way. After all, he would have to hold on to the arrow to use it when the time came, so this needed to be done. Using the Longgui Bulwark Armor was a precaution as he could easily disperse it and let go to prevent the curse from reaching him.


    "No change." Lin Mu watched the shaft carefully, but saw no movement of the curse. This was a good result, but he still needed to test one more thing.


    While holding onto the shaft, he applied a little pressure to see how it would hold up.


    "Going well¡­" he muttered before increasing the force.


    He continued to do so for about a minute until finally, the shaft couldn''t take it anymore.


    ~SHATTER~


    It broke apart like ss as the force became too much for it to bear.


    "It can take the curse well and even allow me to hold it, but will shatter from the force. No way it''ll be able to endure the power of the bow, either." Lin Mu knew this wasn''t going to work on its own.


    But he didn''t abandon it entirely, as the effects were far too good to do that. ''There might be another method that this can be used¡­'' Lin Mu thought and moved onto thest shaft.


    This was also made from a mineral that was considered as a gemstone. It was called as Clear Body Sapphire and Lin Mu had gotten this from none other than the Mermaid Lanbao.


    She had given him chests full of gemstones that he had no idea what to do about so they had just been lying in the ring. But now he finally had a use for one of them.


    Clear Body Sapphires were highly translucent with a very faint hint of blue and were known for their ability to ''clear'' or ''purify'' energies.


    Because of this, they were often used in Immortal tools and arrays that were meant to be used while cultivating so that there were lesser chances of impure energies being absorbed. Inrge scale sects that provided Qi directly to cultivation abodes for cultivation, lenses made from Clear Body Sapphires were often used to clear Qi that were gathered from multiple sources.


    This made it a lot easier for the cultivators to absorb and utilize.


    These Clear Body Sapphires were usually found in small sizes that were less than fingernail in size. Even the big ones were only as wide as a palm.


    But among the chests that Lanbao had given Lin Mu, there wererge gemstones that were about thirty centimeters wide!


    Lin Mu didn''t even know how or where she had gotten them from, as he was quite sure they didn''t grow to this size. But since he had it lying around, he reckoned he may as well use it.


    He of course, didn''t know if it could even purify a ''curse'' or filter it out somehow, but he reckoned it was worth a try.


    Though if someone were to know he was using a Clear Body Sapphire of this size like this, they''d probably spit blood and pass out.


    Lin Mu didn''t know that a Clear Body Sapphire of this size couldn''t be bought even if one wanted to, as there was simply no supply of it. And he had gone one step further and cut out a part right from its middle to use as an arrow shaft, of all things.


    Most would think of it was a gross misuse of a valuable resource.


    But Lin Mu didn''t care for that, as he only cared about the end results.


    ~SHICK~


    He slotted in the arrow tip and saw the curse moving into it. Unlike the Misty Mirror Quarts though, the speed of spread was fast and the shaft turned dark. But as it continued to move further, Lin Mu found that it was narrowing in size.


    It continued to taper until it was reduced to a fine point. If Lin Mu held up the arrow, it looked like a stctite with how the curse had spread.


    Eventually, the curse did stop, but it only did so after covering more than seventy percent of the shaft.


    "This works too. Didn''t expect that it would be able to filter the curse too." Lin Mu noted this along with all his previous test results in a jade slip. After all, these were all experiments that were probably never done by anyone else. He didn''t even test the toughness of the Clear Body Sapphire Shaft though, as he already knew the answer. It wasn''t a hard gemstone, and would definitely shatter from the amount of power that would be exerted by the bow.


    But by this point, a new idea was taking root in Lin Mu''s mind.


    ''The materials on their own cannot give me the result I want, but perhaps if I can make use of their unique abilities I might just be able to make the perfect arrow,'' Lin Mu concluded.

 Chapter 2315 A Foundry

    Chapter 2315 A Foundry


    Days continued to pass as Lin Mu continued his attempts at making the perfect arrow.


    The others were also hard at work, with Daoist Chu having decent sess. Crown Princess Shang and Ziran though were still in the heavy experimentation phase and were still extracting and refining poisons. The process was not exactly streamlined and there were several failures in it too.


    After all Alchemy wasn''t an easy upation. Though with each failure they were learning and Crown Princess Shang was improving her skills in it. Ziran''s insights were quite helpful to her and while he might not be as good of an Alchemist as her, he still had a lot more experience than her.


    The half elf had also interacted with thousands of other alchemists from various worlds and seen many herbs and pills, thus even if he didn''t have the proficiency, he could still advise and assist her through it all. Not to mention his elven blood also helped in it.


    Wood elves were natural experts with herbs and good at making medicine while the Dark Elves were experts with poisons. Thus both his elven bloodlines were made for this. His senses could thus pick out on fine changes that weren''t known by Crown Princess Shang right away and he could further guide the process.


    It was as if Ziran was the eyes while Crown Princess Shang was the hands in the entire process.


    An entire month passed like this before theirpanions who had gone out to survey sent word of their return.


    Daoist Chu, Crown Princess Shang and Ziran had gathered in the meeting hall, while waiting for the return of others.


    "How long till they arrive?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "They shouldn''t be far." Daoist Chu said. "Lady Kang will probably the first to return as she has Little Shrubby with her." "That''s true." Crown Princess Shang nodded. "Though do you think the things went well?" she wondered.


    "Well, considering that they didn''t send any messages in this one month, I reckon there weren''t any situations that went too bad. They should have handled it all well." Daoist Chu guessed.


    "Still¡­ where''s Daoist Mu Lin?" Ziran asked, seeing that their fourth member hasn''t arrived. "Did he not respond?" "He should have gotten the message too." Daoist Chu spoke furrowing his brows. "Is he busy perhaps?" "I''ll try sending him a message." Ziran said before taking out his jade slip. He held it for a minute but got no response.


    "Strange¡­ he usually replies quick." Ziran muttered.


    "Maybe¡­ we should go check up on him." Crown Princess Shang suggested.


    "I guess we can do that." Ziran agreed.


    They didn''t know how far Lin Mu had progressed or what he had been doing, thus they reckoned it was best to see him directly.


    Going up to his room, they knocked on the shut door. With the formations that were set up, they couldn''t open it physically from the outside and needed for Lin Mu to open from the inside. Two minutes passed, but they got no response.


    "Is he perhaps cultivating?" Crown Princess Shang wondered.


    "Hmm¡­ if he''s deep in cultivation it would make sense that he hasn''t been able to respond." Ziran thought too.


    "Maybe we can just check up on him again when everyone is he¡ª" before Daoist Chu could finish his words though, the formations on the door suddenly shifted.


    ~SHUA~


    The stone door started to move and allowed them entry.


    "It''s open!" Crown Princess Shang eximed.


    But as soon as the formations were lifted, a gush of scalding hot air blew over them.


    "Heavens!" All three of them retreated, putting up their defenses.


    "My hair almost got burned," Crown Princess Shang was startled.


    "Mine already did¡­" Daoist Chu looked at his long side burns that had turned into ashes, leaving him with a fade now.


    "What was that?" Crown Princess Shang was shocked. "It''s almost like there''s a¡ª"


    "Furnace burning." Ziran spoke, narrowing his eyes.


    He was the first one to approach it again, though this time he had his defenses up. The airing from the room was still burning hot, but he could take it now.


    The other two also followed after him and they finally reached the inside, that had changed drastically.


    "This¡­ This is an entire foundry!?" Daoist Chu''s eyes went wide.


    In front of them now stood a wide open area. It was about six hundred meters wide in both length and breadth while also being over two hundred meters tall!


    The ce they were standing right now was actually a balcony attached to the top of a stairwell. The floor itself was far below them.


    But the most shocking part was therge furnace that took up half of the entire hall. About a hundred meter area of the hall was turned into ava pool that continued to bubble while several trenches extended from it that carried the saidva.


    Thisva was brought to arge crucible that was being heated by it. The crucible was glowing red and molten metal could be seen inside it.


    On the other half, several sets of workbenches were set up, along with a forge and an anvil.


    Runes could be seen all over the walls of the hall, as the formations worked hard to maintain the integrity of the hall. Despite that though, random bursts of mes weremon that scorched the walls, burning away the runes.


    Though the runes would fix themselves after a few seconds, and the process repeated.


    In the middle of all this stood Lin Mu.


    He was wearing only some loose fitting pants while muscr torso was bare. Searing hot magma floated around him while a shield shaped Dao Shell hovered above him. In his right hand, he held a rock hammer while in his left hand he held a red hot metal rod.


    His body glowed in a golden light as he hammered the metal rod, his muscles rippling with each strike. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    Sparks flew all around him along with mes, as the trio watched him with wide eyes.

 Chapter 2316 An Alloy

    Chapter 2316 An Alloy


    The trio was frozen as they saw Lin Mu working.


    His hands moved nonstop, as he kept on hammering and turning the metal rod.


    The Rock hammer in his right hand deformed with each strike, an indent being left on its face, but the Dao Embryo floating above him would quickly restore it to its proper shape.


    The Red Hot metal rod, on the other hand, would take every blow and barely change its shape. Lin Mu kept on rotating the rod, making sure it wast being hit from every angle and the hammering was equal.


    With every hit, he would move a bit downward, covering the entire length of the rod.


    The group could see that he was forging, but didn''t know what or why.


    They watched him for about five minutes, after which Lin Mu had finally reached the bottom of the rod and hammered it for thest time.


    ~DENG~


    A resounding hit was seen while bright sparks flew as the rod was turned into a rectangr shape.


    ~HUU~


    With that done, Lin Mu took a deep breath and the rock hammer in his hand disappeared.


    ~SHUA~


    The Dao Shell floating above him, returned to his body while the heat started to reduce. "You all cane down." Lin Mu called out, having known that they were here since the start.


    "When did you¡­ Make all this?" Daoist Chu asked right away.


    "Yeah, this ce definitely wasn''t like this before." Crown Princess Shang said.


    "This ce? About¡­ two weeks ago?" Lin Mu replied.


    "Two Weeks!?" Daoist Chu almost couldn''t believe it. "You set all this up without any sign of it?"


    "Something of this level, we should have sensed the changes." Ziran agreed.


    "Oh, I took measures to ensure you all won''t be disturbed." Lin Mu replied. "I used my spatial skills to cut the ce out and then added formations." He exined. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "That¡­ does make sense." Ziran spoke, though still felt a bit surprised that Lin Mu had done an operation of this level.


    "What are you making though?" Crown Princess Shang asked. "Weren''t you going to find something that would help breaking through the defenses of the Chimera nt?" "Yeah. This is all for that." Lin Mu answered. "I''m making an arrow." "All this for an arrow?" Daoist Chu looked around in bewilderment.


    Whether it was the boiling hotva, the giant crucible that was filled with who knows what kind of metal, or the workbenches holding various kinds of materials, it was all a bit too much for a single arrow.


    "I tried other methods, but none of them worked with for an arrow that could pierce through the defenses of the Chimera nt." Lin Mu replied. "So I had to devise an entirely new method for it." He added.


    "What kind of arrow needs you to set up an entire foundry?" Crown Princess Shang asked taking a look at the materials that were lying around the ce. There were gemstones of several kinds, as well as metal ores and ingots. She could recognize most of them, with a few seemingly unknown types mixed in.


    "The heat is also far too high." Ziran said, wiping away the west from his brow.


    Even with his defenses up, he was still unable to fully block the heat.


    "Ah, yeah. I can''t lower the heat anymore." Lin Mu answered. "The alloy I''m refining needs to stay at a certain minimum temperature to be tempered. If the temperature falls anymore, I''ll have to restart all over." He exined.


    "Wait, so the temperature was higher than this?" Daoist Chu picked up. "Is that why you didn''t open right away?" "Yeah, it took a few minutes to lower the temperature. If I opened it right away, you''d be hit with a jet of mes." Lin Mu replied. "This temperature is already high enough to melt most metals¡­ just what kind of alloy did you make?" Ziran was confused. "Ah yeah, you can take a look. I did want some input from others." Lin Mu said bringing them to one of the workbench on the right of the anvil.


    On the workbench there ingots were kept. "It''s these?" Ziran nced at the strange green and silver ingots. "What are theseposed of?"


    The two colors made swirling patterns all over the surface of the ingots and were unlike any other metal they had seen so far.


    "They''re a mix of Immortal Green Gold, Immortal Silver and a bit of Shimmering Sky Trail Titanite." Lin Mu answered.


    Hearing the names, Ziran could finally see the resemnce. "Wait¡­ Shimmering Sky Trail Titanite?" Daoist Chu spoke in doubt. "Where did you get that?" "Is that even found in the Rust Sky World?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "I had a small amount of it from elsewhere." Lin Mu replied in short. After all, he couldn''t tell them where he had truly obtained it from.


    ''Huangyu Shiyi''s storage ring''s items are certainlying in handy now.'' Lin Mu had obtained it from none other than the Eleventh Prince of the Holy Topaz Dynasty. He had been looking for metals that could work in an alloy with the Immortal Green Gold and Immortal Silver, and was unable to find anything suitable that wouldn''t decrease the properties. While doing this, he discovered a small chunk of Shimmering Sky Trial Titanite that he''d stored away in one of the metal drawers. Since it was in a very small quantity, he hadn''t used it for any of the shafts and he didn''t think its properties were suitable either. This was due to the fact that the Shimmering Sky Trail Titanite was a rare ore that was formed in meteors when they fell from the sky and passed through a storm. In these specific conditions there was a rare chance that a tiny part of the meteor would turn into Shimmering Sky Trail Titanite. It had the unique state of being a Wind, Lightning and Metal Tri-elemental ore while having a special property of being extremely light.

 Chapter 2317 Borrowing The Skills Of A Friend And An Impasse

    Chapter 2317 Borrowing The Skills Of A Friend And An Impasse


    Since wind and lightning had very little to no weight on their own, these properties were imbued into the Shimmering Sky Trail Titanite.


    And as such, they were also added to the alloy when mixed in the right ratio. But this wasn''t the only reason why Lin Mu had picked it. Since it had the lightning element in it, it was of the extreme yang orientation and thus had a slight ability to resist a curse too. This, when mixed with the Immortal Green Gold and the Immortal Silver, resulted it in being in a nearly perfect harmony.


    The two noble metals when mixed resulted in a very heavy shaft which Lin Mu didn''t think would be the most ideal for an arrow, especially since it was only one half of the arrow and there were more parts that would add weight to it.


    Thus he had to make adjustments wherever he could while also making it durable.


    "Whoa!" Daoist Chu picked up one of the ingots and felt its weight feeling stunned. "This¡­ is nothing." Hearing that, Ziran picked up another ingot too and was surprised by its weight. "A normal ingot of this size made from Immortal Green Gold or Immortal Silver would be at least five to six times this weight." He stated.


    "Yeah, the reduction is very good with the Simmering Sky Trail Titanite added to it." Lin Mu stated.


    "How did you even make this?" Crown Princess Shang inquired. "Are you a forger too?" from what she could tell, in order to make an alloy like this one would have to be a Master forger.


    "No, I''m not." Lin Mu shook his head. "But you''ve made immortal tools and weapons before?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Well, once¡­ I''ve made Sword Nurturing Boxes." Lin Mu answered. Daoist Chu couldn''t help but raise his brows.


    "Sword Nurturing Boxes aren''t exactly the first choice to make for their first attempt¡­ most would pick something simple¡­ like a dagger." Daoist Chu spoke. "That''s already something most experienced Forger and refiners would have a hard time making." He added.


    "Well, I didn''t do it alone." Lin Mu replied. "I had notes to help." He added.


    "What kind of notes?" Ziran asked.


    "One of my good friends is from a n of Forgers and refiners." Lin Mu answered. "Him and his grandfather are probably some of the most talented weapon refiners I know. He lent me his n''s techniques and manuals for weapon refinement. So I''ve been using those." He exined.


    "They must be really good, if you''re saying so," Daoist Chu replied. "Making an alloy like this isn''t an easy task¡­ and if their notes alone were enough to teach you this¡­ they''re well worth their salt." He couldn''t help but praise.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu said as he looked at the metal rod he had been hammering earlier. "But it''s not enough¡­ I stillck." "What''s the problem?" Ziran asked thinking that the faultid with the alloy that Lin Mu had made. "Is it the refinement of the alloy rod?" he inquired.


    "It''s not that." Lin Mu replied. "The Alloy rod ising along decently. It only needs proper tempering to reach the ideal form, but the problem is that it is only half of the arrow shaft." He stated.


    "Half? You aren''t making the shaft with this?" Ziran asked. "No, wait¡­ why are you making the shaft with them in the first ce?" he realized the main issue.


    "Yeah, wouldn''t it make more sense to make it with other metals?" Crown Princess Shang also picked up on it.


    "Ah, the conditions are very specific, such that only some materials are able to withstand it." Lin Mu said before exining just what he was using for the arrow.


    He told them about the arrow tips made from the Chimera nt Bark Fragments as well as the ck Hex Raven Tears and the effect they brought upon the materials. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    After learning all that, they finally understood how Lin Mu had ended up reaching this point.


    "To think you''d use the strength of the Chimera nt against it¡­ and to add a curse upon that." Ziran couldn''t help but be impressed. "We might not even need the poisons at this rate." He stated.


    "Oh, no we''ll probably need that." Lin Mu stated. "I can only make two arrows with the fragments I have. As such, I want to utilize everything that is possible to give us the best chance possible. I''ve taken into considering the poison you might make and have left modifications for it to be added to the arrow. Who knows, the curse might not be enough and additional poison might help." He exined.


    "That''s good. I suppose or work will help." Crown Princess Shang said. "How far are you on that, though?" Lin Mu asked, not knowing much.


    "We''re almost done." Crown Princess Shang answered. "Yeah, all that''s left is for the poison to distill out." Ziran said. "We''ll just have to wait for that to be over and I can hand it to you. The hard part has already beenpleted." He added.


    "I see¡­ that''s good then." Lin Mu replied. "Now, if I can only figure out the core of the shaft." He said with aplex expression.


    "Hmm¡­ will the core made directly from Null Iron Ore not work?" Daoist Chu asked.


    From what Lin Mu had told them so far, the shaft was going to be made with the Null Iron Ore as the inner core and a tube of the Alloy would be applied over it. This is what he meant by it only being half done.


    "I did try that previously, but the impurities in the Null Iron ore make it impossible to congeal well with the alloy. Not to mention, since I cannot add formations to the Null Iron ore, the arrow simply ends up warping.


    I looked up more documents and learned that the Null Iron ore would have to be purified for it to work. But that has not worked¡­ I cannot heat it to the level required." Lin Mu exined.

 Chapter 2318 Difficult To Melt

    Chapter 2318 Difficult To Melt


    Lin Mu''s plight was understandable to the trio for they knew that the Null Iron Ore was never known to be an easy metal to manipte.


    "That will be tough¡­ I''ve only ever heard of Null Iron Ore being refined through the use of Grand Furnace Arrays. One could very well use other skills to melt it, but the sustained heat needed is simply not viable forrge quantities." Ziran said after hearing it.


    "Yeah, if it is a Grand Furnace Array even the most simple one is not something that can be set up here." Daoist Chu who knew about them spoke. "Not only do they need a massive area to set up, they also need an Earth Fire Vein to work properly. You can very well substitute it with a Fire Elemental Crystals stockpile, but you will not have a sustained output, especially not one that reaches the temperatures needed for Null Iron Roe." He added after thinking for a bit.


    What Lin Mu was trying to do was the same as putting an Iron Rod in a bamboo. While they might fit due to physical constraints, they wouldn''t adhere to each other. It might be a snug fit that didn''t allow the iron rod to move, but when enough force was applied, it would eventually be ejected or the bamboo tube would break apart.


    While in the current case both the tube and the inner rod were metals, the difference in their properties made it almost the same.


    "Hmm, have you thought of using anotheryer in between the two?" Crown Princess Shang suggested. "Another metal that might adhere to both and bring the same effect?" "That was one of the first few solutions I thought of," Lin Mu replied. "I even have the samples I made." He said before opening an iron trunk kept under the work bench.


    ~CREAK~


    Upon opening, they could see at least eight different shafts inside it.


    Lin Mu picked up one of them and showed them to the group.


    "This¡­ it has turned porous?" They could see the hundreds of tiny holes that had formed throughout the tube.


    Lin Mu had already removed the cursed Null Iron Ore core from it as it was far too risky to leave it as it is, but the Alloy Tube was fine to keep outside since he would simply melt and reforge it. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I tried various kinds of metals and got some sess too, but those metals cannot handle the curse and eventually it builds up to the point where the smoke from the Null Iron ore pours out by creating holes in the weak points of the tube. I''ve attempted at refining and tempering the Alloy tube more to reduce these weak points, but no matter what, the result is still the same. The pressure buildup from the curse is simply too high. The only way to stop that is to ensure direct contact between Null Iron ore and the Alloy Tube." He exined.


    After hearing that, the group was at a loss at what could be done.


    "This is indeed very perplexing," Ziran said in a disappointed tone. "I''d like to help more, but I''m afraid neither I nor anyone else is an Immortal Weapon Forger or Refiner." He stated.


    "That''s fine." Lin Mu shook his head, having known this already. "This is why I''m waiting for others to return. I intend to take their help."


    They were a bit doubtful since they knew that no one among them was a forger or refiner, thus they didn''t know what Lin Mu meant by his words.


    "I don''t mean to make use of their skills as refiners. I already know that won''t work," Lin Mu rified. "What I want is merely their power." He added.


    It was at this point that it clicked for them.


    "Little Shrubby?" Crown Princess Shang asked. "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "His mes might just be enough to reach the temperature needed to melt the Null Iron Ore. Though I also intend to ask Crown Prince Feng Shun as his Lightning can also work, since it can reach very high temperatures too.


    And I have a hunch that Lady Kang has a skill in her repertoire as well." He exined.


    "If it is just heat you need, I might be able to help too." Crown Princess Shang offered. "Though I do not know if it''ll be high enough. I might have Fire affinity, but I''m not as specialized in it as I am in the Wood Elemental." She added.


    "That''s fine. Every little bit helps." Lin Mu stated. "Besides, I have a method for multiple people to contribute to it." He said before waving his hand and pointing in the air.


    ~SHUA~


    Upon his gesture, several formation channels appeared on the ground, along with pedestals made out of runes forming above them.


    "Qi channeling formations, Qi absorbing formation array and a Qi igniting array." Daoist Chu recognized all of them. "This is a simplified furnace array." He muttered.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    "This might just work." Ziran said after seeing it. "One might not be able to do it alone, but with all of us contributing, the Qi output should be high enough to reach the same level. At least momentarily." He stated.


    "I also have additional Immortal Qi stones as well as me Crystals of various kinds to supplement this." Lin Mu raised his hand. "And of course¡­ A very generous supply of Magma." Searing hot energy rose from his arm and turned into liquid magma that floated in the air rather menacingly.


    With such a setup, they all thought that it might work out. Of course, it all still needed to be tested, but they were keeping their hopes up.


    "Hey, if it still doesn''t work, we can always just redirect the Dual Yang Repulsing Array to it and st it till it melts." Daoist Chu suggested another option. "Or turns to dust¡­"

 Chapter 2319 Spatial Assembly

    Chapter 2319 Spatial Assembly


    "Haha! Sure... Using a Dual yang Repulsing Array for melting metal would be ''good'' idea." Crown Princess Shang took it with a grain of salt, doubt clear in her eyes. But Lin Mu didn''t take it the same way.


    "Oh, I already tried that." Lin Mu revealed.


    "What!?" The trio almost choked on their own saliva hearing that.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu nodded.


    "When!?" Daoist Chu couldn''t help but ask. "Ten days ago." Lin Mu replied.


    "How did we not know?" Ziran was stunned. "Surely something of that level would create massive fluctuations." "Oh, I didn''t do it here." Lin Mu replied. "That would probably destroy the arrays here. I did it in a Spatial Pocket as a test with a smaller version of the Dual Yang Repulsing Array." He exined. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    "Okay¡­ that''s a bit more assuring." Crown Princess Shang took a breath of relief.


    "How did you make a small version of the Dual Yang Repulsing Array in that short of a time?" Daoist Chu couldn''t help but ask. "It took us days to make it." "Well, even calling it small is a bit of an overstatement." Lin Mu stated. "I basically used a makeshift furnace array and powered it with Xiao Yang''s Yang Immortal Qi.


    It went as well as you might think¡­ The Null Iron Ore simply disintegrated." He exined.


    Lin Mu had been brainstorming a lot, and tried every non-conventional method he could think of. The Dual Yang Repulsing Array was certainly in the list due to how high of a power output it had.


    But just because Null Iron Ore was durable didn''t mean it was indestructible. The power output of the Dual Yang Repulsing Array was simply too high and overwhelmed it, resulting in its disintegration.


    "Can you lower the output?" Daoist Chu asked, but Lin Mu simply shook his head.


    "It ends up turning into a Grand Furnace Array at that point." He spoke. "It would require a massive investment to set up an array that could attenuate the Yang Qi''s output to that level."


    "Coming back in a circle¡­" Ziran let out a sigh.


    "So right now, we only have everyone''s contribution as an option." Lin Mu stated.


    "I see," Ziran and Daoist Chu muttered.


    While they couldn''t reach a solution, they couldn''t help but think that Lin Mu was quite suited to forging and refining. Not only were his formation skills top notch, which were one of the basic things needed for Immortal weapon and tool refinement, his other skills and affinities also worked in his favor.


    Lin Mu was using his Dao Embryo''s ability to make the rock hammer he was using for tempering the Alloy Rod. This was perfect since anything else would eventually be deformed by the continuous hitting.


    Lin Mu could have also used something more durable, like the Null Iron Ore, which he had plenty off for this. He had already made use of it to make therge anvil in front of him, as it was very tough. But he still didn''t use it for the hammer.


    The reason was that Lin Mu could not only repair it nonstop, he could also use the Aspect of Heaviness on it to multiply its weight. And by timing this correctly, Lin Mu could generate more force without needing to expert more of his strength.


    He simply needed to multiply the weight at thest moment, and the hammer would hit with a hundred times the normal force. This wouldn''t be possible if he used a Null Iron Ore hammer. While it would be tough, it would not generate the same force.


    While they were thinking this though, Crown Princess Shang''s eyes wandered to the workbench that was kept the furthest from the anvil. "What''re these?" Crown Princess Shang asked, pointing to two uniquely shaped crystals.


    They looked to be shaped like pyramids, but instead of having t sides, they were like pirs attaching to a frame. One could roughly call it a pyramid shaped ''cage''. Both of the crystals had the same shape, except that they were mirrored and of different colors.


    "These are the ''Curse Dampers'' I''ve made." Lin Mu answered.


    "Curse Dampers?" Ziran was intrigued.


    "This looks to be¡­ Misty Mirror Quartz." Daoist Chu recognized. "But what''s this?" he couldn''t tell what the second pyramid cage was.


    "Clear Body Sapphire." Crown Princess Shang recognized them. "I have earrings made of them¡­ Actually, these do look perfect to be earrings too." She found the shape a bit appealing.


    Thankfully, Crown Princess Shang only saw the small structures Lin Mu had made from the Clear Body Sapphire and not therge rods he had cut out. If she knew, she would probably faint from the ''irresponsible'' use of it.


    "Their effects are quite good against the curse, but their durability iscking for the arrow." Lin Mu replied. "So I decided to change their structure a bit so that the durability will be just enough. It might not endure the impact, but it''ll at least endure theunch of the arrow." He exined.


    "How would these fit, though?" Ziran asked, seeing the unique shape.


    "Like this," Lin Mu picked the two pyramid cages and used Meld.


    ~SHUA~


    The two cages floated in the air and disassembled into two parts each. They then came together before joining upon andpleting the structure.


    It now looked like two interlinking tetrahedrons without any cuts or joints in them.


    The trio couldn''t help but be surprised, as this structure wasn''t something that could be made by anyone else. Only a Spatial Master would be able to ''join'' them without cutting them in anyway.


    Doing it this way also meant that there were no weak points in the crystal, and the impact would be equal through both crystals. Not to mention, this also allowed Lin Mu to create socket points on the intersecting points of the structure.


    On one side, Lin Mu could mold the shaft to fit perfectly while on the other side, the arrow tip could be locked in ce by using Meld again.

 Chapter 2320 Innovative Application

    2320 Innovative Application


    "This is¡­ Ingenious!" Daoist Chu eximed, seeing the interlinked crystals.


    "A method like this would indeed solve a lot of structural problems that arise due to the physical properties of materials." Ziran could see many applications of it.


    They observed the crystal and talked about it for a bit, before Crown Princess Shang asked something.


    "How would we use the poison with this?" She inquired. "Is it just the same as dipping it?" "No, that would not be secure and the effect might not be transmitted in the best way." Lin Mu replied. "Instead, this very same method can be used for the poison too." He took out another pair of crystals from his storage.


    "What''s different about these?" Daoist Chu asked, picking up one of them.


    He nced inside them, and saw that in addition to the cage like structure, this one had hollow capsr cavities inside it. When both halves werebined, this cavity would be sealed shut.


    "We can store the poison inside this." Lin Mu showed. "And when the arrow has paired it, the crystals would break as well, releasing it all inside the Chimera nt." He stated.


    Hearing that, the eyes of Crown Princess Shang lit up.


    "That would indeed have the most potent effect." Crown Princess Shang was in agreement.


    Lin Mu didn''t know whether they would be able to obtain more Chimera nt fragments. After all, there was no guarantee to them and the nt could explode in any way possible. The fact that they had obtained the five fragments alone was luck.


    And once Lin Mu used the arrow on the next Chimera nt, it was hard to tell what kind of effect it would bring. It was very well possible that no fragments might be created, thus it was important for them to have alternative methods for it.


    If the poison could work well, it could sever as this alternative.


    After all, even if Lin Mu had more of the ck Hex Raven Tears, there was no guarantee that another arrow would be able to handle its effects. The only reason they were a viable option right now was due to high durability of the Chimera nt bark fragments.


    ''The three root fragments can always be re-purposedter if we have improvements in our methods.'' Lin Mu hoped that they could learn more from their next encounter and improve upon the methods that had been devised by them.


    If he could make the Root Fragments viable enough to pierce the Chimera nt, it would give him additional three arrows that would be possibly cover most of the other Chimera nts. Though he did hope that there weren''t too many of them or things might get quite difficult.


    Then there was also the unknown factor of someone else being here that they didn''t know about.


    Those strangers would certainly pose danger to them and they had to be ready for it too. ''Since the items had been removed from the Reward list, it means the others have been hunting Chimeric Beasts too. If they are desiring more of them, they might eventually discover the Chimera nts too. We mighte in conflict if this happens.'' Lin Mu thought of a potential scenario.


    He also thought about this unknown party being genial towards them such that no conflict might ur. But from what Lin Mu knew about expeditions like this, greed was often the paramount emotion in it. Just because their own group worked in cohesion didn''t mean this could be expanded or repeated.


    After all there was a reason why the other expedition members in the smaller spatial nes had split up. Larger numbers could lead topetition which would lead to inevitable conflict.


    There were already examples of the immortal court trainees stealing the kills of others, thereby gaining missing points. If something like this happened in the righteous Immortal court too, and was given a tacit approval by them, it was almost guaranteed to happen in thewless ce like this Spatial ne. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Thus, Lin Mu and hispanions needed to be as careful as possible.


    ~SHUA~


    As they were talking though, the runes in the hall rmed Lin Mu, making him stop.


    "Looks like the others are finally here." He said before flying up.


    "About time, they reached." Daoist Chu said as he followed after him.


    Ziran and the Crown princess did the same, and they arrived at the meeting hall.


    ~MEOW~ ~SHUA~


    A red blur rushed into Lin Mu''s arms, letting out meows. "I''m back, Master!" Little Shrubby said with joy.


    "You are, and right on time too." Lin Mu said, feeling the soft fur of Little Shrubby.


    Even after a month, there had been no change to it and it was as soft and clean as always despite the battles that the beast had fought.


    "Have you been waiting for us?" Lady Kang asked, a slight smile on her face.


    "Of course." Lin Mu replied as he nced at the woman who looked the same as before too. Though he also noticed a hint of anxiety in her eyes that tried to hide. Min Ju on her side though showed it a lot more clearly and also had fatigue present on her face. "Looks like you three had a tiring time." Ziran said, noticing it all.


    "We did." Lady Kang nodded. "This Spatial ne is too big." She said before letting out a sigh.


    "You were supposed to go furthest to the east, right?" Crown Princess Shang asked. "Did you discover anything?" "We did." Lady Kang replied. "A lot¡­" "We certainly have a lot to hunt out there," Min Ju chimed in.


    "Oh? What did you find?" Lin Mu was certainly interested.


    He could have, of course, asked Little Shrubby directly through his link, but reckoned it was better to get input from them first.


    "More Chimeric Beasts than we might be able to hunt," Lady Kang said in short. "What we''ve killed so far are merely a drop in the ocean."

 Chapter 2321 Survey Debrief

    Chapter 2321 Survey Debrief


    Lady Kang''s words garnered the interest of everyone and they wished to learn more.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    But before they could speak much, more immortal Qi fluctuations were felt as the formation arrays informed them of the arrival of the rest.


    "I suppose we can exchange the information with everyone here." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Of course." Lady Kang agreed. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    They didn''t have to wait long and soon everyone was gathered.


    They exchanged pleasantries while Lin Mu took a look at everyone. He could sense the differences in everyone''s immortal Qi stores, and their aura.


    Some had grown a bit weaker due to exhaustion but there was one that had grown stronger.


    And it was none other than Monk Hushu!


    ''Looks like Monk Hushu had some gains in this time.'' Lin Mu reckoned it was likely the improvement to his Buddhist aura and skills that was still affecting him.


    The man was supposedly the second strongest after Crown Prince Feng Shun in the group, thus Lin Mu wondered how much he would have improved in this time.


    "I think the most straightforward way would be to simply add the information of our Jade Slips to the array." Crown Prince Feng Shun suggested.


    ~SHAU~SHUA~SHUA~


    Everyone put took out their jade slips and linked them with the array, causing arge transfer of the information.


    ~HUALA~


    The formation screen turned blurry for a minute before new information appeared on it. Additionally, the map also expanded with more details being added to it.


    Starting from the west, the Map had been expanded by more than two thousand kilometers and a vast mountain range was now visible on it. Additionally, the Death Qi boundaries as well as the Chimeric Beasts that were present there were also marked.


    "What''s this?" Ziran pointed to a spot in the mountains that was fully ck. It was as if someone had identally sttered ink on the map.


    "That is quite likely to be where a Chimera nt is." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "We couldn''t enter it due to the thick Death Qi present there, but that only made us think that it might have been the Chimera nt that''s gathering it." He exined.


    "That''s a great clue for us." Lin Mu couldn''t help but say.


    "Though of course, we don''t know how long it would be there." Qiao De said. "The Death Qi might shift or the Chimera nt can move. In the time we spent going past it anding back, the entire area of Death Qi had shifted by about fifty kilometers." He revealed.


    "Fifty Kilometers?" Daoist Chu calcted something in his mind. "If this was in about ten days of time, then we can assume there is a certain rate of drift to it. I might be able to add this to the tracking array I''ve made." He stated.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu said. "But did you all see any swarm of Chimeric Beasts around it?" he asked.


    "There were a few small swarms of fifty to sixty thousand chimeric beasts spread, but none as big as the one''s we fought." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "It might be the topography of the mountain range that probably forced the Chimeric Beasts to split up like that. We''ll probably have to consider that in our hunt." Lady Kang said after hearing that.


    Everyone noted this and moved onto the South that had been explored by an additional one thousand kilometers.


    "This is less than the Crown prince." Lin Mu said looking at Elder Hu and Monk Hushu.


    The two had been the one''s to head south, thus it was a bit surprising since neither of them were weak. Plus, unlike the mountain range that Crown Prince and Qiao De had encountered, Monk Hushu and Elder Hu''s are was just a t in for the most part.


    "We kept on running into Chimeric beasts and walls of Death Qi that hindered our path." Elder Hu spoke.


    "Those foul beasts were tracking us down and would not let us have any rest." Monk Hushu added.


    "No wonder¡­" Lin Mu now understood why Monk Hushu''s aura seemed to have gotten stronger. ''He got plenty of battle experience in this time.'' He thought.


    "Though we did find something peculiar." Monk Hushu stated before taking out something from his Spatial Storage treasure.


    Everyone nced at it, finding it to be a broken buckle. There were many scratches on it and it was quite battered. "We found this in the stomach of a Chimeric Beast." Elder Hu revealed.


    "Really?" Crown Princess Shang asked in doubt. "We haven''t found anything in the stomachs of other Chimeric Beasts so far, have we?" she said.


    "Yeah¡­" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes. "The Chimeric Beasts digest everything and thus not even bones would be left behind if they ate someone." He added.


    "And yet this thing managed to stay intact." Crown Prince Feng Shun scanned the broken buckle with his immortal sense, trying to see what it was made from. "It''s part of an Immortal tool!" he soon discovered.


    Lin Mu quickly checked hearing this to and confirmed the fact.


    "It really is¡­" Lin Mu could sense the remnants of formation on the buckle.


    "This might be from those unknown ''visitors'' that got things from the reward list." Elder Hu stated. "Considering this buckle had managed to stay intact, it must not have been consumed too long ago." He added.


    They knew that the digestion of the Chimeric beasts could even destroy immortal tools over time, thus it was a miracle that this thing had survived. "How long ago did you think this might have been eaten? Or its owner might have been eaten?" Qiao De asked.


    "It''s hard to tell. We''ve never tested the digestion rate of those Chimeric Beasts so far." Lin Mu replied. "But considering the traces of formations, it hasn''t been longer than two weeks." He analyzed.


    "Two weeks¡­ that''s not long." Ziran said, his expression turning serious. "Perhaps we might have to prioritize going to the South." Crown Princess Shang said. "If there are other people here, we need to see who they are."

 Chapter 2322 A Second Offering Hall

    Chapter 2322 A Second Offering Hall


    Crown Princess Shang''s suggestion was definitely interesting but there were other''s who hadn''t spoken yet.


    "You might change your thoughts after hearing our observations." Lady Kang interjected.


    "What did you find?" Lin Mu asked, remembering that Lady Kang had asked him to wait until everyone was here.


    "We found another Offering Hall along with a new Chimeric Beast." Lady Kang revealed.


    "What?" Everyone was surprised now.


    "Could that be the offering hall that was used by the unknown party?" Qiao De couldn''t help but question.


    "It might be possible." Lady Kang nodded. "But we didn''t go inside." She added.


    "You didn''t? Why?" Crown Princess Shang questioned.


    "Was there a barrier of Baleful energies like the first offering hall?" Monk Hushu asked.


    "No. The Offering Hall was actually open." Lady Kang replied. "But there was another obstacle in our way¡­ a new Chimeric Beast." She revealed.


    That was a surprising revtion for the group. After all, they had not seen any Chimeric Beasts act in any way towards the Offering Hall. Even if there were Chimeric beasts near the Offering hall, they never actually came close or took any interest in the building.


    "Huh?" the group didn''t expect that to be the reason.


    "What kind of Chimeric Beast is it?" Lin Mu asked. "And what was its cultivation base?" he thought that since they found it an obstacle, the Chimeric Beast was certainly not weak.


    "It was certainly at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm from the energy fluctuations it was exuding. Though it''s form was rather peculiar¡­ it was bipedal." Lady Kang answered.


    "Bipedal¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun had a bad feeling about it.


    "Let me show you." Lady Kang said as he drew up the image of the Chimeric beast on the formation screen.


    ~SHUA~


    Everyone looked at it finding the Chimeric Beast to be very imposing.


    Like Lady Kang had said, it was bipedal and stood as tall as twenty meters. But it did not seem to be the mix of anymon bipedal beasts that one might think of such as Apes and monkeys. Instead, it looked like an entirely new beast.


    It had two muscr legs that had three big toes each and simrly thick arms. Though it had four fingers on each hand and they were covered with a thickyer of fur. Its torso was broad, but its belly was very fat and bulged out like a balloon.


    Unlike its arms, the rest of its body was hairless and with wrinkles. Its head was squarish but only had a singlerge eyeball with no nose under it. Its mouth was also strange, being under its chin, instead of being on the front. And when the mouth opened, a long and fleshy tube of some kind extended. This tube was covered in sharp fangs and dripped with noxious saliva. On the strange Chimeric Beast''s back were small deformed wings that were tipped with a hooked ws. Waves of Chimeric Qi swirled around it while it sat on the ground, leaned against the Offering Hall.


    "What is that thing?" Crown Princess Shang was taken aback.


    While it wasn''t as disgusting as the other Chimeric Beasts she had seen, it certainly had an ugly and off-putting appearance.


    "It doesn''t seem to have any characteristic from beasts I can identify." Daoist Chu said, observing it closely.


    "A Cyclops perhaps?" Ziran thought after seeing its single eye.


    "It''s head is too squarish for that." Elder Hu replied. "Also that mouth and that flesh tube¡­ that''s definitely something from an insect beast." He added.


    "Actually¡­ that seems to be something from a Sea Cucumber." Lin Mu replied. "I''ve read about some Sea Cucumber beasts that have such mouths that they can extend out and consume their prey. Though rather than mouth, you can think of it as their entire guts that they expel outside." He exined.


    "Huh¡­ How peculiar¡­" Ziran furrowed his brows. "Those arms are probably from a gori beast of some kind, no?" Qiao De chimed in. "Except for the fingers."


    "It does seem like it." Lady Kang nodded. "Those legs¡­ A Tapir Beast, perhaps?" Lin Mu said afterparing them with all the beasts he could think of. "They have three toes like that too." He pointed.


    "How about the wings?" Daoist Chu asked. "Do you think they''re naturally deformed or they suffered some damage?" "There are far too manybinations that could yield wings like those. But they are probably natural. There isn''t much that could damage a Seventh Tribtion Stage immortal realm Chimeric beast here after all. It should be the peak of strength in this ne." Lin Mu answered. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    "Great, so a mix of a Cyclops, Sea Cucumber, Tapir, Gori and who knows what other beasts. Anyone got a guess of what kind of abilities it can have?" Qiao De inquired, feeling uneasy about it.


    They had been discussing the characteristics of the Chimeric Beast in the hopes that they might be able to figure out its abilities. After all, Lady Kang and Min Ju hadn''t fought it nor had stayed long enough for it to do anything, thus they were only going off the appearances.


    "It''s definitely got a lot of physical strength. Speed probably not¡­ toughness for sure." Crown Prince Feng Shun assessed. "A limited scope of vision as well." Ziran reminded. "Unlike the other Chimeric Beasts we''ve encountered, this one has the least number of eyes¡­ they tend to be generous with them, usually." He exined.


    "True¡­ that mighte in handy." Monk Hushu could think of a few ways to outmaneuver the Chimeric Beast.


    The group discussed a bit more before deciding that they would go to the east to deal with the Chimeric Beast.


    "Considering the fact that it is staying next to the Offering hall and not going elsewhere, it is certainly guarding it. We might find something in there that isn''t in other Offering Halls." Crown Prince Feng Shun started speaking. "It might do us good to get rid of it first, since we might be able to take advantage of its characteristics. Especially if we fight together." He stated.

 Chapter 2323 Cyclopean Chimeric Beast And Unaware Toplessness

    Chapter 2323 Cyclopean Chimeric Beast And Unaware Toplessness


    Crown Prince Feng Shun put forth the task and waited for everyone to respond. After all, they couldn''t decide halfheartedly and needed everyone''s approval since this was not a simple beast to kill.


    "I''m up for it." Lin Mu answered first. "It''ll not only give us a good amount of Credits, it''ll also allow us to test our capabilities." He added.


    "I agree." Monk Hushu answered next. "Though we''ll have to be wary since this Chimeric Beast seems to disy some intelligence." He cautioned.


    "As long as we take the right care, it should be fine." Daoist Chu agreed as well. "Plus, we might just get a good sample from this Chimeric Beast that can help us track the others. My tracking array gets better the more kinds of sample are added to it. The stronger the better." He revealed.


    "What should we call it, though? We do need a name for it." Ziran spoke.


    "We can just call it a Cyclopean Chimeric beast. That seems to be the one characteristic that stands out the most." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ that works." Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lady Kang didn''t mind.


    One by one, the others started to agree as well and though that this was a better Chimeric Beast to fight aspared to the multi headed beast that Qiao De had seen far to the north. While that might be a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm chimeric beast, it was bigger than other beasts. The Cyclopean Chimeric Beast also had a more ''humanoid'' structure which means that they could predict its movements better than one with an unorthodox body type.


    After all, multiple heads meant that it could attack in all directions and would also see every attacking towards it. Compared to that, the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast seemed to have an obvious disadvantage.


    Of course, they weren''t so na?ve as to think that it would be weak just because of that. They simply bet on the fact that they would have a better time adapting to a body style they were used to battling against. Plus, even if things went south, they had a few trump cards they could use to solve it.


    "It''ll give us a good opportunity to test our capabilities." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "If things be problematic, I can always use the Imperial Might Talisman¡­ though I''d prefer not to use it." His words brought a bit of confidence to the group.


    "You might not have to use that either." Crown Princess Shang responded. "What Daoist Mu Lin is making is probably enough to kill it too." She added.


    "Oh? What are you making?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, feeling interested. "And is that also why you''re only wearing pants?" he said, raising a single brow.


    It was at this moment, Lin Mu realized, one very important fact.


    He had entirely forgotten that he had walked out in the same way he was working.


    "Ah! I forgot to switch it back!" Lin Mu said, controlling the Silver Mirage Circlet and returning the ''illusion'' of clothes.


    ~SHUA~


    His body was covered in ck robes again, which seemed to materialize out of thin air.


    ~chuckle~


    Several chuckles could be heard in the room as they saw a rare asion where Lin Mu would lose hisposure.


    "You seriously didn''t realized you weren''t wearing clothes?" Crown Princess Shang asked, feeling interested.


    The others didn''t actually mind him not wearing a shirt as it was amon thing for a lot of cultivators, especially body cultivators, to be shirtless. Even other cultivators, such as Monk Hushu often wore clothes that were rather light and didn''t fully cover the torso.


    But it was still surprising that Lin Mu had switched up his look like this.


    "Well, I usually just use my Circlet to maintain my clothes." Lin Mu answered. "So the feeling is the same." He added.


    "Wait¡­ So you''re not wearing clothes even normally?" Min Ju looked a bit stunned.


    "I do, but I just maintain an illusion with the circlet. My clothes get destroyed rather often, so the illusion helps. They got burned away back in the forge, and since I needed to focus a lot, I simply dispelled the illusion." Lin Mu exined.


    While the group found it a bit strange, they couldn''t find fault in it.


    "Anyway." Ziran decided to bring the topic back on the line. "Daoist Mu Lin is making weapon that will help kill the Chimeric nts. If it can kill that, I''m sure it''ll kill a Seventh Tribtion Stage being, too." He exined.


    "Really?" Lady Kang hadn''t expected Lin Mu to have had that level of sess. "It isn''tplete." Lin Mu replied. "Plus, it is something that can only be used once." He added.


    "An arrow?" Monk Hushu easily guessed.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "And I need all of your help inpleting it." He requested.


    "Our help? I don''t know about the others, but I certainly do not have any skill in Weapon Refinement or Forging." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Likewise. I only do the selling, not the making." Qiao De said as well.


    "It is rtively simple. I just need your Qi to power an array. I will handle the rest." Lin Mu said before giving them an exnation of what he had been making.


    After all, it was not a simple thing, and they needed to understand the unique conditions of it. But after they had heard it all, they were throughly impressed by Lin Mu''s work. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Marvelous! Absolutely Marvelous!" Qiao De eximed. "Daoist Mu Lin, make me a few inferior versions of these arrows and I assure you I''ll make you tens of millions of Immortal stones for each!" his inner merchant couldn''t help but jump at the opportunity.


    "Indeed. Something that can kill a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal realm being can almost be ssified as a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon." Lady Kang''s eyes also shone with great interest.


    While they understood the arrow tips were limited, they knew there could be substituted in one or the other way.

 Chapter 2324 Generous Qiao De And The Heat Of The Foundry

    Chapter 2324 Generous Qiao De And The Heat Of The Foundry


    Even if the fragments of the Chimera nt were limited, there were other strong materials that could be switched in for it. The piercing effect could be weaker, but one must remember that even Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortals did not have the same level of defense that the Chimera nt had.


    Something even half as strong would be more than enough to pierce through the defenses. Thus, they could see the value of the arrows.


    "Maybe." Lin Mu replied after hearing his words. ''It might be good to have a few of them in reserve just in case. I can use them against other foes or beasts if need be.'' He thought to himself.


    "We''ll think of that allter. First we''ll help you make the very first of them." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Of course!" Qiao De was very enthusiastic about it now.


    "Let''s go then." Lady Kang was the same.


    Everyone wanted to see the birth of such an arrow and they quickly went to Lin Mu''s room that had now been turned into a Foundry.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as they opened the door, the hot air washed over them. Thankfully, they had already been warned about this, so were able to defend against it with no issues. Though this was still a lower temperature than what Ziran, Daoist Chu and Crown Princess Shang had been hit with earlier.


    "You weren''t joking." Elder Hu spoke. "This is quite hot." "It''ll get significantly hotter." Lin Mu cautioned them. "Especially when we get to forging the Null Iron Ore." "I got us covered!" Qiao De said, taking out two stacks of talismans. "Heat warding talismans, everyone take twenty!" the man was certainly being a lot more generous.


    Those who knew Qiao De would say that it was incredibly rare for him to give anything for free. And yet, he was handing out a two hundred Heat Warding Talismans casually. Though it was definitely due to the opportunity of contributing to the arrow that Lin Mu was making.


    After all, if he had a hand in it, it would be a lot more legitimate for him to get the other versionster.


    "I''m okay." Lin Mu replied. "You all can use it though." He stated.


    "Don''t mind me if I do." Daoist Chu quickly took his share of the Heat Warding Talismans. He pped them all onto his body at once, knowing that it won''t be good to do it inside.


    The others did the same, though they also kept their defensive skills active. They didn''t know how much energy they would have to use for the forging though, thus it was good to have the talismans to help them with the heat too.


    But Lin Mu was doubtful about the Talismans and how long they mightst.


    ''A single Heat Warding Talismans can handle the heat of a volcano for a bout fifteen minutes¡­ twenty should be enough¡­ maybe¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After all, he didn''t know what level of heat they would be reaching in the end.


    ~step~step~step~


    Once they were inside, they could see therge space that had been created.


    "Whoa¡­ This is really a proper foundry at this rate." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, feeling impressed. "Only thing it''scking is an Earth Fire Vein." He observed.


    "I think if Daoist Mu Lin had more time, he could''ve set up that too." Monk Hushu guessed.


    "I don''t think this ne has an Earth Fire Vein, so I wouldn''t have been able to add it, regardless." Lin Mu replied. "Most Spatial nes don''t have Earth Fire Veins and if they do, they''ll usually be of a different kind than Bridge ne." He exined.


    "I didn''t know that," Monk Hushu replied. "Me neither." Qiao De said too.


    The group quickly reached the floor where the work was to be done.


    "So, what do we do now?" Elder Hu asked.


    "Give me a minute," Lin Mu said as his immortal sense connected with the array he had made.


    ~SHUA~


    A few secondster, the array activated and nine pedestals formed from runes appeared. These pedestals were connected to the pool under the crucible and theva was also being channeled into this.


    "Little Shrubby, I''ll need you for this," Lin Mu called out his trustypanion.


    ~HUALA~


    The beast quickly erged to his full size, taking up a decent part of the area.


    "I need your mes to melt the Null Iron Ore. We''ll be adding our Qi to provide additional heat as well." Lin Mu instructed the beast.


    "Alright." Little Shrubby said, but when he looked at the Crucible, he thought of something. "That thing won''t endure the heat." He said, pointing to the crucible.


    "Hmm¡­ true." Now that Lin Mu thought of it, the heat they would be producing would certainly exceed the melting point of the Crucible that Lin Mu had made out of Hot Mantle y. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    It was a special type of Earth material that was found deep under volcanoes. It managed to stay in a solid state even when it was heated to a high temperature and was one of the best materials to make crucibles out of. Lin Mu had, of course, obtained it from his many endeavors.


    But even something like this wouldn''t be able to bear the temperature needed to melt the Null Iron Ore. It might be good enough to endure the heat of volcanoes, but Lin Mu had already been using Lava to provide the heat for melting, which hadn''t been working.


    A temperature higher than that would certainly be beyond the limits of the Hot Mantle y. Lin Mu didn''t wish to see what would happen if they tried to melt the Null Iron ore in it. They might even seed in doing it, but the Hot Mantle y would also end up mixing in it, thereby adding more impurities.


    "What else can we use for that?" Lin Mu muttered to himself. "Meld wouldn''t work either, as it would iste the space."

 Chapter 2325 Bigshot Wife And Hotshot Dao Embryo

    Chapter 2325 Bigshot Wife And Hotshot Dao Embryo


    While Lin Mu was thinking of this, the other''s wanted to offer a few suggestions but Little Shrubby was faster than them.


    "I know what to use." Little Shrubby answered. "Something that can endure the heat as well as allow me to use my mes better." He stated.


    "What''s that?" Lin Mu asked.


    "My Dao Embryo." Little Shrubby answered.


    Hearing that Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.


    "Of course!" Lin Mu eximed. He had forgotten that it was the perfect option for it all. Little Shrubby''s mes were certainly stronger than all of them here and his affinity with the Fire element was also the highest. As such, his Fire Dao Embryo would have no issues in taking the extra heat.


    Not just that, but it might even be stronger from all the heat.


    The group watched Lin Mu and Little Shrubby converse, not knowing what they were talking about. But a few secondster, it all became clear.


    ~SHUA~


    ~CRACKLE~


    A wave of energy swept from Little Shrubby''s body, before the Fire Dao Traces could be felt. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    Crown Princess Shang who had the affinity to the Fire element couldn''t help but take a step back.


    "Such strong Fire Dao Traces¡­" She was stunned.


    "This¡­ They''re stronger than yours, aren''t they?" Daoist Chu asked feeling surprised too.


    "Yeah." Crown Princess Shang was at a higher cultivation base than Little Shrubby and yet herprehension of the Fire Dao was lower than this. "Even though I don''t have a Fire Dao Embryo of my own, I didn''t expect Little Shrubby''s to be this strong." She muttered.


    The Dao Embryo hadn''t even manifested and yet the power could already be felt by all of them.


    "Mm¡­ About half as strong as my wife." Ziran spoke.


    This made Lin Mu look over as it was certainly unexpected.


    "Your wife?" The others remembered that Ziran''s wife was a Demon and was also the chieftess of the Demonic Tribe. But they didn''t know anything more than that.


    "She''s at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and has Fire as her main affinity." Ziran exined. "For Little Shrubby to have half the affinity as her at his cultivation base is very impressive." He added.


    "Your wife is at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm!?" Crown Princess Shang and the others were shocked by this revtion.


    Unknowingly, Ziran was married to a bigshot.


    "No wonder you''ve stayed married to her." Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled. "Yeah¡­ she''ll kill me if I leave her." Ziran smiled wryly.


    "Quite easily too." Min Ju added a bit of salt to it.


    ~HUALA~


    But as they talked about this, the Dao Embryo of Little Shrubby suddenly appeared!


    It was over five meters in size and continued to expand until it reached the ten meter mark!


    "A w?" Monk Hushu observed it, finding it to be unknown.


    "Have you seen any Dao Embryo like this before?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "I''ve seen and heard of other w shaped embryos, but none like this," Ziran spoke.


    "Yeah, the one''s I''ve heard of were certainly not of the Fire Dao either." Crown Princess Shang chimed in.


    "What is it, Daoist Mu Lin?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked curiously.


    "It is the Sky Scorching w Dao Embryo." Lin Mu answered.


    The name was quite imposing and as seen from the appearance of the w, it was justified. Several runes glowed on the surface of the w, while each finger and nail glowed in a red and orange light. It was as if the entire w was burning with mes, but that was merely an illusion.


    The Dao Traces in the air also intensified, the temperature rising from the mere presence of the Sky Scorning w Dao Embryo.


    "Are you ready?" Lin Mu asked the beast.


    "Yes, give me the ore." Little Shrubby nodded.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu withdrew arge chunk of the Null Iron Ore that he had cut previously. "Can you hold this?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, it''s the right size." Little Shrubby controlled the Sky Scoring w Dao Embryo and took hold of the Null Iron Ore Chunk.


    Each finger of the w wrapped around the chunk while the nails locked it in ce. "Alright, move it to the center." Lin Mu said, activating the second part of the array.


    This was the Condensing Heat Mantle Array, which was going to be collecting and directing the heat from everyone. Little Shrubby controlled the Sky Scoring w Dao Embryo and brought it to rest upon the Condensing Heat Mantle Array.


    ~SHUA~ As soon as he did that, the runes on the array automatically moved to like with the Dao Embryo.


    "Oh?" Daoist Chu was intrigued by it. "This is a better fit than I expected. I''ve known of arrays that can connect with Dao Embryos, but this one fit without any extra modification." He added.


    "I didn''t expect that either." Lin Mu admitted. ''Perhaps it is the uniqueness of Little Shrubby''s Sky Scoring w Dao Embryo. Those runes on it must have something to do with it." There were a lot of secrets that were yet to be unveiled, after all.


    And the only one who could do that was Little Shrubby.


    ~HUALA~


    Little Shrubby finally activated the power of the Dao Embryo as hot mes burst from it.


    The Null Iron Ore was quickly covered in the mes, as the temperature started to rise rapidly.


    ~HONG~HONG~HONG~


    The Heat Warding Talismans activated automatically and three translucent barriers appeared on everyone''s bodies.


    "Three Talismans at once?" Qiao De was a bit taken aback. "Will the twenty be enough?" he was now doubting it like Lin Mu had.


    "Okay everyone, start!" Lin Mu said as he directly used Magma Fury and provided the Searing Hot energy to the array.


    "Alright!" Crown Prince Feng Shun was the next one to act as he ced his hands on the pedestal.


    ~BZZT~


    Arcs of lightning flowed all over his body before being directed into the pedestal.


    ~ZAP~


    Unlike the other energies, the lightning traveled rapidly through the array without being converted and reached the Null Iron Ore.

 Chapter 2326 Collective Heating

    Chapter 2326 Collective Heating


    The Lightning covered the Null Iron Ore in less than a moment and started to subject it to its power.


    A few moment''ster the power of the array reached the Null Iron ore, as more heat was channeled it the Sky Scorching w Dao Embryo.


    ~HUALA~


    With the sudden spike in heat, the Null Iron Ore''s surface turned red while the mes started to engulf it in its entirety. In less than ten seconds, the Null Iron Ore chunk couldn''t even be seen while the mes only continued to grow.


    "More!" Lin Mu urged.


    "As you wish!" everyone said, as the poured in their immortal Qi.


    ~ZAP~


    Throngs of Lightning bolts coursed through the channels and entered the Null Iron Ore. The metal was one that resisted everything and had no element to it. But even then, it had its limits and didn''t mean that it could stop everything that was thrown to it. The lightning was the same; even if it could not conduct it well, that didn''t mean it could block it.


    The lightning entered it, and through the resistance provided by the Null Iron Ore, began to release its power within, causing it to heat up from the inside!


    The Sky Scorching w Dao Embryo did the same from the outside and slowly but surely, the Null Iron Ore started to soften.


    ~HONGLONG~


    And as more and more immortal Qi was directed through the array, the runes on the Sky Scorching w Dao Embryo glowed brighter than ever before. The power was transferred to it, while the Dao Traces produced by it increased as well.


    The mes that were being created by it contained more and more of Dao Traces, their power starting to erode away at the stubborn properties of the Null Iron Ore.


    Minute after minute passed, as the Ore turned white hot.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    But as the temperature rose, the cultivators were also finding it hard to bear it. The three barriers of the Heat Warding Talismans shattered from the heat as three more took their ce.


    "Already?!" Qiao De hadn''t expected the Heat Warding Talismans to not evenst five minutes.


    He had no idea that this was just the beginning of it all.


    "We need more!" Lin Mu said as he raised his hands.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Searing hot magma was released from the armor around him as it turned intorge ws that extended towards the Null Iron Ore. They wrapped around them by sliding under the gaps of the Sky Scorning w Dao Embryo, heating the ore even more.


    Lin Mu channeled all of his Fire Elemental Immortal Qi through the Longgui Bulwark Armor technique and utilized Magma Fury to the fullest. This was the method for him to produce the highest temperatures that he could at his level. He hadn''tprehended the Fire Dao enough to make a Fire Dao Embryo, but that didn''t mean that hisprehension of it wascking. It was still great, but he was limited by his current state. Without having a stable foundation, he wouldn''t be able to gain another Dao Embryo even if he was capable of doing it.


    He had already gained three Dao Embryos in a rapid sessionpared to almost all immortals. And among them, one was even a unique Spatial Dao Embryo that had never existed before. As such, it was important for him to gain the understanding of them all and be confident that he could handle more.


    As such, he tried his best with all that he had. And what he did have was arge store of Immortal Qi that wouldn''t lose out to most immortals stronger than him. He kept on pouring more and more of Immortal Qi into the technique, and converted his attributeless Immortal Qi into fire elemental immortal Qi to continue the effort.


    While he did this, the others were also working hard.


    Those that could use Fire Elemental techniques like Crown Princess Shang, Elder Hu and Daoist Chu did that. Thetter two might not be specialized in it, but they still had a decent skill to use fire elemental skills.


    The others that didn''t know fire elemental skills simply provided their raw immortal Qi to the array and let the Condensing Heat Mantle Array take the task of converting it to heat.


    More time passed and more Heat Warding Talisman barriers cracked.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~ This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    But as they cracked, more of them activated, protecting the group as much as they could.


    More than ten talismans had already been exhausted out of the twenty that Qiao De had handed out. And the Null Iron Ore was still not in the state they wanted.


    "Hold on." Lin Mu knew that things were getting far too hot for everyone to bear, and that they were only holding out due to the defensive skills and talismans. "Once we''re past the critical point, it''ll be done." He added.


    The others didn''t reply directly, but they did pour more of their immortal Qi as a response. They knew this was no simple task and that they needed to give their all to this. Little Shrubby needed no words and was doing his work without stopping. In fact, his mes were also getting hotter with time, as he increased hisprehension readily with everyone''s support.


    Thirty minutes passed like this and the Null Iron Ore couldn''t even be seen at this point. All one could see was a blinding white object sped in the embrace of red and orange mes. The lightning which could be seen at the start was no longer visible, having been consumed by the blinding white light of the hot ore.


    ~CRACK~


    "Dammit, we''re at thest talisman!" Qiao De observed.


    "We can take it!" Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke with confidence. "HAAA!" he channeled more of his lightning, even going as far as to overload his meridians.


    ~HISS~


    This seemed to do the task and the Null Iron Ore was finally pushed past the point of holding its solid form.

 Chapter 2327 Absolute Flame Command

    Chapter 2327 Absolute me Command


    White hot liquid dripped out from the gaps in the Sky Scorning w Dao Embryo''s crushing grasp.


    ~DRIP~DRIP~DRIP~


    It fell into empty air below, before suddenly freezing in ce.


    ''Meld!'' Lin Mu acted fast, dividing his focus between the Longgui Bulwark Armor Technique and his spatial skill.


    Since nothing else could hold the hot liquid, Lin Mu could only use the space itself to contain it. ''I need to shape it right away or it won''t work,'' Lin Mu thought and raised his focus to the maximum.


    Faint chants started toe out of his lips as he stilled his mind with the Severing Heart Sutra. All his emotions were swept away, as all that was left behind was the tasks at hand. With his focus enhanced, Lin Mu manipted the space, shaping it into a vertical tube.


    ~DRIP~DRIP~DRIP~


    The white hot liquid slid into these invisible tubes and started to fill them up. At first the speed was slow, but with the melting point having been achieved, the rate of flow only increased. A minuteter, the first tube had been filled to the brim!


    "It''s filled!" Crown Prince Feng Shun saw.


    "Hold on more, we can make more." Lady Kang knew this was just and that their goal was to make as many as they could.


    ~CRACK~


    But as soon as she said that, the final Heat Warding Talisman barrier broke apart.


    "ARGH!" Min Ju was the first one to cry out in pain as the heat assaulted her.


    "Min Ju!" Lady Kang turned to her. "I can do it, mydy¡­" the woman said through her pain.


    Her hands were starting to burn despite the defensive technique she was using. The temperature had reached a level far beyond what most immortals would be able to bear right now. Even though they weren''t as close to the melting ore as Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were, the residual heat that radiated from it was still hot enough to turn flesh to ashes within seconds. Lin Mu had also heard the woman''s cry, but he paid it no heed. He had the Severing Heart Sutra active, which didn''t allow his emotions to sway him. His focus was entirely on the casting of the Null Iron and he was now making the second tube.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Waves of spatial fluctuation and immortal Qi radiated from him as he mustered his entire will in it.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby let out a roar, his bloodline was spurred into action.


    ~HUALA~


    His Bloodline aura manifested as the illusory images of two beasts appeared above him.


    The first was that of a tiger with long ws that glowed in a white hot light, and the second was that of a Liger whose entire body was burning with orange and red mes.


    ~ROAR~ ROAR~


    The two bloodline figures roared as if announcing their presence.


    These were none other than the Scorch w Tiger and the sh Fire Liger. They were the beasts that provided Little Shrubby with his fire elemental affinity and his strong proficiency with fire Dao.


    And if one looked closer, they would realize that there was a resonance between the two bloodline figures and the Sky Scorching w Dao Embryo. ~HONGLONG~


    The runes on the Sky Scorching w Dao Embryo glowed and resonated with the sh Fire Liger''s bloodline figure. Within the mes burning on its body, one could see the very same mes, as if showing their origin.


    But that was not all, as every finger on the Sky Scorching w Dao Embryo started to glow brighter and hotter, until they had turned white hot too. They now looked the same as the white hot ws of the Scorch w Tiger!


    The temperature of the entire foundry spiked at that moment, causing everyone''s defenses to go haywire before being overwhelmed.


    "NO!" The group was panicked as they couldn''t block it in time.


    Even Crown prince Feng Shun and Lady Kang''s defenses were bypassed as the heat scorched their hands.


    ~ROAR~


    But before it could be disastrous, the heat suddenly stopped. It suddenly reduced until it reached room temperature.


    "What?" The group was confused as they felt a sudden relief. "This¡­" Crown Princess Shang, who had the highest affinity to the Fire Dao among them, could sense the strange flow of the Fire Dao Traces. Her sense followed them as she realized a demarcation had been created in the air. It was invisible, but everyone could now feel it was there. They didn''t even need to have an affinity for the Fire Dao to sense it anymore.


    "This is¡­ a Dao Trace barrier?" Monk Hushu muttered in disbelief.


    "Not just any Dao Trace barrier¡­ it is made from Fire Dao Traces." Lady Kang said, as she tried to figure out what had just happened.


    "Controlling Fire as if it were one''s own limbs. Perfect instion such that one can coat cotton with fire and it won''t burn and great conduction with which one can even make waterbust¡­" Ziran stated upon understanding. His gaze locked onto Little Shrubby, as he knew he was behind it all.


    "What''s this?" Qiao De couldn''t understand.


    "All the heat in this foundry is being perfectly limited to the crucible. Perfect instion and incineration without a waste. This is¡­ Absolute me Command!" Ziran eximed.


    The eyes of some like Crown Princess Shang, Crown Prince Feng Shun, Lady Kang, Daoist Chu went wide, for they understood what this was. While the others only listened to it in marvel. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "To think I would see it here¡­ Even those at the Seventh Tribtion Realm of the Immortal realm and having Fire Dao Embryos aren''t able to reach this level of proficiency easily." Crown Princess Shang muttered. "And a beast has achieved it."


    They heard it and watched as the effects of it were demonstrated.


    ~SPLASH~


    The Null Iron Ore was like an ice cube thrown into boiling water, turning liquid within moments and filling the spatial tubes that Lin Mu had made for containing it.

 Chapter 2328 Mortal Reminder

    2328 Mortal Reminder


    Tube after tube filled up, as the entirety of the Null Iron Ore was melting away.


    The impurities that were present in the ore couldn''t endure the high heat and were burned away into nothingness under the fine control of Little Shrubby. The others that had been helping supply the immortal Qi to the array or to heat the ore didn''t need to do it anymore, for the beast alone was capable of doing it now.


    Not only was he doing that, but he was also keeping the heat contained to one specific area which was the Sky Scorching w Dao Embryo. Due to this precise control, the rest of the area was returning to the normal temperature and the heat which was being wasted in normal radiation was now all being concentrated on the ore.


    Five minutes passed like this, as the group saw the impressive disy of control.


    "For a beast to reach the level of Absolute me Command at this cultivation base is highly unusual." Lady Kang spoke having witnessed it all. "Though those two bloodlines certainly have something to do with it." She said ncing at the bloodline figures of the Scorch w Tiger and the sh Fire Liger.


    "Certainly." Ziran agreed. "And if he''s managed to reach Absolute me Command, he would have no issues progressing to the point ofprehending Dao Insights." He added.


    "Quite likely." Lady Kang nodded.


    "Fire Dao Insights¡­ I wonder how long it''ll take me to reach that." Crown Princess Shang muttered.


    "I wonder that too¡­ probably not until I reach the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm." Daoist Chu agreed. "Unlike someone of us here." He said, ncing at Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "I have no guarantee ofprehending them at my current cultivation base," Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "I know, but you''re still the closest." Daoist Chu chuckled.


    "Then I won''t be the only one." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, ncing at Lin Mu, who was still fully focused on the task. "Not a single ounce of distraction on his face¡­ If anyone is toprehend them early, it would be him." He stated.


    "Highly likely." Lady Kang couldn''t help but nod.


    Lin Mu had been busy with the forging with all his being. The Severing Heart Sutra kept him focused and prevented anything else from distracting him. Even the painful cries of hispanions did nothing to sway his focus, as he knew the task at hand was far more important.


    Plus, they all knew the risks before getting into this and they weren''t weak enough to be badly injured by this. Even if they did get injured, they could very well recover after a while.


    The risk they took to make a weapon that could kill anything below the Transcendent Immortal Realm waspletely worth it.


    ~DRIP~


    After an entire ten minutes had passed, the final drop of Null Iron had filled thest tube and nothing of the ore chunk was left.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he could now stop using Magma Fury and use his full focus on his Spatial Skill. Though there wasn''t as much to do about that either, as the tubes had already been made and filled up.


    ''I just need to wait for the rods to cool down now.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Thankfully, this didn''t take long as the rods solidified rather rapidly once the temperature reduced. Due to their melting point being very high, their solidification was also rapid with the temperature drop.


    Though Lin Mu didn''t know if all the tubes would be of the right quality. He had read enough theory and knew that steady cooling was necessary for a lot of metals, or fine cracks and faults could develop in them.


    But when it came to the Null Iron, he didn''t know if these factors applied to it. Thus, he could only do his best and hope to do it slowly. There were thirteen Null Iron rods that he had made from all the molten ore and he had hoped that at least half of them would be good enough.


    Thankfully, Little Shrubby was there to assist him and helped reduced the temperature around the rods steadily.


    They two could justmunicate in their minds, thus the process went without a hitch.


    Still, it ended up taking them three hours before the rods were brought to a ''stable'' temperature such that they could be handled directly.


    "Finally¡­" Lin Mu let out a long breath and released the Meld skill.


    ~SHUA~


    He directly brought the rods to him and held them in his hands.


    "Looks like it went well." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, approaching him.


    "It seems like it," Lin Mu said, examining each rod with his immortal sense. "How''s everyone? The injuries?" "Nothing we can''t take care of," Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "We have plenty of healing pills for it." He said without much concern.


    He was right to not be as concerned, since most of them had actually healed already. The only one who had not been fully healed yet was Min Ju, since she was the one burned the worst. But with Lady Kang''s skills, she would be healed in less than a day''s time.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu replied, feeling a bit more relieved. "How''s the yield?" Ziran asked, ncing at the Null Iron rods. "They look to be decent." "Nine out of thirteen." Lin Mu answered. "Better than I expected." "Nine? What happened to thest four?" Ziran asked while Crown Prince Feng Shun wondered the same.


    From the appearance, all the rods looked to be the same, having a in grey color with ck striations on them. This was how purified Null Iron looked like and it was rather unique. "Yeah, there''s no cracks on them." Daoist Chu, who was hearing from the side said.


    "Not cracks¡­ look at the size." Lin Mu held up the four rods that were supposedly faulty.


    "The size?" Daoist Chu narrowed his eyes and observed the four rods before realizing something very subtle. "They''re¡­ thinner?" he pinpointed.


    "Yes." Lin Mu replied. "They shrank a bit more than I had expected." The spatial ''molds'' Lin Mu had made with Meld were actually bigger than the core rods that he needed to make. This was because he knew the metals shrank when they cooled down. As such, if he needed the core to a certain thickness, he would have to make the mold bigger and let them cool down to reach that specified size.


    Of course, there was no way for Lin Mu to know how much the thermal expansion would be of the Null Iron, thus he could only make molds of slightly varying sizes and hope that they shrank to the right size. It didn''t mean that he couldn''t adjust the coating of the Immortal Green Gold and Silver alloy, but that such adjustments were limited within a specific range of deviation.


    If they were any bigger or smaller, two things could happen.


    Either the arrow would be imbnced and the Null Iron''s properties could overpower the properties of the Immortal Green Gold and Silver alloy. Or the durability could bepromised.


    Lin Mu had hoped for at least half of them to be sessful, but it was an even better result.


    It was an almost seventy percent sess rate.


    And for the very first try, such a sess rate could be considered amazing. After all, the methods they had used weren''t exactly the most ''stable''.


    "I can proceed with these. And I suppose the four unfit rods can be used for something elseter." Lin Mu stated.


    "Of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "Will you now honor us with the creation of the new arrow?" Qiao De, who had been the most excited among them, asked.


    "Sure. It shouldn''t take long now." Lin Mu said as he moved to the anvil.


    His Dao Embryo floated out of his body as a hammer formed in his hand.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    He quickly got to hammering the alloy tubes and made the final adjustments such that the Null Iron rod could perfectly fit it. About thirty minutester, he finished that and all that was left to attach the final pieces.


    ~SHUA~


    With Meld, Lin Mu attached the Crystalponents and held up the entire arrow shaft in air.


    ~Huu~


    "Now the moment of test¡­" he held up the cursed arrow tip with meld as well and brought them closer.


    Everyone watched with bated breaths as the arrow tip and the crystal socket were joined together.


    ~HUALA~


    A wave of energy was felt for a moment, before it all went silent.


    "It is done¡­" Lin Mu muttered, seeing that the curse was wholly stopped.


    "Congrattions Daoist Mu Lin¡­ You''ve possibly made history," Crown Prince Feng Shun said.


    "A name! You need to name it!" Qiao De eximed.


    "Something like this deserves a name." Lady Kang agreed.


    Lin Mu thought for a minute before speaking. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Mortal Reminder."


    Worked out too much yesterday and was left sore handed. ?_?


    Grand_Void_Daoist

 Chapter 2329 Herbsbane

    2329 Herbsbane


    "Mortal Reminder¡­ Excellent." Crown Prince Feng Shun repeated it, finding it appropriate. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "Ah! An arrow that would make immortals rethink about their immorality¡­ A perfect name." Qiao De was in agreement too.


    The more everyone thought about it, the more they found it to be suitable.


    "With a name like this, the sales will certainly be good since marketing will be easy." Qiao De was already thinking of the future business.


    "Indeed." Lady Kang could see that happening.


    "I still need to test it and see its real effectiveness." Lin Mu replied. "Besides, I don''t know if all the arrows will be the same." He added.


    "That''s fine. We can always fine tune and adapt itter." Lady Kang said. "Though for now, I suppose we can leave you to finish it up." "Yeah¡­ I''ll make more." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    After all, he had only finished a single arrow and there were more cores rods avable to him. Though the number of arrow tips was certainly limited.


    "We get the poison to be ready." Crown Princess Shang chimed in. "Can you add itter on?" "Yeah, that won''t be an issue." Lin Mu nodded. "I can get them assembled for now." "Good." Crown Princess Shang didn''t mind that.


    With that said, everyone other than Little Shrubby left the foundry, leaving Lin Mu to work on the rest.


    "You did amazing Little Shrubby." Lin Mu didn''t forget to praise his trustypanion.


    "Thank you¡­ I think everyone''s power helped me progress." Little Shrubby replied. "How do you feel now?" Lin Mu asked, feeling curious. "Strong¡­ I think I can use my mes to directly melt the ore if I want to." Little Shrubby said after thinking for a bit. "You can?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Yes, it''s like¡­ the upper limit of my mes was lifted once I experienced everyone''sbined power." Little Shrubby answered. "My bloodline also feels a lot more¡­ awake." He added.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu thought about it and wondered if this was the natural progression. "Do you want more Beast Qiter?" he asked.


    "Sure." Little Shrubby didn''t mind that all.


    08:29


    By now Lin Mu was sure that Beast Qi had been a major contributer behind the steady growth of his beasts. Even if it might not directly boost their cultivation base, it did elevate their potential. In a way, the Beast Qi contributed to a qualitative enhancement than a quantitative one.


    "Should I help with the forging for now?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "That''ll be great." Lin Mu said as they got to working.


    With Little Shrubby''s precise heat control, Lin Mu easily finished the second Mortal Reminder Arrow and assembled the rest of the materials into tipless shafts.


    Now if Lin Mu wanted to he could very easily socket an arrow tip into the shaft. The only thing that varied between the Mortal Reminder arrows and the other ones would be the Cursed Arrow tips and the crystal socket.


    Since the entire reason Lin Mu had used the Misty Mirror Quartz and Clear Body Sapphire was to dull the effect of the ck Hex Raven Tears, he didn''t need them for the rest of the shafts. By the time Lin Mu was done making and assembling the arrows, Crown Princess Shang and Ziran returned with the poison they had refined.


    "Is this it?" Lin Mu asked, looking at the jade bottle in Crown Princess Shang.


    "We call it Herbsbane." Crown Princess Shang stated.


    "We''ve managed to extract andbine the properties of Liver Splitting Datura, Barren Field Lily, Ballooning Melon, Exploding Fire Balsam, while entuating them with the other poisonous herbs we obtained." Ziran spoke. "This should theoretically kill almost any immortal herb, nt, tree or likewise."


    "Though it can also kill cultivators and beasts due to the sheer viciousness of it. They won''t even get to experience all its effects before sumbing to it." Crown Princess Shang added.


    "So, what are the effects?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Uponing in contact with Herbsbane the ce of contact will dry rapidly allowing the poison to prate due to thebined effects of the Barren Field Lily and Ballooning Melon, then the natural toxin resistance of the creature will be lowered due to the Liver Splitting Datura and finally the Exploding Fire Balsam will cause an explosion." Crown Princess Shang answered.


    "How are the effects in animals versus nts?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "While we haven''t tested in on animals, or humans properly, I don''t think they''ll be able to experience the effects of the Exploding Fire balsam. They''ll die from the desating and anti-liver effects first. Though if they have strong vitality and physique, they might endure long enough to experience the effect of the Exploding Fire balsam¡­ which won''t be the best." Ziran exined. "Oh and just in case, we also prepared this." He said, taking out a small pill bottle.


    "Antidote?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Indeed. We can''t go around making a deadly poison without an antidote now, can we?" Crown Princess Shang nodded. "That''s good." Lin Mu replied. "And I reckon I don''t need to contain this in any special way?" he asked.


    "Since it is not corrosive to metals, you can use it in a simple way of just dipping it. But for better pration, I advise to keep it contained in a hollow tip." Ziran stated.


    "Alright, I got the perfect thing for it then." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    He took the jade bottle of Herbsbane and got to working.


    The second Mortal Reminder had been made with the poison in mind, so Lin Mu simply shifted in a small amount of the poison into the crystal socket that had hollow capsr space inside it.


    In addition to this, Lin Mu also made a simr addition to two more spare arrows that he had made without the arrow tips. But as Ziran and Crown Princess Shang watched this, they had an idea.


    "You don''t need the extra coating for the poison, so can''t you just use the four Null Iron rods that are ''defective'' for it?" Ziran advised.

 Chapter 2330 Heading To The Second Offering Hall

    2330 Heading To The Second Offering Hall


    Ziran''s words made Lin Mu stop right away as the realization stuck him.


    "Yeah, that way you can save the rest. Plus, you can even add the root fragments of the Chimera nt as the tips. Even if they are weaker than the bark, they''re still sharper than most other things aren''t they?" Crown Princess Shang suggested.


    "That¡­ will work!" Lin Mu eximed.


    It was a modification that was very simple and wouldn''t take him much to make.


    In fact, he barely took three minutes to do it all. Lin Mu simply took the Null Iron rods and added the crystal socket to it that had been filled with Herbsbane. Then he took the Chimera nt''s root fragments and added them in the end.


    He had already cut them in the shape of arrow tips earlier when he was testing the sharpness thus he didn''t have to do it now. Though these arrow tips weren''t the best with all the nicks and cuts on them from his testing.


    But that didn''t matter as Lin Mu didn''t think of it as the first option anyways.


    With that, Lin Mu now had two pairs of strong arrows.


    The first set was the Mortal Reminder Arrows, with one being infused with Herbsbane poison and the second set just being pure Herbsbane arrows.


    Now that they had a potentially better method to kill the Chimera nt''s the group was a lot more enthusiastic. Though they still took a couple days rest to recover all that they had spent in this time. After all, the group that had gone out for survey had returned without a stop and then helped Lin Mu forge the Null Iron.


    Thus they had spent no small amount of their Qi in it. As such Lin Mu reckoned it was best to recover fully and then head out.


    ~ROAR~


    ~WHOOSH~


    And on the third day, a red blur of a beast shot out of the base. If one could see it closely, they might have been able to spot the ten individuals on its back.


    Lin Mu and the group utilized Little Shrubby''s superior speed to reach the Eastern reaches as fast as they could. Of course along the way they hunted every Chimeric Beast they came across to reap a few more credits each.


    They were also wondering if there was anything special about the second offering hall. While Lin Mu had already known that the rewards would be the same everywhere, he didn''t know if there could be other things such as the murals being different.


    And the close they got to the new offering hall, the greater their excitement got.


    But this wasn''t just because of the hall, but also the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast. After all, if their calctions were correct, the singr beast would be able to provide them a hundred million credits!


    As for who would be getting the credits, it was decided to be Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    He had the highest amount of credits as of now, having reached a hundred and sixty million in the month of surveying. Adding the hundred million from the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast, he would be very close to the goal of three hundred million needed for the Immortal Paragon Ring.


    Of course, the Crown Prince had offered Lin Mu to be the one to take the next Seventh tribtion stage immortal realm chimeric beast they encountered. Lin Mu didn''t mind it either, as he was curious about how the Immortal Paragon Ring would be. Even Xukong was wondering whom this ring belonged to as none of the known owners seemed to fit in his mind. "You were right, the number of Chimeric Beasts reduced the closer we''re getting to the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast." Lin Mu spoke having observed this.


    "Do you think its due to the Cyclopean Chimeric beast alone or perhaps the Offering Hall?" Daoist Chu inquired.


    "Well, we haven''t seen the Chimeric beasts wandering around the other Offering Hall so I''m inclined towards thetter. But from what Qiao De saw far in the north, the stronger Chimeric beasts seem to stay alone for the most part, so it might be abination of both." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit. "Though its surprising that the Cyclopean Chimeric beast has taken such an interest in the Offering Hall too." He added.


    "Guess we''ll just have to see it with our own eyes." Daoist Chu replied.


    They didn''t have to wait for long either, as they soon saw a towering structure in the distance. And sitting beside the towering structure was a towering figure about half as tall as it. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    Its singr eye was closed, while its hairy arms were cushioning its head as itid against the side of the Offering Hall. A long fleshy tube seemed to be extending in and out from below its chin, as if in breathing.


    This was none other than the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast, and it seemed to be resting.


    "Go behind it, Shrubby." Lin Mu quickly said.


    The beast did a quick turn circle around and allowed everyone to get off.


    "We should take the chance for ambush now that we''re being given it." Lin Mu stated as he drew out both his swords. "Go first Crown Prince, and hit it as hard as you can. Maybe it''s enough to take it out?"


    "Of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed as arcs of lightning started to crawl on his skin. "I''ll try my best." The man said, his eyes gleaming in a purple light.


    Since they needed to ensure Crown Prince Feng Shun got the credits, it was best to let him go first, just in case he killed it in one go.


    While the chances were low, it was better to be sure.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A faint rumbling sound was heard before two spheres rose from Crown Prince Feng Shun''s body.


    Dao Traces swirled around them announcing their presence as a Dao Embryos!


    "He has two Dao Embryos?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.

 Chapter 2331 Dao Embryo Fusion

    Chapter 2331 Dao Embryo Fusion


    "Oh, he''s actually using both of them at once." Daoist Chu spoke in surprise. "He''s definitely going all out."


    The two Dao Shells that had risen out of Crown Prince Feng Shun''s body glowed in a purple and azure light.


    Contained within the Azure Dao Shell was a Dao Embryo that had the form of a g. The g was azure had two points and had the Dao Script Symbol for Hurricane on its center.


    The purple Dao Shell on the other hand contained a Dao Embryo that had the shape of a Lightning rod. It had nine spikes on its top, with the central spike being the longest and sharpest. This was the first time Lin Mu was seeing someone other than him having more than a single Dao Embryo. Or at the very least, seeing the visibly as he knew several others that quite likely had multiple Dao Embryos too such as the Saintess and the Ever Spring Mistress.


    "Hurricane g Dao Embryo! Thunder Call Rod Dao Embryo!" The Crown Prince''s Dao Embryos shone brightly before they came to his sides.


    The group watched as the Two Dao Embryos left their Dao Shell''s beforeing together.


    "Fuse!" Crown Prince Feng Shunmanded.


    Lin Mu was surprised at first but then watched with great interest.


    ''Dao Embryo Fusion¡­'' Lin Mu had read about it before and known that it was something only those with highlypatible Dao Embryos could do. Usually something like this was only possible for those who had cultivated ording to a very specific cultivation technique and stuck to it to the very T. Such people who even form the exact Dao Embryos that were prescribed within the Cultivation technique allowing them to have a greater power than most.


    Of course, such cultivation techniques had great restrictions too and often could only be cultivated by those of specific bloodlines or physiques.


    But in the case of Crown Prince Feng Shun it was a bit simple, it was due to his dual Lightning and Wind Affinities.


    "So this is the Dao Embryo Fusion of the Storm King Immortal Arts¡­" Lady Kang muttered "I''ve heard of it but it''s the first time I''ve seen it."


    This let Lin Mu know how the Crown Prince was doing it. Though it did make Lin Mu wonder if the Crown Prince had specifically cultivated to form these two Dao Embryos or whether they were among a broader group of choices.


    ''Considering it is a top level cultivation technique made by the Storm King Shirong, it may very well be possible to have multiplebinations,'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    After all, it was not possible for everyone to grasp the same Dao Embryo even if they had an affinity to the same element.


    ~HONGLONG~


    As Lin Mu thought this, the transformation of the Dao Embryos waspleted.


    The two hadbined into a singr entity, a g Spear!


    It was about three meters tall and had the t attached to it right below the spear head. The spear head itself was nine pronged and looked rather savage, as if it could rend flesh and spill blood with ease. The g on the other hand, fluttered majestically, as if a challenge that would oppose it.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun held the shaft of the g Spear as the rumbling of thunder was heard. It was like the prelude to a storm, while lightning and wind crawled all over his body. In fact, his being was being obscured by it rapidly, until all that could be seen was a vague silhouette.


    His body overflowed with Lightning and Wind Elemental Immortal Qis while dense Dao Traces floated around him.


    Though most of the Dao Traces were being concentrated in the g Spear.


    Of course, all thismotion did not go unnoticed and the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast was inevitably woken up. Though it was yet to be seen whether it would have a chance to resist this or not, for the Crown Prince made his move.


    He raised the spear to the back before thrusting it forward with great power.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts! Dao Skill: Fulgarian King''s Wrath!" he roared like the very thunder itself, as the g Spear wasunched.


    ~FLUTTER~


    The Hurricane g on it fluttered before starting to spin the spear. A hurricane surrounded the spear, propelling it at a great speed while a dense coat of lightning covered its entire body. The nine prongs on the spear head glowed in a purple and white light as arcs of lightning jumped between them.


    The distance between the Crown Prince and the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast was almost two kilometers, and yet the Spear was covering that within seconds. Half way through, all that could be seen was an Azure cone with a purple tip as it drilled through the air and rushed towards its target.


    "GROARRRRRRRRRRRR!" The Cyclopean Chimeric Beast sensed the danger as it turned around.


    Its tubr mouth flopped as it turned around rapidly, while its singr eye went wide. Every sense of its being was screaming at it to move, or it would be killed. All it could see at that moment was a purple and azure cone rushing at it, and before it evenprehended it fully, the danger was a mere meter away from its head.


    "GRAAAAAAAAAAH!" Of course the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast was no weakling and would not submit to danger even if it meant its death. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    It was at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and true to its cultivation; it used all its power, trying to block and evade the attack.


    ~KABOOM~


    ~RUMBLE~


    In the next moment, a massive thunderp was heard that shook the entire area, while a blinding sh filled it.


    Lin Mu and the others watched with bated breath, wondering if this was it for the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast. They couldn''t sense anything with their Immortal sense either, as the sheer amount of turbulent immortal Qi in the air prevented them from using it.


    Plus, with the Dao Traces of lightning imbuing it, using Immortal Sense carelessly was also dangerous.

 Chapter 2332 Killing A Seventh Tribulation Stage Immortal Realm Being

    Chapter 2332 Killing A Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Being


    A few secondster, the blinding light faded away, allowing the group to finally see the results of the attack.


    "Is it dead?" Qiao De asked the question everyone was wondering about.


    "No¡­" The one to answer was none other than the Crown Prince.


    His body was still overflowing with lightning and wind, while Dao Traces surrounded him. But now his appearance could be seen again, and it was not as obscured as before. The Crown Prince''s words were soon confirmed by the roar of their enemy.


    "GUHAAAAAAAAAA!" Pain was highly evident in the roar and the Chimeric Beast''s appearance entuated it.


    The Cyclopean Chimeric Beast had sessfully managed to avoid its head from being destroyed, but it didn''t seed in dodging the Dao Skill. The one eyed foe was now missing an entire arm along with arge chunk of its shoulder and part of its torso. No blood spilled out of the massive wound though, for the flesh had been turned into charcoal. Of course that wasn''t all for the sharp winds of the hurricane had also done its work, leaving cuts all over the body. Some of these cuts had been cauterized or signed by the lightning too, though it did more harm than good for it as the energies had invaded the creature''s body.


    Fulgarian King''s Fury was the Crown Prince''s strongest attack and as such even if had entirely missed, the area of attack was going to be quite big. The body of the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast was covered in burns from head to toe, and even its eye seemed to have been injured, with a few blood vessels popped.


    Dark Green blood dripped out of its eye while its tubr mouth also bled.


    The fur on its surviving left arm was burned away as well, leaving scorched skin behind. While the creature might not have been killed, it was clear that it was definitely weakened.


    Seeing this opportunity, Lin Mu and the rest were certainly not going to waste it.


    ~BOOM~


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    ~DANG~DANG~


    Without even speaking a beast, everyone attacked, releasing their skills and techniques. Lin Mu shed out with both his immortal swords, utilizing the innate skills. He targeted the legs of the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast, intending to either hamper its movement, or sever them entirely.


    Monk Hushu directly used his Prayer Bead, erging them and sending them to choke the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast''s neck.


    Lady Kang shot out several bursts of fragmenting stars, that targeted the burns and cuts on its body, intending to damage it from the inside.


    Daoist Chu, Elder Hu Min Ju and Qiao De on the other hand took on thergest target which was the torso and focused on where the creature''s heart might be.


    Crown Princess Shang and Ziranbined their skills, creating tworge wood whips that threatened to crush the waist of the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast in the middle. The barrage of attacks hade immediately after the Crown Prince''s Dao Skill, as such the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast barely had time to recover from the initial impact.


    "GRAAAAAAAA!" It could only scream in pain, as attack after attack struck it.


    The creature''s body was ravaged by them, and even though it was technically stronger than all of them, it didn''t mean that the skills were unable to ovee that. Especially considering the fact that they were all targeting the vulnerabilities.


    ~THUD~


    The barrage of attacks knocked the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast back with great force, as it stumbled uncontrobly after Lin Mu''s Sword shes had shredded its leg muscles. Even though it was trying to regenerate them, the Sword Intent contained within them was making it hard for it. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    But that was not the end of attacks, for there was one individual that was yet to attack.


    "Do it now!" Lin Mu shouted.


    ~ROAR~


    It was at this moment that a red blur appeared behind the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast.


    ~HISS~


    White Hot ws tore through the creature''s back, impaling it with ease.


    ~BOOM~


    Red mes burst forth from all its wounds, as Little Shrubby injected his ws with mes, intending to burn it from the inside.


    ~CLACK~


    The erged Prayer beads of Monk Hushu tightened around the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast''s neck, further restraining it, while the rest of the attacks intensified its pain, preventing it from forming even a single thought.


    This finally created the right conditions for the main actor of this battle to jump back in.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun recovered from the strain of using his Dao Skill and held the g Spear in his hand. He fell from the sky like a thunderbolt and dropped right onto the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast''s head.


    "DIE!" Crown Prince Feng Shun shouted as he stabbed the Nine Pronged g Spear right into the eye of the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast!


    ~SPLAT~


    ~HISS~


    The dark green blood didn''t even get to ssh much before it was burned into ash from the lightning and dispersed by the wind.


    The savage prongs of the g Spear squished the eyeball into a bloody mess while the lightning invaded the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast''s skull directly. The Hurricane g also kept on spinning, generating more and more wind that increased the thrust force, pushing the spear deeper and deeper.


    ~SHATTER~


    The inner eye socket wall was shattered, as the soft brain was now helpless against the lightning and wind elemental immortal Qis.


    They burned and shredded everything inside the skull, while invading the rest of the body too.


    The veins of the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast glowed in a purple light as the lightning spread everywhere.


    It was a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm beast, thus the Crown Prince needed to be thorough in killing it.


    Its brain, heart and all the organs were destroyed, with the Dantian being thest to be destroyed.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Of course, the Crown Prince was not going to be there to take the brunt of it, and retreated with Little Shrubby before the entire body of the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast exploded.


    ~KABOOM~

 Chapter 2333 Over a Quarter Billion Credits And Daoist Chus Tracking Tool

    Chapter 2333 Over a Quarter Billion Credits And Daoist Chu''s Tracking Tool


    The explosion from the destruction of the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast was massive, and its impact sent turbulent energy fluctuations everywhere. Even the clouds in the sky above were cleared out due to it, while the Death Qi Boundary that was nearest to it was also disrupted for a few seconds.


    Lin Mu and the group had already retreated while protecting themselves, while Little Shrubby had carried Crown Prince to them within moment of it all.


    About five secondster, the chaos was over and everyone could look at the scene of devastation.


    A crater had been left where the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast had been killed along with a few of its bones and the lower half of its spine. The Offering Hall that was right next to it was unaffected though, showing that it was being protected by the arrays of the Spatial ne.


    ''Looks like those can indeed not be damaged by most things.'' Lin Mu thought after seeing it.


    They had not tried damaging the Offering Hall, as they didn''t wish to test something that could recoil on them. But now that it had been confirmed in this way, it was still fine.


    Of course, the main goal behind it was the Credits and they were quickly given to the Crown Prince.


    ~SHUA~


    The green band on his wrist lit up as the number on it rose by a hundred million credits.


    "264,587,119 Credits¡­" Daoist Chu and the others read the number, finding it impressively high.


    "Looks like you won''t have to do hunt much to gain the Immortal Paragon''s Ring." Lin Mu said seeing the high number.


    ~huu~


    "It was all thanks to everyone''s help." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied with gratitude. "I surely wouldn''t have been able to kill that Chimeric beast alone, at least not without a cost." He added.


    "It was good for us too. At least now we have a better idea of how to kill them¡­ if we see more of these Cyclopean Chimeric Beasts." Lady Kang responded. Lin Mu thought the same and knew that this was good experience for them. After all, this was the very first Seventh Tribtion Immortal Realm being he had killed, albeit in a group rather than alone. But this was still something that could be considered a great achievement.


    The number of people who could im that they had killed a Seventh Tribtion Realm Immortal Realm being were very limited in the first ce. Especially those that had managed to do this while being below that cultivation base.


    Even in a group, it was a thing that would be praised in any power.


    With fresh excitement filling them, the group approached the crater with the remains of the creature.


    "Can''t believe something is even left behind after all that." Qiao De said, seeing the bones.


    "It was a Seventh Tribtion Realm Immortal Realm being in the end¡­ Plus it is a Chimeric Beast so has higher durability than others. It would be a surprise if nothing was left." Crown Prince Feng Shun knew that eliminating the entirety of it would have been very difficult.


    "But this works in our favor." Daoist Chu said as picked up one of the smaller bone fragments.


    Even this ''small'' fragment was about the size of a watermelon though and was at least two to three hundred kilograms heavy.


    "It sure is dense." Daoist Chu said before taking out arge disk.


    The disk was about a meter in diameter and had hundreds of runes carved on it. ~SHUA~


    He tapped on the center of the disk, activating it as runes glowed on its surface. The runes soon produced more runes, and turned into a formation array above it. Lin Mu quickly recognized what this was and what the man was doing.


    "Is this the tracking array you made?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Yeah." Daoist Chu nodded. "It works, but the uracy wascking." He said before taking out what looked like a cube from his spatial storage ring. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    The cube was translucent and had a crystalline texture. And if one looked closely they would realized that the cube''s walls weren''t a single sheet, but rather multiple sheetsbined into a condensedyer.


    Lin Mu recognized this to be the Scr Quartz that he had rmended Daoist Chu to make.


    ~CLACK~


    The man released a sp on the top of the cube, opening its lid and revealing its inner side that had over a hundred small dots. Looking closer, one could see that each dot was actually an encapsted form of energy.


    This was an energy the group had gotten familiar with now; Chimeric Qi.


    "So this is what you came up with?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was interested in the Immortal tool that Daoist Chu had made.


    "Yes, but it''s still iplete." Daoist Chu said before lifting the bone fragment and putting it on the open cube. "And it''ll beplete soon¡­" as soon as he said this the array inscribed on the cube lit up and started refining the bone.


    The bone started to turn dull as a dark energy was released from it. This was none other than the Chimeric Qi left in the bone and was quickly drawn into the inner side of cube. There it gathered on one of the empty spots and continued to condense.


    In about five minutes, all the chimeric Qi had been extracted and a new dot had formed there.


    With that done, Daoist Chu threw away the bone fragment and closed the cube.


    ~HUALA~


    He ced the cube onto the wide disk and let the arrays do their thing. Everyone could see the arrays of the two tools link before the real tracking array was created.


    ~HONG~


    The cube shrank down and floated over the disk. It then spun aimlessly as if unable to figure out a position to settle in.


    "Uh, it shouldn''t do that¡­ Gimme a bit to configure this." Daoist Chu smiled wryly.


    "That''s fine, we can check the Offering hall in the mean time." Lin Mu stated.

 Chapter 2334 Confirmed Traces Of Strangers

    Chapter 2334 Confirmed Traces Of Strangers


    While Daoist Chu continued to fiddle with the Tracking tool, the rest of the group went into the Offering Hall to check why the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast was sticking so close to it.


    After all this was the reason why they hade this far in addition to seeing what was inside the Offering Hall. They had been wondering if there were difference in the two Offering halls, and if so, what they could be. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    ~step~step~step~


    Upon entering their immortal senses scanned everything, while their eyes darted around.


    "Hmm¡­ looks to be the same." Lin Mu said finding things to be an almost mirror image of the first Offering Hall.


    "Other than the damage and weathering, the rest is indeed the same." Lady Kang was a bit surprised.


    "Still, to early to say that, lets see what else is inside there." Elder Hu reminded them.


    "Yeah." Lin Mu said as they went past the murals and entered the main hall where the reward list was supposed to be.


    And as soon as they got one look at it, they froze in ce.


    "This¡­ is definitely different." Lin Mu took a breath.


    "A camp?" Crown Princess Shang said seeing the things lying around.


    There were beddings, stools, and a few tables present along with other things one might see in a makeshift camp. There was even a formation powered stove that had been set up which was not something one might bring to camp usually.


    "There was someone here." Lady Kang said right away.


    "Not just someone¡­ There were several strangers here." Lin Mu said seeing the multiple beds that had been made. ~SNIFF~


    But that wasn''t all as the beast among them sensed more things.


    "Blood¡­" Little Shrubby spoke. "Someone bled here." He informed Lin Mu.


    The man quickly checked up on the information and saw several traces of dried blood. Not only were they on the ground, but also covered several of the beddings. "This is an emergency camp set to treat the injured." Lin Mu revealed. Hearing that the group narrowed their eyes as it confirmed that they weren''t the only ones in the Spatial ne now. "How old are these traces?" Elder Hu questioned.


    "At least four to three months old."Lin Mu turned to Little Shrubby and got the answer.


    The answer was surprising to the group as they knew going out at that time was impossible.


    "Doesn''t that mean¡­ There was no Death Qi in this area?" Min Ju questioned.


    "Considering the time line, there is a chance the Death Qi had already retreated from this part back then." Ziran said after thinking for a bit. "When I had checked, we were already close to the time of it fading. So it is highly probable that this area of the Spatial ne was already clear of it." The group got to thinking about who they could be and checked more of the hall, wanting to see if they missed. Lin Mu asked little Shrubby to see if he could smell anything particr here other than the scent of blood and got a few answers.


    "There''s the smell of pills as well as something else¡­ I don''t know what thetter is though." Little Shrubby answered.


    Lin Mu thought about it for a bit before telling the others.


    "Smell of pills?" Crown Prince Feng Shun thought of something hearing that. "Could those have been the pills that were missing from the list?" he suggested.


    "That is possible¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "How can we confirm it though?" Qiao De asked. "It could have been other pills too." He added.


    "Among the pills, there were few that were used to restore Dark Elemental immortal Qi right?" Monk Hushu spoke at this time. "If we can confirm the traces of that here, perhaps we can verify it was the same people." Hearing that Lin Mu had an idea and knew how to do it.


    While no one among the group might be able to sense the traces of Dark element due to it being too long, that didn''t mean that there wasn''t someone else.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang." He called out the twins.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins coiled around Lin Mu''s arms and cursorily looked at the scene. They then received the instructions from Lin Mu and started sensing the entire ce.


    Their affinities allowed them to sense the finer details that the others would miss and quickly discovered the secrets.


    "There is dark elemental traces here." The twins confirmed.


    ~SHUA~


    Xiao Yin opened her mouth and sucked the air, causing a few small wisps of darkness to gather. These had been far too minute for anyone to sense, but for Xiao Yin who had a great affinity to the Yin, this was nothing.


    "That''s Dark Elemental immortal Qi for sure." Ziran said right away. "So they were indeed here." Crown Prince Feng Shun narrowed his eyes.


    "Was it Dark energy that you smelled Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that there was still one more thing left unsolved.


    "No it wasn''t." Little Shrubby shook his head.


    "Hmm¡­ so there''s still something more." Lin Mu muttered. "Can you two see if you smell it too?" he asked.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins responded quickly and dared around the entire all, trying to find it. "There is a scent¡­ but it''s almost gone." Xiao Yang replied. "There is a trail though¡­ it''s going outside." Xiao Yin added.


    "Oh?" Hearing that Lin Mu''s hears perked up. "Let''s go see it then." He said before moving.


    The others followed and they soon arrived outside where Daoist Chu was still fiddling with the Tracking tool.


    "There," Xiao Yin pointed at the remains of the Cyclopean Chimeric beast.


    "Did the scente from this?" Lin Mu was confused as he was sure the beast couldn''t have gone outside. "No wait." Xiao Yin said before taking a deep breath.


    ~SHUA~


    Her mouth was like a vacuum, as it extracted several grey wisps from the bones of the Chimeric Beast.

 Chapter 2335 A Familiar Baleful Energy

    Chapter 2335 A Familiar Baleful Energy


    Lin Mu and the others saw the grey wisps, as a few thoughts came to their mind.


    "So it dide from¡ª" But before Lin Mu could finish his words, another tiny grey wisp came out from none other than the Tracking tool!


    "Huh?" Daoist Chu was surprised by this too but found the cube to have stopped moving. "Wait¡­ is that why it was malfunctioning?" he wondered.


    The tiny grey wisp joined up with the rest of the grey wisp and coalesced into a fist sized ball of energy. Xiao Yin didn''t consume it since Lin Mu and the others needed to know what it was.


    "How peculiar¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun got closer to observe it and used his Immortal sense on the energy.


    ~SCREECH~


    Doing that was not the best decision though as the Grey energy ball seemingly reacted byshing back.


    A screeching sound was heard as a worm like tentacle bit at the Immoral Sense tendril of Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "What the!?" The man couldn''t retract it in time and found a part of the Immortal Sense tendril being cut off.


    Of course this much was not enough to cause him damage, but it certainly gave him pain. Though this was still concerning for him, as at his cultivation base, there weren''t many things that could damage his Immortal sense this easily. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    "Get back!" Lin Mu shouted, as searing hot energy flew out his hands."Magma Fury!" The Searing hot energy turned into a magma w that mped around the grey energy ball and started to squish it.


    ~HISS~


    ~SCREECH~


    Horrible sounds came from the grey energy ball as if hundreds of insects were being crushed and burned. They didn''tst long though, as about a few secondster it had all been burned away into nothingness.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a breath after that and quickly checked upon Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "Are you alright?" He asked. "Is there any damage to your Immortal sense or more?" he said with great concern.


    "I''m fine¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun replied, but found Lin Mu''s behavior to be a bit strange. "Why are you¡­ wait, do you know what this is?" he realized.


    "Yes." Lin Mu said, his expression turning serious. "This is a Baleful Energy¡­ The Withering Immortal Qi." He revealed.


    "Withering Immortal Qi?" the ones who were present in the Capital City of the Dao Wind Empire during the Tournament soon realized what it was.


    "This can''t be¡­ isn''t this what Yao Changying used?!?" Crown Princess Shang shouted in shock.


    "Yes¡­" Lin Mu who had a close encounter with the energy confirmed. "It is possibly one of the worst Baleful Energies and is even more virulent than the Death Qi in some aspects." He exined.


    Having experienced both of them, Lin Mu could tell that while the Withering Qi was weaker than the Death Qi overall, it was still faster to act and could bypass defenses better. Though he also guessed that this was due to the application of them Withering Qi.


    ''The Death Qi here is in a more ''neutral'' state of existence while the Withering Qi was being utilized in a technique as an offense. As such, its properties were enhanced and were stronger.'' Lin Mu understood.


    If Death Qi could be used in a technique to attack, its power would certainly be greater than the Withering Qi. This was also why the Chimera nt was such a threat, as it had absorbed a lot of it and continued to do so to make Chimeric Beasts.


    Right now they hadn''t seen any Chimeric Beast use the Death Qi offensively, but there was no guarantee they wouldter. Plus, it was not a Qi that could be used by most beings anyways.


    Even if one could manipte it, there would be limitations on it, as could be seen from the Chimera nt. It had managed to increase its durability to a crazy extent, but had not used it to directly attack as of yet. Additionally, it had enhanced the Chimeric Beasts, allowing them to undergo berserk when injured beyond a limit and increase their strength to the next cultivation stage. It was a very strong ability and considering that the Chimera nt could add this to multiple Chimeric Beasts was very concerning and showed the power of the Death Qi.


    "How is something like this even present here?" Qiao De couldn''t help but ask.


    "I don''t know¡­" Lin Mu replied.


    "Is it possible it has been here since before? After all, there are other Baleful energies present in this Spatial ne too." Ziran wondered.


    He had not been in the Rust Sky world, thus didn''t know just how Yao Changying had fought.


    "While that is a possibility, it does nothing that''ll exin why there were traces both inside the Offering hall as well as here in the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast." Monk Hushu said after thinking about it. "That''s true, no Baleful energy would be able to enter the offering hall normally." Lady Kang spoke. "Only way something like that would be possible is if someone controlled it or had something with it." She added.


    This gave the group quite a bit to think about and they wondered what the rtion between the Cyclopean Chimeric beast and this baleful energy was.


    "One thing is for sure though, there is certainly a reason why the chimeric beast was staying here at the Offering Hall and it is linked to the baleful energy." Lin Mu stated. "The people inside are also part of it and with all the Dark energy we''ve sensed means they have a higher involvement." He added.


    "It can''t be that Bitch Yao Changying is here, right?" Crown Princess Shang thought of something that bordered on absurd, yet possible.


    Hearing that Lin Mu frowned, but couldn''t throw it out of the consideration.


    "We don''t know yet¡­ Plus Yao Changying had escaped and no signs of her leaving the Dao Wind Continent were found." Lin Mu replied after thinking for a minute.

 Chapter 2336 Chimera Radar

    Chapter 2336 Chimera Radar


    With their doubts only increasing, the group soon reached the conclusion that they needed to look into this more and obtain more clues to it all.


    "It seems like we''ll have to look into the other locations too and see if there are things that reveal more." Crown Prince Feng Shun decided. "That buckle Elder Hu and Monk Hushu found might be a good clue to go off from." He suggested. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "Yes, that might be a good ce to explore. We might for more traces of these strangers and what link they have to this Withering Baleful Energy." Lady Kang nodded as well.


    "And we have to hunt the Chimeric Beasts too." Qiao De reminded. "Of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun said remembering that they were very close to reaching the required credits.


    "We''ll hunt the Chimeric Beasts on the way to the Southern location." Lin Mu said. "You should be able to gather enough hopefully and once we''ve investigated enough, we can return to the Offering Hall and obtain it." He suggested a n.


    "That''ll work." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. As much as he wished to get the credits right away, he knew this was a more optimum method of doing it. Not only would they be able to obtain more clues, they''ll also be gaining more credits along the way. Besides, he didn''t mind waiting a bit more to get the Immortal Paragon''s ring.


    "We won''t have many issues with hunting the Chimeric Beasts now." It was now that Daoist Chu chimed in, joy evident in his voice.


    The others looked at him and found that he had stopped fiddling with the immortal too. The cube was now floating calmly over therge disk and the runes seemed to be stable too.


    "You fixed it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Indeed." Daoist Chu nodded his head. "Looks like that Withering Baleful energy was the reason it was malfunctioning. I made this for isting Chimeric Qi so it couldn''t do the same for the Withering energy and went haywire." He exined.


    "I see¡­ how does it work now?" Lin Mu asked, as the shape of the tool was a bit strange.


    "Of course, let me demonstrate." Daoist Chu said, and the others looked on with full attention.


    He controlled the runes on the disk and the cube, causing them to glow. This glow coated both theponents, creating a surface on them. The surface of the disk was pale white while the surface of the cube was ck. This created a visible contrast as the tool started to work.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Tens of red dots appeared on the surface of the cube and projected thin rays of light onto the white surface of the disk below. These rays moved faintly from time to time and were spread out in an unknown pattern.


    Another thing was that the size of the dots was also varying but most of them seemed to be ofan equal size.


    "Are those¡­ The Chimeric Beasts?" Lin Mu asked after thinking about the functioning of the array.


    "Precisely!" Daoist Chu confirmed. "This tracking tool works by sensing the energy signature of the Chimeric beasts which seems to vary based on their cultivation base. I had added multiple samples to improve this tracking ability, but there were often interferences.


    But now that I have the sample from the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast which was at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, it can track a lot better. And as we add more samples, its uracy will improve more and more." He exined.


    "That''s really good." Crown Prince Feng Shun praised hispanion. "What''re you going to call it?" he asked.


    "I''ve named it the Chimera Radar." Daoist Chu answered. "For now, at least¡­ I might think of something elseter." He added.


    "Haha, this works." Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled. "Well now, that we have this, we may as well get to hunting now." Ziran said, pointing to one of the dots. "Plus it looks like we have somethinging towards us anyways." He stated.


    "Oh?" The others nced at it and indeed found a dot to be moving towards them at a great speed.


    "How''s the distance scaling on this?" Lin Mu asked, as it was not apparent.


    "Uh¡­ I didn''t add that," Daoist Chu replied awkwardly. "The radar only shows our position rtive to the energy signatures of chimeric beasts." He confessed.


    "Why didn''t you add that?" Lin Mu wondered with a strange repression.


    "I would have to add a Map array, but that would not work without linking it to a constantly updating Map array. But adding something like that to a small tool like this isn''t really viable. We''d need a wide range Connecting Formation set and that won''t be possible to make in this Spatial ne." Daoist Chu exined as best as he could.


    "I see¡­ that does make sense." Lin Mu replied. "I suppose we can just figure it out ourselves. As long as we measure the distance and time needed to reach the beast, we''ll know the scale." He stated.


    "Yeah, I was intending to do that too." Daoist Chu nodded.


    "No use in waiting, then. Let''s go see what''s heading this way." Crown Prince Feng Shun said and the group quickly got moving.


    ~WHOOSH~


    They didn''t ride Little Shrubby though, as they wanted to measure the distance a bit more urately. But it didn''t matter much for them, as they soon encountered their target in just ten minutes.


    "That wasn''t very far¡­" Lin Mu said, seeing that they were less than fifty kilometers from the Offering Hall. On The Chimera Radar, this red dot had been barely ten centimeters away. There were more dots around and they had moved as the group shifted, but there were a lot of them that were now clumped around the edges of the disk.


    "The total range of visible targets is limited, but it can still show the approximate direction of the other targets." Daoist Chu said after seeing the functioning of his tool.

 Chapter 2337 Heading South

    Chapter 2337 Heading South


    ~BIHIIIII~


    The Chimeric Beast the group encountered was none other than one of themon Auroch Chimeric Beasts.


    "The Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm." Lin Mu checked the cultivation base of the beast and saw the projected dot on the Radar.


    "So a dot of this thickness is a Third Tribtion Stage Realm Chimeric beast." Crown Prince Feng Shun noted before killing the Chimeric Beast with a single wind de. "Hmm¡­ we should be able to figure out the rest based on this." He looked at the other dots and found them to have different sizes.


    "I can add this." Daoist Chu nodded and did a little modification to the Chimera Radar.


    ~SHUA~


    With that, little change the number of dots being projected onto the disk changed as well. The numbers greatly reduced and only about ten or so dots could now be seen.


    "We can now filter the specific Chimeric Beasts depending on their cultivation base." Daoist Chu informed.


    "That''lle in handy." Lady Kang said finding it useful. "Though for now, I suppose its best to keep it unfiltered so that we can see every beast and kill them." She added.


    "Indeed." Daoist Chu nodded.


    "We can utilize the filter for when we need to track down the Sixth or Seventh Tribtion Stage Realm beasts." Ziran said.


    Now that they had determined that the Chimera Radar worked well, they had no reason to wait and began their journey to the south. Of course, they spared no effort in hunting the Chimeric Beasts along the way either.


    The majority of the stronger chimeric beasts they encountered were killed by the Crown Prince with the weaker ones being killed by the others so that the target of three hundred million credits could be reached.


    Still, it was not something that was going to be done easily and as such the group took their time to hunt every Chimeric beast in their path.


    A week passed like this, as the group cleared out a massive number of Chimeric Beasts along the way to the south. Majority of the Chimeric Beasts they killed were all below the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm though, with only three Chimeric beasts at the Fifth and one at the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm being killed.


    This showed just how rare they were and the difficulty of finding them. Though they had been hoping to find a Seventh Tribtion Stage immortal Realm Chimeric beast too since it would help them gain credits at an incredible rate.


    But that turned out to be harder than they thought. Another goal was to find the Chimera nts and so far there had been no signs of any. The group didn''t mind that though, and had already known that it was going to be a difficult task. As such, they simply focused on the reason what they hade here for.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Lin Mu and the othersnded on the ground, as Monk Hushu brought them to the location where they had found the buckle. Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    A rather thick Death Qi boundary could also be seen barely five hundred meters from where they stood, blocking the area.


    "This is it," Monk Hushu spoke, showing them the signs of a battle that had happened.


    There were several rocks scattered around the area, most of which showed signs of having been crushed by an impact. Though one could also see arge boulder which had a deep cut mark which did not seem to have been made by a beast.


    "This was definitely made by a weapon." Lin Mu said, inspecting the damage, particrly the boulder.


    "A saber." Ziran guessed, seeing the shape of the cut and its depth. "And a mace." He looked at the other crushed rocks.


    "There''s a few more areas like this, but we didn''t check them in more detail as we kept on getting attacked by the Chimeric Beasts." Elder Hu stated before furrowing his brows. "Though now it looks like they''re not around." ~SHUA~


    Daoist Chu checked the Chimera Radar and saw theck of markers around them. "They''re far." Daoist Chu spoke. "Maybe on the other end of the Death Qi boundary." He added.


    "Considering the thickness of the Death Qi boundary, perhaps they moved to the other side where the thickness is less." Lin Mu guessed. "If we are to find more traces, perhaps we should look there." He suggested.


    "Yes, that should work." Lady Kang was in agreement.


    Lin Mu did onest sweep of the area to see if they missed anything before moving to the sky.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Reaching the top of the Death Qi boundary that was about six hundred meters tall, they observed the area beyond it. Here, a set of hills were scattered along with undting ground.


    "Hmm¡­ sure enough, there was someone here." Lin Mu muttered as his eyes spotted something.


    "Where?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    Lin Mu used his immortal sense and spread it as far as he could, scanning everything that was within its scope. But he couldn''t find anything suspicious.


    ''Strange¡­ there should have been some signs of the Chimeric beasts at least.'' He thought before activating his Spatial Perception.


    ~SHUA~


    And sure enough, a few secondster, he found something.


    "There," Lin Mu pointed to a specific spot among the hills. "There''s a cave there." "Let''s go!" Seeing that, they directly sped over and reached the spot.


    The cave wasn''t built into the side of a hill, but rather into the elevated ground a few meters from it. This allowed the cave to be hidden better by being camouged against the ground and on the side of the hill.


    "This isn''t a natural cave." Qiao De said, seeing the perfect edges of the cave. "You saw this from that far?" he turned to look at Lin Mu.


    "I used my Spatial Skills." Lin Mu stated. "This ce has a good isting array." He added. "Really?" The Crown Prince and the others looked around, sensing nothing.

 Chapter 2338 A Hidden Camp

    Chapter 2338 A Hidden Camp


    Isting Arrays that could prevent them from sensing it were definitely not easy to set up, especially not out here where there were a lot of dangers. Doing something like that not only needed a lot of resources but also enough manpower so that the Formation master wouldn''t be disturbed while setting it up. But there were other methods one could utilize, that could allow one to skip this.


    "Here," Lin Mu said cing his hand on the cave''s outer wall. ~SHUA~


    His immortal sense pierced through the wall and went deep, until it finally came in contact with an almost imperceptibleyer. Normally he wouldn''t have even sensed this, but with the Spatial Perception pointing it out to him, he could sense it better.


    Once he sensed the exact location, Lin Mu stabbed straight into it with Afternoon Pine.


    ~SHING~


    A small burst of Sword Intent was released by the sword and spread into the walls.


    ~KACHA~


    A cracking sound was heard, making them think that the wall was about to copse. But instead, what cracked was the air behind them.


    "What?" Min Ju looked at it and it felt like a ss wall was shattering. "Is this¡­"


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The cracks continued to spread until they covered an area of two hundred meters. ~SHATTER~


    It finally reached a point where the array couldn''t take it and broke apart entirely. "There we go." Lin Mu said as the real location was revealed. "This is¡­" The group had never expected something like this to be hidden here.


    An entire camp was now visible to them. It had been made from stone and rocks with parts of it having been directly carved from the hills. All this was clearly the work of people and had been done in recent months.


    "Wait, I can''t sense any remnants of a formation here, though?" Daoist Chu realized. "Shouldn''t there be some even after you''ve broken the array?" He asked.


    "There is," Lin Mu said. "In there," he pointed to the building in the very center.


    It was thergest structure here and looked to be something made to oversee the area, as well as function as a watchtower of some kind.


    "Let''s see what''s there then." Crown Prince Feng Shun took the lead.


    They scanned the smaller buildings in the camp, which seemed to be individual quarters for people. They had beds inside, which was clearly intended for humans. Though other than that, there were no supplies left in the quarters.


    "Those quarters are broken." Crown Princess Shang pointed out. "Yeah¡­ it seems to have been run down." Daoist Chu agreed.


    It didn''t look to be damage that was inflicted by normal attacks, and it was as if something had bulldozed the buildings or mmed into it. There were several carters damaged like this, though most of them seemed to be on the periphery of the area.


    But once they entered therge building in the center, they saw more signs.


    "There were people staying here until quite recently," Elder Hu said, spotting some food supplies. "They seem to have left in a rush." Ziran said, seeing the condition. "As if they barely got a moment''s notice before having to leave." For cultivators, storing things in their spatial storage was rather fast and easy, as such, it was rare for them to leave things behind. As such, for them to do that in a case like this meant that their hands had been forced and they had no other choice.


    "Can you smell anything, Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked the beast that had shrank down so that he could fit inside. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    ~SNIFF ~SNIFF~


    "There''s some blood¡­ and more of that pill scent." Little Shrubby revealed.


    "Same pill scent¡­ It was definitely the same people from the Offering hall." Lin Mu confirmed hearing that."Where''s the blood?" he asked.


    Little Shrubby pointed to a bigger room that was located on the side.


    Scanning it, Lin Mu quickly found where the blood scent wasing from. "Bandages?" Crown Prince Feng Shun observed. "Someone was being treated here." Crown Princess Shang said, seeing the bed and the bandages lying beside it. There was also a tray with an empty bowl on it kept on the bedside table, possibly intended for feeding the patient.


    But this wasn''t what had caught Lin Mu''s interest, rather it was the tool that had created the Isting array.


    His eyes scanned the ce before finding the tool.


    "Here," Lin Mu pulled on a simple looking brick on the wall.


    It looked unassuming and was easy to miss. To a normal person, it looked to be the same as all other bricks and even with immortal sense; it was impossible to tell what was different about it.


    ~SHUA~


    But with Spatial Sense, it was easy for Lin Mu to tell the Qi contained within it.


    As Lin Mu pulled it out, the brick seemingly shifted its shape, turning into a finger sized seal. It had the motif of a jumping fish on it and was made from a ck stone.


    "This is what had been hiding the entire camp." Lin Mu showed. "It''s at least a High Grade Immortal tool."


    "It''s isting capabilities are rather high¡­ it''s definitely not something one can easily find or make." Crown Prince Feng Shun furrowed his brows.


    The group thought about all they had learned so far and soon came up with a theory.


    "Considering how the camp has been set up, this was probably intended to be a long term amodation. But they were forced to leave due to an attack of some kind." Lady Kang said after thinking.


    "Since we didn''t attack them, it''s definitely the Chimeric Beasts behind it." Daoist Chu guessed. "The way the quarters were destroyed definitely shows their work¡­ though the direction the quarters are mostly destroyed in seems to be from the west." Ziran noted.


    "Why would they build a camp here though? Even with the Isting tool, it won''t be good enough to protect against the Chimeric beasts." Crown Princess Shang questioned, finding it all confusing.

 Chapter 2339 Hidden Danger

    Chapter 2339 Hidden Danger


    Lin Mu though about it all, before it finally clicked to him.


    "We''re thinking about this in the wrong way." Lin Mu spoke. "We''re forgetting the fact that we know more about the Spatial ne than the others probably do. We know how the Death Qi boundaries work as well as the movements of the Chimeric Beasts." He stated.


    "Of course!" Ziran understood it too now. "There''s no way they would have figured it out the same way we did, or at the very least their understanding is not at the same level as us." He added.


    "Hmm, if they considered this a safe ce to set up camp due to the Death Qi boundaries, it is likely that they got ambushed due to this mistake. After all the Death Qi boundary might not have shifted for a long time leading them to take it as a permanent fixture." Crown Prince Feng Shun could also understand it all now.


    All in all, it seemed like the strangers had fallen victim to their own mistakes. But that still left several questions unanswered.


    "I suppose they ran away after the swarm of Chimeric Beasts charged in, which was probably why we found that buckle in the stomach of the Chimeric Beast." Elder Hu spoke. "But that doesn''t solve the issue behind this isting array either." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ since they activated this isting array here with this tool, there was definitely something they wished to hide even if they were forced to run." Lady Kang said finding it unusual. "Perhaps that something is still hidden here." She added.


    "Can you find or sense anything, Daoist Mu Lin?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Let me try," Lin Mu said as he used his Spatial Perception. He had already looked around the building and the ces that something could have been hidden in, but didn''t find anything before. As such, there was only one ce that was left where something could have been hidden.


    Lin Mu''s eyes moved down, as he checked the depths of the ground.


    The others followed his gaze and realized that something might be down there. Thinking this, they too joined in, using their immortal sense to scan the ground as much as they could.And sure enough, about five minutester, Lin Mu finally found something.


    "It is there¡­ very deep." Lin Mu said furrowing his brows. "How deep?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked. "I didn''t sense anything within the first eight hundred meters." "Same for me." Daoist Chu and a few others saids.


    "Much deeper than that." Lin Mu answered. "At least neen hundred meters." He said feeling unsure.


    "What is it?" Lady Kang could sense something was wrong. "Something more to it?"


    "Yes¡­ whatever is down there it wasn''t buried¡­ It burrowed there on its own." Lin Mu answered feeling doubtful about it still.


    "Burrowed?" The Crown Prince raised his brows. "You mean it is something alive?" "Maybe¡­ the energying from it does not seem something a normal creature would exude though." Lin Mu''s spatial perception could see the faint glimmer of energy but couldn''t match it with any kind of Qi or energy a living creature would release.


    The group could sense the potential danger and decided to be careful.


    "How do we check what it is?" Qiao De asked.


    "I could go down, or we can dig it out." Lin Mu replied as he clenched his fist.


    The group knew the method Lin Mu was suggesting and quickly moved up into the sky.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu raised his fist back and punched out as a ribbon of energy shot out from his fist!


    Boulder Copsing Fist: Third Form - Earthen Devastator!


    ~BOOM~


    Just like many times before, a the ground below was pulverized by the power of the Earthen Devastator and the same could be said for the stone building. Lin Mu hovered in the air while being ns in the Longgui Bulwark Armor, ready for anything that mighte his way.


    At the same time, his Immortal Sense and Spatial Perception was active to the full extent, tracking anything that could harm them.


    "Huh?" Still, this time Lin Mu''s abilities did not manage to keep up.


    ~WOONG~


    For in the next second, his vision and immortal sense went nk before his body was knocked back into the sky.


    "DAOIST MU LIN!" Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others shouted as they saw him beingunched into the sky.


    "Careful!" Elder Hu who had been alert from the start, came to stand in front of Lady Kang as per his duties and struck out.


    ~BANG~ Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    His armor d fist struck a grey appendage that was covered in writhing energy that easily started to corrode the gauntlets.


    "What is this?" Elder Hu was taken aback as the grey energy prated his armor and entered his hand. "ARGH!" A sharp pain could be felt from his hand, as if someone was hammering nails into it. ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    But that was only the start, as multiple such appendages rose out from the dust cloud below and struck out at everyone.


    "ENEMY ATTACK!" Crown Prince Feng Shun shouted before retaliating.


    He threw out multiple palm strikes, that gathered wind elemental immortal Qi and turned intorge imprints.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    The imprints forced the dust cloud to dissipate while also pushing back a few of the appendages. This ended up revealing what was hiding underneath, much to their shock.


    "What in the¡­" Daoist Chu gasped as a massive creature was revealed.


    It looked like a maggot with a circr mouth and no eyes. There were thousands of teeth in its mouth set in multiple rows, while tentacles extended out of the very same maw. More tentacles extended from its long body, but they were spread on the ground instead.


    A few of them bled, as dark corrosive blood dripped out. Where ever the blood spread, it tainted it grey while making it all weaken.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    They didn''t get to see the creature for long though, as it was faster than they had expected.


    ~SCREECH~

 Chapter 2340 Caught Off-guard

    Chapter 2340 Caught Off-guard


    A loud screech was let out by the maggot as it used its tens of tentacles and whipped at everyone it could reach.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The group defended as beast as they could, but were still knocked back simr to Lin Mu.


    "AH! WHAT IS THIS ENERGY!?" Qiao De groaned in pain as he saw the grey energy prating his arm where he had been struck.


    The same could be said for the others, as grey spots developed wherever they were touched. All this was apanied by sharp pain that seemingly by passed their defenses.


    As immortals, they had better control over their body and even if they felt pain they could dull it to a certain extent. But none of those methods were working, and the pain just went through their body like a hot knife through butter.


    ~HUALA~


    Only one person among them managed to defend it fully, which was none other than Lady Kang.


    Three of the ornaments on her hair glowed, protecting her body in its entirety. But their power didn''tst long, as they seemingly shattered under the effect of the grey energy.


    Feeling the graveness of the situation, Lady Kang spared to effort and released ster energy from her entire body.


    "Ster Outburst!" Lady Kang chanted, as her body turned into a massive beacon of light. As if she were the moon itself, lustrous beams poured out of her, clearing out any remnants of the grey energy that were around her as well as the others. Even the tentacles were burned away by it, making the maggot screech in pain and anger.


    ~SCREECH~


    Seeing the opportunity the Crown Prince knew they had to put distance between themselves and the maggot.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Retreating Headwinds!" He made a sweeping gesture towards him with both hands causing strong winds to push everyone back by several hundred meters.


    The others let themselves get carried by the winds, as they were still dealing with the pain. Thankfully their control over their Qi was not affected, thus they quickly suppressed the source of the pain. "Ziran! Purge it with Wood Elemental immortal Qi and Wood Dao Traces!" Crown Princess Shang realized something and quickly shouted. The others let themselves get carried by the winds, as they were still dealing with the pain. Thankfully their control over their Qi was not affected, thus they quickly suppressed the source of the pain. "Ziran! Purge it with Wood Elemental immortal Qi and Wood Dao Traces!" Crown Princess Shang realized something and quickly shouted. ~SHAHA~


    Her hands glowed, as pure wood elemental immortal Qi mixed with Wood Dao Traces flowed out of them.


    ~HISS~


    The mixture of energy was enough to pushed out the foreign grey energy and caused it to dissipate after leaving the Crown Princess''s arms. Seeing this, Crown Prince Feng Shun also acted using his own Lightning and Wind Elemental Immortal Qi mixed with their Dao Traces.


    ~BZZT~


    This worked to a certain extent, as the grey energy was burned out from his body too. Though it left a few injuries along the way, which irked the Crown Prince. ''This''ll have to do for now.'' He thought to himself.


    "It works!" Ziran who had copied it earlier too found his arms to have returned to the normal state.


    "Elder Hu, you do it too." Lady Kang urged.


    The old man tried the same as fire elemental immortal Qi and Dao Traces mixed, pushing the grey energy out of his hands.


    "It worked¡­" Elder Hu said though the pain was still present. "But it''s not perfect." He looked at the burn marks on his hand that had been left behind while purging the grey energy.


    ~SCREECH~


    Therge maggot continued to screech while whipping its tentacles at the group who were now dodging them better than before. Though this was also due to the distance between them and the maggot.


    The farther they were, the longer it took for the tentacles to reach them and it also allowed them to predict the trajectory better.


    "Retreat further!" Crown Prince Feng Shun urged, knowing that it could get bad if they let the maggot got closer.


    The group moved without speaking a word, while a few tried to resolve the grey energy that was still within their bodies. N?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    ~HUMM~


    Monk Hushu chanted his scriptures, as the pure Buddhist energy seemingly purged the grey energy without a hitch. The effect was better than the others, being on a simr level to Ziran and Crown Princess''s Shang''s wood element as no aftereffects or mark were left.


    Qiao De and Daoist Chu had a hardier time though, as they didn''t have a suitable element to do it.


    Same could be said for Min Ju who had the water element and barely pushed the grey energy out while leaving some injuries behind.


    The group soon understood that some elements were better at purging the grey energy than others and the Buddhist Dao also worked on it nicely.


    All this had happened in the span of half a minute, thus the group was still ab it overwhelmed by it all, not realizing what was happening high up in the sky.


    Up there, Lin Mu had reached a height of over two thousand meters. But he wasn''t there alone, as a red blur apanied his ascent. This was of course none other than Little Shrubby who had quickly moved to help him.


    "I''m fine Little Shrubby, you need to gather the others and take them away." Lin Mu quickly spoke while his mind analyzed the situation. "Though wait until I tell you to do so." He added


    "Alright!" Little Shrubby was not one to doubt and followed Lin Mu''s orders.


    He had been with him long enough to know that Lin Mu was not one to fail after something like this. It might have been a surprise, but he would ovee it.


    ''That is very simr to the skill that Yao Changying used back then.'' Lin Mu thought after seeing the maggot. ''And that is definitely the Withering Dao¡­ I need to get rid of it in one go.'' He thought before ncing at Little Shrubby.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The beast understood the gaze and went to follow his orders.


    On the other hand, Lin Mu''s eyes turned furious as his legs started to erge. The True Earth Dao Embryo also appeared above him, multiplying his weight before he started to fall.


    "FALLING SKY LANCE!"

 Chapter 2341 Knocked Out

    Chapter 2341 Knocked Out


    Lin Mu''s descent from the sky didn''t go unnoticed, for the energy fluctuationsing from him were simply too massive.


    "What!?" Crown Prince Feng Shun and the other looked up, only to see what looked like a meteor descending from the skies.


    ~WHOOSH~


    They didn''t get to see it for long though, as just a secondter a red blur appeared in front of them before whisking them away to safety. If not for the fact that they had already be familiar with it''s energy, they would have thought that it was an attack too.


    Since everyone was roughly gathered in one ce, Little Shrubby didn''t take longer than a couple seconds to carry them afar. He didn''t stop running until they were at least twenty kilometer away, for he knew the impact was going to be massive.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The sky shook with Lin Mu''s descent, his power increasing his speed to a blinding level such that even the sound barrier was broken!


    ~BOOM~


    With a sonic boom, the dark clouds in the sky were forcefully dissipated as a long streak of light struck straight into the massive maggot.


    ~KABOOM~


    All that sound be seen and heard was a massive explosion, before a mushroom cloud seemingly rose out of it.


    The cloud reached a stunning height of over five kilometers within a few seconds and covered an area of several more kilometer within its dusty hot curtain. "That¡­ isn''t that what Daoist Mu Lin used in the Tournament before?" Crown Princess Shang recognized. "Against Yao Changying?"


    "It is¡­ but this¡­ isn''t this a lot stronger than that?" Daoist Chu couldn''t help butpare.


    While the impact had been strong back then too and it had been the decisive move that had ended up defeating Yao Changying, the scope of it had been limitedpared to what they were seeing now.


    "Looks like Daoist Mu Lin has improved it since then." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he continued to look at the scene.


    They had been worried that Lin Mu had been knocked too far away by the surprise attack, but it had only been an opportunity for him to counterattack the massive maggot. He had also been the one to sense just what the maggot was and what would be needed to eliminate it as soon as possible.


    Minute after minute passed, as the area stated to settle. "Let''s see go to Daoist Mu Lin," Lady Kang said, seeing that he had not responded or appeared yet.


    "Yes." Ziran and the others agreed, before the group quickly went there.


    The dust was still thick though and it was hard to see, not to mention the turbulent immortal Qi from the attack had also made it harder for everyone to use this immortal sense. But that was only making everyone more concerned.


    "Let me clear it," Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he generated a stormy gust of wind that blew away all the dust. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~WHOOSH~


    It felt like the mushroom cloud had been cut from the base, as the stormy gust cleared away the ground. That was all they needed anyway, and they finally saw the true extent of the damage. A giant crater was now in ce of the former camp.


    The ground had sunk in by at least a few hundred meters more than before when Lin Mu had used Earthen Devastator on it. The crater was about two kilometer wide with its entirety turning pitch ck from the heat.


    The central part that had taken the majority of the impact had directly turned intova, the heat of the impact having heated it to the point of melting.


    It was also in this pool ofva that a figure was floating.


    "Daoist Mu Lin!" Lady Kang saw him and couldn''t help but exim.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby spent no time in rushing to his master''s aid, anxiety on his mind. If not for the connection still intact and functioning he would have though that Lin Mu was heavily injured. ~SHUA~SHUA~


    The group quickly disembarked and picked up Lin Mu from the Lava. His Longgui Bulwark Armor was still active and had endured a lot of the bacsh from the skill, though parts of it had shattered. His boots were gone and parts of his chest piece and gauntlets were also broken.


    "We should take him to a safer ce, we don''t know if that thing is still alive." Ziran advised.


    "Yes!" Lady Kang agreed and looked at Little Shrubby.


    ~ROAR~


    The anxious beast swiftly carried them all away and didn''t stop until they were over two hundred kilometers away. While on Little Shrubby''s back, they started to check up on him.


    "Is he fine?" Qiao De asked.


    Lady Kang was inspecting Lin Mu with her immortal sense and could tell that his vitality was fine while his Qi was circting rather vigorously too.


    "He''s just unconscious." Lady Kang answered. "How strong was that attack for him to pass out from it?" Daoist Chu couldn''t help but say. "He didn''t pass out like this before."


    Crown Prince Feng Shun furrowed his brows, as he found the situation a bit concerning. "Wait, his legs!" it was now that Min Ju saw something. "Look, the spots!" she pointed out.


    They had missed it earlier as Lin Mu''s legs had been covered in soot, but after being cleaned they could finally see the aftereffects of going against the massive maggot.


    "His hands too." Ziran noticed. "That''s where he must''ve been struck by it before."


    These were the very same grey spots they all had gotten too and knew how bad they could be. The group had managed to get rid of them to varying levels, and knew the method to do so, but that didn''t mean that they could do that to others.


    "Wait¡­ is that why he is unconscious?" Crown Princess Shang wondered expression her concern.


    Hearing that the expressions of the others dropped too, as it was not looking good now.

 Chapter 2342 Battle In The Dantian

    Chapter 2342 Battle In The Dantian


    Lin Mu had little to think after he had used the Falling Sky Lance.


    He hadbined Tyrant Stomp, the Aspect of Heaviness with the durability of the Longgui Bulwark Armor in order to deal the most damage possible.


    He also knew what he was up against, remembering his fight with Yao Changying in detail and also the fallout from it. Lin Mu knew how dangerous the Withering Daos was and on some level how to deal with it.


    This was also why he had chosen to use the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets to attack. Not only was it strong, it also had the additional effect of protecting him from the effects of the Withering Dao to a certain extent due to the rich vitality.


    This on top of the protection of the Longgui Bulwark Armor was how Lin Mu had decided to go up against the massive maggot.


    But even if he had considered all those factors, Lin Mu could not predict the unknown. The creature he had gone up against had been far stronger than the attack that Yao Changying had used.


    When he had made contract, he had dealt a massive amount of damage to the maggot, crushing its head and tentacles in one go. But that also ended up releasing a lot of the Withering Dao and other baleful energies that were contained within the creature.


    The boots of the Longgui Bulwark Armor were crushed from the impact as well as the effects of the Withering Dao and it allowed for the foul energies to enter his body. His True Gold body had along since been unable to deal with the Withering Dao and the only thing left was his body cultivation protecting him.


    But even then thebination of the foul energies was far too much for him to bear.


    They invaded from every spot they could, before the explosion burned away the rest.


    The entire corpse of the maggot was turned into hot ash and mixed into the remains of the ground around it before it finally melted intova.


    Thankfully, Lin Mu had a higher resistance against heat thus he had no issue even if he was floating in theva. But that was only half of the trouble as he was now fighting against the energies from inside.


    "Ugh!" Lin Mu opened his eyes and saw a brush floating above him along with a beating heart."I''m in my Dantian?" he quickly realized.


    Lin Mu was now in the form of his Nascent Soul and looked around frantically knowing that him entering this state without his control was not normal.


    ~SCREECH~


    And sure enough, a few momentster he realized why. A pain inducing screech was heard before the figure of a foul creature manifested from a mass of grey energy. Lin Mu''s Nascent soul was rmed by its instincts, knowing that whatever it was needed to be eliminated as soon as possible.


    ~WHOOSH~


    "DIE!" Lin Mu didn''t hesitate and directly punched out.


    The sea of Immortal Qi below him churned as his punch struck the foul creature that was yet to fully form. "SCREEEEEEE!" The creature screamed in pain as it was pushed back, a part of it dissipating back into grey energy. But a secondter, it gathered the energy back as its form started to solidify again. ''I can''t let it stay here too long.'' Lin Mu felt rmed.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    He rushed to punch at the foul creature again, but this time it was able to dodge. It flew around, avoiding every blow, while also trying to reach a proper form. "True Earth Heart Dao Embryo! Earthen Armament Aspect!" Lin Mu called for his Dao Embryo that transformed into a great sword for him.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Lin Mu swung it around, sending forthrge shes that barely missed the fouls creature that was almostplete. It had four heads and each head was just arge mouth with thousands of teeth. There were tentaclesing from inside while also being around its body, as they continued to shift in a random manner.


    It was simr to the final skill that Yao Changying had used against Lin Mu in their fight.


    ~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~


    Lin Mu shed out more, but was unable to hit the four headed maggot, his attacksgging behind by a few moments.


    "Dammit, my skills aren''t the same in this form." Lin Mu couldn''t use his Nascent Soul the same as he could his body.


    After all, it wasn''t a physical construct and as such he couldn''t leverage it in the same way. Not to mention, there was ack of strength to it which was due to it which Lin Mu''s couldn''t move as fast.


    ~SPLASH~


    It was at this time that the maggot dived into the sea of immortal Qi below it.


    ~SIZZLE~


    As soon as it did, the immortal Qi started to seemingly boil while Lin Mu''s Nascent Soul felt a faint ache.


    "Shit¡­ this can''t be good." Lin Mu saw the immortal Qi starting to turn darker. ''My immortal Qi is getting contaminated.'' He realized.


    ~SCREECH~ Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    The four headed maggot rose out of the sea of immortal Qi, and rushed at Lin Mu with its tentacles. The contaminated immortal Qi seemingly followed its orders, and turned into sharp thorns around the tentacles, as they shed with Lin Mu.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    Lin Mu defended with the great sword, but the power was enough to push him back.


    "Rune Shaping Brush!" Lin Mu called his other Dao Embryo and held it with his left hand, rapidly starting to draw runes.


    ~HUALA~


    The immortal Qi below rose and filled into the runes, powering them instantly as a formation was created.


    ~SHUA~


    Once the runes were filled the formation was seemingly ''ejected'' out before more immortal Qi filled in the empty runes.


    It was as if they were mold for making a formation.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    These formations all created barriers, that protected Lin Mu''s Nascent Soul as he started to counter attack.

 Chapter 2343 Spirited Battle And Assistance

    Chapter 2343 Spirited Battle And Assistance


    Barrier after barrier surrounded Lin Mu''s Nascent Soul, defending it against the attacks of the four headed maggot.


    Lin Mu''s Formation Dao Embryo was also working hard to keep it progressing, while Immortal Qi kept on filling the mold''s it made.


    It was as if a production line had been made for the barrier formations, as they kept on being produced nonstop. This was something that was basically impossible in the real world and could only be maintained in the Dantian where Lin Mu had total control as well as a rich supply of immortal Qi.


    The rich immortal Qi sea below him was at hismand and he didn''t need to think about anything at all for it to yield to hismands. This was the best control over immortal Qi that Lin Mu had ever had and he almost couldn''t believe it.


    ''The response time is so fast and the power is also higher than usual¡­ is this what using the Nascent Soul to the true potential is like?'' he thought to himself.


    Lin Mu had been able to get by without ever having to use the real power of his Nascent Soul. Thus he didn''t know the just how strong it could get. After all, there was a reason why Cultivators with a Nascent Soul were feared.


    It wasn''t just a safeguard for them to assure their survival upon the death of their physical bodies. It was a weapon, one that could spell the end of many.


    But it was also a weapon with a cost.


    If one were to use it to the true extent, they would either have to lose their physical body, or to restrain the potential of the Nascent Soul.


    Despite this, there were many that used the potential of their Nascent Souls, risking the safety of their souls to attack their foes.


    There was nock of techniques that allowed this and as such this was a verymon strategy. But in Lin Mu''s current situation all of this was in applicable. Not only was he in his Nascent Soul form, he was also within his Dantian. As such all the restrictions that applied by to his Nascent Soul were null and void for now. Not only could hemand the immortal Qi within his Dantian as he pleased, Lin Mu could also use it for formations.


    That is exactly what was happening, as barrier after barrier manifested without so much so as a hesitation.


    But that was still not enough, for the Four Headed Maggot''s attacks got stronger and stronger.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    "Dammit," Lin Mu cursed.


    It was almost unbelievable for Lin Mu as the attacks of Four Headed Maggot were eventually reaching a point where he was having a hard time to resist it. No matter how many barriers he created with the Rune Shaping brush it was simply not enough.


    Retaliating with the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo was also not an option, as it slowed down the flow of all energies. It was an Earth Elemental Dao Embryo in the end and using it meant that he would be putting pressure on everything else.


    This was something that had been known by everyone that had learned about the Earth Elemental Dao to the full extent as well as about the ability of Lin Mu''s Dao Embryo.


    Considering that, Lin Mu used the limit of what he could and fight against the four headed maggot.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    But as time went by the condition of the technique turned bad. Eventually it reached a point where the maggot was controlling at least a quarter of the Dantian''s immortal qi stores. Lin Mu was hard pressed at this point and was doing all he could to resist it.


    Minute after minute passed like this as Lin Mu''s Nascent Soul got weaker and weaker.


    No matter how much he utilized his techniques and Dao embryos, he was still unmatched. It eventually reached a point where Lin Mu was considering several drastic options.


    ''The Four Faceted Neb¡­ Can I use it?'' Lin Mu wondered to himself.


    As of now, he had only learned the First Facet: The Freedom of Movement. This allowed him to Warp to locations he had been to, and did not rely on just his own immortal Qi. It neededmore than that and could not be used by Lin Mu causally. The locations and uses were limited, thus it was something out of choice for him.


    Thus the Spatial Dao Embryo did not even make an appearance, staying hidden as it had always had beyond the senses of all immortals.


    With this not working, Lin Mu was forced to fight in themon manner.


    He flitted across the battlefield as his Dantian kept on churning. The elemental immortal Qis were located at the borders of the immortal Qi sea, but the infiltration of the Four Headed Worm had spurred it into resisting everything as well.


    But just as Lin Mu felt like he was about to lose the very first conflict against the four Headed worm, he sensed a new personification of energy.


    ~ROAR~


    ~MOOO~


    That personification quickly transformed as the illusory images of two beings manifested above him, much to his surprise.


    ''The Great Slumber Bear and the Tyrant Bull¡­'' Lin Mu thought. ''I can definitely make use of it¡­.'' The cries of the two beings could be heard as they rushed in to resist the invasion of a foreign energy.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    The two illusory images rushed in as they started to fight the tentacles of the four headed grey maggot. The speed of the images was fast too, elimination many of them before they could even reach the core of Lin Mu.


    ~BANG~BANG~BANG~


    The conflict continued for several minutes as Lin Mu used the great sword as well as his Dao shattering all that was in his path.


    It wasn''t until half an hourter, that Lin Mu felt like he had reached a stable state.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu took a breath as he revised the entire satiation.


    ~RUMBLE~


    But doing this was not the best choice, as the vile energies still took the chance to attack him.


    ~MOOO~


    ~TREMBLE~


    Lin Mu tried to use his body to resist the attacks and more of the other ces, but eventually it reached a point where it could not be hidden. ~HUALA~


    Their luck was confirmed to be worse as the strange bloodline creatures attacked. Lin Mu tried to resist them with his own abilities but there were things he could not control.


    Eventually he reached a point where he had no option but to sumb to it all.


    ''Nothing works, what am I supposed to do?'' Lin Mu wondered as he truly understood the danger and power of the Withing Dao energy.


    But just as he was about to take another Drastic step, Lin Mu heard a voice.


    "Daoist Mu Lin!" he heard his name being called before a warm energy filled his chest.


    ~HUALA~


    A couple secondster, the prayer beads that Monk Hushu used seemingly appeared in front of Lin Mu as they started to resist his situation.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The beads erged and glowed in bright white light, as Lin Mu felt the familiar feeling of the Buddhist technique.


    "They''re helping me from the outside?" Lin Mu understood. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    It was unexpected for Lin Mu, as it not only needed one to have great control over an immortal too, but they also needed control over their own skills.


    And now that it was being used on Lin Mu, he couldn''t help but be ecstatic.


    ~HONGLONG!~HONGLONG~HONGLONG


    Loud sounds could be heard as the damage of illusory bloodline images, physiques, techniques and more started to mix together.


    Lin Mu''s sea of Immortal Qi was getting corrupted by the Four Headed Maggot, while he was also utilizing the rest of it. Being in this state was certainly not normal for Lin Mu, but he wasn''t totally caught off guard. He had long since known that he could reach a state where he might be a dead stone and needed to be ready for it all.


    And now that very situation hade into existence. Thankfully Lin Mu was at the end of it and could soon resolve it.


    Bit by bit, he resisted the effects of the immortal essence until finally it had reached a still point.


    "Huu¡­" Lin Mu took a deep breath before finally utilizing it all.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The prayer beads along with Lin Mu''s will purged all that was in their way before Lin Mu heard a voice in his head.


    "Awaken, Daoist Mu Lin¡­ We need you."


    "We cannot do this without you."


    "If you do not wake up, we might just end up being doomed to an old life too."


    ~HUALA~


    Finally Lin Mu opened his eyes as waves of immortal Qi spread.


    Standing around him were hispanions whileying atop his chest was none other than the Buddhist prayer beads.


    "You''re back?!"

 Chapter 2344 A Yin Heart Soul?

    Chapter 2344 A Yin Heart Soul?


    Lin Mu''s awakening brought great relief to the group.


    They had been incredibly worried about him and his condition. After all, they had no idea about the true extent of the damage and what the Withering Dao entering one''s body could do. They had horridly purged the baleful energy from their bodies, but that was no wereparable to the amount that had entered Lin Mu.


    Not to mention, there was something strange about the energy that didn''t match what Yao Changying had used.


    The main difference was that what Yao Changying had used was a skill, but what they had fought was very clearly a creature.


    Then there was also the fact that this was a creature different from the Chimeric Beasts. There was no doubt about it either, as it didn''t show up on the Chimera Radar that Daoist Chu had made.


    Considering that, they were at a great loss.


    Thankfully, theirbined efforts seemed to help Lin Mu gain the advantage he needed and finally purge the Baleful energy within him.


    "What¡­" Lin Mu had a look of confusion on his face as he looked at everyone.


    He could see the concern and relief on their faces, but he also noticed that they weren''t in the same location as they had been before.


    "How''re you feeling?" Crown Prince Feng Shun inquired.


    "I''m fine¡­ A bit tired, but fine." Lin Mu said, sensing the fatigue within his body. It was different than normal, as both his vitality and qi seemed to be exhausted right now. ''Even my Immortal Essence has fallen to barely twenty five percent of what it used to be.'' Lin Mu checked the Apertures within his body, finding them to becking.


    He did a few more checks on his body, before he finally understood more about his state.


    ''Looks like the battle against the Four Headed Maggot exhausted all my energy stores¡­ My Vitality was drained due to both the attacks of the creature and the Bloodline figure of the Great Slumber Bear while my Immortal Essence was drained due to the figure of the Tyrant Bull.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    Even his Immortal Qi stores had fallen to barely ten percent of his total. The Immortal Qi sea within his Dantian was greatly depleted, while his Nascent Soul floated on top, trying to slowly recover. The battle had inflicted damage onto his Nascent Soul too, and it was something that would not recover as fast as he body did. It was definitely the most injured Lin Mu had been in a long time.


    The more he thought about it, the more he felt lucky that he had managed to get out of it without significant bacsh.


    "Thank you all, for helping me." Lin Mu said with gratitude. "You definitely came in clutch when I needed it." He added.


    "What exactly happened?" Lady Kang asked. "Your vitality and Qi was in a disarray the entire time." "I had tobat the Maggot¡­ though it was different." Lin Mu said, before he gave an exnation of all that had happened.


    The entire thing was shocking and new to the group, as most of them had never even thought of this before. Lady Kang listened to it seriously, understanding partly what had happened. "To think that creature could force you to have a Spirit Battle." Lady Kang revealed. "It''s not something most beings can do." She added.


    "So that''s what it was?" Qiao De said in surprise. "I''ve heard of those, but don''t those only happen when one imbibes a strong bloodline?" "Indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "But there are other cases when it can happen too." This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Top Grade Immortal Weapons can force one to undergo the same." Ziran said. "After all, they do not just ept anyone as their owner and some might test them before allowing their usage." He exined.


    Lin Mu nodded hearing this, having seen it happen before. Though his own experience had also helped in all this, as he had made contact with souls before and even battled as a spirit.


    ''My fight to suppress the spirit of the Tyrant Bull back then has certainlye in handy.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''That and the interactions I''ve had with Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker in soul form helped too. Same with when I traversed the memories of Ashy.'' He realized.


    All those had helped him better his control of the soul, and thus allow him to fighter better as a Nascent Soul. If he didn''t have those experiences, it was likely that he could have lost even with everyone''s help. Perhaps he might not have evensted the entire duration of the fight, having lost earlier.


    ''Definitely one of the most dangerous fight''s I''ve had¡­'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    "It definitely was." Xukong spoke up, having been observing all this time. "I might not have been able to help you either." He added.


    "You saw it senior?" Lin Mu asked in slight surprise.


    "I was observing yes. That spirit you fought was certainly not a normal creature¡­ it was the Nascent Soul of the maggot you killed." Xukong exined. "Though it has certainly undergone several modifications¡­ or rather mutations to be urate." He added.


    "No wonder¡­ I couldn''t even tell it was a Nascent Soul." Lin Mu said finding it shocking. The Four headed maggot had no properties that made it seem like a Nascent Soul. It didn''t have the characteristic look of a Nascent Soul, and neither did it have the aura of one. Plus the way it had formed was also different, having manifested from a mass of grey energy.


    If anything, it was more simr to a Bloodline Figure than a real Nascent Soul.


    "It''s form also didn''t match its physical body." Lin Mu realized.


    "That''s the part which is the most concerning for me too." Xukong agreed. "From what it seems like the physical body of the maggot was not developed to the point of matching the Nascent Soul." "But is that even possible?" Lin Mu questioned. "Shouldn''t the Nascent Soul match the appearance and not the other way around?" "Usually yes, but there can be exceptions." Xukong replied. "In this case I feel like the Nascent Soul had been the first one toe into existence rather than the physical body." He added.


    Hearing that, a term came to Lin Mu''s mind.


    "Yin Heart Puppets¡­" Lin Mu recalled that they were very simr to this.


    They too had no physical form at first and existed in the form of energy that was molded into a shape. But the maggot he had fought was a lot different, as its physical body was actually physical. It had also not dispersed back into energy upon being destroyed like it had with the Yin Heart Puppets Lin Mu had fought in the trials.


    "The characteristic definitely match the Yin Heart Puppets more than they do to chimeric beasts." Xukong agreed to his hypothesis. "In a way this seems like a more¡­ Advanced version of a Yin Heart Puppet." He stated.


    Lin Mu thought over it and found it to be quite urate.


    "It doespensate for some of the disadvantage of the Yin Heart Puppets." Lin Mu muttered.


    The Yin Heart Puppets had the advantage of being made en masse and could act as cannon fodder in a battle. Though at the same time destroying them was easy as long as one could target their core energy which would lead to the entire body dissipating.


    In the case of the maggot Lin Mu had fought, these factors seemed to have beenpensated.


    The maggot didn''t have a core that could be sensed by Lin Mu, or even if it did it had transformed into another thing entirely.


    ''If the core energy was converted into the four headed maggot which was a Nascent Soul¡­ it would definitely make it a lot stronger.'' Lin Mu analyzed further. ''It would also give it a second chance at surviving and even counterattacking as the Nascent Soul could escape and find a new body.'' Though upon thinking thetter, Lin Mu realized it wasn''t correct.


    "No, rather than finding a new body, it would simply form a new body." Lin Mu understood.


    "That very well might be the case." Xukong was thinking the same. "Whatever this is, there''s no doubt there is link between it and Yao Changying." Lin Mu stated. "There''s no way the forms would be this simr otherwise." He added.


    "Yes. I wouldn''t be surprised if the people that have entered this Bridge ne are part of her people too." Xukong was thinking a lot ahead and already considering several possibilities.


    Having lived for an unfathomable amount of time, he had experienced too many things. Among them various schemes and plots were asmon as dirt and he had seen it all. As such, it didn''t take much for Xukong to thinking of what could have happened.


    As long as something simr to it had happened in the past he would know of it.

 Chapter 2345 Recovering

    Chapter 2345 Recovering


    The more Lin Mu and Xukong discussed about it, the more they found it to be likely that the creature they had encountered was an enhanced version of the Yin Heart Puppets.


    "I suppose we can now call it a Yin Heart Soul?" Lin Mu said.


    "That''s suitable." Xukong agreed upon it.


    "Now all we need to do is learn more about them and see where they are¡­ I don''t think these will be thest of them in the Bridge ne." Lin Mu spoke with confidence.


    Xukong hummed in agreement before returning to silence. With their conversation finished, Lin Mu focused on hispanions who were waiting for him to response. His conversation with Xukong had happened in less than two minutes, thus it didn''t seem too strange to them.


    The simply thought that Lin Mu was focused on checking his body.


    "Where are we?" Lin Mu asked noticing that they weren''t in the previous location.


    They were in a sheltered location and it was not one Lin Mu was familiar with.


    "We moved you since your condition was getting bad and we didn''t think it would be safe to stay at the previous ce." Lady Kang answered. "As for where we are, Little Shrubby found this ce some distance from the camp." "I see¡­ Thanks for that." Lin Mu said, as he finally sat up.


    "Are you feeling better now?" Daoist Chu inquired. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "A bit tired, but I''ll be fine after resting and recovering my energy." Lin Mu answered.


    "That''s good. We all can take a rest then." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "The past several hours have been intense, to say the least." He added.


    "Indeed." Monk Hushu agreed, holding the prayer beads in his hand.


    "Ah, thank you for your help too, Monk Hushu." Lin Mu couldn''t forget the prayer beads that hade to assist. "Amithabha, it is the least I could do." Monk Hushu replied. "Besides, the Prayer beads too wished to help you. They are the ones who suggested me how to help." He revealed.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but raise his brows as he nced at the prayer beads. "It does make sense¡­ What I saw was the Spirit of the Prayer Beads." He muttered.


    The physical form of the Prayer beads could certainly not enter Lin Mu''s body, but that didn''t mean the weapon spirit couldn''t do the same. Plus, since it was a Buddhist tool and held no malefic intents, his body didn''t reject it.


    Not to mention, Lin Mu''s body was familiar with Buddhist energy and epted it quickly. But even if it didn''t, it wouldn''t have mattered since Lin Mu had been in a rather defenseless state where many things could invade his body.


    With all this done, Lin Mu ate a few alchemical pills and began to cultivate. He needed to restore his Immortal Qi, as well as his vitality and the Immortal Essence. Thetter would take the longest, thus he kept it for thest and took to restoring his Qi first. The others had also exhausted a part of their energy store, so they too, were doing the same. At the same time, those who still had the remnants of the injury from the maggot were also taking care of it. Thankfully, a few healing pills helped with that too and they didn''t have any long term damage.


    About Four days passed like this, after which Lin Mu and the others had recovered to their peak.


    For Lin Mu, the only thing that still had damage was his Nascent Soul, but it was something that couldn''t be healed quickly anyways. He would have to let it heal naturally overtime, or find special alchemical pills or fruits that were good for the souls.


    Hispanions didn''t have any such pills, but there was a location that would surely have them.


    "We need to head to the Offering Hall again¡­ We need to restock for the new dangers." Lin Mu stated.


    "I agree¡­ if we are to face more creatures like this we''ll have to be careful." Elder Hu agreed.


    "What was that thing anyways?" Qiao De asked, knowing that it was still not fully resolved.


    "That thing was a type of Yin Heart Puppet too." Lin Mu answered.


    "What? That didn''t seem like it," Qiao De said with surprise.


    Ziran too wondered if that was correct, since the characteristics didn''t match. But once Lin Mu exined everything to them that he had discussed with Xukong, they finally understood it.


    "To think there would be something like this¡­ Do you think it was made by Yao Changying?" Daoist Chu couldn''t help but wonder.


    After all, this didn''t seem like a simple task as just breeding a new beast. This was an entirely new creature made from energy through unknown methods.


    "It''s definitely that bitch! I know it." Crown Princess Shang''s grudge was still the same as always and wouldn''t be decreasing any time soon.


    "Oh yeah, Crown Princess Shang, would you be able to suppress the Withering Dao again?" Lin Mu asked. "You did make those bracelets before that worked against Yao Changying." He wondered.


    ~Sigh~


    "Unfortunately, it won''t work." Crown Princess Shang shook her head. "I used my n''s treasure that allowed me to temporarily wield Wood Dao Insights. I can suppress and expel the Withering Dao''s energy from my own body, but I don''t think I can carry it out on the same level as before.


    Not to mention, that creature was a lot stronger than what Yao Changying had shown back then. Either this is an exception, or she has definitely strengthened." She exined.


    "I see¡­ I suppose we''ll just seek alternative solutions. At least we know that the wood element and Buddhist techniques are good against it," Lin Mu replied before thinking of something. "The Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil¡­ Won''t that be a good counter for it?" he suddenly said.


    "I can certainly use it to heal you, but it won''t work the same for others." Monk Hushu replied, much to their disappointed.

 Chapter 2346 Credits Galore!

    Chapter 2346 Credits Galore!


    "Why does that not work?" Qiao De asked, not knowing the specifics behind it.


    "While I can use the Serene Lotus Buddhist Veil with the assistance of Crown Princess Shang and Ziran since both have wood elemental affinities, my proficiency with it is still not high enough to warrant me full control. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    It only worked on Daoist Mu Lin because he too has an affinity with the Buddhist Dao. I barely had to activate the technique and Daoist Mu Lin was able to do the rest on his own." Monk Hushu exined.


    After hearing that, the group understood that it wasn''t an option for everyone.


    "Perhaps we''ll be able to devise more methodster, or at the very least figure out a way to prevent it from entering our bodies in the first ce." Lin Mu stated after thinking for a bit.


    "Indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun still had his hopes high. "I''m sure there''s something useful in the Offering hall. We have enough credits to test several things." He added.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu said as he checked his credits.


    But when he did, he was shocked.


    "What in the¡­" Lin Mu almost couldn''t believe his eyes.


    "What happened¡ª" The others questioned Lin Mu''s reaction until they saw the number on his wrist.


    The green band showed that Lin Mu had almost two hundred and fifty million credits!


    "How are there¡­ so many credits? Wasn''t it lower before?" Min Ju asked in surprise.


    Lin Mu''s mind went through a few possibilities before quickly finding the most probably option.


    "The Yin Heart Soul¡­ Perhaps killing it gave me the credits." Lin Mu could only think of that.


    "But that''s not even a chimeric beast." Daoist Chu said. "It didn''t appear on the Chimera Radar." He added.


    "I know¡­ but perhaps there are some exceptions to it." Lin Mu replied knowing that they didn''t understand everything about the Spatial ne''s array and the credit system. "We shouldn''t be the ones to look a gift horse in the mouth." Ziran spoke up. "Rather than that, let''s just ept it and make use of it." He suggested.


    "Ziran is correct." Monk Hushu nodded. "We best use whatever the heavens provide." "Of course, I intend on making full use of it." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    If anything, it had only brought him closer to the goals, and they know knew of more avenues of obtaining the credits.


    "Let''s head out then. Perhaps I''ll get just enough credits to get the Immortal Paragon Ring." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated, feeling excited about it.


    "Yeah, we''re very close to the three hundred million goal. We''ll try to hunt as many Chimeric Beasts as we can on the way." Daoist Chu said, and the group quickly began to move.


    ~SHUA~


    Little Shrubby appeared at a mere thought from Lin Mu and sped away with everyone.


    The beast had been guarding the cave they were in and knew that Lin Mu had recovered as they had already talked through their link. As such, the beast was no longer worried and instead kept a watch for any danger that might be heading their way.


    After all, the Death Qi boundaries could shift anytime and who knew if there were more modified Yin Heart Puppet beasts here.


    Along the way, Lin Mu discussed more strategies and methods with the group, while Crown Prince Feng Shun continued to hunt the Chimeric Beasts. With the help of the Chimera Radar, they were having an easy time finding them and even discovered arge swarm of Chimeric Beasts that had been gathered behind a newly formed Death Qi boundary.


    That was like the perfect feast for Crown Prince Feng Shun, and he indulged himself in the harvest of credits.


    This was just the right amount that he needed, as by the end of his hunt, he had reached the required goal.


    "300,00,471 Credits." Crown Prince Feng Shun had a wide smile on his face as he looked at the number.


    "Haha, you did it!" Daoist Chu and Crown Princess Shang were very excited.


    "Amithabha, the heavens are on our side," Monk Hushu prayed.


    "Little Shrubby, full speed ahead!" Lin Mu ordered, knowing that they didn''t need to dy anymore to hunt now.


    They were already quite close to the Offering hall now, so they didn''t take long to reach it.


    ~CRASH~


    Little Shrubby''s ws dug into the ground as he slowed down before finally letting everyone off.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun quickly flew into the Offering hall, while the group followed behind. ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    They stood in the hall with the reward lists and held their breaths as Crown Prince Feng Shun requested for the Immortal Paragon Ring.


    "Here we go¡­" He took a deep breath and selected the name.


    ~HUALA~


    A few momentster, a small portal opened up before a ring was spat out by it.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun grabbed it with the speed of lightning, while literal arcs of it crawled on his skin. He had evidently used his skills to enhance his speed, feeling anxious that the ring might escape his grasp or more.


    No one spoke, as the air grew heavy with anticipation. The Crown Prince carefully held the ring in his hand as he observed it. He didn''t dare to use his Immortal Sense, as there was no telling what kind of response there could be. After all, this was no normal immortal tool. This was an Immortal Paragon''s ring!


    It was something only the peak of the Immortal Realm deserved to have.


    Him holding one such ring right now was already a miracle that might never happen again.


    Lin Mu watched the thing and thought that for all its glory, the ring itself was rather simple looking. It was a in steel band with a single symbol on its top that read ''Paragon''.


    If such a ring was put in a mortal market, no one would even bat an eye at it and would think of it as a peasants ring.

 Chapter 2347 Humble Light Scion

    Chapter 2347 Humble Light Scion


    Lin Mu knew that often in higher realms, there we cases where the more profound something was, the more simple it seemed.


    The same was the case for the Immortal Paragon Ring, as it was very humble looking. No energy fluctuations could be felt from it, and nor was there any response from the ring as ity peacefully in the Crown Prince''s palm.


    ''The moment of revtion,'' Having confirmed that the ring wasn''t going to retaliate, Crown Prince Feng Shun took the next step and used his Immortal sense.


    After all, this was the only way to truly confirm what it was and whom it belonged to.


    The Crown Prince''s Immortal Sense touched upon the surface of the Immortal Paragon Ring as a warm feeling surged through it. This made the man rx for a moment, before a faint pulse of energy was released from the ring.


    ~SHUA~


    The pulse of energy washed over everyone, making them feel strangely peaceful. But that wasn''t all as a warm light soon rose from the ring before transforming into a few letters.


    "Humble Light Scion?" Crown Prince Feng Shun read the name, confusion apparent on his face.


    The others saw it too, unable to recognize it. "Is that who the Immortal Paragon Ring belongs to?" Daoist Chu asked out loud.


    Lin Mu wondered the same and his eyes didn''t move from it until the name disappeared, the ring returning to its normal state. "That''s all?" Lin Mu had expected there to be something more. "Did you learn something, Crown Prince?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Nothing¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun''s confusion only increased. "Can you check more?" Ziran asked, wondering if there was something wrong.


    "No I can''t¡­ the ring won''t respond anymore." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied, making them surprised.


    "Can we try?" Crown Princess Shang inquired. "Perhaps it might not work for everyone?" she suggested.


    This was an Immortal Paragon''s ring after all and there was no telling what kind of limitations were on it.


    "Alright." Crown Prince Feng Shun had already done what he could, thus there was no harm in trying.


    But when Crown Princess Shang used her immortal sense, she felt the same. There was no response from the ring, and it felt like she was only touching something mundane.


    "It doesn''t work." Crown Princess Shang shook her head. "Maybe we can all try?" Qiao De suggested.


    The Crown Prince Feng Shun didn''t mind, and the ring was passed around, as everyone tried one by one. But same as the two nobles, the ring didn''t respond to anyone.


    "Your turn, Daoist Mu Lin." Lady Kang handed the ring to Lin Mu, making everyone look at him.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun and hispanions watched carefully, having higher hope in Lin Mu than others did.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu touched the ring with his immortal sense too, but felt no response from it. ''Looks like it won''t work¡­'' But just as Lin Mu was about to withdraw his immortal sense, he heard a voice.


    "Wait!" The voice was of none other than that of Xukong.


    "Did you sense something, Senior?" Lin Mu asked. "Hold on, let me see," Xukong replied and Lin Mu did as told.


    He didn''t know what Xukong was exactly doing, as he himself couldn''t feel anything. Neither did the ring show any change or response to Xukong''s acts. It was as if they were nonexistent.


    But in reality, what Xukong was doing was simply beyond understanding.


    Unknown to everyone, Ten Golden Yellow Eyes opened deep in the Grand Void, while their gaze transcended the expanse of nothingness. They traversed the distance in moments before reaching the simple looking ring that Lin Mu was holding.


    They lingered on the ring for two seconds before they closed, leaving no trace of anything at all.


    There were no spatial disturbances, nor were there any energy waves, it was all incognito.


    "Qing Jiesui¡­" Xukong finally uttered a name. "Who''s that?" Lin Mu questioned. "Wait¡­ is that whom the ring belongs to?" "Yes¡­ Qing Jiesui, better known as his title, the Humble Light Scion." Xukong answered.


    "You know who he is?" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.


    "I do¡­ Somewhat." Xukong replied, a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "He was an Immortal Paragon over seventy generations ago. Though he wasn''t one for long¡­ in fact, he had the shortest reign as an Immortal Paragon." He revealed.


    "Huh¡­ what happened to him?" Lin Mu asked with great curiosity.


    "It was unknown what truly happened to him, but he was deemed to have died in the war back then. But it seems like the truth is a lot different from that¡­" Xukong said, finding it all unusual himself.


    "War?" Lin Mu raised his brows, knowing that it wasn''t simple.


    "It''s not something I can tell you. It involves people whose karma is far too great for you." Xukong knew what Lin Mu wished to know. "But I can definitely tell you that it was one of the more dangerous wars of the Immortal Court. Qing Jiesui had be an Immortal Paragon during this war when the previous Immortal Paragon perished in a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion." He revealed a bit more. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "So he was thrust in the middle of a war¡­" Lin Mu wondered how that might have been like.


    "Indeed¡­ And due to his new position, he was at the very lead, which also led to his death. He was an Immortal Paragon for less than a single year." Xukong stated with some emotion. "It was a great loss for the Immoral Court and they almost lost due to it, if not for thebined efforts and sacrifice of many experts."


    Hearing that Lin Mu went silent, as he pondered over it. He couldn''t help but imagine it all.


    To get a great position like that but only to lose one''s life soon after.


    "No wait, if the ring is here¡­ doesn''t that mean he didn''t die?!" Lin Mu snapped back to the truth.


    "Exactly¡­ this is very¡­ suspicious."

 Chapter 2348 Strength Of An Immortal Paragon

    Chapter 2348 Strength Of An Immortal Paragon


    Several thoughts were going through Xukong''s mind, all of them rted to the ring and its owner. Lin Mu also had simr thoughts and wondered how all this would be possible.


    "Doesn''t the Immortal Court have methods that confirm whether any of their members have died? That should''ve told them if Qing Jiesui died or not right?" Lin Mu asked first. "But considering he was deemed dead, that means they did confirm it and yet we have this ring at our hands." He analyzed.


    "Indeed¡­ This should''ve been impossible¡­" Xukong stated. "At least through normal means." He added after thinking of something else.


    "Hmm¡­ I suppose we can''t do much here now, can we?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Nothing much." Xukong mirrored. "For now the best course of action is to return the ring to the Immortal Court. This isn''t our matter to interfere anyways, we best let them handle it." He advised.


    "Alright." Lin Mu agreed before asking onest thing. "Should I tell them whom this ring belongs to?" Xukong didn''t answer Lin Mu right away, as if thinking about it. "No. Keep it to yourself." Xukong answered. "This might be too dangerous of a secret for them to know as well. It is up to the Immortal Court to decide how to handle it." He exined.


    "Alright." Lin Mu didn''t question it anymore and moved his focus from the ring.


    Hispanions who had been looking at him, had some hope in their eyes, particrly Crown Prince Feng Shun who wondered if Lin Mu had learned something.


    "I couldn''t pry into it." Lin Mu said, dousing their hope quickly.


    ~Sigh~


    "Your expression told us otherwise." Daoist Chu said with a light frown.


    "It was just because I was unable to look through it." Lin Mu answered.


    This was actually true, as his Spatial Perception was indeed unable to look through the ring. It totally blocked it.


    "Oh¡­ I see." Daoist Chu replied.


    "That does make sense. This is a treasure beyond our understanding." Lady Kang said before ncing at Crown Prince Feng Shun who looked to be deep in thought.


    "Here," Lin Mu handed the man the ring back.


    He had obtained it, thus it was normal for him to keep it. Plus, he was also part of the Immortal Court for now and also the highest ranked member here, thus it was more appropriate for him to keep it than the others.


    "Thank you." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before storing it away.


    "Amithabha, seems like we''ll have to consult the elders at the Immortal Court about who the Humble Light Scion is." Monk Hushu spoke, curiosity apparent in his tone too.


    "Yes, I''ve never heard of this title before." Daoist Chu nodded. "And here I thought we had learned about most of the Immortal Paragons." "Most? We only know about thirty of them." Crown Princess Shang chuckled. "We haven''t been authorized to know the others¡­ at least not through the immortal court''s records." She added. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Thirty is already quite a lot." Ziran spoke up. "Thirty generations of Immortal Paragons is at least Three hundred thousand years of history." "That long?" Qiao De who didn''t know much about the Immortal Court''s workings was surprised.


    "Indeed. An Immortal Paragon usually rules for at least ten to twenty thousand years. Or at the very least until they encounter a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "Though there have been many that have stayed as an Immortal Paragon for multiple Transcendent Immortal Tribtions." He added.


    "Multiple?" Qiao De was stunned. "Of course. Almost every Immortal Court leader is a Transcendent Immortal, with many having ovee two or even three such Transcendent Immortal Tribtions." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered much to their surprise.


    Lin Mu listened to it carefully too as this was new information for him. While he knew that the immortal Court was strong, he didn''t know to what extent.


    ''I knew they would have Transcendent Immortals, but didn''t know to what extent.'' Lin Mu now had a better reference for it.


    He knew that while the cultivation base of the immortals might have been stuck at the same level, that didn''t mean they were of equal strength. The difference of strength between an Immortal who had ovee a single Transcendent Immortal Tribtion and two of them was more than double at times.


    After all, each Transcendent Immortal Tribtion granted them more longevity and since they couldn''t cultivate any further, they focused on other pursuits.


    They would train their Qi skills, deepen their understanding of the Dao and expand their repertoire of techniques. They might improve on their other upational skills such as formations, pill refinement or weapon forging.


    They would try everything that could improve their skill and strength in hopes ofprehending the method of bing a Celestial!


    The moment theyprehended it, they would ascend to the Celestial Realm, unable to be contained by the immortal realm.


    Thus the power of a Transcendent Immortal was greatly varied. This was also the reason why the Dao Wind Emperor was considered so strong and the Dao Wind Empire was considered as the strongest in the entire Rust Sky World, despite the other Emperors also being Transcendent Immortals.


    The Dao Wind Emperor''s status was high in the Rust Sky world and even in the Immortal Court, he would be very high ranked if he ever joined it. But it was still below that of elders who might have ovee more tribtions than him and above that was the Immoral Court heads who often had more than three or four Transcendent Immortal Tribtions under their belt.


    "What''s the highest Transcendent Immortal Tribtions recorded that someone overcame?" Lin Mu asked having thought of all that.


    "The highest number?" Crown Prince Feng Shun thought over it before recalling something. "While we don''t know who it was, but it is said that there was a legendary immortal who had ovee over a hundred Transcendent Immortal Tribtions." He answered.


    "A hundred!?" It was a shocking number to them, as surviving that many Tribtions seemed unbelievable.

 Chapter 2349 Stocking For Protecting And Heading West

    Chapter 2349 Stocking For Protecting And Heading West


    The longevity granted by each Transcendent Immortal Tribtion was varied, but it was almost never lower than three thousand years and was often more than six thousand years. As for the upper limit of this, it could reach up to fifteen thousand years! This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    As for what caused this difference in longevity? There were many theories behind it.


    The most epted theory though, was that the more stable someone''s foundation was, the better longevity they would gain from a Transcendent Immortal Tribtion. But there were other things that added to this too, such as the type of the Transcendent Immortal Tribtion one would have.


    If it was a variant that was stronger than the normal ones, it would usually grant more longevity. But it also reduced the rate of survival, thus making it a less attractive choice.


    Still, considering all these factors, even if one took the lowest number, the amount of longevity one would gain from a hundred Transcendent Immortal Tribtions would be around three hundred thousand years! And if they gained an average amount, it would be over seven hundred thousand years!


    As for the maximum amount? Perhaps it may even exceed a million¡­


    This was a longevity that almost made it seem like someone was truly an immortal. Something that was usually only obtained by Celestials.


    And yet, this Immortal Paragon had achieved it.


    "To survive a hundred Transcendent Immortal Tribtions¡­ How long did they stay as an Immortal Paragon?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "Actually they hadn''t be an Immortal Paragon until quiteter. They were apparently an expert long before that and had endured tens of Transcendent Immortal Tribtions. But eventually they joined the Immortal Court and reached its helm, bing an Immortal Paragon." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered.


    "Has anyone else been able to do that?" Qiao De questioned.


    "None." Crown Prince Feng Shun shook his head. "As far as I know, in thest thirty generations of the Immortal Paragons, the highest number of Transcendent Immortal Tribtions someone endured was seven.


    It was the Immortal Paragon from eleven generations ago." He answered.


    The number was quite lesspared to the record, but it was still an impressive amount when one considered the normal. As the group ruminated over the information, their eyes kept on wandering to the Immortal Paragon ring from time to time. Now that they had obtained it, there was a lot more leeway in what they could do.


    "Let''s get the other materials now." Ziran reminded the second reason they hade to the offering hall.


    "Of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded before safely storing the Immortal Paragon ring away.


    He didn''t dare to wear it, as he neither had the honor nor the qualifications to wear it. Lin Mu and the others quickly began looking through the item list for things that might help them resist the effects of the Withering Dao. Unfortunately for them, there weren''t many things that could fully resist it if it had taken root like in the case of Lin Mu. "Hmm¡­ We might have to go the prevention route rather than the cure route for this." Lin Mu stated, after seeing what they had avable.


    "These Arboreal Prominence Pills will help us, but they aren''t exactly cheap." Crown Princess Shang said pointing to one of the items.


    "One million and two hundred thousand credits per pill." Lin Mu looked at the cost which was decently high. "We can take a few of these as precaution." He stated.


    The Arboreal Prominence Pills were a high grade wood elemental healing pills that could help expel various foul energies. While they weren''t made to work specifically on the Withering Dao, they should still be good for it as long as the effects weren''t as strong.


    "We can also use the Bale Repelling Curtain Talismans." Daoist Chu pointed to another item. "Though this would only work for a short time." He added.


    The Bale Repelling Curtain Talismans were actually a decently well known type of Talisman and were used quite widely. They had the ability to resist almost all types of baleful energies, but this was a temporary effect.


    The stronger the baleful energy was, the faster the barrier would degrade. In some cases, even a single impact of the baleful energy might be enough to break the barrier.


    "Okay these are a lot more affordable." Lin Mu said as he saw the cost. "One million for a stack of hundred is not bad."


    "One million is still high, if we consider how fast we might be going through them." Qiao De said before looking at Daoist Chu. "Can you make these?" he asked.


    "No." Daoist Chu shook his head. "I''ve never learned how to make these, and the materials needed to make them also need specialized processing. Even if we can get some of the raw materials here, I do not have the refinement skill needed to process them into the ink and paper." He exined.


    Drawing the talisman was just half the work that a Formation master needed to do, as they were still the issue of being able to process and refine the needed material. After all, talismans were exhaustible and brought about the effect of a full sized formation in a small scale.


    This wasn''t done so without a cost, which was the materials.


    "How about Daoist Mu Lin?" Qiao De asked next.


    "I can''t either." Lin Mu shook his head. "I don''t know the method or know how to process the materials either." He stated.


    ~Sigh~


    "Seems like we''ll simply have to buy them for now." Daoist Chu said as along with the others purchased a couple hundred talismans each.


    Lin Mu and Lady Kang though purchased over a hundred sets of them, spending over ten million on it.


    They had the points for it so they didn''t mind, while the others still needed to umte points. Lin Mu had a goal too, but he knew it was not a ce he should skimp out on.


    Besides, from what he had seen so far, the avenues of obtaining the credits seemed to be abundant.


    With that done, everyone checked if there were any other things that might help and bought a few misceneous items. "Alright, should we head off?" Lin Mu asked, looking at everyone. "Let''s go. We best obtain as many credits as we can while also keeping a look out for anything unusual." Lady Kang nodded her head.


    ~SHUA~


    The group quickly left the Offering hall and mounted Little Shrubby.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The beast turned into a red blur and headed to the west.


    Their next destination was where Crown Prince Feng Shun had suspected there to be a Chimera nt hiding. There was also arge Death Qi sea there covering the mountain range, thus there was always a chance for there to be more swarms of Chimeric Beasts too.


    Along the way, Daoist Chu kept the Chimera Radar active and pointed out any Chimeric beasts that were in their path. After all, they didn''t wish to miss any credits and killed all that was in their way, whether they just be a first Tribtion Stage Chimeric Beast or higher. This time everyone hunted turn by turn, steadily gaining points. Though more often than not they encountered groups of Chimeric beasts that weren''t big enough to be called swarms. These usually had lower than a hundred Chimeric Beasts, but granted enough credits to causes everyone''s number to jump by several thousand at once.


    While they hunted all this though, Lin Mu couldn''t help but think of how things were going.


    More specifically the fact that they seemed to see no end in sight for this trial.


    ''The goal was to survive, but how long are we supposed to do that?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    He didn''t think that the way was to kill all the Chimeric Beasts, as that seemed impossible considering the fact that they kept on regenerating. And now that the Chimera nts were added to the mix, that number had increased even more.


    As such, the only factor that seemed to stay in his mind was time itself.


    ''We''ve already been here for almost two years now¡­ how long would the period for a survival trial like this would be? Five years, ten years or more?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but question.


    This amount of time was quite small for everyone present, as they all had thousands of years of longevity, but when they were in a dangerous ce like this, things could be drastically bad at any given moment.


    ''Plus there are the strangers who''ve managed to infiltrate as well¡­ If Yao Changying is involved in this, she has definitelye here for something specific.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With all the concerning and downright dangerous things that Yao Changying had done, it was clear that there was some sinister goal behind it that they were unable to perceive. The Spatial ne definitely had some major part in it that they had to figure out soon.

 Chapter 2350 The Second Chimera Plant

    Chapter 2350 The Second Chimera nt


    "Is that it?" Daoist Chu asked, as the group came to a pause in the air.


    Laying before them was a vast mountain range, half of which was drowning in a sea of Death Qi. It was dense enough that only the peaks could be seen, with the rest of the mountain body being hidden. But that wasn''t all, as one could also see dark clouds being gathered above them.


    The way these clouds moved was certainly unsettling as it wasn''t normal. The clouds were being pulled and condensed by an unknown force and seemingly rained down the Death Qi down into the mountain range. This Death Qi entered the Death Qi sea and furtherer grew it, expanding tis reaches to an unknown level.


    Just by being here, the group could feel the hair on the backs of their necks standing. Their instincts were also telling them to turn back, as if nothing woulde out of being here.


    "Yeah¡­ this is the ce." Crown Prince Feng Shun confirmed. "Though it seems to have changed by a lot." He added, looking at the dark clouds above.


    "Those not there before, were they?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Definitely not." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "But I suppose this does narrow it down for us more¡­ there''s a Chimera nt here." He stated.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu nodded.


    Considering what they had seen in the previous Chimera nt, the Death Qi clouds were amon feature of them that were summoned through the suction force of the leaves.The Crown Prince might not have seen it before and were unsure, but now that they had appeared, there was no other choice than the Chimera nt being here.


    "Well, what do we do? Drive right in, or probe a bit?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "We probe." Lady Kang stated. "That Death Qi sea is definitely hiding more than we know." She added.


    "Agreed." Lin Mu nodded with furrowed brows. "Let''s blow that thing away first." He said pointing at the sea.


    "On it!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said as his body released a wave of immortal Qi fluctuations.


    The immoral Qi wrapped around him like an azure curtain as he raised his right hand.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts!" Crown prince Feng Shun chanted as the wind elemental immortal Qi gathered around his arm, turning it into a long azure pir. "Cloud Parting Gale!" he said, shing down at the Death Qi sea.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The skill cleaved the Death Qi sea in half, as the Wind Elemental Immortal Qi turned into an Azure Blue gale, that sheared it apart.


    Even if the Death Qi sea was strong, it couldn''t stand up against the pure force of the Strong King Immortal Arts. But it was still dispersed by it in the end and about a third of the Death Qi sea was still left obscured.


    "THERE!" Ziran pointed at a strange figure at the edge. "Its still covered in Death Qi! That''s probably the Chimera nt!" he eximed.


    The others saw it too, before the Death Qi started to cover the areas again. ~SCREECH~


    But that wasn''t all, as they also had uncovered the swarms of Chimeric Beasts below it all.


    "How are the Chimeric beasts alive?" Qiao De asked.


    "That Death Qi sea is probably not covering the entire depth of the area." Elder Hu spoke. "Considering how it was split by the Crown Prince, it was probably only covering a part of the sky." He exined.


    "That''s right." Ziran nodded. "That Death Qi sea has been considered by the Chimera nt too. So it probably can control what can affect the Chimeric Beasts. I doubt it would cause the death of its own beasts by increasing the concentration by too much." He exined as well.


    Now that the group knew this, they were a lot more prepared to fight against their foe. Though they also knew that the situation was a lot different from the previous one.


    "The Chimeric beasts are in multiple swarms¡­ how many do you reckon there are?" Min Ju questioned.


    "At least a few million." Crown Princess Shang spoke, having estimated from the few looks she got. "Though we didn''t see the entirety of the area, there might be more." She added.


    "Yes," Lin Mu said a frown caressing his face. "We best target it all." He said as he drew out a bow.


    The bow released an excited aura, as if it were ready to kill all that stood in its way. This was highly urate, as Wonder Seeker had been anticipating a lot of things. Plus now that Lin Mu held it, the thought of death and destruction of the Chimera nt were smoothly transmitted to it.


    Seeing Lin Mu draw out the bow, the group already knew what they needed to do.


    "Prepare well, Daoist Mu Lin. We''ll handle making the target clear for you!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he dived into the mire.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    He raised both his hands in a ''V'' shape and shed down.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Thundering Divide!" Crown Prince Feng Shun shouted.


    His attack created two great gales that seemingly roted though the sea of the Death Qi. Even with its density, the Death Qi was forced to separate. But it also tried to join up, obscuring the path again, which was being addressed by the Crown Prince at the same time.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Viscious Lightning Lash!" Crown Prince Feng Shun chanted, as his hands seemingly turned into giant chain whips made out of lightning.


    His entire body lit up with it, while endless amounts of lightning immortal Qi flowed from his body. The air itself trembled with his force as the skill struck the ground.


    The space that was being refilled by the Death Qi from the initial attack was struck by the second skill, causing it to be overwhelmed by the lightning elemental immortal Qi. This Qi was a lot better at resisting the Death Qipared to the wind Qi and thus withstood it without a problem.


    Of course, it would still return to fill the seater, but for now, it did the work that was needed.


    "ALL IN AT ONCE!" Lady Kang shouted as the targets finally became clear.


    The obscured Death Qi finally revealed all that was hidden below.


    The Chimera nt stood tall, as if taunting all the existences that hade to taunt it. It was about six hundred meters tall and had tens of giant leaves. It had eight branches, each of which had two giant Fruiting Bodies that were all producing Chimeric Beasts without a stop.


    And of course, surrounding the Chimera nt were the swarms of the Chimeric Beasts that had been produced by it all this time. They had been standing aimlessly all this time, but with the interfering from Crown Prince Feng Shun, they soon became agitated.


    ~SCREECH~


    The Chimeric Beasts all roared in a unison and looked at the group in the sky, unaware of the doom that was headed their way. But they didn''t get to look for long, as the group soon burst into response.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~ BOOM~


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    Everyone attacked with their skills, targeting both the Chairman nt as well as the chimeric beasts all around it. Though of course, their attacks were mainly targeted towards the Chimera nt''s fruiting bodies. Crown Princess Shang and Ziran made use of the poison they had refined along with their Qi skills to deal a devastating attack while Crown Prince Feng Shun threw out one bold of lightning after the other. The same could be said for Lady Kang, who released a barrage of explosive stars that precisely targeted the vulnerability of the Chimera nt, which was the part where the Fruiting body attached to the branches of the nt.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~ ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    Of course, the Chimera nt would not take it lying and retaliated. The number of Chimeric Beasts being produced by it increased rapidly once it sensed the threat, and also started to spray out the toxic sap from its body.


    But now that the group was aware of it, they had kept a safe distance.


    Lin Mu on the other hand, kept on gathering his immortal Qi as he channeled it all into Wonder Seeker.


    ''It will have to be all or nothing¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he finally nocked the arrow he had made.


    Mortal Reminder was firmly nocked against the bowstring of Wonder Seeker, as the bow recognized the power of the arrow.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The resultant effect was a lot stronger, as the bow amplified the power of the arrow with its own effects. Mortal Reminder glowed in a dark light, as the effects started to multiply within it. Lin Mu didn''t need to observe long to know that this wouldn''tst if he held on too long.


    "This is it¡­ give the Chimera nt a Mortal Reminder, Wonder Seeker!" Lin Mu said as he finallyunched the arrow!

 Chapter 2351 Total Annihilation

    Chapter 2351 Total Annihtion


    ~TWANG~


    With a resonant sound, Mortal Reminder wasunched as the bowstring of Wonder Seeker kept on vibrating.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The arrow tore through the air, leaving behind a trail of light which was a mix of gold, green, silver and blue colors. These colors all mixed together, making it hard to perceive just what was contained in all it. But at the same time, an unsettling feeling could also be felt, as if the arrow itself was an envoy of distress.


    ~SHICK~


    The group didn''t get to see the arrow for long though, as it soon pierced into the base of the Chimera nt.


    With how the Mortal Reminder Arrow had been made, Lin Mu no longer needed to aim precisely at the weak points of the Chimera nt. The base of the Chimera nt where the roots were attached was weaker than its trunk, thus the arrow had no issues piercing through it.


    What was surprising though was the fact that Lin Mu had little to aim with the arrow, it had actually changed the path on its own, as if being guided by an unseen force. This brought the arrow to a small knotted spot at its base that had scabbed over after being injured some time in the past. While it was unknown how it had be injured, it was certainly going to be exploited now.


    ~CRACK~


    Upon piercing, the impact seemingly shattered parts of the arrow, though the impact of it was still delivered into the nt.


    Half of the arrow was buried this way, leaving the rest of the shaft outside. ''Did it work?'' everyone wondered, as they gazed at the arrow.


    The effects were not visible to them, but inside the curse of the ck Hex Raven Tears spread rapidly, seemingly corrupting the nt''s flesh. The impact also ravaged its insides as the Qi spread through it, quickly causing cracks to form in its base.


    This of course,bined with the attacks from its fruiting body, soon led to a mass destabilization of the entire Chimera nt.


    ~CRACK~CRAKC~CRACK~


    The cracks spread from the base, and met the cracksing from the branches. In just a minute, the entire chimera nt was covered in cracks, while the group quickly distanced themselves from it. They didn''t even care for the Chimeric Beasts that were trying to give them a chase, since they knew it was all useless.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby ran as fast as he could, trying to carry them away. Lin Mu urged him to do so, not knowing how dangerous it could get.


    ''This is a bigger than the previous Chimera nt. Who knows how much Death Qi it has absorbed and how big the impact of it would be.'' Lin Mu thought.


    Just the Death Qi sea it had managed to umte was massive, and if the group had dived into it without precaution, they would have certainly been affected by it a lot. Thankful they had already learned from their past experiences and could stay away from it.


    Though the same could not be said for the Chimeric beast swarms that had been produced by the Chimera nt, as they were soon swept up into the explosion.


    ~KABOOM!~


    Just as Lin Mu had expected, the explosion was a lot bigger than before. It quickly covered an area of over fifty kilometers while spreading its shockwave further than that.


    "UGH! HOLD ON!" Lin Mu warned them all as the shockwave reached them.


    ~WOONG~


    The group already had their defenses up, so they didn''t get injured from it, but the shockwave did end up helping push them away even further. Little Shrubby was unscathed too, as he was could take such an impact with no issues.


    After all, his own eleration and deceleration often delivered simr impacts.


    But the entire event still ended up with them being sent at least a hundred and fifty kilometers away!


    Lin Mu didn''t dare to stop before that, for the Death Qi sea could be observed extending further than ever before.


    If bore the sea was hovering above the ground, now it covered everything and truly turned into a ''sea''.


    "Whoa¡­" Daoist Chu exined as the group finally came to a stop high in the sky.


    From here, they could very easily see the aftereffects of the explosion. A ck mushroom shaped cloud could still be seen rising in the sky, while on the bottom, a pitch ck sea covered a massive expanse of area.


    "Amithabha¡­ this should work." Monk Hushu prayed.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~ Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    And just a few seconds after he did that, everyone''s green bands lit up.


    Numbers appeared above it before they started to jump at the speed of light.


    "We''re getting the credits!" Qiao De shouted in excitement.


    The numbers jumped nonstop for everyone, but there were still variations among them. The rising numbers stopped the first for Min Ju, and next it stopped for Qiao De. The third person was Monk Hushu, and then there were Ziran, Daoist Chu, Elder Hu in unison. The final ones to were none other than Crown Prince Feng Shun, Lady Kang and in the end, Lin Mu.


    "Heavens be blessed!" Qiao De eximed loudly upon seine his gains. "This is¡­ HUNDRED MILLION!?" he almost couldn''t believe his eyes.


    The number on his wrist had jumped by a hundred million. "What about you all?" his eyes darted around, trying topare. But once he saw what the others were getting, he was left utterly speechless.


    "Even more?!?" Qiao De saw that only he and Min Ju got simr credits, while all others got higher credits than him.


    Lin Mu was left bbergasted too, as heprehended the effect of the arrow that he had made. ''That was way better than I thought¡­'' Lin Mu reckoned as he saw the credits which had already hit nearly four hundred million!


    He was sure that this number was not just from the Chimera nt but from the Chimeric beasts that had been produced by it too, as none of them could now be seen on the Chimera Radar.

 Chapter 2352 Large Scale Destruction And Single Fragment

    Chapter 2352 Large Scale Destruction And Single Fragment


    "Did we really kill all of them?" Crown Princess Shang asked, feeling a bit doubtful.


    "Yes¡­ Or at least the Chimera Radar says so." Daoist Chu said, holding the disk in front of him.


    Everyone looked at the radar, as the cube projected all possible targets on the disk below it. While there were still several markers left on it, majority of them were in the other three directions and were far from them.


    There were still some in the west, but from the drastically lower numbers it was easy to guess that they weren''t anywhere near.


    Plus the Chimera Radar was currently focused on the vicinity from its center, and there were no Chimeric Beasts left in it. Even after having crossed over a hundred kilometer of distance, the field was still empty, showing just how far reaching and devastating the effect had been.


    All the Chimeric beasts were now umted around the edges of the disk, making it look like a red rimmed tter.


    "We really did it¡­" Crown Princess Shang said as she looked at Lin Mu with a wide smile on her face. "Your arrow worked!" she shouted out loud.


    "It didn''t just worked, it worked terrifically!" Crown Prince Feng Shun joined in.


    This was true, as they had seen the rate of damage that was caused by Mortal Reminder, aspared to their own attacks. "Perhaps if we hadn''t attacked, Mortal Reminder might have been more than enough to destroy the Chimera nt." Lady Kang stated.


    "Indeed. That arrow is indeed the perfect bane for the Chimera nt." Ziran agreed as well.


    "I''m pleased that you all find it eptable." Lin Mu replied in gratitude. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    "eptable? This is simply marvelous!" Daoist Chu spurred the man on. "If it was merely eptable, then killing a peak immortal might not be enough either." Heughed.


    This was rather urate, as the power of the Chimera nt was no less than that. While they hadn''t given it a chance to retaliate much due to their quick action, it was certain from the energy fluctuations as well as the Chimeric Beasts surrounding it that the nt was quite strong.


    If they had fought it in the usual way, they would probably have ended up struggling someway along.


    But their decisive action and previous experience had allowed them toe out on top and prevail.


    The credits they had gained from it were an evidence of it all, as everyone had gained at least a hundred million credits, which was even greater than that of a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chimeric beasts. This still left them stunned though.


    "Looks like we got a part of the credits from the deaths of the Chimeric Beasts too." Elder Hu spoke, having analyzed the situation.


    "Possibly." Lin Mu nodded. "I don''t think we would have gained these many credits from the Chimera nt alone." He said finding it iparable.


    Perhaps from the total credits they had all gained, only half of them were from the Chimera nt itself, while the rest were from the Chimeric Beasts they had produced. But while this may be a surprise, it was a greatly weed one and they were all happy from it. Especially Lin Mu for he had gained a greater amount than all of them.


    ''I''m almost half away there to my goal of a billion credits. If we managed to hunt down at least three, or even two more Chimera nts like this, I should have more than enough to buy the Heaven Silencing Seal.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    The others had simr thoughts, as they all now had reached quite far in buying the things they wished for. In fact, many of them could already start buying them considering the fact that they all had a minimum of a hundred million credits each.


    The group rejoiced in their gains while the situation at the location of the Chimera nt somewhat calmed down. After about thirty minutes or so, Lin Mu decided that it was enough to move.


    "Let''s go see if we can gain any more fragments from the Chimera nt." Lin Mu stated. "If we can get even one, it can be a great gain." Having seen the power of the arrow, he yearned for more of them to be kept in his repertoire.


    "Of course!" Crown Prince Feng Shun replied, knowing that the fragments of the Chimera nt were now a material of strategic importance to them.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu rushed over there with the rest of the group in tow, as he extended his Immortal Sense. There were still small clouds of Death Qi spread in the area, but most of them had still merged into the sea of Death Qi below. This time though, the Mountain Range could be seen a lot better¡­ at least of what was left of it.


    About half of the mountains had been eliminated due to the explosion, leaving nothing but a crater zone while the other half of the mountains had either copsed or had their size reduced. Only the mountains beyond the hundred kilometer mark were still standing and rtively unaffected.


    All in all, the ground had sunk by who knew how many meters as it was simply impossible to observe from mere sight. Using Immortal Sense to gauge it was also impossible as the Death Qi that was now filling it made it deadly.


    ''Considering the fact that the explosion of the Chimera nt had spread all along its roots, this area was quite densely covered by the Chairman nt.'' Lin Mu thought about observing the Death Qi sea which was a lot more defined aspared to before.


    He could see clear margins that separated it from the mountains, as well as parts that extended outwards, hinting that there were roots below it before.


    Lin Mu kept his Spatial Perception active in all this, as he searched for any fragments of the Chimera nt. Minute after minute passed and the time turned into hours before Lin Mu finally saw something eight hourster!

 Chapter 2353 Three Months Into The West

    Chapter 2353 Three Months Into The West


    "Only one?" Lin Mu scooped up the fragment with Bending Will Fist''s wind, and quickly stored it away.


    "What kind of fragment is it?" Crown Princess Shang asked as she waited for Lin Mu to show them.


    ~SHUA~


    He withdrew it from the ring, and showed it to them.


    "Oh? A bark fragment." Ziran quicklypared the patterns an textured on the fragment.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "This will be good for us." The fragment was about two and a half inches long and two inches wide with irregr margins. It was the perfect size for Lin Mu to make an Arrow tip out of and creating an entire Mortal Reminder Arrow with it won''t be a problem. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "Are there no more?" Monk Hushu asked as he looked down at the newly formed Death Qi sea.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "I had hoped there would be, but the power of Mortal Reminder is possibly too great for anything to be left intact. Even if there is something, it might have sank deep into the ground, unable to rise up." He answered.


    "I see¡­ Amithabha, whatever the heavens wish for us, we have to ept." The Monk brought his hands together in prayer.


    "Indeed." Ziran said as he nced at the Death Qi sea below. "I don''t suppose we have anything more to wait here for?" he inquired.


    "None whatsoever." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before looking further into west. "We can of onwards, since we were forced to halt here before." He suggested.


    "That might be good, perhaps there are more Chimera nts there." Qiao De was now highly enthusiastic about the point gain from it all.


    "Maybe we might even find more traces of the strangers here." Elder Hu reminded. "We cannot forget about them. Those Yin Nascent Soul maggots are far too dangerous to let em be." He added.


    "Elder Hu is right, we should definitely investigate further." Lady Kang agreed too.


    With that said, the group waited no longer and sped away on Little Shrubby''s back.


    ~WHOOSH~


    They did have to avoid the Death Qi Sea a bit but after a few hours; they managed to traverse it safely.


    The Chimera Radar was watched carefully by them, as they sought out every Chimeric beast they could with it. Their goal was to get as many credits as possible while also looking for the signs of the strangers, thus they did just that.


    Beast after beast was killed, as the group went on an extermination spree in the Spatial ne. With the confidence that was backed by Mortal Reminder made by Lin Mu, they didn''t fearing across a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm chimeric beast or a Chimera nt. After all, they had all witnessed its power and knew that it was a trump card that could ensure their victory.


    In this time, Lin Mu also utilized the newly acquired bark fragment from the Chimera nt and made the third Mortal Reminder Arrow. Since he already had theponents ready in his storage, he didn''t need to do too much work.


    The only sensitive part was the use of ck Hex Raven Tears to ''curse'' the arrow tips. But since they were outside, Lin Mu didn''t have to be as careful with it and did it in record time. Having done that assembling the rest of the arrow was a lot simpler.


    Lin Mu even added the Herbsbane Poison to it to make it even more lethal. After all, he know if all attacks would be favorable for him and whether he''d be able to hit a Chimera nt in its roots every time. Just in case he was blocked or missed, hitting the trunk or the branches, he still wished for the damage to be dealt.


    Thus it was in his favor to make the arrows strong as possible.


    And since he knew the power of a basic Mortal Reminder Arrow, he knew the arrow with Herbsbane would only be stronger.


    The group hunted Chimeric Beasts for over three months, in which they gained a good amount of credits. While it wasn''t as high as the amount they gained from the death of the Chimera nt and its swarm of Chimeric Beasts, they still managed to get a minimum of forty million credits each, with Lady Kang getting the highest, reaching almost ny million credits.


    Lin Mu on the other hand, reached four hundred and fifty million credits with it, and was feeling very optimistic about reaching his goal.


    The group continued to go further west and was now at least three thousand kilometers away from their base. They could have done farther than that, but since they were making sure to kill every Chimeric Beast on their path, the progression wasn''t exactly straight. They did a lot of circling around as well as zigzag routes to exterminate all that they could.


    But while they obtained a lot of credits, they didn''t see any signs of the strangers. Of course, that was until the fourth month where they discovered the third offering hall!


    "It has a barrier around it made from Baleful energy." Lin Mu noticed. "Only one barrier though." Monk Hushu narrowed his eyes. "Unlike the first one." He said before sensing the faint traces of a foreign energy.


    "Someone''s definitely been there." Elder Hu said, his instincts told him.


    "Let''s look around," Lin Mu said and the group quickly scanned the area.


    A couple minutester, they found what they were looking for.


    "Someone broke the first barrier, but it wasn''t done in a normal way." Monk Hushu was the one to find this peculiarity. "How did they do it?" Qiao De asked.


    "Instead of purifying or purging the Baleful Energy, they seemed to have absorbed it instead." Monk Hushu answered, making the others surprised.


    "Absorbed? Who can absorb the Baleful energy?" Qiao De muttered before Lin Mu spoke. "That maggot¡­ the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot was definitely capable of it." This made the group rmed as they quickly looked at the ground.

 Chapter 2354 A Tiny Trace Of Strangers And Third Offering Hall

    Chapter 2354 A Tiny Trace Of Strangers And Third Offering Hall


    Lin Mu used his immortal sense and scanned the ground, trying to see if there was anything hidden underground like before.


    But after checking for kilometer he didn''t find anything.


    "There''s nothing¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun who had been looking spoke.


    "I can''t sense anything either." Lady Kang stated before looking at Lin Mu who was now observing with his Spatial Perception.


    "There really isn''t anything down there." Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "The maggot either left or wasn''t here in the first ce." He added.


    "It might have been those strangers absorbing it, perhaps." Monk Hushu said as he observed the second barrier. "I can feel the second barrier being a bit weak¡­ a part of it was definitely absorbed too." He said after confirming.


    The group discussed about it a bit beforeing to a hypothetical scenario.


    "Looks like they tried to break the barriers by absorbing it, but had to stop due to either hitting a limit, or being forced away." Lin Mu stated. "How long ago do you think they were here?" Daoist Chu questioned.


    "That''s really hard to tell." Lin Mu replied. "Little Shrubby has been unable to smell anything particr either. So they were either here too long ago, or their smell was erased due to the Death Qi or the chimeric beasts." He exined.


    "There are no footprints or any other traces." Elder Hu noted, having scoured the ce already.


    "Can you get your snakes to check?" Crown Princess Shang asked, knowing how they had done it before.


    "Let me try," Lin Mu replied before calling out Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins knew their task and quickly got to work.


    Xiao Yin opened her mouth and sucked, drawing out all the traces of darkness she could. While Xiao Yang tried to look for anything else that might be present in the area.


    ~SHUA~


    As Xiao Yin continued to suck, she finally drew out a lone wisp of dark energy. It was tiny and was like a blot of ink floating in the air.


    Against the dark backdrop of the ground. It would have been impossible to spot it if not for Xiao Yin''s control.


    "Its the same one as before." Xiao Yin informed Lin Mu.


    "They were here." Lin Mu now had confirmation. "Since there''s just one trace here, they probably came here a long item ago." Crown Prince Feng Shun guessed. "Indeed." Lin Mu thought the same. "And considering we didn''t see any signs of them on the way here, perhaps there might be further ahead." He stated.


    "Could be¡­ We''ll go look around." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before ncing at Monk Hushu. "Will you clear out the barrier in the meantime?" he asked.


    "I shall." Monk Hushu agreed directly.


    "Good, we can replenish some resources and buy more things." Ziran suggested. The group had used a decent share of materials in their journey. After all, they had been fighting without much of a break, and had ended up using Immortal stones as well as some Alchemical pills to restore their injuries. While these had been mostly minor injuries, they all knew to not let them umte. After all, there was no telling when the situation could turn on their heads and the danger woulde pouring in onto them.


    The Chimera nts were hidden underground and one could very well sprout from right under them¡­ at least theoretically.


    Thus Lin Mu and Crown Prince Feng Shun decided to restore their injuries as soon as they got any.


    Their use of pills had been liberal, and over the three months of time, they had utilized a decent amount of them. Lin Mu and Lady Kang might not have been impacted as much due to their very ''abundant'' stockpiles, but that didn''t mean it was the same for others.


    Even the two nobles, didn''t couldn''t keep on using the pills like this if they kept on hunting for several more months. As such, it was best for them to replenish them when the opportunity presented itself.


    Plus with the Offering Hall right in front of them, they''d be fools to not take advantage of it. Another factor was that with the credits for everyone exceeding a hundred million at the minimum, they could actually buy a few of the things they had been yearning for since the start.


    Even the bloodline essence crystal of the Four Guardian Beasts didn''t seem to be too far from their reach now. While they didn''t know if they werepatible with the bloodlines, buying one and keeping it with them was still a massive gain. They could very well exchange it for something elseter on, or improve the power of their own people.


    For Lady Kang, something like this was highly valuable as she would be able to provide it to someone among her n or her personal servants.


    Qiao De on the other hand simply wanted to sell one if he couldn''t use it himself.


    Getting a bloodline of a Guardian Beast was something that was virtually beyond his reach in normal times. But now that he had the chance to get it, he would definitely get it.


    ''If I manage to obtain it, I can easily be the head manager of the ck Candle Pavilion for the entire Rust Sky world!'' Qiao De could almost imagine it.


    Of course he stillcked the necessary credits and was barely halfway there to buying one. But at the rate things were going, he had great hopes of obtaining it.


    Lady Kang though, bought other materials that coulde in handy either now orter for her n.


    Ziran also bought some things he had his eyes on, and the same could be said for the others.


    Lin Mu was the only one who saved his credits, as his goal was at the very top and it needed a lot more umtion.


    Monk Hushu and Lin Mu cleared out the barrier in a few hours, while the rest of the group searched the area for any more traces.

 Chapter 2355 Spiky Chimeric Beast And Impaled Clue

    Chapter 2355 Spiky Chimeric Beast And Impaled Clue


    The group had gathered at the third Offering Hall now, and was discussing their finds, having finished buying the things they wished for.


    "Nothing." Crown Prince Feng Shun was the first to report.


    "Hmm¡­ Same for me." Ziran said before the others spoke too.


    "I didn''t find anything other than more Chimeric beasts." Daoist Chu stated. "Though, I think there is a rather strong Chimeric Beast nearby." He added.


    "How strong?" Crown Princess Shang questioned.


    "Considering the size of the marker on the Chimera Radar, at least a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm beast." Daoist Chu stated. The man had been adding more samples of Chimeric Beasts to the radar, thus the uracy had be a lot better. Now not only did the Chimera Radar show the positions of Chimeric Beasts, it could urately filter them based on cultivation base as well as look for specific ones. "Well, if it''s nearby we may as well kill it," Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "That''s another ten million credits for one of us." "Follow me then!" Daoist Chu said as he took to the skies.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    The others followed, and after about an hour, they reached the location of the Chimeric Beast. "Huh¡­ that''s a new one." Ziran said, looking at the Chimeric Beast''s body.


    It was like a mix between a porcupine and a bear. Its entire back had thousands of spikes, while its belly was full of ck fur.


    The Chimeric Beast was currently sleeping and was the perfect target for the group.


    "Who''s turn is it now?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Mine." Ziran said. "I''ll need some help though, I can''t kill it in one hit." He added.


    "Of course." Crown prince Feng Shun said as he raised his hand, condensing a thunderbolt on it.


    They had done this hundreds of times by now and had be used to the process.


    ~BZZT~


    The thunderbolt from Crown Prince Feng Shun struck the Porcupine Bear Hybrid Chimeric Beast and paralyzed it, while Lin Mu cut off its legs and Lady Kang exploded its arms.


    Elder Hu punched it square on its chest, causing it to be flipped on its back and get stuck on the ground due to its spiky back.


    "ROAR!" The Chimeric beast got little time to scream before Ziran thrust his arm that was covered in vines.


    The vines were covered in tiny thorns that all moved like fine drills, while the vines moved in a spiral too.


    ~SPLAT~


    The chimeric beast''s chest was pierced through, while the vines spread and ripped its insides soon after.


    ~SHUA~


    A few secondster, its life was ended and the credits were granted to Ziran.


    "There we go," Lin Mu said, putting his swords away, seeing that the beast was truly dead.


    "We''re getting faster now." Daoist Chumented. "We sure are." Qiao De agreed.


    ~SNIFF~


    It was now that Little Shrubby smelled something.


    "On its back¡­ there''s something stuck with the smell of human blood." He informed Lin Mu right away.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and followed Little Shrubby''s line of sight.


    "What is it?" the others saw Lin Mu approaching the Chimeric Beast.


    "Just a minute," Lin Mu said as he held the corpse.


    ~HUA~


    He pulled out the Chimeric Beast from the ground and flipped it over.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu let go of it, causing it tond with a loud thud before he quickly checked the back of the dead Chimeric Beast.


    "There." Lin Mu scanned the beast''s back and quickly found something stuck at the base of one of the spines.


    "Is that¡­" the others saw it too and narrowed their eyes.


    ~SHICK~


    Lin Mu pulled out the object, which was part of a human torso!


    It had been embedded deeply in the spike and contained what looked like the left arm of a persona. Most of the chest part had rotted away, and if not for the robes that held it in ce, the arm might have fallen away before too.


    "Someone was unfortunate." Qiao De couldn''t help but say seeing the state of the arm. It had been impaled at some point and had been stuck there for a long time. "This is at least seven or eight months old." Lin Mu said after judging the state of deterioration. The flesh of an immortal didn''t rot as fast as mortals, thus it had managed tost this long. Not to mention, it wasn''t buried, thus the dposition had been slower than usual.


    "Looks like the Chimeric beast was unable to extract it from its back." Ziran could tell by seeing the physique of the creature.


    It wouldn''t exactly be able to ''scratch'' its back.


    "Wait, what''s that under it?" It was now that Elder Hu noticed something.


    He lifted the edge of the tattered robe and revealed a silver patch underneath it.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu observed it and found it to be a lot different from the rest of the robe''s remains.


    The robe''s ck color could be made out despite the bloodstains on it, thus the silver patch stood out easily. Even with the blood and rotten flesh tainting it, the color was hard to miss.


    Lin Mu wiped it, revealing its proper appearance.


    The silver patch had a unique texture of ovepping waves. "This isn''t a fabric." Lin Mu said after feeling it.


    Ziran touched it too and quickly figured out what it was. "Fish skin.. Strange choice." "Is that a defensive armor of some kind?" Qiao De asked, having knowledge of soft inner armors that were used by cultivators.


    Lin Mu scanned the patch, but didn''t sense any traces of runes on it.


    "No runes, but they might have been erased over time." Lin Mu replied. "Though considering its position, this could have been part of an armor." He added.


    Lady Kang watched it closely, feeling that it wasn''t as normal as it looked. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "Wait, a second¡­" Crown Princess Shang thought of something and took out a small bottle from her storage.


    ~POP~


    Opening its cork, she dripped a single drop of a clear fluid onto the fish skin patch.


    ~HISS~

 Chapter 2356 A Black Fin Islands Member

    Chapter 2356 A ck Fin Inds Member


    The drop made a swizzling sound as soon as it made contact with the fish skin patch. The colorless fluid turned green before turning dark grey while releasing a foul smell. Seeing this, Crown Princess Shang''s eyes narrowed and she spoke.


    "I didn''t expect them to be involved this far." She said before looking at Crown Prince Feng Shun. "This Fish skin¡­ it has the traces of the poison that the ck Fin Inds'' people use." She revealed.


    Hearing that, the Crown Prince was stunned before a deep frown appeared on his face.


    "Looks like there is a ny-nine percent involvement of Yao Changying in this then." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated having known just how deep the involvement between the two parties went.


    The ck Fin Inds were a vassal state of the Holy Topaz Dynasty and Yao Changying had made use of their people to interfere in the tournament. They had been using poison to weaken opponents so that thetter fights would be easier for their people.


    But other than that, their motives were quite unclear.


    They also used to be the ''hidden knife'' of the Holy Topaz Dynasty in the past, but had long since been ''abandoned''. These assassins which had lost their purpose had now been brought back into the service by Yao Changying, using her authority as the niece of the Holy Topaz Emperor.


    "It really is them?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that he would be encountering them all the way in the Spatial ne now. "Didn''t they all leave or disappeared before Yao Changying even became wanted?" he asked.


    "Perhaps Yao Changying had given them orders beforehand to leave or what to do if things went south. Considering she hadn''t been caught all this time, and we are now seeing these traces of her powers and people here, it''s safe to assume that she managed to get out of the Dao Wind Continent." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "How would she leave though?" Daoist Chu asked. "She didn''t just have the Empire behind her, but also the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts." He added.


    In response to this, Crown Prince Feng Shun looked at Qiao De.


    "That one way teleportation array you used¡­ do you have any information about others that might still be active?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned.


    "That is hard to tell." Qiao De answered. "While I don''t know where they are, it is almost a guarantee there are more. There were sales of a couple of such arrays over a decade ago. I do not have proper information on them since they happened in the ck Candle Pavillion''s Holy Topaz Dynasty branch, but we may as well think they are the same." He exined.


    With such signs in front of them, Lin Mu and the Crown Prince were pretty much convinced about Yao Changying''s involvement here.


    "If we consider that she''s here¡­ and has more people with her, how do you think she entered?" Lin Mu questioned. "Or rather¡­ what is her goal?" "Isn''t it the Celestial''s treasure?" Elder Hu stated as a matter of fact. "With how many valuable and legendary items are present as a reward, it makes sense that she would want something from here." "Additionally, those strange and dangerous techniques she uses seem to be highlypatible with the environment here." Monk Hushu gave his observation. "It could also be possible that she''s here for that and the Death Qi." He added.


    Both these options seemed to be highly probably though it could also be a case where multiple answers were correct.


    "Whatever might be the case, one thing is sure¡­. We cannot let Yao Changying be." Crown Princess Shang said, her old grudge visible in her eyes. "I will not let that bitch live." She cursed through her teeth.


    Both these options seemed to be highly probably though it could also be a case where multiple answers were correct.


    "Whatever might be the case, one thing is sure¡­. We cannot let Yao Changying be." Crown Princess Shang said, her old grudge visible in her eyes. "I will not let that bitch live." She cursed through her teeth. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "She is far too dangerous to be left alive, for sure." Crown Prince Feng Shun was in an agreement.


    With this, a new goal had now been added to the group''s objectives, and it was to find Yao Changying and eliminate her.


    "First things, first, we need to figure out how she got in." Ziran streamlined the conversation. "Since she didn''t enter from the trials as we did, there''s definitely a secondary entrance or a w that was exploited." He hypothesized.


    "Will you be able to detect something like this, Daoist Mu Lin?" Lady Kang asked, looking over with some expectation.


    "As long as I''m near the location, I should be able to sense it." Lin Mu answered, much to their pleasure. "With the level of arrays that this ce has, I''m sure there would be a major disturbance that I might be able to make out." He added.


    "Good, looks like we''ll just have to look out for that, then." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before turning to the west. "And I have a hunch that we might be in the right direction." "You think they might havee from the west?" Lin Mu could see what the Crown Prince was hinting at.


    So far, they had been getting new clues the further they went west, thus the assumption was not too far off.


    "Yes. The Offering Hall with an iplete barrier, the remains of a ck Fin Inds member on the Chimeric Beast, then the camp we discovered wit the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot and finally the Second Offering hall with the Cyclopean Chimeric Beast guarding it far in the east¡­ doesn''t it seem like a progression of some kind?" Crown Prince Feng Shun borated.


    "Now that you put it like that¡­ it does seem awfully like they had been adapting to this ce." Ziran could see it all happening. "The age of the remains also matches the time line somewhat. This is the oldest clue we''ve obtained so far." He added.


    "Then we should head further west. Perhaps we might find more clues to it all¡­ maybe even the entrance they took." Lady Kang spurred them on.


    "Very well." Lin Mu said as he jumped onto Little Shrubby''s back.

 Chapter 2357 The Edge Of The Plane

    Chapter 2357 The Edge Of The ne


    Lin Mu and the group searched far into the west, for any signs of Yao Changying and her people. But they found little after the third offering hall.


    There were some scattered traces of Withering Dao but they were far too part to tell a pattern, or hint at where they might havee from. As such, all they could do was to throw a wide and search every ce possible.


    Two months went by like this, during which the group continued to hunt as many Chimeric Beasts as possible and grow their stores of credits. They did find a fourth Offering hall in this period too, but there were no signs of the ck Fish ind members or Yao Changying being there.


    The entire offering hall had been surrounded by two barriers, just like the very first one Monk Hushu had encountered. They even scoured the area in detail over and over, just to make sure they hadn''t missed anything, but there truly was no sign of Yao Changying or her people.


    At that point, they just reckoned that this might just be an undiscovered ce.


    Another month passed after this and they went quite far, having covered almost ten thousand kilometers of distance by this time since they traveled on Little Shrubby at his maximum speed. They did this since the number of Chimeric Beasts in this region had decreased by a drastic level.


    In fact, they would go for a day or two seeing not even a single one which was shocking. As such they reckoned that this area was certainly special and traveled past it as fast as possible.


    In all, the group was over twenty thousand kilometers away from their base, which showed just how massive this entire Bridge ne was.


    It was around the end of the third year that they finally reached what looked to be the end of the Bridge ne.


    Lin Mu stood at the edge of a giant ravine that extended for as far as their vision went. "Is this it?" Daoist Chu asked as he tried to look past it. But all that was there was utter darkness¡­ an endless abyss that could not beprehended.


    "Is that not just Death Qi?" Qiao De asked, as the darkness seemed very simr to Death Qi walls.


    "No¡­" Lin Mu shook his head. "While the initialyer is indeed Death Qi, there is ''nothing'' beyond that other than the fabric of space surrounding this ne." He answered.


    "What would happen if one touches it?" Qiao De asked next. "Can someone leave through it?"


    "They can." Lin Mu nodded his head. "As long as they can get past the Celestial level arrays that are hidden inside it of course." His Spatial Perceptions as active as he observed the massive array that was spread in the Spatial Fabric.


    It was hard to perceive, but by extrapting and condensing arge area into small parts, Lin Mu could somewhat tell it was there.


    "Do you think Yao Changying entered from here?" Crown Princess Shang inquired.


    "Since we''re at the edge of the ne, we may as well patrol the borders and see if we find anything." Lin Mu suggested as an answer.


    "We may as well." Crown Prince Feng Shun didn''t mind.


    The group split up and one went up, while one went down. Lin Mu went down along with Crown Prince Feng Shun, Lady Kang, and Min Ju, while the rest went upwards with the exception of Daoist Chu who sat in the original spot, acting as amunication ry for the two groups in case they went so far that the transmission became difficult.


    Thankfully, it never reached that point and only two dayster Lin Mu discovered the biggest clue so far.


    "What in the¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shu eximed as he saw what was quite literally a hole in the sky!


    "That''s the entrance, isn''t it?" Lady Kang asked, finding it almost screaming at them.


    "Yes." Lin Mu nodded a bewildered expression on his face. "That''s a rift in the Spatial Fabric." "Can we leave through that?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "I think what''s more important is how did that open?" Lady Kang questioned instead. "And how is it still open?" From their understanding of the arrays so far, a rift like this should have been repaired automatically and should not have existed for more than a short time. But it was still here after what was literally over a year.


    "I don''t know how it opened, as I cannot tell the exactly w in the array." Lin Mu answered honestly. "But I can say for sure we cannot leave through it." "We can''t? So what does that hole do?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned.


    "That rift might have led to the Rust Sky World before, but now it is only connected to the void. If you try to go out, you''ll be lost in some unknown corner of the Great Void." Lin Mu exined. "I think the array tried to repair the w and only fixed the ''outer'' entrance into the Rust Sky world and now only the inner entrance that connected to the void is left." He added.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun frowned as this was no longer a viable option for leaving.


    This was something they had been discussing more and moretely, as there had been no sign of the trial ending. It had now been three years since they had entered and in total they had been on the expedition for almost over four years now. Though Ziran did say that there might be some discrepancies in the time and they might have been gone for longer than that.


    While they had known the expedition could take this long, what they didn''t expect was for there to be no sign or clue on how to end it. For now they had the task of obtaining more rewards from the Offering Hall, but once they had finished that goal they would still be stuck.Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 2358 Yearning For Bloodlines\

    Chapter 2358 Yearning For Bloodlines


    The group gathered and looked at the rift, as they discussed what to do next. Since this was not an option to leave, they decided to leave it be and return to their base.


    "We should head to the Second Offering Hall and go further west from there. That was where the most recent traces of Yao Changying and her people were, so we might be able to find more things there," Lin Mu said after listening to everyone.


    "Agreed." Daoist Chu nodded.


    "We aren''t gaining any credits here anyway. There are basically no Chimeric beastsing to this part of the ne." Qiao De had been an uneasy feeling that he hadn''t gained any credits in a while, especially when he was very close to his goal of buying a bloodline of a guardian beast!


    At the previous offering halls he had bought some of the things he had desired, and now his sights were set on the bloodline of the Guardian beast.


    The same could be said for a few others too, as they had been buying what they desired. Those who wanted smaller things with lower cost had already obtained several of them, while those with costs items were yet to buy them.


    Qiao De had both cheap and expensive things he wished to buy, and he had thus bought the cheap ones first that could be of a use early on for him. After all, if he didn''t survive the trial, it would all be useless to buy something expensive he couldn''t use.


    This was certainly the case for a bloodline, especially one of a very high rank, such as something from the Four Guardian beasts.


    If one wished to assimte a bloodline like that, not only would they need a safe ce, they would also need several people supporting them just in case things went bad. Plus, assimting a bloodline like that could very well take a long time, and it was something they didn''t have the luxury here.


    As such, assimting any bloodline woulde with a risk that none of them could take here.


    Not to mention, Qiao De didn''t have the illusion of being able to assimte a bloodline from one of the Four Guardian beasts anyway. He knew about his talent and that his chances of being able to do something like that were abysmally low.


    Instead, a better option for him was to sell the bloodline and thenmission a bloodline expert to seek out the perfect bloodline for him and help him assimte that. Lady Kang''s case was also simr, where she had no desire to assimte the bloodline of a Guardian beast. With her wealth, if she really wished for it she could have very well obtained a bloodline on a simr level if not the same. But she hadn''t, as her goals were simply different. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    Though she knew of several others in her n and among her people that could make great use of a guardian beast''s bloodline, thus she would dly obtain one for them if she could.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun had already obtained the Immortal Paragon Ring thus, his credits were the lowest among them all, but they had still managed to reach over a hundred million again. He too, wished for a bloodline, but it wasn''t that of a guardian beast. Instead, his eyes were on a bloodline that was a few notches lower and cost two hundred and ny million credits.


    It was the bloodline of a Thundering Hurricane Falcon!


    It was a bloodline that was perfectlypatible with him, who had the dual elemental affinity of wind and lightning while also cultivating the Storm King Immortal Arts.


    This was a bloodline that was entually prescribed among the suitable bloodlines in the Storm King Immortal Arts, along with the others such as Thunder Pool Serpent, Fragrant Gale Crane, Rising Storm Eagle and several more.


    The choice of the bloodline depended on factors such as what kind of Dao Embryos one was able toprehend, as well as their bodily conditions.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun had already been tested before and had determined a few options for him. Among them, the Thundering Hurricane Falcon was the best for him, but he had been unable to obtain it simply due to the fact that they had long since gone extinct!


    In fact, even in the time of Storm King Shirong, only a few of them were left and thest of them had been killed by one of the descendants of the Storm King himself.


    Thus, Crown Prince Feng Shun had been hoping to either find something else that might suit him, or in the long shot, wait till he reached the Celestial Realm and acquire a Celestial Level bloodline instead.


    Of course, thetter was just a dream, but he still had hopes for it.


    Though it wasn''t too far off, as the Thundering Hurricane Falcon bloodline could actually evolve to be a Celestial level bloodline in the future too. It was said that it contained a trace of bloodline from the Roc race!


    The Roc Race was a legendary race of bird beasts that was said to have affinities to multiple elements like Metal, Wind, Lightning, and even the Space itself!


    As such, they had multiple variants and could control various elements, as well as Daos. The one that the Thundering Hurricane Falcon''s bloodline could potentially evolve into was the Great Tempest Wing Roc!


    If Crown Prince Feng Shun acquired and assimted the Thundering Hurricane Falcon bloodline, his future path would be set and he wouldn''t need to wander anymore. He could simply focus on gathering what was needed and proceed.


    With such goals in everyone''s minds, they made their way back to the base as they continued to harvest the credits.


    What they didn''t know was that the other party they were searching for had already be aware of their presence.


    At the location of the Second Offering Hall, a beautiful woman with cold eyes stood along with what looked like hundreds of ck robed individuals.


    "The one eyed Chimeric Beast is dead¡­"

 Chapter 2359 Secretive Enemies

    Chapter 2359 Secretive Enemies


    The cold eyed woman stood with a still expression for a few seconds, as she gazed at the remains of the dead Cyclopean Chimeric Beast. There wasn''t much left other than a few bones, but the crater told them a lot about what had happened.


    "Your majesty, looks like our initial suspicion of someone being here weren''t unwarranted." A man dressed in a ck robe spoke while kneeling.


    His face was covered just like all the other ck robed individuals. All that could be seen was his dark brown eyes along with a small fin shaped motif that was woven into the chest. The other ck robed people didn''t have this fin motif, instead they all had fish scale headbands that they wore over their headgear.


    Those that had been present at the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts would quickly recognize them to all be members of the ck Fin Ind. "How many people do we have left here?" The cold eyed woman questioned.


    "Among the ck Fin Ind members we have roughly four hundred people, and those that were recruitedter number six hundred." The man with the fin motif answered.


    "How many have died so far?" The woman asked next.


    "About a quarter of the people we originally came with have died. Though the second batch is doing better and only ten percent of them have died." The man replied quickly as if he had already practiced all these answers.


    "A thousand¡­" The cold eyed woman muttered to herself as the look in her eyes changed. From the still look, they suddenly became full of emotion. But the emotion in them was drastically different; it was that of panic and fear!


    This look didn''tst long though, as just a couple secondster the still look in the woman''s eyes returned, as if what had happened before was just an illusion.


    None of the individuals present around her were looking at her, thus they didn''t notice the change in her expression. But if they had, they would be quite stunned as they had never seen their mistress with that look. "How many ''experiments'' are still being nurtured?" the cold eyed woman asked, this time looking at the man.


    "We have fifty eight ''experiments'' still running and among them one had sessfully reached a stable state. We reckon it would be ready to be used in a month''s time." The man answered. "Only one?" The woman raised her brows. "Weren''t there two close to finishing?" she asked coldly.


    This made the man tremble, but he still answered faithfully.


    "The second experiment had to be abandoned due to the attack of the Chimeric Beasts, but it was still being nurtured without our interference. But a short while ago when we went to check on it, all we saw was a scene of destruction and no sign of the experiment left." The ck robed man said before showing the image of the location.


    The cold eyed woman looked at it for a few seconds, observing every inch of it before a frown appeared. "It''s them again¡­" She said seeing the simr level of destruction. "Looks like we''ll have to get rid of these people." She stated.


    "The rest of our members are searching for them as we speak mistress." The man answered.


    "Good¡­ No one interferes in my n¡­ No one can wrong me, Yao Changying." She said, venom dripping from her every word.


    "Of course! Her Majesty''s words are absolute!" The man said loudly.


    "Her Majesty''s words are absolute!" The others repeated. "Her Majesty''s will shall be done!" they proimed.


    Yao Changying looked at her people for a second before turning around and pointing at the air.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Three grey wisps were released from her finger and they drilled into the air.


    ~HUALA~


    A few momentster, a triangr gate appeared with each hole as the vertex. Yao Changying stepped into the gate and paused for a moment before speaking, "continue nurturing the experiment and gather the credits. We''ll be able to know what we need soon." With those parting words, Yao Changying fully entered the gate, and it closed behind her, leaving no trace of anything.


    Lin Mu and the others had no idea that they had targets painted on their backs and that there were already people searching for them. All they knew was that they needed to get rid of the other party and the first clue for that was to reach the Second Offering Hall.


    Having already explored this area, their journey back was rtively smooth. They had already recorded most of the Death Qi boundaries in the area and had also cleared out all the Chimeric Beasts they hade across.


    Thus, on the way back, they didn''t get to harvest that many credits, but it was still a decent number such that they were going to be able to buy the bloodlines and other items they wished for soon.


    It took them about a month''s time to reach the base with Little Shrubby''s speed, where they rested for a day before continuing onwards to the second offering hall. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    This time the time needed was just a few days and upon reaching there, they quickly entered the hall to buy things.


    "Finally¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun said with great excitement as he spent all his credits to obtain the Thundering Hurricane Falcon Bloodline.


    The bloodline essence crystal wasrger than most, being about the size of an apple. Within the bloodline crystal, one could faintly make out the image of a bird surrounded by wind and lightning.


    It didn''t take much for one to confirm that this was indeed the Thundering Hurricane Falcon Bloodline.


    "I can''t wait to get a bloodline too." Qiao De said with slight envy. "I''m still short a few million credits, though." He looked at his number that was hovering at the two hundred and ny five million mark.


    "You''ll reach there in no time." Lin Mu replied. "Though I suppose we should start searching for traces of our foes."

 Chapter 2360 Ambushed Apart

    Chapter 2360 Ambushed Apart


    Having finished their business inside the Offering Hall, Lin Mu and the group stood in front of it.


    "Should we split up again?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Yes, that might be good. We should begin with getting a detailed analysis of the area in at least a two hundred kilometer radius first." Lin Mu replied before looking at the eastern direction. "Once we have the area cleared, we can continue heading to the east and see if we find any more traces." He added.


    "Just like we did for the west." Crown Prince Feng Shun who was feeling quite ecstatic after buying the Thundering Hurricane Falcon Blood Essence Crystal said with great excitement.


    He was ready to hunt anything that stood in his way as well as kill all those that tried to oppose them. In his mind, he also wished to return to the Rust Sky World as he wished to assimte the bloodline as soon as possible.


    Of course, he would still wait for hispanions to obtain their needed items but his goal was also to find a way out now. The group soon split up after this and went in three directions with only Daoist Chu staying put at the Offering hall, acting as the ry point for everyone again. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    Lin Mu, Ziran and Monk Hushu went to the east, Crown Princess Shang, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Qiao De went south, while the rest went to the north.


    Though they didn''t know that several sets of eyes were already watching their every move and were following them.


    Lin Mu, Ziran and Monk Hushu were about a hundred kilometers from the Offering hall and were hunting a group of Chimeric Beasts that they had spotted.


    "It''s your turn, Daoist Mu Lin." Monk Hushu reminded.


    "Ah, yeah." Lin Mu said as he drew out Afternoon Pine. ~SHUA~


    His immortal sense scanned the Chimeric Beast group and estimated that there were about eighty four beasts in it, with the strongest being at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and the rest below it.


    The Chimeric Beasts were gathered in a pear shaped formation with the Fourth Tribtion Stage Chimeric beast being at the very back. As such, Lin Mu went for it directly, attacking with his sword.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Lin Mu unsealed a flurry of sword shes that glowed in a yellow light and flew towards the Fourth Tribtion Stage Chimeric beast, surrounding it from all sides and cutting off its path.


    ~SLICK~SLICK~SLICK~


    Its six limbs were cut off in one go, rending it helpless.


    ~SCREECH~


    ~ROAR~


    The other Chimeric Beasts were enraged at this and quickly found their target, which wasing at them.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Munded in the middle of the group, crushing a couple of the Chimeric beasts under him before he shed in a crescent shape.


    "Afternoon Pine!" Lin Mu activate the skill of the sword at the same time.


    ~SHING~


    The sh first cut though all the Chimeric Beasts that were within ten meters of him, before yellow metal pine trees rose from the ground, blocking the charge of the other Chimeric Beasts behind them and killing them as well.


    "Just you left," Lin Mu said as he approached the immobile Fourth Tribtion Stage Chimeric beast. He raised the sword and was about to chop the beast''s head off when he heard an urgent voice in his head.


    "Something''sing from the ground!" Little Shrubby informed him, while also rushing at him.


    Still, the distance was a little too much as the ground erupted around Lin Mu.


    ~SCREECH~SCREECH~SCREECH~SCREEECH~


    Four maggots rose from the ground, all looking like the one Lin Mu was familiar with.


    "Yao Changying?" Lin Mu became alert and quickly shed at the nearest maggot.


    ~HISS~


    The sword sh cut through the maggot''s flesh, releasing ck and grey fumes from it, but the other three maggots were stilling at him.


    ~HUALA~


    The Longgui Bulwark Armor automatically manifested around him, as he punched with his empty left hand.


    ~SMACK~


    A Maggot had its head squished by the punch, as foul blood sttered along with fumes.


    ~ROAR~


    In the next moment, Little Shrubby also reached Lin Mu, his fiery breath turning the third maggot into ashes and smoke immediately!


    Little Shrubby''s control over fire had improved massively since before, and his me''s temperature was also terrifyingly high.


    The ground that was near the mes but didn''te in contact quickly turned red and was close to melting. If the mes had made direct contact, it wouldn''t have taken it long to melt intova.


    But the fourth maggot was still left and sessfully managed to reach Lin Mu.


    "SCREEEEEEE!" The maggot let out a harsh cry as it bit down onto Lin Mu''s shoulder with its thousands of teeth.


    "HUMPH!" Lin Mu hammered the maggot with his left arm and stabbed it with the sword in his right, making the maggot cry in pain.


    With the armor, he had sustained no damage, but could feel the Withering Dao''s energy trying to contaminate the armor.


    "MAGMA FURY!" Lin Mu''s left hand glowed in a bright red light before expanding into arge w that squished and burned the fourth maggot, leaving grey smoke behind.


    "Daoist Mu Lin!" Ziran and Monk Hushu were shocked by this and were flying at him when Lin Mu shouted.


    "Behind you! AMBUSH!" ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    Wooden vines wrapped around Ziran''s arms as he blocked the attack from an axe while Monk Hushu''s palm glowed in a golden light before he pped at a spear.


    The ones who had attacked them were ck robed individuals with fish skin headbands.


    "Kill them!" the ck robed individuals shouted as more of them jumped down from the sky.


    ~ROAR~


    And it wasn''t just Ziran and Monk Hushu being attacked, as Lin Mu was ambushed too. But much to their dismay, all that was in their future was a fiery death as a wave ofva washed over them.

 Chapter 2361 Black Fin Island Members Attack!

    Chapter 2361 ck Fin Ind Members Attack!


    Ten individuals had currently attacked Lin Mu, Ziran, Monk Hushu and Little Shrubby. But among them two were immediately killed by Lin Mu''s magma while the others continued to attack.


    Four individuals targeted Monk Hushu and Ziran, while the rest targeted Little Shrubby, intending to take out the biggest target first.


    The spear wielding man thrust with his weapon, as a grey energy was released from it.


    "That foul energy!" Monk Hushu sensed it immediately and sent forth a palm imprint. ~CLANG~


    ~HISS~


    The palm imprint sessfully blocked the attack, but the foul energy managed to corrupt the imprint too.


    "Bramble Thorn Whip!" Ziran chanted as he waved his hand, the vines on his arm transforming into a ten meter long thorny whip that struck back at the Axe user who was also using the grey energy.


    ~SHICK~


    Much to Ziran''s surprise though, his whip was cut by the Axe forcing him to use another move.


    "It''s the Withering Dao!" he said out loud, noticing how the grey energy continued to corrupt the vine.


    He disabled his skill, instead choosing to increase the distance between the enemy and himself first. Ziran flew back, while a flower grew on his palm. The flower fully covered his palm, and was a bitrger than it, looking rather beautiful.


    It had eight white petals, but at the center of it was a thick tube. The tube opened up as a stream of yellow powder was shout out of it!


    ''Numbing Sense Pollen!'' Ziran chanted in his mind, hoping that the skill would work.


    The pollen was sted at the ck robed enemy and soon covered him entirely. The Axe wielding man slowed down and stopped in his tracks after a couple of seconds, allowing Ziran to take a chance to attack.


    Without a word, Ziran charged back this time a six feet long thorn growing from his palm.


    ~SLICK~


    The thorn impaled the Axe wielding ck robed man, before Ziran used his free left hand and grabbed the enemy''s neck.


    ~SQUELCH~


    The flower on his left palm transformed into thin green vines that wrapped around the Axe wielding man''s neck within a second and started constricting.


    The vines looked weak, but they were stronger than steel cables!


    ~SHICK~


    A couple secondster, the ck robed man''s head was severed by the squeezing vines, allowing Ziran to assist Monk Hushu.


    ~SPLAT~


    But just as he turned, he saw the monk smashing his foe into a meat paste. Arge palm imprint had mmed him into the ground, leaving little to think especially when looking at the monk''s stoic face.


    "Amithbha¡­ Patience has its limits." Ziran looked wordlessly before a roar was heard.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby''s breathed out more mes, burning another ck robed man into ashes within seconds, while the second was ignited.


    "AHH!" The burning man cried in pain and tried to use his technique, but was too slow in front of Little Shrubby who split him into three segments with a single swipe of his ws!


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The three segments fell to the ground, before being reduced to ash soon.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    Lin Mu also took care of his side of the foes with ease, as all attacks missed him with Flicker and Blink at his disposal. He had already recognized who they were and thus he didn''t hold back, using his spatial skills without a hesitation to get the advantage. There was no way some ck Fin ind members would be able to handle him after that.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    The heads were severed, and soon all ten attackers were dead.


    But this didn''t mean the danger was over yet.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu scanned the area with his immortal sense, ensuring that nothing more was hiding underground.


    "No more here." Little Shrubby said, having smelled the air.


    "The others!" Ziran spoke up, realizing that it might not be just them that were attack.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu immediately took out the jade slip andmunicated with others. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    The first person to reply was Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    ''We''ve been attacked, but we''re handling it.'' The next to respond was Lady Kang, but she only sent a single word.


    ''Fighting.'' Seeing the response from the two groups, Lin Mu was a bit relieved, but that relief soon disappeared when he realized that there was no response from Daoist Chu yet.


    "We need to go to Daoist Chu right away!" Lin Mu urged and jumped onto Little Shrubby''s back.


    "He''s alone so he might not be able to take it as well." Ziran said as he and Monk Hushu got onto the beast''s back too.


    "Amithabha, these foul people need to be sent to the underworld to be purified of their sins." Monk Hushu said, no mercy in his voice.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Little Shrubby turned into a red blur and rushed to the Second Offering Hall.


    There, Daoist Chu was engrossed in a battle in which he was outnumbered.


    "Dammit! Where did all of thesee from?" Daoist Chu cursed as he threw out talisman after talisman.


    His body was covered in tens of talismans too, as multipleyers of barrier were protecting him. Though if onepared the number of barriers with the talismans, they would realize that they didn''t match. It was clear that several of these had been destroyed earlier.


    ''Thankfully I had readied the talismans from the start, or those maggots would''ve definitely infected me.'' Daoist Chu thought.


    Simr to Lin Mu, he had been attacked by four maggots that used the Withering Dao''s energy too. But Daoist Chu had managed to kill them all, just in time before the ambush from the ck Fin Ind members. ~CLANG~CLAGN~CLANG~


    Three swords struck the barrier, while Daoist Chu fended off two iing fist attacks.


    "DIE!" Daoist Chu said as he threw out a ratherrge talisman. "DETONATE!"


    ~BOOM~


    Arge explosion happened, as Daoist Chu was sent flying. But the same couldn''t be said for the ck Fin Ind members, as half of them were turned into chunks of flesh and splotches of blood.

 Chapter 2362 Assisting The Others

    Chapter 2362 Assisting The Others


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    Several of the barriers that were shielding Daoist Chu shattered from the explosion, leaving only a single barrier protecting him. This was a calcted risk he had taken and he was fine with it, other than the fact that the impact of the explosion hadunched him nearly three hundred meters away.


    "After him!" The five remaining ck Fin Ind members quickly went after him, upon seeing that theirpanions were killed.


    ~WHOOSH~


    One of them threw out a spear that released copious amounts of grey energy that then transformed into the head of a maggot.


    Another one hurled a hatchet that turned into arge jagged tooth of a maggot, ready to pierce into the Daoist Chu.


    "No, you don''t!" A voice was heard, before a sword sh tore through the air.


    ~SHING~


    The maggot head and jagged tooth were cut apart by the sword sh, while the weapons themselves were sent flying from the impact.


    ~ROAR~


    Then in the next second, the roar of a beast was heard that shook the ck Fin Ind members. But before they could even turn to look at it, they felt a scalding airing from the back.


    "AHHHHHHH!" A second was all it took for their robes to ignite despite the defenses that were cast onto them.


    ~SPLATTER~


    A pair of ws then mmed into them, tearing two of the ck Fin Ind members into pieces while a Sword sh decapitated the third one.


    "HA! DIE!" thest remaining ck Fin Ind member that had managed to get close to Daoist Chu struck out with his own fist, trying to kill him as thest act.


    Grey energy covered his fist too and transformed it into the gaping maw of a maggot, that threatened to eat everything in its path.


    "Right where I want you!" Daoist Chu said as he took out a shining talisman. He held it between his fingers and chanted a word, before the talisman transformed.


    "Spirit Severing Sword Talisman!" Daoist Chu activated it.


    ~HUALA~


    The Talisman turned into a long sword that was double edged and had nefarious characters charred onto it. The sword shed at the ck Fin Ind Member''s chest and passed through it as if it were air.


    ~THUD~


    No blood or flesh was spilled, but the ck Fin ind member simply fell down like a rag doll and died.


    For his soul had been severed!


    "Huuuu!~" With that, Daoist Chu took a breath of relief and wiped away the sweat on his brow.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lin Mu, Monk Hushu and Ziran came to a stop in front of him, while Little Shrubby did circles around the area to look for any more enemies.


    ''Go to Lady Kang if you don''t find anything.'' Lin Mu informed the beast through their link.


    "Yes!" Little Shrubby replied with a roar and quickly sprinted away to provide back up.


    ~ROAR~


    "Are you okay?" Lin Mu asked Daoist Chu with concern.


    "I''m mostly fine¡­" Daoist Chu said while grabbing his shoulder. "


    Lin Mu looked at it finding his robes at the shoulder to have been torn and a grey patch to be present on his skin.


    "Did the maggots bite you?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes, one of them did, but I managed to resist the others." Daoist Chu answered. "Where the heck did they evene from?" he asked, feeling a bit angry.


    "Looks like they had been waiting for us," Monk Hushu spoke. "They might have even been tracking us for a while," Ziran guessed. "They even let us split up so that they could outnumber us." He added.


    "Hmm¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows, as he understood the fight against Yao Changying had officially started now that they hade across the ck Fin Ind members. "Monk Hushu can you take care of Daoist Chu, I''ll go check on the others." He stated.


    "I''ll wait here too, no idea if more mighte." Ziran suggested.


    "Yes, do that." Lin Mu nodded before flying away towards Crown Prince Feng Shun''s position.


    The Crown Prince was roughly a hundred and fifty kilometer away which was a bit far than what Lin Mu had gone. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    ''Did they perhaps move while fighting?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A couple minutester though, he heard the sound of thunder before a bright sh caught his attention.


    "There they are," Lin Mu quickly reached there and saw that the fight was already over.


    All that was left was a few corpses and body parts that were scattered. Most were burned badly while some looked like they had been cut apart by sharp des. It didn''t take much to know that this was the work of Crown Prince Feng Shun''s Storm King Immortal Arts.


    Thend was also not unscathed, with tens of small craters as well as scorch marks spread everywhere. The rocks and boulders in the area also had several cut and sh marks having been made from the sharp winds.


    "Looks like I was a bitte." Lin Mu spoke as hended next to Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    "You didn''t have toe, we handled it." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "Though it was good, since we don''t know if there would be a second ambush." Crown Princess Shang was grateful.


    "Any of you injured?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Thankfully, no." Qiao De said holding a bloody javelin in his hand. "This was possibly a targeted effort." He added.


    Lin Mu nodded in response before speaking. "All of us were attacked." "How''s Lady Kang?" Crown Prince Feng Shun inquired.


    "I''ve sent Little Shrubby over. So she should be fine." Lin Mu answered. "Let''s regroup¡­ we''ve already found our target." "Indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, and the group made their way back to the Second Offering Hall.


    There Little Shrubby had already returned with Lady Kang and her attendants. Lin Mu checked their condition and saw that Elder Hu had a few injuries along with another grey patch, but the women were fine.

 Chapter 2363 Old Enmity

    Chapter 2363 Old Enmity


    "How''s it your injuries?" Lin Mu asked the Elder.


    "I''ll be fine. Just need to expel it." Elder Hu answered. "Let Monk Hushu do it then, it should work." Lin Mu answered as he looked at the bald man at work.


    In the group, only Daoist Chu and Elder Hu had managed to get injured by the Withering Dao Energy among which Daoist Chu had the worse injury.


    Elder Hu had only gotten it because he had jumped into defend Lady Kang when they were ambushed. The maggots that had attacked them did so without even a single sign of them. Even Lin Mu was unable to sense them and only Little Shrubby did because of his sense of smell.


    ~SHUA~


    Monk Hushu''s chanting finally ended, as the foul energy was purified from Daoist Chu''s shoulder. "How does it feel?" Monk Hushu asked, his breath a bit uneven.


    "A lot better than before." Daoist Chu answered. "Though it definitely corrupted a part of my Qi stores that I''ll had to burn away too." He added.


    "Likewise." Elder Hu spoke up. "The linger Withering Dao energy is doing the same right now too, so I have to keep on suppressing it with more Qi." He added.


    "Sit down, I''ll purge it." Monk Hushu asked.


    "Thank you." Elder Hu said and did as told.


    The group watched as Monk Hushu began chanting again, his body glowing with a faint Buddhist light.


    The light covered his palm and was being transferred into Elder Hu''s back which had been bit by one of the maggots. Bit by bit, the grey patch was being cleared out and about thirty minutester, it waspletely cleared out.


    ~huu~


    "Amithabha¡­ this is certainly not easy to purify." Monk Hushu muttered.


    "We''ll have to be a lot more careful than before. Looks like they''re using stealthy methods to attack us." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "We''ll especially have to be careful about those maggots¡­ they''re smaller but faster and sneakier." He added.


    "Indeed. We didn''t sense them at all." Lady Kang stated.


    "I think they''re using the ambient Death Qi and other baleful energies to mask their presence here." Lin Mu guessed. "Though they can be smelled by Little Shrubby." He said looking at the beast.


    "I only smelled them when they were close to the surface." Little Shrubby informed him. "If they''re below, I don''t think their smell is spreading. Plus the stench of Death Qi and baleful energies also mixes well with their smell due to being quite simr." He added.


    "I think they''re using the ambient Death Qi and other baleful energies to mask their presence here." Lin Mu guessed. "Though they can be smelled by Little Shrubby." He said looking at the beast.


    "I only smelled them when they were close to the surface." Little Shrubby informed him. "If they''re below, I don''t think their smell is spreading. Plus the stench of Death Qi and baleful energies also mixes well with their smell due to being quite simr." He added.


    "Is that so¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows, finding it quiteplex to deal with.


    "Can Daoist Chu''s radar work on them?" Qiao De asked.


    "I don''t think so." Daoist Chu shook his head. "They''re not Chimeric beasts but I will try. Though we''ll need a proper sample from it." He added.


    "And what about the ck Fin Ind members? How were they hiding their presence?" Min Ju inquired.


    "They''re from a long line of assassins so that is part of their skill." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke this time. "Plus, they''re definitely not how they were before¡­ they''ve learned some new skills." He added.


    "That grey energy¡­ they learned skills and techniques based on the Withering Dao." Elder Hu responded. "But that is not something that can be learned easily."


    "Indeed¡­ toprehend the Withering Dao is a herculean task full of suffering." Ziran said having heard of it before. "Plus it is not something that can be learned in a short time at all." He added.


    "Yao Changying has certainly assisted in it." Crown Princess Shang said with contempt. "That bitch will go to any lengths for power." She added.


    Hearing that Lin Mu couldn''t help but look at the Crown Princess thinking of something.


    "Your enmity with her¡­ it''s not new is it?" Lin Mu asked. "I mean not from the previous world expedition either." He added.


    "It''s not¡­" Crown Princess Shang replied after taking a deep breath. "It goes back about¡­ when we were children?" she revealed.


    "Children?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected it to be that old. "Oh yeah, you two used to be ymates before, weren''t you?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Please¡­ We were simply being tutored together." Crown Princess Shang corrected him. "Does the Shang Dynasty and the Flourishing Flower Sword Sword sect have that close of a rtionship?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "It did once." Crown Princess Shang replied. "The diplomatic rtions between the two were strained before we were born but the change in condition caused both parties to try to foster a better rtion and perhaps even create an alliance. As such, they decided to train the disciples of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect and a few members of the Shang Dynasty together. The Sword Masters of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect and the Alchemists of our Shang Dynasty both taught them various skills.


    I learned swordsmanship along with Yao Changying. But even back then she was highlypetitive and couldn''t help but bash others if they were the slightest bit weaker than her." She exined.


    "Hmm¡­ and I''m guessing you werecking in that too?" Lin Mu asked seeing that the Crown Princess didn''t really use swordsmanship.


    "Yes." Crown Princess Shang replied. "I didn''t particrly have talent in swordsmanship and thus dropped it after a few years after I learned the basics. But that was not the end of it." She added.


    "What happened?" Lin Mu asked, while the others listened on too.


    Qiao De raised his ears to the peak, highly interested in it. After all, such information was not something that could be easily bought and who knows where it coulde in handy to him as a merchant. Meanwhile, the others paid attention since this was information about their enemy.


    "After our training periods together, about thirty years passed before a small tournament was held to test the youth of both powers.


    Yao Changying had been focused on swordsmanship purely and wascking in cultivation thus she lost to me." Hearing the Crown Princess''s words, Lin Mu could now understand how the enmity could have been grown. He didn''t particrity mind what happened in childhood, as that was a verymon thing for children to go through and could simply be considered as some rivalry.


    "How weak was she?" Daoist Chu inquired.


    "We were all at the Nascent Soul realm while she was still at the Core Condensation realm back then." Crown Princess Shang revealed.


    "Hmm. No wonder." Lin Mu replied. "Even with pure swordsmanship of great level, defeating someone in the Nascent Soul realm isn''t easy." He added.


    "She held a grudge from there and every time we had apetition, tournament or any gathering where both of us were present, we''d end up in conflict." Crown Princess Shang stated and continued to narrate.


    The group learned that the conflict between Yao Changying and Crown princess Shang was quite literally a thousand years long. Though in thest thousand years, they hadn''t been in conflict for a long time since the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect and the Shang Dynasty had grown apart.


    But the expedition of an uncharted world that happened, ended up igniting it all and the enmity grew deep enough that Crown Princess Shang wanted Yao Changying to loose in the Tournament of the Guardian beasts.


    ~Sigh~


    "The fate does not allow certain individuals to have peace among them." Monk Hushu said deeply.


    "Indeed." Elder Hu agreed.


    "Though in all this¡­ Yao Changying has certainly changed a lot." Crown Princess Shang suddenly said. "While she was known to be cold, she still showed a lot more emotion¡­ but now she''s been acting quite different." She added.


    "Could her acquisition of an inheritance done that?" Ziran asked. "That''s hard to say." Crown Princess Shang replied. "All those that were present as witnesses during that expedition are now dead." "That''s tough." Ziran said with a sigh.


    "Guess we''ll just have to unearth it from these people. I''m sure there''ll be more clues now." Lin Mu said as he looked at the remains of the ck Fin ind members. "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang I need your help." He called out the twins.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins appeared in front of him and instantly smelled the new smells.


    "Its simr to the previous one." Xiao Yin stated.


    "But human smell is there too." Xiao Yang added.


    "Indeed. Can you find more of these?" Lin Mu asked hoping that the grey energy might make it possible.


    "We''ll try." The twins said in unison.


    But it was now that Qiao De suddenly spoke up.


    "Uhh¡­ have you all checked your credits?" he asked.


    "Why?" Daoist Chu asked in interest.


    "You all should, right away." Qiao De said looking at the number on his wrist.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows wondering what it was about but still checked.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The numbers popped up above everyone''s wrists, showing their credits. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "What the¡­ how did they increase like this?"

 Chapter 2364 Transfer Upon Death

    Chapter 2364 Transfer Upon Death


    Lin Mu stared at the number above his wrist that did not match the one he had in his mind.


    <561,264,471 Credits>


    "This is¡­ at least twenty million higher than it was before." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "I got an increase of three million." Ziran spoke.


    "Eighteen million something for me." Lady Kang said, feeling quite surprised too.


    "Twenty two million¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun stated, not having expected this.


    One by one, all of them announced their credits, with everyone gaining some credits. The amount varied though, which was the part that confused them along with the question as to how they had obtained this.


    "Did we get these from the maggots?" Daoist Chu asked, thinking them to be the source.


    This made sense at first, since Lin Mu had obtained a lot of credits by killing therge Yin Nascent Soul maggot before. The ones they had fought were smaller, but ultimately they were the same, other than being a lot weaker.


    "That can''t be," Min Ju chimed in. "I didn''t kill any of them." "Likewise." Qiao De said as well. "I killed the ck Fin Ind members, but no maggots. Crown Prince took care of those." He revealed.


    "Doesn''t that mean we got credits from the ck Fin Ind members?!" Daoist Chu couldn''t help but say in shock.


    "How''s that possible?" Monk Hushu asked out loud.


    "Did the rules change? Just like how the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot gives us credits, the ck Fin Ind members give them to us too?" Qiao De proposed.


    "While that may be, the amount of credits they gave don''t match up to their cultivation base," Ziran stated. "The credits were far too high or low for their cultivation base." He added.


    The group went silent for a few minutes while they all processed it. "Perhaps¡­ We are thinking about this in the wrong way." Lin Mu finally spoke. "Our thinking that the credits cannot be transferred from one person to another was wrong, they can be transferred¡­ But the way to do that is to kill the other person." He stated.


    Hearing that, the others couldn''t help but feel a bit shocked. This was something any trial taker should have learned normally if they fought another. But since Lin Mu and the group came with a close knit alliance, they didn''t end up in a situation where they had to test out something like that.


    But the Celestial who had made the ce certainly factored in internal conflict and murder ofpanions. While its it not be the best, they still followed the rules of the Jianghu, letting the victor obtain the spoils.


    The minds of cultivators were fickle and could change at any moment, depending on the benefit that they were obtaining. Most other groups that might have tried to enter here would have certainly ended up in the same state.


    "I suppose¡­ it is another plus for us," Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "It just aligns with our goals at getting more credits as well as getting to the bottom of Yao Changying''s ns here." He borated.


    "Indeed. The Heavens seem to be in agreement with the purge of these foul individuals." Monk Hushu was inplete agreement.


    "Hmm, that is definitely one way to look at it." Lin Mu nodded. "Though we will still need to track them down." He added.


    "Should we check their bodies for any more clues?" Qiao De asked. "They should have spatial storage tools, right?" "No." Lin Mu shook his head right away. "Their spatial storage tools and all the other tools they have on their self are branded to their life. If they died, the tools are rendered useless." He exined.


    That was actually one of the first things Lin Mu had checked. After all, he could sense the presence of Spatial Storage tools with ease and didn''t feel them anymore after the individuals had been killed. The same could be said for their other immortal tools.


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense picked up on the traces of the runes, showing that the formations of the tools had already been destroyed. "Even the weapons they use seem to be linked to them." Ziran said picking up a broken spear. "This may as well be a twig." He lightly bent it, causing it to snap with ease.


    This was certainly not the case when Daoist Chu was being attacked by it earlier. The spear had even endured a full hit from Lin Mu''s sh and withstood it, only being broken after the owner had been killed. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "Looks like they''re still following their old failsafe methods." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "Being assassins, they can''t let themselves be tracked back to the source. thus this much ismon for them to do." He added.


    "But then why wouldn''t they hide their affiliation to the ck Fin Ind?" Qiao De asked.


    "I don''t think they care about that anymore, having changed their sides to Yao Changying now." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Instead, all they care about hiding is anything that might help us find Yao Changying through their remains." She added.


    "Yes, that seems more likely." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Though¡­ they missed one thing." He suddenly said, his eyes shining in a silvery gleam.


    "What is it?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    But instead of responding, Lin Mu walked up to a particr ce and extended his hand.


    ~SHUA~


    A tiny ck dot appeared there, which caught the attention of the others. "What is¡­" Lady Kang narrowed her eyes as she saw it forbore she finally felt a faint fluctuation of energy. "Spatial disturbance?" ~SHUA~


    And right on time, the ck dot expanded to be a half meter wide rift!


    "Let''s see what we got here. I haven''t done this in quite some time." Lin Mu said as he fished inside the spatial rift for something.


    He did so for about thirty seconds before his hand finally found a long object in there.


    "Here we go!" he finally pulled out a small badge.

 Chapter 2365 Fishing In The Minor Void

    Chapter 2365 Fishing In The Minor Void


    Lin Mu''s actions were very bewildering to the group as they were left watching.


    "I got something from them." Lin Mu said as he looked at the small badge.


    It was made out of iron and had the Dao Script Character for ''Wither'' carve on it. But that wasn''t all as Lin Mu could also sense immortal Qi fluctuations from it, showing that it was indeed an immortal tool of some kind.


    "How did you¡­ what did you¡­" Daoist Chu didn''t even know what to ask first.


    "You pulled that from the Minor Void?" Lady Kang though understood a bit better. "You can do that even after the destruction of a Spatial Tool?" she asked in surprise.


    "Yes." Lin Mu answered. "I might not be able to get everything as its up to luck what items are scattered in the minor void upon the destruction of a Spatial Tool, but getting some should be possible." He exined.


    "This¡­ doesn''t that just render the theft proof restriction on the Spatial Tools useless?" Qiao De couldn''t help but say.


    It was one of the mostmon restrictions that were ced on various Spatial tools. They could either make it so that upon the destruction of the Spatial Tool all the stored items were ejected into the Minor Void instead of being spilled out into the world.


    It was used by almost all cultivators who carried any significant amount of valuables in their storage tools, as they were the first targets of any bandits or other nefarious cultivators that wished to obtain their wealth.


    "I''ve never heard of a Spatial Master being able to do this¡­" Daoist Chu spoke. "There are some Spatial Masters that specialize in retrieving lost objects in the void¡­ but that''s never as simple as this." Ziran stated, having met one of them in his lifetime. "They need a lot of time and effort to do the same." He added.


    "And yet, Daoist Mu Lin simply¡­ fished in the void and pulled it¡­" Qiao De muttered in shock.


    Lin Mu had expected something like this to happen but didn''t borate further. After all, if they knew that this wasn''t the limit of what he could do, they''d be left frozen for a while.


    ''Didn''t expect I''d finally be using this skill after all this time.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    He hadn''t fished in the void for a long time, due to the fact that it was not exactly a ''subtle'' thing for the world. For mortals or lower realm cultivators it didn''t seem like much, but every time Lin Mu did this, he set of a wave of Spatial disturbances that could be detected by specialized formations.


    These formations were intended to be a detection mechanism for the ''infiltration'' and invasion of worlds. It was a protective method and anything detected by it would rm those monitoring it.


    If Lin Mu did this carelessly in the Rust Sky World, it would very easily bring attention even if he might be somewhere hidden. After all, there were many powerful experts on the Rust Sky world, along with the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts which would most certainly detect something like this.


    But now that Lin Mu was in the Bridge ne, there was no such restriction as that. Of course, he had no need to do it before this, but now that several Spatial Tools had been destroyed, he could test his luck and see what he got.


    The group was in shock for a few minutes, while Lin Mu checked on just what kind of Immortal tool the small badge was. But he hit an obstacle soon, as he couldn''t do much to it other than sense the bare surface of its formations.


    ''It''s encrypted quite deeply,'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''With such security, this is most certainly some form ofmunication or information storage tool,'' He reckoned.


    This was exactly the kind of thing that could help them in finding out more about the goals of Yao Changying, and possibly her whereabouts, too.


    "Looks like we''ll have to work on decrypting this together, Daoist Chu." Lin Mu said before telling everyone what he had learned so far.


    "Oh? This could be the key to finding more." Crown Princess Shang was pleased after hearing that.


    "Can you find more things that might have been lost?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, thinking about all the ck Fin Ind members they had killed.


    "I can, but I don''t know if I''ll find anything for sure." Lin Mu replied. "This was from the veryst ck Fin Ind member that was killed, so the chances of finding something were higher. But I''ll still try to see if I can find anything more." He exined.


    "Of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun knew this won''t be easy.


    Just the fact that Lin Mu could do this in the first ce was a miracle to them. "I''ll get to searching then. Can you get to analyzing this Daoist Chu?" Lin Mu asked.


    "dly." Daoist Chu said taking the small badge.


    "We shouldn''t split up too much. Five minimum in each group should be good." Lady Kang suggested. "Yes, that is more appropriate." Monk Hushu could see the caution in it.


    "Let''s go see them. I''ll need you to guide me to where you were before." Lin Mu spoke to Lady Kang. "Yes." She nodded and climbed onto Little Shrubby''s back with Lin Mu, along with Elder Hu, and Min Ju.


    "Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang will continue their search." Lin Mu said, knowing that the twins were already trying to differentiate the smells and find something.


    ~WHOOSH~


    With that done, Little Shrubby sped away with the four humans on his back. They first went to Lady Kang''s location of the fight, where Lin Mu fished in the void for a bit but only managed to find a small pouch of Immortal stones. At Crown Prince Feng Shun''s location, he pulled out a dagger though, which was better. And finally, at the ce where he had fought, Lin Mu found nothing.

 Chapter 2366 Link To An Old Incident

    Chapter 2366 Link To An Old Incident


    The group was gathered back at the Second Offering Hall upon Lin Mu''s safe return.


    His attempt at recovering the contents of the ck Fin Ind member''s spatial storage treasures had given a meager return.


    "So a badge, a dagger and a bunch of immortal stones¡­ That''s already several times higher than what an average Spatial Master might be able to recover in the same conditions¡­ if they could even do something like opening rifts casually." Ziran said, still finding it unbelievable the ease with which Lin Mu opened them.


    While he had no master of the Spatial Element, he had seen enough to tell when it was really easy and when someone was making it ''seem easy'' due to their skill.


    In Lin Mu''s case, it was as casual as plucking a fox nut from a pond.


    "How''s the process with the badge going?" Lin Mu asked, bringing Ziran and the others out of their thoughts.


    "This is going to take a while," Daoist Chu replied. "I''ve never seen an encryption like this. I can''t seem to even find what can be the unlock node." He stated.


    "Hmm¡­ We''ll take a look togetherter." Lin Mu replied. "That''ll be good." Daoist Chu nodded.


    "What about that dagger?" Elder Hu asked, looking at the six inch long de kept calmly on a stone pedestal. "Is it the same as the others?"


    "No, unlike the other''s its formations are still intact." Lin Mu answered. "Seems like being cut off from the space caused it to not react to the death of the owner." He added.


    "That''s good¡­ I suppose." Qiao De spoke. "Though¡­ it looks a bit familiar to me." He added.


    "It does?" Crown Prince Feng Shun looked at the man. "Yes¡­ but I can''t seem to ce it." The merchant said, rubbing his coarse beard.


    The six inch long dagger was ck, as if its de had been scorched and covered with soot. Its handle was ck too, but this time the ck color hade from actual paint. But this was no normal paint, but a special paint used in the creation of talismans and formations.


    There were in fact, hundreds of runes written on the dagger''s handle, but due to the sheer amount of times they had been overwritten, it seemed like the entire handle was just painted ck inly. Only upon inspecting with one''s Immortal Sense closely would one realize that the paint on the handle wasn''t equal, but had minuscule bumps and ridges due to the different strokes that had been used on it.


    The de of the dagger was made out of a metal that Lin Mu recognized to be Venom Impregnated Lead. It was a special metal that was made by soakingmon Soft Grey Lead in a special mixture of Corrosive Venoms. This would dissolve in the Corrosive Venoms and nothing would be left of it. But then this new mixture would have to be left sealed in a dark ce for at least a thousand years before opening.


    Upon opening an entirely new metal that was a lot tougher than themon Soft Grey Lead would be formed. This was what was known as Venom Impregnated lead.


    It was a special metal that could technically be created mortals too, and in fact had been discovered by them in times immemorial. But repeating this process was impossible for almost all mortals as the time needed to make the Venom Impregnated Lead was simply too long for their lifespan.


    But eventually this was discovered by cultivators, and the method was fully established.


    Thebination of this metal with the formations that were added to the dagger made it highly durable, while also being very dangerous. It could cut through flesh with ease, as it would simply corrode it upon touching.


    Even a lot of other materials would be corroded by it, thus it was effective on many defensive tools too. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    To Lin Mu, this seemed like the perfect weapon for someone from the ck Fin Inds to use.


    "Wait!" But as he was thinking that, Qiao De seemed to have recalled something. "I think¡­ it might be¡­" he said before taking out a ratherrge register.


    It was about thirty inches in width and eighty inches in length while being about ten inches thick!


    ~FLAP~


    The register flipped open and its pages started to flutter as Qiao De used his Immortal Sense to control it.


    About a minuteter, he finally stopped on a certain page, before a formation screen appeared on top of it.


    ~SHUA~


    A string of sentences appeared on the formation screen along with an image.


    ''A sudden battle happened in the Skrk city during which involved Cao Tianyi of the former Cao n and Luo Tu of the Luo n. Cao Tianyi ambushed Luo Tu but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Steel Horned General Niu Juo. But the assant eventually killed him with self detonation despite the interference of the Steel Horned General.


    Involvement of several nobles was confirmed in this, having been backing Cao Tianyi.


    In this attack, Cao Tianyi was provided several items in the assassination listed below.'' Everyone read the report before ncing at the list of items.


    Among these items, there was a particr one that seemed to be listed along with an image. It was that of none other than a ck dagger.


    "Whoa¡­ It really is the same." Daoist Chu was surprised seeing the image of the dagger.


    "Well, to be specific, it''s of the same type but not the exact one." Qiao De replied, his brows furrowed. "The original was confiscated as evidence." He added.


    Lin Mu who saw the image though, was the most surprised. ''Its this one!?'' he couldn''t help but recall the day that he met Niu Juo.


    It was a rather explosive meeting, and Lin Mu had been one of the spectators in the battle between Luo Tu and Cao Tianyi.


    It was a sudden battle that Lin Mu had done his best to avoid getting involved in.

 Chapter 2367 A Conspiracy Of Decades

    Chapter 2367 A Conspiracy Of Decades


    Back then, Lin Mu had been only at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm, thus he hadn''t done much during the battle other than trying his best to hide. Of course, even if he wished to he wouldn''t do that as that would involve revealing himself when there was no reason to.


    Niu Juo had questioned him about this too.


    Due to that, Lin Mu had never gotten a proper look at the dagger that Cao Tianyi had used and neither had he had the chance to scan it with his immortal sense. This was why he didn''t recognize it at a first nce. After all, this wouldn''t be the only dagger that was ck like this.


    "How did you remember this?" Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t help but ask, as it was simply such an obscure bit of information to keep track off.


    "I almost didn''t." Qiao De replied. "I only remembered the incident since the Steel Horned General Niu Juo had been involved in stopping it. We keep such information and sell it as part of our services at the ck Candle Pavilion. Luo Tu''s assassination was a rather high profile for Skrk city as he was from an aristocratic n. There were involvement of other nobles in it and their hands were dipping in various intelligence provider''s pools. Thus to profit, we had also sold quite a few bits of information, including this one.


    I oversaw the sale of this bit of information, along with several others, to the rival noble ns." The merchant exined.


    Hearing that, the group finally understood how the merchant even recognized this.


    "Well now, that we know that¡­ how does this dagger actually fit in our current situation?" Daoist Chu asked the question that was in the minds of almost everyone. "Originally we had thought that the dagger and other weapons and tools used by Cao Tianyi were provided by his backers. But now it seems like there was a lot more to it than just that." Qiao De replied. "If there are two such daggers, I''m sure there''s more of them." He added.


    "There are." Lady Kang replied. "I killed three of them that were using such daggers." She revealed.


    "Hm¡­ then that means these were made by the ck Fin Ind members themselves, or at least the Weapon refiner that works for them." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated after hearing all that.


    "So the ck Fin Inds had involvement in the assassination of Luo Tu too?" Crown Princess Shang stated. "That Cao Tianyi was part of them?" "No, he was most certainly not." Qiao De shook his head. "But it looks like the ck Fin Inds did end up supplying the tools for it, so their involvement was indirect." Lin Mu thought about it all, finding it a bit shocking that an incident he had witnessed back then was now linked to their current plight.


    "Why would the ck Fin Inds do that, though?" Ziran asked, finding it all too overreaching.


    "Yeah, it''s all long before the tournament too." Qiao De replied. "Back then, the ck Fin Inds were still not doing anything and there were no movements from them too." He confirmed. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "It doesn''t seem like there would be anything for them to gain from that." Monk Hushu couldn''t see the value either.


    "Perhaps¡­ It was something a lot simpler than that." Lin Mu spoke up after thinking for a bit. "I think it was mostly just a mary thing for them. The ck Fin Ind members might not have done anything or shown any movements, but what''s to say Yao Changying wasn''t doing anything. If she has been nning for all that she had done, she would certainly need a ton of funds for it. Even if she''s the niece of the Holy Topaz Emperor and the daughter of a sect leader, there is a limit to the amount of funds she can mobilize without arousing suspicion.


    Perhaps this was a way of gaining funds for them." He exined.


    Hearing that, the others thought over it too and nodded after a couple minutes.


    "I''m sure this isn''t an isted incident." Lady Kang said after several minutes of silence. "Qiao De, do you have all the records of simr incidents of assassinations or just attempts?" she questioned.


    "Of course!" Qiao De said, patting the register. "This thing can cause a war if the things in it get out." He said proudly.


    "You have qualms about showing us that?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked with a smirk.


    "Of course not." Qiao De smiled. "I know this is already worth it all." He said before tapping the register.


    ~SHUA~


    The pages started to flip rapidly as Qiao De searched through it, filtering out all the relevant incidents. After about thirty minutes of this, arge formation screen was projected by the register, on which lines upon lines of information appeared.


    All this was separated into several squares and neatly ordered ording to Chronology.


    To the immortals present here, reading them was no issue even if the letters were all small and they got to it.


    "This, this and this¡­ the weapons are simr." Elder Hu picked out.


    "These talismans seemed to have weaker versions of the skills that the ck Fin Ind members were using." Crown Princess Shang noticed.


    One by one, everyone started to find out the incidents that now all seemed to be linked back to the ck Fin Inds.


    In total, from the roughly seven hundred or so incidents that Qiao De had shown, at least two hundred had some kind of involvement from the ck Fin Inds.


    They had either provided weapons, tools, strange talismans, poisons, or even their own members. Except in thest case, the members had not worn any of their usual clothing and had hid their identities a lot better.


    By the time everyone was done analyzing it, they were utterly shocked.


    "This is a conspiracy¡­ one that has been in action for several years¡­ possibly decades." Lin Mu finally spoke.

 Chapter 2368 Frustrating Politics Of The Secular Worlds

    Chapter 2368 Frustrating Politics Of The Secr Worlds


    Lin Mu''s words echoed in the minds of everyone and they couldn''t help but think that it was correct.


    All the incidents had been happening for a long time, and only because Yao Changying had not done anything yet was why the ck Fin Ind had managed to go unnoticed. Though there was another thing inmon that had helped them.


    Almost all the assassination and other ''jobs'' that had been taken by them seemed to be for the Nobles of various regions. It wasn''t just the Huiqing Empire either.


    There were nobles from the Holy Topaz Dynasty, and also the Dao Wind Empire, that had made use of them without truly knowing. Finally, there was the Eight Kingdom Alliance that had the biggest use of them. It turned out that about half of the total incidences that Qiao De had in his register were all from the Eight Kingdom Alliance!


    And these were only the ones that were known by the ck Candle Pavilion. There were bound to be several more that they had not discovered yet.


    After all, the ones they knew of were mostly the incidents involving major cultivators with well known identities or ones that were impactful. The smaller incidents that might have involved the ck Fin Ind members likely went unnoticed, as there was no ''value'' in keeping track of them.


    "How much fortune do you think they would have managed to umte by this?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned.


    "Mm¡­ that is very hard to say. Considering that they had done most of the things without notice, I don''t think the payments were officially recorded anywhere. For such covert operations, the cost is usually higher and they would most certainly charge a premium price with the ''quality'' of their services.


    I estimate it should be at least¡­ a couple billion High Grade Immortal Stones worth or even more." Qiao De said after calcting in his mind.


    "A couple of billions!?" It was certainly a massive number for everyone here. Even for the two royals, the number of Immortal Stones was something that would be enough to run the empire for decades, if not a century!


    And if it was considered as personal wealth, a sole individual would be able to use this amount right from the time they were a False Immortal all the way to the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm and still have excess left over.


    It was simply a massive amount.


    In another example a sect would be able to use the amount for even longer since they didn''t have excess administrative expenses like an empire would have. Not to mention the number of people they needed to take care of would also be less. As such, they could even use this amount for several times longer. For a mid sized sect like the one Daoist Chu came from, two billion high grades immoral stones would be more than enough to run it for at least three to four thousand years. A smaller sect could even stretch that to ten thousand years!


    And yet, such a massive amount had been earned by the ck Fin Ind and Yao Changying indirectly within a shorter time period.


    "How long has she been doing this?" Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but ask as she thought about the expedition incident and the period of hiding that Yao Changying had gone after that.


    "The oldest incident that I have a record of is at least fifteen years old." Qiao De answered. "But I doubt they would have started with anything big, so there are definitely smaller incidents that happened way before that we have no idea about." He added.


    "Mmmhmm¡­ Considering the steady and stable way of growth the ck Fin Ind members and Yao Changying had taken, I reckon this has all happened for at least twice that." Lady Kang said, taking her own experience in such businesses as the reference. "So at least thirty years or more than that. There''s also a high chance Yao Changying has made use of other people or organizations beyond the Rust Sky World." She added.


    The Great Kang n had several businesses under them in addition to the Great Kang Auction house and this included intelligence organizations. They had also made use of several assassination organizations before and knew how much arge scale covert operation like this could cost and generate.


    "It must be her home world then. The Zhuang World." Daoist Chu recalled.


    "Mmm, it is certainly possible." Crown Princess Shang nodded. "The Zhuang World is different than the Rust Sky World and is more simr to our Three Aster World, having both secr powers as well as the cultivation sects.


    With the powers and control being divided into multiple powers, it would be a lot easier for her to secretly make her own organization there and reroute resources through there." She said after thinking for a bit.


    "If that is true, then it is likely to be a power that has appeared recently or a preexisting one that suddenly rose in status," Ziran suggested.


    "That''ll be hard to say." Qiao De replied. "The Zhuang World''s small to medium sects had several conflicts in thest few decades, so there have been many changes in the power structure. The waters are far too muddied for us to look through. It''s only the top powers and sects that are stable there such as the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect." He exined.


    "What if it''s the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect itself?" Min Ju suddenly said. "It is the darkest under the candle¡­ It would be the most ideal ce for Yao Changying since she already has a great authority there and it''s her home. No one would question what she does there." Having been an attendant for Lady Kang since her childhood, Min Ju was no less versed in matters such as these and had seen a lot too.


    "Of course, the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect definitely has some involvement, even if the higher ups are in the blind about it." Crown Princess Shang stated. "The Patriarch and the high elders are all sword cultivators who spend most of their time training in seclusion, the daily functioning of the sect is left in the hands of the middle and lower elders.


    With her identity, it won''t be too hard for Yao Changying to turn several of them into her own people.


    But I doubt the entire sect would be involved in it. The Patriarch wouldn''t stand for something like this either. As a Sword Cultivator, he is still of the righteous path and his Dao Heart would shatter if he condoned something like this not to mention participate in it." She exined.


    Crown Princess Shang might have an enmity with Yao Changying, but she also knew that the people behind her were not the same as her. Especially her father, who was the Sect Patriarch and a well known Sword Cultivator.


    "Though¡­ Her mother can be involved in it." Crown Princess Shang added. "She''s been known to be a sharp dagger in the dark too¡­ there must have been somewhere Yao Changying got her personality from. Who else than her mother?" The Princess snarked.


    ~SIGH~


    Hearing all this, Lin Mu couldn''t help but sigh as he felt like he had returned to the Xiaofan world and gotten involved in the politics of the sects and kingdoms.


    "Amithabha, secr disputes are truly not good for the Dao Heart." Monk Hushu could understand the frustration in Lin Mu''s mind and could even mirror it.


    After all, there was a reason why the Monks preferred to live in monasteries and temples secluded from the other people and powers.


    It was to ensure that their own process was not hampered by matters such as these, and they could focus on gaining enlightenment andprehend as much as they could with their own efforts.


    "Perhaps going to the Silent Lotus World after all this ends might be a good choice." Lin Mu muttered lightly. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    "We''ll be d to host you." Monk Hush said with a gentle smile.


    "I might join too¡­" Ziran couldn''t help but say. "I prefer exploring, but definitely not when it involves so many conspiracies." He said with a wry smile.


    "Such is the world of Jianghu''s politics." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, knowing that it was an inevitability he would have to suffer through for most of his life.


    The group discussed for a while more, until Lin Mu was interrupted by the twins.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins rushed into the Offering Hall and came to Lin Mu''s side.


    "We found something!" the twins said in unison.


    "Lead us!" Lin Mu said without a moment of hesitation.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    The twins turned into blurry ribbons and sped away while Lin Mu followed after. Of course, the others didn''t need anymore exnation and went after him too.


    Outside, Little Shrubby, who had been guarding them, was already prepared to set off on the journey.

 Chapter 2369 A Large Camp

    Chapter 2369 A Large Camp


    Lin Mu''s mind wandered as he rode atop Little Shrubby''s back.


    The twins were coiled around his arms while the rest of the group was sitting behind him. The wind rushed past them at great speed as Little Shrubby tore through it, leaving behind what could only be perceived as a red blur.


    The journey was taking longer than expected, as they had already been running for over three hours now.


    ''How much farther?'' Lin Mu asked the twins through his link.


    ''We''re getting closer¡­'' The Twins replied unable to give an exact estimate.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows but didn''t ask further. It was already a surprise that the twins had managed to detect anything, that too from such a distance. But now that they had, there was no way Lin Mu and the others were going to let go of it.


    They even ignored the Chimeric Beasts they saw on their way, as they knew they needed to prioritize the task at hand. If they got dyed by it, who knows if they might miss their target by a few moments.


    This was also what worried Lin Mu the most, thinking that their target might have already sensed them or know that they wereing. As such, they would have plenty of time to escape.


    But the twins had informed him earlier that the target hadn''t moved at all.


    This made Lin Mu think whether the target was another maggot that was stationary or something else.


    The Twins didn''t know what they were sensing either, only that it was a smell simr to the ck Fin Ind members. Lin Mu hoped that it was indeed them and that they would be able to extract more information this time around. And once he finally saw what it was, his eyes lit up.


    "Is that¡­ A whole camp?" Daoist Chu spoke as he leaned to take a better look.


    The others looked as well and saw a ratherrge camp that was obviously man made. Though it was built using the remnants of old buildings too, which showed that there had been a city or town here in the past.


    Lin Mu reckoned it was one of the remnants of the Sacred Tear Tribe that had once lived in this Spatial ne.


    In the camp though, they couldn''t see any people and neither were there any Chimeric Beasts here. ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense quickly reached the camp and swept through it, trying to find out what was inside.


    "There''s no one there." Lin Mu said, his frown deepening. "Looks like we werete." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated, looking at the state of the camp. "They have certainly left in a rush." He added.


    ~HISS~


    It was now that Xiao Yin hissed in rm.


    "Underground!" She warned.


    ~THUD~


    ~CRASH~


    Little Shrubby immediately dug his ws into the rocky ground and braked while the others held on tightly.


    They were still two kilometers from the camp and managed to stop in time. ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu''s spatial perception activated immediately as he looked down. And sure enough, it was exactly what he had thought of originally.


    "Another Yin Nascent Soul Maggot." Lin Mu informed everyone.


    His eyes could vaguely make out therge form of the maggot underground. Though rather than the creature itself, what Lin Mu was seeing was the silhouette of the energy being released from it against the spatial fabric.


    Since his Spatial Perception couldn''t look ''through'' it unlike the ground and otherponents, it was easier to tell something was there this time around.


    "We won''t let it get the upper hand this time." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as an invisible pressure was released from him.


    "Wait," but Lin Mu made the man halt. "I''ll go gather whatever I can inside the camp first. It might help tell us where they went or where their other camps are." He stated.


    "Won''t that be dangerous?" Daoist Chu asked. "What if the maggot attacks you before that?" "It''ll be fine. I can escape before it does that." Lin Mu was very sure of that. "At the very least, I''ll get some things that can give us clues. Better that than letting the entire camp get swallowed by the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot." He added.


    "Very well." Crown Prince Feng Shun decided to trust the man.


    "It won''t take long." Lin Mu said as he suddenly disappeared from Little Shrubby''s back.


    ~SHUA~ ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    He appeared in the parallel dimension with Fade and immediately flew towards the direction of the camp. Since he had already calcted the distance with his immortal sense, he knew exactly how far to travel. Upon reaching that point, he canceled the skill and reappeared in the camp.


    Of course, he didn''t touch the ground and kept all his energy fluctuations restrained so as to not alert the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot. While he didn''t know if the creature would sense them or had sensed them already, it was better to be cautious.


    While floating in the air, Lin Mu transformed his immortal sense into hundreds of fine tendrils, that swam through the air to find anything of interest or use. Within seconds, Lin Mu got the information and moved there with Blink, thereby causing little to no vibrations.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Lin Mu stored the things of interest in his ring without thinking much, knowing that any dy could cause the Yin Nascent Soul maggot to attack them. He repeated this several times, his form disappearing and reappearing across the camp.


    It only took him two minutes to gather everything of interest before he reactivated Fade and entered the Parallel world.


    ~SHUA~


    He then quickly returned to the side of hispanions and took a breath.


    ~HUU~


    "That was certainly fast." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, seeing Lin Mu beside them.


    "There weren''t many things to get." Lin Mu replied. "And I don''t think all of them will be useful, but I still got as much as I could there. They cleared out most of the things they could too." He exined.

 Chapter 2370 Crushing A Maggot

    Chapter 2370 Crushing A Maggot


    Lin Mu''s discovery was somewhat expected by the others.


    ~Sigh~


    "So they really did find out about using." Crown Prince Feng Shun let out a sigh. "Still, this is better than nothing." He said, turning his look at the camp.


    "Shall we get rid of the Yin Nascent Soul maggot now?" Ziran asked, knowing that it was not a being that they could continue to let existing.


    "Of course." Crown Princess Shang stated. "This time we won''t even give it a time to react!" she said, immortal Qi flowing out of her palms.


    "Indeed." Lady Kang agreed as faint lights glowed on her body.


    Lin Mu looked at everyone''s eagerness and smiled slightly.


    "Just as we''ve done always then." Lin Mu said as he flew to the sky.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The others did the same and split up to surround the camp.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The very air trembled as everyone prepared their skills, intending to destroy the maggot as soon as it left the ground.


    "Amithabha!" Monk Hushu brought his palms together as he started to chant. His body glowed in a yellow light, before the aura of Buddhist energy spread from him. "Golden Vajra Illumination!" Monk Hushu chanted as the Dao Embryo rose from behind him. The Dao Embryo released its power as four statues were created by it around the area. The four statues stood in the four cardinal directions and had their right palms extended forward.


    "Four Arhat Sacred Guard!" Monk Hushu finally said as the Dao Skill waspleted.


    The light from the four golden statues'' palm joined up, forming a curtain around the entire camp. ~SHA~ SHA~SHA~SHA~


    The next to act was Crown Princess Shang who threw out hundreds of seeds on the camp. These seeds quickly drilled into the ground, a ring of brambles surrounding the camp growing.


    Ziran acted third, and assisted the Crown Princess, creating tworge vines that grew from his hands and joined up with the brambles.


    ~WON~WON~WON~


    The vines seemingly pumped more energy into the brambles, causing them to grow taller and thicker!


    Min Ju took out a small pomander and swung it in the air, causing droplets of water to spear out into the entire camp.


    "Pure Mist Of Cleansing Tunes: First Tune - Drizzle." Min Ju set up a rather strong skill too.


    This was the first time Lin Mu was seeing her use this and he could tell that the Pomander she was using was no normal tool.


    ''A high grade immortal tool of the water element.'' Lin Mu could sense the rich water''s elemental energy fluctuationsing from it.


    Just as Lin Mu thought of that, Elder Hu acted too, his fists suddenly burning up as his gauntlets turned red hot. It made Lin Mu think as if the elder was the Longgui Bulwark Armor technique too.


    ''No, it''s different¡­'' but he could tell it was a lot different than that.


    "Cinder Fall Five Fists: Fifth Fist - Ash Fall!" Elder Hu did a circle around the camp while punching the air countless times. He left behind hundreds of fist imprints that were floated in air, as if frozen in time. The fist imprints were different than his red hot glowing hands though, having a dull ashy color. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    Lin Mu didn''t know what kind of a skill it was, but it was most certainly not as simple as it looked.


    ''Considering the fact that the Elder is holding it back and dying its full activation, his control over it is very high.'' Lin Mu analyzed.


    The others were observed it took but soon started to act on their own parts.


    ~SHA~ SHA~SHA~SHA~


    Daoist Chu sent out four gs, eight stones, sixteen talisman papers and thirty two hand seals as a formation took ce.


    The Four gs nted themselves inside the camp, while the eight stones were buried in seemingly random ces. The sixteen talisman papers floated in the air, as runes poured out from them, forming chains that linked up with the gs below.


    Finally, the thirty two hand seals were the controlling gestures that did all this.


    "Quadridirectional Rhombus Prison Formation Array!" Daoist Chu set up a rtivelyplex array with ease.


    This was only possible with his skillful use of theponents that allowed him to create something like this fast.


    Qiao De acted after this as he simply took out twenty javelins and threw them into the sky. The javelins hung in the air, ready to fall at a moment''s notice.


    Then there was Lady Kang who used her unique skill.


    "Divine Mystic Constetion Art!" She uttered as ster energy was released from her body.


    "88 Constetion Series: Twenty First Form- Auriga!" Lady Kang chanted as twenty one stars rose above her head and took the form of a man holding a goat. The figure of the man moved while the goat bleated in the sky.


    Under the man''s gesture, the goat seemingly split part into multiple segments, with each limb transforming into a robust horse. The horns of the goat transformed into an imposing chariot while the fur and skin transformed into reins attached to the horses. The man then jumped onto the chariot and took hold, as the horses stomped in the air, ready for amand.


    One word was all it would take for it to charge forth. But Lady Kang held back, knowing that this was not yet the time.


    Lin Mu watched everyone prepare as he too charged up the Mountain copsing fist.


    "We''re ready!" they said in unison.


    "Very well." Lin Mu said as a strong wave of energy pulsed from him. "Mountain Copsing Fist: Third Form- Earthen Devastator!" he punched straight down at the ground.


    ~HUALA~


    A brown ribbon of energy was shot that dripped rapidly into the ground, causing it to start crumbling right away.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The ground couldn''t take it as a crater was soon formed, revealing the form of the giant maggot within.


    ~SCREECH~


    The maggot screamed in anger as it tried to fly up, but before it could even move a meter, a flurry of attacks struck.

 Chapter 2371 Combined Pummeling

    Chapter 2371 Combined Pummeling


    Therge form of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot was stopped within inches of its original site. The power of the Earthen Devastator had already agitated it, with fine injuries dotting its body but the next attack that hit it simply pushed it back into the ground.


    "DIE!" Elder Hu shouted as the hundreds of fist imprints pummeled the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~ BOOM~


    Each fist was like a hammer that punched ah Ole into the tough body of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot while also powdering it with ash. This ash seemed rather dull and cool from the outside, but in reality it was holding a temperature that was hard to perceive at once.


    But as soon as it entered the body of the Maggot, it was like gunpowder as hundreds of small explosions started to happen in its body.


    "Descend!" while the explosions happened, the twenty javelins that were hovering in the air all rained down, piercing through the body of the maggot further stopping its movement.


    Qiao De made sure to stab the javelins in such a way that the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot was pinned to the hole it was in.


    The one to move after that was none other than Lady Kang.


    "Erichthonius'' Unstoppable Chariot!" Lady Kang finally shouted causing the chariot to move.


    ~WHIP~


    The illusory man holding the reins whipped then, spurring the horses into motion. ~NEIGH~


    They let out a proud cry before charging forth, dragging the charring behind them. The wheels of the chariot spun and left behind trails of ster energy, that looked rather beautiful. But that was only momentary, as the chariot soon met the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot and ran over it.


    The Maggot was first stomped upon by the shining hooves of the horses before being trampled over by the chariot''s wheels that cut its flesh with ease while the ster energy poured into it, further damaging the Maggot and cleansing the foul energy from it''s body.


    ~SQUELCH~SQUELCH~SQUELCH~


    The body of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot was being squished as foul and dark fluids were expelled. This turned into a noxious gas that tried to spread but was quickly stopped by the curtain that had been created by Monk Hushu. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    The noxious gas seemingly turned into pure air upon touching it and passed harmlessly.


    The purification power of the Buddhist Dao Skill was simply too good.


    "RESTRAIN!" It was at this time that Ziran and Crown Princess Shang spurred into motion.


    The ring of brambles moved as hundreds of thorny vines shot from them. The vines wrapped around the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot and their sharp thorns extended, piercing into its flesh. This basically trapped the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot in ce while Daoist Chu took the next step to restrain it further.


    "Imprison!" Daoist Chu made the final hand seal, causing the Quadridirectional Rhombus Prison Formation Array to descend upon the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot and trapping it within the Rhombus made from the formationponents.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The maggot hammered on the wall of the prison but was unable to break them. If it was not restrained by the other skills, it might have managed to get free, but the thorny brambles and the javelins holding it were reducing its might.


    "Coat!" Min Ju acted at this point causing the water droplets that were hovering in the air to rain down in the form of a drizzle.


    The calming sound of rain was heard for a moment, before it intensified. If one looked closely, they would realize that each drop of water that fell was like a bullet, ripping through the flesh of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot!


    At the same time, the water droplets contained a cleansing power too, washing away the foul energies within the creature, further weakening it.


    ~RUMBLE~


    While all this was happening, dark clouds formed in the skies above. Arcs of lightning jumped between the clouds, while the rumbling of thunder was heard.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun rose to the middle of the sky, as he came to stand right above the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot.


    Raising his hand, he called out to the clouds above.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Thundering Judgment Bolt!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said, before pointing his finger at the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The clouds seemingly burst apart as a Lightning bolt that was as thick as an elephant''s leg descended from it. The lightning bolt was bright purple in color with a tinge of white in its center.


    The powering from it was seemingly massive and made everyone''s hair stand on their ends as the static energy in the air increased. ''This is as powerful as a Tribtion''s lightning!'' Lin Mu thought upon seeing the skill. It was possibly one of the strongest skills that the Crown Prince had used right after the Fulgarian King''s Wrath which was a Dao Skill. But this was a pure Qi skill and was part of the Storm King Immortal Arts.


    ~KABOOM~


    The lightning bolt struck the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot, burning it immediately. Its cries ceased as its life was burned away under the extreme yang energy of the lightning. Even its Nascent Soul that was trying to escape was destroyed by the power of the lightning.


    This was the reason why Crown Prince Feng Shun had used this skill and not the Fulgarian King''s Wrath, which was more powerful. This skill had a better chance of erasing the soul of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot before it could pose a danger to the others.


    After all, it was the Nascent Soul that had threatened the life of Lin Mu beforehand. It was also something they might not be able to defend quickly, thus it was better to eliminate it before it could even take root within their bodies.


    The bolt was incredibly bright and forced everyone to close their eyes and simply observe with their immortal senses, which were also having a hard time.


    The lightning bolt continued to fall for roughly three seconds before it finally faded away.

 Chapter 2372 400 Million Credits

    Chapter 2372 400 Million Credits


    Once the flurry of bright lights vanished, the group looked at the dark crater that was fully scorched. The corpse of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot was left in it, with over a third of it''s body having simply evaporated while the rest of it had turned into a charred mess.


    No blood or other fluids spilled from it, having all been boiled away into a dry carcass!


    The scent of ozone was left in the air, while the Death Qi and other baleful energies in a radius of five kilometers were also either burned away or simply pushed away by the pressure.


    "Is it dead?" Crown Princess Shang asked carefully.


    "It should be." Lin Mu said, his eyes scanning for anything suspicious while his Immortal Sense probed the corpse at the same time. ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    "Mmhmm, it''s truly dead." He finally said, seeing that the credits were being granted to everyone.


    "Whoa! Forty million?" Qiao De was the first to exim.


    They all saw their numbers, finding them to have increased by quite a lot once more. The Yin Nascent Soul Maggot granted them a lot of credits, with the grand totaling to at roughly four hundred million credits! All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Everyone got an equal amount, which was already expected to them.


    Lin Mu nced at the total amount as well as the individual amounts, realizing that the number was not the same as before, and neither did it have the simrity to the previous one that he had killed.


    "Looks like the amount of credits we get from the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot is also dependent on how many Chimeric beasts it has killed." Lin Mu said after thinking about it.


    "Hmm, do you think they are perhaps raising these Yin Nascent Soul Maggots on the Chimeric Beasts?" Ziran asked, realizing what Lin Mu was hinting at.


    "Quite possibly." Lin Mu nodded his head. "It might actually be one of the reasons they are here. They''re using this Spatial ne as a nurturing ground for these maggots." He stated.


    "If so, this will be quiteplex and dangerous." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "Unlike us it doesn''t seem like these Yin Nascent Soul Maggots are worried about the Baleful Energies or even the Death Qi." He added.


    "Yeah, I could sense the traces of Death Qi in it too. In a sense it''s the more ''offensive'' form of the Chimera nt." Lin Mu replied.


    Simr to the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot, the Chimera nt was also consuming everything, including the Death Qi and the previous Chimeric Beasts. It was then recing them with stronger Chimeric Beast variants that were not only resistant to Death Qi on some level but also managing to get stronger upon death by using the Berserk Skill.


    The massive credit gain from both kinds of beings was also dependent on the number of Chimeric Beasts, but whereas in one case it depended on the consuming of the Chimeric Beasts, in the other it depended on the production of Chimeric Beasts.


    The two were at the Opposite ends of the plectrums but Lin Mu could tell that the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot were still quite weak.


    After all, they didn''t have the same level of durability that the Chimera nts had that basically made them impervious to most damage.


    The Yin Nascent Soul Maggot could still be killed by individual as well asbined efforts, as long as one was strong enough. Plus the weaknesses of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot were also a bit more obvious aspared to the Chimera nt.


    "What did you find in the camp, Daoist Mu Lin?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Ah yes!" Lin Mu took out all the thins that he had managed to take before killing the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    He took out a couple of broken idols, as well as several broken weapons and trinkets.


    "Is it all junk?" Qiao De asked. "Did they break all this themselves?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "No¡­" Ziran shook his head. "Look at the damage on these swords¡­ these are bite and w marks." He stated.


    "These seem to be the weapons that got damage in a fight against the Chimeric Beasts." Lin Mu stated. "They probably tried to repair them but couldn''t do so and were forced to evacuate leaving them behind." He added.


    "What about these idols then?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    The idols didn''t seem to have any damage from the beasts, but had been cut smoothly in two.


    "Why did they destroy them instead of just taking them along with them?" Daoist Chu wondered. "They certainly have some function." "I found these embedded in the ground¡­ well, at least the base part." Lin Mu replied. "Looks like they were themunication nodes of some kind and couldn''t be moved since they are part of arger ry." He exined.


    "Oh? Ry nodes?" Daoist Chu took a closer look this time and scanned it with his immortal sense. "I see it now¡­ there are definitely remnants of information here¡­ very recent too."


    "Can you extract it?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, seeing that they had some clues.


    "I should be able to." Daoist Chu answered. "They must have only set this up very recently and had to break it down. Otherwise they would''ve had to set up encryption on this as well that was a lot stronger than just the basic kind." He said as he started to probe it.


    Lin Mu picked up the second idol and checked it too, trying to see if he could retrieve the information too.


    This was a task of priority since there was a high chance the information would simply fade away if they waited. Thus, even though there was a chance of dangering their way, it was needed to be done right away.


    The two Formation masters didn''t take long either, finishing it in just an hour and extracting whatever they could.


    "Hoho¡­ looks like I got something good." Daoist Chu smiled.

 Chapter 2373 Decrypting Broken Tools

    Chapter 2373 Decrypting Broken Tools


    Everyone looked at Daoist Chu wondering what the man had found.


    "The information is iplete, but it seems to be a report about the camp as well as the progress on the ''experiments''." Daoist Chu said before showing them the extracted information through a jade slip.


    ~SHUA~


    Everyone probed the jade slip and quickly got the details.


    The Yin Nascent Soul Maggot that they had faced were called as experiments which suited them as they were exactly that. The report talked about the growth of the experiment as well as any other disturbances they had noticed.


    The idol that Lin Mu checked, instead talked about ''feeding cycles'' as well as ''sleep cycles''.


    But no details about what these were exactly was given as that information was simply missing. "Feeding cycles and sleep cycles¡­ Looks like the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot are in a state of dormancy and only wake up when its time to feed." Lin Mu said after having read that. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "That would make sense since we haven''t seen any of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot wandering around so far. They might also be moving underground which makes it harder to find them." Ziran spoke up.


    "But considering the sheer amount of credits they have given so far¡­ its clear that they''re consuming a massive amount of Chimeric Beasts. Just the one we killed right now gave over four hundred million credits." Crown Prince Feng Shun started to analyze. "I doubt it would have eaten four Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chimeric Beasts, so it is probably eating lower ranked chimeric beasts primarily." "That does make sense." Ziran nodded. "Also¡­ doesn''t it feel like the number of Chimeric Beasts is certainly a bit lower. Not too much, but at least a handful of percent lower." He added.


    "I thought it was just me that thought this." Qiao De revealed. "But I reckoned I was just mistaken and that the Chimeric Beasts were simply spread far apart." He added.


    "That is possible. But we''ve only seen two of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot so far that have grown to a size asrge as this. The others we saw were much smaller and were barely equivalent to a Fourth Tribtion Stage of the immoral realm." Lin Mu replied. "Perhaps these are a lot more spread apart than we know. We still haven''t explored the entire ne after all." He added.


    "Perhaps our first course of action should be to gather more information." Lady Kang interjected. "That badge should be decrypted first." She suggested.


    "Mmm, Lady Kang is right." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "We should focus on that, and wait a bit. This will also help us verify if the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot are actually consuming the Chimeric Beasts en masse." He suggested as well.


    "If they are indeed eating that many Chimeric Beasts, then they will inevitably end up gathering at a Chimera nt." Monk Hushu spoke having been listening to everything silently. "Perhaps they might end up ''farming'' the Chimeric Beasts instead. If¡­ they have any sort of control over the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots." He borated.


    That was a bit surprising to everyone, as they hadn''t thought about it in this way.


    "If they are indeed farming¡­ then perhaps we might be able to aplish multiple goals at once." Lin Mu said with furrowed brows. "We might be able to track them down as well as get rid of the Chimera nts."


    "Yes, that''ll be optimum." Lady Kang agreed.


    With that said, everyone was in agreement, and thus they decided to retreat to the base. If they were to focus on decrypting the badge, it was best to do it in a safe and secure ce. The group no longer felt like it was the right choice to split up and hunt when they could be ambushed at any moment.


    While they were strong enough to fight against the enemies, even a single mistake could led to them getting infected by the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots and their foul energy. Even the ck Fin Ind members were using the same energy, so it was simply too risky.


    Plus, not everyone could purify it either, not to mention it could turn the situation even worse if too much of their immortal Qi was corrupted.


    With all this in mind, they ended up staying at the base for the time being, while Lin Mu and Daoist Chu focused on decrypting the badge.


    Thankfully, with theirbined efforts, they managed to finally decrypt it after two months. The solution for the decryption ended up being a bit of the extracted Withering Dao energy that Xiao Yin gathered.


    Adding that as the ''decryption key'' seemingly showed them the real positions of the data nodes and the two formation masters didn''t spend long after that to fully unravel it.


    "So what is that badge, exactly?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked the question that everyone had on their minds.


    They had been waiting for this for a long time and now they wanted to know it.


    "It''s an identity token as well as amunication token." Lin Mu said, his brows tensed. "And?" Ziran could tell that there was a lot more wrong with it than had been shown.


    "For some reason¡­ these token is¡­ able to bypass the limits of the Spatial ne¡­" Daoist Chu said, feeling quite shocked himself.


    "Wait¡­ do you mean, they canmunicate to people in the Rust Sky world!?" Crown Princess Shang asked in shock.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu confirmed it. "How''s that even possible?" Qiao De asked. "This is a Celestial''s treasure." "I can''t exactly tell as we''ll need to find a second token like this to figure out where itsmunicating from. But it seems like there is an old ''anchor'' here." Lin Mu replied to the best of his capability. "This old ''anchor'' has probably existed before the Celestial even turned this bridge ne into his treasure." He exined.


    Hearing that the others couldn''t help but be shocked for it meant that Yao Changying and the ck Fin Ind members possibly had direct ess to the ne!

 Chapter 2374 Continue Soldiering On

    Chapter 2374 Continue Soldiering On


    The revtion that the ck Fin Ind Members and Yao Changying had ess to the Spatial ne directly was quite shocking for everyone.


    They wondered if this was something that was from the time of the Sacred Tear Tribe or perhaps even before that. No matter how much they wished for it though, they couldn''t figure out anymore and had reached the limits of the information they could decipher from the clues they had obtained.


    Still, even this was a massive progress for them.


    "What would Yao Changying''s goal be here?" Qiao De questioned.


    "The most obvious seems to be the treasures that were left behind by the Celestial." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "The second is probably the Chimeric Beasts here¡­ they''re using them to nurture their ''experiments''." Ziran stated. "With how strong they are, especially their ability to control the Withering Dao Energy, they are a terrifying foe to face if one doesn''t know about them. Plus, who knows how much stronger they can get. The ones we faced were still ''experiments'' and not sessful ''products''." He exined.


    "Ziran is right. If they''re nurturing this Yin Nascent Soul Maggots, they definitely intend to use them in some way." Daoist Chu nodded.


    "For such foul beings to be raised upon the corpses of other foul beings¡­ They''re intentions are as vile as they can be," Monk Hushu said in a condemning tone.


    "This is far too dangerous to be left alone." Elder Hu said in a serious voice. "It needs to be brought to the attention of the Immortal Court and the Temple Of The Four Guardian beasts." "I agreed." Lady Kang replied. "The existence of this Spatial ne is no longer meaningful to be kept secret and the dangers hiding within are far too great to be handled alone." She added.


    "We should definitely inform the Superiors in the Immortal Court as well as the temple, but the question is¡­ how are we to do that?" Crown Princess Shang inquired. "So far we''ve seen no method of getting out." "That''s true. We''ve killed and obtained a lot of credits, and yet this ''trial'' seems to be showing no sign of ending. How long are we supposed to keep at it?" Daoist Chu wondered in doubt.


    "Yao Changying¡­ If she and the ck Fin Ind Members are able to enter, they are certainly capable of exiting too." Lin Mu stated. "They''ll be out way out as well." Hearing that, the expression of everyone turned stiff but they could see the merit in it.


    "I suppose we''ll just have to seek out more clues from them then." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    "What about your Spatial Skills, Daoist Mu Lin?" Qiao De asked. "You can already open a way into the void."


    This made the others look at Lin Mu, as this was indeed a good option.


    "While I can open a portal, it isn''t a guarantee to take us back to the Rust Sky World. It is only a guarantee for us to enter the Lesser Void." Lin Mu answered before looking at Lady Kang. "Your skill, Guidance of Pyxis can help, but will you be able to keep it active for hours to days on end?" he questioned next, knowing what might be asked.


    "No¡­ Even a day is close to impossible." Lady Kang shook her head. "Even if I constantly take immortal Qi restoration pills and use immortal stones, I won''t be able to restore my Immortal Qi fast enough for the skill to keep on working.


    At most, we''ll add a few more hours of time to the skill''s duration." She exined.


    "The void is far massive than one can imagine and navigating is difficult even for me. I might eventually be able to find a way out, but it might be too long by then." Lin Mu answered, withholding a few more things. ''There is warp but I don''t know if it''ll be enough for it.'' He thought to himself.


    There was also the possibility that they might reach the Rust Sky World very quickly, but the chance was small. Lin Mu didn''t wish to give them false hope about that.


    "Besides, attempting all these things might also be breaking the rules of the trial and as such we could face punishment." Lin Mu added. "I wouldn''t be surprised if the ck Fin Ind members had to pay a certain price to get here too." His words certainly impacted everyone, and they couldn''t help but think more about it. After a few minutes of silence, they discussed more about it and came to a decision.


    They would continue doing what they were, and gather credits while also exploring. There was a chance that they might find out more from the ck Fin Ind members and even find a tool or something else that could let them out of the Spatial ne.


    If not, they would simply have to ''survive'' until the trial''s arrays determined that they had passed it.


    Though from now on, they would not split up and try to be as safe as possible.


    Not wanting to waste anymore time, the group headed back out and began their hunt again. They went north this time, which they hadn''t gone too far in as it was the ce that Qiao De had almost gotten killed by the giant Three Headed Chimeric beast before.


    They had been wary of it since it was a Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm chimeric beast, but now that they had killed things stronger than that, they had a lot more courage. Plus, there was also a chance that there might be Chimeric nts there, which might attract the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots.


    Killing them would reduce the danger that the ck Fin Ind members as well as Yao Changying posed, thus their elimination was also important. Plus, all these would grant them credits which would allow them to buy more things from the offering hall.


    Lin Mu was still four hundred million credits away from the billion mark after all and would have to continue soldering on.

 Chapter 2375 Eight Years Into The Expedition

    Chapter 2375 Eight Years Into The Expedition


    A total of eight years had passed since Lin Mu and the group had started the expedition now.


    This was the longest time Lin Mu had spent together with people whom he could considerpanions. Even in the Xiaofan world, the time Lin Mu had spent with hispanions there was less than this, most of whom he had only known for a three years or less. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    Still, it didn''t feel like a long time to him. Instead, he felt like it was merely months since they had been here, allowing him to finally ease into the time scale of an Immortal.


    In this time, he had grown close to hispanions, and could now call them as ''friends''. After all, there was nothing that could bring people more closer than fighting together and killing foes they all deemed as enemies.


    They learned more about each other, about their lives as well as their pasts. They grew stronger, improved their cultivation and enhanced their skills.


    They suffered injuries, endured pain and sorrow.


    All of it brought them closer and improved their collective strength.


    Several of their goals had also been fulfilled, for their years of hunting down Chimeric Beasts, Chimera nts, and ck Fin Ind members had granted them a lot of credits. Though it had note all at once as there were several obstacles in their way.


    Just as they had hypothesize earlier, the number of Chimeric Beasts actually were decreasing as the time went by. This was confirmed to have been caused due to the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots as well as the hunting of the ck Fin Ind members.


    Lin Mu and the others also noticed more and more items disappearing from the lists in the Offering Hall.


    Some of these items were very valuable, costing four hundred to five hundred million credits, showing just how much the ck Fin Ind members were hunting. Plus, their numbers were far greater than Lin Mu had ever thought.


    Considering the scale at which the numbers of the Chimeric Beasts were reduced, it wasn''t just the work of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots but at least a thousand or more ck Fin Ind members!


    As such, their speed of obtaining credits decreased considerably until they were forced to seek out stronger targets like the Chimera nts or the ck Fin Ind members themselves. They came across the ck Fin Ind Members several times during their search and always ended up in fights, though in some cases the ck Fin Ind Members ran away. By that time, the group was already sure their presence was well known by their enemies.


    Especially when they encountered their third Chimera nt in the north, they not only did find it, but also three Yin Nascent Soul Maggots there that were feeding off the Chimeric beasts being produced. But these three maggots were a lot smaller and were clearly not at the level as the ones before.


    Of course, the group spent no time in eliminating all three, which was when the ck Fin Ind Members who tried to ambush the group. Of course, they didn''t get to do much since Lin Mu eliminated the Chimera nt with a Mortal Reminder Arrow.


    The resultant explosion was not something the ck Fin Ind Members knew about thus they were swept away by it almost instantly while Lin Mu''s group retreat atop Little Shrubby''s back.


    Chances were, even if the ck Fin Ind Members knew about the Death Qi explosion, they probably would not have been able to outrun the explosion as it was simply too fast. Only Little Shrubby was able to do so without an issue.


    But from that point onwards, the ck Fin Ind Members became a lot more aggressive as well as stealthy.


    Every time they encountered Lin Mu and his group, they retreated and attacked again as an ambush. If not that, they would ambush the group when they were doing their searches. Of course as payback, Lin Mu and group also wiped out any of their camps that they encountered and tried to obtain anymore clues about how they were entering the Bridge ne or what their true goals were. Unfortunately, that didn''t yield much more than before.


    All they got were a few reports about the progress of the experiments, and even interrogating the ck Fin Ind members was useless as they would simply explode upon being restrained. What did yield a few results was Lin Mu checking their destroyed spatial storage ring by fishing in the void.


    This allowed them to find moremunication tokens as well as a few intact jade slips that revealed ns of bringing more ck Fin Ind Members for ''harvesting''.


    It was then that Lin Mu discovered just how they were gathering so many credits at once. They were simply using their numbers to hunt as many chimeric beasts as possible, then some designated members would kill these ''harvesters'', obtaining the credits for themselves.


    This way of ''concentrating'' credits was fast, but insane.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others were shocked at this and couldn''t understand how the ck Fin Ind Members were letting themselves be sacrificed. They could onlye to the conclusion that they were brainwashed to an extreme degree, where they would listen to each and everymand.


    Lin Mu was only thankful that they didn''t target the Heaven Silencing Seal and instead obtained the lower ranked items, because the collective credits the ck Fin Ind members could get through their ''sacrificial'' method had already hit over two billion by this point.


    If they wanted to, they could have already gotten it.


    But this also worked in Lin Mu''s favor, as some of the ck Fin Ind Members they killed provided a massive amount of credits.


    "HAHA! THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH!" Lin Mu rejoiced as he looked at the green band on his wrist that lit up.


    <1,001,587,513 Credits>


    "You really reached it¡­ HAHA!" Daoist Chu cheered.


    "Congrattions!" Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others cheered as well.

 Chapter 2376 Whats In An Alias?

    Chapter 2376 What''s In An Alias?


    A Billion credit was once an unbelievable amount to Lin Mu and the others. But as they persevered in the Spatial ne, they realized that the credits were something they were bound to get. Having lived and survived here for several years now, they had gotten used to the situations as well as the dangers.


    The Chimeric Beasts were the same as normal beasts to them, while the ck Fin Ind Members were additional enemies they needed to take care of.


    The only truly problematic things were the Chimera nts and the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots from what they had experienced so far.


    In all these years, they had destroyed about six Chimera nts and over thirty Yin Nascent Soul Maggots that had matured. This had granted them immense amount of Credits, some part of which they had to use right away too as they had sustained injuries several times in these years.


    Whether they be from the Chimeric Beasts, the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots or the ck Fin Ind members themselves, there were times when they had been outwitted and gotten injured. Thankfully, they had managed to resolve most of those injuries with the rewards avable in the Offering Halls.


    This became easier, the more Offering Halls the group found. In all, they had found eleven Offering Halls in the Spatial n, though they were sure there were more of them since there were still some parts they hadn''t been able to explore.


    But so far, they could proudly say that they had explored at least eighty percent of the Bridge ne.


    They did intend to explore the remaining twenty percent area of the Bridge ne too, but in this process Lin Mu finally ended up hitting the one billion credit requirement!


    "Daoist Mu Lin you''ve done it!" Qiao De eximed seeing the number.


    "Shouldn''t it be Daoist Lin Mu now?" Daoist Chu corrected the man.


    "Ah yeah, force of habit." Qiao De chuckled.


    "I still can''t get over the fact that you chose your name flipped as an alias." Crown Princess Shang chuckled as well.


    "It wasn''t that bad. At least it was a lot more convincing." Crown Prince Feng Shun said in a teasing tone.


    "Ha¡­ yeah." Lin Mu smiled wryly knowing that it would be hard to forget that.


    The truth about Lin Mu''s real name hade out identally during this time and the one to discover it had been Daoist Chu. It had happened when Daoist Chu and Lin Mu were working on an array and were having a hard time with it.


    Lin Mu happened to take out one of his previously made formations for reference and missed the fact that his ''signature'' was actually present in it. Daoist Chu was referring to the formation when he happened to see the signature.


    This was amon thing for a lot of Formation masters to add, and the same was the case for Lin Mu. In a way, the signature also functioned as a security function for the array, thus adding it was important.


    Daoist Chu was confused upon seeing this and wondered if this was actually a formation made by someone else. But when hepared the Qi signature on it against Lin Mu''s he was sure that it matched.


    He asked Lin Mu and at that point the man knew he couldn''t hide the truth any longer.


    It had been a long time since Lin Mu had wondered what the others would think if they found out he had been using an alias all this time. The problem was that it had gone on for so long and Lin Mu had even won the tournament of the Four Guardian beasts with it, thus it became awkward to bring up the topic.


    Though much to his surprise the group didn''t really mind it as much as he had thought. In fact, they were surprised that Lin Mu was using Mu Lin as his alias as it was rather simple.


    It was then that he found out; it wasn''t just him who used an alias. Pretty much everyone in the group had used an alias before or even used one right now.


    For example, Qiao De''s own real name was something else and the one he was using was something he had taken when he had joined the ck Candle Pavilion.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun, Daoist Chu, Crown Princess Shang and even Monk Hushu had used aliases when they had gone out on their missions with the Immortal Court. In several missions they couldn''t reveal their identity thus they would go out with an alternate alias.


    In fact they had been using them for so long that in some parts and worlds of the Immortal Realm, they were pretty much known by those names instead of their real names.


    But that wasn''t all, as Lin Mu learned that they didn''t just have one or two aliases, but multiple. And the one that had the highest number of Aliases among the group was none other than Ziran!


    The half elf had over ten aliases!


    In his travels across the Immortal Realm he had taken on several names and was well known by them too. Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lady Kang were actually surprised as they recognized some of the titles the man had gone by.


    They had heard of them before and knew of it as a well known person, but never knew that it was the half elf that had been apanying them all this time.


    Even Qiao De who had invited Ziran, had no idea the man had so many aliases.


    From the Wandered Elf, to the Deep Explorer Half Elf, to Demon Sower and Demoness Subjugator, Ziran had quite a few aliases.


    Though he did emphasize not to use thest one at all costs, or his wife would not let him have peace for a long time.


    Pitying the man, they swore not to use it. Though a certain merchant did extract a few favors in exchange for that.N?velDrama.Org owns all content.

 Chapter 2377 A Delayed Response

    Chapter 2377 A Dyed Response


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he nced at the pedestal in front of him. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "Time to get it¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself and used his Immortal Sense to select the most expensive item in the entire reward list.


    The Heaven Silencing Seal was at the very top of it all and as soon as Lin Mu willed it, the name disappeared from it!


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    This resulted in a cascading effect as each and every name started to shift one rank above!


    The removal of the top ranked item had prompted the list to be refreshed in its entirety!


    "Whoa¡­" They hadn''t expected there to be such an effect.


    ~HUALA~


    <1,587,513 Credits>


    The green band on Lin Mu''s wrist lit up as the numbers dropped at a blinding rate, leaving only a million and a half left.


    Lin Mu seemingly held his breath as he waited for the portal to open up. Second after second passed, as the air seemingly turned still.


    "It''s not here yet?" Lady Kang said, furrowing her brows. It had now been a minute and there was still no sign of the Heaven Silencing Seal. With how valuable it was, Lin Mu wasn''t the only one who was very eager to see it.


    "There''s no way this can be a scam, right?" Qiao De asked, seeing that the credits were taken, but no item was provided.


    His merchant senses made him unease about situations like this,but Lin Mu was holding steady.


    "It is indeed quite strange. All the other items had been given within just a few seconds and yet this is taking so long." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Perhaps there are some special limitations on it?" Min Ju suggested. "Considering its value, it must be very strong and as such there might be conditions on how to store it or how it should be given." She had seen many valuable but sensitive or dangerous items being auctioned before.


    As such, she knew how they needed to be kept and when a handover was being done; they had to take the utmost caution.


    "Hopefully it is, as you say." Daoist Chu said and everyone waited in silence.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Another minuteter though, a pulse of Spatial Disturbance was felt by everyone. It was almost instantaneous and started to grow strong by the second.


    "That¡­ the Spatial Fluctuations are ramping up in this way?!" Elder Hu hadn''t seen something like this happen before. Lin Mu though sensed it better than anyone and even ''saw'' the formation of portal.


    Currently invisible to everyone''s eyes, the very fabric of Space was twisting apart and leaked a terrifying amount of energy.


    But to the immortals present, it only felt like a strong wind. Lin Mu on the other hand, felt it to be a sort of beacon!


    ''It''sing!'' Lin Mu thought to himself, as he prepped to catch the item.


    After all, he knew that such an item would have been nurtured for a long time and would probably have its own tool spirit.


    As such, there was always a chance for the Heaven Silencing Seal to reject Lin Mu or simply fly away before he even got to touch it. There had been cases like this in the past, and as such, Lin Mu didn''t want to be caught off guard.


    He simply hoped that the item wouldn''t act out in any bad way.


    ~HUALA~


    This time around, Lin Mu''s spatial perception picked up on the flicking of the Spatial Fabric, as well as the twisting that was going on right now.


    ~CRACK~


    All of a sudden the sound of a porcin pot shattering was heard while a crack visible to everyone appeared in the air.


    The crack started from barely two inches and rapidly expanded to be over a meter in size!


    "That''s not the same as the portals from before!" Daoist Chu said, sensing the turbulent power hiding in the crack.


    Previously, every time they had bought an item from the Reward list, it had appeared through a portal. It was a stable process, and it happened with little to no dy. But now they could see the dark void behind the crack!


    But this time around, the rift seemed to have been torn upon in its entirety!


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he tried to assess the extent of damage that had been inflicted upon the Spatial Fabric. Using his Spatial Perception, Lin Mu realized something shocking.


    "That¡­ isn''t the Lesser Void," Lin Mu muttered as his eyes started to go wide.


    "It''s not?" Daoist Chu was shocked. "Then what is it?" he inquired.


    "Is it the Great Void?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked in between.


    "No¡­ it''s not just the Great Void¡­ it''s the Grand Void!" Lin Mu proimed, making everyone stumble in their path.


    ~HONGLONG~


    At the same time, a great pressure descended upon the group, as if they had triggered a curse.


    "Dammit, this is getting too risky." Qiao De said, seeing the pressure.


    Lin Mu knew that one wrong step here could very well get all that was around them erased, including the very same Offering Hall that had been refined to an almost unbreakable level.


    Still, he held on, thinking that the Seal was definitely unique and beyond what they all could even imagine.


    ~RIPPLE~


    A few secondster, Lin Mu finally saw deep ripples inside the Spatial Crack that cut directly into the Grand Void. They grew more and more until finally a ck box shot out of the Spatial Rift!


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu quickly caught the box that would have been catapulted if not for his quick reflexes. Him catching it was not easy and made a decent amount of sound.


    "A box? Is the seal inside?" Qiao De asked, ncing over at the box in Lin Mu''s hand.


    ~HUALA~


    But before they could start marveling over this, the ck box in Lin Mu''s hand seemingly trembled.


    ~SHUA~


    Arge crest appeared atop it that depicted an emerald green being with scarlet red eyes!

 Chapter 2378 An Unfathomable Being

    Chapter 2378 An Unfathomable Being


    Lin Mu looked at the crest, finding it rather mesmerizing and intimidating at the same time.


    The Scarlet Red Eyes were seemingly ring back at him, while the body which could only be described to be made out of emerald green crystals exuded an otherworldly presence. Even though he knew that this was just a mere crest, Lin Mu didn''t know why but it seemed like more.


    And just as he was staring at him, a voice echoed within his mind.


    "Another hand touches the Seal¡­" The voice was almost mechanical, bordering on monstrous.


    Lin Mu''s senses rmed him, all the hair on his body standing up on their ends. He shivered and felt his breath turning cold.


    The back of his body was covered in cold sweat while his forehead became wet as well.


    "Wha¡­" After a few seconds Lin Mu finally took a breath, trying to understand just what was happening. His eyes looked away from the crest and towards hispanions, only to be stunned.


    "Everyone," Lin Mu called out, but found them frozen!


    ''What''s happening?'' He couldn''t understand. He tried to move towards them but realized that he couldn''t move his body either!


    "This¡­ what is this?!" Lin Mu questioned the reality. "Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu called out in his mind, but there was still no response, much to his horror.


    His eyes, that were the only part of his body that he could move, darted around looking at everything. He tried to find some external source of things, but simply couldn''t.


    ''Wait¡­ the dust¡­'' it was then that he realized something. ''It''s not moving.''


    It wasn''t just him and hispanions that had been frozen still¡­ It was the world itself that had frozen!


    It was as if¡­ Time itself hade to a standstill.


    Understanding this could only be done due to one thing, the box in his hand, Lin Mu looked back at him.


    "That voice¡­" He muttered voicelessly.


    "Mmm, it''s been a long time." Lin Mu heard the voice again. It sounded almost groggy, as if it had woken up after a long time. "This¡­" Lin Mu gulped.


    "So you are the one who''s obtained the Seal¡­ Interesting." The voice continued without a care. Lin Mu could feel the scarlet eyes on the crest looking right into his eyes. Even if he wanted to he couldn''t look away, as if the eyes had taken a hold of him.


    He stood like this for an unknown amount of time, unable to do anything. The scarlet eyes were piercing, as if they were looking at his very soul, leaving all the secrets bare.


    "Hmm¡­ This is eptable." The voice finally said, releasing Lin Mu from his restrained state. "I''ll look forward to the upheaval you will cause, hahahahaah~" the voice said before fading away.


    ~SHUA~


    With that, the time started to flow again and Lin Mu saw the dust particles floating around.


    "HAAAH!" Lin Mu gasped loudly, his body trembling uncontrobly.


    He would have almost dropped the box, if not for the fact that it was stuck to his hand.


    "Daoist Lin Mu?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was the first to notice the irregrity.


    "Are you fine?" Lady Kang asked as well, noticing the horrified and sweat face of Lin Mu.


    "I¡­" Lin Mu was barely able to catch his breath as he replied, but didn''t look at the box.


    ~SHUA~


    Instead, he quickly stored it in the ring, sending it far into a distant corner.


    Lady Kang approached him and ced her hand on his wrist, checking his condition. "Your vitality is overflowing and your Qi is erratic." Lady Kang said with great concern. "What happened?" The others, hearing this, were surprised and used their immortal sense to check Lin Mu too, finding his condition to be exhausted. It was as if he had just gone through an intense battle.


    "It was the box?" Monk Hushu asked, narrowing his eyes.


    "Yes¡­" Lin Mu said, taking a deep breath. "It''s not¡­ Normal¡­" he said with each breath.


    "How?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "How long¡­ do you¡­ think it has¡­ been?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Let me help." Lady Kang said, cing her hand on his back and guiding a strand of her own immortal Qi into Lin Mu''s body.


    Her Qi was rather calm and helped the erratic flow of Lin Mu''s Qi stabilize.


    "How long? For what?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked feeling confused.


    "Since I¡­ got the¡­ box." Lin Mu spoke, his breathing slowly getting stable


    "It hasn''t been long¡­ barely a minute." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "No¡­" Lin Mu shook his head. "It was longer¡­ much longer." He added.


    "That can''t be it." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Hang on." But Ziran thought of something else. He took out a device from his spatial storage tool and looked at it. The others who saw it recognized it to be the Magic Pocket Chronometer Ziran had used before.


    "What?" Ziran though, was shocked upon seeing it. "Something wrong?" Qiao De asked.


    "The Chronometer¡­ it''s out of magic." Ziran replied.


    "That''s not bad, is it?" Qiao De asked in confusion. "It''s not like its broken."


    "No¡­ You don''t get it," Ziran said, taking a deep breath. "The Magic Pocket Chronometer had enough Magic to make it work for at least several more months." He stated.


    "What?!" Crown Prince and the others were surprised.


    "Are you sure you didn''t forget to charge it?" Crown Princess Shang asked, just in case.


    "No¡­ I literally charged it yesterday when we took a break." Ziran denied. "And yet¡­ it has lost all of its magic."


    "Is it perhaps broken?" Daoist Chu asked, just in case.


    "It''s fine." Ziran said, checking it again. "It''s definitely not broken." Hearing that, the group became silent as they pondered over the matter.


    "We were¡­ you all were¡­ Frozen¡­ in time." Lin Mu finally revealed.


    "What!?" the group was shocked upon hearing that.


    "For how long?" Lady Kang asked, narrowing her eyes.


    "I don''t know¡­" Lin Mu shook his head. "Days? Months¡­ Maybe a year?" "How''s that¡­ even possible?" Qiao De couldn''t help but ask.


    It was the thing that everyone wondered about, as it was utterly terrifying.


    "Stopping time is not something even immortals can do." Monk Hushu spoke. "Even Celestials cannot do it easily. Especially not for that long." He added.


    "Yes¡­ it is against the naturalws." Ziran nodded. "Even those that have an affinity to the Time Element cannot do something on a scale asrge as that." He added.


    Time was one of the three primordial elements and was also considered the most obscure of them all.


    It was something that was so rarely seen among cultivators, it is said that in an entire generation there might not be more than one or two such cultivators in existence. Then there was the fact that, even if an individual had an affinity to the Time Element, they probably wouldn''t realize it.


    While it was incredibly powerful, controlling it was something that took millennia for even talented individuals. But those that could do that, were guaranteed to be the absolute rulers of that generation!


    Still, even for such rulers, stopping the entire world was impossible.


    "Time was stopped?" Lin Mu heard the voice he had been waiting for this entire time. "SENIOR!" Lin Mu called out in his mind, feeling incredibly relived.


    Xukong was also very shocked once he awoke. A being of his level could very well tell when something as fundamental as time had been affected. This was why he had roused from his state of cultivation and immediately tried to sense what was happening.


    "What happened?" Xukong asked, his voice serious. "Look at my memories!" Lin Mu immediately shared them.


    Xukong looked through them, feeling more and more shocked.


    "It really did¡­ The entire immortal realm was frozen." Xukong confirmed much to Lin Mu''s anxiety. "That box¡­ I sense Karma on it." He said as he rushed within the ring''s space.


    He came to a stop before the box that Lin Mu had hurled far into a corner of the ring.


    Xukong nced at the box but didn''t see the crest that he had seen in Lin Mu''s memories. "The Karma''s fading¡­" He stated, finding it surprising.


    "If there was Karma¡­ then there was really someone watching?" Lin Mu asked carefully.


    "Indeed¡­ And whoever it was¡­ they were not a normal existence." Xukong replied. "Considering the fact that they could stop the time for the entire immortal realm and not alert the higher realms by now¡­ They''re far above it. An Unfathomable being." He added.


    Every word from Xukong was stunning to Lin Mu, and he couldn''t help but think over it again and again.


    "What should I do with the box, Senior?" Lin Mu asked. "I haven''t even seen the seal of it." He added.


    "Let me check it first myself." Xukong replied, knowing this was far too dangerous than he had ever thought.


    His body hovered over the box and a fine string extended from one of his legs.


    Ittched onto the box and sprang it open effortlessly, revealing the object inside.

 Chapter 2379 A Seal Made Of Dangerous Crystals

    2379 A Seal Made Of Dangerous Crystals


    The opening of the box was rather calm as nothing happened.


    Xukong looked at the object inside, the Heaven Silencing Seal that silently sat in it.


    The Seal was Octagonal and had aplex structure carved on top. It was that of a tens of tentacles and appendages wrapping around arge totem.


    The words on the totem were hard to read, but there was one character that was very clear and it was at the top.


    ''Heaven''


    The entire seal was made out of an emerald green crystal that emanated a faint glow. It almost looked ethereal and any normal human that looked at it would simply get mesmerized by it, unable to look away for hours.


    "So this is the seal¡­" Xukong muttered as he tried to observe it in detail.


    He used all his senses to do that, as he tried to perceive just what the Heaven Silencing Seal was. The information that he had obtained from Lin Mu''s memories about the seal were limited. Other than the fact that it was once owned by the Lost Immortal, not much was known by it. Even the fact that it could stop Immortal Tribtions was only mentioned and no ount of it was given.


    "How is it senior?" Lin Mu asked after a bit.


    "Hmm¡­ Its rather underwhelming." Xukong replied, finding it strange too.


    "Underwhelming? You can''t feel the karma or anything?" Lin Mu asked in surprise.


    "No¡­ In fact I can''t even sense what makes the seal special." Xukong replied. "Perhaps this is a limitation of my avatar, and my real body might be able to perceive more¡­ but this is still quite unusual." He revealed.


    "What? Even you can''t tell?" Lin Mu was rather shocked.


    "Yes. As for the Karma, it looks to have only been ced on the box for a singr purpose." Xukong added as he remembered how that voice had talked to Lin Mu. "It was ''checking'' whether the person who obtained the seal was suitable for it or not."


    "What if it had deemed be to not be suitable?" Lin Mu questioned as he thought about other possibilities.


    "It is very likely that the seal would have rejected you. Perhaps it might have even returned to back where it came from." Xukong answered.


    "Returned to the Grand Void¡­" Lin Mu muttered not even thinking if he would get the Billion Credits back if the Heaven Silencing Seal flew away.


    "Speaking of that," Xukong spoke up. "I did not sense any particr movement in the Grand Void either."


    "Huh? You didn''t?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "Was I mistaken then?" "No, that was certainly the Grand Void." Xukong confirmed. "Just that the arrival of this Heaven Silencing Seal was done through a very high level of Spatial Skill." He revealed.


    "How high?" Lin Mu had a bad feeling about this.


    "As high as mine." Xukong stated, making Lin Mu''s eyes go wide.


    "That¡­" Lin Mu was speechless.


    "Only someone on my level would be able to do this without my notice." Xukong replied. "And there aren''t many such beings¡­ that alone makes whoever made this unfathomable." Hearing that Lin Mu wondered just what kind of being had the Lost Immortale in contact with back in the past, and now Lin Mu was in the same position too. Expect in this case, it wasn''t a ''gift'' and Lin Mu had ''bought'' it instead.


    ''Who could it be? It''s certainly not the Old Monster.'' Xukong wondered about the creator of the Seal. ''One of the Void Lords? Or perhaps something else entirely¡­'' The more Xukong thought about it, the more concerned he got about it.


    ''Among the Void Lords only two have skills on par with mine, but their skills are inclined in a different manner and they wouldn''t be able to hide the transmission of such an object through the Grand Void without me knowing.'' Xukong pondered more about it. ''Since it came from the Grand Void and without my notice, it was definitely in another realm and was simply crossing over from the Grand Void.'' Of course, Xukong wasn''t confident that he would know what was happening at each and every location in the Grand Void. That was simply impossible, and he was not Omniscient to be able to do that.


    But with him being in such close proximity with Lin Mu, he would at least know what was being done around him. As such, he should have at least been able to track when something was approaching through the Grand Void.


    And yet he hadn''t felt anything at all.


    ''It cannot be the Deities either¡­ While there are some that can do this, they wouldn''t escape my notice when trying to bypass multiple realms.'' Xukong thought to himself. ''It won''t be the Great Bulwark Beasts either, they are not intelligent enough to make something like this.'' As Xukong continued to think of the possible suspects, Lin Mu was approaching it differently. "Can I take a look at the Seal, Senior?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes." Xukong permitted and shared his memories too.


    He didn''t know yet if it would be safe for Lin Mu to handle it barehanded, thus decided to do it this way.


    "It is certainly unique." Lin Mu muttered seeing the structure on top of it. "But what is it made out of? I''ve never seen crystals like this." He asked.


    "Oh?" This made Xukong realize that he had missed something rather obvious. "This crystal¡­ Wait, it can''t be¡­" the shock in his voice grew apparent.


    "What is it Senior?" Lin Mu wondered what was the issue now.


    "No wonder I didn''t recognize it." Xukong replied. "These crystals cannot be found in the universe anymore¡­ this might as well be thest such crystal." He added.


    "What is this crystal?" Lin Mu was shocked that it was such a rare material.


    "This is made from¡­ The Chaos Unity Crystals." Xukong finale revealed. "They''re a very, very old material. In fact, they were created when the Primordial Chaos of the Cosmos settled." Hearing that, Lin Mu wondered how Xukong had realized it now.


    "Have you not seen it before?" Lin Mu asked. "Wait¡­ is this your first time seeing one?" he inquired.


    If it was true, then it would be the first time Lin Mu was witnessing Xukong encounter an entirely new material like this.


    "No, I''ve seen one before. Which is also why I couldn''t recognize this one¡­ It does not have simr properties." Xukong stated.


    "How so?" Lin Mu asked, not knowing much about them.


    "The Chaos Unity Crystals are simply too powerful and hard to mistake. Other than their characteristic emerald green color, they also have the property of constantly radiating a form of energy.


    This is unique to it and is very unstable. It not only destroys or ''corrupts'' most types of Qi, it is also highly dangerous to most beings. Any normal cultivator wouldn''t be able to withstand being near it for more than a few seconds.


    Their bodies would develop heinous lesions, blisters, and burns. Some might even melt away into a puddle of rotten flesh. The crystals will also taint everything around them, along with the very air itself. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    This tainted energy would not leave the area for thousands if not tens of thousands of years. In a way, the energy from the Chaos Unity Crystals is a hundred times more dangerous than Baleful energies." Xukong exined in detail.


    The more Lin Mu heard about the Chaos Unity Crystals the more he was shocked. "Would I even be able to hold it then?" Lin Mu asked in doubt.


    "You should be able to hold this seal." Xukong replied. "For some reason the Chaos Unity Crystals that make up this Heaven Silencing Seal do not have the unstable energy radiating from it. It made me unable to recognize it at all." He added.


    "Does that mean the creator of the Heaven Silencing Seal managed to change its properties?" Lin Mu asked. "What kind of arrays are in it?" he wondered.


    "I cannot tell what kind of arrays are in it since Chaos Unity Crystals cannot be scanned with Immortal Sense or any other kind of senses." Xukong replied. "Trying something like that would only get one''s immortal sense destroyed in its entirety. Evening close to the crystal with one''s immortal sense might get it damaged." He exined.


    Lin Mu was rather rmed by this and was now doubting whether it was a good choice to have ''bought'' this item.


    It was quite clear that he had obtained something that was pretty much a hot potato and could not be handled casually.


    ~huu~


    "So what should we do with it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "For now, it''s best you leave it be." Xukong answered. "I''ll observe it for a while and see if there is any change. If I find it to be okay, you can try making contact with it." He suggested.


    "I''ll do as you say then." Lin Mu didn''t mind that.


    He was d that he had Xukong to help him with this, as there was a high chance he could''ve made a fatal mistake otherwise.

 Chapter 2380 Going To A Far Region

    2380 Going To A Far Region


    While Lin Mu was conversing with Xukong about the Heaven Silencing Seal, the others were still concerned about the matter at hand.


    They couldn''t understand just how the time had been frozen like that.


    "Do you think the frozen time was only affecting us, or perhaps more?" Crown Princess Shang asked. "If it was just us, then things might be bad, since others would have still been active." She added.


    "It wasn''t just us." Lin Mu spoke up hearing that. "It was the entire Immortal Realm." He stated.


    "The entire immortal realm?!" Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others were shocked once more.


    "Looks like the seal is a lot more powerful than we thought." Ziran said, furrowing his brows.


    "It is¡­ I''ve decided to observe it for a while before using it." Lin Mu stated.


    "That''s good. Better to err on the side of Caution." Monk Hushu agreed with the decision.


    "Now then, what do we do?" Qiao De asked. "We could go further north. And see if we can''t find another camp or Chimera nt." Daoist Chu suggested. "That part of the area hasn''t been explored anyway and the Chimera Radar has been showing an increased number of Chimeric Beasts there too." He added.


    "Very well, we shall do that then." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. The number of Chimeric Beasts had been steadily decreasing since the ck Fin Ind members started hunting at a great speed than before. As such Lin Mu and the group had to search longer and often times, they might not even see a single Chimeric Beast for days.


    As such, the Chimera Radar picking up on a higher number of them was a good sign as it might mean that there was a Chimera nt there that was producing more Chimeric Beasts.


    While Lin Mu and the group had mostly fulfilled their goals of obtaining the items they wished for, that didn''t mean that they couldn''t keep on buying other things from the list. After all, most things in there were highly valuable and as such having more wouldn''t hurt.


    Not to mention, they still needed to find a way out of the Bridge ne which they were having a hard time with.


    So far they only had two ways of doing that. One was to follow the original task and simply survive until the Trial Arrays deemed them to have survived long enough. The second was to figure out just how Yao Changying and the ck Fin Ind members wereing into the Bridge ne.


    Thetter was something they might be able to do as long as they came across more Chimeric nts as they were being used to nurture Yin Nascent Soul Maggots.


    Another thing was that Lin Mu and the group had still not encountered Yao Changying. Despite having known about her for almost two years and fighting hundreds of ck Fin Ind members, there was no sign of the woman.


    They did know that she was here, as some of themunication jade slip had confirmed it. But she seemed to be hiding for some reason and wouldn''t appear in front of them.


    Lin Mu first thought that she was simply biding her time, and wished to tire them out with the ck Fin Ind members and the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots. But that thought changed when she didn''t appear even after multiple ambushes.


    This made them wonder just how often was she going out and returning.


    Though Ziran also suggested that Yao Changying might be busy with something entirely else. Crown Princess Shang also agreed with this, thinking that she had an alternative goal other than the offering halls contents as well as the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots.


    This had made Lin Mu analyze the items that they were buying from the Offering Halls, but he couldn''t full determine what was the exact reason since they were quite varied. There was no particr pattern to them, other than the fact that around forty percent of the items were meant to improve the cultivation base of dark elemental cultivators.


    It did make them think that Yao Changying might just be thinking of improving her own cultivation base along with her people, but it didn''t seem the most urate, either.


    Since there was no other way to find out, all Lin Mu and the others could do was to learn it bit by bit. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    But what they didn''t know that they were going to get an answer very soon¡­


    ~WHOOSH~


    "There it is!" Lin Mu said as he stood atop Little Shrubby''s back. "That''s a Chimera nt''s work for sure." He pointed at a giant death Qi cloud that was floating in the distance.


    It was at least a hundred kilometer away, but its size allowed them to spot it from all the way here.


    "Daoist Chu was correct. The increase in the number of Chimeric Beasts on the Chimera Radar was due to the Chimera nt." Crown Prince Feng Shun praised.


    "I just did a guess." Daoist Chu said. "Though I don''t know how many more things we''ll encounter this time." He added.


    "Indeed." Lady Kang nodded.


    A short whileter, the group got closer, allowing them a better view of the site.


    "This is enough, Little Shrubby." Lin Mu asked the beast to stop and the group got off.


    They stood at least a kilometer in the sky and observed the area below. "Looks like there''s no Yin Nascent Soul Maggots here this time." Qiao De noticed it to be only filled with Chimeric Beasts.


    "Hmm¡­ guess that just makes our work easier then." Crown Princess Shang said as she nced at the swarm of Chimeric Beasts that were filling the area, making it seem like a ck sea.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu took out Wonder Seeker and nocked a Mortal Reminder Arrow into it, aiming towards the Chimera nt.


    "Everyone ready?" Lin Mu asked, ncing at them. "Always." Crown Prince Feng Shun said and the others nodded.


    ~TWANG~


    With the confirmation, Lin Mu released the arrow, letting it pierce the trunk of the Chimera nt.


    ~BOOM~

 Chapter 2381 Encircled

    Chapter 2381 Encircled


    The resultant explosion from the Mortal Reminder Arrow was massive and it swept over an area of thirty kilometers rapidly.


    Lin Mu and the group were already far from it of course, having traveled atop Little Shrubby''s back and retreated before it ever became a concern.


    "As good as ever." Daoist Chumented, seeing the size of the explosion as well as the Death Qi clouds that were being rapidly dispersed.


    The group waited till the explosion had settled down and a sea of Death Qi had been created in the ce of the Chimera nt. Most of the Chimeric beasts had been killed in the explosion, but those that were far apart were still alive and there were a decent number of them too.


    "We''ll go clear out the Chimeric Beasts. You can get the Chimera nt''s fragments." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, following their previous arrangement.


    They had always done this as it would usually take Lin Mu some time to gather the Chimera nt''s fragments, since they wouldn''t always appear right away. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "Sure." Lin Mu said and went to the Death Qi sea.


    ~SHUA~


    His Spatial Perception activated, and he searched for any fragments in the Death Qi sea. This was not easy and even in the past times, Lin Mu hadn''t been able to find many of them.


    In fact, after the very first Chimera nt he had destroyed with everyone, there had only been two or at most three Chimera nt Fragments having been obtained from every subsequent Chimera nt.


    ''This is the Seventh one now,'' Lin Mu thought to himself, recounting all the Chimera nts they had destroyed. ''Just how many more are there?'' he wondered, if the ends f their trial would really be dependent on the elimination of them all.


    His eyes scanned the Death Qi sea for any traces of the fragments, but it didn''t seem to be easy this time.


    ''Did they get swept away far?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Most of the time, the Chimera nt Fragments would be around where the nt had exploded, but it seemed like it was somewhere else this time. As such, Lin Mu went flew along the sea while watching it closely.


    The others were hunting the Chimeric beasts about fifty kilometers away and were clearing out several groups of them.


    ~SHICK~


    "And that should be thirty thousand." Qiao De said, drawing back several javelins. "That''s more Chimeric Beasts in this hour than I hunted in thest week entirely." "Their numbers are quite dependent on the Chimera nt now, plus those Yin Nascent Soul Maggots aren''t doing much to help that." Daoist Chu said, making three hand seals and causing arge fireball to burn another group of the Chimeric Beasts.


    "At least the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots gather all the credits at once and reduce our effort of hunting them." Crown Princess Shang stated. "But they''re no easy thing to kill either." Daoist Chu replied, as he killed a few more Chimeric Beasts.


    "Speaking of that¡­ It''s rather strange we haven''t seen any of them this time." Crown Princess Shang said, furrowing her brows.


    "Are we perhaps too far that the Yin Nascent Soul maggots haven''t found the Chimera nt? It did look like the Chimera nt had just risen from the ground not long ago." Qiao De guessed.


    "Can also be that we''ve killed too many of them and they can''t afford to send anymore." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, hearing their conversation.


    "Could be," Daoist Chu muttered.


    "We are quite far and in an unexplored area, so there is a chance they haven''t seen or learned about it yet," Lady Kang spoke up. "We should be careful, regardless." She added.


    "Of course." The others nodded.


    ~tremble~


    Unknown to them, there were subtle tremors going through the ground at this very moment. But the effect of thebat as well as the previous explosion earlier made that it was very easy to mistake it as after effects from that, thus they didn''t notice it.


    ~RUMBLE~


    But it finally reached a point where they heard it loud enough to be surprised.


    "What was that?" Daoist Chu asked before a faint wave of energy was heard.


    ~BOOM~


    The ground behind him burst open as arge creature rose from it.


    It was at least fifty meters long and had thousands of sharp teeth in its circr mouth, while tens of tentacles extended from its long body.


    "It''s the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot!" Daoist Chu shouted.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    But that was merely the start as four more Yin Nascent Soul Maggots rose up from the ground, blocking Crown Princess Shang, Monk Hushu, Qiao De and Elder Hu.


    "Theres more of them!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said as lightning started to crawl on his skin.


    ~BZZT~


    He immediately threw out several bolts of lightning towards the nearest Yin Nascent Soul Maggot and struck it with ease. ~SCREECH~


    The maggot cried in pain and iled around, its tentacles whipping the area while foul energy was being spread by it.


    "Take the Bale Resistance pills." Ziran quickly shouted.


    ~gulp~


    Everyone took out a pill each and swallowed it.


    These were pills that they had bought from Offering hall and were especially meant to resist all kinds of Baleful Energies. While it didn''t fully stop the Withering Dao energy, it did slow it down if they got attacked.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    But the group didn''t know that this was merely the start of it as the glint of tens of weapons was seen flying towards them next.


    "It''s an ambush!" Lady Kang shouted, seeing the over hundred ck robed individuals appearing from the ground.


    All their weapons were covered with the foul energy, and now the group had been surrounded in just a few seconds.


    The group was were currently spread around, and had the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots in the middle, with the ck Fin Members on the outside, blocking their paths.


    "We need to break out of the encirclement!" Crown Prince Feng Shun ordered. "Focus on a weak point and move out! We''ll have to regroup and get Daoist Lin Mu." He stated.

 Chapter 2382 Pressured By The Black Fin Island Members

    Chapter 2382 Pressured By The ck Fin Ind Members


    The maggots seemed to all be fifty meters tall and were using their tentacles to constantly attack the group while releasing copious amounts of Withering Dao energy. The same could be said for the ck Fin Ind members who were attacking the group from a distance.


    They swung their weapons, sending forth imprints and shes that were imbued with the Withering energy as well.


    This made it difficult for the group to fight against it easily and they were stuck in one ce. They were already having a hard time dodging the attacks of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots and were also getting assaulted while doing that by the ck Fin Ind members, causing them to inevitably get injure.


    "DIE!" Crown Prince Feng Shun swung his arms, sending forth waves of wind that pushed away the tentacles before pointing at the ck Fin Ind members with his fingers. ~ZAP~ZAP~ZAP~


    Thin streaks of lightning jumped at the ck Fin Ind members, burning their bodies and killing one of them.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    On the other side, Daoist Chu and Min Ju were facing against a flurry of spear imprints that wereing towards them nonstop and Ziran who was defending them on the back from the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots with his wooden vines.


    Elder Hu sent out fiery fist imprints, destroying the Withering energy of the ck Fin Ind Members, while Qiao De rained down javelins upon them, most of which were blocked.


    Finally Lady Kang seemed to be shooting out fragmenting stars, trying to keep the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots at bay as much as possible while Crown Princess Shang weakened them with parasitic seeds.


    They all knew that the most dangerous enemies here were the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots. Their attacks contained the highest amounts of Withering Energy and if they identally got bitten or cut by them, they would get infected by it.


    Not just that, but the fact that even killing the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots had to be thorough, as their Nascent Souls could very well try to corrupt their entire Dantians.


    The battle raged on, with none of the partiesing out on top. "We can''t keep at this, Crown Prince!" Daoist Chu said out loud. "The area is getting filled with Withering Dao Energy." He warned.


    The Yin Nascent Soul Maggots were releasing it in the form of a gas, which was fine at first, but as its concentration increased, the group would end up getting affected by it.


    "We have to break out of this at all costs. The Bale Resistance Pills won''t be able to keep this foul energy at bay for long." Ziran said thinking about the time needed for this to happen.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun thought about it without stopping his fight and knew that doing this in their current state was going to be hard. They were getting pressured from both sides and the hundreds of ck Fin Ind members didn''t pause between their attacks.


    In fact, they coordinated in an almost mechanical manner, with at least a hundred individuals attacking while the others prepared their attacks and skills.


    "These men aren''t weak." Monk Hushu spoke as he tried to defend everyone with a barrier that he was setting. "They''re much stronger than the previous ones." "These men aren''t weak." Monk Hushu spoke as he tried to defend everyone with a barrier that he was setting. "They''re much stronger than the previous ones." The ck Fin Ind members they had encountered before this were mostly second or third Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm cultivators, with a few of them reaching the fourth and fifth stage. But now, the weakest among them was Fourth Tribtion Stage and most seemed to be at the Fifth Tribtion stage of the immortal realm!


    This in addition to the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots who also seemed to be as strong as Sixth Tribtion Stage Immortal realm beasts, made their ordeal incredibly dangerous.


    If not for the fact that all of them were experienced with battles and were used to working in a team with each other now, they would have already gotten gravely injured if not died. Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lady Kang could counterattack, but there was a limit to their skills that they could use without stop.


    All their strong skills needed some time to prepare, which the ck Fin Ind members would certainly not allow them to have.


    All in all, it was clear that they had been ambushed very specifically after Lin Mu had killed the Chimera nt and separated from them.


    Thinking about all this, Crown Prince Feng Shun knew they only had one solid option.


    "We need Daoist Lin Mu!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said and held his jade slip, quickly sending a message while kicking a ck Fin Ind member''s arm apart.


    With Lady Kang and the others getting trapped in an ambush, Lin Mu didn''t know it right away. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    After all, the distance between them was several kilometers, and even Lin Mu''s immortal sense wouldn''t reach that far, having the maximum range of about ten kilometers.


    Plus, Lin Mu had ended up moving further away from them due to searching for the Chimera nt fragments. ~SHUA~


    And right as he was scooping up a fragment, Lin Mu felt hismunication jade slip tremble.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu raised his brows and held the jade slip.


    ''Ambush.'' Only one word was enough for Lin Mu''s eyes to go wide.


    ~SPLASH~


    A momentter, the Chimera nt Fragment he was in the process of scooping up fell down while his expression changed. "Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu called out the beast and immediately jumped upon his back.


    ~ROAR~


    With a roar, the beast turned into a blur and quickly sped towards the direction where the group was supposed to have been clearing out the Chimeric beasts.


    It only took a couple minutes for Lin Mu to get there, but even then the battle seemed to have progressed to a rather grave state.


    "This¡­" Lin Mu''s hands trembled as he saw the hundreds of ck Fin Ind members as well as the five Yin Nascent Soul Maggots that were present.

 Chapter 2383 Against Elite Troops

    Chapter 2383 Against Elite Troops


    Seeing the state that everyone was in and the battle that had already injured hispanions, Lin Mu quickly jumped into it.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    Drawing out his two swords, Lin Mu swung them at the ck Fin Ind members.


    A yellow and blue sh rushed towards the ck Fin Ind members, but they reacted faster than Lin Mu had expected.


    "Wither Mist Wall!" One of the ck Fin Ind members said before making an upward sweeping gesture with his hands.


    ~SHUA~


    Dark energy rose from his feet and spread in front of him, turning into a wall of ck mist. The two sword shes seemingly consumed by this wall, rendering Lin Mu''s attack useless.


    "Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm?" Lin Mu noticed that the man was not weak. "No, wait¡­ most of them are like that." He was surprised. ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby too jumped into the fray, though he went around and started attacking the ck Fin Ind members from the other side. ~WHOOSH~


    Fiery energy apanied his form, as the temperature of the area was raised quickly. Little Shrubby might be at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm, but his attacks were a lot more powerful than that such that even the ck Fin Ind members had to take them seriously.


    But the Withering energy they used could actually block Little Shrubby''s mes too, and the beast couldn''te close due to the sudden spikes of it.


    Seeing this, Lin Mu knew he would have to interfere in this in a different away.


    "Blink." Lin Mu suddenly disappeared from the sight of the ck Fin Ind members and appeared in the middle of them.


    ~SLICK~ SLICK~


    With two swift cuts, he decapitated one of the members and chopped off the legs of the other, causing him to fall helplessly onto the ground.


    "AHH!"


    "He''s here!" the ck Fin Ind members called out, but before they could react to it properly, Lin Mu disappeared once more.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    Two more corpses fell, as either their heads were cut off, or their hearts had been stabbed.


    ''Ugh¡­ the Withering Energy.'' Lin Mu could feel the wisps of the foul energy trying to enter his body, but he was resiting it with the effect of the Bale Resist pills. ''They''re using a strategy that prevents us from approaching them easily.'' He understood.


    Not only were the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots releasing the Withering energy, but the ck Fin Ind member''s skills and techniques were doing the same. This energy would seep into the ground, or linger in the air, making it dangerous for anyone to get too close.


    It was the same as poisoning one''s fields to prevent others from entering. Expect in this case the ck Fin Ind members seemed to be immune to the effects of the Withering energy.


    ''Yao Changying has certainly done something to them. They''ve suddenly gotten stronger and can use better skills.'' Lin Mupared them to the previous ones he had fought.


    If those were somemon cannon fodder, these ck Fin Ind members seemed to be elite troops.


    "AHH~!" While fighting them, Lin Mu heard a loud scream, making him look at it. "Crown Princess Shang!" he recognized the voice.


    The Crown Princess had been struck by a stray tentacle of a Yin Nascent Soul Maggot that had popped up from the ground behind her and struck her.


    "Stop!" Ziran clenched his fist and struck the tentacle, causing it get pierced in tens of thorns that popped up from the man''s knuckles upon contact.


    ~WHOOSH~


    With the other hand, Ziran swung a thorny whip that severed two more tentacles that were trying to sneak up from behind.


    "Monk Hushu!" Daoist Chu called out to the man.


    "On it!" the monk said as he quickly reached Crown Princess Shang and ced his hands over her injury. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    ~Humm~


    He chanted to prevent the Withering Energy from infecting to deep.


    "I''ll purge it too." Crown Princess Shang said, as she used her rich wood elemental immortal Qi to push it out.


    Through thebined work, they were able to purge it out of her body, but this also meant that there were fewer hands fighting now and the pressure on the others had risen.


    "Just a bit more. Daoist Lin Mu is already here." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he created a ive made out of Wind Elemental Immortal Qi and swung it against the head of a maggot.


    ~WOO~


    A sharp wind apanied the ive''s de as it cut the maggot''s head a tenth of the way, acrid blood spilling from its wound.


    ~SCREECH~


    The maggot cried in pain as it hissed at Crown Prince while trying to exhale its contaminated breath at him.


    ~ZAP~


    But Crown Prince Feng Shun simply took this chance to send a lightning bolt into the Maggot''s mouth, throughly rocking its insides.


    Lin Mu, who saw all this happen within seconds, quickly formted a n and knew what had to be done.


    ''I need to get rid of the Yin Nascent Soul maggots first.'' Knowing which target was the most dangerous, Lin Mu quickly blinked and appeared behind two ck Fin Ind members.


    He raised his hands sideways, cing them on the bodies of two men, surprising them. "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang." Lin Mu said lightly.


    ~SPLAT~ SPLAT~


    And in the next moment, the chests of the two men exploded as the twins burst forth from them!


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The snakes smelled the scent of blood as well as the foul energies. They sensed the unease in Lin Mu''s mind and quickly knew what to do.


    "Go wild." Lin Mu said before the twins darted away.


    ~WHOSOH~WHOOSH~


    Unlike the others, the twins didn''t have to care about the Baleful Energies and directly charged towards the ck Fin Ind members. They tried tounch their tainted weapons towards them, but the snakes simply opened their mouths and ate them whole!


    Before they even knew what happened, their chests had been pierced through!

 Chapter 2384 Magma Asura

    Chapter 2384 Magma Asura


    The sudden appearance of the twins was astonishing to the ck Fin Ind members.


    "What are those!?" "Ribbons?"


    "Some kind of Immortal Weapon?" They couldn''t even tell what they were due to how fast they were moving and their fatal attacks.


    "Must be a weapon! It is passing through Withering Energy without a stop." They thought mistakenly. ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The twins continued to bounce around between the ck Fin Ind members, destroying their limbs, or sometimes their hearts at once.


    ''This should hold them back for the time being.'' Lin Mu thought having unleashed the twins upon the ck Fin Ind members.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    And sure enough, they were forced to focus on the two menacing ribbons that were tearing through them. But attacking them was quite difficult as they dodged them with ease or simply knocked straight into their weapons without a care.


    Swords, spears, axes and more were thrown away or directly broken by the impact, but the twins simply did not slow down. "Their Nascent Souls are destroyed too!?" it was now that the ck Fin Ind members realized another terrifying fact.


    They weren''t just being killed in body, but also in soul as the twins sucked up their Nascent Souls which were a delicious treat to them.


    Lin Mu could have killed the ck Fin Ind members with his wide scale attacks, if not for the fact that they were so near to hispanions. Most of his wide area skills caused a lot of coteral damage and couldn''t be used carelessly when one was near others.


    As such, Lin Mu could neither use the Boulder Copsing Fist, or his sword''s Great ughter Pine and Great Ocean Rake skills. Of course, using the Falling Sky Lance was also out of the question as that would destroy several kilometers of area at once.


    But that didn''t mean that Lin Mu had nothing, he still had plenty of things at his disposal that he could use. The best of which were his Spatial Skills that allowed him superior maneuverability!


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu quickly appeared in front of Ziran who was blocking another attack from the incessantly whipping tentacles of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot. ~SHING~


    ~SLICK~SLICK~SLICK~


    A single sh of his swords cut apart the tentacles into tens of pieces while leaving arge gash into the neck of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot.


    "Leave this one to me, handle the others." Lin Mu spoke to Ziran before charging at the Maggot.


    ~HUALA~


    A searing hot energy burst from his body before coating it and transforming into a rocky armor.


    "Longgui Bulwark Armor!" Lin Mu manifested the armor, raising his defense against the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot by a lot.


    The rocky armor could be sacrificed to take the damage from the corruption of the Withering Dao Energy while the searing hot energy could keep it at bay and even burn it away at the same time. Thus, it was a great option for defense against the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot.


    But that wasn''t all, as Lin Mu wasn''t just done yet.


    The armor wasn''t fully solid, and streaks of magma were flowing along its surface. They gathered around Lin Mu''s shoulders and the pauldrons started to melt and elongate.


    ~SHUA~


    From the pauldrons two long appendages grew, the ends of which solidified into hands!


    ~SHUA~


    Two more such appendages grew above them, but these were much longer, and rose straight up about three meters before forming the hands.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~


    The gauntlets on Lin Mu''s arms shifted before expanding to be muchrger and sturdier. Spikes grew from the knuckles while sharp ribs grew from its sides, turning them into a set of heavy war gauntlets!


    ~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~ N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    The two swords flew out of his hands and were sped by the bottom set of magma hands.


    ~HUALA~


    Wonder Seeker also appeared and was firmly grasped by the top set of hands, the magma from them flowing into the bow and turning into a burning arrow already.


    "Magma Fury: Magma Asura!" Lin Mu''s eye slits seemingly lit up, as mes started to burn from them.


    This was the battle form that Lin Mu had created over time in thest year or so. It was something that was good for facing multiple opponents in a close encounter, since he could use all of his weapons at once while also making use of his body cultivation.


    Since he couldn''t use his wide area attacks here, Magma Asura was perfect for this kind of battle.


    ~TWANG~


    The first to attack was the top set of magma hands, as they shot a searing hot arrow, right into the mouth of a screaming Yin Nascent Soul Maggot at the back that was about to attack Min Ju.


    ~BOOM~


    The arrow exploded in the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot''s mouth, causing several of its teeth to be broken apart.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    Next, the two swords moved, shing out red and blow sword energies that cut the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot that was fighting against Lady Kang. It cut apart three of its tentacles while also making it bleed from a long cut.


    Finally, the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot in front of Lin Mu was pummeled with his fists.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Foul blood and searing hot energy mixed, as gaping holes were created in the body of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot.


    ~SCREECH~


    The attacks forced the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot to scream and made it curl from the impact.


    ~CRACK~


    Lin Mu stomped on the ground and rose up, before sending an uppercut at the head of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot that had bent.


    ~SMACK~


    Hundreds of teeth wereunched from the impact, while a third of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot''s head seemingly turned into minced flesh!


    But Lin Mu didn''t stop there and spun around, using the momentum to whip his bottom magma hands and sh at the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot''s head with the swords.


    ~SLICK~


    ~THUD~


    In one swift hit, the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot''s head was split in two!

 Chapter 2385 Staunch Opposition

    Chapter 2385 Staunch Opposition


    "Crown prince!" Lin Mu called out as soon as the body of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot hit the ground.


    ~ZAP~


    "On it!" Crown Prince Feng Shun knew what to do and threw arge thunderbolt at the corpse.


    ~HISS~


    The Nascent soul that was trying to leave the corpse was instantly erased by the extreme yang of the lightning, finally killing it.


    "One dead!" Daoist Chu said seeing that Lin Mu and Crown Prince Feng Shun had sessfully killed the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot.


    "Still four more to go." Lin Mu said, without losing focus. "Come on, we can do this!" he said before pouncing at the nearest target.


    His two real and four magma arms moved nonstop, wreaking havoc upon the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots. His attacks also helped the others take advantage and they could unleash stronger attacks at the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots.


    ~THUD~


    Not long after, another Yin Nascent Soul Maggot was killed under thebined effort of Lin Mu, Crown Prince Feng Shun and Lady Kang.


    "Three more!" with their numbers reducing, the group could fight a lot better and their injuries were not being as strained as before.


    Some of them developed grey spots on their bodies due to the Withering Energy in the air, as well as due to some of the attacks that had managed to get through their defenses.


    Only Lady Kang was currently safe from it, simply due to the sheer number of defensive treasures she had on her braid. But those were quickly running out too, for they were simply not meant to withstand an onught from Withering Dao.


    The ornaments that had been arranged in the shape of a crane in her braid were nowcking a wing and two legs.


    Lady Kang had endured several of the attacks for the others, since she had the most defensive treasures. She wouldn''t have had to rely on them though if only she could use her 88 Mythic Constetion Series. But it was a skill that needed time to prepare and for each skill the time needed varied. Not to mention, she couldn''t be interrupted in between or the skill would fail. Otherwise she had several skills that would have helped right now.


    ~TWANG~TWANG~TWANG~


    Lin Mu''s top magma arms shot several magma arrows amplified by Wonder Seeker thatnded among the ck Fin Ind members too whenever he felt like there was an advantage.


    Lady Kang and the others who saw this couldn''t help but be impressed.


    ''He''s gotten much better than before with this.'' They thought.


    This wasn''t the first time Lin Mu had used this, but before, his proficiency had not been as good. After all, this was a skill that required great focus as well as impable control over one''s immortal sense. Currently, Lin Mu''s immortal sense was divided into sixrge tendrils that manipted his limbs, and tens more smaller strings that covered the battlefield, analyzing and observing everything at the same time.


    This was also how Lin Mu was able to fight without having to ''look'' back.


    An Asura had three heads, and Lin Mu''s Immortal Sense was doing the work of the two ''invisible'' heads.


    It was a form that allowed Lin Mu to utilize his Qi skills, his sword skills as well as his body cultivation all at the same time. Though this also meant that it was quite taxing and was draining his mental strength fast, too.


    But Lin Mu still had a long time till he would be exhausted.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Hundreds of lights could be seen on the battlefield as weapons and skills flew.


    Fire, water, wind, lightning, vines, flowers, javelins, talismans, sword energy and starlight could be seen, as everyone''s fought to the full extent.


    One by one, the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots were being killed while the numbers of the ck Fin Ind members were also being reduced.


    The twins seemed to be having fun and were not tired the least bit, their energy stores being restored with every kill. Little Shrubby was also killing off the ck Fin Ind members in cooperation with the twins. Whenever someone lost focus or didn''t pay attention to him, the beast would strike; either crushing their heads, cutting their bodies into four, or simply turning them into a block of charcoal.


    "What are these two ribbons!?" by now they had inspired quite a lot of terror in the hearts of the ck Fin Ind members.


    At least they could see Lin Mu''s attacksing and could even block them, but the twins were far too fast and didn''t care about their attacks. They didn''t even care about the dangerous Withering energy that had been granted to them by their mistress.


    Half an hour passed like this, as the final Yin Nascent Soul Maggot finally fell, its body being turned into a shredded mess by thebined attack of the ten cultivators.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath, but didn''t lose his focus. He instantly turned around and charged at the ck Fin Ind members.


    "KILL THEM ALL!" he shouted, spurring the others to join in with pleasure.


    "AAAH!"


    "We need to stop him!"


    "Follow the mistress'' orders!"


    The ck Fin Ind members became quite anxious at seeing Lin Mu. Their words were also concerning to the group, as they realized that they had been nning around Lin Mu since the start!


    Lin Mu cut the heads of two members before he had a bad feeling.


    "For the mistress!"


    "For the mistress!" N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "For the mistress!"


    Three ck Fin Ind members seemingly pounced on Lin Mu without a care for their lives.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Their bodies swelled up before dark energy was released from all their orifices!


    ~BOOM~


    The three of them exploded, but Lin Mu disappeared a moment before.


    "Careful! They''re sacrificing themselves¡ª" Before Lin Mu could warn the others though, he sensed something in the back.


    "Die!" one of the ck Fin Ind members threw out a wooden token that seemingly shattered the space!

 Chapter 2386 Deadly Odds

    Chapter 2386 Deadly Odds


    Lin Mu had his immortal sense spread, but with the multiple explosions, the Qi in the air was chaotic making it hard for him to sense what had just been thrown. By the time he sensed it, the object which was a Wooden Token he had seen before was already very close to him.


    It was none other than the tokens that they had obtained from the destroyed rings of the ck Fin Ind members.


    ~CRACK~


    The wooden token stopped about two meters from Lin Mu and shattered the space, abruptly opening a rift.


    Lin Mu could sense this very clearly due to just how violent the spatial fluctuations where. He was about to turn around, when he felt somethinging from the Spatial Rift. He didn''t get to see it but the others certainly did.


    It was a surge of pure ck mass that rushed out from the rift.


    "What is that!?" Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others were shocked.


    The power being released by the ck mass was something on an entirely different level. It was certainly not something they had seen the ck Fin Ind members use before.


    "It''s even stronger than the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots!" Daoist Chu sensed.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu barely got a mary look at it, before the surge of ck mass struck him!


    "ARGH!" He instantly felt pain from the impact, the power of the attack seemingly cracking the Longgui Bulwark Armor in one go.


    ~CRACK~


    The ck mass continued to pour out of it, and was very rapidly eroding the Longgui Bulwark Armor.


    "I have to¡­ move¡­" Lin Mu wanted to use blink, but even maintaining his position right now was difficult. ''It doesn''t work!?'' And when he forcefully tried to use the skill, he realized that the entire space was in chaos!


    The ck mass and the spatial rift were causing the entire space to turn unstable, preventing Lin Mu''s spatial skill from working. He hadn''t seen something like this happen before and was astonished.


    "Daoist Mu Lin!" The others shouted and rushed to rescue him.


    "Kill them now!" but the ck Fin Ind members were not going to give them the chance.


    "Dammit!" Crown Prince Feng Shun was furious and directly unleashed waves of winds that tore apart the ck Fin Ind members that wereing close.


    Daoist Chu and Monk Hushu though, managed to avoid some attack and rushed to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu didn''t even have the freedom to warn them about the ck mass. He could tell just how dangerous this was since it was rapidly corroding the Longgui Bulwark Armor. Even though Lin Mu was trying to repair it at the same time, he didn''t know if it wouldst more than a few more seconds.


    "Get back!" it was at this time that Lady Kang moved.


    ~HONGLONG~


    She seemingly made a hand seal, all the hair ornaments on her braid flying out and transforming into an illusory crane.


    ~PIIIII~


    The cranecked a wing and two legs, but it still flew in the air, beforeing to a stop in front of Lin Mu. Its illusory body blocked the ck mass that was surging at Lin Mu, allowing him to finally move out.


    Lin Mu leaned to the side and got out from the range of the surging ck mass before rolling to safety.


    ~PIIII~


    The illusory crane let out its final cry and all the ornaments thatposed it seemingly shattered. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    ~SHATTER~


    ~WHOOSH~


    This seemingly freed the ck Mass again and as if it had a mind of its own, changed directions!


    Lin Mu who saw its direction, felt his heart drop.


    "NO!" Lin Mu shouted, as he saw the ck mass charge towards the nearest person, which was none other than Lady Kang!


    ~WOONG~


    Lady Kang unleashed beams of starlight from her palms, but they barely held for a second before being overpowered. The woman''s eyes went wide before a mind shattering pain filled her.


    Her entire body was consumed by the surging ck mass, as it continued toe out of the spatial rift.


    "NOOO!" Lin Mu screamed as he charged back at it without a care for danger. "LADY KANG!" Elder Hu and Min Ju who were currently upied by the ck Fin Ind members, were horrified. They wished to charge in to protect theirdy too, but were forced to stay by the enemies. They could only hope that Lin Mu could do something right now.


    Searing hot energy rushed out of Lin Mu''s arm and wrapped around it while it erged to a size four times the normal. ~SPLAT~


    Lin Mu directly punched the ck mass, causing a part of it to explode and burn with the energy.


    ~GUSH~


    But the ck mass seemingly started to surge again, after pausing for a second. "AMITHABHA! GOLDEN VAJRA''S PURIFYING SERENITY!" Monk Hushu arrived at this time, directly releasing his Dao Embryo and using the entirety of his Buddhist powers.


    ~HUMMMM~


    The Dao Embryo seemingly came to a stop above Monk Hushu''s head, causing his palms to glow in a golden light. He then extended them towards the surging ck mass, before pure golden light started to pour out of it.


    ~HIIIISSSSSSSSSSS~


    This time, the effect was a lot more profound as the surging ck mass started to directly evaporate. This allowed Lin Mu to finally observe just what the surging ck mass was. "Worms?" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as he saw millions of tiny worms. These worms were different than the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots having a smooth body, and a circr mouth. But instead of hundreds of teeth, they only had a long sharp fang on it that looked like a needle!


    Of course, the entire bodies of the worms were pitch ck, thus it was very hard to determine what they looked like at first. ~RUMBLE~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun''s anger had reached the ceiling, and he directly tapped into the power of his Dao Embryo, unleashing dense lightning Dao Traces.

 Chapter 2387 Peril

    Chapter 2387 Peril


    Crown Prince Feng Shun didn''t care if his skill would cause coteral damage right now, as the situation was already out of hand and they needed to resolve it right away.


    His entire body became swallowed by pure white lightning before hundreds of lightning bolts shot out of him.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Thunder Deity Body!" Crown Prince Feng Shun shouted as he charged into the ck Fin Ind members.


    He didn''t even need to touch them before the lightning bolts that were pouring from his body charred them into ashes. The foul energying from them was also purged at the same time, and allowed the air to be a bit cleaner.


    But the Crown Prince didn''t stay there long, as after doing a single round and cutting the numbers of the ck Fin Ind members by half, he directly rushed to where Lady Kang, Lin Mu and Monk Hushu were.


    ~ZAP~ZAP~ZAP~


    "Hold on!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said, knowing that there were lightning bolts striking Lin Mu and Monk Hushu too.


    "We can take it!" Lin Mu said as he continued to pummel the surging ck mass of worms without a stop.


    Monk Hushu didn''t even reply, simply focusing on chanting and purifying the ck mass. His Buddhist energy was working the best right now, and was actually clearing it all out, unlike Lin Mu''s punches, which were only discing and dying the ck mass for a bit.


    "HAAAH!" Crown Prince Feng Shun finally arrived between Lin Mu and Monk Hushu, before raising his hand.


    The lightning condensed to be arge halberd which he quickly swung down.


    ~BOOM~


    With a burst of lightning, the halberd cleaved through the ck mass, burning its edges and severing it in two parts!


    "TAKE HER AWAY!" Crown Prince Feng Shun urged.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu moved with blink, and directly dug his hands into the ground, lifting the entire area of five meters with him and jumping away.


    ~CRACK~


    Lady Kang''s body could still not be seen, as the cutoff ck mass was still writhing on her and fully covered her. It looked as if someone had tried to drown her with copious amounts of ck tar. It continued to wiggle all over her body and showed no signs of stopping.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu finallyid the chunk on the ground, after going a few hundred meters away. "LITTLE SHRUBBY MOVE EVERYONE!" Lin Mu roared as he clenched his fist.


    An immense wave of energy was released from his body, warning everyone of impending danger. ~ROAR~


    The beast quickly did as told and collected everyone within five seconds and carried them away, while Lin Mu readied his skill.


    "Mountain Copsing Fist: Third Form- ming Devastator!" Lin Mu punched, releasing a fiery ribbon that struck in the middle of the ck Fin Ind members.


    It didn''t even hit anyone in particr and simply struck the ground, but it didn''t matter. For the subsequent explosion consumed everything in a radius of a kilometer.


    ~KABOOM~


    It didn''t matter that the ck Fin Ind members were scattered or trying to retreat as all of them were consumed by it. A couple that were already at the edges and managed to fly were struck by the shockwave, causing their spines to shatter and their skin to evaporate.


    A secondter, their death was delivered and their souls were erased.


    After doing that, Lin Mu turned back without a care and focused all his attention on Lady Kang.


    By now, the ck mass had seemingly started to ''calm'' down.


    "Its¡­ being absorbed into her?" Lin Mu realized, as his eyes went wide.


    The ck mass, or rather the millions of tiny worms, were entering Lady Kang''s body. Lin Mu tried to burn away as many as he could, but it was already toote as about ten secondster all of them had entered her body, finally revealing her.


    "Heavens¡­" Lin Mu gasped as he saw the state of Lady Kang.


    Her milk white skin had turned tar ck, while her face was scrunched up in pain. Her entire body was tense, as if she was spasming. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "This can''t be," Lin Mu hurried moved to take out as many healing pills as he could from his storage and put them in Lady Kang''s mouth.


    At the same time, he checked her condition with his Immortal sense.


    "ARGH!" But as soon as he did that, he felt a sharp pain, his immortal sense strand being broken!


    "LIN MU!"


    "LADY KANG!"


    The others finally arrived and rushed to his side.


    Elder Hu and Min Ju were incredibly horrified and were barely holding back from losing their cool. But they knew that they couldn''t afford that right now and needed to tend to their mistress.


    "What''s happened to her?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "I don''t know for sure. That ck mass has infiltrated her body and has infected her deeply." Lin Mu said. "My immortal sense was broken upon contact as well.


    "Let me try." Monk Hushu who had his robes burned in several ces due to Crown Prince Feng Shun''s lightning, came forwards.


    ~HUMM~


    His palms glowed as he created a curtain of golden light around Lady Kang.


    At first nothing happened, but after ten seconds or so, the limbs of Lady Kang eased up a bit. They were still tense, but didn''t seem to be spasming like before. But her expression didn''t change at all, and it was clear that she was still in pain.


    "Buddha have mercy! What foul creation is this!?" Monk Hushu eximed, getting a feel of the ck worms.


    "What was that ck mass?" Qiao De asked the monk.


    "Worms¡­ Millions of them." Monk Hushu said with a listless breath.


    "Worms!?" The others were shocked.


    "It seems to be some kind of variant of those maggots¡­ but several times more dangerous." Lin Mu said, his brows deeply furrowed.


    "I can slow down this foul creation, but we need something else to stop it entirely." Monk Hushu warned.

 Chapter 2388 Cursed

    Chapter 2388 Cursed


    Everyone anxiously looked at Lady Kang and racked their minds for what they could do.


    "How do we cure this?" Min Ju asked nervously. "Pills?"


    "They don''t seem to be working." Lin Mu shook his head. It was the first thing he had fed Lady Kang, and it didn''t show any signs of working.


    ''Even if it was working, I wouldn''t be able to check that without my Immortal sense.'' He thought to himself.


    The others discussed nonstop, thinking of different options, but none of them seemed to be guarantee to work. Lin Mu though, consulted someone he had the greatest hope of knowing.


    There was no way he was going to let anything happen to Lady Kang, especially considering the fact that she was in this state only because she hade to protect him. If she hadn''t used her ornaments to block the ck mass of worms, there was a chance it wouldn''t have targeted her in the first ce.


    But if Lin Mu had been left there, he didn''t know how bad his condition could have be.


    ''Would I have be the same as her?'' he wondered.


    ''Senior Xukong, what do we do now?'' Lin Mu questioned with great emotion.


    The spider which had been observing everything since the start had also been thinking about Lady Kang''s condition. After all, with Lin Mu having been in great danger, he had been anxious too, especially considering that he couldn''t full help him right now.


    Thus he was happy that Lady Kang had stepped in. And for something like this, he wouldn''t hesitate to help the woman too. "That ck Mass of worms was a type of a cursed technique." Xukong answered.


    "It was a curse!?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. It did seem like a technique to him at first, but after seeing the millions of tiny worms he thought that it was a modified form of the Yin Nascent Soul maggots. But now it seemed to have changed entirely again.


    "Yes, a vile one too." Xukong answered. "Whoever made this has prepared it for a long time and utilized quite a few things to make it. I can tell that there is more than just Withering Dao in there." He added.


    "It does seem to have an amalgamation of various Baleful energies in it too." Lin Mu said having observed some of the properties. "The way it broke off my Immortal Sense right away also makes me think there''s Death Qi too." "Yes, there''s definitely a significant portion of Death Qi in it." Xukong agreed. "This curse is meant to weaken an individual and corrupt them until nothing is left. You will have to be fast if you want to help her." He warned.


    "Of course, I''ll do whatever it takes." Lin Mu said with determination. "It won''t be easy¡­ Lady Kang is able to endure it right now due to her unique cultivation. But there is no guarantee how long she''ll be able to take it. It''s also good that the monk is stalling the progress. Let him maintain that until you get to the Offering Hall." Xukong exined.


    "The Offering hall? Why?" Lin Mu questioned. "Is there something that we can make use of?" his eyes lit up.


    "Yes, to help her you will need vitality¡­ lots of it." Xukong replied. "The pills you have right now won''t be enough, you''ll need to something even stronger." He added.


    "There''s a stronger pill there that can cure her?" Lin Mu asked, already going though the list of items.


    "No, it''s not a pill for her." Xukong replied. "The pills are for you." He said much to Lin Mu''s confusion.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu wondered if he had heard it wrong.


    "The solution to this is the vitality in your blood." Xukong spoke. "It is the richest source of it and what will helpbat her condition. The curse is working by draining her vitality and corrupting her Qi. As long as you can fight it with strong vitality, you just might be able to stop it entirely." He exined.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu was a bit shocked. He didn''t mind that he had to use his blood for it. It was a small price to pay for saving Lady Kang. "So the pills are blood regeneration pills?" Lin Mu guessed quickly after that.


    "Indeed. You''ll need a lot of them¡­ even the ones you have in your ring are not enough." Xukong knew just how big of a stockpile of pills Lin Mu had.


    And among them there were plenty of healing pills, among which were the Blood Regeneration pills. But it was not going to be enough with the amount of blood Xukong knew Lin Mu would be using. ''So even the pills that others have won''t be enough.'' Lin Mu knew that if Xukong was suggesting this, he had already considered that option beforehand.


    The others were carrying Blood Regeneration pills too as it was one of the basic healing pills one must have especially on an expedition like this. They would also hand them to Lin Mu without a moment of hesitation, but despite all that, it wouldn''t be enough.


    The only other ce with any significant stock of such pills was the Offering Hall.


    "I''ll exin the rest to you on the way there, you should get moving right now." Xukong urged him.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said before picking up Lady Kang. "We''re going to the Offering Hall." He said out loud.


    "If its just a safe ce, wouldn''t it be better to go to the Base instead?" Daoist Chu asked thinking that Lin Mu wanted to continue this somewhere safe.


    "We need the things from the Offering Hall?" Crown Prince Feng Shun guessed quickly. "Let''s go then." He knew how urgent the matter was.


    Elder Hu and Min Ju didn''t say anything, but their expressions spoke a hundred words. They were at a loss too as this was not a condition that they knew about at all.


    "Little Shrubby! To the offering all as fast as possible!" Lin Mu said, his voice containing anxiety.


    "YES!" Little Shrubby said with a roar.


    He had gotten close to Lady Kang as well, having fought together and didn''t wish anything to happen to her. Plus, he had also seen how she had stepped in to protect his master, thus he would even go as far as to use the Seven Beasts Burst if it was needed.


    Thankfully, the beast wouldn''t have to resort to it for now as they were rtively near an Offering Hall.


    It was thetest one that they had discovered and it was only an hour away with Little Shrubby''s maximum speed. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~BOOM~


    He sprinted and continued to do so until he broke past the sound barrier, leaving a wake of sonic booms along the way. Craters were also left wherever he stepped, due to the sheer force generated from thebination of his mass and speed.


    The speed was so fast that just the air pressure generated from it left cracks on the ground and a few hills that they passed by.


    Along the way, Lin Mu exined what he had learned from Xukong.


    "A curse!?" Elder Hu was furious after hearing that.


    Min Ju thought was a mix of horrified and surprised.


    ''Lady shouldn''t be affected by most curses¡­ her cultivation technique can keep them at bay.'' She thought having known more about Lady Kang. But once she heard the rest from Lin Mu and how the curse was a mixture of many things, she realized just how severe the condition was.


    ''Even a technique such as the Divine Mystic Constetion Art cannot handle Death Qi.'' She knew.


    Along the way, Monk Hushu maintained his Buddhist skill too, despite the fact that it was quite taxing on him. The monk didn''t care and simply consume more Qi restoration pills to handle it all.


    "We''re here!" Ziran said spotting the Offering Hall.


    "Go right in!" Lin Mu said as he picked up Lady Kang, Monk Hushu right beside him.


    ~WHOOSH~


    At the entrance, Little Shrubby shrank, hurling the group into the Offering hall without a stop.


    Lin Mu and Monk Hushu wasted no momentum and used more of their Qi to change the momentum of their flight and headed straight into the main hall.


    The others followed closely and within seconds they were all present there.


    ~SHUA~


    Afterying down Lady Kang, Lin Mu quickly bought as many Blood Restoration and Blood Regeneration pills that he could.


    With the killing of ck Fin Ind members and the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots earlier in addition to the Chimera nt, Lin Mu had obtained arge number of credits that allowed him to buy over a thousand pills.


    "Take this as well," Crown Princess Shang collected the pills that others had and brought them to Lin Mu bringing the total to roughly around fifteen hundred.


    Combining that with the pills that Lin Mu already had, there were at least twenty two hundred pills now and if they needed more they could be bought.

 Chapter 2389 Life Hanging By A Tread

    Chapter 2389 Life Hanging By A Tread


    Lin Mu looked at Lady Kang''s struggling form and took a breath. He grabbed a handful of Blood Regeneration pills and directly ate them, letting them be digested by his stomach so that the process would start beforehand. At the same time, Xukong was instructing him what to do.


    "In her current condition you''ll need to channel your blood into her body. The only way you can do that stably is by using meld and create tubes that connect the both of you." Xukong instructed. "The key is to imbue your blood with as much vitality as possible and let it support Lady Kang. After a certain point the curse should be weakened enough for you to eliminate it in one go." He added.


    Xukong knew that this was not the best method, but it was the only method that was possible right now.


    ''Ideally we should have had a Curse Master or a Shaman break this curse¡­ Even a Buddhist Abbot might be able to do it but that is out of the option.'' Xukong thought to himself.


    "Meld!" Xukong didn''t get to think for that too long though, as Lin Mu began his work.


    ~SLICK~ ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    With meld, he directly cut his left wrist. Normally something like this would be quite hard to do as Lin Mu had a highly durable body. And even if it did get cut, it would quickly heal due to his vitality. But right now, Lin Mu was keeping it open with meld, and had created invisible ''tubes'' that directly came out of his veins.


    "This has to work¡­" Lin Mu muttered under his breath as he held Lady Kang''s right hand.


    Her skin felt cold and wet to the touch, as if she had been drenched in icy water. But it was all due to the curse that had been infesting her body. Lin Mu even felt uneasy upon touching her, as his instincts could tell him that the curse was right there.


    He held the woman''s hand and gently slit his fingers between hers before grasping it.


    "Meld." With another word, he cut Lady Kang''s wrist as well, quickly creating the invisible tubes to link the two.


    ~SHUA~


    A secondter, the tubes were connected and blood started to flow among them


    To the others it looked like the blood was simply flying out of Lin Mu''s hand and entering Lady Kang. But in reality it was being precisely guided by Lin Mu.


    He couldn''t use Immortal Sense to do this, thus he had to use his skills that he had honed over the years to use Meld urately. Any mistake with the spatial skill could very well lead to the severing of an entire hand for either of them.


    He couldn''t use Immortal Sense to do this, thus he had to use his skills that he had honed over the years to use Meld urately. Any mistake with the spatial skill could very well lead to the severing of an entire hand for either of them.


    ~HISS~


    A few seconds after the blood started to flow into Lady Kang''s hand though, a faint hissing sound was heard. It was as if the blood was boiling when it met the curse inside the woman''s body.


    Lin Mu maintained his breathing at the same time, and controlled his heart to pump his blood at a steady pace. If he wished to he could increase the speed as needed, but as Xukong had instructed he needed to gauge the response from Lady Kang''s body first.


    He continued to pump his blood into Lady Kang for about a minute, while the hissing sound continued.


    "There''s no change in her condition." Min Ju spoke after having been silent all this time.


    "It''ll probably take some time." Ziran replied. "This isn''t exactly a known process." He added.


    "We shouldn''t disturb Daoist Lin Mu and Monk Hushu right now, let them focus on it all." Crown Prince Feng Shun reminded.


    "The Crown Prince is correct." Elder Hu said, his voice heavy. "All we can do now is wait and assist when asked."


    ~SHUA~


    Just as they were talking about that, Lin Mu noticed that Monk Hushu''s technique seemed to be wavering. The golden curtain that was over Lady Kang was starting to flicker.


    "I¡­ Won''t be able to¡­ hold on much longer." Monk Hushu stated with a tired frown.


    "It''s fine¡­ go rest." Lin Mu replied. "I''ll call for you if we need you again." He said, knowing that there wasn''t much Monk Hushu could do now.


    Xukong had already told him that the best Monk Hushu''s skill could do was to maintain the state of Lady Kang but not reduce it. If he was an abbot, it would be a different thing, but this was still much better than there being nothing.


    "Alright." Monk Hushu said, as he deactivated his skill before moving.


    ~SCREECH~


    As soon as he did though, a high pitched screech could be hearding from Lady Kang''s body.


    "What in the name of the heavens is that sound?" The group couldn''t help but cover their ears as they heard a god forsaken screech.


    It was as if millions of bugs were crying out at the same time, and it was enough to make one''s mind ache.


    "Ugh¡­" Lin Mu gritted his teeth as he was hit by it the hardest being so near. But he held on and instead increased the rate of his blood flow.


    ~GUSH~


    The invisible tubes visible bulged as more blood started to flow through them and into Lady Kang''s hand


    The flow of the blood seemingly caused the screeching sound to increase in intensity, showing that it was doing something to it.


    ''Is it the curses trying to oppose it?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    By now, he had injected at least two liters of blood into Lady Kang''s body. This was arge amount for a mortal, but for Immortals who could regenerate it faster, it was still tolerable.


    But in the case of Lady Kang it was different, as even if she could regenerate it fast, it didn''t mean she could contain that much blood in her body.


    ''The blood is being consumed for sure.'' Lin Mu guessed at seeing this. ~GULP~


    He ate another mouthful of pills, knowing that this was going to be a long process.

 Chapter 2390 Running Out Of Vitality

    Chapter 2390 Running Out Of Vitality


    Lin Mu had been pumping blood into Lady Kang''s body for about an hour now and there had been very slight progress.


    "Her hand! The ck color has shifted!" Min Ju almost jumped seeing that.


    "It''s working!" Crown Princess Shang said.


    Elder Hu was pleased too but didn''t get too excited knowing that it was still too early.


    ~GULP~


    Lin Mu ate more pills in front of them and continued to pump more blood. If it were any of them, they would have long since passed out from the blood loss as even Qi cultivators couldn''t produce that much blood in a short time with the support of the pills.


    "Daoist Lin Mu''s body cultivation truly is robust to handle so much." Qiao De couldn''t help but say.


    Lin Mu didn''t hear any of the praises though, as he was fully focused on Lady Kang and had his eyes closed.


    Instead, he was trying to sense her condition with his immortal sense, now that the curse had seemingly retreated a bit.


    ''This¡­'' Upon doing so through, Lin Mu ''saw'' something.


    Inside Lady Kang''s vessels, he could see what could only be described as a wall of tar.


    It had seemingly clogged her entire body and it was a mystery as to how she was even alive. ''This should be deeper than that. What I''m seeing is only the surface.'' Lin Mu knew that it wasn''t as simple as just being blocked. ''Her Dantian is also getting affected.'' But he had no way to check it.


    He could onlypare to his own experience of getting attacked by the Nascent Soul of the Yin Nascent Soul Maggot before. He reckoned it was simr to that, but a lot more dangerous.


    "I''ll just have to increase the speed or clearing the ''tar''." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he controlled his heart to beat faster, letting more blood be pumped into Lady Kang''s vessels.


    ~SHUA~


    Inside, Lin Mu''s blood seemingly collided with the wall of ''tar'' melting away a part of it as if it were mud. But this process also caused the blood to boil and ''wither'' away, showing the power of the curse. This allowed Lin Mu to notice that the rate of clearing depended on how much vitality was in the blood.


    ''It isn''t just quantity that I need, I need more quality!'' Lin Mu realized. ''If so¡­ I can do it.'' He thought before willing his stomach to release all that it had stored.


    ~HUALA~


    In the next second, it was as if a wave of pure vitality overflowed from Lin Mu, as his stomach started to release the stored vitality from who knows how many beasts and other food.


    "Merge!" Lin Mu controlled the vitality to directly mix into his blood, turning it highly potent!


    ~WHOOSH~


    The resultant blood was like hot acid, as it fumed and boiled on its own. If blood like this was given to any mortal, they might just explode on the spot. But for any spirit beast or cultivator, Lin Mu''s blood may as well be a treasured medicine!


    ~HISS~


    But the effect of it on the curse was profound, as it started to be cleared out faster than before.


    Now three of Lady Kang''s fingers had been returned to normal!


    "HAHA! It''s working! He''s doing it!" Daoist Chu cheered.


    ~GULP~


    Lin Mu eat another mouthful of pills as he controlled his stomach to infuse the vitality into newly produced blood. His marrows were also seething, as they worked harder to produce blood.


    His previous body cultivation techniques and his Five Treasured organs were all working hard to support him, as they amplified the process overall. Even the tiny cores within his body were supporting him, even though their true effects had not yet been activated.


    Lin Mu kept this up for about two hours, while his stored vitality kept on getting consumed. In this time, Lin Mu had managed to clear out Lady Kang''s entire left hand, as well as a part of her shoulder.


    ''I can see better now!'' Lin Mu''s immortal sense proceeded deeper and traveled through the vessels.


    Another hourter, Lin Mu had guided his blood to the right shoulder and down the right hand, clearing both of them out. With this, he had established a ''base'' in the upper part of Lady Kang''s body. From here on, Lin Mu had two avenues to target.


    ''I can''t go to her head right away, as it is too sensitive. The blockage there is also the harshest.'' He understood that going in without the other parts cleared might make it dangerous, as the curse could very well decide to kill her right away.


    He already knew the curse was sentient, and it was best to weaken it first and leave it helpless.


    But as time passed, Lin Mu''s stored vitality was starting to run out.


    It had now been ten hours, and Lin Mu had used up over ny percent of his stored vitality!


    This was an immense amount as normally it could havested him years if not decades! All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Lin Mu was also looking rather tired now, and the unease on his face could be seen.


    ''I need more¡­ Need more vitality,'' Lin Mu said to himself. ''But my stomach doesn''t have much left.'' All the food he had consumed before had almost been used up and even if he wished to eat the beast corpses he had stored as reserve, it won''t be enough.


    Lin Mu was struck in a dilemma that he couldn''t even share with others as they wouldn''t be able to help him either. Minute after minute passed like this as he neared the point where he had to make a decision.


    ''Something that is rich in vitality that I can use¡­'' Lin Mu continued to think about it before an answer presented to him. "That¡­ might just work." He said, making others confused as he took out a box.


    ~CLACK~


    Inside the box rested an irregr shaped red crystal; The Sky Swallowing Wolf Bloodline Essence Crystal!

 Chapter 2391 Bloodline Eater

    Chapter 2391 Bloodline Eater


    Lin Mu nced at the Sky Swallowing Wolf Bloodline Essence Crystal for a moment before picking it up.


    His actions were puzzling to others, as they couldn''t understand what he was doing. It didn''t seem like the most idea situation to take it out after all. But what Lin Mu did after that left them shocked.


    ~CRUNCH~


    Lin Mu put it in his mouth and bit onto it, shattering it entirely.


    ~GULP~ ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    He then swallowed it without a care, much to the shock of everyone.


    "Daoist Lin Mu, what¡ª" before they could even ask though, a powerful aura appeared.


    ~HOWL~


    The howl of a beast could be hearding from Lin Mu''s body, as an aura seemingly overflowed out of his body.


    ~HUALA~


    A few secondster, the aura turned visibly thick before manifesting above Lin Mu and transforming into the Sky Swallowing Wolf!


    "Is he assimting it?" Qiao De couldn''t help but ask. "No¡­ That''s not how you assimte a bloodline." Ziran said a few ideas appearing in his mind.


    Lin Mu looked up at the bloodline figure of the Sky Swallowing Wolf Bloodline above him and scowled.


    "Consume!" he said out loud.


    ~HUALA~


    ~ROAR~


    In the next second, the bloodline figure of the Great Slumber Bear appeared above him.


    The Great Slumber Bear easily towered over the Sky Swallowing Wolf and directly swiped its long ws at it before biting onto its neck.


    "GWOOOOOO!" The Sky Swallowing Wolf Bloodline let off a cry of pain and tried to escape, but the Great Slumber Bear gave it no chance. It directly stabbed its ws into the wolf''s wings and tore them out!


    ~RIP~


    But that was merely the start, as the Great Slumber Bear then bit down hard before pulling the entire wolf''s head apart!


    ~POOF~


    The Sky Swallowing Wolf''s Bloodline figure was forcefully dispersed and turned back into a stream of aura that returned to Lin Mu''s body.


    "He¡­ Destroyed the bloodline!?" Qiao De was stunned. "Why''d he do that?" to him it just looked like Lin Mu had wasted a perfectly good Bloodline Essence Crystal.


    ~HONGLONG~


    But the answer for that was presented in the form of a pressure. Lin Mu''s vitality rose once more, as it started to exude from his pores. It appeared in the form of a red aura and seemingly filled the air around Lin Mu. It looked like a faint red mist, but everyone could tell it was pure vitality.


    And inside Lin Mu''s body, the real process was happening. The Bloodline Essence Crystal that Lin Mu had shattered and consumed was actually being processed by his stomach. Several obscure runes appeared all over it, as the Nameless Technique of the Lost Immortal activated to digest it all.


    Lin Mu was utilizing the Bloodline Essence Crystal in a very, very crude way.


    All Bloodline Essence Crystals were essentially highly condensed clusters of vitality along with the bloodline of the creature it belonged too. But this vitality was intended to keep the Bloodline intact as well as allow it to be assimted into an individual.


    Normally speaking, this vitality couldn''t actually be used by individuals.


    Even when someone was assimting a bloodline, the vitality within the crystal wouldn''t be given to them, but would rather be used by the bloodline for its sustenance. The control over all the vitality was held by the ''spirit'' of the bloodline.


    Lin Mu had essentially ''killed'' this spirit to take over the vitality it owned. This wasn''t something any normal cultivator would even think of doing, as it was simply a waste of the Bloodline Essence Crystal. If someone simply wanted vitality, they could very well obtain a simr or even higher amount of vitality by simply selling the crystal.


    They would even have a lot of money leftover after they did that. But in the current case, Lin Mu didn''t care about that at all. He only cared about the end result.


    ''It worked¡­ The vitality contained in the Bloodline Essence Crystal was richer than consuming several Beast corpses.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    While the Vitality from the crystal hadn''t replenished his stomach to the previous level, it was still up by about ten percent.


    At the same time, Lin Mu checked his progress with the curse and saw that about twenty percent of Lady Kang''s left leg had now been cleared out.


    "I''ll just have to keep this up¡­" Lin Mu said to himself as he took out another box.


    ~CLACK~


    This time though, there wasn''t just one crystal in the box but rather tens of them!


    "So many Bloodline Essence Crystals!" Daoist Chu saw them and could even recognize a few.


    ~CRUNCH~


    But before they could look at them for much longer, Lin Mu started eating them one by one.


    The shattering of each Bloodline Essence Crystal was like a stack of money being burned to Qiao De. ~HONGLONG~


    ~HONGLONG~


    But at the same time, Lin Mu''s vitality also started to rise like crazy. By the time Lin Mu was finished with the box, his vitality had risen to the thirty percent mark!


    ~ROAR~


    The Great Slumber Bear''s bloodline figure was also busy killing all the other bloodline figures that would appear upon the breaking of the crystals. But unlike the Sky Swallowing Wolf, they were killed before they could even manifest fully.


    The previous ''fight'' only happened because the Sky Swallowing Wolf Bloodline was stronger than one''s Lin Mu was consuming now. These were in fact, the bloodline crystals Lin Mu had gathered ''passively'' from the spatial storage treasure of others as well as a few ces he had raided.


    They were basically useless to Lin Mu and had been lying in his ring for a long time. He had sorted them into one section when he organized his storage and now they were finallying into use.


    Even the Spirit Realm beast bloodlines were being used, as Lin Mu made use of every single drop of vitality.


    The others could only watch with incredulous expressions as Lin Mu ''burned money'' to fill his stomach.

 Chapter 2392 Selfless Sacrifice

    Chapter 2392 Selfless Sacrifice


    The consumption of the Bloodline Essence Crystals was not exactly a calm process and it was also taxing Lin Mu''s body.


    Normally speaking, any average cultivator would have already died several times over in this. They would have either died to the spirits of the bloodlines, or just from the sheer surge of vitality that came from the Bloodline Essence Crystals.


    Lin Mu was in quite a bit of pain but was enduring through it all. His body cultivation was holding him together, and allowing him to contain and process all the vitality. Even if he had the help of his stomach with the Nameless Technique of the Lost Immortal, it was only till the point of extraction. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    The rest was being done by Lin Mu''s entire body.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    And at the same time, Lin Mu was also dividing his attention to clear out the curse from Lady Kang''s body.


    He had progressed quite a lot and was now done with her entire left leg too.


    ''About forty percent¡­'' Lin Mu estimated after checking with his Immortal Sense. ~tap~


    "Huh?" But as his other hand was trying to pick up more Bloodline Essence Crystals, he realized that the box was now empty. "Dammit¡­ I need more Bloodline Essence Crystals!" he growled.


    "Here," in response, Ziran moved. "These are all I have with me right now." He said giving Lin Mu three Bloodline Essence Crystals.


    "I also got some, wait!" Crown Princess Shang said and gave Lin Mu five of them too.


    "I got a bunch." Crown Prince Feng Shun also joined in and took out several boxes, each of which contained a single Bloodline Essence Crystals for a total of twenty one crystals!


    One look at them was enough for Lin Mu to tell that they were all valuable Bloodline Essence Crystals and had either been obtained by Crown Prince Feng Shun in his missions or were part of his wealth from the Imperial Treasury.


    "I''ll buy more of them. You just keep on taking care of Lady Kang." Elder Hu said staunchly as he used all of his credits to buy every Bloodline Essence Crystals he could.


    In total, he managed to buy about thirty of them before he was out of credits.


    "I''ll buy them too!" Min Ju said and used over three hundred thousand credits to buy another forty Bloodline Essence Crystals.


    They weren''t necessarily as strong, but their numbers would still help Lin Mu replenish his vitality.


    "I''ll take them." Lin Mu said shortly before taking them all.


    He grabbed a handful of them and ate them all at once.


    ~Rumble~


    As soon as he did though, his heart sped up and beat rapidly. Lin Mu''s entire body trembled as a great pressure descended upon him.


    ~HUALA~


    Inside his Dantian, a dense red mist appeared and filled the sky above the Qi ocean. ~ROAR~


    ~HOWL~


    ~ROAR~


    ~HOWL~


    ~CHIRP~


    ~SCREECH~


    Tens of different bloodline figures manifested from the red mist, all furious at Lin Mu''s actions.


    ~ROAR~


    ~MOO~


    But in response, two domineering figures appeared. These were none other than the Great Slumber Bear and the Tyrant Bull!


    Within moments, a gnarly battle erupted between the bloodline figures with Lin Mu''s Dantian as the battlefield.


    "AHHHHHHH!" Lin Mu couldn''t help but cry out in pain as the fight happened within him


    Still, he didn''t lose his focus and continued to inject blood into Lady Kang''s body and purged the curse from her. With the destruction of every bloodline figure, the vitality within Lin Mu''s body spiked and overflowed.


    A red aura was now constantly surrounding him and was getting richer by the minute. After a few minutes, when the battle within Lin Mu''s Dantian settled, he grabbed another handful of Bloodline Essence Crystals.


    ~CRUNCH~


    Swallowing them, he started the entire process all over again, as waves upon waves of pain racked him.


    "This is bad¡­" Crown Princess Shang said, seeing Lin Mu''s state. "He''ll hurt himself if he continues doing this."


    "Consuming these many Bloodline Essence Crystals has never been done before¡­ Daoist Lin Mu might greatly harm his body if he keeps this up." Daoist Chu said, his expression tense.


    "Should we stop him?" Qiao De asked.


    "Amithabha, Daoist Lin Mu, is selflessly sacrificing his body to help Lady Kang. We cannot let his effort go to vain," Monk Hushu said, shaking his head. "Besides, I do not think he will allow us to stop him anyway. His resolve is firm." "He''s correct, we cannot afford to disturb him right now," Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "It doesn''t matter if Daoist Lin Mu injures himself or cripples his cultivation as long as Lady Kang is saved." Elder Hu stated, much to everyone''s shock. "As long as she is safe, the Kang n will ensure that Daoist Lin Mu will never have to worry about his cultivation again.


    If he''s injured, we''ll call the best healers from the entire realm! The best pills and alchemists! If there is something that can help him, the Kang n will get it!" He said without hesitation.


    "Yes! As long as the Lady survives, this life debt will be paid several fold!" Min Ju said with tears in her eyes.


    Lin Mu didn''t hear any of their words though, as he didn''t have the luxury of dividing his attention anymore. More time passed as he finally managed to cleanse about sixty percent of Lady Kang''s body! All her limbs and a part of her lower body had now been cleansed, leaving only her chest and head left.


    But it was at this time that Lin Mu ran out of Bloodline Essence Crystals again.


    "I need more! MORE!" Lin Mu yelled. "There is nothing more to buy on the list." Qiao De said, seeing that all the affordable Bloodline Essence Crystals had been bought by them. "No, there are still some." Ziran said, looking higher up. "There''s the guardian beast bloodlines." "But those¡­" "I''ll take it!" Lin Mu said as he used thest of his credits to buy the Azure Dragon Bloodline!

 Chapter 2393 Burning A Guardian Beast Bloodline!

    Chapter 2393 Burning A Guardian Beast Bloodline!


    ~SHUA~


    A spatial rift opened up, as a box came out of it.


    The box looked rather mundane at first, but the auraing from it stood out quite well.


    ~CLACK~


    Lin Mu opened the box quickly and took a look inside.


    The Azure Dragon Bloodline Essence Crystal was unlike all the others.


    Instead of being red, it was a bright azure color and shone like a gemstone. But that wasn''t all, as one could faintly see the image of a dragon flickering inside it. The image was rather blurry and only when focused would they be able to see it clearly.


    This was due to the fact that the crystal contained the Pure Azure Dragon Bloodline!


    All the other Bloodline Essence Crystals Lin Mu had consumed so far couldn''tpare to it at all. Even if they had been pure, they were still far below that of the bloodline of one of the Four Guardian beasts. Not to mention it was that of the Azure Dragon.


    The Dragon race was known to be long lived and have endless vitality within them. Each and every part of theirs was considered a treasure, and a million elixirs could be made from them. As such, the sheer amount of vitality that was contained within the Azure Dragon Bloodline Crystals was unimaginable.


    ~SHUA~


    Even upon holding the crystal, Lin Mu felt and incredible power from it. It even gave one the illusion that the crystal in their hands might transform into a dragon and fly away.


    This was a crystal that tens upon tens of millions of cultivators, if not billions, would fight over. It was something that was considered as an ultimate reward by the Temple of the Guardian Beasts and only a handful of people might be able to get something like this in a decade.


    And even then, it might not be of the same quality that Lin Mu was holding.


    But he didn''t care about all that. All he cared about was Lady Kang and how to cure her.


    ~Gulp~


    Lin Mu directly swallowed the entire Bloodline Essence Crystals whole, knowing that breaking it in his mouth was not going to be as efficient. ''The vitality might leak out or it might just explode in my mouth,'' He reckoned.


    ~ROAR~


    A secondter though, he felt an incredible roaring from his stomach as well as a heat that was iparable to anything. Even the moltenva of a volcano might not be enough for it, making Lin Mu think as if his body was about to melt from the inside!


    "ARGHHHHHHH!" He cried out in pain, unable to hold it.


    "Daoist Lin Mu!" The group called out in concern.


    They could feel the incredible aura that was pouring out of him and could only imagine the kind of pain he was in right now.


    ~HONGLONG~ Inside Lin Mu''s body, tens of thousands of obscure runes were currently surrounding his stomach, as the Nameless Technique of the Lost Immortal activated strongly. Rings upon rings of these obscure runes formed and surrounded his stomach and helped in the breakdown of the Bloodline Essence Crystal.


    Bit by bit, the crystal was being eroded, and the vitality contained within it was being released. But the pain that came from it was massive.


    Still, Lin Mu endured through it even if he was screaming. His focus over the blood infusion hadn''t stopped either, as he still managed to pump more and more blood into Lady Kang''s body.


    ''Thirty nine percent¡­ Thirty eight percent¡­'' Lin Mu did his best to focus and that and left his body to handle the digestion of the Bloodline Essence Crystal.


    But after about ten minutes or so, the Bloodline Essence Crystal seemingly brought upon a change as a loud roar was heard again.


    ~ROAR~


    A wave of aura was released by the Bloodline Essence Crystal before a mass of it appeared inside Lin Mu''s Dantian. The aura was azure in color and seemingly spread all over the Dantian like clouds. But after a while, the clouds seemingly joined up and took the form of a along and winding creature.


    Four limbs rose from them, each having five ws each, before an imposing head rose. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    The head had two long whiskers and horns that exuded a form of majesty.


    Hundreds of sharp teeth lined its mouth, showing its power while its azure scales shimmered with auspiciousness.


    This was none other than the Bloodline figure of the Azure Dragon, one of the Four Guardian beasts and the representative of the East!


    ~ROAR~


    The Bloodline figure seemingly roared before turning to face Lin Mu''s Nascent Soul that was floating on top of the ocean of Qi. Taking it as a foe, the Azure dragon charged at it, intending to consume it in one go.


    ~ROAR~


    But before it could do so, another roar was heard and arge bear appeared to block it.


    ~MOO~


    Behind the dragon, another illusory figure appeared which was that of none other than the Tyrant Bull!


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    ~RUMBLE~


    It didn''t take long for a great battle to take ce within Lin Mu''s Dantian while he continued to purge the curse from Lady Kang''s body.


    Each and every impact, shockwave and movement, were hurting Lin Mu internally and causing him great pain. His Body Cultivation was being strained to the maximum and he was now using all of his Immortal Essence to endure it.


    Still, Lin Mu didn''t dare lose focus and continued to pour his blood into Lady Kang''s vessels.


    Thirty seven percent!


    Thirty six percent!


    Thirty five percent!


    .


    .


    .


    Thirty percent!


    Lin Mu''s effort wasn''t in vain and the curse started to get purged more and more until finally he had cleared it all out of Lady Kang''s torso!


    Now all that was left was her head, which was the most sensitive part and something that contained a condensed form of the curse.


    This was now the final twenty percent of the curse left, and Lin Mu had to clear it at all costs.

 Chapter 2394 The Final Push

    Chapter 2394 The Final Push


    Lin Mu''s consumption of the Azure Dragon Bloodline Essence Crystal had worked out and it had helped him clear out over twenty percent of the curse in one go from Lady Kang''s body. The Azure Dragon was of the wood element which was known to have naturally rich vitality.


    As such, the Bloodline Essence crystal had been highly effective in it. It had replenished all of Lin Mus'' vitality in one go, but now over seventy percent of it had been used. The battle inside Lin Mu''s Dantian had also ended, with the Azure Dragon''s bloodline figure perishing to thebined onught of the Great Slumber Bear''s bloodline figure and the illusory figure of the Tyrant Bull.


    Both of them had been injured in the battle too, with the Tyrant Bull taking the greatest brunt of it. In fact, Lin Mu was starting to feel much weaker than before, and knew that he had sustained a lot of internal damage than could be seen at once.


    Unfortunately, his work was not finished and Lady Kang''s head was still left.


    The vitality that he had leftover from the Azure Dragon Bloodline Essence Crystal would still be used, but it won''t be enough for to eliminate all of the curse.


    "I need more." Lin Mu said in a hoarse voice. "One more¡­ One more Bloodline Essence Crystal." He asked.


    Hearing this, the group was silent.


    None of them had the credits to buy another guardian beast bloodline essence crystal. Not to mention, as if now only the bloodline of the ck Tortoise was left in the list.


    Unlike the other bloodlines, the four guardian beasts only had a singr Bloodline Essence Crystal each avable at the offering hall.


    Other than the Azure Dragon Bloodline that Lin Mu had just consumed now, the White Tiger Bloodline and the Vermillion Bird Bloodline had been bought by Qiao De and Lady Kang respectively.


    Qiao De thought about it and couldn''t help but hesitate in giving the White Tiger Bloodline. It was highly valuable and wasn''t something he would ever be able to get again. In fact, he had been hoping to buy the Azure Dragon Bloodler too, but now Lin Mu had bought it.


    "Take this." The merchant didn''t get to think long though, as Elder Hu moved. ~SHUA~


    Min Ju and him tapped the rings on their left middle fingers together, causing a stream of energy to be released from them. The energy linked with the ring that Lady Kang was wearing and a secondter a familiar wooden box came out of the ring.


    "Daoist Lin Mu, use this." Min Ju spoke. "Lady Kang granted us rights to her spatial storage in case of emergencies, as such there is no other moment like this to use it." She exined.


    "F-feed¡­ feed it to me." Lin Mu said, not even having the energy to move on his own now.


    "Of course," Min Ju said as she took out the Bloodline Essence Crystal from the box. It felt like a hot coal in her hand, but she didn''t care about it. Rather than the pain she was feeling, she couldn''t help but imagine just what kind of pain Lin Mu was in right now.


    ~HISS~


    As soon as she fed it to Lin Mu, the vermilion colored Bloodline Essence Crystal causedhis saliva to evaporate. The man didn''t even hesitate and swallowed it in one go, causing it to burn all the way down to his stomach.


    ~PIIIII~


    The harrowing process started all over again, as his stomach started to digest it.


    The bloodline figure of the Vermillion bird appeared inside his Dantian and began its battle against the two figures of the Tyrant Bull and the Great Slumber Bear. The two beast figures were also tired, with lots of injuries on their illusory bodies. Since they weren''t healing right away, it showed that the condition of Lin Mu''s body was also rather bad.


    Still, under Lin Mu''s will the illusory figures fought valiantly as the vitality started to overflow from Lin Mu''s body.


    ~RUMBLE~


    It flowed out in wave after wave, as the red aura around Lin Mu got denser and denser.


    "ARGHHHHHHHHHH!" Lin Mu roared out in pain, as he endured through it. Blood seeped out of his mouth and eyes, as he soldiered through it all. The aura continued to get richer and richer, as Lin Mu''s vitality grew. It finally reached a point where it seemed like Lin Mu was sitting in ake of blood!


    His vitality had reached a corporeal stage and covered both him and Lady Kang''s body.


    ~HONG~HONG~HONG~


    His heart beat with the power of a thunderstorm as the blood continued to flow into Lady Kang''s body without a stop.


    The curse inside her was currently being battered by thebined vitality of the Azure Dragon and the Vermillion Bird.


    The vibrant vitality of wood from the Azure Dragon melded with the burning hot vitality of fire from the Vermillion Bird, bringing upon a profound effect that worked great on the curse.


    ~SCREECH~


    Lin Mu''s immortal sense could ''see'' the curse struggling inside Lady kang''s head, as it continued to grow smaller and smaller. Thirteen percent!


    . N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    Twelve percent!


    .


    Elven percent!


    .


    Ten percent!


    .


    .


    .


    Five percent!


    Finally, Lin Mu had brought it down to the smallest form that he could. The curse, which looked like an endless mass of tar, had now transformed into arge worm that was about the size of an elephant.


    "Kill it!" Lin Mu shouted with his will.


    ~ROAR~


    ~MOOO~


    The bloodline figure of the Great Slumber Bear and the Tyrant Bull seemingly traveled through Lin Mu''s blood and arrived within Lady Kang''s body. They had barely finished their battle earlier and were very injured.


    The Tyrant Bull had already lost a pair of legs and one of its horns. The rest of its body was also marred with wound and cuts, from which an aura endlessly leaked out.


    And yet, the two beasts held their ground against the ck worm and fought it until it was crushed into nothingness.


    ~WOONG~

 Chapter 2395 Cost Of Being A Saviour

    2395 Cost Of Being A Saviour


    Arge burst of energy and aura was released from Lady Kang''s body as all the ck tar within her body was purged. The curse was fully eliminated and only a faint screech was heard among the roars of the two proud beasts.


    Despite the injuries they had sustained, they were victorious and could now return to Lin Mu.


    But their injuries were not simple, since they were the representative of Lin Mu''s own body cultivation and his bloodline. He had used them as a proxy to do all the battles, but the damage done to them was endured by him too. As such, he was still in pain.


    Though Lin Mu couldn''t be seen right now as the wave of aura was clouding everyone''s vision.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A few secondster, it finally settled and the two individuals could be seen.


    "Daoist Lin Mu!" Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others called out.


    "Lady Kang!" Elder Hu and Min Ju called out anxiously and rushed to check.


    Upon getting closer, they saw that Lady Kang had returned to the normal state. Her energy was still a bit unstable, but that much was expected by them. Elder Hu quickly checked upon Lady Kang''s internal state with his immortal sense and saw that her body was now clear of the curse, though arge part of her immortal Qi had been depleted leaving her with barely a few percent.


    Min Ju also approached and checked the woman, but she ced her hand on Lady Kang''s abdomen to verify it directly.


    ~phew~


    She took a breath of relief when things seemed fine to her. She quickly fed Lady Kang a few pills to help her recover before finally turning to Lin Mu.


    The aftermath of the battle between the ck worm and the two illusory beast figures was highly taxing for Lin Mu.


    His vitality had dropped once more and the same could be said for his immortal Qi fluctuations. His body wasn''t injured on the outside, but internally he had sustained quite a lot of them. His meridians had several cracks in them, and the same could be said for his Dantian that had been the battlefield between hundreds upon hundreds of bloodlines.


    But that wasn''t all, as his cultivation also seemed rather unstable. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "Daoist Lin Mu¡­ His body''s feels¡­ weak?" Crown Princess Shang said seeing the state.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun furrowed his brows and waited for Lin Mu to move before he checked. After all, they didn''t know what state he was in.


    Lin Mu had his eyes closed, as if exhausted, but he was still awake. He was simply trying to assess his internal condition.


    "You certainly went above and beyond with this," Xukong spoke in his mind.


    "It was what needed to be done." Lin Mu said in a tired voice. "So you ept the cost of it all?" Xukong asked, knowing all that Lin Mu''s body was going through right now.


    "Yes. A little cultivation doesn''t matter when I can recover it in time." Lin Mu replied as a wave of heavy fatigue washed over him. "Ugh¡­ I should have known¡­" he almost felt himself pass out.


    "The Well of Slumber¡­" Xukong quickly realized, as a grew a bit anxious. "How much energy does your stomach have?" he asked. "There are remnants of the two guardian beasts'' vitality that are still being digested." Lin Mu replied. "I''ve already willed the Nameless Technique of the Lost immortal to conserve it." He added.


    "Hmm, will itst you long enough?" Xukong asked, as he couldn''t estimate it in anyway.


    This was highly dependent on Lin Mu himself and the duration of sleep that the Well of Slumber might send him into.


    "It should." Lin Mu said, not feeling totally sure of it. "Alright." Xukong replied, though he wasn''t fully relieved. "You need to leave this ce. At least outside the Saintess will be able to handle things." He knew that going to the Saintess was the best option for Lin Mu.


    That way, even if he didn''t have enough vitality left in his stomach tost him for his period of uncontrolled slumber, the Saintess would still be able to imbue more into him. This wasn''t a method that most immortals would be able to use at all, and was also why the Well of Slumber had been a bane for all those that had assimted the Bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear.


    "Yes, we all need to leave." Lin Mu agreed. "Our team is now weakened and the enemy is still in hiding." With Lady Kang out of the picture and he himself being unable to fight for the time being, Lin Mu knew that things were going to get tough.


    There might be Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others, but there was no telling what Yao Changying might do next. At the very least, he was sure that the ck Fin Ind members they killed weren''t thest of them.


    Plus, there was also the fact that Yao Changying was certainly able to control the Bridge ne''s arrays to some extent.


    ''Those tokens certainly allow movement though the space but only she seems to be able to control it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''That curse was also created by her and the token was merely used to summon it here.'' He remembered the feeling of the Spatial rift opening.


    It was controlled and had certainly been done through the approval of the arrays.


    This also made Lin Mu realized that there was a reason they had not been able to find an end to the trial.


    The goal of ''survival'' would never be aplished if the arrays didn''t deem it enough. And if the one controlling the arrays didn''t approve of it, perhaps they might never be able to leave it on their own.


    Thinking of all this, Lin Mu knew there was only one way out.


    ''I''ll have to get everyone out forcefully.'' Lin Mu knew for sure. ~huu~


    With that decided, he finally opened his eyes.

 Chapter 2396 Fallen Cultivation

    2396 Fallen Cultivation


    "Daoist Lin Mu?" Crown Prince Feng Shun knelt beside the injured man.


    "Haah¡­ I might have¡­ a tad bit¡­ overestimated the difficulty." Lin Mu spoke with a breath.


    "Thank heavens you''re fine." Daoist Chu and the others took a breath of relief upon hearing this.


    "Amithabha, how''s your body?" Monk Hushu asked knowing that there was no way Lin Mu hade out of it unscathed.


    "Not well." Lin Mu said honestly. "My body cultivation has¡­ fallen." He revealed.


    "WHAT!?" Hearing that everyone was shocked. "How much?" Elder Hu asked.


    "It''s now equal to the false immortal realm." Lin Mu revealed, making the man frown.


    Elder Hu seemingly thought of something, before suddenly cupping his fists. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "For your sacrifice, and the life debt that we now owe you, this shall bepensated without fail." Elder Hu stated.


    Min Ju did the same and knelt before bowing her head. "I thank you for saving Lady Kang." Min Ju said with emotion. "The Kang n will not forget this."


    "It''s fine." Lin Mu replied. "More than that, we now need to get out of here." He said, a deep frown appearing on his face.


    "Did you learn something?" Ziran questioned.


    "Yes¡­ I think Yao Changying might have some control over the arrays of this ne." Lin Mu answered. "That curse which attacked us, came out of a ''stable'' spatial rift. Something like that can only be opened if someone had control over the arrays that are covering this Bridge ne." He exined.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun raised his brows as he understood the danger of that.


    "So we''ve been at the whims of Yao Changying all this time?" The Crown Prince didn''t like that at all.


    "In a way yes." Lin Mu nodded. "Though she doesn''t have total control over it, or we might have already been dead. As far as I can tell, she''s the reason why the task has not be fulfilled yet. The arrays are simply not approving it." He exined.


    "That makes things difficult." Ziran said as he looked at everyone. "If we cannot go out the normal way, we''ll have to rely on the method that Yao Changying is using." "That might have been fine before, but not now." Monk Hushu stated. "Daoist Lin Mu''s Body Cultivation has regressed and he''s injured greatly. Lady Kang is also out ofmission for the time being. We''ve been weakened overall." He pointed out.


    "How do we leave then, we can''t just keep on hiding can we?" Qiao De asked. "I have a way." Lin Mu replied. "But I''ll need time¡­ which I''m running out of." He said with some difficulty.


    "What''s happening?" Crown Prince Feng Shun could sense it in Lin Mu''s tone.


    "My bloodline''s been¡­ exhausted in a way and I won''t be able to stay awake for long." Lin Mu answered. "You all already know about my Great Slumber Bear bloodline." He had told them about it a while back as they had grown curious about just what kind of bloodline he had.


    They were certainly surprised about it and didn''t expect that Lin Mu would choose such a difficult bloodline. "That''s fine, you should rest anyways." Daoist Chu said. "We can hide for that long." He thought, thinking that Lin Mu simply needs to rest like he had before.


    "It''s not that simple." Lin Mu shook his head. "If I fall asleep now, I might not wake up for a long time."


    "How long?" Ziran furrowed his brows. "A century perhaps." Lin Mu answered making everyone speechless.


    A century wasn''t an unbearable time for immortals like them, but in their current state even a year would be tough to endure.


    "How long do you think you can stay awake?" Crown Princess Shang questioned.


    "A day or two at best." Lin Mu answered much to their dread.


    Even now he was feeling incredibly sleepy and it was actually the pain that was helping him stay awake right now. But once it exceeded a certain threshold, Lin Mu knew that he would simply pass out.


    Before, he might have had a few years or even a decade till the forceful activation of the Well of Slumber, but now that Lin Mu had exhausted his bloodline too, that time had been cut. This was normal for the Great Slumber Bear, as they would enter a state of long hibernation to recover from injuries too.


    The same was the case for Lin Mu. His internal injuries were bad, but they weren''t fatal or irrecoverable. Well of Slumber along with a supply of vitality would eventually heal it all.


    The bigger problem was that he would be like fish in a barrel. He could of course, have Little Shrubby and the twins protect him in that state, but doing that in the Bridge ne was not a good option as things could turn dangerous at any time.


    ''Yao Changying might not have total control over the arrays right now, but who''s to tell she might not gain itter?'' Lin Mu thought of a dangerous scenario.


    It was one of the things he had considered in all this. He knew for sure that Yao Changying didn''t have this control before and was slowly gaining it. Otherwise, the ck Fin Ind members wouldn''t have had to suffer so much before and they would''ve already killed them all.


    This meant that she had been nning ordingly.


    ''Gaining control over this Spatial ne might have been her entire goal from the start too.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    He also thought that this was the entire reason she hadn''t appeared to fight personally yet. Otherwise, from what he had learned from Crown Princess Shang about Yao Changying''s personality, she would''ve long sincee to kill them herself.


    ~ROAR~


    ~SCREECH~


    ~CHIRP~


    Just as the group was ruminating over their current situation, a cacophony of beastly cries were hearding from outside the offering hall.


    "What''s happening?" They wondered and Daoist Chu quickly went to check.


    A few secondster, his anxious voice was heard.


    "Chimeric beast swarm!"

 Chapter 2397 Swarmed

    2397 Swarmed


    Lin Mu and the group had fought hundreds of Chimeric Beast Swarms in their time in the Spatial ne, and yet the one that wasing towards them was something they had never seen before.


    "Heavens! How means Chimeric beasts are those?!" Qiao De said as he arrived to take a look.


    The others watched with stunned expressions as the swarm which covered the entire horizon approached.


    "No¡­ it''s not just on this side." Ziran said as he flew up and nced behind them. "They''re surrounding us from all sides!" The entire Offering Hall was being surrounded by the great swarm of Chimeric Beasts, the numbers of which could barely be imagined.


    "Cyclopean Chimeric Beasts!" Crown Princess Shang spotted. "At least four of them!" among the swarm, she could see the one eyed hulking monstrosities charging towards them.


    "All four are at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm too!" Daoist Chu said seeing their heights.


    But that wasn''t all, as other Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm beasts could also be seen among the swarm, though they weregging behind and were a bit further.


    There were the Four Headed Chimeric Beasts, the giant Mantis Chimeric Beasts and a couple of flying Chimeric Beasts that had the wings of a fly and the body of an antelope.


    These were all Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm beasts that the group had fought and killed in the past, but they had a hard time finding them back then and had searched far and wide to encounter even one of them.


    And yet, now all of them wereing towards them.


    "How''s this possible, they have nevere near the offering hall before?" Daoist Chu asked in confusion.


    "Yeah, don''t the arrays or something prevent them froming close?" Qiao De said in shock.


    "The Cyclopean Chimeric Beast we encountered back then was staying next to the Offering Hall too." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Daoist Lin Mu was right¡­ The arrays of the Bridge ne are likely in the control of Yao Changying now." She said with a deep frown.


    ~SHUA~


    Two flowers grew on her wrists before they started to erge and take root into the ground.


    ~HUM~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun also got ready for the battle, knowing that this was not something they would be able to avoid now. "Let Daoist Lin Mu rest, we''ll fight until we can." Crown Prince Feng Shun said out loud as he threw out a lightning bolt into the sky.


    ~BOOM~


    The lightning bolt rose to a height of three kilometer before suddenly exploding.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Streaks of lightning rained down from the sky and fell upon the Swarm of Chimeric beasts. ~BZZT~BZZT~BZZT~


    The lightning bolts jumped from one beast to another, as a chain reaction happened. The weaker Chimeric Beasts started to explode right away while the stronger ones were paralyzed.


    "Caustic Drosera Descent!" Crown Princess Shang chanted as she flicked her wrists.


    The two flowers on her wrists flew out into the sky as well and rapidly expanded. From their center, tens of sticky barbs rose that exuded an astringent odor.


    After a few seconds, the two flowers fell upon the swarm of the Chimeric beasts, causing the barbs to stick to them and melt their flesh.


    "Looks like we have to go all out now." Daoist Chu said as he took out eight tattered gs.


    The gs exuded an aura of death and was very simr to the feeling that the Death Qi gave. Except in the case of the gs it was a lot more contained and didn''t seem to spill everywhere.


    "Deathly Confinement Eight gs Killer Formation!" Daoist Chu chanted as he threw out the gs.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    The gs separated into groups of four and arranged themselves into two squares. The squares were self contained and formed a border around the offering hall.


    ck runes rose out of the gs and connected with each other, forming a eight pointed star!


    ~Thud~Thud~THud~ As soon as the first wave of Chimeric beasts reached the border of the gs, they died away and a barrier of corpses started to pile up there.


    "That should dy them for a while." Daoist Chu said out loud. "It''s good that I choose to refine themst week." "How long will your gsst?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned as he condensed two halberds within his hands.


    "I haven''t tested them before, but they can passively run off the Death Qi they absorb." Daoist Chu answered. "Unless their durability is depleted, they''ll continue to work. Though they might not work against stronger Chimeric Beasts." He warned.


    "That''s fine. We''ll take out the strong ones before they get close." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he raised azure and purple halberds to the sky. "This might be our final fight, so give it your all!" he said before jumping.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts: Twin Halberds of Massacre!" The Crown Prince chanted before swinging them.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~BOOM~


    A massive wind de wasunched from the Azure Halberd while a whip of lightning was released from the purple halberd. The two attacks seemingly tore through the swarm of weaker Chimeric Beasts and was only stopped by the stronger ones


    ~GURAAAAAA~


    One of the Cyclopean Chimeric Beasts seemingly took hold of the lightning whip and tried to pull Crown Prince towards him. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "I''ll handle this one," the man said before pouncing on it.


    "I''ll handle one too!" Elder Hu rose to the sky, a swirling mass of ash surrounding him.


    "Cinder Fall Five Fists: Third Fist- Desecrating Ashes!" Elder Hu sent out a fist imprint that pulled along the ash that was surrounding him.


    The ash swirled in a vortex and charged straight into the swarm, drilling holes through them. It was as if every ash particle was a tiny bullet as it shredded through anything in its path.


    While the three strong individuals went to fight the distant beasts, a flurry of ranged attacks came down from the sky!

 Chapter 2398 Taking A Stand

    Chapter 2398 Taking A Stand


    "We''ll need to defend on all fronts." Ziran said as he looked at Daoist Chu. "You handle the ground, I''ll take the sky." "Alright!" Daoist Chu nodded as he continued to control the Deathly Confinement Eight g Formation.


    Ziran stood at the entrance of the Offering Hall and made a few hand seals before tapping the ground.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A wall of brambles rose from it and covered the offering hall, protecting it from ranged attacks.


    All the attacks thatnded on the of Offering Hall were blocked by the brambles that were tougher than they looked. Instead of wooden brambles, they wear as tough as barbed wires!


    ~HONGLONG~


    "I can''t do much right now, but I''ll still protect this ce." Monk Hushu also set up a barrier.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    Qiao De also joined the battle, throwing out his javelins.


    From his original set of twenty four javelins, he had now expanded them to arge set of one hundred and eight of them!


    They didn''t all look the same either, being made out of different materials.


    Some were made of hardened wood, some were made from stone, some were made from metal and then finally over half of them were made with bone!


    These were none other than the bones he had extracted from the Chimeric Beasts themselves and then tempered them with the materials he had bought from the Offering Halls.


    "108 Pelting Javelin Hail!" Qiao De simply gestured with his fingers and sent all the javelins flying into the sky.


    They then spit up and targeted any peculiar Chimeric Beast that was strong and was close to reaching the Offering Hall''s border.


    "I''ll handle them middle ones." Qiao De spoke to hispanions as he controlled the javelins. He retrieved them with amand and sent them flying again. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    It was clear that the merchant had learned a lot and enhanced his skills by a lot. His 108 Pelting Javelin Hail was in fact a famous Javelin Skill that was considered great for arge scale battle.


    He had been limited before by the number of javelins he could make, but here with the abundance of materials, he had no issues and went crazy with the credits, maxing out the entire set of javelins.


    "He sure has gotten stronger." Ziran said recalling his friendcking in the offense department before.


    "But will it be enough for us to survive this?" Daoist Chu said, knowing that this was going to be the hardest battle of their lives so far. It was unknown whether they would survive this, especially considering the fact that two of their strongestpanions were out ofmission right now.


    Min Ju who was taking care of Lin Mu and Lady Kang couldn''t help but look at the empty corridor anxiously. She could hear the sound of the battleing from the outside and knew that it was not light.


    "What''s happening out there?" Lin Mu questioned as he tried to recover as much of his Qi as he could.


    His immortal sense was also rather limited right now, as even using that was quite taxing on him. "It''s not good." Min Ju replied honestly. "There''s a massive swarm of Chimeric Beasts surrounding us including those at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm." She knew hiding it from Lin Mu was useless.


    "Keep me updated and tell me when they can''t take it." Lin Mu said without hesitation.


    "You are in no condition to fight. You should just rest right now." Min Ju replied. "We won''t have that option." Lin Mu said knowing that this might just be the start. "Are there any ck Fin Ind members out there?" he asked.


    "None that I can see." Min Ju shook her heard. "Elder Hu hasn''t spotted any of them either." She added after checking her jade slip.


    "They''re waiting for us to either die or be weakened enough to attack." Lin Mu knew they won''t be missing an opportunity like this. "This swarm was also incited by them."


    Min Ju didn''t reply but her expression showed her fear.


    She was concerned about her Lady as well as everyone else. They might have had a chance to escape of Lin Mu and Lady Kang were given some time to recover.


    But now, the Chimeric Beast Swarm had arrived almost on point as if they had been waiting for them.


    Lin Mu was sure that these Chimeric Beasts had been teleported here as well.


    ''There''s no way so many of them would all appear here at once when they''re so spread out.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he closed his eyes. ''Ugh¡­ I have to see¡­'' with a bit of pain, he opened them again, activating his Spatial Perception.


    ~SHUA~


    Sure enough, with it he could see the faint spatial disturbances that were present everywhere. The closest one was over thirty kilometer away while the farthest one couldn''t be seen by him right now.


    ''She might have just summoned all of them from the bridge ne here.'' Lin Mu guessed.


    A hundred thoughts went through his mind as time passed by. With each passing minute, the sounds of battle only got intense and Lin Mu grew anxious too.


    An hour passed like this before Min Ju gasped in shock.


    "No!" She almost fell back.


    "What happened!?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The ck Fin Ind members¡­ they''re here too now." Min Ju replied while trembling.


    ~SIGH~


    Hearing that Lin Mu let off a sigh. "It is time¡­" Lin Mu said as he stood up with a groan.


    "You mustn''t move." Min Ju quickly moved to help him but he shook his head. "I have onest gamble left." Lin Mu said as he started to walk towards the entrance with an unstable gait.


    Min Ju looked at him and hesitated. She nced at Lady Kang who seemed to be peacefully sleeping and made up her mind.


    "Let me help then." Min Ju said as she held Lin Mu''s arm and supported him to work.


    As the two continued to walk though, Lin Mu decided to warn her about his gamble.

 Chapter 2399 Tempted By Evil

    Chapter 2399 Tempted By Evil


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu took a deep breath as he ignored the pain in his chest before looking at Min Ju.


    "What I''m about to do, is not¡­ normal." Lin Mu spoke. "What you all decided to think of me after that is up to you, but I swear to save everyone." He stated with a staunch voice.


    "No matter what you do, everyone will in support of your actions." Min Ju said. "At the very least, the Kang n will be behind you even if you be the enemy of the entire Immortal Realm." She replied with full confidence.


    "Very well¡­ that does give me a bit more assurance." Lin Mu said as he came to a stop at the entrance.


    "Daoist Lin Mu!?" Ziran and Daoist Chu were surprised seeing him.


    "Let me be¡­ I''ll try to end this all." Lin Mu said as he let go of Min Ju.


    "Are you sure?" Ziran questioned with concern.


    "No¡­ But the gamble will be worth it." Lin Mu said as the look in his eyes changed.


    "Amitabha, in times like this all things became permissible." Monk Hushu didn''t know what Lin Mu was about to do, but he now knew the man well and would support him through everything.


    Lin Mu nodded to the monk before ncing a the great swarm.


    ~HUM~ ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    His lips moved silently at first but an uncanny aura wrapped around him. Bit by bit, they got louder until they could finally be heard by others.


    Strange and eerie words belonging to an unknown tongue left Lin Mu''s lips as an unsettling feeling filled the area. The words were iprehensible and yet all those that heard it would find a chill going through their body.


    Monk Hushu particrly felt his Buddhist Heart trembling, as if warning him about a grave danger.


    ''Amitabha¡­ what is Daoist Lin MU attempting?'' Monk Hushu knew right away it was not orthodox but he also knew he couldn''t stop the man. ''Buddha haves mercy for the cost that Daoist Lin Mu will pay for this.'' The man prayed silently.


    Ziran and Daoist Chu felt unease too. It was as if a de was hanging above one''s head, ready to fall at any time. It would make one unable to calm down and stretch their nerves taut. "What is this¡­" Daoist Chu muttered unable toprehend it.


    "Daoist Lin Mu¡­ What have you managed to learn?" Ziran though had an inkling of what might be happening.


    The longer Lin Mu chanted it, the worse the feeling got for everyone until eventually even the Chimeric Beasts beyond the border of the formation gs felt it.


    The weak ones stopped in their tracks while the strong ones were intimidated to think twice.


    But that was not all, as a new aura rose from Lin Mu''s body.


    It was a mix of dark purple and ck, looking like a thick vapor. The aura enveloped the back of Lin Mu and rose up like a wall. "Buddha protect us¡­ this is not the Orthodox¡­ this isn''t even the Unorthodox!" the Monk quickly figured outs that Lin Mu''s skill went beyond the norm. ''How did he even manage to learn something like this with his Buddhist affinity?!'' the monk was baffled.


    The sheer amount of ominous aura that could be felt from Lin Mu was mind wracking.


    ~HUALA~


    It continue to rise until it suddenly erupted!


    It was as if a pir of purple and ck metal had risen into the sky!


    Lin Mu''s form was hidden within it and nothing could be perceived about what was happening to him.


    Inside it, Lin Mu felt the aura of the devil path filling him. Nefarious and evil thoughts filled his mind and the urge to kill rose within him too. If this was him from before, he might''ve already lost his mind, but he was able to hold on better due to his progress with the Buddhist path.


    ~Jiejiejiejiejie~


    Just as he was trying to keep control over his state, he heard a peal ofughter. Theughter was sharp as if both mocking and threatening him.


    "Looks like you''re finally using it." The voice spoke.


    Lin Mu heard the voice and was surprised for a second since he actually recognized it.


    "You¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he saw the purple ck aura gathering in front of him and turn into a mirror. "Yes¡­ It''s me. Its you." The person in the mirror spoke. He had the same form as Lin Mu, except for the fact that a devilish smile hung on his face and his eyes were dark purple in color. "What are you?" Lin Mu questioned since he was finally getting to see the man again.


    "Like I said back then and now¡­ I am simply you." The man in the mirror replied. "I am you¡­ but honest." Lin Mu furrowed his brows and was ab out to retort before the reflection spoke.


    "Save your words and simply tell me¡­ do you wish to save them all and kill your enemies?" The reflection asked.


    "Of course." Lin Mu replied. "Then let me do it." The reflection answered.


    "What? No." Lin Mu denied. "Please, be rational." The reflection scoffed. "You''re in no condition to handle this. Even if you control the Sutra on your own, you will pass out from the Well of Slumber before you can do much." Lin Mu went silent as he knew this was the truth.


    "Let me offer you this." The reflection spoke. "Leave it to me and I guarantee that I''ll get you out of here. Even if you pass out from the Well of Slumber, I''ll still manage to do it." He said with great confidence.


    Lin Mu was hesitant about this but was tempted by the reflections words. He didn''t know why but he felt a trust in it deep inside his heart.


    "Fine." Lin Mu agreed with a sigh.


    "Then repeat after me." The reflection spoke with a toothy smile.


    "Reap the souls of all creations, take their providence as yours and bring forth Hell upon the Myriad Heavens! ¡ª Behold The Murdering Heart Sutra!"

 Chapter 2400 Lin Mo

    Chapter 2400 Lin Mo


    Each and every word of Lin Mu was spoken with power and enunciated well enough that it resounded across the ne. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    Everyone present heard him and were stunned.


    For his words were not mere words, but his entire intent.


    They imbued every being with fear, whether they be man or beast. For it was a promation¡­ A Promation of Death!


    Daoist Chu, Ziran and Monk Hushu who were the closest to Lin Mu''s position couldn''t help but shiver as they basked in the presence of the ominous pir. They wondered what was happening in there.


    ~HUALA~


    They didn''t have to wait long either though, as a few secondster the pir seemingly faded away revealing a person inside.


    The trio of Lin Mu''spanions were stunned as their eyes locked onto him.


    "Daoist Lin Mu¡­?" They called out but couldn''t help but feel doubt.


    The person standing there had the same physical form as Lin Mu but they had a presence that was entirely different from him.


    If Lin Mu gave one the feeling of trust and peace, this person gave the feeling of Chaos and domination.


    With purple eyes that were tinged with a ring of red, the ''person'' nced at the three people near to him.


    "Ah, I''d ept that name but I cannot taint the words of dear mother who bestowed that name with the best of intentions." The ''person'' spoke.


    "Who¡­ Who are you?" Monk Hushu asked, known that the person in front of them wasn''t truly Lin Mu.


    "You can call me¡­ Lin Mo." The person said with a devilish smile on his face.


    His words sparked a hint of terror in Ziran''s mind as if his worst assumptions hade true.


    "That name¡­ you¡­" Ziran couldn''t even bring himself to say it.


    "Shh~" Lin Mo brought a finger to his lips and hushed the half elf. "Don''t make me kill his friends. Some things are best left unsaid." The smile returned to his face as a fang stuck out the corner of his lips yfully.


    "Now then¡­ Let''s have a little party shall we?" Lin Mo said as he spread his hands in a carefree gesture.


    "Party? What even¡ª" Qiao De who was the most confused about this was about to speak before being interrupted by a look that shook his soul to the very bottom.


    "Kneel" Lin Mo uttered with absolute authority.


    "W-what?" Qiao De said feeling a great weight thrust upon his shoulders.


    "KNEEL!" Lin Mo affirmed, this time the effect wasn''t just restricted to Qiao De though and spread to everyone.


    Daoist Chu felt as if an executioner''s Axe was being held over his head, and would be brought down if he so much so as let out a breath. Ziran felt a great pressure from Lin Mo, something that he was actually familiar with.


    It was a presence that was only developed by those that were in positions of authority for a very very long period of time. This was something developed by Sect Patriarchs, Emperors and the like after a long time of rule.


    And yet, the same imperiousness was being exuded by Lin Mu.


    Monk Hushu didn''t have any vast thoughts and only felt like the person in front of them was beyond their understanding. The presence and aura exuding from them was a testament to it and continued to increase by the second.


    They couldn''t bear the imperiousness and their kneels buckled under the weight of his will.


    "The unworthy shall not stand and speak in front of this majesty." Lin Mo stated, his previous yfulness disappearing and reced by utter authority.


    His voice echoed through air and earth, as if the medium didn''t matter to it. Whomever heard it couldn''t help but feel their knees go week and feel the urge to submit.


    Even Crown Prince Feng Shun and Crown Princess Shang who were far away and in the middle of the fights felt it.


    ''Father?!'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought at first. "No¡­ this can''t be him¡­ this ''dignity'' is far superior." He understood.


    The Crown Prince had only felt something like this from his father and grandfather.


    ''If it was Grandfather, would it be like this?'' Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t help butpare.


    The same was the case for Crown Princess Shang as she also felt like her father and grandfather had suddenly appear for a moment.


    But the subsequent rity of thought allowed her to realize that this was someone far superior to that.


    ''Who is it? Who has managed to arrive in the midst of this?'' Crown Princess Shang wondered as she thought about returning to the Offering Hall.


    Unfortunately the battle in front of her did not allowed that and she was still forced to continue the fight.


    Back at the Offering hall though, Lin Mo nced at the three kneeling individuals and felt satisfied.


    "See, wasn''t that easy?" Lin Mo questioned nonchntly.


    His domineering attitude disappeared as well, while azy smile lingered on his face.


    "Now then¡­ with the formalities done, I believe it is time for me to do finish what I promised." Lin Mo said as he took out Afternoon Pine. "I know we haven''t worked together before, but you better heed me or I''ll shatter you." He said calmly.


    ~HUM~


    The sword in his hand trembled in response but still yielded.


    "Good." Lin Mo said as he held the sword sideways. "First to cull the riffraff¡­ Disaster Sword!" he swung the de.


    A dark purple energy was imbued into the sword and turned into a harrowing de that extended for ten kilometers!


    The sword sh easily covered a majority of the Chimeric Beast swarm and divided them in half, before destroying their very being.


    "This¡­" Daoist Chu and the others were left speechless at the ''upheaval''.


    But this was just the start, as they saw millions of wisps rising from the dead Chimeric Beasts and the ck Fin Ind members that had gotten caught up in it.


    "Ah~ Nothing like some fresh souls." Lin Mo licked his lips.

 Chapter 2401 Disaster Sword

    Chapter 2401 Disaster Sword


    Daoist Chu, Monk Hushu and Ziran watch in horror as the swarm of Chimeric Beasts were all ughtered with the casual gesture of Lin Mo.


    His swing was light, loose even.


    It was the kind of sword sh that would''ve gotten a student scolded by a teacher for being bad.


    And yet, the very same kind of sword sh had managed tomit an obscene ughter.


    "Ah~ Nothing like some fresh souls." Lin Mo licked his lips.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    A wave of wisps seemingly rushed to Lin Mo and merged into his being. The devilish man reveled in the feeling as he raised his hands, as if an embrace offort for the souls of those that had been killed.


    ~HURAMA~


    The wisps of souls flowed through him before exuding out of his back.


    But the form they were exuded was but a smidgen of their true existence for arge cape was formed.


    The cape extended from Lin Mo''s shoulders and spread into the sky rising to a hundred metered!


    For it was a cape unlike anything else, formed from the souls of those who had died!


    The cape fluttered in air, as if mocking the existence of those that had existed. It showed a domineeringness that was not something that one could normally understand, it would simply overwhelm one''s mind and make them think that they were facing a being beyond their confirmation.


    The more one looked at it the worse they would feel, until eventually they might simply pass out.


    "Marvelous." Lin Mo said lightly as he stepped into the air. "But it can be better." ~SHUA~


    He held Afternoon Pine again and dipped it into the dark ethereal cape floating behind him.


    "Drink." Lin Momanded.


    ~HUM~


    Afternoon Pine trembled at his words but heeded him as it started to absorb the energy of all the souls that formed the cape.


    The cape started to shrink in size until it was only half as tall as before. At the same time, the sword seemingly changed it form, as dark purple streaks grew on its de.


    At the same time, its aura also increased rapidly as if it was growing too.


    Daoist Chu and Ziran who saw this couldn''t help bu widen their eyes.


    ''He''s¡­ Forcefully raising the sword''s grade?'' They didn''t even know something like this was possible.


    After about a minute, the sword seemed to have consumed all of the energy as the cape behind Lin Mo shrank to a small height of three meters.


    "Better than I expected." Lin Mo smirked as he touched the cold de.


    The dark purple streaks were now covering it densely and an eerie aura was being released from the de. "Let''s see how you fare after my honing." Lin Mo said as he turned around to face the other direction.


    The Chimeric Beasts there were stopped by the Death gs but many of them were also intimidated by Lin Mo''s presence and had stopped.


    As such, there was now a dense number of them umted together.


    "I should be able to use something stronger now." Lin Mo said as he raised the sword to the sky.


    ''Something stronger?'' Qiao De who was still kneeling couldn''t believe his ears. ''Then what was that sh that killed all those chimeric beasts earlier? That was weak!?'' He didn''t need to doubt for long though, as Lin Mo proved it very quickly.


    The sword in his hand seemingly turned blurry for a moment, as Lin Mo swung it downwards.


    "Disaster Sword: First Form - Cloudburst." With his words, a sword sh was released into the sky covering an area of three kilometers in radius.


    The sword energy within it filled the sky, and turned everything dark as if an eclipse had descended. In the sky, the sword sh transformed into dark purple clouds which then started to rain!


    But the rain was no normal rain, for every drop of it contained sword intent!


    ~RUMBLE~


    The rain fell down upon the swarm of Chimeric Beasts, passing through their bodies as if it were paper. The kneeling men watched as the conjured rain shredded apart all the Chimeric Beasts that were caught under it. Within seconds, over a million Chimeric Beasts were killed in one go, with only a single Chimeric Beast surviving.


    This was the mantis like Chimeric Beast which was at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm. It had only managed to survive due to its cultivation base, but it was still injured a lot, with thousands of wounds spread all over its body.


    ~WHOOSH~ ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    After the rain stopped, the souls from all the Chimeric Beasts floated over to Lin Mo''s body and raised the size of the cape once more.


    It quickly reached a height of hundred meters but didn''t stop there. It continued further and reached a height of two hundred meters!


    "That''s what I like to see." Lin Mo took pleasure in the absorbing of souls as he nced at the sword. "Though one of them did survive. Look''s like I''ll have to take a bit of an effort in that." He said before taking out another weapon.


    ~SHUA~


    It was none other than Ocean Raker which trembled in his hands.


    "Behave." Lin Mo chided before dipping the longsword into the cape as well. "Drink like your kin." He ordered.


    ~HUM~


    The sword did as told and started to absorb the energy of the souls. While Lin Mo was ''feeding'' his sword, the Chimeric Beasts were starting to gather again.


    While he had killed a lot of them, they were only the ones within a ten kilometer radius of the Offering Hall. The ck Fin Ind members had brought a lot more of them and it seemed like more of them were being summoned too.


    "More souls for me." Lin Mo said before drawing Ocean Raker out of his cape which had shrank down to a height of hundred meters. "Looks like this is your limit too." He frowned a bit before shaking his head.

 Chapter 2402 A Devilish Man

    Chapter 2402 A Devilish Man


    Ocean Raker had also developed dark purple streaks on it and exuded an eerie aura. Lin Mo nced at it for a moment before holding the longsword horizontally and shing at the distant beasts.


    "Disaster Sword: Second Form- Flood!" with hismand, the dark purple sword sh transformed into a colossal amount of water.


    The water was dark purple too, as if it hade from the abyssal depths of the underworld. It engulfed everything in its path, including the previous corpses of the Chimeric Beasts and the living ones. An area of over seven kilometer was engulfed in this dark water as it continued to flood everything.


    All living things that were caught in it drowned instantly and perished before their bodies were reduced to mere blood and washed away. The same happened to the Mantis Chimeric Beast that died as well.


    ~WHOOSH~ Though what was left behind was a sea of wisps that rushed towards Lin Mo to be absorbed.


    ~SHUA~


    The cape behind him rose once more, reaching a height of three hundred meters this time!


    The pressure exuding from Lin Mo was also greater with the Qi fluctuationing from him reaching the fifth tribtion stage of the immortal realm!


    ''Did he breakthrough?'' Ziran wondered sensing this. ''But there was no tribtion.'' He was rather confused at how it was happening.


    The Offering Hall had now been secured with just two shes and no Chimeric Beast seemed to be approaching as easily.


    "Now to deal with the pests." Lin Mo said as he looked into the distance where Crown Prince Feng Shun, Elder Hu and Crown Princess Shang were holding back three Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Chimeric Beasts.


    ~WOOOOM~


    With a single step, Lin Mo disappeared into the void.


    "Let''s go after him." Min Ju said. "We can''t let him be alone." She now understood what Lin Mu had meant before about what he was going to do was not normal.


    "Yes, his injuries are certainly not fine. Whatever he''s doing won''t be without a cost." Monk Hushu agreed.


    Even though he was apprehensive about this new ''form'' of Lin Mu, he still wouldn''t turn back on his promise.


    The five individuals all stood up and went after Lin Mu, though Qiao De was still trembling from the fear he had felt before. Finding Lin Mo wasn''t hard for them either, as therge cape fluttered in the sky, acting as a beacon for them.


    And by the time they reached Lin Mo, the battle had already ended.


    The corpses of two Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm Cyclopean Chimeric Beastsid on the ground, having been divided cleanly in half.


    Lin Mo stood over them, while shocked Crown Prince Feng Shun and Elder Hu stood not far.


    They were s till standing in an offensive stance, as if they couldn''te out of the shock. "He¡­ Killed them in one go?" Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered as he looked at the transformed form of Lin Mu. "Daoist Lin Mu, you¡ª"


    "Tut tut~ I am Lin Mo." The man replied with a devilish smile as tworge wisps flew out of the corpses and were absorbed into his body. "Process this allter, and follow behind." He said as he flew towards where Crown Princess Shang was fighting.


    "That person can''t be Lin Mu, can he?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked in doubt. "That aura and presence¡­ even Father doesn''t have it." "It''s hard to believe, but it is him. We saw him change with our own eyes." Ziran replied.


    "That feeling¡­ those words¡­ that was him?!" Crown Prince Feng Shun remembered what he had felt just a few minutes ago.


    "Unfortunately yes¡­" Qiao De said while trembling at the thought.


    "What did he do?" Elder Hu asked. "Why''s he like this?" he almost couldn''t believe his eyes.


    "We¡­ don''t know exactly." Daoist Chu replied.


    "Lin Mu warned us before." Min Ju chimed in. "He''s taking a gamble with this¡­ and I suppose the cost for it is himself." "Amitabha¡­ May Buddha guide him back to ''safety.''" Monk Hushu could only prey.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    They followed behind Lin Mo and tried to catch up but they couldn''t as he was simply too fast due to using Blink.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Along the way, he shed out on the sides, clearing out any of the Chimeric Beasts that were left alive.More souls were added to his cape and by the time he reached his destination the cape had reached a height of four hundred meters.


    Crown Princess Shang who felt the unsettling presence approaching almost flinched when it suddenly spiked and turned up in front of her. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "Daoist Lin Mu?" She was in the middle of attacking the fly winged Antelope Chimeric Beast when the man with the devilish smile appeared behind it.


    "Pretty flowers shouldn''t be tainted like this." Lin Mo teased before thrusting the Sword. "Disaster Sword: Third Form - Eruption." He uttered causing the sword energy to transform.


    It turned into a fiery purple volcano that exploded over the flying antelope.


    The chimeric beast couldn''t even let out a cry before it was entirely consumed by the purpleva and reduced into ash.


    Seeing the act of Lin Mo, Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but be stunned. ''Is he really the same person?'' She thought to herself. The handsome face was the same, but the purple and red eyes along with his domineering Aura made him seem unapproachable. Crown Princess Shang felt like she needed to submit to this person and didn''t even realize when she was kneeling.


    ~step~step~step~


    Lin Mo approached her with a smile on his face before touching her face and lifting it gently with his hand. "At least someone knows the etiquette well." Lin Mo said as he gazed into her eyes. Crown Princess Shang felt her heart racing while her face flushed into a deep shade of red.


    By now, the others had arrived as well and saw the two in a rather strange state.

 Chapter 2403 Inhumane Cruelty

    Chapter 2403 Inhumane Cruelty


    "Daoist Lin Mo, what are you doing?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, feeling uneasy.


    "Just appreciating some beauty." Lin Mo said lightly before suddenly looking in the distance. "Though it seems like they don''t wish for me to enjoy." He spoke as a frown appeared on his face.


    "Who?" the others looked in the direction but saw nothing there as all the Chimeric Beasts had already been killed.


    ~CRACK~


    A momentter though, the space started to crack about a kilometer away before arge rift formed.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    And from the rift, over ten thousand cultivators flew out all wearing ck robes with fish skin headbands.


    "The ck Fin Ind members!" Daoist Chu called out as he held talismans out to defend.


    There had been a few members before that had been killed by Lin Mo''s sh but it was clear that they weren''t the main group. "After you get rid of the scouts, the rest shall appear¡­" Lin Mo spoke in an unpleased tone.


    "There he is! Kill that dog who''s been bothering our mistress!" the ck Fin Ind members shouted before charging in.


    Hearing that though, Lin Mo''s lips stiffened. "Mortal you dare insult me? You insult this majesty!?" Lin Mo roared back. "I WILL UNMAKE YOU!" This time, Lin Mo didn''t use the swords and instead he just extended his right hand.


    "MELD!" he seemingly gripped the air causing all the ck Fin Ind Members to stop in their tracks.


    Though it wasn''t something as simple as being frozen in fear or intimidation, rather they had been frozen in space!


    Some were frozen in the middle of the air while some were frozen mid way to a jump. Lin Mo then made a pulling gesture as the ck Fin Ind members were brought closer to him. He also eased his control on them, allowing them to be able to move their heads again.


    "What is this!?"


    "Restraining skill?"


    "Release us!"


    The ck Fin Ind members were shocked at being unable to move.


    "Mere pests think they can insult me?" Lin Mo scoffed. "I should teach you what you are." He said before making a twisting gesture in the air.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" As soon as Lin Mo did that, a horrifying act took ce.


    The space twisted around each and every ck Fin Ind member as their robes were torn off. But that was merely the start as next their skin started getting peeled off!


    Ribbons of skin came of all of them as they screamed in an inhumane vote. The space seemingly turned into a peeler, as it continue to peel offyer afteryer until all their skin was gone.


    ~SLICK~SLICK~SLICK~SLICK~


    Instead of just skin, ribbons of flesh started toe off, leaving only their mouths safe so that they could continue to scream.


    A proud smile was on Lin Mo''s face as he watched the agony of his foes.


    "STOPPPPTHIS" Their voices had turned hoarse by this time and they could only keep on crying out.


    No tears came out of their eyes through for all that flesh had been stripped away leaving their bare skulls exposed with half torn eyes.


    "This is what you all deserve!" Lin Mo shouted as he made a squeezing gesture.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    Their limbs started to bend and fold at awkward angles before starting to crumple.


    The bones and flesh were turned into a gory mess as their bodies were reduced to mere torsos with four ''meat bags'' attached to them.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun and the rest watched as absolute cruelty was unleashed upon the ck Fin Ind members. They couldn''t even believe what they were watching being done.


    Min Ju and Crown Princess Shang covered their mouths with their hands, as tears threated to fall from their eyes.


    Qiao De and Daoist Chu closed their eyes, unable to bear the sheer disy of power.


    Monk Hushu though was calm, a still expression on his face.


    ''Daoist Lin Mu you''ve gone beyond humanity¡­'' Monk Hushu thought. ''I just hope you can endure the cost.'' He prayed silently.


    ~HUALA~


    Another wave of energy was released from Lin Mo''s body as his cultivation base seemingly rose again.


    "Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm!?" Elder Hu sensed it and was shocked. "He was at the Fifth stage barely a short while ago." Ziran said before he connected the dots. "Those souls¡­ He''s consuming them to increase his cultivation base." He realized.


    Hearing that the others were utterly horrified. ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    "Isn''t that¡­ that¡­ the work of the devils!?" Qiao De said in terror.


    As cultivators they had all heard of the devils which came in many forms. Their power was immense and they were born from evil.


    As such, they would consume the very essence of creatures to thrive which was none other than their souls.


    But this power was forbidden and anyone who attempted something like this would be hunted down by the entire immortal court.


    For this was the power of the devils and anyone who learned it was considered as a Devil Cultivator!


    Even people of the Unorthodox path were wary of the Devils and would hunt them along with the Orthodox path if found for the devils were far too dangerous to let them be.


    "It can''t be¡­ Daoist Lin Mu is¡­ a devil cultivator?" Crown Princess Shang gasped.


    "That''s not possible." Monk Hushu stated. "With someone as deep in the Buddhist path as him, bing a devil cultivator is out of the question." "Then what is all this?" Qiao De questioned.


    "He said it himself, it is a gamble." Monk Hushu answered. "And that is not our Lin Mu¡­ That is Lin Mo." He corrected.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    "Ugh!" But just as they were all talking about Lin Mu, the man in question suddenly stumbled.


    He held his head and lost control over the ck Fin Ind members, as their limbless screaming bodies seemingly fell to the ground.


    "Already the time?" Lin Mo groaned. "Looks like I can''t have fun anymore."

 Chapter 2404 Warp

    Chapter 2404 Warp


    Lin Mo''s sudden change was rather surprising to the group.


    He had been all powerful till now and in control but suddenly he seemed to have lost it.


    Lin Mo took a moment topose himself again before turning to face the group.


    "Looks like this is it, I''ll have to take you all out right now." Lin Mo stated.


    "You can do that?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Not yet." Lin Mo said before waving his hand towards the ck Fin Ind members that were essentially at the cusp of death. "Get the Lady." He spoke as a red blur manifested beside him.


    Little Shrubby nced at Lin Mo for a moment, feeling the unsettling aura from him. If not for the link that was still present between them, he would''ve thought that this wasn''t his master at all.


    "I''lle with." Min Ju said and got onto Little Shrubby''s back.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Without a word the beast sped away to pick up Lady Kang who was still resting in the Offering Hall. While they did that, Lin Mo made a crushing gesture towards the ck Fin Ind members.


    ~CRUNCH~CRUNCH~CRUNCH~


    All of them got reduced into balls of mangled flesh, and their souls were squeezed out of their bodies before rushing into Lin Mo''s body.


    ~HARAMAMAM~


    The souls seemingly let out strange cries as they merged into Lin Mo''s being and extended his dark pupae cape behind him.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The cape rose further into the sky, reaching a height of one kilometer before stopping!


    "Now I can." Lin Mo said with confidence before extended his hand towards the group. "This will be bumpy." He warned as a great pressure was exuded from his body.


    The entire space started to shake while the group felt intense goosebumps from it.


    ''What is he doing¡­'' they wondered before seeing something rising out of Lin Mo''s body.


    It was a gassy mass that seemed to be shimmering with four colored lights. The lights sparkled and twinkled as if beckoning to them.


    ~HUALA~


    But the energy that they felt from it was unmistakable to them.


    "This is¡­ Spatial Dao Traces!" Ziran was the first to recognize them.


    "Such strong traces?" they almost couldn''t believe it.


    ''This is even stronger than the Temple Head." Crown Prince Feng Shun realized.


    The only other spatial Master in the Rust Sky world that was known was none than the Temple master of the Four Guardian beasts. And due to his unique status, he was almost always busy and was rarely seen by others.


    Even Crown Prince Feng Shun had only managed to meet him twice in his thousands of years of life.


    Daoist Chu and Crown Princess Shang also couldn''t help butpare the intensity of the Dao Traces with the other Spatial Masters they had met either in the Immortal Court or their own worlds.


    And they were sure, it was stronger than any of them!


    Even Elder Hu who had more experience with them couldn''t help but take a step back.


    ''Is he opening a Grand Teleportation Array or something?'' that was the onlyparison he could make as such intense Dao Traces were only felt during the activation of one.


    Soon enough, his doubts along with others were answered.


    "Four Faceted Neb Dao Embryo!" Lin Mo chanted as the energy of souls from the cape started to flow into it.


    The stars in the neb glowed brightly, as if being charged by it all while the neb itself started to grow.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In this time, Little Shrubby also arrived with Min Ju and Lady Kang. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "First Facet: Freedom of Movement - Warp!" Lin Momanded, causing all the soul energy to be sucked into the neb within a second.


    The neb turned into a swirling mass that was about twenty meters wide and released a pressure that was unmistakable to a few individuals.


    "Transcendent¡­ The power of a Transcendent immortal!" they recognized and trembled in fear.


    Even Crown Prince Feng Shun had only felt the full brunt of his father''s pressure a couple of times and they had been enough to send him kneeling from it.


    The same was the case for Crown Princess Shang whose father was also a Transcendent.


    Elder Hu and Min Ju were a lot better since they were used to it, due to the Kang n having several Transcendent Immortals among them. But this was just the start as the process hadn''t finished just yet.


    ~HUALA~


    The neb seemingly shifted and the stars within it moved until one of them came to stop in center. It was a singr red star that shined the brightest among them. The entire color of the swirling mass turned into red as it finally transformed into a red vortex!


    "There''s no doubt about it¡­ That''s almost on the level of a Grand Teleportation Array." Elder Hu muttered. ''Lady Kang actually managed to recruit such an individual¡­ the luck favors ourdy still.'' He thought to himself.


    ~HONGLONG~


    But at the same time, more spatial fluctuations were felt as another rift appeared where the mangled flesh balls of the ck Fin Ind members were left.


    "Yao Changying!" Crown Princess Shang shouted upon spotting the woman.


    The target of all their ire seemed to have a still but cold face as she held an unsheathed sword in her hand.


    ~SHING~


    Without a warning she swung it towards the group, intending to finish them off in one go.


    "Futile effort." Lin Mo scoffed as he stopped it with a simple gesture of his finger.


    The dark sword sh seemingly paused mid air, making Yao Changying''s expression change.


    ~SNAP~


    Lin Mo casually snapped his finger, causing the sword sh to be forcefully dissipated by the wrapping space.


    "You''re beautiful but with deadly thorns." Lin Mo spoke and noticed the irked expression of the woman. "Don''t worry, I''ll being for your souls. Both of them." He said, making the woman shocked.


    With that done, he made a pulling gesture with his left hand, causing everyone in the group to be sucked in by the red vortex!

 Chapter 2405 What Lin Mu could have been...

    Chapter 2405 What Lin Mu could have been...


    Being sucked into the whirling red vortex was certainly not a pleasurable experience for anyone.


    In fact, they all felt as if their bodies were being forcefully squashed into a single point before being pushed out. It was the most unpleasant Teleportation they had ever gone through and simply being there seemingly took their entire will to withstand the pressure.


    Pain was of course present, but they had managed to endure it as well.


    At the same time, they could see nothing.


    In fact, they didn''t even feel their bodies. But this wasn''t a feeling of weightlessness, but rather the feeling of dissociation.


    ''What kind of Teleportation is this?'' Crown Prince Feng Shun wondered. ''And where is it taking us?'' while they knew that Lin Mu had promised to take them out of the bridge ne, he had never told them exactly where they were going.


    While they of course hoped that they would be returning to the Rust Sky World, there was no guarantee that Lin Mo would be following through it. After all, he had done more than enough to prove to them that he was not the same as Lin Mu.


    In fact the people couldn''t help but think that he was someone that Lin Mu could have been.


    In their time together, Lin Mu had told them about his childhood and how he had grown up as an orphan after the death of his parents.


    Of course, the group were nothing but surprised upon learning that Lin Mu''s parents were just somemoners having little to no cultivation.


    Even if his father was at the Fourth Stage of the Body Tempering Realm, to the immortals it may as well be nothing. And in the case of his mother, it was even lower as she was but just a mortal.


    Though there was some parts of information they missed out on such as the fact that Lin Mu''s age was still unknown to them. They didn''t ask about it either though, as they simply assumed it to be a couple thousand years at the very least.


    It was also not something they particrly cared about, and was actually the reason they thought Lin Mu had managed to develop the way he had.


    To them, there was a level of humbleness that was seldom seen in all experts. It was almost bordering on the level of ''weakness'' but the man in question didn''t care about that.


    And now that they had seen Lin Mo, they understood just how he could have been had he been raised in a proper ''background''.


    ''Would he have be a domineering expert like he is right now? Would he be a peerless leader of a sect or the ruthless patriarch of a n. Or perhaps¡­ An Immortal Emperor of a thousand worlds?'' Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t help but think of all the possibilities for his ''friend''.


    The same was the case for Ziran, except he seemed to have learned a lot more than the others did simply due to his past experiences.


    ''That as the power of the Devils¡­ How did he learn something like that?'' Ziran wondered. ''There have not been any news of major devils appearing in the immortal realm for over a hundred thousand years at the very least.'' He thought to himself.


    Even the one devil he had seen long ago when he used to live in a sect with his mother was several times weaker than what Lin Mo was. It was a Dark devil born from a natural treasure that had been corrupted by a few people. It had been exterminated by the sect upon being found but it hade at the cost of thousands of disciples.


    Ziran himself had been a mere Dao Treading Realm cultivator back then and had not even been qualified to join an expedition like that.


    It was only his mother and father that had gone on it, and both hade back with heavy injuries. In fact they could have been much worse if not for his mothers affinity to the Darkness that allowed her a better resistance against the devil''s dark elemental attacks.


    But the attacks and technique that Lin Mo used were unfathomable for Ziran.


    ''What technique is that even? He was consuming souls with ease and raised his power all the way to the Transcendent Immortal Realm within a few minutes.'' Ziran questioned the reality of it all.


    While it was well known that devils could consume all kinds of energies, whether it be Qi, vitality or baleful energies, they were most feared for their ability to eat the souls of their victims.


    It was especially bad since those that had their souls consumed by a devil would never be able to reincarnate unless the devil was killed. Of course this also came at the cost of great karma. The karma of all those that were killed would be transferred onto the devil and it would basically turn them into beacons for the diviners of the Immortal Court to find and kill them.


    ''Wait¡­ How did Lin Mo had no trace of Karma on him?'' Ziran remembered a shocking fact he had missed.


    While Karma was hard to detect normally, with the sheer number of souls that Lin Mo had consumed in that short time, even a First Tribtion Stage Immortal would be able to sense with the massive concentration of Karma.


    Ziran racked his mind to remember anything he could about devils such as this. ''There are supposed to be devils of different types from what I read at the sect long ago. The one that the sect faced was a Houtian Devil that was freshly born from a natural treasures corruption.


    The one that the Southern Immortal Court faced hundred and twenty thousand years ago¡­ it was the Severed Hand Sword Devil which was a Xiantian Devil born from the heart of a fallen sword cultivator who underwent a Qi deviation.


    But Lin Mo¡­ he is definitely not that since Lin Mu was in control before and he didn''t harm us necessarily.'' Ziran thought deeply.All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.

 Chapter 2406 The Devils

    Chapter 2406 The Devils


    The more Ziran thought about it the more difficult it got for him to determine what Lin Mo was.


    The information about the devils was highly restricted and even the major sects of the Immortal Realm only knew about the two basic Houtian and Xiantian devils that were more mon''. The devils that were of other types were considered to be a lot rare and were also a level of dangerous where even knowing about them was risky.


    This was why their information was restricted until a devil of that type appeared.


    There was another big reason that the information about the devils was restricted. This was because the devils not only inspired terror and fear, they also brought temptations with them.


    If there was one thing the devils liked more than killing and terrifying people, it was to corrupt them.


    They would tempt cultivators with promises of power.


    And the worst part was that they actually followed though with their promises as long as the cost was paid. One could surely be powerful; rising to the top of the chain was easy as long as one followed a devil and their sweet whispers.


    But it also spelled disaster for all the others.


    The power of devils was not obtained with a low cost and while it was fast, it also changed a person.


    Those that were tempted by the power of the devils and used their techniques were called as the Devil Cultivators.


    The Devil cultivators were also considered as the ultimate evil faction and both the orthodox and unorthodox fought against them.


    Even the demon race and demonic cultivators didn''t dare to make connections with the devils easily.


    They were the one faction that would force the entire immortal realm to unite against them.


    Ziran half thought that Lin Mu could have learned a Devil Cultivation technique but he had shown no signs of it. Even the ughter aura they had felt from him back then was iparable to the domineeringness and terror that Lin Mo exuded.


    Ziran himself had never faced a Devil cultivator before as they simply didn''t exist in this time. Or even if there were some, they were not in the eyes of the Immortal Court due to being beyond their reach.


    ''They do tend to appear in the Fands more as there is no guidance of the Immortal Court and the guardian beasts there. People and races that live there have no idea about their dangers thus it is a lot easier for them to appear there.'' Ziran remembered a few old records he had managed to find in the Fands during his expedition there.


    Among them there was a cryptic entry that he finally recalled.


    ''When the worlds stabilize and rise,


    When the peaks shake no more,


    When the fishermen return in peace for a thousand years, When the peasants enjoy bounty and see no blight,


    They appear.


    When the races see beyond the horizon, When the immortals tread the rivers of Dao,


    When the schrs chart new wisdom,


    When the ascetics all hide,


    They appear.


    The ones that are beyond,


    The ones that cull,


    The ones that show the cruel truth,


    The ones that equalize,


    The True Ones¡­'' Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    Ziran didn''t know what this entry was about at first, but further research into it showed him that it was rted to the devils.


    He eventually determine that it talked about some kind of devil, but he only reached dead ends upon further search.


    He also knew that something like this was best not to be talked about, thus he had kept it to himself all these years. Eventually after all that time, he had almost forgotten about it.


    Until now.


    ''Could it be¡­ Could it be a True One?'' Ziran questioned but feared to confirm it.


    He didn''t even know what a ''True One'' was meant to be, but with how unfathomable it was and simrly how unfathomable Lin Mo was, he couldn''t help but put two and two together.


    ''If he really is that¡­ Then is this worse or better than Yao Changying?'' Ziran was in a dilemma.


    Yao Changying''s acts were despicable to say the least, but a True One was beyond that in Ziran''s mind.


    It was a taboo that shouldn''t even be known about, much less to witness. And yet, he had possibly experienced both.


    The words of Lin Mo also echoed in his mouth.


    ''Some things are best kept unsaid¡­'' Ziran decided to end his train of thoughts at that point and wondered if he should take a oath of forgetfulness.


    ~HUALA~


    But as these thoughts passed though his mind, their journey seemingly came to an end for arge change happened.


    "UGH! Heavens save us!" they couldn''t help cry out as their sensation of body returned, but it felt painfully cramped.


    Their sense of vision returned as well and the only thing they saw was an endless expanse of blue.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A familiar scent of salt and brine presented to them, letting them know that they were above an ocean or a sea.


    "Shit!" of course they quickly realized that they were currently falling towards an ocean from a great height.


    "QI! I can''t use it!?" Qiao De who had alsoe to his senses realized.


    "What?!" the others tried to use their Qi too and couldn''t mobilize it. They could sense it in their bodies, but there was still a level of dissociation that didn''t allow them to control it.


    "Dammit, this''ll bad if we don''t slow down." Even Crown Prince Feng Shun would be injured if he took a fall from such height at his cultivation base.


    ~FLUTTER~


    It was at this point that a person fell past his side.


    "Lin Mu?!" Daoist Chu noticed the unconscious man. His state seemed to have returned to normal and the ominous aura had disappeared. "Catch him!" Elder Hu said as everyone tried to move.


    But no matter how much they tried they simply continued to il in the air.

 Chapter 2407 Rescued

    Chapter 2407 Rescued


    While the group was unable to do much to save Lin Mu, there was still someone among them that could help.


    ~GRRRR~


    Little Shrubby who was also falling, forcefully kicked in the air, using the sheer strength of his body to propel himself forward to catch Lin Mu.


    ~THUD~


    "I got him!" Min Ju who was on his back caught onto Lin Mu''s body.


    "But we still can''t stop!" Daoist Chu screamed. "What do we do?"


    With every passing second the speed of their fall only increased and their chances of survival started to reduce.


    "Can you get the others too?" Min Ju asked Little Shrubby.


    ~GRRR~


    The beast couldn''t reply to her but Little Shrubby fully understood and tried doing that.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But the distance between everyone had increased by now and getting everyone didn''t seem to be possible.


    "Hah!" Crown Prince Shang though managed to inch closed and clung onto Little Shrubby''s long fur. ''Why are we unable to use any Qi?'' Everyone wondered.


    ''I can''t even take out anything from the storage treasure without Qi.'' Crown Prince Feng Shun had a lot of life saving treasure that could have helped them now but they were stuck.


    Even Lady Kang''s carriage which hung on her wrist was unusable since she herself was unconscious.


    "Shit, everyone brace!" Ziran shouted as he crossed his hands in front of him.


    But just as the ocean''s surface was just a couple seconds from hitting them their vision turned white. The blue ocean disappeared, reced by a vast white mass.


    "Huh?" before they could figure it out, they hit it.


    ~PUFF~PUFF~PUFF~


    Instead of the hard and wet impact they were expecting what they met was a soft and spongy surface.


    It was as if they had jumped into arge cotton pad!


    "We''re fine?" Qiao De couldn''t believe their luck.


    "What is this though?" Daoist Chu wondered as he stood up.


    ~SHUA~


    Their legs that had sank into the soft white surface were automatically pushed out as the surface under them solidified into a firm ground.


    "Wait a second¡­ are these¡­" Min Ju spoke in surprise.


    "Clouds." Crown Prince Feng Shun understood.


    ~SHUA~


    It was now that they felt a faint presence appearing behind them. "Who?" Ziran quickly turned around, expecting the worst.


    ~Thud~thud~


    Min Ju and Crown Princess Shang suddenly fell down, the soft fur under them disappearing.


    "Ah! What?" Min Junded on the firm butfortable surface and felt no pain other than a bit of a jerk.


    The same was the case for Crown Princess Shang and she wondered what happened to Little Shrubby.


    ~MEW~


    Much to their surprise though, the beast in question had shrank down and returned to his kitten form. ~WHOOSH~


    The kitten then seemingly jumped into the direction of the presence.


    ''He''s attacking in that form?'' they thought at first.


    ~MEW~


    Shockingly enough, the kitten had rushed into the arms of a person.


    "Master is not good!" Little Shrubby talked to the person unknown to others. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Who''s that?" they finally observed the person who had appeared.


    "A woman?" they noticed.


    It was a woman wearing arge cloak around her, but hints of her green robe could be seen behind them. Her face was covered in a veil and couldn''t be fully made out, but the fiery red hair that flowed behind her let them know that it was a great beauty.


    "Let me take a look." The woman spoke, her voice mesmerizing. It was like the twinkling of bells or the gentle babble of a stream. Everyone that heard it couldn''t help but feel relief though they didn''t know why.


    "W-Who are you?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    But she didn''t respond to him and simply stepped forward to check on Lin Mu. She ced a hand on his chest and assessed his condition with her immortal sense.


    Upon doing that though her eyes went wide.


    "What did he do?!" The woman asked as a wave of aura was released from her.


    ~HUALA~


    The pressure she exuded was massive and immediately made everyone kneel down from it. ''Again?'' Qiao De couldn''t help but smile wryly as he was forced to experience the same thing again. But this time, he felt a burning gaze from the woman. Not just him, everyone felt it and knew that she was not weak at all.


    ''This is even stronger than father¡­'' Crown Prince Feng Shun felt a headache as he averted his gaze from her.


    He felt as if his head would explode if he continued to watch her. There was also a sense of inferiority that he felt right now that he had not felt before.


    It was as if the person standing before them was no person but a god!


    "He saved us." Min Ju answered quickly, feeling an authority from the woman that was inexplicable to her. The beauty and dignity that the woman had was also rather great and even Lady Kang seeminglycked in front of her despite the fact that her face was hidden.


    She even wondered if people would faint upon seeing her face from the sheer beauty.


    ~MEW~


    It was then that Little Shrubby meowed a few times, seemingly exnation things to her. ''Little Shrubby knowns her, so is she perhaps a friend of Daoist Lin Mu''s?'' Crown Princess Shang and the others wondered.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun on the other hand wondered who this person was before a thought appeared in his mind.


    ''It can''t be her, can it?'' Crown Prince Feng Shun almost fell over. "Celestial¡­" he uttered.


    Hearing his words, everyone felt their minds going nk.


    They remembered that Lin Mu had a Celestial as his backing and quickly put the two and two together.


    "Are you¡­ The one who helped my niece?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked carefully.


    It was clear that the person in front of them was none other than the Saintess!


    She stayed silent for a bit as she listened to Little Shrubby''s exnation and finally looked at the others.


    "Tell me more on the way." She said lightly before snapping her fingers.

 Chapter 2408 Life Debts

    Chapter 2408 Life Debts


    ~HUALA~


    The soft yet firm surface below the group seemingly moved and changed its shape. "Whoa!" Ziran and the others were surprised by it and wondered what was happening.


    Just a couple secondster though, the clouds had transformed into a ship!


    "Dao Insights!" Monk Hushu realized what it was due to the ease with which she had done it.


    Not to mention there were no movement of Immortal Qi in it, which showed that this was purely her control over the Dao!


    "Cloud Dao Insights?" Ziran recognized.


    This was merely the start of their shock though as the woman waved her hand lightly, causing a strong wind to blow. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In the next second, the cloud ship rose into the sky and flew at a blinding speed!


    "Wind Dao Insights too!?" There was no way Crown Prince Feng Shun wouldn''t be able to recognize them being a wind user as well.


    "She really is a Celestial¡­" Qiao De rubbed his eyes, wondering if he had died and all this was just a heavenly dream.


    Never in his life had he ever thought that he would be able to meet a Celestial in person.


    ~SHUA~


    The Saintess waved her finger, causing Lin Mu''s body to rise as a soft bed formed below him as well as Lady Kang. She could tell the woman was not well either and decided to help her seeing that she was Lin Mu''spanion too.


    Besides, Saintess knew who everyone here was and Little Shrubby had also conveyed a bit about what had happened.


    "Tell me now." The Saintess demanded before using a hand seal.


    A fragrant wind filled the area, that caused everyone to feel energized. "I can control my Qi again!" Daoist Chu said feeling much better.


    ''She surely is a Celestial¡­'' Elder Hu thought, seeing her unfathomable skills.


    At the same time she tapped her finger over the foreheads of Lin Mu and Lady Kang, imbuing an energy within them that quickly stabilized their condition.


    Next she took out two pills and fed them to both individuals.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Almost immediately the vitality of both injured persons stabilized. Min Ju who saw the improvement in Lady Kang''s condition almost teared up.


    "I''ll tell you everything, Honored Celestial." She said with a bowed head before starting to narrate all that had happened.


    The ship rose into the sky rapidly and disappeared among the clouds, invisible to everyone else. Despite the speed, the people on it didn''t feel the wind pressure as it was all being protected by the Saintess''s power.


    The Saintess stood at the helm of the cloud ship as she listened to all that Min Ju had to say.


    The maid exined everything in detail, not daring to miss even the smallest fact.


    An hour went by like this as she learned of all that happened, right from the strangeness of the expedition, the Chimeric Beasts, the ck Fin Ind members, Yao Changying and the rewards of the offering hall.


    The highlight of it all was of course, Lin Mu healing Lady Kang by consuming thousands of bloodline essence crystal and finally forcing himself to fight against tens of millions of foe''s alone by using the power of the Devil Path.


    ''So that was what I felt within him back then.'' The Saintess was rather shocked internally but didn''t show it on her face. ''He forcefully used the power of souls to open a portal here.'' She understood.


    But rather than that, she was more renounced about Lin Mu''s deep sleep.


    ''The Well of Slumber has activated in full power¡­ Eight years go by and you return like this¡­'' A sigh escaped from her mouth.


    She felt a mixture of emotions but was relieved that Lin Mu had managed toe on out. Though she had never thought that despite Lin Mu having Xukong with him, he had reached such a condition.


    Her senses had checked Lin Mu''s body and saw the wreck it was in. The problem was a lot deeper than others actually knew.


    ''He burned away his Body Cultivation to save the woman and even endured the spirits of thousands of bloodlines.'' The Saintess found Lin Mu''s acts to bemendable but reckless at the same time. ''His body will take a long time to recover on its own, even with the Well of Slumber. The remnants of the bloodlines will also have effects on him. Especially the Guardian beast bloodlines.'' She already knew that it was a miracle that Lin Mu had managed to consume so many bloodlines.


    If it were anyone else, even a handful of bloodlines might have made them explode not to mention thousands of them along with the guardian beast ones.


    ''Even the crazed barbarians have not be able to endure the bloodlines of Guardian beasts before.'' The Saintess remembered.


    But now that it had all happened, she had no choice but to ept it. ~purr~


    She looked at the kitten who was fast asleep in her arms and checked his condition too. Little Shrubby was asleep from exhaustion.


    ''He pushed himself to the limits too.''She thought while stroking the kitten''s fur.


    "Honored Celestial, our Kang n owes a life debt to Daoist Lin Mu. We shall do everything in our power to restore him to his peak condition." Elder Hu finally spoke after Min Ju had finished speaking. "I swear it upon my soul." He said while kowtowing deeply.


    "I swear upon my soul too." Min Ju did the same and kowtowed.


    "The Dao Wind Empire shall help Daoist Lin Mu too." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke up. "I owe him too." "The Shang Dynasty shall help Daoist Lin Mu in any way possible as well." Crown Princess Shang offered too.


    One by one, they all offered their help including Qiao De who possibly had the least to offerpared to others.


    "Very well." The Saintess replied. "What I can do in this world is limited due to the restrictions, but there are still somethings that can be done."

 Chapter 2409 Presences And Ethereal Existence

    Chapter 2409 Presences And Ethereal Existence


    The Saintess''s response was seen as positive by the group and they felt better.


    "Anything you say will be done as long as you go to the Dao Wind Empire." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied without hesitation. "With my authority as the Crown Prince, I''ll employ the entire imperial resources and ministry to help." He added.


    "Very well." The Saintess replied as the cloud ship changed its direction slightly and moved towards the Dao Wind Empire.


    The group didn''t know how long it would take them to reach their destination but with the speed they were going at, they knew it wouldn''t be long.


    Of course, to prepare for their arrival, Crown Prince Feng Shun took out hismunication jade slip and sent off a flurry of messages.


    "Where did we arrive though earlier?" Daoist Chu asked. "It didn''t look to be the same shrines we had entered from." He noticed that there were no signs of the archipgo from before.


    "There''s only one person that would know that." Monk Hushu said as he nced at the Saintess. ''She rescued us within seconds of arrival, so she either must''ve known where we were going to arrive from or, sensed it in those few seconds.'' The monk thought.


    Knowing that their questions were directed towards her, the Saintess replied.


    "We were off the Western coast of what you all call the Eight Kingdom Alliance Continent." Her answer was rather surprising.


    "That far? While I knew that we wouldn''t appear in the same exact ce as the shrines¡­ this is still quite far." Ziran muttered. "Just how far did Lin Mu''s skill manage to bring us?" he wondered.


    Of course there was no way for the half elf to know that this was actually Lin Mu, or rather Lin Mo''s first time ever using the Warp Dao Skill to teleport.


    While Lin Mu at least knew that he could select a ''star'' from the Four Faceted Neb Dao Embryo and teleport there, he didn''t know what the exact location of it could be.


    He didn''t mind it though as it was already a miracle that they could teleport to worlds not just in a single realm, but across the voids!


    And this was all done without the heavy requirement that Teleportations of such scale needed. There were no arrays or channels, simply a skill at the cost of massive amount of Qi.


    A minuteter, Crown Prince Feng Shun had finished contacting everyone needed to.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    "What the¡­" But he was stunned to receive a swarm of messages upon doing that.


    He read through a few of them briefly as his face went pale. "All of you check yourmunication jade slips right now!" Crown Prince Feng Shun urged.


    "What happened?" they all wondered, but still checked.


    ~GASP~


    And sure enough, everyone in the group was left shocked.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Simr to Crown Prince Feng Shun, they too started to receive messages from various sources at once. And upon reading them, they too turned pale.


    The relief they had felt earlier after Saintess rescue had disappeared.


    The only two individuals that were faring a bit better were Elder Hu and Ziran.


    The two looked at each other, before ncing at the Saintess and taking a deep breath.


    "Honored Celestial¡­ Is this all, true?" Elder Hu questioned. "If it''s you then your senses must''ve discovered it, right?" Ziran asked as well.


    "I suppose you''ve learned of this world''s condition now. And unfortunately it is true." The Saintess replied without turning around. "There''s more toe, so you should prepare your hearts."


    Hearing that, the expressions of the two men stiffened.


    ''We were gone for eight years and the world changed so much?'' they knew even a day was enough to change a location for mortals, but them even a hundred years might not bring about much of a difference.


    The change that had happened was rather shocking too and it took the others a while toprehend.


    And while everyone went through multiple states of shock, the two unconscious individuals had no idea of it at all. Lady Kang would at least wake up after a short while, but Lin Mu wouldn''t be awakening for a long time.


    In fact the man in question didn''t even realize just how much he had taxed himself and his body.


    He wasn''t in just a state of ''sleep'' where he could enter the Sleepscape. Rather he was in aa and had no sense of what would be happening.


    As such, even Xukong was now in the blind about all that was happening. And the only reason why he had not forced himself to check directly was the fact that he had sensed the presence of the Saintess as soon as they had crossed over to the Rust Sky World and a moment before Lin Mu had fully lost his consciousness.


    Though there were two presences that knew more about him right now than even the Saintess and Xukong. One of those presences was deep inside him, while the second was far, far away from him.


    In fact it was so far, that even Xukong didn''t know about it.


    The second presence in question had ''witnessed'' all that had happened and was still ''watching'' them right now.


    ''To think he would exceed my expectations by this much.'' The presence thought to itself. ''The Upheaval he''ll cause will certainly be worth it. The ''Main'' will be getting a pleasant surprise if he awakens.'' It reckoned before stopping its ''voyeurism'' and leaving Lin Mu be.


    Different from the Second presence, the first presencewas already inside Lin Mu so it knew the best about him. In fact, he would im that he knew Lin Mu better than Lin Mu himself.


    For this was none other than Lin Mo!


    The devilish man had been in control just a few minutes ago and was now in apletely different state.


    "He really waited till thest moment to let me out¡­ If only he had done it before, not only would that woman Kang be fine, but he would have never forced the Well of Slumber to reach this state." Lin Mo thought to himself.


    The devilish man was in a much less impressive form than before for he had no body right now. All that was present of him was a vague mass of ck and purple, with a few red streaks floating within it.


    "At least I can now have a proper ce for myself." Lin Mo muttered before willing himself to move.


    This mass existed somewhere deep in Lin Mu''s body suddenly moved and appeared smack dab in the middle of Lin Mu''s Dantian!


    It floated above the sea of Qi for a bit before quickly diving down and settling in a crack at the very bottom. No trace of it could be seen and even if someone scanned the Dantian they would only see Dao Embryos, Nascent Soul, a sea of Qi and lots of damage.


    ''This should do for now¡­'' Lin Mo thought before growing silent. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    It was unknown whether the devilish man was still awake or not, or whether he had ended up in the same state of Coma as Lin Mu.


    Time may as well be non existent to the man, as he knew nothing of all that happened.


    All he knew was that everything went empty, then became painful, before a senseless peace was reached.


    Lin Mu didn''t know how long he was in that state before he suddenly became able to ''sense'' again.


    ''AHHHHHHH! WHAT IS THIS HEAT!?'' His consciousness which had been in a deepa ''woke'' up partially as a burning pain assaulted it again.


    ''How do I stop this!?'' Lin Mu didn''t know what was happening or what he should do.


    He had no control of his body, he felt no Qi and neither could he sense anything other than pain. His memories were highlycking and his sense of time was broken.


    He didn''t know how long he endured the pain before the senseless state of peace arrived again. "UGHHHHH!" after a while he was awoken by pain once more before passing out again.


    This repeated over and over again, with small changes taking after every attempt.


    At first he would only return to the senseless state of peace where he didn''t even know he existed, thenter, he managed to ''dream''.


    The dreams were very vague and he only knew they were there when he was going through them, otherwise he had no memories of them.


    But as more time passed he managed to keep track of them and his memories were working as needed.


    The dreams got more detailed too, until eventually Lin Mu could recognize what actually happened within them.


    In one of the dreams, he fought an endless number of beasts, and in another he fought himself.


    He saw great worlds that made him marvel, as well as hellishndscapes that terrified him.


    Eventually though he adapted to them, and reached a new state of Ethereal existence.

 Chapter 2410 Dreams And Uncanny Familiarity

    Chapter 2410 Dreams And Uncanny Familiarity


    Lin Mu''s new state of existence was confusing to him. He didn''t know if it was because he had never read about anything like this before, or the fact that he didn''t even know how he ended up in this state.


    At first hisck of memories had forced him to ponder on it endlessly without a clue, but as they returned he started to realize that he was or rather should be sleeping.


    ''How am I not in the Sleepscape?'' Lin Mu wondered as he existed in his formless state. ''The Well of Slumber should be active, but I should still be able to enter the Sleepscape.'' He tried multiple times but for some reason he simply couldn''t enter it.


    After a while of thinking, he ended up entering a deep sleep again and when he woke up he found himself in another ''dream''.


    This was rathermon as he would have no reference of time and would enter and exit various states.


    Though in these ''dreams'' he had, he was a lot more ''substantial''.


    Such as the fact that he could actually have a semnce of his body in them.


    As such he felt a lot more plete'' and not disoriented. This was also where he could function the best and think better too.


    "Okay, so what dream is this about?" Lin Mu wondered as he looked around.


    He seemingly stood at the precipice of a forest in the middle of the day. All he could see was green and brown everywhere, with a scorching sun in the sky.


    The air was humid and felt as real as his first time in a rain forest, with beads of sweat dripping down his body.


    All the dreams he had been in so far had been a mix of him being involved and also being an observer. Even his age varied often, returning to his childhood state or his adult state.


    "Do I fight something this time?" Lin Mu clenched his fists as a fraction of power flowed through him. ''I cant even use all of my power here.'' His cultivation base being at a bare Core Condensation realm right now!


    Lin Mu''s strength and cultivation base varied from dream to dream too. In some he could face an army of tens of millions of immortals and in others he would be a normal mortal struggling to fight off a street dog!


    He didn''t have weapons all the time either, so mostly ended up resorting to his body to fight.


    Since he couldn''t use a lot of his techniques and skills either, what he ended up doing was to refine physical skills that he had known about. He improved on his footwork and raw techniques. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    When he had ess to swords he would swing them, trying to perfect every move even if he had not a sliver of Qi flowing through him.


    When he had a spear, he would thrust and sweep till his hands bled.


    With bows, he would shoot as far as he could, sometimes even without looking.


    With axes he would try to get the most momentum possible and cut things in one go.


    With every different weapon he tried his best to improve, whether he had Qi or not. And as time passed by, every dream became an opportunity to learn for him.


    He didn''t know whether he would remember anything when he woke up, but he reckoned since he had nothing else to do, he may as well improve in ways he could think.


    ~ROAR~


    The same was the case for this dream, as soon enough the roar of a beast was heard.


    Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu cocked his fist and attacked as soon as he saw the slightest sliver of a the beast''s fur.


    ~CRACK~


    he moved like a blur and struck the beast right in the middle of its forehead, making a sickening crunch.


    "A bear¡­" Lin Mu muttered seeing the dead beast that crumpled to the ground like a rag doll.


    Continuing through the forest, he faced more beasts, until finally he seemingly reached the ''end''.


    "So this is the ending stage?'' He knew what it was since he had faced simr ones before as they stood out a lot.


    He arrived at an open clearing, with small flowers dotting its grassy scape.


    And there, he spotted something rather stunning.


    "A person?" Lin Mu saw someone sitting cross legged on a rock in the middle of the clearing.


    Their back was towards him and they were dressed in pure white robes, that contrasted greatly against the green grass below. Their gender was hard to make out, since their robes were baggy and covered up their physique. Their head was also covered with a wide had that covered all their hair.


    ~step~step~step~


    Lin Mu moved towards them, wondering what they were doing here.


    ''Usually they attack me first.'' Lin Mu remembered all the times from before.


    The dreams would end up with him having to defeat the final foe or simply die against them and return to deep sleep.


    But not even five stepster, Lin Mu heard a voice.


    "What are you doing here child?" a woman''s voice was heard.


    The voice made Lin Mu stop in his tracks, finding it to be rather soothing and yet shocking.


    "Who are you?" He questioned feeling an uncanny sense of familiarity.


    This prompted the person to turn, allowing Lin Mu to see their serene and graceful face.


    The woman''s crystal clear eyes that seemed to contain unfathomable mysteries within them, peered through though him.


    Her brows rose slightly in surprise before settling down.


    "This is not your time child." The woman spoke.


    "What?" Lin Mu was certainly confused.


    "This is not the right time to know either." The woman said as she stood up.


    She walked towards Lin Mu gracefully while the man stood, unable to move.


    "Return to your time, child." The woman said, cing a hand on Lin Mu''s cheek lightly.

 Chapter 2411 Hurtling Across The Cosmos And A Battle Of Races

    Chapter 2411 Hurtling Across The Cosmos And A Battle Of Races


    Lin Mu was baffled by the woman''s gesture, for it too felt uncannily familiar to him.


    "Staying in this ce is not for those still in the domain of existence." She spoke again, giving birth to a thousand questions in Lin Mu''s mind.


    "What do you mean? What am I supposed to do?" Lin Mu quickly asked.


    But what he got was a gentle and kind look, that was almost motherly before the woman tapped her finger on his forehead. "Looks like you''ve wandered too far. Let me point you in the right direction." She replied before Lin Mu felt his body flying back.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He flew uncontrobly at a great speed and turned into a blur, passing through a thousand ces, unable to grasp anything.


    ''What in the name of heavens is happening?!'' Lin Mu could do nothing to stop as he flew past what looked like a million worlds and stars.


    He could barely see them for a moment, before they would blur before being reced by something new.


    ''This issting for very long¡­'' Even though he had no reference for time, he could still that he had been in this state of uncontroble eleration for a long time.


    But eventually he realized that he was heading towards a particr location.


    "Wait a second¡­ is that a¡­ SHIT!" Lin Mu spotted what was a giant world expanding in his view.


    All this time he had been passing between them, but now he was about to crash!


    "The crash will certainly kill me, that should end the dream right?" he wondered.


    But as he got closer and closer, and the world expanded he saw billions of dots moving on it. The ce he was about tond seemed to be a barren wastnd but it was filled with an endless number of creatures.


    They all seemed to be fighting each other too.


    "How many kinds of races are there in this?" Lin Mu could see humans, elves, demons, beasts, beastkins, gnomes, dwarfs, some kind of humanoid nts, fairies, strange unknown races and finally¡­ Devils.


    "So many devils!" While Lin Mu had seen more devils before in his dreams, this was the first time he was seeing so many of them. "No wait¡­ all the races are fighting against the devils!" he finally noticed as he got closer.


    He also realized that the ''infighting'' that was happening, was actually some form of control the devils were using on the other races, forcing them to fight their kin.


    But a few secondster, Lin Mu was rmed as he was about to crashnd right in the middle of the battlefield.


    With a cultivation of the Core Condensation realm in this dream, there was no way he could fight even a single one of the devils who seemed to be splitting corpses with a single swing of their ws.


    There were many kinds of devils in the mix too. Some of them were humanoid while others just looked like humans but with evil auras.


    Some were the size of humans, while others were as tall as a hundred meters!


    "AHHHHHHH!" Lin Mu couldn''t help but let out a scream as he was seconds away fromnding on top of one such devil.


    "Foul Creatures, I''ll end your existence!" it was then that he heard a loud voice.


    It was thunderous and shook every being on the battlefield. In fact, it was so strong and domineering that the weaker cannon fodder simply exploded from it!


    "AH!" Even Lin Mu was affected by it, but rather than dying from it, all he felt was a heavy impact on him that actually made him slow down.


    ~THUD~


    He still ended upnding on top of arge devil though and barely managed to hang on. His body was aching all over from the impact too but he still managed to get a stable footing.


    The problem now was though¡­ he was literally on top of a devil.


    ''Does it not know I''m here?'' Lin Mu wondered since only a single swat from the devil''s hand would be enough to squish him like a mosquito.


    ~HUALA~


    Lin Mu didn''t need to worry about that a lot though, as he suddenly found the head of the devil flying off along with tens of thousands of other devils.


    "What in the!" Lin Mu held no as the headless corpse fell.


    ~THUD~


    He quickly got away from it and was startled by the other falling devil corpses. He ran around, trying to avoid them and barely managed to get out safely. "Is that all of them?" he wondered as he climbed atop arge boulder that seemed like an ind of safety to him.


    "Who are you?" But much to his surprise, he heard a voice.


    Turning around, he was faced with a tall man that was built like a wall. He was over two meters tall and had broad shoulders.


    His entire body was covered in rugged armor that had seen an endless number of battles, while his long hair spilled from below his helmet. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    His face could be seen through the open mask of his helmet which carried an intense authority and power. And yet, the look the man gave Lin Mu felt uncannily familiar as well.


    The armored man gazed at Lin Mu, and saw a glowing white spot on his forehead. This was the exact spot where he had been touched by the woman in white before.


    "Hmmm¡­. You are eons away from your time child." The man spoke, a hint of pity and concern in his voice. "No wonder she sent you here¡­ I''ll guide you in the right way." He said as he approached Lin Mu.


    "Wait! Who are you and what is this ce? What am I doing here?" Lin Mu tried to ask, wanting to learn more.


    "You will know if you reach the zenith." The armored man replied.


    "What is the zenith?" Lin Mu questioned.


    In response, the armored man raised his palm.

 Chapter 2412 The Zenith

    Chapter 2412 The Zenith


    The simple gesture of the armored man caused a phenomenon of astronomical proportions as billions of bright lights filled the entire world and wisps of phosphorescent energy could be seen.


    Lin Mu who saw them, realized that these weren''t just any kind of energy¡­ they were all Daos!


    Within each wisp, he could see the character for each kind of Dao. "So many Daos? This is over three thousand!" Lin Mu couldn''t believe it.


    The first that Lin Mu recognized were the elemental Daos. He saw the Five Mortal and Four Heavenly Elements among them prominently shining with their colors.


    ''Are there the Three Primordial elements too!?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but look for them. ~SHUA~


    His spatial perception activated in a moment and it quickly locked onto an invisible Dao.


    "There it is!" Lin Mu detected it hidden amongst the Daos. ''No¡­ Rather than hidden its actually shining prominently! Only those with an affinity with the Spatial Dao and those with Spatial Perception would be able to see it.'' He realized.


    He tried to look for the Time Dao and the Chaos Dao as well, but they were impossible for Lin Mu to detect.


    ''They might be there, but I can''t sense them at all.'' Lin Mu knew how elusive the Three Primordial Elements were.


    Next, what he detected were a lot of themon Derivative Daos such as Ice Dao, Shadow Dao, Mist Dao, Crystal Dao, Magma Dao, Dust Dao, Poison Dao, and more. These were all Dao''s that Lin Mu had seen others used before, including the Magma Dao which he himself was starting to understand a bit due to the Longgui Bulwark Armor technique.


    After these were the more umon Derivate Dao''s such as the Blood Dao, whose Dao symbols shone in a bloody light that made one''s heart throb with anxiety. The Flesh Dao, that made Lin Mu''s muscles tremble. The Bone Dao that made his bones and marrow quiver.


    These were all Daos that were considered belonging to the living body and were often something body cultivators would eventually touch upon. Lin Mu hadn''t learned orprehended any of them, but he could still feel them due to having a decent body cultivation.


    He also saw many weapon Daos such as Bow Dao, Axe Dao, Spear Dao, Rod Dao, w Dao and then there was the Sword Dao that was also the most familiar with Lin Mu. The Sword Dao in particr emitted a profound sharpness that one could feel by merely looking at it, as it made their eyes water.


    Perhaps if one didn''t have an affinity to the Sword Dao and were not a Sword Cultivator, they might even go blind from looking at it.


    He noticed some Rare Derivative Daos such as the entirety of the Bagua!


    "There they are¡­ they were mixing and moving along with the elemental Daos." He had almost missed them.


    The Eight Daos of Bagua had the Wind, Lightning, earth, Fire and water among them and as suchposed over half of them, thus them mixing with the elemental Daos was expected. Though the derivative Daos of Mountain, Marsh, and Sky also had particr positions.


    The Mountain Dao seemingly made rounds between the Earth and Metal Daos, while the Marsh Dao made rounds between the Earth, Wood and Water Daos. Finally, the Sky Dao revolved around the four Heavenly Daos of Light, Darkness, Wind and lightning.


    Seeing it was a very learning experience for Lin Mu, as he had quite literally managed to see the intricate rtionships between the Daos that most would die to learn about.


    "Cloud Dao!" He recognized another Dao he had been trying to learn before. "It was hiding behind the Sky Dao." He saw it while looking at it.


    But as he continued to look at the Sky Dao, he managed to find a few more Dao''s that became recognizable to him. Firstly, there was the Storm Dao that had a simrity to the Crown Prince''s Dao Embryo''sbined aura. Then there was the Hurricane Dao which was also very simr. ''What''s that?'' But while watching them Lin Mu''s eyes wandered to the Water Dao, which hade close to the Cloud Dao and Sky Dao before swimming between them. Trailing behind the Water Dao were two more Dao Symbols. Lin Mu narrowed his eyes and looked at them before realizing what they were.


    ''Those should be the River and Sea Daos.'' They were the derivative of the Water Dao and were born when the Sky and Cloud Dao worked together to give birth to the Rain Dao.


    ~WHOOSH~


    As if on response, another Dao jumped out, showing its presence before falling down. Lin Mu was almost startled before realizing that it was nothing but the Rain Dao.


    The Rain Dao seemingly fell upon the Earth Dao and caused the Water Dao to rush down with River and Sea Daos. It was at this time that the Ice Dao touched it, causing another Dao to appear.


    ''The Hail Dao!'' Lin Mu''s eyes shined as he watched the Daos in action. ''Is this the mysteries of the elements and the Bagua? How they gave birth to all in the world!?'' he thought to himself.


    He was witnessing an act that most experts of the world would have never seen before. Usually, one could onlyprehend them one by one, and learn more about them little by little. And yet, Lin Mu was managing to see their intricate rtions and connections all at once.


    The more he saw, the more he grew excited.


    His previous fear had been wiped out by it as his eyes continued to marvel at the once in a lifetime event.


    From the movement of the Bagua and the elements, several more Daos appeared. Among them were a few that were familiar to Lin Mu, such as the Formation Dao, the Forging Dao, and the Illusion Dao.


    There were a few peculiar Daos that reveled around these Daos as if they were in group.


    ''Are they all the upations?'' Lin Mu guessed and after looking at them for a bit, he also recognized a few others to be the Alchemical Dao, and the Herbology Dao. There were more in there, but he couldn''t recognize them right now.


    A faint roar was heard in his ears, causing him to look at a particr Dao. "Beast Dao?" He found a wildnessing from the Dao and quickly determined it to be the same.


    Hiding behind the Beast Dao were a few more Dao''s such as the Insect Dao, the nt Dao and the Scale Dao.


    Next, Lin Mu recognized some Dao''s he had actually never seen before, and had only read about them.


    ~GASP~


    ''Those characters¡­ aren''t those the¡­'' Lin Mu gasped. Shining like the celestial bodies, three particr Daos appeared.


    "The Sun, Moon and Star Daos." He muttered. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    ~HUMM~


    He then heard a faint chanting and looked in the direction, finding it rather calming.


    "Buddhist Dao¡­ There''s no doubt about it." Lin Mu saw the symbol that finally appeared.


    His eyes continued to look around, wondering if he could find the other Dao''s of the sutras he had learned. And sure enough, a rather violent Dao was quickly found by him, bouncing around everywhere, as if wanting to fight.


    "The Demonic Dao." Lin Mu muttered and looked for the final Dao that he had used very recently. ''I can''t find the Devil Dao¡­'' he didn''t know if it was simply not here or was hiding somewhere.


    While Lin Mu was lost in the dance of the three thousand Daos, the armored man had been looking at him.


    Unknown to Lin Mu, the man smiled.


    ''If he can do this¡­ He has a great hope of reaching it.'' The Armored man thought to himself. ''But this is enough.'' He muttered internally before making his next move.


    ~HUALA~


    The armored man brought his palm down to the ground, causing all the Daos to gather and turn into a palm imprint. The Elemental Daos along with the Bagua made up the t of the palm, while the derivate Dao''s formed the veins on the palm that rose from them. The Fingers were made from rare Daos that Lin Mu couldn''t even reginzue with the weapon Daos inteced in the finger joints.


    The palm finally transformedpletely and covered half the world!


    "Is this what a Dao Skill can reach?" Lin Mu could only say.


    The palm hovered in the sky for a moment before finallying down!


    ~RUMBLE~


    ~CRACK~


    All creatures except for Lin Mu and the Armored Man were killed, and the world below them shattered before the man looked at him.


    "Go, and strive for this." The man said as he tapped Lin Mu in the same exact spot, sending him elerating further into the vast expanse of the endless cosmos.


    Lin Mu didn''t even get to cry out this time, as he was lost in the mysteries of the Myriad Daos he had witnessed. The Armored Man looked at the distant figure of Lin Mu and let out a sigh.


    ''Wish you were born early.''

 Chapter 2413 The Full Support Of An Empire

    Chapter 2413 The Full Support Of An Empire


    Lin Mu had no idea of the Armored Man''s thoughts, and neither did he know who he was.


    All he knew was that he had possibly witnessed the Zenith of Dao.


    This is what he could understand after seeing the Armored Man''s demonstration. The Zenith he talked about was nothing but the peak of what one could achieve from Daos.


    ''It is possible to learn all the Dao''s like that.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he continued to fly unimpeded through the cosmos. He got to learn a lot about the Daos as well as how they worked together, giving him a lot of inspiration as well as motivation. He now wished to work even harder and wondered when he could do it.


    ''If only I could return to my body, or at the very least the Sleepscape.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''ording to my previous estimation, the sleep period would be at least a hundred years. He didn''t know how much time had passed so far. It could be fifty years, or it could just be a year. Time was rather obscure while dreaming anyways.


    ''If that is really what I am doing right now¡­ it felt far too real.'' Lin Mu pondered on it as his form started to turn ethereal once more. His consciousness faded away and he once again entered sleep.


    Unbeknownst to him, a great project was currently underway in the Capital City of the Dao Wind Empire.


    At the private pce of the Crown Prince, a few people were currently gathered.


    These were of course, none other than Lin Mu''spanions excluding Lady Kang who was still unconscious and Min Ju who was taking care of her. In addition to them though, there were two additional people.


    The first was the Emperor of the Dao Wind Empire and Crown Prince Feng Shun''s father, Emperor Feng!


    He currently stood along with the others, facing the throne upon which sat an elegant woman wearing a veil. Her fiery red hair flowed behind her, while a pure white cloak covered her body, making it hard to make out how she looked.


    This was of course, none other than the Saintess!


    "Honored Celestial, things have been prepared as you asked." Emperor Feng spoke while cupping his hands and slightly bowing his head.


    If any of his subjects or ministers were to see this, they would be shocked to the point of simply passing out. Never in their lives could they ever think of seeing the almighty Emperor behaving in such a subservient manner.


    The same was the case for the others though, as they all bowed their heads too.


    Emperor Feng though didn''t mind this at all, as he knew that any of the other Emperors along with the old ancestors would do the very same thing if they knew who they were facing. In front of a Celestial, they were all less than dust.


    Not to mention, the Emperor owed great debts to the Saintess now.


    Not only had she rmended his granddaughter to be the disciple of another Celestial, and established an alliance between them, she had now saved the life of his son too. But bigger than that was the life debt that his son owed Lin Mu.


    And with the Saintess being his backer, he would be putting in all his effort and wealth into helping them.


    ''Even if I have to empty out the treasury and dig out all the Qi Source Veins in the empire, I''ll spend it all!'' Emperor Feng thought to himself with determination.


    He had been updated on all that had happened in the expedition and was utterly shocked by it. And upon being asked for assistance by his son, he didn''t hesitate at all. While the demands made by the Saintess were rather huge, it was still nothing to the resources of the empire as well as their manpower.


    "All the materials and the area are ready?" The Saintess asked, opening her eyes. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Yes. All two billion beast corpses, the vitality restoring herbs and the Grand Lake are ready for your use." Emperor Feng affirmed.


    "Let''s start." The Saintess said with a hint of urgency.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, she disappeared from the pce hall, making all the others rush after her. After all, they knew exactly where she was going.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    They all arrived at the Grand Lake of the Imperial Capital. This was located at the side of Grand Pce and was one of the important locations of the Capital. Beside this was also where the Interworld Teleportation Array was located.


    Normally, the ess to theke was highly limited and only the imperial family members and the people of the court could visit it, but right now, the security had been raised to another level.


    Other than those personally permitted by the emperor, even the ministers weren''t allowed to visit it!


    "Do you think it''ll work?" Crown Princess Shang asked nervously.


    "It has to work." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "If it is a celestial doing, it definitely will work." He said, anxiety heavy on his face.


    The same was the case for all the others, as they all wished for the same result, which was the betterment of Lin Mu.


    Everything that was being done was for him, and a massive amount of resources had been spent, along with a very special location.


    "There she is," Qiao De said as he spotted the Saintess above the Grand Lake.


    She nced at the massive piles of materials that had been ced on the shores of the Grand Lake and the small tform that floated at the center of it. The tform was made from clouds, and in the middle of it was a bed.


    This was where Lin Mu had been resting all this time and was being protected by Little Shrubby.


    The beast was in his full size and stood tall, his eyes darting around for the slightest moments. His fur was puffed up, and his ws were extended as if he was ready for a battle.

 Chapter 2414 Personal Refinement By The Saintess

    Chapter 2414 Personal Refinement By The Saintess


    The Saintess nced at Little Shrubby below and his tense posture, making her let out a sigh.


    "He sure loves his master." The Saintess muttered to herself.


    After ncing at him for a few more seconds and seeing that he was still the same, she decided to call out.


    "Its fine now, Little Shrubby." The Saintess spoke. "You will heal him?" little Shrubby asked, seeing the Saintess.


    His posture eased up and he felt a lot morefortable with the Saintess being there.


    "Yes." The Saintess replied. "While he might not wake up right away, it''ll be faster than before." She herself didn''t know how long it would take, as the method she was going to use was never done before.


    ''This method wasn''t made for the Well of Slumber, but for vitality it should still work.'' The Saintess thought to herself. ''Hopefully my refinement skills are still as good as before.'' She hoped.


    After having checked Lin Mu''s severe condition, she knew that he had more than just ack of vitality. There was the internal damage, but more than that there was also mental and a faint amount of soul damage.


    Thetter two were something that could not be healed easily, and even she, as a Celestial, couldn''t fix them.


    ''If I could take him back to the Celestial Realm, it would be fixed in a jiffy, but that person just had to do that¡­'' The Saintess remembered as her face darkened.


    Pushing those thoughts to the back, she decided to get started, as it was the best for Lin Mu.


    "Come, be next to me." She spoke to Little Shrubby.


    ~SHUA~


    The beast quickly did that and watched as the woman began her work.


    She made a waving gesture towards the beast corpses, which all flew towards theke. ~SPLASH~SPLASH~SPLAHS~SPLASH~


    They quickly started dropping into theke, and increased its water level bit by bit.


    Two billion beast corpses were a massive amount, especially considering their size. And these beasts weren''t all weak, with several Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm beasts present within it too!


    It was no surprise that the Dao Wind Empire had done a lot to get them, with Emperor Feng personally going out to hunt the Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal Realm beasts just so that they could be gathered in time.


    As for the herbs, they were simply taken out of their imperial storage and the treasury.


    Many of them were highly valuable and there were some that were so valuable that they could buy an entire city outright. And yet they were now being given freely.


    After all the corpses had been submerged into theke, the Saintess extended a finger. The green nail on her finger grew out before a small drop formed at its sharp tip.


    "Melt." The Saintess spoke and shook her finger.


    The drop was light green in color and emitted no scent, but once it dropped into theke, a massive power was released.


    ~HONGLONG~


    A single drop of water colored the entireke the same as it, before a massive surge of energy was felt.


    "WHAT!" N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "WHOA!"


    The group watching it were left stunned and some were knocked back from the wave of energy.


    "What did she just do?" they couldn''tprehend it.


    They could only watch as the Saintess did her work.


    "Churn." The Saintess lightly said, causing the water to move.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The entire grandke started to move, as the water began to spun. The now green water churned the corpses within it, easily turning them into a paste, which then turned into a liquid slurry. "The corpses¡­ They just melted?!" Ziran was left bewildered at this. "No way¡­ is this all acid?" Daoist Chu didn''t even wish to test it.


    The water quickly changed color from light green to blood red as all the corpses dissolved into it. ~SHUA~


    Intense vitality started to overflow from theke, as a red mist rose from it.


    But before the vitality could go past the shores, the Saintess made a circle with her finger, causing a barrier of clouds to rise up and contain it all.


    ~HUALA~


    Within seconds, arge wall of clouds was now erected, containing the overflowing vitality.


    "Refine," the Saintess said next, as she pulled all the herbs towards her. The priceless herbs were all thrown into the blood redke as if they were cabbages, allowing them to be melted into it.


    If any alchemist were to see this, they might simply die from the wasteful method. After all, they wouldn''t be able to understand the Saintess''s methods that were beyond theirprehension. Once all the herbs were mixed not theke, the water stopped churning and the color darkened a bit more.


    Now it was like Rich Crimson Red colored.


    "Sink." The Saintess finally said, causing the tform that had been holding up Lin Mu to submerge into the bloody waters.


    Once he was fully soaked, she set up a barrier around the entireke, encasing it in a barrier of invisible clouds and winds. If anyone were to even try touching the walls, they would be shredded apart by the winds.


    ~WHOOSH~


    With that done, the Saintess approached the group on the shore and saw their faces that had a mix of expressions.


    "It is done." The Saintess stated.


    "How¡­ how long will it take?" Crown Prince Feng Shun inquired.


    "His body will continue to absorb it all slowly. We''ll just have to wait and watch." The Saintess replied. "Besides¡­ I believe you all have some pressing matters to attend to." She reminded.


    "Of course." They replied, knowing that this was just a part of their worries.


    "I''ll watch over this ce so you all can handle the rest." The Saintess spoke.


    "Honored Celestial, this may be disrespectful of me to ask." The Emperor said with some hesitation. "But you truly cannot do anything?" "Even if I am a celestial, I still have to follow the rules. Just by doing what I am right now, I am already pushing the restrictions." She exined.

 Chapter 2415 A Bloody Lake And A Hopeful Outcome

    Chapter 2415 A Bloody Lake And A Hopeful Oue


    The Emperor heard her words and knew that his attempt was going to be a miss from the start.


    ~Sigh~


    "I shall not bother you anymore." The Emperor stated. "But if you need anything¡­ anything at all. Please do not hesitate to ask. Even if we are in the middle of a war, the Dao Wind Empire will do everything to please you." He offered. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "I''ll keep that in mind." The Saintess said before disappearing from their sights.


    They knew this was their signal of being dismissed, and as such, they all left.


    After all, other than Lin Mu, there were still other big things they needed to deal with.


    They all got embroiled in it and time passed.


    The cheerful spring jumped into the bright summer, which transitioned into the mellow autumn before finally turning into the cold winter, as an entire year passed.


    Battles raged across the Rust Sky World, as many fought for their lives. And yet, Lin Mu slept silently within theke of blood.


    He knew nothing of all that was happening in the world, nor what the Saintess had done for him.


    All he knew was bouts of pain, states of silent unconsciousness, and vibrant dreams that brought him to a myriad of ces.


    It repeated endlessly for Lin Mu, as time passed for him too.


    Another year went by as theke remained unchanged.


    In the third year, another pile of corpses and herbs were added to theke, raising its water level even more.


    In the fourth year though, the water level had seemingly returned to normal. And in the fifth year, it continued as the water level fell below what it used to be originally.


    As such, in the sixth year more corpses and herbs were added, raising it higher again.


    This cycle repeated until it was finally the tenth year!


    In this year, a strange phenomenon happened.


    ~HONGLONG~


    The calm bloodke suddenly started to seethe and churn. It spun around a single point in the middle of theke, as if it were the eye of a storm.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    And it wasn''t just theke water either, as a bloody mist rose above it and filled the skies. This too spun, turning it into a bloody storm that looked horrifying from the distance.


    The people of the Capital City that all witnessed this from the city center were left stunned.


    "What is that!?"


    "A Storm of Blood!"


    "Heavens save us! Is the capital being attacked!?" To the people outside the Imperial ce, knowledge about Lin Mu and theke was kept hidden as such the sudden change was shocking. The barrier of clouds and winds obscured their sight, but it didn''t totally hide it from them. Especially when the bloody mist rose as high as two kilometers into the sky.


    A few people who had been keeping a watch on theke were rmed upon seeing this.


    "Theke is changing!" Daoist Chu stood up from his post as he watched it. "Perhaps this might be it¡­" Monk Hushu muttered.


    The two had been keeping a watch on theke voluntarily while the others did other work.


    "Should we inform the Honored Celestial?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "You think she doesn''t know?" Monk Hushu replied. "Look," he pointed towards the top of theke.


    Daoist Chu narrowed his eyes and saw a small dot appearing there. It was a bit obscure due to the bloody storm, but if he focused hard enough, he could make out the figure of a woman with long red hair.


    "Oh, she''s already there." Daoist Chu muttered.


    The Saintess had long since sensed the change and quickly went to check.


    She watched the bloody storm for a few minutes before letting out a small smile.


    "Looks like you are doing better." She said before sending out a message to the Emperor to procure more corpses.


    While all this happened, Lin Mu''s consciousness was currently in the middle of a dream.


    "HAA!" he swung his sword and shed at a herd of beasts. Cutting ten of them in a row, he felt danger from behind and quickly exerted force onto his legs. Clouds suddenly rose from his legs as he spun in the air, a trail of pure white clouds being left behind as he propelled himself at a great speed.


    His form was obscured by the clouds, as he ran around the herd, cutting down on them one by one.


    But just as he was about to hit thest beast, his sword simply passed through the beast as if it were air.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was surprised by this before he saw that his hand was turning ethereal. "Wait¡­ it''s ending already?" he looked at the rest of his body and saw that it was turning ethereal too.


    ''That''s strange, it has never ended this abruptly before¡­ at least not since meeting that uncannily familiar woman and the armored man.'' He thought to himself.


    Still, he couldn''t do much, so let it happen.


    His consciousness faded away for a brief time before quickly reforming.


    "Another dream so fast?" Lin Mu found himself standing atop a grassynd.


    ~rustle~rustle~rustle~


    A gentle breeze blew as he felt the rustling of leaves behind him.


    Turning around, he saw a tall tree standing there.


    "What''s this?" Lin Mu didn''t recognize it at first before spotting the red and green fruits hanging on it. "Wait¡­ apples? IMMORTAL APPLES!?" his eyes went wide.


    ~RUSTLE~ RUSTLE~


    Upon his exmation, the tree seemingly ''woke'' up to and extended its branches towards him. Lin Mu let it happen and watched as the branches ''hugged'' him.


    "Is this¡­ real?" Lin Mu had no idea if he was still in a dream or not.


    He tried to remember if he had seen the Immortal apple tree ever before in previous dreams but realized that it had never appeared.


    "If this is here, then¡­ am I in the¡­" Lin Mu turned around, a smile appearing on his face.


    "You''re finally here." A familiar voice that was like the best of music hit Lin Mu''s ears.

 Chapter 2416 A Tearful Reunion

    Chapter 2416 A Tearful Reunion


    Lin Mu''s eyes met ten golden yellow eyes, making him feel relieved.


    If it were anyone else, they might be terrified by the sight of the spider, but to Lin Mu, it was the most reliable person in the world.


    "Senior Xukong!" Lin Mu burst towards the spider, hugging him as hard as he could.


    "Haha," The Spider couldn''t help butugh.


    It was something really new for him too, as no one had ever hugged him like this before. He was not a human or a humanoid in the first ce, and his reputation made him a figure of terror to most in the universe. The fact that he was in this situation seemed unbelievable to him and if this were him from the past, he wouldn''t have ever though he would be doing something like this.


    Though, the hug was also rather awkward since his body was still that of a spider, so Lin Mu simply wrapped his arms around his head.


    A few tears were shed, as Lin Mu came to terms with the situation.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    It was at this time that two more presences appeared and immediately wrapped around Lin Mu.


    "Haha, Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang!" Lin Mu hugged the twins as well seeing them after who knows how long.


    "Master!"


    "Master!" The twins cried out, having missed him dearly.


    "You two have grown?" Lin Mu could see that the twins were almost two meters long now. Though in terms of thickness they had not grown as much, making it look a bit disproportionate. If anything, they now looked more like ck and white ropes, if one didn''t look at their heads or scales properly.


    "Yesss~" The twins replied as they continued to rub their heads against Lin Mu''s cheeks.


    "Wait, where''s Ashy!?" Lin Mu questioned.


    The bird had been dormant long before Lin Mu had ended up falling unconscious. He didn''t know when she might be awakening and since he didn''t know how long it had been; he hoped that she was awake too.


    ~CHIRP~


    As if on cue, a sonorous chirp was heard before a dark figure could be seen approaching.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The figure flew rather quickly and came tond atop Lin Mu''s hand.


    "MASTER!!!! YOU''RE BACK! WUWUWUWU! I MISSED YOU!" The bird started crying right away as tiny beads of tears dripped down the corners of her eyes.


    "It''s okay, I''m back now." Lin Mu rubbed her head and petted her back, making her calm down after a bit.


    While doing this, he also observed her body and saw that she had certainly changed. Her body was now pitch ck and seemed to almost be absorbing light into it, making it seem abyssal.


    Her eyes were dark ck as well, but a hint of light reflected off them, allowing Lin Mu to make them out better. Her size had also shrunk down much to Lin Mu''s surprise, bing smaller than even a palm.


    If Lin Mu considered the entire length of her body, it was barely around seven centimeters!


    ''She''s the same size as hummingbirds.'' Hepared before realizing something else. "You reached the Dao Treading Realm?" Lin Mu felt the bird''s spirit Qi fluctuations.


    "Yes! I did a few years ago." Ashy replied.


    "You changed as well." Lin Mu muttered. "What can you do now?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "Oh, you will like this," Xukong spoke at this time.


    "Ah! Pardon me, senior." Lin Mu finally let go of the spider, who had been in his arms all this time.


    Xukong''s avatar body was still a bit smaller than Lin Mu. this it was a bit hard for the spider to get out easily. After having let go, the spider floated in front of him and took a breath.


    "Ashy seems to have changed into something I didn''t expect." Xukong stated. "Show him what you can do." He asked.


    "Of course!" Ashy nodded and flew up. "Master look! Look!" it said eagerly before suddenly speeding up.


    It flew around them for a couple seconds before suddenly diving down into Lin Mu''s shadow!


    "What!?" Lin Mu was shocked ups seeming this.


    He stepped back and took a look at his shadow, but couldn''t see anything there. He even tried to use his immortal sense to check, but didn''t feel anything until he tried to recheck with his link to Ashy.


    "She''s still there¡­" this time he followed the link and used his immortal sense too, allowing him to finally pinpoint a small spot where the bird seemed to be hiding.


    "YEP!" The bird finally jumped out of his shadow.


    "Is this your new ability?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yes, I learned it upon reaching the Dao Treading Realm." Ashy nodded her head.


    "And it''s not even a Dao Skill¡­ This is just your innate skill." Lin Mu realized after sensing no Dao Traces from her.


    "It is indeed just her normal innate skill." Xukong replied. "It''s called as Shadow Dive." He revealed.


    "Shadow Dive¡­ I think I''ve read of it." Lin Mu could faintly recall mentions of a skill with this name. "Though there were no descriptions of what it could do, just a mention in a list of skills of the Shadow Element. Wait, so she awakened the Shadow Element!?" He said in shock.


    "Indeed." Xukong confirmed. "Her new mutated form is fully inclined towards the Shadow Element." Lin Mu looked at the tiny form of Ashy that seemed to look rather fragile and weak, but held a hidden power. "Can you do this with anyone''s shadows?" Lin Mu asked. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "Yes." Ashy replied. "Though if they are strong, I can''t enter it easily. I tried with Sister Yin and brother Yang, but it didn''t work." She added.


    "I see¡­ so it''s dependent on the cultivation, too. It only worked on mine since we are already linked." Lin Mu understood. "Though the skill is rather good. It can work for stealth attacks, intelligence collection and more." He could see the benefits rather easily.

 Chapter 2417 Ashys Abilities

    Chapter 2417 Ashy''s Abilities


    It didn''t take long for Lin Mu to think of a lot of uses for Ashy''s new skill. Though he also realized that he needed to know more of the limitations before making proper conclusions.


    "Can you go into any shadow?" Lin Mu questioned. "As long as a cultivation base is not a limitation?" "I sure can." Ashy said as she dived into the shadow of the Immortal Apple tree.


    "Wait, that doesn''t count." Lin Mu stated. "The Immortal Apple tree still has a cultivation base." He added.


    "Oh, it doesn''t?" Ashy came out and tilted her head. "Yeah¡­ now that I think of it¡­ pretty much everything in this ce that can cast a shadow has a cultivation base." Lin Mu realized after thinking of all the nts in the ce.


    Even the giant crystal that were part of the Mutated Violet Mystic Life Tree were merged with its shadow so they didn''t count fully.


    "Well, you can test that out rather easily, can''t you?" Xukong replied.


    "True." Lin Mu said and took out a random rock from his storage and dropped it in front of him. "Try going into it''s shadow." He asked.


    ~Chirp~


    With a little chirp, Ashy dived right in with no problem at all.


    "Hmm¡­ how big does the shadow have to be, or is there no size limit?" Lin Mu asked noticing how all the shadows Ashy had entered had been much bigger than her.


    "They have to be as big as as my head to get in." Ashy answered. "I tried entering the shadows of the grass but I couldn''t." She added.


    "Hmm¡­ makes sense." Lin Mu could now see more of the skill''s capabilities. It also made him understand why her body had shrunk instead of growing in size like it would with most beasts. It was simply adapting to the skill, or perhaps the skill had been made in ordance with the body size.


    A smaller body meant that Ashy could enter smaller and smaller shadows, plus the size also made her less noticeable in the darkness. Another thing Lin Mu noticed that Ashy''s own presence was actually quite minusculepared to other beasts at the same cultivation base.


    Probing her body, he could feel the rich vitality and Qi within her. But all this was highly confined within her body, with only a small amount being released as part of the natural process. ''If she can contain that as well, she might even make her presence imperceptible.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Either she''ll have to learn it on her own, or I can use a few methods to do the same.'' He thought of several talismans and tools that could carry out that function.


    His mind quickly jumped to how this method could be used reliably, at least until she learned how to do it on her own, if that was possible.


    ''Hmm¡­ Using tools won''t be as good since they will be too big for her and will have to be worn on person. Even if we make tools that are small enough for her, they might still end up interfering with her ability to enter the shadows.'' Lin Mu thought of a w. ''Talismans can work and won''t be as big of a hindrance as they can be activated right away, leaving nothing behind.


    Though they are also shortsting and if she is to stay in shadows long, the effect would have to be renewed too. That means a spatial storage tool will be needed.'' He understood.


    A Spatial Storage tool was something that Lin Mu had nock of, but the ones that could fit Ashy''s size were going to be quite hard to figure out. ''Xiao Yang has the gemstone as a storage tool, so I can definitely get a gemstone even smaller than that for Ashy. But cing it will be an issue.'' Lin Mu thought about Ashy''s body and observed that there weren''t actually many ces to put the gemstone.


    Plus another type of a Spatial Storage tool such as an anklet might make her stand out more, too. ''Perhaps something that can hide under her feathers?'' He thought of a potential option.


    But before he could go with that, Lin Mu knew he needed to learn more about the ability.


    "How about entering other shadows?" he asked next.


    "As long as the shadows are touching each other, I can switch between them." She answered.


    "Oh?" hearing that, Lin Mu raised his brow as a rather useful idea appeared in his mind. ''That will certainly be useful¡­ very useful.'' "You should also see her Dao Embryo. She managed to make a rather niche one." Xukong spoke up.


    "What is it? Show me," Lin Mu asked, feeling excited.


    "Of course!" Ashy said as she quickly summoned her Dao Embryo.


    ~SHUA~


    From her tiny body, a small sphere appeared. It quickly erged, and the object within it was revealed. "A candle?" Lin Mu identified it rather easily but found it to be a bit strange. The candle was rather simple, having a dull white waxy body with a red base around which the wax had gathered.


    To him, a light emitting object as the Dao Embryo for a Shadow Element seemed rather antithetical at first. But when he observed the candle closely, he realized that it was no normal candle.


    "It has no wick?" He noticed the biggest difference. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "This is my Wick-less Candle Dao Embryo." Ashy revealed.


    Lin Mu tried to remember if he had read about the name anywhere, but came up with nothing. "It really is niche." He muttered.


    "That''s not all." Xukong replied. "You should see what it can do." He added.


    "I can show it now." Ashy spoke up. "Though I can only maintain it for a short while." She said as she gathered energy within her body.


    ~HUALA~


    And in the next second, all traces of energy disappeared within the tip of the candle where the wick was supposed to be. But it was just the start, as in the next second, darkness started to spread!

 Chapter 2418 Blinding Shadow Stream Nightingale

    Chapter 2418 Blinding Shadow Stream Nightingale


    Lin Mu watched in surprise as an area of ten meters was swallowed up by pitch ck darkness. It was very simr to the darkness he had felt in the Sea of Death Qi, but this darkness felt like the absolute darkness of the void itself.


    Touching it lightly, Lin Mu could feel nothing there.


    ''It has no mass¡­ or anything perceptible in it. It''s just empty.'' Lin Mu analyzed. ''It''s as if I''m touching a shadow; it feels like nothing but my finger dispersals inside it.'' He noted.


    Lin Mu put more of his hand inside and saw the entirety of it disappear within it. "It hides things visually, but they can still be perceived physically." Lin Mu said after testing it with his Immortal Sense. "Indeed." Xukong replied. "But this is more than just that." He added.


    "How so?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Try making some fire." Xukong requested. "Alright." Lin Mu quickly ignited a me on his finger. "Observe." Xukong said making Lin Mu check it closely.


    It didn''t take the man long to realize the peculiarity of it. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    "The light from the me¡­ it doesn''t illuminate the darkness at all." Lin Mu observed immediately.


    "Try putting the me inside." Xukong spurred him on.


    "Whoa!" As soon as Lin Mu did that, he saw the true scope of the ability. "No sign of the me at all!" Not only was the bright me totally hidden within the darkness, no light was leaking out from the scope of the darkness. Lin Mu moved it around in there and tested out its limits, bringing it closer and farther from the border of the sphere.


    ''As long as its within even a millimeter of the boundary, the me''s light is totally contained.'' This was rather surprising to Lin Mu. ''Though the actual heat from the mes can still be felt.'' He noted.


    While the limitation were obvious with this Dao Skill, he could see the great advantages it brought too. "If used during night, this can be a very useful skill." Lin Mu said learning so far.


    He could think of many more uses, but he reckoned they would still need a bit of refinement before they could be applied effectively.


    ~SHUA~


    But just as he was thinking this, the sphere of darkness started to shrink and totally disappeared after five seconds.


    ~Chirp~


    Ashy let out a tired chirp and came tond on Lin Mu''s hand.


    "Is it exhausting?" Lin Mu asked seeing the reduced Qi fluctuations from Ashy.


    "Quite a bit." Ashy replied. "I''ve been trying to improve it through, but its hard to do that." She added.


    "I see. Though don''t worry, you''ll be able to improve it eventually." Lin Mu knew the bird simply needed time.


    Just the fact that she had managed to learn and train the skill to this extent was alreadymendable to him. "What is the name of the Dao Skill though?" He asked.


    "It''s called the Engulfing Shadow Sphere." Ashy answered.


    "Hmm¡­ it is definitely quite good." Lin Mu praised her. "I''m proud of you." "YAY!" The bird hopped around in excitement at being praised and her energy seemingly returned.


    After hopping around for a bit, Ashy stopped and looked at Lin Mu with pleading eyes.


    "Can you give it to me now?" Ashy asked.


    "Give what?" Lin Mu titled his head in confusion.


    "She want''s a new name for her species." Xukong rified. "She kept on asking me what she is, but I couldn''t figure out her species so I told her you could give her a new name for it." He exined.


    "Ah, so it was that." Lin Mu chuckled. "I suppose I can give you a new name for your species." He said before thinking for a bit.


    He considered her ability, appearance and characteristics beforeing up with a new name.


    ''She''s no longer a sparrow so it should be fine to use something else.'' Lin Mu reckoned. "Your species shall now be the Blinding Shadow Stream Nightingale." He stated.


    "Yay! I''m the very first, super unique, one of its kind Blinding Shadow Stream Nightingale." The bird shouted with excitement as she flew everywhere.


    "Haha, your naming sense has certainly improved." Xukong couldn''t help but say. "You even took her voice into consideration." He added.


    "Her chirps are pleasant to hear. So may as well be a nightingale." Lin Mu shrugged. "Plus, she''s the only one among the four to be able to actually speak in human tongue." He added.


    "I suppose that''s correct." Xukong said, thinking of other nightingale beasts and finding this to be appropriate.


    Quite a few of the bird beasts that could sing were able to replicate human speech due to theirplex vocal cords and Ashy fell into the same category.


    With the little demonstration done, Lin Mu decided to check up on the rest of the Sleepscape with the twins.


    "Come, show me what''s changed." Lin Mu asked.


    "YES~ COME~ COME~" The twins dragged him along immediately.


    Since he had been gone for a while from here, he was a bit of a stranger to the Sleepscape now.


    "Oh yeah, how long have I actually been gone?" Lin Mu finally asked, having been wondering all this time.


    "Eleven years." Xukong answered.


    "Eleven years!?" Lin Mu was shocked hearing that. "I knew I had lost track of time, but to think it has been that long," He muttered to himself.


    But the more he thought about it, the more he understood that this was actually a good thing.


    ''Its ''just'' eleven years. It could have been a lot more.'' Lin Mu took relief in that fact. ''Plus, my Slumber willst a long time anyways.'' He knew that eleven years wouldn''t even put a dent in the time period needed.


    "Yeah, you were gone for longer than I expected. Your state was¡­ very concerning," Xukong admitted.


    "What exactly happened to me?" Lin Mu asked. "I felt like I was dreaming all this time." "Dreaming? You think you were just dreaming?" Xukong said in a bewildered tone. "Your true soul had left your body."

 Chapter 2419 The Astral Dimension

    Chapter 2419 The Astral Dimension


    Xukong''s words were like a bomb to Lin Mu.


    "WHAT!?" He couldn''t believe it since it simply seemed impossible to him. "How''s that possible!?" "I was just as shocked." Xukong replied, letting out a sigh. "But you somehow¡­ managed to do it." Lin Mu went silent for a couple minutes, as he ruminated over it and finally spoke.


    "But wouldn''t that mean¡­ I was dead?" he asked, great hesitance in his voice.


    "Usually yes." Xukong nodded. "True Souls of creatures aren''t meant to leave their bodies as they are very fragile and would perish without the protection of their ''vessel''. That is also why cultivators yearn to develop a Nascent Soul which allows them to have a second chance at life.


    That way even if one''s body is damaged beyond recovery, they can transfer their True Soul to a Nascent Soul as a new vessel and survive." He exined.


    "Then, did my True Soul leave with my Nascent Soul?" Lin Mu questioned as that seemed like the most likely option to him.


    "No¡­ You''re Nascent Soul was still in your Dantian." Xukong answered. "I don''t know how¡­ But you reached a state where your True Soul detached, but managed to leave behind a link to your body. This allowed your True Soul to return to your body after a period." He exined.


    "So the dreams I saw¡­ weren''t dreams?" He muttered to himself.


    "What exactly did you see in those dreams?" Xukong asked. "Tell me about them." He too wondered just where and how Lin Mu had managed to do this.


    Xukong was limited to Lin Mu''s body in his current state, and as such couldn''t really tell where his True Soul had gone. If not for the fact that Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang could still sense that he was ''alive'' from their connection to him, he would have really thought that Lin Mu had died.


    After all, the grueling situation that Lin Mu had gone through and the battering his body had taken was not simple. He had done multiple things that would have killed other people a hundred times over. And yet had survived with just internal damage and great mental stress.


    Thus, he wished to know just what kind of ''dreams'' Lin Mu had seen and what he had experienced in those eleven years.


    But the more Xukong heard, the more shocked he was.


    ''These really seem like dreams¡­'' Xukong thought to himself.


    The way every ''dream'' had a different scenario and how Lin Mu''s own cultivation base varied was very dream-like. Plus Xukong also noted theck of his usual skills and items with him. He had none of his weapons and only a few of his skills could be used, many of which he had to re-learn in the dreams themselves. One particr thing that stood out though, was theck of his Spatial Skills.


    He basically had no spatial skills in the dreams and even his Spatial Perception seemed to have been reduced to the very basics which Lin Mu had toprehend again in the dreams. Even if he had managed toprehend it again, his other Spatial Skills were still beyond it.


    ''So he didn''t have his ring in the dreams.'' Xukong was intrigued. The ring was something that was bound to Lin Mu''s soul and couldn''t be removed in normal cases. Even if his body died and Lin Mu turned into a Nascent Soul, it would still carry on with him. But when he was in the dreams as a True Soul, the ring had not managed to go with him which was strange since in all other ''normal'' dreams Lin Mu had, he always had his ring with him.


    While it was still within the realm of possibility that it was just the setting in the dream, for it to happen for every dream was highly unusual.


    Lin Mu didn''t remember how many dreams he had seen as he only remembered the recent ones, but the ones he did remember still numbered in the hundreds!


    With so many dreams having urred, there should have been at least one in which he should have had his ring, even if he couldn''t use it. Till now, Xukong continued to think that what Lin Mu saw was dreams, until finally he told him about two particr individuals he encounteredst.


    ''A woman that seemed uncannily familiar to him?'' Xukong looked at his shared memories but was shocked to see that he actually couldn''t observe her face. "How''s this possible?"he said in surprise.


    "How''s what possible?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The face of that woman¡­ Can you see¡ª No, remember it clearly?" Xukong questioned.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and tried to recall it, finding it to be incredibly blurry. It was like trying to look at someone''s face through a denseyer of mist.


    "I can''t¡­" Lin Mu replied feeling surprised. "Did I forget it so fast?" "Was there anyone else?" Xukong asked. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "Yes, a man." Lin Mu replied before exining what happened after he had been sent flying across the cosmos by the woman.


    The description of it all was rather vivid and upon hearing it, Xukong now started to doubt whether they were really dreams. And once he heard about the giant with armies of various races facing off against the devils, Xukong became startled.


    The mention of the Armored man who demonstrated the power of the Daos and showed Lin Mu what ''Zenith'' was truly rmed Xukong. Just to be sure, he looked at Lin Mu''s shared memories and realized that the Armored man''s face couldn''t be seen either.


    "He used over three thousand Daos." Lin Mu stated. "I could feel each and every Dao and their profundities." "I think what you saw weren''t dreams." Xukong replied. "And your True Soul didn''t just wander off in this world¡­ it went to somewhere mysterious." He added.


    "And where is that?" Lin Mu asked with incredible curiosity.


    "The Astral Dimension." Xukong revealed, making Lin Mu''s eyes go wide.


    The ring was something that was bound to Lin Mu''s soul and couldn''t be removed in normal cases. Even if his body died and Lin Mu turned into a Nascent Soul, it would still carry on with him. But when he was in the dreams as a True Soul, the ring had not managed to go with him which was strange since in all other ''normal'' dreams Lin Mu had, he always had his ring with him.

 Chapter 2420 Impossibility And Illusions

    Chapter 2420 Impossibility And Illusions


    "The Astral Dimension." Lin Mu repeated the new term that he had never read or heard about before.


    "It is a very mysterious ce that even I don''t know much about." Xukong stated. "I''ve never gone there and I don''t think I can even if I want to." He added.


    "What? Even you can''t go there?" Lin Mu was shocked. "Where is it located in the Void?"


    "That''s the thing¡­ The Astral Dimension is not within any of the Voids." Xukong answered after a pause. "The Astral Dimension is its own ne of existence where reality is a mere suggestion and the heavenlyws do not exist. It is a ce where very few individuals have managed to go and even less manage to return. Knowledge about it is very limited and as such we have no idea what happens there to those that go in." He exined to his best capability.


    "Then what about those that returned? You said some do manage to return." Lin Mu asked next.


    "The experience for every person is different. Some merely stay there a few moments before returning safely, some get lost forever. A minority stay there a long time but eventually manage to return, forever changed. Most be insane and deranged, while some be solemn." Xukong replied. "It is impossible to tell the true effects of that ce."


    "If I really went there and managed to return¡­ Would I have those effects too?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "Thankfully, you seem to be fine." Xukong assured him. "If you were to go insane, you already would have done that." He rified.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu took a breath of relief hearing that. But his doubts had not ended yet.


    "What did you think happened to me, Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked. "I mean you knew that my true soul had left, but you didn''t know that it would go to the Astral Dimension. So where did you think it went, or what was it doing?" "I simply thought it was wandering nearby." Xukong answered. "One of the few cases where a True Soul can do this when it turns into a spirit, or rathermonly known as a ''ghost''. This seemed more appropriate to me since there was still a link to your body and your True Soul would return after a period of time." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ But wouldn''t that still mean I died?" Lin Mu doubted.


    "Well, there are cases when an individual is so injured that their life is hanging by a thread. In these kinds of scenario the True Soul bes detached from its vessel and can wander around the body for a short period of time. If it manages to return, that individual might live, but if it doesn''t, they will truely die.


    In worse cases, the True Soul would be contaminated and eventually turn into an actual Ghost. And depending on some conditions it could even transform into a vengeful spirit or many other kinds of ghosts." Xukong exined further.


    "Hmm¡­ I see." Lin Mu could understand how Xukong assumed that he was simply in a life threatening situation.


    "Though it is still very peculiar. It is one thing being able to detach your True Soul without damaging it, and another to enter the Astral Dimension." Xukong spoke, thinking about it more. "What about the others who''ve done it safely? How do they do it?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "The one''s who can do that are usually Soul Cultivators or Great Diviners who can transcend the limits of the universe. In the case of Soul Cultivators, their souls are tough and has its own cultivation, so they have a greater chance of survival.


    The Great Diviners who do this, on the other hand, invoke the esoteric powers of Fate, Karma, Destiny and the Very Heavens themselves to eject their True Soul and guide it into the Astral Dimension. But even then, they are not sessful all the time. They might only manage to do it once every hundred times or so with great risks." Xukong exined in detail.


    Learning all this, Lin Mu now understood just how crazy it all was. "So what I did was a fluke?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Highly likely." Xukong nodded. "Your True Soul didn''t fully anchor itself to your body thus it could continue to do the jumps into the Astral Dimension. Or perhaps you could say that it had one foot in your body, and another in the Astral Dimension.


    Only when it fully entered your body did you manage to ''awaken'' like you have right now." He said with a little doubt.


    "Hmm¡­ So all that I saw in there¡­ what exactly was it?" Lin Mu questioned finding it quite intriguing.


    "That is hard to tell. Some say that the Astral Dimensions shows all possible realities, while some say that all it shows are fake illusions." Xukong replied. "Such as the one you saw with the armored man. There is no way something like that is possible." He added,


    "But I felt each and every Dao profoundly." Lin Mu said in disbelief. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "That''s impossible." Xukong denied it right away. "There has been no one who has managed to master that many Daos in the universe." He affirmed.


    "But he really did." Lin Mu replied. "I felt myprehension of Dao''s improving quite a lot. And I could identify them too." He added.


    "Whatever you saw was simply an illusion and I can tell you why." Xukong knew Lin Mu wouldn''t ept it easily so decided to give him the truth behind it.


    "And why''s that?" Lin Mu listened with full focus.


    "When peopleprehend a Dao, you can think of them as opening a tiny stream from their origin which you can think of as a sea. When theyprehend another Dao, they open up another stream. And when theirprehension of a Dao improves, the stream also widens, eventually turning into a gushing river." Xukong began his exnation. "The reason why I said it is impossible was the conflict between the streams, or rivers that you might make."

 Chapter 2421 Concerning Warnings

    Chapter 2421 Concerning Warnings


    "Conflict? But aren''t the streams all separate?" Lin Mu asked after hearing that. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    "Now normally speaking, even if youprehend a hundred or hundreds of Daos there is no issue, as the streams are individual and have plenty of space between them to grow and expand. You can continue to add more and more Daos, eventually hitting a thousand or even more. Now at this point, you will reach a scenario where one of the streams is very close to another stream.


    These streams might start to ovep or start spilling into each other. You might be able to control it at the start, but it will eventually reach a point where both the streams copse and merge into each other." Xukong borated.


    "What happens then?" Lin Mu couldn''t tell.


    "One or the other Daos youprehended will be gone." Xukong answered. "You will simply lose control over it."


    Hearing Xukong''s words, Lin Mu was confused and surprised. To him who had personally seen the Zenith, it seemed possible yet Xukong who had been guiding him all this time, was saying it was wrong.


    This made him torn between the reality he had seen and his teacher''s words.


    "What if the streams are all equidistant?" Lin Mu asked, not epting it right away.


    "It might be possible, but as the number of Dao''s increase you will still hit the same issue. You said the armored man had over Three Thousand Daos, that is three times as muchplexity. The chances of conflict then would be even higher.


    In fact, it might not just be one or two Daos that copse in that case, but rather it could lead to a cascading effect where hundreds of the rivers and streams merge together and lead to a massive copse." Xukong warned.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu couldn''t help but furrow his brows.


    ~Sigh~


    "I suppose it is far too much in the future for me to think about it." Lin Mu said letting go of it for now.


    The Zenith was something beyond his reach.


    After all, evenprehending three or four Daos was big for immortals, ten was something only Transcendents attempted and a hundred was something that was legendary.


    Thousand and beyond was simply iprehensible to most.


    The longevity needed toprehend so many Daos would be massive, as not all Daos were naturally understandable by cultivators. After the initial Daos that a cultivator had affinity wereprehended, the rest would all have to beprehended through sheer hard work and time.


    "You shouldn''t fully trust what you see in the Astral Dimension. Our understanding of that ce is far toocking to do that." Xukong warned again. "Rather than that, what''s more concerning right now is the Devil Path." He said, his voice turning serious.


    "Lin Mo¡­" Lin Mu muttered the name of the being who had taken over him before.


    All that Lin Mo had done was remembered by him clearly despite the fact that he had lost control. But the memories of that time were very fresh in his mind and had not faded at all. He could remember every feeling and emotion he had, the sensation of overwhelming power and authority that flowed through him.


    It was almost euphoric simply remembering it and even made him want to use the Murdering Heart Sutra again.


    "That reflection we saw back then¡­ Looks like it can even manifest itself when you fully use the power of the Murdering Heart Sutra." Xukong had already looked through all the memories from back then and had a long time to ruminate on them.


    It wouldn''t be wrong to say that he was very concerned about it as it was a power that was very dangerous. If seen by the wrong kind of people, it could very well paint arge target onto Lin Mu''s back.


    Thankfully, he had used it as ast resort and the ones who had seen him use it were all hispanions who were trusted.


    "The power granted by the Murdering Heart Sutra is truly great." Lin Mu spoke after a minute of silence. "I think at the very end, I managed to reach the Transcendent level." He added.


    "That''s correct." Xukong had felt it too. "But it is a borrowed power andes at a cost."


    "Yes¡­ A Cost of souls." Lin Mu knew very well. "But to use Warp, it was needed." He let out a sigh.


    Xukong knew that he had used it at a time of great need and wasn''t really upset with him about it. But hoped that he wouldn''t be using it anytime soon.


    "Your Dao Skill certainly is highly demanding, though." Xukong said, having seen it. "Though I suppose for unhindered teleportation like that, the cost is still valid." Hepared it to the cost of a Cross World Teleportation array and estimated that it would need the same amount of power.


    This was actually less, as even a Transcendent Immortal might not be able to power a Cross World Teleportation Array on their own. That was the reason why immortal stones were used to power them and why the cost of teleportation was so high.


    "Though I think it could have done more." Lin Mu spoke. "I have a feeling that Warp could have managed to teleport to another Immortal World if I had it essible. And I also feel like it could teleport me to another location in the Immortal World even if I''ve never been. But it would be too random." He revealed.


    Before using it, Lin Mu only had a partial understanding of the Dao Skill, but now that he had been through it once, his understanding had improved by a lot.


    "Hmm¡­ I suppose it is worth the cost then. Though perhaps next time you best reserve a part of your Qi to use it normally," Xukong advised.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Thankfully, I should be able to passively charge the skill for future use." He now knew.

 Chapter 2422 Middle Aged Mortal

    Chapter 2422 Middle Aged Mortal


    "How long would it take you to do that?" Xukong asked.


    "I don''t exactly know." Lin Mu shook his head. "From what I''ve understood so far, within the same realm if I want to go to a pre-discovered location, I''ll need as much Qi as I used before which was at the Transcendent level. But if I want to go to somewhere random within the realm, it is definitely higher than that. The only thing I don''t know yet is how much Qi is needed to go across the realms. For example, to the Xiaofan world." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ it should definitely be higher than anywhere within the realm." Xukong said after thinking. "Inter-realm teleportation is always energy intensive. And considering the method used by your teleportation is entirely different from the per-existing channels or even the Realm Gates, I wouldn''t be surprised if the cost is much higher." He exined after considering his own experience.


    "Well, if there''s one thing I don''t need to worry about is charging it for now, since I''ll be in the state of slumber for quite some time." Lin Mu said with a wry smile. "Still, to think eleven years have passed already." It was rather strange to him as he was now older than his father before he had died.


    "Its just eleven years and you''re only in your fifties." Xukong replied in an attempt to somewhat console him.


    "Damn¡­" instead it hit him harder than before. "Never thought I''d be fifty two so quick." While Lin Mu might not have fully adapted to the time of an immortal, the actual passage of time still did feel fast to him now that he thought of it.


    In terms of normal mortals, Lin Mu would already be middle aged. But with his longevity, he might as well be an infant to other immortals.


    "Are you feeling old and want to get married, make some kids?" Xukong teased.


    "Ah, no!" Lin Mu shook his head. "I think I still got a lot of time for that." "Haha, it''s still fine if you make some kids and leave them with the mother." Xukong chuckled. "Leave behind your legacy." "¡­" Lin Mu didn''t even know how to respond to that.


    The two continue to talk about the things that had happened as well as what could happen next.


    "Oh wait, what happened once we entered through the Warp Portal?" Lin Mu had no memories from that point onwards.


    "The Saintess took you away," Xukong answered. "I couldn''t sense what happened after that either."


    ~Phew~


    "So she really was waiting for me." Lin Mu felt relieved that his bet had worked out. "Little Shrubby should also be fine with her around." Unlike the twins and Ashy, Little Shrubby had been outside the Sleepscape, and Lin Mu wasn''t able to take him back in before passing out. Their time apart was a bit ufortable to Lin Mu, as the master and beast hadn''t been apart for longer than a couple years before this.


    Now it had been more than a decade, thus it was lonely for Lin Mu, especially considering the fact that he didn''t know how many years it would take him to awaken again.


    "Thankfully, my cultivation should recover by the time I wake up." Lin Mu was happy that the Well of Slumber also helped with that.


    After all, the main function of the skill was to cultivate in the first ce. "Your body cultivation won''t recover, though." Xukong spoke.


    "True¡­ I''ll have to work on it again." Lin Mu knew it wasn''t something that could be fixed on its own. "I burned a lot of the Tyrant Bull''s essence. I might need to get more of its marrow to fix this." He added.


    "At least now you have people who can help you get it." Xukong stated. "There''s people who owe you life debts, so it should be a small thing to help with." He said, considering the background of all those that Lin Mu had saved. N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    Even if they ignored the Crown Prince and others, Lady Kang alone would be more than enough to help him procure that. Heck, there was a high chance that she already had it stored in her n''s stocks and could be procured as soon as asked.


    With that said, Lin Mu felt better and reckoned it was best to just focus on the things he could do for now.


    As such, he decided to do a full check up on the Sleepscape first, since he hadn''t been here for a while. Doing this, he noticed that the ce hadn''t changed much other than the fact that the nts had grown decently.


    The Purple Sickle Amaranth and the Wood Spirit Tulip both had improved their cultivation base and were at the Immortal Realm firmly.


    The best among though was the Mutated Violet Mystic Life Tree that had been at the peak of the immortal realm when Lin Mu had gotten it. The tree was still in its dormant state, though the energying from it had increased. The energy released by the tree had enriched the Sleepscape decently, and had been the reason why the other nts had grown so well, too. The Immortal Apple Tree in particr was full of apples and all of them were mature, including the wood elemental apples.


    Lin Mu relished in the sweet and sour taste of the apples he hadn''t had the chance to eat for years and also stored half of them forter use.


    As a celebration of his return, he took out all the stored dishes and ate them with the twins and Ashy. Finally, eating good food after all this time was therapeutic to Lin Mu, but it also made him miss Little Shrubby that much more.


    He could only hope that time would pass fast and he could meet Little Shrubby and his otherpanions soon. In order to do that, he fully embroiled himself in training andprehending, knowing it was the best way to spend his time.

 Chapter 2423 Comprehending Cloud Dragon Stride

    Chapter 2423 Comprehending Cloud Dragon Stride


    Xukong''s words about years turning irrelevant to Lin Mu were correct as he found himself forgetting about them entirely as he practiced hard.


    Heprehended his existing Dao Embryos and enhanced his understanding of them as well as tried toprehend other Daos he felt like he was close to.


    Among them, he tried to focus on the Sky Dao, as he was hoping to learn more of the Cloud Dragon Stride. Back in his time in the Astral Dimension, Lin Mu had actually managed toprehend it to the point where he could create clouds on his own and use the footwork too.


    Of course, it was in a dream-like state so Lin Mu didn''t fully grasp it right away, but after three years of training in the Sleepscape, he could once more use it.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu dashed around the Sleepscape as a trail of clouds was left behind in his wake. His legs almost felt like they were wearing boots made out of clouds and every step of his was profound. His footwork created clouds that obscured his movement, making it hard to understand what would be his next location.


    Another improvement was in his instantaneous speed, which had increased by at least twice.


    He could generate a burst of speed with his legs, which allowed him to dodge and maneuver around things faster than ever before. While Lin Mu could do this with the help of Blink and Flicker too, the Cloud Dragon Stride expanded his repertoire of skills and gave him a better scope of actions.


    In fact, this allowed him to improve the effectiveness of his Spatial Skills too, since he could use this as misdirection.


    He could now use both in conjunction to confuse and outmaneuver the enemies if need be and make them wonder how he was doing it.


    Lin Mu was sure that cultivators with weaker senses might not even be able to tell that he was using Spatial Skills and might think this was just pure speed when he used the Cloud Dragon Stride.


    The consumption of Qi when using the Cloud Dragon Stride was also lower than his Spatial Skills, so it was an improvement in efficiency too. Lin Mu''s main obstacle back in the Bridge ne had been the fact that he couldn''t fullyprehend the ''Sky Dao'' due to there being no true sky there with clouds. But in the Astral Dimension, he had experienced all of them, thus allowing him to finally grasp the creation of clouds.


    Thus, he could now be considered being at the Beginner Stage of the Cloud Dragon Stride. Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    In all, the skill had four stages of mastery, like most other skills; Beginner, Intermediate, Expert and Peak. The Beginner Stage only needed one to be able to create clouds while using the Footwork. In order to reach the Intermediate Stage, one would need to be able to generate the clouds without even needing to use the footwork, while in the expert stage, one would have to create clouds that would resemble dragons.


    Peak stage of the Cloud Dragon Stride though, was undefined, as every person would have their ownprehension of it and would lead to a different kind of mastery.


    This was why the Grand Bagua Mythic Series was considered so profound and also why there were so many variations and fragments of it.


    But even these four stages of mastery were the mere conception of the technique, as the true masters would evolve the technique behind its original state. This would eventually lead to the birth of an entirely new technique, which would expand the Grand Bagua Mythic Series.


    When one had managed to create an entirely new technique, was when they could truly be said to have mastered the specific section of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series.


    "Your improvement is better than I expected. I had thought that you would need the help of the Saintess to fully grasp it." Xukong said as he observed Lin Mu skillfully flit across the Sleepscape.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu came to a stop beside Xukong while a cone of clouds was left behind him.


    ~Huu~


    "My time in the Astral Dimension helped a lot. Plus, I think observing the Armored man use his Daos also helped me learn better." Lin Mu stated honestly.


    "Hmm¡­ I suppose the Astral Dimension is better than I thought at it." Xukong had to admit it.


    "Though I''ve certainly hit a wall with it." Lin Mu spoke. "I don''t think I can improve this any further here."


    "Indeed, you''ll need real world experience to improve more. A battle would be the most ideal for it." Xukong agreed.


    "Perhaps I should focus on other things now." Lin Mu thought about it.


    "You do have a lot that you can do." Xukong said before thinking of something. "Why not work on the Omnicore Ascendancy?" he asked.


    "Oh Yes!" Lin Mu was ecstatic hearing that. "I did stock up on a lot of things in the Bridge ne plus the previous things I have." He had actually bought them for this very moment.


    "Go for it then. Perhaps you might even finish something." Xukong spurred him on.


    Last time Lin Mu had practiced the Omnicore Ascendancy was when he was struck in the initial trials of the expedition and had to wait for the others to arrive. He had managed to make tiny cores that were the size of sand grains back then but hadn''t progressed as much.


    But now he hoped to see how much he could grow them.


    With that in mind, he took out piles upon piles of resources he had in his storage.


    Some of them were old ones that were leftover and some that he had ''freshly'' bought from the Offering Hall, with his extra credits. Since the Omnicore Ascendancy needed a variety of materials rather than mostly quantity, Lin Mu had managed to buy a lot of them in the Offering Hall. He could go from the cheapest to expensive to maximize his gains, after all.


    But even these four stages of mastery were the mere conception of the technique, as the true masters would evolve the technique behind its original state. This would eventually lead to the birth of an entirely new technique, which would expand the Grand Bagua Mythic Series.

 Chapter 2424 Completing Cores

    Chapter 2424 Completing Cores


    Lin Mu''s time spent in Omnicore Ascendancy was shorter than he had expected it to be.


    "I''m out of everything¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself, a slightly listless expression on his face.


    "Well, you did spend two years consuming them nonstop." Xukong replied with a nonexistent wry smile. "I wouldn''t be surprised if they ended earlier." He said honestly.


    ~Sigh~


    "I suppose its better than nothing." Lin Mu replied as he nced within his body.


    Within him, Eight small cores were now floating in different locations.


    The core at the very top was the lightning core located in the center of his brain. It hadn''t increased in size much aspared to before, but at least it was a proper sphere now. Though it was still very tiny and would be hard for a mortal to see with their naked eyes.


    It was the core that Lin Mu had the least amount of progress due to theck of materials. Then next core after it was the Metal Core which was located between Lin Mu''s lungs. It had grown considerably and was now the size of an individual sea grape.


    The core had technically finished its formation and as such, Lin Mu would start to get effects from it. But since he wasn''t in the actual control of his body right now, he was yet to feel them.


    ''I suppose I''ll have to truly ''wake up'' to feel its effects.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    The core below it was the Wind Core located in his Diaphragm which had also not grown much. It was about the same size as the Lightning Core too and had managed to take a spherical form.


    Then there was the Fire Core located in his heart that had grown almost as much as the Metal Core. It was just slightly smaller than it and was also the size of a Sea Grape.


    The best progress happened in the next two cores though which were the Earth Core in Lin Mu''s spleen and the Wood Core in his liver.


    Both had managed to grow twice as big as a Sea Grape!


    Earth Core was already expected by Lin Mu, but he was looking forward to the effects of the Wood Core. After all, it was the first core that belonged to an element he didn''t have an affinity too.


    ''The Omnicore Ascendancy is supposed to grant me an affinity for the specific element when the core ispleted. The Wood Core might not be big, but it is still plete'' as such I should have an affinity to wood too.'' Lin Mu thought about it. ''Trying right now does nothing.'' He attempted it but felt no different.


    He could only attribute this to the dissociation between his body and his consciousness. Thus, while he was cultivating the cores, it would still need him to assume control of his body and awaken in the real world.


    "I suppose this is a dormant state of the cores." Lin Mu muttered to himself as he observed them. The final core, which was the Water Core in the middle of his kidneys, also didn''t have much progress. Though it was still better than the lightning and wind cores, being half the size of the fire core.


    With that, Lin Mu had managed to at leastplete the cores to a basic level, thereby bringing himself to the bottom line of the Omnicore Ascendancy Technique.


    "What do I do next?" Lin Mu muttered to himself and went through his list of tasks. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    After looking at them, he came to a stop on improving his formations.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu directly summoned his Rune Shaping Brush and began to draw formations in the air. The method of improving on formations was rather straightforward as one simply needed to practice till they got better. Practice also improved one''sprehension after a while and the more Lin Mu did it, the better his speed would get.


    There had been many runes, formations and arrays that Lin Mu had observed in the Spatial ne, as well as others that he had learned from Daoist Chu and Ziran. He had also obtained a lot of records and books about them from them and from the Offering Hall.


    As such, he had a lot of content to go through.


    Lin Mu spent the next three years doing this, while asionally taking breaks to y with the twins and Ashy. This helped refresh his mind and refocus. He also read the Memoirs of the Lost Immortal in between and learned more about the things he had done and experienced.


    But eventually, Lin Mu felt like he was reaching a teau with his formations too, thus decided to pause it and focus on something else. Xukong had advised him on this and told him that needlessly forcing improvement would only harm him too, and it was better to rotate between tasks so that his mind would perform better. This turned out to be the best, as a lot of the doubts that he had before with formations with spontaneously resolved when he was focused on other things.


    He also managed to apply knowledge from different spheres of cultivation to formations, thereby improving it further.


    The next two years were spent like this while Lin Mu switched between a lot of reading, revising his techniques and skills, as well as practicing formations on top of ying with his tamed beasts.


    Year after year passed, as Lin Mu''s internal state was unknown to everyone other than those in the Sleepscape.


    Back at the Capital of the Dao Wind Empire, a small gathering was currently taking ce in the private pce of the Crown Prince.


    There were guards posted everywhere in the pce, and even the entire city''s security seemed to have been raised by several levels. Three individuals approached the Crown Prince''s private pce but weren''t stopped by the guards.


    A mere look was all they needed to know: they were the Crown Prince''s closepanions and the Imperial Guests of the Dao Wind Imperial Court!

 Chapter 2425 Twenty Five Years Of Slumber

    Chapter 2425 Twenty Five Years Of Slumber


    The guards didn''t stop or look at the arriving guests for long. Many of them had actually seen them several times in the past too and in the current state of the world, they knew these were some of the important people in the entire empire.


    The people in question looked around at the guards and could feel the somber atmosphere.


    "Looks like the Crown Prince has elevated the security again." Daoist Chu spoke.


    "You can''t me him. With how things are going, I wouldn''t be surprised if even this iscking soon." Ziran replied, looking a exhausted.


    "Amithabha, the Crown Prince is wise to have chosen caution." Monk Hushu said, approaching from the side.


    "Oh, you''re here already?" Daoist Chu was surprised.


    "I''ve been here for a week." Monk Hushu answered. "Come, let''s go in. He''s been waiting for us." He ushered.


    "Yes." Daoist Chu nodded and the trio finally entered the pce''s main hall.


    ~CREAK~


    As soon as the door was opened, the people inside looked at it.


    "Wee back." Crown Prince Feng Shun greeted hispanions. "You guys look tired." The man looked a bit weary, and mature, as a definite change had happened for him.


    "It''s good to be back." Daoist Chu said, seeing his friend. "Indeed¡­ I didn''t think I''d be this exhausted merely looking for records." Ziran said, rubbing his forehead.


    "You all can rest in a bitter. What did you all find, though?" Crown Princess Shang, who was sitting on a chair diagonal to the Prince, asked.


    "Any luck?" Crown Prince asked with a bit of hope on his face.


    "Qiao De''s intel was right." Daoist Chu said, much to his satisfaction. "We found this." The man took out an old book and gave it to the Crown Prince.


    "It was quite hard to find. It was most certainly hidden intentionally, and only those with the right clues would be able to find it." Ziran added. "Without knowing Shamanic Script of the Demon Tribes, it would be impossible to get to it." "Thankfully, we still have you." Crown prince Feng Shun said with gratitude. "Yeah¡­ Without Daoist Lin Mu, we''ll have to do the best we can." Ziran said with a hint of sadness.


    "How''s he doing now?" Daoist Chu asked with interest.


    ~SIGH~


    "Same as ever." Crown Prince Feng Shun let out a disappointed sigh. "The blood dome is still present, and no changes have happened in it." All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "The only movement I saw in thest few days was a pile of beast corpses being pulled into it." Monk Hushu added.


    "Can''t believe it''s been twenty five years already¡­" Daoist Chu muttered. "It feels so long." As an immortal, twenty five years was a very short time for him and the others. But the recent set of events had been so exhausting and taxing on them that it felt like time was passing incredibly slow to them.


    "It can''t be helped. Our hands have been forced and we have to endure through it." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, trying to put a face of courage.


    "Yeah." Daoist Chu nodded and the Crown Prince began to read through the old book that had just been given to him.


    Ziran looked at the only other person in the hall who hadn''t spoken yet.


    It was a man d in armor that had been through rough times. He had a full faced helmet on, but arge crack could be seen going through its front, that allowed one to peek a little at the man''s face.


    "Elder Hu," Ziran spoke, looking at the silent man. "How''s Lady Kang?" "She''s fine." The elder replied. "She''s been working hard to find a solution to the transport lock down." He added.


    "I see. That''s good." Ziran replied. "Hopefully we can find something and don''t just have to wait for years until the help arrives." He said, making the others nod as well.


    ~huu~


    The Crown Princess took a breath hearing this as a forlorn look appeared on her face.


    "Everyone''s trying their best. Lady Kang, Min Ju, Qiao De, and even Little Shrubby." Crown Princess Shang spoke. "And yet I''m forced to stay hidden here."


    "It can''t be helped. You''re specifically being targeted outside." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke in the middle while taking a pause from reading the book.


    "Wait, what?" Daoist Chu raised his brows in confusion. "When did that happen?"


    "About eight months back." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Apparently, a bounty has been put on my head. And is being circted in all the dark circles." She added.


    "And they''re trusting it?" Daoist Chu was surprised. "They shouldn''t dare to do anything in the Dao Wind Empire, at least right?" he was doubtful.


    "It was fine at first, but then some of themon citizens rushed to attack me when I was out." Crown Princess Shang answered, much to their shock. "They seemed desperate¡­ so I don''t think we can limit things even with our authority here."


    Monk Hushu, who heard this, couldn''t help but furrow his brows.


    "So their web has spread this far¡­ Foul Wretches¡­" The Monk cursed under his breath.


    "Anything we''ve done to stop it?" Daoist Chu inquired. "If they''re being influenced, there should be some signs, right?" he asked.


    "There is." Crown Princess Shang replied. "Little Shrubby." She revealed.


    "What?" Daoist Chu was surprised.


    "What''s he doing?" Ziran raised his brows.


    "There''s been sightings of him all over the capital region, plucking people from the streets, their homes, and the forests. They call him the Crimson Phantom now." Crown Princess Shang answered. "All the people he took away¡­ They all had traces of the ''influence'' on them." She revealed.


    "So he can actually find them?" Ziran was pleasantly surprised.


    "Indeed. He can smell them out." Crown Princess Shang confirmed. "He''s done better than most of the soldiers and investigators we sent." Elder Hu chimed in at this time. "He''s fast, efficient and lethal." "Everyone is pulling their weight¡ª" ~BOOM~


    Just as the Crown Princess was about to finish her words though, a loud sound rocked the pce.

 Chapter 2426 Awakening!

    Chapter 2426 Awakening!


    "WHAT WAS THAT!?" The Crown Prince stood up in rm.


    "That came from somewhere close by for sure." Ziran said sensing the intensity of the sound.


    ~THUD~ THUD~


    The doors of the hall opened again as a frantic looking guard rushed in.


    "My Prince! THE BLOOD DOME!" the guard shouted.


    Hearing that, the people present didn''t even wait a second before rushing out.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    The six individuals flew out of the pce and went to theke beside it. Though rather than calling it ake, it was more urate to call it the blood dome now. The beautiful imperialke had now been turned into an entirely different structure. A giant swirling dome of blood was now present there, with a red mist that constantly filled the area. If themoners were to see this, they would be terrified and think this was some kind of forbidden area.


    They would never be able to tell that this was the once pristineke of the Imperial Grounds.


    Thankfully for them, the blood dome was invisible due to ayer of mist and clouds that covered it from the outside. The blood dome was only visible from the proximity of theke and was a special array created by the Saintess herself.


    Even the Imperial Formation masters of the Dao Wind Empire were baffled at seeing the array and couldn''t evenprehend where they would begin to study it. For twenty five years, this dome had stood almost peacefully, but today all that had finally changed.


    ~BOOM~


    Another loud sound was heard as a giant pir of red light shot out from the dome.


    "What''s happening to it?" the group finally reached it and witnessed all that was happening.


    "Is it breaking down or something?" Daoist Chu wondered.


    "Amithabha¡­ I can sense the vtile energy." Monk Hushu gripped the prayer beads firmly in his hand, having a bad feeling about it.


    "Where''s the Saintess?" Ziran inquired. "I don''t know." The Crown Prince replied. "Her whereabouts have always been unknown to us. But she should definitely know if something is happening to theke." He added.


    ~HUALA~


    And sure enough, his words rang true as a cluster of pure white clouds appeared above the Blood Dome. "There she is." Elder Hu pointed. The appearance of the Saintess was unmistakable as she stood atop the clouds, looking down at the blood dome and the light piring from it.


    "Open!" The Saintess made a handseal, causing the blood dome to seemingly ''bloom'' like a flower!


    ~HUALA~


    The group watched as the red light beam grew bigger with the opening of the dome. It was now clear that the light had actually been restricted by the dome and had burst through it. But now that it wasn''t being restrained anymore, the full power of it could be felt.


    "This¡­ This is¡­ Vitality?" Daoist Chu stumbled back.


    "And Vital Essence." Monk Hushu could feel it as well.


    Seeing the spike in these energies, the group was shocked, before hope started to rise within them.


    "Is it¡­ Is it time for him to¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun almost couldn''t believe it and felt like he was dreaming.


    "It''s time for Lin Mu to awaken." The Saintess spoke, appearing in front of them in the blink of an eye.


    The words were the best thing they could have heard, and all of them copsed upon hearing it.


    Crown Princess Shang almost had tears in her eyes hearing that.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    Just as they were learning about this, two more people appeared andnded next to them.


    The one in the lead was a woman that exuded a mature beauty, while the one beside her was another beautiful woman who looked rather reserved.


    These were none other than Lady Kang and her maid, Min Ju!


    "Finally¡­ it''s happening." Lady Kang muttered, her eyes locked onto therge pir of light.


    "Mydy, it won''t be long now." Min Ju was happy about it and could sense the excitement within her master''s heart too.


    After all, Lady Kang had been waiting for this day for all these years. She had med herself for all that had happened to Lin Mu and his condition. Despite the fact that everyone had assured her that it was Lin Mu''s decision to do this, she couldn''t help but regret it a bit.


    As such, she had poured all of her being into helping him and the Crown Prince in stabilizing the situation.


    The Saintess nced at Lady Kang for a few seconds, her eyes trailing over to the woman''s abdomen.


    But they didn''t linger long and she looked back at theke as a few momentster, a beastly cry was heard.


    ~ROAR~


    It came from the light pir, and shook everyone.


    In fact, it was loud enough that it covered the entire capital city, terrifying the residents. Many of them were frozen in fear, thinking that the city was being attacked, while those that were a bit strong were shocked by the sheer aura contained within the roar.


    None of them knew what was happening, thus they could only look at therge red pir with wide eyes.


    But as they watched, they soon saw that the red pir was shrinking.


    It shrank until it was reduced to a red sphere. The sphere floated above theke for a few seconds before it seemingly cracked apart.


    ~CRACK~


    From the sphere appeared a ten meter tall bear!


    "Isn''t that¡­ Lin Mu''s Bloodline Image?" Daoist Chu recognized quickly.


    "Yes." The Crown Prince muttered.


    ~SHUA~ This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    They all watched as the Bloodline image of the Great Slumber Bear dived down into theke and seemingly disappeared.


    Waves rocked theke for a few minutes before it finally grew still.


    "Is it over?" Lin Mu''spanions were left confused.


    ~SHUA~


    But the Saintess moved at this time and came to a stop in the middle of theke.


    ~bubble~


    There, a man''s body seemingly floated up to the top, a serene expression on its face.


    The man''s eyes twitched for a bit before finally opening up.


    "Lin Mu!"

 Chapter 2427 Gaining Control Of Body

    Chapter 2427 Gaining Control Of Body


    A few minutes before the events in the Capital City, Lin Mu had been peacefully reading the Memoirs of the Lost Immortal.


    "To think he even managed to work in the Immortal Court with a hidden identity." Lin Mu read, finding it rather surprising.


    ording to thetest entry that he read, the Lost Immortal was recruited into the Immortal Court. Though his recruitment was not willing and was actually forced. This was due to the fact that he was using another identity that had caught the attention of a few officials from the Immortal Court and they wanted to take him under his wing.


    Of course, the Lost Immortal didn''t want that since his real identity was that of an offender for the Immortal Court. Lin Mu was especially interested in this due to the fact that his offenses were rted to a certain object he had obtained earlier.


    It was an object that now Lin Mu owned too¡­ The Heaven Silencing Seal.


    The memoir record didn''t mention what he had exactly done yet, but it was enough to cause the entire Immortal Court to be after him, forcing him to take up a disguise. The disguise was meant to help him go around without being caught.


    But he was now trapped in a scenario of his own doing and ended up having to go with it, since rejecting the Immortal Court with his alternate identity would only arouse their suspicion, since there weren''t many that would try this. Especially those that were in his situation and had no status. It would only make the people of the Immortal Court think that he was hiding something and perhaps they would probe deeper and manage to figure out his real identity.


    Though much to his surprise, his luck was favorable and he managed to survive in the Immortal Court for over a thousand years before finally managing to escape by faking his death on one of the missions he had been assigned too.


    This was a nice changepared to before as most of the incidences that the Lost Immortal encountered ended up with him on the disadvantageous side. "The Lost Immortal sure kept on getting in trouble all the time, but he had luck¡­" Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder if this was due to the Heaven Silencing Seal too.


    ~CHIRP~


    Lin Mu lifted his head from the memoirs and looked towards the source of the sound. He was sitting atop one of the high branches of the Violet Mystic Life Tree, which allowed him a good view of the Sleepscape.


    Below him, he could see the twins and Ashy seemingly ying a game of tag. Normally the bird would be at far too much of a disadvantage, but she was now using her Dao Skill of Shadow Dive to catch up to the twins.


    This was a method of training that the three had ended uping with and was also fun for them.


    "At least they''re not bored." Lin Mu muttered to himself and was about to resume reading the memoirs when he suddenly felt light headed. "Huh¡­ what is¡ª" before he could think any further though, he felt incredibly sleepy and fell asleep right there on the branch.


    None of his tamed beasts sensed this and only realized when his body disappeared from the Sleepscape!


    Lin Mu felt a sense of D¨¦j¨¤ vu when his mind became alert again.


    ''Am I asleep again? It can''t be that I''m heading into the Astral Realm again right?'' Lin Mu was worried and confused.


    ~HUMM~


    But before he could think any further, a wave of burning heat spread through his body.


    "ARGH!" Lin Mu groaned in his mind. "Not again!" The pain numbed his mind for a few seconds before he was hit with a realization.


    "Wait¡­ pain in my body?" Lin Mu could now sense all of his body. "I¡­ I''m returning to my body!" he now understood.


    The burning heat continued to radiate within him, going from the surface of his body all the way to the depths. It was harsh at first, but soon it started to get bearable for Lin Mu. And after a few minutes or so, he could now sense that the burning heat wasn''t just moving randomly within his body, but actually took certain paths.


    ''Its flowing through the vessels in my body.'' Lin Mu could now see them clearly.


    He followed the movement of the burning heat and could sense it reaching every artery, vein and tiny capiry that was present within him. Ultimately, it filled his cells that seemingly rejoiced with power. And when this power reached seven of his organs, it released a massive power.


    ~HONG~HONG~HONG~HONG~HONG~HONG~HONG~


    Seven cores awakened within Lin Mu''s body, as Omnicore Ascendancy truly activated!


    With full control returning to him, he willed his eyes to open.


    ~HUALA~


    As soon as Lin Mu opened his eyes, a blood red scene filled his field of vision. ~HUU~


    He breathed, and the rich scent of blood filled his lungs, a metallic taste covering his tongue.


    "Lin Mu!"


    But as he adapted to the environment around him, he soon heard another person calling out to him. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Turning his eyes, he soon spotted a familiar figure whom he had thought a lot about and had missed her too.


    "Saintess¡­" Lin Mu responded, fully recognizing the person.


    The Saintess had a white cloak covering most of her body with a veil hiding her face. But the aura and presence she exuded was not something Lin Mu would ever mistake.


    The Saintess hearing his voice, felt relieved and was about to assist him in getting up when she noticed something.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Seven lights glowed on Lin Mu''s bare body as an attractive force was released from him.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The force caused the bloodke to churn even harder, while the clouds in the sky started to spiral towards Lin Mu!


    "What are you¡­"


    Saintess who saw this, was surprised and wonder what was happening.

 Chapter 2428 The Cores Activate!

    Chapter 2428 The Cores Activate!


    The Saintess had been monitoring Lin Mu for several years now and could only confirm that her method was helping him.


    As such, it didn''t take long for her to sense the change in the ''refinement'' array she had made and quickly rushed there to see Lin Mu awaken.


    But she would have never imagined that she would be seeing more than she had expected than just his awakening.


    Lin Mu was also not expecting such a reaction from his body, as the seven cores started to revolve!


    It was their revolution that generated the attraction force and it wasn''t just pulling the air and the bloodyke water below. That was merely a side effect of what the cores were truly trying to do.


    ~HUALA~


    The vortex of clouds that had formed above Lin Mu rushed towards him, making the Saintess a bit rmed. ''They aren''t a danger.'' She quickly sensed that the clouds were moving due to Lin Mu''s influence.


    She could''ve easily stopped it but she let it happen, guessing that this was rted to Lin Mu. After all, this was not the first time she was seeing him wake up and cause arge scale phenomenon.


    But what happened next was shocking even to her.


    ~SHAHA~


    The clouds that rushed towards Lin Mu seemingly split apart, turning into twoponents. Azure and Blue wisps of light now floated in the for a moment before rushing into Lin Mu''s body. The Azure wisp of light entered Lin Mu''s diaphragm while the Blue wisp of light entered his kidneys.


    ~SPLASH~


    The bloodyke below him also released a red mist that spun around Lin Mu before splitting up.


    It turned into moreponents than the clouds, and five colored wisps could now be seen; Red, Blue, Yellow, Brown and Green!


    The Red colored wisps entered Lin Mu''s heart; the Blue colored wisps entered his kidneys, the Yellow colored wisps entered his lungs, the Brown colored wisps entered his spleen and finally the Green colored wisps entered his liver!


    "Elemental Qis?" There was no way the Saintess wouldn''t recognize what they were. ''Why are they entering his body?'' she could understand the Fire, Metal and Earth elemental wisps as Lin Mu was known to have affinity for them.


    But the Water, Wood and Wind Elements were not something he had an affinity with. In the case of the Wind Element, Lin Mu might have learned the Bending Will fists, but that didn''t mean that he had an affinity to the Wind element.


    Normally, a cultivator could absorb Qis of elements they didn''t have an affinity to, but this usually needed a lot of extra effort to do so. And in many cases, they couldn''t absorb them from the atmosphere, and needed to use resources that were rich in them like elemental crystals and pills.


    But what Lin Mu was doing was beyond that.


    He was taking the materials around them and breaking them down into the base elements before absorbing them!


    He broke down the clouds into Wind and Water Qi, while breaking down the blood into the entire Five Mortal elements!


    ''Those seven lights on his body¡­'' The Saintess observed them, finding that they matched each of the element. The only light that had not absorbed anything yet was the purple light that was glowing in the middle of Lin Mu''s eyes.


    ~RUMBLE~


    Though this was merely the prelude as a peal of thunder could be hearding from the sky.


    Lin Mu''spanions who had been watching from the shore couldn''t believe all that was happening and were speechless. "Thunder? But there are no clouds left." Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered and gazed up. As if to answer him, a cluster of dark clouds seemingly formed out of nowhere and more were being pulled over from the distance. These clouds joined the dark clouds and increased their size as soon arcs of lightning could be seen jumping across them.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The thunder got louder and louder, and the arcs of lightning got richer until finally, they couldn''t restrain themselves.


    ~BOOM~ All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    A bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds, going straight for Lin Mu''s head!


    "Tribtion Lightning!?" Ziran and the others were shocked.


    "No¡­ that''s not tribtion lightning." Crown Prince Feng Shun with his lightning affinity, could easily sense it. "That''s just normal¡ª." Just as he said that though, he saw a stunning scene that left him hanging.


    The lightning seemingly stopped just an inch above Lin Mu''s head before suddenly breaking apart!


    ~BZZT~


    The lightning bolt that was at least a couple kilometer long shattered and turned into tiny purple wisps of light!


    It was as if an icicle had been turned into Ice shards upon falling!


    "The lightning stopped in its tracks!?" Daoist Chu couldn''t believe his eyes.


    He had seen many people block lightning, but they had never seen it stop like this.


    "That''s Lightning elemental Qi." Monk Hushu could now tell seeing the purple colored wisps.


    "That''s correct." Crown Prince Feng Shun confirmed, finding it rather confusion. ~SHUA~


    The purple light wisps started entering Lin Mu''s forehead and within a few seconds, all of them had been sucked into it!


    "How''s he absorbing the lightning elemental Qi?" Crown Princess Shang had no idea.


    The same question appeared in the minds of others too, but they didn''t have an answer. They could only keep on watching and hope that they would understand it somehow.


    ~RUMBLE~


    ~BOOM~


    But all they got were more lightning bolts that shot down from the clouds, trying to strike Lin Mu. They all simply turned into Qi that was absorbed into him again and again.


    It wasn''t just the lightning either, as the blood below him was also constantly broken down into the five mortal elements along with a few of the clouds that were forcefully turned into wind elemental Qi.


    The shocking phenomenasted about thirty minutes, after which the cores within Lin Mu''s body were seemingly satisfied, allowing him to finally analyze what had all happened.

 Chapter 2429 Energy Saturation

    Chapter 2429 Energy Saturation


    Lin Mu felt the seven elements stirring within him, as the elemental cores seemingly processed them with the help of their respective organs. This was something he had known already as it wasmon knowledge that the different organs were used for conversion of Attributeless Qi into elemental Qi.


    He could sense that the cores were merely drawing them within his body for the initial ''start'' but after this he should be able to do them on his own. Now not only could he convert attributeless Qi into elemental Qi through the organs, but he could also use them to directly draw in elemental Qi and store it in the Dantian.


    This was exactly what happened, as Lin Mu sensed the seven elemental Qis flowing into his meridians and eventually reaching his Dantian. There, they joined the ocean of Qi, forming different colors sections within it.


    Previously, Lin Mu only had the Earth, Metal and Fire sections of elemental immortal Qi within the Qi ocean, but now four more sections had been added!


    Among them the Wood elemental immortal Qi section was quickly growing and was now almostparable to Lin Mu''s original three elements. The Water elemental immortal Qi section came in a close second after that and after that were the Wind and Lightning Elemental Immortal Qi sections.


    The Lightning section was the smallest and was barely one percent whenpared to how big the Earth, Metal and Fire sections were.


    ''The amount of elemental immortal Qi I absorbed seemed to be dependent on the size of the cores.'' Lin Mu quickly understood.


    The ultimate goal of the Omnicore Ascendancy was to grant the user affinity to the seven elements and improve their overall condition while doing that. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He observed his Dantian further, noticing that his Nascent Soul was slightly different than before.


    ''Is it just me or it''s a bit more¡­ Shiny?'' Lin Mu wondered if this was only because he was seeing it after a long time.


    The ethereal body of his Nascent Soul seemed to shine under the light emanating from the ocean of Qi below it.


    The seven colors seemed to made it look a lot more radiant.


    Next Lin Mu checked on his two Dao Embryos that were visible above the Nascent Soul. The True Earth Heart had moved to float above the section of the Qi ocean that had the Earth Elemental Immortal Qi while the Rune Shaping Brush was simply floating on the attributeless side.


    His Spatial Dao Embryo, the Four Faceted Neb was still hidden and not visible normally.


    Lin Mu still didn''t know whether this was just the tendency of the Dao Embryo or something it had to stay in normally.


    But if he wished to, he could very wellmand the Four Faceted Neb. Though in its current state, it was better for Lin Mu as it acted as a secret trump card for him. Even if his enemies knew that he had Spatial Skills, they wouldn''t know if he truly had a Spatial Dao Embryo.


    Not to mention, his unique Dao Embryo also made it so that it was hard to actually identify even if it appeared. There was no normal Dao Shell and it looked more like a technique than a Dao Embryo.


    Lin Mu checked the walls of his Dantian remembering how damaged they were before. He quickly confirmed that they had all recovered and were perhaps even better than before.


    ''Did it grow tougher?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    Unknown to him though, there was a small dark spread at the bottom of his Dantian that couldn''t be seen through all the Qi as it had disguised itself to look the same as the walls of the Dantian for the most part.


    Unknown to him though, there was a small dark spread at the bottom of his Dantian that couldn''t be seen through all the Qi as it had disguised itself to look the same as the walls of the Dantian for the most part.


    After having checked his Dantian, Lin Mu moved onto his body itself. More particrly he went to check on his body cultivation.


    But upon doing that he was shocked.


    "What in the¡­ where did all this Immortal Essencee from!?" Lin Mu was shocked to find a massive amount of energy hidden within his body.


    A major part of this was hidden within his stomach and had likely been stored by it since it was excess. He couldn''t even estimate how much was there until he acutely got he stomach to release it. But doing that right now wasn''t the best option as he needed to stabilize and adapt to his new state.


    Instead, he focused on the other part of the energy which was all stored within his Three Apertures!


    "They''re fully saturated¡­" Lin Mu observed.


    Lin Mu''s body cultivation with the Three Apertures Invoking Technique had been at the Third level of the Aperture Opening Realm. This made him have a body cultivation equivalent to that of the Third Tribtion Stage Immortal.


    But when he checked his Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets, he found that it was the same as before.


    "Guess recovering it isn''t going to be as easy." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Lin Mu could vaguely sense the Tyrant Bull''s spirit within him but it had weakened to an extent where it was barely equal to a newly formed First Tribtion Stage Immortal. As such, while the Three Apertures Invoking Technique still ced him at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm, his actual fighting capability with his body cultivation was reduced due to theck of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.


    The Three Apertures Invoking Technique was specialized in energy capacity rather than raw power after all. ''I don''t think the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets will recover just with the Immortal Essence¡­ I might need to gather more marrow for it to heal.'' Lin Mu had already discussed this with Xukong and had been expecting something like this.


    But he wasn''t too disappointed, as he could see some hope within this all.


    ''I think I have more than enough Immortal Essence to breakthrough to the next stage of the Three Apertures Invoking Technique.'' Lin Mu thought to himself with excitement.

 Chapter 2430 Method Of Recovery

    2430 Method Of Recovery


    "With the amount of Immortal Essence that is contained within the Three Apertures, it is definitely enough for me to reach the Aperture Linking Realm." Lin Mu reckoned. ''And if I can utilize the amount stored in my stomach too, it might allow me to progress even more.'' He thought.


    But before he could attempt anything like that, Lin Mu knew there were other things to consider.


    The biggest one being that he had just awakened and still needed to address the situation of things around him. After all, it had been twenty five years since he had been in the Slumber. The phenomenon around him had also calmed down and now all that could be seen was him standing in the middle of the Blood Lake.


    ~HUU~


    As such, taking a deep breath, Lin Mu opened his eyes again, looking at the surroundings.


    The first thing that he noticed was the blood all around him, which was rather surprising.


    "Why''s there so much blood here?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "It was for you." The Saintess, who had been patiently waiting for him, replied. "For me¡­ Wait, is this what allowed me to recover so fast?" Lin Mu raised his brows in shock.


    "Mmhmm." The Saintess nodded her head. "I knew the Well of Slumber would take too long to awaken on its own and theck of energy you had after what you did in the Spatial ne. So I had to use another method to fix that." She added, before exining everything.


    Lin Mu heard it all and was amazed at it all.


    The method that the Saintess had used could almost be considered ''Crude'' butplex at the same time. She had essentially decided to address theck of energy in his body in the simplest way¡­ Throwing him in the middle of a ''energy rich'' pool.


    The simplest way to do this was to use Beast blood that would have a lot of vitality.


    But this was where the Saintess made itplex.


    She not only used their blood, but entire beast corpses, along with who knows how many herbs to make a rich mixture. The difficult part for others would have been to turn the mixture homogeneous since the corpses and herbs were solid.


    Even if they could be pulverized or crushed, they wouldn''t fully mix. Not to mention there would be a lot of ipatibilities in it all.


    But the Saintess was a Celestial and had her own method. With a little bit of poison, she turned the entire thing corrosive, melting away both corpses and herbs into a uniform mixture. Of course, this would be a devastating method if used by anyone, since it would simply destroy everything.


    Only the Saintess who had superior control over it all would be able to do it and as such, the corpses and herbs were ''digested'' in the best way and turned into nutrients for Lin Mu''s body to absorb.


    If it were any other person, this method would not work since they wouldn''t really absorb much from this skin. But the Saintess knew of the obscure technique that Lin Mu practiced that allowed him to consume ungodly amounts of food.


    Plus, she had also seen his absorption ability. Thus, she had faith that his body would be able to absorb it all like a sponge.


    And that was exactly what had happened.


    "No wonder I managed to wake up early and why I feel so full of energy." Lin Mu muttered in realization. "I was constantly being ''fed'' all this time." "I tried to shorten your time of awakening as much as possible, but I didn''t know how long it would still take." The Saintess added.


    "But how is that possible?" Lin Mu asked. "Even if I had plenty of energy, the Well of Slumber would still not end before its intended time." He added.


    "You can think of it as a ''threat'' to the Bloodline of the Great Slumber Bear." The Saintess replied cryptically.


    "Threat?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "After your forceful purification of that girl Kang''s body, you had exhausted your bloodline by a lot. As such it entered rest. But by immersing you in thiske of blood that not only contained energy but also remnants of their bloodlines, it acted like a passive threat to your bloodline.


    In its weakened state, it wouldn''t be able to assess the threat and would feel like there was something posing danger to it at all times. Especially after your bloodline spirit had fought so many bloodlines before, it would remember that feeling. Even though in reality, the bloodlines were all neutralized in the mixture." The Saintess exined in detail.


    "So¡­ You stimted my bloodline with an immune response?" Lin Mupared it to what he had read in some physiology books before. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "In a way, yes." The Saintess responded. "Still, it took twenty five years to do that." "Its better than a hundred." Lin Mu was pleased nevertheless. "If I had been left as is, I would probably need a hundred years to awaken and even then I might not be fully recovered." He knew that his injuries might be healed, but his energy stores would need longer to recover.


    But now both had recovered with the exception of the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Just as the two were talking, though, the sound of wind stirring was heard before a woman appeared.


    "You''re finally awake." Lin Mu turned to look at the beautiful woman whom he had saved before. "Lady Kang¡­" He muttered.


    ~CLAP~


    "Me and my n owe you a great life debt. I swear on my soul that I''ll help you recover your cultivation and grow it beyond!" Lady Kang quickly cupped her hands and bowed deeply, making Lin Mu flustered.


    "I-it''s fine,dy Kang." Lin Mu quickly moved to prop up the woman. "You don''t have to do this." But while holding her shoulders, he could feel her trembling. Her face seemed to be calm on the surface, but it was all a facade and she was trying hard not to lose herposure.

 Chapter 2431 A Celebratory Imperial Banquet

    2431 A Celebratory Imperial Banquet


    Lin Mu could sense the woman''s erratic heart that seemed to be racing.


    The pulse was strong enough that he could almost hear it, if not feel it, from her arms.


    ''She really means it.'' Lin Mu grasped.


    Looking into her eyes, Lin Mu took a light breath and spoke.


    "We can talk about how you can repay meter. For now, I suppose we have more people waiting." Lin Mu stated before ncing at the others, who were now approaching them.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun was at the front and the man quickly walked towards him before dragging him into a hug.


    "Haha! It''s good to have you back!" Crown Prince Feng Shun''s face seemed to glow at that moment, his exhaustion seemingly vanishing.


    "Amithabha, I knew the Buddha would not let you leave the Embrace of Life just yet," Monk Hushu said with a praying gesture.


    Smiles could be seen on the faces of everyone, as they couldn''t help but rejoice at this moment.


    "We thought we wouldn''t see you for a long time." Ziran spoke.


    "I thought so too." Lin Mu replied. "But it seems like the Saintess saved me from that." He smiled at her veiled face.


    Unknown to him and the others, a slight smile also appeared under the veiled face of the Saintess.


    ~ROAR~


    Though a secondter, his attention was dragged to a loud roar and the sound of tearing wind. Lin Mu sensed a familiar presence and knew who it exactly was.


    "MASTER!" The voice of Little Shrubby was heard as his form could be seen rushing towards him.


    "Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu called out to the beast, who quickly shrank down to his kitten form and rushed into his arms.


    "I missed you!" Little Shrubby said as he rubbed his head on Lin Mu''s chest endlessly.


    "I missed you too," Lin Mu said as he petted the kitten''s head to no extent.


    Everyone watched the heartful reunion of the two and couldn''t help but chuckle at it. The fierce form of Lin Mu ughtering enemies mercilessly seemed almost an illusion when theypared it to this.


    The two seemingly talked amongst themselves, with only one other individual understanding their words; the Saintess.


    But the others didn''t need to understand it to know how they were feeling right now.


    They didn''t disturb the two and let them be for a few minutes before Little Shrubby seemingly feel asleep in Lin Mu''s arms. "He should be very tired." Crown Princess Shang spoke.


    "He has been working hard." Daoist Chu nodded.


    "Working? What has Little Shrubby been doing?" Lin Mu asked, not knowing about his new reputation.


    "He''s been hunting down people affiliated with the ck Ying Empire." Crown Princess Shang answered.


    "Huh? What empire is that?" Lin Mu was very confused hearing that.


    ~Sigh~


    "There''s a lot that has happened in these 25 years." Lady Kang spoke after a bit of silence.


    She had beenposing herself as a storm of emotions stirred within her, and she had finally managed to calm it enough to talk normally.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows, knowing that this was something bound to have happened. "Come on! We got a lot to talk about," Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he dragged Lin Mu. "We''ll head to my pce." He added.


    "Just talk? We need a banquet for this." a new voice was heard, making everyone look to the sky.


    There a man exuding a majestic aura was standing, dressed in the Imperial robes. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Father." Crown Prince Feng Shun greeted the man.


    "Emperor Feng." Lin Mu cupped his hands in greeting.


    "To the saviour of my bloodline, I cannot thank you enough." Emperor Feng spoke. "I also cannot let your awakening go without a celebration. It would be inauspicious to not celebrate this day." He added.


    "Of course!" Crown Prince Feng Shun was in a staunch agreement.


    "It would be nice to have a banquet after all that work." Daoist Chu was in favor too.


    "I could definitely go for some liquor." Ziran nodded.


    "Then it is decided!" Emperor Feng dered, and quickly sent out a string of messages.


    Lin Mu looked at his state and knew that he had to change, since he was basically naked from the waist up and covered in quite a bit of blood. Thankfully, that was easily fixable since he simply burned it all away with some fire and used the Silver Mirage Circlet to create a new set of clothes.


    06:29


    Lin Mu looked at his state and knew that he had to change, since he was basically naked from the waist up and covered in quite a bit of blood. Thankfully, that was easily fixable since he simply burned it all away with some fire and used the Silver Mirage Circlet to create a new set of clothes.


    With that, their destination was changed from the Crown Prince''s pce to the Grand Pce of the Dao Wind Empire. And by the time the group reached it, the entire ce was already in a mix of panic and excitement.


    Banners were hung up in that short amount of time, as illusory lights glowed in the sky.


    It was already close to the evening, thus they looked rather beautiful. Upon stepping inside, Lin Mu could see the decorations already having beenpleted.


    "This is fast." He couldn''t help but mutter.


    "The Imperial Servants are highly versed in decoration and banquet preparations. They have everything prepared for a banquet to be initiated at a moment''s notice." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "Huh¡­ that''s something." Lin Mu didn''t expect it to be this high of a priority.


    "The imperials always have to be ready to meet unexpected guests and people of importance. Something like this is a necessary formality." Crown Princess Shang chimed in.


    "I didn''t know." Lin Mu was impressed.


    "The Kang n has something simr too." Min Ju spoke up. "When you visit us, we''ll be sure to show you our hospitality." She said, taking a look at her mistress.


    Lady Kang nodded in agreement and spoke, "we definitely wish for you to be there." "I''lle, of course." Lin Mu wouldn''t deny that. ''I''d have to go there anyways.'' He knew there was still a lot of work he needed to do for the Kang n.


    The group chatted as they nced at the decorations and finally reached the Imperial Court, which had already been turned into a banquet hall.


    Food was being brought in, and the servants were rushing everywhere, setting things up.


    A short whileter, the scene had changed to that of a very jovial one as they chatted and ate. Lin Mu had not eaten food with his real body for a long time now, as such wasn''t going to miss the chance eating so much.


    While he had his reserve food in his storage, it still didn''t match what he was getting to eat here now. The Imperial chefs were certainly worth their salt and had made food that was not only good in taste, but also good for one''s cultivation.


    Despite having absorbed a lot of energy from the blood pool and storing it, Lin Mu''s stomach quickly got to working on doing more.


    Little Shrubby also woke up from the scent of food and was fed by Lin Mu. The kitten enjoyed the pampering a lot and asked for his other ''siblings'' to be called out too, which Lin Mu dly obliged too.


    The squad of two snakes, one kitten and one bird, went off on their own as they went to different tters to taste the food.


    Though for them a single taste basically meant swallowing the tter whole, with the only exception being Ashy, who pecked at tiny pieces.


    As an Imperial Banquet, the amount of food that was made was no joke, and the Emperor simply gave the orders for the kitchens to run nonstop until they were told to stop. As such, food was being cooked perpetually for them to consume.


    Though of course, the main consumers ended up being Lin Mu and his tamed beasts.


    Still, it was the tamed beasts who stopped eating first as they got full, but the man never did. In fact, Lin Mu felt like his capacity to eat had seemingly increased with the creation of the Seven Cores. He could particrly sense his Spleen, Liver, Kidneys and Heart working harder and better to process everything.


    They also seemed to be absorbing the energy from the food, with Lin Mu sensing the Cores growing.


    ''Looks like with theplete formation of spherical cores, I don''t need to actively use the Omnicore Ascendancy to absorb energy,'' Lin Mu learned.


    It was rather good for him, as he could now passively grow the cores in this way.


    This simply ended up giving him an excuse to try everything in the menu, as different materials were needed for the Cores to grow. As such, Lin Mu simply ate them until they gave him no more growth and switched to another dish.


    The Emperor couldn''t help but marvel at the man''s inhuman appetite, with the others simply shaking their head. Hispanions had already seen this aspect of Lin Mu several times before.


    The Saintess sat across Lin Mu, and was sipping on a cup of wine. It was rather surprising to see her in attendance.

 Chapter 2432 Intoxication Resistance And Immortal Apple Wine

    Chapter 2432 Intoxication Resistance And Immortal Apple Wine


    The Banquet continued for hours until finally Lin Mu seemed to have hit the limit of the Cores'' Growth. There seemed to be no more dishes that helped improve them and now they only seemed to be getting repeated.


    As such, he decided to stop for now and indulge in more of the liquor that was present.


    There were various kinds of wines, brewed from fruits and herbs along with strong liquor that could even knock out an immortal after a few cups. But for him, it seemed to be the same as drinking some juice, for his body was a lot more resilient to alcohol than ever before.


    As soon as he took the first sip, he could feel the faint burn of the alcohol along with its fragrant aroma and taste. But once it reached his stomach, the effects seemingly disappeared as the alcohol was rapidly broken down and absorbed.


    Lin Mu could only feel that the Qi from the alcohol was absorbed but the intoxicating effects were erased almost instantly.


    He had never managed to get affected by Alcohol much before, due to his body cultivation and the only exception to it was the Ichor Essence Wine that the Ever Spring Mistress had given him.


    But then again that was a Celestial Level wine thus there was no way his body cultivation would be able to handle it.


    Right now, even though Lin Mu didn''t have his full body cultivation due to the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets having regressed, the creation of the Cores seemed to have brought upon beneficial effects to his body.


    In the current case, Lin Mu''s Wood Core in his liver seemed to have improved its ability to process and purify toxins by several times which had essentially rendered him immune to all alcohol in the Immortal realm.


    ''Even other poisons and toxins might not do much to me now.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Perhaps I can use some of the stores poisons to help grow the cores? They are technically of the different elements too.'' He reckoned.


    It was a rather dangerous thing for others, but for him it would now be possible. He had consumed some poisons before in such a way to grow his cores, but there were still many that would have been too dangerous for him to consume back then.


    But he felt confident that he might be able to take them now. At the very least, he could test them out without much trouble.


    Before he could think much more about it though, he felt a gaze on him which drew him to the Saintess''s face.


    She hadn''t consumed any of the dishes in the banquet but she had been sipping on the wine that was provided. Because of her status, the others had been far too nervous to talk to her on their own and only the Emperor had managed to exchange a few words with her.


    She had also been given the highest seat in the hall and was basically sitting there on her lonesome.


    Watching her sip the wine alone though, Lin Mu was suddenly reminded of something.


    "Oh, wait¡­ I have that." Lin Mu suddenly remembered before standing up.


    He walked up to the Saintess, catching the attention of the others. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "I think this is the right time to take it out now." Lin Mu spoke as he withdrew a pot from his ring.


    "Oh?" The Saintess looked at it and wondered what it was.


    "Is that a wine pot?" Ziran asked noticing its design. ''That''s a lot of talismans on it too.'' "It is." Lin Mu nodded before opening its sealed cap.


    ~POP~


    As soon as it was opened, a rich fragrance unlike anything was released. Not only that, but one could hear a faint fizzing sounding from the pot too.


    "What kind of wine is that?" Even the Emperor was interested in it.


    "Something I tried my hand at making." Lin Mu said as he poured out a cup. "I''d like the Saintess to try it first." He extended it to her.


    "Of course, it should be given to the Honored Celestial." The Emperor approved. He had been a bit nervous with the presence of the Saintess and was having a hard time interacting with her too with the fear of identally offending her. As such he was thankful that Lin Mu was now entertaining and interacting with her.


    The Saintess nced at the pale yellow wine that seemed to bubble inside the cup.


    "Apples?" She could smell the fragrance of apples from it.


    "Indeed. It''s the wine I made from Immortal Apples." Lin Mu answered.


    The wine had been brewing in Lin Mu''s ring for a while now and it had finally reached a point where it was mature enough to be opened. Of course, the amount of time Lin Mu let it brew for might not be as long aspared to most other immortal wines, but with the methods he had employed, the fermentation rate was faster and the aging was also richer.


    As such, it could easilypare to Immortal Wine that had been brewing for a couple hundred years.


    ~SIP~


    The Saintess took the first sip and felt the tickle of the bubbles on her tongue before the tartness of the apples spread on it. The tartness then vanished to the rich presence of its sweetness, changing her pte in a surprising manner.


    Her eyes sightly widened and she hadn''t expected such a taste and texture from a wine.


    "How is it?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Unique¡­ The bubbling texture enhances its taste and yet there is no burn from it." The Saintess replied. "Its effects seemed to be quite decent too." She added.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu smiled. "I''m happy that you liked it." He had made it for her, thus he was pleased by her words.


    "I didn''t know you could make wine too." Crown Princess Shang said in surprise. "That too a new kind of wine like this." She added.


    "Do you all want to try?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Of Course! That shouldn''t even be a question!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said boisterously.


    The prince had drunk quite a bit of alcohol already and while he was not drunk, his demeanor had certainly been loosened.


    "Yeah, there''s no way I''d missing this." Daoist Chu agreed as well.


    "It does smell delicious." Lady Kang stated.


    "Alright then." Lin Mu said as he personally poured out cups for everyone while also refilling the Saintess'' cup which seemingly grew in size signaling to him that she wanted a lot more.


    Lin Mu of course filled it till she was satisfied and also took out another sealed pot for her, which she quickly hid away before anyone even noticed.


    ''Guess she likes it.'' Lin Mu thought and internally chuckled. ''Good, that I made a lot more.''


    "WHOA! I''ve never tasted a wine like this before." Crown Prince Feng Shun was amazed.


    "Marvelous!" Emperor Feng was impressed too. "Such taste and texture¡­ You said this was made from Immortal Apples? I''ve never thought Immortal Apples could be turned into wine such as this," He added.


    "Yeah, now that I think of it¡­ The effects are a lot stronger than normal Immortal Apples too." Ziranmented after having consumed it. "Its been refined several times hasn''t it?" he asked.


    "I did use a different process for it." Lin Mu nodded.


    "Heavens¡­ this is already as strong as a High Grade Immortal Stone." Daoist Chu was blown away after drinking it. "The Qi is so easy to absorb, too. You barely have to do anything." "My, my, you could very well be a wine brewer and be rich that way too." Crown Princess Shang couldn''t help but praise.


    Lady Kang who drank it though, was left in deep thought. She was silent for a couple of minutes before looking at Lin Mu with a serious expression.


    "The Great Kang Auction house will auction this at our Annual Festival." Lady Kang stated right away. "This can easily sell for tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Immortal Stones." She proimed.


    "That much?" Lin Mu was surprised. While he knew the materials he had use for them were a bit expensive, the cost of them was still less than what Lady Kang was stating.


    "If we can sell this with your name as the creator, we might be able to sell it for ten times more." Min Ju chimed in. "As a first time brewer, you might easily gain fame for such a high quality wine." As Lady Kang''s personal maid, she was no less skilled than most head managers of merchant groups.


    "Lady Kang is correct." Emperor Feng spoke. "Such a wine can very well be an Imperial Tribute to garner merit in most empires." He estimated.


    "Even in the Immortal Court, such wine would be appreciated." Crown Prince Feng Shun added.


    Hearing everyone''s words, Lin Mu couldn''t help but be ttered and wondered if he should make a lot more.

 Chapter 2433 Yao Changyings Grand Machinations

    Chapter 2433 Yao Changying''s Grand Machinations


    Lin Mu now had several reasons to make more wine, the biggest of being the Saintess liking it. Though he also didn''t mind making more money on the side, after all, a little more couldn''t hurt.


    ''I do have a lot of Immortal Apples stockpiled now.'' Lin Mu had gathered several of them in the time he had been in the Sleepscape. He had noticed that the production of the Immortal Apples was faster than usual which was strange for him. He didn''t understand it back then, but now that he knew what the Saintess had done, he figured it was due to the rich ''blood'' he had been immersed in.


    He thought about it for a bit as everyone enjoyed the wine. But soon after, the atmosphere turned somber, as it was now time for them to catch up about all that had happened.


    "So what have I missed in these twenty five years?" Lin Mu finally questioned. "And what''s this ck Ying Empire?" "A lot¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a sigh. "We should start from the day we escaped the Bridge ne," Daoist Chu suggested.


    "Yes, that''ll be the best." Crown Princess Shang agreed.


    "As you might have guessed, we were rescued by the Honored Celestial almost immediately after leaving the ne." Crown Prince Feng Shun began. "We briefed her about your condition and to help you we decided to head to the Capital. I sent several messages in order to prepare them about our arrival, but the information I got back from them was a lot more than just that." He said, his voice turning heavy.


    "Remember the war in the Eight Kingdom Alliance?" Crown Princess Shang chimed in at this time.


    "Yeah, it happened when we were about to enter it." Lin Mu hadn''t forgotten about that.


    "That was the work of none other than Yao Changying." Crown Princess Shang revealed, hatred glowing in her eyes.


    "She really did all that?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected her to have managed something this vast.


    "That''s merely the surface of it." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before exining everything in detail.


    It turned out that Yao Changying had managed to escape the Dao Wind Continent shortly after escaping from the Tournament. She had a Teleportation talisman that managed to get her to an isted ind outside the influence of the Dao Wind Empire.


    Thisbined with her methods to hide her presence from not just the normal tracking arrays, but even the divination allowed her to move without a trace.


    They had still not managed to fully understand how Yao Changying had even managed to do that, but her capabilities in the Bridge ne didn''t make it as surprising to them now. "Yao Changying was also behind the actions of Feng Baxing." Emperor Feng said this time.


    "What?!" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that at all. "But wouldn''t her involvement be detected? Plus I doubt the Third Prince would have fallen to her tricks." He was doubtful.


    "Her skills are certainly far reaching and so is her influence. It took us special diviners from the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts to finally confirm her involvement. She managed to use a borrowed knife to cause all this, avoiding her involvement." Emperor Feng exined.


    He told Lin Mu about how traces of Wrath Leaf Toxin were found and it was found to have been delivered by one of the people secretly working with Yao Changying. "No wonder he lost his temper." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Baxing might have been overbearing, but even he was not so reckless as to break the rules of the temple." Emperor Feng had felt relieved when he found this out, as it meant that his Third son hadn''t been that bad. "He was merely a pawn for Yao Changying." This discovery had helped the Emperor as the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts had cleared all charges and had even returned thepensation that the Empire had to give them. "But why would she attempt something like this in the middle of such a high profile event like the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts?" Lin Mu questioned. "Even if she wanted the rewards, I doubt she had to go that far." Having seen her capabilities, Lin Mu didn''t think shecked resources.


    "Our current analysis considers it to have been an attempt had causing political and regional conflict." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "She merely wanted to cause conflict between the different powers so that she''ll be able to fish in muddied waters and grow her own power unnoticed.


    This is also what she did in the Eight Kingdom Alliance. She controlled the people there and ignited the sparks of war." He revealed.


    "How''s she managed to do this? It can''t just be money, is it?" Lin Mu wondered, as it seemed quite difficult to do it on arge scale.


    Not to mention, Yao Changying was not even a native of the Rust Sky World, so even if she was the niece of the Holy Topaz Emperor, her influence should have been limited.


    "We are not totally sure about it." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "But from the people we''ve captured, it seems to be aplex form of curse that seems to turn people obedient to her." He added.


    "The curse has been a great pain for us. Since it goes undetectable through normal means and the people inflicted by those can easily spread." Emperor Feng spoke. "There have even been people like those appearing in the Capital City." "Even here?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but think back to the brainwashing that he had seen Gu Yao use back in the Xiao Fan world. He wondered if there were any simrities in them. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Yes, it has lead to us having to enforce a curfew." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded. "The only ways we can discover who''s inflicted by the curse is if we see them openly use the power granted by the curse, or if Little Shrubby senses them." He added.

 Chapter 2434 Incompetence And Influence

    Chapter 2434 Ipetence And Influence


    "So that''s what you meant by him hunting people earlier." Lin Mu now understood.


    "Indeed. Little Shrubby has been hunting them with a vengeance. His sess has been the greatest among our investigators." Emperor Feng praised. "I see, that''s good." He was pleased that Little Shrubby had been helping them. "Though has there been no other methods to verify their condition other than letting them act out?" he asked.


    "There is, of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "But it is rather intrusive and requires us to check their souls directly." He stated.


    Lin Mu could easily see why others wouldn''t want something like that to happen to them. "Only those that were suspected to be seriously involved were subjected to this. But it also meant that the other hidden ''agents'' went silent and made it harder to sense them." Emperor Feng said. "Though Little Shrubby can sense them through their smell. Which was a great revtion for us as we''re trying to train other beasts to do the same." He added.


    "How''s the progress on that?" Lin Mu asked. "Not good." Ziran answered this time. "Most beasts are afraid of it and can''t even be trained to sense the concentrated scent of that curse. And the few that can do that, are those at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm or above. There aren''t many Beast Tamers that can control beasts like those." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ I think Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang can do the same." Lin Mu said, remembering how the twins had managed to do it in the Spatial ne.


    "That''ll be good. More ways to sense the threats." Emperor Feng was pleased. "Hmm¡­ and I think that''s what they are doing now too." Lin Mu said, sensing that all his beasts seem to be wandering the city right now.


    They had left sometime after getting their fill of the food and were out exploring the city. Having stayed in the Sleepscape all this time, Lin Mu reckoned it was about time for them to go out to y a bit and was fine with it.


    By now he knew that there weren''t many things that could threaten the twins. Rather, the twins were a threat to anything that tried to attack them. Plus Little Shrubby was with them, so escaping wouldn''t be a problem either.


    "Her ability to control people like that has led to the fall of the entire Eight Kingdom Alliance." Crown Princess Shang continued. "It is now known as the ck Ying Empire." "She crowned herself a ruler¡­" Lin Mu now understood how she wasmanding an authority.


    "Indeed. Though her propaganda says that she''s merely uniting the Eight Kingdoms that were divided for millenniums. Her influence is spread in the Three Empires too. We''ve managed to cull almost all such dissidents within the Dao Wind Empire, but there''s a lot of them in the Huiqing Empire and the Holy Topaz Dynasty." Crown Prince Feng Shun said taking out a jade slip that projected a map on a formation screen.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu could see the entire map of the Rust Sky world, and the powers that constituted it. They were all represented by different colors, with the Dao Wind Empire being Azure, the Holy Topaz Empire being Yellow and the Huiqing Empire being dark green. Among them, the ck Ying Empire was designated as ck and covered the entirety of the Eight Kingdom Alliance.


    But her influence didn''t end just there as splotches of ck could be seen spread in the Holy Topaz Empire as well as the Huiqing Empire.


    The Holy Topaz Empire particrly had a nice chunk of its northern region ckened, while the Huiqing Empire had multiple small splotches spread across their continent.


    Observing this, Lin Mu found it rather shocking, as it showed an uncontrolled growth of Yao Changying''s influence.


    "What are the other emperors even doing?" Lin Mu couldn''t ept such a result. To him, it now seemed like the other two emperors had either been ipetent or indulgent in Yao Changying''s work. "It''s not their fault either." Emperor Feng spoke this time. "They''re facing the same problem as us and are unable to figure out who''s under her influence. The Holy Topaz Emperor particrly lost out since three of the Aristocratic ns of their Dynasty, staged a coup and defected to Yao Changying.


    Back then, he didn''t know the scope of her control and quickly lost control of the northern region. This was also the main operative region of the ck Fin Ind members, but now they''re quite wide spread." He exined.


    "He didn''t think to take his niece seriously?" Lin Mu raised his brows. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "He sure didn''t." Crown Princess Shang scoffed. "Now he''s paying the price." "The Huiqing Emperor took it seriously right away though, and culled any signs of dissent." Daoist Chu spoke up. "Its why the influence of the ck Ying Empire is spread in small pockets there." He added.


    "It''s very concerning still." Lin Mu furrowed his brows as several problematic thoughts came to his mind. "But what I don''t get is¡­ if she''s this problematic, hasn''t this problem already escted to the point where the Temple and the Immortal Court should be involved?" While Lin Mu knew that the Immortal Court didn''t usually interfere in the matters of the worlds'', the current conflict had already touched upon several things the Immortal Court wouldn''t stand for. "That''s where our greatest problemes in." Emperor Feng said as his voice turned heavy. "We don''t know how, but Yao Changying has¡­ Sealed all forms of Teleportation Arrays in the Rust Sky World." He finally revealed.


    "What!" This was absolutely stunning for Lin Mu, as it was no longer something that could be done by any individual.


    "We are essentially trapped here." Lady Kang spoke up. "Indeed. We''ve already requested for help from the Immortal Court, as well as our other allies." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated, making Lin Mu quite concerned about their very grave situation.

 Chapter 2435 Trapped In Their World

    Chapter 2435 Trapped In Their World


    Lin Mu listened to their words as his concern continued to grow.


    "In fact, the very first thing I did upon returning was to contact the Immortal Court about the situation and even threw in the fact that I had the Immortal Paragon ring with me to make them consider it as the highest priority." Crown Prince Feng Shun emphasized. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "But they simply cannote to the Rust Sky World." Lin Mu now understood.


    "Yes¡­ without the Interworld Teleportation Arrays, it would take a very long time for any help to arrive. Even with the special fast ships of the Immortal Court, the nearest Teleportation Array they can take is still very far away." Emperor Feng said as he controlled the map and changed its scale.


    ~SHUA~


    Now instead of just showing the Rust Sky world, it showed Four different Sr systems and and the extended area of the Space.


    Lin Mu could see Four particr worlds highlighted among the sr systems. He could recognize their names as the first of them was the Rust Sky world, the next was the Three Aster World, the third was the Zhuang World and finally the one name that he didn''t know of was the Misty Sea World.


    Lin Mu knew of the Three Aster World, as it was the Crown Princess''s home world and she had told him a decent amount about it. The Zhuang World on the other hand, was the world were the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect was from and was the home world of Yao Changying.


    But the Fourth World was rather peculiar, as it seemed to be mostlyposed of water. ''An Ocean World?'' Lin Mu had known about them as even the Xiao Fan world had an Ocean World near it in the past which had only left behind a frozen remnant now.


    As he looked at the map, Emperor Feng continued to control it and focused on one of the world.


    "Let''s say they use the Teleportation Array of our closest world, which would be the Three Aster World. It would still take reinforcements at least a hundred years to arrive." Emperor Feng revealed much to his shock.


    "A hundred years? So there''s still seventy five years left for their arrival?" Lin Mu calcted.


    "Perhaps even more." Crown Princess Shang added. "The Teleportation Arrays of the Three Aster World might not be able to handle the level of reinforcement we need so there might be dy in their arrival." "Hmm¡­ and I''m guessing the Zhuang World and Misty Sea World cannot help either." Lin Mu said. "Is the Zhuang World or rather the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect part of the ck Ying Empire too?" he inquired.


    "No." Emperor Feng answered. "Rather, they had no idea of her involvement and are currently assisting us. I originally had the suspicion that they were involved too, but after further verification through our, as well as an independent investigation by the Temple of the Four Guardian beasts, their involvement was ruled out." He exined further.


    "That''s good¡­ So what''s their stance on Yao Changying''s actions?" Lin Mu was very curious about this.


    "Well¡­ They''ve denounced it as the official stance of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect and have already emunicated Yao Changying as their member." Emperor Feng answered.


    "But that''s not the view of everyone there, is it?" Lin Mu guessed.


    "Indeed¡­ Yao Changying had a heavy influence in her sect as well as the world. She still has supporters there and we wouldn''t be surprised if they might be helping her even now." Emperor Feng confirmed his guess.


    "Of course¡­ That was bound to happen." Lin Mu could only shake his head hearing that. "Since the Teleportation Arrays are not working anymore, I suppose people cannot move between the Continents either?" He asked next.


    "Yes. We all have to use the direct methods of traveling to them now." Daoist Chu spoke this time. "In fact, we''re justing back from the Huiqing Continent ourselves." "Why did you go there?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "This." Crown Prince Feng Shun said and handed an old book to Lin Mu.


    "Shamanic Script?" Lin Mu recognized the words immediately.


    "You should read it. This is thetest information about Yao Changying we''ve found." Ziran requested knowing that Lin Mu could read the script.


    Lin Mu was a bit surprised as this was an old book and didn''t seem like it would contain new information about Yao Changying. But he still decided to read it to clear his doubts.


    He didn''t even need to consult Xukong about the words anymore since he had already learned the Shamanic Script of the Demonic Tribes in his time in the Sleepscape. Lin Mu knew that he would inevitably need to read it again, whether it be in the Rust Sky World or elsewhere thus he decided to fully learn from Xukong.


    And it wasn''t just the Shamanic Script of the Demonic Tribe either. Xukong also taught Lin Mu a couple of othernguages that were obscure and reckoned coulde in handy for Lin Mu.


    One of them was the Gnomish Script that Lin Mu had seen in the Trial Grounds before, and the second was a script that was used by Beastkins. Thetter was something that was very simr to Beast Tongue, but had been adapted to humanoid vocal chords and given a written form. Still, it was not an easy script to learn, as Lin Mu had not managed to actually speak it. He could only read the textural form of it.


    "This¡­" And once Lin Mu began reading through the old book, he couldn''t help but be shocked again.


    The old book was a collection of stories that seemed to have been made for children. On their own, they seemed like mere fantasy, but once Lin Mupared it to their current situation, he found it eerily familiar.


    "She''s following these fairy tales?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask out loud.


    "Unfortunately, she is." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded his head.

 Chapter 2436 Fairy Tales Of Prophecy

    Chapter 2436 Fairy Tales Of Prophecy


    The book was not big and had about six stories in them, thus Lin Mu finished reading them quickly. The first story was about a little girl who would search for her goal in life and sacrifice a lot for it.


    The second story was about a woman who had lost all she had and needed retribution for her actions.


    The third story was about a woman who had been betrayed and wished for nothing but revenge in her life.


    The fourth story was about a woman who had fallen for the temptation of forbidden power and decided to embrace it.


    The fifth story was about a witch that charmed a girl into doing her bidding.


    And finally, the sixth story was about a peasant girl who rose to be the supreme ruler of a world!


    At first, the stories seemed obscure, but the more theypared it to Yao Changying''s actions, the more they seemed to match. "The First, second, and fourth story seem to match Yao Changying''s history somewhat, but the Third, fifth and sixth are not yet done." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "The second is a bit incorrect, though. Yao Changying hasn''t exactly lost everything, has she?" Min Ju asked.


    "Well, she has been emunicated from her sect and is now the target of majority of the Orthodox powers thus, it can count as second." Ziran replied.


    "She seems to be working on the sixth story though." Crown Princess Shang scoffed.


    Lin Mu knew that while the stories were debatable, they were eerily simr and definitely held some weight. At the very least, he wondered how they had even found out about this book.


    "Where did you get this?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We had been looking into leads about Yao Changying and her ultimate goals, but were not having good results. As such, Qiao De decided that he could probably find out more information if he utilized his connections through the ck Candle pavilion.


    This worked out quite well, and he even managed to extract some information from the ck Ying Empire members. It is from one of these sources that he learned of Yao Changying collecting various books, documents and manuscripts of the Demonic Tribes as well as those of the times before the formation of the current powers.


    Among these, Qiao De learned of a book that Yao Changying had been searching for and he managed to discover its location first. He asked for our help, and as such Daoist Chu, Ziran and Monk Hushu set out to obtain it. They were gone for two years and have finally returned with it." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined in detail.


    "So, it was this book?" Lin Mu was intrigued, to say the least. "Is it like a book of prophecy?" Lady Kang asked, considering the fact that it was written long ago and Yao Changying was barely three thousand years old. "It does seem like that," Ziran replied. "The Demons have a tradition of passing old prophecies in the form of stories and tales like these as they have a higher chance of survival. Plus, if it is a negative prophecy about someone, that person wouldn''t be able to eliminate it as easily either." He exined a bit more about the culture of the demons.


    "But why would she look for this book?" Elder Hu who had been silent all this time, asked.


    "That is something we don''t know yet. But it could be that she doesn''t want us or others finding out about it, or perhaps she''s looking for guidance through it." Monk Hushu, who had thought a lot about it, answered.


    "Guidance huh¡­ that just might be it." Lin Mu muttered. "Her actions in the Bridge ne did seem to be a bit erratic." But as he thought of that, he was reminded of other things he had almost forgotten about.


    "Wait¡­ what happened to the others that were on the expedition with us?" Lin Mu suddenly asked as he recalled Mei Nienzhen, whose gift had helped them survive.


    "Unlike us, they managed to leave the trial grounds early on." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered.


    "They did?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "A majority of them did, at least. And they left within three years too." The Crown Prince replied. "The ones that survived managed to return to their homes."


    "Your hypothesis of those shrines all leading to separate Spatial nes was correct." Daoist Chu praised. "Though they were much smaller than the one we went too and utilized a lot more of illusory arrays to set of the trials. The rewards from them were also a lot inferior to what we got." He added.


    "I see¡­ it''s good that they managed to return safely." Lin Mu was relieved about that. "But is there anything else that has managed to leave that Bridge ne?" he asked next.


    "If you mean the Chimeric Beasts and those Yin Nascent Soul Worms, then no," Crown Prince Feng Shun said, much to their relief. "We had been worried about that too and so far there have been no attacks by them or even sightings of them." He affirmed.


    ~PHEW~


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but take a breath of relief hearing that.


    After all, the danger posed by those creatures was massive and if released into the Rust Sky World, they could very well bring the apocalypse. The Death Qi and chimeric Qi that they held alone were enough to turn massive tracts of area into inhospitable environment.


    Not to mention they could continue to grow their numbers as long as they had a steady source of sustenance, which there was a lot of in the Rust Sky World. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    Considering theck of reinforcements for at least seventy five years, if those creatures managed to leave the Bridge ne, the people of the Rust Sky World would have no option but to perish.


    The situation of the Rust Sky World was now very difficult as their reinforcements were cut off and they now had to rely on themselves. But doing this was not easy, as Yao Changying''s ability to influence people was terrifying.

 Chapter 2437 Power Of The Black Ying Empire

    Chapter 2437 Power Of The ck Ying Empire


    The Emperor and the rest of the Imperial Court had already been made aware of the Chimeric Beasts as well as the strange Yin Nascent Soul Worms that Yao Changying had managed to create.


    It was one of the first things that the Crown Prince Feng Shun had rted to his father.


    The knowledge about this was certainly shocking to the Emperor. He had known about the Chimeras due to his position and knew how dangerous they could be, but had never expected that there were such Chimeras in the Rust Sky world too.


    Even if the Bridge ne was not connected to the Rust Sky World directly right now, it was still part of its territory.


    He was also told about the Yin Heart Puppets, and about their presence in the Land of Exile within the Sea of Muxuan. It was their presence that made him extremely rmed, as it meant that if they could exist there, there was a high chance that more such ces might exist with their presence. As such, he had expended a significant amount of resources in searching for locations like these.


    Though so far, there had been little to no sess with it. As such, they had now been looking into old documents that might point them to such ces, or just information about the Demonic Tribes.


    But it was quite hard, as all this had happened a long time ago, and since information about the demons was limited due to the purge in the past, they couldn''t find it in the usual ces.


    In fact, the only ce that had any proper libraries with such information was actually in the Holy Topaz Dynasty as it had been in existence for a long time. But when the Emperor asked the Holy Topaz Emperor to find them, they were shocked to find out that all these books and documents had already disappeared.


    Investigating it more led to the Holy Topaz Emperor finding out that all these documents had long since been taken away by Yao Changying. As such, their investigation had hit another major obstacle.


    The more they discussed the more Lin Mu grew rmed. ''To think things would get this bad¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Though it''s also strange that Yao Changying has not made a move personally either.'' He found out that the woman had actually not been seen since the day Lin Mo fought her.


    All her activities had been done through proxies. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Right now our main targets other than Yao Changying are her Generals and her Elite Captains." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed.


    "Who are they?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Her Generals are the strongest individuals she''s ''raised''. There are four of them and all of them are at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed.


    "That strong?" Lin Mu himself had killed several Seventh Tribtion Realm beings so far, but that was in the Bridge ne.


    It was different from killing human cultivators who had better intelligence and could use more techniques and work with others.


    "Even the Elite Captains are all between Fifth to Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm. Though their numbers are higher and there''s at least thirty of them that we know of." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "But some of the information Qiao De and Lady Kang have found out says that there may be as many as twice that amount." He added.


    "Thats definitely a lot of them." Lin Mu furrowed his brows. "And I''m guessing they can all use the Withering Dao Energy?" "Of course. That''s what has made them so much of a threat." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded.


    "If they were just normal cultivators, I myself would have wiped them all out." Emperor Feng said. "But their strange techniques and the Withering Dao Energy makes it so that fighting them is very difficult for us. Plus, if any of us Emperors go to fight them, they do not hesitate to simply detonate." He added.


    "Yeah, the Huiqing Emperor is currently injured due to that." Ziran answered. "We met him earlier too." "How bad is it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "He''s lost a leg." Daoist Chu said with a serious expression.


    "Even a Transcendent Lost against them¡­" Lin Mu muttered. "But wait, whom did he fight?" he asked.


    "One of the general and a group of troops. The general and all the troops surrounded him and detonated themselves." Ziran answered. "The Emperor managed to get away but not without injuries. His body also got infected with the Withering Dao Energy and it''s why he couldn''t heal his leg. Before it could get worse, he cut it off and forcefully purged all the energy from his body." He exined.


    "It''s good that the Huiqing Emperor is a Wood And Water elemental cultivator. It allowed him the best chance to survive it." Emperor Feng added. "That''s also why Monk Hushu apanied them. His Buddhist Techniques can also help clear it." Lin Mu nodded knowing that''s why Crown Princess Shang and Ziran had managed to resist the Withing Dao Energy better in the Bridge ne. Monk Hushu had also been great help, since he had managed to expel the energy from Lin Mu''s body when they had encountered the very first Yin Nascent Soul Maggot.


    "Has there been any methods devised to purge it yet?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Unfortunately, we can only purge it forcefully. There is no systematic counter to it." Emperor Feng shook his head. "Though we have managed to figure out a few methods to resist it." He added.


    "What are they?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "There are some Talismans and Alchemical pills that can help with it." It was Lady Kang who spoke this time. "I''ve been utilizing some of the Kang n''s assets as well as the Dao Wind Empires experts to make them." She revealed.


    "I thank you for your help." Emperor Feng replied. "The Kang n''s assets have been incredibly important in finding out the prevention methods." The man said with gratitude.


    Lin Mu could understand why, as Lady Kang had a lot of resources in her storage treasures just like him. As such, the chances of finding something viable were much higher. Once they found the right materials, the Empire could then use their wealth and sources to manufacture them en masse.


    Lin Mu continued to discuss and learned that there had been different tasks that hispanions had been doing all this time.


    Daoist Chu, Ziran and Monk Hushu were mostly going around doing different missions as directed by Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    Their group was well built as they could cover different tasks with their individual expertise. Daoist Chu had his formations, Ziran had his incredible experience as well as his knowledge about the Demonic Tribes and finally Monk Hushu was a Buddhist Monk and could help clear and resist the Withering Dao Energies.


    And on top of that, all of them were skilled fighters too.


    Lady Kang on the other hand, was using her business acumen to handle the logistics and information gathering in the Dao Wind Empire. Upon learning who she was, Emperor Feng had all but granted her an entire ministry and special authority, allowing her to run things on her own. Normally this would be incredibly inappropriate and almost dangerous for an empire, but Emperor Feng knew she was no normal individual.


    Even if he considered their positions, Lady Kang was actually no bit inferior.


    Emperor Feng might rule the strongest empire in the Rust Sky world, but Lady Kang and the Great Kang auction house sold and bought such empires along with entire worlds.


    As such, there was no one more qualified than her to run such a department.


    Of course, she was also being assisted by Min Ju, who was also more qualified than some of the ministers they had. Elder Hu on the other hand, had been guarding Lady Kang and was also her main ''messenger'' for anything official. She would often be absent from meetings, thus Elder Hu would be her proxy there.


    Crown Princess Shang had been helping the Alchemists and the Herbalists of the Empire in growing the herbs that were needed to make the pills that helped resist the Withering Dao Energy before and had even gone on some missions before.


    But the recent incidents of assassinations had made Crown Prince Feng Shun to keep her isted for her protection.


    Lin Mu was quite surprised by the fact that she had been attacked even in the Imperial Capital. The price on her head also confirmed the fact that Yao Changying most certainly held a heavy grudge against her.


    This was due to the fact that she was the only one amongst them that had a bounty on her head, despite the fact that everyone had opposed Yao Changying. Finally, Qiao De was gathering intelligence and using his connections with the ck Candle Pavilion and other organizations that dealt with it. In fact, he had been their main source of intel so far, since the ck Candle Pavilion had branches within the eight Kingdom alliance too.

 Chapter 2438 Intelligence Gathering And Restrictions

    Chapter 2438 Intelligence Gathering And Restrictions


    Much to Lin Mu''s surprise, even if the Eight Kingdom Alliance had been turned into the ck Ying Empire, the ck Candle Pavilion had still managed to survive and run their business sessfully. "They actually let an organization like the ck Candle pavilion actually run?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "They didn''t control them?" he asked in doubt.


    "We don''t know exactly for sure, but Yao Changying''s influence over people is not all epassing. She doesn''t use her absolute control over everyone, and only reserves it for the strong individuals. The rest all fall in line as long as she holds the threat of these experts over them.


    Though most individuals simply beg for the power she grants them thus there is little for her to worry about controlling them.


    Other than thus, even the ck Ying Empire and Yao Changing knows they cannot just shut down all businesses like the ck Candle Pavilion and need them to run their economy and obtain supplies. Though they have surely gained a foothold in these organizations too." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered.


    "Officially speaking, Qiao De is no longer affiliated to us and is fully part of the ck Candle Pavilion." Ziran stated. "We never even met him in person to avoid suspicion and he is currently keeping up a facade to obtain as much information as he can." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ that''s good." Lin Mu could see the advantage in doing it this way.


    Not only could they continue to obtain valuable intel, they would also be able to strike when needed and Qiao De could turn things in their favor.


    It was good that the man had maintained his previous connections and rtions so that they could do this now.


    "He''s also important to us since there''s only a few means of transport between the continents now and safe passage for ships is only granted to a few merchants." Daoist Chu stated.


    "You guys went by ship all the way there?" Lin Mu knew just how much the distance between the Huiqing Empire and the Dao Wind Empire was.


    "Yeah, we managed to take a Merchant Ship that was part of the ck Candle Pavilion''s fleet and took the Eastern Route to the Huiqing Empire." Daoist Chu answered. "Thankfully, the Guanshen Port is still active and free of the influence of the ck Ying empire so we could move without much notice." He added.


    "Isn''t the Eastern Route more dangerous?" Lin Mu remembered that most ships usually took the Western route which went past the Eight Kingdom Alliance through its southern edge and then below the Huiqing Empire before circling back to the Guanshen Port.


    This was also the same port where Lin Mu hadnded for the first time within the Huiqing Empire.


    "It is certainly more dangerous, but better than going past the ck Ying Empire. They have a naval blockade right now and passing through there even on a merchant ship is almost impossible as they''ll inspect each and every person." Ziran replied. "So the Eastern Route is simply the shorter and safer route now." "I guess without a teleportation arrays, things will have to be done the more ''traditional'' way now." Lin Mu spoke hearing that. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Indeed." Emperor Feng nodded.


    "Wait¡­" It was now that Daoist Chu seemingly thought of something. "Didn''t Daoist Lin Mu technically teleport us to the Rust Sky World? Yao Changying had already locked down the Teleportation arrays within the world back then." "He did¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun realized the man''s train of thought.


    "Does that mean you can still do it?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "My method of teleportation isn''t an array." Lin Mu replied. "Besides, it has a very heavy cost." He said with a slight frown.


    Hearing that, the others soon remembered the terrifying scene of Lin Mo harvesting millions souls before finally opening up a portal for them.


    "Lives¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered.


    "I can technically do it with just Qi too. But the amount needed will be massive." Lin Mu replied.


    "How much is it?" Emperor Feng interjected. "Our empire can provide as many Immortal Qi stones that you might need." He offered.


    "It''s not that simple." Lin Mu shook his head. "While I would be able to activate the skill, the targeting of the skill isn''t exact. The skill only targets a world, and not an exact location on it. As such, since I''m already on the Rust Sky World, I wouldn''t be able to go to a specific location within the world." He exined.


    "That''s a shame¡­ But that doesn''t mean that you can''t go out right?" Emperor Feng asked next.


    "That''s right! Can''t Daoist Lin Mu go to other worlds and get reinforcements?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    Lin Mu could see the logic in it and also understand why they were so hopeful. To them, the cost of just arge amount of Qi was not a matter as they would use as many stones needed to fuel it. As long as Lin Mu could bring over reinforcement from other worlds, it would foil Yao Changying''s ns and break through the ''Teleportation Blockade'' she had managed to set up.


    But unfortunately for them, there was an additional condition to Warp.


    "I can''t do that either." Lin Mu shook his head. "I can only teleport to worlds I''ve been to before." He added.


    Hearing that Lin Mu''spanions'' expressions fell. They all knew that Lin Mu had only been to two worlds, one mortal and one Immortal. The only other option for him to teleport to was the Xiaofan world, but that would do nothing for them.


    "That''s bad¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun let out a sigh.


    "It would have been well if the Temple Head was still here. He would''ve had a solution to the blockade." Emperor Feng shook his head.


    "The Temple Head?" Lin Mu recalled that the man was among the only two Spatial experts within the Rust Sky Empire that was also a Transcendent Immortal.

 Chapter 2439 A Spatial Lock

    Chapter 2439 A Spatial Lock


    "Where is the Temple Head?" Lin Mu asked. "If I recall correctly, he''s in charge of all the shrines of the Four Guardian beasts." He remembered what High Elder Juxue had told him.


    "The Temple head was unfortunately away from the Rust Sky World when the Teleportation Blockade was set up by Yao Changying. If he were here, he just might have found a way out of here since he''s both a Spatial Master as well as a Formation Grandmaster." Emperor Feng answered.


    "Hmm¡­ What of the other expert? The Envoy of the Western Immortal Court." Lin Mu asked next. "He was also a Spatial Expert, wasn''t he?" "He''s not here either. He was in charge of investigating Yao Changying and had actually left to inform the Western Immortal Court about her acts along with the Temple Head as the witness." Emperor Feng replied. "And as soon as the two were gone, the teleportation blockade was set up." "So Yao Changying knew of them and was waiting for them to be gone before starting her n." Lin Mu could tell that this was a long conspiracy by her and she had been targeting this very moment to begin it.


    "Indeed." Emperor Feng nodded his head. "Without them you are possibly the only Spatial expert we know of on Rust Sky World right now." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel that a heavy responsibility was ced onto him. It was also something that he couldn''t reject and felt obligated to ept it.


    ''I suppose I can at least test what this ''teleportation blockade'' is,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With that in mind, Lin Mu closed his eyes and opened them after a few seconds, activating his Spatial Perception.


    To the others, it felt like his eyes seemed to be glimmering and unfocused. To Lin Mu though, the entire scene in front of him had changed. Instead of the Imperial Court and its walls, what he saw was the very fabric of space. The Fabric of space seemed to be normal at first, but the more Lin Mu focused on it, the more he realized that it was only ''pretending'' to be normal.


    ''I can''t actually look into the void?'' Lin Mu quickly realized what was strange. Even after focusing on the fabric for longer, he didn''t see the void. This was very strange since he could usually look at void with ease as long as he focused. He tried to see what was the problem but couldn''t. The others also didn''t disturb him, realizing that Lin Mu was analyzing the space.


    They had no idea that he was currently stumped.


    Thankfully there was someone Lin Mu could consult in a situation like this.


    "Senior Xukong, what''s happening here?" Lin Mu questioned the spider.


    Xukong had been observing and listening to all the conversations. After all, he was also curious about all that had happened in these 25 years as he too was isted due to Lin Mu''s condition. "Hmm¡­ From the looks of it, there seems to be a Spatial Lock." Xukong answered.


    "A Spatial Lock?" This was a skill Lin Mu was familiar with and had even encountered it before when he was fighting against Gu Yao and the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord back in the Xiaofan world.


    Later on, he had learned more about it from Xukong and found out that a Spatial Lock was one of the several Spatial Skills that most Spatial Masters tried to learn.


    A Spatial Lock was in simple terms a form of a restriction that prevented the use of other Spatial Skills within it. But it was certainly not a simple skill and needed a decentprehension of Space to implement. The methods to implement were also varied and one could either use arrays to set up a Spatial Lock, use a Spatial Tool, or simply use their raw skill and proficiency with skill to do it.


    Generally speaking, it restricted all those that had a lower understanding of the Space to be unable to use Spatial Skills within it. As such, it was one of the effective methods of restricting teleportation and was often used to secure areas for protection.


    As such, the scale of Spatial Locks were also varied.


    One could set it up within an area as small as just one cubic meter and as big as a world. Of course if someone had the capability to do so, they could even set it up over several worlds or gxies at once.


    "They''ve set up a Spatial Lock over the entire Rust Sky world." Xukong replied. "And its not a normal Spatial Lock either¡­ it''s rather high tiered." He added.


    "If it can stop both Transcontinental and Inter-world Teleportation¡­ just what kind of Spatial Master would they need for it?" Lin Mu knew for sure the number of experts that could set up such arge Spatial Lock were few. "They would need several Transcendent Spatial Masters for this, which I''m most certain they don''t have. As such, this should be a limited Spatial Lock." Xukong replied. "Try using your other Spatial Skills." He asked.


    "Let me try." Lin Mu said before using each of his Spatial Skills.


    The other watched as Lin Mu''s body turned blurry, before disappearing and reappearing a few meters away and then suddenly sinking into the floor.


    Down there, his body disappeared entirely as he entered the Parallel Dimension before soon reappearing back on his original spot.


    "Huh¡­ All my spatial skills are still intact." Lin Mu muttered in surprise. "The Spatial Lock is only targeted towards teleportation arrays?" "Looks like it." Xukong answered. "This is good, since it means short distance teleportation such as that with Blink is not blocked. They probably kept the Spatial lock highly targeted as they couldn''t afford to expand it to be all-epassing for all Spatial Skills." He exined.


    Hearing that Lin Mu felt a bit more hopeful as it meant that they still had several avenues of getting out of this and that his strength was not reduced in this aspect.Material ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 2440 Imperial Imperator!

    Chapter 2440 Imperial Imperator!


    Having understood what their problem was now, Lin Mu at least knew their limitations.


    "The Rust Sky World is currently under a Spatial Lock." Lin Mu revealed to everyone.


    "A Spatial Lock?" Emperor Feng knew what it was but was a bit doubtful since the characteristics that he knew were different from what they were experiencing.


    But once Lin Mu exined the details about the Spatial Lock, everyone understood it. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "No wonder it''s only targeted at Arrays. The amount of Qi she would need to lock all spatial skills is not something she would be able to provide, especially considering the fact that she''s no Spatial Master." Ziran said after listening to it. "Only a True Spatial Master would be able to set up a Spatial Lock on that level." He had met a few Spatial Masters in the past, thus knew how difficult such an endeavor was.


    "It''s also not done in the usual manner." Lin Mu added. "My current guess is that there''s a tool being used to do it or at the very least an Array." "Hmm¡­ if it was an Array we would have learned about it by now. The scope of the array would have to be rather massive and there would be nodes in all ces in the Rust Sky world." Daoist Chu chimed in. "Then it should be a tool." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "But a tool like that would be far too strong, wouldn''t it?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Indeed¡­ Even a Peak Immortal Tool wouldn''t be enough to do something of this scale." Lady Kang agreed.


    "It''s a Celestial Level Treasure." Lin Mu replied. "One that we already know of." He reminded them.


    Hearing that, the time they had spent in the Bridge ne and the hardships they had gone through shed in their minds. Everything was still fresh, even though twenty five years had passed since then. Among them, Lady Kang had been through the most, thus she had it the heaviest on her mind.


    While she didn''t regret helping Lin Mu, she did feel like if they had been a bit more prepared they might have avoided falling into that situation.


    She had not seen him turn into Lin Mo, but she did her everything that had happened from Min Ju in detail. It was certainly shocking and terrifying to her, but she understood that it was the cost Lin Mu had to pay in order to get all of them out.


    Lin Mu had mentioned to her long ago that if things really did be troublesome, he would be able to get everyone out at a high cost. But it was only after awakening did she understood just how high of a cost it was.


    She knew very well what kind of power Lin Mu had used, and that the implications that came with it were severe. So much so that other than those that were present there, and the Saintess, no one knew about what Lin Mu had done.


    Even the Emperor wasn''t told about this and only knew that Lin Mu had used all his power to activate that portal to get them out.


    With Saintess being there, the Emperor didn''t even think to question anything and took it all as the reality.


    "So that was her goal in going to the Bridge ne¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered.


    "It might have been one of the goals, since the items from the Offering Hall and the Chimeric Beasts offer a lot of other benefits to her too." Lin Mu replied. "We can think of it as an all purpose tool for her. With the Bridge ne, she has put a Spatial Lock, has a supply of precious materials, and basically an endless supply of cannon fodder for her when needed.


    If she managed to re-establish the Bridge ne''s connection to the Rust Sky World, it would be the perfect weapon for her." He exined.


    The situation grew heavy as they all now grasped what kind of ace Yao Changying held in her hands.


    "But all is not lost yet, is it?" Ziran spoke up. "The Bridge ne is not connected to the Rust Sky world."


    "Yes, and it hasn''t been for a long time now either." Daoist Chu agreed.


    "How likely is the possibility that it can be connected, Daoist Lin Mu?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked seriously.


    "It''s hard to say, but at the very least I won''t be able to do something like that." Lin Mu answered.


    "So it would have to be someone with a higher skill than you." Emperor Feng understood. "But is that for just Spatial Skills, or Formations?" "Yao Changying had some sort of ess to the Bridge ne''s arrays beforehand, so I''m guessing that there was some otherponent to it. A key of sorts that she obtained. But the full control of the Bridge ne was not granted to her right away, and she had to obtain it over time," Lin Mu began to exin.


    He had already discussed all this long before with Xukong when he was in the Sleepscape. It was one of the major topics they had talked about early on in the start since it was simply so shocking. Xukong was also a bit stumped about how Yao Changying had aplished all this and could onlye up with the fact that she had some sort of key to it all.


    It was unknown where she had managed to obtain it, but Xukong said that the key itself should also be on the level of a Celestial Tool or at the very least a Peak Immortal tool when separate from the Bridge ne.


    As such, the key would have its own spirit and Yao Changying would have to refine it over time to gain better control. The problem was that the Bridge ne was severed from the Rust Sky world before it became a Celestial tool. Thus the ability to make it function as a proper Bridge again wasn''t actually built into it. Xukong also added that the Bridge ne had certainly experienced a Spatial Drift, and the coordinates needed to connect it to the Rust Sky World would likely not be stable. Even the Shrines they used to enter the Bridge ne were likely not meant to be used more than once. "So how does Yao Changying enter and leave the Bridge ne?" Lady Kang asked this time.


    "I think she does have ess to the Bridge ne for herself and can extend that authority to a few other individuals. But it''s most certainly not stable, otherwise she would''ve already began using the Chimeric Beasts and unleash devastation upon the Rust Sky world." Lin Mu replied. "Her actions of trying to establish a hold over all the continents is probably her attempt at this." He hypothesized.


    "Hmm¡­ so she needs her own domain in all ces to establish gates that could allow stable entry." Emperor Feng grasped it easily at this point. "Whatever she''s setting up must not only need a lot of resources but also a lot of time to set up." This gave a lot for everyone to think about and they continued to discuss it early into the morning. By the time the sun rose, a lot of new theories had been put forth by everyone and a few decisions had also been made.


    Emperor Feng spent no time in waiting and quickly sent out orders for several things to be carried out.


    The very first thing was to track the supply and movement of formation array materials that could be used to make Teleportation gates. The second thing he did was to contact the Temple of the Four guardian beasts and inform them of all they had learned so far. Even if the Temple couldn''t do much due to ack of reinforcements, that didn''t mean they couldn''t contact their superiors and the Immortal Court.


    They hoped that someone there might be able to figure out what Yao Changying could be using as a Key since they were sure it had most certainly note from the Rust Sky world.


    The third thing that Emperor Feng did was to grant Lin Mu a special authority.


    He had made Lin Mu into an Imperial Imperator!


    It was a special title that was only granted in times of war and strife. It came with great authority that was second only to the Emperor himself, exceeding the ministers, elders and on some level even the Crown Princes.


    This came as a great shock to everyone in the Imperial Court, as it was a title that had not been seen in several hundred thousand years. This was due to the fact that it was an authority that was powerful, but also dangerous to the integrity of the Empire.


    If given to the wrong person, it could very well lead to the fall of an entire empire.


    As such this was usually given to those with absolute trust and loyalty.

 Chapter 2441 A Private Residence

    Chapter 2441 A Private Residence


    One might question as to why Emperor Feng would grant such a title to Lin Mu. Even if he had saved the life of his son and many others, there were alternatives he could have taken. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    In fact, Emperor Feng had never thought that there woulde a day he would ever grant a title like this to anyone. But he didn''t doubt it for a second and granted it to Lin Mu.


    This was due to the fact he knew, if Lin Mu really wished to destroy the Dao Wind Empire, he didn''t even need this title. Just the Celestial backing him alone could do this with the wave of her hand.


    Plus, it was Lin Mu''s reference through the Saintess that allowed his grand daughter to be taken in as a disciple by the Ever Spring Mistress. That alone was priceless, and the alliance obtained through it was worth even more.


    With how much Lin Mu had helped them, there was no hesitation in granting him the position of the Imperial Imperator.


    The Imperator was a title that wasn''t just used in Empires either.


    Even the Immortal Court had it and so did the courts above it. But the Imperator from the Immortal Court was a lot different from someone from an empire. If an Imperator was sent to any world, it usually meant the world was in a serious condition or hadmitted a severe transgression.


    Emperor Feng had been worried about one when the Ever Spring Mistress was about to arrive, mistaking her for one.


    Though overall, regardless of the organization that granted the title, it was one of great influence and authority. And now that Lin Mu had it, he basically had freemand over not only the armies of the Dao Wind Empire but also its resources.


    He could direct them as needed and make use of them in any way he saw fit.


    It was a great power that could easily corrupt people. Though in Lin Mu''s case, wealth was not really something he needed to worry much about and neither was authority, as both were something he could easily obtain on his own.


    If he really wished to, it wouldn''t take him much to establish a sect or even an empire. If not that, he already had the position as a Peak Head of the Serpent Moon Sect. That alone was a position higher than anything he could obtain in the Immortal Realm in the first ce.


    Other than the title, Lin Mu was also granted his own personal residence in the Capital.


    Though calling it just a residence was underwhelming, as it was much more than that.


    "He said he gave me a courtyard¡­ this is no courtyard." Lin Mu said as he stood in front of his new ''residence''.


    "You think an Imperial Imperator can have just any ce?" Crown Prince Feng Shun chuckled.


    He had guided Lin Mu here after their discussions had ended. "This is not bad," Lady Kang said, looking at the buildings.


    She, along with Min Ju, and Daoist Chu, had apanied Lin Mu to his new residence. The others had all gone to do their work as there was certainly a lot that needed to be finished in this time.


    "Still¡­ This is an entire pce." Lin Mu spoke as he looked at the vast building that extended for at least eight hundred meters.


    It had an elegant look, with in white walls and green pirs that propped up its majestic roof. The roof was azure in color and curved along the awnings, while at their edges one could see statues of auspicious beasts pulling in good omens.


    It had an elegant look, with in white walls and green pirs that propped up its majestic roof. The roof was azure in color and curved along the awnings, while at their edges one could see statues of auspicious beasts pulling in good omens.


    The entire building was about two hundred meters tall and could easily be ssified as the Grand Pce of an Empire in a Mortal world. But that was where the simrities ended as the materials used to build were anything but mortal.


    Lin Mu could sense Ten Thousand year old Oak in the pirs and the wall, along with Azalea Ceramic Tiles on the roofs that were made from precious materials too, worth their weight in gold.


    All this was simply the structure as it was the Formation arrays that increased the true value of the entire pce.


    There were Immortal Qi Gathering Arrays, Qi Amplifying Arrays, Qi Channeling Arrays that connected to the natural Qi Veins of the Capital city, and hundreds of defensive arrays protecting the Pce. On top of this, there were also Isting arrays set up in individual rooms, granting one the best kind of privacy if needed.


    Other than the Pce itself, the ''residence'' came with arge garden at the front which was popted with fragrant Immortal Flowers, and Immortal Fruit Trees. On the back, one could see a smaller garden along with a hill that was surrounded by a privateke.


    Theke had tens of thousands of Gold Finned Carps living in them, each of them easily worth a High Grade Immortal Stone each.


    If one considered it all, it wasn''t hard to say that the Pce granted to Lin Mu was no normal pce.


    Even the ministers and the High Elders of the Imperial Court would not have residences such as this.


    "This is called as the Imperial Azalea Courtyard." Crown Prince Feng Shun introduced. "And you are the first resident in this after nearly thirty thousand years." He added.


    "That long?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but be shocked. "Who lived here before me?" "It was one of the Envoys of the Immortal Court who came for some work in the empire." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "Though it was long ago before I was born, so all this is just what I''ve read about." "That''s still quite impressive." Lady Kang couldn''t help but say. "Though¡­ I must say, the Kang n will certainly have something much better than this." The woman was not one to back down from a disy of wealth.


    Especially when it came to a benefactor that was simply priceless.

 Chapter 2442 The Imperial Azalea Courtyard

    Chapter 2442 The Imperial Azalea Courtyard


    After the initial guiding, Crown Prince Feng Shun had taken his leave, letting Lin Mu explore his newly acquired Courtyard along with Lady Kang, Min Ju and Daoist Chu.


    "This is certainly better than the Hall master''s courtyard back at home." Daoist Chu said as they walked through the halls of the pce.


    "We have a bigger courtyard that''s at least four times this size, in one of our territories." Min Ju chimed in. "If Daoist Lin Mu wishes, it can be prepared for his acquisition as soon as he''s there." She asked.


    "Haha, I don''t need it right now." Lin Mu shook his head.


    "But its only appropriate." Lady Kang replied. "The Kang n as well as I need to rey our debt to you." She added.


    "Well, you can do that." Lin Mu replied, much to her pleasure. "But I only need to recover my Body Cultivation and need some Tyrant Bull marrow for it." He stated.


    "We can surely do that." Min Ju replied right away.


    "As soon as we can leave the Rust Sky world, I''ll be able to get it for you." Lady Kang replied. "But for now, I suppose you''ll have to wait." She added.


    "That''s fine. It was something we all knew already." Lin Mu said as he finally came to a halt at the main hall of the pce.


    While it was not as big as the Imperial court, it was still over two hundred meters long and could amodate at least ten thousand people in it. Four rows of chairs were set up perpendicr to the throne which sat at the very end of the hall.


    The Throne was made out a mix of Lardite and Jade, and iid with hundreds of precious gemstones, all of which were inscribed with arrays.


    In fact, the throne was actually the central control node for the entire Pce!


    Lin Mu gazed at it for a few seconds before hearing Daoist Chu speak.


    "Go on, sit." The man urged him. "See how it all works." "He''s right, you should take your rightful ce there." Lady Kang agreed too.


    "Alright." Lin Mu replied before going to sit on it.


    Even though the entire throne was made out of solid minerals, it was actually not as hard as he had expected. There were special softening as well as spongifying formations on the throne that made it asfortable as a goose feather padded pillow throne.


    ~HUALA~


    And once Lin Mu sat down, he could feel a connection with the throne. This connection seemingly expanded, as he could feel his senses covering the entire pce within moments.


    ''Oh¡­ this is new.'' Lin Mu found the experience rather unique. ''Even though I haven''t spread my immortal sense, I can still feel it all the same.'' This was the unique properties of the throne due to it being the core node of the entire array system.


    Lin Mu also received information about all the formations that were present within the pce and the courtyard surrounding it, along with all those that were present within it. Simr to how one felt one using Immortal Sense, Lin Mu felt like he had an omnidirectional vision when sitting on the throne.


    Even if he had closed his eyes, he could observe every person''s expression as well as their things like their breaths, heart beats and the trembling of their skin closely.


    ''No wonder it has all these arrays on it¡­ it would be very valuable to a ruler when observing his subjects.'' Lin Mu understood.


    With such abilities, no one would be able to hide their thoughts from the person sitting on the throne and one could even misdirect them by closing eyes as well as restricting their immortal sense. The others might think that the person on the throne was not paying attention, but in reality, they were observing each and every movement.


    It was both a sly and smart ability that Lin Mu found rather intriguing.


    He looked through the other functions of the throne too and found that there were several offensive capabilities, such as being able to spontaneously explode every other chair that was present in the hall along with the individual floor tiles.


    ''Is this made for defense or assassination?'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder.


    He assessed the power within the formations and estimated that it was more than enough to kill a Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal in an instant. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''Not just that if all of them are detonated at once, it should be enough to take out Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal too.'' Lin Mu estimated. ''Though I don''t know if it would be enough to destroy their Nascent Souls or not.'' One thing was sure though, the Emperor had certainly spared no expense in building this pce and granting it to Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu and Daoist Chu discussed a bit about the ce and found them to be rather intriguing in how they were set up, As formation masters, it was certainly something that would earn their interest and the two spent a couple hours in exploring all of them.


    In this time, Lady Kang and Min Ju simply sat in the garden beside theke and waited for the two men to finish their ''study''.


    ~Sigh~


    "Daoist Lin Mu might be excellent in several manners, but he doesck a bit in etiquette with women." Min Ju couldn''t help but sigh.


    "Haha, I reckon most of the truly good ones tend to be entric like this anyways." Lady Kang chuckled as she sipped some tea that the servants had prepared.


    The Imperial Azalea Courtyard hade with a full retinue of servants and, as such, refreshments and food could be prepared at a whim.


    "I suppose this isn''t that bad either." Lady Kang said as she looked at the scenery. "Plus, this ce is bigger than the courtyard we bought in the city." She added.


    "We could''ve bought this too, if it were up for sale." Min Ju replied. "That''s true." Lady Kang nodded as she observed Lin Mu and Daoist Chu standing on the roof and ''reading'' the tiles.

 Chapter 2443 Private Conversations

    Chapter 2443 Private Conversations


    A couple of hours passed as Lin Mu and Daoist Chu spent their time in inspecting the Imperial Azalea Courtyard and its unique arrays. It was very fun for them and Daoist Chu ended up getting inspiration for something he had been stuck on earlier and quickly left to ponder on them. He reckoned since he was so close to resolving his doubts, it was crucial for him to act on it quick.


    As such, Lin Mu was now left along with Lady Kang and Min Ju, joining them at thekeside.


    There had been somethings Lady Kang had been wishing to ask Lin Mu for a while but had been waiting for the right moment to do so.


    "I learned about the ''price'' you had to pay for protecting us and getting everyone out of the Bridge ne." Lady Kang spoke.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu''s expression became a bit serious, but he knew there wasn''t much to hide from Lady Kang.


    "You mean, Lin Mo." Lin Mu replied.


    "Indeed¡­ Who exactly is he? Or rather¡­ what is he?" Lady Kang asked while Min Ju listened in silence.


    "To be honest, even I don''t know what he is so far." Lin Mu replied. "All I know is that he is very dangerous and unpredictable." He added.


    He had memories of all that Lin Mo had done, including the threats he had passed to not only hispanions but even his weapons.


    Lin Mu was sure that Lin Mo would have really shattered his swords if they didn''t listen to him. If he did that, it would certainly be a great loss to him.


    He had also seen how he treated the others and dominated them. "His power is¡­ Impressive though." Min Ju spoke. "It was certainly terrifying back then and the presence he exuded was at a different level than anything I''ve felt before. But it was that very thing that managed to save us." She said honestly, knowing that she couldn''t really find fault in it.


    "Hmm¡­ It may be so, but I still wouldn''t use him again if I can help it." Lin Mu stated.


    "Lin Mo consumed the souls of all those he killed and transformed it into his own power." Lady Kang said after thinking. "That power¡­ that dark purple energy was¡­ Devil Qi wasn''t it?" she asked.


    "It was." Lin Mu admitted. Silence descended after that, and no one spoke for a few minutes.


    ~Sigh~


    That was until Lady Kang let out a sigh and stood up. "Whatever he might be, I''m just grateful that he managed to save all of us." Lady Kang said with a gentle smile. "And don''t doubt yourself for it or regret it. You did it to help us¡­ You did it to save me." She added.


    Lin Mu''s expression eased up after hearing that and he smiled too.


    "I suppose thats right too," Lin Mu responded.


    Lady Kang nodded lightly before turning around. T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "I''ll leave you be for now. I reckon you have a lot to process as well as consolidate your cultivation." Lady Kang stated.


    "Yeah, I''ve had some gains I need toprehend as well as consolidate them." Lin Mu nodded.


    "I''ll see youter then. We don''t have much that you can do right now anyways as the investigation into Yao Changying will take a while more," Lady Kang said as she took out a jade slip. "We''ll update you on it, though this should also bring you up to speed on some of the matters that weren''t mentioned earlier." She handed the jade slip to Lin Mu.


    "Thank you, this''ll help." Lin Mu said with gratitude as he saw the two women leave.


    With them gone though, Lin Mu wasn''t actually alone.


    "Saintess." Lin Mu muttered, having sensed her presence for quite some time already.


    She had disappeared sometime ago from the Imperial Court without anyone''s notice. Lin Mu wasn''t worried as she did this quite often and only guessed that she was out doing something or tending to her own matters.


    "You certainly gave everyone quite a bit of scare these few years." The Saintess spoke, manifesting in a pavilion that was built in the middle of theke.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu took a step and soared into the air, clouds carrying him as if he were weightless. He easilynded on the bridge connecting the pavilion to the shore and walked in.


    The Saintess who saw this couldn''t help but raise a brow.


    "Youprehended the Cloud Dao?" The Saintess asked in surprise. "Somewhat yes." Lin Mu replied. "Though rather than Cloud Dao itself, I''ve mostly learned a technique." He rified.


    "What technique?" The Saintess inquired, finding Lin Mu''s movement to be better than most.


    "The Cloud Dragon Stride." Lin Mu answered.


    "The Cloud Dragon Stride?" The Saintess muttered, trying to remember if she had heard of it before. "I don''t think I''ve known of any technique of this name before." She said, feeling surprised too.


    The Cloud Dao was one of her Dao''s she was highly proficient in and being a celestial, she had learned or at least heard about many techniques and skills that utilized it. Thus, it was incredibly rare for her to not know about a technique''s name.


    It would be one thing if it were some new technique, but most of them would not have such a high quality application of the Cloud Dao. As such, she could tell it was a high leveled technique and almost all techniques of that level were known by her.


    "The Cloud Dragon Stride is from the Qian Series of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series." Lin Mu answered.


    "No wonder¡­" That basically solved it for the Saintess and she understood why she had never heard of the skill. "Looks like you''ve obtained quite a lot on the expedition." "I did yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "I actually got another fragment of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series too." He revealed.


    "Oh? That''s rather good. What is it?" The Saintess was intrigued.


    Even for the Celestials, the Grand Bagua Mythic Series was considered a great set of techniques and it was highly viable in the Celestial Realm too. Since it was fully based on the application of the Dao''s, the techniques actually became better when Celestials used them.


    "It''s the Mud Rot Fist from the Dui Series of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series." Lin Mu answered. "Here, take a look." He showed the record of the technique to the woman.


    Unlike the Cloud Dragon Stride that he had already learned, Lin Mu couldn''t demonstrate the Mud Rot Fist to the Saintess, thus this was the only way he could exin it to her.


    The Saintess quickly read through the technique and understood a part of it.


    "Hmm¡­ it is quite profound." The Saintess spoke. "If you wish to learn this though, you''ll have toprehend the Water Dao first. Though ideally you''d also have to learn about the Wood Dao and Earth Dao, which you have alreadyprehended and have a Dao Embryo." She stated.


    "Yeah, I haven''t done anything with it other than memorize it." Lin Mu replied. "Senior Xukong also suggested that Iprehend the Marsh Dao directly by immersing myself and experiencing them." He added.


    "That method works too." The Saintess replied, though the thought of it to be a rather crude and messy one. "It''s something I''ll do in the future. For now I just want to improve on the Cloud Dragon Stride first since I''ve already had some progress in it." Lin Mu said before looking at Lady Kang. "And I hope that you might be able to help me with it." He requested.


    "I can do that." The Saintess didn''t mind. "Show me the full technique first." She asked.


    "Sure." Lin Mu replied before taking it out.


    The Saintess read through it and learned of the different levels. "Since you''re at the beginner level, you simply need toprehend more of the Cloud Dao to progress to the Intermediate level." The Saintess quickly understood the progression of the technique as well as had an idea about how to guide Lin Mu. "Do you want to start now?" she asked.


    "I''d at least like to try it." Lin Mu didn''t mind it at all and was eager too.


    "Very well." The Saintess said before twirling her finger.


    ~SHUA~


    Her little gesture caused the entireke to be covered in ayer of clouds. Now it looked like it was ake of clouds instead of water.


    It looks rather beautiful and if one could sense it properly, they would be able to feel the Dao Traces that were suspended within them too.


    The Saintess could have technically used Dao Insights for this too, but for teaching Lin Mu Dao Traces were better as he would be able to sense them.


    "Go." The Saintess flicked her finger, sending him flying into the cloudke with ease.


    Lin Mu was surprised by the sudden action, but knew his training had already begun.

 Chapter 2444 Private Lessons

    Chapter 2444 Private Lessons


    Landing upon the Cloud Lake, Lin Mu felt like he was standing on cotton.


    "Whoa¡­" he almost fell over due to how unstable it was. One of his legs sank in while the other was pushed up, making him lose his bnce rather easily.


    ~SHUA~


    Only when he controlled his Qi to float a bit did he manage to stabilize.


    "If you wish to learn about the Cloud Dao, you need to understand the consistency of the clouds." The Saintess spoke. "Without that you won''t be able to use the Cloud Dragon Stride in the right way." She added.


    Lin Mu didn''t reply and simply nodded.


    He already understood what he needed to do and tried taking a step.


    ~PUFF~


    But that only caused his leg to sink in instantly, making him tilt forward. Unlike before, his leg sank all the way to his thigh, making him stumble more.


    ''This is certainly not going to be easy.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He remembered how he had managed toprehend the Cloud Dragon Stride in the Astral Dimension as well as the Sleepscape and realized that he had barely touched upon the surface. He might have managed to create clouds upon using the Movement technique, but that didn''t mean the clouds were perfect.


    Lin Mu had understood the aspect of their constituents. He knew of the water vapor, air, wind, dust, and more that made up the clouds. But now he needed to understand how all this affected the consistency of the clouds.


    ~PUFF~


    He took another step, but this time, instead of sinking, the clouds acted like a spring, sending his leg up and making him fall sideways.


    ~THUD~ Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    The clouds were soft, so he didn''t feel any pain. Though it wasn''t like something of this level could hurt him anyways.


    "Focus on the consistency of the clouds and judge them." The Saintess advised. "When you can predict how they will react, you will be able to improve." She stated.


    ''I see¡­'' Lin Mu got up and tried to walk again.


    ~THUD~


    Of course, after a couple of steps he fell down again, but that didn''t matter to him and he got up.


    Shortly after, he stumbled and fell again, but he got back up again. He was like a toddler that was learning to walk and understand how to bnce all over again. Lin Mu fully focused on it and they continued the process until he could take ten steps without falling.


    An hourter, he could walk twenty steps without falling and after about four hours, he could walk over fifty steps without falling. Even his stumbling had reduced to half and he could somewhat understand how a cloud would react.


    At first it was rather hard, as he found them to look the same. But the more he practiced, the more he could tell that the clouds were different in every single inch of the area. Not just that, but even how their surface appeared was highly varied.


    He had to learn how the surface affected his foot when he stepped on it, as well as how the clouds moved when his legs sank through them. He sensed the pressure exerted by them as well as the force they could exert back up.


    Then there was the faint resistance he felt when lifting his legs or moving them through the clouds.


    It was significantly less resistancepared to walking through water, but still a bit more aspared to in air. Lin Mu used his Immortal sense to perceive the difference as well as the variable density with each passing step.


    As he continued to do this though, he began feeling the Dao Traces that were within the clouds.


    They were almost negligible to him at first, but as his understanding of the clouds rose, so did his sensitivity to the Dao Traces.


    He could''ve used his Spatial Perception to directly nce at the clouds, but he didn''t, as that wouldn''t help him inprehending them better. He instead focused on the Saintess''s instruction and tried to understand the consistence and density of clouds.


    Time passed steadily while the Saintess watched him train. asionally she would give him pointers, but most of the time she watched silently. Knowing he would improve on his own, it was better this way.


    An entire day passed like this, and Lin Mu was finally able to take over a hundred steps without falling or even stumbling, even once. He could also predict how a cloud would react just by barely touching it with his legs.


    He had also figured out a couple of tricks to understanding it better, such as releasing his Immortal sense through his feet instead of through his head or torso.


    Most cultivators had a tendency of using their Immortal Sense while keeping it connected to their head or torso. This was normal, as it was a habit formed due to having the majority of the sensory organs on the top of the body.


    But this also acted as a handicap for them and limited them from exploring the full potential of the Immortal Sense.


    As such, now that Lin Mu was using his Immortal Sense through his legs, he could not only predict the consistency of the Clouds better, he could even sense a few Dao Traces directly.


    ''The Dao Traces affect the clouds too¡­'' Lin Mu could tell that the Dao Traces were constantly moving through the clouds.


    It was actually their movement that changed the consistency of the clouds. Where they were less, the clouds were thinner and would sink down quickly, but where they were higher in concentration, the clouds would act like spongy or springyyers.


    This made him rather excited as he had not been able to do this before in the Astral Dimension.


    ''I''ve managed to improve this much just from a day''s guidance from the Saintess.'' Lin Mu thought to himself with a bit of bewilderment.


    To him, it was as if months of progress had been condensed within a few hours due to her help.

 Chapter 2445 Formal Obligations

    Chapter 2445 Formal Obligations


    Lin Mu''s thoughts weren''t wrong either, as the guidance he was receiving was something others would die to get.


    Getting guidance and teachings from a Celestial was already something most immortals could dream of, getting personal guidance from someone of the Saintess''s standing was simply unthinkable. Even other Celestials would be willing toe under her to learn not to mention immortals.


    Even within the Serpent Moon Sect, there had been only a handful of individuals that had received guidance from her. On some level, her skill with teaching seemed to be even better than Xukong.


    Lin Mu didn''t know if this was because they were teaching in different fields of cultivation or if the Saintess simply had a better hand at it.


    He was used to Xukong''s teachings that were straightforward and contained a lot of theory. He would listen to it, memorize it and analyze it on his own before applying it. But in the Saintess''s case, she would have him start from the practical application right away and correct him when needed. Both methods worked for Lin Mu, but he reckoned that forprehending a profound skill like the Cloud Dragon Stride of the Grand Bagua Mythic Series, practical teaching like this was better. Though this wasn''t something that could be done by just anyone. Not only would the teacher have to be a master at the Dao, they would also need to be able to create an optimum learning environment. The Cloud Lake that the Saintess had created was something that might only be achievable by sects.


    And even then, the sects would need special arrays and a lot of Immortal stones to run it. As such, a training ground such as this would be valuable and perhaps only permitted for some of the top disciples who were known to have a natural affinity to the Dao.


    Lin Mu would certainly not fall into that category, as he did not have a natural affinity to the Cloud Dao. He might have managed to gain an understanding of it, but it was nowhere enough for a sect to be convinced. Thus, if there were Lin Mu or someone of his level, they would never be granted the same conditions.


    Lin Mu didn''t know this, but if he did, he would still be grateful, nevertheless.


    He also knew that the best way to show his gratitude was to show results, so that the Saintess would know it was not a waste of effort on her part.


    "That''s enough." But much to Lin Mu''s surprise, she suddenly asked him to stop.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu halted mid step and turned to look at her. "What''s wrong?" he asked.


    "You have a guest." The Saintess said before her form started to fade. "Afterward, focus onprehending it more while meditating. I''lle teach youter." She added before finally disappearing.


    ~SHUA~


    ~SPLASH~


    Once she was gone, the Cloud Lake disappeared too, causing Lin Mu to fall into the water.


    "Huh¡­ wonder who it is." Lin Mu didn''t mind though as he quickly dried himself by simply releasing a bit of the Searing hot energy.


    Spreading his immortal sense, he found two people approaching thekeside.


    "The Crown Prince and¡­ themander?" Lin Mu recognized the second man to be someone who was supposed to havee on the expedition with them.


    "Ah, Daoist Lin Mu taking a bit of swim?" Crown Prince Feng Shun saw the man in theke.


    "Something like that," Lin Mu said as he floated towards them.


    "Well, I''m sorry to interrupt, but we''ve got a few things to discuss." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "It''s fine, I was done anyway." Lin Mu didn''t mind. "So what do you want to talk about?" he asked.


    "You remember Commander Dui right?" Crown Prince Feng Shun gestured to the man. "Sure I do." Lin Mu nodded his head.


    The man was dressed in hismander uniform instead of the armor, which didn''t have the helmet like before. Lin Mu could also sense the man''s cultivation base better, which was at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    "Greetings, Lord Imperator." Commander Dui cupped his hands in a military salute before bowing his head.


    Unlike before, themander had to be a lot more respectful, as Lin Mu was now his superior due to his new title.


    "You don''t have to be too formal with me, Commander Dui. Just Lin Mu is fine too." Lin Mu wasn''t really one for the formalities.


    "I''m afraid it is a necessity. Something you''ll have to get used to." Commander Dui replied in a respectful tone. "This is also why I''m here today." He added.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu was now a bit curious.


    "While Father has granted you the title of the Imperial Imperator, you are yet to have been introduced to our people," Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    "Yes, it is important that the soldiers, officers as well as themoners know of you now," Commander Dui chimed in. "They need to know who will bemanding them and oversee the overarching operations." He added.


    Lin Mu was certainly not expecting this and was a bit taken aback. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    While he knew the title was a heavy one, he didn''t know it woulde with certain formal obligations too. Previously, when he had been the Alliance Head in the Xiaofan world, he mostly interacted with the Sect heads and elders, while the disciples and other people simply knew of him.


    He had forgotten that unlike here; he had already be very notorious in the Xiaofan world, thus the lower ranked cultivators didn''t need much introduction about him.


    But here, Lin Mu as ''Lin Mu'' wasn''t known. He was only known as ''Mu Lin'', thus the sudden news of an Imperial Imperator being assigned was confusing to the people of the Capital.


    His fame as the winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts had also faded away quite a bit due to the events that had happened in these twenty five years too.

 Chapter 2446 A Military Assembly

    Chapter 2446 A Military Assembly


    Lin Mu flew out with Crown Prince Feng Shun and Commander Dui, heading to a ce he had never gone before.


    The trio flew unabated through the airspace of the capital city and reached a special district located nearly a hundred kilometers from the Grand Pce. The Capital City had still not ended at this point and went on for hundreds of kilometers more, showing just how massive it was.


    The District they hade to was none other than one of the Eight Military Districts of the Capital City.


    ess to these districts was limited and only those part of the military or in special administrative positions could go there.


    In fact, Lin Mu could feel an array scanning him when he passed through the outer boundary of the Military District. If he didn''t have the right identity, he wouldn''t be able to get in at all.


    ''Theres a lot of offensive arrays set up too. If anyone tried to sneak in, they would simply get bombarded by the arrays.'' Lin Mu realized.


    But shortly after, he sensed another scan from an array.


    "Huh? Again?" He was a bit surprised.


    "The deeper you go the higher ess you need," Crown Prince Feng Shun exined. "Some of the areas and buildings are also locked down to a few personnel." He added.


    "I see¡­ That''s good for security." Lin Mu replied as he looked below. "Though this is certainly quite big¡­ This alone can be a city on its own." He could see thousands of buildings spread in the area, with them being divided into various barracks, training grounds, offices and living quarters. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "This is the biggest Military District in the city." Crown Prince Feng Shun informed. "It also has the biggest army square. That''s where we''re heading." He added.


    Lin Mu could quickly spot it, as the ce was simply too catching.


    The entire army square was paved with azure tiles that were bordered by a dark green border wall. In the center of the square, Lin Mu could see the Imperial Crest of the Dao Wind Empire, having been carved out with sword strokes!


    "Sword Intent?" Lin Mu could feel a tinge of sword intenting from the crest.


    "You can sense it?" Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t help but raise his brows.


    "Faintly, but yes." Lin Mu nodded his head. "That''s very impressive, Lord Lin Mu." Commander Dui praised. "Only those with an impable proficiency with the Sword can sense it." He added.


    "It''s like that?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected it to have a deeper meaning.


    "Of course. This square isn''t just an assembly or training square. It also functions as the testing grounds of the soldiers, and if any soldier is able to sense the Sword Intent, they would get promoted." Commander Dui exined.


    "The sword marks you see have been carved out by one of the former Generals of the Dao Wind Empire." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed. "As such, it is also called as the Proving Sword Square." "That''s interesting¡­ to have one''s Sword Intentst all this long. The General must have been incredibly talented in the Sword Dao." Lin Mu could at least tell that they should have been better than him.


    "They were indeed." Commander Dui replied. "Only the generals who''ve reached the peak of their weapon proficiency are qualified to leave them. This is also why we have six military districts as each of them as a square such as this." He added.


    "Oh? All of them have Sword Marks?" Lin Mu was rather shocked, as having just one or two was a big thing.


    "Well, only two of them have Sword marks. Theres one with Axe marks, one with Spear Marks, one with Rod marks and one with Saber marks." Crown Prince Feng Shun borated. "Having a ground is considered an honor and it is the aim of many soldiers to be able to create one themselves." He added.


    "The Dao Wind Empire has been fortunate enough to have six such individuals in the past." Commander Dui said proudly.


    Lin Mu couldn''t help but marvel at the deep background of the Dao Wind Empire before they finallynded in the square.


    "So, what do we do here?" Lin Mu asked, as the square was empty.


    "Just a minute." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he looked at Commander Dui.


    "ALL PERSONNEL TO THE PROVING SWORD SQUARE!" Commander Dui announced, his voice booming across the entire district.


    It caused a chain reaction as the cacophony of footsteps could be heard, tens of thousands of soldiers hurrying to respond. Lin Mu watched as the soldiers quickly gathered in the square, standing in perfect lines.


    He also noted that the lines were ordered ording to ranks, with the lower ranked soldiers behind and higher ranked officers standing at the front.


    They all stood at attention, with their gazes looking straight at the trio. All of them recognized the Crown Prince as well as Commander Dui, but there was one person whom they didn''t know of. There was curiosity in their eyes, but they didn''t question anything, having not been allowed to do so yet.


    "All personnel pay your respects to the Imperial Imperator of the Dao Wind Empire! Lord Lin Mu!" Commander Dui announced.


    Hearing that, they all finally understood who the handsome man standing next to the Crown Prince was.


    "WE GREET LORD IMPERATOR!"


    "WE GREET LORD IMPERATOR!"


    "WE GREET LORD IMPERATOR!"


    A thunderous greeting was sted at Lin Mu, leaving him a bit bewildered. ''Commander Dui had told me to get used to it, but experiencing it is still quite something.'' Lin Mu thought to himself, maintaining hisposure as he should.


    He scanned the bowing personnel and couldn''t help but sense their cultivation bases. He wasn''t the only one doing this either, as the personnel were also trying to assess Lin Mu''s cultivation. But they simply failed, as they couldn''t feel anythinging from him, making it almost seem like he was a mortal.

 Chapter 2447 Traitors Within

    Chapter 2447 Traitors Within


    The soldiers watched Lin Mu while feeling his immortal sense sweeping over them. The speed of it was a bit surprising to them, as they barely felt it before the Immortal Sense had moved on. If they weren''t at attention, they would have easily missed it.


    It didn''t take much to convince them that the person in front of them was not simple, even if they couldn''t sense his cultivation base right now.


    Lin Mu counted that there were over a hundred thousand personnel here, with their cultivation bases varying from the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm all the way to the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.


    Though there was just one Fifth Tribtion Stage Immortal among them and he was standing at the very front, along with three more individuals. Their uniforms told Lin Mu that they were all of the same rank, but the cultivation base of the other three was at the peak of the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.


    Such a group of immortal would be considered very powerful in most ces in the Immortal Realm and for most kingdoms or empires, this alone could serve as the entire army. But Lin Mu knew that this was merely a fragment of the army, which had hundreds of millions of cultivators in it. But as Lin Mu was watching them, a frown suddenly appeared on his face.


    "Little Shrubby,e." He said in a low voice.


    The soldiers wouldn''t be able to hear it, but Crown Prince Feng Shun and Commander Dui certainly heard it.


    "What is it?" Crown Prince Feng Shun noticed Lin Mu''s expression.


    But Lin Mu didn''t reply and instead sentmunicated with Little Shrubby. A few secondster, a red blur sneaked in from the back. Its size was rather small, so no one noticed it, especially since they were all focused on the three individuals in front of them.


    Only when a kitten walked up to Lin Mu and jumped on his shoulder did they see it. Though it was a confusing thing to them. They didn''t know what the beast was either, other than the fact that it looked rather harmless and cute.


    The women among them particrly found it adorable, and if not for the fact that they had to follow discipline, they might have already walked up to pet the kitten.


    "Crown Prince, A sound barrier." Lin Mu said concisely.


    ~SHUA~


    In response, Crown Prince Feng Shun made a hand seal, causing an invisible current of wind to flow around them, isting all sound. The man didn''t question why Lin Mu needed this, as the two had long since developed a tacit understanding about things like these.


    Though the Commander was certainly confused about it.


    But as soon as Lin Mu spoke, he was shocked.


    "There''s people of the ck Ying Empire here." Lin Mu stated. "Or at least those that are under Yao Changying''s influence." He added.


    His words were very rming to the two, yet knowing the gravity of the situation, they kept theirposure. If Lin Mu''s words were true, any drastic expression at their end could very well alert the suspects watching them, making things difficult.


    Right now, Lin Mu''s appearance and the Crown Prince setting up a barrier might seem a bit strange, but to the soldiers, it wasn''t that bad. There was the usible deniability that they were simply talking about some private matters they couldn''t know yet, or were simply judging them in some way.


    As for Little Shrubby, while his reputation as the Crimson Phantom was widespread and the ck Ying Empire was most certainly aware about him, they didn''t actually know about his ability to change sizes.


    There was no way they would be able to make a corrtion between the massive liger beast that hunted them down, and the tiny kitten that was sitting on Lin Mu''s shoulder. Even the colors were different, as in his kitten form Little Shrubby had a brighter red and orange color with a white belly, while in his full form he had a darker crimson fur.


    His mane also disappeared while in the kitten form, which made him look drastically different. Not to mention, the imposing aura of the beast was also missing.


    "Did you sense them?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, feeling both surprised and pleased. "We haven''t been able to sense them ourselves so far." "I can vaguely feel a simr energy to that of the ck Fin Ind members here." Lin Mu replied. "Its why I called Little Shrubby over so that he can sniff them out urately." He added.


    "I see." Crown Prince Feng Shun narrowed his eyes.


    "Who are they?" Commander Dui asked, feeling a mix of concern and anger. They had vetted the people here throughly thus learning that there could be traitors inside was very shocking. But he also knew of Little Shrubby''s ability to find the ck Ying Empire members thus, he didn''t doubt it much.


    "Which ones are they, Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked the beast.


    ~SNIFF~


    The kitten lightly sniffed the air and decided on the fates of the people present. T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "There are ten," Little Shrubby replied before giving the exact positions.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he heard them finding one of them to be particrly surprising.


    "Four in the Thirdst row from the left. Two in the Eight Row at the twenty third position and the fifty eighth position. One in the twenty sixth row, at position Thirty third." Lin Mu began pointing out. "Two in the Fourth row, at the opposite ends and finally¡­ the one at the very front¡­ Second from right." He revealed.


    Commander Dui''s eyes turned furious as soon as he heard them all, thest one particrly enraging him.


    "The Lieutenant is in it too¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun had not expected that. "Can you do restrain them?" Lin Mu asked. "I''ll handle the lieutenant," he stated.


    "Of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "I''ll take the ones at the back, Commander Dui take the middle."

 Chapter 2448 A Crushing Aura And Restraining Traitors

    Chapter 2448 A Crushing Aura And Restraining Traitors


    The trio watched the suspects who were still unaware of what was about to happen.


    Over a hundred thousand soldiers watched as the three immortals in front of them suddenly moved.


    ~SHUA~


    The first to fly was Crown Prince Feng Shun as his targets were those at the back. Without a word, he spun his hand, creating a vortex that suddenly sucked up four soldiers in the thirdst row and then two more in the eight row.


    With his mastery of wind, the Crown Prince didn''t even need to think much before being able to use such a skill. Though this time he needed to focus more on control and restraint instead of using pure power. Ifhis intention were to just kill them, it could have been done with the light flick of his sleeve.


    But instead he needed to make sure that they were caught without being able to realize it and then stay restrained so that they didn''t try something like killing themselves.


    Commander Dui moved almost at the same time as Crown Prince Feng Shun, but his targets were a bit spread out. ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The man drew out a long sword and shed out thrice, sending sword imprints that were swift.


    "AHHHHHHH!" the sword shes reached their targets rather in the blink of an eye, cutting off their legs. Next he threw out what looked like ropes that were braided with beast fur.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The ropes automatically wrapped around the suspects from the top to bottom, making them look like mummies.


    "What''s happening!?" The soldiers around them were left absolutely shocked and confused.


    All had been going well, and they thought they had only been assembled to meet the new Imperial Imperator. They never through it was going to be a deadly event instead.


    They wondered what they should do and some thought of running. But their training kicked in and made them realize that this shouldn''t be happening without a solid reason.


    At the very least they didn''t think their Crown Prince would be acting without a care.


    The same was the case for Commander Dui who was their superior and had also trained them.


    But the only person they didn''t know about was the Imperial Imperator. Until before they hadn''t even felt his Qi and it made him seem to have no cultivation.


    ~HUALA~


    And now that it was released, they almost wished that it was restrained again.


    "What¡­ in the name¡­ of Heavens¡­" An aura greater than anything they had ever experienced before was felt.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Half the soldiers with weaker cultivation bases couldn''t even withstand and and fell to their knees while the rest were having a hard time standing. Within seconds, their breaths became unstable and their Qi became heavy to flow.


    ~KACHA~


    "ARGH!" But the one that was most affected amongst them was none other than their Second Lieutenant.


    Cracks formed under his feet as he sank in all the way to his knees.


    A weight heavier than anything was being levied onto him. "Second Lieutenant!" The other three lieutenants were stunned seeing this and almost moved on instinct. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Stay still." Lin Mu said, his voice firm.


    To the others though, it felt like an absolutemand, and their bodies turned stiff as if frozen in the chill of arctic.


    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~


    Lin Mu walked up to the Second Lieutenant, who was sinking into the ground with every passing moment and observed him.


    He held the man there without even touching him until Crown Prince Feng Shun and Commander Dui were finished with their arrests.


    "We got them all." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke as he brought spheres that was restrained soldiers onto the ground.


    The sphere was made out of winds that were constantly moving and kept on tossing the suspects within it, giving them no chance to act.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    Commander Dui dragged the tied up suspects and left them on the ground nearby. He then looked at his lieutenant, that had sunk into the ground all the way up to his waist.


    "Do you want me to tie him?" Commander Dui asked.


    "No worries, I was just waiting for you all to be done, just in case it would affect the area too much." Lin Mu replied before extending his hand. "Meld." He uttered before making a raising gesture.


    ~SHUA~


    The second lieutenant, who seemed to have felt like he had been getting crushed, suddenly found all the weight disappearing from his body. But what reced it was a restraint that he couldn''t even begin to describe.


    It felt as if his flesh had been frozen without it feeling cold.


    He was also floating in the air, without a single hint of Qi around him.


    ''What is this technique?!'' He could only say in his mind, unable to speak or move his lips.


    It was almost as if he had been petrified or encased in an invisible container.


    Commander Dui was also wondering what kind of technique Lin Mu was using, unable to ce his finger on it. Only Crown Prince Feng Shun knew this was just one of Lin Mu''s spatial skills and one that was very strong too.


    He had once asked Lin Mu to try it on him, wishing to see how he would fare against something like this.


    And it was safe to say, once the skill was used and he was caught in it, moving was almost impossible. He had to burn a lot of Qi to be able to oppose it, and that came at the cost of damage to his body too.


    But even if he knew the skill was being used, he wouldn''t have much chance to react as it was almost instantaneous and there were little to no signs of it activating.


    The space would simply turn solid, leaving one helpless.


    And depending on how it was used, it could even cause someone to dismember themselves since they wouldn''t know a part of their body was frozen.


    They would either be in motion or would move while attacking, while their leg or arm was being held in ce by Meld.


    Due to the force they applied, they would simply tear their limbs off. If they were lucky, they might only lose a part of their limb, such as the palm or the foot. But if they were unlucky and Lin Mu had restrained the entire limb, it would be torn apart.


    There were of course, some that had stronger bodies and they wouldn''t be torn so easily. But it would still cause them internal injuries as their Qi flow would be affected.


    Lin Mu had identally learned of this application when he was in the Bridge ne.


    He had missed the location of Meld by a bit and ended up trapping the leg instead of the whole body of a Chimeric Beast that was attacking someone else. With the mass and momentum of the Chimeric Beast, its entire limb got ripped out by Meld along with a lot of blood.


    Lin Mu took notice of this and reckoned he could use this as a method to use someone''s speed and strength against them. But it was not an easy thing and he had to be very swift in using the skill along with precision.


    It had to be used concisely when the enemy was unaware or was in the middle of motion. That was when it caused the most damage.


    Of course, when he used it on the entire body, the effect was even strong and opposing it was not easy. The only way someone could do that was to either overpower it with sheer Qi or simply oust Lin Mu''s Qi stores.


    Both of which were very difficult to do.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun had managed to do it, but it was also very difficult and needed careful control of his Qi to prevent damaging himself.


    Now that he saw Lin Mu use it again, he could see a significant improvement in it.


    ~SHUA~


    But that was only the start as Lin Mu expanded the influence of Meld to the other suspects too, keeping them restrained.


    ''How did he improve so muchpared to then?'' Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t help but wonder.


    After all, to him Lin Mu had been unconscious all this time and they didn''t know of his time in the Astral Dimension or the training in the Sleepscape.


    Even if he had absorbed a lot of Qi when he awakened due to the Omnicore Ascendancy, that still didn''t mean he would improve so much on the application of a skill. Not to mention, what he had absorbed was elemental Qi and had nothing to do with Spatial Skills.


    "Where do we take them?" Lin Mu asked the Crown Prince, the ten suspects now floating before him.


    "To the Discipline Hall of course." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "We''ll interrogate them there." "Interrogate? For what?" The three standing lieutenants finally asked, unable toprehend what had happened.

 Chapter 2449 The Discipline Hall

    Chapter 2449 The Discipline Hall


    The lieutenants'' question were echoed by the other soldiers present too, as they all wondered just why they had been subjected to something like this.


    "The Personnel who have been arrested are all Traitors and are affiliated with the ck Ying Empire." Commander Dui announced.


    "WHAT!?"


    "How''s that possible!?" "Even the Second Lieutenant? But he''s been here for over six hundred years!"


    It didn''t take long for confused and astounded voices to be heard, as they all found it hard to believe the words.


    "Commander¡­ Is this confirmed?" The First Lieutenant asked. "Indeed." Commander Dui replied.


    "You need not be doubtful. This has already been confirmed by the Imperial Imperator as well as the Crimson Phantom." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "The Crimson Phantom too?" This was surprising to the Lieutenants. "That beast did it?" While they knew of the Crimson Phantom''s reputation they didn''t know who or what the beast exactly was. Many had seen him as just a blur but a few had managed to see his full form properly. And cone that was seen, it didn''t take long for his appearance to spread across the city.


    At first the citizens were very scared of a beast like this in the city who could abduct and kill people at a moment''s notice. Most were shocked that something like this was even possible, as flying within the city was restricted in the first ce, not to mention beasts like that wouldn''t be given free reign.


    It meant that who or whatever the beast was; it had approval to act like this from the Imperial Court.


    There were many that spected that the beast might have been one of those that were kept by the Imperial Family and was released to hunt down the people of the ck Ying Empire. While they weren''t exactly correct, there was some uracy in their words.


    Little Shrubby was indeed approved to do as he pleased within the city, as the Crown Prince and others clearly knew that the beast would not act carelessly. Having spent a few years with him in the Bridge ne, they also knew he was as smart as a human and thus there was not an issue in him not following some conditions.


    Not to mention, even if they wished to restrict him, there wasn''t actually much they could do as Little Shrubby had the permission of someone none of them could defy¡­ The Saintess.


    In the absence of Lin Mu, the only person whose order Little Shrubby followed was the Saintess. The elusive celestial who couldn''t even be seen most of them time, often spoke to the beast without anyone knowing.


    And once Little Shrubby began to show positive results, the Imperial Court and Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t help but encourage him.


    "Yes." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "If you wish, you can observe the interrogation." He added.


    "We shall do that then." The First Lieutenant replied. "If it really is true, I''d like to see it with my own two eyes." The man added.


    It was clear that the lieutenants were all close, having served for many years together, thus finding one of theirrade being used like this was not easy.


    Lin Mu looked like he was listening to their words, but he was actually scanning for anymore suspicion activity.


    ''If there are anymore spies, they would likely act now, knowing that theirrades have been caught.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Are there anymore you can smell, Little Shrubby?'' he asked the beast mentally.


    ~SNIFF~


    Little Shrubby sniffed the air, trying to find anymore traces but shook his head. "No more." He replied. "But there can be others outside." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ For now, these might be able to get us more information." Lin Mu replied before turning around.


    ~SHUA~


    The restrained suspects floated behind him as he began to walk while Commander Dui guided them to the Discipline Hall.


    This was the second biggest building in the entire district and was located near the center of it, not far from the Assembly Square.


    The Crown Prince had already transmitted directions to the people in charge, thus they had already prepared everything for their arrival.


    Upon reaching, Lin Mu saw the Discipline Hall members standing in two files at the entrance.


    Unlike the soldiers, they all had different uniforms and their auras were also a lot more staunch. The people of the Discipline Hall oversaw the enforcement of rules and regtions within the army and thus dealt with strong immortals on a daily basis.


    Hence they too were strong and were used to facing unruly people.


    They had steely gazes as they gazed at the floating suspects that were all restrained without the slightest budging.


    But behind theirgazes, they were actually quite shocked at it all. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    ''Is that the Imperial Imperator? Such profound skills¡­''


    ''No wonder he was appointed the Imperial Imperator. Only someone like this would be worthy.'' They all thought. And as Lin Mu reached the entrance, the Discipline hall members all cupped their hands in salute.


    "We wee Lord Imperator!" They all said in unison.


    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~


    Among the members, two individuals stood up and walked up to the group.


    "Lord Imperator, we''ve prepared the Interrogation hall for you." One of them spoke.


    "We shall guide you there," the second one added.


    Lin Mu looked at them, wondering who they were.


    "These are the Left and Right Elders of the Discipline Hall." Crown Prince Feng Shun introduced. "They shall be answering to you from now on." He added.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "Why me?" "As the Imperial Imperator, the discipline hall alsoes under your authority, of course." Commander Dui stated as a matter of fact.


    Lin Mu had missed this, though now that he thought about it, the matter seemed obvious.


    The Imperial Imperator''s function was technically that of observation, judgment, and punishment. As such the Discipline hall that did all these would certainlye under the same branch.


    After the initial surprise of meeting the discipline Hall members, Lin Mu and the others quickly went to the interrogation hall.


    It was as expected, located deep underground and had several arrays set up on it that secured it almost perfectly.


    Lin Mu could even sense a self destruction array that would detonate the entire building if it was sensed that a dangerous criminal was about to escape or was going to be a threat.


    It might seem like a drastic measure, but when one was dealing with individuals that could causally decimate a million people with the flick of a hand, it was very important to be decisive.


    "This is quite big." Lin Mu said, seeing the Interrogation hall that was about six hundred meters wide and equally as long. In fact, the hall seemed to be bigger than the building above.


    "It was designed as a multi-functional hall and can be used as a prison cell too." The Left Hall Elder informed.


    In the hall, Lin Mu could certainly see several lines of heavily reinforced doors, which he guessed were meant to be used as cells.


    "It can often be risky to transport criminals between prisons and the interrogation hall, so we simply keep them here until we are satisfied with the results." The Right Elder answered.


    "I see," Lin Mu replied before looking at a rtivelyrge room at the end. "Is that where we''re supposed to go?" he asked.


    "Yes." Commander Dui replied. "Though we can probably restrain the rest in the cells for now." He added.


    "Very well." Lin Mu replied as he lowered them to the ground. "I guess you all can seal their cultivation?" "Of course." The Left Elder replied and gave a look to the other discipline hall members that were waiting for their orders. "You heard Lord Imperator. Get to work." He ordered.


    "At once!" They replied and quickly rushed to each of the suspects.


    But when they tried to touch them, they realized they couldn''te closer than a couple centimeters. "I''ll release the restraints partially." Lin Mu said, allowing them ess.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    With that done, the members quickly acted and took out silver needles that were then inserted into the bodies of the suspects. Within a couple minutes, their cultivation bases were sealed and they wouldn''t be able to use any Qi skill to detonate their bodies.


    The same was done to the Second Lieutenant too, but he was also fed a paralyzing pill in addition to it.


    "It should be fine now, Lord Imperator." The Left Elder stated.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said as he fully released them from the effects of Meld.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    They fell to the ground and were quickly carried to cells. Most of them were unconscious, thus they were unable to retort in any way, expect for the Second Lieutenant.


    "You¡­ you''ve¡­ made a ¡­ Mistake." He uttered with great difficulty.


    ~SMACK~


    "We''ll be the judges of that." Commander Dui said, pping the man across his face. "In the mean time you''ll only speak when spoken to." He said with a frown.

 Chapter 2450 Breaking Tool Security

    Chapter 2450 Breaking Tool Security


    Lin Mu watched as the Discipline Hall elders took the Second Lieutenant for interrogation after stripping him of his immortal tools.


    There wasn''t much for him to do as he didn''t really have an expertise in interrogation. As such, he reckoned he should do something that could be better. "I want all Spatial Storage tools, as well as Immortal Tools to be brought to me." Lin Mu ordered.


    "Of course, Lord Imperator." The Discipline Hall members replied.


    "Ah! With you here, it''ll be much easier to check their items." Crown Prince Feng Shun knew what Lin Mu intended to do. "We tried it before with other ck Ying Empire members we had arrested but their Spatial Storage tools simply self destructed." He stated.


    "They probably will again, if we check them the normal way." Lin Mu replied. "I''ll ess the pocket space directly." He spoke before beginning his work.


    The Discipline Hall members had gathered all the Spatial Storage tools as well as other Immortal tools on arge table for Lin Mu. They were sorted into two sections, one with a pile of rings, bracelets, pendants and such essories.


    The second section was more spread out with weapons, armors, chains, shoes and other bigger sized tools.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu first activated his Spatial Perception and checked each of the tools, to see if there were any hidden Spatial Storage tools among them. It was not unusual for spies to have a secret Spatial Storage tool that was disguised as something else and another decoy Spatial Storage tool.


    That way even if they were caught, it was less likely for their secret information to be found.


    "Hmm¡­ There''s two." And sure enough, after a bit of observation Lin Mu quickly found something.


    "You really found something?" Commander Dui was intrigued. "Which ones are they?" he asked.


    "This sword and this belt." Lin Mu spoke, picking up the two items. "The tassel of this sword is a Spatial Storage tool." He pointed at the small bead that was hanging from the sword.


    It was something that could have been easily ignored being part of the sword''s decoration, especially considering the isting formation that was present on it. This in addition to the sword''s natural sharp aura made it so that any Spatial Fluctuationing from it would be masked well.


    "The belt buckle is also a Spatial Storage tool." This was a bit more straightforward as its buckle very clearly seemed to be a tool of some kind with the runes that were carved on it.


    "Hmm¡­ Its disguised under a defensive array?" Crown Prince Feng Shun observed it a bit before sensing what the belt did.


    "It''s a good disguise. Whoever made it also added a time lock. It can only be opened after a certain amount of time, thus limiting idental exposure." Lin Mu exined. "This is probably meant to smuggle things." He guessed.


    The belt itself had a very simple design and if it was sold in the street market, no one would bat an eye. "There''s probably a thousand belts like this out in the market and being used by people. Passing this to others would certainly be a very easy way to smuggle things." Crown Prince Feng Shun could see the trick.


    "Let''s see what''s inside all these," Lin Mu said as he used his ring''s power to open portals.


    ~SHUA~


    A spatial rift opened up that directly essed the minor void that was contained within a Spatial Storage ring.


    ~thud~thud~thud~thud~thud~


    In the next second, a stream of objects poured out of the rift, piling up on the floor below.


    Commander Dui and a few other Discipline Hall members that were watching were left with wide-open jaws. "So easy¡­" One of the Discipline Hall members muttered.


    "No encryption troubles, no finagling with the arrays¡­"


    "No being anxious about the tool exploding¡­" They all had something to say as they watched one of the mostplex tasks being turned into a mundane chore. It was as if Lin Mu was simply emptying out buckets as items fell out of the ''secure'' Spatial Storage tools.


    "What''re you all waiting for? Begin sorting." Crown Prince Feng Shun brought them out of their stupor.


    "Ah! Yes!" They realized they had been a bit disrespectful and quickly got to work.


    Lin Mu finished emptying out all the Spatial Storage tools that were undisguised before working on the Sword Tassel and the Belt. T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "These are a bit moreplex." Lin Mu replied. "These seem to have specific activation conditions." He stated.


    "You can''t just empty them out like before?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    Instead of replying, Lin Mu used his immortal sense to analyze the arrays before determining if there would be anything that could trigger self destruction. Thankfully, no one had considered that there would be someone like Lin Mu who could bypass the defenses as if they were paper.


    ''Looks like I was being careful for nothing.'' Once Lin Mu determined that he could use the same method as before, he was relieved.


    ~SHUA~


    He opened a rift for the sword''s tassel first and took out three objects from it.


    The first was a wooden token that had the words ''ck Ying'' carved on them, the second was a ssy ck pill that seemed to have glitter swirling in it and the final item was a scroll that was sealed with a silver band.


    "This pretty much confirms the second lieutenant''s affiliation." Commander Dui stated. "This was his sword." He added.


    "Let me check the belt too." Lin Mu did the same for the buckle, but only found a single item inside it. "A letter?" he held it carefully, checking for any formations on it.


    "Hmm¡­ A protective lock formation." Lin Mu discovered.


    "Can you break the formation?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "No need for that." Lin Mu said before picking up the wooden token. "We have the key for it." He said before using the token to touch the letter.

 Chapter 2451 A Treasure In The Empire And Secrets

    Chapter 2451 A Treasure In The Empire And Secrets


    Lin Mu had sensed the formations on both the token and the letter, quickly realizing simrities between them. ~SHUA~


    Upon touching the letter with the token, a formation glowed on its surface. The runes on it twisted and turned, as if a lock''s chamber was being turned. A couple of secondster, the formation seemingly ''opened'' up, the runes disappearing and leaving the letter bare.


    "That was rather simple." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, seeing it all. "We were lucky this time." Lin Mu replied. "Whose belt was this?" he asked.


    "One of the suspects standing in the third row in the back." Commander Dui answered.


    "Hmm¡­ Their cultivation base was barely at the Second Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm." Lin Mu noted before flipping open the letter''s p and unfolding the letter. "Let''s see what''s in this first." He began to read.


    The contents of the letters were actually very short, with there being only a few lines in it.


    ''The location of the treasure has been confirmed to be within the Dao Wind Empire. Find the box in ordance with the clues left in the sealed scroll and deliver them to the outpost as soon as possible. The outpost will be shifted every fifteen days ording to the set protocol. Maintain secrecy and destroy all tracks.'' Lin Mu furrowed his brows upon reading it and looked at the scroll he had taken out from the Sword tassel. "Looks like its talking about this scroll." Lin Mu spoke, while Crown Prince Feng Shun read the letter as well. "A treasure in the Dao Wind Empire¡­ what could it be?" Commander Dui wondered.


    "Whatever it is, we cannot let it reach Yao Changying''s hands." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "If she wants something, its likely meant to be used against us or for her benefits." He added.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu agreed. "We should find this before they do." "Since we have the scroll, would they even be able to find it?" Commander Dui asked.


    "We have no idea if this is the only scroll. There is always a chance they have asked this task for others too." Lin Mu replied. "Since it is a treasure hunt, the clues might not be straightforward and could even be encrypted." He added.


    "Hmm, Daoist Lin Mu is correct. We should prioritize this. Perhaps we might even find out more about Yao Changying''s operations though this all." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    Hearing that though, made Lin Mu hold his chin in thought. He went silent for a couple of minutes while the others watched. "What''s Daoist Chu doing right now?" Lin Mu inquired, thinking of something.


    "He should be back at his residence or at the pce, probably." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Why?" he asked.


    "Ask him to go out to the city and look for Immortal tools like these. He needs to check for arrays that don''t seem to make total sense." Lin Mu replied. "I think they might be using the market to smuggle items or pass on messages." He exined.


    "You think there might be more people in the city?" Crown Prince Feng Shun questioned.


    "Not just might. There''s definitely more people." Lin Mu said looking at the other items that were rather mundane. "They probably can''t use normal Jade Communication slips, so they might be even transmitting information in a manual method like this." "Hmm, we do have transmission interception set up all along the borders of the empire. So any long distancemunication going past the borders and over the ocean will be caught by us. We actually managed to catch a few of their members like this early on in the past." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined. "Though, I''ll ask Daoist Chu to take a look. This manual method might really be the best way to do this." He agreed.


    Since the teleportation arrays were not working anymore, the only method to transport goods would be the old way over the ocean. But this also meant that anything that passed through the ports would be checked thoroughly and even the personal belongings of cultivators going were inspected.


    Thus, it was obvious why such secrecy was added to prevent any kinds of intel beingmunicated to the ck Ying Empire. Of course, it had not been a 100% sess as there were still ck Ying Empire members active in the empire, but it had certainly limited it.


    "Let''s see what''s in the Scroll too." Lin Mu said as he inspected it throughly.


    He knew he had to be very careful with it as there was always a chance it might get destroyed if the wrong method was used to open it. If that happened, they would have lost a really good lead to Yao Changying and her operations.


    It didn''t take much for Lin Mu to sense the Sealing Array that was inscribed on the silver band. The band was made out of silk and was so throughly inscribed with silver ink that it totally looked like it was just dyed silver. Only upon finely checking it with immortal sense would one be able to tell the real truth behind it. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ''The letter mentioned no method of opening the seal, so it should either be known by the Second Lieutenant or the token is also the key.'' Lin Mu hoped that it was thetter since that would make things a lot easier.


    He didn''t sense any problematic formations that could destroy it at the lightest mis-touch, so he was more relieved.


    ''They probably don''t want it to be destroyed too easily either as it''s very valuable information.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    But upon touching the silver band with the token, nothing happened.


    ~Sigh~


    "Guess we won''t be lucky every time." Lin Mu let out a sign. "I''ll just have to do this manually." "I''ll go ''ask'' the Second Lieutenant what the method of opening this is." Commander Dui stated as a stern expression appeared on his face.


    "Very well." Lin Mu nodded his head as he continued to analyze it.

 Chapter 2452 Scroll Of Nonsense

    Chapter 2452 Scroll Of Nonsense


    About an hour passed as Lin Mu continued to analyze the scroll with the silver band.


    He didn''t have much sess, as the sealing array on the silver band was a bit too intricate. Lin Mu had to do everything half a step at a time, with the fear that any deep probing might end up causing the array to activate and destroy the scroll somehow.


    As such, Lin Mu hadn''t even managed to determine which kind of sealing array it exactly was.


    ''Whoever made this kept it messy intentionally,'' Lin Mu realized. ''There are random formations that have nothing to do with the array present in this.'' He discovered that there were formations like Odor Repelling formation, Anti-Hair Sticking Formation, and Glossy Tip Formation present in the array.


    These most certainly had nothing to do with the Sealing array and when present in the hodgepodge of the formations, made it seem like they were different formations. Normally, Lin Mu would have found them rather quickly, but he had to be slow for the sake of caution.


    ~CREAK~


    Thankfully, he didn''t need to struggle for long as the door of the Interrogation Cell of the Second Lieutenant opened.


    "I got it," Commander Dui spoke, his sleeves having quite a bit of blood on it.


    "You got the solution?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "He gave it up?" "The solution is his blood." Commander Dui replied as he dabbed his finger on the bloody sleeve and then touched the silver band.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as he did, the silver band glowed before the blood turned into a thin thread that wrapped around it. Lin MU could see the formations within the array sorting themselves before unraveling!


    "That was interesting." While blood was amon key used for Sealing Arrays like this, it had been disguised rather decently.


    He would have eventually found out the key, but they had saved a lot of time.


    "How''d he give it up so easily?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask. "Didn''t they have some restrains on them preventing them from speaking about secrets?" "They do, but we have adapted for it too." Commandeer Dui replied. "We have pills that can force them to speak." He added.


    "False Bane Pills?" Lin Mu knew about them, as they were amon alchemical pill used in interrogation. "Those didn''t work on them, and many others didn''t either." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "But Crown Princess Shang in cooperation with our Imperial Alchemists, managed to make a new version of the pill that can work on the ck Ying Members as long as we stop them from using their sacrificial techniques.


    Most of the ones we tried to catch before, ended up dying so we didn''t get many opportunities to test the pill." He exined.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu replied. ''At least there was some progress with the ck Ying Empire members capabilities.'' He thought.


    With that done, Lin Mu opened up the scroll revealing over a three meters long. And in these three meters over a thousand lines written finely, making one squint to even read them.


    17:17


    "This is rather tiny." Lin Mu said, seeing it.


    With that done, Lin Mu opened up the scroll revealing over a three meters long. And in these three meters over a thousand lines written finely, making one squint to even read them.


    "This is rather tiny." Lin Mu said, seeing it.


    "The content seems rather¡­ Cryptic." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, having read a bit.


    It was written in the Dao Script, but the sentences didn''t all make sense. "The Donkey flies in the green sky. The Crab eats on the mountain. The Fish digs in the snow¡­" Lin Mu read a few lines, finding them to be almost nonsense.


    "What do you think this is Commander?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked. "A Cipher of sorts?" he wondered.


    "Could be¡­ Is there no other hidden secrets in it? Formations or more?" Themander replied.


    "I don''t sense anything." Lin Mu shook his head, having scanned it. And just in case, he also used his Spatial Perception to see if there was something else hidden, but found nothing. It was just in parchment paper, and even the ink used to write on it seemed to be rather basic.


    "It''ll take a while to figure out what''s the real meaning of this is ." Crown Prince Feng Shun let out a sign. "Let''s make copies of it and let our people handle it." He stated.


    "I can also assist." Lin Mu offered.


    "You don''t have to Daoist Lin Mu. Our intelligence department can take care of this. They are specialized in things like this," Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "Not to mention, since the letter talked about the treasure being in the Dao Wind Empire. Our people have better knowledge of the locations within the empire, so they''ll have an upper hand in this.'' He exined.


    "Indeed. Lord Imperator, you need not spend time in tasks like these." Commander Dui agreed. "There will be far more important things for you to doter anyways." "Alright." Lin Mu nodded his head. "What about the others?" he asked next.


    "There hasn''t been anything particr we''ve found from them right now." Commander Dui replied. "But we''ll continue to interrogate them. At the very least, we should find the location of the outpost they talked about. If we can raid one, we''ll gain a lot more information about the ck Ying Empire." He added.


    "Keep me updated on it then." Lin Mu said before thinking of leaving. "I''ll be back at my courtyard." "Have some time to yourself, Daoist Lin Mu." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "You''ve been unconscious for too long. You should go and have some fun in the city." He suggested.


    "Fun in these times?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "The city might have higher security but it''s still functioning like before. You can always go out." The Crown Prince borated.


    "Hmm, I''ll think about it." Lin Mu said before taking his leave.


    ~SHUA~


    He flew out of the Discipline hall along with Little Shrubby and made his way back to the Courtyard.


    But just as he was about to step in, he suddenly thought of something.


    ''Wait¡­ that was just one of the Military Districts¡­ there can be ck Ying Members in the other districts too!'' Lin Mu suddenly realized.T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 2453 Finding More Traitors And Assessing Gains

    Chapter 2453 Finding More Traitors And Assessing Gains


    Having realized this, Lin Mu quickly sent messages to Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    The man understood the urgency of the situation and quickly got the Commander to set up assemblies in the remaining five military districts.


    It was rather quick to do so through the military chain ofmand, and since they had already known about the Imperial Imperator''s appointment, they expected to meet him soon. There was also knowledge of the Imperial Imperator visiting the Proving Sword Square and as such they just thought they wereing here to do the same.


    Information about all that had happened in the square along with the arrests of the ck Ying Empires members had been kept secret, thus the other ces had not learned of it yet. This gave them the perfect opportunity to act as the other ck Ying empire members wouldn''t be able to run away in time or at least hide their secrets.


    The group was anxious so the Crown Prince got more people to secure the districts. These were all people that they trusted and had already been vetted by Little Shrubby beforehand. Thus they knew there was no way they''d be traitors or involved with the ck Ying Empire. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    One by one, they visited every military district and checked for the presence of the ck Ying Empire members.


    Thankfully for them, they were cleaner than expected.


    Out of the five remaining districts, only two of them had any ck Ying Empire members and even then there were just a total of seven people caught.


    Among the seven, two hade from the Third Military District and five hade from the Sixth Military district. Commander Dui and Crown Prince Feng Shun were also relieved to learn that none of them were high ranking officials.


    The only high ranking one among the traitors was the Second Lieutenant.


    Now what they needed to find out was how they got turned, or who turned them. Lin Mu also checked their Spatial Storage tools for any clues, but they only found a couple more tokens and nothing of good value. It made them think that perhaps the Second Lieutenant might have been the one in charge of it all and the others might only be there to add numbers when needed.


    With that done, Lin Mu could finally return to the Imperial Azalea Courtyard and let the Crown Prince handle the rest.


    ~huu~


    Lin Mu let out a breath as he sat down in the garden chair.


    "That was quite a lot of things in two days." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    "We did get a lot of the ck Ying Empire members, though." Little Shrubby replied, sitting on hisp.


    "That''s true." Lin Mu nodded before thinking of something. "Where''s the twins and Ashy, by the way?" he asked remembering that they had gone out with Little Shrubby originally.


    "They''re still out ying." Little Shrubby answered. "When I left them, they were in the woods in the eastern part of the city." He added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu knew that there were several small forests located within the city itself, and were mostly used as a ce of rxation for the people. It was a safe ce, thus he didn''t mind them being there. Plus, he could still sense their presence within the city, and knew that they were fine.


    Lin Mu rested on the chair for an hour before getting up and walking into his room. There, he sat on the bed and began to cultivate.


    ~HUU~


    Taking a deep breath, he went over all that he hadprehended during the training session with the Saintess and began to cement his gains.


    He did that over a day and then moved onto his body. He checked the state of his eight cores and how they were functioning.


    ''The increased Qi from the cores has certainly stabilized,'' Lin Mu observed. ''But I haven''t controlled the new types of Qi yet.'' He thought to himself.


    While he had managed to establish the seven cores, that didn''t mean that he had an affinity to all seven elements of them yet. ''I guess it''s a low leveled affinity right now.'' Lin Mu estimated after analyzing the flow of his Qi.


    He tried moving wisps of elemental immortal Qi within his Dantian and found that he could control at least a hundred wisps for the lightning and wind element, while for the Wood and water elements, he could control over four hundred wisps with ease.


    It might not seem much for an immortal, but one must understand that this was full control over the wisps. ''If I want to control more, I''ll probably have to improve my proficiency manually overtime, or simply improve the cores,'' Lin Mu realized.


    As such, he began practicing with the four elemental Qis that he had barely any experience with.


    He first began with Wind elemental Qi since he had already learned Bending Will fists.


    ~WHOOSH~WOOSH~WHOOSH~


    He made a few light gestures and found the wind moving exactly as he wanted.


    "This is so much easier than before." Lin Mu was quite surprised. It was like finding you could now lift a 100 kilograms of weights with one hand when you were finding even 10 kilograms difficult to lift.


    It wasn''t just the control either. Lin Mu now felt like he could also convert attribute less Immortal Qi into elemental immortal Qi if he wished too.


    ''The cores have improved the functioning of my organs and the efficiency of conversion has improved too.'' Lin Mu analyzed, finding that his conversion speed for earth and metal elements had improved by at least 50% while for fire it had improved by 30%.


    For Wood and water though, it was much lower. If he put in 100 wisps of normal Qi, he would get back only 10 units of elemental Qi. And the processing speed was also much slower.


    ''This won''t be viable to use during a battle for sure,'' Lin Mu reckoned. ''Better to have a stockpile for them beforehand.''

 Chapter 2454 No Salary

    Chapter 2454 No Sry


    The more Lin Mu explored with his new elemental Qis the more he learned about them. After a day, he had an estimate of how his control over them was. From this, he learned that for battle, he certainly shouldn''t use them.


    ''It would be fine if it''s a spar or perhaps a fight against someone weaker than me. But in a full fledge battle it won''t be good as the dy would be too long.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''I''ll need to continue practicing and also try to improve the size of my cores.'' He understood.


    The first was something he was already doing, but the second was something that would take more resources.


    "Now that you have a higher position in this empire, why don''t you just ask them for it?" Xukong suddenly suggested.


    "Would that be fine?" Lin Mu asked. "As an Imperial Imperator, I believe you also get a sry¡­ If you feel bad taking it for free, you can just offset it with that." Xukong replied.


    "Oh yeah, I can do that." Lin Mu realized. "But wait¡­ what even is my sry?" he had no idea.


    While the Emperor had granted him the position, they had seemingly forgotten to mention some of the details to him. One of them was the scope of his power, which the Crown Prince had showed him with the assignment earlier and now the sry.


    ''I suppose I can ask them.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and sent a message to the Crown Prince.


    The response he received was shocking.


    "Sry? What sry?" Crown Prince Feng Shun responded. "Why do you want a sry?" "The Imperial Imperator doesn''t get a sry?" Lin Mu was surprised and so was Xukong.


    "Why would you pay yourself when you can just take it from the treasury?" Crown Prince Feng Shun answered, feeling a bit confused too.


    "I can¡­ just do that?" Lin Mu found it to be very opulent and also a bit careless. ''Doess''t this mean I have ess to all their wealth?'' It seemed like a very big responsibility.


    "Yeah." Crown Prince Feng Shun confirmed. "Just send a list of things you want to the Treasury minister. He''ll deliver whatever you need. Don''t forget, right now, you''re technically their superior." He exined.


    "I see¡­ I guess I''ll do that then." Lin Mu found this to be easier than he had expected.


    "What did you need, though?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked curiously.


    "Just a variety of elemental materials, regardless of their quality." Lin Mu answered.


    "Oh, the thing we talked about back in the Bridge ne?" Crown Prince Feng Shun remembered Lin Mu cultivated some kind of technique that required him to consume a variety of materials.


    Lin Mu had told them vaguely about it, but not what the technique could do as Xukong had told him the knowledge about Omnicore Ascendancy could be highly dangerous to be left out.


    So far, the only ones who knew about it other than Lin Mu and Xukong was the Saintess.


    The Saintess was certainly shocked about such a technique too and simply attributed it to something that had been granted to Lin Mu by Xukong. As such, she didn''t think further about it and was impressed that the spider had ess to such techniques and that Lin Mu could practice it.


    "Yeah that one," Lin Mu confirmed.


    "If its the same as we talked about then there shouldn''t be any problem." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "They won''t be worth much overall for us. Just send them a list and it should be sent over soon." He reiterated. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Very well." Lin Mu said before cutting the connection.


    ~huu~


    "Well, that simplifies things¡­" Lin Mu muttered before sending out a message to the Treasury Minister.


    Thankfully, he had the Communication Jade Slip contacts of all the important personnel of the Imperial Court along with the ministers, thus he didn''t need to go out and ask for it personally.


    ''It''s good that I maintained a list from before.'' Lin Mu took out a separate jade slip that had an ''exclusion'' list.


    These were all the items he had already consumed and ones that didn''t help grow his Cores anymore. He sent this list and asked the Treasury Minister to send a batch of all the other elemental materials that didn''t include these.


    He specified that it didn''t matter what their rank was, whether they be as basic as mortal or peak immortal.


    Lin Mu did add that if it was a very rare material that couldn''t be spared, it was fine not to include it and if something needed to be bought, he''d be fine with that too.


    But the Treasury Minister responded that there was no such issue like that and that Lin Mu could take whatever he felt like. The man didn''t even question the reason for what he needed so many materials and simply said that they''ll be sent within the next few hours.


    "Looks like I''ll just wait till then." Lin Mu said before spreading around his senses and trying to see if the Saintess was anywhere here. "Saintess?" he called out, but received no response.


    ''Hmm¡­ Guess she''s busy.'' He reckoned she might be busy.


    It wasn''t umon for the Saintess to be gone at times, but Lin Mu didn''t know what she was doing.


    ''Is she cultivating or doing something else?'' Lin Mu wondered before thinking of something that made him doubtful. ''Wait¡­ can she even cultivate here?'' he questioned himself.


    The Saintess was a Celestial, thus Lin Mu was sure she didn''t need Immortal Qi to cultivate. At the very least, even if she did use it, he didn''t think she was using it to improve her cultivation. ''Since she''s a Celestial she would need Celestial Qi, right? Does this world have it?'' He pondered to himself.


    "This world does have it." Xukong suddenly responded.


    "Huh, it does?" Lin Mu replied before realizing something. "Because it is going to be a Celestial World soon?"

 Chapter 2455 Celestial Qi

    Chapter 2455 Celestial Qi


    Lin Mu''s doubts were rathermon and something that most immortal cultivators wondered about. After all, the information about the workings of the Celestials was rather limited. Even those that had ess to the Celestials or were acquainted with one didn''t know much.


    At most, they knew that the Celestials were far above them and the conditions to bing a celestial were very profound and highly secretive. But one thing they knew was that they needed Qi too, Celestial Qi.


    Most had the assumption that being able to use the Celestial Qi might be the requirement to bing a Celestial, simr to how one became a false immortal once they managed to sense and absorb their first wisp of immortal Qi.


    Many had tried for millenniums to do this exact thing, doing their hardest to sense Celestial Qi and yet they failed. Those who seeded almost never told others the true method for it, as the Heavenly restrictions prevented them from doing so.


    As such, even though there was a connection between the Immortal and Celestial Powers, they didn''t pass on the Celestial Methods.


    Otherwise, powers like the Immortal Court wouldn''t just stay limited to immortals. They would have never gotten stuck at a bottleneck and stay at the Immortal realm. Of course, the number of people bing Celestials from the Immortal Court was a lot higher than other powers, but it was still a tiny fragment of the total poption of immortals.


    Lin Mu had thought about it often but had not gotten much farther with it, until today when Xukong finally spoke about it.


    "It''s not just because the Rust Sky World is going to be a Celestial World." Xukong said calmly. "Every world has Celestial Qi in it¡­ its just the quantity that varies." He revealed.


    "What?!" This was rather shocking to Lin Mu. "You mean to say¡­ Even in the Mortal worlds there is Celestial Qi?!" He asked in disbelief.


    "Yes." Xukong confirmed. "I believe it is fine to tell you now¡­ for some reason, the heavenly restrictions are lighter than before." He added.


    "They''re lighter?" he hadn''t expected that. "Did something change?" he wondered.


    "I don''t know¡­ They are quite mysterious and even I can''t tell how they function fully. But I reckon your recent encounters with the Celestial and Celestial adjacent powers has made them find you less of a ''target''." Xukong exined. "It could also just be a momentarypse in its functioning, too."


    "That can happen?" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide. ''The Heavenly Restrictions can have malfunctions too?'' it seemed almost unbelievable to him.


    And it wasn''t just him either. If anyone else were to hear it they would find it to be absolutely ridiculous too.


    The one thing that was equal and just to all the beings were the Heavenly Dao and the Heavenly Will. They dictated thews of the entire cosmos and how it would work.


    To them they couldn''t make any mistakes. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "It is very rare, of course¡­ but it happens." Xukong stated. "Perhaps it''s because the Rust Sky World is about to be Celestial World the restrictions are reducing bit by bit." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ I don''t know if that''s good for us or not." Lin Mu muttered.


    "Indeed, it''s hard to tell what the future will hold." Xukong agreed. "But yes, even the Mortal worlds such as the Xiaofan world will have Celestial Qi." "So does that mean absorbing Celestial Qi or sensing it is the requirement to bing a Celestial?" Lin Mu finally questioned.


    "Partially, yes¡­" Xukong said carefully. "There are more conditions, but it seems like I cannot reveal them just yet either." He could now feel the restrictions again.


    "The Restrictions don''t allow that." Lin Mu understood.


    "They''re lighter but not fully gone." Xukong spoke. "We''ll have to monitor how much it changes, I suppose." He added.


    "What else can you tell me about it?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Let''s see. I''ll speak whatever I can before it gets me to stop." Xukong was curious too. "I guess we can start with Celestial Qi itself¡­ It''s basically a superior form of Qi that is only produced by Celestial Bodies." He revealed without having to stop.


    "Oh? Celestial Bodies¡­ that means the Worlds,s and Stars?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Correct." Xukong confirmed. "There are exceptions to this, but the majority of Celestial Qi in the universe is made by them." He added.


    "I see¡­ So it doesn''t matter what level of world it is, it can make Celestial Qi." Lin Mu was highly intrigued. "The level of the world only dictates how much Celestial Qi it can make which then dictate whether Celestials can be born on them." Xukong revealed more. "Does that mean theoretically a world like Xiaofan World could also have a Celestial?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The chances are slim but it can be possible. Though at its current state Xiaofan world can probably only support a single Celestial." Xukong answered. "So that means a Celestial can only absorb Celestial Qi from a world?" Lin Mu asked next. "What about the Stars and other worlds?


    "It is of course possible, but not without risks." Xukong replied. "In the case of stars, the risk is quite obvious."


    "Ah, true¡­ they will just burn to death." Lin Mu understood. "But what about other worlds?" "Absorbing Celestial Qi from other worlds is simply harder. I cannot fully exin, but usually a Celestial is limited to a single world they are familiar with in matters of absorbing Celestial Qi." Xukong answered. "So they can only cultivate on that world¡­" Lin Mu grasped the meaning.


    "Indeed¡­ But those that are of a high level, such as the Saintess, do not have that restriction." Xukong spoke. "But even she would need more effort in order to absorb the Celestial Qi."


    "Is that what the Saintess has been doing?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Yes." Xukong confirmed. "It takes a lot of effort and focus to do it. If it were any other Celestial, they wouldn''t be able to repeat it as easily here."

 Chapter 2456 Power To Wipe All Life

    Chapter 2456 Power To Wipe All Life


    Knowledge about the Celestial Qi was highly valuable and Lin Mu listened to it carefully, not wanting to miss even a bit.


    After all, he never knew if the Heavenly Restrictions would apply strictly on the Rust Sky World again, preventing Xukong from speaking further about it. As such, he continued to listen as Xukong exined as much as he could until the restrictions stopped him again. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "So where exactly is the Saintess?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Hmm¡­ Probably somece where the restrictions are the lightest." Xukong said after thinking for a bit. "Possibly at the edge of this world''s atmosphere." He guessed.


    "Edge of the atmosphere?" Lin Mu looked high up as the rusty sky became visible to him.


    From the surface, it only looked like the sky had a rust color, but if one went higher and higher, they would realize that the color wasn''t just rusty due to dust in the air, but rather due to the presence of tens of millions of asteroids that surrounded the Rust Sky world.


    Due to the distance and their number, the light that came from the sun diffused in a special way making the sky look rusty red in color.


    It almost felt like the sky was always in a state of sunset, if onepared it to worlds with blue skies.


    But when it was actually time for sunset in the Rust Sky World, the sky would instead turn a darker shade of purple instead. It was the way light interacted with the obstacles and became diffused over a long distance.


    As such, the Rust Sky World certainly gave on a unique experience to a person seeing it for the first time.


    Lin Mu continued to focus on the sky, trying to see if he could make out the asteroids. But even with his superior vision, it was simply impossible to see them from here. Little Shrubby who was lying on hisp, woke up and yawned.


    "I''ll go see the others." Little Shrubby said, having rested enough.


    "sure." Lin Mu replied before looking at the sky again.


    "I suppose she could be on one of the asteroids." Lin Mu muttered to himself, wondering what that might be like. Flying that far up as an immortal was very difficult and while they could certainly leave the world, that way it would exhaust most immortals before they even reached that point. Plus, the farther up they went, the more energy they would need to expend in order to elevate themselves, despite the fact the gravity would be getting weaker.


    As Lin Mu thought about it though, his mind wandered towards something different.


    "Senior Xukong¡­ Since the Heavenly Restrictions are now lighter¡­ By chance, is it possible that the Saintess can¡­ Interfere here?" Lin Mu asked carefully.


    "You mean using her power as a Celestial?" Xukong knew what Lin Mu was hinting at.


    "Yes." Lin Mu replied, thinking of how it could be so much better if she could do that. ''If she can really do that, finding Yao Changying won''t be a problem and eliminating her would be easy too.'' He thought to himself.


    "Even if the restriction has reduced, that doesn''t mean that she can interfere." Xukong denied. "The power of a celestial, especially someone like her, is immensely powerful. So far, she''s only used her power at the Immortal level and only utilizes her Dao Insights." He exined.


    "All that power was still at the Immortal Realm?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but widen his eyes.


    He had seen the Saintess used several skills and they all seemed to be extremely profound and didn''t seem to be at the Immortal level at all. Perhaps even Transcendent Immortals might not be able to match something like that.


    "When one reaches that level ofprehension, one doesn''t even need Qi to control the elements or the Dao. They can simply will them and make them obey." Xukong exined. "Besides, if the Saintess were to use one of her Celestial level skills, she would becking in Celestial Qi." He added.


    "Huh? But doesn''t have her own Qi?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No, the restrictions force her to only utilize the Celestial Qi that she has obtained from this world. It might not be more than a few tens of wisps and those simply won''t be enough for her to activate the Celestial skills." Xukong answered. "And even if she could, even a single skill would be enough to wipe out this world." He added.


    "What!?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected them to be this strong. "Can''t she control it?" he had expected a celestial to that strong.


    "She can of course. Which is why she only uses Immortal level skills." Xukong replied. "In her case though, her true celestial skills are extremely deadly. Ites to the point where even if she wishes to reduce its power, the people in this world wouldn''t be able to take it." He added.


    "Why''s that?" Lin Mu was confused. "The Wind, Water, Cloud and Air Daos and their skills should have finer control, right?" he muttered to himself.


    "Do you think those are her main elements?" Xukong asked, feeling amused.


    "They''re not?" Lin Mu had only seen her use those, thus he didn''t know if she had more.


    "No." Xukong replied. "Those are simply her supplementary elements she uses. Being the Saintess of the Serpent Moon Sect, her specialty is different¡­ it is poison." He revealed.


    "Poison¡­" Lin Mu repeated to himself and recalled other experts whom he had encountered in the past that used poison.


    "Indeed. While the Serpent Moon Sect has many different specialties within them, Poisons are one of their major fields of expertise. And as a Saintess, there is no one more proficient in them than her." Xukong exined. "If she used a Celestial level poison skill, she would possibly wipe out all life on this world." He stated.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu finally understood.


    "The other elements¡­ They''re merely there to improve the power of her poison, isn''t it?" he grasped. "Wind and Water to spread it, Air to contain it and Cloud to rain it down." It was simply the perfectpliment to the poison element.

 Chapter 2457 Rotund Minister And Imperial Family

    Chapter 2457 Rotund Minister And Imperial Family


    The revtion of just how much power the Saintess was holding back was enlightening to Lin Mu.


    It also taught him about the supportive effects of the different Dao''s and elements. Even though he hadn''t seen the Saintess use her Poison skills, for Lin Mu imagining their usage after Xukong''s exnation wasn''t hard.


    Lin Mu pondered over this for a bit but had to stop it as he sensed someone calling him.


    "Lord Imperator!" The voice came from the gate of the Imperial Azalea courtyard.


    It was far, but he could hear it clearly. ~STEP~STEP~STEP~


    And just a secondter, Lin Mu could hear a bunch of steps.


    "As per your request, the materials have been brought over from the Treasury, Lord Imperator." A couple of servants reported while bowing their heads.


    Upon getting the courtyard, Lin Mu had asked the servants to note to the main area when not asked to other than when they needed to reach out to him for something. The servants epted it readily as it was amon thing for a lot of immortals of their rank as they valued their privacy.


    The Crown Prince and other nobles might be fine having servants around all the time, but Lin Mu was not used to it. Besides, he didn''t have much of a need for the servants anyways. And it was not like the Courtyard needed much cleaning or maintenance either. There were plenty of arrays that took care of that automatically thus the servants were mostly there to carry out orders when needed.


    "Allow them in." Lin Mu replied.


    "At once." The servants said before quickly going to open the gate.


    A minuteter, Lin Mu sensed the presence of a rather rotund man and two Imperial Guards. Looking up, he spotted none other than the Treasury Minister heading his way.


    The man was dressed in dark green robes that wereced with golden threads along with a ministerial cap that looked rather small for his head.


    He had fat and chubby cheeks along with four chins that hung wide and proud. A thin and curly mustache hung from his face, but the rest of it was shaved smooth as if a grape''s skin. T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    There was no way to mistake the man.


    ''That''s the Treasury Minister for sure.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had only seen the man once before in passing and hadn''t actually talked to him properly before. Though the one impression he had gotten was more than memorable. The minister was one of the widest people he had seen in the Rust Sky world before.


    While the man might not weigh more than Lin Mu, he was most certainly bordering on at least five hundred kilograms or more.


    If such a man seeing without his particr clothes, people might not even take him seriously. But his cultivation base did not lie and Lin Mu ced it to be at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    ''He''s certainly not weak¡­ perhaps his body is due to some technique too.'' Lin Mu knew there were cultivation techniques that could result in such profound effects on the body.


    "Hahah, greetings Lord Imperator!" The Treasury Minister said in a jovial voice.


    "Greetings, Minister." Lin Mu greeted the man with a cupped fist.


    "I must say, this is a really good day. I''m really happy that you finally called upon me." The minister said with a smile so wide, it almost made his eyes disappear. "I was sad that we didn''t get to talk much earlier, but I guess heavens had this day in waiting so that we may chat and be merry!" hearing that man, Lin Mu couldn''t help but wonder how this man was a minister.


    "Isn''t he rted to the Crown Prince?" Xukong spoke in his mind.


    "He is?" Lin Mu raised his brows, then he remembered the Crown Prince talking about his family back in the Bridge ne. "Ah yeah¡­ he''s technically his step uncle, isn''t he?" he now recalled.


    The Treasury Minister was in fact, the Brother-inw of the Emperor. He came from a high ranking noble family that held the rank of a Marquis in the empire. As such, his sister was one of the concubines of the Emperor.


    ''I knew the Emperor had a lot of Consorts and Concubines.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. Crown Prince Feng Shun had told him that the Emperor had four main wives and over a hundred concubines from which he had over a hundred children.


    Among them, the Crown Prince was the oldest and was born from the first consort along with Princess Feng Lan. Feng Baxing, on the other hand, was born from the second consort and was thus the third prince.


    There were more princes and princesses, but none of them were particrly as well as the Crown Prince or the Crown Princess.


    For the most part, they stayed in their own residences and were only seen inrge banquets. Majority of them might not even meet the Emperor, their father more than once in a year. This was rathermon, as the Emperor was simply far too busy with his work and responsibilities. Besides, the Emperor was not light with his children. He highly emphasized them cultivating and getting stronger.


    It was why the other children were rarely seen, since they were confined to cultivate in seclusion until they reached a satisfactory level.


    This was one of the reasons why the Feng Dao Empire had managed to reach their level of stability; almost none of the Imperial offspring were wastrels. Even if they might not have a talent for cultivation, they were never allowed toze around and be louts. They were trained in various administrative duties, or if they had a talent for other upations such as alchemy or formations, they were encouraged to take that on instead.


    Thinking of all this, Lin Mu reckoned the Treasury Minister might actually be quite capable, too.


    "Come sit, I suppose I can chat a bit." Lin Mu reckoned it was good to develop some connections this way too.

 Chapter 2458 Assasin!]\

    Chapter 2458 Assasin!


    Lin Mu let the servants do the work this time, as they prepared a pot of good tea.


    "Ah! Some nice Jumping Dragon Tea!" the minister recognized it just from the scent. "Looks like we have shared tastes." Heughed.


    "Perhaps." Lin Mu replied. "It is good tea though." He nodded.


    Apparently, the tea he was drinking was especially grown for the Imperial Family and was exclusive to their gardens. Getting this outside was almost impossible, and while there were other teas that could match its level, it was still a rarity.


    The minister talked quite a lot about it and went off on random matters. It didn''t seem like he hade to talk to Lin Mu for anything particr, but just wanted to make a connection with him. ''I suppose as a Treasury minister it is one of the things one needs to know how to do,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Since Lin Mu could be considered his superior, it would make sense as to why the minister would want to do this. Plus, Lin Mu hadmand over the treasury too now and could take things from it as he wished, so it was best for the minister to know about it.


    Things would get troublesome for the minister if things kept on disappearing and he didn''t know that Lin Mu had taken them. At the very least, there needed to be some form of rapport between them to ensure things would get out of hand.


    "Oh, I heard, Lord Imperator is a gourmand too?" The minister finally asked.


    "I do like food." Lin Mu nodded. "Well, if you wish, I can set up an exclusive banquet for you." The minister offered. "While it might not match in value with the Imperial Banquet of the Emperor, I can at least assure you I can get some new dishes and unique ingredients from all over the world." He stated.


    "Oh? That might be interesting." Lin Mu reckoned Little Shrubby would like that too.


    "Haha! That''s perfect then." The Treasury minister chuckled, his chins jiggling like jelly. "I''ll get it set up in the next few days." The man said before a servant approached.


    "My Lords, would you like us to bring in some snacks?" The servant asked respectfully.


    "Is that even a question? Of course we would like that." The Minister said with a wide smile.


    "Sure." Lin Mu hadn''t had food made by the cooks here yet, so reckoned it would be a good chance to try.


    "It''ll be just a minute." The servant said and quickly sent out a message.


    And sure enough, just in thirty seconds, Lin Mu could see a small group of servants bringing out trays after trays of food. While they had said it was going to be ''snacks'' the servants knew very well that mere snacks wouldn''t be enough for these two individuals. The Treasury minister''s reputation as a gourmand was well known and Lin Mu had also be somewhat famous within the Imperial Servant circles due to the sheer amount of food he had eaten at the banquet before.


    The servants were left gobsmacked at how many trays of food they had served. They estimated that the amount of food Lin Mu had eaten might be enough to server over a thousand people at once. And it wasn''t just any normal food either, it was all made from precious materials like rare herbs, Immortal beast meats and more.


    As servants, they had to keep all these things in mind when tending to the needs of the nobles, thus they were throughly trained to do it. Lin Mu watched as several new dishes were brought in that he had certainly not seen before and were ced on the table one by one.


    But just as he was focused on the tray in front of him, he felt a strange flow in the air. In the next second, he became rmed and his arm shot out without even looking.


    ~CLANG!~ Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "What are you doing?" Lin Mu questioned in a cold voice.


    The Treasury Minister was shocked as he saw a thin dagger barely a centimeter away from his head. It was being held by one of the servants, who had an utterly shocked expression. The dagger''s de was clenched between Lin Mu''s fingers, that were covered in a rockyyer.


    "ASSASSIN!" The other servants screamed seeing it all.


    "YOU!" The Treasury Minster''s expression changed to that of anger as a wave of energy was released from him.


    ~SMASH~


    The man moved faster than one might believe, as his wide palm turned into a blur and smashed onto the chest of the servant.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The servant''s chest caved in before she was sent flying into the wall of the courtyard!


    The dagger was still held in Lin Mu''s finger, as he watched the minister act. But just as the rotund man was about to move again, he spoke out.


    "Wait!" Lin Mu shouted. "We need her alive." He said before disappearing from his location.


    ~SHUA~


    He appeared next to the servant and extended his hand.


    "Meld." Restraining the space around her, Lin Mu lifted her into the air and scanned her body.


    "Damned ck Ying Empire wretches! They dare try this in the Imperial Grounds!?" The minister was utterly furious.


    But Lin Mu looked to be confused. His brows were furrowed as he checked the servant throughly, even probing their Dantian to check for anything suspicious.


    "Strange¡­ They don''t seem to be from the ck Ying Empire." Lin Mu stated. "What?" The minister was now confused too.


    "I don''t sense the same energy from them." Lin Mu replied, finding the assassin to be different.


    He remembered feeling it quite easily when he faced the soldiers earlier, so he was sure the servant wasn''t from the ck Ying Empire.


    "Are you sure?" The Minister asked in doubt.


    "I''ll need to verify." Lin Mu knew it was best to be through. ''Little Shrubby, to me!'' he quickly sent a message.

 Chapter 2459 Mysterious Assassin

    Chapter 2459 Mysterious Assassin


    While Lin Mu had managed to sense the presence of the ck Ying Empire members before due to his experience with them, he still wasn''t as good as Little Shrubby at it.


    Thankfully, the beast was fast and returned within a minute.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~ROAR~


    Therge form of Little Shrubbynded in the courtyard, startling the servants. "Hoho, is that the Crimson Phantom?" The Treasury minister was surprised. "This is the first time I''m actually seeing it in person." "Little Shrubby, is she the same as others?" Lin Mu asked.


    The minister was intrigued hearing this. ''So the Crimson Phantom is his tamed beast? That certainly suits the position of an Imperator.'' He couldn''t help but think.


    The rotund man had to admit the beast was rather imposing with its size. Not to mention the fearsome aura that was radiating from Little Shrubby was enough to make weaker individuals tremble. Some might even pass out just from the pressure.


    Many immortals would be intimidated facing a beast like this, but thankful for the Minister he was no normal immortal either.


    He might not look like it, but he was one of the elites and had received great training too. ~sniff~


    Little Shrubby lightly sniffed the air, and shook his head.


    "She''s not." Little Shrubby reported. "She does have some peculiar scents on her though." He added.


    "What kind of scents?" Lin Mu asked. ''Not from the ck Ying Empire¡­ is this just a normal assassination attempt?'' he wondered.


    While assassination were rare, they weren''t all done by the ck Ying Empire. It was normal for nobles and other people of high positions to be targeted for obvious reasons. Plus, since they hade after the Treasury Minister despite the fact that Lin Mu was there, he reckoned they didn''t have total information about them.


    It would be ridiculous to try an attempt something like that in the presence of Lin Mu.


    Though he had to admit, the assassin was quite fast.


    ''If I hadn''t stopped the dagger, she certainly would''ve managed to stab the minister in the head.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~sniff~


    Little Shrubby took another sniff and differentiated the scents before identifying them.


    "I can smell poison on her¡­ quite a lot of it." Little Shrubby said first.


    "Hmm, that''s expected. There was poison on the dagger too." Lin Mu had known that right away. "There''s some traces left on her body too I suppose." "There''s a smell of ink on her too¡­" Little Shrubby said next.


    "Ink?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "That will be a bit hard to figure out. Many individuals will have that scent." In the Imperial Grounds, literally everyone wrote things or did paper work, thus it was normal for them to have the scent of ink on them. It might not be apparent to others, but Little Shrubby was not going to miss it.


    "It''s not normal ink though." Little Shrubby replied. "I can smell a mix of herbs and beast blood in it." He revealed.


    "Herbs and beast blood?" Lin Mu now understood what it could be. "Talisman ink." That narrowed it down a bit but not much as there were many immortals that dabbled in talismans.


    "There''s also a smell of Resin of some kind¡­ Wooden." Little Shrubby finally said.


    "Wood Resin? Pine Resin or something like that?" Lin Mu reckoned this could be more urate. "Does it match any of the others you''ve smelled before?" he asked.


    "No¡­ it''s rather unique." Little Shrubby stated.


    "Good¡­ looks like we just might be able to find more about them then." Lin Mu was pleased by it.


    Even if the assassin didn''t seem to be part of the ck Ying Empire directly, Lin Mu wouldn''t put it out of the question yet.


    ''Its always possible they''ve been employed by the ck Ying Empire as a third party.'' Lin Mu remembered that Crown Princess Shang also had a bounty on her head.


    As such, it was hard to tell who might get tempted by the price and decide to take the task up.


    Having learned all this, Lin Mu exined it to the Treasury Minister.


    "You figured all this out just from scents?" The minister couldn''t help but be impressed. "That''s better work than half the Intelligence pavilion personnel." "We''re not done yet though. We still need to see who hired them or where they havee from." Lin Mu stated. "And I doubt they''d speak if they''re a professional assassin." He added.


    "We''ll take care of that." Another voice was heard, as Lin Mu sensed a few presences. "Left Elder, Right Elder." Lin Mu recognized the man whom he had met a couple days back.


    "You can leave this to us, Lord Imperator." The Right Elder spoke.


    "Alright." Lin Mu decided to let them handle it. "They''re unconscious right now but it''s best you paralyze them and restrict them first." He stated.


    "Of course." The Left Elder nodded and quickly got to work.


    He used several silver needles to seal the assassin''s cultivation before feeding them a liquid.


    With that done, a group of guards from the discipline hall quickly carried the assassin away.


    "How did someone like that even get into the Imperial Grounds?" The Treasury Minister asked, his tone serious. "All the servants are vetted for years before being allowed here." He added.


    "We do not know yet." The Left Elder shook his head. "We''ll throughly investigate it."


    "Yes, this has been apse on our part. We''ll take full responsibility for it." The right elder apologized.


    "You better." The Treasury minister said with a frown before turning to Lin Mu. "And Lord Imperator, I can''t help but be in your debt now too. Perhaps if I didn''te to meet you, I might have already been dead." The man held a bit of fear in his voice. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "It''s fine." Lin Mu epted the man''s gratitude. "Though this is also good, since we now know they''re making mistakes on their part. They did not judge the situation before acting."

 Chapter 2460 Lacking Investigations\

    Chapter 2460 Lacking Investigations


    Lin Mu''s words were correct and were echoed by the two elders of the discipline hall.


    "Lord Imperator is right. While there have been many attempts at assassinating people by the ck Ying Empire in the past, this is the first time they have been this careless." The Left Elder stated. "They always used to act on precise intel and attacked when the target was the most vulnerable." "And yet they dared to attack right in front of Lord Imperator." The minister spoke, finding it quite ridiculous.


    While he had heard a lot about Lin Mu''s strength, he had finally gotten to witness it. The assassin was at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm, but his speed was blinding due to his skill.


    Even if the assassin had diedter, she would have still managed to kill the Treasury Minster with the poison. It would have been a great loss to the Imperial Court and would certainly harm their functioning.


    The Treasury Minster was after all, a very high ranking minister that handled the wealth of the court and the Imperial Family.


    "I suppose they don''t have much information about me either," Lin Mu said after thinking about it. "Indeed. I don''t think they know more than the appointment of a new Imperial Imperator." The Left Elder nodded.


    It wasmon knowledge now and pretty much everyone in the Capital City knew about it. Though the number of people who had seen Lin Mu was limited thus, there was still ack of information. Even the fact that he was now living in the Imperial Azalea Courtyard was unknown to pretty much everyone outside of the Imperial Court and the people associated with them.


    ''Perhaps that''s why they thought targeting the Treasury Minister when he was visiting me was a good opportunity.'' Lin Mu reckoned they simply thought he was some noble that the Minister was visiting for some reason.


    Normally, an assassin should have considered it suspicious, since it was not often that the Treasurer Minister visited someone personally. But the chance was a rare one, thus they couldn''t resist the temptation.


    "Looks like we''ll just have to monitor the situation for now." Lin Mu stated before the others began to leave. "Little Shrubby, go with them and check for spies." He requester .


    "Thank you for this. It''ll help us immensely." The Left and Right Elders stated. "We''ll keep you informed of any news, Lord Imperator."


    "Thank you for your help once again, Lord Imperator. I''ll ensure that the banquet will be memorable for you." The Treasury minister was certainly grateful. "And I''ll ensure the security is good for it too¡­ personally." He added.


    "Very well." Lin Mu said as they all left.


    The servants had also finished cleaning up the aftermath of the failed assassination attempt. Thankfully, most of the food was fine, so Lin Mu just quickly chowed it all down and returned to the task at hand.


    "Let''s take a look¡­" Lin Mu held the Spatial Storage tool that was in the form of a box and checked inside.


    The Treasury minister had personally handed it to Lin Mu, and it had quite a few security measures on it too. Lin Mu could feel the arrays scanning him before finally permitting him to look inside. Of course, if he wished to he could take things out anyways, but it was definitely extra work.


    "Oh? That''s a lot of materials." Lin Mu could sense a neat assortment of materials within the box.


    They had all been arranged ording to his instructions, making it easy for him to use. With this done, Lin Mu simply transferred everything outside and sat down to use them.


    There were herbs, minerals, fruits, pills and more in them that Lin Mu had never seen before. They ranged from the lowest mortal to the peak immortal grade and were highly valuable. The box alone had a value that might exceed the entire wealth of a n.


    And Lin Mu began to ''consume'' them nonstop.


    Having developed the cores, the speed of absorption was a lot faster and Lin Mu barely had to hold them for a second before they were already turned into pure energy and guided into his body.


    Bit by bit, his cores started to grow once more as tiny fractions were of elemental essences were added to them.


    While Lin Mu focused on this, the rest of the Imperial Grounds were undergoing a tense situation. All the servants were gathered batch by batch and went for an inspection. The presence of Little Shrubby was kept hidden, of course, as the beast merely stayed inside a room while the servants were gathered in a square outside.


    Little Shrubby could smell them from far enough, so there were no issues for him. Plus, it helped avert any suspicion about their actions too.


    The servants were stressed but weren''t too bothered as they knew this was the usual for a situation like this. Whenever an assassination attempt happened, it was normal protocol to inspect all the people that might be involved and the servants were usually first in line.


    But they were a bit surprised, as the interrogation was lighter than usual. They had no idea that this was merely a formality, as the true assessment was actually being done by Little Shrubby.


    A couple of days passed like this before all the servants had been inspected. From them, Little Shrubby picked out three servants that were suspicious to him.


    They didn''t have the energy of the ck Ying Empire members, but they had the simr scent of ink and resining from their bodies. The beastmunicated this to Lin Mu, who then gave out a report to the Discipline hall members. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    To not arouse any suspicion, these three servants were monitored secretly and all their actions were observed, but nothing strange was found.


    "Lord Imperator, we''ve looked into their background. They''ve all been servants here for at least two hundred years and have a good record." The Left Elder reported.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps we need to monitor them in a different way. They might pretend to be ''normal'' until given the orders, or might be getting them in a way we don''t know about."

 Chapter 2461 Employing Ashy

    Chapter 2461 Employing Ashy


    The information was a bit disappointing but not surprising to Lin Mu.


    "Hmm¡­ perhaps we need to monitor them in a different way. They might pretend to be ''normal'' until given the orders, or might be getting them in a way we don''t know about," Lin Mu spoke. "I''m guessing the assassin was the same?" he asked.


    "Yes, the servant girl had a clean record and had been in service for thest two hundred years too." The Elder replied. "Any links between the four?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Nothing particr. They are all from the Capital city and were born here tomoner families. Their cultivation bases are also low, being at the First Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm." The Right Elder answered. "Though we haven''t checked if they''re hiding it somehow." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ checking it will definitely make them suspicious and the people behind them will hide." Lin Mu now understood more about how they could be working. "If these people are indeed linked and are involved with the ck Ying Empire, they could be a operating independently of them. We''ll have to utilize a different strategy for them." He thought of something.


    "How shall we do that?" Left Elder asked.


    "Let me handle it this time." Lin Mu replied. "I have a method, but it''s best to not reveal it for the safety of the n." He stated.


    The two elders were surprised, but nodded nevertheless.


    "We shall trust in you, Lord Imperator." The two elders said in unison. "Please don''t hesitate to ask for any help." They added.


    Lin Mu talked to them about a few minor things he needed to set up before sending them off.


    ~Sigh~


    "Didn''t expect things would get like this¡­" Lin Mu let out a breath and went over the rough n in his mind. He thought about it for a few minutes before making it more concrete. "I guess she''ll get to contribute this time." Lin Mu muttered to himself before sending out a message to his tamed beasts, asking them toe back.


    While they did that, Lin Mu sent out a message to the Treasury Minister and requested for a few items that he''ll be needing.


    ~CHIRP~


    ~HISS~HISS~HISS~HISS~


    A couple minutes after that, Lin Mu heard the sounds of his beasts.


    The trionded in the garden and looked at their master.


    "You called for us, master?" Xiao Yin asked.


    "Are we going out?" Xiao Yang asked.


    "Do you have bugs?" Ashy asked.


    "Well, we''re not going out right now. But instead if have some work for you guys," Lin Mu replied. "Ashy specifically."


    "Me?" the small bird tilted her head. "Yes, I have a secret mission for you." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    "Secret Mission!?" The bird seemed strangely excited. "What do I do?!" ''Looks like she''s eager.'' Lin Mu reckoned it was just a fun thing to do for her. "I need you to spy on someone." He said before exining everything in detail. T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "I can do that." Ashy said with confidence. "I''ve been practicing my skill a lot in the forest. Sister Yin and brother Yang have been helping me with it." She added.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu was pleased. "Though before that there are a few things I need to prepare for you." He stated.


    "What is that?" the trio asked.


    "Well, a storage treasure for Ashy and something that''ll help hide her presence better." Lin Mu replied. "And don''t worry, I''ll make a storage gem for you too Xiao Yin." He added.


    "Okay~" Xiao Yin was waiting for a while.


    "Yay! My own Spatial Storage treasure!" The ck bird hopped around in joy.


    While the beasts celebrated, the servants soon brought over what Lin Mu had requested.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu took out a dull grey rock that had many pockmarks on it. "What is this?" Ashy asked. "Is this my spatial storage tool? But how will I carry it? It''s too big." The chatter bird shot off a bunch of questions.


    "Its just the raw material. I still need to refine it." Lin Mu chuckled before holding the rock. "Meld."


    ~SHUA~


    With precise control, Lin Mu shaved off the surface of the rock until a shiny ckyer was seen inside it. Unlike the dull, rough greyyer outside, this was a lot smooth.


    A few secondster, Lin Mu had fully removed all the coating and revealed the ck crystal inside.


    "Ooo, it''s so shiny!" Ashy''s eyes gleamed seeing the ck crystal. "What is it?" she asked.


    "It''s called as Lustrous Edge Obsidian." Lin Mu answered. "Its nice." The Bird eyed the crystal with desire.


    "Now I need to make it ''not shiny''." Lin Mu said.


    "Why? It won''t be pretty anymore," Ashy asked with slight sadness.


    "It''ll give you away if it''s shiny." Lin Mu replied. "Don''t worry, you can have the rest of it. We only need a small part." He said as he used Meld to cut out a slice from the crystal.


    The slice was barely a couple millimeters thick and was about six centimeters long and three centimeters wide.


    Of course, this was just the start as Lin Mu then began to carve it. With Meld, his carvings were very precise and soon the slice was converted into a small feather!


    "There we go." Lin Mu was pleased with his work. ''That practice has certainlye in handy.'' He could tell his control was a lot better than before.


    "Oooo, it looks so pretty now." Ashy found the petite feather rather nice. "Come here. I need to adjust it ording to your feathers." Lin Mu said as he checked the right spot for the feather to be put.


    Ashy waited patiently as Lin Mu got the right measurements and began refining the feather to fit her body. This took a bit long and when he was finally done, it was already nighttime.


    "Okay, it''s done. Now to see if it fits." Lin Mu carefully slid the tiny pinkie nail sized feather onto Ashy''s back.

 Chapter 2462 Lustrous Edge Obsidian

    Chapter 2462 Lustrous Edge Obsidian


    The size of the feather was much smaller than the original slice and if anyone were to see it now, they''d find it to be a rather exquisite work of art. Every fment of the feather was precise andyered perfectly with each other, forming the shape that matched Ashy''s other feathers. Lin Mu had practiced using Meld quite a bit in the Sleepscape in order to improve his control over it. He had seen how Lin Mo had used Meld in the bridge ne before and how easy it was for the devilish man.


    Despite the fact he was using it on such arge scale, the man had still managed to precisely peel off the skin of thousands of immortals at once. Of course this was a rather gruesome application but Lin Mu knew the skill needed behind that was not low. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Lin Mu reckoned if Lin Mo could do it with his body, then he should be able to do the same. Though he was still doubtful as to how that man had managed to be better than him, despite the fact that he had never actually gotten to practice using it before.


    ''Lin Mo''s skills were certainly something else¡­ The Devil Sword especially¡­ That''s a very strong sword technique, perhaps the strongest I''ve seen so far.'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but think.


    Even after talking a lot with Xukong, he had still been unable to figure out just what Lin Mo exactly was and how did he obtain his skills. But one thing was for sure, he was much stronger than Lin Mu and could get stronger as long as he was allowed to kill.


    After all, he had managed to reach the Transcendent Immortal Level by killing enough ck Fin Ind members.


    It almost made Lin Mu tempted to try out the Murdering Heart Sutra again, but this time on his own. But he had managed to control himself, knowing that there was no telling if it was him who was really in control or if Lin Mo would take hold again. At the very least, the man had not shown or presented himself in any form so far.


    Lin Mu wondered if he would only do so when the Sutra was used or if there was some other condition. Since the first time he had used the sutra, there was no appearance of Lin Mo and he had managed to absorb souls just fine.


    ~CHIRP~


    He was brought out his thoughts by Ashy''s voice, as she hopped around with her new feather.


    "It fits perfectly!" Ashy said chirping happily.


    "That''s good, I can start adding the arrays now." Lin Mu spoke. "Give it back for now since it won''t stay on your back for long this way. I still need to add adhering formations too it too." He added.


    "Okay~" Ashy let Lin Mu take the feather off.


    The next part of the process was going to be a bit harder, but Lin Mu was up for the challenge. He now needed to turn it into a Spatial Storage tool.


    "This is your first time making a proper Spatial Storage tool, now that I think of it." Xukong spoke up.


    "Ah yeah¡­ though technically the first time. I did make those prototypes while we practiced." Lin Mu recalled him doing a few tests back in the Sleepscape.


    "That was with easier materials though. This one is going to be harder." Xukong replied. "Lustrous Edge Obsidian isn''t exactly the best materials for Spatial Storage tools." He added.


    "But it''s the only material that matches Ashy''s feathers and can be refined enough to add a couple of arrays to it." Lin Mu stated. "At least among the materials that are essible to us." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ true. Plus, you need to make it so that she can use it with Spirit Qi too." Xukong reminded.


    "I should be able to make a dual energy channel for it so that it works with both Spirit Qi and Immortal Qi. Or simply add a storage of Immortal Qi that is linked with a controlling formation that can use Spirit Qi for instructions and direct the Immortal Qi for the actual work." Lin Mu exined his n.


    "Oh, very ambitious." Xukong could tell it was not going to be simple. "I''ll look forward to it." He decided to simply wait and watch.


    "Of course." Lin Mu said as he held the tiny obsidian feather and began the first step.


    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~


    The rocky armor coated his palms as the Longgui Bulwark Armor technique was activated. Lin Mu then closed both of his palms, cupping the small feather between it. It might seem like the obsidian feather was very delicate and break from this, but that was far from the truth.


    In fact, the Lustrous Edge Obsidian was a very hard mineral. It was harder than mostmon diamonds and was one of the reasons why it was valuable for weapon refinement.


    In fact, the main use for it was making Spear heads, Arrow tips and small daggers. Not only was it very hard and durable, when sharpened it could hold its edge for a very long time and against a lot of damage too.


    The best part about it was that it also allowed one to add formations to it. As such, its durability could be enhanced even further. The only w in it, at least in Lin Mu''s case, was that it wasn''t exactly the best material to make a Spatial Storage tool with.


    ''The capacity won''t be high, but for Ashy it should be more than enough,'' Lin Mu thought as he began the refinement process.


    ~HUALA~


    Searing hot energy was released from his palms as it coated the obsidian feather. His closed palms turned into a small furnace as they heated the feather to hellish temperatures.


    Lin Mu checked it from time to time, and only stopped when he could tell its color had changed.


    From its previous shiny ck, it was now a more matte ck!

 Chapter 2463 Microscopic Inscriptions

    Chapter 2463 Microscopic Inscriptions


    Opening his palms, Lin Mu quickly let the feather get cooled down, letting its new color set in.


    "It''s not shiny anymore?" Ashy titled her head in sadness. "It''ll fit better in your feathers and won''t catch attention." Lin Mu replied. "Plus it''s easier to add the formations now." He added.


    Thetter was the major reason for doing this, as raw Lustrous Edge Obsidian had a crystal structure that didn''t allow for runes to be added properly. It was certainly possible to add them but the number of formations that could be added would be limited to small ones.


    But once heated, the crystalline structure changed to another arrangement, which allowed for runes to be added without any sh. This dide with the disadvantage that the durability of the obsidian was reduced, but that didn''t matter in the long term once formations for toughness were added. Besides, in the case of Ashy this was even less important as this was going to be a Spatial Storage tool and not a weapon.


    And since the arrays of a Spatial Storage tool wereplex and big, Lin Mu needed as much freedom as possible in making it.


    ~huu~


    ''Now for the second step¡­'' Lin Mu took a deep breath as his immortal sense turned into microscopic tendrils that covered the Obsidian feather. He needed absolute control over it all and needed to know exactly what was happening within the structure of the feather. This was important since the method he was going to use was not the usual carving or inscription that was done on the surface.


    Instead he was going to be adding the runes directly into the crystal structure!


    This was one of the hardest methods of Tool refinement and took special skills and training to do this. Lin Mu had an advantage here since he could directly look inside the surface of the feather with his Spatial Perception and use his Immortal sense to guide him. But in addition to this, he had his Formation Dao Embryo which was going to be his main tool of doing all this.


    "Rune Shaping Brush!" Lin Mu summoned his Formation Dao Embryo and held it firmly in his hand.


    ~SHUA~


    He controlled its hairs to change a bit, as a tiny hair elongated from it. The hair was ethereal and microscopic, allowing him to have better control over his inscribing.


    "Meld!" Lin Mu held the obsidian feather in the air by locking the space around it and then brought the brush closer. "Phase," next he used his ring''s third Spatial skill allowing the brush hair to directly enter the feather!


    Having done that, he kept his hand still, even going so far as to use meld on it to lock it.


    The real inscribing was not going to be done by hand strokes, but rather by the singr brush hair that would be moved with his immortal sense!


    That was the only way he could do precise inscriptions at a microscopic scale.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    With multiple spatial skills active, Lin Mu needed all of his focus, thus the next thing he did was to chant the Severing Heart Sutra, removing all distractions from his mind.


    Finally, the singr brush hair started to move, and inscribed the very first rune in the crystalline structure of the feather.


    ''Huu~ First out of many toe.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he moved to the second rune.


    Bit by bit, he continued, taking a pause after each rune to ensure that it was stable and would not affect the others. This caused the process to be very slow, as it took him at least a minute to finish a single rune, inspect it and then move on.


    This meant that he could barely do sixty runes in an hour, which was very small when one considered the fact that a single formation usually had over a hundred runes. And that was only for the most simple formations.


    Theplex ones such as those needed for a Spatial Storage Array were highly expansive and easily had over a hundred thousand runes at the minimum. And this was for Spatial Storage tools that had a small capacity. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    If it were a big one, the number of runes would increase by several multiples.


    At this pace, Lin Mu would barely be able to finish around one thousand five hundred runes, which might be enough for a couple of formations. If he were to consider the entire array it might even take him over a month to finish it.


    But Lin Mu knew this was just the start.


    And sure enough, about an hourter, his speed had improved and now he was doing one rune in forty five seconds.


    He was only slow at the start as he needed to be careful, but once he had a grasp on it, he was improving and getting faster.


    Xukong who was observing everything couldn''t help but be impressed.


    ''He''s utilizing all his Spatial Skills to make a tool that would normally be impossible for most.'' Xukong thought to himself. ''Looks like observing Lin Mo''s skills has inspired him quite a bit too.''


    If there was even a single part of this missing, whether it be one of his skills, the Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo or even his impable control over his Immortal sense, making the array in this tiny feather would be impossible.


    Other formation masters would simply inscribe on the surface and let the runes sink into the body of the material. This is how most of the other Spatial Storage tools were made with small gemstones. But Lin Mu couldn''t'' do that with the Lustrous Edge Obsidian as its structure wouldn''t allow something like that.


    And the surface area of the tiny feather was too small for normal surface inscriptions too, thus the normal method of adding formationsyer byyer didn''t work either.


    But this difficulty had another side effective that was going to be perfect for Ashy.

 Chapter 2464 First Spatial Storage Tool

    Chapter 2464 First Spatial Storage Tool


    Due to the way the runes would be added to between the crystal structure of the obsidian, it would release almost no Qi fluctuations and even the Spatial Fluctuations would be masked.


    The disadvantage of the material would turn into an advantage.


    Ashy''s Dao Skill Shadow Dive allowed her to hide within shadows without notice, but there was still the periods between entering and exiting that could get her caught.


    This was the part that needed to be the most stealthy and to do that, Lin Mu had thought of using several Isting as well as Qi suppressing talismans.


    But those also needed to be activated beforehand, which could release a small amount of Qi fluctuations that the experts could sense. Thus to further tie it down, the crystalline structure of the Lustrous Edge Obsidian would provide further suppression.


    Another thing Lin Mu knew was that since Ashy was still in the Dao Treading Realm she wouldn''t have enough Spirit Qi to maintain her Qi skill for extended periods of time. Shadow Dive had a rtively lower cost aspared to most other Dao Skills and only consumed a major part of Qi when it was activated. Maintaining the skill didn''t need that much spirit Qi, but it was better to be careful about it. So Lin Mu needed for Ashy to be able to absorb the spirit Qi from spirit stones that would be kept in the Spatial Storage tool as backup.


    The absorption of the spirit stones could also result in fluctuation that needed to be suppressed.


    As such Lin Mu''s focus was on insting it as much as he could.


    Minute after minute passed as Lin Mu engrossed himself fully in making the Spatial Storage Tool. His speed of making runes further improved and now he could make ten runes within a minute!


    With such speed he was now able toplete at least one formation within an hour and by the time another day had passed he had finished nearly half of the entire Spatial Storage Array!


    Lin Mu could feel his own proficiency with his Spatial Skills improve as he used them nonstop. He could sense that his control was getting finer and finer, and he only needed the tiniest bit of Qi to make the single strand of the Rune Shaping Brush move.


    One more day passed like this and he had finallypleted the entire Spatial Storage Array!


    ~HUALA~


    Upon adding the final rune, the entire obsidian feather seemingly trembled before rising into the air.


    ~WHOOSH~


    A small vortex of immortal Qi formed above it that was barely a couple meters wide as it continuously absorbed the energy.


    "It is¡­ Done¡­" Lin Mu finally lowered his arms, releasing them from the lock of Meld.


    "Congrattion, Lin Mu." Xukong who had been silently observing without a blink spoke. "You''ve done it. You''ve made your first proper Spatial Storage Tool!"


    ~CHIRP~


    Ashy who had fallen asleep a while back woke up from themotion and looked at the obsidian feather that was floating in the air on its own.


    ~HISS~ HISS~


    The twins also woke up from the immortal Qi fluctuations from the vortex, making them a bit surprised.


    "Is itpleted!?" Ashy asked with excitement.


    "Yes." Lin Mu confirmed. "It''s not justpleted." Xukong added. "You''ve managed to raise its grade too¡­ This is already a higher end Mid Grade Immortal Spatial Storage tool." That was the limit of what Lin Mu could make with the restrictions of the material. "If you had selected another more conducive material for this, it might have already reached the High Grade." Xukong stated.


    "I supposed that''s a good start." Lin Mu let out a tired breath as he watched his first Spatial Storage Tool finally settle down. "The vortex has disappeared so the preliminary consciousness should have formed." He muttered.


    The appearance of a Immortal Qi vortex wasn''t just for the breakthroughs of immortals. It could also appear during the sessful creation of Immortal tools, weapons, formations and even pills. In the case of Immortal tools and weapons, it meant that the preliminary form of the tools consciousness would be created.


    This was what couldter on grow to be a proper weapon or tool spirit.


    For Low Grade Tools and Mid Grade tools it took a while for it to be born, and usually no such vortex would appear. Instead they would have to be nurtured overtime by the users Qi or absorb it from its environment.


    But if one was capable they could skip this step and directly create something like what Lin Mu had done. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "Now to test it¡­" Lin Mu gently picked up the Obsidian Feather and probed it with his immortal sense.


    ~SHUA~


    As soon as he did, all the formations within the feather became visible to him in his mind. The runes formed chains that turned intoworks that crisscrossed between the crystalline structure of the Lustrous Edge Obsidian.


    From anrger scale it almost looked like an intricate pattern that was weaving between the microscopic crystals of the feather. On the surface no chance could be seen but if one could probe deeper they would see the runes.


    But this was only visible to Lin Mu, as his Immortal Sense had been epted as the creator. If anyone else were to observe this, they would only see a in ckyer.


    ''The Natural Istion of the crystals is working with the masking formation well.'' Lin Mu analyzed. ''The spatial containment formation is also stable along with the other supportive formations.'' He checked next.


    Having verified that everything was perfect, Lin Mu peered into the spatial pocket that had been created in the Minor Void by the feather''s arrays.


    It was about two square meters wide, which was tinypared to most other Spatial Storage tools even if one considered those at the Spirit Realm.


    But it had one of the best instions one could find in the Immortal Realm.


    Now all that was left was for Ashy to connect with it and brand it.

 Chapter 2465 Overachieving

    Chapter 2465 Overachieving


    "Come Ashy, it is finally yours." Lin Mu said calling the bird closer.


    "Put it on, put it on, put it on!" Ashy said with great excitement.


    She was like a child that had just gotten a new toy and couldn''t wait to go home and y with it.


    Lin Mu lightly slid it under her back feathers, while Ashy connected it with her Spirit Sense.


    ~SHUA~


    Within seconds the Obsidian Feather''s arrays recognized Ashy as its owner and registered it deep in its core. ~HUA~


    Once that happened, the immortal Qi storage that Lin Mu had added to it activated, flowing through the runes of the array. This then flowed into a smaller control formation that was run by spirit Qi instead. With this, Ashy could now control an Immortal Spatial Storage tool despite not being an Immortal Beast!


    "I can see! I can see the empty space inside!" Ashy jumped in joy.


    "Try storing something." Lin Mu prompted.


    ~CHIRP~


    Ashy quickly dived to the remaining Lustrous Edge Obsidian that was left on the side and touched it with her beak.


    ~SHUA~


    "IT WENT IN!" The bird''s tiny eyes went wide. "HAHAHA, IT WENT IN!" She had seen this being done by other cultivators thousands of time and had also seen Little Shrubby and Xiao Yang do it before. Thus she had been looking forward to it for a long time now. Being able to do it herself was incredibly thrilling for the tiny bird.


    She yed with the tool nonstop, storing and withdrawing the stone again and again before flying around and putting random things that she could get her beak or legs on.


    She even managed to store an entire stone chair inside the storage which she couldn''t help but marvel at.


    While she was strong enough to lift the stone chair, making it disappear like this was quite fun for her.


    Lin Mu let her y around for a few minutes, after which she finally calmed down enough for him to bring her back.


    "Remove the rest of the things, and put these in." Lin Mu said, pointing to several stacks of talismans and a pile of spirit stones on the table.


    "Okay~" Ashy did as told and quickly managed to store them.


    This ended up filling about a quarter of her storage which left her with more than enough space to do other things with.


    "You know what these are right?" Lin Mu asked, showing her a few copies of the talismans.


    "Yes, this is the Immortal Qi Isting Talisman, this is the Diamond Mountain Talisman and this is the Hundred Curtain Immortal Barrier Talisman." Ashy recognized them all. Good. Use them whenever you need and always have an Immortal Qi Isting Talisman active when you are using Shadow Dive and the other two defensive talismans whenever you are out." Lin Mu instructed. "I''ve also set up a channeling formation as part of the feather''s array so it''ll be able to directly provide you with Spirit Qi from the Spirit Stones kept inside." He added.


    The Spatial Storage Array that Lin Mu had made was no generic one.


    He had added many other formations to it to make his own special modifications.


    With these, not only did it increase Ashy''s stealth, but she would also be able to use the Talismans and the Spirit stones without needing to actually take them out. This actually something that wouldn''t be possible for most other materials used to make Spatial Storage tools, as it would interfere with the Spatial bubble''s barrier that made up the actual storage. But since the array was construed in such a way that it was part of the crystalline structure, Lin Mu could use a Qi channeling formation without interfering with the stability of the Space Isting Formation.


    ~HUALA~


    Ashy tested it out and the three talismans activated effortlessly.


    Other than Lin Mu, no one else could feel the Qi fluctuations as Ashy''s body was protected by them. Now even if she was attacked by a cultivator at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm, she would be able to protect herself and get away.


    Though this was only extra protection just in case, as she actually couldn''t be harmed within the shadows themselves. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    If it really came to the point where she was detected, Lin Mu would have to jump in to protect her.


    He hoped that it would nevere to that point.


    "Let''s test out a few things and you''ll be good to go." Lin Mu said as he did a few more observations just in case.


    Since this was his very first proper Spatial Storage tool, he wanted to be as through as he could with it. Only when he was fully satisfied and Xukong have him total approval did he conclude them.


    "So what do I do with this now?" Ashy asked. "What''s the work?" "It''s like this¡­" Lin Mu began to exin the details of the n to her. He went over every part of it and how he wanted her to do it with her Shadow Dive Skill. The bird needed a little more rification on some parts, but eventually she understood it all.


    "So, can you do it?" Lin Mu asked for confirmation.


    "YES! I can do it!" Ashy answered with confidence. "Alright, go practice for a bit with the twins. You can practice in the city with people and see how it goes." Lin Mu suggested.


    "WOO! THAT WILL BE FUN! HIDE AND SEEK TIME!" Ashy said as she quickly flew away.


    "Go on you two." Lin Mu spoke. "I''ll prepare your Spatial Storage tool in the meantime too, Xiao Yin." He added.


    "Yay~" Xiao Yin was pleased and quickly flew away with her brother.


    With them gone, Lin Mu quickly sent out requests for a few more materials.


    ''I''ve gotten a lot of insights when making the feather¡­ I can''t wait to test them out!'' Lin Mu didn''t feel tired at all, instead he was now excited to do it all over again.

 Chapter 2466 Ashys Concerning Gossip

    Chapter 2466 Ashy''s Concerning Gossip


    The process of making a Spatial Storage tool for Xiao Yin was a lot easier for Lin Mu after he had already made one for Ashy. It only took him a little over a day to finish it.


    Not only did he have a lot more freedom in it as he wasn''t using a restrictive material like the Lustrous Edge Obsidian, but having improved from the previous experience his speed of making it was several times faster too.


    Simr to Xiao Yang, Lin Mu made a Spatial Storage Gem for Xiao Yin.


    He used a Immortal Red Cuprite for it, which he shaped into a oval gem. Getting this wasn''t hard as it was a mineral that was found among many others in the Dao Wind Empire and was actually amon one often used for Spatial Storage Tools.


    Raw Immortal Red Cuprite was usually in the form of irregr chunks founds among other ores and was known for retaining formations well. The only problem with it was that it needed to be inscribed with formations before it was shaped. This caused problems for new refiners or those that didn''t have enough skill as it could lead to the damage to the formations when shaping it into whatever form it needed to be.


    But with Meld, Lin Mu had no such problem and he easily inscribed all the formations needed to make arge Spatial Storage Array along with a few additional modifications.


    He added a secondary tracking formation that''ll allow him to find Xiao Yin with precision. While he could still find it through his link, it was mostly through a vague feeling thus this was more convenient. Plus he could use an additional tracking map to pin point Xiao Yin''s location.


    Another modification he added was a emergency escape formation. It was basically a Lesser Teleportation Talisman converted into a formation to be added to the array. Lin Mu added this in addition to a few more defensive formations that could help the beast in case of emergencies.


    As for Offensive arrays, Lin Mu added a rather simple repulsive formation.


    It could automatically absorb Qi from the environment or even be powered by the users own Qi. Lin Mu reckoned this was the best for Xiao Yin, since her Yin Immortal Qi was a lot powerful than any other offensive formation he might add.


    Using it with her Qi would create a repulsive st strong enough to break through most defenses.


    Having finished this though, Lin Mu wondered what kind of weapon would suit Xiao Yin.


    ''She wanted one like her brother, but it''ll be hard to find a fit for her.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    It wasn''t like he could just go and request for a Peak Grade Immortal weapon. Even in the Imperial Feng Dynasty there were only a handful of them in the first ce.


    ''It''ll also have to be something that''spatible with her.'' Lin Mu though finding a Yin attribute weapon would be quite hard to find.


    While there were other elemental weapons like Dark, Shadow, Ice, or other Yin oriented attributes that were crosspatible, they wouldn''t necessarily bepatible if the weapon didn''t ept her.


    ~Sigh~


    "I guess I''ll just have to wait for the right opportunity for it." Lin Mu reckoned.


    "You''ve already made another mid grade spatial storage tool that''s almost at the High Grade." Xukong spoke. "If you don''t find a suitable weapon, you can just make one for herter." He suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ I suppose I can do that." Lin Mu would be up for a challenge like that too. But it''ll have to be at ater time when he had a lot more time for it. He still had more pressing matters to attend to right now. He was already pleased with his work with the two spatial storage tools right now. The Cuprite Spatial Storage Gem hade out well and it would only take it a bit of time to be nurtured enough to reach the High Grade.


    Though it being in the ownership of Xiao Yin meant that it would probably happen earlier than most Immortal tools and weapons. Even now though, its storage capacity was quite high, spanning about an entireone thousand cubic square meters of volume!


    It was even bigger than the Spatial Storage Gem that Xiao Yang had.


    ''I suppose I can make a few modifications to Xiao Yang''s gem too.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But a few momentster, he brought his focus back to the task at hand and sent out a few messages to check up on the situation.


    ''Looks like no changes so far¡­ I guess it''s time to put Ashy on the job.'' Lin Mu decided and called the beasts back.


    About half an hourter, they all returned, Ashy particrly happy. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "How was it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "It was great! I could be in their shadows and no one knew for an entire day!" Ashy replied. "I heard so many things." "Like what?" Lin Mu asked curiously.


    "The Shopkeeper of the ck Axe Weaponries has three children but none of them are his own. The Patriarch of the Chun n of the Eight District is thinking of getting another wife but his current seven wives are threating to castrate him.


    The fourth distracts guard captain has had constipation for thest year, the wife of the Rites Minister is cheating on him and all her kids are from her personal guard¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­"


    Ashy shot off a string of highly concerning matters as if they were mere gossip and Lin Mu couldn''t help but bee speechless.


    ''What kind of people was she even listening too!?'' Lin Mu was baffled as she revealed tens of concerning things and only a handful of them were ''normal''.


    Having listened to them all, he couldn''t help but feel that the people of the Capital city had a very ''colorful'' life if anything, despite the events happening right now.

 Chapter 2467 An Unassuming Black Bird

    Chapter 2467 An Unassuming ck Bird


    Ashy had heard a lot of ''gossip'' in her trial run which was more than satisfactory for Lin Mu.


    ''She even managed to snoop on a Minister and several high ranking members of nobility and guards¡­ I suppose this should be more than enough for the job.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Alright, that''s enough." Lin Mu asked Ashy to stop. "You did really good." He praised the bird.


    "I did! Really!?" The bird asked.


    "Yeah. You should do well for this job too." Lin Mu replied. "You member what I told you right?" "Yep, I''ll sneak into her shadow and listen to everything." Ashy nodded. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Good." Lin Mu spoke before sending out a message to the Discipline Hall elders, Commander Dui as well as Crown Prince Feng Shun.


    He merely told them that he had begun the investigation and that they should withdraw all surveince from the suspected servant.


    The Crown Prince asked if Lin Mu was sure of this method, and in response he simply sent the prince the transcription of all that Ashy had told him.


    The Crown Prince only had one word in reply after that.


    "Damn."


    Taking that as approval Lin Mu showed Ashy the appearance of the servant to Ashy and told her where she would be present.


    "You can get there on your own right?" Lin Mu asked.


    "Yep, I know all parts of the pce now!" Ashy said with great confidence. "Hiss~ we explored the pce a lot already and know all the secret paths." Xiao Yin spoke.


    "Yes~ we even know where the nobles sneak to meet their mistresses!" Xiao Yang added.


    ''Looks like it''s not a problem limited to Ashy¡­ the three have been getting into some strange stuff.'' Lin Mu wondered if it needed to be addressed.


    But for the time being he decided to let it be.


    "Alright then, you can head out Ashy." Lin Mu stated.


    "Can we go too?" the twins asked.


    "No, its best to let her be alone. I already added protection for her too, so she''ll be fine. You two might get detectedter." Lin Mu replied.


    "Okay." The twins understood.


    "Beside, I have your gem ready, Xiao Yin." Lin Mu added.


    "YAY!" The ck serpent was highly pleased.


    "I''ll see you allter!" Ashy said as she quickly pped away.


    ~WHOOSH~


    "Here, take this." Lin Mu said as he handed the red gem that he had refined.


    ~SHUA~


    Xiao Yin easily made a connection with the Immortal Red Cuprite Gem and branded it, making the gem fly out of Lin Mu''s hand and attach to her forehead.


    "It works!" Xiao Yin yed with the Storage Gem a bit and tried storing and withdrawing things which was quite easy for her.


    She took all the things she had asked Xiao Yang to keep in his storage and finally moved them to her own.


    Lin Mu also gave her more items for use like Talismans, pills, immortals stones and more. If both the serpents had enough like this, they would have a better level of safety.


    And while he was doing this, Ashy had already reached the location of the servant.


    ~WHOOSH~


    She came to a stop at an awning that hung over the kitchen of a courtyard. It was a separate building which was pretty much only used by servants and the nobles rarely came by. This was the ce where the suspected assassin worked as a cook''s assistance.


    ''That should be her.'' Ashy quickly spotted the girl who was helping chop vegetables for the cook. The kitchen was rather busy since it was almost lunch time and there were at least thirteen servants hard at work here, along with many that were going in an our carrying dishes and ingredients. And yet with so many people present, not a single person found Ashy suspicious.


    A majority didn''t even look at her and even the couple that did look at her barely paid any attention. After all, she wasn''t the only bird present there. At least thirty more birds were sitting on the awnings and the roofs of the kitchen, waiting to peck at the leftovers that might fall or be thrown.


    It was a normal sight for the servants as such they didn''t pay attention to it at all. As long as the bird didn''te disturb them while working or taint the materials they didn''t care.


    Thus, a bird like Ashy that didn''t even seem to be an Immortal was of the least concern to them. After all, half the servants present here were immortals too and even the ones that were not immortals were at least at the Dao Treading Realm.


    None of the bird were of any threat to them so they would never care about them.


    This was also why Ashy was the perfect for this job. She was just an Unassuming ck Bird.


    The bird simply watched the servant girl and observed how her shadow moved. It was currently noon, so the shadow being cast on the ground was rather small, leaving little space for Ashy to use. But once the servant girl moved in front of the stove, Ashy moved.


    The light from the stove''s mes cast a long shadow that merged into the shadow of a pir on the side. ~WHOOSH~


    Ashy silently dived into the shadow of a pir under her, with none the wiser.


    She then moved to the Servant Girl shadow that was connected with the pir''s shadow and calmly watched as the shadow disconnected again when the girl moved.


    After her control had improved, Ashy had learned that she could actually jump between different shadows as long as they were connected or at least touching. This is exactly what they had been practicing in the forest as it had a lot of shadows and allowed Ashy to practice to her hearts content.


    The twins would hide somewhere and Ashy would have to tag them without the serpents sensing her. The little game had went great for her and she had improved quite a bit.


    And now all she had to do was to wait and observe.

 Chapter 2468 Exploding Outpost

    Chapter 2468 Exploding Outpost


    Lin Mu had been cultivating these past four days and had finally finished absorbing about half of the materials he had obtained from the Treasury Minister.


    It had grown his cores by varying amounts but they were certainly bigger than before. Having tested out the control on his ''new'' elements, Lin Mu found it to be better than before though still not at the level where he would be able to use them freely in a battle.


    Other than this, he also checked up on Ashy regrly as she could give him quickly updates through their link. So far, the suspected servant girl had done nothing suspicious and had been following her regr routine of work and rest.


    Lin Mu had been wondering if they were wrong, but he reckoned waiting a few more days was needed as this could very well be a method to throw off suspicion. This only became more apparent to him once the reports from Crown Prince Feng Shun and the Discipline hall arrived.


    "They actually managed to find an outpost!?" Lin Mu was surprised reading this. "So Daoist Chu''s work really came to fruition." His suggestion had worked out.


    Apparently, in one of his inspections, Daoist Chu ended up finding a Secret Spatial Storage tool that had been freshly put in the market. He easily sent someone to bought it and unraveled the security on it. By now, the Formation Masters of the imperial court had already figured out how to open the encryption without too much risk and only needed for the tool to be brought to them.


    Not to mention, half the time the seal that was put on the Spatial Storage tool was that of a blood seal. As such opening it was rtively easy since they had been capturing plenty of ck Ying Empire members.


    Finding which blood fit it was easy due to the database they established and simply having topare the formation''s details.


    Having done this basically meant they had the master key to every secret Spatial Storage tool that the ck Ying Empire members were using. At least for the time being¡­


    But thankfully, before they had the time to change it, the Discipline hall uncovered the location of thetest outpost. The message they had found in the storage tool was about the update they had sent for all the members about it being moved.


    It was clear that the ck Ying Empire members had gotten a whiff of the actions being taken against their members, though it was probably limited to them thinking their members were killed. After all, there were plenty of self sacrificial techniques and poisons that the members could use to kill themselves.


    So to them, it was only the loss of a few members and not really capture.


    After all, they would have never expected that there would be someone like Lin Mu who would be able to directly restrain the space around people to stop them.


    But now that an outpost was found, their chances of learning more had increased quite a bit.


    ''The outpost is quite far out though.'' Lin Mu read that it was located at the very edge of the Capital City''s border districts. This needed immediate action, so the Crown Prince had already sent the army squads that were located around the border to head there. At the same time, he was also sending several experts there to reinforce them.


    "So the mission is underway as I''m reading this¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself. ''Should I have gone too?'' he wondered but knew that it was likely not viable.


    The mission was time sensitive and getting there would take time. It was much faster for Crown Prince Feng Shun to send the army that was already located there. As such, Lin Mu continued to cultivate while waiting and about an hourter, he woke up.


    "Huh?" He could sense a very vtile wave of Immortal Qiing from the east. It wasn''t targeted at him or anything, and was simply being released in a haphazard manner. Though by the time it had reached this far out, it had certainly reduced in its intensity.


    "What is that?" Lin Mu was concerned and quickly took to the skies to check.


    ~WHOOSH~ T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    There he looked to the distance, not seeing anything visible with his naked eyes.


    "Hmm¡­" But then he activated his Spatial Perception and saw what was basically a mushroom cloud of Qi rising in the distance!


    It contrasted highly against the Spatial Fabric and stood out like a screaming man in a library.


    Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as he understood something bad had happened.


    ~SHUA~


    As if on cue, the Communication Jade Slip on his wrist hummed. Immediately taking hold of it, he checked the message.


    ''The Mission was a failure. The ck Ying Empire members detonated the entire outpost along with everyone inside.'' The message read.


    "Little Shrubby!" Lin Mu called for hispanion, knowing that he needed to check this in person. ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby immediately appeared from the Sleepscape and erged to his full size before speeding away with Lin Mu.


    "Can you sense anything from there?" Lin Mu questioned, hoping that the beast''s senses might pick up on more.


    "I can smell a lot of the Withering energy." Little Shrubby said as he wrinkled his nose a bit. "Its faint but it''s definitelying from there."


    Hearing this rmed Lin Mu, as it could be highly dangerous to have so much Withering energy there. "Is it just the smell and not the energy itself?" He asked, just to be sure.


    "Just the smell so far." Little Shrubby replied. "Okay." This was a bit better as it meant that the fallout from the explosion hadn''t spread this far.


    Or hopefully could be limited to the site of the explosion itself.


    Lin Mu knew that the stench of the Withering energy was rather pungent for the beasts, which was why they could smell it out from far away.


    The city trailed past Lin Mu as Little Shrubby sprinted over it at his maximum speed. The beast only slowed down when the traces of the Withering Energy became strong in the air.


    "Eat the resistance pill." Lin Mu quickly said.


    "Yes!" Little Shrubby ate one pill from his storage, and Lin Mu did the same.


    ~SHUA~


    The Longgui Bulwark Armor manifested around Lin Mu''s body while Little Shrubby covered his entire body in mes. This would further protect them from the Withering energy and prevent them froming in direct contact with it.


    Lin Mu had no issues sitting on the ming body of Little Shrubby either, as the mes simply did nothing to him. And this wasn''t due to the armor, but due to the superior control that Little Shrubby had developed.


    Over the past twenty five years, the Absolute me Control that Little Shrubby had learned had been further improved. The beast had gained a better proficiency with it and could now make it so that even if his mes were hot enough to melt iron, they wouldn''t harm those he didn''t want them to harm.


    It was a level of control that was only possible when one had reached a high proficiency with the Fire Dao.


    And sure enough, any Withing Energy traces that fell over them were quickly burned away by the mes of Little Shrubby. While the Withering Energy could corrupt other energies, it was still limited in what it could do in such a small concentration.


    "Stop." Lin Mu ordered, seeing the state of the area in front of him.


    A crater that was at least two hundred meters deep and five hundred meters wide was left in what should have had houses and other buildings. Looking at the circumference of the crater, Lin Mu could tell that the explosion had happened right at the edge of the city border and about a third of it extended into the forest area.


    But the sight of the crater was quite shocking, at it was utterly ckened. And this wasn''t from it being scorched from the explosion, but rather due to the Withering Energy tainting it all.


    There was even ayer of gaseous Withering Energy having settled at the bottom of the crater.


    "Lord Imperator!" Lin Mu''s presence didn''t go unnoticed by the Discipline Hall members that were rushing to address the situation.


    "Are the formation masters here? We need to seal off the ce." Lin Mu immediately stated.


    "They''re on their way here as we speak. We''ll need the elders for this, as we cannot seal the Withering Energy easily." The Discipline hall member replied.


    "I''ll temporarily cordon off this ce then." Lin Mu said, knowing that he couldn''t let the Withering Energy spread anymore.


    "You will¡­?" The Discipline Hall member was rather surprised by this, wondering how it would be done.


    Then he watched as Lin Mu extended his hands and uttered a word.


    "Meld." Lin Mu spoke expanding his control over the entire crater at once!

 Chapter 2469 Containing Fallout

    Chapter 2469 Containing Fallout


    Lin Mu making the Spatial Storage tool for Ashy had improved his Spatial Skills due to their constant usage. Not only had his control gotten finer, he could now tolerate the erosion of his skill too.


    This was something that had been a problem back in the Bridge ne as the Withering Energy could affect the restraints set by Meld too.


    But now, even though the skill was actively being degraded by the Withering energy, Lin Mu was simply supplying more Qi to sustain it. The reason why the skill was disrupted before wasn''t the fact that Lin Mu didn''t have enough Qi, but that maintaining the skill needed a high output of it which when hampered enough could cause a cascading effect that made the skill deactivate as well as harm the user.


    This was why Withering Energy and the Withering Dao were so dangerous, sometimes even more so than the Death Qi.


    Withering was an active process, while Death was the end result. This was thus reflected in the Daos, making one more problematic than the other.


    Of course, Death Qi when used properly was a lot more terrifying and powerful than the Withering Qi but the natural limitations between the two caused it to be of less concern when both were present.


    For now though, Lin Mu did his best to contain the entire crater.


    ~SHUA~


    His skill covered every part of it and encased the entire area in a sphere.


    Of course, this sphere was invisible to others, but they could still see the change.


    "The energy¡­ it stopped moving?" The discipline hall members quickly noticed.


    The flow of energy as well as the dark gaseous matter that was actively moving before had stopped as if it were frozen in time.


    "This is the Lord Imperator skill¡­"


    "He can do this¡­ it takes hundreds of formation masters to even set up a restriction for Withering energy."


    "If we have the Lord Imperator, we might not be in disadvantage again¡­"


    The other members saw this and couldn''t help but be surprised and impressed at the same time.


    ~GROWL~


    Little Shrubby''s growl though brought them out of their temporary state of awe, reminding them that it was not over yet.


    "QUICK! SET UP THE PERIMETER!"


    "HELP THE LORD IMPERATOR!"


    They quickly spurred into action and prepared the things for the arrival of the Formation masters.


    Before the explosion had happened, the other members of the discipline hall that were inside sensed the self destruction arrays being activated and quickly sent the mission failure report. They knew that they might not be alive, so they needed to report it before that.


    This was why Lin Mu had received it early on.


    But he didn''t even need the full report, as he had already sensed it happening from far away.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    "Daoist Lin Mu!" Thankfully for Lin Mu, the reinforcements soon arrived.


    Among them was Crown Prince Feng Shun, Commander Dui, as well as the Discipline hall elders.


    "All Formation Masters, set up the Formation gs and begin the first stage of the Eight Shelled Inversion Barrier Array!" The Left elder ordered.


    "Yes!" the formation masters replied and quickly got to work.


    "Are you okay, Lin Mu?" Crown Prince Feng Shuns asked. "How long can you hold?" "I can hold on for a while more." Lin Mu replied, a few beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. Even with his control improving, to contain such a wide area was taxing on his mind, especially with the fact that it was actively being assaulted by the Withering Energy too.


    "Don''t worry, we''ll be done soon." Crown Prince Feng Shun assured. "I''ll disperse the energy in the sky." He said as he soared up.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The bigger problem from the explosion wasn''t just the create but the fallout from it. If it wasn''t contained, the Withering energy that had already been spread into the sky would fall down and cover arge part of the city.


    Thankfully, it wasn''t windy today and now that the Crown Prince was here any windster on could be stopped too. But that wasn''t enough.


    The withering energy would taint everything that it touched and it couldn''t just be thrown out into the wild either. It needed to be purged!


    ~RUMBLE~


    And that is exactly what Crown Prince Feng Shun intended to do, as dark clouds manifested in the skies.


    The Crown Prince''s body shimmered with arcs of purple lightning as strong immortal Qi waves spread from him. Even Dao traces could now be felt, as the man utilized all of his power.


    The Withering energy and Dao were stubborn and would need his full power to purge them out. The Crown Prince manifested a halberd in his hand and rose it high into the sky. The weapon was made out of pure Lightning immortal Qi mixed with Lightning Dao Traces and thrummed with power.


    ~HUALA~


    The Crown Prince poured more and more of his Qi into it until he had consumed nearly forty percent of all his immortal Qi!


    ~RUMBLE~


    The halberd grew in size until it reached the height of over a hundred meters!


    The Crown Prince''s form was minusculepared to it but he held it with both hands firmly. "Storm King Immortal Arts: Thunderous Smite!" He roared as he swung it at the sky.


    ~KABOOM~


    It was as if a hundred thunder bolts hadnded, and a blinding sh filled everyone''s vision. The sky seemingly became white, as everyone in the capital city could see it.


    Many of the people seemingly went blind from the sheer brightness of it, while even the stronger ones were forced to close their eyes. A singr wave of energy swept over the entire capital region, making everyone''s hair stand on their ends.


    The immortal beasts that lived in the city and around it were rmed and cried in fear while the weaker ones directly fainted.


    Many felt as if their hearts were pounded by the sound of thunder as it echoed nonstop.


    Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were fine though, as they had already been protected by the initial barrier set up by the formation masters. After all, they would get disturbed by the skill of Crown Prince too, which would hamper their work, so they had set it up first.


    But Lin Mu who saw it, couldn''t help but be impressed.


    ''He''s certainly improved,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    A single tendril of his immortal sense rose to the bright white sky and sensed the Withering Energy that was rapidly being erased.


    ''The Pure Yang Energy of the Lightning is forcibly burning it all.'' Lin Mu could tell. ''If I get any closer, it''ll damage my Immortal sense too.'' He realized before withdrawing it.


    The entire eventsted about fifteen seconds, which was very long when one considered the fact that a lightning sh merelysted a fraction of a second.


    The sky returned to normal rusty red color after that and even the dark clouds disappeared.


    With that done, the people could see again and took breaths of relief. While they still felt uneasy, they still had trust in the security of the city.


    Though to be sure, the guards were already going around assuring that everything will be fine. ~SHUA~


    A few secondster, the Crown Prince descended and came to stand before Lin Mu, his breath a bit uneven.


    "That was new." Lin Mu spoke.


    "Yeah¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun took a breath. "Iprehended it recently." He added.


    "No wonder¡­ it works against Withering energy too." Lin Mu nodded in approval.


    "Considering our current situation, I reckoned I needed to learn something that would work against it and the ck Ying Empire members. So I scoured through all the skills in the Storm King Immortal Arts before finally managing to learn it.


    It''s one of the highest ranked skills in it." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "Scoured?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but pick up on the word. "Just how many skills are there for you to need time to pick one." "Well, there''s apparently four different versions of the Storm King Immortal Arts and each of them has at least hundred techniques in it." Crown Prince Feng Shun exined. "After the Storm King Shirong made it, there were many people who have learned it and they too became masters thatter expanded the skills with their own understanding." He added.


    "Ah. So like the Grand Bagua Mythic Series." Lin Mupared the two.


    "Yes." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "It is quite tiring too. But nothingpared to yours." He replied.


    "I suppose." Lin Mu muttered as he watched the work of the Formation masters. "Looks like they''ll be done soon." "Once the first twoyers are set, you can release your skill. It''ll be enough to contain the Withering Energy until the rest of them are finished." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Alright." Lin Mu waited until then and finally ended his skill, allowing him some rest.

 Chapter 2470 Returning For Rest

    Chapter 2470 Returning For Rest


    "Is this a new Formation they made?" Lin Mu asked, not recognizing it.


    "It''s a modified version of the Eight Shelled Repelling Barrier." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "We made it to contain the Withering Energy as long as possible, since it can easily be repaired when ayer is damaged." He added.


    "I see, that''s smart." Lin Mu knew restraining Withering Energy was not easy, thus the only way to do was to constantly repair the array overtime. With the barrier having multipleyers, it was much more viable to fix ayer and let the otheryers handle the Withering Energy.


    "Though the damage is quite extensive." Lin Mu said, looking around.


    His eyes particrly wandered over to the devastated buildings and houses.


    "The casualties are around a hundred, which is thankfully less than it could have been." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "It was afternoon, so most people were away at work and not at home. The ones that were caught in it were mostly those that were walking in the streets." He added.


    "I see¡­ And what building were the ck Ying Empire members hiding in?" Lin Mu asked next, considering that it was located right on the border.


    "The outpost was located in an old Grain Storage." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "The farms are all beyond these borders so it didn''t stick out. Plus, there''s always people going in an out, so its disguise was rather well." He added.


    "No wonder it took a while to find. Plus, they do keep on moving from ce to ce." Lin Mu wondered where the next outpost could be hidden. "There should be more like this, right?" he said, remembering that the ck Ying Empire members had multiple outposts.


    "Definitely." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "We''ll be looking into ces simr to this more often now." He said before going to talk to the Discipline Hall members about some details.


    The Formation Masters fully sealed the area after about an hour, during which Lin Mu watched it all happen. Once it was done though, he headed back to his courtyard to rest while Crown Prince Feng Shun went to do more work.


    Though everyone thanked Lin Mu for his intervention as they knew that if he didn''t contain the area with Meld, the Withering energy would have spread in quite a vast area.


    The people living within two kilometers of the Crater were all evacuated and moved elsewhere to be safe while they began the cleanup. The only way to do this was to steadily purge the Withering Energy with Pure Yang elemental energies.


    For this, they mostly used fire, but Crown Prince gave a hand with his Lightning to make the process easier. After all, this incident was on another levelpared to those in the past.


    ~Thud~


    Lin Muid down on a lounger as he let out a tired breath.


    The entire process had certainly exhausted him and his Qi. ''Using Meld on such arge area still uses a massive amount of Qi at once.'' Lin Mu estimated that he had used around fifty percent of his immortal Qi in that. ''I had also used a lot of Qi in making the Spatial Storage tools before that.'' He had already exhausted around thirty percent of his immortal Qi in that.


    As such, Lin Mu had actually not been at his peak when he went to help.


    And now he barely had around twenty percent of his Immortal Qi left.


    To restore it, he simply decided to sleep for a bit, as it would restore it quite fast due to his bloodline. Plus, he would also rest his mind, which was feeling tired after the past few days of constant work.


    It didn''t take him long to drift off into sleep while a gentle breeze blew in from the garden, carrying the scent of the thousands of flowers that bloomed within it.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And while Lin Mu was deep in sleep, a person appeared in the garden.


    "He''s asleep?" The Saintess watched the sleeping figure of Lin Mu, finding it a bit surprising. ''I didn''t think he''d sleep anytime soon after waking up.'' She thought.


    Of course, she knew that this was just a normal sleep and not the Well of Slumber, but Lin Mu usually didn''t sleep for a few weeks or months. "Did he exhaust himself that much?" The Saintess wondered before she spread her senses around.


    ~SHUA~


    The sounds of everything in the Capital Region could be heard by her, every conversation that happened, every word that was spoken was picked up by her. A few minutester, she got a grasp on all that had happened in thest few days. "So he spent a few days making Spatial Storage tools and then went on to seal a Withering Energy crater." The Saintess quickly analyzed.


    She could sense the twins ying in the forest and the new gem that Xiao Yin had. She could also sense Ashy hiding in a servant''s shadow and all the events that were happening in the pce.


    She might not have been paying attention recently due to being focused on cultivation, but that didn''t mean she couldn''t obtain information quickly.


    "He really did do a lot." The Saintess determined before gently waving her finger.


    ~SHUA~ This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    Clouds formed under Lin Mu and lifted him before gentlyying him down on the actual bed.


    With that done, the Saintess simply created a set of table and chairs before sitting down.


    ~POP~


    She opened up a pot of Immortal Apple wine that Lin Mu had made and began to drink.


    "Mmmm, good wine." The Saintess said as a slight smile appeared on her face.


    Closing her eyes, she continued to drink and enjoy the wine while her senses expanded further than the city. They reached a range of over fifteen hundred kilometer, and listened to everything that was happening.


    Since she had been busy for a bit she wished to catch up on more than just the recent events.

 Chapter 2471 The Saintesss Cloud Dao Lessons

    Chapter 2471 The Saintess''s Cloud Dao Lessons


    ~YAWN~


    The next days, Lin Mu woke up with long yawn.


    "Haaah~ that was good." Lin Mu felt really good having had a proper sleep. ''No dreams this time.'' He realized.


    He didn''t know if this was just because he was tired or not, but he had been wondering if he would get to connect with the Astral Dimension again when he slept. Xukong had told him that once someone enters the Astral Dimension, they would be inextricably connected with it.


    While it won''t be the same as going into it, one might still be able to see a few nces of it. But it didn''t happen this time.


    ''Perhaps there''s something else that''s needed for it.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. But when he rubbed his eyes, he realized that he wasn''t where he had lied down before.


    "The bed?" Lin Mu looked below him. "How did I get here?" he wondered.


    "Come on out now that you''re awake." The Saintess''s voice drifted into his ears, solving his query.


    ''She moved me to the bed¡­'' Lin Mu was surprised and didn''t know why she did that. But it was nothing toin about so he didn''t think much about it further. Once he was out though, he noticed theke was covered with clouds again.


    "You prepared theke?" Lin Mu asked.


    "I thought you''d like to train right away once you woke up." The Saintess replied.


    "Yeah, I did finish assimting most of what I learned before." Lin Mu nodded, feeling pleasantly surprised that the Saintess knew what he''d want.


    "Let''s get started then." The Saintess said as he flicked her finger.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu was sent flying but this time he was experienced andnded smoothly in the cloudke.


    His legs moved in a curve as he stabilized himself and used the clouds to even move forward, utilizing the momentum that the Saintess had provided. He began walking and did so without falling for over three hundred steps!


    "You certainly didn''t ck." The Saintess said seeing his progress. "Now we can move one difficultly level up." She stated. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "What''s that?" Lin Mu asked.


    ~SHUA~


    But soon he heard a sound behind him and turned to see what was a wave of clouds heading his way!


    "What the¡­" he was not expecting that.


    "See if you can stand against that." The Saintess causally said as she sped up the wave.


    "Oh damn," Lin Mu sensed the flow of the Cloud Dao traces but found them to be far too erratic to judge properly.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And soon enough he was carried away by the wave, wiping out at the shore.


    "Haah¡­ At least that''s better than getting struck by a sea wave." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "No salt water to spit out." He was happy about that.


    If it were a wave in the sea of ocean, he would get drenched and possibly swallow a lot of the brine which wasn''t exactly a pleasant experience even if he was resistant to it all.


    "Get up." The Saintess said as another wave started to form at the periphery.


    "Yes." Lin Mu immediately did so and ran towards the wave, this time sensing the movement of the Cloud Dao Traces beforehand.


    He could feel how the Cloud Dao Traces moved towards the wave and how they were beingpressed and rising through it. He could also sense the density of the clouds getting lighter below him while turning heavier near the wave.


    ~THUD~


    ~WHOOSH~


    But as he sensed all this, he was already toote and got struck by the wave, wiping him away at the shore.


    "You need to be faster than that." The Saintess advised.


    "Again." Lin Mu said as he quickly got up. "I''ll get it after a few ten or hundred tries." He wasn''t one to back down from tiny failures like this.


    ~WHOOSH~


    In response, the Saintess simply generated another wave that came towards Lin Mu.


    They repeated this process over and over again, as Lin Mu kept on getting wiped out by the waves. But with every try, his speed of processing and analyzing the Cloud Dao Traces within the clouds got better and faster.


    Of course this was still not enough for him to withstand the wave as he hadn''t figured out what the actual method was.


    He tried jumping, but that only ended up making him lose his bnce as the clouds shifted rapidly throwing him off.


    At first he thought he was simply not timing it right, but after around fifty tries or so he realized that might not be the right away to ovee this. Next he switched it to simply avoiding the wave, but that also didn''t work since it would simply follow him around.


    Over three hundred triester, he figured that the method might be a lot more obvious than he had thought.


    ''Do I need to simply go through it?'' he wondered.


    Wanting to try this out, Lin Mu waited till the wave came towards him and then dived into it straight.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But that still ended up wiping him out at the shore.


    ''The flow of Cloud Dao Traces changes when passing through¡­'' this gave Lin Mu another hint. He began working on the hint more and sensed the flow of the Cloud Dao traces in the entire wave at first.


    Several tens of triester he realized that the concentration of the Cloud Dao Traces in the entire wave was not the same. Instead, if fluctuated constantly with regions of low and high concentration forming.


    And after another hundred tries, he ended up going through a region of low concentration by chance, which actually allowed him to pass half way through the wave without falling.


    ~THUD~


    ~WHOOSH~


    But then it suddenly changed again, throwing him out.


    "I got it¡­ I need to follow the flow of the Cloud Dao Traces within the wave too." Lin Mu smiled as he felt like he had finally grasped it.


    The Saintess heard his words and smiled under her veil, feeling pleased by his progress.

 Chapter 2472 A Five Day Long Lesson And Banquet Invite

    Chapter 2472 A Five Day Long Lesson And Banquet Invite


    Lin Mu was hit by hundreds upon hundreds of clouds waves and was finally managing to withstand them.


    He understood that the key to oveing them was to find the lowest concentration of the Cloud Dao Traces and pass through that part without missing when it changed.


    This way he managed toe out on the other side safely. Of course when he managed to do this, the Saintess upped the difficult and now he had to face not one but two waves in a row!


    This doubled the difficulty as even sensing the concentration and flow of Cloud Dao Traces in one wave needed considerably effort and by the time Lin Mu got to working on the second, the wave was usually too close for him to sense the flow.


    It took him two days before he managed to pass through the second wave without getting wiped out. Of course without a hitch, the Saintess upped the difficulty to three waves now!


    Third time around though, Lin Mu was getting a betters grasp on it and didn''t lose as badly as he did before. He actually managed to get around a third of the way through the wave on his very first try before missing the flow and getting washed away.


    And by the fifth try he had actually overe the third wave.


    It was a faster improvement than before and showed that the Saintess''s training was working quite well.


    Five days passed in the blink of an eye as Lin Mu continued his training under the watchful eyes of the Saintess.


    On the sixth day of the lesson he was already managing to ovee about seven waves before he had hit his limit. Though this was already significantly better for him since the effects of his improvement could be seen in the Cloud Dragon Stride.


    Not only was his movement a lot smoother, but the generation of a cloud was also more in attunement with the Cloud Dao.


    "That will be enough." The Saintess stated, bringing her second lesson to an end.


    ~huu~


    "Thank you, Saintess." Lin Mu said with gratitude as he came out from theke.


    This time around, the Saintess hadn''t just dispersed the clouds in a moment and let Lin Mu sink in the water.


    So Lin Mu reckoned that was good too.


    "You''ve already improved enough that you should see gains in the Cloud Dragon Stride. Use it more and you''ll probably apply more of your insights." The Saintess suggested.


    "I shall do that then." Lin Mu nodded.


    "But for now I think you have some work to return to." The Saintess said mysteriously.


    "Oh?" Lin Mu wondered what she meant but then he soon felt the Communication Jade Slip humming.


    He held it and read the message.


    "Looks like I have a banquet to go to." The message was from none other than the Treasury Minister. The man was fulfilling his promise and had finally set up the gourmet banquet he had told Lin Mu about.


    The Treasury Minister had actually finished the preparations several days ago, but he also knew the situation of the city. It would not be appropriate for him to held a banquet when things were tense. Plus there was also the fact that the Crown Prince had told everyone in the court about Lin Mu''s personal intervention and restriction of the Crater site.


    His immediate action had saved more lives than he knew, and everyone was impressed by it.


    The Emperor intended to invite him to court to personally thank him and gift him something, but the Crown Prince advised against it.


    Having stayed with Lin Mu for eight years, he knew how his personality was and that it would do little for him. As such he just rmended that they leave him be and let him do whatever he wished in his own time.


    The Emperor heeded and since the Treasury Minster was also present at that time, he decided to follow the same. T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    As such he waited several days before he finally thought it was appropriate to send the message. Even then he didn''t insist that the banquet be tonight itself, but rather suggested that everything was ready and if Lin Mu wished for it, it could be held right away too.


    "I guess we can go tonight." Lin Mu muttered to himself and contacted Little Shrubby and the twins. "They should join in too." Of course upon hearing that there was going to be new kinds of food, the trio of beast immediately began heading back.


    "Will youe too Saintess?" Lin Mu asked just in case.


    "No, I''ll go cultivate." The Saintess replied. "Our next lesson will take some time anyways." She added.


    "Alright, thank you Saintess." Lin Mu said once more and watched as her form simply faded away.


    ~SHUA~


    Theke also returned to normal with all the clouds dissipating.


    ~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~


    And shortly, the trio of beasts arrived.


    "When''s the banquet!" Little Shrubby asked right away.


    "Will there be Crocodile!?" Xiao Yin asked.


    "Will there be Dragon!?" Xiao Yang questioned.


    "Uhh¡­ The Banquet is in the night." Lin Mu spoke first. "I don''t know if there will be Crocodile¡­ maybe? As for Dragon, definitely not." He answered.


    He didn''t even know where the twins got the idea of eating a Dragon. ''Is it even possible to eat a dragon here?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    As far as he could recall, there were no Dragons on the Rust Sky World in the current age. The only Dragon that could be considered was the Azure Dragon''s spirit which was sacred and definitely off limits.


    The other closest being to Dragons would be the Drakes and the only Drake Lin Mu knew off was in his own forest and was considered a protector.


    Dragons were very strong beasts in the first ce and eating even a little bit of their flesh was considered a fortune. Even for Great Immortals, getting to eat a Dragon''s Meat might be a once in a lifetime event.

 Chapter 2473 Dragons And Suspicious Movements

    Chapter 2473 Dragons And Suspicious Movements


    The twins were a bit sad that they couldn''t get to eat Dragons, thus Lin Mu had to exin to them why they couldn''t eat them.


    The biggest limitation other than their obvious strength was that most dragons were actually forbidden to be eaten by the Immortal Court as well as the Temple of the Immortal Court.


    While the Dragon ns weren''t exactly united, several of them still had close alliances with the Azure Dragon n and thus had immunity and a special status.


    Which only left the lower Dragon species that weren''t considered ''noble'' to be free from the restraints and could be eaten. But even then those were still very strong with the weakest one being a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal.


    If a Dragon appeared in a world, it would usually be one of its supreme powers.


    In fact it wasn''t umon for people of that world to worship the beast, if it brought them protection. Even if it didn''t and actually harmed them, they would still worship it just in the hope that it would spare them.


    Thankfully most Dragons had high intelligence and while they could be very temperamental, they did listen to reason at most times.


    Even in the Rust Sky World, there had only ever been three Dragons appearing in its recorded history.


    One of these was a member of the Azure Dragon n and hade here long ago when the Rust Sky World had been officiallye under the Immortal Court. The second Dragon on the other hand was a Sea Drake that had evolved its bloodline to be a Great Ocean Dragon before ascending and leaving the world.


    The third Dragon was a Fire Wyrm that had left the world aftering in conflict with some powers in the past. It went to another world nearby and cultivated until it finally involved into a Six Horned Fire Dragon and returned to wipe out all those that had offended it.


    It too left the world after ascending.


    Lin Mu had read about this in one of the history books that the Crown Prince had given him. It had a detailed section about Dragons since they were considered so influential. In fact, there were even protocols dictated on what needed to be done when a Beast with a Dragonic Bloodline was discovered.


    It stated that they needed to be given their own space and not to be offended unless necessary. Most even said that they should be left alone even if they caused damage as long as it was within a limit. The list of protocols to follow was quite long and they had even diversified it depending on the kinds of Dragonic Bloodlines that had appeared in the Rust Sky World.


    This was why the Imperial court had an alliance with the Blue Drake that lived in the empire.


    And it wasn''t the only empire that did this either.


    The Huiqing Empire apparently had a small group of Agate Scaled Drakes living in its territory too that were protected. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Their rtion was close enough that the drakes would trade their scales and fangs with the Huiqing Imperial Family for benefits.


    The Holy Topaz Dynasty was also said to have a Twin Horned Wyvern living in their empire, but it had been a while since it had disappeared.


    Wyverns were also beast with Dragonic Bloodlines but unlike the smaller Drakes they were bigger. But they only had four wings, with their forelimbs being their wings and the hind legs limbs.


    A True Dragon would usually have Four legs and a pair of wings or more on their backs.


    The Wyrms on the other hand either only had two legs or simply didn''t have legs and were more serpentine in appearance other than their scales and special horns.


    Lin Mu had been quite interested in what was considered as one of the strongest species of beasts thus he had read quite a lot about him. The twins ended up asking a lot of questions, which Lin Mu had to answer and by the time he was done, it was already the evening and it was time to head out.


    "Let''s go, we shouldn''t bete for it." Lin Mu spoke to the beasts.


    "Of course!" The twins said in unison.


    "What of Ashy?" Little Shrubby asked.


    "She prefers bugs so she won''te. Plus she''s busy with the mission too." Lin Mu was a bit surprised in how invested she was in it.


    Though he also felt happy that she was taking it seriously and doing the work diligently. As such he let her be and the man and beasts finally went to the banquet.


    It was held at none other than the Treasury Minister''s personal residence which was also a ratherrge pce.


    While it was not as opulent as the Grand Pce, Lin Mu found it to be better than the Crown Prince''s personal pce at least. It was also twice as big and showed just how much wealth the Treasury Minister had. His n had several businesses in the empire and even if he didn''t have the position of the Treasury Minister he would still be very rich.


    "Haha! Wee Lord Imperator!" the Treasury Minister greeted them at the hall entrance. "Pleasee in, everything is already set." He invited him.


    They quickly took their seats and found that the dishes had already been served and all they needed to do was to eat.


    The Treasury Minister exined each dish in detailed and told Lin Mu what ingredients were used and how they had been procured.


    Little Shrubby took notes about this, as he recorded it all in a Jade Slip, finding it very useful for him.


    But while the banquet ran, a certain female servant was doing something else.


    "Bring in more Fragrant Wood for the Smoker!" The Cook ordered.


    "I''ll bring it soon." The Servant said and left the kitchen. But Ashy who had been watching everything, found that instead of heading to the usual wood storage, the Servant actually went somece else. She left the Imperial Grounds and went to a furniture workshop!

 Chapter 2474 A Furniture Workshop

    Chapter 2474 A Furniture Workshop


    Ashy had been observing the routine of the Servant girl for days now.


    She knew where she usually went and what tasks were assigned to her. The Imperial Kitchens made dishes of various kinds that needed many unique ingredients. Among such there were foods that needed to be grilled or smoked which needed different kinds of woods.


    Her being asked to bring wood was rathermon and she would refuel the smoker which needed special kinds of fragrant woods that provided special vors to the food.


    Of course, the Imperial Kitchen had their own store of these kinds of woods and were kept within its grounds for easy ess.


    Ashy had seen the Servant girl go there before too and knew where it was. Thus when she skipped past it, she was rather surprised.


    The Servant Girl seemingly left the Imperial Grounds, without informing anyone which was very shocking as the punishment for it was harsh. After all the imperial Grounds was a highly protected ce and entry and exit through it needed to be watched at all times.


    The location that the servant girl exited from was also not the usual gate, but rather a secret tunnel that was hidden in a Garden Shed. ''She''s definitely doing something suspicious.'' Ashy knew for sure now. There was no way a servant would be taking such a secret route without it being for some nefarious purpose. She became fully alert and watched every little movement of the Servant girl as well as her surroundings.


    Ashy memorized the path that the Servant Girl took as well as the method she used to open the secret tunnel.


    In the Garden Shed, she opened a drawer that was attached to a table and pressed a button underneath it made a faint clicking sound. After doing that, the Servant Girl ced her hand on a very specific brick on the floor and imbued her Qi into it.


    ~SHUA~


    A faint wave of energy could be felt from the brick before it sunk down.


    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~


    That was just the start as the rest of the bricks also started sinking down, revealing a staircase that brought her to the tunnel. From here she simply walked straight and after about a minute she reached its end which was another set of stairs.


    Upon exiting, Ashy saw that she was now inside a workshop of some kind.


    There were tools lying everywhere on worktables as well as hanging on the walls. There were logs of wood along with nks that had been neatly cut for use.


    The Servant Girl kept silent and walked into the next room which had a lot of wooden furniture. It was not fullypleted as the surfaces still looked a bit rough, but one could still smell a faint fragrance of pineing from it. The next room though had furniture that was polished and some of it seemed a bit wet.


    If one looked closely they would see that they had been coated with a light amber resin that further amplified the fragranceing from the wood. With how intense it was with so much furniture packed here, anyone would be able to make out that it was none other than Pine Resin being used to coat the furniture.


    Staying there for just a few minutes might be enough to leave the traces of fragrance on one''s clothes.


    The Servant girl though ignored all this and simply walked to a small door located at the corner of the room, just beside the neatly stacked furniture. The door was locked and had no handle either.


    In fact, if one looked at it in dim light, one might simply think that it was a nk of wood kept standing against the wall which wouldn''t stand out too much considering this was a furniture workshop.


    ~KNOCK~KNOCK~KNOCK~


    The Servant girl knocked on the door three times before speaking a phrase.


    "The Tides of change are cold." "The Fires of War are hot." A voice was heard from the inside.


    "Yet both are necessary for the bnce." The Servant girl replied.


    ~CLICK~


    In response, the door clicked open and the Servant girl walked in.


    Ashy saw that they were in a dimly lit room that was mostly being illuminated by candles. There were around twenty people present in the room, doing different tasks.


    ''Don''t they prefer using formations for lighting though?'' Ashy had seen that in the city pretty much everyone used basic illumination formations for light.


    This wasn''t limited to the rich either as even the poor had enough money to get them or simply make them themselves. After all they were one of the simplest formations to make and even a child could make them granted that they had enough training.


    This it didn''t make sense for them to use something as simple as mortal candles for lighting.


    The candle me flickered as the servant girl walked past them, the faint drafts from her movement affecting them which cased the shadows in the room to move eerily.


    "What do you have to report, ''Little Cloak''?" A man who was sitting at a desk at the very center of the room asked noticing her arrival.


    "The Treasury Minister is holding a Banquet for a guest. We have a chance at reattempting the previous mission." The Servant girl stated.


    "Hmm¡­ Which of the ''Daggers'' are currently present within Imperial Grounds?" The man asked out loud.


    "We currently only have one ''Dagger'' present in the Imperial Grounds." A woman sitting at a desk against the left wall replied. "But the Dagger cannot be mobilized as they are assigned to the Household of the Rites minister." She added.


    "Any others we can use to reattempt the mission?" the man asked again. "Unfortunately we had to recall all those that were present nearby." The woman replied. "Looks like we have to use other measures¡­" The man muttered before looking at the servant girl. "Seems like your time for Promotion to a Dagger hase, Little Cloak."This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.

 Chapter 2475 A Second Attempt

    Chapter 2475 A Second Attempt


    The man''s words were a bit surprising to the Servant girl, but she didn''t show it on her face.


    "It''ll be my honor, Sir." The servant girl said with confidence.


    "Very well, you know what to do." The man said looking straight at the woman. "Don''t be like the Third Dagger and bring failure to our Hall. Get whatever equipment you might need from the others." He said with a hint of coldness.


    "Of course. I shall not fail you." The Servant girl replied before turning around to talk to the others.


    Ashy listened to their conversations and was a bit confused by the terms being used. ''I should inform master now.'' She thought and sent out everything she had learned so far.


    Lin Mu who was in the middle of stuffing a honey zed haunch that was about the size a small sized log in his mouth, stopped as soon as he heard her voice.


    He put down the haunch and focused on the information that Ashy was giving him.


    ''To think she waited to move until the banquet¡­ guessinging here was worth more than I thought.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "Lord Imperator, is it not to your liking?" The Treasury Minister asked seeing that Lin Mu had stopped.


    But Lin Mu didn''t respond to him, instead just focusing on Ashy''s words. Seeing how serious Lin Mu looked, the Minister also didn''t pry further and instead waited for him to reply. About five minutester, Lin Mu was done and the hall had gone silent.


    All the servants had stopped moving, the Treasury Minister having gestured for them to leave beforehand. The only ones left were Little Shrubby and the twins who were still eating.


    "Looks like we''ll have a big capture today, Minister." Lin Mu spoke.


    "What do you mean, Lord Imperator?" he asked.


    "They''re trying to attempt another assassination and you''re the target." Lin Mu stated, making the Minister''s eyes go wide.


    "They are now, are they¡­" The Treasury Minister''s expression turned a bit grim. "And you''re going to do something about it?" he asked.


    "Of course. I''ll need you to do somethings for me." Lin Mu replied, making the man nod. "Just say the word." The Treasury Minister said. ~SHAU~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    In the next second tens of people appeared in the hall, all dressed in dark robes and wearing masks. "I''ve been prepared for something like this." The man added.


    "Perfect." Lin Mu said with a smile. "You just need to do this¡­" he exined the n.


    And while he was doing this, Ashy had also been given a few instructions.


    The little ck bird was now moving from shadow to shadow, checking up on all the things that were present in the hall. She looked at the documents that were kept as well as any items that looked important. And of course, she also got a good look at everyone that was there too.


    Lin Mu had told her to do this just in case they destroyed the entire ce before he arrived or something.


    They didn''t know who these people were, as Lin Mu didn''t recognize the terms they were using either. Their interrogation with the previous assassin hadn''t gone well either as she had simply died from a restriction that was ce on her to not reveal any information.


    Thus Lin Mu knew that it was better to obtain the information in person.


    And now that he knew exactly where they were, he would have much better luck at it.


    Ashy was perfect for the job, and the location was ideal for her too since there were plenty of shadows. She flitted around from shadow to shadow, with none the wiser. As long as the shadows were touching or intersecting, she could move without a trace which was great for her since a lot of the shadows also went up the walls, letting her get a good peek at the documents that were kept there.


    While she couldn''t flip the pages to read further, she could at least get the basic level information from them.


    Though about ten minutester, Ashy had to stop as the Servant girl was about to leave.


    ~SHUA~


    She jumped into the girl''s shadow as soon as it touched the walls and left with her. Soon, the Servant girl had left the furniture workshop and was already in the tunnel on the way back to the Imperial Grounds. The whole process had taken her less than forty minutes total, which was rather surprising.


    Lin Mu was currently in the sky and was following the directions that Ashy had given him.


    "That should be the garden shed." Lin Mu quickly scanned it sensing almost nothing from it. He didn''t go in right away though, and waited till he felt the presence of the Servant Girl. ''She''s certainly very calm about this.'' Lin Mu didn''t observe any nervousness or anxiety on her face. He let her leave before finallynding on the ground and entering the shed. He had already instructed the Treasury Minister on what needed to be done, thus he didn''t need to worry about the girl''s capture.


    "Hmm¡­ They went for a more mechanical approach." Lin Mu could sense the mechanisms attached to the button. "Guess this is how they''ve managed to keep it hidden so far." If there were formations used for this, chances of it being discovered by the people was higher.


    Especially when there were regr inspections every week in the Imperial Grounds. "Phase." Of course Lin Mu was not going to follow the same procedures as the girl, and simply sank into the ground. After all, there was always a chance they had some rms set up that he didn''t know about. Once in the tunnel, he simply followed it straight and arrived at the Furniture Workshop.


    "So close? This is barely outside the walls of the Imperial Grounds." Lin Mu was rather surprised. "This smell too¡­ Pine Resin." He recognized it to be the same as what Little Shrubby had smelled.


    This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.

 Chapter 2476 Cloak and Dagger Hall

    Chapter 2476 Cloak and Dagger Hall


    While the Treasury Minister''s residence was indeed near the edge of the grounds, Lin Mu didn''t expect for the assassins to be hiding so near to it.


    Lin Mu spread his immortal sense and observed the distance between the two locations, finding it to be barely three kilometers apart.


    "Three kilometers¡­ they managed to hide all this time with such a small distance and even avoided the Immortal Sense of others." Lin Mu hadn''t expected them to be this covert.


    While Immortals didn''t usually scan underground, in high security areas like the Imperial Grounds, it would certainly be done to check for anything suspicious. Lin Mu had even read about an assassin a few hundred years ago in the past where the assassin had hid basically buried himself underground when somendscaping work was being done.


    He had stayed hidden for several months before finally striking out when his target was passing over the ce he was buried in. Of course, he still died when the guards poured in, but his target had been killed too.


    As such, the people in charge of security scanned everything with their Immortal Sense, even the ground to be sure of it. For them to have missed the tunnel was unexpected, making Lin Mu suspect whether there was some corruption underway.


    ''How did they manage to avoid detection so far? Not to mention develop a secret hideout this close.'' Lin Mu wondered. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    The Furniture Workshop was located barely a hundred meters from the Wall of the Imperial Grounds. Which meant that it was in the prime district where a lot of Aristocratic families and ns lived along with rich merchants.


    Getting a ce there was not easy at all and there were little to no sales ofnd. Making a shop was even harder, as one would have to be highly influential and rich to do it. ''Did they have the backing of some Noble?'' Lin Mu thought to himself. To him, the background of these assassins became more and more mysterious.


    "Let''s see what else they''re hiding¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself and went further.


    He arrived in the first room where a lot of worktables and tools were present. As soon as he appeared there though, the faint scent of Pine filled his nose.


    ''Hmm¡­ it''s definitely simr to what Little Shrubby told me about.'' Lin Mu thought to himself and arrived in the second hall where a lot of the unfinished furniture was kept. Here the scent of pine got stronger and he could also smell the Pine Resin itself. "This is probably where they got the traces of the Pine Scent on them. It is strong enough that it won''t go away even after washing throughly." Lin Mu reckoned. "Besides, they probably didn''t think that they would get caught from something like the scent of Pine." The Servant girl had also only gone there when she was asked to bring Fragrant Wood, so even if someone thought she was smelling of Pine, she had a legitimate excuse for it.


    "Phase." Standing in front of the closed wooden door, Lin Mu didn''t knock and instead sank down into the ground.


    He wished to spy on them first and make sure that he could take them out all at once.


    He moved through the ground, while keeping his immortal Qi fluctuations contained, leaving basically no trace of it. Once inside, he extended a tendril of his Immortal Sense and carefully listened in.


    He moved through the ground, while keeping his immortal Qi fluctuations contained, leaving basically no trace of it. Once inside, he extended a tendril of his Immortal Sense and carefully listened in.


    "¡­half the Daggers have been moved, but the rest will not be mobilized." Lin Mu heard a woman who was in the middle of a conversation.


    "Tell them to hurry. There''s a chance we might have to move the ''workshop'' if ''Little Cloak'' fails." Another woman replied.


    "But was it wise to pick Little Cloak for this? She is still too fresh." A man with a gruff voice asked.


    "It was the Great Daggers decision. We cannot question it." The first woman estated.


    "Regardless of it, we simply need to finish the other assignments as soon as possible. The payment that new ''Empire'' is willing to send is more than what we''d make in a year from our regrmissions." As soon as Lin Mu heard this, his ears perked up.


    ''That is most definitely the ck Ying Empire.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    After all, it was the only new Empire that could exist right now. "Great Dagger, was it good to take their Commission?" the man with the gruff voice asked in doubt. "The Feng Imperial Court has been up and arms with them and have been striking down all their traces. If they discover that our Cloak and Dagger Hall was behind it our hundreds of years of legacy will be erased." The man asked in a concerned voice.


    A man who had been busy reading a document finally lifted his head and looked at the man.


    "Eight Dagger, while you have the martial skills, youck the wits to look ahead." The man named Great Dagger spoke. "If we can finish thismission, we''ll finally be able to rise above our current status that we''ve been stuck in for thest hundred years.


    Besides, our goals align. We both wish for the weakening or the removal of the Feng Imperial Family. Only when they are gone, will we be able to finally thrive and gain true power." He exined, a hint of anger in his voice.


    ~THUD~


    "Forgive me Great Dagger, I''m simply too stupid to understand." The man named Eight Dagger quickly kowtowed, knowing that he had slighted his superior.


    "Besides, themission was taken on by the Prime Dagger and Prime Cloak themselves. Even I cannot question their wisdom." The Great Dagger stated.


    Lin Mu continued to listen to their conversation and leaned a lot about them. With all that, a background for the so called ''Cloak and Dagger Hall'' was created in his mind.


    ''They''re a rtively new power that have been trying to gain power huh¡­ They''re certainly ambitious and do have a little strength to back it up.'' Lin Mu analyzed.

 Chapter 2477 Spying On Hidden Operations

    Chapter 2477 Spying On Hidden Operations


    Lin Mu listened to their conversations until they stopped and returned to their tasks at hand. He first observed the hall they were in and noticed its peculiarities, mainly theck of formations and use of candles for lighting.


    ''So this is how they''ve reduced their traces as much as possible¡­ They''re using candles to prevent any fine fluctuations from leaving and are also containing their Qi. But this also means they cannot detect me as well.'' Lin Mu grasped.


    This worked in his favor, as it meant that he had a better chance at scanning everything in the room. Thus, he became bolder and decided to peek in directly with his eyes.


    Of course, for this he moved to the roof first and then peeked down, with only his eyesing out of the roof. No one was focusing on the roof and never expected that a pair of eyes would grow out of the ceiling and spy on them in the first ce. While they did set up some protections against intruders, they were only set up in the workshop above.


    It wouldn''t seem out of the norm, as pretty much every shop and simr establishments would have formations like them. And if anyone broke in, the rms would be more than enough to alert them down here too.


    Thus, they had only set up the protections above, but nothing down here, leaving them rather barren. The same ''camouge'' they were hiding behind now was working in Lin Mu''s favor.


    He looked at everyone''s faces that he could see from the angle.


    ''Since they''re not hiding their faces, it seems like they''refortable here and don''t hide their identities from each other.'' This told Lin Mu that their organization''s methods were not as good as other simr ones. ''Though it could also be that they''re higher up on the hierarchy and thus are fine showing their faces.'' He thought that was possible too.


    From what he had learned from their conversations earlier, the man named Great Dagger was the highest ranked here, with all others being ranked from first dagger to Tenth Dagger. ''Their titles seem to indicate their roles¡­ The Cloaks are those that gather information and spy while the Daggers are those that act and assassinate.'' Lin Mu understood. ''But why did he send someone of a lower rank like that girl instead of these people here?'' he wondered.


    But seeing them hard at work, he reckoned it might be that what was stopping them from going out.


    ''Let''s see what they''re working on so intently.'' Lin Mu extended fine tendrils of his immortal sense and began reading the scrolls and books that were kept on the shelves and in cupboards.


    With his speed of reading, he quickly transferred all that he had read to a jade slip for proper analysister. Then he moved onto the actual documents that were writing on or reading.


    Lin Mu focused on the Great Dagger first, as he was likely to have the most important documents.


    The man was currently reading a scroll which contained a report about a burry that they had done in a city called as the Three Flint City. It had been done by them and wasmissioned by a merchant named Jin Ur. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu recognized the city and remembered it to be far to the north, beyond the Northern Ridges.


    ''It seems like their influence extends to more than just the Capital City.'' Lin Mu thought.


    ~TAP~


    After finishing reading the report, the Great Dagger stamped it with a small seal and rolled it up before another person took it away to be stored.


    He then opened up another scroll from the stack next to him and began reading it. He repeated this process until all the scrolls were done, giving Lin Mu a decent amount of information.


    Lin Mu also checked up on the other people''s work, but they were mostly writing down reports instead. They were about the events happening within the Capital city and were quite detailed. In fact, Lin Mu even read about his own appointment as well as his containment work at the former outpost of the ck Ying Empire.


    It stated that he was an expert of unknown strength and that he needed to be considered highly dangerous. Even his cultivation was said to be unknown right now but they estimated himself to be at the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm at the very least. ''They don''t know about my Spatial Skills yet.'' Lin Mu read that they had mistaken his Spatial Skills for some form of Sealing Technique instead. ''I guess they''re not totally wrong, but this works in our favor.'' He continued to read and found one report about none other than Little Shrubby.


    It described him as a mysterious beast that had been raised secretly by the Imperial Family and that he was a secret weapon that they were forced to release because of the arrival of the ck Ying Empire.


    ''Where did they even get this information from?'' Lin Mu was confused, as it was not urate at all.


    Though it did let him know that their informationwork wasn''t a hundred percent urate.


    ~humm~


    But before he could continue to spy anymore, he received a message.


    ''Looks like I''ll have to stop my observations now.'' Lin Mu was informed that his n had worked and that the Servant Girl was sessfully tricked. And sure enough, the effect of it was scene among the people below too.


    "She''s done it!" One of the woman suddenly spoke. "Little Cloak was sessful in killing off the Treasury Minister!" The Great Dagger looked up in surprise. "Tell me more."


    "She''s already escaped the hall and is probably heading to the hideout." She stated.


    "Good¡­ Time for us to finish our side of work too then. Wrap it all up and head out." The Great Dagger ordered.


    "Yes!" everyone replied.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    But as soon as they did, they all fell to the ground as if a great weight was put upon them.


    "You''re not going anywhere."

 Chapter 2478 Flesh And Qi Strangling Poison

    Chapter 2478 Flesh And Qi Strangling Poison


    Lin Mu''s voice was astonishing to everyone present in the hall and rmed them to no extent.


    But more than that, they were threatened by the extreme weight that was currently bearing down on them and they had no idea how.


    "W-Who!?" The Great Dagger asked with difficulty.


    He was the only one among them that was currently on his knees instead of just lying t like the others. It was understandable due to his Cultivation base that was at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm which now became apparent.


    ~SHUA~


    "HAH!" He released his power, to resist the weight and actually managed to raise himself enough that his hands were now off the ground.


    Lin Mu who saw this simply pointed his hand at him and lightly uttered a word.


    "Meld." As soon as he did, the Great Dagger felt as if his body all the way up to his neck were encased in concrete, making him unable to move at all.


    This was different than the immobilization from the weight as he couldn''t even feel the Qi from the air. "What is this??" The Great Dagger was confused.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    But Lin Mu had no intention of answering as he quickly restrained the others with Meld too, sealing their heads as well to prevent them from killing themselves.


    "Hmm¡­ you should know the most among them." Lin Mu reckoned and approached the Great Dagger.


    The man finallyid his eyes upon Lin Mu and soon recognized him.


    "The Imperial Imperator!" he finally recognized him. ''How did he get in here?'' the man was utterly confused.


    After all, there were no signs of him infiltrating from anywhere. He had neither broken through the roof and neither had hee through the door. Since there were no other means of entering, it was as if the man had directly manifested inside the hall.


    "You got that right." Lin Mu replied. "Now open up," he said before holding the man''s jaw firmly.


    ~POP~


    He then emptied the liquid contents of a small bottle inside his mouth.


    ~WOONG~


    Then, exerting a bit of his Qi and using the Bending Will Fists, Lin Mu forced a short burst of wind into the man''s throat, causing the liquid to reach his stomach within a second, leaving the man no chance to resist.


    "Ugh¡­ What did you¡­ Wad dit yu fid¡­ e¡­" the man tried to ask but found his mouth getting numb.


    The numbness rapidly spread from his mouth to his neck and the rest of his body. And it wasn''t just his muscles that were going numb either, even his Qi seemingly slowed down and his meridians started constricting.


    "HNNNNNNG!" The man was paralyzed but still trembled, as a nerves wracking pain assaulted his senses.


    This was none other the pain from his Meridians constricting shut. It was simr to a person''s entire body spasming due to Tetanus and was rather horrible for one to bear. But this was something necessary to ensure that the man didn''t kill himself like the others or by the restriction that they seem to have on their brains.


    ''Does he have it too?'' Lin Mu wondered if a high ranked member like the Great Dagger would be subject to it or not. ''Let''s see¡­'' he then directly probed the man''s body with his immortal sense, causing him to tremble even more. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    When one''s meridians were constricted shut and the flow of Qi was interrupted, even the slightest intrusion of a foreign Qi would cause a sharp pain, as if a needle was traveling through their body.


    This was all due to the poison that Lin Mu had used.


    It was a special paralyzing poison called as Flesh And Qi Strangling Poison.


    This was of course made by none other than Crown Princess Shang and Lin Mu had several bottles of it leftover from a while back. He had used some of it when making the Herbsbane Arrows, but it hadn''t been the best.


    As such he had simply stored them forter, and now it was finallying in handy. Granted it was a rather harsh poison and was not something Lin Mu would usually use on someone. But he knew the people he was facing were not worth the mercy and he had to be harsh with them.


    It was something he might have hesitated to do in the past, but having gone through the Expedition and the Eight years of Astral Dimension ''trip'' he was a lot more decisive.


    ''Hmm¡­ He does seem to have a restriction.'' Lin Mu could sense a tiny knot of Qi that was seemingly present in the man''s brain.


    He only perceived it from the faint fluctuations it released now that the rest of the man''s Qi was constricted. He didn''t dare to touch it directly with his Immortal Sense for the fear that it might trigger and kill the man regardless.


    ''If it was normally, this restriction might not even be visible due to the Qi flooding it.'' Lin Mu reckoned this was the method of masking they used. ''Though removing this would have to be done by experts.'' He knew this wasn''t something he could do himself.


    While he was a formation master, the restrictions ced on bodies weren''t something he was versed in.


    Plus he didn''t think it was a normal formation restriction either.


    ''Is it a curse perhaps?'' Lin Mu wondered and tried to sense more from it but couldn''t do much.


    "That''s a Curse for sure." Xukong spoke up. "Ah, that''ll make things tough then." Lin Mu knew removing those was not simple."Though the Imperial Court should have people who specialize in it." He hoped.


    "They might not, but the Temple of the Four Guardian Beasts surely will have them." Xukong replied, making Lin Mu relieved.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu said before repeating the process for the other members too, securing them for the transport that was already on the way.


    Lin Mu only waited for about five minutes before he heard a bunch of foot steps.

 Chapter 2479 Apprehending And Search For Intel

    Chapter 2479 Apprehending And Search For Intel


    ~CRACK~


    ~THUD~


    The wooden door exploded as a first burst through it.


    The wooden fragments sttered all over the hall''s interior and even pelted a few of the paralyzed individuals. They would have squirmed from the pain, but fortunately for them they had already gone numb from the Flesh And Qi Strangling Poison.


    "Lord Imperator." The one to arrive was none other than Commander Dui. "You got them all?" he said seeing the restrained individuals.


    "Yes, though I don''t know if they can withstand the poison." Lin Mu replied seeing that some of them with low cultivation bases were actually having a hard time breathing. "Their breathing is getting bad and their hearts are slowing down as well." He added.


    ''I might have gotten the dose wrong¡­ Perhaps I should have only fed them a part of the bottle and not the whole thing.'' Lin Mu noted his mistake for the next time.


    Of course he had no idea when Crown Princess Shang had given him the poison, she had only considered it to be used on someone at Lin Mu''s level or around that. It was a strong poison in the first ce and was also quite expensive.


    But Lin Mu used it as is, thinking that he had little time since the Cloak And Dagger Hall members could possibly kill themselves at any moment.


    "We''ll take care of them." Commander Dui replied. "Take them away!" he ordered.


    "Yes,mander!" the guards that he had brought with him replied and quickly carried the poisoned ''victims'' away.


    Once they were gone, Lin Mu spoke to the Commander again.


    "What about the Servant girl?" he inquired.


    "She''s left the Imperial Grounds just as you said and we are staying away from not make her suspicious." Commander Dui replied.


    "Good. I already have someone monitoring her." Lin Mu said making the Commander curious about who it could be.


    ''Whoever they are, they must be an expert in stealth.'' The Commander thought to himself not knowing that it was just a bird that was doing it. "The Treasury Minister also asks if you need any more assistance?" he added.


    "Tell him to keep his guards ready to mobilize at any moment." Lin Mu answered. "And I''m assuming the Crown Prince is ready too?" "Of course." The Commander nodded.


    "Good¡­ It won''t be long hopefully." Lin Mu said as he sensed Ashy''s location.


    He had been monitoring her and had asked her to stay hidden just like before. He had done this as part of the full n which involved tricking the girl.


    Lin Mu had asked the Treasury Minister to set up a lookalike who would get killed instead of him so that the Servant girl would think she had seeded. They had also gone an extra step and a made sure that the guards were one step behind in catching the girl, allowing her to get away freely.


    From what he had heard from Ashy, the instructions were for the girl to go to a certain hideout upon sessful execution of her mission. From there on she were to wait until she was given the right chance to escape the city.


    Normally they would simply use a Teleportation Talisman, but Yao Changying''s Spatial Lock had conveniently taken away that option. Lin Mu hoped that the Servant girl would lead them to the hideout which would ideally have more people, and information about their affiliation to the ck Ying Empire.


    "Let''s gather everything here. There''s bound to be something of use for us." Lin Mu said once he confirmed that there was no problem on Ashy''s end. "Indeed." Commander Dui replied and helped Lin Mu gather the documents.


    The other people he had brought with him did the same and they all collected them securely. Lin Mu took this chance to make a copy for himself, since he wished to analyze them himself too.


    Soon they were done and left the furniture shop. Though a bunch of guards stayed behind and more arrived, since they would be setting up a perimeter and investigating more into the shop''s ownership.


    Lin Mu went to the Crown Prince''s Personal Pce where the others had gathered. He exined all that had happened to them, leaving them quite surprised.


    "You really went to a banquet and uncovered an entire scheme." Crown Prince Feng Shun didn''t know what to say about it.


    "It was just luck." Lin Mu replied. "Thankfully they were impatient enough to act right then." He added.


    "That''s good for us." Daoist Chuughed. "The more impatient they are the more mistakes they''ll make."


    "Though who were they?" Ziran questioned. "Considering their proximity to the Imperial Grounds, they must''ve had great influence."


    "That''s what I wonder too." Lin Mu said as he took out a jade slip. "Let''s see if we find anything from these documents." He said as he tapped the jade slip, letting a formation screen appear.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The formation screen then divide into seven and moved in front of each individual present which included Crown Princess Shang, and Monk Hushu as well.


    As they all scanned through it, Monk Hushu ended up being the first one to discover an important bit of information.


    "It says here that a payment of two million Immortal Stones was sent to someone named Lord Kou Tua." Monk Hushu stated.


    "Lord Kou Tua?" Crown Prince Feng Shun narrowed his eyes as he recalled the name. "That''s¡­ a low ranked Aristocrat. If I recall correctly he used to be a merchant andter gained ess to nobility about a thousand years ago."


    "I found something more." Crown Princess Shang spoke this time. "A receipt of payment from someone named Darin." "Darin? That''s not a name native to the Rust Sky World." Crown Prince Feng Shun said in confusion.


    "He might be from another world." Ziran guessed. "Keep on looking."


    They did that and found out many such recipients and payment records along with jobmissions of various kinds showing that the Cloak and Dagger Hall was very, very busy.


    Material ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 2480 A Big Catch

    Chapter 2480 A Big Catch


    The more Lin Mu and hispanions looked through, the more they learned about the Cloak And Dagger Hall.


    Their clients were quite varied and ranged from Nobles all the way to somemon riffraff. It was quite a concern for the Crown Prince as there were some important nobles involved in it, too.


    "Lord Han!?" Crown Prince Feng Shun discovered.


    "Who''s that?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "Lord Han is the Second Brother of Father''s Fourth Concubine." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "He''s involved in this too¡­" his expression became stern.


    Lord Han''s position was quite high up due to his rtion and showed that the people who had made use of the Cloak and Dagger hall reached all the way to the upper echelons of the Aristocratic circle. The only saving grace right now was that there didn''t seem to be anyone from the Imperial Court itself part of it. "We need to find more of their ces." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, thinking about it.


    "Speaking of that¡­ Looks like we won''t have to wait long." Lin Mu said as he received a message from Ashy. "Our little assassin has reached the hideout. And she''s not alone." He added.


    "Good. Time to see what else they''re hiding." Crown Prince Feng Shun said before getting up.


    "Shall we do this ourselves?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "Of course, I''ve been sitting for far too long." Ziran said as he stretched a bit.


    "Follow me," Lin Mu said as he took the lead.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    He flew out, and the others followed him, soaring over the night sky of the Capital City. It was around three am in the night, and as such, most of the city was asleep, with none having the knowledge that a major incident had urred in the city.


    This was something that they wished to preserve as news of any kind of untoward incident would only sow unease which could lead to chaos. The people had already been unnerved after the explosion at the outpost of the ck Ying Empire outpost.


    Thankfully, it had been contained, or the effects of it would have certainly been a lot more terrifying.


    Lin Mu flew for about fifteen minutes before finally reaching the northern division of the Capital City. This was the area that was located just before the Tournament grounds and had various restaurants, and entertainment establishments.


    Lin Mu could sense the presence of Ashy from none other than one such establishments.


    "In there." Lin Mu pointed to argepound with tens of buildings inside it along with several smaller courtyard. Over all it took up at least two square kilometers of area, showing just how big it was. "The Nine Pleasures Entrancement Pavilion." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "Its one of the busiest entertainment establishments in the city¡­ Owned by none other than Lord Kou Tua." He revealed.


    "Looks like this lord Kou Tua is getting suspicious by the minute." Ziran said as he took a look inside the dark rooms of the pavilion.


    His Eyes of the Underdark activated and he looked through it all, finding several sensual activities currently underway. But it was merely a ploy, as in one certain room, a familiar servant girl was present along with a couple more individuals.


    "There," Ziran pointed.


    "Commander Dui, seal the entire district." Crown Prince Feng Shun ordered. "We''ll head in ourselves." "As youmand, my Prince." The Commander said before going away to carry out his duty.


    "Let me take a look underground as well, they definitely have more than just this." Lin Mu suggested.


    "Please do, Daoist Lin Mu." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded.


    ~SHUA~ This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a moment and activated his Spatial Perception. His vision extended past the limits of the physical walls and went below the floorboards of the entire pavilion. It viewed several meters of just soil and rocks before finally reaching an open space below.


    It was as wide as the entirety of the Nine Pleasures Entrancement Pavilion and had over a hundred rooms and halls within it. Lin Mu could also sense at least a couple hundred clumps of Qi moving around, letting him know just how many people there were.


    "Oh my¡­ Looks like we got the big fish." Lin Mu stated, not having expected to see these many people at all.


    "They''re all hiding there?" Crown Princess Shang asked. "How many?"


    "Over two hundred." Lin Mu replied. "This might just be their main base." He stated.


    "Great¡­ We can deal with them all at once," Crown Prince Feng Shun stated as an arc of lightning jumped out of his eyes.


    "How do you wish to do this?" Ziran asked. "I don''t think we''ll be able to restrain all of them. There''ll be bound to be some that sense it or get to act before that." He added.


    "I''ll deal with the higher ups. The rest should not matter as much." Lin Mu replied. "Though I''ll need more of that poison, Crown Princess." He requested.


    "Here, should be more than enough." The woman quickly handed Lin Mu a box full of vials. "Shouldn''t take long," Lin Mu said as he disappeared into thin air.


    The group waited in the air for about five minutes, after which Lin Mu gave them the go ahead.


    "Let''s go!" Crown Prince Feng Shun raised his finger and pointed it down at the empty space in one of the gardens.


    ~RUMBLE~


    ~BOOM~


    A thick bolt of lightning shot down from his finger, drilling through the ground and sting opening up a tunnel for them to pass through


    To the patrons of the establishment, it was as if a quake had urred and they were very rudely shook. Of course, chaos soon broke, and the people started to scramble. But when they tried to leave the Pavilion, they were all quickly stopped by the guards.


    Of course, they had no idea of the more bloody events that were happening just below them. But the ground shook, and a faint peal of thunder could be hearding from it, shaking the hearts of all those that heard it.

 Chapter 2481 Cutting Operations And Decrypted Message

    Chapter 2481 Cutting Operations And Decrypted Message


    The operation in the middle of the night went rather well for Lin Mu and hispanions. But it was the most unfortunate day for the Cloak and Dagger hall, for their entire operation had been found.


    In there, Lin Mu had apprehended the man whom the Great Dagger had referred to as the ''Prime Dagger''. He was apparently one of the two founders of the entire organization and was none other than Kou Bian, the brother of Lord Kou Tua.


    On the other hand, the other founder, titled as the ''Prime Cloak'' was simply the Overseer of the Nine Pleasures Entrancement Pavilion above. She was the one in charge of all the courtesans and had a somewhat public front as Madame Silk.


    The entire Cloak and Dagger Pavilion was divided into two main divisions, with the Daggers being the operatives that carried out active missions. The Cloaks, on the other hand, were passive members who were in charge of gathering information.


    They had many members working as Cloaks spread out in the entire city and it was quite an expansivework too. It included courtesans, artists, shopkeepers, beggars and more. And from what Lin Mu and Crown Prince learned, many weren''t even aware they were working for the Cloak and Dagger Hall.


    Most of their members simply sold information on the side to earn a bit more. Only the higher ranked members actually knew about the organization. The existence of such arge scale ckwork was rming to Crown Prince. He quickly informed the Emperor of this and an emergency court session was held. In it, all the information that had been discovered so far was revealed. It was very shocking to them as they had already been under stress due to the ck Ying Empires actions and now they had another snake that they needed to deal that was hiding right inside their homes.


    The Emperor decided that he had given enough freedom to the nobles and it was time to tighten his fist. And quickly sent out an edict and all those that were involved in it were arrested and brought to the court. But not all of them got the same punishment.


    The problem though was that the Cloak And Dagger Hall didn''t do high value assassinations until quite recently. Their targets before this had just been somemoners or cultivators without much of an affiliation.


    In fact, a major part of their work was simply in the gathering and sale of intel. This wasn''t even fully illegal either, as there were many such information pavilions working openly in the empire.


    But the Cloak and Dagger Pavilion had gone into the dark side of it, involving market maniption, ckmail and more.


    If it was still unto that extent, it would be fine, but the assassinations were a big offense. Especially since they started taking up those that involved nobles, and even the Treasury Minister. It turned out thats after having operated for several hundred years as a ''sessful'' operation they decided to expand and grow bigger.


    They hid behind the facade set up by Lord Kou Tuo who had be an aristocrat and also their shield. Under his influence, a lot of the matters were easily swept away and didn''t seem as big. It was why things had never reached to the point where the Imperial Court would be concerned.


    The ck Ying Empire knew this and decided to take advantage of it. Giving them the capital needed to expand as the payment for a big mission.


    The Assassination of the Treasury Minister would be a major blow to the Imperial Court as his death would greatly influence the market and he wasn''t the only one on the list. There were other major targets like the Commerce Minister and the Agriculture Minister too.


    The only reason those two had not been targeted was simply because there was no opportunity to do that. They were very busy individuals and spent a ny percent of a month staying awake busy at work.


    The Treasury Minister was also quite busy and it was his meeting with Lin Mu that had given them the chance to act. All the members that had been captured were interrogated and their establishment was stripped bare of all its belongings. Hundreds of experts were assigned tob the documents while the Imperial Guards raided the other hideouts that were spread in the city.


    Hundreds of thousands of documents were gathered up, which took over two weeks to be analyzed.


    But this came with great results, as they found out something they had been searching for.


    "Crown Prince! We''ve found it! We''ve decrypted the message!" A discipline hall member came to inform him in his pce.


    "What?" Everyone was surprised.


    "The Cloak and Dagger Pavilion was also involved in finding what the location mentioned in the scroll we obtained from the second lieutenant was. Apparently, there were several members of the ck Ying Empire whom the message was sent to. And one such member employed the services of the Cloak and Dagger Pavilion." The man exined.


    "Show it to me." Crown Prince took the jade slip and quickly read through it all. "He''s right. They had decrypted around half of the message while our members had decrypted a part too. Combining the two they''ve managed to fully decrypt it." He revealed.


    "That''s great!" Lin Mu said in joy.


    It was the biggest gain they''ve had so far when considering the ck Ying Empire.


    "So where is it?" Daoist Chu inquired.


    "The Tri-cone Savanna." Crown Prince Feng Shun revealed.


    "The Tri-cone savanna?" Lin Mu opened the map of the Dao Wind Empire and took a look. "It''s in the south¡­" he found the location.


    It was located in the Southern Penins and was quite a distant location from the capital. It wasn''t particrly important for any resource, thus it was mostly in the lower ranked regions of the empire.


    "I haven''t been there in years¡­ Looks like it''s time for us to head there ourselves." The Crown Prince dered.


    This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 2482 The Southern Region Of The Empire

    Chapter 2482 The Southern Region Of The Empire


    ~WHOOSH~


    The wind swept past Lin Mu, as his hair swayed with it. He stood at the helm of a flying ship and watched an endless expanse of trees passed under it.


    "Beautiful, isn''t it?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu replied. "This forest does have its own charm¡­ The Cup Crown Forest, I believe?" Because of the speed, it was a bit difficult to see but if one was standing still they would see that each of the trees were shaped in a unique way. The crown of trees was depressed in the middle while elevated on the sides, making it look like an inverted dome.


    And if one looked at a singr tree they would see that it was shaped a bit like a cup.


    This was because this was a forest of a type of trees called as the Cup Crown trees, and were native to this region. Though other than their special shape, they didn''t have any particr importance. Their fruits didn''t provide much Qi and their wood was also not as tough as most other woods.


    Thus while they had an aesthetic value, they didn''t have much of a materialistic value.


    "That''s right." Crown Prince Feng Shun confirmed from behind the wheel. "We''re officially in the Southern region and soon we should be reaching the Tri-cone Savanna." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ We''vee quite far." Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    They had left the very next day after they had discovered the location mentioned in the encrypted message. It had already been several days since then and they had basically been flying nonstop.


    For the journey, the Crown Prince had gone all in and took out the fastest Flying Ship in the Imperial Court''s fleet. It was even faster than his own ship and was something that was highly valued even in other worlds.


    In fact, it was good enough that traveling to other worlds on it was fully possible. And while it might not be as fast as Little Shrubby, it was still quite fast. Lin Mu and the others could''ve had chosen to gone on Little Shrubby and was also his first option, but Commander Dui suggested that they take the safer choice and bring a battalion of soldiers with them.


    The Emperor also insisted on it, and as such they had no choice but to bring the ship which could amodate them all.


    Still, the speed of travel was a lot faster than it would be normally and Lin Mu also got to see more of the Empire since they didn''t skip it with teleportation arrays. The start of the journey was pretty simr to the one Lin Mu had taken when heading to the Evergreen Pirs Forest. They first went to the Minor Mite Mountains but instead of heading straight south from there, they went around the western path and passed by the Osmanthus Lake.


    Lin Mu finally got to see theke that had water that smelled of Osmanthus flowers.


    It was rather pleasing to one''s senses and had a lot of people visiting it all the time. Though not all regions of the Osmanthuske were safe, and only the northern shore of theke was actually settled by people. There was a town located here that catered to the visitors.


    But all the other regions of theke were dangerous due to the presence of hundreds of different kinds of Insect beasts. These beasts were attached by the sweet smell of theke, which came from a unique species of Aquatic Osmanthus Flowers. These flowers stayed submerged for most of the day and only surfaced during the night. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    As such, it was usually fine in the day, but in the night one could hear the buzzing and chittering of insects that were attracted by the Aquatic Osmanthus Flowers.


    Of course, since Lin Mu and the others were using the Imperial Flying ship, they had nothing to fear and they simply cut a path straight through theke and got to see everything along the way. From there, they soon reached the edge of the Evergreen Pirs Forest and the Morning Glory n.


    No stops were taken and they continued onwards to the Five Rivers Gorge which was a very important location for the empire as this was where five of the major rivers of the entire continent met.


    And in the intersection point of these five rivers stood a majestic city called as the Five Rivers City. This city was the Thirdrgest city in the entire empire and was an important administrative region.


    The city was built around a mountain that towered from the middle of the rivers, and five bridges hung from them, extending all the way to shore on the other side of the rivers. There were hundreds of floating jetties on the water attached to the city where ships were docked.


    Many more ships were further ahead, either waiting for their chance to dock or fishing in the water. After all, with so many rivers meeting, the number of fishes and other aquatic beasts in the water was quite high.


    This was another reason why the city was so prosperous.


    In fact, if the teleportation arrays were still working, they would have actually appeared here and then continued the journey on ship. Lin Mu found the city to have a rather upbeat vibe to itpared to the Capital City.


    Lin Mu would have loved to take a look around in the city, but had to shelve it for sometime in the future. After the Five Rivers city came anotherke called as the Great Southern Lake. It was formed from the waters of the five rivers joining and pooling up.


    Though rather than ake, it would be more appropriate to call it a sea with its sheer size since it took a whole day and half of flying before they reached the other side which was where the Cup Crown Forest started.


    And a few hourster, Lin Mu could finally see the vast yellow savanna in his sights.

 Chapter 2483 The Tri-cone Savanna

    Chapter 2483 The Tri-cone Savanna


    "So why''s this called as Tri-cone Savanna again?" Daoist Chu asked looking at it. "It just looks like anymon savanna." He stated.


    "It''s due to these three mountain peaks, isn''t it?" Lin Mu pointed on the map.


    "Oh?" Daoist Chu took a closer look and saw them.


    "That''s right." Crown Prince Feng Shun confirmed. "Due to the position of the mountains, it looks like a w trying to grip the savanna within them. Though some also say that it was named like that because it looked like a Drill head." He exined.


    "Interesting¡­" Daoist Chu muttered. "And where exactly are we supposed to go?" to him the savanna looked rather in.


    Almost entirety of it looked the same, having yellow grass and bushes with simr shades of colors. A few acacia trees grew here and there which added a tone of green to the mix, but it was still dominated by yellow for the most part.


    There were actually streams and some small rivers running through it too, but the tall grass of the savanna hid them quite well.


    But what didn''t hide were the herds of beasts that grazed on the grass or ran around.


    "The Decrypted message didn''t give exact coordinates, but we do know the starting point which is a river that coils." Crown Prince Feng Shun read the information again.


    "A river that coils¡­ Hmm¡­ I suppose we have to search for it." Lin Mu thought to himself before calling someone. "Little Shrubby, go out and see."


    ~ROAR~


    ~WHOOSH~


    Before the others could evenprehend it, the beast had already turned into a red blur and flew away like a thunderbolt!


    "That''ll help quite a lot." Crown Princess Shang stated. "He can cover a lot more area than us."


    "Indeed. He was a great help in the Expedition too." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "Anyone wanna bet how long it''ll take for him to find it?" Daoist Chu said as a smile appeared on his face. "I''ll start first, with ten¡ª" before he could even finish his words, though Lin Mu interrupted.


    "And it''s found." Lin Mu said with a chuckle. "It''s that way," he pointed to the south east.


    "Hahaha, perhaps next time we should bet if Daoist Chu can finish setting up the bet first." Ziranughed. "Dammit, I gotta be faster." Daoist Chu smiled wryly.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The ship changed direction and soon arrived at the location which was barely twenty minutes from their location. "Oh yeah, that''s surely a coiled river." Daoist Chu said upon looking at the unique river that was seemingly sinking into the ground.


    The river flowed in a coiling pattern and made circles, going deeper with each turn and finally disappearing into the ground at the end. The location almost looked like a quarry, but there were no signs of it being mined by anyone.


    "To think the river carved out a path like this." Lin Mu found it to be quite interesting. "We now follow the river, if I remember correctly?" "Yeah, I think that''s more of your expertise Daoist Lin Mu." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed.


    "Alright." Lin Mu said as he gave a nce to Little Shrubby. "Guide them along." He said before jumping down.


    Little Shrubby could sense Lin Mu, thus he could easily guide them above the ground. It would be easier and more convenient than giving instructions through amunication jade slip anyways. After all, there could be many twists and turns, so this was a more direct method.


    Lin Mu quickly fell down and instead of crashing, he easily sank into the ground as if it were water.


    His immortal sense tracked the flow of the water and he began following it.


    ''At least it doesn''t go too deep.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    But after about ten minutes of following it, he realized that it had taken a downward turn. A few more minutester, the incline of the river was getting steeper until Lin Mu sensed what was pretty much a straight 90 degree fall.


    "Is this a cavern system?" Lin Mu wondered as he stood above the holes.


    The gap was very narrow and a normal person wouldn''t be able to pass through the rocks. There were hundreds of gaps between them through which the water was falling through. Lin Mu though, had no problem and phased through it, arriving at the bottom.


    It was about four hundred meters deep and from here on the river slowed down, eventually reaching arge natural reservoir which was probably just the water table of this region.


    ''The third clue was about a path on the shore.'' Lin Mu remembered and tried to look for one.


    This was a bit hard to find as the moisture had made everything slick and moss was also growing on most of the rocks. But after scanning for a bit with his Immortal Sense Lin Mu found a series of rocks that had been cut by humans to form a paved path. Following that, he soon reached the end, which was just a straight wall.


    He flew up and soon reached the top which had a small cave.


    "Hmm¡­ this should be close enough for others to enter from the top too." Lin Mu reckoned and scanned the ground.


    He found the thinnest ce and punched out.


    ~BOOM~


    Arge hole was punched out, and light fell through it allowing him to see the ship above.


    "Come on down!" Lin Mu shouted.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    The Crown Prince and the others came down, while the soldiers waited above to secure the area. "They certainly hid this well." Crown Prince Feng Shun was sure that without the clues there would be no way of finding it. T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "We still have a bit to go," Lin Mu said and took the lead. They entered the small cave and walked through a narrow passage before arriving at a wide open cave. "This¡­ aren''t these all¡­" In there they saw thousands upon thousands of carvings.


    "Shamanic Script."

 Chapter 2484 Wrathful Deities

    Chapter 2484 Wrathful Deities


    This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Inside the deep cave, Lin Mu and the others could see thousands of carvings on the walls as well as the rock pirs that held up the ceiling.


    They were all written in a script they had all be familiar with.


    "It''s indeed the Shamanic Script of the Demonic tribes." Ziran confirmed seeing them.


    Lin Mu watched them for a few seconds before finallyying his eyes on what looked like a small temple. It was located in the middle of the cave and was barely ten meters tall. There were two weathered statues standing on either side of its entrance that red at them.


    "Are those, demons?" Crown Princess Shang said upon seeing the mottled statues.


    "They are¡­" Ziran said in a voice that almost seemed like a whisper. "What is it?" Lin Mu could sense the tenseness. "They''re not just any demons¡­ They''re Demonic Deities who are worshipped by the Demons." Ziran answered. "The Four Armed Vengeful Rakshasa and the Jagged Maw Punishing Demon." He revealed.


    "What''s special about them?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that there must be more to them.


    He knew that a lot of the Demons worshipped their ancestors. But this was usually unique to each tribe for the most part. Among them though there were great demons who had not just been worshipped by one tribe but multiple of them.


    They had been worshipped for such a long time that some of them were considered as deities across almost all Demonic Tribes, bing well known in the entire Immortal World.


    "The Four Armed Vengeful Rakshasa and the Jagged Maw Punishing Demon aren''t just any normal Demonic Deities. They''re considered as the Wrathful Demonic Deities that judge and punish criminals.


    Their statues aren''t usually made just anywhere and are exclusive to prisons." Ziran exined, making the others surprised. "This ce¡­ it''s a prison." It was hard to believe at first, but then they thought about it all from the start.


    The cryptic directions, the almost impossible to follow clues, and finally the hidden cave. It was even located in a rather ignorable location such as the Tri-cone Savanna. It was basically the best ce to hide a prison. But then, looking at the small temple, they got more doubts.


    "If the statues are there, then that Temple is a Prison?" Monk Hushu asked, his eyes narrowed in apprehension. His hands were already sping the prayer beads, as he had an ominous feeling about it all. "It''s unusual, but since the two Wrathful Demonic Deities are there, it''s definitely a prison. The Demons are strict about things like this and won''t just ce them anywhere." Ziran confirmed.


    ~Huu~


    "Since we''re here, we definitely have to check it. Especially since this is something Yao Changying has been after." Crown Prince Feng Shun spurred them all.


    "Amithabha, let''s just tread with caution." Monk Hushu advised.


    "Of course." Daoist Chu said. "I think we should look at all these carvings¡­ while I can''t read them, something tells me that these aren''t just some tunes." He added.


    "They sure aren''t." Lin Mu said as he traced his fingers over them. "They''re warnings¡­" he revealed.


    "What do they say?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "All that that dare to tread here be warned, for you have note for fortune, but for death." Ziran read. "Its the same thing written over and over again." Daoist Chu took a closer look and realized that the carvings were indeed the same. Due to natural weathering, they had been damaged a bit and had uneven textures, but after checking with immortal sense, he could indeed confirm that they were the same.


    "For them to carve it so many times¡­ They really wished to emphasize that fact." Crown Prince Feng Shun felt his stomach became a bit uneasy too.


    The ominous feeling wasn''t just limited to Monk Hushu now and everyone was feeling it.


    "Perhaps we should set up some defensive measures?" Daoist Chu said, taking out a stack of talismans.


    "We definitely should." Lin Mu was in agreement. "Same protocol as the Bridge ne." He stated.


    Everyone nodded and used a bunch of talismans, consumed a few pills, and activated their techniques. It was all done in a practiced manner, for they had repeated this same procedure hundreds of times in the past.


    But that wasn''t all, as Daoist Chu and Lin Mu even set up a few defensive formations around the temple to contain whatever might be inside it.


    Lady Kang was currently not present here, thus Lin Mu couldn''t rely on her defensive tools as such he reckoned adding more formations was better.


    The woman was busy handling matters in the city and gathering more intel through herworks as such she couldn''te on this trip. Of course, Elder Hu and Min Ju were with her too and were helping her out.


    After a while, Lin Mu and Daoist Chu had finished setting it all up and were now ready to proceed.


    ~SHUA~


    They first checked with their immortal sense and probed the temple''s walls.


    "Hmm, we can''t actually check inside it. It''s sealed." Lin Mu quickly found out.


    "Considering it''s a prison, it makes sense that they don''t want whatever or whomever''s inside to get out," Ziran replied. "We might have to be a bit harsh with it." He spoke.


    ~HUU~


    "Very well, I''ll check it myself." Lin Mu said, knowing that he had the best chance here since he wouldn''t be affected by the Demonic Influences as easily due to being used to it.


    He stood at the gate of the temple and held the handles.


    He already had the Longgui Bulwark Armor active along with a bunch of talismans, so would get some time to act.


    ~CREAK~


    But when he pulled on the gate, he found it to open rather easily, as if it weren''t locked at all.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And in the next second, he felt a gush of malevolent energy pouring out through the gap!


    "WITHERING ENERGY!" Lin Mu immediately shouted in warning.

 Chapter 2485 A Trapped Temple

    Chapter 2485 A Trapped Temple


    The sudden surge of Withering Energy was astonishing and Lin Mu had not expected to encounter it here. After all, it was something they hadn''t seen anyone other than those affiliated with Yao Changying using it. And even if this ce was something she was seeking out, it wasn''t like there was going to be more of it here.


    It wasn''t amon form of energy in the first ce anyway.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    Right away, around ten of the talisman barriers around Lin Mu broke apart as the dense Withering Energy washed over him. ~RUMBLE~


    Once it swept past him, the Withering Energy hit the barrier formations and was stopped temporarily.


    ~CRACK~


    But it soon stated to crack, as the energy ate away at the barrier.


    "Dammit, stabilize it!" Daoist Chu quickly rushed to repair the formation but couldn''t do much before the energy finally tore a hole in it.


    ~CRASH~


    The first formation barrier was broken and it rushed toward the second.


    "Get back!" Crown Prince Feng Shun made a dragging gesture, causing a gust of wind to pull the man.


    ~WHOOSH~


    ~CRACK~


    Daoist Chu barely avoided the iing Withering Energy by an inch, while a talisman barrio on him also cracked.


    "Crown Princess Shang get ready to assist Lin Mu!" Ziran shouted before releasing a pair of vines from his hand.


    "Yes!" Crown Princess Shang replied as a group of flowers seemingly sprouted from her hands.


    ~TWANG~


    Ziran shot the pair of vines towards Lin Mu and they pushed through the Withering Energy. The energy of course, tried to eat away at the vines too, but Ziran resisted it by simply supplying more of his Wood Elemental Immortal Qi, trying to simply overpower the Withering Energy.


    And sure enough, it managed to hold on just enough for him totch onto Lin Mu.


    "Now!" Ziran ordered as he pulled the vines back.


    "Cleansing Pollen Surge!" Crown Princess Shang chanted as she directed the flowers towards the front.


    ~HUALA~


    The flowers in her hands seemingly sprayed out white pollen that immediately filled the air in front. ~WHOOSH~


    The vines pulled Lin Mu through the two barriers and he was inundated in the white pollen. The others could finally see him again and saw that all the tassellings barriers had been destroyed, but the Searing Hot energy of his Longgui Bulwark Armor had managed to protect him along with the other measures he had taken.


    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~


    The Cleansing Pollen Surge seemingly washed away the remnants of the Withering Energy that were left on Lin Mu''s body. Thankfully it had not managed to enter it, so he was unharmed.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu finallynded next to them and they took a breath of relief.


    "Are you fine, Lin Mu!?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "I''m good." Lin Mu replied, taking a breath as well. "The exposure was short enough that it didn''t get through." He added.


    He had been in contact with it less than ten seconds and had been pulled back by the others within that time, so he had managed to endure it with no harm. But there was no telling if it would be the same once the barriers copsed.


    "What do we do now?" Crown Princess Shang questioned. "This much Withering Energy would eat away at walls and copse the entire cave if we let it be." She said with anxiety.


    Even if the rock seemed to be solid and would be able to endure attacks from other immortals, it wasn''t something that could stand up against Withering Energy that could even harm Lin Mu.


    If the entire cave copsed there, they would likely lose whatever was inside the temple.


    They could not afford this when they were so close to getting it. Plus, the effort of obtaining it showed that whatever was inside was highly valuable to Yao Changying, and as such, they couldn''t let it go to waste.


    "We will have to cleanse it right here and now." Lin Mu said as a n formed in his mind. "Monk Hushu, set up a Buddhist Veil of protection around this. Ziran and Crown Princess Shang can cover it with their restraining wood skills.


    Daoist Chu reinforced the barrier as much as you can. Crown Prince Feng Shun and I will try to burn away as much of the Withering Energy as we can." He instructed.


    "Alright!" they all said in unison, hoping that it would work.


    They had done something like this before, but the time for preparation they had this time was quite less. ''Little Shrubby,e down!'' Lin Mu urged. ''His mes will be needed here too.'' He knew that with the improved power of Little Shrubby''s mes, it would be possible to burn away the Withering Energy.


    ~RUSTLE~ Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Ziran and Crown Princess Shang acted first. The half elf extended hundreds of thick vines that wrapped around the barrier that was barely managing to hold up while the Crown Princess threw out handfuls of seeds that sprouted and turned into thick thorns that grew between the gaps.


    This fully packed the new wooden barrier, while Monk Hushu began chanting.


    ~HUALA~


    His Golden Vajra Idol Dao Embryo appeared behind him while a glow surrounded him.


    "Golden Vajra Illumination!" The monk chanted as the barrier was quickly covered in a golden veil.


    This veil was the most effective on Withering Energy, as the damage to the Barrier was stopped almost immediately. This gave Daoist Chu the time to reinforce it and repair some of the damage that was done to it.


    ~ROAR~


    Little Shrubby arrived in this time too and knew what was needed to be done.


    "With me!" Lin Mu said as a searing hot energy flowed out of his hands. "Storm King Immortal Arts: Wrath bolt!" Crown Prince Feng Shun released a thick bolt of lightning that spread into hundreds of branches.


    ~GUAAAAAA~


    Little Shrubby on the other hand, breathed out a ray of hot mes that melted everything in its path.


    All three attacks bore through the barrier and entered the Withering Energy.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2486 Defeating Trap And Treasure Within

    Chapter 2486 Defeating Trap And Treasure Within


    Lin Mu''s Searing Hot energy wasplemented by Little Shrubby''s mes. The beast''s Absolute me Command further amplified the power and the two melded easily, but this was just a part of it. Crown Prince Feng Shun''s Lightning also joined in it.


    It became amplified with the Metal elemental energy present in Lin Mu''s Searing Hot energy and jumped between it. Thebination of the three attacks was rather powerful as they turned into a spiraling beam that drilled into the barrier and rushed into the Withering Energy!


    ~HISS~


    The effect was almost immediate as the Pure Yang energies began acting against the Withering energy. The dense Withering Energy tried to resist it but thebined force of Lin Mu, Little Shrubby and Crown Prince Feng Shun was able to overpower it.


    As if cotton was lit on fire, the mass of Withering Energy burned away under thebined assault of the Pure Yang energies and finally cleared out.


    ~BOOM~


    But it was as if a cloud of gunpowder had been lit once all the Withering Energy was consumed, resulting in arge explosion!


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The Formations were the first to crack and after that the vine and thorn barriers that Ziran and Crown Princess Shang had set up burned away.


    Monk Hushu''s Golden Vajra Illumination was not affected since it wasn''t a normal barrier skill in the first ce.


    ~HONG~


    Thankfully, the explosion had be weak enough from this that it was easily resisted by Lin Mu and hispanions. In fact, Little Shrubby simply stood at the front and created ayer of mes with his Absolute me Command and reabsorbed the mes of the explosion.


    ~SHUA~


    A few secondster, all of it was cleared out and they could see the aftermath of it all.


    "That was close," Lin Mu said as he took a breath.


    "Hopefully the Temple isn''t damaged." Daoist Chu said, "it would be a shame if this ended up destroying what we came to get." He added.


    "It shouldn''t." Ziran replied. "If it is a prison that warrants the two Wrathful Deity Statues, I don''t think it''ll be that weak." He added.


    Ayer of soot was now left everywhere and most of the rock had been scorched ck. The moisture in the cave had also been turned into steam, causing the view to be a bit foggy.


    ~WHOOSH~


    But a wave of hand was all that was needed for the Crown Prince to clear it out and reveal the lone standing temple.


    "Looks like Ziran is correct." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "It''s standing as is." Crown Princess Shang could see no damage on it at all. "Hmm¡­ There''s definitely some kind of restriction on it." Lin Mu said narrowing his eyes. "I can faintly see a link between the statues and the temple¡­ but it''s too vague." He added.


    "I wouldn''t be surprised. The Wrathful Deity Statues are simr to the Demonic Sentinel we encountered." Ziran spoke. "Though these seem to be mostly depleted now." He added.


    "That makes sense. Who knows how long they''ve been standing here. Plus, our attack might have drained more of its energy too." Daoist Chu said after thinking about it.


    "At least that means there shouldn''t be more defenses left." Monk Hushu muttered.


    "Let''s check it again." Lin Mu said before using his Immortal Sense.


    ~SHUA~


    He properly covered the entire Temple and entered it from the gap in the gate. The stone gate was still in the position that Lin Mu had left it in and only had a gap of about four inches open. It was rather surprising, as even the gushing Withering Energy had not managed to push it open.


    ''Does it only open if someone personally moves it?'' Lin Mu wondered. "Looks like I''ll have to see it directly then." He moved to open the gate.


    ~CREAK~


    The stone gate scraped against its hinges, having not moved for a while. But against Lin Mu''s strength, it wasn''t much and soon it was fully opened, letting everyone see what was inside.


    The Interior of the temple was actually quite small and the walls were a lot thicker than they had thought. "These walls¡­ they''re over three meters thick each?" Daoist Chu was surprised. "The actual space inside the temple is barely two square meters." "No wonder it rendered the explosion with ease. It wasn''t just the statues protecting it." Ziran said, but found it strange. "The only question left is, what is it protecting?" he asked, looking at the centerpiece of it all.


    A pedestal was present there, which was surrounded by a white spherical barrier. "The treasure should be inside it." Crown Prince Feng Shun guessed. "What kind of barrier is it?" he asked.


    "Hmm¡­ It seems rather basic." Daoist Chu answered, narrowing his eyes. "I don''t sense any particr defensive capabilities from it."


    "How about you Daoist Lin Mu?" Monk Hushu inquired for a second opinion.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu checked the barrier with both his Immortal Sense as well as his Spatial Perception but found nothing dangerous from it.


    "It''s a very simple barrier. It should be easy to remove." Lin Mu stated as he approached it.


    ~STEP~


    And as soon as he stepped inside the temple''s threshold, the white spherical barrier flickered. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    In the next moment, it blipped out of existence, revealing what was hidden inside.


    "Whoa¡­" Lin Mu could now see a rather unique object.


    On the pedestal, a hollow polyhedral crystal seemed to be floating and within this crystal, an indigo colored wisp could be seen.


    But that wasn''t all, as something was wrapped around this crystal. It was a rather horrendous looking rope of some kind. The rope wasn''t normal though and had bone segments on it along with what looked like gnarled tendons. The rope split somewhere in the middle and divided into multiple ropes that were all wrapped around the crystal.


    "What is that?" The group was astounded.


    Only when Ziran took a closer look did he realize something.


    "That''s a spine."


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2487 A Spine And Crystal

    Chapter 2487 A Spine And Crystal


    The discovery of the polyhedral crystal wrapped with some kind of gnarled spine was certainly not the kind of treasure that Lin Mu and the group had expected to find.


    "It does seem like something that Yao Changying would want, considering her abilities." Daoist Chu couldn''t help but mutter.


    "What kind of spine is that though?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "It''s hard to tell." Ziran replied. "But those are most certainly vertebrae." He added.


    The group watched it for a few seconds before looking at each other.


    "It does not seem pleasant does it." Daoist Chu asked.


    "It most certainly does not." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied.


    "Yeah, it does scream ''danger''." Ziran agreed.


    "Regardless of it, we have to do something about it." Lin Mu replied. "Can''t just leave it here. We at least need to check what it is." He added.


    "Indeed." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "Let me try first." He took the lead this time.


    ~SHUA~


    His immortal sense extended and made contact with the spine first, getting no reaction from it. "Huh¡­ Didn''t expect that." The Crown Prince muttered before progressing to the Polyhedral Crystal. "Hmm, can''t prate it. The crystal can block our Immortal Senses." He added.


    "Looks like we''re a bit lucky this time." Daoist Chu stated. "Well, we''ve been burned too many times before. So this much caution is needed." Ziran responded. "Let me try to cleanse it first." Monk Hushu suggested. "Even if it hasn''t done anything to us yet, there''s no telling if theres something more hidden in it. I''ll try to purge it with Buddhist Techniques first." "Very well, go ahead." Crown Prince Feng Shun saw no harm in it.


    ~HUMM~


    Monk Hushu brought his hands together and began chanting with his eyes closed.


    ~HUALA~


    The Golden Vajra Idol Dao Embryo floated behind him as Buddhist Dao Traces filled the air. The Prayer beads in Monk Hushu''s hands glowed and floated out, before surrounding the Polyhedral crystal and the spine.


    "Amithabha, may the misfortune and foulness be cleaned from this world!" The monk said out loud before opening his eyes.


    ~HONGLONG~


    A bright golden glow was released from the Prayer beads as they seemingly encased the entire pedestals in blinding light. It was bright enough that they had to squint for about ten seconds, after which the glow finally faded away.


    "Haa¡­ HAA¡­" Monk Hushu seemed out of breath after executing that technique, showing that whatever it was took quite a bit of effort. "It should be fine now¡­ though I didn''t sense any curse on it." He added.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu said as he got closer.


    ~SHUA~


    The Longgui Bulwark Armor covered him for protection as he finally grabbed onto the sphere.


    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~ This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    But as soon as he did, the spine that was wrapping around the crystal seemingly came alive.


    "Huh!? What!" Before Lin Mu could react, the spine uncoiled from the crystal and wrapped around his arm! "SHIT!"


    ~CRACK~


    The power of the spine was rather great, as it could actually crack the armor!


    "Pull it off!" Crown Prince Feng Shun''s eyes went wide, seeing the sudden danger.


    "HAAA! MELD!" Lin Mu immediately tried to immobilize it with his Spatial skill to prevent any further damage. ''It can actually resist it!?'' he was shocked.


    The Spine was seemingly trying to go against the restraint of Meld, which made Lin Mu use a lot of strength.


    But as the spine resisted, Lin Mu felt a strange chill filling his arm. It didn''t take him long to sense that it was Baleful Energy.


    ''Shit! This isn''t just some normal treasure.'' Lin Mu knew he had to act fast. The Spine was injecting baleful energy into his arm and if he didn''t pull it off fast, it could very well have a chance to deal a good amount of damage to him.


    Lin Mu used his other hand and held onto the spine, trying to pull it off.


    ''Dammit, even with all my strength, it isn''t enough. I''mcking my Body Cultivation''s full power.'' Lin Mu was in a dilemma.


    "Let us help!" Daoist Chu was about to help when Lin Mu shouted.


    "Don''t! It''ll inject Baleful energy into you too!" Lin Mu quickly replied. "Don''t touch it and do it from afar." He added.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~


    Ziran thought of a solution and used his vines to wrap around the spine and try pulling it off. Crown Princess Shang, on the other hand, sprinkled tiny seeds that looked like poppy seeds on Lin Mu''s arm. These seeds seemingly sprouted and wriggled between the gaps of the spine, trying to push it off.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t do much here, as his skills weren''t exactly applicable here. And the same could be said for Monk Hushu.


    "Amithabha, what is this abomination!?" The monk had no idea how this spine hade alive. "It wasn''t affected by cleansing." "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang!" Lin Mu called out the twins, knowing that they were the only ones that won''t be affected by the Baleful energies. "Help me pull this off!" he shouted.


    ~HISS~~HISS~


    Sensing that their master was in trouble, the twins acted immediately.


    Xiao Yang bit into the spine and warped his tail around it, dragging it up. Xiao Yin did the same and pulled it from the other side. ~CREAK~CREAK~CRAEK~


    The vertebra ground against the armor, making sounds as the twins'' effort showed results. Contrary to their size, the twins were actually quite strong and since they could touch it directly without the Baleful energy being able to do much to them, they were unfettered.


    "Its working!" Lin Mu could feel the pressure getting less.


    ~CREAK~CREAK~CREAK~


    Finally, the twins had pulled it off enough that Lin Mu could slide his arm out.


    ~THUD~


    Lin Mu fell back from the force as the spine was finally removed.


    ~CLATTER~


    The spine seemingly broke apart and fell to the ground. But it didn''t make anyone relieved yet, as they had no idea if it was over.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2488 Demon Punishing Spine Lash

    Chapter 2488 Demon Punishing Spine Lash


    Lin Mu checked his body for damage, and saw that other than some Baleful Energy that had entered his flesh, he was fine.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu simply used a surplus of vitality tobat the Baleful Energy and push it out which sorted out the problem. "Is it over?" Crown Princess Shang questioned.


    They all looked at the scattered vertebrae with apprehension.


    "Perhaps." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he scanned it with his Immortal Sense. "Still no reaction." He added.


    "We probably should give a wide berth to that." Monk Hushu rmended. "Its hard to tell just what kind of trap it was." "Indeed." Lin Mu was in agreement and decided to push the vertebrae away with Meld. He didn''t dare touch them and could only hope that it was thest of it.


    "That Spine was probably thest line of defense protecting that crystal." Ziran said, "which means its probably very valuable." The group was not very keen on touching the crystal though, as thest incident had left them discouraged. "I''ll iste this away." Lin Mu suggested. "Better to keep it separate in my spatial storage." He added.


    "That might be for the best." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "We can take a proper look at it once we''re back." "Okay." Lin Mu said before using Meld once more and covering the entire crystal and the air around in a spatial restraint.


    ~SHUA~


    Then he touched the outeryer of the spatial container he had made with meld and simply stored it away in the ring. And even there, he ced it in a distant location.


    ''Senior Xukong can you take a look and tell me what it is?'' Lin Mu talked to his master.


    "Very well." Xukong said as he went to do that. "Though that Spine that attacked you, that was most certainly a Peak Immortal Weapon." He revealed.


    "What!?" Lin Mu was stunned.


    "It seems to be damaged, but it is most certainly a Peak Immortal Weapon. Perhaps it has weakened now after all these years." Xukong replied. "It might be a good idea to take it with you too." He added.


    "Won''t be it dangerous?" Lin Mu questioned. "It already attacked me once." "It should be out of energy now. It was barely hanging on for all this time. Plus the damage to it is quite extensive." Xukong answered. "Alright, senior." Lin Mu said and decided to use the same method as before. ~SHUA~


    But just as he used to meld and tried to contain the vertebrae again they seemingly shook.


    ~CLACK~


    "Ah no, it''s acting up again." Daoist Chu said, seeing them move.


    ~HISS~


    This time around though, Xiao Yin acted first and stood in front of the vertebrae that were starting to gather up again. The pieces came together and the tendons that connected them seemingly regenerated as if it were still alive. ~HUA~


    Next, the spine floated up in the air and hovered there for a moment before moving!


    "Careful!" Lin Mu urged and tried to stop it with meld.


    ~HISS~


    But much to his surprise, the Spine came to a stop in front of Xiao Yin. It seemingly hovered there in a strange state, as if it were observing something.


    The ck snake watched it sharply, ready to act if it tried anything. She had little to fear against the spine''s power and could easily consume and nullify it. ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~


    But as he continued to watch, the spine condensed and a wave of energy spread from it. This energy reached Xiao Yin and made her surprised. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "What is it, Xiao Yin?" Lin Mu could sense that something was happening between the two.


    For five seconds, the snake didn''t respond and simply watched.


    "It''s¡­ Talking to me," Xiao Yin finally responded.


    "It is?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. "What is it saying?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "It wants me to¡­ Take it?" Xiao Yin responded.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu narrowed his eyes. "Hmm¡­ Looks like the Spine considers Xiao Yin to be suitable." Xukong spoke up. "Peak Grade Immortal Weapon choose their masters in the first ce and perhaps it''s trying to choose her." He added.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows at first, and thought about how Xiao Yang had been chosen by the sh Cleave Axe. "See if you can control it." Lin Mu decided to let the snake try.


    "Okay." Xiao Yin said and connected to the Spine with her Immortal sense.


    ~SHUA~


    Almost instantly, the Spine seemingly became energized and began trembling with excitement.


    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~


    The the vertebrae expanded once more and the Spine grew to its full size.


    Now they could get a proper look at its actual form. The Spine had no actual handle, and it was instead made out of knotted tendons. The tendons looped into four holes, which looked big enough for one to put their fingers through. From there, the tendons all had multiple vertebrae attached to them that split around the 1/4th mark and divided into three sections. Each section had multiple vertebrae attached that gnarled and turned.


    ~SQUELCH~


    The gripping part of the Spine seemingly changed and the knots opened up. It then extended towards Xiao Yin''s tail and wrapped around it forming into a tube on which two of the Vertebrae slid over. These Vertebrae then seemingly shifted in form, locking onto the tail firmly, looking like a armored sheath.


    ~HISS~


    Xiao Yin moved her tail and the three segmented Spine moved along with it.


    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~


    The vertebrae made sounds as they shifted in the air, making all those that heard it shiver unconscionably.


    "Ugh¡­ That sound gives me the creeps." Crown Princess Shang said, rubbing the goosebumps on her hand.


    "Me too¡­" Daoist Chu agreed. "Though it seems like it''s fine now?" he wondered.


    "How is it?" Lin Mu asked Xiao Yin.


    "It wants me to use it and kill." Xiao Yin replied. "It says it is the Punishing Demon Spine Lash." She revealed.


    Hearing that Lin Mu couldn''t help but raise his brows.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2489 A Soul Container

    Chapter 2489 A Soul Container


    Xiao Yin''s acquisition of the Spine wasn''t something Lin Mu had expected when he first came here, but it was certainly a pleasant surprise now.


    While its actions were quite concerning at first, Lin Mu wondered if there was more to it.


    "What else is it saying? Why did it attack us?" Lin Mu decided to ask.


    Xiao Yinmunicated with the Punishing Demon Spine Lash and ryed it to Lin Mu.


    "It says that it was themand that wasst given to it. It was to guard the Crystal and wait for its master toe." Xiao Yin spoke. "Is that why it stopped after seeing you?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "Yes, it finds mepatible with it and that I can nurture it so that it can recover its full potential." Xiao Yin replied. "I also feel like I can control the power within it." She added.


    "Hmm¡­ It does use Baleful Energy, which are of the Yin Attribute." Lin Mu muttered. While both Xiao Yang and Xiao Yin were mostly resistant to Baleful Energy, only Xiao Yin could actually consume and convert it to pure Yin. As such, it made sense that she was suited to using it.


    Plus, considering her high affinity to the Yin Element, perhaps there won''t be many others that might find the Punishing Demon Spine Lashpatible with them.


    "Well, you have your storage gem, so you can keep it in there." Lin Mu reckoned things had sorted themselves out.


    "Yes!" Xiao Yin was now excited.


    She had been wondering what kind of weapon she''ll be able to get but it wasn''t like Lin Mu could just as for a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon for her. Especially one that waspatible with her.


    But fate seemed to be in her favor and now she had one for herself. ~SHUA~


    She quickly stored the Punishing Demon Spine Lash away and found no issues with it.


    "Is it fine to keep that Spine, Daoist Lin Mu?" Monk Hushu asked with apprehension.


    "Yes, it is actually a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon." Lin Mu said before exining the situation to them.


    After all, while they had seen it all, themunication between Xiao Yin, Lin Mu and Xukong was all through their links and wasn''t actually verbal.


    And once they heard it all, they couldn''t help but be surprised.


    "To think we''d find a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon here¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered. "If it had fallen in Yao Changying''s hand, it would certainly be problematic." He added.


    "Isn''t she the daughter of the Sect leader? Won''t she already have something like it?" Daoist Chu asked.


    "While the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect does have Peak Grade Immortal Weapons, both of them are swords with existing owners. Namely the Patriarch and the Grand Elder, so Yao Changying hasn''t been able to acquire one yet," Crown Princess Shang answered.


    "And even if she somehowgets one through her connections now, it isn''t necessary that it would bepatible with her." Daoist Chu spoke.


    "Perhaps the Demon Punching Spine Lash is what she has actually been looking for." Ziran guessed. "It can use Baleful Energy, which wouldplement Yao Changying now." He added.


    "But would she be willing to switch to a Whip Type weapon instead of a Sword?" Monk Hushu wondered.


    "Even if she can''t use it, there could be others who can use it among her people. Having a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon is a trump card anyway. She might not be able to use it to its full potential now, but that doesn''t mean she wouldn''t learn it.


    And even without having proficiency with it, a Peak Grade Immortal Weapon can work on its own anyways." Lin Mu stated.


    "That''s right." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "We just stopped her from growing her strength another fold." "Looks like our mission was a sess, then." Ziran chuckled. "Though that crystal is still something we need to check. The spine was protecting it after all." He reminded.


    "Indeed." Lin Mu nodded his head and asked Xukong again.


    "Give me a while. The polyhedral crystal is quite resistant to probing. If I use too much power it might just break." Xukong replied, making Lin Mu a bit surprised.


    ''Didn''t expect it to be thisplex,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    With that done, the group decided to do onest sweep of the cave to ensure they didn''t miss anything and left. "Crown Prince, is everything fine?" Commander Dui, who had set up a security perimeter on the surface, asked. "We heard a lot of explosions and the ground shook." "Things are fine now." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "The mission is a sess." He said with a smile. This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "Thank Heavens." Commander Dui took a breath of relief too. "Should I order them to mobilize?" he asked.


    "Do it. We''ll be heading straight back to the Capital City. We''ve acquired something that needs a properly analysis by the Formation Grand masters and Immortal Tool refiners. We''ll also need the Temple''s assistance for this," Crown Prince Feng Shun ordered.


    "Yes!" Commander Dui replied before quickly acting out the orders.


    In just fifteen minutes, the ship was back in the sky and was heading back to the Capital City.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The winds blew over Lin Mu''s face as his hair fluttered in it.


    He was sitting cross legged in the crow''s nest at the highest point in the ship and was mediating. It was private and gave him quite a good view of the scene from all angles, after all.


    Lin Mu checked his body throughly for any signs of damage and remnant Baleful energy to be sure that it was all cleared out. And while he was doing this, Xukong finally spoke again.


    "I think I know what the Polyhedral Crystal is now." Xukong stated. "It''s a Soul Container." He revealed.


    "A Soul Container?" Lin Mu woke up from his meditation right away.


    "Yes¡­ That Indigo wisp inside it is most likely a soul." Xukong confirmed.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2490 Celestial Soul

    Chapter 2490 Celestial Soul


    Soul Containers were items that could be found in the Mortal Realm too. Though they were something that were mostly used by those above the Nascent Soul realm as a means to preserve their life when they died.


    They would let their Nascent Souls enter them to survive for longer periods. But it wasn''t a foolproof measure as the destruction of the container would also lead to the destruction of the Nascent Soul. As such, whenever something like this was used, it was usually kept secret.


    "A Soul Container? But why can''t I sense it?" Lin Mu was surprised. "This isn''t just any Soul Container." Xukong replied. "This shouldn''t even be in the Immortal Realm." He said, his voice turning heavy.


    Hearing that Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as a thought appeared in his mind.


    "You mean to say this is from¡­ The Celestial Realm?!" Lin Mu questioned in shock.


    "Yes¡­ The quality of this Soul Container isn''t something that can be made in the Immortal Realm. This was most definitely forged in the Celestial Realm." Xukong answered.


    "Then the Soul inside it¡­ Could it be from the Celestial Realm too?" Lin Mu questioned next.


    It seemed the most obvious choice but it was also quite astonishing for something like that to be here.


    "That''s hard to say." Xukong replied. "At least not without releasing the soul. But if that is done the consequences of it might not be good." He said wondering more about it.


    Lin Mu went silent and thought about it for a bit and how it rted to Yao Changying.


    "Perhaps the Demon Punishing Spine Lash knows more about it?" Lin Mu wondered. "You can try asking." Xukong said.


    "Yeah," Lin Mu quickly called out Xiao Yin.


    ~HISS~


    She looked at Lin Mu curiously as he had a rather serious expression on his face.


    "Can you ask the Demon Pushing Spine Lash if it knows more about the crystal it was protecting?" he asked.


    "I can." Xiao Yin said before withdrawing the spine from her storage.


    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~


    The Demon Pushing Spine Lash waved in the air behind Xiao Yin, waiting to bemanded. Xiao Yin looked at her new weapon and asked her about the crystal. But after a few seconds she turned back to look at Lin Mu.


    "It says that it doesn''t know about the crystal. It was only ced there to guard it and nothing was instructed to it other than that." Xiao Yin replied.


    "Hmm¡­ what about the people who ced it there, can you ask it about them?" Lin Mu asked next.


    ~HISS~


    Xiao Yin nodded and questioned the Spine.


    This time she talked for a couple minutes, making Lin Mu think that this might be a more positive response than before.


    "The Spine said they were demons who ced it there." Xiao Yin answered making Lin Mu narrow his brows. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "No wonder there were the Wrathful Demon Statues there." Lin Mu muttered. "The Soul Container was ''imprisoned'' there." ~SIGH~


    "Looks like my guess was correct. We shouldn''t destroy the container." Xukong replied. "Considering the fact that the Soul Container was just imprisoned and not destroyed, the Demons probably knew of it as a threat." He added.


    "Yes¡­ So whomever''s soul is inside it must be of some value to Yao Changying. And considering the Soul Container was made in the Celestial Realm, the background of that soul must not be simple either." Lin Mu reckoned. "We definitely cannot let Yao Changying get her hands on it then." "Indeed." Xukong agreed.


    Lin Mu thought of other means that could be used to prevent this from happening. While keeping it in his ring was certainly an option, that didn''t mean that it wouldpletely out of the option that the Soul Container could get out. Yao Changying could still threaten Lin Mu by taking others hostage to relinquish it. Lin Mu didn''t want something like that to happen, thus thought of other options.


    ''Destroying it would be the best option but we can also make it so that it''s simply beyond the reach of Yao Changying.'' Lin Mu thought of another choice. "Should we just throw it into the void?" he suggested.


    That would most certainly make it very difficult for one to acquire it back as they would need someone with Spatial Skills to do that.


    "I wouldn''t rmend that. If the Soul inside the Container is a threat, it means that the Soul Container might have been made to prevent it from acting out. If the container is damaged, it could very well be released. The chances of that happening in the Void are quite high." Xukong replied, but there was some apprehension in his voice. Lin Mu heard it and could feel that there was something that Xukong was not telling him.


    ''A Normal Nascent Soul wouldn''t be able to survive the Void, but since Senior Xukong said it can be a threat, it is most certainly not a normal one. This soul should also be very old and a Nascent Soul wouldn''t be able to live that long anyways.'' Lin Mu didn''t take long to understand it on his own. ''Then this soul might belong to a Celestial too¡­''


    ~SIGH~


    Xukong could sense an inkling of Lin Mu''s thoughts and knew that he had already figured it out.


    "Yes, it is most likely a Celestial Soul too." Xukong confirmed. "No wonder¡­ But why would you hide it?" Lin Mu was confused.


    After all to him, Xukong had already revealed a part of the Celestial Realm''s secrets.


    "It''s more to do with the characteristics of the Celestials themselves. The restraints do not allow me to reveal them still." Xukong answered. "If a Celestial Soul indeed manages to get free, it can potentially find its way out of the Void too. If not that, there could be its allies that cane to rescue it as well.


    Since it was hidden in such a way, I wouldn''t put it out of the question that they probably didn''t want their allies toe and find the soul." He exined.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2491 A Proposition

    Chapter 2491 A Proposition


    "I see¡­ Perhaps we''ll just have to think of another solution to it." Lin Mu said after listening to it.


    He could tell that Xukong was simply trying to be cautious. And while Xukong had confidence that he could protect Lin Mu himself, there was no limit to what the Celestial Soul could do damage others around him.


    Even if it simply detonated, it could potentially destroy a lot of the Rust Sky World. Not to mention, the Soul could also take over other''s body.


    "What about the Saintess?" Lin Mu thought next. "She''s a Celestial too thus keeping it with her would be the better option. She might even be able to destroy the Soul inside too." He proposed another option.


    "That''s the best option so far." Xukong agreed. "The restrictions in her power would also not apply if what she was dealing with was another Celestial." He added.


    "That''s perfect." Lin Mu was relieved now.


    "Tsk~ Tsk~ Tsk~" It was now that a disapproving sound was heard.


    "Huh?" Lin Mu was surprised. "Who?" he became alert.


    He looked around but there was most certainly no one other than him on the Crow''s Nest.


    "What is it?" Xukong asked.


    "I heard something." Lin Mu replied, narrowing his eyes.


    "~Sigh~ Why would you destroy a perfectly good soul?" The voice spoke clearly this time.


    Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as he felt a familiarity in the voice. Xukong showed no reaction though, which meant that only Lin Mu could hear it.


    "Lin Mo." He remembered the voice he hadst heard from twenty five years ago.


    "You can hear him?" Xukong was rmed now too. "Correct." The voice confirmed. "It''s nice that you haven''t forgotten about me. I''d be sad if you did." He added.


    "How could I forget about it¡­ you certainly made it hard to do so." Lin Mu replied.


    "Hahaha, that''s good. It would be bad if I didn''t make an impression." Lin Mo spoke openly this time, Xukong being able to hear him too. "What do you want?" Xukong questioned. "Same as before." Lin Mo answered. "To help." "Help? How?" Lin Mu asked, being wary of the man. "Rx, I won''t harm you." Lin Mo replied. "I am you after all. It won''t benefit me either." He stated casually.


    "Why should we trust you?" Xukong spoke. "We don''t even know what you really are." He added.


    "Haha, Senior Xukong¡­ How coy¡­" Lin Mo spoke in an amused tone. "You''ve already thought about it deeply haven''t you?" He had several guesses about Lin Mo, but none of them seemed to fit the bill. Even in the long life that Xukong had lived, Lin Mo seemed to be a rather unique existence.


    "You''re self aware and separate consciousness from Lin Mu." Xukong replied. "Why don''t you tell us yourself?" he lightly taunted.


    "Yeah, tell me." Lin Mu demanded. "Like I''ve said before, I am simply you, or rather what you could be." Lin Mo said mysteriously. "What I can be?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    "I am you, without your inhibitions." Lin Mo spoke.


    "I am you without your limits." He said, his voice getting more and more excited.


    "I am you who knows of their superiority." This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "I am you with great dignity."


    "I am you who have embraced the truth."


    "I am you who was born to rule." Lin Mo finally said, his voice having be almost maniacal.


    Lin Mu grew silent after hearing that. He was feeling uneasy due to the man''s words. But this wasn''t because they wereing from Lin Mo, but rather because deep down, he felt a faint resonance with them.


    A gut deep feeling that told him all this was true.


    Xukong who heard it, was also perplexed and wary. His mind ran at the speed of lightning as he tried to figure out Lin Mo''s identity.


    ''He''s not a Heart Devil nor a Heart Demon. There is no presence of them in Lin Mu''s body. He''s acts like a foreign soul but hasn''t harmed Lin Mu. He has the powers of the Devil Path and appeared when Lin Mu used the Murdering Heart Sutra¡­ just what is he?'' Xukong still could not understand it.


    ~Sigh~


    "Let it be for now." Lin Mo knew that it was not a matter that could be epted easily. "Let''s focus on the task at hand. You wish to destroy a perfectly good soul?" he questioned.


    "If it is a Celestial Soul, it is far too dangerous to let it be," Lin Mu replied.


    "Only in the ways that you can think of," Lin Mo scoffed. "I can help you deal with it. Plus¡­ It will be of benefit to you too." He added.


    "Deal with it? Can you even do that?" Xukong knew of Lin Mo''s ability to consume souls, but to use them on a Celestial Soul was still quite surprising.


    "I can¡­ I can do a lot of things you all don''t know of," Lin Mo said, in an amused tone. "And by benefits, I don''t just mean power. We won''t be able to get much from that soul anyways. It has depleted most of it by now." He revealed.


    "You can sense that?" Xukong hadn''t expected that. "I can. That container may as well just be air to me." Lin Mo chuckled. "But yes, absorbing it will be no problem."


    "What is the benefit, then?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but ask.


    "While we might not get power from it, we can get something that can be a lot more valuable¡­ it''s memories." Lin Mo answered. "Think of it¡­ Don''t you wanna know why Yao Changying needs it? Don''t you wanna know how it ended up here?" he propped.


    "That¡­" Lin Mu couldn''t let go of his apprehension yet.


    "It will not harm you, don''t worry." Lin Mo stated. "I''ve helped you before a couple of times, too." "What do you mean?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that he didn''t mean the escape.


    "Who do you think saved you from the impact of the Chimeric Fiend God''s Karma?" Lin Mo asked with a chuckle.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2492 Lin Mos Condition

    Chapter 2492 Lin Mo''s Condition


    This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Lin Mo''s words were stunning to both Lin Mu and Xukong.


    "You did that?" Lin Mu had wondered back then whose voice he had heard it but didn''t expect it to be Lin Mo. ''It was brief but to think it was him too.'' He thought.


    ''To be able to disperse the impact of Karma like that¡­ just what is he?'' Xukong was also at a loss.


    "I did." Lin Mo replied. "If not for me, you certainly would''ve gotten Qi deviation from that." He added.


    Lin Mu didn''t know how to reply to that, but at least now he felt a certain level of trust in Lin Mo. Seeing that he had grown silent, Lin Mo knew his words had worked.


    "So what do you say?" Lin Mo asked again. "The memories of a Celestial are highly valuable. It''ll be able to grant you knowledge that even Senior Xukong cannot give you right now." He tempted further.


    With the world restrictions that were put, Lin Mu knew that this was a good way to bypass them. The chance for it was quite temping and it would also solve the issue of preventing Yao Changying from obtaining the Soul.


    Lin Mu thought about it deeply and wondered if he should go with it.


    "Should I do it, Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu consulted.


    "It is up to you." Xukong had his apprehensions about Lin Mo, but so far it did seem like the man didn''t wish Lin Mu harm. If anything, it seemed like Lin Mo wanted Lin Mu to grow and be stronger. It was something Xukong could get behind too, even if the means to obtain it might not be aligned for them.


    "Alright." Lin Mu finally made up his mind.


    "Great¡­ though I have a condition." Lin Mo suddenly said.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu got a bad feeling.


    ''I guess he always wanted something out of this.'' Lin Mu reckoned it was something that he should''ve expected. "What is it?" he questioned.


    "I simply want you to let me out from time to time." Lin Mo stated. "It gets boring cooped up in here you know? Even if I know everything you do, it''s boring to simplyprehend all the time." He added.


    "Comprehend? What?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "Everything you know, I know. Just like how youprehend and cultivate, I do too." Lin Mo replied. "Though perhaps I might be a few steps ahead of you. Whatever you''veprehend, I can go beyond that after all." Heughed.


    Lin Mu''s mind was almost blown by this. He didn''t know that Lin Mo was doing this while hiding within him. ''I thought he was simply inactive all the time,'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "What? You thought I''d just sit around doing nothing all day?" Lin Mo replied. "I''ve learned quite a lot from what you already know. My Sword Skills are already better than yours." He teased.


    Hearing this though, Lin Mu recalled the Sword Technique that Lin Mo had used.


    "The Disaster Sword Technique¡­" Lin Mu muttered.


    "My own creation." Lin Mo replied. "I finally got to use it when you used the Murdering Heart Sutra." ''That was the first time he used it and it was already that strong?!'' Lin Mu had seen how strong the Sword Technique was and even Xukong had been surprised by its power.


    When they had discussed about it in the Sleepscape before, Xukong had put it to be one of the strongest Sword Techniques he had seen. They had also wondered how Lin Mo had gotten hold of it back then.


    ''To think he created it.'' Xukong was now greatly interested in what Lin Mo was. ''Even if he is lying, the Sword Technique isn''t something that can be easily learned just by stealing it from somewhere else.'' He reckoned.


    It was now that Lin Mo threw out another offering.


    "If you want, I can also teach you that." Lin Mo spoke. "Though it is something that you can only use when using the Murdering Heart Sutra, since it needs Devil Qi to work." He stated with honesty that surprised Lin Mu.


    "So you''re saying he can only use it when you are active?" Xukong could see a w here.


    "I never said that." Lin Mo retorted. "I simply said that using the Murdering Heart Sutra is the need, not that I need to be active. He can use the Murdering Heart Sutra without me being active too¡­ After all I am the full potential of the Sutra." He added.


    "I''ll think about it." As strong as the technique was, Lin Mu knew not to rush into it. ''If it needs Murdering Heart Sutra to use it, it''s not something I can use normally anyways.'' He thought.


    The Murdering Heart Sutra had been used by Lin Mu in the past once without Lin Mo appearing and that was also how he had learned that it could absorb souls. Lin Mu had managed to control the Sutra on his own back then, so knew that Lin Mo''s words were likely true.


    He wasn''t lying when he said that Lin Mu didn''t need him to be active for it.


    "Though you will certainly need to keep me active if you wish to learn it. But it aligns with my condition too, so we both get something out of it. You were far to exhaustedst time to fully get a grasp on it, but now you should be able to grasp it while I''m active." Lin Mo stated, making Lin Mu a bit more inclined towards epting his condition.


    "Very well, as long as you do not harm those around me, I''ll ept your offer." Lin Mu answered making Lin Mo very pleased.


    "Hahaha! You will not regret this." Lin Moughed. "Now that the deal is sealed I should do my part." "Not yet¡­ there''s still a few things needed to be done." Lin Mu said as he flew down from the Crow''s Nest to talk with hispanions.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2493 Soul Fragment

    Chapter 2493 Soul Fragment


    "Is this really fine?" Daoist Chu asked as he looked at the distant figure of Lin Mu.


    "Our goal was to either get the treasury or to destroy it from getting in Yao Changying''s hand." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "This ends up being the same anyways." He added.


    "Yeah, if he feels like he can do it, we should let him." Ziran agreed.


    "Amithabha, I believe in the Daoist Lin Mu''s choices." Monk Hushu was in agreement too.


    "If you guys say so." Daoist Chu replied. "Though the method he intends to do it¡­ We won''t be seeing ''that'' guy again, would we?" he asked, almost shivering at the old memories.


    "Lin Mo wasn''t all that bad." Crown Princess Shang responded. "Sure he was a bit domineering and he didn''t actually harm us, he even saved us." She said with surprising enthusiasm.


    Daoist Chu couldn''t help but look at her with a bewildered expression.


    "I¡­" he didn''t even know how to respond to the clear favoritism that the Crown princess was showing.


    "Let it be for now, he''s starting." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, silencing them.


    They all focused on Lin Mu who was a few hundred meters from them. After deciding to take Lin Mo''s offer, he had talked with hispanions about his n. It was important to tell them about it too, and he wished to take their opinion on it too. If they were against it, he would have declined Lin Mo. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    But much to his surprise, they were fine with whatever decision he was taking. Plus since the soul would be getting destroyed anyways, they saw it as a win. Thus the Crown Prince readily agreed to it and carried out Lin Mu''s request.


    And to take some precautions, Lin Mu decided to not do it on the ship. He asked Crown Prince Feng Shun to halt the ship in a somewhat deste ce, just in case some ident happened.


    Even if Lin Mo was confident of doing this, Lin Mu didn''t want to be careless since they were dealing with a Celestial Soul. If they did this in the Capital City and some ident happened, things could get really, really bad.


    Thus it was much better for Lin Mu do it out in the wild.


    He even asked the ship to be kept away so that they won''t be caught in it. Lin Mu also wished for Crown Prince Feng Shun and the others to be away, but they insisted on watching. Assuring that they would be fine after setting up some protective measures.


    There were a fewyers of barriers and a protective Formation Array quickly set up before Lin Mu began the process.


    "The same as before¡­ Repeat after me," Lin Mo''s voice echoed. "Reap the souls of all creations, take their providence as yours and bring forth Hell upon the Myriad Heavens! ¡ª Behold The Murdering Heart Sutra!"


    Lin Mu began chanting it, as an unsettling and ominous aura spread from him. Hispanions that were watching him couldn''t help but tremble as the aura washed over them.


    ~HUALA~


    Lin Mu''s body was covered in a dark purple energy and couldn''t be seen. Though this time around, the activation of the Murdering Heart Sutra was not as high profile like in the Bridge ne. Lin Mu didn''t know if it was because that was the first time, but this time around the process was a lot more ''smooth''.


    The change from Lin Mu to Lin Mo was almost effortless.


    Lin Mu still saw everything like before, but could tell that he wasn''t fully in control. He was more like a passenger in a carriage, simply watching from behind. ''No¡­ if I want to I can gain the control back at any moment.'' Lin Mu could still feel it. ''Thest time was simply because I was exhausted beyond measure.'' He felt a lot more relieved after learning this.


    And while this went in his mind, a devilish smile was blooming on his face.


    "Finally¡­ it''s good to be back in a body." Lin Mo said as he lightly stretched his neck. "Now then¡­ Let''s see." He said before withdrawing the Polyhedral Crystal from the ring''s storage space.


    ~SHUA~


    He causally held it in his hand and observed it for a few seconds before releasing his power.


    ~HUALA~


    A burst of dark purple energy was released from his hands and quickly covered the entirety of the Soul Container. "It''s quite tough¡­ but not tough enough." Lin Mo smirked as he increased the power.


    The Devil Qi that was covering the Soul Container put a great strain on it until finally it couldn''t withstand it and the Qi drilled into it!


    "Ah, finally!" Lin Mo could now feel the soul inside it directly as his energy started to shroud it.


    But a few seconds after he did that, a surprised expression appeared on his face.


    "Looks like I was wrong." Lin Mo spoke.


    "Wrong? How?" Lin Mu became anxious again. "I had thought that it wascking energy simply because the soul had been kept in the Soul Container for too long. But now that I''ve touched it, I can tell that this isn''t aplete soul¡­ this is only a fragment of a Soul." Lin Mo exined.


    "Only a fragment? So it''s not a Celestial Soul?" Lin Mu was confused.


    "It is certainly a Celestial Soul. It wouldn''t be able to exist for this long if it was not, especially not as a fragment." Lin Mo replied.


    "If that''s just a fragment, then where''s the rest of it?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "We''ll know soon enough." Lin Mo said as he began the process of consuming it.


    ~SCREECH~


    As soon as he did though, a mind shaking scream was hearding from the soul.


    "Noisy!" Lin Mo was not pleased by it and simply increased his power, quickly suppressing it and overpowering whatever resistance the soul fragment had.


    In just a few seconds, the fragment was consumed and Lin Mu could feel a stream of memories pouring in his mind!


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2494 Memories Of A Celestial

    Chapter 2494 Memories Of A Celestial


    It wasn''t the first time that Lin Mu was dealing with memories. Before this he had gone thought Ashy''s memories in order to get a better understanding of the Sky and had spent time basking in them.


    He had also witnessed the memories of his swords, Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker. But what he was feeling right now was a lot different from then.


    ''Ugh¡­ So heavy¡­'' Lin Mu felt like the stream of memories was a heavy mountain being pressed upon his head.


    It was strange, since memories weren''t a physical object in the first ce. And yet he could feel a great metaphorical weight of them.


    ''Is this what a Celestial''s memories are like?'' Lin Mu wondered. Due to the weight, he wasn''t even able to see them clearly and they felt like a blur as they zipped past him.


    "Focus." Lin Mo spoke again. "They''ll ease up." He added.


    Lin Mu calmed himself and focused on the stream of memories that continued to pour in. He considered it like a river decided to ''move'' away from the middle and watch it from the shore instead.


    "Much better now¡­" Lin Mu muttered to himself.


    Instead of getting overwhelmed by the memories, he could now actually see them clearly. ~SHUA~


    He was quickly immersed in them and saw a scene of a woman kneeling in front of a ck robed man. The man stood high atop a dais with a still expression on his face.


    "My Liege, please permit me to leave your side. I swear upon my true soul I shall return to serve you with greater strength." The woman requested.


    The ck robed man was silent for a while before finally speaking.


    "Bing a True Celestial is not easy, especially when you''ve already reached the Celestial Realm." The ck Robed man stated. "If you wish to begin again, you will have to give it all up. There''s a great chance you will never return from this. Are you willing to give up your immortality for this?" he questioned.


    "I do¡­ I am willing to do everything to be a True Celestial." The woman answered without hesitation.


    "Then so be it." The ck robed man said as his expression became serious.


    ~HUALA~


    Lin Mu saw a object seemingly rising from behind it. It quickly grew in size and turned into a shrine! Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    The Shrine stood on four pirs and looked rather divine with its glow.


    "Release!" the ck robed man ordered as the doors of this shrine opened up.


    Inside it, Lin Mu could see four idols of some kind atop pedestals. But that wasn''t all as on the sides of these pedestals he could see small shelves upon which several wisps were floating. Among these wisps there was one Indigo colored wisp that floated out.


    Lin Mu found it to be the same color as the one that the memories of which they were seeing.


    ''A Soul?'' Lin Mu was surprised. ''But it is a lot bigger than the one in the Soul Container.'' He noticed.


    He watched as the Indigo Soul wisp entered the woman''s body before she screamed.


    "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" her scream gave Lin Mu a headache and he could feel the utter pain that was held in it. While Lin Mu couldn''t feel the pain itself, the emotions that she must''ve felt were certainly sensed by him.


    A minuteter, the woman''s body seemingly crumbled into dust as a singr indigo orb floated where she had been kneeling.


    "Farewell, my servant¡­" The ck robed man said before he thrust his palm towards the indigo orb which shattered into six fragments!


    "UGH!" Lin Mu fleet an ache in his head as the memory faded away.


    ~HUALA~


    But that was only for a few seconds as it was quickly reced by another memory.


    This time he saw the Indigo wisp again but it was being kept in antern which was ced in a rundown ce. It floated there for who knows how longs before a door finally opened, and a little girl walked in.


    She looked to be lost and had a scared expression on her face.


    Lin Mu watched as she walked up to the only source of light in the dark ce and touched thentern. ~WHOOSH~


    As soon as he she did, the indigo wisp jumped out of thentern and entered her body. A minuteter, the scared expression on her face disappeared and was reced by a content smile.


    ~HUALA~


    The memory ended there and another one glowed in.


    In this Lin Mu could hear a cacophony of screams as a bloodied vige could be seen in front. There were people missing their limbs everywhere and most of them were dead.


    "Die! Die! Die! Die!" A young woman shouted, as streaks of blood trained down her eyes.


    A dark cloud of energy was released from her hands as they turned into sharp ws that tore at everyone that tried to run away.


    "Ugh¡­" The memory abruptly ended as Lin Mu''s vision suddenly went nk.


    ~GONG~


    It was quickly reced by a brightly lit room in which Lin Mu could see hundreds of demons. The young woman was now held at the end of the room, bound in chains that had hundreds of runes on them.


    The Demons watched it before someone came forward with a broad staff that had a strange symbol on its top.


    The the demon pressed the staff''s head on the young woman''s chest making her scream.


    ~HUALA~


    Next, an indigo wisp was drawn out of her chest!


    The indigo wisp tried to run away but another demon appeared with a familiar polyhedral crystal. It was kept safely in a box which he brought closer.


    ~HONG~


    The other demon touched the polyhedral crystal with the staff, trapping the Indigo wisp inside it.


    ''So that''s how the Soul Fragment ended up there¡­'' Lin Mu finally understood. He also saw the demons bring the Soul container to the underground shrine and seal it in there along with the Punishing Demon Spine Lash.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2495 Withered Soul Daoist

    Chapter 2495 Withered Soul Daoist


    After learning about the origin of the Soul Fragment, Lin Mu was quite surprised and intrigued at the same time. ~SHUA~


    "There''s more?" But they didn''t stop just there.


    More memories poured in and Lin Mu got to see them. But these memories didn''t seem to be aspleted as the ones he had seen so far. They seemed more broke and had lot of misceneous information in them.


    About half of them were simply useless though as they were either about things like daily life or random conversation or were filled with thoughts that didn''t make sense. This made Lin Mu think that the memories were likely not intact after the Soul being fragmented.


    But still, among them there was enough information that Lin Mu got to learn quite a few things about not just the owner of the Soul but also about the Celestial Realm itself.


    The owner of the soul was called as the Withered Spirit Daoist and she seemed to be among several other that served amon master. The only thing was that Lin Mu didn''t know what this master was called as the always called him as their ''liege''.


    ''Looks like she got her Daoist title due to her proficiency with the Withering Dao.'' Lin Mu figured out. ''And Yao Changying has this too, that means¡­ She has a Soul Fragment too!'' it all clicked in ce.


    "Now you get it." Lin Mo finally spoke again. "Though I saw it before too."


    "You did?" Lin Mu didn''t remember that part clearly.


    "I did¡­ When Yao Changying attacked back in the Bridge ne I sensed not one but two souls inside her." Lin Mo revealed. "Two souls? That means the same thing that happened to that little girl happened to Yao Changying." Lin Mu now understood.


    In one of the memories of the Soul Fragment he had witnessed a Little Girl touching thentern with the Soul Fragment and getting taken over. She had caused a lot of deaths and as such the demons had sealed the Soul separately.


    Lin Mu had wondered why hadn''t they just destroyed the soul, but reckoned there might have been limitations that prevented them from doing this.


    "It was a bit strange though. If the Celestial''s Soul intended to take over her body there would only be one soul present not two." Lin Mo expressed his doubts. "So they are cooperating?" Lin Mu narrowed his eyes. "Quite like one of those ''Fairy Tales'' you read." Lin Mo risked. Lin Mu then remembered that among the six that he had read there was one that talked about about a woman falling to the temptation of a forbidden power. They had thought that this did seem like it suited Yao Changying, but now it was making even more sense.


    ''The little girl and this Soul Fragment''s story also seems to be one of the six. The very first story was the only one that talked about a little girl¡­ this does fit the bill.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''There were also Six Soul Fragments created from the single soul¡­ if each story is for one fragment then this has happened at least five times before!'' he concluded.


    They had originally thought that multiple stories fit Yao Changying, but now it was clear that each story belonged to a different incident. This revtion was quite concerning though, as now they had more things to worry about.


    "If she''s cooperating with that soul, she''s collecting the soul fragments for it." Lin Mu muttered in understanding. "But why didn''t the soul simply take over and is cooperating instead. As a Celestial Soul, even if its just a fragment it should be enough to control her right?" he was confused.


    "There might be more to it that we don''t know about." Lin Mo also was at a loss here. "It could be as simple as Yao Changying offering something that made the Soul Tempted enough to not take control, or the Soul knows something that makes it more favorable for her to not assimte the host''s soul." He stated.


    "Hmm¡­ if we assume that the soul has a reason not to assimte, then perhaps her gathering the other soul fragments could be a condition for the ''independence''." Lin Mu tried to analyze it. "She also learned a lot of skills and got information that others wouldn''t normally have, thus that could be the benefits being offers day the other Soul Fragment." Lin Mo silently listened to Lin Mu, feeling a bit amused. After a few second though, Lin Mu stopped as more memories were flowing in.


    In these Lin Mu learned about the Celestial Realm. He learned about a few regions in it such as the Cracked Sun World and the Frozen Rain Realm. Both were totally unknown to him, but the Withered Soul Daoist had been living in these ces before as her master had dominion over both of them. It was clear that whoever was the master was quite strong.


    He also learned about a few misceneous pills and herbs, but after that the memories seemingly came to an end. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu felt a wave of exhaustion having gone through it. Though as much as he wanted to simply sleep he knew this was not the time.


    After all, Lin Mo was still in control right now.


    As such he mustered through and observed.


    Thankfully for him, Lin Mo seemed to be behaving and was standing still in the real world.


    "This is it for now." Lin Mo spoke. "Though if you want, feel free to call me out at any time. It''s fine being out." Heughed before relinquishing the control voluntarily to Lin Mu.


    ~SHUA~


    Lin Mu felt the sensation of his body once more and took a deep breath. Surprisingly enough though, the exhaustion he was feeling earlier went away too and he felt more energetic than before.


    "This is strange¡­" Lin Mu checked his body just to be sure and realized that his Qi was fully replenished. "Did absorbing the Soul Fragment actually restore my Qi to this level?" He had thought that he would get no energy since Lin Mo had said the Soul Fragment wascking it.


    "It might have beencking energy but it is still a Celestial Soul Fragment. The remnant energy in was probably still a rich amount." Xukong spoke up sensing that Lin Mu was back in control.


    "It seems like it¡­ Though more than the energy, the memories I gained from it were a lot more valuable." Lin Mu said. "I''ll show you, Senior." He quickly shared them.


    ~SHUA~


    Xukong spent a few minutes going through them and by the time they were done he was silent.


    "Other than the memories, you''ve also gained a lot of questions, haven''t you?" Xukong knew.


    Lin Mu simply nodded to that.


    ~SIGH~


    "I''d want to answer them too, but the restrictions won''t let me." Xukong replied.


    "There''s a way to ovee that." Lin Mo suddenly spoke.


    "Huh? What?" Lin Mu asked feeling curious.


    Xukong also wondered what the method might be.


    "You have something that can do that. Something you haven''t used so far." Lin Mo said making Lin Mu intrigued. "The Heaven Silencing Seal." He revealed.


    "The Heaven Silencing Seal!?" Lin Mu truly hadn''t used it as Xukong was also wary of it. "But that''s meant to stop Tribtions." He added.


    "Not necessarily." Lin Mo spoke. "You can''t just assess it from how the Lost Immortal used it¡­ Think of the description." He added.


    "Silences the voice of the Heavens¡­" Xukong muttered. "Voice of the Heavens can be the Tribtions¡­ but it can also be the retaliation when restrictions are broken." Lin Mu''s eyes went wide as he understood this.


    "Exactly." Lin Mo had already figured this out a while back. "We have no surety of that." Xukong said. "Even if you don''t there won''t be a harm will it?" Lin Mo retorted. "It''s not like he''s suppressing a Tribtion with it. If it doesn''t work it just means Senior Xukong won''t be able to speak about the Celestial ''Secrets''. In the worst case it will simply fail." Lin Mo suggested.


    It was certainly something they hadn''t considered before and now that Lin Mu had heard it he was very, very tempted. At the very least he knew from the Lost Immortal Memoirs that the Heaven Silencing Seal hadn''t brought him any direct harm. Though he hadn''t used it in the way that Lin Mo was suggesting either.


    But then again it was a unique situation that not every person would be able to get into anyways as it would mean they''d need a willing Celestial telling them about it.


    "I want to do it Senior." Lin Mu stated firmly.


    Xukong was silent for a minute before replying. "Then so be it." He gave in too.


    Now the only issue was how they would do it.


    "We best do it in the Sleepscape. It might be safer that way." Lin Mu suggested next.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2496 Power Of The Heaven Silencing Seal

    Chapter 2496 Power Of The Heaven Silencing Seal


    Xukong''s words had rang true as Lin Mu was indeed full of questions.


    The information gained from the Soul Fragment was only partial and served to ignite more of Lin Mu''s curiosity. Lin Mu had quickly entered the Sleepscape after returning to the ship. He didn''t know how long it might take, thus reckoned it was better for them to be back on their way while he did this.


    ~SHUA~


    The box holding the Heaven Silencing Seal appeared in Lin Mu''s hands as he carefully watched it.


    "Stop it right away if you feel like something is going wrong." Xukong warned.


    "I will¡­" Lin Mu nodded as he opened the box.


    ~CLACK~


    The green crystalline seal was calm in the box, showing no sign of it holding the great powers it was said to hold. The concern now was that the Seal was made out of Chaos Unity Crystals, which was aid to have the property of corrupting and destroying Qi.


    This was a problem since in order to use the Heaven Silencing Seal, Lin Mu would have to first connect with it using his Immortal Sense. As such, if the concern was true his Immortal Sense would get destroyed.


    ''Even if it does, I''ll have to try it to see.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    "It will be fine. Go on." Lin Mo though, seemed to be fully confident of it and spurred Lin Mu on.


    ~HUU~


    "Here we go¡­" Lin Mu let out breath and extended a small tendril of his Immortal Sense. It touched the surface of the Heaven Silencing Seal as Lin Mu braced himself for anything that was about toe. "Huh?" but unlike what his concern had been, nothing of that sort happened and his Immortal Sense waspletely fine.


    "I told you so," Lin Mo said in an amused tone. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    With this confirmed, Lin Mu was now a lot more confident to and right away tried to make a connection.


    ~HUALA~


    His Immortal Sense entered the Heaven Silencing Seal and he felt a ratherforting feeling. Following the method for all other Immortal Tools and weapons, Lin Mu branded it with his Immortal Sense, making ite under his ownership. ~HONGLONG~


    As soon as he did that, the Heaven Silencing Seal let out a wave of energy as it floated up from the box.


    It spun in the air and glowed brightly, almost making it look like the crystalline tentacles and appendages on it were moving. The characters on the totem seemingly came alive as projected themselves into the air.


    Xukong watched it and could finally read them properly and so could Lin Mu.


    "Heaven Silencing, Upheaval Bringing¡­" Lin Mu read the words.


    The words were not something that could be lightly said and the meaning held by them was deep. Particrly for Xukong who focused on thetter two words.


    "Upheaval¡­" It was a word that he had heard a lot in the past. ''Every time I''ve heard it, seldom ever did anything good came out of it.'' Xukong thought to himself.


    Now that he was seeing it again, he couldn''t help but have mixed feelings about it.


    "Can you feel it?" Lin Mo questioned in Lin Mu''s mind as a stream of information appeared.


    "I can¡­" Lin Mu could instinctively feel the functions of the Heaven Silencing Seal as well as how to use it. There were two functions that he could use right away, which were none other than the Seal''s ability to stop Heavenly Tribtions as well as its ability to suppress the limits set by the Heavens that came in the form of a World''s restrictions.


    But these weren''t the only functions present. Lin Mu could tell that were actually several more functions that he was unable to ess right now. Even if he had the control over the Heaven Silencing Seal, it simply wouldn''t respond to him if he wished to know more about them.


    ''It seems like I am stillcking something to know about them.'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''Considering the kind of tool it is, it wouldn''t be surprising that it hasplex conditions to using it.'' He reckoned.


    Though for now the other functions didn''t matter as what he wanted was among the first two functions anyways.


    "I will use it now, Senior." Lin Mu stated.


    "Very well." Xukong was ready and stood in front of Lin Mu.


    ~HUMMMM~


    As soon as Lin Mu activated the Heaven Silencing Seal, it activated the second function: The Heavenly Shroud!


    A translucent dome of energy extended out from the Heaven Silencing Seal as it covered Lin Mu and Xukong within it. "It''s done." Lin Mu spoke, but didn''t feel particrly different, but once he looked at Xukong he was almost shook.


    The spider''s ten eyes were glowing brightly and a faint pressure was exuding from him as well.


    "Senior?" Lin Mu called to him.


    "I didn''t expect it to be this effective." Xukong finally spoke. "My powers have¡­ increased." "They have?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    Xukong''s power as an avatar was massive, and even if it was just a fragment of his true power, it was still enough to destroy a world. But if he wished to, he could draw out even more power through his link with his main body.


    Usually this was limited by the kind of world Lin Mu was in, and in the Xiao Fan world it was highly limited. In the Rust Sky World, the limit had been rxed by quite a bit and Xukong had more power. But now he felt like at least half of his Avatar''s power was avable to him!


    "Can you try using it?" Lin Mu wondered how they were actually like.


    "Yes." Xukong was curious about it too and extended his leg.


    ~SHUA~


    A thin thread extended from it and touched the bare air before starting to shrink and pulling back on the Fabric of Space.


    The Immortal Apple Tree that was about a hundred meters from them suddenly came close, as if they had just been moved.


    "This¡­ Spatial Shrinking?!" Lin Mu recognized the phenomena. "Indeed." Xukong wouldn''t have been able to do soothing like this with his limits before. The demonstration might have been rather small scale, but its implications were quite heavy. "UGH!" But shortly after, Lin Mu felt a great drain on his Qi as his stores rapidly fell to half! "What!?" Xukong sensed it too and was shocked. "The Seal is draining your Qi." He quickly understood.


    "It was¡­ From the usage of your skill," Lin Mu replied, as he understood from the link. "While the Heaven Silencing Seal can limit the effects of the Heavenly Restrictions, any action done within it will also drain my Qi ordingly." He stated.


    "Looks like we''ll have to be careful with it." Xukong replied. "We should only limit it to information for now." He stated.


    "Yes¡­ We need to see how much it will drain." Lin Mu agreed, as that was the main reason for them to attempt it in the first ce.


    "Ask your first question then." Xukong spoke.


    ~HUU~


    "In the Withering Spirit Daoist''s memories I heard her master talk about something about bing a True Celestial." Lin Mu asked. "What did he mean? Isn''t the Withering Spirit Daoist already a Celestial?" Xukong had already gone through the memories of the Soul Fragment too thus knew exactly what Lin Mu meant.


    "The Celestial Realm is a bit different from the Immortal and Spirit Realms. There is a reason why the majority of the immortals never manage to enter it¡­ the conditions for it are far too high.


    But even in those high conditions, there are two different tiers. If one cannot fulfill all the best conditions to be a Celestial, they can take the slightly easier route and be what is called as a Bestowed Celestial." Xukong revealed.


    "So there isn''t just one ss of Celestial?" Lin Mu was a bit confused.


    "Yes, in General one when bes a Celestial, they will fall under two categories. The First is the True Celestial, which is the real, unfettered form of a Celestial. Whereas the second is the Bestowed Celestial, which has several limits." Xukong answered.


    "How is it determined what category one will fall in?" Lin Mu questioned further.


    "There are actually multiple methods of bing a Celestial, but the easiest among them is to simply ask a True Celestial. They have the ability to grant an Immortal the ability to be a Celestial using their Celestial Will! Celestials of this kind are called as Bestowed Celestials. And while they are hundreds of times more powerful a Transcendent Immortal, they are still limited in their capability whenpared to a True Celestial. Not to mention their life will also be in the hands of a True Celestial as one of the conditions to bing a Bestowed Celestial is to leave a part of their soul with the True Celestial. Essentially speaking, a Bestowed Celestial is forever bound to the True Celestial that made them." Xukong stated.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2497 Types Of Celestials

    Chapter 2497 Types Of Celestials


    Lin Mu hadn''t expected that there would be such limitations to Celestials too.


    "So if one chooses to be a Bestowed Celestial, they are forever the Servants of a True Celestial?" Lin Mu asked. "What about their cultivation base?"


    "That''s one of the reasons why they will stay servants. The cultivation base of a Bestowed Celestial will never exceed their Bestower." Xukong replied. "I see¡­ and can the Bestowed Celestial''s create more Celestials too?" Lin Mu was curious what were the limitations.


    "Technically speaking, a Bestowed Celestial can create another Bestowed Celestial under them. These are called as Second Generation Bestowed Celestials and are forever bottlenecked at a lower stage of the Celestial Realm." Xukong answered. "They are basically the bottom feeders of the Celestial realm and bing one means they''ll forever be serving their master and their master''s master." He added.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu knew for sure that this was not something he wanted at all. But as he thought of this, a question presented to himself. "Wait, if the Withered Spirit Daoist was a Bestowed Celestial, then shouldn''t it be impossible to be a True Celestial?" Lin Mu asked in doubt. Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Indeed." Xukong confirmed. "The only other way to fix that is to simply be reborn, but that does not guarantee that one would be a Celestial in any way. If anything, it can reduce the chances of it since there is no telling where the person might be reborn.


    After all, even bing an immortal is statistically rare and a Celestial even rarer." He exined.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu furrowed his brows as it was clear that there was something that they didn''t know about the Withered Spirit Daoist''s n.


    Her dividing her soul into multiple fragments was already questionable and now that Lin Mu knew it was to do with the category of celestial she was, things becameplex. "There have been instances of Bestowed Celestials bing True Celestials in the past, but the methods they''ve used have not been confirmed. There have been many that tried to find new methods to do it and there''s always someone attempting it. Perhaps what the Withered Spirit Daoist is doing is the same." Xukong suggested.


    "Hmm¡­ Perhaps. But whatever it might be, we need to definitely stop it." Lin Mu knew for sure. He then took a pause and checked his remaining Qi stores.


    "I''m at about thirty percent¡­ I think we can continue for a bit more." Lin Mu stated.


    "Alright." Xukong nodded. "Ask more." "How does one be a True Celestial?" Lin Mu finally asked for the biggest question every immortal tried to search for.


    Countless of them had perished before they could ever figure it out, and those that gave up chose to be Bestowed Celestials instead.


    Xukong almost chuckled after hearing this, as he knew this was the most likely question to be asked and also one he had expected Lin Mu to ask first.


    "First of all, True Celestials have two main types." Xukong decided to do a proper lesson this time while they still had time. "The first type is called as an Ordained Celestial while the second is called as the Nurtured Celestial." He revealed.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he heard the first type, finding it a bit familiar.


    "Ordained Celestials are born from the approval of a world." Xukong stated, making Lin Mu''s eyes go wide. "As long as someone has reached the peak of the Immortal Realm and they be Ordained by the World''s Will they will be able to absorb Celestial Qi from that world, and ascend!" his revtion blew Lin Mu''s mind since this was something he had already experienced.


    "That means¡­ I¡­ I can¡­" Lin Mu was almost at a loss for words. "Yes¡­ All you need to do is to reach the Peak of the Immortal Realm and return to the Xiao Fan world." Xukong confirmed. "Your rise to the Celestial Realm is guaranteed after that." He stated, making Lin Mu silent.


    Xukong had already expected this to be shocking for Lin Mu and had actually wished to tell him in the past, if not for the limitations of the world. This was also why he was very impressed when Lin Mu managed to get Ordained by the Xiaofan World''s Will.


    ~HUU~


    Lin Mu chanted the Calming Heart sutra to get his fluctuating emotions in control before asking again.


    "Can I really do it with Xiaofan world when it is a Mortal World?" Lin Mu decided to get the details first.


    "You can yes. The main limitation on a world in making Celestials is the quantity of Celestial Qi they can generate as a Celestial is dependent on the world for the Celestial Qi for most of their life. A Mortal World can only generate enough Celestial Qi to support a single True Celestial. An Immortal World would be able to support around three or four depending on how far they''vee.


    For example, the Rust Sky World that is close to World Ascension might even be able to support around six or seven Celestials." Xukong exined.


    The number was certainly very low when Lin Mupared the number of cultivators there could be in a world. Since this meant that even if one had the talent to be a Celestial, if they were bornte and all the other slots were already taken, they simply wouldn''t be able to be a True Celestial.


    It became a matter of luck unless the world managed to increase its rank. But that wasn''t something that happened easily and took millions of years on its own.


    "What of Celestial worlds?" Lin Mu asked. "How many True Celestials can they support?" he asked next.


    "The Celestial worlds don''t have a limit as it will continue to grow." Xukong replied. "But it is still difficult to fulfill the condition to be an Ordained Celestial. Technically speaking, even in a Celestial World, there might not be more than a handful of Ordained True Celestials from an entire world, even if it has the capacity for more." He revealed.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2498 True Celestials

    Chapter 2498 True Celestials


    Now that Lin Mu knew what the requirements to be an Ordained True Celestial were and that he had already fulfilled one of them despite them being hard, he was quite excited. He now understood why it was such a big matter when he had been Ordained by the Xiaofan world back then.


    But this didn''t end his inquiry, as there was one more type left.


    "What about the Nurtured Celestials?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "The Nurtured Celestials are usually even more rare." Xukong replied. "They are born from Celestial Treasures, Celestials Fruits and more such materials. By consuming them one can be a Nurtured True Celestial. But with how rare and hidden these are, it often happens that they go unimed. If they are left alone or long enough, they will gain their own conciseness and transform into a Celestial themselves." He exined.


    "Whoa¡­" This was rather new for Lin Mu. "You''ve actually met one Nurtured Celestial already." Xukong chuckled.


    "Who?" Lin Mu raised his brow. "The Saintess." Xukong answered. "She''s a Nurtured Celestial too from what I can tell." "Oh? I would''ve expected her to be an Ordained Celestial." Lin Mu tilted his head. "After all she''s the Saintess of the Serpent Moon Sect, and they have a whole world too. It would make sense for her to be Ordained by it after all this time." He spoke.


    "She might have gotten the approval of the World''s will too, of course." Xukong added. "But she was first a Nurtured Celestial." "I see¡­ Is there any benefit to being both a Nurtured Celestial and bing Ordained by itter?" Lin Mu asked next.


    "Well other than the fact that they will have higher Celestial Qi generation. There isn''t much." Xukong replied. "Nurtured Celestials are more free to absorb Celestial Qi from all sources, so they aren''t limited to a singr world for their major source." He added.


    "So the Nurtured Celestials have better benefits?" Lin Mu asked in doubt. "Well, both types have their own advantages. Nurtured Celestials can absorb Celestial Qi from multiple sources, but the output is low. The Ordained Celestials can get it from their world, but the output is high. Being Ordainedter on as a Nurtured Celestial does help with it, but fulfilling both conditions isn''t simple." Xukong replied. "If you''re thinking of attempting both, you don''t have to waste effort in that since there is something else you will do anyways." He added.


    "What''s that?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "The True Celestials I described were only for the Qi cultivation." Xukong answered. "Body cultivation for Celestials is entirely different." He added.


    Hearing that, Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.


    "Of course! I almost forgot." Lin Mu realized. "How does the Body Cultivation for Celestials go?" he asked quickly.


    "The system for body cultivators actually varies after the very first stage of the Celestial Realm.


    After one absorbs the Celestial Qi from a world by bing Ordained or by consuming a Celestial Treasure to be a Nurtured Celestial, they reach the very first stage, which is called as the False Celestial Realm.


    This is somewhat simr to the Immortals, but this is where the difference end. One can only be called a True Celestial when they reach the Second stage.


    For Qi cultivation, this is called as the Phctery Establishment Realm. This is the crux of the Celestial realm, as this is what grants them their ''True'' Immortality." Xukong exined.


    Lin Mu knew that even for those in the Transcendent Immortal Realm, this longevity was not infinite. Eventually, they would have to ovee another Transcendent Tribtion and ''steal'' another bunch of longevity from the heavens.


    They were essentially living off borrowed time and it was constantly running out for them. Thousands of years might seem long to most, but when one reached their level, time be like a blur while their progress would slow down to the pace of a snail.


    As such, they would be quite desperate, especially since the Transcendent Tribtions were random and the difficulty could easily kill them if they lost focus even for a moment. Even if they were highly confident, the heavens might just get angry and decide to bring down their arrogance.


    "How does the Phctery Establishment Realm work?" Lin Mu asked with great interest.


    "In it, a Celestial would essentially leave behind a wisp of their True Soul inside a container called as a Phctery. As long as this Phctery is intact, they could be reborn form it again even if they died. Though the time needed for it can be long.


    For Ordained True Celestials, this Phctery is none other than the World they were ordained in, while for Nurtured Celestials they would have to make one themselves. This also varies the advantages both have.


    Since to destroy an Ordained True Celestial, you would have to destroy an entire world. But to destroy a Nurtured Celestial, you simply need to destroy their Phctery, which might be small. Thus, it is essential for them to hide it well." Xukong answered in detail.


    "Hmm¡­ and for Bestowed Celestials, this Phctery is their master." Lin Mu guessed easily. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Indeed." Xukong nodded. "Kill their master and you kill all the Bestowed Celestials under him too." "What about the Body cultivators? How does that vary?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "For Body Cultivators the realms are different. The Second Stage for them is called as the Vital Spark Realm.


    In this they have to refine a Vital Spark, which is the pure condensation of all their vitality, Qi and energy. As long as they have a Vital Spark, they can instantly be reborn from it on the very spot." Xukong answered, making Lin Mu furrow his brows.


    "But doesn''t that mean they have the least amount of security?" Lin Mu asked. "They can simply be killed again after the first time." "They can yes, but they are not limited to a single Vital Spark." Xukong replied. "They can have as many as they can make. The time needed to regenerate is almost nothing, thus they can be very terrifying."


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2499 Celestial Body Cultivation

    Chapter 2499 Celestial Body Cultivation


    Body Cultivation was something that Lin Mu always wanted to continue with even if he had regressed a bit in right now. Learning about the benefits of it in the Celestial Realm was very enthralling to him, especially the ability to be reborn instantly. Of course he considered the fact that getting trapped as a Body Cultivator could be really bad too, as an enemy could trap them and keep on killing them over and over again until they had run out of Vital Sparks.


    But Lin Mu knew that there was another way out for them.


    "Senior, if someone is cultivating both Qi and body in the Celestial Realm then can they choose where to be reborn? Either through their Vital Spark or their Phctery?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Yes they can." Xukong confirmed, making Lin Mu smile.


    It was an option that gave one a lot of versatility, as that way one could assess if they needed to take the effort to be reborn right away with a Vital Spark or to take the safe option and be reborn in their home world.


    ''If its an enemy that can be fought with a bit more time then the Vital Sparks would be the better option as they can be used to overwhelm them. If not and I am outmatched it would be better to be reborn back home.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    Having thought of it so far, Lin Mu got a bit more insight into Yao Changying or rather, the Withered Spirit Daoist. "If the Withered Spirit Daoist wants to be a True Celestial, I doubt she''s going to use the Body cultivation route. She must be going for Qi cultivation right?" Lin Mu analyzed. "Would it be possible that she''s looking for some Celestial Treasure to be a Nurtured Celestial?" he wondered.


    Lin Mu didn''t think that there were many chances for the Withered Spirit Daoist to be an Ordained True Celestial as that would require her to get the acknowledgment of the Rust Sky World''s will.


    "It does seem unlikely for the Rust Sky World to acknowledge her. Plus considering that she''s relying on Yao Changying for everything, its not like she can expect her to be an Ordained Celestial either as she is not from this world. As such a Nurtured Celestial seems like the only viable option left. Unless¡­ There is something else we don''t know yet." Xukong replied after thinking for a bit.


    Just as they finished talking though, Lin Mu felt a wave of exhaustion.


    "Ugh¡­ Looks like this is it." Lin Mu said feeling tired. "My Qi stores are almost all drained." "You should stop now. This was already quite good in how much you got to learn." Xukong replied. "At least now we know the capabilities of the Heaven Silencing Seal." He added.


    "Yes." Lin Mu said before looking at the seal floating above them. "Return." He lightly spoke, causing the Heaven Silencing Seal to deactivate.


    The dome of energy disappeared and the seal floated down. ~SHUA~


    But instead ofnding back in Lin Mu''s hands it jumped into his chest and disappeared within it.


    "That was not what I expected¡­" Lin Mu was surprised by it. "Where did it go?" Xukong asked, unable to sense it himself.


    "It''s¡­ Inside my Dantian?" Lin Mu could feel it in there.


    ~SHUA~


    He checked his Dantian and saw that the Heaven Silencing Seal was silently floating in a corner. It didn''t seem to be absorbing his Qi now but it was certainly doing something that Lin Mu could not fully tell.


    "Strange¡­" Lin Mu could only vaguely sense that the Heaven Silencing Seal was ''recharging'' in some way. Just be sure he tried to activate the seal again, but it simply didn''t move showing that his guess was correct.


    "Looks like continually using the Heaven Silencing Seal isn''t possible. It needs to recover more than just Qi to work." He now understood. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "I wouldn''t be surprised. The ability of the Heaven Silencing Seal isn''t simple at all and it most certainly has another source of power that allows it to do this." Xukong replied. "You might be able to figure it out eventually, as sensing it myself due to its crystals is not possible." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ll try to do that." Lin Mu said before eating out a breath. "For now I need to recover my Qi stores too¡­" he decided to focus on it.


    While Lin Mu was doing this though he was unaware of a set of events that had happened far to the west.


    Shortly after Lin Mo had consumed the Soul Fragment a burst of deadly aura could be felt in the former Eight Kingdom Alliance continent. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHO!? WHO DID IT!? WHO DESTROYED MY SOUL FRAGMENT!!!!!!" an earth shaking scream was heard echoing for a hundred kilometers.


    ~BOOM~


    Apanying it was a burst of Withering Dao energy that flooded the area, making the hills and mountains around it to crumble. A hole opened up in the center of it all, from which rose a woman.


    This was of course none other than Yao Changying, but the voice that wasing out of her mouth seemed to bepletely different.


    Her ck hair fluttered at the back in an ominous manner while a dark aura radiated from her nonstop. Her eyes were bloodshot as she looked to the East.


    "Dao Wind Continent¡­ Someone found my Soul Fragment and destroyed it." Yao Changying said with the voice of Withered Spirit Daoist while a furious expression was present on her face. ''Who could have found it? Only my people had the clues to it and even then they were encrypted.'' But a secondter her expression suddenly changed to that of confused while Yao Changying''s original voice was heard.


    "Who else!? It must be those bastards who stopped us before. That Crown Prince and that¡­ Fiend." The Withered Spirit Daoist spoke remembering the people that had been hampering their ns in the Bridge ne.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2500 Forced Into Action

    Chapter 2500 Forced Into Action


    Yao Changying remembered the people they had encountered in the bridge ne and the man she had fought.


    It was someone familiar to her and she had been defeated by the same man before.


    "Mu Lin¡­" She remembered the man who had foiled her n in the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts and forced her to reveal her secrets. "But the one I saw in the Bridge ne was different¡­ He seems a lot more¡­ Dangerous." She muttered.


    "That man also knew about us¡­ He could see both of us." The Withered Spirit Daoist spoke.


    "How is that possible? You said that no one in the Rust Sky World would be able to tell that other than the Guardian Beasts." Yao Changying questioned.


    "He must have some technique that his beyond the limits of this world¡­ His power was also far greater than should have been possible." The Withered Spirit Daoist spoke, her expression grim.


    "Just what power was it? His Qi was¡­ even more terrifying than the Withering Qi." Yao Changying asked still remembering the fear she had felt back then.


    It had beenpletely expected to her as she had not felt such fear after obtaining the Soul Fragments of the Withering Spirit Daoist. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "That power he used¡­ It was a Devil''s power." The Withered Spirit Daoist replied. "Devil''s power!? He''s a Devil Cultivator!?" Yao Changying was shocked.


    Thest time she had fought Mu Lin, she had not felt even an inkling of this. While his skills had indeed been powerful, she was sure that they were certainly not that of a Devil Cultivator. ''His demeanor was also different even if his appearance was the same¡­ those eyes of his were rather¡­ terrifying.'' Yao Changying thought to herself. "How did he manage to change that much?" she wondered.


    "Whatever it might be, its clear that he''ll be a problem for us." The Withered Spirit Daoist replied. "Whatever it might we cannot afford to hold back anymore." She said in a serious tone.


    "So we begin the next phase right away?" Yao Changying said in a low voice.


    "Do it¡­ Now that one of the Soul Fragments have been destroyed we absolutely cannot waste anymore time. We have to get the remaining Soul Fragments we have toplete me!" The Withered Spirit Daoist urged.


    Hearing that, Yao Changying could only nod and take out amunication Jade Slip to contact her people.


    Lin Mu and hispanion had no idea that their actions had sped up the course of action.


    They were on their way back to the Dao Wind Empire, while Lin Mu continued to recover his immortal Qi. Time went by in a blur and soon they werending in the Capital City.


    Once there they quickly disembarked and a meeting was held with the Emperor and the otherpanions of Lin Mu.


    The exined all that they had seen and told them what they had learned. Of course, Lin Mu kept the fact that he had consumed the Soul Fragment a secret and they simply told that it had been destroyed, which wasn''t exactly a lie anyways.


    The information was quite shocking to everyone and the Emperor was highly concerned now that he knew that another Celestial was involved in this. Even if the Withered Spirit Daoist might not be one right now, it didn''t mean that she was no less trouble.


    "So this Withered Spirit Daoist has been doing this for a long time?" One of the ministers of the imperial court asked.


    "Yes, from what we learned this is not her first attempt at this. She''s done this several times in the Rust Sky world and had multiple Soul Fragments spread in the world." Lin Mu stated. "How many of them are there?" another Minster asked.


    "If we count the one I destroyed, and the one that Yao Changying found off world, there should be can be at least four more. Though I think she has already absorbed at least one or two of them by now." Lin Mu had a hunch that she had a lot more progress. "If we consider her past actions of taking over the Eight Kingdom Alliance as well as the Bridge ne, it does seem possible that those ces had Soul Fragments there." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "Hmm¡­ One off world, one in the Dao Wind Continent, one in the Eight Kingdom Alliance Continent, and one in the Bridge ne. That leaves two¡­ The Holy Topaz Continent and the Huiqing Continent." Lady Kang guessed after thinking about it. "Your majesty, we need to inform the Huiqing Emperor and the Holy Topaz Emperor right away!" The Minister of War urged.


    "Indeed." Emperor Feng agreed and immediately contacted his equals.


    Now that they had a good idea of what Yao Changying wanted, they couldn''t let her continue to get it. They were lucky that Yao Changying had not found the other Soul Fragments.


    Whoever had hid them had done it well, and the same could be said for the Dao Wind Empire. If not for theirbined intel they might not have found it at all. And even if they managed to decrypt the clues, actually getting to the hidden shrine would be difficult too and those that reached it might have died to the Withering Energy and the Demon Punishing Spine Lash inside.


    They could only hope to obtain the clues to the Soul Fragments on the other two continents first and destroy them before Yao Changying could get her hands on them.


    The only problem was that getting to the two continents was not easy with theck of Teleportation. And even with their fastest ships it would still take months before they would reach there. As such they could only leave it to the two emperors to handle it.


    After that was done, they discussed more ns and things that needed to be done as well as the new measures that had to be taken to halt Yao Changying''s progress.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2501 Thrown Into Training And Lady Kangs Visit

    Chapter 2501 Thrown Into Training And Lady Kang''s Visit


    The discussions and meetings took over a day before Lin Mu was finally able to return to his Courtyard. Once there he couldn''t help but sit down in the garden and contemte over all that had happened.


    "Looks like yours foe is a former Celestial too." Lin Mu heard a voice.


    "Saintess¡­" Lin Mu opened his eyes, watching the woman standing there. "Yes, looks like Yao Changying has another soul inside her." He replied.


    "I heard it all." The Saintess spoke.


    "Ah of course." Lin Mu knew things like this wouldn''t have escaped her ears. "Though theres a couple more things they don''t know." He added.


    She could easily sense all that was happening within the city as well as the imperial court she didn''t know what had happened during the mission.


    "Oh?" the Saintess was intrigued and soon Lin Mu told her about all that he had learned from the Soul Fragment Lin Mo had consumed.


    Hearing that, she was silent for a while and Lin Mu could vaguely sense that she was conflicted about something.


    "Withered Spirit Daoist¡­ I think I''ve heard that name before." She finally spoke. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "You have?" Lin Mu raise his brows wondering if the Withered Spirit Daoist was well known.


    "I think I read a report about her a long time ago. Though it was nothing particr just that she had gone missing about a million years back." The Saintess answered.


    "Was she particrly strong or something?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "No¡­ She was on the lower end for a Celestial. It was only her Withering Dao Skills that had made her stronger, but she was not muchpared to others." The Saintess answered. "To think she would have attempted to be a True Celestial in this way." She furrowed her brows.


    "I see¡­" Lin Mu felt a bit pleased that the Withered Spirit Daoist wasn''t well known, because if even the Saintess knew her, it would mean she was a lot more trouble than they would be able to deal with.


    "What do you think I should do, Saintess?" Lin Mu decided to ask for her advise.


    "Do what you do best¡­ Train, prepare, cultivate." The Saintess replied. "Come on now¡­ You''ve missed a lot of time in the mission." She waved her finger, causing Lin Mu to fly off immediately.


    "Whoa!" Lin Mu quickly returned to his training mode and used the Cloud Dragon Stride to stabilize himself.


    By the time he hadnded, theke had already transformed into a sea of clouds and waves began rushing towards Lin Mu.


    ''She''s right, this is the best way¡­'' Lin Mu knew as he threw himself into the training.


    This time Lin Mu''s focus was fully on the training and he was progressing faster than ever. Wave after wave came at him, but he barely fell. He could dive through them well, finding the lowest concentration of the Cloud Dao Traces.


    A week went by like this, after which the Saintess ended her training session, letting Lin Mu consolidate his gains on his own. After that, Lin Mu spent the rest of the time cultivating the Omnicore Ascendancy Technique utilizing the materials that he had obtained from the Treasury Minster.


    He still had around half of the materials left which he spent absorbing for around twelve days.


    In this time, hispanions were all hard at work, attempting to stop the workings of the ck Ying Empire within the City. Thankfully it seemed like the actions of Lin Mu and the Crown Prince earlier had worked in their favor as the activities had greatly reduced.


    Little Shrubby was also out there helping them catch all those that were linked to the ck Ying Empire.


    Time continued to pass like this and Lin Mu was deep in cultivation for a month after which a person visited him.


    "Lady Kang?" Lin Mu saw the woman visiting him along this time.


    "Daoist Lin Mu¡­ It''s been a while." Lady Kang greeted him.


    Thest they had seen each other was at the meeting when he had returned from the mission. But they hadn''t gotten to talk much other than that. Lady Kang was also busy with her own work as she gathered more and more intel in the empire.


    She had connections to other merchant groups in the Huiqing Empire as well as the Holy Topaz Dynasty thus they could get information that was normally hidden. Even things the Emperor was unable to find out were getting discovered through her connections.


    "Did you need something?" Lin Mu asked seeing that she was here despite being so busy.


    "I found something you might like." Lady Kang said as she took out a book. The book looked rather old and its pages had turned yellow from time. There were also age marks on it, along with a few tears.


    "What books is it?" Lin Mu took it from her, checking the title. "Insights of the third Grand Tutor." "This belonged to the Third Grand Tutor of the Dao Wind Empire. He was the Formation Grandmaster of the empire at that time too and was ether well known." Lady Kang spoke. "I hoped this might be of your use. I found it during some work." She added.


    "Oh? It''ll be good." Lin Mu quickly flipped through it, finding a lot of new information about formations as well as some signature formations that the Third Grand Tutor had made himself.


    "I''m d that you liked it." Lady Kang smiled.


    "I''ll begin studying it right away." Lin Mu said as he was quite interested in it. "We might need it anytime." He added.


    "Of course." Lady Kang replied. "I''ll leave you to it then." She said before turning around.


    Lin Mu waved his hand in goodbye and sat down to read the book.


    But while he was doing this, the Saintess appeared in front of Lady Kang in the outer room of the courtyard. "H-Honored Celestial!" Lady Kang was a bit startled.


    "Your body¡­ Why do you have the Astral Star Chart Dao Embryo within you?"


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2502 Lady Kangs Secret

    Chapter 2502 Lady Kang''s Secret


    Lady Kang had not talked with the Saintess for a long time now and it wasn''t like she had the standing to talk to her anyways.


    Thus the sudden appearance was confusing to her, but her question was simply shocking.


    "You know about it?" Lady Kang asked feeling a bit vary.


    "I sensed it a bit before, but now that I''ve seen it again I can confirm it¡­ there aren''t many that can have that Dao Embryo." The Saintess replied.


    "You know its function?" Lady Kang raised his brows.


    "I do¡­ Who or rather what are you hiding from?" the Saintess questioned.


    "Theres¡­ too many." Lady Kang replied, her voice a bit shaky.


    "So many that you need to constantly block divination attempts?" the Saintess furrowed her brows.


    "Yes¡­ It''s my physique." Lady Kang answered with some hesitation. "Your physique?" the Saintess raised a brow finding it unexpected. She scanned the woman once more but found nothing out of the ordinary in her. In fact, to her it didn''t seem like Lady Kang had a physique at all.


    "Its¡­" Lady Kang hesitated telling about it as it was a secret that only a chosen few knew about. "If its you, perhaps it should be fine¡­" she muttered. Since the Saintess was someone Lin Mu trusted too, Lady Kang felt like it might be fine to say after thinking about it.


    "I have the Divine Life Cradle Physique." Lady Kang uttered.


    As soon as she said that though, the Saintess''s eyes went wide and she acted.


    ~HUALA~


    Wind swirled around them turning into an invisible barrier that wouldn''t let nay sounds in and out. Not just that, but the air itself flickered, hiding their forms within making it seem like no one was standing there.


    "This¡­" Seeing the actions that the Saintess took, Lady Kang was rmed.


    "Now I see why it has to be kept a secret." The Saintess replied. "I''ve isted this ce from all senses and what you said earlier won''t be heard anywhere, as I''ve erased those sound waves too." She added.


    Seeing the precautions that the Saintess had taken, Lady Kang couldn''t help but feel a bit touched. At the very least she felt like her trust in her was correct.


    "Thank you, Honored Celestial." Lady Kang said with gratitude.


    "Still, to think there would still be someone with the Divine Life Cradle Physique left." The Saintess spoke. "Thest person with it ended up having a war fought over them." "I know¡­ it is the fate of all those born with it." Lady Kang said in a sad tone. "We are born to be taken as possessions of others¡­ but I don''t want that for me." She added.


    "I understand." The Saintess nodded. "But to be able to form the Astral Star Chart Dao Embryo is not easy, especially in time before your physique activated. If I recall correctly the techniques for it were lost a long time ago." This was the reason she had been so surprised about it.


    It would have been one thing if Lady Kang found the technique for it and was using it normally, but for her to have found it right before her Physique activated was a very slim chance as it would have only given her around sixteen to eighteen years since her birth to find it.


    "You''re right, Honored Celestial. But it wasn''t me who found it¡­ it was one of my ancestors that did it, long before my birth." Lady Kang answered.


    "So you were fortunate enough that your n had it. Your luck is impable." The Saintess couldn''t help but say. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "It wasn''t just luck. It was simply precaution my ancestor took." Lady Kang shook her head. "I¡­ wasn''t the only one born with the Divine Life Cradle Physique in my n." She revealed.


    "You weren''t?!" it was even more shocking to the Saintess.


    Just one person being born with it was rare, not to mention two in a single n since it wasn''t a physique that was actually passed down through blood. It was a rare physique that appeared spontaneously within a female child.


    "Yes, there was once an ancestor of my n who had the same. Of course she was not as fortunate as me and was soon discovered by the supreme experts. She was subjected to their whims but she still managed to gain a bit of power through the connections she made there.


    She use those to find the Divine Mystic Constetion Art and kept it safe in our n for our future generations just in case that anyone with the Divine Life Cradle Physique would be born.


    Upon birth, the secret technique would automatically be granted to the child and sealed within their mind for the future." Lady Kang exined. "My ancestor didn''t want anyone else to suffer the same as she had back then." She added.


    "That''s good. If you can keep it secret, you might just be able to do something most other haven''t been able to before." The Saintess wished her the best. "Though is it fine for you to be around men? If I recall correctly, it is quite sensitive to that." She added.


    "Its fine as long as I take some precautions." Lady Kang replied. "Though¡­ there are some whom I''ve found to be¡­ Impervious to it." She added.


    The Saintess raised a brow but quickly guessed who she meant.


    "Hmm¡­ if its him it makes sense." The Saintess muttered. ''Perhaps I might be able to remove the veil¡­'' she thought to herself briefly.


    "I won''t take up anymore of your precious time, Honored Celestial. Thank you for hearing me out." Lady Kang slimmed.


    "It''s fine, I''ll send you back." The Saintess said before waving her hand.


    ~HUALA~


    Lady Kang felt her body turning weightless and the scene before her turned blurry. Just a couple secondster she found herself standing in another ce.


    "My office?" Lady Kang was surprised. "I couldn''t even resist the slightest bit¡­" she muttered to herself.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2503 Turning Point

    Chapter 2503 Turning Point


    Completely unaware of the Saintess and Lady Kang''s conversation, Lin Mu continued to read the new book that had been given to him.


    He immersed himself in it for about three days after which he had finally finished reading it as well as adapting it to his own formation skills. There were still things he needed to internalize but he wouldn''t need any additional effort in it.


    It would happen automatically as he spent time making formations naturally.


    The Saintess returned for Lin Mu''s training and he got back into practicing Cloud Dragon Stride.


    By now he was able to dodge around fifteen waves in a row before finally sumbing to it. But this could already be considered several decades worth of progress or even a century''s worth of progresspared to others.


    If was the Saintess''s personal training that had allowed Lin Mu to improve so fast thus he was incredibly grateful for it. As much as he wanted to thank the Saintess he knew that the best way to do was to simply show the results of his training.


    But he couldn''t do this as he was forced to stop after a month''s time due to an emergency.


    "Daoist Lin Mu, Yao Changying hasunched an attack on Holy Topaz Dynasty and the Huiqing Empire!" Crown Prince Feng Shun barged in to ry the extremely crucial news.


    Lin Mu who was in the middle ofthe cloudke stopped and turned to see the man.


    ''Such strong Dao Traces! An immortal might just die from their sheer presence!'' Crown Prince Feng Shun thought to himself.


    The Crown Prince who saw theke filled with dense Cloud Dao Traces almost couldn''t help but tremble.


    "Go." The Saintess spoke, dissipating theke.


    Lin Mu simply gave her a nod and flew up.


    "Let''s go." Lin Mu said. "Tell me more," he said while flying towards the pce.


    "I was on my way back from doing some way when I received the transmission." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied, making Lin Mu finally understand why the man hade personally rather than just tell him through themunication jades slip.


    He listened to the details from the Crown Prince and couldn''t help but be shocked.


    It turned out that Yao Changying hadunched a full scale offensive that was nothingpared to the past. Not only was she mobilizing all her people now, but she had also unleashed the Chimeric beasts upon the world now!


    "What!? Chimeric beasts?" Lin Mu said out loud.


    "Yes, from the reports we''ve received from the two continents, the appearance of the strange creatures matches." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "They have already caused a lot of damage and the entire armies of the two continents have now been mobilized to stop them." He added.


    "Where are theying from?" Lin Mu questioned in a tense tone.


    "There are multiple portals that have opened up in both continents." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "It looks like these portals are probably connected to the Bridge ne." He added. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Dammit¡­ Looks like she was finally able to establish a stable connection between the Bridge ne and the Rust Sky World." Lin Mu cursed.


    He knew that the only reason why Yao Changying had been limited before was because of the restrictions of the Bridge ne. But if she had really managed to restore the connection, it meant that she had been granted the superior advantage.


    "We won''t be able to hold out if she keeps it up." Lin Mu knew for sure. "Are there any portals in the Dao Wind Empire?" he asked next.


    "Not yet." Crown Prince Feng Shun shook his head. "But this is only in the areas that we are monitoring. If they''ve appeared in the wilderness we might not know." He added.


    "Were there no arrays detecting them?" Lin Mu asked in confusion.


    "The portals don''t seem to be emitting energy fluctuations that match any of our detection arrays." Crown Prince Feng Shun answered. "Our Broad Spectrum Detection arrays would detect them, but only if they are within a range of two thousand kilometers." He stated.


    "That leaves far too many empty spots for them to take advantage of¡­" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.


    He began thinking of a n and by the time they arrived at the pce had had already developed a preliminary form of the n.


    At the pce, everyone was present inducing the Emperor, the Imperial Court members, high ranking army official, as well as Lin Mu''spanions. Lin Mu was also sure that the Saintess was listening in on it. He thought about the n and sent out an order to Little Shrubby who was already busy hunting down ck Ying Empire members.


    ''Little Shrubby the Chimeric Beasts are already arriving in the empire. See if you can smell any of them out.'' He asked.


    "On it!" Little Shrubby immediately replied and rushed out of the city. He was informed of the detection radius of the arrays, thus went to the areas that fell under the blindfolds. Lin Mu knew that Little Shrubby might be their earliest detection method for now.


    "Your Majesty, what are we to do now?" One of the Ministers asked anxiously.


    "The two empires are being attacks already, how do we prevent it from happening here too?" they wondered.


    "Silence, we already have some methods being readied." Emperor Feng said out loud. "Daoist Chu, tell them about it." "Yes, your Majesty." The man replied. "I had developed a Chimeric Beast sensing Radar Array before, and it is already being adapted to work in the Rust Sky World now. It only needs to be integrated into the map arrays and it should start working." He exined to everyone.


    "That''s good." Lin Mu was please hearing that. "We need to expand its scope and make it cover as much as possible." "I want to do the same, but we will need to integrate it into the entire world''s map." Daoist Chu stated.


    "We can do that." Lin Mu smirked, "we already have a part of it done."


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2504 Breakout Of A War

    Chapter 2504 Breakout Of A War


    A while back during the expedition, Lin Mu had made a modified map that could not only show the entire Rust Sky World but even the asteroids that filled its exosphere.


    He had given it to the Crown Prince and the man had showed it to the Emperor who was highly impressed by it. They had used it to upgrade their own maps, and Lin Mu intended to make use of it for the Chimeric Beast Sensing Radar Array.


    "I''ll help you out with it." Lin Mu stated. "I''ve gotten some insights about the empire''s arrays recently." He was happy that Lady Kang had given him the book before.


    He knew about the empires arrays and which ones were utilized for it. And while they had changed over the years, the Third Grand Tutor of the Empire had been one of the first batch of formation grandmasters that had set up the foundation of the Empires Arrays.


    As such, he held the core of his knowledge in the book and Lin Mu now knew about them. He also knew about the ws and the solutions that were given to improve them.


    These were all something that he intended to integrate into the current set up.


    "We''ll enact the previously discussed protocols and begin the First Phase of the War n." Empower Feng dered.


    "Yes, your majesty!" the Imperial Court said in unison. "Meanwhile, Imperial Imperator Lin Mu shall have free reign in all hismands. He shall be supported in any form needed." Emperor Feng reiterated. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "We shall follow the will of the Imperial Imperator!" They acquiesced.


    With this done, everyone split up to do their duties. Lin Mu left with Daoist Chu and joined up with the Imperial Formation Masters to modify their Grand map array to also include the Chimeric beast sensing Radar Array in it. The work was not easy and with how expansive the map was it needed everyone''s help in making it. Lin Mu''s newly gained insights came in handy as he applied them in making the work faster.


    The Grand Map array wasn''t a singr array but rather multiple array nodes that were spread across the cities in the entire empire. These connected with each other and scanned for the surroundings to form the map that they knew off.


    Of course they also had a static map of the world, but the information on it wouldn''t work with the Chimeric Beast Sensing Radar array which needed a dynamic map.


    Thus they needed to do work on not just the Capital City but every major city of the empire for it to work. It was a big undertaking which wouldn''t be possible with all the formation masters of the empire working together.


    Thankfully for Lin Mu, the formation masters were highlypetent and only needed a bit of guidance to fully understand what needed to be done. As such he didn''t need to personally leave to instruct the others and could do it simply through themunication formations.


    But it was still something that was not going to be finished in a short time.


    It took a week before they managed to finish this, during which Little Shrubby had sensed several Chimeric Beasts in his patrols. The Chimeric Beasts that were found during this were either killed by Little Shrubby himself or the army that was nearby.


    But as time went by and the threat increased, all the cultivators of the Dao Wind Empire were added to this. The Emperor sent out an Imperial Edict that each and every cultivator capable of fighting had to enterbat if they wished to live.


    Even if they couldn''t go out personally, they had to at least defend the city they lived in. Normally the cultivators would be hesitant to carry out at task like this, but since it concerned their survival they took it very seriously. The Emperor also set up a bounty system for the Chimeric beast as well as the ck Ying Empire members, further motivating the people to participate.


    With everyone joining in like this, the presence of the Chimeric Beasts was greatly suppressed. They weren''t suffering as much as the other two continents were.


    The Huiqing Empire had the worst losses between the two, as it had a lot more areapared to the Holy Topaz Dynasty. Not to mention, the ck Ying Empire members had also managed to infiltrate it much deeper due to theck of sensing capabilities. After all, they didn''t have Lin Mu and hispanions who could use their experience and skill here.


    Even if Emperor Feng had shared a lot of information there were limits to how much that could be done. Plus despite the personal participation of the Huiqing Emperor, the attacks of the Chimeric Beasts still caused a lot of damage as they could tectonically appear from anywhere.


    They tried to adapt the Chimeric Beast sensing Radar array too, but theygged behind due to having different infrastructure. Not to mention, even if they were trying to set it up, there were many efforts to hamper and sabotage them by the ck Ying Empire.


    A month passed by like this, after which the siltation only became worse.


    The Dao Wind Empire had managed to maintain their status simr to before, but the other two empires were still facing a lot of losses due to the guerri tactics used by the ck Ying Empire.


    They would send out their Yin Nascent Soul Maggots which could cause massive damage within settlement and then explode, turning the area uninhabitable. These explosions would also take out a lot of experts with them, making them lose their manpower.


    It finally reached a point where, Yao Changying appeared personally and fought against the Huiqing Emperor in Crack Leaf City which was one of the major cities of the empire.


    Huiqing Emperor was injured in this and was forced back, while Yao Changying destroyed the city revealing ruins hidden deep which was her goal all along.


    "Yao Changying has obtained another Soul Fragment!"


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2505 Clues To Target

    Chapter 2505 Clues To Target


    Material ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Everyone of importance was gathered in the Imperial Court as the information was announced. The news was heavy for all those that heard it.


    "She really got it?" Ziran asked. "It is basically confirmed. The details match what Daoist Lin Mu obtained from the shrine before." Commander Dui showed them on arge formation screen. "It was an indigo wisp that had been sealed in the ruins below the city." He added.


    "No one knew about the ruins?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "None." Commander Dui replied. "The city was located more than two kilometer underground. The lowest anyone had scanned the ground was nine hundred meters at which the aquifers of the city were present. After that no one bothered to check." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ The history of the Rust Sky World is quite tumultuous if we go back a couple hundred thousand years. It isn''t unusual for there to be ack of records from back then." Emperor Feng stated.


    "What kind of ruins were they?" Lady Kang asked, realizing that there was some potential there. "Demonic like before?"


    "No." Commander Dui answered. "It seemed to be in a simr architecture to the Huiqing Empire and but had old writing that was quite outdated. At least that''s all they could see before the ce was destroyed once again." He added. "Huiqing Empire''s architecture?" Lady Kang furrowed her brows. "So it wasn''t the Demonic Tribes that contained the Soul Fragment this time." She muttered.


    "Since there had been multiple tries that the Withered Spirit Daoist has tried this, it wouldn''t be surprising that different civilizations have attempted in stopping her." Lin Mu replied. "At the very least we now know that it wasn''t a singr effort." He added.


    "Daoist Lin Mu is correct, we need to think of the efforts they took in the past to prevent a situation like this today." Monk Hushu spoke up


    But the monks words served little than to motivate them, for they still needed solid solutions to the problem.


    "How''s the state of the Huiqing Emperor? How quickly can he return to the fight?" Lin Mu asked. "He''s been infected by the Withering Energy by a direct attack from Yao Changying so is still trying to purge it. The branch of the Guardian beast temple is helping him, but they still need time." Emperor Feng replied. "So the Huiqing Empire is left without a Transcendent¡­" Ziran said furrowing his brows.


    It was a concerning thing as it meant that the greatest defense an empire could have was no missing. In normal times this wouldn''t matter much as there would be other experts strong enough to stave off most problems.


    But Yao Changying and the ck Ying Empire were nothing but that. The ess to the Chimeric Beasts meant that there was basically an endless number of cannon fodder that could assault the empire.


    And all these were ones that could greatly damage the infrastructure as well as the environment. Not to mention the energy from the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots would infect even stronger experts and needed a lot of energy to purge.


    If one didn''t have the wood element or strong cultivation, things would be be very for them "That makes things difficult. Since Yao Changying now has the upper hand in Huiqing Empire she has a lot more time to attack the other continents." Lin Mu stated.


    "That''s what we expect too." Commander Dui replied. "But considering the fact that she is after Soul Fragments we expect that she''ll be going after the Holy Topaz Dynasty next." He added.


    "That''s probably right." Lin Mu nodded. "How''s the offensive going there?" he asked.


    "The Holy Topaz Empire is holding out a lot better than the Huiqing Empire thankfully. Plus the Holy Topaz Emperor is absolutely furious about it all and as such not cking at all.


    He takes it all as a personal offense that his very niece is trying something like this and does not intend to let her off at all." Commander Dui replied.


    Hearing that Lin Mu couldn''t help but let out a breath of relief.


    "That''s good. There''s no way she can be considered normal at all." Lin Mu replied. "The Holy Topaz Emperor has also given freehand in eliminating all ck Ying Empire people they suspect. As such the progress there has been limited for the most part." Commander Dui replied.


    "Limited? So there''s somece its not the same?" Lin Mu asked.


    "The northern region for the Holy Topaz Continent is not the same. They have the full influence of the ck Fish Inds where Yao Changying''s power is the greatest. They have already gained a firm foothold there and there isn''t much that can be done there to stop them." Commander Dui answered.


    "Can''t the Emperor himself stop them?" Daoist Chu questioned. "If I recall correctly the ck Fish Inds aren''t that far from the Capital city to be safe." He added.


    "They aren''t but the Emperor is busy in dealing with the constant barrage of the Chimeric Beasts as well as the Yin Nascent Soul Beasts that areing from the south.


    The numbers are far too dense for him to be free. Especially since the death of each Yin Nascent Soul worm can spread enough baleful energy for a hundred kilometer area to be corrupted.


    The Emperor had to specifically cleanse that every time he fought them." Commander Dui exined


    "That does make things tough." Lady Kang stated.


    "Any clues on the location that Yao Changing is aiming for?" Monk Hushu asked this time.


    "Nothing yet. There is a chance that she is still at a loss for it." Commander Dui replied.


    "That is good. It means we still have the time to act against it." Emperor Feng stated.


    "Indeed, we need to determine where the location is this time too." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated.


    "I think I might be able to do that." Lady Kang suddenly spoke. "You can?" Lin Mu asked with raised brows.


    "Pyxis can." Lady Kang stated.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2506 Help Of Pyxis

    Chapter 2506 Help Of Pyxis


    Lady Kang''s words were surprising to most that were present in the court. This belongs ? N?velDra/ma.Org.


    But the ones who had apanied her knew what it was and had also experience it before. In fact, it had been one of the reasons why they had even managed to make their way out of the Bridge ne in the first ce.


    As such, Lin Mu and hispanions had a lot more faith in Lady Kang than others did.


    "The Guidance of Pyxis? You think you can use it to find the location?" Lin Mu asked carefully.


    "Yes. With some preparation I sure can." Lady Kang confirmed.


    "Very well, if Lady Kang has faith in it we can try that." Lin Mu was in agreement right away.


    He had seen her Dao Skill managing to find a location in the void, thus he knew that she should be able to do the same within the Rust Sky Wold itself.


    "I''ll need a bit of preparation but it should be fine." Lady Kang stated.


    "We''ll provide you with all that you need." Emperor Feng stated. "Just say the word." "Thank you Emperor Feng." Lady Kang replies .


    With that done, they discussed a few more things before finally splitting up. Lin Mu and hispanions went with Lady Kang to talk about their n. The woman told them that she might just be able to pin point the location that the Soul Fragment of the Withered Spirit Daoist was present.


    The only requirements were that they give her some traces of it so that the chances of finding it would be higher. As such, Lin Mu became crucial in it along with the others who scrambled to find the trances.


    After all it didn''t just mean the ones Lin Mu knew of, but also those that they could detect while fighting in the other ces.


    Lady Kang basically needed all the traces of the shrine that Lin Mu and the others had been too in order to discover the other ce. She said thats this was the best way to find it and also gave them the best chance of doing it.


    Of course with that done, Lin Mu assisted her in it along with the others and in about two weeks they were basically ready to do it.


    "Should I start?" Lady Kang asked.


    "Yes, do it." Lin Mu stated.


    Lady Kang tapped out in the air, as three stars made out of ster energy manifested. The stars rose in the air and glowed brightly before an illusory figure started to form.


    "88 Constetion Series: Sixty Fifth form- Mariners Compass!" Lady Kang chanted as the stars moved together.


    Lin Mu and the others watched the illusorypass that seemed to be exuding a mysterious aura.


    An ethereal feeling could be sensed as the very air shook. The skies seemingly turned dark for them as awork of translucent fabric could be seen covering the entire sky. This seemed normal to those beyond the area, but those standing under it, things were very strange.


    "Guidance of Pyxis!" Lady Kang chanted,pleting the skill.


    A light beam flew out of thepass and streaked across the word. Once it was a few hundred kilometers from the source, it seemingly wandered around in random paths, while the needle on the illusorypass also kept on spinning.


    "Bring me to what Yao Changying is seeking." Lady Kang whispered.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Her whisper was amand to thepass as it suddenly stopped spinning. The needle twitched a few times before slowly turning to a specific direction.


    ~WANG~


    The needle trembled after pointing in a certain direction as a beam of light was shot out of it. This time, the beam of light had a destination in its mind as it arced around before heading straight down to a certain point.


    With that done, the path that they needed to take was set, and Lin Mu couldn''t help but feel a lot more confident.


    "Add it to the map!" Lin Mu urged!


    "On it!" Daoist Chu replied.


    He took out the newly modified map array and quickly worked on adding it to the target of the Pyxis. It would have been hard normally, but Lady Kang had helped them in it beforehand and told them about how it would work. As such, any modifications that needed to be done were already done.


    ~HUALA~ The sliver of light from of Pyxis was seemingly pulled towards the map array and merged into it. It caused the entire map to seemingly break apart.


    "Damn, did it break?" Ziran asked, seeing the state.


    "Just temporarily." Daoist Chu replied. "Give it a bit." He added.


    ~HONGLONG~


    And sure enough, about an hourter the map managed to stabilize. By now, Lady Kang herself had be quite a lot exhausted, as the activation of skill for this long had not been easy for her. Thankfully for her, there had been plenty of measures such as High grade immortal stones ready to supplement her Qi. With that done, she simply had to grit her teeth and hold on.


    ~DING~DING~


    "It''s done!" Daoist Chu stated, seeing the formation array.


    A formation screen floated in front of him that showed a vast expanse of thend. It curved and once zoomed out one could tell that it covered an entire part of the world.


    "Where is it?" Crown Princess Shang asked, seeing it.


    ~SHUA~


    Daoist Chu tapped on the array making it move as the path was traced out.


    Soon enough, a path was traced out between the Capital City of the Dao Wind Empire as well as the target location.


    "Huh¡­ it''s not in the Holy Topaz Empire?" Seeing it, Lin Mu was surprised.


    The others were in a simr state as all of them had expected it to be there. After all, their preliminary guesses had ced it there. But now the prediction had ced it in an entirely different ce.


    "What is this ce?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Looks like a bunch of inds off the east coast of the Holy Topaz Dynasty."


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2507 Lost Islands

    Chapter 2507 Lost Inds


    The location that Pyxis showed was a bit obscure and didn''t seem like something that was on the maps they had seen before.


    "Do we have any information on these inds?" Ziran asked.


    "No¡­ this is strange we don''t have any records of these inds." Commander Dui said,paring it with the previous maps that they had. "Could they have been undiscovered before?" Crown Princess Shang wondered. "They aren''t exactly close to the coast anyway." She added.


    If one estimated the distance between the inds and the east coast of the Holy Topaz Empire, it was located at least a couple thousand kilometers away. Plus the way they were shown on the modified map was a bit weird too.


    "Is it just me or the borders of these inds don''t seem ''natural''?" Ziran said taking a closer look.


    "No¡­ you''re right." Lin Mu replied. "Even the water around it¡­ it looks darker." He added.


    "How was something like this not seen before? Even if it wasn''t in the usual ocean routes, a ce like this wouldn''t have stayed hidden for long." Daoist Chu wondered.


    "Unless it was hidden in the same way, the Expedition inds were hidden." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke.


    "Quite likely." Lin Mu agreed. "There''s also a chance these could be lost inds." Emperor Feng suddenly spoke at this time.


    "Lost Inds?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "The Rust Sky world has been through multiple periods of conflict and war, not just among the powers but also different races that lived there once. In the past there had been major conflicts that caused a great level of destruction. Nearly every continent has lost several portions of theirnd mass in the past, and this could be one of those. Some sank into the ocean while some were sent into another realm entirely." Emperor Feng revealed some of the old knowledge that was kept from themoners.


    "Like the Deste Blood Battlefield." Lin Mu remembered.


    "Indeed." Emperor Feng confirmed. "If this was not seen in the older maps, it is likely that it had stayed hidden in some manner and is now finally reappearing." He added.


    "It would make sense since all these ces have been where the Withered Spirit Daoist''s Soul Fragments were imprisoned. It would be normal for a ce to be hidden all this time." Lady Kang was in agreement.


    "Wait! This means we still have an advantage!" Daoist Chu suddenly spoke. "Just because we see the inds on this map doesn''t really mean that the others can see too. There''s a high chance they''re still hidden and that Yao Changying will be looking for them too." He added.


    "If so, we need to hurry." Lin Mu said as a serious expression appeared on his face. "Then we''ll head out tomorrow." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with a resolute expression. "It''ll take us a lot of time to reach it, so its best we leave as soon as possible. Yao Changying already has a foothold in the Holy Topaz Empire so she might be able to reach it faster if she discovers it." He added.


    "You''re right." Emperor Feng stated. "We need to act quick." Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "You shouldn''t leave the capital unprotected, father." Crown Prince Feng Shun already had an idea what the Emperor was about to say. "If you leave too, there''s no guarantee Yao Changying won''t take advantage of it. Even if we''re reduced the attacks for now and the damage is controlled, we cannot becent." He added.


    "But if I don''te, fighting Yao Changying won''t be easy." Emperor Feng was conflicted.


    "Crown Prince is correct. Now that the Huiqing Emperor is weakened too, we cannot take the risk." Lin Mu agreed as well. "You need to guard the empire. We can handle going to the Ind on our own." He added.


    "What if Yao Changying is there with her force?" Emperor Feng asked.


    "Even if shes there, we can handle her." Lin Mu answered while looking at hispanions. "We''ve done it once. We can do it again." He added.


    "Still, you should take a battalion with you." Emperor Feng rmended. "Yes! It would be far too dangerous to without them." Commander Dui chimed in.


    "But if we take that, we''ll be dyed. There''s only one ship that can go that fast, and it cannot take more than a hundred people inside it." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "We can only take some of the elites." He added.


    "That will be fine. At least take them." Emperor Feng insisted. "We''ll be okay with limited numbers." Lin Mu said, thinking of something. "I have some allies which will be able to give us more help than the army can." He revealed. "Allies? Who?" Everyone was surprised hearing about this.


    "I''ll have to contact them first. We''ll know once we''re there." Lin Mu replied, not wanting to reveal too much. "Just trust me." He asked.


    "Very well." Emperor Feng decided to have faith in Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu''spanions already had trust in him and if he insisted that there were allies that could help them, they wouldn''t be the ones to question it. With this done, everyone quickly began preparing for the departure. Orders were sent out for several of the top experts of the Imperial Feng Army to gather, while several messages were sent out to the other empires about the operation that was about to take ce.


    Of course, the location was still kept secret since there was a great chance Yao Changying could find out from spies. As such, the other powers were only told to stay ready to act when called upon.


    This way, even if Yao Changying knew they were going to do something, she wouldn''t know where.


    Plus, there was no way she would''ve guessed that they had found out the clues to the Soul Fragment''s location way before her.


    Time quickly passed and it was finally the time for departure. The army experts had gathered, but they weren''t the only ones there, as Lin Mu saw a few more familiar faces.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2508 Gathering Allies

    Chapter 2508 Gathering Allies


    "Daoist Mu Lin, you don''t think you can leave without telling us, can you?" Lin Mu heard a voice. "Or should we now call you, Lord Imperator Lin Mu." A personughed.


    "Lu Xu and you guys¡­" Lin Mu recognized several familiar faces that were stranding along with the army experts. "You can''t leave without us." A white haired woman spoke in an airy voice. It was none other than Mei Nienzhen. She stood along with Lu Xu, Chong Fa and several more experts that had joined them in the expedition as well as some from the Tournament.


    "You all want toe too? It''s going to be very dangerous." Lin Mu warned them.


    "I pped that bitch before, I think its only right I join in. It''s not like she''s going to let me be free if all this fails." Lu Xuughed. "At least I can witness it all myself as she''s defeated again."


    "He''s right." Lin Mu heard another voice. "I''ve been wanting to fight her for a long time too. She owes me a debt." It was a person he hadn''t expected at all.


    "Childe Wildfire? You''ve recovered?" Lin Mu saw one of the top performers of the Tournament.


    The man had faced defeat at the hands of Third Prince Feng Baxing, but that had only been because of the Peak Grade Immortal Tool, the Shearing Hurricane Fan and its weapon spirit. If not for that, it would be hard to tell who might havee out on top as both men were equally matched.


    In the fight, Childe Wildfire had gottengreatly injured and his meridians were damaged as well. After that, Lin Mu hadn''t really seen or heard of the man but it seemed like he was now back.


    "Of course, it''s been almost three decades." Childe Wildfire replied. "If I still didn''t recover, I should''ve just died back then." The man scoffed.


    "Well, if you''ve recovered you''re wee to join." Lin Mu couldn''t deny the man who was certainly quite strong.


    "I wish to join as well." Chong Fa stated. "I''ve gained quite a lot from the expedition and grown since then. It all happened due to your help, as such I now wish to rey you." The man with the very tall hat said seriously.


    ~SHUA~


    He even released a bit of his immortal Qi, showing Lin Mu his cultivation base.


    "Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm?" Lin Mu sensed.


    "I''m notgging behind either." Mei Nienzhen said, in a rare tone ofpetition. A cold aura spread from her, as Lin Mu could feel a great power from her. "Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm?" Lin Mu raised his brows, not having expected this. "I''ve been training." Mei Nienzhen replied. "Let mee¡­ I''ll give you this." She said while extending her hand.


    Lin Mu looked at it and found a bunch of berries in it. "Rimed Pearl berries." Lin Mu recognized them. "Haha¡­ Very well you all cane on too." He reckoned if they wanted to do this so much he shouldn''t deny them.


    Yao Changing was a threat to everyone in the Rust Sky World, thus it was normal for them to fight against it.


    "It''s good that we have so many volunteers. We can leave some of the army expert behind." Monk Hushu stated seeing them. "Yes." Lin Mu knew that it was important for them to protect the cities in the empire as well.


    If they took too many of them with us, the cities would only be left with weaker soldiers that might not be enough to stand against the Chimeric Beasts and Yao Changying''s minions.


    Soon, the arrangements werepleted and the people boarded the Flying Ship.


    There was Lin Mu, Crown Prince Feng Shun, Crown Princess Shang, Monk Hushu, Daoist Chu, Ziran, Lady Kang, Elder Hu, Min Ju, Mei Nienzhen, Lu Xu, Chong Fa, and Childe Wildfire along with thirty eight more expedition and tournament members. The remaining spots were filled by the army experts of the Dao Wind Empire bringing the total number to one hundred.


    Of course, Lin Mu''s tamed beasts were also present as he wouldn''t go anywhere without them.


    The Saintess would also be apanying them in her own manner as well. With such an entourage, they were feeling quite confident as they finally took off.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The Flying Ship soared out from the Capital City''s center and automatically followed the set coordinates. "Here we go." Daoist Chu said as he finished fixing the route. "It should now follow the path on its own." He added.


    "That''s good, at least we won''t have to spend more time in manually correcting the course." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "As long as there isn''t any great danger in our way at least." He added.


    "Yeah, the only other danger we face along the way is the Ocean beasts." Lu Xu agreed.


    "That won''t be a problem." Lin Mu chimed in. "They won''te near us." He said as he held a small scale in his hand.


    "What''s that?" Lady Kang looked at the scale.


    "A treasure that''ll grant us safe passage through the ocean." Lin Mu answered. "A gift from my allies." He added.


    "That''s interesting." Ziran said taking a closer look at the scale. "A Fish scale of some sort?" It made everyone curious about just what kind of allies Lin Mu had. The man didn''t exin further and simply held the scale, sending a message to his allies living far in the depths of the ocean. ''The Haima Tribe needs to know about their old foe.'' Lin Mu had figured out by now that the conflict between their tribe''s guardian and the demons had been nothing but a machination of the Withered Spirit Daoist. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    As such, they were owed this information. Lin Mu reckoned they would certainly want to take revenge, and they had already asked Lin Mu to not hesitate in requesting their help before.


    Plus, now that they were heading to a location that was in the ocean, it would be a favorable terrain for them.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2509 Raising Morale And Giving Pointers

    Chapter 2509 Raising Morale And Giving Pointers


    ~ROAR~


    The roar of a beast could be heard sweeping over the blue ocean before a red blur cut through it.


    ~SPLASH~


    A massive ssh happened, before a fifty meter long fish jumped out from it. The fish had long t fins that had sharp barbs at the end while its tail was curved like a scimitar. Its yellow eyes darted around while its mouth tipped with sharp teeth opened menacingly. As soon as the fish appeared the red blur curved under it, cutting its belly in one go and ending its life.


    ~CLAMP~


    And in the next second, five prosthetic arms grabbed the now dead fish and held it in the air. ~WHOOSH~


    The red blur collected the fish and the hands before making its way back to a ship that was flying about ten kilometer from it.


    "The Crimson Phantom is back!" A few people on the ship shouted.


    ~THUD~


    The red blur became clear as itnded on the ship''s deck, revealing that it was just Little Shrubby. "Oh! What did you catch this time!?" A white haired woman approached the beast. This was of course none other than Mei Nienzhen. ~Grrr


    Little Shrubby growled lightly in response before withdrawing the fish.


    ~THUD~


    "WHOA! Is that a Scimitar Tailed Tuna!?" Someone recognized.


    "Damn, its even fully grown! We don''t get this kinda fish back in the Empire." The people were surprised.


    "Looks like today shall be Sliced Raw Tuna!" "YEAH!"


    The people on the deck got quite excited.


    "Good job." Mei Nienzhen said as she petted Little Shrubby''s head. ~purr~


    Little Shrubby let her do so as he had already gotten used to it. In the start Mei Nienzhen coaxed him using some treats, so Little Shrubby hunted down some fish to gift her. The woman was shocked seeing it and continued it until Little Shrubby''s gifts could no longer be matched.


    He would bring such arge amount of food, that pretty much everyone on the ship could eat it to their heart''s content.


    Of course the people were highly pleased by it and couldn''t help but give some things to Little Shrubby too. To them, the Fish and other sea food that Little Shrubby hunted was highly valuable. It was something they couldn''t easily get in the empire and would cost a fortune to get.


    It was highly beneficial for them as these were all Immortal Beasts.


    Little Shrubby''s actions had helped build the morale of the people and the mission force had be a bit more cohesive now. They had been flying for about a month now and had gotten used to each other. It was important since they would be fighting together after all. "Is your master gonna eat with us?" Mei Nienzhen asked. ~Grrr~


    Little Shrubby shook his head in response.


    "I guess he''s busy cultivating still." She let out a little sigh.


    "It''s inevitable. He''s the one spearheading this entire operation." Lu Xu spoke upon approaching. "The responsibility on his head is the highest, even if there is Crown Prince and the others present with us." He added.


    "True." Mei Nienzhen agreed.


    "It is normal for them to cultivate." Chong Fa who was sitting on a chair at the back spoke. "We should be doing the same in fact." He added.


    "Why aren''t you cultivating then?" Lu Xu asked.


    "I am." Chong Fa replied. "I''m sunning my hair."


    "Huh?" His words weren''t really the answer Lu Xu was looking for. "How does that even help?" he was confused.


    "Sunlight is important for the strength of the Hair fibers. A normal person needs at least half an hour of sunlight for optimum health and people like us need even more." Chong Fa said in a very practiced manner. "When I cultivate with the sunlight, my hair grows even tougher." He added.


    "I see¡­ that''s a very unique method." Lu Xu didn''t know what else to say.


    The Iron Pir Mane arts of Chong Fa were really unusual in the first ce. They didn''t look that strong, but his fight in the tournament had proved everyone wrong. The rather strange technique had more applications than one could''ve thought.


    "The Crown Prince and the other''s are cultivating too. I don''t think they can spare much time being free." Another voice was heard. It was a person dressed in the clothes of the Imperial Army''s uniform.


    "First lieutenant." Lu Xu recognized the man. "I suppose that''s true even Childe Wildfire is calcting nonstop since joining us. Though¡­ Why aren''t you cultivating?" he asked looking at Mei Nienzhen.


    "I can''t cultivate here." Mei Nienzhen replied. "If I cultivate here, things would get tough for others." She added.


    "Hmm¡­ I''ve heard the cold arts of the Iridescence Peak are quite domineering when unleashed full, being able to turn an area into a frozennd." The First Lieutenant replied after thinking.


    In response Mei Nienzhen simply nodded.


    "Not being frozen is a good excuse I suppose." Lu Xu muttered. "And what about you?" Chong Fa finally asked. "Why are you not cultivating?" "Haha, I''m at a bottleneck." Lu Xuughed. "Don''t think I can do much about it in this time." He added.


    "Why don''t you go take advise from others?" The First Lieutenant suggested. "Theres nock of experts atop the ship. There should be someone that can give you suitable advise." "I did want to ask Daoist Lin Mu, but I don''t want to disturb him." Lu Xu said in a slightly sad tone.


    "What advise do you need?" A voice was heard from above.


    "Huh?" Everyone turned to look at the source.


    "Speak of the Devil." Lu Xu was a bit surprised seeing that it was none other than Lin Mu there.


    ''Oh wouldn''t you know.'' Lin Mo said unheard to everyone other than Lin Mu.


    Lin Mu ignored the voice in his head and simply focused on his allies for now.


    "Did you finish cultivating?" Little Shrubby asked through his link.


    "For a bit." Lin Mu answered. ''To think the materials would finally finish.'' He had been focused on practicing the Omnicore Ascendancy Technique all this time. T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    He had been consuming all the materials he had gotten before leaving the city. There were some leftover from the Treasury Minister and Lin Mu had gotten more just before leaving asst minute supplies. He reckoned he needed all the preparation he''d need so he asked for even the more rare materials that were present in the Treasury.


    But much to his surprise, the Treasury Minister had actually gathered more materials that Lin Mu had never consumed before or were even in his list. The man had guessed that there was some need that couldn''t he told to others, so the ministermissioned his people to gather materials from all over the Dao Wind Continent.


    This had given Lin Mu a nice stockpile of new materials to use that hadsted for this entire month. They had allowed him to grow his cores even more and they were bigger than before with the Earth Core and Fire Core bing the biggest.


    Both the cores were about the size of a quail egg now which could be considered a proper sized core. His Metal core was just a little bit smaller while his Wood core was about half the size. His Water Coregged behind that while his Wind Core and the Lightning cores were still the smallest.


    Having finished all the materials, Lin Mu reckoned it was time for him to assess the situation on the ship before he began cultivating again. This was when he picked up on the conversation that Lu Xu and the others were having.


    "Would you be fine listening to my query?" Lu Xu asked. "Any pointers would be good." "Sure, ask away. I''ll do my best." Lin Mu replied with confidence. Lu Xu still remembered the time when Lin Mu had given them a lesson before. It was one of the best lessons he had gotten and he had progressed a lot from it. While he might not be as talented in cultivation as most of his peers, Lin Mu''s pointers had still allowed him to ovee that.


    It was because of that, the man had managed to reach the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.


    "It''s like this¡­" Lu Xu began exining the difficulty he was having in his cultivation. Essentially the man was unable to control his Qi well enough to reach the next level of his cultivating technique. Lin Mu simply asked the man to demonstrate and quickly found out the problem.


    "The two meridians you are trying to use have be narrowed." Lin Mu sensed right away.


    He then ced two of his fingers on Lu Xu''s upper right back and released a stream of pure Metal elemental immortal Qi.


    Lu Xu couldn''t even resist it and it easily entered his body. The Qi reached the exact medians and basically scraped them from the inside, making the man tremble in pain.


    "Try now." Lin Mu asked.


    ~HUALA~


    "What the¡­" Lu Xu felt a surge of power within his body.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2510 Reaching The Lost Islands

    Chapter 2510 Reaching The Lost Inds


    A wave of energy spread from Lu Xu as Qi started to flow through the two meridians that had be partially blocked. Due to this, they were far too narrow for the right amount of Qi to flow through them, putting the man in a bottleneck.


    But now that Lin Mu had forcefully cleared them, Lu Xu felt the surge in power/


    ~HONGLONG~


    Lu Xu''s hair fluttered as the Qi flowed through him, his bottleneck gone.


    "It''s solved!?" The man almost couldn''t believe it. He had thought that even if Lin Mu or others could provide him with some pointers, it wouldn''t allow him to resolve it this fast. But this solution was almost instantaneous.


    "Looks like it''s working well now." Lin Mu said after observing for a bit. He scanned the man with his Immortal Sense and confirmed that the Qi circuit was now functioning properly.


    "T-thank you Brother Lin Mu." Lu Xu cupped his hands and bowed his head in gratitude. "I am further in your debt now." He chuckled.


    "It''s okay, this is better for all of us since you will be stronger." Lin Mu replied. "Whoa! Daoist Lu Xu has improved so fast!" the other people on the deck who witnessed it were absolutely stunned.


    "C-can we ask for pointers too?" A woman approached and asked carefully.


    "Daoist Hwan Sae?" Lin Mu recognized her.


    "You remember me!?" The woman was surprised.


    "I do. You were there in the Tournament among the top one hundred." Lin Mu had basically memorized all of the top performers.


    Hwan Sae hadn''t fought against Lin Mu or any of hispanions back then, but her performance had been good whenpared to the sheer number of participants. "I''m ttered." Hwan Sae had a faint blush on her face as she replied. "Will you really give me some pointers?" she requested.


    "Sure, what''s the problem?" Lin Mu listened to the woman''s issue.


    But he had no idea that this was just the start of it all and this entire thing would snowball into arge session for all the mission members.


    Starting from Hwan Sae, Lin Mu gave pointers to around forty members who were eager for it. Almost all of them had varied issues, some of which were easy for Lin Mu to resolve, while others were harder. Some were simr to Lu Xu''s cases where only a minor problem had been hampering their cultivation, while in other cases it was an issue ofprehension.


    Lin Mu actually had a fun time doing this, as not only did he get to learn more about the various cultivation techniques and skills they had, helping others had actually improved his own understanding of cultivation too.


    A week went by in this and everyone had gotten a lot closer to Lin Mu now as before this his status as the Imperial Imperator was a bit too high for them. This was despite the fact that they actually had several nobles as well as other experts among them.


    The only ones who had been naturally close to him were either those who had worked with him before or those that he had fought.


    Though among all, there was just one person whom Lin Mu didn''t get to interact much and that was Childe Wildfire. The man had been inside his room to cultivate ever since getting on board and had note out. Lin Mu had been interested about his skills and the Dao Embryo he used as they were quite strong. He would''ve liked to exchange some insights, but it seemed like the man was going to be out of reach for the time being. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Lin Mu didn''t mind it though and returned to his own cultivation after a couple more days.


    The rest of the journey went rtively smoothly, as there wasn''t much that could be done to the ship. The Ocean beasts were either too slow to even attack it, or didn''te close, sensing the Qi fluctuations that wereing from it.


    The only problem they faced was the Ocean Storms that forced them to change route or slow down, but the minor ones could be bypassed by simply flying over them.


    Everyone focused on cultivation as they grew closer to their destination and the atmosphere grew tenser.


    And by the time three months had passed, they could finally see their destination in sight¡­ Or at least that''s what it seemed like on the map.


    Everyone stood at the front of the deck as the ship slowed down.


    "Are we in the right ce?" Ziran asked, seeing nothing in front.


    "It should be right." Daoist Chu took another look at the map and knew that they were right at the edge of the designated target.


    "But there''s nothing there." Crown Princess Shang spoke.


    In front of them was just an empty expanse of ocean and nothing else. "It might be hidden." Lady Kang said as she narrowed her eyes. "Pyxis wouldn''t be wrong." She added.


    "What do you see, Daoist Lin Mu?" Crown Prince Feng Shun, who had been silent since the start asked.


    Lin Mu closed his eyes for a moment and activated his Spatial Perception, trying to see if it was hidden behind an array of some kind. ~SHUA~


    But after a minute, he furrowed his brows.


    "There''s really nothing." Lin Mu was confused.


    "Should we just go ahead?" Daoist Chu asked. They had been hesitant in doing this since there was no telling if there was a trap of some kind waiting for them.


    "We should send out a scout first." Ziran suggested.


    "That will be the wise choice." Elder Hu agreed.


    "I can help." A young man spoke up. "I have puppets that are perfect for this. We don''t need to go in personally." "Ah, Young Master Bi Shu." Crown Prince Feng Shun recognized the man. "Please go ahead. Your n''s puppets are well known for this after all." He nodded his head.


    The young man was from the Bi n of the capital city that specialized in formation puppets. They weren''t a major n though and since their puppets couldn''t go up against experts, their strength was limited. But what they did have was versatility as such they still had a decent amount of wealth.


    "I''ll do my best." Young Master Bi Shu said as he took out a wooden puppet that was shaped like a Hawk.


    He used his immortal sense to link up with the hawk and the puppet seemingly came alive. ~WHOOSH~


    It pped its wings and quickly soared into the air just like a normal bird would.


    ~SHUA~


    Next, a formation screen appeared from the man''s Bracelet, showing the same view that the Hawk was getting.


    "This is rather convenient." Lin Mu was impressed. "It''s not really strong, but if you want to scout out areas, it''s perfect for it." Young Master Bi Shu replied. They watched as the hawk flew for about a kilometer with no issues. But at a certain point, it suddenly started to fall.


    "Huh? I can''t control it anymore!" Young Master Bi Shu was surprised.


    "Did your connection break?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "No, the connection is still there. The puppet looks to be being restrained somehow." Young Master Bi Shu replied, feeling a bit anxious.


    They watched as the hawk continued to plummet towards the water, but just as it was about to fall into it, the hawk stopped.


    "It''s floating?" They could see that the hawk was a few inches above the water''s surface now.


    "Can you move it?" Lin Mu asked.


    "No, it''s still restrained. It''s like a heavy weight is attached to it." Bi Shu replied.


    "Strange¡­ I don''t sense any energy there or a formation." Lin Mu was confused.


    Mei Nienzhen leaned over the guardrail and looked closely at the water. She stared at it for a good minute before extending her hand.


    ~SHUA~


    An icicle formed on her finger before falling down straight.


    It fell through the water with ease and continued to sink.


    After five minutes, Mei Nienzhen turned back. "There''s something below the water." Mei Nienzhen spoke. "You sensed something?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "I can still feel my icicle. It should have melted already but it''s still there." She added.


    "It hasn''t melted? The water shouldn''t be that cold." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied in confusion.


    "Could the destination be underwater?" Lady Kang guessed. "That¡­ Might just be it." Lin Mu looked down with his Spatial Perception active and could faintly make out something there. "The moving water makes it harder, but I think there''s something down there now." He realized they had been looking at this the wrong way.


    "Sunken Inds¡­ Great." Crown Princess Shang let out a sigh.


    "Let''s go down then?" Lin Mu asked, "I''ll head first and see if there''s any danger."


    He had the best chance at getting away safely, so it was the best option.


    "Very well, do it Daoist Lin Mu." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2511 Deep Ruins

    Chapter 2511 Deep Ruins


    Lin Mu flew up from the deck and slowly approached the area.


    He kept his senses fully alert and his Spatial Perception was also active to ensure that he could see anything that might be happening below the water. He flew for about a minute before he finally reached the ce where the puppet hawk had fallen.


    ~WHOOSH~


    "It''s pulling me!?" Lin Mu felt like a great weight was put upon him and he started to plummet.


    "Daoist Lin Mu!" the others saw this and were worried.


    "Hold on, he can get out if its too dangerous. We can''t approach just yet." Crown Prince Feng Shun stopped the others who seemed Ike they might rush to help.


    ~THUD~


    It looked like Lin Mu was about to sink right into the water, but just like the hawk puppet, he stopped a few inches above it.


    "Wait, what?" But once he was there, he felt like the weight on him had disappeared. ''What is this restriction?'' he was confused.


    He felt the invisible surface under him, finding it to be like an barrier but still not the same.


    ''Is this a formation or what?'' Lin Mu had never seen anything like it. He couldn''t feel the Qi in it and even if he used his immortal sense to probe it, there was no resistance. His immortal sense simply passed through it and reached the water as if there was nothing there.


    "This is different than the Hawk though." Lin Mu realized another thing. ''Bi Shu had said that the puppet was being restrained, but I don''t feel restrained here since I can still walk around.'' He thought to himself.


    But when he tried to fly again, he found himself unable to do it.


    "Ugh, the weight again." As soon as Lin Mu tried even a little, the weight appeared again and stopped him from doing it. He thought about it more and decided to test a bit.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Instead of trying to fly, he jumped and found it possible. "So it''s flying that is not permitted¡­ or rather flying with the use of Qi that is not permitted." Lin Mu now understood that it was a restriction that might be simr to that of the Capital City. ''But this isn''t an array¡­ there should have been the presence of Qi that I could''ve sensed.'' He thought to himself.


    Seeing Lin Mu all doing things, the others on the ship became relieved.


    "See, he''s fine." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "It might really be a restriction from the looks of it." Ziran said while observing Lin Mu who seemed to be testing things out. "It must be a very high ranked one because neither I nor did Lin Mu sense it." Daoist Chu spoke. "Well¡­ We did deal with a Celestial''s treasure before and are now up against a former celestial¡­ who knows what else we''ll see." Lady Kang replied.


    "Indeed." Monk Hushu nodded.


    Even if it was an array that was hidden with high ranking illusion, Lin Mu would''ve still sensed it with his Spatial Perception. They could hide the Qi itself, but they wouldn''t be able to hide its movement against the background of the Spatial Fabric itself.


    But then Lin Mu thought of the Icicle that Mei Nienzhen had dropped. ''It managed to enter the water but didn''t melt. Is this restriction only limited to this area?'' he wondered and went out to check.


    He walked back towards the direction of the ship, but just after twenty meters or so he felt his leg sinking into the water.


    "Huh¡­ The restriction tapers into the water¡­" He touched it and felt that the tapering was very smooth and curved perfectly. "A dome? Or perhaps a sphere?" upon observing this, Lin Mu was also sure that this was definitely a barrier of some kind.


    ''Since we can''t fly here and I can''t enter it, I should just take a look underwater.'' Deciding on this, Lin Mu sent a message to the others on the ship. "I''ll swim down to check. But it seems like this is indeed a barrier of some kind." "Alright, be careful." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied but then paused. "Hang on, Bi Shu wants to send you something." He added quickly.


    "Okay, send it." Lin Mu watched as the man dropped something into the water.


    ~SPLASH~


    The object automatically moved towards Lin Mu and when it came close, it turned out to be a puppet that was in the shape of a fish.


    "I guess this''ll help others see it all too." Lin Mu spoke to the puppet, knowing that they could hear it. In response, the fish puppet actually nodded.


    "Alright, let''s dive in." Lin Mu jumped off the edge and sunk straight down into the water.


    Even with his body weight being offset by his Qi, he was quite heavy so he sunk down like a rock.


    His speed was sinking was matched by the fish puppet who swam very efficiently. The water was light at first, but after twenty meters it turned rather dark, disabling the use of eyesight. Lin Mu had to rely on his Immortal Sense as well as his Spatial Perception to sense everything.


    He could sense several Aquatic beasts that were present in the area, and they seemed to be passing through the invisible barrier with no issues. ''Does it only reject certain things?'' Lin Mu wondered before looking at the fish puppet. "Try going through there. See if it stops you." He asked.


    The fish nodded and did as told.


    ~THUD~


    And sure enough, the fish bumped against the inviable barrier and was stopped.


    "Huh¡­ so it allows immortal sense, but does not allow immortal tools or cultivators themselves." Lin Mu stroked his chin as he thought about something else. "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, I got something for you two to try." He quickly called out the twins wondering if the restriction didn''t apply to beasts.


    Lin Mu had confidence in the strength of the twins and knew that they''d be able to defend themselves against pretty much everything there.


    ~Bubble~ bubble~


    The twins hissed like usual, but only created some bubbles instead of this sound. Realizing that they were inside water this time, the two were a bit confused. "I want you two to see if you can enter that area. It has a barrier there." Lin Mu requested.


    "We can do that." The two replied in unison before turning to head there.


    And sure enough, the two passed through it as if there was nothing there.


    "There''s no problem." Xiao Yang replied. "Yeah, the water here is a bit colder, but nothing different from that." Xiao Yin replied.


    Lin Mu furrowed his brows and was even more confused now.


    "Anything particr you two can sense here?" Lin Mu asked, hoping that their beastly senses might be better at this.


    While the two weren''t aquatic beasts, the were quite high up in the hierarchy of beasts, so it should still be possible for them.


    "We''ll take a look around," Xiao Yin said as the two siblings went further in.


    Their slender bodies were seemingly perfect for swimming and they moved like torpedoes through the water. Lin Mu waited for about thirty minutes as the twins surveyed the area.


    And when they finally returned, Lin Mu saw them to be covered in some dark substance that looked like mud.


    "Are you two okay?" Lin Mu was concerned. "What''s that on you?"


    "Oh, some fish tried to attack us, so we killed it." Xiao Yang replied.


    "It had very sticky slime on it. It''s still stuck to us." Xiao Yin exined. "I see, and what did you find?" he asked.


    "The water gets colder the further down we went bing freezing cold, but after a while it bes normal temperature again. But we saw a structure down there¡­ looks like old ruins." Xiao Yang revealed.


    "So there really is something there." Lin Mu raised his brows. "Though, entering it seems only possible for beasts." He wondered if this was a limitation put to prevent anyone from getting what was hidden there.


    "We also saw a lot of beasts living there. All ocean beasts, but there''s also a lot of nts. Some of them even glow." Xiao Yin added. "They''re covering all the structures so its hard to see them."


    ''Considering we don''t see the light here, it must really be too far deep. And if it gets colder down there, its it be why Mei Nienzhen''s icicle didn''t melt.'' Lin Mu reckoned. "Anything particr like a symbol or writing you saw on it?" he asked next.


    "Most of it is too damaged to see or covered with nts. But we did see a broken statue there." Xiao Yang answered. "It looked like a man with scales on his skin and was holding a broken spear." "A man with scales?" Lin Mu wondered what kind of ruins were down there. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Antean¡­ They''re Antean Ruins." Xukong suddenly awoke.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2512 Atleanteans

    Chapter 2512 Atleanteans


    "Antean?" The name was something that Lin Mu didn''t particrly recognize. "What are those?" he asked.


    "It''s not surprising you haven''t heard about them before, they aren''t a race that like to make themselves known." Xukong replied. "But to answer you, they are a sea dwelling race of humans." "They''re humans?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "So that statue that the twins saw was that of an Antean?" he asked.


    "Indeed." Xukong replied. "But aren''t there other races that have simr characteristics too? Like the Merpeople and fishkin?" Lin Mu asked in doubt. "There are, but they won''t match this since I''m not basing it on just their appearance, but rather the barrier in front of you." Xukong replied. "You know about the barrier?" Lin Mu raised his brows. "Is it a formation or what?" "That barrier is perhaps one of the greatest works of the Antean Race. Its their Mystic Antean Domain." Xukong revealed. "And no, it''s not a formation. You can think of it as a ''property'' of a material." He added.


    "A property? So something like the maic force of a lodestone?" Lin Mu began to understand what Xukong was talking about.


    "Indeed. Just as how a Lodestone possesses maism, the Mystic Antean Domain is the property of Antean Neptunium. Its a special mineral that was created by the forefathers of the Antean a long item ago as a means to provide them a safe haven." Xukong exined. "The ''barrier'' created by it is special such that it prevents humans and humanoid cultivators from getting through it as well as anything they might be associated with it. It also doesn''t actually stop Qi so it serves as a good way of hiding their settlements.


    It allows the passage of water, and beasts through it along with other inanimate objects. Whenbined with some tools it can also create illusions that can further hide their presence, and as such even if ships and other people pass by it, they won''t sense it." He added.


    "That is very powerful." Lin Mu could see the benefits of such a material. "But there seems to be some mismatches here. There is no illusion here." He added.


    "That might be for now, but there was definitely an illusion hiding it long ago." Xukong replied. "It''s likely that the Antean Neptunium is running out of energy as such other functions of the tool are failing. If not for that, this ce should have been discovered in the past." He exined.


    "Hmm¡­ that does make sense." Lin Mu thought about it. "How long do you think this ce has been here?" he questioned.


    "Considering the fact that there have been no records of Anteans living in the Rust Sky World, they must have always lived in secrecy or at the very least, did until they were wiped out somehow. It might have been during the warring period of the Rust Sky World or even before that." Xukong answered.


    Lin Mu nodded his head as that seemed correct. He had read about the history of the Rust Sky World andbining that with what he had learned from the Haima Tribe, it was clear that basically no one knew of the Anteans or at the very least there was no one left anymore that knew about it.


    There might have been records hidden in some ces or lost, but Lin Mu didn''t have much hope of someone finding them. Though the presence of Anteans didn''t seem that far fetched if one considered that fact that the Misty Sea World which was one of the worlds located near the Rust Sky World was primarily dominated by Aquatic races.


    Lin Mu knew of a lot of Merpeople that lived there along with tens of Aquatic races that were quite diverse in addition to of course the beasts who were the true rulers of the world. The humans that lived there were tiny fraction of it all and lived on the small inds that were barely present in the world.


    ''If there are Merpeople living there, perhaps Anteans might be living there too.'' Lin Mu reckoned.


    But before he could think more about that, he needed to focus on the task at hand.


    "How do we get past this barrier, Senior?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "For you it''s simple. Your Spatial Skills aren''t inhibited by it. But for others, it''ll be a bit difficult." Xukong answered. "The straightforward method is to simply break this barrier, which should be possible with the power of everyone but we don''t know what its containing. There are definitely defensive measures that would activate when you try that." He added.


    "What else can we do than that?" Lin Mu didn''t want to take the risk of damaging anything inside, or worse creating arge enoughmotion that Yao Changying might find out about it. ''She might also sense the Soul Fragment somehow.'' He thought.


    "You will have to fool the barrier." Xukong spoke. "You will have to make it think that those passing through it are beasts."


    "Hmm¡­ So mask their aura and imprint it with a beast''s aura." Lin Mu quickly began to think. "Would beast bloodlines work?"


    "Those that have already assimted the bloodline might be able to get thorough if they can release the aura as densely as possible. As for those without it, you might need a concentrated souse of aura so the Bloodline Crystal might just work." Xukong proposed.


    "I guess we can try that." Lin Mu decided to go back to the ship. "You two aren''ting?" he saw that the twins weren''t following him.


    "We''ll check the area more, it doesn''t seem like there''s much danger there." Xiao Yin replied. "The other beasts are also living there just fine." "Yeah, we might find something more." Xiao Yang agreed.


    "It should be fine." Xukong agreed as well. "The Anteans aren''t as wary about the beasts so the barrier won''t do anything to them and since the other beasts are fine there, it means that the defenses there don''t target beasts either." He added.


    "Very well, but be careful and inform me if you find anything." Lin Mu permitted them.


    "Yes!" the twins said before darting back into the direction of the ruins.


    Lin Mu on the other hand began swimming back up while the fish swam beside him.


    The people on the ship already knew that he wasing up, but didn''t know what he had discovered. After all, the fish couldn''t hear the conversation between Lin Mu, the twins and Xukong.


    ~SPLASH~


    Lin Mu jumped out of the water and flew up,nding on the deck of the ship.


    "I reckon you found something?" Crown Prince Feng Shun inquired.


    "I sure did." Lin Mu replied. "You''ll be surprised." He said before telling them about it all.


    After they finished listening to it most of them them were certainly surprised with only a couple of them being fine. One of them was Ziran while the other was Lady Kang.


    "To think Anteans would have a settlement in the Rust Sky World too." Ziran spoke. "I thought they avoided this region of the Immortal Realm." He added. "Indeed, after thest rebellion I think they totally avoided the Western Immortal Court." Lady Kang nodded as well.


    "What happened?" Lin Mu and the others were curious.


    "The Anteans are primarily a reclusive race but there are always a few among them that wish to spread their influence." Ziran answered. "And while they might seem weak to hide all the time, but they are actually very strong. A majority of them are born with strong bodies and have the highest affinity to Water element. And unlike the other Aquatic races such as the Merpeople they aren''t actually weak onnd. They can live onnd the same way as they can in the sea. Just imagine what the human cultivators would do if they had the same capability they do onnd in water." He exined. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu became intrigued by it as it was certainly an interesting case.


    "Most worlds with humans are limited to thend since the oceans are far too dangerous with the aquatic beasts." Someone spoke.


    "Yeah, they always outnumber us and going to the ocean is dangerous in most ces. Especially the depths of it." Another person added it.


    "If humans had the capabilities, we would have already conquered the oceans." Lady Kang stated. "But the Anteans are really capable of it." She added.


    "Indeed, and it has caused them to have several conflicts in the past." Ziran informed. "A few ambitious leaders among them caused arge scale rebellion against the ruling powers of multiple worlds.


    The Western Immortal Court''s region was the worst affected and the resultant war led to the wipe out of all the Anteans. Now the only ones left are those in the Northern, Southern and Eastern Immortal Court and they almost always stay hidden." He revealed.


    "No wonder we didn''t know about them here."


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2513 Diving In

    Chapter 2513 Diving In


    Now that they knew what they were up against, Lin Mu and hispanions needed to ovee it.


    "So how do we get past the barrier?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.


    "Those who have Beast Bloodlines don''t need to do much other than stimte their bloodline aura, but the others will need some external help." Lin Mu said before exining the method that Xukong had suggested to him.


    "Hmm¡­ Using Bloodline Crystals to generate an aura of beasts. That should be easy to set up." Daoist Chu replied. "Though, do we have enough of those?" he wondered.


    Lin Mu also wondered the same as he had none of them left, having consumed all of them when saving Lady Kang. "I have a couple!" Someone in the group said.


    "I have one too!" One by one all those that had them came forward, willing to contribute them.


    "Let''s see, we have about eight bloodline crystals now." Crown Prince Feng Shun checked them. From the eight, six were low tier immortal beast bloodline crystal while other were mid tier. "This might not be enough." Daoist Chu said, as he made some calctions. "Excluding the seven people with beast bloodlines among us, the eight bloodline crystals will only be enough to generate enough aura for about forty to fifty people." "We could always hunt beasts to make fresh ones." Lady Kang suggested. "Since we just need quantity and not quality, even weak beasts would be enough, since the extraction and refinement would be easier." Lin Mu''s eyes lit up hearing that, as it was the perfect solution for their issue.


    "Yes! That sounds great." Lin Mu could easily refine them.


    "Very well, let''s go fish!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he leaped off.


    The others spread up as well and quickly began to hunt for any weak aquatic beast they could find. With thebined manpower of a hundred immortals, this process was very fast and within thirty minutes they had gathered more than enough beasts.


    "This might just be enough for us to eatter too." Mei Nienzhen said seeing the thousands of fish they had caught with over half of them being caught by the Crown Prince who had simply electrocuted the water and let the corpses float up.


    With that done, Lin Mu quickly began the refinement process. He used several of the cauldrons he had lying in his storage as well as others that were provided by Lady Kang and Crown Princess Shang.


    He didn''t have to work alone either, as there were more than enough cultivators within the group that could do refinement of Bloodline Crystal of at least a lower quality. Lin Mu, Crown Princess Shang, and about ten other people helped them refine as multiple cauldrons were activated.


    A bloody scent filled the ship as well as the area around it as corpses after corpses of ocean beasts were piled into the cauldrons and began being heated.


    A few hourster, several new Bloodline Crystals were produced.


    The rest of the work was handled by Daoist Chu, who had set up a formation array to utilize the Bloodline Crystals to generate beast aura. The process was rather simple since all one needed to do was to stimte the bloodline essence crystal in a basic crude manner with some Qi and they would release their beast aura.


    But just releasing this aura wasn''t enough, as it would be a temporary thing. Even if they allowed others to bathe in it, the aura would quickly fade away in the air or be washed out in the water.


    As such, it needed to be contained in such a way that a steady release of it coated the body.


    For this, Daoist Chu and Lin Mu made modified Aura Sealing Talisman andbined them with a Qi Vessel Formation.


    The Aura Sealing Talismans were meant to prevent one''s aura from leaking out and were a type of Stealth oriented Talismans. Butbining that with a Qi Vessel Formation, which could contain energies, meant that one could create a steadyyer of Beast Aura around them that won''t leak as fast.


    "Alright everyone that doesn''t have a beast bloodline take two talismans each!" Daoist Chu announced. "Also, for those that don''t have specific defensive skills to withstand the water pressure, please take some defensive talismans from Lady Kang!" He added.


    While most of the people in the group had decent cultivation, it didn''t mean that their bodies were also strong. Even for those like Crown Prince Feng Shun, Crown Princess Shang and several others, withstanding the water pressure would only be possible with their own skills.


    Not everyone might have skills that could withstand the water pressure for extended periods of time, thus it was better to have defensive talismans for it. Plus some defensive skills might also reduce their mobility, which would already be reduced underwater, thus they needed enough energy to spare for other things.


    Only those like Lin Mu who had body cultivation or those with Beast Bloodlines might be able to withstand it just with their body strength alone.


    By the time night rolled in, everyone was ready.


    "Everyone follow me!" Lin Mu said as he dived straight in.


    ~SPLASH~


    ~SPLASH~~SPLASH~~SPLASH~~SPLASH~~SPLASH~


    Everyone jumped after and began to sink into the water. They already had the defensive talismans active, but the modified Aura sealing talisman was left for thest moment.


    Since it was already night, it was dark right from the surface of the water, thus everyone relied on their Immortal Sense to orient themselves. About five minutester, they reached the point where Lin Mu had previously been.


    There two snakes were waiting for their arrival.


    "Master, we''ve surveyed the entire ce as much as we could." Xiao Yin spoke first. "There''s a lot to see, though most of the ce is empty other than a few buildings." Xiao Yang spoke next. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "Guide us there." Lin Mu said as he looked at the barrier and passed through it. ''Phase.''


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2514 Amazing Ruins

    Chapter 2514 Amazing Ruins


    Once Lin Mu was safely through the Mystic Antean Domain Barrier, the others felt less anxious.


    A man whom Lin Mu recognized to be Dian Bei took the initiative. He was one of the past members of the expedition to the Bridge ne and had benefited quite a lot from it. In fact, it was the very benefit of that expedition that was allowing him to get through the barrier right now.


    ~HUALA~


    The man''s eyes widened as a stern expression appeared on his face. A strong aura poured out of his skin and surrounded him.


    If one looked carefully they would be able to see the vague figure of arge monkey behind him. It had two muscr arms that looked like they could rip apart entire tree trunks and legs that were equally as strong.


    Its tail though was unique, splitting into five parts that acted like another hand. ''That should be the Hand Tailed Monkey.'' Lin Mu recognized the bloodline figure.


    It was a decent rank beast and its bloodline was quite valuable too. Its bloodline ability not only boosted one''s strength but also allowed one to create a fifth limb just like the tail that the Hand Tailed Monkey had.


    This allowed one to wield another weapon with the same proficiency as their dominant limb, potentially boosting theirbat abilities.


    ~WOONG~


    Lin Mu watched as the man carefully ced his hand on the barrier, and easily passed through it.


    Giving him an approving look, Lin Mu held his hand and quickly pulled him in.


    ~HUALA~HUALA~HUALA~


    Seeing that bloodline aura worked, the six other cultivators with beast bloodlines also did the same and easily managed to pass through the barrier.


    With that done, those with the Aura Sealing Talisman were next. They had kept the activation of the talisman for thest moment since they didn''t know how long they might need to keep it active.


    It was also why they all had two talismans each, with one extra as a backup.


    ~SHUA~


    Crown Prince Feng Shun took the lead this time and activated the talisman on his chest. As soon as he did, a red aura poured out from the talisman and coated his body in a glowingyer.


    It was like a skin tight suit, that was unaffected by the water or movement of the user.


    Seeing that the Talisman was working well, Crown Prince Feng Shun passed through the barrier as well.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The rest of the people also came in soon, and no one had any issues.


    Lin Mu then held up hismunication jade slip so that everyone could see it.


    The others did the same in a practiced manner and began to converse. After all in the water they were limited in their means of conversation. Amunication jade slip was the easiest method of doing it with full rity.


    "The ruins below have been surveyed already, follow behind the two serpents you can see and be prepared for any attacks. This ce is full of aquatic beasts." Lin Mu informed everyone.


    "Daoist Lin Mu will be in the front and I''ll be in the back keeping a watch. Daoist Chu and Monk Hushu will be on the left while Lady Kang and her attendants will be on the left." Crown Prince Feng Shun gave out orders for the formation they were to keep.


    Their maneuverability was limited within the ocean, thus it was better for them to keep close so that they could help each other when needed. This content is ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, lead us." Lin Mu asked and the twins nodded.


    ~WOOSH~


    The twins moved through the water with ease, as Lin Mu followed after them along with the others. They were moving diagonally, going downwards as the ruins were still quite deep.


    It took them an entire fifteen minutes before the ruins became ''visible'' to their immortal senses.


    The entire scale of the ruins was quite big, spreading in an area of at least twenty five kilometer or more from what the twins had informed Lin Mu. It was more than twice as big as the limits of his immortal sense and several times bigger for the others who had limited ranges.


    "I''ll illuminate it." Daoist Chu said as he threw out a small marble.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The marble flew forward and began to fall. Halfway through it though, a small spark appeared within it before quickly turning as bright as the sun!


    The ruins hidden in the dark depths of the ocean were revealed and became visible to everyone.


    ''Whoa!'' was a thought echoed by everyone present.


    Below them was a vast expanse of ruins that seemingly stood upon an underwater teau.


    Time and water had carved their relentless marks upon the stone, leaving the once-grand arches and towering columns crumbled and encased in barnacles and coral. Faint traces of golden inscriptions shimmered on the walls being reflected by the illuminating pearl, speaking of an age when the city was alive rather than dead in obscurity. Massive stone statues stood broken yet resolute, their stony eyes filled with an eerie green light from bioluminescent algae that clung to every surface.


    An intricatebyrinth of streets and grand halls stretched out beneath the silt, where the cobblestones were buried deep inyers of sand and the wreckage of ancient vehicles. Strange, ethereal nts wove through the ruins, their fronds glowing softly in hues of blue and violet, illuminating fragments of mosaics and murals that could barely be made out now. Everyone was silent as the marveled as the majestic ce. Only by the faint rush of underwater currents and the soft sounds of marine beasts who had made the ruins their home seemed to bring them out of their momentary stupor.


    ''That should be the statue of the Antean that the twins were describing.'' Lin Mu quickly spotted a particr statue that towered over them all.


    It had a muscr body that was covered in scales and two rows of gills present on its neck. In one of the hands it held a broken spear shaft, with its head missing.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2515 God Of Water

    Chapter 2515 God Of Water


    Looking at the statue, Lin Mu could faint feel a hidden aura. It almost seemed real, but he knew it was just a remnant of times long gone.


    "So that''s an Antean." Lin Mu said in his mind.


    "Indeed. A very strong race but often a prey to its own ws." Xukong replied. "The rebellion?" Lin Mu asked remembering what Ziran had said.


    "Yes¡­ one of the many." Xukong answered. This content is ? N?velDrama.Org.


    "That wasn''t only one?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "Of course not. Their race has them every era. They tend to keep to themselves but their power makes a few ambitious individuals among them wish for more. This eventually spreads out to the others in their settlements and those with like minds band together.


    It also doesn''t help that the few interactions they have with humans isn''t usually good and they have long standing prejudices against them. In fact, it was one of the reasons why they originally retreated to the depths of the oceans.


    A faction of them thinks of the humans as an inferior race and wishes for the dominance of the Anteans. There has been over a hundred rebellions that I''ve seen in my time." Xukong exined making Lin Mu rather surprised.


    "I didn''t expect that¡­" Lin Mu was surprised that there could be so many problems with them.


    "Though the most recent one was certainly the one of the most deadly for them and brought them a lot of losses. It was bad enough that the Immortal Court has them on high priority in case an Antean is seen anywhere.


    Other than the rare few that have permission from the Immortal Court, all others will be monitored closely." Xukong revealed.


    "Are there any among them that tried to mend the situation?" Lin Mu didn''t think that there were only two thought schools among them of seclusion and dominance.


    "There have been yes, but they were almost always the minority. Thest time they managed to do anything significant was a very long time ago even for me. Besides they usually don''t operate outside their oceans and any contact they have with the rest of the cultivation world is mostly through the other Aquatic races." Xukong stated.


    "So they have good rtions with the Merpeople and more?" Lin Mu inquired.


    "It varies from region to region, but most are either allied or neutral with them. But there''s always conflicts. Though there''s still an hierarchy among the races that live in the oceans with the Anteans usually being at the top of they are present in a region.


    The Merpeoplee closer second or on an equal level with the Fishkin, and other races being far below. Usually only the Aquatic Beast experts can contend or even outperform the Anteans on the same level." Xukong exined further.


    "Hmm¡­ Now that I think of it, they don''t seem that different form just us humans." Lin Mu could see the stark simrities.


    "Of course, they were humans once too." Xukong chuckled.


    "How did they be what they are though?" Lin Mu was curious. "Some technique or treasure?" "There''s several theories to it but most consider it a consequence of multiple factors. There was said to be a great expert in the past who couldmand the Oceans, seas, rivers and rain with a mere flick of his finger.


    This expert took in many people under him as his followers and was proimed as god.


    It is said that it was under his guidance that his followers eventually became Anteans." Xukong exined.


    "Who was that expert?" Lin Mu wondered.


    "He was called as Neptune, the God of Water." Xukong stated making Lin Mu tremble lightly.


    Lin Mu felt a strange pressure on his mind and a faint image flickered in front of him. It was that of a bearded elderly man whose bod yaws full of muscles. Dark hair hung from his head while a sea green mantle adorned his body. A mighty storm raged around him but he stood staunch with waves crashing everywhere. He held a fierce trident in his right hand, while with his left hand he held reins of the best he stood upon.


    It was that of a horse with two legs and the lower body of a dolphin!


    Seeing that beast Lin Mu recognized it almost immediately.


    ''The Hippocampus?!'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    ~SHUA~


    But just a momentter the image in his mind faded away and a faint headache reced it.


    "Ugh¡­" Lin Mu held his head. "Was that¡­ A effect of Karma?" he was surprised.


    "Oh? You actually felt it?" Xukong was a bit surprised. "I didn''t expect Neptune''s Karma to still affect anyone¡­ it''s been far too long since he''s died." He added.


    "It wasn''t as bad asst time." Lin Mu still remembered the heavy pressure he had felt from the Chimeric Fiend God''s Karma and the image that he had seen of him. ''Lin Mo had stepped in to stop it back then but this time there was no need.'' He thought.


    "That''s good. Just the fact that its still intact shows that his connection was quite strong here. The Anteans who lived here must have had staunch faith in him." Xukong replied as he nced at the ruins through Lin Mu''s memories.


    "Now we need to see why the Withered Spirit Daoist''s Soul Fragment was sealed here. Did the Anteans do it too?" Lin Mu couldn''t help but question. He turned back to look and saw that everyone had reached him so he continued onwards along with the Twin''s guidance.


    They brought him downwards towards a lone building that stood near the center of the city. It was barely a few hundred meters from therge statue he had seen and it was also the building that looked to be the best ''maintained''.


    It had tens of golden arches extending from its center like branches, at the end of which stood smaller towers that were shaped like tridents themselves.


    But the most eye catching was the glowing figures of Anteans that seemingly stood guard at its entrance!


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2516 Mei Nienzhens Power

    Chapter 2516 Mei Nienzhen''s Power


    "Whoa! What are those?" Dian Bei asked through themunication jade slip.


    "Are those people?" Another person questioned.


    "Those should be Anteans¡­ But they''re not alive¡­" Ziran spoke, narrowing his eyes.


    He activated his Eyes of Underdark to get a better look and saw that the figures they were seeing were indeed not alive.


    "Those are illusory figures." Lin Mu informed everyone. "Probably part of a formation array." He added.


    "Yeah, I can sense it too now." Daoist Chu said while his immortal sense probed the area.


    "Careful, it might be a defensive measure." Monk Hushu warned.


    "It definitely is." Elder Hu stated. "They don''t seem to be there to just be showpieces." The elder pointed at the figures that were now looking at them.


    ~GURGLE~


    And sure enough a momentter, the Antean figures all rushed towards the group!


    Lin Mu and the other leaders felt the killing intent, bing alert.


    "Prepare to fight!" Crown Prince Feng Shun sent out the order. T¨ºxt ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ~DENG~


    The first to sh was Lin Mu as he drew out both his swords and met the tridents of the illusory Anteans. ''They''re strong.'' Lin Mu could feel a strength that was at least equal to the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm from the two figures.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    But that was merely the start as more figures began pouring out from the building. Two became ten, ten became hundred and hundred became a thousand!


    Lin Mu and the others were quickly surrounded!


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang did you two not see them before?" Lin Mu asked as he fought back.


    ~HISS~


    The twins were also in the middle of fighting as they tore through the illusory bodies of the Anteans that were trying to attack Lin Mu from the back.


    "No, they weren''t here before." Xiao Yin replied.


    "There was nothing here before other than the building." Xiao Yang replied.


    "They must have appeared due to us triggering something." Lin Mu quickly guessed and conveyed this to the others.


    ~CLANG~


    Four Antean figures assaulted him and stabbed their tridents towards him, a strong current of water apanying each of them.But they were all met by Lin Mu''s swords as they flew on their own in the water.


    Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang also fought the other figures that were trying to stop Lin Mu and ripped them apart.


    ~SHAU~SHUA~SHUA~


    "Huh, they''re reforming!?" Lin Mu noticed that the damage done to the Antean figures was being fixed rapidly. "This is gonna be tough." A full blown conflict broke out as Lin Mu and hispanions battled the Anteans figures.


    Crown Prince who usually would have been a leading figure in the fight was forced to hold back most of his power, being limited to only using his wind elemental skills. If he used his lightning skills, there was a great chance others would get electrocuted by it.


    They had already discussed this beforehand as part of the difficulties they would face underwater. The same was the case for others that fought using fire elemental skills, as they would be highly restricted by the water around them. On the other hand, those with Wood and Water elemental Skills were empowered as they could simply benefit from the environment.


    There was a rich presence of water elemental immortal Qi in the water thus several cultivators among them like Min Ju were able to freely use their skills without worrying about the expenditure of energy.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    But there was one among them that stood out the most.


    An bone chilling cold could be felt by everyoneing from a white haired girl.


    Mei Nienzhen distanced herself from others as much as she could without breaking the formation as she made a hand seal.


    Her eyes gleamed in an iridescent light while her lips moved wordlessly.


    "Entombment Freeze." She soundlessly spoke as she spread her hands.


    ~WOOOO~


    An icy white energy exploded out covering the area within seconds. The illusory Antean figures were covered in it and frozen solid. A few of the members of the mission were also affected unfortunately and had a limb or two frozen.


    But the effect on them wasn''t as bad as the Antean figures as Mei Nienzhen had controller her power as much as she could.


    Sensing those who had been caught as coteral damage, Mei Nienzhen made a pulling gesture and released them from the ice.


    This only left the Antean figures frozen, and the fight hade abruptly to an end.


    "That was unexpected¡­" Everyone looked at the white haired girl finding it quite surprising. ''She''s definitely grown stronger.'' Lin Mu could tell from the power of the skill she had used. But he didn''t linger on it long as he knew the situation needed to be addressed.


    "The illusory figures are powered by an array and won''t end unless we stop the array first. We need to break that first." Lin Mu informed everyone.


    "I''ll hold them here, and anymore thate,." Mei Nienzhen spoke. Her power was certainly holding the superiority here due to her dominion over the Ice element. Even the Water elemental cultivators would be hard pressed to go against her right now.


    "Thank you, Daoist Nienzhen." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "We''ll quickly find them. Everyone split up in groups of five each!" Going along would be far to dangerous thus it was better to stay in groups.


    They did as told and used their immortal senses to find the nodes of the array.


    "I found one!" the first one to find it was Daoist Chu. "Destroy the pearls that are embedded in the walls!" he informed everyone.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    Once that was known, it didn''t take long for everyone to find them.


    ~SHUA~


    Twenty minutes was all it took for them to destroy all of them and Lin Mu checked to see if any were left but once the illusory figures disappeared, it was basically confirmed that the array had been stopped.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2517 The Scared Aquatic Beasts

    Chapter 2517 The Scared Aquatic Beasts


    ~SHUA~


    Once the Illusory figures of the Anteans had disappeared, therge ice ''tomb'' that Mei Nienzhen had created was also dispersed. The ice melted away and the water started to glow in the area again.


    But the water was now iparably colder than before. The aftermath of their battle had also scared away a lot of the Aquatic beasts that were living in the ruins of the Antean City. A few might have been caught in its crossfire but the rest that were far away retreated to the outer rim of the city.


    Though a few intelligent ones among them were still hiding and watching everything that was happening. After all, to them the new ''creatures'' that hade to the the city weren''t exactly seen by them before. Thus they were quite curious about them.


    "Who are those beasts?" A Red Snapper fish beast asked the other fish beast that was hiding nearby in beast tongue.


    "How would I know? I''ve never even gone out of the area before." A Sardine fish beast replied.


    "Hmm¡­ Two upper limbs and two lower limbs. Those strange scales of theirs that are loose and flop around along with those ''weapons'' those must be humans." An Octopus beast that looked rather old stated.


    "Humans? Those are really humans?" a small crab asked as bubbles blew out of its mouth.


    "They should be." The Octopus confirmed. "They do look like the old masters of the city but don''t have the same kind of scales." He said pointing to therge statue of the Antean. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "But how did they defeat those protectors? Thest time a the Swordfish King tried it, he was killed in seconds." Arge lobster wondered.


    "They''re clearly very strong. Some of them are even stronger than the beast kings here." A blue squid beast said spreading its tentacles and using it to sense the energy in water. "Those two in particr are very strong." The squid said pointing at Crown Prince Feng Shun and Mei Nienzhen.


    "I get the white human but why the other one? He didn''t do much." An Isopod beast questioned.


    "I can feel a faint power simr to the Eel Emperor from him. The power of lightning!" The squid answered.


    "What!? Doesn''t that mean he can kill everything here alone?" the aquatic beasts were shocked.


    "Its his kin that is stopping him from using it perhaps." The Octopus beast guessed. "What about those two serpents?" a fat sun fish asked.


    The other beasts had also seen the pair of serpents appearing in the city. While there were certainly Sea Serpents living in the city, this was the first time they were seeing such strange ones. "I have no idea. But those two are terrifying!" A turtle stated. He seemed to have hole in its shell. The wound looked to be rather fresh, having been made very recently.


    "Wait, they are the ones that attacked you?" The octopus beast asked.


    "Yeah, that ck serpent tore through my tough shell like it was kelp!" The turtle said in a terrified voice. "Their aura is also fearsome. I feel like I''m facing Beast emperors when they were attacking others."


    "How are you alive then?" a crab asked.


    "Because they weren''t attacking me. I was sleeping in a hole on the coral shelf when they tore right through it and me!" The Turtle said feeling wronged.


    This scared the other aquatic beasts a lot as they all knew how strong the turtle''s shell was. They couldn''t help but ce themselves in his ce and shiver. After all, the Turtle was only alive because it was long lived and had a lot of vitality. But if they were pierced through like this, they would have likely just died.


    "They''re apanying the humans, so are they the serpent''s ves?" The sardine wondered.


    "Perhaps¡­" The Octopus muttered.


    The beasts continued to watch on from a distance as Lin Mu and hispanions finished the surveying of the building.


    "We''ve finished, there''s no more offensive arrays left here." Daoist Chu stated.


    "That''s good¡­ Though I would''ve expected there to be more of them." Lin Mu replied. "The illusory Anteans were strong but just them alone wouldn''t have been enough for a ce this size." He added.


    The illusory Anteans would regenerate nonstop such that even if they had found out about the pearls being the nodes, they would have been unable to reach them in time. It was Mei Nienzhen holding them in ce that allowed them to destroy the array finally.


    But this still left some w in the security as it meant thatrge scale restrictive skills were effective against them. Lin Mu didn''t think that the strong Anteans would keep a w like this.


    "There were probably more formations, and offensive arrays but they seem to have weathered away after all this time." Ziran said seeing some of the writing on the walls. "I can barely read some of these and they were definitely runes but they''re written in their native script." He added.


    "You can actually read them?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Barely. Some of their script shares simrities with the script of the Merpeople so they can be read. These are definitely the runes for it." Ziran confirmed.


    "Looks like time has made some things easier for us." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with relief.


    "Not yet, we still need to enter it. Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang weren''t able to go in before so we have no idea what''s hiding in there." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes, we should be careful." Lady Kang agreed.


    "Let''s go in." Lin Mu said and finally entered through therge archway.


    This was actually one of the sixteen entrances that were present around the building, but only handful of them were still intact with the rest having copsed long ago.


    Upon entering Lin Mu and the group saw a ring shaped hall with several copsed pirs. There were another set of gates there spread in an equal distance.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2518 A Flood Dragon

    Chapter 2518 A Flood Dragon


    "Eight gates¡­ half as before." Lin Mu took note thinking there might be some significance to it.


    ~CREAK~


    Opening the nearest gate, they arrived in arger hall that had a better condition than before. "Whoa¡­ That''s a lot of murals." In there they could see entire walls covered with ancient murals.


    These were also weathered but were in a much better condition than the rest in the city. Lin Mu approached one and observed it.


    They showed the Anteans finding an mountain that was covered in corals. But hidden within the corals a faint figure could be made out.


    The next mural showed the Anteans discovering that the figure was that of arge beast!


    "A Flood Dragon?" Lin Mu recognized its form.


    Flood Dragons were beasts who had evolved from a lower ranked beast that had Dragonic bloodline within them. This was usually fishes or serpents who had managed to strengthen and purify the bloodline eventually reaching the point of bing Flood Dragons.


    They had four ws, with three on front and one on the back along with a singr horn that rose from their forehead. They had great control over water and depending on the body of water they lived in, their strength could vary. A Flood Dragon that lived in a river was iparable to one that lived in a Sea or Ocean. A sea might only have one or two of them, but an Ocean could have tens or even hundreds of them. And the one showed in the mural was massive when Lin Mupared the size of the city.


    ''It''s body must have been at least two kilometers long.'' Lin Mu estimated.


    The mural after that showed a great fight that had broken out between therge beast which easily wiped out half the Anteans in one go. It took a lot of effort and deaths before the Anteans used a golden cage that seemingly restrained the Flood Dragon.


    With the Flood Dragon gone, the mountain had been damage a lot, with its peak having been broken off. The Anteans then construction their city here, turning the mountain into a teau.


    Several murals after that showed the growth of city from a small town to what they were seeing now.


    The murals on the other walls showed the daily life that the people must have had here. Lin Mu saw people going about their daily lives, buying groceries, farming and even cultivating.


    The people in the group watched for a few minutes before they finally decided to move to the next hall.


    This time there were only four gates and they led to a stairwell.


    "Four¡­ they''re decreasing by half each time." Lin Mu wondered why.


    They descended down the stairwell which was illuminate by Glowing Sea Pearls.


    "Damn! How big are these pearls!?" A few among the group were shocked by the fist sized glowing sea pearls. "Each of these can easily be sold for hundred or two hundred High Grade Immortal Stones each." They estimated.


    They felt quite enticed to pry the pearls away, but decided to focus on the mission for now. After all, they didn''t know what would happen if they tried something like this. ces like these often had traps hidden that might get one when they tried to tamper with it.


    "This is going quite deep." Daoist Chu said looking down and being unable to see the end. "We''re already about five hundred meters down." He added.


    "Seems like this might be going straight down the depths of the broken mountain." Lin Mu replied. "If there is a prison to contain a celestial''s Soul Fragment, I''d also hide it in a ce like that." He added.


    "True." Daoist Chu nodded.


    After a while they reached the bottom of the Stairwell which only had two gates.


    "Exactly half of before." Ziran said. "The next hall should only have a single one if the logic is correct." "Maybe." Lin Mu said as he opened the gate and walked out.


    "What the¡­" but once they did, they saw something they had not expected at all.


    Lying in front of them was a huge dark abyss instead of a well constructed hall like before. It was pitch ck and the bottom of it could not be seen. The ce they were standing at also seemed to be a balcony that was attached to the ceiling.


    "I suppose this does give a prison vibe." Crown Prince Feng Shun said, furrowing his brows. "It is also blocking our immortal sense this time." He added.


    "Yeah, there''s an array blocking it." Lin Mu could sense it clearly this time. "I''ll go down first." He said before jumping down.


    He sank down rather quickly and passed through the limits of the array which was only blocking immortal sense and wasn''t actually a barrier. "You cane down too." Lin Mu sent a message, calling the rest seeing that there was no restraint.


    "That array probably stops any Qi fluctuations from going in and out." Daoist Chu analyzed.


    "Yeah¡­" Lin Mu said having a bad feeling. "Can you light up the ce?" he asked.


    "Sure." Daoist Chu threw another pearl which brightly illuminated the abyssal area.


    ~SHUA~ All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    The bright light revealed a rather horrifying figure below them. It towered for at least six hundred meters and was coiled up, on the floor.


    "Is that¡­" A few members of the group took a step back in shock.


    "The Flood Dragon¡­" Lin Mu muttered knowing his hunch was correct. "Is it alive?" Crown Princess Shang questioned.


    Lin Mu observed closely but felt no energy fluctuationsing from it.


    "Xiao Yin, Xiao Yang, can you feel anything?" Lin Mu asked them too.


    "There''s a vague feeling of Bloodline pressure from it but nothing more." Xiao Yin replied.


    "It doesn''t seem to be fully alive." Xiao Yang replied.


    "Perhaps it might be in a dormant sleep. Dragons are known to do that after all." Ziran said. "Unfortunately for us our target is down there¡­" he frowned.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2519 The Scared Aquatic Beasts II

    Chapter 2519 The Scared Aquatic Beasts II


    You can see the fix at novelbin</pre>


    ~SHUA~


    Once the Illusory figures of the Anteans had disappeared, therge ice ''tomb'' that Mei Nienzhen had created was also dispersed. The ice melted away and the water started to glow in the area again.


    But the water was now iparably colder than before. The aftermath of their battle had also scared away a lot of the Aquatic beasts that were living in the ruins of the Antean City. A few might have been caught in its crossfire but the rest that were far away retreated to the outer rim of the city.


    Though a few intelligent ones among them were still hiding and watching everything that was happening. After all, to them the new ''creatures'' that hade to the the city weren''t exactly seen by them before. Thus they were quite curious about them.


    "Who are those beasts?" A Red Snapper fish beast asked the other fish beast that was hiding nearby in beast tongue.


    "How would I know? I''ve never even gone out of the area before." A Sardine fish beast replied.


    "Hmm¡­ Two upper limbs and two lower limbs. Those strange scales of theirs that are loose and flop around along with those ''weapons'' those must be humans." An Octopus beast that looked rather old stated.


    "Humans? Those are really humans?" a small crab asked as bubbles blew out of its mouth.


    "They should be." The Octopus confirmed. "They do look like the old masters of the city but don''t have the same kind of scales." He said pointing to therge statue of the Antean.


    "But how did they defeat those protectors? Thest time a the Swordfish King tried it, he was killed in seconds." Arge lobster wondered.


    "They''re clearly very strong. Some of them are even stronger than the beast kings here." A blue squid beast said spreading its tentacles and using it to sense the energy in water. "Those two in particr are very strong." The squid said pointing at Crown Prince Feng Shun and Mei Nienzhen. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "I get the white human but why the other one? He didn''t do much." An Isopod beast questioned.


    "I can feel a faint power simr to the Eel Emperor from him. The power of lightning!" The squid answered.


    "What!? Doesn''t that mean he can kill everything here alone?" the aquatic beasts were shocked.


    "Its his kin that is stopping him from using it perhaps." The Octopus beast guessed. "What about those two serpents?" a fat sun fish asked.


    The other beasts had also seen the pair of serpents appearing in the city. While there were certainly Sea Serpents living in the city, this was the first time they were seeing such strange ones. "I have no idea. But those two are terrifying!" A turtle stated. He seemed to have hole in its shell. The wound looked to be rather fresh, having been made very recently.


    "Wait, they are the ones that attacked you?" The octopus beast asked.


    "Yeah, that ck serpent tore through my tough shell like it was kelp!" The turtle said in a terrified voice. "Their aura is also fearsome. I feel like I''m facing Beast emperors when they were attacking others."


    "How are you alive then?" a crab asked.


    "Because they weren''t attacking me. I was sleeping in a hole on the coral shelf when they tore right through it and me!" The Turtle said feeling wronged.


    This scared the other aquatic beasts a lot as they all knew how strong the turtle''s shell was. They couldn''t help but ce themselves in his ce and shiver. After all, the Turtle was only alive because it was long lived and had a lot of vitality. But if they were pierced through like this, they would have likely just died.


    "They''re apanying the humans, so are they the serpent''s ves?" The sardine wondered.


    "Perhaps¡­" The Octopus muttered.


    The beasts continued to watch on from a distance as Lin Mu and hispanions finished the surveying of the building.


    "We''ve finished, there''s no more offensive arrays left here." Daoist Chu stated.


    "That''s good¡­ Though I would''ve expected there to be more of them." Lin Mu replied. "The illusory Anteans were strong but just them alone wouldn''t have been enough for a ce this size." He added.


    The illusory Anteans would regenerate nonstop such that even if they had found out about the pearls being the nodes, they would have been unable to reach them in time. It was Mei Nienzhen holding them in ce that allowed them to destroy the array finally.


    But this still left some w in the security as it meant thatrge scale restrictive skills were effective against them. Lin Mu didn''t think that the strong Anteans would keep a w like this.


    "There were probably more formations, and offensive arrays but they seem to have weathered away after all this time." Ziran said seeing some of the writing on the walls. "I can barely read some of these and they were definitely runes but they''re written in their native script." He added.


    "You can actually read them?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "Barely. Some of their script shares simrities with the script of the Merpeople so they can be read. These are definitely the runes for it." Ziran confirmed.


    "Looks like time has made some things easier for us." Crown Prince Feng Shun said with relief.


    "Not yet, we still need to enter it. Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang weren''t able to go in before so we have no idea what''s hiding in there." Lin Mu stated.


    "Yes, we should be careful." Lady Kang agreed.


    "Let''s go in." Lin Mu said and finally entered through therge archway.This content is ? N?velDrama.Org.


    This was actually one of the sixteen entrances that were present around the building, but only handful of them were still intact with the rest having copsed long ago.


    Upon entering Lin Mu and the group saw a ring shaped hall with several copsed pirs. There were another set of gates there spread in an equal distance.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2520 An Old Dragon

    Chapter 2520 An Old Dragon


    "Fuck." Lin Mu uttered, a few bubbles escaping his mouth. This content is ? N?velDrama.Org.


    One of the worse case scenario they had been thinking of had just happened.


    Not wanting to lose control over the situation though, Lin Mu calmed himself chanting the sutra in his mind. He quickly assessed the surroundings and realized that hispanions werepletely unaware of the Flood Dragon''s awakening.


    ''Was it only I that heard it?'' Lin Mu wondered.


    His immortal sense was already kept spread and the golden cage with the Soul Fragment was mere inches away from him. But even if he wished to quickly take it, he felt a hunch that if he got any closer, he would be attacked immediately.


    And while he was confident of surviving, he didn''t know what would happen to the Soul Fragment. It would be one thing if it was destroyed too, as that would work in their favor, but if it managed to escape, it would be really bad.


    They also didn''t know if there were any more measures protecting the golden cage. Wanting to take a gamble, Lin Mu spoke. "Are you awake, Senior?" "Oh? You can actually understand me?" this time he heard the voice again but in a surprised tone.


    "I do." Lin Mu replied. "As for your first question, I am here to take the Soul Fragment." He analyzed the situation and decided to be honest with it.


    "So you know what it is¡­ Which means I can''t let you do it." The Flood Dragon replied, its voice getting harsher. "That thing cannot be freed." He added.


    As soon as Lin Mu heard that though, an idea struck in his mind.


    "Freed? I don''t want to free it." Lin Mu replied quickly making the Flood Dragon confused. "I''m here to destroy it."


    "Hah?" The Flood Dragon was amused hearing it. "What makes you think you are qualified to destroy it? If you know what it is, you should also know even a fallen Celestials power is no joke. It would take over you before you even know it." Lin Mu could sense the mocking tone and knew the Flood Dragon simply considered him as an intruder. He didn''t even know why he was still talking to him and not taking action right away. "I''ve destroyed one before, I can do it again." Lin Mu exined. "If you will let me, I''ll do it." He tried to appeal to the Flood Dragon.


    "How should I believe someone whose walked in here?" the Flood Dragon was not easy to be fooled. "Since you''re here, you must''ve dealt with all the Anteans already. Though it is a bit surprising with your tiny army." He added.


    Hearing this, Lin Mu was a bit confused, but he didn''t miss a major fact here.


    ''He doesn''t know of the time¡­'' he noted.


    Thinking for a couple seconds, Lin Mu formted a way he could use this.


    "Are you guarding this Soul Fragment for the Anteans Senior?" Lin Mu asked first.


    "I am." The Flood Dragon replied.


    "But not voluntarily I assume?" Lin Mu said after having seen the murals.


    "No." The Flood Dragon answered. "After the Anteans restrained me with the golden cage, they imprisoned me here and after a few thousand years, brought the cage again, but this time with a soul fragment as a prisoner.


    They ordered me to guard it from anything that might try to take it and if not they would kill me." The old dragon was more chatty than Lin Mu had expected.


    Perhaps it was because it had been alone for a very long time and had not talked to anyone, it was not holdings back.


    "You don''t have to guard it anymore then, Senior. The Anteans are long gone and any defenses that were left are destroyed now, too." Lin Mu tried to convince the old dragon. "There isn''t anyone to threaten you anymore."


    "Hahaha, if it was only that simple." The Flood Dragonughed. "The Soul Fragment isn''t the only thing that is bound to that Golden Cage. My life is bound to the cage as well. If it is opened, I will die too." He revealed.


    "But you will die anyways Senior. Your longevity is at its end. Even if we leave now, we cane backter to get it." Lin Mu replied, a calcting expression on his face. "And if you fight, you will die as well whether it be by our hands, or due to your vitality draining it won''t matter." He threw a curve ball.


    The Flood Dragon couldn''t help but think about it and found that Lin Mu was right. No matter what he did, his death was something that would being anyways. Seeing that his words were working, Lin Mu decided to go further with his n.


    "What if we can figure out another solution?" Lin Mu asked. "There must be a way to free your life from that golden cage." He added.


    "Hmm¡­ If it was me from past it would have worked; I would''ve managed to hold on for long enough for you to free the restraints. But my vitality is far too low for it to be possible now." The Flood Dragon replied without much care. "Is there no other way?" Lin Mu didn''t wish to have a fight here that would be unfavorable to them all. Even if he and others survived, there were bound to be some casualties, which he would like to avoid.


    "Haha, youth and their ambitions. Unless you can somehow lift my Bloodline limit, there isn''t any other solution." The Flood Dragonughed at his helplessness.


    But for Lin Mu his words were instead the exact thing he wanted.


    "That can be arranged." Lin Mu said with a smile.


    "Do not joke with me, human." The Flood Dragon''s tone got harsh again.


    In response though Lin Mu chanted for a few seconds, as a strange aura surrounded him, silencing the Dragon.


    ~SHUA~


    Soon, a strange sliver of energy hovered above his palm.


    "You¡­ how do you have that?"


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2521 An Oath With The Dragon

    Chapter 2521 An Oath With The Dragon


    Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    The Flood Dragon couldn''t help but be shocked by the energy hovering in Lin Mu''s palm. It was something he was familiar with and something he had too; Beast Qi. But the amount that Lin Mu had was simply shocking.


    The sliver of energy might not be longer than eight inches and an inch thick, but it was condensed from a lot of Beast Qi.


    The normal Beast Qi most beasts were used to was simply in a gaseous form and was highly diluted. Only when they had lived for a long time, would they have gathered enough Beast Qi to turn it into a liquid form. But what was in Lin Mu''s hand was not even liquid but rather solid!


    It might look a bit liquid to the normal eyes, but it was merely its flexibility.


    "I have my means." Lin Mu replied. "If you agree to make a deal with me, I''ll give this to you." He added.


    The Flood Dragon became silent hearing this. The offer was highly tempting to him, but he was still reluctant about it. Having lived for so long, the beast had be distrustful of most people, whether they be other beasts or humans.


    In his past, he had multiple encounters with humans, most of which had not gone well. Not to mention, there were many that had tried hunting him down for materials or his bloodline too. As such, he couldn''t help but be suspicious of it all.


    "Even if you have that, it won''t be enough to push open my bloodline limit." The Flood Dragon stated. "It might bring me close, but it won''t guarantee it." He shook his head.


    ~SHUA~


    In response, Lin Mu simply left his other hand and released another sliver of Beast Qi.


    "Will this be enough? If not, I can provide more." Lin Mu stated.


    The old dragon was left absolutely gobsmacked at how easily Lin Mu was showing the Beast Qi.


    ''Even in my peak I barely had three quarters of this Beast Qi condensed. How does he have so much?'' The Flood Dragon couldn''t even fathom.


    The amount of Beast Qi that Lin Mu was holding in his hands was indeed quite high and was about a hundred times as much Beast Qi that Lin Mu usually gave to his tamed beasts. Of course, the over all amount that he had given his tamed beasts was a lot more, but this was still a major ''dose'' of it.


    It had actually taken around a third of all his immoral Qi stores to make this, thus the quantity was bigger than one might think.


    "I''ll do it!" With such an offer, the Flood Dragon couldn''t help but yield.


    "Good." Lin Mu smiled. "Don''t worry, we''ll make an oath so that none of us loses outter." He added.


    "You know how to make those, too?" The Flood Dragon asked.


    "Yes, we both can make an oath upon our bloodlines, can''t we?" Lin Mu knew that it was the kind of oath that the beasts would take seriously.


    "Oh¡­ so you know more than just talk to beasts." The Flood Dragon was a bit surprised. ''There haven''t been many humans that tried to talk before fighting me.'' The beast thought to itself.


    Most had either been too scared to do that, or were after the Dragon''s materials, thus they ambushed him. The only few individuals that had talked to him in the past were rare and far in between.


    It was one of the reasons why it had strove to get stronger and had reached its peak only to be stopped by its bloodline limit.


    "Let''s make the oath then." Lin Mu said as he held out his hand and sliced it open!


    ~SLICK~


    "I Lin Mu, swear an oath upon my bloodline that I''ll provide you with Beast Qi to lift your bloodline limit and free you from your prison. In exchange, you will grant us the Soul Fragment as well as stay non-violent with us." He stated the terms inly.


    "I, Qiulong Jiao the Flood Dragon of the Jiao teau, swear an oath upon my bloodline that I''ll grant Lin Mu and hispanions safety, will stay non-violent and also provide him the Soul Fragment freely." The Flood Dragon stated while revealing his name.


    ~RUMBLE~


    As soon as the Flood Dragon finished his words, a rumbling could be felt by everyone.


    "What''s happening!?" Crown Princess Shang asked.


    "What is Daoist Lin Mu doing?" Daoist Chu questioned, seeing him suddenly slice his palm.


    They had been unable to hear the conversation between the Flood Dragon and Lin Mu. To them, it only seemed like Lin Mu was standing there, waiting to get the Soul Fragment. They thought that there was some problem that prevented Lin Mu from getting the fragment.


    "Is it the Golden Cage? Is it perhaps stopping him?" Lady Kang wondered.


    ~HUALA~ But before they could question further, the dragon suddenly opened its eyes.


    "The flood dragon!" Ziran pointed at it.


    ~ROAR~


    The Flood Dragon let out a roar that reverberated across the sunken city and a scale on the top of its head glowed.


    It was none other than the Life Scale, and a drop of blood was released from it. The drop of blood came down and merged with the blood from Lin Mu''s palm.


    The two bloods swirled and turned into a runic symbol before splitting into two and merging back into Lin Mu and the Flood Dragon''s body.


    "The oath ispleted." Lin Mu uttered.


    He closed his eyes as he felt the effects of the oath and the Dragon did the same. Though to the dragon, the feeling was a bit strange as a hint of familiarity was mixed in it.


    ''His blood¡­ Why does it have Dragon blood in it too?" the Flood Dragon was confused.


    It sensed the feeling and tried to analyze it. Using its own bloodline, it could resonate with the Dragon Blood within Lin Mu''s blood and found a figure forming within its mind.


    ~ROAR~


    The Flood Dragon found its mind shaking with the roar of a being superior to it. Not only that but even a wave of suppressing spread in its bloodline, as a dominant being appeared!


    "This bloodline¡­ The Azure Dragon!?" The Flood Dragon was stunned. ~ROAR~


    But that was merely the start as one after the other, two more figures rose from the bloodiness.


    The first was that of arge horned bear with a triangr pattern on its fur. It gazed at the Flood Dragon with a fierce expression, as if feeling offended that someone tried to probe it. It was the Great Slumber Bear!


    ~KEWOOOOO~


    The next figure was that of arge ming bird. A burning hot heat that could melt mountains was felt as the proud figure of the Vermillion Bird revealed itself!


    It red at the Flood Dragon and let out a cry, intimidating it back.


    ''How can this be? Not one, but three bloodlines?'' The Flood Dragon was utterly shocked.


    In his shock he didn''t fully get to notice that there was actually a difference in the bloodline figures. The Bloodline figure of the Great Slumber was fully solid, but the figures of the Azure dragon and the Vermillion bird were barely ethereal.


    It was actually the pressureing from the three beasts that hadn''t let the Flood Dragon think properly.


    "UGH!" Not wanting to bear it any further, the Flood Dragon let go of the link and it soon faded away.


    ~HUU~


    This finally allowed it to rx and open its eyes once more as it gazed at Lin Mu.


    Unlike the dragon, Lin Mu waspletely calm and had no idea what it had just been through. ''Looks like he''s a lot more trusting now.'' Lin Mu could tell from the look in the Flood Dragon''srge eyes.


    Of course, he didn''t know that the trust had increased due to something else.


    ''If he has the bloodlines of two guardian beasts, he is definitely not someonemon. Has he been sent here by the temple for the sole purpose of destroying the Soul Fragment?'' The Flood Dragon was well aware of the Four Guardian beasts as well as their temple.


    While the temple mostly dealt with humans and other humanoid races, it didn''t mean that there were no beast patrons.


    In fact, there were some hidden temples that catered to the beasts as they too became their patrons.


    Plus, the stronger beasts that lived in the Rust Sky world were all aware of them due to the bloodline memories they would all have. If not that, some of them might even get contacted by the temple to establish in alliance if not a treaty of neutrality.


    With such a ''backing'', the Flood Dragon Qiulong Jiao was a lot more confident in Lin Mu.


    "How do we do this?" Lin Mu asked the dragon.


    "You will first have to give me half of the Beast Qi, and stimte my bloodline." The Dragon began to exin.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2522 Potential Of The Flood Dragon

    Chapter 2522 Potential Of The Flood Dragon


    Lin Mu listened to the Flood Dragon''s words, understanding the whole process.


    It wasn''t that much different from what he had done for Little Shrubby before. The main caveat was that he needed to make sure that he gave the Flood Dragon enough Beast Qi in the second round when they broke the connection between him and the golden cage.


    The Flood Dragon was particrly worried about this part as he didn''t know how much control Lin Mu had over Beast Qi. It wasn''t something humans were versed in and even for beasts, handling such arge amount was umon.


    As such even if he knew that Lin Mu had strong bloodlines of the guardian beasts within him, the Flood Dragon couldn''t help but be a bit wary about this. It was honestly understandable since the level of control Lin Mu had over Beast Qi was simply unbelievable.


    Other than that, there were other things that worried the Flood Dragon too.


    From what Lin Mu heard, the Golden Cage was one of the greatest treasures of the Anteans and its might was something that could touch upon the level Transcendent Immortal. This was the reason why it had managed to restrain the Flood Dragon as well as keep the Soul Fragment of the Withering Soul Daoist contained.


    But doing the both had also made it weaker on some level as it was strained.


    As such, the interference of a third party was now possible, albeit with great effort.


    And before Lin Mu started, he informed hispanions as well.


    "I''ll have to do things a bit different to get the Soul Fragment." Lin Mu informed the others.


    "Does it have to do with that Flood Dragon?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked, his gaze locked onto the dragon.


    "It hasn''t attacked us so far, so it seems like it might just be that." Ziran said having a hunch.


    "Yes, I''ve mad a deal with the Flood Dragon in exchange for allowing us safety as well as the Soul Fragment." Lin Mu replied. "But I''ll have to help free it first. I want you all to get as far back as possible just to be safe." He warned.


    "We''ll do that." Crown Prince Feng Shun replied. "But don''t hesitate to call for help if things go south." He said without hesitation.


    "I''ll do of course." Lin Mu answered.


    "Be careful Daoist Lin Mu." Lady Kang cautioned him as well. "I''ll set up some precautions just in case as well." She added as faint ster energy could be felt from her.


    Lin Mu simply nodded to her, knowing that she''ll keep others safe as well.


    She was equally as strong as Crown Prince Feng Shun and had a lot more versatile skills, thus Lin Mu had trust in her.


    With everyone informed, they quickly moved back, heading to the walls of therge prison.


    "Let''s begin." Lin Mu said as he released the first sliver of Beast Qi.


    The energy sliver flickered between red and orange as if it were a me as it hovered over Lin Mu''s hand. ~SHUA~


    With the flick of his hand, the Beast Qi shot towards the body of the Flood Dragon and immediately entered it.


    ~HUALA~


    The Flood Dragon felt a rush of energy through its body, as an intense heat spread. "This feeling¡­ I haven''t felt this in a long time." The old dragon couldn''t help but say.


    Still, he didn''t lose focus and guided the Beast Qi to the depths of his bloodline. The Dragon was highly experienced and once the Beast Qi was within its body, he knew exactly what to do to fix his problem.


    The Beast Qi went deep within his body and entered the essence of his bloodline.


    ~ROAR~


    As soon as that happened, an illusory figure appeared above the head of the Flood Dragon!


    It was that of another dragon with four limbs and two wings, a true dragon!


    Lin Mu observed it, finding that it had clouds and streams surrounding it. Focusing on the dragons'' ws he saw that it had five ws, showing its status as a True Dragon.


    ''The Rain Dragon? His full potential is that of a Rain Dragon?'' Lin Mu soon identified the bloodline image.


    He had read about the Rain Dragon''s which were a strong n of True Dragons. They had immense control over the Rain and their control over the Rain Dao was said to be among the greatest.


    Not just that, but they also had control over the Water Dao, Cloud Dao as well as the Wind Dao. It was abination of Daos that could grant one exponentially high power, and abination that Lin Mu was familiar with as the Saintess used it too.


    ''If he can really break through his bloodline limits, he will eventually be able to transform into a Rain Dragon¡­'' Lin Mu thought to himself just how strong Qiulong Jiao could be.


    At the very least, he could tell that the Flood Dragon didn''t have ack of talent on its own. If he were not sealed here, he just might have managed to ovee the limits himself and breakthrough.


    Perhaps in another reality, he might have been like one of the three dragons that had managed to ascend from the Rust Sky world.


    ~ROAR~ This content is ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu watched as the bloodline figure of the Rain Dragon became clearer. At first only its outline could be made out, but now the scales on its body could also be seen. The processsted about an hour after which it was finally time for the next step.


    "Do it, sever the connection!" The Flood Dragon let out a roar.


    ~ROAR~


    With his roar, a faint threat became visible. It was connecting the golden cage to his Life Scale, the restriction that had kept him here all this time.


    Lin Mu responded by holding the door of the golden cage and using meld to simply rip apart the connection.


    ~TEAR~


    As soon as he did, a recoil was felt by the Flood Dragon, and it spat out blood.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2523 Empowering The Rain Dragon Bloodline

    Chapter 2523 Empowering The Rain Dragon Bloodline


    The Flood Dragon had already told Lin Mu that the Golden Cage was made such that if his link to the tool was severed a part of his vitality would also be cut off. If it was the Flood Dragon from its peak, it would be fine other than being injured a bit.


    But having been restrained here for hundreds of thousands of years, it had grown weak and the injury would have been enough to kill him.


    The stimtion of its bloodline though was now allowing it to hold on for longer.


    "Now!" The Flood Dragon shouted through the pain.


    "Hold on," Lin Mu said as he shifted his attention to the Beast Qi.


    This time the infusion of Beast Qi needed to be carefully controlled as the Flood Dragon''s vitality was weakened and it was injured. If Lin Mu released arge amount of it at once, it could easily overwhelm the Flood Dragon and kill it instead of saving it.


    It was the same as injecting arge amount of Qi into a new cultivator. Their body was not ustomed to it and neither were their meridians strong enough to bear it thus they would only end up exploding in the end.


    But if the same amount of Qi was provided at a steady rate, they would be able to absorb and improve their meridians allowing them to improve to their full potential.


    The same could be said for the Flood Dragon. The first infusion was just there to help the Flood Dragon bear the recoil from the Golden Cage, it was the second infusion that was actually going to help him ovee the limitations of his bloodline.


    ~HUALA~ The Beast Qi turned into a thin strand and rose from Lin Mu''s hand like a thread from a spool in a loom. It moved at a fixed pace and steadily entered the Flood Dragon''s body allowing him to absorb it in the most efficient manner.


    ~ROAR~


    The Bloodline Figure of the Rain Dragon appeared above his head once more and its ethereal form began to turn more and more corporal. Fine details began being added as its scales became well defined. Its horns rose and became sharp, while its teeth shone against the light of the Qi.


    The eyes of the Rain Dragon showed a great wisdom within them while the Clouds and rivers swirling around it became dense.


    Slowly and steadily, the Bloodline Figure took a majestic appearance, awing everyone that saw it.


    "So that''s a True Rain Dragon¡­" Crown Prince Feng Shun had never seen one before and found it to be quite stunning. He had seen the Azure Dragon before which was also a True Dragon, but theparison between the two was different. If the Azure Dragon was representative of the east and abundance, then the Rain dragon was a representative of bounty, rain and the wisdom that was brought with it.


    ''The records don''t do justice to its appearance.'' Ziran thought to himself.


    He had seen many records describing the Rain Dragon, but this was his first instance seeing its bloodline figure with his own two eyes. If not for the fact that the bloodline figurecked the aura of a True Dragon, one might even be mistaken that there wasn''t just one but two dragons present here.


    Only when the Aura of a True Dragon was achieved by the Bloodline Figure would the Flood Dragon be able to be one as well.


    As of now even if his bloodline had gotten richer, it would still need time and effort to evolve into it.


    The processsted about thirty minutes after which the condition of the Flood Dragon improved considerably. The wavering vitality stabilized while its aura grew.


    ~HONGLONG~


    But that was just the start as the Rain Dragon''s bloodline figure returned to the Flood Dragon''s body, granting him the greatest benefit. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    ~WOOOO~


    A great burst of vitality was felt from Qiulong Jiao making everyone''s heart beast faster.


    "Look at its Life Scale!" Daoist Chu pointed. "Its glowing brightly!"


    The Life Scale that had be mottled and cracked had now been mended. Its shine had returned and it had be smooth once more, showing that the Flood Dragon had regained quite a lot of its longevity!


    "AHAHAHA!" The Flood Dragon let out a thunderousugh that stirred up currents in the water.


    If it weren''t for the people around, it might have already broken out in a Dragon Dance!


    "Haa~ it''s finally done." Lin Mu felt relieved that the process had gone smoothly.


    "You''ve held up your end of the bargain, now it''s time for me to do mine." The Flood Dragon spoke feeling joyous. "Go ahead, take it." He permitted.


    "Mmhmm." Lin Mu simply hummed in response and went towards the Golden cage, extending his hand at its door.


    ~GONG~


    But just as his hand touched it, Lin Mu felt like a bolt of lightning had just struck his body.


    "ARGH!" Lin Mu felt his entire body shake and his defenses couldn''t even block it.


    ~BOOM~


    He was knocked back with great force, and mmed into the walls of the prison.


    "Daoist Lin Mu!" "HELP HIM!"


    Hispanions quickly rushed to check on Lin Mu, but Crown Prince was wary and looked at the golden cage.


    "What is the meaning of this?" he had thought that Lin Mu had a deal with the Flood Dragon.


    But it wasn''t just him that was confused.


    "This cannot be!" The Flood Dragon was astonished as well. "It shouldn''t have that much power left!" ~CLANG~


    The Golden Cage shook as its pedestal receded into the floor in the blink of an eye.


    "DAMMIT!" Seeing it slip past their grasp, Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn''t help but curse.


    "How did it¡­" Lin Mu who had recovered from the impact looked at the scene and was confused.


    ~RUMBLE~


    A secondter though, the entire Antean City began to shake before everyone felt the very water shift.


    "THOSE ATLANTEAN BASTARDS! THEY NEVER TRUSTED ME TO KEEP IT SAFE!" Qiulong Jiao roared in anger.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2524 Failsafe Triggered

    Chapter 2524 Failsafe Triggered


    Qiulong Jiao''s roar was full of indignation and everyone could tell that he felt wronged.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Lin Mu blinked and appeared next to the Flood Dragon, incredibly anxious about the situation.


    "What happened? Why did the Golden Cage disappear?" Lin Mu questioned.


    "Those cunning bastards were always two steps ahead. Looks like they set up a final failsafe to prevent the Soul Fragment falling in anyone''s hands." The Flood Dragon answered. "But shouldn''t the Golden Cage be far too weak to do anything?" Lin Mu asked feeling confused.


    "Yes, but it seemed like its being supported by the entire city''s power array now." The Flood Dragon said, sensing the changes happening within the city.


    ~RUMBLE~


    The city shook harder and soon everyone felt a weight being pressed upon them.


    "What''s happening!?" "Why do I feel heavy?" "Is this a restraining array!?" They were all shocked and tried to ovee it with their Qi.


    "Wait, this isn''t an array." Lady Kang could sense no Qi working in this. "Its the weight of the water itself!" she stated.


    "Why would it be affecting us now with the talisman protecting us?" they were confused.


    "The water isn''t the one affecting you all intentionally, its actually staying in the same ce. It''s the city that is causing this¡­ It is rising." The Flood Dragon revealed making everyone stunned.


    "Why would it rise!?" Lin Mu couldn''t understand. "Isn''t the city supposed to stay hidden?" it went against the reason behind building the city.


    "It''s to do with the fail-safe." The Flood Dragon replied. "It''s directing all power in destroying the Soul Fragment." He revealed.


    "What?" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide. "That works in our favor then." "It''s not that simple. The destruction of the Soul Fragment will require the self destruction of the entire city. If the self destruction is not stopped, the resultant explosion will destroy everything within a radius of five hundred kilometers or more!" the Flood Dragon warned. "We need to get away from here, NOW!" "SHIT!" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that the favor they had gotten was poisoned.


    "I''ll open up a path!" The Flood Dragon said as it opened its mouth wide.


    ~WOONG~


    Massive amount of energy condensed within its mouth as it breathed out.


    It was a Dragon Breath!


    ~BOOM~


    The Dragon Breath surged through the water straight up and blew through the ceiling of the prison. But it didn''t stop just there, it continued onwards and destroyed all that was in its path including the stairwell and the halls above.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    The massive statue of the Antean standing above crumbled and fell as a deep hole was created.


    "Everyone flee!" Lin Mu ordered through the jade slips.


    It didn''t take much for everyone to do it as they had already sensed things going south. They used all their power to rise through the water, but they were still limited by it and were slowed down.


    "Flood Dragon''s Rising Current!" Qiulong Jiao swung his tail, creating arge current that pushed everyone, giving them a boost that finally allowed them to reach the surface!


    "Shit! Won''t we crash into the barrier!?" They remembered the barrier they had been unable to get through before.


    "We don''t have enough time to activate the Aura Sealing Talisman!" they now felt like they were about to be crushed to death.


    But the Flood Dragon had done all this internationally, knowing more than them.


    "The barrier doesn''t exist anymore. The arrays are redirecting all power to self destruction." The Flood Dragon spoke as it flew alongside Lin Mu.


    ~SPLASH~SPLASH~SPLASH~


    Everyone''s hearts felt like they were about to jump out of their chests at any moment, but they managed to get to the surface safely.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    They rose to the sky and soon saw the Antean city rising under them. The Aquatic beasts dwelling in the city had been caught off guard with only a few speedy ones managing to escape the city in time. As such, a scene of iling beasts could be seen in the city that had now risen a hundred meters above the ocean''s surface.


    Still, these were all Immortal Beasts, thus they could fly enough to manage their way out. Only the nts and the immortal beasts, like barnacles, and limpets that were immobile, were fated to be stuck.


    But they didn''t know that the sword of doom was not going to get away from their head so easily.


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    Over a hundred pirs suddenly rose from the rubbles of the city, statues of Anteans all visible on them. But these were different from the previous statues that they had seen. They were not made from a stone but rather a strange mineral.


    "What''s happening?"


    "What are those statues?" Lin Mu looked at them too and felt a strange energy from them. The statues seemed to be made from a silvery mineral that had an iridescent glow to it. They looked like the Anteans but they were in the best condition, showing no wear and tear.


    ~RUMBLE~


    But they weren''t the only structures that rose, as from the very center of the city anotherrge pir rose. But this pir held a golden object at the very top.


    "Look! Isn''t that the Golden Cage!?" Crown Princess Shang pointed.


    Lin Mu spotted the flickering indigo Soul fragment within it, confirming that it was their target.


    ~WOOM~WOOM~WOOM~ This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    Once the golden cage reached the top, the strange silvery mineral statues all pointed their tridents at the golden cage as a red glow began to form on it.


    "Lin Mu, you need to get away from here! The Antean Neptunium is getting unstable! They are going to use its unstable energy to destroy the cage!" Xukong saw the situation getting worse and quickly warned him. "What!?" Lin Mu''s eyes went wide.


    "When it is out of water its power cannot be contained and it gets unstable." Xukong exined. "And with the amount that''s present, the explosion won''t be as small as the Flood Dragon said.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2525 Aspect Of Cold

    Chapter 2525 Aspect Of Cold


    The Antean Neptunium was special and its unique properties allowed it several things like making a barrier that prevented cultivators from getting in, but it also had its own limitations.


    One such limitation was that its stability was only maintained in water. It could certainly be taken out of water if it was kept inactive, but if its effects were still being used it could explode with a devastating power.


    The energy contained within the statues was no joke as they were entirely made out of Antean Neptunium.


    "The amount of Antean Neptunium they have here is massive. They wouldn''t need this much to protect a city of this size, even a quarter of it would have been more than enough. They have intentionally added more as they wished for not only it to be destroyed but anyone and anything that might be in its periphery in case of emergency." Xukong said after assessing the situation.


    "That''s gonna be a disaster." Lin Mu knew they had to get away from this right away. "EVERYONE TO THE SHIP! CAST ALL YOUR DEFENSIVE SKILLS AND ALL TREASURES YOU CAN USE OR WE MIGHT NOT SURVIVE!" He shouted out loud.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Even without his words they were already running and soon reached the ship. ~HONGLONG~


    Crown Prince activated the ship and every defensive array that was present on it, making it fly right away. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "Great Vajra Illumination!" Monk Hushu cast arge golden barrier over the entire ship.


    "Shang Imperial Art, Great Bramble Fortress!" Crown Princess Shang did the same, covering the entire ship in thorny vines that made it look like a fort.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~~SHUA~SHUA~


    Soon everyone began casting their skills, either on themselves or the ship, hoping to grant themselves better level of safety.


    Lady Kang did the same as stars appeared above her.


    "88 Constetion Series: Eighty Fourth Form- Firm Shield!" Lady Kang chanted as the four stars created an illusory figure of a shield. "Reinforcing Scutum!"


    With hermand, the already existing defenses, as well as those addedter, were further reinforced, their power almost doubling from it.


    In all this, there were some skill took longer to prepare than others. At the end, when pretty much everyone was done using their skills, there was only one person left.


    ~WHOOSH~


    Mei Nienzhen''s white hair fluttered with frost as chilly winds surrounded her.


    Her chest glowed as a transparent sphere flowed out of it, a Dao Shell.


    Within the Dao Shell, one could see a beautiful lotus flower that shimmered under the brilliant light of the sun and various skills that were cast around them. Each of the petals of the lotus had a dazzling moon pattern on them that glowed just like the real moon.


    And at the center of it one could see stamens made out of pure ice as the swayed gently, her Dao Embryo.


    But as beautiful as the lotus was, it was also deadly, for the sheer colding from it was enough to freeze everything solid. This was also why Mei Nienzhen had waited till the end to use it, as everyone already had their defensive skills up. Without it, they would have been caught in it too. Her strong skills were not ones that could be controlled to a limited area.


    A few individuals that saw the Dao Embryo couldn''t help but marvel at its beauty, but those that knew what it was were stunned.


    "A Frost Moon Lotus Dao Embryo!?" Crown Prince Feng Shun who saw it, eximed. "I thought there had been no one in the Mei n that had managed to cultivate it since their founder died¡­" Lady Kang narrowed her eyes as she saw the lotus, quickly using several of her defensive tools to further improve the defense for the people present within the ship. This was to protect them from the coteral damage rather than the external one.


    ''That Dao Embryo can freeze an entire world if the user is strong enough.'' Lady Kang knew a bit more about it. Lin Mu saw it too and could feel the sheer density of Ice Dao Traces that could be felt from it.


    "She''s strong¡­ A lot stronger than before." Xukongmented. "Her Frost Moon Lotus Dao Embryo is one of the top Ice Dao Embryos one can have." "It is?" Lin Mu was surprised.


    "It''s easily one of the top five Ice Dao Embryos." Xukong replied. "Though its power can be so overwhelming that most individuals will sumb to it if they overdo it. It''s like that Childe Wildfire''s Scorch Sun Ruby Dao Embryo." Hepared.


    "That strong?" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that. He knew that fighting Mei Nienzhen before had been quite harderpared to the other contestants in the fight. If she hadn''t lost to Lin Mu back then, there was a high chance she might have even managed to enter the top five contestants.


    ~SSSSSSSS~


    The appearance of the Dao Embryo was merely the prelude as Mei Nienzhen finally cast her Dao Skill.


    Bringing her hands together in the Lotus Mudra, she chanted.


    "Aspect of Cold: Stilling Order." She uttered.


    In that moment, it was as if the very air itself froze and all sound with it. No ice formed on the ship, and neither were the other skills were affected. But a perceptible change had urred in them.


    It was seen as the sound of air had disappeared along with the pressure.


    Lin Mu used his immortal sense to perceive it and discovered that the air particles had stopped moving. And any new particles that came within the periphery of it were immobilized as well.


    But this went on a level that he had never seen before.


    He knew that even if something was stable, it didn''t mean that it was not showing any movement. The tiny particr that constituted something still kept on moving and vibrating. Even when they had be cold, they would not fully stop, but somehow Mei Nienzhen had stopped their very movement.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2526 Close To Detonation And Changing Tides

    Chapter 2526 Close To Detonation And Changing Tides


    The stopping of the particles improved the defense of the ship in a different way than expected. As it flew, it affected all the air particles that came in its range and stilled their moment, essentially turning them solid. And since it was moving, the ship left a trail of solid particles all along the way, thereby making walls after walls behind it!


    ''This might just be able to dy the explosion or dull its impact.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he saw the skill being executed. "Senior Jiao, spray water up here." He quickly shouted knowing how to take the best advantage.


    ~ROAR~


    The Flood Dragon surfed through the water below them and sshed water into the sky, which also froze because of Mei Nienzhen''s skill. Wall after wall of solid air and water were created as the flying ship tore through the skies with the Flood Dragon following along.


    Lin Mu was a bit surprised that the Flood Dragon could match the ship''s speed right now too.


    ''I suppose in the water he is unhindered due to his affinities.'' Lin Mu thought to himself as he observed.


    He could faintly see that the Flood Dragon wasn''t just moving through the usage of Qi, but rather the ocean itself was pushing him ahead. It was another method of applying elemental control and was somewhat simr to the Bending Will Fists that Lin Mu had practiced as well as the Cloud Dragon Stride that he was learning.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    In the one minute that had passed since the ship had started moving, the Antean Neptunium had finally charged up. Beams of energy were shot towards the golden cage kept above the central pirs as the power of the Antean Neptunium was shown.


    Beam after beam joined in targeting the Golden cage and it was soon being targeted by twenty beams. But the beams didn''t fully prate it and were actually stopped a few millimeters before it. The energy of the beams started to collect over the Golden Cage and began intersecting.


    "It''s getting stronger. Once all the beams are there, the power would be amplified enough to destroy everything in over a thousand kilometers of radius." Xukong assessed.


    "We need to be faster." Lin Mu knew, but they were limited in that too. Little Shrubby would be faster than this, but the number of people he could carry on his back was limited, not everyone would be able to be taken away by him not to mention they wouldn''t have the same level of defense they did right now.


    Still, within two minutes of their jump start, they had already managed toe over three hundred kilometers away. This was being done at the expense of overloading the Ship''s arrays and it was going to damage them once they finally stopped.


    But this was something they couldn''t avoid if they needed to ovee this.


    "Everyone that can spare the effort, pour your Qi into the ship!" Lin Mu knew if they could squeeze out a bit more if they all contributed their Qi to it.


    The increase might not be massive, but even a percent or two percent increase could be the difference between life and death.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    Several people, including Lin Mu, sat down as they poured Qi into the ship, while Crown Prince Feng Shun guided it to the array and controlled it to run as fast as possible. At the same time, Lin Mu thought of some alternatives and quickly contracted someone that might be able to help them.


    ''Saintess, we need you right now.'' Lin Mu tried contacting her.


    He just hoped that she was not cultivating, or at least close enough to respond in time.


    ~WOONG~WOONG~WOONG~


    But just as Lin Mu had done that, more beams of energy were concentration at the Golden Cage and now over ny beams were targeting it!


    The golden cage couldn''t even be seen and seemed to be fully hidden within the mass of energy that was convalescing around it. The sheer energy fluctuations that wereing from it could be felt all the way where Lin Mu and the others were, nearly four hundred kilometers away!


    "It''s going to blow!" Crown Prince Feng Shun sensed.


    ~BOOOOOOOO¡ª~


    Just as the energy sphere had brightened up to a blinding level though, it suddenly became restrained as if sinking back down.


    "YOU DARE!?" A loud shout was heard while strong spatial fluctuations were felt at the same time.


    "Saintess?" Lin Mu wondered if she had appeared, but then he sensed a familiar aura that made him frown. "No¡­" He looked in the direction of the Antean City and saw that massive spatial rifts had appeared all around it. Not just that, but copious amounts of dark energies were flowing out of it and covering all the Antean Neptunium statues.


    "Withering Dao Energy!" The others sensed it by now, too.


    "How is it here?!" Crown Princess Shang questioned.


    "Yao Changying¡­ She''s here." Lin Mu said as a frown appeared on his face.


    He then saw arge flurry of ck petals raining down from one of the rifts right above the golden cage and cover it. The petals seemingly ate away at the energy beams and freed the Golden Cage and the Soul Fragment that were about to be destroyed.


    "She stopped it!?" Crown Prince Feng Shun was stunned.


    ~BOOM~


    But the woman''s effort wasn''t fully effective, as some of the statues simply overloaded and exploded regardless.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    It seemingly triggered a chain reaction and like a set of dominoes, they all began to explode in a circle!


    ~WOOOOOOOOOOOONG~


    It released a massive wave of devastating energy that sent shock waves across the ocean.


    These might not be as strong as the full power of the self destruction, but they were still more than enough to kill most people. ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    Thankfully, the defensive measures that Lin Mu and the group had taken were nowing in handy. The first ones to work were the frozen air and water particles that had been made due to Mei Nienzhen''s Dao Skill.


    This,bined with the distance they had gone, managed to dull the power of the explosion but at least half. ~RUMBLE~


    With those gone, the shockwave finally stuck the ship and all the defensive arrays as well as the skills the people on it had cast came into effect. "BRACE!"


    The flying ship shook and creaked nonstop as the shockwave hammered it.


    ~SHATTER~


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    Several of the weaker defensive skills broke apart from it on impact and only the strong ones were let.


    ~CRUMBLE~


    The fort of thorns made from Crown Princess Shang''s skill was the next one to break as it seemingly crumble away from the power contained within the shockwave. It could be seen that the unstable property of the Antean Neptunium was being carried within the wave.


    The one to go after that was the ship''s own arrays that were being reinforced by Lady Kang''s 88 constetion series skill.


    Still, the arrays actually managed to reduce the impact greatly and reduced it to within a single digit!


    The final one to bear the impact were a few more misceneous skills as well as Monk Hushu''s skill of Golden Vajra Illumination.


    This finally contained the shockwave and neutralized it all, leaving everyone alive.


    "We¡­ we did it!" Daoist Chu rejoiced.


    "WE DID IT!"


    "WE''RE ALIVE!" the others couldn''t help but shout in joy as well.


    But Lin Mu and some of hispanions were not as joyous, for they had known about the arrival of their foe.


    The flying ship slowed down as the arrays on it flickered shut before it was finally shut down and forced tond.


    "Dammit, the ship''s out of order." Crown Prince Feng Shun cursed.


    "Who''s that woman?" The Flood Dragon controlled the wave to make the ship move before questioning.


    Blood continued to trickle down from his scales, showing the damage he had sustained from the explosion but had managed to withstand it with his own skills.


    ~HUALA~


    As if to answer him, a wave of ominous aura spread and covered an area of five hundred kilometers within a few seconds. "The owner of that Soul Fragment." Lin Mu answered him, making the Dragon''s eyes narrow.


    "It cannot be¡­" The Flood Dragon frowned, his fangs jutting from his mouth, making him look menacing. His aura also red as itbated against the ominous aura.


    "NONE OF YOU CAN LEAVE ALIVE!" A furious shout was heard as another wave of energy spread. The energy wave didn''t have that much impact, but one would feel weak when it washed over their body.


    "The Withering Dao Energy¡­ Its Yao Changying no doubt." Ziran said as he created vines from his hands.


    A secondter though, a dome of darkness spread from the sky quickly covering the entire area of roughly six hundred kilometers within it.


    "Looks like we can''t leave without a fight." Lin Mu said as he steeled his mind.


    This chapter upload first at  This content is ? N?velDrama.Org.

 Chapter 2527 A Spatial Fold Barrier

    Chapter 2527 A Spatial Fold Barrier


    A surge of unsettling aura could be felting from the location of the Antean City which was clearly from Yao Changying. It was pulsating, as if it were its own being. ~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~


    "Damn, this barrier is very strong." Ziran said after trying to break it. "Even with a lot of my power this shows no effect." "I''ll try." Childe Wildfire said as he narrowed his eyes.


    He raised his hand and pointed two fingers at the dark barrier. ~SHA~


    A momentter a thin red beam shot out of it and struck the barrier. It was incredibly hot and one could feel a lot of fire elemental immortal Qi condensed within it.


    The fire beam continued to strike the dark barrier, but even with the Sixth Tribtion Stage Cultivation base of Childe Wildfire there was no effect. It was as if all his mes were merely being thrown into empty air.


    "It doesn''t work." Childe Wildfire frowned. "This isn''t a normal barrier. Even a Peak Grade Immortal Tool won''t have such defenses. Even if it wouldn''t break, there would at least be some kind of reaction." He assessed.


    "He''s correct." Lady Kang replied. "The power of this barrier exceeds far more than should be possible." This prompted Lin Mu to take a closer look with his Immortal Sense but it didn''t give him any result since the barrier simply resisted it. "It blocks immortal sense, it is also blocking anymunication from going outside it." He quickly confirmed. "We won''t be able to call for reinforcement here and neither will we be able to inform the others of the situation." His expression darkened.


    "That makes things worse." Crown Prince Feng Shun said. "We might have been able to request help from Father or even the other Emperors since Yao Changying is here."


    "I cannot contact the Saintess either." Lin Mu said much to hispanions concern. ''This shouldn''t be something that would be possible normally without arge scale array.'' He thought to himself before realizing something.


    "Wait¡­ could it be?" Lin Mu closed his eyes for a moment and activated his Spatial Perception allowing him to nce at the dark barrier in another manner.


    ~SHUA~


    Doing this showed him a different view.


    Instead of a normal barrier that one might see against the background of the Spatial Fabric, what Lin Mu saw was just the Spatial Fabric!


    "This isn''t just a barrier¡­ This is a Spatial Fold Barrier!" Lin Mu discovered.


    Instead of a normal barrier that one might see against the background of the Spatial Fabric, what Lin Mu saw was just the Spatial Fabric!


    "This isn''t just a barrier¡­ This is a Spatial Fold Barrier!" Lin Mu discovered.


    "A Spatial Fold Barrier? Here!?" Ziran was stunned hearing it. "Aren''t those only set up withplex arrays?" Crown Princess Shang remembered having learned about them in the Immortal Court.


    "Indeed¡­ They''re used to protect the most important locations of the Immortal Court and other organizations that can afford to make them¡­ but they aren''t something that can be set up at a moment''s notice." Lady Kang stated while trying different methods tomunicate.


    She had many tools on her but none of them worked just as they had thought.


    A Spatial Fold Barrier was an advanced form of Spatial Skill application.


    Just as its name said, it was made by folding space in itself, creating an imprable barrier. This was due to the fact that any attack that wasunched on it wouldn''t actually get through but rather just end up being absorbed by the Spatial Fabric itself.


    The Spatial Fabric was one of the strongest things in existence and breaking it was very difficult for cultivators. Only for certain Spatial Cultivators would it be as easy as snapping fingers, for all others it needed a great amount of Qi to do so.


    Even for Lin Mu it wasn''t something that could be broken by him easily. Of course he wouldn''t ept it right away and decided to attempt it first.


    "Meld." Lin Mu first tried the skill that could manipte space the best. ~HUMM~


    But much to his surprise the folded space simply refused toply to hismands, as if it were a stubborn mule. ''If this doesn''t work can I bypass it?'' He wondered and tried using his other two skills that allowed him to move through Space.


    "Blink!" Lin Mu tried teleporting but was stopped at the barrier. "Phase!" He then tried passing through it, but it didn''t budge.


    This left him with the final option, which was Fade.


    ~SHUA~


    He disappeared from the world and appeared in the Parallel dimension. And what he saw there left him stunned.


    "What the hell is this?" Lin Mu looked at apletely differentyout than he was used to.


    Instead of appearing in an ever extending tndscape, he was instead inside a sphere!


    The ce he was standing was curving upward and continued like this until it came back. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    "This is peculiar¡­ Looks like we have another confirmation that the Parallel Dimension of Fade mirrors the real world. Since the Space is folded outside, it is doing the same here, turning the space into a hollow sphere." Xukong said after observing it all.


    "Guess this is not an option to leave either." Lin Mu said as he let out a sign. "How will we ovee this?" "There''s two options." Xukong answered. "From what I can tell, this Spatial Fold Barrier is definitely being done through a Celestial Level tool. It is quite likely to be the Bridge ne, so you will have to simply stop its operator." He gave the first option.


    "I had guessed that much, but didn''t think Yao Changying''s control over it would be this good now." Lin Mu was surprised. "She has been improving it all this time."


    "Indeed. Though it is not absolute." Xukong replied. "The second option is the more rough one¡­ You simply target the barrier until it cannot take it." He added.


    "But it''s been absorbing all attacks." Lin Mu was confused by it.


    "It is for now. But there is a limit to it. The Spatial Fabric will naturally want to return to its ''resting'' state, just like how rubber would do when being stretched." Xukong exined.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2528 Facing The Chimeric Beasts Again

    Chapter 2528 Facing The Chimeric Beasts Again


    Having listened to Xukong''s solutions, Lin Mu thought about them and understood the risks that woulde with them.


    "We might not be able to rely on just one of them. Fighting Yao Changying is inevitable and now that she has thest Soul Fragment we cannot just let her be. But we might not be bale to do this on our own. Thus we''ll need the help of others, but to contact them or even let them in we need to get rid of the Spatial Fold Barrier." Lin Mu spoke as he made a n. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    ~SHUA~


    Deactivating the skill, he reappeared back in the real world and informed the others.


    "Looks like there aren''t many methods left for us," Lin Mu stated. "We''ll have to stop the person who''s doing this, and also attack the barrier at the same time." "A Spatial Fold Barrier isn''t something that''s easy to break. It''ll take sustained attacks from all of us to do any damage to it." Lady Kang stated.


    "Fighting Yao Changying is something we were already prepared for but how will we do that if we are focused on damaging the barrier?" Daoist Chu questioned.


    "Right now we still have time, as she hasn''te after us. We''ll damage the barrier as much as we can right now, but once shees after us, we''ll have to split up and focus on both things." Lin Mu answered. "It''s not the best, but we''ll have to manage. Who knows how strong shes grown now that she''s absorbed another Soul Fragment." He said with a frown.


    Thetter part was what had Lin Mu concerned for the most part. Yao Changying had already been a tough foe before, when they had fought and had grown stronger after absorbing Soul Fragments, as well as improving her control over the arrays of the Bridge ne.


    And now that she had what was possibly the final fragment of the Withered Soul Daoist, it was likely that her strength would reach never seen before levels.


    ~SCREECH~~SCREECH~~SCREECH~


    Unfortunately for everyone, just as they were about to begin the n, a literal horde of enemies appeared to stop it.


    "What the¡­ what are those?!?" Someone from the group said, seeing the grotesque creatures that were flying towards them.


    "Chimeric Beasts!" Crown Prince Feng Shun said out loud.


    "They''reing from the rifts she opened." Lin Mu guessed as he sensed the Spatial Fluctuations. "There''s more rifts opening, so there will be more of theming." His frown got deeper and deeper.


    "What do we do now?" the others asked.


    "Focus on killing the beasts, only those who can spare their attention will attack the barrier!" Lin Mu said as he charged in first.


    This was the best approach as he and hispanions knew the Chimeric Beasts weren''t ones to be underestimated. Their attacks were terrifying and could easily cripple or kill someone if they lost focus for even a moment.


    Having fought them for eight years in the Bridge ne had been more than enough to teach them this lesson.


    Right now, Lin Mu could only hope that the Saintess would sense the trouble.


    ''She would check up on us form time to time, so hopefully she does it and knows what''s happening.'' Lin Mu knew that if there was anyone who would be able to break the barrier it would be the Saintess if not the other emperors.


    That was another option that he had in his mind.


    ''We are close enough to the Holy Topaz Dynasty that they should probably detect therge scale Spatial Fluctuations.'' Lin Mu knew. They were analyzing them for a couple years already as means to monitor Yao Changying''s appearance. ''But even if they do know, it''ll take them a while to act. Only the Holy Topaz Emperor would be able to reach here at the earliest and have a chance of damaging the barrier.'' As he continued to think of solutions, he was also ughtering the Chimeric Beasts at the same time.


    ~SCREECH~


    A group of Auroch Chimeric Beasts screamed at him while charging, which Lin Mu easily dodged and counterattacked with his swords.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    The beasts were sliced apart with ease, just like how Lin Mu had done a million times in the Bridge ne. The same was being done by hispassions who had experienced the hardships with him before.


    "At least their strength seems to be rtively the same." Ziran said as he whipped with thirty meter long vines and split an entire group of Auroch Chimeric Beasts into halves.


    "Don''t think Yao Changing could do much about it." Daoist Chu said. "They are probably just the wild ones that she released with the rift."


    "We had been expecting this to happen for a while, right? Looks like she''s finallypetent enough to actually release them." Crown Prince Feng Shun said as he rained down thunder upon the Auroch Chimeric beasts.


    Now that he was out of the water, he could freely use his skills. And since they could target a lot of beasts at once, it made thinning the herd easier.


    But he wasn''t the only one who had an advantage in mass battles like this.


    Childe Wildfire seemed to be having an easy time too as he simply sted all the Auroch Chimeric beasts that were in the field of his view.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    Hundreds of tennis ball sized fireballs floated behind him and trailed along his body. They went up his back and down his shoulders before spiraling around his arms and being shot through his palms.


    It almost looked like a Gatling gun was being fired nonstop while a chain belt of bullets was being consumed rapidly.


    His arms were pretty much like cannons as fire ball after fireball was shot, exploding into an area that was a hundred times bigger than their size


    In fact, his speed was good enough that he actually managed to kill enough beasts that the other weaker members had more breathing room.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2529 Closing Rifts

    Chapter 2529 Closing Rifts


    "Go! I''ll handle this!"


    With Childe Wildfire contributing greatly to the eight, a lot of the members were now free enough to attack the barrier.


    "Alright!" about fifteen members of the group went to attack the Spatial Fold Barrier.


    While their attacks appeared to do nothing to the barrier, ording to Xukong''s words they would eventually add up though it would probably take a while.


    For now, everyone had to focus on their own side and kill as many Chimeric Beasts as they could.


    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~SHING~ This content is ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Lin Mu sent out sword sh after sword sh, cutting apartthe Chimeric beasts that stood in his path.


    ~WHOOSH~


    And when they were gone, he moved to another location leaving a train of clouds in his wake!


    Not a single attack could meet him, as he dodged them with ease, the Cloud Dragon Stride working well for him. It consumed less Qi than Blink thus it made it a lot more efficient for Lin Mu, not to mention the trail of clouds he left behind also helped confuse the enemies and block their sight.


    Crown Prince Feng Shun who saw this couldn''t help but be amazed.


    "Daoist Lin Mu has really managed to improve this much." The Crown Prince muttered. "While I''ve only managed to grasp the mnemonic of the technique itself." He had read the skill too, but he had not learned it at all.


    Of course while he did have ack of time due to being busy all this time, he had still had attempted learning it. But he hadn''t evene close to grasping the Dao of Sky even though he already had the Wind and lightning Dao proficiency.


    Still this was good for them as Lin Mu was quickly clearing out swathes of Chimeric Beasts on the eastern side thus the pressure from that side had reduced. Crown Prince Feng Shun on the other hand handled the western side and the rest of the members were split between the northern and southern side.


    The barrier was located on the southeastern side and was currently the area with the least number of Chimeric Beasts.


    With the number of beasts falling in number, the number of members who could afford to attack the barrier increased further, with Daoist Chu and Elder Hu joining in on it.


    ~BANG~BANG~BANG~


    Attack after attack struck the barrier, but still little to no progress could be observed. At most, they could see slight movements in the air as the fabric of space stretched a bit but nothing more than that.


    An hour had gone by and the battle seemed never ending, for the Chimeric Beasts kept on pouring out of the Spatial Rifts. At first it was just the Auroch Chimeric Beastsing out of it, butter on more such as the Maggot Chimeric Beasts, the Antelope Chimeric Beasts and the Mantis Chimeric Beasts also starteding out of it.


    "This won''t work, we''ll get cornered here if this keeps up." Lin Mu spoke up sensing the numbers rising once more. "We need to stop the source." He said out loud.


    "Go on ahead, Daoist Lin Mu. We''ll hold the back." Monk Hushu said knowing that he''d be the most qualified for it. "If there''s anyone that can deal with Spatial Rifts it''ll be you." "Yeah, do it." Crown Prince Feng Shun agreed. "We can take care of things here."


    "We''ve fought with worse, we''ll be fine." Lady Kang agreed as well.


    "Alright. Take care everyone." Lin Mu took a breath and disappeared.


    Using Fade he flew straight towards the direction where the Spatial Rifts were supposed to be. A short whileter he was in the sky and a mere hundred meters from him was a Spatial Rift that was around twenty meters long and seven meters wide. It was one of the many Spatial Rifts that were open right now and all of them had varying sizes.


    "Let''s see if this can be closed¡­" Lin Mu used his Spatial Perception and focused on them, trying to understand their structure. ''Since there''s a Spatial Folding Barrier here, opening a Spatial Rift here would be quite straining.'' He thought to himself.


    A Spatial Rift was basically pulling apart on the spatial fabric, while the Spatial Folding Barrier was pulling it closer. These were opposing effects and as such, there would be a conflict between the two. Andpared to the Spatial Folding Barrier, a Spatial Rift would be a lot weaker.


    As such, Lin Mu only needed to target the structural weak points in the Spatial Fabric to force them to close up.


    "There!" Lin Mu soon spotted one such segment at the edge of the Spatial Rift that seemed to be highly strained. Using the power of the ring, as well as its skill, Lin Mu extending his hand.


    "MELD!" Directly grasping its edge, Lin Mu pushed on it. "Haaah!" The rift trembled as additional force was applied to it. This, along with the resistance from the Spatial Folding Barrier, was enough for it to yield and begin to close.


    ~SHAHA~


    A few secondster, it recoiled shut, releasing a wave of Spatial Energy that pushed Lin Mu back.


    ~HUALA~


    The Longgui Bulwark Protected him from the impact, and as such he was unharmed, though fine cracks formed on some parts of the armor.


    ''I''ll have to be careful closing the rest. The Spatial Energy fluctuations can tear apart flesh with ease.'' Lin Mu understood. "Though at least we know this can work." He was pleased.


    Having closed the nearest Spatial Rift, the inflow of the Chimeric Beasts reduced and hispanions had more breathing ground. Not wasting a moment, he moved to the next Spatial Rift and began doing the same.


    ~SHAHA~~SHAHA~~SHAHA~~SHAHA~~SHAHA~


    Rift after rift were closed as Lin Mu''s efforts began to show fruit with the number of Chimeric Beasts decreasing by nearly thirty percent!


    This allowed more people to attack the barrier and the chances of their survival increased as well.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2530 Hands Tied

    Chapter 2530 Hands Tied


    Lin Mu''s actions had not gone unnoticed though, and the person behind it had been watching it all.


    "It''s him again!" Yao Changying hovered in the air cross legged as an indigo colored wisp floated in front of her chest. Fine tendrils were extending from her chest and connecting to the Soul Fragment, absorbing it steadily.


    ''Just focus on the task at hand. My Soul Fragment is a lot more important than him right now.'' A voice rang in her head.


    "I know." Yao Changying said with a frown. "But the stalling measures won''tst long. I can only maintain so many Spatial Rifts even with the power of the Key." "Once you''ve absorbed at least half of the Soul Fragment, I''ll be able to handle the rest. Then you can take care of them." The voice replied, a hint of unease in it.


    But as time went by, Yao Changying''s anxiety continued to increase. She was watching Lin Mu closing the Spatial Rifts which should have been impossible by normal means.


    "How is he even doing that? What is he?" She couldn''t help but question. "He seems different from what we saw before¡­ is he the same as us?" she wondered


    She remembered seeing the form of Lin Mo, who had threatened them openly. She had felt the dangerous power emitting from him and the deadly aura that surrounded him.


    ''Whoever he is, he is not simple. He seems to be fine now, but that aura he had back then¡­ it was definitely that of the Devils.'' The voice replied. ''Back when I was still alive, I had faced someone like him.'' She revealed. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "In your time as the Withered Spirit Daoist?" Yao Changying asked. "Whom did you face?"


    "Yes¡­" The Soul of the Withered Spirit Daoist answered. "The one that I faced was a Devil cultivator called as the Spear Toothed Devil. His power was a lot greater than mine and if not for the help of my master, I would''ve died." She exined.


    "That strong?" Yao Changying was surprised. "How does thatpare to him?" she asked.


    "While the Spear Toothed Devil was a lot stronger in cultivationpared to him, the aura that this man had¡­ it was far too strong. That look in his eyes and the way he absorbed souls¡­ it is not something any normal devil cultivator can do. If he really is like us, the soul he has within him might belong to a War Devil or perhaps an Elder Devil." The Withered Spirit Daoist answered feeling doubtful.


    Yao Changying didn''t know what either of those were, but from the tone of her panion'' she could at least tell they were terrifyingly strong. "Since that soul isn''t active right now, we need to get rid of him. We can''t have ite out¡­" Yao Changying stated.


    "You''re right. That thing really might be able to erase our souls." The Withered Spirit Daoist remembered the threat Lin Mo had given them. ''He was also the only one that managed to sense me.'' She thought to herself.


    There was no falsehood in his eyes and they knew he would really do it if given the chance.


    But as Yao Changying heard this, a thought appeared in her mind.


    "Do you think¡­ it might have been him that destroyed the third Soul Fragment?" Yao Changying questioned. "He was here too and was attempting to get it." She added.


    "It might just have been¡­ There aren''t many that would be able to destroy my soul fragments. If anything, they would only end up getting their bodies taken over. But if it was the power of a devil¡­ things would change." The Withered Spirit Daoist said in a serious tone.


    "Then we need to kill him." Yao Changying said with hate. "We cannot afford to let him be alive. If not for the fact that we need to keep the emperors busy, I''d have sent everyone to attack him right now." She uttered.


    If not for her hands being tied, she would not have been here alone. "Just a little more. We''re close to being done half." The Withered Spirit Daoist urged. "Once we have that, dealing with him will be possible, and when it''s fully absorbed, there won''t be anyone that will be able to stop us." She said, feeling excited.


    Yao Changying simply nodded in response and focused on absorbing the soul fragment as the size of the indigo wisp began to decrease at a faster rate.


    This had been the entire reason she had used the Chimeric Beasts to stop Lin Mu and hispanions and not herself. After having blocked the explosion from the Antean Neptunium, she was a bit injured and needed to recover as well as absorb the soul fragment.


    All the other ck Ying Empire members were currently busy in leading battles in the three continents and upying the attention of the other empires. But if even a single emperor managed to find out what was happening here, they could rush over and attempt to stop her.


    In her current state of absorption, she was highly vulnerable.


    Ideally speaking, she should have done this in a safe ce with a Dharma protector, but the detonation of the Antean Neptunium had forced her hand. The way she had saved the Sou fragment had been to connect to it, so that her body could protect it. And connecting to it meant that she was now forced to begin the absorption. But if there was anything Yao Changying was, it was stubborn. She would never turn on her goals now that she was this close to them.


    ''I''ll kill you, Mu Lin. No matter what I have to do.'' Yao Changying had never forgotten the multiple humiliations she had suffered at his hands.


    She had given up a lot to gain this power, and she was not going to let her sacrifice go to waste. She would get what she deserved, for she believed she was born to rule over it all.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2531 Changed Yao Changying

    Chapter 2531 Changed Yao Changying


    Sixty percent of the Spatial Rifts had been closed and Lin Mu was about to close another one when he felt a spike in energy.


    His pupils constricted as he got a feeling of rm.


    "Blink!" He quickly disappeared from his position and appeared ten meters away.


    ~BOOM~


    The ce he had been before was struck by arge tentacle made out of pure Withering Dao Energy!


    If it had struck him, he would have been injured even with the Longgui Bulwark Armour protecting it.


    ''The Withering Dao Energy contained within it is even greater than the first Yin Nascent Soul Maggot I fought.'' Lin Mupared.


    He had been struck by it too and despite the Longgui Bulwark Armor it had managed to enter his body. If not for hispanions help, he might not have managed to survive it. And while he was a bit stronger now, he didn''t think he''d be able to take too many of them.


    If he got hit by one, he would most certainly get hit with anotherter. These will stack and he won''t get the time to purge the Withering Dao Energy.


    ''I should take precautions.'' Lin Mu quickly swallowed the pills and put on the talismans they had prepared to this exact situation.


    At the same time, he quickly discovered where therge Withering Dao energy tentacle hade from.


    "Yao Changying!" Lin Mu spotted the woman who had changed quite a bit.


    From thest time he had seen her, the heiress of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect and the Niece of the Holy Topaz Emperor had be more matured.


    If before she bore the demeanor of a distant princess she now bore the aloof coldness and divinity of a Fierce Empress.


    Wearing form fitting ck and dark green robes that highlighted her curves and created a deep ravine on her chest, she exuded a charm that would make most men loll their tongues. Her long fingernails that were painted ck were like a seductress ws, tempting to pull out one''s soul.


    Finally, on her head rested a spiked ck crown with her hair flowing out between each spike. The crown looked menacing, butbined with her appearance it only enhanced her charm.


    With an appearance like this, even if she didn''t tempt people with power, there would be more than enough submitting just from her beauty.


    ''It''s only been twenty five years and yet the change seems like a thousand years.'' Lin Mu couldn''t help but think.


    While immortals lived a long time, a period of twenty five years was but just a small cultivation session for them. Most immortals wouldn''t even change much in a thousand years not to mention in a hundred years or less.


    As such the change in Yao Changying was unusual. It was the kind of change that was brought upon by profound progress in cultivation orprehension of Dao. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Those that knew Lin Mu could tell that he had gone through this before too. As such the man could identify it in others.


    ''The Withered Spirit Daoist''s Soul has definitely affected hear greatly.'' Lin Mu could only think of that as to be the cause and now that hepared her to the former Celestial, there was definitely a visage present there.


    "Mu Lin¡­ or should I say Lin Mu." Yao Changying spoke, in a cold voice. "You''ve fouled my goals again and again. But no more¡­ for your end shall be now!" she shouted, her voice sounding as if not one but two people were speaking.


    "You''re right¡­ Their souls have gotten closer than ever." Xukong spoke. "They''ll be one singr being soon." He said in a serious tone.


    Normally something like this would be highly concerning, as it was a situation that only happened when a cultivator took over the body of another. Nascent Soul Realm cultivators and above could do this with their Nascent Soul and it was often frowned upon unless done in specific conditions.


    And original owner of the body would most certainly not want something like this. As such a unique situation like this was very rare and was only possible when there was mutual cooperation between the foreign soul and the original soul.


    ~HUALA~


    Yao Changying extended her hand out and made a sweeping gesture, causing arge mass of Withering Energy to take form of another tentacle thatshed out at Lin Mu.


    But Lin Mu quickly dodged it with Cloud Dragon Stride, leaving behind a trial of clouds that hid his position.


    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~


    He kept on dodging as the tentacle rushed after him, but was unable to get closer than a few meters. "You really are a bothersome pest." Yao Changying said with ire before swinging her left hand in a w gesture.


    ~HUALA~


    This time arge w formed out of Withering Energy tore through the air, intending to rip apart Lin Mu while the Tentacle blocked his path.


    "Magma Fury!" Lin Mu instantly activated his skill, as tworge magma ws formed from his hands.


    ~DENG~DENG~


    With his hands held apart, he blocked the dual attacks, stopping the Withering Energy from touching his body directly. But even if he was doing that, it wouldn''tst long as the Withering Energy was already traveling over the ws and corrupting the energy within it.


    Before Lin Mu could resist it with the Searing hot energy but now with Yao Changying''s improved power, it was way harder.


    ~HISS~


    Lin Mu could see the red hot ws turning darker and cooling down before crumbling into craggy rocks.


    ''She''s definitely several times stronger than before.'' Lin Mu frowned. He tried sensing Yao Changying''s cultivation base but realized that he couldn''t do so at all. ''Shit, her body is surrounded in Withering Dao Energy too.'' Lin Mu''s immoral sense almost got injured when it got closed.


    "That won''t work, you pest." Yao Changying said, "I am not longer what you can deal with." The woman raised her hand causing arge mountain to form in the air.


    Lin Mu narrowed his eyes as he saw this, finding it a bit familiar.


    ''Wasn''t this the signature skill of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect?'' Lin Mu saw the simrities.


    But now the woman was using it without a sword and Lin Mu saw almost no Sword intent in it either. ''Wait a second¡­ now that I think of it.'' Lin Mu could feel almost no semnce of a sword practitioner from Yao Changying anymore. ''Even if she isn''t usingsword, she shouldn''t be like this.'' He thought to himself.


    Even if someone wasn''t a pure sword cultivator, they would still have an aura of sword with them that was imbued into them after long years of used. And Yao Changying was a high level Sword Practitioner that had developed her Sword Intent to the High Rank.


    Someone like her would always have it on her body even if she wasn''t using Sword Skills. A fellow user of Sword Intent would know this at just a nce. And yet, Lin Mu was unable to sense even a smidgen of it from her body.


    "Are you Yao Changying, or are you the Withered Soul Daoist?" Lin Mu asked out loud, making the woman miss a beat.


    She froze just for a second which was more than enough for Lin Mu to get out of the range of the falling mountain.


    "You¡­ How do you know that!?" Yao Changying was surprised. ''Even if they had found out about the Soul Fragment and the old records, no way they would know about your name.'' She said in her mind.


    "He shouldn''t have known it¡­ Even in the Celestial Realm it isn''t a name they would remember. Not after all this time." The Withered Soul Daoist said feeling surprised as well.


    "I know a lot more than that." Lin Mu said as he left a trail of clouds, avoiding another attack from the tentacle. ''Those can move without her needing to act¡­ does she only need to activate them once?'' he thought as he continued to analyze the woman''s skills.


    "Shut up!" Yao Changying shouted in two voices, as she created more tentacles that rushed, trying to cut off Lin Mu''s path.


    ~CLANG~CLANG~CLAGN~


    Lin Mu swung out with his two swords, cutting them apart while also using Magma Fury to block those that he couldn''t cut in time. This time the ws extended out of his back, stopping the attacksing from his blind spots.


    "I know who you are and what you wish to do." Lin Mu said, trying to disturb her state of mind. "Those Soul Fragments, they all belong to the Withered Soul Daoist within you don''t they? A Fallen celestial yearning to be a ''True Celestial''?" he revealed openly making the woman freeze once more in shock.


    "Great ughter Pine! Great Ocean Rake!" taking the chance he quickly used two of his strong sword skills, intending to destroy all the tentacles at once.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2532 Taunting And Combat

    Chapter 2532 Taunting And Combat


    ~WOONG~


    A golden sh flew out from Afternoon Pine and grew into a giant metal pine tree that extended its branches broadly. The pine needles that grew on it were as sharp as sword and exuded rich sword intent that could make one feel cut even without touching it.


    As soon as the yellow metal pine tree was fully grown, it released tens of thousands of pine needles that unleashed a flurry of attacks upon the tentacles that were targeting Lin Mu.


    Each pine needle was like a master''s cksmith''s sword and was incredibly sharp, tearing apart the tentacles made out of Withering Energy and shredding it into scraps. If these were cultivators made out of flesh and bone, they would have already been turned into a bloody mist by now.


    But for the tentacles, they only dissipated into a mass of Withering Dao energy.


    The blue sh from Ocean Raker on the other hand turned into a giant w that mmed down upon the ground, causing giant waves of blue sword energy that carried the might of Sword Intent in it. It undted and mmed into the ws of Withering Energy that Yao Changying had made, stopping them in their tracks and ripping them apart as well.


    The effects of the two sword skills was very good, and freed Lin Mu from his predicament, allowing him to act.


    ~WHOOSH~


    He left a trail of clouds as he arrived right in front of Yao Changying before shing out.


    ~CLANG~ CLANG~


    "You!!!" But the woman stopped his swords rather easily, simply blocking them with her hands that were covered with Withering Energy.


    ~HISS~


    Lin Mu could sense the Withering Energy trying to harm the two swords. If it were not for the Sword Intent imbued within them, they might have even rusted from such power.


    "You''ve made a mistakeing this close!" Yao Changying scoffed as four Withering Energy tentacles sprouted from her arms stabbing at Lin Mu!.


    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~


    The Longgui Bulwark Armor stopped them in time, but the tentacles weren''t going to halt their efforts.


    "I can do that too!" Lin Mu replied as searing hot energy rose form his armor, turning into red magma tendrils that crawled up the Withering Energy Tentacles.


    ~SIZZLE~SIZZLE~~SIZZLE~


    The Withering energy tried to erode the magma, while the magma tried to burn it away.


    A short stalemate was reached as Lin Mu stared into the eyes of Yao Changying.


    "Why would you do something like this?" Lin Mu questioned. "You were the heiress of the Flourishing Flower Sword Sect, niece of the Holy Topaz Emperor and had everything one might need. You are talented swordswoman and have great Sword Intent too. You''ve trained in the Immortal Court and have countless opportunitiesying in your path¡­


    Why take something that would sacrifice so much? You would have achieved greatness even without it all." He wished to know.


    "Humph! Do you take yourself as some paragon!?" Yao Changying did not take kindly to his words, retaliating harshly as a surge of Withering energy pushed Lin Mu back.


    ~SPLASH~ Lin Mu defended with his magma while letting the impact of the Withering Energy push him back to create distance between them. "I just want to know why you would take a risk that would end up with you losing your own soul." Lin Mu didn''t stop asking. "If it was just the chance of bing Celestial, there are still many others. Why take the hand of a Celestial that failed to even do it properly?" he asked.


    ~SCREAM~


    But his words seemed to have hit a soft spot, not for Yao Changying but the other soul inside her as a harsh scream was heard.


    Yao Changying''s face froze for a second before distorting in pain.


    "ARGH!" Lin Mu was surprised at this and couldn''t help but wonder what was happening.


    "Hoho¡­ Looks like we are in luck." Lin Mo suddenly spoke up inside his mind. "Their souls haven''t finished merging¡­ Even thetest fragment hasn''t been fully absorbed." He revealed.


    "It hasn''t? You sure?" Lin Mu asked raising his brows.


    "I can sense it. There''s three soul fluctuations from her body. One is Yao Changying''s own soul, one is the Withered Spirit Daoist and thest one is the smallest from the Soul Fragment. Since its is still emitting the fluctuations, it is still an individual entity." Lin Mo answered with confidence.


    "So she is still stoppable." Lin Mu narrowed his eyes, as the woman''s expression changed again. "YOU WILL DIE!" Yao Changying screamed in a hoarse voice as a dark gas came out of her mouth.


    "Now it''s the old hag in control." Lin Mo chucked.


    ~CLANG~


    Lin Mu swung out in a preemptive attack, releasing two shes.


    ~POOF~


    But they simply disappeared into a cloud of Withering Dao energy that the woman blew out. ''It''s stronger than before.'' Lin Mu could sense that his sword shes had simply been eroded away. ''And that was despite the Sword Intent.'' His expression grew darker.


    The reason why Lin Mu was using his swords was because he could use Sword Intent that could suppress the Withering Dao Energy to some level or at leastbat it. But now that even that wasn''t working, he would have to work on another strategy.


    "And it''ll continue to get stronger." Lin Mo spoke. "The more she absorbs that final Soul Fragment, the more power she''ll be able to draw. Her proficiency with the Withering Dao is growing as we speak." He added.


    Lin Mu could tell that the cultivation base of the woman didn''t seem to be changing much, thus the gain in strength wasing from some ce else like Lin Mo was suggesting.


    "Does a cultivator''s Dao Proficiencye with their soul?" Lin Mu asked, as he had never seen it before.


    "If one is highly proficient in it, the Dao Proficiency will be carried into their souls, specially for Celestials whose souls are highly important in their cultivation." Xukong confirmed.


    "Then we have to stop her before she grows any stronger." Lin Mu couldn''t even begin imaging just how strong she would be if she had the Dao Proficiency of a Celestial while in the Immortal Realm.


    He knew about the Saintess power and even if she only used a fraction of it; it was still more than enough to destroy a lot of things. And while the Withered Spirit Daoist might have been weaker than her in her prime, it was still a lot more than what an immortal would be able to fight against.


    "Use the sutra." Lin Mo suggested. "Only with that would you be able to target their souls." ~HUALA~


    The Withering Dao energy cloud that the Withered Soul Daoist had spat out transformed into hundreds of maggots that all rushed towards Lin Mu, intending to burrow into his body.


    "The Murdering Heart Sutra¡­" Lin Mu muttered as he dodged several of the attacks that came his way while contemting the use of the Sutra.


    He hesitated for a minute, but seeing the situation was getting worse with time, he knew he had to do something.


    "So be it¡­" Lin Mu muttered as a fierce look shone in his eyes.


    "Reap the souls of all creations, take their providence as yours and bring forth Hell upon the Myriad Heavens! ¡ª Behold The Murdering Heart Sutra!" he chanted.


    ~HONGLONG~


    As soon as he did, the change in his aura was almost instantaneous. A surge of dark purple aura burst from his body, surrounding him and covering an area of five meters around him.


    Yao Changying, who was watching everything from the backseat in her mind, was shocked by the aura.


    "It''s him¡­ it''s that person again." Yao Changying said in her mind.


    "I won''t let him have his way!" The Withered Soul Daoist said, not feeling very good after having been taunted.


    If there was one thing she hated the most in her life was people mocking her about her failure to be a True Celestial. This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    She had given up a lot to try a second time, and she wasn''t going to be stopped by someone who wasn''t even at her level.


    With fury in her mind, she unleashed the power of the Bridge ne''s arrays.


    ~HONGLONG~


    Arge rift opened up in the sky, bigger than all others as a surge of Withering Energy poured out of it along with Death Qi!


    But that wasn''t all as once could also see a swarm of Chimeric Beasts as well as Yin Nascent Soul Maggots flying out!


    Their numbers were far greater than before and at least two hundred could be seen. But these weren''t the small ones that had been created freshly, but rather fully grown ones that were each fifty meters long or more!


    ~SCREECH~SCREECH~SCCREECH~


    Their shrill screeches could be heard as they all rushed at the pir of dark purple aura that hid Lin Mu.


    ~BOOM~


    But just as they were about to get close, the aura exploded pushing them.


    "Just when I needed a bit of a snack."


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2533 Yao Changyings Fear

    Chapter 2533 Yao Changying''s Fear


    Lin Mo''s appearance was something both Yao Changying and the Withered Spirit Daoist had been not wishing to happen.


    He was the only one other than the Emperors that had made them feel threatened. Having obtained more Soul Fragments, they had not been as worried about the Emperors as they knew that the Withering Dao Energy would be more than enough to tie them down.


    The Huiqing Emperor had already been weakened and was stuck purifying it form his body thus wouldn''t be able to interfere in time. The Holy Topaz Emperor on the other hand had his hands tied due to the presence of ck Ying Empire right in his backyard.


    The force that had once been the hidden dagger of the Holy Topaz Dynasty had now been turned against them.


    The Holy Topaz Emperor regretted not listening to a few of the old advisers who told him to remove them from the empire long ago. They had warned him that they would one day be a threat to them and that their existence shouldn''t be allowed anymore.


    But the Holy Topaz Emperor couldn''t just eradicate entire ns of people who had once served his forefathers. He had taken the advisers to be getting anxious in their old age, but now he understood that those words had been spoken with wisdom of old age instead.


    As such, even if he was nearby he wouldn''t be able toe help easily.


    This only left the Dao Wind Emperor left. Emperor Feng was considered the strongest among the three, having ovee two Transcendent Tribtions. Hisprehension of the Wind Dao was also the highest in the entire Rust Sky world and his speed was unparalleled among them.


    As such he was the greatest threat that could be in opposition to the Withered Spirit Daoist''s n.


    To prevent him from acting, she had intentionally released their Chimeric Beasts in the Dao Wind Empire. Shortly after Lin Mu and the others had left, the attacks in the empire had increased, and right before Yao Changying had sensed the appearance of the final Soul Fragment she had used their strongest pawns, the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots she had nurtured into the Capital City itself!


    Over the twenty five years, she had nurtured a lot of them and their numbers had already reached the thousands. While the ones Lin Mu and the others had destroyed had been a loss and had set back Yao Changying''s n, the years after had allowed her to redo it all.


    The Yin Nascent Soul Maggots were special creation having been curated by the Withered Soul Daoist. They were madebining the Withering Dao, the versatility and adaptability of the Chimeric Qi as well as the special technique that only she knew.


    They were a weapon that could not only cause a lot of damage and were strong, even killing them would cause further harm as their death would result in an explosion of Withering Dao energy that would corrupt everything around it. This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    As such, fighting it was something that would constantly cause harm and their death would still serve the purpose of destruction.


    In order to reduce the causalities, someone with a greatprehension of Dao would be needed and that someone was Emperor Feng.


    Only he would be able to contain or blow away the Withering Dao Energy.


    This only left Lin Mu or rather Lin Mo as the variable.


    Theck of information about him also made things difficult to deal with, and from what Yao Changying had learned about Devil cultivators she knew that they were even more terrifying than the Withered Spirit Daoist and the Withering Dao itself.


    And with the unique condition of symbiosis they were in, the powers of a Devil were a great counter to them.


    As such, she hoped that the straightforward method of overwhelming the foe with her pawns would be the best method. Observing Lin Mu and now Lin Mo also showed her that he was a lot weaker than when they had faced off before, giving her greater hope.


    Unfortunately for her, she had no idea how Lin Mo''s powers actually worked.


    When she had fought him before, Lin Mo had already umted enough souls to face off with her. His weakness right now was only because he needed some time to ''charge'' up.


    "Just when I needed a bit of a snack." The nonchnt voice of Lin Mo could be heard.


    Yao Changying and the Withered Spirit Daoist saw the devilish smile blooming on the man''s face as well as dark purple eyes that were ringed with red gazing at the iing swarm of creatures. He seemed unconcernedby the threat they posed, even amused on some level.


    The man causally raised Afternoon Pine and swung it.


    ~HUALA~


    Unlike the yellow sword sh from before, the sh now was deep purple, just like the man''s aura.


    It tore through the Chimeric beasts that were the nearest before reaching the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots.


    ~SCREECH~


    The Yin Nascent Soul Maggots cried out in pain as their tentacles that were extending towards Lin Mu were cut. Seeing this though, the Withered Soul Daoist smiled.


    "He''s definitely weaker." The attack that had once killed them in one go had been stopped with mere injuries. "He was probably injured back then." She had guessed that he must''ve paid a great price or bring everyone out.


    After all, that was a Celestial Treasure and its control was only possible with someone who had the key. Heck, even with a key, there were limitations on what could be done. It had taken the Withered Spirit Daoist and Yao Changying twenty five years to improve their control over it.


    That was the entire reason why they had been dyed in unleashing their full force. The had been forced to bide their time and could only grow their force in the bridge ne overtime.


    Later on when her control had improved, she could open a few Spatial rifts to transport her pawns.


    But releasing the Chimeric beasts from the Bridge ne was still impossible due to the fact that it was made to contain them. Basically it went against the programming of the arrays, as such they had to forcefully override it to allow them to do this.


    Only after gaining more Soul Fragments did the Withered Soul Daoist manage to override it. If it were just Yao Changying alone, she would never be able to do that, as it needed another Celestial to do the same.


    But just as they were thinking all this, they saw something surprising.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    The souls of the Chimeric Beasts that had been killed rushed over to Lin Mo, entering his body.


    ~HONGLONG~


    A secondter, a dark purple cape fluttered out of his shoulders and extended up into the sky.


    It quickly grew to a length of five meters, exuding an ominous aura.


    "That should be enough to jump start it." Lin Mo said as he looked at the two swords in his hand. "You two know what to do¡­ Drink!" hemanded as he dipped them into the dark purple cape.


    Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker had been hesitantst time because they had sensed that it hadn''t exactly been their master who had been using them. But now that they had experienced it all and understood that this was still technically under their master''s control, they were free to unleash their full power.


    Thus, they greedily drank the power of the souls that made up the cape.


    If there was one thing that they had likedst time, it was the feeling of pure power that came from Lin Mo''s presence. Drinking the power of souls was almost intoxicating to the swords, on a level they couldn''t understand.


    It was almost the same as consuming as much Sword Intent as they could.


    Not even two secondster, the five meter long cape had disappeared, having been consumed by the two swords. The two swords didn''t change their appearance much like before, but a purple sheen appeared on their edges.


    ~HUMM~


    They hummed with power as they wished to unleash their potential upon the foes of their master!


    "Good. I''ll feed you more once you hunt them down." Lin Mo said with a smile before he shed out with the swords once more. "Disaster Sword!" ~SHING~SHING~SHING~SHING~


    Two dark purple sword shes flew out, that extended to a length of nearly a hundred meters each. They met the Chimeric Beasts as well as the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots that had gotten closer again and cleaved them in half.


    But that was just the start as two halves of the corpses seemingly exploded, a mixture of Devil Qi and Sword Intent tearing through the air!


    ~BOOM~


    It swept over the iing creatures, stopping their charge and reversing it on some level.


    An area of four hundred meters was easily cleared out as another shipment of souls was readied for Lin Mo.


    "Bring it on." Lin Mo said as the first spike of fear rose within Yao Changying''s heart.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2534 Resisting Temptation

    Chapter 2534 Resisting Temptation


    Once the inflow of souls started, Lin Mo started building his momentum. Theck of souls had limited the number of skills he could use and most of his stronger skills were limited by pure quantity of souls. Soon, the dark purple cape behind him started to grow, and quickly reached a length of fifty meters.


    In this time, Lin Mo had kept on shing out and killing all the Chimeric beasts and Yin Nascent Soul Maggots that wereing close to him. A two hundred meter circle of death was created around him, as anything that entered it died almost instantly.


    His power was also increasing steadily, having reached the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm just from the Devil Qi he had acquired by killing. This wasn''t even counting Lin Mu''s own cultivation.


    Such a fast increase in power was almost intoxicating and Lin Mu who had been observing this all couldn''t help but feel tempted.


    ''If it''s so easy to increase one''s cultivation by killing, what use would there be to cultivate normally?'' A thought appeared in his mind.


    It seemed almost subtle and he didn''t even realize when it had appeared. But once it did, he couldn''t help but drift over to it. ''Is this really correct?'' He wondered, a hint of skepticism rising in him.


    But it was quickly quashed by the demonstration of power, making him deny it.


    ''Power is power.'' Lin Mu remembered what Xukong had said once. ''It does not matter where ites from, but rather how one uses it.'' He pondered.


    And once he reached this conclusion, he felt as if his mind had stilled, and his emotions were disappearing. All that was left in his mind was utter rationality, something that he was familiar with.


    ''The Severing Heart Sutra activated on its own¡­ Third Stage of Internal Resonance!'' As a surprise to him, the Second sutra had actually progressed on its own.


    ''How did this happen?'' Lin Mu was a bit confused. He thought back to the process he had gone through and quickly grasped that it was due to the thoughts he had been having in this specific situation.


    ''The temptation of the Devil Path¡­ Senior Xukong talked about this.'' Lin Mu understood what had just happened.


    It was a kind of temptation that the greatest of cultivators had fallen to. It was incredibly powerful and could make the most righteous of sword cultivators and Buddhists turn to its side.


    Resisting it was not easy at all.


    People thought that the way to resist it was to simply deny it outright. This did work on some level and temporary stopped the temptations. But they would onlyeter with a greater temptation that before.


    This would keep on increasing over and over, until one was unable to resist them.


    But what Lin Mu had done was different.


    ''The key is eptance with pragmatism and rationality at its core.'' Lin Mu now understood for that was the effect that the Severing Heart Sutra bestowed upon one.


    This was why the Calming Heart Sutra was not the most effective counter to the Murdering Heart Sutra.


    It merely calmed the turbulent emotions, but did not erase its origin. The Severing Heart Sutra on the other hand, cut them all off, leaving behind pure rationality.


    ''Oveing the temptation of the Murdering Heart Sutra while making use of its benefit was the key to progressing the Severing Heart Sutra.'' Lin Mu had managed to uncover the hidden condition. ''Does this mean other Sutra''s can be progressed simrly?'' he wondered.


    He thought to the other two sutras that could counteract each other which were the Calming Heart Sutra and the Burning Heart Sutra.


    In order to deactivate the Burning Heart Sutra, Lin Mu needed the Calming Heart Sutra. But thetter had already progressed to the third stage on its own a while back when Monk Hushu had helped him.


    The Burning Heart Sutra was still in the second stage of External Comprehension and had not progressed at all. Though Lin Mu''s usage of the sutra had also gone down considerably since he had been with hispanions.


    The power provided by it hadn''t been as needed by him, since his body cultivation had been high enough to be good without it. Plus there was also the issue of the Demon stealing away the Violet Mystic Life tree.


    As such, Lin Mu had not used it to prevent things from gettingplex. His identity as the demon was also one of the things Lin Mu had kept secret from hispanions even now. It was simply better that way.


    ''The Calming Heart Sutra progressed on its own, but the Burning Heart Sutra hasn''t. Do I need to ovee some condition rted to the Calming Heart Sutra in order to progress it?'' he wondered.


    He thought about it and kept it as one of the things to doter.


    Then there was the Nurturing Heart Sutra that was also stuck as the Second Stage of External Comprehension. It was the one that Lin Mu had the least amount of idea on how to progress it.


    Its effects had also been mostly the same overall. Both the first and second stage seemingly gave the same effect of creating Beast Qi, with the only difference being the quality and quantity of it.


    But soon Lin Mu was brought out of his thoughts, as Lin Mo had changed his attacks in the battle outside.


    "Disaster Sword- First Form: Cloudburst!" the man swung out Ocean raker towards the sky sending a purple sh that transformed into clouds and covered an area of a kilometer.


    The clouds grew and soon began to rain down, with each raindrop containing sword intent. The drops tore through the swarms of Chimeric Beasts and Yin Nascent Soul beasts, destroying them faster than before.


    But when Lin Mu observed this he suddenly understood something he had missed before.


    ''Wait¡­ The Murdering Heart Sutra¡­ it''s on the Second stage of the External Comprehension too?'' Lin Mu suddenly realized.Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2535 Observing Disaster Sword Technique

    Chapter 2535 Observing Disaster Sword Technique


    Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    The Murdering Heart Sutra had silently progressed a while back, but he hadn''t checked on it. The increase had been rather stealthy and only when he thought about it properly now did it show it.


    ''Did it increase when Lin Mo first appeared in full force?'' Lin Mu thought to himself. ''I did pass out soon after that so perhaps I didn''t get to sense it in time.'' He reckoned.


    He did have a lot to deal with then, thus it wouldn''t be too out of the norm for him to miss something like this.


    Lin Mu had wished to learn the Disaster Sword technique and had focused on it since Lin Mo had finally began to use it to the full extent. The devilish man had said that Lin Mu would learn it on his own when he observed it long enough and when Lin Mo used it.


    It had been a bit confusing to him as he didn''t think merely observing would be good enough.


    But now that he was fully alert while the technique was being used, he could certainly feel it.


    ''The flow of Qi and sword intent¡­ the transformation of both and the resonance of the swords¡­ I can sense it all.'' Lin Mu realized, as he could begin grasping the technique.


    He observed the size of the skill andpared it to the one Lin Mo had used in the past.


    ''It was a lot bigger then, three kilometer long but this is just one kilometer.'' He analyzed. ''Is this due to theck of souls?'' he checked the dark purple cape behind Lin Mo and saw that its size had once again reduced to ten meters.


    This basically confirmed it for him.


    ''While the power of Disaster Sword is very high, the same could be said for its Qi consumption.'' Lin Mu understood. ''Though at least its output can be adjusted as needed too.'' He reckoned seeing the variance in size of the skill''s area.


    Lin Mo continued to kill all the foes in its path, and consumed their souls, growing the size of the dark purple cape behind him again.


    ''Hmm¡­ I''ll call it the Soul Cape.'' Lin Mu reckoned it needed a name now.


    The size of the soul cape dictated the power of Lin Mo''s techniques as well as his cultivation base overall. The bigger the cape was, the greater the cultivation base.


    ''When it had reached one kilometer, Lin Mo''s power had reached the Transcendent Immortal realm.'' Lin Mu could faintly remember the feeling of pure power from back then.


    It was unlike anything that he had felt so far, and gave him a tease of what it was like to be a Transcendent Immortal.


    Compared to that size, the cape was barely a fraction of it.


    Lin Mu could sense that Lin Mo''s cultivation base was now at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.


    ''No wait¡­ the size does not fully represent the cultivation.'' Lin Mu thought seeing that the reduction in the cape hadn''t caused a fall in his cultivation from before. He observed it for a while more and saw that the Soul cape had soon reached the length of a hundred meters, but Lin Mo''s cultivation was still at the Fourth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.


    ''Perhaps its more of an upper limit than an absolute marker.'' Lin Mu needed more time to observe and analyze it all.


    Since he wished to use the Technique independently of Lin Mo, he needed to be fully aware of its ins and outs.


    Lin Mo knew that Lin Mu was watching and only smirked as he continued to ughter. It was rather fun for him and he enjoyed his time being let out. Ocean Raker were fully covered with the dark purple energy and now looked like an entirely different sword. The same could be said for Afternoon Pine that was held in the left hand.


    Both of the swords had drank a lot of Devil Qi from the cape and had be energized by it, allowing Lin Mo to use more of the Disaster Sword Technique.


    "More, more, more!" Lin Mo eximed. "Bring me more souls!" he said before pointing his swords to the bottom. ~HUALA~


    "Disaster Sword- Second Form: Flood!" Beams of purple sword energy were shot into the ocean below and it began to churn.


    The ocean turned dark purple and began to swell as intense waves swept the area. All those that were unfortunately enough toe within its grasp were pulled into it, turning into a bloody mist that was assimted by the ocean.


    This wasn''t limited to the Chimeric Beasts and the Yin Nascent Soul Maggots either. The unfortunate aquatic beasts that had not managed to escape by now were all consumed by it, releasing a surge of delectable souls for Lin Mo to consume.


    "Ahh¡­ this is what I''m talking about." Lin Mo enjoyed the feeling as he consumed the souls of the beasts. The ocean was home to trillions of creatures. The area that Lin Mo had targeted was about two kilometer in size, but it still held millions of creatures in it, all of which had souls which had now be Lin Mo''s source of power.


    Yao Changying who had been focused on controlling the Spatial Rifts was getting more and more anxious watching this.


    It had barely been five minutes since Lin Mo had appeared and he had already begun to gain the upperhand.


    "We cannot let this continue." Yao Changying said. "He''s gaining power from their souls. He''ll only be stronger over time. We can''t even stop using the pawns, or he''ll quickly charge at us." She was in a dilemma.


    "We''ll have to use ''that''." The Withered Spirit Daoist replied after thinking.


    "That? Are you strong enough to use it now?" Yao Changying asked.


    "The Soul fragment absorption is at seventy five percent. It''s enough for us to use it once." The Withered Spirit Daoist said. "If we can''t stop his cultivation from rising, we need to target his soul itself!"


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2536 Soul Defense

    Chapter 2536 Soul Defense


    Lin Mo was enjoying his time ughtering the Chimeric Beasts and was keeping Yao Changying for thest, knowing that he''ll need a lot more power to kill her.


    ''Killing their souls will need all my strength at once.'' Lin Mo knew and as such was focusing on umting the needed souls first.


    He also knew that Yao Changying would not be able to attack him easily right now as she was doing multiple things at once and her focus was divided. She was not only focusing on absorbing the Soul Fragment, but also controlling the Arrays of the Bridge ne and using them to react Spatial rifts, but also to maintain the Spatial Folding Barrier around them.


    If she were a Spatial Master, she would be able to do a lot more and wouldn''t have to divide her attention this much. But since she was not, all she could do was to use more of her focus to do the same.


    Having her hands tied meant that Lin Mo could take his time.


    But what he didn''t expect was for the woman to suddenly move.


    ~HUALA~


    She disappeared in a puffs of Withering Energy and appeared right in front of Lin Mo!


    "Can''t wait to die from my hands?" Lin Mo was unfazed by it though and teased her again.


    "Quite the opposite." The woman spoke, in two voices. "I''m here to end you instead!" she screamed.


    "Withering Spirit Death Art: Soul Pike!" The woman chanted.


    A dark grey symbol formed on her bountiful chest before a spiked tentacle rose from it!


    Lin Mo who saw it couldn''t help but narrow his eye and blocked it with Afternoon Pine.


    ~SHA~


    But much to his surprise, the spiked tentacle passed through the sword as if it were air! It directly reached Lin Mo and pierced his chest. The man''s expression turned dark as he frowned. "A Soul attack¡­" Lin Mo uttered before his vision turned dark.


    Yao Changying was in a simr state too, and her eyes had rolled back into her head, showing only the whites. The two were connected by the spiked tentacle which pulsed nonstop, emitting an eerie aura.


    Lin Mu who was watching from his mind was taken aback by the sudden change of events. Yao Changying had suddenlye close and used an attack that bypassed their defenses with ease.


    ~SHUA~


    In his mind, Lin Mu felt a foreign presence intruding.


    "UGH!" he felt his head ache as if someone was stabbing a needle through it.


    ~RIP~


    A momentter though, a tearing sound was heard and Lin Mu''s consciousness opened its eyes. Looking around he could see a vast empty expanse which he recognized to be his consciousness.


    "I''m in my soul form?" Lin Mu looked at his hands that looked rather ethereal.


    ~RIP~


    The tearing sound was heard again, pulling his attention and making him look at it. "That¡­" He saw ripples appearing in the walls of his consciousness before a tear opened up from which a spiked tentacle appeared!


    It was the same tentacle that had attacked Lin Mo earlier.


    "It managed to enter my consciousness?!" Lin Mu hadn''t expected that.


    He didn''t get to think much though as the spiked tentacle attacked in a sh, directly heading towards Lin Mu''s head!


    Lin Mu couldn''t react fast enough in this form and could only watch as the tentacle came towards him.


    ~HONGLONG~


    But just before the Spiked tentacle were about to reach him, a sonorous sound was heard.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    In the next moment, three broad rings surrounded Lin Mu''s True Soul blocking the Spiked Tentacle.


    ~CLANG~


    The spiked tentacle collided against the rings and was blocked from progressing. The three green rings hummed loudly and Lin Mu could faintly here some whispersing from them.


    Knowing what was happening, he smiled. "Litany of the Verdant Forests." He whispered.


    ~SHALALALA~


    His whisper seemingly beckoned a distant presence, summoning it to his side.


    One by one, green wisps appeared around Lin Mu circling him in a protective manner. The green wisps bobbed up and down, and seemed to be dancing in a specific manner. Their numbers grew rapidly and soon there were hundreds of them surrounding Lin Mu.


    ~HUALA~


    The green wisps then moved towards the Spiked Tentacle, covering it and restraining its power. ~HISS~


    But that wasn''t all as a hissing sound was heard, the spiked tentacle leaking dark gas from it.


    The green wisps quickly covered the entire spiked tentacle and pushed it out of Lin Mu''s consciousness!


    A couple secondster, the spiked tentacle had been repelled and Lin Mu''s true soul was safe.


    "It was truly worth it to practice the skill." Lin Mu took a breath of relief. The situation had been rather intense and alerted him to the ws that were still hidden to him. ''Lin Mo wasn''t able to defend against the attack either and was forced to take it.'' Lin Mu could see that Lin Mo''s presence had grown faint, as if he had been forced into a dormant state. ''Since my true soul was attacked was Lin Mo''s control removed too?'' he wondered.


    Just as he was about to resume control over his body though, he felt an anger flowing through his body.


    And in the next second, countless nefarious and evil thoughts filled it. "These aren''t mine." This time though, Lin Mu could distance himself from them and sensed that their source was different. "They''re from, Lin Mo." He quickly understood.


    The devilish man opened his eyes in the real world, as a furious expression descended upon his face.


    "AHHHHHHHHHH!" the woman screamed in pain, as she suffered the recoil from the attack. "How did you do that!?" She was utterly confused.


    This time it was the Withered Spirit Daoist who was speaking as she couldn''t understand how her skill was repelled. "Even Celestials have died to my Withering Spirit Death Art''s Soul Pike!" It was her special signature Dao skill that targeted the True Souls of others, and could kill them directly regardless of their defenses. Of course, this was not a skill without a cost and needed a lot of energy and Dao Traces to use.


    The only reason The Withered Spirit Daoist had even been able to execute it was due to the fact that she had improved her state due to consuming more of thest Soul Fragment. It improved her Withering Dao Proficiency and allowed her to use the Dao Skill.


    ~COUGH~COUGH~COUGH~


    She spat out mouthfuls of blood, as her Qi began to flow in reverse!


    "YOU DARE TO SILENCE THIS MAJESTY!?" Lin Mo erupted. "I''LL SILENCE YOUR RIVER OF LIFE!" he roared as Yao Changying''s body was pushed back even further from the wave of energy that had just emitted from his body.


    "Disaster Sword- Fourth Form: Landslide!" Lin Mo immediately used the strongest skill he could at that point and shed out.


    The Dark purple sh flew over Yao Changying and transformed into a massive amount of gravel, rocks and soil. The earth began to fall over Yao Changying as if she were helpless peasant caught in andslide and was quickly buried in it.


    But the skill didn''t stop there and kept on going, until Yao Changing was buried a hundred meters under the earth!


    And it wasn''t just her either, the Chimeric Beasts and Yin Nascent Soul Maggots that were around them were also caught in it, and perished to it.


    Despite the fact that there was a literal ocean under them, the earth didn''t disperse or was dissolved. It simply floated over the water, as if it simply didn''t regard the water with any importance.


    Lin Mo''s attack definitely affected Yao Changying greatly, as the spatial rifts began to close up on their own. Since there was no one controlling it anymore, they couldn''t stay open like this.


    But the same couldn''t be said for the Spatial Folding Barrier as it was still being held up by the arrays of the Bridge ne.


    "AHHHHHH!" Of course, Lin Mo wouldn''t be satisfied by just this and shed out several more times, intending to kill all that was around him.


    "Disaster Sword- Third Form- Eruption!" Lin Mu''s sword shes reached the sky and transformed into volcanoes that spewed out purple magma.


    It rained down upon the ocean and killed all the foes that were caught in it. The area it covered was massive and Lin Mu''spanions that were fighting in the borders were almost caught in it too.


    Thankfully they avoided it with the help of the Flood Dragon who raised water shields to protect them.


    "Quick! Hit the barrier with all you got!" but this freed the strong cultivators among them and allowed them to attack the barrier. This content is ? N?velDrama.Org.


    ~BOOM~


    Several strong skills struck the Spatial Fold Barrier at once, pushing it past its limits.


    ~KACHA~


    A long crack finally appeared in it, extending from the top to bottom. "It''s finally done!" Crown Prince Feng Shun rejoiced.


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2537 A Sudden End

    Chapter 2537 A Sudden End


    It had taken all their effort to cause damage to the Spatial Fold Barrier, and now that there was finally a crack they couldn''t help but feel content that it had worked. "Wait, it won''t close on its own, will it?" Someone asked.


    "It shouldn''t." Daoist Chu replied. "Unless it was a Spatial Master controlling it, the Spatial Fold Barrier will eventually give way." He said knowing how the arrays worked.


    "That''s good. I suppose we just need to continue this then?" Ziran asked.


    "Yes." Daoist Chu nodded. "There aren''t many Chimeric Beasts left anyways. Thanks to him." He said looking towards Lin Mo who was ughtering all the Chimeric beastsing from the existing Spatial Rifts with ease.


    "To think his strength would be this high." The Flood Dragon spoke. "Perhaps if we really fought before, I might not have won." He said seeing Lin Mo''s power.


    "Probably." Childe Wildfire agreed seeing ''Lin Mu''s'' power.


    He hadn''t had the chance to fight him before, but observing his skills was more than enough for him to assess how strong Lin Mu was. Right now, Lin Mu''s cultivation base was already equal to that of the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm which was a realm higher than his own. It was confusing as to how fast it grew, but Childe Wildlife merely guessed that it was being hidden.


    After all, he had done the same before during the Tournament too, pretending to be at the Fifth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm, when he was actually at the Sixth.


    What he didn''t know that this was actually Lin Mo doing it, but since the appearance was rtively the same he couldn''t tell them apart. Not to mention Lin Mu and hispanions had already decided that it was best to keep the devilish Lin Mo''s truth hidden for now. Adding a Devil cultivator to the mix would be rather problematic since the situation was already explosive.


    The auraing from Lin Mo was certainly unsettling to everyone, but they weren''t able to tell if it was really him or the effect of Yao Changying and her pawns that were present. It was easy for them to mistake the two after all.


    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~


    ~BANG~BANG~BANG~


    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~


    They quickly returned to hitting the Spatial Fold Barrier and targeted it where the cracks were spreading, hoping to cause more damage.


    On the other side, Lin Mo had calmed down somewhat and the volcanoes exploding in the sky had finally disappeared.


    "Meld." Lin Mo extended his hands towards the Spatial Rifts and brought them together in a closing gesture.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    That alone was enough to close all the rifts forcibly, preventing anymore Chimeric beasts and Yin Nascent Soul beasts froming out.


    "Now for the main course." Lin Mo said with a smirk as he moved towards the ''buried'' body of Yao Changying.


    ~Shua~


    He waved his hand and dispersed all the purple earth created by Landslide and revealed the injured body of the woman.


    Her state was beyond pitiful, with her left arm being crushed beyond recognition, probably from trying to defend. Her right arm was damaged too and had a lot of its flesh stripped off. Both of her legs were broken from the weight and her skull had been cracked as well.


    Despite all this though, she was still alive.


    "Interesting." Lin Mo said as he made a pulling gesture.


    Yao Changying''s body was raised with Meld and hovered close to Lin Mo.


    ~SHUA~


    Using his Immortal Sense he checked her body finding all the damage that had been done to it other than the external one. "Torn meridians and a shattered Dantian¡­ You really made a mistake using that Soul Attack." Lin Mo chuckled. "If you hadn''t used that, perhaps you might have had a chance. A tiny one but still¡­ a chance." He mocked the woman.


    While she appeared to be unconscious that was only for her body. The two souls inside her body were still listening to everything but they couldn''t do much other than seethe in anger.


    Lin Mo''s dark purple eyes looked at the trembling souls within the body which made him smile widely. This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    "Still¡­ Thanks for making this easier for me. I''ll enjoy this throughly." Lin Mo said as he extended his hand towards Yao Changying''s chest.


    ~SPLAT~


    He jabbed it straight in and pulled out two wisps that were seemingly in the middle of fusing. One side was a pale blue color while the other one was a darker indigo color. Another tiny wisp could be seen attached to the indigo wisp, which was the soul fragment that was being absorbed before.


    ''To think I''d get to consume a Celestial''s soul so soon.'' Lin Mo was pleased as he brought the trembling souls to his mouth.


    They tried to escape his grasp but that was simply impossible as he breathed in.


    ~SHUA~


    The souls were immediately sucked in, ending the existence of the two people who had threatened the entire Rust Sky World.


    Lin Mu who was observing this from his mind couldn''t help but feel a bit strange. ''This feels almost¡­ Surreal.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.


    He had expected the battle to be a lot fierce and was prepared to suffer a lot of injuries as well. And yet, he was mostly fine other than being a tired mentally. Physically though, he was at his peak, his Qi not only fully replenished but overflowing with the energy of the Soul Cape.


    Lin Mo had absorbed a lot of them and hadn''t fully exhausted them so they were still present there.


    "What? Feeling disappointed?" Lin Mo suddenly questioned him.


    "No¡­ just not used to this. I don''t know why¡­" Lin Mu answered.


    "Why? Did you intend to get pushed to the brink of death again?" Lin Moughed. "Have you gotten addicted to sacrificing yourself?" he asked.


    "No¡­ I just didn''t expect Yao Changying to fall so easily." Lin Mu replied.


    "It might seem easy but it wouldn''t have been if you were not prepared for it." Lin Mo retorted. "Even I didn''t expect her to be capable of using a Soul Attack like that. It was a strong one at that too. If it were weaker Soul Defense skill, you would not have survived it." He added.


    "Yeah¡­ Litany of the Verdant Forests was crucial to this." Lin Mu understood.


    His insistence of getting a defensive soul skill as a reward back then had been what had saved him right now. "The bacsh of using the Soul Attack was what wrecked Yao Changying." Lin Mo stated. "Though of course my sword skills contributed in it too." He said pridefully.


    "Yes." Lin Mu couldn''t deny that.


    "I believe you got toprehend it?" Lin Mo inquired.


    "Somewhat, but I''ll need more time." Lin Mu replied. "Well, you know what to do if you wish to learn more." Lin Mo said as a smile appeared on his face. "For now though, I''ll have to take a rest." He said much to Lin Mu''s surprise.


    "A rest?" Lin Mu raised his brows.


    "It isn''t going to be easy to digest a Celestial''s soul." Lin Mo replied. "Unless of course, you don''t want any of the memories within it and just want the crude energy extracted from it." He added.


    "Of course not." Lin Mu knew how valuable the memories would be. "Though¡­ Can you get Yao Changying''s memories first?" he wished to know why she had done all this and her thoughts.


    "That''ll be easy. Though for now, I believe you should manage yourpanions." Lin Mo said as he suddenly returned control to Lin Mu.


    Resuming control of his body, the first thing Lin Mu felt was the great power of the Soul Cape hanging behind him.


    It was about two hundred meters long right now and held a lot of power. ''Even now I can feel the cultivation base of a Seventh Tribtion Stage Immortal.'' Lin Mu estimated. ''I guess the Soul cape isn''t exactly proportional to the cultivation base increase during the activate state of Murdering Heart Sutra.'' He reckoned.


    He analyze the state of his body for a minute before deciding to end it. Yao Changying and the Withered Spirit Daoist were dead so there was no need to keep it active.


    As such he chanted the Severing heart Sutra, returning his mind to a still stage.


    ~SHUA~


    The Soul Cape behind him receded back into his body and disappeared entirely along with the ominous and devilish aura. Ocean Raker and Afternoon Pine too returned to their normal states and calmed down.


    Inside his Dantian though, Lin Mu could sense the Soul Cape''s presence. It had now attached itself to Lin Mu''s Nascent Soul and fluttered behind his back majestically.


    ''So they can be stored forter¡­'' Lin Mu noted before thinking of something. ''Guess I didn''t really need to call the Haima Tribe.'' He reckoned.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    But as if his thoughts were a jinx, a loud cracking sound was heard along with intense Spatial Fluctuations!


    This chapter upload first at

 Chapter 2538 Breaking World

    Chapter 2538 Breaking World


    "What''s happening!?"


    "What the hell was that sound? My ears are aching!"


    The people present all heard the cracking sound that made the very air tremble and strike their eardrums harshly. It wasn''t something that could be easily done to Immortals unless the sound was very loud or was close to a sonic boom.


    The experienced among them though, sensed more than just the harsh sound. They sensed the intense Spatial Fluctuations that went beyond themon ones that they would feel in their daily lives.


    "This¡­ how can the Spatial Fluctuations be this intense!?" Daoist Chu was stunned.


    "This is beyond the opening of a Teleportation array." Ziran assessed. "Because this is more than that¡­" Lady Kang pointed at the sky. "The World''s Spatial Fabric¡­ it''s breaking." She watched with wide eyes.


    A fine ck line could be seen spreading across the Rust colored sky. It extended from the easter end of the horizon all the way to the west, looking endless.


    Lin Mu who was observing this with his Spatial Perception though saw a lot more.


    ''The Spatial Lock has disappeared but now the Spatial Fabric is copsing on its own? How''s this happening?'' he was confused. Breaking the Spatial Fabric was not something that could be done easily, especially on arge scale like this. It was one thing opening Spatial Rifts and portals, but tearing open the Spatial Fabric around an entire world was something that was immensely difficulty.


    Even for a Transcendent Immortal it would be beyond their limits unless they were Spatial Master. For Lin Mu, this was still way beyond his capabilities which meant that this was blind done by something or someone that was very strong.


    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~


    The crack started to expanded and the darkness gave way to something familiar. Instead of the Rust Colored Sky, everyone in the World could see a darkndscape above them!


    There wererge rivers of ck water flowing on it that stirred with ominous energies. Just looking at it gave one chills and made them feeling like it was something unnatural.


    Everyone was confused by the appearance of thendmass which was now expanding more and more.


    "It''s growing?" Crown Princess Shang furrowed her brows. "No¡­ It''sing closer!" Crown Prince Feng Shun replied observing the expandingndmass.


    "Amithabha¡­ That''s all Baleful energies and Death Qi." Monk Hushu could sense them all the way here due to just how intense they were. "That''s the Bridge ne." He recognized. All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    His words struck true as everyone soon began to match thendmass with what they had experienced before. There was no mistaking it, for they had spent eight years surviving in that ce.


    ~SHUA~


    "It really is¡­" Just to be sure Daoist Chu took out his old Chimeric Beast Radar tool and activated it.


    As soon as he did, the projection of the map of the bridge ne appeared, perfectly matching its outline with what they were seeing on the sky.


    "How is the Bridge ne appearing here?" They were confused.


    ~SCREEECH~SCREEECH~SCREEECH~


    They didn''t get to think about it long though, as a foul yet familiar cry could be hearding from the sky.


    ~WHOOSH~


    The group soon saw a dark mass moving towards them, seemingly ''falling'' from the Bridge ne. As the dark mass got closer they finally saw what it was.


    "Chimeric Beasts! Millions of them!" Daoist Chu saw the radar light up brightly in red.


    There were so many of them that the Radar couldn''t even register them beyond a point and simply painted the entire map red!


    "Dammit! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!" Lin Mu dered knowing this was probably going to be the worst battle that the entire Rust Sky world will face.


    ~SHING~ SHING~


    He preemptively attacked, shing out at the sky with his Sword Skills.


    "Great ughter Pine! Great Ocean Rake!" Lin Mu used them to take out as many Chimeric beasts as he could before they reached the world''s atmosphere.


    The distance between the Bridge ne and the Rust Sky World was still over a hundred kilometers but it was quickly getting closer. "Don''t hold back! This will be a war for our lives and the world!" Crown Prince Feng Shun shouted, directly summoning his Dao Embryos. ~RUMBLE~


    ~WHOOSH~


    Wind and thunder was heard as the two Dao Embryos manifested their powers with Dao Tracesbining into a single entity, turning into a g Spear.


    "Storm King Immortal Arts! Dao Skill: Fulgarian King''s Wrath!" Crown Prince Feng Shun threw out the g Spear.


    ~BOOM~


    The spear soared faster than the speed of sound, arriving in the midst of the Chimeric Beast swarm and exploding.


    It was as if a storm had been born, as it started to devour all that stood in its path. The Chimeric beasts were torn apart by the beasts and sted into smithereens by the lightning. Crown Prince Feng Shun''s Dao Skill was strong, but it was still just a drop in the ocean. They weren''t just facing one of the Chimeric beast swarms from twenty five years ago, they were facing all the Chimeric Beasts that lived in the Bridge ne. While they had certainly killed a lot of them, their numbers had grown back in the twenty five years they were away.


    The others also joined in, using their strongest skills.


    "Looks like it is finally time to use it." Daoist Chu''s expression grew serious.


    He then took out a hundred thousands talismans and talisman gs, and began setting up arge array. Four talisman gs each arranged themselves ording to the four cardinal directions, while Four Talismans arranged themselves perpendicr to the Talisman gs, forming a Three Dimensional Cross.


    But that was just a singr formation unit, as more such formations began to form. Eight such formation unitsbined into arge scale unit, and eightrge scale unitsbined inrge array unit. These array units kept on repeating over and over, until they covered an area of a hundred kilometer at once!


    When all of them were in position, Daoist Chu took out a small dagger from his storage. The dagger was rather crude and was covered in rust. But a few characters could be seen written on it''s de.


    If one looked closely they would be able to see that it read ''Annihtion''.


    Daoist Chu held the dagger firmly with his right hand and cut his left palm decisively.


    ~SLICK~


    Vibrant red bowled flowed out of it that was quickly absorbed by the rusty dagger.


    "Grand Qi Annihting Talisman Array!" Daoist Chumanded, raising the dagger at the sky and pointing it at the Chimeric beasts.


    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~


    At hismand, each of the individual formation units fired out small rays of pure Qi. These small rays intersected at a certain distancebining into a small beam, which further intersected with other smaller beams and turned into a massive beam that covered an area of five hundred meters.


    "Annihte!" Daoist Chu was like a conductor in an Opera as he directed the beam with the rusty dagger.


    ~BOOM~


    Therge beam streaked across the sky, destroying the Chimeric beasts that were in its path. It was like a ming hot knife, cutting through butter, as it cleaved through the Chimeric Beast swarms. It was so strong that even the ground of the bridge ne was getting destroyed by it, leavingrge ravines.


    "DIE YOU ALL FILTHY BEASTS! THIS IS THE FRUIT OF MY LABOR!" Daoist Chu shouted as blood dripped down his eyes and ears.


    It was clear that using the array was highly taxing on the man.


    All those who saw Daoist Chu''s Grand Qi Annihting Talisman array were left astounded.


    Even Lin Mu couldn''t help but marvel at it.


    "It''s power is almost at the Peak of the Immortal Realm, reaching the Transcendent level." Lin Mu assessed. ''When did he prepare this?'' he wondered.


    But he couldn''t afford to think much about it as he had to focus on the fight again.


    His otherpanions also activated their strongest skills without caring for how much Qi they would need to expend.


    Crown Princess Shang threw out seeds after seeds as if she were nting an entire forest and poured out half of her Qi stores in them.


    "Shang Imperial Art: Blooming Forest!" She chanted as the seeds all sprouted, rapidly turning into a massive forest.


    The roots of the trees grew towards the ocean, greedily sucking up the water and nutrients while this trunks reached for the skies. Trees that were over five kilometer tall each grew within a handful of minutes, as they extended their branches leaves to create a defensive fortress for everyone.


    "I''ll help you!" Ziran assisted the Crown Princess, providing her with Wood elemental Qi so that the skill could be sustained for long term.


    He didn''t have anyrge scale skills like others, so this was the best way he could help.


    But nothing couldpare to what Lady Kang was about to do.


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